In May of this year, a shootout took place at Waco, Texas restaurant Twin Peaks, involving police and as many as five separate biker gangs. The violence claimed the lives of nine gang members (and the restaurant) and injured 18 others. CNN obtained security video of the incident, which ended in 177 arrests, and published an edited version of it Thursday.
Above is the inaugural episode of Rare Lives, Gawker’s new interview series. So many people outside of the public eye have vivid, entertaining stories to tell, and I’m especially interested in those that include elements that are still underrepresented in media: special needs, sexuality, gender identity, unique jobs, etc. As in life, my goal here is to have interesting conversations.
When Marco Rubio became Florida’s Speaker of the House in 2005, Governor Jeb Bush welcomed him by bestowing upon him the sword of “Chang,” who Bush described as “a mythical conservative warrior.” It’s odd how mythology develops: Bush was almost certainly, if unwittingly, talking about Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese nationalist leader best known for losing a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party and retreating to Taiwan. Chiang was, notably, not democracy’s number-one fan.
We lost a hero yesterday. He didn’t talk much, nor did he work very hard. He was criticized from all directions. He was cold. He kept to himself. But before he died in rural Pennsylvania, he tasted freedom. R.I.P. Blimp. Here’s a video of your death.
From the day we arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, there’s more to be seen than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done. An important life lesson, and one so many people seem to forget. Here’s another one: if you’re not careful, a lion might kill you.
Hate to bum out your A.M. crunchdrop, but I have some sketchy, heart-shredding (in a bad way) news: Tillman, beloved skateboarding and surfing bulldog, has peaced on to the Heavenly halfpipe.
After patriotism and religion, “attacking the media” is the most popular refuge of the scoundrel.
An assistant high school football coach in Bremerton, Wash. became the center of a national controversy after school district officials asked him to stop leading public Christian prayers on the 50-yard line after games and Fox News got ahold of the story. Coach Joe Kennedy did not stop the prayers, and guess what? The district has put him on administrative leave, the Seattle Times reports.
If Jeb Bush became a Democrat, I’m not saying he’d win the nomination, let alone the presidency, but he’d have a better shot at either than he currently does in the Republican Party.
China’s one-child policy, enacted in an effort to control the country’s swelling population, is no more as the workforce shuffles toward the grave with no youthful replacement in sight.
Over the last ten years, Ben Carson has given speeches for Mannatech, a sketchy nutritional supplement company that does not, surprisingly, produce actual snake oil. He’s appeared in infomercials. He admits the company helped fund his endowed chair at Johns Hopkins. He even endorsed their product during the GOP debate Wednesday. But one thing he denies? Having “any kind of relationship with them.” Huh?
Three people were wounded on Wednesday evening by gunfire at a mall on the east side of Indianapolis, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Polie said. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening.
