One of these days, terrorists are going to figure it out. So it turns out that Faisal Shahzad, the accused terrorist suspect in the failed Times Square bombing case, must have attended Pakistan's Beavis and Butthead School of Bomb-making. This goes to show you that, despite having a baccalaureate in a technical field and an MBA from the University of Bridgeport, it's harder than you think these days to put together a SUV WMD. Because of Timothy McVeigh, it's more difficult to get weapons-grad ... [MORE]

BELIEVE you will Get In On It while you are Getting Your Preakness on, freak. Hi Ho! The Preakness horse race is coming up on May 15, the big day when Gambling Addicts of all creeds, colors, nations, and wallets focus on Baltimore, my Maryland, for the umpteenth running of the "Middle Jewel" of the "Triple Crown" of "The Sport of Kings," although I can never figure out why they don't call it the "Middle Crown" since the three races of the "Triple Crown" are each Crowns, right? Anyway: Gambli ... [MORE]

Full disclosure: I have never been a big Gang Starr fan. I believe that DJ Premier is the greatest DJ and producer in the history of hip-hop and that the dichotomy between his characteristic staccato cutting and scratching with the melodies of the jazz or early R&B that he tends to use as sampling sources produces the platonic ideal of what a track should sound like. However, I've always been ambivalent at best about Guru's legendary monotone delivery. I respect it, I get why people are so ... [MORE]

Historically, professional card cheats have never called their actions "cheating." The preferred term, an Orwellian euphemism designed to allow the users to absolve themselves of guilt, is "advantage play." In that they are taking advantage, usually unfairly, of a competitor. This kind of mindset usually comes out of the "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" mentality. In politics, we all know history is usually written by the winners, which then allows them to further whitewash the ... [MORE]

Your Baltimore Orioles blew the lead on Opening Day here in Baltimore, U.S.A., right? Hey, they are My Baltimore Orioles, too, man. I paid money and went to Opening Day at Oriole Park or whatever it is called there at Camden Yards and I paid attention to the whole game, almost, except for when the gentleman who appeared to be inebriated or at least profoundly confused, got out on the field in the manner of when a random wild animal gets out on to the field in those amusing sports highlights seg ... [MORE]

A&E's The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty Season 1 came out on DVD last week, and I really appreciate the revealing glimpse into the family's life. I know it seems a little bizarre that I'm arguing a reality television show is revealing. Considering the history of the people we're talking about, however, I think a reality television show is the only way fans would ever get a true peek at the Jackson family. As much as we've all focused on Michael Jackson and, to a lesser extent, Janet over the ... [MORE]

Despite all the flaws in the health-care bill signed by President Obama last week, its passage is still a positive development for both liberals and conservatives for quite a number of reasons. Granted, it's not single-payer. Seventeen years ago Bill and Hillary Clinton tried to push through a health-care bill, and one of the reasons it went down to defeat was the fracture of the coalition behind it--partially over the desire to have single-payer. (The biggest problem was Hillary Clinton's d ... [MORE]

I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago and besides less snow and higher temperatures, they have Dog Tracks down there, although they like to call 'em "Kennel Clubs," because that's classy. But we're talking about strapping muzzles on a bunch of greyhounds and sticking them in stalls and then springing them to chase an electric fake rabbit around a track a coupla times, so you can call it whatever you want, but it ain't very classy. Anyway, it is Gambling, so, naturally, I attended the Dog Tr ... [MORE]

I think like most people, and certainly my fellow Baltimoreans, I was ecstatic that Mo'Nique won the Academy Award for her performance in Precious. With Mary, Mo'Nique created a monstrous character that embodied the banality of true evil while offering glimpses of both her vulnerability and the social forces that shaped that evil. I felt vindicated among my own circle of friends, because I've been championing Mo'Nique's acting prowess in the years since I became a fan of her criminally underrat ... [MORE]

In America, nearly every black person believes in conspiracies. Now that I've gotten that massive generalization out of the way, think about it for a second. No matter how rationalist an African-American you may be, history has already provided plenty of evidence. What was slavery but a conspiracy against an entire race of people? Jim Crow? A de facto (when it wasn't de jure) combined effort to deny people of African heritage the fruits of the living experiment that is America. Black folk to ... [MORE]

So They (and you know who they are) want to make a Walmart in Remington, a neighborhood of Baltimore, U.S.A.,1 and some Concerned Citizens are against it and they have a petition thing on the Internet where you can go and say you are Anti the Walmart.2 Personally, I am more on the laissez-faire3 side of the issue, especially when we're talking about any enterprise that would increase the Tax Base of Baltimore, and I'm not getting off my ass any time soon to go signing a "pro Walmart" petition ... [MORE]

I am hypnotized by dancing Predators. About a week ago, I ran across a video on the interwebs showing a group of men in surprisingly authentic-looking Predator costumes doing, like, the Chicago Bears Super Bowl shuffle in what looked like the Predator ship from Predator 2. Now, if the existence of the footage only served to provide me an opportunity to use the word "Predator" four times in the last two sentences, it would already be worth its weight in gold. But no, just when you process that h ... [MORE]

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