The fix is in!

I’d love to know how they came to THIS conclusion:

Actually, I can guess: lies, damned lies, and statistics. I imagine that a good analysis of the criteria they used to determine best mass transit system would prove interesting. Or at least informative.

DC Comics gets into the sitcom business with Powerless.

DC is doing a sitcom!  It’s called Powerless, and it honestly sounds kind of like a stand-up comedy sketch:

The single-camera workplace comedy is set at one of the worst insurance companies in America — with the twist being that it also takes place in the universe of DC Comics. The project is about the reality of working life for a normal, powerless person in a world of superheroes and villains.

…and I’ll be honest: theoretically that doesn’t sound so bad to me. It’s an interesting concept, because living in a superhero universe would be a highly surreal experience.  And ‘surreal’ is a short jump to ‘comedy.’  Of course, it’s the implementation that matters. For that matter: are we at saturation point yet when it comes to superheroes and TV?  I don’t actually have cable, remember, so I wouldn’t really know.  What’s next, though? Superhero soap operas?

…Well, maybe. After all, superhero webcomics are a thing, so the concept might transfer over.

Via @kennethhite.

DC news organization car robbed… while parked at anti-robbery press conference.

This is not irony: …well, maybe it is. “An ABC7 News car was broken into while the crew was attending a press conference held by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Cathy Lanier to discuss a Task Force created to fight robberies.” Well, maybe it’s not: I’m really not sure. Apparently the robber did a smash and grab while the mayor and police chief were right there: is there a brazenness exemption for irony?  Or a hold-in-utter-contempt exemption? Because both are on display, here.

Via Memeorandum.

Moe Lane

PS: I suspect that every cop in DC is going to be looking for this particular so-and-so. Or will at least give a nice payout to whoever gives him up.

DC Climate Change rally goes from hundreds of thousands expected to… just hundreds.

Via Climate Depot comes this entertaining point (August 2015)…

Several environmental groups are planning a major climate rally that will draw hundreds of thousands to the National Mall on Sept. 24, the day Pope Francis speaks to Congress and is expected to address the public afterwards.

…and counterpoint (September 2015):

On Thursday morning — as Pope Francis prepared to make history by addressing Congress — hundreds of activists gathered on the National Mall.

Continue reading DC Climate Change rally goes from hundreds of thousands expected to… just hundreds.

Judge throws out anti-gun regulations in DC. AGAIN.

How many times does this have to happen?

Seriously: what part of Shall not be infringed was unclear, DC city government?

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction saying the District of Columbia’s new concealed carry law is unconstitutional.

The order, issued Monday by Judge Frederick J. Scullin, was the second decision in less than a year declaring the Washington, D.C., gun carry laws to be unconstitutional. In October of 2014, the same judge ruled that the district’s complete ban on gun carry was also in violation of the Constitution.

Continue reading Judge throws out anti-gun regulations in DC. AGAIN.

Feds say DC Mayor Vincent Gray (D) knew of illegal campaign contributions.

Well, well, well.

A major Democratic donor pleaded guilty on Monday to funneling millions of dollars in illegal campaign donations to federal and local politicians, including an unnamed 2008 presidential candidate believed to be Hillary Clinton.

District of Columbia businessman Jeffrey Thompson, who federal prosecutors say financed a “shadow campaign” for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in 2010, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.

Thompson claimed some of the candidates, including Gray, were aware of the illegal fundraising.

…”Some?” Continue reading Feds say DC Mayor Vincent Gray (D) knew of illegal campaign contributions.

Hey! They’re phishing the DC #Obamacare exchange!

Didn’t see that coming*:

The D.C. insurance exchange where thousands of Hill aides are shopping has confirmed that an outside scammer is redirecting customers to a fraudulent website.

Some shoppers are being directed from the insurance website to an outside site that appears nearly identical to the real exchange, officials confirmed Friday. The fraud is widespread enough that they’re considering adding disclaimers to its website to warn users against divulging their check card or PIN numbers.

Don’t worry, though: there’s an easy way to tell whether you’re on the right DC Obamacare exchange site. Is it working? …No? Good: if it’s not working, then you’re on the DC Obamacare exchange site.  Don’t you feel better now? Continue reading Hey! They’re phishing the DC #Obamacare exchange!

This is a pretty good Lobo rant from @Coelasquid.

Mind you, I don’t really care about Lobo (for those wondering, he’s a …rather unique… DC character).  But clearly Kelly Turnbull does.

A design DC reported was the New And Improved Lobo that basically amounted to Nightwing with fish barbels painted at the corners of his mouth made the rounds a few days ago to extreme internet backlash resulting in a great deal of backpedalling on DC’s part and the author claiming that the design DC posted was not in fact her Lobo, assuring people he would be much bigger and uglier in the comic.

Of course she’s also said; “My goal for him was to make him less comically hyper-masculine and more focused. He’s still vicious, still savage and still entirely immoral, but I wanted a gravity out of the character. When he showed up, I didn’t want him walking away from explosions and smoking a cigar. When he shows up, I want people to feel like, ‘This is it. This is the end.’” Which kind of says to me she doesn’t really understand what people are taking issue with. The redesign isn’t the issue, Lobo’s been redesigned a million times. He’s been a skinny kid, he’s been a woman, he’s been a squirrel, he’s been a duck, he’s been an android (he was a poorly received serious character when he started out), the problem is the idea that they’re promising to take the hypermasculine comedy out of a hypermasculine satire character. That’s like saying you like the Venture Brothers but wish it didn’t have all those pesky jokes and parodies in it.

Continue reading This is a pretty good Lobo rant from @Coelasquid.

DC City Council attacks Wal-Mart, poor people.

I swear to God, you’d think that the Democratic party just simply HATES people who live in cities.

The council voted 8 to 5 Wednesday to impose a super-minimum wage of $12.50 an hour — well above the District’s regular $8.25 minimum— on retailers reporting at least $1 billion in annual corporate revenue and operating in spaces of 75,000 square feet or more. A second and final vote is scheduled for July 10.

The bill — backed by organized labor and other advocates for workers — would affect stores already operating in the city, including Home Depot, Macy’s and Costco, which would be required to comply within four years. But the legislation, known as the Large Retailer Accountability Act, is generally seen as aimed at Wal-Mart, which plans to open six D.C. stores in the coming years.

Basically: if the law goes through, the expectation is that Wal-Mart will simply abandon three planned stores – and their jobs, and the sudden appearance of three new supermarkets in the DC food desert – which puts Mayor Vincent Gray (D) in a spot, because he’s been trying to get the aforementioned jobs and supermarkets into DC for some time.  But that doesn’t matter, because unions > poor people in the current Democratic calculus, and God forbid that Democratic campaign donors be ever, ever thwarted… Continue reading DC City Council attacks Wal-Mart, poor people.