About all these Sarah Palin threads lately:

Why are we paying that idiot the slightest bit of attention around here?

There is another very tense scene . . .

in the.boarding house where the Baldwin-Felts thugs are taunting Danny, and one of the thugs pulls a gun on Danny. Danny's mother is absolutely terrified. I wonder -- was she afraid the thug would actually shoot a 15-year-old kid and get away with it? After all, the coal companies practically owned the state of WV back then. Probably still do, I guess. After all, the last I knew the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain is still in danger of being destroyed by mining.

ETA: Now all, the miners -- locals, blacks, and Italians alike -- are walking off the job. That's more like it.

Watching the beginning of "Matewan" again.

There is a fascinating scene at the beginning where the blacks coming in on the train to work in the mines are ordered off the train outside of town and attacked by local miners who see them as scabs.

This is exactly the kind of thing the 1% wants: The rest of us fighting each other like starving rats over shitjobs.

The coolest thing just happened on "Pawn Stars."

A woman brought in an antique pocket watch she bought for $20 at a garage sale. It was engraved as being from one Civil War veteran to another for saving his life during the battle of Cross Keys (I never heard of that one). It was in excellent condition, and had a key wind mechanism instead of a stem wind (stem winds came along in the 1890's). It was made by the company that later became Waltham. Rick gave her $1300 for it. I thought it was really cool.

Check out today's Google doodle: