Surfin' the net...

Inventive criminal converted a toy Super Soaker™ water gun into a functional single-shot 20 gauge firearm. [The Gun Nuts]

Movement under way among some police agencies to begin arming aerial drones with non-lethal weapon systems. (Non-lethal that is, for now). [io9]

Working-class white Americans are deserting Democratic Party?  Go figure? I came to the conclusion that I wish a pox on both their houses as far as the two major parties are concerned. Both of them deserted us a long, long time ago. [Washington Post]

Remembering the price of empire this Memorial Day: Read the terse death notices the Pentagon's website posts each time a U.S. service member is KIA.  Right around 1900 and counting and that's just from Afghanistan. [TomDispatch]

California Tech executive busted for stealing thousands of dollars worth of Lego™ toys kits in order to build his own Lego-Land display in his rumpus room. Sheesh. [Wired]

Ann Arbor's unemployment rate is 5 percent it is reported. Rest of Michigan's is 9 percent. I figure it's way higher but the BLS definitions about who is and who isn't employed are pure fantasy. [Ann Arbor.com]

Ann Arbor's homeless tent city is the subject of a short video project by a UM instructor. I found it interesting. [Vimeo]

Upper Peninsula forest fire burns 17,000 acres so far.  [Lansing State Journal]

Well they're finally admitting what's been the case for a while now

Democrats set to openly abandon White working-class interests in favor of Obama's coalition of elites, ethnic and racial groups, and public employees union members.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg predicts rioting in the streets if we don't get some jobs soon

Nah. If unemployment led people to riot then metro-Detroit would be an uninhabited smoking crater of rubble by now. Oh wait. (NY Daily News)

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Fred Reed's observations on the working class
"A natural camaraderie exists among people who work for a living and don’t have much. I didn’t exactly work, but I had grown up around people who did, and knew how to fit in. It wasn’t surprising that they offered to share their vodka with a stranger. Talk to anyone who has hitchhiked extensively. He will tell you that the likelihood that a car will stop is inversely proportional to the price of the car. People who have needed help are inclined to provide help."

That last sentence kind of explains it all.

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Film producer Michael Moore explains a fucking thing or two to Rahm Emmanuel about autoworkers and their union over at the Daily Beast.