Comments on: Just look at this sniper eating a banana on a rooftop during the inauguration.

By: EichaelThe0ne

EichaelThe0ne — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:06:00 +0000

No, Lieutenant. Your men are already dead.

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:26:00 +0000

That’s likely the “color of the day,” announced to Secret Service & law enforcement the morning of the event so they don’t get mistaken for bad guys setting up rifles on rooftops. Undercover cops frequently do a similar thing (although not with armbands,) wearing a scarf or hat or something of a particular color so they’re recognizable to other cops.

By: cellocgw

cellocgw — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:01:00 +0000

You mean, Han ate one first?

By: cellocgw

cellocgw — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Actually in reply to OtherMichael but not allowed to reply to deep replies (?). Anyhoo, I would have laughed but I had to translate Cicero’s orations in high school. Still gives me the shakes.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:33:00 +0000

Or ass bullets.

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:46:00 +0000

I think the potassium in bananas are supposed to help you not shake – or steady yourself – when shooting. IIRC. He could have just been hungry and some asshole already ate all the doughnuts.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:15:00 +0000

No, he already apprehended the bad guy and forced him to drop the banana. He is now eating the banana, thus disarming him.

By: CLamb

CLamb — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:02:00 +0000

I find it more interesting that they are wearing red armbands. Reminds me of the Chinese Great Cultural Revolution.

By: fenester

fenester — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:29:00 +0000

I hear they are chock full of potussium.

By: OtherMichael

OtherMichael — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:55:00 +0000

The Bat-Man (Tony Millionaire and Chip Kidd) has this problem all the time.

By: marilove

marilove — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:39:00 +0000

They are up there for hours at a time. I’d imagine his stomach growling and he being hungry would be a far bigger distraction, wouldn’t you? Or do you think snipers are robots who don’t get hungry?

By: OtherMichael

OtherMichael — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:12:00 +0000

The bananas were a salute to Biden’s hometown of Scranton, PA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30,000_Pounds_of_Bananas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfFM4Ilt4Rs

By: OtherMichael

OtherMichael — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:08:00 +0000

Two Roman senators are sitting in the back, chatting as the speaker drones on and on. One of them is clearly impatient and bored, so after an hour his friend asks “Why don’t you leave?”

“Because I’m waiting for the verb.”

By: Gyrofrog

Gyrofrog — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:01:00 +0000

Is that like the gorillas.bas banana?

By: Sorcerer Mickey

Sorcerer Mickey — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:59:00 +0000

A clarification: If it’s Bad Guys or Perps, we call them “Snipers”; if it’s Law Enforcement or the Military, we refer to them as “Sharpshooters.”

By: agonist

agonist — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:50:00 +0000

I was the sniper eating that banana on that rooftop, you insensitive clod! (Sorry, am I mixing memes?)

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:31:00 +0000

Scanner snipers?

By: Tonewah

Tonewah — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:26:00 +0000

They’re obviously time-travelling nazi’s (note the armbands) come to see how good things turned out, who just happened to bring a snack to eat while watching the future unfold.

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:25:00 +0000

Or one of those big pots of glue like the Katzenjammer Kids!

It’s irresponsible of us not to pre-emptively punish anyone that we can imagine might do something unsavory.

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:25:00 +0000

It was in a sling.

By: Dan Metcalf

Dan Metcalf — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:19:00 +0000

Sniper + no gun? = MIND BULLETS

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:18:00 +0000

Your impression is likely wrong. I used to drag my VT-100 terminal out to the roof of the Academy of Natural Sciences on the Logan Square in Philly in the summertime and work outside where I could smoke cigarettes and enjoy the sunshine. When the President came to town, large men hung all about with equipment banned me from the rooftops for the entire day, but I saw them setting up sniper rifles longer than my leg at the roofedge. They made me get away from the window when they saw me looking at them and talking on the phone.

Looks to me like one of these guys is probably a radio officer, equipped with extra comm tackle for city work, and banana man is either a spotter or off-duty. But I’m just guessing.

I saw even more interesting things when I worked in a building overlooking the airfield where the President’s plane used to land whenever he visited Delaware.

By: cheshireforhire

cheshireforhire — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:07:00 +0000

The banana is the natural prey of the sniper. You can tell from the photo that he is the alpha of the sniper pack and receives first rights to feed, the others will just have to wait their turn.

Not only is it a good snack, but I would imagine the potassium would be helpful in his line of work. Last thing a sniper would want are muscle spasms or cramps.

By: chris coreline

chris coreline — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:02:00 +0000

your all monsters.

By: DreamboatSkanky

DreamboatSkanky — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:01:00 +0000

Apples? Seriously? Pix or it didn’t happen.

By: chris coreline

chris coreline — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:01:00 +0000

maybe he is just a really really good sniper.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Those guys are stationed up there for hours at a time. It’s “best practice” to pack snacks.

By: DreamboatSkanky

DreamboatSkanky — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:59:00 +0000

Or what if he had been juggling? Or had had his hands in a cat’s cradle? Or a bucket of quick-drying cement? What if?? Very irresponsible.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:54:00 +0000

Canaan Banana?

By: ludd

ludd — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:52:00 +0000

Yeah, it’s an easy mistake to make at this range. It is not a banana. That is a .50 cal Plantain. Standard issue.