Heather Has A Mommy And A Daddy
Heather Has a Mommy and a Daddy
Deep in the heart of Dullsville, at the end of a cul-de-sac, behind a lawn of scratchy brown grass dotted with giant plastic butterflies, three flaking cement deer, and a philodendron the size of Bob Hoskins though with fewer decorative parts, lives Heather Thompson. Heather has a mommy and a daddy. Heather’s daddy is an accountant. Her mommy is a homemaker. Before Heather was born they met, fell in love, and got married. “I love you very much and I’m having your child.”
Danitra is Heather’s best friend. One of Danitra’s dads is an empowerment facilitator. The other is an aura consultant. Danitra doesn’t know what they do at work, except they don’t need briefcases. Before Danitra was born her daddies met and fell in love, and after seventeen years spent discussing caring and support, handling acceptance, and negotiating intimacy, they had a commitment ceremony. “I love you very much and I’m designing the rings,” Danitra’s Daddy Mike said.
One day in school Heather’s teacher, Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez, tells the class to draw pictures of their families. Danitra draws two men, Julio draws two women, and Heather draws a man and a woman. Keanu points at the woman Heather drew, with squiggly yellow hair, a crude red dress and simple brown shoes. “This dad here’s got some ugly drag going on,” he says.
At lunchtime Danitra sits on the bench next to Heather and pulls a sandwich out of a brown paper bag.“Want to trade?” Danitra asks. “I’ve got grilled eggplant and goat cheese on marjoram foccacia.” “Um, I didn’t bring lunch,” Heather stammers, kicking her brown paper bag out of sight. “I’m … uh … on a diet.” “Diet?” Danitra asks. “Haven’t your dads told you not to buy into that patriarchal looks-based chauvinism? And anyway, what’s this then?” she asks, holding up the bag with “HAVE A SUPER DAY!” written in sparkle marker on it.
Julio, who was listening nearby, runs up and grabs Heather’s lunch. “Yeah, what’s this? It’s somebody’s lunch!” Heather jumps at the bag but Julio holds it out of reach. “You give that back!” Heather yells. “Try and make me!” Julio chides. He pulls Heather’s sandwich apart and drops it like it was electrified. He wobbles away, holding his stomach.
“Oh my God!” he cries. “There’s like dead stuff in there!” Danitra looks at the sandwich lying on the cement. “Is that MEAT? Is that like SPAM?” Claudia, sitting quietly at the other end of the bench, bursts into tears. “Heather’s eating BAMBI!” “It’s friggin’ Wonder Bread!” Julio scoffs. Keanu walks toward the bread and peers at it. “And it’s got LUBE all over it!” “You idiot, that’s MAYONNAISE.” “What’s mayonnaise?” “It’s like goat cheese for heterosexuals.”
“Heterosexuals?” Keanu asks. “Heather’s mommy and daddy are heterosexuals?” Heather starts to yell. “No! I don’t have a mommy and a daddy. I’ve got two daddies!” “Hell-OOOO!” Danitra says, drawing the word out to twelve syllables. “We can see your clothes!” “Um . . . “ Heather stalls, “then I’ve got two mommies.” “And we’ve seen you play baseball,” Julio answers.
Heather, unable to think of a response, sits on the bench and starts to cry. Danitra pulls a robin’s egg blue bandana from her pocket and dabs at Heather’s face. “Maybe your mom’s not really a woman,” Danitra offers. “Well,” Heather says, sniffing, “she cleans the house, and cooks, and does the laundry.” Danitra fumes. “We’re trying to establish that she’s female, not that she’s an idiot.”
“Maybe your dad’s not really a man,” Julio suggests.“Well,” Heather answers, wiping her nose. “He’s big and strong and he’s got a mustache.” Several of the children wonder what this proves but nobody says anything. “So let’s say you’ve got a mom and a dad,” Keanu says. “Then where did you come from?” “They went to bed together, and then I was born.” Some of her friends express further interest, but Heather doesn’t have a brochure. “Daddy put his thing in mommy — “
“Oh, man,” Keanu interjects. “Is that legal?” “HelLLLLO!” sings Danitra, who gets the word up to eighteen syllables this time. “We’re in CaliFORnia!”
“And nine months later I came out of my mommy’s tummy,” Heather adds. Several of the children wonder why they didn’t hire a surrogate with a vagina but nobody says anything.
Heather Has a Mommy and a Daddy, Part Two
One night there’s a dance at Heather’s school and her parents offer to chaperone. While Heather’s dancing with Danitra she sees from the corner of her eye her mom and dad moving onto the dance floor. She watches in horror as her mom just sort of stands there swaying, her gingham granny dress limply hanging to the floor. She grimaces as her dad starts chopping at the air like Jackie Chan being attacked by locusts.Occasionally their movements coincide with the beat. Heather runs to the bathroom crying.“Heather, don’t feel so bad,” Danitra says. “Lots of kids have embarrassing parents.” She starts to lead Heather out of the bathroom, then stops. “Um, maybe we should stay in here a while longer. They just started doing the Bump.”
One day the class projects are due. Heather brings in the model she’s made. It’s a lump of brown Play-Doh with ketchup poured over it and dotted with marshmallows stuck on with toothpicks. She sets it on the table as her teacher comes over to look.
“Why, Heather! That’s . . . nice! Very very nice!”“What the hell is it?” Tommy asks. “TOMMY! Heather’s parents had me over for dinner once. This is what they call ‘Salisbury steak.’” Heather bursts into tears. “NO IT’S NOT! It’s a VOLCANO! That’s lava, and that’s steam coming out.”
Danitra enters and places her project next to Heather’s on the table. “Why, Danitra, what’s this?” Danitra delicately removes the sheet protecting her project. “Versailles.”
Heather takes one look at the tiny replica of Louis XIV’s summer home, constructed by Danitra and her two dads out of two hundred cubic yards of teak plank, thirty square feet of gold leaf, sixty pounds of Italian travertine marble from the same quarry Michelangelo used, tiny topiary and functional miniature fountains, and cries even harder.
“Why did I have to have a mom and a dad?” Heather sobs. “Why can’t my family be like all the rest?”
Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez pulls Heather close. “Children,” she says,”every family is special, including those conforming to the rigid, stereotypical standard of male domination.” She starts to tell the class about her own family, including her hearing-impaired Hispanic mother, her height-challenged Israeli father, and her Gypsy recovering-substance-abusing brother-in-law and Armenian sex-addict half-sister, but stops, realizing the school year is only 4,074 hours long.
“Just because Heather’s parents are heterosexual doesn’t mean they’re slow-witted philistines, though there are strong correlations you don’t need a PhD in statistics to understand. But Heather is lucky to have a sweet mom and a wonderful dad and a dog named Molly and a hamster named Samson, and they all live together in a lovely house. They’ve got interesting avocado-colored appliances, carpet as long as your hair, and furniture that‘s by-and-large wood that must have taken them hours to assemble. There’s a big plastic sofa that turns into a bed, and a La-Z-Boy — ”
“A what?” Keanu asks. “A La-Z-Boy,” Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez repeats. “It’s a big vinyl chair that reclines.” “Oh, man!” exclaims Keanu, covering his face with his hands. “And I thought our Herman Miller reproductions were embarrassing!”
Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez continues. “But the important thing is, they’re a family. They’re a group united for a common purpose, where each individual is given a sense of empowerment and their shared bonds are formalized in a ritualistic manner.” “Oh,” the students respond in unison. Everybody hugs.
The story was borrowed from World Class Stupid.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Another #GA06 Debate
The candidates for the 6th district congress, Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel (TJO/KCH) had another debate. Those with a strong gag reflex are invited to watch. The link may not work very long. For some reason, the discussion begins at 30:40 on the video. Channel 30 will carry the performance “at 7 p.m. Thursday and again at noon Friday.” UPDATE: The video has been adjusted to start at the beginning. The opening comment by KCH, shown here as being at 33:21, is now at 2:37, a difference of 30:44. To see when the remarks were made, subtract approximately 31 minutes from the time shown.
33:21 KCH “I am an extremely unlikely candidate for congress.” Duh. Over weight. No charisma. Totally unlikable. The Republican Hillary. Parroter of right wing drivel about Nancy Pelosi. Loser in two state wide elections. The list goes on and on. Hopefully, after the votes are counted, KCH can update her resume, and get an honest job. Maybe she can get a good reference from the Susan B. Komen foundation, or Sarah Palin.
KCH is introduced as “Secretary Handel.” This is probably a reference to her time as Georgia’s Secretary of State. KCH resigned that job to run for Governor, in 2009. Why does anyone want to use a title from 8 years ago? What is so cool about being called Secretary anyway? OTOH, Hillary Clinton was called Secretary Clinton in her ill fated run for the Presidency. Maybe being called Secretary Handel will have the same effect in this election.
45:17 KCH “Jon I guess you subscribe to the Nancy Pelosi approach to policy making.” The candidates are discussing health care. TJO has mentioned 7 year old Matt. KCH has mentioned her sister, born without an esophagus. KCH says that Trumpcare would not affect people with pre-existing conditions. Both sets of lips are moving.
54:33 KCH “He was a junior staffer for Hank Johnson, one of the most liberal tax and spend…” KCH starts to talk about her experience balancing budgets, most notably at the Fulton County Commission. These claims are disputed. The county budget is required by law to balance. KCH then claims to have cut the Secretary of State budget by 20% The SOS budget went from $4.7 m, to $6.9m, under KCH.
1:11:17 KCH says that the election is about the 6th district, and not about Donald Trump. PG is amazed to agree with her. The next thing she says is her standard rant: “You might live just five miles outside of the district but your values are nearly 3,000 miles away in San Francisco, and that’s why so many of your contributions have come from liberals from California, New York and Massachusetts.” In the channel 2 debate, KCH threw Jane Fonda in.
It is apparent that KCH is comfortable with conservative talking points. Just today, PG got a letter from KCH, that began “Fellow Conservative, With less than two weeks left until Election Day, liberal activists are coming to Georgia in droves to work against our campaign.” It is a good thing we got I85 fixed, so we can handle the droves coming in.
1:14:30 KCH is talking about her experience at the Komen foundation. KCH mentions that there is not a PP office in the 6th district. TJO says that PP has an office in Marietta, at 220 Cobb Parkway North. KCH says this office is not in the 6th district. In this part of Cobb County, the district stops at I75. On this point, KCH is correct.
1:14:52 KCH “With all due respect do not interrupt me.” TJO likes to preface his comments with the phrase “With all due respect.” His lips are moving. 1:16:26 KCH “You’ve allowed him to have the last word every single time.”
At this point in the proceedings, PG stepped onto the front porch. There was a flyer from KCH. It says, that voting is a public act, and if you don’t vote your neighbors will know. This is news, probably fake. Mr. Google has a mixed message on this one. Some say yes, some say no, some say yes but it will cost you. If you only vote because you are afraid of neighborhood gossip, you might not belong in a country with elections.
KCH said, in her closing remarks, “the Karen Handel that has always stood by you, and stood up for you.” Imagine how her one time allies in the Log Cabin Republicans felt watching this video. OTOH, there was nothing as brainless as “I do not support a livable wage.”
The debate mercifully ended. There is something to be said for strict tv schedules. One comment made by TJO, in the first debate, was not addressed. He said that the average donation to his campaign is under $50. Is the mean, median, or mode? Does it include funding from out of state PAC sources? When you say average, it means whatever you want it to mean. Some clarification on this point would be appreciated, but probably will not appear soon.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Night Muhammad Ali Fought In Atlanta
Many have noted that Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic torch in 1996. Few seem to remember another Atlanta appearance from the former Cassius Clay. It happened October 26, 1970, at the Municipal Auditorium. To get to this point, lets borrow a few lines from a Courier-Journal Ali Timeline.
1960 – “Clay defeats Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland on Sept. 5 to win the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Olympics in Rome…”
1962 – “Clay hears Elijah Muhammad speak for the first time. He meets another Nation of Islam leader, Malcolm X, who becomes a friend and adviser. – On March 9, the military draft board classifies Clay 1-A, meaning he is fit and available to be called into the Army…”
1964 -” Because of a low score on the Army intelligence test, Clay is reclassified 1-Y, not qualified for military service, in January. “I said I was The Greatest,” he explains. “I never said I was the smartest.” – Clay scores a stunning seventh-round technical knockout over 7-1 favorite Sonny Liston on Feb. 25 at the Miami Convention Center, winning the world heavyweight championship at age 22. – In response to a reporter’s question the day after the fight, Clay confirms he is a member of the Nation of Islam, saying: “I believe in Allah and in peace. … I’m not a Christian anymore. … Followers of Allah are the sweetest people in the world. They don’t tote weapons. They pray five times a day.” – A rift grows between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Ali sides with Elijah, causing grief for Malcolm. – Casting off his “slave name,” Clay adopts the temporary name Cassius X. Later he announces that Elijah has bestowed on him the name Muhammad Ali. The name means “Praiseworthy One.”…”
1965 – “Ali knocks out Liston in the first round of their rematch, before only 4,280 fans in Lewiston, Maine, on May 25. Liston falls under a “phantom” punch that apparently few people see, giving rise to suspicions that he threw the fight. Former champion Joe Louis eventually declares Ali “unfit” to hold the title. – In October, former champion Floyd Patterson says: “Cassius Clay is disgracing himself and the Negro race.” On Nov. 22, Ali delivers a punishing defeat to Patterson, in part, he says, because Patterson refuses to call him Ali….”
1966 – “With the Vietnam War heating up, the Army lowers test-score standards, reclassifying Ali 1-A — fit for service. – “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” he says to reporters who call him at home in Miami. He later explains that “no Viet Cong ever called me nigger.” – Ali asks to be reclassified a conscientious objector to military service. A hearing officer sides with him, but the draft board keeps him 1-A, armed with a U.S. Justice Department opinion that Ali’s objections to military service are political not religious….”
1967 – “On April 28, Ali refuses induction into the Army in Houston.” “It is the light of my consciousness as a Muslim minister and my own personal convictions that I take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted in the armed services,” Ali stated after refusing induction on April 28, 1967. “I have searched my conscience and I find I cannot be true to my belief in my religion by accepting such a call.” He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20, 1967. Ali was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000, the maximum penalty for the offense. He remained free on a $5,000 bond while he appealed his conviction. Ali was also stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship by the New York State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Association, systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. “
For three and a half years, Mr. Ali was unable to fight in the ring. The WBA had a tournament, and installed their own champion. People tried to set up a fight for Mr. Ali, but were blocked by politicians, and state boxing authorities. California Governor Ronald Reagan said “That draft dodger will never fight in my state, period.” Then someone had the idea to have the fight in Atlanta.
Atlanta has never been a boxing town. There was no boxing commission. The Municipal Auditorium, the only venue that could host, was a dump. As Ring magazine tells the story: “So it was the height of irony that it was Atlanta, a city that occupied the heart of the Deep South, that provided the breakthrough. State Senator Leroy Johnson and Governor Lester Maddox helped pave the way for a most improbable return by persuading the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission to grant Ali a boxing license on Aug. 12, 1970. Shortly thereafter, it was announced Ali would fight Jerry Quarry on Oct. 26 at the City Auditorium in Atlanta. The bout was scheduled for 15 rounds, probably in recognition of Ali’s status as lineal heavyweight champion.” (Other sources say that Governor Maddox was opposed to hosting the fight, but was powerless to stop it.)
The opponent was Jerry Quarry, whose white skin was apparent that night. His obituary notes: :His most famous night was in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 1970, when he was the “fall-guy” for Ali’s comeback from his three- year exile. Quarry was stopped because of a badly cut eye in the third round. It brought him his biggest payday, $338,000. … By 1995 he was in the care of his brother James, and was suffering from severe pugilistic dementia.” Jerry Quarry died January 3, 1999.
The fight was not much of a contest. It lasted three rounds, before the referee stopped the match. Mr. Ali fought for ten more years, and regained the Heavyweight Championship twice. “On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court unanimously overturns Ali’s 4-year-old draft conviction, saying that his claims as a conscientious objector were based on religion and were sincere.”
The fight was the occasion for a display of black pride, and black money. The New Yorker essayist George Plimpton remembered that invasion of the Harlem peacocks in their enormous purple Cadillacs: “I’d never seen crowds as fancy, especially the men – felt hatbands and feathered capes, and the stilted shoes, the heels like polished ebony, and many smoking stuff in odd meerschaum pipes.”
“The times reported that the bout was like “a page out of the roaring twenties. … The ladies had beads down to the hem of their maxi-skirts. One man wore an ankle length mink coat, with a high hat of mink to match. … Diana Ross sat in the forth row, ringside, with a bouffant, Afro-American hair-do that stretched out 10 inches on each side.” Many of those in attendance were invited to a party.
“Engraved invitations to one party in particular had been passed around to the hustlers in New York a week earlier and in Atlanta in the days leading up to the fight. The invitations announced that “Fireball” was throwing a party at 2819 Handy Drive, in Collier Heights.
The Handy Drive house happened to be one of several properties that “Chicken Man” Williams owned. He’d given a friend, an Atlantan-turned-New-Yorker known as “Fireball,” permission to use the house. He’d even helped build a craps table the week before so all the big-time gamblers who were sure to show up could “roll the bones.”
Williams’ girlfriend, Barbara Smith, skipped the fight to help prepare for the party. She and two girlfriends were busy in the kitchen when they heard the front door open. The fight was still going on, so Smith went to the front, expecting to meet an early bird. She was greeted by three men in ski masks standing in the hallway. All were armed; one was pointing a shotgun at her face. …
An estimated 80 to 200 people had arrived at the house expecting to party, only to be fleeced by masked men with shotguns. According to news accounts, the victims were led to the basement, then ordered to strip to their underwear, throw all their valuables in a pile and lay on the floor…
As more victims arrived, floor space in the basement became scarce, so the gunmen ordered the victims to lie on top of each other. Cash and jewelry was swept into pillowcases. That went on for hours as more and more people kept showing up. By 3 a.m., the half-naked victims were stacked like cordwood on top of each other.
Not one shot was fired. But as they left, the gunmen took Smith and one of her friends hostage and told everyone else to stay put. Three hours later, they dropped the women off on the other side of town and gave them $10 each for cab fare. By that time, the investigation was underway.
Creative Loafing has a terrific story about the party at Chicken Man’s house. If you have a few minutes, it is worth your time. Ditto for this newspaper story, in the sucky google books format.
A key person in the story is J.D. Hudson. One of the first eight black Atlanta policemen, Lt. Hudson was Mr. Ali’s bodyguard the night of the fight. Lt. Hudson wound up conducting the investigation of the party at Chicken Man’s house. Lt. Hudson met Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, under rather unpleasant circumstances, in 1949.
Lt. Hudson never suspected Chicken Man of being part of the robbery. “From the time he took over the case, Hudson says, he knew Williams wasn’t responsible — even though other investigators already had pinned the crime on him. For one thing, Hudson could place Williams at the fight at the time the gunmen were at the house setting up the crime.
For another, Hudson says, “I knew [Williams] wasn’t dumb enough to pull a stunt like that. This was a man who ran [a] million-dollar operation from a pay phone on a street corner. He was smart. He could’ve run IBM or Coke. There’s no way he would’ve risked all that to pay somebody off. This was pulled off by a bunch of young thugs who were trying to knock over a party, and when they got there and saw how big it was, they improvised.”
Chicken Man went to prison in the seventies, and became a minister. He served as the Pastor of the Salem Baptist Church. Gordon Williams died December 6, 2014. J.D.Hudson died June 4, 2009. The men who robbed the party goers were killed a few months after the fight.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Jon Ossoff Pep Rally
Jon Ossoff held a campaign event Monday at Congregation Bet Haverim. Mr. Ossoff is running for Congress, from Georgia’s 6th district. PG lives in the 6th district. CBH is located south of the 6th district, at 2074 Lavista Road, Atlanta, GA 30329. The event was on facebook live, in three parts: part one, part two, and part three. Parts one and two had the camera set at a ninety degree angle, which made for uncomfortable viewing. Part one was some performers, accompanied by a front row of dancing democrats. Part two was the candidate’s remarks. By part three, the camera was set at a conventional angle. The candidate took questions from the crowd.
PG learned during part two that the event was held at CBH. He wondered, is this facility in the 6th district? Mr. Google helped to find a website for CBH, and a map of the 6th district. PG realizes that other people are concerned about the outcome of this election. However, they do not get to vote. Outsiders can, and do, send money. Lots of money. The 6th district is the most expensive congressional race in history. FWIW, Mr. Ossoff does not live in the 6th district.
Most of the advertising financed by this outside money is obnoxious and misleading. Both Mr. Ossoff and his opponent, Karen Handel are guilty. It is poignant to hear Mr. Ossoff say in part two, at 3:51, that the election is not democrat versus republican, but sense versus nonsense. Both sides are spewing nonsense…like the campaign ads accusing Mrs. Handel of using taxpayer money to pay for a “luxury SUV.” The Secretary of State job had an auto allowance. Big deal.
After confirming that CBH is outside the district, PG wanted to make a comment.
Luther Mckinnon – Is CBH in the sixth district? I looked at a district map, and CBH does not appear to be in the 6th district. Is it appropriate to have a campaign rally outside the district, for people who do not live in the district? Of course, we all know that Mr. Ossoff does not live in the district he wants to represent.
Cenate Pruitt · Luther: I have it on good authority that CBH has congregants who live in that district. Is there a problem with CBH hosting an event as a central location for those congregants to meet with the candidate?
LM – This is a touchy issue. There is a very serious problem with outside money flooding into this election. I, a resident of this district, am sick and tired of the outside attention this race is receiving. I guess if you support Mr. Ossoff you won’t mind, and if you are tired of his dishonest campaign you will mind. The optics of this are very bad.
CP – I don’t live in the Sixth myself. Am I not allowed to have an opinion on the matter?
LM – An opinion yes. A vote no. You might consider that 6th district people might not appreciate your telling them how to vote.
CP – I’ve told nobody how to do anything, nor has CBH as an organization. As far as “out of district money” I politely encourage you to both look up how much out-of-district money has been spent on Handel (those attack ads ain’t free) and take up your concerns with the Supreme Court re: campaign spending.
LM – The optics of this are bad. As far as your “polite encouragement” I have done some research.
Joshua Lesser · Luther Mckinnon, thanks for your question. Let me share with you how and why this meet and greet happened. A. You’re correct CBH is not in the 6th district. B. Many of our members live in the 6th district. C. The campaign asked if we would hold a meet and greet open to the entire Jewish community. D. There was a significant effort to target invitations to people who live in the district. E. This was explicitly not a fundraising event nor an endorsement. F. If Handel’s campaign had asked, I would have advocated that we extend her the same courtesy. I hope that puts some of your alarmed concern to rest.
LM – It was not “alarmed concern” as much as annoyance. This campaign is long and noisy. I am working on a blog post as we speak. I will link to it here.
JL – I understand the annoyance. When you use terms like bad optics, that sounds more like alarm to me. What I didnt say is that there has been vigorous debate in the Jewish press about whether Jon is a good choice. I felt like CBH was doing a community service to allow Jewish voters to hear directly from the candidate. I hope youre not too annoyed that a Jewish candidate might want at least one meet and greet with his community.
At the end of the q&a, a lady made an announcement. There was going to be a group of “Jews for Ossoff” canvassing for the candidate. There were going to be many opportunities for volunteer work. “On sunday, we’re all gonna go canvassing together. WHOOHOO!”
“This was explicitly not a fundraising event nor an endorsement.” No, it was a pep rally. People were encouraged to be fired up for Jon Ossoff. If you want to split hairs, you can say this is not an endorsement. Are we supposed to believe that CBH would have staged an event like this for Karen Handel, if her “campaign had asked”?
The phrase “bad optics” has been used. To PG, this is when something looks bad. The thing with “b.o.” may, or may not, have any real effect on the situation, but it looks bad to outsiders. The first time PG heard this phrase serves as an illustration. It was during the debate on whether to build a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. The powers that be want to spend over a billion dollars for a football stadium. Schools don’t have enough money. Roads need repairs and expansion. The sewer system is a disaster. And yet, somehow we want a billion dollars to build a football stadium. Technically, the hotel-motel tax used had been dedicated to financing the Georgia Dome. On one level, it was proper to use this money to build the “Blank Bowl.” However, the schools still don’t have enough money. The overall priorities of our society are questioned. The optics are bad.
How does this apply to a Jon Ossoff pep rally, held outside the 6th district? People outside the district have a right to an opinion. And people inside the district have a right to be annoyed. Whose right is more important? Which group will have a vote in the election? Maybe, just maybe, the campaign by outsiders will annoy the voting population. The voting population might not understand that the enlightened, and wealthy, people outside the district have their best interests at heart. This perceived disrespect might not have the intended effect. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
White Savior Simplex
display of a link in this facility does not indicate approval of content ~ #MyDragNameWouldBe ~ Talking Back, Talking Black ~ Willie Cory Godbolt: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know ~ Victims identified in shooting spree that left 8 dead in Mississippi ~ Victims of holiday massacre that left eight dead: Gunman killed deputy during dispute with his wife, then launched door-to-door rampage until his bullets ran out – before wailing: ‘I ain’t fit to live’ ~ Suspect in Portland Hate Crime Murders is a Known White Supremacist ~ http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/05/26/19040901/following-hate-speech-two-men-dead-and-one-wounded-at-hollywood-transit-center ~ Protesters call for justice for slain Bowie State student ~ trump meme0529 ~ A Harvard linguist reveals the most misused words in English ~ White Women Drive Me Crazy ~ hitting the note ~ How Much Trump Is Good for the G.O.P. in House Races? ~ Cleveland officials announce discipline against officers in Tamir Rice shooting ~ Tamir Rice Here’s the pic of Tamir’s Gun he had in his hand and a real Bullet gun…. Can you tell which is which? I didn’t think so ~ The Facebook president and Zuck’s racist rulebook ~ @realDonaldTrump Despite the constant negative press covfefe ~ @AlexanderEmmons Watch as Stuart Jones, a high-level acting official in the State Dept, is asked why they criticize Iranian elections but never Saudi Arabia: ~ Civil War letter by Walt Whitman discovered in National Archives ~ @EWErickson I worship Jesus, not Mother Earth. He calls us all to be good stewards of the planet, but doesn’t mean I have to care about global warming. ~ she was quoted as saying that Calvin Coolidge was weaned on a dill pickle. She later denied saying that. ~ Scahill & Greenwald: What If All Victims of War Received the Media Attention of Manchester Victims? ~ the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant ~ Does Trump Really Break the Law If He Deletes a Tweet? ~ Portland Stabbing Victim Micah Fletcher Says City Has ‘White Savior Complex’ ~ Spicer’s Razor ~ Here’s what happens if Trump leaves the Paris climate agreement The optics of this decision are bad. Will it have any real effect? This article suggests that momentum away from fossil fuels is already starting. The decision to leave a non binding treaty may have little effect, other than being yet another PR disaster. ~ Leading Nowhere: The Futility and Farce of Global Climate Negotiations ~ Why the Paris climate deal is meaningless ~ An incredibly telling thing Trump said at today’s Paris event wasn’t about climate at all ~ @oren_cass I have been writing about the Paris Accord since before it was negotiated, so I am issuing myself a waiver from my no-tweetstorm rule. 1/ ~ groundwater podcast ~ The Elitist Individualism of H.L. Mencken ~ Everything Conservatives Said About the Paris Climate Agreement Is Already Wrong ~ Only a True Genius Can Pass This Anagram Quiz ~ The Racial Slur Database, since 1999. Not copyrighted in any way, shape or form. This database was created entirely from data gleaned off the ‘net and via submissions from people like you and your parents. It’s supposed to be funny and/or informational. Calm down. ~ Third of June ~ Is Condé Nast exploiting marginalized writers? ~ chris rock ~ Americans Will Always Do the Right Thing — After Exhausting All the Alternatives ~ they fixate on putin ~ I’m kind of an asshole ~ This is what happens when you encourage early voting. Many of the votes had already been cast. ~ Same thing he would say if a black man kills 8 people, including a law enforcement officer, in Mississippi ~ This Memorial Day, remember three Americans were killed by white supremacist terrorists, two victims were veterans, and the President was silent. He did take the time to congratulate a man who choked and body slammed a journalist. ~ @lntransigeance Here’s the thing though – even moderate opinions on these issues get labelled with bigotry. ~ @NeinQuarterly If you need me, I’ll be in my nihilist utopia. Redeleting my favorite deleted tweets. the spell check suggestion for Redeleting is Regretting ~ i started out with a spiral, then it shifted to the concentric ovals, i put a fibonacci grid over it, then divided the four golden rectangles in corners, then i adjusted the ovals so they entered, and left, the quadrants at the same space as the lines, somewhere along the way, i took the nw quadrant, and copied it to the other three quadrants, tomorrow, i start to build a model, to choose the colors to use, this is a lot of fun. ~ You cannot change your vote if he attacks a reporter the night before the election. ~ If you don’t live in the GA 6th district, Mind your own business ~ @badbanana Mr. President, tear down this tweet. #covfefe ~ It was fun for a while last night when the tweet hit. The concept of a sitting POTUS doing something like would be considered unbelievable fiction until recently. Today, I have not given it a second thought. I just wonder what the next Trump moment will be. ~ @StAugOsteen There will always be people hurling insults. Thou vomitest forth very freely what thou thinkest. ~ Having a credit partially obscure the last word of a meme is not very smart. ~ Is his name really Mr. Juncker? ~ That is your #WhitePrivilege talking ~ Cursing is the way you talk when trying to read cursive. ~ miss blaque has an itchy finger on the block button spell check suggestion for blaque is plaque ~ Carlos Santana is trending on twitter. He did not die. He played the national anthem at a basketball game. ~ What led up to this confrontation? Why was Rep. Waters so obnoxious? her job is not to impeach the potus, no matter what she says ~ Doesn’t Russia have bad heroin problem? Close overland to Afghanistan, lots of energy money, population that likes to get high.. why not? ~ A Harvard linguist reveals the most misused words in English Here are some highlights: Adverse, Appraise , Beg the question, Bemused , Cliché, Data , Depreciate, Disinterested , Enormity , Hone , Hung , Ironic , Nonplussed, Parameter , Shrunk, Simplistic , Verbal , Effect, Lie ~ Someone said something last week about the “talking stick.” The preferred term is talisman. The talisman is a device for controlling conversation. The idea is that only the person holding the talisman is allowed to speak. The other people in the group listen. It is best to focus on the person speaking, and not to think about what you are going to say later. The talisman can be passed around the group, either clockwise or counter clockwise. Or the talisman can be placed in the center of the group, and the next person who wants to speak can pick it up. This is said by some to be a Native American custom. It is not known what nation this custom is borrowed from. There is a possibility that someone just decided to do this, and the Native American origin tale just fit their purpose. ~ @ChrchCurmudgeon One of our kids dropped his fidget spinner in the pancake batter at the youth group breakfast this weekend. … Of course, the pancakes came out almost paper-thin. … But there it was. A spinner, saved by crêpes. ~ Georgia residents of a certain age remember Effies. Maybe covfefe is pronounced cove EFF ee ~ Attn 6th district voter: When you see an outsider comment on the election, reply with this: Has anyone who lives in the 6th district asked @_____ how they should vote? ~ G-d is the friend of poets with writers block ~ In addition to his other talents, Mr. Whitman grew a great beard. ~ @HillaryClinton put the tit back in identity politics ~ Show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content @IR8PROSTATE Grassy ass ~ This meme is now obsolete. Bill Maher said a bad word on his show last night. ~ spell check is the progeny of a parade of pedants ~ if i see the ossoff kitchen table video one more time i am voting for …. probably ossoff, but he is running a terrible overfunded campaign ~ @existentialcoms “What do you do?” “Well, if you define me by my job, I’m an engineer. But if you define me by what I do in my free time, I’m depressed.” ~ When are we going to challenge power of n-word? hysteria is poisoning society Maybe if we focus on institutional oppression instead of word ~ @afemal3pr This one time I wish the hoteps were right and periods are something we could rid of if we just stopped eating the white man’s food ~ This Domain Name Has Expired – Renewal Instructions. ~ born on june 3: Jefferson Davis (1808), Josephine Baker (1906), Paulette Goddard (1910), Tony Curtis (1925), Allen Ginsberg (1926). People who met their maker on June 3 include Ozzie Nelson (1975), Billy Joe McAllister (1967), Ruhollah Khomeini (1989), Rue McClanahan (2010), Jack Kevorkian (2011), Muhammad Ali (2016). ~ Show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content ~ @conjja are you saying its not prudent to bring a knife to a british beer brawl? @madfrankiewfc Not without a fork and a spoon. To the victor the spoils ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
91 Word Sentence About White Supremacy Part Two
There was a tasteful meme on the facebook thingie today. It was about BHO, who may go down in history as the Meme President. The block of JPG text began When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother… This is a repost
Some people quote the first sentence in a situation like this. In this rant, the first sentence has 91 words. It has more grammar mistakes than a sportscaster seminar. It boils down to: when A is considered B by C who D. And what does D do next? Those 91 words are an insult to the Queen’s English. (91 is the product of 7, a lucky number, multiplied by 13, an unlucky number.)
There are eight more words at the end. “This is white supremacy folks. Plain and simple.” A comma might help in the sentence. Does he mean that the two players in the 91 word sentence are “white supremacy folks.”? Or is the author calling the attitude described “white supremacy”.? In any event, “Plain and simple” is not a complete sentence, nor does it describe the 91 word sentence.
This is a case where the medium is as important to the story as the message. When looking for information about the meme, PG typed “When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother” into the wonder window. The algorithm replied: “Did you mean: When a faithful married black president who was the son of a single mother.”
The first reply was from the dependable PuffHo, This Is Not White Supremacy. It made some good points. A few spots down the google page, we see THIS IS NOT WHITE SUPREMACY. That is the original posting of the commentary. PuffHo aggregated it, without paying the original author.
So mush much for the medium. Lets look at the message. BHO, as you may know, is mixed race. The “single mother” of the piece was white. To our racially obsessed culture, this means black. America has had nine years to get over the ethnicity of BHO. It has failed miserably. To some, any criticism of BHO is racist. They mindlessly defend anything BHO does, and say that the critics are members of the KKK. Others are upset because a dark skinned man is in the White House. To these people BHO can do nothing right, because he has dark skin.
Either way, the people who see the skin, and not the man, are doing America a disservice. After January 20, 2017, we will find some other mindless excuse to trash our leaders. (UPDATE: It is so, so easy to find fault with DJT.) This is how politics works. You say whatever you can think of that is negative about the opposition. You gloss over the negativity of your own side. After a while, a lot of people don’t believe a word that either side is saying. When everyone is shouting, nobody is heard. This is politics. The generalizations are plain, and the minds are so, so simple.
There is an attitude among some that “racism” is a metaphysical evil. The R monster must be defeated. Collateral damage is not a problem. If you are going to make an omelet, you need to break eggs. When PG hears talk like this, he feels like an egg.
One problem is that everyone has their own idea of what “racism” is. They are correct, and you are mistaken. To some, it is systemic institutional oppression. To others, it is cultural appropriation and microaggressions. (spell check suggestion: nonaggression) Some cynics say that “racism” is anything that rubs you the wrong way. Agree or disagree, you need to check your privilege.
PG saw a video last week, A Rant Against an Anti-Millennial Rant. “And we use words like “racist” to describe someone who thinks that the word “bae” isn’t real because it didn’t originate from a white, Eurocentric vernacular.” These are strange times.
If you are getting itchy, this is almost over. If you like, you can skip over the rest, and look at the pictures. They are from The Library of Congress. Image #06663: “Fifth International Pageant of Pulchritude and Eleventh Annual Bathing Girl Revue, Galveston, Texas, August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1930”
UPDATE: This is a repost. While looking over the text, PG saw a paragraph about an obnoxious video. It turns out the video features Dylan Marron, who says “And we understand that surface gestures are totally cool but they do nothing to dismantle systemic patriarchy.”
Alleged comedian Bill Maher got in trouble this week for saying a forbidden word on TV. A national hissy fit resulted. This communal pearl clutching is an example of a surface gesture. Screaming “MOMMY HE SAID THE N-WORD” does nothing to dismantle systemic patriarchy.
Happy Birthday Mr. Ginsberg
This feature was originally intended to honor the arrival of a certain poet in 1926. June 3 is also the birthay of Jefferson Davis (1808), Josephine Baker (1906), Paulette Goddard (1910), Tony Curtis (1925), Allen Ginsberg (1926). People who met their maker on June 3 include Ozzie Nelson (1975), Billy Joe McAllister (1967), Ruhollah Khomeini (1989), Rue McClanahan (2010), Jack Kevorkian (2011), Muhammad Ali (2016). There is a synchronicity to the demise of Dr. Kervorkian.
Allen Ginsberg would be 91 today, if nature had not made other plans in 1997. The son of Louis and Naomi Ginsberg arrived, in Newark NJ, June 3,1926.
Allen Ginsberg had a part in many new age dramas, with a few musicals and comedies thrown in for good measure. Hippie, beatnik, gay, artist, peace promoter, Buddhist convert…these are a few of the labels. He became famous for being famous, well known to people who never read a word of his poems. Two of the more famous were howl and kaddish.
Howl became scandalous in 1956 when it was busted for obscenity. It is mild by today’s standards, but almost landed Mr. Ginsberg in prison. PG heard about howl in the early nineties, and looked high and low for a copy. He could not find one. Today on the internet, not only is the text widely available, there are recordings of Mr. Ginsberg reading his work. (Here is an updated version, Howl 2011.)
The original plan was to listen to Mr. Ginsberg read while editing photos. PG was going to listen to the words, and think of something to say while listening to the bard. About the seventeenth time Mr. Ginsberg shouted “Moloch”, the plan began to fall apart.
The next poem was Kaddish. This is about Naomi Ginsberg, the mother of the poet, who evidently had some issues. This was tough for PG to listen to. The other night, PG had a disturbing dream about his own late mother. In this dream, a fearsome shouter came in wearing a black suit, which meant that he intended to do some scary shouting. PG went into another room, where his recently deceased mother was laying on a table.
1956 was the year of the obscenity trial for howl. This took place on the other side of america, from the Brookhaven where PG was two years old. This was the year when his brother was born, the year when the Georgia legislature voted in a new flag, for whatever reason. In 1955, President Eisenhower had a heart attack. Many wondered if it was a good idea to have Richard Nixon as the vice president.
Finally, PG could stand no more of that voice. The player was turned off, the files stored on an external hard drive, never to be heard again. PG just is not a poetry person. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Withdrawal
As you may have heard, “President Donald Trump proclaimed Thursday he was withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord.” CNN and Fox are critical of the decision. For poetic bluster, another headline takes the prize: “Trump Echoed Hitler in His Speech Withdrawing From the Paris Climate Accord.” Godwin’s law was satisfird early.
The Paris Withdrawal is the most recent chicken little moment of the Trump regime. The twitterati is having a national hissy fit. One twitterphile sees things differently. @oren_cass I have been writing about the Paris Accord since before it was negotiated, so I am issuing myself a waiver from my no-tweetstorm rule. 1/ ~ The Paris conference itself was largely a collation and stapling exercise. Of course they reached an “agreement.” 4/ ~ But this agreement came at the expense of acknowledging or addressing the actual tradeoff at the heart of climate policy: 5/ ~ Unsurprisingly, these developing countries made Paris commitments to continue with business as usual. And then everyone applauded. 9/ ~ Strangely, climate activists seemed enthusiastic — almost as if they cared more about the optics of agreements than climate action. 13/
@oren_cass “Senior Fellow @ManhattanInst. Domestic Policy Director @MittRomney 2012” is not a fan of the Paris Accord. Here is a piece he wrote in 2015, when the Accord was coming together, and BHO was POTUS: Why the Paris climate deal is meaningless. Apparently, the Paris Accord is an agreement to meet every few years, and give an unverified report of the progress you are making. It is more style than substance.
The American decision to withdraw is also style over substance. It is tough to see any real impact of this decision, other than making the United States look bad. In effect, we are saying that we are not going to even pretend to care. NYmag is slightly more concerned. “The Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement will not end the global effort to limit the effects of climate change. In the immediate time frame — say, Trump’s first term — it will have little effect, and may even spur a backlash as the rest of the world redoubles its commitment to action (China and the European Union have already taken steps to do so). It will, however, slow and impair international diplomacy. The next American government that tries to negotiate on climate change will be handicapped by the suspicion that it won’t abide by its commitments, undercutting American leadership and making it more difficult to secure cooperation from other countries.”
There are more questions. Does it really make any difference to the rest of the world? There are reports that China is making serious progress on carbon pollution. This is tough to verify from this side of the Pacific. It could be that China, and the European Union, see clean energy as being in their own best interest. Technology is catching up to demand. Whatever the Americans do is seen as irrelevant… which is not how you make America great again.
Legally, “Trump also can’t technically withdraw from the agreement until November 2019. It’s possible he could speed things up by abandoning the underlying Senate-approved climate treaty that the agreement is linked to.” Snopes, who is never wrong, has some information about the treaties linked to the Paris Accord. The spell check suggestions for Snopes: Scopes, Snipes, Snores
This decision was announced yesterday, and will get the nation’s attention until the next chicken little moment. The Paris Accord seems to be more form than function. The parade of American cities, announcing their attention to stay in the agreement, is a cute photo op. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Jeremy Christian And Willie Godbolt
“This Memorial Day, remember three Americans were killed by white supremacist terrorists, two victims were veterans, and the President was silent. He did take the time to congratulate a man who choked and body slammed a journalist.” This meme mentions three incidents, and a tweet. The two deadly incidents were in Bowie MD, and Portland OR. A congressional candidate assaulted a journalist in Montana, and was praised by @realDonaldTrump.
The meme did not mention a much deadlier incident. The night after the Portland attack, 8 people were killed in Mississippi… “8 people are dead, including a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy, after overnight shooting” William Cory Godbolt (WCG) went to a house. He said he wanted to talk to his children. There were family issues. Before long, WCG started shooting, and 8 people were dead. One of the dead was a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy. 7 members of WCG’s family died. Few have called the alleged perpetrator, Willie Cory Godbolt (WCG), a terrorist. The incident has gotten a fraction of the coverage devoted to the Portland killing.
WCG gave a statement. “I was having a conversation with her stepdaddy and her mama and her, my wife, about me taking my children home,” he said. “Somebody called the officer, people that didn’t even live at the house. That’s what they do. They intervene. … They cost him his life, I’m sorry. … My intentions was to have God kill me. I ran out of bullets. Suicide by cop was my intention.”
The people killed in Portland, by Jeremy Joseph Christian (JJC,) are being called heroes. They are Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, and Rick Best, 53. JJC created a disturbance on a train, and people tried to get him to leave. It is not known who touched who first. What is known is that JJC cut three people, two of whom died. While this intervention was brave, it was also voluntary. We don’t know what would have happened if JJC had been allowed to continue his rant, until he got to his destination. What would have happened if the police had been called, instead of volunteer bystanders? In the future, people will think twice about confronting obnoxious people. Maybe next time, the bystander will be the one to use a weapon.
One of the family members in Mississippi is being called hero. “Jordan Blackwell died a hero, shielding his 15-year-old cousin Caleb from the bullets when a man barged into their Brookhaven home in the middle of the night in a hail of gunfire. The home on 1658 Coopertown Road was the second stop in a three-home shooting rampage that began late Saturday night and ended early Sunday morning with the arrest of suspect Willie Corey Godbolt.” The Deputy, William Durr, 36, is a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, and is remembered accordingly. The other 6 people that died in Lincoln County… Barbara Mitchell, 55, Brenda May, 53, Tocarra May, 35, Ferral Burage,45, Shelia Burage, 46, Austin Edwards, 11 … did not make a choice to intervene. They were were just living their lives, until WCG lost his mind.
Anti-social media has not been quiet. LISTEN UP, RACISTS is one digital outburst. JJC’s facebook page has been taken down, but not before helpful people recorded some of his thoughts. WCG’s facebook page is still up. One of the people he killed, Barbara Mitchell, is a facebook friend.
JJC is plausibly labeled a white supremacist. Since he was shouting hateful nonsense during the incident, this might be relevant. There is much hand wringing about dealing with the issue of white supremacy, as if this will stop people who want to kill. JJC clearly has issues galore. Was he a violent asshole because of white supremacy, or was he a white supremacist because he was a violent asshole?
WCG also has numerous issues. Since he is black, he will not be called white supremacist. Only 1 of his 8 victims was white. The word racist will not be heard. Does this make his crime less horrible? Is it worse to kill 2 white people, because of racism, than it is to kill to kill 7 black people, because you snapped? Condemning WCG does not fit the “woke” media narrative as much as denouncing JJC.
America has a violence problem. During the three days of the JJC and WCG killings, police were involved in 13 deaths. Hand wringing about white supremacy, and mental health, might help a little bit. Blaming Donald Trump will do about as much as blaming Barack Obama. Proudly labeling a psycho killer “terrorist” will not help. Trashing people with a different skin color will not help. This slack blogger does not know what to do. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
leave a comment