Killed By Police The End
Chamblee54 has published a report on police killing, every Sunday morning, since October 15. The series is coming to an end. The primary source, Killed By Police, has not posted since April 30, and appears to be shutting down. KBP is a volunteer project, and is always looking for donations. It is a lot of work to keep something like this going, and evidently KBP has come to the end of the road. The Washington Post has a database for police killings, but it is difficult to use. The Guardian shut down its database at the end of 2016. There were 29 reports in the chamblee54 series. A partial report published 05/06/18 will not be included in this report.
Here are the numbers. 645 were killed by police between October 8, 2017, and April 30, 2018. White – 250 (39%) black – 125 (19%) latino – 47 (7%) native – 14 (2%) asian – 2 (.3%) unknown – 210 (32%) female – 33 (5%). When looking at the cases, there are two details that come up every week. This is whether the victims fired at a LEO, and whether the victim displayed a weapon. 163 people (25%) fired at an officer. 279 (43%) displayed a weapon. The latter category covers a lot of ground, from holding a knife, to attacking people with a knife, to pointing a gun at an officer. It should be noted that this information is taken from media reports, which are not made under oath. LEO do not always tell the truth. While these numbers should be viewed with skepticism, they give a reasonably accurate view of the truth.
This series has taken some time, and work, to produce. There has been very little feedback. Sometimes, I wonder if anyone has been reading. For all the turmoil we have about police killing people, especially African Americans, there is little interest in a day by day accounting of the cases. People want to be riled up by angry shouting on certain cases, but show little interest in the bulk of the stories. As Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story.
Are African Americans unfairly targeted? I don’t think so. There may be individual cases where the LEO acted inappropriately, both black and white. The talk of genocide, and targeted killings, is way, way overblown. What I have seen in the 29 weeks is not genocide. The hysterical rhetoric surrounding police killings does not serve America well.
The numbers used today are from 2016. The sources used are The Guardian, The FBI, The US Census Bureau, and chamblee54. On July 1, 2016, there were 323,127,513 people in the United States. White people were 76.9% (248,485,057), and black people were 13.3% (42,975,959).
In 2016, 1093 people were killed by police, including 574 white people and 266 black people. On a per-million basis, this works out to 10.3 native, 6.66 black, 3.23 latino, 2.9 white, and 1.17 asian. (These numbers can be confusing. The FBI, and the Census Bureau, lump hispanic/latino people in with what racial group is appropriate, and do not count them as a separate racial category. At these sources, hispanic/latino is seen as an ethnicity, rather than a race. At The Guardian, hispanic/latino is considered a separate category from white and black. In the chamblee54 series, latino is considered a separate category, rather than lumped in with other races.)
The United States had 15,070 homicides in 2016. This is white 6,576, black 7,881, other race 400, and unknown race 213. (29 of the unknown race victims were also unknown gender.) If you divide the number of homicide victims by the population, you get the number of homicide victims per million. The overall population lost 46.63 people per million. For white people, there were 26.46 homicide victims per million. For black people, there were 183.38 homicide victims per million.
If you divide the number of police killings, by the total number of homicides, you will get another number. The overall percentage (1093/15070) is 7.25%. For white people (574/6576) the percentage is 8.72%. For black people (266/7881) the percentage is 3.37%
Women were 5% of the people killed in this report. Women are 50.8% of the population. Does this mean that men are being unfairly targeted by police?
Two cases were noteworthy enough to justify a standalone post. These incidents involved Andrew Finch, and Stephon Clark. Mr. Finch stepped onto his porch, after a fictitious 911 call. Mr. Clark ran from the police, after a 911 caller reported him breaking the windows on his truck. The case of Mr. Finch generated about one percent of the outrage generated over the case of Mr. Clark. On April 12, authorities announced that no charges would be brought against the officer who shot Mr. Finch. Another video was released while the chamblee54 series was in progress, showing the Las Vegas police shooting Daniel Shaver.
A lot of people in the United States own a firearm. This is not going to change. When a police officer goes on a call, he knows that there is a very good possibility that person is armed. Keep this in mind when you trash talk police. If you don’t want to do that, maybe you can watch this video. It is only 2 minutes long. Police are searching an apartment. They look in every room, until the come to the last closet. A man jumps out of that closet, with an 8″ kitchen knife aimed at the police. The officer has less than a second to fire, before being cut. This is what a LEO faces every time they answer a call.
Here are the links to the 29 reports, covering October 8, 2017, through April 30, 2018: 10/15/17 10/22/17 10/29/17 11/05/17 11/12/17 11/19/17 11/29/17 12/03/17 12/10/17 12/17/17 12/24/17 12/31/17 01/07/18 01/14/18 01/21/18 01/28/18 02/04/18 02/11/18 02/18/18 02/25/18 03/04/18 03/11/18 03/18/18 03/25/18 04/01/18 04/08/18 04/15/18 04/22/18 04/29/18 Pictures for the killed by police finale are from The Library of Congress.
Changing The Flag
This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. It was written in first person. The issue discussed has mostly faded away, except for a few hardcore cranks. Politicians have found new issues to distract voters when they want to make crooked deals. These things too shall pass away.
In 1994 I was working in downtown Atlanta. I represented my company in a customer’s office, and there was often time with nothing to do. At the very least, there was no time clock. Lunch could slip into overtime with few consequences.
There was an issue in the news in 1994, along with some claims that I did not believe. This issue was whether, or not, to change the state flag. One day, I went to the library, and sat down with the microfilms of the Atlanta Constitution (Covers Dixie Like the Dew) for the Winter of 1956.
One of the fun things about doing research is the things you were not looking for. Elvis Presley made a personal appearance at the Fox Theater. Atlanta Blue opened a facility on West Peachtree Street. There was speculation about whether Dwight Eisenhower would have a different Vice President in the next election. Mr. President had a heart attack in 1955. Many did not want Richard Nixon to be Vice President. 1994 was 20 years after Mr. Nixon resigned the Presidency in disgrace. You wonder how things might have been different if Mr. Eisenhower found a new Vice President.
1956 was two years after Brown vs. The Board of Education, and many were concerned about school desegregation. A bill was proposed in the legislature to make it a felony to advocate integration.
The Governor at the time was Marvin Griffin. Georgia Tech played Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl that year, in spite of the fact that Pittsburgh had a black player. The Governor strongly objected, but was overruled. The game was played without incident.
The State of Georgia changed the state flag that year. The new flag had the state seal on a blue stripe next to the St. Andrews Cross, the battle flag of the Confederate States of America.
In 1994 many wanted to change that flag. Some said that it was a symbol of slavery and oppression; others said it was a reminder of battlefield valor. A native southerner, I could appreciate both points of view. I was neutral regarding a change of the flag.
One thing that I did not understand was an argument made for changing the flag. The line in those days…first expressed by Governor Zell Miller and endlessly repeated by the local fishwrapper media … was that the flag had been changed as a protest against desegregation.
I did not believe that for a minute. The legislature in 1956 was not that smart. They were a bunch of white males who were, with a few exceptions, racist, alcoholic crooks. If someone had suggested a flag change as a stand of defiance against desegregation, they might have thought it a good idea, but I somehow doubt that anyone thought like that. This was 1956. The sixties, where protest became the new national pastime, were a few years away.
After a few minutes of searching through the department store ads and sports pages, I found what I was looking for…. the article announcing the flag change. There was no mention of a protest against desegregation. They announced it as a way of honoring the Confederacy. This is in keeping with the times. Georgia in 1956 was still recovering from the War, and the Cult of Honoring the Confederacy was strong. Fergit Hell!
The flag was eventually changed during the administration of Governor Roy Barnes. The new flag was even uglier than the old one, which I did not think was possible. Sonny Perdue defeated Mr. Barnes in his bid for reelection, in no small part because he proposed a referendum on the flag. He forgot this promise as soon as he got into office, but the flag was changed once again.
20 Facts About Death
PG is running out of things to say. Never mind having something good to say about anyone, he doesn’t have anything to say, good or bad. Fortunately, archives are forever, as Richard Grenell found out. PG found this list in his archives. It is based on 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… Death, at Discover Magazine. This is a repost. These statements have not been verified, and may contain inaccuracies. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
1) The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2) There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including “to be in Abraham’s bosom,” “just add maggots,” and “sleep with the Tribbles” (a Star Trek favorite).
3) No American has died of old age since 1951. That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.
4) The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the “agonal phase,” from the Greek word agon, or contest.
5) Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
6) Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
7) Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.
8) More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
9) It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.
10) A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this “ecological burial” will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
11) Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures. The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.
12) Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.
13) In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.
14) During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.
15) English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.
16) For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.
17) Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It’s not.
18) Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in “hospitals for the dead” while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.
There Is No I In Denial
There’s no I in denial. ~ What does a house wear? A dress.
What did the buffalo say to his son as he left for college? Bison
I asked a Frenchman if he played video games. He said “wii”.
I ate a clock yesterday, it was so time consuming.
Why was Santa’s little helper feeling depressed? Because he has low Elf esteem
How many optometrists does it take to change a light bulb?… 1 or 2? 1… or 2?
Just read a few facts about frogs. They were ribbiting.
Want to hear a word I just made up? Plagiarism.
What did the hungry clock do? Went back four seconds!
Becoming a vegetarian is a huge missed steak.
Have you seen that new movie about trees in love? …Yeah, it’s pretty sappy…
I don’t like atoms, they’re liars. They make up everything.
I was thinking about moving to Moscow but there is no point Russian into things.
First rule of Thesaurus Club: You don’t talk, converse, discuss, speak, chat,
deliberate, confer, gab, gossip or natter about Thesaurus Club
There is a new disease found in margarine… Apparently it spreading very easily.
People are making apocalypse jokes like there’s no tomorrow.
Need an ark to save two of every animal? I Noah guy.
What’s the advantage of living in Switzerland? Well, the flag is a big plus.
“I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!”
It’s so hard to think of another chemistry joke… All the good ones Argon.
Breaking news! Energizer Bunny arrested – charged with battery.
I’m off to Nairobi in the Summer. Kenya believe it?
A baker was caught bonking his bread loaves. They say he was inbread.
I enjoy using the comedy technique of self-deprecation – but I’m not very good at it.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Your Silly Ideas About Jesus
the display of a link on this does not indicate approval of content ~ art ~ Jake ~ Kemp’s Commercial is Criminal ~ Man admits he had sexual contact with a horse ~ From The JFK Assassination Files: Was Lyndon Johnson A Klansman? ~ Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming. It’s Time for That to Change. ~ Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams Approved GOP’s Gerrymandering Effort, Lawmakers Claim in Court ~ The Georgia Primary Offers A Preview Of Democrats’ 2020 Fault Lines ~ roy cohn ~ The Right Way to Remove a Tick off a dog ~ blackout poetry ~ The Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner ~ judgemental maps ~ photo viewer ~ stay of execution ~ Controversial tweet shows how ugly race for Governor of Georgia is getting ~ Stacey vs Stacey ~ “The emotional well being of a dying child is more important than any religious or philosophical argument you could make.” The same goes for adults. When it is my time, keep your silly ideas about Jesus to yourself ~ @CIAGoFundMe If she prefers slash-and-burn farming to crop rotation, she a hoe ~ Oklahoma Pastor Busted Running White Supremacist Prostitution Ring The evidence of one lady being a “white supremacist” is weak. This is a slander piece. Just saying that the super preacher was running a prostie business should be enough gossip. They don’t need to bring the other stuff up. ~ bsa bs ~ don lemon said so ~ Every Alfred Hitchcock Cameo ~ Edward Ruggiero ~ ruggiero ~ vegan beer ~ homelessness ~ Maybe the translators and scribes got it wrong. Maybe Jesus did not say to love your enemy. Maybe what Jesus said was to show kindness to everyone. This is a practice thing, rather than a belief thing. ~ I thought the first few minutes of the performance were funny, but it got old fast. The WHCD audience was not laughing, which should have told her something. Miss Wolf could have used a lighter touch. After a while, the meanness was tiresome. I find the reaction … two wrongs make a right, why is this offensive but not this, etc… this reaction was about as funny as her walkoff comment about the water in Flint MI. At least she didn’t dress like a sheep. ~ Stacey Abrams has a lot of problems. Her supporters shouted down her opponent, Stacey Evans, at the Netroots Conference last year. Ms. Abrams supports this. If we are a civilized people, then we do not shout down people when they are trying to speak. ~ I will vote a secret ballot. I usually vote in the Republican primary, because it has more action. However, this time, all the Republicans are turkeys, so I may choose between the two Staceys. Here is a bit more about these two ladies, and about the sad state of radical politics performance art. ~ pretty much every stereotypical _____ criticism of _____ is projection. ~ If nothing else, this type of reasoning might make some people shut up and think. A good example is telling a homophobe that he is secretly gay, and just covering up for it. If you really want to start something, tell an sjw that they are secretly racist, and overcompensating. ~ #NationalDayofPrayer “how we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me” Randy Newman ~ ” Acting exactly like the arrogant, snobbish, condescending liberal elite that they accuse us of being simply fosters a deeper divide in our nation and drives these people further into the arms of a demagogue like Trump.” Don’t you really mean racism? ~ @Tyler_InTheKnow “I never seen a ceiling in my whole life.” -Blue Ivy Tweets are MINE. #AKA #TeamAbrams This account’s Tweets are protected. Only confirmed followers have access to @Tyler_InTheKnow’s Tweets and complete profile. Click the “Follow” button to send a follow request. ~ an opinion is like an asshole it should only be shared with someone who enjoys it ~ Is the 9th most dangerous neighborhood now Xanadu ~ preservation anagrams as perversion at ~ @therealroseanne she’s known for anal porn scenes. @StormyDaniels I don’t even do anal movies, you ignorant twat. That’s like saying you are known for your beautiful rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. ~ @Styx666Official There once was a left wing candidate gal, But in the primaries went nuts and she failed, “By an old hag” they said, “Should the nation be led”, Then they blamed Russian nazis to no avail ~ there was a young lady named gail, in the primary voting she failed, she lost to an old hag, when she had it in the bag, blaming russian bots to no avail ~ an ornery jew named sanders, was quick with the witty slanders, his campaign washed ashore, got shot down by a whore, when black lives matter took a gander ~ pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ Here is the poem from last night at java monkey:
caucasian opinion is like an butt hole ~ it should be kept clean quiet out of sight
unlike a preacher who covets your soul ~ and motivates you to go out and fight
put labels on jars not on my brother ~ conservative racist or liberal
or terrorist who’s always the other ~ words that eat us up like a cannibal
is it a lie or can it be true ~ if the lips are moving that is a clue
don’t stick around for the demagogue shout ~ the devil knows the bible in and out
toxic manipulation for the win ~ never forget we are all god’s children ~ selah
Killed By Police May 6
6 people were Killed By Police in the United States last week, according to the kbp database. The last killing shown there was on April 30, and the kbp operation may be shutting down. If this happens, then the chamblee54 series will end. Here are the links for this week: 413 Brian Scott Tietze 414 Joshua Ewing 415 Brandon Busher 416 417 Michael Scott Knibbs 418 Abadi Gedregziber. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
3 of the victims were white. (415, 416, 417) 418 Abadi Gedregziber was black. The race of 2 of the victims is unknown. (413, 414) 2 of the victims fired at an officer. (413, 414) 3 of the victims displayed a weapon. (416, 417, 418)
“At approximately 9:40 p.m. Sunday , April 29, Redlands Police responded to a call of a residential burglary at a home in the 1600 block of Calvary Circle that was under renovation. Officers arrived approximately 10 minutes later. According to a police report, while investigating the reported burglary, officers announced their presence numerous times both prior to and after entering the residence. While searching the residence, officers located the suspect hiding inside a closet. Officers ordered the suspect numerous times to show his hands from his position of concealment. After several commands, the suspect rapidly exited the closet, holding two weapons in a raised and aggressive manner. The suspect advanced on the officers, ignoring all commands. An officer-involved shooting occurred and the suspect was killed. The suspect’s weapons did not include a firearm and no other injuries were reported. The suspect is described as a 42-year-old white male adult. He was last known to be a transient out of Riverside County. His identity is being withheld while the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office attempts to locate next of kin for notification.” (416)
“It was about 11:40 Sunday night when a call came into Macon County’s 911 center from a Pheasant Drive resident, who registered a complaint about his neighbor. “And I had some friends over here, had a fire tonight,” the neighbor told 911 dispatch. “And he’s put boards in the road so that we can’t, my friends can’t leave. And they’ve got nails in them.” Sheriff’s office officials said the resident was armed and confrontational when the deputy arrived just before midnight “The deputy made several commands for him to put his weapon down. The individual made an aggressive action toward my officer, at which time, in a self-defense manner, discharged his firearm striking the individual,” Sheriff Robert Holland said. … deputy Anthony Momphard fired his service weapon, fatally wounding, Michael Scott Knibbs.” “A neighbor told WYFF news 4 that deputies were called because they were afraid Knibbs would get into a fight with them if they tried to move the boards. The neighbor said he heard someone yelling “put it down” several times before he heard several gunshots. Scott Knibbs died at the scene. The attorneys hired by Knibbs’ family released a statement Tuesday. The statement describes Knibbs as being at home with his wife of 25 years, his 13-year-old son, his 22-year-old daughter and his 5-month-old grandson. The news release said, “Scott told a man who had pulled into the Knibbs’ driveway looking for a house party next door to leave and not return. Around midnight, a man’s voice was heard yelling from the front of their home. “There was no patrol car parked outside the Knibbs’ home, no blue lights, and no advance warning that a rookie police officer was approaching their home. Scott was concerned for the safety of his family. Scott retrieved the shotgun he kept in the bedroom for self-defense. Scott then walked towards the front door to see who was yelling at his family’s front door. “The man yelled demands from outside on the porch. Seconds later the deputy fired multiple shots from outside the Knibbs’ house, through a front window, striking Scott. Scott never had a chance to open the front door or speak to the officer. Scott bled to death just a few steps away from the front door in his own dining room. The Deputy did not administer first-aid while he awaited backup from other officers and EMS.” The attorneys said that the boards in the road that appear to be the center of the dispute were “actually speed bumps placed in the common roadway to slow visitors down as they passed the Knibbs home due to the children who frequently played in the front yard.” … The Knibbs family’s attorneys said, “We have promised the Knibbs family to learn the truth of why Scott was killed in his own home from shots fired from outside his residence by a rookie officer.”” (417)
“Columbus Police responded to an apartment complex on Walford Street on a report of a stabbing just after 9 a.m. According to Columbus police, three women were stabbed inside an apartment. Two women were transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital and both died from their injuries. A third woman was taken to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and remains in critical condition. Officers located a male suspect in the yard of the apartment complex. Columbus Police say the officers tased and shot the suspect. (Abadi Gedregziber) He was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.” (418)
May 6
May 6is a day in spring, with 35% of the year gone by. It has it’s fair share of history, some of which did not turn out well. In 1861, the Confederate Congress declared war on the United States. In 1937, a German zeppelin named “Hindenburg” exploded while trying to land in New Jersey. In 1940, Bob Hope did his first show for the USO, somewhere in California.
Roger Bannister ran the first sub four minute mile, on May 6,1954. The current record is 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj on July 7, 1999, with a party with Prince to celebrate. Since most track meets now use 1500 meters, the mile record is more or less obsolete.
On this day, Georgia executed two notable prisoners. In 2003, Carl Isaacs was put to death. Mr. Isaacs was the ringleader in the 1973 Alday family killing, in Donalsonville GA. Five years later, in 2008, William Earl Lynd was poisoned by the state. This was the first condemned man to die after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that execution by poisoning was constitutional.
Taurus is the sign for those whose blood starts to pump May 6. Included are:
Maximilien Robespierre (1758) Sigmund Freud (1856) Rudolph Valentino (1895)
Orson Welles (1915) Willie Mays (1931) Rubin Carter (1937)
Bob Seger (1945) Tony Blair (1953) PG (1954) George Clooney(1961)
To make room for these folks, someone has to die. For May 6 this would mean:
Henry David Thoreau (1862) L. Frank Baum (1919) Marlene Dietrich (1992)
This repost, written like H.P. Lovecraft, has pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Mark Twain Double Feature
In honor of the National Day of Prayer , Chamblee54 presents two reruns, both based on the words of Mark Twain. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
One hundred and four years ago, the United States was involved in a war, that did not want to end. This conflict was in the Philippines. Although there had been an official end to the war, guerrillas continued to fight the Americans. The war was a nasty affair, with many atrocities.
The War against the Philippine people was a souvenir of the Spanish American War. There had been a rebellion against Spanish rule in the islands. After the American forces routed the Spanish, the rebellion shifted to the American occupiers. It was a war stumbled into, and difficult to end.
Mark Twain was horrified. He wrote a story, The War Prayer. As Lew Rockwell tells the tale
“Twain wrote The War Prayer during the US war on the Philippines. It was submitted for publication, but on March 22, 1905, Harper’s Bazaar rejected it as “not quite suited to a woman’s magazine.” Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, to whom he had read the story, “I don’t think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.” Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish “The War Prayer” elsewhere and it remained unpublished until 1923.”
HT to David Crosby and his autobiography, “Since Then“. A book report is forthcoming.
Getting back to “A War Prayer“, the story starts in a church. A war has started, and is popular. The troops leave for glory the next day. The preacher has an emotional prayer to send them on their way. Unknown to the minister, there is a visitor. “An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,” Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger motioned to the preacher to step aside. The stranger stepped into the pulpit, and claimed to have a message for the worshipers, sent directly from G-d. The preacher’s message was for support in time of war, and implied that G-d and the preacher support the same side in this conflict. There is an unspoken part to a prayer like this. This unspoken part was what the stranger was going to put into words.
“”O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-
for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
Mark Twain wrote a lot during the American Genocide in the Philippines. Many of his words could apply today. War has gotten more high tech…for our side…, but the bottom line is the same. No matter how fancy the weapons get, the casualties are just as dead. And the investors make money.
Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger’s wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps —
His night is marching on.
I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!”
We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our g-d is marching on!
In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom — and for others’ goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich —
Our g-d is marching on.
Sixty Four Years Twelve Presidents
This is a repost from 2010 and 2016. It is about the twelve Presidents, one fourth of the total, who have helped themselves served over the last sixty two years. Barack Obama got re-elected, and killed lots of people. The less said about Donald J. Trump, the better.
Every four years, someone will say this is the worst choice ever. Every four years, someone will say this is the most important election ever. They are always correct. The choice in 2016 was between Donald John Trump and Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. Choosing between those two idiots was challenging. The good news is that most people live in states where the electoral votes are conceded to one of the duopoly parties. These voters can focus on local elections.
Listening to the news shows that came on before the cartoons, PG heard the phrase “President Eisenhower”. As a friends explained to him, G-d made everything, but the President is Eisenhower.
When he was six, PG moved to a new house, and started first grade. There was an election that fall, and someone named Kennedy became President. PG wasn’t old enough to pay attention to the news yet, except when it looked like the Russians were going to kill us all in 1962.
The first news story that PG clearly remembers was the day when his fourth grade teacher, Miss McKenzie, told the class that President Kennedy had been shot. One of the worst moments that weekend was the moment when a plane landed in Washington, and the new President spoke on television. THAT was the new President? Yuck.
Lyndon Johnson was a larger than life figure, and was hated by millions of Amuricuns. While there was some good done by LBJ, it was overshadowed by the War in Vietnam. When he left office in 1968, the voters had a horrible choice …Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, or George Wallace.
Tricky Dick Nixon is another larger than life figure, with millions of Americans screaming for his impeachment. For some reason, there were others who passionately admired the man.
In 1973, the oil companies tried to say there was an oil shortage. Later that year, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel, and the Arab oil producers cut oil to the USA. After this embargo, OPEC was in charge of the oil supply, and the price of gasoline increased 200%. The era of big money oil was on. What a convenient war.
After the ethical shortcomings of Mr. Nixon became too obnoxious to ignore, Gerald Ford became President. On a policy level, Ford was like all the other Presidents…some things he got right, some things he got wrong. On a personality level…the show business part…Ford excelled. His family provided harmless fodder for the gossipmongers. He was a likable man, a welcome break from the meanness of Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson.
When PG was a kid at Ashford Park School, there had never been a President from Georgia. It seemed impossible. When Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announced he was running, it seemed like another ego tripper running for President. The funny thing is, he won. It still seems a bit unreal, like having the Olympics in Atlanta.
Jimmy was a Democrat, with attack Republicans fighting him every step of the way. This is a problem later Democrats in the Oval Office will have. On the policy level, he did better than many realize. Many of his achievements only bore fruit after he left office. On the show biz front, his down home Georgia routine did not appeal to many Yankees. In 1980, he was defeated by an actor.
PG was worried when Ronald Reagan took office. With America’s nuclear arsenal, and the Soviet Union wheezing it’s threat, many thought that Ronnie would start the war to kill us all. The good news is, this war never happened. Whatever tough talk came out of Washington was not matched by military adventurism abroad.
Reagan was the master of show business. He was an actor, playing the greatest role of his career. It was said that if America had a figure head monarch, Reagan would have been terrific. On the policy front, taxes were cut, and the budget increased. The national debt went over a trillion dollars, which was seen as a horrible moment. (The annual budget deficit is now over a trillion dollars.)
When Mr. Reagan’s two terms were over, George H.W. Bush took over. This was an era where the Democrats could not do anything right on a national level. Bush presided over a war, and brought the troops home when the mission was over. His image never appealed, and the whiners were not pleased. A computer salesman named Ross Perot decided to run as a third party candidate.
In the winter of 1992, PG had a little job downtown. One day, there was a rally at the CNN center for a little known Presidential candidate. PG went, and said to a friend, If this guy gets elected, you are going to regret not going to see him. At the time, War Winner Bush seemed unbeatable, and PG said that with high sarcasm.
When he got to CNN center, it was obvious that a big money event was unfolding. The place was packed, with school children bussed in to fill all the seats. Finally, the speakers blared “Twist and Shout” at top volume, and Bill Clinton walked on the stage. PG was not especially impressed.
Clinton inspired toxic hatred, but managed to keep the boat floating. He won reelection, with the Republicans seeming to self destruct. The economy was going good, the budget was balanced, and the haters went wild. After a entertaining sex scandal, the Clinton years were over.
A couple of weeks before the 2000 election, PG liked neither candidate, and did not think it made much difference. (With Georgia’s electoral votes certain to go Republican, PG did not have a vote.) He listened to someone talking, who thought that it was important that Gore won. PG remembered that conversation often during the next eight years.
George W. Bush was a disaster. It is possible that 911 was a personal vendetta against the Bush family, and would not have happened if Gore was President. The reaction of Bush to this tragedy was to start two wars that we have not been able to finish. In 2016, we are still in Afghanistan.
Next was Barack Obama, the first dark skinned President. He continued the war happy ways of the Bush regime. BHO was reelected in 2012, and given four more years to wage war. He managed to avoid the second term scandals that crippled Mr. Nixon and Mr. Clinton.
In the next election, the democrats decided that calling people racist was a good campaign strategy. As a result, Donald J. Trump was elected. America is more racially divided than ever, which the election of Mr. Obama was supposed to remedy. With the nation distracted by screaming racism, the congress has cut taxes, and produced a multi-trillion dollar budget deficit. America might survive. Pictures for this feature are from the The Library of Congress.
Truth About Opinions
Chamblee54 is normally a profanity free blog. However, for this piece, certain cuss words are essential to the free flow of information. In other words IF YOU DON’T LIKE CUSS WORDS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THE TEXT. This discussion is going to be gender insensitive, and use the male form throughout. Just remember, when you read he, it also means she and it. Or, she it. If there is one thing we know about in Georgia, it is she it.
Once, when his blog was active, a radio whiner referred to a study, that said that one third of all people were not qualified to have opinions. This was said before a commercial break, without saying why this percentage should be without opinions. Possible reasons would be lack of education, inability to think critically, or a disturbing tendency to disagree with the person doing the study.
Opinion is derived from “1250-1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin opīniōn- (stem of opīniō), derivative of opīnārī to opine." In other words, the verb for sharing these thoughts is the namesake of the idea. The anagram of opinion is onion pi. The Power Thesaurus has 1,326 synonyms for opinion. Many are notoriously anal, like assumption. Or the sister of suppository, supposition.
“Opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got theirs .” The truth is, opinions have more in common with the waste that comes out of the anal sphincter, than the port of exit. Feces (thesis) is the product of food fed into the digestive system. Opinions are the result of information (and misinformation) fed into the thought system. Doodoo is influenced by the digestive system, like opinions are influenced by the attitudes, and thought patterns, of the individual. They all stink.
“Four Jews, Five opinions” is another crowd pleaser, like “You are entitled to your opinion.” The latter is usually said when you disagree with what you have just heard. When a Court of Law issues a ruling, it is called an opinion. Sometimes, a justice will write a dissenting opinion. When getting a provider to pay for a procedure, you often need to get a second opinion.
Opinions are frequently more valued by the giver than by the receiver . Some opinions are best kept to the owner. You should be wary of someone who feels that his shit does not stink, because he will usually feel the same about his opinions. You don’t have to have an opinion about everything. Many things are beyond or control, or do not interest you. Also, you should be wary of those who try to “fire up” your opinions. Often these people do not have the best of motives.
Opinions are seldom humble, no matter what the owner of the opinion might say. In fact, the act of holding an opinion is often self aggrandizing, and contrary to humility. Opinions are seen as a way of asserting ones individuality. Many people have lives of quiet desperation, full of struggle and turmoil. There are many situations where what the individual thinks is simply useless to the powers that be. In times like this, having opinions can restore a sense of self worth to the individual. I am somebody. I have my opinion. This does not mean that anyone is listening.
This is a repost with pictures from The Library of Congress. U.S.S. Brooklyn, after supper Edward H. Hart was the photographer, working for Detroit Publishing Co. The picture was taken between 1896 and 1899. The pictures are more reliable than the text.
Chamblee54 
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