Dragon Con Parade
This content was posted September 2, 2017. … Labor Day Saturday got off to a shaky start. I put the recharged battery in the camera, and noticed a white line on the monitor. A quick test shot was made, and the picture viewed on the computer. The white line is not on the picture.
Next was the fare machine at the marta station. I do not ride very often, and load the breeze card on a need-to-know basis. The fare machine was cranky, which is normal. All I had was a ten dollar bill, and the machine gives change in Susan B. Anthony coins. I did learn one secret of the turnstile. When the sign says to tap your card, that means to hold it flat against the pad for half a second.
The ride into town was unusually crowded for saturday morning. Of course, labor day saturday is not a normal day in Atlanta. There is Dragon Con, Black Gay Pride, and some kind of college football super game. It is a good day to stay in Brookhaven, but I let myself get talked into this.
The plan was to meet at the north end of the marta north avenue station, in the food court. Little did I know that the station had been renovated, and the food court was closed. Of greater concern was the fact that Uzi was not there. A phone call was made, then another, then a text message. Uzi was at the south end of the station. The stress level was manageable.
The d-con parade … d con is a form of rodent poison, which somehow seems to fit this event … had already started. The idea was to walk down west peachtree a few blocks, and maybe it would be less crowded on peachtree when you walk up there. While it may have been marginally less crowded in the hospital-and-wino district, it was still packed. You can only see so much of the parade from the fifth row of the crowd, with or without big hair in front.
So the parade happened. There were starship troopers, barnyard poopers, medieval wenches, confederate trenches, loudspeakers playing the star wars theme, blondes making the team, ghost busters, crop dusters, trekkies, beckys, vlad the impaler, chad the inhaler, Lucy, Desi, Thurston, Lovie, Andy, Opie, and any other fantasy the costume cowboys can hot glue together.
On cue, towards the end of the circus, the jesus people came down the sidewalk, denouncing the harlots on television. The harlots walking down peachtree ignored them, as did most of the crowd. These idiots live for someone to pay them the compliment of arguing. When you wrestle with a hog, you get dirty, and the pig has a good time. Remember that the next time someone tells you about antifa versus the tiki torch bois.
Finally it was time to get on marta, and ride back to civilization. On the north line, you have one job. You get on the north springs red train, or you get on the doraville gold train. It is not complicated, except for today. The first train to come through did not have signs, indicating the destination. Nor did the conductor make announcements. I somehow figured out that it was a red train, and that I would need to get off at lindbergh station. The next train to doraville had signs, and made regular announcements. The car waits in the parking lot undisturbed. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in September 1937. “Children of Olaf Fugelberg waiting for dinner. Williams County, North Dakota” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Race Rot
This content was published September 15, 2023. … America clearly has a problem with people of different colors living together. One way to view this racial dysfunction is as one problem, rather than competitive hating of wokeness and racism. This approach does not offer any easy solutions. We need to treat people with kindness and respect, no matter what adjective you put in front of people. As Rodney King said, “can we all get along?”
I recently wrote about Flannery O’Connor. She was a gifted storyteller, who posthumously run afoul of “whiteness studies and critical race theory.” The story cited an essay by Alice Walker, who grew up in Eatonton GA, a few miles up hwy 441 from Andalusia. “The magic, the wit, and the mystery of Flannery O’Connor I know I will always love. I also know the meaning of the expression “Take what you can use and let the rest rot.” If ever there was an expression designed to protect the health of the spirit, this is it.” We can call this dysfunction Race Rot.
One of the nastier parts of Race Rot is name calling. There are a pair of six letter slurs. One starts with r, one ends in r. One I am forbidden to say, while the other I am forbidden to not say. The mentionable slur is racist. You know what the other one is. We would be better off not using either six letter slur. People enjoy using six-letter slurs, so this is not going to happen anytime soon.
I am a certified white person, of Scottish and Irish descent. I am from Georgia. My great-grandfather fought for the Georgia State Troops, in the War Between the States. This affects the way in which I approach Race Rot. I see that racism is a problem, and find the bungling efforts at fighting racism … aka wokeness … to be incredibly annoying.
The problems with racism affect millions of people every day. One could reasonably ask, what is wrong with being against racism? The problem is not that you are fighting racism, but the way you are doing it. The trouble with wokeness includes disrespect, flakey logic, indifference to collateral damage, inflammatory rhetoric, hypocrisy, and a host of other micro/macro aggressions.
This is not a comprehensive look at Race Rot. There are many layers to this onion. Racism and wokeness (RAW) are only part of the picture. The story of Black and White has many shades of gray. We could spend hours talking about Race Rot, and only be more angry and confused when we are done. The best thing to do now is present some photographs, from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in June 1940. “Home demonstration club meeting has games and refreshments after discussion. La Delta Project, Thomastown, Louisiana”
We are all God’s children, not a walking six-letter slur. Be kind to each one. Please don’t shout. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Sdrawkcab Is Backwards Backwards
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This is your monday morning reader for labor day. The pictures are from Michigan factories in September 1942. America was at war, and industrial muscle was her superpower. · Labor Day is the first monday of September. The Little 5 Poetry Bash met on the first monday. One of those events happened yesterday. · @FatherRedMcgee Is anyone else ridiculously horny today or is it just me? @chamblee54 google says the opposite of ridiculous is reasonable I am reasonably horny, which doesn’t have the same punch · How did Hamas know how to disable those systems? I cannot rule out that they had some help from Mossad. · @AntounAnanias Tony Hanania I witnessed Oct 7th at first-hand from the 2nd highest block near my apartment in Rimal, then examined the Nova site, and photographed what actually happened. Cf my earlier post with link to my Medium article in English. The narrative sold to the West is a total stitch-up. Cockpit footage leaked from the 14 Apaches that made two passes from about 2pm, firing missiles and belt machine guns indiscriminately, along with footage of Merkava 5 tanks firing, reveals the source of the mass slaughter of civilians and the total destruction of 1000 vehicles, leaving only charred, unrecognisable bodies. This was a deliberate deception to legitimate the long-planned Genocide and Settlement of Gaza. · Jon Ossoff is on a roll. He is favored to win re-election easily. There are people urging him to run for President in 2028. Hopefully, his campaign slogan will not be a vulgar joke about his name. · Sdrawkcab is backwards backwards. The spell check suggestion of Sdrawkcab is Drawback. · “He needs to thank Dershowitz for waiting, until everybody knows this war is a complete and total disaster, to debate you.” Actually, Bibi’s dream war is only a 30% disaster at this point. IDK what the complete version will look like. · Canned Entertainment Product the 911 edition of the path journal, is now available. · The text is not that great today, but the pictures are. · Saud Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz · give emotion a job a hobby or a habit … the job tonight is to make my camera work. Idk what emotion this is, so i will assign it to curiosity. The first thing to do is to unplug the camera, and plug it back in, which seems to work. i will just call that curiosity,although frustration will go just as well… the microphone seems to be functioning, so there is that… earlier today the tv set needed to be unplugged and plugged, which got the device to working. Unfortunately, the falcons needed a lot more than disconnect/connect. It may be a long season · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Jack Delano took the social media picture in November 1941. “Boyd Jones doing his arithmetic lesson at the blackboard in the Alexander Community School in Greene County, Georgia.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Wilbur
This content was posted September 12, 2024. … It could have been written today. Two years ago I was doing similar things. Walking on the path, and having problems with android media players. Both situations have gotten better overall, but still have days of not working. Today, I was listening to a story, and something switched to a man talking about woodworking. I couldn’t look at the phone, because I was holding an umbrella. The only thing left to do is try again later.
090924 – 10:32 It is day 6 of the new phone. Since it is monday morning, I downloaded Blocked and Reported. Today is a preview of a paid episode. Is monday morning is about to change? Paying for Jesse and Katie is out of the question.
The path has become my outdoor treadmill. I went out for a few laps, and put BAR on the headphones. The parade did not get out of the front yard before the noise started to cut off. After several experiments … is it the ear buds, the bluetooth, the show, the music player on the phone, the pockets of the cargo shorts … I walked my laps, and went inside.
The Muzio music player had other issues, so I decided to try downloading another one. Then the ear buds came in. Airbuds are another recent purchase. I have not made friends with this contraption. Airbuds feature a sensitive button, and if you adjust the buds incorrectly, the sound will cut off. If you touch this button the wrong way, to turn it back on, you go to the next track it wants to play. This is not going to work. I put my aging JBL buds back in.
After all these adjustments, the part of BAR that Jesse will allow played without incident. The paywall kicked in during a discussion of Darryl Cooper … a subject that has become boring. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in February 1942.
“Meeker County, Minnesota. Washing up for dinner on Pat McRaith’s farm.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Canned Entertainment Product
0904-0904 – 1473 words about last weeks walking, Truth Greater Than Reality, is now available wherever you get your reading material. … The walk today was on time. It lasted 38 minutes, with no foot dizziness. I was joined by a friend, who surprised me by showing up at 8 am. She had to “take the better part of valor” after 20 minutes, leaving me to do the last three laps by myself. It was nice to enjoy the path without the canned entertainment funnelling through my ears.
0905-1044 – This was not a good day. I got a late start, and the heat caught up with me. The two podcasts I listened to were boring. I wound up listening to music, and did my 36 minutes.
0906-0934 – The walk today was a return to form. I got out early enough to beat the heat. The feet were not dizzy, even if the right knee was objecting. The two podcasts were nourishing. Sometimes God/Allah/Satan/FSM is good to me.
The first show was Hisham Matar Reads ”New Shoes” on The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice. TNY has been on a roll lately. It is only a matter of time before they have a story that stinks. Today’s episode was about a man from Cairo who lives in London. He misses his family, and goes home once a year to see them, always dressing to kill. The man … I don’t think we ever hear his name … buys a pair of shoes for £800, and feels guilty about it.
Sometimes a story allows you to peek into another life. Suddenly, Cairo is more than a spot on a map with an eight digit population. Meanwhile, I am walking back and forth on the path, watching the sunshine dripping through the leaves.
The second show was EP:60 – Soviet America on Darryl Cooper & Scott Horton – Provoked. DC & SH discussed the recent debate between Dave Smith and Alan Morton Dershowitz. Octogenarian AMD was talking about ww2, which is like me talking about Vietnam. Both conflicts were over before Darryl was born in 1981. We might as well be talking about the Napoleonic wars.
DC: “I don’t do debates, because I know I am not good at them. …. I’m just not built for debates. I’m coming off the top of my head. … I avoid them. I just don’t like doing them because I’m afraid that I won’t adequately represent an issue that I care about.”
There is a difference between wisdom and clever bullshit. So much of today’s discourse is duelling rhetoric, with both sides preaching to the choir. Darryl’s strength is thoroughly researched history. If you do history correctly, you will see both good and bad things on both sides.
DC: “He needs to thank Dershowitz for waiting, until everybody knows this war has been a complete and total disaster, to debate you on it.” Actually, Bibi’s dream war is only a 30% disaster at this point. I shudder to think what the complete version will look like.
0907-1009 – The walk today was overcast. The cloud cover is a welcome change from sun bombing. I did 1.88 miles in 1:00:35, with no foot dizziness. The show was the rest of EP:60 – Soviet America on Darryl Cooper & Scott Horton – Provoked. Part two was not as entertaining as yesterday. Scott was talking about the Oklahoma City bombing. You can only be interested in so many things.
The utter insanity of sending a million US troops into Iran was discussed. Especially for a war where the “Secretary of State says we only got into because Israel was about to attack, and Israel peaced out months ago. Like they peaced out and we’re still fighting their war for them.”
Scott sells bumper stickers. “I got all these great stickers and they’re for sale. Just go to libertystickers dot com. Like for example this great one, Lockheed Martin. Every time Israel kills a child, we make 50 bucks. Then you could drive around, and show people that in traffic, and make them mad at you.” The Lockheed plant in Marietta is a large employer in Georgia. That’s a lot of people to have mad at you.
0908-0915 – The lawn was cut today. There was no walk.
0909-0900 – The walk today was retroactive. I felt mild dizziness at the start of the first lap, and thought this might be a bad day. As it happened, there was mild dizziness for a couple of laps, and a sense of general unwellness. It never got any worse, and I finished the 36 minutes.
On the day after labor day 2024, I had a horrible walk. The night before, I walked around Little 5 Points, and felt great. On Tuesday, I had felt brain fog all day. The foot dizziness had been very bad in spring and early summer, but seemed to be getting better. On this day, the dizziness got very bad after about .4 miles. I decided to cross a road, but my legs gave out under me and I fell. I made it back home, fell again in the front yard, and realized that I had a problem.
The first show was A View To Deceive: An Artist Goes Undercover To Expose The Uber Rich on Chameleon. “While posing as an apartment-hunting Hungarian billionaire, Andi Schmied accessed and documented Manhattan’s most exclusive high-rise properties.” Once the agent left for a minute, she would take pictures of the view for an art book.
Chameleon ran an ad today for Crimes Of Reddit with Sabrina Deana-Roga & Alexis Linkletter. I downloaded an episode, and will see how it goes. I don’t really need to be following another podcast, but free content exists. The scarce commodity in this equation is my listening time. … I listened to CORWSD&AL Thursday night. I am unlikely to download any more episodes.
The second show was Nick Offerman on Talk Easy. I had about 10 minutes when the first show ended. I decided to listen to Nicholas David Offerman, an actor I didn’t know, talking to Sam Fragoso, a podcaster with no middle name. The conversation was fun to listen to, with two intelligent men speaking in an atmosphere of friendliness and respect.
NDO “That’s why libertarianism can never work. Like on paper, the ideas are great, but it’s going to just lead to anarchy, because everyone is then open to interpret things. and whoever has the most guns ends up winning. And that’s a dumb idea.”
NDO: “If you’re wearing that (MAGA) hat, we think you’re announcing that you’re racist. Like, the world thinks you’re evil. Like, you’re announcing that you’re down with the Nazis.” … SF: “You saying, “I bet you are a good person to the people who don a MAGA hat.” I can hear them going, “Who are you to determine that I’m a good person?”
NDO: “It was really weird to wear a MAGA hat for a role. It was really upsetting. I was in Savannah, Georgia, and when I would step outside between takes, I would put a Cubs hat on over the MAGA hat. I didn’t even want to imagine somebody across the street getting a picture of me.”
0910 – Today’s walk was 44:26 of the escalation/de-escalation cycle. The feet were well behaved. The entertainment was the rest of Nick Offerman on Talk Easy.
NDO admired Wendell Erdman Berry, who died between the taping of this show, and the broadcast. NDO read “Questionnaire,” a poem WEB wrote. NDO read the second verse twice.
NDO: “I was going to preface it by saying, I was going to write a joke about this, but Ben Shapiro questioned my masculinity, and I can’t write a better joke than that.” … SF: “I was thinking about Shapiro’s comment about masculinity in the bathroom.”
NDO: “It brings to mind Leonard Cohen’s wonderful lyric, the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor. Because I’m very aware that I am wealthy, and on those channels, and also infuriated by those channels at the moment. At the moment I have to subscribe to five [ __ ] channels to watch the Cubs. If I want to see every Cubs game, I need to subscribe to at least three or four channels.” This is a first world problem.
For more information about my walking problem, please read The Path Journal. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media photograph in November 1941. The image shown today is a detail. “Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Hembry, he is a worker at the Mary Leila textile mill in their company house in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
With All Due Respect
This content was posted June 25, 2017. Senator Ossoff is on a roll. He should be easily re-elected in November, and is a possible candidate for President. … At the 44 minute mark of a recent debate, Karen Christine Handel and Thomas Jonathan Ossoff had a skirmish. The question (41:34) had been put to TJO: How can you be independent in Congress, when you will need Democratic Party help in a re-election. TJO rambled a bit, and did not answer the question. Instead, he attacked KCH. The attack centered around the PR disaster at the Susan B. Komen foundation.
The two sparred for a few minutes. I expected someone to call the other a poopyhead, which they would reply to by saying you have cooties. KCH said something, and TJO interrupted. “It’s a simple question, with all due respect” “With all due respect, do not interrupt me”
This may be the one moment of this nightmare election that captures two personalities. KCH is not above interrupting, and using shady argument tricks. It was her moment to take control of the situation. Most politicians are hypocrites.
I got a screen shot. Look at the eyes. KCH is mean. She is tired of this silly little boy. TJO is looking at his shoes. The embarrassment about being “handled” by his opponent is evident. KCH won the momentary power game.
Maybe people will quit saying “with all due respect.” WADR is the new “bless your heart.” On election day, KCH won , with, or without, due respect. It is not known what the turning point was, or if TJO ever had a serious chance. Most 6th district voters are happy to see a noisy campaign end.
After losing to KCH in 2017, TJO ran for the Senate in 2020. The slogan of his Senate campaign was not a vulgar joke about hhis name. TJO won the election. … KCH lost elections for the House in 2018 and 2020. In 2026, KCH is the President of the Construction Supplier’s Association. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in July 1942. Hoffman Island, merchant marine training center off Staten Island, New York. Trainees aboard the training ship New York working in the boiler room. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
L5PB Labor Day
This content was published September 6, 2024. The Little 5 Poetry Bash is no more. … Labor Day was the first monday of September, which meant Little 5 Poetry Bash. I printed my new poem, and looked at the list of podcasts. Lo and behold, there was an episode of Noble I had missed.
Labor is a good day for traffic. I set out from Brookhaven at 18:10, for a 19:30 start. I got to the promised land early, and went to Rag-O-Rama. $22 is too much for a used t-shirt. Next stop was a cannabis store. There was promising talk about a new product, which may require further attention.
L5PB was splendid, as usual. The core group of poets was there, with terrific product from all parties. Collin Kelley, a mainstay of Atlanta words, was the delightful feature. A lady/dog team came from Cave Springs, to tell a tale of Artemis and Apollo. I kept thinking of Gomer’s cousin, Artemis Pyle, who played in Lynyrd Skynyrd.
L5PB takes place in the lobby of 7 Stages. There are two problems. 7S has a collection of bright lights in the ceiling above the speaker. There are also the big red letters MAIN STAGE, which is too much anagramic temptation (inamorata petting cam) for this addict. In a life hack moment, I solved both problems with a baseball hat.
The best way to go home is to take a left onto Colquitt, and go down to N. Highland. After a stop in the Manuel’s parking lot, Noble was coming over the speakers. This episode dealt with the Marsh family story, without going overboard with talk of racism. Finally, after the renovated North Druid Hills bridge, Taco Bell came into view. The last part of L5PB is getting my mystery meat fix. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in September 1941. Enosburg Falls, Vermont. Shopping on a Saturday afternoon. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
The Incredible Feud
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Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem Was An Anti-Communist CIA Operative who Kept …
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lojong · Pema Chödrön · Bed-Rotting · gutenberg · whitman archive · redstockings
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institutionalized · dogshit · javon · jema · euphuism
This is today’s monday morning reader. Last week Atlanta Attitude, a clickbait facebook account, said that the Margaret Mitchell house was where Peggy Marsh wrote her book. What a rich irony it is to call AI generated slop “Atlanta Attitude.” · @deathwolfsimp armpit kinks are a CIA psyop for gays to stop showering so more water goes to AI data centers · Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z: A Library of America Special Publication · Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! · In 2015, people made speeches about cultural appropriation. People are going to talk, and maybe someone will listen. The pictures today are of the Tuskegee Airmen, who did not talk about cultural appropriation. · everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about be kind always · “I hate writing. I love having written. Dorothy Parker.” · Dorothy Parker died in 1967, and the earliest attribution to her appeared in 1972. Thus, the evidence linking her to the quip is weak. · The Soloman Goodwin house was the oldest house in Dekalb County. In 2016, it was dismantled and moved to an unknown location. The family graves were moved one mile north. This is what the graves look like today. · I read a book of short stories. In “Weird F****”, A young lady has an eventful summer. She takes up with a married man, whose wife dries her hair in the oven. Is this what happened to Sylvia Plath? · On Wednesday I expanded this into a blog post, The Soloman Goodwin House · This is 1473 words, about a week of morning walks. On Tuesday, I returned a book of rock journalism to the library. “He (Robert Plant) returned from the drugstore with shampoo, a comb, and some creme rinse for his copious mane, but no deodorant, which he needed regularly and badly.” · 1473 words about last weeks walking, Truth Greater Than Reality, is now available wherever you get your reading material. · 1 – The lights came on while I was under. That added to the sense of difference. 2 – Andy is starting a business in Omaha. I was in their bus station once. I took a 24 hour express from Denver to Chicago going across Nebraska and Iowa. It is another world. 3 – I focused on breathing. I originally wanted to go to 23, but made it to 46. I find I want to use my matra less and less. Should I take TM training, and get an official mantra, or just muddle along 4 – The common thread in most mantras is a vowell, followed by an M. This also applies to Amen · This is a post I published four years ago about the late Gloria Marie Steinem. This post looks into a little known aspect of her affiliation with the CIA. Unflattering aviator glasses are not mentioned. · We do not know the level of Mossad/CIA involvement. I can imagine the conversation. Iran – I just killed five thousand Persians. USA – Hold my beer · @nihilist-arbys.bsky.social If you’re uncertain whether the universe is nothing but random chaos, devoid of any sense of good, bad, justice, evil, up, or down – Ted Nugent is still alive and Dolly Parton is not. Thanks for enjoying arbys · This is how I learned Dolly had died. I would enjoy arby’s, but the restaurant in my neighborhood went out of business · We started empty … We are not empty right now, but there is me and one other person in this workshop, so it would be very bad manners not to write anything. another thing that is empty is rhyme zone when you ask for words that rhyme with empty. Most of the selections use empty, like half empty. Technically that does rhyme, but it seems like cheating. the one near rhyme is cognoscenti, which must be italian because it ends in a vowel. the example of same word rhyming comes from mr nice guy, lou reed. He wrote a song called vicious. Hey, why don’t you swallow razorblades? You must think that I’m some kind of gay blade But, baby, you’re so vicious · there is probably a latin phrase for empty vessel, like tabula rasa for blank tablet. We might start empty, but if you don’t put gas in that tank you are not going very far. · @deathwolfsimp armpit kinks are a CIA psyop for gays to stop showering so more water goes to AI data centers · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in September 1942. “Detroit, Michigan. Lathe operator at the Allison Motors plant”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Gloria Marie Steinem
This content was posted November 13, 2022. Ms. Steinem passed away September 2, 2026. … @measure7x “Been struck by how difficult it is to find a full text copy of Gloria Steinem’s CIA pamphlet, ‘A Review of Negro Segregation in the United States.’ Now I see why… Supposedly only 5 (‘known’) copies in the US. Guess some people really don’t want this going around.” Sometimes opening twitter is asking for trouble. This tweet sent me on a wild goose chase, looking for information about ARONSITUS. Another thread provided a bit of information.
@marina0swald “a 1967 NYT article quoted gloria steinem as saying “I found them liberal and farsighted and open to an exchange of ideas,” when describing her close work with CIA agents to send Americans to disrupt youth festivals in vienna in 1959 and helsinki in 1962” @marina0swald “another report the IRS prepared was on racial segregation in the US. it should be noted that this pamphlet is notoriously hard to find and truly doesn’t appear to be digitized anywhere. only five known copies exist. why? well the contents speak for itself” @marina0swald “published near the height of the civil rights movement, the report states that the reason racism exists is because it’s self-perpetuating, and black people simply imagine they are oppressed. the report has steinem’s name stamped across the top.” @marina0swald is a pen name, and not the widow of Lee Harvey Oswald.
A google search was not helpful. Duckduckgo came through with a handful of results. Whoever wants the document suppressed has done a good job. Even Amazon does not have access.
There is a bit more information about Ms. Steinem and the CIA. If you have a taste for conspiracy theories, there is a two hour radio show from 1986. A transcript is available.
“The first revelations of Gloria Steinem’s relationship to the CIA appeared in the New York Times in 1967, in an article that stated that Steinem had a part in launching a CIA front group which was called the “Independent Research Service.” Just prior to this exposure, Ramparts magazine had disclosed that the organization was CIA-funded. … The purpose of the IRS seems to have been to subvert communist-minded youths on an international basis. The supposedly “Independent” Research Service was, in fact, totally dependent on the CIA. It is believed to have been formed in response to the Communist World Youth festivals occurring throughout the 1950s and 1960s. These festivals were held in communist countries until 1959, when the festival for that year was scheduled to take place in Vienna — neutral territory during the Cold War. The State Department did its best to discourage American youths from attending. Some did go, though, and in the meantime the CIA covertly arranged for the IRS to organize an anti-communist delegation to attend and disrupt the festivals.” …
“Another fact exhumed by the Red Stockings is the group’s publication of a pamphlet in 1959 called, “A Review of Negro Segregation in the United States.” Steinem’s name is listed on the inside cover, this time as co-director of the Independent Research Service. The pamphlet focuses on the supposed advances made by black people in the U.S. For example: “Beyond the noisy clamor of those who would obstruct justice and fair play, no alert observer can be unaware of the concerted effort to rule out segregation from every aspect of American life.” The reason some discrimination does still occur, according to the research group, is because “it is also self-perpetuating, in that the rejected group, through continued deprivation, is hardened in the very shortcomings, real or imaginary, that are given as the reasons for the discrimination in the first place.” In other words, the oppression of blacks continues not because of white, ruling-class interests, but because black people actually have become inferior. [CN: Here Red Stocking is paraphrasing how they see the IRS pamphlet’s argument.]” This quote cannot be verified. All we have today is a picture of the cover, which might be faked.
When you talk about the CIA, there are conspiracy theories galore. It can be tough to wade through the information. The focus of this story is the pamphlet about “Negro Segregation.” One story sheds a bit of light on the Steinem-CIA-Segregation axis, along with a tasteful picture of Ronald Reagan, Rupert Murdoch, and Roy Cohn. The story does have a credibility gap. When discussing Richard Nixon, the author opines “Petty shit compared to Donald Trump, but it was a different time.”
“A youthful Gloria Steinem had just spent a year and half in India … she befriended Indira Gandhi and the widow of the “revolutionary humanist” M. N. Roy, and had met a researcher who seems to have been a C.I.A. agent or contact. Attractive and progressive, Steinem was hired to run the I.S.I. [sic] and to recruit knowledgeable young Americans who could debate effectively with the Communist organizers of the festival, defending the United States against Communist criticism of segregation and other American failings.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in February 1942. “Meeker County, Minnesota. Farmers’ dance in crossroads store” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Truth Greater Than Reality
0828-0914 – Rough Stock Department, the path journal entry for last week, is available. … The walk was just another day on the path. It lasted 48:00, with no foot problems. The shiny object was was How Did Roger Avary Write Pulp Fiction? on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin. Unless I missed something, PF was not discussed in this show.
“After what I went through, I realize everyone in some way is undergoing a trauma of some kind. And I try to be sensitive to that.” Immediately after this came a commercial for Squarespace. Whatever your trauma, you can build a website to monetize it.
RRA: “Anybody who really knew punk, in that moment, knew that’s a little bit of a lie. But it doesn’t matter. It’s a truth greater than reality. Yeah, it’s a bigger truth.” FJR: “So, yeah, don’t let the facts get in the way.” Reality is for people who cannot afford drugs.
Right after this jewel of wisdom was a commercial for Lectio 365. L365 is based on a Catholic practice, which we will call Lectio Diva. You take a bible verse and meditate on it all day. Repetition, silence, attention to special phrases in the text … these are all part of the practice. While I doubt that I will download the app, the practice of Lectio Diva might be worth looking into.
0829-0956 – The walk today was conducted on gravel. It rained last night, and the path was more washed out today. I did 44:00 with no foot trouble. The show was Cultivated: The Self-Proclaimed Prophet Hiding In Plain Sight on Chameleon. An excommunicated Mormon started his own cult group, with all sorts of nasty stuff going on. Manipulator was the word the show used. Manipulation is common in our society, whether it is for religion, politics, Israel, or lunch.
0830-0953 – The walk today was on track, or more accurately, on the gravel road beside the tracks. I did 1.55 miles in 59:25, with no foot problems. The first canned entertainment was Bundy Clock on 99% Invisible. The Bundy Brothers had a clock factory, and Willard Bundy had the idea of printing the time on a card … the invention of the time clock. Unfortunately, his brother Harlow managed the operation, and reduced Willard to a poorly paid employee.
Instead of the path, I went up to the railroad tracks on top of the hill. A neighbor pulled up in his truck, and said he didn’t see me walking as much. I told him my story. It turns out he has bad knees, and uses a Peloton machine to keep going. Old age marches on.
Before long, I had to step behind the cemetery and pee. I found a monument with weeds growing over it. The Goodwin family had an old house on Peachtree. Eventually, the temptation to sell the land became too great. The graves behind the house were moved a mile north. Unfortunately, nobody has been trimming the weeds. I expanded this into a blog post, The Soloman Goodwin House.
“The Solomon Goodwin House, located at 3931 Peachtree Road, is about .5 miles east of the Atlanta city limits. The house, which dates back to 1831, was the oldest building still standing in DeKalb County … Last fall, the home was dismantled and relocated to an undisclosed location nearby. Sources say the plan is to rebuild the home in the area but a permanent new site for the home has reportedly not yet been finalized.” From 2017.
I crossed over the tracks, and headed south. There is a gravel road, built when the Marta line went through. After a few minutes, a train came by, carrying a few hundred shipping containers.
The second show was Helen Simpson Reads “Lub Dub Lub Dub Lub Dub” on
The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice. A British woman of a certain age talked about life, and the heart malfunctions that threaten to end it. The last line of the story was the lady messaging her friend on Whats App to tell her about something funny she saw. You just can’t get away from modern life.
0831-1020 – Ten twenty is truckdriver code. The dispatcher calls you, says 1020, and you tell them where you are. … Today’s walk was constipated, or at least the canned entertainment. The walking part lasted 56:12, with nuisance level dizziness. While this was a good day overall, it is the monday after a week with no problems seven days in a row. … The constipated podcast was The Artist of Cons: The Unbelievable but Totally Real Life of Milwaukee’s Most Interesting Man on Chameleon. Art Rapkin was from Milwaukee, and claimed to have an interesting life. Before he got into cocaine smuggling, he said he never took drugs. This may be the biggest lie of all. … Art’s book, “Poison for Rats,” is not available on Amazon.
0901 – The walk today was literate. I had two books to return to the library. The walk lasted 1:46:19, covering 3.23 miles in abundant sunshine. You should always be careful where you step.
One book was Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z. It was fairly boring, with a couple of exceptions. One was Jim Morrison Is Dead and Living in Hollywood by Eve Babitz. Another one was Ellen Sander writing Inside the Cages of the Zoo about an early tour by Led Zeppelin. “He (Robert Plant) returned from the drugstore with shampoo, a comb, and some creme rinse for his copious mane, but no deodorant, which he needed regularly and badly.”
On June 28, I listened to a podcast based on a book about Liza May Minnelli. I soon got Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! from the library. It is a cliche of recovery that life seems dull after you quit taking drugs. The same is true about books by druggies that have cleaned up … the book is not as much fun after rehab. I found a 2013 post about LMM. Allegedly, she got sober for good in 2015.
The first podcast was Episode 321: Losing The Plot (with Jon Ronson) on Blocked and Reported. Jon Ronson was promoting a new book. The original title was “The Impossibility of Keeping a Harem in the Post Me-Too age.”
The second podcast was “Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street” on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. This was the story of a girl in New York. She is jealous because another girl got to play Helen of Troy, while she was part of the Trojan Horse. There were a few more details. It was an amusing story to listen to while walking home through the green space.
0902 – The walk today was gravity influenced. It lasted 43:07, and had mild foot discomfort. The show was She Killed the Man Who Almost Killed Her: The Jema Heffernan Story, Part 1 on Gone South. Jema Heffernan is in a Missouri Prison for killling Javon Donahue, her no-good companion. This is common for women … to be in jail for killing their man, before he killed her. This show was sponsored by DraftKings, and their spokesman Dave Porknoy.
0903 – The walk today met the minimum requirement. Some days I am having a great time. Then there was today. It was hot, my feet acted up on a couple of laps, and I felt low energy. On days like this, I do my 36 minutes, and go back to the air conditioned house.
Yesterday at the dollar store, I saw a set of cheap earbuds. I tried them out today. They have a good sound, and had 100% power when I was finished. Cheap earbuds usually don’t last very long, but this will be a change of pace for a while. My bread and butter jbl buds will be there for me later.
The show today was Billy Corgan and the Nelson Brothers: A Conversation on Music and Life on The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan. Matthew Gray Nelson and Gunnar Eric Nelson talking to William Patrick Corgan Jr. was like being the fly on the wall for a conversation full of respect, good will, and hatred of the music industry.
“Our grandfather Ozzie, nobody knew that he was a lawyer. He had a law degree from Rutgers. So he knew what he was doing when he was negotiating contracts. The family wound up owning the show, because he paid a little extra money. He had complete control of it. … “Well, uh having autonomy I think is really crucial because I just don’t believe in art by committee. I don’t think it works.”
For more about my walking problem, see The Path Journal. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Gordon Parks took the social media picture in June 1942. “Washington, D.C. Elderly couple eating dinner at their home on Lamont Street, N.W.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
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