Chamblee54

0918-1036 – Cultural Revolution, the path journal from last week, is up. The walk today was a new week. I did 50:05, with no foot dizziness. The first show was the rest of Vicki Lawrence on The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan. … WPC: “Well, thank you so much. Hope you had a good time.” VL: “Thank you. That was quick and easy. Its not like going to the dentist at all.”
The second show was Who Gets to Tell the Story? on What’s Ray Saying. Dr. Ray Christian is a Black man, with a lot of stories to tell. Ray discussed the question, who decides how Black people’s stories are told? Ultimately, it comes down to money and power. The people who have capital, and want a return on their investment, decide what stories are told.
0919-1109 – The walk today was perfunctory. It was another blah day, where I did 38:20 because I was supposed to. I did feel better when it was over, and my feet performed well. The first show was Why’s everybody going to Japan? on Search Engine. Tourists are going to Japan on vacation, and this show talked about it. After that got boring, I listened to Ed Asner on Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. Eddie Asner (wikipedia verified birth name) is a Jewish man who played Santa Claus. Gilbert cackled a lot. We learned that Santa has jock itch.
0920-1035 – The walk today was overcast. I did 51:15, with no foot problems. The story was Sarah Anderson Reads “Dark Horse” on The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice. The first line of the story: “In my mind, my father is fucking the horse again.” The tale goes downhill from that point. To be fair to Daddy, the story is told by the Daughter, who has a few screws loose herself. Whether Daddy and Claudia … the horse, named for Claudia Schiffer … ever actually did the deed is not known.
0921-1027 – The walk today was linear. I did 1.51 miles in 49:12, with no foot problems. The show today was Episode 324: Free Speech, Free Palestine, Free Macklemore, Free Ed Sheeran, Free Hobo Johnson, Free Podcast on Blocked and Reported. Catherine Ronan Herzog and Jesse Richard Singal were talking about current events, and said some stupid things. JRS: “I just think that makes it sort of difficult to allow for harsh criticism of Israel and people should be allowed to criticize Israel harshly.” RCH: “This is even if you don’t think that Israel has committed genocide, which I don’t. That’s not a word that I use. It’s a war, a war that was started by the other side.”
One of the major problems in these conflicts is rhetoric and propaganda. You can make an argument for anything. Whether it is true, or relevant, does not matter. The ongoing argument about the g-word (Genocide, not God) is just one more distraction. For the record, I don’t like the g-word either. I prefer war crimes, terrorism, atrocity, industrial scale homicide … the list is a thesaurus away.
Recent revelations about the Lavender program make this point even clearer. Israel is collecting data on Gaza residents, and scoring them on the likelihood of Hamas involvement. Israel then bombs the residences of suspected Hamas members, and kills the women and children at the same time. Maybe you can add moral abomination to the list of crimes perpetrated by Israel. … If Israel is so good at monitoring the lives of Gaza residents, why were they surprised on October 7?
CRH: “And I think that in liberal circles, the kind of circles that you’re in …” Nitpickers will say that she meant you’re in, but since Katie is an apologist for the atrocity-happy Netanyahu regime, I am going to go with urine. … CRH: “One thing that I do appreciate about what he did in addition to taking his million dollars and putting it towards building more Hamas tunnels …”
0922-1036 The walk today was an equinox. Summer is FINALLY over, at least on the calendar. I did 48:00 with no foot dizziness. The show today was EP:62 – Special Guest: Bill Buppert, on Iran on Darryl Cooper & Scott Horton – Provoked. Darryl and Scott sometimes have guests to relieve the repetition. Mr. Buppert talks about how having too much oil money spoiled Saudi Arabia, resulting in a lousy army. … Darryl talks about this one ship that everyone praised, until their air defenses went kaput. It turns out that nobody knew how to maintain the equipment, but told superiors that they did. Meanwhile, SH adds “I think we’re all probably better off if I butt out of this conversation.”
0923-0811 The walk this morning was a level playing field. I had to take Mac to the marta station, and decided to walk in that neighborhood. This first order of business was the men’s room at walmart. After that, I took a level path for a couple of blocks. A level surface of wood and concrete is dramatically different from my normal rough path on a hill. As a result, I did 1.62 miles in 48:24.
The first show today was the last part of EP:62 – Special Guest: Bill Buppert, on Iran on Darryl Cooper & Scott Horton – Provoked. Stories of military waste and corruption never grow old.
BB: “Darryl, every year that general officer would come to Kabul to take over Afghanistan. He’d stand there with his hands on his hips and say, “I’ve got this.” And the only thing he’s got is his dick in his hand and he’s going to slam it into the cash register at the end of the year.” DC: “Let’s leave everybody with that image. I gotta go feed my chickens, and do some harvesting before it gets dark.”
The second show was Who Killed Roxanne? How a podcast helped solve a 44-year-old Louisiana murder on Gone South. A team of detectives and journalists were trying to solve a 40 year old case in Covington LA. As one segment came to a halt, the announcer said everyone involved was trying to get justice for Roxanne Sharp. The next thing you heard was an ad for Chumba Casino.
0928-1032 I was at a spirituality retreat from Wednesday to Sunday last week, and am getting acclimated to Georgia again. I was uncertain how the walk would go, but did 43:41 with no foot dizziness. There were no foot problems over the weekend, but my right knee got wound up in some positions that made me worry. The knee is doing fine today. Maybe I just need to let go, and quit worrying so much … famous last words.
The first podcast today was The Back Row on The Truth. You never know what to expect with a short story. The Truth has actors playing parts, instead of the omniscient author voice reading the script. This story was fun before the commercials, and became less interesting after the first lap.
The second show today was Episode 325: What’s The Matter With Seattle? on Blocked and Reported.” Jesse was absent, and Katie talked to two men from the Seattle media world. Katie refrained from saying things that piss me off. (see 0921 above) The show was fun to listen to.
0929-1119 – It was a great day for walking. I did 1.79 miles in 55:08, with no foot problems. My car is in the shop for routine maintenance, and I walked up to the old location of the garage. The show today was EP:63 – AQ at the UN on Darryl Cooper & Scott Horton – Provoked. It was just SH and DC, and they really didn’t say much new. DC just released a new episode, #27 Enemy: The Germans’ War, pt. 3 – The Fighting Man. I am morally obligated to listen. Just what I need … a five hour show, while the other shows I follow pile up. … The only problem with my walk was the reading glasses, in my pants pocket, breaking in half. Dollar store reading glasses are the best part of cataract surgery.
SH: “I’m really a bircher at heart on this stuff. I’m perfectly fine with getting out of the UN altogether.” Part of the hasbara process is demonizing anyone who does not support Israel slaughtering her neighbors. This is what is behind the trash talk about “amateur historian” Darryl Cooper. But then you hear quotes like this, and realize that Scott and Darryl might be, at least partially, serious right wingers. … The stuff SH and DC are putting out about the USA/IDF war machine is terrific. That does not change the fact there are a lot of things I disagree with them on. I probably would have hated SH and DC forty years ago.
DC: “A while back I was blasting on my noise cancelling headphones as I was doing something around the house. And I like to sing. I’m a terrible singer, but I like to do it. And I didn’t know my wife was standing right behind me doing something. And I’m singing this song in like a low guttural growl. I say “ he preaches salvation in the loins of women.” And she’s like, “What is going on here?” Singing with headphones on is a bad idea.
0930-1214 The walk went well. We are getting into the season where the late mornings are not as horribly hot. I walked for 48:56, with nuisance level dizziness on early laps. The show today was The Pet Cemetery Murders: Part 1 on Gone South. Dorothy Thompson owned a pet cemetery. She was also a piece of work, who was rumored to have killed several of her husbands. When it came Dorothy’s time to die, the body was found in Plaquemines Parish, the southernmost point of the Mississippi River. Corpses routinely turn up in the River there.
1001-1027 The walk today was cloudy. I did 44:00, with nuisance level dizziness. The show was The Pet Cemetery Murders: Part 2 on Gone South. The story of the Louisiana pet cemetery came to its homicidal conclusion. During a commercial break, a lady said “I only met Rick once, and he totally changed my life.” We were then invited to vote for Rick Jackson for Governor.
For more information on my walking habit, read The Path Journal. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in March 1940. “Hired helpresting after day’s work on Upwey horse farm, South Woodstock, Vermont”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah