Indifferent Truth-Seeker Act
This is a repost from 2024, about an incident in 2018. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured photograph was taken by Russell Lee in June 1941. “A little boy gets a shot (tick fever serum) at the clinic at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Caldwell ID” … A bit of dialog turned up in a 2018 facebook thread. “Arnold” “Luther I am genuinely curious about how it is you support white supremacist world views consistently, yet have always hung out in alternative spaces. Have you written about this?” Luther “Questioning the validity of a facebook post is not supporting a white supremacist world view.” “Stephen” “It absolutely is when you’ll accept no standard of evidence presented in support of the claim. No one here is fooled by your indifferent truth-seeker act.” This is not your daddy’s white supremacy.
On January 19, 2018, Wussy published Is the Owner of Popular Atlanta Drag Bar a Racist? A disgruntled employee shared a 2015 facebook screen shot. Palmer Marsh, the owner of Burkhart’s Pub, said “Obviously Vladimir Putin thinks that Barack Obama is a stupid (magic word). He just might be right.” The Atlanta queer community went into a pearl clutching frenzy.
I noticed that the screen shot did not have a date or time. I mentioned this detail, and was richly rewarded for my efforts. This is the “indifferent truth-seeker act” that supports “white supremacist world views.” Examine. Your. Whiteness. was one of the kinder suggestions.
This was seven years ago, and seems quaint today. In the last seven years, we have shut down the country over a virus, and had a racial reckoning. After electing a senile criminal to be President, we supported a gruesome war in Ukraine, facilitated a genocide in Gaza, and elected another senile criminal to be President. The national debt has gone from $20t to $36t. It is tough to believe we were once so concerned about a drunken old man saying a six letter word on facebook.
Twenty Three Thoughts
Twenty Three Thoughts was originally published January 23, 2009. … “23 skiddoo” is said to be the first national slang saying. It’s origin is is bit uncertain, making 23S with mythmakers. One story
involves a place on 23rd street in New York, with a lot of wind blowing about. The legend is that men would hang out on 23rd street, near the Flatiron building, to see the wind pick up ladies skirts. UrbanDictionary goes along with this story.
23 is a prime number. The only way to get it through multiplication is 23×1. However, using division, we see that 69/3 is 23. 69 sometimes refers to an act that involves two people. The concept of 69 divided by three is rather gruesome. · UrbanDictionary calls 23 the greatest number of all time. · 23 is an odd number. · Psalm 23 is one of the high points of the Bible. · 2 divided by 3 is .666 · 6+6+6+2+3=23 · The number 23 in the alphabet is W. If you can’t say anything good, say it about him. · Dr. Pepper is the combination of 23 flavors. 10+2+4 =16. If you add lucky 7, you get 23.
Willie Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564. He died April 23, 1616. · Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message on May 24, 1844. “What hath God wrought” was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23 · On January 23, 1973, Richard Nixon announced a peace accord for the Vietnam War.
On January 23, 1978, Terry Kath (Guitar player for the band Chicago) came home from a night of partying. He picked up a 9mm pistol, and held it to his head. He said, “ don’t worry, it’s not loaded.” He was mistaken, with fatal consequences. · Human DNA has 23 chromosomes. 23andMe can tell you more about where those 23 chromosomes came from.
23 enigma is one phrase for this vortex of coincidence. William S. Burroughs is credited by some for first noting the 23 enigma. “I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs … According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23.”
“Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot to death by officers in an ambush near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana on May 23, 1934.” · The Library of Congress supplied the photographs illustrating this post. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in May 1942. “Japanese-Americans being evacuated from certain West coast areas under United States Army war emergency order, and waiting for transportation to the reception center. Salinas CA”
The Cynic’s Word Book R – S
What follows are selections from The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce. TDD began as a newspaper column, and was later published as The Cynic’s Word Book. TDD is in the public domain. TDD is a dictionary, going from A to Z. Today’s selection covers R to S. More selections are available. A – D E – G H – I J – L M – O P – R Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
REPORTER, n. A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words.
RESOLUTE, adj. Obstinate in a course that we approve.
REVERENCE, n. The spiritual attitude of a man to a god and a dog to a man.
RIME, n. Agreeing sounds in the terminals of verse, mostly bad. The verses themselves, as distinguished from prose, mostly dull. Usually (and wickedly) spelled “rhyme.”
RIOT, n. A popular entertainment given to the military by innocent bystanders.
R.I.P. A careless abbreviation of requiescat in pace, attesting an indolent goodwill to the dead. According to the learned Dr. Dubious Drigge, however, the letters originally meant nothing more than reductus in pulvis.
ROAD, n. A strip of land along which one may pass from where it is too tiresome, to be to where it is futile to go, with a maximum of expense and aggravation.
RUM, n. Generically, fiery liquors that produce madness in total abstainers.
RUSSIAN, n. A person with a Caucasian body and a Mongolian soul. A Tartar Emetic.
SACERDOTALIST, n. One who holds the belief that a clergyman is a priest. Denial of this momentous doctrine is the hardest challenge that is now flung into the Epistolarian teeth of the Episcopalian church by the Neo-Dictionarians.
SAINT, n. A dead sinner revised and edited.
SCRIBBLER, n. A professional writer whose views are antagonistic to one’s own.
SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
SELF-ESTEEM, n. An erroneous appraisement. Spell check suggestions: appeasement, entrapment
SELF-EVIDENT, adj. Evident to one’s self and to nobody else.
SELFISH, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.
SENATE, n. A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and misdemeanors.
SLANG, n. The grunt of the human hog (Pignoramus intolerabilis) with an audible memory. The speech of one who utters with his tongue what he thinks with his ear, and feels the pride of a creator in accomplishing the feat of a parrot. A means (under Providence) of setting up as a wit without a capital of sense.
Scimitar
SCIMITAR, n. A curved sword of exceeding keenness, in the conduct of which certain Orientals attain a surprising proficiency, as the incident here related will serve to show. The account is translated from the Japanese of Shusi Itama, a famous writer of the thirteenth century.
When the great Gichi-Kuktai was Mikado he condemned to decapitation Jijiji Ri, a high officer of the Court. Soon after the hour appointed for performance of the rite, what was his Majesty’s surprise to see calmly approaching the throne the man who should have been at that time ten minutes dead!
“Seventeen hundred impossible dragons!” shouted the enraged monarch. “Did I not sentence you to stand in the market-place and have your head struck off by the public executioner at three o’clock? And is it not now 3:10?”
“Son of a thousand illustrious deities,” answered the condemned minister, “all that you say is so true that the truth is a lie in comparison. But your heavenly Majesty’s sunny and vitalizing wishes have been pestilently disregarded. With joy I ran and placed my unworthy body in the market-place. The executioner appeared with his bare scimitar, ostentatiously whirled it in air, and then, tapping me lightly upon the neck, strode away, pelted by the populace, with whom I was ever a favorite. I am come to pray for justice upon his own dishonorable and treasonous head.”
“To what regiment of executioners does the black-boweled caitiff belong?” asked the Mikado. “To the gallant Ninety-eight Hundred and Thirty-seventh—I know the man. His name is Sakko-Samshi.” “Let him be brought before me,” said the Mikado to an attendant, and a half-hour later the trembling culprit stood in the Presence of the Mikado.
“Thou bastard son of a three-legged hunchback without thumbs!” roared the sovereign—”why didst thou but lightly tap the neck that it should have been thy pleasure to sever?” “Lord of Cranes and Cherry Blooms,” replied the executioner, unmoved, “command him to blow his nose with his fingers.”
Being commanded, Jijiji Ri laid hold of his nose and trumpeted like an elephant, all expecting to see the severed head flung violently from him. Nothing occurred: the performance prospered peacefully to the close, without incident.
All eyes were now turned on the executioner, who had grown as white as the snows on the summit of Fujiama. His legs trembled and his breath came in gasps of terror. “Several kinds of spike-tailed brass lions!” he cried; “I am a ruined and disgraced swordsman! I struck the villain feebly because in flourishing the scimitar I had accidentally passed it through my own neck! Father of the Moon, I resign my office.” So saying, he gasped his top-knot, lifted off his head, and advancing to the throne laid it humbly at the Mikado’s feet.
This uplifting passage is borrowed from The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce. TDD began as a newspaper column, and published as The Cynic’s Word Book. TDD is in the public domain, and was named one of “The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature” by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.
When you google “Shusi Itama,” you are directed to Sushi Tama, a restaurant in Los Angeles, CA. If you persist in searching for Mr. Itama, you learn that ITAMA stands for “Institute of Traditional Asian Martial Arts, East Lansing, MI.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
Prayer Shaming
This is a repost from 2015. “Thoughts and prayers” is now seen as a laughable cliche. … Prayer shaming entered the vocabulary this week. Some moving lips were offering “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the latest commodity shooting. Some pundits thought it odd to offer T&P. Many of the people offering T&P are shameless attention mongers.
Many religions have prayer. The idea is that you talk to God. Sometimes it is a public ritual, sometimes it a private conversation. The star of the Christian religion, Jesus, is quoted as favoring private conversations. This does not stop his believers from making a grotesque spectacle of prayer.
The sad truth is that many of the praying perps talk too much. Telling them to talk is like telling an alcoholic to take a drink. Talking is seen as taking action, while listening is seen as being passive. This is just one of the problems in our culture.
Whenever there is a mass shooting, people say a lot of silly things. They argue the semantics of terrorism. There is two wrongs make a right rhetoric about race. In america, if you can’t say anything worthwhile, you talk about race. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Why I Should Not Multitask
The other day, I was minding my business. Solstice was approaching, and I wanted to make a meme to celebrate. I typed “Happy Solstice.” A picture was chosen … “One-man band at Davis Brothers Restaurant, Atlanta, 04-07-1952.” Other pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Meanwhile, I needed to listen to something. Youtube makes suggestions, based on what big brother decides. Today it was Lex Fridman talking to Saagar Enjeti. Both men have a few smarts, and enough inconvenient opinions to gather haters. If I only listened to people nobody complains about, I would live in a world of silence.
A problem with multitasking on youtube is the temptation to make a clip. It is fairly easy. First, I hear something I want to save. Get the code, determine the start time and end time, and fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, this means you have to shift your focus, away from the task at hand.
The first time I heard this dialogue, Saagar said something about Ghosts of the Ostfront. GOTO is a Hardcore History series about the Soviet-German part of World War II. This is seldom mentioned in the United States, but was crucial to defeating Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union was forced to pay an appalling cost.
After hearing about GOTO, I found the audio file. It was over four hours long, which is typical for Hardcore History. Dan Carlin goes into great detail, and is reasonably neutral. If you want someone to tell you who the bad guy is, there are other sources. In the case of Nazi Germany vs the Soviet Union, many people say there were no good guys, only bad evil against worse evil.
The solstice meme was coming into shape, slowly. A previous copy of the image was not working, and I had to find the original. A template had to be fashioned, to fit the text into the best part of the picture. The meme model was created. I decided to fit “Happy Solstice” on the bottom of his tuxedo. I was cropping the image to facilitate this, when Saagar made his comment about the Ostfront. I had to stop work on the picture, and get the clip.
“Again shout out to Dan Carlin. … I’ve never met you before, I would love to correspond at some point. I love you so much you changed my life man. … I think his best series one of his best series he gets no credit for Ghost of the Ostfront. … This is a 2011 series … on the Eastern front of the Nazi war against Russia, fundamentally changed my view of warfare forever. At that time I was very young, and to me World War II was Saving Private Ryan. I wasn’t as well read as I am now … this entire thing happened which actually decided the second world war and I don’t know anything about this.”
One thing about a series like GOTO is comparisons to other wars. At the start of Operation Barbarossa, some Germans speculated that the Wehrmacht would need to kill thirty million people to gain Lebensraum. In 2024, we see headlines like this: “Israel Needs ‘Lebensraum’ Says Blog by Major National Newspaper.”
After making this clip, it was time to avoid distractions, and finish the meme. When this project is over, future distractions will find me. Soon, the meme was finished. The text file was saved, and used for another meme. This is based on a November 1940 photograph. “Mr. Timothy Levy Crouch, a Rogerine Quaker, living in Ledyard CT, finishing up his Thanksgiving dinner. Mr. Crouch is a stonemason by profession and lives on his farm where a little farming is done.”
The @MichaelChabon Story
@tcboyle While searching the New Yorker stories, I stumbled across this shot from the distant past by Richard Avedon. We call this one, “The Noble Savage.” (Avedon himself kept fluffing out the hair in back to achieve the desired look.) @chamblee54 The first time I heard of you was in a New Yorker fiction issue. You were in a group picture, and you were rocking the desired look. The only other one I remember was Michael Chabon. Why would a gay man remember him?
When typing that reply, I wanted to include an x-address for Mr. Chabon. Google did not want to give me one, but it did have a link. After abandoning Instagram in disgust, @MichaelChabon is speaking his mind on Twitter When you click on @MichaelChabon, you get a familiar message. “@michaelchabon This account doesn’t exist Try searching for another.”
The link aroused my curiosity. Before I could get to the story, there was a pop-up ad in the way. “Get the latest news on antisemitism … Sign up for crucial updates on antisemitism in our region and how the crisis in Israel and Gaza is impacting our local Jewish community. … Join 16,000+ readers who stay informed with J. The Jewish News”
When you get around that digital roadblock, the story has a “header.” “INTEREST-FREE DEBT CONSOLIDATION LOANS … HEBREW FREE LOAN … INTEREST FREE LENDING SINCE 1897″ The logo for HFL has a Star of David. The center, and three of the triangles are green. Three of the triangles are blue, and connected to semi-circles. The three blue arrows go round and round.
The article was published August 18, 2021. It is dated. “First selfie on @verotruesocial. Impressions so far: attractive interface. Takes about 5 mins to grasp fundamental differences from IG. Really easy and convenient to post book, film/tv and music recs. AND, Huge: You can paste a *clickable* link directly into a post! Also: owner is not evil.”
“I thought, I’ve had this Twitter account forever, and I had some followers that accumulated over the years even though I never tweeted, so let me go over to Twitter and see what that’s like. … While Twitter “has not been a paragon of integrity,” he asserted that the company has done a “much better” job than Facebook of protecting its users and their data. Plus, “they [permanently] banned Trump, and I appreciated that.”
In the last 213 weeks, a few things have changed. @MichaelChabon has gone to the land of ex-tweeters. 18 hours ago, michael.chabon displayed a picture of his wife’s arm tattoo on instagram. mollyjongfast “Why do I want a tattoo now?”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in May 1942. “San Juan Bautista, California. Schoolchildren who were collecting scrap metal for war.”
The Science Communicator
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octagon · piano mix · ambient mix · lowlight 038 · brookhaven
2girls1cup · repost · urban legend · uss liberty · brookhaven dog park
shackjob betty · pinkerite · jarrett simpson · Hoagy Carmicheal · Hoagy Carmicheal · penny/neely
zen browser · luigi mangione · lyre · luigi mangione · smart bitches
jeff baxter · lene lovich · nasa archive · college confidential · francis joins the wacs
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heavens gate · the deer hunter · Belkî Sibê · pope francis · dui crash · zen browser
this is the documentation of another week wasted on the internet. The picture is from the Library of Congress, taken by John Collier in August 1941. “Cadets ready to mount into their planes after a hearty dinner of fried chicken. Craig Field, Southeastern Air Training Center, Selma, Alabama” · Documentation of another week on the internet. Picture by John Collier, August 1941. “Cadet R.T. Neal feels well satisfied after a dinner of fried chicken supplied by FSA clients of Coffee County AL. Craig Field, Southeastern Air Training Center. Selma AL” Link Below. · RwA ethics committee report · Romance Writers of America® · Nothing says Christmas cheer like a racism complaint about a romance novel. The picture today is “Little girl in kitchen of farm home. Sheridan County MT” Russell Lee took the photograph in November, 1937. · the legend is that Gene Autry had a recording session. The planned tracks went quickly, and there was studio time and musicians available. Someone passed out copies of “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.” The rest is history. Links in comments. · “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” is a beloved Christmas classic, without the troubling religious implications of many other holiday songs. · The featured photograph was taken by Russell Lee in May 1942. “San Benito County CA. Japanese-Americans at picnic.” · A New Jersey couple tried to get a grocery store to make a birthday cake for their son, Adolph Hitler Campbell. While the first store declined, they did find a WalMart to make the cake. The featured photograph was taken by Russell Lee in May 1942. “San Benito County CA. Japanese-Americans at picnic.” · @coldxman The only thing I learned from this video is that Candace Owens does not know how to pronounce “Sinai” or “Napalm”, which is, to put it gently, on brand. · What is 2girls1cup? The daring work of art is an allegory for the concept of spiritual awakening. It examines the prevalent ideologies that are internalized in our culture. The thematic piece tends to raise more questions than answers. · I just shared a video, W***e T***h C******s. I don’t know if f******k is still giving strikes for insensitive content, so I took it down. If you want to see the video, look for my blog post later. · I have always enjoyed seeing pictures with mustaches drawn on them. I found some super tacky images like this from 2009. With a couple of these people, I could barely remember why they were important. · anotherdayanotherplay Private Site: This site is currently private. Log in to WordPress.com to request access. · Google did not show me this site. Duckduckgo did. · pictures today are from The Library of Congress · selah
Philosophy Of 2Girls1Cup
A few years ago, the video “2girls1cup” was the rage of the day. A trailer for a trash Brazilian movie, the featurette shows two buxom young ladies sharing a plastic cup. The contents of the cup are supposed to be human waste … many suspect it is chocolate ice cream. Later, one of the players shares a technicolor yawn with the other. A plastic supply tube may be a prop.
The video is not in wide circulation today. If you go to the original site, you see 2girls1cup.com nothing but porn, another opportunity to buy smut. It is just as well. Before posting a live address, it is time for the DISCLAIMER.
It is not suggested that you watch this. If you are sensitive, have a heart condition, or have just eaten (like, in the last month), you may want to look at something else. 2g1c is gross, disgusting, and without redeeming social value. 2g1c is not safe for work, and has great danger for play.
The original film is available at a .ca web address. This commentary goes with it: What is Two Girls One Cup ? Two girls one cup (aka 2 girls 1 cup & cup video) is a trailer that was released in 2007 for the artistic film “Hungry Bitches” made by MFX Media. The daring work of art is an allegory for the concept of spiritual awakening. It examines the prevalent ideologies that are internalized in our culture, and in true post-modern form; the thematic piece tends to raise more questions than answers. The philosophical film has varying interpretations, which is why the 2 girls 1 cup film is still analyzed and debated about to this date.
Chamblee54 has weighed in on this “matter” before. If you google “2girls1cup snopes,” Philosophy Of 2Girls1Cup is result number five. The dreaded “number two” result was from the Urban Dictionary, 2 girls 1 cup scam. “It’s probably a mixture of coffee cream cake filling and crunchy peanut butter.”
I doubt that the creators of this epic had a message. They just wanted to make a bit of cheesy scat porn. Just because the creators of a work don’t intend for it to be a myth, that doesn’t stop the determined believer. Did the Council of Nicea intend their church canon to be taken as the inerrant Word of God? The texts in that canon were often allegorical stories, not literal truth.
Is there a deeper truth inherent in a tawdry vignette of snacking sisters? Maybe the cup is the Christ figure. The deposit in the cup represents the sin of mankind, forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus took the sins of man on his shoulders, and paid the price for these sins, just as the cup received the product of a young lady’s digestive system.
The trouble is, the girls then ate the forbidden flop. This analogizes to the way the Xtian church recycles sin. The poisonous anger and rudeness that Jesus paid for on the cross are fed back to the eager believers every Sunday.
After the excremental dessert, the actress hurled onto the breast of her willing dining companion. This stands in for the verbal abuse showered on worshipers every Sunday. Professional Jesus Worshipers project a vile output on the pew warmers. They think they are going to heaven as a result. Was this the message the producers of this video intended? The best course of action might be refusing to partake of the product. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Birthday Cake
I try to post something every day. When I am too lazy to write anything, I look in the archives. Today this took me to December 2008. Sixteen years ago was a simpler, gentler time. BHO had been elected POTUS, and many were optimistic. We were “winning” the war in Iraq. The smart phone was one year old. Sarah Palin was not going to be VPOTUS.
The idea at first was to take a post, gussy it up a bit, and repost it. The first post I saw was When Dogs Fly and You Clean Up. This was based on a list of questions that someone sent out as a joke email. “If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from? · Why do the Alphabet song and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” have the same tune? · Why did you just try singing the two songs above?”
Air Strikes Kill Children could be written today. “The headlines are so antiseptic… “Israel air strikes demolish Hamas compounds, over 200 dead” · It seems there is a pecking order for tragedy. When it is a Caucasian English speaking American, the media goes bonkers. A dark skinned American gets a more muted response. If the deceased lives in a foreign country, the response is a bit less. If the dead children live in a territory next to Israel, they might as well not exist in the first place. · It is a familiar story. The rockets were coming out of the Gaza Strip, and landing on Israel. The Israeli government decides to take action. No one is really sure how many of the dead were Hamas, and how many were children. Children born into a hell hole, who had no control over who their neighbor is. · The response is predictable. The spokesman for the White House said “Hamas’ continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”
Then there is my dysfunctional relationship with Jesus, which can be challenging during the holidays. In between my hurt feelings, a blogger appears, with some information about “Historic Jesus.” “Israeli meteorologists best guess places the real date of Christ’s birth on September 29th, 5 BC. · The Catholic writer Mario Righetti admits that, “to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, the Church of Rome found it convenient to institute the 25th of December as the feast of the birth of Christ to divert them from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in honor of the ‘Invincible Sun’ Mithras, the conqueror of darkness” (Manual of Liturgical History, 1955, Vol. 2, P. 67).”
This is starting to get depressing. Maybe we should end this with a feel good story. “The Clan Campbell is notorious in Scottish history. It seems as though there was a conflict with the MacDonalds, and a rather ugly incident in 1692. This might explain why the golden arch people do not serve soup. · The latest Campbell to make the news is Adolph Hitler Campbell. The three year old resident of Holland Township NJ is the sibling of JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. The father, Heath Campbell, tried to get a birthday cake for young Adolph. The local Shop Rite store refused to put the name on the cake, saying it was inappropriate to send a birthday greeting to Adolph Hitler. A WalMart came to the rescue, and made a cake for young Adolph.” Let the good times roll.
Unfortunately, even the most uplifting stories can have unhappy endings. Reason Hitler Can’t Go Home: Alleged Abuse, Not Nazi Name “A New Jersey court decided that a couple should not regain custody of their three children — not because the parents named their children after prominent Nazis, but because of alleged abuse and parental incompetence, court documents state. · Heath and Deborah Campbell’s three small children were removed from their Holland Township home by the state in January 2009 after they asked a grocery store in Greenwich, N.J. to write “Adolf Hitler” on their son’s birthday cake and a media storm ensued. · While a local Wal-Mart honored the birthday cake request, Adolf Hitler Campbell and siblings JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell have been in foster care ever since. · The appeals court ruled Thursday that sufficient evidence of abuse or neglect existed. Court records state that both parents were victims of childhood abuse and both are unemployed and suffering from unspecified physical and psychological disabilities. · Neither Campbell has been adequately treated for their psychological conditions, court records said. Thirty-seven-year-old Heath can’t read and Deborah dropped out of high school before finishing the 10th grade. · But the most convincing piece of evidence may have been the note signed by Deborah and given to a neighbor, which was full of grammar and spelling mistakes: “Hes thrend to have me killed or kill me himself hes alread tried it a few times. Im afread that he might hurt my children if they are keeped in his care. He teaches my son how to kill someone at the age of 3.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured photograph was taken by Russell Lee in May 1942. “San Benito County CA. Japanese-Americans at picnic.”
Rudolph
Someone posted a bit of revisionism about a holiday classic. As he sees it, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is about racism.
In a bit of yuletime synchronicity, the urban mythbusters at Snopes posted a piece about Rudolph the same day. It seems as though the Rudolph story was originally written for the Montgomery Ward Stores. The idea was to print a Christmas booklet to give to customers. A staff writer named Robert L. May was picked for the job.
Originally, there were concerns about the red nose, and the connection to heavy drinking. At the time, the original meaning of “merry christmas” had been forgotten. Merry meant intoxicated, and a merry christmas was a drunken one. The booklet was released. It was a big hit with shoppers.
Mr. May had a brother in law named Johnny Marks, who was musically gifted. Mr. Marks wrote the song, and somehow or another Gene Autry came to sing it. A story (which I heard once, but cannot find a source for) had Mr. Autry doing a recording session. The session went very smoothly, and the sides scheduled to be recorded were finished early. There was a half hour of studio time paid for. Someone produced copies of “Rudolph”, gave them to the musicians, and the recording was knocked out. It became a very big hit.
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” has become a beloved standard, without the troubling religious implications of many holiday songs. It is the second biggest selling record of all time. The only song to sell more is “White Christmas”.
The story above is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Racist Romance Writer Smackdown
In twitterland, there is a list of trending topics. The other day, the top trend was #IStandWithCourtney. The trend topping #ISWC tweet: Jingle Elle Maruska (they/them) @ellle_em “#IStandWithCourtney Calling out racism is not being racist Pointing out someone’s unethical behavior is not being unethical I stand with Courtney because white feelings are in no way more important than fighting for marginalized people’s right to exist in any & all spaces.” If you think you know where this is headed, you are probably correct. This is a repost from 2019.
Perez Hilton puts it all in a nutshell. “What’s it all about? It’s about racism, injustice, and of course erotic tales of ribald fantasy. Yep, it’s drama in the world of romance novelists! This month the Romance Writers of America suspended author Courtney Milan (presumably asking her to turn in her badge and her quill) over what they called a violation of their code of ethics.”
“So what had Milan, the author of such historical Harlequins as A Kiss For Midwinter … done to deserve this literary excommunication? Apparently fellow novelists Suzan Tisdale (Secrets of the Heart) and Kathryn Lynn Davis (Too Deep For Tears) filed a formal complaint over a twitter thread … in which Milan — a Chinese American author — called out one of Davis’ books for being racist.”
Smart Bitches has more on this bodice-ripping badass, with documentation galore. Davis complaint, Tisdale complaint I, Tisdale complaint II RWA ethics committee report “whether it’s a publishing house deciding that a contract with a white supremacist is a good idea, or a writer’s organization deciding that white supremacy is the right decision ethically.”
The twitter thread is can’t-miss reading. @courtneymilan read a sample of Somewhere lies the moon. There was a twitter reaction, that will live in infamy. @courtneymilan “And we’ve been talking about Sue Grimshaw? Someone sent me a link to a book written by the other editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis, and is a fucking racist mess.”
The Davis complaint notes that the Milan opinion is based on reading a sample of SLTM. By her own admission, @courtneymilan did not finish the sample, much less read the book. @courtneymilan “Here’s the book. I didn’t finish the sample. I didn’t need to.”
Racism smackdown fans are probably asking, what was so fucking racist messy about SLTM? The accuser is Chinese-American, as is the racially besmirched character. No forbidden words, beginning with N, were used. It is not that type of racism.
The damning nanoagressions are documented in a series of tweets. Here are a few. The part following a link is by @courtneymilan. Transcribed screen shots are identified as (SS). If you click on the link, you can see the entire screen shot. This might help you understand the situation better.
@courtneymilan “This book is like a bingo card of OH GOD DID YOU REALLY. Start out with the heroine, who is the obligatory blue-eyed half-Chinese woman.” (SS) “Lian was twenty-five, tall and lithe, with the thick black hair and bronze skin of the Chinese”@courtneymilan “I mean…. that doesn’t really happen. (Genevra is half-Indian and also blue-eyed.) But also… like. Of course. This is like such a standard racist trope. WHY.”
@courtneymilan “Here is our half-Chinese woman remembering her past, where she is explicitly told that the future is the West, and that for Chinese women, compliance is the rule. SIGH.” (SS)”I am a captive of my own history, but I have raised you to be free, to move forward toward the future – and the future is the West.” “I was no’ askin’ what your parents wanted, but what ye want for yourself” “It is not important. It is not a question I ask myself. In China Shun, compliance, is the rule for women”
@courtneymilan “Here she is, meeting another Chinese family in London. I’m gonna be honest: I don’t know how I feel about “bronze” as the “standard” for Chinese skin (prior tweets), but I *do* know how I feel about “yellow.” And about almond eyes.” (SS) “…their thick blue-black hair and bronze faces, turned slightly yellow by the London climate, were unmistakably Chinese, as were their slanted almond eyes” @courtneymilan “Note that this in Lian’s point of view. She was raised in China. She only describes the Chinese people by skin color/eye slant, not the white people. She’s literally describing absolutely normal people to her as if she were a white woman talking about a foreigner.”
@courtneymilan “Oh, I was searching for something else and found this: In China, women didn’t learn anything.” (SS) “In China, no woman was taught much more than cooking and sewing and the graceful art of pleasing her husband.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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