Sin
The post below went up seven years ago. It deals with a publicity stunt from the Catholic church, an updated seven deadly sins. The statute of limitations may have run out on this message. The traditional “seven deadly sins” were anger, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
The site linked above has a page, the seven deadly sins of Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi. The subcontinental fashion icon lists Wealth without Work, Pleasure without Conscience, Science without Humanity, Knowledge without Character, Politics without Principle, Commerce without Morality, and Worship without Sacrifice.
After 1,500 years the Vatican has brought the seven deadly sins up to date by adding seven new ones for the age of globalization. The list, published yesterday in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, came as the Pope deplored the “decreasing sense of sin” in today’s “secularized world” and the falling numbers of Roman Catholics going to confession. The new deadly sins include polluting, genetic engineering, being obscenely rich, drug dealing, abortion, pedophilia and causing social injustice. HT to Fox News. ( aka the eighth deadly sin.)
One reaction is to wonder, what language was used for the list? Phrases like “obscenely rich” and “causing social injustice” can mean different things, and one wonders about the nuance behind the original expression. Now, Just about all of these “sins” can merit comments. Maybe the Catholic church is thinking of moving its headquarters to hell.
polluting We can talk about something where all have sinned, or who should throw the first stone. If you ride in a car, wear synthetic fibers, through away anything, use a less than perfect sewer system (or a functioning one on a rainy day with overflows), then you have polluted.
genetic engineering Here again, there are semantics galore. Much of the food we eat is tweaked by genetic breeding. This is something Euros get twitchy about, that doesn’t concern most Americans.
being obscenely rich This is one to wonder what the original Italian said. Compared to much of the world, a 900sf house is a palace. However, compared to many of the neighbors, it is lower middle class. Perhaps the emphasis should be on greed, selfishness, and how you gain this wealth. The tenth commandment says something about coveting. It is the forgotten commandment.
drug dealing Is there a distinction between legal and illegal drugs here? If you go by the damage that substances cause, then this rule will speak to bartenders and the clerk who sells cigarettes. Not to mention the media outlets who advertise cigarettes and beer, the legislators who condone these substances while prosecuting potheads, and a whole host of others. The legally based war on drugs is a disaster in this country. Do we really need to drag the Catholic church into it?
abortion. If Mary had gotten an abortion, would Christians worship a vacuum cleaner? Seriously, the Catholic Corporation has flogged this donkey, to great profit, for years. If you don’t want abortions, promote contraception and adoption. Catholics should find another gimmick.
pedophilia When you up pedophile in the dictionary, you see a picture of a Catholic priest.
causing social injustice Can we have a better translation of this?
Are Hispanic/Latino People White?
While writing about homicide statistics and police killings, PG noted a quirk in the US government statistics. Hispanic/Latino people were listed as an ethnicity, rather than a race. The individual categories of White/Black/etc. included Hispanic/Latino people, where appropriate. This applies to US Census Bureau population statistics, as well as FBI crime statistics.
One quickly learns that there is no hard and fast rule about what racial category Hispanic/Latino people fall into. It appears to be a self determined choice. Many Hispanic/Latino people see themselves as Hispanic/Latino, and not White or Black, no matter what the Census Bureau says. There are indications that more Hispanic/Latino people chose White on the Census form in 2010, than in 2000. The numbers for 2020 are not yet available.
This is not an option for most African Americans, or for many European Americans. PG is Caucasian, with a Scottish last name. His racial identity has never been in doubt. This classification as White is not a source of pride or shame. It simply is who PG is. Most non-Hispanic Caucasians in the United States have a similar experience.
The Census questions are presented with the Hispanic question first, and the race question second. “NOTE: Please answer BOTH Question 5 about Hispanic origin and Question 6 about race. For this census, Hispanic origins are not races.”
You have to dig a bit to get the Hispanic/Latino race breakdown. You learn that Hispanic/Latino people see themselves, at least with the census bureau, as:
White – 53%
Black – 02.5%
Native American – 01.4%
Asian – 0.4%
Some other race – 36.7%
Two or more races – 06%
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Social Justice Dogpile
Hard Knocks #1021 was a recent episode of the RISK podcast. At 46:00, we hear “Black Girl Magic” by Wanda Bowser. There are four characters, three white, one black. One of the three women is black, and the man is white. It begins with Brittany getting Wanda and Nathan to hook up, with Brittany watching. Soon Wanda and Nathan spend lots of time together. Good times are had.
One night, Wanda gets a phone call from Brittany. Nathan got in a heated argument with Laurel, and called her N$$$$$ Lover. Brittany, for some reason, felt the need to tell Wanda about this. Wanda avoids Nathan, until one night when he shows up. After an uncomfortable conversation, “I accepted his fuck boy apology and continue hooking up with him.” This goes on for a while, until Nathan finds a white lady that he likes better. Nathan drops out of school, and Wanda goes on with her life. There are more details to the story. If you like, you can use the link to hear the entire story.
Luther McKinnon Luther Mckinnon “I just listened to Wanda Bowser’s story, and I have questions. What was the context of Nathan saying NL to that girl? And why did Wanda’s gossip happy so-called friend have to tell Wanda, and everybody else?” I foolishly made a comment on facebook. If you want to see the complete comment thread, use the link above.
Wanda Wilson Bowser “Brittany was a pot stirrer. It was something I didn’t realize about her until I was older and could look back at those “friendships” reflectively. I know now that she had deep insecurities as a person and to feel better about herself, she wanted other people to hurt. She damn sure wasn’t telling me to protect my feelings, but she wanted my reaction. We ended up having a big falling out months later about something else and now, 17 years after the fact, we’ve gotten over our shared history and are still politely acquainted as Facebook friends.”
There were a few more comments back and forth. I never did learn the context of Nathan saying NL. Did Laurel lead him on? Was Brittany involved somehow, other than spreading toxic gossip? Did country boy Nathan understand just how bad the magic word was? These issues were never addressed. I was going to let the matter slide, until a fresh round of comments came in.
Raymond Christian Yea this listening to the other side crap has become an over used trop as if any one gives a damn what a bigots motivation is Luther Mckinnon So you are going to label Nathan a bigot because of one comment? Raymond Christian yes, yes I am !!!! Raymond Christian I hope no one bothers to say “but you don’t know whats in his heart” You can only judge peoples actions and words not some cosmic idea about whats in their brain and cant be seen! Luther Mckinnon So, we have a person. A country boy, who wound up hooking up with a black girl. Some how or another, he used the magic word in a conversation. When he uses the magic word, he is no longer a human being worthy of respect. He is a bigot. Did Laurel put words in his mouth? What did she say to get him to say the magic word? Maybe Laurel, and definitely Brittany, are the bigots in this story? If we use the standards of contemporary social justice, dating POC is not a defense against charges of racism. Have Laurel or Brittany ever used the magic word?
We don’t know much about Nathan. He was a tobacco chewing country boy, who had a fling with a black girl. He said the magic word. Suddenly, he is a bigot periah. Nothing else about him matters. He is heard saying a word one time, and he is less of a human being.
Wanda says that the magic word reminds her “no matter the content of my character, I am considered less than a person.” This is what happens when you label a person a racist. That person is the other. You are no longer worthy of your humanity. This label can be applied for the flimsiest of reasons. Often, the person applying the label is just as bigoted.
RISK prides itself on being uncensored. This is one issue that challenges this boast. If a story involves racial conflict, the default is to believe the POC. If a white person falls out of line, then they are deemed a racist. There are no other circumstances considered. They are to be treated as less than human. This orthodoxy must not be challenged. If you challenge this taboo, then you too are considered less than human. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Here is part two.
Another Story About Race was the story of a facebook conversation. It got ugly after the story was published. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Kevin Allison Luther, the hundreds of thousands who died in the Civil War knew the full weight and meaning of that word. The millions who fought through the Civil Rights movement in the mid-century knew the full weight and meaning of that word. I’m not sure precisely which year Wanda’s story is set, but Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, the Central Park Five… these were stories in the news in all of our lifetimes. Does “country boy” mean “imbecile”? My father is from Meridian, Mississippi. His parents, my grandparents, were people of very modest means and did not go to the best schools. Other Allisons, cousins of my grandfather, were from the Bayou country in Louisiana. Everyone in my family has always known the full weight and meaning of that word. Because we’re Americans. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, city person, country person… we all know that word and we know it deep down in our souls.
To pretend that calling someone out for engaging in racism is as dehumanizing as racism itself is a fantasy. It ignores all of history and the societal power dynamics we’re still swimming in. And to pretend that RISK! engages in censorship because we don’t present the “other side of the story” is also some sort of mind game. If this guy “Nathan” wanted to come on the show and could speak about these same events with the level of self-awareness and emotional intelligence we look for in the stories we present on the show, he’d be more than welcome to. We see you. We hear you. And what you’re selling, we ain’t buying.
Luther Mckinnon “To pretend that calling someone out for engaging in racism is as dehumanizing as racism itself is a fantasy.” “to pretend that RISK! engages in censorship because we don’t present the “other side of the story” I have said neither of those things. I am concerned about the dehumanizing effect of all labels, both politically correct and incorrect.
Not everyone is as excited about the magic word as you are. POC use it all the time. We still don’t know what Laurel said to Nathan, to goad him into saying something he would regret. Maybe an 18 year old, put under enough pressure, gave in and said the magic word. We have not heard that part of the story, and apparently never will. I am not selling anything. I am trying to explain why I feel the way I do. You are entitled to your opinion.
SugaBusshh Smith Hey RISK!; we all know what Luther is about now. The man is an unapologetic racist. Do you really wish to give the man even more of a platform? I’m not about eliminating free speech, but I don’t believe hate speech like what Luther propagates needs any more of a platform then the presidency.I do wish someone would choose to hit the off button on this guy because his agenda is more than obvious. He is not a casual listener of the show wishing to take part in meaningful discussion. He wishes to spill vile and venom and spread his racist ideology on your group. It’s your choice of course to let him continue this nonsense, but for the mental well being of the rest of us; i truly hope you don’t. (SugaBusshh Smith passed away in July, 2020. Rest in peace.)
It is odd to be called “unapologetic racist” after this thread. At no time did I say anything derogatory about people of color. I said two things: I asked for details about the Nathan-Laurel conversation. I said that labeling people, as racist, was dehumanizing. People feel self righteous about abusing their neighbor over racial values. If someone does not like your racial values, they feel virtuous in attacking you. If you criticize the white savior, you are opening yourself up to abuse.
Have you ever heard that racism is institutional? That you cannot be racist if you don’t have power? This discussion is not about economic opportunity, access to education or housing, or police brutality. This thread is about an 18 year old kid, who said a bad word. When I ask, 17 years later, if maybe he was goaded into saying this bad word, I am labeled a racist. Maybe if I quit asking for details about this incident, I will quit being called a racist. I somehow doubt it.
Have you ever heard someone say “If you don’t like being called a racist, quit being one.”? Don’t believe it. This incident took place 17 years ago. We know nothing of the way Nathan has lived his life. And yet, because he said one word, 17 years ago, he is considered a bigot. Nobody gives a damn what he thinks. Nathan is less than human, because he said one word, during a heated argument.
The psychology of anti racism is twisted. It is similar to the way homophobia works. It is well known that many homophobes are secretly gay, and not happy about it. To take attention away from their own unresolved issues, the lash out at others who they perceive to be faggots. It is an ugly situation, and yet many homophobes feel virtuous in their hatred.
Many people who call others racist are worried about their own racial values. They are afraid that they might be racist. To assure themselves that they are not racist, they lash out at others that they perceive as being racist. The standards of what is considered racist get lower everyday.
On a more personal level, this has been a tough conversation. It is one thing when someone you have never met, who you don’t care about, calls you a racist online. Kevin Allison is someone who produces a remarkable show, RISK. I have enjoyed many episodes online, and had the privilege of attending a live show last fall. I have, until now, had a great deal of respect for Kevin. It is very discouraging to see him participate in an internet dogpile. I will probably continue to listen to RISK, but I will always know about this incident. This is a double repost. Part two is now available.
I Used to Be Charming Part One
My current book is I Used to Be Charming, by Eve Babitz. The plan is to have a multi-part dialogue. IUTBC is a collection of magazine pieces. Sometimes the magazine is as much fun as the story. This is especially true for No Onions, a story about Archie, Veronica, and people who don’t to eat onions. The story was in Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing.
All This And The Godfather Too kicks off the book. Eve gets hired to go to Lake Tahoe, and write about the production. There are magic moments. Eve gets booked into a San Francisco hotel, along with a spy gathering. The phrase employed here is “buggers convention.” When you consider the British meaning of “bugger,” you realize that San Francisco is always a buggers convention.
On page 27, Eve is writing a story for some magazine. She types on single-sided pieces of paper, and writes a number at the top of each page. Eve is an alcoholic space kitten, and forgets page 29. The manuscript goes to Europe. Someone spends $34 to call Eve, and find out there is no page 29. This happens on page 28 of IUTBC.
Mr. Coppola made of ton of money on the first Godfather, and goes around San Francisco buying things. He’s got this office building, which is now a boutique hotel. Mr. Coppola also bought City Magazine, which became a financial quagmire. City Magazine shut down in 1976. Eve said it was not saving the magazine, as much as keeping the Titanic afloat.
Cindy Williams appears at a dinner. She had starred in a couple of movies, and was starting to make a name for herself. The dinner was before Laverne & Shirley. It is fun to read something 47 years after publication, when you know what the author did not know.
I read a 1980 Playboy in the mid-eighties. The article was about the 1980 elections. A press secretary was asked about the zero factor … the way Presidents, elected in years ending in zero, seem to die in office. The man said, this was interesting, but we really are not worried about it. The PS is question was James Brady, who was severely wounded in an assassination attempt on President Reagan.
ATATGT is written for something called Coast magazine. You can buy a copy on eBay for $99. It’s a beautiful magazine, with a drawing of Mr. Coppola on the cover. Eve Babitz is above the masthead.
My God, Eve, How Can You Live Here? appears in City Magazine, “Vol. 8 No. 64 Apr. 30- May 13, 1975 “Inside Los Angeles” Edition.” Eve wrote a survival guide to LA, intended for visitors from San Francisco. “Rent A Car: That’s Rule One.” She calls one road the Raymond Chandler Memorial Parkway. Chandler wrote fun books, about an LA that no longer exists.
My Life In A 36DD Bra appeared in the April, 1976 edition of Ms. Magazine. How this got on the cover of a feminist magazine is anyone’s guess. Eve’s mammaries are part of her aesthetic. “When she graduated from Hollywood High in 1961, Babitz wrote to Joseph Heller: ‘Dear Joseph Heller, I am a stacked 18-year-old blonde on Sunset Boulevard. I am also a writer. Eve Babitz.’ … Babitz wrote a Daisy Miller-inspired novel, which Heller sent to his publisher: it was turned down.”
Her booby broadside has a feminine slant. The men who hit on Eve routinely say that they are really leg man, even when drooling over her chest. Despite sporting enormous breasts, Eve rattles on about how she does not like her ass. This type of anti-feminism can be dangerous. Another article in the April Ms. was TRASHING: The Dark Side of Sisterhood. If you substitute “cancel culture” for “TRASHING,” that article could have been written today.
Eve had her ups and downs, before taking the ultimate downer December 17, 2021. Someone managed to snag an interview in 2019.
LA Mag You went from sex, drugs, and rock and roll to what The New York Times described as a political conservative and supposed MAGA hat owner.
What brought this change about, and where do you stand now?
Eve I never talk about politics. … Although I was so happy [when] my friend Linda [Ronstadt] was going out with Jerry Brown. …
LA Mag All of your writings contain what the press calls “unabashed hedonism.” We’re living in an antihedonist moment now: political correctness and Twitter quash humor/sarcasm/sexual jokes. Sobriety’s rampant. If your books debuted now, how do think they’d go over?
Eve I can’t imagine, and luckily I don’t have to! Also if I were writing now, I doubt the books would be the same. After all, my sobriety is rampant, too!
LA Mag What are you currently doing with your time?
Eve I see my friends; go to [AA] meetings. I am gratefully sober.
I read all the time: books, magazines, everything.
Losing Weight Made Me A New Person—A Novelist appeared in the September, 1977 edition of Vogue. Traditionally, September is the most important issue of the year for fashion magazines.
The story is as much about alcoholism recovery as losing weight. Eve was quite a lush in her day.
Of course, when you knock off the sauce, you eat/sleep/exercise/fuck better, and become a healthier person. And, as we learned in the 36DD story, Eve was already a healthy girl. Never mind that the early alcohol recovery did not last. Eventually, Eve became a cocaine aficionado.
“Her friend Paul Ruscha was once quoted saying, “She’d blown her book advance on coke, fucked up her nose. She called me, begged me to come over. I couldn’t believe what I saw. There wasn’t an inch of floor not covered in bloody Kleenex. The cats were running around high.” … She stopped using in May of 1982. “Everyone has their own reasons for stopping an addiction. It’s hard to say what it is, except you know in your bones that if you don’t stop at the moment you decide, you never will.”
It is traditional for drunken writers … redundancy alert … to talk about the many authors who were raging drunks. Eve even coins a verb … Mailered … to describe this. Stormin’ Norman was as famous for his drunken brawling as his prose. His place in the slobberin’ scribe hall of fame is assured.
When people noticed that Eve was losing weight, and not being drunk all the time, they started pestering her to write a novel. She started pasting notes together. “I thought it was a little greedy of her. After all, I was the one who’d gotten the corpse from the guy in the alley at midnight; now she wanted me to dissect it all by herself, and I hadn’t even finished drinking the blood.”
I was reading the chapter about losing weight in the Walmart parking lot. At one point, I looked up from the text, to see a 300 pound women and her equally porcine husband. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. More “Charming” episodes are available. two three four five
Loose Cannon
Georgia Elections were thrown into chaos by covid 19. One of the results is SB 202. It makes changes in election law. This story details some of the changes. It appears that many of the hysterical “Jim Crow Voter Suppression” claims are exaggerated. This is a repost.
PG has his story from 2020. He applied for an absentee ballot in the July primary. An unsolicited AB was sent for the next three elections, along with dozens of unsolicited AB applications. SB 202 will prohibit this. How will not sending out unsolicited AB suppress the minority vote?
The NPR story does not mention AB applications requiring a copy of the voter’s ID. This requirement would impose a logistical burden on the counties, as well as inviting fraudulent ID copies. This requirement, if it is imposed, would be a mistake.
In some cases, voting is becoming easier. “Earlier law required three weeks of in-person early voting Monday through Friday, plus one Saturday, during “normal business hours. The new bill adds an extra Saturday, makes both Sundays optional for counties, and standardizes hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or as long as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
Georgia being Georgia, SB 202 is getting screwed up. The Republicans are acting in a high-handed matter, and imposing foolish regulations. One of these is a ban on giving food and water to voters waiting in line. The Democrats are screaming RACISM at every opportunity. The public is being poorly served by the process. Many people are completely taken in by the RACISM rhetoric, and think anyone who does not drink the kool-aid is a RACIST.
SB 202 was passed, and the real fun begins. Usually, a bill being signed into law is a boring formality. Thursday was not. For some reason, Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 202 at the Capitol, immediately after passage. This may have been done as a gesture of disrespect to the race-baiting opposition.
State Representative Park Elizabeth Cannon decided to disrupt the bill signing. Rep. Cannon tried to get arrested February 26, but the State Patrol did not comply.
Rep. Cannon made a scene outside the bill-signing. We don’t know what the State Trooper said the her, or what happened before the video started. It is possible that Rep. Cannon had been threatening to disrupt the event. The unusual manner of the signing may have been a reaction to provocation by Rep. Cannon. This is not how government should be conducted.
The charges are on the Fulton County website. “EW-0324353 Willful Obstruction Of Law Enforcement Officers By Use Of Threats Or Violence – Felony … EW-0324354 Preventing Or Disrupting General Assembly Sessions Or Other Meetings Of Members; Etc. (3Rd Offense)” The site does not specify the first two offenses.
The matter is now in the courts … both the court of law, and the court of public opinion. Facebook has been full of nonsense, until the next media circus comes along. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Bath Suit Fashion Parade, Seal Beach, Cal., July 14, 1918, photographed by M.F. Weaver. WISC. Varsity, 1914, was photographed by Bain News Service.
Exploding Gas Prices
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Let Me Tell You Why You’re Wrong Ep. 209: Exploding Gas Prices & Spaceport Plans
The Nunn‐Lugar Act: A Wasteful and Dangerous Illusion Foreign Policy Briefing No. 39
NY Woman Punched 125 Times, Foot-Stomped in Brutal Hate Crime Beating: Police
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What Caused the War? Ukraine and Russia in Historical Context
Herschel Walker Skeptical Of Evolution: ‘Why Are There Still Apes? Think About It’
if that is true why are there still apes? Herschel Walker at Sugar Hill Church
A Private Company Has Evacuated 6,500 People From Ukraine
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Protesters condemn racist voting legislation in rural Georgia March 16, 2022
Spicy erotica, crying Nazis and the Badass Trans Women of Comedy
Special Topics in Being a Human – Queer and Tender Guide to Things I’ve Learned …
Hundreds of Yale Law Students Disrupt Bipartisan Free Speech Event
The Complex Legacy of an Anti-Black Restaurant Slated for Demolition
‘Truly an atrocity’: Woman dead after argument over bowling ball at Atlanta fun center
Mikhail Khodorkovsky on how to deal with the “bandit” in the Kremlin
Some Shootings Aren’t Random … argument over a bowling ball … probably wasn’t.
After nearly two decades in business, Lipstick Lounge is a fixture of queer community
AFFF Foam Cancer Lawsuit – Firefighter Foam Cancer Link Stan Gipe, B.C.S.
Georgia Board of Education Votes to Censor American History drafted a resolution …
Coppola’s Columbus Tower Boutique Hotel Wins San Francisco Approval
How an Academic Grudge Turned Into a #MeToo Panic weaponization of …
Billie Lourd Wore Rodarte to Marry Austen Rydell at an Intimate Ceremony in Cabo San Lucas
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Lab experiments show Ivermectin, eliminates SARS-CoV-2 in cells in 48 hours
Зеленський: РНБО призупиняє діяльність ОПЗЖ, Партії Шарія та інших
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Moon River — the song that nearly didn’t make the final cut of Breakfast at Tiffany’s
daniel bessner ~ vantage ~ bloatware ~ goats need jesus ~ 2600 Talley Street
kerouac ~ jonesboro road ~ anne tyler ~ tiara bogan-jones ~ young thug
reality winner ~ miami ivm ~ pendejo ~ street racing ~ mlk senate report
jb stoner ~ jb stoner ~ st mark’s pl ~ mlk tapes ~ david wolpe
torah bible koran ~ Will Thomas ~ establishment ~ hang on sloopy ~ col3:16
burroughs ~ cfa ~ depression ~ rsd test ~ rsd
florian jaeger ~ wapo biolabs ~ coppola winery ~ deshaun watson ~ russia
repost ~ viv castle ~ putin ~ aunt fanny’s cabin ~ @sbearbergman
brittney griner ~ sb202 ~ @schwarzenegger ~ amber alert ~ aaron long
atorvastatin blood sugar ~ minds ~ minds ~ prediabetes ~ why i blog
wsb ~ prediabetes ~ roland re 201 ~ herschel ~ amazon
Nunn Lugar ~ Nunn-Lugar Project ~ π ~ apes ~ WSB
i tell you something else i heard and i think about this because at one time science said man came from apes did it not i remember that’s when you go to the screen every time i read or hear that i think to myself you just didn’t read the same bible i did well this was interesting though if that is true why are there still apes think about it you know now you’re getting too smart for it no no no no think about this we have an evolution that is we’ve gotten so intelligent that if that is true why are there still apes and then the conception of a baby let me tell you the science can’t do ~ WSB is 100 years old. ~ rudeness, in any case, isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. Being ignored is. Perhaps the nastiest thing one can do to a fellow blogger is to rip him apart and fail to provide a link. ~ @RedeemedRags A man walks into a bar with a duck on his head. The bartender says, “You look pretty ridiculous.” The duck says, “That’s what I keep telling him.” ~ @nihilist_arbys This saint patricks day the Irish are gonna stagger out into the brutal sober dawn, drink a few bottles of whiskey and fuck some stray dogs before passing out in the dumpster, just like they do the other 364 days a year. Enjoy Arby’s ~ “I bet you if I had met him and had a chat with him, I would have found him a very interesting and human fellow, for I never yet met a man that I dident like. When you meet people, no matter what opinion you might have formed about them beforehand, why, after you meet them and see their angle and their personality, why, you can see a lot of good in all of them.” Will Rogers (1879-1935) Saturday Evening Post (6 Nov 1926) On regrets over not having met Leon Trotsky while visiting the Soviet Union. Earliest formulation of Rogers’ motto found in print (the misspelling of “didn’t” is in the original). The article, including this passage, was incorporated into a book Rogers published about the trip, There’s Not a Bathing Suit in Russia & Other Bare Facts ~ UPDATE – Aaron Long pled guilty to the Cherokee County charges on August 27, 2021. His sentence was Life w/o Parole. Mr. Long is awaiting trial for the Atlanta shootings. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis intends to seek the death penalty. … There is an unconfirmed rumor that Mr. Long’s family spent over $50,000 to send him to a residential rehab facility for sex addiction. ~ @ThisIsKyleR I had the honor of meeting President Trump after I was acquitted. Honestly, he was a just a regular guy! He was NOTHING like the media portrayed him to be. He was so kind and supportive. Thank you President Trump for having my back when few others did (and for the cheeseburgers.) ~ “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” Groucho Marx (1890-1977) American comedian [b. Julius Henry Marx] Groucho and Me, ch. 26 “Foot in Mouth Disease” (1959) Different confidants of Groucho’s attributed this resignation note to different organizations, though most think the resignation from the Friars Club or the Hillcrest Country Club. In his autobiography (the noted source), Grouch referred to it apocryphally as “the Delaney Club.” In the original, the message was in all caps. ~ listen people I don’t know how you can ever expect to stop the war if you can’t sing any better than that there’s about 300 thousand of you fuckers out there i want you to start singing ~ Here are the top headlines at 12:45 EDT 031322: CNN: Russia Strikes Near Poland Fox: American journalist killed by Russian forces near Kyiv, two other correspondents injured MSNBC: How the biggest pro-Trump Republicans seriously misread the Russia moment ~ @TulsiGabbard .@MittRomney, you have called me a ‘treasonous liar’ for stating the fact that “there are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world” and therefore must be secured in order to prevent new pandemics. Bizarrely, … 1/x ~ Think — inside the work — outside the work ~ Severity of Hospitalizations from SARS-CoV-2 vs Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Children Aged 5 to 11 Years in 11 US States ~ @prookieyah So a friend told me today about a caterer that got a job catering to about 30 people and was told to come with servers too. She was well paid ahead of the event. They travelled long distance mostly inside bush, she was so scared and convinced they’ve been kidnapped only to get to … The place and see humans being slaughtered and butchered. She was asked to cook and fry. All along she was scared for her life and her staffs so she agreed to cook. Said while cooking, cars started trooping in and demanding parts they want like roundabout and shaki. … ~ James Earl Ray, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Percy Foreman, William Bradford Huie, and Arthur J. Hanes,sr., Defendants-appellees, 441 F.2d 1266 (6th Cir. 1971) ~ The full quote by Mr. Baldwin includes the phrase, “as the song says” Here is the song. ~ Police investigate church break-in, find goats inside – “Goats need Jesus too,’’ sheriff’s officials posted on Facebook. “We have to say this is a first here in Autauga County.” ~ The Autauga County Sheriff’s Office would like to say Thank You to Ms. Michelle Wilson for brining us donuts from Kingdom Dough. They were delicious! Thank you Ms. Wilson for supporting the Sheriff’s Office. ~ pictures are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Common Sense Quote
0312 – We’re going to conduct a facebook experiment. I posted a video from Dr. John Campbell. He discussed some reputed side effects of the Pfizer vaccine. Soon, Facebook sent me an admonition. “… The post includes information that independent fact-checkers said was partly false. …” The suspicion here is that Facebook has a problem with Dr. Campbell.
On to today’s experiment. I’m listening to another video from Dr. Campbell. He admits that he made some errors in his interpretation of the Pfizer data. He goes on to say “you can’t put solid footsteps into fresh air you need solid ground.” This is just a common sense quote. My plan for today is to make a video segment of the CSQ, and post it on Facebook. Lets see if the fact-checkers have a problem with it. As of March 19, Facebook has been silent.
0314 – I was through with Blocked and Reported, and making great progress on my picture. It was time to go out. I had two destinations. One was the gym. The other was the library. I had a book, The Santa Suit, to return. Think — inside the work — outside the work.
TSS is not a great book. Perhaps that was what was needed. With the book I am starting, quotables lie on every page. The desire to go in depth may prove irresistible. However, I read to have fun. Sometimes a trifle like TSS is what I need. Just read a story, without provoking great thought. The fact that TSS is easy to read indicates that the author worked like hell. Easy writing makes tough reading.
0318 – I’ve stumbled onto this podcast series about the shooting of Martin Luther King, The MLK Tapes. The shooting was quickly blamed on James Earl Ray. He was supposed to be a racist/white supremacist, and most people believed he was guilty. It turns out that there were serious problems with the government’s case. The podcast series is downright fascinating. It’s not something I’ve really thought about a whole lot. I just accepted the conventional wisdom, and went on with my life.
In episode 3, the case was going to trial. Mr. Ray’s lawyers were confident of an acquital. The government was not going to have that. For some reason, Mr. Ray fired his first lawyer. A gentleman named Percy Foreman took over. Soon Mr. Ray entered a guilty plea.
In the show, people talk about how worthless Percy Foreman was. I was curious if Mr. Foreman was still alive, so I googled him. A legal document turned up. JB Stoner was lawyer number three. Mr. Stoner was an extreme racist, even by Georgia standards. He ran for Governor in 1970, and made a spectacle of himself. At one point, Mr. Stoner sued a TV station, to allow an ad with the n-word.
There are many stories that could be told about JB Stoner. The candidates were speaking at the Governor’s Honors program. Mr. Stoner was going through his routine, when three students starting walking up the aisle. A young black man, with a blonde on each arm, walked up the aisle to the front of the hall. The man who won the Governor’s race, Jimmy Carter, was laughing so hard that tears came out of his eyes. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Live Adult Chicken
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“you can’t put solid footsteps into fresh air you need solid ground”
Bitter outcome for pro-Palestinian group after university’s four-year fight to censor
@HardcoreHistory “history is present politics projected on to the past”
Does Georgia Spend Too Much on School Administrators Instead of Teachers?
Road rage incident leads to rolling shootout, crash near busy shopping plaza
Farmer Transported to Hospital With a Live Adult Chicken Stuck in His Rectal Cavity
For Something New – Analog Revolution: Put on a Show $10. Three Bands
Chicago police announce shift in recruitment tactics, no longer requiring applicants ….
Snoop Dogg: Jay-Z threatened to end NFL partnership over halftime show
‘Game-changer’ bill on mental health clears House, heads for Senate
Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood In January of 1939, when Britain …
Either Write Things Worth Reading or Do Things Worth the Writing
John Mearsheimer and the dark origins of realism … prevent Russia’s war …
Dunkin’ manager fatally punched customer after being called n-word
The US’s hypocritical criticism of Russia for deploying ‘exceptional lethal weaponry’
Tennessee Rep. Robin Smith resigns from legislature after wire fraud charge
THE IMPORTANCE OF REFERRING TO HUMAN SEX IN LANGUAGE
Cardiff Philharmonic removes Tchaikovsky from programme in light of Russian …
Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency This nonprofit, made up of …
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New Pfizer data kills the case for universal child Covid vaccines
Georgia lawmakers introduce bill similar to Florida’s ’Don’t Say Gay’
SB 613 “Common Humanity in Private Education Act”
Jussie Smollett sentenced to 150 days in jail for lying to police in hate crime hoax
Who’s History? My Curious Encounter with the Radical Faeries
5 THINGS I Wish I Knew as a Beginner Ukulele Player
The Jussie Smollett Case Exposes Racism Within the Judicial System
The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren’t
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“in my lifetime this is the first time i’ve ever seen this”
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Путінська Росія відкрила 14 центрів вербування найманців у Сирії на територіях …
Five Phrases That Make People Discount What You’re Saying
“This might be stupid/silly” “But” “Respectfully” “I’m so busy” “Try”
ukraine on fire ~ facebook test ~ campbell0312 ~ Blaise Cendrars ~ blasphemy
kerouac ~ beat generation ~ hardcore history 68 ~ matthew spektor ~ isherwood
john rechy ~ crackpot realism ~ rainbow donuts ~ brookhaven ~ eno
isherwood ~ isherwood ~ isherwood ~ tom ford ~ blind item
angela sawyer ~ evening sky ~ cicero ~ luminary ~ taquitos
LA woman ~ lily anolik ~ eve babitz exit ~ literary LA ~ anxious bitch
prostate massager ~ wolf fifth ~ wolf fifth ~ look at these kids ~ neil young
Iannis Xenakis ~ n-word ~ n-word ~ defeat ~ kamala
parental rights bill ~ tom crean ~ bukkake ~ thank you dan ~ doug sadownick
the lavender effect ~ pfizer ~ anodynia ~ duck duck go ~ bvd
Bovine Viral Diarrhea ~ 17 phrases ~ pfizer deaths ~ oil prices ~ spaceport
niskey lake ~ duke vs stock ~ hissy fit ~ duke law ~ deion sanders
land mines ~ cluster bombs ~ 760 ralph mcgill ~ mariupol ~ russian air force
Rosalind Musselman ~ isherwood ~ isherwood quotes ~ bhagavad gita ~ josephine robertson
its all sacred ~ josephine robertson ~ typewriter poems ~ 9 stretches ~ east point homicide
warren beatty ~ twainquotes lies ~ pulchritude ~ valerie perrine ~ @attackerman
MONDAY, 3/7/2022 CAFÉ GENERALISSIMMO OPEN MIC 1ST AND 3RD MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH at 5:30-7:45 PM EDT/4:30 PM CDT/3:30 PM MDT/2:30PM PDT/10:30 GMT Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 821 2043 0676 Passcode: 313209 WEDNESDAY 3/16/2022 at 10 PM EST IN ONE EAR OPEN MIC (CHICAGO) ~ The United States of America has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The US has not taken any steps to join the convention because, in its view, cluster munitions provide “a vital military capability.” ~ @attackerman Biden’s Pentagon is going to keep the Trump Pentagon’s policy of embracing landmines. “A vital tool in conventional warfare,” they call an indiscriminate weapon that kills and maims civilians & whose alleged “self-deactivation” mechanisms can fail. ~ A UN meeting has failed to adopt binding controls on lethal autonomous weapons systems despite ardent calls from many governments, arms control experts, and civil society groups for restrictions on these so-called killer robots. … Many of the 125 states-parties to the convention, such as Austria and New Zealand, have called for a total ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems. But others, such as Russia and the United States, which are developing autonomous weapons systems, have rejected a binding agreement and instead advocated for a less restrictive “code of conduct.” ~ @Docstockk Boilerplate pearl-clutching in response to a fairly vanilla article of mine (linked below) about importance of naming human sex in language. I’m afraid Americans are behind curve here – UK students have been cancelling me since at least 2018. Do Better ~ @MusicMagazine Cardiff Philharmonic replaces the programme of its upcoming all-Tchaikovsky concert, citing it as ‘inappropriate at this time’. ~ Sanctioning Putin’s oligarchs isn’t going to hurt them much as long as the United States is a great place to hide their filthy fortunes ~ Today at 4:47 PM We added a notice to your post The post includes information that independent fact-checkers said was partly false. Your post does not include information that was checked by independent fact-checkers. ~ “This is quite alarming” ~ @chamblee54 .@Johnincarlisle I posted a video selection on facebook. This is their response. “The post includes information that independent fact-checkers said was partly false. Your post does not include information that was checked by independent fact-checkers.” ~ os_0310 Only a part, not the whole. ~ os_0312 A very small object — Its centre ~ @amy_glynnxx Replying to @unitytroll Polish people in the UK have faced a lot of outward bigotry even though they are white. we need to remember intersectionality exists and just because someone is white does not mean they won’t be the target of bigotry ~ pictures for π-day 2022 are from The Library of Congress. ~ aaron long ~ selah
Only A Part, Not The Whole
It was a turning point. I had pictures of fire hydrants, taken around my neighborhood. I was going to use them as the backgrounds for a graphic poem. A series of tests images was produced, while listening to Bret Easton Ellis and Matthew Specktor. I would work on the test images until after the show, and decide then which formula to use.
A problem arose when the time came. I had five basic styles, and all were good. Oblique Strategies might have the answer. The OS is “Only a part, not the whole.” This told me to go with the black and white fire hydrants. An important part of the pictures is color. After choosing this option, the rest of the project went quickly. The only thing missing is background entertainment.
Dan Carlin has a new episode of hardcore history. I now have five hours of entertainment. At two minutes in, I see a quote that I want to save. “history is present politics projected on to the past.”
Ask people to work against their better judgement. It is now friday. I am 9146 seconds into the HH show, Human Resources. It is about the atlantic slave trade, that produced the African-American population we have today. It is not easy to listen to. This slave trade featured cruelty on a scale that cannot be comprehended. To many, better judgement means to consume another unit of entertainment. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Mr. Eno And Mr. Isherwood
I was listening to a conversation between Brian Eno and Rick Rubin. Mr. Eno made a comment that sent me down a google rabbit hole, looking for a digital holy grail. When I did not find what I was looking for, I returned to the conversation. Before long, Mr. Eno said something very similar.
“I’d heard something on NPR. It was a poet, a black poet from somewhere in America, reading this poem called Cadillac. I spent years trying to find this thing. I never found it. I wrote to NPR, and I phoned them up, and everything. It was called Pink Cadillac … this amazing, very rhythmic poem, about how he wanted a Pink Cadillac.” This quote got me thinking about another detail.
There are bits of knowledge that want to remain hidden. One is from Christopher Isherwood. It was in a magazine, sometime before 1994. The author died in 1986. The comment was about when you choose a religion. It is not the doctrine that attracts you to a religion, it is the people who introduce you to this observance. If the right person had told Mr. Isherwood about Catholicism, he would have become a Catholic. Instead, in 1938, Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard introduced Mr. Isherwood to Swami Prabhavananda, and the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
“He (Isherwood) published an account of his spiritual journey at the end of his life, called My Guru and His Disciple.… It’s interesting because it’s so frank and unromantic about the spiritual life. Where Alan Watts basically bullshitted his way to guru status while secretly being an alcoholic and treating his wives like crap, Isherwood is totally upfront about his boredom, his frustration, his vanity, his sexual escapades … he gave us a wonderfully unvarnished account of spiritual mediocrity. As Pema Chodron says, we spend most of our spiritual lives in the middle – not completely lost, yet not completely saved. Just muddling through.”
I did not find the quote I was looking for, but I did find another piece to the puzzle. I went back to Mr. Eno and Mr. Rubin. Then, out of nowhere, came this: “I think that’s the that’s the power of religion as well. The power of religion is not the connection with God, but the connection with the rest of the congregation. The connection with all of the people who also believe in that particular story. I’m not really religious myself but i really respond to that idea.”
Before we return to The Library of Congress for more pictures, there is a quote about God. While responding to a question about spiritual discipline, Mr. Eno said: “I don’t want to be a believer. I want to be somebody who, as far as possible, understands and knows things. Believing things leaves me a little bit unsatisfied. If I find myself believing something, I want to test the belief. I want to say how do I find out how valid this is.” If you want more, you can listen to the complete interview.
Macro Evidence
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Who owns wealth in tax havens? Macro evidence, implications for global inequality
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President Eisenhower implored graduates not to “join the book burners.”
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Which countries don’t like America and which do Sacré bleu! France makes list of …
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SBU kills member of Ukrainian delegation at talks w/ Russia on suspicion of treason …
What If Russia Loses? A Defeat for Moscow Won’t Be a Clear Victory for the West
Acknowledging and Supplanting White Supremacy Culture in Science Communication …
My wife traumatically ripped the blankets off me last night But I will recover
Why aren’t koalas actual bears? Because they don’t meet the koalafications.
A Look At the Numbers and Times: No Denying the Advantages of Lia Thomas
Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner Recall Falling in Love With Each Other 50 Years Ago
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Judge approves changes to NFL concussion settlement that ends use of race norms
BREAKING: Damien Kyle thrown out of house by Boyfriend Paul Canon
Edward Gorey’s Illustrated Covers for Literary Classics Kafka, Dickens, Conrad, and More
heardle ~ damien paul burrito ~ the residents ~ israel ~ judy collins
out there ~ blots ~ folk ~ oblique strategies ~ beltline homicide
kuba ~ mr w.h. ~ adroit ~ wsc ~ campbell ivm
coldxman a’s ~ nfl ~ mtg ~ logitech beyboard ~ ginsberg
septic tank ~ brake checking ~ wnba scandal ~ viv castle ~ butter/knife
jon kincaid ~ helen reddy ~ patti smith ~ Qasem Soleimani ~ donna b hall
brett hankison ~ repost ~ peach pundit 0303 ~ reevaluation revaluation ~ oblique strategy
oblique strategies ~ barineau loyd ~ precipice pause ~ my pussy matters ~ gmg union
ga districts ~ i285 ~ whooppee ~ illiad ~ repost ~ Footnote
In 1987 I had a conversation with a Jewish co-worker. I mentioned that the Iran-Iraq war was kept going on intentionally. The reason: when those two countries fought each other, they left Israel alone. He abuptly shouted, “Yea, thats right, and its for your benefit. We need to stop terrorism” This is why the fighting in Syria was allowed to continue. ~ Not everyone loves Mardi Gras. ~ @EliLake In 1945 the USSR was given a permanent seat and veto on the UN Security Council. In 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, there was never a vote to give that seat and veto to Russia. Why not have that vote today in the General Assembly? ~ “Obama would say privately that the first task of an American president … was “Don’t do stupid shit.” … Then Hillary Clinton bowdlerized this mantra. Apparently this is the job of the Secretary of State… to turn shit into stuff.” ~ @wildethingy Cop “That may be true sir, but the petting zoo would still like their goat back.” ~ @TimLeBerre Jesus Christ statue being taken out of Armenian Cathedral of Lviv, Ukraine, to be stored in a bunker for protection. The last time it was taken out was during WWII. ~ Writing prompt: Meeting the unexpected – imagine a scene or moment—and then think of something that catches you (and readers) by surprise. ~ MONDAY, 3/7/2022 CAFÉ GENERALISSIMMO OPEN MIC 1ST AND 3RD MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH at 5:30-7:45 PM EDT Join Zoom Meeting IN ONE EAR OPEN MIC (CHICAGO) ~ Michael Sindler to Everyone 08:42 PM doesn’t matter how your week is going – Avotcja is always a highlight ~ It is really unfortunate that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have been fighting each other for centuries. Hindus, on the other hand, never had any beef. ~ telling the truth is like not wearing deodorant ~ are the stories about Ukrainian racism an example of Russian misinformation? ~ @judah_noah Went to load the dogs into the truck last night & see a branch in the way. Go to kick it out of the way and it doesn’t feel right. Turn the phone light on, point it at it & it’s a skull complete with spinal column attached. I may have squealed and said some words. ~ @ubuweb Piracy is preservation. It has been said that being well-enough known to be pirated is a crowning achievement. If your work is well regarded enough to be pirated, that means you have achieved some level of success that most artists will never have. ~ when i was young and foolish i took an interest in mushrooms absolute insanity i must have been about 20 or something like that so i went out and picked some mushrooms and i learned to identify psilocybin mushrooms and i thought well i’ll just take a couple of those and see what happens so i took a couple of these psilocybin mushrooms now i’m not advocating this never done it again confessed and repented all that’s finished i never took enough to have any real effect anyway ~ Israel’s hesitancy on Ukraine is driven, in part, by a need to maintain day-to-day cooperation with Russia in Syria. The Russians, who control much of Syrian air space, have given Israel wide latitude to strike Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese targets in Syria. The arrangement involves a deconfliction mechanism that prevents accidental conflict between forces through a RT communication channel. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
C.S. Lewis
There was a facebook link to a feature, Ayn Rand Really, Really Hated C.S. Lewis. It turns out to be verbatim droppings from Ayn Rand’s Marginalia : Her Critical Comments on the Writings of over Twenty Authors. If you are interested in details, there are the links. 55% of the comments were one-star. This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
Miss Rand has read more C.S. Lewis than PG. There was a copy of a CSL work at a yard sale once, which PG invested a quarter in. He read as far as the appearance of a pig named trufflehunter. Maybe it was a bad day for books, but PG put CSL down, never to make another attempt.
There was a sixth grade english teacher at Ashford Park named Mrs. Ruff. Lots of people talked about how sweet she was, but PG was not impressed. One day, between handing out mimeographed copies of poems to be memorized, Mrs. Ruff started to talk about Narnia. It was a fantastic and amazing story. With a hint of primness, she told the class that Narnia was really about Jesus.
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