PRX Racism Scandal
@yourpaljonathan“I was angry, frustrated, and frankly embarrassed to read a letter from a Black employee of PRX who was not treated with the respect that she deserved while working there. I don’t work for PRX, but they are the company that owns Radiotopia, which distributes my show.”
PG has never met, much less become pals with, @yourpaljonathan. PG is not sure what PRX is, except that it has something to do with podcasts. It probably involves financial support, which makes one wonder why podcasters would publicly call out an organization that gives them money. The tweet above was retweeted by one of these shows, @TheTruthFiction. This is how PG found out about this.
The sensible reaction to seeing a racism tweet is to ignore it, and move on. Unfortunately, PG had a weak moment, and sent a reply. @chamblee54 “are you going to share the letter with us? how do we know that BEOP is not the problem, and conveniently blaming her own issues on racism? it would not be the first time” Before you can say 240 characters, there was a reply. @evantessuraea “I’ve read the letter, you can find it”
@rvanroon “For now Jonathan and Helen are talking shit. Prove what the former employee writes is the truth.” @HelenZaltzman “It has been confirmed to me by several sources, and some of what the employee mentions is racially specific. Other things are statistically demonstrable. We’re “talking shit” until proven otherwise to you? Fuck off yourself.” @HelenZaltzman has a very fine show on PRX, The Allusionist. In an ironic touch, the last episode was “Allusionist 120. Shine Theory.” Shine is sometimes used as a derogatory term for African Americans.
At some point, we should ask, what is PRX, aka Public Radio Exchange? “The PRX Exchange is a nonprofit Internet-based service for distribution, review, and licensing of radio programming.”
Radiotopia is the arm of PRX that PG is most familiar with. “Radiotopia, from PRX, is a curated network of extraordinary, cutting-edge podcasts. Radiotopia empowers independent producers to do their best work, grow audience and increase revenue. … is a partnership between PRX and Roman Mars, creator of 99% Invisible, supported by the Knight Foundation.”
Radiotopia, and all of her shows, conducts fund raising drives. The tip jar is always on the counter. Some people wonder why @HelenZaltzman is so eager to wash nonprofit laundry on twitter. @chamblee54 “If this matter is not publicly resolved to your satisfaction, will you continue to take money from @prx? Or will you look for a more “woke” source of revenue?”
Finally, curiosity got the best of PG, and he decided to read the letter. After consultations with Mr. Google did not uncover the letter, PG found a twitter thread. Here are four tweets from the thread. The first is the introduction. The next three deal with specific grievances by BEOP. They are presented in order of appearance, which is presumably the order of importance.
@freepublicradio “A Thread… Recently, a black woman who worked for @prx sent an email to her colleagues to let them know why she was leaving the organization. Here are some highlights:”
“-CEO Kerri Hoffman touched a this black womans hair without her permission making her feel violated. This issue was brought to HR and they did nothing, but defend Kerri Hoffman and tell the offended woman “I am sorry if that made you feel othered.”
“-PRX refused to pay this black woman more than 48K a yr in her position. She later found out that co-workers who have the same position & responsibilites as her, & who have less experience, & who she trained, both started their positions 7K & 5K more than the cap she was told.”
“-She knew she could no longer be a part of PRX after an all-staff meeting following George Floyd’s murder. “There was no organizational acknowledgment of George Floyd’s murder or the uprisings until over a week past his death despite having a large office in Minneapolis..”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. UPDATE: The actual letter has turned up. The ladie’s name is Palace Shaw. The letter has a few more details.
The Hair touching story is like something out of a bad romance novel. “Early on into my time as the Community Manager our CEO, Kerri Hoffman, touched my hair without my consent, it was a total violation. She saw me from outside working late at the Podcast Garage, and came in to touch my hair, put her fingers into my top bun, immediately after she commented on my “distinct profile.” That moment deeply disturbed me. I brought it to HR and they chose to defend Kerri by not acknowledging the obviously racialized nature of the interaction, which I was very clear about. I was told, “I am sorry if that made you feel othered.” UPDATE: PRX Racism Scandal Part Two is now available.
Drawing Criticism For Appropriation
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Combinatorics ~ payne lindsey ~ mae west ~ parrotroom ~ Hiroshima
Nelson Sullivan ~ junkie ~ core testing ~ ossoff ~ buckhead war story
Nelson Sullivan “Twenty-five years ago this month, on July 4, 1989, video artist Nelson Sullivan suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving behind almost 1,200 hours of footage of the now iconic and heavily romanticized Downtown New York scene.” Mr. Sullivan, a native of South Carolina, had friends in Atlanta. Many of his videos are set in Atlanta. If you view one of these videos, the algore rhythm will direct you to many more.
Going Shopping with RuPaul at Lenox Square in Atlanta in 1989
Nelson Goes to a Grocery Store in Atlanta in 1989
Going to a Soul Food Restaurant in Atlanta in 1986
Nelson Sullivan discusses the joys of being in Atlanta
Nelson in Atlanta 1988: The Pop Tarts’ soundcheck at Club Rio
Nelson in Atlanta 1988: Picking up Michael Musto at the Airport
Nelson in Atlanta 1988: Picking up The House Fairy
Taking RuPaul to the Colorbox in Atlanta to do a show in 1989
Returning from Thrift Store Shopping in Atlanta in 1989
Going to the Value Village Thrift Store in Atlanta in 1989
RuPaul Goes to a High Society Party in Atlanta in 1986
At Home with RuPaul in Atlanta 1986 ~ RuPaul & Wee Wee Pole ‘TARZAN”
RuPaul debuts his Wee Wee Pole band at The Nitery in Atlanta
RuPaul sings “Who Wants Gum” & “The Pizza Song” with Wee Wee Pole at 688 in 1983
RuPaul & Wee Wee Pole at 688 in 1983 doing “Funky for a Honky” and “Body Heat”
All-Nighter at RuPaul’s Midtown Atlanta Apartment in 1986
RuPaul & Wee Wee Pole at 688 in 1983 doing “Funky for a Honky” “Body Heat”
RuPaul’s Encounter with some Homophobes at the Kevin Larmee Gallery Show
RuPaul’s “Sex Freak” Interview on Atlanta TV in the mid-1980s
RuPaul’s “Give It To Me Revue” with Lady Bunny at Atlanta’s 688 Club in 1984
The 8 Most Controversial Moments on The American Music Show
Tom Zarrilli’s Live Report from the Inman Park Festival 1984
Running into Elouise on North Avenue in Atlanta circa 1984
Police bodycam footage shows moment-by-moment arrest of George Floyd for the first time – from terror on his face when officer points gun at his head, sobbing before he’s shoved into squad car and begging to breathe as his life drains away ~ I bet #BarackObama is very happy #COVID19 did not happen when he was in office ~ Karen is an insult defined by race and gender. A Karen, in the pejorative usage, is a white woman. ~ Los Angeles Coronavirus Update: Mayor Eric Garcetti Says DWP Will Shut Off Water And Power At Homes That Throw Large Parties ~ Manley Pointer aka Luther Mckinnon he/him pronouns I consent to be recorded I agree to stay for the entire mic I would like screen share to be enabled, so I can present a graphic poem. ~ @chamblee54 @robertwrighter @kausmickey How did you choose the Parrot as your patreon muse? Has anyone considered the Parrot as the spirit animal for cultural appropriation? Why does Parrot only have one t? you can always do another dna test on Elizabeth Warren ~ A writing prompt was to write the screenplay for a scene in your life: Scene: Interior of vehicle driving into parking deck ~ Man turns into lane, going into parking deck. He stops, lowers the window, reaches out and pushes green button. The machine spits out a parking ticket. Man takes ticket, and puts it down on the console, in front of the gear shift lever. ~ The bar goes down, and the vehicle goes forward. Man takes a right at end of row of cars. We see the man turning a steering wheel, until the car goes forward in a right hand turn. When the vehicle starts to go forward, man releases steering wheel long enough for the steering wheel to spin back into the forward position. There are no empty parking spaces in this row. ~ Camera goes back to clock on dashboard. It is twenty minutes before the hour, which should yield enough time to get to the appointment on time. ~ Since there are no empty parking spaces, the man turns right again. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Trayvon Martin Judge
Joe Rogan had a dandy show the other day. He featured two big dogs at the Innocence Project This description gives a few more details: “Josh Dubin is an Innocence Project Ambassador Advisor & President of Dubin Research and Consulting, Inc. He also hosts a podcast called “Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science.” Jason Flom is an Innocence Project Board Member, CEO of Lava Media, and host of “Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom”
Innocence Project works with people who are in prison, and probably innocent. The show discussed some of the dirty tricks police use, like lying to suspects being interrogated. Questionable science is used, especially with bite marks, blood splatters, and arson investigation. The record of former prosecutor Kamala Harris drew sharp comments.
Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin gets special attention. A Honduran refugee, Mr. Aguirre-Jarquin was convicted of a gruesome murder. He was given the death penalty by the jury. After a while, the innocence of Mr. Aguirre-Jarquin became apparent. It is a powerful story.
Someone felt the need to embellish the story. The killing, and trial, was in Sanford FL. This is the town where Trayvon Martin was killed. There seems to be a connection between the two cases. “I find out that she (the judge in the Aguirre-Jarquin case) was the judge in the Trayvon Martin case, whose husband represented George Zimmerman, and wouldn’t recuse herself.”
PG had never heard this detail, and was curious. When the guest mentioned the judge for the third time, much later in the show, PG decided to do a bit of digging. First, you had to find out the name of the judge. Her name is Jessica Recksiedler. What role did she play in the George Zimmerman trial?
Associated Press April 18, 2012 ORLANDO, Fla — “The judge presiding over the Trayvon Martin shooting case has removed herself after George Zimmerman’s attorney said she had a possible conflict of interest. Florida Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler recused herself Wednesday because of a potential conflict that relates to her husband. He works with Orlando attorney Mark NeJame, who was first approached by Zimmerman’s family to represent the neighborhood watch volunteer. But NeJame declined and referred them to Mark O’Mara, who is now representing Zimmerman. NeJame has since been hired by CNN to comment on the case.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Hiroshima 75 Years Later
At 8:15 am, August 6, 1945, Hiroshima got nuked. It was the start of a new era. Since Japan is 13 hours ahead of Georgia, and standard time was used, the literal anniversary is 8:15 pm, August 5.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was working in Hiroshima when the bomb hit. He survived, and found a train to take hime to his home town, Nagasaki.
The device dropped on Hiroshima, the Little Boy, had an estimated force of 13 kilotons of Trinitrotoluene, or TNT. A kiloton of TNT is roughly a cube whose sides are ten meters. This device is fairly tiny compared to many of the warheads developed since. Many of the modern appliances are measured in megatons, or millions of tons of TNT. The Soviet Union had a bomb with a capacity of 50 megatons, or 4,000 times the size of the Little Boy.
The largest weapon tested by The United States is the Castle Bravo. This device destroyed Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The two piece swimsuit was named for this island. The Castle Bravo device had a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. This is roughly 1,000 times the power of the Little Boy.
The decision to drop the bomb has long been controversial. There are a lot of factors and gray areas, and the issue does not lend itself to sound bite solutions. The conventional wisdom is that Japan surrendered because of the nuclear attack. This meant the war was shortened by at least a year, there was no invasion of Japan, and many lives were saved. PG is scared by the moral calculus involved in a decision like this….do 100,000 civilian deaths prevent the deaths of 500,000 soldiers? PG suspects that even G-d herself would lose sleep over that one.
There is also evidence that the bomb was not needed. Japan was whipped in August 1945. The air raids were conducted in daylight with little resistance. A debate was going on in the Japanese government on whether to continue the fight.
An event happened the day between Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, which influenced the Japanese decision to surrender. The Soviet Union had agreed to help the United States with the war against Japan. On August 8, The Soviet Union invaded Japanese occupied Manchuria. There are indications that Japan knew the fight was hopeless at this point, and would rather surrender to The United States than The Soviet Union. This is one of the gray areas that never seems to be mentioned.
The United States wanted the war to end quickly for obvious reasons, and a few subtle ones. America did not want to share the spoils of Japanese war with The Soviet Union. There were already tensions between the two allies, and the cold war was not far off. Many felt The United States used the Little Boy as a warning to The Soviet Union.
When you get your moral software out, you might want to figure in the effect of opening the nuclear Pandora’s box. Would the nuclear bomb have been developed by other countries if America had not led the way? The science is not that complicated…after all, America hit paydirt with the Manhattan Project fairly quickly. Nonetheless, there is karma involved in using a terrible new device on a civilian population. The United States started the wind of the arms race, and has yet to feel the whirlwind.
This is a repost. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. Ansel Adams took pictures of Japanese Americans, in a World War Two internment camp. The ladies in the bridge game are Aiko Hamaguchi, Chiye Yamanaki, Catherine Yamaguchi, and Kazoko Nagahama.
Every Loathsome Government
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My purpose here is not to rehearse the arguments over masking mandates …
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minimum level of suckage – i can’t believe i have to write about tiktok again
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whatsapp ~ ruptly ~ wokeness ~ ww1 ~ herman cain ~ peter green ~ susan rice
@XBIZ CAM Awards ~ Oppressive Moment ~ vest review ~ robert e lee
@chamblee54 @kausmickey @robertwrighter at the la times there’s pressure on you know old non-people of culture to retire so that … you mean non-people of color you said culture … yeah color … they have culture … um but anyway ~ @SaraBGibson Maybe everyone tweeting about burning bibles should look at the news source – Ruptly, which is a division of Russia Today – and consider who is putting out the information. ~ @chamblee54this comment is from reddit: There’s only one video of this incident, with no info being provided on its background or context … It could be staged. Such videos have been staged in the past, and this has some of the hallmarks: it’s anonymous, provided without context, and depicts only two participants … It’s real, but isolated. … no evidence has been presented to claim that this is part of a larger trend ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This poem was presented at a virtual open mic event sunday:
my anger my attachment my pride my, gazing through a kerchief of delusion
forgiveness of sin is perpetual pie, only eat when thinking only think why
foggy water of alienation and confusion, my anger my attachment my pride my
if you are able to free yourself cry, cosmogonic feminine collusion
forgiveness of sin is perpetual pie, compassion is not required to be high
divine pasta out beyond seclusion, my anger my attachment my pride my
don’t be deceived by a transparent sky, staying in pain with warfare transfusion
forgiveness of sin is perpetual pie, alcohol dissolving a difficult lie
your future is a king-sized illusion, my anger my attachment my pride my
forgiveness of sin is perpetual pie ~ PG attended a writing workshop. The prompt was presented as two works in a gallery. The idea was to take the voice of one of the works, and speak to people viewing you. Here is how PG reacted to this prompt: The white box in the middle is the forgotten installation. Since I am white, and have been compared to a blank rectangle, I am going to assume that indentity. Or is this identity a lack of identity. ~ A blank white space is an opportunity to fill in the blanks. Since there is a black background surrounding it, I do not know if this white space is a stand alone, or it needs to presense of black space to define it. Maybe it the absense of color and content, surrounded by and quantified by the abundance of stuff on all four sides. ~ I should take a screen shot, so I can refer to this promptage later. I have been working on historic pictures this afternoon, so GIMP is still open, and available for screen shots. ~ While negotiating the screen shot, a newcomer entered the room. She needed to be reminded of the prompt. The host mentioned the two pictures, completely ignoring the white rectangle in the middle. This is life in America 2020. ~ I am fond of the golden rectangle, the fibonacci sequence of digits. The unmentionable white rectangle appears to be golden. Alas, it is not golden, and it is time to share this piece with the room. ~ selah
Herman Cain
As you may have heard, Herman Cain (no middle name) died. He had been hospitalized following a positive test for COVID 19. Mr. Cain was an outspoken supporter of President Trump. He did not think wearing a mask was a good idea, and said so often.
It should be noted at this point that a mask does not protect the user. A mask assumes that the user might be infected, and can help prevent spreading the virus. We do not know when, and how, Mr. Cain contracted the virus. Wearing a mask would not have prevented Mr. Cain from becoming infected. It might, however, prevented Mr. Cain from spreading the virus further, once he was already infected. Speculation that Mr. Cain was infected at the Tulsa rally is just that… speculation.
The media, both social and anti-social, is having a big time with this. Since Mr. Cain was a Trump supporter, he is deemed worthy of slander and abuse. One facebook friend joined in, and then later claimed not to hate Mr. Cain. This prompted PG to break his do-not-argue-on-facebook rule, and issue a comment: “Maybe it is not hate, but “don”t deserve the air you claim to not be able to breath” comes mighty close. This is another one of God’s children.” PG made another comment, this one for the general population of facebook and twitter.
“Unlike most of the people commenting about the late Herman Cain, I briefly listened to his radio show. Very briefly. His radio show was unlistenable. I did not agree with him on many subjects. Nonetheless, I saw a good bit to admire. Mr. Cain was from humble circumstances. He got degrees from Morehouse University, and Perdue University. Mr. Cain succeeded in business.
In 2011, Mr. Cain ran for President. He did well for a while, until the “dog stories” from his past forced him out of the race. He opened a campaign headquarters in Doraville, not long after his departure from the race. I went to this opening, and got this picture.
The last few weeks of his life were something. A stage IV cancer survivor, he was no doubt compromised by years of industrial strength medicine. And yet, he made a public spectacle of attending dangerous events. It is an ending to a uniquely American story.”
The Presidential run was quite a story. Mr. Cain probably had little chance of getting the nomination. Still, he was the flavor of the month for a while, and got a bit of attention. Soon, stories of sexual misconduct began to arise, and Mr. Cain was forced to drop out of the race. He wound up back on the radio, and replaced Neal Boortz when that SAWB retired.
The last chapter in the Herman Cain story is a doozie. After beating back a serious cancer, Mr. Cain was clearly at risk. And yet, he made a much publicized refusal to wear a mask, and attended a notorious Trump rally in Oklahoma. Did he think he was virus proof? Or was this the last hurrah of an American? We will probably never know the real answer.
Chamblee54 has written about Herman Cain many times. (one two three four five six seven eight) Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Magical Drug Mansion
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Part Two: A Tragic Death, The Sheriff’s Failure, Jackie Johnson’s Protection Of Her Own
This magical drug mansion in Upstate New York is where the psychedelic ’60s took off
Truth about “Transgenders” ~ the band ~ joan baez ~ Irami Osei-Frimpong
The Wombwell Rainbow ~ the interbelt ~ annie ross ~ know talent
trans respect ~ tripe ~ critical race theory ~ psalm 91
@hollymathnerd I’ve been writing a dystopia for awhile now that takes the current social justice insanity and fast-forwards a few years. They’re trying to make my dystopia reality before I can even finish writing it, y’all. ~ The original title of today’smonday morning reader was “Alex Jones Explains.” A wiser authority prevailed, and it became “Auntie Social And Uncle Distancing.” ~ Nikema Williams is best known for being arrested at an illegal rally. After her arrest, she shamelessly grandstanded, and claimed to have been strip searched. Georgia Democrats can do better than this. ~ From H.L. Mencken’s review of The Social Objectives of School English by Charles S. Pendleton (March 1925): “I present Dr. Pendleton’s laborious work as overwhelming proof of a thesis that I have maintained for years, perhaps sometimes with undue heat: that pedagogy in the United States is fast descending to the estate of a childish necromancy, and that the worst idiots, even among the pedagogues, are the teachers of English.” ~ @evanmcmurry Navy vet seen in viral vid clashing w/federal officers in Portland tells @ABC he wants to use attention on him “to refocus this whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter.” “If I had been a black veteran…do you think I would have gotten as much attention as I did?” ~ @fyeahmfabello People often ask why, as a person with the politics that I hold, I don’t hate Taylor Swift. And the reason is simple: Because Taylor Swift is me – is all of us white women. And distancing ourselves from her whiteness is white supremacy, too. ~ changing someone’s racial attitudes by calling them racist is like changing their sexual orientation by calling them f****t ~ @chamblee54 It is fun to compare @GlennLoury to the mindless nonsense of @MichaelEDyson on @MSNBC with @JohnHMcWhorter “i’m an amused and interested consumer of these events” ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
The Worst Vice Presidents Of The United States
PG wrote a post yesterday. One of the topics was the “Siamese Twins”, James Buchanan and William Rufus King. (The article is reposted below.) While researching the feature, PG googled his way to a Time magazine article about the Worst Vice Presidents in American History. PG is well known for his negative attitude, and writing about the worst things in life always appeals to him. This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress
The first name on the list is Aaron Burr. He had a problem with Alexander Hamilton, and shot him dead in a duel. Elbridge Gerry (the namesake of Gerrymandering) served under James Madison for twenty months, and died. John C. Calhoun served under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and managed to get Mr. Jackson so upset that Mr. Calhoun was fired.
Richard M. Johnson served under Martin Van Buren, and was bad at PR. “Johnson scandalized his colleagues by taking one of his slaves as his common-law wife; as a result, he barely garnered enough support to serve in Martin van Buren’s administration. While in office, he proposed an expedition to the North Pole so Americans could drill to the center of the Earth, believing the planet was hollow (his resolution was defeated). Evidently van Buren’s experience with Johnson soured him on vice presidents altogether — when he ran for re-election he dropped Johnson from his ticket and didn’t bother replacing him. Instead, he ran alone.”
William Rufus King was VP under Franklin Pierce a mere six weeks before he died. There is no word on the status of his relationship with James Buchanan at the time. The Time magazine article has a picture of Fernando Wood , which was mistakenly thought to be of Mr. King. (Wikipedia uses the same picture to illustrate an article about Mr. King.)
The VP under James Buchanan (there is no word on who was top or bottom in the Buchanan-King household) was John Breckinridge. During the War Between the States, he left the Union to fight for the Confederacy. Mr. Breckinridge was charged with treason after the war. “The town of Breckenridge, Colorado is named in his honor — although it altered the spelling of its name after the Civil War, so as not to be associated with a traitor.”
Andrew Johnson did not make the list, but maybe should have. He was drunk at his inauguration, and made a fool of himself. Mr. Lincoln had nothing to do with him, until a meeting on April 14. This was Good Friday. Mr. Lincoln went to the theater that night.
Johnson had been marked for death by the conspiracy, but Wilkes Booth had little confidence in the man assigned to kill Mr. Johnson. The afternoon of the assassination, Mr. Booth was at the Kirkwood House, where Mr. Johnson stayed. Mr. Booth left a note for Mr. Johnson at the desk of the hotel… “Don’t wish to disturb you. Are you at home. J. Wilkes Booth”. The idea was for the police to find the note, and implicate Mr. Johnson in the killing of Mr. Lincoln. This mini plot was spoiled by the secretary for the Vice President, who collected the mail that afternoon. He took the card with him. The secretary had met Mr. Booth a few years earlier, and thought the note was for him.
The other three Vice Presidents who took office after the boss was murdered… Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson… were not mentioned in the Time article. All three are mentioned in conspiracy theories about the killings that promoted them into office.
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected to a full term as President, his VP was Charles Fairbanks. “Teddy once ordered a noisy and distracting crystal chandelier removed from his office because it disturbed him. He ordered it to be installed in the office of the Vice President to keep him awake.”
Getting back to Time’s honor roll, Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln’s first VP. Thomas A. Hendricks survived nine months under Grover Cleveland, before passing away. Thomas Marshall served two terms with Woodrow Wilson, and refused to take over the office when Mr. Wilson had a stroke. Calvin Coolidge did little while waiting for Warren Harding to die. Henry Wallace was, and will be, the only third term VP in our history. He acquired a few enemies, and was replaced by Harry Truman.
Richard Nixon was ok once he got elected, but almost managed to blow that. There were charges of financial shenanigans, and some thought he should be kicked off the ticket. After the Checkers Speech he was on his way to stardom. (After Mr. Nixon died, PG saw a large flag flying at half staff. The flag belonged to a hamburger chain called Checkers.) When Mr. Nixon became President, his VP was Spiro Agnew. Once again, there were charges of financial shenanigans, and much, much more. While the nation wallowed in Watergate, Mr. Nixon needed a diversion. It was suddenly discovered that Mr. Agnew had taken bribes. He was pressured into resigning.
Dan Quayle was VP for George H.W. Bush. He was widely regarded as an idiot, although his damage as VP was minimal. The last VPOTUS on the list is Dick Chaney. For some reason, he was regarded as having more power than the President, George W. Bush. Mr. Chaney was said to be one of the major promoters of the wars which have damaged America so much during the last ten years.
2020 UPDATE: Joe Biden said the F word at a press conference. He is currently running for President. The jury is still out on Mike Pence.
Fun loving Dick Yarbrough is up to his old tricks. The neighbor newspaper nabbler penned a post about California education. It seems there is a new law, in the falling into the ocean state, “that will require schools to teach at all grade levels about the historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.” Our buddy does not think this is a good idea.
The story goes on to say “Our children will find out that President James Buchanan and Vice President William R. King were more than, shall we say, good friends,” she said coyly. I didn’t want to tell Gay that the first thing the teachers need to do is tell the students who James Buchanan is before they talk about what he did. Not many people have ever heard of him. That is because he didn’t do anything while president.” Holy historic revisionism.
To start off, The Vice Prez under Mr. Buchanan was John C. Breckinridge. Mr. King was elected to back up Franklin Pierce. Mr. King died after six weeks in office. If a President has ever bumped gooberheads with his Vice President, the walls of the White House have kept quiet about it. Those rumors about John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson are too gruesome to contemplate.
Mr. King and Mr. Buchanan lived together for a number of years. Neither was married to a female, although Mr. Buchanan had been engaged. (There is speculation that his fiance’, Ann Caroline Coleman, died of an overdose of laudanum.) There are numerous indications that Mr. King and Mr. Buchanan were *good buddies*.
Mr. Buchanan was the last President before the War Between the States. It is possible that he could not have done much to prevent that unpleasantness. Historians are not kind when talking about the man, and rank him as one of the worst Presidents. Perhaps Mr. King could have helped.
The newspaper that Mr. Yarbrough opines for is delivered, free of charge, on Wednesday. (This weeks edition has not arrived. Any connection between this late delivery and the opinions of Mr. Yarbrough, is uncertain.) Some of these free papers are not taken inside by the resident. Often, a driveway will have several weeks of free adrags left behind. Soon, the rain soaks these newsprint droppings. Some are washed into the street and run over. The result is an ugly mess.
Chamblee54 had a previous discussion with Dick Yarbrough. Mr. Yarbrough is still publishing columns in 2020. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Auntie Social And Uncle Distancing
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Indy mother becomes 2nd homicide along downtown canal in 1 week
End of Democracy in Poland ~ Alex Jones Explains Nature of Conciousness
There is a proper way to eat an Indian buffet, those who are not desi may not appreciate.
Eisgruber condemns professor’s op-ed, called Black Justice League ‘terrorist organization’
A Declaration of Independence by a Princeton Professor
No, I Will Not Debate You … Civility will never defeat fascism
CHAPTER IX. CONCERNING SLAVES AND FREE NEGROES.
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Well-known business owner killed in shooting at Atlanta home, neighbors say
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The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Where Is Outrage Over Anti-Semitism in Sports, Hollywood?
‘Defund Pornhub’: Christian actor Terry Crews … 1.5M demand porn site be shut down
this guy he tweeted twat at someone
Coronavirus survival: why doctors are turning patients onto their stomachs
Georgia Hospital Worker Sounds Alarm: ‘I have never ever seen anything like this.’
Black FedEx driver, Brandon Brackins, spat on and called n-word, cries on Facebook
Has anyone ever seen #RobinDiAngelo and #RachelDolezal together?
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Snatching of Protesters in Portland “Astonishing Act of Repression”
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bari weiss ~ coffee ~ Recitatif ~ a case of you ~ ego trip ~ whiteness
g word ~ bari weiss ~ Matthew Shepard ~ Princeton faculty letter ~ murder and guilt ~ karen
@chamblee54 In 2009, I started reading @sullydish He kept posting clips from @bloggingheads which led to where we are now @AryehCW @kittypurrzog this guy he tweeted twat at someone ~ Has anyone ever seen #RobinDiAngelo and #RachelDolezal together? ~ @ggreenwald Like most everyone, I’ve always had very mixed feelings about Sullivan’s writings — hated some of it, loved some, was ambivalent about much — but I’m mostly just grateful that his leaving will now enable the New York Magazine staffers to once again feel safe in their workplace. ~ phone booth was performed at a virtual open mic last night … calling evolutionary phone booth, logical imagination of desire, left to right with a fundamental truth, loony legacy of money on fire, from institutional mysticism, definitely the pick of the weasel, loony white rats of commercialism, absolute standards of good and evil ~ 1 – Two wrongs don’t make a right. 2 – There is a difference between wisdom, and a clever phrase. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
A Woman And A Cow Perform A Duet
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12 people shot, two dead during July 4th street party on Auburn Avenue
Street racers block major midtown Atlanta road to perform donuts
Woman and a cow perform a heart-warming duet
The Intimacy of Crime Scene Photos in Belle Epoque Paris
Sweet Auburn presses Atlanta for action after another violent weekend
Man shot while getting dance at Atlanta strip club
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Kanye West reportedly hasn’t filed any paperwork to run for president
What happened when Black Lives Matter protests came to small town Ohio
‘We’re rednecks, not racists:’ Bethel protest peaceful despite social media rumors
Calm at Atlanta Wendy’s after police clear site
‘All he saw to me was my skin color’: Clerk faces backlash from judge’s comment
Key Metrics for COVID Suppression Researchers and Public Health Experts unite …
Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine
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Information Regarding Damaging, Destroying, Replacing, Removing Monuments
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What you see is what you get / After six-year lull, Winger returns with ‘Big Bad Love’
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Mayor says councilmember interceded on armed protesters’ behalf
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city training white municipal employees to overcome “internalized racial superiority.”
A Car Struck A Black Lives Matter Protester And Sped Off With Her On The Hood
The Jolt: Behind the WNBA fight that Kelly Loeffler sought
If You Really Want to Unlearn Racism, Read Black Sci-Fi Authors
Jim Morrison’s dad had a hand in starting the Vietnam War
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There’s No Such Thing as the “National Interest”
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It Wasn’t Cancelation That Bothered Me. It Was Cowardice of Those Who Let It Happen
Police-Involved Shooting, Baltimore July 1, 2020
‘We feel like we’ve been abandoned.’ Atlanta suffers a deadly July 4
Trump DOJ’s efforts to line up a secret supply chain for federal executions
How the Trump administration secured a secret supply of execution drugs
Man killed in standoff after he started shooting at officers in DeKalb County, police say
rufus wainwright ~ Julian Betton ~ senator barbie ~ no talent show ~ McDonough statue
Blackout Day 2020 ~ critic at large ~ Electronic/Electroacoustic ~ edgewood
“so the other day this guy sends me a video on Twitter and I watch it it’s some black guy … yelling he’s like they’re gonna rise up you know and it it’s obvious what you’re watching you’re like man this guy’s like these riots are out of control … I find it on YouTube … then the next thing the guy says is this president is divisive this president is the problem it’s so divisive he’s causing all this division and it’s like holy shit he’s actually talking about Trump and then I kept watching and he’s like President Obama’s got to go” ~ A Letter on Justice and Open Debate … cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. This letter is co-signed by many familiar names. It is a call against the “radical” reaction of many to social justice issues. Maybe, the idea of framing a quest for a better society as warfare is not a good idea. Remember, your *ally* in this struggle is frequently your enemy in the next one. In any warrior action, there is going to be collateral damage. Much of the logic used to support Social Justice Jihad is flawed and misleading. ~ A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate ~ There is a #Catch22 about the #WhiteFragility meme. If you don’t subscribe to the concept, It is considered an indication that you have #WhiteFragility ~ If there is a street party blocking Jesse Hill drive, how are people able to get to Grady hospital? ~ @Sonya79628309 PLEASE GUYS, NO DM’S! IM MARRIED AND NOT LOOKING FOR A DATE! Jesus is my Savior. I love my country&I love my President! #Trump2020landslidevictory Ohio, USA #MAGA Country Joined March 2019 ~ This poem was shared at a virtual open mic last night there is little virtue in a sewer, water is buried and rises again, playful rebellious and immature, not that any of us will ever win, ever sober responsible cautious, sailing through blizzard under curfew, deluding ourselves to be dangerous, for security will never be true ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
The Whitman To Ginsberg Express
“… I’ve slept with Neal Cassady who slept with Gavin Arthur who slept with Edward Carpenter who described sleeping with Whitman to Gavin Arthur. [The “Gay Succession”]” Allen Ginsberg was fond of his place in a line of gay succession. This is a repost.
A 1974 interview makes the same point about Whitman-Carpenter-Arthur, but does not mention Cassady-Ginsberg. Could anyone be telling stories? The Carpenter-Arthur connection happened in 1924, but is described in wonderful detail by Mr. Arthur in 1967. There are few details about the Arthur-Cassady link in the chain. As a BBC interviewer said to Mr. Ginsberg in 1994 “Both Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac, I think, described you as a “con-man extraordinaire”. What did they mean?” AG: “Oh, maybe they were projecting their own goofiness on me.”
“Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was a writer and gay mystic and lived in England all his life. Although ordained an Anglican priest in 1869 he soon renounced religion and became a Fabian socialist. Among his works on social reform is Towards Democracy (1883-1902), a long, un- rhymed poem revealing the influence of his friend Walt Whitman. He edited the first gay literary collection, Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship”
Mr. Carpenter exchanged letters with Mr. Whitman. “Although Whitman was not a socialist, his writing had a profound effect on Carpenter, who made the long trip to America primarily as a pilgrimage to his literary and spiritual inspiration. He visited the poet for several weeks in 1877 and again in 1884. In 1906 he published an account of his visits to America, Days with Walt Whitman, writing a respectful, even somewhat glorified, portrait of his idol.”
“It was not until the 1966 publication of a memoir by Gavin Arthur entitled The Circle Of Sex that the intimate details of Carpenter’s visits were revealed. Arthur slept in bed with Carpenter … leaving us with our only description of Whitman’s sexual behavior, an area otherwise shrouded in mystery and controversy.” In later years, we learned that Mr. Whitman possibly spent a happy afternoon with Oscar Wilde. Mr. Whitman was also fond of cruising the Brooklyn Waterfront.
Gavin Arthur (born Chester Alan Arthur III; March 21, 1901 – April 28, 1972) is a key link in this chain. As often noted, he was the grandson of Chester Arthur. The elder Mr. Arthur was elected Vice President in 1880, and promoted after the death of James Garfield.
The younger Mr. Arthur was a piece of work. In the early 1920’s, Mr. Arthur dropped out of Columbia, got married, and moved to Ireland. Mr. Arthur somehow got to meet his idol, Edward Carpenter. At the time of this meeting, Mr. Arthur was 23, and Mr. Carpenter was 80.
THE GAY SUCCESSION “… is a document given me by Gavin Arthur in 1967.” The story goes into extravagant detail about the meeting between Mr. Arthur and Mr. Carpenter. One wonders how the elderly Mr. Arthur remembers all this 43 years later.
EC – “No, Walt was ambigenic,” he said. “His contact with women was far less than his contact with men. But he did engender several children and his greatest female contact was that Creole in New Orleans. I don’t think he ever loved any of them as much as he loved Peter Doyle.”
GA – “I suppose you slept with him?” I blurted out half scared to ask.”
EC – “Oh yes–once in a while–he regarded it as the best way to get together with another man. He thought that people should ‘know’ each other on the physical and emotional plane as well as the mental. … the best part of comrade love was that there was no limit to the number of comrades”
GA – “How did he make love?” I forced myself to ask.”
EC – “I will show you,” he smiled. “Let us go to bed.”
Mr. Arthur spares few details in what happens next.
Chester III renamed himself Gavin. After losing the financial support of his family, Mr. Arthur moved to San Francisco. For a while, he sold newspapers on the street. “And he delved deep into both astrology and sexology. Gavin took his star charts very seriously: When one self-administered reading told him he was heading to prison soon, he immediately drove to San Quentin and took a job as a teacher, the better to prevent going in as an inmate.”
“By the 1960s, Gavin Arthur had become a well-known and respected astrologer. In 1966, some Bay Area activists, cultural and political, began to plan a transformative event. They wanted to unite the cultural radicals of the Haight, and the political radicals of Berkeley. Those plans led to the Human Be-In. In order to have maximum astrological impact, its organizers asked Arthur to determine the most auspicious date. Arthur determined that January 14, 1967, would have the greatest impact.”
“I had a flashback to the time I spent with Ginsberg in Cambridge, MA, in 1982, when he told me that I was part of an erotic lineage that connected me to Whitman … a quick Google search identifies Arthur as ”a certain astrologer and San Francisco character, Gavin Arthur … gave lectures at San Quentin while Neal was a prisoner.” Another entry reports that he studied astrology with Ronald Reagan before Reagan started his political career.”
“In 1958, he (Neal Cassady) was arrested after being caught using marijuana at a San Francisco nightclub. He was sentenced for two years at San Quentin State Prison.” This was when Mr. Arthur was teaching at San Quentin. Mr. Cassady mentions him in two letters to his wife Carolyn. (For those who just got here, Neal Cassady was the model for Dean Moriarty in On The Road. Mr. Cassady also drove the bus “Further,” for the Merry Pranksters.)
August 13, 1959 from San Quentin to Carolyn Cassady “Last Saturday, “Uncle Gavin” Arthur, grandson of our twenty-first President who, Republican though he was, could hardly have been more conservative than is Gain underneath all his Occult Astrology, failed to show (again, for the third time in six weeks) to teach our class in Comparative Religion and Philosophy, about three dozen regularly in attendance, on account of a death in his group at the Global House, which he bought by selling papers on Market Street for ten years; so again it was my pleasurable duty to instruct the boys in Cayce-hood [Edgar Cayce]”
Septetmber 22 1959 from San Quentin to Carolyn Cassady “Uncle” worry-wart [Gavin Arthur] missed showing up for the class again last week and I hear, probably unfounded, rumors that it is to be discontinued, too bad if true, because it was fun to hear the old geezer expound, without at all remembering he had, on the very same things week after week. I mean his examples, and their wording were always so alike one could not only anticipate, but, with any memory at all, give in advance the exact sentence he would be about to pronounce: it was sort of a game.” Eight years later, the “old geezer” described a 1924 tryst in clinical detail.
San Quentin broke Neal Cassady. The railroad would not take him back, and Carolyn divorced him. “He, however, felt now he had utterly failed in his mission, and he knew he could never go back. He died inside; only his body survived. This he did his best to destroy. He no longer believed in suicide, but he did all he could to be killed. … He told me he swallowed handfuls of pills anyone offered, even not knowing what they were. Is this not an obvious death-wish? He admitted it was.”
During this down and out time of his life, Neal Cassady apparently connected with Gavin Arthur. In a 1974 radio interview, Allen Ginsberg recalls “That was already the ’60’s, but there was that atmosphere back in San Francisco, around Gavin Arthur, particularly. Arthur was a great friend of Neal Cassady, slept with him all the time, or whenever Neal had nowhere to go he’d wind up in Gavin’s house, sort of falling asleep, exhausted, in his bed.”
The Neal Cassady to Allen Ginsberg connection is well documented.
“A second, serendipitous event further spurred (Joey) Cain’s interest in researching Gavin Arthur. Cain found a used copy of Carpenter’s “Towards Democracy” in a used bookstore for $3.00. It had a lot of writing in it. Cain noticed the following lament among the notes in the book, “This is one of my Bibles, please return. This volume is the third I have had to buy, people being so dishonest about books.” Then he looked below and saw Gavin Arthur’s signature and address. The writing belonged to Arthur. The book in his hand had once belonged to Gavin Arthur. He went up to the cashier who said, “It’s a shame about all this writing in it.” Cain replied, “Let me pay for it first, and then I’ll tell you about this writing.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The B-52s
There used to be a chinese restaurant, on the Atlanta Highway, called Hunan House. One night, a few people shared a flaming volcano, and formed a band. The b52s played their first show at a valentines day party in 1977. They were named for a bouffant hairstyle.
The b52’s were Ricky Wilson, his sister Cindy, Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider III, and Keith Strickland. The Wilsons and Mr. Strickland were from Athens. Miss Pierson and Mr. Schneider were from New Jersey. Planet Claire was the ancestral home.
Fred had lived in Atlanta before he moved to Athens. He stayed in an apartment on Monroe Drive, across from S&M clutch and brake company. PG knew some of his neighbors, and once rested his feet on a rug, formerly owned by Fred Schneider.
Somebody had connections, and The b52’s were playing shows in New York before long. They released a 45 on db records, “Rock Lobster” and “52 girls”. The first of the girls mentioned…there are only 23 named…is Effie. There was a famous whorehouse in Athens named Effies.
One night, they played a show at the Big Dipper, on Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Big Dipper was a former Maryland Fried Chicken, and is now something else. After the show, either Kate or Cindy was in the parking lot, talking to a local character named Beulah. As was his way, Beulah was talking about Mick Jagger this, Mick Jagger that. Finally, Kate had enough. “Fuck Mick Jagger. One day Mick Jagger will come see me, me, me.”
The b52’s were a fun band. Ricky had an unusual style on guitar, and Kate played a farfisa organ. The girls always wore big hair wigs. Fred was somewhere up front singing.
On Labor Day, 1978, PG saw the b52’s in Piedmont Park. There was a third girl that day, Wendy, who wore an inflatable beach float, and danced. The only songs PG is sure they did were “Downtown” and “Rock Lobster”. A few months later, PG saw the b52’s at the Agora ballroom. The Brains opened.
Sometime in late 1979, the eponymous first album came out. It became a hit, with dance clubs all over playing “Planet Claire”, “Dance this mess around”, and “6060-842”. In the summer of 1980, PG talked with a former Athenian in a hostel in Cannon Beach, Oregon. He mentioned that Cindy was the only heterosexual in the band.
The years went by, and more albums were released. On October 12, 1985, Ricky Wilson died of AIDS. He is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery, behind Sanford Stadium in Athens. He sold bus tickets at the Greyhound station in downtown Athens before he hit the bigtime.
The band continues to this day. At some point, “Love Shack” was released, and became a hit. It is probably the best known b52’s song today. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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