DJT On JRE
This content was published October 27, 2024. … Donald John Trump’s appearance on Joe Rogan Experience premiered while I was watching The Glenn Show, featuring John Hamilton McWhorter. I am a longtime fan of Glenn & John, even if I am bored by the inevitable race-talk. This weeks episode was especially galling, with JHM offering pro-Israel arguments that made no sense.
JHM’s anger was directed at The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. I have not read TM, despite the best efforts of JHM, and his fellow travelers. Finally, Glenn Cartman Loury made a comment that forced me to take notes: “I read the book. I urge people to read the book. We’re gonna sell the book here whether you like it or not.”
I was going to write a tweet about the clip, and I decided to illustrate it with an edited screenshot. While I was working on this, I started to listen to DJT. Some people have a life on Saturday afternoon.
DJT has been the target of enormous amounts of hate over the last nine years. Lately, this negativity provokes the opposite effect with me. (This should not be confused with support for DJT.) The Trump-bashing comes across as politically motivated projection. The tortured logic, the lies, the hypocrisy, the lies, the flaky prosecutions, the lies … it is getting very old. The problem here is with the haters, and not the hated. Preaching to the choir has its limits.
There is no shortage of negative things you can say about DJT. Unfortunately, saying crooked and incompetent do not have the power to incite hatred as saying “racist.” America’s political discourse is being poisoned by this cynical appeal to prejudice by Democrats. When the rhetoric shifts to “If you vote for Donald Trump, then you are a racist.” … then you are pitting American against American. All of this divisive rhetoric is so we can elect a different AIPAC-owned politician.
The Washington Post is in the news today, because they are not endorsing a candidate. In 2016, WAPO spread the ridiculous story that the KKK endorsed DJT. WAPO shamelessly trashed DJT, on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Maybe not endorsing a candidate will do less damage.
The DJT/JRE conversation was not that interesting. I listened for about an hour, until I got tired of the obvious lies. This incontinent bullshitter is just as boring as his haters. DJT did say one noteworthy thing about politics: “You know what’s funny. You need at least the attitude of a comedian when you’re doing this business.”
The election is November 5, which is not a minute too soon. DJT has numerous flaws. Unfortunately, Kamala Devi Harris may be worse. Both DJT and KDM support Israel’s reign of terror against Gaza and Lebanon. I am going to vote my secret ballot, and hope for the best. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture was taken in 1862. “Company A, 22d New York State Militia near Harpers Ferry VA” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
President Hillary
This content was posted October 12, 2016. Updates will be provided when appropriate. … The traditional chant for re-election is “four more years.” Yesterday, the wait for the election was four more weeks. This nightmare election is almost over. If someone had made this up, they would be laughed at. Reality is bad fiction.
As Al Gore knows, (and HRC will find out) the Presidency is decided by electoral votes. You do not vote for DJT or HRC. You vote for electors, whose identity is a google proof secret. These people elect the President. If Georgia goes Republican, then you vote for DJT. Tell your SJW neighbor they are voting for DJT, like it or not. Despite recent Democrat gains, Georgia is So Red It Glows. (SRIG)
In 2008, a dark skinned man ran for President. Georgia voters are roughly 30% black. If BHO got 90% of that vote, that is 27% of the vote. For BHO to take Georgia, he needed 32% of the non-black vote. Mitt Romney won 53% of the overall Georgia vote. In other words, BHO could not get 32% of the non black vote, and came up seriously short.
According to FiveThirtyEight, HRC has a 32.5% chance of winning Georgia. 538 changes the map several times daily. Arizona went blue today. The Georgia score was 20% when I first started to follow 538, so 32% is a blue improvement. (538 showed the chance of HRC winning to be 88.8% for Pennsylania, 89.4% for Wisconsin, and 92.6% for Michigan. All three states went for Trump, and provided his margin of victory.)
Conventional wisdom (oxymoron alert) has it that the swing states will decide the election. These are states which are not considered true blue (California, New York) or SRIG (Texas.) Politico says these states are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. As this post is written, all the swing states are going to HRC.
The last three weeks have been wild at 538. When I first started following, Florida (29 electoral votes), North Carolina(15), and Ohio (18) were red. First Florida, then North Carolina, then Ohio went for Hillary. 538 calls Florida 73% certain to vote for HRC, North Carolina 70%, and Ohio 67%. Pennsylvania, another purple favorite, is leaning 88.8% for HRC. These numbers may change by the time this feature is posted, or when DJT opens his mouth. (This post was four days after we found out about “Grab ’em by the pussy.”)
The problem is the Senate and House. In Georgia, alleged Klansman Johnny Isakson is coasting to an easy re-election, over some little known Democrat. Sen. Isakson died December 19, 2021. Raphael Warnock now occupies the seat.) In District 6, Tom Price is assured of re-election. Until writing this post, I had never heard the name of the Democrat candidate for District 6. The name is Rodney Stooksbury. This is not supposed to be funny. (Rep. Price left the House for a position in the Trump administration. In the special election to replace him, Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff, who was making his first attempt to get elected. That election was a nightmare for GA6 voters.) … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture was taken in 1862. “Company A, 22d New York State Militia near Harpers Ferry, Va. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
You Lie
This content was published September 10, 2009. … BHO made a speech about health care last night. At 24:03, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted “You Lie.” The President paused, said “that’s not true,” and continued with his address. In the show biz department, it was a landslide win for the President.
The comment before Mr. Wilson’s unveiling was a bit misleading. “The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens.” Can we say strawman here? True, the Palins of the nation are just as misleading with the “death panel” talk. The comments by the President were show business politics as usual, not a change we can believe in.
A significant percentage of all health care spending is on terminal patients. Many feel that the emphasis should be on keeping people comfortable, rather than going for the expensive, painful miracle cure. This is just one of many sensitive priority issues that needs to be addressed.
The State is a South Carolina newspaper. As expected, they reported on this latest embarrassment to the state. They should have quit while they were ahead, after Miss Teenage South Carolina. One commenter makes an interesting point:
“We are missing something here. Joe Wilson shouts, “You lie!” and at that very instant, photographer Chip Somodevilla of Getty Images clicks the shutter. The image is clear, focused, well centered, perfectly timed. Of the hundreds of people in the chamber, why was Joe in Somodevilla’s crosshairs, unless the photographer knew what was coming! Was primed for it! Dialed in on Joe, waited for it — then, bingo! Immortalized the angry gesture that drove home those two angry words: the two words that effectively sabotaged press coverage of the entire speech.”
“The whole thing was a set-up! Joe’s emotions didn’t just “get the better of (him)” as he claimed! He is deliberately bringing tea-bag tactics into the legislative process!” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Fritz Henle took the social media picture in November 1942. “Nurse training. At the ping pong table in the game room, Susan Petty, student nurse, enjoys a bit of relaxation after a busy day’s work in the wards.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
With All Due Respect
This content was posted June 25, 2017. Senator Ossoff is on a roll. He should be easily re-elected in November, and is a possible candidate for President. … At the 44 minute mark of a recent debate, Karen Christine Handel and Thomas Jonathan Ossoff had a skirmish. The question (41:34) had been put to TJO: How can you be independent in Congress, when you will need Democratic Party help in a re-election. TJO rambled a bit, and did not answer the question. Instead, he attacked KCH. The attack centered around the PR disaster at the Susan B. Komen foundation.
The two sparred for a few minutes. I expected someone to call the other a poopyhead, which they would reply to by saying you have cooties. KCH said something, and TJO interrupted. “It’s a simple question, with all due respect” “With all due respect, do not interrupt me”
This may be the one moment of this nightmare election that captures two personalities. KCH is not above interrupting, and using shady argument tricks. It was her moment to take control of the situation. Most politicians are hypocrites.
I got a screen shot. Look at the eyes. KCH is mean. She is tired of this silly little boy. TJO is looking at his shoes. The embarrassment about being “handled” by his opponent is evident. KCH won the momentary power game.
Maybe people will quit saying “with all due respect.” WADR is the new “bless your heart.” On election day, KCH won , with, or without, due respect. It is not known what the turning point was, or if TJO ever had a serious chance. Most 6th district voters are happy to see a noisy campaign end.
After losing to KCH in 2017, TJO ran for the Senate in 2020. The slogan of his Senate campaign was not a vulgar joke about hhis name. TJO won the election. … KCH lost elections for the House in 2018 and 2020. In 2026, KCH is the President of the Construction Supplier’s Association. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in July 1942. Hoffman Island, merchant marine training center off Staten Island, New York. Trainees aboard the training ship New York working in the boiler room. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Jane Fonda
This content was originally publishedMay 28, 2007. This is a work of speculation, and has no basis in proven fact. The thesis cannot be proven nor disproven.
Listening to talk radio while you drive is a dangerous activity. You might start to think, and look at the man behind the screen. Neal Boortz was on a rant today about Jane Fonda. It is the same story you have heard many times … she gave aid and comfort to the enemy, she is a traitor, American troops died because of her, she should have been executed.
Sometimes when you hear something too many times, you begin to have doubts about what you heard. A light bulb went off in my head when I heard the Fonda Rant again … What if Jane Fonda was working for the US government when she went to Hanoi?
How would this benefit the government? This trip gave our government a discredited leader of the antiwar movement to denounce. When the government was trashing Jane Fonda, they did not have to defend the disastrous policies of that war.
Miss Fonda has been an icon of right wing hatred ever since, as well as of military training. One story has Miss Fonda giving the North Vietnamese information about activities by American forces. How would she get this information?
The infamous trip to Hanoi took place in the Summer of 1972. American troops were being withdrawn, and anti war protests lost most of their passion. (It was also soon after the death of F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover, and the Watergate burglary) The war in Vietnam was essentially over for America. We were no longer trying to win, but to negotiate a face saving treaty. President Nixon called it “Peace with Honor.” Miss Fonda’s actions probably had little impact on these negotiations.
In 1967, Kurt Vonnegut published a book titled “Mother Night.” It tells the story of Howard W. Campbell Jr. Mr. Campbell made propaganda broadcasts for Germany in World War II, which were secretly used to pass coded messages to the Allies. He was condemned as a traitor after the war, but never prosecuted. He did not win an Academy Award.
Why would a woman known for her left wing activism do such a thing? Maybe, the FBI had some dirt on her, and blackmailed her. Perhaps Miss Fonda was sincere in her actions, but aided by the government. Miss Fonda was under surveillance in 1972. The government would have known about her plans to go to North Vietnam, and perhaps could have stopped her. But, because her going to Hanoi was to their advantage, the government allowed the trip to take place.
The above is speculation, and could be horribly wrong. The fact that Miss Fonda has expressed regrets over her trip neither proves nor disproves this. She got great movie roles, and won two Academy Awards, during the seventies. This may be a coincidence, or maybe it was a reward for her service.
Clearly, the trip she made to Hanoi had propaganda value to the US government. It has been a Godsend over the years. You should always consider who benefits from an action.
During his rant today, Mr. Boortz said that US troops died because of Miss Fonda. (He does not discuss the man who went to Nam in his place, after his draft deferment.) By saying this, he can ignore the tens of thousands of troops who died because Richard Nixon chose to wait until 1973 to sign a “peace treaty”. He could have made the same deal in 1969. Peace with honor indeed. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture: A&P Food Store ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
JD Vance
This content was published July 16, 2024. … @JDVance1 “Praying for our friends in Israel this morning. Just an awful situation.” 5:57 AM · Oct 7, 2023. This tweet is how I found out about the attack on Israel. The war that followed is a historic tragedy, no matter which team you are on.
John David Vance is going to be the Republican nominee for Vice President. The odds are very good that he will be elected. Since he is 39 years old, he should have a long career.
@JDVance1 “As we watch this horrible situation in Israel unfold, Americans must face a stark truth: our tax dollars funded this. Money is fungible, and many of the dollars we sent to Iran are being used to now kill innocent people. This must stop. Israel has every right to defend itself. I wish our friends well, but most of all I wish they weren’t fighting against weapons bought with our money.” 6:44 AM · @JDVance1 “We didn’t give them money we just unfroze their money.” “They promised they’d only spend it on humanitarian supplies. I’m sure they’re very trustworthy.” “I’ll ignore the $400m pallet of cash delivered by the last Democrat administration.” Complete idiocy.” 1:31 PM
The initial reactions of people to historic landmarks can be revealing. It is noteworthy that Sen. Vance chose to talk about Iran. The money was earned by selling Iranian oil. It was frozen in western banks because of sanctions against the Iranian regime. It was Iran’s money. We did not give them anything.
As a private citizen, I am not obligated to comment on current events. When Al-Aqsa Flood started, I knew two things. Israel would exponentially retaliate, and lose most of the world. The supporters of Israel would fight, using every trick of shady propaganda known to man. This was going to result in bitter, toxic arguments. I did not yet know the terms “hasbara” and “hannibal directive.”
Al-Aqsa Flood has already had a devastating impact on Palestine. There is a potential for greater conflict in the region, including war with Iran. A war with Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, and shut down the world economy. It is telling that the reaction of Sen. Vance, on October 7, was to denounce Iran. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in April 1942. “Wisdom, Montana. Mr. Anson visiting his daughter and son-in-law”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Elvis Presley And Robert Goulet
This content was published April 30, 2008. … I found a site called Dead or Alive? The concept was to show a list of famous people, whether the lines were flat or wiggling, and the date of the passage. There was one obvious name to check out. DOA supports the notion that Elvis Presley is dead. …
DOA had a list of people who died in the last six months. The Fabulous Moolah, Earl Butz, and Robert Goulet were the surprises. … “It’s part of Elvis Presley lore … the time Elvis filled the screen of his 25-inch RCA TV full of buckshot. Because of Robert Goulet. … Apparently, in the late 50s, when Elvis was in the army and stationed in Germany, his girlfriend at the time, singer Anita Wood, was performing with Robert Goulet and comedian Buddy Hackett. Wood dutifully wrote to Sergeant Presley and, apparently, Goulet added a note to one of her letters, informing Elvis that he was personally “taking care” of Wood (wink, wink). Elvis didn’t appreciate Goulet’s randy sense of humor and carried a grudge the size of Graceland, for years. In 1974, Elvis was relaxing in his swanky penthouse suite at the International Hotel in Vegas when he spotted Goulet on the tube. (The crooner was appearing as a guest co-host on The Mike Douglas Show.) Supposedly, Elvis yelled, “Get that s**t outta my house!” And with that, he aimed and fired.”
Mr. Goulet and Ms. Moolah were part of a phenomenon. These are people who I don’t know if they are dead or alive, until I hear that they have died. Other examples would be Anita Loos and Lowell Thomas. And now, Albert Hofmann, the man who first synthesized LSD. Dr. Hofman was 102, and seemed to have mixed feelings about his discovery. He deplored the excesses, but did not support criminalization. … I had a high school geometry teacher who took part in some of the army LSD experiments. She said a good shot of whiskey would do more for you.
This content was published April 25, 2008. … John McCain has done it again. He condemned an ad by North Carolina Republicans, and gave the ad a lot of publicity in the bargain. What a deal. … The ad shows Jeremiah Wright screaming, and says that Barack Obama enabled his screaming for twenty years. We all knew this. It gets creepy at this point. It seems as though Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue are Democrats running for North Carolina Governor, and they have endorsed Mr. Obama. This makes them “Too Extreme for North Carolina”.
When I heard this ad (on radio, without the visuals) it made me sick, and more than a bit sad. This ad is mean and sleazy. It says more about the party that runs it than it does about the two candidates for governor. This ad is the kind of pointless negative advertising that makes people replulsed by politics. Ads like this make me dread elections. Mr. McCain is correct in denouncing it. … What has been the interesting is the reaction of talk radio. Laura Ingraham was having convulsions…we can’t have fun trashing people, and we won’t support you later because of this. You took our toy away. WAAAAAAA.
Mike Gallagher said there was nothing wrong with the ad, that it was the truth. (2026 Disclosure: The Gallagher and Ingraham quotes are from memory, and do not have a link.) Just because it is the truth doesn’t mean you have to say it, or make it any less distasteful. I get the impression that many conservatives are amused by this sort of guilt by association ad. And they wonder why many people think they are a bunch of jerks. Two wrongs do not make a right. Somebody needs to be the better person, not merely the loudest or most aggresive.
North Carolina Republicans would be doing themselves a favor to take down the ad. It says more about them than it does the Democratic Candidates. It also is giving name recognition to the two Democrats. Someday politicians will learn to be smart and quit offending voters. I am not holding my breath. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in April 1941. “ Mother and children at home. Chicago, Illinois” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Shock And Awe 2008 Edition
This content was published March 18, 2008. … This is turning into a dandy holiday week. Yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day. Tomorrow is Shock and Awe Day (SAD) … the anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. Today, we had a presidential candidate, standing in front of four U.S. flags, saying that his preacher is a racist nutcase, which is why he wants to be president of our racist nutcase country, which he loves. And this weekend we have a grand slam…Good Friday, Dead Saturday, Easter Sunday and the Spring Equinox. This time, let’s put two boulders in front of the cave.
The best place to focus now is Shock and Awe Day. SAD is the initials. The war is over. We achieved regime change, at least in Babylon. The occupation is what is going on now, and it just might be the death of this country. Yes, there is less sectarian violence now. Al Queda is not as prevalent as it once was. Of course, it is still more active than when Saddam was in power. Turkey has invaded Kurdistan, but just a little bit. Iran has not invaded Babylon, yet. The Saudi regime has not fallen, and they have a lot more money to finance terrorism.
The US economy is in trouble. Maybe we would be in this mess without a few trillion more in debt, and the healthcare bills for thousands of wounded soldiers coming due. Maybe we could build more levees if we weren’t paying the concerned local citizens of Iraq to help us fight Al Queda. We will never know. It should be noted the presidential candidate mentioned above has long stated his opposition to “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Just what he will do about it, should he get elected, is another good question. … 2026 POV The candidate got elected, and sort-of ended the war in Babylon. Meanwhile, Syria devolved into chaos, and is currently ruled by a “former member” of Al Queda.
This content was published March 19, 2008. … So I was coming in on I-75, and listening to Glenn Beck. He was talking about the economy, and it was not pretty. I don’t believe everything he said, but to hear him tell it, the dollar is about to become a worthless piece of green paper. The world economy is tied to this dollar, and this would make the world economy go into convulsions.
This is shock and awe day (SAD)…the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. The war ended quickly, but putting humpty dumpty together has proved to be a challenge. One of the effects of this war is vast amounts of capital leaving the country into the desert sands. Much has been lost to corruption, and more is being paid to “concerned local citizens” to fight Al Queda. The latter effort is paying some benefits, and Al Queda is almost down to the level of pre-war Iraq. Getting back to the dollar, and the connection to our economy. One of the more bizarre features of this enterprise is having a tax cut before an expensive government program is going to start. This has created vast budget deficits, and huge interest payments that will continue for a long time.
Now, with the money to armor troops and buy smart bombs, there is a lot less money available for day to day life here. And when there is an emergency here, like a cajun hurricane or a New York broker banker gone bust, the government has to crank up the printing press and make more green paper. And the more this happens, the less the green paper is worth. … Maybe green is not such a great color anymore. Those environmental wackos have totally spoiled it.
So, Mr. Beck was crying about the dollar, while ignoring the effect of the enterprise in Babylon. After all, he is a conservative, who wants both a smaller government and 160k troops stationed eight time zones away. And, if we didn’t go into Babylon, then Al Queda wouldn’t be there for us to fight, and we have to fight them there rather than here. … Meanwhile, I looked up at the traffic. An 18 wheeler decided that the car in front was not driving fast enough. The big truck swerved into the next lane, and missed the little car by a couple of feet. Happy SAD y’all!!
This content was published March 24, 2008. … Please, no betray us jokes this time. That gave the warmongers a good distraction last fall. General David Petraeus spoke to the press recently. He said victory in Babylon would occur when there is: “an Iraq that is at peace with itself, at peace with its neighbors, that has a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry and is a contributing member of the global community.”
There are a lot of differences between the United States and Iraq. The USA has 160k troops in Iraq. Iraq recently won a major soccer tournament. One has to wonder, though, how the USA does at meeting the standards it sets for Iraq. · “an Iraq that is at peace with itself” Last week, the major news story was an important minority bashing America from the pulpits of it’s churches. It’s just the way it is in the black church, you don’t understand. · “at peace with its neighbors” Despite all the political noise the rightwing can produce, the border with Mexico is wide open. The effects of a poor country on the border of a “wealthy” country do not stop. · “a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry” This depends on who you talk to. It seems like everyone has a gripe, from the right wing ( social issues, immigration) to the left wing ( the war, the environment, the rich-poor gap, health care). There are plenty in the middle who are tired of the whining, but essentially agree with both sides of the spectrum. · “is a contributing member of the global community” In all fairness, we are contributing to the global community. We contribute carbon emissions to the atmosphere. We contribute interest to the Asians who are financing our debt. We contribute cluster bombs and depleted uranium to Babylon.
One of our presidential hopefuls was quoted recently as saying we might be in Iraq for 100 more years. Somehow, I don’t think the problems in our own country will be solved by then. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in October 1939. “Winner of masquerade at Halloween party. Hillview cooperative, Osage Farms, Missouri.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
War And Taxes
This post was published March 28, 2008. … One of the radio whiners was talking about taxes today. (That sentence could get a lot of use). There was some kind of economist guest, and the consensus was that lower taxes stimulated the economy. The thought occurred to this reporter … why have taxes at all? If lower taxes would stimulate the economy, then what about no taxes at all? I am no economist, but I suspect this would not work. To begin with, we have to pay the interest of the debt we already have. If we don’t pay this interest, then no one will loan us any more money.
Second, we have the War in Babylon to consider. Our Government tried to pay for this war with a tax cut before the invasion. The budget deficit went to $410b in 2004. The economy was stimulated, though, and there was regime change in Baghdad. Unfortunately, our army was not greeted as liberators. However, the tax cut was greeted as a liberator in certain circles here. (The budget deficit was $1.78t in 2025. The national debt was $7.37t in 2004, and $36.21t in 2025)
It would seem to this slack Georgia Blogger that the issue is not whether or not to have taxes, but how to assess them, and and at what rates. I have written a few times about the “Fair tax”. one two three The FT has the potential to work, but there are wrinkles to iron out. God/Satan is in the details.
Lets get back to the matter of how to set the tax rates. It is a mess. Tax deductions and tax write offs have produced many jobs, and done much good work. The powerhouse economy of the last seventy years has been a product of many factors. Deficit spending, a print happy federal reserve, and baffling tax laws have all played a part. Should we throw the baby out with the bathwater? Maybe we can go back to an emphasis on tariffs to raise money. This would have the dual effect of bringing in money, and protecting the industries that have not gone south of the border. Nevermind that tariffs were a minor cause of the war between the states.
A tax on the rich would bring in revenue, and is a crowd pleaser at election time. However, some of these people are entrepreneurs who create jobs. Besides, they give political contributions, and are protected. Maybe we could tax political contributions, and other forms of prostitution. Legalizing certain controlled substances would add to the tax digest. In short, I don’t have a clue. I am just a slack georgia blogger who doesn’t get campaign contributions.
This post was published March 25, 2008. … The blog battles are on hold. After being banned by a slew of Jesus Worship blogs, I have been mostly out of combat. Except for a skirmish with AtlMalcontent about Amnesty International, the western front has been quiet. … Renegade Evolution recently alerted me to the seven deadly sins test. I left a comment, and her initial reply started “chamblee54 who the f*** are you”. I mentioned I was a recovering Baptist, and Ren said “Baptist…egads”.
The Baptist experience is very different from the Jew experience. I decided a long time ago I didn’t agree with what went on in church, and was no longer a Baptist. My mother converted as a teenager, and recruited my dad a few years later. There is no long family history, no Seders with relatives, almost no ritual … just a noisy fascination with life after death. Jews, on the other hand, have a long history, and many families have been on the program a long, long time. I don’t know if you are really ever an ex Jew, whether or not you are observant. I also am not familiar with Ren’s story…what people mean when they say they are Jewish changes from person to person.
As for Renegade Evolution’s blog … it is well written, and has some great stories. I read a description of a porn movie shoot that was highly entertaining. She is focused on the sex worker point of view, which is her right as a blogger. It is also my right as a reader to get tired of reading about it. I have always found the feminist anti pornography attitude to be a bit mysterious. I imagine this is a function of being a gay man, from a culture which celebrates smut. Yes, that is the sound of one hand clapping…the other hand is busy.
Most gay porn is cooperative, that is, both men are equals and everyone has a squirting good time. I think a certain percentage of str8 movies are not. I have a str8 tape in my collection where this gnarly baldheaded guy says mean things to the woman. I find it tough to believe that guys are turned on by this, but apparently some are. I can see why some women object to this “entertainment”. I am glad that Ren is standing up for the rights of people like her (and that we live in a country that permits this). I also question how much I really want to read about it.
Back to the Seven Deadly Sins. This is a very old fashioned list, perhaps even obsolete. Listening to the well defended Jeremiah Wright, it is clear that Wrath and Pride are on their way to being cardinal virtues. With today’s prosperity gospel, Envy and Greed are no longer in disrepute. From the look of many waistlines in the modern church, Gluttony is a favored pastime. That leaves Sloth and Lust. Good old Lust … it always did have a special place in the hearts of pulpit pounders.
The discussion with Renegade Evolution is lost in the digital dustbin. Ren made her last searchable post January 13, 2013. As for AtlMalcontent, he made an amusing comment in his 2007 rant. “You argue, in essence, that we should say nothing about human rights abuses in Iran because it might create “ill will against the government there.” Good. Ahmadinejad is a religious fanatic with visions of grandeur. I agree it’s unwise to beat the war drums now, but Iran is not benign. Wouldn’t you be at least a little concerned if they acquired nuclear weapons?” Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
The social media picture was taken March 16, 1967. “ Chevron Island event ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Dan Quayle
This content was originally published February 2, 2022. … “It is part of my existence to be the insect of metaphors” I was listening to a story, while editing photographs from The Library of Congress. I was starting to get bored with the story. I made the conscious decision to turn the story off. This was the last line that I heard before I turned the story off.
I finished a folder of pictures. With the Internet there’s plenty of temptation, and rabbit holes to go down. I found this delightful tweet by Andy Sullivan. It was a link to a a story about how Donald Trump was still trying to steal the election. Here is the first money quote: “Trump was busier attempting to undo the election than he had ever been as president.”
The YouTube video I was listening to was an excerpt from a Dan Carlin show. He was talking about Douglas MacArthur, and the great man theory of history. I have the opinion that history is going to happen the way it happens, and the celebrity gets too much credit. This is the thing about Gen. MacArthur and President Trump. I consider Mr. Trump to be a speedfreak, who, in a combination of luck, and pluck, got himself elected. If he had been moderately competent, and half as evil as the Democrats claim, America would have been in a world of trouble. And now, he is allegedly working harder to reverse an election, than he did when he was in office.
“And though Mike Pence, pressed hard by Trump for the last full measure of devotion, wavered (he phoned Dan Quayle for advice), in the end, he did what he knew was right.” Lord, you can’t make this stuff up. James Danforth Quayle is a major idiot, though probably not a dumb as many suspect. OTOH, Mike Pence … aka “Lester Maddox — without the spine” … is as worthless as people think.
The Bulwark article was written by Mona Charen. The scribe was a speech writer for Nancy Reagan, and was rumored to have been fired from that position. In the early nineties, Ms. Charen had a regular column in the fishwrapper. Once she said, regarding gay marriage, It is not marriage which civilizes people, but women. (Full disclosure: That quote is from memory, not a verified source.)
In 1992, when Ms. Charen had that column, I was working downtown. One afternoon, the Vice-Presidential debate was in Atlanta. I stepped out of the office to buy a bag of Fritos at a neighborhood store. I looked down the street to see the Vice President vehicle going down Forsyth Street. I waved at Dan Quayle. I only used one finger. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in August 1941. “Men in beer parlor at Finnish settlement of Bruce Crossing, Michigan” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Coleman Hughes V. Darryl Cooper
Coleman Cruz Hughes recently did a show attacking Nicholas Joseph Fuentes. While going after NJF, CCH went on the attack against Darryl Cooper. Both NJF and DC are critics of Israel’s dirty wars, which might be the ultimate motivation for these attacks.
NJF is a gnarly piece of work, who is currently getting plenty of bad press. Darryl Cooper is different. I am a fan of the MartyrMade podcast. Earlier this year I did a deep dive into “Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem”. The chamblee54 commentary is linked here.
I disagree with DC about many things, including his notorious comment about Winston Churchill. However, I have mad respect for MartyrMade podcast. Does DC make mistakes? Maybe. If you produce 27 hours of content on a subject, you probably will get some things wrong. Especially when you consider that a lot of these matters have two hotly contested sides.
DC made an infamous appearance on the Tucker Carlson show, saying that Winston Churchill was the primary villain of World War II. CCH mentioned it, of course. CCH then quoted a story from Mother Jones, How a Nazi-Obsessed Amateur Historian Went From Obscurity to the Top of Substack. (CCH does not have show notes. Fortunately, google still works when it wants to.)
As it turns out, I recently listened to a MM episode about Mother Jones, the historic figure. “Whose America” is about the coal wars in West Virginia. The show features a picture of Mother Jones with red coals in her eyes. “The magazine Mother Jones is directly named after the legendary labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who was a fierce organizer for workers’ rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, inspiring the magazine’s focus on progressive causes and investigative journalism.” Sometimes, “progressive causes” include discrediting a podcaster who is critical of Israel.
The MJ story is a hit job, with very few links. This quote sets the tone: “Cooper, for example, wrote “Guten morgen” to a user on X last August, along with a picture of himself holding a coffee mug. It might take a moment to realize the user is a self-identified Nazi, and the mug Cooper holds is sold on a website where you can buy a T-shirt in which a Nazi SS sword plunges through the Star of David.”
Later, MJ ties DC to David Irving, a notorious holocaust denier. In the Carlson interview, DC mentioned that Winston Churchill had financial problems, and was bailed out by Zionist financiers. This information is easily available from other sources. However, DC did mention that he found this information in Irving’s writings. After making this connection … without linking to the source … MJ rants about David Irving for several paragraphs.
There is one quote from MJ about David Irving that is remarkable: “Irving is essentially an ideologue who uses history for his own political purposes; he is not primarily concerned with discovering and interpreting what happened in the past, he is concerned merely to give a selective and tendentious account of it in order to further his own ideological ends in the present.”
If you were to take out “Irving” and put a blank space in its spot, you could describe a substantial percentage of the rhetoric mongers today. It would definitely apply to Coleman Hughes. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in August 1941. “The family of Mr. Dan Sampson. The Sampsons are moving out of the Pine Camp expansion area to a 240 acre dairy farm in South Rutland, New York obtained through the New York Defense Relocation Corps. Near Sterlingville, New York” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Tony Hovater
New York Times reporter Richard Fausset went to smalltown Ohio to meet Tony Hovater. “In 2015, he helped start the Traditionalist Worker Party, one of the extreme right-wing groups that marched in Charlottesville, Va. … The mission is to “fight for the interests of White Americans.’’
Virtual America is not pleased. Twitter screeds by @magi_jay and @bessbell have been widely shared. This facebook comment speaks for many: “The article serves to humanize and normalize him/far-right extremism/Nazism — which was one of Tony Havater’s stated desires/goals re: his present involvement in the white nationalist/Nazi movement. By normalizing them, they are given a seat at the table of political discourse which is absolutely a back-asswards step.”
When you see a tweetstorm like this, the first step is to find the original material. Read the article, not what @ShaunKing says about it. When you read the original, you wonder if it is the same article. The original is full of snide references, and logical fallacies. Maybe what the masses want is a ritual denunciation of the anointed poopyhead. As one online publication put it, “ensure that white supremacists and Nazis are thought of and treated the same way you might treat a roach scurrying across a kitchen counter.” Lets look at some quotes from the NYT article.
“Mr. Hovater’s face is narrow and punctuated with sharply peaked eyebrows, like a pair of air quotes, and he tends to deliver his favorite adjective, “edgy,” with a flat affect and maximum sarcastic intent. It is a sort of implicit running assertion that the edges of acceptable American political discourse — edges set by previous generations, like the one that fought the Nazis — are laughable.”
The previous generations of America are a mixed bag. Yes, they fought the Germans in WW2. They also fought Native Americans, and said “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” “The edges of acceptable American political discourse” once included Jim Crow laws. American political discourse is an ever-changing work in progress.
“After he attended the Charlottesville rally, in which a white nationalist plowed his car into a group of left-wing protesters, killing one of them, Mr. Hovater wrote that he was proud of the comrades who joined him there: “We made history. Hail victory.” In German, “Hail victory” is “Sieg heil.””
James Alex Fields is accused of killing Heather Meyer with a Dodge Challenger. We don’t know if he was acting on orders, where those orders came from, or if he is a loose cannon, acting on his own. While the march organizers certainly bear some responsibility for that tragedy, we do not know the entire story. In any event, that has nothing to do with the German translation of “Hail Victory.”
I Interviewed a White Nationalist and Fascist. What Was I Left With? was published after the backlash hit. It is a commentary by the author, in which he laments not finding the “rosebud” to this story. There is a revealing quote near the end. “I saw, on his bookshelf, two volumes of Helena Blavatsky’s “The Secret Doctrine,” 19th-century work of esoteric spiritualism whose anti-Semitism influenced Nazi thinking. But even if I had called Mr. Hovater yet again — even if we had discussed Blavatsky at length, the way we did his ideas about the Federal Reserve Bank — I’m not sure it would have answered the question. What makes a man start fires?”
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Еле́на Петро́вна Блава́тская) is a 19th century Russian that few people know about. This obscurity allows Mr. Fausset to fill in the blanks with a gratuitous comment about anti-Semitism. This inclusion also assumes that Mr. Hovater has read the books.
The reference to the Federal Reserve Bank is more telling. If you listen to this podcast, you learn that Mr. Hovater is more concerned with economics than white nationalism. You will also learn that many of his ideas are not well thought out. Mr. Hovater, a former drummer in a heavy metal band, is similar to that libertarian in the break room … the one who will not shut up, and go back to work.
Saying Tony Hovater is poorly informed will not satisfy the keyboard warrior. Talking about economics is not as much fun as denouncing the Third Reich … as if the LARP-tikitorch crowd is the same as the Schutzstaffel. SJW twitter does not like subtlety. This is what they want to hear: “Of course, profiles on the people directly harmed by this hate speech and violence would be much more compelling. But that would require whiteness—white maleness, specifically—to be uncentered. And uncentering whiteness is harder than eating just one Lay’s potato chip, apparently.”
This content was originally published in 2017. 112817 113017 Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in August 1940. “Natchez, Mississippi” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
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