Mark Twain And Profanity
This content was originally published July 9, 2010. … There is a proposal in San Francisco to ban the sale of pets. The proposal has little chance of passing. There is even less chance of this measure being enacted in Georgia. But maybe it should. According to a California source “The real problem, staff said, is hamsters. People buy the high-strung, nocturnal rodents because they’re under the temporary impression that hamsters are cute and cuddly. But the new owners quickly learn that hamsters are, in fact, prone to biting, and gnawing through expensive wiring. …
… So the animals end up at the shelter. Just about every species has its own rescue group in San Francisco, but no one seems to want hamsters. Hamsters are the No. 1 animal euthanized at the city’s shelter, said San Francisco Animal Care and Control director Rebecca Katz.”(Katz?) Here is an animal euthanasia provider who supports the ban. “”the concept is something I think positively of. A lot of these animals, I get the feeling people buy them on impulse and they’re sold as somewhat disposable”. … People get pets as an impulse, or as gifts. When they get tired of them, the pet is often murdered. There is also the issue to the excess reproductive capacity of many animals. …
… When I took speech and drama in high school, one of the cheerleaders started a speech by saying “you are going to think I am a monster”. Her proposal was to outlaw pets. The amount of food used to feed companion animals could be used to feed humans. Ditto the medical resources used to treat sick animals. People sometimes are so in love with their pets, that they do not see the harm they do to others. A dog that will not stop barking is an infringement on the rights of others. A pit bull that gets loose can ruin the life of someone who gets in the way. …
… I lived for 23 years in a duplex, and had a wide variety of neighbors. I was fussed at for closing the gate to the back yard by one household. Another neighbor threatened a lawsuit for leaving the gate open.A Florida import dumped his catbox eighteen inches from where I opened my car door. There was the little black dog that I became friends with, only to be poisoned by enemies of the owner. … It is well known that the pampered pets of the wealthy live much better than many human children. Maybe this money needs to be spent on people.
This content was originally published July 17, 2010. … The WordPress homepage linked to a post on the benefits of “swearing“. Since Chamblee54 had a post about *donkeys* the other day, maybe this is a good subject to continue on. As before, this is a profanity light blog, and this discussion on cussing will not have any examples. If you do not know any of the words, then you need to get out more. …
… It seems like a grant monger at a university did a study. The subjects were asked to hold their hands in freezing water. Half of the subjects were allowed to say a swearword of their choice, the other half said a non expletive control word. The cussers felt less pain. I don’t know how this was measured, or whether I believe this. … Mark Twain had a similar thought. “Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” …
… The reference to prayer is another twist in this tale. Much of the objection to profanity is from Christians. These are people who consider the Bible to be “the word of God”. And yet, if you go to the Greek and Hebrew original texts, you will find every body part and reproductive act mentioned. The ban on cussing is more of a social issue than a moral one. … Christians have the same anger management issues as non believers. Some have a lot more. Often Xtians will use words like Jesus and God as a device for expressing displeasure. …
… This does not speak well for either Jesus or God, and violates the Third Commandment. Perhaps these believers would be better off to use words for body parts as insults, instead of a reference to God. … The subject of profanity is fertile ground for bloggers, and I will return to it before long. Before we go today, there are a few more comments from the post that started this, in addition to some zingers from the Mark Twain quotes page about profanity. That archive supplies a source, unlike many facebook quotemongers. …
… “The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong. He can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice and benevolent and affectionate way.” Mark Twain – Private and Public Morals speech, 1906. · “There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It’s dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that.” Mark Twain – Mark Twain A Biography · “When angry count four; when very angry, swear.” Mark Twain – Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar · “swearing is like perfume. used intelligently in small doses – it can enhance the meaning of a phrase. if it’s cheap and overwhelmingly applied – it can make you leave the room! Kaiamaeve …
… I must confess, I quite like swearing. But, like everything, try to do it in moderation. A good oath blurted out at the right time can really emphasize a message. I don’t think I know any adults who never swear, but I know many who rarely let out a good curse-word and, when they do, you know they really mean it. They make it count. Andrew Berthoff · I had my days at military school where I cussed like, well, a soldier, and I’ve also had my church-going days where I promised myself that I didn’t swear at all. Those days are both behind me now, and I really try to not swear very much because I think it makes me sound like an moron. Nathan …
… There is a Mark Twain quote used today. The source is Mark Twain A Biography, not his writing. If you look in MTAB, this is what you see: “Steve was a merciless joker, and never as long as they were together could he “resist the temptation of making Sam swear,” claiming that his profanity was grander than any music.” … Mark Twain’s profanity. For it was rarely misplaced; hence it did not often offend. It seemed, in fact, the safety-valve of his high-pressure intellectual engine. When he had blown off he was always calm, gentle; forgiving, and even tender. Once following an outburst he said, placidly: “In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” …
… There is another Twain quote attributed to MTAB: “He usually had a number of clippings or slips among the many books on the bed beside him from which he proposed to dictate each day, but he seldom could find the one most needed. Once, after a feverishly impatient search for a few moments, he invited Miss Hobby to leave the room temporarily, so, as he said, that he might swear. He got up and we began to explore the bed, his profanity increasing amazingly with each moment. It was an enormously large bed, and he began to disparage the size of it. “One could lose a dog in this bed,” he declared. Finally I suggested that he turn over the clipping which he had in his hand. He did so, and it proved to be the one he wanted. Its discovery was followed by a period of explosions, only half suppressed as to volume. Then he said: “There ought to be a room in this house to swear in. It’s dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that.” … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken October 31, 1956. “Wrecked police automobile” · ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
#1619Gate Part Three
When we last checked in on @nhannahjones, she was at the center of a national hissy fit about tenure. This is not usually a hot button issue, but people enjoy controversy. In the few weeks since then, there have been some developments.
“Nikole Hannah-Jones will not join UNC-Chapel Hill faculty without tenure” This was the day before the chamblee54 piece. “In their letter, Hannah-Jones’s legal team argues information was withheld from her when she signed her fixed-term contract with the school.”
“Deadline set for lawsuit in Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure controversy” “On Thursday, attorneys … sent a letter to Charles Marshall, the school’s vice chancellor and general counsel. The letter laid out Hannah-Jones’ case and demanded UNC-Chapel Hill make good on what they said was its initial offer of a tenured position for Hannah-Jones … “We intend to bring litigation to vindicate Ms. Hannah-Jones’ rights under federal and state law. This letter is to demand that UNC take immediate action to remedy its conduct to avoid suit by making an unconditional offer to Ms. Hannah-Jones of a tenured appointment as full professor no later than June 4, 2021.”
If you want to make a bad situation worse, have your attorney give an ultimatum. This correspondent is not a lawyer, and was not privy to the negotiations. Is mentioning tenure during contract negotiations a valid reason to break the contract? The dispute went back and forth for a few weeks, and was the occasion for much recreational outrage.
UNC trustees grant tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project, after weeks of criticism The journalist celebrated on twitter. There were some hints she would not take the job.
Nikole Hannah-Jones chooses to teach at Howard over UNC-Chapel Hill Ms. Hannah-Jones went on “CBS This Morning” to announce her decision. She said, regarding the initial offer, “I accepted it.” As for why she was denied tenure: “It’s pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoint, and, I believe, my race and my gender.” Ms. Hannah-Jones’s hair was less orange than it was in the graduation gown picture.
This feature will not discuss whether she should have received tenure, or the reasons for this denial. These issues have been discussed, at obnoxious length, elsewhere. Nor will it discuss the shady behavior of the “Slanderous & nasty-minded mulattress.” (When researching this post, a copy was made of the NHJ twitter profile. It included “Knight Chair @unchussman.” The profile has since been updated. NHJ is known for “revising” her twitter account.)
The issue today is fulfilling your contractual obligations. Her legal team admits “Since signing the fixed-term contract, Ms. Hannah-Jones has …” The time to DEMAND tenure is before you sign a five year contract. Given the ethical issues with The 1619 Project, this should not be surprising. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. More #1619Gate episodes are available: 092229 052321 011922 012222 This is a repost. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025
Mental Illness
This content was originally published July 31, 2008. … I knew we were in for the strangest election ever when I saw this video. The Demos have a clear lead in the follies. The repubs still think it is 1952. This video is typical of the Gross Old Perverts. … On a more serious note, another disturbing trend has been spotted. Three Presidents in recent memory have had two daughters, one wife, and no sons. This is the combination achieved by BHO. It is one wife fewer than JSM. The other recent Presidents with two daughters were Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush.
This content was originally published July 26, 2008. … There is a fine mp3 site called The Aquarium Drunkard. Today he put up some selections from a man I saw once, Roy Buchanan. His name had the dread phrase “the late” in front of it. This is news to me, twenty years after the fact. It seems like August 14, 1988, his substance abuse issues got him locked up. A few hours later, he was found hanging by his shirt. … Mr. Buchanan opened for the Jefferson Starship at the Omni in 1976. He was a technical virtuoso, making sounds …
… I would look at New Yorker magazine at newstands. There is a list of cartoonists who had cartoons in that issue, in the order of appearance. I would look for Charles Addams, who drew the cartoons that were the basis for the Addams Family. He liked to say that he modeled Uncle Fester on himself. Sometime in the late eighties, I noticed that he no longer had cartoons in the magazine. I continued to look until about 1991, when I found a book about him. The reason I didn’t see cartoons anymore was that Mr. Addams died September 29, 1988.
This content was originally published July 24, 2008. … Cynthia McKinney … is running for president as the Green Party candidate. She is following in the footsteps of Zell “Zig Zag” Miller, who abandoned the Democratic Party to shill for Republicans. Miss McKinney has a reputation as a loose cannon. Her strong stand against the War in Babylon is most appealing. She is probably no more capable of dealing with the mess there than BHO or JSM. If you want to make a protest vote against the killing, she is your lady. Her vice presidential candidate is Rosa Clemente, a “hip hop activist”. …
… When questioned about the seamier aspects of hip hop culture, Miss McKinney replied that he was thinking about corporate hip hop. Cynthia Ann McKinney does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected. The most she can hope to do is siphon votes away from one of the two corporate candidates. To her credit, she seems to have a new hairdo. Gone is the Alfalfa looks, replaced by a more conservative appearance. As far as the hair issue goes, she is a clear winner over BHO and JSM. If you want to help Miss McKinney …
This content was originally published July 22, 2008. … Todays adventure in digitilogy started a couple of weeks ago. Word came in that Rush Limbaugh had signed a contract for $400 million. That kind of money will buy a lot of painkillers. I question whether Rush was a good investment for that sort of coinage. His popularity seems to have peaked about the time of the Gingrich revolution. At fourteen minutes and counting, someone thinks the last thirty seconds of his fame is worth nine digits of loot. … A technorati looksee yielded a few stories about Micheal Savage. …
… Mr. Savage is not from the south. His former last name is Wiener. And he is like a kid who shouts cuss words at dinner, and loves the attention that he gets. He outdid himself lately, talking about autism. ”I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.” …
… I can’t spill too many details, but I know a bit about mental illness. I have sat in on many “what can we do”conversations. There are a lot of unknowns, and perhaps some things could be handled better. But that does not excuse a man, who should know better, for trashing a lot of decent families. A blog posted a piece called ” “This is why Michael Savage is the most hated conservative in America.” And someone left this in the comment thread: ” cant believe no one believes in free speech anymore… all of you so called conservatives.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture: First Lieutenant Robert Charles Finley of Co. E, 74th Ohio Infantry Regiment
EarthtoDavid
This content was originally published June 18, 2008. … “Oil shale is the fuel of the future, and always will be,” goes a popular saying in Western Colorado. There is a lot of talk these days about oil. Many blame the cost of oil on the reluctance of The United States to drill in certain parts of our territory. This view is especially popular on talk radio. Many suspect radio talkers of being on the oil industry payroll. One of the sources of energy considered today is oil shale. This mineral is found in large quantities in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. …
… Extraction of petroleum from the shale is a mess. Essentially, you heat the rock until the oil comes out. The process uses a lot of water, and leaves a great deal of nasty cooked rock behind. There are some proposals to sink heating towers into the earth and cook the oil out in the ground. That sounds awfully complicated, expensive, and dangerous to this reporter. The extraction of oil from the earth is a messy matter. When you dig a hole several miles into the ground, lots of mud will come up and need to be disposed of. …
This content was originally published June 14, 2008. … One of the regular stops on this computer is EarthtoDavid. ETD is a country man living in Opelika, Alabama. Recently, he started a “fitness journal”. Now, there are two ways to see this sort of blogging. You can say it is narcissistic and ignore it. Or you can read and enjoy it. Both answers are correct. Part of this journal is the songs on his mp3 player while he walks. … As I commented: “I like to walk and bicycle. However, I do not own an mp3 player. I like to listen to …
… ETD was a big enough man not to be offended by that, and the next day : ” that is what I did. It was really nice to hear the raindrops falling on my umbrella as well as the tree frogs, birds chirping, fish jumping in the water out on the lake, some swimmers out in the water throwing frisbee and enjoying a light rainy evening and seeing the sun settle down behind a thick blanket of rain clouds.” Part of this journal is a picture of ETD, at the top of the post. I began to notice to telltale wire of the mp3 player. …
… I have a bit of history/baggage here. I worked for a long time across the room from an earplug listener. His desk was in front of my work station, so when I was doing my job, I was looking at him. He looked like an idiot with that reverse colostomy bag hooked up to him. There is a lot more to this story…he was an vocally abusive Christian …but seeing hundreds of hours of him listening to his preaching tapes was the icing on the cake.” Life is a matter of personal connections. You connect things to people in your life.
This content was originally published June 11, 2008. … I had assumed that JSM was assured of Georgia’s electoral votes. But looking at these stats from CL, I begin to wonder: Amount Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign has raised in Georgia: $1,305,275, Amount Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has raised in Georgia: $2,458,219, Number of votes Obama received in 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary: 704,247, Number of votes McCain received in 2008 Georgia Republican Presidential Primary: 304,751, Number of votes Sen. John Kerry received in 2004 Georgia Democratic Presidential Primary: 293,265
… There is also the BHO charisma. The dude is a rock star. He has people fired up in a way that JSM can only dream about. … Black voters are a big part of the electorate in Georgia. This block should go overwhelmingly to BHO. Lets assume that a million votes are cast in Georgia. If 30% are black, and they all go for BHO (this is not reality, just pre summer speculation), then that leaves 70% of the population. BHO would only need 200K votes, or 28%, of the non black community. …
… JSM appeared on the Today show this morning. He said we need to be concerned about greenhouse gases, which causes apoplexy in Red America. There was talk about Nuclear Power, which is expensive, and requires intense Government Regulation. There was talk about high gas prices, but no one connects the dots to the weak dollar and deficit spending in Babylon. Oh, and the surge is working. Happy talk in the press is part of the surge strategy. JSM has a more likable personality that BHO. JSM appeared on the Glenn Beck show a few weeks ago, and the first thing he did was call Beck a jerk. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken August 17, 1955. “Phillips 66, Bankhead and Hightower” This is what 2656 Donald Lee Hollowell Pkwy looks like today. · selah
Al-Aqsa Flood
This is a repost from May, 2024. The Israel story keeps getting worse, in practically every way. … I knew two things after Al-Aqsa Flood. One, Israel would exponentially retaliate, and alienate much of the world. Two, there were going to some some incredibly toxic discussions about the matter. This feature is going to focus on number two.
If you listen to the conversations about the war, you will hear a lot of misused logic. Distraction, derailment, false equivalence, two-wrongs-that-make-a-right, forgotten details, and outright lies. You are either on one side or another, and proceed accordingly. FWIW, I am on team Palestine.
There is an easy test. Do they say Hamas, or do they say Palestinian? Hamas is the boogeyman of today’s rhetoric, and anything less than total demonization is considered support. The fact that thousands of unarmed Palestinians have died is a pesky detail.
One thing I did not know on October 7 was the role the IDF played. Many of the Israelis who died were killed by their own army. This fact is often overlooked in angry sermons about AAF.
I also did not know that Israel created, and supported Hamas. Before AAF, Hamas was seen as a way to degrade the Palestinian Authority, and keep Palestinians divided. The ultimate goal was to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. This is part of Israel’s longtime strategy of interfering in the internal affairs of her neighbors, for Israel’s benefit.
In 1987, I had a workplace frenemy. Steve was the son of Holocaust survivors, and a staunch supporter of Israel. I mentioned that the Iran-Iraq war was being kept going, to distract the combatants from fighting Israel. Steve got very angry. “Yes, and it’s for your benefit. We need to fight terrorism.” This policy was also seen in the Syrian civil war.
This feature will be brief. If the reader wants to know more, Google is at your service. A question could be raised about how neutral Google is in this conflict. There are numerous other commentaries. Let the buyer beware. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the facebook photograph in March 1939. “Negro boy drinking “milk” made of flour and water. He was sick and his mother, the wife of a sharecropper, had given him this as a delicacy. Near Marshall, Texas”
New Law About Voting
This is a repost from 2022. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act failed to pass after a Senate fillibuster. … Democrats have proposed a new law about voting access. Grandpa Brandon thinks denouncing “voter suppression” is the way to build support. Unfortunately, the debate has centered around toxic, race-pandering rhetoric. Almost nobody says what the proposed new law would do. A bit of googling turned up a document from Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. If you get tired of the chamblee54 version, you can go to the original source. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.”
Most of the proposals are the federal government telling states how to run elections. The IANAL masses wonder if this is constitutional. Another feature of this bill is that the instructions are given to the states. In Georgia, the elections are mostly run by the counties. This did not stop Democrats, or Donald J. Trump, from blaming the Secretary of State for inconvenient election results.
Lets take a look at some of the specific proposals. With regards to early voting, the bill requires the states to offer early voting for a specified time period. No-excuse absentee ballots are subject to a national standard, along with other regulations concerning mail-in voting.
Election Day holiday: “The bill would make Election Day a legal public holiday…” This sounds good in theory, but may be troublesome to many employers. One thing that might help here is to move ED to Monday. Voting on Tuesday is a holdover from days when farmers went to the county seat on a horse. Voting on Monday would make things a bit simpler.
“Voter validation: The bill would promote a national standard for states that have an identification requirement for in-person voting, allowing for the use of a wide range of forms of identification (including electronic copies) and alternative options for voter validation. States that do not impose an identification requirement would not be required to have one.” Voter ID is widely denounced as being racist. If this passage is any indication, Voter ID is here to stay. (In the controversy over Georgia’s SB202, the ID requirement was widely seen as a feature of Jim Crow on steroids. It turns out that SB202 calls for the voter writing their driver’s license/ID number on an absentee ballot application.)
“Cracking down on deceptive and intimidating practices: … It would also establish federal criminal penalties for deceiving voters…” If it was a federal crime to deceive voters, every politician in America would be in prison.
“Voting rights restoration: The bill restores federal voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens upon their release … removing the vestiges of restrictions born out of Jim Crow.” Kentucky had a law disenfranchising felons in 1792. This was a hundred years before the Jim Crow laws were passed. There are arguments to be made on both sides of this issue. It should not be addressed with misleading racial arguments.
“Countering long lines and related discriminatory practices: The bill creates protections for individuals subjected to excessive lines on Election Day — most often Black and Latino voters — by requiring states to ensure that lines last no longer than 30 minutes …” This is more gratuitous race baiting. While the idea of lines less than 30 minutes is appealing, one wonders exactly how the feds are going to enforce this requirement. Also, since the elections are usually administered by the counties, what are the states supposed to do?
“Requiring paper records and other election infrastructure improvements: The bill requires states to replace old, paperless electronic voting machines with voting systems that provide voter-verified paper records and provides grants for states to purchase more secure voting systems.” Georgia is going to a system with a backup paper ballot. When you cast your vote, a laser printer prints out a sheet of paper with your vote, represented by a QR code. This paper is then fed through a roller into a receptacle. To this uninformed voter, that seems like a lot of moving parts. While the new system MIGHT work in a high volume election, there is a high potential for screw ups. These are Georgia elections we are talking about here.
There are sections of the bill devoted to Campaign Finance Reform, and Gerrymandering. You can look at the Brennan Center document for more information. While the new bill has good intentions, the suspicion here is that the proposals will make things worse. God is in the details.
“The bill would require strong, uniform rules for congressional redistricting, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering and strengthened protections for communities of color.” Gerrymandering is like the weather … everyone has opinions, but relatively few know what they are talking about. If you create a black district, then the districts surrounding it are going to get whiter. If you tinker with the districts to favor one group, another group is going to be unfairly affected. The bill has good intentions, that might not be well thought out. God is in the details.
“Automatic voter registration: The bill would make automatic voter registration (AVR), which 19 states and the District of Columbia have already adopted, the national standard.” In Georgia, when you get a drivers license, you are automatically registered to vote. This eliminates any of the “exact match” issues that Democrats made so much noise about in 2018. The DMV is an exact match operation. Also, paperwork at the DMV is typed. Illegible paper applications were a major reason that registration applications were thrown out in previous elections. Illegible applications were also a problem with the New Georgia Project, a voting registration program directed by Stacey Abrams.
“Same day voter registration: The bill requires states to offer same day voter registration … SDR permits eligible voters to register to vote and cast a ballot in federal elections on the same day.” The sense here is that this is not a good idea. What happens when you move, and want to vote in another precinct? Will your old registration be cancelled? How do the states/counties keep up with all this? Is there a national database, that tells Georgia to cancel your Atlanta registration because you have moved to Alabama? And how are we going to process all of this while people are waiting in line behind you to vote? Once again, SDR might be a good idea, but there are a lot of details to work out.
“Protections against unlawful voter purges: The bill provides safeguards to prevent unlawful, faulty, error-prone methods for purging voter rolls … Further, states would be required to notify within 48 hours any individual removed from the list of eligible voters of their removal, the reasons for their removal, and how they can contest the removal.” In 2018, before voters were removed from the rolls, they were sent a post-card, and asked to reply. If they did not reply, they were removed. Now, if the state could not get in touch with them before, how are they going to reach these voters now? The feds do not always think these things through.
The Problem With Greg Palast Part Two
“Until a couple of days ago I hadn’t heard of Greg Palast in years … Having now forced myself to look at his pernicious writing, it seems like the deranged ramblings you might expect to find pushed out from under the door of a locked ward. … Crawl back under your rock, Mr Palast!”
It all started on the way to Picadilly cafeteria. My Sunday Dinner Buddy saw a youtube video. Thom Hartman told of voter suppression in the 2024, primarily against voters of color. If these people had been allowed to vote, there is no doubt that Kamala Harris would have won. It sounded fishy to me, but I made a mental note to check it out later.
When I got home, I did a youtube search for Thom Hartman. A video came up, “DID TRUMP LOSE? Shocking Proof Trump Rigged 2024 Election w/ Greg Palast.” When I saw that Mr. Palast was the source, I knew this was nonsense.
In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost to Brian Kemp in the race for Governor. Voter Suppression was her main issue. After Stacey’s non-concession, the devil Greg Palast went down to Georgia. The claims Mr. Palast make now are similar to the claims he made in 2018. The Palast style … the hyperbole laced text, the high octane personality, the nasty hat … is just as obnoxious today as it was six years ago.
I sent SDB a text. “I looked for t.hartman … greg palast said same thing about stacey … he is full of shit” I included a link to the text report. SDB replied, asking if I had read the report.
“TRUMP LOST. Vote Suppression Won. Here are the numbers from investigative reporter Greg Palast…” is the text report. I noticed right away that there are no links to support the claims. You have to take Greg Palast at his word. That is a red flag right there. If your claims are legitimate, you should have the receipts. Greg Palast does not have the receipts.
“4,776,706 voters were wrongly purged from voter rolls according to US Elections Assistance Commission data.” This is the central claim to this narrative. If you go to EAC.gov you see that it appears to be devoted to helping elections run smoothly. A quick look at the site does not show any data. Distributing data about voter suppression does not appear to be the job of EAC. Of course, Mr. Palast did not supply a link to support his assertion.
“There are also the uncountable effects of the explosive growth of voter intimidation tactics including the bomb threats that closed 31 polling stations in Atlanta on Election Day.” This is a bit easier to investigate. “Voting hours were extended at multiple locations in Georgia’s Fulton County and DeKalb County after hoax bomb threats that officials tied to Russian sources. … Fulton County officials said that 32 bomb threats via phone and email targeted polling locations in the county, while DeKalb police said they checked six polling locations for bombs. The polling locations were all cleared and no bombs were found. Voting re-opened and hours were extended in both counties.”
The Palast report made numerous claims, none of which were backed up with links. There were some mumbo-jumbo calculations, and claims of how many votes were suppressed, and how many of them would have voted for Kamala. The claim was made repeatedly that this suppression was racially motivated. This race baiting impresses many “progressives.”
Ultimately, the individual has to make up their own mind what to think. It is feasible that there was some electoral malfeasance, and that some of the claims are correct. It is also possible that someone is paying Greg Palast to make these claims. Since the election is certified, and the winner installed in office, these tales of a stolen election are conjecture. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in July 1941. “Putting samples of wheat into sack of central sampling office. Walla Walla, Washington.”
Bernienomics
This is a repost from 2016. The national debt is now $36.2t. … @BernieSanders “I got into politics not to figure out how to become President. I got into politics because I give a damn.” The old tweeter sent this message December 11, 2015, at 4:42 pm Sanders Standard Time. At last glance, it was retweeted 25,901 times, and liked 44,263 times.
What exactly is a damn? When you give one, do you gift wrap it? The dictionary says that damn is a verb, meaning “condemn to a punishment or fate; especially : to condemn to hell.” Giving a verb is not good grammar. Damn is considered a mild profanity, which adds polemic punch.
History gives us a second opinion. “In 1665, Aurangzeb, or Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Mohammad Aurangzeb. (A real mouthful of a name!) was the emperor of the Mughal empire. He ruled from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzeb had coins minted in precious metals as well as copper. The copper denominations were one Dam and one half Dam.”
At some point after the invention of the copper dam, Great Britain conquered the Mughal empire. By this time, the dam was worth twice as much as a half dam. According to some unverified sources, British soldiers would say that something was not worth a dam. Some said they would not give a dam. The profaning n was added, and a saying for apathy entered the english language.
How much is a dam/damn worth? To people living downhill from the lake, a dam is valuable. As for the numismatic value of an ancient copper coin: “By looking at both catalog values for copper Dams minted in the Mughal calendar year of 1075 (Western date 1665) … we can provide the following very approximate values for copper half-Dams and Dams minted in the name of Aurangzeb: worn: $4, average circulated: $7, well preserved: $30.”
Getting back to BS, he probably used the conventional meaning of GAD, which is that he cares. Or maybe, he meant that he gives a dollar. If current economic trends hold up, the dollar might not be worth a dam. The welfare state proposals of BS, according to the admittedly biased Wall Street Journal, would cost $18 Trillion. This would effectively double the national debt. If we get mixed up in another war, or if a nuclear power plant blows up, another few trillion might go down the tubes.
Only the most deluded Bernoids expect college tuition to be free in 2018. BS is talking a good game, but most people know his pants are on fire. One person who is offended because BS won’t step up the lies is Ta-Nehisi Coates. If reparations are added onto free college tuition, then the value of the dollar might go below a half dam.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured image is Dr. Edmund Lewis Massie of Trans-Mississippi Department, Medical Staff Confederate States Infantry Regiment. Charles R. Rees was the photographer. Notations on manuscript behind photo in case: “Doctor E.L. Massie, Surgeon on Genl, A. Pike’s staff, C.S. Army 1862, affiliated with Genls Van Corn & Hindman, Trans Miss Dept.”
Where It Starts
This is a repost from January 9, 2021. This was three days after the January 6 incident. In thirteen days, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated. This election was not contested. … I had never heard of Stacey Abrams. She was a little known legislator, running for Governor. Then there was a controversy about the DSA. They promoted the disruption of a campaign event. A band of ladies started to shout down Stacey Evans, the other person in the Democratic primary.
Miss Abrams supported shouting down her opponent. “I do not believe that you silence those who feel they are voiceless, because the minute we do that we are no better than those who tell people they can’t kneel in protest.” The DSA is a lot of things, but it is not voiceless. They make a lot of noise.
As we all know, Miss Abrams nearly got elected Governor. She ran on a curious platform. Her main issue was claiming that the Republicans engaged in something called “voter suppression.” Miss Abrams famously not-conceded the election. It became an article of faith in Georgia that the election was stolen from her.
A few days after the election, there was a protest rally inside the State Capitol. Such events are forbidden, by law, inside the Capitol. During this event, a state legislator, Nikema Williams, got herself arrested. Stacey Abrams supports the illegal protest rally. In 2020, Nikema Williams was elected to Congress.
We all know what happened Wednesday. Donald Trump lost the election. He claimed the election was stolen from him. He spoke to a rally of angry supporters. The mob proceeded to invade the U.S. Capitol. Much damage was done, both to the Capitol, and what remains of Mr. Trump’s reputation.
There is no obvious connection between the rhetoric of Stacey Abrams, and Donald Trump. Mr. Trump probably would not have been done anything different, if Stacey Abrams had not led the way. This are both examples of what happens when an irresponsible politicians encourage bad behavior from the mob. When you lose an election, you should concede defeat, and move on. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The men are Union soldiers from the War Between the States.
Rachel Maddow On Gaza
This is a repost from 2023. Donald Trump survived nine years of hate speech from Rachel Maddow to win a decisive victory in the November election. The carnage in Gaza continues, and has spread to Lebanon and Syria. MSNBC is not doing well. … Rachel Anne Maddow is the personification of so much that is wrong about american media. Her polemic pushing is entertaining to millions of people. She does for the left what the blowdrys at Fox do for the right. It is the information equivalent of eating all your meals at Burger King.
UN calls Gaza destruction by Israel ‘tragedy of colossal proportions’ This feature will not look at the Palestinian horror from a perspective of Team Israel or Team Gaza. Instead, we will consider what Rachel Maddow, a media actor trusted by millions, says about the war in Gaza.
I am cable challenged, and do not watch MSNBC. Youtube is little help. I have decided to go to facebook, where The Rachel Maddow Show posts several times a day. I scrolled back to December 12, and did not see one comment about Gaza.
@maddow is not especially active on twitter these days. If you go back to November 4, she retweets a video of Barack Obama. To his credit, Barry uses the word listen, although not as much as talk. Most of Barry’s remarks were about the complexity of the Gaza story. This is similar to Donald Trump saying there are “very fine people, on both sides.”
RAM is also on Instagram, where she posts mostly head shots. It is tough to quickly tell what she is talking about. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
UPDATE I stumbled onto a quote from RAM about Gaza. “you can’t say, it doesn’t matter what the truth is here” The quote is from October 17, “Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace react to the latest developments out of Gaza after the bombing of a hospital which has left hundreds dead.” 50 seconds after RAM says truth, Nicolle Wallace says “we … does not include Hamas terrorists. They don’t care what the truth is. … Hamas will use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Its what they do.”
Did The KKK Endorse Donald Trump?
This is a repost from 2016. That year, The Washington Post ran the story described below. Many people saw corporate media as having an obligation to promote the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. This year, WAPO chose not to endorse any candidate. This angered many people. Compared to how WAPO conducted itself in 2016, not endorsing a candidate might be the best alternative.
In the last days of the 2016 election, people began to say that Donald John Trump was endorsed by the KKK. @DefiantLionUK Don’t forget President-elect Donald #Trump is a hate-filled, #KKK endorsed, #racist & that simply can’t be tolerated #TrumpProtest. @Eti_Verde Vote! American democracy in action! Stop Trump & his white nationalist KKKlan!
The consensus was that DJT was endorsed by the KKK, and that DJT is a racist. Therefore, if you support DJT, you support the KKK, and you are a racist. There is a name for this type of logical fallacy. The net result was the election of DJT.
It is tough to say how much impact this KKK talk had on the election. By November 8, America had been hit over the head with political talk for two years. The various factions tend to live in echo chambers, where they only hear information that reinforces what they already think. People say what sounds good to them. If someone does not agree, then they are a racist. People seem to assume that their neighbor will agree with them, if only you insult them enough.
Google “kkk endorses donald trump.” The top result is in the Washington Post, KKK’s official newspaper supports Donald Trump for president. “It is called the Crusader — and it is one of the most prominent newspapers of the Ku Klux Klan. Under the banner “Make America Great Again,” the entire front page of the paper’s current issue is devoted to a lengthy defense of Trump’s message — an embrace some have labeled a de facto endorsement.”
There is no link to the endorsement. If you google the Crusader, you find this. The Crusader is a tacky little newspaper, headquartered in Harrison, Arkansas. It is “The official Newspaper of The Knights Party.” You get “4 Big Quarterly Issues” for $20. “The Charge on your Credit Card Statement will show up as Christian Books and Things.” … If you google Knights Party, you will see a lot of links to ADL, SPLC, and FBI. If you are willing to scroll a bit on duckduckgo, you can see information about the Knights Party. It is not known if this is the same group that published “The Crusader,” or if this newspaper is published in 2024.
The truth is that the Ku Klux Klan is an obsolete movement. There are a few dozen chapters, who often do not get along. The hand wringing by “liberals” empowers the Klan. If people would ignore the Klan, they would go away. The Chinese bed sheet manufacturers will miss them.
“The KKK is split into many smaller subdivisions, explained (KKK Imperial Wizard Frank) Ancona, and often times, banished members of a larger branch will attempt to start their own. Ancona believes this is the case with Murray, who is not even known to the Traditionalist American Knights. “He basically made up his own name,” Ancona said, explaining that Murray may not even be on his birth certificate…. Half of them don’t have the rituals for our ceremonies.” Frank Ancona died in 2017.
Despite it’s fierce reputation as a “racist terrorist” organization, the KKK is in bad shape. It has less credibility than the Westboro Baptist Church. The custom of wearing bedsheets makes them the easy target for jokes. The ADL and SPLC say the membership of the KKK is dwindling.
A good argument could be made that anonymous publicity is helping the KKK. It makes bed sheets look dangerous. While the three digital stooges of twitter/facebook/tiktok are focused on bed sheets, more dangerous white (and other color) hate groups are operating in darkness. With people fascinated with who is under the bed sheets, people that can do damage are buying ammunition, buying elections, and committing genocide in West Asia.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men were Union soldiers, in the War Between the States. They did not post on facebook.
Your Racism
This is a repost from 2014, and the Mike Brown case. … Last night, in anticipation of the Grand Jury presentation, chamblee54 published Freedom Lies Bleeding. “grand jury renders opinion ~ national hissy fit begin again ~ when justice is popularity contest ~ freedom lies bleeding in street”
There was a comment. Anonymous said, on November 25, 2014 at 2:28 pm (Edit) “Thanks Luthor… you’re racism never disappoints!” The name was misspelled.
There is both style, and substance, to consider here. Is Freedom Lies Bleeding racist? Who knows? The definition of racism is growing, in carcinogenic fashion, as we speak. Some say it is systemic institutions of oppression. Some say it is jokes about toothpaste flavor. Maybe the best definition is that racism is anything that you do not like.
The poem was directed at the concept of mob rule. As President Obama said, “We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we have to accept this decision was the grand jury’s to make.”
A few years ago, O.J. Simpson was accused of murder. Many people thought he was guilty. After a long trial, he was found innocent. Should popular opinion have overruled the jury? No, it should not. The jury saw the evidence, and heard the arguments. The people can protest and debate, but they cannot take the place of a jury.
Is a dependence on a system of law and order racism? Anonymous seems to think so. Is they qualified to make this judgment? If racism is anything that you don’t like, then Anonymous is qualified to make the call. Maybe they knows something we don’t.
There is the style of the comment to consider. While Anonymous did not give their name, there was an I.P. address. The IPA is connected to a .edu server. Apparently, this is a workplace computer. Leaving insulting comments from your employer’s computer does not reflect well on the institution.
Anonymous is entitled to an opinion. However, leaving a name calling comment does not speak well for this individual. The six words say more about Anonymous than they do chamblee54. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Chamblee54 
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