Chamblee54

Q: What does “Jimmy crack corn” mean, and why does he not care?—Matt, Columbus, Ohio
PG was trolling stupidquestion.net when there was a convergence of stupidity. (The site does not exist in 2012.) All his life he had heard “Blue Tail Fly”, and been embarrassed. And there, in (pardon the expression) black and white, was someone who wondered the same thing.
It seems as though “Blue Tail Fly” started out as a minstrel song. For those who don’t know, minstrel shows were white people putting on black makeup, and imitating African Americans. Minstrelsy is not well thought of these days.
The story of BTF involves a slave named Jim. A fly bit the pony the old massa was riding, the pony was offended, and threw the old massa off. He was hurt landing, and died. Jim still has to crack corn, but he doesn’t care anymore, because old massa has gone away.
Dave Barry took a poll once to find out the stupidest song of all time. The overwhelming winner/loser was “MacArthur Park”. The combination of over the top show stopping, while singing about a cake left out in the rain, makes this ditty a duh classic.
In the spirit of corny convergence, the video is a karaoke version featuring Donna Summer . Miss Summer is a talented singer, who happened to connect with Giorgio Moroder. Lots of singers could have hit the big time by fronting those records. Donna Summer hit the jackpot.
For a proper post, there needs to be a third stupid song. This is not about stupid bands, singing about being D U M B. Even though they totally don’t belong, there is a video of the Ramones included. PG saw the Ramones at the Agora Ballroom in 1983. This was after their prime, and before a homeless man caught the Ballroom on fire.
We still need a third stupid song, and PG wants to get this posted with as little research as possible. Just like some writer was once given twenty minutes to write a song, and he decided to do the worst song he could think of. The result was “Wild Thing”. PG used to have a 45 of someone who sounded like Bobby Kennedy singing “Wild Thing”. This video (of the Troggs performing “Wild Thing”) has the late Casey Kasem, and Portuguese subtitles. Let the good times roll.
These four hundred and twenty hastily chosen words are a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This was downtown Atlanta in 1941.

The facebook comment started with “Christ had so little regard for … ” PG gave into the temptation to comment. “Are you talking about Jesus? Not everyone agrees that he was the Christ.” The internet showed mercy, and only one stranger replied. “I think the bigger picture is being overlooked for semantics here… ” Talking, in or out of vain, is a big deal here.
People like to express opinions about the teaching of Jesus. The source of 99% of these thoughts is the bible. It is a fundamental belief that “the bible is the word of G-d.” PG has disagreed with this notion for a long time. This is not the same as not believing in the existence of G-d.
PG started to type a facebook reply, and then thought better of it. Sunday afternoons are a gift, even if they are uncomfortably hot. It is too fine a day to argue religion on the internet. Before he stopped, one thought did occur to him. If the bible is the word of G-d, then maybe Jehovah is the G-d of word. If you saw a mushroom cloud rising over Brookhaven …
Christianism is a religion of beliefs, rather than practices. The idea of getting people to agree with these beliefs is key to the Jesus experience. Many of these beliefs are noted in the bible. It is as if people make a G-d out of a book. When these high powered thoughts are expressed, then the semantics can get overwhelming.
As for the teaching of Jesus, all we know is what the Council of Nicea chose to tell us. We don’t have very much. What we do have is conveniently selected to fit the agenda of the speaker. What someone says about Jesus tells us more about that person than it does about Jesus. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.

The prefix cis- is being used to mean the opposite of trans. This is a gender thing. A cismale is a man who uses the factory equipment. A transman is someone who does things differently. There are various forms of this, which is a bit too complicated for social media discussion. Fecesbook Facebook, famously fallacy friendly, is not a good medium for subtle discussion. This is a repost.
Before we get started, it should be noted that cis- serves a valid purpose. The only objection here is to the word itself. It has a weird sound, and can be confusing. Perhaps an alternative would be to say birth gender. If you are were born male, and live in compliance with the gender assigned at birth, then you are a birth male, as opposed to a trans male.
Today’s drama started out with a post by Kat Blaque. Mx. Blaque is self described as “Illustration, Animator, Youtuber” on twitter, and “Children’s Illustrator, Thrift Store Addict and Opinion Vlogger” on facebook. The comment: “People who don’t like the word “cis” are annoying because they pretend it’s made up when it’s a prefix commonly used in science. but whatever. Ya’ll some children.”
Luther Mckinnon This comment is transplaining. I don’t like cis- because the s sound is tough to make for many people. Also, cis- sounds like cissy. Kat Blaque Butch up mary.
There were comments. Most of them had to do with “sounds like cissy.” The objection is not because of “emasculation.” The simple truth is that a cissy (or sissy) is a man who does not conform to gender standards. In other words, he does not act like a man. A cismale is someone who does conform to gender standards. Cissy sounds a lot like cismale, and yet they mean dramatically different things.
The language g-ds have spoken. The opposite of trans- is cis-. Any man who does not conform to this language standard is less of a man than one who does. To have standards of masculinity applied to using a prefix denoting the opposite of trans…this is weird.
Luther Mckinnon So, we make a difference this time. The business of using the cis prefix if fairly new. We can get into ableism issues here if you like. It is interesting that I made the comment about the s sound first. The part about similarity to cissy was second. The first comment was ignored. The incidental second comment was jumped on by the “woke”masses. There is also a bit of confusion here. A cissy is basically a non gender conforming male. Cis- means conforming to the gender assigned at birth. I see a contradiction there. Kat BlaqueI have a lisp and I can say cis just find. Butch up. Samantha Nicholson I like “cis” it sounds very scientific and using it makes me sound smart! “Prefix commonly used in science.” This is news to a lot of people, with the possible exception of the Cisco Kid. Crosswordsolver.org has a list of words starting in cis. One familiar item is cistern, the opposite of a dry garden. Other commonly used words include cisalpine, cislunar, cismontane, Cissoid, Cistothorus, Cistothorus palustris, and Cistus ladanum.
One more person made a comment. Cianán Russell Luther, sit down. Seriously. I know you- SIT DOWN. Luther Mckinnon Who? This post has gone on long enough. It is time for the pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.

There is an old saying: what goes around comes around. When you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. The toes you step on today are connected to the ass you kiss tomorrow. My karma ran over your dogma. OK, so there is more than one saying. The bottom line is, when your government messes with another country, there is going to be an invoice from the bank of retribution. The balance due is usually much larger than the principal.
In the region of the planet designated Afghanistan, there is no good place to get started. This country had the misfortune to be across the border from the Soviet Union. Thirty one years ago, the commies were the evil empire, that must be destroyed at all costs. These accounts are just now coming due, with interest attached. This is a repost.
The passage below was originally posted in tomdispatch. This is a fine facility , that deserves your readership and $upport.
It should by now be generally accepted that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve 1979 was deliberately provoked by the United States. In his memoir published in 1996, the former CIA director Robert Gates made it clear that the American intelligence services began to aid the mujahidin guerrillas not after the Soviet invasion, but six months before it. In an interview two years later with Le Nouvel Observateur, President Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski proudly confirmed Gates’ assertion.
Brzezinski: “According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the mujahidin began during 1980, that’s to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan. But the reality, kept secret until now, is completely different: on 3 July 1979 President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And on the same day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained that in my opinion this aid would lead to a Soviet military intervention.”
Nouvel Observateur asked whether he in any way regretted these actions. Brzezinski: “Regret what? The secret operation was an excellent idea. It drew the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? On the day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, saying, in essence: ‘We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War.'”
Nouvel Observateur: “And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?” Brzezinski: “What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”
On September 11, 2001, the United States was lured into the Afghan trap. Osama Bin Ladin does not regret it. The women and children dying in Pakistan might have a different opinion. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.

Episode 35741 of bloggingheads.tv is another edition of the two black guys, @JohnHMcWhorter and @GlennLoury. They had plenty to talk about. PG has been burned out on racial discussions, and kept turning it off and on. Finally, at the 43 minute mark, PG realized that it was just fifteen minutes to go. He might as well listen to the rest of the show.
At 46:11, there was something to listen to. Dr. McWhorter had been talking about the eulogy BHO gave at the funeral of Rev. Clementa Pickney. The message was set in the rhythyms of the black church. It was very well received.
BHO was raised by white people. He lived in Hawaii and Indonesia. BHO attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School. When BHO came to Chicago, and began a political career, it was suggested that he find a church. This church affiliation is essential to an identity as a black politician. The act of speaking, in a black church, in the manner of a black minister, is something that BHO learned as an adult.
Rachel Dolezal was discussed on the show. Here is a white woman, who presented herself as black. After a while, she was roundly criticized for doing so. It was said that she has not suffered the hardships, and oppression, that comes with being black. Therefore, this light skinned woman is the object of derision for claiming to be black.
BHO was raised by white people in Hawaii and Indonesia. Arguably, he has suffered little, if any, of the oppression that most black people face. He chose to attend a black church, in part, because he wanted a political base. And yet, this half white man with dark skin is routinely accepted as a black man. Racial labeling, like beauty, is skin deep.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

It seemed like a good idea. Whenever a word, phrase, or idea catches my eye, write it down. When the time comes, write a post about it. Copy the list into your weekly notes. The only trouble is, there was never a good time to write about them, and the same list was copied over and over. Maybe if I write about them now, they will go away. The delete key is for quitters.
Broflake “Straight white male offended by any feminist or ethnic activity which is not directly designed for him.” We will say BF for short. He is frequently a white savior. BF is seriously concerned about the plight of the POC. BF also thinks POC are helpless, and need BF to woke up for them. If BF’s PWOC neighbor gets caught in the crossfire, it is just too bad.
This appeared in a retributive regression of google synchronicity. Ann Althouse, the peroxide enabled BHTV performer, has declared: Urban Dictionary Word of the Day: Broflake. Did I just now realize that BF is a play on snowflake? Writing before coffee, or covfefe, is a gamble.
The Althouse commentariat is jumping on this one. Laslo Spatula Fauxflake: someone who goes along with the pieties of the SJWs simply to avoid social ostracism. ~ Hoflake: a promiscuous SJW. Alternately: someone who hangs out with SJWs in the hopes of getting laid. ~ Eleanor “Snowflake” predates 2017 by at least 30 years. Teachers used it to describe bright students who melted under pressure. It wasn’t necessarily derogatory. There are some kids who do very well when they can use concrete thinking in the lower grades, but find the transition to more analytically thinking difficult. They lose their position at the top of the class- at least for awhile. They “melt”
Four items on the *fuckit list* are going to be quickly disposed of. (1) Poem about America This will follow in the footsteps of Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Simon, and numerous others. A compendium of contradictions, these works try to get to the inconvenient core of the lower forty eight. Mr. Ginsberg’s n-word inclusive poem sparked a facebook controversy in 2014.
Add ten to forty eight, and you get (2) fifty eight genders. The list is a depository of duplication, featuring an assortment of asterisks. (3) Bob Beckel is some turkey who used to work for Fox News. (4) Is DJT a communist? Who is paying the best today?
Ablaut Reduplication is a twenty dollar word with a ten cent illustration. “… reduplication is the expressive repetition of a single word, or the pairing of a word with another of similar sound or spelling. … Ablaut reduplication pairs words with internal vowel alternations.” How can dilly dally, heebie jeebie, and riff raff, be described by something as uppity as abaut replication?
Excrescence sounds funny, but is gross by definition. ” An abnormal outgrowth as, for example, a wart.” The first part sounds like excretion, or the elimination of body waste… a sure fire crowd pleaser. Especially when your target audience is facebook enemies, and twitter titters.
When I was printing construction documents, a popular item was sewers. These plans are full of funny sounding phrases. Scum baffle. Sludge lagoon. Blower building. One afternoon, there was an archival drawing, with a detail note: should be made with a non-putrescible material.
Eskimo Brother does not take much imagination. “When two males acknowledge having been intimate with the same female and remain on good terms, the men are now bonded by having shared the same igloo at one time or another.” As with so many fun expressions, some *snowflakes* don’t like it. What Does “Eskimo Brothers” Mean? Here’s Why We Need To Stop Using The Offensive Slang Term. “Why? Because it’s intensely problematic.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Balboa Beach Bathing Beauty Parade, 1925 Notes: J278572 U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright deposit; M. F. Weaver; September 14, 1925, Copyright claimant’s address: L[os] A[ngeles], No. 4100-2. May be a fashion parade. Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. No renewal found in Copyright Office.

As you may have heard, a jury acquitted Jeronimo Yanez of charges related to the death of Philando Castile. Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Mr. Castile, made a dramatic facebook video immediately after the shooting. There has been outrage on social media regarding the verdict.
PG is not a lawyer, nor did he sit on the jury of this trial. Justice is not a popularity contest, determined by who is shouting the loudest outside the courtroom. PG wanted to learn a bit about the trial, and why the jury came to the decision it did. This post is about that trial.
No opinion will be given as to the guilt, or innocence, of Jeronimo Yanez. The decision of the jury should be respected. They heard the evidence and arguments. The jury deliberated for 29 hours. At one point, the jury appeared to be deadlocked, with 10 jurors wanting acquittal, and 2 wanting to convict. Sources report that the holdout jurors were white. The final jury was 10 white jurors, and 2 black jurors.
Minnesota Public Radio has a series of podcasts, 74 Seconds: The death of Philando Castile and the trial of Jeronimo Yanez. These shows provide more information than facebook posts. Here are a few key episodes: Trial, Day 5: The dashcam and Diamond Reynolds, An update on the trial of Jeronimo Yanez, Trial, Day 6: Yanez’s partner testifies, Trial, Day 8: The prosecution rests, the defense begins, Trial, Day 9: Jeronimo Yanez takes the stand.
Officer Yanez says that he saw a gun in Mr. Castile’s hand. The people who handled the body disagree on how far down in Mr. Castile’s pocket the weapon was. Miss Reynolds says, at various times, that Mr. Castile was reaching for his driver’s license, and unbuckling the seat belt. Neither the facebook video, or the squad car dashboard video, gives any information on these points.
The dashboard video was shown in the opening statement by the prosecution. This video was shown again several times during the trial. The prosecution felt this helped their case, or they would not have shown it. In PG’s IANAL opinion, showing this video repeatedly may have been a strategic mistake.
The defendant does not have to testify. In many cases, the defendant does not. Officer Yanez testified in this case. He told his story… he saw Mr. Castile with a gun in his hand, and made the split second decision to fire. Officer Yanez was the man who had to make a decision, fast.
Officer Yanez gave an interview to investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) after the shooting. “Prosecutors told jurors at trial that Yanez used “it” several times instead of “gun” or “firearm” in the interview recorded the day after the shooting, proof that he never saw Castile’s gun. But prosecutors didn’t play the audio recording during their three-day case, which is the common practice. They tried unsuccessfully to play it during the defense’s case in an attempt to catch Yanez contradicting himself. Leary (Ramsey County District Judge William H. Leary III) denied the move.”
This post is not a comprehensive review of all the issues in this trial. Many of the issues… marijuana use, gun permits, racial identities … are explored in great detail in other locations. The podcast linked to above goes into great detail, and makes an effort to be fair to all parties. Angry opinions, and incendiary rhetoric, are widely available. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.