Chamblee54

This content was published August 29, 2020. … “Good evening everyone, my name is Nick Sandmann, and I’m the teenager who was defamed by the media after an encounter with a group of protesters on the steps of the Lincoln memorial last year.” Mr. Sandmann made a video for the Republican National Convention. Mr. Sandmann cleans up nicely, and can read a script. The chicken-hawk branch of the Grand Old Party was charmed.
Covington Catholic could expel students seen in confrontation with Native American man. It is amazing to look back on the story. “Mainstream media” bought the story, and gleefully went into attack mode. It soon became apparent that woke media had been asleep all along. After the lawsuits were settled, Mr. Sandmann gets to live his Catholic life.
The video was convention week entertainment for the MAGA masses. Few doubters will become true believers. Two claims in the video may fire up the base, but will inspire eye-rolling from others.
“I know you’ll agree with me when we say that no one in this country has been a victim of unfair media coverage more than president Donald Trump.” Donald John Trump is not a victim of anybody. POTUS plays the media like a musical instrument. Trolling the “liberal media” is a stepping stone to glory. And yet, his followers feel anger over “unfair media coverage.”
“I bought a make america great again hat because our President, Donald Trump, has distinguished himself as one of the most pro-life presidents in the history of our country, and I wanted to express my support for him.” Abortion is a great issue for a con artist. You cannot prove, or disprove, that Donald J. Trump has been an abortion baby daddy. Many people assume that he has. There is little doubt that Mr. Trump cynically knows a good issue when he smells one. Mr. Trump is going to beat the pro-life drum, with the same gusto as Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial. His gullible Catholic followers will believe him.
UPDATE: @N1ckSandmann is currently the Deputy Press Secretary of the Senate Republican Conference. · On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, “ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.” · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media pictures in April 1940. “Transient men waiting in line for evening meal served at 5 p.m. at the city mission. Dubuque, Iowa”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was published August 14, 2012. … This is part four of a homage to Catch 22. Parts one, two, three, five, six, and seven are also available. The quoted text was supplied by Wikiquotes.
XIX Colonel Cathcart This chapter centers on Colonel Cathcart, as you may have guessed. It starts out with a personality sketch, complete with raging ego and a cigarette holder. This was Mr. Roosevelt’s war, and he was well known for his cigarette holder.
It just shows how the standards of discourse change. The press never reported on Mr. Roosevelt’s disability, and many people did not know that he used a wheelchair. On the other hand, the cigarette holder was a part of his image. It is not known if he ever smoked marijuana in that cigarette holder. Moving on to today, BHO has every jot and tittle of his life open to public consumption, with the exception of his nicotine addiction. Yes, BHO does smoke, but you never see a photograph of it.
After a while, the Colonel has a discussion with the Chaplain. It seems the Colonel wants to have a prayer before missions. Not just any prayer… “Haven’t you got anything humorous that stays away from . . . God? I’d like to keep away from the subject of religion altogether if we can.” The chaplain hems and haws, and the Colonel talks himself out of the idea of pre mission prayer.
One of the online cheat sheets has a link to an uplifting feature, “The 5 All-Time Grossest Bug Stories.” Since your time is valuable, we will only repeat one
“2. Ants in the Beehive The story goes that, back in the 1960s, a stylish girl was primping herself for the following day at school. The hairstyle that was popular at the time was The Beehive, and she would commonly go to great lengths to achieve this look. Well one evening she decided to wash her hair in sugar water so it could harden just the way she wanted. She awoke suddenly in the early morning with a strange, tingling sensation. Sensing something was wrong she arose and as her head tilted upwards, hundreds of huge CARPENTER ANTS began spilling from her hair and onto her nightgown!”
This story has several variations. The first one I heard involved a high school girl with big hair. Apparently, she never washed this hair, but just added a layer of hair spray every morning. One day, she passed out in class, and slumped over in her desk. The hairdo cracked open, and a flood of insects and rodents poured out of her hairdo.
XX Corporal Whitcomb The chaplain lives in a tent, away from the busy parts of the base. His roommate is Corporal Whitcomb, who hates the chaplain. The Corporal plays mind games with the Chaplain in this chapter, and wins effortlessly. The chaplain had “failed miserably, had choked up once again in the face of opposition from a stronger personality. It was a familiar, ignominious experience, and his opinion of himself was low.”
Catch 22 is revered. But, in the age of Amazon, there are going to be those who disagree. Actually, there have always been the nay sayers, but they keep quiet. It is no fun to be the kid at the emperor’s parade … people will think you lack fashion sense. But now, the one star reviewers are out in the open.
“Am I the only one that hated this book? September 22, 2000 “okwoodworker” Pathetic. I forced myself to finish this book because it was heralded as “one of the greatest novels of the century.” I found it an amazing chore to trudge through page after page of absurd, repetitive babble, replete with needless descriptions of depraved immorality. If the point is that government/military institutions are insanely inefficient and bureaucratic, ok. I got that in the first 100 pages. Were the next 400 pages simply meant to illustrate that point — making me “experience” the absurdity?. I really can’t believe I read the whole thing. In all sincerity, I can not recommend this book.”
When I was at Redo Blue, there were people who were into the conspicuous display of books. The Bully for Jesus would ride the train into town, and carry a bag, and a Bible. He wanted to be seen carrying a Bible. After a while, a man was hired to be the digital imaging manager. He saw the BFJ and his pet bible, and started to carry his own book around. His display item was a motivational book by Og Mandino. This book was carried around for about a year after the DIM went on the payroll.
In the story about Og Mandino, there is a lovely paragraph. … In the early nineties, I talked to a lady from Tbilisi, Georgia (თბილისი, საქართველო). She said something that makes more sense the more you think about it. “In our country, the government and the secret police run everything. In this country, the banks and the computers run everything.”
XXI General Dreedle This chapter is named for General Dreedle, even though his entourage, subordinates, and insubordinates have most of the action. It begins with the combustible Colonel Cathcart. He is in a tizzy about Yossarian. There is a list of good events and bad, and Yossarian seems to be in the middle of all the bad ones. There is a couple of quotes about this situation: “A moment ago there had been no Yossarians in his life; now they were multiplying like hobgoblins. He tried to make himself grow calm. Yossarian was not a common name; perhaps there were not really three Yossarians but only two Yossarians, or maybe even only one Yossarian – but that really made no difference! The colonel was still in grave peril. Intuition warned him that he was drawing close to some immense and inscrutable cosmic climax, and his broad, meaty, towering frame tingled from head to toe at the thought that Yossarian, whoever he would turn out to be, was destined to serve as his nemesis.” The anagram for Yossarian is Yo Iran Ass.
“Colonel Cathcart was not superstitious, but he did believe in omens, and he sat right back down behind his desk and made a cryptic notation on his memo pad to look into the whole suspicious business of the Yossarians right away. He wrote his reminder to himself in a heavy and decisive hand, amplifying it sharply with a series of coded punctuation marks and underlining the whole message twice, so that it read: Yossarian! ! ! (?) ! … Yossarian – the very sight of the name made him shudder. There were so many esses in it. It just had to be subversive. It was like the word subversive itself. It was like seditious and insidious too, and like socialist, suspicious, fascist and Communist.”
The time warp of the book gets serious here. We learn of the time that Yossarian receives a medal with no clothes on. It seems like he flubbed a mission, caused a man to die, and to punish him received a medal and promotion. Since this happened in front of General Dreedle, Colonel Cathcart looked bad.
General Dreedle is another character study. He has his son in law, Colonel Moodus, working for him. They hate each other. There is also a nurse, who attends to the General’s manly needs. She attends the briefing, for the raid on Avignon … the one where Yossarian earned his medal … and causes a bit of a commotion. This aggressive moaning is silenced by General Dreedle. The rest of the briefing is conducted by showoff Colonel Korn, who thinks he is scoring points with the General. It turns out that Colonel Korn makes General Dreedle sick.
Looking at the tweets of a Jesus worshiper who will not allow me to comment at his blog, there was a doozy of a story. It is about the phenomenon of people looking at pornography on laptops, and smart phones, in full view of Christians, small children, and dogs. There was a great quote. “Acquiring pornographic material once required taking a public action—buying a ticket to an X-rated theater, renting a tape from an “adult” video store, asking for a magazine kept behind a store counter—and having the boldness to overcome the shame involved. It should come as no surprise, then, that as our culture becomes more accepting of pornography, those who were already comfortable with smut become even less inhibited and immune to public shaming. What once was primarily a private sin has becomes a public plague. This soul-destroying sleaze has infested our nation, and many people who call themselves Christians have allowed it to happen. At most we turn a blind eye. But more often than not, believers are consuming pornography at the same rate as non-believers—and doing so without remorse. In an age when so many Christian men have succumbed, and when Christian women brag on Facebook about reading Fifty Shades of Grey, why are we shocked to find nonbelievers bringing filth into the public square?”
XXII Milo The Mayor Chapter 22 should be special, but it is more clumsy satire. The first part is about the botched mission to Avignon, where Snowdon is killed. This is one of the turning points of the book. The book does not follow a one two three pattern, and events are referred to first, and then take place later. This mission is a big deal, because this is where Yossarian loses what mind he has. Some of Snowdon’s blood gets on Yossarian’s uniform, and Yossarian doesn’t want to wear clothes after that. This is part of the drama, and one of the reasons why the movie was rated R.
After the mission, or maybe before the mission, but definitely not during the mission, Yossarian is asked for permission to kill Colonel Cathcart. The blessing was denied. Apparently, when this book was written, the truism about forgiveness and permission had not been verbalized. While it does sound cynical, it really is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Where chapter 22, of Catch 22, bogs down is the buying trip that Milo Minderbinder made. The story of Milo gets more and more tiresome. You want to scream, we get it, capitalism is a joke, lets have some real action. Instead, you have this quote repeated ad nauseum: “But I make a profit of three and a quarter cents an egg by selling them for four and a quarter cents an egg to the people in Malta I buy them from for seven cents an egg. Of course, I don’t make the profit. The syndicate makes the profit. And everybody has a share.”
XXIII Nately’s Old Man What if Catch 22 had been called Catch 23? This is a funny number. It is perhaps best known for the phrase 23 skidoo. The traditional meaning is “to leave quickly, especially before a situation deteriorates (archaic, origin unknown, popularized during 1920s)” Since the origins are murky, it is an opportunity to be creative. Some possible stories include: “23-skidoo came from an expression that construction workers used while building the Flatiron Building on 23rd Street in N.Y.C. 23rd Street is one of the wider streets in New York that is like an uninterrupted wind-tunnel between the East and Hudson Rivers. Frequently, when one is walking north or south on the avenues and comes to such an intersection, they can experience a sudden blast of wind as soon as the pass the wall of a corner building. Apparently, when the workers sat on the sidewalk to eat their lunches, they would watch women’s skirts blow up from the sudden gusts.” · “The phrase originated in the Panimint Mountains in Death Valley in the early 1900s. The mining town of Skidoo had 23 saloons and if you were going to go get drunk you would try to get a drink at each of the saloons. This started the phrase of going 23 skidoo if you were going to have a good time.”
Getting back to Catch 22, this is one of the chapters that makes Milos meandering meaningful. Chapter 23 is tons of fun, just like some of the girls in a certain Italian apartment building. Nately takes a few of his buddies to the house where his prosti-girlfriend lives. It turns into a wild scene, with naked people doing naked things in all directions. The exception to the fuckfest is a conversation between Nately and an old man. It is not known what language the chat takes place in, as it is unlikely that young Nately knew Italian, or that the geezer knew English.
The conversation is a gem. Nately believes all the nonsense he is told, and thinks he is smarter as a result. The old man has heard the same nonsense, and recognizes it for what it is. In any war, the first casualty is the truth. When you believe the propaganda of your government, you are signing your own death warrant. · “What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many countries can’t all be worth dying for” · “Anything worth living for,” said Nately, “is worth dying for.” · “And everything worth dying for,” answered the sacrilegious old man, “is certainly worth living for. They are going to kill you if you don’t watch out, and I can see now that you are not going to watch out. Why don’t you use some sense and try to be more like me? You might live to be a hundred and seven, too.” · “Because it’s better to die on one’s feet than live on one’s knees,” Nately retorted with triumphant and lofty conviction. · “I guess you’ve heard that saying before.” · “Yes, I certainly have,” mused the treacherous old man, smiling again. “But I’m afraid you have it backward. It is better to live on one’s feet than die on one’s knees. That is the way the saying goes.” · “Are you sure?” Nately asked with sober confusion. “It seems to make more sense my way.” · “No, it makes more sense my way. Ask your friends.”
I had a friend once named Crazy Owl. He lived in a tract of land on Flat Shoals road near the new Wal Mart. There are lots of houses there now, but twelve years ago he had his “monastery” there. On certain Friday nights, he would have a sweat lodge. Like a crude outdoor sauna, you would build a fire, heat the rocks, and put them in the lodge, go inside and perspire. It is a Native American thing, and I have heard that they still have them in Candler Park.
So one friday, the people in the lodge made comments about what they were grateful for. The previous friday, I had been in a bar in Tucker, GA. The hostess of the happy hour party had made xerox copies of a coupon for cheap food. The room next to the dining room had a band, and a room full of drunks. Each and every one of those drunks was chain smoking. The band played “Is that all there is?” I ordered a cup of coffee, and was charged $2.75 for something I would not wash a dog in. · The next friday night, we shared our gratitudes at the sweat lodge. I said “Last friday night I was in an unbelievably cheesy bar in Tucker Georgia. Tonight I am here. I am grateful for variety in my life.”
XXIV Milo In 1966, the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta. I was twelve years old, and thought this was just about the coolest thing ever. The Braves were a mediocre team that year. This was better than the last place disaster of the seventies and eighties.
Part of the disappointment of major league baseball in Atlanta was the radio announcer for the team. His name was Milo Hamilton. Yea, that’s the connection to Catch 22. Milo is one of those names that is a little bit unusual, but not unheard of. Milo Hamilton was a raging egomaniac. No one else could understand what was so special about him. He had a pleasant enough voice, but did not make listening to bad baseball fun the way Skip and Ernie did.
When I saw another chapter named for Milo, he thought this was going to be boring talk about the syndicate. Do the readers have a share in this syndicate? If everybody has a share, then the readers should be included. For the first few pages, the chapter is dull. The action picks up when Milo orders the base bombed and strafed. The Germans paid for him to do this, and they got their money’s worth. Capitalism should not let a technicality like dealing with the enemy to get in the way of profits for the syndicate. “This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach, and it looked like the end for him. … Milo was all washed up until he opened his books to the public and disclosed the tremendous profit he had made.”
Later, the funeral for Snowdon is held. Yossarian does not stand near the service, but watches from a tree in the distance. Yossarian is naked. Milo Minderbinder comes to talk to him, ignoring the funeral below. Milo has a surplus of cotton, and needs to get rid of it. The concept is to dip balls of cotton in chocolate, and eat them. Yossarian thinks it tastes horrible. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken in August 1956. Atlanta Crackers catcher Spider Wilhelm. This was written like David Foster Wallace. ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was posted July 15, 2013. … There is a video video making the rounds. It supposedly proves the existence of racial profiling. The only thing this video proves is the gullibility of people.
It opens in a city park. It is a bright, sunny day. A young man is trying to break a bicycle chain. He uses a saw, and bolt cutters. He spends over an hour on the job, and people pass by. No one makes an issue about it. A reporter talks to people, and gets their reaction. No one suspects anything.
To begin with, a real thief is not going to spend an hour working on a bike. He probably won’t openly operate in a sunny city park. There probably is not a reporter nearby. The bike is chained to a short road sign. It would be easy to lift the bike over the sign.
The first actor goes away, and the second actor comes in. The shadows don’t seem any different in the video. The second actor is dressed similarly to the first, except for the extra melanin. Yea, this is about how the white guy gets away with inept thievery, and the black guy gets questioned.
Soon, there is a crowd around the young black man. People are asking him whether he owns the bike. A man “whips out a cell phone, and calls 911.” He is standing next to the actor, who continues to saw.
It gets better. The actor rides off in the bike, then it is chained back to the sign. The experiment begins again. An old white man confronts the actor, and picks up the tools. What happens next? If you have ever caught a thief, you know that at this point all hell breaks loose. The thief will start yelling, or pull a knife, or start major trouble. But in this video, the bike thief actor says, politely, “Please sir, please sir, don’t touch my stuff sir.”
In my opinion, this video is a scripted piece of entertainment. It is a fantasy. It has nothing to do with the reality of crime and theft. It is not even very good acting. UPDATE: When this feature was originally posted, I was immediately unfriended by the person who posted the video on facebook.
Another issue with the video is the business of staging fake crimes, to illustrate videos about social justice issues. There is enough crime already. Police don’t need to be bothered with people staging fake crimes to make their point about social justice issues. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in March 1943. “Pearlington, Mississippi. Truck driver at a highway coffee stop on U.S. Highway 90” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

What follows are selections from The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce. TDD began as a newspaper column, and was later published as The Cynic’s Word Book. TDD is in the public domain. TDD is a dictionary, going from A to Z. Today’s selection covers T to U. More selections are available. A – D E – G H – I J – L M – O P – R R – S S
TELEPHONE, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
TELESCOPE, n. A device having a relation to the eye similar to that of the telephone to the ear, enabling distant objects to plague us with a multitude of needless details. Luckily it is unprovided with a bell summoning us to the sacrifice.
TOPE, v. To tipple, booze, swill, soak, guzzle, lush, bib, or swig. In the individual, toping is regarded with disesteem, but toping nations are in the forefront of civilization and power. When pitted against the hard-drinking Christians the abstemious Mahometans go down like grass before the scythe. In India one hundred thousand beef-eating and brandy-and-soda guzzling Britons hold in subjection two hundred and fifty million vegetarian abstainers of the same Aryan race. With what an easy grace the whisky-loving American pushed the temperate Spaniard out of his possessions! From the time when the Berserkers ravaged all the coasts of western Europe and lay drunk in every conquered port it has been the same way: everywhere the nations that drink too much are observed to fight rather well and not too righteously. Wherefore the estimable old ladies who abolished the canteen from the American army may justly boast of having materially augmented the nation’s military power.
TREE, n. A tall vegetable intended by nature to serve as a penal apparatus, though through a miscarriage of justice most trees bear only a negligible fruit, or none at all. When naturally fruited, the tree is a beneficient agency of civilization and an important factor in public morals. In the stern West and the sensitive South its fruit (white and black respectively) though not eaten, is agreeable to the public taste and, though not exported, profitable to the general welfare.
TRINITY, n. … In religion we believe only what we do not understand, except in the instance of an intelligible doctrine that contradicts an incomprehensible one.
In that case we believe the former as a part of the latter.
TRUTHFUL, adj. Dumb and illiterate.
TURKEY, n. A large bird whose flesh when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. Incidentally, it is pretty good eating.
TWICE, adv. Once too often.
TYPE, n. Pestilent bits of metal suspected of destroying civilization and enlightenment, despite their obvious agency in this incomparable dictionary.
TZETZE (or TSETSE) FLY, n. An African insect (Glossina morsitans) whose bite is commonly regarded as nature’s most efficacious remedy for insomnia, though some patients prefer that of the American novelist (Mendax interminabilis).
UGLINESS, n. A gift of the gods to certain women, entailing virtue without humility.
UN-AMERICAN, adj. Wicked, intolerable, heathenish.
UNCTION, n. An oiling, or greasing. The rite of extreme unction consists in touching with oil consecrated by a bishop several parts of the body of one engaged in dying. Marbury relates that after the rite had been administered to a certain wicked English nobleman it was discovered that the oil had not been properly consecrated and no other could be obtained. When informed of this the sick man said in anger: “Then I’ll be damned if I die!” “My son,” said the priest, “this is what we fear.”
UNDERSTANDING, n. A cerebral secretion that enables one having it to know a house from a horse by the roof on the house. Its nature and laws have been exhaustively expounded by Locke, who rode a house, and Kant, who lived in a horse.
UNITARIAN, n. One who denies the divinity of a Trinitarian.
UNIVERSALIST, n. One who forgoes the advantage of a Hell for persons of another faith.
USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom and Conventionality. Imbued with a decent reverence for this Holy Triad an industrious writer may hope to produce books that will live as long as the fashion.
UXORIOUSNESS, n. A perverted affection that has strayed to one’s own wife. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media pictures in April 1940. “Transient men waiting in line for evening meal served at 5 p.m. at the city mission. Dubuque, Iowa.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

0626-1020 Today is 62626. This is about as palindromic as the dates are going to be this year. … This is the first walk of the journaling week. Last week is online as we speak. This is a good excuse to sit down in front of the keyboard. … The walk today was pretty good. There was mild dizziness on the second lap through the fourth lap, but it never went beyond the nuisance level.
The podcast today was from Deep Cover, The Murder of Lita McClinton, Part 2: The Hitman. Ms. McClinton was murdered January 16, 1987, at 3085 Slaton Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30305. After a few twists and turns, the bad guy got caught. James Vincent Sullivan is now GDC ID 0001211423 at Augusta State Med Prison. (There are 7 James Sullivans in Georgia Prisons) Phillip Anthony Harwood was convicted for his role in the murder, and was released from Coastal State Prison May 25, 2018.
The Fulton County DA for this case, Paul Howard, is a piece of work. Mr. Howard’s conduct was especially bad after the shooting of Rayshard Brooks. Mr. Howard charged Ofc. Garret Rolfe with felony murder, before the GBI investigation of the case was complete. Mr. Howard was succeeded as DA by Fani Willis, who has her own set of issues.
0627-0941 – The walk today sucked. The dizziness started on the first lap, and continued to get worse. I stopped after 26 minutes. The podcasts were boring. Maybe tomorrow will be better. … After sitting down for a while, I did two more laps, to finish the 36 minutes on the timer. The dizziness was back on the second lap. I might could have done more, but did not feel like fighting it.
0628-1030 – The walk today was fabulous. I was worried after the disaster yesterday, but the dizziness stayed at nuisance level, and eventually went away all together. I did 42 minutes, and could have done more if I wasn’t eager to write about the podcast. The show was a special episode of Bad Gays, Liza’s Bad Gays. It is about the ultimate fag hag, Liza Minnelli. Judy’s daughter was married four times. Peter Allen (hubby #1) and David Gest (hubby #4) were raging homos. Liza has a book out, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! There are some jaw dropping quotes.
“Judy Garland reportedly told Liza Minnelli that, and I quote, “When I die, they’re going to fly the flag at half mast at Cherry Grove. They’re going to be standing half erect in the meat rack singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
About Peter Sellers: “I don’t know if this was the most jaw-dropping moment for me, but it is the part that made me put the book down because I was laughing so hard and I literally couldn’t continue was when she talks about dating Peter Sellers … And he obviously was crazy. She talks about him being kind of abusive and larger than life and really intense, but there’s one point where she goes like, I was always a prankster and I couldn’t … be myself around him. Like the time I pulled his hairpiece off at a dinner party. … could you imagine going up to of all people Peter Sellers at a packed dinner party in his home … and snatch him bald in front of all of his guests. … And she talks about it as if it was like well how could he have been mad? … “Lady, you literally snatched this straight man bald in front of a room full of people.” And I was just like, “April fools.”
About Peter Allen: “I thought it was really interesting how much Liza really wanted us to know that they [ __ ] … because also the idea that he was somehow holding his nose while he wanted to be intimate with her. … “No, we had a very active, vibrant sex life, which also makes it more shocking to her when, drum roll please, she comes home from an errand and he is fully having sex with a man in their bed.” importantly fully bottoming in her bed.”
About David Gest: “ Oh, if I could wave a magic wand, I would have avoided this creep like Salmonella. I’d have kicked his bony ass to the ground wearing stilettos. Which is something he accused me later of doing. How absurd. Why on earth would I ruin a perfectly beautiful shoe?”
0629-1011 – Today’s walk went pretty well. There was mild dizziness between lap two and lap four. I can live with that. The podcast was Episode 314: Authentic Authenticity On A Silver Platner, from Blocked and Reported. The topic was Graham Cunningham Platner, who is running for the US Senate in Maine. Jesse Singal did most of the talking.
I have a rule for jury trials and elections: If I don’t have a vote, then I don’t have an opinion. The election of GCP would be inconvenient for a few powerful players. As a result, his life is being held under a microscope. … The BAR show description is full of parentheses. In case you are new here, (((x))) means that x is Jewish. … “This week on Blocked and Reported, (((Jesse))) and Katie dig into Graham Platner: the oyster farmer, Senate hopeful, and working-class rich kid whose Nazi tattoo and wandering eye were so rudely surfaced by the (((lamestream media))) in an effort to protect the (((billionaire class))).” Whatever.
0630-0944 – The walk went well. There was mild dizziness for the first four laps, and the summer heat is kicking in. The first podcast was “Pig Lab” from The New Yorker. This is a confusing tale. The author, Will Mackin, is a veteran of America’s west asian wars. The story takes place in either a war zone, or pig farm stateside, or both. It was unpleasant to listen to, and was turned off quickly.
The second podcast was The Limits of Manifesting Success with James Forman, Jr., from Deep Cover. This was an addendum to the series about the Boonie hat bandit. James Forman, Jr., is a law professor, and he discussed the case. In one of his trials, Keith Giammanco served as his own counsel. There is an old saying … a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.
0701-1014 – The walk went well. There was mild dizziness on laps 2-4, but it never went beyond being noticed. I did a double victory lap, finishing after 49 minutes. The podcast was Emmy-Winner Jeff Hiller Returns! Talking Bodies and Money in a Changing Hollywood from Death, Sex & Money. I had never heard of Jeff Hiller (no middle name), but he was reasonably pleasant to listen to. JH is a gay man, 6’5”, with issues about the amount of hair on his body. We have things in common.
JH was recently in Celebrity Autobiography, reading selections from books. One of the books he read from was VS. It turns out I read VS. Vanna White was from Myrtle Beach SC, and moved to Atlanta to attend fashion college. She lived for a while in Brookhaven, with Gordon McGregor, who may have been a year ahead of me at Cross Keys.
“Like, my friend was doing this Google predictive text. I didn’t write about how there was one celebrity … When you write his name, the first thing that comes up is the word bottom. I was like, that’s the first thing people ask the Internet about this celebrity who I will not mention anyway.”
0702-1040 – The walk today was a hot time in Georgia. The dizziness took a day off, and was not missed. The podcast today was Junk Science Sent Charles McCrory to Prison — Alabama Won’t Let Him Out from Gone South.
Charles McCrory was convicted of murdering his wife. The primary evidence was bite marks on his wife’s arm. The forensic dentist who testified later recanted his testimony. The state of Alabama stubbornly refuses to let him go, even after 40 years in prison.
Bite mark evidence was once a big thing, but is largely considered junk science today. BME might have cleared Carlton Gary, in a sensational Georgia case. Instead, Mr. Gary was executed at 10:33 pm, March 15, 2018. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Dorothea Lange took the social media picture in February 1939. “Nebraska farmer come to pick peas. Near Calipatria, California” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was published July 14, 2018. … The GA06 election is moving on. The incumbent, Karen Handel, is a terrible person. Kevin Abel and Lucy McBath will be in the Democratic runoff to face Mrs. Handel in November. I have not been paying much attention. One exception was receiving a phone call from the Abel campaign. This annoyed me, and made me not want to vote for Mr. Abel.
On friday the 13th, mailers came from both candidates. Kevin Abel had a pink bordered message, “Women deserve to live free from fear.” Lucy McBath said “When her son Jordan Davis was murdered for listening to his music too loud, Lucy McBath turned her grief into action.” I heard about the 2012 incident in Florida, and started to look for information.
“Michael Dunn … pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis … Lt. Rob Schoonover of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said … Davis was sitting in a parked SUV with three other teens, when Dunn parked next to their vehicle and made a comment about the loud music the group was playing. The 45-year-old apparently got into an argument with Davis, who was sitting in the back seat. … Dunn allegedly took out a gun and shot into the vehicle, striking Davis twice.”
During the trial, one of the teenagers offered this testimony. “Thompson told the court that Dunn said: “Turn your music down I can’t hear myself think.” Thompson says he obliged, but that Jordan Davis objected, saying, according to Thompson, “F**k that, n****r, turn it back up.” Thompson turned the music back up … Davis and Dunn began “having a conversation back and forth.””
After the first trial, a juror offered an opinion of what Mr. Dunn could have done. “ABC: What were his options? VALERIE: Roll the window up, ignore the taunting, put your car in reverse, back up to the front of the store, move a parking spot over. That’s my feeling.”
In February 1999, I was working with someone who played a Christian radio station. When I objected, the co-worker lost it. It was the worst temper tantrum I had ever seen. The hysterical abuse continued, in one way or another, for the next six years. The co-worker never forgave me. What would it be like, to have a carload of teenagers go off on you like that?
Shooting someone is not justified, with or without a stand your ground law. But the saying, “You’re gonna get yourself killed” is not about justification. Mr. Dunn was coming back from a wedding, and possibly intoxicated. Mr. Dunn was armed, and according to a former neighbor, “could be pretty intense.” Mr. Dunn, on that day, was not someone who will “ignore the taunting.”
Getting back to the race for Congress, the runoff will be in ten days. Both candidates will have a tough time, in the heavily Republican GA06. I will, as usual, decide who to vote for on his way to the polls. Being reminded of a murder will not help. UPDATE: Lucy McBath won the primary and the general election, and has served in Congress ever since. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in May 1941. “Saturday afternoon in Greensboro, Georgia” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was published June 14, 2024. … Deep in the heart of Dullsville, at the end of a cul-de-sac, behind a lawn of scratchy brown grass dotted with giant plastic butterflies, and three flaking cement deer, lives Heather Thompson. Heather has a mommy and a daddy. Heather’s daddy is an accountant. Her mommy is a homemaker. Before Heather was born they met, fell in love, and got married. “I love you very much and I’m having your child.”
Danitra is Heather’s best friend. One of Danitra’s dads is an empowerment facilitator. The other is an aura consultant. Danitra doesn’t know what they do at work, except they don’t need briefcases. Before Danitra was born her daddies met and fell in love, and after seventeen years spent discussing caring and support, handling acceptance, and negotiating intimacy, they had a commitment ceremony. “I love you very much and I’m designing the rings,” Danitra’s Daddy Mike said.
One day in school Heather’s teacher, Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez, tells the class to draw pictures of their families. Danitra draws two men, Julio draws two women, and Heather draws a man and a woman. Keanu points at the woman Heather drew, with squiggly yellow hair, a crude red dress and simple brown shoes. “This dad here’s got some ugly drag going on,” he says.
At lunchtime Danitra sits on the bench next to Heather and pulls a sandwich out of a brown paper bag.“Want to trade?” Danitra asks. “I’ve got grilled eggplant and goat cheese on marjoram foccacia.” “Um, I didn’t bring lunch,” Heather stammers, kicking her brown paper bag out of sight. “I’m … uh … on a diet.” “Diet?” Danitra asks. “Haven’t your dads told you not to buy into that patriarchal looks-based chauvinism? And anyway, what’s this then?” she asks, holding up the bag with “HAVE A SUPER DAY!” written in sparkle marker on it.
Julio, who was listening nearby, runs up and grabs Heather’s lunch. “Yeah, what’s this? It’s somebody’s lunch!” Heather jumps at the bag but Julio holds it out of reach. “You give that back!” Heather yells. “Try and make me!” Julio chides. He pulls Heather’s sandwich apart and drops it like it was electrified. He wobbles away, holding his stomach.
“Oh my God!” he cries. “There’s like dead stuff in there!” Danitra looks at the sandwich lying on the cement. “Is that MEAT? Is that like SPAM?” Claudia, sitting quietly at the other end of the bench, bursts into tears. “Heather’s eating BAMBI!” “It’s friggin’ Wonder Bread!” Julio scoffs. Keanu walks toward the bread and peers at it. “And it’s got LUBE all over it!” “You idiot, that’s MAYONNAISE.” “What’s mayonnaise?” “It’s like goat cheese for heterosexuals.”
“Heterosexuals?” Keanu asks. “Heather’s mommy and daddy are heterosexuals?” Heather starts to yell. “No! I don’t have a mommy and a daddy. I’ve got two daddies!” “Hell-OOOO!” Danitra says, drawing the word out to twelve syllables. “We can see your clothes!” “Um . . . “ Heather stalls, “then I’ve got two mommies.” “And we’ve seen you play baseball,” Julio answers.
Heather, unable to think of a response, sits on the bench and starts to cry. Danitra pulls a robin’s egg blue bandana from her pocket and dabs at Heather’s face. “Maybe your mom’s not really a woman,” Danitra offers. “Well,” Heather says, sniffing, “she cleans the house, and cooks, and does the laundry.” Danitra fumes. “We’re trying to establish that she’s female, not that she’s an idiot.”
“Maybe your dad’s not really a man,” Julio suggests.“Well,” Heather answers, wiping her nose. “He’s big and strong and he’s got a mustache.” Several of the children wonder what this proves but nobody says anything. “So let’s say you’ve got a mom and a dad,” Keanu says. “Then where did you come from?” “They went to bed together, and then I was born.” Some of her friends express further interest, but Heather doesn’t have a brochure. “Daddy put his thing in mommy — “
“Oh, man,” Keanu interjects. “Is that legal?” “HelLLLLO!” sings Danitra, who gets the word up to eighteen syllables this time. “We’re in CaliFORnia!”
“And nine months later I came out of my mommy’s tummy,” Heather adds. Several of the children wonder why they didn’t hire a surrogate with a vagina but nobody says anything.

One night there’s a dance at Heather’s school and her parents offer to chaperone. While Heather’s dancing with Danitra she sees from the corner of her eye her mom and dad moving onto the dance floor. She watches in horror as her mom just sort of stands there swaying, her gingham granny dress limply hanging to the floor. She grimaces as her dad starts chopping at the air like Jackie Chan being attacked by locusts.Occasionally their movements coincide with the beat. Heather runs to the bathroom crying.“Heather, don’t feel so bad,” Danitra says. “Lots of kids have embarrassing parents.” She starts to lead Heather out of the bathroom, then stops. “Um, maybe we should stay in here a while longer. They just started doing the Bump.”
One day the class projects are due. Heather brings in the model she’s made. It’s a lump of brown Play-Doh with ketchup poured over it and dotted with marshmallows stuck on with toothpicks. She sets it on the table as her teacher comes over to look.
“Why, Heather! That’s . . . nice! Very very nice!”“What the hell is it?” Tommy asks. “TOMMY! Heather’s parents had me over for dinner once. This is what they call ‘Salisbury steak.’” Heather bursts into tears. “NO IT’S NOT! It’s a VOLCANO! That’s lava, and that’s steam coming out.”
Danitra enters and places her project next to Heather’s on the table. “Why, Danitra, what’s this?” Danitra delicately removes the sheet protecting her project. “Versailles.”
Heather takes one look at the tiny replica of Louis XIV’s summer home, constructed by Danitra and her two dads out of two hundred cubic yards of teak plank, thirty square feet of gold leaf, sixty pounds of Italian travertine marble from the same quarry Michelangelo used, tiny topiary and functional miniature fountains, and cries even harder.
“Why did I have to have a mom and a dad?” Heather sobs. “Why can’t my family be like all the rest?”
Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez pulls Heather close. “Children,” she says,”every family is special, including those conforming to the rigid, stereotypical standard of male domination.” She starts to tell the class about her own family, including her hearing-impaired Hispanic mother, her height-challenged Israeli father, and her Gypsy recovering-substance-abusing brother-in-law and Armenian sex-addict half-sister, but stops, realizing the school year is only 4,074 hours long.
“Just because Heather’s parents are heterosexual doesn’t mean they’re slow-witted philistines, though there are strong correlations you don’t need a PhD in statistics to understand. But Heather is lucky to have a sweet mom and a wonderful dad and a dog named Molly and a hamster named Samson, and they all live together in a lovely house. They’ve got interesting avocado-colored appliances, carpet as long as your hair, and furniture that‘s by-and-large wood that must have taken them hours to assemble. There’s a big plastic sofa that turns into a bed, and a La-Z-Boy — ”
“A what?” Keanu asks. “A La-Z-Boy,” Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez repeats. “It’s a big vinyl chair that reclines.” “Oh, man!” exclaims Keanu, covering his face with his hands. “And I thought our Herman Miller reproductions were embarrassing!”
Mrs. Weinberg-Lopez continues. “But the important thing is, they’re a family. They’re a group united for a common purpose, where each individual is given a sense of empowerment and their shared bonds are formalized in a ritualistic manner.” “Oh,” the students respond in unison. Everybody hugs.
… Today’s entertainment was borrowed from World Class Stupid. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in June 1939. “Migrant workers eating dinner by the side of their car while they are camped near Prague, Oklahoma. Lincoln County”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah