Marilyn Truther
Marilyn Monroe was photographed reading Ulysses, the famously difficult book by James Joyce. 63 years later, a man posted the picture on twitter, while promoting a study course on Ulysses. If Marilyn read it, then you can too! I said something uncooperative, and a brief twitter fight broke out. Since the Ulysses dude, and his tweeting buddy, did not give permission, they will not be quoted here. One exception, the titular “Marilyn Truther,” was coined by the study course promoter.
@chamblee54 It was a joke, at one time, to give models a book to pose with. It was considered funny to give them a difficult book like “Ulysses” ~ Who needs to show a citation? I may be wrong. I asked Mr. Google, and found this. ~ According to photographer, she did not read it from start to finish. A more accurate answer is that she read parts of it Story by photographer should not be taken as unchallenged truth, but it is all we have I should have researched this before i spoke. Did you? ~ I had read that about other models. I also read numerous quotes, attributed to Marilyn, that proved to be phony. Photography is a medium open to manipulation, and creation of fantasy. Just because you see a picture, that does not mean it happened. ~ Eve Arnold… a woman … took that picture. How do we know Marilyn told the truth? Maybe Marilyn was just trying to make a good impression on the lady. Would Marilyn have said the same thing if the photographer was a man?
I disputed that Marilyn Monroe had read Ulysses, and will never know for sure either way. I am not the first person to wonder about this. “Richard Brown, a Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Leeds with a special interest in James Joyce, was intrigued by Eve Arnold’s photos of Marilyn. Curious to know if Marilyn was indeed reading Joyce’s novel or if she was merely posing for the photo, Brown wrote Arnold a letter, which she replied on 20 July 1993. Unfortunately, I don’t have Arnold’s complete letter to show you … In any case, the excerpt from Arnold’s letter is interesting as she was telling Brown exactly what he wanted to know”:
“We worked on a beach on Long Island. She was visiting Norman Rosten the poet. … I asked her what she was reading when I went to pick her up (I was trying to get an idea of how she spent her time). She said she kept Ulysses in her car and had been reading it for a long time. She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it — but she found it hard going. She couldn’t read it consecutively. When we stopped at a local playground to photograph she got out the book and started to read while I loaded the film. So, of course, I photographed her. It was always a collaborative effort of photographer and subject where she was concerned — but almost more her input.” “Quoted in Richard Brown, “Marilyn Monroe Reading Ulysses: Goddess or Postcultural Cyborg?”, in R. B. Kershner (Ed), Joyce and Popular Culture, p. 174.”
“Monroe is reading the 1934 Random House edition, with the dust jacket removed. This is the edition that was famously set from a pirate version containing numerous errors. This defect notwithstanding, the dust-jacket artwork and typographic design by Ernst Reichl constitute one of the great works in the history of book design.”
What does this say about a screen icon who died in 1962? Maybe she was smarter than your typical dumb blonde. Maybe not. Marilyn had an instinct for the camera, and looking good on the screen brought joy to millions of fans. Is this post mortem resurrection, as an intellectual philosopher, merely another fantasy concocted by well meaning fans? Pictures never lie, and there is a picture of Marilyn, reading Ulysses, with a serious look on her pretty face. Of course it is real! A fantasy involving Norma Jean Baker Marilyn Monroe? How absurd! As long as the merchandise is paid for, and the instagrammers inspired, should we even care?
The cult of Marilyn has shown up on chamblee54 before. “Someone told me that Marilyn Monroe once remarked that she enjoyed reading poetry “because it saves time.” I like this quotation so much that I’ve never dared to confirm it; I’d feel disenchanted to learn it was bogus.” This search for authenticity led to a forum called Data Lounge … “get your fix of gay gossip, news and pointless bitchery.” The “Marilyn: Smart or Stupid” debate rages through 200 comments, reaching a peak at comment 196. “Yes MM said every one of those quotes by herself! … But I’m worried for her, cause She’s my main spirit guide and Saviour and she recently commanded me to share this message! …
In 2014, a facebook notice appeared. It was promoting a blog post by known idiot Matt Walsh. “If you can’t accept me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.”… “the original quote is from Marilyn Monroe. It’s even more vapid and nauseating when taken in its full context: “I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” Out of all the profundities ever uttered, what does it say about our society that THIS is the quote we’ve decided to take to heart?” It is generally accepted that Marilyn did not say that. The top debunker is now a malware distributor, and not available for viewing. Somehow, that seems appropriate.
Pictures today are from the Library of Congress. “Listening to speeches at mass meeting of Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers protesting congressional cut of relief appropriations. San Francisco, California.” Photographer: Dorothea Lange February 1939. This is a repost.
Blonde Stories
The world is in turmoil. People are killing people for no good reason. The government is run by liars and scoundrels. Religion is a dirty word. It is time for blonde stories . Thank you FunnyJokes. Pictures are from The Library of Congress
A married couple was asleep when the phone rang at 2 in the morning. The very blonde wife picked up the phone, listened a moment, and said ‘How should I know, that’s 200 miles from here!’ and hung up. The husband said, ‘Who was that?’ The wife answered, ‘I don’t know, some woman wanting to know if the coast is clear.’
Two blondes are walking down the street. One notices a compact on the sidewalk and leans down to pick it up. She opens it, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Hmm, this person looks familiar.’ The second blonde says, ‘Here, let me see!’ So, the first blonde hands her the compact. The second blonde looks in the mirror and says, ‘You dummy, it’s me!’
A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her, so she goes out and buys a gun. She goes to his apartment unexpectedly and when she opens the door she finds him in the arms of a redhead. Well, the blonde is really angry. She opens her purse to take out the gun, and as she does so, she is overcome with grief. She takes the gun and puts it to her head. The boyfriend yells, ‘No, honey, don’t do it!’ The blonde replies, ‘Shut up, you’re next!’
A blonde was bragging about her knowledge of state capitals. She proudly says, ‘Go ahead, ask me … I know ‘em all.’ ‘OK, what’s the capital of Wisconsin ?’ The blonde replies, ‘Oh, that’s easy. Its W.’
Q: What did the blonde ask her doctor when he told her she was pregnant? A: ‘Is it mine?’
Bambi, a blonde in her fourth year as a UCLA Freshman, sat in her US Government class. The professor asked Bambi if she knew what Roe vs. Wade was about. Bambi pondered the question; then, finally, said, ‘That was the decision George Washington had to make before he crossed the Delaware.’
Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call on the radio, and a K-9 unit, patrolling nearby, was the first to respond. As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash, the blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps. Putting her face in her hands, she moaned, ‘I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND COP!’
I’m Here To Help
Two popular quotes have surprising back stories. One is by President Ronald W. Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The other is from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”
@HayesBrown “the funny thing about this quote: Reagan said it during a press conference where he was calling for more federal funding to help out struggling farmers” @HayesBrown “Reagan giving that quote was literally him going “okay, yeah, i’m for smaller govt, but until we get my ideas passed, we are gonna spend SO MUCH MONEY helping out farmers” and now it gets trotted out… to argue against federal aid, period”
“Some sectors of our farm economy are hurting … Our ultimate goal, of course, is economic independence for agriculture and, through steps like the tax-reform bill, we seek to return farming to real farmers. But until we make that transition, the government must act compassionately and responsibly. … In order to see farmers through these tough times, our administration has committed record amounts of assistance, spending more in this year alone than any previous administration spent during its entire tenure. … The message in all this is very simple: America’s farmers should know that our commitment to helping them is unshakable. As long as I’m in Washington, their concerns are going to be heard and acted upon.”
The rest of the prepared statement features a fun quote. “One other brief point: tomorrow, the Senate will cast a crucial vote. The question is that of assistance to the freedom fighters, who are trying to bring democracy to Nicaragua where a communist regime, a client state of the Soviet Union, has taken over. The question before the Senate is: Will it vote for democracy in Central America and the security of our own borders, or will it vote to passively sit by while the Soviets make permanent their military beachhead on the mainland of North America?”
The press conference took place August 12, 1986, in Chicago IL. On November 3, 1986, “the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa … reported that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran … in a bid to secure the release of seven American hostages being held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.” On November 25, 1986, “Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that, on White House orders, the proceeds of secret arms sales to Iran were illegally diverted to fund the Contras — Nicaraguan rebels waging a guerrilla war to overthrow that country’s elected leftist regime.” The resulting Iran-Contra scandal dominated the Reagan administration for the next few months.
@ggreenwald The pro-censorship cliché “can’t yell fire in a crowded theater” comes from a now-discredited 1919 SupCt case upholding Woodrow Wilson prosecution of socialists under *The Espionage Act* for the “crime” of opposing a US role WW1. Why would you want to attach yourself to that? @ggreenwald The set of cases from which that cliché emerged is one of the most shameful in US Supreme Court history, designed to criminalize dissent. For that reason, it’s embarrassing but revealing when censors invoke it because that’s their real mentality.
SCHENCK v. UNITED STATES was the case. “During World War I, socialists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft, but advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment. Schenck and Baer were convicted of violating this law and appealed …
The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that courts owed greater deference to the government during wartime, even when constitutional rights were at stake. … Holmes reasoned that the widespread dissemination of the leaflets was sufficiently likely to disrupt the conscription process. Famously, he compared the leaflets to falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.”
There were a couple of other cases. If you have a lot of free time, you can read about it here. Included is one charming quote: “Famed socialist Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison for a speech that Holmes summarized at length (are there any short socialist speeches?) in support of the basis for Debs’ conviction.”
Pictures, of soldiers in the War Between the States, are from The Library of Congress. The facebook picture is of “Private James B. McCutchan of Co. D, 5th Virginia Infantry Regiment.” On April 2, 2021, Radiolab presented What Up Holmes, about free speech opinions written by Justice Holmes. The show did not mention “falsely shouting fire in a theatre.” This is a repost.
Critical Becky Studies
Becky is a generic insult for *some* white women. If you don’t know what a Becky is, you might not understand the feature below. Chad is the equivalent expression for white men. He is not important enough to be studied critically. This is a repost. Very few of the links in this feature work in 2o25.
It started out with a tweet, about a symposium, Critical Becky Studies: Critical Explorations of Gender, Race, and the Pedagogies of Whiteness. Soon, I was googling CBS. The paywall protected Wall Street Journal had an article on CBS. The seminal article was at City Journal, Racial Resentment As Pedagogy. The CBS flap originated at 2019 AERA Annual Meeting, sponsored by American Educational Research Association.
@chamblee54 @CityJournal @maxeden99 There was no link to this event in your article. I suspect this is a hoax. Please provide a link to the location on the event guide, for “critical becky studies.” The AERA conference guide is a confusing academic labyrinth. After a while, I clicked on the correct link, and found a way to search for whiteness pedagogy.
CBS is real. “In the tradition of speculative fiction, parable, and counterstorytelling within critical race theory, this session aims to problematize the characterization of “Becky,” a term specific to white women who engage whiteness, often in gendered ways. This characterization is relevant to education by critically examining who is Becky and how she is characterized, her positionality in education, and how the hope for diversity, inclusion, equity, and racial justice within the P-20 educational pipeline is impacted by Becky. … tied to the gendered and raced mechanisms of whiteness enacted by Becky. ”
The symposium featured the presentation of several papers. If, after reading this feature, you want to learn more about these papers, you can follow the links.
This Ain’t No “Wizard of Oz,” Becky “The chapter is a parable in the spirit of speculative fiction, about the fictional (mis)adventures of Becky in the land of Ny as she faces obstacles that she can only overcome by grappling with her own whiteness.”
Two Woke Beckys? “Although both Sheila and Erika slip into different whiteness performances during their conversation, including passive aggressiveness and tone policing, white innocence, and white saviority, they check each other and delve into how they each have and are employing whiteness, despite their desires to rid themselves of whiteness, albeit through different means. …”
Love in the Time of Beckyism “… a particular white heterofeminine citizen-subject popularly known as “Becky,” … Despite “progressive” commitments such as equality, and social justice; and sentimental responses to historical atrocities and current social events, these (conditional) protestations made by Becky serve as a hedonistic mechanism for image management that hinges on the exploitation and social death of people of color. …” How can a teacher preparation program work to rethink the episteme and ethos that socializes Beckyism?”
Book Club Becky: White Racial Bonding in the Living Room “Many liberal white women gather monthly for book clubs … This paper reveals the more insidious workings of these spaces, as they are places where white women bond in order to maintain their place in white patriarchy, what Christine Sleeter named white racial bonding. The conversations that take place, the women who are included as “educated,” and the spaces where they meet are laced with white supremacy and surveillance.”
Border Becky “… why white women still invest in whiteness. Using the term “Becky” establishes an academic backing that can be applied and analyzed when researching the pathology of whiteness. … whiteness manifests in classrooms riddled with white women seeking to prove how they are not like other racist white people. Becky in the counterstories demonstrates the character-like roles white women play in a white supremacist folklore.”
It was a busy weekend for whiteness pedagogy. Ekemini Uwan shocked a Christian conference with her remarks about whiteness. “So then when we talk about white identity, then we have to talk about what whiteness is. Well, the reality is that whiteness is rooted in plunder, in theft, in slavery, in enslavement of Africans, genocide of Native Americans, … It’s a power structure, that is what whiteness is, and so that the thing for white women to do is you have to divest from whiteness because what happened was that your ancestors actually made a deliberate choice to rid themselves of their ethnic identity and by doing so they actually stripped Africans in America of their ethnic identity. … Because we have to understand something – whiteness is wicked. It is wicked. It’s rooted in violence, it’s rooted in theft, it’s rooted in plunder, it’s rooted in power, in privilege … ”
Today’s images are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the facebook photograph in August 1940. “Mormon farm family, members of FSA dental cooperative, in dentist’s office. Tremonton, Box Elder County, Utah” We do not know if any of these ladies were named Becky. UPDATE @chamblee54 I found the link. My apologies for doubting you. @maxeden99 No worries. I couldn’t have made it up if I tried :)
Flaunt Of The Sunshine
Fact checking spurious quote by Walt Whitman, using search target “sunshine.” Sunshine appeared six times in “Leaves of Grass” · Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask—lie over! · O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song! · Sunshine, storm, cold, heat, forever withstanding, passing, carrying, · No women looking on nor sunshine to bask in, it did not conclude with applause, · A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken’d me, · Sunshine upon the mountains—many a distant strain · To the cities and farms I sing as they spread in the sunshine before me.
Douglas Murray made a snide comment about Darryl Cooper. … Rogan: Have you ever absorbed any of his material, have you ever consumed any of his podcasts or anything like that? Murray: I tried it’s pretty hard to listen to somebody who says “I don’t know what I’m talking about but now I’m going to talk or I don’t know about this or I’m not capable of debating this historian but I’m going to just tell you what I think.” If you listen to a minute of “Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem” you will know this is not true.
@Drabblecast If you submitted something to us, we want to let you know that we are behind on our 90 day turn around time. Some things happened behind the scenes (turns out that when your shadow beckons you to follow a hallway that you don’t remember being there, you will get VERY lost). @chamblee54 Your tweet had 53 words/291 characters. This is 47 words short of a drabble. We are in the middle of the story. Drabblecaster followed his shadow into a hallway and got VERY lost. This is a handy metaphor for the United States economy right now.
041225 – 1641 Saturday afternoon I am sitting in the Marta parking lot, waiting for Mac to get to the station. It has been a good afternoon. I was downloading Bob Dylan albums, (one two three four) while listening to “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Hippies.” … Episode 113, September 3, 1968, Guests: Lewis Yablonsky, Ed Sanders, Jack Kerouac.” There was a tasty quote from Mr. Keruoac: “I said there are people who make a a rule of creating chaos so that once the chaos is under way they can then be elected as the people who take care of the chaos” …””I said there are people who make a a rule of creating chaos so that once the chaos is under way they can then be elected as the people who take care of the chaos.”
The fbf sent me this image in a dm. It is a link to a video. The caption read “TRUMP BROUGHT RACISM TO THE POLICE …” This all-caps screed forced me to reply. “Hey. This image rubs me the wrong way. I don’t appreciate Trump-bashing. I don’t like the man, but nonstop trumptrashtalk is part of the reason the idiot is in the White House. I don’t like ALL CAPS talk about racial dysfunction, especially when this shouting is done to spread hatred. While I do not appreciate police excesses, I also realize they have a tough, dirty, necessary job.”
A fbf recently cited Matthew 10:33 to make a point. … 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. … Fbf did not mention what Jesus said next. (Fbf assumes that Jesus really did say these things.) … 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
When you post to allpoetry, they require you to comment on two other poems · Obsolescence is the ontological result of hematologist vampire conscience struggle with morphodite baseball · my only regret is that I have but one **** to give for my country · money wise, sex wise, knowledge wise, technology wise” These are all oxymorons · this is what Hunter S Thompson meant when he said “buy the ticket, take the ride” · “And called him **** ” Jesus has the curse of being remembered in a culture that will not spell out what he was called. … The pictures are from The Library of Congress. John Collier took the photographs in November 1942. Pittsburgh PA (vicinity). Montour no. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. Miner’s wife, who is an Office of Civilian Defense first aid nurse. · selah
Conspiracist Part Three
After posting Conspiracist Part Two, I posted Thoughts on Conspiracy at r/ContraPoints. “Conspiracist Part Two is a blog post about a recent entertainment from Natalie Wynn, aka Contrapoints. Collating the many trains of thought into coherent content proved to be a challenge. While generating some traffic to the post, this notice received little positive attention. Later, this appeared: “Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/ContraPoints.” u/2mock2turtle made an uncharitable comment. This has been consistent with my experience at other sub-reddits, with mods making arbitrary deletions based on whatever the rules are that day.
For national poetry month, I post an old poem every day. Today, it was an autobiographical piece, Wanted To Sleep. There were some revisions over the years, and I had the bright idea to update the slide show today. It was opening a can of worms. The font I used in 2018 is no longer in my machine. Fortunately, I downloaded a copy. I kept remembering lines to update as I went along, finally reshooting 4 captions. Make the new images, collate the with the old, and post to wordpress. God is in the details, or maybe it is Satan. …
This involves copying everything, and then keeping track of what is where. Enter the whole thing in the library, and create a new file for the phone. It is rather taxing on my mental health, even without googling dow jones every time I open a browser to see how bad the stock market crash is. Apr 3, 11:08 AM EDT • Disclaimer • −1,586.92 (3.76%)today • 40,638.40 • OK, one nervous breakdown at a time. I have done everything necessary for today’s npm post. It is time to stretch, and go for my walk.
The latest episode of You Must Remember This is about George Cukor, who directed the movie version of “My Fair Lady.” A condition for getting the rights to MFL was that the Jack Warner needed to hire Cecil Beaton, an old queen who did not like old queen Cukor. There is a delicious quote. It seems as though Mr. Beaton went to one of Mr. Cukor’s fabulous pool parties. Mr. Beaton “was sickened by … a scene when a fair young Adonis massaged the back of George’s shoulders so violently that his gray-haired covered breasts wobbled like jellies.”
Here is more from/about r/ContraPoints. · u/2mock2turtle “Let’s assume this wasn’t written by AI, just for fun.” · @brocade.bsky.social “I immediately stopped reading the moment you brought up numerology. I honestly think people like you should be institutionalized.” · @chamblee54.bsky.social is tagged as a “Jesse Singal Follower” · @chamblee54.bsky.social ”1:46:23 into “Conspiracy”, Natalie is sharing an unidentified red liquid with a crude mannequin that resembles Hillary Clinton. This is not the only time the former FLOTUS is compared to a crude mannequin.” · @southernviolet.bsky.social “How can you be so god damned stupid” – Natalie.”
freedom illusion · becomes just the scenery · pull back curtains eat … This reduction is based on social commentary product by Frank Zappa. The fun started when the image was posted to r/Zappa u/East-Caterpillar-895 What the fuck is this low quality AI bullshit? · u/ResurrectedMortician Have you ever had a dream that that you um you had you’d you would you could you’d do you wi you wants you you could do so you … · u/PAXM73 As a fellow collage artist, Zappa fanatic, and big fan of that quote: nice work! Timely too. … Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Arthur S. Siegel took the facebook picture in August 1942. “Interlochen, Michigan National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Dance jamboree on Monday night”
Is Dennis Prager Dennis The Menace?
Why Are So Many Good Things Being Destroyed? is a recent offering from public nuisance Dennis Prager. It is a doozy. If you want to see the video, you can follow the link. Prager University (PU) has a transcript, and a study guide. The original concept of this post was to work with the study guide, and answer questions like “Why do you think that the Left destroyed the Boy Scouts?” Before we could get to those questions, there is an internet rumor to consider.
Did Dennis the Menace grow older, and become Dennis Prager? As some of you know, cartoonist Hank Ketcham really did have a son named Dennis. “The comic-strip Dennis was conceived … in 1950 … Alice Ketcham stormed into his studio, fuming “Your son is a menace!”
“But the years have not been as kind to Dennis, the cowlicked kid who innocently launched a cartoon empire. Now 46 (in 1993), he works as a tire retreader, living with his second wife, Janet, a part-time office cleaner, in a trailer park in Grove City, Ohio, just south of Columbus.
It is more than just geography and lifestyle, though, that distance father and son. For the past 28 years, they have barely seen each other and spoken only occasionally by phone. “I hear from Dennis about once a year, mostly when he needs money,” says Hank tersely. “I don’t want a closer relationship—nor do I want a confrontation.” “Dad can be like a stranger,” counters Dennis, who has never met his two half-siblings. …
” … Alice meanwhile … became an alcoholic. In 1959 she filed for divorce, and as her condition deteriorated, Dennis, then 12, was sent to a boarding school near Carmel. “I didn’t know what was going on,” says Dennis, “except that I felt Dad wanted me out of the way.” A few months after he left for school, his mother died from an accidental overdose of alcohol and barbiturates at the age of 41.”
“Shaken by his wife’s sudden death, Hank could not bring himself to break the news to Dennis over the phone. Nor could he even tell him in person—until shortly after Alice had been buried. “Mom had always been there when I needed her,” says Dennis. “I would have dealt with losing her a lot better had I been able to attend her funeral. …”
“…In 1966 he joined the Marines; during his subsequent year-long tour of duty in Vietnam, he says, “my grandmother and aunt sent me letters. But never Dad.” … Discharged in 1970, Dennis underwent three months of counseling for post-traumatic stress syndrome at a VA hospital and drifted through a succession of jobs—ranch hand, poultry-farm worker, prison guard.”
Meanwhile, Dennis Prager was born August 2, 1948 into an Orthodox Jewish family in New York City. Through various twists and turns, he became a radio star. Mr. Prager, known for hawkish military opinions, apparently did not serve in the United States military. This contrasts to Dennis Ketcham’s service in Vietnam. In all probability, Dennis Prager is not Dennis the Menace.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the pictures in April, 1941. Russell Lee took the facebook photograph in April 1941. “Wife of railroad worker feeding her children. Chicago, Illinois” This is a repost.
Uncle Slaughter Is Offended
It’s amazing today. Things picked up steam after my morning walk, when I stumbled on to the Houthi PC special group, aka HPCSG. They were discussing plans for the attack on Yemen. This attack on Yemen is incredibly foolish. Saudi Arabia/UAE, With American support, had a horrific war against Yemen for many years. We threw everything we could at Yemen. The thing is, their bomb launching facilities, and storage areas, are underground. The Yemeni war machine was not impacted by the slaughter going on aboveground. Yemen supports the Palestinians in their current struggle with Israel. Uncle Slaughter is offended.
Sally Struthers is on the Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. SAS describes the experience of being in a Stage production of The Odd Couple. Her costar, who SAS referred to as whoseburger, was a famous actress that SAS hated, and refused to say her name. GGMCP was playing on my ride home one afternoon. While I was waiting on my falafel plate to be ready, I googled SAS. Whoseburger turned out to be Rita Moreno, who had her fifteen minutes in “West Side Story,” back in the black and white tv days. SAS survived both TOC and Archie Bunker.
nyc.gov has a page, health-topics/safe-bris. If you go there, you learn about Metzitzah B’peh (Direct Oral Suctioning). “When a baby is circumcised, some ritual Jewish circumcisers (mohelim) do a practice called metzitzah b’peh. Metzitzah b’peh is when the mohel uses their mouth to suck blood away from the baby’s circumcision wound as part of the circumcision ritual. After metzitzah b’peh, some babies can get an infection. … To protect the health of New York City’s infants, the Commissioner of Health has ordered mohelim identified as having infected a baby with HSV-1 through metzitzah b’peh to not perform this …”
I finally went to the gym. Once there, I did my usual routine and moved onto the cardio machine. The entertainment today is Conspiracy, the new Contrapoints entertainment. CP is basically Natalie Wynn talking about what ever comes into her estrogenated mind. NW … no middle name, this is a trans identity, with her dead name an ungoogleable mystery … CP/NW is that unique youtuber makes use of the visual elements that are available. Most youtubewhiners are mere talking heads. Natalie is the exception, with fabulous sets and costumes. CP needs to be seen, which can be …
I copied the link to Conspiracy, and the seconds count in the code said 6383s. The entertainment had been going on for 6383s, or 1:46:23. I decided it would be fun to set the counter to 6666s, or 1:51:06. This will be followed by 6 seconds of action, from a tv crime show. Four people … three of whom are alive … are in a medical setting. The nurse shows a model of a human body part. Natalie comments “The framing of a police procedural provides a legitimate context that gives us permission to indulge”
It is the end of the day. I meditate until the alarm goes off, pull my mask off, turn the music off, and get ready to call it a day. It has been a good day. I didn’t get hit over the head or arrested. I saw some of the video with Contrapoints and made a video clip … it was about some conspiratorial bilge saying that the Democrats tried to kill Donald Trump. Natalie’s comment: “Imagine the Democrats attempting something as proactive as an assassination.” Or as organized as getting Thomas Crooks an unguarded roof, 400 yards … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the facebook photograph in January 1941. “Old buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana”
Conspiracist
I was listening to a show, and the host quoted Dolly Rebecca Parton. “Figure out who you are. Then do it on purpose.” I made a note on my phone, and went on with my walk. Later, I went to google for “Dolly Parton the meaning of life” Predictably, the bot said “The meaning of life lies in God, family, and music, in that order.” DRP knows her audience. She also knows a good line, and remembers it for later use. It would probably be easier to find out when she did not say a quote, than when she did.
It can be so discouraging. I see a beautiful meme, expressing a great thought, from someone that I admire. When I try to find a source, I find problems. … This meme is a miracle. It is real. In 1885, Vincent Willem van Gogh sent a letter to painter Anthon van Rappard, while he was caught up in creating “The Potato Eaters”. “A somewhat different translation of the key sentence appeared in volume three of “The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh” … “I am always doing what I can’t do yet in order to learn how to do it.”
Quote Sourcing might be the handle I have been looking for. When I see a quote … typically in a technicolor facebook meme … my instinct is to check it out. Unfortunately, memes do not lend themselves to copy/pasting text, So I have to type out the good words. I paste them into a google search, and see what happens. Quote debunking, investigation, authentication, and research have style issues. When I look into a quote, the core activity is finding a source. When you find the source, you can move on to attribution, authenticity, context and proper use.
“this place was you know founded as good trouble so you could call it the First Existentialist Congregation of good trouble ” This congregation is housed in a granite building on Candler Park Drive. As you may know, that house was built by Black people, before they were forced to move. I doubt very seriously that the original worshipers at that house would refer to their eviction as “good trouble.” What is GT to the good troublemaker is often seen by others as just plain trouble. While GT can have a positive effect, we should be careful that often GT only makes things worse.
Various high level actors in the Trump Administration were discussing military action against Yemen. The discussion was in an online venue, “Houthi PC small group.” Included in HPCSG was Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist at “The Atlantic.” … “the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” … NSC spokesman Brian Hughes: “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
The HPCSG story keeps getting better. On X, @michaelgwaltz is following @slim_sexy_trey aka Big Dick Bottom. A fair minded person might say, maybe this is another Michael Waltz. So you go to his site, and see his pinned post. ” @michaelgwaltz I am deeply honored President Trump is placing his trust in me to serve in his Cabinet as National Security Advisor. There is no higher calling than defending our nation’s values …” Meanwhile, @slim_sexy_trey ( Sexual Entertainment & Recreation _ Georgia USA) has not tweeted since January 6, 2025, and before that May 15, 2024. We do not know when @michaelgwaltz followed him.
In her video ”Conspiracy,” Contrapoints puts large font words on the screen. To a compulsive anagrammer like myself, this is an irresistible temptation. One is Conspiracism, anagramming into racism_cop_sin. This may be the perfect anagram for talk about conspiracies, and the authoritarianism at the heart of it. Racism_cop_sin brings three powerful elements of our culture into play: racial dysfunction, religion, police. All three are forms of authority, although few recognize the authoritarian control function that racial dysfunction serves. Police play into most conspiracy/authority scenarios, as does the Christian church. The Illuminati could not improve on this. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marjory Collins took the facebook picture in February 1943. “New York NY Importer of Oriental and Italian foods on First Avenue at Tenth Street”
White Supremacy Culture
This is a repost from 2023. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in February 1940. “Son of Pomp Hall, Negro tenant farmer, feeding his father’s mule. Creek County OK.” “Really intense accusations” against journalists continue.
@jessesingal “2/ It is genuinely bizarre. In the case of journalists, they are making these really intense accusations against other journalists and they get super pissed when you ask them for specific examples.” @chamblee54 “Asking for specific examples is white supremacy culture.”@NotaNeoLiberal1 “And most certainly a trait from someone imbued with colonizer ideology.” The @chamblee54 comment got 115 likes. @dcherring “lol.”
“White Supremacy Culture is a form of racism centered upon the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds and that whites should politically, economically, and socially dominate non-whites. While often associated with violence perpetrated by the KKK and other white supremacist groups, it also describes a political ideology and systemic oppression that perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical and/or industrial white domination.” This is a typical description of WSC. It does not make a lot of sense. WSC is connected to WS, which is essentially anything that you say it is.
Most WSC talk centers this list of characteristics. It is from “Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, 2001.” There is a list of items that WSC embodies. “the belief that there is such a thing as being objective” “equating individual acts of unfairness against white people with systemic racism which daily targets people of color.”
@chamblee54 first became aware of WSC by reading about the PRX Racism Scandal. PRX is a foundation-funded organization that assists public radio endeavors. A young lady of color, Palace Shaw, quit her job at PRX, and issued a viral letter about her experience. PRX CEO Kerri Hoffman touching Palace Shaw’s hair was the first issue addressed in the viral letter. FWIW, this list of WSC characteristics does not include hair-touching.
“Everyone at PRX should know that each characteristic on the list of White Supremacy Culture Characteristics is fully expressed in the workplace … For current donors/financial supporters: How much would you be willing to increase your current pledge if PRX makes necessary changes to address its white supremacy culture?”
FWIW, Tema Okun, the author of White Supremacy Culture Resources, has second thoughts about the way her work is used. One article is hidden behind a message: “This is not a paywall.” There is no discussion on whether paywalls are a part of WSC.
Plastic
There was a much praised video about a Plastic Bag, that winds up in the Pacific Trash Vortex. The bag has a voice (supplied by uberkraut Werner Herzog), and goes looking for it’s “maker” (an unknown actress.) Today’s version: Plastic Bag (sottotitoli in italiano – voce di Werner Herzog)
The bag has a remarkable existence. First, it is used to carry tennis balls, then dog food, then to pick up the by product of dog food. This is remarkable in itself… the typical kroger bag, if it doesn’t get thrown away on arrival at home, will not be used for more than one chore. But this is a special bag.
After the secondary canine duty, the bag is thrashed. Somehow, it escapes from the municipal destination, and begins a wind propelled odyssey in search of “my maker.” After a while, it is on the beach, and the wind takes it into the ocean. It floats in the sea, has pieces bitten off my non nutrition conscious fish, and heads off for a legendary garbage nirvana.
Before long, the bag is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The GPGP is a bit north of Hawaii, and west of California. The bag movie was filmed in Wilmington, N.C. You should not think about this too long. At any rate, the bag is not happy in the GPGP, and moves on to greener pastures.
The next day, I go to a site called LISTVERSE. The letterman of the day is “top ten places you don’t want to visit”. Number ten on the list is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. GPGP is either the size of Texas or twice the size of the lower 48. It is a collection of debris, largely plastic, from the world. It is held in place by something called a gyre, which is a place where swirling ocean currents bump up against each other. Greenpeace has a neat little visual that illustrates this. … LISTVERSE is still publishing content in 2025.
Plastic is a petroleum by product, and has many benefits to our world. It’s durability is one of them, and also one of it’s negatives. (The fact that plastic is so cheap to make is another.) A plastic bag cast off into the environment simply does not disappear. Fish eat them, thinking it is good food, and die of starvation. (Does this affect the food chain?) While the film about the plastic bag is an exaggeration, the fact is that plastic is forever, and ever.
Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The featured photograph was taken April 21, 1969. “Mendel College for Fabric Knowledge” The poster is from Treehugger.com. This is a repost.
Chamblee54 
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