The Ta-Nehisi Coates Video
There is a video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone It is being praised to high heaven. PG has some issues with this entertainment. The transcript is from vox, Ta-Nehisi Coates has an incredibly clear explanation for why white people shouldn’t use the n-word. This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates gave an interview once, The Playboy Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. “The n$$$$$ thing? I understand if you’re black and you say, “Man, I had white people call me this shit all my life. … But that ain’t everybody’s experience. I’ve never had a white person call me a n$$$$$. I had somebody call me le négre here in France, but I was 38 years old and I couldn’t have cared less. It didn’t mean anything. So not all of us come out of that experience.”
The monolog starts off with a discussion about how some words are appropriate for some people to use, but others should not say them. “My wife, with her girl friend, will use the word bitch. I do not join in. You know what I’m saying? I don’t do that. I don’t do that. And perhaps more importantly, I don’t have a desire to do it.” The question arises: is his wife a four legged dog? Unless she is, then the b-word does not apply to her.
“Coates pointed to another example — of a white friend who used to have a cabin in upstate New York that he called “the white trash cabin.” “I would never refer to that cabin” in that way. I would never tell him, ‘I’m coming to your white trash cabin.’” Of course, a person with an upstate cabin is likely to be far removed from the trailer park. He is using *white trash* with irony, and would not be the least offended if TPC called it “the white trash cabin.”
“The question one must ask is why so many white people have difficulty extending things that are basic laws of how human beings interact to black people.” (Is TPC saying that black people are not human beings?) … “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you. You think you have a right to everything. … You’re conditioned this way. … the laws and the culture tell you this. You have a right to go where you want to go, do what you want to do, be however — and people just got to accommodate themselves to you.”
At this point, PG turned off the video in anger. He has never been taught that everything belongs to him. Nobody that PG knows has been taught that. PG does not know anyone who teaches that message. This is a lie. It makes PG not want to believe anything else that TPC says. Maybe there is some privilege/culture mumbo-jumbo that explains this concept.
Lets go back a minute to the white trash cabin. TPC does not want to use this phrase. And yet, he feels entitled to make a sweeping generalization like “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you.” It is wrong to say white trash, but ok to slander white people.
“So here comes this word that you feel like you invented, And now somebody will tell you how to use the word that you invented. ‘Why can’t I use it? Everyone else gets to use it. You know what? That’s racism that I don’t get to use it. You know, that’s racist against me. You know, I have to inconvenience myself and hear this song and I can’t sing along. How come I can’t sing along?’”
“The experience of being a hip-hop fan and not being able to use the word ‘n$$$$$’ is actually very, very insightful.” To begin with, why do you assume that PG is a hip hop fan? Many people think hip hop is garbage. If you are forced to listen to music that you do not enjoy, why would that make you want to use a forbidden word? The logic of TPC is falling apart, faster than the Falcons pass defense in the Super Bowl.
“It will give you just a little peek into the world of what it means to be black. Because to be black is to walk through the world and watch people doing things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do. So I think there’s actually a lot to be learned from refraining.”
If you are in the mood to get yelled at for a half hour, you can ask someone about “things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do.” There might be some. If you go along with the rhetoric so far, you will probably believe what you hear. You might even understand why not using a nasty word will give you “a little peek into the world of what it means to be black.” As for PG, he seriously doubts this. He is not someone who says that this video is “an incredibly clear explanation for why white people shouldn’t use the n-word.”
Once upon a time, cigarettes were advertised on television. One new brand was a cigarette for women, Virginia Slims. The ability to kill yourself with tobacco was presented as being a privilege. Some wondered why women would want to take up this filthy habit. Today, African Americans have the privilege of using the n-word. What a deal. A nasty word, which degrades both the speaker, and the spoken of. Why would anyone want to use that word?
If you don’t have anything good to say, you can talk about the n-word. This *trigger* word is an aphrodisiac for the american body politic. Recently Ta-Nehisi Coates performed in a video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone There is much praise for this entertainment, like this: @SneakerWonk “#TaNehisiCoates has an incredibly clear #explanation for why #whitepeople shouldnt use the #nword.” PG has a few paragraphs, about this video, in the text above.
PG has written about racism, anti-racism, and racial attitudes on many occasions. People get angry, and call PG rude names. He must be doing something right. Later, there was a double feature about James Baldwin. In the first half, Mr. Baldwin expresses a few opinions about that word. In the second half, PG substituted racist for the magic word, with interesting results.
One item that keeps coming up is speculation about who invented the n-word. Negro means black in Spanish, and is derived from a latin word. The Oxford English Dictionary has some usages going back to 1577. “1577 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. (new ed.) 389 The Massagetes bordering vpon the Indians, and the Nigers of Aethiop [Sp. los negros en Ethiopia], bearing witnesse. ~ 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft vii. xv. 153 A skin like a Niger. ~ 1608 A. Marlowe Let. 22 June in E. India Co. Factory Rec. (1896) I. 10 The King and People [of ‘Serro Leona’] N$$$$$$, simple and harmless.
The TPC video is based on the concept that white people want to use the magic word, but should not. This assumes a great deal. Chamblee54 published a piece about the n-word, that spelled out why he does not like to use this noun/verb/adjective/adverb/interjection. Here are four reasons for a white person to refrain from saying america’s favorite dirty word.
1- The n-word hurts people’s feelings. PG has known many fine Black people. He does not want to say anything that will hurt these people.
2- Being heard saying the n-word can cause all sorts of problems. This can include physical retribution, loss of employment, lawsuits, and having to listen to enough loud angry words to make you wish you had never learned how to talk.
3- It is not a fair fight. There is no equivalent phrase for a Black Person to say to a White person. Why give that power to another group of people … to turn you into a mass of incoherent rage, just for hearing a six letter word. The closest thing is “Cracker”, which PG only recently found out was an insult. There used to be a minor league baseball team, the Atlanta Crackers.
4- The use of the n-word demeans the user. When you say an insulting word about another human being, you make yourself look bad. For a Black person, using the n-word degrades them as the object, as well as the speaker. Why would a person would want to do that?
The Deadliest Interstate In America
This is a repost from 2015. Someone has put together an internet feature, The 10 deadliest interstates in America, mapped. To the surprise of nobody, either ITP or OTP, the winner is I-285. “Stretching a little under 75 miles in Georgia, I-285 had 26 fatal accidents in 2013.” Actually, the Perimeter Highway runs 62 miles, so the margin of victory may be even greater.
The study was based on fatal accidents in 2013. 32,719 people met their maker in automobile accidents that year. The majority was on surface roads. For the sake of handy analysis, Interstates were chosen for this study. The rankings were based on the number of accidents per mile. Most of the roads in the top ten were “beltways” and spur roads. I-4 in Florida is the only state wide freeway to make the honor roll. The report is based on information from Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS.) Statistic geeks should exercise caution when accessing this site.
Here is the top ten. 1. I-285, Georgia, 2. I-710, California, 3. I-240, Oklahoma, 4. I-495, Delaware, 5. I-240, Tennessee, 6. I-295, Florida, 7. I-410, Texas, 8. I-610, Texas, 9. I-4, Florida, 10. I-215, California. Texas, California, and Florida were the three bloodiest states.
There is a graphic, showing where the I-285 accidents occurred. Some hot spots include the areas around I-20 west, Hwy 400, and Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Despite the bad reputation of Cobb County drivers, relatively few fatal Perimeter accidents occurred in the Big Chicken county.
The award winning performance by I-285 comes as little surprise to many in the metro area. It was originally intended to be a low traffic bypass for people going to Florida. As the metro area has grown, the Perimeter highway has become a heavily used thoroughfare. Interstate trucks are required to use the Perimeter when they go through the area. Several of the interchanges have been upgraded, with the infamous Spaghetti Junction taking a prize. You are known to be taking your life in your hands when you travel on I-285. However, it is essentially the only way to navigate many journeys.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Deadnaming
Joe Rogan went on a “woke culture” rant the other day, and said this: “you know what else you banned for … you know what will get you banned for life … dead naming … do you know a deadnaming is … if you call Caitlyn Jenner Bruce … banned for life … for life damn ridiculous this is what we’re living in” This set off the bs detector in PG’s fevered mind. As soon as you could say George Jorgenson, PG went to google. This is a repost from 2019.
Does twitter permanently ban people for deadnaming? (Deadnaming is using a trans person’s per-transition name.) As they say at snopes, the result is a mixture, half true, half false. Yes, twitter has changed its rules, and deadnaming is no longer permitted. However, it is not clear how strictly it is being enforced. The one case people like to talk about is Meghan Murphy. Ms. Murphy seems to be a nasty piece of work, who went out of her way to make trouble. She is not a typical case. There are no statistics on how many people have been “banned for life for deadnaming.” G-d is in the details.
Twitter has indeed changed its rules. They will be quoted in the next four paragraphs. If you want to skip over, you will be excused. “Hateful conduct: You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
“We recognise that if people experience abuse on Twitter, it can jeopardize their ability to express themselves. Research has shown that some groups of people are disproportionately targeted with abuse online. This includes; women, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual individuals, marginalized and historically underrepresented communities.” (Women are an estimated 50.8% of the population. If you add the other groups, you wind up with a sizeable majority of the population. You create a situation where white, cis, straight males are the marginalized underrepresented community.)
“We prohibit targeting individuals with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
“When determining the penalty for violating this policy, we consider a number of factors including, but not limited to the severity of the violation and an individual’s previous record of rule violations. For example, we may ask someone to remove the violating content and serve a period of time in read-only mode before they can Tweet again. Subsequent violations will lead to longer read-only periods and may eventually result in permanent account suspension. If an account is engaging primarily in abusive behavior, or is deemed to have shared a violent threat, we will permanently suspend the account upon initial review.”
Twitter is a private company, which some say it is a public utility. These rules have inspired many discussions. It is always easy to point out examples of hypocrisy, and uneven treatment. Some of these objections are valid. Has anyone been banned for saying you should “Punch a Nazi”?
This *woke up call* has a New York Times editorial, How Twitter’s Ban on ‘Deadnaming’ Promotes Free Speech. In an ironic touch, this piece about “Free Speech” is hidden behind a pay-wall. For the savvy blogger, a pay-wall is no more effective than a border-wall.
“As a transgender woman, I find it degrading to be constantly reminded that I am trans and that large segments of the population will forever see me as a delusional freak. Things like deadnaming, or purposely referring to a trans person by their former name, and misgendering — calling someone by a pronoun they don’t use — are used to express disagreement with the legitimacy of trans lives and identities. … Kenan Malik argued that banning misgendering will shut down debate on trans issues and strike a blow to free speech. But in fact, the content free-for-all chills speech by allowing the dominant to control the parameters of debate, never letting discussion proceed past the pedantic obsession with names and pronouns.”
The last quote raises more questions than it answers. Who is “the dominant”? Maybe this discussion is about who will be “the dominant” in the next round of the debate. And as for pedantic obsession with names and pronouns… does anyone have a recipe for that can of worms?
The NYT piece had another zesty quote, from certified poopyhead Ben Shapiro. “Is this framework useful? Perhaps Trump is a racist. Perhaps not. Either way, we can have a productive conversation about whether particular Trump statements or actions are racist. But we can’t have a productive conversation that starts from the premise that Trump is a racist overall, and that every action he takes and every statement he makes is therefore covered with the patina of racism. That conversation is about insults, not truth.” Should perceived racial values be a protected category? That is a topic for another discussion. This one has gone on long enough.
To sum things up, Twitter has changed its rules to prohibit transgender trash talk. They probably have good intentions for doing this. It remains to be seen whether these good intentions will lead to hell, or just back into messy everyday life. Twitter is a work in progress, and some well meaning changes run into trouble. It is theoretically possible to get banned for saying Bruce, one time. It does not appear to be happening, yet. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
If I Had A Hammer
@itstimetowrite “#writingprompt Pick 3 objects around you at random. The first item is a character’s portal, the other their prize, the last is their crutch. Interpret this, figuratively or literally, into the genre of your choice. #amwriting #writingcommmunity” The first object that PG picked up was an orange. It was sitting on the desk. Since PG was going to eat the orange, he substituted a paper clip. Since the instructions say “around you,” the many promising items on the desk will be ignored.
PG turns 270 degrees, and finds a “QUICK START GUIDE” on the shelf. It is a booklet, 2″ x 5″, with basic instructions for JBL TUNE 215 TWS ear buds. This has sat on the shelf since the device was purchased, and will probably be discarded once this exercise is complete.
The utility shelf on the wall behind PG is the next stop. A tube of equate athlete’s foot cream cream is chosen. 95% of the product has been removed from the container. A flat object has rubbed the side of the tube, driving the remaining Clotrimazole in the direction of the dispensing orifice. It is not known how many more applications of the prophylactic compound remain in the tube.
The character today is Paulie DePape, a California hammer enthusiast. Paulie was so excited about his latest purchase that he went to see his mentor. Unfortunately, it was 2:30 am, and the mentor was busy putting his cell phone in the bathroom to charge. Paulie tried to get into the San Francisco mansion, using the paper clip as a portal. It did not work, and Paulie broke into the residence with his new hammer. The new device was magical indeed … when Paulie broke the laminated glass on the back door, the glass fell back on the patio.
Paulie looked in his pockets, and found the “QUICK START GUIDE.” In his hammer-headed state of mind, Paulie opened the QSG, and realized that he already knew what it said. He turned the QSG over, and saw the fine print instructions in a variety of exotic languages. This was not much of a prize. Paulie held his mentor’s domineering wife responsible. Paulie grabbed his hammer, screamed “Where’s Nancy,” and ran up the stairs.
At this point, Paulie tripped over his hammer, and injured his leg. He would need a crutch to complete his mission, but all he had was an 95% empty tube of Walmart Athlete’s foot goo. Paulie quickly realized that the tube would be useless as a crutch.
By this time, the police had been notified. The mentor answered the door, and then tried to grab the hammer away from Paulie. He was very proud of his new hammer, and angry at Nancy for giving him a QSG as a prize. Paulie snatched the hammer away, and proceeded to brain the mentor. The police interrupted this procedure, and took Paulie into custody. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.”
Terrible Family Vacation
@howboutyouwrite “what if the collapse of the world trade center took place during a terrible family vacation” … Most americans were at at either work, or school, on the morning of September 11, 2001. For many people, these institutions provide a family of sorts. Highly dysfunctional in many cases, full of people that you cannot get away from fast enough when you can. You can learn something, or make money, or take up space.
For me, nine-eleven was a blueprint shop on West Peachtree Street. The man across the room was the worst co-worker in my experience. An loud, aggressive Jesus worshiper, who used his religion as a weapon to fight his battles. The whole business gave me a PTSD of sorts, and it makes me unhappy to talk about today … just like a terrible family vacation (TFV).
A vacation is either too short, or too long. It is defined by time off from your everyday assignment. You either go somewhere, or remain in place … a “staycation.” In a sense, America was the TFV. Mom and dad were perpetually on the verge of divorce. Big brother was on dope, with a looming court date. Sister was on dope, terminally depressed, and spent her days watching soap operas. You were newly sober, and not sure how you fit in to all of this.
In a writing prompt, you have the option of saying it does not work, and moving on. This was not the case on nine-eleven. In the case of TFV, mom can threaten to call off the trip if you two don’t quit fighting. Maybe that is the best alternative. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. They were taken at Irwinville Farms, Georgia, May 1938. The photographer was John Vachon.
Expensify
The story was getting attention, not all of it good. “Expensify urges millions of users to vote for Biden in email blast” The company “is the world’s leading application for expense management, receipt scanning, and business travel.” This is a repost from 2020.
@expensify “Yes, we emailed all users.” Apparently, the company has upwards of 10m email addresses on file. The message in question urged users, in very strong terms, to vote for Joe Biden.
“… the only way to ensure a peaceful transition of power is to ensure this election is an overwhelming, undeniable landslide in favor of Biden. Any excuse to question the election is an opportunity for Trump to refuse to leave the White House, plunging this country into a Constitutional crisis bordering on civil war. No matter how slight that risk might be, the consequences of it happening would be so catastrophic to society and the economy, we need to do all we can to prevent it.”
Not everyone is pleased with this email blast. PG felt alienated from the Biden campaign after hearing about this clumsiness. He feels that this message is going to have the effect of turning undecided voters to President Trump. PG has already voted, and is unlikely to be persuaded by this type of nonsense. Others might react differently.
@papawhit210 “Calling on all CEO’s to cancel their subscriptions to @expensify for a serious breach of business ethics by using secure business emails for a personal political agenda. #Expensify” Mixing business and politics has long been frowned upon. This email blast involves the use of email addresses used for business communications. Many see this message as being a violation of trust.
@CSteckroth “I guess the CEO is exempt from abiding by the guidelines set in Expensify’s EULA. This is not integrity, this is abuse of customer data.” This tweet has a photo selection from the Terms of Service. “As part of your use of the Expensify Service, you agree not to do any of the following: … Send any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail or junk messages, spam, chain letters or other form of solicitation …”
“A vote for Trump is to endorse voter suppression, it really is very basic. This isn’t about party politics: if Biden were advocating for half of the voter suppression that Trump is actively doing, then I’d be fighting against Biden, too. This is bigger than politics as usual: this is about the very foundation of our nation.” Voter suppression is presented as the number one reason to vote against President Trump. This tactic worked very well for Stacey Abrams.
The truth is that elections are locally governed. In Georgia, the majority of election administration is done by the counties. Other states may be different. The federal government has very little impact on the way elections are conducted. President Trump could not suppress the vote, even if he wanted to.
While the email did not mention race, we should note that racism is a key part of voter suppression culture. Calling President Trump a racist is a proud tradition with Democrats. Is warning about civil war a dog whistle, saying that President Trump is a racist?
@KathyGrosskurth “I deleted it without reading. Guess I need to read it to see what all the fuss is about! #Expensify” It is tough to say how much the #ExpensifyEmail will influence the election. Many people have already voted. Many, many more have their mind made up. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
UPDATE Expensify is still in business. A google search for Expensify politics does not have any matches for the last week. The Expensify stock price appears to be falling.
Poetry Saves Time
There is another Marilyn Monroe story floating around. “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.”
Poetry Daily seems to think the quote is legitimate. “That great aesthete and reader Marilyn Monroe once said: “I read poetry because it saves time.” In the age of Twitter, and other tweet-like utterances from all sorts of birdies, not to mention attention deficit disorder on an epidemic national scale, it’s refreshing to find poetry that both saves time and enlarges it. “
PG applied the wikiquotes test. Miss Monroe said in Look Magazine, March 5, 1957, “I’ve been on a calendar, but never on time.” Many people who worked with her agree.
Wikiquots also has a telegram, sent to Bobby and Ethel Kennedy. Marilyn was widely rumored to be seeing Bobby. This was a few weeks before her untimely death. “”I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.” (Telegram from Marilyn Monroe declining a party invitation from Bobby and Ethel Kennedy. June 13, 1962.)
A google investigation into the poetry quote led to Did Marilyn Monroe really say all those philosophical quotes? This is in DataLounge, where you “… get your fix of gay gossip, news and pointless bitchery.” The question on top of the thread was “I notice that the must fucked up of my female friends absolutely worship Marilyn Monroe, and are forever quoting her. What’s up with that, and are all those quotes real?? by: Mrs. Johnstone”
There are 148 comments in the thread. Some say Marilyn was an airhead, and some say she was bright. There are some quotes, many of which are probably made up. There is a letter, supposedly written to Albert Einstein. Shelly Winters says the two might have had a special relationship.
“Were I to pursue physics instead of my first love, acting, I would attempt to solve these problems by understanding the reason for these discrete energy states, which are probably due to the fact that standing waves only exist at discrete frequencies. My theory would predict that energy exchanges will be discrete, as observed;… But as I said, I want to be an actress.”
Once, on the set of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell discussed embryological parallelism. Marilyn Monroe: Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Jane Russell: I was about to say the same thing.
One of the comments had a link to a fun story. Film legend Marilyn Monroe went to bed with fellow actress Joan Crawford – but the lesbian sexual experience only reaffirmed her attraction to men. Monroe left Joan gasping for more liaisons, much to Marilyn’s chagrin. Monroe described the encounter herself in conversations taped by her psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greeson, recordings which were obtained by the Los Angeles Times newspaper from former prosecutor John Miner, who helped investigate her death. Monroe said, “We went to Joan’s bedroom… Crawford had a gigantic orgasm and shrieked like a maniac. “Next time I saw Crawford she wanted another round. I told her straight I didn’t much enjoy doing it with a woman.”
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. HT to Andrew Sullivan.
Tulsi And Joe
@BrandonLBradfor “The larger your platform the more I think you have a moral obligation to the people that listen to you. I give Rogan criticism but he’s just an idiot that’s willing to talk to people, Kanye is a vindictive, desperate, dumbass, and don’t blame this on his mental health.” @chamblee54 “Actually, Joe R**** is an i**** who is willing to listen to people. Twitter questioned my first reply. I censored the two words that were possibly offensive. If listen is offensive, then I am in trouble.”
Joe Rogan Experience continues to be a popular feature, except with #selfrighteoustwitter. This week saw two guests that stood out. On Tuesday, JRE featured Tulsi Gabbard. On Wednesday, the guest was Rick Rubin. I listened to all three hours of the Rubin show.
Rick Rubin is a music producer, and around cool dude. He played a huge role in the rise of hip-hop, from Bronx parties to a worldwide phenomenon. His podcast, Broken Records, utilizes the long interview format, with music stars of all persuasion. Mr. Rubin is also well spoken, with a pleasant voice. Just turn on the microphone, and get out of the way
Tulsi Gabbard is a bit more complicated. Early in the show, Joe repeated an urban legend about teachers putting litter boxes in bathrooms, for students who identify as cats. The tale has been repeatedly discredited. Joe and Tulsi began talking about trans excesses. This is a legitimate subject for discussion, but had a rude tone here. Soon, I turned off the show in anger.
Tulsi was on JRE during the 2020 Presidential campaign. She did not seem to be electable, but made a lot of good points. Her primary issue was the damage done by wars of choice, and the military industrial complex. This is an issue that Democrats and Republicans, aka the Uniparty, seem to agree on. One gets the sense that the “culture war” issues are a distraction, taking attention away from the massive influx of borrowed warbucks.
Soon after this appearance, I went to a get together at Manuel’s Tavern. I mentioned that I liked Tulsi Gabbard, and her anti-war position. A voice at the other end of the table started to angrily shout. Tulsi Gabbard was a Russian asset, and a terrible, terrible person. This seems to be a popular opinion in Democratic circles. Genuine dissent must not be tolerated.
At some point in the conversation, Tulsi got onto the military industrial complex, and the War in Ukraine. Tulsi thinks we are headed for a nuclear comflict. A NYC psa was shown, about instructions for a nuclear disaster. The instructions were like the “duck and cover” drills from second grade. Hiding under your desk was going to protect you from radiation. Today’s non-planning for a potential nuclear war may mean the end of civilization as we know it.
Chamblee54 has written about Joe Rogan. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Bridget Phetasy
Joe Rogan Experience #1367 – Bridget Phetasy hit the ether last week. Miss Phetasy bills herself as Writer, Comedian, Verified Nobody. Her real name is Bridget Anna Walsh. The visit to the Rogan show was impressive. Three minutes in, Miss Phetasy made a meme worthy comment.
03:00 “I don’t blame myself for that happening but I do have to take responsibility for the fact that when you’re a woman or a girl and you’re out getting blacked out … bad things happen.” Where was this voice of reason during the Brock Turner circus? A young lady, with a history of blackout drinking, passes out behind a dumpster. This was scarcely mentioned in all the outrage about Brock Turner.
Before going further with this, we can mention a couple of youtube gadgets. If you look under the viewing window, you see three dots. If you click on those dots, you will be able to see a transcript of the show. You copy some of this text, and make a comment. If you put the time of the text in your comment, youtube will make a link to the text. That is how the link, at the start of the paragraph above, was made. The link goes directly to the “don’t blame myself” comment.
Bridget Phetasy is a cool person. She has a youtube show, Dumpster Fire. She likes to make fun of sjw goofiness … a topic that never runs out of material. At 3:48 of the latest episode, she dropped this tidbit: “moving on … clapping banned at Oxford University to stop people from being triggered” She ranted for a few minutes, leading up to this: “around this they banned clapping banned it like I’m gonna end up in the gulag someday fucking clapping I know by these people.”
PG had never heard of this, and wanted to know more. There were several tabloid articles, and this: ‘University of Oxford Clapping Ban’ Rumor. This is the danger of saying “google it.” Someone might find information that you don’t want them to find.
“The first Student Council meeting of the academic year, … passed the motion to mandate the Sabbatical Officers to encourage the use of British Sign Language (BSL) clapping, otherwise known as ‘silent jazz hands’ at Student Council meetings and other official SU events. … BSL clapping is used by the National Union of Students since loud noises, including whooping and traditional applause, are argued to present an access issue for some disabled students who have anxiety disorders, sensory sensitivity, and/or those who use hearing impairment aids.”
Clapping out loud is not banned. Nobody is going to the gulag for applauding. While some noise-weary people might appreciate the use of jazz hands, this ban is simply not going to happen. Bridget Phetasy does not always know what she is talking about. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The spell check suggestion for Phetasy is Pheasant. This is a repost.
Who Elects The Dog Catcher?
@realDonaldTrump Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts…. Our ever tweetable POTUS sent this message out today. It raises an important question: what municipality elects the animal control associate? Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
What an elected dogcatcher reveals about small-town America is the result from The Economist. “You’ve reached your article limit Sign up to keep reading or subscribe now to get the complete experience.” For $12, USD, you can get twelve weeks of this publication. There is no guarantee that you will learn anything about dog catcher politics.
Is dogcatcher actually an elective office? Slate wrote an article about this, when all they had to say was no. The author: “Christopher Beam is a writer living in Beijing.” This is a place where dog catchers are an important part of the restaurant supply chain.
A brief history of people who have actually been elected dog catcher The Washington Post tried a bit harder. They found newspaper clippings referring to elected dog catchers. Col. Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley, was said to have been elected dog catcher in Tampa FL. There is also the story of Bob White. He assured voters that even though he lost both legs, he would be able to perform the duties of dog catcher.
Duxbury VT keeps coming up in this search party. They have a town meeting every year, and the dog catcher is chosen by citizen vote. In the most recent town meeting, “dog catcher Zeb Towne, who was nominated almost unanimously for re-election, despite a “no” vote from his wife that cause laughter to erupt in the room. “She’s mad about the late nights I have to go out on those calls,” Towne said. “It’s because you’re out there rounding up them bitches,” This is a repost.
Winching The Dead
A recent post included the phrase “getting severely overweight dead people out of an apartment building.” Those are googling words. Most of the results are hand wringing about the number of overweight people. A couple of the results were worth clicking out.
The headline result is from Merry Olde England, which is becoming known as the fattest country in Europe. Fire service called in 50 times to winch fat people out.
“Paramedics in the West Midlands have had to call on their heavy-lifting emergency service colleagues, despite having extra equipment to help move extremely heavy patients themselves. Over a three-year period they called in West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service on 50 occasions, so the patients could be winched out with apparatus designed for lifting car wrecks. Sometimes morbidly obese patients, … can only be extracted from their homes after a window is taken out, say firefighters.
… Nick Harrison, chairman of the West Midlands Fire Brigades Union, said: “In most cases these people are quite elderly and are suffering from serious medical issues which have left them bedridden for a long time, and they have put on a lot of weight. “Many times we have to remove the whole window frame and get them out that way. It’s a lot safer both for them and for the rescuers.”
… Official statistics show the West Midlands to be the fattest region in Britain, which is itself the fattest major country in Europe. According to the Association of Public Health Observatories, about 25 per cent of adults in Britain are now clinically obese. In the West Midlands, the figure is 29 per cent. By comparison, across the European Union as a whole it is just 14 per cent. “
One of the commenters had a constructive suggestion: “The ‘feeders’ should be brought to court and punished. For every obese person there is one or more ‘feeders’, who shop, supply the food, help the person eat it etc. Being a ‘feeder’ should be a criminal offense.”
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Mrs. Betty Bowers
@BettyBowers needs to shut up. They were once funny. Unfortunately, comedians run out of things to make fun of. They start to piss on any target they can find. (Which they is singular, and which they is plural?) If your toes get stepped on, then it is your fault. Sooner or later, the whole thing gets annoying, and it is time for someone more obnoxious. This is a repost.
Hark! NEW VIDEO: Almost 20 Words & Expressions You Need to Humanely Euthanize Now. Glory! was released September 21. It appeared this week on facebook, allowing an unsuspecting PG to wallow in the putrescent glory. The screed features a score of obsolete language. So that you don’t have to watch the video, here they are: literally, actually, classy, voracious reader, alt-right, social justice warriors, antifa, snowflake, safe space, pc, values, patriot, exact same, wheelhouse, #fakenews, blessed, religious freedom, christian.
PG got through five of the forbidden words before his inner snowflake melted. The word was alt-right. Ultra conservatives have been around for years. When PG was a kid, it was the John Birch Society. It is one of the problems with free speech. People are going to say stupid things. With the internet, there are more ways to transmit this nonsense. One solution is to ignore the idiots, and move on.
Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian ranted for a bit about the alt-right. “English (pause) is not body spray to hide your odiousness.(drag out O) Don’t use vague words when precise ones already exist. For example, if you are a rapist, you are not “alt-yes”, you’re (pause,shake finger at camera) a (p,sfac) rapist. (p,sfac) And if you”re a racist, you’re not “alt-right,” you’re (p,sfac) a (p,sfac) racist”(p,sfac.) At this point, PG had to turn the video off. He got a lovely screen shot.
Mrs. Betty Bowers is a character played by Deven Green. “America’s Best Christian” is from Thompson, Manitoba. Yes, this white man, playing an American Christian woman, is Canadian. And they think you’re (p,sfac) a (p,sfac) racist. (p,sfac) Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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