Who Is Telling The Truth?
This is a repost from 2020. A grand jury presented its findings in the death of Breonna Taylor. Unlike many of the current shouters, I listened to the presentation by Attorney General Daniel Cameron. While his report is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, it did make two important points.
The police did knock, and announce themselves. Breonna Taylor was not asleep in bed. Ms. Taylor was standing in the hall. If Ms. Taylor had indeed been in bed, she might not have been hit by gunfire. Again, this assumes that the authorities are telling the truth.
The Tatum Report is a youtube channel. Officer Tatum has a investigative report about the Taylor shooting. I have been skeptical about this report. It turns out the Louisville Courier-Journal published excerpts from the same report August 25. UPDATE: Here is the 39 page report.
I was looking at a facebook discussion. Someone said that a body was found in a vehicle rented by Breonna Taylor. This seemed a bit far fetched. I googled it. This came up. This story is from a CBS affiliated TV station, not a youtube channel.
“The documents also alleged that back in 2016, the body of Fernandez Bowman was found in a car rented by Breonna Taylor. When LMPD detectives arrived at Taylor’s home to question her, (Jamarcus) Glover was there. Taylor told the detectives she did not know Bowman, that she had been dating Glover for several months and that she had let him drive the rental car. She also gave detectives her phone number, which was a number that Glover was still using as recently as February of this year, according to the documents. That homicide victim was the brother of Damarius Bowman, one of Glover’s “associates” who has been arrested with Glover numerous times, the report stated.”
WKYT mentions these documents appearing in the Courier-Journal. Another source has a .pdf of another Courier-Journal article, which will be used as a source of quotes below. For some reason, the cached Courier-Journal story does not include the “body in the rented car” item.
Before going further, we should note a few things. This was a preliminary report, that was leaked to the press. It is not guaranteed to be accurate or true. There are some recordings of phone calls made from jail. While this may technically be legal, it strikes some people as improper. Last, there were some other allegations in the report. There is camera footage, and documentary evidence. Many allegations of criminal behavior are made about Breonna Taylor. If the police officers had gone to trial, these allegations would have been brought up in court.
The .pdf has another version of the “body in the rented car” story. “The 39-page report says Taylor began dating Glover, known as “Chop,” in 2016, and in December that year, she let him borrow a car she rented. The next day, the body of Fernandez “Rambo” Bowman, 27, was found inside the vehicle. When police came to interview Taylor about it, Glover was at her apartment and she said she let Glover use the car. She said she did not know the victim, who was Demarius Bowman’s brother.”
“The Courier Journal confirmed that account through evidence filed in the case of the man charged in Bowman’s slaying — Quenton Se’Ville Hall, 38. It shows that Taylor rented the vehicle on Dec. 1, 2016. Fernandez Bowman was shot, allegedly by Hall, while driving the car, which crashed into a telephone pole, a fence and a house. Neither Taylor nor Glover was charged in Bowman’s death.”
This document has selections from recorded jail phone calls. After reading the 39 page report, I realized that these quotes were heavily edited. The real conversations are not as sensational. If you want to see some of the jailhouse phone calls, read the 39 page report. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
These Are The 10 Most
PG saw a facebook post from his cousin. It was about the town he lives in: Wilton Named 83rd Drunkest Place to Live in Connecticut: Report It was based on a bit of creative clickbait, These Are The 10 Drunkest Places In Connecticut. This is a repost.
The distibutor of this information is RoadSnacks. “RoadSnacks is based in Durham, NC. We aim to deliver infotainment about where you live that your real estate agent won’t tell you. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country.” Other information opportunities include: “TAT10 Poorest Places In Kentucky”, “TAT10 Drunkest Places In Pennsylvania”, “TAT10 Dumbest Cities In Illinois”, “TAT10 Cities In New Jersey With The Most Ashley Madison Accounts”, “TAT10 Snobbiest Places In Louisiana.”
When PG saw the initial TAT10, he wondered about Georgia. A google search was made for “TAT10 drunkest places in Georgia.” Apparently, RoadSnacks is still crunching the numbers on that one. Three enlightening features were available: TAT10 Most Dangerous Places In Georgia, TAT10 Most Ghetto Cities In Georgia, TAT10 Most Redneck Cities In Georgia.
TAT10 lists are not scientific. The criteria varies from study to study. (For more information, be sure to check the actual post.) In dangerous places, “If any places tied, we used the violent crime rank as a tiebreaker.” In ghetto and redneck, it seems to come down to the number of retail outlets. Ghetto was ranked by convenience stores, drug stores, beauty supply stores, and discount stores. Redneck is determined by dive bars, mobile home parks, tobacco stores, guns and ammo stores, Walmarts, Bass Pro Shops, Dollar Generals and Piggly Wigglys.
In OTP Atlanta, many areas change names at the county line. When you leave Dekalb County for Gwinnett, you go from Doraville into Norcross. One road you can do this on is Buford Hiway, which is lined with Asian businesses like My Dung video. This area is home to one of the metro area international communities, and is well known for ultra authentic restaurants. Well known by everyone except RoadSnacks.
According to the TAT10 body of knowledge, Doraville is the 5th most redneck city in Georgia. When you cross the county line, Norcross is the most ghetto city in Georgia. People who are familiar with this area are probably laughing right now. Especially when they see that most ghetto Norcross is also 15th most redneck. Doraville did not make the 90 spot list for most ghetto.
The most dangerous city in Georgia is College Park, with East Point in second place. Neither city was on the redneck list. On the ghetto list, College Park is 67, and East Point is 72.
The city of Brookhaven evidently has not been in existence long enough to be rated. The only list that included Chamblee was ghetto, at 55. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
I’m Not A Witch
In 2010, republicans in Delaware nominated Christine O’Donnell for the US Senate. The race was to replace Vice-President Joe Biden. It turns out that Mrs. O’Donnell has already made a name for herself. In 1996, she was the President of SALT … The Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth. She made an appearance on MTV to urge teenagers not to masturbate.
Public spirited citizens at MSNBC have found the video. It was introduced by Rachel Maddow, who had both hands on the desk. “you are going to be pleasing each other. If he already knows what pleases him, and he can please himself, then why am I in the picture.”
This feature is a repost from 2010. Mrs. O’Donnell lost her senate race by 16 points. One of her campaign ads proclaimed “I’m not a witch.” There was a misunderstanding with the FEC, over allegations that Mrs. O’Donnell used campaign funds for living expenses. Currently, @thechristineod is a podcast coach. The beat goes on. Pictures from The Library of Congress.
Another Internet Squabble
Emory Law Professor’s Use of the “n-word” Shows Something Deeper was posted on GeorgiaPol. It was prompted by an incident, Emory … professor uses “n-word”. The post was the sort of post racial polemic that emerges daily. The supply of this rhetoric far exceeds the demand.
GeorgiaPol has a facebook page. They post a note on facebook when a post is published on the blog. The post about the professor was announced on facebook. The facebook announcement was illustrated by a historic picture. There was a sign, including the magic word, in front of a building.
One of the quirks of the n-word debate is who gets to use it. The *rule* is that black people can say it, and white people cannot. No one knows what authority made this rule, which is vigorously enforced at all times. In this case, the author of the piece, @LaDawnLBJJones, is an African American. She has the *right* to use the magic word. The problem is, the facebook post was on the page belonging to GeorgiaPol. Does a non-poc website have the *right* to use this forbidden phrase? Especially when promoting a post which denounces the use of this word? The n-word tribunal should issue a ruling on this colorful conundrum.
There was this exchange on GeorgiaPol. chamblee54 ““In 2018 America, if you have ever yelled the word in anger at the guy who cut you off, or thought it while watching television about the black person accused of a heinous crime, or even sat tacitly by while a white counterpart casually used the word … then I feel compelled to make this clear to you … there is something deeper about yourself you must address” This applies to GaPol. They posted a picture with the magic word on facebook. If it is wrong for a professor to use this word in class, it is wrong for GaPol to post a picture of it on facebook. Everything that is happening to the Emory Professor should now happen to GaPol.” LaDawn LBJ Jones @chamblee54 “there are people who contribute to GeorgiaPol who cannot say THAT word. But I assure you the person who wrote this absolutely can. And if you want to discuss the difference between you, them, and me then you are avoiding the self reflection this piece is about.” chamblee54 “Did you post that picture on facebook? I really don’t care if you use the magic word. However, when a non-poc website advertises a post, denouncing the magic word, by posting a picture of a sign that contains this word… maybe that is not a problem to you, but it is at the very least ironic. As far as “the self reflection this piece is about”… who says I don’t? Race talk gets shoved in your face every day. One more post about who can, or cannot, say the magic word is not going to make any difference.”
The discussion also happened on twitter. @chamblee54 .@LaDawnLBJJones just posted 1600 fire breathing words about an Emory law professor who used the magic word in a lecture. When advertising this post on facebook, .@georgiapol_com posted a picture including the same word, whose use was hysterically denounced in the post. @LaDawnLBJJones Yes I edited the meme. Not because it wasn’t perfectly appropriate for the post but because in my head I imagined some racist who LOVES the n-word enjoying seeing it far too much. I didn’t want to give them the pleasure.
The reply was curious to PG. The picture on facebook had not changed. As it turns out, there is a picture on GeorgiaPol that was edited. The picture at GeorgiaPol is easy to miss… PG did not see it until he started this post. The spectacle of a non-poc website posting a picture of the n-word, to advertise a post denouncing the use of the n-word, is just plain weird.
In a previous discussion on race, at GeorgiaPol, PG posted a link to a chamblee54 piece about the magic word. The link was ignored, while a side comment on Colin Kaepernick got responses. People are fascinated by hot dog distractions, and not interested in listening to other people. FWIW, PG has written about the n-word before. In another post, PG substitutes racist for the magic word, while quoting a bit of public television polemic. The results were surprising.
As for “the self reflection this piece is about” … if you read facebook, you are hit over the head with talk about racism every day. If you want to maintain your sanity, you have to filter most of it out. Try to treat people … no adjective required … with kindness and respect. If you can affect institutional oppression, then you should do so. Whatever you do, don’t get caught saying the n-word, unless you are *qualified*. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
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Jock Protest
This is a repost from 2016 … In 2014, the St. Louis Rams ran onto the field with their hands over their heads. For an official, it means touchdown. With the Rams, it meant “hands up don’t shoot.”
When Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson MO, witnesses said he had his hands up. Later investigations indicate that “Brown never surrendered with his hands up.” While controversy over Mr. Brown’s death continues, very few people maintain that he had his hands up when he died.
A little over a year later, the St. Louis Rams announced a move to Los Angeles. There are various reasons for the move. It basically comes down to money. The NFL wants a team in Los Angeles. The Rams want to make more money. The hands up gesture became a hands out.
Athletes have traditionally been role models. Their opinions are solicited on a wide range of subjects. Some people question whether the ability to play a game qualifies someone to render these judgements. While football players are entitled to have opinions, the question remains: why should we care? Social justice is not a product endorsement.
Recently Cam Newton gave an interview to GQ magazine. Mr. Newton modeled some clothes, with apparent enthusiasm. Mr. Newton said “I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not. It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.” It was the social media sensation of the day.
As you may have guessed, this brings us to Colin Kaepernick. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. @Kaepernick7 is a second string quarterback, who has asked to be traded. With his nine figure salary, there is a chance he will be cut from the team. Why is Colin Kaepernick suddenly taken seriously as an authority on race relations?
Most reports on Mr. Kaepernick have a 59 word summary of the comments to NFL media. You have to do a bit of digging to see the full transcript. Google is not a perfect tool. Perhaps someone does not want people to see the complete interview.
Number seven makes a few interesting comments. There are few specific solutions offered. The problem of citizen on citizen killing is not mentioned. Mr. Kaepernick does not come across as a deep thinker. When he is asked how teammates feel about his protest, number seven replies “I hope they stand with me.” Is he sitting down, or standing up?
NFL Media “In your mind have you been pulled over unjustly or had bad experiences?” CK: “Yes, multiple times. I’ve had times where one of my roommates was moving out of the house in college and because we were the only black people in that neighborhood the cops got called and we had guns drawn on us. Came in the house, without knocking, guns drawn on my teammates and roommates. So I have experienced this. People close to me have experienced this. This isn’t something that’s a one-off case here or a one-off case there. This has become habitual. This has become a habit. So this is something that needs to be addressed.”…
NM: “Does the election year have anything to do with timing? CK: It wasn’t a timing thing, it wasn’t something that was planned. But I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issues that we have in this country right now.
NM:Do you want to expand on that? CK: You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who’s openly racist. We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally … That doesn’t make sense to me because if that was any other person you’d be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?
NM: It is a country that has elected a black president twice CK: It has elected a black president but there are also a lot of things that haven’t changed. There are a lot of issues that still haven’t been addressed and that’s something over an eight-year term there’s a lot of those things are hard to change and there’s a lot of those things that he doesn’t necessarily have complete control over.
NM: What would be a success? CK: That’s a tough question because there’s a lot of things that need to change, a lot of different issues that need to be addressed. That’s something that it’s really hard to lock down one specific thing that needs to change currently.”
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow is a great concept. The hard hitting lesbian overcame a blonde childhood to become the MSNBC news lady. Unfortunately, the reality does not always live up to the image.
@maddow “Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals, ambulances” “‘The scariest one I’ve heard of and seen is people coming in with vision loss,’ he said.” The tweet links to a story: “A rural Oklahoma doctor said patients who are taking the horse de-wormer medication, ivermectin, to fight COVID-19 are causing emergency room and ambulance back ups.“There’s a reason you have to have a doctor to get a prescription for this stuff,” said Dr. Jason McElyea.”
… Dr. Jason McElyea is not an employee of NHS Sequoyah … Dr. McElyea has not worked at our Sallisaw location in over 2 months. NHS Sequoyah has not treated any patients due to complications related to taking ivermectin. This includes not treating any patients for ivermectin overdose….” The story is a lie. Rolling Stone, who first broke the story, has issued corrections. @maddow has not.
A month before the 2016 election, a story began to spread: The KKK endorsed Donald Trump. When I began to research a blog post about this tall tale, an article at the Washington Post appeared to be the origin. An enthusiastic co-promoter was Rachel Maddow.
By this time, it was obvious that Ms. Maddow saw her job as helping Hillary Clinton get elected. Unfortunately, by November 2016, this meant piling on as much negativity as possible. It is possible that public revulsion at this overkill helped Mr. Trump win the Electoral College. This tendency towards overkill is on full display in her campaign against IVM.
August 27 saw Ms. Madcow Ms. Maddow goes full blue anon against IVM. It should be noted that, despite the fire breathing polemic by Ms. Maddow, the side effects of IVM are not serious. There is evidence of IVM being an effective treatment for covid. (one two)
“… several outlets are reporting what the America’s Frontline Doctors fiasco appears to have morphed into now is a scam to market horse paste, to market livestock deworming and anti-lice medicine to people who believe, that for some reason, they shouldn’t take the COVID vaccine. To people who believe there is a cure for COVID. There must be a cure for COVID but the man is trying to keep it secret but you can find it at a veterinary clinic. And, OK, maybe we said it was hydroxychloroquine before, that was the cure. But we’re not talking about that anyone now we say it’s ivermectin.”
“So, they moved on, from warning you about the reptile people and the threat of the demon spawn, careful who you have sex within your sleep, because you never know. They moved on from that, to promoting hydroxychloroquine as the secret cure to COVID. And when that petered out, they kept up the scam, telling people definitely do not take the vaccine, because the vaccine will kill you, and don’t wear a mask. And now they are telling people to pay them a considerable amount of money to take this potentially dangerous and also worthless drug.”
“It has been promoted inexplicably by the popular podcaster Joe Rogan, for some reason. Okay? It has also been promoted by the snake oil online sales folks who brought you the threat of demon sperm and alien DNA, with the endorsement of then President Donald Trump.”
“NBC reporter Ben Collins has plunged into that slimy underworld of how this stuff is being promoted and sold and weaponized against the ill. He joins us next. Stay with us.”
“One of the big groups pushing disinformation about this drug is a pro-Trump anti-vax group called America’s Frontline Doctors . Their founder was arrested after allegedly participating in an attack on the capital on January 6th. And while promoting ivermectin as a cure for COVID is something of a standard Fox News primetime segment these days, the misinformation and promotion of it turns out to be a lot bigger online, particularly in gigantic Facebook groups I had no idea existed. But they have created a whole ecosystem to push this stuff and to support people’s decision to use it, instead of, say, getting vaccinated.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
UPDATE: This is a repost. A former facebook friend posted a comment about Rachel Maddow. I replied with a link to this post. The FFF took offense at the inclusion of the “L-word” in the first paragraph of this feature. The conversation devolved into an argument about ivermectin. The last thing the FFF said: “I trust the FDA, and I don’t care how they do things in India and Africa.”
Thank Satan It’s Friday
3.14% of sailors are pi-rates.
A man tried to sell me a coffin today… I told him that’s the last thing I need.
Comedians who tell one too many lightbulb jokes soon burn out.
Did you hear about the crazy Mexican train thief? He had loco motives
Did you hear about the runner who was criticized? He just took it in stride
Don’t kiss your wife with a runny nose. You might think it’s funny, but it’s snot.
Feeling Cold? Go stand in a corner for a bit. They are usually around 90 degrees.
How do you count cows? With a cowculator!
How does a penguin build it’s house? Igloos it together.
I burnt my Hawaiian pizza last night… I should’ve put it on aloha setting.
I don’t trust stairs. They’re always up to something.
I hate perforated lines, they’re tearable
I just read a book about Stockholm syndrome. It was pretty bad at first, but by the end I liked it.
I was looking at my ceiling. Not sure if it’s the best ceiling in the world, but it’s up there.
If you want a job in the moisturiser industry, the best advice I can give is to apply daily.
Past, present, and future walked into a bar…. It was tense.
RIP boiled water. You will be mist.
Steak puns… They’re a rare medium, well done
Tell ya my chimney joke? Got stacks of em! First one’s on the house
The sign said “Television for Sale – $10 – Volume Stuck On Full”. I can’t turn that down.
There are 10 types of people: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
To the man in the wheelchair that stole my camouflage jacket… You can hide but you can’t run.
Today’s top fact: 50% of Canada is A
Want to hear a joke about construction? Nah, I’m still working on it.
Want to hear my pizza joke? Never mind, it’s too cheesy.
What days are the strongest? Saturday and Sunday, the rest are week days.
What did the Buddhist ask the hot dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.”
What do you call a fat psychic? A four-chin teller.
What do you get if you stand between two llamas? Llamanated.
What happened to the cow that jumped over the barbed wire fence? Udder destruction.
When my wife told me to stop impersonating a flamingo I had to put my foot down.
Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl using the bathroom? Because the P is silent
Why did the blind man fall into the well? Because he couldn’t see that well.
Why do trees seem suspicious on sunny days? Dunno, they’re just a bit shady.
You can’t run through a camp site. You can only ran, because it’s past tents.
You heard the rumor going around about butter? Nevermind, I shouldn’t spread it.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Similar material may be found at @baddadjokes.
A Volleyball Controversy
I didn’t pay attention to the latest n-word controversy. Somebody screaming the magic word, at a women’s volleyball match in Utah, did not strike me as important. Why would a North Carolina school send a non-revenue producing team to Utah? Duke spent some major bucks on this match, at a time of rising college costs. That money could be better spent elsewhere.
A few days later, YouTube directed me to a video by Brandon Tatum. Officer Tatum posited the thought that Rachel Richardson … the star of this latest drama … was a liar. This sent me down a rabbit hole, which I am slowly emerging from.
The narrative is well known by now. Andre’ Hutchens put together a thread, which details/documents many of the scenes in this drama. The short version: Rachel Richardson says that she heard someone shouting the magic word. BYU, the home team, sent four ushers into the student section, and had a policeman stand in front of the crowd. None of these people heard the magic word.
After the match, a young man went up to the Duke players, and said something. The Duke team said this was the person who was shouting the magic word. The accused n-word shouter was escorted off the premises, and banned from attending BYU events in the future.
At some point after the match, Miss Richardson made some phone calls. She called her father, who has told his story many times. Somebody … we don’t know if it is father or daughter … called Lesa Pamplin, Miss Richardson’s godmother. In this story, we will call her the devilmother.
“My Goddaughter is the only Black starter for Dukes volleyball team, While playing yesterday, she was called a n****r every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
The tweet by devilmother got a lot of national attention. Why did a tweet from a Texas politician get this much attention? Who knows. What is certain is that devilmother does not like white people … she thinks it is clever to say “whypipoe.”
Why did this need to be a national scandal anyway? Lets say it was true. You find the culprit, punish him, and finish playing your match. It does not need to be a toxic sensation. A Utah volleyball fan shouting the magic word is not going to affect economic security, police brutality, or equitable access to housing and education. All it is going to do is get people upset.
“She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus.” This part of the drama which has received little scrutiny. The “white male” claimed that he knew some BYU players, and confused the Duke team for the BYU team. Who did he approach? Was it she white or black? What exactly did he say? How did “the Duke team” identify the “white male” as the person shouting the magic word? This part of the story does not add up.
Deseret News obtained a copy of the police report. “BYU Police Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen stood throughout the fourth set next to the man now indefinitely banned from BYU events after Duke players said he used racist language, according to a police report Laursen filed that night. … The officer said the man did not use any negative language toward the Duke players during the fourth set. Laursen also said he didn’t hear any racist language used by any fan during that set, when Duke player Rachel Richardson said the racist slurs intensified. … That’s when he met the young man … the man asked why the officer was there and if there was a problem. … “I told him I was there listening for inappropriate comments toward the Duke players and the fan told me that he hadn’t heard any inappropriate comments. He said he told the players that they shouldn’t hit the ball into the net, but that was the only comment he made to the Duke players.” … The fan, who Laursen said was wearing a dark yellow or almost tan shirt and jeans, said he was friends with four of the BYU players. “He seemed to be more interested in talking to me than cheering for BYU. It was evident based on the individual’s comments, stuttered speech and mannerisms that he has special needs. … he may have (A)sperger syndrome or could have autism. The individual was articulate, but socially awkward. The individual kept scrolling through his phone and didn’t seem too involved in the game.” … “I was told the Duke players and coaches were very upset with what happened during the game and that the racial comments toward the Duke players was still happening during the fourth set that that (sic) I didn’t do anything about the comments being made,” … “I told the (BYU) Athletic staff that I never heard one racial comment being made.”
So the story goes. It is already fading from view. Soon, there will be another “teaching moment.” If you google Rachet Rachel Richardson, you see @mikefreemanNFL doubling down, in an ad hominem spectacular. Corporate media players, eager to report the original accusation, have been silent during the “Jussie phase” of this story. While it is easy to criticize right wing media on most issues, they are getting this story right. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Radio Free Europe
While researching a post about Molly Ivins, PG stumbled onto a lovely site called Booknotes. This site enables authors promoting their latest books. It seems to have gone out of business in December 2004, but the interviews are still available. PG likes to listen to “stuff” while he edits pictures, and Booknotes appears to be a treasure chest.
The multi tasking soundtrack last night was a chat with Hendrik Hertzberg, who is familiar to readers of The New Yorker. BTW, the majority of TNY readers live west of the Hudson River. Supposedly, the biggest number of readers is in California.
In 1965, Mr. Hertzberg was about to get drafted. At the time, this meant a one way ticket to Vietnam. Young men looked for alternatives to this, some of which were legal and moral. Mr. Hertzberg heard about an organization called the National Student Association. “And so I went to work after college for the National Student Association for a year. And it wasn`t just because the National Student Association was a wonderful cause that advanced liberal ideas and fought communism abroad and all of that sort of thing. Later, we learned that it was a CIA front, but I didn`t know that. What I did know was that if you worked for the National Student Association, you didn`t get drafted, that — it wasn`t exactly that you were deferred, but anyway, nobody got drafted while working for the National Student Association, so it was a way to have a year without worrying about getting drafted.”
The National Student Association has a facebook page, which one person likes. “The 1967 revelation of NSA’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency sparked a national scandal, but did not measurably damage NSA.”
The CIA was involved in all sorts of things in those days. ( It still is today.) One of the fronts was Radio Free Europe. When PG was a kid, the cartoon shows had a commercial for Radio Free Europe. (It was different from the one embedded here.) These fund raising commercials were part of the scam. These commercials netted around $50k a year, towards a multi-million dollar budget. (source)
Soon after the war stories, the conversation turns to religion/tribal allegiance. LAMB: Explain this. “The Nuremberg laws would say I`m Jewish. The Law of Return would say I`m not.” HERTZBERG: Well, according to the Nuremberg laws, if you have a — if you had a Jewish father, the Nazi classification, you were a Jew. But the Law of Return, where — what entitles you to citizenship, automatic citizenship in Israel, you`ve got to have to have a Jewish mother. So I`m Jewish one way, I`m not Jewish the other way. I guess I feel sort of 51 percent Jewish because my name, Hertzberg, sounds Jewish, and therefore, people respond to me, often assume that I`m … 100 percent Jewish.”
This conversation was in 2004, when BHO was a little known Senator. Today, BHO, who had a white mother, is routinely considered black. If you go by the laws of the Nazis, BHO is black. If you go by the laws of Israel, BHO is white.
Mr. Hertzberg took a break from journalism to write speeches for President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Hertzberg is a member of the Judson Wellover Society. HERTZBERG: Judson Wellover was the very first White House speech writer. Not the first person to write speeches, ghost write speeches for a president — that would probably be Alexander Hamilton for George Washington — but the first person who was ever hired just to write speeches in the White House was Judson Wellover. He was hired by Warren G. Harding, and he — it was such a matter — it was such a shameful thing to have somebody writing — hired to write speeches that they hid his salary in the budget of the White House garage. And when we started, when Bill Safire and I started the Judson — the society of sort of a marching and chatter society or dinner — we have a dinner every couple of years of White House speech writers from all administrations, we named it after Judson Wellover.
Warren Harding is credited/blamed for coining the phrase “founding fathers”. Was Mr. Wellover involved? This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
Mystics And Statistics
In a recent survey, 78.7% percent of the respondents agree with the statement “Statistics can be trusted to give an accurate description of the facts”.
Statistics are a part of modern life. Numbers tell us who is expected to win, who is expected to lose, and how many men wear a tie. Statistics are often misleading, or an outright lie. And yet, people believe statistics. (The middle three letters of believe are lie).
Talk about statistics is little better. Mark Twain gets the credit/blame for popularizing the phrase, “lies, damn lies, and statistics”. According to Wikipedia , Mr. Clemens may have been mistaken. “Twain popularized the saying in “Chapters from My Autobiography”, published in the North American Review in 1906. “Figures often beguile me,” he wrote, “particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'”…”The term was popularised in the United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881): “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” However, the phrase is not found in any of Disraeli’s works and the earliest known appearances were years after his death.”
Mr. Twain was in the twilight of his career, and angry at aggressive militarism. Why would he would give credit/blame for a phrase to a conservative Prime Minister of England, dead twenty five years?
When PG took English101, the teacher was an inspiring lady named Ann Peets. Between stories of Faulkner and comma splices, she contributed this gem. ” The best way to win an argument is to use statistics. The best way to use statistics is to make them up. ”
In 1954, a bestselling book came out, “How to Lie with Statistics .” The premise was that the pros knew the tricks, and the public has a right to self defense. There are numerous examples of the ways that you can lie with numbers just like you lie with words. Calculator lips don’t move.
One word to watch out for is average . The three most popular types are mean, median, and mode. Mean is the one most people think of as average…you add all the figures up, and divide by the number of entries. In median, you line up the entries in numeric value, and choose the entry in the middle. In mode, the number that the most entries identify with is the average. Any one of these three can be called average, and yet none might describe the typical entry.
HT to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub for attributing the LDL&S quote to Mr. Disraeli. MFB was talking about global warming denial, a cesspool of lies and statistics. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These pictures were taken by Ansel Adams at a relocation camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. Pictures of Mark Twain were recently posted. This is a repost.
Hair
There is a tasteful feature on the innertubes now, A Few Good Reasons Why White People Should Not Wear “Mohawks” or Dreadlocks. Yes, this is another polemic about cultural appropriation. If you want to skip the text, and look at the pictures, no one will get mad. Or get even. If you read the text, you might get odd. It is your choice.
The gist of the tract is “When white people wear “Mohawks” or dreadlocks it twists those hairstyles into symbols of privilege rather than symbols of survival and resistance.” Little is known about why the Natives of Upstate New York wore their hair the way they did. Isn’t calling this hair choice “symbols of survival and resistance” playing into the game of misunderstanding non European cultures? Anthropology is not an exact science.
The tract is not well written. Maybe the author feels like using good grammar is appropriating someone else’s culture.
There is one part of the tract that had PG shaking his buzz cut head. “This is a free country. Can’t I do whatever I want? This country has never been free for people of color/non-white people. Certainly, you can choose wear your hair however you want. Historically, however, people of color have not been able to make that choice.” This is not why the Bronner Brothers are multi millionaires. Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.
Both mohawks and dreadlocks are high maintenance affairs. After his struggles with shoulder length redneck curls, PG is not about to shave the sides of a beaver tail every day. And dreadlocks have always seemed to be just a bit on the dirty side. The rastas are welcome to wear dreadlocks, as long as they pass the spliff.
One thing PG has wondered was answered as a result of this polemic. Did the Mohawk tribe really wear their hair that way? When you type “Did the Mohawk… ” into google, the rest of the phrase to pop up is “Did the Mohawk Indians have mohawks?” Someone else has wondered the same thing. Wikipedia has more information.
“The mohawk (also referred to as a mohican in British English) is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. Though mohawk is associated mostly with punk rock subculture, today it has entered mainstream fashion. The mohawk is also sometimes referred to as an iro in reference to the Iroquois, from whom the hairstyle is derived – though historically the hair was plucked out rather than shaved. … The Mohawk and the rest of the Iroquois confederacy (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Tuscarora and Oneida) in fact wore a square of hair on the back of the crown of the head. The Mohawk did not shave their heads when creating this square of hair, but rather pulled the hair out, small tufts at a time. … Therefore a true hairstyle of the Mohawks was one of plucked-out hair, leaving a three-inch square of hair on the back crown of the head with three short braids of hair decorated.”
They didn’t shave the sides of the head, they plucked the hair out. That does eliminate the need to shave the sides of your head every day. This is not the way the fashion conscious hair people do the modern mohawk. The question arises if this non authentic hairstyle is really cultural appropriation.
Part of the polemic took a question and answer format. “But, I wear my hair this way as a statement against oppressive cultures and governments. How is that racist?” “You can take a stand against oppression and dominant cultures without appropriating the cultures of the people being hurt by them. Appropriation actually enforces oppression, it does not stand against it. Appropriation is part of the problem, not part of the solution”
To paraphrase this, you can be anti racist without proudly avoiding high maintenance hairdoos. Especially one that bears little resemblance to the actual article.
There was a statement in yesterday’s post . “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” This was tossed out in a careless moment, which is not a good thing to do. Today’s post is an investigation. For purposes of this report, America’s gross national product is the republican party.
Finding out how much African Americans spend on hair care is more google intensive than this slack reporter imagined. Madame Noire has a feature, Black Women Spend Half a Trillion Dollars on Haircare and Weaves! Why? “Black women spend half a trillion dollars to keep our hairstyles tight, our weaves looking good and our “kitchens” tamed. Why do we do this?” The $500 billion figure might include pain and suffering. Target Market News is more conservative, reporting “Personal Care Products and Services – $6.66 billion”.
In the chatter about a Chris Rock movie, Good Hair, the phrase “9 billion dollar hair trade industry” is used. The Magazine Publishers of America report that advertising spending on “Hair Products & Accessories” was $1,242,700 in 2007.
The short answers are “a lot”, and “we don’t know”. It is probably less that $500 Billion. For the purposes of this feature, we will go with a conservative estimate. This would be Target Market News. Since not all “Personal Care Products and Services” are hair related, we will call our number Five Billion. This is probably a conservative figure, but for our purposes it will do.
The second part of the statement was “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” The numbers come from Wikipedia and the International Money Fund. There are sixteen African countries with GNP less than $5 billion. They include: Mauritania, Swaziland, Togo, Eritrea, Lesotho, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Liberia, Seychelles, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The last seven have a GNP less than the amount spent advertising hair products and accessories for Black Americans.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Don’t Yuck On My Yum
Don’t yuck on my yum. This is a thing. It means that if I like something, and you don’t, then keep your disapproval to yourself. Don’t yuck on my yum. PG first heard this saying on the RISK podcast, probably in an episode where host Kevin Allison goes to kink camp. This is a repost.
PG can not track down the exact episode. It is in there somewhere, but looking for it is too much work. OTOH, PG can point out, with great precision, when he became persona non grata in the RISK community. He yucked on somebodies yum.
It started with this episode. Nimisha Ladva told the story “Mother in law.” Nimisha, newly married to David, is dreading a lunch date with his mother, Elaine. David told a story about how Elaine asked him if Nimisha was black. The young bride was outraged. At about ten minutes into the show, Nimisha is ranting about how horrible it was to eat lunch with a racist. PG made a comment in the “RISK! Podcast Fans Discussion Group.”
“I recently sent a link to the Paul Gilmartin story to a friend. He is in the AA program, and I thought he would enjoy the story. Here is the email I sent with that link. – This is a link to a story. It is an AA war story. It starts at 20 minutes. The first story in this show is about an Indian lady, who does not like her Jewish mother in law. At ten minutes into the show, the bride says “I am going to have to spend the day with a racist.” – At this point, I turned off the show in anger. I am sensitive to the term racist, for perfectly obvious reasons. I did not want to listen to the rest of the show. – When I decided to send you the link, I had to listen to the part of the show around the 20 minute mark, so I could know when the war story started. I set the timer for 18 minutes, and listened to the end of the mother in law story. There is a twist in the story, and everyone is friends now. The bride says “I am ashamed of reducing her to her racism.”
As anyone with internet access knows, a comment like that is likely to stir up trouble. People enjoy the sport of trashing another human being because of their racial attitudes. If you follow this link, you can see the dogpile that resulted. It got to be a cliche party, with chestnuts like this: “I would invite you to reflect on your pain in being called racist, and imagine how much worse it is to experience racism. Dismantling racism is the goal, not making sure no ones feelings are hurt.”
Performative name calling does does not affect police brutality, economic opportunity, or access to decent housing. All it does, in this case, is hold up a lady to ridicule, based on her perceived racial values. This social justice performance art goes on all the time, and if you object to it, then you can expect to be called a racist. The white savior considers criticism of their privilege to be racism, and does not have a problem with telling you about it.
It should be noted that their were other yumyucking incidents. The one described merely is the first one. There were other breaches of *community standards*, until Kevin delivered the “you’re an asshole” fatwa. When you do the work of creating a show, you earn the right to ban inconvenient members of the audience. PG can say he did nothing wrong as much as he likes.
Calling people racist is their yum. And when you say that this is not really a good thing to do, you are yucking on their yum. This facebook thread was the first time some of these people have heard that saying racist is not helpful. If you engage with them, you violate an ancient bit of wisdom: Never wrestle with a hog. You will just get dirty, and the pig will enjoy himself. Pictures for this conflict devolution chronicle are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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