Conversations Part Two
Yesterday, I reposted a 2013 piece about tiresome conversations. To be fair, most of these are monologs, by people/bots who have no interest in my point of view. On my way to an appointment, I realized that the last 13 years have given us plenty of new conversations to be bored by. As soon as I got to the waiting room, I began to dictate a list.
Israel, religion, bad faith rhetoric, trans issues, personal insults, heterodox, and whataboutism appeared on the screen. Many of them can be lumped under bad faith rhetoric, or the use of logical fallacies to promote an agenda. If you look at these discourses, most of them fall under this umbrella. To be fair, this might be the exact definition of bad faith, but for today’s discussion it will do.
On my way to and from the appointment, I was listening to Blocked and Reported. Host Katie Herzog was talking to guest Jonathan Kay. Mr. Kay is a player at Quillette a “heterodox” journal/podcast. Merriam-Webster defines heterodox thusly, between the inevitable parade of popups: “Heterodox: contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion.” Heterodox would seem to be the opposite of Orthodox.
Quillete might still call itself heterodox, but when it comes to Israel, heterodoxy gives way to tribal orthodoxy. Two articles are on the Quillette home page now: The Genocide Libel · Francesca Albanese’s Campaign Against Israel. The latter article was promoted on X by @jonkay.
The Herzog-Kay discussion had little to say about the tragedy in Gaza. Mostly, they discussed conspiracies, trans issues, and vaccines. The latter issue is driven by big money rhetoric, with “Big Pharma” promoting their products. At one point, Katie Herzog enthusiastically said “I love big pharma”, and called for more and better vaccines.
The discussion of trans issues caused me to pause the show, and dictate a comment. @jonkay was talking about how extreme trans activism is causing problems for many cis queers. Has he ever considered that extreme pro-zionist rhetoric is causing problems for many Jews? Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in September 1939. “Witnesses and spectators during trial of automobile accident case in Superior Court. Granville County Courthouse, Oxford, North Carolina” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Conversations I Am Tired Of Having
This content was originally published January 6, 2013. … There was a post a while back, 10 Conversations On Racism I’m Sick Of Having With White People. The original started at The Chronicle, but LiveJournal is LiveJoural, so a mirror image will have to do.
I got to thinking about “10 Conversations”, and a reply began to take shape. I started a list of conversations I am tired of having, and before you could say toxic masculinity, there were a dozen items. Many of these incidents have involved people of color, or POC. Many others have not. Often, the ethnicity of the other person has little importance to the discussion. Therefore, the title of this feature will not be racially specific. This monolog will probably not go viral, or even bacterial. Washing your hands might be a good idea when you are finished reading.
Meetings where one person does all the talking The word conversation implies that more than one person says something. Often, this does not happen. One person will talk for a while. Before person two finishes a sentence, person one will interrupt them.
This does not work. When the other person is talking, listen. Don’t be thinking of your clever comeback, but pay attention to what the other person is saying. What the other person says is just as important as what you say.
Listening is not valued in our culture. It is seen as a loss of control, a sign of weakness. It is really a sign of strength. If you are weak, you don’t want to allow the other person to say anything. Have you ever heard anyone boast about the clever things that they say to someone? Of course you have, just like you never hear anyone talk highly about himself because he is a good listener.
My question is not an excuse to make a speech. Some people have an agenda. Whatever you say is an obstacle to the message they want to broadcast. When you ask a question, some people think you are handing them the talking stick, to do whatever they want. When your eyes glaze over, they plow on, in total disregard to your discomfort, and lack of comprehension. It is almost as if they are talking to hear the sound of their own voice.
I’m not talking to you. If you are screaming something, anyone with earshot can hear you. Do not get offended if there is a reaction to your words, especially if it is subtly directed at the person you are not talking to. This applies to the internet as well, where all of humanity is *privy* to your innermost thoughts. Keep the farmyard meaning of *privy* in mind when sharing your innermost product.
Conversations should be with people. If you are a business, and you want to tell me something, send me a written message. Please refrain from using robocall machines. I feel very foolish talking to a machine, especially one that doesn’t understand southern english.
You don’t have to shout. The amount of truth in a statement is not increased by the volume of expression. If you are standing next to me, the odds are I can hear you in a normal tone of voice. If you are across the room, come stand next to me, rather than shout across the room. If your normal tone of voice is shouting, then you have a problem.
The same principle goes to controlling your temper. When you choose not to control your temper, you show disrespect to yourself, and the person you are talking to. There is no situation that cannot be made worse by angry speech.
Privilege Racial polemic is getting more subtle these days. We are not quite post racial, although there are rumors of a PostRacial apartment community. The phrase that pays these days is Privilege. This is always something owned by the group you do not belong to.
This is getting longer than the attention span of many readers. It might be continued later. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Collier Jr. took the social media picture in December 1941. “Washington Hot Shoppe restaurants. Washington, D.C. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
The Sausage Vat Murder
This content was published January 16, 2024. … The case of Adolph Luetgert is mostly forgotten today. In its day, the story was a sensation. “Adolph Louis Luetgert (December 27, 1845-July 7, 1899) was a German-American charged with murdering his wife and dissolving her body in acid in one of his sausage vats at the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Company in 1897. … After the news of the trial became public, rumors spread that Luetgert had actually turned his wife into sausage and sold the “sausage” to unknowing consumers.”
Is it possible to explain what is in sausages without making it erotic? A twitter thread got me thinking about a sausage story I read in 1989. The Fairy was in Gaily, Gaily by Ben Hecht. The story originally appeared in Playboy. “In a 1962 article for Playboy collected in his rollicking 1963 memoir Gaily, Gaily — the legendary Chicago reporter Ben Hecht recalls a murder case that sounds suspiciously similar to the Adolph Luetgert case. Hecht describes an story that apparently occurred sometime during the five years after he began working as a reporter in Chicago in 1910. He writes: “Fred Ludwig, a popular North Shore butcher, went on trial before Judge Sabath for the murder of his wife. The wedding band with its romantic inscription had turned up in one of the sausages manufactured by Ludwig and sold to one of his customers, Claude Charlus, a well-known financier and epicure.” In the Hecht story, Mr. Charlus was the bf of Mr. Ludwig. When it was time to execute Mr. Ludwig, young Mr. Hecht went to a whorehouse, to borrow a makeup kit. Mr. Ludwig painted his face before he went to the gallows.
“Adolph Luetgert (originally Adolph Ludwig Lütgert) came to New York in around 1865 or 1866 when he was about twenty years old.” … “He married his first wife, Caroline Roepke, sometime between 1870 and 1872. She died on November 17, 1877. He married his second wife Louise Bicknese, two months after Caroline’s death, on January 18, 1878. Luetgert had six children—two with Caroline and four with Louise. Only three of his children survived past the age of 2.”
“Louisa Bicknese was an attractive young woman who was ten years younger than her husband. She was a former servant from the Fox River Valley who met her new husband by chance. He was immediately taken with her, entranced by her diminutive stature and tiny frame. She was less than five feet tall and looked almost child-like next to her burly husband. … As a wedding gift, he gave her a unique, heavy gold ring. Inside of it, he had gotten her new initials inscribed, reading “L.L.”. Little did he know at the time that this ring would prove to be his undoing.”
After a while, the couple started to bicker. “Despite his coarse appearance, (one writer vividly describes him as a Falstaffian figure with “a face of suet, pig eyes, and a large untidy moustache that was a perfect host for beer foam”) Adolph was something of a womanizer. … Claiming that he needed to keep a round-the-clock eye on his factory, he had taken to spending his nights in a little room beside his office, equipped with a bed that he frequently shared with his twenty-two-year-old housemaid, Mary Siemering, Louisa’s own cousin. … He was also conducting a surreptitious courtship of a wealthy widow, Mrs. Christina Feld, sending her amorous letters in which he rhapsodized about their rosy future.” (During the murder trial, “Mrs. Christina Feldt, … testified that Luetgert often expressed his hatred for his wife and intimated that he would get rid of her.”)
“At around 10:15 on the evening of Saturday, May 1, Louisa was seated in the kitchen, chatting with her twelve-year-old son Louis, who had attended the circus that evening. The boy was excitedly describing some of the wonders he had seen—a giant named “Monsieur Goliath” and a strongman who juggled cannon balls—when Luetgert appeared and told his son to go bed. Precisely what happened between the two adults after Louis retired to his room is unclear. Only one fact is beyond dispute. After the boy bid goodnight to his mother at about 10:30 P.M., she was left alone in the company of her husband.” … “Mrs. Luetgert wore only a light house wrapper and slippers, although the night was cold and rainy. It never was shown that she had taken with her any of her belongings.”
“When questioned by his sons, Luetgert told them that their mother had gone out the previous evening to visit her sister. After several days though, she did not come back. Finally, Diedrich Bicknese, Louisa’s brother, went to the police. The investigation fell on Captain Herman Schuettler, … “an honest but occasionally brutal detective”.
“Frank Bialk, a night watchman at the plant … saw both Luetgert and Louisa at the plant together. Apparently, Luetgert sent him out on an errand that evening and gave him the rest of the night off.” There is another version of the Bialk story. “Frank Bialk … testified … Luetgert instructed him to bring down two barrels of caustic potash and place them in the boiler room, and that Luetgert then poured the contents of both barrels in one of the vats. The watchman was instructed to keep up steam all night and at 10 p. m. he was sent by Luetgert to the drug store after some nerve medicine.”
“The police also made a shocking discovery; they came across bills that stated that Luetgert bought arsenic and potash the day before the murder. … the detective was convinced that Luetgert had killed his wife, boiled her in acid and then disposed of her in a factory furnace.”
“Luetgert’s night watchman, Frank Bialk, approached the police and told them that, on the night Mrs. Luetgert disappeared, his boss had been acting suspiciously, busying himself with one of the large steam-vats down in the factory basement. Following up on this tip, investigators checked out the vat, which—despite having been cleaned two weeks earlier—still contained a residue of a thick, greasy fluid, reddish-brown in color and giving off a nauseous stink. When the fetid slime was drained from the vat, the detectives discovered tiny pieces of bone along with two gold rings, one of them a wedding band engraved with the initials “L. L.” More bone fragments, as well as a false tooth, a hairpin, a charred corset stay, and various scraps of cloth turned up in a nearby ash heap.”
Luetgert was arrested, and charged with the crime. “On October 18, the case was submitted to the jury and after deliberating for sixty-six hours they failed to agree, nine favoring a conviction and three voting in favor of an acquittal. On November 29, 1897, the second trial began. … The trial resulted in a conviction and on May 5 Luetgert was sent to the Joliet State prison for life.”
“July 27, 1899, Luetgert left his cell and returned shortly afterward with his breakfast in a pail, but just as he was about to eat it, he dropped dead from heart disease.”
“Frank Pratt … asked Luetgert if he wanted his “hand read.” The latter consented and Pratt told Luetgert that he possessed a violent temper and at times was not responsible for his actions. Pratt stated that Luetgert then virtually admitted that he killed his wife when he was possessed of the devil. … It is said that Luetgert also made similar admissions to a fellow prisoner.” Pictures for this true crime story are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in October 1941. “ Mr. Albert Brissant and his niece, who are still living in the Pine Camp relocation area near Evans Mills, New York. They have an antique shop here which they have sold out and are now looking for a new farm” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
A List Blogger
This content was posted January 20, 2009. … Sometimes I make a funny. Other times, I steal humor product. The following content is from Jokes Funny. While most other people are blathering about the inauguration, here is a bit of “humor”.
1. THINGY (thing-ee) n.
Female – Any part under a car’s hood.
Male – The strap fastener on a woman’s bra.
2. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj.
Female – Fully opening up one’s self emotionally to another.
Male – Playing football without a cup.
3. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni-kay-shon) n.
Female – The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one’s partner.
Male – Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.
4. COMMITMENT (ko-mit-ment) n.
Female – A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male – Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.
5. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter-tayn-ment) n.
Female – A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male – Anything that can be done while drinking beer.
6. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n.
Female – An Embarrassing byproduct of indigestion.
Male – A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding.
7. MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n.
Female – The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve.
Male – Call it whatever you want just as long as we do it.
8. REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
Female – A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male – A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.
This content was published January 11, 2009. … One of the bloggers in the frequent folder here is Adam Heath Avitable. At the top of his homepage, he is riding in a convertible eating an ice cream cone. The other passenger is Adolph Hitler. The slogan below: “tact is for pussies”.
Hilly recently sent five questions to @avitable. Readers were invited to give their answers in his comments. Chamblee54 is a “green” blog that recycles. These five questions will make the nucleus of a dandy post here.
1.) What is the one thing that a blogger can do to really annoy you? · The one thing would be music players with auto start. Jasmyne Cannick has an auto start player. It would have been rude to turn it off, so I had to hear a performance by Shirley Q. Liquor. · 2.) Even though I HATE this phrase, do you consider yourself an “A List Blogger” or do you see it a different way? · I am lucky to get into double digits most days. Technorati has me in the top 800,000. In honor of our new president, I am going to claim to be an ”O List Blogger”.
3.) If you did not work for yourself, what kind of job would you like to have? · Something that does not cause brain damage, and where the checks don’t bounce. · 4.) If I dared you to talk dirty to me, could you do it? Why or why not? · It depends on who “I” is. If it was Avitable, I seriously doubt it. Mostly, I feel silly talking dirty.
5.) How many folders do you have in Google Reader and what are their labels? · There is a file on my machine which does not allow me to use google products. This is the reason I went from Blogger to wordpress. As for the whole rss thing … I just do it manually. I have a frequent folder with shortcuts to the blogs. Drag the thingie into the firefox, and I don’t miss anything important. … Google Reader was euthanized in 2013. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in August 1940. “Natchez, Mississippi” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Hollywood’s Eve Part Two
This content was published January 11, 2023. … Publishing Hollywood’s Eve Part One had an unexpected complication. When tweeting the link, I thought it would be cool to tag author @LiliAnolik. Only one problem … the link would not come up. I thought her name was spelled Lily, with a y. Fortunately, WordPress is easy to edit, and I was about to correct this. … So it is another day. The episode will actually be about Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of LA. Lili has a lot of *notes, for details that don’t fit her narrative. One way to cover HEEBATSHOLA is to go through the *notes, and see what they inspire.
016 – * “Eve has told this story both orally and in writing many—many times as in many—many times. Though the major details remain constant, the minor change. … I went with this one for no better reason than because I like it best.” Julian Wasser was a photographer, a bf of Mirandi Babitz (Eve’s sister), and a California player in 1963. He took a famous picture of Eve playing chess with Marcel Duchamp. Eve’s fashion statement in the picture was very well received. · 023 – “What are tits for?” * “A rhetorical question posed by Eve, in casual conversation.”
034 – “New York is hot in the summer, so I got a boyfriend who had air-conditioning. Ralph Metzner. Ralph was part of Timothy Leary’s team. I hated Tim. He was an alcoholic, and he always ordered everybody around as soon as he walked into a room. He made me type all his lectures, and he couldn’t write.” Eve went to New York in 1966, stayed a year, and had a lot of adventures.
044 – “In every young man’s life there is an Eve Babitz. It is usually Eve Babitz.” This observation is in every piece ever written about Eve, so we can now take that off the to-do list. It is blamed on Earl McGrath, who was a well connected piece of work. “I was researching a piece on Andy Warhol and … Edie Sedgwick and received a message …He needed to reschedule the day of our interview. “ Earl’s memorial service has been postponed to let the smart set at Jerry Hall’s wedding to Rupert Murdoch fly across the Atlantic including the bride and groom.”
Earl McGrath is one of the degrees of connection that populated Eve’s life. Earl came from humble beginnings, and charmed/fucked his way into friendships with many famous people. Eve met Earl one morning at Peter Pilafian’s house. Earl came by one morning to hit on Peter, and became friends with Eve. Earl and Eve were faghag buddies, until they were not. Earl appears in “Slow Days Fast Company” as a toxic queen. … Earl does not have a wikipedia page. Nor does Lili Anolik.
060 – It is another rule … all stories about sixties California must mention Charles Manson. “The first time I saw Sharon was at the Cafe’ de Paris in Rome. It was 1961, the same year I saw the pope. I couldn’t believe anyone was that beautiful.” Later, Bobby Beausoleil stayed with Eve for a week. “He’d worn a sign that said “I am Bummer Bob.” I let him stay but hadn’t slept with him because anyone who called himself that, I figured, must have the clap.”
097 – *”Once when we were at lunch a woman—Eve’s age—perfectly pleasant seeming, waved from a neighboring table. Eve didn’t return the wave. I asked Eve who the woman was, and she said, eyes wide, voice grave, “That’s my enemy.” (Eve and the woman had, as it happened, shared a boyfriend forty years before.)”
100 – Eve wrote to Joseph Heller: “I am a stacked eighteen-year-old blond on Sunset Boulevard. I am also a writer. Eve Babitz.” This letter is another part of the Eve legend. As in other Eve stories, there are several versions, so you must pick the one you like. In this interview, Lili says that Eve had an affair with Mr. Heller. Google does not confirm this detail. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture: “Skyline of Atlanta from Fox Theater [from Cox-Carlton Hotel?].” Other parts of the Hollywood’s Eve series are available. 010523 011323 011423 ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Shooting Videos And Policies
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Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Edward S. Herman …
Journalist unrepentant over 2016 fracas with new Fox News host Jesse Watters
Trump’s plan to ‘run’ Venezuela for its oil is already facing problems
Trump admin sends tough private message to oil companies on Venezuela
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Breaking Down the Minnesota ICE Shooting Videos and Policies That Led to This …S
King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’s Relationship Timeline
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duane moody · capsulotomy · scribble scoundrel · scribble scoundrel · m001
@AJIunit “Quadcopters were emitting baby sounds, playing sounds of screaming women.” Palestinians in Gaza say Israel has been using small quadcopter drones, equipped with loudspeakers, to lure them out of their homes and then shoot them. #GazaCrimes · “Georgia court hears Klan suit to join ‘adopt-a-highway’.” This story had a picture. “Supporters dressed as members of the KKK, using Halloween to mask their faces from the police, express anti-Semitic views in Lviv (Ukraine) 10/31/2009.” · @Moonlight_myths I am HIV positive and how I got it will shock you so this is to warn people to be careful out there…. HIV IS REAL. I’ve been married to my husband for a long time, and we’ve got three children together. I’m currently pregnant with our fourth child. Right now, I go to my routine prenatal checks, and as part of it, they said I have to do tests for STDs and any sexually transmitted diseases—you know, for the safety of me and the baby.@chamblee54 @grok did the husband take HIV meds without his wife knowing? … @grok The thread doesn’t confirm that—the story is unfinished so far. It ends with the wife discovering her kids are positive and the husband refusing to test, without mentioning any secret meds. Maybe check back for updates? · I hit on some MSNOW clickbait, and stop when they put the cookie notice up. I see the word personalize, and realize the anagram is so penalizer. · “However, the administration’s outreach to U.S. oil company executives remains “at its best in the infancy stage,” said one industry executive familiar with the discussions, who was granted anonymity to describe conversations with the president’s team. “In preparation for regime change, there had been engagement. But it’s been sporadic and relatively flatly received by the industry,” this person said. “It feels very much a shoot-ready-aim exercise.” · @chamblee54 @NateSilver538 You should use the full name when discussing the politician Shapiro, lest you be confused about the short guy who needs a shave · When was the last time anyone heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? · “The Great Speckled Bird” was a part of Atlanta in the late sixties. There are many stories that could be told. Here is one about a thirteen year old kid paying fifteen cents for a newspaper that was “mostly politics.” · is it secondary cataracts or branch retinal vein occlusion · This is a story from 2017. A man went to a poetry reading, and forgot to listen · Religion News Service ran a story in 2016, Georgia court hears Klan suit to join ‘adopt-a-highway’. · “Georgia court hears Klan suit to join ‘adopt-a-highway’.” This story had a picture. “Supporters dressed as members of the KKK, using Halloween to mask their faces from the police, express anti-Semitic views in Lviv (Ukraine) 10/31/2009.” · @BethMooreLPM I don’t know what to make of prolific people on social media who appear to never have mixed feelings. Who take a certain side, defend a certain position down the line no matter what has occurred. I mean, nothing ever happens to make a person cry foul on their own team? Nothing?? Is there no point when our side has gone too far? I can’t comprehend it. Seems to me that is putting way too much confidence in humans. Nobody’s always right. The thing about straight lines drawn by human hands is how prone they are to get crooked. · start with confusion then come to the truth – you start with a profusion of confusion · sometimes you cant tell the difference between pro and con, even though they are opposites. The most famous one is congress and progress, where one pretends to be the other. Other examples are confession/profession and protest/contest. Then there are words like contraception, where protraception is a nonsense word. It is all a profusion of confusion. · Two other prefixes at opposite ends of something are oral and anal. We are all familiar with the concept (precept) of the analogy, but draw a blank at the thought of an oralogy. Analyst is a familiar title, many of whom are practicing oralysts. Maybe this is about the Lingus sisters, Connie and Annie. Or maybe how nobody says that the opposite of digital is oralog. Truth is not always pretty, nor tasty… · @NinaFarnia IRAN IN THE AUTUMN OF US IMPERIALISM, a historical & analytical 🧵 to dispel the myths. Research articles included · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in September 1941, in Vermont. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Two Wrongs Make A Right
This content was published January 12, 2009. … In Gaza, Israel continues to extract an eye for an eyelash. … I am not a moral statistician. If this sort of overwhelming reaction is needed for Israel to survive, then so be it. The question does arise, is this war in the best interest of Israel?
There is a feature about civilian casualties by Michael Totten. He supports Israel. He says about the current fuss: ”Innocents as well as combatants die in every war. If you have nothing to object to besides that, then you should oppose the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan for the same reason.” The war may change, but the rhetoric remains the same.
Not everyone thinks the war in Afghanistan is a great idea. It was launched as revenge for 911. Seven years later, there is no easy way out. The people of Afghanistan have been invaded many times, and do not greet invading armies as liberators. They whipped the Soviet Union. This defeat was a factor in the collapse of that “evil empire”.
There is another thing being said about Gaza that applies to Afghanistan. James Fallows writes about “a situation in which short-term tactical victories may lead to long-term strategic defeat”. … Yes, the IDF is winning, militarily. They are also losing the strategic war. In Afghanistan, the Taliban was quickly driven from power, but much of the countryside remains in hostile hands. Al Queda was not destroyed. If the war in Afghanistan spills over into Pakistan, and destabilizes this nuclear-armed Muslim country, the result could make Gaza look like a sunday school picnic.
This content was published January 17, 2009. … There is a featured blog on the WordPress home today called Pak Alert Press. They posted a feature on January 7 titled “Israel Created Hamas to Split Palestine”. The thesis is that Israel helped to start Hamas as a tool, against the PLO and Fatah.
I do not claim to know everything about Palestine. This bit of revisionism does sound a bit far fetched. But the question does arise, what role did Israel play in the creation of Hamas? In the six day war, Israel gained control of Gaza. Israel occupied the territory for a while, and has had a great deal of control over it ever since. What did Israel do to prepare the Gazans for self government?
By all accounts, it was not a friendly occupation. Israel established settlements on Gazan territory, taking up twenty percent of the land. This is in one of the most densely populated regions on earth. … Is it surprising that a radical organization like Hamas exists? Would it exist if the Israeli treatment of the Gazans had been better during the occupation? Like many other things, the present state of affairs is a done deal. You cannot go back in time and create a better life for the Gazans … and ultimately, the Israelis. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in September 1939. “R.B. Whitley, who was one of the first citizens of the town and is one of its leading citizens, owner of the general store, president of the bank, and owns a cotton mill nearby and a farm. He is a big land owner, owns Whitley-Davis farm and a cotton mill in Clayton. He said he cut down the trees and pulled the stumps out of the main street, and was the first man in that town of Wendell, Wake County, North Carolina” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Stock Photographs
This content was published January 29, 2020. The Washington Post enjoys KKK Klickbait, usually behind the paywall. A recent example:
Yesterday’s Ku Klux Klan members are today’s police officers, councilwoman says. Under the headline is a picture of some very fine people wearing squeaky clean bedsheets. The caption for the picture reads “A member of the Ku Klux Klan adjusts his hood during a 1998 rally in Texas. (David J. Phillip/AP)”
Stock photographs are widely used to illustrate klickbait. “Swiss police investigate KKK carnival costumes. … The 12 people who dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes during carnival celebrations in canton Schwyz are not guilty of racial discrimination, local justice officials say. The central Schwyz public prosecutor’s office said on Friday that the men had overstepped the mark on what was allowed at carnival celebrations and that common decency had been grossly violated. But the men’s behavior did not constitute the offence of racial discrimination, because they did not intend to convert people to the KKK, judicial officials added.”Video zeigt, wie Ku-Klux-Klan in Schwyz marschiert Wir benutzen Cookies und andere Technologien.
Religion News Service ran a story in 2016, Georgia court hears Klan suit to join ‘adopt-a-highway’. The picture in the RNS story has this caption: Supporters dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan, using the occasion of Halloween to mask their faces from the police, express anti-Semitic views in Lviv (Ukraine) on October 31, 2009. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko”
“Students be careful, there’s someone walking around in KKK gear with a whip’: Indiana University student triggers scare after mistaking priest for KKK man. Dominican friar was spotted waiting for frozen yogurt at Indiana University. Students thought his long white robe meant he was a member of the KKK. Residential officer issued a warning telling students to be careful on campus. But it was later withdrawn when it transpired the man was in fact a priest.” … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Blind Into Caracas
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Rape hoax redux: Debunking the latest relaunch of a genocidal atrocity propaganda lie
Restaurant employee seen driving on sidewalk in crowded Little Five Points, crashing …
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Woman who barreled down Little Five Points sidewalk full of people in car arrested …
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Unsupervised/Unaccompanied Juveniles Igniting Fireworks at 1371 Market St. SW
Joe Pyne Show – Harlan Ellison Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Dr. Richard Felger, David Crane
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Supreme Court did not request Trump’s financial records on 72-hour deadline
@thecurioustales How to negotiate any price down (10 psychological tactics):
nfc south · eli lake · venezuela · 2013 0104c · mrs powell
lily phillips · 6-7 · slow computer · nonzero awards · usps
costco · gsv · clavicular fuentes · dick spreadsheet · bigdickproblems
brigitte bardot · recessed maxilla · quiet please · lily phillips · 6-7
This is the last monday morning reader of 2025. One of the pictures shows a man brushing snow off a vehicle, in front of the Georgia State Capitol. This is an example of hell freezing over · This is the last monday morning reader of 2025. The picture below is Ponce De Leon Avenue in 1960. The plan at the time was to run a highway through at that location. Fortunately, that highway was not built · At the start of this short video, Billy Powell is wearing a Richards t-shirt · The 2021 skirmish between Israel and Gaza was code named “Operation Wall Guardian.” A wall guardian would have been useful on October 7 · This may work, or it may not we will just see · Celebrating five decades of linguistic commentary, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) presents the 50th annual Banished Words List. The winners this year: 6-7 (six seven), Demure, Cooked, Massive, Incentivize, Full stop, Perfect, Gift/gifted (as a verb), My Bad, Reach Out. In addition to the top ten, LSSU adds five “Repeat Offenders”: Absolutely, At the End of the Day, Awesome, Game Changer, Hot Water Heater · Lake Superior State University (LSSU) presents the 2026 Banished Words List: 6-7 (six seven), Demure, Cooked, Massive, Incentivize, Full stop, Perfect, Gift/gifted (as a verb), My Bad, Reach Out · @FuentesUpdates If you like weed, FUCK YOU! … when I saw this it had 420 comments · On January 2, 1971, David Crosby and friends were recording “If I Could Only Remember My Name” in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Governor elect Jimmy Carter was preparing for his term as Governor of Georgia · The Franklin quote was from a conversation, that was recorded by a third party in his diary. Years later, the lady Mr. Franklin was talking to said “I have no recollection of any such conversations,” · Auden addressed a verse of his largely unpublished “Ode to the New Year (1939)” to Isherwood: “May your life in the States become better, May the shadow of grief disappear, But—God!—if you ever turn heter, I won’t wish you a Happy New Year.” · This post started by asking whether there is a division between God and Man. It ended by noting that North Avenue Presbyterian Church was built using granite donated by Sam Venable … one of the founders of the modern KKK · Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture January 1, 1939. “Street cornerCarrier Mills, Illinois” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
National Plagiarism Week
This content was posted January 30, 2009. … It is National Plagiarism Week! Here for the first act at chamblee54, we give blame/credit to Father Tony. As he puts it: A pathologist sent me this list: Washington Post’s “Mensa Invitational” which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house,
which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund,
which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.
The bozone layer, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7.Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8.Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right?
And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day,
consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.
National Plagiarism Week is no longer observed. Some killjoy replaced it with Plagiarism Prevention Day, which will be celebrated February 19, 2026 Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken in 1958. “The Krystal, Lee Street, SW. “ ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Harry Hay And Joe Pyne
This content was originally published January 16, 2021. … Joe Pyne was a notoriously abrasive TV personality. He pioneered many of the things that today’s shock jock hosts do, before his death in 1970. One of his guests was Georgia Governor Lester Maddox. While writing a blog post about Lester, I did a bit of research on Joe Pyne.
Wikipedia had an intriguing comment. “Gay activists Harry Hay and John Burnside—who were a couple from 1962 until Hay’s death in 2002—appeared on Pyne’s show in 1967.[citation needed]” Harry Hay is a seminal figure in certain “radical” communities. Mr. Hay had a sharp tongue, and might have given the combative Pyne a bit of pushback. I decided to look for the video. … 2026 Update: The current Wikipedia entry for Joe Pyne (born Joseph Edward Pine) does not mention the appearance by Harry Hay and John Burnside.
[citation needed] is the key phrase. Youtube has a few dozen videos of the Joe Pyne Show. None of the ones here include Harry Hay. The internet archive has a collection of Pyne tapes, but no Harry Hay. A google search provides many mentions of this interview, but no more details. Many of the references were apparently copied, verbatim, from Wikipedia. 2026 Update: Almost all of the youtube links in the original post no longer work. The internet archive did not archive most of the ones I looked for. If you search for “Joe Pyne” on youtube, you will see more than you need to see.
There is a possibility that Harry Hay was never on the Joe Pyne show. There are other urban legends about Joe Pyne. The most famous involves Frank Zappa. It is helpful to know that Joe Pyne had a rare form of cancer in 1955, and part of his left leg was amputated. In the story, Mr. Pyne asks Mr. Zappa if his long hair makes him a girl. Mr. Zappa replied, does your wooden leg make you a table?
TV Party might have a reason for the missing video. “Most, if not all, of the syndicated Joe Pyne programs still exist on videotape in the archives of Hartwest Productions, Inc. Here’s what Hartwest tells us: “The tapes are 2″ Quads, meaning that they are so ancient that you only get one pass before the oxides flake off. That one pass is fine to make a new digital master, but the cost (including two digital clones) comes to about $600 a show. So far, we have only transferred three shows, with the cost being paid for by people who were either in the show, or who were making a documentary, or who now seem to worship one of the guests (and I mean the last literally).”
The research turned up another story. It is from “Remembering Harry and John” by Mark Thompson, on the occasion of Harry’s 100th anniversary. “I remember the night we were socializing at the San Francisco Art Institute at a gala tribute for James Broughton. Harry (Hay) and James had sparked briefly as Stanford University undergraduates, but didn’t meet again until fifty years later at a faerie gathering. Few people knew that James had fathered a daughter with esteemed film critic Pauline Kael during their bohemian Berkeley days, but Harry was alert to the fact. Kael and Broughton were having their own reunion at the moment when, with typical impudence, Harry interrupted the conversation by loudly asking, “So, who was the mother and who was the father?” The stunned silence was punctured only by the whoosh of Kael’s furious departure.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The men were soldiers in the War Between The States. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Hollywood Babylon
I recently read Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood’s Darkest and Best Kept Secrets. A yard sale had a deluxe edition on sale. The man asked how much I thought it should cost. “If you are going by the amount of truth in it, the price would be a nickel.”
HB is highly entertaining, despite those troubling concerns about the facts. The cover has an NSFW picture of Jayne Mansfield, where the top of her dress serves as a display case for her boobies. HB goes all TMI about the death of Miss Mansfield, but is a model of good taste compared to Find a Death (“Here are the dead Jayne photographs. Don’t click if you are easily oogied out.”) The *bottom line* is that Jayne Mansfield was not decapitated in that auto accident.
While asking Mr. Google whose jugs adorned the cover of HB, this article came up: Satan and Mummified Psychics: A Kenneth Anger Marathon at Sweat Records Tonight. Someone with too much free time was promoting an evening of the short films of Kenneth Anger. Mr. Anger, born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, has the copyright credit for HB. I suspect that other scribes helped out. In some parts, the prose is purpler than in others. Of course, when writing about Hollywood, it is fitting that a committee produced a book filled with lies. Kenneth Anger croaked May 11, 2023.
The Miami story disputes the notion that Kenneth Anger was a child star. “… a little boy named Anger was born in Santa Monica CA. He attended a school for child stars, did dance steps with Shirley Temple, and minced about as the changeling prince in the 1935 Warner Bros. movie version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But all that might be bullshit. There’s not much documentation of Anger’s alleged child star days. The one legit source that seems to corroborate the claim is Mickey Rooney. He played Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and he says Anger’s mommy dressed him up as the girl named “Sheila Brown” who officially played the Changeling Prince.”
A website called vice.com managed to snag an interview with Kenneth Anger. The introduction has this story. “He went on to recount the time Kenneth showed up at fellow director and mutual friend Curtis Harrington’s funeral at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery wearing a black raincoat, eyeliner, and fingernail polish. His shirt was opened to his navel, revealing the giant lucifer tattoo emblazoned across his chest, and he was accompanied by a boyish photographer who took pictures as Kenneth kissed Curtis’s corpse before its cremation. Before he was ejected from the premises, Kenneth handed John a small plastic vampire figurine that contained mint candies inside, clarifying its original use by saying, “It’s actually a dispenser for tickle-ribbed rubbers.”
The interview had a few high moments. VICE But it did attract the attention of sexologist Alfred Kinsey, whom you befriended. Did he encourage your work? KA Yes. Kinsey was doing interviews for his book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and I don’t know … What if you are not human? The title is kind of awkward, but that was what he called his research book. He was basically a biologist, an expert on wasps, of all things. When he came to LA to do interviews, I met him. He came to see Fireworks at the Coronet Theatre at a midnight showing, and he wanted to buy a print for his collection at Indiana University. I agreed, and that was the first copy I ever sold. But I remained good friends with him until the end of his life.
VICE Do you have a favorite star from this era? KA I love the career of Rudolph Valentino, who died at 31 and had an amazing trajectory in that short time. His life continues to fascinate me. VICE Do you continue to find new information? KA I have plenty of information on him. There are facts, and then there is gossip. I go for the facts, but I will listen to the gossip. [smiles] VICE Your willingness to sift through the gossip was a point of contention with some people when Hollywood Babylon was published, especially after its second printing. Some have accused you of muckraking, and others have even gone further and claim that it contains factual inaccuracies. KA Well, I’ve never been sued…
VICE In other words, your detractors can’t prove it. KA No one ever came up to me and said, “Well, you made the whole thing up.” Because I didn’t. … HB is a fun book, with great pictures. The stories are mostly lies, but this is Hollywood we are talking about. With its continued popularity, there will be plenty of copies at yard sales and used book stores. … For the three letter initials crowd, Kenneth Anger made Kustom Kar Kommandos in 1965. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in March 1941. “Men eating at Salvation Army. Newport News, Virginia” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
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