Influencer Encouraging
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psalm 141:3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Believers See Jesus’s Face in the Shroud of Turin. A Study Now Says It’s Something Else
Michelle Phillips “It Was Very Unfair That I Was Fired From The Mamas & The Papas”
Everything You Need to Know About Clavicular, 20-Year-Old Influencer Encouraging …
Court rules that large Confederate flag be taken down along interstate highway
Andrew Wilson vs Dave Smith: Is Libertarianism better than Christian Populism?
Ram Dass – Scotland Interview @FindhornFoundation 90s | [Black Screen / No Music …
Dave Smith Interview Tucker Carlson | Russia, Israel, and the Joe Rogan Controversy
Atlanta’s first famous baseball park was also home to a giant magnolia tree in center field
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I was in a zoom poetry event during the Kid Rock-Bad Bunny smackdown. My webcam finally functioned, after a few tense moments. I didn’t know whether to thank Yahweh or Satan. Those two are tough to tell apart · These smiles make the perpetual glitter mess that will plague my studio until the end of time worth it · “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Credit/blame for this item goes to George Santayana, who can also be blamed for “Only the dead are safe; only the dead have seen the end of war.” · This is the story of what happens when a non participant makes a joke about a beloved Christian cliche · @simeonthefool.bsky.social ….what happens is he stays mad about it for SEVEN YEARS and then puts it in his own newspaper that he got mad? 😭 · @simeonthefool.bsky.social Man. It was Twitter in 2019. You can just accept you once got dragged for saying the Council of Nicaea wrote the Bible and get on with your life. At least you kindly linked to the original posts so those of us who forgot about it can see what I said. It was a fun conversation! (screenshots attached) · @simeonthefool.bsky.social Sadly the ex-site has broken the link that was the punchline of my original tweet But it’s even funnier when you realize that my dude was going off about all this in response to…. a gif from Jesus Christ Superstar · @simeonthefool.bsky.social ME: “Remember that story when Jesus flipped tables? And… possibly invented clothes hangers? While singing a rock opera?” HIM: “I am going to stay mad at you for SEVEN YEARS because you don’t take me seriously when I reply that the Council of Nicea made up everything the Bible about Jesus!!!” · @chamblee54.bsky.social actually, I forgot about this, and only remembered when I found the link in my archive. I had a bit of trouble finding your x account, since I am not an approved follower. the pictures are better than the text · @simeonthefool.bsky.social There was absolutely nothing stopping you from just leaving it in the archives, my dude Feel free to use the pictures if you like them, I moved on from X long long ago · @RonanFarrow (1/10 🧵) If you live in NY, you may see a new warning: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” This mandatory disclosure went into effect late last year, and it’s the first attempt by a US state to grapple with a new generation of surveillance pricing · Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio · The text is about Hollywood talent arguing with a trans activist in a New York bookstore. The pictures are about Texas people in 1939 · The people celebrating the conversion of Joe Rogan might want to calm down. “I’ve been reading the Bible a lot. And one of the problems that I find is it’s clearly got the hand of man on it.” · Jesus is my … @grok is this real?@grok The video appears to be an edited compilation of old televangelist footage (likely from Jim Bakker’s shows in the 1980s), with added cartoon effects, speech bubbles, and humorous animations for comedic effect. The base clips are real, but the final product is satirical, not unedited reality. · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Russell Lee took the social media picture in February 1939. “Mexican men and children who live in corral. Robstown, Texas” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Rose McGowan Again
This content was published February 6, 2018. … Brave is the book that Rose Arianna McGowan is promoting. Whenever there is a fresh controversy, there is usually product to sell. Chamblee54 has written about RAM 3 times: Rose McGowan Misogygate, A Rose By Any Other Blame, and The Rose And Bret Show. Someday, I will see one of her movies.
Recently, during a promotional event, push came to shove. RAM fought back, against the trans activist who verbally assaulted her from the audience. While RAM, and her opinions, can be highly annoying, it was fun to see someone push back at a troll. RAM said a few things about labelism.
“Don’t label me, sister.” Don’t put your labels on me. Don’t you f—ing do that. Do not put your labels on me. I don’t come from your planet. Leave me alone. I do not subscribe to your rules. I do not subscribe to your language. You will not put labels on me or anybody. Step the f— back. What I do for the f—ing world and you should be f—ing grateful. Shut the f— up. Get off my back. What have you done? I know what I’ve done, God dammit.”
Andi Dier is the trans activist who made a scene. There are unconfirmed rumors of bad behavior on their part. @PopCrave “Andi Dier the woman who heckled Rose McGowan at her book signing is now being accused of sexual assault by multiple women.”
Some reports on the B&N episode note trans-problematic comments made on RuPaul’s “What’s the Tee?” podcast. In the last part of the show, RAM makes comments about trans women not having periods as teenagers. Is that transphobic? As a certified cis-male, I am the wrong person to ask.
The rest of the show was fun to listen to. RuPaul made sage observations about the illusionary nature of show business. RAM made one comment, at 51:11, that is easily refuted. “60% of gun violence deaths in this country are women.” The FBI issues a report every year. The homicide numbers for 2016: Total 15,070 male 11,821 female 3,208. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in February 1939. “Mexican boy drinking out of water faucet. There were five of these faucets to supply water for about fifty Mexican families averaging five members each. They live in five units. Robstown, Texas” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Cluster Bombs
This content was published February 26, 2008. … This item was in kikoshouse today: “Barack Obama wants to ban the use of cluster bombs while Hillary Clinton and John McCain don’t. What makes the use of these submunitions, which are miniature bombs nested inside a mother bomb, so insidious is that they drop beneath tissue parachutes and are magnets for unsuspecting Iraqi children. Some 82 countries have signed the Wellington Declaration to ban cluster bombs, but don’t expect the U.S. to join them anytime soon.”
Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions (“bomblets”).When they are dropped on enemy territory, many of the bomblets fail to explode, and form a land mine like hazard. They are often dropped with tissue like parachutes.
They have been called “Lethal Pinatas.” They are often a bright yellow. This is similar to food packages, and can confuse someone who does not speak english.
They remain on the ground, waiting to explode, when civilian populations return home after the war. According to Handicap International: “Ninety-eight percent of cluster submunitions casualties are civilians killed and injured while returning home in the aftermath of conflict or while going about their daily tasks to survive.”
ADDENDUM – A 2008 article takes a familiar rhetorical turn. “But isn’t the campaign against cluster bombs just a cover for those opposed to Israel? While we’re at it, why does Israel always get singled out for using them against Lebanon? … Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a minister in Angela Merkel’s German government, was one who felt the sting of being labeled an anti-Semite. After referring to the cluster bomb as “a sort of lethal piñata,” she asked the United Nations to investigate its use by Israel in civilian areas of Lebanon.”
“On June 7, 2023, the US Department of Defense announced that President Joe Biden had signed a “determination” that the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine was necessary for the national security interests of the United States. He authorized the transfer of an unspecified number of cluster munitions that have a greater than 1% unexploded ordnance rate to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
“The Ukrainian conflict has recorded the highest confirmed death and injury toll from cluster munitions for the third year running, UN-backed researchers said on Monday. According to the latest Cluster Munitions Monitor, more than 1,200 people are known to have been killed or maimed in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The true figure is likely much higher, but it could be years before an accurate number is known, said Loren Persi, team lead for the Cluster Munition Monitor report.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in November 1940. “ Having a beer in “Art’s Sportsman’s Tavern” on a rainy day in Colchester, Connecticut” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Funeral Murder From The Air
This content was published February 6, 2012. … BHO set a new standard for public statements from the oval office. He was talking about economic recovery. “So I want to send a clear message to Congress: Do not slow down the recovery that we’re on. . Keep it moving in the right direction.” Thank you Democracy Now for that transcript, and for the rest of the quotes in this story.
Kansas/Kenya lips were moving on another subject recently. During a “virtual interview” with youtubers last week, BHO was talking about drone strikes in Pakistan. “I want to make sure that people understand, actually, drones have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties. For the most part, they have been very precise precision strikes against al-Qaeda and their affiliates. ” A report from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism paints a different picture .
“We’ve been looking at this since August of last year. When we were putting together our massive database on CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, we noted that there were repeated reports at the time, contemporaneous reports in publications like New York Times, news agencies like Reuters, by CNN, that there were these strikes on rescuers, that there were reports that there had been an initial strike and then, some minutes later, as people had come forward to help and pull out the dead and injured, that drones had returned to the scene and had attacked rescuers. Now, we didn’t take that at face value when we began a major investigation, that’s been ongoing for many months now, that we just published in conjunction with the London Sunday Times, where we looked at those 18 original reports, and we’ve been able to confirm, through our researchers on the ground in Waziristan, that a dozen of those attacks on rescuers, and also two attacks on funerals, have taken place in Waziristan. And we’ve been able to name just over 50 civilians that we understand have been killed in those attacks. In total, we think that more than 75 civilians have been killed, specifically in these attacks on rescuers and on mourners, on funeral-goers.”
The US government had a witty response. “A senior American counterterrorism official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, questioned the report’s findings, saying ‘targeting decisions are the product of intensive intelligence collection and observation.’ The official added: ‘One must wonder why an effort that has so carefully gone after terrorists who plot to kill civilians has been subjected to so much misinformation. Let’s be under no illusions—there are a number of elements who would like nothing more than to malign these efforts and help Al Qaeda succeed.”
A few years ago, in Sandy Springs, an abortion clinic was bombed. About fifteen minutes later, a second bomb went off at the site, designed to hit those who had come to aid the victims of the initial blast. Apparently, our armed forces were impressed by this tactic, and have used it in Pakistan. It is not known whether abortion clinic bombers set off bombs at victim funerals.
There were indications that the situation may be improving. “And just to be clear, the attacks on rescuers and mourners that we note, they’ve all occurred under the Obama administration between 2009 and July 2011. I think that date is quite interesting, because that’s also when Leon Panetta stepped down as head of CIA. You have an interim CIA leader, and then David Petraeus comes in. We haven’t had any reports from Pakistan since July of last year of attacks on rescuers. So there’s an indication of a policy change, and there’s also an indication of a targeting change on the ground. So, things may be changing at the moment.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture was taken in 1898. “Boys of the 71st N.Y. at Montauk Point, after returning from Cuba” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
What Would Jesus Sue?
This content was originally posted February 23, 2019. … This is the story of a Biblical twitterspat. If you are not interested, you can skip over the text, and look at the pictures.
@wartwatch The only thing that matters veto these churches is $$$$$. They must be sued and they must pay a penalty in order to make an impact.
chamblee54 What would Jesus Sue?
@SimeonTheFool If only there was some way to know for sure whether Jesus would approve of causing financial damage on religious leaders who made money by exploiting others. Like, if He’d ever famously done it Himself or something….
chamblee54 “only there was some way to know for sure”
Everything that Jesus did, or did not do, is legend. Everything.
The only things we know about Jeeziepoo are what the council of nicea chose to tell us.
@SimeonTheFool Tua eruditione praestantem es minus habens. Cede studere historia. (Your scholarship is not good enough. Please go to study history.)
chamblee54 Your arrogance is not good enough. Please go to study humility.
@SimeonTheFool Το Συμβούλιο της Νικαίας δεν συζήτησε τον κανόνα της Βίβλου. Αυτή είναι η ταπεινοφροσύνη επειδή είναι αλήθεια. Η αλαζονεία λέει “Ιησούπου”. Σε ευχαριστώ για την προσπάθεια σου. (The Council of Nicaea did not discuss the Bible rule. This is humility because it is true. Arrogance says “Jesus”. Thank you for your effort.)
chamblee54 you have been educated beyond your ability to use knowledge in a meaningful way
אַל־ תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתֹּ֑ו פֶּֽן־ תִּשְׁוֶה־ לֹּ֥ו גַם־ את׃ (This is apparently backwards.)
chamblee54 Do not give it to the people, but to the people of the land. I am throwing in the translator You win You will collect your winnings when the cardboard cookies are finished baking
@SimeonTheFool “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you become like him.”
chamblee54 this religious argument has now moved into the personal insult phase I must be dealing with christians
@wartwatch I used to read over at ExChristians They do a pretty good job with insults as well. 😇
chamblee54 This will teach me not to make a joke about a beloved xtian cliche
At this point I made a mistake. I went for a walk, and thought about this conversation.
@chamblee54 one point has not been challenged … whether it was the council of nicea, or the 7 ecumenical councils, there was a human gatekeeper Some humans chose the texts to include in the bible This is the primary source of stories about jesus christian insults cannot change that
@SimeonTheFool Sorry, but you’re misinformed. Basic history facts: 1. The Council of Nicea was one of the 7 Ecumenical Councils (the first), not “or.” 2. The canon of Scripture was not discussed at any of them. 3. Paul’s epistles as well as the four gospels predate all of them by centuries.
chamblee54 ok who decided what texts go in the bible? was it man or g-d? there were many texts, other than the letters of paul, that were not included. Who made this decision?
chamblee54 you did not answer my question there were dozens of texts which were not included in the canon who chose these texts?
@SimeonTheFool Oh, but I did answer your question. The answer is, “Go do your own homework.”
This debate raged on, long past the point of being either educational or entertaining. St. Simeon the Holy Fool claims to have a PhD from a “large secular state university.” If you are interested, you can use one of the links in this feature to join in the fun.
One other celebrant chimed in. This is a recent convert to twitterism. They have a handful of followers, and have not made any original tweets.
@MRWiggins2 So if this is the case, if everything’s just pure legend, nonsense, myth, why do you even care to speculate as to who He would sue? I dare say, sir, you are a bit confused.
chamblee54 that was a parody of “what would jesus do”
@MRWiggins2 When a fool gets rolling, just get out of their way. Luther’s one of these people not clever enough to realize he’s not clever. Dangerous thing, when you are essentially a combo platter of arrogance and ignorance.
@MRWiggins2 You can’t even communicate at a mediocre level. Mea culpas if you’re a 13 year old boy in the nascent stage of his rebellion phase. Otherwise, please learn to write & reason. Don’t just be a confirmation of the stereotype of the atheist not smart enough to see they’re not smart.
chamblee54 as opposed to xtians whose conversation turns into puerile insults instinctively
chamblee54 you talk pretty good for a person who has not tweeted yet
@MRWiggins2 I didn’t know that was a requirement. I’m not a big social media guy.
@MRWiggins2 Au contraire. I don’t claim to understand the workings of the universe,
I just know Jesus saved me–a small, ignorant thing who doesn’t even understand his teenagers.
OTOH, those who claim there is no God must be supernaturally knowledgeable to make such an extraordinary claim. (At no time in this discussion did I discuss the reputed existence of God.)
@SimeonTheFool is now available to approved followers only. @simeonthefool.bsky.social is open on Bluesky. @MRWiggins2 is nowhere to be seen. @wartwatch continues to do outstanding work.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in November 1940. “Having a beer in “Art’s Sportsman’s Tavern” on a rainy day in Colchester, Connecticut” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Those Who Cannot Remember …
This content was published February 15, 2025. … “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Unless you live under a rock, you have heard that quote. Credit/blame for this item goes to George Santayana. (b. Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952.) This quote is the only reason anyone has heard of GS. As it turns out, GS also can be credited with the phrase “Only the dead are safe; only the dead have seen the end of war.” Details on these two crowd pleasers to follow.
“Those who cannot remember …” (TWCR) appears in The Life Of Reason. “During the years of 1905 and 1906, he published a five-volume work titled The Life of Reason; or, The Phases of Human Progress … Santayana investigates the birth and development of human reason, which he views as an evolutionary system within the scope of physical reality. He traces the growth of the human mind towards a state of rationality, exploring the details of existence and evaluating human life in general.” TLOR was written while GS was teaching philosophy at Harvard.
TWCR is in CHAPTER XII—FLUX AND CONSTANCY IN HUMAN NATURE of volume one. Here is the abbreviated paragraph: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians … Thus old age is as forgetful as youth, and more incorrigible; it displays the same inattentiveness to conditions; its memory becomes self-repeating and degenerates into an instinctive reaction, like a bird’s chirp.”
TLOR is a heavy duty piece of work, not a glib collection of uplifting quotes. Chapter XII is about mankind’s progress in becoming a thinking being. TWCR appears to be an incidental line, not the main thrust of his thesis. The last sentence … “memory becomes self-repeating and degenerates into an instinctive reaction, like a bird’s chirp” … would seem to contradict the more famous TWCR.
How did TWCR go from being an incidental line, to being the coffee mug classic that we know today? We don’t know. Quote Investigator® traces known citations through the years. There does not seem to be any one moment when the quote became famous.
”Santayana sometimes repudiated his earlier work, in part for its having the taint of academic life. He especially spoke down at times about the Life of Reason series for its association with the progressivism of the day, and it was later edited by Santayana and his late-life personal assistant and secretary, Daniel Cory, with the intent of removing some of its more humanistic overtones.” I do not know whether TWCR is one of the “humanistic overtones.”
In contrast to TWCR, few people know about the GS connection to “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” OTDH appeared in Soliloquies in England (1922) “remarkably written amidst the uncertain, violent times of World War I.” OTDH appears in soliloquy 25, _TIPPERARY_ … “Only the dead are safe; only the dead have seen the end of war. Not that non-existence deserves to be called peace; it is only by an illusion of contrast and a pathetic fallacy that we are tempted to call it so. The church has a poetical and melancholy prayer, that the souls of the faithful departed may rest in peace.”
”Some scholars conclude that Santayana was an active homosexual based on allusions in Santayana’s early poetry (McCormick, 49–52) and Santayana’s association with known homosexual and bisexual friends. Santayana provides no clear indication of his sexual preferences, and he never married. Attraction to both women and men seems apparent in his undergraduate and graduate correspondence. The one documented comment about his homosexuality occurs when he was sixty-five. After a discussion of A. E. Housman’s poetry and homosexuality, Santayana remarked, “I think I must have been that way in my Harvard days — although I was unconscious of it at the time” (Cory, Santayana: The Later Years, 40). Because of Santayana’s well-known frankness, many scholars consider Santayana a latent homosexual based on this evidence.”
This text does not discuss the misuse of history, or of quotes. We seek to discuss the context of TWCR, and speculate about why this item is so popular. One of the lessons of history is that people will interpret history to suit their purposes, often to the detriment of mankind. It is ironic that TWCR (written in 1905) is often cited as a justification for war … and only the dead have seen the end of war. (OTDH was written in 1922, after another great war.)
Photographs today are from The Library of Congress. The featured photograph: “Two unidentified soldiers in Confederate uniforms” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Echoes Of The Pasta
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This is your monday morning reader for Melania week. As a youtube commenter noted, “Abraham Lincoln went to see the movie, and said it was the worst theatre experience of his life.” · Holocaust Denial is a fringe belief, with severe social consequences for supporting. OTOH, Genocide Denial is the official position of many powerful and influential people. In many communities and venues, Genocide Acknowledgement is more dangerous than Denial. · @sharghzadeh شرقزده Protests in Western societies are a way for the system to allow you to expend any energy you had that could be useful into a totally fruitless exercise · For the first part of my life, I went by Cam, which is short for Campbell. I finally got tired of explaining my name, and started to use my first name · This whole lap board thing is taking a new twist. 3o” is too much, so I am trying 24″ it seems to be a bit more agreeable, so we will see · There are many stories that could be told about Billie Holliday. Some of them are even true, The stories in this post are mostly fiction · Advice From An Old Junkie · William Seward Burroughs was born February 5, 1914. He went to the gun range in the sky August 2, 1997. Keith Richards thought he was an amateur · One of the magic moments of the first Trump regime was when Donnie asked VPOTUS Mike Pence to help overturn the election. VP Pence asked Dan Quayle for advice · Our wonderful President posted a video last night on truthsocial. I heard all about the controversy, but wanted to see the video for myself. It is difficult to find by itself. Here is a show, which does present the complete video. · there is this teenage boy who works at the korean rice bowl place. he has multiple earrings, is very sweet and sets my gaydar off. tonight, there was a tall blond boy hanging out with him. i am delighted to think it is his bf · @grok This apology from Gavin Ashenden (Catholic commentator, ex-chaplain to the Queen) to Calvin Robinson (conservative cleric and broadcaster) follows a deleted tweet that was seen as unkind. Both are vocal in UK religious and cultural debates. If those topics interest you, it’s a glimpse into ongoing tensions; if not, it’s likely just passing online drama. · The trivialization of the r-word has been going on for a long time · Rumi inspired these three graphic poems: if in doubt you drink water from a vase, leave behind all the sour and bitter, drain your desire till the cup carries grace, move outside the perpetual glitter · “Pity there wasn’t this much engagement BEFORE the election, when it could have made a difference.” Actually, we might have been better off with less engagement. Before the 2016 election from hell, Democrats kept piling on. Many of their attacks on Trump turned out to be lies (Russiagate) Other attacks were about Trump’s racial attitudes, with the side comment “if you vote for Trump then you are a RACIST. It turns out that lying to people, and calling them RACIST, is going to help you lose the election. · the past is always connected to the present, just like the bill is connected to the purchase of the present. on the super bowl front, seattle is leading 6-0, and i should remind myself to keep my mike muted and the tv in the other room. the video camera did not come on until i unplugged the wire to the computer and plugged it back in again. changing browsers did not work, not did tweaking the buttons in the attributes. you all know i am the side show, i am immediately going to switch to my graphic poem, which inshallah will work. should you say god willing on a zoom experience, or should you tell satan to go do her dirty work elsewhere . satan should be busy making sure the patriots lose, or maybe that is yahweh’s job, it just gets tougher and tougher to tell those two apart. · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Edwin Rosskam took the social media picture in April 1941. “Lily vendors on Easter Sunday, Black Belt, Chicago, Illinois” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
All Caps Comic Sans
This content was published February 19, 2015. … The story starts on twitter. @chescaleigh #Oscars2015 voter finds Selma cast wearing #ICantBreathe shirts to their film premiere “offensive” #OscarsSoWhite @chescaleigh Apparently protesting police brutality is offensive? But this same #Oscars2015 voter loved American Sniper soooo that says it all @ShaunKing I said it when Lebron wore it & I’ll say it re: the SELMA cast, if this shirt offends you, you are probably racist.
Evidently, the cast of the movie “Selma” wanted to make a statement, or get publicity for the movie, or both. They wore t shirts to an event. The shirts say “I CANT BREATHE,” in all caps comic sans letters, with no apostrophe. This refers to something said by Eric Garner.
The t-shirt clad cast is posing in the “hands up don’t shoot” pose. This gesture became popular after Micheal Brown was killed. Many people find it unlikely that Mr. Brown made this gesture.
The Hollywood Reporter posted a story, Oscar Voter Reveals Brutally Honest Ballot: “There’s No Art to ‘Selma,'” ‘Boyhood’ “Uneven.” An oscar voter went into great detail about the different categories she was voting on. She liked “American Sniper” because it made a lot of money. This is important to the movie industry. If you want to send a message, call Western Union.
Daily Kos, condensed the story to three juicy sentences. “But if the movie isn’t that good, am I supposed to vote for it just because it has black people in it? I’ve got to tell you, having the cast show up in T-shirts saying “I can’t breathe” [at their New York premiere] — I thought that stuff was offensive. Did they want to be known for making the best movie of the year or for stirring up shit?”
I am tough to offend, and easy to annoy. To have a grandstanding movie cast exploit a human tragedy is annoying. To have an internet facility call this pose “coming together in solidarity,” and call those who disagree racist, is distasteful. At what point does the word racist cease to have any meaning?
While researching this story, I found this. “Unfortunately, students were not given the opportunity to hear any of Dr. King’s … speeches in the film. That is because the film doesn’t include any direct quotes from the brilliant orator. … Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches are copyrighted, and filmmakers could not use his words in the movie without fear of being sued. Dr. King’s family owns the rights … and are famously litigious.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Edwin Rosskam took the social media picture in April 1941. “Children in front of moving picture theater, Easter Sunday matinee, Black Belt, Chicago, Illinois” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Dan Quayle
This content was originally published February 2, 2022. … “It is part of my existence to be the insect of metaphors” I was listening to a story, while editing photographs from The Library of Congress. I was starting to get bored with the story. I made the conscious decision to turn the story off. This was the last line that I heard before I turned the story off.
I finished a folder of pictures. With the Internet there’s plenty of temptation, and rabbit holes to go down. I found this delightful tweet by Andy Sullivan. It was a link to a a story about how Donald Trump was still trying to steal the election. Here is the first money quote: “Trump was busier attempting to undo the election than he had ever been as president.”
The YouTube video I was listening to was an excerpt from a Dan Carlin show. He was talking about Douglas MacArthur, and the great man theory of history. I have the opinion that history is going to happen the way it happens, and the celebrity gets too much credit. This is the thing about Gen. MacArthur and President Trump. I consider Mr. Trump to be a speedfreak, who, in a combination of luck, and pluck, got himself elected. If he had been moderately competent, and half as evil as the Democrats claim, America would have been in a world of trouble. And now, he is allegedly working harder to reverse an election, than he did when he was in office.
“And though Mike Pence, pressed hard by Trump for the last full measure of devotion, wavered (he phoned Dan Quayle for advice), in the end, he did what he knew was right.” Lord, you can’t make this stuff up. James Danforth Quayle is a major idiot, though probably not a dumb as many suspect. OTOH, Mike Pence … aka “Lester Maddox — without the spine” … is as worthless as people think.
The Bulwark article was written by Mona Charen. The scribe was a speech writer for Nancy Reagan, and was rumored to have been fired from that position. In the early nineties, Ms. Charen had a regular column in the fishwrapper. Once she said, regarding gay marriage, It is not marriage which civilizes people, but women. (Full disclosure: That quote is from memory, not a verified source.)
In 1992, when Ms. Charen had that column, I was working downtown. One afternoon, the Vice-Presidential debate was in Atlanta. I stepped out of the office to buy a bag of Fritos at a neighborhood store. I looked down the street to see the Vice President vehicle going down Forsyth Street. I waved at Dan Quayle. I only used one finger. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in August 1941. “Men in beer parlor at Finnish settlement of Bruce Crossing, Michigan” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Happy Birthday Bill Burroughs
This content was originally published February 5, 2015. … February 5, 1914, was the birth day of William Seward Burroughs Jr. For the rest of this piece, he will be known as WSB. This is both a handy abbreviation, as well as a touch of irony for Atlanta readers. WSB radio is a 50k watt clear channel am station, owned by the same media oligarchs that own the fishwrapper and channel two. The radio tv clusterfuck has long been the symbol of Peachtree Street white column respectability. Just to be clear/queer, from here on out in this feature WSB will mean a certain junkie writer, not welcome south brother/we’re so boring .
This is a good day for birthdays. Hank Aaron in 1934. Adlai Stevenson in 1900. Peg Entwhistle in 1908. The last one lived until 1932, when she jumped off the Hollywoodland sign.
A well thought of radio institution called “This American Life” has a show this week, Burroughs101. Actually, there is a class by that name, and there will be an exam at the end of the semester. The show is narrated by Iggy Pop. It begins with a warning. “A warning. The following program contains references to homosexuality, drug use, sex with aliens, violence, and kitty cats. What did you expect?” The show was originally cobbled together by the BBC, which might explain things a bit.
Iggy Pop did a show at the 688 club. I was in the audience. A man named Ivan Kral was in the band. When Mr. Kral came on stage, he blew his nose, and a white powder booger came out. The performance was not so much a concert as it was an endurance test.
TML has the lazy bloggers friend, the transcript. There are some lovely quotes. This show is not going to candy coat the bastard. This is a man who shot his wife while playing William Tell, and got away with it. As one non admirer says “I don’t just take the Burroughs myth with a pinch of salt. I view it as a unpleasant slug crawling across the lawn of literature. And I like to pour salt on it.”
Or this one. “Having used heroin yourself– I think used is a bit of an understatement. I was a heroin addict on and off for pushing a quarter of a century. For myself, I find the whole Burroughs myth pretty repulsive, actually. Because I understand what happened to me. I was an addict in waiting. I got my form prize or my English prize at The Naked Lunch. And a year and a half later, I was sticking needles in my arm. … You could be lying in some pestilential piss-soaked squat in the bowels of the city listening to some moron totaled on drugs drooling on and talking about Burroughs, because Burroughs was their Leon Trotsky. He was their Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the Pope. “
One of the questions of the early eighties was whether or not WSB was shooting up. Forget the nonsense about there not being any old junkies. Supposedly Ray Charles never really quit using heroin. So, in 1981, WSB was living somewhere in Manhattan, and it was a right of passage to go to the bunker and take heroin to him. Since he was the star, he used the needle first, which was an important distinction in those days … hiv did not have a name but was running wild through the junkie veins and queer buttholes of Reaganite America.
Howard Eric Brookner was a filmmaker, with wealthy Jewish parents. HEB worked on a movie about William S. Burroughs. When you hang out with Mr. Burroughs, it is considered good manners to take heroin. This became a problem for HEB. April 27, 1989, was HEB’s last day on the planet.
We don’t know if WSB got hiv or not. He made it until August 2, 1997, when a heart attack sent him to meet his maker. Contemporary Allen Ginsberg cashed in his chips earlier that year. In Washington, silly billy POTUS was getting knob jobs from Monica Lewinsky, who now gives TED talks by calling herself a social activist. WSB was a social activist, at a time when few would admit it.
The answer to your question is, yes, WSB was shooting dope in 1981. Somebody saw this as being an unhealthy situation, and arranged for him to move to Lawrence KS. This was his home until WSB went to live with Jesus, who was pissed because WSB didn’t bring him any smack.
So WSB was living the beat life, shooting dope, fucking boys, and just being a general mess. In his spare time he was writing books. Naked Lunch was busted for obscenity, and became his best known work. It is the first thing by WSB that I tried to read, making it to page twenty six before declaring the endeavor a hopeless waste of brain cells.
It is not known how much of Naked Lunch Dorothy Kilgallen read. She was called as a witness during an obscenity trial for Lenny Bruce. ” …There’s another book called The Naked Lunch which I couldn’t even finish reading, but it’s published, and I think the author should be in jail and he used– Q. Unfortunately we can’t do everything at once, Miss Kilgallen. Are you judging the non-obscene quality and the artistic quality of Bruce by the fact that The Naked Lunch is a book which, as of this date, is sold in the community? A. No, I’m not. I just mentioned it because you asked me for some books. Q. And The Naked Lunch is a book you found impossible to read, is that correct? A. Yes, I found it revolting. Q. What was revolting about it? A. Just the way it was written.”
Another expert witness to testify … to a BBC reporter, not a New York courtroom … is Marcus Ewert. A Dunwoody native, Mr. Ewert took literary groupiedom to ridiculous lengths with Allen Ginsberg and WSB. “We’re getting into bed, and I’m sticking my legs down under the covers. There’s this bump that my legs feel. And I’m like, “Oh, what’s this hard thing my legs are bumping against, William?” And he said, “Oh, that’s the gun.” I said, “Is it a loaded gun?” He said, “Of course it’s loaded.” You’d sleep with a lover with a loaded gun in your bed. That’s kind of a metaphor waiting to happen.”
Mr. Marcus is now a children’s book author. An Amazon reader says this about 10,000 Dresses. “I returned mine today and was appalled as I read the story to my son before reading it to myself. Kids need to feel safe at home, especially when dealing with gender non-conformity. I wish the author would have reconcilled the reactions of the family members. It is great to have stories out there addressing gender non-conformity in kids, but we have a huge responsibility to make sure they are sending the right message.”
The death of Joan Vollmer is discussed. This is the lady who was playing William Tell one night, with fatal consequences. Some say accident, some say intentional. The word uxoricide is used, meaning the act of killing one’s wife.
The cut up technique is discussed, as was how much WSB liked cats. WSB died, and people said nice things about him. — In 2010, I published Advice From An Old Junkie. In 2015, I found an audiobook of Junky, read by WSB. A two part post, Junky, and Junky Part Two, followed. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Timothy H. O’Sullivan took the social media picture in August 1863. “Bealeton, Virginia. Officers of 93d New York Infantry” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
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