Joni Mitchell Product
Joni Mitchell has product to promote. She gave an interview to New York magazine, where she smoked a few cigarettes and expressed a few opinions. There were enough attention getting comments to make the news.
“When I see black men sitting, I have a tendency to go — like I nod like I’m a brother. I really feel an affinity because I have experienced being a black guy on several occasions.” She proceeds to tell a story about dressing like a down and out black man as a way of dealing with an obnoxious photographer. “I just stood there till they noticed me. I walked really showily, going, Heh heh heh. It was a great revenge. That was all to get his ass. To freak him out. I had to keep him on the defensive.”
Gay-mafia-made-man David Geffen was a target. “I ask her about a painting, visible in a vestibule, on the way to her laundry room, of a curly-haired man with a banana lodged vertically in his mouth; turns out it’s Geffen, and she painted it. “Before he came out. He’s never seen it,” she says, before explaining: “He was using me as a beard. We were living together, and he’d go cruising at night. He was very ambitious to be big and powerful, and he didn’t think he would be [if he was openly gay].” By 1994, the two had fallen out over her insistence that he didn’t pay her enough in royalties.”
The product is a four cd boxed set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. There was a single one star comment about the joniproduct. Al Norman Seems like a collection of Joni’s forgettable tunes February 3, 2015 ~ “My wife loves Joni Mitchell, and never listens to this set. Seems like a collection of Joni’s forgettable tunes.” This comment was sponsored by Head and Shoulders. “100% flake free hair & A GREAT SCENT”
You just can’t get away from capitalism. Ms. Mitchell heard “… on the radio, a record executive “saying quite confidently, ‘We’re no longer looking for talent. We’re looking for a look and a willingness to cooperate.” As interviewer Carl Swanson notes, “For now, she’s hoping that people buy her boxed set, with her self-portrait on the cover. To that end, she gives me a Joni Mitchell tote bag with one of her paintings on it to carry my things home in. Get the word out.”
The pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost. The internet version had a lively exchange in the comments.
OneTonneTomatoe A better Eden is ahead to be established. One that cannot be corrupted is forward in time and place, not behind, not here. Be seated beyond the firmament. Romans 10:9
JamesSmith @OneTonneTomatoe Leave it to the christian arrogance to try t turn this into a proselyting effort. Your bable is a pack of myths and lies and you are a delusional fool.
cookie_mcgill @JamesSmith I don’t enjoy the poster above either, but smearing all Christians like that is offensive. Go easy there, tiger.
JamesSmith @cookie_mcgill @JamesSmith Prove anythng I posted is not true.
Theists, especially christians, are arrogant judgmental, unforgving, intolerant, deluional, irrational, and either fools, liars, or hypocrites. It’s all true and proven by the behavior of 99% of all theists, including christians. Go easy yourself and think about it. Face reality, not myths and lies.
cookie_mcgill @JamesSmith I wouldn’t take directions from either of you twits.
JamesSmith @cookie_mcgill @JamesSmith Prove anything I posted is not true. Especially tell me what I posted that makes you think I would even give a moron like you even the time of day. You’re as arrogant as the most fundamentalist theist.
John S. McCain And Bernie Sanders
The latest podcast addiction is a Slate production called Whistlestop. WS (whistlestop, not water sports) is about presidential elections. On top of the home page is a header ad. At first it had a picture of Hillary, with the message “I’m with her.” Now, it is a prescription medication, side effects scrolling slowly on the right. The side effects of Hillary are more obvious. (This repost was first published 02-13-2016) The side effect of the Hillary Clinton candidacy is the Donald Trump presidency.)
Episode 24 is When the Straight Talk Express Rolled Through New Hampshire. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush was the anointed candidate for the Republicans. Challenging him in New Hampshire was John S. McCain. The winner in New Hampshire was Senator McCain. The winner of the nomination, and ultimately the Presidency, was George W. Bush.
The WS story is about how JSM got the 2000 New Hampshire voters on his side. The 2008 story will, no doubt, be a future episode of WS. JSM did the whole Straight Talk routine, and won the nomination. JSM chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Whether JSM had a chance, after eight years of W, is a good question. BHO won the 2008 election. John McCain died August 25, 2018.
In Georgia, the electoral votes are all but conceded to the Republicans. The only time we get to choose is the primary. In 2008, PG saw the two choices were John McCain and Barack Obama. Both had flaws, but both offered alternatives to the nonsense of Mike Huckabee and John Edwards. After thinking about it, PG remembered that John McCain dropped napalm on women and children. So PG voted for Barack Obama. Once elected, BHO would fire hellfire missiles at women and children.
In the 2016 Georgia primary, there were five candidates: Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. PG did not like any of them. He decided to vote for the best looking candidate, Marco Rubio. On February 13, 2020, we still do not know who will be a viable candidate during the Georgia primary. PG will make up his mind while walking to the school, to cast his vote. PG will probably hold his nose while doing so.
‘The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys and the Shrub’ David Foster Wallace covered the McCain campaign for Rolling Stone. He was always good for a few thousand words, often in the first sentence. DFW had a few thoughts about why JSM was so popular.
“Because we’ve been lied to and lied to, and it hurts to be lied to. It’s ultimately just about that complicated: it hurts. We learn this at like age four—it’s grownups’ first explanation to us of why it’s bad to lie (“How would you like it if … ?”). And we keep learning for years, from hard experience, that getting lied to sucks—that it diminishes you, denies you respect for yourself, for the liar, for the world. Especially if the lies are chronic, systemic, if experience seems to teach that everything you’re supposed to believe in’s really just a game based on lies. … It’s painful to believe that the would-be “public servants” you’re forced to choose between are all phonies whose only real concern is their own care and feeding and who will lie so outrageously and with such a straight face that you know they’ve just got to believe you’re an idiot.”
In 2016, the outlaw candidate was Bernie Sanders, who has no middle name. He won a big victory in New Hampshire. BS is lying through his teeth. He says he will make college tuition free, and install single payer socialized medicine. Everyone knows these are lies (BS²) and yet the Bernoids play along. (Earlier this week, BS won a slim victory over Amy Jean Klobuchar, and Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg, in the New Hampshire primary.)
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men never voted in a presidential primary.
Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
Today is the 211th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. This used to be a holiday in the US, along with Washington’s BD on February 22. The two were combined into President’s Day.
It is unlikely that the two met, or knew much about the other. “On the origin of species” was published in 1859, as the United States teetered on the brink of catastrophe. There is a certain “Darwinism” in the way the unpleasantness of the eighteen sixties went down. The northeast quadrant of the United States gained dominance over a large chunk of North America, at a horrible cost. The concept that a human being could literally own another human being was banished.
There are two other anniversaries of note today. On February 12, 1733, James Oglethorpe landed a boatload of debtors on the future site of Savannah. This was the start of the Colony/State of Georgia.
There is another that continues the symmetry of Darwin/Lincoln, and was exactly 100 years later. On February 12, 1909, the NAACP was founded. On February 12 1904, Ted Mack, host of the Original Amateur Hour, was born. To make room for all this talent, on February 12, 1942, Grant Wood (painter of “American Gothic”) went to that village in the sky. He left the pitchfork behind.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress
Jordan Peterson Goes To Russia
Sometimes, things go beyond the like/dislike binary. Some stories are just so weird, that the only reaction is to observe in wonder. Just how can real life could be so bizarre? The recent chapter in the Jordan Peterson story is an example. Dr. Peterson is a Toronto psychologist/professor, and youtube personality. His signature work is a book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.
Mikhaila Peterson, the daughter of the professor, released a youtube video on February 7, 2020. “Dad was put on a low dose of a benzodiazepine a few years ago for anxiety following an extremely severe autoimmune reaction to food. He took the medication as prescribed. Last April when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the dose of the medication was increased.” This went on for a while, until he went into rehab. This article, about the first rehab, is dated September 20, 2019.
“After several failed treatment attempts in North American hospitals, including attempts at tapering and micro-tapering, we had to seek an emergency medical benzodiazepine detox, which we were only able to find in Russia. … He’s had to spend 4 weeks in the ICU in terrible shape, but, with the help of some extremely competent and courageous doctors, he survived.”
“She and her husband took him to Moscow last month, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and put into an induced coma for eight days. She said his withdrawal was “horrific,” worse than anything she had ever heard about. …Jordan Peterson has only just come out of an intensive care unit, Mikhaila said. He has neurological damage, and a long way to go to full recovery.”
This raises a few questions. Why Russia? France ranks as the number one healthcare system in many rankings. The World Health Organization, in their ranking of “Overall efficiency in all WHO member states,” puts Russian Federation at 130, out of 191. (The United States is 37.) USNews ranks Canada as number one. Jordan Peterson is famously Canadian.
Pride goeth before a fall. Jordan Peterson is not a humble person. It is bad manners to celebrate the misfortune of others. However, when the fallen person is famous for promoting 12 Rules for Life, it is tough not to speculate. This story has inspired some creative types. “deep in the Russian wilderness, an unholy experiment is underway. for years Peterson has attempted to transmute himself into the exalted lobster, king of the animals. but there’s been a malfunction—he’s stuck in the interstitial stage, forever to live as an eldritch abomination.” @MenshevikM “Jordan Peterson is incredible because most right wing hacks are very boring career hypocrites, whereas he went from nobody to living in Russia with brain damage in about 3 years by practicing what he preached”
There are hundreds of hours of Jordan Peterson talking online. These videos are a gold mine of ironic comments. Chamblee54 had a post about a Peterson appearance in June 2018. (The video is no longer available.) Apparently, this was after he started taking Benzos. Two quotes that stand out. “What stupid things am I doing that is making my life wretched?” “The next rule is to not let your children do anything that will make other people not like them.”
On November 29, 2018, Peterson was on the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan “you have the schedule that you have and the amount of energy and enthusiasm you maintain with the schedule is very remarkable cuz you’re not stopping you’re not slowing down I mean you’ve had your foot on the gas for like two solid years now” Peterson “make hay while the Sun shines I guess is that how you feel about it well you know when you have an opportunity that’s completely preposterous you’re a fool to take it for granted … Tammy and I have been to a hundred cities since January.” Dr. Peterson was raking in the dough, and did not want to get off the merry go round. “What stupid things am I doing that is making my life wretched?”
Dr. Peterson started to make appearances after his first bout with rehab. PG saw a video, and noticed a difference in his appearance. PG has written about Dr. Peterson two times, in addition to the 06/13/18 post. There was a commentary about a video at Prager U. When you click the original link to that video, you get a message: “You just hit a route that doesn’t exist… the sadness.” Dennis Prager is another snark-worthy public figure.
The other video is about an appearance Dr. Peterson made in Aspen, hosted by Bari Weiss. John McWhorter asks a question. Dr. Peterson does not have a slick answer. Pictures, for this tabloid view of academia gone awry, are from The Library of Congress.
TED Talk Google Adventure
TED sends me emails, recommending talks. This week, it was The real story of Rosa Parks — and why we need to confront myths about black history. I felt like listening, and clicked on the link.
David Ikard was the TED-talker. His son came home from school, having learned a lesson about Rosa Parks. Unfortunately, he was taught the version where Mrs. Parks is an old lady, whose feet hurt. The truth is that the protest had been planned.
Dr. Ikard was offended that his son was taught the incorrect version of the story. He wanted to have a conference with the teacher. The transcript tells what happens next. “So I’m agonizing over this, primarily because I understand, as an African-American man, that whenever you talk to whites about racism or anything that’s racially sensitive, there’s usually going to be a challenge. This is what white sociologist Robin DiAngelo calls “white fragility.” She argues that, in fact, because whites have so little experience being challenged about their white privilege that whenever even the most minute challenge is brought before them, they usually cry, get angry or run.” At this point, I decided not to listen to any more of the talk.
I got curious about how this turned out. His son taught his own lesson to the class. The teacher saw the error of her ways. That part of the talk has a happy ending. Unfortunately, the talk has eight minutes to go. Dr. Ikard tells another story. If you want to hear this story, you can listen to the talk.
After the second story, Dr. Ikard is talking about race relations in general. He repeats a quote. “Toni Morrison said, “If, in order for you to be tall, I have to be on my knees, you have a serious problem.” She says, “White America has a serious, serious problem.”
I have never read any of Ms. Morrison’s books. I have heard an interview on CBS radio, and seen a couple of videos. The “If, in order for you…” quote sounds like something she might say. However, I wanted to know the context. How did she come to say that?
I highlight the quote, right click, select google search. The only results that I saw, in English, were the TED talk. The next step is to find the Wikiquotes page for Toni Morrison. Control A, Control C, click onto a blank word document, Control V. Save the document as Morrison, to be put in a quote database later. Next, hit Control F. Write a search term in the field, and see what you find. After using tall, knees, order, and serious, as search items, the quote does not appear. It is possible that Ms. Morrison did say that sentence, but, for our purposes, it is not verified.
This is not the first time a Toni Morrison quote has caught my attention. A few years ago, a facebook friend posted a video of Ms. Morrison on the Charlie Rose show. I asked the fbf if he had a link for the video, for which he replied “Google it, sir.” It turns out that the video used creative editing, and did not accurately represent what Ms. Morrison said.
This is the problem with saying “Google it.” A search engine is going to show the searcher information that you might not want them to see. Besides that, saying “Google it” is rude. If you post something on facebook, or a TED talk, you should show where you get your information.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Online Troll Fighters
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The Democrats’ new online troll fighters make 2020 debut in Iowa
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m. peterson ~ retsbol kcor ~ beer can video ~ homeless ~ square
mish_gabby ~ polk salad ~ #QueersAgainstPete ~ cal gough ~ ny subways
chastain park ~ ph history ~ piedmont heights ~ William Lott Monroe, Sr.
miami ~ beer summit ~ underbelly ~ iowa caucus
‘1917’ and the Trouble With War Movies Sam Mendes’s 1917 is a movie so self-consciously overwrought and virtuosic that the only thing you can really do with it is give it an Academy Award ~ big dick energy is not it’s not a phrase that we commonly use it’s in the UK we’re too refined for that that’s vulgar ~ we also need … removal from their jobs if you are racist if you’re a nakedly racist then you have no business being in charge of being in care of anybody ~ “Is any of this untrue?” I would say everything in that meme should be questioned. When you are talking about managing a police force, there are probably multiple sides to every issue. ~ we talk about what offends us, but never what onends us ~ Warren Buffett Hates It. AOC Is for It. A Beginner’s Guide to Modern Monetary Theory MMT’s proponents say it’s the critics who are impervious to reason—“part of a degenerative paradigm that has lost credibility,” says Australian MMTer William Mitchell. ~ deep in the Russian wilderness, an unholy experiment is underway. for years Peterson has attempted to transmute himself into the exalted lobster, king of the animals. but there’s been a malfunction—he’s stuck in the interstitial stage, forever to live as an eldritch abomination. ~ you have the schedule that you have and the amount of energy and enthusiasm you maintain with the schedule is very remarkable cuz you’re not stopping you’re not slowing down I mean you’ve had your foot on the gas for like two solid years now ~ make hay while the Sun shines I guess is that how you feel about it well you know when you have an opportunity that’s completely preposterous you’re a fool to take it for granted yeah I guess that’s soul and see ah so Tammy and I have been to a hundred cities since January so everywhere you know and part of what keeps us going well first of all I have a really good crew … Nov 29, 2018 ~ Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Gloomy Sunday
Billie Holiday had a hit with Gloomy Sunday in 1941. The legend is that people would listen to the song, and kill themselves. As a result, the song was banned from the radio. Or was it?
Gloomy Sunday was written in 1933 by Rezső Seress. Additional lyrics were later written by László Jávor. It became known as the “Hungarian Suicide Song”, and was reportedly banned in Hungary. An English translation (which is said to not do justice to the original Hungarian) was rendered.
Gloomy Sunday has a melancholy sound, even as an instrumental. The story is about a person…it is not gender specific…who decides to join a loved one who has died. A third verse was added, to the english version, where the singer says it was all a dream.
Gloomy Sunday became popular in the United States. And the suicide stories started to spread, along with rumors that the song had been banned from the radio. (It was indeed banned by the BBC.) There are indications that these rumors were part of a publicity campaign.
The urban legend busters snopes. calls the story “undetermined”. Legends like this get a life of their own. A grieving person hearing this song on a dreary Sunday is not going to be uplifted. One thing is known for sure…the original composer did take his own life. Rezső Seress jumped off a tall building in Budapest in 1968. The legend is he had never had another hit song after writing “Gloomy Sunday”. This repost has pictures from The Library of Congress.
Post Racial America
It is a cliche among certain pundits that this is not “Post Racial America.” No one seems to know what PRA would look like. PRA might be less noisy, with fewer odors, than the current model. The opinion that we do not live in PRA seems unanimous. After PG heard the denial of PRA one too many times, he began to wonder something. Who said America is Post Racial?
Mr. Google has 119 million answers to the question “who said america is post racial?” The short answer is nobody. The closest thing on the front Google page is an NPR commentary from January 2008. This was the early stages of the BHO run for the White House. The commenter said that the election of a dark skinned POTUS might usher in a post racial era in America.
This piece will not have any fresh opinions about race relations in America. That subject has been worn out elsewhere. If someone finds it to their advantage to denounce “racism,” there will be an audience. The truth is, very few people have ever said that America is Post Racial.
This is a double repost, on the subject that people can’t get enough of. If you can’t say anything good, you can always talk about racism. Pictures for this friday morning are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Some times you see something, and realize that you are being pushed over a line. Today’s straw, landing on the camel’s back, was a meme. It has pictures of a statesman-like BHO, and a goat smiling BS. The text was white comic sans letters, on a black background. “Regarding those who call Obama an illegitimate president because his father was born in Kenya, Bernie Sanders replied: “No one asked me if I was a citizen or not, and my dad came from Poland. Gee, what’s the difference? Maybe the color of my skin.” The comment was from a Las Vegas town hall meeting. Some things that are said in Vegas need to stay in Vegas.
No one denies that white people and black people often do not get along. Few deny that there is systemic inequality. The connection of “birther” speculation to systemic inequality is tough to see. Of course, the definition of racism is elastic, and can fit whatever situation the observer wants to critique.
Are we helping the cause of racial tranquility by making comments like that? Yes, it is foolish for “birthers” to whine about a birth certificate. But entertaining followers in a town hall debate does not mean you are going to be able to govern. Maybe BS should focus on his economic fantasies, and quit scoring cheap shots about racism.
The Color Of My Skin was originally published in February, 2016, when BS was taken seriously. As we all know, HRC eventually got the Democratic nomination, only to lose to DJT in November.
Mr. Trump was one of the original “birthers,” or people disputing the Hawaiian birth of BHO. In the general election campaign, Democrats liked to say that DJT was a racist, with birtherism frequently given as an example. The many other unappealing parts of DJT, like crookedness and mental instability, were brushed aside, in the mad rush to scream racist. Some even went so far as to say that anyone voting for DJT was a racist. When the electoral votes were counted, DJT won.
Chamblee54 
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