One More Chat About Racism
It was a typical morning. Work on a picture, and listen to audio entertainment product. PG was tired of youtube suggestions, and chose to listen to RISK. The first story is a South Asian lady, Nimisha, going to have lunch with her Jewish mother in law, Elaine. The two ladies have an uneasy relationship. Before the wedding, Elaine asked David, her son, if Nimisha was black. (Did David have a black girlfriend before this?) Nimisha was upset when she heard about this. Now Nimisha was going to have lunch with a RAY cisst. It is not known if Nimisha ever called Elaine a racist to her face.
PG, for various reasons, is tired of hearing people referred to as racist. Since there were plenty of other shows to listen to, he turned off the story. A few minutes later, he wondered what he was missing, and turned on the story again. Soon enough, Nimisha complained about going to lunch with a RAY cisst, again. PG pushed forward, and listened to the next story. It was about an experience at an AA meeting in Los Angeles. A good friend of PG is in the AA program. PG wanted to share the story. Here is the email PG sent with the link.
This is a link to a story. It is an AA war story. It starts at 20 minutes. There is another story here. The first story in this show is about an Indian lady, who does not like her Jewish mother in law. At ten minutes into the show, the bride says “I am going to have to spend the day with a racist.” At this point, I turned off the show in anger. I am sensitive to the term racist, for perfectly obvious reasons. I did not want to listen to the rest of the show. When I decided to send you the link, I had to listen to the part of the show around the 20 minute mark, so I could know when the war story started. I set the timer for 18 minutes, and listened to the end of the mother in law story. There is a twist in the story, and everyone is friends now. The bride says “I am ashamed of reducing her to her racism.”
David, Elaine, and Nimisha went to a deli in New York. Nimisha (who seems to have other entitlement issues) is militantly vegetarian, and not pleased with the deli. At one point, Elaine orders a sandwich “bigger than her fist,” and starts to, accidentally, spit bits of meat in Nimisha’s face. At this lowest part of the lunch, Nimisha looks at Elaine, who has tears in her eyes. Elaine thanks Nimisha for coming on the lunch. Nimisha looks at her hand, which has an engagement ring once owned by Elaine. Nimisha realizes that Elaine is more than her comment about race, and is actually a pretty good lady. End of story. Elaine is much more than a racist, she is the mother of David.
The real fun starts when PG posts the email to RISK! Podcast Fans Discussion Group on twitter. People are proud of calling *others* racist. When you suggest that this is not a good idea, they get angry. WAAAAA!!! He said I can’t say wassist!!! WAAAA!!! PG has heard the r-word many times. He was not in the mood to hear a vegetarian princess repeat that slur about her deceased elder.
For several of the nay sayers, PG asked the simple question “When was the last time you were called a racist?” There is a certain entitlement to casting this particular stone. People, who think it is beyond horrible to say the n-word, feel virtuous about calling a white person racist. You wonder if they have any clue to how people feel about this, or if they care. After all, if a person is a racist, they are a terrible, terrible person. Anything you say or do to them is justified. The racist is the other.
“I’ve literally never been called a racist because I’m not one. Not once in my life. Again I say, if you’re being called a racist on a regular basis, you need to evaluate yourself” ~ “…when was the last time you were called racist- my response would be- to my face? NEVER, not once. Behind my back-unsure, I sincerely hope NEVER. But one thing I DO know to be true is that if there was EVER a time I unintentionally made someone feel less than because of the color of their skin I would go to the ends of the earth to right that.” ~ “I see what you’re getting at, but I’m also from Atlanta and have lived in the south for almost my entire life. I’m a white male and I don’t recall having ever been referred to as a racist… Probably because I don’t say hurtful things to POC. I’m just saying, if you’re called a racist numerous times, there’s probably a reason and perhaps one should reflect on that.” ~ “A few years ago. (I wasn’t being racist. At all. But a woman thought I was treating her unfairly and wasn’t shy about letting everyone know.) I still don’t understand what that has to do with anything. Racism is definitely a thing that exists in the world. The behavior described in the story was racist. I don’t know you or your circumstances, but your words so far seem to imply that you’re more offended by the word “racist” than actual racism.”
“you’re more offended by the word “racist” than actual racism.” This is a common comment in social justice discussions. “Imagine it happening all the time, simply because of the color of your skin. What you’re experiencing right now is *nothing* compared to what people of color experience daily.” The simple truth is that two wrongs do not make a right. Insulting a white person, by calling them racist, will have little impact on creating economic opportunity, or curtailing police brutality. Saying racist is merely a couple of kids on the playground swapping insults. To pretend otherwise, to confuse name calling for effective social justice action, is an exercise in self delusion. “The word racist is NOT hateful. RACISM is hateful.”
After a while, someone asked PG “When was the last time you were called racist?” He recalled a facebook discussion last winter. “A bar employee was fired, and had dirt on the boss. He posted this dirt on facebook. I questioned the validity of this dirt. I was called racist as a result. This is the last time I was called racist.” This is similar to many episodes of racist citing. It was a white person who called PG, another white person, racist. PG said something that the other person did not like, and the knee jerk reaction was to say racist.
People in discussions about racist/racism often feel the need to demonstrate their distaste for racism. Usually it is without being asked. People just assume they need to virtue signal, and are offended if someone abstains. “Racists reduce people to their race, which is FAR worse than reducing someone to their hateful thoughts. Reducing her to her racism and not seeing the other aspects of her personality is also literally what that story was about. People of other races are also your fellow human being and racists often don’t treat them as such. I could be wrong but this seems to not bother you at all? People often say nothing when someone is called racist…because that person is being racist.Being racist is wrong. Full stop. I’m not sure if we’re on the same page about that, but in case my thoughts weren’t clear, there they are.”
When you challenge the performative nature of racist citing, you can expect feedback. “I don’t understand this post. But i fully support the continued and loud-mouthed calling out and labeling of racists wherever they be, regardless of some feathers getting ruffled. Had the protagonist of this story been correct in her assumption, i wouldn’t be holding it against her. In this case she made an assumption and was corrected by facts, but i certainly don’t hold the using of that term against her.” ” “ritual condemnation of racism” is a funny way to put it, as if condemning such is a kind of bigotry. It’s not a “performance” when I condemn it. Um… I MEAN it.”
There is something about racism-talk that triggers verbal diarrhea. People start talking/typing, and don’t know when to stop. You will hear many testimonials. Here is one. “When I was young, I defended myself. As I matured, I explained myself. Now, I do neither. I listen. I apologize. I was recently at an almost all-Black barbecue. I was asked if I play spades and I do – I love that game! I went to play, and they played with a lot of rules I have never heard of before. They claimed that everyone played this way. I assumed it was a racial difference. I casually said things like, “I don’t understand how to play black spades.“ I was mortified later when my friend told me that calling it “black spades“ was offensive. I was embarrassed, and uncomfortable. But I didn’t defend myself. And I didn’t even explain myself. What I said was, “Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention. I appreciate that you felt comfortable enough to let me know that what I was saying was offensive. I’ll try to do better in the future.” It didn’t matter that I wasn’t trying to be racist, or that I don’t feel like I am a racist. What matters is just to listen with compassion to those who experience things that you and I never will.”
Many comments seem to assume that the racist citer is an aggrieved poc. More often, it is a virtue signalling white person. Or, in the story that sparked this discussion, a vegetarian princess, non-black poc. Eventually, some commenters moved into the “trying to help you with your problem ” phase … as if objecting to a rude, racially motivated insult was a problem. “Honest question. Not looking for snark answers… “What should Luther do if he is called a racist for no other reason than his appearance? What can *he* do to combat the generalization that white men in the south are all that way?” “He could respond, “I am so sorry that you felt racially targeted by me. Can you please help me understand what I did to make you feel that way? How can I make this better in the future?” That does not seem like a good response to make to a white person on facebook.
Why are people, mostly white, so eager to demonstrate their distaste for what they perceive as racism? This virtue signalling is to be loud, and must be seen and heard by others. Maybe this virtue signalling is not done for the benefit of others. Maybe the white savior is trying to reassure them self that they are not racist. They are like the homophobe who badmouths gays to cover up for his own repressed homosexual desires. Is the white savior a closet racist?
The problem with anti-racism was published by chamblee54 a few years ago, when a dark skinned man was POTUS. It discusses the closet racist concept, and other ways in which anti-racism is detrimental to society. After a 2014 repost, chamblee54 received a remarkable bit of confirmation. An anonymous commenter, speaking from an .edu address, said “why don’t you get your white sheets and come out.” Since this comment was made by a white cis male (the last time PG had contact with them), it might not be appropriate to respond “I am so sorry that you felt racially targeted by me. Can you please help me understand what I did to make you feel that way?”
PG made one last comment in the facebook thread. It is unlikely that he changed any minds. The concept that the word racist is offensive to human beings, and should be used with caution, is alien to many people. It might be compared to telling a person sixty years ago that saying the n-word is a bad idea. Here is the closing comment. “There is going to be a blog post about this discussion, which will answer a few of those questions. Or, and this is more likely, merely raise more. I have known many, many poc. Friends, enemies, good people, terrible people, and a thousand levels in between. In the end, it is my experience. I don’t even understand it myself. I cannot expect someone who reads a facebook thread to understand my life. I just get tired of the promiscuous, boastful, performative use of the r words. Nothing good comes of it.”
In typical blogger fashion, PG gave two links. “This post Are my attitudes about race any of your business, might help explain a bit of this.” “Here is another post that might help, James Baldwin and the six letter word. (This post makes an amusing connection between the n-word, and the r-word. The words of James Baldwin were used, perhaps in a way the author would not have intended.) Even if you don’t like the text, you can enjoy the pictures.” The pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Pittsburgh PA Passengers waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal. Esther Bubley, photographer September 1943. Chamblee54 wrote another post about this incident.
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Mudville
As some of you know, I like to go to get-togethers in the woods. Since the location tries to be low visibility, I will call it Mudville. When Mighty Casey struck out, there was no joy in Mudville. The gathering is usually held at the end of September, and first part of October. This year, it was moved up a week, to accommodate the full moon. If the gathering had been held when it usually is, the weather would have been glorious. As it was, it rained, and rained, and rained some more. I went on Sunday, and planned to stay for a week. By Wednesday, I had enough, and went home, with my tail between my legs. This was not the intention.
I get into gathering mode, and nothing is going to stop me. Having two rides cancel did not stop me. Seeing the weather radar, with Mudville covered with precipitation, did not stop me. The trip up was fairly smooth. The clouds did not cover the sun until going through a scary mountain pass. By the time I got off the interstate, the mud puddles by the roadside were too numerous to ignore. If I can have a couple of hours to set up my tent, cover it with a tarp, take my car to the parking lot, hike back, then I should be ok. As it happened, it was drizzling by the time I started back from parking. There were huge mud puddles in the road, with a skinny strip of dirt to walk through on the side.
By the time I got back to my tent, I was dog tired. There was a dance party after dinner. I thought I would be far enough away to sleep through it. Unfortunately, some DJ decided to crank up the volume, and I was back to listening to the rain fall on the tarp. “Loving is really my game” was great when Brainstorm did it in 1978. Hearing the redo, while trying to sleep, is another story.
Monday, I got up and went to the kitchen. I tried to busy myself by taking out compost, and sorting recyclables. These are never quite done jobs, that don’t take much time commitment. Later, I was spreading wood chips over the path leading back to my tent. This helps a little bit, but turns into more mud before long. It was not all work… there were some lovely people to spend time with. The food was plentiful and tasty. The rain slacked off for a while Monday, and the tarp was keeping the tent dry. Maybe things were going to turn out ok.
The last entry in my journal was tuesday morning. *1) wake up early, go to kitchen, talk to Lady, hopefully rain is through.* The lady in the kitchen was a “big ole butch farm girl” who reads college dissertations for fun. Sitting down to talk with her was an unexpected treat. The sun came out for a while Tuesday, and things were looking good. Then a huge storm came through. There was enough water on the ground to get between my ground cover, and the floor of my tent. There was enough water in the tent to be thourourgly miserable. I thought that maybe it would clear up, and I could dry out the sleeping bag enough to hang in.
Wednesday morning it was raining fairly heavily. The reports were for rain all day, and into thursday. I took a bucket of compost out, and my shoe sank four inches into compost yard mud.
I went back to my tent, and took everything down. Just get it all into bags, and sorts things out when you get home. I went to the house, and found someone going to the parking lot. After getting back to Mudville, I saw another person who had been looking for a ride to parking. When I was taking him to parking, I went into a huge mud puddle on the raod, hit the gas at the wrong time, and came very close to spinning off the road. I got out of Mudville, put on the dry clothes I was keeping in the car, and got on the interstate going home. The rain went away for most of the trip home.
I usually have pictures from Mudville, but this time never took the camera out of the tent. It stayed relatively dry, and still functions. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Cemetery Blues
PG and Uzi had their usual Sunday phone call, and agreed to go to “Sunday in the Park”. It is a festival in Oakland Cemetery, with live music, people in costumes, open mausoleums, and lots of good clean fun. It wasn’t until that evening that PG learned that today is Dead Poets Remembrance Day. Edgar Allan Poe met his maker on this day in 1849.
There was a Chamblee54 post about DPRD two years ago. The idea is to go to a cemetery and read a poem. An effort will be made to do that tonight, although promises about dead poets are notoriously unreliable. The 2010 post is included as part two of this feature.
The first poem read that afternoon was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. In the intervening two years, PG listened to a podcast with Christopher Dickey, the son of the writer. Sometimes bard is short for bastard.
So PG, Uzi, and Hazmat went to a festival in Oakland Cemetery. Like everything else, it is more popular and expensive. You had to pay to park, which Uzi generously took care of. The brick walls around the boneyard have been repaired, and no longer look like they are going to fall down. Those walls are important, because people are dying to get inside. This is the second time that PG and Uzi have attended the October festival in Oakland Cemetery.
There are always things that you need to see at Oakland. Margaret Mitchell, the Lion Statue, and the mausoleums are important stops. PG followed the signs to the grave of Bobby Jones. It had golf balls and a putter, which was not necessary.
Don LeVert was a member of the Atlanta Sky Hi Club for many, many years before his departure in 1997. PG and Uzi always seek him out, and it is usually a bit of an adventure finding him.
After visiting Don, PG found the marker for “Brother John Wade”. His time on earth was September 23, 1865 to January 15, 1916. This was from the autumn just after the War Between the States until 37 days before PG’s father was born in Rowland, North Carolina. There was a renewed sense of connection to the stone monuments.
The facebook friend said “Today is Dead Poets Remembrance Day, Oct. 7th, the day Edgar Allan Poe died. Be sure to visit a graveyard and read some poetry today”. PG didn’t have anything better to do.
The first obstacle was finding a book of poetry. PG is not a poetry person. A look at the shelf turned up a paperback, “125 years of Atlantic “. Poetry was to be found between those covers.
The book had two stickers, both saying 69 cents. At the old Book Nook, this meant that the book was half the price on the sticker. With tax, that would be 38 cents.
125YOA had stayed in PG’s car for a few years. Whenever he was stuck somewhere with time to kill, this book was waiting. One afternoon in 1998, there was a slow day at work. PG read a remembrance by Gertrude Stein, about life in France at the start of World War II.
The cemetery of choice was connected to the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church. PG has driven by this facility thousands of times. He walked past the graves until he found a fallen tree to sit down on.
The first poem was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. PG began to read out loud, and soon could smell the drug store air of Wender and Roberts. The author bought fifty cents worth of gas at a Gulf station. Today, fifty cents might buy a tablespoon of gas, and Gulf was long ago bought out by BP. Wender and Roberts became a bar, which was torn down, to make way for a shopping destination.
Buckhead is not what it used to be. When Mr. Dickey was the bravest man in Buckhead ( he took a shit in the toilet at Tyree’s pool hall), PG was not even thought of. The traffic jams on Peachtree Street are still there, as the blue haired ladies follow poets into the ground.
When PG finished reading Mr. Dickey, he put a teal postit in the book, where the poem stood. PG looked up, and the graveyard seemed different. Maybe the sun had sank a bit in the sky, and maybe the poem had changed PG in a way he could not put into words. Maybe another poem was the answer. Take the glasses off, open the book at random, and turn the pages until a poem shows up.
On page 404…the historic Atlanta area code…was “The Wartime Journey” by Jan Struther. The 1944 work was unknown territory. A group of people are traveling on a train. The wounded vet, the untried recruit, the salesmen shared the space with a lady, taking a baby for her soldier husband to meet. The theme of the rhymes was that America was totally at war, and that war is different from peacetime. Today’s war in Babylon is not like that.
Halfway through the reading, a freight train pulled by. Today, passenger trains are a novelty, and freight rules the rails. The shipment today was double decked containers, ready to pull off and slap on an eighteen wheeler.
Deaths are said to come in threes, and reading poetry in a graveyard should be the same. PG went on a random search for a Moe, to go with the Curley and Larry already digested. A page of poems by Emily Dickinson was the result. These pages left PG unmoved. It was as if he was back in the sixth grade, with a horrible English teacher forcing him to memorize Hiawatha. It was time to go home.
2017 Murder Statistics
Crime in the U.S. 2017 has been issued. It is more statistics about crime than you could consume in a lifetime. This blog published reports on these numbers for 2015 and 2016. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Expanded Homicide Data Table 1 is the source of murder statistics. These numbers are broken down by race, gender, ethnicity, and other factors. (Hispanic or latino (hereafter known as hispanic) is considered an ethnicity, rather than a race. Hispanic people are included in racial breakdowns according to their race.) In 2017, there were 15,070 murder victims. The gender breakdown is 11,821 male, 3,208 female, and 41 unknown.
Quick facts, from the U.S. Census Bureau, is the source of population numbers. On July 1, 2017, there were 325,719,178 people in the United States. White people were 76.6% (249,500,890), and black people were 13.4% (43,646,370). Hispanic people were 18.1% (58,955,171).
15,129 homicide victims breaks down into white 6,579, black 7,851, other race 456, and unknown race 243. (38 of the unknown race victims were also unknown gender.) Hispanics are counted separately, and had 2,354 victims. If you divide the number of murder victims by the population, you get the number of murder victims per million. The overall population lost 46.4 people per million. For white people, there were 26.3 murder victims per million. For black people, there were 179.8 murder victims per million. For hispanic people, there were 39.9 homicides per million.
50.8% of the population is female, according to the census bureau. We will use this 50.8/49.2 breakdown in this next section, even though there are indications that the percentage of females is higher for black people. The male/female ratio for homicides is, for white people, male 4,616 (70.1%), and female 1,958 (29.7%). For black people, it is male 6,789 (86.4%), and female 1,060 (13.5%). For hispanics, it is male 1,899 (80.6%), and female 454 (19.4%). On a per capita basis, white males had 37.6 homicide victims per million, with white females losing 15.4 per million. Black males had 316.1 homicide victims per million, with black females losing 47.8 per million. Hispanic males had 65.4 homicide victims per million, with hispanic females losing 15.1 per million.
Mansplain
There was a link on facebook to a rather wonky article, Mansplaining 101: How to Discuss Politics and Feminism Without Acting Like a Jackass. The concept is that men sometimes do not show women adequate respect when talking to them. The Urban Dictionary has entries for both mansplain and womansplain. Neither entry is complimentary. This is a repost. Many of the links no longer work. The pictures are more entertaining.
The policymic feature is a few months old, and apparently was the scene of a lively comment debate. Unfortunately, Some people flagged a bunch of the comments. Little is left. This is the top comment: “Feminism doesn’t need to make room for men, men need to make room for feminist ideas in their spaces.” In one sentence you managed to discredit your entire argument. Who wants to argue with someone who thinks any opinion from the opposite sex isn’t worthwhile? “
When you google mansplain you are referred to a tumblr, Academic Men Explain Things to Me. This is supposed to be an authority on mansplaining. As this post is written, the top three posts are a boss who mispronounces a name, a grandfather who tells girls how to shave their legs, and an eavesdropping customer who tells a woman how to get to sleep better. This is not especially helpful.
Blank splaining seems to be a versatile label. It seems to be a way of attacking the messenger, instead of dealing with the content of the comment. It is true that the tone of comments can be troublesome. People often come across as condescending, especially when they are. It just seems to this observer that little is gained by putting a label, like mansplaining, on this phenomenon.
PG has been in many discussions where he was spoken down to. Jesus worshipers are notorious for not respecting people who don’t agree with their ideas about religion. There is also the possibility that people use this attitude of superiority as a weapon to cover up uncertainties about their position. Human beings are funny animals. We are not always the fair, logical creatures we think we are.
Another label to be put in front of splaining is white. The urban dictionary says this about whitesplain: “The act of a caucasian person explaining to audiences of color the true nature of racism; a caucasian person explaining sociopolitical events and/or history to audiences of color as though they are ignorant children.” Contrast this to the word on blacksplain: “Explaining things pertaining to African American history and culture, to someone who is racist or racially ignorant.” The white person is always wrong in this scenario. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
What is Authoritarian about Social Justice?
Katt Williams claims local radio host’s husband pulled gun on him at comedy club ~ Actor says he was attacked by popular rapper’s entourage after confrontation ~ Police investigate incident involving Katt Williams, V103’s Wanda Smith ~ V-103’s Wanda Smith and Frank Ski Discuss The Katt Williams Fallout ~ Gun Pulled On Katt Williams By Husband Of Radio Host For Roast, Here’s What Happened ~ Yom Kippur Thoughts After Recent Conviction of My Attacker on Appeal ~ Bette Midler’s Final Performance At The Continental Baths in NYC ~ how to spot a bad statistic ~ statistics ~ Reflections from a Hashtag ~ bbq will be illegal ~ cruz cuisine ~ texas bbq ~ The Aesthetic ~ 10 Bible Passages That Teach a Christian Perspective on Homosexuality ~ Get a First Listen to David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti’s Long-Lost Album, Thought Gang ~ GAY HISTORY: September 19, 1964 – The Little Known First Organized Gay Protest ~ dick richards ~ he came to chicago not quite as black as when he left ~ “racial identity and its appropriation on behalf of political ambition” ~ taking on black americanness as a cloak ~ ‘EUPHEMISMS’ in the Bible No direct matches for your keyword exist in the King James Bible. ~ The Trouble With Uplift ~ @chamblee54 ~ Nuance: A Love Story ~ Kanye responds to the Drake “smashing” his wife rumors PT. 1 ~ ‘Shoot Them on Sight’: Stacey Abrams’ Campaign Harassed by White Nationalists; Republican Brian Kemp and Georgia Media Say Nothing ~ Joe Rogan Experience #1041- Dan Carlin ~ n word letter ~ georgia pol nonsense ~ gapol post with magic word ~ Emory professor speaks out after being suspended for using N-word during lecture on civil rights ~ America, Land of Brutal Binaries ~ Out On Film 2017 — Three Decades of Queer Atlanta: The American Music Show ~ CNN’s Toobin: ‘Maybe This Country Is a Lot More Racist and Sexist Than We Thought’ ~ Why Schools Are Banning Yoga ~ sunday school dropout ~ Myth Or Fact: Does The Word ‘Testify’ Come From ‘Testicles’? ~ Please enjoy Pulp Fiction’s Jules Winnfield interrogating Brett Kavanaugh ~ Biblical Euphemisms For sexual activity ~ What Ben Franklin Really Said ~ @chamblee54 .@robertwrighter has a new set, which works well for photo mischief When #BenFranklin was talking about liberty&security, he was promoting right of governments to tax people to pay for defense Why would fox use this quote? .@greggutfeld ~ @ChrchCurmudgeon She made pancakes and sausage, She did it from the first, Because he vowed to love her, for batter or for wurst ~ #MeToo Casualty Ian Buruma Was the Editor We Needed ~ How A Rising Star Of White Nationalism Broke Free From The Movement ~ prog rock quiz ~ To Russia With Love ~ Nobody Wins: ContraPoints, The Aesthetic, and Negative Representation ~ How We Know Kavanaugh Is Lying ~ Kavanaugh hearing: Transcript ~ I Read Every Memoir by a Presidential Mistress. Including Stormy’s. ~ How about putting Christ back in the cave? ~ when you give a shit, do you gift wrap it? ~ “When you’re a grown and mature person” you should not say “give a f*ck” to express interest or apathy. ~ .@GlennLoury said that he and .@JohnHMcWhorter were like the IDW in that they will say things that “no man woman or child” will say Is .@jordanbpeterson a man, a woman, or a child? ~ i am more concerned with his crookedness and mental instability talking about his racial values obscures more important discussions ~ FWIW I just got back. I was planning to stay until Sunday. It rained every day. Tuesday, the sun came out, and the clouds made up for lost time in the late afternoon. I got some water in my tent, which had never happened before at the mountain. The various paths are little more than a collection of mud puddles. Allegedly, the weather is going to get better. It may already have. You can look at the weather forecasts, and take your chances. ~ “#MakeAmericaGreatAgain became viewed as the calling card of people who wanted to go back to a time when using the n-word was an acceptable daily occurrence.” ~ “People with ingrained biases should not be teaching law to any student, holding a public office, or making decisions that could impact others.” ~ @LaDawnLBJJones just posted 1600 fire breathing words about an Emory law professor that used the magic word in a lecture. Needless to say, the death penalty is too mild for this infraction. When advertising this post on facebook, @georgiapol_com posted a historic picture. This picture included the same word, whose use was hysterically denounced in the post. ~ .@LaDawnLBJJones just posted 1600 fire breathing words about an Emory law professor who used the magic word in a lecture. When advertising this post on facebook, .@georgiapol_com posted a picture including the same word, whose use was hysterically denounced in the post. ~ c&r show about country music hosted by Tyler Mahan Coe ~ disgraceland show about musicians who do terrible things, and have terrible things done to them ~ Useless Information shows 103, 104, 105 are about La Mars IA ~ Pictures today are from the Library of Congress The pictures were made in Oklahoma, August 1939. Photographer was Russell Lee ~ the poem from last night at java monkey:
#wordsthatsounddirty funky fork tender ~ vindictive screwdriver sanitation
beef stroganoff slippery surrender ~ health code penal system violation
glandular megaphone go take your seat ~ pork loin chowder spelunking macguffin
hole in one lollipop all you can eat ~ moist angina in your buttered muffin
tight end trouser honorable mention ~ grandma’s medicinal chicken salad
freakin frackin with dynamic tension ~ woody hard liquor ball washer ballad
grandma’s medicinal chicken salad ~ follicule election ugly cream pie
woody hard liquor ball washer ballad ~ penalize permission to rectify
follicule election ugly cream pie ~ freakin frackin with dynamic tension
penalize permission to rectify ~ tight end trouser honorable mention ~ selah
William McKinley
One hundred years before nine eleven, President William McKinley was near death. He had been shot September 6, 1901. Medicine at this time was primitive compared to today. During surgery after the shooting, the bullet was not removed. The University of Buffalo makes this comment: “Dr. Mann and the others were neither trained trauma surgeons nor did they bother with disinfection, not even wearing gloves. The first bullet had done little harm; the second entered McKinley’s abdomen. The physicians used improperly sanitized probes and when Mann could not find the bullet, he closed the incision without draining the wound. It was a fateful decision.”
After surgery, the President was taken to the home of John Milburn. He seemed to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse and died September 14, 2001.
President McKinley had been shaking hands at a reception. The meet and greet was at the Academy of Music, as part of the Pan American Expostion in Buffalo, New York. A letter to “The Nation” has this viewpoint. ” Whatever other results may flow from the assassination of President McKinley, let us hope that that object-lesson may be sufficient to put an end to our national habit of promiscuous handshaking in public. It is hard to conceive of a spectacle more fatuous and less edifying than that of a horde of country bumpkins, criminals, cranks, idlers, and curiosity-mongers standing in line waiting for a chance to grab and squeeze the hand of the unhappy Chief Executive of this country.”
There were anarchists in 1901, who had murdered several European leaders. Several of McKinley’s advisors did not think the reception was a good idea, and forced him to have extra security. A writer in the Buffalo Courier observed on September 5 “The surrounding of President McKinley by a body-guard of detectives when he appears in public, is probably as distasteful to himself as it is to abstract American sentiment, but as long as the earth is infested by malevolent cranks and unreasoning Anarchists, the precaution is entirely proper.”
A young man named Leon Czolgosz (pronounced CHOL gosh) managed to wait in line with a concealed weapon. He was seen to shoot President McKinley. He was immediately captured, and executed October 29, 1901.
Lew Rockwell speaks of a rivalry between John Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan. Rockefeller man McKinley was replaced by Morgan supporter Roosevelt, who promptly began to break up the trusts. Another historian, connected to Lyndon LaRouche , speaks of British interests, and the rise of Confederate power. McKinley was a target of media superstar William Randolph Hearst. An editorial printed in the April 10, 1901 Journal asserted that “If bad institutions and bad men can be got rid of only by killing, then the killing must be done.”
Some say that a murder one hundred fifteen years ago does not affect us today. However, an argument could be made that the death of McKinley set in motion events that led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, and American participation in World War I. Both of those events have had effects lasting until today.
It is curious how President McKinley is mostly forgotten today. Some say he was most popular President since Lincoln . McKinley had been a wartime President, who won. His successor, Teddy Roosevelt, is on Mount Rushmore, and is a superstar President. Mr. Roosevelt also ran as a third party candidate in 1912, and helped to elect Woodrow Wilson. (Mr. Wilson was alleged to be a member of the “Omega Group,”rumored to be behind a McKinley conspiracy.) Mr. Roosevelt’s popularity is very different from the other three Vice Presidents who were promoted by the murder of the President. He was good at dealing with the press.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Was Mae West A Real Girl?
August 17 is birthday 124 for Mary Jane “Mae” West. Of course, she died in 1980, so the party is off. PG saw a note on facebook, and made the comment “She was rumored to be a man.” One right click google search later, this post started to take shape. This is a repost.
There is a blogspot site, maewest.blogspot.com. It is still published, with a birthday post today. Five years ago there was a post, Mae West: Penis Rumors. It seems as though Miss West liked to say, to the press, “When I die, you are going to be very surprised!”
A hollywood gossipmonger had a story, Was Mae West…A Man?! Much of her information comes from the tasteful findadeath site. The story here is that Mae West died in 1950, and the death was kept quiet. Her brother made appearances in her place, until the final death in 1980. This would have been quite a feat, considering that John Edwin West died in 1964. That doesn’t stop people from talking.
“…the real Mae West died somewhere around 1950, give or take a couple years, and rather than let the show stop, it was announced that not Mae, but her brother, died. Of course, the brother then became Mae West and carried on until November 1980. If you look carefully at photos from around 1950 on it definitely looks like a different person not to mention the big hands and masculine features, bone structure, etc. I may not have all the details 100% correct but I would almost put money on the fact that the ‘Mae West’ ‘who died in 1980 had a weenie!!”
The hands were mentioned by Raquel Welch. The two were in Myra Breckinridge, the first movie Miss West had made in 27 years. (Miss West appeared on Mr. Ed in 1964.) Miss Welch appeared at a film festival in 2012, and had stories to tell.
“When I went over to say hello to her (one day) I said, ‘Hi, it’s Raquel, remember?’ She sort of extended her hand to me and I went to kiss the ring and one false fingernail painted silver fell to the floor. I looked at the hand and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m getting a vibe.’ I really think she’s a man! At this point in her life all bets are off and you’re not going to be able to doll it up that much. I would say it’s pretty accurate that she resembled a dock worker in drag.” …
“I had this beautiful dress and it was black with a big white ruffle around the neck and a black velvet hat … Apparently Mae got wind of the fact that I was wearing this exquisite dress and I went to the studio that day for our scene together. I got coiffed, got my hair done and went to the closet to get the dress and it wasn’t there. I asked my dresser what happened to the dress and she said, ‘It’s been confiscated. Mae does not want you to wear that dress. You can wear the red dress that you wore in the last scene!’ … Welch was so outraged that she stormed off the set and refused to return until the dress was back in her closet. … “For the scene, we never appeared in a two-shot together. She left after she did her lines and I had someone off-camera reading her lines and I had to pretend she was there.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Greeted As Liberators
One thing that PG likes to do is investigate “things he has always heard”. With google, you can often find the source, and a few things more. Some urban legends are tough to trace, often because they don’t exist. Others pop up 575k results is .49 seconds. This is a repost.
The myth PG was chasing was the notion that government officials said our army “will be greeted as liberators” in Iraq. On March 16, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney was on Meet the Press.
MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately,… The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.
There are a few things to say 15 years later. Why did the Vice President have this much power? The VP is supposed to dedicate buildings and go to funerals. Dick Cheney was clearly a very powerful man, and he was not elected to that job.
Mr. Russert, rest his soul, seems to have gotten one detail wrong. The conquest of Baghdad went smoothly, with relatively few American casualties. It was the occupation that would be “long, costly, and bloody… with significant American casualties.”
There probably were many Iraqis who welcomed the change, Clearly, Mr. Hussein had some enemies, and there were some who did see the invasion as liberation. There were others who did not. Players in other countries saw an opportunity to come to Iraq and make trouble. The regime that was changed had many employees, who were bumped out of jobs. “The people of Iraq” were no more a monolithic force, all acting the same way, as the people of America would be if they were invaded.
Even if the Americans were “greeted as liberators”, there would be many challenges. The country had no experience in dealing with democracy. The different ethnic groups did not like each other. Sunnis were seen as having been privileged, and many were looking to settle the score. It seems obvious that these problems were not anticipated.
There is a debate in The United States about the use of torture. It seems apparent that “enhanced interrogation” was used extensively in Iraq and elsewhere. The use of torture would seem to be an admission that we were not greeted as liberators.
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