Blonde Stories
A blond and her boyfriend are out in the woods hunting when the boyfriend collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The blond takes out her phone and calls 911.
She gasps: “My boyfriend is dead! What can I do?” The operator says: “Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the blond says: “OK, now what?”
A Blonde is watching the news with her husband when the newscaster says “Two Brazilian men die in a skydiving accident. The blonde starts crying to her husband, sobbing “That’s horrible!!! So many men dying that way!! Confused, he says, “Yes dear, it is sad, but they were skydiving, and there is always that risk involved.”
After a few minutes, the blonde, still sobbing, says, “How many is a Brazilian?”
A blonde had just totaled her car in a horrific accident. Miraculously, she managed to pry herself from the wreckage without a scratch and was applying fresh lipstick when the state trooper arrived.
“My goodness!” the trooper gasped. “Your car looks like an accordion that was stomped on by an elephant. Are you OK ma’am?” “Yes, officer, I’m just fine” the blonde chirped. “Well, how in the world did this happen?” the officer asked as he surveyed the wrecked car.
“Officer, it was the strangest thing!” the blonde began. I was driving along this road when from out of nowhere this TREE pops up in front of me. So I swerved to the right, and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was ANOTHER tree! I served to the right and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was ….”
“Uh, ma’am”, the officer said, cutting her off, “There isn’t a tree on this road for 30 miles. That was your air freshener swinging back and forth.
One morning a blonde’s husband was watching the traffic report on TV. They were talking about some maniac who was driving along the highway in the wrong direction and disrupting traffic. He knew his wife would be on that highway on her way to work and he didn’t want her to get hurt, so he called her to let her know.
“Honey, watch out this morning, there’s a lunatic driving the wrong way up the highway” he said.
Sounding terrified, she replied “It’s not just one!”
On a plane flight from Seattle to Chicago, a blonde was sitting in economy class. About half way through the flight, she got up and moved to an empty seat in first class. A flight attendant who observed this, went over to her and politely explained that she had to move back to economy class because that was what her ticket was for. The blonde replied, “I’m blonde, I’m beautiful, I’m going to Chicago and I’m staying right here.”
After several attempts to explain to the blonde why she had to return to economy class, the flight attendant gave up. She went to the cockpit and explained the situation to the pilot and co-pilot. The co-pilot said, “Let me try.” He went up to the blonde and politely tried to explain to her why she needed to return to her seat in economy class.
But the blonde only replied, “I’m blonde, I’m beautiful, I’m going to Chicago and I’m staying right here.” Frustrated, the co-pilot returned to the cockpit. He suggested that perhaps they should have the airline call the police and have her arrested when they land.
“Wait a minute,” said the pilot. “Did you say she’s blonde? I can handle this. My wife is a blonde. I speak Blonde.” So he went up to the woman sitting in first class and whispered something in her ear.
“I’m sorry,” said the blonde, and she promptly got up and returned to her seat in economy class.
“What did you say to her?” ask the astonished flight attendant and co-pilot.
To which the pilot replied, “I just told her that first class isn’t going to Chicago.”
Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch. Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble, and are down to their very last $600.00. In order to keep the bank from repossessing the ranch, they need to purchase a bull so that they can breed their own stock.
Upon leaving, the brunette tells her sister, ‘When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I’ll contact you to bring the trailer with the truck to me so we can haul it home.’
The brunette arrives at the man’s ranch, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for $599, no less. After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph office, and says, ‘I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I’ve bought a bull for our ranch. I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home.’
The telegraph operator explains that he’ll be glad to help her, and then adds, it will cost 99 cents a word.’ Well, after paying for the bull, the brunette realizes that she’ll only be able to send her sister one word. After a few minutes of thinking, she says, ‘I want you to send her the word ‘comfortable.’
The operator shakes his head ‘How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her just the word ‘comfortable?’
The brunette explains, ‘My sister’s blonde. She’ll read it very slowly… ‘com-for-da-bul.’
A blond was sitting at the local bar after work one evening watching the television. There was a news story on the tube about a man jumping off the roof of a ten story building. The bartender says “I bet $20 he will jump”. The blond says “you are on, I bet he won’t jump”. A few minutes later the man jumps and the blond starts to hand the bartender the $20 she just lost. The bartender confesses that the story was not live and he had seen it earlier in the day so he could not in good conscience take her money. The blond replies that he should take the money anyway as she had seen the story earlier in the day too and really didn’t think the guy would do it twice.
This is a repost. These whimsical tales were originally published at Rapture Ready. Pictures, from “Inter city beauties, Atlantic City Pageant, 1925,” are from The Library of Congress.
Andrew Sullivan Lives
How Trump and identity politics reinforce each other is a recent presentation of Blogginheads.tv. It is hosted by Robert Wright, and guested by Andrew Sullivan. @sullydish, as twitter affectionately calls him, was a pioneer blogger. In those days a weblog was considered a “vanity website.”
The Dish was shuttered a few years ago, and Mr. Sullivan continues to be a thorn in the side of polite society. Towards the end of this show, he said he was “just being a contrarian,” to which Mr. Wright replied “it’s a living.” There were a few other zesty quotes in this show, some of which can lead to unsolicited blogger commentary.
Mr. Sullivan does not appreciate talk of an LBGT community. For one thing, it is structurally impossible to be more than one, or two, of those initials at one time. This segment goes into being defined by your oppressors, and the difference between gay and trans. A young boy who likes to wear dresses may be pigeonholed as trans, when he would otherwise evolve into gay. While some enjoy these semantics, PG tends to find the whole thing tiresome.
“I’m an exception, because I think about this a lot.” Actually, if you think at all, you are an exception. When consuming social media content, you quickly learn that “The advantages of extremism are great, and the advantages of moderation are very small.”
Mr. Sullivan recently penned an article about opiates. In a Bob Wright moment, there was a comparison of meditation with opiate use. Mr. Sullivan replies with a few remarks about fenatnyl. Apparently, fenatyl boosted heroin is killing 60,000 people a year.
Talk about fenatyl tnds to go over PG’s head. After years of being lied to about drugs, this is to be expected. In the current situation, with thousands of fresh od’s every month, the loudest voices PG hears are people saying that when black people had a crack problem, nobody cared. Now that white people are dying from opioid use, people are getting concerned. This is just another example of the faulty logic running rampant on anti-social media. (The spell check suggestion for fenatyl is fealty.)
“The ability to say things that are stupid and wrong is essential to the advancement of knowledge.” Eventually the time ran out, though not before Mr. Wright was reminded of some of his former articles. It was Mr. Sullivan who defended saying things wrong, stupid, and republican. Some unkind people would say he has had practice.
The Library of Congress supplies the pictures for today’s frolic. “Group singing hymns at the opening of the Sunday school. While there are no churches on the project there are five or six in the area close by. This one is just off the project and is attended by many project members. Dailey, West Virginia” Arthur Rothstein took the pictures in December, 1941.
The Time PG Voted For Casey Cagle
@CaseyCagle “I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.” Lowell S. “Casey” Cagle is running for Governor of Georgia. He recently gave a twitter performance, and got a lot of attention. The effect of this tweet is not yet known. Delta Airlines is a major force in Georgia, and knows how to play the game. It might not get this particular tax cut, but it will get another one.
Mr. Cagle has been Lieutenant Governor for twelve years. While this may seem like shameless payroll riding, it should be noted that “ZigZag” Zell Miller held this position sixteen years before being promoted to Governor. While researching this fact, PG realized that he might have actually voted for Mr. Cagle. Here is the story, from a previous edition of Chamblee54.
Ralph Reed is a professional Christian, the youthful looking head of publicity groups. At one time he was the big dog at something called the Christian Coalition. He left that to start his own consulting company…. In 2006, Mr. Reed ran for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. He lost to Casey Cagle, whose shoelaces become untied. When the Republican Primary was held that year, PG felt obliged to help put an early stop to Mr. Reed’s ambitions.
The problem lies in the primary system. In Georgia, you must choose either Democrat or Republican, and in the inevitable runoff, vote in the same party. To help Mr. Reed spend more time with his family, PG needed to vote Republican. There was a race on the Democratic side which was important. Hank Johnson was running against Cynthia McKinney. While PG used to like Miss McKinney, after a while the joke grew old. She needed to retire. While Mr. Johnson won the runoff, PG would have liked to help. The bottom line is, Ralph Reed cost PG his last chance to vote against Cynthia McKinney.
Mr. Cagle won the 2006 election. He soon began to run for Governor. This is what the Lieutenant Governor does. Unfortunately, his campaign ran into some difficulties, and he was forced to settle for two more terms as Lieutenant Governor.
“Her departure from Cagle’s staff had to do with the fact that this couple was caught in the act at the Capitol in Cagle’s office by a secretary, Laurie Sparks. Dewberry claimed she was “tying Casey’s shoes” under his desk. … Then, to everyone’s surprise, Cagle announces he is dropping out of the race in August 2009 because of a severe degenerative spinal disorder … Cagle’s spinal injury cleared up sure enough so that he could run the 2010 Peachtree Road Race and his statewide campaign. … Recently, another tryst involving female staff members occurred in the 2009 legislative session. The scuffle that ensued ended when the police broke up the fight. Apparently, one young intern who was sleeping with Cagle found out that another staff member was riding the Cagle Express too. An open records request was recently filed seeking information on the incident, which Cagle’s office has subsequently ignored. Instead of thinking about education or jobs, Cagle was engaging in sexual relations with two young female members of his office which allegedly ended in a “Cheaters” style brawl that was only broken up when the police were involved.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Peachtree Street
PG finished a book, Peachtree Street-Atlanta. The author is William Bailey Williford, and it was published by the University of Georgia Press in 1962. PG found this at the Chamblee library, and this is probably the best way to find this book today. (Reissued by UGA Press.)
How this road got the name Peachtree is a good question. Most peaches grow south of the fall line. The story goes that there was a Creek Indian village called Standing Peachtree, located where Peachtree Creek runs into the Chattahoochee. During the war of 1812 Fort Peachtree stood there.
There was a trail that ran from Buckhead to an intersection with the Sandtown Trail, at what is now Five Points. A short distance south of this intersection was a settlement known as White Hall. For many years, Peachtree Street south of Five Points was known as Whitehall Road. At some point in the last thirty years, a decision was made to change Whitehall to Peachtree. It did not help the rundown condition of Whitehall Street.
In 1835 Governor Wilson Lumpkin decided that a railroad that would be centered near the junction of Peachtree Trail and Sandtown Trail. The new town was named “Marthasville”, after the daughter of the Governor. Martha Lumpkin resides in Oakland Cemetery today.
The village was soon renamed Atlanta, which was a feminine form of Atlantic. Houses, churches, and businesses were soon built on Peachtree Road. In 1856, Richard Peters built a flour mill. To insure a steady supply of firewood, he bought four hundred acres of land, for five dollars an acre. The land was between Eighth Street, North Avenue, Argonne Avenue, and Atlantic Drive.
Another pioneer citizen with a large landholding was George Washington (Wash) Collier. Mr. Collier bought 202 acres for $150 in 1847. The land was between West Peachtree, Fourteenth Street, Piedmont Road, Montgomery Ferry Road, and the Rhodes Center. Much of the land was used for the development of Ansley Park.
In 1854, Atlanta entertained, for the first time, a man who had been President. On May 2, Millard Fillmore arrived from Augusta on a private rail car.
There was some unpleasantness in 1864, which we will not concern ourselves with.
In 1866, there was a shocking murder. John Plaster was found dead, in an area known as “tight squeeze”. This was an area of shanties, at the present location of Crescent Avenue and Tenth Street. A hundred years later, this was near “the strip”, Atlanta’s hippie district, also called “Tight Squeeze”.
As the nineteenth century rolled along, many mansions were built on Peachtree Street. The road was paved, and streetcars ran up and down. Automobiles came, and came, and came. An expressway was built in the 1950’s, and quickly became obsolete. One by one, the mansions were torn down and replaced with businesses and churches.
The book was written in 1962, when the party was just getting started. The High Museum was known then as the Atlanta Art Association. In June of 1962, a plane full of prominent Atlanta residents crashed in Paris, killing all on board. As a memorial to those people, the Memorial Arts Center on Peachtree, at Fifteenth Street, was built.
Another phenomenon which is not explained by the book is the custom of naming everything here Peachtree. There are countless streets and institutions named for a fruit tree that likes warmer climates. Atlanta has a one street skyline, that stretches from Five Points to Peachtree Dunwoody Road, almost at the city limits. PG lives a quarter mile off Peachtree, in Dekalb County, and has no idea why Peachtree is a magic word.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. and The Library of Congress. This is the annual repost.
When Walmart Comes To Target
display of a link on this page should not be considered an endorsment of the contents ~ Here is a story about Mr. Washington and one of his slaves. ~ Ten Facts About Washington & Slavery ~ Man smashes through balcony and attacks neighbour with plank of wood after he played Wham song ~ Thinking Critically About Social Justice ~ Fergie ~ Comic: Does Black Panther Pass the ‘Black Bechdel Test’? ~ Honoring Ancestors Through An Old Gullah Tradition ~ Nate Mask and Ryan J | Episode 19 ~ Lit &Bruised ~ facebook fallacious foolishness ~ @TFLN (425): Why do I feel so obligated to masterbate just because I’m single and it’s valentines Day… ~ @RossMcCaff Milo is selling supplements on Infowars. This is not a drill. ~ “the best endorsement I can give you is that I am very careful about what I put inside myself” ~ @Phil_Johnson_ If you can watch THE MOST ostentatious greedmonger on charismatic TV—a demonstrably false teacher who fits every detail of Jude 4-16 & 2 Peter 2—and nevertheless embrace him as a brother in Christ, you are woefully lacking in any kind of discernment. ~ The sign will be Billy Graham’s death– Benny Hinn ~ “A Babe in the Woods?”: Billy Graham, Anticommunism, and Vietnam ~ Things We Saw Today: The Alt-Right Loves Black Panther so Much They Want to Make It About Trump ~ Nolte: Pro-Trump ‘Black Panther’ Breaks Box Office Records without Breaking New Ground | Breitbart ~ 2 Timothy 3 ~ @nneomaanene So some white lady at the @Target in Roswell, Ga just told my mother to go back to her country for speaking another language on the phone! Trump’s America in the 30075 ~ When Walmart comes to Target. Two Women bickering in Target over Phone etiquette ~ Colorism in the Latinx Community! ~ with one email ~ Critical Performativity in the Field ~ repost ~ How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday According to an article linked in that story, ( Strange Fruit: the first great protest song ) Miss Holliday had a no-good husband who snitched her out to the authorities. Also, the arrest was in 1947, after she had been performing “Strange Fruit” for a number of years. While I have no doubt that Harry Anslinger was a gnarly piece of work, I think this article exaggerates his influence. (I should note that the same article says that Judy Garland was a heroin addict. While she certainly had a substance problem, I have never heard that it includes heroin. Google was no help with this one.) ~ The Strange Story Of The Man Behind ‘Strange Fruit’ The story of Abel Meerpol is worth telling as well. He later adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Also, the lynching that “Strange Fruit” was inspired by took place in Indiana. ~ Strange Fruit: the first great protest song ~ The Hunting of Billie Holiday ~ Billie Holiday Biography(1915–1959) ~ An ill-waged war against the war on drugs ~ Singer Billie Holiday was tormented by anti-drug squad ~ The Hunting of Billie Holiday & the Roots of the U.S. War on Drugs ~ Billie Holiday: The Tragic Life of Lady Day ~ #18: Strange Fruit – Voices of a Lynching Poet and songwriter Abel Meeropol wrote that lament after seeing a photograph of two black teenagers hanging from a tree. Strange Fruit was later made famous by Billie Holiday. But a third boy escaped being lynched that fateful day, 80 years ago, in Marion, Indiana. James Cameron was believed to be the only African American to have survived a lynching. ~ Billie and Lester against the world ~ Tallulah Bankhead And Billie Holiday ~ Negro & White Women, United, Travel to Petition Governor Talmadge to Free Mrs. Rosa Lee Ingram, Victim of Oppression ~ The Secret Auden ~ Johann Hari: ‘I failed badly. When you harm people, you should shut up, go away and reflect on what happened’ ~ Hector Black ~ Howard C. Stevenson ~ beer ~ George Zimmerman’s father: My son is not racist, did not confront Trayvon Martin ~ The Soul-Crushing Legacy of Billy Graham ~ Truman Capote’s Lost Novel Would Have Aired All His Dirtiest Laundry ~ Mueller Is Ending the Era of Impunity for Washington’s Foreign Lobbyists ~ Iggy Pop delivers the 2014 John Peel Lecture ~ Gunfire erupts in line for new Air Jordan sneakers outside Atlanta store ~ To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner. ~ @MedievaI_React When you’re on your 453rd selfie and you just start to accept you’re ugly ~ Rules of Conduct 1 Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. 2 Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. 3 Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything. 4 Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. 5 Be Proactive. Use the ‘Report’ link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. 6 Share with Us. We’d love to hear eyewitness acounts, the history behind an article. ~ .@n8mask .@homegrownpoetry .@GoHomeRyanJ Listened to your show on .@litandbruised the North Carolina @WaffleHouse story may explain the snark about white people who like dancing more than deodorant I also got some multi tasking in, as the attached picture shows ~ The consumption of too much food for thought can lead to mental indigestion. ~ My parents watched “The Billy Graham Crusade” every time it was on Channel 5. The message was always the same. Another icon of my childhood is gone. ~ Is creating a meme the facebook version of thoughts and prayers? ~ People ~ who like to be seen denouncing racism love to hate the kkk. Nothing you say about the bedsheet boys is out of bounds. The truth is that the kkk has as much influence, and respect, as the bad guys in professional wrestling. The kkk is a fashion challenged version of the westboro baptist church. You have to wonder why people get so much enjoyment from trash talking the klan. Maybe this is a distraction for their own unresolved racial conflicts. ~ A couple of months ago, a miracle happened. The ac adapter to some computer speakers wore out. The ac adapter to a formerly router fit the computer speakers. This will never happen again in my lifetime. ~ “What causes such a leap in logic?” Facebook ~ Howard C. Stevenson 5:06 If you look at the neuroscience research which says that when we are racially threatened, our brains go on lockdown, and we dehumanize black and brown people. 11:46 JS: And think that you’re, “You don’t look — you don’t look like you’re …” It’s like they’re saying that “You don’t look right, so I guess I have the right to disrespect you.” … HS: Yeah, and that’s what we call, we call that racism. 1232 HS: Yes, Julian, Daddy meant white people when I said, “other people,” all right? ~ this is the poem from last night at java monkey:
these are the #signsofaneighborfromhell ~ dog tries to kill one more chicken
brimstone barbeque with a gnarly smell ~ cooked on a charcoal grill in the kitchen
sacrifice of goats while you are sleeping ~ has a personal relationship with jesus
horns on the head pointy tail squeaking ~ talking in tongues about his penis
she knocks to ask you for a cup of meth ~ grumpy postal worker with bad breath
big hair honey smokes marlboro butts ~ all the little boys have mullet haircuts
she lights the garden grill with her finger ~ fat children ask if are you a swinger
pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
Killed By Police February 25
20 people were Killed By Police in the United States last week. Here are the links: 163 Ryan Batchelder 164 Nathaniel Montoya 165 Arthur Joseph Gonzales 166 167 Abel L. Martinez 168 Jason Seavers 169 Ernest Manuel Montelongo 170 Thomas Vincent Alvarez 171 Lawrence Shaw 172 Jason Stevens 173 Trey Pringle 174 Glenn Tyndell 175 Lonnie Smith Jr., 176 Michael Andrew Schieffer 177 Edward Hallinan 178 Joshua D. Babb 179 Ian Frederick Sagucio 180 Jacob Uptain 181 Mario Dantoni Bass 182 Douglas Kemp Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
9 of the victims were white. (163, 164, 168, 169, 172, 176, 178, 179, 180) 4 of the victims were black. (173, 174, 175, 181) The race of 7 of the victims is unknown. (165, 166, 167, 170, 171, 177, 182)
8 of the victims fired at an officer. (166, 168, 169, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178) 7 of the victims displayed a weapon. (163, 165, 167, 170, 171, 180, 182) 7 of the victims were in a car chase (163, 164, 169, 170, 172, 174, 176) A taser was used on 4 victims (171, 173, 178, 179) 3 of the victims died without a shot being fired. (172, 173, 179) 2 of the victims were in a domestic dispute (174, 178)
“Corporal Mujahid Ramzziddin was killed in Brandywine MD, Wednesday morning.” “Corporal Ramzziddin stepped in to help a neighbor who was being threatened by her estranged husband this morning outside of her home on Chadsey Lane in Brandywine. During that encounter, the suspect who was armed with a shotgun, shot Corporal Ramzziddin. Our officer tragically died on the scene. The female neighbor wasn’t hurt. After shooting our officer, the suspect, 37-year-old Glenn Tyndell … fled the scene in a black SUV. A short time later,Charles County Sheriff’s officers observed the suspects SUV on Berry Road near Bensville Road and began a pursuit. That pursuit led back into Prince George’s County where our officers joined the pursuit. Tyndell bailed from his SUV on Indian Head Highway near Old Fort Road and there was an exchange of gunfire and Tyndell was fatally wounded. No other officers were hurt. Tyndell had three open warrants for second degree assault. He was employed by Metro as a mechanic.” video (174)
“Nathaniel Montoya, 23, of Las Cruces was wanted for questioning following a murder Friday night in the 2300 block of Sambrano Avenue. Saturday, police spotted a van matching the description of Montoya’s, and made a traffic stop, according to the press release. Montoya attempted to flee, and a high-speed chase began. The purple van progressed west on Lohman Avenue and entered the parking lot of the Valero Corner Store, 1401 E. Lohman Ave., at a high rate of speed … The van, driven by Montoya, struck a parked vehicle in the convenience store parking lot, ending the chase, police said. A 33-year-old pedestrian was struck and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Several vehicles in the parking lot were also damaged, police said. At least one LCPD officer fired several rounds and struck Montoya, police said.” video (164)
“The incident began when officers responded to a call involving a person with a gun Thursday afternoon, police said. When they arrived at a home near Gilbert and Broadway roads, they found a man waving a handgun and rifle as he made “incoherent statements,” Rasheta said. After a SWAT team arrived to help secure the area, a shooting took place in front of the house, Rasheta said. He said the man ran inside, then was seen in back of the house with a gun, “posing a threat.” A second shooting then took place, Rasheta said. Police took the man into custody following the second shooting. He was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the arm, Rasheta said. Police have not said whether the man fired at officers. Officers discovered about 60 firearms inside the home.” (165)
“Seattle police say someone called 911 to report a car prowl near Bryant Elementary School. Police detective Mark Jamieson says an officer chased the suspect (Jason Seavers) – who turned and started shooting. One officer fired back, but the suspect got away. Investigators later got a call about a home break-in, several blocks away on 28th Avenue NE. When officers caught up with the suspect again, he allegedly tried to drive away and crashed. “As officers were going up to effect the arrest, that’s when the shots were fired,” Jamieson told reporters. He says a total of two officers fired at the suspect; one after the alleged car burglary, and the other after the crash.” video (168)
“Coroner Clayton Cobler identified the man Tuesday as 33-year-old Jason Stevens of Meridian. … The chase happened a little before 2 p.m. Monday when a Meridian police officer tried to make a traffic stop, and the driver took off near Old 8th Street Road. The driver lost control of his car just outside city limits on North Lakeland Drive and went into a ditch. Sgt. Dareall Thompson says multiple passengers bailed out of the car and ran away while the officer tried to arrest the driver. Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun says a Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks officer came by and tried to help the officer. There was a struggle to take the man into custody while the subject tried to get into the Wildlife and Fisheries truck. The man was finally arrested and put in the back of an MPD vehicle. Calhoun says sometime later, an officer realized the man was in distress. He was taken to the emergency room and later declared dead. “Coroner Clayton Cobler says Stevens was injured when he wrecked his car during that chase, but Cobler doesn’t believe that directly led to his death. “The description of the way he was acting and things like that make me think possible drug use,” Cobler says. ” Just viewing the body, yes there was some trauma there, but it certainly wasn’t enough to cause death. Something made his heart shut off, and I don’t believe it was trauma.” (172)
“On Feb. 17, a relative of Trey Pringle called 911 to report that Pringle was allegedly “out of control, injured, bleeding and in need of medical assistance” after breaking items inside a home on Detour Road … When deputies arrived and attempted to restrain Pringle, he punched one of the deputies in the head and injured another deputy’s ankle, the report stated. Pringle lost consciousness after being tased and physically restrained by the two deputies and the other first responders at the scene, according to the release. He was then transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where he died at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the coroner’s office.” (173)
“Westmoreland County detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a Greensburg man Thursday as city police arrested him for breaking into Greensburg Salem Middle School. Detectives are interviewing the four Greensburg police officers who were injured while arresting Ian Frederick Sagucio, 35, at his home, District Attorney John Peck said. “We were called to the scene (Thursday) because it appeared Ian Sagucio was in distress as a result of the arrest,” Peck said. Sagucio became unresponsive after officers handcuffed him following a violent struggle, police Chief Chad Zucco said in a news release. Officers attempted to revive him, but Sagucio was pronounced dead at 11:10 a.m. in Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital. … Police were summoned to the middle school Thursday morning after Superintendent Eileen Amato noticed that an electronic keypad on a door entryway appeared to have been tampered with. Students stayed in their homerooms. … Administrators and police began examining video surveillance at 8 a.m. Thursday and noticed that a man had broken into the building and wandered the halls from about 5:41 a.m. to 6 a.m. … Police recognized the man from previous run-ins and identified him as Sagucio. Authorities said he just walked the school hallways. “Officers had dealt with Sagucio several times, including twice in the previous 24 hours, in which Sagucio was acting irrational and had erratic behavior,” … In a criminal complaint for an unrelated Sept. 30 allegation, Sagucio admitted to police that he has a history of abusing Coricidin HBP cough and cold medicine, known as Triple C, a medicine made for people with high blood pressure that can cause hallucinations and dissociative effects when taken in large doses. Sagucio fought with three city policemen attempting to arrest him then and was charged with aggravated assault and related offenses. On Thursday, officers went to his home and found that Sagucio was “extremely agitated and irate,” Zucco said in the release. Police did not say where the home is located. An “intense struggle” ensued, and Sagucio “violently resisted officers” for four to five minutes, police said. Officers attempted to use a Taser, but it did not have an effect, Zucco said. Officers eventually handcuffed Sagucio, who appeared to be having a medical emergency, Zucco said. Police unsuccessfully attempted to revive him.” (179)
“Around 9 a.m. members of the U.S. Marshal’s Capital Area Regional Task Force attempted to serve Mario Dantoni Bass 11 warrants —the most recent, for a domestic related abduction. Police say Bass, staying at the Days Inn Dumfries, jumped out his window. Bass reportedly fled on foot before getting into a physical altercation with a member of the task force, an ICE officer, who shot him. He was transported to an area hospital, where he died.” (181)
Billie Holiday Stories
How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday turned up in a facebook feed yesterday. The article states that Harry Jacob Anslinger “the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics,” ordered Billie Holiday to quit performing “Strange Fruit.” When the chanteuse declined, Mr. Anslinger had her arrested for heroin possession. Later, Mr. Anslinger was allegedly responsible for busting Miss Holiday on her deathbed.
The Hunting of Billie Holiday was the source given for the claim about Mr. Anslinger and “Strange Fruit.” The Politico article does not say that Mr. Anslinger ordered Miss Holiday to quit singing “Strange Fruit.” It does say that Louis McKay, one of the many no-good men in Miss Holiday’s life, narked her out. The bust was in 1947, after she had been performing “Strange Fruit” for several years.
Politico had one comment that set off the bs detector. “One day, Harry Anslinger was told that there were also white women, just as famous as Billie, who had drug problems—but he responded to them rather differently. He called Judy Garland, another heroin addict, in to see him.” Frances Gumm was well known for having substance abuse issues. The heroin business was news to a lot of people.
Johann Hari was the author of the politico article. At the time, he was promoting a book, Chasing the Scream, about the war on drugs. Johann Hari has a spotted reputation. “The author used to be the Independent’s star columnist, a prolific polemicist and darling of the left, until his career imploded in disgrace when it emerged in 2011 that many of his articles contained quotes apparently said to him but in fact lifted from his interviewees’ books, or from previous interviews by other journalists.”
The final bust, as Miss Holiday lay dying in the hospital, is part of the legend. A google search does not show what agency was responsible. Harry Anslinger may have been involved, and it may have been someone else. By this time, Elanora Fagan was in bad, bad shape. Years of drinking, and hard drugs, had worn her out. While the hospital bust may have hastened her demise, it is a bit of a stretch to say the Harry Anslinger killed Billie Holiday, because she sang “Strange Fruit.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Cheesecake Miracle
The Cheesecake Miracle
President Barack H. Obama gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning. Some are not happy with POTUS giving a speech reinforcing the belief paradigm, and including phrases like “people of faith,” “word of G-d,” and “children of G-d.” The name used today, for a higher power is dog spelled backwards. This is a double repost.
POTUS is an American politician. A certain ritual invocation of the G-word is part of the game. BHO is probably a hypocrite when he says “You know he’s not saying it because it helps him advance, or because somebody told him to. It’s from the heart.” It will be a long time before a professed atheist is elected POTUS. It is part of the ritual.
There has been blowback to the speech. When a Democrat POTUS says something, the Republicans feel obligated to criticize. It is how the game is played. This is where we get to hear someone really important, like the former Governor of Virginia. “He has offended every believing Christian in the United States. This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.” That is telling him!
So what values is the former Governor talking about? The first thing BHO called for is humility. “And, first, we should start with some basic humility. I believe that the starting point of faith is some doubt — not being so full of yourself and so confident that you are right and that God speaks only to us, and doesn’t speak to others, that God only cares about us and doesn’t care about others, that somehow we alone are in possession of the truth.” It is easy to understand why professional Jesus worshipers don’t like talk about humility.
The speech lasted 24 minutes. It was two sentences that ruffled feathers. “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
Perhaps the most ridiculous reaction, or reaction to a reaction, was at The Atlantic. Ta-Nehisi Coates is fond of high octane rhetoric. He is in rare form in denouncing the linkage of Christianity to slavery. “The “all too often” could just as well be “almost always.” There were a fair number of pretexts given for slavery and Jim Crow, but Christianity provided the moral justification.”
The embrace of Christianity by African America is not mentioned. Black people might be the most Christian population in our Jesus-mad country. There is a poignant irony here. Mr. Coates notes “(Confederate Vice President Alexander) Stephens went on to argue that the “Christianization of the barbarous tribes of Africa” could only be accomplished through enslavement.”
The feature at the Atlantic is illustrated by a picture of a Klan rally. As we mentioned before, the loyal opposition is going to criticize the POTUS. And some are going to lose their minds, and compare this criticism to a cross burning. This, as Mr. Coates might say, “gives you some sense of the limited tolerance for any honest conversation around racism in our politics.”
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Birds spray Xanax, on the compulsive joker,
Who is afraid of the punitentiery.
When you drink like a land based animal,
Hit men would be cheaper.
The subliminal message in the cheesecake only works for low perbole.
The world knows, and does not care.
Frank Ancona
The body of kkk big dog Frank Ancona was found in a Missouri river the other day. People who like to say rude things about the klan celebrated the news. It is safe to say that few of these people had heard of Mr. Ancona before his demise. This is a repost. Some of the links are not dependable.
PG saw the headline, and remembered a story from last year. Mr. Ancona was quoted in that story. He was trash talking another klan organization. He said the klan is a secret society that shuns publicity. Mr. Ancona has a knack for getting attention, which may be a reason he was killed.
The murder might be the result of a marital dispute. Mr. Ancona’s wife, and step son, are in trouble. Malissa Ancona had a legally unwise chat with a tv reporter, Exclusive: Malissa Ancona, Wife of murdered KKK leader, speaks only to News 4. A twitter account, @malissa72, is still up. The picture shows Mrs. Ancona kissing Mr. Ancona.
Prosecutor: KKK leader may have been killed because he wanted divorce. The St. Lous Post-Dispatch has been on top of the story. This report has an interesting passage: “Mark Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate organizations, said that Ancona’s group was “not very significant at all. This was one of the smallest groups out there.” Potok said the members received a lot of attention because they frequently handed out leaflets. He said he would be surprised if there were 40 members spread out among chapters in Potosi, Hayden, Idaho and Pennsylvania.
Ancona had been in a dispute with other Klan leaders, Potok said, who accused Ancona of being secretly Jewish and Malissa Ancona of being a Wiccan. Both were untrue, Potok believes, but the accusations are typical of the Klan world today, which consists of 29 different named organizations, “each one claiming to be the one true Klan and denigrating the others.”
People who like to be seen denouncing racism love to hate the kkk. Nothing you say about the bedsheet boys is out of bounds. The truth is that the kkk has as much influence as the bad guys in professional wrestling. The kkk is a fashion challenged version of the westboro baptist church. You have to wonder why people get so much enjoyment from trash talking the klan. Maybe this is a distraction for their own unresolved racial conflicts.
“…the Klan world today, which consists of 29 different named organizations, “each one claiming to be the one true Klan and denigrating the others.”” How did all these groups, that hate each other, get together for a national meeting? Do they call it the grand dragon con? Was this the meeting where they endorsed Donald Trump? That endorsement was reported by the Washington Post, and Rachel Maddow. Millions of Trump hating patriots accepted this news without a moment’s hesitation. The spell check suggestion for Maddow is Maddox.
If P.T. Barnum had ever said “There’s a sucker born every minute,” he would have been correct. The truth is, there is little evidence that he did. Here is a phony quote, about suckers, that is widely accepted as truth. There is a bit of synchronicity there. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
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