Selling Ghostbusters
Buried in the digital slushpile over Lesdoggate is a comment: The best way to support @Lesdoggg is to go buy a ticket to see Ghostbusters.(paraphrased) This is the bottom line.
The content pirates at Buzzfeed have an article, Leslie Jones Is Shining A Light On A Major Problem With Twitter. The lead picture has Leslie Jones, with the GB logo in the background. BF has lots of people saying Lesdog is wonderful. None of the *racist* tweets are shown.
At this stage of the game, it is tough to find an example of the offensive tweets. Allegedly, someone sent Lesdog a picture of semen on her face…I have not seen this picture. Monday, there were rude tweets from accounts that were immediately deleted. It is possible that Lesdog created some of these comments themself. Some photoshop cowboy issued this screenshot. Lesdog is seen with some spelling challenged no nos. Whatever nasties were said about the thespian, they are outnumbered at this point by her pearl clutching followers.
It should be said at this point that twitter, and facebook, abuse is a problem. People get online, and say the meanest things to strangers. @Nero, aka Milo Yiannopoulos, has recently been banned from twitter. The hashtag #freemilo is having a two-wrongs-make-a-right party, highlighting hateful things said by “liberals.” There is plenty of material to choose from.
The Ghostbusters remake has long been controversial. Whether the controversy is genuine, or part of a publicity campaign, is a good question. When the trailer was released in March, tongues were wagging. Lesdog spoke out in an article, Leslie Jones Defends Her ‘Ghostbusters’ Character After Racial Controversy Arises Over New Trailer. “If they made me a scientist, you would be mad at what type of scientist. Seriously it’s a f**king movie. Get over yourself.”
More recently, Lesdog gave an interview to The Guardian. ““We’re sad, [the US is] the most depressed nation in the world and I blame comedians for that. I blame the industry for that, because it is so politically correct.” Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. “Photographs taken at a horse show in Atlanta, Georgia, 1937.”
Rumors Of War
Matt Taibbi (pronounced like Tybee Island) spent some quality time with his computer the other day. The post was about the Tea Party, but took a couple of detours en route.
The preamble was about the execution of John Wayne Gacy . For those with short memories, Mr. Gacy was not a nice man. He entertained children wearing a clown costume, before he molested and murdered children. The crawl space to his Illinois home was used for storage. After a while, Mr. Gacy was caught, and sentenced to die.
This is where the story kicks in. A friend of Mr. Taibbi covered the scene outside the prison, on the night that Mr. Gacy was poisoned by the state. A festive crowd had gathered to celebrate. As the party was breaking up, the reporter started to interview a young man. The chat went like this: “You’re not against capital punishment, are you?” “I’m not against capital punishment,I’m against enjoying capital punishment.”
A few years ago, PG was working with someone who told stories. A celebrity murderer was going to be executed, this time using the electric chair. An Atlanta radio station had a parking lot party to celebrate the frying. (PG cannot remember the name of the murderer, nor the state of the execution). The wife of the co worker baked a cake to celebrate the occasion. It was decorated with a bright yellow icing, to resemble a fried egg.
The arguments for and against capital punishment are many. For the foreseeable future, it is a fact of life in Georgia. PG (who has written several posts on the subject ) feels that, while there are some despicable people, the justice system is too flawed to administer capital punishment properly. At the very least, the execution of a criminal is not a time for celebration.
Capital punishment is compared to war, abortion, and euthanasia. All are times where a conscious decision is made to end a human life. Is it proper to enjoy any of these activities?
The easy one is euthanasia. Does anyone enjoy euthanasia, or spend much time campaigning against it? The case of Terri Schiavo is the most prominent, and some did try to make political hay out of it. That really didn’t catch on, as many people saw the shades of gray involved, and were mostly glad they were not the one to make the decision.
Do people enjoy abortion? The procedure itself is not celebrated, and is cloaked in quiet shame. On the other hand, PG suspects that the opponents of abortion are having a bit too much fun with their activities. The morality of using abortion as a vehicle for power is another subject for debate.
Do people enjoy war? HELL YEA. Firing up people on the home front is an essential part of a successful war. When the conflict drags on, and victory or truce begins to seem impossible, the war may lose some of it’s luster. The glamorization of war makes the conflict much more likely. Maybe if the attitude about war was similar to the attitude about euthanasia, we would have less of them.
Tom Dispatch has an audio feature about Afghanistan, and the many unanswered questions about our war there. It is apparent to PG that we invaded Afghanistan to get revenge for 911, and looked for a reason later.
Tom begins the monologue by discussing the prospects for Gen. Petraeus (spell check suggestions:Petroleum, Perpetrates,) and how a success there may actually be worse than failure. If we “conquer” Afghanistan, we will hold “the fifth poorest country on earth, the second most corrupt country, the world’s premier narco state.”
At the 3:06 mark on the tape, when Tom makes the comment about narco (spell check suggestions: Narcissus) state, PG had a flash of understanding, and a possibility for the reason behind this war. This may even have been powerful enough for the powers that be to ignore the reports about a terror strike in September 2001, and passively let 911 happen.
The rumors of CIA involvement in drug trafficking are wide spread and long term. When planes went to Central America in the eighties to bring arms to the contras, they came back to the United States loaded with cocaine. There are stories of collusion with the government in Cuba. There are many, many more stories about connections between the US government and the drug trade.
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, they cracked down on the poppy farmers. Much of the raw opium for heroin/morphine/opium is grown in Afghanistan. This was not a pleasing for the CIA.
Could it be that the real reason for our involvement in Afghanistan is to ensure the flow of narcotics into the hungry world? This would be a big cash cow for the CIA, although not enough to justify the amounts of money being spent on the conflict.
This is a double repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
George Washington
Error establishing a database connection ~ To persevere in one’s duty and be silent is the best answer to calumny. George Washington ~ If you remain silent in the face of internet bullshit, then you choose the side of mental health. ~ if you argue with idiots you choose the side of the oppressor ~ The custom of “unfriending” and blocking people, because of contrary opinions, is fucked up. ~ It measures how good you are at taking multiple choice tests ~ There are differences between picking the right multiple choice answer, recognizing a word in print, and being able to use a word in conversation. ~ @PeterMoskos ~having an army makes war more likely having an abortion clinic makes abortion more likely ~ spell check suggestion for TrumpPence is Trumpeter ~ your opinion about life after death is a tasty condiment ~ Is there evidence of BLM having official organizers? ~ During the Iran-Iraq war, it was unofficial policy to keep the Arabs and Persians fighting each other, so they would leave Israel alone. ~ 13 Jokes Only So-Called Intellectuals Understand ~ #Bernie and #Hillary sitting in a tree S T E A L I N G first comes election then comes the loot then comes #Bernie in an orange jumpsuit ~ black-lives-matter-just-delivered-10-point-manifesto ~ he (drag) queen of ’90s public-access TV is ready to reign once more ~ Online English Vocabulary Size Test ~ Two Kinds of Voting, Two Kinds of Disruption, and Two Kinds of Unrighteousness ~ more racism talk ~ ESP Sun Ra Radio Tribute – 14 hrs in 6 Parts ~ How to opine with civility ~ The Near Certainty of Anti-Police Violence ~ Piedmont Park hanging victim was gay Midtown man ~ London Jermaine ~ You are blocked from following @tattedpoc and viewing @tattedpoc’s Tweets. Learn more ~ armed or unarmed ~ n word ~ Clinton Email: We Must Destroy Syria For Israel ~ armed ~ Capone on Ponce ~ 1911 Atlanta map ~ why i’m a wassist ~ We are the Movement for Black Lives. ~ pictures for this non-binary monday morning are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Monroe Drive or Boulevard
It is an Atlanta cliche. Boulevard turns into Monroe Drive because one was black, and the other white. The white people did not want to live on a street with the same name as the black neighborhood. You hear this all the time, with very little explanation. It is plausible. At one time, Ponce de Leon Avenue was a dividing line between the white, and black, neighborhoods. There are, however, a few questions about this name change business.
In the space between I-85 and Dekalb County, there are four streets that change names when they cross Ponce De Leon Avenue. These are Juniper/Courtland, Charles Allen/Parkway, Monroe/Boulevard, and Briarcliff/Moreland. Several streets cross Ponce without changing names, including Spring Street, Peachtree Street, Piedmont Avenue, and North Highland Avenue.
Four thoroughfares are affected by the Ponce rebranding. Juniper/Courtland is mostly commercial, at least south of Ponce. Briarcliff/Moreland is mostly white until you get to the railroad tracks south of Little Five Points. When Moreland Avenue goes under the MARTA line, the neighborhood is Reynoldstown….which was not named for Burt Reynolds.
Charles Allen/Parkway does change from white to black at Ponce. The street name then changes to Jackson Street, the original name, at Highland Avenue. Monroe/Boulevard also goes from white to black at Ponce. However, when you cross the railroad tracks, Boulevard goes through Cabbagetown, a white neighborhood. Boulevard residents change color several times before the road dead ends at the Federal Prison. Oakland Cemetery, and Zoo Atlanta, do not play a role in this drama.
If this litany of street names is boring, it is all right to skip over the text. The pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Roads change names all over the metro area, for a variety of reasons. In the area between Ponce De Leon Avenue and I 20, there are roads that change at railroad tracks (North Highland/Highland, Krog/Estoria.) Others change at Highland Avenue (Parkway/Jackson, Glen Iris/Randolph) or Decatur Street (Hilliard/Grant, Bell/Hill.) Some of these changes are racially motivated, while others are not. Some make sense, while most do not.
No one seems to know when this Monroe/Boulevard thing happened. An 1892 “Bird’s eye view” shows Boulevard sailing off into the horizon, past a racetrack in today’s Piedmont Park. A 1911 map shows Boulevard starting near “L.P. Grant Park,” and sailing past Ponce up to Piedmont Park. A 1940 map shows Boulevard going past Park Drive, only to turn into Monroe Drive at Montgomery Ferry Road. Finally, a 1969 map of “Negro Residential Areas” shows Monroe Drive changing into Boulevard at Ponce De Leon Avenue, like it is today. Boulevard is a stand alone street name at all times.
If anyone knows about this name change business, please leave a comment. It would be interesting to know when these changes were made, and what government agency made them. Google has not been helpful, except for pointing the way to several map collections.
How To Live In Atlanta
Atlanta is composed mostly of one-way streets. The only way to get out of downtown Atlanta is to turn around and start over when you reach Greenville, South Carolina. All directions start with, ‘Go down Peachtree’ and include the phrase, ‘When you see the Waffle House’. ’Except in Mayretta , where all directions begin with, “Go to the Big Chicken”
Peachtree Street has no beginning and no end and is not to be confused with: Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Place, Peachtree Lane, Peachtree Road, Peachtree Terrace, Peachtree Avenue, Peachtree Battle Road, Peachtree Corners, New Peachtree, Old Peachtree, West Peachtree, or Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Atlantans only know their way to work and their way home. If you ask anyone for directions, they will always send you down Peachtree.
Only a native of Atlanta can pronounce Ponce De Leon Avenue, so do not attempt the Spanish pronunciation. People will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you. The Atlanta pronunciation is ‘pawntz duh LEE-awn.’ There is a street named simply, ‘Boulevard.’It becomes Monroe Drive when you cross Ponce de Leon.
The 8 am rush hour is from 6:30 to 10:30 AM. The 5 pm rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:30 PM. Friday’s rush hour starts Thursday afternoon and lasts through 2 am Saturday. The falling of one raindrop causes all drivers to immediately forget all traffic rules. If a single snowflake falls, the city is paralyzed for three days. It’s on all the channels as a news flash every 15 minutes for a week. Overnight, all grocery stores will be sold out of milk, bread, bottled water, toilet paper, and beer.
I-285, the loop that encircles Atlanta, has a posted speed limit of 55 mph (but you have to maintain 80 mph just to keep from getting run over.) It is known as The Perimeter, and the Watermelon 500. In Atlanta you are either ITP (Inside the Perimeter) or OTP (Outside the Perimeter). ITP and OTP people are wary of each other. Don’t believe the directional markers on highways: I-285 is marked East and West but you may be going North or South. The locals identify the direction by referring to the ‘Inner Loop’ and the ‘Outer Loop. Some call the whole dern thing “The Fruit Loop.”
Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Georgia. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Georgia, plus a couple no one has seen before. If it grows, it sticks. If it crawls, it bites. If you notice a vine trying to wrap itself around your leg, you have about 20 seconds to escape, before you are completely captured and covered with Kudzu. It’s not a shopping cart, it’s a buggy. ‘Fixinto’ is one word (I’m fixinto go to the store.) Sweet Tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you’re 2 years old. ’Jeet?’ is actually a phrase meaning ‘Did you eat?’ ’Momma-nem’ means: How’s Mother and all of the other children and other members of the family doing.
This was written by someone else. Pictures for this entertainment are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. A typical caption: “Member of the Georgia Press Association, during their 51st annual convention, in Adel, Georgia, September 15-18, 1937.”
Sunday At Java Monkey
When he can get there, PG goes to an open mike poetry reading. The hosting facility is a coffee house, Java Monkey, in downtown Dickhater. The crowd is a mix of black and white.
Recently, America had a bad week. Two black men were shot dead by police. Five Dallas police were killed by a sniper. PG knew there would be a lot of black emotion at Java Monkey. What should he do?
The best thing for a white man to do was to be there, and listen. PG brought a smutty poem, sixtynine more words, to read. The rest of the time, he was quiet, and let other people speak.
One of the other white men felt the same way. He opened his poem by saying that it was not his struggle, and it was not appropriate for him to speak. (Those were not the exact words.) PG spoke to him at intermission. He said to think about this… what if you were a black person, coming to read on a night with much black pain. You looked in the audience, and there were no white people to listen?
The evening rolled along, ending just before the eleven pm deadline. PG stayed to the end. One person asked, why are white pointed hats ok, and black hoodies are not? White pointed hats are the punchline of jokes, and snarky comments. They are almost universally scorned.
Two weeks earlier, a young lady was talking about her natural hair. There was a comment about how *white* hands like to touch this hair. After this comment was made, a loud round of applause, and laughter, rose from the room. PG was puzzled, and just a wee bit hurt. He has never had the slightest desire to touch black lady hair.
So the evening went. The names of Timothy Hill and Gerard Foster were not spoken. They were two men shot to death, in DeKalb county, during the previous week. One was in an apartment complex, walking distance from Java Monkey.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Here is a poem about that evening at Java Monkey.
#PiedmontParkHanging Part Two
Last week, an apparent suicide was found in Piedmont Park. Soon, the twitter people were in an uproar. Rumors were spreading at the speed of light. People said that it was a lynching, and that the KKK held a rally in the park the day before. Others said the klan was handing out flyers.
At first, the corporate media was quiet. WSB TV tweeted we do not report suicides. There are sound reasons for this. Copycat suicides… a depressed person deciding to take their life, after hearing about another person taking this step … is a problem. There is also the decent consideration of privacy. If a person is in such a bad way that they want to take their life, the corporate media should allow them a measure of peace. There are other stories to report.
The name of the young man has been released. Apparently, there were health issues, and a family that did not accept him. The medical examiner reports evidence indicating a suicide, with no sign of foul play. The FBI agrees with the APD… this was not a lynching.
One of the more striking rumors was that the park was a known meet-up spot for the infamous hate group. This referred to the KKK. Most Atlanta residents find the idea of KKK rallies in the park to be absurd. And yet, people swallowed these rumors without a shred of supporting evidence. If someone says so on twitter, then it must be true.
Maybe the young man can find peace now. It is a shame that his tragic death has become the center of a circus. The gossip mongers can find another tragedy to exploit. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Worst Vice Presidents Of The United States
PG wrote a post yesterday. One of the topics was the “Siamese Twins”, James Buchanan and William Rufus King. While researching the feature, PG googled his way to a Time magazine article about the Worst Vice Presidents in American History. PG is well known for his negative attitude, and writing about the worst things in life always appeals to him. (To see the feature, you have to click through a popup ad for Amway. Good times.) This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress
The first name on the list is Aaron Burr. He had a problem with Alexander Hamilton, and shot him dead in a duel. Elbridge Gerry (the namesake of Gerrymandering) served under James Madison for twenty months, and died. John C. Calhoun served under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and managed to get Mr. Jackson so upset that Mr. Calhoun was fired.
Richard M. Johnson served under Martin Van Buren, and was bad at PR. “Johnson scandalized his colleagues by taking one of his slaves as his common-law wife; as a result, he barely garnered enough support to serve in Martin van Buren’s administration. While in office, he proposed an expedition to the North Pole so Americans could drill to the center of the Earth, believing the planet was hollow (his resolution was defeated). Evidently van Buren’s experience with Johnson soured him on vice presidents altogether — when he ran for re-election he dropped Johnson from his ticket and didn’t bother replacing him. Instead, he ran alone.”
William Rufus King was VP under Franklin Pierce a mere six weeks before he died. There is no word on the status of his relationship with James Buchanan at the time. The Time magazine article has a picture of Fernando Wood , which was mistakenly thought to be of Mr. King. (Wikipedia uses the same picture to illustrate an article about Mr. King.)
The VP under James Buchanan (there is no word on who was top or bottom in the Buchanan-King household) was John Breckinridge. During the War Between the States, he left the Union to fight for the Confederacy. Mr. Breckinridge was charged with treason after the war. “The town of Breckenridge, Colorado is named in his honor — although it altered the spelling of its name after the Civil War, so as not to be associated with a traitor.”
Andrew Johnson did not make the list, but maybe should have. He was drunk at his inauguration, and made a fool of himself. Mr. Lincoln had nothing to do with him, until a meeting on April 14. This was Good Friday. Mr. Lincoln went to the theater that night.
Johnson had been marked for death by the conspiracy, but Wilkes Booth had little confidence in the man assigned to kill Mr. Johnson. The afternoon of the assassination, Mr. Booth was at the Kirkwood House, where Mr. Johnson stayed. Mr. Booth left a note for Mr. Johnson at the desk of the hotel… “Don’t wish to disturb you. Are you at home. J. Wilkes Booth”. The idea was for the police to find the note, and implicate Mr. Johnson in the killing of Mr. Lincoln. This mini plot was spoiled by the secretary for the Vice President, who collected the mail that afternoon. He took the card with him. The secretary had met Mr. Booth a few years earlier, and thought the note was for him.
The other three Vice Presidents who took office after the boss was murdered… Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson… were not mentioned in the Time article. All three are mentioned in conspiracy theories about the killings that promoted them into office.
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected to a full term as President, his VP was Charles Fairbanks. “Teddy once ordered a noisy and distracting crystal chandelier removed from his office because it disturbed him. He ordered it to be installed in the office of the Vice President to keep him awake.”
Getting back to Time’s honor roll, Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln’s first VP. Thomas A. Hendricks survived nine months under Grover Cleveland, before passing away. Thomas Marshall served two terms with Woodrow Wilson, and refused to take over the office when Mr. Wilson had a stroke. Calvin Coolidge did little while waiting for Warren Harding to die. Henry Wallace was, and will be, the only third term VP in our history. He acquired a few enemies, and was replaced by Harry Truman.
Richard Nixon was ok once he got elected, but almost managed to blow that. There were charges of financial shenanigans, and some thought he should be kicked off the ticket. After the Checkers Speech he was on his way to stardom. (After Mr. Nixon died, PG saw a large flag flying at half staff. The flag belonged to a hamburger chain called Checkers.) When Mr. Nixon became President, his VP was Spiro Agnew. Once again, there were charges of financial shenanigans, and much, much more. While the nation wallowed in Watergate, Mr. Nixon needed a diversion. It was suddenly discovered that Mr. Agnew had taken bribes. He was pressured into resigning.
Dan Quayle was VP for George H.W. Bush. He was widely regarded as an idiot, although his damage as VP was minimal. The last VPOTUS on the list is Dick Chaney. For some reason, he was regarded as having more power than the President, George W. Bush. Mr. Chaney was said to be one of the major promoters of the wars which have damaged America so much during the last ten years.
Defriended
PG has fewer facebook friends than he used to. This is not the same as having fewer friends in real life. The custom of referring to social media contacts as friends has always seemed a bit peculiar. When someone defriends you, presumably of your opinions (although you can never be sure of this), you have to wonder what the value of having that person as a friend was.
Most of the current umbrage taking appears to be about racism. Since no one seems to say anything directly, it is tough to know what the offending comment was. It is even tougher to see how either the comment, or the defriending, can have any impact on the oppression POC face today.
The most recent exchange went like this. “Does anyone else feel like a fat-positive clothing-optional pool party would be awesome? Or is it just me?” “In a “fat-positive clothing-optional pool party” there would be no judgement and shaming about bodies. This is a good idea. Maybe we could extend this acceptance of our neighbor to include attitudes about race.”
There is a difference between attitudes about race and racism. Just because a person does see things the same way as you, that does not make that person a racist. Nobody is saying that racism should be encouraged. It is just that people who are not as virulently anti racist as you should not be shamed for having a differing opinion.
One wonders what difference this is going to make in a struggle against oppression. Is defriending a person going to stop gun violence, or single parent households? Is going off on someone, about a facebook post, going to make New York terminate the stop and frisk program? Is a facebook status picture going to have any impact on economic opportunity? If you answer in the affirmative, please give details in the comments. This is a repost. Pictures from The Library of Congress.
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