The Problem With Greg Palast Part Two
“Until a couple of days ago I hadn’t heard of Greg Palast in years … Having now forced myself to look at his pernicious writing, it seems like the deranged ramblings you might expect to find pushed out from under the door of a locked ward. … Crawl back under your rock, Mr Palast!”
It all started on the way to Picadilly cafeteria. My Sunday Dinner Buddy saw a youtube video. Thom Hartman told of voter suppression in the 2024, primarily against voters of color. If these people had been allowed to vote, there is no doubt that Kamala Harris would have won. It sounded fishy to me, but I made a mental note to check it out later.
When I got home, I did a youtube search for Thom Hartman. A video came up, “DID TRUMP LOSE? Shocking Proof Trump Rigged 2024 Election w/ Greg Palast.” When I saw that Mr. Palast was the source, I knew this was nonsense.
In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost to Brian Kemp in the race for Governor. Voter Suppression was her main issue. After Stacey’s non-concession, the devil Greg Palast went down to Georgia. The claims Mr. Palast make now are similar to the claims he made in 2018. The Palast style … the hyperbole laced text, the high octane personality, the nasty hat … is just as obnoxious today as it was six years ago.
I sent SDB a text. “I looked for t.hartman … greg palast said same thing about stacey … he is full of shit” I included a link to the text report. SDB replied, asking if I had read the report.
“TRUMP LOST. Vote Suppression Won. Here are the numbers from investigative reporter Greg Palast…” is the text report. I noticed right away that there are no links to support the claims. You have to take Greg Palast at his word. That is a red flag right there. If your claims are legitimate, you should have the receipts. Greg Palast does not have the receipts.
“4,776,706 voters were wrongly purged from voter rolls according to US Elections Assistance Commission data.” This is the central claim to this narrative. If you go to EAC.gov you see that it appears to be devoted to helping elections run smoothly. A quick look at the site does not show any data. Distributing data about voter suppression does not appear to be the job of EAC. Of course, Mr. Palast did not supply a link to support his assertion.
“There are also the uncountable effects of the explosive growth of voter intimidation tactics including the bomb threats that closed 31 polling stations in Atlanta on Election Day.” This is a bit easier to investigate. “Voting hours were extended at multiple locations in Georgia’s Fulton County and DeKalb County after hoax bomb threats that officials tied to Russian sources. … Fulton County officials said that 32 bomb threats via phone and email targeted polling locations in the county, while DeKalb police said they checked six polling locations for bombs. The polling locations were all cleared and no bombs were found. Voting re-opened and hours were extended in both counties.”
The Palast report made numerous claims, none of which were backed up with links. There were some mumbo-jumbo calculations, and claims of how many votes were suppressed, and how many of them would have voted for Kamala. The claim was made repeatedly that this suppression was racially motivated. This race baiting impresses many “progressives.”
Ultimately, the individual has to make up their own mind what to think. It is feasible that there was some electoral malfeasance, and that some of the claims are correct. It is also possible that someone is paying Greg Palast to make these claims. Since the election is certified, and the winner installed in office, these tales of a stolen election are conjecture. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in July 1941. “Putting samples of wheat into sack of central sampling office. Walla Walla, Washington.”
Netanyahu Aide ADMITS!
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In 1966, State Senator Jimmy Carter made his first run for Governor. On July 30, 1966, photographers from Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers went to Plains GA. Mr. Carter is seen with his wife Rosalynn, and his three sons: Jack, the eldest, Chip, and Jeff, the youngest. Amy was born in 1967. · While you are there, come visit @chamblee54.bsky.social · “A Man I Dreamt Up’ anagrams Armistead Maupin. “A Man and a Girl” anagrams Anna Madrigal. Neither name was inspired by the AG. … Russell Lee took the picture in June 1940. “Quemado, New Mexico. Bronc busting at the rodeo” · civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt · young india was an English weekly journal, started by Mahatma Gandhi. It was in circulation from 1919-1931. · “My Experience in Gaol” is an article written by Mahatma Gandhi and published in the South African newspaper “Indian Opinion” on March 7, 1908, detailing his personal experiences while imprisoned in a South African jail, where he was incarcerated due to his activism against racial segregation during the Apartheid era. · in jail in South Africa in January 1908, Mahatma Gandhi was served a South African breakfast staple known as mealie pap. Gandhi associated mealie pap with black South Africans and rejected it as unsuitable for Indians. One year later, however, he revised his opinion and actively encouraged Indians to eat mealie pap. Tracing Gandhi’s evolving approach to mealie pap reveals a profound shift in Gandhi’s views on race and diet. · Quote memes are often full of errors. When you ask google AI for help, things might get worse · Jimmy Carter with family members in their Plains, Georgia home during Carter’s first campaign for governor, 1966 · Billy returned to Plains after serving in the Marine Corps as a private from 1955 to 1959. He married Sybil Spires, also of Plains, in 1955 and became the father of six children: Kim, Jana Kae, William “Buddy,” Marle, Mandy, and Earl. · @Jayyanginspires “writing words, lifting weights, & building an internet business. | prev head of content to @noahkagan” · “The Spark A quick dose of inspiration in your inbox, every Sunday.” · Rogan has Warren Smith on. Mr. Smith was fired from a teaching job “for making a video promoting critical thinking” I suspect there is more to the story, but am following along. I agree with a great deal that is said, mostly about the problems with “woke” thinking. Then, at 32:00, youtube breaks in without warning. The ad that follows is for online sports betting. I have heard about problems with OSB, and I am inclined to believe them. While this is a good conversation, Rogan is being used to funnel people into dealing with a predatory industry. · · why Precisely Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations? The Vermont senator’s political imagination is active against plutocracy, but why is it so limited against white supremacy? · this is a repost from January 2016, when Bernie Sanders was taken more seriously than Donald Trump. The picture today: “Doctor E.L. Massie, Surgeon on Genl A. Pike’s staff, C.S. Army 1862, affiliated with Genls Van Corn & Hindman, Trans Miss Dept · @chamblee54.bsky.social · Jack Delano took the featured photograph in September 1941. “Spectators in the grandstand watching the vaudeville act at the World’s Fair. Tunbridge, Vermont” · WR Hearst denied sending a telegram saying “You provide the pictures, I’ll provide the war.” · “In apology for these newspapers it may be said that their untrustworthiness is not always to intention but more frequently to ignorance and prejudice.” The picture: “Spectators in the grandstand watching the vaudeville act at the World’s Fair. Tunbridge, VT” 1941 · I Walk Between Raindrops, by @tcboyle.com is fun, and easy to read. I should finish it with no problems. The only problem: Amazon does not have any ★ reviews. There is a ★★ review. · “hoss – short stories – Reviewed in Germany on August 19, 2024 “The writing is great but I don’t like unconnected short stories. The setting is dystopian, sick people, end of the world (I like that!).” · these six drabbles are about a short story collection. They are just an excuse to post pictures taken at SS Kresge, store #755, May, 1960. Pictures from the GSU library. · Pictures today are by chamblee54 · selah
Men On Men 2
Men On Men 2 is the “Second in this series, which ran from 1987 until 2001. This volume collects short fiction from 1988. Many reflect the writers’ responses to the emerging issues to which AIDS gave rise.” The MOM series turned up in an Underground Atlanta bookstore in the early nineties. I was working in an architect’s office, and had a cheap apartment. My low budget lifestyle could afford $12.00 for a paperback book of short stories. MOM2 was published in 1988, when AIDS dominated to discourse. Thirty plus years later, this is good for a re-read, while waiting for something better from the library. This exercise today is a collection of drabbles … 100 words, written more or less at random, and what some of the stories do for me.
The age of Anxiety David Fienberg
David is an eighties New York queen. Richard is his best friend, who is moving to San Francisco in two days, without a job, apartment, or boyfriend. David has herpes and anal warts, and will die in 1994. David broke up with Richard in 1982 because the latter had “persistently swollen lymph glands under his arms and in his groin.” Nobody seems to enjoy good mental health, which probably was going on before the virus hit. 36 years later, I am running the gauntlet of tests and catheterization, and the only casualty so far is my sense of well being.
Solidarity Albert Innaurato
Some fat queens, with names like La Golgotha and La Pincushionova go to the New York pride parade in 1985. At the time, Pat Buchanan was a headline performer on anti-fag duty. Google is reluctant to share quotes from that time, but did have a delicious tidbit. … Hunter S. Thompson mentioned Pat Buchanan in a 1973 letter. “We disagree so violently on almost everything that it’s a real pleasure to drink with him. If nothing else, he’s absolutely honest in his lunacy — and I’ve found, during my admittedly limited experience in political reporting, that power & honesty very rarely coincide.”
Snapshot Allen Barnett
There are different ways to spell Allen. Allen Barnett had two L’s and an e, just like Hell, and Allen Ginsberg. Allen Barnett died August 17, 1991. This was a little over a year before Alan Burnette died. Alan lived in a house, with an oak tree. Neither survived mcmansionization. My first grade teacher, Connie Carswell, lived in that house. Both Allen and Alan had AIDS. … In Snapshot, this queen tells a recently departed bf that there was a letter from the bf’s mystery father. The bitch just wanted to get the youngun to come over to his apartment.
Ayor David Leavitt
David Leavitt was quite the fag-lit sensation in the eighties. The Lost Language of Cranes was published in 1986, when he was 25. This is about the same time AYOR, his story in MOM2, was written. DL (no middle name) somehow survived the next forty years. In a bit of due diligence, I went to his twitter page, @David_Leavitt The picture you see is a screen shot, announcing that DL has been blocked by @realDonaldTrump. Trump derangement is boring. Getting back to the initials, DL has come to mean Down Low, or thinking that nobody knows what you are up to.
Nobody’s Child David Groff
Nobodies Child is about a fag hag dying of breast cancer, who wants a queen to raise her son. · Meanwhile, I ordered I Walk Between Raindrops, by T. Coraghessan Boyle, from the library. It is fun, and easy to read. I should finish it with no existential problems. The only problem is that Amazon does not have any ★ reviews. There is, however, a ★★ review. · hoss – short stories – Reviewed in Germany on August 19, 2024 “The writing is great but I don’t like unconnected short stories. The setting is dystopian, sick people, end of the world (I like that!). “
Life Suck, or Ernest Hemingway Never Slept Here Tim Barrus
The first step is to turn on the machine. Open the folder with the file, then the file, then docs. You clear the drabble document, and type 100 words … no more, no less … into the gaping window. Focus on the document, and not one how great things were when Ernest Hemingway lived here with his six-toed cats. Don’t worry about what time the football game comes on, or the fact that if you don’t shit soon you are going to explode in a fecal mess. Sunday morning is not just for church anymore, unless you are out … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The featured image was taken by Tracy O’Neal in May, 1960. “S.S. Kresge Co. 2595 N. Decatur Rd., Decatur, Ga. Store #755″
I’ll Furnish The War
This is a repost. The telegram incident was included in Citizen Kane … “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” – WR Hearst, January 25, 1898 It is part of the Hearst legend. “Frederic Sackrider Remington, the famous artist who brought to life American images of the west, was hired by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to illustrate the revolution erupting in Cuba. He wrote back to Hearst one day in January 1897: “Everything is quiet. There is no trouble. There will be no war. I wish to return.” Hearst sent back a note: “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Chamblee54 readers should know where this is going to go.
Mr. Remington was sent to Cuba, along with correspondent Richard Harding Davis, to cover the rebellion against the Spanish colonial government. At the time of this purported exchange, the conflict between Spain, and the Cuban rebels, was rather lively. This is at odds with the initial comment by Mr. Remington. One item which modern observers will find odd is the fact that Mr. Remington drew pictures. He was not a photographer. Apparently, in 1897 journalism, a hand drawing was acceptable evidence of a conflict.
Not likely sent: The Remington-Hearst “telegrams” is a thorough debunking of this legend. The source of the legend is “James Creelman, On the Great Highway: The Wanderings and Adventures of a Special Correspondent. (Boston: Lothrop Publishing, 1901), 177-178.” “Creelman does not … describe how or when he learned about the supposed Remington-Hearst exchange. In any case, it had to have been second-hand because Creelman was in Europe in early 1897, as the Journal’s “special commissioner” on the Continent.”
“It is improbable that such an exchange of telegrams would have been cleared by Spanish censors in Havana. So strict were the censors that dispatches from American correspondents reporting the war in Cuba often were taken by ship to Florida and transmitted from there.”
… correspondence of Richard Harding Davis — the war correspondent with whom Remington traveled on the assignment to Cuba — contains no reference to Remington’s wanting to leave because “there will be no war.” Rather, Davis in his letters gave several other reasons for Remington’s departure, including the artist’s reluctance to travel through Spanish lines to reach the Cuban insurgents. … Davis’ letters show that he had little regard for the rotund, slow-moving Remington, whom he called “a large blundering bear.”
The purported Remington-Hearst exchange, moreover, appears not to have been particularly important or newsworthy at the time … the anecdote seems to have provoked almost no discussion or controversy until a correspondent for the Times of London mentioned it in a dispatch from New York in 1907. He wrote: “Is the Press of the United States going insane? . . . A letter from William Randolph Hearst is in existence and was printed in a magazine not long ago. It was to an artist he had sent to Cuba, and who reported no likelihood of war. —You provide the pictures, I’ll provide the war.'”
“Hearst, indignant about the report, replied in a letter to the Times. He described as “frankly false” and “ingeniously idiotic” the claim “that there was a letter in existence from Mr. W. R. Hearst in which Mr. Hearst said to a correspondent in Cuba: —You provide the pictures and I will provide the war,’ and the intimation that Mr. Hearst was chiefly responsible for the Spanish war. … “This kind of clotted nonsense could only be generally circulated and generally believed in England, where newspapers claiming to be conservative and reliable are the most utterly untrustworthy of any on earth. In apology for these newspapers it may be said that their untrustworthiness is not always to intention but more frequently to ignorance and prejudice.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Bernienomics
This is a repost from 2016. The national debt is now $36.2t. … @BernieSanders “I got into politics not to figure out how to become President. I got into politics because I give a damn.” The old tweeter sent this message December 11, 2015, at 4:42 pm Sanders Standard Time. At last glance, it was retweeted 25,901 times, and liked 44,263 times.
What exactly is a damn? When you give one, do you gift wrap it? The dictionary says that damn is a verb, meaning “condemn to a punishment or fate; especially : to condemn to hell.” Giving a verb is not good grammar. Damn is considered a mild profanity, which adds polemic punch.
History gives us a second opinion. “In 1665, Aurangzeb, or Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Mohammad Aurangzeb. (A real mouthful of a name!) was the emperor of the Mughal empire. He ruled from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzeb had coins minted in precious metals as well as copper. The copper denominations were one Dam and one half Dam.”
At some point after the invention of the copper dam, Great Britain conquered the Mughal empire. By this time, the dam was worth twice as much as a half dam. According to some unverified sources, British soldiers would say that something was not worth a dam. Some said they would not give a dam. The profaning n was added, and a saying for apathy entered the english language.
How much is a dam/damn worth? To people living downhill from the lake, a dam is valuable. As for the numismatic value of an ancient copper coin: “By looking at both catalog values for copper Dams minted in the Mughal calendar year of 1075 (Western date 1665) … we can provide the following very approximate values for copper half-Dams and Dams minted in the name of Aurangzeb: worn: $4, average circulated: $7, well preserved: $30.”
Getting back to BS, he probably used the conventional meaning of GAD, which is that he cares. Or maybe, he meant that he gives a dollar. If current economic trends hold up, the dollar might not be worth a dam. The welfare state proposals of BS, according to the admittedly biased Wall Street Journal, would cost $18 Trillion. This would effectively double the national debt. If we get mixed up in another war, or if a nuclear power plant blows up, another few trillion might go down the tubes.
Only the most deluded Bernoids expect college tuition to be free in 2018. BS is talking a good game, but most people know his pants are on fire. One person who is offended because BS won’t step up the lies is Ta-Nehisi Coates. If reparations are added onto free college tuition, then the value of the dollar might go below a half dam.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured image is Dr. Edmund Lewis Massie of Trans-Mississippi Department, Medical Staff Confederate States Infantry Regiment. Charles R. Rees was the photographer. Notations on manuscript behind photo in case: “Doctor E.L. Massie, Surgeon on Genl, A. Pike’s staff, C.S. Army 1862, affiliated with Genls Van Corn & Hindman, Trans Miss Dept.”
My Head Rent Free
Get the facebook link. This is the first rule of writing about/deconstructing a meme. If you don’t get the link now, you will never find it later. Today’s toxic meme is “15 Sentences That Live In My Head Rent Free” by @jayyanginspires.
15S is a copied page, with the title and numbers draped in yellow magic marker. The text on the other side of the page bleeds inscrutably through. 15S is what you might call commodity wisdom. These are thoughts that sound good, until you think about them. A few might hold water, and none are out and out nonsense. Mostly, they are just thoughts … none of which will make your cold go away.
These helpful suggestions are courtesy of @Jayyanginspires “writing words, lifting weights, & building an internet business. | prev head of content to @noahkagan.” At least he doesn’t list his pronouns. Jay does provide a link to a website, “The Spark A quick dose of inspiration in your inbox, every Sunday.” When Lover of Books posted the meme, they included a link to Audible. The daisy chain of product promotion never stops.
“14. You can’t have a new reality with an old mentality.” This sentence is a good one to ponder. Authoritarian sophistry IS the old mentality. The rhetoric-based argument culture that gave us Donald J. Trump, the Gaza Genocide, and so much more. Manipulative use of language for competitive motivation. The challenge today is to know the difference between true wisdom, and clever sounding bullshit.
Pointing out hypocrisy is so boring. One response is to create art of this text, aka make lemonade out of lemons. I chose to create a haiku reduction. Highlight the parts that I want to keep, and turn the rest into digital rubble. As Alice Walker might say, “Take what you can use and let the rest rot.”
The phrase “God is in the details” applies here, much to chagrin of Yahweh worshipers. There are several steps to the process. If you make a mistake in one you will regret it later. Sometimes, you need to enlarge the image 1600%, and take out one pixel at a time. Just remember sentence nine.
9. “You can do anything, but not everything—focus.” The em-dash is so tacky. The secret is to not be distracted by —, or the uberclever phrasing. Just focus on the message. Focus is essential to getting anything done. This can be tough on a computer, with the digital circus a click away.
Getting back to the reduction, I need seventeen beats out of fifteen sentences. One way is to take one out of all fifteen, and find two more. Or I can just leave some of the sentences blank. There is a message in there if you look for it.
expensive advice · anxiety ill focus · understand mental Is advice expensive for the giver, or the taker? The motivation monger would say that advice is only expensive if you do not take it. Or if it causes anxiety, an ill focus of your precious life. Especially when you are careful to understand mental, while ignoring the danger of oversitting physical.
Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The images were taken July 30, 1966. The featured photograph: “Jimmy Carter with family members in their Plains, Georgia home during Carter’s first campaign for governor.” The kids probably belong to Billy Carter. Billy returned to Plains after serving in the Marine Corps as a private from 1955 to 1959. He married Sybil Spires, also of Plains, in 1955 and became the father of six children: Kim, Jana Kae, William “Buddy,” Marle, Mandy, and Earl.
Civil Disobedience
One morning, while shaking the cobwebs out of my head, I stumbled onto a meme. “CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE BECOMES A SACRED DUTY WHEN THE STATE HAS BECOME LAWLESS OR CORRUPT. Mahatma Gandhi” Shouting is not civil.
I was in an ornery mood, and decided to investigate. When I searched wikiquotes for “civil,” a festive item turned up right away. “It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the king-emperor.” Winston Churchill addressing the Council of the West Essex Unionist Association (23 February 1931); as quoted in “Mr Churchill on India” in The Times (24 February 1931)
Chamblee54 has written about MK Gandhi before. 050415 020521 042222 010723 There is a large archive of his words. If a quote is genuine there should be a source available. Unfortunately, if you read the context, Mr. Gandhi will often contradict, and counter-contradict, himself. MK Gandhi was a lawyer, and could crank out a word count. Those words often do not fit your agenda.
The search for “civil” yielded three quotes by Mr. Gandhi. While none of them match the meme verbatim, they send much the same message. The genuine quotes place an emphasis on civility, which is often decried today as “tone policing.” These items are found in Young India … “an English weekly journal, started by Mahatma Gandhi. It was in circulation from 1919-1931.”
“I hold the opinion firmly that Civil Disobedience is the purest type of constitutional agitation. Of course, it becomes degrading and despicable if its civil, i.e. non-violent character is a mere camouflage.” (15 December 1921) · “Disobedience without civility, discipline, discrimination, non-violence, is certain destruction. Disobedience combined with love is the living water of life. Civil disobedience is a beautiful variant to signify growth, it is not discordance which spells death.” (1 May 1922) · “Disobedience is a right that belongs to every human being, and it becomes a sacred duty when it springs from civility.” (4 January 1926)
There is one more quote to ponder today. On the surface, it might raise eyebrows. … “Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilised—the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals.” “My Experience in Gaol”, Indian Opinion (7 March 1908). Also: Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, op cit., Vol. 8, p. 199.
There is a bit more to the story. “In jail in South Africa in January 1908, Mahatma Gandhi was served a South African breakfast staple known as mealie pap. Gandhi associated mealie pap with black South Africans and rejected it as unsuitable for Indians. One year later, however, he revised his opinion and actively encouraged Indians to eat mealie pap. Tracing Gandhi’s evolving approach to mealie pap reveals a profound shift in Gandhi’s views on race and diet.”
A google search for “My Experience in Gaol” yielded an AI overview. “My Experience in Gaol” is an article written by Mahatma Gandhi and published in the South African newspaper “Indian Opinion” on March 7, 1908, detailing his personal experiences while imprisoned in a South African jail, where he was incarcerated due to his activism against racial segregation during the Apartheid era.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Arthur Rothstein took the featured photograph in September 1939. “Farmers on main street, Saturday night. Iowa Falls, Iowa”
The Days of Anna Madrigal
If I don’t start dictating this thing now I never will. This is a book report about the The Days of Anna Madrigal, the last book in the Tales of the City cycle. DOAM was written by Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. There might be a spoiler alert in this book report; that’s what book reports are for. DOAM is a wonderful book. However, like all of AJM books, you have to have a suspension of disbelief, because some of these things are just too weird to be true..
One way to prepare for a book report is to listen to videos of the author. I saw an AJM event, at the Decatur First Baptist Church in pre-pandemic 2018. Finally, I found a lovely quote.
The DOAM characters all go to Burning Man. I’ve never been to BM, and probably never will. I’ve been to many faerie gatherings, so I have a slight taste for intentional community. From all indications BM is much much, much, more intense. The BM aura is a bit off-putting. I could probably get into it but I’d have to I’d have to be prepared, and that probably is not going to happen. Fortunately, AJM had a younger husband, that dragged him there kicking and screaming.
When you make YouTube clips, you have to guess when it starts, and when it finishes. This entertainment does not have a transcript, or a cis-script. After consultation with the law firm of Trial and Error, I made this clip. It starts at 1970 seconds, and it ends at 2100 seconds. There’s a synchronicity to 1970 – 2100. These 130 seconds start with the acknowledgement that it was autobiographical. We’ve always suspected that Michael was really AJM. So he goes to BM. The last words of this clip are there would be rules.
DOAM ended much too soon for my taste. It goes into a bit of the back story for Anna Madrigal. For those who are new here, AM is the landlady at the house where the TOTC players lived. It seems like AM was raised in a cathouse in Winnemucca, NV. There was a real family named Madrigal. Part of the DOAM story is how Anna goes back to Winnemucca, and meets a player in this narrative. It’s a of a tearjerker, but most AJM stories are from time to time.
As for the fantasy of being raised in a brothel … when I was a young man I had this friend going by the name of Raven (not Wolfdancer.) He later went through several other names in the time that I knew him, and I never did find out his real name. This makes looking for him on facebook difficult. I first met Raven, his story was that he was raised in a brothel at the end of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Being the naive young idiot that I was, I believed him. Once, we went to a house on McLendon Avenue, where this old lady was introduced as being his grandmother. I said something about the business you were in, which went over her head. Anyway, Raven … then known as Harry Bowers … moved to New York in 1983, and was never heard from again.
There will be no more TOTC books, and probably little more of the characters. DOAM was set in 2012, when AM is 92. The “boomer” characters are starting to draw social security. Since Mouse is a stand in for AJM, it is safe to assume that he is alive. It is tempting to re-read some of the TOTC books, but there are so many other books to read. The current selection is Hollywood by Charles Bukowski. It will be fun, until it is done. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Why Policing Is Failing
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Rolling Stone’s 500 Worst Reviews of All Time (work in progress) A list by schmidtt
Julia Roberts is suddenly anti-looting now that it’s happening in LA mansions
Moby ‘Shot In The Back Of The Head’ by David Lynch
12 Rules the Locals Don’t Want You to Know About French Cafés
Naftali Bennet SEES What Others MISSED in the Israeli Hostage Deal
Why Policing Is Failing Today | Glenn Loury & Peter Moskos | The Glenn Show
the modernist · @staceyabrams. · era · era · hrt
kylover · Sam Harris · stacey · repost · men on men 2
dekalb waterline · truth · joseph goebbels · huff carson · felice picano
lee israel · fake fiction · maddow covid · frank wu · · raphael
the nice · mike posey · Frühlingsfest · seaairS · @divineisll · calamus part three
Reposted with a crucial spelling error corrected … New Georgia Project had serious problems going back to 2014. When the state investigated, NGB spokesman Raphael Warnock said “I see this … as the latest effort in voter suppression in the state of Georgia.” · Reposted with a crucial spelling error corrected … The recent scandal involving Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock is not surprising. The New Georgia Project had serious problems going back to 2014. When Sec. of State Brian Kemp investigated these problems, NGB spokesman Raphael Warnock said “I see this move by the secretary of state as the latest effort in voter suppression in the state of Georgia.” · Stacey Abrams And Raphael Warnock Got Caught · Russell Lee took the featured photograph in May 1942. “San Benito County, California. Japanese-Americans at picnic.” · This is what I did online last week. The featured picture was taken in May 1942. “San Benito County, California. Japanese-Americans at picnic.” · AI Overview Brianna Wu’s original name is John Walker Flynt or John Flynt. Wu is a trans woman who has received media attention for her support of Israel during the Israel–Hamas war. · Second in this series, which ran from 1987 until 2001. This volume collects short fiction from 1988. Many reflect the writers’ responses to the emerging issues to which AIDS gave rise. Includes an introduction by the editor and these My Mother’s the School of Beauty and Shame (Richard McCann); The age of Anxiety (David Fienberg); Junge Dove (Joseph Pintauro); In This Corner (James Purdy); Solidarity (Albert Innaurato); Dancing on the Tishe B’av (Lev Raphael); Snapshot (Allen Barnett); Anything You Want (Christopher Coe); Ayor (David Leavitt); I Go Back to the Mais Oui (James McCourt); Why People Get Cancer ( Anderson Ferrell); Nobody’s Child (David Groff); Once in Syracuse (David Brendan Hopes); Life Suck, or Ernest Hemingway Never Slept Here (Tim Barrus); Red Leaves (Melvin Dickson); Magic (Garry Glickman); The Boys in the Bars (Christopher Davis); Adult Art (Allan Gurganus). · “General scene, main street. Greensboro, Greene County GA” Marion Post Wolcott took the photograph in 1939. · at chamblee54, there is no connection between the historic pictures, and the historic fiction text. Today that contrast is more vivid than ever. The text is the wife of a celebrity dermatologist writing about a notorious Hollywood groupie. The picture: “General scene, main street. Greensboro, Greene County GA” · Dorothea Lange took the photograph in May 1939. “FSA camp for migratory agricultural workers. Farmersville CA Meeting of the camp council” · Someone is talking. They are full of confidence. The speech gets faster, and faster. They have lots of data points that support their point of view. You suspect there is something wrong with what they are saying. The logic just follows too quickly. If you stop to think about point one, you will miss points two through eleven. It is persuasion, by intellectual bullying. · Sam Harris is sometimes too clever for his own good. … Dorothea Lange took the photograph in May 1939. “FSA camp for migratory agricultural workers. Farmersville CA Meeting of the camp council” · @afshinrattansi Joe Biden admits he warned Netanyahu to stop carpet bombing communities. Netanyahu replied by comparing Israel’s actions to US carpet bombing of Berlin and dropping nuclear bombs. Biden essentially admits he allowed Netanyahu to carpet bomb Gaza for over 15 months and commit genocide, providing almost $30 billion in military aid and weapons shipments. Genocide Joe is as guilty as Netanyahu for the horrors we have witnessed in Gaza. · Photographs today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. These images were taken July 30, 1966. “Jimmy Carter with family members in their Plains, Georgia home during Carter’s first campaign for governor.” · Photographs today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The featured image is dated 08-03-1966. “Jimmy Carter and family playing miniature golf” · selah
Stacey Abrams And Raphael Warnock Got Caught
News came out that the New Georgia Project had settled an ethics complaint with the State of Georgia. NGP, the signature non-profit creation of Stacey Abrams, was accused of spending millions of dollars supporting her run for Governor in 2018. This is not surprising to people that have been paying attention to @staceyabrams.
“Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2014 as an offshoot of another nonprofit called Third Sector Development. … Raphael Warnock chaired the organization for more than two years, from when it first became an independent 501(c)3 in 2017 to January of 2020.”
Chamblee54 wrote two posts about the problems with NGP. 112118 102622 These articles are based on a 2015 story in Creative Loafing, The New Georgia Problem. When Ms. Abrams emerged in 2018 as a Gubernatorial candidate/media sensation, her work with NGP was usually mentioned. It turns out that NGP had a LOT of problems. To be fair, Ms. Abrams was mostly a fundraiser. She had little to do with the day to day operations of NGP.
Atlanta Magazine also ran a 2015 story about the problems at NGP. “William Perry, founder of Georgia Ethics Watchdog, believes the lawmaker should make her financial records from her voter registration work public, especially now that more than a year has passed since the 2014 election. One issue that concerns Perry is the lawmaker’s potential ability to use different funding sources—which include a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group, a political PAC, and personal campaign funds—to further the cause of voting registration.
Apparently, the money goes both ways here. Just as money intended for political campaigns can go for voter registration, money intended for voter registration can be diverted to promote a candidate. In the words of William Perry, “It gives cause to worry when there’s someone stirring so many pots. In a perfect world, anything you’re doing that would influence a campaign or an election should be disclosed. It’s a glaring example of what makes people sick about politics.”
Atlanta Magazine had another amusing item in 2015. “Nsé Ufot, executive director for New Georgia Project, declined to share a copy of Third Sector Development’s latest financial records. “Our 990 [form] will be publicly available in the coming months,” she told us in an email. When asked about her latest fundraising effort, Abrams declined to comment.”
Ms. Ufot was mentioned in 2023. “The move comes as the group’s tax filings indicate that its former executive director — who was hand-picked by Abrams in 2014 but fired last year without notice — owes the organization thousands of dollars in “non-work-related” reimbursements. The former director, Nsé Ufot, who left the group last year after heading it for eight years, denies owing money and calls the allegation “a fucking lie.”
In 2018, Voter Suppression® … and implied racism … was the central issue of the Abrams campaign. In the earlier investigation of NGP, spokesman Raphael Warnock was eager to cry racism. ”Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at First Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and a spokesperson for NGP, said that many people of color in Georgia saw the tactics as part of a long history of voter suppression. “This narrative of voter suppression is one that communities of color understand and understand deeply, and it will backfire on those trying to suppress votes.”
“But there is an aggressive subpoena that, Abrams says, “essentially demands every document we have ever produced.” She calls it a “fishing expedition” meant to “suppress our efforts.” A spokesperson for the New Georgia Project, the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, was a little more explicit. “I see this move by the secretary of state as the latest effort in voter suppression in the state of Georgia.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Martha McMillan Roberts took the featured photograph in March 1941. “Good Humor man comes to trailer camp on Saturday afternoon. These children are sons of torpedo plant workers in Alexandria VA”
Drinking From A Firehose
This is a repost from January 2020. Many of the youtube links no longer work. Sam Harris continues to get mixed up in controversy. … “You’re drinking from a firehose of bullshit.” Someone is talking. They are full of confidence. The speech gets faster, and faster. They have lots of data points that support their point of view. You suspect there is something wrong with what they are saying. The logic just follows too quickly. If you stop to think about point one, you will miss points two through eleven. It is persuasion, by intellectual bullying.
Sometimes, a good phrase used to support a not-so-good cause. The FOB quote is from Sam Harris. He was on the Joe Rogan Experience, talking with Abby Martin. (The opening clip is from this compilation.) Mr. Harris says the Iraqi casualties, after Operation Iraqi Freedom, were around 200,000. Ms. Martin says the casualties are closer to 2,000,000. Either figure is too high. Mr. Harris displays a certain heartlessness in his argument.
JRE #1419 – Daryl Davis washed up on the digital shore yesterday. Mr. Davis is a black man, who somehow befriended KKK members, and showed them the error of their ways. Here is an npr segment, How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes.
Yesterday’s appearance came at an synchronistic time for Mr. Rogan. Last week, Bernie Sanders tweeted a clip from Mr. Rogan, along with a comment. “I think I’ll probably vote for Bernie…” Joe Rogan There was a reaction. @CNN “Bernie Sanders is facing a backlash from some Democrats after his campaign trumpeted an endorsement from comedian Joe Rogan, a popular podcast and YouTube talk show host with a history of making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments”
As Rogan listeners know, Joe is all over the place. The Sanders quote is from JRE #1415 – Bari Weiss. During that show, Ms. Weiss unleashed an FOB in support of Israel. This contrasts with Abby Martin, and other JRE guests, who severely criticize Israel.
The Davis show was an FOB. There were history lectures, that leave discerning heads shaking. (The term white supremacist was first used in 1896.) The firehose kept gushing, until there was one comment that could be easily checked out. “President Warren G. Harding was sworn into the ku klux klan in the green room of the White House”
Warren Gamaliel Harding is known, with some justification, as one of our worst Presidents. “One aspect of the Harding administration that is not well known is his attitude about race. In the years after World War I, America was engulfed in race hatred. The Ku Klux Klan had a revival. “In a speech on October 26, 1921, given in segregated Birmingham, Alabama Harding advocated civil rights for African Americans; the first President to openly advocate black political, educational, and economic equality during the 20th century.” Mr. Harding supported an anti lynching bill, which a Democratic filibuster kept from passing.” (This 2012 quote is based on a wikipedia article, that has been edited.)
“Not only was Harding’s alleged membership in the KKK never mentioned in the contemporary records of anybody who knew him, his public opposition to anti-Catholic agitation and his vehement support for anti-lynching laws, make him seem like an unlikely recruit. In fact, the only evidence that Harding was a Klansman comes from the deathbed confession of a former Grand Wizard, who may have made the whole thing up to get even with Harding for the late President’s anti-racist public stance.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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