Your Racism
This is a repost from 2014, and the Mike Brown case. … Last night, in anticipation of the Grand Jury presentation, chamblee54 published Freedom Lies Bleeding. “grand jury renders opinion ~ national hissy fit begin again ~ when justice is popularity contest ~ freedom lies bleeding in street”
There was a comment. Anonymous said, on November 25, 2014 at 2:28 pm (Edit) “Thanks Luthor… you’re racism never disappoints!” The name was misspelled.
There is both style, and substance, to consider here. Is Freedom Lies Bleeding racist? Who knows? The definition of racism is growing, in carcinogenic fashion, as we speak. Some say it is systemic institutions of oppression. Some say it is jokes about toothpaste flavor. Maybe the best definition is that racism is anything that you do not like.
The poem was directed at the concept of mob rule. As President Obama said, “We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we have to accept this decision was the grand jury’s to make.”
A few years ago, O.J. Simpson was accused of murder. Many people thought he was guilty. After a long trial, he was found innocent. Should popular opinion have overruled the jury? No, it should not. The jury saw the evidence, and heard the arguments. The people can protest and debate, but they cannot take the place of a jury.
Is a dependence on a system of law and order racism? Anonymous seems to think so. Is they qualified to make this judgment? If racism is anything that you don’t like, then Anonymous is qualified to make the call. Maybe they knows something we don’t.
There is the style of the comment to consider. While Anonymous did not give their name, there was an I.P. address. The IPA is connected to a .edu server. Apparently, this is a workplace computer. Leaving insulting comments from your employer’s computer does not reflect well on the institution.
Anonymous is entitled to an opinion. However, leaving a name calling comment does not speak well for this individual. The six words say more about Anonymous than they do chamblee54. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The D-List
November 4, 2024 was the day before this year’s election from hell. It was also the first monday, which means Little 5 Poetry Bash. Last night saw five people in the audience. The emcee, the feature, the feature’s business manager, and two poets.
Manley Pointer was one of the supporting poets. With little new material, he sought refuge in the archive. The verses were divided into groups. Poems to be proud of. Poems of varying quality.
At the bottom of the barrel, The D-List reared its gnarly head. Doggerel that should be burned, but would release toxic fumes. Underground poems, that are so bad they need to be buried. Sonnets that would make the corpse of Willie Shakespeare weep. Iambs that would make the pentameter hide in shame. The D-List was the source that Manley Pointer chose this dark and stormy night.
Under Powerless Alienation (Acrostic)
morphodite democratic delusion · cracker employment asylum martyr
killer media self is an illusion · if you assume everyone is smarter
needle on fingers of an open grope · noodle protest against humidity
opiate the futility of hope · not smiling idiot stupidity
lilac never be dishonest weasel · under powerless alienation
testosterone altruistic people · hear affirmation find inebriation
eager starvation somnambulist · rocking and rolling materialist
Donald Trump Spam
little kim jong un of north korea · a disgusting lie unprofessional
radical islamic diarrhea · catastrophic and unacceptable
it could have been so easy now a mess · publicity seeking lindsey graham
famously got caught lying to congress · an authority on donald trump spam
crooked hillary clinton it was great · enthusiastic dynamic and fun
general pershing of the deep red state · will again be the best in world war one
dems would do are just wasting time · don’t believe fake news nursery rhyme
Devil Gooberhead #whyiwrite
having so much culture thrown at me · can’t sing dance or draw little rabbits
stay away from less healthy habits · novel that maybe two people will read
conversation with voices in my head · becoming socially acceptable
ignore a reality tv vegetable · possession by a devil gooberhead
no one listens to me when I speak · stun people with pretentious rhetoric
im not really good at anything freak · rant roast or a judgmental limerick
go listen to idiots having fun · bringing my nightmares to everyone
Am I Blonde Today #DeepThoughtsFromKimKardashian
why am i famous for just being me · did thesaurus live in jurassic park
when can i see through peoples clothes · what direction should i name my next kid
what does science have to do with math · why does that much dirt get left in a hole
someone told me orange is also a fruit · am i blonde today is this my moment
bad directions on a shampoo bottle · is indonesia a sleeping disorder
if cameras have a round lens model · why is the picture square with a border
if you never wear underwear neighbor · then you will never need toilet paper
Theme: The Court Case
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Nation Building is Back! Israel is breaking Middle East, US is lining up to rebuild it.
Record swath of storied Buckhead land acquired for new Atlanta park
Tommy Stinson on Bob Dylan, Prince, REM, Keith Richards, Tom Petty …
Variations on a Theme: The Court Case of Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie
Viral antisemitism victim has a history of loud public fights
Michael Liebmann passed away on July 26, 2016, due to complications from surgery.
Trumpism: Can’t Get Fooled Again Why EHC Endorses Kamala Harris to Safeguard …
Einstein didn’t say that: How viral misquotes evolve and replicate
There is a paywalled editorial at Haaretz. “If It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, It Probably Is”
Florida’s Out of Reach for Democrats. So Why Don’t They End the Embargo on Cuba?
Trump supporter who ‘never dreamed the FBI would show up’ after he lashed out …
libana · ia ia ia ia io · the earth · kris kristofferson · gaza flotilla
LiveJournal · southern fried filk · michael liebmann · Michael Liebamann · repost
michael liebmann · blood pressure · corporate square · point instruction · rev angel
calcification · roy cohn · aral sea · naomi whitehead · repost
k mart · jerry lewis · gsu · tommy stinson · 3910 randall mill road
b boyce/d cooper · emmylou · butt magazine · butt magazine · tom waits
joan armatrading · pentangle · trace · gsu · rhythm king
foid · let it bleed · laura nyro · 1001 albums · rail trail
fish bolt park · comorbisity · perpetrate · jre · haaretz
pet scan · griffin dunne · 1001 albums · dominick dunne · peach world
The Presidential election is exempt from the majority rule, that governs all other Georgia elections. There will be no runoff. It took a bit of digging to find this out. I called the Secretary of State office. After a few minutes on hold, while the nice lady asked people about this, I got my answer. · JD Vance is on Joe Rogan Experience today. I did a ctrl+f search, for Israel, on the transcript. The only result was a video from Glenn Greenwald, that youtube wanted me to watch. The headline: “Israel HUMILIATES The U.S. Again” · HIGHLIGHTS FROM 125 YEARS OF THE ATLANTIC Louise Desaulniers editor · Cemetery Blues · Yesterday I reposted an item where I went into a cemetery on National Dead Poet’s day and read a poem Out Loud by James Dickey and this afternoon after dealing with the medical insurance complex all week and in a general funk over the upcoming election and the killing party in Gaza and Lebanon and the and my own questionable health I decided to reread this book · I read out loud for a while and it started to seem silly so I quit that and I read the rest of it and you know maybe it’s maybe it’s just good I should have just left it as a legend but I was looking through the book by the Atlantic there’s several things I want to look up there’s a poem by Walt Whitman there’s a poem by w h r Den there’s several stories that might be fun to read so I’ll have to read that I’m always looking for something to read and so I guess but you know the good news is my foot doesn’t hurt I reason I started becoming afraid of walking was because I got these dizzy feet and I’d get too far I was worried that I get too far from the house and not be able to get back and so darn I mean my feet are feeling fine I’m going to go walk a little bit more go over by the railroad tracks see if there’s any train cars with graffiti on them and eventually I’ll just go back home and think about how maybe I should have gone up to the gym and maybe I shouldn’t maybe I’ll just be okay maybe I’m just fine being a degenerate for a while it’s something that I’m good at · I found a post from November 3, 2008. It was eighteen questions about current events. The answers may seem a bit dated in 2024. It is also a commentary about the distasteful custom of “unfriending” people. If you go to the three dots at the top of a post, you will see the options “unfollow” and “snooze.” Either of these is preferable to “unfriend” or, God forbid, “Block.” · pictures today are from The Library of Congress · selah
Eighteen Questions
Eighteen Questions was originally published November 3, 2008. It is a set of questions about popular topics. I copied 18Q off either facebook or LiveJournal. We will include answers from two people. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The late Michael Liebmann is the source of 18Q. Michael passed away July 26, 2016, due to complications from surgery. Unfortunately, we had been out of touch for a number of years. We had been facebook friends, and one day I discovered that Michael “unfriended” me. As is usually the case, I was not given a reason. I suspect that it was my non-support of Israel.
18Q was written in 2008, and many of the answers below are obsolete. I regret that Michael was not part of my life for six years before his passing. I recall Michael supporting Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara. This was a Turkish ship, carrying aid to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade. An American citizen, Furkan Dogan, was killed. The incident was in 2010. Michael unfriended me shortly afterwards. I have not been to Dim Sum since then. …
I sometimes do dim sum with a man named Michael Liebmann. He has a LiveJournal, under an alternative identity SFFilk. SFF goes to festivals, sets up a table, and sells CDs of folk music. (Warning: sketchy Geocities link.) Folk was misspelled as filk, leading to the handle Southern Fried Filk. SFF is the source of today’s questions. We will present both his answers, and Chamblee54’s reply. Many of the answers seem strange in 2024.
1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey? SFF Yes C54 Yes. I also have the toenails, eyebrows, and lumbar discs. Guts are overrated, and more plentiful as we move into middle age.
2. Would you do meth if it was legal? SFF No C54 No. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean you need to join the crowd. Voting Republican is legal.
3. Abortion: for or against it? SFF For C54 Like the lady said to the Pope, if you don’t play the game, then you don’t make the rules.
4. Do you think the world would fail with a female president? SFF There have been female presidents before, like Indira Gandhi. C54 It might, but would pass again soon. Fail and pass are part of the cycle, and should be accepted and embraced.
5. Do you believe in the death penalty? SFF Yes C54 As long as it is not too severe.
6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already? SFF Yes C54 That should have happened a hundred years ago. Reefer was legal a hundred years ago, and should have remained that way.
7. Are you for or against premarital sex? SFF For. I can’t get married, so any sex I have would be premarital. C54 See answer to question 3.
8. Do you believe in God? SFF Yes C54 This is not a believe kind of thing. I suspect that God does exist, although the semantics of the issue are sticky.
9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized? SFF Yes C54 Yes. However, lawyers and Professional Jesus worshippers should not be allowed to reproduce.
10. Do you think it’s wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA? SFF Yes. As the grandson of immigrants who came here legally, I don’t exactly tolerate the fact that so many people are coming here illegally. If they want to come, let them do so legally! C54 This is a toughie. My families have been here hundreds of years. This is getting into question 3 territory. If I were a poor Mexican, and the barriers to legal immigration were steep, I might have a different opinion.
11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
SFF I don’t know C54 It depends on where she finds it.
12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen? SFF I think it’s 18 here in Georgia. C54 It was 18 when I was a kid. I spent many a happy evening in bars. However, in the eighties, big brother federal government said to the states, if you want federal highway money, then you need to raise the drinking age to 21. In asphalt happy Georgia, that was a no brainer. To get back to the question, yes, the drinking age should be 18.
13. Should the war in Iraq be called off? SFF I’m not sure “called off” is the proper term. C54 We have dug ourselves a deep hole in Babylon. Even if we were to start to withdraw today, it would take a year or so to get everyone out. There is reason to believe that forces would attack our troops during this withdrawal, and that we would have to fight our way out. There is also the matter of the Sunni tribes that we are paying to help us fight foreign fighters. What will happen when we introduce these guys to the American concept of the layoff? It is a lot easier to start a war than it is to finish one. This is one reason I was opposed to the start of this one.
14. Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree? SFF I’m not sure. C54 Physician assisted suicide does seem to be illegal. As to whether it should be legalized … why does a person need help? Shouldn’t it be fairly simple to off yourself?
15. Do you believe in spanking your children?
SFF Yes, if they did wrong. C54 See answer to number 3.
16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars? SFF Considering the fact that the proper way to dispose of a worn flag is by burning it, C54 Flag burning was a non issue until 1989. Somebody took a case to the Supreme Court, and there was a ruling made. At that point, flag burning became a “hot” issue. This is similar to what is happening with Gay Marriage now. There is little grass roots support for same sex marriage, but a court ruling has forced the public to decide. While the media account execs in California are getting big commissions now, the rest of the population has been dragged into a divisive battle that few wanted. Maybe we should burn the Supreme Court instead.
17. Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama? SFF Honestly? Neither one. C54 What does honesty have to do with presidential elections?
18. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers? SFF Yes, but at least I’m being honest. C54 What does honesty have to do with the internet?
Cemetery Blues
The facebook friend said “Today is Dead Poets Remembrance Day, Oct. 7th, the day Edgar Allan Poe died. Be sure to visit a graveyard and read some poetry today”. I didn’t have anything better to do. This is a repost from 2010.
The first obstacle was finding a book of poetry. I am not a poetry person. A look at the shelf turned up a paperback, 125 Years of Atlantic. Poetry was to be found between those covers.
The book had two stickers, both saying 69 cents. At the old Book Nook, this meant that the book was half the price on the sticker. With tax, that would be 38 cents.
125 YOA had stayed in my car for a few years. Whenever I was stuck somewhere with time to kill, this book was waiting. One afternoon in 1998, there was a slow day at work. I read a remembrance by Gertrude Stein, about life in France at the start of World War II.
The cemetery of choice was connected to the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church. I have driven by this facility thousands of times. He walked past the graves until he found a fallen tree to sit down on.
The first poem was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. I began to read out loud, and soon could smell the drug store air of Wender and Roberts. The author bought fifty cents worth of gas at a Gulf station. Today, fifty cents might buy a tablespoon of gas. Gulf was long ago bought out by BP. Wender and Roberts became a bar, which was torn down.
Buckhead is not what it used to be. When Mr. Dickey was the bravest man in Buckhead (he took a shit in the toilet at Tyree’s pool hall), I was not even thought of. The traffic jams on Peachtree Street are still there, as the blue haired ladies follow poets into the ground.
When I finished reading Mr. Dickey, he put a teal postit in the book, where the poem stood. I looked up, and the graveyard seemed different. Maybe the sun had sank a bit in the sky, and maybe the poem had changed me in a way he could not put into words. Maybe another poem was the answer. Take the glasses off, open the book at random, and turn the pages until a poem shows up.
On page 404…the historic Atlanta area code…was “The Wartime Journey” by Jan Struther. The 1944 work was unknown territory. A group of people are traveling on a train. The wounded vet, the untried recruit, the salesmen shared the space with a lady, taking a baby for her soldier husband to meet. The theme of the rhymes was that America was totally at war, and that war is different from peacetime. Today’s war in Babylon is not like that.
Halfway through the reading, a freight train pulled by. Today, passenger trains are a novelty, and freight rules the rails. The shipment today was double decked containers, ready to pull off and slap on an eighteen wheeler. Just look at all that money.
Deaths are said to come in threes, and reading poetry in a graveyard should be the same. PG went on a random search for a Moe, to go with Curley and Larry. A page of poems by Emily Dickinson was the result. The page left me unmoved. It was as if I was back in the sixth grade, with a horrible English teacher forcing me to memorize Hiawatha. It was time to go home.
Winching The Dead
A recent post included the phrase “getting severely overweight dead people out of an apartment building.” Those are googling words. Most of the results are hand wringing about the number of overweight people. A couple of the results were worth clicking out.
The headline result is from Merry Olde England, which is becoming known as the fattest country in Europe. Fire service called in 50 times to winch fat people out.
“Paramedics in the West Midlands have had to call on their heavy-lifting emergency service colleagues, despite having extra equipment to help move extremely heavy patients themselves. Over a three-year period they called in West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service on 50 occasions, so the patients could be winched out with apparatus designed for lifting car wrecks. Sometimes morbidly obese patients, … can only be extracted from their homes after a window is taken out, say firefighters.
… Nick Harrison, chairman of the West Midlands Fire Brigades Union, said: “In most cases these people are quite elderly and are suffering from serious medical issues which have left them bedridden for a long time, and they have put on a lot of weight. “Many times we have to remove the whole window frame and get them out that way. It’s a lot safer both for them and for the rescuers.”
… Official statistics show the West Midlands to be the fattest region in Britain, which is itself the fattest major country in Europe. According to the Association of Public Health Observatories, about 25 per cent of adults in Britain are now clinically obese. In the West Midlands, the figure is 29 per cent. By comparison, across the European Union as a whole it is just 14 per cent. “
One of the commenters had a constructive suggestion: “The ‘feeders’ should be brought to court and punished. For every obese person there is one or more ‘feeders’, who shop, supply the food, help the person eat it etc. Being a ‘feeder’ should be a criminal offense.”
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
An Old Farmer’s Advice
Many of you have heard “An Old Farmer’s Advice”. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
“Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. Words that soak into your ears are whispered…not yelled. Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight. Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge. You cannot unsay a cruel word. Every path has a few puddles. When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty. The best sermons are lived, not preached. Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway. Don’t judge folks by their relatives. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time. Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin’ you none. Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance. If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’. The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’. Always drink upstream from the herd. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment. Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in. If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to G-d!”
No one knows who the old farmer is, or what he grew. Some say he really worked in an office writing ads for Massey Ferguson. Some say he had a bull farm, and believed in the product. In this age of industrial strength commodity wisdom, the first reaction of some is to look to google. In this case, you can go to a forum at Snopes. No one claims to be the grandson of the old farmer.
“My father in law is an old farmer. He’s given me some advice. It was more like: Don’t try to fix a broken porchlight in a rainstorm. corollary: Disconnect power to the sprinkler system before fiddling with the wiring. If you wear longer socks, the chiggers won’t bite you. Cool Whip makes everything taste better. Do whatever your mother in law says.”
quote: “A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.” ~ “Yeah, but you try getting a bumble bee to plow your fields. With the tiny little plows attached to their wings, it could take days.”
quote: “Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly…” ~ “And above all else, verb adverbly … There’s my problem, I’ve been living deeply, loving simply and speaking generously.”
quote: “Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.” ~ “I’m not sure of the lesson here…you should leave a bunch of tree stumps in your farm fields? But then you lose valuable real estate, the crops have to compete with the tree roots, and combine harvesting is significantly more dangerous. Maybe, if you take just a little time to remove the stump properly, it pays dividends and saves you time and energy in the long run. … But life is a lot cooler, and more productive if you go down to the general store, buy a few blasting caps, and blow that mother to kingdom come.”
“The sentiments aren’t too bad, but they missed “Now get orf moy laaand!” from the end…”
quote: “Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.” ~ “Oh, so I shouldn’t worry about not being able outrun a bumble bee on my John Deere tractor? Thanks.”
quote: Always drink upstream from the herd. ~ “But, unless your at the absolute source of the river, there’s always another herd further upstream.”
quote: The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’. ~ “I knew it. I knew that SOB had a camera in there. I’m going to the police.”
Kamala Will Be On
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Israel WEAK and TERRIFIED: Iran’s SUPERIOR Defenses Crush IDF w/ Ben Norton
Joe’s Thoughts on the Trump Podcast and If Kamala Will Be On
Grateful Dead Legend Phil Lesh Dies at 84: Cause of Death and Final Words Unveiled.
Records show Emory may have a claim to portion of Druid Hills High property
The Darryl Cooper Interview (AKA Martyrmade) Part I – Christianity, the Jews, …
Harold Bloom interview on “Jesus and Yahweh” (2005) Charlie Rose
Trump Cancels All His Events in Favor of One of the Worst People Ever
Harold Bloom interview on “Jesus and Yahweh” (2005) with Charlie Rose
Glenn & John Throw Down over Ta-Nehisi Coates | Glenn Loury & John McWhorter
Harold Bloom on Why Contemporary Poetry Sucks (Full) Hint: Modern Poems Are Bad …
S8E40: From the Hip with Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
American Psycho Author Bret Easton Ellis’ Boyfriend Arrested, Charged with Trespassing
nolan plantation · roy cohn · howard stern · jd vance · dresden drive
donnie trump · comorbisity · perpetrate · phil lesh · blue plastic cowboy
five o’clock somewhere · jbl tune buds · gary indiana · gsu · sting
JBL Live Free 2 · jbl tune flex · 4409 bradley dr · ray · risk
select shorts · true crime garage · up vanished · the daily · reflector · fiction
escapepod · pjvogt · mind killer · mind killer · chudai · Myocardial ischemia
GGACP presents Frank DeCaro … discusses his book, “Drag: Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business.” Also in this episode: Tommy Velour! “Jethrine” Bodine! The artistry of Charles Pierce! The other side of Flip Wilson! Uncle Miltie’s “meaty tuck”! And Herman Munster becomes a cocktail waitress! · gsu · This is a repost from 2013. · This is a repost. · reruns are an important part of publishing a blog. When you are too lazy to produce new material, you pull something out of the archive. Today we have a book report, of a @tomboyle book about Tim Leary. · There is a trending topic, #IDFfoodies. If you look at it, you will see tweets that say “Tumbuh Bersama Membangun Ketahanan Pangan Indonesia!” … “Growing Together to Build Indonesia’s Food Security!” · Ben Franklin wrote a letter in 1755, supporting the right of the Colonial government to assess taxes. Today, that quote is used by tax-hating conservatives. @QuoteResearch · there is a thread on reddit. “Do you think the jews in israel might be possibly more evil than the regular german civilian in 1940?” The Germany did not publicly defend what they were doing to the Jews. Israel defends and excuses what they are doing in Gaza and Lebanon, and blames it on the people they are slaughtering. · This is a repost from 2013. On June 10, 2018, Briarcliff United Methodist Church Briarcliff United Methodist Church held its final Sunday service. The building is currently used by The Globe Academy. … · “I read the book I urge people to read the book we’re gonna sell the book here whether you like it or not.” · “you know what’s funny you need at least the attitude of a comedian when you’re doing this business” · pictures today are from The Library of Congress · selah
DJT On JRE
Donald John Trump’s appearance on Joe Rogan Experience premiered while I was watching The Glenn Show, featuring John Hamilton McWhorter. I am a longtime fan of Glenn & John, even if I am bored by the inevitable race-talk. This weeks episode was especially galling, with JHM offering pro-Israel arguments that made no sense.
JHM’s anger was directed at The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. I have not read TM, despite the best efforts of JHM, and his fellow travelers. Finally, Glenn Cartman Loury made a comment that forced me to take notes: “I read the book. I urge people to read the book. We’re gonna sell the book here whether you like it or not.”
I was going to write a tweet about the clip, and I decided to illustrate it with an edited screenshot. While I was working on this, I started to listen to DJT. Some people have a life on Saturday afternoon.
DJT has been the target of enormous amounts of hate over the last nine years. Lately, this negativity provokes the opposite effect with me. (This should not be confused with support for DJT.) The Trump-bashing comes across as politically motivated projection. The tortured logic, the lies, the hypocrisy, the lies, the flaky prosecutions, the lies … it is getting very old. The problem here is with the haters, and not the hated. Preaching to the choir has its limits.
There is no shortage of negative things you can say about DJT. Unfortunately, crookedness and incompetence do not have the power to incite hatred as “racist.” America’s political discourse is being poisoned by this cynical appeal to prejudice by Democrats. When the rhetoric shifts to “If you vote for Donald Trump, then you are a racist.” … then you are pitting American against American. All of this divisive rhetoric is so we can elect a different AIPAC-owned politician.
The Washington Post is in the news today, because they are not endorsing a candidate. In 2016, WAPO spread the ridiculous story that the KKK endorsed DJT. WAPO shamelessly trashed DJT, on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Maybe not endorsing a candidate will do less damage.
The DJT/JRE conversation was not that interesting. I listened to about an hour, until I got tired of the obvious lies. This incontinent bullshitter is just as boring as his haters. DJT did say one noteworthy thing about politics: “You know what’s funny. You need at least the attitude of a comedian when you’re doing this business.”
The election is November 5, which is not a minute too soon. DJT has numerous flaws. Unfortunately, Kamala Devi Harris may be worse. Both DJT and KDM support Israel’s reign of terror against Gaza and Lebanon. I am going to vote my secret ballot, and hope for the best.
The Church Sign
This is a repost from 2013. On June 10, 2018, Briarcliff United Methodist Church held its final Sunday service. The building is currently used by The Globe Academy. Traffic on Briarcliff Road never changes. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Religion is very personal. When you have a miserable experience with Jesus, it will not go away because of glib expressions of “faith.” When you put a sign by the road, you don’t know who is going to see it. You don’t know how they are going to be feeling.
I was driving to dinner one night, when I drove by Briarcliff United Methodist Church. The facility is on a busy road. They have a sign in front, with a message that changes from time to time. This night, I was in a bad mood. I was thinking about people who have humiliated me for Jesus. The sign in front of BUMC said “When was the last time you prayed?”
The concept of prayer is collateral damage in my struggle with Jesus. As I became alienated from Jesus, the idea of a person talking to God appeared selfish and self aggrandizing. There is something about having an angry bully for Jesus snarling “I’m going to pray for you brother” that makes the concept of prayer repulsive.
There is another thing to consider here. Pushy Christians assume that they have the right to grill you about a sensitive personal issue. The idea of saying this to passing motorists is incredibly disrespectful. It is none of your business if I pray.
I looked up BUMC on the internet when I got home. They have a modern website. The top tab on the menu said “Prayer Requests.” This is for people who want someone to pray for them. Maybe you can leave a prayer non-request. Ask them to respect discomfort with their religion, and don’t put intrusive messages by the roadside.
Further down on the website is an email address (church@briarcliffumc.com.) While not expecting a miracle, I decided to send them an email. Here is the text of that message.
You have a message board in front of your church. The message when I went by was “When was the last time you prayed?” I was offended by this message.
I have had a tough time with religion. I have been humiliated many, many times because of Jesus. I have heard about your scheme for life after death thousands of times, and simply do not agree with it. An intrusive roadway sign is not going to change my mind.
My belief is that my opinions about God are none of your business. If I trust you, then we can have a discussion. Having a rude sign by the road side is not going to help me trust you.
Even though it is none of your business, I am going to answer your question. Even though I was talking to God, and not to you, I am going to repeat what I said. “God please help these people to have respect for their neighbor, and take that awful sign down”.
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