The Obama Doctrine
This is a repost from 2016. There is a novella in the current issue of The Atlantic, The Obama Doctrine. It is written by Jeffrey Goldberg. The pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
“Obama would say privately that the first task of an American president in the post-Bush international arena was “Don’t do stupid shit.” Obama’s reticence frustrated Power and others on his national-security team who had a preference for action. Hillary Clinton, when she was Obama’s secretary of state, argued for an early and assertive response to Assad’s violence. In 2014, after she left office, Clinton told me that “the failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad … left a big vacuum, which the jihadist have now filled.” When The Atlantic published this statement, and also published Clinton’s assessment that “great nations need organizing principles, and‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” Obama became “rip-shit angry,” according to one of his senior advisers. The president did not understand how “Don’t do stupid shit” could be considered a controversial slogan. Ben Rhodes recalls that “the questions we were asking in the White House were ‘Who exactly is in the stupid-shit caucus? Who is pro–stupid shit?” The Iraq invasion, Obama believed, should have taught Democratic interventionists like Clinton, who had voted for its authorization, the dangers of doing stupid shit.”
TOD has two parts. The first section is devoted to a decision not to bomb Syria. The second part is the result of a series of interviews that Mr. Goldberg conducted with President Obama. Apparently, bombing Syria would have been stupid shit. Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bowdlerized this mantra. Apparently this is the job of the Secretary of State… to turn shit into stuff.
“Obama was also unsettled by a surprise visit early in the week from James Clapper, his director of national intelligence, who interrupted the President’s Daily Brief, the threat report Obama receives each morning from Clapper’s analysts, to make clear that the intelligence on Syria’s use of sarin gas, while robust, was not a “slam dunk.” He chose the term carefully. Clapper, the chief of an intelligence community traumatized by its failures in the run-up to the Iraq War, was not going to overpromise, in the manner of the onetime CIA director George Tenet, who famously guaranteed George W. Bush a “slam dunk” in Iraq.”
Syria had long been ruled by the Assad family. They are not nice people. The people of Syria wanted regime change. The Assads responded by killing lots of people. There was much hand wringing in the west about this. President Obama said that it would be a “red line” if chemical weapons were used. Then, reports of WMD use came in. The President needed to do something.
“He and McDonough stayed outside for an hour. Obama told him he was worried that Assad would place civilians as “human shields” around obvious targets. He also pointed out an underlying flaw in the proposed strike: U.S. missiles would not be fired at chemical-weapons depots, for fear of sending plumes of poison into the air. A strike would target military units that had delivered these weapons, but not the weapons themselves.”
Chemical weapons do not respect borders. If poison gas is released into the air, it will go wherever it wants to go. This includes Syria’s next door neighbor Israel. The role of Israel is the Syrian troubles is kept quiet. It is known that when the Muslims are fighting each other, they are not fighting Israel. This concept kept the Iran-Iraq was going for eight bloody years.
“Ninety minutes later, at the White House, Obama reinforced Kerry’s message in a public statement: “It’s important for us to recognize that when over 1,000 people are killed, including hundreds of innocent children, through the use of a weapon that 98 or 99 percent of humanity says should not be used even in war, and there is no action, then we’re sending a signal that that international norm doesn’t mean much. And that is a danger to our national security.”
In this statement, the President was talking about Syria. He could have meant any number of conflicts. Children in Gaza are killed by Israeli cluster bombs. Children in Africa are killed, often by other children, in dozens of wars and guerrilla conflicts. Children in American cities are killed by handguns. It goes on and on.
“I have come to believe that, in Obama’s mind, August 30, 2013, was his liberation day, the day he defied not only the foreign-policy establishment and its cruise-missile playbook, but also the demands of America’s frustrating, high-maintenance allies in the Middle East”
For years it has been a mantra that Israel is the only ally of the United States in the middle east. Of course this is nonsense, as anyone driving a car powered by Arab oil products should know. For Jeffrey Goldberg to acknowledge this may be the most startling thing in this feature.
But not the last. The article goes on, and on, and on. It is full of overblown talk like this: “Obama said that to achieve this rebalancing, the U.S. had to absorb the diatribes and insults of superannuated Castro manqués.” TOD reads like a Rorschach test. Those who admire the President will find confirmation for their opinions. Those who dislike Obama will also see much they agree with. It is a good question what Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton see.
Inventing The Word Racism
Writers tackle was rampaging through Brookhaven. PG looked in a list of old product, and found a feature built on the output of Teju Cole. He has a dandy article, at the New Yorker, about what is antiseptically called drone warfare. It is the twitter feed that gets attention. This is a repost.
@tejucole “George Carlin’s original seven dirty words can all be said freely now. The one word you can’t say, and must never print, is “racist.”
The quote marks lend mystery to the tweet. Does he mean the dreaded “n word”? Or does he mean that other six letter slur? There is no shortage of people screaming racist in Georgia, often at the slightest provocation. There is an attitude that racism is the worst thing you can be accused of. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. If you do a bit of research into racism, the word, you will see some interesting things.
The concept of populations not getting along is as old as mankind. The word racism apparently did not exist before 1933 (merriam webster), or 1936 (dictionary dot com). (In 2020, both of these sources have updated their notes, on the original use of the word “racism.”)
Something called the Vanguard News Network had a forum once, What is the true origin of the term racism? This forum is problematic, as VNN seems to be a white supremacist affair. One of the reputed coiners of the R word was Leon Trotsky, also referred to as Jew Communist. Another Non English speaker who is given “credit” for originating the phrase is Magnus Hirschfeld. As for English, the word here is: “American author Lawrence Dennis was the first to use the word, in English, in his 1936 book “The coming American fascism”.”
The terms racist and racism seem to be used interchangeably in these discussions. This is in keeping with the modern discussion. As Jesus worshipers like to say, hate the sin, love the sinner.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has this to add: “racist 1932 as a noun, 1938 as an adjective, from race (n.2); racism is first attested 1936 (from French racisme, 1935), originally in the context of Nazi theories. But they replaced earlier words, racialism (1871) and racialist (1917), both often used early 20c. in a British or South African context. In the U.S., race hatred, race prejudice had been used, and, especially in 19c. political contexts, negrophobia.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Part two is now available.
Last week this blog ran a story about the word racism. The story stated that the earliest use of the r-word was 1932. A comment led to The Ugly, Fascinating History Of The Word ‘Racism.’ Apparently, Col. Richard Henry Pratt used the word in 1902.
“The Oxford English Dictionary’s first recorded utterance of the word racism was by a man named Richard Henry Pratt in 1902. “Segregating any class or race of people apart from the rest of the people kills the progress of the segregated people or makes their growth very slow. Association of races and classes is necessary to destroy racism and classism.” Col. Pratt was speaking at the Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the American Indian.
It is always good to check out the context. Col. Pratt spoke at the Fourth session, Thursday Night, October 23, 1902. The event was well documented. There are some other noteworthy quotes.
“We have brought into our national life nearly forty times as many negroes as there are Indians in the United States. They are not all together citizen and equal yet, but they are with us and of us; distributed among us, coming in contact with us constantly, they have lost their many languages and their old life, and have accepted our language and our life and become a valuable part of our industrial forces.” The text capitalizes Indian, and presents Negro in lower case.
“It is the greatest possible wrong to prolong their Indianism, whether we do it for humanitarian or so-called scientific reasons. … The ethnologists prefer the Indian kept in his original paint and feathers, and as part and parcel of every exposition on that line. … It will be a happy day for the Indians when their ethnological value is of no greater importance than that of the negro and other races which go to make up our population.”
Col. Pratt “is best known as the founder and longtime superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, PA.” While progressive for the times, many of the school’s policies were harsh.
“He pushed for the total erasure of Native cultures among his students. … The students’ native tongues were strictly forbidden — a rule that was enforced through beating. Since they were rounded up from different tribes, the only way they could communicate with each other at the schools was in English. … “In Indian civilization I am a Baptist,” Pratt once told a convention of Baptist ministers, “because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.” … Pratt also saw to it that his charges were Christianized. Carlisle students had to attend church each Sunday, although he allowed each student to choose the denomination to which she would belong.” Carlisle closed in 1918.
“In 1875, Captain Richard Pratt escorted 72 Indian warriors suspected of murdering white settlers to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, FL. Once there, Pratt began an ambitious experiment which involved teaching the Indians to read and write English, putting them in uniforms and drilling them like soldiers. … News of Pratt’s experiment spread. With the blessing of Congress, Pratt expanded his program by establishing the Carlisle School for Indian Students to continue his “civilizing” mission. Although liberal policy for the times, Pratt’s school was a form of cultural genocide. The schools continued into the ’30s until administrators saw that the promised opportunities for Indian students would not materialize, theat they would not become “imitation white men.”
“Beginning in 1887, the federal government attempted to “Americanize” Native Americans, largely through the education of Native youth. By 1900 thousands of Native Americans were studying at almost 150 boarding schools around the United States. The U.S. Training and Industrial School, founded in 1879 at Carlisle Barracks, was the model for most of these schools. Boarding schools like Carlisle provided vocational and manual training and sought to systematically strip away tribal culture. They insisted that students drop their Indian names, forbade the speaking of native languages, and cut off their long hair.” As Col. Pratt said at the LMCFAI, “I also endorse the Commissioner’s short hair order. It is good because it disturbs old savage conditions.”
Col. Pratt was known for saying “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man” He probably meant that you should destroy the native culture, so the man inside could flourish. It is easy to misunderstand this type of rhetoric. The source of this phrase: “Official Report of the Nineteenth Annual Conference of Charities and Correction (1892), 46–59. Reprinted in Richard H. Pratt, “The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites,” Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the “Friends of the Indian” 1880–1900 (Harvard University Press, 1973), 260–271.” There are some tasteful quotes.
“Inscrutable are the ways of Providence. Horrible as were the experiences of its introduction, and of slavery itself, there was concealed in them the greatest blessing that ever came to the Negro race—seven millions of blacks from cannibalism in darkest Africa to citizenship in free and enlightened America; not full, not complete citizenship, but possible—probable—citizenship.” Col. Pratt used African Americans as an example of how to assimilate Native Americans.
“The five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory—Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles—have had tribal schools until it is asserted that they are civilized; yet they have no notion of joining us and becoming a part of the United States. Their whole disposition is to prey upon and hatch up claims against the government, and have the same lands purchased and repurchased and purchased again, to meet the recurring wants growing out of their neglect and inability to make use of their large and rich estate.”
The best known student at the Carlisle School was Jim Thorpe, coached by Pop Warner. Wa-thohuck was born May 28, 1888, near Prague OK, into the Sauk and Fox Nation. He won gold medals in the pentathlon, and decathlon, at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. It later came out that he had been paid to play semi-pro baseball, and was not an amateur. The gold medals had to be forfeited. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Mr. Eno And Mr. Isherwood
I was listening to a conversation between Brian Eno and Rick Rubin. Mr. Eno made a comment that sent me down a google rabbit hole, looking for a digital holy grail. When I did not find what I was looking for, I returned to the conversation. Before long, Mr. Eno said something very similar.
“I’d heard something on NPR. It was a poet, a black poet from somewhere in America, reading this poem called Cadillac. I spent years trying to find this thing. I never found it. I wrote to NPR, and I phoned them up, and everything. It was called Pink Cadillac … this amazing, very rhythmic poem, about how he wanted a Pink Cadillac.” This quote got me thinking about another detail.
There are bits of knowledge that want to remain hidden. One is from Christopher Isherwood. It was in a magazine, sometime before 1994. The author died in 1986. The comment was about when you choose a religion. It is not the doctrine that attracts you to a religion, it is the people who introduce you to this observance. If the right person had told Mr. Isherwood about Catholicism, he would have become a Catholic. Instead, in 1938, Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard introduced Mr. Isherwood to Swami Prabhavananda, and the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
“He (Isherwood) published an account of his spiritual journey at the end of his life, called My Guru and His Disciple.… It’s interesting because it’s so frank and unromantic about the spiritual life. Where Alan Watts basically bullshitted his way to guru status while secretly being an alcoholic and treating his wives like crap, Isherwood is totally upfront about his boredom, his frustration, his vanity, his sexual escapades … he gave us a wonderfully unvarnished account of spiritual mediocrity. As Pema Chodron says, we spend most of our spiritual lives in the middle – not completely lost, yet not completely saved. Just muddling through.”
I did not find the quote I was looking for, but I did find another piece to the puzzle. I went back to Mr. Eno and Mr. Rubin. Then, out of nowhere, came this: “I think that’s the that’s the power of religion as well. The power of religion is not the connection with God, but the connection with the rest of the congregation. The connection with all of the people who also believe in that particular story. I’m not really religious myself but i really respond to that idea.”
“I don’t want to be a believer. I want to be somebody who, as far as possible, understands and knows things. Believing things leaves me a little bit unsatisfied. If I find myself believing something, I want to test the belief. I want to say how do I find out how valid this is.”
“I always used to say that artists are either cowboys or farmers really and they’re both both ways of being an artist are fine you know the farmer wants to find a piece of territory and fully explore it and exploit it … the other kind of artist is the one who just wants to find somewhere new he just wants to find the neck the next frontier the next piece of territory and that’s what he gets turned on by so i i think i’m more in the second category though people listening to my work would say but it all sounds exactly the same brian.”
If you want more, you can listen to the complete interview, or other episodes of Broken Record. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Enjoying Native Mayonaisse
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family yo folks cozy kitchen enjoying native mayonaisse
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Does a George Floyd Quackumentary Deserve to be Treated Like Valid Journalism? ~ What, exactly, does this “tremendous amount of context” change when appraising the jury’s conclusion that Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes and that this is what killed him? ~ presidential candidates are because why on Earth there would be two candidates one of whom has cognitive problems and the other of whom has judgment problems um these are the two biggest issues with ~ this is the last monday morning for this winter. Marion Post Wolcott took the photograph in January 1941. “Billboards on side of building. New Orleans, Louisiana” ~ X marks the spot. It is rare that I get to be the first comment. The fact that I have not heard the White Whale episode should not stop me. Is White Whale Whiteness problematic? ~ So, I downloaded the episode, and finished with some chores. It is time to listen. BAR is an essential part of my monday morning, even if it usually means monday afternoon. At 10:22, I pause the show. This is turning into a TERF hen party, with Katee and Helen clucking away about something of no consequence whatsoever. I will be back, but I wish these two fine ladies would talk about internet nonsense, without creating their own. ~ Not to worry. I go X-ploring, and find a tasteful tweet from Jesse. It includes an image of mayonaisse people. The caption yields a haiku reduction: family yo folks cozy kitchen enjoying native mayonaisse ~ Loudon Wainwright III is not only alive, he has a show in London Friday night. A link to buy tickets is in the post. The picture is a Colonial grocery store. The building later became the Texas Tea Room, and a discount mattress outlet. ~ This is a repost from 2010. Mr. Wainwright has a show in London friday night. He recently made a short film about the Monsters he enjoyed as a young man. ~ “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not an online gambling operator or gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.” ~ Knock knock. who’s there? boo. boo who?. Don’t cry it’s only a joke… Two pretzels were walking down the street. one was a salted. “Raise your hand if you’re here.” Two nuns walk into a bar; the third one ducks. What did the ranch say to the refrigerator door? “Close the door, I’m dressing” ~ @HelenHall744943 Caution: This account is temporarily restricted You’re seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account. Do you still want to view it? ~ This is a repost from 2018. Between October 8, 2017, and April 30, 2018, I documented officer related killings in the United States. There were 645 incidents in this time. The report reposted today looks at 35. For all the furor over publicized cases, very few people are interested in the details of most killings. … ~ this is a repost from 2018. Between October 8, 2017, and April 30, 2018, I documented officer related killings in the United States. There were 645 incidents in this time. The report reposted today looks at 35. For all the furor over publicized cases, very few people are interested in the details of most killings ~ @jonkay thinks that an event, “Hunger as a weapon of war: The starvation of Gaza,” is “solidarity’ with hamas” ~ the state of Georgia executed Willie James Pye Wednesday night. Mr. Pye was convicted of the 1993 murder of his former girlfriend Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. It was the first execution in Georgia since 2020. ~ I am listening to this, between the technical glitches. It is making me think, which I do not always appreciate. I am working on a project while I listen. I am into a boring, easily distracted phase of this, where the struggle is to stay focused on the task at hand. 1/x This is a metaphor for what you are talking about. People have a lot of necessary drudgery in their lives. Many other people feel that they gain power by distracting them, cynically knowing that there is nothing that the string pullers can do to solve the puppets problems 2/x ~ So I was corresponding with a man from doublelist. we played message tag, and i gave him my number. he sent a text, which i replied to. a few days later, he says he never got my text. i sent one, as a reply to the one he sent me, and he says he never got it. so he asks what i am doing today. then he says to come over in a little while. I get cleaned up, and ready to leave. he sends a message saying this is taking too long, and he doesn’t have much time . this is where the dialog ends ~ A writer went to a mobile home in Hudson FL. He talked to Marie Rudisill, who was best known as Truman Capote’s “Aunt Tiny.” Ms. Rudisill became famous as The Fruitcake Lady, before going to the bakery in the sky November 3, 2006. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress “Grinding coffee. General store, Lamoille, Iowa” Arthur Rothstein took the pictures in October 1939. “In the Triple-B Association each cow’s milk is tested every two months. The results are kept in a record book. In this way the farmer can accurately judge the producing value of each cow, weed out the poorest ones and breed the best. Black Hawk County, Iowa” ~ selah
The Fruitcake Lady
I wasn’t really doing anything, and was in the mood for a google wild goose chase. This led to an amazing article, Sweet as Sugar, Rude as Hell, My Lost Interview with Truman Capote’s Aunt. A writer for the fishwrapper went to a mobile home in Hudson, FL. He talked to Marie Rudisill, who was best known as Truman Capote’s “Aunt Tiny.” The meeting took place in 1997, and was not what the writer expected. A family friendly version of the meeting was published The journalist received a slice of fruitcake in the mail. Everyone concerned went on with their lives.
Marie Rudisill died November 3, 2006, after becoming famous as the Fruitcake Lady. As for the journalist: “When I left The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2009, I stashed 27 years of old newspapers, tapes and ephemera in my garage. Nothing is more depressing to me than those boxes of old newspapers. It’s my own private morgue — replete with the sickening scent of dust and roach pills…. When I finally mustered the courage to dig around, I found the Lewis interviews — as well as a cache of other recordings. Three of the tapes had Rudisill’s name scribbled on them. I was not quite ready to listen, though. I put them in a box and labeled it.”
In 1924, Truman Streckfus Persons was born in New Orleans LA. His mother, Lillie Mae (Aunt Tiny’s older sister) left her husband behind, and took the boy to Monroeville AL. They lived in a wild household. A neighbor was Harper Lee, who wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Miss Lee was a close friend, as was Sook. This is Truman’s cousin, the fruitcake chef herone of “A Christmas Memory.”
After a while, Lillie Mae married Joe Capote, who adopted the boy. They moved to New York, where Aunt Tiny joined them. Truman was sent to military school. Everyone, except Lillie Mae, thought this was a terrible idea. The effort to butch up young Truman did not work.
Aunt Tiny wrote a book, Truman Capote: The Story of His Bizarre and Exotic Boyhood by an Aunt Who Helped Raise Him. It was published in 1983, a year before Truman died. “The book scandalized Monroeville — and Capote. He told The Washington Post: “If there are 20 words of truth in it, I will go up on a cross to save humanity.” Said Harper Lee: “I have never seen so many misstatements of fact per sentence as in that book.”
There is one story that sticks out…. “Rudisill breaks down just once during our interview. It’s when she recalls “the first time Truman ever had a sexual encounter with a priest.” She was living in Greenwich Village, having followed Lillie Mae and Truman to New York. “He was sitting on my doorstep when I came home from work, and he had blood all in his pants, and then he told me about this priest. And nobody, I don’t think anybody in the world ever knew that but me.”
There is more to the story. If you have the time, you might enjoy reading the full article. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Willie James Pye
The State of Georgia executed Willie James Pye Wednesday night. He was convicted of the 1993 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. Here is how the state describes the incident.
“Pye had been in a sporadic romantic relationship with the victim, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, but, at the time of her murder, Ms. Yarbrough was living with another man, Charles Puckett. Pye and two companions, Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman, planned to rob Puckett because Pye had heard that Puckett had just collected money from the settlement of a lawsuit. Pye was also angry because Puckett had signed the birth certificate of a child whom Pye claimed as his own.”
“On November 16, 1993, the three men drove to Griffin in Adams’ car and, in a street transaction, Pye bought a large, distinctive .22 pistol. They then went to a party where a witness observed Pye in possession of the large .22. Just before midnight, the three left the party and drove toward Puckett’s house. As they were leaving, a witness heard Pye say, “it’s time, let’s do it.” All of the men put on the ski masks which Pye had brought with him, and Pye and Adams also put on gloves.”
“They approached Puckett’s house on foot and observed that only Ms. Yarbrough and her baby were home. Pye tried to open a window and Ms. Yarbrough saw him and screamed. Pye ran around to the front door, kicked it in, and held Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. After determining that there was no money in the house, they took a ring and a necklace from Ms. Yarbrough and abducted her, leaving the infant in the house. The men drove to a nearby motel where Pye rented a room using an alias. In the motel room, the three men took turns raping Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. Pye was angry with Ms. Yarbrough and said, “You let Puckett sign my baby’s birth certificate.”
“After attempting to eliminate their fingerprints from the motel room, the three men and Ms. Yarbrough left in Adams’ car. Pye whispered in Adams’ ear and Adams turned off onto a dirt road. Pye then ordered Ms. Yarbrough out of the car, made her lie face down, and shot her three times, killing her. As they were driving away, Pye tossed the gloves, masks, and the large .22 from the car. The police later recovered these items and found the victim’s body only a few hours after she was killed. A hair found on one of the masks was consistent with the victim’s hair, and a ballistics expert determined that there was a 90 percent probability that a bullet found in the victim’s body had been fired by the .22. Semen was found in the victim’s body and DNA taken from the semen matched Pye’s DNA. When Pye talked to the police later that day, he stated that he had not seen the victim in at least two weeks. However, Freeman confessed and later testified for the State.”
FindLaw suggests another narrative. “The deputy who first discovered the victim’s body testified that she recognized the victim. Pye asked the deputy how she knew the victim, but the State objected that Pye was attempting to introduce the victim’s irrelevant cocaine use. The trial court twice ruled that Pye could not introduce evidence of the victim’s cocaine habit until he had shown it to be relevant. When the trial court made these rulings, there had been no evidence that the victim’s use of drugs played any part in her death. Later, however, Pye testified that he rented the motel room to sell drugs, that Adams and Freeman showed up with the victim, and that the victim willingly traded sex for crack cocaine and left with Adams and Freeman. Pye contends that the trial court erroneously refused to allow him to corroborate his subsequent testimony by presenting evidence of the victim’s cocaine habit and of her willingness to trade sex for cocaine.”
The clemency application has more details. (Defense Attorney Johnny B.) “Mostiler failed to marshal key evidence in the guilt phase, too. The testimony of Mr. Pye’s juvenile codefendant is the only evidence supporting some of the most aggravated aspects of the tragic crime: Alicia Yarbrough’s abduction and rape. But Mr. Mostiler failed to present key evidence undermining that testimony. Alicia Yarbrough’s neighbor and close friend reported that on the evening of her death, Ms. Yarbrough used her phone to call a motel and asked to be picked up by the occupants of the motel room. … This was consistent with Ms. Yarbrough’s usual practice of waiting until her new boyfriend, Charles Puckett, left home, then leaving to spend time with Mr. Pye in the motel room from which he sold drugs. Jurors did not hear this testimony. This evidence—together with the autopsy report showing that the victim had cocaine in her system at the time of her death—would have supported Mr. Pye’s testimony that the victim came to his motel room to use drugs and have consensual sex.”
The clemency application makes several more points. Mr. Pye was intellectually disabled, with an IQ measured at 68. A possible factor here is alcohol use by his mother in pregnancy, and throughout Mr. Pye’s childhood. The clemency application has a detailed report on the horrific conditions Mr. Pye grew up in, starting on page 14.
There were other problems with his counsel at trial. “Mr. Pye was represented by the contract public defender for Spalding County, Johnny B. Mostiler … notorious … as the archetype of the “meet ‘em, greet ‘em, plead ‘em” public defender. He obtained his role as the public defender through a contract with the county. Under the contract, he was paid a lump sum—$345,00 in 1996, the year of Mr. Pye’s trial—and in turn was responsible for providing all indigent defense services for the entire county. Mr. Mostiler subcontracted out the misdemeanor and juvenile cases but retained all felony cases, and handled those with the assistance of just one associate attorney and one investigator.”
On page 26 of the clemency application, there is a discussion of Mr. Mostiler’s racial attitudes. There are hearsay accounts of him using the six letter word. Johnny Baxter Mostiler died April 1, 2000.
For his last meal, “Pye requested a last meal of two chicken sandwiches, two cheeseburgers, french fries, two bags of plain potato chips and two lemon-lime sodas.” Mr. Pye died at 11:03 pm, March 20, 2024. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
Killed By Police March 11
This is a repost from 2018. Between October 8, 2017, and April 30, 2018, I documented officer related killings in the United States. There were 645 incidents in this time. The report reposted today looks at 35. For all the furor over publicized cases, very few people are interested in the details of most killings. … 35 people were Killed By Police in the United States last week. Here are the links: James E. Waters Steven Dalton 203 Nicholas D. O’Brien 204 Erik Dunham 205 Christopher Race 206 Stephen Hudak 207 208 Jose Gomez Burgos 209 Joel Jacobo 210 Robert George 211 Marvin Ray McMillian 212 213 Michael McEntee 214 Amanda Alvarez 215 216 Brandon Kuhlman 217 Ryan L. Smith 219 David Willoughby 220 William Simon 221 Robert Lewis Yates 222 223 Michael Kline 224 Michael R. Reynolds 225 Steven Peters 226 Jesus Delgado 227 Victor Ancira 228 Troy Louis Risinger 229 230 231 232 Dwight Heckman 233 Alkeeta Allena Walker 234 235 David Gardea 236
13 of the victims were white. (204, 205, 206, 216, 217, 219, 221, S. Dalton, 223, 224, 228, 229, 233) 3 of the victims were black. (211, 220, J. Waters) 5 of the victims were latino. (209, 214, 226, 227, 235) 2 of the victims were native american. (222, 232) The race of 12 of the victims is unknown. (203, 207, 208, 210, 212, 213, 215, 225, 230, 231, 234, 236) 2 of the victims were female (214, 233)
13 of the victims fired at an officer. (206, 211, 213, 215, 216, 221, S. Dalton, 224, 226, J. Waters, 230, 232, 235) 16 of the victims displayed a weapon. (204, 205, 207, 208, 209, 217, 219, 220, 222, 225, 227, 228, 229, 233, 234, 236) 4 of the victims were suicidal (207, 217, 227, 234) A taser was used on 4 victims (S. Dalton, 225, 227, 233) 3 of the victims died without a shot being fired. (203, 210, 212)
Officer Christopher Ryan Morton was killed in Clinton, Missouri, on March 6. “The Missouri Highway Patrol has identified the Clinton Police Officer killed in the line of duty last night as 30-year-old Officer Christopher Ryan Morton … Sgt. Bill Lowe, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, provided an update: “At approximately 9:20 this evening, the Clinton County 911 center received a 911 call from a residence. There were two women screaming in the background … they (the call center) notified Clinton police department and they had officers respond to that residence.” When the three officers arrived, says Lowe, the suspect opened fire from inside the residence. “They (the officers) ended up going inside the residence in an attempt to apprehend the suspect. At that point in time, the suspect shot and killed one of the Clinton police officers and wounded two other officers,” he says. The suspect was still in the residence. According to Lowe, the Troop A SWAT team came up with a plan. “At approximately ten after midnight,” he says, “the Troop A SWAT Team entered the residence and found the suspect deceased.” It’s unclear how the suspect died.” “Clinton Police Officer Ryan Morton was killed Tuesday night while responding to the street address he was told to go to — but the dispatch center had mistakenly sent him to the wrong city. He should have been dispatched to an address in Windsor, 25 miles away, where the call originated. The apparent mistake at the dispatch center is being investigated, said Sgt. Bill Lowe, spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol … the house has five cameras and two motion detectors on its roof. Shields said at the press conference the person living at the house, Tammy Widger, has been charged with possession of meth with the intent to distribute and with keeping and maintaining a public nuisance. Those charges were filed after the shootings, Shields said, after drugs were found in the house.” (James E. Waters)
219 David Willoughby was killed in Georgia. “A man in Georgia was shot and killed late Monday after he pointed a pellet gun at sheriff’s deputies and disobeyed commands to drop the weapon, the GBI said. Authorities told WSB they did not learn what David Willoughby, 33, was pointing at them until after the deadly shooting, which occurred about 11 p.m. near Temple. GBI spokesman Chris DeMarco told WSB the incident started with a call about a suspicious person with a gun in someone’s backyard. Deputies found Willoughby hiding in a wooded area. He pointed the pellet gun at them, and the deputies ordered Willoughby to drop it. … He refused, prompting deputies to open fire.” (219)
“A 25-year-old West Allis man was killed late Thursday in Milwaukee when his vehicle struck a tree during a police pursuit, the Greenfield Police Department said in a news release. The crash occurred after a Greenfield officer used a “pursuit intervention technique,” the department said. It did not elaborate on what that technique was. The officer, who is 29 with five years of experience, attempted to the stop the man’s vehicle, which was speeding, just before 11:40 p.m. Thursday. The department said “the suspect vehicle fled from the officer” and the officer used the technique. The man’s vehicle left the roadway in the 3200 block of S. 25th St. and hit the tree.” (203)
“The man who died after being shot by a probation officer has been identified as 29-year-old Joel Jacobo. He was shot on Thursday outside the Santa Cruz Apartments at Ajo Way and I-10. Three probation officers had approached Jacobo to serve him a warrant for a probation violation. One of the men saw that Jacobo had a gun and fired his weapon. Jacobo was on probation for trafficking in stolen property. The investigation continues.” (209)
“A pedestrian died Friday night after being hit by a Newark police patrol car, according to the Delaware State Police. The officer was driving east on East Chestnut Hill Road (Del. 4) headed toward the intersection of South Chapel Street about 9:40 p.m. when a pedestrian stepped into the roadway near the entrance to the Robscott Manor development, said Master Cpl. Melissa Jaffe, a state police spokeswoman. State police said the front of the officer’s marked Chevrolet Caprice struck the pedestrian, sending him into the front windshield of the vehicle. The 40-year-old pedestrian, who state police said was wearing dark-colored clothing, was pronounced dead at the scene.” (210)
“Police were trying to arrest a suspect wanted for a shooting that happened in January. According to police, Marvin Ray McMillian barricaded himself inside a home on Cleveland Avenue, refusing to come out. Authorities say Gulfport SWAT officers and negotiator units tried for four hours to end the stand-off. After McMillian fired shots at officers, they returned the gunfire, striking him. He died from his injuries at the scene of the shooting. No officers were injured.” (211)
“Officers in Santa Ana late Friday fatally shot a man wanted for violating terms of his probation, authorities said. Garden Grove police said the 31-year-old man was wanted for a “no bail” warrant for violating terms of his post-release community supervision. Investigators told KTLA that officers followed the suspect for about 6 or 7 miles before approaching him in his vehicle at the parking lot of the 7-11 store on 1700 E. Dyer Road at around 11:30 p.m. An altercation ensued and Garden Grove police shot the man multiple times, according to a statement from the agency.” (212)
“38-year-old Amanda Alvarez struck a resident of the 4700 block of West Camino Tierra with a two-by-four at approximately 4 p.m. Saturday. Deputies found the female in a trailer. She was shot “shortly after” by Deputy Samuel Herrera … The department on Tuesday also confirmed that the woman had used a spray intended for use on bears to fend off the deputies. The spray is a form of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) spray, officials said. … Multiple deputies were treated for chemical burns and released, police said. Alvarez had an extensive criminal history, including numerous contacts with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the agency said Tuesday. At the time of the shooting, Alvarez had an active felony warrant out for her arrest. She also was involved in an attempted stabbing of a deputy using an arrow a week before, officials said.” (214)
“After an off-duty police officer shot and killed an armed man who was trying to rob a Brooklyn gas station Monday night, police are looking for a second suspect. … The officer was in his private car at Gasgo on Remsen Avenue and Avenue D in Canarsie at about 10:35 p.m., Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said. As the station attendant was pumping gas into the officer’s car, a man, armed with a gun, entered the booth and demanded money from another station worker, Harrison said. A second man, also armed with a gun, stood outside the booth and instructed the off-duty officer and the attendant not to move. The officer identified himself as a cop and told the men to stop. Both suspects turned toward the officer with their guns in their hands. The officer fired at one of the suspects, 19-year-old William Simon, hitting him in the torso. The second suspect fled, police said.” (220)
“Mr. Yates, according to the paperwork in the clerk’s office, owned the trailer but rented the lot in the trailer park. So there were several complaints that the owner of the trailer park had and once Mr. Yates had not complied with correcting those, then the owner of that lot began the process of having Mr. Yates evicted,” said Baldwin County District Attorney Bob Wilters. Authorities say the complaints against Yates ranged from not mowing the grass, not keeping shrubbery trimmed, an abandoned vehicle and a dissatisfaction with the overall upkeep of the outside of the trailer. Formal eviction paperwork was filed in 2017 and a number of attempts to serve him followed. According to the Baldwin County Major Crimes Unit, Yates “refused to come to the door” when BCSO deputies tried to serve him in the past. Deputies responded Monday with an order from a judge allowing them to move Yates’ trailer. What happened next is under investigation, however, what we do know is a standoff, SWAT Team negotiations and a shootout followed.” (221)
“The standoff started around 7 p.m. Monday in Oil Springs on Ky. 825, according to EKB News. A man — later identified as Steven Dalton in an interview of police by EKB News — was holding a Bible, shouting at the sky and became combative with a deputy after the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department arrived, WKYT reported. A deputy used a Taser to try to detain Dalton but that failed, according to WSIP. Dalton ran and locked himself inside his home, which is when Kentucky State Police arrived to join deputies, EKB News reported. Both deputies heard gunshots coming from inside the residence, WSIP reported. Family members told the sheriff that Dalton had several firearms, including an assault rifle, in the house, WSIP said. A shootout began around 11 p.m. when Dalton pointed a gun out the door, shooting at the trooper’s cruisers before the troopers returned fire, EKB News said. Police told EKB News that 200 rounds were fired between the two sides in a 15-second span. No officers were hit, but they didn’t hear from the suspect for a couple of hours after the shots were fired, according to EKB News. KSP called for backup from its Special Response Team, which sent a robot into the home and found Dalton’s body at around 2:30 a.m., WKYT reported. It’s too early to know if he shot himself or if he was shot by police, WKYT said.” (Steven Dalton)
“Indiana State Police say officers from the North Manchester Police Department initiated a traffic stop on a truck just before 6 p.m. The truck’s driver, Michael Kline, 40, stopped the truck in the parking lot of a business at 1601 State Road 114. Preliminary evidence indicates that at some point during that traffic stop there was an incident that led to an officer firing shots at Kline. It is not clear what that incident was, who fired the shots or how many were fired.” (223)
“A 46-year-old man with a pickax was killed after being shot by police in East Austin early Wednesday, Chief Brian Manley said. Officers received a call at 4:18 a.m. in which the caller claimed he had killed his father and brother at a home in the 4800 block of Tanney Street, Manley said. Several officers arrived at the scene at 4:23 a.m. and made contact with the caller in the street, Manley said. According to the chief, police video shows officers issuing commands to the man to “drop the weapon” and “Please drop the pickax.” After about 10 minutes of negotiating with the man and issuing multiple commands to disarm, officers then approached the man, Manley said. The chief said officers first used less lethal rounds of impact munitions as the man approached the house, but he blocked them with a chair in his hand. Officers also used a stun gun, Manley said. When the man raised his pickax against the approaching officers, the officers fired at the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, the chief said. … He added that it appeared that the man had left a suicide note. …the man’s family … identified him as Victor Ancira. “He was a loving, caring person. He didn’t bother no one,” said Ancira’s niece, 21-year-old Samantha Chavez. “He stayed inside, he was sick. He had a disability … we are all hurt right now.” “Sylvia Ancira … said her brother was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia, she worried that he may have forgotten to take his medications. Sylvia said police had been called to their address before and she wondered why things escalated to the point that officers felt they had to shoot her brother.” (227)
“On March 8, 2018, at about 5:35 PM, officers from the Riverside Police Department were conducting an investigation for a wanted suspect within the 9900 block of Willowbrook Road, Jurupa Valley. As the officers encountered the suspect an officer involved shooting occurred. Life-saving measures were performed, but the suspect succumbed to his injuries.” (231)
“At 11:25 p.m. Thursday, Pottstown Police responded to a wellness check for a suicidal man just a block from the police station at 40 E. High St., according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. Police were informed that the man had posted photos online of himself holding a gun to his head and threatening to harm himself. When police arrived, officers encountered the armed man in the parking lot and confronted him. At that time, an officer discharged his firearm and struck the man. The man was then transported via medical helicopter to Reading Hospital Trauma Center in West Reading, where he was later pronounced dead. A BB/pellet gun was recovered near the suspect, according to the district attorney’s office.” (234)
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Why Did The Cow Cross The Road?
Why did the cow cross the road? The chicken was on vacation.
Knock knock. who’s there? boo. boo who?. Don’t cry it’s only a joke…
It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.
A man walks up to a horse and says, “Why the long face?”
Two pretzels were walking down the street. one was a salted.
“He who laughs last thinks slowest.”
“Raise your hand if you’re here.”
Two nuns walk into a bar; the third one ducks.
Q: What did the radio say when it was dropped? A: “Ow. That hertz.”
What did the ranch say to the refrigerator door? “Close the door, I’m dressing”
Why don’t blind people skydive? It scares the heck out of their dogs…
What did the fish say when it ran into a wall? dam.
“I see.” said the blind man as he peed into the wind… “It’s all coming back to me now.”
What’s the last thing to go through a bug’s mind when it hits the windshield? Its butt.
You can tuna guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.
What do a duck and a bicycle have in common? They both have wheels… except the duck.
What’s brown and sounds like a bell? DUNGGGGG.
What’s brown and sticky? A stick
When people ask the mortician what he does for a living, he says he is a “boxer”.
What did the shy pebble say?… I wish I was a little boulder! .
What do you call an arrogant criminal falling out of a tower? Condescending.
Two guys walk into a bar… you would think the second guy woulda ducked.
A woman walks into a bar holding a duck. Bartender says, “What’s with the pig?”
Woman says, “It’s a duck.” Bartender says, “I was talking to the duck.”
Why do flamingos always lift one leg when they’re standing?
Cause if they lifted both, they’d fall over!
Q: How many Surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: To get to the other side.
Did you get a haircut? Actually, I got them all cut.
One mushroom said to another mushroom, “Hey – you’re one Fungi!”
What do you call an arrogant criminal falling out of a tower? Condescending.
A dyslexic man walked into a bra …
Q: What do you call a midget, psychic, prison escapee? A: A small medium at-large.
A mule walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Hey, buddy, why the long face?”
“Because my dad is a jackass.”
I have one about the roof but its over your head.
Shall I tell you the one about the skunk? Never mind, it stinks!
There’s nothing like a good joke… and that was nothing like a good joke.
A rabbi, nun, lawyer, mime, and horse all walk into a bar.
The bartender says, “What is this, some kind of joke?”
When’s the best time to eat reindeer meat? …. When you’re hungry.
These stories are borrowed from 22 words. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. This is a repost.
Loudon Wainwright III
This is a repost from 2010. Mr. Wainwright has a show in London friday night. He recently made a short film about the Monsters he enjoyed as a young man. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The facebook picture is a Colonial grocery store. After service as the Texas Tea Room, it is now a discount mattress store.
Loudon Wainwright III is the son of a man who wrote for Life magazine, who was known as Loudon Wainwright Jr. The son of III is named Rufus, which is Albanian for Fifth. Either he skipped a level, likes to drink, or this is a coincidence. Rufus Wainwright is a musician also, with lots of units sold, and a stay or two in rehab.
The official LWIII website has a biography page, so if you care about such things you can go there. He writes little acoustic songs, many of which are hilarious. Early in his career, Dead Skunk became a hit. It became the song he was known for, but it was far from the best thing he did.
I have seen Loudon Wainwright III perform twice. In December of 1973, LWIII played at the Great Southeast Music Hall. He had a backup band, for some reason, and I was not overwhelmed. After the show, I talked to a high school classmate, and we went riding on the dirt roads behind the music hall smoking reefer. Those dirt roads are now Highway 400.
In May of 1982, LWIII played a show by himself at a concert hall on North Decatur Road, which was formerly a Colonial grocery store, and the Texas Tea Room. “Maybe, the venue was called the Texas Tea Room—or the Texas something-or-another. I recall that I heard some male duo there. When I heard them, they were past their prime in terms of popularity, but perhaps they were making some sort of comeback. I keep trying to remember who I heard. I also remember going in there one time with short-shorts on. The shorts were totally inappropriate for the setting, but I had been somewhere else and just stopped by the hall (we’ll continue to call it the Texas Tea Room) on a whim. I vaguely remember some guy giving me grief about my attire. I don’t think I went home with him, and I’m sure that was an excellent decision.”
On that May evening 42 years ago, LWIII was spectacular. He had done a lot of shows in the previous 9 years, and had learned a few things about performing. The lines that got a good response were repeated, and played slow enough to understand the lyrics. This is a problem for many lyric based performers…if you don’t know their music, you will not enjoy the show. With Wainwright, he sang slow and loud, and you could hear all the words. You knew why the crowd was laughing.
It is now 2024, and LWIII has not gone away. His records never did sell very well, and he sells his own product over the internet now. His hair is turning gray and falling out. The skunk has dried up, his bones crushed into powder by eighteen wheelers. The motel was shut down by the health department. A luxury condo building was built on the site.
Palestinian Jesus Situation
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My Messy Life An honest account of living a messy life with an Eating Disorder, Stoma, ….
HEART CHAKRA Healing Vibrations + Ocean Sounds | Manifest Love Energy
Hank Johnson, GA 4, voted YES on the tik tok ban Nikema Williams, GA 5, voted NO
No, typing @highlight into a Facebook comment won’t reveal the identity of people …
Is It Possible to be Both ‘Pro-Israel’/’Pro-Palestinian’? sad truth is that, in zero-sum ….
NotPoliticallyCorrect Human Biodiversity, IQ, Evolutionary Psychology, Epigenetics…
March 1, 2024 Charles Bukowski’s Dune John K. Peck It had been a long day. The hot …
The ACLU Is Trying to Destroy the Biden NLRB It is also trying to force more workers …
imagine believe natural atheism universe product
georgia Court of Appeals overturns former DeKalb officer’s convictions in deadly shooting
Anger, Protests, and Vandalism Break Out Over Philanthropy’s Support of the Police
Judge in Georgia election interference case dismisses three counts against Trump
What the U.S. can learn from India’s TikTok ban … less disruptive than many expected.
Elon Musk Keeps Spreading a Very Specific Kind of Racism the “patient zero for this …
dream God clear message Palestinian Jesus situation mess
satanic Women MAN family Democrat power abortion
do you want me to answer or do you want your motor mouth to go
From Third World to First, by Lee Kuan Yew The story of the man who built Singapore
Alpharetta to NHL: Come here instead North Point Mall could be replaced with arena by …
Shut up About Race and IQ Why HBD is just white nationalism
Shincheonji Church Celebrates a 40 Year History of Running Without Stopping
Milwaukee bar The Mothership says it’ll close during Republican National Convention
‘It’s Spelled Fani Like Your A–‘: Trump Lobs Lewd Attack On Georgia DA In Rant About …
Radio-Canada a du sang sur les mains : retour sur les vitrines détruites dans la nuit…
YouTuber was accused of plagiarism. His apology highlighted a larger issue among creators.
hbd ~ cenk ~ @ashaironwood ~ @damanimoyd ~ louis prima
hanania_trace ~ phil collins ~ reason ~ numb feet ~ tiktok ban voting
bob ~ diane linkletter ~ bob wright ~ american voices ~ martyrmade
roast beast ~ adan bean ~ acte ~ poison ~ lee kuan yew ~ lentigo
fani ~ rogan ~ repost ~ cs lewis ~ theology
@RisingTheHill ~ @bethanyshondark ~ judge scott mcafee ~ hr 7521 ~ community retreat
robert lee coleman ~ anthony huber ~ jordan peterson ~ kate middleton ~ katie ~ marta ~ katie
one day, people will boast of their ability to listen, rather than the things they say. or maybe not ~ Did you discuss Gaza? Much of what @radleybalko says about your technique applies to your defense of “Screams without Words” I have not listened. I read the megawordage. George Floyd is old news. Gaza is ongoing, and is a historic tragedy. ~ Why not let the young person rest in peace? This did not need to be a national sensation. The name of this minor should not be used … either the trans name or the name given at birth/dead name. “Dead name” is a creepy phrase. Lets find another word for this. ~ Apparently, when Katie got Brad Polumbo to co-host BAR, she agreed to appear on his podcast, Damage Control. He is using this picture to promote it. Who knew that Katie is pretty? Brad and Katie have a “family” connection, which makes this all rather ironic. ~ this is your monday morning reader for today. The pictures today are a collection of haiku reductions. The featured HR is “official idiots raw resolutions ignore dire human crisis.” The X-title-paster did a good job this week. ~ @caitoz It says so much about US politics that Biden’s most vulnerable political weak point is the fact that he’s sponsoring a genocide, but Republicans can’t attack him on that point because they support the genocide too. ~ This is a repost from March 12, 2020.. This is the day the stock market fell 24oo points. There was a snowjam-style panic at Kroger. The lockdown had arrived. America has never been the same. … ~ this is a repost from March 12, 2020.. This is the day the stock market fell 24oo points. There was snowjam-style panic buying at Kroger. The lockdown had arrived. America has never been the same. ~ attn @googlefiber Please retire that obnoxious youtube commercial with the Asian lady in the produce section ~ This is a repost from 2023. Rising is more focused on the tragedy in Gaza now. The last tweet from @bethanyshondark announces “Extra credit to attend a pro-Hamas rally. Shocker.” … ~ this time last year, @bethanyshondark appeared on @RisingTheHill to promote a book. @briebriejoy asked her to define wokeness. It became “One of those moments thats going to go viral.” A good time was had, and book sales increased. Today, @briebriejoy is more focused on the tragedy in Gaza. The last tweet from @bethanyshondark: “Extra credit to attend a pro-Hamas rally. Shocker.” ~ Eve Babitz was a lady who lived in Los Angeles in the Sixties and Seventies. Writing magazine articles was one of her skills. In 2019, someone recycled these “pieces” into “I Used To Be Charming.” ~ one time i saw a profile… dude was at the cheshire motor inn, welcoming people to come over for no holds barred good times … the last word of his profile … discreet ~ A few years ago, there was a facebook group discussion about racism. A mod was starting sentences by saying “As a POC…” I did a little research. The POC mod had a Puerto Rican father, and a Jewish mother. Their skin was lighter than mine. ~ @ chamblee54 I read a study once. Some people quit reading after 250 words, and that percentage increases as the piece gets longer. We get to a subject like race. There is nuance, abusive rhetoric, prejudice, cynical attempts to persuade. After a while, I just want to get away from the whole stinking mess, and look at something more pleasant. The linked piece is an attempt to make sense of an exasperating subject. I got to the second invitation to subscribe before my patience ran out. @EyeOnStalk It’s a lot of pointless words trying to cover one essential nugget. Hanania believes the current (spottily-studied) population differences in IQ tests are intrinsic and permanent and illustrate that “race” is a meaningful category and “sex” correlates to aptitude. @EyeOnStalk That’s it. That’s the whole ballgame. Plenty of ant-racists make unsupported non-scientific arguments about the whole thing, because, as you said, the subject gives them the ick, but that doesn’t mean Hanania is actually correct on the science. He’s not. @chamblee54 Thank you for taking the time to reply. I tend to avoid arguments about this. There are soooo many other things to worry about. ~ “They were not there for the LGB only T” If you consider the drug slang meaning of T, this is a significant portion of the population. ~ This is a repost from March 2020, ~ this is a report from 2020, at the start of the lockdown. One person in South Korea, went to a crowded church service, and infected over 900 people. Shincheonji Church is still going strong, and celebrates its 40th anniversary today. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
Patient No. 31
This is a repost from March 2020, at the start of the lockdown. … @JohnFPfaff Holy crap. One person, who refused to be tested and instead went to church and a buffet lunch, is the source of over 1,000 (!!) infections in S Korea. One person, who refused social distancing.
“For the first four weeks of the outbreak, South Korea marshaled high-tech resources to respond aggressively…. The government tracked the movements of travelers arriving from China, for example by tracking the use of credit cards, checking CCTV footage, or mandating they download an app to report their health status every day. For those infected, the government published an extremely detailed list of their whereabouts, down to which seat they sat in at a movie theater.”
“The info was also presented (with names removed) in an interactive website that allows the public to trace the movement of every single individual with coronavirus. To be sure, there were real privacy concerns—as when one unfortunate patient in Daejeon had news of their visit to a risqué lingerie store blasted to every smartphone in their city. Yet on balance, these disclosures did much to calm the nerves and prevent unnecessary panic in the population. By Feb. 17, South Korea’s tally of COVID-19 patients stood at 30, with zero deaths. Ten patients were fully cured and discharged, with some of the discharged patients declaring the disease was “not something as serious as one might think.” The government seemed ready to declare victory.”
“It’s not clear where Patient 31 became infected with the virus, but in the days before her diagnosis, she travelled to crowded spots in Daegu, as well as in the capital Seoul. On February 6 she was in a minor traffic accident in Daegu, and checked herself into an Oriental medicine hospital. While at that hospital, she attended services at the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji (SHIN jun jee) Church of Jesus, on February 9 and again on February 16.”
“In between those visits, on February 15, doctors at the hospital said they first suggested she be tested for the coronavirus, as she had a high fever. Instead, the woman went to a buffet lunch with a friend at a hotel. In an interview with local newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, the woman denied that doctors had advised her to be tested. As her symptoms worsened, however, doctors say they once again advised her to be tested. On February 17, she finally went to another hospital for the test. The next day, health authorities announced she was the country’s 31st confirmed case. … those numbers soared as hundreds of people at the Shincheonji Church and surrounding areas tested positive.”
“The Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC) said on Saturday they had obtained a list of 9,300 people who had attended those two Shincheonji church services, around 1,200 of whom had complained of flu-like symptoms. Hundreds of cases have now been confirmed there.”
@JohnFPfaff “So, as I’ve leaned from the comments, Patient 31 wasn’t just a random vector (wasn’t clear in the Reuter’s piece). She belonged to a religious group w virus-spreading practices. Barhopping may not yield 1000 cases, but still: this spreads fast.”
“That all came to a crashing halt last week thanks to the 31st case. Patient No. 31, discovered on Feb. 18, was a member of a quasi-Christian cult called Shincheonji, one of the many new religious movements in the country. Founded in 1984, Shincheonji (whose official name is Shincheonji, Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony) means “new heaven and earth,” a reference to the Book of Revelation. Its founder Lee Man-hee claims to be the second coming of Jesus who is to establish the “new spiritual Israel” at the end of days. … “
“Shincheonji’s bad theology makes for worse public health. Shincheonji teaches illness is a sin, encouraging its followers to suffer through diseases to attend services in which they sit closely together, breathing in spittle as they repeatedly amen in unison. If they were off on their own, that might be one thing—but according to Shin Hyeon-uk, a pastor who formerly belonged to the cult, Shincheonji believes in “deceptive proselytizing,” approaching potential converts without disclosing their denomination. Shincheonji convinces its members to cover their tracks, providing a prearranged set of answers to give when anyone asks if they belong to the cult. Often, even family members are in the dark about whether someone is a Shincheonji follower. The net effect is that Shincheonji followers infect each other easily, then go onto infect the community at large. …”
“Since the discovery of Patient No. 31, the number of COVID-19 cases in South Korea jumped from 30 to 977 in eight days. Nearly all of the new cases are Shincheonji followers, or traceable to them. Particularly tragic is the case of Cheongdo Daenam Hospital … This hospital alone saw 114 cases, most of whom were long-term psychiatric patients. Because these patients never left the hospital, much less traveled abroad, they were not tested early for coronavirus, nor were they properly quarantined. This led to an advanced stage of the disease among many of the psychiatric patients, resulting in seven out of the 12 coronavirus deaths thus far.”
The source article about Shincheonji is dated FEBRUARY 27, 2020, 10:45 AM. On March 2, this video appeared: Shincheonji leader apologises over COVID-19 outbreak as South Korea postpones opening of schools. This chamblee54 feature quotes extensively from two articles: Cults and Conservatives Spread Coronavirus in South Korea – How coronavirus cases exploded in South Korean churches and hospitals Both articles have charts, links, and more information. A big thank you goes to @JohnFPfaff for his initial tweet. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
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