Happy Vernal Equinox, everybody.
Mar 20, 2019
Breakin' It Down
Ana Kasparian, from The Youngs Turks, doing a fine job telling us what's up with the GOP freak-out over AOC.
BTW, I'm not a TYT fan, but in keeping with my search for "the real shit", I'm going to make note of whatever comes across as "the real shit".
BTW, I'm not a TYT fan, but in keeping with my search for "the real shit", I'm going to make note of whatever comes across as "the real shit".
And holy crap, what is it with "conservatives"? This Mr Reagan guy almost has to be a parody inside another parody. There's something about it that seems really off.
But maybe I'm just going with my own need to normalize. One of the main tenets of Daddy State manipulation is that "normal people" want very much for things not to be so shitty, and we end up thinking they can't possibly be so shitty that the rubes are going to take a Mr Reagan seriously.
This Wacky World
Another indication that Cult45 is nine kinds of fucked up: The Germans are pushing back against the US ambassador because he's just a little too Right-Wing for them.
There's a silly irony in that, but there's also a very serious reality - nobody's gonna know more about how to spot a Nazi douche nozzle than the Germans.
NPR:
Richard Grenell has been the U.S. ambassador to Germany for barely a month, but already politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are demanding he be recalled.
The uproar is over Grenell's recent comments on Twitter and the right-wing Breitbart news site in support of Europe's conservative politicians who he said are making gains against the political establishment. German and U.S. politicians charge that the remarks could amount to meddling in Germany's political affairs.
Our State Department, meanwhile, is defending Grenell with the usual "Hey, c'mon, he's entitled to an opinion".
Aye, there's the rub.
Ambassadors are representatives of POTUS. Grenell wouldn't be there if he wasn't in line with 45*, and that puts him in line with Putin, and that puts him in line with the Daddy State Plutocracy bullshit being pimped around the world.
Mar 19, 2019
Today's Quote
It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never be used. I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largely or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge.
Mar 18, 2019
Today's Tweet
We get to pick and choose which of our animal behaviors to emphasize and which to sublimate. So it occurs to me that we are in charge of our own evolutionary arc.
Maybe we should be taking a bit more care with it.
CROSSING GUARD: This very responsible turkey halted traffic on a two-lane road in New Hampshire until the entire flock was able to cross. https://t.co/JdDi1aoEni pic.twitter.com/3I6WcPBrZp— ABC News (@ABC) March 18, 2019
The Cave
The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall toward the earth’s center. With the feeling that he was speaking to … and setting forth an important axiom, he wrote: “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows".
-- George Orwell’s 1984
We all have a duty to seek enlightenment - however we define that rather pretentious-sounding term.
And we all have a duty to talk with others about where we are and what we're learning.
Plato's Allegory Of The Cave (short clip - none of it is this easy):
The 1st Gay POTUS?
He doesn't stand a pork chop's chance in a dog pound, but Pete Buttigieg (boot'-uh-juj) is somebody I'm willing to consider.
Mar 17, 2019
Before The King, There Was King Cole
Today is Nat King Cole's birthday. March 17, 1919 - February 16, 1965
He was a big part of American music - particularly the evolution from Big Band to tight little combos. And he can be credited with making it more possible for "negro acts" to cross over into mainstream white people's culture.
I can hear his influence throughout the basic 3-chord Rock-n-Roll stuff, as well as with the players who're keeping his style of Jazz Standards alive (Diana Krall comes to mind).
And, as always, there were times he was in danger just for being who he was - a black man making his way in a society that considered itself superior simply because of its whites-only attitude.
In 1956 Cole was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Ted Heath Band while singing the song "Little Girl". Having circulated photographs of Cole with white female fans bearing incendiary boldface captions reading "Cole and His White Women" and "Cole and Your Daughter" three men belonging to the North Alabama Citizens Council assaulted Cole, apparently attempting to kidnap him. The three assailants ran down the aisles of the auditorium towards Cole. Local law enforcement quickly ended the invasion of the stage, but in the ensuing melée Cole was toppled from his piano bench and injured his back. He did not finish the concert and never again performed in the southern United States. A fourth member of the group was later arrested. All were tried and convicted.
He was a big part of American music - particularly the evolution from Big Band to tight little combos. And he can be credited with making it more possible for "negro acts" to cross over into mainstream white people's culture.
I can hear his influence throughout the basic 3-chord Rock-n-Roll stuff, as well as with the players who're keeping his style of Jazz Standards alive (Diana Krall comes to mind).
And, as always, there were times he was in danger just for being who he was - a black man making his way in a society that considered itself superior simply because of its whites-only attitude.
In 1956 Cole was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Ted Heath Band while singing the song "Little Girl". Having circulated photographs of Cole with white female fans bearing incendiary boldface captions reading "Cole and His White Women" and "Cole and Your Daughter" three men belonging to the North Alabama Citizens Council assaulted Cole, apparently attempting to kidnap him. The three assailants ran down the aisles of the auditorium towards Cole. Local law enforcement quickly ended the invasion of the stage, but in the ensuing melée Cole was toppled from his piano bench and injured his back. He did not finish the concert and never again performed in the southern United States. A fourth member of the group was later arrested. All were tried and convicted.
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