Make It Happen

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/hamas-israel-ceasefire-humanitarian-pause-gaza/675992/
OpEd by Hillary Rodham Clinton

In her piece for The Atlantic, titled “Hamas Must Go,” Secretary emeritus Clinton described helping to negotiate a ceasefire in 2012, which was violated by Hamas in 2014 when the terrorist group “started another war by abducting Israeli hostages and launching rocket attacks against civilians.”

She wrote: “That is why I am convinced Hamas must go. On October 7, these terrorists killed babies, raped women, and kidnapped innocent civilians. They continue to hold more than 200 hostages. They have proved again and again that they will not abide by ceasefires, will sabotage any efforts to forge a lasting peace, and will never stop attacking Israel.”

---

Civilians get killed in war. That’s a very sad, inescapable fact that will probably never change.

All Hamas are Palestinian, but not all Palestinians are Hamas.

Hamas is funded & supplied by the Houthis, which are funded & supplied by Iran — a globally hostile nation known for such activity.

For the sake of argument, let’s imagine that a foreign terrorist entity attacked the West Virginia State Legislature, killing and raping legislators,

2024: It’s Biden’s to lose.

“A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose.”

It’s Election Year!

You know what that means.

It happens every 2 years.

Civic-minded citizens will be exercising their right to vote, and will be setting a host of political wanna’bees in office… or, turning them out — depending upon how well-satisfied constituents are with the politician’s performance in office, and turning them out if they’re not. NOTE: “Wanna’bees” are differentiated from honey bees. Ed.

And the BIG KAHUNA of them all, is the Presidency.

Naturally, most all of us want to know if there’s a way, a method, a tool, a process, that could accurately and correctly forecast who the next President will be.

Fortunately, there is.

Dr. Allan Lichtman, PhD, American University’s Distinguished Professor of History published a book he authored — The Keys to the White House — with Ken DeCell in 1991 in which he explained a simple YES/NO tool which could be used to ACCURATELY and CORRECTLY forecast the next President.

It’s not hocus-pocus, it’s not soothsaying, it neither involves crystal balls, nor tea leaves, and has been subjected to peer review. And that’s because Dr. Lichtman collaborated with renowned mathematician Dr. Vladimir Keilis-Borok, PhD (1921-2013), a now-late Russian mathematical geophysicist and seismologist with an interest in developing an earthquake predicting tool, and published their findings in a scientific journal in order to be scrutinized.

“I first developed the Keys to the White House in 1981,
in collaboration with mathematician Vladimir Keilis-Borok.
Retrospectively, we found that
the Keys correctly accounted for the results of
American presidential elections from 1860 to 1980,
ranging from the horse and buggy days of American politics to
the era of jet planes, polls, and television.”
— Dr. Alan Lichtman, 2012, in “The Keys to the White House,” in Social Education 76(5), pp 233–235

Dr. Lichtman developed the 13-key forecasting system initially in 1981, and later subjected the work to

In Alabama, it’s ILLEGAL to be Negro.

If it weren’t illegal to be a Negro in Alabama, the state’s Law Enforcement Officers wouldn’t arrest Negroes for being Negro.

But, they do.

In at least 2 events in less than the same number of years, local LEOs have arrested individuals in Alabama charging them with fabricated, trumped up “crimes,” when no crime had been, nor was in the process of being, committed.

In both cases, the lowest common denominator was… that the people arrested had darker skin tone (more of the pigment melanin) than the “average” person, and more than the arresting officer(s). In other words, they were “Black.”

What is such sickness, and why does it seem so common in Alabama, and why… oh WHY do people in the state continue to put up with such outlandishly egregious behavior from public officials, particularly those sworn to uphold the law?

It may have something to do with the state’s Constitution.

---

Six.

That’s the number of

Free… It’s FREE! What’s free? This is free!

Free thought association…

On the third day of the eighth month in the fifth year of our LORD Ich’bin-Ein Berliner, came the jelly doughnut, a minute triceratops of a man, swimming freely in the oceans’ waters, basking in every bubble from the aerator around which the goldfish swam, as he peered outside its cavernous steel bars into the cat lounging on the spaghetti Bolognese, seeing clearly into its heart, lungs, and digestive system, while fueling the top fuel dragster from which he was born.
🤠

I don’t have opposable thumbs.

Both my thumbs have always worked in conjunction with all my other fingers, and with each other. And, they are in harmonious union with the palms… which should in no wise be conflated with date palms, Palme d’Or, iron ore, wooden oars, Cannes, Campbell’s soup cans, Andy Warhol, or else.

—————

The food we eat (that is to say, the food proffered to us in supermarkets, brands often advertised on teevee, print, and radio, in turn owned by mega-globally-traded behemoth transnational corporations) is largely factory-processed, made nutrient-deficient, hyper-preserved, sodium-laden — for additive preservative purpose — which nether creatively increases flavor, nor improves taste, is shelf-stable practically into perpetuity, and is all done so for one motive exclusively: Profit – to get more money.

Their interests and loyalties are NOT to you, nor to their customers, neither to your family, friends, and loved ones, but rather, are beholden to their corporate shareholders upon whom they openly ingratiate themselves, and to whom they, first and foremost, through a strong sense of obligation via stock ownership or other requirement, owe a substantial share of the profit, and in some cases, the “first fruits.”

And therefore, they work to achieve, or exceed, the expectations of the financial prognosticators and market soothsayers by obeying the edicts of the corporate overlords and executives in all details of business operation. So, when employees of the company’s various stores in select locales complain about employee mistreatment, and low wages combined with decreased hours — EVEN THOUGH the company made $24.6 BILLION in PROFITS for 2023, which in turn, effectively meant that all of its 400,000 employees could have been given an $11,000 raise and STILL have at least $20 BILLION in profit. Instead, the employees must rely upon tips for survival. That company is

BREAKING! Donald Trump is a STONE COLD LIAR! (As are his crime family members.)

No news there, eh?

And NewsWeek isn’t the only one, either.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/mar/22/donald-trump/trumps-454-million-bond-for-new-york-fraud-case-is/

---

NewsWeek.com

Fox News Fact-Checks Donald Trump’s Bond Claim: “Actually Not True”

By Rachel Dobkin
Published Mar 24, 2024 at 3:42 PM EDT
Updated Mar 25, 2024 at 6:21 AM EDT

During a Sunday interview with former Federal prosecutor Alex Little on Fox News Live, host Eric Shawn said, “We’ve also heard there’s a lot of talk about ‘this is unprecedented amount of money… this has never happened before.’ But that’s actually not true. This is from Letitia James, the Attorney General’s own court papers — I’m gonna show it to you right now.”

An on-screen chart graphic then appeared listing court cases with bonds at or over $1 billion, including:
• Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications — $1.2 billion;
• Apple v. Samsung Electronics — $1 billion;
• Oracle USA v. SAP AG — $1.3 billion, and;
• Carnegie Mellon University v. Marvell Technology Group — $1.5 billion.

In February, New York State Supreme Court Justice Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Donald Trump to pay a $355 million bond by Monday, 25 March 2024, plus daily interest — which grand total is now $454 million —  and barred him from doing business in New York for 3 years.

Trump and his crime family members have falsely claimed that the bond amount is “unprecedented.”

Obviously, it is not.

Eric Shawn, host of Fox News

In a September 2023 lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office, Trump was found liable for financial fraud. Trump has claimed that he has done nothing wrong and that the case is politically motivated, and has appealed Judge Engoron’s ruling against him.

Trump was given until Monday to come up with a $454 million bond in order to prevent NY State Attorney General James from seizing his assets in order to pay Judge Engoron’s judgment.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the ruling and disparaged Judge Engoron and Attorney General James, on his social media platform Truth Social. In a post last Monday, Trump wrote,

Life After Death

by Laura Crafton Gilpin (1950-2007)
Award-winning American poet, Registered Nurse, advocate of patient-centered care in hospital reform, died of glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer, in Fairhope, AL

The things I know:
how the living go on living
and how the dead go on living with them

So that in a forest
even a

Love in Her Final Moments

I have a hangover that began onset in earnest Saturday.

“Hangovers hurt more than they used to,” goes a line from the 1981 Hank Williams, Jr. song “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down).” I can attest to the truth of that statement.

While alcohol-induced hangovers typically fully resolve within 24 hours, and often less, I’m uncertain how long mine will take before resolving. And right now, it hurts rather badly.

I was awakened around 0200 Saturday morning, having retired for the evening Friday around 2000, or 2100, and was sleeping soundly with Queenie by my side until an arm and hand silently reached out from the darkness, touched my shoulder and startled me. I don’t surprise easily, and typically am not the type that watches scary movies for the simple reason that they’re unbelievable. At least to me, they are.

But I awoke with a start and cried out as I was jostled from a deep, sound sleep. No noise, just a quiet nudging.

It was Geoff.

“It’s Gerri,” he said, to which I replied, “I’ll be right down,” got out of bed, quickly pulled my blue jeans on, and headed downstairs in my stocking feet.

He’d been siting up with Gellibean as she lay dying in her bed downstairs.

“I’ll be back in just a little bit,” I said turning to Queenie, my service animal, as she lay in bed, apparently still groggy as I. Her big brown eyes and gentle disposition told me that she would be fine with that. She understood me, I had no doubt, because she’d been trained so well.

You see, I know her trainer personally, and brush his teeth every night.

As I slowly and carefully made my way downstairs, and walked around the corner toward her room, Geoff followed me.

Gerri lay quietly in bed — well, almost quietly — but in no obvious distress.

Geoff stood in the doorway to her room, as I stood at Gerri’s bedside observing her. As I walked out, he then turned to me and asked,

RECIPE: Quick’n Easy Peasy — Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

Spatchcock chicken prepared to be cooked in the oven

.

Are you looking for a …

Quick’n Easy Peasy Recipe?🤗😋

Introducing….

Spatchcock chicken
+
Coarsely-cut root vegetables!

Are you ready for a healthy, satisfying, nutritious, delicious, hot, home-cooked meal in ONE HOUR?!?

Of course you are!

Let’s get started!

Time’s a-wasting!

Cut open a whole bird by cutting down one side of the spine (use a knife or kitchen shears, it’s player’s choice).

Put it in a baking pan.

Push down on it to split the breast bone/cartilage, to help it lie flat.

Liberally season BOTH SIDES with S&P and your favorite seasonings blends. DON’T BE SHY! And for cryin’ out loud! Be SURE to LAY ON THE SALT! It’ll make the skin crispy! (Salt is hygroscopic — it attracts water, and in this case, it draws it out, thereby crisping the skin.) And use coarse kosher salt… because you can see it easily after applying it, to know how much you’ve used.

Coarsely cut as many red potatoes, carrots, and onions as makes you happy.

Why red potatoes? Yukon gold potatoes are also an excellent choice. They both — red & Yukon gold — hold together better when cooked, but you’re free to do as you wish. After all, YOU’RE the one making this dish — right?

How many “makes you happy”?

Only YOU know the answer to that question!

Spatchcock chicken, leg quarter, skin removed

What constitutes “coarsely cut”?

I’m glad you asked!

This is what constitutes “coarsely” cut, and how it’s done:

1.) Cut potato/onion in half (2 pieces).

2.) Cut those two halves in half, then cut each piece in half again, in the same direction (3 cuts yields a total of 4 pieces, each half).

3.) Hold together the sliced pieces, turn them 90º, then cut crosswise into 3, or 4, even pieces.

4.) Cut whole carrot into 1-2 inch length pieces, do not slice in half lengthwise.

Scatter vegetables around the bird.

.

.

Cook it for:

What Has Been Will Be Again, Que Sera, Sera

Come Tuesday, November 5, 2024, American voters coast-to-coast, north, south, east, west, and all points in between, including the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands, will cast ballots for the candidate of their choice to be the next President of the United States (POTUS).

The incumbent 46th POTUS, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., a Democrat, will face the Republican party’s nominee, who, as events are shaping up, now appears it will most likely will be the former and 45th POTUS, Donald John Trump.

Often monikered as “POS45” (Piece Of Shit 45), the former POTUS has practically single-handedly created a radicalized “MAGA” movement (Make America Great Again) within the Republican party consisting of often disaffected, mostly White, primarily rural voters which has taken hold in Deep South, formerly Confederate/slave states, some Rust Belt states, and others where voters over age 65 comprise the single largest segment of his supporters, including those of whom he said in Nevada 2016 after winning the Silver State’s Republican caucus, “I love the poorly educated!” In context, he said, “We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated!,” while USA Today wrote, “Trump did well across the board in Nevada, garnering 45.9% of the vote, but he did even better among voters with a high school education or less. Fifty-seven percent of those voters supported him, according to entrance polls.”

Rarely-to-never in the history of our nation have partisans ever cast ballots for the candidate of the opposite party, that is, Republicans voting for Democrats, but POS45 has motivated many of those of sound mind to do so, leaving the obsequious, toady, and sycophants to their object of worship. But a rehash is a rehash, and 2024 is a rehash of 2020. And in 2020, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. defeated Donald John Trump.

The San Francisco Call began life on December 1, 1856, as the Daily Morning Call. Staunchly Republican in political outlook, the Call was popular with the working classes, and it was the city’s leading morning newspaper for several decades. By the summer of 1864, the Call was boasting the highest daily circulation in the city, and its readership continued to rise, going from 10,750 in 1865 to 41,066 in 1880. In 1884 it boasted a circulation double that of any other daily. Originally a four page daily, the Call also put out a weekly, published on Tuesdays, and a Sunday edition. One of the paper’s early writers was Mark Twain, who served as Nevada correspondent in 1863 and as reporter after he moved to San Francisco the following year. In just over four months as full time beat reporter, Twain produced some 200 articles on crime and the courts, theater and the opera, and politics.
Vol. 77, no. 85 (Mar. 5, 1895)-v. 115, no. 7 (Dec. 8, 1913).

And yet, polls are wishy-washy things, ever fluctuating according to which way the wind blows, and are neither stable, consistent, nor reliable. And with the miserably miasmatic state of affairs in news-gathering/reporting/news-telling/journalism/media these days, we have re-entered the era of so-called “Yellow Journalism,” which is today monikered as “click bait” online, because in broadcast media (radio & television) it’s all about “eyes on the set” which directly relates to the entity’s income gathering ability, insofar as it is tied directly to their advertising rates. More viewers/listeners=more money per spot/ad. Cynical, perhaps, but it’s just that simple.

While one looks to the past to predict the future — something which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and others say should

Alabama’s Religious “Embryos are Children” Supreme Court Decision

Alabama Supreme Court’s
“Embryos Are Children” ruling
quotes numerous religious texts.

Alabama’s Republican mullahs of madness go off the rails.

State’s crazy train takes a dirt road.

Supreme Court Jesters aren’t joking.

It’s telling.

But, we would expect nothing less than full-on crazy from the Pig Sty State.

Mad Republican mullahs are handing down the law, instead of staid, sober jurists.

That’s a sure-fire way to earn an automatic appeal to the Federal appellate court.

https://publicportal-api.alappeals.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/C93DB586-EC08-4F14-A6BA-A149967E68B0/docketentrydocuments/BB88F2BF-19CA-498F-9FE2-F754D36C0FF2

In the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen fertilized eggs, aka embryos, are “children” — the combined cases of LePage & Fonde v. Center for Reproductive Medicine & Mobile Infirmary, and Aysenne v. Center for Reproductive Medicine & Mobile Infirmary — the word “God,” or its derivatives, i.e., “godliness,” etc., are mentioned 41 times.

The ruling may be found linked above.

Following is a word count of some frequently-mentioned words in that ruling:

A Quick Houthis–Hamas Primer

Watch the video at the following Twitter-X address.

It’s of… well, you’ll see.

https://x.com/zaidiiq/status/1759675624145170533/

NOTE: The Twitter-X post linked above, which depicts an obviously-edited (cropped) ocean-going vessel sinking, was deliberately falsely identified as a British vessel in the Red Sea, and the person posting the Tweet deliberately falsely claimed that Houthis sank it.

The post read as follows:
“Documentation of the British ship sinking after being hit and attacked by Yemenis earlier today.
The crew abandoned the ship before it sank
Yemen 🇾🇪 💪🏼
2:25 PM · Feb 19, 2024″

That is 100% TOTALLY FALSE and ENTIRELY INCORRECT.

The vessel depicted in the Tweet is MV Stellar Banner, a very large ore carrier (VLOC), which was deliberately scuttled off the Brazilian coast three months after she ran aground, having been filled with iron ore, approximately 145,000 tons of which was successfully removed by salvors, to allow the vessel to refloat, and assess the ship’s structure, which was deemed a total loss, and therefore, a decision was made to scuttle her. The MV Stellar Banner was owned and operated by Polaris shipping of South Korea, was chartered to Vale, a Brazilian mining giant, to transport iron ore from Brazil to China. The Stellar Banner was registered in the Marshall Islands, was damaged after departing a Vale loading terminal in Maranhão, Brazil, and ran aground approximately 100km from the coast of São Luís on February 24, 2020. The vessel was carrying 306,000 tons of iron ore and headed for Qingdao, China.

Video of the scuttling of the MV Stellar Banner may be found on YouTube, at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDXCp-VFJrI

We are pleased to expose the lie, and set the record straight. Ed.

Regardless of the deliberate falsity of the Twitter-X post, claiming that the dramatic sinking of the vessel Stellar Banner was a different vessel than the one WHICH WAS ATTACKED BY HOUTHIS — that one being the MV Rubymar — even though the Stellar Banner was deliberately falsely identified as a the Rubymar, the point is, that Houthis are actively engaged in piracy on the open seas, and are making attacks upon trade vessels.

It nevertheless remains true, what U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander, said to 60 Minutes host Norah O’Donnell last Sunday (2/17/24), about conflict with Houthis in the Red Sea, “I think you’d have to go back to World War II where you have ships who are engaged in combat. When I say engaged in combat, where they’re getting shot at, we’re getting shot at, and we’re shooting back.”

THAT is why our military is intervening in the Red Sea. To aid our friends… fellow NATO member nations.

Houthis (aka Ansar Allah, meaning Partisans of God) are the terrorist cartel in Yemen funding & arming Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

To be certain, NOT all Palestinians are Hamas, but all Hamas are Palestinian.

So what’s at the bottom of it all, what’s the root cause?

Disputes over sectarian Islamic religious doctrine.

Houthis are Shia Islamists, so named for the Houthi tribe in Yemen from which they come, and are predominantly Zaidi Shias. The Houthis originated “in the 1990s as a youth-orientated revivalist movement” that sought to defend Zaidi religious traditions, which is a sect of Shia Islam.

Zaidism is one of three sects of Shia Islam, and considered the most closely resembling the Sunni.

Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic denomination.

Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic denomination, and practiced by about 85–90% of Muslims worldwide.

Differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims originated from a disagreement over who would succeed Muhammad after his death, and later

How Difficult, or Easy-to-Make, is a Bowl of Hot, Fresh, Homemade Tomato Soup?

Few things can beat the heartwarming, soul-soothing feeling that a hot bowl of fresh, homemade Tomato Soup provides! It’s a first-class comfort food, to be certain.
It’s quick, easy-to-make, and considered a delightful culinary cornerstone.

How difficult, or easy, do you want it to be?

Sometimes, the seemingly easy things are difficult, and the difficult things are easy. And those seemingly easy things take years to master, and perfect.

So it is with Tomato Soup.

The once-fabled “Gray Lady,” aka The New York Times, has been around a while — quite some time. Since 1851, as a matter of fact. But, I assure you, tomato soup, in one form, or another, has most likely been around much longer, even though published recipes for Tomato Soup and variants, are known to 1857 and 1872, while tomato-based ketchup has a history to circa 1812. Up until around 1880 with the invention of pizza in Naples, Italy, Europeans thought the tomato was poisonous, since it is a member of the deadly nightshade family of plants… as are potatoes, eggplant, and peppers.

But, the NYT was once respected. Plagiarism was unheard of there until the 2000s.

Same thing for their recipes — once-respected.

I mean, only the NYT would put GREEN PEAS in guacamole. No kidding.

Bleargh!🤮

The mere thought of it is so utterly detestable, that I refuse to link any semblance of it. You’ll have to do that. Merely telling you, and others, should be enough warning. A word to the wise is sufficient.

And that’s but one MAJOR reason why I no longer read their recipes. They’re whacked out. And to add insult to injury, they expect you to pay them for the privilege of reading any of it… including the miserable recipes.

But, believe it, or else, curiosity got the best of me and I perused a tomato soup recipe at the site.

Yeah… yeah… yeah… I know. Curiosity killed the cat — right?

Fortunately, I’m not a cat. Nor do I play one on Broadway… or teevee.

I’ve known how to make tomato soup with numerous variations for quite some time. It’s dead simple to make. And quick! And one way I’ve done it, and to some extent, still do, is to use tomato paste. Just thin to the desired consistency, add the desired seasonings, and VIOLA!

But I was curious to know what else I could do, what other ingredients I could add, to really make that red stuff SHINE! And that was my motivation.

The Taylor Swift Economy

Tomorrow (February 1) is the first day of Black History Month. BHM is also the 3-letter FAA designation for Birmingham, AL, sometimes also formerly known as “Bombingham.”

Tomorrow is also Dark Chocolate Day — no kidding.

For those who say “there’s no such thing as ‘white chocolate,’” there really is. It just has none of the brown solids that give chocolate its characteristic appearance. Kinda’ like the absence of melanin in humans, which gives our skin, hair and eyes, color. Without it, we’d all be white as a sheet. That condition is called albinism.

And, tomorrow is also Decorating with Candy Day. That should be fun! Especially with Peppermint Patty, Tootsie Roll, Mary Jane, Hershey’s Kiss, Almond Joy, and Bit-O-Honey!

And, to top it all off, tomorrow is also

Yes, the Church continues controlling people through their sex lives.

If you know someone with a clitoris, you should read this.

---

excerpted from:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/24/my-life-with-shere-hite-the-forgotten-feminist-who-changed-sex-for-ever

My life with Shere Hite: The forgotten feminist who changed sex for ever

photo caption:  Shere Hite in 1997. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

When her books about women, men and the clitoris caused outrage, the bestselling writer was forced to flee the US. She ended up in my small ex-council flat in London – her head still full of revolution.

by Joanna Briscoe, Wednesday, 24 Jan 2024 05.00 GMT

Shere Hite was a legend of her time who landed in my small ex-council flat when I was in my 20s. She was two decades older and seemed to me to be an extraordinary, exotic creature transmuted from celluloid into strange reality in my home. To those over 50, Hite – a pivotal figure in the second wave feminist movement – was a much-photographed writer and sexologist: A mix between Germaine Greer and a movie star. To those younger, the name draws a blank. Hence the title of Nicole Newnham’s superb new documentary, The Disappearance of Shere Hite (https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/disappearance-shere-hite-documentary-feminist-sexologist-stylish-dynamic-its-subject#:~:text=You’re%20likely%20familiar%20with,selling%20book%20of%20all%20time.).

 
I had known about this feminist author from my mother’s bookshelf when I was a child, read about her in Cosmopolitan as a teenager and was quite fascinated by the idea of her by the time I was 25 and went to interview her.
 
Born in Missouri in 1942, she published The Hite Report in 1976, which has sold more than 50m copies and is by some estimates the 30th bestselling book of all time. It was a landmark that brought her wealth and fame and upended the dialogue on female sexuality, most notably by proving that most women orgasmed through clitoral stimulation rather than penetration. Her later surprising findings about male insecurity in The Hite Report on Male Sexuality (1981), and female marital dissatisfaction in Women & Love: A Cultural Revolution in Progress (1987), were anathema to the increasing conservatism of the US in the 1980s. The backlash against her and her work was so extreme that eventually she renounced her American citizenship.
 
…
 
By the time I got to know her in 1990, she was in trouble. She had been the victim of vicious media attacks, doorstepping, public humiliation and death threats, all of which contributed to the loss of her American publishers and of her ability to make a living. Her findings on sex – now widely accepted – caused outrage, and her appearance was used by critics to detract from the seriousness of her work at a time when there were rigid expectations of what a feminist firebrand should look like. She could also be difficult, it has to be said. Most notoriously, she apparently attacked a limo driver who had called her “dear”.

—MORE—

---

 

Note the line “She had been the victim of vicious media attacks, doorstepping, public humiliation and death threats, all of which contributed to the loss of her American publishers and of her ability to make a living.”

This news item is brand new — published January 24, 2024 — and supports 100% what

Trump Wins 2024 – What could it look like?

Like it, or not, politics often thrives on fear — for the Republicans, especially, and particularly — but truth be told, the Democrats do their fair share of fear-mongering, as well, just not to the extent that GOPers do it. There are a variety of tricks — yes, tricks — that both party’s politicians do to ingratiate themselves to the electorate, and fear-baiting is but one.

And whether, or not, one considers the following fear-baiting, is up to the reader to decide.

But suffice it to say, rarely in the history of American politics has there ever been a time in which Democrats and so many Republicans have coalesced against a candidate, presumptive, or not, of their own party. The former, 45th POTUS is that man.

Many have said that, he is a danger to this nation, to its founding principles, and to liberty itself. The list goes on, and on, and on, and on.

There are numerous reasons why I count myself in that camp, though none of them are based upon fear, and rather, are based upon what he did during his term in office. Never before in the history of our nation has one man attempted to overthrow it. Never before in the history of our nation has any man (or woman) elected to the highest office in the land had utterly ZERO experience in elected office, public or military service, or volunteer service in any capacity, in any organization, whatsoever. And try as one might, there is little-to-nothing good which can be said about him.

When someone tells you who they are, believe them. That man has not only done so, but demonstrated as much. And based upon what he has done, and what he has said, it seems evident enough that he could do, and quite possibly would do, many, most, or worse, even all of the following.

Hey, I “get it,” which is to say that, I understand why and what it is that people see in that man. They like his bull-in-a-china-shop style, his take-no-prisoners approach, his my-way-or-the-highway manner, his bluff, bluster and false bravado, and they believe every word that drips from his lips, as if he were some type of prophet, some type of übermensch, or super-man, as Nietzsche called his concocted idyllic mythical character. It is all interpreted by his followers as “strength,” and “resolve.”

Yet… it is anything but.

But, FEAR NOT!

These words are worth remembering, and repeating, as you cast your ballot in November:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.”

— Opening paragraph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1st Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933

NOTE: The following is a hypothetical scenario, HOWEVER….

---

[Every incident mentioned in this article is based on an actual statement or action by Donald Trump, the people closely surrounding him, or something Trump has praised about his role model Victor Orbán.]

It was a hell of a year, 2025: the first year of the First Reich (as those formerly called Democrats referred to it) or The New America as the GOP now refers to our nation. One people, one nation, one leader: America, President-for-life Trump tells us, is now “truly great.”

It started with the election of November 2024, when the No Labels candidacy of Larry Hogan and Joe Manchin pulled enough electoral votes away from Biden — who was more than 10 million popular votes ahead of Trump — that none of the three tickets hit the necessary 270 Electoral College votes to win the White House.

It was a scenario similar to 1824 when John Quincy Adams lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson but, because William Crawford and Henry Clay were also running for president, neither Adams or Jackson hit the threshold with the Electoral College and the vote went to the House of Representatives, which made Adams president in a series of backroom deals known to historians as the “Corrupt Bargain.”

In a similar way, the election of 2024 was thrown into the House of Representatives, per the 12th Amendment, with each state having one single vote. Since 26 states had Republican-controlled congressional delegations and only 23 had Democratic-controlled delegations (Pennsylvania is evenly split), the House voted 26-24 for Donald Trump to become the next president. He didn’t even need to threaten his vice president or invoke a mob.

At his swearing-in, Trump announced that he was going to fulfill his “dictator for a day” promise and pardoned himself, all Republicans who were in Congress in January 2021 and helped organize or support the attack on the Capitol, and all the January 6th seditionists.

He then announced that the 24 Democrats leading their congressional delegations who’d voted against him in the House were “guilty of sedition against the United States.”  As he spoke, each was arrested and taken into custody.

The arrests, particularly of

Oh, good grief! Honey, call the exterminator. Pest Donald Watkins is back.

Donald V. Watkins, Sr., then a licensed attorney, gestures in Federal court in closing arguments representing himself in USA v. Donald Watkins, Jr., et al.

Donald V. Watkins, Sr. is a never-ending source of entertainment.

Readers will recall that Mr. Watkins, a formerly-respected attorney, was convicted by a jury of his peers on several Federal charges.

“Donald Watkins, Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy.
Donald Watkins, Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.”

Press Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/father-and-son-sentenced-prison-multimillion-dollar-investment-fraud-scheme

“Donald Watkins Sr., 70, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Donald Watkins Jr., 47, of Birmingham, Alabama, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the Northern District of Alabama. Judge Bowdre also ordered Donald Watkins Sr. to serve five years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $14,000,100.00 and ordered Donald Watkins Jr. to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution jointly with his father in the amount of $13,850,000.

“The father and son co-defendants were convicted on March 8, 2019, following a jury trial that lasted over two weeks. Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.

“According to evidence presented at trial, between approximately 2007 and 2013, Donald Watkins Sr. sold “economic participations” and promissory notes connected with Masada Resource Group, a company that he ran as manager and CEO. Investors paid more than $10 million dollars after Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. falsely represented that the money would be used to grow Masada, which Donald Watkins Sr. described as a “pre-revenue” company that supposedly had technology that could convert garbage into ethanol. Instead of investing the money into Masada, however, Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. diverted funds to pay personal bills and the debts of their other business ventures, the evidence showed. Victim money was used to pay for Donald Watkins Sr.’s alimony, hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, personal loan payments, a private jet and clothing purchased by Donald Watkins Jr. and his wife. Emails introduced at trial also showed that Donald Watkins Sr. and Donald Watkins Jr. planned to obtain millions of dollars for these purposes from one victim on multiple occasions, when they knew that this victim and other victims trusted them to put their money to use in growing Masada.

“Donald Watkins Sr. also was convicted of defrauding Alamerica Bank, an entity in which Donald Watkins Sr. held a controlling interest through his ownership of Alamerica Bank Corp stock, the evidence showed. In order to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation expenses associated with another one of Donald Watkins Sr.’s business ventures, Donald Watkins Sr. executed a plan to use a straw borrower to take out money from Alamerica Bank and use those funds to pay the defendant’s litigation expenses. This straw borrower—Donald Watkins Sr.’s long-time mentor and a prominent figure in the Birmingham community—took over $900,000 in loans from Alamerica Bank and then immediately permitted Donald Watkins Sr. to use those funds for his personal benefit, the evidence showed.”

To be certain, Mr. Watkins has some very respectable accomplishments, notable among them, he

Racism in America, starring Nikki Haley and Tim Scott

Nikki Haley recently said,

“We had plenty of racism that we had to deal with, but…”
“We’re not a racist country, Brian.”
“We’ve never been a racist country.”
“I know, I faced racism when I was growing up.”

Tim Scott recently said,

“America is not a racist country.”
“No, America is not racist.”

How should those statements be interpreted?

That America was not

The Three Fifths Compromise, numerous Indian Wars, Trail of Tears, Civil War, Jim Crow laws, suffrage for women, and the still-ongoing struggle for equal Civil Rights resonate so very loudly from their myriad volumes over the years that it practically drowns out all claims otherwise.

Germany wasn’t founded upon Nazism, and yet, Adolph Hitler rose to power, and started World War II.

We know how that ended.

And then, when she was in a GOP campaign town hall event in North Conway, New Hampshire, an attendee asked her, “What was the cause of the United States civil war?”

Haley paused momentarily, huffed and puffed, and said in an irritated manner and tone, “Well, don’t come with an easy question.”

Nikki Haley waves to RNC attendees

She then paused, and continued, saying “I think the cause of the civil war was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

Even with the most casual and cursory observation, one can plainly see that, when Nikki Haley speaks about herself, and her experiences with discrimination as a brown-skinned woman in the United States, a child of Sikh Indian émigrés, and the discrimination she faced, then has the unmitigated audacity and gall to say some of the preposterously absurd, and blatantly wrong things that she has, she does so with a forked tongue, from both sides of her mouth.

Is she a “good” woman? Ethical, honest, fair, and just?

Most likely, yes. But there’s another problem to factor into that calculus, one now common in the Formerly-Grand Old Party.

It’s certainly understandable that such ignominies in our nation’s history would like to be forgotten by some, which is exactly why Florida MAGAt Man in Chief Ron DeSantis and his henchmen in the State of Florida’s MAGAt-infested legislature are doing everything they possibly can to

Beat Your Chicken Meat: Why & How

No animals were harmed in the production of this entry.
However, a few did sacrifice their lives in order to make it happen.
A huge shout-out to the pig –and– to the chicken.
THANK YOU!
For all you do, this recipe’s for you!

CAUTION: Images of dead animal parts follow.
Only the hungry should view.

---

Today is New Year’s Day.

Woo hoo! One more time to get it right. One more trip around the sun.

We’ll see what happens.

In the mean time…

I forgot to pop the bubbly last night.

It wasn’t French… neither was it Spanish, but rather, was Italian — a lovely, inexpensive Prosecco (DOC), a sparkling, extra dry, 2022 vintage, from Bardolino, located along the eastern coast of Lake Garda (Italy’s largest lake), in the province of Verona, in the very north-north-central portion of Italy, directly northwest of Verona.

Slices of chicken cordon bleu, christened with a Dijon béchamel sauce (butter, cream, milk, flour, garlic powder, Dijon mustard, Parmigiano Reggiano). Background, whole wheat crackers with Fromager d’Affinois, a cow’s milk French double-cream soft cheese.

Again, it rests in the refrigerator, unopened.

And the traditional Southern New Year’s fare of greens (mustard/turnip/collard) cooked with smoked hog jowl/ham hock/smoked turkey neck, onion/garlic, its pot-likker combined with the buttermilk cracklin’ cornbread, and black-eyed peas, with green onions… was absent.

Instead, Chicken Cordon Bleu was on the menu.

The term “cordon bleu” translates from French literally as “rope blue,” though long figuratively interpreted as blue ribbon, is a flattened, often rolled, seasoned chicken breast with a slice of ham & melted cheese in the middle, coated in fine breadcrumbs, sautéed, then baked. It is served with a Dijon mustard-based cream & butter sauce, made with flour, flavored with Parmigiano-Reggiano, S&P, and thinned with whole milk.

First thing you need are the ingredients, and they are:
Chicken Breasts
Ham Slices

Smithfield Chinese Foods to Fire 26 Utah Farms

Wishing for you, and yours, a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, y’all!

If you’re going to dance, you MUST pay the piper, and the piper calls the tunes.

Don’t talk with your mouth full.

––//––

Smithfield Foods Ends Contracts With 26 US Pig Farms, Citing Oversupply

December 06, 2023 at 10:39 AM
https://www.agweek.com/livestock/hogs/smithfield-foods-ends-contracts-with-26-us-pig-farms-citing-oversupply

CHICAGO, Dec. 5 (Reuters) — Smithfield Foods said on Tuesday, Dec. 5, it will end contracts with 26 hog farms in Utah, in the latest contraction by the world’s largest pork processor in the face of an industry oversupply.

Wan Long, RIGHT, Chairman and CEO of WH Group, formerly called Shuanghui International, shakes hands with Charles Larry Pope, President and CEO of Smithfield Foods, at a press conference of WH Group in Hong Kong, China, 14 April 2014.
Two subsidiaries of Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co have gained access to the Russian market, after its parent company — WH Group Ltd, the world’s largest pork producer— acquired US pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc and bought a stake in Campofrio Food Group SA of Spain, the largest pan-European packaged meat products company, last year. The two Heilongjiang-based companies — Wangkui Shuanghui Beidahuang Food Co and Heilongjiang Baoquanling Shuanghui Food Industry Co — got the official nod after their production facilities and products were examined and assessed by officials from Russia’s meat products watchdog, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, in August, Shuanghui Development said on its website. To widen its import market for meat, the Russian government agreed to import meat products from five Chinese suppliers by the end of August, indicating the nation has taken a flexible strategy to balance the supply and demand relationship, while the US and its European allies are trying to squeeze the country’s trade space in the world market.

Pork producers have been losing money as pig prices and consumer demand for pork have struggled at a time of high costs for labor and other expenses.

Smithfield, owned by Hong Kong’s WH Group, said it will terminate employees who support its dealings with farms that raise hogs under production contracts. Layoffs may total about

Why I Am A Chili Snob

A longtime dear friend from Germany recently asked my opinion of a recipe that purported to be “chili.”

I replied, stating that, “I consider myself somewhat of a chili “snob,” per se, so I might ~not~ be the best one to ask for that reason.

“But you asked, and so I’ll give it to you straight.

“Simply put… NO!

“HELLS TO THE NO!
“It’s a vegetable stew.

“AUTHENTIC, GENUINE TEXAS CHILI HAS NO VEGETABLES. PERIOD.
“MEAT & CHILIES ONLY.
“AND NOT GROUND BEEF, EITHER.

“I’ll share a superior recipe w you via email,” and sent several factual and historic articles and links to prize-winning recipes for authentic Texas Chili.

A couple days later, I followed up, inquiring in a SMS (text) message sent earlier in the day, and asked, “How’d your vegetable stew turn out? That is, of course, presuming that you made the recipe which you’d earlier shared with me. (And I rather suspect that you did.)😂”

That is, of course, the vegetable stew attempting to masquerade as “chili.”

Gilbert Martinez , LEFT, son of founder of El Fenix restaurants and Dallas Morning News columnist Frank X. Tolbert, dressed in Mexican sombreros at an autographing party of Tolbert’s newest book “A Bowl of Red,” a history of his favorite food, chili con carne. Photo is stamped dated August 13, 1966. (Clint Grant/The Dallas Morning News)(staff photographer)
Mr. Tolbert (d.1984) was considered the preeminent Texas historian, and enjoyed a long career writing “Tolbert’s Texas,” a renown column for The Dallas Morning News from the 1950s until his death, and authored a book on the dish chili con carne, operated a restaurant on Main Street in Grapevine, TX, now still run by his children, ad co-founded the annual World Chili Championship held in the Big Bend-area town of Terlingua, TX.

I did find it fascinating that the VERY FIRST instruction was:
“In a skillet over low heat, toast a blend of your favorite chili spices for enhanced flavor. Common chili spices include chili powder, cumin, and paprika.”

And here’s the kicker:
A dish, or recipe, does NOT need “enhanced flavor” — unless it is devoid of flavor to begin with.

Continuing the criticism, first we have NO FLAVOR, then we have a struggle with “texture,” vis a vis, “Combining the sauce with the uncooked meat gives your chili a finer texture,”

-and-

“These veggies add great flavor and texture to the chili.”

We return several times to the matter of

Tommy Tuberville is Putin’s Pal

It’s painfully obvious that Putin is controlling Tuberville, playing him like a foolball.
Yes, FOOLball.

The worthless hot steaming pile of filthy, stinking pig excrement from Alabama known as “Tommy Tuberville” is a FRIEND OF VLADIMIR PUTIN, DOING HIS BIDDING.

Yes, Alabama Repugnicunt Senator Tommy Tuberville is doing Putin’s bidding.

Traitor Tuberville’s actions are an important part of Putin’s Master Plan to weaken America militarily by striking at its center of operations — senior level career military officers — and to demoralize those same members, and others, to weaken their will to fight.

It’s classical psychological warfare tactics.

Welcome to the “modern” Repugnicunt party!

Make America Weak Again

Helping America become a “shithole country.”

Putin elected him.

Americans did not.

——//——

Senators Try To Get Around Traitor Tuberville’s Blockade Of Military Promotions

Traitor Tommy Tuberville, a Repugnicunt Alabama Senator, is 9 months into his one-man blockade of several hundreds of military promotions — which he says he is doing to protest

Thank A Penis

NPR published a brief, blurby-type article about “Naked Attraction,” a dating game show streaming on HBO, acquired from England’s Channel 4, the publicly-owned, commercially-operated English broadcaster separate from the BBC, which is paid for by commercials. Apparently, the show’s quite popular, and for whatever reason, has created quite a stir here in the States.

As you might suspect, Naked Attraction is yet another naked pseudo “reality” type show in which the contestants participate unclothed, which, as Neda Ulaby, who reports on arts, entertainment, and cultural trends for NPR’s Arts Desk, wrote, has a fairly simple concept. “Here’s the gimmick: One contestant faces six boxes that contain six naked people. Bit by bit, their bodies are revealed, starting from the bottom. The contestant eliminates possible future dating partners based on the body parts they see.”

Professor Dr. Jeffrey P. Jones, PhD, Executive Director, George Foster Peabody Awards, and Professor at the University of Georgia, authored a book on HBO’s history, was interviewed for the article and stated the most likely reason for the show’s newfound attention:

“They are showing full male frontal nudity, and that’s maybe what’s catching a few breaths. This is marketing that happens without the HBO or Netflix marketing departments.”

In the article, Ms. Ulaby asked a blasé question: “But if nudity is a gimmick that gets them — what happens when nudity gets old?”

Professor Dr. Jones, who earned his undergrad & master’s at Auburn, and PhD at UT Austin, had a succinct reply for that:

“People will never get tired of nudity. It’s on frescoes all through Europe. Nudity is with us forever. Frankly, it’s a central part of who and what we are as humans, and we’re going to tell stories about it.”

On a personal level, I’m glad to know, that at least in a minor way, American society is finally, slowly acknowledging that men have penises, since we so rarely see them in film, or television. That fact seems to have escaped our Puritanical Evangelical brethren who eschew acknowledging that foundational core value of our being, which is that we all owe our existence to a penis.

And to be fair, there’s necessity in the ovaries & fallopian tubes, (manufacturing & delivery), vagina (sometimes termed “introitus,” or driveway) and, uterus (the housing center), as well.

But we in America have shamed the human body, have instilled via extreme, fear-based, punishment-exacting religious indoctrination, a base of shame-based guilt, for no good reason, save to perpetuate a system of dogmatic indoctrination, and legal articulation of extreme rightwing radical religious rhetoric.

It is unimaginable that in this year, era, and age, that

Save The World from Cow Farts!

In The Netherlands, A Farmers Party Taps Into Widespread Discontent With Government

Dutch Farmers Party Gains Popularity Ahead Of November Elections

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1199431374/netherlands-farmer-citizen-movement-bbb-dutch-elections

“It’s probably arising from a deeper-felt feeling that society is changing too fast, and not in a direction that people appreciate — and, also these new measures that probably have to be implemented to protect the environment are also being enforced upon us for no good reasons by outside forces.”

— Professor Dr. Wouter van der Brug, PhD, Political Scientist, University of Amsterdam

Wouter van der Brug is Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests focus on comparative research in collective political behavior, in particular electoral behavior, right-wing populism and political parties. He published monographs, edited volumes and more than 80 scientific articles in various international journals, such as the European Journal of Political Research, the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, West European Politics, etc.

“People in Holland have the feeling that the government’s needs are more important than the needs of the citizens. A lot of people are worried about their future. They’re worried about, ‘can my children buy a house in the coming years?’ They’re worried about all the costs that are soaring, the costs of food and gas. People can’t pay their bills anymore because everything is getting so expensive and they find in us a party that they trust.”

— Caroline van der Plas, Member of Parliament, Founder of the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, in Dutch, the BoerBurgerBeweging, and acronym, BBB

---

Dutch farmer Wilbert van der Post is worried that the Dutch government’s new nitrogen reduction rules will force him, a fourth-generation farmer, out of business. He plans to vote for the Farmer-Citizens Movement, known in the Netherlands by its acronym, BBB, on election day in November. – Rob Schmitz/NPR

The Netherlands is one of the world’s Top 5 greatest food exporting nations (several reliably authoritative sources place it 2nd in value and volume), and for a country with over 17 million inhabitants (over 10 million more than Maryland), and about the same square area of Maryland (which is 16,000²miles+/-),  that’s a significant accomplishment. The United States, of course, leads the world in food exports, far and away eclipsing the Netherlands value and volume, by at least 3.5 times. Comparatively, New York State, with 19.6 million, and Pennsylvania with 12.9 million residents, are the 2 states whose populations are nearest the Netherlands.

The Netherlands government states that “the Dutch agricultural sector exports some € 65 billion of agricultural produce annually,” which comprises 17.5% of all Dutch exports, and fully 10% of the Dutch economy’s GDP and employment is derived from its horticultural and agricultural sector, while 25% of its exports are shipped to Germany, its greatest trade partner.

Since the 1600s the Dutch have long been known for their trading and shipping prowess, and in 2017, estimates were that the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy comprised about 1.6% of GDP, while services and industry comprised 70.2% and 17.9%, respectively. Last year (2022), Dutch food exports increased 9.4%, which was valued at over €100 billion. The year prior (2021), Germany imported the most Dutch food, valued at €26.3 billion, followed by Belgium €12.1 billion, France €8.6 billion, and the UK with €8.6 billion.

The Dutch share the Germans’ appreciation of efficiency, and increased efficiencies in agriculture have contributed significantly to increased production and profitability, with reliance upon greenhouses — one company has 24,000 acres under canopy (an area roughly 2x the size of Manhattan) — to supply enough vegetables to feed the nation, and to export, much of which is bound for Western European nations. In fact, on average, Dutch farms typically use only ½ gallon of water to grow around a pound of tomatoes, while the global average is over 28 gallons. The greenhouses use less fertilizer and significantly less water than traditional outdoor farming in soil, and can grow in an area of 1 acre what would take at least 10 acres of traditional farming to produce.

Wageningen Economic Research and Statistics Netherlands, on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, found that in 2021,

Explaining and Understanding Alabama

Politico:

In Federal court, Alabama Republicans again defend not creating a 2nd majority Black district.

–//–

Alabama is ALWAYS “itching for a fight” because residents feel as if someone is forcing them to do something against their self-interest, or will, or that they’re going to suffer some kind of loss.

In order to motivate Alabamans, they must feel like they’re against something, that something, or someone, is going to take something away from them. It matters not what — it could be their household garbage — but they will no longer be in control of it, because someone is going to take it away from them, and therefore, they must oppose that oppressive, governmental edict-by-force issued from upon high by an alien enemy power, that they must “draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny.”

The astute will recognize, no doubt, the line uttered by the now-late former Governor George C. Wallace in his infamous “stand in the schoolhouse door” speech at Foster Auditorium in June 1963, on the campus of the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa.

Harmony and peace are “adults-only beverages” and Alabama cannot yet drink to the fullest from that wellspring, that fountain of life, a refreshingly cool, bubbling artesian well, and with all its other infantile behaviors, still suckles the teat of insecurity, demanding to be diapered and fed, to have attention given to it regardless, still incapable of sleeping through the night.

Mike Rogers-R,AL3 is restrained by Richard Hudson-R,NC8 from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after Mike Rogers confronted Matt Gaetz because Gaetz voted “PRESENT” in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), late Friday night, January 6, 2023. Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 was finally elected as Speaker of the House (SOTH) on the 15th round of voting.

Alabama loved George Wallace.

They loved him so very much, that they elected him as Governor an unprecedented 4 times… not counting the time he was the puppet master, pulling the strings of his wife Lurleen’s campaign and her brief time in office as Governess.

Wallace was the state’s 45th individual to have served as Governor, and was elected as Governor in 1962, 1970, 1974, and 1982.

Later in life, after suffering near death following Arthur Bremer’s assassination attempt upon him while campaigning for the Office of President, Wallace had been paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet which had lodged in his spinal cord, and claimed to have changed afteerward, to have had a Christian religious conversion experience before he won election to an unprecedented nonconsecutive 4th term in office as Governor. As part of that conversion experience, he expressed contrition for his wicked deeds towards the Negro/Black community in Alabama — which were most notably expressed as bigotry, racism and segregation — directly to the Black community in Birmingham, Montgomery, and elsewhere, from the pulpits of their churches.

They believed him.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham examined polling data, voter turnout, and other official records from the 1982 General Election, found a level of support for Wallace among the Black community so very great, so that without it,

We have GOOD NEWS! (For a change.) Thanks to Taylor Swift!

There’s plenty to cry about these days.

Like him, or loathe him, the former, 45th POTUS has been indicted… not once, not twice, but several times in Federal and State courts on a variety of matters, some stemming from his time as President, others before, though the most serious ones deal with national security from his actions taken as an official while in office, and attempting to stay in office knowingly using blatantly violent and dishonest means.

Not good.

That a former President could credibly be accused of a crime — any crime — is a sad state of affairs in our nation.

Approval ratings for Congress — ALL of those critters, House and Senate, in BOTH parties (why are there not many more viable party options?) — is at an all-time low.

Confidence and trust in the SCOTUS is dropping faster than a rock following their law-making actions AND discoveries that Justices Thomas and Alito for many years have been receiving numerous gifts of costly luxurious trips from wealthy partisan political donors without reporting them — as required by law — in addition to other special considerations which they’ve received, all of which are unavailable to ordinary everyday people.

And despite the several good things accomplished by the sitting POTUS with the economy —

• passage of the CHIPS Act,
• passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill,
• the lowest unemployment since 1969,
• more people employed and working than at any time in American history,
• creation of 11 million good-paying jobs,

• including 750,000 manufacturing jobs,
• $300 billion private sector domestic manufacturing investments,
• more judges confirmed to the Federal judiciary since John F. Kennedy,
• numerous approvals of large-scale offshore wind energy projects,
• the end of the COVID-19 pandemic,

• rescued a tanked economy with the American Rescue Plan,
• reopening closed schools and businesses,
• reduced inflation with the Inflation Reduction Act,
• enabling Medicare to negotiate medicines’ prices,
• reducing the price of life-saving insulin medication to $35/month,

• capping seniors’ out of pocket pharmacy expenses at $2000,
• reducing the price of gasoline on average by $1.60/gallon by releasing an historic volume from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,
• protected the rights of our military service members, their family and health,
• signed legislation reinforcing marriage rights for interracial and same-sex couples,
• enacting non-discrimination protections in health care, housing, education, and employment for marginalized minority groups,

• removed bans from military service for them, etc.,

— some folks apparently still don’t like him, particularly his age, which at 80, he’s the oldest POTUS ever, older even (not by much) than his predecessor (who is aged 77), and who is campaigning for a return to office under a growing storm cloud of criminal accusations at the Federal and State levels.

Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, aged 81, fell and obtained a head injury (concussion) a few months back, and apparently (according to numerous Congressional members and others) hasn’t fully recovered, as evidenced by his highly-public going-blank/mute episode before news cameras and observers in the Capitol building. “I was sandbagged,” he said to POTUS BIDEN of the episode when called to inquire about his welfare.

California’s senior U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein is aged 90 and

Alabama: A State of Perpetual Infancy

“Your Cadillac
Has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track.”

Despite the fact that an adult human being may be in the form of a 70+ year old body, that is neither proof, nor evidence of, maturity.

The presupposition, however, is that emotional/psychological development parallels physical development, that it is unified, or integrated in the person.

However, that’s not always the case.

Some individuals are still developmentally stuck at the age of 10. Their behavior tells any observer everything they truly need to know. Their selfish insecurities are always on full display, and even the most casual of observers can easily and readily note that something is grossly awry.

Alabama was the 22nd state to have been admitted to the union, which occurred in 1819, having been first separated from the Mississippi Territory 2 years earlier, when Mississippi obtained statehood. One would imagine, nay hope, that after 209 years, the people would have figured out a few things. Sadly, that is not the case in Alabama. Even their 1901 bloated state constitution — by far, the lengthiest of any in the world, and which voters rescinded and replaced in 2022 — is evidence of that fact. The new constitution has 11 amendments.

While Alabama’s official state motto is “Audemus jura nostra defendere” (Latin, “we dare defend our rights”), its unofficial state motto is “Thank God for Mississippi,” for even though it was separated from the Mississippi Territory in 1817 by Congressional action, it could be thought of as a somewhat unsuccessful separation of conjoined twins. Not all surgeries are successful, nor achieve the desired or intended results.

Alabama’s 45th Governor of Alabama, having served two nonconsecutive terms and two consecutive terms as a Democrat may be best known for saying, “I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

Alabama is one such example.

For many, there are 2 things that immediately come to mind when hearing the word “Alabama”:

Badger State Voters Say They’ll Vote For BIDEN, Reject Trump & DeSantis

Republicans, at least those of a sound mind, are whistling past the graveyard because of what now seems to be a lack of support by the unwashed masses (i.e., being those who supported his candidacy the first, and second times), for Mr. Mar-a-Lago MAGA Man’s third run at the Oval Office. Some of them, at least.

As with any candidate, particularly those who have ever held any public office, as he has, support is often an ever-changing thing. You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.* And the Carnival Barker in Chief knows, understands, and realizes that quite well… which is why, in part, he chose to have a campaign rally in a teeny-tiny town in South Carolina — Pickens, a town encompassing a mere 3 square miles (that’s not a typo — THREE POINT ZERO FIVE), with 3388 population. Pickens is the county seat of Pickens County, South Carolina — population, 131,404 — and is situated in the state’s western horn, which northern border abuts North Carolina for approximately 8.5 miles.

There is, of course, a Wal-Mart Super Center and a Tractor Supply store in town.

Things just LOOK better, as in appearing as if there are massive numbers of people, much like pouring one gallon of water into a pint-sized container; the cup runneth over. On the other hand, pouring a pint into a gallon container is hardly impressive, especially if the containers depicted appear “equal” in size (though they’re not).

But those who have their heads screwed on straight know better than to lend their support to a Federally-indicted candidate for public office — one who undoubtedly will be facing MORE Federal charges, including some from the State of Georgia.

But the Prevaricator in Chief knows full well that what things LOOK like, i.e., what they appear to be, are often NOT what they are in Trump World. And that is why he loves the charade of appearances. It is a form of manipulation — he is the corrupt potter, and you are the malleable manipulated clay.

Think of it like a magician’s show — it’s all sleight of hand.

So, Faux Newz recently put a spin onto the greater matter, that being the question of who the 2024 GOP Presidential candidate nominee will be, and interviewed at least TWO people in South Carolina Republican politics. That, after Marquette University Law School published their 75th Wisconsin survey, which revealed VERY unfavorable findings for Badger State Republicans — the worst being the discovery that a significant number of GOP voters would vote FOR the incumbent POTUS, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., rather than for either The Florida Man, or his rival, Chief Wanna’ Be Again.

https://law.marquette.edu/poll/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/MLSP75Toplines.html

When asked “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump or haven’t you heard enough about them yet?” an astounding 65% of respondents replied

Texas House GOPers Prepare to Barbecue AG Ken Paxton-R before Memorial Day

This is HUGE!

---

Texas House Committee Moves To Impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton

https://www.kut.org/politics/2023-05-25/texas-house-committee-moves-to-impeach-attorney-general-ken-paxton
by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán
Published May 25, 2023 at 4:57 PM CDT
Updated May 25, 2023 at 9:27 PM CDT

A Texas House panel adopted 20 articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday.

The decision by the House General Investigating Committee comes a day after the panel heard from investigators who shared a long list of Paxton’s alleged illegal acts aimed at protecting a political donor.

“After a period of time for your review and reflections, I intend to call up the resolution adopting the articles of impeachment,” Chairman Andrew Murr, R-Junction, told House members Thursday evening.

It’s unclear when the full House might vote on the impeachment resolution. The final day of the legislative session is Monday.

If the House votes to impeach, the Republican attorney general would be suspended from his role pending action from the Texas Senate.

The articles of impeachment include disregard of official duty, misapplication of public resources, constitutional bribery and obstruction of justice.

The panel’s decision to move to impeach comes after four House-hired investigators revealed on Wednesday they uncovered evidence of multiple violations of the law and Paxton’s oath of office, including abuse of official capacity, misuse of official information, and retaliation and official oppression.

Many of the allegations were previously known, but Wednesday was the first time they were discussed publicly and in such detail.

Paxton has vehemently denied the allegations.

In a statement published on his Twitter account Thursday, Paxton said

WOULD YOU PLEASE… NO MORE ALL CAPS!!

I LOATHE ALL CAPS.

ALWAYS HAVE.

ALL CAPS emerged in the teletype era, when ONLY CAPITAL LETTERS WERE ON THE MACHINES, which emerged in the early-to-mid 1800s, i.e., c.1835-1850.

That is now approaching 200 years ago — 188, to be exact. They’re a close relative to Morse code. It’s a modern-day dinosaur.

I’ve seen a few teletype machines. They’re ogres of monstrosity. My now-late father used ‘em in the Navy during the Korean War. I recollect seeing one being used in a small hometown FM radio station that broadcast in monoaural using a block format.

Yeah… THAT OLD.

By the way, the term “teletype” used to describe a teleprinter, first came from the Teletype Corporation in 1928, which trademarked the term, and as with xerography, now called photocopying, early copiers were Xerox brand, and people “xeroxed” papers, instead of making printed copies. Both terms, teletype, and xerox, became ubiquitously associated with both firm’s products, and in turn, became widely used generic descriptors.

The first station where I worked had one collecting dust in an unused corner near the rear entrance by the tube transmitter. Fortunately, the station’s owner had wisely transitioned to a dot-matrix printer for the AP news copy, using tractor-fed, acordion-folded paper.

The 2nd station where I worked used satellite dishes, and computers.

Digitization through the computer and Internet has changed EVERYTHING. LITERALLY, EVERY THING — including broadcast. On the whole, in my considered opinion, it’s been a blessing, but every rose has its thorn, as the saying goes (unless you buy ‘em from a florist, but then they have no fragrance, either), and that thorn in many cases is human behavior, which historically has almost always been problematic, somebodies wanting to get over on (take unfair advantage of) others, resistance to change, etc.

Now, many shows, including radio, are

RECIPE: Vegetarian Stock Powder

Over the years, I’ve met, known, and been friends with several vegetarians in my lifetime, and quite frankly, all of them have been very pleasant people, kind, generous, giving, well-mannered, studious, professionals, and in most cases, religious, specifically, Seventh Day Adventist, a Christian sect that practices the Jewish custom of meeting on Saturdays (the Sabbath) for corporate worship, and resting from their labors.

They weren’t at all radicalized or “high pressure” animal rights activists, mean greenies, or other off-the-wall types — just plain ol’ nice, family, folk.

And as a tenet of their faith, they are vegetarian — some lacto-ovo, some pescatarian, some vegan. And you know you’ve made friends with them when they invite you to share a meal with them — that’s true of any people, religious, or not — and I have always considered it great honor to share a meal with them. One such time was Thanksgiving several years ago, when I was

Your Relaxing Sunday Read Is HERE! (Finally, eh?)

What do Vanna White, and Pat Sajak of the television gameshow Wheel of Fortune, a gay British Scientist, an American science educator-turned author/publisher, and World War II have in common?

You’re about to find out.

HEADLINE:

The U.S. has evacuated diplomats in Sudan amid fierce fighting : NPR

Gripe the First 1.):

WTF?!? Evacuate 70 diplomats FIRST, and totally screw the 16,000 Americans resident in the nation because it’s “too dangerous,” and merely tell them to “shelter in place”? GODDAMN! THAT IS NOT HOW WE AMERICANS DO THINGS! Whose cockamamie, harebrained off-kilter idea was THAT? Ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey? Secretary of State Anthony Blinken? Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III? U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? POTUS BIDEN? EXACTLY WHO gave the go ahead for such a cowardly act?

I mean, America is NO STRANGER TO DANGER. And for

The Wild Wild West of Cannabis

Believe it, or else, cannabis is among the least governmentally-regulated consumer items. Over-the-counter/non-prescription medications like aspirin, beverage alcohol, and gasoline, are far more regulated.

The lack of regulation is, at least when it comes to THC, the ostensible primary reason why it’s sold and consumed… as it has been for tens of thousands of years — long before POTUS Richard Nixon came along with his “War on Drugs.”

Anecdotally, various news stories in states where it is legal, in one form, or another (medical, and/or recreational), have found that significant discrepancies exist in the reported, or claimed, concentration of THC, versus the levels found when independent analyses were performed.

Despite “seed-to-sale” tracking systems, which are typically for taxation accounting purposes, some states have seemed to have unofficially adopted a laissez-faire approach toward the sale of cannabis, meaning that while there are some laws on the books regulating cannabis, some of them largely go unenforced, except for the ones concerning taxation. Spirituous beverage is more highly monitored and taxed at the federal, state, and local levels.

A recently published, peer-reviewed scientific analysis found that, in samples obtained in three cities in the State of Colorado, the claimed, or purported levels of THC on the packaging labels were significantly inflated.

In a recent research article published in the peer-reviewed analytical scientific journal PLOS One (an Open Access, i.e., accessible without charge, science venue covering 200+ subjects published by the Public Library Of Science), 23 samples of 12 differently-named cannabis flower types from 10 dispensaries in 3 Colorado cities, found that the THC levels claimed on labels differed from 2% to 56.5% from the observed levels as tested using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) when performed by a third-party lab. Only 3 samples fell within the reported range stated on the packaging.

The authors wrote, in part, that, “The average observed THC potency was

Common Sense Firearm Reform

A friend had asked me to compose a letter to national elected officials addressing firearm violence.

Following is the letter.

 

---

 

President Joe Biden
Senator Marsha Blackburn
Senator Bill Hagerty
Representative Mark E. Green

 

Dear Mr. President, Senators, and Representative,

 

We, the undersigned members of

How To Let Trans Children Play School Sports Fairly

Becky Pepper-Jackson has presented as a girl since fourth grade. The 12-year-old is at the center of a legal dispute that is at the Supreme Court.
Credit: ACLU of West Virginia

Supreme Court won’t enforce West Virginia law banning trans athletes from girls’ teams
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1165133771/trans-law-west-virginia-supreme-court

—//—

Hey, I’m ALL FOR transgender & LGBTQIA folks, indeed, for ALL people — I don’t give a shit about how anybody gets freaky with it, how they present themselves to be, whether they stand, or sit, to pee, or any such nonsense. That’s their axe to grind, not mine… live and let live, you know. If Warren Buffett wants to wear a floral kimono, muumuu, or hot pink mini-skirt, more power to him.

BUT, I DO have a suggestion which I think is meritorious, and most WORTHY of consideration when the topic of gender — NOT SEX — enters the picture when determining whether

Tennessee GOP to Consider Bill Lowering to Age 9 for Open Carry

In response to The Covenant School schooting, and immense public outcry for legislators to “do something!,” White Republican Tennessee legislators will be considering a bill to lower the minimum age the right to openly publicly carry firearms from 18, to 9.

The move is fortuitous.

Former student and High Priestess Audrey Hale of the AR-15 faith — a government-established god worshiped by White Republicans — recently sacrificed three 9-year old students at the private Christian School in Nashville’s Green Hills community.

The 3 dead adults were collateral damage.

The very same day as the juvenile sacrificial lambs were slaughtered, a Federal judge cleared the way for state legislators to lower from 21 to 18 the minimum age requirement for Tennesseans to openly publicly carry handguns without a permit — just two years after they wrote a new law setting the age at 21.

White Republican State Representative Chris Todd of Madison County wrote and sponsored HB 1735, and said

Nashville, TN, and the nation, weeps

Statistically, there are two extremes on the bell curve (the left and the right), and they both resemble each other. In fact, the bell curve itself — so named because its outline shape resembles a bell — is a mirror image of itself. Both halves are identical.

At the far end on either side, there’s very few of the thing being measured, or counted.

But, up in the middle, is where most everything is located.

It’s the same way with politics.

And guns.

Some say ban them all — but up in the middle is where consensus is found — while others say do nothing.

The Volunteer State and the nation are grieving over the deaths of three 9-year old children, and 3 adults gunned down at The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville’s Green Hills district. The world has taken notice not only the victims’ deaths, but of the heroic actions of Nashville’s Metro Police Department, whose members were on scene and resolved the problem in 15 minutes. Such quick action undoubtedly saved lives. They are to be commended beyond measure, and deservedly should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, perhaps even the Congressional Gold Medal.

Even the Babylon Bee, an online satire magazine stepped up to the fore and acknowledged MPD’s bravery, by Tweeting an article about it: “Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield.”

Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield https://t.co/ZUb9rf0EaW

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 29, 2023

Two former Tennessee Governors — Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and Bill Haslam, a Republican, the 48th, and 49th Governor, respectively, who are friends — co-authored an Op-Ed published March 31 in The Tennessean, on the necessity of state, and Federal, lawmakers to collaborate to help bring about an end to the preventable tragedies of school shootings.

Both men share several similarities — both men were Mayor of a major Tennessee city, Bredesen of Nashville,  Haslam of Knoxville, both men were re-elected as governor, both men are entrepreneurs, and very wealthy — and for the past year, they have both co-hosted a podcast at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Howard Baker (1925-2014) was a long-time Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1967-1985), who was renown for his pithy axiom, “Always remember that the other fellow might be right.”

They restated what some consider to be obvious, which is that,

Simple Things To Do To Ameliorate School Shootings

Senate Chaplain: Senators suffer “from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous.”

More True Words Are Rarely Spoken

United States Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, official photo
On June 27, 2003, Rear Admiral Barry C. Black (Ret.) was elected the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate. He began working in the Senate on July 7, 2003. Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, Chaplain Black served in the U.S. Navy for over twenty-seven years, ending his distinguished career as the Chief of Navy Chaplains. The Senate elected its first chaplain in 1789.

“Eternal God, we stand in awe of You.

“LORD, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond ‘thoughts and prayers.’

“Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing.

“LORD, deliver our Senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous.

“Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us.

“We pray in Your powerful name.

“Amen.”

— Opening prayer, United States Senate, Tuesday, 28 March 2023

By now, you’ve heard the sad, bad new of the mass shooting at a private religious elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee in which 6 individuals were killed — 3 – 9 year old children, and 3 adults.

Nashville Metro Police Department is to be HIGHLY COMMENDED for their heroism, and rapid response — only 15 minutes after the first call came in, the shooter was killed on site.

In fact, the whole world now knows how brave Nashville’s police officers are, because unlike the Coward of Broward, and the fearful Uvalde, Texas police, even the Babylon Bee, an online satire magazine website, stood up and took notice, by recently publishing this tweet:

Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield https://t.co/ZUb9rf0EaW

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 29, 2023

And so, when I shared with a friend the Senate Chaplain’s actions, there were only two questions asked, and one emphatic expression in response.

Did he propose any ideas? (Yes.)
-and-
What were his thoughts? We do need to take action!

Here is how I responded.

Not to be sarcastic, of course, but his suggestion was that good men (and women) take action.

My longstanding suggestion — since being published Thursday, August 27, 2015 in “A Simple Solution to America’s Gun & Mass Shooting Problems” — continues to be, that ALL such firearms as the AR-15, AK-47, etc., should be placed under the auspices of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which was enacted to limit access to automatic weapons used by criminals like Bonnie & Clyde, Ma Barker, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Al Capone, et al, to ameliorate the ease with which they committed crimes.

SEE ALSO: “George H.W. Bush NRA Resignation Letter,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 2:18 PM CST

SEE ALSO: “Ronald Reagan co-signed letter supporting Assault Gun Ban,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 3:12 PM CST.

SEE ALSO: “Ronald Reagan wrote Op-Ed supporting Gun Control Law the Brady Bill,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 3:13PM CST

SEE ALSO: “How To Resolve Gun Sickness & Disease,” published Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

SEE ALSO: “Joe Biden is Responsible for Increased Gun Violence,” published Wednesday, December 18, 2019.

SEE ALSO: “Common Sense Gun Reform Laws,” published Friday, May 27, 2022.

The act permits citizens to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights through ownership, yet places a VERY HIGH BAR to ownership by mandating fingerprinting, thorough & intensive background investigations by FBI, State & Local police/Sheriffs, etc., payment of a $200 tax to the U.S. Treasury Dept., and perhaps a few more things, such as character & mental fitness.

IF for any reason there is any problem with the findings, the application is DENIED, and the tax returned.

That process ensures that ONLY the MOST upstanding & law-abiding citizens can possess such firearms. Included in the NFA are: Silencers (now called “suppressors”), short barreled shotguns & rifles, and automatic firearms (defined as any firearm that discharges more than one bullet with one tigger pull).

I have also proposed that ALL

You Will Not Win

TikTok user @StellaMagz

https://www.tiktok.com/@stellamagz/video/7210865142190411050/

People on the right are the biggest snowflakes on the face of the planet.

And you guys got me fucked up.

Not only do you lack the critical thinking skills to understand the difference between social cancellation and government cancellation, you lack the self awareness to understand that all you’re doing is projecting.

Every time you point your finger at a liberal for something, there are four more fingers pointing back at you.

You people claim to be “anti-censorship,” “anti-cancel culture,” and yet, you people are voting for politicians that are doing just that!

And I’m done with saying you’re incompetent — ’cause you understand exactly what the fuck is going on.

Your accuse liberals of needing “safe spaces,” but in places like Tennessee, laws have been passed making it illegal for someone to>

“It was 20 years ago today…”

But Sergeant Pepper didn’t teach the band to play, nor did he have a Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Things Not Worth Fighting For
-or-
One Giant Fucking Mistake Based Upon A Lie,
And How It Gave Us A Black Eye At Home And Abroad

“All of our experiences were different. It was such a long war. Every year of the war or every phase of the war was very different. We learned that it wasn’t necessarily a just war. But then, we broke it, so then we had to fix it. Navigating wartime service in the Iraq War, especially if you served more than one tour, it’s more about just doing what you are called to do and making sure that you’ve got the men and women to your left and right all home from that war. Focusing more on that than the policy or the why of why we’re there. Because that can be a dark place.”

— Allison Jaslow, former Army Lieutenant, served 2 tours of duty in Iraq during the most violently intense period, now CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)

“We all felt [that], maybe there was a way to make things better, [but we] then recognized that we hadn’t made things better… it didn’t turn out as we’d hoped. A lot of my fellow Americans don’t even rank it as important. They say,

Recipe: Carrot Raisin Salad

Generally speaking, recipes are merely broad guidelines for the creation of a dish. Very few recipes are anything like the precision necessary in rocket science… although some websites would have their gullible readers to think so.

Fortunately, the best part of cooking and being a cook, is that you get to eat your own mistakes. And THAT is often the best teacher.

So, with the obvious being “said,” here’s a carrot raisin salad, which at its most basic, contains carrots, raisins, and mayonnaise. The dish depicted here contains the following jazzed up ingredients: A stick of celery, key lime juice + apple cider vinegar (ACV), sugar, a tad salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins (of course), dried cranberries (aka “craisins”), and walnuts.😋

Naturally, shredded carrots are the primary ingredient. So if you’re planning on making this dish, you’ll need more carrots than anything else. How many? How about you being the judge of that? It’s YOUR dish, and you’ll make it YOUR way — which is another beautiful part about cooking: It’s highly customizable.

How much mayonnaise? Again, it’s “Player’s Choice” — as much, or as little, as your heart desires.

Don’t like mayonnaise? No problem. Use salad dressing, or some other condiment (though I dare say, mustard probably would not be a good substitution). But hey! To each, their own. One never knows.

Don’t like celery? Not a problem. Omit it.

Sodium restricted diet? (Celery is also sodium laden.) Omit the tiny pinch of salt. But I will say this, about that: Salt, common table salt, even just a slight amount, enhances sweetness.

Of course, there are other salt alternatives, such as

Alabama’s Legislators are THE NATION’S HIGHEST PAID — Bar None

I’ve long known that New Mexico was the ONLY state in the union whose lawmakers did NOT receive any salary, only a very modest per diem payment, and certainly NOTHING LIKE the princely “per diem” sum that Ala-goddamn-bama’s corrupt lawmakers pay themselves from the pockets of the honest, tax paying public.

And if you break down and calculate the entirety of what those f🤬ing bastards pay themselves, you, or ANYONE would find that they are — WITHOUT QUESTION — THE VERY HIGHEST PAID legislators in the nation, who get paid LITERALLY for only THREE DAYS OF WORK PER WEEK (Tu,W,Th — the ONLY days they meet), for a GRAND TOTAL of 30 days per year, more if called into Special Session by the Governor.

The Alabama State Legislature’s website states that “the length of the regular session is limited to 30 meeting days within a period of 105 calendar days. There are usually two meeting or “legislative” days per week, with other days devoted to committee meetings. Special sessions of the Legislature may be called by the Governor, with the Proclamation listing the subjects which the Governor wishes considered. These sessions are limited to 12 legislative days within a 30 calendar day span.”

It’s the VERY best goddamn less-than part-time job in ALL of America — hands down.

Here’s a ROUGH approximation of how MUCH, and the tune to which they pick Alabama taxpayers’ pockets:

They now pay themselves a base salary of

Why is that?

Celebrate Black History Month!

If we forbid the preparation and serving of fried chicken and waffles, watermelon — or any other dish remotely historically associated with Black Southern culture — from being served as a dignifying celebratory moment and honorific during Black History Month, we will be unwittingly playing into the hands of racists, to help them accomplish their ultimate objective — exterminating the people they hate, and erasing the associated culture.

That MUST NOT HAPPEN.

Fried Chicken ‘n Waffles with Watermelon, a traditional Southern dish

It was with scornful disdain that I read a few news items about Nyack Middle School in Rockland County, New York, nearby NYC, where food vendor, Aramark, served fried chicken and waffles with watermelon on February 1, the first day of Black History Month. Writing for The Hill, Stephen Neukam wrote that “chicken and waffles with watermelon [are] foods stereotypically associated with Black people,” and that unidentified school administrators had said that Aramark “changed the menu items without telling the school.” The menu had earlier been posted online as being Philly cheese steak, with broccoli, and fresh fruit.

Apparently, some folks got up in arms about that substitution, even after Aramark had apparently asked students if they’d prefer those items. Student Honore Santiago said, “They were asking people if they want watermelon, and I remember being confused because it’s not in season.”

And the now-global 24/7/365 mass media, being what they are — gluttons who thrive on strife and dissention, ever searching for reportage of anything bad or controversial, including inane he-said-she-said tripe, often as so-and-so-Tweeted this, that, or the other, which has no genuine news value, while simultaneously blowing almost all things out of proportion, regardless of their, or the organization’s ideological bent — took that fumbled ball and ran with it.

It doesn’t yet appear that they scored a touchdown, however.

The school’s Principal, David A. Johnson, a Black gentleman, wrote a letter to parents, which stated in part that,

“The offering of chicken & waffles as an entree with watermelon as a dessert on the first day of
Black History Month was inexcusably insensitive and reflected a lack of understanding of our
district’s vision to address racial bias.

“Nyack Public Schools administrators contacted Aramark officials to insist on a mechanism to
avoid a repeat of yesterday’s mistake. The vendor has agreed to plan future menu offerings to
align with our values and our long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“We are extremely disappointed by this regrettable situation and apologize to the entire Nyack
community for the cultural insensitivity displayed by our food service provider.”

Perhaps that now means when National Heritage Week comes again for Jamaicans — who state that “heritage is one of the most crucial parts of our identity as Jamaicans. Heritage celebrations help to preserve this identity and our culture, which sets us apart from all other countries” — Jamaica Jerk Chicken with Beans and Rice cannot be served.

And when Chinese New Year arrives again, Wonton Soup, Kung Pao Chicken, Szechwan Shrimp, Spicy Crispy Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Chinese Fried Rice are all out of the question.

And heaven forbid that, a few days from now, on February 11, when National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinenbi) is celebrated — which, according to the earliest Japanese historical records, was on that day in 660 BC that the first Japanese emperor was crowned — meaning that no sushi, no sashimi, no soy sauce, no chopsticks, no soba noodles, no miso soup with rice, and no sukiyaki may be served.

Which also means no kimchi for our Korean brothers and sisters… no matter how much they may protest, and regardless of the fact that it’s their national dish.

Hopping John is a simple, traditional Southern dish which is made with rice, black-eyed peas, and greens. The first known recipe of Hopping John appeared in an early cookbook entitled “The Carolina housewife, or House and home: by a lady of Charleston” was first published in 1847 and was authored by Sarah Rutledge, who was the daughter of Edward Rutledge, a fellow who signed the Declaration of Independence, though little else is known about her. While the book is widely lauded, even today, and can be downloaded from various sites free of charge, one can expect significant differences in culinary style, from then to now.
Regarding the name of the dish – “Hopping John” – there’s no known etymology for the origin, or derivation of the name, although there’s no shortage of speculation, however absurd. And finally… the original recipe calls for red beans – which are NOT kidney beans. But as any cook worth their salt knows, innovation and change are the name of the game when it comes to the creative aspects of cooking, and over the years, black-eyed peas have become the preferred pea/bean for the dish.

Nope, NO ONE can have any of that.

And HELL TO THE NO for tacos, burritos, salsa, guacamole, margaritas, fajitas, Chili Rellenos, carne asada, quesadillas, Red Pork Pozole, or Enchilada Sauce on Cinco de Mayo.

Do you see how asinine that is?

None of those people groups get up in arms about their culture’s foods, though at one time, or another, they’ve all been subjected to vile racist tropes.

“Stereotypical” food?

Oh, come on!

What kind of cockamamie nonsense is THAT!?!

A food CANNOT be either stereotypical, or racist.

Last February (2022), Boston Globe Columnist Renée Graham wrote about a similarly-related dustup at Xaverian Brothers High School where students — at the suggestion of a Black cafeteria employee — were served fried chicken as part of a Black History Month celebration, and wrote in part that,

Texans Sing Same Song, 2nd verse, 2nd verse Same as the 1st

One thing you can’t hide, is when you’re crippled inside.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott leaves the podium after speaking at the 11th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast May 7, 2015 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, D.C. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

Texas Guvnah Greg Abbot is a goddamn moron, a cruelly incompetent, and corruptly selfish son-of-a-bitch, fucking liar and idiot, whose brain is apparently as crippled as his withered, useless legs.

Cow turds have some nutrient fertilization value for soil, and when dried, can even be burned; whereas on the other hand, he has no value whatsoever.

Texans will have to burn more cow turds to keep warm, since your sorry-ass governor can’t even keep the goddamn lights turned on. But, that’s what you wanted, because you voted for more of it. So, enjoy your fill until January 19, 2027.

And be certain to thank the Electric (Un)Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a “membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.” They’re similarly corrupt, inept, and in the pockets of the Repugnicunt state legislature, and executive office.

---

Frustrated Texans Endure Winter Storm With No Power, No Heat

Thursday, 02 February 2023

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in homes without power for a second day Thursday, most of them around booming Austin, and fading hopes of a quick fix stirred grim memories of a deadly 2021 blackout after an icy winter storm across the southwestern U.S.

The freeze has been

Nashville, TN Cop Has A Shooting Problem

Q: How many bullets does it take for Nashville, TN cops to kill a man?

A: ALL of them.

---

“On the call recording, Jerome acknowledges the presence of police a few seconds before a flurry of gunshots. He continues to repeat, “Don’t shoot him! Don’t shoot him!” through sobs after shots have been fired. The footage from Slim & Husky’s shows the man turning and tossing something toward Ramos, at which point Ramos fires 14 shots and the man falls to the ground. The man reportedly died shortly after.”

That officer, “Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday,” just emptied the fucking magazine on that man.

Just TOTALLY EMPTIED IT.

12345, 12345, 1234

ALL 14 rounds.

Even big game hunters DO NOT shoot that many bullets into their game.

Goddamn!

---

In-car camera footage shows Nashville Metro Police Department officer Dylan Ramos approach a man on Buchanan Street on Sunday night.

Police Kill 47-Year-Old Black Man on Buchanan Street

Officer Dylan Ramos fired 14 shots in the second MNPD shooting of 2023

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/police-kill-47-year-old-black-man-on-buchanan-street/article_02116188-a0be-11ed-9b89-23270989a3f5.html

by Eli Motycka, January 30, 2023

Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday.

A video from MNPD stitches together two 911 calls with footage from Ramos’ body cam and squad car. It also includes an angle from Slim & Husky’s patio camera, which shows the man — whose identity the police have not yet released — tossing something toward Ramos moments before Ramos fires 14 shots toward him and the man falls to the ground.

The first 911 call came from an individual identified as Jerome at Willie B’s Kitchen and Lounge, a restaurant across the street from Slim & Husky’s.

“He’s playing with this gun, pointing it at people,” Jerome tells the 911 operator. “He needs to

Wasted Federal Money: We Are Long Overdue for Change

When examined in context, over the long term, it all begins to make sense (at least to anyone who’s studied the matter at all);

Nixon’s “War on Drugs” was purely a manipulative election ploy designed to obliquely instill fear in the American public, by creating in their imagination the false perception of a massive national crisis (substance use, primarily cannabis, and predominately, if not almost exclusively, among/by college/university students), and to portray them as depraved, and anti-American, because they opposed the Vietnam War, then…

Well, just read what John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Policy Advisor, and convicted Watergate co-conspirator, said to Dan Baum when interviewed by him, for a book he was writing at the time:

“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: The antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

On November 17, 1973, then-POTUS Richard Nixon spoke at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Bay Lake, FL, to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference. During the Question and Answer portion after his address, a New York Times reporter asked him about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up that members of his Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) had funded the break-in.
In response, he said in part, that, “I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service — I earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I could say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I have earned everything I have got.”

When Nixon ignored the recommendation to decriminalize cannabis made by his hand-picked Commissioner Raymond P. Shafer in the report commonly known as the “Shafer Commission,” properly as the First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, March 1972, and then

Prediction: Banana Repugnicunts will do NOTHING about Santos/Devolder

Perhaps the most “burning” question in many political observers imagination in the matter of George Santos/Anthony Devolder’s election is:

“How DID this happen?”

I’ll take that question for $1000.

In a word, “apathy.”

Constituents who entrusted their support to him in NYD3 were hypothecated.

Allow me to explain. They pledged their support (as evidenced by their votes), and when the pledge expired following the election’s certification, he took the Congressional Oath of Office, and to their dismay, voters discovered they did not control (own) him. After all, they DID allow him to run under their banner. Had they any control over their own party, they would have never done so… or, at least they want us to believe that.

Frankly, NYCD3 voters have no one to blame but themselves.

One of their several news outlets — no, NOT The Old Gray Lady, but the North Shore Leader — warned constituents long in advance (in September) that he was a fraud.

The metaphorical “voice of one crying in the wilderness” was largely ignored, until it was convenient for the OG to belatedly “pounce” upon the dirty deal done dirt cheap in December… after the election was over, and certified, and hope to draw some belated attention to themselves… long after the fact.

But, ’twas too little, too late, because by then, there was

George Santos, Anthony Devolder, whatever his name is, has indicted himself.

The lying Republican elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District (Queens/Nassau) is not just any old run-of-the-mill liar, he is a pathological liar.

His life, or rather, what he has presented as his life, is just one blatant falsehood after another. And that the good people of that portion of Long Island which he represents have elected him, speaks more to THEIR laziness and THEIR ineptness than to anything else.

The people of that district have stained THEIR own name, THEY have soiled their own shorts.

One of their local newspapers, The North Shore Leader, broke the story on The Fabulist, and did an at-lenght exposé of him BEFORE the election, and BEFORE the New York Times.

In a story published 20 January 2023 and headlined “The Leader Told You So: US Rep-Elect George Santos Is a Fraud — and Wanted Criminal,” they detailed how, at least four months earlier, they had broken the story, and wanting to endorse a Republican candidate, they could not, because of his wholesale lies about himself, which again, they discovered and reported BEFORE the New York Times.

Instead, they endorsed a Democrat.

In the few days since he took the oath of office as a United States Representative, numerous news outlets have uncovered, discovered, and otherwise brought to light the ignominious history of the man, with tales so perverse, so depraved and bizarre that only the most wretched human being could have possibly done them. Among them, stealing the money from a GoFundMe account established for a Veteran, whose Service Animal needed life-saving surgery.

The Veteran’s Service Animal died because George Santos/Anthony Devolder diverted the money raised for his own selfish use.

It is almost a pointless exercise to detail the hideous lies he has told about himself, each one more fantastic than the next, and with the discovery that they were all a pack of lies, he merely brushed them all off saying they were “embellishments” of his résumé.

Seemingly countless people have come forward, individuals who knew, or have known him personally, and without exception, they every one have essentially said the same thing: George Santos/Anthony Devolder is a liar.

Wikipedia page for user Anthonydevolder, who is, more likely than not, George Santos. Devolder is his late mother’s surname.

It’s even uncertain what his real name is, or even what his birth date is. But what IS certain, is that he is a wanted man in Brazil, where authorities there had years earlier charged him with theft of a checkbook, forgery of those stolen checks, and theft of merchandise purchased with those forged checks. Santos even apologized to the merchant where he passed the forged instruments, and confessed to the authorities that he had committed those crimes. But shortly, when authorities came searching for him, he was nowhere to be found, and had absconded to the United States, where he remains to this day. It is unclear exactly what actions Brazilian authorities will take, if they will seek extradition, or exactly what course of action they will take in regard to seeking justice.

Stay tuned.

In the mean time, others who have been around him over the years have found evidence from a few years earlier when he was a drag queen.

While he has claimed to be openly gay, he was once married to a woman, and purports to have changed. Exactly how, he has not made clear, and refuses to speak to news outlets.

When news and video of his drag queen days made the national news, he denied it all.

When news of George Santos’ Wikipedia User ID page under the name of “Anthonydevolder” in the category of Drag Queen was made known, “edit wars” started upon it almost immediately, and the page was “blanked,” which raises several unsettling questions: “Why?,” and “who?” most notable among them.

HOWEVER… HuffPost recently published at least one news article about the recent discovery of an item which was

An Easy Way To Ensure Unbiased College Admissions

Anonymity.

Make ALL applications anonymous.

It’s just… that… simple.

And, it’s EASILY facilitated!

Simply ID the applicant/prospective student by the first letter initials of their name, e.g., ABC, their birth date, e.g., 01022023, and the last four digits of their Social Security Number, or Alien Registration Number, e.g., 1234.

Thus, candidate “Iwannabe Funkybean Gobbledygook” would be IFG01022023-1234, or IFG010220231234, or IFG-01022023-1234, or similarly — even with last name first, GIF01022023-1234, or GIF010220231234, etc. Candidate “Al-Shaz Baraz el Hominy Jones-Smith” would be ASBHJS, ABHJS, or JSASBH, JSABH, or similarly.

It’s just ENTIRELY TOO EASY!

Our brethren in the UK have done so –and– they’ve also made job applications anonymous.

In a news article by Education Reporter Judith Burns published on the BBC News site 26 October 2015, she wrote that “Candidates’ names will be removed from university application forms from 2017,” and cited Prime Minister David Cameron’s OpEd, published in The Guardian Monday, 26 October 2015 02.00 EDT, which in part, read “We have already persuaded big employers to make job applications name-blind. Now universities will do the same.”

He wrote:

“At the Conservative party conference two weeks ago, I spoke about a young black woman who had to put a more white-sounding name on her CV before she started getting called for interviews. Such racism in 21st-century Britain, I said, was a disgrace, and I committed our party to ending discrimination and finishing the fight for real equality. The audience rose to their feet. It was a significant moment. And it provoked three reactions.

“The first was:

Here’s One Easy Peasy Way to Find Truth

Representative Jim Jordan-R,OH4

Have you recently read any crap on Twitter?

It’s much too easy to read plenty of phony baloney malarkey on Twitter.

Of course, that’s not very difficult to do now that Elon Muskrat is actively burning down that house, and welcoming Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Big Lie promoters, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other such ilk on board… again.

Here’s but one statement which I recently read on that social media dumpster fire:

“Incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has not authored, sponsored, nor passed one piece of legislation in his 17 years in Congress.”

Of course, there were other surrounding contextual words and remarks, some of which were opinion, others fact (sounds vaguely familiar, eh?), and it was quite obvious that the author had no love lost for Ohio’s 4th Congressional District Republican Representative.

And frankly, neither have I lost any love for that lunatic.

But, on its face, such a claim — that Jim Jordan has