tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14950805905571533062024-03-24T19:32:19.383-04:00InstaPunk ReturnsBeing the continuation of InstaPunk and InstaPunk RulesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger523125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-24367048895669692482024-02-24T11:33:00.011-05:002024-03-24T09:34:58.050-04:00Why I didn’t get a Magna at Harvard<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7-bfHjYGgKO8itNEu0ACbgxLBMkOn2XJBWalJ9C2ijofUdrC2yCYbpQZzhTcreqVHD7xm8jd1lHXNZAwmPBRh75-fs28aZ-nIdylP50dNOGQqzjwhs5tDNjcWMm-Go94haw0bByemyyQIdUsK_6PE1TWXlKnFIQq0XEKnqCOy7N8gpLiBW1BLNHnpqI/s1146/IMG_6734.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1146" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7-bfHjYGgKO8itNEu0ACbgxLBMkOn2XJBWalJ9C2ijofUdrC2yCYbpQZzhTcreqVHD7xm8jd1lHXNZAwmPBRh75-fs28aZ-nIdylP50dNOGQqzjwhs5tDNjcWMm-Go94haw0bByemyyQIdUsK_6PE1TWXlKnFIQq0XEKnqCOy7N8gpLiBW1BLNHnpqI/w400-h306/IMG_6734.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Typically, I broke all the rules. Didn’t cite what other critics said, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>because they had no understanding, and I was going deeper </i><i>than </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>anyone else had gone. No footnotes. No plagiarism either. CLGS. </i></div></i><p></p><p>What I learned from being an English major at Harvard. My two best 20th Century writers were Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I wrote in my senior thesis about both of them, their two best books. I considered them absolutely equal in talent, beautiful, born brilliant.</p><p>I had detected a sex difference worth writing about. Not about gender hierarchy. About the relation between sex and time as a dimension. Women are all about now, this moment. Men are about the arc of time, the span of life. I loved both books lavishly, but I came down on the side of, uh, no one. Just the revelation that men and women are <i>different</i>.</p><p>My two graders were women. Not professors. PhD candidates. They kicked me apart for having no footnotes, no other authority beyond myself to legitimize my weird theory. I accepted their ruling. Didn’t much care at that point. Cum Laude General Studies. The Harvard stamp of disapproval. But I did share my senior thesis with a woman I knew, a hotshot Law School student dating a friend of mine, and I asked her to read what I’d submitted because I could trust her honest take on it.. Amazingly, she read it right away, at a party we were both attending. She came back to me after the read and said, “This is fucking brilliant.”</p><p>It’s always been this way. I don’t actually have my Harvard diploma anymore. With its shameful General Studies words. It’s somewhere in Vegas, with a onetime friend who promised to return it and never did. Why I also don’t own my Mercersburg diploma, Cum Laude Society certificate, or class rings from Mercersburg, Harvard, or Cornell. I just don’t belong. Anywhere.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-35080908090211852542024-02-23T09:34:00.129-05:002024-03-01T08:22:29.106-05:00The impenetrable NYC Bubble<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrp7viPTFd2FgK9aelR_k11iTLR7zNXGOzK8D7xlFEcdeBrgd2nPYtcXXte0hDRGwKK39KhIpJ331X4MsGbbRBupZLYP_HRYqCu07dguReiXMtrxgtLMydWXu8wJyWVh8tEdLfrqAnsfE7dPD0fKAyGALkvqpd1LSqatEw1HugC0fLwbBiQPGYr86YnU/s1600/IMG_6725.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrp7viPTFd2FgK9aelR_k11iTLR7zNXGOzK8D7xlFEcdeBrgd2nPYtcXXte0hDRGwKK39KhIpJ331X4MsGbbRBupZLYP_HRYqCu07dguReiXMtrxgtLMydWXu8wJyWVh8tEdLfrqAnsfE7dPD0fKAyGALkvqpd1LSqatEw1HugC0fLwbBiQPGYr86YnU/s320/IMG_6725.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Funny as hell and deadly serious</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Let me begin on a note we can all agree on. There is a time in our teen lives when we imprint on popular music. What we were listening to during the dramatic changes in our bodies, social lives, and aspirational identities stays with us, regardless of what we come to value and treasure later in life. Everyone has those certain songs that are foundational chords in their lives, and they respond physically to even a few notes of the recordings that gave rise to their libidos and, well, <i>self</i>. Two not unrelated things. This is a constant and nothing new. There are Sinatra imprints, Elvis, Beach Boys, Dylan, Motown, Beatles, Stones, Who, Doors, Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Pink Floyd, James Taylor, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, James Brown, Rick James, Springsteen, Metallica, and on and on and on imprints. (Apologies to the imprinters in Country, Disco, Jazz, and Blondie/Madonna Pop, have my own chords there too.) I never judge those. We just all have them. We all have more than one. They’re just the nest of emotions that surrounds the most vulnerable early years of our lives. And, obviously not all the imprints are superstars. Everyone also has hits heard too often heard on car radio, bad songs that were too catchy to forget, and what the hell, I liked it at the time and will never forget it. <div><br /></div><div>And, just as obviously, this imprinting phenomenon is not limited to music. It takes in a lot of factors. Especially in closed communities. The movies make this a melodrama for us. The extent to which the years of high school in particular shape our future lives, the continuing hurts and resentments we live down by besting the popular cliques of jocks and cheerleaders who wind up as gas station attendants and fat fussy disappointed bitches we want to show up at the reunion. </div><div><br /></div><div>I missed all that. This post shows you where I was instead. And the difference is important. It explains why New York thinks it can look down on the whole rest of the nation. Why there is a bubble bringing down the nation without even thinking about it. They are not exempt from the rule cites above about primary identity shapers. What they are exempt from is the comedowns associated by real life as experienced in high school reunions. Their losers are not gas station attendants and fat peevish ex-cheerleaders. They are just dead in place in still perfect clothes and poses. And they are not thinking about it at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have one important clue. A book published back in 1980 called <i>The Preppy Handbook</i>. NYT bestseller. Hilarious. Passed around. You’d think it would still be alive on Kindle at least. No. That would be déclassé. Only available as original copies, ranging from $150 to $500+. Why I have to show you pictures of pages, which will do. They show you a community apart, one I happen to be very familiar with. And why I’m the only one who can explain to you why the NY-centric lawfare against Trump can continue despite the exorbitant costs it will exact on what was once the greatest city in the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s the bubble that contains the fiftyish New York elites who live with each other, can afford to buy the essentials and luxuries, and just look down on Trump because he’s about the only punchline they have left in otherwise blank carbon-copy lives of one another. Everything he’s ever done is just not done. He went to an effing military academy before going to the most grinding industrial unit of, uh, Penn…</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkhMwpLlNfhRPbUhVIQFPliimwh57NlpaPAdVR2Hw7hRaz691WaEAQYHOCgyTHrKUJu_d50wRnlrN5dteNRl6NLEK5GnEvB_snYAKNmXOwA4e2mOi_Txcb10lBvPCWImc7G4TukqTDpDPPM8UbCI8CnItrVbx4qSnZQvWtnKB00PIRFz77BeiZhuCenk/s1400/IMG_6709.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkhMwpLlNfhRPbUhVIQFPliimwh57NlpaPAdVR2Hw7hRaz691WaEAQYHOCgyTHrKUJu_d50wRnlrN5dteNRl6NLEK5GnEvB_snYAKNmXOwA4e2mOi_Txcb10lBvPCWImc7G4TukqTDpDPPM8UbCI8CnItrVbx4qSnZQvWtnKB00PIRFz77BeiZhuCenk/w458-h640/IMG_6709.jpeg" width="458" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>What you really really can’t have is your own Boeing 757 and a gold plated toilet.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKri9BrqtVgi9wwXwO3rVCqSMQyzx-Vs_c6v1ZOaSoXEyH4vTxPHi7sDn4js3aKGo_PgtEMvPwqMNJv_38-exGUuyQ3mFABQd4Etz3fI38J8e04Qdltcsd88U-4m4-Nm45YaqhvnJ0vgFcgiCQcHxXzo64PLjN8Sh8iHKKZt57-08I6X1tAbNfZMlzmw/s658/IMG_6703.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKri9BrqtVgi9wwXwO3rVCqSMQyzx-Vs_c6v1ZOaSoXEyH4vTxPHi7sDn4js3aKGo_PgtEMvPwqMNJv_38-exGUuyQ3mFABQd4Etz3fI38J8e04Qdltcsd88U-4m4-Nm45YaqhvnJ0vgFcgiCQcHxXzo64PLjN8Sh8iHKKZt57-08I6X1tAbNfZMlzmw/w486-h640/IMG_6703.jpeg" width="486" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32d7VS2beSKuqiEkmDUDuKbUs-YHNYUzNfjp0JQg20iCDgccvcD7O7RglPKxmB7RqFD_DdwasxCYbjhLPMOT1NBY6tHxhM5kcfLUiInBm36fLsK5-esjmM4sxZ52f7B4bPpYzzENj8xSwTahqdc0k0zJ7WRXLrX3Qik6YxsCwHTMzWM4aGdcwt9qVxwk/s750/IMG_6718.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="475" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32d7VS2beSKuqiEkmDUDuKbUs-YHNYUzNfjp0JQg20iCDgccvcD7O7RglPKxmB7RqFD_DdwasxCYbjhLPMOT1NBY6tHxhM5kcfLUiInBm36fLsK5-esjmM4sxZ52f7B4bPpYzzENj8xSwTahqdc0k0zJ7WRXLrX3Qik6YxsCwHTMzWM4aGdcwt9qVxwk/w406-h640/IMG_6718.jpeg" width="406" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Just so you don’t get the idea They’re uneducated or not well read.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMT0wtda-F53iTR5-cmkEjfTHpOA9vBNeL_b23H2q5BbTeRx5sRSYLPoipAO1JGu2ghKvZbWHSv9501Vjxo8q4yO1pDI3TNHYSH-WeGkddmg7SWx0cPWxetP8_uijVt6el2veR5RrTVzlwuWo8ElE1_tgxlGqOGZsGQ1hrjFtKpy6qZxGbH_wa2bTQOco/s800/IMG_6716.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="800" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMT0wtda-F53iTR5-cmkEjfTHpOA9vBNeL_b23H2q5BbTeRx5sRSYLPoipAO1JGu2ghKvZbWHSv9501Vjxo8q4yO1pDI3TNHYSH-WeGkddmg7SWx0cPWxetP8_uijVt6el2veR5RrTVzlwuWo8ElE1_tgxlGqOGZsGQ1hrjFtKpy6qZxGbH_wa2bTQOco/w640-h466/IMG_6716.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>A really big thing is knowing how to look like you’re not trying, </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>even if you really aren’t. Sweaters are IMPORTANT.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGh9CBSSICxz4qnSK0BMEgeYl39RrApfopTFJVcuKT3R_1L-AMBRBPRuYG9p3uD_xXZOv3MJP_IezeeyWj7mcB-vVxWG6l34SJpE93NFZoQK4nNG8E1CCYF8dowC9VTWQ5HCjxLYrqbODGsgTalCmALOdiaSp2uo4gnlphyQ1OzyOeHt9Oh7JOOVQ6KA0/s753/IMG_6713.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="525" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGh9CBSSICxz4qnSK0BMEgeYl39RrApfopTFJVcuKT3R_1L-AMBRBPRuYG9p3uD_xXZOv3MJP_IezeeyWj7mcB-vVxWG6l34SJpE93NFZoQK4nNG8E1CCYF8dowC9VTWQ5HCjxLYrqbODGsgTalCmALOdiaSp2uo4gnlphyQ1OzyOeHt9Oh7JOOVQ6KA0/w446-h640/IMG_6713.jpeg" width="446" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVX90zAFMiR1XZcmijUUKN4OvCMJmQDIKa0vQ0JyVwSJkA8f_kToo4IsWhaLUSNsOqD0x1ZJ37R4c_KcBSBFLvEyBpCjEtAD5s3lr3ZfOUjSaMfiPGNCZxu5awwG-ZmfjuCokMzVUMgjrFSG2-wLtp4qrFlvvUHrJwF2dWDbOjvrgHf7HMrG44n98QZE/s1971/IMG_6701.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1604" data-original-width="1971" height="520" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVX90zAFMiR1XZcmijUUKN4OvCMJmQDIKa0vQ0JyVwSJkA8f_kToo4IsWhaLUSNsOqD0x1ZJ37R4c_KcBSBFLvEyBpCjEtAD5s3lr3ZfOUjSaMfiPGNCZxu5awwG-ZmfjuCokMzVUMgjrFSG2-wLtp4qrFlvvUHrJwF2dWDbOjvrgHf7HMrG44n98QZE/w640-h520/IMG_6701.webp" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Overall, you gotta look good. In these particular ways…</i></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjXyPKckI-Agmh-oS8M6DiPUN7ziZJ1-OEroOHZYkE2g-9Q1HTOdrpNIbufFJS5aYFT7Z9-EzkVdEKXIT7VsbJ6TrG-sBMVQrScDuTO8sUBp6bv2WtG8o71Zs0XmR9VQkN10MGKSo8LMN7pOSb4TzKlqbqXNCRpR9ASXtrQZMzS6OSROyjjVwfY_PM2M/s504/IMG_6708.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="504" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEjXyPKckI-Agmh-oS8M6DiPUN7ziZJ1-OEroOHZYkE2g-9Q1HTOdrpNIbufFJS5aYFT7Z9-EzkVdEKXIT7VsbJ6TrG-sBMVQrScDuTO8sUBp6bv2WtG8o71Zs0XmR9VQkN10MGKSo8LMN7pOSb4TzKlqbqXNCRpR9ASXtrQZMzS6OSROyjjVwfY_PM2M/w640-h562/IMG_6708.png" width="640" /></a></div><i>How else are you going to marry her and live on the Upper East Side.</i><br /><i><br /></i></div><div><div><div><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRJXhT6WjU_A6tfU25pvxpO1NWdPqf-UJUDelGDeJk_ewhiiz1LjhS-hOuY3uVLyRiD98Gog5tNZiDMGjBxpywqS9AI6V9N9fvT0IJ05mRCVOC8A1N-BC-YuH6-bolYM5tg2Guj8RBZSq4BO48z75C0Bt0k0myp8nYqnx6bhHpNwT-10kemYNTfZkKJD8/s1151/IMG_6717.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="762" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRJXhT6WjU_A6tfU25pvxpO1NWdPqf-UJUDelGDeJk_ewhiiz1LjhS-hOuY3uVLyRiD98Gog5tNZiDMGjBxpywqS9AI6V9N9fvT0IJ05mRCVOC8A1N-BC-YuH6-bolYM5tg2Guj8RBZSq4BO48z75C0Bt0k0myp8nYqnx6bhHpNwT-10kemYNTfZkKJD8/w424-h640/IMG_6717.jpeg" width="424" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i>Not like they weren’t always preparing themselves for leadership…</i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWifSHelrrQONTQwcLKQDUqaya5aPPephmT5DANPf5zpbP9nTL10ia8BUnxV9yDqMQCxCbYFE9jvtn4_IswkZ_QEe96wmkWdeEz7rEZwKd1ovIildWsSFLRPXwinohgYuFIw9POyOriFwu5Uva9nwO1G-gHIlQSD0682v6u5mO3DvmvegXfza0mgkV2Zg/s500/IMG_6711.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="500" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWifSHelrrQONTQwcLKQDUqaya5aPPephmT5DANPf5zpbP9nTL10ia8BUnxV9yDqMQCxCbYFE9jvtn4_IswkZ_QEe96wmkWdeEz7rEZwKd1ovIildWsSFLRPXwinohgYuFIw9POyOriFwu5Uva9nwO1G-gHIlQSD0682v6u5mO3DvmvegXfza0mgkV2Zg/w640-h490/IMG_6711.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;">Born to run absolutely everything with taste and Topsiders.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xNANu3NOHy1Mht6nAq9gIpJwaaiVpHcCdH319Wp0qZiWwbcY_VS28CI3b7stVk9fHMctGvICjVw47CQNgVvouwQSbdAZTPj_WCRffBnLDOuUcV5aths05xmkJLNQHe1OI9ezkIzW-VU4NVQG7jkgAuJON6Kbg7LrqGrX5qTNceY23DzjFzqvQrRTMck/s470/IMG_6704.jpeg" style="font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="453" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xNANu3NOHy1Mht6nAq9gIpJwaaiVpHcCdH319Wp0qZiWwbcY_VS28CI3b7stVk9fHMctGvICjVw47CQNgVvouwQSbdAZTPj_WCRffBnLDOuUcV5aths05xmkJLNQHe1OI9ezkIzW-VU4NVQG7jkgAuJON6Kbg7LrqGrX5qTNceY23DzjFzqvQrRTMck/w616-h640/IMG_6704.jpeg" width="616" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"> Yeah. A 40 year old imprint. They’re in their 50s now. Has anything changed?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How do I expect you to look at all this? I was there. The book names names. Lots of them. Not mine. Which helps me define not resent. There is a community of the top 30 or so schools that survives everything. It’s not even Exeter and Andover, the media version of prep school Harvard and Yale. They are, well, not exactly our kind. We’re talking society here. I keenly remember, with outstanding incredulity, a graduate of Moses Brown School(?) in Providence RI calling NJ’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lawrenceville-Stories-Complete-One/dp/B000VBQIAY">literarily famous</a> Lawrenceville School a “3rd rate prep school” at a time when Lawrenceville had more Harvard admissions than any single Grottlesex School in New England. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The sin? Absence of a magnetic epicenter in the urban northeast, which excludes Philadelphia and therefore U. Penn as well, because, well, you, know, who’s just <i>better</i>? The definition of the Bubble, which is what Fitzgerald was really talking about way back when in <span style="font-size: medium;">Gatsby:</span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px; text-align: start;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">What kept them together? Sweaters and shoes and drunk nights on Nantucket and conventions they still believe amount to taste, like no PDOA, but otherwise doing what they want without being indiscreet enough for others to see. And continuously looking down or at least past everyone else whose lives might have a different kind of center.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? No. The people described in The Preppy Handbook went to affordable schools in their time. In those days Exeter had a tuition of $1,800. <a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/11/18/how-old-am-i/">My school</a> had a tuition of $2,700. Today it costs $66,000 to attend my prep school. The middle class is gone from these student bodies. Now we are back to the 1930s, when only the richest and most pampered get to pick which sweaters are and shoes are appropriate for this weekend’s soirées. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">I can assure you they don’t care. I can assure they don’t think about why they despise Trump. I can assure you they don’t care about the slaughter on the streets and in the neighborhoods and even the boulevards of New York City. They’ll be in the Hamptons when the bad shit happens. Like as not in unisex salmon-colored cableknit cashmere sweaters atop white Egyptian cotton turtlenecks and whale pants.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">The purpose of this post is to remind you that they are also rooted in their own youthful imprints. As a group they have accomplished no great things. They are the lucky parasites they mostly were from the start. They hate Trump for the very small reasons that always obsess untalented snobs. He doesn’t do the right things right. He has unseemly successes. He doesn’t pretend he wasn’t trying. He’s, well, gauche.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">Which is worth sending the entire country to hell. No worse than firing the au-pair for putting the wrong forks on the table for the dinner party last week. Some people have some nerve. Not that we’re noticing. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">Thing is. It’s a bubble. An important one. Why you can’t buy this book on Kindle. It’s a <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1495080590557153306/3508090809021185254" style="color: #954f72;">grimoire</a>, a kind of magic manual, even scripture. I can tell you about it because I was there, survived and prospered in it, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1495080590557153306/3508090809021185254" style="color: #954f72;">documented</a> it, and went on to new kinds of magic rooted to home and land and Detroit horsepower, bootchains, and real world contests not unlike what Trump has spent his life engaged in. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">I disengaged myself. As the rest of us should do. This is not a respectable code of life. It’s a phony, made more corrupt every day because actual merit has left the process. When I went to my school it cost $2,700 a year; now it costs $66,000. Same with all the other preppy schools. All that’s left is the children of the pampered class, the only ones left who can afford this level of affectation, however it’s accoutered itself in fashion terms now. What do they do? Not much. Why do they hate Trump? They don’t know. They just do. Trust me. I’ve talked to them. They’re just better. And they will never learn. They concentrate in New York and all the plush environs of their class, where they feel permanently safe. Our job is to make them feel less safe. New York? Drop dead. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">How should we envision the current crop, failed parents and stoned progeny? Try this glimpse of the Harvard Legacy Class of 2024:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><br /><div class="separator" separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/imWlSMgMFGE" width="400" youtube-src-id="imWlSMgMFGE"></iframe></div><i>But the Grotties and Choaties are still producing Muffy’s and Buffy’s to</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>marry the Chips and Trips and Skips who will win at Nantucket softball.</i></div><br /><i style="font-style: italic;"><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-86652609673946887212024-02-19T11:00:00.008-05:002024-02-19T15:50:34.137-05:00Introducing “The Matriarchy Times”<p>Overdue. All this great damage to the evil white male patriarchy that’s been done since Hillary finally cracked the tallest glass ceiling in the world by running for President a few years back. What we have to call progress in that vast percentage of the world population which wants to return to the days when the goddess ruled and all years were the same year, so much the same they didn’t even count them. It’s so much easier than all that thinking about things. Consider this a kind of joyful journal of the coming return to paradise. Not everything we need has yet been accomplished, but we’re getting there, quicker every day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-8TjX5JYuJ9-Vdb_CKZCoX3HRVLmsEcVh3yoBaMcOT1dxxJSRaLxWExgGHLA09Zel479OBK0JPqCoSm_J0Eu5wRjWmILmwvve0v7DkzKRHE5DjTm3O5XqOSQohiv4kVZSBK_VrtSA9SmQj76IsgCwKYk_ZNNdVjiZWyhPeH0SyIV21CAzVOZBcQmlRM/s1821/IMG_6605.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="1821" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-8TjX5JYuJ9-Vdb_CKZCoX3HRVLmsEcVh3yoBaMcOT1dxxJSRaLxWExgGHLA09Zel479OBK0JPqCoSm_J0Eu5wRjWmILmwvve0v7DkzKRHE5DjTm3O5XqOSQohiv4kVZSBK_VrtSA9SmQj76IsgCwKYk_ZNNdVjiZWyhPeH0SyIV21CAzVOZBcQmlRM/w640-h114/IMG_6605.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><b>Today’s Narrative Nutrients:</b><br /><p>—Don’t think of her as losing. She’s preparing the soil for tomorrow’s garden… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/nikki-haley-says-next-president-will-be-woman/">Nikki Haley Says Next President will be a Woman</a></p><p>—If the patriarch is big enough and bad enough, it doesn’t matter how you bring him down… <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/16/letitia-james-everyone-must-play-by-the-same-rules-no-precedent-for-trump-case/">Letitia James Says Almost Everyone Must Play by the Same Rules</a></p><p>—The lunkheads can protest all they want. Impotent fools… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/report-trucking-company-cancels-shipments-new-york-city/">Truckers Threatening NYC Economy</a></p><p>—Vital to remember who’s really In Charge now… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/does-anyone-believe-this-new-york-governor-tells/">Governor Issues Reassuring Pronouncement</a></p><p>—Yes, 74+ percent of K-12 schoolteachers are women, more important than the many professions (all) in which they still lag, because they’ve won the most pivotal battle of the age… <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-nyt-finally-admits-it-schools-are-teaching-our-kids-divisive-critical-race-theory/ar-BB1iptTQ">The NY Times finally admits it: schools are teaching divisive Critical Race Theory to our kids</a></p><p>—CRT has already provided dividends aplenty… <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/18/joy-reid-black-people-literally-physically-built-country-obama-only-reparation/">Harvard-educated TV Host Explains the Reality of American History</a></p><p>—All kinds of reparations become inevitable… <a href="https://national-conservative.com/bidens-federal-judges-76-female-34-black/">Biden’s federal judges 76 percent female, 34 percent black</a></p><p>—Winning is its own self-sustaining habit, and contagious across the board… <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/haley-defends-verdict-against-trump-in-carroll-case-i-absolutely-trust-the-jury/ar-BB1hqBxI">GOP star supports Harris verdict</a></p><p>—But when you win a lot, there are bound to be counterattacks… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/illinois-dem-mayor-shutting-businesses-wont-donate-gets/">Suburban Chicago Mayor Attacked by Jealous Bigots</a></p><p>—And outright cheap shots… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/video-even-far-left-msnbc-admits-fani-willis/">MSNBC Legal Analyst Drinks the Koolaid</a></p><p>—But guerilla counterattacks can be dealt with if the winners just keep sticking together… <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/16/abcs-hostin-they-have-no-case-against-fani-willis-its-such-a-ridiculous-political-move/">Famous Attorney Deconstructs the Case Against Willis</a></p><p>—Even if there are some traitors within… <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/fani-willis-is-an-embarrassment-to-black-people-she-s-the-proof-that-dei-only-hurts-us-opinion/ar-BB1inoAq">Resentful Ingrate Deliberately Misrepresents the Willis Case</a></p><p>—And lowdown snakes in the grass… <a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1758288335527977011.html">Irrelevant Math Obsessive Rants about LSATs</a></p><p>—Just remember: Time and short attention spans are ALWAYS on our side… <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/18/cbs-legal-analyst-klieman-fani-willis-wont-be-disqualified-but-credibility-hurt/">MSNBC Legal Analyst Snatches Victory from the Jaws of the Sheep</a></p><p>—The next generation of leadership is ready… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/deep-thoughts-kamala-harris-this-week-kamala-tackles/">Kamala Makes Eloquent Oration about NATO</a></p><p>—And the generation after that… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/california-senate-candidate-floats-radical-bump-minimum-wage/">California Senate Candidate Breaks New Economic Ground</a></p><p>—And even the opposition is secretly on our side… <a href="https://puppetcatherine.com/">Former GOP House Speaker Plots Deadly Revenge</a></p><p>—Something to be said for never EVER giving up… <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/18/liz-cheney-wont-rule-out-2024-presidential-run/">An old warhorse bravely prepares for renewed battle</a></p><p>—You know the song. “A warhorse is a whorsehorse, of course of course”… <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/hillary-clinton-calls-trump-wannabe-dictator-claims-he/">Hillary calls Trump a “wannabe dictator” enamored of Putin</a></p><p>—See, the real critically crucially symbolically important thing is always having the exact right role models with the recognizably right rigid positions…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_kDImtDcx5FQ_pJKVgmGULvIASjWNG8Zhy4YIdezFS1bF2t-pEkXeRu1Wc2nax_xRoRr6s7gD7XD9gOcMp6SZ_01C3fzfwU-gIbJbRD4mZ5swZFCVRrq3PQRMGwUBFvNM-D49IcW4k-5Lvfn0WQ37oXQD5XEdKnETJ2hFqr-KdHp5T9H-_fYbLotj3w/s2158/IMG_6607.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1437" data-original-width="2158" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4_kDImtDcx5FQ_pJKVgmGULvIASjWNG8Zhy4YIdezFS1bF2t-pEkXeRu1Wc2nax_xRoRr6s7gD7XD9gOcMp6SZ_01C3fzfwU-gIbJbRD4mZ5swZFCVRrq3PQRMGwUBFvNM-D49IcW4k-5Lvfn0WQ37oXQD5XEdKnETJ2hFqr-KdHp5T9H-_fYbLotj3w/s320/IMG_6607.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>That’s all the news there’s time for today. See you next time.<br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-78571451558842135112024-02-06T12:36:00.029-05:002024-03-24T09:40:00.008-04:00What is Multimedia Writing?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLykBSPSITZ8kEzF0LHlHpLAxqz9oU065Xha9-Sqa4s0ZypGVnO0t9floZW6uvaNqSEbBi6X-zdiyECMft_D9tytN-bbCaHIUmav60JBeks8n-nMwbpN9UZOllEja54CDdGX4COQyobDclt5udzS1nxWECnHes8bOAYFeDk6rNSaIebIRnbXIrWtnAlCI/s275/IMG_6454.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLykBSPSITZ8kEzF0LHlHpLAxqz9oU065Xha9-Sqa4s0ZypGVnO0t9floZW6uvaNqSEbBi6X-zdiyECMft_D9tytN-bbCaHIUmav60JBeks8n-nMwbpN9UZOllEja54CDdGX4COQyobDclt5udzS1nxWECnHes8bOAYFeDk6rNSaIebIRnbXIrWtnAlCI/w266-h400/IMG_6454.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Writing now is about death.</i></span></div><p></p><p>I’ve said elsewhere, despite millions of words of actual writing, that <i>all</i> writing is fiction. Proven it by putting myself on the line. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzkABnyDnvcGhOOxDKOXlBfigvgJoDoNMzAnMVrN5gsqBpgXS7avIXgS84P00L_K8_TGbn5DWO5P8XbfuI-I4WxOO4GiGiwnp8yMdZQhqVJZ1Gt9-Y2PwRqubAylYWbus7fn2T86qr-Qnso1wRXksrrw19AhTHYwsMd77mNg5ZWAfmCJNqC35rnhj83Y/s1941/IMG_3769.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1941" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzkABnyDnvcGhOOxDKOXlBfigvgJoDoNMzAnMVrN5gsqBpgXS7avIXgS84P00L_K8_TGbn5DWO5P8XbfuI-I4WxOO4GiGiwnp8yMdZQhqVJZ1Gt9-Y2PwRqubAylYWbus7fn2T86qr-Qnso1wRXksrrw19AhTHYwsMd77mNg5ZWAfmCJNqC35rnhj83Y/w640-h402/IMG_3769.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>How do you prove it though? By putting up posts that aren’t about words? They’re about numbers, images, music, words. I found this set of fellows who were not like anyone but their connection to me…<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikM-3GebWjBCCyaCkIwuVxD_DvoQEBon-Ot87iqQO6SngjIFoY1E3MIr2Ya8SIKPKZKcdnbJIIwVnaKBw8yMUfRaSVBWcewN5Q2B2h8LYOT_2ZFOIf-RbpWbFOYlWbIq8qBx4hMnu2X-XmRMMaS4NZ6Pe6j-f3bc0knVtTfphL8PX-YOkeGzz5c9ZAEik/s2515/IMG_4186.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1784" data-original-width="2515" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikM-3GebWjBCCyaCkIwuVxD_DvoQEBon-Ot87iqQO6SngjIFoY1E3MIr2Ya8SIKPKZKcdnbJIIwVnaKBw8yMUfRaSVBWcewN5Q2B2h8LYOT_2ZFOIf-RbpWbFOYlWbIq8qBx4hMnu2X-XmRMMaS4NZ6Pe6j-f3bc0knVtTfphL8PX-YOkeGzz5c9ZAEik/w640-h454/IMG_4186.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What we had in common. July 10 birth date. Each of them a kind of father of the field he worked in. Depending on who you read, Pissarro is the father of all modern art, Tesla is more the father of the American Industrial Revolution than Edison and possibly more important than a testy Einstein regarding the greatest mind in physics. Proust is the writer who made writing about your own life the best replacement for writing about the meaning of life in the 20th century. He did it all from the couch, including all the testicular giants like Hemingway, Mailer, Heller, and Roth. (I could have written “Goodbye Columbus” in my sleep from the opposing WASP perspective. Lived it. Didn’t write it. The NYT didn’t like me…) Orff was the voice of Satan Rising. Even if that was never his intent.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fours and fives. I’m the one who unearthed that important combination. The suits of the Tarot deck, which I renamed Words, Images, Numbers, and Voices, plus the Arcana, which is Consciousness. That’s Multimedia Writing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">See, you can do it without writing a lot of words.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I’ve also been doing, for years.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nobody does what I do. Abortion? Two different angles of perspective… Because I am as literate as I am numerate. You? There was a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160817203520/http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=149">piece of writing.</a> And then there was a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160611085615///www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=1081">statistical case</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Except, you see, the Multimedia Writer doesn’t need to hang his hat on any one of the suits of the Tarot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I rely on other parts of the universe… See <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-vennich-quest.html">here</a>… but it’s all Writing, a process of collecting, finding, presenting without much in the way of taking credit for, a kind of narrative readers can sign onto.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here’s what I do, above and beyond writing better than anyone else…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/01/music-for-2024-presidential-campaign.html">Music for the 2024 Presidential Campaign</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/02/my-music-for-my-last-campaign.html">Music for My Personal 2924 Campaign</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/01/soul-music-for-2024.html">Soul Music for 2024</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2022/03/my-life-in-music-and-vice-versa.html">My Music, My Life</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/02/disorientation.html">Mass Disorientation</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABBPdf5SwJA">Coda</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-2569043907653569832024-02-04T23:59:00.042-05:002024-02-05T22:47:30.153-05:00MY Music for My Last Campaign<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZE5QHQwoutUbJVGW97-wCEm9q414vDlJ0wRe3rAeLjZQkBRJ-ZAhDIhXZQqdMrxjyraoVE25D2194y9XHPgUT-fEYJia3EC8bRgomz1sZgFN0HegYo2dZsLNxJ7dH0ML3xtaf9yFMVjGI_-iqu62my5E2SU0Dt_Mrs7fSYZLirttu4tUaqynEYsjitM/s1318/IMG_6438.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="1290" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZE5QHQwoutUbJVGW97-wCEm9q414vDlJ0wRe3rAeLjZQkBRJ-ZAhDIhXZQqdMrxjyraoVE25D2194y9XHPgUT-fEYJia3EC8bRgomz1sZgFN0HegYo2dZsLNxJ7dH0ML3xtaf9yFMVjGI_-iqu62my5E2SU0Dt_Mrs7fSYZLirttu4tUaqynEYsjitM/s320/IMG_6438.jpeg" width="313" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You’re not supposed to be able to draw yourself </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Just a head. The only thing driving this campaign. Woman once told me my first response is ‘Intimidate the hell out of them, then get reasonable.’ She had never met me. Go figure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My campaign songs:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g-qkY2yj4_A" width="400" youtube-src-id="g-qkY2yj4_A"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Yeah, Still… Evvybody hates Harvard, including my wife.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RqQn2ADZE1A" width="320" youtube-src-id="RqQn2ADZE1A"></iframe></div>…Still Scottish… just finishing the thought. Why this </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>stuff </i><i>you’re asking. Because I am the Paracleet of </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>the Caborca. Rest of the way, I was there, way way</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>older </i><i>than you. MetaWriting. What I have done, do.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzr6DMcw5wQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="nzr6DMcw5wQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u9Dg-g7t2l4" width="320" youtube-src-id="u9Dg-g7t2l4"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x99xksOuQ_E" width="320" youtube-src-id="x99xksOuQ_E"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QmrXI3rXd_Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="QmrXI3rXd_Q"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vbaiQ00gywI" width="320" youtube-src-id="vbaiQ00gywI"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b1zgmM2lalo" width="320" youtube-src-id="b1zgmM2lalo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J3AJq_a8ETc" width="320" youtube-src-id="J3AJq_a8ETc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pPR-HyGj2d0" width="320" youtube-src-id="pPR-HyGj2d0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Uid7RrXBY2A" width="320" youtube-src-id="Uid7RrXBY2A"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-36528151578936575122024-02-03T22:32:00.312-05:002024-02-04T00:52:35.571-05:00Mass Disorientation<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTG_s4tQTApExUMKDPZgLTkHTkRZQL6iq0-5mzXjEJF8J60HsB8HhFbWcq4_67vObx2g3u3uxb2WRQNLd1v2-Vcgg42dInGQpmFQtlsM-gmtaRl4DEFKQVh1NMnSfpJsYX1Syxbl3GGfm-ksxdvwyB81QuYLHSn4KIZTlqRCn79Gn0OVXMP7yKxITSDIc/s1630/IMG_6428.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1227" data-original-width="1630" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTG_s4tQTApExUMKDPZgLTkHTkRZQL6iq0-5mzXjEJF8J60HsB8HhFbWcq4_67vObx2g3u3uxb2WRQNLd1v2-Vcgg42dInGQpmFQtlsM-gmtaRl4DEFKQVh1NMnSfpJsYX1Syxbl3GGfm-ksxdvwyB81QuYLHSn4KIZTlqRCn79Gn0OVXMP7yKxITSDIc/w640-h482/IMG_6428.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>He’s gone. This never happened.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Don’t tell me I’m the only who’s noticed. That would mean I’m having a psychotic break, into a state called dissociation. But I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. What I’m referring to is bigger than a solitary breakdown because it takes in too much to be one man’s delusion, no matter how vast his imagination.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I’m talking about is an increasing sense of unreality in the everyday experience of an entire population. No, not just a sense, an atmosphere that involves all the senses. Nothing looks, sounds, smells, feels, tastes quite right, and even time is out of joint. There are still connections, some glue that binds pieces together but the connections are twisting, torquing, breaking and reattaching in new ways. There is movement through time, but even the ticks of the clock are changing speed and pitch, mocking us all individually and collectively, so the only thing we can be sure of is that reality itself is becoming the globs in a Sixties lava lamp, and depending on our perceptual biases we are either fixated on the changing shape of it or turn away to avoid losing our balance or succumbing to nausea. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">People may be experiencing this in different ways. These are only visual examples, suggestive images best viewed with the sound on mute. Supply the music or the voices from the personal and media memories that are winding through your head all the time now whether or not you’ve been choosing to hear them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x9hBWnh_O6A" width="400" youtube-src-id="x9hBWnh_O6A"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Like our world is being folded up into an imprisoning box…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/79Ju9p0oYJ8" width="400" youtube-src-id="79Ju9p0oYJ8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>We can’t remember how but the world, life, ourselves are not </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>at all today what they were yesterday or a week, a year ago.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v7chZdvLV0w" width="400" youtube-src-id="v7chZdvLV0w"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>And whatever today is, tomorrow will be different, because in some </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>very real way reality itself is melting, no longer able </i><i>to maintain</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>structure and shape and identity, sloughing away before our eyes.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Take note of what these visions are not. They’re not the endless distracting catastrophic fantasies of war, earthquake, fire, invasions by armies or aliens or celestial bodies. Not the SYFY trope of the Statue of Liberty swept away by a tsunami, the Golden Gate plunging into the bay, the Eiffel Tower collapsing on Paris, Las Vegas leveled by a solar storm, or Los Angeles finally torn apart and hurled into the ocean by the biggest quake of them all.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This kind of disorientation is no shocking event. It is a kind of wave function, or at least an incremental temporal function, marked more by step changes than apocalyptic stompings. And we are all experiencing it in our own different spheres of action of influence. Lies that make no sense. Repetition of repeated redundant stupidities by people who profess to be smart and good and thoughtful. Emotions that are so extravagantly overblown they make grown men and women resemble the teenagers who deserve what they get in slasher films when the victims can’t remember to stay in the car or not split up for the next attempt at escape. Explanations and excuses and ideas that are just completely obviously wrong when we hear them for the first, second, third, fourth time in exactly the same words in exactly the same superior, lecturing inflection. Behaviors we never heard of before, which if they were going on before, no one spoke of them, let alone boasted of them, advocated them, and sought to destroy anyone who stood up to object. Impossible things, that is things which cannot and never happen, happen all in a row and the people on TV tell you about them on the same handsome studio sets in the same expensive suits and faces they always wear as if this is the way things have always gone on and maybe you were just too dumb to know it’s no big deal. Yesterday’s truth a lie. Yesterday’s lie a scientific fact. Yesterday’s hero a dangerous criminal. Yesterday’s criminal a role model for millions. Yesterday’s perversion is the road to the new Damascus. And the blur of such all-enveloping incomprehensibility is perfect for making everyone in the audience feel dumb.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That’s the Twilight Zone part of it. You’ve tuned in, if you have, and this is the show, and what seems odd is only the 22 minute narrative we’re telling you in this episode, and the only anchor to reality you need, the <i>real</i> reality as it were, is the commercials that still come like clockwork and still rely on you to buy things you can’t afford to buy or afford not to buy if you want to remain rooted in the reality that is dissolving so swiftly under your feet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. You know. The old movies that are now unwatchable because they are so naive and optimistic they make you feel stupid ever to have admired. The old music that used to seem rebellious and now seems so dated that even listening to it makes you feel like an obsolete artifact of a discredited past. The old pastimes that once nourished you and are no longer part of your life — reading a good book by the fire, conversations about ideas not Internet social transactions, family dinners that aren’t elaborate hoaxes of nonexistent warmth and intimacy, work that was fulfilling and consisted of more doing than politicking… I'm sure you all have your own lists of what got lost along the way unnoticed and now seems to hit you in the face when you get the odd reminder of one of them. No one else remembers dial phones and not knowing who was calling when they rang. Where’s my wheelchair? Don’t fret. Everyone feels this way. They’re just in varying stages and ages of admitting it. There are people who can’t believe no one remembers what a laser disk was. They don’t talk about it. In big ways and small, absolutely everybody is d-i-s-o-r-i-e-n-t-i-n-g.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The period of mass disorientation is a passing phase. That’s the good news. It’s serving some deep subconscious purpose that keeps us quietly paralyzed while the huge physically real catastrophes are still in the making, building to the fatality of civilization itself. Ironic that we have for so long been distracted from recognizing our own individual disorientations by the gorgeous CGI disasters Hollywood has been building for us at great expense in the movies.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GtjSxdCRNRU" width="400" youtube-src-id="GtjSxdCRNRU"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Money well spent. They are coming. They will kill a huge number of us, but the worst ones have been left out. The famines, the overreaches of science that will annihilate us with their harebrained solutions to misdiagnosed problems, and the slow ending of human creative response to challenge by a species that was once brainy and brave enough to survive by hunting mammoths with pointed sticks to feed children who took nine months to be born and nine years to be able to produce as much as they consumed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How do you hobble a valiant, vital, persistent species like that? You confuse them to death. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To quote our even more damaged Brit friends across the pond, “That one’s done and dusted.”</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have no solutions to offer. All I have is a small arsenal that has kept me alive and combative in the teeth of madness for many years. It works for me. But probably not for everybody. You’re welcome to have a listen: <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2022/03/my-life-in-music-and-vice-versa.html">My Life in Music (and Vice Versa)</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh. Why is this happening now. I already explained and nobody read it. <a href="https://afterpunk19.blogspot.com/2024/02/how-hive-killed-america.html">Here</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-36882811931434664622024-01-26T01:11:00.137-05:002024-02-07T18:51:37.817-05:00Music for the 2024 Presidential Campaign<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq8DI7Ko-7JCnS8YOr3j8GPpXUkZxt1LmxG7Ubt76nzO7f6Ki7q97tvAXy3mQ4KeH3LVvH3X8DrV0VfSe7pTWqamvNh5fpYVT9TsfN3FxQHsWwH281kOEXYAVaFCt6-9uyUyLOa1x9H4mfUliTT_EhMB_WO9jAGAzuS76NTD-5rmSCwvyqpgF9f-DnaQ/s425/IMG_6072.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="425" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq8DI7Ko-7JCnS8YOr3j8GPpXUkZxt1LmxG7Ubt76nzO7f6Ki7q97tvAXy3mQ4KeH3LVvH3X8DrV0VfSe7pTWqamvNh5fpYVT9TsfN3FxQHsWwH281kOEXYAVaFCt6-9uyUyLOa1x9H4mfUliTT_EhMB_WO9jAGAzuS76NTD-5rmSCwvyqpgF9f-DnaQ/w400-h234/IMG_6072.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I have a new policy. Not boasting. Just a statement of fact. Nobody can do what I do, at incredible speed. I started this at 10:30 pm, Jan 25. I’m not claiming to be a seer or a deliverer, just the one who got given the curse of Cassandra, right but not believed by anybody, not even his most devoted intimates. </p><p>My prediction. Trump will win after his martyrdom. But it will be a vey bloody victory. He may win the election. Here’s music for that. I really am the “expert” on right music. </p><p></p><p>When you need to remember why*… Follow your nose.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OFtNVEbasOo" width="320" youtube-src-id="OFtNVEbasOo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Yeah. We win. Eventually.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/50_iRIcxsz0" width="320" youtube-src-id="50_iRIcxsz0"></iframe></p><span><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Revisionist history has it the Battle of New Orleans was a waste; the Brits </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>had already signed a peace treaty. Except their paper was like the </i><i>paper </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>we see today. The peace came when the news reached Parliament </i><i>that </i><i>the </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Yanks had a stone killer for a General.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ryo8RtIYBnU" width="320" youtube-src-id="Ryo8RtIYBnU"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Best reason yet proffered for Sherman’s March to the Sea. Blow up </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>the stuff people are fighting over. Save lives tomorrow and the day after.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kyD4QeywBNM" width="320" youtube-src-id="kyD4QeywBNM"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Four years of dead guys dying in place. Yanks come out of the trenches and </i><i>get </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>ahead of the advance. All things considered, best place to be. How you win the war.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Zp-rdIc-V0" width="320" youtube-src-id="3Zp-rdIc-V0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Always been a problem with coming home. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>But we come home because home is home.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aowISV3gVR8" width="320" youtube-src-id="aowISV3gVR8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Sorry. No composers for the Most Forgotten war that killed</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>more Americans than Vietnam and never complained. Turn </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>off </i><i>the </i><i>sound and play it again. </i><i>What </i><i>kids were listening to </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>in </i><i>1952. </i><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FO07LN72ek&t=10s">Johnny Ray</a>. Dear John stuff.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QwY2MACi2SY" width="320" youtube-src-id="QwY2MACi2SY"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Leave no man behind.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aqfBUPxzxxo" width="320" youtube-src-id="aqfBUPxzxxo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>So maybe she’s totally ignorant and illiterate. Our kids</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f7n1b3qLyns" width="320" youtube-src-id="f7n1b3qLyns"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Silence is the beat of the absent heart.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_zwG3QdPLfw" width="320" youtube-src-id="_zwG3QdPLfw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>What happened for sure, for music, go <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3uciWROTfg">here</a>.*</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b1_RKu-ESCY" width="320" youtube-src-id="b1_RKu-ESCY"></iframe></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>They HAVE to kill him.</i></div><br /><div>When you think about the opposition…<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/57vaKllPg7k" width="320" youtube-src-id="57vaKllPg7k"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Never lovely with the deadsticks in charge</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ydIUXXhnIyo" width="320" youtube-src-id="ydIUXXhnIyo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Imagine there’s no nothing. Poetry</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0V0t1ilC97w" width="320" youtube-src-id="0V0t1ilC97w"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>‘Cause Jeeesus is more dangerful DEI-wise than the dadgum Bible.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KFJdpheDs4A" width="320" youtube-src-id="KFJdpheDs4A"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Only corporate callout in rock history…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9AjkUyX0rVw" width="320" youtube-src-id="9AjkUyX0rVw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>We are the Change of Climate, World-Ass scum…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gGEhbRvfNS4" width="320" youtube-src-id="gGEhbRvfNS4"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Neil Young. Did they ever get the Bug out of his ass?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fi0q0O4V5Qs" width="320" youtube-src-id="Fi0q0O4V5Qs"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Some New Wokeupper huuunhhh??!!!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3sh4kz_zhyo" width="320" youtube-src-id="3sh4kz_zhyo"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Oh, Guess…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jknYm_VBMGk" width="320" youtube-src-id="jknYm_VBMGk"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Oh Guess again… Rhode Island?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>When there’s a painful loss along the way…</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvlTJrNJ5lA" width="320" youtube-src-id="nvlTJrNJ5lA"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zjx0D1Ivy-Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="zjx0D1Ivy-Q"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>We don’t effin’ care. Sine’s us don’ die.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><p>When you need to remember who we’re fighting for…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/My2FRPA3Gf8" width="320" youtube-src-id="My2FRPA3Gf8"></iframe></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Like all the </span>daughters who learned the wrong lessons from the dying time…</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJAfLE39ZZ8" width="320" youtube-src-id="TJAfLE39ZZ8"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And all the ones who didn’t live to fight another day…</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9EcjWd-O4jI" width="320" youtube-src-id="9EcjWd-O4jI"></iframe></div><i>Yeah, even the ones with no clothes on…</i><br /><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When you need to remember that we’re all Americans…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TXq1L3k0FWQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="TXq1L3k0FWQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Stopped my heart once…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIOAlaACuv4" width="320" youtube-src-id="AIOAlaACuv4"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Why we need Lesbians. They don’t get overexcited.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y8AWFf7EAc4" width="320" youtube-src-id="y8AWFf7EAc4"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You think great artists ever cared who was gay?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Only gays did. Oscar Wilde was their punishment.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wnGCVSWrqs0" width="320" youtube-src-id="wnGCVSWrqs0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The scrawk is all the voice some of us have.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9UglUjiJifA" width="320" youtube-src-id="9UglUjiJifA"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Yeah. Some of us old white dudes have dens dating </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>back </i><i>thousands and thousands of years in the hills.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RQ9_TKayu9s" width="320" youtube-src-id="RQ9_TKayu9s"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Face it. All of us have a closet full of secrets.</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qhu24o2eoY0" width="320" youtube-src-id="Qhu24o2eoY0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Zydeco. The answer. If we could just remember it.</i></div><br /><p>When you need to remember what old age can call on…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6wRYjtvIYK0" width="320" youtube-src-id="6wRYjtvIYK0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>This guy and I go <a href="https://artartifacts.blogspot.com/2024/02/screenshot-of-my-ipad-feb-5-2024.html">wayback</a>. Spent years searching, </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>pre-Internet, for music behind open of McCabe & </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Mrs. Miller. Found it. Here he hands out credit for</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>people who helped. I do that too.. Rob Davey, Josh</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Lake, Guy Tellefsen, Mark Long, Pat Hotz***, GW,</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Null*, Winston Sith, KageShell, John Murphy, Betsy</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Bechtold*, Patrick Prentice*, and John McClain…..</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><p>When you just need a JOLT to fire you up…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bWcASV2sey0" width="320" youtube-src-id="bWcASV2sey0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>When you want to celebrate…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nOE24dd0Xmc" width="320" youtube-src-id="nOE24dd0Xmc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Checking the clock. Yeah, took me two and a half hours. Not a record. Oh well. Why I won’t post right away. Nobody deserves my speed and accuracy combined. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzGv3JIyDMfBcffq4Ol0oNWHw9XYWYA1Y-lIgOYuh0oXXv7b7QHZYJ0NRrIaPA5quolik5a5M8H6TJs7A4v6WMwVIO6c1-1YVvQNw0_jg_Wo9TmnCOW9Ga1MyU62R4cGyOK3rBQ18sR2MGtv9OpBbyUQUslQHSX04qI-7ugPId45RFE91OrzqpLEWehQ/s1704/IMG_6449.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="1704" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzGv3JIyDMfBcffq4Ol0oNWHw9XYWYA1Y-lIgOYuh0oXXv7b7QHZYJ0NRrIaPA5quolik5a5M8H6TJs7A4v6WMwVIO6c1-1YVvQNw0_jg_Wo9TmnCOW9Ga1MyU62R4cGyOK3rBQ18sR2MGtv9OpBbyUQUslQHSX04qI-7ugPId45RFE91OrzqpLEWehQ/w640-h458/IMG_6449.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-style: italic;">Pick which liar in the Truth business you want to assure you we will </i><a href="https://afterpunk19.blogspot.com/2024/02/how-hive-killed-america.html">WIN</a><i style="font-style: italic;"> in the end.</i></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>* Afternote/Postnote/Unmattersnote. A whole different list of <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/02/my-music-for-my-last-campaign.html">angry music files</a>…</p></div><br /><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-65824478712745344232024-01-23T13:27:00.009-05:002024-01-23T16:16:13.097-05:00Who’s been all over SCOTUS this whole time?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-eOcbSKfUSANkEkdfuONrrjF3j4uOAW__Fgq3uwjEhdSzXnzxxFf_lm3V-CWJInN2sltPdhQRVOMfZDKHDcdFs9Rt2wX3fzWDm0I3yWyyOD2FTbnN33cJzVvNTLSHuSzEK9qCr1RfrZIS1Olh9A9quhIKodezf8qvwgQpU19a2-P6RKEygK7FTvbdfGw/s3500/IMG_1866.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2333" data-original-width="3500" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-eOcbSKfUSANkEkdfuONrrjF3j4uOAW__Fgq3uwjEhdSzXnzxxFf_lm3V-CWJInN2sltPdhQRVOMfZDKHDcdFs9Rt2wX3fzWDm0I3yWyyOD2FTbnN33cJzVvNTLSHuSzEK9qCr1RfrZIS1Olh9A9quhIKodezf8qvwgQpU19a2-P6RKEygK7FTvbdfGw/w640-h426/IMG_1866.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Here they all are, smiling in more felicitous days.</i></div></i><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQxceQ1hzZKNhZEVl_T2ho5kjmxn0r71pQWfdKspS1re2lNGRuqnXWuZP3aUiTSJyzzO6alQxxWIpgQ1jwLPkqMboGHDd3JEM7mlECGVcDUiu_ErQs34t2ezX0OQ0I7LN6EfE2tzuQ9j8y3-xKDGC1ht_P7IvXe3WhHcUvOURKyYmgqFereKNSATue-0/s1633/IMG_1474.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1633" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQxceQ1hzZKNhZEVl_T2ho5kjmxn0r71pQWfdKspS1re2lNGRuqnXWuZP3aUiTSJyzzO6alQxxWIpgQ1jwLPkqMboGHDd3JEM7mlECGVcDUiu_ErQs34t2ezX0OQ0I7LN6EfE2tzuQ9j8y3-xKDGC1ht_P7IvXe3WhHcUvOURKyYmgqFereKNSATue-0/w640-h438/IMG_1474.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>What they really are in the context of <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/search?q=CHYOS">CHYOS</a>.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyUf0SNJBQwScHM8u2xkqBTwF-gn-iGcWbp6ceYOLzzMvKWCzTnQiZF23a8LcfDNr9fTReazM8Bx65d4eY0FBdHEtDbetu3xvbRjtN1xpWXcpERTNpX2Ia7MSMA23Zw23kiB-asjf8HFxxZRbUWypBMFATFm_CfN7D9NDr0PJaLiMRdVmBGkUGnbQ7VY/s931/IMG_5977.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="931" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyUf0SNJBQwScHM8u2xkqBTwF-gn-iGcWbp6ceYOLzzMvKWCzTnQiZF23a8LcfDNr9fTReazM8Bx65d4eY0FBdHEtDbetu3xvbRjtN1xpWXcpERTNpX2Ia7MSMA23Zw23kiB-asjf8HFxxZRbUWypBMFATFm_CfN7D9NDr0PJaLiMRdVmBGkUGnbQ7VY/w640-h402/IMG_5977.jpeg" width="640" /></i></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>In the wake of the anonymous leak of the Roe decision </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>and the attempted assassination of Bret Kavanaugh.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LjSTuvwvyQMXrdx1WAnc6xvJ_G9DRznpSKdO8KxZUhD0s42upTbw7-ZNqe0vxF6KG_2VVvMzpvAiUUumKa_hyi8Hk6VdYNjpiiYBFn7UBWlydIS-4AfJpPpJ93jXU6NQnpero5wm-a83y6GZBIFqOz2K2Jngizc-x24QnQPWAvqbxcW6zWqE8c8T31g/s764/IMG_5976.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="764" height="621" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LjSTuvwvyQMXrdx1WAnc6xvJ_G9DRznpSKdO8KxZUhD0s42upTbw7-ZNqe0vxF6KG_2VVvMzpvAiUUumKa_hyi8Hk6VdYNjpiiYBFn7UBWlydIS-4AfJpPpJ93jXU6NQnpero5wm-a83y6GZBIFqOz2K2Jngizc-x24QnQPWAvqbxcW6zWqE8c8T31g/w640-h621/IMG_5976.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>So of course they pronounced themselves unable to identify </i></div></i><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>which SCOTUS clerk was responsible for the leak.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrJHimqLjIYV2y9_UPc9r9NLcektZvUb1z3mzd98R-bYWVuCA4AwBMwZVlgBkmOv68y7Fm6ZyJIKT_fqq_vymGbHzNnhwxoxCWFuE71-8e2i91DSFwlm5H6AN3pXRLDSo4-B80PsxGe53wf8XmaUrnCcckXMzf8GbOvRG9Rvxe5HBVXNe_Lo8OXOZkuo/s968/IMG_4759.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="968" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrJHimqLjIYV2y9_UPc9r9NLcektZvUb1z3mzd98R-bYWVuCA4AwBMwZVlgBkmOv68y7Fm6ZyJIKT_fqq_vymGbHzNnhwxoxCWFuE71-8e2i91DSFwlm5H6AN3pXRLDSo4-B80PsxGe53wf8XmaUrnCcckXMzf8GbOvRG9Rvxe5HBVXNe_Lo8OXOZkuo/w640-h410/IMG_4759.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Mostly they did not much. No cases accepted regarding election fraud,</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> multiple lawfare outrages against Trump, or suits seeking stoppage of </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> The massive unlegislated federal lawlessness at the border.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiku3aY6KcL9k77BqLfVINJF7BjvfSF1X4tJY0WabBTMc50KSkHlNtlKiIhVyJfFP9YQ5-J80jaA9Z3o4qXLgTV7KObR2W16ZOlV2oNhw4QGVuXedEMpz4ChfpbYp6KSqLNaUxzUDmpZPbQLApdR-MPnrzAUZsoCBBzaFfXdbd3VkfFnyTj7EON-rUv5Hw/s1554/IMG_5969.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1554" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiku3aY6KcL9k77BqLfVINJF7BjvfSF1X4tJY0WabBTMc50KSkHlNtlKiIhVyJfFP9YQ5-J80jaA9Z3o4qXLgTV7KObR2W16ZOlV2oNhw4QGVuXedEMpz4ChfpbYp6KSqLNaUxzUDmpZPbQLApdR-MPnrzAUZsoCBBzaFfXdbd3VkfFnyTj7EON-rUv5Hw/w640-h374/IMG_5969.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i>When necessary, they interceded directly for Biden </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>and the DOJ, as when they stayed an order for the </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>feds to stop censoring social networks. Cool.</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9bxzhq7gjbek4wD-I9ZXdQezO9hrt5st05qJTGKylCyEyNQ3tFS9LOXtFdXLfdx2Iit4tRspWfoyIp3CPMyJcDZHglnkInvNj0gT7PfGWoHBxfsjyhVGq8PKkhpcXk_1InkFzubREUUiEZSgJwUjsEOkygTSrVbpNBZv4QOQoBXI3CWh3D1_xlYEhZ0/s2048/IMG_5972.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="2048" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9bxzhq7gjbek4wD-I9ZXdQezO9hrt5st05qJTGKylCyEyNQ3tFS9LOXtFdXLfdx2Iit4tRspWfoyIp3CPMyJcDZHglnkInvNj0gT7PfGWoHBxfsjyhVGq8PKkhpcXk_1InkFzubREUUiEZSgJwUjsEOkygTSrVbpNBZv4QOQoBXI3CWh3D1_xlYEhZ0/w640-h370/IMG_5972.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Otherwise they were conspicuously quiet in their giant mausoleum of Justice.</i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4t3RF80za48CTYS-oPLVCvDWssc_uYh2xqScLsCsvF-mOxCfmfVh2SmzQ7RGTg7E_sd1kAnchHOQ7T4J6sLzG4uUxNraPvx7MrtNfyCSKYRE-QL_hyTYCHQIGy7xgvKip436Y4oyUL8qVGZRN53HIDnHNVNAXmuPAkMAbgEWyKfuUnt_QHcQsPnP9wM/s1516/IMG_5952.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1019" data-original-width="1516" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4t3RF80za48CTYS-oPLVCvDWssc_uYh2xqScLsCsvF-mOxCfmfVh2SmzQ7RGTg7E_sd1kAnchHOQ7T4J6sLzG4uUxNraPvx7MrtNfyCSKYRE-QL_hyTYCHQIGy7xgvKip436Y4oyUL8qVGZRN53HIDnHNVNAXmuPAkMAbgEWyKfuUnt_QHcQsPnP9wM/w640-h430/IMG_5952.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Until the border became a constitutional flashpoint…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsfmbhB9eKlxTMYg0ZDVNTovaZaouxsYNUww8wMDRXuNlSRZlx8sEq6_jAUU5flvBOOO0EmvPqk825pooj1iTonk80xY4o-kyNRvI4aDp_AFJffMpyUvEEh2rNAP7d-Qpn6_IPjtgRMrh1BvJDOswRLpSyRFwJS7PDRMzImfF91foqtH_mzmcDIX0PwY/s610/IMG_5978.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="610" height="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsfmbhB9eKlxTMYg0ZDVNTovaZaouxsYNUww8wMDRXuNlSRZlx8sEq6_jAUU5flvBOOO0EmvPqk825pooj1iTonk80xY4o-kyNRvI4aDp_AFJffMpyUvEEh2rNAP7d-Qpn6_IPjtgRMrh1BvJDOswRLpSyRFwJS7PDRMzImfF91foqtH_mzmcDIX0PwY/w640-h453/IMG_5978.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>…when the court finally had to stand up and be counted…</i></div><div><br /></div>In case you wanted to know who voted to kept Texas from stemming the tidal wave of illegal immigrants, federal vaccine mandates, the drugs and human traffickers, and the “refugee” terrorists who were getting slowed down by Lone Star razor wire… here they are: It was the five women on the court (pic above shows Chief Justicette Roberts flanked by the other girls who don’t care about 300 fentanyl deaths a day or child and woman sex slavery rings as long as their DC-suburban homes are safe from protesters.) There is no possible Constitutional figleaf for this decision.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s the funny part. All the pissing on their own principles still won’t save them. No matter how much the new majority of five does to smooth the way for their DOJ keepers until November. When Trump has been safely imprisoned, defeated, or assassinated, the UniParty President — be it Gropin’ Joe or, hopefully, Michelle O — will still stack the court with a new slate of victim judges and run the old ones out of town by every available means.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Nj60HYLV-0NGF__L-_PaLV9chcb2H4UZF-XxGal-bd-kIrGKe4t6ve8yqn9ULCRRA5CYLJ9MUgIn3FvQC1cbDUstgceNrIn-Pt15Dy19AHYp3Lrl82AjPuA_Um6PsICzjghUxkoy5SDcnb0VPMs4jC53AljUfUoTlIuoaD6HlwrofGUnvuyp7LDRjUo/s1200/IMG_3086.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="1200" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Nj60HYLV-0NGF__L-_PaLV9chcb2H4UZF-XxGal-bd-kIrGKe4t6ve8yqn9ULCRRA5CYLJ9MUgIn3FvQC1cbDUstgceNrIn-Pt15Dy19AHYp3Lrl82AjPuA_Um6PsICzjghUxkoy5SDcnb0VPMs4jC53AljUfUoTlIuoaD6HlwrofGUnvuyp7LDRjUo/w640-h424/IMG_3086.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>SCOTUS 2025</i></div></i><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-7743748858033855862024-01-16T10:18:00.009-05:002024-01-19T01:49:17.278-05:00Soul Music for 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0I50W1Hcc46KxtQGecKNY4tYz4Pu2H3gL3zcoIIYMFE1Zo-KtcVR4lpOfZJpQyLSCog9DCWA1aW6Pl7Z-J7vFSCY8w5i9Pyysus2gVUPhVQFdUgG_cTmEuoexTZvwRQN01pf1TDQu_Lxb0ka6GxhFukOk2QRgW6CPE93CLOcg7NTydP-tuJsCmrgi44/s6784/IMG_5165.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4837" data-original-width="6784" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0I50W1Hcc46KxtQGecKNY4tYz4Pu2H3gL3zcoIIYMFE1Zo-KtcVR4lpOfZJpQyLSCog9DCWA1aW6Pl7Z-J7vFSCY8w5i9Pyysus2gVUPhVQFdUgG_cTmEuoexTZvwRQN01pf1TDQu_Lxb0ka6GxhFukOk2QRgW6CPE93CLOcg7NTydP-tuJsCmrgi44/w400-h285/IMG_5165.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>A soul needs exercise, especially when confronting turbulent times in life. It needs to stretch wide, dig deep, unify the mind by way of the many senses we are born with. Music is the perfect soul exercise. Here’s a collection, without explanation, in no particular order, which means you’re free to pick your own. Hang on to this link. Come back at intervals. Don’t be afraid to stretch or dig. Being afraid is the very worst state of being. Time to overcome it and breathe again.</p><p><i>Maria Callas, Un Bel Di:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c-r2vu4t9-g" width="320" youtube-src-id="c-r2vu4t9-g"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cH2PH0auTUU" width="320" youtube-src-id="cH2PH0auTUU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i>Tom Waits, Hold On:</i><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0P5jV4lHHR0" width="320" youtube-src-id="0P5jV4lHHR0"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Chopin, Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tV5U8kVYS88" width="320" youtube-src-id="tV5U8kVYS88"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /><p><i>Duke Ellington, Mood Indigo:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/36PwE0qwq0s" width="320" youtube-src-id="36PwE0qwq0s"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Ry Cooder, Crossroads:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CLP7gOX9j9I" width="320" youtube-src-id="CLP7gOX9j9I"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Rachmaninov, Sym 2, Adagio:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QNRxHyZDU-Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="QNRxHyZDU-Q"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Copland, Appalachian Spring:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q4Qt0AIRK-0" width="320" youtube-src-id="Q4Qt0AIRK-0"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Nina Simone, Sinnerman:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r57J0jPyZRs" width="320" youtube-src-id="r57J0jPyZRs"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Celtic Woman, Coast of Galicia:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l_KUFBUC6Mg" width="320" youtube-src-id="l_KUFBUC6Mg"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Mozart, Clarinet Concerto in A Major:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7dK0CWmE_oU" width="320" youtube-src-id="7dK0CWmE_oU"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Gorecki, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8MkjkoNo92I" width="320" youtube-src-id="8MkjkoNo92I"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><i>Rolling Stones, Heaven:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-HuYUaSjNU" width="320" youtube-src-id="V-HuYUaSjNU"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Johnny Cash, Redemption Day:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i8h9Y9rdDFM" width="320" youtube-src-id="i8h9Y9rdDFM"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Maria Callas, La Bohème:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XhBqLiD-ZQo" width="320" youtube-src-id="XhBqLiD-ZQo"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Miles Davis/John Coltrane, Kind of Blue:</i><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FEPFH-gz3wE" width="320" youtube-src-id="FEPFH-gz3wE"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Mozart, Marriage of Figaro:</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ImMvVOac1sY" width="320" youtube-src-id="ImMvVOac1sY"></iframe></div><br /><p><i>Otis Redding, These Arms of Mine:</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GVbTE4wCbpw" width="320" youtube-src-id="GVbTE4wCbpw"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Frank Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ALqOKq0M6ho" width="320" youtube-src-id="ALqOKq0M6ho"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><div><i>Denyce Graves, The Lord’s Prayer:</i></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnsO3BBMjA0" width="320" youtube-src-id="JnsO3BBMjA0"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><i>Orff, Schulwerk (Four Short Pieces):</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rsKXSFEBtmw" width="320" youtube-src-id="rsKXSFEBtmw"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man:</i><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0KxMc_tyQBo" width="320" youtube-src-id="0KxMc_tyQBo"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>Bach/Glenn Gould, Goldberg Variations:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EfUgy4UUJ38" width="320" youtube-src-id="EfUgy4UUJ38"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Tom Waits, On the Nickel:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r6V5DXk6TbA" width="320" youtube-src-id="r6V5DXk6TbA"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Rachmaninov, Isle of the Dead:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WJyQOpxqppg" width="320" youtube-src-id="WJyQOpxqppg"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Philip Glass, The Hours:</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LpBg05HV6Q8" width="320" youtube-src-id="LpBg05HV6Q8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Orff, O Fortuna:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mTWvlwZ7AJw" width="320" youtube-src-id="mTWvlwZ7AJw"></iframe></div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Top Secret Drum Corps, The Next Level:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DX1gCC31wJ4" width="320" youtube-src-id="DX1gCC31wJ4"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Mozart, Voca Mē:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UsLxdcrH2DY" width="320" youtube-src-id="UsLxdcrH2DY"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Jones/Edelman: Last of the Mohicans:</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gD82Psv64Uw" width="320" youtube-src-id="gD82Psv64Uw"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-8653798043731307022024-01-15T11:30:00.450-05:002024-01-20T08:13:48.614-05:00Seismic Cracks in the Icy Coalition of Democrats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEdxyDoBSiQi8Jwbn9KGV6T5S_TwVBiNzpUNXugKexGu3A7iL8LhE1wf_82rAxom2lpqpnQHo8h8DOj3LcWq5K3kx2Cj5EZyO-qI3rsp3GSxjKlsWxdYhDAMV8Civ6_nDCzQM0Uj4kLIxbolzVmemQoZfb09UWewgdsL3E9sfIZ6oASutitaTLP_zpQg/s1332/IMG_5247.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="1332" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEdxyDoBSiQi8Jwbn9KGV6T5S_TwVBiNzpUNXugKexGu3A7iL8LhE1wf_82rAxom2lpqpnQHo8h8DOj3LcWq5K3kx2Cj5EZyO-qI3rsp3GSxjKlsWxdYhDAMV8Civ6_nDCzQM0Uj4kLIxbolzVmemQoZfb09UWewgdsL3E9sfIZ6oASutitaTLP_zpQg/w400-h300/IMG_5247.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Is that a bullet hole? Or a black hole?</i></div><p></p><p>It’s complicated. We don’t like complicated. If you can’t say it in a tweet or a 30 second sound bite on teevee, don’t waste our time. I remember some decades ago when it was a great joke one year that <i>USA Today</i> had just won a Pulitzer Prize for “Best Investigative Paragraph.’ These days any argument that requires research, in-depth analysis, and careful piecing together of the people and partisan positions involved is easily dismissible as conspiracy theory, most likely by right wing fascist liars.</p><p>Why don’t we like complicated? That’s simple enough. We don’t like complicated because we can’t do it anymore. By the time we get to school we’re already too dumb to acquire the kind of critical thinking skills needed to navigate ‘complicated,’ and the philosophy of education now in place has adapted by ceasing any attempt to teach critical thinking skills or provide the base of historical information and learning that used to make investigative reporting possible and even occasionally credible. How did we get so dumb? That’s the result of something called a feedback loop, which I just described earlier in this paragraph. Through multiple generations, dumb parents raise kids to be dumber than they were at that age, then not teaching critical thinking leads to parents who are even dumber next time around, and, well… wash, rinse, repeat. In this case the wash part is a washing away of what used to be called intelligence. A word we might also once have defined as a tolerance and even appreciation for the complicated things in life.</p><p>Elsewhere I have already dispensed with the fallacy that there is anything like a constant ‘average IQ’ through time. In fact, the entire IQ testing establishment has been gamed to conceal the sad truth that IQs are declining, and have been for a long time. We really are dumber than we used to be. Worse, IQ tests don’t measure intelligence at all. They just measure what they measure and less of that all the time.</p><p>So, why am I bothering to write about the probably fatal seismic shattering of the nearly century-old Democrat Party coalition which has already done so much to eviscerate all our institutions and minds? Another simple answer. Because I have faith. Faith that writing it down is worthwhile even if there’s no one to read it or understand it. And because I can.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sBBbq2g7yf8" width="400" youtube-src-id="sBBbq2g7yf8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Bridging the chasm of empty acceptance always begins with a single step.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You see, once you reject the idea that something, anything, is too complicated to understand you will start to perceive that the universe is sending out helpful clues about what’s going on. This is actually a feature of the universe, which is its own set of nested Chinese Dolls. If we can follow the doll sequence down far enough, there will eventually be a doll small enough to be studied in detail and thereby provide information about all the others as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We have just been given a doll of the perfect size. That is the role of the Claudine Gay story. She is a one-woman confluence of all the colliding parts of the Democrat shattering that is underway. What are the colliding parts? All the key components of the coalition: the Z Generation, the edifice of American education, women, blacks, Jews, LGBTQ’ers, muslim immigrants, and the overarching ideology of victimhood. Not to mention a native New Yorker, which is hardly a trivial credential. As a representative to one degree or another of all of these Dem constituencies, Claudine Gay was supposed to be clad in impenetrable armor, the kind that would make her an unstoppable weapon against all of the Democrat’s targeted enemies. That’s why and how she came to be Chosen by the most prestigious university in the land to be their President some several months ago.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But it has all blown up, almost like a Saturn rocket on liftoff. Why? Because the coalition is not really an alliance of the like-minded, not really a coalition but more like a cartel, which is defined as a truce between competitors who can agree on a handful of shared selfish objectives. Cartels always break apart when self interest finally forces differences into the open and what could once be blinked away becomes, finally, a deal killer. OPEC prospered as long as the member nations profited by gouging the United States on the price of oil. It crumbled when member states began to discover advantages, better deals, by dealing with customers under the table. Why shouldn’t they go for a better deal? It’s not like they were ever really all that fond of one another. There were always potentially disastrous differences hiding under OPEC’s magnificent conference room tabletop.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The same is true of the Democrat coalition, going all the way back to its establishment by FDR. He realized that if you combine the voting blocs of people who didn’t have enough in the depths of a Great Depression with the voting blocs of those who would benefit more directly by growing the size and reach of government, you could win every national election in perpetuity. The great Harvard preppie with the cigarette holder therefore became a hero to the masses by appealing to their fears with promises and giveaways. Trade unionists, poor people of all races and ethnicities (including recent immigrants), women with children and out-of-work husbands who couldn’t be certain of avoiding starvation, and all the people who already worked for government or wanted to. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After his first four years as President, FDR had barely made a dent in the depression, but he was spending money like mad and whenever any program failed, he always had a new one, a new, even bigger promise to offer. It’s all he needed. He got elected President four times, and what brought America out of the Great Depression was not the New Deal but World War II. His coalition survived his own death from dementia in 1944, a year into his fourth term, and his successor knew a good thing when he saw it, making the New Deal growth in government permanent by blessing all the formerly temporary employees as unfireable members of the civil service in good standing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With few interruptions, the Democrat Party controlled both houses of Congress by significant majorities for the period from 1933 until the Newt Gingrich ‘Contract with America’ finally turned the House of Representatives back to the Republicans for a few years.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It’s a great strategy for winning elections. It has its own built-in feedback loop., especially after the masterful tweak added by LBJ in which he succeeded in pulling the black vote completely away from the Party of Lincoln by promising a Great New Society That actually succeeded in destroying black urban neighborhoods and replacing them with permanent crippling dependency on the monetary largesse of government. All of which government failed to correct <i>any</i> of the problems it was supposed to, because the real genius of big government is that it’s its own welfare program, employment for political allies in such numbers that their various agencies can never be efficient at anything they do but lobbying for a bigger budget next year. Best of all worlds. Government grows because it can’t be stopped from growing. People in need never rise out of need except through well publicized government interventions like Affirmative Action, and even the middle classes become more dependent on government as more of their lives or regulated and restricted by government.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Most brilliant unintended consequence? The party that pioneered so much money given ostentatiously away becomes the automatic home base for every emerging group that sees itself as the victim of an unfeeling capitalist system. Even the rebels who rise specifically in opposition to government policy are subsumed by that same government. Radical draft dodger opponents of the Vietnam War return home from Canada or the commune to regain reputability by becoming academics, bringing their left wing views with them. Along the way, they discover the same keys to power the party has known about since FDR. Control the narrative and you control the outcome. Keep the stupid people stupid and make them even stupider in every possible way but doing what the smarter people in charge tell them to.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Through variations of this story, the Democrat Coalition has continued to grow and evolve. They eventually took over all the greatest institutions of higher learning in the land. By that means they also gradually acquired control of all the professions, even the clergy. The conquest of hard science was achieved similarly. The perversion of the social sciences was always inevitable, given its lack of any quantitative basis whatsoever. This triumphantly empty branch of academia was therefore perfect for the pioneering of an entirely new kind of academic writing, in which the total absence of new idea content is covered by impenetrable neologisms in vocabulary and an incestuous reliance on the process of establishing credibility by mass-producing and mass-citing of the exact same fact-free hearsay. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbKE4pgGToDSctsyGPcX_XVlgStUbJ3gXELCRgLFW0lgDoRF7wAL9W_0hFyTxxmngufaxIzpnm6E9mTf5Ta6GZIy4reFnDyk3FtBJ0Oh2IVyulBRFqhgdF-9_Y9Lia6N9YIPV7SPVyxEOfjYCCcCURfGc3Ze2RJWnVglv0QUs2_8Yfc6plfBXfS261L0/s1442/IMG_5592.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="1442" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbKE4pgGToDSctsyGPcX_XVlgStUbJ3gXELCRgLFW0lgDoRF7wAL9W_0hFyTxxmngufaxIzpnm6E9mTf5Ta6GZIy4reFnDyk3FtBJ0Oh2IVyulBRFqhgdF-9_Y9Lia6N9YIPV7SPVyxEOfjYCCcCURfGc3Ze2RJWnVglv0QUs2_8Yfc6plfBXfS261L0/s320/IMG_5592.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I’ll explain later. For now consider it a tease.</i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Enter Claudine Gay. And enter the arrow of Paris, poised to shatter the coalition like the piece of glass it is.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gay first. She is a shining symbol of the New Democrat Coalition that has systematically replaced the FDR Coalition. In many ways a perfect and invulnerable champion of the progressive left because she embodies so many of its constituencies in a single persona. Female/feminist, gay, black, CHYOS (Harvard <i>and</i> Stanford), LGBTQ+ and DEI activist, and President of the most powerful academic institution in the world. A veritable Achilles of the left, as portended in Ancient Greek mythology. Yes, Ulysses effectively drafted the peerless demigod warrior to fight in the Trojan War, which unfortunately did not end happily for Achilles despite some good innings early on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles_on_Skyros" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="828" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DfQ2hbo3e1H7q7VsN1uqDRr72e06J7-EAEWRSFdth-rXsXVP-ZTpEkv006NhJZmzjyQs-aTi9RLFKJfZbcdgOrPqcc65RXFM9hqjIYpvYaHlCTsF9ojEtil7J6JbfeWdZZ5h3ox_QtF84-x26jsQXwS-bpUO3btKd-KaU4eyBlNCuR1hVqg8bwOvZzA/w640-h570/IMG_5299.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>On with the show. The composition of the New Coalition that’s been steadily replacing FDR’s is, our favorite word here, complicated. Time for some photographic exhibits to demonstrate the scope of what’s involved.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">HARVARD POWER</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span> </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">This is where the New Deal Coalition began. The influence and intellectual force of Harvard’s historical cultural horsepower cannot be underestimated. This little rotogravure could go on for pages, and it’s a big part of the armor Claudine Gay donned when she was named President.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Political Archetypes</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zWUJ0Xu6ovN1XMm8HrEogzY0JwLZAIWtC8jgNbMdTf6hLWMjhs5aacbwXI57iiyLt6Jt-drCcEXmcqhQImc8NpK7kPltel2d6JnxQB7iLIZgwECnXbuxnoFYicQca6yJt-BW8P4189t7hFn4kdRkU0vnVKCd9kI06E74fh0nrmCOZp7YfglubFwkNOM/s1947/IMG_5490.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="1947" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zWUJ0Xu6ovN1XMm8HrEogzY0JwLZAIWtC8jgNbMdTf6hLWMjhs5aacbwXI57iiyLt6Jt-drCcEXmcqhQImc8NpK7kPltel2d6JnxQB7iLIZgwECnXbuxnoFYicQca6yJt-BW8P4189t7hFn4kdRkU0vnVKCd9kI06E74fh0nrmCOZp7YfglubFwkNOM/w640-h116/IMG_5490.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i>FDR, JFK, Leonard Bernstein, Norman Mailer, Alan Dershowitz, and Barack Obama are just </i><i>the </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>tip of a very large liberal iceberg that has steamrolled politics, arts and literature, and the law.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Political Soldiers</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS6FRE3gNdObfhHxZcynuNch17pJiWPm18RyVSBTXEH-AL0DNgY458Nw9yP68woa6wcD_nu_id_hbIOZVPX1NOdmV1elP9qLhIPdrT7OcGGJ6o89CwWnExVYNk7UMphpzF7mb1HWcypmqIIltPp_PKaVFb8x-TItoZkzvkoceHSq7J80bbFRPgg2lhP_U/s1725/IMG_5564.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1725" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS6FRE3gNdObfhHxZcynuNch17pJiWPm18RyVSBTXEH-AL0DNgY458Nw9yP68woa6wcD_nu_id_hbIOZVPX1NOdmV1elP9qLhIPdrT7OcGGJ6o89CwWnExVYNk7UMphpzF7mb1HWcypmqIIltPp_PKaVFb8x-TItoZkzvkoceHSq7J80bbFRPgg2lhP_U/w640-h264/IMG_5564.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Bill Gates, Mike Wallace, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Cornel West, Michael Bloomberg, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Bill Kristol, Natalie Portman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chris Wallace, Mark Zuckerberg.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">NEW YORK POWER</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Why is this credential so high up on the ladder of power attributes? The Harvard-New York connection is so potent that it threatens to undercut the Crimson’s claim of being the educational lord of the universe. About half of the representative Harvard people shown above have New York roots of one kind or another. It’s not a coincidence that both places consider themselves the capital of the world, albeit in slightly different but overlapping realms. There’s an ocean of confidence fueling both. It’s also no coincidence that both places are intimately involved in the sustained effort to bring down Donald Trump. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">No shortage of power in the New York lineup, which includes the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, as well as key players in the J6 Committee’s televised trial of the former President and in the efforts to jail and bankrupt him in the New York court system. Harvard’s choice of Claudine Gay fits smoothly into the Empire State progressive narrative of Social Justice on behalf of ‘Democracy’ and ‘Equity.’</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSizN9jrEaJq06hyOtamo312mbHpyTVAtaIP_AIVWiOfWBHudULd_m7M6Pp-CTV1JRSMy5rA00-Ia-m1VzK605oHu3Fzj-NeJXAWsLoILtbVIfuUS1kDFutH-Rmb9E6Q-aBIpTOomTzn6LO5EOqPrGH3h8gkZ0KRmBuP5vPo1Hilz3vTLSqO8DYDf9gTs/s1634/IMG_5639.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1634" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSizN9jrEaJq06hyOtamo312mbHpyTVAtaIP_AIVWiOfWBHudULd_m7M6Pp-CTV1JRSMy5rA00-Ia-m1VzK605oHu3Fzj-NeJXAWsLoILtbVIfuUS1kDFutH-Rmb9E6Q-aBIpTOomTzn6LO5EOqPrGH3h8gkZ0KRmBuP5vPo1Hilz3vTLSqO8DYDf9gTs/w640-h264/IMG_5639.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>From Left to Right: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Kirsten Gillibrand, Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney-General Letitia James, District Attorney </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Alvin Bragg, Mayor Eric Adams, Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler, the Revs Al Sharpton </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>and Louis Farrakhan, and Civil Court Judge Arthur Engoron.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BLACK POWER</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Political Headliners</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 118th Congress includes 62 black members, 11.5 percent of the 535 total. This percentage is just under the 12.4 percent of U.S. population made up of black people. Not quite there but close. And considerable progress since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s that finally ended the Jim Crow rule of southern Dixiecrats and made it possible for African-Americans to run for office throughout the nation. Since the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, black people have ironically quit the Party of Lincoln (and MLK) for the Democrat Party. The Congresspeople shown below are representative of the emergent diversity of the Black Caucus, which now includes more women and more Muslims than ever before.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There has been similar progress in the Presidential Cabinet, where black officeholders actually constitute more than 12.4 percent of the total, with 6 of 26, with black executives accounting for 23 percent of appointments confirmed by the Senate. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And for the first time in U.S. history, there are now two black members of the Supreme Court, of whom the female is an outspoken Progressive.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Collectively, these results highlight the overdue nature of Harvard’s selection of its first ever black President. Easy to infer that there has been a firm Progressive hand behind such an advancement.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXVCopNxO4L_ISBFNWdixVG6ckVimkpP_Tn-xqwYbZdZhh5a0Xc5bRD-yoXb78lPSt0aM315YCjQJmNL5zCAhVkfcqR47Gkvgn9w6UrW5bs63_HtuvDmppMPdLZ5C_gGbx6zlAEsp2InqZOBI8Z5i_C3XBBGqWcFc1wb0mXRAUEXeWPan-AhY78F-Alk/s1381/IMG_5630.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1381" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXVCopNxO4L_ISBFNWdixVG6ckVimkpP_Tn-xqwYbZdZhh5a0Xc5bRD-yoXb78lPSt0aM315YCjQJmNL5zCAhVkfcqR47Gkvgn9w6UrW5bs63_HtuvDmppMPdLZ5C_gGbx6zlAEsp2InqZOBI8Z5i_C3XBBGqWcFc1wb0mXRAUEXeWPan-AhY78F-Alk/w640-h278/IMG_5630.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>From Left to Right: Senator Cori Ford, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, SecDef Lloyd Austin, EPA Admin. Michael S.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Regan, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Associate Justice Katanji Brown Jackson.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Cultural Breakthroughs</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">It would be difficult to overstate the contribution to contemporary black power provided by the Black Lives Matter movement, which has even succeeded in attracting Harvard’s attention. The $2 billion impact BLM has had on urban businesses and neighborhoods, well worth the hundred or so lives lost in the process. We wouldn’t be where we are as a nation now, and Claudine Gay wouldn’t have made it to the head office of University Hall without them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicu9TSdOa1Roz2bDHQmYmaOSaPI8gi252waJvbsZoP6EY_4kHRflffJXx7PCePLKXi1MYHJj5JV0hKpMSZoKuxTL3PaE2Uc9pEhXUpv-PmyIUaCCuK6lB6G8zL5qmpq30BbgCEPGUbQTXH7S-8C2m5ppxugkGmRR79so1AFw-0RU1qVnwlWZnFGy8gg5M/s1136/IMG_5704.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1136" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicu9TSdOa1Roz2bDHQmYmaOSaPI8gi252waJvbsZoP6EY_4kHRflffJXx7PCePLKXi1MYHJj5JV0hKpMSZoKuxTL3PaE2Uc9pEhXUpv-PmyIUaCCuK6lB6G8zL5qmpq30BbgCEPGUbQTXH7S-8C2m5ppxugkGmRR79so1AFw-0RU1qVnwlWZnFGy8gg5M/w640-h480/IMG_5704.webp" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Washington, DC. Enough said.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Likewise, a sea change has also been underway in the nation’s media. The newly dominant streaming services have discovered the enormous financial benefits to be achieved by separating out and specifically featuring entertainment programming that is exclusively by, for, and about black people. Rosa Parks would be so proud of black people having the opportunity to be all by themselves for a change. Even the Obama’s are in on it with their Higher Ground production company. The boldness of such initiatives is amazing. Just imagine. Not even the white supremacists would have the nerve to start a streaming service called <i>Allwht</i>, would they? The laugh’s on them now.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDh-o00A55J-UUZATppn64ExwzdhZ6yBlUflc3DoOZecsXxbqoDskgosn4aeYhRUfc7UngfkMlI92kql90XtN_09DfUe02-yoIAkxkF2E4jlaeKs1izxB26ZW0Zk5sB7SFTXPhNz1Xa-EHxm4RK_MeDvdYPkgKQFh9oppzjl6UP-PFMKyq5DKmBZkUY-4/s1829/IMG_5684.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1829" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDh-o00A55J-UUZATppn64ExwzdhZ6yBlUflc3DoOZecsXxbqoDskgosn4aeYhRUfc7UngfkMlI92kql90XtN_09DfUe02-yoIAkxkF2E4jlaeKs1izxB26ZW0Zk5sB7SFTXPhNz1Xa-EHxm4RK_MeDvdYPkgKQFh9oppzjl6UP-PFMKyq5DKmBZkUY-4/w640-h426/IMG_5684.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>From Left to Right: Black Entertainment Television, Higher Ground Productions, Netflix “Black </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Leads” offering, the Urban Movie Channel (precursor to) the Allblk Channel, and the new and </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>blacker Black Entertainment Channel Plus.</i></div></i><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">FEMALE POWER</span></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>As we’ve been seeing, the original FDR coalition has changed over the course of the 20th and now 21st Centuries. These new infusions of power represent additions to the carapace protecting Claudine Gay as Harvard’s President. Most importantly to a huge percentage of the American population, of course, is her status as the only the second female president (succeeding the first ever) in the university’s 387 year history. We have grown used to women in power, though it has remained stubbornly elusive in key respects until very recently. Gay’s ascendancy addressed one of those heretofore elusive respects.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Political Power at the Highest Levels</b></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0hZQseioFVtRXyEaXzYZdGrbibboZZWgA7SloC1LIwpuYqOLrysMaMgGyhO62IRgYt-nsMFKY6QHuOX4h1iorxfolnlPkqSb0hjSA8oU_01QcDzeBnWwVyOIZYL5u6VyCZvXxOjIkxcAIsh_b5tai2KenSCkYrTy2O1CABCg9QfEPXfIiRDXzbjHUqt0/s2087/IMG_5406.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="2087" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0hZQseioFVtRXyEaXzYZdGrbibboZZWgA7SloC1LIwpuYqOLrysMaMgGyhO62IRgYt-nsMFKY6QHuOX4h1iorxfolnlPkqSb0hjSA8oU_01QcDzeBnWwVyOIZYL5u6VyCZvXxOjIkxcAIsh_b5tai2KenSCkYrTy2O1CABCg9QfEPXfIiRDXzbjHUqt0/w640-h142/IMG_5406.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You know the powerhouses, including the ones who shake the earth behind the scenes as well as in </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>official elected positions. We’ve had a Speaker of the House and a Vice President. Also Hill and Jill.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKEm7eYPG5CVVcme4IsjFAoRz_1p7C9TgxVcBm-i2kNpBuVFPKryRjaz9y6NPWBCfV7OO1J-5jfxga8ZHav_iDr8j-PDJs7g8OUyXTfBcChNncS7RsrqPufGc1wX5g3RsHCgHVKfoZNKLZn14gLPzsuMHx-NO4bzFZ5qAtcWBZDxvDvMQsTWH_4o7lAk/s1442/IMG_5706.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="1442" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKEm7eYPG5CVVcme4IsjFAoRz_1p7C9TgxVcBm-i2kNpBuVFPKryRjaz9y6NPWBCfV7OO1J-5jfxga8ZHav_iDr8j-PDJs7g8OUyXTfBcChNncS7RsrqPufGc1wX5g3RsHCgHVKfoZNKLZn14gLPzsuMHx-NO4bzFZ5qAtcWBZDxvDvMQsTWH_4o7lAk/w640-h588/IMG_5706.jpeg" width="640" /></a><i> </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>There are 26 federal office positions considered cabinet-level. Since Kamala Harris is included </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>on </i><i>the list in her capacity as VP, this means half (lucky 13!) are occupied by females. The good </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>news </i><i>is that - depending on how you count - only eight of the rest are white males. Also, of the </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>secretaries </i><i>above, only three have experienced headlines that could be construed as scandalous. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyZpN13HlwbGW4OiteSRqBaWjlC0sVs0-P1nxmMsZy-lksht8lxZEAkEUDYVmI24ma_fzKp0b0o8fNqeP91AU3V1nbnczwsToWwBwsasjEDaueOzwKDBAF3Tkg5501Eu6Dnxp84CBwEMZJ9konIDF6Eevv3sOuFlCb5KgGnYJVCVkQR62zgYvkirxA1A/s1301/IMG_5437.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="1301" height="534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyZpN13HlwbGW4OiteSRqBaWjlC0sVs0-P1nxmMsZy-lksht8lxZEAkEUDYVmI24ma_fzKp0b0o8fNqeP91AU3V1nbnczwsToWwBwsasjEDaueOzwKDBAF3Tkg5501Eu6Dnxp84CBwEMZJ9konIDF6Eevv3sOuFlCb5KgGnYJVCVkQR62zgYvkirxA1A/w640-h534/IMG_5437.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Four of these appointments occurred within the last two years, during </i></div></i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>the Biden administration. That’s progress and power by any standard.</i></div><b><br /></b></div><div>These are all very major changes, easily lost in the hustle and bustle of more seemingly spectacular news, for example what we’re beholding in another of Claudine Gay’s principal causes…</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">LGBTQ+ POWER</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Something exciting happening in this realm almost every day now. Who would have thought that Harvard would choose an openly gay President of the University? Well, they could see the writing on the wall. All the walls everywhere, even the ones in the bathroom…</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Congress</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBa608rNewJk4SH34Z7DSwsuDnOdXYpVQtu4vigBsLthbdq38JuYLXl9nKlmi4a-Giu2mH1Tw8soAeXYbWy8b7bTGJXv-R73miy_F-lG5XCIt5KW0plnQ7D04oLKSkpcUDfqtUtqaOWQ4edB7IEx_3BXwa8mqTf1C59PHek9NnA3AkDJeqcm2rtsfH4sI/s1648/IMG_5429.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="1648" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBa608rNewJk4SH34Z7DSwsuDnOdXYpVQtu4vigBsLthbdq38JuYLXl9nKlmi4a-Giu2mH1Tw8soAeXYbWy8b7bTGJXv-R73miy_F-lG5XCIt5KW0plnQ7D04oLKSkpcUDfqtUtqaOWQ4edB7IEx_3BXwa8mqTf1C59PHek9NnA3AkDJeqcm2rtsfH4sI/w640-h516/IMG_5429.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Cabinet Officials</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI4Bw4EUQtBJ8YWpGc_RWG2WIHAACPUnwYdRLqFumVNUbrVvnMMOajhMc5nQawYFy1btP1dYvOAS4KzOL0KzZ9JayjnEn6kvhE5xVi59AV76k4HmttTHpzY0BNLGcKgj2JmCZkic73q0q2ntX1O710ArI5kaguAX7Qw36a1aBR2vtwj8exm26gbc5GvIM/s1634/IMG_5570.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="1634" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI4Bw4EUQtBJ8YWpGc_RWG2WIHAACPUnwYdRLqFumVNUbrVvnMMOajhMc5nQawYFy1btP1dYvOAS4KzOL0KzZ9JayjnEn6kvhE5xVi59AV76k4HmttTHpzY0BNLGcKgj2JmCZkic73q0q2ntX1O710ArI5kaguAX7Qw36a1aBR2vtwj8exm26gbc5GvIM/w640-h192/IMG_5570.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Trans, Sec’y Pete Buttigieg and Deputy and Ass’t Sec’y HHS Rachel Levine</i></div><div><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Open Secrets</span></div></b><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_WdtcdpZzKfHaGdMSLvA6WC4T38mwpc4BNXYd3c4_t6Uw4F_p2kKK8xoZAe2SyCQQKDVgKom8rmEwaIDzY-Ep-TYegDVQBDc64ieD_SRknWmGzNjzuCteYiKJ99sBRrrC1HV7H-CzWeAW5mo5M7d1Pwyk-AHBlUylY1R9gGF9dK9KXVHOpWGZltjkgGY/s1692/IMG_5574.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="1692" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_WdtcdpZzKfHaGdMSLvA6WC4T38mwpc4BNXYd3c4_t6Uw4F_p2kKK8xoZAe2SyCQQKDVgKom8rmEwaIDzY-Ep-TYegDVQBDc64ieD_SRknWmGzNjzuCteYiKJ99sBRrrC1HV7H-CzWeAW5mo5M7d1Pwyk-AHBlUylY1R9gGF9dK9KXVHOpWGZltjkgGY/w640-h158/IMG_5574.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Mum’s the word on these, but we all know why the elite political world is loosening up at last.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">News/Talk Media</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5jiS-0G9Sog1mavVuTart51__86XYkva7osaOMY5XFyqlbc8KBvvy-m7_Mk2OWArEULC-ItUMUsrfiARigYWyWhODx_exLZzvWwnxMIamVtOjoPMvQbPYbAXFuHzRYxecPPZYmSKZfEnrjQwWk8VIHUxeM9wJobljCzdpNWCEsPArG4pBg3iWBQ_q9E/s1731/IMG_5567.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="1731" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5jiS-0G9Sog1mavVuTart51__86XYkva7osaOMY5XFyqlbc8KBvvy-m7_Mk2OWArEULC-ItUMUsrfiARigYWyWhODx_exLZzvWwnxMIamVtOjoPMvQbPYbAXFuHzRYxecPPZYmSKZfEnrjQwWk8VIHUxeM9wJobljCzdpNWCEsPArG4pBg3iWBQ_q9E/w640-h132/IMG_5567.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Ellen DeGeneres, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Rachel Maddow, and RuPaul. Role models all.</i></div></i><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Entertainment Celebrities</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEk_RZIe_ha8NzTimbcimIfOYotxTsNiC56uoogotD8cvncb_NsVRC8W89A1oSPAwtZ9ySw_3KBLzxmc_MNa_6Qn4i7k7uqlnBl9pNlZWLai6EDCHwf1A2czi1fb-UMJCmZUxo_7ZRwANAA9OceXo-AR9kob6JhVlFpX2PBz3oNEFr9kvsLYrP_zVatmg/s568/IMG_5451.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="568" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEk_RZIe_ha8NzTimbcimIfOYotxTsNiC56uoogotD8cvncb_NsVRC8W89A1oSPAwtZ9ySw_3KBLzxmc_MNa_6Qn4i7k7uqlnBl9pNlZWLai6EDCHwf1A2czi1fb-UMJCmZUxo_7ZRwANAA9OceXo-AR9kob6JhVlFpX2PBz3oNEFr9kvsLYrP_zVatmg/w640-h485/IMG_5451.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; caret-color: rgb(155, 162, 168); clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Top Row: Gay, Bi, and Trans stars in some order</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; caret-color: rgb(155, 162, 168); clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Bottom Row: Trans, Established (Ellen/Eliot) & Up-and-Comers</span></i></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">LGTPQ+Ped </span></b><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pioneers</span></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfAoujLutuhlQbCX2bZyb-AsQzOFTzmoJHv-u8S8FRGqOgSznSS5TLKxyrh2cIi6tcnn0mkan7k8HedC1_eJF0VwO0hsojpLpnHntYG8t6oVc-mLrytFL_uQwhEeARrvyCpu_Kl_V2FncsIpaYwmxm4A-1uo1MA_UOM0URCXI-vCBBP-_u2fK8dmSFNw/s834/IMG_3480.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="834" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfAoujLutuhlQbCX2bZyb-AsQzOFTzmoJHv-u8S8FRGqOgSznSS5TLKxyrh2cIi6tcnn0mkan7k8HedC1_eJF0VwO0hsojpLpnHntYG8t6oVc-mLrytFL_uQwhEeARrvyCpu_Kl_V2FncsIpaYwmxm4A-1uo1MA_UOM0URCXI-vCBBP-_u2fK8dmSFNw/s320/IMG_3480.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Epstein and Weinstein. Politics & Hollywood getting their heads together.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfuY76ALAfb89aPnhWgiIBc1-3J7hsjoA3hVA7f__tP8WWGVJ7sweFRLMEWTHoG4U8-XZmVgFol8LwapH7F-Ua1mcqlWVlpOse-kLht4ZRytNcf-B3uOyfC5n-nScum3w2vLf6mtmyS3uSWScE8bOHjZh45Vyn2F5eXyOmw6T-UoW5Yduk56W9b15ZlE/s1908/IMG_5276.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="1908" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfuY76ALAfb89aPnhWgiIBc1-3J7hsjoA3hVA7f__tP8WWGVJ7sweFRLMEWTHoG4U8-XZmVgFol8LwapH7F-Ua1mcqlWVlpOse-kLht4ZRytNcf-B3uOyfC5n-nScum3w2vLf6mtmyS3uSWScE8bOHjZh45Vyn2F5eXyOmw6T-UoW5Yduk56W9b15ZlE/w400-h240/IMG_5276.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Stuffed shirts are finally learning to be playful, even childlike.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FICo3lakSsGP7zSiYvHgBidpPjDC1-YjbTwWnF1-JlPELsF8kgxa1xF_zdW2mUfQeROlF7I667pRFfobnELkI3tPFeSDhiF4qL0_39vS4mHOl-rUGhMwH7RE_04Nno6Eew-bgQx5p1WTaQByxRbPaSHvJll3jr6hbA331JNTW1qrQuU82Z4iscvG108/s768/IMG_5883.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FICo3lakSsGP7zSiYvHgBidpPjDC1-YjbTwWnF1-JlPELsF8kgxa1xF_zdW2mUfQeROlF7I667pRFfobnELkI3tPFeSDhiF4qL0_39vS4mHOl-rUGhMwH7RE_04Nno6Eew-bgQx5p1WTaQByxRbPaSHvJll3jr6hbA331JNTW1qrQuU82Z4iscvG108/w640-h320/IMG_5883.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>It’s a time of great normalizing of relationships that used to be so stilted and distant. Leadership matters.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">MUSLIM POWER</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is a subject not spoken of enough. One might have thought, until her congressional testimony, that Claudine Gay was not truly supportive of advancing Muslim power in the United States. Why all the categories of conviction covered above are so necessary to understand. President Gay’s ties to the Muslim Community are implicit in her identity as a New Yorker and a black woman. It’s complicated. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What matters for the moment is that Muslim Power exists, is important, and is growing steadily. Why Gay was so brave not to cave to the superficial clamoring for the Israel-above-all position of her congressional cross-examiners. Such a pandering would amount to several kinds of betrayal. For example, who else among her natural allies and constituents would not be so appeasement-oriented when it comes to the question of a Palestinian Rights? Perhaps these exhibits will help you understand…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgZtstNXH2S2EPa1WzfDT9kkBDk_T7_niTNbMBOMdN4cYVyjP-NJGOTYCehi5-KHlYWWV4CCeG9kcuAHat2CphrFnfZDoL6NYwVLGZe8KIsi89nAYorRUA3ZvP__yjqSlhero5KWx0mGnhfgrkmVD-xmMWGvOV7yhq0JH40_muEFUP623qmfMTVKOc34/s1024/IMG_5278.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgZtstNXH2S2EPa1WzfDT9kkBDk_T7_niTNbMBOMdN4cYVyjP-NJGOTYCehi5-KHlYWWV4CCeG9kcuAHat2CphrFnfZDoL6NYwVLGZe8KIsi89nAYorRUA3ZvP__yjqSlhero5KWx0mGnhfgrkmVD-xmMWGvOV7yhq0JH40_muEFUP623qmfMTVKOc34/w640-h360/IMG_5278.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvAi6D3z3XiuSbW3XNXDSnq8GLmZlXRkWNWce_mx-bhNtkykatuA9M0S0NXvWVA1VLWfjl3Zk9Mf0HEu4z20BHiaiSHhEKT5yfIzzJWfJvPJWbFFDDf1jLv359ybowT6YFre7RlDNpzzlpL59hdTFtod8CfjO5_3Y1uS4mxOahA0vKh74YXBgpm5HjVI/s1200/IMG_5271.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1005" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvAi6D3z3XiuSbW3XNXDSnq8GLmZlXRkWNWce_mx-bhNtkykatuA9M0S0NXvWVA1VLWfjl3Zk9Mf0HEu4z20BHiaiSHhEKT5yfIzzJWfJvPJWbFFDDf1jLv359ybowT6YFre7RlDNpzzlpL59hdTFtod8CfjO5_3Y1uS4mxOahA0vKh74YXBgpm5HjVI/w536-h640/IMG_5271.jpeg" width="536" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">How So Many People in This Country Really Feel</span></b></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/13/news/pro-palestinian-protesters-chant-anti-biden-slogans-outside-white-house/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1566" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAEDb8MRK2KrGcg27Oyj74B96rtCB9si7Uug-U7fLJ7a-0bWDe7DknT6SVesbIjGiPykeNm6C48tg4Om51NEfk5cxvkI1yvsn3sFsXbyuxVqwl2ZI-12xq7oIn7vEdnztBsgfxTQ7AYAyHnzJDfywzXiPBY8E7CdCNYdzRr8TGIXXLy6ZY09Kl0h3PWc/w640-h362/IMG_5703.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>So-Called “Mostly Peaceful Protest” at the White House, Jan 13, 2024. Click the pic.</i></div><div><br /></div>Reality. Claudine Gay is used to it. Even the Ivy League is getting used to it. They don’t like it much, but there are wheels within wheels on this subject. It’s complicated.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">JEWISH POWER</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Jews are not like any of the other groups being championed by the Progressive Movement. Why? The discrimination they’ve experienced is markedly different from that of all the others, who have been for decades, even centuries, locked out of every opportunity for equity in this nation. The Ivy League (and, yes, Harvard) is a perfect example of the difference. So is the Congress of the United States. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unlike black people, Jewish people are not underrepresented in Congress relative to their percent of population. They account for 2.4 percent of the U.S. population, but they make up 6.9 percent of Congress, nearly three times higher than demographic equity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0bXflKPqFW-rrRQntHSAVFtMTUE3UXwdIrbwI5J2ggby1tYo6nB6rZ1k_KEZo3X8Ix7On7-1TvnF3BLfXo2p6ytnB0r56WdtNjGj-EirlmZvT_clCAnVcMLvWWsfLL41Vp_xvbrn2_bJlxdEI_SovEPjUJnh29ShWcH2B3uayk2Y9Rt0v0dTfvHqYto/s1183/IMG_5707.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="891" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0bXflKPqFW-rrRQntHSAVFtMTUE3UXwdIrbwI5J2ggby1tYo6nB6rZ1k_KEZo3X8Ix7On7-1TvnF3BLfXo2p6ytnB0r56WdtNjGj-EirlmZvT_clCAnVcMLvWWsfLL41Vp_xvbrn2_bJlxdEI_SovEPjUJnh29ShWcH2B3uayk2Y9Rt0v0dTfvHqYto/w301-h400/IMG_5707.jpeg" width="301" /></a></div><div><br /></div>They are also significantly overrepresented at Harvard and elsewhere in the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities, who have employed discriminatory admission policies to keep them from crowding too many others out. If you revisit the Harvard Archetypes and Political Soldiers shown above, they are about 50 percent Jewish. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What does this mean? It’s the real cause of the deeply ingrained antisemitism that afflicts most of the rest of the world. Jewish immigrants to this country arrived as penniless and hungry as any other. Like the others — Polish, Italian, Irish, Chinese, you name it — they were not accepted anywhere. But they’ve had thousands of years of practice arriving in foreign lands this way, and they did what they always do. Work at anything and everything, endure every humiliation, and put every bit of time and money saved into the education of the children. Who climb out of poverty within a single generation and start making waves — and oodles of money — everywhere. Which guarantees they will be hated in perpetuity. Harvard can’t<i style="text-align: center;"> </i><i>not</i> let them in, because 1) Harvard wants to be the best (used to anyway), and 2) Harvard does not want to be like the Progressive asshole at Princeton who banned them completely from the university to avoid dealing with them. So Harvard and all the others not presided over by Woodrow Wilson accepted a lot of Jews and just tried to keep the numbers within acceptable limits, which made their degrees worth more than others and created generations of intellectual and cultural rebels who were brilliant at spotting prejudice wherever it was and going to war against it in every way possible. They regarded themselves as oppressed even if everyone else thought they were overrepresented in all the money-making professions and businesses, and so they became — TA DA — Democrats, in almost the same percentages as post-LBJ black people. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The profound irony in all this is that Jews wound up inventing much of 20th Century Liberalism and almost all of modern day Progressivism, forgetting somewhere along the way that there’s more to justice than winning the argument. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Where they are now. But all of the ones who ostentatiously hate them, including most of Claudine Gay’s constituents, have done some big-time forgetting of their own over the years. Like who was always in the vanguard on Civil Rights, Feminism, and progressive political revolutionary theory and practice.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Civil Rights Movement</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://artartifacts.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-bodies.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="500" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkuPiKgD5DEqOEU0KBIgb3DIEmxznx_cLMi0k0yj8YLvj0TbNC5Fn0Si1BX6DFad1qXvSmNavuh_MLR9wiGW_2Mshl-eVpOa-2dk6Ok-h6tSA_15xRPxcroNws9kREZVgEiKFWumsvMHsQHCZIR6kxG6pJTBLYQabfOWEVPa8hgjZHhBYJ6MQoHT51xw/w640-h576/IMG_5614.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Click on the pic.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No, maybe they didn’t start it, but they were among the first white martyrs to the cause. Two of the three murdered Civil Rights workers in 1964 Mississippi were Jewish. What say you to that Farrakhan, Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright?</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Feminist Movement</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-aNBd38b8jp4hUDahnBpjVGQtnWeOoF6mfJ_4lqTpuTrFwTqaW0vfBK1JrmyYu78yqQDOQYueDngyVToIrUOF7bA4i5Sx9_j91Gy2-tswwgMdy3_C-c0ggeND21mZnbWaRXfg4ezpB11PuL9fD9W2yAMnuhVMwDy1Z1SonB19Zemp-NoQH_GZhLar3E/s1156/IMG_5640.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="1156" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-aNBd38b8jp4hUDahnBpjVGQtnWeOoF6mfJ_4lqTpuTrFwTqaW0vfBK1JrmyYu78yqQDOQYueDngyVToIrUOF7bA4i5Sx9_j91Gy2-tswwgMdy3_C-c0ggeND21mZnbWaRXfg4ezpB11PuL9fD9W2yAMnuhVMwDy1Z1SonB19Zemp-NoQH_GZhLar3E/w640-h190/IMG_5640.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Susan Brownmiller, Andrea Dworkin. </i><i>The Big </i><i>Mamas </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>all women should remember, including this eccentric sister from Down Under…</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hQMxrK4aU4vnM7FMs9vNil3taxYvtatlsKZzXoTMf1sv-Sf_sWzmwF283O4HHVkHjkf9h50nyEpLFNknQptCJM8jg9Pqp4b4xl2WKgnFheMN46P6ZVs_-k9w6x_YQwG8y4NWUqLJawk0YCIIyR-xR3s1-EZTeCJlnJL6SZzO3z5HWygyt1ME5tZH59g/s422/IMG_5619.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hQMxrK4aU4vnM7FMs9vNil3taxYvtatlsKZzXoTMf1sv-Sf_sWzmwF283O4HHVkHjkf9h50nyEpLFNknQptCJM8jg9Pqp4b4xl2WKgnFheMN46P6ZVs_-k9w6x_YQwG8y4NWUqLJawk0YCIIyR-xR3s1-EZTeCJlnJL6SZzO3z5HWygyt1ME5tZH59g/w189-h200/IMG_5619.jpeg" width="189" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuKAGvV6AVaEF_e2o3DnctmVwWAphpjbluOnYYA104zzsHvAbZjeOe8I-5EEL7-snO1l-0XtXaAFD50v31_pldnua3U8H1pWbx3sk7wjU7t6QZn_wS6b1JfsWeRXQzKcaIcZAhZvp1mgJ-Ijr6RxTxyNAZezoSg6x9I9RKZFx44at82ELGVfpx4RN_zw/s1250/IMG_5698.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="1250" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuKAGvV6AVaEF_e2o3DnctmVwWAphpjbluOnYYA104zzsHvAbZjeOe8I-5EEL7-snO1l-0XtXaAFD50v31_pldnua3U8H1pWbx3sk7wjU7t6QZn_wS6b1JfsWeRXQzKcaIcZAhZvp1mgJ-Ijr6RxTxyNAZezoSg6x9I9RKZFx44at82ELGVfpx4RN_zw/w400-h161/IMG_5698.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Collectively they wrote the gospel (and the political playbook) of feminism, rape law, pro-choice activism, and innumerable other reforms of marriage, employment, and economic opportunity.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Historical Democrat Liberalism</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNjP8JIGKKwy3cKIPs5LAUqMHBWZZqTkMbdSNYe0bp6kt4Cq6q8VOJou07hg5o1_wmn8sWeVwwi98mXqbJUa0j-PuQ_jovKm5546JT2ptYn7Z-OUqmvGnyWX26z4gcbiQM8DtK7V535degyTH3Ui5wBRJmsPSIqALeZ3GvxiyO7ld8AMzwMlp7HdrvF8/s1025/IMG_5653.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="1025" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNjP8JIGKKwy3cKIPs5LAUqMHBWZZqTkMbdSNYe0bp6kt4Cq6q8VOJou07hg5o1_wmn8sWeVwwi98mXqbJUa0j-PuQ_jovKm5546JT2ptYn7Z-OUqmvGnyWX26z4gcbiQM8DtK7V535degyTH3Ui5wBRJmsPSIqALeZ3GvxiyO7ld8AMzwMlp7HdrvF8/w640-h292/IMG_5653.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Jacob Javits, Abraham Ribicoff, Howard Metzenbaum, Carl Levin, Arlen Specter, Joe Lieberman,</i></div></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Paul Wellstone, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Ruth Bader-Ginsberg. Liberal Democrats all.</i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They fought for liberal causes like freedom of speech (even for Nazis), organized labor, civil rights, graduated tax rates, and government assistance for the poor and underprivileged, and held the course even as the world began sliding into the Vietnam era morass of Weathermen, Black Panthers, and an insurrectionist drug-fueled counterculture…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which their own descendants were also ringleaders of…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Modern Progressive Action Strategies</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhObMDsfPLtzBTRwG_yXFC2hinNj3rIfszcRsmh4cnjEl69qKIMOXrL7gnmBe3Pi69IiJcvkwHwAKFOePD2N596RC3Wy5l-9bqGsvy0WdoMSkGlk3kq9w9QwtgTKNtFXLPojuXdqjEbXnElqRXOkkPxJIe6qz9-_UJGZr_VR-NQtYVbEZhHFG3MuL7gUXA/s1412/IMG_5642.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="1412" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhObMDsfPLtzBTRwG_yXFC2hinNj3rIfszcRsmh4cnjEl69qKIMOXrL7gnmBe3Pi69IiJcvkwHwAKFOePD2N596RC3Wy5l-9bqGsvy0WdoMSkGlk3kq9w9QwtgTKNtFXLPojuXdqjEbXnElqRXOkkPxJIe6qz9-_UJGZr_VR-NQtYVbEZhHFG3MuL7gUXA/w640-h194/IMG_5642.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Mark Rudd, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, William Kunstler: SDS, Chicago 7, and their lawyer.</i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They may look like hippie freaks, but they came from schools like Columbia, Berkeley, and Brandeis. The stuff they did was no accident. Every member of Antifa owes a debt to all these guys.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_fCVXXJDZ8KxUPRR7LrRu40ZDPKTASNoMZqDKEnzlRtwAbHQnYEIKWDFvotQRrTYY6jn9_ykMaRpEVe6JO46JGVuQfak5FjGSDH5NkwDe3pSXw1R8G_hun9Z5GDlXp9y35xpoXr8DEFkfqJ2RlqL9lamcqFvf6M-ZeyYlVT-DdcW1eI4Pwpxxa46qI8/s302/IMG_5284.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="302" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_fCVXXJDZ8KxUPRR7LrRu40ZDPKTASNoMZqDKEnzlRtwAbHQnYEIKWDFvotQRrTYY6jn9_ykMaRpEVe6JO46JGVuQfak5FjGSDH5NkwDe3pSXw1R8G_hun9Z5GDlXp9y35xpoXr8DEFkfqJ2RlqL9lamcqFvf6M-ZeyYlVT-DdcW1eI4Pwpxxa46qI8/w400-h246/IMG_5284.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Saul Alinsky, the Godfather of modern-day weaponized ‘progressive’ politics</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He wrote the manual that gave Hillary and Obama step by step instructions for destroying their political enemies. In the words of Wikipedia, <span style="font-family: times;">“<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">Responding to the impatience of a</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span>New Left<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">generation of activists in the 1960s, Alinsky – in his widely cited</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span><i>Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer</i><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">(1971) – defended the arts both of confrontation and of compromise involved in</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span>community organizing<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">as keys to the struggle for</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"> </span>social justice<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">.</span></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); margin: 0.5em 0px 1em;"><span style="font-family: times;">“Beginning in the 1990s, Alinsky's reputation was revived by commentators on the political Right as a source of tactical inspiration for the Republican Tea Party Movement and, subsequently, by virtue of indirect associations with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as the alleged source of a radical Democratic political agenda. While criticised on the political Left for an aversion to broad ideological goals, Alinsky has also been identified as an inspiration for the Occupy movement and campaigns for climate action.”</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREJkcMgG7hscFk01AeYkVdZt99CsXyxoym78l2cRwa-PVpEGI2Qnd9BhUyftNMor7mLzLdwF6WNkUh8i2M3UboI276cuSD-AadWx-Eh2rC7oC64QFHduXV4IQef7ECBny4lm6Jk_gnMKeaxLfzWq4J6GR_f-tnACbpCGkMemccU0CdhD83-9xFdWp2Ho/s244/IMG_5285.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="155" data-original-width="244" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREJkcMgG7hscFk01AeYkVdZt99CsXyxoym78l2cRwa-PVpEGI2Qnd9BhUyftNMor7mLzLdwF6WNkUh8i2M3UboI276cuSD-AadWx-Eh2rC7oC64QFHduXV4IQef7ECBny4lm6Jk_gnMKeaxLfzWq4J6GR_f-tnACbpCGkMemccU0CdhD83-9xFdWp2Ho/w400-h254/IMG_5285.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. </i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: times;">Wiki summarizes their work thus: “It is the strategy of forcing political change leading to societal collapse through orchestrated crises. The "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, amassing massive unpayable national debt, and other methods such as unfettered immigration thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse by overwhelming the system.”</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: times;">Sound familiar? Their ripple effect continues…</span></p></div></div><div><span style="color: #202122; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Trump Hunters</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNVhsvBrN8vswOLQ3u709bz_ddrZI5u8t7itXkdQZsnyslMuQMN0LUt-QZoRZj7v_S0A7eavogkEQvGOoNrH1gsuYBzgz-24TncdNKEeFm0dJk0hr1gShJCwd1VJ0fkgjaoTrfi4UxD2Lpgv61vx4jaFW0WOqyY1gcEcRpc5ElDDWg2vPRj6Di0PXU4Y/s1610/IMG_5679.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1610" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNVhsvBrN8vswOLQ3u709bz_ddrZI5u8t7itXkdQZsnyslMuQMN0LUt-QZoRZj7v_S0A7eavogkEQvGOoNrH1gsuYBzgz-24TncdNKEeFm0dJk0hr1gShJCwd1VJ0fkgjaoTrfi4UxD2Lpgv61vx4jaFW0WOqyY1gcEcRpc5ElDDWg2vPRj6Di0PXU4Y/w640-h320/IMG_5679.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You should know who these ruthless haters are by now. And, yes, they’re all Jewish.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They learned the lessons of Frances Fox Piven and Saul Alinsky all too well. They are a big part of the reason why Biden is President and the demons of the Middle East are out of the bottle. They should have known better, but when you’ve trained yourself to be a political butcher and you both enjoy it and profit from it, it’s hard to know what to do when some of the knives you’ve been handing out are poised at your own throat. Why we’re seeing some…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Divided Loyalties</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOefQpazV4ONan9MjcLNncw_OdANcb9XSyK6JhBSdTLRLo6f_TzOivk5zGI-f2mX8I1Y9P58b0nK0_uGzMzjfA4KRSswTiUlMcTLHMHiy-zXCl4ZHX6G5Qv-HBn9R6eLX2iirNeP0VEH4SxByuhzVAL6wMGhElUIhSve567Dc7bsxi55RqobZ7kEeLPYE/s1007/IMG_1168.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1007" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOefQpazV4ONan9MjcLNncw_OdANcb9XSyK6JhBSdTLRLo6f_TzOivk5zGI-f2mX8I1Y9P58b0nK0_uGzMzjfA4KRSswTiUlMcTLHMHiy-zXCl4ZHX6G5Qv-HBn9R6eLX2iirNeP0VEH4SxByuhzVAL6wMGhElUIhSve567Dc7bsxi55RqobZ7kEeLPYE/w400-h333/IMG_1168.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Sadly, the souls of most of these shrewd and skillful people are already lost. Everything they do actually adds to the power and fury of the antisemitism that is gathering momentum like a boulder rolling downhill. Their own directionless will keep exacerbating the cracks in the glued together but otherwise irrational coalition of which Claudine Gay is a paper-thin symbol. Her personal ruin has been accomplished. The complete ruin of anything like a comprehensible Democrat agenda is in process, crazing the ice they’re skating on with hundreds, even thousands, of…</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">MORE CRACKS</span></b></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb-P1t0FvvNn_LejAidxkNezBTu9DusBzVRRDSWLQw7ys0jOkTYzH4javTr4GWQJPEgNhyUhAjUrHWFXPPUtUJP04HylEto8HtuZTTFZ3eVibuXgOovu3rjKQ3IqfDqA_dRddf7jVN2jxEm9SMEbfRSj8_fE3XNnO12GDxVK4tCAYvWzgwg9KGQwtYomA/s1671/IMG_5686.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="1671" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb-P1t0FvvNn_LejAidxkNezBTu9DusBzVRRDSWLQw7ys0jOkTYzH4javTr4GWQJPEgNhyUhAjUrHWFXPPUtUJP04HylEto8HtuZTTFZ3eVibuXgOovu3rjKQ3IqfDqA_dRddf7jVN2jxEm9SMEbfRSj8_fE3XNnO12GDxVK4tCAYvWzgwg9KGQwtYomA/w400-h289/IMG_5686.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw2T8aUVXANfIJTBXlBVirjHRPBQ1wUokYD5KR-H0o0xuAA6seDJ_Liw9w0swmkP3rUvnOku3Qxv0C0tneRL-CSMTv_cmbOG184pnNmX4-QqMYF92jmzBZT1_0mHbBRgGd80ayj85h2cPcrizLLhamWxnPWBypPt8qPgYO3P4HhK4rc1bgiG-rUxeKYFI/s1451/IMG_5696.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="1451" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw2T8aUVXANfIJTBXlBVirjHRPBQ1wUokYD5KR-H0o0xuAA6seDJ_Liw9w0swmkP3rUvnOku3Qxv0C0tneRL-CSMTv_cmbOG184pnNmX4-QqMYF92jmzBZT1_0mHbBRgGd80ayj85h2cPcrizLLhamWxnPWBypPt8qPgYO3P4HhK4rc1bgiG-rUxeKYFI/w400-h313/IMG_5696.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Plagiarism Virus</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh06rcRJnV1rKep0MeezAuEt1Z24RHpAt4f3NSD6Hw5iiRp5mFg7p9xp8I5jv_7VcT4C7byk9u_hodCO3qngrb0ovzi148_EkxF-d5WEdxiL76rkrVeid0Bdy4MZFs-lU6XCGVJy1k4NDzUEaemRahNcAl1Otew2-U2ev6YBEoN0Eag53NhhYbK1LI5c/s1443/IMG_5705.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="1128" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh06rcRJnV1rKep0MeezAuEt1Z24RHpAt4f3NSD6Hw5iiRp5mFg7p9xp8I5jv_7VcT4C7byk9u_hodCO3qngrb0ovzi148_EkxF-d5WEdxiL76rkrVeid0Bdy4MZFs-lU6XCGVJy1k4NDzUEaemRahNcAl1Otew2-U2ev6YBEoN0Eag53NhhYbK1LI5c/w500-h640/IMG_5705.jpeg" width="500" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Here’s the really funny part about the Plagiarism Thing. It’s actually a perfect fit with the rest of the emptiness of Claudine Gay’s symbolic identity. It fits in two different ways. First, her degrees are in social science, which is an oxymoron to begin with. There’s no hard science at all in what is called racial studies, gender studies, or other flavors of sociopolitical cant masquerading as academic disciplines. The only math involved has to do with counting survey results, which are, like all the academic papers, merely statements of opinion, citing the opinions of others in a kind of hearsay circle jerk. Once a basic opinion set has been established, there’s really nothing new to say, which is why plagiarism is built into the process. Steal the idea, steal the opinion, where’s the hard line between that and actually stealing the words too? Nobody’s going to read any of this. It’s all endlessly repeating a half-baked notion (why I put in the graphic of the Hollow Earth book above). What all social scientists are depending on. Gay wouldn’t have gotten caught if she hadn’t given someone a reason outside her so-called research to go looking.</div><div><br /></div><div>What’s even more fascinating is the specific cause of Gay’s, and the Democrat Party’s, quandary. A really inconvenient, no-win showdown between Judaism and Islam. Especially hard for politicians who are devout atheists and nihilists to begin with. Here’s the funny part. It’s really easy to decide between Judaism and Islam. The second one is nothing but a half-assed plagiarism of the first by a power-mad pedophile megalomaniac. But nobody has ever read the Quran against the Old Testament of the Bible, anymore than they’ve ever read a single PhD dissertation in the social sciences. </div><div><br /></div><div>Perfect. Really. Where does that leave us? We could make the next steps into a movie, I suppose. Except somebody already did that and there’s no need to plagiarize the original. Here it is, complete with cracking sheets of ice, white Klan-like robes, and lots of butchery in an endless wasteland…<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE BATTLE ON THE ICE</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='322' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy8HOe46umjP5yf69OUU60UUpXwTGegFcBe9wCllH2XIfBxr47trDtVICJe6vtvfn_dmiSw_TCL40toS1wiFg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Imagine who you want in the uniforms, but this is only of many battles on the ice that will unfold as elements of the left tear each other apart at everyone’s cost. Harvard cannot replace Claudine Gay without offending someone in the coalition. If they don’t choose a black LGBT female committed to DEI they will be seen as pandering to right wing critics. If they do choose a clone of Gay, they will be seen as pandering rather sickeningly to the extreme left. If they choose a Jew, the Muslims will get violent. If they choose a Muslim, the Jews will savage Harvard and the Democrat Party financially. If they choose any other woman, they will simply be proving once and for all that Affirmative Action is the university’s only mission. If they choose a man rather than a woman, they will be seen as cowed sexist sellouts to the patriarchy. (Who knows? They might try an end run with a race/gender-irrelevant <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzJT-gTEvFY">Satanist</a>… but that would not end well either.) They have no good choices now. Very much like the Democrat Party. Why battle will be joined in destructive perpetuity in what used to be the crystalline intellectual sphere of the left. There will be lots of casualties, both institutional and personal. Because even the most complacent average Americans out there will ultimately come to see that the only ones with no champions on the left are people like them. And the New Coalition will come apart in chunks. And the first and most symbolic victim will have been Claudine, the wannabe female Achilles with a heel of clay.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And afterwards…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Crackling Breakup of the Old FDR Coalition</span></b></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLh3OSqikSe9T4hDAS8DVgk9TrUCg5opo6OFXV-n9_ITkzhk8EDll7gx12H5kue8z1dQf8FVkfxLH9ZdncEYX9oD7Ol7lqFyxlL-8zEuS3D_dSIXz19TsBjkJEdTWqdIaKQvb1LbxibM1bW7-uzL4HQjamz8Kq9osqtG4xGxsB1Mm0gBak4K-6aLU5XY/s1798/IMG_5361.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1798" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLh3OSqikSe9T4hDAS8DVgk9TrUCg5opo6OFXV-n9_ITkzhk8EDll7gx12H5kue8z1dQf8FVkfxLH9ZdncEYX9oD7Ol7lqFyxlL-8zEuS3D_dSIXz19TsBjkJEdTWqdIaKQvb1LbxibM1bW7-uzL4HQjamz8Kq9osqtG4xGxsB1Mm0gBak4K-6aLU5XY/w640-h254/IMG_5361.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>A place to start over someday…</i></div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">CLAUDINE GAY IN RETROSPECT</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qqa35opsdFU" width="400" youtube-src-id="qqa35opsdFU"></iframe></div><div class="separator" separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Or, in her own words, in a brand new assignment and mission…</div><div class="separator" separator="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzbZC_-uR2r7zbs6kNG5kDV_qwhJUKInNy1kQsm6xqBzw96n0G0RaDgMQkncKlwbB-46FgQcL5MPrM3-mx5WQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Okay. Not really her words. Might as well be though. Claudine is no one’s child but her mother’s. Pretty fragile Joan of Arc figure for a war fought on crackled ice. She’s Batwoman, a costume wearing a confused biological female. An ill-conceived rip-off of a tired icon. Because she presumed for no good reason to symbolize everything, she wound up as the definition of nothing but a sad story for everyone. Canceled after a brief run. Mazel tov.</div><div><br /></div><div>SEE ALSO THESE RECENT POSTS:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-unkindest-cut-of-all.html">The Unkindest Cut of All</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-san-andreas-faultline-in-democrat.html">The San Andreas Faultline in the Democrat Party</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/01/new-years-thoughts-on-2024.html">New Year’s Thoughts for 2024</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/year-end-thoughts-2023-part-1.html">End of Year Thoughts 2023, Part 1</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/year-end-thoughts-2023-part-2.html">End of Year Thoughts 2023, Part 2</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-collapse-of-consciousness.html">End of Year Thoughts 2023, Part 3</a></div><div><br /></div><div>ALSO RELEVANT:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2022/11/there-arent-enough-of-us-part-iv.html">There Aren’t Enough of Us</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/search?q=CHYOS">The CHYOS Club</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/my-harvard-book.html">My Harvard Book</a></div><div><br /></div><div>THERAPY:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-riqQkMEzXg">American Exceptionalism</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2024/01/soul-music-for-2024.html">Soul Music for 2024</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-82839758147672870252024-01-03T10:27:00.004-05:002024-01-03T17:17:05.093-05:00New Year’s Thoughts on 2024<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnHOYrb0BgTw4n4feWW5O0LnxrF-q_WSAfzFgfcNy_GR9698u0FTVUvdrAKA1KBLtAA70tABIZumLliDaS28Q6qHl4qUF08azhPf1yhjEb2vuIPSIjbkkwdwQb9R0C_31-jtg8eZTBs5_1_Ox9CUQb-Cn5NnpZJYAztP9GQ8pFNKa1exkrCS1RCiiDuQ/s600/IMG_5163.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnHOYrb0BgTw4n4feWW5O0LnxrF-q_WSAfzFgfcNy_GR9698u0FTVUvdrAKA1KBLtAA70tABIZumLliDaS28Q6qHl4qUF08azhPf1yhjEb2vuIPSIjbkkwdwQb9R0C_31-jtg8eZTBs5_1_Ox9CUQb-Cn5NnpZJYAztP9GQ8pFNKa1exkrCS1RCiiDuQ/s320/IMG_5163.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This is where would-be sages offer their predictions for the coming year. I have a few of those. I’ll give you those, then move on to some more general thoughts about where we’re headed.</p><p>There will be political assassinations this year. These will be plot mechanics surrounding the upcoming presidential election. </p><p>Otherwise, everything will continue to get worse, from January straight through December.</p><p>It won’t actually matter who wins the election. If Trump wins, they’ll either kill him if he isn’t already dead or they’ll just keep ramping up the war against him so that there can be no real transition, his cabinet and other appointments can’t be confirmed, there will be litigations and delays in certifying the election itself, no matter how one-sided it is, and there will be no jump start of the fabled “100 Days.”</p><p>By then chaos will simply be the order of the day. The only question marks surround the order in which the inevitable and merely possible occur, although all of these will be bad. For example, China will take this year to seize the opportunity for retaking Taiwan, since they know Trump would oppose this if elected. There will be some kind of nuclear event in the Middle East, outcome indeterminate, either before or after the Taiwan catastrophe, which will crash the U.S. economy (no more cheap microprocessor chips for the Tek-Lords), thus providing cover or distraction for the ascendant totalitarians of the far east. As part of this calamity or simply attendant upon it, the dollar will crash, plunging the financial lives of Americans into a very real ‘Great Depression.’ The federal government will run out of money, and the debt/deficit/inflation crisis will hit like a ton of bricks.</p><p>The rest of American life will become far more intolerable as well. Crime will continue to rage out of control as millions of undocumentable illegal immigrants draw down resources from various governments, and the non-English-speaking patsies who fell for the American Dream fantasy will take by violence what they cannot obtain by other means. Public health will also descend into profound crisis, as a nation without borders is wracked by once conquered diseases and a tsunami of lethal drugs flowing everywhere throughout the country along with the virus of unassimilatable aliens. </p><p>It’s unlikely that any actual Civil War or Right-Wing Revolution will occur before 2025. There will be violent terror events, however, both from the usual lefty suspects and disaffected militia-type insurrectionists on the right. Why the prediction of political assassinations is not singular or absolutely federal in origin.</p><p><i><b>Thoughts</b></i></p><p>Can any of this be prevented or halted at some critical event in time? No. The American people are responsible for the travails to come. Who are we, after all? We are fat, ignorant, incurious, seriously ill-educated, foul-mouthed, self-obsessed slobs. Look around. Look in the mirror. You probably won’t be able to find your own grandparents in the mirror…</p><p>I can say that because I am sitting in the back seat now, a passenger on the journey to doom. The country I grew up in is gone. Hardly anyone remembers a time longer ago than last week, last election, last death in the family. And despite all the MAGA and Christian evangelical bluster about virtue, virtue itself has mostly vanished from the scene, done in as much by our long incremental series of retreats as by the tireless depredations of the villains. Which makes everyone a villain to one degree or another. National immolation is not achieved by the efforts of one political ideology or another; but by the loss of the glue that holds a culture together.</p><p>The video below features two perceived champions of the resistance against the downfall that’s underway. It’s more casual than such presentations by culture warrior generally are. There is one singularly important declaration by one of them, the much admired Tucker Carlson, that he knows how to put his foot down. Citing as an example, “In my house we don’t smoke marijuana at the dinner table.” There’s no sign that he’s making a joke. When I knew Carlson is too young to perceive the totality of what has occurred and is occurring and accelerating in America. He gives his age as 54. He’s too young to know the gravity of his admission. He was not present as a witness to the biggest cultural and historical events that have led us here. The Kennedy assassination. The Vietnam War. The Great Society. The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. When Watergate ‘happened,’ he was still in kindergarten. And he certainly has no experience of an event that has become so ingrained in our culture that it is no even described as an event but a condition of modernity: the torrential invasion of illegal drugs into a generation of spoiled, rebellious young people who became the drivers of everything that’s happened. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dysCWAOMEuI5KawCM2yrDpThgyJcKkR0g82_x52xkyRQqrub_pQsh7md5lcXi6solYxBA-cLh8F56r9DvHifA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Carlson was, not coincidentally in my view, born in 1969, a year I have written extensively about as the year that made us who we are. Experientially he is, to me, a pup. Even though I’m only about 15 years older. So much I’ve lived through that he just doesn’t know and can never learn or fully understand.</div><p>I’m not boasting or puffing myself up here. I’m citing stark facts. I have actually seen, often from the inside, the proofs that all our institutions are corrupt. That’s not hyperbole or exaggeration for effect. They are all corrupt, empty shells of what made them great during America’s Golden Age after World War II. All the professions are corrupt. The law, medicine, academia, science, public service, corporate management, all the major religions, the fine arts, and both news and entertainment media. <i>Completely</i> corrupt.</p><p>What has been forgotten is that the overwhelming declines in the integrity, honesty, and fundamental human values of these institutions occurred with almost unbelievable speed, after having been maintained for a generation by men who had in huge numbers survived combat and knew that doing right mattered more than winning. They knew <i>why</i> they subscribed to various standards of ethics and behavior and civil communication. They knew how to recognize a moral decision point when it arrived on their desks: right this way, wrong that way.</p><p>There is no longer a critical mass of people who understand this difference. If you think you’re an exception, you almost certainly are not. I include myself in that accounting. All I will say to reinforce my credibility here is that I have written more about the factors involved in the death of American civilization in dozens of social and political sectors than anyone I know of. And I have failed ultimately in my responsibility to have any positive impact through my efforts to tell the truth. Why I am now just a passenger.</p><p>Even now, it should be possible for people who know the difference between right and wrong to pull together out of their solipsism and save the day. Not going to happen.</p><p>The largest underlying theme of everything I have written is connectedness. What I know. Everything is connected. Every aspect of life and existence has holographic properties. That is, the whole is also always embedded even in the smallest parts. As a writer I have explored the realms of linking. This is connected to that other thing over there. That great big thing up there is still visible even in this little bit of flotsam right here. What I do is reflective of what others are doing and vice versa.</p><p>We have forgotten this. Why we are doomed.</p><p>Which is the solution to mystery of my opening graphic. A pencil. The only article I still remember from the old relatively sane <i>National Review</i> is one that was titled, “Nobody Can Make a Pencil.” The author went on to become someone who came to believe he could make a pencil by himself, a better pencil. We are all hoist by our own petard.</p><p>The article explained just how much resource is required to produce that single pencil in the mug on your desk. The wood has to be grown, harvested, and precisely cut by different operations and hands. The same with the eraser, once rubber (now, who knows what concoction of chemistry?), the metal ferrule that holds the eraser, the pencil lead (how do they get that in there anyway), the paint that tells you the name of the manufacturer, or assembler, or seller of the finished product. All told, we are looking at the joint efforts of loggers, miners, planters, chemists and machine operators, forklift operators, warehouse hands, truckers, and retailers, <i>and</i> all the resources that designed and built the necessary precision machinery, the manufacturing plant(s), and the human labor that also contribute to the process, each output of which costs a few cents to the people who will use it. </p><p>It’s a miracle of modern civilization. One of countless others we never think about and take for granted. Just as we do the imaginations and beliefs and aspirations of the people who came together for the purpose of propagating the thing called civilization.</p><p>Which can be lost. Sadly, civilization is always lost after it has worked however long to sustain those who depend upon it. Civilizations fall when the people needed to sustain it forget the skills and arts and character requirements for survival. When a culture takes basic human survival for granted, they must relearn all the human qualities and duties that have been lost in order to recover. This always involves pain, suffering, poverty, disease, and death in enormous numbers. But what has been lost can’t be relearned on the fly or in sudden extremis. It has to be relearned the same old ways every time. </p><p>The Year 2024 can’t and won’t save us. We’ve forgotten too much. All we can do is try to remember enough to pass along to the people who will come after, because there will always be people who come after…</p><p></p><p><b><i>Summary</i></b></p><p>My view is a bleak view. I am more confident in it than I wish I were. I know all kinds of writers’s games. I’m not indulging in any of them here. I really am telling you the truth as I see it. Nobody I know or have even close contact with understands the reality of what I’ve written. I have always been a Cassandra. Entered the literary world that way and will be leaving it the same way. I’m not complaining though. It’s been a hell of a ride.</p><p>Good luck to you and yours.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-33542872087430731742023-12-25T09:39:00.006-05:002023-12-25T09:44:09.032-05:00The 12 Days of Christmas<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was buried in the tomb of Facebooks Past and in my 40,000-some image files. It was a Christmas project I put together for fun in 2018, when it looked like we had at least a chance to save the country from Satanic lefties. Issue still in doubt, as some of the graphics below will indicate. But it’s still okay to laugh. The FBI doesn’t SWAT you <i>just</i> for laughing yet. You’ll notice a significant percentage of Old World and Celtic content, but it’s an old song after all, and those of us who still know all the words tend to be more Celts than not. So no apologies. For you youngsters, the “Partridge in the Pear Tree” below is Alan Partridge, aka Steve Coogan, who has attracted notice since 2018 only for embarrassing himself by signing some absurd pro-Hamas letter from gay UK actors (!?) to all us Jew lovers. Oh well. It’s not my practice to edit my own past, and I haven’t done it here, although I did have to recreate a couple of the graphic references I couldn’t find. Blame technology. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Righteous; font-size: x-large;">A Partridge in a Pear Tree</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMHjiecqPcx1eFj3Xu7le4mxMpY_gvY8K72MIJ53T-RCanTidpANCsuA9FUbEIcNXfZdCkhWStwlzjxGWviQRHBvvkvkeMmQHBHPubLeb8WFAtT-N3N1LZj9I0KA8t6obUOWGwOTttsB6dzEa6XRwKFjZuhz3V145fj7esh4fQn3v7-aoCKlapgJsqCA/s1490/IMG_9357.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="1385" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMHjiecqPcx1eFj3Xu7le4mxMpY_gvY8K72MIJ53T-RCanTidpANCsuA9FUbEIcNXfZdCkhWStwlzjxGWviQRHBvvkvkeMmQHBHPubLeb8WFAtT-N3N1LZj9I0KA8t6obUOWGwOTttsB6dzEa6XRwKFjZuhz3V145fj7esh4fQn3v7-aoCKlapgJsqCA/s320/IMG_9357.jpeg" width="297" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Macondo; font-size: x-large;">Two Turtle Doves</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lbRlRJMbJlQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="lbRlRJMbJlQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the third day of Christmas…</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44qUCfoP5AFiSR0ZfA0_zrWDakUsYuR6EWsRD7ZjYFfwnZlDhmcLItFKb0XL_Lmr-6MCTQClnZT2rSHHP98rNGxJxz0ZDa3hXvr73SGdvGbqhdG9ToGwQiI3z3ATrQpE-SsjCBImCCENJOuPkWjP3aMOJZRk8e1XWovHU08q20kZOn0rj0mMSbd7pQM8/s1257/IMG_9195.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="1257" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44qUCfoP5AFiSR0ZfA0_zrWDakUsYuR6EWsRD7ZjYFfwnZlDhmcLItFKb0XL_Lmr-6MCTQClnZT2rSHHP98rNGxJxz0ZDa3hXvr73SGdvGbqhdG9ToGwQiI3z3ATrQpE-SsjCBImCCENJOuPkWjP3aMOJZRk8e1XWovHU08q20kZOn0rj0mMSbd7pQM8/w640-h245/IMG_9195.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the fourth day of Christmas…</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQKOgsIh-HwXfxxeYKcs71KyHPFmpFs1M0Wr-FAQNamljrEU369KCPQa9dCNM2bRzTPEyzGvNvFZxpfEfCQ8L3zmlJljDQaUNlbqtVoU9JJSMjh9TW1grQl4a7us3Kbkx89vH34LYzyGO8RQt6G5tLMC-1lfyAIVaXcAYkn7PHqg-6MqyKKBNvBDwrjs/s2261/IMG_9256.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2261" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQKOgsIh-HwXfxxeYKcs71KyHPFmpFs1M0Wr-FAQNamljrEU369KCPQa9dCNM2bRzTPEyzGvNvFZxpfEfCQ8L3zmlJljDQaUNlbqtVoU9JJSMjh9TW1grQl4a7us3Kbkx89vH34LYzyGO8RQt6G5tLMC-1lfyAIVaXcAYkn7PHqg-6MqyKKBNvBDwrjs/w640-h326/IMG_9256.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the fifth day of Christmas…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Orbitron; font-size: large;"><b>Five Golden Rings</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwA9_8O8WHAo2wp9Vco1cLU1eGj5wX6uqyo44FbOty6GirKwPFxLBMy1mA6RJuSX7AMc8ixhrb8m0rxcYbbXQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>On the sixth day…<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzX7TgBjoigOHOxZHyF4n7KPbCpDXbHEp2M-DFh2tn7XeENB90FguQjbxDFkURrFMLVY7nKFAivLrjdsxdVl5JRF-Z_M0SdJ97CqztzUJr4WYQ_YbJD6gOLLgqz5HMceZ0PKwdaLqYKX-aTFldE0WLTsXCIcCvZKYqjx8oNKoEWM0pg_XFG7NKctt8-f8/s1201/IMG_9270.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1201" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzX7TgBjoigOHOxZHyF4n7KPbCpDXbHEp2M-DFh2tn7XeENB90FguQjbxDFkURrFMLVY7nKFAivLrjdsxdVl5JRF-Z_M0SdJ97CqztzUJr4WYQ_YbJD6gOLLgqz5HMceZ0PKwdaLqYKX-aTFldE0WLTsXCIcCvZKYqjx8oNKoEWM0pg_XFG7NKctt8-f8/w640-h466/IMG_9270.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the seventh day…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbmC8meuLsrNyFW27aZk-fzxJenRostgSO2MkKFv8_t-PnQwVVncsbfXwpCRgCp9ynukxNgxXmMAghW7Ant_ZiXU-p2d17eSjiVQzVGUDRajziGsv6Cgiq0GK7VyZMESy7pa8ZoVVsl4XvqiDChd_2mkFyA1o_mCwe7O7GBocVvL_6jMgPIgkvU7Km1Sk/s2048/IMG_4731.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="2048" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbmC8meuLsrNyFW27aZk-fzxJenRostgSO2MkKFv8_t-PnQwVVncsbfXwpCRgCp9ynukxNgxXmMAghW7Ant_ZiXU-p2d17eSjiVQzVGUDRajziGsv6Cgiq0GK7VyZMESy7pa8ZoVVsl4XvqiDChd_2mkFyA1o_mCwe7O7GBocVvL_6jMgPIgkvU7Km1Sk/w640-h386/IMG_4731.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>On the eighth day…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblVTyjcG-WOO1-FKys9Naj41pjkcpbLsny10uFR_CgLe_aQ5wTswENBVXEAKYJVWrAJ4SkIi3-G5jTz4OjkhAKd-dpJA7p5B98xrGeyGMppU6Zt82l_nPedPrLMTkl8brlVo80dH650OacLs0NWVWqyK7YpTl8t_4Vi8n8Jgk5FOOP-IDIoVtLeqnLJU/s1783/IMG_9404.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1295" data-original-width="1783" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblVTyjcG-WOO1-FKys9Naj41pjkcpbLsny10uFR_CgLe_aQ5wTswENBVXEAKYJVWrAJ4SkIi3-G5jTz4OjkhAKd-dpJA7p5B98xrGeyGMppU6Zt82l_nPedPrLMTkl8brlVo80dH650OacLs0NWVWqyK7YpTl8t_4Vi8n8Jgk5FOOP-IDIoVtLeqnLJU/w640-h464/IMG_9404.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>On the ninth day…</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Great Vibes; font-size: x-large;">Nine Ladies Dancing</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxchKL38rRODEVq2mb9gw8UgHJTLWJTkLm5ZRtFqlDC4_Ca_qjoh49bBrTBqgTkaKpYBSa1U2Q3Az9lTboARg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the tenth day…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QeNKvccEWZIwP8BP4lCHk46qasmdcoqJukgA9xOIRb-C9sPaNPuiqM7QUJTyDOHT2lkIGmgMtwJ7ykWwSBqZQ8DFx0XNq7zLngsORm47Qp7McBg2VborZJlEpz3xBmhujh-2VPGceZY8CoIC_gct4my4zJoUvkM1gSfeWvhS7kNhumwO1oJ-ETJcYjY/s2062/IMG_9422.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1379" data-original-width="2062" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QeNKvccEWZIwP8BP4lCHk46qasmdcoqJukgA9xOIRb-C9sPaNPuiqM7QUJTyDOHT2lkIGmgMtwJ7ykWwSBqZQ8DFx0XNq7zLngsORm47Qp7McBg2VborZJlEpz3xBmhujh-2VPGceZY8CoIC_gct4my4zJoUvkM1gSfeWvhS7kNhumwO1oJ-ETJcYjY/w640-h428/IMG_9422.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the eleventh day…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Creepster; font-size: x-large;">Eleven Pipers Piping</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PneIB2jfhZ8" width="320" youtube-src-id="PneIB2jfhZ8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Lobster Two; font-size: x-large;">Twelve Drummers Drumming…</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DX1gCC31wJ4" width="320" youtube-src-id="DX1gCC31wJ4"></iframe></div><br /><p>And all the rest again too. </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-15113922647127866562023-12-23T16:10:00.802-05:002023-12-30T06:41:12.515-05:00My Harvard Book<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv0uiA9EbscNWYskrFwLGtYnO9jHSZHAIvDDSgetHzLBniz5cQuqFy5C8D3a1isfDbJF3jffZ65p7HbnwiDzhidA1f4xESOi-lk3B-fSfN4UVn7zS5MEAp5TPglXMm-0njF4cF9VXshnlI0ATBS5OkLaqHdmlH0tucuRFMAyi_oeLlMrwJoPVUTbpk2Y/s1242/IMG_4952.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1155" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv0uiA9EbscNWYskrFwLGtYnO9jHSZHAIvDDSgetHzLBniz5cQuqFy5C8D3a1isfDbJF3jffZ65p7HbnwiDzhidA1f4xESOi-lk3B-fSfN4UVn7zS5MEAp5TPglXMm-0njF4cF9VXshnlI0ATBS5OkLaqHdmlH0tucuRFMAyi_oeLlMrwJoPVUTbpk2Y/w596-h640/IMG_4952.jpeg" width="596" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The current version was introduced in the year of my own birth, 1953.</i></div></i><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><i>Background</i></b>:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Yes, there really is something called <i>The Harvard Book</i>. Compiled by a fittingly hyphenated Harvard man named William Bentinck-Smith who ran the Harvard Alumni organization in the late 1940s. The edition shown above was his brainchild and went on to transform what had been a tradition into an institution. It has its own Facebook Page to this day, the point of which is to describe the venerable crimson volume as a prestigious book prize distributed by approximately 2,000 secondary schools, as<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"> </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span>follows:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><<The Harvard Book Prize is awarded to an outstanding junior year student selected by the faculty of each participating high school, based on unmistakable excellence in scholarship, exceptional strength of character and significant contributions to school and/or community. Each winner receives a personally inscribed copy of "The Harvard Book," a Prize presented annually in nearly 2,000 high schools around the world. It is at the discretion of the secondary school to determine the recipient of a Prize. Selection cannot be done through an application process. The Harvard Book Prize program was originated by Harvard alumni in 1910.>></i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I got mine when I was 15 and subsequently went to Harvard. (They were truthful about the personal inscription page in inked calligraphy.) That’s my connection to this eccentric publication. Frankly I was shocked to find the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HarvardBookPrize">FB page</a>. It seems incredible that they haven’t tossed out the 1953 version in favor of some fashionably woke compendium of the writings of social injustice victims empowered by their time at Harvard. You see, the Harvard Book has to be one of the most supremely solipsistic anthologies ever assembled, consisting as it does of “Harvard men writing about Harvard.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Even the book’s introduction is turned obsessively inward, a disquisition about what it means to “write like a Harvard man.” Elegance and all that. One of the purveyors of used copies elected not to provide an abstract but a sample of the Harvard man writing it contains:</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDO4t35Kd8ih6PDjgTLekOgY-uXbA3_qtMWEZm9dAW5jyYhyphenhyphenaAeUwmhWD92hxqHTrX4sHpHwHwM2V9YV6QUvPLKZSdoD0ECZRKoq7OHWQA5yp6o_gHNNbrMHBJCmT-crP-JK5RkqCXxgKkRcwMkJ-LmxfPyWW561DuecJ6jpYRuPonDht9yqqhuXZRE1E/s1321/IMG_4961.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1321" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDO4t35Kd8ih6PDjgTLekOgY-uXbA3_qtMWEZm9dAW5jyYhyphenhyphenaAeUwmhWD92hxqHTrX4sHpHwHwM2V9YV6QUvPLKZSdoD0ECZRKoq7OHWQA5yp6o_gHNNbrMHBJCmT-crP-JK5RkqCXxgKkRcwMkJ-LmxfPyWW561DuecJ6jpYRuPonDht9yqqhuXZRE1E/w640-h544/IMG_4961.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Don’t that beat all? So, since Harvard has not yet gotten around to updating the book I’ve decided to do my own version, which is designed to be even more solipsistic than theirs, the writings of one Harvard man about not just Harvard but other Harvard men (and women) as well. What follows is my own introduction, which must be written like a Harvard man because I am a Harvard man, or was anyway until — just like the Episcopal Church and the Republican Party — the noble institution I saw inspirational glimpses of in my youth has moved completely out of my own Overton Window into a realm of outer darkness. Time to get on with it, I guess.</span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction</b>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">From earliest childhood I never had any chance to avoid the Ivy League. It was simply assumed that’s where I would go, to one of the eight* (I’ll explain the asterisk in just a bit), which was easier than my sister had it because she was destined for Vassar, where her aunt and oldest first cousin went. My Dad went to Cornell, his dad went to Penn (as did most of his five brothers), and the extended family racked up quite a total with ten to Penn, four to Princeton, and two to Cornell, plus a full professor at MIT. I was also destined to go to my Dad’s prep school, since the only two he seemed to know anything about were that one and Exeter, which was where the childhood acquaintance he most detested had gone, the one he compared me to unfavorably whenever he thought I was showing off how smart I was. I heard a lot about the Exeter guy over the years but never met him personally until I was a junior in college. My Dad was right about him, but I didn’t see any resemblance to myself. He’d gone on to become valedictorian at Princeton, then a professor there, and as far as I could tell he was heartily detested by everyone but his social vampire of a mother. My own mother wanted me to go to Princeton. Go figure. Not an unlikely outcome given that my prep school used to be a feeder school for Princeton, back before the number of feeder schools diminished in the post-WWII era, including mine. By the time I got there, we only sent about four a year to the only Ivy in New Jersey, maybe three or four to Yale, and one or (maybe two) to Harvard.* More to other Ivies and similarly competitive schools, but usually only 30-35 altogether out of a class of 125 or so. We weren’t Exeter.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">You saw that asterisk again? It was put there very early in childhood when my Dad told me I could go to any school I wanted… except Harvard. He wouldn’t pay for Harvard. Never met anyone from there he liked. Oh. I aimed myself at Princeton, but as the college application season approached, other factors kicked in. At my school, the brass ring was Harvard. The one that was far and away the hardest to get into at a time when they were all getting harder to get into. For three years in a row I was at the top of my class and won more academic prizes than anyone else, including the Harvard Prize. My classmates assumed that if any of us had a chance at Harvard it was me. I <i>had</i> to apply at least. And I wanted to go. At that age, in that environment, it was the Holy Grail. No thought at all about what it would actually be like. Intimidating even to think of.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">I had interviews at Yale and Princeton the summer before senior year. I was on crutches for the Princeton one, the main reason I remember it. I’d stepped on a honey bee in the yard back home. Instantaneous massive swelling and pain. Doctor told me I better not get stung again because it gets worse every time until it kills you. No memory of the Yale interview. The one I won’t ever forget was the Harvard one that fall, not on campus but in my school’s administration building, in an office appropriated by the junior-looking admissions officer. He was looking over my records as I sat down. When he looked up finally, he asked, eyeing me closely, “What are <i>you</i> doing <i>here</i>.” His eyes took in the room and the whole school at a glance.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">“Because my father went here.”</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">He read off all the extracurriculars I had carefully amassed in addition to my grades to make myself the best possible college candidate (at one point, “<a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/11/18/how-old-am-i/">You’re <i>how</i> old?</a> 16?”) and concluded with, “How do you do it? Keep pushing yourself day after day?” I played it straight, “just doing my best a day at a time” and all that jazz. Didn’t try explaining my lifelong knack for knowing how much was enough to please <i>them</i> while saving time for what <i>I</i> wanted to do. He moved on from there to trifles.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">Afterwards, I didn’t know how it had gone. My college adviser was cautiously optimistic. I inferred I hadn’t ruled myself out. Then a few weeks later I got a letter from Yale, informing me that I had been selected as a Yale National Scholar and would be admitted formally with everyone else on April 15. That’s when my adviser came clean and said, “Unless you want to, I don’t think you have to apply anywhere but Yale and Harvard. “ </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">I hadn’t actually mailed my Harvard application yet. “Should I? Or just accept the Yale thing?”</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">“I’d apply to Harvard and wait,” he said. He was both, Yale undergrad and Harvard Law.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">On April 15 my letter from Harvard sent me some more calligraphy naming me an “Honorary Freshman Scholar” with pretty much the same financial terms as Yale, no money unless my Dad dropped dead, in which case it was full boat the rest of the way. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">My parents had been pretty pumped about the Yale thing. I had to call my Dad at work and tell him I had two acceptances, two honorary scholarships. He congratulated me.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">I told him, “Dad, I want to go to Harvard.” The silence wasn’t a long one, but I feel my heart beating harder than it had when I’d approached the mailbox earlier that morning.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">“Okay,” he said. “If that’s what you want. You’ve earned it.”</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">It actually turned out to be the better financial choice. Early in the summer aI received word that I had received high enough scores on enough AP exams to be enrolled at Harvard as a sophomore.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">And that’s how I became a Harvard man. Three years later, I graduated at the age of 19 into the last of the draft lotteries. My birthday fell in the top third, high enough to guarantee conscription, but that’s the year they drafted no one and ended the draft altogether. What was Harvard like? You’ll get some hints in the links that follow, but I may also return at the end with some summary thoughts about when it was exactly that I ceased being a Harvard man and became my own man for good and ill.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">As you read, I’m aware it may seem that Harvard is all I ever write about. Not the case. Of the four blogger websites accounting for most of the content, three contain more than 500 entries apiece, and one more than 1,500. Overall, the Harvard stuff amounts to well under 5 percent of some millions of words over 20 years, which tracks pretty well with the 4 percent of my life I spent there.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><b><i>The Boomer Bible </i></b></span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-family: times;">(Oct 1991):</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><i>Six chapters out of 2,001 in the three testaments is not a lot. But what’s here </i>is<i> important. The last one, the only specific use of the name Harvard, is really quite eerily prescient, an attribute of the book that keeps revealing itself through time. The page header information here (Previous, Table of Contents, Next) is all functional, as are the numerical entries specifying the “Intercolumn Reference” links. It’s possible to travel anywhere in the testaments from what’s here, if you’re so minded.</i></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.theboomerbible.com/tbb398.html" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: times;">The Book of Willie, Ch. 47.1-25 </a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://www.theboomerbible.com/tbb421.html" style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Book of Vinnie, Ch. 32.1-15</span></a></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.theboomerbible.com/tbb440.html">The Book of Ned, Ch. 14.1-24</a></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.theboomerbible.com/tbb462.html">The Book of Ira, Ch. 15, 1-17 & Ch. 16, 22-35</a></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.theboomerbible.com/tbb542.html" style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Book of Swarthmorons, Ch. 5.1-11</span></a></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-style: italic;">First TBB Website </b>(c. 1995-2005):</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061118185246fw_/http://www.boomerbible.com/CourtesyReview.php3?chp=TheFollowers.inc&ChT=The%20Followers%20of%20Harry">The Followers of Harry</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><i><b>From Shuteye Town 1999:</b></i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><i>References here are principally to writers who attended or taught at Harvard, featured on the various shelves of the store called <a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5a.html">Moon Books</a> (Click the crime scene tape). Disregard any broken links; the missing content is provided elsewhere. There are also a couple links at <a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/storetoot1.html">Toot Video</a>.</i></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bs1.html">Bestsellors</a> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bst12.html">William Bannitt</a> & Text</span></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bst19.html">Norman Muler</a> & Scrapbook</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bst20.html">John Upcreek</a> & Text</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5ic3.html">Steven J. Goop</a> & Text</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bst26.html">Al Bore</a> & Text</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5bst27.html">George Walkman Bush</a> & Text</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/store5s6.html">Gloria Hyman</a> & Video</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/videostt.html">Mutt Demon</a></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/Shuteye%20Town%20HTML/st99files/videosw.html">Tommy Tee Bones</a></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Shuteye Nation:</i></b></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span class="s1"><i>A lot of Harvard men (and women) become famous. Shuteye Nation contains a Who’s Who (<a href="http://shuteye2001.com/441385351.html">several</a> in fact) in which many of them are treated with the deference they deserve. Unlike the site itself, this software can’t point to individual names, so here are the people to look for in the list: </i></span><span><i><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Jonathan Auger (Alter), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">William Bannitt (Bennett), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Tommy Tee Bones (Jones), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Al Bore (Gore), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">George Walkman Chevy Snaffle Adidas Bush XIV (“W”), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Mutt Demon (Damon), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Alan Dirtiwitz (Dershowitz), Liddy </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Dull (Dole), Barney Frog (Frank), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Billion Gates (Bill), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">David Gurgle (Gergen), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Alan Keese (Keyes), </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Doris Goodgod Korns (Kearns), </span></i></span></span><span><i>Bill O’Really (O’Reilly), Norman Muler (Mailer), Laurence O’Dingle (O’Donnell), Janet Rambo (Reno), Jeffrey Toobless (Toobin), John Upcreek (Updike). That’s 20 of more than 250 entries. Is 8 percent a lot? Well, I didn’t choose them because of where they went to school. So it does seem like a lot.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/WebContent/WhosWho.htm">Who’s Who in Ameria 2000</a></span><span class="s1"></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/archive/Shuteye%20Town/WebContent/WhosWho2001.htm"><span style="font-size: medium;">Who’s Who in the New Amerian Age of Civility 2001</span></a></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><i><b>Gloves Off:</b></i></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHyoijqUVdAgpw62-d4p5K8NOPJJR6oeWA0TB6nbofgi2Q5PKgQrAyglq3e7-nksnXOZ9usoMTW6seUvwHGHqJwgL99Pw3WWc3x6R2np3zP1Cn2e-fPfbqgwVAGb-arbFxRt_KY-AEC2c9KjtWoudUvRknLETO9wlmSn2wFPt3rrr2s-SwqcLdmUDk1A/s275/IMG_4953.jpeg" style="clear: left; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="184" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHyoijqUVdAgpw62-d4p5K8NOPJJR6oeWA0TB6nbofgi2Q5PKgQrAyglq3e7-nksnXOZ9usoMTW6seUvwHGHqJwgL99Pw3WWc3x6R2np3zP1Cn2e-fPfbqgwVAGb-arbFxRt_KY-AEC2c9KjtWoudUvRknLETO9wlmSn2wFPt3rrr2s-SwqcLdmUDk1A/w134-h200/IMG_4953.jpeg" width="134" /></a></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://glovesoff.blogspot.com/2003/10/" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);">Al Franken is a Big Fat Splotchy… What?</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"> (Oct 2003)</span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b><i>From Instapunk.com</i></b>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>This site, which lasted for 10 years until being retired to the Wayback Machine, also contains the entries that became a print book about Obama, who is of course intimately associated with Harvard. But this is not an Obama book, so almost all of those pieces are not linked here, being more about him and his unique biography than Harvard. In its archived state, Instapunk is also not searchable by keyword, which means some unknown number of posts that might be here are not, despite my efforts to find them. If and when I find more, I will include them. Enough said.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161028034647/http://instapunk.com/about.html">About Instapunk</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160624041000/http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=931">Touch of Class</a></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160624040956/http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=164">The Raitt Wing</a> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160912080001/http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=666">Answering La Malkin</a> (Nov 2005)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160624041137/http://www.instapunk.com/archives/InstaPunkArchiveV2.php3?a=712">The House of Lords</a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><b>[More to come]</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b><i>Deerhound Diary:</i></b></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-size: medium;">This site was started as a way to get some distance from the world at large that was the focus of the original Instapunk site. For this reason, the content is worldly in an in-and-out way, focusing largely on the large number of dogs and cats my wife and I have lived with in our 20 years together. For example, the site is a source for one print book about dogs and one on-line book about the Donald Trump candidacy and early presidency. In this context, the Harvard stuff is more a sidebar than a theme. But here it is, unedited from the original words. Some missing graphics have been restored where possible.</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/04/11/nefarious-narratives/">Nefarious Narratives</a> (April 2013)</span></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/06/05/harvard-keeps-sucking/"><span style="font-size: medium;">Harvard Keeps Sucking</span></a><span> (Jun 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/07/02/an-invitation-to-mada/">An Invitation to MADA</a> (July 2013)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/07/17/much-less-than-a-god/">Much Less Than a God</a> (July 2013)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/08/08/our-half-educated-president/">Our Half-Educated President</a> (Aug 2013)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/09/22/doormat-season/">The Doormat Season</a><span> (Sept 2013)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/09/16/why-life-isnt-as-simple-as-new-yorkers-think-it-should-be/">Life isn’t as simple as New Yorkers think…</a> (Sept 2023)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/10/06/college-football-was-fun-yesterday/">College Football was fun yesterday</a> (Oct 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/10/10/the-kelly-files/">The Kelly Files</a> (Oct 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/11/13/nfl-cat-fight/"><span style="font-size: medium;">NFL Catfight </span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Nov 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/11/26/boston-csi-1950/"><span style="font-size: medium;">Boston CSI, 1950</span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Nov 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/12/11/not-a-gay-post/">Not a Gay Post</a> (December 2013)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/02/21/the-new-jim-crow/">The New Jim Crow</a> (Feb 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/02/21/now-for-something-completely-different/">Now for Something Completely Different</a> (Feb 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/03/04/ukraine-explained/">Ukraine Explained</a> (March 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/04/01/a-peek-behind-the-veil/">A Peek Behind the Veil</a> (April 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/04/23/denial-is-a-river-in-egypt-ii/">Denial is a a river in Egypt II</a> (April 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/04/28/defaulting-to-the-obvious-ii/">Defaulting to the Obvious, II</a> (April 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/05/30/pbs-cnn/">PBS >> CNN</a> (May 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/06/02/its-all-war-now/">It’s ALL War Now</a> (Jun 2014)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2017/06/11/the-sad-last-chapter-of-steven-j-goop/">The Sad Last Chapter of Steven J. Goop</a> (Jun 2017)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2017/09/07/censorship/">Censorship</a> (Sept 2017)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2018/02/23/escaping-obama/">Escaping Obama</a> (Feb 2018)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2018/10/15/lapin-fun/">AHA at it again, with gratuitous slap at John O’Hare</a> (Oct 2018)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2020/12/16/how-the-progressive-scientology-comparison-can-clarify-the-current-american-plight/">How the Progressive-Scientology Comparison Can Clarify Our Plight</a> (Dec 2020)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b><i>Instapunk Rules:</i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><i>Getting lazy. No. Just running out of time. Want this puppy posted before the new year. And, yeah, yeah, I got a thing for the Harvard Glee Club. Only saw them in person once, at Princeton of all places, in the company of my step-step-daughter, and they brought tears to her eyes. And because of hers, mine too. The Princeton unisex choristers didn’t. We beat them at football next day too. When I still cared.</i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/?s=Harvard">Harvard links at Instapunk Rules</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b><i>Instapunk Returns:</i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><i>I know you’re thinking, FB friends, “I’ve taken a link or two to this site, and WGAF? If I cared, I’d have looked at the ‘Consciousness’ crap.” You are allowed to go away. You definitely will not understand everything here. </i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/search?q=Harvard">Harvard links at Instapunk Returns</a></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Facebook</span></b></i><span style="font-size: medium;">:</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><i>I’ll get to this later. Some funny stuff here and there, but mostly proof of life for concerned citizens who think I’ve been abducted by aliens who know I’m the only man who can save western civilization from the matriarchy. Okay, Here’s a token. </i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWVksTPx0JhNJt8ApM7g3jYs19q9yyLEaGj8jqvSqsMGhaM2aONDX6nyw-N2-KvzzEsBgXBUPLaTiYh_tzdjfni_RS4KDGCfFHOaRDs0P9uev3oEeZ7SkS6XMRjuQAp_jWgkjah0xEDpl_ics_bo6YtUV0Mi3r5iN-aNcsB45r6gqbBmdm4cBL57rWXE/s1190/IMG_5048.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1073" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWVksTPx0JhNJt8ApM7g3jYs19q9yyLEaGj8jqvSqsMGhaM2aONDX6nyw-N2-KvzzEsBgXBUPLaTiYh_tzdjfni_RS4KDGCfFHOaRDs0P9uev3oEeZ7SkS6XMRjuQAp_jWgkjah0xEDpl_ics_bo6YtUV0Mi3r5iN-aNcsB45r6gqbBmdm4cBL57rWXE/w578-h640/IMG_5048.jpeg" width="578" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b><i>Epilogue:</i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">An experience like Harvard does change your life. Why it doesn’t make me happy to witness its downfall, one whose beginning I was witness to some 50 years ago. The seeds of ruin were already planted and sprouting by the time I got there in the Fall of 1970.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;">But why now? </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Why here at the end of 2023 after another tumultuous year in America? It’s exactly 50 years since I graduated in 1973. Fitting anniversary for a reappraisal and summing up, I think. There’s also the coincidence — if such a thing exists — that Harvard is as much in and behind the news as it has ever been. As I write this, the university’s reputation is in more peril than it has ever encountered. Grave public allegations of institutional antisemitism and woke pandering that have involved the appointment of the least qualified, most morally and intellectually compromised president in Harvard history. And that’s just the story that makes the headlines. Even worse is the role played by Harvard power players behind the media curtain in assaulting the foundations of the American republic to a possibly mortal degree.</span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">None of this happened overnight. It’s been a <a name="_Int_v2w3927t">long time</a> building. My time at Harvard took in the years when the transformation of a religiously founded university broke with its past and turned against what it had always exalted and defended. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">What does all this add up to? Harvard is a part of my identity, but Harvard did not define me. It was rather a necessary experience for my development as a person and a writer. It was just something that had to be for some reason, for both good and ill. I might have been what the world calls happier if I had gone somewhere, anywhere, else. But I would have missed out on an opportunity that simply isn’t available anywhere else. I acquired much of my education there. Eminent professors like Edwin Reischauer, Benjamin Schwartz, Walter Jackson Bate, Mason Hammond and Wendell Clausen, and an inspired set of distribution requirements that enabled me to be an English major while taking courses in Chinese, Japanese, Roman, and German history, Einsteinian physics, Latin poetry and drama (in Latin), art history in overview and in closeup, as well as an extraordinarily comprehensive tutelage in the entire history of English literature, most of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Anglo-Saxon poetry, the modern novel, and the Age of Samuel Johnson. I was not a devoted student by then, but I kept the books and syllabi even after finals and eventually <a name="_Int_VW6kfKyU">wound up</a> reading what had been assigned. This is all irreplaceable stuff you probably couldn’t duplicate today, even at Harvard.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">Yet it would be absolutely untrue to say that Harvard was the most or even the completion of my formal education. By the time I arrived there as a freshman/sophomore, I already had the equivalent of a liberal arts baccalaureate degree, courtesy of my elementary schooling and the Mercersburg Academy, where I was also offered sophomore standing when I applied as a 12 year old eighth grader. My Dad wisely said no to that, but the reality was approximately the same as the offer. I started language courses in French 2 and Latin 2, the “A” track in English, as well as the standard starters in history and Algebra. English was no problem; ast. John’s Day School had skipped me over the second grade and I was writing book reports when I was seven and in-class essays and other reports when I was 9. Latin and French were a huge problem though. St. John’s had started teaching us both in the early grades but the approach was conversational and absent grammar. I’d had a French tutor to prepare for my Dad’s transfer to France when I was 9, but that was also primarily conversational, although my pronunciation and aural comprehension were not bad. The result was that I got away with the mistake. With the help of a great teacher and his best student, I learned the bulk of Latin grammar in six weeks and commenced reading Caesar on schedule. In French I just got lucky. Our teacher was an easygoing French-Canadian hockey player and I was able to outperform the others, catching up on the grammar at a more relaxed pace, just in time for one of the greatest (oh so many) teachers in my life, whom I had for French IIIA-IV, French V-AP, and an Independent Study in Dante, whom Mr. Miller showed me could be read for understanding in Italian by a student who had completed AP courses in both French and Latin. That year I also took an introductory course in Greek. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">I said earlier that Mercersburg was not Exeter. True but misleading. For about a quarter of our class, Mercersburg was probably as good or better than Exeter, because we lived in an “A/AP” track of the best students in every subject. For a subset of us, that meant coursework in multiple AP subjects in small classes with gifted teachers. Our Chemistry department famously had such an outstanding teacher that his AP students failed him if they got less than an 800 on the Chemistry SAT Achievement test (only one ever did that I knew <a name="_Int_38tjC0EL">of,</a> a humiliating 798). I didn’t have him for Chemistry, but I had AP courses in English, French, Latin, American History (as in “Problems in..”), and Modern European History (all of it). Most importantly for an intended English major I had two superlative teachers in that subject, one who taught us the skills of textual analysis in 10<sup>th</sup> grade (his 1<sup>st</sup> semester final exam consisted of a short story with the instruction “Analyze”) and in 11<sup>th</sup> grade one who engaged us in depth for weeks on Moby Dick, the short stories of James Joyce (omg “The Dead”), and a critical cross-examination of the Freudian interpretation of Hamlet. Justas important was the literary exposure that issued like a tidal wave from Mr. Miller. A one-time naval,officer and polymath (owning six radar patents) he had already given his fortunate students an extraordinary immersion in French literature, including Voltaire, Pascal, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Corneille, Racine, Stendhal, Flaubert, Balzac, and the mythic “Contes de Perrault,” “Tristan et Iseut,” and “Manon Lescaut.” We read some books for understanding, and some chapters for in-class testing in the form of oral “literary” translation (grades ranged from “fair” [7] to “top drawer” [10]). A pause,or verbal stumble along the way reduced Top Drawer to Very Good Indeed and so forth, Along the way he taught us what he felt like teaching us, including a detailed explanation of the “concept of the square” in Modern Art. Once he slapped a copy of Camus’s “L’Étranger” on top of his book stack, told us it was on the AP required list, but he refused to teach trash. We could read it if we wanted. I read it only years later. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">My standardized test scores showed the quality of my instruction. Why I entered Harvard as a sophomore. I also had the benefit of a minor course requirement that included Art History, the Bible, and Music Appeciation, each taught for two days a week in their turn. They were real, well taught courses I still remember, some of the art history text we had, for example, more valuable in hindsight than the massive text we had at Harvard.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">All this may make it seem like Harvard and I were a perfect fit, and my eventual matriculation there an inevitability. But this is not so. Everything was against it. Mercersburg was the wrong place. (The only literary reference to it I’ve ever found was in a John O’Hara novella, a man drunk in a bar softly singing to himself, “I’m only a Mercersburg Boy”). My mother wanted Princeton. My Dad hated Harvard. His thing about not liking any of them. Entering my senior year, I had met five boys who went to Harvard, only one of whom I <a name="_Int_g81LPEA1">liked</a> and he was a champion swimmer, smart but no prodigy. The others I thought jerks, and I wasn’t alone in that assessment. Back home I knew good men from Yale and Princeton, admirable and charming. That social circle included no one from Harvard. There was nothing necessary about Harvard in terms of being successful, civilized, and worthy of emulation. Only an extraordinary set of circumstances could have made Harvard ultimately desirable to me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">I’d seen both Yale and Harvard not as an applicant but as a visitor on campus to graduates I’d met at least. These were reconnoitering expeditions involving several of us getting an inside look at accommodations and routines. The Yaley was the brother of a friend of mine, cordial enough but not warm. The Harvard guy was another swimmer, bragging about his sex life, which he said included a Kennedy girl, believable enough because he was built like a Greek god, though he was an utter asshole in every personal respect. I had also seen the Princeton campus, on crutches, on a rainy day, and never got to behold the loveliness of the place, which might have convinced me it was the perfect choice, being the home of my favorite American writer and only an hour and a half by automobile from home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">But I didn’t get to see beautiful Princeton. Only the cold, wet, painful backdrop for a humdrum interview. Looking back, one wonders about such things. Despite the asshole, Harvard was shockingly impressive to the eye and somehow seemingly located at some kind of center of things. Compared to Harvard Yard, Yale had no Harvard Yard. New Haven had no Harvard Square, that burstingly vital triangular artery connecting to Greater Boston beyond the Charles River, urban Cambridge, and the twisty boutique environs of Harvard-related emporiums around the Brattle bend. You could get run over in a heartbeat just trying to cross Harvard Square to or from one of its opposite shores, under the magisterial purview of the walls and upper floors and cupolas of the adjoining Yard. Compared to Harvard, Yale was only Mercersburg writ large, fine buildings surrounded by a small town of whatever size. Harvard was big. Yale and a Princeton were just not as…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">This was a subtext for a more important, more direct change factor. My best friend and roommate for my last two years at Mercersburg was a force of nature named Howard. Everyone knew Howard from the day he arrived in school as a freshman. Say the name “Howard” and everyone knew who you were talking about. Odd in a culture where boys obsessively referred to one another by last-names-only except inside their various cliques. That first year he lived in the other of two freshman dorms, the smaller one that housed the bigger boys who might have found the little guys awaiting that first real growth spurt annoying and incompatible. Howard was, at 14, 5’-9” and dramatic looking, with thick cork-screwed hair, a heroic nose, and big lips to boot. He liked playing the clown and he was good at it. In thise days I was 5’-1” tall with big feet and shy with people I hadn’t spent much time with. We became friendly. Howard was observant. He noticed my grades after the first marking period. If your General Average (G.A.) was 90 or better, they posted it in plastic numerals inside a glass case located in the basement lobby of the dining hall for everyone to see. I had somehow managed to extract a 90 G.A. despite my French and Latin panic, and he was impressed. We became friendly. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">By junior year we had grown close enough to become roommates in ’88 dormitory, the most ramshackle of the accommodations on campus. What we had in common: We were both voracious readers of books not on our assigned reading lists, we were both complete slobs, we shared a penchant for observing, even studying, the mysterious scoundrels of the teenage boy universe, and we were both dedicated to making ourselves the best possible college candidates. It was Howard who first surfaced the subject of Harvard. He sneered at even the mention of Princeton. “You have to go to Harvard,” he told me, as if he had received some directive from above. “You’re perfect for it. You’re the only one who doesn’t see that.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;">He won. <span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><b>[More to come]</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #999999;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5);"><br /></span></span></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-82115567007132068942023-12-22T09:48:00.002-05:002023-12-22T09:51:49.193-05:00R. F. Laird on Consciousness<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTql7q3Jn1nJuZS62hoCahocEIauKnJvwoMIGrss9uySF5fr8RC7yyxRNtXXimVevZxZiHm3-Uhn87e7pkji_NkHoFH2GXKYGxqN7E1rmwOWP42ZEZ0U4oDTm5e4Ey68Y5bNJFANDVL6Zo6WxwZvHUdwjszUhSUqjEIK9dFOVeVYNOZ6BYmus-EENYVA/s1446/IMG_4874.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1031" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTql7q3Jn1nJuZS62hoCahocEIauKnJvwoMIGrss9uySF5fr8RC7yyxRNtXXimVevZxZiHm3-Uhn87e7pkji_NkHoFH2GXKYGxqN7E1rmwOWP42ZEZ0U4oDTm5e4Ey68Y5bNJFANDVL6Zo6WxwZvHUdwjszUhSUqjEIK9dFOVeVYNOZ6BYmus-EENYVA/w456-h640/IMG_4874.jpeg" width="456" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">An On-Line Book</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is one that can’t be exported to Amazon print or Kindle e-books because of the kind of writer I am. I use links and graphics and videos the way other writers use punctuation, italics, and boldface, for the purpose of enhancing the experience of reading. The pieces included here were actually chosen by the search functions at three of my websites, lists that were summoned by a single word, “consciousness.” In the case of this app, I did not use all the pieces listed and I did a second search for the word “generations” because consciousness evolves or devolves or otherwise changes through time. Only a couple titles were added because of the second search. That explains what’s here. It’s by no means everything I have written on the subject, but I have always relied on external limiting functions because I can’t stop connecting and connecting things in my head and need outside agency when it comes to selecting content for collections. Why the content of this book is confined to about one decade. It would be way harder to take it farther back in time, and I have other projects to work on.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The order is pretty much what the search functions gave me, which only gets chronological in the case of the third and final source. Reading in order is therefore not required, which is pretty standard with my stuff. Individual pieces are related and interdependent in many ways but can usually work independently as well. The ones here range all over the place, from very personal to coldly analytical, which is also how my mind is configured. I once took a magazine test offering to tell you whether you are left or right brain dominant, more cerebral, logical, and analytical or more intuitive, creative, and emotional. I hadn’t been able to decide in my own case. The magazine said I was one of a smallish subset that is balanced between the two, with neither dominant. They said this could be a good thing or a bad thing. They were right. I have found it a good thing and a bad thing, sometimes both in the same half hour.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The good news for you is that you get to choose which of my different sides appeals more to you, if any at all. I haven’t edited any of this material from the original text. One of the apps won’t let me change anything: it’s locked up. But I am not in the habit of such edits anyway. Why I value the showing of dates. Every piece of writing is at least in part a function of the moments in which it was written. For example, there are some fond references to another writer whom I believe was doing good things until his personal space-time location reached a tipping point that pushed him over a cliff into what looks to me like madness. But I can’t delete who both of us were nearly ten years ago, and I don’t want to.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That’s it. It’s a book, it’s free, and it’s yours to do with what you want, including share it freely with others you think may like it. I may add a few more items at the end, depending on how I feel, but there’s no need to wait around for that. For example, the final article is confessedly not finished. Just as I am not finished with this topic either.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">From A Deerhound Diary:</span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2017/08/30/islands-of-consciousness/">Islands of Consciousness</a> (August 2017)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/08/30/low-information-intellectuals/">Low Information Intellectuals</a> (August 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/04/23/denial-is-a-river-in-egypt-ii/">Denial is a River in Egypt</a> (April 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/02/21/now-for-something-completely-different/">Now for Something Completely Different</a> (February 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/11/15/quantum-life-eternal/">Quantum Life Eterna</a>l (November 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/02/08/when-sport-becomes-art/">When Sport Becomes Art </a>(February 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/11/01/the-long-view/">The Long View</a> (November 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/10/14/talking-to-myself/">Talking to Myself</a> (October 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/04/22/confession/">Confession</a> (April 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2013/07/07/screw-you-you-liberals/">Screw You Liberals</a> (July 2013)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2014/05/17/the-anti-feline-backlash/">The Anti-Feline Backlash</a> (May 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2017/01/07/12126/">A Boxful of Time</a> (January 2017)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://rflaird.com/blog/2020/12/16/how-the-progressive-scientology-comparison-can-clarify-the-current-american-plight/">The Progressive-Scientology Comparison</a> (December 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">From Instapunk Rules:</span></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2021/01/11/an-organized-depiction-of-the-skeptics-universe/">An Organized Depiction of the Skeptic’s Universe</a> (January 2021)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2020/12/30/the-year-that-made-us-who-weve-become-part-1/">The Year that Made Us Who We’ve Become</a> (December 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2016/03/24/a-literary-and-architectural-defense-of-trump/">An Architectural and Literary Defense of Trump</a> (March 2016)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2015/06/26/breaking-news/">Breaking News…!</a> (June 2015)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2015/05/13/whos-a-christian-now/">Who’s a Christian Now?</a> (May 2015)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2015/04/28/about-the-naked-woman/">About ‘The Naked Woman’</a> (April 2015)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2015/03/18/language/#more-6503">Language</a> (March 2018)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2015/01/12/manspreading-manslamming-and-femsteering/">Manspreading, Manslamming, and Femsteering</a> (January 2015)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/11/06/again/">Again. Still.</a> (November 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/08/19/oh-right-the-story/">Oh, Right. The Story.</a> (August 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/07/15/comic-book-intelligentsia/">Comic Book Intelligentsia</a> (July 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/06/12/what-have-we-learned-so-far/">What Have We Learned So Far?</a> (June 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://ip.rflaird.com/2014/03/20/things-fly-apart/">Things Fly Apart</a> (March 2014)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span>From </span><span>Instapunk Returns:</span></span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2019/03/portrait-of-generational-self-deception.html">Portrait of a Generational Self-Deception</a> (March 2019)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2019/04/its-called-rhomboicosidocecahedron.html">It’s Called a Rhombi…something</a> (April 2019)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2019/04/aoc-bsa-nqc.html">AOC = BSA = NQC</a> (August 2019)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2020/11/why-believe-in-god.html">Why Believe in God?</a> (November 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2020/11/why-believe-in-god-part-2_29.html">Why Believe in God, Part 2</a> (November 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2020/12/why-believe-in-god-part-3.html">Why Believe in God, Part 3</a> (December 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2020/12/when-cults-become-religions.html">When Cults Become Religions</a> ( December 2020)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2021/02/fwiw.html">For What It’s Worth</a> (February 2021)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2021/09/atheocracy.html">Atheocracy</a> (September 2021)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-world-to-come.html">The World to Come</a> (November 2021)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2022/07/food-for-thought.html">Food for Thought</a> (July 2022)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-artificial-intelligence-hoax.html">The Artificial Intelligence Hoax</a> (January 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-artificial-intelligence-hoax-3.html">The Artificial Intelligence Hoax 3</a> (September 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/09/missing-context-on-internet-social.html">Missing Context on the Social Networks</a> (September 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/10/lost-generation.html">Lost Generation</a> (October 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/an-appeal-for-wise-female-voice.html">An Appeal for a Wise Female Voice</a> (December 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-collapse-of-consciousness.html">End of Year Thoughts, Part 3</a> (December 2023)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-84002478670419866172023-12-14T09:36:00.008-05:002024-01-19T03:42:37.165-05:00End of Year Thoughts, 2023 — Part 3 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzU7yZNqazo8ZQZbfXSCPcyt8ifCX3O4AwHscPwJebErNkjfjKaMDIm3HeBDCpMfHBpLLWPb6TbjtP_LZTvEw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The physical aspect of the mind at work</i>…</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">The state of the nation at this point is terminal. As far as I know I’m the only one who fully understands why this is so, because I’m the only one who has devoted a writing life so continuously to the subject of human consciousness.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">It’s only now that we can finally see the symptoms that demonstrate what is really wrong with the people who are responsible for leading civilization through the storms and rapids of our times. They are suffering from profound impairments of consciousness. In point of fact, almost everyone is, including the people who are emotionally and intellectually on ‘our side’. There are three distinct U.S. populations coming sharply into focus one calendar year before the make or break decisions of November 2024. All three are impaired. Mathematically, each of these can be considered a set. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">There’s the set which is engaged compulsively in a civilization-level process of murder-suicide. Their actions are so destructive and yet so nakedly flaunted in public that the perpetrators perceive no irony in describing their own behaviors in very specific terms as symptoms of the evils of their enemies. When they say “they” in their shouted lists of accusations, one can easily substitute the pronoun “we” and be nearly perfectly accurate as to diagnosis. The easiest explanation of this is clinical insanity. But it is not a sufficient explanation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Opposing them is the set which has been catalyzed into being by the murder-suicides. Outraged by a longstanding pattern of crimes so deeply embedded in once respectable institutions, they are committed to resistance but handicapped by some of the same impairments as their oppressors, particularly their failure to see accurately and understand the third crucial population, which we will call for now, incorrectly but conveniently, the complacent set. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">There’s an explanation of these phenomena here. Don’t bother reading it. I’m only writing it because I can’t <i>not</i> write it. Just putting it on the record.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">I have at least a baker’s dozen of lines of attack on this subject, which is why I intend to write about it only in specific, fairly narrow contexts. This article is an attempt to boil it down in an understandable way. I have abundant evidence for each of the following generalized assertions:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Intelligence is not what we think it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Time is not what we think it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Reality is not what we think it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Consciousness is not what we think it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">I’ll address each one of these in some detail. But first, a documented <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061118180849fw_/http://www.boomerbible.com/books.htm">Book List</a> at least 20 years old demonstrating a small but significant part of the terrain I have explored with these topics in mind. There are many more relevant books and other resources that contributed to the ideas outlined below. I offer the list principally to show that I am not new to the ideas presented here, I’m not playing or showing off, and I’m not worried about reader attention spans. As with everything I write, entertaining you is an objective but far from the only one. When the scavengers are picking through the rubble looking for useful scraps, they might stumble across this and my efforts will be justified.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Let’s get started on the task of examining my assertions. You may think that what follows has little or no relevance to the continuously unwinding rope of lawfare abominations committed by the U.S. Government against Donald Trump and his supporters. If you think that, you’re wrong. On with the show…</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Intelligence Is Not What We Think It Is</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">In the age of science with its emphasis on quantifying and numberfying everything, intelligence has come to be synonymous with the abbreviation ‘IQ,’ which stands for ‘Intelligence <i>Quotient</i>.’ Here’s a dictionary definition of that interesting word, which is rarely discussed in conversations about IQ in its normal incarnation as a number rounded to the nearest integer. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdudryz8srQN4WjqpeaSZ2O08bqZ3ychJtbynK1aPvo-xecklU4ulGmFvO83Bbyx8SuCSf39t2WW6dMsExNmdc2GNJV_hIZNSewQU3dsTzJphDoF5cOnbjhshj57HgfxcTJfRFFTbYrIDaCtbPOiNuBOwdjnp3oUxW9iKj4BUMTyTI2ocIZ4sRUrJl4k/s1409/IMG_3619.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1409" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdudryz8srQN4WjqpeaSZ2O08bqZ3ychJtbynK1aPvo-xecklU4ulGmFvO83Bbyx8SuCSf39t2WW6dMsExNmdc2GNJV_hIZNSewQU3dsTzJphDoF5cOnbjhshj57HgfxcTJfRFFTbYrIDaCtbPOiNuBOwdjnp3oUxW9iKj4BUMTyTI2ocIZ4sRUrJl4k/w400-h261/IMG_3619.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>The definitions that matter here are the 2nd and 4th. The number that stands for your IQ conforms to the second definition. The standard value is “1,” meaning the average (or arithmetic mean) score in the population measured, multiplied by 100. Scores above and below that are representative of percentage increments. An 80 IQ means that the raw score was 80 percent as correct as the mean score. An IQ of 120 means that the raw score was 20 percent higher than the mean score. The sum of all results are plotted on a two-dimensional graph that takes the shape of a bell curve, which is how the percentage of people with any given raw score (or above or below average) are computed. The unstated implication is that the test does define the boundaries of human intelligence from lowest to highest. An invisible inference is that the percentage differences in raw score are also definitions of the degree of difference in intelligence in the tested population; i.e., that the intelligence of a person with a 200 IQ is twice as smart as a person with a 100 IQ. This may not be how the test designers would represent it, but it is what people tend to believe.</div><div><br /></div><div>The fudge factor of the test designers and administrators is the use of the word ‘quotient.’ Where the 4th definition suddenly becomes more important than the math-looking one. The word is unusually rich in connotations because once liberated from the jail of long division it becomes synonymous with potentials not limits. Which when you read between the lines is what the testers are really saying about IQ. A high IQ does not mean you are more intelligent, only that you have the raw ability to accomplish the extraordinary feats by which we measure genius. Perhaps the one real benefit of the preponderantly phony brain-computer comparison is that it enables us to see an IQ test as a measure of hardware capacity before software ever enters the picture. </div><div><br /></div><div>[PERTINENT INTERRUPTION: The AI mavens go on about how their technology can write a compelling legal brief without human assistance. Probably true. Lawyers suffer from a particularly damaging consciousness impairment. Howsomever… There is no computer on earth or on the drawing boards that could write what has already been written here, let alone what will follow this.]</div><div><br /></div><div>It’s applications that make computers seeming miracle workers. Software. Which is entirely a function of intention. There are blazingly fast accounting machines which can never be confused with genius, however useful they are. There are cleverer accounting applications which can cook the books very impressively. Genius? Depends on how you assess the intelligence involved in cunning and criminal calculation. </div><div><br /></div><div>What’s important to understand here is the fatal limitations that turn our historical attempts at intelligence testing into ludicrous junk. These actually flow from the limitations we have embedded in science itself, even the hard sciences which are more self-critical than the social sciences out of which obsolete artifacts like the Stanford-Binet IQ test continue to thrive. Take a look:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxZuBpqZJVZvtn6aNzefgCmjLZb0OFi1Ek6mLsvkawLSjJqQ5QkqF5Ia_UZIC_lFczzLLKUggUkIbjXRxh7L84IZmls0ixf4q0jvy6SAjeS1lGxKAoYxlvOAzv50O5fIiJFzQvxcBLeeobBhGfbpCGph01Rbshq5r8ykZzoOpz9ErCGHmhBGVlzP11zU/s1245/IMG_3618.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="819" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxZuBpqZJVZvtn6aNzefgCmjLZb0OFi1Ek6mLsvkawLSjJqQ5QkqF5Ia_UZIC_lFczzLLKUggUkIbjXRxh7L84IZmls0ixf4q0jvy6SAjeS1lGxKAoYxlvOAzv50O5fIiJFzQvxcBLeeobBhGfbpCGph01Rbshq5r8ykZzoOpz9ErCGHmhBGVlzP11zU/w422-h640/IMG_3618.jpeg" width="422" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>It’s a multiple choice test. There’s a correct choice and three or four incorrect choices. Which means that the test designer is by definition more ‘intelligent’ than the test takers. He presumes to stand above the entire population of test takers or he would be unable to bound that population quantitatively in finite, linear terms, which is absolutely the purpose of the reliance on numbers, two-dimensional graphs, and percentile assignments expressly intended to disguise the fact that ‘intelligence’ is a human attribute which cannot be reduced to integers and yes/no trials in terms of its scope, scale, and differentials. The subject is immensely, in fact infinitely, beyond what can be measured by any multiple choice test. Even at this low-grade hardware level. What are the right questions? And, more opaquely, what are the right answers to the population of possible questions.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can pretty much guarantee you that no geniuses are involved in the development of questions used in the Stanford-Binet test. Their purpose is not, never has been, to identify parameters of intelligence but the much more prosaic set of skills that translate to success in several categories of schoolwork. But there’s a difference between people who get good grades and geniuses. Considerable overlap in all likelihood, but the differences are legion. Harvard likes to claim Orson Welles as an alumnus, but all he ever did there was enroll. He never took a single class in college. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s what the test designers are after:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9trI6pbAFffyUSf4HJ4LTIuBWSR21bOA7db02N7HLHsCUXnOXiI9eGBxHbz96VeW0LZbXSTmW7S-0brPKTXvGRVMhUNpeFzVcQuQTRmzuum3P0SbCZ12jJS0VDqDOpAGFwg4yOl31ldSpqWKBsoykZHSAmH_7Pn8AYE-QgA2RZXyJFeOkWREYZGGMDDA/s466/IMG_3743.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="466" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9trI6pbAFffyUSf4HJ4LTIuBWSR21bOA7db02N7HLHsCUXnOXiI9eGBxHbz96VeW0LZbXSTmW7S-0brPKTXvGRVMhUNpeFzVcQuQTRmzuum3P0SbCZ12jJS0VDqDOpAGFwg4yOl31ldSpqWKBsoykZHSAmH_7Pn8AYE-QgA2RZXyJFeOkWREYZGGMDDA/w640-h362/IMG_3743.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Behold the Bell Curve. It goes up, it goes down. Very neat. Take out your six inch rule. How far smarter are you on that curve than the 100 IQ feller. How many inches or fractions of an inch? Kind of trivial when you look at it that way. Even the very limited accuracy of raw score measurements being taken are deliberately disguising far more interesting inferences. Doing better in terms of raw score means answering harder questions ‘correctly.’ To a certainty there are gradations of ‘harder,’ from hard to harder to very hard to ‘almost no gets this one right.’ In other words, the increments of intelligence beyond the average represent not linear but exponential increases in the abilities measured by the test. Confusing the percentile differentials with the qualitative differentials is an act of fraud by the social scientists in charge.</div><div><br /></div><div>If fraud was not the intention, why do social scientists presume to estimate the IQs of geniuses who never took their damn test. Albert Einstein did not have a 200 IQ. He was not merely twice as smart as the 100 IQ average guy. But how do we get to where he should be placed in the realm of IQ?</div><div><br /></div><div>We have to recognize that all of science is damaged in its most basic assumptions regarding the tools it relies on. Indeed, every branch of science is impaired in the same way IQ tests are. (We’ll be getting to that later on, trust me.) </div><div><br /></div><div>I wound up answering this question by accident almost exactly 30 years ago. For satirical purposes, I decided to make up the science that would prove why the smartest men were smarter than the smartest women. I decided to model intelligence in three dimensions instead of the Bell Curve’s insistent imagery of two dimensions, beginning with their assumption that key questions were necessarily collapsible to finite right/wrong propositions, whose results could also be mapped instructively on flat pieces of paper. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuvOST5BkTaU50oX46EnBogGbTUUaRObIbxPE8f3GVClV_8OSpXIQoweVIKQ42R1rb0zwxU5O9iTTGtRkQD76Y1h6R6-q5ZimtAB6cbaOEd_KMh8auANiamPibkYN856WllFUDOiezUrFbYX6mmDQ7MvaHTFuwInL0SHQKTNdr9JVRA71Ctr0Uknzack/s1280/IMG_6459.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="1280" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuvOST5BkTaU50oX46EnBogGbTUUaRObIbxPE8f3GVClV_8OSpXIQoweVIKQ42R1rb0zwxU5O9iTTGtRkQD76Y1h6R6-q5ZimtAB6cbaOEd_KMh8auANiamPibkYN856WllFUDOiezUrFbYX6mmDQ7MvaHTFuwInL0SHQKTNdr9JVRA71Ctr0Uknzack/w640-h576/IMG_6459.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div>I stipulated that a critical difference between the sexes lay in the realm of metaphor, not as a figure of speech but as the most important of all learning tools. This is like that. What else is like this? What else can this be? Little girls tend to play with toys the way toys are meant to be played with. Little boys are promiscuous about turning whatever they lay their hands on into something else. A mop become a rifle. A box becomes a hat. A steam iron becomes a war ship. A football and a helmet becomes a complete NFL game played in the downcounting seconds of the Super Bowl. A kid’s bicycle, even with training wheels still attached, becomes a motorcycle. A motorcycle becomes a plane. And on… Everything is the raw material of mind play. Which creates mind space, the real world difference between a ‘correct’ answer and imaginative brilliance and breakthroughs. </div><div><br /></div><div>There was a time when the <i>average</i> teenage boy had a working three-dimensional model of an internal combustion automobile engine in his head, not necessarily all correct, but sound in the essentials, just as even today most little boys can draw a bicycle more functionally correct than most little girls, who can’t seem to figure out on paper how the chain thing works.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can sharpshoot the sexism all you want. IDC. But the mind space construct is so compelling that it’s likely the reason the manuscript it appeared in was not just rejected by publishers but angrily and permanently so. What matters here and now is that it enables us to understand that our understanding of the IQ question is flat wrong. Einstein was not, as I pointed out, only twice as smart as, say, a cashier at the tire store but <i>thousands</i> of times smarter. Just as the teenage boy had a working model of a V-8 in his head, Einstein had a working model of the entire universe in his head, including the proposition that space and time were in fact an integrated entity he called space-time, an answer the writers of the Stanford-Binet test could never have given him a question about because the range of possible answers couldn’t be multiple choice. Time for a more skeptical look at the flat (<i>because</i> flat) prevarication of the Bell Curve.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7K2Di7XjKLShGy52pngINFo6P8U5J3WShqYl9fCQnBr-ToP-1sMj5AL7EfI1Ii0DDOCBe86BAPq3e5Wq21GUJQvsL_XayHIYFUMjzFhu1DKT0ftBfNewxxNaeWYMi1W7B2kcxBK_VC6fyPl0xYZykvYV3uROJkdKrsPgJYk3kYBHpq70DepVnwYb8Ak/s466/IMG_3743.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="466" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7K2Di7XjKLShGy52pngINFo6P8U5J3WShqYl9fCQnBr-ToP-1sMj5AL7EfI1Ii0DDOCBe86BAPq3e5Wq21GUJQvsL_XayHIYFUMjzFhu1DKT0ftBfNewxxNaeWYMi1W7B2kcxBK_VC6fyPl0xYZykvYV3uROJkdKrsPgJYk3kYBHpq70DepVnwYb8Ak/w640-h362/IMG_3743.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The official IQ orthodoxy pegs the term ‘genius’ to scores of 140 and above. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>That’s the admissions criterion for Mensa, the club for the brainy. There’s </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>also </i><i>a club called Double Mensa, reserved for only the top one percent of </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>test </i><i>takers. Except that IQ tests are not predictive of genius-level feats in life.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What else do IQ tests and the reporting on same not tell us? When I first studied statistical probability in business school, our professor made us a read a short funny book called “How to Lie with Statistics.” It turns out there’s no end to the way you can lie with statistics. More all the time. Nearly 20 years later I even wrote a full-day training course called “False Quantification” for a <i>Fortune 100</i> consulting client to help their non-mathematically minded communicators look past the charts and graphs and numbers they were routinely asked to accept as factual documentation of some truth. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the easiest because most brute simple ways of lying with statistics is making it impossible to find significant numbers people might be interested in knowing. This can be accomplished by not counting the data that could be added up to calculate that number, not disclosing the number if it has been tabulated somewhere, and changing the definitions of available numbers in misleading or complicating ways that render them unusable without being attacked by those in the know. Why, 50 years after Roe v. Wade, it’s still virtually impossible to calculate a verifiably accurate count of how many abortions have occurred in the United States since 1973. The people in charge of the counting don’t want you to know. Every number cited is no more reliable than an urban legend.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The same kinds of problems pervade the topic of IQ testing. That average 100 IQ, for example. Is it tied strictly to whatever population took the current test? Or is the 100 score in fact a constant through time which could be used to determine that people are getting smarter or dumber as the decades roll by? I’ve made casual efforts to find what the experts have to say about this question, but all I’ve found is lip service to the inclusion of historicity as a component of IQ results analysis. I said ‘casual efforts’ because any official answers or representations are worthless. The idea of any sort of standard constant defining the 100 IQ impossible. Changing population parameters for those tested, sampling bias in weighting results, changing tests through time for perceived demographic and economic variables which might have skewed past results, and only the haziest gobbledygook describing what the tests actually test and how that correlates to any reasonable standard of human intelligence (i.e., capacity for “understanding” complexity) — all of these are factors which ensure that each year’s testing is unique in various ways and that the 100 IQ is a constantly moving target by no means independent of politically desired outcomes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What the tests test is pretty basic. Vocabulary, arithmetic skills, lowest-common-denominator comprehension of metaphor (i.e., analogies), and elementary pattern recognition with regard to shape and sequencing questions. Both of the latter two more abstract testing instances are limited, and increasingly so, by the need to preclude economically dependent cultural knowledge or experience from the questions or multiple choice answer alternatives. What isn’t tested at all: any mental capacity associated with integrating the sense of hearing, smell, taste, and touch — let alone emotion, imagination, and humor —into the analysis of visual and strictly numerical inputs resulting in some kind of gestalt. It doesn’t enable us to identify a Leonardo da Vinci or Groucho Marx except by accident via the most partial of criteria. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI3aDgXICChiRLv04l0ehEPvPZp1bFsYbhxtAiKMe852sgq1rHdObzLYk1N_RT9e3MABakhLI0sB_64iZ35RzwfyvzsS-v36FhgsSw0vc4qUl4zy4POnmorjeniV0Vca3mNpme-egVJ5vrM_99PZh0zNcG2RyU_s9bf0NGbMYYSHACDE4CvnAIa8Th1I/s1370/IMG_3758.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1370" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI3aDgXICChiRLv04l0ehEPvPZp1bFsYbhxtAiKMe852sgq1rHdObzLYk1N_RT9e3MABakhLI0sB_64iZ35RzwfyvzsS-v36FhgsSw0vc4qUl4zy4POnmorjeniV0Vca3mNpme-egVJ5vrM_99PZh0zNcG2RyU_s9bf0NGbMYYSHACDE4CvnAIa8Th1I/w400-h265/IMG_3758.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>No room for funny. And no room for William Blake, who couldn’t spell.</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is not meant to say that the set of things tested by IQ testers is not important in its own way, chiefly as an indicator of basic ability to perform well in school from an early age onward. Why for many years, the Scholastic Aptitude Test was regarded as synonymous with IQ testing by the university gating institution called the Educational Testing Service, where scores of 700 and above in the Verbal and Math sections were believed to account for roughly the top two percent of the test population, itself a distinct subset of the total population. (The Brits used “O” And “A” level exams to formalize the distinction between the masses and the Quality.) Except that the SATs unhooked themselves from IQ results when their own historically computed average scores began to fall significantly in the late 20th century. Subsequent to this, the SATs were “dumbed down” by degrees to disguise the weaker performance of students in succeeding generations. Differentials were explained away as prejudicial cultural artifacts, and the “Nothing to see here, move along…” dismissals took over as usual. Most recently, prestigious colleges and universities are dispensing with standardized testing across the board. They don’t want to count what they don’t like the look of. Easier to inflate grades and reduce curriculum difficulty to make things look more or less the same as they used to be.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The important question before us is not the accelerating fakery of higher education. It’s the impact failing education has had on individual human potentials for intelligence. Not intelligence as “smarts,” but intelligence as understanding, comprehension, imagination, and the visionary creation of the new metaphors by which civilization evolves through the centuries. Even if IQ is no loftier a measure than the technical specs of a computer circuit board, that kind of hardware capacity is a limiting factor to whatever that computer can be used to accomplish. Real intelligence is the applications, the code and what it enables human minds to create. The famous first big computer was the Univac, bigger than some houses even today. But your smartphone has infinitely, yes <i>infinitely</i>, more potential to assist human creativity than that dinosaur of technology on display in some antique museum somewhere.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWU2hdVq_oM_Nn34FLVmJPicOQiAQcfHNoCFpHW_72n4NgSta6zZgHk5WBFpbcWJdDNvdH_fCZHCdj0eh-oEC_Jilog-wvPkP6yec0_ki02alQ94y0XCCrZBJMKflV6UmxBnXEZt6xTFgzhTA-37B3GHkPz9zLmJ_j3N2YWMnJ-SfvvQcAP_aZf2uLWY/s1163/IMG_3763.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1163" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWU2hdVq_oM_Nn34FLVmJPicOQiAQcfHNoCFpHW_72n4NgSta6zZgHk5WBFpbcWJdDNvdH_fCZHCdj0eh-oEC_Jilog-wvPkP6yec0_ki02alQ94y0XCCrZBJMKflV6UmxBnXEZt6xTFgzhTA-37B3GHkPz9zLmJ_j3N2YWMnJ-SfvvQcAP_aZf2uLWY/w640-h476/IMG_3763.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What does it mean if that Average 100 IQ we’ve been taught to regard as a constant is truly declining from year to year without our being able to see what is happening inside the minds of our children? What would it look like in terms that matter?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXTS9mf_3gaEONOlvc29DtPxdv9VWp3PnzXiElUfbr_MwF9W951x5mBWxCJDSl4C4LtXX7OAuK_FK4zT2jz7KX_92J8nfCyu4aGNsIdzK0Lo_0QbS4k3g9bawynB5WP0OMsu2nhqUwpciZHlHI7NTy3DaSNXzY3A0JYQFEYKBctmTruk14MVB2mdpRYs/s1865/IMG_3757.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="1865" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXTS9mf_3gaEONOlvc29DtPxdv9VWp3PnzXiElUfbr_MwF9W951x5mBWxCJDSl4C4LtXX7OAuK_FK4zT2jz7KX_92J8nfCyu4aGNsIdzK0Lo_0QbS4k3g9bawynB5WP0OMsu2nhqUwpciZHlHI7NTy3DaSNXzY3A0JYQFEYKBctmTruk14MVB2mdpRYs/w640-h446/IMG_3757.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />At the lefthand side of both curves, it’s time to consider what is happening to the nearly half of all test takers who are below what we call average intelligence. In percentage terms, their loss of mind space is significantly greater than what’s happening on the other side. Is there some kind of tipping point in there at which a person is so deprived of even the basic hardware set of abilities that he loses the capacity to function as a human being in a civilized way? A point below which there is no common sense, no empathy for others, no real interior identity, no control of physical reactions to external stimuli from moment to moment, no actual existence in the continuum of time? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, we don’t know. Before we can figure that out, we’d first have to recognize that average human intelligence is not a constant but a significant variable whose impairment has a possibly fatal effect on the life prospects of the most impaired and those who must live with or around them. Recognize it and accept it as a matter vital to the maintenance of civilization itself. Worth allocating resources to research and corrective action.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The loss of mind space at the upper end of the IQ range is also of dire concern. Loss of mind space is higher percentage-wise among low scorers, but the quantity of mind space lost at the upper end is incomparably larger in terms of its volume. Breakthroughs in every realm of science, the arts, and philosophy have always been precipitated by the one or two percent of the best minds in human societies. This is so obviously so that like most obvious truths it cannot be proven but only seen by the ones who are smart enough to recognize the obvious and adapt accordingly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Science is at present the pursuit that has been loudest about proclaiming its superiority to all others. Where, therefore, we should look first to see the impact of declining volumes of mind space among the critical one or two percent. In particular, physics has failed to make the one breakthrough that could have prevented much of the equally sharp decline in the mind space volumes in all other pursuits. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In order to understand this aspect of the problem we must take up our second major topic…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Time Is Not What We Think It Is</span></div><div><br /></div><div>For over a century it has been within the grasp of science to discover and make sense of the fact that the linear time we experience as human beings is an illusion. Individual scientists have created lots of the tools necessary to demonstrate that this is so, but they have obstinately avoided using these tools because the job of getting from here to somewhere meaningful is too big and not terribly interesting in career terms. Indeed, they have demonstrated instead, with phenomenal dexterity, just how far afield they’re willing to go in the opposite direction. More about that later.</div><div><br /></div><div>Again, the basic physics involved is obvious and even rudimentary. Mathematics begins its universe with a single point. It has no attribute that is like a dimension but existence. A point is its own universe, unitary, complete, and eternal (as far as we know). It’s as simple as the binary distinction between existence and nonexistence, meaningless in every other respect. Or, more poetically, it could be the “Let there be light…” moment of creation, a single photon emergent from the void before everything else, including time. Mathematics has nothing to say, no opinion, about what put the point there. It just is. “Nothing to see here…” obtains because any question about agency invalidates the legitimacy of the binary decision point of the point. If the point did not create itself in a conceptual (well, <i>nonexistent</i> actually) realm independent of all the measures we employ to define reality, then the fuzzy relationship science has scrupulously postulated between mathematics and the universe becomes inconveniently focused on what might constitute appropriate questions and answers. Which are nowhere forthcoming. Who or what put that first point there? Irrelevant. Because 20th Century science made the decision long ago not to get backed into that cul de sac ever again. No point in such a contradictory exercise they can see.</div><div><br /></div><div>From here, we can use math to turn the point into a line, in any direction we choose, which does give it dimension because the line is an infinite state of being. It cannot be counted. It is just is. Forever in both directions. The line is part of our hard-wiring as human beings. (Wires themselves are, you know…) We rely on the line and fall back on it at a very deep level, although that’s only a metaphor because a line has no depth, only a sequence. Although it can also be segmented, where it begins giving us a tremendous amount of fun to play with. It’s esthetically appealing to us. Why writers and mathematicians both have a sacred regard for it. Mathematicians even have a sacred line called Pi, which is a nonrepeating decimal as infinite as math itself and just beautiful when you look at as much of it as you can memorize. They also have a sacred ritual called “the equation,” which is the perfect way of translating very complex numerical relationships into a single line segment that is eternally in balance by definition. Human definition. Because human beings invented the equation, their own counterpart to the natural perfection of Pi. Writers are just as smitten with the line. They write lines of poetry. They write lines of prose, called sentences, which are line segments separated from one another by the artistic interruption of a point called a period. Their lines can be very very long, because there doesn’t ever have to be an end, and if you’re a writer the linearity of all forms of writing is the ultimate means of control over your audience. They must travel along your line of words/sentences/paragraphs in the order you have provided while you use an infinite toolbox of artifices to make them believe that they are somehow participating with you in the experience of your writing by reading along inside the line being spun out of your head. It’s called “the willing suspension of disbelief” or more cynically, “the writer’s leash.” Ecstasy. Scientists and engineers in most disciplines love lines too. And writing about them in sentences and their own versions of the equation. Assembly lines, timelines of various processes and changes, lines of computer code, lines of business, product lines, and lists of everything, the longer the line of listed items the better. Average people, on the other hand, aren’t as sanguines about lines, waiting lines in particular, and required signature lines, and all those lists from everywhere else about ‘musts’ and ‘don’ts’ and ‘can’ts’ and even ‘thou shalts’ and ‘thou shalt nots.’ Gets to be confining after a while. But…</div><div><br /></div><div>Wonder of wonders, we can also add a second dimension if we multiply the line by infinity (just as the line did the point), which makes it a plane, infinite in all directions and flat as can be. While writers of all types are inclined to stick with their lines of words, the numbers people are in many ways set free by the plane, kingdom of proofs and appealing depictions of fictitious ideal states. It’s a flat but incredibly beautiful world, the reason Euclid gave us “plane geometry,” where innumerable perfections not found in nature can be shown in their full glory. Right angles, perfect circles, calculations that come out even or can be forced to come out even (like with logarithms… Genius!), and two-dimensional charts galore — pie charts, Cartesian graphs, maps, economic models, messy chemistry flattened into <i>element</i>ary regularity, and even Venn diagrams that eschew numbers for areas of overlap made visible in color. Hard to resist the notion that the best answer is the simplest answer, expertly rendered on a sheet of paper, which is, of course, the single most important and triumphant archetype of the two-dimensional perspective. Still…</div><div><br /></div><div>No need to stop there. We can multiply that plane by infinity, which gives us room to move in as it were with height width and depth to play in. An explosion of possibilities. The world of THINGS, including places, structures natural and artificial, the vastness of a physical universe made of suns and planets and other stuff, and closer to home, bodies of human beings, animals, plants, and even the littlest stuff like electrons and neutrons and suchlike. This completes the world we live in as human beings. Except it doesn’t. The truth is that this dimension is the still life version of the world we inhabit, like a photograph of each thing to be observed unmoving, silent, absent taste, smell, or touch. It takes still another dimension to give us life in the three-dimensional universe we live in. Why we must multiply the three dimensional universe by infinity yet again, so that there is past, present, and future in the universe, and wait… uh, wait right there…</div><div><br /></div><div>Time is somehow, basically, only a line in our universe. Yes, it multiplies by infinity but only in a crushingly limiting, even imprisoning, way. We commonly refer to it as the fourth dimension, but a lot of scientists are intent on separating it from the other dimensions because its infinity can only be experienced in sequence, in only one direction. In that important respect it is not even a line but a vector, starting at the precise point of right this moment, which makes it unnervingly as restrictive, unitary, and deterministic as the point that started all this unfolding of dimensions. Why there are people, including scientists, who choose to regard time as a universal full stop, a kind of proof of the limitations in the whole of idea of universes. Time can’t go beyond the line or even backwards on its line because there’s nowhere for it to go. End of universal possibilities, end of discussion. Except for the trivial shit around the edges. Quarks and black holes and big bangs and expanding/collapsing universes and such that all combine to expose the fallacy of a world without end.</div><div><br /></div><div>Linear time also serves another purpose in cosmological science. It looks kind of like an accidental feature of a place where most things proceed by predictable laws. This ‘time as a line’ business seems clunky, not quite a fit, and therefore proof that there is no real divine intelligence behind its creation, just a kind of random mutation of math and physics that enables us to recognize that the closest we can get to God or gods is scientists. The ones who can explain absolutely everything except the answers to questions they haven’t decided to ask, at least not anymore. Why official science is grouped around a consensus committed to time as a line, even though they don’t want to discuss the implications and complications of that commitment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Proof that they are committed to the line is their acceptance that the part of the line we can’t get to does in fact exist. The past exists. Their Big Bang story depends on this absolutely. On our earth, past civilizations did exist. They emerged from some other species, evolving both physically and socially to the point of leaving behind an enormous record of their physical accomplishments we can dig out of the dirt and study. They are remembered as cultural realities by their descendants, many of whose beliefs were shaped by events and individuals we cannot witness except as by means of fossil and orally transmitted records. </div><div><br /></div><div>Inconvenient contradictions? A few. Consider the infinities involved. If time is a line and the past exists, what must be true? Everything happened. Billions and billions (Carl Sagan!) of years worth. From the Big Bang and whatever other universes came before it, right on up to today, all those millions of stars and planets and moons and asteroids and comets and meteors, and even here on earth all those people and civilizations and the species they came from and lived with, all of it, and yet the one restriction built into this line to the past is that it cannot be visited. And by the way, this is a line that looks very much like yet another infinite universe, bigger by far than the biggest one that preceded it in the sequence. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’ve told you science has amassed in the past hundred years or so the toolkit it needs to resolve a lot of the contradictions they don’t want to deal with. One of these tools is an emerging mathematics of infinity. Pretty commonsensical when you get past the impressiveness of the insight that spawned it. I mean infinity is infinity, right? What else can you say about it? Plenty.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is possible to perform elementary kinds of mathematical operations on infinities. Perhaps not provably in strict terms but reasonably. For example, it should be beyond argument that the infinite set of rational numbers (fractions and decimal numbers of all kinds) is larger than the infinite set of integers. Both sets are infinite because you can always add one to however many you have. But the infinity of rational numbers is clearly infinitely larger than the infinity of integers because in between every pair of integers is an infinite set of rational numbers. In the same way, each dimension we add to our set of dimensions necessarily contains all the others. The second dimension contains an infinite set of lines, the third an infinite set of planes (like a big-boy-pants version of an MRI), and the fourth (i.e., time) an infinite set of the three-dimensional universe and its constituent parts moment by moment all the way back. Which means that time is infinitely larger than all the lower dimensions put together — and yet is somehow restricted because of some universal constraint to behaving only as a vector <i>from our human point of view</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>This puts science in something of a box. Where they don’t like to be put. If the past exists in the way scientists insists, then Time fulfills all the requirements of being a next order dimension infinitely larger than all the others below it. Except for the human point of view problem, there’s no reason for inferring that Time is a line at all. In fact, it can’t be. It contains all the lines and planes and three-dimensional constructs that it requires to fabricate past, present, and future. It therefore cannot be only a line and it cannot exist merely as a sequence without violating what seem to be the laws of dimensional physics. Like all the other dimensions we know of, all of Time exists simultaneously, past, present, and future. It is human life that lives on a line.</div><div><br /></div><div>The only defense science has is its assertion that Time is a thing apart. An immutable law unto itself, imbued with a power beyond that of the universe itself, to which (btw) science blithely keeps amusing itself by adding other dimensions via the expedient of string theory, parallel (alternative/probable) universes, and other self-glorifying because unprovable speculations. Except that those other dimensions and universes also create problems for the Time as a thing apart theory. They suggest, collectively and individually, that cosmological physics is much much grander and more complicated than we suspect while reinforcing the intuitive inference that mathematics and cosmological physics are inseparable interconnected, wherever math comes from.</div><div><br /></div><div>They’ve also got a problem with their own <i>primus-inter-paribus</i> god. The one named Einstein. Whose theories rest on his conception that the deep structure of the universe is a thing called space-time, not divisible or separable from one another. Which means that the point, the one back there at the beginning, predates the existence of Time, which is not a thing apart but an integral part of the whole, obeying the same universal laws of physics if we could understood what all those laws are. But even if we can’t, there’s no sign that they are anywhere truly inconsistent in their fundamental applications.</div><div><br /></div><div>If Time follows, flows from, that universal first point, then that first point is also equal to or greater than the infinity of everything else we have been talking about. It begins to look not like a data point but a power so far beyond any comprehension that it is not distinguishable from the concept of one God the Creator.</div><div><br /></div><div>In that context, all other infinities share one mathematical attribute with every other variable in the math of infinity. They are less than (<) the originating point and therefore equal to one another in the most important sense, no things apart allowed. There is not one of them (or their constituent elements) so small that it does not matter. Because, as the great religions keep insisting, there is a unity, a wholeness that includes everything, and everything reciprocates this unity by containing or at least intimating that whole within itself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Where are we? Time is not a line. It is simultaneous. The past and the future are both present around us and interacting with each other through, um, Time. Which means there is no such thing as death, as in the eternal blank we are supposed to believe follows the termination of that segment of time in which we think we are living chronologically. This raises a large and very interesting question. If the fourth dimension is being constrained in such a way that it functions as a seemingly linear vector through a much larger universe of possibilities, why is this the case? It has extremely specific consequences, so much so that artificial linearity appears to be best explained as a product of intention.</div><div><br /></div><div>Forget whose intention for now. Consider instead the effects of such externally imposed tinkering with our own interactions within the Time dimension.</div><div><br /></div><div>For now, that’s all we need to understand about time before we consider the very serious question of what reality is. Really…</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Reality Is Not What We Think It Is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;">[<b><i>Intervention</i></b>: Reality and Consciousness both treated variously and integrally in a separate work, as they should be, including the quantum mechanics stuff and what consciousness is and other stuff that makes everyone important and most of us presently lost…</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/r-f-laird-on-consciousness.html">R. F. Laird on Consciousness</a></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>An On-Line Book</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I know reading is a bitch. I’ve had a bitch of a life myself. And I’m loving it.]</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ypYbNHBW6-Y" width="400" youtube-src-id="ypYbNHBW6-Y"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-80500327398354972392023-12-14T07:20:00.016-05:002023-12-14T08:25:48.165-05:00An Appeal for a Wise Female Voice<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzsB-ftO0TahusDvZ2QJFuiTsMX1FpL1DCj8WOziwVNKUa9_UcaAooAG91Coj8bV1SOrXyRJcggX7T1_6A9C2TQ7XrmM5yr32SHsnoTxr0NvRNtSR0HJOC2RHJVMSkwFP-qjeZfbX7Ugb95n0WT73LyBPuFxE5hEeRh5uw3k8l1iNAn2IpHQPvHNlrgw/s700/IMG_4542.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzsB-ftO0TahusDvZ2QJFuiTsMX1FpL1DCj8WOziwVNKUa9_UcaAooAG91Coj8bV1SOrXyRJcggX7T1_6A9C2TQ7XrmM5yr32SHsnoTxr0NvRNtSR0HJOC2RHJVMSkwFP-qjeZfbX7Ugb95n0WT73LyBPuFxE5hEeRh5uw3k8l1iNAn2IpHQPvHNlrgw/w640-h360/IMG_4542.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Back in the 1990s I came across an author who seemed to be in a fix comparable to mine. She’d written a huge, groundbreaking book (798 pages) that talked about big big things and the cultural powers-that-be found her inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. Nobody really wanted to deal with what was in the book. </span><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Sexual Personae </i>by Camille Paglia<i>.</i></span><span style="font-family: times;"> I bought a copy and read it cover to cover. I found it fascinating, brilliant, and obviously revolutionary. She was exploring the relations between the sexes through a very deep dive into art throughout the ages. She introduced a word I’d never read or heard before, “chthonic,” which means ‘pertaining to the underworld.’ This, she believed, was the existential realm of women, the basis of an unending war between the sexes exemplified by the marriage of Hades and Proserpine. Her approach stood so starkly alone that I regarded it as being as much a work of art as a serious work of anthropology, although it was clearly both. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Paglia went on to become a highly visible socio-political critic and she was both wise and funny in her media appearances. But the big big book kind of disappeared into her fame, acknowledged as an event but permitted no real impact on women’s writings, especially feminist writings. Why? Despite her own intellectual attainments and charisma, her conceit was that, in their essential nature, women constitute the Great Unconscious of Carl Jung’s conception. This was not ever going to be a popular idea. She was tolerated as an eccentric star of the political left, a vocal Lesbian, a serious Madonna fan, and a quotable contrarian on many hot-button sexual issues, but as a game-changing</span><span style="font-family: times;"> cultural influencer she was shunted effectively to the side.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Why am I talking about her now? Two reasons. First, to conceal what this post is really about from the Facebook censors. And second, to explain why I’m asking someone or, preferably, some <i>ones</i> else to take the lead on the mission described here. Whether she’d agree with this characterization or not, an obvious inference from Paglia’s book is that women were the genii who had to be placed in a bottle before what we know as historical civilization could begin. History <i>has</i> been a story of patriarchy. Paglia also believes that pre-historical cultures were dominantly matriarchal and therefore ahistorical, governed more by the lunar cycle than the wheeling of the constellations through time. Every year is the same year; therefore there is no need for history or written language or philosophical and moral questioning. I think this inference may be substantially correct. I had been approaching this same perspective myself before I read <i>Sexual Personae</i>, from the standpoint of consciousness as I came to understand it via the equally controversial work of Julian Jaynes. Not a social scientist, whatever that is, I began playing with my own ideas on the subject by means of satire, and in the realm of politics I offered — as a gadfly voice only — the rhetorical position that the most damaging event in the last century was women’s suffrage. Which clearly could never be repealed and therefore needn’t be much discussed except as a provocative rhetorical needle pointed at </span><span style="font-family: times;">a dangerously overblown balloon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Lately, I confess, my rhetorical needle has hardened into a sheathed spear of historical conviction. What will soon put an end to the American experiment is not Marxism or Chinese games of Go played on the world stage. It is the power of the women’s vote in western democracies. It’s taken just a hundred years for women to vote us to the brink of a worldwide statist totalitarianism whose real purpose is to ensure control by ending thought forever. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Why I’m not the right voice to fight the fight I’m describing here. I’m not trying to roll back time. I’m not the nightmare figure of “A Handmaid’s Tale.” Equating sexism with racism has been a neat verbal sleight of hand pulled off by the left. They’re not the same thing at all. There are differences between the sexes apart from skin color. Beginning with skin shape and including everything beneath the skin, including the anatomical configuration of the brain and associated drives. It is entirely possible to be a sexist without being a misogynist. I don’t regard women as inferior beings, just as very different beings for the most part. Do I have resentments about the fact that so many women have been masquerading as men while men have been surrendering their masculinity to innumerable variations on a theme of <i>Lysistrata</i>? Yes. Sure I do. Does that in any way translate to hatred or a desire to subjugate women? No. I want them to understand some things that are very much to their advantage. That shows in what follows, which is a post about short-term political matters that women seem likely to be a deciding influence on, to the detriment of every U.S. citizen, including them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">I know it’s an important problem as I have described it because Facebook has used clandestine means of censoring it since I first posted it six weeks ago. When it got no response, I pinned it, so that it would be the first thing anyone saw on my page. But I have discovered a way to see my page as visitors see it; the pinned post is not shown at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Everything below is about that objective. The first part is the intro I wrote when I pinned the post after receiving no response of any kind. The second part is the original post. If all this is too long to read, I don’t care. It’s here. I’ve done what I can. The summation of my career as I view it toward its end. I have always done what I can. Just asking some particular others to do the same…</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyM1kO8EIwU0TlsXL_KNxFAXXM3KtlpfFWYxsIEE0mx4zAKP2qVlpy2U6_dA-vN81yjRKxeqyZXFJ9ur6ryK9Phi1w8hAMsmXoFJSJcUVOD0egyZcO-0uG41RastybnV4pxRj1jmhJRmNR1FAmyvnkmDvCX36mFSjbRjnZIHoVaO7TRxvmKuYPng_YK6A/s711/IMG_4235.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="711" height="49" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyM1kO8EIwU0TlsXL_KNxFAXXM3KtlpfFWYxsIEE0mx4zAKP2qVlpy2U6_dA-vN81yjRKxeqyZXFJ9ur6ryK9Phi1w8hAMsmXoFJSJcUVOD0egyZcO-0uG41RastybnV4pxRj1jmhJRmNR1FAmyvnkmDvCX36mFSjbRjnZIHoVaO7TRxvmKuYPng_YK6A/s320/IMG_4235.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">The abortion issue is poised to kill the country. It can’t be hidden from. It must be dealt with. It shouldn’t matter because it’s a lot of fuss settled with the price of a bus ticket. But Republicans are afraid to talk about it, the pro-lifers don’t know how to, and the women of the nation have been swindled by totalitarians.<br /><br />This post matters. I don’t care who doesn’t like it. I’m not the one to lead the charge except for finding the WOMEN who need to lead the charge. I don’t care about the morons whose minds can’t be changed because they’ve never been used for anything. Why I made the post too long for those people to read. All I care about is saving the nation for all the people, including even the ones who are too morally undeveloped to understand the evil of a License to Kill. But the post isn’t about that. It’s about why that’s an irrelevancy and why a host of other issues are life-and death relevant, not just for a fetus, but for the last best hope of the world.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3kW-ChNKKk6AdhVOqEnlFMGAooxsd91oj7_pkaxmxI5tOxYsgCjnncncWu0k5dR7SsUIuRxivCGCIO8TBQSHw9DDctCQzaCXFu4t4x01O9H53Wlw9ONcBQ9AkHHnJNdt1JV0xpYTZdk-DLHe4kn9zENbLnHZR4CAMIVBvlmSS843uvUg2BwVXhFppxo/s711/IMG_4235.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="711" height="49" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3kW-ChNKKk6AdhVOqEnlFMGAooxsd91oj7_pkaxmxI5tOxYsgCjnncncWu0k5dR7SsUIuRxivCGCIO8TBQSHw9DDctCQzaCXFu4t4x01O9H53Wlw9ONcBQ9AkHHnJNdt1JV0xpYTZdk-DLHe4kn9zENbLnHZR4CAMIVBvlmSS843uvUg2BwVXhFppxo/s320/IMG_4235.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><br /></div></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4iiFp-GZu1fjg1eFoKqpwdBk5XmaXDyathpDK-iYtE_fuiVcnstrGjep1WrkS3SEfDUb0_cCTB7g719n7SmnWHtDFpJNi9_Kd_hF-MtH8WD5GngzsNv28n8yPIzhT8zTE4DKPMBcfUSpyXKgv0KYZDNs3YHVCbjWEpGeoJcoOxuWTm55H_RFlz6Chn8/s1800/IMG_3437.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4iiFp-GZu1fjg1eFoKqpwdBk5XmaXDyathpDK-iYtE_fuiVcnstrGjep1WrkS3SEfDUb0_cCTB7g719n7SmnWHtDFpJNi9_Kd_hF-MtH8WD5GngzsNv28n8yPIzhT8zTE4DKPMBcfUSpyXKgv0KYZDNs3YHVCbjWEpGeoJcoOxuWTm55H_RFlz6Chn8/w640-h640/IMG_3437.webp" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #cccccc; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m going to quote a dead white male for my intro to this piece of advice from a not-quite-dead white male.</span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">“Hurry up, please. It’s time.” (T. S. Eliot, <i>The <a style="cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a>Waste Land</i>, line 141)</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">It’s time for women to step forward and play Dutch uncle (aunt?) with women who are planning to cast their presidential vote in 2024 based on their emotions about the Supreme Court’s Roe decision.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">It has to be the right women of course. This is not the time for Bible beating or moral hectoring or ultrasound photos. It’s about clarifying the facts and providing a context many single issue voters lack for reasons of convenience, much as many of them make abortion decisions for reasons of convenience. (That’s me talking, a demonstration of why the argument has to be framed by women.)</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">The approach has to be along the lines of “Let’s cut the posturing bullshit, girls. That’s a luxury we can’t afford in the mess we’re in.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Truth. Abortion is not going to be unavailable for women determined to get one in the United States. At most it will be a Greyhound bus ticket away, far cheaper than the procedure itself, no matter what state you live in. The overturning of Roe is also not part of some grand male conspiracy to subjugate women in a ‘barefoot and pregnant’ throwback to the past or a dystopian great leap forward to the paranoid fantasy of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">The bottom line is this. The overturning of Roe was a one-time legal decision, based on the fact that the Constitution has nothing whatever to say about abortion, although probably contains an unstated bias against it. The original Roe decision was therefore based on a fictional right read into a ‘penumbra’ of the Constitution by justices who were bowing to popular sentiments of the time. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">What the decision did was return the jurisdiction of the abortion issue to the individual states to decide as they will. California and New York will obviously mirror the absolutism of Roe. Some will adopt draconian laws, but those are laws that can still be contested and opposed in court. Win or lose, the bus ticket argument stands. Which means that the decision to cast a presidential vote on this one issue is not a matter of defending hearth and home but merely making a point. A point which can be made in a state capital more easily than in Washington, DC, where the die is cast for a long time to come. To some degree this may make the process of aborting a fetus a little more difficult, but is this really a decision that should be easy?</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">The broader context, the broader question that should be on every woman’s mind, is this: In what direction lies the greatest danger to the liberty and autonomy of women in their homes, careers, and private lives?</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">For all who can raise their heads from the myopic obsession with Roe, the answer is clear, stark, and scary. It is the progressive movement that claims to represent women who are, in dozens of ways, waging war against the female sex.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Think about it. Who is sponsoring the tyranny of school boards who are seeking actively to sexualize and even regender children without parental permission? Progressives, many of whom claim to be feminists. Their underlying message is that the state owns children and parents are the enemy which must be locked out of the child-rearing process. Who is ramrodding the effort to eliminate gender differences in terms of bathroom privacy and sports participation? Who is creating a new super-cause called LGBTQ+ which assumes superiority over heterosexual women as well as heterosexual men, with the white versions of both sexes consigned to last place in cultural priority behind every flavor of sexual, ethnic, racial, and spiritual activism to overturn the status quo? Who is using mass media entertainments and advertising to caricature normal American women and replace them with an ‘improved’ version that is as foul-mouthed, promiscuous, personally obnoxious, and even hygienically odious as hormone-crazed teenage boys? </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Progressives. They have been whittling away at the quality of women’s lives for a very long time. Even the abortion issue has been used to increase the dependency, poverty, and physical risk of women’s lives in the United States. Because it is also the Progressives who are as deeply misogynist as they are racist. Since the perfect storm of birth control pills, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and the Roe v. Wade decision — all presented as women-friendly cultural breakthroughs — the net effect on women has been catastrophic.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Birth control pills are a technology that makes promiscuity lower risk for both sexes. Becoming popular even as feminism encouraged women to stand up to hound dogs and divorce them (not to mention increasing the rate of their own tit-for-tat affairs), the divorce rate increased, resulting in more single-parent homes (the ‘single mom’ phenomenon epidemic now), which increases the incidence of ugly custody battles, domestic violence, and ultimately a drastic increase in the number of illegitimate births to women who are having to raise them on subsistence-level jobs. Women’s Liberation? Not hardly. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">It also serves to increase the abortion rate. Mothers who abort not from choice or convenience but financial need. Which also imposes a racist penalty no one wants to quantify or count in any way. In New York City, where marriage is a round-robin and ‘baby daddies’ outnumber husbands, fully half of all black pregnancies end in abortion. In any but the Roe context this would incite a war cry of “Eugenics!” Which it is. This is a secret so zealously guarded that it leads to the murderous scandal of unregulated abortion clinics, where women are harmed, sometimes unto death, babies are suffocated after birth, and fetal bodies are sold for parts while city institutions look the other way. Elsewhere in urban environments, women are squeezed into poor choices about prostitution, drug use, and the expectation of violence to their persons and children (drive-by shootings, anyone?) by abusers who have never had live-in fathers to teach them how to be men.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Even more affluent sectors of the middle class are being manipulated and harmed by Progressive orthodoxies. Women pursue educations and careers because they are increasingly expected to, but the odds are still stacked against them. Prestigious universities are happy to take the money and hand out the fancy degrees, but career paths pursued by women are depressingly narrow and quite often impaired by the unending choice between being an engaged mother and being a financial success. Result? Women wait too long to have children, which increases their risk for female-specific cancers and stress ailments, and face the prospect of being in late middle age by the time their feminist daughters leave home for college.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">You see, there are things that remain the same, regardless of utopian fantasies peddled by people pretending to be ahead of their time. Some doors will always be closed, wholly or in part. Men have more ways of making a living. They own the blue collar world, which actually makes all the stuff work we need to work in real physical life. Yes, women can learn the mechanics of being a plumber, an electrician, an automotive technician, a telephone lineman, a garbage truck/snow plow/tractor-trailer/tugboat pilot, do masonry and construction framing, logging, welding, skyscraper building, bridge painting, firefighting, policing, war-fighting, etc. But all of those things involve a requirement for physical attributes men have more of than women. Endurance in extreme temperatures and other circumstances, strength in manhandling balky equipment, sheer body strength, and instantaneous response to immediate physical threats. In these terms, men are going to remain in charge of operating and maintaining the physical world we live in. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">They are prepared for this no longer respected mission by all manner of male experiences women have been taught to laugh at or deride. Dangerous sports on teams held together by peer pressure and competitive spirit. The expectation that their physical courage will be tested repeatedly early in life until they know what they are, or are not, made of. The cultural impulse to protect the female of the species with their lives if necessary, even those they don’t know personally. The deep acceptance that everything is a competition, with winners, losers, and also-rans. The equally deep realization that competitions are won by those prepared to take on the biggest risks, physical, mental, creative, and financial.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Why the infamous Old Boy Network has survived the slings and arrows of feminism virtually intact. Their advantages are not institutional, procedural, or ideological. They are male. Why, 100 years after women got the vote, they still have not turned their superior numbers of population into equal accomplishment in politics, medicine, law, business/finance, high technology, and the arts (including painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, fashion, and even box office appeal in the realm of moviemaking). </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Progressives pretend to be all about correcting these disparities by means of regulations, laws, and ongoing redefinitions of the standards by which accomplishments are measured. But that’s not what they’re really after. They’re after control, wealth, fame, and sexual gratification. There is no morality in their makeup, no real inclination toward fairness or justice. These are just words they use to exploit those they work hard to make see themselves as victims rather than important participants, each in their own way.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Yes, there are women in the Progressive power structure. Females that is. Technically speaking. We hear their their loud voices shouting from the rooftops. But who are they? They’re imitation males, not even faux men, but all the worst of mankind stripped of the ameliorations provided historically by religion, law, and respect for the verities of home and family. What’s left is the competitiveness and the ruthlessness of a prizefighter lost in fury and willing to pummel the target in front of him until it stops breathing. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Look at the young ‘women’ whose pro-Palestinian convictions are unaffected by Muslim-led baby decapitations and brutal rapes and dismemberment of wives, sisters, and daughters. What could have prepared them for this? A carefully indoctrinated blindness to what physically occurs when a 6-month fetus is yanked in pieces from the uterus? IDK. The Progressive mentality has been synthesized successfully in an increasingly large percentage of females who have been taught that their greatest source of strength and power is actually an obstacle to be managed and controlled. What is that, you ask?</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Motherhood. The eternal source of female power and the one indispensable factor in the survival and continuation of the species. The genetic makeup of the human female is governed by this above all other attributes. Societies have been organized around the primacy and necessary admiration of Motherhood. But if you can teach the female of the species to have contempt for motherhood as a mere cultural artifact of the patriarchy, you have eliminated them as a serious rival for power in any realm. Because no matter how mean, homicidal, brutal, and psychopathically motivated women become, men will still be more dangerous in every one of these respects, and they feel no compunction about subjugating and enslaving the pitiful copies of their own worst instincts which are all that remain of the female sex. Why Progressives suddenly have so much trouble defining what a ‘woman’ is. That’s how deep this goes.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">Those who think the imposition of limits on abortion rights is the most sinister threat facing women in the United States are the biggest fools in the nation. The real danger is right in front of their faces: the determination of the state to make motherhood itself obsolete, reduced to a simplistic command and control function of the government. A clear and present danger right in your face. At the school board meeting. In the porn on the shelves of the elementary school library. In the steadily increasing number of decisions in a young female’s life from which parents are deprived of knowledge and input — birth control, sexual activity, sexual preference, gender identity, gender surgery. While the boys are being given free rein to bully their peers and if they fail as bullies to shoot the ones who hurt them the most, girls included.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">All of this is what women are voting for if they think it’s brave and beautiful to vote for abortion rights over affordable food/gas/mortgages, physical safety for themselves and their children on the streets and in their homes, and the energy that runs their cars, stoves, furnaces, and water heaters. The Progressives think giving you the vote was the most accidentally brilliant move they ever made. Let the fair sex uglify and destroy itself, which leaves the elite alone with the bimbos who always do what they’re told.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">*************</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">No man can make this argument. Women have to make it. Lawyers, judges, doctors, economists, authors, mothers, aunts, sisters, mothers, mothers, and grandmothers.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: times;">But it’s time. Time they made the argument. If the current gang of criminals remains in </span><span style="font-family: times;">charge, there won’t be a next time to vote on anything.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #050505; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBUZAOM1AY8pJKrStoPA6MfH8dUdbRZ4jsnp2cht0FwVuHBCchrdmpK4SLQmXOaUPZkYh-5tiEw4aVuaOnokg4rLrqoMLa3CevJhCZQhgHSadW0Ocdnf3lUIWgyAXmaK2ju-ir5yGroYdZNpS1SQtSFLF1_76bClVT7YcSl3hj6rRul3Oxeox35B1DO0/s711/IMG_4235.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="711" height="49" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBUZAOM1AY8pJKrStoPA6MfH8dUdbRZ4jsnp2cht0FwVuHBCchrdmpK4SLQmXOaUPZkYh-5tiEw4aVuaOnokg4rLrqoMLa3CevJhCZQhgHSadW0Ocdnf3lUIWgyAXmaK2ju-ir5yGroYdZNpS1SQtSFLF1_76bClVT7YcSl3hj6rRul3Oxeox35B1DO0/s320/IMG_4235.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505;"><br /></div><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: times;">There you go. Take it as you will. </span><br /><span style="color: #050505; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-29891594443167953242023-12-12T09:38:00.221-05:002023-12-13T17:41:04.117-05:00What we’re up against<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrMpPR3z8BRQsdmISuQUQVQrckxvpt348wUSJfa2YWpPsVaxxaMQoIjG0mIYIuly8Xj4Rw1megRbTOr5_8Cb9aiAVBK8umvkCZ1ECMRJVogQ07u6O3NQIQVUc8Kjv0tTU9N4AWmQZpsbako5-KWWpiwMtNVXK5x7xY9-wGU3N112BXsNYIPkZ46t40tU/s998/IMG_4485.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="998" height="549" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrMpPR3z8BRQsdmISuQUQVQrckxvpt348wUSJfa2YWpPsVaxxaMQoIjG0mIYIuly8Xj4Rw1megRbTOr5_8Cb9aiAVBK8umvkCZ1ECMRJVogQ07u6O3NQIQVUc8Kjv0tTU9N4AWmQZpsbako5-KWWpiwMtNVXK5x7xY9-wGU3N112BXsNYIPkZ46t40tU/w640-h549/IMG_4485.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>You’d think a GOP candidate from northern Ohio would understand what side his </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>state is best buttered on. But you’d be wrong. Niceness is the be all and end all.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>I’ve seen Toledo, mostly from the highway that passes over it to and from Canada. This was years ago. The city was in the rust belt then, sharing a plight similar to Flint’s as a result of GM’s movement of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. For a variety of reasons it’s still in the rust belt, despite a brief interruption of decline during the Trump administration. That guy. The one who killed NAFTA and replaced it with a new treaty that made both Mexico and Canada weep. The same one who further slowed down the offshoring of manufacturing jobs with tariffs on China and the European countries who locked U.S. automotive products out of their markets. Why Ohio went for Trump in 2020, despite the shocking surprise depressant of the COVID epidemic.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhc_j1q3rt8yRp4IWbq51I1z42gdAOuoO8BuIhqyb24jEvSdE07dib9X0uCqbYPk4V9qfJOZR0USvKkrjS104FzePAO3SRHgOknFvyL8tGGMUoTH7Y6FM_XPqXMYUJINGo0KWMAcEYeYl1YbHN6RPohLB8SgEanhvnDriKN0_qT7hT75ke_4qm5yIfXk8/s1602/IMG_4488.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1602" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhc_j1q3rt8yRp4IWbq51I1z42gdAOuoO8BuIhqyb24jEvSdE07dib9X0uCqbYPk4V9qfJOZR0USvKkrjS104FzePAO3SRHgOknFvyL8tGGMUoTH7Y6FM_XPqXMYUJINGo0KWMAcEYeYl1YbHN6RPohLB8SgEanhvnDriKN0_qT7hT75ke_4qm5yIfXk8/w640-h341/IMG_4488.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The variety of reasons for Toledo’s continued rust belt status is a consequence of the Biden administration, which prefers placating hostile China and ungrateful Europe at the expense of its own citizens and economies within states that don’t vote for Democrats. Why the Keystone pipeline was killed, the NAFTA mentality is returning to U.S. trade policy (billions for thee, none for me), and U.S. manufacturing jobs are hostage to the Most Favored Nation status of trading partners who build more cheaply with child labor and/or the negotiation of reduced U.S. tariffs with no reciprocal reductions in their own protectionist trade policies. <div><br /></div><div>This is all pretty obvious stuff, right? Unless you look to the mass media for accurate assessments of the Biden economy from 2021 to now. If you Google information about the state of the economy in Ohio, here are, in order, the links the biggest ever thumb on the political scale shows you:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zFkHrlvSLFgSym2F7QQ_H0Fo43aKC-M2-cx5xThe0Vqw8QWnWVxh3pft3ELkzmS7mmgWHckdnd5-9A1Ak5CDBH1O2JitFUlghnksqBKFlwUoO2R5hE0FSUE69UpcPbBHTGZNd0xUV5pXCeZG6w1yEQ3dhMrfBfJAkXV3oHseAX1bV3588MnSmKlWBKI/s1590/IMG_4505.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1590" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zFkHrlvSLFgSym2F7QQ_H0Fo43aKC-M2-cx5xThe0Vqw8QWnWVxh3pft3ELkzmS7mmgWHckdnd5-9A1Ak5CDBH1O2JitFUlghnksqBKFlwUoO2R5hE0FSUE69UpcPbBHTGZNd0xUV5pXCeZG6w1yEQ3dhMrfBfJAkXV3oHseAX1bV3588MnSmKlWBKI/w640-h374/IMG_4505.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Now let’s say you’re determined and persistent enough to go looking for some fact checking about the claims of the legions of Biden apologists. What you’ll find are general assessments from wholly owned disinformation sources like PolitiFact. Who begin their “15 Charts” of economic truth with the “good news.” (These are data through the end of 2022; it takes time to be as authoritative about 2023, which isn’t even over yet.)</div><div><br /></div><div>They like leading with the great news about unemployment.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG63gwRuQPxn7pLTgx8q0N7MFipnkFwzN9vk5y-Tg2U7dov-b4ETHonmoJLcNWAYfZwyn_hbOkb7XmShQDtY8ASjjL7oVj7P6l0YwoDwdJZEqcQWoovHQlDAwQTZtGjtsjG7mnAQK6OyNdSzuupz4VEvlBzWB59dBmMjvPzhNpVFD4W52iqamO23tWIOo/s1361/IMG_4506.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1361" data-original-width="1060" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG63gwRuQPxn7pLTgx8q0N7MFipnkFwzN9vk5y-Tg2U7dov-b4ETHonmoJLcNWAYfZwyn_hbOkb7XmShQDtY8ASjjL7oVj7P6l0YwoDwdJZEqcQWoovHQlDAwQTZtGjtsjG7mnAQK6OyNdSzuupz4VEvlBzWB59dBmMjvPzhNpVFD4W52iqamO23tWIOo/w498-h640/IMG_4506.jpeg" width="498" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Great, huh. Most basic possible sign that the economy really is booming. Unfortunately, you have to wait till the second half of the 15 charts to see this one…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywmNPemhivkS9cvbm7WziKHHMgckdLSWbWTQaD7fmeuGbUaVZtvOB6Q4uVW5_Y9bmhXrh4blUzfQjfmWd65bTExZuSczS5kLXqGyVkYV0wrj2aEYiXjbaebsYHauxoDF6un74y3mh0TxIAb0UMmXjJUxg1ZQKDRoNySi7KGOPmhdctqjRRWY2yOXaeZI/s1369/IMG_4501.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1369" data-original-width="1149" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywmNPemhivkS9cvbm7WziKHHMgckdLSWbWTQaD7fmeuGbUaVZtvOB6Q4uVW5_Y9bmhXrh4blUzfQjfmWd65bTExZuSczS5kLXqGyVkYV0wrj2aEYiXjbaebsYHauxoDF6un74y3mh0TxIAb0UMmXjJUxg1ZQKDRoNySi7KGOPmhdctqjRRWY2yOXaeZI/w538-h640/IMG_4501.jpeg" width="538" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The principal economic effect of the COVID mandates was that people trapped at home simply dropped out of the workforce and lived on government benefits of various kinds. They stopped looking for work. When the mandates receded, they did not return to the job market and were no longer considered unemployed. The employment successes shown above are illusory, because the <i>real</i> unemployment rate remains shockingly high for all demographics. Laziness and permanent government dependence have become institutionalized and conveniently concealed by changing the population measured.</div><div><br /></div>What they hope you get bored and quit before seeing is the most important chart, buried in the second half, <i>after</i> the good news, where some of the challenges are conceded.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JlLaYesadYnFuBbTbq1I58a6L8WN1tHWq5FbubFSxUpso4bU5c1Mu19GFZsOFfOhUxJLx4FKxBq51w_AQt1XQDANtdD-QlC-5s9pyNN5UOSDsj7m5MIOjLenSqNLaT-V8PRStRvrnVr38hOr1h3Eof0-JYLhmmsiTfq6wf-UIhjlBw3OAMLnFuDLSlM/s1539/IMG_4507.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="1055" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JlLaYesadYnFuBbTbq1I58a6L8WN1tHWq5FbubFSxUpso4bU5c1Mu19GFZsOFfOhUxJLx4FKxBq51w_AQt1XQDANtdD-QlC-5s9pyNN5UOSDsj7m5MIOjLenSqNLaT-V8PRStRvrnVr38hOr1h3Eof0-JYLhmmsiTfq6wf-UIhjlBw3OAMLnFuDLSlM/w438-h640/IMG_4507.jpeg" width="438" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is why people are suffering. Prices keep going up. The prices that have been going up the most are the ones most essential to household survival: food, fuel of all kinds, transportation, and interest rates on credit. The chart’s optimistic explanation of a recent decline in the inflation curve is misleading. The rate at which inflation is occurring has declined, not prices. It’s impossible to fool people about this distinction. They know they can’t afford to live like they were living a few years ago. If they’re making higher wages, the increase is still lagging far behind the losses imposed by the erosion of their purchasing power.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Why this is a chart no politician can afford to ignore, especially not a Republican politician:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvqFTKXYXNEAKm7lJcNSryW226TGAm-xPyveqA_zhz1OGT8DjU6ePzZ2oFezC1o1OOyrwvaoQgYc11l2ptKWDlYlteWxKE8MO0M55Gf78QjIpFRarpYyhyRNyCyl46K-xTLukYARw_L63-m0aPVpOMNdETKuLjl60eQqcbRYWerSIA7VLwzIAsg3aisg/s2160/IMG_4500.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1505" data-original-width="2160" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvqFTKXYXNEAKm7lJcNSryW226TGAm-xPyveqA_zhz1OGT8DjU6ePzZ2oFezC1o1OOyrwvaoQgYc11l2ptKWDlYlteWxKE8MO0M55Gf78QjIpFRarpYyhyRNyCyl46K-xTLukYARw_L63-m0aPVpOMNdETKuLjl60eQqcbRYWerSIA7VLwzIAsg3aisg/w640-h446/IMG_4500.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>People remember that things were better under Trump. None of his rivals can demonstrate a comparable record. Which <i>is</i> a record after all, not a set of promises to do better in future. Only the Republican Party still has an abundance of flies in the ointment like this guy…</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65BvzbpzsNFhyphenhyphenaGESX9fVZjukVaLfJnjBOhBPRsmrbg0hTA7xuLhXj-B_8jssAUGMLPDYxIQzL4ZBoGdgxN8V6KkMjHilO8PaVDgfPjJZO1tNkclOlKh-fbqF2RsVcnhNidl91qGj8OOiXSBIZvHIQJUKP7jOTbL079oVyDKaERe0I41PkcxZVurCy24/s2060/IMG_4492.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2060" data-original-width="1620" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65BvzbpzsNFhyphenhyphenaGESX9fVZjukVaLfJnjBOhBPRsmrbg0hTA7xuLhXj-B_8jssAUGMLPDYxIQzL4ZBoGdgxN8V6KkMjHilO8PaVDgfPjJZO1tNkclOlKh-fbqF2RsVcnhNidl91qGj8OOiXSBIZvHIQJUKP7jOTbL079oVyDKaERe0I41PkcxZVurCy24/w504-h640/IMG_4492.jpeg" width="504" /></a></div><br /><div>A great argument for election to the Congress in 1954, not 2024. So he’s a nice guy, from Ohio, loves sports, his church, and his hometown in that order, and he’ll work hard in Congress. Convinced? Not me. (A personal bugaboo hardly anyone else will care about. This insistence on the appellation ‘<i><b>The</b></i> Ohio State University’ is recent, born entirely from Buckeye players identifying themselves with OSU on TV. My mother and her parents were graduates of Ohio State and never referred to it with that annoying addition of a definite article. Annoying because there are quite a few state universities in Ohio who have done nothing to deserve being belittled by the one that’s on television the most, especially with the deliberate stressing of ‘The’ (pronounced ‘thee’) in oral usages. What’s this? You’re the Harvard of Ohio? No you’re not. Try telling that to Miami University, Wright State, Kent State, Denison University, or Case Western Reserve. Anyway, there’s something Babbittish about this verbal tic, reminiscent of the parochial boosterism that’s also indicated by citing Rotary Club membership as a Congressional credential. Reading this little bio makes me imagine Craig Riedel wearing a doubleknit sportcoat and white patent leather shoes and belt. <i>My</i> bias showing.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s a better reason for objecting to the fella:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tmzpqsRdLnhpn3j4eKAA4xByfNZHxVOrlsO_OYYHSG1H1jVrsJowAjfSkV7HFu65L-3drSImWZbjV2Hq1_MP1gcdxETXbvwARGwUgl6mD6zC4DnmcXRA4BYEMVWeIi-FZbEqrKTAMOa6K581nSZHeVtEx4eqBRKE1R-rZ5WTVq8qS0-m0XqVEkkHh-I/s1363/IMG_4496.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1363" data-original-width="952" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tmzpqsRdLnhpn3j4eKAA4xByfNZHxVOrlsO_OYYHSG1H1jVrsJowAjfSkV7HFu65L-3drSImWZbjV2Hq1_MP1gcdxETXbvwARGwUgl6mD6zC4DnmcXRA4BYEMVWeIi-FZbEqrKTAMOa6K581nSZHeVtEx4eqBRKE1R-rZ5WTVq8qS0-m0XqVEkkHh-I/w448-h640/IMG_4496.jpeg" width="448" /></a></div><div><br /></div>No sign whatever that he’s aware of the economic issues summarized above or the irrelevance of a few mean tweets by a former President of the United States who has been subjected to savage assaults from all directions since the day he declared himself a candidate. No. It doesn’t matter that he’s shallow and callow enough to make a big stand he immediately retreats from. All that really matters is being a nice guy. Very GOP of him, don’t you think?</div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s Riedel in his own transcribed words:</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>FTA: <<Of President Trump, Craig Riedel said in a recorded phone call, “I don’t like the way he communicates… I like Ron,” he added.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Jacoby: You’re not looking for a Trump endorsement, are you?</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Riedel: I am not. We are not. Nope.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Jacoby: And you’re making it a point that you do not want Trump’s endorsement.</i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Riedel: Yep. Yep.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Jacoby: when the time comes publicly, and if it does come, that you’re put on the spot about your support for Trump, what are you going to tell people? Like, just straight dope, what are you going to do?</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Riedel: I get asked this often, and my answer is the same every time, and I’ve hit on it already. That — </i>look<i> — Donald Trump, he’s, he’s a different person than me. I don’t like the way he communicates. I think he is arrogant. I don’t like the way he calls people names. I just don’t think that’s very becoming a President.</i></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Jacoby: So it’s safe to say that you’re not looking to support the guy’s primary run?</i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Riedel: I’m with you. We got to, we need to go a different direction. We need people like, you know, people like Craig Riedel, people like Craig Riedel.>></i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">So this guy will lose and go away. No big deal. Except that it <i>is</i> a big deal. There are a lot of GOP candidates like Riedel, so many that there are probably over a hundred of them in the misnamed Republican House Majority. Better name? Republican House Dummocracy, who use their brains only for dipping into the pork barrels of lobbyists and pretending to oppose profoundly immoral Democrat policies that are destroying the nation and civilization itself.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Overstatement? No. If you think so, you are also part of the problem. It’s not 1954 anymore. Even a rust belt politician living directly across the border from the failing ‘nice guys’ of Canada should be able to recognize the enormity of the challenges we face and the puniness of a campaign based on belonging to the right community social groups.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">But who am I to say? Just a guy who’s halfway from Ohio and has lived there for a full ten percent of his life. And someone who knows, deep down, that we’re in a whole bushel basket of trouble in <i>The</i> United States of America.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-40995714025872646472023-12-11T09:17:00.350-05:002024-03-19T12:36:32.312-04:00The Unkindest Cut of All<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoF9mhHfW4MybRHHmCkPdr8btdToIHO6uik_ZxYTnNYkS5hlb5KQO5q3anCW5o9zdt_gjNcxh8iUwppmxtMPDVa4EZiuMgRBXV6plKjSgUGzLPgEpwTxVrK_p0FSY4aKRFFvBbO9RjfVNzjS_Nq1yqU8AzgCiXvSkeKjmIyYYdMTnQn126Dp78XUsR3p4/s440/IMG_4472.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoF9mhHfW4MybRHHmCkPdr8btdToIHO6uik_ZxYTnNYkS5hlb5KQO5q3anCW5o9zdt_gjNcxh8iUwppmxtMPDVa4EZiuMgRBXV6plKjSgUGzLPgEpwTxVrK_p0FSY4aKRFFvBbO9RjfVNzjS_Nq1yqU8AzgCiXvSkeKjmIyYYdMTnQn126Dp78XUsR3p4/w400-h320/IMG_4472.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Sally Kornbluth, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology</i></div></i><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">In the aftermath of a Congressional hearing exploring the policies of presidents at prestigious universities where ugly antisemitic protests have occurred since October 7 without much disciplinary response, I found this portion of a N.Y. Post article headlined “<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; letter-spacing: -0.01em;"><span>Harvard, MIT presidents face increased calls to ‘do the right thing’”:</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span>FTA: <<The executive committee of the MIT Corporation, meanwhile, said Kornbluth had their “full and unreserved support” </span>in a statement Thursday<span>.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Liyam Chitayat, an Israeli PhD student at MIT, gave an impassioned speech calling out Kornbluth for her comments and the executive board for its response.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;">“Since the executive board responded to this pathetic congressional hearing of our President Sally Kornbluth by stating that they support Sally for her ‘excellent moral compass,’ I have to ask all of you about this continuous obsession with context,” Chitayat said in the speech, </span>a video of which was posted online<span style="font-family: times;"> Saturday night. </span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i>“I want someone to tell me, when is the right context to come and urinate on the window of the prayer room at MIT Hillel in front of the Jewish praying students inside there?” said Chitayat, while highlighting some of the antisemitic attacks Jewish students at MIT have recently endured. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;">“</span><span style="font-family: times;">Tell me when is the right context to respond to reports of students facing blatant antisemitism by telling</span><span style="font-family: times;"> them, ‘Well, you can try talking to the police, you can go to therapy or you can go back to where you came from?’” she continued. “I want to know when a dozen students are allowed to storm in and harass individual staff members that work, or are Jewish and are Israeli.”</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i>“Somehow, there’s a context in which you can tell Jewish students not to come to the entrance of MIT and go to the back door to their classes,” Chitayat, a doctoral student studying computational and systems biology at MIT, added.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i>“There is context where it makes sense that 70% of Jewish students at MIT do not show any sign that they’re Jewish because they’re scared. There is a context where a chaplain advisor is allowed to stop an event four times to say that Israelis are European racists, white colonizers, right before asking who in this room eats kosher.”</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;">Chitayat </span><span style="font-family: times;">went on to say that she sees the faces of some of the Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in those of her own family, and when she looks in the mirror, “I see the face of </span>Naama Levy<span style="font-family: times;">, who was seen being dragged through the streets of Gaza with blood gushing through her thighs.”</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i>She then turned her attention to Kornbluth and Gay, addressing them both by name as she asked: “When you look in the mirror what do you see?”>></i></span></div><div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">I admit I was astonished. It’s not surprising that six of the eight Ivy League Universities have female Presidents. But it never occurred to me that MIT, the Vatican of Engineering in these United States had also drunk itself into a stupor on the woke Koolaid that’s even more dangerous than Fentanyl to the intelligentsia of the nation. MIT doesn’t have a law school, medical school, or journalism school, institutions that are enrolling women at an unprecedented rate to paper over lack of achievement in other areas, notably the hard sciences and the technological disciplines. For context, here’s a glance at some of many statistics I have compiled recently to illustrate the differences between the sexes in professions and trades.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEXAu3W5QIB5SK-jZzjwXtVs4i69Ii-nTJEjcn6ZObcRJi3LVWtVit0FFWW5qzYIIJPeU6icBEY3DfmKu_ahq072kdwdKwhek3nmHoUpToqqjtM_NRcjnEGo6633sFQmmtX_hSol8Yyfvbzx85ql9zwsKTO-iVeJExh4AMm3g0C_W3lKqqFJ7M00pJSE/s1161/IMG_4480.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="981" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEXAu3W5QIB5SK-jZzjwXtVs4i69Ii-nTJEjcn6ZObcRJi3LVWtVit0FFWW5qzYIIJPeU6icBEY3DfmKu_ahq072kdwdKwhek3nmHoUpToqqjtM_NRcjnEGo6633sFQmmtX_hSol8Yyfvbzx85ql9zwsKTO-iVeJExh4AMm3g0C_W3lKqqFJ7M00pJSE/w540-h640/IMG_4480.jpeg" width="540" /></a></div><br /><div>Two additional kinds of data to provide context: 1) The primacy of engineering as an American profession, responsible for the design and manufacture of everything we need to live our modern material lives (see this old post of mine from 2019, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220424194108/http://rflaird.com/blog/2019/02/08/what-we-all-owe-those-evil-white-men-right-now-today-in-our-little-safe-spaces/#comment-2715">What We Owe All Those Evil White Men</a>) 2) the full extent of the lack of female participation in the building and maintenance of the infrastructure specified in engineering blueprints, including their low participation rates as electricians (2.5%), plumbers (3.5%), automobile mechanics (2%), construction workers (14%), house painters (16%), bridge painters (13%), telephone linemen (5%), water and sewer workers (6%), manufacturing workers (29%), highway maintenance workers (10%), commercial pilots (5%), truck drivers (5%), train operators (3%), seafaring ship crews (2%), oil roughnecks (5%), dock workers (7%), fishermen (10%), loggers (16%), tree surgeons (8%), game wardens (26%), police officers (13%), firefighters (4%), military troops (17%), and even chefs/head cooks (23%). </div><div><br /></div><div>This is the physical world and its operation presided over by MIT and other institutions dedicated primarily to making the brick and mortar and steel and wood and plastic and electronic and other concrete environments we inhabit. Historically, the Ivy League has been the realm of books and ideas and abstract knowledge and creation. They have no libraries to study in and no campuses to think in without the ones who do the math and build the paths and walls that protect them.</div><div><br /></div><div>So who is the <i>woman</i> MIT found to be the best possible leader of its faculty and student body? Here are the basics from Wiki:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8uwMhK1N0KCM1ajI-5A4oy8_6si0Xq7K8vFKMITdM9d4loFXBWA3si8EXFW7dFkU4ClHt7xESSULx-znn69p8f34kuTjMglmSb40X_W4SZxzQAyxuCH1nO_SfzqupKSRBpl10EwBQDp-uvB-uEWlf2CPUicqVDepmmZ_XX8VXL7osE9pcmJZyA8g9l0/s1832/IMG_4477.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1832" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8uwMhK1N0KCM1ajI-5A4oy8_6si0Xq7K8vFKMITdM9d4loFXBWA3si8EXFW7dFkU4ClHt7xESSULx-znn69p8f34kuTjMglmSb40X_W4SZxzQAyxuCH1nO_SfzqupKSRBpl10EwBQDp-uvB-uEWlf2CPUicqVDepmmZ_XX8VXL7osE9pcmJZyA8g9l0/w640-h414/IMG_4477.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Interesting. Having made the decision that their President had to be a woman regardless, the Trustees chose carefully, cherry-picking credentials around but not within the <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-treason-layer-of-elite-government.html">CHYOS</a> set of Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Stanford. Her undergrad degree was from one of the ‘Little Three” elite colleges (<i>Williams</i>, Amherst and Wesleyan) who look down on Harvard, Yale and Princeton, and her necessary link to the poisonous atheism taproot of the 20th Century was not Oxford but Cambridge, where she took her bachelor of science degree. Clever. Of course, her first study concentration out of the gate was in political science, one of the five junkiest majors offered by elite liberal arts colleges, the others being sociology, psychology, ethnic/gender studies, and contemporary culture. All of these are more BS than science. Odd that MIT would choose a BA in the favorite major of law school aspirants, preparation for using words to arrive at pre-ordained positions in a plausible, logical-sounding way. </div><div><br /></div><div>All of this is a given, unnecessary of further analysis. But I do have one question. Isn’t Kornbluth a Jewish name? Here’s the first link Google gave me a few minutes ago…</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMJCC_QpTCmKa2XRv5f_CAjRv7J0SLFbNFBu-7oEzXp3R0yfyU9MwJBOBp0BQah4dFSwiBVMV_3NOCXwFkuUv_Su3UPcaXB8I-cmxqml3T8dGvOtvdO4vv-JxZdpcac7W1-KWxFCEcVQYhf4oecaBMeTaO1TwtADgMt_dHAxusTjZdQqXrwuEh59kR2U/s1158/IMG_4482.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="1158" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMJCC_QpTCmKa2XRv5f_CAjRv7J0SLFbNFBu-7oEzXp3R0yfyU9MwJBOBp0BQah4dFSwiBVMV_3NOCXwFkuUv_Su3UPcaXB8I-cmxqml3T8dGvOtvdO4vv-JxZdpcac7W1-KWxFCEcVQYhf4oecaBMeTaO1TwtADgMt_dHAxusTjZdQqXrwuEh59kR2U/w400-h129/IMG_4482.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Kind of reinforces the question Liyam Chitayat asked to her face in front of the executive committee of the MIT Corporation, doesn’t it? If she can’t recognize the deadly dagger point of the anvil on which she’s broken her own career, that would be the unkindest cut of all, wouldn’t it?</div><div><br /></div><div>I’ve already raised the issue of the schism in the hateful alliances that make up the Democrat Party. (See my post on <i><a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-san-andreas-faultline-in-democrat.html">The San Andreas Fault Line in the Democrat Party</a></i>.) Situations like the fix the rotten higher education establishment has gotten itself into are merely the bitter icing on an evil cake. I don’t care what Harvard and MIT do, or what the Democrat Caucus in Congress does. They’re already sellouts of everything they’ve claimed to believe for at least a hundred years.</div><div><br /></div><div>All that’s left now is finding viable alternatives to the diseased institutions that have betrayed us and themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p></p><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-46950744098914795572023-12-10T14:40:00.005-05:002023-12-10T14:43:06.145-05:00Hypocrisy on High Heat<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5DMaP8YMClojgjNchd03haTyihe5jQ-0_1hyphenhyphen1RpcCYsa7OCTGzjw8WLv-e2SPAJm1ZmSKjYt1iuph_c9j-ps1AtQZIz3dDYhbymwh0PlDLbiuE90HS20o0nI7xy3BusJKDth6b5rjuFDQQX2Xdk5BhhBO_HaaHwmJA_rBltebsCMMEiTO-n-MPKaK0g/s1616/IMG_4439.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="1616" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB5DMaP8YMClojgjNchd03haTyihe5jQ-0_1hyphenhyphen1RpcCYsa7OCTGzjw8WLv-e2SPAJm1ZmSKjYt1iuph_c9j-ps1AtQZIz3dDYhbymwh0PlDLbiuE90HS20o0nI7xy3BusJKDth6b5rjuFDQQX2Xdk5BhhBO_HaaHwmJA_rBltebsCMMEiTO-n-MPKaK0g/w400-h241/IMG_4439.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i>How I started out. Wry rather than wrecking balls. But ya know, </i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i>it really is outrageous that there’s such gigantic hypocrisy </i><i>piled </i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i>on top of a gigantic hoax called Climate Change. It stinks. Bad.</i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">With women it’s always about presenting a warm and caring and down to earth image. What they think fools all the dumbass drones of their sex. They get away with it a lot too. Nancy Pelosi can show off her $20,000 refrigerator while playing at being a domestic homebody when she isn’t squeezing her big nutcracker on Capitol Hill flesh. Elizabeth Warren can pretend she likes drinking beer in her own wood-paneled New England kitchen and it might have worked except that even the drones remember that little Indian Girl act she used to get a professorship at Harvard. You know there’s some very expensive, well stocked wine rack just out of camera range, and the rest of that beer is going in the trash the instant the photo shoot is done.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh8J247PGZLTlzlxPYodWb8Y4vo6r9MHBjZ0FRjqJZhloGqoTQfNoz-cPs0zn0B4DBV_f6SiAJTrtxTtS5ssSvvA5gcTjg3g-S7pdqJiwcRSdGXaJm_mt86ggmxwkMz2QbXNCkxPEnh_bzPaYUpl4jlQGg4_JC62tR5-eIlpzOIaUH7BttvAwnZGG_ZE/s1608/IMG_4456.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="1608" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh8J247PGZLTlzlxPYodWb8Y4vo6r9MHBjZ0FRjqJZhloGqoTQfNoz-cPs0zn0B4DBV_f6SiAJTrtxTtS5ssSvvA5gcTjg3g-S7pdqJiwcRSdGXaJm_mt86ggmxwkMz2QbXNCkxPEnh_bzPaYUpl4jlQGg4_JC62tR5-eIlpzOIaUH7BttvAwnZGG_ZE/w400-h264/IMG_4456.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Pretty weak overall. Going after them</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>is just shooting fish in a barrel.</i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">The gas stove thing is way worse. The wymyns caught up in this are so undomestic that they don’t even know how emotional an issue getting tyrannical about a real cook’s kitchen can get. Everything they do to impress their constituents with their <i>normalcy</i> is play-acting. Time to do them Justice with all the hearts and flowers they think they are implying by simply showing up in a home setting and going through the motions. They can’t hide what they can’t imitate. Emission by omission. </div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">GASSY GIRLPOWER</span></b></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFQQPflMl69uGL4aMXcH6Er7usPWk2KbwflpRIOegLgGRJWnE4HQRyeHph27BibOOyaqL6HegdP8h4SJjAg9NIREoH5T8aPIWhfkWKGyS0Q8QzI6D2jJwuNwENlbikqjRWDA1fj3FriRnQG8khvcqI2135mHsrJaJPFOYH742M1eTewaZt_G5Ms8swt0/s1424/IMG_4449.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1424" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFQQPflMl69uGL4aMXcH6Er7usPWk2KbwflpRIOegLgGRJWnE4HQRyeHph27BibOOyaqL6HegdP8h4SJjAg9NIREoH5T8aPIWhfkWKGyS0Q8QzI6D2jJwuNwENlbikqjRWDA1fj3FriRnQG8khvcqI2135mHsrJaJPFOYH742M1eTewaZt_G5Ms8swt0/w640-h418/IMG_4449.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Latest progressive screwup is by the Munster Mommy of Michigan, so dumb she didn’t even learn </div></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">not to repeat Klutzy Kamala’s mistake. You don’t back Biden’s intimate tyranny over homelife, tell</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"> people everyone has to make sacrifices to save a planet that will outlive the entire human race, and </div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">then prove you are so above the dumb ones you lied to <b>you</b> don’t have to make any sacrifices at all.</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Blnj_0iAVgATYCYu-ISHCXbcF8OzRDuTWZSFQw2yzOpxnbyFAOK2orCKEVwqeR7zNG4yw91c7FIbWwpqx5jS0lnj1cIQbcGfjXJ9RcuXPqqn3mkLoBsaMON6ElOHn0uwYfpu7UH6DDJW0e2_Ys5ynSM9d6aIXfLYhyphenhyphenuSlwB5YgHLI-d8TEGchIuab9E/s1361/IMG_4450.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="938" data-original-width="1361" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Blnj_0iAVgATYCYu-ISHCXbcF8OzRDuTWZSFQw2yzOpxnbyFAOK2orCKEVwqeR7zNG4yw91c7FIbWwpqx5jS0lnj1cIQbcGfjXJ9RcuXPqqn3mkLoBsaMON6ElOHn0uwYfpu7UH6DDJW0e2_Ys5ynSM9d6aIXfLYhyphenhyphenuSlwB5YgHLI-d8TEGchIuab9E/w640-h442/IMG_4450.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>Does any of this blatant lying smell funny to you? Like something you might breathe in accidentally </div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">at Hillary’s email sever stall in Chappaqua? Or maybe more like all the gasoline burned up by </div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">Energy Secretary Granholm’s gofers blockading electric charging stations to keep the boss from</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">getting delayed by ordinary citizens on her public relations jaunt to nowhere in her borrowed EV.</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Hate to say it but all the girlpowered lies of female politicians are sadly small compared to what the Big Boys are doing on the global stage. They don’t even try to answer the obvious questions about the…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">FLAMING FLATULENCE OF THE FANCY-BOY PHONIES</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_YrXBfdbwFdWnoPPU4QIjvnaj9-QIZJLfpNgjjPhR_nRW7bLIp9Rnvw4ZKMgSlk42R-tHrIsQHwWXCXAou6m83kM883KTXwIqP7_0Sea0e3bfQOWWAIkzPX2-H20ybWLRvcOWpxnXbRkWGeuGGSUp1Hl0cBcN9sT1JwV9-qsIr5-e4gj-GqzESAvKuw/s1325/IMG_4444.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="936" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_YrXBfdbwFdWnoPPU4QIjvnaj9-QIZJLfpNgjjPhR_nRW7bLIp9Rnvw4ZKMgSlk42R-tHrIsQHwWXCXAou6m83kM883KTXwIqP7_0Sea0e3bfQOWWAIkzPX2-H20ybWLRvcOWpxnXbRkWGeuGGSUp1Hl0cBcN9sT1JwV9-qsIr5-e4gj-GqzESAvKuw/w452-h640/IMG_4444.jpeg" width="452" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>They don’t care. They fly off to conferences about the impending perils of Climate Change in </i></div></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>their private jets, and at no point do they exhibit any shame or the slightest acknowledgment </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>that they’re fourflusher freeloaders on the financial backing of taxpayers back home. F-bomb.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All I can say is the obvious. It’s not surprising the women haven’t lied their way into the White House yet. They clearly haven’t learned how to tell big enough lies and then ignore all attempts to hold them to account for hypocrisies so stupendous they are threatening the survival of civilization itself. All for a few nights at a five-star hotel in some exotic city and all the Bollinger and Beluga they can stuff their fake faces with. A few implants and collagen injections just can’t compete. fake as they are, they don’t smell nearly bad enough to intimidate the whole world.</div><i style="font-style: italic;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-39439228714249356762023-12-04T21:32:00.809-05:002023-12-06T10:42:43.179-05:00What if?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19o4wPRiGevTmCJB3y7szn-KY-NAjLO0SbGRBkXkUJZ-FKn4SbGiSgh1pcxUD2-d8D2QfkxJGDhpW5G_bk0Ni6jWOHTkcGRBFPDXU2XBTzAgSNWKkZg0r7dh2JwWVL42NHPeXqFh8-m8hNk9Oeq7EWTyJ0quBBQfCKHfBWKBXdqZLFTpRhbIyBBhwmSk/s1631/IMG_4280.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1631" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19o4wPRiGevTmCJB3y7szn-KY-NAjLO0SbGRBkXkUJZ-FKn4SbGiSgh1pcxUD2-d8D2QfkxJGDhpW5G_bk0Ni6jWOHTkcGRBFPDXU2XBTzAgSNWKkZg0r7dh2JwWVL42NHPeXqFh8-m8hNk9Oeq7EWTyJ0quBBQfCKHfBWKBXdqZLFTpRhbIyBBhwmSk/w314-h400/IMG_4280.jpeg" width="314" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Magnetized Obsidian?</i></div></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Back when early attempts to destroy the Trump bid for the Presidency had already failed, media pundit Don Surber coined a new term to describe what he was starting to notice. He called it <i>Trumpenfreude</i>, an odd phenomenon in which the most rabid Trump haters fell victim to various misfortunes in their own careers. He thought it might be a coming trend. For many months he checked in with new instances of such mishaps. Some Hollywood star who dissed Trump in public had a big movie flop. A congressman who repeatedly ranted about Trump lies got caught up in a hometown scandal involving fraud and, um, lots of lies. A sexy singer who sneered at Trump’s conduct with women had a sex scandal of her own. <div><br /></div><div>The various Trumpenfreude outcomes were too dissimilar to one another to be the work of some set of Nixonian White House ‘plumbers.’ They just kind of happened. People screwed up. People failed at some ambitious attention-getting stunt. They got sick. They got humiliated in public. They got caught doing something icky. They lost an election they were expected to win. Their grand reunion tour got canceled. Some secret of their past came back to haunt them. Surber had the good sense not to explain these things. He just reported on them, waiting for the phenomenon to make itself clearer.</div><div><br /></div><div>I’m beginning to see these happenings from a new perspective. Other observers saw at least part of what Surber was seeing. Their first impulse was, unsurprisingly, to blame Trump. It was Trump who created his own fierce antagonists with all those mean tweets and speeches peppered with brutal nicknames. And all the lies of course. By this time everything Trump said was deemed — if it contained any routine political exaggeration, incorrectly remembered number, or some opinion they disagreed with — a monstrous and unforgivable lie, unprecedented in a political environment also occupied by Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama (“my administration had <b>zero</b> scandals…”). People pretended to count up the lies and publish running totals in the thousands. He had sown the seeds of the ad-hominem wars against him and he was now reaping the whirlwind. If a few bad things happened to people who hated him, that was just a function of the fact that so <i>many</i> people hated him and it was only natural that bad things would happen to some of them. That’s just life being life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, we’re seven years into this phenomenon now, and I’m beginning to think all the pundits are looking at the Trump problem backwards. Despite the fact that he has been playing defense against his political opponents since the day he rode down that escalator and entered the Presidential sweepstakes, the common interpretation of all the consequences is that they are Trump’s fault. He is the cause of the ugliness that has overtaken American public life. I’m sure Joe and Mika would use the metaphor of disease to explain what is going on. Trump is an intruder on a system that was working fine till he showed up. Which makes him a pathogen that precipitates an immune response. The body being attacked starts creating antibodies to hunt down and exterminate the pathogen and its component parts. The symptoms of the body’s range of immune responses can be unpleasant to experience. Fevers, releases of adrenalin, digestive upsets, fatigue, depression, etc. Just the body fighting back. </div><div><br /></div><div>But we’ve seen enough now to speculate that human physiological response may be the wrong metaphor. What if the right one is straight from the physics of the universe instead? An interaction between the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Huh? To refresh the memories from your high school science class:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0dkitZbJVYUsDx8_-Sb5ursxKx2tit-jzLt4nrWbL4CX4Eg-dD716-TXjOAviadyqPEOILNu08BGsPpQqSxWvnc8hHPqZ0aWzB71dHq1AJFuVY6EVomM558OGLiCGq_axiMBofaZUKwBuiiMODKOFPAq8Z5jrk5IQl9MoGqRXVTH1aX0oW0F0jya21c/s1314/IMG_4282.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="1314" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0dkitZbJVYUsDx8_-Sb5ursxKx2tit-jzLt4nrWbL4CX4Eg-dD716-TXjOAviadyqPEOILNu08BGsPpQqSxWvnc8hHPqZ0aWzB71dHq1AJFuVY6EVomM558OGLiCGq_axiMBofaZUKwBuiiMODKOFPAq8Z5jrk5IQl9MoGqRXVTH1aX0oW0F0jya21c/w640-h181/IMG_4282.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQxj1RNBC1fLgxGBrAAGjLGvyA3TmnT7Ue-IauC0GziRocJDbvYviRDggXog0oOM2hH489h8Uvn1eMUpqrdUAzYbm3L5_KImqwAHXgcLh0nOMD-1I7_kzcE76pbqeO9yV5Nk2giVBq1y21BGp3CupzF-uzZomqtEJ7waeuPKgXa6csBlYNTpqGghNcd0/s1261/IMG_4281.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="1261" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQxj1RNBC1fLgxGBrAAGjLGvyA3TmnT7Ue-IauC0GziRocJDbvYviRDggXog0oOM2hH489h8Uvn1eMUpqrdUAzYbm3L5_KImqwAHXgcLh0nOMD-1I7_kzcE76pbqeO9yV5Nk2giVBq1y21BGp3CupzF-uzZomqtEJ7waeuPKgXa6csBlYNTpqGghNcd0/w640-h208/IMG_4281.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this metaphor, Trump is not an intruder from outside a functioning system. He is an equal and opposite force generated by the system itself in accordance with Newton’s Law, not introducing new energy into the system but redirecting the energy already contained within the system to diffuse (and defuse) its entropy-accelerating momentum. He is, to borrow a term from the emerging science of Chaos Theory, a strange attractor for the entropic energies within the system and simply bouncing their focused particle assaults back to their sources in the form of less destructive waves. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What’s that mean in plain English? Trumpenfreude, or the “Trump Curse,” is not evil Trump energy emanating from him. It’s an elegant system response to its own excessive increases in entropy. Too much of the “things fall apart” nightmare of the poet Yeats. Trump is the immovable object drawing negative energy from other components of the system like a stationary magnet attracting loose nails. But upon contact with the super-dense surface of the magnet, the negative energy is spread, metaphorically flattened, and then returned with equal force but far less focus to the sources throughout the environment likewise fixated on the magnet. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Nikola Tesla:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBdsAUTmLWB13yvpA9u_8tLd9HOcOJCfItv7zqutDjq-6ONj03-24zWrQQzknd_7NMHSg7sVp49PNKH93YVVOc_DIKNIOl3h9OLRsTxSOMVya8ITMwdibceixAuIzMkj91TLtqmsgolqfVm_WIQys9xPJkAqlWrq8zOscjvppnFYGQFuC_PR1ny9MiQQ/s512/IMG_5034.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBdsAUTmLWB13yvpA9u_8tLd9HOcOJCfItv7zqutDjq-6ONj03-24zWrQQzknd_7NMHSg7sVp49PNKH93YVVOc_DIKNIOl3h9OLRsTxSOMVya8ITMwdibceixAuIzMkj91TLtqmsgolqfVm_WIQys9xPJkAqlWrq8zOscjvppnFYGQFuC_PR1ny9MiQQ/s320/IMG_5034.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What does this have to do with magnets and strange attractors made from obsidian? They’re just metaphors, an application of the logic of the Newtonian scientific method to what is fundamentally a human system. The energies we’re talking about here are more emotional and spiritual than physical, and they pertain in present circumstances more to the effects of the bounced back waves than the trajectories of the attack particles aimed at Trump. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There can be no identified physical connection, for example, between Mitch McConnell’s catastrophically incapacitating fall at a tony dinner party and Alec Baldwin’s entanglement in manslaughter charges on the set of a movie he was producing and starring in. Or between the pitiful cul-de-sac’ing of Ben Shapiro’s wannabe Buckley career and the teleprompter mishap that just exposed Robert De Niro as a stumbling, borderline-demented joke. Or between the specific circumstances that doomed the respectability of these oddly similar-appearing has-beens:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLS7UV6GbeBkn1ZDaT9UJ0DZQlAeQ5zA1L_eyQpst7RPFt5Qabv71KD6H_doJASXHaij7kb97ho2tswHaiIlr5_Ay652OyFAhbuGlRQdnG8fxULjoD7bZ-UpsV7HT_xYxUglYWU2ijHKzhfBaiAkSjBarVfx7j4zl6w7hlGDL_EGgB3nfU7O3EcgSwInY/s1515/IMG_4249.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="1515" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLS7UV6GbeBkn1ZDaT9UJ0DZQlAeQ5zA1L_eyQpst7RPFt5Qabv71KD6H_doJASXHaij7kb97ho2tswHaiIlr5_Ay652OyFAhbuGlRQdnG8fxULjoD7bZ-UpsV7HT_xYxUglYWU2ijHKzhfBaiAkSjBarVfx7j4zl6w7hlGDL_EGgB3nfU7O3EcgSwInY/w640-h490/IMG_4249.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lefty apologists use their musty legal tricks to explain away bad things that happen to this or that person who has been very public and personal about their emotions regarding Trump. They argue by anecdote in favor of coincidence. McConnell’s old. Raskin and Scalese got a disease millions get, so what? Special Prosecutor Mueller, same thing. Kathy Griffin was always unstable, built her career on it. Rob Reiner, Cher, Streisand, De Niro, Madonna, Sarandon, all has-beens whose futures have been in the past for a long time anyway. Kimmel, Colbert, Fallon, Letterman, Keillor, Stewart, all too edgy for a smaller late-night audience that just doesn’t respond to comedy these days. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, gimme a break — cable news ratings are down across the board. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger obviously taken out by fascist MAGA ire. The mayor of New York is getting frisked for his cell phone, hey, that’s Biden’s doing not Trump’s. Bill Barr’s book didn’t sell, Keith Olbermann is broadcasting with Dixie cups and kite string, Chris Wallace is interviewing himself in the dark, the Squad is getting terrible publicity, Jonah Goldberg has basically vanished from the media scene, the National Review is running pop-up ads for racy women’s underwear made in China? Well, cry me a river. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You know. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes to bad people. That doesn’t mean they are paying some price for disliking Trump as much or more than millions of other people who are doing just fine. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But is that true? The ‘just fine’ part? If you want to figure out what’s happening at a deep level of reality, you have to do some research and ask the right questions. I asked myself, just who is it that has prospered since targeting Trump as some kind of secular anti-Christ? Can you think of any specific examples? Who has paid no price for extreme rhetoric and action in opposing his mere right to exist in the body politic? I went looking.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Since turning against Trump in 2017, the Drudge Report has declined from a billion page views a day to 51 million. That’s a collapse of 95 percent. Is he still rich? Yes. Has he paid a stiff price? Yes. Jennifer Lawrence was on track to become the next Katharine Hepburn, with a whole row of Oscars and worshipful fans waiting for great next steps in her career. She’s still making movies. What’s the problem? All of her ‘Top Ten’ highest grossing pictures were made before Trump became president. I seem to remember some snark from her on the subject of the man in the White House. Since then, her output has slowed somewhat and, more concerning, she’s showing signs of the fate that befalls actresses who win Oscars and/or BAFTAs young, taking parts in genre franchises involving body hugging costumes and titillating sex scenes. Halle Berry wound up playing Cat Woman. Scarlett Johansson (the #1 female box office star in movie history) became the Black Widow in eight Marvel superhero movies, and now Jennifer Lawrence has played both Mystique and Jean Gray in separate X-Men outings. Is she still rich and famous? Yes. She’s also done a full frontal nude scene in a creepy spy flick called Red Sparrow, which performed only so-so at the box office. Trump’s fault? Wrong question. Trump didn’t engineer any change in Jennifer Lawrence’s career arc. He didn’t mount any search and destroy media wars against Wolf Blitzer or Chuck Todd. Just as he didn’t personally take down his mortal enemy Jack Dorsey, the Twitter CEO who banned the President of the United States from his “I’ll-let-you-post-any-122_characters-you-want” website. Elon Musk did that on his own. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And, yes, Dorsey is still rich. History will not be treating him kindly, however, no matter who writes it. To ask the age-old Reagan question, is he better off than he was four years ago? No. Who else might have a hard time answering that question if anybody looked them up to ask or answer it for themselves? Two pretty politically outspoken rock music bands, Green Day and Cold Play are still pumping out albums but have not surpassed or equaled their best years, which came just before the Trump presidency. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Surprisingly, the same is true of Taylor Swift. I waded through a vivid website proclaiming Swift’s status as the biggest thing in pop music since the Beatles, a living legend endorsed as such by Brooklyn has-been Billy Joel (whom I saw perform when he was young and handsome and hadn’t started his own prolonged melting process). I kept scrolling down through vertically interminable boxes providing scattered stats about her record sales, album by album. Her biggest sales year was over 4 million album copies sold in the U.S., followed in the ensuing Trump years by dramatic falloff’s into the c. 2 million range and lower. She was making something of a comeback recently in sales terms, but it’s been only a couple weeks now since she went publicly and financially all-in on the re-election of Joe Biden. We’ll see.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which brings us finally to the most important question of all? What will be the destiny of the current immense crop of all-in Trump haters? More important, in fact, than what happens to Trump himself. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’m going to put aside the German term and call it the Trump Curse.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYbIRrw7KWrBG7LBX90yl20kmq1bQ4kwD60sUQI-rCa-zy34lPg9xcOa_AwUaIE2eUVzzy60OLn9mXlErVasYz5n-TGSLgCShqt-9tUHRPl-X4XelmgGkNAvOLNYFW2cVqZfMn_WnLS7xPmlnnQXfSHd7sACXxrXlfSNNj58CFyvmOv5eeqlTOc1rzXU/s1134/IMG_4267.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1134" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYbIRrw7KWrBG7LBX90yl20kmq1bQ4kwD60sUQI-rCa-zy34lPg9xcOa_AwUaIE2eUVzzy60OLn9mXlErVasYz5n-TGSLgCShqt-9tUHRPl-X4XelmgGkNAvOLNYFW2cVqZfMn_WnLS7xPmlnnQXfSHd7sACXxrXlfSNNj58CFyvmOv5eeqlTOc1rzXU/s320/IMG_4267.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I believe a lot of people who look like they’re doing okay about now are already doomed in the long term. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is never going to be Speaker of the House. She will become one of multiple artifacts of what will be called the “Crazed Twenties” or “Terrible Tweens” or some such derogatory nickname down the road. AOC will figure prominently in the baffled analyses of future pundits. Her incoherent positions on Hamas, Israel, a Social Justice that exalts abortion and the grooming and mutilation of children, as well as her own shallow political instincts, will become fatal to advancement as her looks fade and people turn away from a process where the fixing of elections is considered a fiction equivalent to the hollow earth.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Many others will encounter the consequences of the disconnect from reality associated with the careers of politicians and other public officials who will take any position, accept any absurdity, repeat and elaborate on every government-approved lie, and break every law in the name of protecting democracy and the rule of law. That’s a special attribute of the rebound wave effect of the Trump Curse. The wave blinds every recipient of those waves to the specifically self-destructive nature of their war against the immovable object the system has generated in opposition to them. Adam Schiff will live in the history books as a punchline buried in a footnote. In his case ‘there is no there there.’ Without Trump he doesn’t exist at all. Schumer will go away soon enough. He too is old, like all of the pols who might have filled the now empty Democrat bench without the nepotism of the Clintons and the judgment vacuum called Obama in two different sexes. The Biden cabinet will be remembered only as a cartoon picture gallery, like the members of some <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-painting-dogs-playing-poker-endured-100-years">smokeless back room</a> where the table stakes are a softball segment on the Ms. Joe and Mika follies.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Biden is still wandering around, but he has already been done in for all the rest of American history. It’s all there, on videotape, inside the files, archived in the record rooms. Lifelong pathological liar, utterly mediocre mental faculties at his height and then a long long way down into senile child fondling, vicious tantrums, and an objectively corrupt and treasonous political agenda. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The judges and prosecutors who are carrying water for Biden grin and act like they’ve got the bad man on the run when they’re the ones who are on the run, straight into the permanent end of their careers. Whatever they do, or try to do, for the rest of their lives, they will be known only for the roles they played in the disgraceful miscarriages of justice being planned and carried out against Trump. Who is not running away. But standing there in front of them, immovable, bouncing their own perverse and corrosive energies back in their faces.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The miracle here, and the proof of the truth in my description of the Trump Curse, is that it has affected almost everyone in the land. They witness the disgusting daily Democrat defecation on the Constitution and see problems that really should be addressed by somebody. “Maybe,” some of the earnest ones say, “if we pick someone less controversial than Trump….?” </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No. That’s why Trump is here. He is the means by which all the sick particles are being pulled out of the woodwork where they’ve been hiding for years, generations maybe, and all their worst intentions turned back upon them in broad daylight. They don’t know how exposed they are. They don’t know how doomed they are.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How doomed are they? There are two possible resolutions to the current nationwide insanity. The first, which is the one the haters ironically hope for in their private hours, is the assassination of Trump. That will complete their immolation almost immediately. At that moment, the entire country will be standing around the dead body of a man who gave the last years of his life for free, and at almost unimaginable cost, to his fellow Americans. Even the most shameless will then be forced to ask, “What have we done? What have we accomplished here? What do we do now? Why did we do all the incredibly awful terrible things our parents, our educations, and our belief systems taught us were wrong? What <i>can</i> we do now?”</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The politicians will get over this stage of shock. But the rest of the population probably won’t. Too much, too many warnings, were in full view all along. Who sought “progressive” political change with riots, arson, murder, rape, and the criminalization of the policing function? Who sought sexual liberation for every dark corner of the animal id and made sterilizing surgery a therapy that could be desired and understood by citizens who still believed in Santa Claus? Who made it fashionable to boast of how many abortions a promiscuous female had paid for rather than take an annoying pill every day? Who insisted that opposing such recklessly amoral policies was a threat to democracy and basic human decency?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You may not believe it. But a deep revulsion against such horrifying and sick behaviors is inevitable. Assassination will make that moment come pretty damn quick.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The other way is longer and dicier in the doing, but it might save the America many millions still believe somewhere in their buried souls is still worth saving. If Trump is elected President, he may be able to turn the ship around. He will need a lot of help, a lot of sacrifice by those around him, and a lot of patience and new learning by the voters. But there’s a chance that the American Way still carries within it the seed of triumph against long odds we’ve seen grow strong and tall in generations past.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Trump Curse may not save our nation as it once was. But it does have the potential to save our souls. The Deep State has been so imbedded, so invisible, so cunning in its tricks of self-preservation that there was never any chance a lone President could find them all and root them out one by one. What was needed was for them to expose themselves, leap out of hiding into the sunlight, and show their crimes to every eye with the evident delight of the nihilistic sadists they are. That’s what’s being achieved by the Trump Curse at this very moment. If its waves have also reached into your life, blink yourself awake and have a cup of coffee before getting back to work…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There’s a <a href="https://instapunkreturns.blogspot.com/2023/12/year-end-thoughts-2023-part-2.html">Part 2</a> of these thoughts available now too.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-77336359813582881712023-12-04T12:02:00.008-05:002023-12-04T12:25:04.163-05:00Contest! Pick Your Favorite Lizzie Cheney Graphic…<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">1. The Fox Audition</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgWiIS7RwhDY9YiyP-9J0E5p2ikLWm4x1514AUxqU_CJH35V19in9XxptIFbzzvm0F1WK5NCG38VDu4mJv4tKUTeo0n0D7iqYxWNeN_DVzvmvkCTzH1W5P6iiQ6_DQZ_ndC_M3v7W-3NDq_JvXVwjZeZHF1VZnKobn1zy3PpPyX6wu02LdOBci5AYDzg/s1776/IMG_4199.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1776" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgWiIS7RwhDY9YiyP-9J0E5p2ikLWm4x1514AUxqU_CJH35V19in9XxptIFbzzvm0F1WK5NCG38VDu4mJv4tKUTeo0n0D7iqYxWNeN_DVzvmvkCTzH1W5P6iiQ6_DQZ_ndC_M3v7W-3NDq_JvXVwjZeZHF1VZnKobn1zy3PpPyX6wu02LdOBci5AYDzg/w640-h406/IMG_4199.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>At least her hairdo is up to standard for 21st Century female media stars.</i></div><div><br /></div>Before I show you the rest, just the simple instructions for playing. Look at them all, pick the number of the one you prefer and vote for it by posting a comment on my FB page. You can vote for more than one; I’ll sort out any ties. The winner will be used in a future post about this hellish excuse for a woman. Everyone who votes for the winner will get a positive emoji of some kind from me on their comment. I’ll delay tabulation of results until I have enough votes to challenge my fingers and toes approach to counting. Clear? Brilliant (as the Brits say).<div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">2. The ‘WY Boogie’ Home Movie Leak</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVmVLgG7CR_UQkAY_Wnjh-kqr9CLGFQ7nXDFVehuToRXyhpY7K2wQLiJLq7aN_NBUXqWCe9R0ZkR5HEuF4cgk-CKaETEN3SLoKL-3pDyziT6UinmVZS5eICPyVMvyJRHxJ5IFFq6P6NeKBHVHMshx39Fwq4okQNbfPb4wq1TkmWa7u_GxGQUzCJlAo2yE/s1157/IMG_4192.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="1157" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVmVLgG7CR_UQkAY_Wnjh-kqr9CLGFQ7nXDFVehuToRXyhpY7K2wQLiJLq7aN_NBUXqWCe9R0ZkR5HEuF4cgk-CKaETEN3SLoKL-3pDyziT6UinmVZS5eICPyVMvyJRHxJ5IFFq6P6NeKBHVHMshx39Fwq4okQNbfPb4wq1TkmWa7u_GxGQUzCJlAo2yE/w640-h482/IMG_4192.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>We hear it’s pretty hot stuff. </i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Last Year’s RINO Thinking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJ95UyIbjcLj6-Gz7LcnJ21QBQJnp1m0EF3HtXDFrTayopQ2tLn2JjVS4SQvHD6K6rcPVkYKE6LvtEvq50bRHzkljm9m2go5iP-rd9ri0ovIf_TdnRQBDDBcJi1IxkJ8Y96uvmgRiHOiUrJjzRMtVaSHrhqh9pej9yu84XXoJxZxc3J9NvZkTcLLkBJY/s1200/IMG_4200.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="833" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJ95UyIbjcLj6-Gz7LcnJ21QBQJnp1m0EF3HtXDFrTayopQ2tLn2JjVS4SQvHD6K6rcPVkYKE6LvtEvq50bRHzkljm9m2go5iP-rd9ri0ovIf_TdnRQBDDBcJi1IxkJ8Y96uvmgRiHOiUrJjzRMtVaSHrhqh9pej9yu84XXoJxZxc3J9NvZkTcLLkBJY/w445-h640/IMG_4200.jpeg" width="445" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>She didn’t make it to the starting gate. Sometimes life is a Lizz, even for Lizz.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div><br /><div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">4. That Hutchinson Hero</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqsOelncrVD8MAVqA2mAxIshDS_Lhtmlcff5CCgAtJjVwub9iTl49aqPsG1jrIYoWhGk-g1mJJ2U6eTIBiphAuKUCr8Qky7a5zGXrrQ332oXkVsh5akN817WrJWNq_O8ZtSNny-UG0kEEQUUlicuXZ8qKrjN1nIWg-naY5uRq5GlWldQqkP9syeysim0/s1274/IMG_4236.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="1274" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqsOelncrVD8MAVqA2mAxIshDS_Lhtmlcff5CCgAtJjVwub9iTl49aqPsG1jrIYoWhGk-g1mJJ2U6eTIBiphAuKUCr8Qky7a5zGXrrQ332oXkVsh5akN817WrJWNq_O8ZtSNny-UG0kEEQUUlicuXZ8qKrjN1nIWg-naY5uRq5GlWldQqkP9syeysim0/w640-h278/IMG_4236.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Mama Lizz embracing WH Gofer Cassie Hutchinson on the inflammatory lies </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>she (says she) told the J6 Committee about Trump on the day democracy </i><i>as </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>we know it ended. Including the already debunked ones she had to add </i><i>to </i></span><i><span style="font-family: times;">her</span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">transcript after the fact. The</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> harpy wings are just <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">an</span> odd camera artifact.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><br /></span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Cheney at the Trump Trial in OtherWorld</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5NuTY9Jrif7fvNQyU3tAiKWgIDqqNBA1Me0KNLp9Ha9OOzvVs9w1xLE1oaEhbgRwCqktWaaA7rHKu5txSpig6gfQb8E9dpupRUcHL5pmUyhW04Kr2A6fIeipYSVsrZaVAB48pUjR6clRuhGtQtAEydP5TEmjgRmqfGj2l5MN6zL4Z4YMQRzrwdevjwM/s1133/IMG_4241.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="827" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5NuTY9Jrif7fvNQyU3tAiKWgIDqqNBA1Me0KNLp9Ha9OOzvVs9w1xLE1oaEhbgRwCqktWaaA7rHKu5txSpig6gfQb8E9dpupRUcHL5pmUyhW04Kr2A6fIeipYSVsrZaVAB48pUjR6clRuhGtQtAEydP5TEmjgRmqfGj2l5MN6zL4Z4YMQRzrwdevjwM/w468-h640/IMG_4241.jpeg" width="468" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">6. Final push of the ‘22 Campaign</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZQibgOngcAFebHzaVMzKaK7vcqfIPKS4agKuuN6zXbYqQQkZo-7fjJuPkHUGOonv-rbg_gaV2OT55UgSCl0a4VFiTTPxC1M-mC3rwYtXyx9o-Q98F3G5WaF4qzlw6ro_WHnSwW0iacG8WPaEFjMIfMl-RPeBI0UOkilv1c4SF2q9aFxN6Gss524rRg8/s1120/IMG_4243.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="908" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZQibgOngcAFebHzaVMzKaK7vcqfIPKS4agKuuN6zXbYqQQkZo-7fjJuPkHUGOonv-rbg_gaV2OT55UgSCl0a4VFiTTPxC1M-mC3rwYtXyx9o-Q98F3G5WaF4qzlw6ro_WHnSwW0iacG8WPaEFjMIfMl-RPeBI0UOkilv1c4SF2q9aFxN6Gss524rRg8/w518-h640/IMG_4243.jpeg" width="518" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Saving the Republic, like Daddy told her to.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><div style="text-align: center;">7. Dark Days after Losing ‘22 Election</div></span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ5qSm4hQMrDOBgJEk2IS4XDuBCxx0OXERr9SYjIa2ZycaGA6qmepvnTnd6pZ10FMMaiu4opgmAojTzMlnId2uJw9lQM_Kk24PKn28aDNVqXfCdHlzZQUYn7kxLVI6JowknwBqsf4ulMdEqSPmCPGt-J9SXGBM96vvmb1xk-FI4RzZlxiyw48grRfz4JA/s1239/IMG_4242.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="1239" data-original-width="834" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ5qSm4hQMrDOBgJEk2IS4XDuBCxx0OXERr9SYjIa2ZycaGA6qmepvnTnd6pZ10FMMaiu4opgmAojTzMlnId2uJw9lQM_Kk24PKn28aDNVqXfCdHlzZQUYn7kxLVI6JowknwBqsf4ulMdEqSPmCPGt-J9SXGBM96vvmb1xk-FI4RzZlxiyw48grRfz4JA/w430-h640/IMG_4242.jpeg" width="430" /></i></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>She insists her price is never paid in meth or crack.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">8. TrumpTalk w/Hyper-Intellectual Bill Kristol</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4q7Ft_9wuMc5XOeGFpftgv3vexoEZu2zlUH1pHl7tlc3Z_v9C9NdrMf84Zb6u2lm5CvR-rC6yZiy9htAKah7b3cEvnxToaJhHTMPP5Wfd95j01VAh7_vCkT_GgUyFKWB1JYiACENYo9w2pu_lNXFazC6RfdDAgFytM83fGrFnFdkPWEh4qE2kc1K_h4/s1496/IMG_4244.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1496" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4q7Ft_9wuMc5XOeGFpftgv3vexoEZu2zlUH1pHl7tlc3Z_v9C9NdrMf84Zb6u2lm5CvR-rC6yZiy9htAKah7b3cEvnxToaJhHTMPP5Wfd95j01VAh7_vCkT_GgUyFKWB1JYiACENYo9w2pu_lNXFazC6RfdDAgFytM83fGrFnFdkPWEh4qE2kc1K_h4/w640-h342/IMG_4244.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Ya’s gotta go where they’ll still put you on the air.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">9. An Early Endorsement for Her #1 Hair Sniffer</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGoLVf8N3ghpBohYxjBRbulOsB_qPsUeGv4UClP5qaUMONzfuXZ3zsP8ZeQnLITwcFxhMOU6wBKUn0F2sG-nQERK6A7zb94jvRWb29HKBb9yRDEyq2mw9w44HIp_T8zj_HuFrcKHaLLgSlLGWFFht6Pe4h5DTdYhyHej7_NmzV7PHgM0irjZBJgL8Sv8/s1505/IMG_4245.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="1505" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGoLVf8N3ghpBohYxjBRbulOsB_qPsUeGv4UClP5qaUMONzfuXZ3zsP8ZeQnLITwcFxhMOU6wBKUn0F2sG-nQERK6A7zb94jvRWb29HKBb9yRDEyq2mw9w44HIp_T8zj_HuFrcKHaLLgSlLGWFFht6Pe4h5DTdYhyHej7_NmzV7PHgM0irjZBJgL8Sv8/w640-h378/IMG_4245.jpeg" width="640" /></i></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“Dreamy” is the exact right word for the only man who can save us from Trump.</i></div></i><div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">10. All Publicity is Good Publicity</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmuMRIZ3nnceIo0rSYUD-1MWKGhBNNfdW7eWrZtxxq0qEulRHecCeRcfHDfFJJMIDLWehfna2TPKgKaPsmV66vqidvaAhMjjI3Ew-QaYrCl0rdWXU3S1cOettfb5xkviLF-KogkldGpQwwY4ojvjWGAa1M65mj1gPbxrRiAuDXJRJWsPy3UlaC3rYL50/s1048/IMG_4247.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="818" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmuMRIZ3nnceIo0rSYUD-1MWKGhBNNfdW7eWrZtxxq0qEulRHecCeRcfHDfFJJMIDLWehfna2TPKgKaPsmV66vqidvaAhMjjI3Ew-QaYrCl0rdWXU3S1cOettfb5xkviLF-KogkldGpQwwY4ojvjWGAa1M65mj1gPbxrRiAuDXJRJWsPy3UlaC3rYL50/w501-h640/IMG_4247.jpeg" width="501" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5lzqeSlhOdOn3KgCibqgYWsbISKDwulbo47CoODXBOiSum9nJEcNkFTL3WTtaix8Ug1qXLPY3xg-UayaJXyl2HcbYK87GmYZEf-sOPGLqfO-F4RHeOOYYkY5mi8Y-7bAxQMZ9gWzfVgt2qJhnyOdEnh2IuFqj65v8U6UfoAaGgi7M-YuaH48D6-6OyI/s832/IMG_4248.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="832" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje5lzqeSlhOdOn3KgCibqgYWsbISKDwulbo47CoODXBOiSum9nJEcNkFTL3WTtaix8Ug1qXLPY3xg-UayaJXyl2HcbYK87GmYZEf-sOPGLqfO-F4RHeOOYYkY5mi8Y-7bAxQMZ9gWzfVgt2qJhnyOdEnh2IuFqj65v8U6UfoAaGgi7M-YuaH48D6-6OyI/w400-h385/IMG_4248.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDlvOFGshtjXGcIowJ1fVEAwJfmcjslI3Zuh-_5HGfhztMMTarvGP_w5yH84902UoLzELrZZnT1XlPMlGsI6KrSoItZ1p8AO_egWx6pza1UNgZ3f5KoFi05yarcchYq2Y-rXx558zcT_Eqs1edJixflZUwxezDsRQWiQ3IHJP2V7gblTIGd6I66tfThV4/s1230/IMG_4253.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1230" data-original-width="702" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDlvOFGshtjXGcIowJ1fVEAwJfmcjslI3Zuh-_5HGfhztMMTarvGP_w5yH84902UoLzELrZZnT1XlPMlGsI6KrSoItZ1p8AO_egWx6pza1UNgZ3f5KoFi05yarcchYq2Y-rXx558zcT_Eqs1edJixflZUwxezDsRQWiQ3IHJP2V7gblTIGd6I66tfThV4/w366-h640/IMG_4253.jpeg" width="366" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">11. Friends, Colleagues, and Partners in Democracy</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZloeR9sw-ND_UN12ZiNy2B69zARkQziQOdMgfsOOyRXnOmji_YgVlC24lfW-2cUaBkhaKQFuYlrPEnAoetLK7YlQ5AjBeLcKVx0EZ84ZGnvydsMfDT4z0ik5J1omaZZ0XcnlXSCzXqQ1n4IO2YwNuc9a6s-2HdkiTWrUFvDm3P8OznUrI0O7JXq3KnE/s1515/IMG_4249.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="1515" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZloeR9sw-ND_UN12ZiNy2B69zARkQziQOdMgfsOOyRXnOmji_YgVlC24lfW-2cUaBkhaKQFuYlrPEnAoetLK7YlQ5AjBeLcKVx0EZ84ZGnvydsMfDT4z0ik5J1omaZZ0XcnlXSCzXqQ1n4IO2YwNuc9a6s-2HdkiTWrUFvDm3P8OznUrI0O7JXq3KnE/w640-h490/IMG_4249.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32wSuqG7_p75GpeYEe1RYMElHfOXRN8c7sx4mLWAJIxEyvb9vxwsnEXchTZUiuz_nGnxBA5bB8BQlr3PAQZdSuzpgKzRA26oKXg98ZfiDjFDKvilHDJKSjT8SS0vQjP_VogrpClfr2YDqORXrpBLARepAWAEcRPMsZtT2FbLROH59mDSzewAOyzre9SI/s1292/IMG_4250.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1189" data-original-width="1292" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32wSuqG7_p75GpeYEe1RYMElHfOXRN8c7sx4mLWAJIxEyvb9vxwsnEXchTZUiuz_nGnxBA5bB8BQlr3PAQZdSuzpgKzRA26oKXg98ZfiDjFDKvilHDJKSjT8SS0vQjP_VogrpClfr2YDqORXrpBLARepAWAEcRPMsZtT2FbLROH59mDSzewAOyzre9SI/w640-h588/IMG_4250.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">12. In the Final Analysis, There’s Truth…</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzeELAYvP-4ipRab8n9MvVduOg0rDORoLBtk_rsjFFhWNFRAVff8NOBvg0KlrMhWnSgM6WeYrAHiznjO8EdjQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">13. And There’s Reality… A Drab @Home.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD8VJjEn9xAZr8WGzeGFCAztnDhj0r454R6qFPbY7KEEbQcP-AXXd2ka3T7Qz6S6OlHNek4pAdz7w_AZ3Vwbeor02m3F09KyHxxli-ktdf_Qu6UHotP3qFSi1hi0_arKCU_jFuppx7WheMJL1ln9qYYFs-Vfa5lSZxApOVwYVL1dxzm0XTxtOpfX7Sz84/s1078/IMG_4251.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="1078" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD8VJjEn9xAZr8WGzeGFCAztnDhj0r454R6qFPbY7KEEbQcP-AXXd2ka3T7Qz6S6OlHNek4pAdz7w_AZ3Vwbeor02m3F09KyHxxli-ktdf_Qu6UHotP3qFSi1hi0_arKCU_jFuppx7WheMJL1ln9qYYFs-Vfa5lSZxApOVwYVL1dxzm0XTxtOpfX7Sz84/w640-h544/IMG_4251.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Pick through the candidates and choose your own winner from among all the losers named Lizz.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-18957505147633682023-12-03T10:32:00.287-05:002024-01-10T14:14:10.030-05:00Year End Thoughts 2023, Part 2<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXbG0mb2QinXpc0LiwAlXMJ6GQDAnnyubZkbpEuwM6a9SQhK50oaHmzObcITtK0I8ECU0K8uWbxdwqFdJoiMD-MBu5lwDaLlA-WW7D72C7mYUVS8QjqFMma80DaYwPhg6-KshCkpXdpCgVElgpQ6kvDMfpVw8O6OmioGp2NImEztDg-YSRHzxAHwUDsg/s954/IMG_0357.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="954" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXbG0mb2QinXpc0LiwAlXMJ6GQDAnnyubZkbpEuwM6a9SQhK50oaHmzObcITtK0I8ECU0K8uWbxdwqFdJoiMD-MBu5lwDaLlA-WW7D72C7mYUVS8QjqFMma80DaYwPhg6-KshCkpXdpCgVElgpQ6kvDMfpVw8O6OmioGp2NImEztDg-YSRHzxAHwUDsg/s320/IMG_0357.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In recent years I’ve written frequently about the political attempt to divide the American populace into groups of victims and their oppressors. The value of this to the left is the fragmentation of the culture into aggrieved constituencies looking for redress or revenge for things done to them by the powerful, who can be opposed by various alliances of convenience. To this end, the victim groups have become more numerous and are proliferating. In addition to the traditionally resentful — women, blacks, Jews, and Native Americans — the Hispanics and Muslims have been added as ‘brown’ people also suffering from the abuses of the powerful. The most innovative extension of the victim class has been the visibly lengthening label of the group that was once Gay & Lesbian but has grown from there to become LGB, LGBTQ+, and now LGBTQ+++ with no end in sight.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The oppressors being opposed are conveniently identified by different, but usually overlapping, labels. Capitalists, Fascists, Heterosexuals (cis-normals), and more crudely, White Men, White Supremacists, and Christians. Predictably, this leads to other troubling overlaps. White Women become a culpable group, for instance, moving a notch down in legitimate grievance credentials on the feminist spectrum. Women are further becoming subject to exclusion as ‘pro-life,’ meaning they’re no longer women (whom nobody seems able to define anymore) but theocratic Christians. Jews are somehow not ‘brown’ like their Muslim genetic twins (Isaac and Ishmael, anybody?) but still White as can be, like White Women, White Men, and (ugh) White Supremacists, which facilitates the sleight of hand involved in tossing them into the population of ‘theocratic’ White Christians as a side dish.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Right now, of course, the label games being used to science-up the oppressor discussion are simply cover for the fact that there is one incredibly potent symbol of the evil oppressor every one of the victim groups can be persuaded or coerced to agree upon and target: Donald J. Trump.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While I am not convinced it is working in electoral terms, my thoughts as this year comes to an end are that this cynical assault on American identity is working at a different and troubling level. I can detect the effects in myself. If you’re honest, you can detect the effects on yourselves too. Differing in degree perhaps but effects nonetheless.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Just as old biases and stereotypes are being nourished in today’s progressive activists, they are being reawakened in those targeted as oppressors based on their race, ethnicity, sexual preference, political allegiance, and religious faith. I have found myself resorting for comfort to an old observation of mine that a cultural identity like race or sex is not a constant. Time and circumstance change the identity of the current population away from the global identity of the superset. In other words, women on the scene today, for example, are a distinct subset of the female sex, exhibiting some attributes but not others. It is possible to dislike a subset without hating the superset. I find myself disliking the current subset of women I observe and hear tell of in America. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It’s not news that I have been accused many times of being a misogynist, but there is no one who is competent to judge me on this question. Over more decades than most of you have been alive, I have written glowingly about the female sex despite my criticisms, and I am eternally grateful for the female component of my own mind (yes, we’ve all got both inside us, except for the monsters of both sexes). There are two principal modes to the way my mind works: the Rifleman and the Receptor. I have always been wide open and welcoming to new ideas and interests, in which I am prepared to be uncritically voracious during the first burst of learning about them. That’s Receptor mode (which many men barely possess if at all unless hero worship is involved). Then comes the Rifleman, who probes the mass of new information for its proofs and potential pitfalls. If the process of learning the properties of the new material is interesting and adds to my mind space, I can become incredibly focused on pursuing it for years if necessary to find universal connections with other ideas and interests. How I work. I have spent an enormous amount of time on the subject of the opposite sex, as well as race and ethnicity, sexuality, and world religions. No one need agree with me about what I have arrived at in the way of mental models in these areas, but no one has any legitimacy whatsoever in dismissing me on any such subject with some slapped-on epithet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But, as I said, I find myself having to reference my own subset vs superset formulation more often on the subject of multiple groups I had developed my own complicated and often rewarding relationships with. What’s this formulation? A personal axiom which stipulates that the present population of any group (i.e., the current subset) is not synonymous with the superset, which consists of any group’s demonstrated strengths and weaknesses throughout recorded and deducible history. To use my own ancestral group as an example, the Scots alive today are not synonymous with the Scots who terrified the Romans into building a wall to keep them out of Britain, the Scots who fought glamorous wars in kilts against all odds to reconquer Britain for Christianity, the Scots who became drab Calvinists and led the Industrial Revolution into the 20th Century. The current subset of Scots is a rabble of lazy illiterates who have lost all their religious faith but retained their inherent propensities for violence, parsimony, and quarrelsome personal interactions. All attributes present in the superset, but destructively dominant to an unprecedented degree right now.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Recognize it or not, but everyone agrees with this formulation, in fact if not consciously. Their general acceptance of the urban plantation plight of American black people is proof of this. The liberal-minded of us on race, which is an overwhelming majority, declare, proclaim, even insist that all the races are equal, none different from any other except for skin color. If symptoms suggest otherwise, the causes are not their fault but ours. Slavery, Jim Crow laws, institutional exclusions from opportunities in education and the professions are responsible for what we witness as a constant in our lives, the clear inferiority in terms of every measure of human accomplishment by the current population of American black people. Their children, the urban ones in particular, tend to grow up in poverty, without fathers, raised by mothers who are overrepresented in the numbers of drug addicts, prostitutes, and consumers of abortion services. As a result, the children fail to finish high school, learn less in the years they do attend schools, join violent gangs that deal drugs and kill each other at a rate hundreds of times greater than the hated cops do, and are far more likely to wind up in prison than college, let alone the most lucrative professions. Generations of government efforts to restore the human equality we claim to believe in have all failed dismally. And yet as a nation, we continue to apply exactly the same measures to keep a horrible situation from getting worse. We all know they will fail, yet we, and they, elect leaders who do not do anything differently and consistently make things not only worse but calamitous. The only proposed answer is more handouts, more forgiveness of crime, more lenient standards for entry to the traditional paths out of dangerous, destructive black neighborhood life. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If this is not an absolute acceptance that the current subset is not as good as the historical superset of the black race we claim to respect, then it’s just simple racism hiding behind empty platitudes about equality. Acceptance that the only possible equality to be achieved is through direct income redistribution, regardless of merit.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A corollary of my subset-superset formulation is that the American people, and westerners generally, are getting dumber every year, and the current subset shows almost none of the attributes that created the abundance and liberty of the United States of America. That goes for all the subsets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I am coming to dislike the ones who are the most vocal about the astonishing range of privileges they are owed for just being alive. Over the years I have written abundantly in support of the supersets, but I have to be honest about how I’m feeling now. Which I think is what they <i>want</i> me to feel, because it makes me an easier villain to target. But the cynicism underlying the rhetoric makes it impossible for me not to object to what the loudest subsets are saying and doing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I’m not liking blacks much these days. Or women, Sex & Gender Obsessives, Jews, Anglo-Saxons, Europeans, and atheists. (Muslims aren’t on the list because I’ve never believed the Islam superset was civilized.) I don’t hate any of these groups, and there are many individuals within even the contemporary subsets whom I respect, admire, and even love. But what I am confessing to very honestly is that I am feeling <i>resentments</i> based on these self-defined identity categories of victimhood that I don’t enjoy experiencing even if it has the collateral effect of making me more observant of relevant issues no one really wants to talk about. I especially resent the cynical and deliberate attempt to undermine civil discourse by turning the subsets into victim niches who attack one another and the invented mythologies about patriarchy and conventional morality, including Christianity in particular.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We are being exhorted, explicitly and subliminally, to return to long suppressed negative stereotypes that without their positive counterparts become excuses for hostility and, yes, resentment of the simmering variety. The emphasis ceases to be on commonalities and more on divisions, reparations for past grievances, and revenge. All childish outbursts that hurt everyone and are actually fatal to civil society. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Every group has its stereotypes. Nothing new about the fact they exist in the record. These tend to represent both weaknesses and strengths, and we have villainized them not because they’re wrong or right but because they acknowledge that there really are recognizable differences between groups that go beyond skin color and locations of genetic origin. Women talk more than men. A <i>lot</i> more on average, but often charmingly. Black people are superior to white people in sports that rely the most on size, speed, and body coordination. They are also better extemporaneous dancers and jazz musicians for related reasons. Jews do better in school and make more money on average than most other groups. Asians are superior at math.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By the same token, there are also negative stereotypes of these groups. Every coin has two sides, heads <i>and</i> tails. Women are sexual exhibitionists. Blacks are extravagantly emotional. Jews are argumentative. Asians are inherently secretive. It’s possible to dispute such generalizations by citing anecdotal exceptions, but that’s just specious denial. There’s something called the Pareto Principle (or 80-20 Rule), which is usually being invoked when people default to the adjective ‘all’ in conversation, this being the casual equivalent of the more formally framed stereotype. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It bears repeating that stereotypes exist for <i>all</i> groups. (Cite me the exceptions in your rebuttal.) They have their value. Scots are tight with money. The English are pompous and insulting. The French are obsessed with sex and food. Italians are loud and violent and musical. Scandinavians are beautiful and promiscuous. The Irish are drunk, violent, and lyrical. Russians are drunk, tragic, and enduring. The Germans are smart, dangerously ambitious geniuses and monsters of viciousness. Catholics are obsessed with guilt and the Virgin Mary. Evangelicals have carved Jesus out of Christianity as a personal totem who spends more time with them than with other people. Mormons are friendly but boring. Conservatives are tightasses who don’t’ care about the welfare of the less fortunate. Liberals are bleeding hearts who are better at talking the altruism game than playing it for real.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfair? Yes but no. There is value in even the most negative stereotypes. One of my oldest statements to myself throughout my life has been: people have the weaknesses of their strengths and the strengths of their weaknesses. The greatest strength can in many instances be linked to the greatest corresponding weakness of the same trait. Yes, Jews are argumentative, which can lead to ruthlessly effective lawyering <i>and</i> brilliantly insightful comedy, both products of the questing mind that challenges every assertion. Yes, black people excel as athletes, improvisational musicians and dancers, actors, and inspirational pastors, all of which talents arise directly from their capacity for spontaneous creativity in the moment; however, the corresponding weakness is vulnerability to emotional overreaction, also in the moment, that can lead to violence, infidelities of various kinds, and lack of the kind of perseverant ambition that builds steady, disciplined careers. Yes, women are nurturing by nature, inclined toward the lovely avocational word “homemaker,” but the inward-looking perspective that focuses on the nest rather than the surrounding forest can also lead to a preference for physical safety and security over the liberties of those others who might impede her authority in the home. She’d rather be a safe hen in a padlocked henhouse than a Rhode Island Red taking unguarded potluck in a big old barnyard. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The reason we’ve become so unconstitutionally censorious of stereotyping is that we don’t want to see how much our most cynical leaders have manipulated these same stereotypical generalizations for their own purposes of control and personal advancement. We have encouraged groups who see themselves as discriminated against into becoming the opposite of their strengths in the name of defeating the enemy by becoming him, or more accurately, their erroneous perception of him. We’ve made women into imitation men, every bit as foul-mouthed, promiscuous, and conquest-oriented as the worst of men. Both strengths and weaknesses are abundantly on display as the need to put a female face on ersatz maleness results in brand new extremes of illogic and thoughtless self-destructiveness. Motherhood is actually villainized as a construct of the patriarchy, turning the female sex’s most valuable claim on respect into a symbol of actual disgust. The physical realities of female fertility, including menstruation, globular pregnancy weight, stretch marks, varicose veins, and sagging breasts, as well as the female-specific experience of constipation and urinary incontinence, are paraded in advertising, entertainment vehicles, and political protests. The latter have ironically succeeded in turning female nudity from an effective political protest tool into an appalling, unsightly reminder that it was the male sex which first invented the delightful ideal of romantic love and attraction, including makeup, fashion, and sexually tantalizing modesty about what used to be private women’s business. In all the professions and trades they’ve demanded their fair share of, they are hoist by their own stereotypical petard, continuing to be too obedient, risk-averse, and myopically nest-oriented to achieve the kinds of performance breakthroughs men achieve by busting through the conventions of a patriarchy that has always been just as intent on controlling them as it does more successfully with women. All this after, mind you, a full century of universal women’s suffrage. How can it be that today’s women would rather have a License to Kill than protect their living children from school libraries repelete with raw pornography and pedophile groomers twerking in K-12 classrooms.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We’ve made urban black communities into slaves of their own spontaneity, subsidized and incentivized by scheming politicians into mere wantonness in every aspect of their lives, all in the name of defying the stultifying conventions of The Man, however that mythical ogre is perceived. Even the kinds of behavior that can lead to prosperity and opportunity without crippling spontaneity are not only discarded but reviled. Everything conventionally “white” is to be renounced. Marriage gives way to a culture of baby-daddies and epidemic abortions evocative of eugenics, the best way — increasingly the only way — to succeed is the seemingly easy choice of disdaining wage labor in favor of of drug dealing, thievery, and violent reaction to every perceived slight or rival. Political activism is not about unspontaneous organized messaging but riots, looting, and gunfire. Guns being the great Equalizer, which is actually The Man’s weapon of choice for ensuring that black neighborhoods are a perpetual hell on earth, more inescapable than slave quarters on a southern plantation, as blacks kill blacks on front porches and in dirty abortion clinics, and the politicians take credit for giving them the pittance that funds the next Saturday night special.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The same kind of cynicism has led Jews to trade their cultural heritage for politics, which means they abandoned Judaism as a religion in favor of Marxism when immigration to America offered an opportunity to achieve public office and authority Europe had never permitted them. Now they are victims of broken backs they have inflicted on themselves because that trade turned out to be a stupid one. Being argumentative can also be a warning sign that you aren’t as smart as you think you are. Are Jews smart as a group? Yes. But are they really an order-of-magnitude smarter than everyone else, or are they, as seems possible, as much a result of overachievers backed by ambitious parents who thought they could outsmart all the obstacles caused by surrendering to illogical nonsense they assumed they could make sensible by winning all the arguments? The latter seems likely to me. What I see when I behold Alan Dershowitz dangling on a cross of his own perpendicular values sets — equal fealty to a fundamentally Talmudic icon of law and to a godless mess of utopian political absurdities that always end in slavery, death, and genocide. He just wasn’t as smart in the end as he always thought he was. Overachiever auguring in after a long lucky life of fatal contradictions.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I said, I’m not fond of these subsets of race, sex, and religion. Not fond of White Men either at this time. We let all this happen, in many cases enabled it. We never took the possible consequences seriously enough, because the weakness of our strength is overconfidence. We are, have been, the fixers. The car that won’t start, the toilet that won’t flush, the child that won’t obey his mother, the field that won’t grow, the product there’s not enough of, the government that’s just not working, the enemy that won’t get out of our country’s face, the commandments no one has yet brought down from the mountain. We always thought we could just go fix it, whatever was wrong, when things got bad enough to turn off the football game and go see a man about a horse. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But it’s too late now. The mountain is coming down, leaving us no place to bring the old commandments down from now that we need them again. It’s easy to think Trump can do it if he can survive the beating he’s taking long enough to rescue us. It’s wrong to think that. He can’t do it alone. It takes a lot of people’s strengths to accomplish miracles against the odds. One man isn’t enough. And all the ones who should be helping him are doing so close to nothing as to be almost invisible. And that’s not including all the ones on the other side, the ones who are determined to kill him and us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I don’t like feeling this way. I don’t like finding not much to like in fellow citizens. It probably means I should stop trying to make even the small difference I’ve been striving for. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There will probably be a Part 3 of this series. Look for it before New Year’s Day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Also working on several candidate swan song book manuscripts, including one that could finally make me a martyr in the free speech fight. It would be called <i>Unprinting Myself</i> and would be a collection of my most outrageous and politically incorrect musings from my darkest moods about all kinds of topics and groups. Haven’t decided on the byline yet. Content still fluid but guaranteed to have something to offend absolutely everyone. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-29553222693845106342023-12-03T05:50:00.079-05:002023-12-17T03:04:08.315-05:00Year-End Thoughts 2023, Part 1<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOZvHTZbI2NzLzDPE9-vtk8tytAhAYZptdGtfhPX6pBqEe4RjKbfe9957RKLha4I1hMS4EzJ53DqiQz24X-utEkaCjPNch2_3ZDIWrnLMxEbftl2IvtYHAq1_rv0THCnrQC00OAUv9i2sdJGQTdvAq6wKmmt80sdlS29TAdudW61s5fdOcFB9-1VH3ao/s995/IMG_4298.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="995" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOZvHTZbI2NzLzDPE9-vtk8tytAhAYZptdGtfhPX6pBqEe4RjKbfe9957RKLha4I1hMS4EzJ53DqiQz24X-utEkaCjPNch2_3ZDIWrnLMxEbftl2IvtYHAq1_rv0THCnrQC00OAUv9i2sdJGQTdvAq6wKmmt80sdlS29TAdudW61s5fdOcFB9-1VH3ao/s320/IMG_4298.png" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">2023 has been a year of confluence. All manner of Big Lies are</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">being promulgated by the mass media, and a rapid-fire series of events is making it possible to determine that lies on a huge scale are not recent occurrences but deeply embedded in the underpinning of many public assumptions. What’s interesting is the ironic poetry of the intertwining revelations of old and new lies, secrets, and crimes in the context of what is supposed to be government of, by, and for the people. Even the mechanisms that are used to perpetuate lies on this very day and in years long past are being disclosed for all to see if they wanted to. The sad news is that as a people being governed into serfdom, we don’t want to see, maybe can’t see, the elegant way so many different pieces are falling together with very little attempt to hide them. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elegant? This is the year in which a name from history has suddenly re-emerged into news. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is running for the Democrat presidential nomination, and the party that has replaced the one he was born into is so transformed that he is regarded as a pesky nonentity, prey to the same disdain and smear campaigns as their other enemies. They have so little regard for him and his family legacy that they aren’t even ashamed of the low expedient of denying him Secret Service protection during his campaign. Because in their eyes there is no campaign, and Kennedy is not a force they need reckon with at all when they can simply ignore him. Don’t see the elegance yet? There’s a parallel development underway that underscores the importance of Kennedy’s sudden reappearance from crank oblivion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We just experienced, with little remark btw, the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert’s uncle, which for most of my life has been one of the great mysteries of American history. As with 9/11, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I got the news. On November 22, 1963, at 2:15 pm, I walked out of my elementary school to board the bus that would be waiting at the end of the drive. But before I could get more than a few steps across the lawn I saw my mother’s car, a 1962 Studebaker Hawk, parked on the grass just off the driveway. She never picked us up from school without some previous arrangement. But she was here now. I got into the car and she told me with a shaky voice, “The President has been shot.” We learned on the way home that he had died of his wounds in Dallas. That weekend I saw Lee Harvey Oswald murdered on live television and the controversies began, never to be ended, only tabled a decade or two back by those in charge of the files. Was the President killed by a lone lunatic? Or was he the victim of a conspiracy by the mob or the Russians or the CIA? Within weeks of Robert Kennedy’s entry into the presidential race, there were suddenly new developments in the mystery of the Kennedy assassination. More recently, new witnesses to the autopsy in Dallas have come forward to claim that the forensic evidence they witnessed 60 years ago ruled out the possibility that the President of the United States had been killed by one shooter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">To date, though, there’s been little follow-up on this disclosure. Kennnedy had already gone on record himself on the assassination, saying he had knowledge of proofs that there was CIA involvement in the killing of JFK. He promised he would reveal what he knew at an appropriate time in future. But there’s been no flurry of eager-beaver reporters scurrying into the weeds in search of spectacular headlines. Who could believe that the CIA and other federal agencies would participate in such a dastardly conspiracy?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oh, wait. Has there ever been a time when people would be <i>more</i> likely to believe criminal wrongdoing by feds with guns and political motives? After seven years in which the full force of the federal establishment has made every conceivable attempt to destroy Donald Trump, who just happens to be a charismatic celebrity-type politician resembling JFK in more than a few ways. Worse, the three years of the Biden administration have been used to conduct blatantly political lawfare against a former President of the United States who represents the only rival for the current charisma-challenged occupant of the White House. And it seems that multiple scary federal agencies have been working together to make weak cases stick against their target: the Department of Justice and its FBI; the national intelligence establishment including the CIA, the NSA, the DHS, and the FISA court; even the Pentagon, the IRS, the Air Marshals, and a dizzying array of federal and state judges and prosecutors. It doesn’t take a paranoid to see conspiracy in all this, and it doesn’t calm the nerves when the media establishment (staid <i>Business Insider</i> magazine, for heaven’s sake) is starting to talk about available alternatives if “something happens” that results in the death of Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why wouldn’t it be more believable than ever before that a high-level federal conspiracy could plan and implement an assassination of the President of the United States with the brazen expectation that they could get away with it? What if there’s inside information that feds of the past have <i>already</i> pulled off such a crime and effectively gotten away with it? Do things start to fit together in some broader context yet? What if not one but two Presidents have already been ‘removed’ by the unelected who believe they should be in charge despite the electoral whims of the American people? How far back must we go to see the darkest workings of our own faceless government potentates?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There’s another almost certainly earth-shattering story that has gotten very little media attention. In a huge change from decades of communication policy, the federal government is specifically acknowledging that UFOs are a real phenomenon that cannot be explained away. Not only that, government voices were also admitting the untruth of constant assurances to the public over the years that the government saw no threat in UFO reports and ceased studying them after the famous Blue Book project was closed in the 1960s. In fact, they never stopped studying them. And now they are candid about telling us that, yes, there’s something out there we don’t understand after all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let’s see. The JFK story goes back at least to the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and the UFO coverup goes back at least to the Truman Administration with the infamous Roswell Incident in 1947. If we’ve been substantially lied to about these matters, what does it mean about our government, about our media, about the context of our own lives as citizens?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It means everything. It affects almost everything, including the history of all our lives and the conduct of our private lives right now. It’s way bigger than most of us can begin to wrap our heads around. Yet the sadly broken mass media which surround and permeate our lives show no interest in finding the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I have personal memories and time invested on both these stories, as well as the present disgraceful persecutions of Donald Trump. As a ravenous reader with insatiable curiosity, I have read dozens of books and watched innumerable documentaries about JFK and Ufology. I have also paid attention to the rumors and gossip about both, even on the fringes. My Dad was always convinced that LBJ was behind the Kennedy assassination. We had a book in our home library called “MacBird,” a satirical fiction depicting Johnson in the role of MacBeth murdering the King. The crime occurred in Johnson’s home state of Texas. It was no secret that the Kennedys and Johnson despised one another and ran on the same ticket as a political compromise. It was also evident that Johnson played hardball with his foes and was not above cutting corners for both political and financial gain. He doubled his net worth during his years as President. What if?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">My readings pushed me toward the forensic approach. The Magic Bullet. Well, maybe not so magic. Not as pristine as popular descriptions had it. The one-two sequence of Kennedy’s and Connally’s reactions to being shot by the same bullet, suggesting a shooter location behind the Presdent’s Lincoln. The magnum opus of Vincent Bugliosi, whose thousand-page book meant to close the case had found in a thousand viewings of the Zapruder film, he said, an almost imperceptible forward movement of Kennedy’s head before the snapback following the explosion of the fatal bullet, consistent with a shot from behind. So, yes, the death of Oswald at the hands of a crooked strip club owner, and the CIA’s ambiguous past interactions/observations/uses of Oswald were still suspect. But all the mythology about the grassy knoll never materialized into a witness or a photo of a second shooter. Oliver Stone’s movie was ridiculous. By accident or design it just made people laugh. Besides, I thought, it’s too complicated a crime. You can’t really keep that many people silent for so long. Although I did twig a bit when I heard about a guy in my dorm at college, an assassination buff, who got a late night visit from men in suits who informed him that his days as an amateur investigator were done. They were right. I filed that under youthful paranoia and forgot about it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">But that was before I had done all the reading ahead of me about Roswell, and Area 51, and a military dude named Corso, and Rendlesham Forest, and Morris Jessup, and… on and on and on. Until I realized that there were two great ways to keep a big lie secret. The first, of course, goes back to the great British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, whose errant, rotten-liar schoolboys had great success with the resort called <i>stout denial</i>. “I (We) didn’t do it.” Repeated as many times as necessary in spite of all the evidence and testimony to the contrary. There’s also the even more famous Sergeant Schultz defense, “I know nothink.” Same basic approach. Don’t give the accusers anything to work with or pick apart. Make it a he said/he said stalemate. Where the men in black suits come in handy if you have them. If there’s any temptation to let go of the Wodehouse/Schultz defense, ambiguously stated (or unstated) threats can work wonders, particularly with nobodies and underlings, if there’s any difference between those two.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The other way of keeping a secret is through disinformation, a word we’ve all become a lot more familiar with since 2016. The brilliant advantages provided by <i>too much</i> published information. Use deliberate, deceptive leaks imaginatively to attract naïfs who will discredit their own investigations by making errors of fact, logic, technology, and interviewing technique. Better yet, any media attention drawn by the amateur sleuths can also inspire con artists hoping to hoax their way to 15 minutes of fame and its income opportunities. Then, if questioned, the ones in the know can employ stout denial with an air of cold dismissal, or even laughter. Make the whole topic a joke, and all those taken in by it fools, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">dupes, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">drunks, attention seekers, and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">liars</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is how the United States Government kept the reality of UFOs secret for three quarters of a century. Every UFO incident that made it to a local television newscast did so as a light feature story, played for laughs, which began coming as soon as the anchor uttered the word “aliens” with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">And all those Hollywood movies made UFOs into belovèd fiction, a genre of mere entertainment that made millions and accomplished no real education while ensuring that the hoaxsters and liars would keep coming. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I observed these machinations as I continued my reading and reached the conviction that UFOs were quite real, notwithstanding the laughter and the media incompetence in ignoring the biggest single news story in history. As I was embarking on my thirties I also experienced a real life big lie that survived for five years until it collapsed under a problem government agencies rarely have, financial losses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">At the time I was working for a (being disingenuously hypothetical here) Big 8 computer company, in a startup division that was reselling a product made by an outside company. Quicker route to revenue and all that. They were earning their future by adding their own ‘improvements’ to the software that ran on the OEM hardware. Their mission was to sell into major accounts that would provide a point of entry for the company’s vertical market products in retail and banking. Early on, a golden opportunity presented itself from a Scandinavian company that wanted a custom software set running on the hardware our division was offering. They were willing to pay big money up front for the required software development, which included high-tech items like advanced, secure network management and other hot-button capabilities our parent company lacked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The problem was that the product the client wanted was a proprietary system that could not be used for anything else by anyone else. That’s why they wanted it. But in the earliest days cash flow considerations led our division managers to misrepresent the software they were developing as easily transportable to a general major account market prospect. A way of scoring against the runaway edge IBM enjoyed with its grand slam hit Personal Computer product. The various pieces of software being developed were not, and would never be, easily transportable to a general market opportunity in the burgeoning open network environment. And so the big lie began.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The ‘Five Year Mission’ of our divison became the release of the various components of the proprietary system in a build-it-yourself product offering called, in-house, “The Big Bang.” All the real computer jocks knew this monster release would never work, never be a viable product for the company. But they went along with it because our divison VP was being groomed as the next CEO, and this struggling young division was his necessary apprenticeship in having profit-loss responsibility after years of brilliance as overhead staff. He needed to make good on his promise about the Big Bang or succeed sufficiently with the OEM product we were aleady selling to make some future screw-up into a trivial setback. Except that all the software development engineers were working on the Big Bang and the improvements we were supposed to be adding to each new release of the OEM manufacturer’s software kept falling farther behind, until what we were selling was considerably <i>less</i> functional than what we (and their direct customers) were buying from our vendor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It all came to a head with the impending release of the Big Bang, which had become an obsession with management and the engineers, in the development facility they had even hung up a huge bedsheet with painted-on brickwork and “The Wall” spelled out on it in big red letters. Their deadline reminder, literally. My closest ally in marketing and I flew down to the development facility for the final pre-release meeting after having put in a 24-hr day at headquarters preparing our presentation opposing the release. A roomful of managers and engineers stood up and lied their heads off about how wrong we were and how good the product was. Afterwards, the VP graciously took both of us aside, thanked us for our dedication, admitted we were probably right, and told us he had no alternative. The release went forward as scheduled, and the division was closed for business inside of a few months. The VP never became CEO. Of 500 employees, most lost their jobs and a lucky few got transfers to other divisions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I could tell you the company as a whole went on as before, but it didn’t. Ironically, the largest economic unit of the enterprise was making the same kind of mistake we had made, though on a much larger scale. They had been taking public credit for development of a next generation product much more competitive than anything in their current product set and when it began to become clear the new development was phantomware, the executive office responded with massive stock buybacks to push up the share price and then sold the company to a giant conglomerate that flunked the due diligence part of the acquisition. The story gets less pretty from there…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How could our own little divisonal insanity come to pass? They were company men, all but my colleague and me (aliens from New Jersey). The company culture was very much ‘do-as-you’re-told’ if you want a career (or a job) here. And they weren’t participating in the lie knowingly. They contrived to convince themselves it was true. Even the ones who detected real problems had as a fallback, “Well, they’ve been in business for a long long time, and they are pretty smart guys when all is said and done.” Which is a vaguer way of saying “Who am I to say? They have reasons I’ll probably never know about.” And they didn’t want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">No doubt, that’s also a part of what’s going on in the U.S. Government. What’s been going on for a long time now. We’re the ones who have to deal with the consequences though. It may be that as a people we are also behaving like company men. We don’t really want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">What does it mean if our Constitution has been subverted by a Praetorian Guard that believes itself entitled to remove elected officials that threaten their own plans and prospects? What if they continue extending their reach as they have done thus far with Trump and the hapless American citizens who went anywhere near the District of Columbia on January 6, 2021?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">What does it mean if this same kind of arrogance has persuaded them to disseminate an even larger lie about the nature of the universe we live in, one in which intelligences from other planets or dimensions are observing us with technologies far beyond our own? What would that mean in terms of religious affiliations, life aspirations, and the educational requirements necessary to survival? What would it mean to your own relationships with all the accomplice institutions we were brought up to trust, government officials, the watchdog media (watching who?), scientists, academicians, military leaders, and organizational responses to a planet-level threat?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">One sterling example of what we must consider the ramifications of is this: President George H. W. Bush, the genial father of the screwup W, became Vice President and then President <i>after</i> serving as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Which means he was in a position to know 1) that the CIA was involved in the JFK assassination and 2) the scope and specifics of the government disinformation programs about the very real and serious research being conducted into UFOs. Both of these are dirty dealings involving monstrous lies that have ruined many American lives and concealed important information the people government supposedly serves have a right to know. With regard to UFOs in particular, it’s absolutely the case that many governments around the world, including the U.K., France, Russia, and Mexico have been much more aboveboard with their citizens about the scale and reality and unknowns regarding this phenomenon. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How many observers and independent researchers have been laughed or smeared into oblivion for their efforts to disclose the likelihood that there is a second secret government inside the government we believe works for us? A government unto itself that is beholden to no one at all, in many instances not even the President? This is no trivial matter. It smacks more of Ancient Rome or the Soviet Union than what we like to believe is a Republic that is continuously accountable to the nation’s citizens. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Speaking of which, if the establishment authorities have conceived and gotten away with such huge lies, what else are they lying about? The mysterious climate change-driven march toward universal poverty? The imposition of controls on human persons with regard to medication and freedom of movement in response to health crises whose origins they don’t seem anxious to investigate as long as we take our mandated meds? The sudden promotion of the outright fiction called Artificial Intelligence as a means of controlling and supplanting human agency in government, technology, and communications? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How much of everything we’re supposed to re-orient our lives around in the new Progressive Coming of Global Age is founded on an array of gigantic lies?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Things we should be thinking about. Unless we don’t want to. Or unless we’re getting too dumb to. Which is it, do you think?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A final observation about the elegance cited above. To my eyes, that elegance of coincidental phenomenal revelations and their interrelatedness is possibly its own hopeful message. Perhaps we are <i>meant</i> to see, finally, how big and important all this is in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps we are actually being dared to see, here at an enormous tipping point of civilization, that it’s our mission and duty to see what we have been deliberately blind to for so long. The greatest danger? The dire possibility that we have collectively lost the ability to see anything big and meaningful outside of our own personal siloes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFRFc_BSyZkG_FlgJtTzf_39opNWP-468dg6vaIy1kz0meuuYW_ybwE5YyceRjpYC25rX2tHniMl1HoGEReAs74hOqFU000PVt1Y4ltjAXkxUq70Sxmk9kzY8hGDu_2mksS0rGU37EDAKM0UCMUqDpnm_pO2Np4U2JNBjMwR_4OI8Ni5Sr0jryDVoJdI/s2560/IMG_9437.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1668" data-original-width="2560" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFRFc_BSyZkG_FlgJtTzf_39opNWP-468dg6vaIy1kz0meuuYW_ybwE5YyceRjpYC25rX2tHniMl1HoGEReAs74hOqFU000PVt1Y4ltjAXkxUq70Sxmk9kzY8hGDu_2mksS0rGU37EDAKM0UCMUqDpnm_pO2Np4U2JNBjMwR_4OI8Ni5Sr0jryDVoJdI/s320/IMG_9437.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-55936005666940306832023-11-27T14:22:00.009-05:002024-01-23T13:46:30.971-05:00More important than you think<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8RFpm_kygoc2UcTJSQbvwaI1-wK4zsDZ5jL_Xi-zXnIHieu0pzhb_yqYkQ7waXR941o1ChFrHVSn3eItr2g8jCQDj0jUitchEnBPMWt8IH4ORa2m4US1d1t_PdFSujmASE4esSAxROBwbycjR2AXogbLsiOKexHzt-Ziy8XVq81XoSU7imUsrTYS6WI/s600/IMG_4090.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="470" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8RFpm_kygoc2UcTJSQbvwaI1-wK4zsDZ5jL_Xi-zXnIHieu0pzhb_yqYkQ7waXR941o1ChFrHVSn3eItr2g8jCQDj0jUitchEnBPMWt8IH4ORa2m4US1d1t_PdFSujmASE4esSAxROBwbycjR2AXogbLsiOKexHzt-Ziy8XVq81XoSU7imUsrTYS6WI/s320/IMG_4090.webp" width="251" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>If you don’t know who this dude is, here’s a link you might want to scan before you start reading what I have to say below. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell">Significant Old White Guy</a>.</p><p>Here’s a thumbnail version:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu0HQwIAqeSq4pOH3fm3NjVVLYjOWMjJsVtILgaDy9-w0Z-Om-yvFX053gLOvbyLEGfqo8iH_TJp894NPOf8cJOWnLFWtMCk5Tmk5nB7X31Tv2YV3PvLKtsy_ra-nFce4l5BA1P7k22654dfif3klFjQnucAfFz137TO24s4kB2vjuwBU98xwmP7amJM/s900/IMG_4092.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="900" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu0HQwIAqeSq4pOH3fm3NjVVLYjOWMjJsVtILgaDy9-w0Z-Om-yvFX053gLOvbyLEGfqo8iH_TJp894NPOf8cJOWnLFWtMCk5Tmk5nB7X31Tv2YV3PvLKtsy_ra-nFce4l5BA1P7k22654dfif3klFjQnucAfFz137TO24s4kB2vjuwBU98xwmP7amJM/w400-h258/IMG_4092.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">Now for some thoughts you probably haven’t seen despite multiple postings on my page.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">**********</p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Here’s the post I posted before. As I’ve said elsewhere, it got no response at all in September when it first appeared. I know it <i>might</i> not be FB’s fault. Nobody cared when I wrote multiple posts about the logistical dangers of a nuclear confrontation handled not by the President but by the White House version of <i>The View</i> that runs the country these days, a dim-witted committee of self-obsessed radical mediocrities who have thus far been clumsy and stupid about everything they’ve touched. Nobody cared when I suggested it was time for Republican thought leaders of the female sex to stand up and talk sense to all the women out there who would trade the republic and the Constitution in on their right to an unqualified License to Kill the products of their coital activities before they became inconvenient to the liberated life of the superior sex. Men like me, obviously, can’t do that because our moral scorn might show for such myopically solipsistic peabrains in a nation that is truly in grave danger. Same might be true of this problem. I’m probably the only one who thinks ignoring this one might result in a Deep State excuse for world-ending assassination.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Time to rethink all those shrugs of indifference as far as I’m concerned.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">I am not possessive of the ideas presented here. To the contrary. I want people to talk and write about building a preemptive defense against the cynical lefty paranoia that is certain to build in volume. No need to reference me at all. Just acknowledge and address the problem…</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Just some things I felt needed saying. I’ve been watching the Trump campaign and I’m well aware that he is working in subtle ways to navigate the tightrope between acting like a shadow President and remaining too silent about vital political and fiscal controversies whose inept resolution could damage his ability to fix things. If elected. Which is a key thing to remember.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">I know, for example, that his stump speech now includes a lengthening list of what he will do on the first day, in the first minutes and hours. He speaks of turning things around in 30 days. Of course he knows it will be much longer and harder a slog than issuing a slew of Presidential edicts. But he knows his supporters need hope and are well aware that they are in peril, even physical peril, by the mere act of expressing their belief in him.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Why he has been looking carefully for the right way to define his relationship with them and the nation. He does not crow about his courage or complain humorlessly about his isolation, his targeting by the runaway federal enforcers who have shown no sign of acknowledging that there are limits to how far they will go to stop him, including assassination. He repeatedly reminds his rally audiences that he is taking the heat because he is standing in the way of the same ruthless destructiveness being turned on them. “They have to take me out to get to you,” he says.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Lately he has added a new term to his description of who he is and what he is. “I am your Protector,” he says. And he is clearly right about that. The destroyers have already gone after the intimates in his circle by most of the foulest means available, including arrests in shackles, the piling on of empty indictments that will nevertheless bankrupt them with legal fees, and even dragooning their own attorneys into court to testify against them from constitutionally protected, confidential lawyer-client conversations.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Just today I saw a post at a site I’ve already been punished for reading in which the report is that Trump is hinting his consideration of an investigation of NBC and MSNBC for treason against the national security of the nation.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">The Protector. Well, it’s its own slippery slope. England had a Protector once. Oliver Cromwell. He beheaded the King to save the people from a ravening elite and to restore their liberty and autonomy. The Protectorate, however, lasted for 10 years (correction via D. Jupp) and was indistinguishable from dictatorship. It ended only with the death of Cromwell.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Trump is too old to rule for 10 years (and constitutionally prohibited from same), and I do not believe he has any intention of governing as a dictator. But who will come after him? The measures that must be taken to right the foundering ship of state will be, of necessity, unprecedented. How long should they remain in force? Those who have been invulnerable and invincible for years must be brought down. But what are the acceptable limits of such measures? I believe good people must start thinking about what those limits must be, no matter how bad things get. And by the same token, we must be thinking about how to treason-proof the federal machine which has gotten so broken that we are right now compelled to watch helplessly what every reasonable person knows are prolonged travesties of justice without a whistle blown to stop the impending train wreck enroute.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Part of my thinking here is probably alien to most of you. I am not an optimist about a successful restoration of a republic which has already been effectively lost. Trump will try his hardest if given the opportunity, but he may ultimately fail to achieve the impossible. What then? And what kind of thinking can we offer now to provide him with sound guidelines for which tradeoffs are acceptable and which are not, even if the cost of our compunctions is a prolonged era of continued poverty and personal loss. What, for example, should be the precise rules of engagement for removing elected officials and appointees from office or from the bench?</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Give it some thought. I am not so much afraid of ‘Donald Cromwell Trump’ as I am of the backlash that might very well follow an election victory which does not result in full restoration of what has already been lost. Furthermore, we may allay some small percentage of the irrational fears about Trump and his supporters by expressing our determination to do the fixing in a more moral fashion than the destroying has been done. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Don’t doubt for a moment that the fop King Charles I would have had Cromwell killed if he’d had an opportunity and a complacent populace. </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;">Ask some questions of yourselves about this stuff. And take a long look at the lovely graphic I have prepared for you all…</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbj3jbVaTPLXbXozP4Ylkdwz2UJgL8tccsr3m0_TD8x_rrKPADDYUO24xceNOQY7sBwRpMnxehTiJzmmifpjKy4ozS7q8u4ZF9SkJgMid36XQcmNtcjLII83v2BpsLwcrw2oNl-fiJ_jWkL8AvwX9Tgc2YBhbHhCa9mybhsMF7Qj8bVoyVt8RY_mlfEE/s1221/IMG_1543.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="910" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbj3jbVaTPLXbXozP4Ylkdwz2UJgL8tccsr3m0_TD8x_rrKPADDYUO24xceNOQY7sBwRpMnxehTiJzmmifpjKy4ozS7q8u4ZF9SkJgMid36XQcmNtcjLII83v2BpsLwcrw2oNl-fiJ_jWkL8AvwX9Tgc2YBhbHhCa9mybhsMF7Qj8bVoyVt8RY_mlfEE/w476-h640/IMG_1543.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1495080590557153306.post-22032032013192278912023-10-29T10:10:00.010-04:002023-11-01T09:33:40.172-04:00Lost Generation<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTeibdGT86LXWgboSoiy-eixIqjV7nrKnmg8mJw7yBl91lNmI_2AeTAN2IdQOq_EqNjKiwwnttOl_Utn-wwjVoeePiPpSBVzHhWCA_bm_YMlT_qMxgFiQa4YjmPQ3NcScbe_poQhrKPTW2wPyZEKz0znUr9BtBtrurBAFaVou154qHn800jfen87RLiI/s2000/IMG_3096.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTeibdGT86LXWgboSoiy-eixIqjV7nrKnmg8mJw7yBl91lNmI_2AeTAN2IdQOq_EqNjKiwwnttOl_Utn-wwjVoeePiPpSBVzHhWCA_bm_YMlT_qMxgFiQa4YjmPQ3NcScbe_poQhrKPTW2wPyZEKz0znUr9BtBtrurBAFaVou154qHn800jfen87RLiI/w400-h266/IMG_3096.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>October 28, 2023</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">People seem shocked at the display of Nazi-like hatred of Israel suddenly appearing on our television screens. They shouldn’t be. But the fact that this kind of mentality is news to us is one of the major reasons for its existence. What we’re seeing is a very specific group of people showing their true colors for the first time in their lives. The protesters are 18 to 22 years old, college age, and they are in many ways a distinct demographic we have not examined closely at any point in their developmental years. It’s time we did so. They are showing us who and what they are, and the attention they are seeking goes far beyond support of the nebulous case for Palestinian rights.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kAfXHYnqNxkIUD65JgQM44L4Es8GPpzyCC0rkJ6Mi_vFCTZPdwCF0wdvvVXEYpHUhCop4XtNvj1yPNrgLSOTvXrso2lrt0540MJzHfkj6c6mU6KtUmy-WtDcO5jrqDZhFOShrc_EytZYuO7vQOu-Q8iv7v6ybZmTGMEM2mPTx8GcV3AD9FdvzSScEJY/s896/IMG_3097.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="896" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kAfXHYnqNxkIUD65JgQM44L4Es8GPpzyCC0rkJ6Mi_vFCTZPdwCF0wdvvVXEYpHUhCop4XtNvj1yPNrgLSOTvXrso2lrt0540MJzHfkj6c6mU6KtUmy-WtDcO5jrqDZhFOShrc_EytZYuO7vQOu-Q8iv7v6ybZmTGMEM2mPTx8GcV3AD9FdvzSScEJY/w400-h224/IMG_3097.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>What do they want? Our eyeballs on them. By any means necessary.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The term ‘Lost Generation’ resonates because it has its own history and served as a pivot point not just in America but the world. A small group of people who became symbols of a vast change of mind in western civilization.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0PQsWiwJDFNI7TmB1paZHL4-4DB-YIyCI4KVw5y824qgHTIexczH2-2LD4TuLn-pCQAFjJb_NsKU7D4S289EeVugH10qVmvOzsgyV2Q0d9YOFOY4ohH_l60jlQ00S5Dxu69Y0Y_tVKXh-q4MF8pZmc8aAPndvDD13WQYvP4iQkT4CG3lw9lh1lCkB4Ts/s478/IMG_3094.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="329" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0PQsWiwJDFNI7TmB1paZHL4-4DB-YIyCI4KVw5y824qgHTIexczH2-2LD4TuLn-pCQAFjJb_NsKU7D4S289EeVugH10qVmvOzsgyV2Q0d9YOFOY4ohH_l60jlQ00S5Dxu69Y0Y_tVKXh-q4MF8pZmc8aAPndvDD13WQYvP4iQkT4CG3lw9lh1lCkB4Ts/w275-h400/IMG_3094.webp" width="275" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The blurb that accompanies this book promotion states the case neatly:</div><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>“In literature, the Lost Generation refers to a group of American writers who came of age during World War I and established their literary reputations while making Paris the center of their literary activities in the 1920s. They were never a literary school.</i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span class="s1"></span><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>The term is also used more generally to refer to the entire post-World War I generation. Demographers William Strauss and Neil Howe outlined their Strauss-Howe generational theory using 1883-1900 as birth years for this generation.”</i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Seven years that changed history profoundly. Not because of Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald. Because they were among the first Americans to notice that World War I had changed all the rules, dramatically shifted the pillars of civilization to the point that they were toppling into a frightening new realm of chaos. World War I was mankind’s first glimpse of its emerging technological capacity to destroy civilization altogether. The race of man was mortal not just individually but as a species. And via inertia and momentum, obviously capable of determined, organized, suicidal insanity. The ‘Roaring Twenties’ in the United States was a naive celebration of the victory won by American troops in the war to end all wars. The writers and artists who emigrated to Paris felt more at home there, where the terrible costs of the war were evident and illuminating to their creative energies. What followed was a long-term trickledown effect on western culture of depression, despair, and loss of faith in most of the time honored verities. The impact of World War I has never ended in fact. The children enrolled in college are simply the newest victims of an entire century of spiritual decline.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The newest ‘Lost Generation’ (there has been at least one other since WWI) is a population consisting of Americans born between the years 2001 and 2006. Five years of unique life influences no one has take a close look at for its probable results. We’ve seen the outliers in the form of school shooters who seem mostly normal but show up to class one day with a duffel bag of guns and ammo to mow down all in their path. We are shocked, shocked. How did this happen? Why? Why did they do it? Why did no one see it coming? It makes no sense. There is no reason. Why can’t we do something about the guns?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The diversion of our attention from the killers to their weapons makes about as much sense as responding to the current hysterical tantrum in the name of Palestine by outlawing flags and signs and bullhorns. Something has gone wrong in the heads of the perpetrators. What?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32IWlfcqH9JXncTua5NJK6hRpXO-MSbI2Ej1Ochus-81zVlHuXDjzq4GCCcB-qn8g1RtBnCQDtflvMvNQvri3bc1-ADnL1EyYgpPJfQbfldDAHQj7j-sUWn3pLBN16wrpeujkSV73iNDFzeiKvoaMOSaozFNLPCR3BEPZ1cBLwgAUs1HVpqE61POCe34/s1561/IMG_3087.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1355" data-original-width="1561" height="557" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32IWlfcqH9JXncTua5NJK6hRpXO-MSbI2Ej1Ochus-81zVlHuXDjzq4GCCcB-qn8g1RtBnCQDtflvMvNQvri3bc1-ADnL1EyYgpPJfQbfldDAHQj7j-sUWn3pLBN16wrpeujkSV73iNDFzeiKvoaMOSaozFNLPCR3BEPZ1cBLwgAUs1HVpqE61POCe34/w640-h557/IMG_3087.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Not my chart. Somebody’s keeping track…</i></div><br /><span style="font-family: times;">Our new lost ones comes from the category listed above as Generation Z. Their parents’ category is just as important: the famous Generation X which followed the Baby Boomers. These are both categories of impaired people. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Even the oldest GenXers are too young to have been conscious participants or witnesses in the greatest cultural upheavals of the 1960s and ‘70s. They’d have been just hitting puberty in 1977 when the Carter Administration was presiding over the savaging of American prestige in the eyes of the world. They’d have been a twinkle in their mother’s eye when JFK was assassinated, three </span><span style="font-family: times;">when MLK and RFK were assassinated, </span><span style="font-family: times;">four when </span><span style="font-family: times;">Apollo 11 landed on the moon, </span><span style="font-family: times;">eight when the Supreme Court made all abortions legal, and nine when Nixon resigned in disgrace to be succeeded by an unelected President and Vice President for the only time in American history. Born between 1965 and 1980, they missed everything about the Vietnamese War except possibly its humiliating final helicoptered end in 1975 after years of relatively quiet ‘peace talks’ concealed the depth of the wound to the nation. They had no firsthand memory or experience of the Civil Rights Movement, the meteoric rise of feminism, and the violence of the radical sixties, except for the anecdotal makeovers of that time by the embarrassed survivors, the musical monument called rock and roll, and the drugs they inherited from that time as an unquestioned fact of life. They came of age, went to college, and launched their careers in the economic boom and relative peace of the Reagan era, when it seemed the country was on an upward swing and they were free to follow their own personal desires without much thought about the price others had paid for their liberty. The last of the GenXers were born in 1980, well beyond the brief acquaintance with hardship provided by the ‘malaise’ presidency of Carter. These younger X’ers entered college in 1998, when the hottest national news story was the President masturbating a female intern with a cigar, lied about it, escaped conviction after impeachment, and left office more popular than when he entered it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">These are the parents of the Z Generation. What wisdom were they able to pass on to the inheritors of the assorted liberal movements and the runaway rise in the power and reach of technology into everyday lives? Parenting lessons they learned from Stephen Spielberg about the sanctity of childhood whims, even the whims that were foul-mouthed and insubordinate? Moral and sexual verities when these were being ridiculed and flouted in every form of popular entertainment? The primacy of the family unit and family time together when every child was now equipped with a smartphone and continuous contact with unknown correspondents even during the few meals a family with two working parents could manage to schedule? Conventions of genteel language in public or in private when by the time the kids are 10 the movies are saturated with an ever-rising tide of F-bombs and more scatology than you can find in a bus station bathroom? Does anyone wonder when the phenomenon of the intimidating, uncontrollable teenage monster first appeared on the scene? It happened when working parents began to yield their authority to schools that refused to discipline bullies and rewrote the meaning of <i>in loco parentis</i> to become the pimps of pubescent girls in defiance of their biological parents, helping to conceal their prescriptions for birth control pills, as well as knowledge of their access to alcohol, drugs, and abortions. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">What else did the X’er parents miss in the hectic households of two working parents on the hunt for bigger homes and TVs or, worse, one single parent engaged in continual scramble for next month’s rent? They missed the fact that school was no longer about the 3 R’s, because the state teacher colleges no longer required their graduates to know them or learn how to teach them. So the R’s remained only as lip service for courses in Language Arts without teacher-corrected writing assignments, Social Studies instead of history because who really needs dates or rote memorization of anything anymore, Algebra without homework or ‘showing your work,’ Geometry without postulates and theorems but much prettier charts, Science without any Socratic exchanges between teacher and students, and various courses in all kinds of made-up subjects tested only multiple-guess answer sheets. But what there might be plenty of in a content-free curriculum is politics, opinions offered up by semiliterate instructors in their favored grudges against whoever and whatever they think made <i>them</i> so unhappy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">And meanwhile, the colleges and universities were waiting for them, staffed with their own army of resentful malcontents, PhDs who had never held down a real job, been responsible for a payroll, served in the military, or experienced elders offering seriously different and better informed knowledge of history, political systems, economics, literature, and the ethics of the professions, including the professoriat. How did this army get smuggled into the top universities in the nation? Because they were the army that dodged the Vietnam era draft by enrolling in graduate school when it still bought you a deferment. Once installed in their own university jobs, they welcomed the returning refugees who had fled to Canada and gradually filled all the hiring committees with cowardly revolutionaries like themselves, waiting to get their revenge by creating new generations of activists who might one day throw the bombs they had spent their own adult lives dreaming about. On top of all this, 8 years of Obama racialist provocations to violence by young fanatics had already proven to the Z-kids that more deadly protests in future would be acceptable and even laudable to the mass media and major corporate elites. Game Time.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">What did the GenZers have available to defend themselves from such monolithically minded proselytes? Well, not parents, not elementary or high school education. They’d never had to read any the Classics in literature, history, philosophy, religion, or the arts. They didn’t read newspapers. They didn’t even use Wikipedia except as the world’s best ever resource for plagiarism. Cast your eyes over these two charts. These are the influences the GenZers, children of GenXers, had to inform them about the nature of adult life, morality, and responsibility during their adolescence.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">What were the most important because most popular movies?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75I4IoHEbl3TFjCSNVUQ5DpuVHgI4Jl4RS7lL_8JuEFrqbFBORppzgP1XoTtg_FcY1ntEtd4BC1RJTXc597kCTQpQ3wqoeojmyoGISPQeb0AE13Ffl2gk7xD8mAcsWVeqSZu6wYRYZgXnXMkRZ9dwdzXUUKOyGpR4iMVWS0QXUHjnNTLh5Mm5TFX9nf8/s1100/IMG_3089.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1100" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75I4IoHEbl3TFjCSNVUQ5DpuVHgI4Jl4RS7lL_8JuEFrqbFBORppzgP1XoTtg_FcY1ntEtd4BC1RJTXc597kCTQpQ3wqoeojmyoGISPQeb0AE13Ffl2gk7xD8mAcsWVeqSZu6wYRYZgXnXMkRZ9dwdzXUUKOyGpR4iMVWS0QXUHjnNTLh5Mm5TFX9nf8/w400-h276/IMG_3089.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">What was the most important because most popular music they had to meet the challenge of their grandparents’ top hits of the 60s and their parents’ top hits of the 80s?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yGlNYBEhCFpX5pMMeucU6-E2r7_axLw_avuFLov5e2Rx4E8TQZ4RgM9etX33mot9EXLaxAKbRbPpu63DVBEQr3bV5GAnarX8Dd2DK5xNhW5cbFBGrd3ZcYImtPvZBunmyKdEhApsLaMdlz9Um2w-8ZyyrnjO-DMhZpQW48cUb9c2BsJ2ns4VDwC3EiM/s2008/IMG_3088.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2008" data-original-width="1229" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yGlNYBEhCFpX5pMMeucU6-E2r7_axLw_avuFLov5e2Rx4E8TQZ4RgM9etX33mot9EXLaxAKbRbPpu63DVBEQr3bV5GAnarX8Dd2DK5xNhW5cbFBGrd3ZcYImtPvZBunmyKdEhApsLaMdlz9Um2w-8ZyyrnjO-DMhZpQW48cUb9c2BsJ2ns4VDwC3EiM/w392-h640/IMG_3088.jpeg" width="392" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>If your device is an iPad, you can click the pic to blow it up</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>and turn the screen 90 degrees to make it much more legible.</i></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">So life is a superhero fantasy, filled with cartoon violence and computer graphics effects. Just like video games. A significant chunk of gore is built in, but you can always go home or change the channel afterwards, yourself unchanged. There’s nothing here to care about, and you’ve never really felt anything much for the victims of any violence unless it’s violence done to you. Doesn’t everybody feel that way?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Well, more people feel that way than should. Including your own parents, O You Members of the LostGen. We should have paid more attention for all those years when we were too busy, too distracted, too caught up in our own petty fights with each other and the system that owns us. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">As I said in another post yesterday, this showy generational tantrum we’re seeing is not about the Palestinians:</span></p><p><i>“Nobody cares about the Palestinians. They’ve never had, never been, a nation. They were just the Arabs nobody else wanted to claim who lived in a patch of land on the Mediterranean controlled mostly neglectfully by the British Empire in the aftermath of WWI’s takedown of the Ottoman Empire. They have no unique culture, no distinct history to speak of as a people, no literary, artistic, architectural, musical, theological, scientific, or medical contributions to the sum of human civilization. Compared to the Jews, they are a nonentity distinguished only by an accident of geography. They are just a name slapped on history’s oldest grudge, the hateful resentment of the boastfully superior Jews. They’ve become the poster child for that hatred because it’s the only thing that defines them as a scattered post-1947 population.”</i></p><p>It’s not about the Jews either as far the GenZers are in any position to know. They’ve never been a witness to previous wars and tragedies of the Jewish experience. They’ve never been taught about those crucial turning points in history. They’ve probably not had much personal experience of Jews, who are only 2 percent of the U.S. population after all, hardly a physical threat of any kind to American citizens. They’re just a convenient target for a lifetime of suppressed unconscious rage.</p><p>If I’m wrong about the argument I’ve just made, then how do you account for the ugliness and vehemence of this tantrum? It’s just an excuse to get some attention on themselves, the absence of which over the years of their youth has made them deeply resentful.</p><p>And it’s made an awful lot of us deeply culpable. If your kid sounds and acts like a Hitler Youth on parade, you have some ‘splaining to do. I’m sure the rest of us would be interested to hear it.</p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0