tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58751614278651332932024-03-18T02:47:54.544-07:00Noel McKeehan: Adventures and OpinionsNoel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.comBlogger2549125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-6334041551934364532024-03-17T21:02:00.000-07:002024-03-17T21:04:41.676-07:00The Cinnamon Bear<p> The Tarantula Ghoul search worked so well that I decided to ask another Portland question of Bing/Co-Pilot.</p><p>Here is my question.</p><p>"In the 1950s there was an afternoon radio show in Portland during the Christmas season that was sponsored by Lippman Wolfe a Portland Oregon department store. What can you tell me about it. I think it was called The Cinnamon Bear."</p><p>Here is what it found.</p><p>"Certainly! The Cinnamon Bear is a delightful old-time radio program that holds a special place in the hearts of Portlanders. Let me share some fascinating details about this beloved holiday show:</p><p>"Origins and Air Dates:</p><p>"The Cinnamon Bear was produced by Transco (Transcription Company of America), based in Hollywood, California.</p><p>"The show was specifically designed to be listened to six days a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas.</p><p>"Its inaugural broadcast took place between Friday, November 26 and Saturday, December 25, 1937.</p><p>"Interestingly, some markets, including Portland, Oregon, couldn’t wait and debuted the program on November 25, which was Thanksgiving Day.</p><p>"In the first season, Portland aired the program on two stations: KALE at 6:00 pm and KXL at 7:00 pm.</p><p>"Syndication issues temporarily halted the program in 1940, although some stations may have aired previous transcriptions. No program aired in Portland that year.</p><p>"In 1941, Transco programming was sold to Broadcasters Program Syndicate, and The Cinnamon Bear returned to the airwaves nationally.</p><p>"During the 1950s, syndication was taken over by Lou R. Winston, also based in Hollywood.</p><p>"Plot and Characters:</p><p>"The heartwarming story revolves around Judy and Jimmy Barton, who venture into the enchanted world of Maybeland to retrieve their missing Silver Star, which belongs on their Christmas tree.</p><p>"Assisting them in their quest is the endearing Cinnamon Bear, a stuffed bear with shoe-button eyes and a green ribbon around his neck.</p><p>"Along the way, they encounter other memorable characters, including:</p><p>"The Crazy Quilt Dragon, who repeatedly tries to snatch the star for himself.</p><p>"The Wintergreen Witch.</p><p>"Fe Fo the Giant.</p><p>"Of course, Santa Claus himself!</p><p>"Episodes began at Thanksgiving and concluded at Christmas, with one episode airing each night.</p><p>"The show was created by a group of merchants as an advertising promotion and was recorded in just a few weeks.</p><p>"Lindsay MacHarrie produced the show and also lent his voice to characters like Westley the Whale.</p><p>"Cast and Crew:</p><p>"The voice of The Cinnamon Bear was provided by Buddy Duncan, a little person and vaudeville comedian.</p><p>"Other notable radio voices included:</p><p>"Barbara Jean Wong as Judy Barton.</p><p>"Bobby La Manche as Jimmy Barton.</p><p>"Joseph Kearns as The Crazy-Quilt Dragon.</p><p>"Verna Felton as Judy & Jimmy’s mother.</p><p>"Lou Merrill as Santa Claus.</p><p>"Martha Wentworth as The Wintergreen Witch.</p><p>"Portland’s Enduring Love:</p><p>"The Cinnamon Bear remains one of the longest continuously running radio shows in American history.</p><p>"Even today, Benson High School’s KBPS-AM (1450 kHz) in Portland continues to play it during the holiday season, making Portland’s airwaves one of the show’s longest-running homes.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-75127671721044725222024-03-17T15:32:00.000-07:002024-03-17T20:51:06.871-07:00Tarantula Ghoul<p> I was curious if Bing/Co-pilot could find anything.</p><p>They could.</p><p>"Tarantula Ghoul, whose real name was Suzanne Waldron, was an American actress, television hostess, and musician. She gained fame as the enigmatic host of the cult favorite program House of Horror on the Portland-based television station KPTV between 1957 and 1959. Let me share some intriguing details about her:</p><p>"House of Horror: Tarantula Ghoul hosted the late-night program House of Horror, which aired at 10:30 pm on Wednesdays. The show featured campy B-rated horror films, satirical comedic segments, and other spooky elements. Tarantula Ghoul introduced the films, adding her unique flair to the horror genre. The show also included other memorable characters like the grave robber-turned-gardener Milton, a boa constrictor named Baby, and her pet tarantula, Sir Galahad.</p><p>"Musical Ventures: Alongside her hosting duties, Tarantula Ghoul recorded music. She collaborated with her backing band, the Gravediggers, and released the single “King Kong” in 1958. Another track, “Graveyard Rock”, became associated with Halloween-themed music and remains popular to this day.</p><p>"Inspirations and Legacy: The concept of Tarantula Ghoul’s character drew inspiration from Vampira, portrayed by actress Maila Nurmi. Vampira’s show, The Vampira Show, had been successful in Los Angeles before its cancellation, inspiring stations across the United States to create similar ghoulish-themed programs. Tarantula Ghoul’s persona, with her striking resemblance to the fictional matriarch Morticia Addams, captured the imagination of viewers.</p><p>"Life Beyond Tarantula Ghoul: After the cancellation of House of Horror, Suzanne Waldron continued her acting career in the 1960s and 1970s. She occasionally revived her Tarantula Ghoul persona but chose to focus on stage acting and voiceover work. Tragically, she passed away in June 1982 from colon cancer at the age of 50.</p><p>"Although no known footage of House of Horror exists today, Tarantula Ghoul’s legacy lives on as a memorable figure in the world of horror television and music."</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-60114130187707015402024-03-14T10:42:00.000-07:002024-03-14T10:42:14.957-07:00Ripples In The Mirror<p style="text-align: center;"> On 12 October 2010 I awoke and saw this out my window.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Four floors up allows one liberties with one's windows that are not practical at ground level.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Four up one leaves the windows open.</p><p style="text-align: center;">A relationship with the river results.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TPdoBsFwz_PY-xp6kxrpvCzKGJqeILpV2pyLHId6xYNzaT-BIyWcAqBTDFzRMiBMrWdmiZ5S0WcOmqDa5G4Jh35wFJia4_btYUxPaKikTyLeUC27bQPjBqlE-5be6NV0a41-JzfzhrYKVW_U6JBthc0FfFKmt4dWodtcpPh-UKpYhKfESf5MrS9BAjUV/s689/seine-morning-12-october-animation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="689" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TPdoBsFwz_PY-xp6kxrpvCzKGJqeILpV2pyLHId6xYNzaT-BIyWcAqBTDFzRMiBMrWdmiZ5S0WcOmqDa5G4Jh35wFJia4_btYUxPaKikTyLeUC27bQPjBqlE-5be6NV0a41-JzfzhrYKVW_U6JBthc0FfFKmt4dWodtcpPh-UKpYhKfESf5MrS9BAjUV/w640-h426/seine-morning-12-october-animation.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-40876230372950995262024-03-10T14:29:00.000-07:002024-03-10T14:36:20.574-07:00Latest About The Pig In The Poke<h2 style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9C9eOLO6ddDnpHgcThtEHeCmcIUcuUdiPCV7npZEwO4MMoAP1LXOG0Hcmvr12bCM0s9JFUeAAO6_6Yto4QPn61dnnO8XxjZVrP4Rbl0Bn5r4dSirlKIG8fNOTlV1ohJ0K7mVMi2lmoGsg58PkMrDl0gT3dfx16sowN_EtECJzDoEp6W-2RYbM7snSdhvQ/s535/pig-in-hat.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="535" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9C9eOLO6ddDnpHgcThtEHeCmcIUcuUdiPCV7npZEwO4MMoAP1LXOG0Hcmvr12bCM0s9JFUeAAO6_6Yto4QPn61dnnO8XxjZVrP4Rbl0Bn5r4dSirlKIG8fNOTlV1ohJ0K7mVMi2lmoGsg58PkMrDl0gT3dfx16sowN_EtECJzDoEp6W-2RYbM7snSdhvQ/w640-h502/pig-in-hat.gif" width="640" /></a></div> </h2><h2 style="text-align: center;">From Salon:</h2><p style="text-align: left;">"Donald Trump posted a $91.6 million bond to cover the $83.3 million a Manhattan jury awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll in January as he appeals the defamation lawsuit's verdict, lawyers for Trump told a court Friday. Attorney Alina Habba filed the papers with a New York judge alongside a notice showing that Trump, the likely GOP presidential nominee, is appealing the verdict.</p><p>"The bond would cover the full judgment plus interest and was necessary to delay payment of the sum until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, can bring down a decision on the former president's appeal, the Associated Press reports.</p><p>"Trump secured the bond from "Federal Insurance Company, which is a principal of The Chubb Corporation," MSNBC legal correspondent Katie Phang reports. The Chubb Corporation is a global insurer headquartered in New Jersey.</p><p>"'It will be interesting to see if the judge requires clarification be provided (likely solely to the court) regarding what kind of collateral Trump provided to Chubb to get the bond,' national security lawyer Bradley Moss wrote on X. 'But either way, Chubb is on the hook now.'" </p><p style="text-align: center;">********************************************</p><p style="text-align: left;">If donnie loses the appeal, Chubb will have the unenviable task of collecting from donnie the dildo.</p><p style="text-align: left;">If donnie wins the appeal, and then wins in November, Chubb will have bought a president for a bargain price.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Of course there is still that half billion dollar thing.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-1855499442584198432024-03-08T21:18:00.000-08:002024-03-10T11:16:40.183-07:00Not A Bad Speech ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2W7Qbe0H2vykIweJ-9oPQsb7TB3HtBhYVSCXeP6e_m7VHecY1kNh3kyg8i6Qw6Nlw84Ykhuy2xAjEQXsr9fgY7vuz9pV0XCTANTNz1jDZdBvJdzkbOiL-q3BRVuaDbIY2nTzPArEtHwkmXvbiUdAowPIjrJIXGhKSU0qW3kED6NjZhsLjiutUqRP6LNq_/s1851/republican%20rebuttal%20image%20SC%20030824%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1221" data-original-width="1851" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2W7Qbe0H2vykIweJ-9oPQsb7TB3HtBhYVSCXeP6e_m7VHecY1kNh3kyg8i6Qw6Nlw84Ykhuy2xAjEQXsr9fgY7vuz9pV0XCTANTNz1jDZdBvJdzkbOiL-q3BRVuaDbIY2nTzPArEtHwkmXvbiUdAowPIjrJIXGhKSU0qW3kED6NjZhsLjiutUqRP6LNq_/w640-h422/republican%20rebuttal%20image%20SC%20030824%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"> ... a bad performance.</p><p>Last night a silly, apparently deranged, sorority girl got promoted to represent donnie the dildo in a speech in rejoinder to a great and historic State of the Union speech just delivered by the President of the United States of America.</p><p>It was weird.</p><p>In all the ways that, if you participate in any of our current civilization's postmortem media devices, you already know.</p><p>So I'm not going to dredge us all through all of that again.</p><p>It was designedly disrespectful, drippingly christian and just plain out of control from the point of view of any normally perceived definition of truth, justice and the 'merican way.</p><p>In all the ways that, if you have a shred of basic intelligence, you already know.</p><p>But her outburst was the republican rebuttal to what our President had just told us he thinks is important to us and for our chance for a better future.</p><p>Not a Tic Tok from influencer-land.</p><p>Being the official republican rebuttal, one would have thought that it would have had some sort of policy content.</p><p>Y'know - ideas and stuff.</p><p>Instead, all it had was disrespect, ridicule (poorly, poorly executed ridicule) and thinly veiled good solid christianity - white, of course.</p><p>And all of that amounted to a performance, not a speech.</p><p>And it was the worst performance any of us have ever seen.</p><p>Sorority Girl from Alabama will do well to get crackin' about what she must be good at: kids and cookin'.</p><p>Or maybe she can be the centerfold image for The Christian American Weekly.</p><p>She sure can't perform - at least not politically, or intelligently, and, for sure, not on the national stage.</p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-27071123917965510032024-03-08T08:21:00.000-08:002024-03-08T12:05:00.093-08:00Biden's Speech And That Republican Thing<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTIXpVnJ-dtn0KszFi2t4V6zd55veV0iixOt_VAtwmS0_k3_t-ck8AlcxPhW9ZhTEyzhGp2Bt_lfmEqCTgbL93-KbdBiGkIW7xAPloaeVet-eMT2zseXqmeSJUR6GCTGgJbmk5YZk0GD6yMq9t_K6Be9imAkjOMCZUVTJnseP1HQvaJfWwObGch-865Cg/s1709/2024%20state%20of%20the%20union%20SC%20030824%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1709" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTIXpVnJ-dtn0KszFi2t4V6zd55veV0iixOt_VAtwmS0_k3_t-ck8AlcxPhW9ZhTEyzhGp2Bt_lfmEqCTgbL93-KbdBiGkIW7xAPloaeVet-eMT2zseXqmeSJUR6GCTGgJbmk5YZk0GD6yMq9t_K6Be9imAkjOMCZUVTJnseP1HQvaJfWwObGch-865Cg/w640-h260/2024%20state%20of%20the%20union%20SC%20030824%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">On balance, he got it done.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And done well and with grace.</div><p></p><p>Lotta angry republican white people video clips for the Democrats to use for the campaign.</p><p>The official republican rebuttal requires so much ignorance to accept, it has to be acknowledged as brilliant; and it was weird enough to be mistaken for a trailer for a new Netflix series: <b><i>Shrieks from the Kitchen Table</i></b>. </p><p>The only flaw may be that there might not be enough idiots who buy into the hysterical ranting of an Alabama prom queen, except maybe as a Netflix series.</p><p>Probably are, though.</p><p>I hadn't realized until last night that Alabama has a complete set in the senate: a football coach and a cheerleader.</p><p>That's gravitas - American Gravitas.</p><p>Damn!! That may be a better name for the series.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-9923975214634761852024-03-04T20:31:00.000-08:002024-03-05T17:56:50.326-08:00A Gutless Court For Today's Pro-trump Promulgation<p> SCOTUS today said that states can't keep federal candidates off the ballot.</p><p>I guess they said that the Fourteenth Amendment can't be enforced by individual states.</p><p>Does that mean that the Constitution in general is in abeyance?</p><p>But no; they have a Fourteenth Amendment solution.</p><p>They said, I guess, that <b><i><span style="color: red;">Congress</span></i></b> needs to write a new law every time a federal candidate might be guilty of being covered by the Fourteenth Amendment.</p><p>They were really careful not to indicate what the violation of the Fourteenth Amendment might have been asserted to have been in the case of donnie the dildo.</p><p>That gave them license not to address the screaming requirement for any SCOTUS ruling on the Colorado Supreme Court's unanimous decision to deny the dildo the Colorado ballot: did the dildo or did he not foment an insurrection?</p><p>Does the fact that one of the participating justices is married to an active unindicted participant in the insurrection have something to do with the frigid silence surrounding the nature of the actual asserted violation of the Constitution?</p><p>The Fourteenth Amendment says that if the dildo fomented an insurrection he can't run for president.</p><p>Or at least that's what the English of it seems to say.</p><p>However, to the originalist majority of SCOTUS, I'm sure there is some sort of secret code denied to most of us (like the <i><b>cannons-tanks-machine-guns-and-unlimited-carry-in-the-town-square</b></i> provision of the Second Amendment that is so obvious to so few of us).</p><p>Colorado says that the dildo fomented an insurrection, the Fourteenth Amendment says insurrectionists who have previously taken an oath to defend the Constitution can't hold office, and therefore the dildo can't run for president in the state of Colorado.</p><p>SCOTUS says that states can't say that.</p><p>SCOTUS also says that only Congress can enforce the Fourteenth Amendment via custom legislation.</p><p>I ask again, does that mean that the Constitution in general is in abeyance?</p><p>Until or unless Congress can arise from its multi-decade malaise and pass specialized Fourteenth Amendment laws?</p><p>Has SCOTUS today abrogated to Congress the power of policing and implementing the Constitution?</p><p>And where in the Constitution is that abrogation indicated?</p><p>Or is the current decision merely a one-off, US history to date?</p><p>Pretty well tailored for donnie the dildo.</p><p>Though.</p><p>Be afraid; be very afraid.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-31754557997965025272024-03-02T11:27:00.000-08:002024-03-02T15:25:03.637-08:00Leaving Facebook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzgfNy9-bYoXLtDcCDpGIBm4K_dFWm48F1UYKQqnTi_6lxpLDmwwa0wePSqGaHmQR7hGMVUvDGGGTeHYm7bSdUelWkXnkuB6x5WDFLPbEwp2jICvomE6PIMl7NHlwVUnXti-136QEE2zzxqSQYgnZuWf2l1r3yZxPS5TRcXaag5J-l15xUdgl_KxqFP0V/s3600/paris%20flint%20in%20the%20sand%20SC%20030224%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzgfNy9-bYoXLtDcCDpGIBm4K_dFWm48F1UYKQqnTi_6lxpLDmwwa0wePSqGaHmQR7hGMVUvDGGGTeHYm7bSdUelWkXnkuB6x5WDFLPbEwp2jICvomE6PIMl7NHlwVUnXti-136QEE2zzxqSQYgnZuWf2l1r3yZxPS5TRcXaag5J-l15xUdgl_KxqFP0V/w640-h426/paris%20flint%20in%20the%20sand%20SC%20030224%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">I left this post on Facebook overnight recently.</p><p>And then I deleted it in the morning.</p><p>Trying to mount that sort of discourse on FB just makes one look ridiculous.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***************************************************</p><p>For a long time now - since sometime in 2017 - I have not been a very frequent user of FB.</p><p>There is a reason for that: somewhere in early 2Q 2017 I realized that I was becoming unhinged about donnie the dildo.</p><p>No matter how appropriate my revulsion for that monumental manifestation of slime might have been, and remains to be, becoming an irrational poster of five or six fiery FB posts decrying donnie's most recent (then) transgressions - DURING THE DINNER PREPARATION HOUR - was obviously, to me, the first slippery step on the road to oblivion.</p><p>So, I moved FB to the last screen on my iPhone, quit posting, and doubled down on my blog.</p><p>The advantage of the blog was that I had to think a little bit about what I was trying to say, and, more important, I had to try to craft what I was trying to say in decent English. </p><p>That meant that time became the saucer in which my fiery prose could cool. </p><p>A blog post takes longer than a burst of fiery FB emotion. </p><p>I am posting this to call your attention to something important to me: if I post to FB at all, it is most often my blog, and I have cooled that blog post in the saucer of time, thought and revision, and have deemed it nevertheless of sufficient consequence and quality to be something that my FB friends, who as far as I have been able to divine, all have superior intellects, might find to be of use in their pursuit of some overall worldview. </p><p>I have sensed that my image posts to FB have a far wider acceptance than my views as posted from my blog. </p><p>And that is understandable. </p><p>A picture of a cathedral, or a flower, or a Gibson martini is a lot easier to digest and a lot more fun than some saucer cooled discussion of Israel's most recent massacre of Palestinians, but, for god's sake, we are in trouble here. </p><p>And maybe reading one person's saucer-cooled thoughts, added to the thoughts of actual, responsible journalists and thinkers, and actual responsible publications, all of which I hope you access, and video clips from real responsible news sources will save us. </p><p>I don't know. </p><p>I just hope.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-68321134391592787932024-03-01T11:56:00.000-08:002024-03-01T11:56:16.059-08:00Most Recent Israeli Massacre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSwlvf4rm-etjx7c9zXU_th01xbK7zNAVWKITQZR-x5-ziZIlW8_KMYnuaPA4Nw6Us3T4kZXIrFCrG1H376jgWkO4aYp3UUf50XVprsA1uOaLehpYSL5-exNsxpepa8m63zmZ_YGbb9pUXwwuIvy_hRkKiUJfCqgonoaTiPheqDQyDKrlwCTA1L2DzaU7/s1689/palestian%20food%20distribution%20in%20gaza%20SC%20030124%2000000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1689" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSwlvf4rm-etjx7c9zXU_th01xbK7zNAVWKITQZR-x5-ziZIlW8_KMYnuaPA4Nw6Us3T4kZXIrFCrG1H376jgWkO4aYp3UUf50XVprsA1uOaLehpYSL5-exNsxpepa8m63zmZ_YGbb9pUXwwuIvy_hRkKiUJfCqgonoaTiPheqDQyDKrlwCTA1L2DzaU7/w640-h340/palestian%20food%20distribution%20in%20gaza%20SC%20030124%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"> Lotta Israelis with lips moving on this one.</p><p>Contrary to those lies, initial hospital reports of the condition of the "survivors" say that most of them have bullet wounds.</p><p>That letter to the world from 50 top journalists petitioning for journalistic access to and presence in Gaza seems even more urgent in the face of the limited facts and the copious Israeli lies related to this episode.</p><p>Heavily armed military personnel backed up with multiple tanks feeling threatened by starving people is one of the most ridiculous verbal contrivances that I have ever heard.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-53003944043229116102024-02-29T09:49:00.000-08:002024-03-03T10:26:26.088-08:00The Supreme Court Weighs In On trump's Side<p>donnie is running for president mainly because he thinks he can use various aspects to being on campaign to impede, hinder and delay the multiple criminal charges that have been brought against him.</p><p>He is also running for the office because, if he wins, he can wriggle out of those criminal charges.</p><p>In that context he is doing everything possible to delay everything he can every way he can until 5 November when he hopes that he is going to re-gain the presidency and then be able to make all his indictments go away by firing the justice department and have his newly appointed department throw out all federal cases against him and making the State judgments against him (E. Jean Carol and NY Fraud) go away by getting Congress to pass laws to pay his judgements.</p><p>Yesterday the Supreme Court showed its colors.</p><p>They set up a schedule for review of whether or not donnie is exempt from prosecution for his myriad crimes such that, once they have spoken on 30 June (and there is no one that I have heard of that believes that it is possible to find an ex-president exempt from felony crimes, so the delay will only have served the trump delay, delay, delay tactic serving the rundown to 5 November) will not leave enough time - after all the requisite pre-trial milling around - for any trials that actually might get started to be decided until after the election.</p><p>That will leave off the table the near certain conviction of donnie for felonies as an election issue.</p><p>That may be enough to tip the balance.</p><p>That balance, once tipped, leaves donnie in charge of Justice.</p><p>SCOTUS hopes so.</p><p>They have done their job.</p><p>In this dawning era of un-separation of powers they have masterfully served.</p><p>If there was any question (remember Bush v Gore was decided in a day) about whether the jig was up for America and its Constitution, we got the answer yesterday.</p><p>As further evidence, trump's lawyer recently commented about the loyalty of the court for the donald: Alina Habba stated: “I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them. You know, people like Kavanaugh ..."</p><p>Finding that <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2024/01/alina-habba-tells-justice-kavanaugh-that-its-time-to-step-up-for-trump/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">VIDEO</span></a> has been amazingly difficult, but I did finally find it; it's in a potpourri page of stuff, but if you scroll down a little bit and click on the image of Ol' Alina you can watch it; it's about twenty seconds long.</p><p>The first time I saw it a few weeks ago I was surprised at the unintelligent bravado of the thing.</p><p>Now that I have seen SCOTUS' delay, delay, delay strategy in supporting trump, I realize that it was actually bald-faced prophesy: "the fix is on".</p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-58378993275864633182024-02-28T19:05:00.000-08:002024-02-28T19:15:16.578-08:00Pig In Poke Again: A Judge Speaks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ST-lyK_c3VOaLveS7Pwcf7tr5xED_EVtcpoPxn8G4NXVQJAPjikQf7eOTw5KvMikOYTlD6gI_cxTE-iwxNmX3S4LyCtso_blvxGNpWozFehxgY518Ein-p0MM24xrOQw4G1fX_zz-gqPqddNW8ezXXQxxIcoZV_k_a0QolRz7ti4W76lXKvjwpOqtrAu/s535/pig%20in%20hat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="535" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ST-lyK_c3VOaLveS7Pwcf7tr5xED_EVtcpoPxn8G4NXVQJAPjikQf7eOTw5KvMikOYTlD6gI_cxTE-iwxNmX3S4LyCtso_blvxGNpWozFehxgY518Ein-p0MM24xrOQw4G1fX_zz-gqPqddNW8ezXXQxxIcoZV_k_a0QolRz7ti4W76lXKvjwpOqtrAu/w640-h502/pig%20in%20hat.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">Today a New York judge rejected former president donald trump’s request to delay enforcement of a judgment totaling at least $450 million while he appeals that order.</p><p>The judge did modify the judgement slightly by allowing donnie to get the money for bond from New York banks; the order forbids trump doing business with New York banks for three years.</p><p>So we are all gonna see if any bank is stupid enough to give donnie half a billion dollars to appeal a judgement for a half billion dollars, when donnie, unless he wins the appeal won't pay it back - his business plan doesn't include paying debts - and even if he wins I would bet that he would slow walk any repayment (a half a billion in hand is better than half a billion in somebody's bank, he always says).</p><p>We shall see.</p><p>The clock is still running down so he better get his go talk to the bankers suit on pretty quick.</p><p>He has less than 30 days to get the bond money, get the appeal scheduled and get the appeal upheld.</p><p>Otherwise, the grim reaper of New York State starts selling off his stuff.</p><p>It gets really interesting then because his stuff is so heavily leveraged that it's probably not worth much.</p><p>Then we bring in Shylock.</p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-15477211448998622642024-02-27T20:31:00.000-08:002024-02-27T21:08:38.902-08:00Update To Pig In A Poke<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DHTrHyXv0qDr5dgJKyBAcSc4DWhrS6qKQftvUFbywqpdi9zxN6yoXEIAu57DKCiTdmhjMhB2XfqUEiZ8MxSAEpZMrmWr5Q5tWdecpTl4ExnnELviX1PocxYqfd0YhaqWzw-CfLRtjq2qsJVX_90zWVBvcG_ASj6PHgF9gDiYh3HIH-QRsaI-Xn_z2ehr/s535/pig%20in%20hat%20021724%2000000.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="535" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DHTrHyXv0qDr5dgJKyBAcSc4DWhrS6qKQftvUFbywqpdi9zxN6yoXEIAu57DKCiTdmhjMhB2XfqUEiZ8MxSAEpZMrmWr5Q5tWdecpTl4ExnnELviX1PocxYqfd0YhaqWzw-CfLRtjq2qsJVX_90zWVBvcG_ASj6PHgF9gDiYh3HIH-QRsaI-Xn_z2ehr/w640-h502/pig%20in%20hat%20021724%2000000.gif" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since I wrote <a href="https://noellivefromparis.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-pig-in-poke.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Pig In A Poke</span></a>, a few things have happened.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I saw yesterday that donnie is appealing the fraud judgement ($455,000,000).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I can't find anywhere, including doing AI assisted searches, that he has posted bond or put funds in escrow. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The silence on that subject is deafening.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So I don't know what's going on there, but it would seem that, if donnie had come up with $455,000,000 from his own checkbook and put it in escrow that would been news.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It would have been even bigger news if some bonding agency had put up 4455,000,000 in bond.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And it would have been cosmically bigger news if the stupid, but real, billionaire that I hypothesized in Pig In A Poke actually materialized.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So I have to take the silence on the subject to mean none of those things have happened.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(I heard of a candidate that I hadn't thought of when I wrote Pig: MBS; he gave Jared Kurchner two billion dollars; and MBS isn't stupid; I'm pretty sure that the Ts & Cs he would get donnie to commit to would resemble deals known to have been cut with the devil, so MBS would get value - the go ahead to make nuclear weapons, or, donnie being donnie - "brilliant bidnessman" - a multi-year volume purchase agreement for nuclear warheads to buy them from donnie; the unitary executive, after all owns all the inventory.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My best guess is that he is indulging in what he thinks is a brilliant financial/legal finesse - starting the process and waiting for someone to ask for the money - that will buy him a little time while the judgement with the earlier suspense date gets taken care of.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That judgement is the E. Jean Carol $83,000,000 one.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There he has made a faux move toward appeal but is saying he won't post bond because he is too rich to need to post bond.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That judgement comes due on March 12.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is more.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The investigative journalist and Syracuse Law lecturer, David Cay Johnston, has suggested that donald trump is likely to declare personal bankruptcy on March 12 in order to delay paying the fraud damage awards. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mr. Johnston also pointed out that the deadline for trump to appeal the order to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll is Monday, March 12.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So that is the last day for him to declare bankruptcy and fend off for a while both the E. Jean Carol judgement and the fraud judgement.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I heard Mr. Johnston talk about this this evening on a You Tube video podcast.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It seems that the donald has found another way to delay.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Delay for what, you might ask.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">According to Mr. Johnston, to delay everything he can every way he can until 5 November when he thinks he is going to re-gain the presidency and then be able to make all his indictments go away by pardoning himself and judgments go away by getting Congress to pass laws to pay his judgements.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Kinda like the family business.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And once he gets that out of the way he can get on about ruining America.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Completely and permanently. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-47194278293621822422024-02-24T20:00:00.000-08:002024-02-25T08:07:15.419-08:00A Pig In A Poke<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MHQgtUav8wvqaFhoism3t2EM7atcHAmWcQcfCAC76qeuvWCTk82qu0wXPvc75T8rcuAmDoG7zQfe6dWREH1Arpl6O81s-RJvCtw5LVL3HS-RqSAwc1Z2G2j8MMic2S0rGkijXEaHxugpcoVeb2R8GvspbjMd6qPk-dSu-O86ZuqdSM2WciB0RXbrxjJ2/s535/pig-in-hat.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="535" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MHQgtUav8wvqaFhoism3t2EM7atcHAmWcQcfCAC76qeuvWCTk82qu0wXPvc75T8rcuAmDoG7zQfe6dWREH1Arpl6O81s-RJvCtw5LVL3HS-RqSAwc1Z2G2j8MMic2S0rGkijXEaHxugpcoVeb2R8GvspbjMd6qPk-dSu-O86ZuqdSM2WciB0RXbrxjJ2/w640-h502/pig-in-hat.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>donnie has some bills coming due.</p><p>In fact, one of them has already apparently been paid.</p><p>Here are the Bills:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>E Jean Carol - $5,000,000</li><li>E. Jean Carol - $83,000,000</li><li>New York Fraud Judgement: $355,000,000</li><li>Interest on New York Fraud Judgement - $100,000,000</li></ol>That adds up to $543,000,000.<p></p><p>That shouldn't be a problem for donnie, because as we have so often heard from the mouth of the donald himself, he is "really rich".</p><p>Apparently he has put funds in escrow so he can appeal the E. Jean Carol $5,000,000 judgement.</p><p>Since, as we have constantly heard, from the mouth of the donald himself, that he is "a brilliant bidnessman", one would suppose he was carried cursing and screaming to his checkbook for that payment; one would suppose that, if there had been any chance of it, he would have used somebody else's money; he would have posted bond.</p><p>Since he didn't post bond, one might assume that nobody was willing to put up $5,000,000 for a bond for donnie.</p><p>One might not be surprised at that lack of willingness; donnie routinely stiffs anybody to whom he owes money.</p><p>Further, one might assume that if no one was willing to go a bond of $5,000,000, $538,000,000 is a bond too far.</p><p>That puts donnie in an interesting situation.</p><p>To appeal his other judgements, which he has said he is certainly going to do for the $83,000,000 and the $455,000,000, he needs to either put the entire amount of each judgement in escrow, or post bond for the entire amount, such amount coming from - somewhere or someone licensed to do that sort of thing.</p><p>As we have seen there don't appear to be any bondsmen standing in line.</p><p>The appeal clock is winding down in both cases.</p><p>He has less than thirty days.</p><p>It appears that he may not have enough cash of his own to put in escrow for even the $83,000,000, let alone the $455,000,000.</p><p>"Brilliant bidnessmen" don't let cash lie around in banks idly earning almost nothing.</p><p>"Brilliant bidnessmen" leverage themselves to the hilt and live off of credit cards with gold plated terms and conditions that only "brilliant" ultimately leveraged "bidnessmen" can obtain.</p><p>(It was in pursuit of those kind of terms and conditions that donnie, by submitting lies for financial information, got himself into the $455,000,000 pickle in the first place.)</p><p>So "brilliant bidnessmen" don't have a lot of cash lying (interesting coincidence-word) around.</p><p>There is, therefore, a school of thought that donnie, in less than thirty days, likely is going to come up short of escrow on at least one of his two intended appeals.</p><p>And, as we have already seen, he doesn't appear likely, in any rational world, to be able to find any source for bond.</p><p>So, I guess he can't appeal.</p><p>In his world of awful news, that is the neutral news.</p><p>Here's the awful news: those judgements don't go on pause after thirty days just because donnie can't appeal them.</p><p>They are due and payable when the clock strikes "pay me".</p><p>If he doesn't, the Attorney General of New York will start selling off donnie's assets to satisfy the un-appealed judgements (both cases are in the State of New York).</p><p>There is a school of thought that says, since donnie is a "brilliant bidnessman" he is so leveraged that even all of his assets haven't enough equity to cover $543,000,000 in judgements.</p><p>If so, what then?</p><p>Shylock is my hopeful suggestion.</p><p>But seriously, somebody, somewhere is surely going to bail out poor little donnie, history's most hapless victim.</p><p>I guess some real billionaire is going to be able to buy a US president on the cheap.</p><p>At least that's what the truth social ad, to be posted tomorrow, puts on offer.</p><p>The only problem is that said billionaire is going to need to put up the money in less than thirty days; that's a long time before the election, so donnie isn't president yet.</p><p>I'm going to be interested to see who turns out to be the billionaire who is stupid enough to buy a pig in a poke.</p><p>I find it difficult to suppose that there will be one. </p><p>Real billionaires, unlike "brilliant bidnessmen" don't do stupid shit.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-38357525760130837382024-02-23T10:43:00.000-08:002024-02-23T11:11:13.225-08:00Voters React To The republican House Of Representatives<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WSHjoEypNiJ1RM-X-STHZcUWww_6Hy0IXpQ6SVbcysY5vAa5ovpQSfVcA2shXLtPYhrAnfQqNRXBOxvgI5JjlGTpI-8je2rHyeakGT6cYJjJD4E-c3wjvmr5bT7dm394iPcQPiZXK1vKKFiu9RpUbnykPA34XdweahMvNb7-p2g5XyHvzRofzzUWrPAa/s170/laughing%20frog.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WSHjoEypNiJ1RM-X-STHZcUWww_6Hy0IXpQ6SVbcysY5vAa5ovpQSfVcA2shXLtPYhrAnfQqNRXBOxvgI5JjlGTpI-8je2rHyeakGT6cYJjJD4E-c3wjvmr5bT7dm394iPcQPiZXK1vKKFiu9RpUbnykPA34XdweahMvNb7-p2g5XyHvzRofzzUWrPAa/s16000/laughing%20frog.gif" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;">I can't find any copyright information in the metadata. If the creator of this GIF sees my use of it, please contact me so I can give proper attribution.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-27070593752232583622024-02-22T13:03:00.000-08:002024-03-03T11:18:14.107-08:00Boeing: The Problem Is Not Quality Control<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUCYgLrYDGFmcFK5l8GohkN8cI1aG7N5lCZLz6ndR-_aXMq0YgPs7fgjzZ0aRYGIg1QlueEGV6YddEyulW5BpbRSjR_AbvvI2J4K2OMIpcDDQP9tNrPBwneuiyylrDw0W7nCNx-9nCyYJ9YfKCDHT_elwZiibTj8sTpZZyj2cGYrGdALCdl0nuqXDEek3/s300/plane_crazy%20rotated.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="210" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUCYgLrYDGFmcFK5l8GohkN8cI1aG7N5lCZLz6ndR-_aXMq0YgPs7fgjzZ0aRYGIg1QlueEGV6YddEyulW5BpbRSjR_AbvvI2J4K2OMIpcDDQP9tNrPBwneuiyylrDw0W7nCNx-9nCyYJ9YfKCDHT_elwZiibTj8sTpZZyj2cGYrGdALCdl0nuqXDEek3/w448-h640/plane_crazy%20rotated.gif" width="448" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Quality control is a symptom of the problem.</div><p>And the problem is that a few years back a cadre of executives having no cultural or hereditary relationship to the Renton Culture decided that they needed to remove themselves from the sweaty stench of the managers and workers.</p><p>They moved off to Chicago and began thinking great thoughts in tall buildings.</p><p>They did that because they weren't Boeing people.</p><p>They were McDonnell Douglas people who came to Boeing in the Boeing buyout of McDonnell Douglas.</p><p>They knew nothing of Boeing and its history, heritage and culture: great organized labor, great entrepreneurial management and great get-your-hands-on-the-products-and-processes executives, all three of whom were imbued with deep scientific curiosity, engineering ability and fanatic commitment to quality, and a mutual respect for and intense belief in the team.</p><p>McDonnell Douglas people came from an environment of cost-plus DOD contracts: you get paid whether or not you deliver quality, whether or not you deliver it on time, and at a price established by adding an outrageous uplift to an already bloated "cost".</p><p>Financially that's a hard environment to fail in.</p><p>Trying to transfer that method to a Boeing passenger plane is both impossible, and has been proven to be, disastrous. </p><p>The main solution to the problem of crashing passenger planes, midair fuselage failures, de-icers that can only be run for five minutes or the engines might blow up and vertical stabilizers that might not work right has been for the thinkers of great thoughts in tall buildings to move from Chicago to Washington DC.</p><p>Until that crowd are either fired or retired and Boeing returns to its heritage, Boeing will continue to lose market share and leave the way open for China to be the only competitor to Airbus.</p><p>And unfortunately, there may be more mid-air disasters and deaths waiting to occur in the interim on the company's path to oblivion.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-87855296064291709602024-02-22T09:50:00.000-08:002024-03-04T10:18:26.156-08:00Octavia Butler<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHtJ0mowVQ0vHNYEPmSX7Gdjv0onR218kfCaRsNYyMZkVoehlFR9WpMKxl8iwIh4tPqLis2d_Erykm3181V6-AdA2X8qXtp_x_3aYjorQcOPzCoP9E0OmPxW66ex0W3KBLPwdB4SdzBIvjje-m8bncESttBe9cfHAHg2VwZWWXYYb0tdNOHlFrQPD9YHk/s2367/lopez%20fireworks%20SC%20020624%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1578" data-original-width="2367" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHtJ0mowVQ0vHNYEPmSX7Gdjv0onR218kfCaRsNYyMZkVoehlFR9WpMKxl8iwIh4tPqLis2d_Erykm3181V6-AdA2X8qXtp_x_3aYjorQcOPzCoP9E0OmPxW66ex0W3KBLPwdB4SdzBIvjje-m8bncESttBe9cfHAHg2VwZWWXYYb0tdNOHlFrQPD9YHk/w640-h426/lopez%20fireworks%20SC%20020624%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <p></p><p>I just finished <b><i>Parable of the Sower</i></b>.</p><p>What a great book.</p><p>It was published in 1993.</p><p>Why didn't I hear of it until recently?</p><p>Probably has something to do with the that same blank page of history that has made the Tulsa Massacre, the Wilmington Coup and Juneteenth new news to me.</p><p>Anyway, I have found her and her thinking and writing, late but at least not never.</p><p>One good book deserves another, so I have begun the rest of the <b><i>Parable</i></b>, that of <b><i>the Talents</i></b>.</p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">Sower</i> starts out with a bang: chapter one has a date in the year 2024.</p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">Talents</i> starts with an explosion: the date (not part of the explosion) is 2032; the explosion is the brief statement by Franklin Taylor Bankole, a key character from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Sower</i> who summarizes, briefly, recent history.</p><p>Octavia published this in 1998 so she was writing it between 1993 and 1998.</p><p>An unseen but palpable presence, part malignancy, part amazement descended upon me as I read these words:</p><p>"I have read that the period of upheaval that journalists have begun to refer to as “the Apocalypse” or more commonly, more bitterly, “the Pox” lasted from 2015 through 2030 – a decade and a half of chaos. This is untrue. The Pox has been a much longer torment. It began well before 2015, perhaps before the turn of the millennium. It has not ended.</p><p>I have also read that the Pox was caused by accidentally coinciding climatic, economic and sociological crises. It would be more honest to say that the Pox was caused by our refusal to deal with obvious problems in those areas. We caused the problems: then we sat and watched as they grew into crises. I have heard people deny this, but I was born in 1970. I have seen enough to know that it is true. I have watched education become more a privilege of the rich than the basic necessity that it must be if a civilized society is to survive. I have watched as convenience, profit and inertia excused greater and more dangerous environmental degradation. I have watched poverty, hunger and disease become inevitable for more and more people. </p><p>Overall, the Pox has had the effect of an installment-plan World War III. In fact there were several small, bloody shooting wars going on around the world during the Pox. These were stupid affairs – wastes of life and treasure. They were fought, ostensibly, to defend against vicious foreign enemies. All too often they were actually fought because inadequate leaders did not know what else to do. Such leaders knew that they could depend on fear, suspicion, hatred, need, and greed to arouse patriotic support for war.</p><p>Amid all this, somehow, the United States of America suffered a major nonmilitary defeat. It lost no important war, yet it did not survive the Pox. Perhaps it simply lost sight of what it had once intended to be, then blundered aimlessly until it exhausted itself."</p><div style="text-align: center;">*******************************************************</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Parable of the Talents</i></b>, Octavia E. Butler, Copyright 1998, ISBN 978-0-446-67578-9</div>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-15951780444553585472024-02-18T08:33:00.000-08:002024-02-19T10:13:05.002-08:00A New Hat For The Fray<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_29smWnKWZ-ixJJoneUgAmlLUtMZnBxhlNZjNdjoKAAl09rqg4KeLFATsUnUxGzZ336J7VjXVX9rfvMB5SVJEIvbn6xenaYFvr-bDjGjQbDOE6oDCamWQbUM3glmRMHb71M4k4XFOrDZP4DCLuF8kd6kymH2Hgq1zaZ4wpFI70uDfynGdVAMf0bTAFS6U/s939/SAFTA%20hat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="891" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_29smWnKWZ-ixJJoneUgAmlLUtMZnBxhlNZjNdjoKAAl09rqg4KeLFATsUnUxGzZ336J7VjXVX9rfvMB5SVJEIvbn6xenaYFvr-bDjGjQbDOE6oDCamWQbUM3glmRMHb71M4k4XFOrDZP4DCLuF8kd6kymH2Hgq1zaZ4wpFI70uDfynGdVAMf0bTAFS6U/w608-h640/SAFTA%20hat.jpg" width="608" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Black Americans saved us in 2020.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I think the Democratic Party National Committee should issue this hat in commemoration of that historic event.</p><p style="text-align: center;">SAVE AMERICA FROM trump AGAIN! </p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-15479255883249476142024-02-16T10:32:00.000-08:002024-02-16T21:23:35.400-08:00This Is Not A Gibson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEha7BWrXwriPSBfFMDaTTEnIVXdl7LQsNxRgnYveZoLMpSLT9WLNZgYdCaPSP-sLz1pzijLPmMlshM4bwSooccTa3yxNAsRFJ8LLxb3R77Tn5W2sDWI4fRSqKtaT3Hb_PTuMCW0F7nTl-Dal9m2dbM5GaIdztwIxnQlWv0QRVzIyaxKYFOZ1LWND_LNHo/s971/lopez%20martini%20SC%20112818%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="971" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEha7BWrXwriPSBfFMDaTTEnIVXdl7LQsNxRgnYveZoLMpSLT9WLNZgYdCaPSP-sLz1pzijLPmMlshM4bwSooccTa3yxNAsRFJ8LLxb3R77Tn5W2sDWI4fRSqKtaT3Hb_PTuMCW0F7nTl-Dal9m2dbM5GaIdztwIxnQlWv0QRVzIyaxKYFOZ1LWND_LNHo/w640-h426/lopez%20martini%20SC%20112818%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></h1><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;">Why Trump and the GOP are burning the entire system down</h1><p style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Opinion by Thom Hartmann</p><p>Today’s Republican Party is dedicated to destroying what they call the “deep state” and the rest of us call the American government. From Trump followers in MAGA hats at rallies to Republican US Senators, they’ll all tell you this without a moment’s hesitation.</p><p>Steve Bannon even proclaimed it as the main goal of the Trump presidency in their first months in the White House, saying Trump’s goal was the “deconstruction of the administrative state.”</p><p>*******************************************************</p><p>This snippet got me thinking.</p><p>In a book published in 2020, Kurt Andersen fills more than 300 pages with clear, concise and frightening documentation of how, starting in the 1970s, a small group of mostly old, old money (names like Koch and Olin) set out to dismantle the New Deal and return America to its founding roots: a few obscenely wealthy and a vast mudsill of compliant, fear ridden and manor house dependent workers.</p><p>We used to call that feudalism.</p><p>The primary means to achieving that goal as the Second Founders saw it, was to dismantle as much as possible the Government.</p><p>Where but from the government came the largess, equity and tendency toward equality that had grown into American Society since 1932?</p><p>The means of dismantling that New Deal Nightmare was to dismantle the Government.</p><p>So, they formed Heritage Foundations and Federalist Societies and took over or infiltrated major colleges and universities and on and on.</p><p>They assembled lists of malleable candidates for the judiciary at all levels.</p><p>They lobbied existing, not yet part of the CABAL members of the legislatures, federal and state, and got a gradual commencement of disintegration of all the laws and regulations underpinning the New Deal.</p><p>"Framed" issues were promulgated: "keep 'em barefoot and pregnant" became "Pro Life"; Jim Crow became "War On Drugs"; immigration became "Rapists and Drug Addicts"; there were many, many more.</p><p>Armed with all the newly "framed" issues they wove a cloth of prejudice, half-truths and lies, and with that cloth thrown over them, state capitol after state capitol became majority red.</p><p>They unleashed an abnormally vicious and toxic form of christianity upon the land.</p><p>They engulfed and co-opted the NRA and turned it into a heavily, militarily armed leader in resistance to the Government.</p><p> They monied up the NRA so that it might create the judicial and legislative infrastructure to arm all of America, at least all Americans who had been told that they were victims.</p><p>They began to dismantle the Public Education System.</p><p>To name a few of their activities.</p><p>They were and are a clandestine group for the most part.</p><p>And they really didn't expect to get very far with their agenda.</p><p>But any retrogression is better than none, they all agreed.</p><p>In 1980 the American people picked the perfect useful idiot for the agenda of the few, the rich and the powerful.</p><p>Ronald Reagan had eight years in office, and starting with busting the Air Traffic Controllers Union he handed the keys to feudal resurgence to those few, rich and powerful.</p><p>As life happens, the 80s became the 90s and then the 00s and so on; and now we are here: 2023.</p><p>Some time back in that continuum the few, rich and powerful became increasingly amazed at their continuing success and at the magnitude of their achievement; then they became pensive, and then somewhere in the teens, they became outright alarmed.</p><p>Much though they fantasize that vast, docile, fearful, serf-like mudsill they knew there is a soft underbelly of fatal flaw in really achieving that goal: serfs have no buying power.</p><p>There is only one way to keep corporations getting bigger, fewer and more powerful.</p><p>That way needs to be a way of enhancing and advancing the quarterly growth of profit, enhancing shareholder value ("shareholders" being another term for the few, rich and powerful) using most of that quarterly profit, however, not for distribution to the shareholders, or research and development, or employee income and benefits, but for stock buybacks - fewer shares are more valuable shares and what more enhances shareholder value than more valuable shares; and given the universally assigned corporate CEO mission - stock price enhancement, not silly things like product development or employee well-being, the CEOs prospered; and having your value held in an unsold asset is the finest form of tax avoidance - and increasing size and corporate heft vertically and horizontally gives corporations a choke hold on the existence of unions (oblivion for them, they said) and cost of labor (wages shall serve shareholder value, they said) and of keeping the whole cycle virtuously careening toward Valhalla. </p><p>That way (the one way to keep corporations getting bigger, fewer and more powerful) is to keep the mudsill buying and buying and buying causing the economy to grow and to grow and grow, and causing the few, rich and powerful to be richer and richer and richer.</p><p>On its face it's a Ponzi.</p><p>At its core it's a chimera.</p><p>You can't get blood out of a stone, is an old saw that comes to mind.</p><p>No value but shareholders' and no wages but permanently low are two factors on a collision course the few, the rich and the powerful could see.</p><p>But what results from the collision?</p><p>Just as the few, rich and powerful were getting nervous about all of that they got thrown aside by some of the mudsill that they had been prodding back to feudalism and they found out what the results of that collision was going to look like.</p><p>And it was grim.</p><p>The inmates took over the asylum.</p><p>For all their innate viciousness, meanness and, at times, outright criminality those dismantlers of American Equity and Progress, the few, the rich and the powerful, were and are still men and women of substance: they all went to the right schools, and they all know the difference between a Martini and a Gibson.</p><p>So they have some idea of how things work and why they are the way they are.</p><p>They just didn't like the way things had become since 1932, and they are now beginning to worry about how things are becoming, since 2016, and they are terrified of what might be the shape of things yet to be.</p><p>Lauren Boebert wouldn't know a Gibson if one crept up behind her and bit her on the ass.</p><p>And that pretty well describes the republican party of today.</p><p>They want to dismantle the deep state - we call it the Government - not because that is a means to the end envisioned by the few, rich and powerful, but because Q said to do it.</p><p>And because it gets clicks and makes them social media influencers.</p><p>And what could be better than that?</p><p>For the millions of MAGA, they constitute a lofty role model.</p><p>MAGA are idiots and they cheer the idiots they have elected as they say predictably idiotic bullshit.</p><p>They cheer when a low horsepower wannabe Don - named don - raves about exterminating the vermin.</p><p>They bow down and worship en masse when a gigantic empty suit topped with a mass of yellow flying matter is crane-hoisted on stages across the land.</p><p>One would prefer of golden calf.</p><p>But not everyone who has brought us to this sad state of affairs is MAGA.</p><p>Always remember and never forget: the few, the wealthy, the powerful and the deeply invested started this thing.</p><p>But they lost control.</p><p>And that may be fatal.</p><p>For the old money - the few, the wealthy, the powerful and the deeply invested - MAGA is a monster let loose upon the land.</p><p>Or maybe it is not a monster, maybe it is Madame Lafarge.</p><p>Listening to Margery Taylor Greene would support that possibility.</p><p>Except Madame Lafarge was smart.</p><p>However: maybe pondering what is now Place de la Concorde sends shivers through whatever passes for spinal cords in the few, the wealthy, the powerful and the deeply invested.</p><p>Or maybe their feelings are parallel to Oppenheimer's fears and thoughts a few seconds prior to Trinity.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-85873394081910095942024-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:002024-02-14T11:38:22.099-08:00America Is Not Even A Player - Anymore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIBuxOBTS8shRhb5gWxnGxQm8eHmH3A7_6WtPtzqT6wqJ1T9SMta-iKpqNwCuPr45EqqzMyIhU8lujFQUVaUENLL4dDXhq03Kkca3cXQJvafLbgbPkU4Ryy1Pbsm2XV8khJgFrqAo8rPHExDaql8SVPm7ASot8b7VbkQfCYkNheHKcB_7fSs5FFK8q4Gj/s2319/paris%20movie%20shoot%20on%20the%20seine%20SC%20021024%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1546" data-original-width="2319" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIBuxOBTS8shRhb5gWxnGxQm8eHmH3A7_6WtPtzqT6wqJ1T9SMta-iKpqNwCuPr45EqqzMyIhU8lujFQUVaUENLL4dDXhq03Kkca3cXQJvafLbgbPkU4Ryy1Pbsm2XV8khJgFrqAo8rPHExDaql8SVPm7ASot8b7VbkQfCYkNheHKcB_7fSs5FFK8q4Gj/w640-h426/paris%20movie%20shoot%20on%20the%20seine%20SC%20021024%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p> Back in the 90s, I read an article in Foreign Affairs about internet connectivity world-wide. The net message was that Asia, particularly South Korea was doing it at a breakneck pace, and the United States, due to its need to maximize shareholder value, was opting out of the game. Even then it was obvious that GB and faster internet was the underpinning to the economies of the near future (even then there were 3D printers - if you wanted to print a new prototype back at HQ, probably conjured and designed in some employee's home, due to the fact that GB and faster obviously would eliminate the need for people gathering in congregate workplaces, you needed a way to get it to HQ). </p><p>That being the case I was quite alarmed about Maximizing shareholder value and its future impact on our economy and our position in the world. For example, when would we have landed on the moon if we had been maximizing <a href="https://noellivefromparis.blogspot.com/2024/01/was-really-angry-when-i-wrote-this-in.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">shareholder value</span></a>?</p><p>However, like Pogo, I said "my. my" and moved on.</p><p>I was sitting here just now with little to do, wondering the state of internet connectivity in South Korea today.</p><p>Here is a status report: "In South Korea, internet speeds are remarkably fast compared to the global average. Urban South Korean homes typically enjoy 100 Mbit/s services as the standard. Moreover, the country is rapidly rolling out 1 Gbit/s (1,024 Mbit/s) connections, which cost approximately $20 per month".</p><p>What are y'all paying Comcast for maximizing their shareholder value?</p><p>And for what "speed", speed being a contractual aspiration, not product feature in American ISP-land?</p><p>There is a day a'comin' when Americans are going to be heard muttering in unison "how did we lose world leadership, on all levels, from geopolitical to cultural to economic?"</p><p>Here's How: maximizing shareholder value, refusing the contributions - even trying to nullify the existence of - a young, vibrant, creative, risk taking and diverse population in favor of adopting delusions of the good old days, the 1850s when men were men, and they were mostly white, and consciously, at the policy level, moving the majority back to feudalism.</p><p>How's that for broken-field, non-sequitur ridden ranting?</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-20799472756123576062024-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:002024-02-14T19:56:48.894-08:00E Pluribus Unum<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0gT24nypgogYAF4a9D04jpM_TjUZhaNFomGjRb2bdxusimEQFzNwwlTnwpOfYP5BYs8kMvIvddPqBXqUN0UyQ9pgJ_DVqh9SvhwejUkXsrX-nmyuzzLDgTYlGH24t3oDKljG1TMLqRXu_ZGxrTJ_F2d70Hz1v6kes_gthrWvgRQ_E76Fuq-OKrnPW_26/s2365/lopez%20bald%20eagles%20SC%20020724%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1577" data-original-width="2365" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0gT24nypgogYAF4a9D04jpM_TjUZhaNFomGjRb2bdxusimEQFzNwwlTnwpOfYP5BYs8kMvIvddPqBXqUN0UyQ9pgJ_DVqh9SvhwejUkXsrX-nmyuzzLDgTYlGH24t3oDKljG1TMLqRXu_ZGxrTJ_F2d70Hz1v6kes_gthrWvgRQ_E76Fuq-OKrnPW_26/w640-h426/lopez%20bald%20eagles%20SC%20020724%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>If I had turned out to be a dystopian future fantasy fiction writer, I'm pretty sure I would never have come up with a scenario similar to trump's recent remarks about NATO.</p><p>Nor could I have imagined the degree of stupidity, hate, ignorance and malignity that has come to affect and infect so many of our fellows, allowing a huge baggy empty suit to engage their deep, deep affection.</p><p>Without them we would still be muddling through like always instead of being on the brink of catastrophe.</p><p>I am a onetime supporter of an all-volunteer military; in the interim I have come to an opposite point of view.</p><p>As I have contemplated the experience of having once been thrown into a randomly selected, huge, and heterogeneous segment of America's young male population, all of whom had been assigned the mission of "figure it out and make it happen" and having watched and participated in the interesting and chaotic sociology of us trying to "make it happen", I have come to the alternate viewpoint: the draft was the right way to "make it happen; and the draft should exist as a basic part of the national fabric, non-respective to whether the nation is at war or not; that chaotic sociology is how many become one.</p><p>That was what I observed as having been "made to happen" by the draft.</p><p>Could the loss of that draft-driven forced amalgamation of disparate human components be the root cause for the rot that now besets us? </p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-62733128576805740102024-02-09T20:27:00.000-08:002024-02-09T20:34:00.799-08:00The Maggots Are Slithering<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh02N7XUsbVHE6LxVn4b20p_xJvimBSgaKOG4ucwdu2eGtH0tHwo1K8IyB-ejJj5JExlK-5J2ffDgPAQZCgoecmcy0Xq4gmxZnIV2Fne7tCmOcrFNvS8az6v7Y7JLrLsvCLg9DF11QqL0xmlwoay4P3GdnS3-A3Qry-Tvaa4TH3Y0ILD5ihoEVy9aUGt0p/s639/maggot%20hat%20073122%2000001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="639" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh02N7XUsbVHE6LxVn4b20p_xJvimBSgaKOG4ucwdu2eGtH0tHwo1K8IyB-ejJj5JExlK-5J2ffDgPAQZCgoecmcy0Xq4gmxZnIV2Fne7tCmOcrFNvS8az6v7Y7JLrLsvCLg9DF11QqL0xmlwoay4P3GdnS3-A3Qry-Tvaa4TH3Y0ILD5ihoEVy9aUGt0p/w640-h606/maggot%20hat%20073122%2000001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibNhfA7yIQxAtweqdX8c7WgcVYAi-PZtHM-FONX238UkVZA_rzsP3V8YuRdVvMofVFUSozqMVgFyP90X8F5WV3sLZkrddj5BcS9jtjx5uEOlvQ2eSdybC3vk1mF0lBhpCXy6mMupw_EeBfTKvFSMhKbnr0zxMJt-Caj-74DdAqvesmAmxT9XjWjA6TsPAO/s1041/maggot%20jd%20vance%20SC%20020924%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="1041" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibNhfA7yIQxAtweqdX8c7WgcVYAi-PZtHM-FONX238UkVZA_rzsP3V8YuRdVvMofVFUSozqMVgFyP90X8F5WV3sLZkrddj5BcS9jtjx5uEOlvQ2eSdybC3vk1mF0lBhpCXy6mMupw_EeBfTKvFSMhKbnr0zxMJt-Caj-74DdAqvesmAmxT9XjWjA6TsPAO/w640-h266/maggot%20jd%20vance%20SC%20020924%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">This guy slithered into politics by writing "Hillbilly Elegy".</p><p style="text-align: left;">Made a lot of money too.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Sounded good on Public Broadcasting. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Now he's hyper maga, and not 80 years old. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Ohio elected him senator. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The dildo is likely to select him as running mate (Elise Marie Stefanik has fat ankles; donnie doesn't like fat ankles). </p><p style="text-align: left;">Watch out, America. </p><p style="text-align: left;">This is your next nightmare and it's coming to a ballot box near you in November. </p><p style="text-align: left;">And always remember, and never forget, no matter the ballot count, the election has already been fixed and they're all after little donnie the dildo.</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-61864246721562343022024-01-26T16:10:00.000-08:002024-01-27T12:06:20.217-08:00Everything Is Broken<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-LzEjkdt0DBZN1BSixayMjk3by4usbPta6mgmmSLMO6Acz_s9YrH6ar_pp0a0aNFrETkvdScvQm9ojRQtWijHIqT-KVReh-oBiShlFfFVZ517yJXEhcWfBD-l9xc-qWnlMmFLj1dMZNWkNt4w9uLP0UUat8_qCYJeQxO8dX4wgqgHJOGsZg5B0HdNA6A/s3473/lopez%20black%20rabbit%20SC%20011124%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2315" data-original-width="3473" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-LzEjkdt0DBZN1BSixayMjk3by4usbPta6mgmmSLMO6Acz_s9YrH6ar_pp0a0aNFrETkvdScvQm9ojRQtWijHIqT-KVReh-oBiShlFfFVZ517yJXEhcWfBD-l9xc-qWnlMmFLj1dMZNWkNt4w9uLP0UUat8_qCYJeQxO8dX4wgqgHJOGsZg5B0HdNA6A/w640-h426/lopez%20black%20rabbit%20SC%20011124%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">I could try to wax wordsmith, but Bob Dylan did it superbly in 1989.</p><p style="text-align: center;">But first, today's news.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Bi Bi attacked the International Court of Justice today for not throwing out South Africa's suit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.</p><p style="text-align: center;">He said the Court is antisemitic.</p><p style="text-align: center;">"We're killing all the Palestinians so god can sort it all out in heaven; that's not genocide; that's good military policy" he said.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Or so thought I heard.</p><p style="text-align: center;">With the world as we have known it since 1945 crumbling, let's all listen to an anthem.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=everything%20is%20broken%20videos&FORM=VIRE0&mid=138144D6AD9B7B462F94138144D6AD9B7B462F94&view=detail&ru=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Deverything%20is%20broken" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Everything Is Broken - Bing video</span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;">I guess Bob got the Nobel for being a prophet, not a poet.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-89414425319279166872024-01-22T21:29:00.000-08:002024-01-26T09:18:35.925-08:00So, Let's Debate <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgRMZnouqJAyI7msjb5_wBlZHDO7tQ_vAyLfqBSmVBhpYv5ds4o1bbAKon3Xxama1PihKiuPhPNxoix4RUVHbKpoH1YsyrJP3z-7PcXwKvKSbTzg28x_cfHWzSgjDV6aHcsq_D7slVjuZuvxxpUyYM9kvoUxgPTDlD8jfWEkdDXAoUmDlKhnz2qWU3r3U/s2663/lopez%20elm%20in%20the%20sunset%20SC%20012124%2000000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1775" data-original-width="2663" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgRMZnouqJAyI7msjb5_wBlZHDO7tQ_vAyLfqBSmVBhpYv5ds4o1bbAKon3Xxama1PihKiuPhPNxoix4RUVHbKpoH1YsyrJP3z-7PcXwKvKSbTzg28x_cfHWzSgjDV6aHcsq_D7slVjuZuvxxpUyYM9kvoUxgPTDlD8jfWEkdDXAoUmDlKhnz2qWU3r3U/w640-h426/lopez%20elm%20in%20the%20sunset%20SC%20012124%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">donnie the dildo, wanna be mafia don, failed businessman and political loser, wants the American people to elect him dictator.</div><p>So, OK, let's talk about that.</p><p>Not too many years ago, that would have been a campaign ending proposition for any political candidate.</p><p>But today, here and now, 2024, that whiningly nasal request draws coliseum-filling cheers.</p><p>The fact that that group is not anywhere near a majority gets lost in the Roman Empire Theatrics of the dildo.</p><p>(According to a national NBC News poll conducted in April 2023, only 24% of Americans surveyed have positive views of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Another source estimates that about 10% of the U.S. population favor the positions of what President Biden has called “MAGA Republicans”.)</p><p>Since we have no apparent or readily described means of dodging that bullet - dildo dictatorship - OK, bring it on for discussion as to how to decide about the proposition.</p><p>I propose a series of debates.</p><p>Not between the dildo and his opponent but between him and the rest of us.</p><p>He needs to make his case to all of us by debating as many of us as can sit to challenge him.</p><p>The dildo will be required over the course of most of the days of the weeks of the months between now and November 5, 2024 to debate all comers.</p><p>The comers will be the obvious ones, starting with Liz Cheney, probably followed by Adam Schiff and then Jeremy Rifkin; there are many others.</p><p>And any American citizen who wants to debate the dildo will be eligible.</p><p>Cheney, Schiff and Rifkin are debaters of a sort to be called "implicit"; that means their very existence requires them to enter this verbal combat.</p><p>Others of that sort are Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Michele Obama, George W Bush, Laura Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, E Jean Carroll, and Whoopy Goldberg.</p><p>All other Americans will be designated "non-implicit" debaters.</p><p>The "non-implicit" cadre will be chosen by the American people from an internet enabled lottery.</p><p>The winners of the lottery will be the chosen "non-implicit" debaters and they will be alphabetized by last name, randomized by ZIP Code, and will be sworn in and assigned debate times and dates (an hour each, 8 a day) until time runs out.</p><p>There will be a required oath to debate the dildo.</p><p>This oath - to be administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America: " <b><i>I despise dictators, especially little tin hat wanna-be dictators, and I revere the Constitution of the United States of America, and promise to defend it with the last blood and life force that I possess; I will not vote for trump and will engage him in verbal combat to expose him for the cancer on the body politic that he is; so help me god.</i></b>"</p><p>To protect the debaters from violence, they will be shielded from the dildo by engaging him over ZOOM.</p><p>There will be no winners of the debates, no losers, just outcomes - outcomes being what each American concludes from each instance of verbal combat.</p><p>It should be noted that MAGA americans will have been assumed to have been excluded from fifth column activity due to the nature of the oath they will be required to have taken before debating.</p><p>That oath clearly forbids the inclusion of MAGA rot.</p><p>If, in spite of their oath, if a lottery chosen debater becomes docile and compliant in the presence of the dildo - albeit only his ZOOM presence - said debater will be immediately clapped in irons and conducted to a maximum-security prison, therein to lie in disgrace until death takes him/her to his/her reward.</p><p>Oaths, we have been incessantly told in the donnie the dildo era are of paramount importance, and violation of oaths are to be punished biblically.</p><p>That means death.</p><p>SO BE IT.</p><p>I thought I heard someone say.</p><p>(Maybe - probably, even - it was god).</p><p>Anyway, one hopes that the viewership of the debates will be significant - exceeding, say, Super Bowls.</p><p>Based on viewing the debates, the American people can then make their decision: do they want to live in a dictatorship?</p><p>And they will vote.</p><p>And history will quake, and shiver, and shake in the runup to that decision; in its wake, Fukuyama may finally be proven right: we may will have reached the end of history.</p><p>We may will have discovered that the rot was unstoppable; that ignorance, fear, prejudice and hatred are truly the currency of the land. </p><p>But, then again, we might will have gotten America back again (<span style="color: red;">GABA</span>).</p><p>And in either case, it will have been an election based on the free and fair competition of ideas in the marketplace.</p><p>Not alternate facts and the hallucinations of geriatric white people.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-72099337565184010762024-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:002024-01-22T16:40:47.845-08:00Capital Punishment: Asphyxiation In Alabama<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAART4unG3iFoGsT74PASIcd0g7HaJOozMS2TP4V8cn0gPCE7nEKHS67gzp1l-UHeMrZbd5QBi3nJiZJGejGki6d_VziJ15giniTPbu-zxTQ511NP-547VccfsMS7k9JprmtUUPnuNsM8rqbmgT2e_6wb1LJMGbZn5K1BADv1vVmEucieR__qcde6J2WG/s1113/louisville%20slugger%20012224%2000000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="1113" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAART4unG3iFoGsT74PASIcd0g7HaJOozMS2TP4V8cn0gPCE7nEKHS67gzp1l-UHeMrZbd5QBi3nJiZJGejGki6d_VziJ15giniTPbu-zxTQ511NP-547VccfsMS7k9JprmtUUPnuNsM8rqbmgT2e_6wb1LJMGbZn5K1BADv1vVmEucieR__qcde6J2WG/w640-h320/louisville%20slugger%20012224%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I guess they tried, and it didn't work?</div><p></p><p>I've asked Bing and she is totally confused on the subject:</p><p>"Did Alabama try to kill a prison inmate with nitrogen gas?"</p><p>"Yes, Alabama tried to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas on January 26, 2024".</p><p>"Are you sure of the date January 26, 2024?"</p><p>"I apologize for the mistake in my previous response. Alabama tried to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas on January 25, 2024".</p><p>I gave up asking Bing at this point.</p><p>But maybe they have already tried and failed.</p><p>I understand they have scheduled a second attempt.</p><p>This time, though, they have some backup.</p><p>"If the gas don't work" the warden of the prison was heard to say, "we're gonna use the old plastic sack method; always works on babies; at least that's what the warning labels say".</p><p>"But if that fails, we've got a Louisville Slugger at the ready; got a kid from the high school baseball team lined up to swing it".</p><p>"Good kid; lotta home runs".</p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875161427865133293.post-91906809138433850332024-01-21T17:12:00.000-08:002024-01-21T17:12:14.217-08:00trump Seen Through A Vaudeville Lense<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6KNJlWWGXnlJfw7YoqADq4S9PY3ZHlnGc_RcpeGPuFpTBDXzsbBNZxXNo0e3-CUgpgPK3SOX6Yo6_C6ADjUaTluqX0L1aESGWXSnlpggT4BnfUi0QjSXHXyEaG1Hptk0ErJ6HsC6i1aFxNzSFXYab7JJYyAfpRaDfLuMixcspbMg9hOXEs-LzoGRZYrW/s3385/politics%20puty%20and%20donnie%20SC%20121823%2000000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1661" data-original-width="3385" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6KNJlWWGXnlJfw7YoqADq4S9PY3ZHlnGc_RcpeGPuFpTBDXzsbBNZxXNo0e3-CUgpgPK3SOX6Yo6_C6ADjUaTluqX0L1aESGWXSnlpggT4BnfUi0QjSXHXyEaG1Hptk0ErJ6HsC6i1aFxNzSFXYab7JJYyAfpRaDfLuMixcspbMg9hOXEs-LzoGRZYrW/w640-h314/politics%20puty%20and%20donnie%20SC%20121823%2000000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">Burns and Allen were a successful comedy duo that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. </p><p>They met in 1922 and married in 1926.</p><p>They did a lot of shows during those years.</p><p>Often, they did two shows a night.</p><p>When they did two shows a night George used the break in between to have a beautiful, double, deeply chilled and shaken martini.</p><p>FDR called that type of martini a silver cloud.</p><p>In any event, that's what George did on breaks between acts.</p><p>Gracie noticed that, after the silver cloud, George was not as sharp on his lines and comebacks as during the first show.</p><p>She pointed it out to him.</p><p>"You know, in the second act, after your martini, you are a little slow off your marks" she said.</p><p>George thought for a moment.</p><p>"You are absolutely right; we need to cut out the second show".</p><p>Joe Biden is too old to be what America and the world needs for the next four years in the position of American President and Leader of the Free World.</p><p>Ergo, we need to put donnie the dildo back in power???????</p><p><br /></p>Noel McKeehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00351863632119229312noreply@blogger.com0