#people are like ‘modern Alicent would be a woman for trump’

[dulcewrites]

I would kill for some family moments between the fcc characters, whether it be between Aemond and his mother and siblings, Myrah’s parents and sister or Aemond and Myrah and their children

There will be more stuff like that in Life with You but here’s two small little things 🫶🏽 featuring Myrah’s granny (after the twins are born) and with Aegon and alicent (with a 10 year old Maelor and a 6/7 year old Baelor). A bit out of order

Family ties

The room was silent. Despite the sun beaming through the windows, frost had began to gather on the seal. An unusually bitter cold front swarming into the Red Keep.

“Their hair is very light.”

Myrah blinked in confusion, nodding slowly.” Yes, because Aemond’s is.”

She was met by a grunt from her grandmother. Both sets of eyes stayed trained on the twins in their cot. Alysanne full on drooling, deep in sleep, while Saera squirms silently.

“This one does not like to sleep,” Myrah leans down to pick her up. “Alysanne sleeps like her dad, like the dead. But Saera and I are morning people, isn’t that right sweet girl.

Saera lays her head on her mother’s shoulder, wide awake. Large dark eyes watching her great grandmother now. Dark eyes that match Farrah’s kohl lined ones.

“They look like you already. That is good.”

Myrah had to fight back the laugh. She was quite nervous since receiving the letter that her grandmother was coming to visit to see the kids. There was no asking, just telling; very much in her grandmother’s behavior. Despite how much she adored her grandmother, Myrah knew that Farrah could be a bit… crass when she wants to be.

Farrah had greeted the Queen, King, and Dowager Queen with fake pleasantries. Aemond got an unimpressed once over. The only people she seemed to be warm with was Myrah, and the children.

“She does not like me,” Aemond muttered the evening Farrah arrived. One tense dinner later and he was sure of it.

“No,” Myrah shook her head, moving the decorative pillows from the bed. “She doesn’t like most people. Big difference.”

Most men really.

The only man Myrah had seen her grandma actually cordial with consistantly was her late husband, Myrah’s grandfather. He passed when she was just a girl but she still remembers the brightness of his laugh and callouses on his dark hands. A swan ship builder turned merchant traveler with a warm sense of humor.

Myrah always feared her grandmother’s happiness would be buried with him.

Saera coos and Myrah bounces slightly.

“No more for you,” Farrah runs a gently finger over Saera’s chubby cheek. “They are almost as big as you.”

Myrah laughs. Aemond had told her he would give as many kids as her heart desired, whispered it after she gave birth to the twins. Even in the chaos of labor, milk of the poppy, and realizing there were two babes, she melted a bit. The look he gave then was probably the reason why she ended in a bed, exhausted and ears ringing from the sound of cries.

“Esme was quite big when she was born. Alicent told me that all of her kids except Aemond were as well. Must run in the family.”

Farrah raises a faint brow, tossing the end of her wrap over her shoulder. “And you are happy here?”

Myrah gets a whiff of the lavender oils they use in Saera’s hair and looks over to see Alysanne’s lids fluttering. She beams. “Of course.”

It was Alicent who first found them. She heard the giggles before seeing them but when she did she let out gasp. Taking the messy state of her grandsons.

Baelor, bowl in one hand and other hand fingers deep into sticky substance. Maelor, next to him also scooping the sweet treat out of the bowl. Alicent has recognized the golden liquid immediately. It was used to fill the lemon cakes that were so popular amongst those at court.

Both of the boys had ducked their heads in slight guilt once spotted by their grandmother.

When she asked who took the bowl from the kitchen, they proceeded to point at each other. With a sigh, Alicent crossed her arms. She walked them to the council chambers knowing their fathers would be there.

“It is not good to take things that are not yours,” Alicent reprimands as they down the hall.

“Yes, grandmother.”

They reply in tune with each other. It makes her want to laugh and her heart ache at the same time. The two of them reminder her so much of Aemond and Aegon at those ages. She was in no state to enjoy their youth, still feeling like a girl herself at that point.

Alicent can only try to replace the sadness she feels about that with the reassurance that her kids, at least on the surface, seem to have a better handle of it all. Things feel easier as she interacts with her grandchildren. Mayhaps she can try to give them the warmth she wanted to receive; the warmth her kids did as well. She drops them off, taking the bowl to return, but not before turning and whispering.

“If you ever want sweets. Just come to me, I’ll sneak you some.”

Aemond was the first to stand, frustration on his face, when they walked in the room. While Aegon just laughs, still seated at head of the table. Both Baelor and Maelor both giggle along with him in response till Aemond narrows his eye at them.

“Fine,” he shrugs, gaze on Baelor. “You can tell me who took it or I can go get your mother.”

Baelor’s resolve falters a bit, but he does not say anything. Aemond turns to look at Aegon. His older brother sighs, resounded because he knows Aemond will not drop this.

“Maelor, I am sure you would not want me to do the same,” Aegon pipes up.

Both boys exchange a look before both loudly blaming the act on the other. Aemond and Aegon just stand there watching as they passionately throw the other under the bus.

“Ok,” Aegon holds his hand up, feeling a headache from the wine he had and the yelling coming on. “Why don’t we call it a wash and both of you apologize to the cooks.”

Maelor replies with a ‘yes father’ while Baelor nods with a ‘yes uncle egg’.

“Good, now ask one of the maids to help you two get cleaned up.”

Aegon motions to one of the guards to get them. Baelor shoots his dad a cheeky wave before leaving.

“We need to step up the amount of guards they have,” Aemond sighs.

Aegon shrugs. “Trust me, they will find trouble as long as they have each other. Regardless of how many people are watching them.”

Aemond doesn’t say anything because he knows it is true.

“It is good that they have each other.”

Aemond looks at Aegon.

“Yeah it is,” he thinks about the fleeting moments of the youth he had when it is was him and Aegon getting into something they should not. “I guess a little trouble is not so bad.”

[greenqueenhightower]

Hey, this may be controversial to some & even offensive but I have to say that Alicent’s motherhood is very understandable to me as someone who grew up in South Asian family. Not making any generalisations, but the community around me & even within my family there are so many Alicents who were robbed of their lives or dreams and given up by their families in arranged marriages. They are expected to uphold their duty as a wife & mother and they end up continuing the vicious cycle of abuse & torment. From my experience & what I have witnessed in my life, they grasp at what little power they have and inflict all that pain & bitterness towards their children. It doesn’t mean they do not love them. It’s such a complex, messed up situation that they will be the first ones to defend their kids from the outside world, but also pass on the cycle of abuse & inflict the pain on them.

It’s probably this cultural differences that makes me empathise and hold onto Alicent a lot. Because her portrayal is so real & heartbreaking to me. She does not live up to the societal ideal view of a mother, she is not even a good mother. But she doesn’t even know how to be one when such behaviour is what’s normalised in her own life. When people say that modern Alicent would be a “woman for Trump” I genuinely don’t get it. It’s such a shallow and surface level reading of her character. Societies like HoTD exist in the modern world & there are many Alicents out there. I think a modern Alicent would probably, hopefully, live in a society where she wouldn’t be tied to her father’s greed or she would even end up having similar life as she does now.

Hi anon 💚

Thank you so much for sharing; you’re making an excellent point about how South Asian women find themselves trapped in that vicious circle of oppression and service to duty, and then it’s difficult for them to express love. Your analysis of Alicent’s character is spot on; I also think that women like Alicent exist nowadays, and there are families who have or have had women like Alicent among them.

Growing older and looking at things from a more distant and healthier perspective, I’ve also realized I’ve met women like Alicent in my life. I understand Alicent’s inability to express love (even if she feels it immensely) because I’ve seen how it’s possible for a mother living her life feeling unloved herself and thinking that she will never be good enough.

I’ve seen women being forced to fulfill the family’s expectations by being married off at a young age, having children and tending the house and upholding the family’s values, only to be impossibly strict and emotionally distant from their children who grow up and have emotionally distant children of their own. These women are grandmothers now and if you ask them what they’d change in their life they’ll tell you they wish they had stayed girls for longer. They never grew up to find, love, and appreciate themselves as it happens in someone’s late teenage years/early adulthood, and they grew to hate themselves for denying themselves any freedom and agency. Their own mind and bodies became the oppressors in the end.

Like you said, the cycle of abuse continues and I’m so glad when people like you write their thoughts on Alicent and her relationship with motherhood because they are so insightful and so in tune with Alicent’s character.

[medusas-daughter]

https://www.tumblr.com/medusas-daughter/756745829152374784/i-had-to-block-so-many-alicent-stans-bulldozing-my?source=share

"to raise her sons to believe they are better than women simply because they're men."

They live in a patriarchal society, are you seriously going to blame her for being a woman of her time and raising her sons in accordance with the norms of that time? Because yes, in the Middle Ages, a woman is better than a man. Deal with it.

I don't usually answer these and just choose my peace but you caught me in a feisty mood so here we go.

First of all, this isn't the Middle Ages, this is Westeros, it's fictional, it's not real, whatever inspiration GRRM took from real history, Westeros is not real.

Second of all, pleanty of women had actual power in Westeros. Aegon didn't conquer shit on his own, Visenya and Rhaenys were right there and did most of the leg work. Dorne didn't have male primogeniture. The eldest became prince or princess of Dorne. Yes granter not in Westeros, not at the time, but it wasn't such a foreign concept to Westeros people. Half of the seven gods they believe in are in female form. Women weren't second class citizens not allowed to speak or think or act, Westeros isn't inspired by Taliban rule.

Viserys chose his eldest daughter as his heir, all of the Westeros Lords swore their fealty to her, and even after her brothers were born and Viserys had died, half of the Westeros Lords were still loyal to Rhaenyra and to that oath they once swore to her, Lady Arryn fought and won for her right to be the head of the Vale. All of these things happened during those "Middle Ages" you speak of, happened right in front of Alicent's eyes. She had a choice between accepting Rhaenyra as heir during a time where women were publically getting mroe official power or following her father's scheme and usurping her. She could have raised her sons to respect their sister and they would have received high places in court, like most princes and princesses and siblings of royals in medieval and modern times. But she chose to follow her father's ambitions and raise her sons to both despise women and fear their sister. Aegon, canonically, in both book and show, did not want to usurp Rhaenyra; don't get me wrong once he got a taste for power he didn't want to let it go, and once he lost his kids there was no going back; but he did not want it initially. He states in the show that he will not challenge Rhaenyra, and in the book he says "what kind of brother steals his sister's birthright", during those "Middle Ages", he acknowledged that his sister is the rightful heir. But Alicent has to convince him to usurp his sister, and she does that first by instilling paranoia and fear in him that if he doesn't become king Rhaenyra won't allow him to live (as if historically first borns were known to kill their younger siblings to keep their crowns...) and second by raising him and his brothers to intimatelye believe that a man is better/smarter/more capable of ruling than a woman and that a woman in power would ruin the country, just like Otto repeats multiple times.

Just because something has been the norm doesn't make it okay and it doesn't mean it's not possible to change it . If some people are capable of change, others are too. And I will absolutely blame anyone who stands in the way of positive change, whether in fiction or reality. Alicent wasn't the only once who stood in the way of rhaenyra getting her birthright, obviously, but she wasn't innocent in it and I will not spare her of any responsibility or view her as a poor innocent maiden with no agency just because she's a woman.

I don't even hate Alicent as a character, I do blame her for what she did and I pity her for what was done to her and I've acknowledged multiple times that she's a very realistic complex far right women for trump type of character (and if you don't like me saying that, go fight Olivia Cook who has literally described her character the same way this is a very lukewarm take considering the material). But yall green stans are making me hate her out of pure spite.

Istg green stans have got to be the most annoying group of people I have ever had to deal with in this fandom. Do you see me running around green blogs and forcing my opinions down their throat? Go read a fanfic, go rewatch the show, go enjoy your show/media/material the way you want to and leave me the fuck alone. I've blocked so many but they keep coming back. tf

[asoiafgotcollections]

so i just caught up on hotd and i keep seeing this take that alicent is anti-feminist/like a woman who would vote for trump (apparently one of the show runners said this?) and i’m having trouble articulating why that seems like a really dumb way to evaluate her character and storyline. thoughts?

It is dumb since Alicent Hightower is many things but she's definitely not your typical rally-going Trump stan who drives a monster truck. If we're going for contemporary political comparisons, Alicent would be Brett Kavanaugh's mom (metaphorically since I don't know how Kavanaugh's actual mom is), like a total wannabe ice queen with a lot of guilt. I said it on Twitter but it makes perfect sense that she fucks Criston Cole because hypocrisy is absolutely endemic among people whose lifeblood is propriety.

One of my college housemates is kind of like that: she's from the South and was always religious, from a historically Republican family, dated only one guy seriously who she married, is a very successful marketing executive, and then, when she was 30, right when the pressure to have kids hit, snapped and had an affair with my ex-boyfriend that was discovered when her husband punched my ex at a party. The point is, she did everything right in life and then, behind the scenes, she basically lost it and I genuinely feel for her even though I obviously oppose infidelity. Does that make sense?

Look at it like this: Alicent is subconsciously or maybe even consciously aware that she birthed actual monsters in Aemond and Aegon but aside from the fact she loves them against her best judgment, she NEEDS them to keep her place in society and quite frankly to stay alive like they're her meal ticket.

Remember, if Rhaenyra takes the throne, it's expected that she would kill all challengers to the throne and their allies, like not only Aegon and Aemond but Helaena and her children too, just like Tywin Lannister gave the order to Gregor Clegane to kill Elia Martell's kids. But as Aemond says, Alicent still holds love for Rhaenyra that her sons don't understand and I'd argue vice versa as well.

All that aside, I've always said it's silly to judge a female character on how "feminist" she is by modern standards and I stand by that because there is literally no way for a character in Westeros to be an intersectional feminist. That's just not a thing. We can say that Alicent's storyline (and Rhaenyra for that matter) is a proto-feminist narrative but that's markedly different than Alicent herself being feminist or anti-feminist!

[kiefbowl]

OMG EXACTLY THEY'RE SO WEIRD like one of the things i liked about got is that i thoroughly enjoyed characters who were antagonists or villains (I mean characters like cersei not psycho rapists like ramsay obv) and that's pretty much how i treat hotd. fans can't even do that they're mad ppl like alicent cause she's a compelling character as if it's personal indorsement of her actions or sth. meanwhile they love daemon...go figure

I also partly blame the producers for that "women for trump" comment cause it was soooo cringe like..why would you try to project modern politics on a medieval fantasy character 😭 i love rhaenyra but she's not a #feminist girlboss anymore than alicent is a trump supporter, her entire claim in the book is based on how her becoming queen will be the exception to the rule because her father named her as his heir so that male primogeniture in other noble houses wont be disrupted. reminds me of people treating northern independence as a noble cause against colonial oppression and not feudal lords having personal beef with the crown

i generally find the pearl-clutching over book changes so fucking hypocritical cause it's not even a proper book, it's 100-200 pages of fake history where they've projected their headcanons and treat them as canon. im having whiplash at the hypocrisy of Daemon/rhaenyra stans pretending to give a shit for laenas death and pretending it's canon that her and daemon and rhaenyra were all in a happy polyamorous relationship and the show erased it when its far more likely that the offhand reference to them being close had to do with daemon keeping rhaenyra close and maybe even having an affair with her while married given that he didn't wait 6 months to marry her after his wife's death

I must have missed the "woman for trump" comment. was that said about Alicent? Bizarre.

The Daemon/Rhaenyra shippers are...I'm going to call them out of touch, to be nice. I think the showrunners are doing a good job showing the relationship as predatory. The choice to give that episode to a female director was purposeful. I think some people have to have a greek chorus come out and tell them what's up or they just don't get it. If it's subtle, they be like "well we can interpret it how we want." How do you see Daemon taking off her hat any other way than putting her in danger for his benefit? I find Daemon compelling, I also find him sympathetic, I also find him villainous...some shippers seem to want to bend over backwards to explain away how he's not a villain? Like commit, do you like the character or not? If you have to reinterpret everything that happens maybe you just like Matt Smith, let's be real

[videoassocdallas]

Bart Chat 2/23/19 Greetings all,   We are very excited about DOCUFEST coming up October 3rd-6th at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas, but before we get to that, we have a program coming up this Saturday at The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.  As you may or may not know, they have a great Gordon Parks photo exhibit going on there. Most People know Gordon Parks from Shaft fame but he was also a great photographer and seeing the show is worth the trip.  We are teaming about with Amon Carter to show his earlier documentaries, Diary of a Harlem Family (1968, 20 minutes) and The World of Piri Thomas (1968, 60 minutes). Parks tells the story of the Fontenelle family. He was inspired to make this film after photographing the Fontenelles for a Life magazine photo essay on race and poverty in an attempt to show that, regardless of race and class, families across America all work to provide for their children. This a rare opportunity to see these films so please check them out. The World of Piri Thomas gives an unflinching view of the “mean streets” of Spanish Harlem as told by one of its most noted inhabitants. In this film, Thomas, who was a painter, poet, author, ex-con, and ex-junkie, shares his experiences and reads from his book, Down These Mean Streets.   Now back to DocuFest.  We live in, shall we say, unique times when questions about what is real and what is fake constantly permeate decision making. Should I click on that? Can you believe what he said? Can that be true? In these titles, DocuFest presents fresh oasis of media that ascribes to presenting reality and framing reality in a way to make us better citizens, to create awareness, and make us whole in a time when the news makes us feel empty, angry, less connected to the world and in the end, less human. Come to the Angelika Film Center Dallas and spend four days with us and you can rediscover joy, brilliance, tragedy and be moved by it all. This fest is more than just a series of movies, it is a way to reconnect with your sanity. (Did I oversell this?)    The first two nights, we have two theaters. Opening night, we start with a preview of Flannery, a new feature film about the great southern writer Flannery O’Connor.  This is a really great doc by a good friend, Elizabeth Coffman, whose work we have shown before, but this is her best film to date. If you ever read O’Connor’s work, this film tells her fascinating story in a style that works with her style.  At the same time, in another world in the next screening room, we have Now or Never: A Tony Romo Story.  We have seen him play, we have seen him talk, now see how he attained success with interviews of family and friends who knew him back in the day. Then our late shows on Thursday have A Woman’s Work, by Yu Gu, a documentary about NFL cheerleaders who are fighting for their rights.  It follows class action lawsuits and the women who have the courage to stand up to the NFL for their rights. Then we have a classic: When DA Pennebaker passed away, we wanted to show one of his films to honor his memory and what he meant to documentary film. We thought of The War Room (directed by Chris Hegedus) because we have an election coming soon and we thought about Don’t Look Back, which is the obvious choice and we don’t do that, so we went with Ziggy Stardust to remember both Pennebaker and Bowie.    Pretty cool for opening night.   On Friday night, we start with a new documentary about legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham, in 3D!!!!!!!  It’s hard to imagine modern dance without the influence of Cunningham and his lifelong collaborator and partner John Cage. In his film, the filmmaker assembles dancers from the Merce Cunningham dance company to perform the classic works, in a new way. Often 3D can be a trick or a gadget but here with an artist working with moving in space, 3D brings it alive. At the same time (sorry, on Thursday and Friday night you will have to make tough choices) we are proud to show Midnight Traveler, the story of filmmaker Hassan Fazili’, who had a bounty on his head from the Taliban and had to leave with his wife and their two daughters. In this film, shot with a mobile device, he documents the everyday moments of family life interspersed with the peril of this dangerous journey. This film helps put a voice to the people who are having to leave their countries, seeing, knowing and understanding their struggles.   The late-night Friday program is just as special. Varda by Agnes is a film that was on many best-of lists from Toronto. Agnes Varda has had a long and fascinating career as a filmmaker, and she gets to tell her story in this doc. (We have been happy to show her work for years, including the great Beaches of Agnes.)  In this film, we see her in many different audiences talking about her work. It is a great way to hear her talk about and view her work. It’s a must-see.   And finally, the last program is controversial (Can you believe we would do that?) It is American Dharma, Errol Morris’ film about Steve Bannon.  This played a few festivals last year and Errol got blasted for giving Bannon some oxygen.  Indeed, I was not keen on the idea of the film and then I saw it. Bannon does get to put this burn it all down point of view in the film, while Morris does call him on things, it is not as much as most audiences would like. However, as we get into this next election cycle, it is good to see what made Trump’s campaign successful, at least from one person's point of view. Also, I think it’s better to get into the heads of an opponent than to think you know them.   And the actual film is fascinating. Bannon is very much influenced by films, and he has made films of his own.  He talks about 12:00 High, a classic film about the Air Force, heroism and WW2. Morris recreates the main set of 12:00 High and the interview takes place in the set. It brings a strange unsettling context to their discussion, and I think it works. That’s just the first two nights and there is so much more, which I will detail in the next newsletter.    Speaking of immigrants, last night I got to see a special screening of Detras de Realidad which will show in Frame of Mind October 10th at 10:00 PM. This program is made by women about their own journey to Texas and what their life is like here. Frank, honest and in their own voices. I really liked what they did, but I was so happy to meet the makers who learned how to control the image and use the medium to tell everyone their stories. Thanks so much to Amber Bemak who taught then and Ignite Dallas at SMU for making it happen.   Speaking of Frame of Mind we have a great new show on Thursday night at 10 PM. Each year on the series, we feature a retrospective of a Texas filmmaker and usually, they are old folk. This year, we took a different approach.  Explordinary is Sarah Reyes and Daniel Driensky. They are great at straddling the world of digital and analog media, as well as film as art and commerce. They have traveled the globe documenting, in their unique way, artists, skaters, film labs and many other things. They put together their own retro and it rocks. 10:00 PM Thursday, Sept 26th.   What else is happening around town?   On Thursday, there is a special screening of the Princess Bride as a benefit for Hope Kids of North Texas.  Next weekend, there is the North Texas Film Festival in Plano.  There is the Alice Cooper film that played at DIFF and things like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Poltergeist, and Reanimator, so if you are into these and many are, not so much me, go for it. My favorite film they are showing is Mack Wrestles, a short I saw at SXSW about the Mack Beggs, a local athlete who goes through a sex change and still wants to wrestle. This is a must-see.   As for The Texas Theater, on Wednesday, they are showing a film that has been getting lots of buzz (I have not seen it, yet) called Anthropocene the Human Epoch. It is one of those national we are all showing the same film tonight, programs.  On Thursday, they are showing not one but two Les Blank films (I love Les Blank films) called Chulas Fronteras and Del Mero Corazón. These are newly restored, so they should look great. They are some of the first films that showcase Texican border music, including Flaco Jimenez and they sound great. Then they are showing the Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool film that was on PBS, made by the great Stanley Nelson. We have an interview with him about this film and the rest of his work on the podcast The Fog of Truth. Then Friday night, Theater Cine Wilde presents a film that is actually wild, Todd Haynes' Poison. A really great film that showcased his voice is his Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.   On Tuesday night, The Magnolia Theater is showing Yentl, Barbara Streisand’s film about gender inequality in the Jewish religious community. Bart Weiss Artistic Director Dallas VideoFest

[womenofcolor15]

Trump Will Allow The Most Executions Of Any President In Over A Century! Almost All Planned Executions Are Black Men

Trump is looking to execute as many death row inmates as he can before his presidency is up, which would put him down in the history books. Most of the people being executed are black men. More inside…

  Trump is rushing to kill federal prisoners before President-elect Joe Biden takes over.

The Trump administration implemented its ninth federal execution of the year, which was the first of a series of executions to happen before Trump leaves office. Four more executions are planned before the end of Trump's presidency, which all involve black men except one woman – Lisa Montgomery. She’s set to be executed next month and would be the first woman in nearly 70 years to be executed by the federal government.

The 10th execution is scheduled for today and the executions will be carried out until January 15, 2021, well into the president’s lame duck period. 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois is scheduled to be today (Dec. 11th) for torturing and killing his 2-year-old daughter.

If all the sentences are carried out, the total federal executions will reach 13 since July 2020. This will be the most executions for any president in over 100 years. He’ll become the most prolific execution president in modern history.

According the death penalty experts, “the way the Trump administration is moving ahead with executions during a lame-duck period has no parallel and that in the past, the outgoing administration would defer such cases to the incoming one.”

Last night, a black man named Brandon Bernard – who was 18 when he participated in the 1999 double murder – was killed by lethal injection at 9:27pm local time on Thursday at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, despite numerous pleas from anti-death penalty activists and Kim Kardashian West.

On Wednesday, Bernard's attorneys reportedly asked the federal appeals court to halt Brandon’s execution while they pursued claims that the prosecution at his trial unconstitutionally withheld evidence. The SCOTUS denied an application for an emergency delay, clearing the way for the execution to proceed.

Justice when?#BrandonBernard Innocent people get killed and violated by virtue of their skin color and their race, we re in the 21st century and we re still witnessing these manifestations of racism?If u are really fair, why are white criminals hanging outside? Whatta shame pic.twitter.com/MlSLIygC45

— Jiyem (@Parkjiyem) December 11, 2020

In the moments leading up to his death, the 40-year-old inmate spoke directly to the family of the couple he killed. He said he was “sorry.”

”That's the only words that I can say that completely capture how I feel now and how I felt that day,” he said moments before he was killed. While he was involved with the murders, he was not the gunman.

Here’s what went down over two decades ago that put Brandon in jail, according to NBC:

Bernard was sentenced to death for his role in a robbery plot carried out by a group of friends ages 15 to 19 on a remote stretch of the Fort Hood military reservation near Killeen, Texas. The victims, Todd and Stacie Bagley, married youth pastors who were white, were kidnapped and shot in their heads before the car they were in was set on fire, according to court documents.

Bernard's attorneys argued that he was a follower in the plot and had not known the couple were going to be murdered. Another adult defendant tried with Bernard, Christopher Vialva, who was accused of being the ringleader, was executed in September. Three other people involved were not adults when the crime occurred and were ineligible for the death penalty, instead receiving prison sentences.

The victims' family have said that despite reports of how the co-defendants may have turned their lives around in prison, they still support their executions.

  The families and friends of the victims released these statements, provided by the Bureau of Prisons, following the execution of #BrandonBernard. pic.twitter.com/Z1eyTFyv5a

— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) December 11, 2020

The gunman, Christopher Vialva, was put to death in September 2020. There we three other people involved, who were not adults when the crime was committed, so they were ineligible for the death penalty, instead receiving prison sentences.

Kim Kardashian West – who was able to talk to Trump to pardon a grandmother Alice Marie Johnson in 2018 – hopped on Twitter last night to share what Brandon told her before he was killed. She had been working to reverse his execution, but was not successful

Read her posts below:

Days before his execution, his family shared what mind frame Brandon was in and what their last visit was like:

On social media….

Dylan Roof murdered 9 Black people at a Charleston church. He was taken to Burger King after his arrest.

He’s alive.

Brandon Bernard was 18, didn’t know those he was with we’re going to kill a couple, didn’t pull the trigger, was convicted as ‘an accomplice.’

He was executed. pic.twitter.com/Ch09pbi6n2

— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) December 11, 2020

Twitter users have been comparing how murderer Dylann Roof – a white 18-year-old who killed 9 black people inside a Charleston church in 2018 – and Brandon’s case. South Carolina reinstatement of the Death Penalty in 1976, however, Dylan is still alive. Brandon committed his crime in Texas, where the death penalty is legal, and he’s now dead.

  Dylan Roof was taken to Burger King by police after he massacred 9 people while they were praying in Church.

Dylan Roof a White Supremacist is still alive.

Brandon Bernard who wasn’t the shooter in his crime is dead.

The justice system varies depending on one’s color. pic.twitter.com/JDjUQqXoZ5

— Kirk Acevedo (@kirkacevedo) December 11, 2020

President-elect Biden opposes the death penalty and has previously said he wants to end its use.

How do you feel about Trump speeding up the execution process to become the president with the most executions in modern history? Sound off! 

Photo: Nuno21/Shutterstock.com

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/12/11/trump-will-allow-the-most-executions-of-any-president-in-over-a-century-almost-all-planne

[writingguide003-blog]

Out from the margins: meet the New Daughters of Africa writers

New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/out-from-the-margins-meet-the-new-daughters-of-africa-writers/

Out from the margins: meet the New Daughters of Africa writers

More than 25 years after her groundbreaking Daughters of Africa anthology, Margaret Busby reflects on the next generation of black women writers around the world

Time was when the perception of published writers was that all the women were white and all the blacks were men (to borrow the title of a key 1980s black feminist book). At best, there was a handful of black female writers Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou who were acknowledged by the literary establishment. This was the climate in which, more than 25 years ago, I compiled and published Daughters of Africa. It was critically acclaimed, but more significant has been the inspiration that 1992 anthology gave to a fresh generation of writers who form the core of its sequel, New Daughters of Africa.

The critic Juanita Cox told me: I received Daughters of Africa as a birthday gift from my father. Two things immediately struck me about the book. It was huge and it contained women like me. Even though Id been brought up in Nigeria, I had had very little exposure to black literature. At school the only black characters Id ever read about occupied the margins: figures like the Sedleys servant Sambo and the mixed-race heiress Miss Swartz in Thackerays Vanity Fair. Daughters of Africa introduced me to a huge number of writers Id never previously been aware of. And on a more personal level it made me realise that I was somehow valid. The anthology was peopled not just by women of pure African descent, but also women of mixed ancestry, and just like the women the book contained, I too could have a voice.

Ivorian Edwige-Rene Dro said: It was as if the daughters of Africa featured in that anthology were telling me, their daughter and grand-daughter, to bravely go forth and bridge the literary gap between francophone and anglophone Africa. Bermudian writer Angela Barry, meanwhile, spoke of her thrill at coming across a contributor whose father was from her island, allowing her to feel that I also was a daughter of Africa and that I too had something to say. Writer Phillippa Yaa de Villiers recalls: We were behind the bars of apartheid we South Africans had been cut off from the beauty and majesty of African thought traditions, and Daughters of Africa was among those works that replenished our starved minds.

Windrush is an ever-present theme Jamaican immigrants arrive at Tilbury in 1948. Photograph: PA

New Daughters of Africa has been a truly collaborative venture: writers steered me in the direction of others whose work they admire. Altogether, more than 200 writers from more than 50 countries contributed work to the new anthology, from Margo Jefferson to Aybmi Adby, Malorie Blackman to Yrsa Daley-Ward. New Daughters of Africa begins with some important entries from the 18th and 19th centuries a reminder that later generations stand tall because of those who have gone before. Nana Asmau (17931863), a revered figure in northern Nigeria, spoke four languages and was an educated and independent Islamic woman whose life and work can be considered a precursor to modern feminism in Africa. Sarah Parker Remond (18151894), abolitionist, lecturer, suffragist, demonstrates many of the themes and serendipitous connections that characterise this anthology. Her letter of September 1866 to the London Daily News, in which she waxes eloquent on the reactionary movement against the coloured race in the United States, and castigates the social commentator Thomas Carlyle for having claims to the gratitude of all negro haters on both sides of the Atlantic, makes one wonder how she might have reacted to a tweet by Donald Trump. Elizabeth Keckley (18181907), her life bridging the 19th and the 20th centuries, describes first hand the trauma of enslavement in her autobiography Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, published in 1868 exactly 100 years before the mould-breaking year that Delia Jarrett-Macauley refers to, when on university campuses from Paris to New York, students were protesting against the old order, against bureaucratic elites, against capitalism, sexism and racism and all forms of authoritarianism.

The year 1968 was blighted by the assassination of Martin Luther King in April. Later that month Enoch Powell gave his infamous Rivers of Blood speech, scaremongering about mass immigration to the UK. And it was in that year that Angela Cobbinah, the only black girl in her Cornish village, watched African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in a Black Power salute on the podium at the Mexico City Olympics. I felt an unfamiliar emotion, she writes. Call it connection or kinship, or the bubbling of a youthful rebelliousness.

Such connections, and bonds of kinship, actual as well as intuited, strengthen the links between contributors. There are the literal mother-daughter relationships, as with Josephine St Pierre Ruffin (18421924) and Florida Ruffin Ridley (18611943). It is pleasing to note the emergence as a writer of Yvonne Bailey-Smith, having raised and empowered three successful children (Zadie Smith and her brothers), to witness Attillah Springer following the path of her mother Eintou Pearl Springer, a contributor to Daughters of Africa, and to see Rebecca Walker, daughter of Alice Walker, achieve prominence in her own right.

In many ways 1992 seems much longer ago than a quarter century; yet, while much has changed, many challenges remain to the publication of work by women of African descent. Who imagined in 1992 that we would celebrate the first African American US president in 2008, and who could have predicted who would follow Barack Obama in the White House? Much more empowering to think of Michelle Obama, who in 2018 broke records with her memoir Becoming, selling 1.4m copies in its first week.

In 1992, Morrison had not yet been awarded the Nobel prize. Only the following year did she become the first black woman to win it. Many accomplishments were years away: Jackie Kay, the current Scottish makar and a contributor to the first anthology, had only just begun to receive recognition after the 1991 publication of her first book. So the authors within New Daughters of Africa that may still be unknown are as deserving of attention as the household names.

Custom, tradition, friendships, romance, sexuality, intersectional feminism, the politics of gender, race and identity all are explored, in ways that are surprising, angry, considered, joyful, heartrending. Taboo subjects are addressed head on, familiar dilemmas elicit fresh takes. How candid and engaging is Ted Hughes poetry prize-winner Jay Bernards I resist the urge to destroy my own records by reflecting on archives, how I use them, and what they have meant to me. How touching is Andaiyes recollection of her amity with Audre Lorde:

I do not remember when I wrote Audre but I did, and I remember that she answered immediately and sent me a copy of A Burst of Light with the inscription, Sister Survivor May these words be a bridge over that place where there are no words or where they are so difficult as to sound like a scream!

Unflinching stories Audre Lorde. Photograph: Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Lordes name recurs in other contributors work, including that of Edwidge Danticat, Sisonke Msimang and Panashe Chigumadzi, who writes:

It wasnt until I met the force of the unflinching stories of our mothers and grandmothers and aunts and sisters written by black women that I was compelled to find an answer to the question: what did it mean to be a black woman in my grandmothers time?

The different ways of connecting to an African heritage are an ever-present theme, as are stories of migration, and specifically Windrush stories, typified by the poignant writing of the late Andrea Levy, whose father was among those immigrants who sailed to Britain from the Caribbean on the Empire Windrush in 1948. Stories of mothers separated from offspring through transatlantic crossings, and the resultant psychological effects, inform many of the contributions.

How you find your identity in the course of growing up in Britain is a major thread, whether it is Simi Bedford describing the particular experience of being an African at boarding school in England shared by many (myself included) or Nah Dove making the journey from a childhood in West Africa.

So often London encapsulates the black British experience, with all its possibilities for racism, and much else besides. For Donu Kogbara, whose harrowing tale is of being kidnapped in her Nigerian homeland, London has become a sanctuary.

The book reveals works in progress, identities in transition, shapeshifting sensibilities, a delicious mash-up of expectations. Who knew that Nadifa Mohamed, one of Grantas best young British novelists in 2013, was also a fine poet? The chef Zoe Adjonyoh, from whom cookery writing might have been expected, delivers a memoir of her father that is indeed A Beautiful Story. Contributors are drawn to write about countries not theirs by birth: a Zimbabwean shines light on Antigua, Ghana has an impact on a writer from Trinidad.

Another link with Daughters of Africa is the image on the UK cover, by black British photographer Suzanne Roden, featuring her friend Sibusiso Nozipho Mavolwane (19582015). Busby herself exemplifies the international scope, historical trajectory and enduring female bonds represented by the 200-plus women in New Daughters of Africa. The third of five sisters, she was born in what was then Southern Rhodesia, lived in the former Gold Coast, attended boarding-school in Sussex, and from the 1980s worked in London. New Daughters of Africa pays tribute to her as well as to the many writers we have lost, most recently the talented Andrea Levy.

The aspirational mantra of inclusivity and diversity is increasingly routine, fashionable even, in todays publishing industry, but lasting change has yet to be achieved. Verna Wilkins, founder of the childrens imprint Tamarind Books, explains in her essay that she began hands-on work creating books in diverse classrooms in the belief that the process must start with children: They should see themselves as the authors, editors, designers, illustrators and publishers of the future.

New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African descent, edited by Margaret Busby, is published by Myriad. New Daughters of Africa is launched at Women of the World at Southbank Centre, London SE1, 8-9 March. southbankcentre.co.uk.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

[dulcewrites]

Omg the modern excerpt was so cool. I love how you write Alicent what’s exactly what I imagine her like I’m a modern au. I love her and Myrah being besties. A modern fic about the Hightowers and Myrah would be so cool 🤩

I love modern Alicent. It always makes me laugh when people say modern Alicent would be some sort of Uber conservative, woman for trump type… when literally all the problems/ideals hotd Alicent has stems from the situation she’s in. If we are being real, modern Alicent would not even look in viserys direction but of course for the purpose of the kids showing up, we have that happen. At most she’d be a slightly uppity, well off pta mom who fundraises. Anyway *off my Alicent soap box*

The family dynamic is very fun. Still dysfunctional but fun nonetheless. Actually give me like 30 minutes, and I’ll be back to this ask!

[theliterateape]

All the World’s a Stage and Identity is Just Another Costume

By Don Hall

In a crowd of 17,000, all crammed into the front of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, I see a stew of humanity, the avatar of the Melting Pot idea in play.

There’s Mitchell, a 56-year old black veteran (Marines) who most would classify as homeless as he carries two large bags with him, sleeps on the sidewalk on most nights and comes to almost every concert all summer long. He isn’t homeless. If you take the time to hang with him and engage, he will explain that he has a nice apartment on the far South Side of Chicago that the VA set up for him but that he loves people so much that he spends most of his time downtown, dancing on the streets, talking to strangers, dealing with the intolerance of others and otherwise swimming in this particular sociological soup.

There’s Bob, a retired music teacher in his 70s, who with his wife, comes to at least five park events per week. His leg is really bothering him and he comes across as pretty angry most of the time. My first encounter with Bob began with him looking to complain that my ushers were “reading newspapers and books and chatting�� rather than doing their job. It turned out that they made him walk around the ramp to get to a seat and he felt put upon so he manufactured a complaint. (Trust me, my ushers are not reading newspapers in 2018.) One of my customer service techniques is to first assess if I can solve the problem. If the problem is just that the patron wants to complain, I immediately switch gears and become stupid, asking obvious but unimportant questions until I wear them out. Waste my time all you want, I’m paid by the hour sort of thing. For Bob, it worked, and the next time I saw him, he was thrilled to see me and we talk every time he comes. He’s led a fascinating life and I like him immensely.

Sara is a 23-year old Hindu woman with an office job in the Loop. She heads over to the park at least once a week after work to hang out and see whatever is going on. Weeks ago, she came up to me to thank me for how I conduct myself — according to her, I’m always talking to patrons with a grin, good natured and highly energetic. Since then, whenever she sees me, she comes over and we chat about her day, her concerns about Trump and identity politics and her parents who would prefer she come back home to Kanchipuram.

The intersection of every type of human in the park is incredible. Name an identity — from the most common to the smallest segment of current society, white cisgender heterosexual male to transgender bisexual black woman — and they will be somewhere in this giant wok on the east side of Chicago on any given night.

As I’ve grown older and suffered the standard set of betrayals by friends and the sudden absences of importance from colleagues once I’ve moved on (known as the Out of Sight, Out of Mind Syndrome), I’ve become far less social than I used to be. I don’t hang out much, I rarely go to parties, perhaps being in a position to be of service to thousands of people each night limits my desire for humanity. My summer job, however, requires a certain amount of social grace. I have to talk and listen to these people.

As with any substantive interaction with the water within which we swim, there are notable lessons to learn. A bit removed from the personal narrative storytelling form where people get up onstage and narrate bits of their life, the simple conversations with strangers gathered together in a huge performance space, a place where Chicago natives and tourists gather, where every language under the sun is being spoken simultaneously, all age groups represented from walkers and canes to skateboards, are somehow more powerful.

With Identity in the fore, the question shifts from “What can we do about racism and sexism?” to “Who can we blame for racism and sexism?”

I recently binge-watched the Wachowskis' Sense8 on Netflix. Initially turned off by the first episode (and who the fuck knows why, certainly not me), I revisited that first episode not long ago and beat myself in the face for not getting sucked in. The series is brilliant, beautiful and should be required viewing for anyone not living in an urban setting all across the world. The title of the tenth episode of the second season, written by Lana Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski, is “All the World’s a Stage and Identity is Just Another Costume.”

In the Age of Identity Politics, this is strangely a radioactive perspective. To even suggest that the identities of race, gender, religion, sexual preference, etc. ad nauseum are anything short of the most essential part of us is heresy to both the Extreme Left and Alt-Right. Both the Black Separatists and the White Nationalists cannot abide such thoughts and will do almost anything to disavow the concept.

Yet, as I walk through Millennium Park and both observe and engage this multicultural tapas bar of sapiens, the idea keeps gently nudging me like Jiminy Cricket or a radio signal being picked up a tooth filling.

Identity is just another costume.

At our base, we really all are exactly the same creature. We all basically want the same thing and suffer in similar ways. We find joy in similar things and are all angered by injustice, dishonesty, theft, unnecessary violence (as we interpret them.) We all gotta eat, we all need water to survive, we all need to sleep. The simple biology of humanity is the same with no regard for the costumes we dress it up in.

Why, then, such a push from the extremes on either side of the sociopolitical spectrum to force exclusion on the body politic?

To win an unwinnable war.

Much like the War on Drugs and The War on Terror — both reductionist slogans designed to polarize, separate and stigmatize, both equally fruitless — the insistence on Identity as the Defining Paradigm is the basis for the twin conflicts: the War on Racism and the War on Sexism. If race and gender are the dominant frames from which we operate, then the reduction of thoughtful conversation about these issues can be discarded for a far more polemic and unquestionably anti-pragmatic approach.

With Identity in the fore, the question shifts from “What can we do about racism and sexism?” to “Who can we blame for racism and sexism?”

If we ignore the obvious similarities in who and what we are and instead focus on the differences — in culture, in lifestyle, in tone — the enemy becomes apparent and the mythological resistance to the mythological white supremist patriarchy can gain traction. Instead of focusing on how to end Racism, White Supremacy, Sexism and the Patriarchy, the goal is shifted to simply acknowledging their existence and finding blame, both historically and by proxy presently. No longer interested in ending these vague systems (because ending them would require complex and thoughtful solutions in the most pragmatic sense), the Extreme Left has given up on solutions and seems to be content simply finding as many ways to tie inequity and injustice to these demons of our worst fears.

The wars on racism and sexism have become more theatrical than concrete, more signaling than solving, more reactive than active.

Modern day black intellectuals bark, “We were brought here against our will” despite having never seen a slave ship in their lives, let alone been on one. Modern day feminists cry “We have been marginalized by men for centuries” despite many eighteenth wave feminists only being alive for, at most, two decades.

In the park, there is only one we, the collective patronage of the thousands of multicultural Homo sapiens gathered to hear an orchestra or a jazz ensemble or the blues or a rock band. It is a larger and more lovely we and, therefore, a stronger foundation from which to find solutions to the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to society.

Michael is a 25-year old violinist and skater. He comes to the orchestra concerts (he's been to every Wednesday and Friday night all summer long) and sits at the front of the lawn. He's usually high and when we talk, he wants to talk about Trump and books. He recommended The Inner Civil War by George Fredrickson. I recommended Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now.

Alice is a 30-something Chinese woman recently emigrated from her birth country to Chicago. Her English is spotty but when she awkwardly asked where the bathrooms were and I told her, she decided I was the Answer Man in the park. Whenever she finds me, she has questions — about Chicago, about neighborhoods, about the concert that night, about the best singles apps.

Mayra, 78-year-old black woman, born and raised on the South Side, is usually a bit drunk and flirts with me. She is more conservative than the Generation Z black kids and doesn't quite understand why they're so angry. "My time...," she intones through sips of 312, "My time was a lot harder than theirs and I'm not so loud about it."

In same way that I reject the simplistic morality behind the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, I likewise turn away from the War on Racism and the War on Sexism. These wars are designed to be perpetual and never-ending. They are created to merely replicate the mirror image of current power imbalances rather than reset the default. They are about vengeance rather than exculpation.

None of this is to say that racism and sexism do not exist. It is to say that they are not monsters to be defeated but problems to be solved. They are not mythologies or sins that require fire and prayer to eradicate (and eradicate them we must if we truly want a multicultural, globally fair society) but societal obstacles to be overcome. The solutions, I believe, lie in our ability to co-exist in a giant park and release our grip on the insistence of culture, skin tone, accents — all the outward showing indicators.

All the world is a stage and identity is just another costume. Recognize the costumes, celebrate them, see the humanity underneath and proceed with kindness and pragmatism. Anything less is false piety and dogmatism.

[melindarowens]

'Bama bombshell

With Daniel Strauss and Maggie Severns

ALABAMA BOMBSHELL — “Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32,” by the Washington Post’s Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites: “Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when an older man approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. She was sitting on a wooden bench with her mother, they both recall, when the man introduced himself as Roy Moore. … Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. … Aside from Corfman, three other women interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks say Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, episodes they say they found flattering at the time, but troubling as they got older. None of the three women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact.” Full story.

Story Continued Below

— “Republicans might be stuck with Roy Moore,” by Daniel Strauss, Elana Schor and Kevin Robillard: “GOP leaders desperately want Roy Moore off the ballot. But they have neither the legal nor the political leverage to force the defiant ex-judge out of the race. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a host of other Republican senators called on Moore to drop out of the race Thursday if there were truth to the accounts of four women who told The Washington Post that Moore pursued relationships with them while they were teens and he was in his 30s. The news sent Republican operatives scrambling to parse the dusty sections of Alabama state law that deal with replacing candidates on the ballot. … ‘Judge Roy Moore has endured the most outlandish attacks on any candidate in the modern political arena, but this story in today’s Washington Post alleging sexual impropriety takes the cake,’ Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement. ‘National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary.’ Though Republicans have begun looking into options to replace Moore, Alabama law requires the candidate roster on the ballot to be set 74 days before an election. If Moore does withdraw, however, any votes cast for him would not count. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and other Republicans have suggested that GOP Sen. Luther Strange, the appointed senator who lost to Moore in the special primary, could put himself forward as a write-in candidate.” Full story.

— What Luther Strange told the Associated Press when asked if he would reenter the race: “Well, that’s getting the cart ahead of the horse. But I will have something to say about that. Let me do some more research.”

— What White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press pool: “Like most Americans the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life. However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”

— What Democrats are thinking: Neither the DSCC nor Jones’ campaign rushed to put out a statement, and Jones’ eventual statement was brief: “Roy Moore needs to answer these serious charges.” If Strange or another Republican mounts a write-in campaign, it gives Jones a better chance of winning with a vote total in the 40 percent range. But don’t expect any rash excitement about their chances in such a deep-red state.

— What McConnell world is thinking: If we let Steve Bannon control our primaries, we’re going to keep ending up with scandal-ridden candidates. Even if Moore survives this, candidates in more competitive states won’t.

— What Bannon world is thinking: A few weeks ago, McConnell’s people were saying Bannon had nothing to do with Moore’s win. Moore is strongly denying the accusations, and like President Donald Trump, will probably survive this.

— “Moore fundraises off of report alleging relationships with teenagers,” by Campaign Pro’s Daniel Strauss: “A defiant Moore, who faced calls from fellow Republicans to end his Senate campaign Thursday, cast the story as a political conspiracy against him and called the story ‘lies,’ asking ‘God-fearing conservatives’ to help him carry on. ‘The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced,’ Moore wrote in the fundraising email. ‘I won’t to get into the details of their filthy and sleazy attacks.’” Full story.

— Democratic senators launch money blitz for Jones: Some of the best online fundraisers among Senate Democrats sent out fundraising e-mails for Doug Jones last night, including Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, California’s Kamala Harris, New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand and Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren. Gillibrand’s e-mail was the only one to directly reference the allegations in the Washington Post story. “If you’ve followed the Senate special election in Alabama at all, you know Roy Moore is unfit for office – and recent allegations that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl are utterly disgusting,” Gillibrand writes.

— The pols with ties to Moore: Moore had garnered increasing support from Washington Republicans in recent months. Dozens of Republicans including six GOP senators — Steve Daines, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Cory Gardner — endorsed Moore prior to Thursday’s bombshell story. Paul and Lee recently hosted a fundraiser for Moore, and he formed a joint fundraising committee with the NRSC and the RNC. Moore has received campaign donations from Rep. Andy Harris ($2,000), Rep. Jeff Duncan ($1,000) and Rep. Thomas Massie ($1,000) — as well as former Rep. Todd Akin ($2,700), who still has a leadership PAC.

HOW VIRGINIA HAPPENED — “How Gillespie’s MS-13 play backfired in Virginia,” by Campaign Pro’s Kevin Robillard: “The ads from Republican Ed Gillespie’s campaign would define and drive conversation about the Virginia governor’s race — and not in the way Gillespie wanted. The race ended in a resounding win for [Democrat Ralph] Northam on Tuesday night, driven by high turnout from the so-called Obama coalition of white college-educated voters, minorities and young people. The ads would betray Gillespie’s repeated warnings about the GOP’s need to reach out to Hispanic voters. And, according to Democrats, they would create a backlash that helped drown him. ‘Gillespie’s MS-13 ads, his race-baiting with the statues, his very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric completely backfired,’ said Matt Barreto, the managing partner of Democratic polling firm Latino Decisions. ‘Voters recognized that Gillespie heavily racialized this campaign.’ All the while, Northam’s campaign would rely on the lieutenant governor’s authenticity to rebut the attacks. National Democrats fretted about the energy backing Northam’s campaign, and commentators slammed his television ads as boring. But the campaign stuck to its message, seeing little movement in the polls. They planned for a worst-case scenario of low Democratic turnout, but ultimately knocked on more doors than Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the state had a year earlier and won by an unexpected 9-point margin. ‘Reporters wanted us to say something new, but we didn’t because we knew what voters needed to hear about Northam,’ Brad Komar, Northam’s campaign manager, said in an interview. ‘I think folks interpreted discipline as boring. Discipline is effective.’” Full story.

— “One big takeaway from Virginia? Authenticity is essential,” by Jesse Ferguson in The Hill: “If there’s one thing Virginia voters learned about Ralph Northam before they propelled him to a decisive victory Tuesday night, it’s who he is. Northam isn’t flashy. He’s a doctor and a veteran; a public servant focused on taking care of kids. They knew who he was.” Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 361.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

THE MONEY CHASE — “Perry to headline Texas event for pro-Trump outside group,” by Campaign Pro’s Maggie Severns: “Energy Secretary Rick Perry will attend an event in Texas next week put on by America First Policies, the pro-Trump political nonprofit, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO. The invitation, which was sent to a Republican donor, says that Perry will headline a ‘roundtable discussion’ in Houston on Monday afternoon. Details of the event’s location will only available to those who RSVP shortly before the event, the invitation said. Perry’s trip to Texas comes at an auspicious moment for America First Policies and its affiliated super PAC, America First Action. The organization is working to lock in support from donors and establish itself as a center of gravity for pro-Trump activity with close ties to the Trump administration. … Perry has deep ties to both the energy industry and donors in Texas, which helped power his two presidential runs. But Perry will not be in Houston asking for funds, said Texas businessman Roy Bailey, who is deeply involved in America First Policies. ‘It’s a nice opportunity for people to understand what’s going on at the Energy Department,’ Bailey said.” Full story.

— Stewart fundraiser promises jacuzzi: An invitation to a “MAGA-evening fundraiser” for Virginia Senate candidate Corey Stewart’s campaign next week promises “hors d’oeuvres, 3-hour open bar and DJ” and notes: “This will be a business casual event with a casual atmosphere.There is an outdoor Jacuzzi. We recommend attendees bring swimsuits.” Tickets are $100 a head. View the invite.

THE DAILY MENENDEZ — “Dismissed Menendez juror: ‘I don’t think he did anything wrong,’” by Matt Friedman in Newark: “A juror who was excused Thursday afternoon from U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial said that if she had stayed on, she would have found Menendez ‘not guilty on every charge.’ Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby also said other jurors’ feelings about the case are mixed and she believes the result may be a hung jury. Arroyo-Maultsby made the comments to a few reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark, moments after leaving the trial to begin a previously-scheduled vacation in the Bahamas.” Full story.

THE ‘I’ WORD — “Steyer to drop another $10M on Trump impeachment ads,” by POLITICO’s Gabriel DeBenedetti: “Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer said Thursday that he’s adding $10 million to his national television ad campaign calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Speaking on a conference call outlining the public support for his effort, Steyer also said he would fund two new ads in addition to the one that’s been backed by an existing $10 million buy. More than 1.9 million Americans have now signed his weeks-old petition to impeach Trump, Steyer said on the call.” Full story.

— “Democratic congressional candidate from Miami calls for impeaching Trump,” by the Miami Herald’s Patricia Mazzei: “Miami congressional candidate Mary Barzee Flores called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment Wednesday. … Barzee Flores cited at least six reasons for Congress to impeach the president, including firing former FBI Director James Comey and hiring Michael Flynn — who has since been fired — as national security adviser despite having ties to Russia.” Full story.

GAFFE CITY — “Dem candidate: It ‘shouldn’t take brain cancer’ for John McCain to show courage,” by the Washington Examiner’s Al Weaver: “‘I’ve been tweeting on occasion about saluting Bob Corker and John McCain and Jeff Flake – men who have shown a little bit of courage speaking truth to their own party,’ said Dean Phillips, who is running for a House seat in Minnesota. ‘But it shouldn’t take brain cancer and the retirement from the Senate to do so.’ Phillips is running against Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. … Phillips later apologized to McCain.” Full story.

RETIREMENT WATCH — “Goodlatte to retire after 2018,” by Campaign Pro’s Elena Schneider: “Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the term-limited chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday that he will not seek reelection in 2018. … In the last week, three Texas congressman — Jeb Hensarling, Ted Poe and Lamar Smith — also left safely conservative seats behind. Hensarling and Smith were also term-limited as committee chairmen. As recently as July, Goodlatte’s staff sought to squash rumors that the 65-year-old congressman planned to retire. Goodlatte’s decision opens a Republican-leaning seat, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, which backed President Donald Trump by a 24-point margin.” Full story.

PRIMARY CONCERNS — “Gabby Giffords’ anti-gun violence group backs Abrams in Georgia governor race,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein: “Both Abrams and her Democratic opponent, former state Rep. Stacey Evans, have called for stiff new gun restrictions, marking something of a sea change for Democratic candidates for governor in Georgia. … But one vote might have helped Abrams secure the backing of Courage to Fight Gun Violence, the Giffords group once known as Americans for Responsible Solutions. A measure passed to little fanfare in 2012 prohibited the destruction of firearms by local law enforcement during criminal investigations, and required cities and counties to auction off the guns they collected within six months. Abrams voted against Senate Bill 350, Evans backed it.” Full story.

2018 WATCH — “Democrat Pappas announces candidacy for 1st District US House seat,” by WMUR’s John DiStaso and Adam Sexton: “Stressing the importance of constituent service and a commitment to helping to break the gridlock in Washington, Chris Pappas of Manchester announced his candidacy for the open 1st District U.S. House seat Thursday morning. Speaking exclusively to WMUR at the Puritan Backroom, a popular restaurant that has been under the ownership of his family for 100 years, the three-term Democratic executive councilor said that he arrived at the final decision after speaking with Granite Staters throughout the district.” Full story.

AROUND THE MAP — Quick takes from across the country:

SENATE

Indiana: Iraq War veteran Martin Del Rio may challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in the primary, The Journal-Gazette reports.

Wisconsin: “GOP Senate hopeful Kevin Nicholson supported Rosie O’Donnell’s gun control views,” Fox6 reports.

HOUSE

CO-06: Trump-backing Republican Roger Edwards will challenge Rep. Mike Coffman in the GOP primary, the Denver Post reports.

NC-02: A Democrat challenging Republican Rep. George Holding said a DCCC attack on Holding was “tasteless and insensitive,” the News and Observer reports.

VA-10: “After Virginia blowout, Comstock’s road to reelection grows steeper,” the Washington Post reports.

GOVERNOR

Michigan: State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, a Republican candidate, said he was supposed to speak at an event featuring former White House chief of staff Steve Bannon but was pulled at the last minute, according to The Detroit News’ Jonathan Oosting.

South Carolina: All three GOP candidates for governor plan to attend former White House strategist Steve Bannon’s speech at The Citadel, The Post and Courier reports.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter.They became parents of Jesus.” — Alabama Auditor Jim Ziegler to the Washington Examiner.

Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/bama-bombshell/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/11/bama-bombshell.html

[everettwilkinson]

'Bama bombshell

With Daniel Strauss and Maggie Severns

ALABAMA BOMBSHELL — “Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32,” by the Washington Post’s Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites: “Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when an older man approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. She was sitting on a wooden bench with her mother, they both recall, when the man introduced himself as Roy Moore. … Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. … Aside from Corfman, three other women interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks say Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, episodes they say they found flattering at the time, but troubling as they got older. None of the three women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact.” Full story.

Story Continued Below

— “Republicans might be stuck with Roy Moore,” by Daniel Strauss, Elana Schor and Kevin Robillard: “GOP leaders desperately want Roy Moore off the ballot. But they have neither the legal nor the political leverage to force the defiant ex-judge out of the race. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a host of other Republican senators called on Moore to drop out of the race Thursday if there were truth to the accounts of four women who told The Washington Post that Moore pursued relationships with them while they were teens and he was in his 30s. The news sent Republican operatives scrambling to parse the dusty sections of Alabama state law that deal with replacing candidates on the ballot. … ‘Judge Roy Moore has endured the most outlandish attacks on any candidate in the modern political arena, but this story in today’s Washington Post alleging sexual impropriety takes the cake,’ Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement. ‘National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary.’ Though Republicans have begun looking into options to replace Moore, Alabama law requires the candidate roster on the ballot to be set 74 days before an election. If Moore does withdraw, however, any votes cast for him would not count. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and other Republicans have suggested that GOP Sen. Luther Strange, the appointed senator who lost to Moore in the special primary, could put himself forward as a write-in candidate.” Full story.

— What Luther Strange told the Associated Press when asked if he would reenter the race: “Well, that’s getting the cart ahead of the horse. But I will have something to say about that. Let me do some more research.”

— What White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press pool: “Like most Americans the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life. However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”

— What Democrats are thinking: Neither the DSCC nor Jones’ campaign rushed to put out a statement, and Jones’ eventual statement was brief: “Roy Moore needs to answer these serious charges.” If Strange or another Republican mounts a write-in campaign, it gives Jones a better chance of winning with a vote total in the 40 percent range. But don’t expect any rash excitement about their chances in such a deep-red state.

— What McConnell world is thinking: If we let Steve Bannon control our primaries, we’re going to keep ending up with scandal-ridden candidates. Even if Moore survives this, candidates in more competitive states won’t.

— What Bannon world is thinking: A few weeks ago, McConnell’s people were saying Bannon had nothing to do with Moore’s win. Moore is strongly denying the accusations, and like President Donald Trump, will probably survive this.

— “Moore fundraises off of report alleging relationships with teenagers,” by Campaign Pro’s Daniel Strauss: “A defiant Moore, who faced calls from fellow Republicans to end his Senate campaign Thursday, cast the story as a political conspiracy against him and called the story ‘lies,’ asking ‘God-fearing conservatives’ to help him carry on. ‘The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced,’ Moore wrote in the fundraising email. ‘I won’t to get into the details of their filthy and sleazy attacks.’” Full story.

— Democratic senators launch money blitz for Jones: Some of the best online fundraisers among Senate Democrats sent out fundraising e-mails for Doug Jones last night, including Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, California’s Kamala Harris, New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand and Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren. Gillibrand’s e-mail was the only one to directly reference the allegations in the Washington Post story. “If you’ve followed the Senate special election in Alabama at all, you know Roy Moore is unfit for office – and recent allegations that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl are utterly disgusting,” Gillibrand writes.

— The pols with ties to Moore: Moore had garnered increasing support from Washington Republicans in recent months. Dozens of Republicans including six GOP senators — Steve Daines, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Cory Gardner — endorsed Moore prior to Thursday’s bombshell story. Paul and Lee recently hosted a fundraiser for Moore, and he formed a joint fundraising committee with the NRSC and the RNC. Moore has received campaign donations from Rep. Andy Harris ($2,000), Rep. Jeff Duncan ($1,000) and Rep. Thomas Massie ($1,000) — as well as former Rep. Todd Akin ($2,700), who still has a leadership PAC.

HOW VIRGINIA HAPPENED — “How Gillespie’s MS-13 play backfired in Virginia,” by Campaign Pro’s Kevin Robillard: “The ads from Republican Ed Gillespie’s campaign would define and drive conversation about the Virginia governor’s race — and not in the way Gillespie wanted. The race ended in a resounding win for [Democrat Ralph] Northam on Tuesday night, driven by high turnout from the so-called Obama coalition of white college-educated voters, minorities and young people. The ads would betray Gillespie’s repeated warnings about the GOP’s need to reach out to Hispanic voters. And, according to Democrats, they would create a backlash that helped drown him. ‘Gillespie’s MS-13 ads, his race-baiting with the statues, his very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric completely backfired,’ said Matt Barreto, the managing partner of Democratic polling firm Latino Decisions. ‘Voters recognized that Gillespie heavily racialized this campaign.’ All the while, Northam’s campaign would rely on the lieutenant governor’s authenticity to rebut the attacks. National Democrats fretted about the energy backing Northam’s campaign, and commentators slammed his television ads as boring. But the campaign stuck to its message, seeing little movement in the polls. They planned for a worst-case scenario of low Democratic turnout, but ultimately knocked on more doors than Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the state had a year earlier and won by an unexpected 9-point margin. ‘Reporters wanted us to say something new, but we didn’t because we knew what voters needed to hear about Northam,’ Brad Komar, Northam’s campaign manager, said in an interview. ‘I think folks interpreted discipline as boring. Discipline is effective.’” Full story.

— “One big takeaway from Virginia? Authenticity is essential,” by Jesse Ferguson in The Hill: “If there’s one thing Virginia voters learned about Ralph Northam before they propelled him to a decisive victory Tuesday night, it’s who he is. Northam isn’t flashy. He’s a doctor and a veteran; a public servant focused on taking care of kids. They knew who he was.” Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 361.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

THE MONEY CHASE — “Perry to headline Texas event for pro-Trump outside group,” by Campaign Pro’s Maggie Severns: “Energy Secretary Rick Perry will attend an event in Texas next week put on by America First Policies, the pro-Trump political nonprofit, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO. The invitation, which was sent to a Republican donor, says that Perry will headline a ‘roundtable discussion’ in Houston on Monday afternoon. Details of the event’s location will only available to those who RSVP shortly before the event, the invitation said. Perry’s trip to Texas comes at an auspicious moment for America First Policies and its affiliated super PAC, America First Action. The organization is working to lock in support from donors and establish itself as a center of gravity for pro-Trump activity with close ties to the Trump administration. … Perry has deep ties to both the energy industry and donors in Texas, which helped power his two presidential runs. But Perry will not be in Houston asking for funds, said Texas businessman Roy Bailey, who is deeply involved in America First Policies. ‘It’s a nice opportunity for people to understand what’s going on at the Energy Department,’ Bailey said.” Full story.

— Stewart fundraiser promises jacuzzi: An invitation to a “MAGA-evening fundraiser” for Virginia Senate candidate Corey Stewart’s campaign next week promises “hors d’oeuvres, 3-hour open bar and DJ” and notes: “This will be a business casual event with a casual atmosphere.There is an outdoor Jacuzzi. We recommend attendees bring swimsuits.” Tickets are $100 a head. View the invite.

THE DAILY MENENDEZ — “Dismissed Menendez juror: ‘I don’t think he did anything wrong,’” by Matt Friedman in Newark: “A juror who was excused Thursday afternoon from U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial said that if she had stayed on, she would have found Menendez ‘not guilty on every charge.’ Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby also said other jurors’ feelings about the case are mixed and she believes the result may be a hung jury. Arroyo-Maultsby made the comments to a few reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark, moments after leaving the trial to begin a previously-scheduled vacation in the Bahamas.” Full story.

THE ‘I’ WORD — “Steyer to drop another $10M on Trump impeachment ads,” by POLITICO’s Gabriel DeBenedetti: “Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer said Thursday that he’s adding $10 million to his national television ad campaign calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Speaking on a conference call outlining the public support for his effort, Steyer also said he would fund two new ads in addition to the one that’s been backed by an existing $10 million buy. More than 1.9 million Americans have now signed his weeks-old petition to impeach Trump, Steyer said on the call.” Full story.

— “Democratic congressional candidate from Miami calls for impeaching Trump,” by the Miami Herald’s Patricia Mazzei: “Miami congressional candidate Mary Barzee Flores called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment Wednesday. … Barzee Flores cited at least six reasons for Congress to impeach the president, including firing former FBI Director James Comey and hiring Michael Flynn — who has since been fired — as national security adviser despite having ties to Russia.” Full story.

GAFFE CITY — “Dem candidate: It ‘shouldn’t take brain cancer’ for John McCain to show courage,” by the Washington Examiner’s Al Weaver: “‘I’ve been tweeting on occasion about saluting Bob Corker and John McCain and Jeff Flake – men who have shown a little bit of courage speaking truth to their own party,’ said Dean Phillips, who is running for a House seat in Minnesota. ‘But it shouldn’t take brain cancer and the retirement from the Senate to do so.’ Phillips is running against Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. … Phillips later apologized to McCain.” Full story.

RETIREMENT WATCH — “Goodlatte to retire after 2018,” by Campaign Pro’s Elena Schneider: “Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the term-limited chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday that he will not seek reelection in 2018. … In the last week, three Texas congressman — Jeb Hensarling, Ted Poe and Lamar Smith — also left safely conservative seats behind. Hensarling and Smith were also term-limited as committee chairmen. As recently as July, Goodlatte’s staff sought to squash rumors that the 65-year-old congressman planned to retire. Goodlatte’s decision opens a Republican-leaning seat, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, which backed President Donald Trump by a 24-point margin.” Full story.

PRIMARY CONCERNS — “Gabby Giffords’ anti-gun violence group backs Abrams in Georgia governor race,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein: “Both Abrams and her Democratic opponent, former state Rep. Stacey Evans, have called for stiff new gun restrictions, marking something of a sea change for Democratic candidates for governor in Georgia. … But one vote might have helped Abrams secure the backing of Courage to Fight Gun Violence, the Giffords group once known as Americans for Responsible Solutions. A measure passed to little fanfare in 2012 prohibited the destruction of firearms by local law enforcement during criminal investigations, and required cities and counties to auction off the guns they collected within six months. Abrams voted against Senate Bill 350, Evans backed it.” Full story.

2018 WATCH — “Democrat Pappas announces candidacy for 1st District US House seat,” by WMUR’s John DiStaso and Adam Sexton: “Stressing the importance of constituent service and a commitment to helping to break the gridlock in Washington, Chris Pappas of Manchester announced his candidacy for the open 1st District U.S. House seat Thursday morning. Speaking exclusively to WMUR at the Puritan Backroom, a popular restaurant that has been under the ownership of his family for 100 years, the three-term Democratic executive councilor said that he arrived at the final decision after speaking with Granite Staters throughout the district.” Full story.

AROUND THE MAP — Quick takes from across the country:

SENATE

Indiana: Iraq War veteran Martin Del Rio may challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in the primary, The Journal-Gazette reports.

Wisconsin: “GOP Senate hopeful Kevin Nicholson supported Rosie O’Donnell’s gun control views,” Fox6 reports.

HOUSE

CO-06: Trump-backing Republican Roger Edwards will challenge Rep. Mike Coffman in the GOP primary, the Denver Post reports.

NC-02: A Democrat challenging Republican Rep. George Holding said a DCCC attack on Holding was “tasteless and insensitive,” the News and Observer reports.

VA-10: “After Virginia blowout, Comstock’s road to reelection grows steeper,” the Washington Post reports.

GOVERNOR

Michigan: State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, a Republican candidate, said he was supposed to speak at an event featuring former White House chief of staff Steve Bannon but was pulled at the last minute, according to The Detroit News’ Jonathan Oosting.

South Carolina: All three GOP candidates for governor plan to attend former White House strategist Steve Bannon’s speech at The Citadel, The Post and Courier reports.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter.They became parents of Jesus.” — Alabama Auditor Jim Ziegler to the Washington Examiner.

Source link

from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/bama-bombshell/

[exfrenchdorsl4p0a1]

Divertimento #126

Some hash brown potatoes have been recalled because they may have been "contaminated with extraneous golf ball materials, that despite our stringent supply standards may have been inadvertently harvested with potatoes." Did Greeks help sculpt the terra cotta warriors? "Chinese artists may have encountered examples of Greek art, which made its way into Asia after the reign of Alexander the Great..." "In light of their most successful year ever, every single one of Porsche's 21,000 employees receives a bonus of 9111€ regardless of being an engineer, a cleaning lady or canteen staff."  "Better than working at Comcast, where all their employees got for Comcast making 5 billion last year was a candy bar." "It took 12 hours and 2,750 shots for Tom Amberry, a 71-year-old retired California podiatrist, to set the world record for free throws consecutively shot and made... Amberry stopped at the 12-hour mark, but only because the gym janitors made him." (He has a cool device that returns the ball to him after each shot).  "He made 500 consecutive free throws on 473 separate occasions, according to notes he kept." "From the literature, a consensus emerges that there are (only) two groups of mammalian non-swimmers..." (answer at the BBC) Recycling plants use magnets to sort aluminum (even though aluminum isn't magnetic).   And it's not by process of elimination.  The magnets actually move the aluminum.  Explained at the link. "Scientists have found a way to use spinach to build working human heart muscle..." An explanation of why "lb" is used as an abbreviation for "pound." Sexual subculture of the week: "feederism."

   As a banana changes from green to yellow, which stage is the best time to eat it? A longread at Golfworld gives details about the caddies on the LPGA circuit. If airport runways were circular, "that would enable planes to take off in the direction most advantageous for them. Namely, the direction without any crosswinds." Social Security cards (and numbers) explained. "...the PSAT 8/9 answer sheet begins by asking many very personal questions of each student; though nowhere on the form or booklet does it say these questions are optional... The answer sheet had spaces for the student’s name, grade level, sex, date of birth, student ID number or Social Security number, race/ethnic group, military relation, home address, email address, mobile phone,  grade point average, courses taken, and parents’ highest level of education." There have been 1500 attacks with acid in London since 2011.  Unlike the worldwide numbers, in the UK over 70% of the victims are men. Alice Elizabeth Doherty was born in Minneapolis and is the only known person with hypertrichosis lanuginosa born in the United States of America. The International Edible Book Festival is an annual event usually held on or around April 1, which is also known as Edible Book Day..  "edible books" are created, displayed, and small events are held. The creations are photographed and then consumed... The original "Brexit" occurred 450,000 years ago.  "The scars of these events can be found on the seabed of the English Channel... huge, 100m-deep [holes] carved into the bedrock and hundreds of metres to several kilometres in diameter... we interpret these as giant plunge pools..."

How NOT to install slats in a door. The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is now powered by solar energy.  "We believe that this project will help save at least $8,000 to $10,000 off the energy costs on this building alone.." "When people think about traveling to the past, they worry about accidentally changing the present, but no one in the present really thinks they can radically change the future."  (and 20 other profound "showerthoughts") (there's a subreddit for that) "A small-town Iowa newspaper with a staff of 10 people - most of whom are related to each other – has won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on powerful agricultural companies over farm pollution." A scientific study of energy expenditure while playing golf. (facepalm) Details about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. The Weather Channel offers a stunning indictment of the sugar industry and how it has destroyed Lake Okeechobee.  "It’s the culmination of 135 years of engineering missteps, hubris and a determination to turn Everglades sawgrass into cash crops." Transillumination of a stick deodorant container. Should the world "internet" be capitalized?  Not a simple answer (the proportion of usage is about 50:50). A guide to medieval coins. Information about Skrydstrup Woman (and Egtved Girl).

There is a new theory on the biologic cause of migraine. "Contrary to what has previously been believed, we found that the arteries on the outside of the skull did not expand during migraine attacks..." Swiss chocolate companies are experiencing major problems. "Discovered in the mud of a shallow lagoon in the Philippines, a living creature of [shipworm] has never been described before – even though its existence has been known for more than 200 years thanks to fossils of the baseball bat-sized tubes that encase the creature." (video at the link) Dehydration may contribute to chronic renal disease, not just acute renal failure.

"Few people ever saw the images of China girls, although for decades they were ubiquitous in movie theaters. At the beginning of a reel of film, there would be a few frames of a woman’s head. She might be dressed up; she might be scowling at the camera. She might blink or move her head.

But if audiences saw her, it was only because there had been a mistake. These frames weren’t for public consumption. The China girl was there to assist the lab technicians processing the film..." Googie architecture [not "google"] is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. Queen Elizabeth II spent more time in the armed forces than the entire Donald Trump family and their in-laws combined. In April Britain experienced its first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.  "A National Grid spokesman said the record low was a sign of things to come, with coal-free days becoming increasingly common as the polluting fuel is phased out." A woman "missed a $10,000 dream cruise of the Galapagos Islands because she was bumped from an overbooked Air Canada flight." Remembering Pat Tillman.

"The incidence of angiostrongyliasis, nicknamed “rat lungworm” illness because of its origins (it comes from a parasite in the lungs of rats via rat feces to snails and slugs and then through contaminated food or drink to humans) is on the rise in Hawaii." A nightmare scenario for Florida:  "If property values start to fall, Cason said, banks could stop writing 30-year mortgages for coastal homes, shrinking the pool of able buyers and sending prices lower still. Those properties make up a quarter of the city’s tax base; if that revenue fell, the city would struggle to provide the services that make it such a desirable place to live, causing more sales and another drop in revenue. And all of that could happen before the rising sea consumes a single home." The ultimate "steadicam." Showerthought: "University is great because you're effectively an unemployed alcoholic, but your parents are really proud of you." Indian "pundits" were spies who mapped huge swathes of South Asia.  "Singh took detailed records of his trips, taken on foot through forbidden lands, often under cover of darkness. At the end of each years-long adventure, he returned his hard-won intel to his employer, the British Crown."  They recorded their results on a rosary. Suggestions for overcoming "Ad-block walls." How to open an apparently impossible puzzle box.  (very clever mechanism) "According to legend, pirate treasure reportedly worth £100 million is buried on an Indian Ocean island. Although the region is thought to be littered with hidden treasure, this one is said to be the Holy Grail, the world’s biggest booty haul. The story, which reads like a Hollywood script, has been passed down through generations on the islands of the Seychelles and La Réunion." "Belphegor's prime is the palindromic prime number 1000000000000066600000000000001, a number which reads the same both backwards and forwards and is only divisible by itself and one." Easy to remember: 13 zeros followed by "666" followed by 13 zeros. Updated information on Otzi. "Melissophilia might just be the weirdest, most awkward and most cringeworthy sexual fetish ever..."

The images today are of stinging caterpillars, from a gallery at ThoughtCo (identification and photo credits at the link.) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2q0UTSQ

[repwincoml4a0a5]

Divertimento #126

Some hash brown potatoes have been recalled because they may have been "contaminated with extraneous golf ball materials, that despite our stringent supply standards may have been inadvertently harvested with potatoes." Did Greeks help sculpt the terra cotta warriors? "Chinese artists may have encountered examples of Greek art, which made its way into Asia after the reign of Alexander the Great..." "In light of their most successful year ever, every single one of Porsche's 21,000 employees receives a bonus of 9111€ regardless of being an engineer, a cleaning lady or canteen staff."  "Better than working at Comcast, where all their employees got for Comcast making 5 billion last year was a candy bar." "It took 12 hours and 2,750 shots for Tom Amberry, a 71-year-old retired California podiatrist, to set the world record for free throws consecutively shot and made... Amberry stopped at the 12-hour mark, but only because the gym janitors made him." (He has a cool device that returns the ball to him after each shot).  "He made 500 consecutive free throws on 473 separate occasions, according to notes he kept." "From the literature, a consensus emerges that there are (only) two groups of mammalian non-swimmers..." (answer at the BBC) Recycling plants use magnets to sort aluminum (even though aluminum isn't magnetic).   And it's not by process of elimination.  The magnets actually move the aluminum.  Explained at the link. "Scientists have found a way to use spinach to build working human heart muscle..." An explanation of why "lb" is used as an abbreviation for "pound." Sexual subculture of the week: "feederism."

   As a banana changes from green to yellow, which stage is the best time to eat it? A longread at Golfworld gives details about the caddies on the LPGA circuit. If airport runways were circular, "that would enable planes to take off in the direction most advantageous for them. Namely, the direction without any crosswinds." Social Security cards (and numbers) explained. "...the PSAT 8/9 answer sheet begins by asking many very personal questions of each student; though nowhere on the form or booklet does it say these questions are optional... The answer sheet had spaces for the student’s name, grade level, sex, date of birth, student ID number or Social Security number, race/ethnic group, military relation, home address, email address, mobile phone,  grade point average, courses taken, and parents’ highest level of education." There have been 1500 attacks with acid in London since 2011.  Unlike the worldwide numbers, in the UK over 70% of the victims are men. Alice Elizabeth Doherty was born in Minneapolis and is the only known person with hypertrichosis lanuginosa born in the United States of America. The International Edible Book Festival is an annual event usually held on or around April 1, which is also known as Edible Book Day..  "edible books" are created, displayed, and small events are held. The creations are photographed and then consumed... The original "Brexit" occurred 450,000 years ago.  "The scars of these events can be found on the seabed of the English Channel... huge, 100m-deep [holes] carved into the bedrock and hundreds of metres to several kilometres in diameter... we interpret these as giant plunge pools..."

How NOT to install slats in a door. The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is now powered by solar energy.  "We believe that this project will help save at least $8,000 to $10,000 off the energy costs on this building alone.." "When people think about traveling to the past, they worry about accidentally changing the present, but no one in the present really thinks they can radically change the future."  (and 20 other profound "showerthoughts") (there's a subreddit for that) "A small-town Iowa newspaper with a staff of 10 people - most of whom are related to each other – has won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on powerful agricultural companies over farm pollution." A scientific study of energy expenditure while playing golf. (facepalm) Details about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. The Weather Channel offers a stunning indictment of the sugar industry and how it has destroyed Lake Okeechobee.  "It’s the culmination of 135 years of engineering missteps, hubris and a determination to turn Everglades sawgrass into cash crops." Transillumination of a stick deodorant container. Should the world "internet" be capitalized?  Not a simple answer (the proportion of usage is about 50:50). A guide to medieval coins. Information about Skrydstrup Woman (and Egtved Girl).

There is a new theory on the biologic cause of migraine. "Contrary to what has previously been believed, we found that the arteries on the outside of the skull did not expand during migraine attacks..." Swiss chocolate companies are experiencing major problems. "Discovered in the mud of a shallow lagoon in the Philippines, a living creature of [shipworm] has never been described before – even though its existence has been known for more than 200 years thanks to fossils of the baseball bat-sized tubes that encase the creature." (video at the link) Dehydration may contribute to chronic renal disease, not just acute renal failure.

"Few people ever saw the images of China girls, although for decades they were ubiquitous in movie theaters. At the beginning of a reel of film, there would be a few frames of a woman’s head. She might be dressed up; she might be scowling at the camera. She might blink or move her head.

But if audiences saw her, it was only because there had been a mistake. These frames weren’t for public consumption. The China girl was there to assist the lab technicians processing the film..." Googie architecture [not "google"] is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. Queen Elizabeth II spent more time in the armed forces than the entire Donald Trump family and their in-laws combined. In April Britain experienced its first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.  "A National Grid spokesman said the record low was a sign of things to come, with coal-free days becoming increasingly common as the polluting fuel is phased out." A woman "missed a $10,000 dream cruise of the Galapagos Islands because she was bumped from an overbooked Air Canada flight." Remembering Pat Tillman.

"The incidence of angiostrongyliasis, nicknamed “rat lungworm” illness because of its origins (it comes from a parasite in the lungs of rats via rat feces to snails and slugs and then through contaminated food or drink to humans) is on the rise in Hawaii." A nightmare scenario for Florida:  "If property values start to fall, Cason said, banks could stop writing 30-year mortgages for coastal homes, shrinking the pool of able buyers and sending prices lower still. Those properties make up a quarter of the city’s tax base; if that revenue fell, the city would struggle to provide the services that make it such a desirable place to live, causing more sales and another drop in revenue. And all of that could happen before the rising sea consumes a single home." The ultimate "steadicam." Showerthought: "University is great because you're effectively an unemployed alcoholic, but your parents are really proud of you." Indian "pundits" were spies who mapped huge swathes of South Asia.  "Singh took detailed records of his trips, taken on foot through forbidden lands, often under cover of darkness. At the end of each years-long adventure, he returned his hard-won intel to his employer, the British Crown."  They recorded their results on a rosary. Suggestions for overcoming "Ad-block walls." How to open an apparently impossible puzzle box.  (very clever mechanism) "According to legend, pirate treasure reportedly worth £100 million is buried on an Indian Ocean island. Although the region is thought to be littered with hidden treasure, this one is said to be the Holy Grail, the world’s biggest booty haul. The story, which reads like a Hollywood script, has been passed down through generations on the islands of the Seychelles and La Réunion." "Belphegor's prime is the palindromic prime number 1000000000000066600000000000001, a number which reads the same both backwards and forwards and is only divisible by itself and one." Easy to remember: 13 zeros followed by "666" followed by 13 zeros. Updated information on Otzi. "Melissophilia might just be the weirdest, most awkward and most cringeworthy sexual fetish ever..."

The images today are of stinging caterpillars, from a gallery at ThoughtCo (identification and photo credits at the link.) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2q0UTSQ

[stormdoors78476]

Divertimento #126

Some hash brown potatoes have been recalled because they may have been "contaminated with extraneous golf ball materials, that despite our stringent supply standards may have been inadvertently harvested with potatoes." Did Greeks help sculpt the terra cotta warriors? "Chinese artists may have encountered examples of Greek art, which made its way into Asia after the reign of Alexander the Great..." "In light of their most successful year ever, every single one of Porsche's 21,000 employees receives a bonus of 9111€ regardless of being an engineer, a cleaning lady or canteen staff."  "Better than working at Comcast, where all their employees got for Comcast making 5 billion last year was a candy bar." "It took 12 hours and 2,750 shots for Tom Amberry, a 71-year-old retired California podiatrist, to set the world record for free throws consecutively shot and made... Amberry stopped at the 12-hour mark, but only because the gym janitors made him." (He has a cool device that returns the ball to him after each shot).  "He made 500 consecutive free throws on 473 separate occasions, according to notes he kept." "From the literature, a consensus emerges that there are (only) two groups of mammalian non-swimmers..." (answer at the BBC) Recycling plants use magnets to sort aluminum (even though aluminum isn't magnetic).   And it's not by process of elimination.  The magnets actually move the aluminum.  Explained at the link. "Scientists have found a way to use spinach to build working human heart muscle..." An explanation of why "lb" is used as an abbreviation for "pound." Sexual subculture of the week: "feederism."

   As a banana changes from green to yellow, which stage is the best time to eat it? A longread at Golfworld gives details about the caddies on the LPGA circuit. If airport runways were circular, "that would enable planes to take off in the direction most advantageous for them. Namely, the direction without any crosswinds." Social Security cards (and numbers) explained. "...the PSAT 8/9 answer sheet begins by asking many very personal questions of each student; though nowhere on the form or booklet does it say these questions are optional... The answer sheet had spaces for the student’s name, grade level, sex, date of birth, student ID number or Social Security number, race/ethnic group, military relation, home address, email address, mobile phone,  grade point average, courses taken, and parents’ highest level of education." There have been 1500 attacks with acid in London since 2011.  Unlike the worldwide numbers, in the UK over 70% of the victims are men. Alice Elizabeth Doherty was born in Minneapolis and is the only known person with hypertrichosis lanuginosa born in the United States of America. The International Edible Book Festival is an annual event usually held on or around April 1, which is also known as Edible Book Day..  "edible books" are created, displayed, and small events are held. The creations are photographed and then consumed... The original "Brexit" occurred 450,000 years ago.  "The scars of these events can be found on the seabed of the English Channel... huge, 100m-deep [holes] carved into the bedrock and hundreds of metres to several kilometres in diameter... we interpret these as giant plunge pools..."

How NOT to install slats in a door. The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is now powered by solar energy.  "We believe that this project will help save at least $8,000 to $10,000 off the energy costs on this building alone.." "When people think about traveling to the past, they worry about accidentally changing the present, but no one in the present really thinks they can radically change the future."  (and 20 other profound "showerthoughts") (there's a subreddit for that) "A small-town Iowa newspaper with a staff of 10 people - most of whom are related to each other – has won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on powerful agricultural companies over farm pollution." A scientific study of energy expenditure while playing golf. (facepalm) Details about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. The Weather Channel offers a stunning indictment of the sugar industry and how it has destroyed Lake Okeechobee.  "It’s the culmination of 135 years of engineering missteps, hubris and a determination to turn Everglades sawgrass into cash crops." Transillumination of a stick deodorant container. Should the world "internet" be capitalized?  Not a simple answer (the proportion of usage is about 50:50). A guide to medieval coins. Information about Skrydstrup Woman (and Egtved Girl).

There is a new theory on the biologic cause of migraine. "Contrary to what has previously been believed, we found that the arteries on the outside of the skull did not expand during migraine attacks..." Swiss chocolate companies are experiencing major problems. "Discovered in the mud of a shallow lagoon in the Philippines, a living creature of [shipworm] has never been described before – even though its existence has been known for more than 200 years thanks to fossils of the baseball bat-sized tubes that encase the creature." (video at the link) Dehydration may contribute to chronic renal disease, not just acute renal failure.

"Few people ever saw the images of China girls, although for decades they were ubiquitous in movie theaters. At the beginning of a reel of film, there would be a few frames of a woman’s head. She might be dressed up; she might be scowling at the camera. She might blink or move her head.

But if audiences saw her, it was only because there had been a mistake. These frames weren’t for public consumption. The China girl was there to assist the lab technicians processing the film..." Googie architecture [not "google"] is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. Queen Elizabeth II spent more time in the armed forces than the entire Donald Trump family and their in-laws combined. In April Britain experienced its first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.  "A National Grid spokesman said the record low was a sign of things to come, with coal-free days becoming increasingly common as the polluting fuel is phased out." A woman "missed a $10,000 dream cruise of the Galapagos Islands because she was bumped from an overbooked Air Canada flight." Remembering Pat Tillman.

"The incidence of angiostrongyliasis, nicknamed “rat lungworm” illness because of its origins (it comes from a parasite in the lungs of rats via rat feces to snails and slugs and then through contaminated food or drink to humans) is on the rise in Hawaii." A nightmare scenario for Florida:  "If property values start to fall, Cason said, banks could stop writing 30-year mortgages for coastal homes, shrinking the pool of able buyers and sending prices lower still. Those properties make up a quarter of the city’s tax base; if that revenue fell, the city would struggle to provide the services that make it such a desirable place to live, causing more sales and another drop in revenue. And all of that could happen before the rising sea consumes a single home." The ultimate "steadicam." Showerthought: "University is great because you're effectively an unemployed alcoholic, but your parents are really proud of you." Indian "pundits" were spies who mapped huge swathes of South Asia.  "Singh took detailed records of his trips, taken on foot through forbidden lands, often under cover of darkness. At the end of each years-long adventure, he returned his hard-won intel to his employer, the British Crown."  They recorded their results on a rosary. Suggestions for overcoming "Ad-block walls." How to open an apparently impossible puzzle box.  (very clever mechanism) "According to legend, pirate treasure reportedly worth £100 million is buried on an Indian Ocean island. Although the region is thought to be littered with hidden treasure, this one is said to be the Holy Grail, the world’s biggest booty haul. The story, which reads like a Hollywood script, has been passed down through generations on the islands of the Seychelles and La Réunion." "Belphegor's prime is the palindromic prime number 1000000000000066600000000000001, a number which reads the same both backwards and forwards and is only divisible by itself and one." Easy to remember: 13 zeros followed by "666" followed by 13 zeros. Updated information on Otzi. "Melissophilia might just be the weirdest, most awkward and most cringeworthy sexual fetish ever..."

The images today are of stinging caterpillars, from a gallery at ThoughtCo (identification and photo credits at the link.) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2q0UTSQ

[repwincostl4m0a2]

Divertimento #126

Some hash brown potatoes have been recalled because they may have been "contaminated with extraneous golf ball materials, that despite our stringent supply standards may have been inadvertently harvested with potatoes." Did Greeks help sculpt the terra cotta warriors? "Chinese artists may have encountered examples of Greek art, which made its way into Asia after the reign of Alexander the Great..." "In light of their most successful year ever, every single one of Porsche's 21,000 employees receives a bonus of 9111€ regardless of being an engineer, a cleaning lady or canteen staff."  "Better than working at Comcast, where all their employees got for Comcast making 5 billion last year was a candy bar." "It took 12 hours and 2,750 shots for Tom Amberry, a 71-year-old retired California podiatrist, to set the world record for free throws consecutively shot and made... Amberry stopped at the 12-hour mark, but only because the gym janitors made him." (He has a cool device that returns the ball to him after each shot).  "He made 500 consecutive free throws on 473 separate occasions, according to notes he kept." "From the literature, a consensus emerges that there are (only) two groups of mammalian non-swimmers..." (answer at the BBC) Recycling plants use magnets to sort aluminum (even though aluminum isn't magnetic).   And it's not by process of elimination.  The magnets actually move the aluminum.  Explained at the link. "Scientists have found a way to use spinach to build working human heart muscle..." An explanation of why "lb" is used as an abbreviation for "pound." Sexual subculture of the week: "feederism."

   As a banana changes from green to yellow, which stage is the best time to eat it? A longread at Golfworld gives details about the caddies on the LPGA circuit. If airport runways were circular, "that would enable planes to take off in the direction most advantageous for them. Namely, the direction without any crosswinds." Social Security cards (and numbers) explained. "...the PSAT 8/9 answer sheet begins by asking many very personal questions of each student; though nowhere on the form or booklet does it say these questions are optional... The answer sheet had spaces for the student’s name, grade level, sex, date of birth, student ID number or Social Security number, race/ethnic group, military relation, home address, email address, mobile phone,  grade point average, courses taken, and parents’ highest level of education." There have been 1500 attacks with acid in London since 2011.  Unlike the worldwide numbers, in the UK over 70% of the victims are men. Alice Elizabeth Doherty was born in Minneapolis and is the only known person with hypertrichosis lanuginosa born in the United States of America. The International Edible Book Festival is an annual event usually held on or around April 1, which is also known as Edible Book Day..  "edible books" are created, displayed, and small events are held. The creations are photographed and then consumed... The original "Brexit" occurred 450,000 years ago.  "The scars of these events can be found on the seabed of the English Channel... huge, 100m-deep [holes] carved into the bedrock and hundreds of metres to several kilometres in diameter... we interpret these as giant plunge pools..."

How NOT to install slats in a door. The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is now powered by solar energy.  "We believe that this project will help save at least $8,000 to $10,000 off the energy costs on this building alone.." "When people think about traveling to the past, they worry about accidentally changing the present, but no one in the present really thinks they can radically change the future."  (and 20 other profound "showerthoughts") (there's a subreddit for that) "A small-town Iowa newspaper with a staff of 10 people - most of whom are related to each other – has won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on powerful agricultural companies over farm pollution." A scientific study of energy expenditure while playing golf. (facepalm) Details about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. The Weather Channel offers a stunning indictment of the sugar industry and how it has destroyed Lake Okeechobee.  "It’s the culmination of 135 years of engineering missteps, hubris and a determination to turn Everglades sawgrass into cash crops." Transillumination of a stick deodorant container. Should the world "internet" be capitalized?  Not a simple answer (the proportion of usage is about 50:50). A guide to medieval coins. Information about Skrydstrup Woman (and Egtved Girl).

There is a new theory on the biologic cause of migraine. "Contrary to what has previously been believed, we found that the arteries on the outside of the skull did not expand during migraine attacks..." Swiss chocolate companies are experiencing major problems. "Discovered in the mud of a shallow lagoon in the Philippines, a living creature of [shipworm] has never been described before – even though its existence has been known for more than 200 years thanks to fossils of the baseball bat-sized tubes that encase the creature." (video at the link) Dehydration may contribute to chronic renal disease, not just acute renal failure.

"Few people ever saw the images of China girls, although for decades they were ubiquitous in movie theaters. At the beginning of a reel of film, there would be a few frames of a woman’s head. She might be dressed up; she might be scowling at the camera. She might blink or move her head.

But if audiences saw her, it was only because there had been a mistake. These frames weren’t for public consumption. The China girl was there to assist the lab technicians processing the film..." Googie architecture [not "google"] is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. Queen Elizabeth II spent more time in the armed forces than the entire Donald Trump family and their in-laws combined. In April Britain experienced its first ever working day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.  "A National Grid spokesman said the record low was a sign of things to come, with coal-free days becoming increasingly common as the polluting fuel is phased out." A woman "missed a $10,000 dream cruise of the Galapagos Islands because she was bumped from an overbooked Air Canada flight." Remembering Pat Tillman.

"The incidence of angiostrongyliasis, nicknamed “rat lungworm” illness because of its origins (it comes from a parasite in the lungs of rats via rat feces to snails and slugs and then through contaminated food or drink to humans) is on the rise in Hawaii." A nightmare scenario for Florida:  "If property values start to fall, Cason said, banks could stop writing 30-year mortgages for coastal homes, shrinking the pool of able buyers and sending prices lower still. Those properties make up a quarter of the city’s tax base; if that revenue fell, the city would struggle to provide the services that make it such a desirable place to live, causing more sales and another drop in revenue. And all of that could happen before the rising sea consumes a single home." The ultimate "steadicam." Showerthought: "University is great because you're effectively an unemployed alcoholic, but your parents are really proud of you." Indian "pundits" were spies who mapped huge swathes of South Asia.  "Singh took detailed records of his trips, taken on foot through forbidden lands, often under cover of darkness. At the end of each years-long adventure, he returned his hard-won intel to his employer, the British Crown."  They recorded their results on a rosary. Suggestions for overcoming "Ad-block walls." How to open an apparently impossible puzzle box.  (very clever mechanism) "According to legend, pirate treasure reportedly worth £100 million is buried on an Indian Ocean island. Although the region is thought to be littered with hidden treasure, this one is said to be the Holy Grail, the world’s biggest booty haul. The story, which reads like a Hollywood script, has been passed down through generations on the islands of the Seychelles and La Réunion." "Belphegor's prime is the palindromic prime number 1000000000000066600000000000001, a number which reads the same both backwards and forwards and is only divisible by itself and one." Easy to remember: 13 zeros followed by "666" followed by 13 zeros. Updated information on Otzi. "Melissophilia might just be the weirdest, most awkward and most cringeworthy sexual fetish ever..."

The images today are of stinging caterpillars, from a gallery at ThoughtCo (identification and photo credits at the link.) from DIYS http://ift.tt/2q0UTSQ