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leonaluv · 4 years

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Mamamoo -debut chart

In the second photo, the image on the bottom is them recreating their debut image.

Black and white are dualities good & evil.

Rising sign in Virgo in Uttra Phalguni (Star of Patronage) Rising sign in Virgo is described as "Mercury is endowed with an attractive physique and the capacity to use words with many meanings. He is fond of jokes. He has a mixed of three humors. "

Since their debut, they have been sponsor by many athletic companies and people even thought Mamamoo's song wanna be Me was a music video, however, it was an ad.

Mamamoo members do participate in the writing process and often write clever lyrics that can be interpreted in different ways. I would use Aze Gag lyrics they used dad jokes for this song. Some of their songs just start as a playful joke such as sleep in the car 🚘 a song about them sleeping car on their way to schedules. Another song to name is 1cm which about teasing each member's heights.

Mamamoo is known for being beagles (energetic) and 😜 playful people. Mars in their first house shows off their passion and loud nature.🤣

Mamamoo has Mars in the first house in Virgo (mercury -earth sigh) in Hasta.

I notice mars being in the first house gets people to notice by their unique appearance.

Now to talk about the nakshatra in Uttra Phalgunia animal symbol is the cow 🐄 and their name is a combination Of 🐄 Moo. This birth star is said to be about friendship and receiving prosperity through marriage. To raise some attention to the group rbw release a fake dating scandal using Solar and unknownly Moonbyul (posing as her boyfriend).

Mars in Hasta - "the power to manifest what one seeks and place it in their hands."

Mamamoo used to come up with their dance routines and even use their fan's designs for outfits for one concept.

Mamamoo when they first debut only had a few friends and moonbyul cousins. ( I think 6 people or four people)

The second house can show wealth, enemies, and etc.

Rahu with Saturn can be good or bad when conjunct in the house. Saturn is malefic whenever it is can slow down the effects of that house. Rahu and Saturn will make individuals want to fulfill their desires.

Saturn in libra in Visa this placement can provide loyal fans .

Mamamoo fourth house has bhrigu Bindu in the fourth house and the fourth house can represent homeland. Bhrigu Bindu can show your life purpose 💓 and in the fourth house, they receive early success in life. The fourth house represents the mother their name being Mama-Moo.

BB in Sagittarius(Jupiter) in Moola (Ketu) showing the person will be more spiritual and less focused on the martial side. Their songs are mostly about uplifting lyrics and claiming their power.

Moon in Aquarius - love to look at things from a different perspective and the type of group to bring about change! Mamamoo dressing in suits and doing new type concepts that haven't been exploring. Moon in satabhisa the effect of rahu can amplify the effects and rahu can help bring in the masses. ( Michael Jackson has this moon and Bts has this position to I think or in the sun position)

Moon in the sixth house - Healing effects and Mamamoo is in know as trust and listen to Mamamoo. Meaning their music is always good and feeling strongly about those who get overlooked. Mamamoo fanbase is mostly 90% female and 10% males.

Moon causing problems where it is position and obstructing prosperity. Moon is in the sixth house and the sixth house is a daily routine, enemies, debts, health &service.

Almost every day their past scandals resurface and their judge for it. Rahu effects the moon and remembers that Rahu can be seen as an illusion. Rahu(North node) the head of the dragon(moon) wants to be seen on Tv. Sometimes people will make up false information about this group it spreads to the news/ trends on social media. Moon is the emotional mind

The other part of the dragon is the tail the south showing where we need to disconnect ourselves from the material. It comes naturally but remembers that Rahu and ketu exchange energy throughout each house. Ketu in 8 house as a group their parents were against them signing up to be singers. So they had to rely on themselves and eventually made enough money to pay off their debt. Now in the beginning Solar said her first paycheck was $100 on a radio show and she got in trouble for it 😅.

Mercury is their atmakara planet (soul planet) because Mercury is the highest degrees in the rasi chart (natal chart). Mercury is the planet of communication and Mamamoo are known for their voices. All types of communication writing, reading, speaking, socializing, and fields. Venus is conjunct with Mercury two benefits in the 9 house.

Yoga

Mercury and Venus create many benefits in their chart.

Charmara -long-lived, scholarly, eloquent, and learned in many arts.

Ran a/Lakshmi- Power, authority, and wealth.

Raja/Dharama-karmadipati - dutiful and high achiever

(Example Hyolyn has Ma in the first house and her performance of Daily received a lot of attention due to her dancing abilities)

Sun in Gemini ♊ rule by Mercury

I would say that Geminis can probably fit any concept. Sun in the tenth house is so good and gives the group that spotlight. Just think any other group doing different concepts would seem like they are trying to find their music or style with Mamamoo it just seems like they are exploring a new side of them. Sun is in Mrigashira the searching 💫 star.

Jupiter expands things and in the eleventh house will show how they have connections.

Jupiter aspects the third house of efforts and the ruler is the eight lord (Mars).

Moving on the d9 chart

Mamamoo rising sign is in Virgo ♍

When they debut people thought they were older because they didn't seem like a rookie group. A professional artist who is recognized in Korea and they were called Monster Rookies.

In the d9 chart Mamamoo rising sign changes to Pisces ♓ showing off a more dreamy image now. Mamamoo stands out from other groups creating their unique approach to music.

Mercury changeable planet and in the seventh the person will be able to fit in anywhere.

Mercury is in a great position in the seventh house of partnership. Mercury in virgo (Uphal) shows their picky nature because each member has their style and their music taste. So often they will just combine their concepts altogether.

D-10 chart

Mercury is in the third house in virgo show agreements and communication.

Mamamoo are known for their fun adlibs on stage and they receive attention due to it.

Now checking the transit chart of Mamamoo chart 😶

Mars in the 12 house suffering /lost 🤔 Maybe issue with performing.

Ketu in the seventh detachment from the partnership.

I still think Mamamoo might resign with a new company.

Sun and venus might show their different viewpoints.

Mamamoo - Different outfits

Mamamoo debut in their rahu Maha dasa

Not until they Saturn (Antaradasa ) did they get their first win! Saturn in their chart is a good so it helps out Rahu.

In 2019 Mercury( Antaradasa) Mamamoo was successful with their songs Gogobebe and Hip. They are still in their Mercury period until 2022 🤔 and Mercury is in the ninth house with Jupiter & Saturn.

Group will be more focused on what is most needed and maybe seeking guidance from those around them.

I think Mamamoo members could in up in separate companies, but still, continue as a group. Still, I might be biased since I love the group I think all the members want different things. When doing group charts as a whole like you would a business chart you still have to take notice of individual chart. Both Solar and Moonbyul d9 chart is active since they are 30 now. So it causes a shift in ideas someone who was a martialist once they enter their 30s or marriage could suddenly become spiritual.

Solar example she has Saturn and Rahu in the 12 house(foreign things) often she likes to try out new concepts. Her company staff would warn her not to do it and this time she receives more positive influence. Now in d9 chart her Rahu will be Saturn in the second house (d9 chart) because she is in her early thirties. Just like in Mamamoo chart how they slowly grew to be more successsful. Solar this year in the sixth month will be enter a new phase in life her Saturn maha dasa. * this birth time I am using is not confirmed ☑️ but If she starts expressing herself differently by than 🙂 maybe it is close.

#mamamoo #vedic astrology #birth chart #astrology #kpop

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onaperduamedee · 4 years

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Disco 3.05 “Die Trying” bullet point review

Bullet point review under the read more. SPOILERS FOR STAR TREK: DISCOVERY 3.05:

Saru’s logs this time!

Captain. Number One. Oh, my heart. He’s trying so hard to channel Philippa. There’s a lot to say about the Klingon war being a consequence of Philippa’s mistakes as well, not Michael’s, and the way Saru clings to her as a paragon of Starfleet ideals, when Michael has always seemed to cling to her as a person rather than a symbol, is bound to explode in his face.

The quest for Michael’s mom is still going on.

Everything about the visuals of this new Starfleet is stunning: the tree of life, the flying rainforest, but all that glitters…

Look, the way these nerds are reacting to finding Starfleet again is heartwarming but it’s also so very clear that they are setting themselves up for disappointment. The writing is going for dystopia, I’m telling you. The crew is the opposite of genre-savvy here, and that’s pretty unnerving.

VOYAGER SHE IS HERE YES I’D LOVE TO HEAR THOSE STORIES

(I am sorry I know important conflict between past and present Starfleet is happening but Michael’s peeping ear is so cute!)

The examination for Adira is a bit gross, ngl. Everyone is obsessed with them as a medical case.

Starfleet deciding to erase the ship from History had consequences! That’s what happens when you screw with recorded History. I like this a lot. They are also technically in another timeline.

The needs of Starfleet ahead of the needs of your crew. And Michael bristling with disagreement the moment she hears the Admiral’s words. I love Michael’s mutinous heart to distraction.

Some of us might not ever recover. Interesting, so Michael is back to having her identity be wrapped around Starfleet’s ideals. From what we saw in 3.03/3.04, she isn’t there yet, but this suggests a) she made her choice in reverting back to this state, b) the process is proving more trying than expected.

(Grouping people by department. What does that make Georgiou? Bother in chief?)

Debriefing is my favourite trope in genre fiction. It’s an opportunity to let characters break the 4th wall and offer meta commentary, and this is exactly what they are doing. The gag of Reno’s snack is both hilarious, and extremely telling about her character.

Captain/dominatrix, I mean, yes, but you looked amazing Tilly.

Nhan resisting, though. I love her and it’s no wonder she likes Michael.

I love seeing Michael try to convince Starfleet into being helped. It’s such a Michael thing.

Extremely wicked even for a Terran. God, Georgiou’s whip smart. I am really, really digging the way they are displaying just how shrewd she is this season. Often, her being one step ahead had been credited to her knowing everything, but she’s also incredibly astute and observant.

A seed-vault! I’ve always found them really cool and a vault in the space equivalent of the Far North is a great setting for an episode.

Everyone on this ship being proud of Discovery is so endearing.

Every time I see Michael in command there’s a furnace of pride (and gayness) in my chest. I love her so effing much.

As much as I enjoy the cute Keyla/Joann moment, I hope Joann particularly will be given more than supporting Keyla through her PTSD.

Real air, real me. I can’t tell you how much I love Nhan right now. She’s so beautiful.

This episode is following quite closely the Airiam episode: a remote location, difficult to access because of storms/mines, an abandoned station with no clue as to what happened, ominous projections…

Play with it. Georgiou’s not a cat! He is treating her really creepily and I appreciate that she calls him out on it almost immediately with her line about fetishization.

Care about, again. Yeah, Michael is her weakness and he just found Leverage against her.

The interior of the vault is gorgeous and futuristic and weird and I LOVE seeing this in my sci-fi.

Nhan’s line about diligence and poverty is all the more striking that beyond the real world evident implications (for immigrants marginalized people, in the military as well), it sheds a light on Starfleet and the way it obviously excludes people from its so-called utopia, while also fetishizing those who haven’t joined.

This vault is an actual vault with dead bodies. They are using a lot of horror tropes like in the Airiam episode.

His grief seems to have disconnected him from reality. Hard season 1 Michael truth here. Or just young Michael.

Barzans have a different conception of death! I love this. More anthropology in sci-fi, please.

The scene with the current Starfleet officer observing the crew in action and being awed by Michael’s command the engineers’ prowess is interesting: it’s dynamic and fun, but in no way could they be read as dysfunctional, even by Starfleet standards. It’s extremely telling on the state of the Federation and the way the crew perceives themselves.

Again, Michael’s grief not being about herself but someone else. In another cave. This is parody at this point. That said and I am all for Michael talking more about the way losing her parents (and others) affected her: Michael is a creature of grief, always has been.

I don’t want to see Nhan go, not remotely, but that conversation between Michael and Nhan is stunning and fond and emotional and unfair and fitting in ways that the Airiam funeral wasn’t to me. The way these two women are in awe of each other… It’s just breathtaking.

I appreciate that Nhan’s decision is obviously a result of loss and trauma. It’s the pendant to the post-traumatic growth that Culber diagnosed Michael with: some people just completely change their life and leave.

Their paths HAVE TO cross again otherwise I will be rioting.

That’s not why it’s called the Dark Ages, Saru. It’s a controversial term for medievalists.

I mean, the Admiral is right: that’s an unsteady crew right here. So perhaps you should OFFER THEM A PROPER PSYCHIATRIST I DON’T KNOW?!?

Challenge accepted. Michael is so cocky, I love her so much.

So, the Burn has something to do with a melody? I feel like this is an odd observation to make for an anthropologist, but okay, we are doing this.

OH NO WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO PHILIPPA?!? ALL MY JOKES ABOUT HER HAVING PLOT-ARMOR! That said, the scene was wonderfully acted and it’s another reminder SMG and Michelle Yeoh have great chemistry, however you read it.

The Federation is its people. One living organism. I’m so weirded out by the fact that this is a chapter of my fic; Michael being confronted to an officer who is so stuck up she realizes this isn’t at all how she sees Starfleet and she questions her place there.

I am not terribly happy with the way the show has decided to go back to faulting Michael for her disagreement with Starfleet. And Saru keeps flinging back at Michael a past he knows to be painful to her. He feels so threatened by her, even when he is in charge. That’s one of the reasons I’ve never warmed up to their friendship: a friend who constantly tries to keep you in your place, below them, isn’t really a friend. Also, Michael undermining everyone because she’s sharper than them is GOOD. Her pride and bluntness make her so relatable as a woman in a professional setting too. Saru needs to check his ego.

Good conflicts and weird confrontations (in a good way). It was creepy and fun and made great use of technology for the mystery (Doctor Who’s Library nod?). As much as I want Tilly to be shown more being friend with Michael, everything about Nhan and Michael was glorious. I enjoyed it despite whatever they are doing with Michael (I’m not sure they know).

It took me a day, but I’ve figured out what didn’t work with the episode for me: the episode would have worked much better if it had been written and directed as horror. The coldness of Starfleet culminating in… whatever happened that fucked up someone as terrifying as the Emperor? The discovery of the tombs and the poor man stuck in grief, almost robbed of his death by Starfleet? The heart of the episode lied in moments that were BEGGING to be engaged with as horror. And treating them as such would have even benefitted the more warmhearted scenes like the crew arriving at HQ and Michael and Nhan’s goodbye by contrast. It’s something that DW does regularly too and I think that was a real missed opportunity. I really enjoyed the episode, but it could have gone further.

NEXT WEEK: PHILIPPA NO

#Star Trek Discovery #Star Trek Discovery spoilers #Star Trek Discovery season 3 #remblai #long post #I really liked the importance of anthropology this episode #felt good; felt Le Guin

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crstapor · 4 years

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Why I am so Cynical

“I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” - Zarathustra

Part 3

Let me stop shouting - sometimes I get carried away. Because it needs be clearly stated that my perspective on the matter at hand is not based solely on 'personal' experience (of course one can never deny the importance such datum possess!) but also 'phenomenological' experience, which is, clearly, a different animal altogether. That this menagerie has informed my thought will surprise no-one who's ever tried it; thinking, I mean. How else, if one is being as honest as possible, can one arrive at any conclusions whatsoever? While the first part of this essay waxed rather subjectively poetic, allow me to offer this third as a sort of empirical respite. Facts, good reader, let me proffer facts to further found my cynicism most severe.

But let me first define the scope these facts will express. The working title for this missive to minds who want to think was 'A Polemic against American Modernity'. Allowing that my interests, here, lie not north to Canada or south of Texas, the parameters of this diatribe should be well understood by all with even meager cartographic skill.

Superficial perhaps I've structured these facts into three distinct phenomena; the surface, the self, and the symbol. I do so not to make any sweeping ontologic distinctions or assertions, rather, to help me think through them. System-building is not my purpose here - system-analysis is. The facets of modern America culture were well in place before I came along, and, unless I'm completely mistaken, I've done little to add to or enhance any of them. Apart from the clear truth of my having lived with and through them the vast majority of my mortal years. This 'truth', my citizenship and biography, allow me credence to present what follows as 'fact'; though of course it's still just one man's opinion!

Knowledge!

The Surface

Politics. Democracy. American Exceptionalism. Yeah right. So, help me out here, we have a great democracy because we vote for other people to get to vote on who actually becomes leader? Unless of course nine robes get that special privilege - based off of their admitted political preferences naturally! - like back in 2000. How the legislature is just a club for the privileged, connected, and the rich (which is almost redundant). How once 'money' became speech only those with 'money' had speech. The Founders are grave-rolling and Mussolini's having a laugh - fascism much? Let's remember Benito's definition of the term; which is when State and corporate interests converge (more or less). And we find that just about everywhere we look up in DC these days. Apparently we have the 'political will' to help banks, big oil, agribusiness, gun manufacturers, and all the other consolidated purveyors of terror, hate or control (sure, tobacco had to be sacrificed - occasionally you must throw the peasants a bone to keep the lie alive) but can't find the time to help out 'we the people': see continuing cuts to social programs; see the limp-dick governmental response to the housing/mortgage crisis of 2008 - ?; see the student loan pyramid scheme; see a 'minimum' wage that consistently fails to keep up with inflation; see a 'healthcare' plan that mandates private citizens purchase a product from non-governmental, for-profit companies - and taxes them if they don't; see how prohibition (here considered against natural, earth-born narcotics) continues to fuel a for-profit prison system and further erodes race relations; see how the gravest existential threat to the species (climate change, for realz) is perpetually laughed off and ignored; see how we lecture others on human rights while keeping Gitmo open and denying homosexuals equal protection under the law; see how NASA's (quite possibly, from a historical perspective, the greatest achievement of our modern society) budget keeps getting gutted while their priorities are schizophrenically re-ordered with each administration; see how children keep slaughtering children with weapons of war and no one can even attempt to do anything about it; see how voter ID laws are passed like Jim Crow; see how the innate sovereignty of the nation has been torn asunder now that private corporations can be 'to big to fail'; see an ever increasingly militarized police force; see the constitutional absurdity of 'free speech zones'; see democratic campaigns where one guy runs but once elected that guy's nowhere to be found and in his place is a carbon copy of the last guy who held the office ... See how our 'political parties' are two sides of the same coin ... But let's stop here and consider that last point in greater depth, as it is so vital to any understanding of 'democracy' in America ... Republicans, Democrats; Jefferson has been famously remembered, quoted, as saying once our (more properly his) democracy devolved into a two party system it would be a democracy no more. And I've certainly been a witness to that in my life. Sure, America isn't a dictatorship, but it sure as hell isn't the country Jefferson helped forge. And the main reason for that, to my eyes, seems to be the consolidation of power in the hands of politicians with more in common with each other than their constituents. R or D you can bet they're there for Wall Street or the military-information-industrial complex. Anyone else? Good luck with that citizen ... And while they're both complicit in gutting the middle class, let's take a moment to reflect, ethically, on that matter ... You can't blame the snake for its venom, but you can sure as hell blame the snake-oil salesman for shilling his bullshit wares. In case that metaphor wasn't clear enough allow me to decode it for you:

R = snake. D = snake-oil salesman.

Switching gears - though not by much! - let's shift to the state of modern American entertainment. To the uninitiated possibly a trite transition, any who've watched politics lately will surely see the connection. And just as our politics smell rotten, the main complaint with what passes as entertainment these days is how bad it tastes. Yes, it's a question of taste, as it seems most Americans have none. From 'reality TV' (which is surely anything but - though let's not forget Barnum's maxim!), to a pop-music ecosystem that's cannibalized itself to the point of parody, a movie industry that can seemingly fill ten months of releases with one script, the apotheosis of sport, the devolution of literature into a hobby for diarists, the way the performing arts are continually hoarded into smaller and smaller urban green zones, well, it's just hard to swallow most of that without gagging. Or throwing up. Yet a more concerted analysis along these lines is not called for here - we have much too much ground yet to cover.

Speaking of ground and covering it why not mention war? That old playground of glory now some video game where you might win many things; though honor's not among them. The full transition here is yet to occur, but we're definitely in the middle of it. Drones, air strikes, GPS targeting and bombs dropped from orbit (sure, not yet - wait for it!). The complete impersonalization of the other; that total objectification of the enemy (you better believe the pornographers have drone-envy). Let's not equivocate; it's one thing to look someone in the eye and take their life - quite another to push a button sixteen time-zones away and watch an image of indiscriminate carnage. How long will it be before we don't even let a homo sapien sapien push that button? How long before the machines are killing us on their own .?. Nothing to be cynical about here!

And if killing our 'enemies' has/is becoming so much more impersonal healing our 'own' has a fortiori. I'm not even going to start bandying about statistics but it's well known that of the 'first-world', 'post-industrialized' countries we're the only one that still considers healthcare a cash-grab instead of a human-right. And to what wonderful affect! Go ahead and try to ignore all the horror stories of your fellow Americans who lost it all because they couldn't pay their medical bills, or because they did. Pay no attention to record profit margins at insurance companies while the poor forgo all but emergency treatment and the wealth of the middle class is bled out and transferred to HMO executives. Sure, Uncle Tom tried to change all that - by passing a Republican plan even though the Ds had two branches of the federal government! - but when I tried to sign up for 'Obamacare' I still couldn't afford it even though I had $200 in the bank, no assets, and had been unemployed for over two years. If I lived in any other country where English is the primary language I'd be covered without paying a dime. My solution? To use the actual Republican plan - don't get sick!

But that should be easy since we all know of the three pillars of good health (diet, exercise, genetics) eating right is the easiest of all ... Hell. No, sorry, I was about to go all sarcastic and make it seem America knows nothing about sugar overload, HFCS, preservatives, the increasingly and horrifying inability of urbanites to access fresh foods (specifically the poor ones!), pesticides, pink slime, corn or corn or more corn or when will there ever be enough corn already, price gouging on foods that were produced the way they've been produced for centuries (read: organic, grass-fed, free-range), trans-fats, GMO proliferation in our breadbasket without an honest debate on the merits or looking at the science past what some corporation's panel has assured us is true, sodas, the food-gap, throwing away enough food daily to feed the world's hungry cuz it wouldn't make a dime, slaughterhouses like Auschwitz or Dachau ... That Quite Barbarism ... But that would be foolish - America knows all about that ... Why shouldn't it? America invented most of it …

And we invented the largest consumer-driven transportation system the world has ever seen to move all that food around. Sure, China will catch up with us eventually (if not already), but for the better part of three generations the US led the world in road-building and car-buying. Quite apart from the environmental effects this produced there was a profound psychological positive feed-back loop involved as well: one justifying the pre-dominate narrative of our consumer culture. Choice is sacred; you are special and unique and can reflect that through choice; so choose this product or this other one and express your uniqueness through possessing any one of these infinitely similar products; the choice is yours. Perhaps nowhere else in the market was this ‘story’ sold as diligently and aggressively than in the automobile industry. While it is true the US is, spatially speaking, a very large country, it is not true that every adult American needed or needs their own set of wheels to connect it. There are other options, other technologies that could’ve been employed to bring the masses together with more energy efficiency and communal cohesion. I admit it’s no Copernican Revolution, but the thought that Americans are so stubbornly self-interested and quick to discriminate opposed many of their European or native counterparts can not be divorced from the fact we all love to be in the driver’s seat. That commodified ‘freedom’ we are told awaits us on an open road with our very own internal combustion engine humming along in front of our feet; a freedom trains, buses, or carpooling can never provide. Again, notwithstanding the ecological impact of all this, the psychological dimension is impossible to ignore: even if we all owned Tesla’s that were powered by clean fusion charging stations it would still be me, me, me … which is quite naturally a completely uncynical disposition from which to hold a society together …

American’s fascination with their own value and freedom has of course been a dominate theme in the grand narrative of the country for some time; and while cars and roads were the major technological expression of that for much of the twentieth century, we have turned the corner here, in this regard, finding ourselves lost amid tiny little shiny screens that put the whole world inches from our eyes. With the advent of mobile computing the freedom so many seek isn’t conceived any longer by MPG rather MPBS. The new speed of information, and the promise of perpetual access, have enchanted the newer generations in much the same way vehicles did their antecedents. The technology is different while the story remains the same. It is still a self-centered freedom underlying the need, desire, to own the newest, quickest, coolest gadget. A freedom of information surely, yet one closely connected with the freedom cars brought their older relatives; it is as much economic as it is self-satisfying. The internet changed the game, naturally - and hail and well met etc. etc.! - but a claustrophobic observation remains … for a technology that has brought so many people together - and it has - it sure as hell does an awful good job sundering them as well … for you can’t find a public space anymore where a near-majority of your fellow citizens aren’t more interested in their precious little screens than those flesh and blood humans nearby. Perhaps this is just the necessary evolution of the social fabric - perhaps resistance is futile - though a social contract that has more to do with Facebook’s TOS opposed a Bill of Rights just (and forgive me for being so cynical) doesn’t seem like much of a society worth bothering with to this writer. Certainly not one worth the name.

Speaking of the modern technology we all now can’t live without, it seems to me a funny thing happened on the way to Google’s homepage … we now have access to all the information we can consume, on any topic, just a keystroke away, and look what we’re doing with it … I’m not just talking about social media or pornography, I mean the fundamental epistemological conundrum of an allegedly intelligent species that now has post-scarcity style access to information yet we’ve made of the web one colossal echo-chamber where the tribes huddle together in aggrieved resentment or ignorant bliss of the ‘others’ … look at it like this: in a day and age when the work of science (you know, that thing that made all this ((by which I mean ‘Modernity’ and all its toys)) possible) is more evenly, widely, and objectively disseminated than at any other time in history the public’s grasp and understanding of science and its work is at an all-time low. Basic data are disputed; empirical findings are called into question by anyone with a laptop, forget about a degree in the subject: what used to be considered non-issues, resolved subjects, are now argued over as if the Earth might actually be flat … all of which might just be good for a laugh if there weren’t actual existential threats to the species that only science can solve; yet we can’t even begin that discussion because some car salesman googled Glenn Beck and now we have legislatures that don’t think climate change is real; or they say the data doesn’t support an anthropogenic cause even though they never took a serious science course in their life; or that can’t be right because it doesn’t fit into our time-warp economy and a dollar today is obviously more important than our children’s future; or anyway shut-up idiot scientists just because you actually studied something other than law or business doesn’t mean you know any more than me because I have a high speed internet connection and I bookmarked the Drudge Report … how is it, philosophically speaking, tenable that the more information you have the stupider you become? I don’t know, but if you want a good example of the principle in action take a look at America today. Or just Google it …

Of course there is one thread that ties all these elements of ‘the surface’ together and that thread is consumerism as expressed by our current form of capitalism. The ascendancy of the dollar over all else (sorry God!). The desire to possess, acquire, consume. We are material creatures, we humans, and thus must consume to survive; fine: but do we have to do so in the manner we seem set on here and now? No, not at all, even suggesting that our’s is the only system, the only way to satiate the human hunger is absurd on its face as well as betraying an amnesiac’s conception of history. No, there are other paths, yet we have chosen this one, this ‘capitalism’ that mimics the terrors and rigors of the jungle at every turn. In the act of deifying money (more on that later) we have dehumanized ourselves. For the most part we are simple cogs in a vast machine that cares little or nothing for us; and so we care only for ourselves. The inherent egoism of the modern American psyche is spectacular to behold, certainly, in its primal vanity; at the same time giving the lie to any ethical system we still tenuously cling to as reminder of simpler days (sorry Christianity!). So we are, as a culture, no better than spoiled children grasping for another slice of pie. And while that’s certainly comical, it is also tragic, since such a system is not sustainable whatsoever (there is never enough pie). Neither history or science can provide any examples of such a system expanding into perpetuity (literature has given us a few but they are either satire or utopias ((same thing really))), and yet a sincere, concerted discussion on this issue has yet to percolate through the public sphere, or if so, only in the usual places and thus not given the sort of urgency it requires. But to have this conversation we all have to be ready to listen; it is not enough for the cynics and naysayers to keep shouting into the wild or the web: there has to be an audience, a receptive ear. Which brings us to our next section.

The Self

The problems elucidated in ‘The Surface’ are, to a great extent, symptoms of our sense of self, or, as is more often (if paradoxically) the case, our lack of one. While I am specifically referring to the modern American ‘self’, I’m going to be doing so with large brushstrokes; forming great swathes of colored splotches closer in kind to a rorscharch test than a pointilistic canvass. You may not see a reflection here so much as a sense of remembrance, or deja vu. That’s fine. I can’t be alone in thinking our lifespeeds have altered, and it’s just that alteration I want to discuss.

Lifespeed. Right. Let’s define that quickly so we can move on. By lifespeed I mean that facile quality of Being that tethers us to the ‘now’. Perceptually, our lives happen at a specific point in time, and I’ve conceived the word lifespeed to represent this point, as well as our conscious reaction to it. It’s just a word. Other than this meager definition it means nothing; has no other value. Right.

We were talking about choice earlier and there’s a clear connection between the act of choosing and the extant phenomena adjoining it. Just the relationship that lifespeed is meant to express. On its face, choice is neutral. Neither positive or negative, good or bad. The ‘designed’ choice of our consumer-driven society I find abhorrent, though not from some reactionary impulse, but a genuine longing for what it’s replaced. By making choices we define ourselves and I fear many of us are accepting a story that tells us we can only make this or that choice opposed to this that or the other. That we are told certain stories so many times we think we have no choice how they end; or wether to listen to them at all. In this way our lifespeeds have been damaged; like a bonsai pruned too severely.

Perhaps many are content defining themselves through ‘designed’ choice, or who ‘designed’ it anyway? Yes … there will always be sheep and lemmings in human form, and if that’s your angle you have my pity but nothing else. On the other hand, if you genuinely desire a leveling-up on the self-awareness front but have found this difficult to achieve thus far, you must realize two hard truths; the first that it is your business alone, none others - and the second, that it will be incredibly difficult to achieve because our society was not constructed to assist in this goal - quite the contrary! - it was designed to prevent it, at almost every turn. Here we return to the ‘designed’ component of American choice. Since the beginning the tiny tribes watching the throne have conspired to affect a marked class distinction in the land of the ‘free’. From the original agricultural workers of the new world, to the industrial workers who built a modern nation, to the current service sector workers slipping into poverty those with the firmest grip on the levers of power have continually strived to erect massive obstacles between those that labor for a living and those that live off that labor. Nor are these obstacles simply economic or aspirational in nature, no, due their pervasiveness through the generations they have percolated down into the most subterranean reaches of the mass conscious; into the very stories we use to define ourselves. Egads! a polite-hyper-modern-liberal-minded-triangulator might reply, don’t you know everyone has a TV! A refrigerator! Cheapest food ever! Why yes of course, there is an exception to every rule. While, for about thirty years in the middle of the last century, it seemed America was finally delivering on its promise, just look how long it took for us to devolve into another gilded age (the apparent default position of American society). It is foolish to define a thing based off aberrations, opposed its consistencies. In this way we clearly see the US for what it is … the second most successful marketing scheme in human history (naturally one must award Christianity top honors on that mark) … in the same way tobacco used to be good for you, that sodas were harmless, or how fast food is every bit nutritious as home-made, America cries ‘freedom’ when in so many ways the reverse is clearly the case. From ‘power’s’ perspective it’s nihilistically brilliant sure - give the people a semblance of freedom (in our case economic choice) and they’ll extrapolate that into a veritable cosmos of self-authorized-self-actualization - and you bet the monarchists, dictators, or petty politburos are jealous as hell at the level of control the political classes of America have been able to sustain generation after generation. A state of affairs that continues for no other reason than that an over-whelming majority of Americans keep believing the lies. We are forced to ask: why do they?

Let’s speculate wildly! Is it possible there exists some globe-spanning underground tributary of Lethe that constantly replenishes all the aquifers in the land? Or perhaps when we, on average a truly vain people, look into a mirror our historical consciousness is reset to zero? Or maybe we’ve all become so addicted to the stories we repeat about American Exceptionalism even the most destitute are content to sacrifice any chance they might have of another, better life, so as the stories can keep being told .?. the gyre is constricting at every turn, just like water flowing down the drain we’re becoming closer and closer to ourselves and ours; we’re losing a visceral sense of community and common cause through the ‘designed’ choices of a consumerist economy and specifically the newer technologies of self-absorption. So many of us don’t seem able to see past our own reflections, our problems, that even beginning to consider the larger problems facing our country seems as pointless as sending a manned mission to Mars.

The latent greed of the species is given free reign in America and this greed is destroying us. Making us sick. Stunted, withered, cloying little souls blighted with giga-myopia and eterno-amnesia. Greed. Most cultures have oft thought it a base emotion, one needing constant oversight - not the good ’ole US of A! We saw right through that ethical clap-trap - we saw that by harnessing the simmering greed of a people and putting them to work fulfilling that greed great things could happen … just absolutely amazing things … and we have accomplished quite a bit worth being proud over, and we sure have shown all those historical moralists just how wrong they were about the most solipsistic emotion … but this is a strange greed, our American one, one many may not even be aware of, so deep do its roots dive; a conniving greed that wraps in upon itself like a fresh burrito from Chipotle or those roller coasters you remember from Disneyland or Six-Flags … a greed that we have to learn to turn off, ignore, or quit seeing as so basic and benign in all our lives that there’s nothing you can do about it anyway - because it isn’t benign, it reacts to us and the environment as surely as we do it, and lately it’s been acting badly … yes, there are historical elements to this greed, there is also the question of personal responsibility, mutual complicity, systems of control and power as well - so many factors … I guess I’m nostalgic for another type of human being, one not fueled by avarice or beholden to the choices of others … qualities most seem to have lost somewhere on the way to Walmart … a human being that might never have existed except in a dream …

The Symbol

Human beings have long used symbols to represent value. Symbols are convenient, easy, and incredibly mutable. They can be transferred or translated almost infinitely. With a symbol ideas that might take an incredible amount of energy to explain or describe can be conveyed almost instantaneously. Logic and mathematics could likely not exist without them, nor, indeed, any language. And like any good thing, as is so often the case with any wonderfully useful thing, we humans have become dependent on them. Created for ourselves a world where we can not live without them. We are, in many ways, addicted to their utility. On its face there is nothing ethically challenging about this. Language and math are boons to humanity, practically describing our modern conception of ourselves. Symbols are naturally value neutral, like any high-level epistemological building block. And yet, we modern Americans have found ourselves in a tricky spot. We have crafted a society where one symbol is supreme. Where one symbol, and one symbol alone, holds all the power. A symbol that, if you find yourself without it, without access to it, without a stock-pile of it hiding somewhere, essentially makes you a non-entity. No longer part of the culture, the game. For it is certainly true that the only game in modern America is money. That collecting dollars has superseded all other activities; has supplanted any other endeavor as the only one with value. This state of affairs is the genesis of our cultural decline; of the death of the ideals that the Founders (who themselves were already playing the only game) attempted to instill in the New World: will in the end be understood by future historians as the single greatest crime of our time.

I say crime and I mean it. Don’t use the word for shock or awe. Nor do I want to dwell on this particular subject (not being the place for an extended analysis of this issue I will allow such a discussion its own essay, its own space, a place where it can be a bit more academic and dry, not so emotive or cynical) though we do have to mention a few more things before moving on. Crime. Yes. What was this crime? In short order here we go … it used to be the case that money was a symbol that referred to labor, actual work performed by one human that held value for another. So far as that is all money is, there is nothing ethically suspect about it. Then, at some point in the past, a few cunning paradigm-shifters saw an opportunity and changed the rules regarding what money was; they removed the labor as referent of value, replacing it with rare objects (typically gold) that few among any populace would ever see in their lives. Well, since the promise of alchemy was a lie, and the philosopher’s stone was never discovered, at least this money still referred to something real, something that couldn’t just be made up on the spot. Ah ha! the sons of the sneaky paradigm-shifters thought, that would just be the icing on the cake! Let’s remove the rare objects as value referent as well - let’s go all in on a communal mass delusion and see if anyone believes it … let’s just have money valued at whatever we say it’s valued at. Let’s create a massive shell game that only a very few will ever truly know the rules to, though the outcome, the results, will effect everyone … yes … let’s create the only game worth playing, and let’s give every live birth a turn … which leaves us with a system that, no matter how hard you work, no matter how industrious you are, if you don’t know the rules of the game (in modern America we can think of the Federal Reserve, Wall Street bankers, old money, select members of the Treasury Department etc. as the holders of the rule book) you will not win at it. You will play and play and play and keep losing and losing and losing all the while the rule keepers keep winning and winning and winning because for most players in this game the tokens of victory they collect (dollars) are bought at the hard price of actual labor, as if they never heard about how money grew up - no, they slave and slave for pennies without any chance of leveling up in this game and getting to that haughty echelon where money is no longer about work but having money make money off of someone else’s work … this little narrative I just outlined is a crime because there are clear stealers and victims (of course there are exceptions to every rule, but for every Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, there are a hundred and fifty million working at Walmart for a slave-wage). You see, the architects of the monetary symbol’s paradigm shift knew that by removing any referent to an actual act (labor) or object (gold) they were essentially hollowing out the natural relationship between the symbol and the symbolized, and in that empty space they would find their own El Dorado; their own little universe where they called the shots and none other. They essentially re-wrote the rules of symbolism, and clearly in their favor. And while symbols shift meaning all the time, especially in religious or political environments, these shifts are fundamentally harmless as neither religion or political discourse ever directly affects the physical well being of a human being as does their ability to acquire food, or energy, or health care, or shelter (I understand that by including ‘politics’ in this sense I might seem to be advocating a ‘post-history’ perspective; one where capitalistic-liberalism has won over all other political narratives, and while I hope that isn’t so, at the moment, and especially as an American author, one would be hard pressed to argue the point otherwise). To be clear, I’m not suggesting there was some shadowy cabal that gathered and planned out this great hollowing out of the monetary symbol; as is often the case it happened by fits and starts, here and there, as history would have it, propelled by the innate greed of the least amongst us. And yet they have scored a grand victory, these acolytes of avarice. Have pulled the proverbial wool over so many eyes - and in the process redefined a country that promised freedom into a vassal state completely enthralled to an ugly little strip of green denim that truly means nothing at all …

Of course this transformation did not just occur on American soil. But we sure as hell took the ball and ran it home. More than any other modern nation we are more readily defined by the empty symbology of the dollar than any others. This is not just an American problem; but we must be the first to address it …

America’s enslavement to the dollar is the singular cause of all the problems I put forth in ‘The Surface’, and, in many ways, ‘The Self’. We are a nation of suckers, rats, blind idealists, idiot sensualists, blatant thieves and the occasional dreamer … and knowing that, seeing my country in this way does nothing to alleviate my pathological cynicism … but allow me a query - do you still ask me why I am so cynical .?.

#Essay #Philosophy #c. r. stapor #cynicism #nietszche #modernity #philosophers on tumblr #writers on tumblr

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Trial of the Chicago 7 Ending: What Happened Next?

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It’s a strangely feel-good finale. After spending more than two hours witnessing a gross miscarriage of justice that seemed to suggest the deck is stacked against those the establishment deems “radical” or “extreme,” Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 ends with the smallest of victories being given Hollywood heft. Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) is all but promised a lenient sentence by the vindictive, and potentially senile, Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), provided he offers a contrite statement before the court.

Instead Hayden attempts to read off the names of every American who died in Vietnam since this sham trial began. It’s a symbolic act of defiance, and a welcome one that sends the court into temporary pandemonium. It doesn’t change anything, other than maybe Hayden’s sentence, but the audience can savor the good fight against corrosive authority, so perfectly personified by Langella’s judge.

That’s all well and good, but what happened afterward? A handful of freeze frames and sentences worth of bite-sized information tells us a little bit of what came next for each major player in the trial, but not enough. So allow us to expand a bit.

Abbie Hoffman

As played with resounding cynicism by Sacha Baron Cohen, Aaron Sorkin’s Abbie Hoffman convincingly proves you can turn contempt for court into a religion. The actual Hoffman was a leader of the Yippie movement and later wrote Steal This Book, but his career extended beyond the courtroom and that literary subversion. Prior to being indicted for conspiracy to incite a riot across state lines, Hoffman was already a counterculture figure who cut his teeth as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and organizing Liberty House in the fight for Civil Rights.

He became focused on the Vietnam War in the late ‘60s, but was never afraid of a good stunt, such as when he rained fake and real dollar bills down on the New York Stock Exchange in 1968. Some investors booed, others began filling their pockets with the green on the floor. Additionally, he had the notoriety of being chased off stage at Woodstock by Pete Townshend after he interrupted The Who’s set to demand the release of John Sinclair, co-founder of the anti-racist White Panther Party. This occurred about one month before the trial started.

After the trial, he built his fame with Steal This Book in 1971, which encouraged readers to find ways to live for free without paying for possessions. However, Hoffman soon disappeared from public life, becoming a fugitive after he was charged with intent to sell and distribute cocaine in 1973 (he claimed it was entrapment). In 1974, he had plastic surgery and began living by the name Barry Freed, until he turned himself into authorities in 1980—the same day his interview with Barbara Walters aired. He’d go on to stage civil disobedience to protest the CIA and Iran-Contra affair in 1986, and write Steal This Urine Test to protest the War on Drugs in 1987. He even appeared in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July.

But suffering from Bipolar disorder, and depressed both by his mother’s cancer diagnosis and at the lack of protest in youth culture of the ‘80s, he eventually died by suicide when he swallowed 150 phenobarbital tablets with liquor in 1989. He was 52, and the FBI had a file on him that was over 13,000 pages long.

Tom Hayden

Prior to the Trial of the Chicago Seven, Tom Hayden became a national figure on the left for authoring the first draft of the Students for a Democratic Society’s political manifesto, the Port Huron Statement. In it Hayden advocated for, among other things, a “New Left” that pursued participatory democracy in the spirit of nonviolent civil disobedience, allowing citizens to directly vote on social issues. He also toured North Vietnam in 1965, later co-writing The Other Side with Staughton Lynd. The pair also disavowed the anti-Communism of their parents’ generation.

After the trial, Hayden returned to tour the conditions of North Vietnam multiple times, as well as in Cambodia and Laos as the Richard Nixon administration began bombing those regions. While Hayden did not meet movie star and future second wife Jane Fonda during her own infamous trip to Hanoi in 1972, the pair shared a drive to be politically active and motivate social change, including urgently ending the Vietnam War. Hayden and Fonda married in 1973, and collaborated on the 1974 documentary Introduction to the Enemy. During this time, he also founded the Indochina Peace Campaign, which Fonda would name her production company, IPC Films, after.

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Hayden soon became more active in Democratic Party politics, advocating for strong environmental protection policies, beginning with an unsuccessful primary challenge against Democratic U.S. Senator John V. Tunney in 1976. He did, however, succeed in being elected to the California State Assembly for 10 years, beginning in 1982, and the California State Senate for eight years, beginning in 1992. He also ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994 and Mayor of Los Angeles in 1997.

He and Fonda divorced in 1990, but he married again three years later. Hayden passed away in October 2016, but not before being one of the Democratic National Committee’s California representatives that year. He threw his support behind Hillary Clinton after initially saying he was leaning toward (but not endorsing) Bernie Sanders.

Jerry Rubin

As the other co-founder of the Yippies, Jerry Rubin’s early life shared many of the same values as Abbie Hoffman. After all, he dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 to become a full-time social activist. In 1967 that included running for mayor of Berkeley and winning 20 percent of the vote on a platform of being anti-war, pro-Black Power, and wanting to legalize marijuana. That didn’t work out, but along with Hoffman, Rubin had better success in a number of publicity events, including the Stock Exchange demonstration events mentioned above, and when he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee dressed as a Revolutionary War soldier who quoted Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine while blowing soap bubbles at congressmen.

This contempt was an example of Rubin’s original worldview that television news mythologizes whatever it covers. “I’ve never seen ‘bad’ coverage of a demonstration. It makes no difference what they say about us. The picture is the story.”

Yet shortly after the trial, Rubin’s perspective changed. While during the early ‘70s he continued protesting, organizing demonstrations that would lay down before trucks transporting napalm, as well as attempting to organize protests at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 1972, he became disgusted after Nixon was reelected that year. He retired from politics in the mid-‘70s to become an entrepreneur, making his first millions by being an early investor in Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s Apple Computer.

By 1980 Rubin was a full-fledged Wall Street stockbroker for John Muir & Co., and was organizing parties at Studio 54 via his own Business Networking Salons, Inc. company. He even took on a debate tour with old ally Abbie Hoffman in a series of events called “Yippie versus Yuppie.” Rubin claimed counterculture was too scary to affect real change and that “wealth creation is the real American revolution.” From George Washington-chic to Washington D.C. Brooks Brothers attire. He died in 1994 from a heart attack after being hit by a car in Los Angeles.

Bobby Seale

A co-founder of the Black Panther Party with Huey P. Newton, Seale was one of the most powerful voices for Black rights and Black Power in the late ‘60s—hence why the Justice Department dubiously charged Seale with conspiracy to incite a riot alongside the rest of the “Chicago Seven.” As demonstrated in the film, Judge Julius Hoffman grotesquely ordered Seale be gagged and beaten after denying Seale the right to legal counsel for months. While Seale was later severed from the trial, the Netflix film glosses over what exactly happened afterward to the Black Panther leader.

Seale indeed stood trial again in Connecticut in 1970 for the murder of Alex Rackley. Rackley was a 19-year-old Panther when he was tortured for two days at the New Haven Panther headquarters after being suspected of being an FBI informant. After days of interrogation and physical violence, Rackley confessed under duress. He was executed the next day. As a Black Panther co-founder, Seale happened to be in New Haven for a speech at Yale during the second day of Rackley’s confinement. And after turning over state’s evidence and confessing to the murder, Panther George Sams Jr. claimed Seale learned about Rackley’s kidnapping and ordered his murder. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on Seale’s involvement, and the charges were subsequently dropped.

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After the trial, Seale ran for Mayor of Oakland in 1973, and earned the second most amount of votes in a field of nine. But he lost the subsequent runoff. He left the Black Panther Party in 1974, according to some accounts due to a physical altercation with Lewis due to Lewis’ desire to produce a movie on the Panthers. Lewis and his bodyguards allegedly beat Seale with a bullwhip, though Seale denies these events occurred. Despite their parting of ways, their demand for equality as laid out in their Ten Point Platform—which includes demands for full Black employment, an end to police brutality, the end of “robbery by the capitalists” of the Black Community, and decent housing—remains a touchstone for those calling for social justice.

In 1987 Seale published his autobiography A Lonely Rage, as well as cookbook Barbeque’n with Bobby Seale: Hickory and Mesquite Recipes. He’s since taught Black Studies courses at Temple University and has toured the country to speak to college campuses about his experiences as a Black Panther and to encourage community organizing. He still lives in Oakland.

Julius Hoffman

Frank Langella’s horrifying depiction of a biased and borderline senile jurist does not appear to be far off the mark from the real Judge Julius Hoffman, a figure very much unprepared for the 1960s or the major trial placed in his lap. Literally born in the 19th century—1895 to be exact—Hoffman was a Northwestern graduate and private lawyer before becoming a Judge of the Superior Court of Cook County in 1947. President Dwight Eisenhower then nominated him to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1953.

Apparently already having developed a reputation for bias and incivility before the movie’s famed case, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is correct in noting that a 1974 survey of Chicago attorneys found that 78 percent of them had an unfavorable opinion of Hoffman’s court. However, the judge never actually lost the gavel or suffered severe consequences. Although when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District first struck down his numerous contempt convictions and then the subsequent convictions of the Chicago Seven causing a riot, they did so in part because Hoffman exhibited a “deprecatory and often antagonistic attitude toward the defense.”

In 1972 Hoffman assumed senior status, which acts as a semi-retirement for federal judges where they receive a full salary but have the option to take on a reduced caseload, allowing the U.S. president to select a new jurist for their bench. However, Hoffman continued to oversee cases throughout the ‘70s—hence his notorious bad marks in Joseph Goulden’s survey—and continued to judge cases until the 1980s.

In 1982 the Executive Committee of the United States ordered Hoffman not be assigned any new cases after further complaints of erratic behavior and abuse of power. He still was allowed to preside over his ongoing cases, however, until his death a year later. He was a week away from turning 88.

William Kunstler

Both before and after the Trial of the Chicago Seven, William Kunstler was famous for finding himself at the center of the most politically controversial cases that always ended up on the front page. A “radical” lawyer who received his law degree from Columbia after attending Yale as an undergraduate—with a stint in the U.S. Army during World War II in between—Kunstler was already an ACLU director in 1964, five years before the movie’s trial. He’d become an ACLU board member by 1972.

Before the film’s trial he represented Freedom Riders in 1961 Mississippi and at various times advised the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Lenny Bruce, and the Catonsville Nine (Catholic activists who burned Vietnam War draft files in Maryland). He also less glamorously defended Jack Ruby.

After the movie’s trial, Kunstler worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), defending Russell Means and Dennis Banks, two leaders of AIM who helped lead the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, and defended AIM members again after the murder of two FBI agents. He also defended John Hill who was charged (and eventually convicted) of killing a prison guard during the Attica Prison riot of 1971. Yet his defense helped convince New York Governor Hugh Carey to pardon Hill…. He also defended clients tied to the mafia, including Joe Bananno, John Gotti, and Louis Ferrante.

At the time of his death in 1995, due to heart failure, Kunstler was defending Omar Abdel-Rahman, aka “The Blind Sheik,” for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Abel-Rahman was later convicted.

David Dellinger

Prior to being one of the Chicago Seven, David Dellinger was most famous for his radical pacifism during World War II. During the 1930s he’d studied at Yale and Oxford, even touring Nazi Germany in 1937 before the war. He then worked as an ambulance driver in the Spanish Civil War and came to the conclusion he would remain totally anti-war as a result. He was arrested in 1943 after failing to report for his draft physical, and was ultimately imprisoned despite his conscientious objections. In prison he helped protest racial segregation of federal dining halls, leading to their integration.

Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Dellinger participated in freedom marches in the American South, protesting segregation. He became acquainted with Dr. Martin Luther King in this time. He also traveled to both South and North Vietnam in 1966, having contact with North Vietnam President Ho Chi Minh.

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After the war he stayed politically active, including when he staged a sit-in at Chicago’s Federal Building during the Democratic National Convention of 1996. He also protested free trade in 2001. He received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award in 1992. He died in 2004 at the age of 88.

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sdog1blog · 4 years

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Susan

Danny had left a message with my roommate that he had the guitar and would have it at the shop. The guitar, a Gibson J45 was a model that I'd been chasing, so I was interested, that he believed it was from the 1940's piqued my interest.

Susan had spent the night with me and I asked if she wanted to join me, warning her that Danny worked in a porn shop. She shrugged indicating that was not a big deal, but she wanted to stop at the house she was crashing at to shower and change clothes. So off we went.

I waited in the van, while Susan took care of her hygiene. This was Minneapolis in July of 1980 and the house was a crash pad for left over hippies and misfits that were what was left of the 60's counterculture. I preferred to keep my distance.

Waiting, gave me a chance to ruminate on Susan. We had met a month before, she had just landed in town or maybe it was returned to town after having lived in California for a couple years. She had only been here a few days when we met and I'll admit I was smitten. She may have been the only woman who sent a shudder through my body when I touched her. I had it bad, but there was something about her that bothered me.

To start with, she was pretty vague about where she was from, saying only it was New Jersey and Delaware, why she originally came to Minneapolis and what she did in California. When I say vague, I mean at times she was even evasive.

I looked up to see Susan coming down the walk, I licked my lips in appreciation. She had fixed her reddish-blond hair in the usual pixie bob, a colorful halter top over cutoff jeans that showed just an inch of her ass cheeks all supported by those lovely, long legs on platform sandals. She'd give the regulars at the porn shop an image to masturbate to in the video booths. And looking back, I bet she knew it.

The porn shop Danny worked at was at 5th and Hennepin on the street level of the Lumber Exchange building, a Victorian era survivor. I don't remember who owned the porn shop, it was probably Ferris Alexander, who owned several similar business in the Twin Cities. It was across the street from a couple of the cities oldest gay bars, so the clientele tended to be gay, often seeking anonymous sex.

Before leaving my house, I called my local Gibson guitar expert, who gave me information on what to look for on vintage J45's and importantly, what would be the rough range for the serial numbers. Danny's guitar played well and sounded great, but it wasn't vintage, it was probably 10 years old. It was beat up, lots of pick scratches and the odd ding in the wood, but no real damage, just a well used instrument.

Given that Danny was the seller, it didn't surprise me that the goods, didn't fit the description. Danny reminded me of a friend of my father’s, Chuck. Chuck like Danny were perpetrators of the small con, they never lied, but they'd lead you down a path and like Chuck, Danny always had something interesting to sell.

When we were kids, if one of us wanted something, a TV, a stereo or as teens, something for our cars, Dad would say, he'd talk to Chuck. Chuck being one of those guys who sold merchandise out the trunk of his car, the car always being a several years old Cadillac. The stuff was stolen of course, but you didn't ask questions. Once when I was fresh mouthed teen, my mother told dad that she needed a new refrigerator, he offered his Chuck line, to which I snarkly replied, “Yeah he probably got one in his trunk”. The old man had been drinking and in a bad mood, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when he cuffed me with the back of his hand across my face, the phony ruby ring he wore, opening a crescent shape gash in my cheek. A scar that a surprising number of girls have found sexy. Go figure.

Both Danny and I are from north of Boston and when we met, we both engaged in the game of what city. I guessed that he was from Medford or Malden so I asked him to say Medford, it came out as Mefford, I smiled. It took him a bit longer to figure me out as I has spent the years since high school suppressing my accent. But given a few beers the dese, dems and doses of mill city Merrimack Valley came pouring out. Yeah, Lawrence, but more specifically identifying South Lawrence in a futile attempt to distinguish my origins from the rest of that decrepit place. But Danny could see through that.

While I wandered to Minneapolis after college in search of a fertile music scene away from my family, Danny came earlier when his mother remarried and moved the family to her husband's home in Worthington. To get to Worthington, you go out to Bum F@ck Egypt and take a right. Danny was 15 then and bolted to the Twin Cities right after high school.

Danny's reaction to Susan coming through the door was predictable, he straightened up, wiped the bread crumbs from his chin, brushed off his clothes and ran his fingers through his hair, all in an attempt for him to look presentable. While I looked over the guitar he flirted with Susan, playing Johnny the Dunce and asking her lots of questions, often repeating the same ones, all punctuated with him saying, "we've met before, haven't we" and "where do I know you from?"

After playing the guitar for about 15 minutes, I told Danny, that it was a nice instrument, but I needed to think about it. But I had already decided not to get it.

Out on the sidewalk, I commented to Susan, that it seemed that she and Danny had hit off. She allowed he was kind of cute and a pest. That made me laugh and I followed up with, "Well do you know him from somewhere?" Her denial wasn't completely convincing, just before the no was to leave her lips, her eyes, that were meeting mine, darted away.

Danny called a day or so later, he had another buyer, but wanted give me last dibs, i.e., he wanted to see if I would pay more. Before we hung up, he started, "Ya know, but the way. That chick, the one you were with." "Susan?" I interjected. "Ya her" he replied, "I know'd, I know'd her from some place." I didn't respond and let him continue. "After youse left, I browsed through a few magazines and there she was in the centerfold of Ass Magic, taking a big old dick up the shit pipe." "How can you be sure that the girl in magazine was her?" I asked. He came back with "Oh it's her. I bet she has a small tatoo, maybe a star, about the size of a quarter near her pussy, just to left of her pubes. She also likes suckin cock."

Susan did have a small tattoo on her pelvis, though it was the symbol for anarchy not a star. She did like giving blowjobs, when we first slept together she played with the tip of my cock with her tongue occasionally, sliding down my dick. For a moment she stopped and looked at me mischievously and said, "I have no gag reflex," then consumed me. She swallowed the jizz as well. But anal, no, every time I tried the backdoor, she'd wave me off.

I filed Danny's report in my mind along with her surprise announcement a couple of weeks earlier that she was going to take a few shifts at Augie's to supplement the secretarial work she took from a temp agency. There was more to my lovely friend than met the eye.

In those days I made my living as a musical Paladin, Have Guitar, Will Travel so to speak. Plus banjo, fiddle, bass, mandolin, piano, pretty much if it had strings, I played it. Rock, jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, it didn't matter. What was the progression, which key and hum me a few bars for the melody and I was ready.

Most players I knew formed a band and headed out on the road. Been there, done that and hated it. So I eked out a living sitting in with bands who were missing a player, some solo acoustic work on the folk circuit and serving as a band member for faded rock and country acts who no longer could afford to take a group on the road. Add to that, a bit of session work, mostly commercial work tied to TV and radio advertising and I made a living. After a while I stopped worrying about where the next dollar would come from and just knew that it would come. I was also pretty smug that I'd manage to scrape together enough money to put a down payment on a little house on the wrong side of the tracks in So. Minneapolis, something my friends couldn't dream about.

The following Tuesday, I sat in with a blues band at the Cabooze. Kate, who headlined the band was touted in the local music press as someone who should be the next Janis Joplin. It, if, she only got a chance. Well there were reasons Kate wouldn't go pass being a regional name, but it was impolite to discuss them. Anyway that week she was in tough position as she was missing 2 band members and had firm gigs in the next fourteen days.

Tommy, her lead guitarist, had turned himself into detox and would be spending the next two or three weeks at Hazelden, trying to get straight. Tom was a good guy and while it took about five or so attempts, he finally conquered his demons and was sober for nearly twenty years before he was killed riding home from work on his bicycle by a drunk driver. Cal, her drummer was sitting in the county jail unable to make bail after being arraigned for raping a fifteen year old, he went away for a long time. For me, I had eight paydays coming and a girlfriend with whom I was love struck. Life was good.

Before the show, a friend, Kevin, came by to show me a guitar he just bought, it was the J45 and it was of 1940's vintage he raved. Kev was a bit naive, I chose not to break his bubble. Later when Danny showed up, I confronted him about the lie and he shrugged saying, "people will believe what they want to believe," looked hard at me and walked away.

We started at 9, the crowd was small, but by the end of the set, respectable for a Tuesday and there was energy in the house, Kate could rock. At sets end, the substitute drummer and I headed for the bar, while the rest of the band went off chasing white lines.

Before my beer arrived, Susan came out of the crowd followed by a friend, who's name I didn't catch. I knew she wouldn't be staying as this was a dancing night and I'd pick her up at close. I and every other guy watched her leave, it was those legs and the tight, slut length mini dress, we were entranced. After they left, a guy who drives a cab, mentioned that the other woman looked an awful lot like a hooker that he'd driven around the previous week.

Augie's is also on 5th and Hennepin, across from the Lumber exchange building. Hennepin was a one-way then, heading toward the river with lane for buses and cabs going in the other direction

I came down 5th and was caught at the light. She was waiting in front of the club, the Augie's bouncers standing out front chatting with the bouncers from the Brass Rail. She saw me flash the headlights and walked the 50 or so feet to the corner. She got in, we kissed and I asked her where she wanted to go. "I'm hungry," was her response. "Mama's OK," I asked and she nodded affirmatively.

Breakfast at Mama's was on Riverside, just off Cedar on the West Bank. It opened at midnight, on the weekends, after the bars closed, the line would stretch around the building, But on a Wednesday morning getting a table was easy.

We got home around 2:30 and she went right to bed and by the time I went to join her, she was sleeping like a baby. "So much for a bit of nooky," I thought. Not really tired, I poured a glass of brandy, rolled a joint and went out on the porch. Being alone, in the dark started me thinking, about her of course. What I knew and the new info, that she worked in porn. Also there were other photo shoots and movies in which she appeared, and the possible hooker friend. That last snippet of information was making me paranoid. The coming weekend, I'd be playing with Kate's band in the far northwest suburbs, while Susan would be dancing at Augie's on Thursday and Friday, and then on Saturday working a private party with the suspected hooker.

A couple of years earlier, I'd sworn off stripper girlfriends due to the drama they were bringing into my life. Probably because I had a defective selection procedure, the dancers I dated were emotional toxic waste dumps. Susan wasn't that, but I suspected something that would have been worse, that she was emotionally hardened.

The previous week, I was to meet her at the end of her shift at Augie's after I finished playing a recording session at a nearby studio. The session had gone sideways, when one member of the duo what we were backing showed up too stoned to work. So I went by the club a couple of hours early.

Augie's opened in the mid 40's as a caberet and night club, at some point strippers were added, then the live music faded away and the strippers were what was left. In the early 80's the interior seemed quite like it must have been in the dives hey day. As you came in to the right, was the bar and in the back corner a stage that connected to the back bar and the main bar allowing the dancers to walk up the bar if they chose. In the center, there were tables, but it was once a dance floor and to the left small tables were arranged on risers, each row a bit higher than the one in front.

I entered as she was finishing her stage set, collecting her money and disappearing into the dressing room. The bar stool, closest the street was empty, so I took it. She came out a few minutes later to work the room, having changed to a sheer nightie and a g-string.

She didn't notice me as I watched her work the room. This was in the days before private rooms for lap dances. Working the room consisted of a few things, table dances, company, sitting with a guy and letting him paw you and convincing the mark to buy a $3 bottle of champagne for $30, for which the dancer received half.

She had told me she had never danced before and I'd believed her. But watching her work that night I began to doubt her. She was simply, to efficient and cold. While most of the girls would look away when groped, Susan could look them straight in the eye and smile as some loser felt her up. She sold a lot of champagne.

I was convincing myself that I should enjoy the ride while it lasted but not to become to invested.

Epilogue

A couple of months later, Susan announced she was going back to LA for a while, but would be back. She was gone about a year, when I got a call from her asking if I could pick her up at the airport and could she stay with me till she found a place of her own.

I'd very recently had begun dating a woman, a nice stable person with a normal professional day job. I asked her if she minded, I won’t say she didn’t but didn’t make a scene. We'd eventually marry and she still puts up with me.

Susan stayed with me for about a week and she was clear she had no interest in rekindling our romance. She had set her sights on marrying a doctor and got a secretarial job at a local hospital to facilitate it. She was successful, a nice guy but it lasted only a few years. After that she began meowing and scratching at my door again.

Mostly, but not entirely could I resist her and then she went off and found another husband, who either ignored her behavior or was willfully blind. I guess they're still together. Susan drifted in and out of my life for about 20 years till we had another falling out and I decided to say good riddance.

Danny married one of the girls who worked the peep show, moved to the burbs and had a couple of kids. He left the porn shop and took a job selling cars. He was good at it and eventually opened a used car lot of his own. But larceny and Danny ran in tandem and he was busted for title washing and dealing in stolen cars.

While on Covid-19 lock down, I was browsing a vintage porno tube and low and behold came across an orgy scene that featured her. There was no credit, but using the name of the star(s) I found several more. It seemed her specialty was blowjobs, anal and gang bangs. Never could find a stage name, but she showed up in a few dozen clips. Her memory triggered the urge to write this down.

#SDog1-1

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robgrayofficial · 6 years

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GOOD AFTERNOON PATRIOTS!!!!WELCOME TO YOUR WEEKLY RECAP! This is /u/Ivaginaryfriend here and today I'd like to start things off a little differently...Today I went back in time to check out this day last year too see how far we've come, and boy oh, BOY has it been a journey! If you'd like to take a trip back in time, or just wanted to catch up on any past recaps, you can check them out here!So, on this day, September 22nd of 2017, our glorious GEOTUS sent out the most tremendous tweet heard around the world:Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!sooo.fucking.spicy.*I won't keep you waiting any longer, on to the recap!Sunday, September 16th:SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Police: Woman Faked Story About Trump-Related Hate CrimeJohn Kerry tells students what he thinks of Iraq veterans. “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” The Deplorables.Joe Biden refers to 63 million Americans who voted for President Trump as "dregs of society"Accuser comes forward doesn't remember who owned the house, how she ended up there, and admits to drinking, but is 100% sure it was Kavanaugh. She just happens to be a flaming liberal professor..🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:It's a pretty important difference.now that the A-OK sign is out, I have located the sooper sekret sign chart for the rest of the WP symbols!Trump announced Kavanaugh on July 9th and it took 2 months for a woman to notice the name and recall a traumatic experience?#TrumpTimeMonday, September 17th:TODAY'S ACTION:Presidential Memorandum on the Support for National BiodefensePresident Trump Hosts the Hispanic Heritage Month CelebrationPresident Trump Meets with the President's National Council for the American WorkerPresident Trump and the First Lady Meet with the President of the Republic of Poland🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:“A lot of small & medium size enterprises are registering very good profit, sometimes record profits-there stocks are doing very well, low income workers are getting big raises. There are an awful lot of good things going on that weren’t during Pres. Obama’s Watch.” Peter MoriciTariffs have put the U.S. in a very strong bargaining position, with Billions of Dollars, and Jobs, flowing into our Country - and yet cost increases have thus far been almost unnoticeable. If countries will not make fair deals with us, they will be “Tariffed!”Our Steel Industry is the talk of the World. It has been given new life, and is thriving. Billions of Dollars is being spent on new plants all around the country!“Lisa Page Testimony- NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION BEFORE MUELLER APPOINTMENT.” @FoxNews by Catherine Herridge. Therefore, the case should never have been allowed to be brought. It is a totally illegal Witch Hunt!Immediately after Comey’s firing Peter Strzok texted to his lover, Lisa Page “We need to Open the case we’ve been waiting on now while Andy (McCabe, also fired) is acting. Page answered, “We need to lock in (redacted). In a formal chargeable way. Soon.” Wow, a conspiracy caught?Americans deserve to know the lowest drug price at their pharmacy, but “gag clauses” prevent your pharmacist from telling you! I support legislation that will remove gag clauses and urge the Senate to act. #AmericanPatientsFirstJoin me in Las Vegas, Nevada at 7:00pm for a MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY! Tickets:Happy Constitution Day!(Video)It was my great honor to host today’s Inaugural Meeting of the “President’s National Council for the American Worker” in the Roosevelt Room!Just met John James of Michigan. He has every single quality to be your next Great Senator from Michigan. When the people of Michigan get to know John, they will say he is a true star. Also, distinguished Military and a Combat Vet!Today, as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we share our gratitude for all the ways Hispanic-Americans make our country flourish and prosper. Today, and every day, we honor, cherish, and celebrate Hispanic-American Workers, Families, Students, Businesses, and Leaders...SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Statement from the Press Secretary on FISA declassificationThere’s a post in redacted with over 7.8k likes calling for the censorship of TD. The evidence of “hate crimes” includes, I shit you not: (1) TD Calling CNN “fake news” (2) Robert Deniro saying HE will punch Trump (3) A story about a guy wearing a MAGA hat who didn’t get served by a bar. LOL!Two of Kavanaugh's former girlfriends from 30+ years ago defend him and "vouch for him completely." The dude is such a stand-up guy he can even get his EXES to back him up! Now that's impressive. This BS will backfire, and we must make the Democrats pay at the ballot booth for their malfeasance.Strzok-Page texts calling to 'open' case in 'chargeable way' under fresh scrutiny | Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) discusses the release of new text messages which reveal that others were 'leaking like mad'.BREAKING : Kavanaugh accuser had fake harassment story ready back when Mitt Romney looked like he was going to beat Obama reelection🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:POTUS Has A Message For YouHappy Birthday Constitution! Thank you for protecting my God-given rights!mfw Trump declassifies everything and BTFO the Swamp yet again🍿get the popcorn🍿UNO!Tuesday, September 18th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Hosts a Joint Press Conference with the President of the Republic of Poland🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:“What will be disclosed is that there was no basis for these FISA Warrants, that the important information was kept from the court, there’s going to be a disproportionate influence of the (Fake) Dossier. Basically you have a counter terrorism tool used to spy on a presidential... ... ....campaign, which is unprecedented in our history.” Congressman Peter King Really bad things were happening, but they are now being exposed. Big stuff!China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact and change our election by attacking our farmers, ranchers and industrial workers because of their loyalty to me. What China does not understand is that these people are great patriots and fully understand that..... ... .....China has been taking advantage of the United States on Trade for many years. They also know that I am the one that knows how to stop it. There will be great and fast economic retaliation against China if our farmers, ranchers and/or industrial workers are targeted!Happy 71st Birthday to our GREAT United States Air Force!Right now, everybody is saying what a great job we are doing with Hurricane Florence – and they are 100% correct. But don’t be fooled, at some point in the near future the Democrats will start ranting... ... ...that FEMA, our Military, and our First Responders, who are all unbelievable, are a disaster and not doing a good job. This will be a total lie, but that’s what they do, and everybody knows it!Thank you to our great Coast Guard for doing such a tremendous job - thousands of lives being saved!Today, I took action to strengthen our Nation’s defenses against biological threats. For the first time in history, the Federal Government has a National Biodefense Strategy to address the FULL RANGE of biological threats!Today, it was my great honor to welcome @prezydentpl Andrzej Duda of Poland to the @WhiteHouse!(Video)The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected President. I hope Republican Voters, and others, are watching, and studying, the Democrats Playbook.Kim Jong Un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts. In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing. Hero remains to continue being........ ... ...returned home to the United States. Also, North and South Korea will file a joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics. Very exciting!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:NEW Project Veritas video! Unmasking the Deep StateLiberal tears incoming: FORT TRUMP permanent military base potentially coming to Poland!Jeff Flake to vote "NO" on Kavanaugh because he's so woke. People of Arizona, do not make this mistake again.Alex Jones Wins Info War, Site Traffic Soars In August🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:How cute they’re talking about us.Rose has accused Jack of sexual assaultSums it up nicely.Well they dared him...Wednesday, September 19th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Delivers a Statement Upon DeparturePresident Trump Participates in a Briefing on Hurricane Florence in North CarolinaPresident Trump Participates in a Briefing on Hurricane Florence in South CarolinaA Message from President Trump on Hurricane FlorencePresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:"The recovery got started on Election Day 2016. It took Trump’s Tax Cuts and Regulation Cuts to get the economy booming. Before that it was the worst and slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression. It took just 6 months for Trump to get to 3%, even though they said..... ... ...it was impossible - and then already it’s over 4%, and I expect it’s going to grow faster and faster. We’re just getting started here.” Peter Ferrara, former advisor to President Reagan. @foxandfriends“North Korea recommits to denuclearization - we’ve come a long way.” @FoxNews“President Donald J. Trump’s Administration is Providing Support to Those Impacted by Hurricane Florence”Just returned to the White House from the Great States of North Carolina and South Carolina where incredible work is being done on the ongoing fight against hurricane Florence. Tremendous talent and spirit!Great new book by Jason Chaffetz appropriately called “The Deep State.” Very interesting indeed!(Video)SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:BREAKING PROJECT VERITAS VIDEO - Deep State Unmasked: Leaks at HHS; DOJ Official Resists "From Inside" and "Can't Get Fired"Republican Flips Texas State Senate Seat In Runoff After Being Held By Democrats for 139 Years! Huge Upset!President Trump visits with young volunteer from Temple Baptist Church in New Bern, NC as they hand out meals to storm survivors.REDACTED talks more about Trump than a subreddit made about Trump, despite their non-partisan name. When will the obvious platform bias stop?Karen Monahan releases medical record showing that she told her doctor about Keith Ellison abusing her.FBI, Justice Dept plan to redact Russia documents despite Trump order for full declassification: report🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Lets play Where In The World is Anderson CooperLiberal Students Admit: Trump Helping EconomyHOW ABSOLUTELY DARE YOU SIR?!!It all makes sense nowThursday, September 20th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump's Message on TradeExecutive Order Authorizing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions Set Forth in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions ActPresidential Proclamation on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2018🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Financial and jobs numbers are fantastic. There are plenty of new, high paying jobs available in our great and very vibrant economy. If you are not happy where you are, start looking - but also remember, our economy is only getting better. Vote in Midterms!We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!“We can’t secure the Border because of the Democrats historic level of Obstruction. The Presidents fed up with this. His agenda is working. The economy is growing at twice the rate it did under Obama. We’ve nominated and confirmed 68 Federal Judges, 26 Court of Appeals Judges.... ... ....The thing that’s lacking is we can’t properly secure the Border because of the Democrats historic level of Obstruction.” Senator David Perdue of Georgia.I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!S&P 500 HITS ALL-TIME HIGH Congratulations USA!.@JayWebberNJ is running for Congress in the 11th District of New Jersey. He is outstanding in every way. Strong on Borders, loves our Military and our Vets. Big Crime fighter. Jay has my Full and Total Endorsement!Congratulations to my good friend Prime Minister @AbeShinzo on his HUGE election victory in Japan. I’m looking forward to many more years of working together. See you in New York next week!🇺🇸🇯🇵Army Master Sgt. Charles H. McDaniel, 32, of Vernon, Indiana, and Army Pfc. William H. Jones, 19, of Nash County, North Carolina, are the first American remains from... ... ...North Korea to be identified as a result of my Summit with Chairman Kim. These HEROES are home, they may Rest In Peace, and hopefully their families can have closure.(Video)On my way to Las Vegas, Nevada. Look forward to seeing everyone tonight! #MAGA(Video)Landing in Las Vegas now for a Make America Great Again Rally supporting @DeanHeller and @DannyTarkanian. Also doing interview there with @seanhannity live on @FoxNews. Big crowd, long lines. Will be great! #MAGAMAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!Thank you Las Vegas, Nevada - I love you! #MAGA🇺🇸AMERICA IS WINNING AGAIN!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:BREAKING PROJECT VERITAS VIDEO: Deep State Unmasked: U.S. GAO Employee Admits “I Break Rules Every Day”ProgressBusted!!! Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen tweets, then deletes tweet praising himself for reportedly cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, in an apparent mistake that was intended to be tweeted from an anonymous account.US GAO Issues Statement following Deep State Unmasked Video of Auditor saying, "I break rules every day".Leah Barkoukis - RNC Reaches $252 Million Fundraising Mark For Midterms, Blowing DNC Out of the Water---“Enthusiasm for President Trump and his successful agenda is fueling our record-breaking fundraising and energizing our grassroots supporters,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:WATCH PARTY: President Trump Rally - Las Vegas, NV - 9/20/18🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:BREAKING: New damning evidence shows that Brett Kavanaugh admitted to assaulting Christine Ford!Oh, you're a Democratic Socialist?Lining up in Las Vegas to see our glorious God Emperor. Make Nevada Red Again!Whoa... He wore that to school?I think im tired of winning... (pause) NAAAAAATFriday, September 21st:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration PostsPresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Personnel to Key Administration PostsPresidential Proclamation on National Hunting and Fishing Day, 2018"Consumer Sentiment Hit Its Highest Level in 17 years"President Trump Participates in a Signing Ceremony🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week!The radical left lawyers want the FBI to get involved NOW. Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?(Retweeting America First) (Picture)(Retweeting America First) (Picture)I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies’ called to ask not to release. Therefore, the Inspector General..... ... ....has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me - and everyone!Senator Feinstein and the Democrats held the letter for months, only to release it with a bang after the hearings were OVER - done very purposefully to Obstruct & Resist & Delay. Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE!Throughout American history, the men and women of our Armed Forces have selflessly served our Country, making tremendous sacrifices to defend our liberty. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor all American Prisoners of War: http://bit.ly/2pvFHNW Kept for our GREAT Veterans!(video)Remarks by President Trump at the Signing of H.R. 5895Thank you Missouri - I love you!Thank you Missouri - Together, we are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:CNN asked women if they believe Judge Kavanaugh. This was not the response they were expecting.Breaking...Senator Grassley Calls For a Kavanaugh Vote For Monday. 10pm deadline for accuser.This is the tweet that got James Woods banned for “ misleading information and potentially impacting an election”.White House Drafts Order To Look Into Google, Facebook PracticesThe PurgePRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:WATCH PARTY: President Trump MAGA Rally - Springfield, Missouri - 9/21/18🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:The Onion: ‘New York Times’ Announces Appointment Of Anonymous Source As Editor-In-Chief 😂😂They are totally lost9/21 Springfield MO Rally - Just look at all these Russian bots!20,000 Trump Supporters Had To Be Turned Away At Missouri Rally It Was So BigSaturday, September 22nd:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:New Economic Records being set on a daily basis - and it is not by accident!(Video)SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:FITTON:MONSTROUS Corruption:Rosenstein plotting against Trump, Kavanaugh confirmation mess, and President Trump's declassification moves. GIANT Judicial Watch update"You're not being censored! You can go create your own platform! There's no conspiracy against you here!" - PayPal bans Alex Jones for, literally, not breaking the rules. Declaring his "content" is bad but he didn't break a specific rule.Shareblue deletes OWN fake thread to try and blame Reddit and create a Streisand Effect over their lies about T_D. Gets caught out and then tries to claim they actually deleted their thread over "death threats" by Russians. Then brigades Conspiracy to try and cover it up. Buahahaha.Nigel Farage - "The day after Trump got elected, the biggest internet search engine, the most powerful, important tech company in the world… effectively declared war on the whole populist revolt that was happening across the West"🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:OUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT SHOWING THE WORLD THE SIZE OF ANTIFA BICEPS!The Ford Trail - Play this exciting card game where it takes literally forever to get to your destination.MRW I look for all the racism and Russian propaganda on T_D that Reddit keeps complaining about.WEEEW LAD!Without further ado, some tunes to get you jamming through all this WINNING:Crooked SmilePink & WhiteTalk is CheapAgainWet DreamzGoldMAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

#robgray

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kyukurator-blog · 7 years

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ROUGHING IT

With camping season in full swing, we decided to highlight a breed of films that are best avoided if you are heading into the wild.

We’re talking about movies that take place on back roads, deep in the woods and in far-flung, sparsely populated locales—the kind of places where opportunities for outdoor activities abound.

But these are movies… Any protagonist who ventures into an unspoiled location is guaranteed to encounter something a lot more troublesome than pesky mosquitoes and spotty cellphone service.

Happy Camping!!

Ian and Samantha head to a national park, hoping the bush will give them space for some quiet time together. They arrive at an isolated campsite to find an SUV and a tent – no sign of the occupants.

As night falls and the campers fail to return, Ian and Sam grow increasingly uneasy. The discovery of a distressed child wandering in the woods unleashes a terrifying chain of events that test the young couple to breaking point.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

Yes, technically it’s a horror film, but any urbanite camper who ventures out into the woods is going to hear strange noises late at night – and think of this film.

This film combined Hi8 video with B&W 16mm film. The premise is 3 students go into the Maryland woods at night and are never seen again. All that remains is the “found footage” documenting their adventures leading up to their final minutes.

INTO THE WILD (2007)

Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who abandoned a traditional post-graduate life and attempted to live independently in the wilds of Alaska. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for anyone who has dreamed chucking it all and returning to nature.

In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

It’s a sobering reminder to be prepared and humble before venturing into the wilderness; but many campers will also relate to McCandless’ sense of adventure and abandon.

DELIVERANCE (1972)

Adapted from poet James Dickey’s popular novel, John Boorman’s 1972 movie recounts the grueling psychological and physical journey taken by four city slickers down a river in the backwoods of Georgia. At the request of Iron John-esque Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Drew (Ronny Cox) agree to canoe down wild, uncharted section of the river before a dam project ruins the region.

After warnings from the locals, and Drew’s ominous “Dueling Banjos” encounter with a mute inbred boy, the four men embark on their trip. On day 2, things take a turn for the worse when Bobby and Ed decide to rest on shore after becoming separated from Lewis and Drew. Two rifle-wielding mountain men (Bill McKinney and Herbert “Cowboy” Coward) emerge from the woods and capture the men. I won’t go into details on what happens next but if you haven’t seen the film — be warned.

Lewis and Drew rescue them, but the attack changes the nature of the journey. As the river gets rougher and rougher, the men come to nightmarish grips with what it means to survive outside the safety net of “civilization.”

WOLF CREEK (2005)

A dream vacation turns into a nightmare in this taut thriller from Australia. Ben (Nathan Phillips), Lizzie (Cassandra Magrath), and Kristy (Kestie Morassi) are three friends who, after a night of celebratory drinking, hit the road for a trip to Wolf Creek National Park, where they plan to spend a week hiking and surfing. The three friends are happy to be spending time together, especially after Ben makes the happy discovery that Lizzie is as infatuated with him as he is with her.

After a long day hiking, Ben, Lizzie, and Kristy make the unpleasant discovery that their car’s battery is dead, leaving them stuck in the middle of nowhere. Help arrives in the form of Mick (John Jarratt), a burly but good-natured outdoorsman who happens upon them; Mick tells them that he can fix their car, and offers to give them a ride to his place down the road.

Grateful but a bit nervous around the gregarious stranger, Ben, Lizzie, and Kristy offer Mick a wealth of thanks for his help, and give him some money for his troubles before they fall asleep around the campfire. The next morning, the travelers find themselves bound, gagged, drugged, and separated from one another, and they realize Mick is not the good Samaritan they imagined.

RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975)

Peter Fonda, Warren Oats, Lara Parker and Loretta Swit star as two couples who go on vacation together and drive their R.V. deep into the Texas hinterlands where they camp out, drink beer and tear up the backroads on their dirt bikes.

Their holiday turns deadly when they accidentally witness a secret ceremony of devil worshippers and a human sacrifice. Their presence is discovered and they barely elude the pursuing coven members.

When they report the incident to the local police, the investigation leads nowhere and the two couples are strongly urged to leave the area. Back on the road again, the vacationers soon realize they are not safe and are being stalked at every stop along their way.

ROUGHING IT was originally published on FollowTheThread

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raystart · 7 years

Photo

In Praise of the Home Office

Early on a Sunday morning I’m sitting in my favorite space, a small outbuilding behind my house, in my favorite chair, a twenty-five year-old, medium-sized Aeron with a few small burn holes in the mesh seat. Even though it’s spring, it’s still cool outside. I’ve got my hoody pulled over my head, keeping the ole brainpan warm. I have nowhere to be but here. The red second hand of the school room clock mounted high on the wall ticks audibly, counting off the progression of moments, every one of which belongs to me.

Through the several windows I can see that the sun has begun to burn through the layer of clouds, revealing a patch of light blue sky—I’ll leave the exact color to my visual artist friends; to me it is reminiscent of the powder paint we used for skies in elementary school. A plane streaks overhead, gleaming and metallic, rumbling through the atmosphere like thunder. In the middle distance, a red-tail hawk circles, searching the canyon for breakfast; hummingbirds hover and dart, flirting and issuing their odd squeaks. A breeze plays through my neighbor’s invasive stand of tall bamboo. The stalks sway and knock together, making woody sounds like a marimba. From over the hill I can hear the throaty engines of powerboats and other personal watercraft churning circles around nearby bay, weekend warriors at play.

Here in my home office, the line between pleasure and duty is blurred. Weekend or weekday, there is no difference to me. Nobody counts my hours. My work is also my hobby. It takes as long as it takes. That someone is or is not paying me at any particular time is sort of secondary. Like most people, I work to live. But I also live to work.

This is where I do it—a 900-square foot patch of universe chock-a-block with photos, keepsakes, books and other familiar objects of personal history, most of it qualified as tax deductible, all of it mine to command.

Like nowhere else, when I am here I know who I am.

***

Now it’s a little after noon. I’ve just returned from the house, where I threw together leftovers for my typical 15-minute lunch. Afterwards, I folded the whites and stuck the darks in to the dryer.

When I think about it, I come from a tradition of home offices. Both of my grandfathers—a lawyer and the owner of a clothing and shoe store—had offices in their homes, satellites to their more traditional workplaces. I remember being a little boy and swiveling around in their desk chairs, hunt-and-pecking on their clunky antique typewriters. In part I believe I owe my love of writing to the happiness of these times, my unexplainable attraction to the physical act of typing—the wonderful rachet-sound of the platen, the percussive clack of the keys against 20-pound bond, the ding at the end of each line heralding the need for the cleansing physical action of the carriage return. To type is to have the world at your fingertips—twenty-six neutral symbols to endlessly recombine. It is a task that requires both whimsy and precision. Another universe to command.

My father was an OBGYN. He had a home office, strictly for paperwork, in the basement of our rancher, the only place in the house he was allowed to smoke his cigars. The centerpiece of my dad’s home office was a desk his parents bought him for use in medical school—a blonde mahogany, Midcentury Modern kneehole desk with curved drawers by Heywood Wakefield, according to my research on the web. There is a matching Tambour door cabinet, on the back of which is stamped the manufacture date, May 1, 1954, two years before my birth. (The desk is too heavy to move.) As a boy I remember stealing down to the office when my parents were out for the evening. In the deep, double-drawer on the left side of the desk, my dad kept a stash of racy gag gifts given to him by friends—an oversize toothbrush with two plastic breasts instead of bristles, a windup penis with feet, a deck of cards with naked ladies instead of kings and queens.

When I went law school, my Dad gave me the desk and the hutch, for both practical and symbolic reasons. Hopefully, he said, it would see me through grad school with the same kind of success as he.

Of course, law school only lasted three weeks, but I was allowed to keep the furniture, which has traveled with me through forty years of home office incarnations. In Arlington Virginia, the desk was in the second bedroom of an apartment situated just beneath the flight path to what was then called National Airport—the entire building would shake. In Washington D.C., I lived in a basement apartment, and then in a loft, and then in a townhouse, the last for 12 years. My office was on the third floor; the desk had a nook within the front bay window, which looked out on the cityscape of a still-untamed section of town (in present times the Theater District), where hookers and crack dealers worked the dark corners, a different kind of natural show playing at all hours of the day and night.

Now my father’s desk has outlived him. For the past twenty years it’s been in this room, in San Diego, at the bottom-left corner of the continental United States, twenty-five miles north of the Mexican Border. The deep drawer is now full of vintage reporter’s equipment—defunct tape recorders, film cameras, old pads and other office supplies, not nearly so much fun as the booby toothbrush and other naughty bits of yore. In the hutch I have a ton of tear sheets from my years as a newspaper reporter and a few copies of the literary magazines I edited in college. I still remember sliding it open one time and finding multiple copies of a sex manual my father must have given out to patients. The authors were a husband and wife team. The photos were black and white. Naked, and without expression, the authors demonstrated dozens of positions, a sort of humorless kama sutra for the Masters and Johnson set.

In order to better accommodate the various pieces of hardware associated with today’s modern office, I have since added around the desk an eclectic mix of work tables and equipment stands, so that I’m nearly surrounded with surfaces—imagine a closeout sale in the office furniture department at Staples and you get the idea. (My original typing table, which used to hold a used, IBM Selectric typewriter, now holds the laser printer.) Swiveling around, rolling my chair (over a plastic floor mat), I can attend to the different tasks and projects I have going simultaneously. Sometimes I imagine myself sitting in the command pod of a space ship, all the controls of my great solo enterprise at my fingertips—look at that, another reference to control.

Clearly a theme is emerging here. I am my own man, yes. But that also makes me nobody else’s man. Responsible to, and responsible for, only myself. Powerful and powerless at once.

***

Nighttime now. These things take time, another reason I suppose I’ve spent so much time in my home office. The sky is dark. Stars have appeared. Somewhere across the canyon an owl is hooting. If I listen carefully I can hear the waves break quietly on the coastline, a half mile away.

After making myself a simple dinner of steak and greens, I’ve put up the dishes and returned the fifty or so steps to my office. Yesterday, I left the house to go to the post office. Today I didn’t leave the house at all; most of my time was spent in this chair. And yes, I am still wearing the sweatpants I put on this morning when I rolled out of bed. I will make sure to shower at the night’s end. I’m a home-based worker but I’m no misanthrope.

For the last few minutes, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tally the number of hours I’ve spent in proximity to this desk, alone in a room with my thoughts and labors. With all the travel for work it’s hard to say, though I also know that for every week in the field doing research, I’ve generally spent several more weeks at my desk—making calls and arrangements, transcribing, doing further research, composing, rewriting and editing.

Struggling to find the right formula, I went to the doorway and looked into the darkness, in the direction of the hooting. One hot summer evening the owl had overflown me by only a foot or two—the whoosh was palpable in the immediate airspace and kind of freaked me out.

Standing there, I noticed one of the many photos of my son. A decade ago, he was working hard to become a point guard on the middle school basketball team. At an age where many boys dream of becoming pro athletes, he had a Lakers jersey with his name—SAGER—custom printed on the back. He was taking extra practices, working out with a coach, running several miles every day.

One afternoon when he was off at practice, I was sitting here in my home office, thinking I wished I could do something to help. One thing you (hopefully) learn as a parent—the kid has to take the all the practice shots and do all the math problems himself. You can’t do it for him. All you can really do is cheer them on.

In that instant, an idea came to me. I walked over to the desk and picked up a pen. I wrote it like this:

Hard work

Well enjoyed

Builds a man

Makes a life

Day by day

Though I wrote this with myself and my son in mind, the same can be said for building a woman as well.

It’s what I’ve learned after forty years of sitting in my home office, doing what I love.

#startups #text #startup #advice #busieness #howto #news #tech #love

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