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Oops, We Did It Again! |
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| Recently,
thanks to the Not So Great Dictator formerly known as Donald
Trump, life seems to be moving backwards |
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By
Debby Long |
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 “Thus did a handful of
rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth
controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and
entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American
class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens
were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living
wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those
who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing
crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus, the American
dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy
surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the
noonday sun.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,
1965
As everybody used to know before The Lobotomies, America has
never been invaded. There are no insane axe murderers, drooling
rapists, or international terrorists crossing our borders
intending to sully the red blood of American citizens - and then
go on food stamps and Medicaid for a comfortable retirement.
This is an entirely made up narrative by Donald Trump to
establish a Nazi-style group of “others” that can be
marginalized and ultimately vilified to unify political support
behind his leadership. And now, as Trump ramps up the hate
speech and his anti-immigrant rhetoric to justify mobilizing
military personnel to illegally enter Los Angeles, we are
watching his master plan, on behalf of his imaginary master
race, unfold. But we all really knew that, didn’t we? (However,
the part about hordes of transexuals in public bathroom stalls
across the nation must be true...)
Recently, thanks to the Not So Great Dictator formerly known as
Donald Trump, life seems to be moving backwards. And sadly, just
when we were doing so well. What is going on in America
currently is so sloppily derivative that it looks like a
ten-year-old boy - profoundly deficient in several fundamental
human proficiencies – was given license to write, direct and
star in a bumbling and deeply disturbing soap opera that has now
overtaken the lives of every citizen and non-citizen living in
America. This soap opera is presented to all Americans in daily
episodes, each with a discrete theme for Trump and his cast to
perform. And each episode begins with a threat that goes
something like this: If you don’t let me do this, I’ll ruin you
and your family, because “I run the country and the world”. Just
look at how he impugned Joe Biden recently, calling him “not the
sharpest bulb”. Neurofibrillary tangles aside, Trump can be
devastating - a sort of senile Michael Corleone. In assembling
Trump’s cabinet, the casting director for The Lobotomies series
had only one criterion for putative cabinet candidates: never
contemplate invoking the 25th Amendment. Once that hurdle was
cleared and NDAs were signed, it was finally showtime. And a
veritable symphony of gleeful thumbs in the national eye
commenced: RFK, Jr. got to play himself – a thumb in the eye of
all Democrats and particularly Kennedy aficionados; Pete Hegseth
and his tattoos got to act on some of his worst instincts drunk
– a thumb in the eye of America’s vaunted military leaders;
Linda McMahon finally got to home school America’s children – a
thumb in the eye of anyone who claims that our children are our
future. And so forth.
Read More |
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Putin's Stooge |
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For years, the idea that
Donald Trump was compromised by Russia was dismissed as paranoid
fantasy |
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By Kathleen Anne Ball |
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 I’m
calling it was it is. I don't care whether you agree with me or
not, just check your response with your gut. My gut never lies
to me.
I’ve had my suspicions all along about this stooge. He’s not
intelligent enough to pull this off by himself. We better hope
that all the social security numbers and tax info that Muskrat
just uploaded from SSA and IRS from every single american
citizens account, doesn’t end up in Putin’s files. Whoever has
that info can potentially wipe out every dime we have and can
potentially fund a world takeover:
There is something rancid in America, a slow, creeping rot that
smells like cold McDonald’s fries, aerosol hairspray, and the
unmistakable musk of a country too sedated to recognize its own
hostage situation. For years, the idea that Donald Trump was
compromised by Russia was dismissed as paranoid fantasy—just
another wild-eyed conspiracy theory, another overblown headline
in the endless saga of American political dysfunction.But now,
two former Soviet intelligence officers—Alnur Mussayev and Yuri
Shvets—are saying it outright: Trump was recruited by the KGB in
1987, groomed as an asset, and remains under Russian control to
this day.
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The Fable of
the Sick Anti-Vaxxer |
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In the early 20th century,
a famous anti-vaxxer exposed himself to smallpox. What happened
next offers a COVID cautionary tale. |
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By Rebecca Onion |
Slate |
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A
parishioner of Los Angeles’ Hillsong Church dies of COVID-19
after making anti-vax jokes on Facebook and Instagram, some of
which were posted from his hospital bed; after his death, the
founder of the church tells CNN that vaccines are a “personal
decision.” A Nashville radio host who had voiced skepticism
about the COVID vaccine gets the disease and, after suffering
from COVID-related pneumonia, goes on a ventilator; his brother
tells the media, “If he had to do it over again, he would be
more adamantly pro-vaccination.” Another pastor, from Texas,
speaks publicly about his regret at not getting vaccinated
before getting COVID and going to the intensive care unit: “I
recognized that I had been a bit cavalier.”
Read More |
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How Supercharged Blue Heroin Ravaged
This Small Town In Ohio |
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By Mitch Stacy |
AP |
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 MARION, Ohio (AP) The usual
hand wringing
over the heroin problem turned into panic in this small city in
May when a supercharged blue-tinted batch from Chicago sent more
than 30 overdose victims to the hospital and two to the morgue
in a 12-day stretch.
Like many places in America, Marion an hour's drive north of
the capital, Columbus has gotten used to heroin. Emergency
crews in the city of 37,000 have become accustomed to treating
an overdose patient about once a day for the past year or so.
But they were stunned when the unprecedented onslaught began on
May 20.
They say if it hadn't been for naloxone, an antidote carried by
paramedics, most of the survivors probably would have died, too.
They ranged in age from their late teens to early 60s.
Read
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Fraud |
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Activists
began campaigning to change the understanding
of the 2nd Amendment in the late 20th century |
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By Larry Laird |
lairdslair |
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One
of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the
word fraud on the American public by special
interest groups that I've ever seen in my life
time. The real purpose of the Second was to
ensure that state armies the militias would
be maintained for the defense of the state.
The very language of the Second Amendment refutes
any argument that it was intended to guarantee
every citizen an unfettered right to any kind
of weapon he or she desires.
---- Chief Supreme
Court Justice Warren Burger
Justice Burger said
in no uncertain terms, before gun lobbyists
and activists began campaigning to change the
understanding of the 2nd Amendment in the late
20th century, nobody considered it to be an
individual right.
In 2008, the right
wing contingent on the most recent Supreme Court
(the same people who said that corporations
are people) decided to throw away centuries
of juris prudence and extend the 2nd Amendment
as an individual protection for gun owners
right to bear arms. During the case, United
States v. Emerson, the Supreme Court decided
that the 2nd Amendment is not a collective protection
for gun ownership in militias, but rather a
protection for individuals to own and operate
weapons. This decision flies in the face of
centuries of settled law and, like Citizens
United v. FEC is just another case where right
wing extremist wearing robes have perverted
our country's longstanding understanding of
our laws. |
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Requiem for a Golf Course |
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by Fred Altvater |
B9R Lessons |
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 The
Golf economy today is a mixed bag, while some areas of the golf
business are very strong, other parts are suffering.
Part of the reason is that young people do
not seem to be taking to the game as the
older generation did. With the variety of
activities available to the X and Y
Generations, other sports seem to be more
attractive.
A slow walk around a golf course can't compete with mountain
biking or zip-lines.
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What is Humility? |
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An easily misunderstood human quality that seems to have gone missing in our modern times. How to make it part of your life once again. |
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By Larry Laird | lairdslair.com |
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 I attend a small evangelical Lutheran church in Marion, Ohio called St. Paul's and have for over 60 years. I took my catechism there and was confirmed in this little church. On occasion, our pastor takes a much needed vacation and since we have no assistant pastor he calls on members of the congregation to lead a service in his absence. I have done so a couple of times in the past two years. What follows is the message I delivered on a Sunday in late August, 2016.
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 There
is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The
strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way
through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that
democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. |
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- Isaac Asimov |
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One
man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but
for real bona fide stupidity nothing beats teamwork. |
| - Mark
Twain |
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| Marion Weather
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Cartoons by
Clay Bennett |
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| Donald Trump just overthrew the
government of the most powerful country in the world |
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 Donald Trump just overthrew the government of the
most powerful country in the world. He ran the table
with the willing help of the Republican Party. He now
owns all the branches of government: the SCOTUS, both
houses of Congress, and the Executive. His cabinet
nominees will insure that all government institutions,
the military in particular, will not thwart his plans.
His takeover - preceded by his Insurrection - are not
unlike Hitler's Beerhall Putch and the overthrow of the
Weimar Republic, where Hitler subsequently declared
one-party rule and citizenship based upon race.
We can pretend that Trump will be out in 4 years, but
who will be left to enforce Article II, Section 1,
Clause 1 of the Constitution? The sycophancy of
America's billionaires - Besos et. al. - is not an
accident. They are acutely aware of what has just taken
place. Trump will soon be in a position to seize their
companies if he chooses. And a new season of The
Apprentice will commence because, due to Trump's
advanced age, a viable successor will have to be
selected and groomed. Will it be Elon Musk? Musk sure
hopes so. His Nazi salute certainly speaks volumes. And
what will happen to the "Failing New York Times". Trump
will have it for lunch, with some fava beans and a nice
Chianti.
Anyone who thinks that this too shall pass is simply
whistling past the graveyard. We did, indeed, attend
America's funeral today.
Debby Long |
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 The
faithful see both crisis and opportunity as churches close
across the country -
Read More |
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Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid
- Dumbness alone is rarely the driving threat:
at the head of almost every dumb movement, you will find the
stupid in charge -
Read More |
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 Slideshow
for Dad - my son Chris created this
slideshow for me from old pictures. Music composed and performed
by him.
Watch here |
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A Very Stable Genius
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Read More
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John Oliver Puts His Foot Down on Pointless Push
Notifications (Video) |
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Will "post-truth" politics be capitalism's undoing?
Enlightenment ideals like
rationalism opened the doors for capitalism's rise. What happens
in a post-rational era? |
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Will We Find Aliens in the Next Decade? It's Not as Crazy as
You Might Think |
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 Inside the odyssey: taking a closer look at Stanley Kubrick's 2001. At an expansive new exhibition in New York,
the director's defining science fiction opus is explored in
detail with help from those who made it with him. |
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US federal deficit to reach $1tn next year, report says
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Debt held by public is expected to
reach 95% of GDP in next 10 years, the highest level since just
after the second world war |
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Sleep patterns can change with aging. Does that mean health
troubles ahead? |
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He Was Dying. Antibiotics
Weren't Working. Then Doctors
Tried a Forgotten Treatment. |
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The system is
broken: the billionaire investor who fears a return to the
1930s. |
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Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Therapy,
CPAP Treats Sleep Apnea With Air
Pressure Delivered Via a Mask |
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Think Rivers Are Dangerous Now? Just Wait.
A new study offers grim projections. |
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Gun control and history:
It's never been about the Second
Amendment -
Pro-gun advocates are using the ambiguous
language of the Constitution to mask a right-wing agenda |
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Mass Shootings in America: The Unavoidable Facts.
Mass shootings have become deadlier. Gun
violence is insanely expensive. The copycat effect is real. |
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We Just
Feel Like We Don't Belong Here Anymore -
Think it's hard for the white
working class in rural America? Try being a person of color. |
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Barbara Kingsolver: "It feels as though
we're
living
through
the end of the world" -
The
author of The Poisonwood Bible is back with an ambitious novel
charting the US in breakdown. |
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Making a Killing
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The business and politics of
selling guns. How Fear Helps the Gun Business |
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Your Wi-Fi Network's Soft Underbelly. You probably
don?t even think about this easy way for hackers to sneak in. |
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The Great Lakes Are Filling Up With
Giant Green Blobs - Industrial agriculture fuels them, and new
science shows that they emit way more greenhouse gas than
previously thought. |
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Is Depression a Kind of Allergic
Reaction? What if it was a physical illness that just happens to make people
feel pretty lousy? |
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There May Soon Be More Plastic in the Oceans Than Fish.
The environmental impact of plastic waste is already staggering and getting much
worse. |
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Life at the (possible) end of the Earth
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Everything is not going to be okay: How to
live with constant reminders that the Earth is in trouble |
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10 Media
Manipulation Strategies
- Noam
Chomsky, one of the most important intellectuals in life today,
has drawn up the list of 10 media manipulation strategies |
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The forever chemicals fueling a public
health crisis in drinking water -
About 700 PFAS-contaminated
sites have been identified across the US while those exposed to
enough chemicals can face devastating health consequences |
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Martin
Luther's Revolution
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The Reformation did a lot more than transform Christianity. |
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How Do You Spot A Nonconformist? -
You Can Start With Their Internet
Browser! |
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