The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    The Sudden Unexpected Death of Sandra Bland

    First the medicine. Sandra Bland reported to the arresting officer and to the jail booking people that she had epilepsy. Epileptic attacks are reported by epileptics to increase in frequency and severity when a person with the condition is under stress. Why is still unknown. See Stress and Epilepsy.

    kyle flynn's picture

    Midnight Musings

    I was visiting synchronicity's latest post. I left a comment to a comment rmrd0000 made and then noticed DD left a comment. I appreciated his comment. I got a chuckle. Nothing unusual, there. And for reasons I can't explain, I responded to DD's comment which made reference to my comment. DD offered a funny response to that comment and ocean-kat and PP responded, respectively, to DD's comment. Both also funny. (To be perfectly accurate, I think I'd have to include an additional comment from DD.

    Richard Day's picture

    TRUMP IS TRUMPED

    There are some things that politicians running for the President of the United States of America cannot say if they wish to win the nomination from either party.

    GODDAMN AMERICA

    Well that ain't gonna work.

    And if there is anyone you once knew who actually is quoted as saying that….well.

    Documenting Evil: The Auschwitz Album

    As part of the 70th commemoration of the end of WWII, I went to an exhibit of the Auschwitz Album. While movie directors have done an amazing job re-creating these awful scenes throughout the years, the actual photos of unphotogenic, unmadeup distressed masses being herded around as they struggle to manage their few belongings along with their friends & relatives is heartbreaking.

    What's more astounding is this seminal horrific event came this close to having 0 photographic evidence even at this late date in the history of photography - only by accident did one of the inmates stumble across this unauthorized photo album a few hundred miles away. 

    Richard Day's picture

    THE BOOMERS

    THE END OF THE BOOMERS

    I am viewing THE BIG CHILL

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Chill_(film)

    I can hardly handle it.

    Obama greeted by confederate flags.

     

    Yesterday I might have driven the back way over the Red River in Texas and scooted on up to welcome the President in Durant, Oklahoma---which is usually referred to simply as "Choctaw"---meaning the large casino complex which is the hub of the town.

    Danny Cardwell's picture

    Memes: The End of Original Thought

    For me, the saddest thing about Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media is the constant use of memes. Too many people have given up on thinking. I understand sharing a meme that's funny, clever, or has a sentimental feel, but to completely outsource your thinking to someone with a meme generating app is troubling to me. The majority of the social, political, and economic based memes I see are blatantly false and designed to be click bait. Information is easier to get now than ever, yet too few are willing to invest the time it takes to read peer reviewed journals, attend talks and lectures, or -at the very least- think for themselves.

    trkingmomoe's picture

    Economist Michael Hudson Points Out Greece's Debt Is Odious And Illegal

    Michael Hudson is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He has been an advisor in helping with this debt crises in Europe. He wrote a very good article for Counterpunch a few days ago and there is a follow up video interview that I think will help explain some missing information that is not being talked about right now concerning the Troika and Greece. 

    FurudeRikaChama's picture

    Tumblr and its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad society

    Roleplaying. The word normally conjures to the mind, images of middle-aged men playing Dungeons and Dragons with each other. Not anymore. Today, many kinds of people roleplay as fictional characters online, with brand-new terminology strictly for that fandom, and bizarre rules in societies that only online Internet addicts like myself will understand.

    trkingmomoe's picture

    Allen Grayson Announces For US Senate.

    He will be running against Patrick Murphy an other House Rep from Florida in the Democratic Primary. He announced this week with this video. 

    trkingmomoe's picture

    Florida Supreme Court Orders Congressional Districts Redrawn

    The League of Women Voters filed this case 5 years ago after the GOP held Legislators failed to follow the Fair Districting state constitutional amendment. Instead they held secrete meetings and sent emails to political operatives and pretending to comply with the law. The results was gerrymandered districts.   It has been fought all the way up the court system and now 8 congressional districts have been ordered to be redrawn and submitted to the court for approval.  

    JEB says "work longer hours".

    True to his Bush genes Jeb has just uttered what is not only the table prize of all Bush out-of- touch commentaries but ignores the true problem of our economy---substandard growth caused by the misguided austerity policies of his own Republican party.

    His comment was, reportedly, when asked about how to achieve 4% growth---"It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families."  Joseph and Mary, the Pope and Lucifer, where do you start?

    Work longer hours, who the heck is he kidding? Americans already work longer hours than most any other developed country. How far out of touch do you have to be from the average worker in this country to utter such nonsense?

    Richard Day's picture

    ARGUING WITH DUCKS

    Duck Dynasty is currently filming some movie about the importance of JC in our lives. During this interview with one of the ducks, we are informed that every time we ‘sign a calendar’, we affirm the existence of not only the ‘True God’ but our belief in JC.

    I do not know about you folks, but I cannot recall the last time that I signed a calendar.

    There is some truth in what the duck says, as we can discover by examining our current calendar.

    Greece and a global anti-austerity movement.

     

    Could the OXI vote on the Greek referendum on Sunday be the beginning of something big? I mean a kind of beneficial contagion, a world wide movement, something which would impact nations and continents, that would reverse wealth concentration and focus on the problems of slow growth and unemployment of the youth---not to mention address abject poverty in many parts of the world? Howard Fineman thinks something's afoot in the Greek referendum---as he writes in an article today, The beginning of the Great Austerity Backlash.

    The Search for Black Confederate Soldiers

     I've only just started looking in earnest for evidence of African-American soldiers in the Confederate army. William Richter(The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction) claims that they were all over the place, but he cites no sources, so forget him.

    trkingmomoe's picture

    What Is Next For Greece After The "No" Vote Landslide?

    According to MSM, Europe is in shock following the Greek "No" vote on Sunday. Euro has taken a fall in trading.  Summits are being called to discus what is next. 

    To deal with the liquidly problems in the Greek banks;

    “If necessary, we will issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU’s, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago,” was the quote attributed to FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Sunday, after the victorious “no” vote.

    http://www.infobalkans.com/2015/07/05/varoufakis-hints-parallel-currency-cites-california-s-past-iou-scheme 

    Elusive Trope's picture

    Being the Problem and the Solution

    One of Herbert Blau quotes of which I am fond:

    If you're not part of the problem, you not part of the solution

    For me, at least, this means in essence one has to work from within the corrupt system in order to make a significant change.

    FurudeRikaChama's picture

    some of my stories (hello guys, long time no see)

    A/N:Another little oneshot centered around an AU Game of the Future, where Izaya leaves the Wizarding World much later and is canon age. Some differences from the main plot, but basically the same. More of Izaya's views on things, and what not. Harry/Izaya will have more sociopathic traits at a younger age and in this one, he just leaves and is integrated into his family later, meets Shinra and Shizuo later, so just expect everything to happen...and some anti-Hogwarts rants. Oneshot only, sorry.

    Danny Cardwell's picture

    Non Biblical Origins of a Christian Nation

    Nation: A people who share the same lies about their past, hatred of their present neighbor, and illusions about the future. 

    --Ernest Renaud

    The myth that America was founded on Christian principles is so embedded in the psyche of our nation that questioning it's veracity is considered blasphemy. Many patriotic Christians point to biographies, autobiographies, and the Constitution instead of the Bible to validate this claim; what they disconnect is the fact that most Revolutionary history was written from the perspective of politicians and generals. It doesn't take a very smart person to understand that history told from the top down doesn't reflect the views of the average person. The native, the slave, the housewife, or the poor would have a different view of the same events based on their social positioning. This isn't a relativist argument. If we can't look at the past objectively, how can we look at our present condition with all of the emotions associated with our individual beliefs, critically?

    trkingmomoe's picture

    Bernie Sanders Is Sending A Wake Up Call With A Record Breaking Crowd

    Tonight in Madison, Wisconsin, 10,000 to 13,000 people turned out to hear Bernie Sanders give his stump speech. So far this is the largest crowd that has turned out for any current presidential candidate. He has been packing them in and his campaign people have been changing venues to largest ones that is available on scheduled stops. They had to broadcast his speech outside of the building to the crowd out side that could not get in. 

    stillidealistic's picture

    Anyone Else Overdosing?

    If you're like me, you may have overdosed on the subject of gay marriage the last few days. I am only affected in that I am saddened when any group of people does not have the same rights as everyone else. In the context of the SCOTUS decision, I don't see it as a religious issue. Each individual religion will decide that for themselves. Even within the Christian community there is division. Some churches have accepted it, some haven't, and some are still wrestling with the issue.

    Richard Day's picture

    METAMORPHOSIS & TERRORISM

    Snodgrass common household roaches.png

    One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from  anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.

    (Franz Kafka)

    http://www.kafka-online.info/the-metamorphosis.html

    Robert Burns (no not that Robert Burns you Gaelic idiots) has written a book entitled:

    Kafka's Law

    http://www.c-span.org/video/?326474-2/robert-burns-kafkas-law

    If you bother to watch this wonderful Q & A, you will see that the focus of Mr. Burn's tome seems to be on Kafka's The Trial, which might be deduced from the title of the professor's book.

    Danny Cardwell's picture

    The Multiple Lenses of History

    Tim Wise defined lynching as, "the extra judicial killing of any person". There was a period in this country where every 2 1/2 days a black man, woman, or child was hung from a tree. I write these words knowing that I'm the second of my parents children born without a legal challenge to my rights as a human being. My parents went to segregated schools. The history many of my patriotic friends want me to understand happened during the civil war; the history I can't get them to talk about is much closer. It took the south seventeen years to fully integrate schools after the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision.

    stillidealistic's picture

    Much Ado About Nothing

    The internet is blowing up with unhappy comments from Christians about the the SCOTUS decision on same sex marriage.

    I don't get it.

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