flummery

"complete nonsense"

[anexperimentallife]

Also applies to "AI" "artists" and "musicians."

[flummery]

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

“We cannot afford your stupidity.” – Joshua Doss I try to avoid calling people stupid. Especially people I disagree with. Particularly Black people I disagree with. At least “publicly.” But what else can you call Black support for the GOP at this point? From the Google: [“Stupid” describes a lack of intelligence, common sense, or good judgment, often characterized by slow i or foolish,…

[flummery]

I remembered that we are white people, and that there is nothing — absolutely, positively nothing — that we aren’t willing to go without if it means Black people go without more. - Peter Birkenhead

[flummery]

THE CASE AGAINST UNIFICATION

(Text of a talk given in February of 2021 to The Livingston Diversity Council) With calls again for “going back to normal” I think it’s time for a repost. The very real concerns for public health aside, I’m making the case to move forward – away from “normal” – not back. In large due to fact that we really don’t have a true accounting of how we go here. After 4 explosive years under our last…

[flummery]

Life Is Inconvenient (Fortunately, There Is Enough Grace)

Matthew 6:34 NIV[34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Romans 15:1-2 NIV[1] We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. [2] Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. The last 3 years have been a constant litany of things that I did not…

[azspot]

[willywaldo]

The Leningrad Public Library remained open throughout the siege and became a place for people to congregate. "People came to the library to read, even when weak from cold and exhaustion," one of the librarians explained. "Some died in their places, with a book propped in front of them. We would carry the bodies outside, hoping that the truck would take them away, but increasingly, they were simply left in the snow." --M.T. Anderson, Symphony for the City of the Dead.

Among the many astonishing things I learned from Anderson's magnificent National Book Award-winning history of how Dmitri Shostakovich came to write his Seventh Symphony during the three-year Nazi siege of Leningrad was the vital role librarians played in maintaining the spirits of the city's starving residents. Not only did they provide a place for Leningraders to congregate, but they also continued to acquire books for their collections, buying books from the starving, desperate to sell anything for food, and scouring bombed-out ruins for volumes.

Librarians rock!

[flummery]

I told a white politician once that I didn't trust the motives of white people at face value. She allowed that it was a wholly rational response.

[flummery]

REV. JACKSON

My first recollection of Rev. Jackson is some version of this speech Not so revolutionary now but a big deal to a child who really didn’t see himself reflected in the larger culture. It taught me that my worth didn’t depend on where I was born or who I was born to but rather on the mere fact that I was alive. That I didn’t “earn” basic respect. That it was due me. By the same token I had to…

[flummery]

Bass Reeves

Both of my parents were incredible storytellers. My mom spins parables, wringing insightful meaning from the most mundane circumstances. My dad was a fantasist who never let the truth get in the way of a good story. I loved the tales he told but I took them with a grain of salt. So when he asserted that “You know that the Lone Ranger was a Black man, right?” I rolled my eyes. Even though I’ve…

[flummery]

We're All Villains

One of my favorite pieces of family lore revolves around my great-grandfather, Robert, called Shack, who purportedly was one of the most successful bootleggers in West Tennessee during Prohibition. His son, my great uncle, also called Robert, loved to brag that Shack was never caught plying his trade. Shack often boasted that he never worked an honest day in his life, supporting his family in…

[flummery]

Blackness Is A Curse

The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what white people say about you. Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear.” – James Baldwin In November of 2021 10-year-old Isabella Faith Tichenor, a Black middle schooler enrolled…

[flummery]

We've had "gulags" for a minute, y'all.

View On WordPress

[politicalprof]

Without knowing anything about anything, if I told you a US President had:

--insisted that the leader of an allied country was a dictator after that ally was invaded by an historical enemy of the United States;

--insisted that the European Union was created to "screw over" the United States;

--repeatedly suggested that the US would not automatically defend its NATO allies;

--and had his Secretary of Defense announce that the US would no longer engage in military or cyber planning against Russia;

... whose team would you say that president was supporting?

Just asking for, you know, everyone ...

[politicalprof]

After today, I'd assume that every historical US ally that did not have a nuclear weapons program in deference to the US security umbrella will start or restart their nuclear weapons programs. They have no other reasonable alternative.

[politicalprof]

The thing about co-president Musk is that Musk solves Trump’s biggest problem with the presidency: Trump wants to *be* President, but he doesn’t want to do the *job* of President. Musk takes care of it for him while Trump golfs, hawks merch, and signs executive orders while people suck up to him. It’s perfect. For Trump anyway.

[flummery]

Nah, I'm Good

While I hear that generally he’s as popular as ever with the faithful, I’m relieved to hear that many of the people who voted for the current Chief Executive are “coming around” now that they are actually experiencing actual harm from his policies. However, I find little motivation to “join with” or “welcome” them. Not out of spite or any desire for “revenge” (as I heard one progressive writer…

Nah, I'm Good