Hekate
Hekate's JournalI learned about the Holocaust and other atrocities at my dear old mother's knee in the 1950s
It was fresh in people’s memories then. IT WAS FRESH IN PEOPLE’S MEMORIES THEN.
I learned about violence against black Americans by watching it on tv as it happened, and from the photos in LIFE magazine.
And I asked my mother to explain. She was a reader and a thinker and believed all people should be treated equally.
My mother was a suburban housewife back when “housewife” was just a job description. We were blue-collar. Our house was tiny and the budget was tight.
I think I saw your deleted post and passed it by in weariness. But since you want to defend it and brought it up again…
No, we don’t think suburban housewives are stupid here. But Mary, there is a consensus about the abysmal level of education across the country — a large swath of our citizens 45 and under either were sleeping in history class or were not taught it at all.
My mother used to quote the guy who said those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
I would add, that especially applies to violence. What the ever loving whatever was going on at Abu Graig Prison? What did we think would happen when our local police were given military hardware? How the hell did we end up with a fascist for president?
I hope you get my point, because I have to exit for an appointment. I will be only too happy to belabor my point when I return.
WaPo on insurrection. Many many thanks. I have tried to download it to my e-books library as a pdf...
… and after a number of tries I think I have all the text. Well, except things like tweets, which for some reason don’t like this process. Also, it is a multi-media effort and can’t be captured in a static pdf.
This is humongously long, isn’t it? It’s hundreds and hundreds of pages. It’ll take quite awhile to read and digest, and I’m glad to be able to do that at my leisure without WaPo kvetching at me to subscribe. I’m adding this post to my DU Journal, in hopes that your link will still work if I try to go back.
GrapesOfWrath
13. Try this link
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[link:https://wapo.st/3w3vSZb|
TY, & recommend people read it all. Fascinating, dystopian, nightmarish. Infrastructure, dammit.
Some here keep tut-tutting about American overconsumption, but excuse me all to hell, all my family’s prescription medications are being shipped in as we speak, because it’s cheaper to make them on the other side of the globe than it is to make them in the US.
That, too, is a big part of the problem. America doesn’t make its own necessities any more.
Just got off the phone with my evacuated daughter. Her little place still stands, but she won't ...
… be able to move back until probably January due to the potential for rock slides and mud slides. She and her significant other have a certain array of options, though, thank gods. And they are philosophical: California burns, and their area shouldn’t burn over again for a number of years.
The search for goods & profits & trade routes (capitalism, so to speak) has been the driving force...
… for exploration for millennia. Military motives as well.
I am not disturbed by the Billionaire Boys’ Club Race to the Stars. Up to this point space travel has been funded by and controlled by the federal government & its military arm, & those chosen as crew have had to be in the absolute peak of health and condition.
When civilians finally got involved, it took money— piles and piles of money— which meant a self-selected group of billionaires.
But something else happened. When they started choosing passengers, they chose people who could pay, not young military jet pilots in the peak of condition. They chose, ultimately, an overweight 90 year old man.
Boldly going where no nonagenarian has gone before, William Shatner just proved that anybody can go to outer space now. Frankly, I am stoked. Talk about a great leap for humankind.
Kicktoons. "What country is this?"
I hope this toon goes right up there in the pantheon of Doonesbury greats, along with “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” (also uttered by Marl Slackmeyer)
So am I. Anti-Mormon bigotry is broadly acceptable here for some reason...
Like you, I am not a Mormon. I disagree with a lot of their beliefs and a lot of their culture, but as long as they break no secular laws, that’s fine.
“Magic underwear” seems to be a fixation for mockery, yet many if not most very religious sects set themselves apart by their clothing.
Last time I was in the airport at Salt Lake City I saw a pair of Buddhist monks in saffron robes walk by — Tibetan branch, if I’m not mistaken. Roman Catholic nuns, monks, and priests — Buddhist nuns, monks, and priests — the Amish — Orthodox Jewish men with their tzitzit and payas — Muslim women in hijab —
What kind of frontier outpost do you have to live in that you’d miss seeing any of these folk walking by? And what kind of boor would you be to mock them for their garb? Yet the thought of “magic underwear” which cannot even be seen, just sets people off.
Something about becoming a billionaire corporation subsumes original founders' minds & ethics...
… in strange ways. Are you in the Borg or the Matrix? These artificial life forms want to preserve themselves, maintain themselves, grow themselves. Human ethics and the interests of human societies are not what they exist for, and not what keeps them growing.
There was no “lesson to be learned,” if there was no Nuremberg Trial for IBM and other American corporations who collaborated. There was no lesson to be learned without a new body of corporate law written by Congress and supported at the Supreme Court, stating that US companies must abide by a certain code of American principles — and not exist in a sterile world where they are beholden only to their shareholders.
Mal: it's right there in the Employee Manual, & if it isn't, the law will still back up the employer
By all means attend a peaceful protest and yell a lot. But participate in a violent attempted overthrow of the US Government? No.
Your right to strike is a protected activity. But attempting to blow up the building over the weekend is not.
Your right to get drunk or high on your own time — sure. The DU Lounge is full of that on Friday nights. But a well-publicized DUI or three complete with name of employer is going to put your career as a county surveyor or humble local banker in doubt.
Your right to attend a public meeting of the school board and mock a youngster whose Grandma died of COVID — intact from interference by the government. And in this case, there were a lot of adults in that audience sniggering and chuckling that a young fool in a mask would request that the school board mandate masks just ‘cause his granny passed from a disease no worse than the flu, yuh-huh.
The nurse from Cigna just happened to be the one sitting right in front of the camera, making a complete ass of herself. And Cigna, a health insurance company, is well within their rights to think that’s not the face they want representing them. Especially after Olbermann outed her by name.
The ONLY people who are looking for middle ground are those on our side. To GOP politicians...
… and “pro-lifers” THERE CAN BE NO MIDDLE GROUND, because THEY WILL ACCEPT NONE.
I believe the moment where “pro-lifers” completely lost me was when I realized they were redefining the most reliable contraceptives as being abortifacients.
It wasn’t enough for them to lie to teenagers about how condoms don’t work against either STDs or pregnancy, they had to start lying to everyone about The Pill and IUDs and such. I used The Pill for 5 years and after I had my 2 kids I used an IUD for another 4 years. Who knew I was “aborting a baby” every month?
Oh, and never ever forget the “conscience” clauses emanating from the US Congress: any pharmacist can refuse to fill your prescription for contraceptives or Plan B, any hospital can withhold information about Plan B from rape victims, any medical provider — well, because God.
As I said in my other post: I wasted years of my life trying to compassionately understand their point of view. Then I realized: there is no middle ground. They don’t believe in middle ground. They’d rather see me or any other woman DEAD.
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Central Coast, California
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 90,989
