Statue of Slave Trader Taken Down In England. Some Object.

This version of the story is from Bored Panda.

The street artist Banksy proposed an innovative solution to what could be done with the empty plinth formerly occupied by a statue of a slave trader known as Edward Colston.

Some people disagreed with his idea, as well as the actions of the crowd in removing the statue in the first place. Well, people will disagree, and everyone is entitled to an opinion, one supposes.

This comment included below the story took the cake, in my own opinion.

"anne.302 That makes you as bad!"

Sorry, anne.302*, but pulling down a statue isn't quite as bad a thing as making a profit off of selling thousands of human beings into bondage where they would regularly be beaten and raped. But hey, that's just me. You probably think that I'm as bad as the statue topplers and slave traders. Actually, I think of myself as more of a Genghis Khan type person.

*Are there actually 301 more like you? I may need to re-adjust some travel plans in the future.

People weigh in on statue's tumble into the water.

When people speak out of both sides of their mouth.

Come, come, my conservative friend,

and wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving.

This is a great quote by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

And yes, I know that Stanton said a heartbreakingly racist thing to one of her abolitionst allies.

The statement above is vague because I don't know for certain if it was Stanton or someone else in the suffragist movement, and I don't remember the name of the person to whom she spoke. I just remember hearing about it somewhere. If anyone wants to fact check me, I am open.

I still like the quote.

"You cannot love your fellow man if you don't love God."

So says Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick according to this Huff Post piece.

"You cannot love your fellow man if you don’t love God,” he said. “And we have a country where we’ve been working really hard, particularly on the left, to kick God out.”

As Mike Myers' character on "Coffee Talk" used to say: "Discuss among yourselves."


I am a little too upset to talk right now.

Amber Ruffin has been sharing stories. . .

about her encounters with police. Ruffin is a writer for Seth Meyers' show and the last two nights her personal accounts have sort of acted as the "openers" of Late Night.

Her story last night was about running afoul of a police officer for skipping down the alley behind a police station.

If you have never seen Amber Ruffin, I can tell you--she is flat out adorable. She has a smile a mile wide and and as bright as the sun. If a person like her can somehow infuriate a police officer just by skipping while black, then you know that some cops are just dangerous weapons stuffed into a blue shirt and pants.

I want to thank Amber for sharing some of her difficult experiences. And I want to thank her for being bright, charming and clever as hell. Every time she shows up on Late Night, my happiness increases.

Sort of wish that I could join them.

Like this guy's sense of humor:

Need to vent about one of my housemates. . .

He just looked up from his phone and said, "Breaking news: Almost 70% of Minneapolis residents have finished their Christmas shopping."

Har. Har.

I try to keep peace within myself by reminding myself that I don't have to let him live inside my head just because we live in the same house. But I am finding it harder to keep my peace/piece(?) around him.

Some of his other pearls of wisdom includes a comment made months ago regarding black men having problems with the police. "Seems to me if you just keep your mouth shut and do what you're told you won't have any trouble." Translation: It's black people's fault when police get heavy-handed.

He was watching Tiger King when one of the women on the show talked about being raped at knife point by three men when she was 14 years old. "How desperate were they?", he asked.

One of my favorites: Espousing his opinion on Chef Jose Andres when nobody asked. "It's great that he's feeding people and all that. But I don't get why he supports illegal immigrants. If somebody is doing something illegal, that kinds of makes them a criminal, right?"

A few months later, during a conversation going on around me (most of these conversations go on around me in the sense that I am not participating) another housemate made some comment on about this dude's former career selling weed. But he wasn't like some of those other weed dealers, who were gang members. Translation: When he sells a controlled substance that is currently illegal, that doesn't really make him a criminal.

This morning around 10:45, he poured his vodka and whatever mix into a tall glass and took his pot paraphernalia downstairs to the lounge area. Honestly, the best parts of my days are whenever he leaves.

Thanks for letting me bitch. And yes, I do judge people who drink so early in the day at every possibility while I do think that marijuana should be legalized. Maybe I am just a judgy bitch. But I know better than to pontificate pedantically about the experiences of people whose skin that I don't live in.

(I also have an unnatural love of alliteration.)

Just re-reading another article about the Ramble incident. . .

And it seems that woman in question said something to the police about ". . . he's threatening me and he's recording me. . ."

Well, whenever I threaten someone is some illegal manner, I always record the situation on my phone to provide plenty of evidence for law enforcement so that they can convict me.

Look into The Last Man on Earth, with Will Forte

Again, I am amazed that no one is talking about this show during this point in history.

One of the episodes was filmed (or more likely in post production) after the 2016 election. In it, we see a survivor in a luxury bunker (played by Kristin Wiig) watching the news of a species-ending virus unfolding in the world.

A super-cut of news announcers talk about the funeral of President Trump, President Pence and eventually, President Betsy De Voss.

It was certainly an interesting show, and uncanny in its prescience.