Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Motley

The 10 Best Photographs Ever Taken Without Photoshop.


World Map of Y-DNA Haplogroups and possible migration routes.



Two interesting recent pieces by British astrologer Marjorie Orr:
URANUS – bright mind, pity about the split from the body.
SATURN – laughter as well as tears.



Stronger Together
Paperback by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine.


DO READ the COMMENTARY (unless you are a fan of this pair). There's a very long thread of comments, growing by the hour, at time of typing this! Many "reviewers" and commenters will be Trump supporters, but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of disappointed Bernie people and third party people represented too. I detest Trump as much as the next person, but I'm so tired of having anti-Trump cartoons, articles, videos thrust before my eyes, day in, day out. There's just as much wrong, in different ways, with the other presidential candidate - she's getting no quarter from me.

Anyway, as Michael J. Keeneyon commented on the featured volume, and I feel certain he's right: The comments are better than the book.

A random trio of examples:

By Daniel B.on September 14, 2016
I was going to read this book.....I really was. But just as I got started, I found myself under sniper fire, passed out, and fell and hit my head. After that I got double vision and had to wear glasses that were so damn thick I couldn't even see to read. As if that wasn't enough, I then had an allergic reaction to something and started coughing so hard I spit out what looked like a couple of lizard's eyeballs, my limbs locked up, and I passed out and fell down again, waking up only to find out I had been diagnosed with pneumonia 2 days earlier. Somehow I managed to power through it all, but it's a good thing I was able to make a small fortune on this random small trade in the commodities market (cattle futures or some such thing) and then, miracle of all miracles, a few banks offered me a few million to just talk to their employees for a few minutes - and all that really helped out because I swear I was dead broke and couldn't figure out how I was gonna come up with the 6 bucks to pay for this book, let alone pay the $1,500 for my health insurance this month. I still want to read it, but, honestly, what difference at this point does it make? I hear it sucks anyway.

By Scott Shepard on September 18, 2016
This is easily the greatest book ever written! I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. I’m going to buy a couple cases so that this book can be in every pew at my church! It’s almost holy in what it contains!
The book lays out a vision for our country and all its people. It’s a blueprint for building a nation that flows with milk and honey.
Hillary is our deliverer!

(OK, Brazile. I wrote what you told me to write. Will you now release my child unharmed?)
By Coug Moogon September 18, 2016
This is the sleeper hit of the 2016 election season. I liked it so much I bought 400,000 cases of it at full retail price. Putting Tim Kaine on the jacket photo doing the German salute is very subtle in its messaging as well.

A tour de force.

--Lloyd Blankfein, CEO
Goldman Sachs

7 comments:

mike said...

The polling statistics indicate this election is definitely between Hillary and Donald, and one of the two will take the presidency. Third party candidates are inconsequential, except for siphoning votes and perturbing the edge between Hillary and Donald. Ditto for demonstrating contempt by not voting. I feel tremendously reluctant with any of my voting possibilities, except for one: I could never vote for Trump. Should the two leading candidates maintain a very tight margin, I may consider voting for Hillary (big ugh!). Not voting or going third party will likely have the equivalent action as voting for Trump.

“In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely.” Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt

Twilight said...

mike ~ Some believe that voting third party could help Greens and Libertarians get the required percentage to be involved in debates, not this time, but next time. Likewise, a way of showing contempt for the duopoly and of proving there is substantial support for other parties.

The important unknown factor is which side is losing most from voters choosing Libertarian or Green over Democrat or Republican. Only that knowledge would show whether third party votes would help Trump.

Electoral College is key anyway. Is it even possible Texas could swing left enough to make it a tight race there? I wouldn't have thought so, but this electoral season being so strange, maybe there's a chance.

LB said...

Twilight ~ Off topic (but related to yesterday's post), did you happen to read John V. Walsh's article on Counterpunch today?

"Progressives Are Targets of Hillary’s “Basket of Deplorables” Speech"

"http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/21/progressives-are-targets-of-hillarys-basket-of-deplorables-speech/

I have friends who'll be voting for Hillary for this reason. Hillary's strategy is effective because it plays into a lesser evil way of viewing the world, one in which many feel a compelling moral/ethical obligation to decide between two or more untenable choices.

Acts of corruption, oppression, murder, warmongering, exploitation and greed become acceptable ~ so long as true intentions are not so obviously articulated, or our own invisible line is not crossed.

If I'm remembering correctly, it's like that psychological experiment mike mentioned in yesterday's comments; participants were offered the option of killing one innocent in order to prevent more who would otherwise die. I know a couple of people who'll vote for Hillary in spite of the hundreds of thousands, millions, who have suffered death, harm, injustice and oppression under the leadership she represents ~ just to prevent Trump from *potentially* speaking/doing greater harm.

Not everyone thinks this way. But a lot of folks do. We've been conditioned and it can be a hard habit to break.

mike (again) said...

Sabina - I agree with Madison. The "mischievous tendency" has been exploited for all it's worth, but there's always something new to churn. I say eliminate primary voting and have one election with all candidates listed, winner determined by popular vote. Here's a two-minute snip supporting primaries, but open ticket with all potential candidates listed...the two top winners face-off in the final election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK7BWDcIDMk


I always enjoy The Guardian's "Best Photographs of the Day"...some are superb.

Twilight said...

LB ~ I didn't read that, but will certainly do so tomorrow morning - thank you for the link. Yes, I agree with you on this. Many put forward the SCOTUS question as reason for their voting for Clinton. I can see their reasoning, but feel there are even more important things to consider. Whoever becomes the next President will not have all their own way, over SCOTUS or anything else. Gridlock is likely the best we can hope for for the next 4 years. :-(

mike (again) said...

LB - I just read Walsh's essay, but I don't agree with his appraisal. When Hillary announced her "basket of deplorables", I found myself in complete agreement and I was in agreement prior to her mentioning. I thought she labelled it succinctly. Trump's ideology is so repugnant to me and I find it astounding that his message resonates with about 40% of American voters, which is essentially the basis for Trump's success and support.

I mentioned previously that I have one friend that is a complete Trump supporter...we've agreed to disagree on our politics. However, I find it utterly shocking to listen to my friend's fascist repertoire. My neighbor across the street is completely devoted to Trump...we've had our words and I can only be dismayed. Same neighbor that gets all of her "news" from Facebook. We had a spat last year, because she absolutely knew that Freddie Gray (Baltimore police death) was a criminal and guilty of something.

I would rather have business as usual under Hillary than fascist chaos via Trump and his supporters. I mentioned the other day that this election is squarely between Hillary and Donald, so voting otherwise or not voting will benefit that thin margin between them...the Uranus factor.

Perhaps having Trump as a candidate is an Illuminati ploy to get Hillary in office. Or maybe the Illuminati is fueling the fascist potential sweeping not only the USA, but most of the first-world countries, and Trump is but a pawn. The globe is experiencing a resurgence of the 1930s fascism and it is deplorable.

mike (again) said...

BTW - The last global emergence of fascism correlates with the Uranus-in-Aries square to Pluto-in-Cancer of the 1930s. Here we are now with a Uranus return in Aries and Pluto in opposition to the 1930s position, now in Capricorn...and both have been square each other for the past several years. There's every indication that fascism is a real global threat right now. A peculiarity is that the very countries that resisted the fascism of the 1930s are the same countries demonstrating an emergence of fascism currently.