This year has been an interesting one, and we're only eight days into it. My favorite occurrence this year has got to be the odious Alex Jones' utter meltdown over, of all things, CNN media analyst Brian Stelter:
I tend to think that it's all an act (equal parts fire-and-brimstone preacher, carnival barker, and professional wrestler), but the guy really seemed like he was about to explode... having an extreme distaste for Jones and his schtick, I would find this apoplexy comedic, but for one fact- this rant is loaded with antisemitic tropes as hoary as they are horrific. Just take a gander at the transcript:
But just look at [Brian] Stelter again. Put him on screen. I think that's all the broadcast should be, is just a photo of Stelter smiling. Ugh. Ugh. Oh my gosh. Oh, hell on earth. He wants to run your life. He wants to control every aspect of your life because he knows he is a cowardly degenerate sack of anti-human trash. I pledge before my heavenly father that I will resist them every way I can. These people are the literal demon spawn of the pit of hell. Look at him. And you know what, he is better than you if you keep letting him run your life. He runs your kids, he runs the schools, he runs the banks. This guy, this spirit, this smiling, leering devil that thinks you can’t see what he is. He is your enemy. Period.
All the narcissistic devil-worshiping filth. I see you enemy. I see you enemy. Enemy. Enemy. You are my enemy. And I swear total resistance to you with everything I’ve got. Disingenuous, fake, false, brokeback, twisted, a defiler, a betrayer, a back stabber, a devil. You will pay. Yeah, you don’t think I see your face, scum? You don’t think I don’t see you, Stelter? I see you, you understand me? I know what you think of me and my family. I see you right back. You understand that? You understand that, Stelter? [Grunting noises] Stelter. You will fall. You will not bring humanity down. God is going to destroy you. Get him off the screen. [Crying] Oh, God, they’re so evil. Just please God, free us from them. They’re drunk on our children's blood for God's sake. OK, I’m going to stop right now.
We have allegations banking conspiracies, anti-theism, blood libel all in a two-and-a-half minute cri du cul... could there be a more distilled version of anti-Jewish bigotry? Jones serves it up uncut, like his lead-tainted supplements. He would have delivered the perfect two minutes hate, but he wasted twenty-nine seconds because of his bellowing and hyperventilation. For his part, Mr Stelter is taking things with good humor. Meanwhile, Jones has appeared in a video, which I won't link to, challenging Stelter to a three-minute bare-knuckle boxing match. Judging from the video of Jones' original rant, I think he'd stroke out in the first round.
I'm toying with the idea of occasional long posts about the taxonomy and evolution of conspiracy theories, sort of like a cladistics of the paranoid fringe. I read The Illuminatus! Trilogy, so I have a decent grounding, and I've been reading a lot of weird old pulp fiction lately, and there's a lot of that incorporated into the conspiracy industrial complex.
Monday, January 8, 2018
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Something to Be Said for Maintaining Radio Silence
Yesterday, I was up before 7AM, having decided to rely solely on public transportation to get to my volunteer gig... I really didn't want to move my car from the parking spot I had found on Friday morning (truth to tell, I managed to park in one of my usual spots, half a block from my house). I braved the single-digit temperatures and walked a couple of blocks to the nearest stop for the 25 Bus to the Nereid Avenue station for the 2/5 Train, a departure from my usual 1 Train trip, which involves driving to the vicinity of Gaelic Park. I had to leave early to get to my volunteer gig, but the trip only took an hour.
The volunteer gig lasts from 9:30AM to noon, hours spent without having the phone on one's person. On this particular day, we introduced the kids to the basics of ne waza by having them play a sort of tag, in which the bulk of the students had to crawl past three of their peers, who were tasked with putting their peers onto their backs- when a kid was 'caught', he had to join the catchers. It's pretty rough-and-tumble, and the kids had to learn that teamwork was the key to taking down larger opponents until we could teach them some basic turnover techniques. Needless to say, it was funny to watch the game, especially to see the various stratagems that kids used to get past the catchers- whether sneaking, barrelling through, or using another kid as a 'shield'. We had a couple of new students in our 5-7 year old girls group, so we practiced O Soto Gari with them and then had them compete against each other.
When I came home, I braved the frigid blasts of air down the concrete-and-glass canyons of Manhattan to get to the 59th St station for the 4 Train, then transferred to the Bx 34 Bus, which drops me off about three blocks from home. The walk home was relatively pleasant, free from Manhattan's biting winds.
It was around 2AM when I finally returned home... I spent seven hours completely cut off from the media world, so I missed perhaps the craziest twitstorm ever. I should have stayed in the bubble that is the real world.
The volunteer gig lasts from 9:30AM to noon, hours spent without having the phone on one's person. On this particular day, we introduced the kids to the basics of ne waza by having them play a sort of tag, in which the bulk of the students had to crawl past three of their peers, who were tasked with putting their peers onto their backs- when a kid was 'caught', he had to join the catchers. It's pretty rough-and-tumble, and the kids had to learn that teamwork was the key to taking down larger opponents until we could teach them some basic turnover techniques. Needless to say, it was funny to watch the game, especially to see the various stratagems that kids used to get past the catchers- whether sneaking, barrelling through, or using another kid as a 'shield'. We had a couple of new students in our 5-7 year old girls group, so we practiced O Soto Gari with them and then had them compete against each other.
When I came home, I braved the frigid blasts of air down the concrete-and-glass canyons of Manhattan to get to the 59th St station for the 4 Train, then transferred to the Bx 34 Bus, which drops me off about three blocks from home. The walk home was relatively pleasant, free from Manhattan's biting winds.
It was around 2AM when I finally returned home... I spent seven hours completely cut off from the media world, so I missed perhaps the craziest twitstorm ever. I should have stayed in the bubble that is the real world.
Friday, January 5, 2018
Just Sit Tight Until It's Done
Yesterday was the infamous bomb cyclone's pounding of the Northeastern coastal regions. Under normal conditions, I would have gotten off of work at 7AM, but the radio traffic reports were so heinous that I decided to 'shelter in place'. It was a good thing, too- the governor declared a state of emergency, telling all non-essential drivers to stay off the roads. Also, several of my part-timers had obligations at their other jobs, pretty much doing the same thing I was doing.
The storm itself was pretty brutal, with high winds and an accumulation of 6-8 inches of snow, creating the 'whiteout conditions' that inspired the song I took this post title from:
I actually had to 'batten down the hatches' at one of our onsite buildings due to the windy conditions. The damage onsite was minimal, an outside screen door of one of our buildings was ripped off of its hinges, but nothing major transpired. This morning, I'm just waiting until rush hour dies down before hitting the road. It's currently 7F (-14 C), but feels like -11 with the wind chill. The site looks gorgeous, but being outside in all that beauty just isn't pleasant:
The wind has blown the snow into pretty, intricate patterns:
The day crew has begun to filter in, so I'm just sitting at my desk drinking a cup of coffee before hitting the road. I have a bit of a crappy ulterior motive for taking my sweet time before heading out... I figure that some poor working stiff with a conventional job schedule will have left me a parking spot on the street. Yeah, it's kind of a dick move, but my car was off the street for the past 36 hours, giving the snow removal crews some additional room to maneuver when it was needed.
The storm itself was pretty brutal, with high winds and an accumulation of 6-8 inches of snow, creating the 'whiteout conditions' that inspired the song I took this post title from:
I actually had to 'batten down the hatches' at one of our onsite buildings due to the windy conditions. The damage onsite was minimal, an outside screen door of one of our buildings was ripped off of its hinges, but nothing major transpired. This morning, I'm just waiting until rush hour dies down before hitting the road. It's currently 7F (-14 C), but feels like -11 with the wind chill. The site looks gorgeous, but being outside in all that beauty just isn't pleasant:
The wind has blown the snow into pretty, intricate patterns:
The day crew has begun to filter in, so I'm just sitting at my desk drinking a cup of coffee before hitting the road. I have a bit of a crappy ulterior motive for taking my sweet time before heading out... I figure that some poor working stiff with a conventional job schedule will have left me a parking spot on the street. Yeah, it's kind of a dick move, but my car was off the street for the past 36 hours, giving the snow removal crews some additional room to maneuver when it was needed.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Maybe the Oceans Aren't Polluted Enough
In another case of the Trump administration doing something stupid just to nullify the Obama legacy, the Kleptocrat in Chief wants to expand offshore oil drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards, which had been banned by the Obama administration. With crude oil prices being fairly low, there's no need to expand drilling. Besides, we really need to be investing in renewable, non-polluting energy sources.
Trump seems to be lifting this ban just to troll the coastal states, 'triggering' environmentalists and people who like to eat seafood that's relatively free of contaminants. In this case, he's jeopardizing the tourism industry, which hearkens back to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, which inspired the offshore drilling ban on the Pacific continental shelf. Trump's policy is so bad that even a corporate malfeasor such as Rick Scott of Florida opposes the policy. The Gulf of Mexico is already a disaster, we don't need the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to become petrol-polluted hellscapes as well.
Trump seems to be lifting this ban just to troll the coastal states, 'triggering' environmentalists and people who like to eat seafood that's relatively free of contaminants. In this case, he's jeopardizing the tourism industry, which hearkens back to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, which inspired the offshore drilling ban on the Pacific continental shelf. Trump's policy is so bad that even a corporate malfeasor such as Rick Scott of Florida opposes the policy. The Gulf of Mexico is already a disaster, we don't need the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to become petrol-polluted hellscapes as well.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Somebody Set Us up the Bomb Cyclone
This winter has been pretty brutal already, with a long run of frigid temperatures. Yesterday, with a high of 26F felt positively balmy. Tomorrow, though, we are in for a treat, a storm known colloquially as a 'bomb cyclone', or bombogenesis- which occurs when a maritime storm picks up energy from warm ocean waters and meets up with a frigid Arctic blast moving in from the west. This combination should sound familiar to all inhabitants of the Atlantic littoral.
Here in the NYC metro area, the storm is supposed to slam eastern Long Island with up a foot of snow, snow accumulations in the city are supposed to be up to six inches. The real danger of this storm will be winds gusting up to 55mph. Mayor Bill DeBlasio opted to close the public schools for the day, a course of action which previously would have seemed unthinkable. I chalk it up to his support for working families, it would be cruel to force working mothers to scramble to provide day care on a day when they are struggling to get to work themselves.
In my neck of the woods, we are supposed to receive less snow than the city, but our president made the decision to close the office. I'm on the job already, and am prepared to hunker down for the duration. At any rate, I will probably leave the car in the parking lot and take public transportation home... if I go home.
The post title is taken from this hoary meme culture gem:
I hope I am not on the way to destruction... this isn't my first blizzard though, so my internal voice is saying 'You know you doing.'
Here in the NYC metro area, the storm is supposed to slam eastern Long Island with up a foot of snow, snow accumulations in the city are supposed to be up to six inches. The real danger of this storm will be winds gusting up to 55mph. Mayor Bill DeBlasio opted to close the public schools for the day, a course of action which previously would have seemed unthinkable. I chalk it up to his support for working families, it would be cruel to force working mothers to scramble to provide day care on a day when they are struggling to get to work themselves.
In my neck of the woods, we are supposed to receive less snow than the city, but our president made the decision to close the office. I'm on the job already, and am prepared to hunker down for the duration. At any rate, I will probably leave the car in the parking lot and take public transportation home... if I go home.
The post title is taken from this hoary meme culture gem:
I hope I am not on the way to destruction... this isn't my first blizzard though, so my internal voice is saying 'You know you doing.'
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Yo, Jimbo!
Via Tengrain, we have news that the Texas state legislature has passed legislature allowing the open carry of machetes and swords. Being a big Kurosawa fan, I have to say that this is friggin' awesome. Soon, downtown Waco will look like a Chanbubba film. I envision it as sorta like Yojimbo with bigass belt buckles and truck nuts. This gives me an excuse to post the theme song to the movie:
Oh, Texas, the libs will never laugh at your mighty sword again!
Oh, Texas, the libs will never laugh at your mighty sword again!
Monday, January 1, 2018
Meal Magic
It's a tradition of mine to head over to some good friends' house for New Year's Eve dinner. One of my high school chums married a gal from the Florida panhandle, and she cooks a traditional Southern New Year's Eve meal of ham, black-eyed peas, and collard greens, a topic I wrote about many years ago.
The second best thing about the meal, the first being is that it's really delicious, is that it serves as sympathetic magic- the green leafy vegetables, through the Law of Similarity, resemble greenback dollars, so eating them presages prosperity in the coming year. The black-eyed peas have a less clear 'magical' effect (besides their ability to sing hours after they've been eaten)- is the fact that they swell an omen of a swelling bank account, or do they look like coins? Beans being a cheap source of protein which can be stored for a long time, it just makes sense to eat them, especially in the winter, when fresh food is not so easily obtained.
While the sympathetic magic angle is interesting, the real magic is having a good meal with old friends... and that's the best tradition of all. Happy New Year, dear friends!
The second best thing about the meal, the first being is that it's really delicious, is that it serves as sympathetic magic- the green leafy vegetables, through the Law of Similarity, resemble greenback dollars, so eating them presages prosperity in the coming year. The black-eyed peas have a less clear 'magical' effect (besides their ability to sing hours after they've been eaten)- is the fact that they swell an omen of a swelling bank account, or do they look like coins? Beans being a cheap source of protein which can be stored for a long time, it just makes sense to eat them, especially in the winter, when fresh food is not so easily obtained.
While the sympathetic magic angle is interesting, the real magic is having a good meal with old friends... and that's the best tradition of all. Happy New Year, dear friends!
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