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Barge Chilling Beach

Cranky Old Man #87
a frothy mix of leftovers and links

 Nancy Pelosi says she's running for reelection 

Like COVID-19, she'll never be gone.

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Columbus in a box 

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5 out of 5 cops lie in court 

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Because at least one parent complained that it's "racially insensitive" and "marginalizes characters of color" and promotes the notion of "white saviorhood," the Mukilteo (WA) School District has removed To Kill a Mockingbird from the required reading list for 9th-grade students.

And that's the right thing to do. TKAM is one of my favorite novels, ahead of its time when it was written in the 1950s, and I've re-read it every few years since the 1970s — and of course it's racially insensitive, marginalizes characters of color, and promotes the notion of "white saviorhood." It's still on the library shelf and ought to be, but it's not appropriate as required reading for every 9th grade kiddo. 

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Brilliant innovation from a public library in Virginia 

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Biden had to be forced to stand up for voting rights, but finally he did it. 

He demanded that Americans be allowed to vote, and failed to get that. He might have succeeded if he'd gone about it less clumsily, as if the matter mattered to him, instead of needing to be nudged.

The push accomplished something important, though: It helps define what Republicans are — they're the party opposed to democracy — and defines Democrats, too, as the party that thinks democracy is OK. 

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A lovely blue unbroken, unchipped 2,000-year old bowl 

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After a November storm grounded a huge barge on the beach in Vancouver BC, the city's Parks Department put up a sign announcing "Barge Chilling Beach," which most locals loved. They've now taken the sign down, after it was graffitied. The barge, however, remains.

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Cops' new favorite junk science is pretending being anywhere near fentanyl will literally cause them to die 

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Judge grants BNSF temporary restraining order, blocking 17,000 workers from striking over new attendance policy 

It's a bad time for a strike, I suppose, but fuck this ruling and the premise behind it.

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Do countries with better-funded public media also have healthier democracies? Of course they do. 

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How beer and drugs empowered an ancient Andean empire 

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US Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee) is gerrymandered out of Congress 

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Man can’t get heart transplant because he’s not vaccinated against COVID-19 

I'm including this because I suspect it'll get broad coverage and/or be misinterpreted, but it's really not news. This is how the transplant system works, has always worked, and should work. 

If you're an alcoholic they're not going to give you a liver transplant. If you're diabetic with poorly-controlled blood sugars, you won't make the list for a kidney transplant. If you're hoping for a transplant, any transplant, they'll assess the risk factors — which necessarily includes your willingness to comply and cooperate with doctor's orders. Sucks if it's you, but this is sensible.

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The Supreme Court said Monday it will revisit the question of affirmative action in higher education 

Seems unlikely that the current illegitimate and arch-right Supreme Court wants to strengthen affirmative action...

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The moderators of r/antiwork have set this community to private.

This is the third act of a Greek tragedy. If you don't know what's going on, no worries, the coverage will soon be everywhere. Meanwhile, when the flurry of bitching and moaning is over, r/WorkReform looks like a better place.

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Spotify sides with Joe Rogan, agrees to remove Neil Young's music from service 

Best news I've seen this week. One performer does the right thing, even though it's expensive.

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San Jose passes first U.S. law requiring gun owners to get liability insurance and pay annual fee 

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Oh my god. She's a woman but she didn't smile. 

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Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from Supreme Court, paving way for Biden appointment 

Wild card — who the hell knows what happens now? The very best we can hope for is that Biden nominates another milquetoast like Merrick Garland.

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Sorry, man, but it's part of the witness-protection deal:
You can't go home again. 

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Trump supporters left death threats for election workers. We called back. 

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One-word newscast:
cops
cops
elections
Republicans
Republicans

Dead:
Peter Robbins

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 Mystery links  — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

—①—
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          —③—

 Sing along with Doug:
♫♬  "Don't Do Pharmaceuticals"
Luther Wright and the Wrongs ♫



Tip 'o the hat:
All Hat No Cattle • Linden Arden
BoingBoingCaptain Hampockets
Follow Me Here • John the Basket
LiarTownUSAMessy Nessy Chick
National ZeroRan Prieur
Vintage EverydayVoenix Rising

Extra special thanks:
Becky Jo • Name Withheld • Dave S.
and always, Stephanie

01/27/2002 

Cranky Old Man 

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itsdougholland.com 

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16 comments:

  1. >The moderators of r/antiwork have set this community to private.

    I've said this a few times on Reddit, and either been mocked, ignored, or had the comment removed. But I am convinced that the Fox News interview that started the whole debacle was a set-up. The compromised mod team of /r/antiwork put forth this other mod to represent the subreddit in the interview, knowing FULL WELL that the interviewee was autistic (literally, I'm not saying that as an insult), trans or gender-fluid, not particularly smart, and slovenly. This was set up to make the community look ridiculous to the viewers of Fox News, and it succeeded.

    I fucking despise that subreddit, despite being very, very sympathetic to the cause. It's been infiltrated for as long as I was a member, probably 8 months. I have left and blocked the subreddit, in the wake of this overt bullshittery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure, but it feels like I've been in that subReddit for at least a year, maybe longer. It used to be worth reading, before all the BS posts and no moderating.

      Delete
  2. >Spotify sides with Joe Rogan, agrees to remove Neil Young's music from service

    Duh. Rogan makes them millions. Neil Young, though he is legendary, and among my favorite half-dozen musicians, does not. Spotify pays artists in the neighborhood half a cent per play, and that (supposedly) represents 70% of the total revenue per play. Spotify makes less than that half-cent. Neil Young is probably not in the top 200 most-listened-to artists.

    Corporation gonna do their thing, let the pennies go, to keep the dollars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would be nice to see a backlash, but — unlikely.

      Delete
    2. Down by the river
      I shot my web player
      Shot it dead

      Delete
    3. She could drag me over the rainbow, send me away, down by the river...

      Delete
  3. Wait, I am surprissed that you're OK with banning books?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you know how to read?

      Doug said "It's still on the library shelf and ought to be, but it's not appropriate as required reading for every 9th grade kiddo."

      Delete
    2. Yeah, Anony. The book isn't banned, just not required. Seems perfectly reasonable to me, if black parents don't want their kids being forced to read it.

      Delete
    3. Chicharone -- what is your problem, anyway. I read the words carelessly, guess I am not the perfect pork rind. Excuse me.

      Delete
    4. >Chicharone -- what is your problem, anyway.

      I assure you, I'd reach the character limit of this text box if I went into that mess.

      >Excuse me.

      You're excused.

      Delete
  4. Ohhhh do I have something totally intresting to blow your mind!!! Cannot WAIT to tell you about it!!

    So eastern Tennessee 1934 while building a dam for what is now Norris Dam. While excavating the land they came across what appeared to be an anchient structure

    In the early stages of this excavation they found alot of items from the folks that lived there. The structures layout...similar to the temples of Egypt. They also found a purple dye made from crustaceans only found in the red sea...

    The red sea is not within commute distance of Tennessee tho.

    Interestingly enough they kept digging and the more they dug the further this thing went.

    They found symbols of horus and rah

    Crazier yet...

    Many people in the 30s thought this was related to something the Cherokee people had built mounds and what not. But when they asked the cherokee people in the area...the cherokee was a tribe that never built mounds

    but what they did say....

    Is that the Cherokee people had a legend of a tribe or people they called Ani Kutani. Legend goes that the Cherokee people had an anchient preisthood called Ani Kutani which means Ani- meaning many but there is no Cherokee word or translation for Kutani. Anyway the Ani Kutani were like religious folks or spiritual leaders to the cherokee

    The Ani-kutani preists were eventually slain by the cherokee in an uprising because they had become corrupt in the cherokee eyes, legend just unforgivable acts.

    The cherokee waited until the Anikutani were weaked by an unknown disease and attacked in the night, slaying every single one of them

    mind you this was 300 years before any Europeans landed in the new world

    Mind----BLOWN

    And further info points that the Ani Kutani people predate the native americans....think about that for a second....they PREDATE NATIVE AMERICANS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. red sea says to me they came from the middle east. there used to be a land bridge, or sailed the ocean blue. can be accomplished well before chris col or lief e...

      People predating the native americans mean that they predate the land bridge

      Native americans are originally from Eastern China and crossed the land bridge to become Natives of America, but these folks predate that means prior to 65.5 million years ago.........

      Delete
    2. I'm not in this conversation, but could we say the migration from Asia to the Americas was 15-20,000 years ago like the anthropologists do? thanks...jtb

      Delete
    3. People are remarkable. Buncha people got from the Red Sea to Tennessee, because people can do the impossible when they set their minds to it.

      15,000 or 65,500,000 — what's the diff?

      65,485,000 or so...

      Delete

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