once weekly,
usually on Saturdays
Let’s see what happens when your host (me) has nothing to say, and instead it’s open mike night. Step right up, speak your mind, tell a story, sing a song, whatever.
8/16/2025
Anything Goes #41
62 responses to “Anything Goes #41”
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Does anyone else get, on their Facebook news feed, the photos of mostly young women holding their arms up and proudly showing off their armpit hair? (These are accompanied by travelogues, and sometimes essays on the importance of reading books.) I get more every day, all the time, but you don’t have to convince me (of what?). Last Spring I had the rare experience, for me anyway, of hanging out with one of these seemingly “taboo-busting” women one warm night in Austin, and I complimented her on going, or staying, natural. (She liked that.)
So what is going on with this campaign which has hit my pages here only in the last couple months? Are they trying to make a point, if so why and what? (I only checked a few comments once, yesterday, and almost all were approving, though one foreign-sounding guy with a stick up his ass had a problem with it, or pretended he did.)
What is the message they are trying to deliver? Is it a plea or request for inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance for those who are resisting societal “norms” in a very personal way?
Since most of the women are young and attractive is it some kind of experimental mind-control program meant to make people, maybe men in particular, wonder why they have their prejudices against armpit hair, ie, really dude? You’d kick that hot chick (we can say “chick” again, right?) out of bed because she’s a natural woman?
Or maybe it’s targeted toward women, saying hey girls, it’s alright to not shave under your arms, look at your comfortable sisters on the natch. (Rhymes with snatch, another story.)
Anyway, I’ve just about exhausted this story-about-nothing, this non-story, my usual M O. Any other theories?
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I don’t do Facebook and don’t know what’s a feed. Are all these hairy women vying to make you a sandwich? My opinion’s mostly irrelevant and nobody should be farming or shaving their pits on my account, but I like human females and prefer ’em hairy. I’d buy a cup of coffee for Upper Right, and cream in it.
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that’s interesting, my comments are going Right Up there in other threads, except on this one, the #41 rap-a-thon
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maybe because a photo was attached?
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Photos have to wait for my manual approval, yes. Yours are usually worth the wait.
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Thanks For The Mammaries
Does anyone else get all those topless women breastfeeding their babies on their Facebook “news” feed? They’ve found a loophole for the nipple ban, and guys like me get to see some “authorized” flesh, whoopie. It actually serves a good purpose because if I didn’t get to see those babies suckling on sometimes pretty amazing-looking protruding nipples, I might be tempted to google “breasts,” get sent to porn sites, and get my brand spankin’ new computer infected with multiple viruses, digital STD’s, right?
Okay, I’ve had this “new” laptop a year now and haven’t gone to porn sites even once, so proud. When I got my previous computer back in 2014 I kept it clean for six months, until one night in a moment of weakness I went to a porn site, and the laptop froze up instantly, couldn’t use it for anything.
I had always heard that Macs didn’t require anti-virus software and it was a little embarrassing to take it in to my Mac guy to get it reamed out and condom-ized.
“So was that like sticking it into a ‘glory hole’ in San Francisco?” I asked. “Going to a porn site without virus protection?”
“Yes, exactly” he said. He got it all cleaned up, added a virus protector, my computer was humming right along again, and I stayed off porn sites: I was scared straight.
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Are these topless women hairy-pitted? What are they feeding you? Is it all you can eat?
I visit porn sites more often now than ten years ago, but It’s been at least that long since any of the sites gave me a social disease. Sort of a headscratcher, because back then I had anti-virus software on my machine, and these days I don’t bother with it. The basic anti-virus protection from Microsoft and Firefox seems to be enough.
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I’ve heard of Facebook and can surmise what a newsfeed is, though neither has appeared on my free second-hand micro PC. If I want news, I go to a news site and I have no idea why I’d go to Facebook. I am not immune to the female form, and there are places on the Web and places in the heart where moving pictures of that form are available.
I’m sure I’m missing the point; I should just stick with posting addresses of old 78s playing Heart, Heart, Heart, Heart, Heart, zzzzzzzp break Hotel.
John the Older
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I love being ignorant of such things, refuse to even search the net for an answer. I’m not sure whether a ‘newsfeed’ is whatever Aunt Reeba and a drunken college buddy and the brother of your bartender send along, or whether it’s headlines from Fox and One America News. Whatever it is, same as you, I’m not being fed. When I want news, I go to news sites. And when I want Facebook, shoot me between the eyes please.
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Dougles, Facebook isn’t worth dying for, although it’s conversely not worth living for. I think the formula is to send the same “this is me” software to a million people, make sure 10% of them are sexual felons, then send everybody AI software that will make their masturbatory rants sound like they were written by Carl Sagan. (“I shot billions of spermatozoa across the furry triangle of her inner planets”.)
jtb
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Near as I can figure, the concept of social media is that everyone on earth publishes their own pages, billions of blogs, and the algorithm pushes pages that match whatever you’ve liked before, and the software keeps track of everything you type and everything you read and everything you watch so the admen can sell you more and more of everything.
The dot I’ve never been able to connect is how all that’s supposed to be enjoyable.
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It’s not supposed to be enjoyable for us. It’s supposed to be enjoyable for the people who collect and deploy all this personal data. They used to be called capitalists. Now they’re just assholes.
jtb
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Yessiree, but I wonder whether men like Zuckerberg have any joy in ’em at all. I guess acquisition is a joy, wealth is a joy, but I don’t think any of those rat bastards know anything about *human* joy.
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The enjoyable part of FB is when someone reads one of my stories and puts a “like” on it or comments.
That said, I have my limitations, ie, I’ve never “liked” or otherwise reacted to anyone’s post except with a comment, have never followed anyone or signed a petition.
My intro is:
Let’s not get our panties in a swirl
Facebook’s not the real world
which happens to be the line which i worked very had on to rhyme on a poem…
More power to you if you dis or disavow FB, at the moment I’m about day 9 into not scrolling there and anywhere else…
Yes FB can be and is a waste of time, but I have few outlets for my essays, soooooo-
I don’t judge, and my panties are swirl-resistant. A few of my favorite people are on Facebook, I’ve been told. Used to have a t-shirt that said “Lick me on Facebook,” but it got all mustard-stained, as often happens cuz I usually eat horizontal.
Here’s a heads-up that many Facebookers seem unaware of: If a user isn’t logged in to Facebook, they’re able to see either one or zero posts on your page. I’m uncertain how it’s determined whether it’s one or zero — might be a setting that each Facebook publisher controls.
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It occurs to me at 0230, just home from shift, that a mustard-stained T-shirt that says, “Lick me on Facebook” is a confluence of several Facebook commentaries, all richly deserved. I’d say you created Art, even if it’s only Art Garfunkel.
John
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Just home from a shift? Tell me you’re not working, man.
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Feels like work. I pull two 12-hour shifts a week taking care of the house my sister and BiL live in. It’s a big house with two big dogs and lots of laundry. Lots of floors to mop, lots of lawn to mow, lots of tchotchkes to dust. My Sis does the cooking and dishes. My BiL has a really bad back and he’s not lazy: just unable to do much physical labor. I’ve always been close to my Sis and am happy to help them stay in their house.
John
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Ah, you’ve mentioned Sundays at your sister’s house, but I had the impression it was mostly socializing, not such hard work. It’s good people who help out like that. Makes you good people. Just, take care of yourself too, man.
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My new motto to live by is:
No matter how much stress and anxiety you
feel from dawn to dusk, it’s a good day if it ends
with an orgasm…-
I prefer mine in the morning. Usually puts me back to sleep for another hour and a half or so.
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Did you once say that it’s common for you to work on that project for an hour?
Me, I’ve got about 2-3 good minutes and then yea or nay…-
I’ll sometimes spend an hour or longer looking for something visually interesting, but the actual work is only 2-3 good minutes.
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Gosh, I don’t know whether to comment in the Facebook section or the orgasm section. So I’ll comment here.
I’ve been watching some of Timothy Ferris’ Rocky Hill Lectures, and they are terrific. I know just enough physics (not much) and astrophysics (even less) to be able to follow his points. When Ferris quotes Freeman Dyson, at least I have an idea who he’s talking about.
And a pattern emerges. This isn’t some very good writer rambling on about the cosmos and our place in it, although there is some of that. His mini-lectures are circular, and always return to the point at which they start, and I learn something from every one of them. Don’t worry if you don’t understand every term he uses — he usually comes back and functionally defines his terms and reminds us of his point. There’s a depth to these lectures that is stimulating and informative. Did I mention thought-provoking? You should, over time, watch every one.
Mr. Ferris was an occasional guest at Owl Farm, the home and fortress of Dr Hunter Thompson. There, deep into many nights, some of the best minds in America and beyond, discussed things that matter, or should matter, to involved citizens. I’ve read a little too much about Dr Thompson, but the Rocky Hill Lectures, I believe, capture some of that historic dialog in a monologue. I find them stimulating and informative.
John
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Life’s too short and I’m too old to promise I’ll listen to all of ’em, but I listened to two when you recommended one a week or so ago, and added the Rocky Hill Lectures to my weekly surf cycle. Thursdays. Can’t go having thoughts provoked more often than that.
Freeman Dyson is the guy who invented a better vacuum cleaner, right?
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Well, yes, if you want to include vacuum cleaners that operate in seven dimensions. Dyson was the last of the great 20th century theoretical physicists, who took Einstein’s relativistic theoretical physics to the next level. This would be a terrible place to try to explain Dyson’s theoretical framework, and I’d be a lousy person to do it. Many present day astrophysicists think Dyson will eclipse Einstein in the next century as the guy who figured it all out, or at least started thinking in the right direction. Other astrophysicists don’t think there’s going to be a next century.
jtb
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I cherish my ignorance too much to bother learning physics, and besides, I never vacuum.
Whether there’ll be a next century depends on how time flies when we’re not having fun. The universe isn’t going to end any time soon, so what we’d call the 22nd century will arrive right on schedule. Pretty sure nobody will notice, though. There will still be some humans dotting the planet, but by then the collapse of society and meltdown of technology will have rendered moot the concept of ‘centuries’.
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Clem Burke, drummer for the band Blondie died too young this spring. He was a serious drummer in a pop band. Here is a cute song with serious drumming from 1979. Sorry about the YouTube. I tried to get the same vid via other search engines and pooped out. Clem never pooped out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl3iaTUQQvY
jtb
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That’s rock’n’roll. I’m told Blondie was punk before going mainstream with all their big hits.
Was the band named in honor of Debbie Harry?
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If you tell me what punk means, I’ll tell you whether Blondie was punk before they made a shitload of money through radio play and bookings. Wikipedia calls them “new wave” and there might be a musicological difference between punk and new wave (besides punk bands claiming they don’t care about money and new wave bands diving for quarters).
Part of the differences among categories of bands involves venues. Punk bands play in punk venues and new wave, etc. Most of these bands would like to make more money by playing in larger venues. Some of them really believe that playing in larger venues requires “selling out”. Maybe the DYI movement in music has come and gone and maybe it’s just getting warmed up. I just don’t know enough musicology to discuss the matter intelligently.
There was a time in my life when I was a ballroom dancer, and a time before that when I was an indifferent piano player, cornetist, and standup bass player. I’ve blown on a few harmonicas. I sort of know how to read sheet music, but I remain musically untalented. Maybe the most relevant thing I can say is that punk is an attitude and new wave is a category.
Debra Harry was the oldest person in Blondie, which was Chris Stein’s band and Chris was her boyfriend. If Ms Harry in her 30s (what the band called her late 20s) was in your band, would you name the band after her? I sure would.
I guess I’m not sure exactly what “mainstream” means. Elvis was way out in left field, then he was mainstream without changing much. Gotta go.
jtb
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From a story about Steve Albini a couple years before he croaked:
“Millennials and zoomers, who came of age during lean years and remain financially precarious in adulthood, were simply less preoccupied with the concept of “selling out”, transforming that once-pressing debate into a historical relic. The internet blew up the traditional music industry. Punk rock increasingly became just another flavour of mainstream entertainment. And though it was never easy, it became harder and harder to earn a living from playing music as rents increased, payouts from labels decreased and the cost of everything went up.”
Generally tracks with what I see. Some people of course are still opposed to nuclear weapons even though they as an individual have absolutely no influence on their existence. So some people still take principled stands but it seems to be about an individual’s ethics rather than that of a broader movement. (Which was probably always the case.)
It’s not a bad story: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/15/the-evolution-of-steve-albini-if-the-dumbest-person-is-on-your-side-youre-on-the-wrong-side
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Hella read, thanks. Watch for an Albini meme, coming soon. I’ve heard very few of the bands he worked with, and would probably hate most of them. I like the punk attitude but want the volume turned to about zero-point-five. That shouted, I definitely like Steve Albini.
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I liked Steve even though he would have once hated everything about me too.
There’s something admirable about how he lived his life (I mean “career-wise”), he could have been raking in nostalgia bucks but was the equivalent of the ex-baseball player from the 1920s that retired and opened a general store and threw the ball around with the neighborhood kids on his way home. He had a certain way of thinking that virtually ensured he was not going to get rich from the acts he produced in the ’90s and was fine with it and frankly never even drew attention to it.
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Anybody who’s no shit is OK by me. Albini, what little I know of him, was always no shit, even all the years when he was full of shit, y’know?
Hell, I even liked Patrick Buchanan. He was fucking wrong every time he opened his yap, a cruel bastard so full of hate and anger he probably shouldn’t have been allowed on television, but unlike the present-day bullshitters he honestly believed what he was saying. It’s fucked up, but I miss having enemies who were sincere about their bullshit.
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Haha I feel that. Trying to win a war of ideas against people who shed them like socks is probably not a productive way to spend your time.
Out of everyone in the “acceptable” political spectrum, I used to think the Libertarians seemed to be the most honest — they want all the money and fuck you — but that party completely shattered last year, half of their leadership sabotaged their own candidate to support Trump and are still defending shit like deploying federal troops in cities and tariffs.
Who would have guessed that people who made a political system around unapologetic greed were *dishonest* too?!
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Sounds like you’re calling for a coup de ville.
jtb
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BTW, I’m a little short this millennium. I have socks that have individual names, having evolved from pairs.
jtb
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I prefer my coup d’état.
Actually, my preference would be democracy, but the very, very, very, very rich have decided democracy is over, so I expect to have no say at all in whatever’s coming next.
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To my moderate embarrassment, I used to wear the libertarian label, but back then libertarians were universally seen as wingnuts, even by other libertarians. It was all skies full of pie, and we knew it. Never foresaw that Republicans would move in on libertarians’ turf, and take the wingnuttery mainstream.
I’d been unaware of the recent sellout you describe, but there’s humanity for ya. What’s the point of having principles if they’re not easily flexible and for sale?
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Best part about it, Doug, is that Trump promised the chairman of the Libertarian Party a plumb job and then reneged on it. The most predictable thing in the world and the hard-headed “realists” who believe the market is the sole provider of truth in politics fell for it.
She had to resign because she was funneling money to her boyfriend without authorization. The board is currently split between her militants and those opposed, but nothing’s getting done (they can’t even censure their NH affiliate which is posting outright racist Nazi shit every day). They’re having to hock real estate and run committees for other candidates than their own to stay afloat but they’re down to 1 employee anyway. I follow it daily, it’s some of the best theater out there to watch them short-circuit after they offered themselves up to Trump, he wiped his face with them and threw them in the trash.
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Granville,
There’s no more ‘reply space’, so I’ve replied elsewhere.
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I don’t know what punk means. Loud music, usually bad, and in the old days, cool zines. If there’s an ethos, I *want* punk to be speaking truth to power, preferably with plenty of obscenities thrown in. I can do without the spiked hair and all.
Some time some years ago someone played some pre-fame Blondie for me, and I’d call it punk. Don’t remember a damn thing about it, except it sure didn’t sound like “Heart of Glass” or “The Tide is High.” It was punk, in my laughably non-expert opinion, but me talking about punk is nonsense by definition. I never was, and never was in the scene. I like some of it, hate most of it.
Guess I know even less about New Wave. I thought that was smooth synth stuff, loud but miles from punk.
Yeah? Ballroom dancing? Didn’t see that coming. Any videos you can share?
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Oh, my brother, this was in the days of 8mm and Super-8. Video meant film. And as far as I know, nobody wasted any silent movie film on my Fred Astaire act. My wife said I was a good ballroom dancer, but then we got divorced and her dance commentary ended so abruptly that she was rear-ended and I mean that in the most creative way possible.
The fanciest dance venue in Tacoma at the time (roughly the 1970s) was The Top of the Ocean, a ship-shaped restaurant/ballroom built on pilings just offshore from Old Town Tacoma in Commencement Bay. It would have been upscale in Seattle; in Tacoma, it was a place men didn’t go without a tux or a damn fine suit and women didn’t go without a new frilly, fancy dress. The dancefloor was lit by multicolor spots that started about an inch above the floor and made you feel like you were dancing on a psychedelic cloud.
On that beautiful cloud, with the cream of Tacoma society as witness, I attempted a tricky spin and dumped my wife, in her new dress, right on her ass amidst the gowns and tuxes of the evening. It’s possible I was overconfident and showing off when I should have been in a Kentucky holler clogging my ass off. My wife was displeased and more than a little embarrassed. I thought laughter was an appropriate response to such a socially inappropriate dance move and my soon-to-be ex took exception.
So no. No videos of any of the slaughter.
Obviously, there were other defects with the marriage, and she hired a better attorney than I did, and cleaned me out pretty thoroughly. I don’t have a four-year college degree, but my ex does and I paid for it as a result of the divorce decree.
I suspect I got carried away and overanswered your question, but I thought I might as well fill in a little of my bio while I was at it.
John
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I love questions overanswered amusingly. Your story took me to the ballroom, at least as well as a video would’ve.
Atlas Obscura has an interesting page on The Top of the Ocean. It’s semi-surprising I’d never heard of the place, but Tacoma is a whole different city than Seattle & environs. We don’t share much beyond the TV stations. You guys don’t even have a Dick’s down there.
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When you have Frisco Freeze, you don’t need Dick.
It’s possible that should be Tacoma’s motto. And we’re still a little pissed off about the Mountain theft. My paternal Grandmother went to her grave calling that lovely sno-cone in the southeast Mt. Tacoma, as it was meant to be.
jtb
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If ever I’m in Tacoma, it’s my hope to spot a Frisco Freeze. Haven’t been in Tacoma, though, since the 1980s, for a Star Trek movie marathon at some small theater I’m sure is no longer standing.
Thought naming the hill Mt Rainier instead of Mt Tacoma had been settled long ago, but we’re old and your paternal grandmother would’ve been even older so I guess that’s long ago. There are two Mt Seattles, you know, one in Alaska and one in Washington.
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I like anything about Tacoma, as I visited my mom and family there from 2005 to 2019,
here’s a memory:(oops, just read it, possible boredom alert, maybe it should have been a couple haiku, don’t read it, i wared you)
UPS Coffeeshop (A classic non-story)
I walked five minutes to the University for coffee. As I passed the cafeteria I asked a woman walking alongside me if she were a student. “I’m staff,” she said.
“I was just wondering,” I said. “If I went into the cafeteria and served myself breakfast could I just walk out without paying?”
“Well theoretically you’re supposed to swipe your card or pay at the checkout,” she said.
“Okay, well, I wouldn’t do that. Well, I did when I was eighteen, just went into the dorm cafeterias and ate free. What kind of staff are you?”
“I co-ordinate the guides for the new students coming in.”
“Okay, see ya.”
I stopped at the bulletin board where there was an FBI recruitment poster. I took it down, put it on a chair under the far side of a table, and continued to the cafe.
I was too early. I asked a student clicking away on his computer if the coffee was good at the cafeteria. “Oh yeah, drip? It’s the same as in the cafe,” he said.
I went back down the hall to the cafeteria, served some coffee, but didn’t see any half and half. I hadn’t had any in four months, impossible to find in Matehuala Mexico. I asked a nearby employee. “The creamers are out on that table past the checkout stand,” she said.
I thanked her, looked over at the preoccupied checker, and glided past into the eating room. I put cream and sugar into my coffee and went back to the patio of the still-closed cafe. There was a local newspaper rolled up and rubber-banded. I picked it up and glanced at the headlines. I was horrified to see that American citizens were being denied passports, denied entry back into the U.S, and thrown in jail on suspicion of not being legal. Apparently some midwives in areas near the border had falsified a few birth certificates so the thousands of legit ones were now being questioned.
I had a good writing session out on the patio but had to move when two people started talking, very disruptive to my process.
Coffee and writing done I picked up the newspaper and carried it inside. All the tables had either people or backpacks on them so I laid the paper on one of them. I walked down the hall to retrieve my poster souvenir and found a woman sitting at the table with bags of M and M’s. The FBI poster was sitting on the nearby table.
Just as I was about to make my move, I had kept a section of newspaper ad supplements to shield the poster from view, a young man came up and confronted me. “Did you put this newspaper on the table?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, and explained the situation. He seemed very exasperated and stalked off. I looked at the woman at the table and she smiled broadly. “Maybe he’s never seen a newspaper,” she quipped.
The M and M’s were printed with the University mascot, a grizzly bear. “I have a friend who went here about ten years ago,” I said. “Could I take a bag for her? And one for me? What about that pennant? Are you giving that away too?”
“No, I’m actually recruiting guides for enrollment of new students. I would get in trouble if I gave that away,” she said.
I put my add supplement over the FBI poster and walked home with my souvenir.-
No boredom alert needed. This is the kind of stuff I enjoy reading — little moments from people’s past or present. Definitely better without the haiku.
I’m sure they’ve tightened security, but I remember from visiting my brother at college in the 1970s, the student cafeteria was set up similarly. All the students had meal cards, so there was no immediately obvious way for visitors to pay, and I didn’t.
And thank you for your service, taking down that FBI recruitment poster. Seems plausible that you diverted someone from a wasted life.
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UPS is at the edge of the Proctor District in Tacoma, the area I grew up in. Lots of middle-class, (formerly affordable) housing and there was a time when the Proctor shopping area included two pharmacies, several clothing stores, a 5&10, a hardware store, a bowling alley, a bank, a couple of restaurants, a top-notch bakery, and about 15 other stores, ALL OF WHICH WERE LOCALLY OWNED, none of which was part of a chain.
You don’t know what you’ve got, until you lose it.
John
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It is definitely all the difference possible, walking into 5&10 and into a Walgreens, or into a burrito stand or into a Taco Bell. Completely different experiences. Even a shitty burrito stand kicks Taco Bell’s ass.
Your memories of the Proctor District sound like Alaska Junction here in Seattle, where there are still dozens of small independent restaurants and shops and etc, and the Starbucks is closing permanently at the end of the month (hooray!).
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While we’re YouTubing, here is the great Eric Burdon with his version of River Deep Mountain High.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TfFm766r0
jtb
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That’s also rock’n’roll. I can’t hear that song, though, w/o thinking of Tina Turner. Apparently, neither can Eric Burdon.
He’s my favorite Animal, and the only War that didn’t hurt anyone.
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That’s Eric Burdon giving credit where it’s due. He’s a decent, classy guy, believe it or not. A little grumpy maybe, but I’ll take decent any day.
John
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All I ask of a rocker, or any celebrity, is please don’t be a Nazi or otherwise openly awful. Be decent, or at least hide it if you’re an asshole. Beyond not being Nazis, I assume celebrities are all assholes, like the rest of us but with health insurance.
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Desperate for Attention?
If you’re desperate for attention should there be a limit to what you do or project and should you worry about the people who say, “Oh look at him, so desperate for attention.”
If you’re desperate for attention do you have to be fearless to let your freak flag fly, wondering what exactly is the point?
If you’re desperate for attention will your actions or act have a positive affect on your community or humanity or would it be a self-indulgent episode which would only expose or define you as desperate for attention?
If you’re desperate for attention do you need to reject most definitions of dignity and necessarily make a fool of yourself, as your public antics are revealed?
If you’re desperate for attention should you stay in or crawl back into your hole, and take the easy way out by sublimating your urge to shine before the public eye?
If you’re desperate for attention should you decide it’s all just an illusion, behave yourself and shut up and stay home?
If you’re desperate for attention should you calculate the possible reactions from friends and frenemies or don’t let any derisive criticism hold you back?
If you’re desperate for attention should you find a creative director, invest some money in the project, and move carefully into any public arena? (If you pay to play, how would that work?)I wrote that on Friday and on Saturday I got a visitor, oh great god the glory, finally some attention, oh holy Jesus my lord, and so yes, I got a reprieve from my lack of attention….
Anyway she came by and smoked a joint while we talked but she was hurting internally, as a way of self-empowerment she had given herself a pap test, got an infection (tho no STD’s were apparent) and fixed the fever she said with herbs and I don’t know what drugs, if any. She was dismayed that the clinic couldn’t help her at all on the return visit, and I said well maybe next time let them do the pap test and she agreed.
As we talked I offered some tender help for her pain, her hands constantly between her legs, like maybe I should kiss it to make it feel better. Then later I said, well, perhaps I could massage it? Finally as we were walking to the gate and I noticed her backside I asked if I could grab her ass, just once, so many questions with the same answer
We went down the road to her house, drank a glass of wine or so and I looked at her garden…
It was like I was human again, some attention! Then the next day the effect was over and I was lacking once again…
(that’s really her in the photo)
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I enjoyed but have no response to this, but reliable sources tell me you’re desperate for attention so I’ll truly state that I enjoy reading about your life, and your very opposite experiences than mine.
Other people barely notice me, and it’s too much, I wish they’d notice me less.
You’ve robbed that lady of most of her teeth!
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I’ve heard only slight whispers about all this, and a quick news search for ‘libertarian’ leads nowhere interesting. So I went to Reddit, and read some of the current libertarian chatter. Found nothing newsworthy, just the ordinary ignorance-masked-as-intellectualism. It’s remarkable — it’s just like attending libertarian meetings back in the 1980s. I need a shower.
Where do you find the more interesting news of libertarian principles in action?
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Sure, so the Libertarian National Committee, by way of background, was taken over in 2022 by the Mises Caucus, a faction of edgy podcasters and prolific Twitter shitposters that immediately removed the denunciation of bigotry and racism from the party platform.
Here’s a story from the takeover:
https://reason.com/video/2022/06/15/inside-the-mises-caucus-takeover-of-the-libertarian-party/
A year into it they were admitting it was kind of a disaster:
But it turns out the disaster was by design, as this faction tried to throw their party nomination to RFK Jr, then to Trump, then eventually elected a ringer (a gay man they thought would take away more Democrat votes than Republicans, and who they tried to kick off the ballot in any state where the reverse might happen):
https://reason.com/2024/06/25/how-the-libertarian-party-lost-its-way/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/power-struggle-consumes-libertarian-party-150044585.htmlThe chair resigned in February as the membership cratered and they’re now running at a $10k per month deficit and seem to be selling anything not nailed down to try to salvage the party:
The ongoing collapse is covered at this site, run by a person the edgelord faction calls a federal agent but is in reality a kindly old activist. Here’s actually a decent list of the ongoing mess and the posts that exposed the former chair setting up a dummy corporation to pay her boyfriend and enriching herself in allowing the Libertarian Party to operate as a passthrough for money from RFK Jr. supporters:
https://thirdpartywatch.com/?s=mcardle
She resigned in February after the scandal broke, claiming she was getting a Fed job for services rendered, but six months later she’s just another unemployed loser with a fading t-shirt that reads “I Trusted Trump.”
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Thanks, and jeez, what a frickin’ mess. I’ve only skimmed the surface at these links, but it makes my head shake like Parkinson’s. This, where the guy Hamlets whether it’s profitable to sue over $50,000 stolen, and 50K is enough to leave the Libertarian Party reeling. I knew the LP was tiny, but I would’ve thought it would have at least a million bucks or two.
Obvious red flag, why would libertarians would want anything to do with a “Kennedy Victory Fund”? RFK Jr has no connection to the principles of libertarianism, at least 1980s libertarianism.
The principles, wrong as they were, were what drew me in, and seeing them doublecrossed and abandoned still pisses me off, same as millions of Christians who walk and talk and live the opposite of Christ. Makes me think in both cases, there were never any principles at all, at least among the followers.
What a bottomless sinkhole. Might continue spelunking it tomorrow.
Are you a recovering libertarian? Or just amused by it all?
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Yup, you’re right. Kennedy is the antithesis of Libertarians except for the new age weirdo kind (and even they don’t want government making things illegal, they want everything legal, including their raw milk and prescribing goldfish food to fight cancer).
I think every American gets some libertarianism in their mother’s milk, and it’s a natural reaction to say “No fuck them, leave me alone” when you’re in the outgroup that the law “binds but does not protect.” It took me awhile to realize that the point of politics is to change that formula, not to develop coping mechanisms to live with it, or loopholes so we can join the ingroup that law “protects but does not bind.”
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It was decades before I could put it into words, but you’re reminding me why I gave up on libertarianism: the philosophy sounds appealing on the surface, especially for folks on the outgroup, and man I’ve always been an outgroupie. Carried to its logical conclusions, though, it becomes nonsense — your house burns down if you haven’t paid the monthly premium for private fire protection, etc.
And the kind of outgroupies drawn to libertarianism tend to be the same folks open to other kinds of let’s say ‘eccentricities’, from a thirst for raw milk to medicine without science to all the conspiracy theories, etc. I remember libertarians defending slavery and sex with six-year-olds, etc — purely academic dialogue, I hope, but there’s a low limit to how many conversations like that I’m willing to sit still for.
Incidentally, you sent me on a most enjoyable internet trot that led to this, about whom the law protects but does not bind.
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That’s a great story, thanks!
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