Monday Memorial: Brother Brick

At Jeff B.'s birthday, 2 August 2009.

Phyllis Beane-Wahl, Brick, some guy I remember but not his name, a pathetic woman-hating alkie,
a Mexican apartment dog, several unknowns.

At The York, 16 January 2012.

Brick, a horrible person who abandoned me to homelessness whose name I will not print,
Phyllis Beane-Wahl, & that guy again. Must've known Brick.

All Aboard For The Future!

Socialism's Positive Rating Tops 40% for First Time

• 43% of Americans view socialism positively
• Positive views of big business down to 35%; capitalism steady at 55%
• Small business, free enterprise remain most popular economic concepts

They may be wising up, but support for such amorphous concepts as "free enterprise" & "capitalism" is a good indication of how ignorant fools are turned out every graduation by America's bullshit educational system.

And "small business" is a knife that cuts both ways. Sometimes a small business is family exploiting family, or just greedy, small-minded pigs. And sometimes they are good businesses that do help local communities & economies.

Mission Accompished!

Iran's mission, that is.

“The U.S. removed all its B-1 bombers from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford air base, a decision made due to security concerns over suspected terror plots against the facility, American officials said Sunday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The decision represents a shift for the U.S. which has used the military base northwest of London as a hub for launching bomber strikes in Iran. Until their recent departure, a dozen B-1s had been stationed at the base.”

New York Times: U.S. rushes to withdraw bombers from U.K. air base after new threats.

All you have to say is "BOO!" & Hegseth's "warriors" run like the sissies they are.

An item from digby that links to Bloody Bill Kristol quoting Eco's "Ur-Fascism", which applies both to Whiskey Pete & our previous two items:

And it’s no accident, Eco further points out, that “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

"B-1 bombers in the ground ..."42 yrs. of increasing dread.

Sunday Message

Y'know, that Jesus Christ feller was a (((Joo))) too.

From The "No, Really?" File

Dep't. Of Derp

PseudoIntelligence-generted telebision for viewers w/ "lower scores on a vocabulary test commonly used to measure cognitive ability".And for the literate:

“One of the most consistent predictors that Americans adhere to Christian nationalism is that they have lower education,” Perry told PsyPost. “But there have also been a number of studies that find that persons who subscribe to Christian nationalist views (even after accounting for level of education) exhibit significant knowledge gaps across a variety of different domains.”

For example, people who strongly endorse the ideology tend to score poorly on tests about “American history or scientific knowledge,” Perry noted. “They are also more likely to hold factually incorrect beliefs about vaccines,” he said, referencing a 2021 study he co-authored, which was covered by PsyPost. “And related to that last point, they are also more likely to affirm ridiculous conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, January 6th, or QAnon.”

“The dominant explanations for these substantial knowledge deficits and the apparent credulity of Christian nationalist adults have been motivated reasoning and siloed information sources,” Perry explained. “Both of those theories are no doubt true. But we have yet to consider whether there may be evidence of a gap in cognitive resources, one that can’t be explained solely by educational background or other relevant factors.”

Common sense tells us these "people" are cretinous morons. Sg't. Schulz Syndrome: "Zey Know Nozzing!". This reporter is quite certain most of them have psychological or psychiatric problems as well, like delusions & hallucinations.

Via Ten Bears invaluable daily "As The Planet Burns" aggregation.

"Trump Says Republicans ‘Will Shove It’ Up Democrats’ Ass"

Political Wire clues us in:

“President Donald Trump said he doesn’t care what the polls and the ‘fake news’ are showing: he is confident the Republicans are going to shock the world — and the Democrats, in particular — and perform much better than expected in the 2026 midterm elections,” Mediaite reports.

Said Trump: “They’re in for a big surprise. It’s very simple: You gotta get out and vote. You gotta get out. You gotta vote for these guys. If you do that, we’re gonna win and we’re gonna win big.”

He added: “And we’re gonna shove it up their ass.”

After which each adult American will get US$5,000, won't we, you fat lying sack?

Additional bullshit: MEDIAITE's "subscribe or turn off your adblocker" crap, "powered by Admiral", which has never, ever, ever worked on any site for this reporter & his free AdBlock. And do you think the incompetent enshittifying jerks ever respond to their customer support form? Think again, suckers. How the hell does Admiral get away w/ this?

Popular Season For Songwriters

100°F-ish autumn, that is.

More Serenades

In honor of the heat wave. Oddly, I didn't steal it from BarkBarkWoofWoof, but heard the Joanie Sommers version on the radio, & the Coltrane-Hartman take was recommended by a robot/algorithm/something.

Marsha "Ol' Sparky" Blackburn Is A Truly Awful Person

Sarah Davis / The Hill:
Blackburn calls on Tennessee to ‘bring back’ electric chair after botched Christa Pike execution
Rena Rowe / Washington Examiner:   Blackburn calls to reinstate electric chair after Tennessee death row inmate's botched lethal injections

Leif Le Mahieu / The Daily Wire:   Blackburn Says She'll Resurrect Old-School Punishment After Botched Execution

Awful events in what must be an awful state, judging from their having returned this demon-possessed witch to the Senate in '24.

Meanwhile, back at Rancho El Stupido:

Emily Goodin / New York Post:
Trump dumbfounded on why death row inmate Christa Pike couldn't be executed: ‘Should be easy to do’  —  President Trump expressed disbelief about Christa Pike's botched execution, wondering how it could happen given that the lethal drugs should be “easy” to administer.

What say we bring back beheading? That's pretty certain. "Off with their heads!!"

16th Century Czech headsman Jan Mydlář, who has a Wiki entry.

That Blowed Up Real Good!

“This sinking exercise not only validated the power behind U.S.-U.K. offensive weapons but delivers a clear message to adversaries that the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy remain a ready allied force,” U.S. Navy Capt. Kelechi Ndukwe, Commander, U.S. Task Force 65, said in a news release.

So the U.S. & Royal Navies are able to sink a sitting duck that's neither moving nor firing back w/ only three different missiles & a torpedo. Not sure how impressed I am.

[Details at USNI News]

The End Is Near

75%+ through this annus horribilis, but it isn't over yet. Could well get considerably worse. More war losses, Election Day may be "Anything Can Happen Day", & prices & temperatures are still rising, yada.

As in temperatures of 100°F (37.8°C) predicted for tomorrow through Monday. So much for autumn in L.A., as Aug., Sep't. & Oct. are the hottest months. Guessing between poor circulation & anemia it won't bother me much.

Autumn Serenades

Ms. Sommers is best-known for her Top 40 hit, "Johnny Get Angry".She doesn't mean Johnny Hartman should get angry.

Weasel-Dick Wednesday W/ John Wayne

Changing from bus to train in Beverly Hills I snapped some images of the John Wayne/Great Western Savings statue.

Note that it's on a 10' pedestal to reduce chances of artwork being added by spray can.

And here is J.W. shooting his Murkin flag pop-gun w/ two ho-mo-sexual closet cases. Guy on the right's some kind of tranny, too: He's sporting a dress, a lovely sash & lots of hair! Wotta fruitcake!

How it was titled when downloaded: "JESUS CHRIST PHOTO PRAYING WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP JOHN WAYNE". Course it's not a "photo", nor do I see any "praying" going on. Note boarded-up Executive Mansion. This is what & who we have to deal w/: Religious weirdoes living in a world of delusional fairy stories & bullshit.

Still On The 'Phone

"Her wrist surreal, a heart and winged skull, lettered 'Life & Love Pass Swiftly'"

NB, kids: Vampires are not all fun & games.

Idle Thoughts I Barely Care About

Surely None Of You Will

Positive development: My primary care physician apparently over-diagnosed the thing on the bottom of my foot. Went all the way to Westwood to see a podiatrist, who said it was a mere callus, not the plantar wart (caused by a strain of HPV virus) the M.D. thought it was. He applied cryotherapy twice, the podiatrist simply shaved it right off. No pain, then or now.

Other non-negative note: Rec'd. both pension & Social Security today, & still had US$505.87 in the credit union & a twenty in my pants. Guess I can afford several turnouts at $30.00 each now.

Completely negative: Watching baseball on Peacock, & its few advertisers. Does NBCUniversal no longer have a sales staff? I'm more than ready for TikTok to be banned worldwide & all involved to be imprisoned if I see that effing advert once more. What a crock.If they can't get more than five or six sponsors, could the sponsors make a couple more commercials so we needn't see the same damn ones approximately 50+ times per game? Nor am I interested in any Peacock streaming series, let alone seeing the same promos over & over & over & over. And yes, we understand very well that "This copyrighted broadcast is presented by the authority of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. It may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form, and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without express written consent." Most broadcasts only recite that once. I'm wearing out the mute button.

Good to see the Pale Hose beat the Houston Cheat-os. The South Siders might be fun in a Series w/ L.A.'s former Bums of Brooklyn. And maybe next yr. the Cubs & Sox can face off in the Series.

Mr. Know-It-All