Arlene Smith, Musical Barrier Breaker, Dead At 84

Arlene Smith, one of the first “girl group” stars who as a teenager and a founder of the Chantels co-wrote and sang lead on the 1950s doo-wop classic “Maybe,” has died at 84.

Quite a life, & some history there too.

History Lesson

Hey! Look! We found Mitch McConnell!

Sixty-one years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act.

Two years ago, President Trump promised that he would “never let anyone touch your Medicare.”

Yesterday, this Administration announced dramatic cuts to Medicare, spiking prescription drug costs for up to 25 million seniors.

That’s some lousy anniversary present!

Not to mention a horrific betrayal.

Envisioning The American Dream.

Homo sapiens In Three Words

The Dead Who Walk

When the hell was tagging supplemented by stickering, anyway? I s'pose it's because spray paint is age-restricted in Calif., but the yout' found a way around it.

World On Fi-Yuh!

Asteroid Smut

Popular Science sez:

“We’re in the realm where we might be essentially killing off everything within that first hour or two,” said Brandon Johnson, a Purdue University planetary scientist and study co-author.

Chicxulub would have immediately wiped out all life within a wide radius of its impact along the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the geological demarcation between the age of the dinosaurs and the Cenozoic era. Traveling at a rate of speed of about 12 miles-per-second, the asteroid struck Earth with the equivalent force of 100 teratons of TNT—more than one billion times the strength of the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The blast created a 62-mile-wide, 19-mile-deep cavity while generating two-mile-high tsunamis and 620 mph winds. Around 25 trillion metric tons of debris rocketed into the atmosphere, which then rained down on Earth as fiery missiles called spherules to set forests ablaze.

Bring. It. On! Two hrs. is quick enough for me.

Fi-Yuh In France!

French firefighters were still battling a wildfire four times the size of Paris cutting through forests west of Bordeaux on Wednesday. (AP video by Alexander Turnbull)

Factoid: The city of Light itself is pretty petite, 6 miles (9.5 km) north-to-south and 7 miles (11 km) east-to-west. The Euros won't have to worry about wildfires as much when there's a major slowdown or shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — the broader ocean conveyor belt that includes the Gulf Stream — driven by melting polar ice and freshwater dilution. Is AMOC pronounced "amok"?

Wednesday Double Play

Nowhere Is Safe: There Is No Escape

Hemant Mehta / Friendly Atheist:

Christian preachers are turning airplanes into unwanted worship services  —  Evangelists are exploiting captive audiences who can't walk away—and broadcasting it online  —  What is it about being in an enclosed space, surrounded by people who can't escape, that makes evangelical Christians even more insufferable than usual?

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:   Evangelicals are force-feeding sermons to air travelers: ‘I just love a captive audience’

All of this reeks of Christian privilege. These kinds of stunts would never be tolerated—even for a moment—if the evangelists weren’t Christian.

It’s telling that these Christians believe a captive audience is the best way to spread their message. They’re basically admitting other people wouldn’t listen to them otherwise. The only thing they accomplish with their impromptu sermons is reminding people why they should avoid Christians when they have the option.

Are there no Air Marshals? Damn jet travel. W/ a nice four-engine turboprop the 'plane could be slowed enough that such people could be safely tossed out an open door.

Anyone Seen Montag?

The Burned Over District hasn't posted anything for almost three months. Anyone know what's up? Or even care?

Last waltz from montag?

Worst case is what I expect will happen to me; I'll turn green & die in the bunker & no one will notice or care until decomposition & the dump begins to smell, or until the rent goes unpaid.

That's me; w/o meaning, interest or concern to anyone but the parasite slumlord, whose only interest is in extracting his pound of flesh every month. Considering what my existence has been for the past 70 or so yrs., I expect no better from the lumps of insensate tissue that comprise the dominant species on this miserable planet of fools & charlatans.

Yes, I made it about me. (Not much to work from.) And you knobs everything about yourselves. Why should I bother being any better than any of you?

Music For Gandy-Dancing

Non-embeddable films, from 1973 & 1990, of actual singing & dancing. The Wolf took a line (10:12) from the '73 one.Embeddable.

From The Official White House Executive Mansion Account

Hop in... best dimension yet. pic.twitter.com/7dRJnUVANc

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 27, 2026

More of the same at Hullabaloo.

Non-government by a senile 80-yr. old who was born human garbage, a bunch of brain-dead twenty-nothing anti-social media "influencers", a delusional fuckhead who thinks some fairy in the sky is talking to him (Item below.) & the lawless, post-Constitutional Supreme Court. Now you'll get it, good & hard.

Is this shithole nation just screwed, or poked in the poop-chute forever?

Republicans = Nazis

"Moses" & his fellow Jesus-loving vermin pray for your death.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he grows more confident "with each passing day" that the GOP will retain control of Congress. Why? "This is a God thing. We have intercessory prayers who are on the ground at the Capitol praying."

"We"? Is the House paying for this praying?

They lie to themselves & they lie to you, every day of the wk. & twice on Sunday. String up the theocrats before they send you to the MAGA Inquisition!!

Hot Rails To Hell ...

... Are Actually Hot!

Spent almost an hr. post-shooting fiddling w/ sectional & flex-track before suspending operations. But one line is almost going & I've proved w/ geometric logic it won't need added feeds.

Other modeling stuff:

Also, at some point you need to decide if you are content being a casual recreationalist or if you want to move to the next level. It’s your call. No judgement. That said, if you want to move forward, you need to get out of your comfort zone, buy that sixty-buck airbrush, and get comfortable with it.

Easy, Lance. Sounds a bit judgemental to me who, picky as I am, fully intend to remain in my "casual recreationalist comfort zone". No desire to obtain an air-brush, but I did click the "sixty-buck airbrush" link out of curiosity, to find it's a) Amazon; b) $199.99, not any "sixty bucks". Ha!

Don't have the space, don't need the noise.

I'll stick w/ washes & powders; my primary interest in weathering is eliminating gloss & shine on rolling stock, not creating1:87 works of art. Avoided a soldering iron so far too, but if the track continues its recalcitrance ...

Dry Heat

Temperature & humidity in the bunker earlier.

Currently 58% humidity, 86°F (30°C). Don't make me no never mind. Haven't broken a sweat or broken out the fan yet. If you can't take the heat ...

Angry? Absolutely Bitter? Better Believe It!

Gone like a puff of smoke.

Dust Bowl II On The Way?

The original:

National Drought Mitigation Center

You'll all be vegetarians soon, & vegans before you know it, because all the livestock will be dead.

Saturday Savings Spectacular!

Going to the corner for milk yesterday I spotted Xmas lights in a cardboard box & decided I could use the wire if nothing else. Well, they work & are battery-powered, so don't waste your money on Woodland Scenics JustPlug® or Dioramo® lighting systems.

My curiosity piqued, I checked battery-powered wired LEDs & found piles, some powered by AAs, some by D cells, & some by hearing aid batts. Turns out the above suckers are made by Greenbrier International, Inc., a subsidiary of Dollar Tree. (Or it's Dollar Tree's parent co. Fucking robots.) All plastic; the only metal is the wiring & whatever's in the battery pack. The biggest deal to me is the self-containment. Everything's in the structure, no connecting to an external power source, so no wall-warts, extension cords or added LED wiring are needed.

This looks as if six bldgs. could be illuminated for $40.00. W/ 30 lights per string, six huge industries could be lit, or a small structure could be overdone until it caught fire.

Hoo boy, now Woodland Scenics is offering this; the video came out two months ago, but the system can't be searched on their crummy site; you have to look in the "Coming Soon" area. No prices yet, but an arm & a leg should cover it fairly easily. Speakers, sound cards & readers &c. will be just a smidge more than a transformer, control box & LEDs. Might not be easily duplicated at a bargain store.P.S.: If you do want the tried & true, I compared the Just Plug® & Dioramo® MSRPs sometime last yr.; Dioramo was a bit less expensive & their system seems more open to using non-Dioramo LEDs & the like. Or, Dwarvin & their fiber-optic "no wires" system. Tain't cheap neither.

Fat Donnie From Queens Calls In W/ His Hot Takes On Sport

Repugnant. Ass-kissing billionaire owner scum. Shove it, Mark Walter!Fat Donnie knows nothing. He's just reading from the teleprompter.

Reading from prepared remarks honoring the Dodgers' title defense, Trump rattled off a string of stats — the team's Tokyo season opener, a record-breaking travel schedule, and a historic 229-day season — before admitting he had no idea what any of it actually meant.

"I don't know," he said. "That's a different kind of a fact mark than I ever heard of, but that's what they give me to read. So what can I tell you?"

"220 the longest season ever," he added. "I don't know what the hell that means."

Nor could he figure it out. Thought he was smart, played baseball at the military academy where he was shipped & could have been a major league prospect. What a lying sack of shit. This reporter has no idea what the hell "fact mark" means either. How stupid can a life form be?

 Naomi Lim / Washington Examiner:
Trump says he thinks LeBron James is ‘racist’ when asked if he or Michael Jordan is the GOAT
Dan Diamond / Washington Post:   Trump suggests LeBron James is ‘a racist,’ says he prefers Michael Jordan

Julia Manchester / The Hill:   Trump on LeBron James as he joins Philadelphia: 'Maybe he's a racist'

Ryan Anderson / New York Post:   Trump's odd response to the great Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James debate

TMZ.com:   President Trump Says LeBron James Is ‘Maybe’ A Racist

Gabe Whisnant / Newsweek:   Trump and Shapiro's Wildly Different Reactions to LeBron James' 76ers Move

Armando Tinoco / Deadline:   Donald Trump Says LeBron James Is “Maybe A Racist” After 76ers Move & Prefers Michael Jordan: “I Only Like People Who Like Me”

Jordan Conradson / The Gateway Pundit:   (VIDEO) Trump Calls LeBron James a Racist When Asked if He's Better Than Michael Jordan - “Maybe He's a Racist, or Maybe He Doesn't Like Trump”

Any honky calling any African-American "racist" is ridiculous, but for Fat Donnie from Queens it's the height of absurdity.

Not next yr., adds Steve Lopez of the L.A.Times!

Mookie Betts didn't go. He can use my initials any time.

Continuing Red Scare

Grasping At Straws

Hailey Bullis / Washington Examiner:
Memo urges Republicans to tie Democrats to communism
Charlie McCarthy / NewsMax.com:   Report: GOP Memo Says to Tie Democrats to Communism

From digby, Lumpy sez the commies want to blow up Mt. Rushmore while spewing the usual contradictory, inane & illogical bullshit.

Trump says communists are trying to blow up Mount Rushmore pic.twitter.com/rh7y9KPPGR

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2026

The only "Commies" Trump should worry about are post-Communist China & their economic powerhouse that Fat Don furthers every day w/ his pathetic ignorance, incompetence & flailing about.

Friday Finger

Bonus: Fuck Off & Die Friday!!

You scum have brought nothing but murder, rape, pillage, war, violence, abuse, lying, cheating, stealing & stupidity to this world, & are making the very planet an unlivable hellworld. Fuck alla y'all up the ass w/ a splintery broomstick!!

Funny how no one ever refutes this or similar statements. Can't handle the truth, can you, grain-dead idiots?