Still Beat

And dead inside.

It's certainly a world of shit & pain, & needs to be completely refurbished, by force. How else?

Question Of The Day: "What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?"

Well?

Another question you sheep might ask: "What to the wage-slave is The Fourth of July?

Actual Independence Day

Not The Fourth. Admittedly, "Declaration of Independence" is stronger than "Resolution of Dissolution".

Signing of The Declaration of Independence by Armand-Dumaresq, c. 1873

A letter from an American. More myth-making.

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed a “Resolution for Independence” declaring “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

Also known as the “Lee Resolution,” after Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, who had proposed it, the resolution was the final break between the king and the thirteen colonies on the North American continent that would later become the United States of America.

Historians now think the signing wasn't until 2 August. The Continental Congress did approve the final draft on 4 July. More. Added trivia.

Friday Freak Out

Into the weeds & down a 60 yr.-deep rabbit hole.

Guest post: Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention's Verve/MGM albums (1966-1969): comparing mix variations

All sorts of trivia on variations of themes, but this was new to me.

There is also an alternate master of the original stereo vinyl mix, with brighter EQ, that has been bootlegged. This tape is a fascinating mystery, because we don’t have much information about it. First of all, except for tape print-through problems, where one can hear remnants of a previous recording, its fidelity is higher than that of the regular stereo version of the album. The track order is completely different: it’s unclear whether this is an early configuration or a compilation of mixes. Most importantly, though, it includes an uncensored “It Can’t Happen Here” and a different edit of “Wowie Zowie”, including a short section that was removed from the final master, possibly at MGM’s request (see below). This version of the album is still unreleased.

An early version of the album was done in April, with a different track order from the final sequence completed two months later. For instance, "Wowie Zowie" (which would eventually begin side two of the finalized sequence instead, and was described by Zappa as "harmless", "cheerful" and apparently liked by Little Richard was the original planned lead-off track rather than "Hungry Freaks, Daddy", "Trouble Comin' Every Day" (which was inspired by the Watts Riots that took place the previous year) was included on side one rather than side three, and "Who Are the Brain Police?" (acknowledged by Zappa himself as one of the scariest songs on the album) took up the middle of side two rather than the middle of side one, with only "Help, I'm a Rock" (dedicated to Elvis Presley) and "Cream Cheese" (retitled "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet") taking up the same concluding places on the early sequence that they eventually would on the finalized sequence.

"Wowie Zowie" itself originally contained a musique concrète section between the bridge and third verse that would eventually be edited out of the song as it appeared on the finalized sequence, while the third section of "Help, I'm a Rock", called "It Can't Happen Here", contained two additional lines consisting of the word "psychedelic" during the self-pleasure sequence and of the words "...since you first took the shots" immediately following the "we've been very interested in your development" line. Tapes of the early sequence were eventually leaked to European collectors and bootlegged on vinyl as The Alternate Freak Out! in 2010, with long-time Zappa associate Scott Parker later describing the early sequence's track order as having more conceptual "integrat[ion]" and "a greater amount of weirdness sprinkled throughout" than that of the finalized sequence during a 2011 podcast.

The label eventually requested that the two lines in question be removed from the "It Can't Happen Here" section of "Help, I'm a Rock", both of which had been interpreted by MGM executives to be drug references. However, the label either had no objections to, or else did not notice, a sped-up recording of Zappa shouting the word "fuck" after accidentally smashing his finger, occurring at 11 minutes and 36 seconds into "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet". From the 1995 CD reissue of the album onwards, the formerly three-part "Help, I'm a Rock" was reindexed as two separate tracks, with only the first two parts ("Okay To Tap Dance" and "In Memoriam, Edgard Varèse) remaining under the "Help, I'm a Rock" title but with "It Can't Happen Here" becoming its own track, as "It Can't Happen Here" had been on the 1969 vinyl compilation Mothermania, where the two previously censored lines were also reinstated.

Compare & contrast. (Hope this is the original mix.)[The Wiki]

P.S.: Better title: "The Mothers' Verve/MGM albums (1966-1969): Comparing mix variations".

Today In E.A.I.A C.

Who's covering up what now?

Past attempts to whip up hysteria by right-wingers & the fake news. QAnon, baby!! (Note "Recent Posts".)

Daniel Ruetenik / CBS News:
What's missing from the Epstein files? Questions persist about unexplained redactions, missing documents, email gaps

Rachel Kahn / New Republic:   DOJ Refusing to Release Old Epstein Emails That Could Expose Trump

Alexander Willis / Raw Story:   DOJ sitting on secret Epstein email account that could expose Trump ties: report

Where's the outrage now, hypocrites?

On A Slightly Positive Note

"Tear Down That Name!" To Coin A Phrase

Yesteryear In L.A.

Claimed to be downtown, but it's Western Ave., from north of Melrose Ave. to just north of Wilshire Blvd. I know it well.The area w/ the furniture stores still has many furniture stores, 80-ish yrs. later, & the St. Charles Ap'ts. are still there.

[Los Angeles History on Facebook.]

Thirsty Thursday

From Ten Bears. All sources point to "Does not look good at all".Looks to be A.I.-generated, except with some embellished actual footage. Nonetheless, start saving now; even higher prices for protein and carbohydrates ar on the way.

Other watery nature studies. This established plate tectonics, & was drawn by hand by humanoids.

Izzat Main St. running down the middle? Fifth Ave.? Wilshire?

Equal time: Same city-block looking topography in the Eastern Pacific & south of Oz as the smaller ocean.

Zealandia's fairly obvious here, from the October 1969 issue of National Geographic.

Also raises the question of whether the New Zealand plate should be a continent.Why hadn't I heard about this before? Must've missed the paper.

And what about this Antarctic deception? Not real at all.

Antarctica w/o ice. It's better described as an archipelago, but accepted as a continent.

And where it's about to lose the ice sheet. Oops!

This Is (Vaguely) Interesting

Note "change":

Couldn't reconcile my credit union account (Yrs. in banking left me a compulsive mess.) by a dime, because I wasn't expecting penny rounding change from a debit card.

Do Or Don't?

Just asking, but doesn't slapping the general prohibition sign, also known informally as the no symbol, "do not" sign, nay, interdictory circle, and the prohibited symbol on the phrase "Don't Be Dumb" make it a double negative, implying that ASAP Rocky* actually wants you stupid?

NAY!

---

* Were I a sap, dunno if I'd advertise it so loudly.

In Passing

Up in smoke.

Sean Michael Newhouse / GovExec.com:
Trump's federal workforce changes cost the economy more than $165.6B, analysis finds
WBUR:
The real cost of the war with Iran

No, really? Why do these jerks hate America so?

Hugo Black In The News

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith Is Making Up Christian Nationalist Nonsense

During his remarks, Beckwith claimed that the doctrine of the separation of church and state was something concocted by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in the 1940s because he did not like that Catholics were criticizing the Ku Klux Klan.

From the horse's mouth:

Justice Black and the Bill of Rights
Gerard N. Magliocca
This was his 30-minute interview with CBS in 1968. Enjoy!

Web Of Evil (& Ennui) goes the extra mile & saves you the extra click to YouTube!

Full disclosure that doesn't really mean anything: This reporter roomed w/ a nephew of Justice Black his sophomore yr., so he has some vague interest in the truth about Justice Black.

[Right Wing Watch/Wiki info]

Train Time Thursday

Ouch!

This Is Absurd! I'm About To "Go Postal"!!

Exactly how much lying fucking bullshit am I epected to take from you sub-human drones? My patience is at an end.

Effing package has been "processing" in Cheviot Hills for 26 damn hrs. Now can I kill someone? And if not now, when?

Flag Update

Previously.

Two days later, the Bear Republic flag is restored.

Enough!

Enough ugliness & stupidity, numb yourselves w/ more dull ol' clouds.

As taken:

Retouched, & closer to how it appeared to this human's peepers, 'though perhaps brighter.

"Stop the world, I want to get off!"

Big Fat Phony Of The Day

As if all that talk about Jesus & his pops was anything but gaslighting. Nonetheless, the Nat'l. Catholic Reporter takes two-faced tubby J.D. Vance to task. And (just like Marx) Ol' Hay-soos did spew some truths & made some excellent suggestions for how you primate scum should act.

As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation. Vance knows that, by virtue of her humanity, Good was endowed with inherent dignity, made in the image and likeness of God. Vance knows that only God can take life. Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins. Vance knows. He doesn't care.

Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.

The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel. Our only recourse is to pray for his conversion of heart.

Pray in one hand & shit in the other, then see which piled up first, as they say.

Whence I Stole "The Dreadful Grate"

Credit where due.

The Sporting News

Baseball Match — 1894

Evan Drellich / The Athletic:

Sources: the nine MLB teams televised by FanDuel Sports Network have ended their contracts with FanDuel SN after multiple teams failed to get scheduled payments  —  The nine Major League Baseball teams televised by FanDuel Sport Network have terminated their contracts with FanDuel SN …
Drew Lerner / Awful Announcing:   All nine MLB teams reportedly terminate contracts with FanDuel Sports Network

Tom Friend / Sports Business Journal:   Sources: Main Street hints at talks with second bidder

Associated Press:   Manfred Says MLB Prepared To Produce & Distribute Local Broadcasts For FanDuel Network Teams

Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News:   MLB Cancels Its TV Contract With FanDuel Sports Network

Barrett Media:   MLB Teams Reportedly Exit FanDuel Sports Network Amid Financial Struggles

David Satin / The Streamable:   Is Fubo preparing to buy FanDuel Sports Network channels?

Cablefax:   Main Street, FDSN Woes Impacting Teams' Finances

This can't be good. Thought FanDuel was a sportsbook/gambling app deal. They must be stupid like Trump to lose money at that. Nope, wrong again; the Wiki sez the name on the outside is a branding deal, not actual ownership. I think. More hot poop. Hah! Sinclair & other corporate scum.

In August 2022, FanDuel announced the re-launch of TVG Network —a co-owned horse racing cable network— as FanDuel TV. The channel would continue to primarily carry live coverage of horse racing events, but would expand its coverage of mainstream sports from a gambling perspective. On October 16, 2024, Diamond Sports Group revealed in a bankruptcy court filing that it had reached an agreement with FanDuel Group to rebrand its the Bally Sports regional sports networks FanDuel Sports Network. The agreement contains an option for FanDuel to take a 5% equity stake in Diamond upon its exit from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; Diamond subsequently became known as Main Street Sports Group.

Wish I knew what that actually meant. Who "co-owned" TVG Network? And is FanDuel the sportsbook currently giving money to Main Street Sports Group &/or FanDuel Sports Network? Corporations hiding as if they were criminals afraid of the light of day. Imagine that.

Teams affected.

No, Really?

Poplar on the move.

Here's a non-surprise: The package FedEx claimed would be here tomorrow, New Yr.'s Day, will not be here, although it arrived in City of Industry at 1450 today; it is now reported it'll arrive between 1120 & 1520 Fri. the 2nd.

Can this be chalked up to Artificial Stupidity & robo-ignorance?