So, this is kind of where I am tonight ... Just in the interests of full disclosure.
We’ll get to the reason for tonight’s title by the end of the diary. I swear.
“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
Foreward to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
But first, a word from our sponsors ...
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Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist, women’s rights activist, emancipated slave and itinerant evangelist, became arguably the most well-known 19th Century African American woman.
Born around 1791, Isabella (her birth name) was the daughter of James and Betsey, slaves of Colonel Ardinburgh Hurley, Ulster County, New York.
From a young age, she was bought and sold several times by slaveowners in New York. She married an enslaved man named Thomas, and together they had five children.
FeatureD Tonight In Entertainment News ...
Because how else would Black Sabbath end their final show?
Life is a difficult thing to navigate ...
I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.
[Cohn:] “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.” [Jake:] “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.”
Earnest Hemmingway The Sun Also Rises
“The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy—then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece.”
Hunter S Thompson Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail in ‘72
What the world needs now ...
is more Julia Child and Jacques Pepin
I have been working out in my head how to say strong, fight back, and not go completely mad.
Fortunately, cooking helps. And Julia and Jacques help keep me sane.
And Now, Sports …
White House visits no longer what they were.
poor Mitch Albom, in the Detroit Free Press ...
But these days, few people just go about their business.
Not when a statement can be made.
So even though a dated invitation has yet to be made, some Patriots felt compelled to tell their fans how repugnant the idea was to them.
It is surely their right to do so as Americans.
It is also rude.
No one is asking them to endorse a candidate. And taking a photo with your nation’s elected leader doesn’t mean you surrender your right to disagree with every single thing he does. That’s the beauty of America. In fact, the visit may give you a rare chance to express your views to the leader himself.
How many photos or congratulations have those players accepted from corporations that exploit workers, CEOs who practice unfair hiring practices, TV hosts who they privately don’t like, etc.? All NFL teams have mandatory events, from charity to corporate, where no excuses for absence are accepted. It’s not like players don’t have to bite their tongue sometimes.
See, Mitch just wants us to “go about out business”. To him I say, “No, I will not go about my business and neither should people with the platform allowed them by their visibility as athletes. From Muhammad Ali to John Carlos and Tommie Smith to Colin Kaepernick, black athletes have used their visibility to make profound social statements.
so far, six Patriot players have said they will skip the White House visit ...
Brady has only said this, an unintended statement of privilege:
“What’s going on with the world?” Brady said.
“In what sense? I haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on. I’m just a positive person, so I just want the best for everybody.”
TOP COMMENTS
by public acclaim from last night’s TC:
annieli causes ...Coffee cleanup. Keyboard frozen. Too funny!
counting down for hopefully a classic episode … live from NY on Saturday Night!
from your humble diarist:
Navy Vet Terp starts a vital thread in Uncomfortable truths: The role of slavery and the slave trade in building northern wealth on the FP by Denise Oliver Velez.
paz3 articulates a position many of us have, in a much better manner than most I have seen, in Black History Month: Exploring the value gap and our habits that marginalize black lives by Kelly Macias on the FP.
Subterra celebrates the "invisible Hand" of the Free Market in Did Nordstrom break the dam on Ivanka and Daddy? by Murfster35.
Fafnar dissects R Talking Points in Dave Reichart (WA-8th) to Constituents: Stop Wasting My Time by WomanLady.
from AllenMcw:
I think bluehammer provided an outstanding illustration in comparing W Bush to our current #NotMyPresident Dumpster. From Paul Krugman Issues A Warning About What We All Know Is Coming by Dartagnan.
from cminus:
I nominate Ronald England's simple and elegant description of what he did for GOTV. It is the antidote to the slicing and dicing of voters in subgroups, instead picking a good moment (a negative news story about Bush) and calling ALL of them …
and he made a subtle distinction between GOP and "Republican voters", having the goal that "Republican voters" would vote for our candidates (so they did not have to give up their identity). also from Dartagnans’ diary.
from nancyjones:
from seattlebarb, because it's the most inspiring thing I've read in forever (or at least in the last three weeks that feel like forever) in nancy’s own diary Rules for stopping an encroaching authoritarian regime from people who have some experience.
from brillig:
Christian Dem in NC shared the story of how Trump left a key to classified information in plain view in Oval Office. Which led to EducatetheMasses' excellent comment in Trump left a key to classified information in plain view in Oval Office.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, February 11, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
Top Pictures for yesterday, February 11, 2017. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!
For those who like to read to the end of the credits…
By the way, what did you think about the Fatal Attraction skit on SNL last night?