Its never a good time for this joke. That said, some jokes are told so people start to pay attention.

Pay attention now.

When Ms. Rachel jumps in and speaks on it, you know what time it is.

Black people are being lynched in America. Again.

This is indicative of America's rot; capitalizing on its moral superiority while, simultaneously, engaging the base, grotesque trappings of power and wealth. Racial, sexual, and national categorization guiding policy. It ends in lynching. Then, as now.

America was forced, from within, three times, to end this conduct: the disregard for BIPOC people as people.

Lynching of free Black Americans began with the end slavery. From day damn 1. With varying frequency, throughout US history, Black people are murdered in public. "And justice for all" rings hollow. The promise of American freedom perverted.

Free Americans murder subsets of Americans. It perverts freedom and denies justice.

In 1864, a slaver (hard R), could destroy any of his own property. Including enslaved humans; property under law. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 meant to remedy this. Texas finally received General Order No. 3 on Juneteeth, 1865.

On 21 June 1964, a mob (made mostly of male good ol' boys) police-Klansmen could hunt and kill a Black person and his two Jewish friends. It was then up to law-men; police, Sherrifs' departments, district attorneys, and governors to determine whether investigations would proceed against lynchers. Mississippi burned.

The US Civil Rights Act of 1964, changed this, 3 231 days after the "the last classical lynching (as recorded by the Tuskegee Institute)."¹ 12 days after the last lynching for which convictions were obtained. Is it a crime if none are ever convicted?

Sidebar: there is a Federal statute, the Emmitt Till Antilynching Act, on the books in the US. Guess when it was passed. 29 March 2022.

In 2014, Officer Daniel Pantaleo choked Eric Garner to death in Staten Island, NY. The Grand jury declined to indict. This police killing is often cited alongside the police killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020.

Is it a crime when there is no conviction?

George Zimmerman. Not convicted. Kyle Rittenhouse. Not convicted. How many killings makes a pattern? 100? 1 000? 1 000 000?

I bet there's a website with 100. Found it.

Picture this: An America that sends badges to hunt immigrants. En masse. An ever expanding, ever voracious prison system seeking inmates, convicts, and victims. Police with qualified immunity. Many bad apples. Many broken people. Many violent acts. An America always vigilant against attack.

When 'Stand Your Ground' and vigilance meet, there are problems.

Now, what qualifies as a lynching? Exercising State power is excused; from Presidents all the way down the chains to police officers. There is a classical form. A spate of black people hanging from trees since 2025 isn't lynching. Right?

Right?

Pay attention.

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/.... Accessed 20 August 2026.

Indian food is right up there in my food heaven with Thai, Chinese, Korean, Mediterranean (Turkish, Lebanese, Greek) and Jamaican breakfasts, beef patties, roti, and jerk everything.

Why do you suppose humans aren't well equipped to deal with negative emotions? Also, why do you suppose people have so many more negative emotions than we did in the past?

I'm nearing the half century mark. I work in education. I used to work in sales and retail. I've traveled to most corners of the planet. I read widely. I can attest, humans aren't well equipped to deal with negative emotions and people have so many more negative emotions than we did in the past. This is the Internet.

Also, I'm not shitting on therapy. Therapy is keeping the wheels on this bus I'm riding. That said, therapy often fails at addressing underlying causes precisely because the dreck we exist in — and are forced to wade through — drives us back to therapy.

"It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted in a profoundly sick society." ~ attributed to Jiddu Krishnamurti

I'll not give a source, but on good authority, they're very fed up with the very stupid approach of this administration. They refuse to call it, "the Department of War."

In the same conversation, my source said that they were happy in 2021 because, "the adults were back in charge."

It is the kind of work environment that attracts people just itching to use the terms "war", "woke", and "pansies" in the same sentence.

Not saying anything about you, in particular. Just identifying the accuracy of your characterization.

I think those who want to be part of a professional military are not primarily interested in the use of force, wars of choice, or projecting power. They are interested in deterrence, discipline, and a duty to protect.

Dark mode should be the default on phones, websites, programs, apps, and all electronics.

My AMOLED screen draws less power this way.

Art nouveau, Dark deco, solarpunk, minimalism, Japanese wabi-sabi.

I got this book at prerelease. Love it and the YouTube videos that started it.

Here is the full text of the letter that Obama left 45. I'd never thought to read it.

Dear Mr. President -

Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and allof us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.

This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful. Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.

First, we’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune. Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.

Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.

Third, we are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions – like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties – that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.

And finally, take time, in the rush of events and responsibilities, for friends and family. They’ll get you through the inevitable rough patches.

Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.

Good luck and Godspeed,

BO

A few notes:

Obama forecast 45s disregard for "rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties". He KNEW 45 would fuck that up.

The role all Presidents, since Reagan, have played in "sustain[ing] the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend" is a warning about fomenting or courting instability. It is also a tacit admission of the Military-Industrial complex and its attendant supports in entertainment, energy, and finance that projects American values and superiority worldwide. He KNEW 45 would fuck that up, too.

Finally, and from the start of the letter, "we’ve both been blessed... Not everyone is so lucky" is a reminder that the office is meant to support the less fortunate. We all KNEW 45 would fuck that up.

I have never ridden a horse.

He really captures the vapid, ho-hum, space cadet, business-as-usual, "this is fine" look in his eyes.

Pepper-spraying people isn't an "of course" event. It's an off-course event. This part of the world is broken — and anyone who takes blithe satisfaction and daily pay from it is a broken person.

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. 

"One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.

"The other, of course, involves orcs."

[John Rogers, Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]

• Expensive education

• Cities planned for cars

• 5-day work weeks

• Grey's Anatomy

• Nuclear weapons

• Racism

And I agree with the others who've said:

• Fossil fuels, particularly coal

• Private health insurance

The first time my cousins from FL visited Canada, it was July. They were surprised there was no snow. So, we took them over to the rec centre and they saw a small pile of snow out back. They were thrilled.

It was dumped out of a Zamboni.

Maps with ONLY New Zealand.

Lilo and Stitch is the best Disney movie.

Many, many spoilers below. But, seriously, this movie is 21 years old. Get over yourselves.

Check it: a young girl adopts an illegal alien (killing machine from deep space) and protects him from the U.S. (and galactic) government (Military-Industrial complexes), while keeping her incredibly depressed sister (slices both ways) from giving up completely as they keep their Indigenous Hawaiian family together in their co-opted homeland. One sister works a series of dead-end tourism jobs; the other has anger issues. The hate each other and love each other fiercely, though they are about 12 years apart in age.

Oh, yeah, and their parents are dead.

Meanwhile, the alien is a political refugee and freedom fighter fleeing from his own people who want him dead for —get this— existing. A lab-grown, indestructible terrorist, he seeks asylum on an island — but he can't swim.

He does learn to surf.

The only downside to this film is that Disney produced it. And Elvis.

"Ohana means family. Nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

I got hacked on Facebook (2018), stopped using Instagram (2019), quit Reddit (2023) & Xitter (2025).

Now I have only books (lots of audiobooks), Google Keep (own thoughts and pics), Lemmy (random thoughts), and Bluesky (microblog).

My input and output are much healthier, the people I interact with (when actually people) are nicer, and I generally don't feel doomed.

Well, yes, I realize the world is fucked, fucked up, and fucking crazy. I've reduced by orders of magnitude how toxic it is to my headspace because I'm cutting out the worst of the dreck and engaging with more objectively real information. I'm not in screaming echo chambers populated in the millions. I'm happy if I get 10 responses to a post. Updoots are incidental.

Its like leaving L.A. to settle down in Schitt's Creek.

I'm still hoping he'll reprise his role as Dredd.

In his first outing, the worldbuild was good, his portrayal was spot-on. The story, sure, had its ups and downs. But, in the end, it's a pretty solid comic-book action flick. Better than a lot of the dreck we've seen.

If he's playing Johnny Cage at 53, he could still be Dredd at 60.

Welcome to the Internet. Hopefully, I read as a good person. I am not a bot.

I lived as a young adult through Bush II. 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Halliburton, Blackwater, and loads of corruption. It was tough to trust anything then. The goal was pure profit.

Apparently, Dubya was the warm-up presidency for this shit.

First, let me share a clip from Margin Call, 2011.

As long as the prevailing mode has been capital, there has been speculation. As long as there has been speculation, there have been lying liars who exploit the system.

The last few pump and dump bubbles he mentioned (1987, 1992, 1997, 2000, and 2008) are all market crashes I can remember. The market is a casino. Crashes since '08 include 2010 (Flash Crash), 2015 (sell-off), 2018 (cryptocrash), 2020 (Covid), 2022 (Ukraine War), and 2025 (tariffs).

These were once "once in a lifetime" events.

Second, everything in the world is designed to generate more:

• self-serving, self-centered, selfish

• short-term-focused

• extroverted, charismatic, vain

• action-oriented

• thoughtless

psychopaths and sociopaths. This ethos runs things because of profit motives, monopolies on the exercise of violence, and the development of contemporary morés rooted in exploitation, expropriation, and (deemed) externalities of colonialism. Identifying some humans as "the other" makes much more inhumanity possible.

So, I'm here to tell you, it's real alright. What you're feeling is real. What you're feeling against is real. We are immersed in it. Algorithms are doing their best to lock it in.

Finally, what to do and who to trust.

Establish your own moral center. Decide what matters to you. Find those who are telling the most truth, especially when tested. Demogogues fall apart under examination. Lies fall apart when questioned. The unchallenged authority is no authority at all. Get the receipts; find primary sources as often as possible. Seek those who share at great personal cost.

For me, it started with Star Trek. Then, hip-hop. Then, journalists I could trust. Even films that challenge prevailing narratives. I read a lot of books from many perspectives.

20 years later, Chris Hedges, Naomi Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Henry A. Giroux, Amy Goodman, Arundhati Roy, and Noam Chomsky have never wavered. Films like The Insider, Erin Brockovich, and The Corporation light a fire in me. I'm rewatched David Simon and Barry Levinson's Homicide: Life on the Street and, hilariously, Murphy Brown.

Challenge the prevailing narratives. You're not alone.

An indiscriminate attack on an unsuspecting population using planted explosives and does not differentiate between civilians and enemy combatants isn't a "terrorist attack."

What is it then? A "police action"? "Self-defense"?

From AP

A booby trap is defined as “any device designed or adapted to kill or injure, and which functions unexpectedly when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object,” according to Article 7 of a 1996 adaptation of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which Israel has adopted.

The protocol prohibits booby traps “or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material.”

Now, as far as a legal distinction, the jury is still out. But, morally, this is indefensible to the point of being state-sanctioned terrorism.