We are or we aren’t: For about 20 minutes in a Tampa courtroom last Wednesday, a jury listened to an 11-year-old boy describe what he survived three years ago: hearing his mother hit with a shotgun blast, seeing his sister stabbed in the head with an ax, and then feeling himself get soaked in gasoline and lit on fire. The boy was being questioned by his “dad”, the person charged with the heinous crime. I don’t like this and find it repugnant, but our “rule of law” says the accused has the right to face and question his accuser. We are either a country of law, no matter how disgusting it becomes, or we are not a country at all.
Make you go, Huh?: During the first year of President Trumps term there were somewhere over 70 White House “leaks”. These were about telephone conversations, private meetings, conferences, and personal information. During the first 100 days of Uncle Joe, none. To quote Vizzini, “Inconceivable”.
You had a great childhood if some of your best memories start with, “Don’t tell your Mom.”
Nope, don’t believe it: Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom appear as aging and disheveled versions of themselves in a powerful new ad warning about voter suppression. Perry and Bloom appear as weathered freedom fighters and issue a dire warning back to 2021 about the future of democracy if Congress does not pass the sweeping voting rights bill, the “For The People Act”. Have no doubts, this is not “for the people”. It will only make voter fraud easier and further the power “special interest” groups. “Voter suppression” is a dog whistle, if you want to vote you can. I’ll put my head out, there is no voter suppression. None. But there was plenty of fraud.
Yumm: A package of crocodile meat from Thailand sold in a Hong Kong supermarket tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus recently, Radio Television Hong Kong reported Wednesday. City officials clarified that the positive sample was taken from the surface of the packaging material surrounding the meat, noting the meat itself, “frozen crocodile spareribs from Thailand.” Well, that certainly puts a crimp in this week’s cookout.
Headline: “I found out my son is really my uncle after my grandad slept with my girlfriend”. Huh?
Update: Early in June I commented on a Belgian soldier going “rouge”. After a 35-day manhunt in Belgium that involved helicopters, armored vehicles, 400 soldiers and police officers, as well as reinforcements from Germany and the Netherlands, culminated on the discovery of a body believed to be that of a missing soldier with links to the far right has ended the search. The soldier was armed with four rocket launchers, a submachine gun and a semiautomatic pistol that he had taken from an army depot. He had left behind a “hit” list of 10 targets, including Professor Marc Van Ranst, a virologist who has advised the Belgian government on restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus and vaccines, a lawyer who worked on his divorce, his ex-wife, and senior military figures involved in disciplining him for his extremist beliefs. It is believed he took his own life.
Nothing says you don’t have the right to be offended. I also have the right to not give a crap about your being offended.
Weekend play list included Warren Zevon, Kingston Trio, Dr. Hook, Crystal Gayle, and Will Hoover.
Storytellers Blog 