Men waste literally millions of sperm when they have a certain idea and act on it. An embroyo is part sperm, part egg, which makes the sperm half a person. Where is the outrage over the death of millions of sperm?
If you think my comments are nonsense, you are correct. Mark Robinson telling a woman that her body is no longer hers because she is pregnant is nonsense too.
I’ve been saying this for years as an abortion activist in the late 60’s. The sperm part of the equation was never considered holy. All the drama revolves around controlling women. We won’t allow it! Women are going to vote blue in November.
Katherine, Just wanted to thank you for being an activist back then when I was going thru my teens, & especially for you & others like you, trying to warn us that this was where they were gradually taking us.
Biden must win 4 more years & I really hope we can pick up seats in both Houses so we can slow down the taking of our rights, or best case, turn it around.
It's a point I was going to raise. I don't know if you ever saw The Meaning of Life, the last film Monty Python made after The Life of Brian. It has a sketch were Michael Palin, a Roman Catholic who loses his job and informs his numerous children that he's going to have to sell them for scientific research. It ends with a song and dance routine “Every Sperm is Sacred”, with hundreds of children appearing from every nook and cranny, every cupboard, chest of drawers, climaxing in Michael leading thousands of children down the village's main road, all of them singing the song. After all, it is the logical conclusion of their argument.
Sometimes I wish there really was a god because I'd love to see the look of sheer shock, horror and disbelief when they find themselves in hell. What might a suitable punishment be? Maybe being made to give birth to an Action Man doll (I believe you call them GI Joes in the US? Of course we mustn't call them dolls. That'd be girly. Good God, man, they're ‘action figures’, what are you trying to do? Make our boys effeminate? 🙃) through the urethra of course. A comedienne once described giving birth as akin to this just to give us men an idea, so I can't take credit for the idea) one for every sperm they've wasted, that hasn't led to fertilization. What d'you think, at ten minute intervals, each ‘labour’ lasting ½ an hour? That would allow them to anticipate the excruciating agony that's about to repeat itself and they'd be there for a very, very long time. Maybe 15' between births? You'd have the occasional tricky one, breach, some taking days. We'll be merciful and let them have an extra ten minutes recovery time. When they've finally given birth to their last doll, all of which would be squabbling for their attention, whining and crying “It's not fair!” choking them by the sheer pressure of numbers we could say, “No, I don't think you've really repented, you still don't see how vile and evil you were. Start again!” I'm not normally a vindictive person, but these absolute shits, if that's not an insult to shit, make me so angry and I want them to feel the pain, suffering and injustice they've caused. It would be poetic justice, a fitting punishment.
Naturally, as I've said in a previous reply, these men's attitudes actually have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with their inadequacy and petrifying fear and resentment of women's sexuality and the power they have over them. Men's lust is never their fault, it's the woman's, because they have bodies. If it weren't so intensely disturbing it would be pathetic. I don't believe I've really ever grown up. In many ways I'm still an childlike, but compared to these miserable excuses for human beings I'm positively mature well beyond my 64 years. In my case, the lack of ‘growing up’ manifests itself in a childlike wonder at the universe and our consciousness, a certain kind of naïvity. What it isn't and theirs is, is childishness. That petulant “It's not fair!” because things don't work the way they want them to or people don't agree with them. Someone's richer, has a nicer car, house, briefcase, a prettier wife. They think everything's a competition and they should be the winners at all of them and if they lose… “It's not fair! You cheated! How could I, I!, possibly lose? I'm the greatest, I'm the cleverest, I'm the purest, I'm the holiest.” 🙄. It's not competition, that misinterpretation of ‘survival of the fittest’, it's cooperation that's made us the dominant species and that's led to all our greatest achievements.
There's a song on the album “We're Only in It for the Money” by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention called “What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body” which I'm always reminded of. The lyrics go:
What's the ugliest part of your body?
What's the ugliest part of your body?
Some think it's your nose
Some think it's your toes
But I think it's your mind 😂
Pretty scathing, huh? It's sung in a kind of do-wop, ballad like way. I laughed out loud the first time I heard it and it still makes me smile when I think of it. And of course it's also true.
I came back to finish this and very glad I did. It is very well written and makes so many good points. Perhaps we’ll all break through the incredibly dense media barrage and make our simple message heard. Thank you, Nicholas.
Love your ideas Nicholas. I’m feeling just as angry & vengeful as you are these days.
Just as I’m angry & wish vengeance upon all of the anti-opioid fear mongers out there who are taking pain meds away from veterans & others who suffer from incurable pain conditions. He’ll, they are even depriving people in acute pain, like post-op joint replacements & even people dying with cancer. It’s a horrific situation & I firmly hope the ones inflicting the pain & torture get to experience the same; sooner rather than later.
This jumped out at me as I realized that women, at least half the voting citizens of this country, were now having their healthcare rights abrogated by some 17th century dude who held no medical degree. Are you shitting me? Is Alito out of his fucking mind?
Just notice how much more corrupt Thomas is with his “social conflict of interest” that is seen when one reads Dobbs and sees he wants all to take a look again at “same sex marriage” but conveniently, he doesn’t mention a wish to look again at “miscegenation” or “mixed race marriage” such as he and Ginny have. (That’s what the “Loving” case had been about.)
Bingo! The Handmaid, who is a member of the culist offshoot, who hides behind Catholicism called "People of Praise" who have a survivor support group, for the sexually abused (by design) organization.
They're fantasists. They think there's literally a god who has a long white beard and is, of course, male who sits up there and watches over each and every one of us. Because he loves us. That's why he lets babies drown in overcrowded rubber dinghys because their parents are so desperate that they leave their friends and family, everything they've ever owned or loved behind and make an incredibly dangerous and perilous crossing over the sea because even that is better.
Kurt Vonnegut postulated the ‘church of god the wholly indifferent’. If there really is such a being, they are far more likely to be like that: utterly and totally disinterested and couldn't care less.
Actually, female births outnumber male births by roughly 51:49. I think that's a good thing too, at least in my opinion and not just because I'm more attracted to women than men. I have to say that I have more closer make friends than female, but not all that much: around ⅔ male to ⅓ female. It would indicate that, on a purely biological perspective, women are more important than men from a survival of the species POV. It's just sad that so many women seem to feel that they have to compete with men in the political arena. I'm coming at this from my UK based view where the, in my opinion, must toxic viewpoints come from the ethnically diverse women :Suella ‘Cruella’ Braverman – who was proud to say that under her watch her parents wouldn't have been allowed into the UK!? – Pritti Patel, Kimi Badenoch. I don't expect any US readers to know any of these people, maybe Cruella, although they held quite prominent positions in the last 14 years of Tory (= conservative party) rule. Cruella proudly proclaims that multi-culturalism has been an abject failure in the UK when it seems clear to me that the opposite is true. The British approach, as opposed to the French, has worked. I need to clarify my reasoning for this. The French approach has been that as an immigrant to France you become French and must divest yourself of any aspects of your culture or personality that make you ‘unfrench’. The British approach has been a ‘live and let live’ one. As a musician, that has enriched my horizons hugely and has given an enormous boost to my creativity. I believe that the UK has ‘batted way above its average’ and I would argue that it's its acceptance and tolerance of foreign cultures and influences that has made a major contribution to that – incidentally it's also the strength of its language, its willingness to adopt foreign words, assimilate and absorb them. You could, quite justifiably, say that that's cultural approbation, but I think it's preferable to the alternative, just as long as we give credit and gratitude where it's due. Put it another way, when I meet someone I don't want to meet a doppelganger, I want to meet someone who challenges my preconceptions, someone who gives me new ideas and opens me up to new influences and someone who does that in a kindly way.
There's no perfect answer to any of these questions – interestingly enough and appropriate, someone once asked my dad what it was like to be brought up bilingual. He replied that it teaches you there's never just one answer (I wouldn't have come up with such an interesting answer although he was 14 when his family moved back to Berlin – his mother was Jewish, whereas I was seven when we first moved to the UK for a year and when I first learned English) – but that just adds to the richness of our combined experiences and perspectives. Vive la différence! Variety of the spice of life.
Definitely, I entirely agree on both points. Thinking in another language gives a different perspective, one I've often found useful. When my son was about six he asked me if I could choose any superpower, what would it be? After a little thought I told him I'd chose to understand and be able to reply in any language/form of communication, so including whale song, the noises dolphins make, the colours octopods use, even the bleeps whistles and white noise you got from modems, He was disappointed, “That's really lame, dad.” Two days later he came back and said, “Actually, dad, I've changed my mind, I think that would be really cool.”! Sadly, my measley three don't come close, especially as they're all Latin root (German, English & French).
Peter Ustinov spoke seven languages fluently (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian &, I think, Portuguese) and his accent was perfect. If you can find it, I recommend his 1959 recording of ‘The Grand Prix of Gibraltar’. He uses quite a few of his languages and it's extremely funny (I can vouch for the German accents in particular; he didn't use the stereotypical one you'll find in all the WWII films, but two very different and genuine ones). What's more, he improvised most of it and not content with the languages and accents he also does all the sound effects. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.
Alito has been qoted at one of his right-wing interviews that the US society went 'wrong' in the 60's and he wants to erase those gains. He has already begun.
Claudia, thank you. Excellent horror story of our reality.
For years when people would ask “who among the famous people would you want to invite to a dinner party?” I would respond “the Obamas, Jane Goodall, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, the Clooneys, (among half a dozen others) and I now add ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕦𝕕𝕚𝕒 𝕃𝕠𝕟𝕘, 𝕁𝕖𝕗𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕖𝕕𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙, ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 ℂ𝕠𝕩 ℝ𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕤𝕠𝕟, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕁𝕠𝕪𝕔𝕖 𝕍𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖.“
A few years back an Alabama woman was jailed for being shot whilst pregnant. Apparently it was her responsibility to not put the pregnancy in danger. I believe she got 5 years.
Anyone who still thinks Ayatollahs only happen to Muslims needs to wake up fast.
I remember hearing about this incident & being appalled at the woman being charged. I’m glad to hear the charges were dropped; but with idiocy like “fetal personhood” being made law, this will happen more & more.
WTF? What is the matter with these people? Every time I think they've reached the absolute dregs of depravity they pull something like this. Someone should shoot him and then charge him for letting himself be shot, an irresponsible waste of medical resources 🙄. It beggars belief. Some friends and I decided to come up with a scale of stupidity. If I remember correctly it went fool, clown, idiot, imbecile, moron and cretin, but we're going to have to invent new words for this kind of lunacy.
With Oligarchy economics in charge in America, we’re already half-Russian.
Now all we need is a Dictator to be the next Democratic casualty. To establish a facist government - just like in Russia - a country with a constitutional democracy, at least on paper.
Kevin, I recently commented that we here in America, need to start calling these people like Seid, Crow, Leo, Singer, Thiele, Bezos, etc American Oligarchs. They control so much wealth & are able to give such huge amts to non-profits & add perks to the basic income of scotus justices that they are able to govern our lives; just like in Russia.
It’s disgusting, so at this point we have, in fact, become almost as bad as Russia; just need the dictator in the Presidency that can be manipulated with money & flattery, to do what they want done.
When I mentioned the American oligarchs giving to non-profits, I meant orgs like Alliance Defending Freedom, Turning Point USA, & other such orgs that are working day & night to strip our freedoms away from us - not the kind that actually house the homeless or feed the hungry.
That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.
Yet where is their support for children who have actually been born? Zip, zero, nada. No early childhood development funds, defunding school lunches and after school programs. A-OK to shoot them down in school.
That’s the missing piece that no one wants to talk about. Why is that? Might it be because it would cost tax dollars (lots!) to address treating those unwanted children well?
Theocracy is an unholy alliance between those like minded persons who think any crime is justified, if a supreme entity is invoked during the act of the crime.
Well NC is trending purple. It currently has a Democrat in the governors mansion. There’s a lot of young people in the triangle and Asheville who will not like what they’re hearing.
I think the more NC hears his batshit, racist, anti semitic, religious zealotry the more he’ll go down in flames. And he’ll take half the legislature with him.
That would certainly be great if the current term-limited Dem Gov gets replaced by the Dem who is running against that bat shit crazy antisemitic, anti woman, Robinson.
Good point! I’d like to see a “man (or woman) on the street” interview from serious journalists visit the constituents of these dumber than a door knob MAGA extremists in Congress to find out what these people are thinking, electing & re-electing these fools?
I respect everyone’s religion, however, I will fight like hell to make sure their religion beliefs do not interfere with mine!
I respect our Constitution and I will fight like hell against anyone’s wanting to incorporate religion into to it to pass any laws! There’s a reason for separation of church and state/government!
This country was built on religious freedom, so anyone trying to change that, must be voted out of office or impeached based on our Constitution. This means all those whose jobs are to protect it!
I don’t believe the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is a valid one because it was based on religious beliefs and not our Constitutional rights! Their decision must be appealed!
The problem with the AL decision being appealed to the scotus is that we know ahead of time what their decision will be. This IS the whole point of the AL case being brought at all. Leonard Leo & many others in The Federalist Society have been chipping away at all of our rights by carefully choosing these cases, & then shepherding them up through the appeals courts, to District Courts, & all the way to the SCOTUS.
It has been a deliberate process going on for at least 50 yrs. They have very quietly worked to get conservative judges put into place in as many of these courts as possible, & when McConnell had the audacity to block Obama’s pick during his final term, they were ready to strike.
Now with that 6/3 very conservative religious extremists in place, there is no longer any need to remain secretive about what they are doing.
They can make outrageous unconstitutional rulings & there’s not a damned thing we can do about it; unless we can get a 60 seat majority in the Senate & maybe also need a 2/3 majority in the House. We are totally screwed for many yrs, even decades to come. We & the people that we elected, fell asleep at the wheel & allowed this to happen.
Democrats don’t really have a “Society” to find young Progressives in college who are planning to attend law school & mentor them all the way through to becoming Federally appointed judges. We must do that
We must get the message through to voters that every election counts, but especially who they put in State Legislatures & elected judges.
If President Biden wins re-election and has both Houses of congress, he will drive over 4 new rational and liberal justices on the back of a D9 bulldozer and end the Revanchists' rapture.
I’m not sure I believe that. The last I heard, Biden is very opposed to expanding the court. IF by some miracle he & our Democrats are in favor of changing the court, they ALL need to read Elie Mystal’s book
Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution or at least listen to a few episodes of his podcast, Contempt of Court. Listen to the one where he explains that if Democrats ever do get the power to do this, we need to be BOLD & add 20 justices, with Democrats choosing 10 & Republicans choosing 10. Then have cases heard by panels of 9 justices. The panels would be chosen at random at the beginning of each session.
This would prevent the tit for tat of each party adding or subtracting to the court when they are in power.
I highly recommend him, Elie is funny to listen to, but has enormously sound reasoning.
The scotus could hear more cases & expanding it like that w
As a woman, who has PTSD from being sexually assaulted, every day with trump and his mentally deranged followers, feels like ongoing abuse. I was also attacked as a teacher by 3 six graders, who said, “Trump says we can do this and you are going to be killed by my dad’s State Trooper friend.” Needless to say, I took very early retirement. Like E Jean, I have a big dog who helps me feel more safe and do good deeds to offset some of this existential anxiety.
OMG Charlie, that is horrible to have happened to you. As the stats support, at least 1 in 3 women have been sexually assaulted or raped. I was raped by an ex-bf who had been stalking me.
That you were physically assaulted by 12-13 yr old kids is devastating to hear, I just can’t imagine how terrifying that was, not to mention them saying a state trooper was going to kill you….smh. But that kind of thing is what happens when all they hear in their home & the homes of their friends is anger, resentment, & hatred.
I am very sorry that happened to you P.J. My heart goes out to you and other women and children. Men as well. We have to stick together in this world. Stalking is a horrendous, ongoing nightmare. My stalker would have killed me and did try, but was not successful due in part to a man, I did not know well, reporting it to the D.A. I had reported it earlier and did not get a restraining order from the sexist judge. This guy HAD been physically assaulted by same guy. Once HE reports that, my case was then taken seriously. Yeah that’s the world we live in. I’m very happy that women and men have stepped forward, at a great price, mind you, and publicly reported their stories. Trump has exacerbated the problem, of course, with his hatred of all things female, gay, lesbian, trans, special needs- anyone the least bit different. It’s open season. We have to fight like hell to get rid of him. Vote blue.
Thanks. Yes a friend was almost raped yesterday by two men outside on the beach while collecting rocks. We just started trading assault stories this morning and our male friend was stunned. He couldn’t believe it. He is very kind, but by his own admission, so removed from women’s reality. Wake up dudes. Happens ALL THE TIME. She is very tough and the Australian Shepherd was a real threat to these two. She also carries a gun and almost used it. I use gel mace and also have a larger cattle dog. Guys- if you see a woman walking or running with a large dog, do not bother her. Chances are, she’s been assaulted and does not want to chit chat with you.
Men waste literally millions of sperm when they have a certain idea and act on it. An embroyo is part sperm, part egg, which makes the sperm half a person. Where is the outrage over the death of millions of sperm?
If you think my comments are nonsense, you are correct. Mark Robinson telling a woman that her body is no longer hers because she is pregnant is nonsense too.
I’ve been saying this for years as an abortion activist in the late 60’s. The sperm part of the equation was never considered holy. All the drama revolves around controlling women. We won’t allow it! Women are going to vote blue in November.
Katherine, Just wanted to thank you for being an activist back then when I was going thru my teens, & especially for you & others like you, trying to warn us that this was where they were gradually taking us.
Biden must win 4 more years & I really hope we can pick up seats in both Houses so we can slow down the taking of our rights, or best case, turn it around.
It's a point I was going to raise. I don't know if you ever saw The Meaning of Life, the last film Monty Python made after The Life of Brian. It has a sketch were Michael Palin, a Roman Catholic who loses his job and informs his numerous children that he's going to have to sell them for scientific research. It ends with a song and dance routine “Every Sperm is Sacred”, with hundreds of children appearing from every nook and cranny, every cupboard, chest of drawers, climaxing in Michael leading thousands of children down the village's main road, all of them singing the song. After all, it is the logical conclusion of their argument.
Sometimes I wish there really was a god because I'd love to see the look of sheer shock, horror and disbelief when they find themselves in hell. What might a suitable punishment be? Maybe being made to give birth to an Action Man doll (I believe you call them GI Joes in the US? Of course we mustn't call them dolls. That'd be girly. Good God, man, they're ‘action figures’, what are you trying to do? Make our boys effeminate? 🙃) through the urethra of course. A comedienne once described giving birth as akin to this just to give us men an idea, so I can't take credit for the idea) one for every sperm they've wasted, that hasn't led to fertilization. What d'you think, at ten minute intervals, each ‘labour’ lasting ½ an hour? That would allow them to anticipate the excruciating agony that's about to repeat itself and they'd be there for a very, very long time. Maybe 15' between births? You'd have the occasional tricky one, breach, some taking days. We'll be merciful and let them have an extra ten minutes recovery time. When they've finally given birth to their last doll, all of which would be squabbling for their attention, whining and crying “It's not fair!” choking them by the sheer pressure of numbers we could say, “No, I don't think you've really repented, you still don't see how vile and evil you were. Start again!” I'm not normally a vindictive person, but these absolute shits, if that's not an insult to shit, make me so angry and I want them to feel the pain, suffering and injustice they've caused. It would be poetic justice, a fitting punishment.
Naturally, as I've said in a previous reply, these men's attitudes actually have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with their inadequacy and petrifying fear and resentment of women's sexuality and the power they have over them. Men's lust is never their fault, it's the woman's, because they have bodies. If it weren't so intensely disturbing it would be pathetic. I don't believe I've really ever grown up. In many ways I'm still an childlike, but compared to these miserable excuses for human beings I'm positively mature well beyond my 64 years. In my case, the lack of ‘growing up’ manifests itself in a childlike wonder at the universe and our consciousness, a certain kind of naïvity. What it isn't and theirs is, is childishness. That petulant “It's not fair!” because things don't work the way they want them to or people don't agree with them. Someone's richer, has a nicer car, house, briefcase, a prettier wife. They think everything's a competition and they should be the winners at all of them and if they lose… “It's not fair! You cheated! How could I, I!, possibly lose? I'm the greatest, I'm the cleverest, I'm the purest, I'm the holiest.” 🙄. It's not competition, that misinterpretation of ‘survival of the fittest’, it's cooperation that's made us the dominant species and that's led to all our greatest achievements.
There's a song on the album “We're Only in It for the Money” by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention called “What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body” which I'm always reminded of. The lyrics go:
What's the ugliest part of your body?
What's the ugliest part of your body?
Some think it's your nose
Some think it's your toes
But I think it's your mind 😂
Pretty scathing, huh? It's sung in a kind of do-wop, ballad like way. I laughed out loud the first time I heard it and it still makes me smile when I think of it. And of course it's also true.
Love your cinematic and musical tastes. Frank Zappa was as stunning a song writer as he & The Mothers were performers.
Monty Python is without rival in humor and satire. ❤️
Thank you, it's sweet of you to say so ☺️. It would be immodest of me to say so, but I agree. Obviously you too have excellent taste. ❤️
I came back to finish this and very glad I did. It is very well written and makes so many good points. Perhaps we’ll all break through the incredibly dense media barrage and make our simple message heard. Thank you, Nicholas.
Love your ideas Nicholas. I’m feeling just as angry & vengeful as you are these days.
Just as I’m angry & wish vengeance upon all of the anti-opioid fear mongers out there who are taking pain meds away from veterans & others who suffer from incurable pain conditions. He’ll, they are even depriving people in acute pain, like post-op joint replacements & even people dying with cancer. It’s a horrific situation & I firmly hope the ones inflicting the pain & torture get to experience the same; sooner rather than later.
Noted “jurist” Hale tried women as witches. That’s who Alito idolizes.
Beyond belief frankly. But true.
This jumped out at me as I realized that women, at least half the voting citizens of this country, were now having their healthcare rights abrogated by some 17th century dude who held no medical degree. Are you shitting me? Is Alito out of his fucking mind?
Yes he is, but Thomas is just as bad. Really all of the extreme religious fanatics are out of their fucking minds
Just notice how much more corrupt Thomas is with his “social conflict of interest” that is seen when one reads Dobbs and sees he wants all to take a look again at “same sex marriage” but conveniently, he doesn’t mention a wish to look again at “miscegenation” or “mixed race marriage” such as he and Ginny have. (That’s what the “Loving” case had been about.)
Bingo! The Handmaid, who is a member of the culist offshoot, who hides behind Catholicism called "People of Praise" who have a survivor support group, for the sexually abused (by design) organization.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/21/amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-trauma-abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/03/fbi-people-of-praise-amy-coney-barrett-faith-group-abuse-allegations
Oh man, total barf worthy 🤢
They're fantasists. They think there's literally a god who has a long white beard and is, of course, male who sits up there and watches over each and every one of us. Because he loves us. That's why he lets babies drown in overcrowded rubber dinghys because their parents are so desperate that they leave their friends and family, everything they've ever owned or loved behind and make an incredibly dangerous and perilous crossing over the sea because even that is better.
Kurt Vonnegut postulated the ‘church of god the wholly indifferent’. If there really is such a being, they are far more likely to be like that: utterly and totally disinterested and couldn't care less.
Actually, female births outnumber male births by roughly 51:49. I think that's a good thing too, at least in my opinion and not just because I'm more attracted to women than men. I have to say that I have more closer make friends than female, but not all that much: around ⅔ male to ⅓ female. It would indicate that, on a purely biological perspective, women are more important than men from a survival of the species POV. It's just sad that so many women seem to feel that they have to compete with men in the political arena. I'm coming at this from my UK based view where the, in my opinion, must toxic viewpoints come from the ethnically diverse women :Suella ‘Cruella’ Braverman – who was proud to say that under her watch her parents wouldn't have been allowed into the UK!? – Pritti Patel, Kimi Badenoch. I don't expect any US readers to know any of these people, maybe Cruella, although they held quite prominent positions in the last 14 years of Tory (= conservative party) rule. Cruella proudly proclaims that multi-culturalism has been an abject failure in the UK when it seems clear to me that the opposite is true. The British approach, as opposed to the French, has worked. I need to clarify my reasoning for this. The French approach has been that as an immigrant to France you become French and must divest yourself of any aspects of your culture or personality that make you ‘unfrench’. The British approach has been a ‘live and let live’ one. As a musician, that has enriched my horizons hugely and has given an enormous boost to my creativity. I believe that the UK has ‘batted way above its average’ and I would argue that it's its acceptance and tolerance of foreign cultures and influences that has made a major contribution to that – incidentally it's also the strength of its language, its willingness to adopt foreign words, assimilate and absorb them. You could, quite justifiably, say that that's cultural approbation, but I think it's preferable to the alternative, just as long as we give credit and gratitude where it's due. Put it another way, when I meet someone I don't want to meet a doppelganger, I want to meet someone who challenges my preconceptions, someone who gives me new ideas and opens me up to new influences and someone who does that in a kindly way.
There's no perfect answer to any of these questions – interestingly enough and appropriate, someone once asked my dad what it was like to be brought up bilingual. He replied that it teaches you there's never just one answer (I wouldn't have come up with such an interesting answer although he was 14 when his family moved back to Berlin – his mother was Jewish, whereas I was seven when we first moved to the UK for a year and when I first learned English) – but that just adds to the richness of our combined experiences and perspectives. Vive la différence! Variety of the spice of life.
I think it is always better to be bilingual or even multilingual. It’s good for our brains & good for society as a whole.
Just one of many reasons I think Secy Pete may make a great president some day, he speaks several languages
Definitely, I entirely agree on both points. Thinking in another language gives a different perspective, one I've often found useful. When my son was about six he asked me if I could choose any superpower, what would it be? After a little thought I told him I'd chose to understand and be able to reply in any language/form of communication, so including whale song, the noises dolphins make, the colours octopods use, even the bleeps whistles and white noise you got from modems, He was disappointed, “That's really lame, dad.” Two days later he came back and said, “Actually, dad, I've changed my mind, I think that would be really cool.”! Sadly, my measley three don't come close, especially as they're all Latin root (German, English & French).
Peter Ustinov spoke seven languages fluently (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian &, I think, Portuguese) and his accent was perfect. If you can find it, I recommend his 1959 recording of ‘The Grand Prix of Gibraltar’. He uses quite a few of his languages and it's extremely funny (I can vouch for the German accents in particular; he didn't use the stereotypical one you'll find in all the WWII films, but two very different and genuine ones). What's more, he improvised most of it and not content with the languages and accents he also does all the sound effects. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.
The GQP has to keep classifying life as starting younger and younger so Matt Gaetz Mr. Floorboardhead keeps having fresh toddlers to date.
And every male Duggar, and youth pastors...
Ouch! 🤣
Alito has been qoted at one of his right-wing interviews that the US society went 'wrong' in the 60's and he wants to erase those gains. He has already begun.
Claudia, thank you. Excellent horror story of our reality.
For years when people would ask “who among the famous people would you want to invite to a dinner party?” I would respond “the Obamas, Jane Goodall, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, the Clooneys, (among half a dozen others) and I now add ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕦𝕕𝕚𝕒 𝕃𝕠𝕟𝕘, 𝕁𝕖𝕗𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕖𝕕𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙, ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 ℂ𝕠𝕩 ℝ𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕤𝕠𝕟, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕁𝕠𝕪𝕔𝕖 𝕍𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖.“
A few years back an Alabama woman was jailed for being shot whilst pregnant. Apparently it was her responsibility to not put the pregnancy in danger. I believe she got 5 years.
Anyone who still thinks Ayatollahs only happen to Muslims needs to wake up fast.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/us/charges-dropped-alabama-woman-pregnant.html
If this is the same incident, charges are dropped by the prosecutor.
I remember hearing about this incident & being appalled at the woman being charged. I’m glad to hear the charges were dropped; but with idiocy like “fetal personhood” being made law, this will happen more & more.
Looks like the same case. Thanks for the update.
WTF? What is the matter with these people? Every time I think they've reached the absolute dregs of depravity they pull something like this. Someone should shoot him and then charge him for letting himself be shot, an irresponsible waste of medical resources 🙄. It beggars belief. Some friends and I decided to come up with a scale of stupidity. If I remember correctly it went fool, clown, idiot, imbecile, moron and cretin, but we're going to have to invent new words for this kind of lunacy.
With Oligarchy economics in charge in America, we’re already half-Russian.
Now all we need is a Dictator to be the next Democratic casualty. To establish a facist government - just like in Russia - a country with a constitutional democracy, at least on paper.
This is how fucked we are.
Kevin, I recently commented that we here in America, need to start calling these people like Seid, Crow, Leo, Singer, Thiele, Bezos, etc American Oligarchs. They control so much wealth & are able to give such huge amts to non-profits & add perks to the basic income of scotus justices that they are able to govern our lives; just like in Russia.
It’s disgusting, so at this point we have, in fact, become almost as bad as Russia; just need the dictator in the Presidency that can be manipulated with money & flattery, to do what they want done.
When I mentioned the American oligarchs giving to non-profits, I meant orgs like Alliance Defending Freedom, Turning Point USA, & other such orgs that are working day & night to strip our freedoms away from us - not the kind that actually house the homeless or feed the hungry.
Yes, they never fund actual charities that might do some good!
Nancy Pelosi, “republicans believe that life begins at a candlelight dinner”.
That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.
- Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower
So well done. Thank you. Your essays always have me drop whatever I’m doing.
Waiting for the day when one can be arrested for throwing out a used condom (or are we already there and I missed it?)
Yet where is their support for children who have actually been born? Zip, zero, nada. No early childhood development funds, defunding school lunches and after school programs. A-OK to shoot them down in school.
That’s the missing piece that no one wants to talk about. Why is that? Might it be because it would cost tax dollars (lots!) to address treating those unwanted children well?
They are in the process of privatizing it, so they can steal it all, in the name of their god.
The gentlemen of the South have been have been appropriating others bodies for 400 years.
"gentlemen" as in Gentlemen's club, a/k/a drooling, lecherous, grabby-handed dudes, that don't 'do' consent!
Theocracy is an unholy alliance between those like minded persons who think any crime is justified, if a supreme entity is invoked during the act of the crime.
Well NC is trending purple. It currently has a Democrat in the governors mansion. There’s a lot of young people in the triangle and Asheville who will not like what they’re hearing.
I think the more NC hears his batshit, racist, anti semitic, religious zealotry the more he’ll go down in flames. And he’ll take half the legislature with him.
This may work out.
Hell I’d put NC in Joes column.
That would certainly be great if the current term-limited Dem Gov gets replaced by the Dem who is running against that bat shit crazy antisemitic, anti woman, Robinson.
That man is absolutely terrifying
seriously? asheville, hip cool asheville voted for madison cawthorne. they aren't to be trusted.
Yeah, Asheville is full of money, thus full of Republicans, Cawthorne is evidence of it.
That’s one district. But to your point, the Dems have no one to blame but themselves if they lose this.
Seriously the ads write themselves. Just put that lunatic’s ravings on repeat in all media.
Good point! I’d like to see a “man (or woman) on the street” interview from serious journalists visit the constituents of these dumber than a door knob MAGA extremists in Congress to find out what these people are thinking, electing & re-electing these fools?
I respect everyone’s religion, however, I will fight like hell to make sure their religion beliefs do not interfere with mine!
I respect our Constitution and I will fight like hell against anyone’s wanting to incorporate religion into to it to pass any laws! There’s a reason for separation of church and state/government!
This country was built on religious freedom, so anyone trying to change that, must be voted out of office or impeached based on our Constitution. This means all those whose jobs are to protect it!
I don’t believe the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is a valid one because it was based on religious beliefs and not our Constitutional rights! Their decision must be appealed!
Everyone have a wonderful evening! 😊💙💙👍🏾
The problem with the AL decision being appealed to the scotus is that we know ahead of time what their decision will be. This IS the whole point of the AL case being brought at all. Leonard Leo & many others in The Federalist Society have been chipping away at all of our rights by carefully choosing these cases, & then shepherding them up through the appeals courts, to District Courts, & all the way to the SCOTUS.
It has been a deliberate process going on for at least 50 yrs. They have very quietly worked to get conservative judges put into place in as many of these courts as possible, & when McConnell had the audacity to block Obama’s pick during his final term, they were ready to strike.
Now with that 6/3 very conservative religious extremists in place, there is no longer any need to remain secretive about what they are doing.
They can make outrageous unconstitutional rulings & there’s not a damned thing we can do about it; unless we can get a 60 seat majority in the Senate & maybe also need a 2/3 majority in the House. We are totally screwed for many yrs, even decades to come. We & the people that we elected, fell asleep at the wheel & allowed this to happen.
Democrats don’t really have a “Society” to find young Progressives in college who are planning to attend law school & mentor them all the way through to becoming Federally appointed judges. We must do that
We must get the message through to voters that every election counts, but especially who they put in State Legislatures & elected judges.
Religion, like everything else was created to control humans.
This is what nightmares are made of. Vote blue.
If President Biden wins re-election and has both Houses of congress, he will drive over 4 new rational and liberal justices on the back of a D9 bulldozer and end the Revanchists' rapture.
I’m not sure I believe that. The last I heard, Biden is very opposed to expanding the court. IF by some miracle he & our Democrats are in favor of changing the court, they ALL need to read Elie Mystal’s book
Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution or at least listen to a few episodes of his podcast, Contempt of Court. Listen to the one where he explains that if Democrats ever do get the power to do this, we need to be BOLD & add 20 justices, with Democrats choosing 10 & Republicans choosing 10. Then have cases heard by panels of 9 justices. The panels would be chosen at random at the beginning of each session.
This would prevent the tit for tat of each party adding or subtracting to the court when they are in power.
I highly recommend him, Elie is funny to listen to, but has enormously sound reasoning.
The scotus could hear more cases & expanding it like that w
This gave me a sliver of hope
You made my day Charlie. Keep the Hope.
As a woman, who has PTSD from being sexually assaulted, every day with trump and his mentally deranged followers, feels like ongoing abuse. I was also attacked as a teacher by 3 six graders, who said, “Trump says we can do this and you are going to be killed by my dad’s State Trooper friend.” Needless to say, I took very early retirement. Like E Jean, I have a big dog who helps me feel more safe and do good deeds to offset some of this existential anxiety.
OMG Charlie, that is horrible to have happened to you. As the stats support, at least 1 in 3 women have been sexually assaulted or raped. I was raped by an ex-bf who had been stalking me.
That you were physically assaulted by 12-13 yr old kids is devastating to hear, I just can’t imagine how terrifying that was, not to mention them saying a state trooper was going to kill you….smh. But that kind of thing is what happens when all they hear in their home & the homes of their friends is anger, resentment, & hatred.
I am very sorry that happened to you P.J. My heart goes out to you and other women and children. Men as well. We have to stick together in this world. Stalking is a horrendous, ongoing nightmare. My stalker would have killed me and did try, but was not successful due in part to a man, I did not know well, reporting it to the D.A. I had reported it earlier and did not get a restraining order from the sexist judge. This guy HAD been physically assaulted by same guy. Once HE reports that, my case was then taken seriously. Yeah that’s the world we live in. I’m very happy that women and men have stepped forward, at a great price, mind you, and publicly reported their stories. Trump has exacerbated the problem, of course, with his hatred of all things female, gay, lesbian, trans, special needs- anyone the least bit different. It’s open season. We have to fight like hell to get rid of him. Vote blue.
Thanks. Yes a friend was almost raped yesterday by two men outside on the beach while collecting rocks. We just started trading assault stories this morning and our male friend was stunned. He couldn’t believe it. He is very kind, but by his own admission, so removed from women’s reality. Wake up dudes. Happens ALL THE TIME. She is very tough and the Australian Shepherd was a real threat to these two. She also carries a gun and almost used it. I use gel mace and also have a larger cattle dog. Guys- if you see a woman walking or running with a large dog, do not bother her. Chances are, she’s been assaulted and does not want to chit chat with you.
Oh my goodness iam so sorry this happened to you