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Posts Tagged ‘Rome’

Surveillance video is the great equalizer.  – Andrew Celli Jr. & Wylie Stecklow

I was never much of a KISS fan, but a little research points to this as the proper sendoff for Ace Frehley.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Mike SiegelIncarcerNation, Violet Blue, The Onion, Nun Ya, and Jesse Walker, in that order.


From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Do they want more "moderate" in the artificial playground "left-right" sense, or do they just mean more NORMAL, ie being able to go through their lives without having to be concerned that deranged politicians will set it on fire or send armed thugs to murder them for stuff that was legal yesterday?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T18:10:38.994Z

As will all the politicians who stood by making speeches while it happened.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-16T03:16:41.915Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-17T18:19:44.079Z

It's amazingly sad that even with things going as they are, a huge number of fools STILL think it's a GOOD thing to have political extremists running a country unchecked by other views.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-18T18:12:52.796Z

THIS THIS THIS!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-19T18:39:26.767Z

THIS THIS THIS.Protest their homes, their workplaces, any public places they appear in. Never give them one minute's peace.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-20T18:38:39.433Z

"The finest legal minds of the Trump DOJ" is akin to "the loftiest mountains in Louisiana".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-22T03:37:32.541Z

{sings}No need to remember when'Cause everything old is new again!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-22T17:48:06.420Z

This is like testing your brakes by heading at 120 mph toward a cliff on loose sand.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-23T17:43:09.252Z

Yes, this is a grown man (who is a billionaire and soi-disant "genius") responding to criticism with, "No I'm not, you are."How long before he progresses to, "I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say…"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-24T18:38:25.391Z

Remember when a large number of argumentative morons needed to agree before we were saddled with economy-damaging tariffs, instead of ONE moron being able to inflict them on a whim?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T17:44:09.460Z

Which is why boots should be Constitutionally prohibited from touching anyone above the knee.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T18:05:07.827Z

Presumably, politicians and cops will be granted standing immunity to this law.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-28T18:11:27.161Z

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” – H.L. Mencken

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T18:12:31.925Z

In the entire history of "futurism", has anyone calling themselves a "futurist" ever been right about ANYthing that wasn't already a foregone conclusion?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T08:55:30.615Z

Actually, trusting tech "geniuses" is a lot like trusting the algorithms they dishonestly & inaccurately call "AI".Both have their uses for organizing and delivering information, but it's a disaster to pretend either has the capacity for normal human judgment.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T18:00:42.050Z

"Drifting"? More like "hurtling".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-06T18:22:05.707Z

Future historians will tag "American exceptionalism" as a big factor in the country's downfall; most Americans are so wedded to the concept that the US is an exception to any and every sociopolitical process, that they're unable to recognize what they'd see immediately if it were another country.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-09T19:24:46.058Z

"I'm willing to let my own kids die rather than admit I'm an ignoramus who believes the claims of idiots," said Slackjaw H. Yokel.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-11T17:15:43.471Z

Please, journalists, follow this man's example in calling a spade a spade. Trump is a madman; he is utterly deranged and completely delusional, and y'all need to start saying so. Continuing to pretend a raving lunatic is a "stable genius" will only multiply the damage he's doing.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-12T18:01:05.833Z

I really, really wish Americans could develop a moral sense more complex than "if x is the bad guy, anti-x must be a good guy".In real life (as opposed to TV), evil people's PRIMARY opponents are other evil people of a different faction.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T17:29:55.060Z

It would be such a beautiful thing if history were to repeat itself today, March 15.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T07:37:47.212Z

Qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-03-16T17:49:03.670Z

 

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Lunch on me, guys.  –  “Officer” Andy Urrutia

This was the only proper choice to honor the departure of Glynis Johns; she was the first to perform this song and Sondheim said hers was always his favorite.  The links above the video were provided by Tim Cushing, Matt Welch, Clarissa, Scott Hechinger, Phoenix Calida, IncarcerNation, and Dan Savage, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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If thou have a great black bowl in thy hand and it be full of good ale and thou leave anything therein, thou puttest thy soul into greater pain.  –  The Heege Manuscript

I recently saw a Twitter thread asking for people’s favorite David Bowie songs, and I honestly have to say this is mine; I’ve liked it ever since it was in heavy rotation when the film came out.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker; Lenore Skenazy; Kevin Wilson; Jesse Walker again; Radley Balko; Elizabeth N. Brown; and Conner Habib, Dan SavageFranklin Harris, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Please don’t kill my husband.  –  Shameka Smith

Grace suggested this video to commemorate the passing of guitar legend Jeff Beck; I was unfamiliar with it, but less than 60 seconds in I knew it was the right choice.  The inks above the video were provided by Dan Savage, Mama Tush, Clarissa (x2), Mike Siegel, and Cop Crisis (x2), in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Is anybody out there?  –  “Metaverse gala” attendee

Not an especially seasonal selection, but it seemed the appropriate one for the death of its composer.  The links above the video were provided by Ed Krayewski; Amy Alkon; Radley Balko; Cop Crisis (x2); Jesse Walker, Mike Siegel, and Ally Fogg; and Clarissa, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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I didn’t know anything about building careers. Somehow I still have a career.  –  Sally Kellerman

If you don’t know the name, enjoy this video of the first percussion-driven #1 hit in Billboard history.  The links above it were provided by Jason Kuznicki; Yasmin Nair; Clarissa; Mike SiegelJesse Walker; and Cop Crisis (x2), in that order.

From the Archives

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Pretending that ordinary incidents are dangerous and ordinary objects are toxic recalibrates reality.  –  Lenore Skenazy

I’m really pleased to see that others are beginning to mock the kindergarten pretense that there is some meaningful difference between authoritarians who call themselves “left” and those who take the label “right”.  We’ve seen these guys before, but this example was provided by Franklin Harris; the links above it are from Lenore Skenazy, Emma Evans, Cop Crisis, Walter Olson, Amy Alkon, and Emma again, in that order.

From the Archives

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Death is what gives life meaning, and fighting excessively against it is as childish and futile as the behavior of a toddler who refuses to let another child take his place on the carousel once his ride is done.  –  “Thanatopsis

Every year on the Day of the Dead I write about the inevitability and goodness of Death.  Yes, I said “goodness”; as I wrote in “Eternity“, “Eternal life wouldn’t be a gift; it would be a horror literally beyond imagining.”  I’ve never been especially afraid of death; part of that is due to the fact that “I was a strange, wild, moody Wednesday Addams of a child, born on Halloween night and fascinated with horror lore and imagery.  Autumn was both my native season and the one in which I felt most comfortable” The rest, of course, was a combination of chronic depression and ruthless pragmatism; for much of my life I endured long periods in which I would have viewed death as a welcome release, and even when I was in a cheerier frame of mind I was still rational enough to recognize that the continuance of life for any given creature requires the regular deaths of countless others.  But it wasn’t until my forties that I started become really philosophical about mortality, and only five years ago did I really start to deeply ponder its spiritual dimension.  The latter development was not merely due to age, though that undoubtedly helped put me in the right headspace; a catalyst was required, and that catalyst was edible cannabis.  I started experimenting with what are typically and not-entirely-correctly called “recreational drugs” near the end of 2014, and though several of them gave me very rewarding experiences with others, it was the psychedelic experiences I had from using largish doses of edible cannabis alone (or more accurately, without human company) that opened the doors to the Infinite and gave me a perspective on death, the soul and my place in Everything which eventually led to a spiritual peace unlike any I had ever known.  I was far from alone; those who refuse to be bound by the Puritanism which has trapped modern humanity in a death-grip have for decades tried to tell everyone else about the healing and mind-expanding power of psychedelic drugs, and since the 1990s studies have increasingly demonstrated the power of such substancies to alleviate depression, PTSD and other mental health issues.  But this is not a new discovery, it is, rather, a rediscovery of truths known to our ancestors millenia ago:

…sacred tripping was not simply a function of prehistoric religious rituals and shamanism, but an integral, even central part, of the world of the ancient Greeks….The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion With No Name, by Brian Muraresku…shows…the centrality of psychedelic use…in an elaborate and mysterious once-in-a-lifetime ceremony at the Temple of Eleusis, a short distance from Athens.  We’ve long known about…the Mysteries…and the rite of passage they offered — because it’s everywhere in the record.  Many leading Greeks and Romans went there, including Plato and Marcus Aurelius…The Greeks and Romans went to Eleusis only once in their lives, like the Muslim hajj, to participate in a nocturnal rite, and were sworn to secrecy as to what went on.  But the constant theme in the ancient literature around this ritual is that it somehow took the sting of death away.  “Death is for mortals no longer an evil, but a blessing” was the phrase attached to it…Historians and classicists have long pondered what this meant and what exactly happened, but all agree that it required drinking a special brew.  And new discoveries of ancient chalices and cups — and new techniques of testing ancient residue — have begun to suggest what made these archaic potions so special…they contained countless herbs and spices and ingredients, among them, critically, elements of ergot, a fungus that infected barley and rye and had potent hallucinogenic effects…Another re-examined excavation in Pompeii found the preserved remains at the bottom of large barrels jars dated to 79 CE:  chemical analysis found it included seeds of cannabis, opium, and hallucinogenic nightshades.  The recipe for the psychedelic brew and the preparation of it was restricted to women, who passed on the secret recipes from mother to daughter, and was the particular preserve of older women.  The effect, we’re told in the sources, was transformative: you saw past life and death, you became unafraid of your own mortality, you gained perspective and inner peace…
When I read this article a few days ago, I wasn’t really surprised; I have long understood that knowledge is cyclic, and many truths are gained, lost, and gained again, not merely on a societal level but in the lives of individuals treading paths new to us, but well-worn by countless others.  And my own life is replete with “coincidences” and “happenstances” which are in actuality nothing but; I see them as the Hand of the Divine, though you of course are free to draw your own conclusions.  I do not have access to the sacred recipe for the transformative cocktail at the center of The Mysteries, and yet I nonetheless have followed in the footsteps of my many-times-great-grandmeres by offering to others the wisdom that mortality is not a thing to fear, but rather a blessing to accept when it comes to us in the fullness of time.

 

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Boo fucking hoo.  –  “Officer” Michael Valva

Forget those incredibly annoying songs written for children by adults; this one was written by a child, three-year-old Fenn Rosenthal (with a little help from her daddy Tom on the music).  It was called to my attention by Mama Tush; the links above it were provided by Melanie Moore, Tim Cushing, Walter Olson, Cop Crisis, Amy Alkon, Cop Crisis again and Dave Krueger, in that order.

From the Archives

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