OT ~ Welcome to Saturday!

Sit-a-while
on swinging porch
where tin-dippers and
sweet water
in cool touches
meet lips
from hand dug wells.

“Our origins are of the earth. And so there is in us a deeply seated response to the natural universe, which is part of our humanity” ~ Rachel Carson


Good morning good people,
Writing on the fly this morning as things got in the way last evening and words would not flow. Something a Texas Parrish priest said on cable this week rolls in my being, upsetting me and upon returning to Carson's quote this morning her use of humanity cleared the way a little.

Humanity is natural. As natural as the umbilical connection between mother and child, undeniably natural. And in this context of nature, i ask along with millions "Why separate children from their parents when asylum seekers plead for a place of peace, a life separate from strafes left behind thousands of miles away in many cases?

Inhumane isn't large enough word, it is unnatural, a cardinal disruption which speaks volumes about the people of the US of A.

The priest is acquainted with the 1400 overflowing former Walmart prison. Some of the children apparently attend his services as well.

"The children tell me that they are happy to have a roof over their head and three meals a day," the priest said to the journalist.

A roof over their head and three meals a day...can't stop thinking about this and all that it implies; happy to have food and shelter... how bout mother and what do toddlers say?

In a world where nearly 20 people are forcibly displaced every minute, the UN refuge agency says we are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record.

An unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.

There are also 10 million stateless people who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.

And here in our country, our overlords send the world a message or so they reason sitting in gilded halls eating fat so thick as to remove themselves from nature becoming non-beings to me.

Perhaps a new message stirs in the wind waiting for delivery as only Mother knows how, i pray so.

Thanks for letting me share this morning.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-APh1bu34]

Although these days, one could replace God with The Market and Divine Right of Kings with Divine Right of Capital.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

smiley7's picture

@The Aspie Corner
metamorphosis.

Thanks for the vid and hoping you have a great weekend.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@The Aspie Corner

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

CS in AZ's picture

@enhydra lutris

At about 15 minutes in, hubby (who had been watching the rain — finally, rain!!! ) it caught his attention and he put it on big tv — he’s riveted.

We just put Alpha God on our audiobook list for next up.

Love this. I was hooked when he said “I just try to be fiercely honest about these things, because we need to be.” And yes, he is.

Thanks Aspie for sharing this. Wonderful find.

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Azazello's picture

@CS in AZ
It's not really a typical monsoon though. It's more like a winter rain; gentle, steady, not much wind. I've got this on the big TV: 24 Hours of LeMans

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

CS in AZ's picture

@Azazello

Just what the desert needs right now. Been a long dry spell, everything is very thirsty.

We have a king snake that has taken up residence in our backyard, we let it stay because they eat rattlers. He’s currently taking refuge on the back patio, as his usual hiding places under the vines along the back are all full of water. Happy plants, yay!

Car racing? not my thing... our TV is off again now, and the dogs want a walk. They apparently don’t find the fact it’s raining to be relevant to this routine.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@CS in AZ our nexy camping trip.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

smiley7's picture

@The Aspie Corner

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mhagle's picture

@The Aspie Corner

I really appreciate the video Aspie. Thanks for the great OT smiley.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

smiley7's picture

@mhagle
Joseph Campbell describes the peyote ritual found amongst Native Americans in north-western Mexico.
"These missions are mystical journeys with all of the details of the typical mystical journey. First, there is disengagement from secular life. Everybody who is going to go on this expedition has to make a complete confession of all the faults of his or her recent living. And if they don't, the magic is not going to work. Then they start on the journey. They even speak a special language, a negative language. Instead of saying yes, for example, they say no, or instead of saying, "We are going," they say, "We are coming." They are in another world. Then they come to the threshold of the adventure. There are special shrines that represent stages of mental transformation on the way. And then comes the great business of collecting the peyote. The peyote is killed as though it were a deer. They sneak up on it, shoot a little arrow at it, and then perform the ritual of collecting the peyote. The whole thing is a complete duplication of the kind of experience that is associated with the inward journey, when you leave the outer world and come into the realm of spiritual beings. They identify each little stage as a spiritual transformation. They are in a sacred place all the way."

Have a great one!

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@The Aspie Corner Thanks for posting it. It's now on my reading list. Who knew this prof was in San Antonio?
That is something of a miracle.

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enhydra lutris's picture

we have great numbers of home-grown homeless who we mostly have neither any desire nor any plan to care for and generally try to drive off so that they'll be somebody else's problem. Some officious one noted the other day that the camps for. these children are very like prisons, ignoring the irony that we are expert at imprisoning children, imprisoning huge numbers of our own.

Those horrid ones committing gluttony and waste, heartlessness and hatred that you refer to are arguably unnatural in their behavior, though probably part of nature nonetheless. We can't fathom their motives, thought processes, culture, or instincts in any way that permits us to empathize with them. Empathy requires the agility to see with their eyes, to feel what they feel and think like they do, and we cannot. From that perspective, they are alien to us. We can surmise and "identify" some of the "culture", ideologies and religious forces driving and motivating them, but we cannot grok those components of their worldview any more than we can grok the entirety. Nonetheless, we must be reticent to see them as completely other. That is a step down a steep and slippery slope that leads to fully understanding them through becoming what they are. They very possibly lie sleeping in the vestigal lizard brain structures of us all.

It is easy to envision stripping one such from power and isolating them in such fashion as to prevent them from ever again doing harm to others. Doing so to the entire class, especially when it is a globally controlling class, is a different puzzle. It is one that humankind has yet to solve, but almost certainly requires new structures and paradigms.

Have a good weekend all the same.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

smiley7's picture

steep reminding me that the evil doers were born human, too.

"The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.~ Lewis Mumford

Cheers for your thoughtful comment and i hope your weekend is splendid and those 'pesty' tiny white insects have disappeared from your garden.

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detroitmechworks's picture

all over the camps. Right down to the art on the wall. Some poor enlisted man who could draw probably got tipped an hour of overtime to draw Der Fuhrer in his glory.

The Deja vu as I looked at the photos was palpable. The mats for sleeping on the floor, which are usually provided to homeless. (You have to pack it in and out every night, especially if you are given permission to sleep on a church floor.) The perfectly buffed floor that you know some poor fool had to do on work detail. And everywhere, the simple chain link fence that requires the minimum amount of work to maintain, and yet sends the clear message of containment.

The camps are as American as can be.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XtgJZRz0l0]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

smiley7's picture

@detroitmechworks
prison it is. Just heard Bishop Barber lambast the powerful including Franklin Graham as articulately as can be delivered. Wish i could share his diatribe.

Read last evening that MIC contractors were salivating over the money making potential Trump and Sessions and the nation's white racist policies will provide.

I've as many have watched this coming for decades, fought many battles, even won some, yet still they march into the confines of children's brains co-opting humans for material gain.

When will they ever learn plays in this morning's head and PJ prompts me to share this old tune...

Really enjoyed your insight, cheers, writing in hopes your weekend is wonderful!

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Azazello's picture

We're about 3 1/2 hours in now. Toyota is leading. I look for them to win overall since Porsche and Audi have no entries in the LMP1 class. The best racing will probably be Ford v. Porsche in GT Pro. Live stream here, courtesy of Ford: Le Mans LIVE, official ACO website here: Automobile Club de l'Oueste

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

smiley7's picture

@Azazello
as tomorrow is Father's Day your post brings my Dad closer as he loved auto racing of all kinds. I've regretted for years not taking him to a race in his latter years.

I'll take in a little later today and have fond memories.

Happy to read you folks are getting some rain; guess you can expect blossoms to flourish soon.

Enjoy the race and have a great weekend!

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Azazello's picture

@smiley7
I only follow a few races each year, the ones that have some history behind them. There's Le Mans, Pikes Peak later this month and the Baja 1000 in November. Maybe I'll check Paris-Dakar, which now takes place in South America. Rain is always sweet for desert dwellers, especially since we're in a long-term drought. The plants may not flourish but at least they won't die.
Cheers.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

smiley7's picture

@Azazello
forgetting something. Smile

And perhaps i shared this back on the old evening blues: had the pleasure of attending Derek Daly's formula race car school in Vegas in mid-life; what a thrill and learning experience. A moment in recall after matriculating to the road tract there, as a driver you take the straight away full throttle and drive full-speed the apex through two long S-curves and at their end must gear down and brake as hard and as fast as possible in order to turn right at about 45/mph, the G forces incredible.

Highly recommend the experience, though pricey. http://www.derekdalyacademy.com/

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Deja's picture

Not sure if it's happening yet. I saw video yesterday on msm abc news. They're air conditioned. Yay! Grrr. I hope they didn't put the damn things up in what becomes a wash when rain meets desert. See, there's a system in the Gulf of Mexico right now, and it's heading this way.

This vague Time article doesn't say kids have been herded there yet.

http://www.time.com/5312971/texas-temporary-immigrant-shelter/

But the rain is coming. Lots of it. Enough of it to cause Emergency Management folks and meteorologists in Houston to try and calm those of us with Harvey PTSD. However, unlike Harvey, the brunt of the rain, over days, will hit southern and southwestern Texas/northern Mexico, not southeastern Texas. We're supposedly getting 2"-6". They're getting buckets.

I'm worried for them. And Trump is blaming a law passed by Dems for this. I don't know or care who said it should be done. These kids should be with their parents, if they came together.

I tried finding something current for the forecast, but my phone wants to pull up stuff from last year. Well played Google and Android. Duck duck go gets changed to Google. Even the Time link was buried in Arizona Tent City bs and I specifically searched for Texas. I give up. Gotta go to the pharmacy.

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smiley7's picture

appears things are going to get worse down on the border.

Hoping you don't endure more flooding this year.

Take care and have a good remaining weekend!

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lotlizard's picture

and the New York Times made excuses

Then they came for the Yemeni children, and the same elite made excuses …

. . .

By the time they came for the migrant children, there was no one left who hadn’t already accepted excuses for cruelty to other groups of children …

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smiley7's picture

@lotlizard @lotlizard @lotlizard
last evening, Beriut; it's frictional, but illustrates the many ruses the USA and Israel have played in the Middle East for decades. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagsqxiVStM

Used to be very supportive of UNICEF in my youth--i've forgotten when--they had a scandal, and my attention went elsewhere. It's always the children bearing the brunt of hostilities and that knowledge alone should be reason enough to change policies and end war; but as el writes above, apparently this devil has many lives living in most all societies; however, i'll never be convinced that evil, original sin, arrives at birth; it is imo, a learned trait not animalistic or fight or flight response.

Praise the little ones, i so enjoy working with them in winter; wishing i could do more and maybe i'll get out and volunteer beginning June 30 when a local opportunity affords itself.

Thanks for reading and hope all is good across the big sea.

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to check out your OT. Glad to see you and hope you are doing well.
We celebrated father's day today for three fathers at once. It was a good day to be together, calm, peaceful, but subdued. No one mentioned the fathers who are being forcibly separated from their children just several hundred miles from where we are. It was in the air though. We all avoided political discussion almost by tacit agreement. That avoidance is highly unusual for my family since we are all political junkies. The world's people are judging us and we do not look good.

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smiley7's picture

@randtntx
love and experience yesterday. Doing better, thank you for caring.

The dialogue seems to be reaching a fever pitch and as we know the damnable aspect of this indignity to children is a political cudgel with an apparent big show planned for Tuesday by the Trump and repugs.

Hoping a few spines show up and say no deals, do the right thing and change your policies; alas...can't count on that happening.

Is the rain going to reach your area?

Happy Dad's Day!

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@smiley7 Less than 1/2 an inch. There is a possibility of rain next week. We need it.
I trust your area recovered from all the flooding?
Happy Dad's day to you.

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@smiley7 for the "fever pitch" level of this dialogue. I think it is past due. The mask is off, and I think outrage is appropriate. These are children. Even one child should not be treated like this let alone hundreds. I do know, as some of our best writers here have pointed out, that this has been going on under more euphemistic language, since at least 2014. Lets bring the brutality to the fore though, and have a dialogue so we can voice our outrage and reject this evil behavior.

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janis b's picture

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smiley7's picture

@janis b
a surprise behind the utube photo.

Cheers!

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janis b's picture

@smiley7

Thank you smiley, for reminding me of one of my very favourite films, ever. It was also my introduction to Jason Robards, who I love. I will watch it again soon.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

[video:https://youtu.be/44BkOqV2jDc]

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smiley7's picture

@janis b
to life, unforgettably.

Son is working hard, he's good and i'll share a little family: as he was on stage as a toddler and not too many years ago in the scope of it all, we had the pleasure of working together, my directing him in some Pinter and his masterful performance of Yank in The Hairy Ape

Since those years, we've threatened to produce Long Day's Journey into Night, me being dad of course and he one of my sons and the still beautiful ex as Mother.

Laughingly, we would not need any character training to play these parts, just some money and point us to the stage. Smile

In truth, we've all evolved by grace from most of the long-ago madness, but as an artistic endeavor, what a trip that would be.

Living in fantasy since rising today, dreaming and just had a pleasant afternoon with three friends on the stream at a local winery.

Guess winter hugs you at present; sending vibes to warm your days. Cheers for being here!

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janis b's picture

@smiley7

Thanks for sharing some of it. I was the one in school who always raised her hand first to do props, not that I haven’t also created some drama ; ).

I’m sure you’d all now bring, not only more grace but more wisdom to the role. What a stage setting life itself presents.

Winter is truly here, and I will soon have a reprieve from it, where it is now summer. Thanks for the warm vibes on a coldish, windy day, more grey than blue.

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smiley7's picture

@janis b
when truth is what it was, who would believe...?

Humbled me, which is good--the classic tale of farm boy to Paris', London, New York and all over--feeling selfish just writing these few words; but hell, time is waning, ain't it?

The theatre had a grip on me, a dedication beyond food and the reward is memories and hopefully, i've retained some enlightenment from all those playwrights.

After burning out raising money against the Reagan tide, i cut out with the exception of directing my son as i wrote above; the US of A prefers football to plays, you know...

Water from that dipper spilled far and i'm most fortunate for that sweet beginning.

Thanks for letting me share. As you know, i'm little good at other things beyond fly-fishing and skiing as many who write here are. I'm frankly envious of folk's brilliance in so many ways.

You've a tremendous trait, talent, shepherding, encouraging us all.

Thank you.

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janis b's picture

I’m still ‘propping’ ; ). It’s a role that suits me as much as anyone else it might.

Water from that dipper spilled far and i'm most fortunate for that sweet beginning.

Isn’t that the sweetest of all.

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smiley7's picture

@janis b

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janis b's picture

@smiley7

Slaap Lekker

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mimi's picture

what would we do without you here? You make me cry without knowing why and without understanding all your words, but you always touch something in me that I can't express in words.

Some day I wished I just could read a biography of you and know who you are. I am so tired of anonymity and guessing. The anonymity is so cruel.

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janis b's picture

@mimi

your tears are a reflection of an understanding that goes beyond words. Words are just words, until they vibrate with a pulse that makes the heart beat more strongly than usual.

And really ’knowing’ someone is ultimately exclusive to a more intimate relationship. I think we do pretty well here at c99 in sharing ourselves sincerely and responding respectfully, which is a valuable thing in this age of anonymity. Anyway, you’d probably give up out of boredom halfway through my biography, but feel free to PM me when your curiosity moves you to ; ).

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mimi's picture

@janis b
with words.

Thanks, dear friend.

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smiley7's picture

@mimi
lucky we are to have you looking under stones.
Asking why in many languages, dropping love along the way. Happy to share this journey with you; special, old friend.

Thank you!

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You two are a treasure here, It is a rich experience to read what you have to say.
I am glad you are all here.

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janis b's picture

@randtntx

in this comment and all your others here. I really enjoy the individuality and respect expressed here.

Listening to this now, and thinking it fits somehow ...

[video:https://youtu.be/-NN7pELpkMg]

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@janis b very well. Reggae has a way of suggesting community, togetherness, a shared experience of what is good in life. It can be so joyful while at the same time expressing pain and injustice. I seem to repeatedly forget how much I loved this music when I was young. I have to keep being reminded :). Often times I find this place hands down amazing and the people here can feed my soul with a bit of hopefulness. When we can all do that for each other it is no small thing. So thank you.

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