06/21 is summer (winter) solstice

Today is day 172 of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Boomtime, Confusion 26, 3187 YOLD (discordian)
And let us not forget 13.0.8.11.4 mlc (the Mayan Long Count)
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This day usually marks the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere and the fewest hours of daylight in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sunset at Hovenweep Castle

~~   Summer_Solstice_Hovenweep

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The Solstice is one of two days in the calendar year when the tilt of the Earth's spin axis relative to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun  reaches its maximum toward or away from the sun.  The sun reaches its greatest elevation above (or below) the equator as viewed from earth and the sun is above (or below) the visible horizon for the longest amount of time, leading to the description that it is the longest (or shortest) day of the year. (But you knew all that, didn't you.)  It has been celebrated by many, in many ways, for millenia.

Before you deem China crazy for declaring war on all and sundry in 1900, that was the Boxer Rebellion.  The Chinese were in the right on all counts, but sadly incapable of driving the sleazy imperialist, colonialist, thieving foreigners and their drugs and missionaries out of their country.

In Guinn v. United States the Supremes struck down a grandfather clause granting an exemption to the requirements that citizens of Oklahoma had to pass a literacy test in order to vote.  The clause was carefully drafted so as to make it easy for illiterate whites to qualify for the exemption while making it all but completely impossible for illiterate blacks to qualify.  The court struck the provision down as "repugnant to the Fifteenth Amendment", but Oklahoma and other "southern" states easily found other ways to disenfranchise black citizens, so it accomplished very little.  In fact, that "battle" was still going on in 1964, witness the murders of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner (below)

In Miller v. California, the Supremes made it easier  to successfully declare things to be obscene because Burger was a bluenose.  They instituted The Miller Test as it came to be known, that anything was obscene if it lacked ""serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."; a definition that is essentially a steaming pile of subjective claptrap.   As long as there is such a thing as obscenity laws, then any and all arguably obscene materials must be held to possess serious political value if nothing else.  That's because only the concept of obscenity is obscene.

InTexas v Johnson the Supremes held that burning a US flag was protected speech.  On its way up the ladder of lesser judiciary bodies,, the Tejas Supremes(tm) stated

... a government cannot mandate by fiat a feeling of unity in its citizens. Therefore that very same government cannot carve out a symbol of unity and prescribe a set of approved messages to be associated with that symbol.

 

That view and language, IMHO, should be applied to the Pledge of Allegiance as well, or at least its recitation at the opening of civic functions.  One of the dissents in Texas v Johnson would carve out a special exemption for the flag because it is a unique symbol of the country for which the populace has formed a great measure of attachment and reverence.  Well, no shit Sherlock, precisely because via the Pledge of Allegiance we have created that bogus unanimity and idolization that the lower court condemned. 

On this day in history:

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533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarius sailed from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, no doubt looking for the pump handle they took

1813 – Wellington defeated Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria.  This was a BFD.

1898 – The United States seized Guam from Spain.

1900 – China formally declared war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan

1915 – The Supremes held that a grandfather clause in Oklahoma's literacy test law was unconstitutional. (Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915)

1919 – The RCMP fired a volley into a crowd of unemployed war vets during the Winnipeg general strike which killed two of them.

1942 – A Japanese submarine surfaced near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens, one of the few attacks in history on the US mainland.

1957 – Ellen Fairclough was sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister.

1964 – Civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by Klan members down in Mississippi

1970 – Penn Central declared Section 77 bankruptcy in what was then the largest corporate bankruptcy in the US

1973 – The Supremes established the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15.

1989 – The Supremes held , that burning the US flag is a form of political speech protected by the First Amendment. (Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397)

2000 – Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the UK was repealed in Scotland .

2004 – SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

2005 – Edgar Ray Killen, who had been found not guilty for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, was convicted of manslaughter in a new trial

2006 – Pluto's newly discovered moons were officially named Nix and Hydra.  Shouldn't they be NotMoons since it is a NotPlanet?

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Born this day in:

“We are our choices.”

~~     Jean-Paul Sartre

1706 – John Dollond, optician and astronomer
1710 – James Short, mathematician and optician
1781 – Siméon Denis Poisson, mathematician and physicist
1811 – Carlo Matteucci, physicist and neurophysiologist
1823 – Jean Chacornac, astronomer
1839 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, author, poet, and playwright
1845 – Arthur Cowper Ranyard, astrophysicist and astronomer
1863 – Max Wolf, German astronomer and academic
1870 – Clara Immerwahr, chemist and academic
1870 – Julio Ruelas, painter
1887 – Norman L. Bowen, geologist and petrologist
1894 – Harry Schmidt, mathematician and physicist
1896 – Charles Momsen, invented the Momsen lung 
1903 – Al Hirschfeld, caricaturist, painter and illustrator
1905 – Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher and author
1912 – Mary McCarthy, novelist and critic
1913 – Luis Taruc, political activist
1915 – Wilhelm Gliese, astronomer
1916 – Herbert Friedman, physicist and astronomer
1918 – Josephine Webb, engineer
1924 – Wally Fawkes,  jazz clarinetist and a satirical cartoonist
1928 – Wolfgang Haken, mathematician and academic
1932 – Lalo Schifrin, pianist, composer, and conductor
1932 – O.C. Smith, R&B/jazz singer
1938 – Don Black, songwriter
1938 – Michael M. Richter, mathematician and computer scientist
1942 – Marjorie Margolies, journalist and politician
1943 – Eumir Deodato, pianist, composer, and producer
1944 – Ray Davies, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1944 – Jon Hiseman, drummer
1946 – Brenda Holloway, singer and songwriter
1947 – Joey Molland, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Anne Carson, poet and academic
1950 – Joey Kramer, drummer and songwriter
1950 – Trygve Thue,  guitarist and record producer
1950 – John Paul Young, singer, songwriter
1951 – Nils Lofgren, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Judith Bingham, singer, songwriter
1955 – Tim Bray, software developer and businessman
1957 – Berkeley Breathed, author and illustrator
1959 – Marcella Detroit, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1959 – Kathy Mattea, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1978 – Gervase Markham, software engineer
1983 – Edward Snowden, activist and academic

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Died this day in:

 Politics have no relation to morals.

~~   Niccolò Machiavelli

ALSO-

War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

~~ Smedley D. Butler

1527 – Niccolò Machiavelli, historian and author
1547 – Sebastiano del Piombo, painter and educator
1661 – Andrea Sacchi, painter
1874 – Anders Jonas Ångström, physicist and astronomer
1908 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composer and educator
1914 – Bertha von Suttner,  journalist and author
1940 – Smedley Butler, general and author 

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

1940 – Édouard Vuillard, painter
1951 – Charles Dillon Perrine, astronomer
1954 – Gideon Sundback, engineer who developed the zipper
1957 – Johannes Stark, physicist and academic
1964 – James Chaney, civil rights activist
1964 – Andrew Goodman, civil rights activist
1964 – Michael Schwerner, civil rights activist
1981 – Don Figlozzi, illustrator and animator
1990 – June Christy, singer
1994 – William Wilson Morgan, astronomer and astrophysicist
2001 – John Lee Hooker, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist
2003 – Leon Uris, author
2013 – James P. Gordon, physicist and academic

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Go Skateboarding Day
International Yoga Day (International)
National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada)
International Surfing Day
We Tripantu, a winter solstice festival in the southern hemisphere. (Mapuche, southern Chile)
Willkakuti, an Andean-Amazonic New Year (Aymara)
Fête de la Musique
World Humanist Day (Humanism)
Atheist Solidarity Day
World Hydrography Day (International)

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Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies Wink

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summer solstice

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Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner

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Wally Fawkes

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O.C. Smith

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Eumir Deodato

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Ray Davies

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Brenda Holloway

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Kathy Mattea

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Rimsky-Korsakov

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June Christy

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John Lee Hooker

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I will be in Yosemite when this publishes and hence will not be able to reply to comments

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Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

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Open Thread, solstice, Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, Sartre, Smedley Butler, Eumir Deodato, Ray Davies

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Make of it the mostest!

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

especially the actual solstice was 8:81 pm, pst on 6/20/21, which was my 75th.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

@enhydra lutris
mi hermano.

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We have killed 3 scorpions in the house this week.
I intend to put cedar oil here and there in the points of entry.
Both legal assistants called in to say they wouldn't be able to work today. One has some sore throat thing, the other lacks a baby sitter. Good thing I have a handsome man to cover for them and man handle the phones.
I love "The Summer Time Blues", the song, that is.
The Texas Supreme Court got something right. Pretty rare.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Granma's picture

@on the cusp I looked but could not see any recent decisions that looked possible.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Granma

in part, because ...

... a government cannot mandate by fiat a feeling of unity in its citizens. Therefore that very same government cannot carve out a symbol of unity and prescribe a set of approved messages to be associated with that symbol.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

@Granma el mentioned. Very good ruling.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

Pretty cool language from los supremos de tejas, I agree. Not too cool about the scorpions. Glad you have help to stand in for the absentees, regardless of how much training they might need "no honey, writ is not just the past tense of write"

be well and have a good one

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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 --

@enhydra lutris 5 mile walk in the hot sun? no problem, huh?
Just watched some videos a victim in a discussion between an alleged victim and alleged perp of a very minor sexual assault. That means, a very low grade of criminal statute classification (misdemeanor, not felony) and low county jail maximum punishment. Call it, "the rough kiss" statute. I watched the first one, threw up my hands. By the 4th and final one, I realized the defense. Rich guy. Destitute woman. Woman doing her own videos, actually threatening the DA with a lawsuit if he doesn't pursue it all the way. The precursor to a civil case is a finding of guilt. I will throw her a big body block.
Handsome sit in assistant uses "writ large" correctly, from time to time. And he hears "I writ it down on a piece of paper" at the office from clients occasionally. I will say, to date, he has kept a clear mind on the business lingo of writs of attachments of children, and writs of attachments preceding bond reduction hearings.
So far, so good , if I could just get him to stop saying "on", as "on this date" normal speak, and say in Tejano-eze, "Own this date".

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

5 mile walk in the hot sun? no problem, huh?

At altitude, too. Spent the following hour laying down and moaning, interrupted only to gulp more and more and more water.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

@enhydra lutris Lake Titicaca, all over Peru and Ecuador, and mountains here, Europe, and Africa.
Climbed the pyramid in Tikal, Guatamala twice, and Great Wall of China.
Let's just DO THIS!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

a few pyramids in belize. Mostly, about the birds and views.

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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 --

@enhydra lutris including a roommate to Peru, got so sick, we had to close off our bathroom until the hotel staff could clean it. On both trips to Machu Picchu, some people on the tour got sick enough to be attended by doctors who came to the hotels. Drinking coca leaf tea and chewing the leaves is recommended.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

New record set for longest highline traverse at Taft Point in yosemite.

Highlining is high-altitude slacklining, in which a narrow strip of strong, nylon webbing — usually an inch wide and a few millimeters thick — is strung between two anchor points and serves as a kind of balance beam.

link to AP article in san fran paper

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enhydra lutris's picture

@jbob

rational use of the feet, but whatever.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

Lookout's picture

The June solstice – your signal to celebrate summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere – will happen on June 21, 2021, at 03:32 UTC. That’s June 20 at 10:32 p.m. CDT in North America.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-ju...

I guess it was early this AM in PDT. I reckon most things are a matter of perspective.

We'll have the northern most sunset tonight however...
https://earthsky.org/tonight/solstice-brings-northernmost-sunset/

Still dealing with the effects of over 6.5" rain from Claudette.

Thanks for the OT and y'all have a good one!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

traditional or usual date (which is always wrong if only in that it is a day and not a specific time).

Still dealing with the effects of over 6.5" rain from Claudette.

hope the long term good effects outweigh any short term ill effects. Be that as it may, I have to toss in claudette --

news coverage pushed poor Roy clean offf the you tube top responses.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

Azazello's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JEiJDGHsX0 width:500 height:300]

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

enhydra lutris's picture

@Azazello

be well and have a good one

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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 --

wendy davis's picture

what a shot from hovenweep! oddly, i've never considered snow on the ground there.

it's a breath-taking spot in the Southwest Void. camping and hiking: watch out for rattlesnakes.

thanks, EL.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@wendy davis

Hovenweep, for sure not as an adult. I've seen snow on the ground in many locales, including the Panamints (western range walling in Death Valley), the mountains around Borrego and the Anza-Borrego Desert (once surprising a ranger who asked how the hell we got in there) and was actually snowed on once on the road from Baker to Kelso.

I've romped and stomped all over the sierras and the various California Deserts and have seen exactly one (count em, folks, one) rattler in the wild. Hell, I fed one at a wildlife rehab place where I volunteered at least once.

be well and have a good one.

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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 --

mimi's picture

here where I live for now (it's the latitude of Quebec) I sleep in a room whose windows face the west. So the damn setting sun is directly shining on my bed in my eyes. I can't sleep. I have no real blackout curtains. I can't read the laptops screen or my mobile phone easily, because it's the sun shines too bright at 10:30 pm. In my car I can't see what's on my mobile google maps, I must rely on the voice guide.

Can't wait for winter.

Thanks for the great music, especially Nina Simone. The doctors ordered me to do absolutely nothing. So, I obey with pleasure.

Thanks for the great Open Thread. I love it.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@mimi

what you mean. However, I love it all the same. Growing up coastal at 32.7 N latt. I got somewhat inoculated, I think.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

dystopian's picture

Hi EL! and all!

Hope yer havin' fun in the high Sierra EL!

Great point on Plutos moons. Maybe they should be exo-moons?

Love Nina Simone, she was sooooo good, even if heartwrenching. What intellect, class, and talent. A beautiful woman.

Smedley Butler might be the greatest American Hero we all should have been taught about but weren't. He stopped the planned FDR coup (in contrast to Elon 'will coup whoever we want to' Musk). There should be Smedley statues everywhere. But the oligarchs never gave up the dream... and here they are in the final stretch... I think just after it opened, Smedly beat ships through the Panama Canal with a buddy, rowing a Canoe! LOL They just don't make 'em like they used to.

I saw the Kinks once about '75, they were awesome. They did a big set of greatest hits, it was mind-blowing how good they were live.

everyone knows the vandals took the handle... except the one that Old Charlie stole (locomotive breath) Wink

have a good yose mighty time EL!

I think where I am (just under 30N) tomorrow will have one second less of daylight, but today is the same as yesterday for daylength. At least per weatherunderground stats.

Have a good one all!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian

well, grew up at 32.7, but spent a lot of time below that since. Nina was, I believe, classically trained. Her youthful aspiration was to be a classical concert pianist but somebody pointed out that she had melanin problems, so she became Nina Simone insteaed.

had a great time but the temps were what they expect in July/August, hard to really do it right when it is 100 degrees out. Doesn't help when it's your 75th birthday, either. Had an Ahwanee jalapeño bacon cheeseburger and fries with a side of zinfandel for b.day lunch, after walking up the loop trail from the Lodge, (5 mi r.t. in the sun), was visited by deer at breakfast outdoors the day before and generally most excellent giving the condition my condition is in.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

earthling1's picture

in the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Was going to go kayaking but too hot.
Just staying in with the two kitties and earthling2.
Have a great solstice everyone.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

enhydra lutris's picture

@earthling1

what's left of it too.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

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enhydra lutris's picture

@humphrey

be well and have a good one.

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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 --

romancing at the time, it is the French Horn, which I played. Verde called it the mellow horn. Musicians call it the horn. Whatever you call it, they take over this brief song.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp @on the cusp

a specific Flugelhorn artist too.

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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 --

@enhydra lutris to the mellow, huh?

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

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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 --