HUMOR: Valentine’s Day

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Valentine’s Day Humor

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love

Valentine’s Day Humor

By Anna Hessel

The Wonder Years

The cold days of February bring thoughts of one of my favorite holidays, Valentine’s Day.  Some of my fondest memories involve Valentine’s fun.  We all remember when we were growing up getting those tiny Valentines in their little white envelopes placed in a big wooden box on the teacher’s desk.  Each year my miniature Valentines had a different theme: puppies, kittens, Barbie, and of course, princess.  My earliest Valentine’s memory is my kindergarten campaign to provide trousers for that little guy with the bow and arrow, since it was cold outside.   Those timeless teddy bears with pink and red bows, and heart-shaped boxes of candy covered in ruffles, bring back many teenage memories.

Flying Hearts ACA

Of course, I have a few specific Valentine’s memories: one in particular was actually after Valentine’s Day: I snatched up all the clearance conversation Sweetheart candies as I had just won the Miss American Sweetheart Pageant, and decided tossing boxes of stale Sweethearts during summer parades was a classy thing to do – this idea was short-lived, however, thanks to that guy on the corner with the sunglasses on his head.  I’m still amazed at how far a pair of shades can travel when they come in contact with an airborne box of conversation hearts.

Gourmet Jewelry

My favorite Valentine’s memory was when my husband and I were found by an adorable black terrier in our condo parking lot on a particularly cold Valentine’s Day.  We named him Cupid, and he was a part of our family for over 17 years.  In more recent times, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated by my spouse’s penchant for hiding expensive jewelry in food.  My first diamond cocktail ring arrived in a dish of carrots because it was a “1 carat” ring.  My engagement ring was presented, much to the delight of the charming waitress at Red Lobster, in a plate of mussels – my husband’s theory was since pearls come in oysters, diamonds can come in mussels.

Ladyfingers

Another diamond ring embedded in Tiramisu (ladyfingers…) appeared at our favorite Italian restaurant.  A sapphire ring came atop a cupcake; my diamond and sapphire wedding set was encased in a miniature pink gumball machine.  Hmm, I wonder what I’ll find topping our heart-shaped pizza this year (hint, hint…).  Fortunately, I never broke a tooth on or ingested any of these gifts so I don’t have any trips to the emergency room stories to share.

Can He Take a Hint?

Now if your significant other isn’t a foodie romantic, and you don’t receive bracelets or earrings in side dishes or desserts, then perhaps a few well-placed hints will get you the goodies you desire this Valentine’s Day.  If you do seek something sparkly, put a jewelry catalog in his toolbox.  Or if you’re like me, a gift certificate for a mani-pedi is a perfect present – I suggest placing a flyer from your favorite salon in his sock drawer.

Don’t Forget The TV Remote

If a romantic dinner is on your wish list, wrap coupons from a favorite place to dine out around a six-pack of beer and secure it with a pink ribbon.  My personal favorite hint, sure to work every time, is to tape a business card from the local flower shop on the TV remote control – he’ll never miss that.  No matter how you end up celebrating, may your Valentine’s Day be blessed with style…

Comfortable In Their Indecency

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Comfortable In Their Indecency

The work of social justice must continue.

OPINION:

Comfortable In Their Indecency

D. S. Mitchell

Daily Blessings

I have been enormously blessed. I wake with a grateful heart each day.

Unvarnished Anger

I am however, angry with so many well-meaning people that assume that it is because they worked hard, or because they are especially smart is why they have done well financially in this society. The presumption then being that those who aren’t doing well must be lazy, stupid, unworthy or some other white elitist measurement of failure. There are millions of people every day that have their dreams smashed for reasons that have nothing to do with how hard they are working. Born in poverty, birth  defects, disease, accidents, divorce, abuse, homelessness, hunger. The list of adversity is long.

Knees Down

We live in a cruel capitalist society, with thousands of devices designed to keep the already advantaged always on top. In every city in this country huge numbers of people are living in tents, surrounded by garbage, no mental health services for people in crisis, police officers  so comfortable in their indecency that they feel no shame in holding their knee on the neck of another human being for nearly 9 minutes. The injustice in this country should have us on our fucking knees.  DSM/Calamity

HUMOR: 25 Reasons To Smile

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take a minute and enjoy 25 reasons to smile

HUMOR: 25 Reasons To Smile

By D.S. Mitchell

Back At the Computer

I am back at the computer making my second post to my Calamity Politics blog, today.  Before I started this blog, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough to scream about, but I’m finding that I could probably do half a dozen posts a day related to the misinformation flooding the ether.  But I thought, before I start my rant on the collapse of Western Civilization I should deliver something positive and uplifting.

So, dear hearts here are twenty-five things to make you smile:

  1. Touching toes in the sand
  2. Sunsets over water
  3. Wraparound sunglasses
  4. The Science channel
  5. Kite flying contests
  6. The Muppets
  7. Astronauts
  8. Blowing the wrapper off the straw
  9. Winning at Monopoly
  10. A dog’s cold nose on your hand
  11. Barhopping
  12. Old jeans that fit just right
  13. Your lover’s voice
  14. The clatter of skis being loaded
  15. The rumble of a train as it passes
  16. Walking in the rain
  17. The imagination of a six year old
  18. Margaritas at midnight
  19. Finishing the Sunday crossword without cheating
  20. A morning walk
  21. The smell of a new car
  22. Roller skating
  23. Your First grade teacher
  24. A sexy book
  25. Daddy’s smile

I know this Saturday distraction did little to take your mind off the continuing implosion of the Republican Party. My Lord, a large share of these folks sound totally crazy, out-and-out bigots, or radicalized MAGA’s. These people seized the capitol. They were incited for months by Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn an election he knew he had lost.  We watched it on television.  Convict the traitorous SOB. Sorry. I wanted to forget politics for a few minutes.

 

OPINION: Propaganda and Intentions

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OPINION: Propaganda and Intentions

propaganda is misused by governments to effect people's opinion and actions

OPINION: Propaganda and Intentions

By Trevor K. McNeil

As bad as they seem?

Meanings can be tricky. Some words taking on cultural coloring, in no way reflecting the actual meaning. One of the main examples is the notion of stereotypes. Generally, a neutral term for observable trends it has come to be used interchangeably with prejudice or racism, only one of which is actually bad. It might seem strange because of how it is now used, but prejudice isn’t inherently negative. All it really means, going to the Latin root, is to pre-judge. Pre-judging something negatively is what people now mean when they used the term. Completely ignoring the fact that it is just as possible to pre-judge someone or something positively.

And Now To Politics

The way this all relates to politics, aside from the fact that language is generally how people understand the world, and very much informs our world-view, is that there is a word in the political arena that has been both misused and misunderstood almost from its inception. Propaganda, like post-modernism, is probably not what you think. Used by the political set, in one way or another, going back to Ancient Greece, propaganda is the use of information mediums to advance a particular political agenda or world-view. This can be done in a particularly bias or intentionally misinforming way, as seen in China and  Russia, but such is not an inherent element. A bug rather than a feature, one might say.

Misuse and Lies

It is just such misuses and lies, particularly perpetrated by the Russians in the form of agitprop, that has led to the sullied reputation propaganda now has. In reality, everything from pamphlets for political candidates, to campaign ads, as well as certain types of billboards, books and even songs, plays and movies, count as propaganda.

Burn It Down

The main thing that determines whether something is propaganda comes down to the intention of the creator. Whether said propaganda is considered good or bad, is almost entirely left to one’s own distinction. A notorious case of conflict in meaning came with the film V For Vendetta. Based in the graphic novel of the same name by British author Alan Moore, the film set off a minor fire-storm both the left and the right saying it was hate-filled propaganda against their own side. Which is ironic, because the ethos of the original book, somewhat lost in the film, is apolitical. The work is still propaganda but of a much different sort. Rather than advancing a particular political ideal, it largely transcends politics, instead going into the realms of moral philosophy. The basic message of both the book and the film is one of autonomy.

Bringing It Down To Earth

Seeing governments as little more as methods to organize. It is individuals who are truly important. A sentiment most clearly shown in the line: “people shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” The government in both the book and the film is presented as fascist, but the general idea is that any government, of any description that gets above its station needs to be brought back down to earth.

In The Mirror Darkly

A case in which intention was presumed, came with the hit series Black Mirror. Premiering on British television in 2011 many, critics and viewers alike, presumed creator Charlie Brooker, known for his style of ‘satirical pessimism’ was an ardent Luddite. Assuming the show’s damning take on information technology to be a Boomer raging against the technology they don’t understand. Never mind that Brooker was 40 during the first season. There was an idea behind the darkness to be sure but one far from what was assumed. Brooker has gone on record saying he has no problem with technology.

Black Mirror

The horror elements in Black Mirror derive entirely from human causes. Basically people using what could be elevating technology to ruin their lives. The title is indicative of this. Brooker noticed that if you turn off a smartphone or tablet the screen becomes reflective, creating a black mirror. A darkened reflection of one’s true self. So, while there are certainly ideas and world-views at play in Black Mirror, they are so subtly present that most people missed it. Making it at most failed propaganda, rather than the anti-technology screed most assumed. Putting a different spin on the show and the incorrect use of the idea of propaganda itself.

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2018/10/29/on-line-bullying/

OPINION: A New Economic Model

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OPINION: A New Economic Model

The rust belt cities of the United States are reminders of the dead and dying ndustrial Revolution

OPINION: A New Economic Model

By Trevor McNeil

Standards Of Study

Strange as it might seem, there is a standard in the study of history that sources used should be the most recent. This is because new things are being discovered all the time and what we knew about a particular event or context in 2001, can be radically different than what is now known in 2021. Philosophy and more theoretical disciplines have no such standard. Which is the only way to account for the continuance of some of the less applicable ideas. Economic theory is no exception.

One, Or The Other

Looking at the modern political landscape, and one would be left with the impression that there are only two ways of doing an economy. Laissez-faire capitalism as laid out by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations and communism, as dictated, no surprise there, by Karl Marx, in several, mostly unreadable books. Wars have been fought over these ideas, and continue to be cause of strife and division to this day. Despite most people not really understanding what they are.

Persistence

As evidenced by the slogan, on the communist side, “smash capitalism” without specifying which of the three primary schools of capitalism to which they are referring. On the other hand, those who support a free-market capitalism have been blinkered enough to refer to nations such as Norway as “communist.” An absolutely hilarious accusation considering the system is most accurately described as a “corporate democracy.” It is a little known fact that the main reason so many Norwegians speak such good English, roughly 80% of the population being fluent, is the nations massive export industry, the majority of the buyers being from English-speaking nations.

Old Ideas, New World

Basically both schools of thought are wrong in my humble opinion. At least in terms of modern society, root cause of their obsolescence being the time when the ideas were formulated. The Wealth of Nations was written soon after the kick-off of the Industrial Revolution, and was at least partly an attempt to explain it. The Communist Manifesto was written in 1848, and was one of the main criticisms of the effects of the Industrial Revolution and a low-key rebuke to Smith.

The Unforeseeable 

They are both important documents in terms of understanding basic economic theory, and how we got to where we are. Neither, however, have any real bearing on modern society. Neither Smith nor Marx could possibly predict nor comprehend the massive change technology has made in the last couple of centuries. To the point that the rise of the Information Age is largely seen as a Digital Revolution, on par with the Industrial Revolution in terms of its overall impact. The production based economies in which both Smith and Marx were writing, either no longer exist or are rapidly dying. The term “disruptor” coined specifically to refer to this process.

Hybrid

In the post-Digital Age, with old industry corroding into rust belts and an increasing number of people working for themselves, particularly online, how does one now engage with the new reality? Might I suggest a hybrid approach, similar to that practiced by the Calvinists. In this system, there is an emphases on service-based businesses, usually run by an individual or family, working as hard as they can to make as much money as they can to put back into the business. Paying the employees, if there are any, more, while putting money into the economy and providing a needed service to their fellow citizens, and taking care of their own needs. Just a thought.

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2018/11/20/the-revolution-wont-be-live-streamed/

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2019/02/08/economic-inequality-a-danger-sign/

Care of Personal Information

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Keeping private information private. Knowing when and what to shred.

Care Of Personal Information

D. S. Mitchell

Old Magazines

I was in my home office going through old magazines trying to decide what to send to the recycler and what to keep for later reference when I flipped through a February 2016 Reader’s Digest article that offered information on shredding. Most importantly they described when and what to shred.  It seems our greatest danger is through ‘mass hackings’ of our credit information. No matter how cautious we are our greatest danger is as victims of other people’s carelessness, or bad intent.  But, every bit of protection we can develop should help keep our private information private. Kelsey Kloss article suggested the following things, we as individuals can do to protect ourselves.

Take Special Precautions with:
  1. Receipts: If you aren’t saving the receipt for taxes or other purposes and you made your purchase with a credit or debit card shred it. The receipt shows the last 4 digits of the card number and possibly your signature. Those clever crooks can use receipts for fraudulent returns and benefit from your store credit.
  2. Prescription Labels: Sometimes they are stapled to the prescription bag or on the bottle. Labels frequently list your name, date of dispensing, name and strength of the drug and dispensing pharmacy.  Crooks can use the information to refill prescriptions or steal your identity.
  3. Pet Medical Documents: Keep records of major events for the pets health history, but shred the rest.  The paperwork will show your name, address, phone and the pet’s name, which according to many studies to be the most common computer password choices.
  4. Airline Boarding Passes: Shred after landing. The boarding pass will show your name, your itinerary, and a bar code that in some cases will show your frequent flier number, which would allow thieves to “log in to airline accounts to view upcoming travel plans, check in to flights, and even cancel trips.”
  5. Return Labels: Shred free return labels that come in the mail and any envelopes showing your name and address. When writing a return address on an envelope omit your name. Identity thieves will use that information to collect more information from social media and piece together your identity.

Remember, any little thing we can do to help keep our private information private should be considered important. Do it, you’ll be glad you did.

 

Black Sabbath “Paranoid”

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Black Sabbath “Paranoid”

Black Sabbath “Paranoid”

Black Sabbath was a rock group formed in 1968 in Birmingham, England.  They distinguished themselves through occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics and tuned-down guitars. Ozzy Osbourne was the vocalist with Tony Iommi lead guitar, Bill Ward drummer, and Geezer Butler as bassist.

Black Sabbath were the pioneers of heavy metal music. The band defined the genre with such hits as Black Sabbath  (1970), Paranoid (1970) and (1971) Master of Reality. Black Sabbath had multiple line-up changes after vocalist Osbourne’s departed in 1979. Tony Iommi was the only constant member throughout its history.  Calamity takes full responsibility for today’s Jukebox Choice of the Day, Ozzy singing “Paranoid”. Enjoy. DSM

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2019/04/11/xenophobia-fear-of-others-different-shade-paranoid/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPINION: Jonathan Pie Says Goodbye

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OPINION: Jonathan Pie Says Goodbye 

HUMOR:  Jonathan Pie Says Goodbye To Donald Trump

T.K. McNeil suggested this great Goodbye rant from YouTube by Jonathan Pie. Jonathan says everything I have ever thought about Donald Trump, plus some I never thought of. One hell of a rant. It is the best goodbye, good riddance speech you will ever hear. Check out Jonathan’s YouTube channel and subscribe. Enjoy. DSM

 

We Share A Dream

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Honor MLK today by doing something for someone else. Make today a day of service.

We Share A Dream

By Anna & Wes Hessel

Thank You, Dr. King…

We celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest and most humble human beings to ever live, Dr. Martin Luther King, a Godly man of peace and gentle warrior.  He selflessly championed for civil rights and worked to change the world into a better place.  Many hard won civil rights from that time have been attacked during the Trump administration but now with the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. King’s legacy will continue to live on.  The Biden-Harris inaugural team has instituted a day of service to honor the remarkable Martin Luther King, Jr.

 The Son of a King

Born the son of a preacher man, Michael King, Jr., entered life in 1929 on January 15th in Atlanta.  His father, Michael, Sr., was himself the scion of a pastor.  Junior joined senior in 1934 on a sojourn through  Rome, Tunisia, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, commissioned by the church the elder King pastored.  The final stop was in Berlin for the Baptist World Alliance’s international conference.

The Fight for Reform

There both Kings saw firsthand the spread of Nazi influence.  The BWA issued an official policy statement, saying, “This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God the Heavenly Father, all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward coloured people, or toward subject races in any part of the world.”  Having visited sites in the German capital which were involved with the Reformation movement started by Martin Luther, Michael Sr. began to call himself, “Martin Luther King, Sr.” and renamed his son accordingly, making it official on junior’s birth certificate in 1957.

Growing Up Black

Junior had befriended a Caucasian boy before they both entered first grade, but because of their skin color difference, they went to separate (segregated) schools.  The white child’s parents a short time later then cut off contact between the two, citing race as the deciding factor.  When the younger Martin Luther went to his parents about the break, they sat him down to detail the slavery of blacks and resultant racism.  When confronted with all that had been perpetrated against people of color, MLK said later he became, “determined to hate every white person”.  His father and mother, though, taught junior that Jesus called for the love of everyone.

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The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Birthday MLK

The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

By D. S. Mitchell

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

The third Monday of each January we celebrate MLK Day. Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. A man who died too soon. Today is a great day to re-read some of his most well-known quotes. Be inspired.

MLK Quotes:

  1. “The time is always right to do what is right.”
  2. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
  3. “So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.”
  4. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
  5. “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
  6. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
  7. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
  8. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
  9. “I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
  10. “A right delayed is a right denied.”
  11. “The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.”
  12. “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
  13. “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”
  14. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
  15. “I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.”
  16. “There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
  17. “If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”
  18. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”