Some Are Above the Law

First day of school!

September 8, 2015

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RIP Queen Elizabeth. You know what, she seemed like a very good person. Here she is with Marilyn Monroe, when they were both 30 years old.

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I estimate that there was a 0% chance of the Queen dropping a hydrogen bomb in 1977, and I don't care what Johnny Rotten has to say about it.

September 8, 2022

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What he said today is a bit different.

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Berrettini's looking sharp, won the first set against Djokovic. Nice to have a tennis heel! If it goes to 5 sets it might not be over until 430am.

September 8, 2021

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Morning Show Interviewer: Don't you think you went a little too far with the Catholic Church jokes?

Bill Burr: Don't you think the Catholic Church went a little too far?

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Ranker- 15 Of The Most Absurd And Unforgivable Things The Catholic Church Has Ever Done by Lea Rose Emery

1. Pope Pius XII Denying Eyewitness Reports Of Mass Execution During The Holocaust

2. Systemically Covering Up Tens Of Thousands Of Cases Involving Sexual Misconduct

3. Terrorizing Jews and Muslims for 300 Years

4. Pretty Much Everything Done By Pope Boniface VIII

5. Burning Joan Of Arc For Dressing Like A Man

6. Burning William Tyndale For Making A Vernacular Bible For The Masses

7. Slaying Countless Women As Witches Because Pope Innocent VII Was Paranoid

8. Absolving Sins For Cash Payments, Including Sins Not Yet Committed

9. Orchestrating The Fall Of The Knights Templar To Appease A Broke King

10. Burning Someone 43 Years After He Passed Because He Upset Some Important Catholics

11. Executing Jan Hus For Working Out Some Tricky Theological Philosophy

12. The Joust Of Whores Organized By Pope Alexander VI 

13. The Roman Inquisition, During Which Judaism And Love Magic Were Serious Crimes

14. Imprisoning Galileo In His Home For Years Because He Suggested Science Was Greater Than God

15. Cutting Funding For Immigrants Because Of Their Connection To The LGBTQ+ Community

For more reading!

https://www.ranker.com/list/most-unforgivable-things-the-catholic-church-has-done/lea-rose-emery

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Damn, that's too bad that Trump called off the peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan government, because I'm certain he's the guy to sort it out. You know, with his infinite wisdom, all-powerfulness, and his inability to make a mistake.

September 8, 2019

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Demetri Martin- Sometimes instead of saying "for example," I'll say something such as "such as" for example.

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Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, September 2014- Scientists Send Messages Directly From One Brain To Another

"So a team of neuroscientists sent a message from the brain of one person in India, to the brains of three people in France, using brainwave-reading equipment and the Internet. Yes, really."

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People upon seeing my leg brace keep calling me The Bionic Man. That's the opposite of true. More Frankenstein really.

September 8, 2012

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Is it legal to put the remnants of my painkillers on eBay?

September 8, 2012

Postscript- When I posted that, a couple people reached out to me asking for them!

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Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence on this day in 1504.

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The Northern Pacific Railway was completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana on this day in 1883. Former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike."

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The Pledge of Allegiance was first recited on this day in 1892. What a bizarre ritual, worshipping a flag. It's a wonder Christians are allowed to do it. You'd figure they can only follow one master.

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3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape on this day in 1930. Say what you will about the modern world, but Scotch tape was a magnificent invention.

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Psycho was released on this day in 1960. Alfred Hitchcock had to fight to keep the iconic nude shower scene murder in the film. He told executives, "It's just in your dirty. You didn't see a breast at all."

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Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office on this day in 1974, establishing a precedent that the president is above the law.

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Zuzu and I passed this the other day.

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Patsy Cline joined us on this day in 1932. So many great songs, I could listen to her at any moment. 

PICK ME UP ON YOUR WAY DOWN

Once my love was good enough

True happiness we knew

Then fame and fortune came your way

And made a change in you

You'll find your ladder of success

Is not on solid ground

And when it starts to tumble

Pick me up on your way down

Pick me up when dreams are shattered

When false friends cannot be found

For you know I'll still be waiting

Pick me up on your way down

You've hit the top, but it won't last

There's just one way to go

The world you've chosen is not real

These things you'll come to know

When folks say they don't know you

And you've lost your final round

When you find that you are lonely

Pick me up on your way down

Pick me up when dreams are shattered

When false friends cannot be found

For you know I'll still be waiting

Pick me up on your way down

Written by Harlan Howard

https://youtu.be/rUu8hDD2ezU

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Bernie Sanders was born on this day in 1941. I posted his quotes before it was cool! He has the distinction of being one of a small handful of politicians to receive a political donation from none other than Noam Chomsky.

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Basketball player Marvin "Bad News" Barnes left us on this day in 2014. From the Providence Journal:

"There’s the one about the Spirits getting set to depart on a flight from Louisville at 8 a.m (EST). that would get into St. Louis at 7:56 (CST). After one look at his ticket, Barnes exclaimed “I ain’t getting on no time machine,” and promptly rented a car for the trip home.

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Other notable birthdays- Jimmie Rodgers (1897), Sid Caesar (1922), Peter Sellers (1925)

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Another notable deathday- Leni Riefenstahl (2003)

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CNN- Botanists Discover New Rat Eating Plant

Are you still a vegetarian if you eat a rat-eating plant? I guess it depends what stage of decay the rat is in.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/meat.eating.plant/index.html

September 8, 2009

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The Atlantic- The Algorithm That Catches Serial Killers

WOW!

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/546893/serial-killer-algorithm

September 8, 2018

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A Hitchens debate with white supremacists, John and Tom Metzger

Lesson: engage and destroy, with words.

https://youtu.be/p7R-X1CXiI8

September 8, 2018

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Scientific American- The Paradox if Karl Popper

"Wittgenstein, who was sitting beside a fireplace toying with a poker, thrust it at Popper, demanding, “Give me an example of a moral rule!” Popper replied, “Not to threaten visiting lecturers with pokers,” and Wittgenstein stormed out of the room."

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/the-paradox-of-karl-popper/

September 8, 2018

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The Hill, September 8, 2019- Facts support national popular vote

I agree with each point in this article... it was quite a surprise to me that the Democrats start with a 242-102 electoral advantage based of recent history. Didn't know that only a sixth of us live in the top 100 cities, and only a fifth live in rural areas. Time for the president to be chosen by the popular vote among all of us, not the popular vote of the small handful of battleground states. This shouldn't start next election though, too loaded... but after that we should run the presidential election like every other election on Earth.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/460425-facts-support-national-popular-vote

September 8, 2019

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McSweeney's- WAKE UP, SAILORS, SCURVY IS A HOAX

"Listen, if you want to hide below deck licking limes and then later come above deck to enjoy the sunshine and your lack of jaundice and intact teeth and gums that aren’t leaking putrid black blood, then be my guest. But not even the Captain has the right to make me eat a nutritious and lifesaving fruit if I don’t want to."

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wake-up-sailors-scurvy-is-a-hoax

September 8, 2021

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African Proverb- “A wise man fills his brain before emptying his mouth.”

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Samuel Beckett- “In the afterlife, we’ll sit around talking about the good old days, when we wished that we were dead.”

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Aristotle- “A friend to all is a friend to none.”

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Bertrand Russell's 10 Commandments for Living in a Healthy Democracy

1: Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2: Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3: Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

4: When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5: Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6: Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7: Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8: Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9: Be scrupulously truthful, even when truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

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23 emotions people feel but can't explain

7. Kenopsia

The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.

8. Mauerbauertraurigkeit

The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.

9. Jouska

A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.

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Bertrand Russell- "The secret to happiness is to face 

the fact that the world is horrible."

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Stephen Fry- "The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or a lack of verbal interest is just a fucking lunatic."

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Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's - "I am always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods."

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William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways- "Sitting full in the moment, I practiced on the god-awful difficulty of just paying attention. It's a contention of Heat Moon's - believing as he does any traveler who misses the journey misses about all he's going to get - that a man becomes his attentions. His observations and curiosity, they make and remake him."

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William Saroyan, My Heart's in the Highlands- "I am enormously wise and abysmally ignorant."

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Arthur Koestler- "The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards."

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William James- "Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is."

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Werner Herzog- "Ambition is to be the fastest runner on this planet, to be the first on the South Pole, which is a grotesque perversion of ambition. It's an ego trip, and I'm not on an ego trip. I don't have ambitions - I have a vision."

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There was a young dancer, Priscilla, 

Who flavored her cunt with vanilla.

The taste was so fine, 

Men and beasts stood in line, 

Including a stud armadilla.