Galaxy Girl Geek

Ryan Broderick, Garbage Day, The war against giant frog costumes:

President Donald Trump is desperate for an enemy to justify the extreme force he wants to deploy on blue states and is trying his hardest to convince people that antifa is so dangerous that, as Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the roundtable this week, they need to be exterminated like ISIS or Hamas. The Trump administration also has a nearly pathological habit of accusing their enemies of being exactly like them. Which is why they think the left is a dark money-funded domestic terror cell full of pedophiles and spree shooters that wants to destroy America.

[Jack] Posobiec, an influencer who never ascended to Kirk’s level because he just can’t stop going full Nazi, said at the roundtable, ‘Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany.’ What happened to antifa after that, Jack?

They Want To Ban Books To Keep Us From Coming Out • Buttondown

Federal Judge Orders ICE to Take Down ‘Illegal’ Fence at Broadview Facility | Chicago News | WTTW

“Let’s be honest–you can’t say fuck you at work, but you can say it if you’re fluent in corporate.

“I’m going to give you four phrases that work like a charm without getting dragged into HR. So save this video, because you’re going to need it.”

One: Thanks for your input. I’ll take it from here. That’s code for: You’ve done enough, please stop touching it now.

Two: If that’s the direction you want to go, I’ll make a note of it. Translation: I’m putting this in writing, and you can deal with the consequences later.

Three: I disagree, but happy to escalate if that’s the next step. That’s the professional version of: Try me.

Four–and this one is my personal favorite: Understood.

No follow-up, no smile, no tone. Just one word that says: I heard you, and I’m not impressed. We are done.

None of these are rude. None of these get you written up. But they all say exactly what you mean–without losing your cool.

Unsourced:

How many people here, when you’re holding a baby near a stairwell or an open window, suddenly have a little thought where you go, “Oh, I think I just imagined throwing the baby out the window. I think I’ve got a desire to throw babies out the window. I don’t think I should be holding Mary’s baby.” “Mary, would you like to take the baby?”

And I would ask the audience, and I would go through all these different things, and I’d say, “Who’s had those thoughts?” And some people would put their hands up, and then I would—sometimes no one would—and then normally I’d pick on one person with a hand up, and I’d say:

“Now you, I have to warn everyone about. I have to tell the people the truth about you. You—you are the safest pair of hands to hold a baby.”

And then I would explain to the audience that those thoughts—those impulsive thoughts—are actually public information films.

So when you’re holding a baby by an open window or a cliff, your brain makes a little film that goes:

“You’re holding a baby by a cliff. Don’t throw the baby over the cliff.”

But it’s delivered so quickly that the brain confuses it for a desire.

Friday, October 10

“The reason you ghost your friends, avoid responding, and disappear even when you care is because your nervous system sees connection as a demand, not a comfort. You’re not a bad friend, youw’re overwhelmed. If responding feels like a chore, maybe this account is for you.”

Bertrand Russell, 22 January 1962:

Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism. I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us. I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.

BlackRedGuard: I worked in homeless shelters. None of the older folks thought they’d end up living there when they were young. In 1996 the dude you see pushing a cart down the street was driving a truck and making hella money. In 1989 the lady passed out on the bench under a garbage bag was hanging out at the club and living her best life. In 1985 the old dude yelling to himself on the corner was chilling on a beach in Mexico on spring break, he has a degree in Chemistry. Everybody comes from somewhere and has had a life.

Anaïs Nin: “I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me - the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.”

Jim Wright: When this is over, we need to seriously implement Nuremberg-style trials.

And I’m not talking just the obvious fascism, but the lunacy that just ended research into mRNA protocols that could have cured Alzheimer’s. Along with a number of cancers and many, many infectious diseases. This is more than criminal, it’s crime against all of humanity. It’s crime against the future.

You have no idea how much I despise what this political party and their miserable ideology have become.

Monday, October 6

atrupar: The near daily barrage of deadly mass shootings in America feels like low level warfare against normal citizens who just want to live in peace. And because people keep electing Republicans who won’t do anything about it there’s no solution in sight.

MichelleKinney: Exactly. There’s this vibrating hum beneath the surface of all of our lives now. Mass shootings, political violence, fascism. Trump fuels it, Republicans are accomplices. It’s really no wonder so many of us ponder if we can even plan for a future in a country we love — but no longer recognize.

Pope Leo 14: Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. So someone who says that I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life. So they’re very complex issues. I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois."

Retired U.S. Army Maj. General Paul Eaton: Trust me when I tell you the last thing those Admirals + Generals wanted was to be flown across multiple time zones to be lectured on what it means to be a warrior by a former PT TV Host who had to promise to stop drinking to get the job. Then have a 5-time Draft Dodger bereft of any honor as a man tell them the American people are the enemy within.

USAID’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr: Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break. _ Do you know this melody? It’s emblasted in stadiums, clubs and festivals for over two decades. But it didn’t start on the dance floor. It started in a video game. In 1984, a Commodore 64 game called Lazy Jones featured a chiptune track called “Stardust”, written by David Wittaker. That 8-bit melody was catchy but forgotten. Until 1999, when general producer Zombination took it, tracked it up and dropped Can’t Cuff Your Hone. Heavy bass, punching drums and the result? A rave anthem with video game DNA. It ran from underground clubs to global fame. What started as pixie music turned into one of the most iconic tracks in electronic history. From Commodore to stadiums, that’s the power of a melody._

“I hope I’m pretty when I grow up.”

Pretty adventurous; pretty strong; pretty goofy; pretty creative; pretty independent; pretty kind; pretty brave; pretty loved; and that’s pretty awesome.

“A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of the sentence is surprising in a way that causes the reader/listener to reframe the first part of the sentence.”

“Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violent. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another.” - Mouth, “Rock Manning Goes for Broke” (Charlie Jean Anders)

In Texas, it looks like fall before it feels like fall. To scramble a line from Sylvia Plath’s journal, the worst of the summer is gone, with “the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” Virginia Woolf said it well in a letter: “I feel entirely dehumanized by the sun now and wish for fog, snow, rain, humanity.” None of that is coming until at least Halloween down here, so we must settle for what C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy called “the idea of Autumn.”

“Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to live instead of just survive. To wake up and not already feel behind. To breathe without the pressure of yesterday. To exist without the constant fear of what might go wrong. I don’t want a perfect life. 1 just want a break from survival mode. A day where life feels calm, and 1 don’t have to fight so hard to feel peace.”

Patricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You: “But the soul is a floor. It is there to bear us up and keep us standing, not merely to be clean.”

You know what’s underrated? Letting people be. Letting them mispronounce a word, talk too much about a show they love, or get excited about something you don’t understand. You don’t have to get it, just be kind. Everyone’s got something that lights them up. Let them shine, even if it’s not your thing.

Adam Savage:

There’s an attempt within some circles to weaponize the word empathy as some sort of wrong-headed over merging with someone else’s reality. I haven’t investigated it enough to really explain it because I don’t care, because I think it’s wrong. Oh yeah, sure, that makes me unscientific. Listen. Everything good I have in my life is because of empathy and kindness and respect. Everything good I have ever achieved, everything that I have around me, is all because of that. I’m a believer in believing everywhere you go better than you left it. And that means thinking about others a lot. A lot more than you might even be used to, and trying to figure out how to not mess with their reality too much, keep yourself self-contained. But I have done a lot of talks over the years for young people asking questions about getting started, finding their aesthetic, finding a job, knowing when it’s the right career, etc. And I like to point out that the skill to build is to be easy to work with. I banged on about this a lot over the years, but I have seen people who were mediocre at best at their jobs last for almost a decade in a job when there certainly were more qualified people one could hire, but the people in those jobs were so easy to work with and such a facile part of the team that it made sense. And even if you are venal and want all the money, which is fine, even if money is the important thing to you, go earn it. I really like more power to you. But you don’t… Even if you want all the dough, being, I swear to me, being kind, empathetic, and respectful of everybody is the best way to move through the world."