When I failed the Stoics

This is about deadlines. This is about me. This is about how I react to deadlines. This is how I failed the Stoics, sort of.

For more'n 40 years I have lived with, by, through, for and on deadlines in a way most people won't quite understand.

In my world, missing a deadline is more than just being late. It is losing. Losing exponentially as that distance between the deadline and when the work will actually be done gets greater.

Arg. Complicated.

Try this - In my world, missing a deadline has very real costs. Those costs grows exponentially as time passes.

It is more than just what it does to my wallet. It is more than what it does to the company wallet. Those are bad enough.

Missing a deadline, without a valid reason is worse for a 2-part reason:

1) It is rude
2) It is an inconvenience

These, these, they drive me I allow these 2 things far more control over me than they should have.

Needs work, as one friend in particularly regularly states about himself. That's a reminder to me.

RUDE

It is rude because the people who missed the deadline do not care about other folks and their lives and what they have to do. They are too self-centered. They believe the word revolves around them.

What and when they want is all that matters. Other people are either obstacles to be obliterated, steps to reach higher or something to simply be ignored in the way Cthulhu considers this reality.

I do not like dealing with those kind of people. Where possible, I do not deal with them.

INCONVENIENCE

These people who think of deadlines as something that applies to other people also have no problem being an inconvenience to others. See above.

These inconsiderate people have no problem in making others set aside their schedules, their wants, their needs and everything else.

Deadlines to these people are simply ficticious points on a chronological map. At least until it blows up and they have to start eating the cost.

Ahhhhh.

A LESSON

You might think that is enough to teach a lesson. You are wrong. Humans have a singular ability to tilt at windmills up to their final breath.

Me? I have spent far too much time sounding the charge and demanding Pancho give me the best lance. I am trying to change this.

TIME

Time is apparently an illusion to these folks. They do things when they feel like it.

Round here we call it Turner County Time. I am certain you have a similar saying where you are. The geographic name changes. The idea is constant.

I recall dedicating the High School gym here to the late Ronalda Pierce. Time set. Time started. Moved through the 45-minute ceremony. Done.

As we were shaking hands, remembering Ronalda and such, people were still coming into the gym expecting to see the ceremony. 45 minutes late is still on time to some people.

When these people are the ones being treated rudely or inconvenienced by missed deadlines, the world has come to an end. People responsible must be punished. 

Point out they do the same thing? Insults fly. Cognitive dissonance rules.

FAILED

And this is where I failed the Stoics, sort of.

They tell us everything that happens is good. 

The Stoics also remind me I am not in control of my circumstances, but I am 100% in control of my reaction to them. Unreasoning emotional reactions are not good.

The Stoics tell us to accept our fate and go a step further. Embrace it. Love it. Amor Fati.

They also tell us if we can change things, do it. If we cannot, accept it.

I try to do that. I presently can't won't always do that with those other people who think a deadline is just a word in a dictionary. I am trying to be better.

Where deadlines and other people are concerned ... stoicism is replaced with fury. I explain further.

GREATER THE IRE

The more people who are affected, the greater the ire. This is not just about me.

If it was about me, I'd be a Mt. Vesuvius every time I went to the doctor. Appointment 9:30. Get into the exam room 10:30. Doc walks in 10:45.

This only affects me. I ain't always happy. I am resigned to it. I manage. I have learned to block off the time needed for events like this. Where possible, I do things that need doing while I wait.

Some day I will learn to accept and embrace it. Amor Fati.

Maybe.

Again, it only affects me. I roll with it.

Add more people to the mix, I presently cannot will not handle it in a rational way.

BETTER

I am getting better at handling other people missing deadlines. I am learning to just say, "Cool." and then walk away leaving those who mangled matters to sort it out without my presence.

This is me changing things.

When I have walked away, this has left other people shocked, stunned, outraged and etc.

Their problem. Not mine. They can should become Stoic and enjoy it. Or, learn what a deadline is and stick to it.

Ooooooo.

Unfortunately, walking away is not always reasonably possible for me. It is always possible, but may come with a cost I cannot am unwilling to pay. If you know much about me, you understand that. In those cases, I should must accept the matter with calm dignity. 

I'm trying.

If someone misses a deadline enough times, that person is no longer part of my situations and circumstances. I simply will not acknowledge them. I handled the matter. Costs will be paid.

VALID

Missing a deadline with a valid reason, not an excuse, I can deal with that. Fecal materials are a space-time occurrence.

Need to change the deadline? Let folks know as soon as you can. Let people who are also in the queue know so they can adjust their schedules.

This notice and adjustment recently happened in a matter I was involved with. 

All involved got an update when the matter was pushed back about 30 minutes. Cool! I made adjustments. It worked. The Stoic in me smiled and said "This too is a good thing."

That notice showed:

Respect
Acknowledgement
Awareness

To me, that ain't a lot to ask. To too many others, that is a task required effort beyond measure.

To those people, I offer a modern Stoic response - A lack or planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Cannot help

 <sigh>

UPDATE: The individual in question below was taken into custody by the Ashburn Police Department on Monday afternoon. Charged with a minor offense. She had a warm place to sleep and food.

Rolled into work a few minutes after 6. Across the street, she was standing, rocking back and forth. She likely slept there in that small, unheated space.

The space holds a kiosk for people to pay their power bill. That's it. No heat, that I know of. Might be heated. May have AC because this is S. Georgia. Summer temps and electronics do not pair well.

She had to be — no she did not. If the owner arrived before she left, she'd get arrested again.

Then she'd have a warm place to stay and food, for at least as long as she stayed in jail. She is a regular at the Iron Bar hotel.

WHAT WAS COMING

Knowing what was coming, I opened the door, stepped in and locked it behind me.

Yep. 30 minutes later, the door rattled. She was trying to get in.

The crew arrived. Left door unlocked.

She came back. Mumbling incoherently. Obviously wanting something, anything. She'd take it and trade it to someone for money to buy lottery tickets, cigarettes and whatever else struck her as necessary at that moment.

In that moment, I remembered why my desk is behind a wall, away from public view, for those times when people come into the building. At least I get a second or so to react, if needed, before they make it around the counter and back to me.

I ain't paranoid. I have proof. Tangible proof. Come by. I'll show you the bullet holes.

Anyway, the door was locked after she left. She came back a few moments ago. Door still locked.

A LIFE OF FREEDOM

A brief story -

Yakutsk, Russia, is supposed to be one of the coldest cities on earth. Temps regularly hit -50 C. If you wanna believe Google, that's -58 F. You can freeze to death quite quickly.

Yakutsk has homeless people. One gent there has lived homeless there for 20 years. He does not want a home. He prefers his life of ultimate freedom. Wow.

Yes, it is freedom. No taxes, no job, no expectations.

She has the same freedom. She refuses to cooperate with people who try to help. People have gotten her an apartment, a room, etc. Never stays long. Either leaves or gets kicked out. The kicking is far more likely.

MENTAL HEALTH

She probably has mental health issues. I cannot state this for certain. Other people have told me she does.

I hear people yelling, "We need to do more for people with mental health issues."

How? What? When? Where? People like her refuse any and all help. Will. Not. Take. It. Handouts of cash, drugs, food, booze, gladly accepted.

Years ago, we dealt with these people by putting them in "mental institutions." That is now cruel and inhumane. Sometimes, I agree. Sometimes, I disagree. Some people need to be removed from the public.

Is she one? I am not sure. As best I know, she's never harmed anyone. She has yelled at people, including me. Could she harm someone? Sure. We all have that potential.

Potential is not reality. If we lock up people because "they might," then we should all be behind bars.

Anyway, how can you help someone who just walks away every time?

SHE BE SWINGING

She can be rational. She can be as irrational as a toddler denied a cookie. There is no telling who you'll get when you encounter her. Those swings are massive.

According to her, I am either her pastor, a racist, a handout provider or something else found within her personal universe.

Yeah.

I do my best to avoid her, as I did this morning. No good comes of the times we interact.

CANNOT HELP

I cannot help. I do not know how to help.

I am not sure I want to know how to help. It may take too much. It may take something I am not willing to give.

At least for a while, I am pretty much a prisoner in my office. I can leave, maybe. Walk, yes. Drive? No. If I get into the truck, I am genuinely concerned she will stand behind it so I cannot back out. If she does that, then the local constabulary has to be called in. I do not want to do that, even though it means she'd have food and a place at least for a few days.

I am at a loss.

If you have suggestions, I'm listening.

Rose colored glasses

This one is gonna offend a LOT more people than usual. A very few won't be offended. Very. Few.

This is a-poke-you-in-the-eye-with-a-sharp-stick rant. We are slaying sacred cows. We are taking the meat and burning it away on piles of rainforest timber.

On with the show, eh?

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Ooooh. Big word. Fancy word. Try another - delusional. Again? Homo non clara mente cogitare.

Bah. Make this simple.

Human. 

We - that is you, me, that guy who just ducked around the corner so you won't see him staring at you and everyone you know - we are all afflicted with this disorder to some degree or another.

We mentally ingest what we want and consign the rest to a hazardous-waste dump.

A very rare, very few people can overcome this. History has a handful of examples. None of 'em appear in this rambling.

GET TO THE POINT ALREADY

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's yer point -

We have what we asked for. Well, you did and do. That we don't like it, see the Cognitive Dissonance above. "We" because I got hauled into the mess you made against my will.

What did we (most of you) ask for? 

More government.

What did we (all of us) get? More government.

Me and very, very, very, very few others wanted and tried for something different. We actually tried to get less government, but our voices were shut down, drowned out and crushed beneath the weight and power of what the rest of you demanded.

Mind you, this tiny peer group and I are not excluded from the Cognitive Dissonance. It rages within us. We too idealize a utopia and believe it can happen.

<sigh> It can't. It won't. Keep reading.

NO!

I hear your screams. You did not ask for more government.

Yeah, you did. If you voted, you asked for more government, more than 99% of you voted for more anyway. If you did not vote, you definitely asked for more government. You are part of that 99%.

And, you got it. Jesus, Harold and Joseph, you got it and slammed it down on everyone!

The joy I find in this debacle is that you are in the same grinder as the rest of us. A bunch of you will not admit that. Of course, a bunch of you will insist nothing is wrong while being dissolved in the belly of a sarlac.

LEFT

The left - you have loudly demanded more government as if government will magically (government is magic, or rather sleight of hand) cure all the ills facing us. 

Ooooh, yes you have. The left in this country has ballooned government in lock-step with the right. Look at the voting records. Look at how spending has increased.

A very close friend of mine, call him Mua'Dib, is so vocal about more government, it is one of 3-4 things he talks about. The others are irrelevant.

I have tilted at his windmills for too long. I have told him when you ask for more government, you will get it and not like it. Prophecy fulfilled. Each time I said this in the past, his reply is "You have to be careful who you vote for."

How's that working out, Usul?

See Get To The Point above.

RIGHT

The right - you have loudly demanded more government as if government will magically (government is magic, or rather sleight of hand) cure all the ills facing us.

The right in this country has ballooned government in lock-step with the left. Look at the voting records. Look at how spending has increased. Who did it?

I have a friend on the far right who swears government is the problem and it must be reduced. Call him Gipper. He can talk about 3-4 things, one being government. The others are irrelevant.

His words do not match his actions because he literally demands more government that will get rid of the problems he sees. I have told him that when you ask for more government, you will get it and not like it. Prophecy fulfilled. Each time I said this in the past, his reply is "You have to be careful who you vote for."

How's that working out, Dutch?

WOOPS!

I just read what I wrote. Apologies. I got them reversed. Mua'Dib is on the right and Gipper is on the left.

Um. No. I had it correct the first time.

No, the second time is the proper placement.

Wudja. Hold on. What? Wait. Is this?

Bah. You figure out which one is which. I have something more to say.

ANARCHY

I have a friend who is a total anarchist. He does not want any laws. Call him Sid.

I point out Somalia is a place where anarchy is the order of the day. (See what I did there?) He says no, Somalia is a failed state.

Mr. Vicious, pray tell what is the difference, I ask.

His mouth moves. Sounds come out. He has created his own language, which he and he alone understands. Through this language, I guess he explains why he is correct and I am a buffoon with less understanding than Mike the famous headless chicken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

INTRODUCING THE PROBLEM!

Here is the problem. As Pogo said many decades ago, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Nature abhors a Hoov - er, vacuum. Power does the same. Something is going to fill that void.

People.

Humans will either lead or follow. That very, very few I mentioned earlier are willing to just get out of the way. The leaders and followers will not tolerate that so they hunt down the very, very few and kill them.

Yep. Check human history.

People will NOT leave well enough alone. Gotta tell someone else what to do, when to do it, how to do it, where to do it and the reverse, not do it.

Why? Because the dude with the biggest stick said do it or do not do it. Otherwise, get hit with the stick. Sometimes a group of people will rise up and hit the big stick dude. Then, they start telling people the whats, etc., and whatnots, etc.

Again why? Because they said so. Big stick, remember?

People will NOT follow the rules. Check out my FB page for the posts I call, "People who park like hammerhoids." (That is how I want to spell the word and this is my column.) These people just flat out ignore parking lines and parking spaces.

Some of them would drive through the store if they could get their vehicle down the aisles.

Each time I take a picture, I say, "And you are why we need laws." More & more people are submitting pictures for me to post. Keep it up. Each time I post a submitted picture, I say, "And you (the driver) are why we need laws."

Karl Marx screwed it up. The truth was and is there. His dialectic even calls for a continual rollover and roll over of those in charge. He just put on rose-colored glasses to temper what he wanted to see. 

The truth is, the struggle to rein in government will always be with us.

Why? Because see everything above.

Meanwhile, we have more government.

I hope you are happy because you got what you asked for and it is literally killing us. 

I sure ain't happy about it.

A happy guy

 This morning, 10 Jan. 2026, I rolled outta bed.

"Better check messages. Just in case."

Yep. There it was. Canceled. More than canceled, gone, baby gone.

Cool.

If I had put odds on it the day before, it'd be something like 85-90% exactly what happened. 

She did it before, albeit that other time she was also strung out on 'scripts. This time, sober. At least I think sober. WTH do I know?

"I will not bother you again" were the last words.

Cool. In order to make sure I did not dwell on it, go back to it and etc, I blocked her briefly. Just long enough to erase all the contacts and messages. Then, I unblocked her. Erased the other threads in other places.

Ain't mad. Ain't skeered. Also, ain't got no reason to leave the block in place. She did not engage one of the very few rules that get people blocked. She can contact me again.

85-90% sure she will.

Gonna be a different set of rules when that happens.

And that, luddites and geraniums, will result in another "I will not bother you again" on her part.

Goose said he was sorry. I said no worries. I am a happy guy. Still am. Plan to continue to be.

What happened was a good thing, the best thing in fact.

Mel asked what I was expecting. A discussion about a business decision she was pondering and pizza. Anything else, up to her.

I am a happy guy. If the follow-through occurred, I'd be a happy guy.

Yes, it was expected. I fault no one. It happened. What happened was a good thing, the best thing in fact.

Cool. I am a happy guy.

Going Socratic

 

I have questions. 

I will be attacked for these. Socrates drank hemlock for corrupting the youth of Athens. The vast majority of people do not like having to examine their belief structure. They like it even less when they cannot defend that belief structure.

Ad hominem gets you dropped, block and banned.

You may ask questions. I absolutely WILL answer them to the best of my ability and will back up my answers with facts and evidence, if the question is of that nature. If you ask my opinion, that may or may not require empirical proof.

Where appropriate, I request that you cite your sources. If you do not cite sources, then do not expect much in the way of my answers to your questions. If the question asks your opinion, sources not necessary.

Part 1

Should we charge leaders of other countries with US-specific crimes? Can other countries charge our leaders with their country-specific crimes? If we charge the leaders of other countries with violating US law, who else will be arrested? Vladmir Putin? The midget from N. Korea? Myanmar's leaders? African country leaders? If China decides to come and arrest Trump for violating Chinese law, is this fair?

Part 2

At what point do we as a nation stop controlling what American adults do to themselves? What gives anyone the right to tell an adult he or she may not engage in risky behavior? What else should we ban? How many lives has alcohol ruined v. how many lives has marijuana ruined? What is your acceptable death or ruined life threshold? Do you believe in body autonomy?

Part 3

If we are looking to hold mass killers accountable, when will we hold the US government accountable for the deaths the military has inflicted over the past 20 or so years? What about other countries? Iran, Iraq, Syria? Great Britain? Russia? China?

Part 4

Can you show me anywhere prohibition has actually worked? How did the US experiment with alcohol prohibition work out?

Part 5

"And now the head has been cut off the snake. Let's hope Trump cleans out the cartels for good." Can you show me any place, any time, anywhere in which a power vacuum was not promptly filled? How did the regime change in Afghanistan work?

Part 6

Given the double-talk coming out of Washington, whom should we believe and when? Are we at war with Venezuela or not? Are we there to run the country or not? Are we there to take over the oil fields or not?

Part 7

If we are at war, are you willing to sign up and fight? Are you, if you are a parent, willing to send your children to the fight? If you are not willing to physically join the fight, do you truly support this military effort? If you will not physically fight, how is OK to send someone else to fight?

Contradictions

 Mike M set me a link to a video. Mike always, always sends good stuff.

This one came with a warning-

"Are you able to view tiktok videos? If so, I will send you one that messed me up. I felt violated by it, and didn't even realize what it was talking about was a real thing."

I really should pay closer attention to warnings like that.

After I watched it and tried, and failed, to express what it did to me, Mike said, "I was wrecked that night. Violated. Someone had stolen shit from inside me that I couldn't even put into words."

https://www.tiktok.com/@shehryar.motivati43/video/7564122001309191455

I watched it. My jaw dropped. Mike watched it several more times. I ain't yet ready for that.

It was like the narrator split my skull open, scooped out my brain and explained every cell in it in excruciating detail.

My initial reaction was to cry and laugh. I wanted to run into the street yelling in celebration, inviting the world to join me and I wanted to get into the tiny closet under stairs at the office and bolt the door from the inside.

I wanted to go Jeremiah Johnson in the PNW and go to a TSO concert in Madison Square Garden.

I wanted to demand people come to me so I could say go away. I wanted people I could hug and tell them to never touch me.

I wanted to go on a wrecking spree and start building something.

In those few minutes, the narrator describes my life from the oldest memories I have until now.

Here, words succeed at failing in a spectacular fashion, or fail at succeeding in equally abysmal fashion. I have almost always found comfort, solace and healing in writing. Now, I have a better understanding of why. It is one place where the contradiction that is me can cleave, in both senses of the word to bring chaotic harmony to my existence.

Regardless.

Whether you who read this wish to believe or not, accept or not is irrelevant. What matters is someone who is not me, has ... well, it has brought me understanding and it has shown I am not the only person in the world like this.

Tribe.

I do not know everyone in this tribe, but simply knowing they exist is enough for now.

Milestones, cosmos and the future

If yer looking for something of cosmic significance, this ain't it. It you are looking for sometimes disjointed ramblings of an over-educated redneck newspaper editor, you are in the right place.

Today, 24 Nov. 2025, The Wiregrass Farmer newspaper achieved something never before done in its history.

We put the entire paper out with InDesign, a computer program. The InDesign is the significant part. We've put the paper out electronically for years.

While this is not something that will shake your world, it did shake mine.

A BIT O' HISTORY

When I started this journalism journey more'n 40 years ago, the first computer system I learned to use was a Compugraphic. Text was typed into a video display terminal (VDT). After we put in the programming codes, it was sent to a a camera with spools of film inside.

The type came out on photographic paper which was developed in a different machine.

We then moved to a MicroTek VDT system. This was a glorified word processor with 12 terminals. It had about as much memory and storage space as cocker spaniel on meth. A laser printer spit out columns of copy we still have to cut and paste onto layout grids.

Then the Hall School of Journalism got a Mac, one of the originals with a 9-inch screen, self contained with a 3.5 floppy drive and the first electronic mouse ever seen on a computer at Troy State University.

At this time, The Greenville Advocate in Greenville ALA had a functioning Linotype which they still used for some things for the newspaper.

From Troy I moved to Nevada where we again used the Compugraphic. The office there also had Macs and there I was exposed to the first commercial version of Pagemaker. It mostly worked.

Back in Georgia, I returned to the MicroTek VDTs. After losing an argument with the then-editor, I moved to Florida, Windows 3.1 and an updated version of Pagemaker. I hate the PCs, but that is what we had.

Again back in Georgia at the newspaper where I presently work, I brought in Macs and Pagemaker. The week before I took over, they were using Compugraphic. The old Compugraphics were on their last leg both in our office and commercially. Pagination was taking over.

Soon, we upgraded computers and went to QuarkXpress. Quark was designed with newspapers in mind. It worked astonishingly well. I upgraded that twice and upgraded computers 4 or 5 times.

Around 2005, we started creating PDFs from the paginated computer images. We abandoned the physical page layout. The old wax machine was shut down. Hard copy pages were shoved into a corner. Pages were transmitted to the press over the Internet.

I forget exactly when, but I launched an Internet version of the newspaper on SurfSouth. I was one of the first in the nation and possibly the first in Georgia. It didn't last. Some years later the company bought domains for the papers and we went live online again.

TODAY

Today, for the first time, this week's newspaper was produced using InDesign, the Adobe software part of the suite of production tools. Last week was partly produced with the old Mac and the old Quark.

The old Mac remains in play as I migrate stuff from it to the new server. It will stay up and running for a while as it has stuff not yet moved over.

And, it has Quark.

InDesign was built with graphic designers in mind, not newspaper folks. ID works, but I am certain the latest iteration of Quark is better for what I do. Other offices use ID. We are now all on the same platform.

The learning curve was sharp, steep and sometimes painful. Quark shortcuts didn't work. Mac shortcuts did work, but they were/are of little help while using ID.

Robin spent time watching ID tutorials and learning how to run the new programs. She quickly learned what was needed to get her part of the paper done. Me? I managed, with her help.

We still have a lot to learn. We will.

THE FUTURE

If we ever have to upgrade computers and production software again, I may retire.

It is not a process I enjoy.

Over the years I have learned, and forgotten, several computer programming languages, several page production systems and several computer operating software systems. Even now, I feel my grasp of Quark slipping away as ID replaces what I know/knew. My knowledge of using a PC is eroding even faster and that makes me happy.

I read stories about how Gen Right Now gets irked with us older folks for not wanting to change and adapt. I get that. I was once a 20-something and jumped on new stuff with the enthusiasm of a honey badger finding Pooh Bear's secret stash.

Now, I'm far more Steve Martin about it.

"We're closed!" Steve said in one of his standup routines about aging.

Not prejudiced, not weary, not angry, not really apathetic and perhaps mildly annoyed, well, definitely annoyed at times. just done. We have learned, and forgotten, more than Gen Whatever knows. Been there, got the T-shirt, scars and ... yeah.

We are not interested in more change. Well, I am not interested in more change of the kind I just went through.

Change is on the way. It will happen. I cannot and will not stop it. But I don't have to participate in it.

Pete Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear

Pete Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear, is one of the current administration's backup Liars in Chief. Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear, is also the current Secretary of Pissing Off The Media, Most Of The Military, A Lot Of Congress and People With Sense.

Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear, insulted the military.

Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear, also decided he can tell the media what to do.

In what should be no surprise to anyone with brains, every media outlet with any integrity which was asked to agree to this Order From Hell said no. This includes Fox News. Thursday, 16 Oct. 2025, they walked out of the Pentagon. This includes Fox News.

Only One News Now signed. ONN, which is not The Onion but might as well be now, is operated by American Family Radio. AFR is a far-right current administration toady. I regret to say AFR claims to be Christian.

Claims.

Claims.

Claims.

Eh. They may be better Christians than I am. 

SUPPORT

In what absolutely did not surprise me, a lot of the public supports Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear. These people say the media only causes problems, writes news that could threaten US interests and troops and in general are a bunch of idiots.

Not gonna beat that already composted horse.

FASCISM

Make this clear. Hegseth's, may fire ants nest in his underwear, order is 100% fascism. A succinct definition - "fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of the nation over the individual." Oh 1984, we hardly knew ye.

Hegseth's, may fire ants nest in his underwear, order was not his idea. That came from the current Liar in Chief who is so desperate to control the media and whatever is said about him that he wants to change the way the First Amendment works.

I could give you near unlimited links pointing out the lies he has told. Ain't gonna. You already know OR you refuse to believe the paint is wet and will scrub your entire body down the wall to prove there is no paint on the wall whatsoever. ('Cause it's now all on you.)

APPLY TO YOU

Understand this - Any change to the way 1A works will also apply to you. If the media cannot do it, neither can you.

You may like the idea that people cannot criticize the current Liar in Chief. Cool. If this nation elects a leftist demagogue, the same rule applies. You do not get to criticize that person.

Oooooo.

Ahhh, but such ideas require the ability to think ahead and think rationally.

Ennyhoo...

SHUT YO MOUF

Every. Journalist. I. Know. has enough stories to figuratively sink a battleship. These stories never see the light of day. Everyone of of us has these shut yo mouf stories we will never share, never tell and never let anyone know.

While I may not know (maybe I do) any of the crew that walked out of the Pentagon, I am willing to testify on the Holy Scripture of your choice, they also have these stories.

Telling these stories serves no one. It will do the public no good to know. The stories could harm a lot of people without good reason.

So, we keep our mouf shut. 

Hegseth's, may fire ants nest in his underwear, order is not meant to protect any military secrets, any member of the military or national security. It is ONLY meant to make sure the Liar in Chief looks good when the military appears in the press.

If Joe Biden had tried this, the LIC would have an even bigger aneurysm.

THE SPEECH

Remember "the speech" before all the military's generals, admirals, etc?

Hegseth, may fire ants nest in his underwear, and the LIC came off looking like buffoons. In other words, the truth was told.

That is a major reason behind Hegseth's, may fire ants nest in his underwear, order.

ONE LAST THING

“When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.”
― Edward Snowden

Short painful life of Norah Vincent

Norah Vincent is dead.

Who is Norah Vincent? A better question is "Who wasn't Noah Vincent?"

Think John Howard Griffin. Think Ralph Ellison.

Please leave your arguments about gender constructs at the door. How you choose to identify yourself is not my business. I do not want it to be my business. Please do not make it my business.

Argue the idea behind this blog if you like. Cut loose! I like it.

TO READ OR NOT READ

To read or not to read. That is the question. Whether tis more idiotic to remain unread and look down upon those who cannot read, while being exactly same, or read and by reading realize one's own shortcomings and by realizing, end them. Yeah. Shakespeare is gonna have Words for me when I get to the next realm of existence.

Ennyhoo.

I have not read Mr. Griffin's work. I probably should. I did read Mr. Ellison's work at the prompting of a HS English teacher. She said I would really like the book.

I read it. The only reason I read it is because she suggested it. Were it a class assignment or even an individual assignment from her to me, the book would remain forever unread. It's how I roll.

I told her I did not like it. And yet, it has stuck with me. I vividly remember passages. With 40+ years of experience now behind me I can still say I did not like the book. Today, I appreciate the book. Like, well ... maybe. Need? Without question. That book was a shot of verbal nutrients to an embryonic philosophy that continues to grow today.

Mebbe I do like it after all.

LEARN MORE

Until this day - 10 March 2025 Gregorian - I had no idea the person Norah Vincent existed. Now I do. Now, I must learn more. Why?

Read this.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/18/gender.bookextracts

Norah's literary work is the experience men have. 

Someone is going to insist this is a hasty generalization, perhaps a bandwagon fallacy or some other kind of flawed logic. G'head.

Norah said her 18-month experience living as a man so transformed her, that her only release was the final option. Sad, sad, sad. It is also reflected the reality of being a male Homo sapiens. Men account for 80% of suicides. Men also commit somewhere around 90% of violent crimes.

Causation is not correlation? Then you explain it. We'll get to a statement on reality in a moment.

What Norah reports in her book is what heterosexual male Homo sapiens in the United States and likely the modern world experiences. Is that experience universal? It is for every heterosexual male Homo sapiens I've come across. It is in the anthropological studies and books I've read.

(Unless you are an anthropologist or sociologist, I'm willing to bet I've read more of the studies than you have.)

If you are that person who says this is so much fertilizer, I'm willing to bet you are not a heterosexual male Homo sapiens.

Remember, reality is under no obligation to conform itself to your expectations. Nor does it have to be warped to my preconceived notions. Arg. Complicated. Lemme simplify.

Mebbe this kinda thing does not happen in places like Afghanistan where women are considered propetty. I don't care enough to research it. 

If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

Can't make it any clearer than that.

IT'S TOUGH

Norah said that time she lived as a man, it was tough. Ellison wrote the same thing. Griffin wrote the same thing. Quibble semantics if you wish, the base premise is the same; live as someone else to experience what they have to go through. It is fucking HARD.

The difference? Norah died by assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2022. 

It is tough being a man. Women have a hard go of it too, but in today's modern societies - Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Iran and other places ain't modern as defined for this blog - they can have it easier than men. Not always. 

You ain't gotta believe me. Norah did not want to believe it. Rather than stand on a belief without empirical evidence, she lived it. Well, she lived it for as long as she could and then she quit living altogether.

Do you have the kind of stamina to prove me wrong? Are you willing to risk the kind of breakdown she had to prove me wrong? Reality is, a lot of men don't have what it takes to live as a man in today's world. Some men are so shredded by it they resort to violence. Norah writes about that too.

Norah was also a lesbian and a feminist.

Ooooo. I just heard the wind go out of a LOT of sails. Truth and pain, truth and pain.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Men have to live up to a higher level of expectations than women. We are expected to earn more. We are not supposed to cry or show reactions to pain. So many things are required that are not required of women. 

If a woman defeats us at anything, we are ridiculed. If we defeat a woman, we get, "Ooo. So you beat a woman" with as much sarcasm as can be packed into that small statement. A tie? "What, you ain't man enough?"

A woman defeats a man? "She got lucky." A woman loses to a man. "Yep. That's what happens."

We have to be macho!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ1glxX1BiQ 

The standards are not the same. As evidenced by suicides, violence and etc, so many male standards are harder than those for women.

VIOLENCE

I've written about men and the penchant for violence and how that has been transformed into socially acceptable outlets - sports for instance. Been roundly ridiculed for it. Eh. Prove me wrong, then I will change my opinion. Pick a sport women and men play with the same set of rules. The male version is more violent.

Sports trace their roots back to the hunting, fishing and war, all being violent activities, traditionally men's activities.

TRADITIONALLY! Not exclusive. Lots of women do these same things, but it is more common for men. Stone-age societies mostly leave the hunting & fishing to men while women gather and care for babies.

Why are men this way? The Animal Kingdom has a clue.
https://www.prodiveinternational.com/top-10-least-known-bull-shark-facts/

Bull sharks are the most aggressive sharks around. If they walked on land, lions, tigers and bears would not be safe.

Causation is not correlation?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3693622/

Why are men this way? Evolution maybe?

As Norah saw it, being a man is tough. Women do have a hard time of it, but in a different way and in a way that is just simply less difficult, she said. SHE SAID.

I concur.

Don't like what she said? Argue with her and refer to the above statement on truth.

You do not have to agree. Prove me wrong. I will change to fit the truth. Will you?

VAW

Violence against women (VAW) is bad. Violence against men is more common. This too is bad, but it reinforces my point. Men attack men far more often than they attack women.
https://noviolence.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Whataboutmen.pdf

Domestic violence is different. Women are the primary victims.

Historically, VAW was also institutionalized by men. Extreme surgeries, denial of basic human rights, etc etc etc. Granted.

Today is different, in modern societies at least.

Someone is gonna point out attempts to continue to regulate women, especially when it comes to reproductive rights. Granted. Politicians are only interested in maintaining power, not protecting anyone's rights, except their own to get back into office.

Someone else is gonna point out that women are massively more likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted than men. Granted. 

Someone is gonna point out men earn more than women, in a lot of cases. Granted.

Lemme cut these off right here.

A wonderfully brilliant, kind and intelligent friend of mine has Hodges' Rule of Thumb: Do not expect rational behavior from beings with an opposable thumb.

Quit expecting 100% logical and rational behavior. Ain't none of us a Vulcan. Homo sapiens runs on emotions, hormones and what we think we can get away with and then, if there is any brain left over, compassion, empathy and reasoning.

H. sapiens has no problem whatsoever working against its own interests.

Women verbally snipe at each other. They snub, ignore, put down, etc. It is psyche attacks. Women intentionally go for the emotional heart.

Men have no problem slinging the insults, but the words are more direct and blunt. Sometimes it is meant as and attack. Many times it is not, it is just manly banter. Also, men, as noted above, are also far more likely to take things physical when things get hot.

The difference is men are encouraged to hide their feelings. Those feelings are gonna come out one way or another. For men, keeping that bottle capped until it cannot hold the pressure leads to bad results. Women are encouraged to have emotional reactions.

Eh. Digest this -
https://www.heartfeltcounselingmn.com/blog/2020/12/28/are-men-more-logical-and-women-more-emotional

And Norah Vincent said it is harder to be a man than a woman.

ALL THUMBS

Let's run this VAW idea from another direction. Assume Hodges is correct. Might as well say H. sapiens is all thumbs when it comes to reason. Even the much-vaunted Stoics admit emotion is a ruling force their life. It is a force that sometimes needs to be subdued, sometimes let free to run wild but is always a force that must be reckoned and considered.

Watch what you do, where you do it and how you do it. H. sapiens is territory-defending predator with this instinct (yes, instinct) being more violent in males than females. Disagree? Visit your community's hood, a hood where you stand out and are clearly an outsider. Lemme know how it goes.

'Nother example. Someone breaks into your house. What are you going to do?

ASKING FOR IT

How does this apply to ladies? Ever heard the expression, "She was asking for it?"

You do not have to like that statement. In fact, if that statement is an accurate reflection of your belief structure, pray thee and I never meet, especially if you intend to act upon that belief. Juuuuust for the record, I once put 5 shots into a 6&3/8ths inch group at 1,000 yards. My worst group for the whole tournament was 5 shots in about 2 feet.

My daughter can do the same thing.

Regardless of our thoughts on "asking for it," this is a false wrong distorted unfortunate misguided idiotic reality mental mindset many men live. Yes. Ladies are in danger.

Ladies can also do something about that. Don't behave in a way that would invited such attention. Is that fair? No. Is it reality? Yes. Wear your rose-colored glasses if you wish. Remember this, corpses do not get to testify.

Lemme put this another way.

I am NOT going to wade into the ocean wearing a Lady Gaga meat dress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_dress_of_Lady_Gaga

Apply some common sense, except it is not common.

REPRODUCTIVE URGES

Here's another one for you to chew on. The sex industry is mostly aimed at men. Reproductive urges dominate. Evolution & biology again, I think. Women are biologically limited in the number of kids they can generate in a year. Men? Men are only limited by the number of ladies willing to say, "O happy dagger! This is thy sheath! There rust and let me die." Until she gets pregnant.

As the late Norah Vincent almost states —Women need a reason. Men need a place. She may have said it exactly that way in her book. I want to find out.

I'm saying it.

Sex is a major driver for most men. 

It is true. Sure, there are exceptions. By and large, that's the way it works.

Pull 100 men from anywhere. More than 90 of 'em are going to have sex, plain simple sex, as a major driving force in how they live their lives.

Women? The number is gonna be a LOT lower.

You don't have to believe me. Try this experiment.

Have a guy enter a bar and loudly announce "I need to get laid, now!"

What do you think is gonna happen?

Have a woman enter a bar and loudly announce "I need to get laid, now!"

What do you think is gonna happen?

Incels sometimes use their lack of lady companionship as a reason for violence. Is it justified? Hell no. Is it their reality? Yes. Is their reality distorted? Not to them. We (including me in that statement) believe their reality is distorted. Because of that distortion, they are, well, whatever you wanna call 'em.

My point here is, many men use lack of sex as an excuse to get violent. Now, how many women use lack of sex as an excuse to get violent? 

Here's other gelled-sand monkey wrench for your gears. How many women use withholding sex to try to control men? How many men use withholding sex to try to control women?

Ahhhhhhhh.

Norah, dammitall, I never met you, but I miss you.

I may never make this post public. I have plenty of haters coming after me these days and see no need to give them something else, especially when -

No. What I started to write is a lie. 

Truth is, what I write here is important, one of the most important things I could ever communicate. I still have to deal with enough hate from presenting other truths, a few more important and many a bit less important.

Yeah. Folks have plenty to hate me about right now. Don't think Imma let them have more.

Less than human

https://www.facebook.com/greg.millette/videos/1321608892683522 

The idea that the current Liar in Chief may send federal troops into various cities to restore order is causing splodey heads, especially among those who don't know what they are talking about.

A VERY short listing of federal troops used against citizens. https://www.history.com/articles/national-guard-federal-troops-deployments

The actual and complete list of using federal troops against US citizens has probably closed to 100 instances. Just a few that come to immediate mind:

The Whisky Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
The Boston Revolt
War of the Regulation
Shay's Rebellion
Frie's Rebellion
Cortina Troubles

We shall not enumerate the mass attacks on Native Americans mainly because I ain't got the time and I've provided enough proof to back my claim.

DEHUMANIZING

Some are claiming the Liar In Chief is trying to dehumanize people. Well, yeah.

Government always attempts to reduce people, individuals, to an economic point. How much can government get out of the individual? How much does the individual cost the government? Want proof?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/14-556

"Finally, this Court’s cases and the Nation’s traditions make clear that marriage is a keystone of the Nation’s social order. See Maynard v. Hill, 125 U. S. 190, 211. States have contributed to the fundamental character of marriage by placing it at the center of many facets of the legal and social order. There is no difference between same- and opposite-sex couples with respect to this principle, yet same-sex couples are denied the constellation of benefits that the States have linked to marriage and are consigned to an instability many opposite-sex couples would find intolerable. It is demeaning to lock same-sex couples out of a central institution of the Nation’s society, for they too may aspire to the transcendent purposes of marriage."

In another section of Obergrfell, an individual judge's opinion says:

"For that reason, just as a couple vows to support each other, so does society pledge to support the couple, offering symbolic recognition and material benefits to protect and nourish the union. Indeed, while the States are in general free to vary the benefits they confer on all married couples, they have throughout our history made marriage the basis for an expanding list of governmental rights, benefits, and responsibilities. These aspects of marital status include: taxation; inheritance and property rights; rules of intestate succession; spousal privilege in the law of evidence; hospital access; medical decisionmaking authority; adoption rights; the rights and benefits of survivors; birth and death certificates; professional ethics rules; campaign finance restrictions; workers’ compensation benefits; health insurance; and child custody, support, and visitation rules."

Etc.

I have more proof. If you need, I will supply.

If I am wrong, prove it. Show your evidence.

This is not a case, as me bud Tom Clark says of "doing your homework for you." I showed you mine. Show me yours. 

You can't. It doesn't exist.

MILITARY

Given enough time, every government will always use its military against citizens. How much time? Dunno, except that almost every government that existed more than 100 years has used the military against its citizens.

I provided proof about the US. Pick another country. Will be glad to show you proof about that nation.

Make this clear from the start - The function of a military is to dehumanize people. 

In order to start killing people on a mass scale, you have to reduce those people to being less than human. Carlos Hathcock referred to his targets as "hamburger." I only heard him refer to one person he killed as human, an NVC woman who tortured plenty of Americans and others.

Also, government(s) is(are) the world's biggest serial killer(s) and biggest mass murderers on the planet. Want to really save lives from gun violence? Make it illegal for the government to have guns. But that's another story for splodey heads on another day.

FOOTSTEPS

The current Liar in Chief is only following in the footsteps of previous Liars In Chief from both sides of the aisle. Those who deny this are not only ignoring but flatly rejecting history.

Complain as much as you need to if it makes you happy. I'm be sitting over here laughing to keep from crying.

Great leaders must have enemies

To be a truly great leader, you must identify an enemy for your followers to hate and attack.

I hear the splodey heads.

History proves me right. If I am wrong, correct me. As Paul says, I will write a retraction, change my mind and probably throw in a good story about how I messed up and got corrected.


DEFINED

Lemme define great before I go on. By great, I mean:

Popular with a huge group of people, millions or more
Able to command said huge group of people
Followers, some of 'em, are willing to kill and die for the leader
Followers, some of 'em at least, give unquestioning loyalty

By great I do not mean:

Right or wrong
Good or evil
Moral or amoral
Kind or cruel
Nor any other ethical or moral judgment category.

Those definitions are too flexible. Your moral and ethical code are not universal.

Great, as I define it, must come with tangible, empirical measurements. How many people died at the leader's command? How many followers? Etc.

And still someone is gonna have splodey heads now.

DEUS EX HUMANA

Sometimes great leaders exalt themselves to be deities. Deus ex humana. The ancient pharaohs, kings and emperors did this.

Medieval Europe had something almost to that point - divine right of kings. Kings were considered appointed by whatever god was supposed to be in charge. Divine right is not exclusive to Europe, but it is the most familiar example.

In both cases, these leaders commanded people. Go there and do this. The people went there and did that.

GREATEST LEADERS

Consider some of the greatest - mind my definition! - leaders we know. Look at their legacy, at least what we know of it.

Alexander the Great
Genghis Khan
Hitler
Stalin
Pol Pot
Stalin
Mao Tse Dung
Mohammad
Jesus bar Joseph of Nazareth
Mahatmas Ghandi
Martin Luther King
Many of the kings in Europe
Rulers in the Western hemisphere, most of whose names we do not have.
Pretty much all US presidents, including the current liar in chief, the one he replaced the first time and others.

What did they all have in common? They identified an enemy and rallied their followers to resist, to attack and defeat the enemy.

No? Show me one of the above leaders who did not have a clearly identified enemy.

ENEMY IDENTIFIED

I better identify enemy before I go on.

An enemy can be:
A person
A people/race
A nation
An ideology
A religion
A concept
A practice
Morals
Ethics

Laws/Regulations
More I ain't gonna list.

The enemy does not have to be something physical.

And still someone will disagree with me.


NO ENEMIES

I hear it now - "Jesus had no enemies!"

We ain't reading the same Bible. You tell me where these quotes come from. "We fight not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities." "Get thee behind me, Satan!" "What have you to do with me?" "Our time is not yet come." "He who has 2 cloaks, let him trade one for a sword."

Khan? Fought everybody he came across unless they surrendered.

Ghandi? Fought the British. Encouraged his followers to take up weapons.

MLK? He fought a system he saw as corrupt and oppressive.

Mohammad? At first he saw Jews and Christians as the enemy. In later years he shifted gears to say his version of Satan is the enemy.

The others should be self-explanatory. If they are not, do some research and edify yourself.

DEMAGOGUERY LIVES HERE

Demagoguery is the platform on which all great leaders build. Every. One.

Wikipedia has a pretty good definition of demagogue:

A political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue

I don't  agree with the "in a democracy" and "against elites" phrase. I can do that because this is my blog and I get to define my terms the way I want 'em.

Every one of the leaders I mentioned used these techniques. Reason and rationality are how you lose followers. R&R require people to think, which is painful to many. R&R takes too long to explain. R&R just does not work.

You can use logic to explain why X needs to happen. You detail the costs, impacts and benefits. Prove your point that everyone will benefit in the long run. Show how X is not only necessary, but vital.

A great leader will beat you down with just a few words - The bastards are coming to take away your Y or Z! Help me stop them to save you!

You lose. Not only do you lose, you become the enemy.

WRONG

I may be wrong. G'head. Prove I am wrong. You can't.