Yeah, me again . ..
Okay, yeah. Hi. I told myself, “Give yourself the day off. Get off your computer and read a book or watch a movie or stare into space.”
But, no! Long as I can move one finger (or two! sometimes) on my left hand, I’ll keep writing, no matter what. So, there.
So … the news. Well, I read it. And apart from the story about trying to pick up drugs from a pharmacy miles from where a person lives (you did call ahead of time, right? I didn’t read the article) and some other news about stuff that wasn’t good and would’ve depressed me further had I read them, there were a few items I thought I’d share before July ends.
Opinion: Aliens are among us — and they want to impeach Biden.
This comes from the Sunday Opinion page of the Washington Post.
The aliens have landed. And they have a gavel!
That is as plausible a takeaway as any from this week’s House Oversight Committee hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the curiosity formerly known as UFOs. The panel’s national security subcommittee brought in, as its star witness, one David Grusch, a former Defense Department intelligence official who now claims:
- That there are “quite a number” of “nonhuman” space vehicles in the possession of the U.S. government.
- That one “partially intact vehicle” was retrieved from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1933 by the United States, acting on a tip from Pope Pius XII.
- That the aliens have engaged in “malevolent activity” and “malevolent events” on Earth that have harmed or killed humans.
- That the U.S. government is also in possession of “dead pilots” from the spaceships.
- That a private defense contractor is storing one of the alien ships, which have been as large as a football field.
- That the vehicles might be coming “from a higher dimensional physical space that might be co-located right here.”
- That the Roswell, N.M., alien landing was real, and the Air Force’s debunking of it was a “total hack job.”
- And that the United States has engaged in a nearly century-long “sophisticated disinformation campaign” (apparently including murders to silence people) to hide the truth.
I’d tell you more, but then they would have to kill me.
I’d include more, but that would be copyright infringement (and they might have to kill me). But do treat yourself to the free link above, to read the whole business. That’s a gift from me, the Washington Post, and its benevolent owner, Jeff “Not Elon Musk” Bezos.
And now, something on the lighter side from the awesome Alexandra Petri!
Opinion: Worried by Florida’s history standards? Check out its new dictionary!
I’ll grab a few favorites!
American history: (noun) A branch of learning that concerns a ceaseless parade of triumphs and contains nothing to feel bad about.
Book ban: (noun) Effective way of making sure people never have certain sorts of ideas.
FOX: News.
Free speech: (noun) When you shut up and I talk.
Independence Day: See Jan. 6.
Jan. 6: (noun) A day when some beautiful, beloved people took a nice, uneventful tour of the U.S. Capitol.
Liberty: (noun) My freedom to choose what you can read (see Moms for Liberty).
Moms for Liberty: (noun) Censors, but the good kind.
Orwellian: (adjective) When people are mad about a book written by Josh Hawley or another Republican, not when people try to erase slavery from history.
And then there’s this guy!
Harry Frankfurt, philosopher of excrement-level falsehoods, dies at 94.
Let me quote a bit of it:
Harry G. Frankfurt, a Princeton University philosopher who wrote primarily on Descartes, free will and moral responsibility but found literary fame with his unexpected bestseller “ On Bullshit,” a slim treatise on the pervasive, willful and devilish art of avoiding the truth, died July 16 at a care center in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 94.
Okay, already I’m interested.
In Dr. Frankfurt’s view, the problem at the core of his book was more complicated than simply saying something untrue.
“The essence of bulls- is that the person who produces it doesn’t really care whether what he’s saying is true or false,” he said at the Miami Book Fair. “He’s not engaged in the enterprise of conveying information or in deceiving people. He’s engaged in the enterprise of manipulating opinions, manipulating attitudes and feelings, and he will say whatever he thinks will be effective in that respect, regardless of whether it’s true or false.”
Stewart asked him whether lying or bulls- (a word Comedy Central bleeped out) was more corrosive to society.
“I claim that bulls- is a more insidious threat to society because it undermines respect for the truth and it manifests a lack of concern for the truth,” Dr. Frankfurt replied. “It therefore undermines our commitment to the importance of truth.”
Coincidentally, the print headline for this reads: “Philosopher hit the big time with essay on avoiding truth”.
And OMG, I simply must include this part!
Asked about his “accidental bestseller” by a Times writer, he replied, “What do you mean by accidental? People didn’t know they were buying it?”
Nearly fell out of my chair laughing about that one!
Allow me to quote myself: “Um, who do you think are buying all those downloads? Kindle fairies? lol”
Well, looks like that joke was on me. lol
The reporter also asked if he thought the book would have sold as many copies with a “less titillating” title, such as “On Lying.”
“I think the transgressive aspect of it did have a certain influence on its success,” Dr. Frankfurt said. “But the magnitude of the response makes me think that something else was involved. People in this country are starved for the truth.”
Ahem. Yes, well, I remember having similar thoughts about making the New York Times bestseller list! Ha!
As for being starved for the truth, well, as the Giant in Twin Peaks said,
And, of course, the very people who brought you the meme, the SoundCloud, Threads, TikTok, and all the rest? Now, that they’ve cleaned up based on addicting us all to technology, they want to make real things with their perfectly good, manicured hands.
They built the digital world. Now they just want to sew and make chairs.
Whoever they are, they’re apparently rich enough to live in San Francisco. In other words, way richer than almost everyone else on earth.
There, I said it. Should I publish this or just pretend it never happened?
PS: Stone Me, What A Life! — Tony Hancock
OMG! Thanks, Paul D. Brazill. I think. 🙂
And thanks Elon for taking away the last remaining bluebird of happiness! 🙂
But, hey …!
PPS: And here’s why I will always love blogging! Things I learn from reading Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar! 🙂
And a song! :)
Originally published at http://randomandsundrythings.wordpress.com on July 31, 2023.
