Shamus at the Dog Park

There was a whippet/greyhound mix at the dog park this morning, so Shamus finally had a friend who could run as fast as he could.

Also it was chilly enough that I had to wear a jacket. Fall has arrived!

Shanah Tovah!

We celebrated Rosh Hashanah today -- I did most of the cooking, because Dr. Skull is still recovering. We did buy brisket from Zabars, with overnight shipping, which was appalling expensive. But Dr. Skull was not up to making a brisket this year.

Also on the menu: asparagus, potatoes, fried apples with a bit of honey, and both plain and raisin challah.

The kids and I found some running water to throw our bread into. This was surprisingly hard*, mainly because of the flooding we've been having. The place I was planning to go to was barricaded off. But we found a place on Skull Creek that worked.

After that, we had dinner. Uncle Charger came over, and the kid and his husband. Shamus was very glad to see everyone, so glad that eventually I had to lock him in his crate for a bit. 

Apple cider and white wine were beverages of choice. Honeycake for dessert.

A good time was had by all.

*In Fort Smith, we would drive over to the riverfront park, but the Arkansas river does not run through Fayetteville.

Fall!

Look at this beautiful weather:

Days and days with highs in the 70s and low 80s. Yes, please.

We've had a lot of rain over the past few days, and more is coming on. But that's a small price to pay.

And it's almost October. My favorite month, except for February, and February isn't quite as good, since if February comes, can June and July be far behind?

The End of Summer

Thank God.

Weather guy says highs in the 70s are on their way. More rain is coming as well, which is fine, except for how much the dog hates rain. What a delicate flower he is!

RAIN

We've got rain and thunder here. The dog is extremely vexed with me. I am, after all, in charge of the weather.

COVID and Flu Vaccine

Dr. Skull and I got both, with relatively little hassle, at the local Walgreens. No side effects except that the injection site is a little sore.

Preliminary research is showing the current COVID vaccine is pretty effective. Get it if you can, that's my advice. Our primary care physician recommended it strongly, saying we still don't know enough about the after effects of getting COVID for him to be willing to risk it.

Meanwhile, Trump's CDC is doing their best to limit people's access to this vaccine and to others. 

I'm tempted to believe that this is because they want a nation filled with dead or chronically ill people, but it's not even that. It's simply playing to the ignorance of their base. They know MAGA is fully invested in the lie that vaccines are dangerous and ineffective, so they're telling them what they want to hear. Too bad about all the little kids and old people who will suffer. That's politics!

  

One Last Thing about Our Lord and Savior Charlie Kirk

I've seen more than one "Christian" insisting Kirk was killed because he was a Christian. The claim is he used his platform to preach Christianity, so he was killed. 

I don't think they realize what this reveals about their definition of Christianity. 

No hate like Christian love.

Scored Vaccines

Dr. Skull and I are getting COVID and flu vaccines today at Walgreens. I'm sure in a day or two, this will become a high crime. Luckily, we're retired, so the university can't fire me.

Jimmy Kimmel, on the other hand...

I was going to ask if we've reached fascism yet, but we passed that goalpost some time ago. The blatant firing of anyone who dares to speak against the MAGA cult or their god du jour is a worrying sign, however.

Five More Days of Summer

I'm ready for some real fall now please.

The weather report says rain is coming. Usually we get cooler weather on the other side of rain. Fingers crossed.

Living by Lies

I always thought it was Terry Pratchett who said, "A lie can run around the world while the Truth is getting its boots on," but apparently it was Mark Twain (though in a slightly different form).

Thinking about this a lot this week.

Blood in the Water

I'd wager less than 2% of the "conservative" "Christian*" right who are throwing tantrums about how we are "celebrating" Charlie Kirk's death even knew who Charlie Kirk was before this happened. 

By "celebrating" they mean things like quoting Kirk's own words, or refusing to agree that he was a saint and a hero who was nice to everyone and never ever said anything hateful or harmful. If someone says, well, maybe that's not true, they immediately begin shrieking threats.

It's the power they want. They could not care less about who Kirk was, what he said, how he made his fortune. They don't care that he's dead, either, or how he died. They just love being able to hurt people.

I'm banning myself from social media for awhile. The smug bigotry is making me ill.

What's a Groyper, Anyway?

 Sharing for those of you who do not have a 20-something at home to clear things up:

Text: First Panel: Groypers are an ultra-nationalist Neo-Nazi group born out of the 2010's meme culture, led by Nick Fuentes, who in 2019 started what was dubbed "the Groyper Wars." They targeted the left, but also Mainstream Conservatives.

Second panel: Charlie Kirk was one of the main targets of the Groyper Wars. He was considered a "fake conservative" because he accepted debate with gays and Jews. Groypers routinely attempted to derail his debates and force him into extreme positions.

Third panel: Groypers used progressive symbols as strategy to confuse people about their actual beliefs. For example, the protest song "Bella Ciao" was chosen as one of the "theme songs" of the Groyper wars.

Fourth panel: "Hey, Fascist, Catch," is a meme referencing a code for the total annhilation in the shooting game Helldivers2. "Notices bugle OWO what's this" is another hateful meme used to harass the furry community, a common target of the Far-Right.

Fourth Panel Continued: Tyler Robinson is a soldier in the Groyper Wars who has fallen so deep into internet culture that most people can't even recognize it.

 

So he's a Far-Right Extremist who shot Kirk because he didn't think Kirk was far enough to the right. What reaction to this are we seeing on the Right? Either they have dropped their weepy worship of Charlie Kirk (who to be fair was hardly any sort of hero) and are pretending nothing happened  the way they do when someone who isn't trans shoots up a school; or they continue to claim that the shooter was a liberal.

Facts don't matter. Only their feelings matter. 

Free Speech, But Not That Speech

ETA: Here is the Go Fund Me for the Texas professor who was fired. Hat tip N&M.

The screeching over-reaction from the Right after Kirk's death is sure something.  You remember how they liked to scream about "witch hunts" when people were fired or impeached because of actual crimes? How they celebrated the January 6 rioters, who were actual insurrectionists?

Every accusation from the Right is a confession.

Teams of Right-Wing jackasses are getting teachers, artists, newscasters, and others fired -- and calling for them to be arrested -- because those people didn't perform pious grief at the death of a grifter. Some of them simply quoted things the grifter said. This, apparently, is hate speech. Not hate speech on the part of the grifter! Hate speech on the part of those who quoted what he said.

As with the professor (and her chair, and her dean) who was fired for simply teaching that there is a difference between biological gender and gender performance, this is an attempt to control speech, to frighten people into saying and thinking only what MAGA thinks is acceptable.

These are the same people who threw tantrums about free speech when people were criticized for saying racist things, or making bigoted jokes. That was a danger to free speech. This? This is justice.

 

Dog Parks and Mosquitoes

They don't spray for mosquitoes here in my socialist hellhole. I approve, because the spray only sort of works to eliminate mosquitoes, and does a great deal of harm to other insects, which as we all know are in a precipitous decline, as well as harming birds that eat insects.

But this means mosquitoes are pretty bad at the moment. I had one inside the house last night.

They're really bad at the dog park at the moment, so I might have to stop going.

Tips? Suggestions?

Freedom of Speech

But not that speech.

The video, which does not show anyone’s face, captures audio of a student objecting to a professor teaching that there are more than two genders. The student says this conflicts with President Donald J. Trump’s executive order and her religious beliefs, and the professor responds she has a right to teach the lesson and the student has a right to leave. 

The student clearly set the professor up. She had not "won" in the previous class, when who knows what she said; so she came back with a camera and a specific script. It's not "legal" to teach that trans people exist. Not legal.

The university caved and fired the professor. Of course they did.

When I was in the classroom, I had more than one student run whining to my chair and to the dean because I taught things they didn't like -- for example, that the Catholic church existed before the Protestant church. Or that the world was four and a half billion years old and that learning this fact upset some people during the Modernist era. These were taught as part of the Global Literature class.

I also had a student complain to the chair and to the dean because I assigned a book that had "bad" words in it. (Angels in America.) Another time, as student complained because I assigned a James Baldwin story which was (the student said) against her religion. (The story was "Sonny's Blues.") 

In all these cases, the chair and the dean backed me up. That would not happen in today's climate.

Let's be clear: if people can be fired for speaking about trans people, then people can be fired for speaking about anything which is not approved by the party in power. Talking about black people. Or Jews. Or Palestinians. Or feminists, or Quakers, or any group not in favor at the moment. 

As P. Z. Myers notes, the world's top university system is being destroyed, and for what? So a herd of whiny little "Christians" don't have to admit that trans people exist, or brown people are people, or that women have rights. It's disgusting.

(Scare quoted because these "Christians" aren't Christian, in that they don't follow Christ. They're Romans, and if they met Christ today, they would execute him. No, not really. They're not brave enough for that. They'd have ICE deport him and talk about what patriots they are for doing so.)

The video is posted on X/Twitter.
https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1965093848520294565

If you don't want to give X/Twitter your click, below is the transcript:

Prof: Kind of recap our remarks on gender and sexuality we bring from last class. One thing we didn’t get to last class -

Student: I just have a question because I’m not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching. Um. Because according to our president, um, there’s only two genders and he said he would freeze um, uh, agencies' funding programs that promote gender ideology. Um, and this also very much goes against I, not only myself, but a lot of people’s religious beliefs. Um, and so I am not going to participate in this because, um, it’s, it’s not legal and I don’t want to promote something that is, um, against our president’s laws as well as against my religious beliefs.

Prof: You certainly have a right to engaging in things that find [unable to hear]. Are you suggesting they are false?

Student: Yes

Prof: You are under a misconception that what I’m saying is illegal.

Student: Uh, can you explain to me how, um, how teaching us, um, about gender identity and transgenderism and, um, and there’s more sexes 

Prof: My gender isn’t illegal.

Student: Huh?

Prof: My gender isn’t illegal.

Student: Gender? What do you mean? Your gender is not illegal? According to President Trump’s executive order. If, if you want me to read the paragraph and the order itself...

Prof: If you are uncomfortable in this class, you do have the right to leave.

Student: Yes.

Prof: What we are doing is not illegal. And if you would like to make the claim that it is, you need to talk to the department head or the head of undergraduates.

Student: Well I’ve already been in contact with, um, the president of A&M and actually have a meeting with him in person to show all of my documentation tomorrow. But, um...

Prof: We are also aware and this is part of why there was an observer in class yesterday.

Student: Yes.

Prof: Um, I’m not convinced that your proposal will be effective in stopping me from teaching things that are biologically true because I do have the legal and ethical authority and professional expertise in this classroom.

Student: Okay.

Prof: And it’s time for you to leave.

Student: Yeah. No, I am. I am. I.