Here! Diagonal-ONT! Pretty Sneaky Sis.

Guys! Guys! I finally found it!

To be honest it wasn't as exciting as I'd thought it would be.

Today In History

Christian Spain Pulverizes Its ‘Enemies, Visible and Invisible

Toward the end of the year 1093, a secret plot between the Almoravids and the Moors of Valencia, which had only recently become tributary to the Cid, resulted in the overthrow of its king, Yahya al-Qadir, who had “increased their [Valencians] hatred by being a friend to the Christians” — that is, by being a vassal to the Cid. During the uprising, fanatical Muslims discovered al-Qadir trying to abscond out of Valencia dressed in and concealed by a woman’s burqa. To cries of “Allahu akbar,” the mob slaughtered him as an apostate and hurled his body into a camel dung pit.

On learning of the Valencians’ treachery and murder of his vassal, the Cid’s “anger was kindled, and his soul was inflamed,” writes the Muslim chronicler al-Maqqari. Like a fierce storm, he came and with extreme violence thrashed the Valencian countryside, taking all the castles and suburbs up to the city’s very walls. He “fought so fiercely,” writes Ibn al-Qama, who was present in Valencia, “that the Moors were terrified at the havoc he played among them.”
Months passed, and mass starvation soon plagued the besieged Moorish kingdom, but the Muslims continued to hold out on the conviction that their Almoravid allies would eventually come to their rescue. At long last, an immense host of Almoravids was espied marching to Valencia’s relief.

What happened next? Read on to find out, but this is one of those pivotal moments in Western history where the Muslims were turned back from overthrowing Christendom, such as the Battle of Tours and the Siege of Vienna.

At The Movies

The Top 100 Movies in the History of Film

Lots of room for debate here, which brings us to tonight's question:

Drive Angry? Plan 9? The Perils of Gwendolyn in the Land of the Yik Yak? (disqualified from the "worst" list because Tawny Kitaen spends most of the movie naked) Second Time Lucky? (Likewise disqualified because Diane Franklin spends much of the movie naked). What's your answer?

Unabomber

Ted Kaczynski died this week. I've been kind of surprised by the number of people I've seen lionizing him. I think this explains the phenomenon. Ted Kaczynski’s Murderous Legacy Doesn’t Mean His Diagnosis Of The Post-Industrial West Is Wrong

In Industrial Society and Its Future, published by The Washington Post, Kaczynski argued that industrial-technological society, which he referred to as “the system,” was inherently destructive and posed a threat to human freedom and well-being. He believed that modern technology had led to the erosion of personal autonomy, the loss of authentic human experiences, and the degradation of the natural environment. Hence the manifesto’s infamous opening line: “The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”

“The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system,” he argued, believing that humanity’s purpose would become the perpetuation of technological advancement and nothing else as we would become subject to deistic materialist progression. Technological advancement would become humanity’s teleological goal and the orienting principle for human civilization, which parallels sentiments allegedly expressed by Google co-founder Larry Page about his desire for the creation of a “digital god” and the ushering in of artificial general intelligence (AI fully on par with human capability).

In this I'm reminded of Joseph McCarthy. He may have been a nasty little man, and you can question some of his methods...but damned if he wasn't right about the commies.

Grace

Click through and read the thread. It's worth it.

Post-Constitutional America

United States: Fifty Little Dictatorships

But while the smoke clears, a more insidious development is taking place. The largely unknown Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has proposed a law that would drastically increase executive power in the United States and reduce citizens’ legal right to resist unconstitutional edicts.
The ULC is an influential interstate organization that works to make state laws more uniform. Since 2021, the group has worked to draft a “Model Public Health Emergency Authority Act.”

The impetus for this initiative was the “uncertainty about the legal authority of governors and other state officials to enact certain emergency laws and declarations” during Covid, according to journalist David Zweig. “The legal ambiguity around many pandemic declarations resulted in new legislation in many states that explicitly clawed back public health powers from governors and executive branch officials.”

In response, the ULC seeks to codify a system that shields and promotes unchecked executive authority. Zweig writes, “It wants the legal authority that’s given to governors to be clear. And a memo indicates that the ULC expects the adoption of the Act will result in people suing only if the Act itself wasn’t followed, rather than suing based on a claim that the governor’s actions were unconstitutional.”

The Act threatens to strip Americans of their legal ability to oppose mandates, lockdowns, or other government orders. It offers total deference to governors in deciding what constitutes an emergency. No evidence would be required for state leaders to impose arbitrary and irrational limits on human liberty. Schools, businesses, and churches would be subject to the whims of executive power. 

Reliant Robin

Being A Man

Transgender man weeps while explaining how much easier it was to make friends with 'open, vulnerable women' - and says he can see why suicide rate among males is higher

I'm posting a link to this article because I can't find the clip. I saw it last week, but the article quotes most of it. First of all, being a man is hard and often lonely. Stop the presses, film at 11. I actually feel sorry for James, s/he is obviously hurt, but although s/he has “been a man” for 8 years, s/he obviously still tries to connect to other people as a woman would. Men and women are different, and growing up is when we learn how the dynamic between ourselves and others of the same sex works. James is way behind the curve. I'm horrified at some of the normal ways that I see women treating each other, and I know my wife sees some of the man things that I do as baffling. James may have transitioned, but s/he still sees the world as a woman would.

My friend Demp has some suggestions for James if s/he wants to connect with men on a man's level.

1: Dig a hole

2: Light something on fire

What suggestions would you make? I'll start. Pull your lawnmower out of the garage into the driveway, along with a tool box. Take the cover off of the motor, and stare at it. Within half an hour you'll have a half dozen guys staring and poking with you.

These suggestions should be self deprecating and in fun. It's not manly to kick someone when they are down, as James obviously is.

Meanwhile, In England

Woman Abused By Trans-Identified Male Contacted By Police After “Misgendering” Non-Binary Patient While In Hospital

Read it to believe it. Woman was abused by her trans partner, and while she was in a psychiatric hospital trying to put herself back together, someone reported her for “misgendering” someone, and now the police want to talk to and possibly bring charges against her. SMOD, where is thy sting?

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Big Pharma:

posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM

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