Oh, wow. I used to go to the Five Spot as a kid to listen to him. This was back in the day when the drinking age in NY was 18 and kids got their fake IDs and went to Jazz Clubs. Thank you, this is fine listening and brings back memories for this 77 year old lady.
“When the sanctity of life doesn’t extend to women, then the sanctity of life isn’t the real issue but only the pretend issue.”
Exactly. When the anti-abortion folks say they’re “pro-life” what they really mean is “Let the women die.” They can deny it (and I expect they will), but their unwillingness to fix the problem they created proves my point.
Vote. Them. Out. Our lives (and our democracy) depend on electing people who will uphold the U.S. Constitution and make laws that protect all of us and preserve our individual rights.
Condidering the over thirty thousands of innocent soles, the total destruction of the strip and our government role in the genocide , melitarily, finacially and diplomatically, I find three posts in over four months not adequate. Furhermore, the tone of your posts is , uncharacterically, pasive and compromising as if you are trying to not rock the boat or not disturb the hornets nest. Sorry, but I am really disappointed
Warning to Supreme Court Justices: You just cooked your own goose. For supposedly highly educated, legal eagles, you've made one the worst mistakes of justice in world history. People often say "remember the Alamo" - well, I say "remember the Nazi's". I suggest the justices exam Hitler's rise and fall in depth. You've fallen into complicit behaviors and judgement similar to those of Third Reich. History illustrates that the Nazi regime ended poorly. The same will hold for America. The country, as we once knew it, has been politically bastardized. The Russians, Chinese, North Koreans and the rest of anti-democratic nations will arrive at our shores not long after the failure of the democratic process, which will lead to the subsequent fall and inevitable domination of the once mighty United States of America. So, to all of the Trump appointed, and other, justices - your legacy will go down in history as having been complicit on the fleecing and fall of American democracy and the country as a whole. Bless your hearts and souls.
We have a saying in our house, “Family....the ties that bind....and gag”, so those words “family is gravity” touched me deeply. I deeply appreciate how you put clarity and sanity to talking about the issues of our struggles as a country. I especially think your observations and explanations (? Definitions) of Christian nationalism are brilliant. I love the depth and breadth of your writing. You put words to my feelings and to my deep fears about our country. I consider your Substack, my daily bread. Thank you.
I have had the honor to provide Ketamine Assisted Therapy for 6 years before retiring.
Most depression, anxiety and PTSD come from family and workplace trauma.
I try to teach my patients that we have two families: the family we are born into and the family we collect along the way.
Duty to biological family ceases when the family is a source of trauma.
The Indiana agency that tracks sexual abuse states:
More than 90% of abusers are people children know, love and trust.
30-40% of victims are abused by a family member.
50% are abused by someone outside of the family whom they know and trust.
In addition to sexual abuse there is the trauma of alcohol and drug abuse.
In a paper published by the American Journal of Psychiatry:
“Results: The crude rates of intergenerational transmission of child abuse according to the studies reviewed are as follows: one-third of child victims grow up to continue a pattern of seriously inept, neglectful, or abusive rearing as parents. One-third do not. The other one-third remain vulnerable to the effects of social stress on the likelihood of their becoming abusive parents. Intrafamilial factors appear to be the cause of personally directed, as opposed to culturally condoned, child abuse. Broad social factors, and some medical and psychiatric conditions, lower or raise thresholds in which family and personal vulnerabilities and propensities operate.
Conclusions: There is no justification for any extremist advocacy in apportioning responsibility between the "sins of the parents" and the failings of society. The contention that clinical research on abuse is inferior to, and must give way to, large-scale or statistically balanced self-report and questionnaire surveys is plausible, popular, convincing, and wrong.”
These statistics require that we speak out when we encounter this sort of violence, offer safe haven when possible, and either prosecute or separate perpetrators from families and offer help to overcome the evils of cross generational trauma.
Karim, you should really stop referring to that country music article about Beyonce from last week's Substack post. Although I have no doubts that prejudice against artists of color exists, that article was garbage. It cited ONE country station, not several, as being problematic, and it was clear in the most recent update to the article that station management had no clue that Beyonce was producing country music (my wife is a country music fan and she didn't even know at the time that piece came out).
The station even admitted it took them some time to finally play her country songs after the requests came in, for they didn't own the licensing to these songs.
The author of the article relied on two tweets as her "sources". That's not journalism.
I've seen a lot of increased talk in the past few years about bringing Christianity into our politics. So let's say that happens - which form of Christianity are we talking about? If the Baptists, as an example, control the most power in Congress, then are they ousting the Catholics, the Methodists, and the Eastern Orthodox folks, to name a few? I mean, they've already ousted the Muslims and the Jews, so who is next?
And then let's say you got down to just the Baptists. What if some of the Baptists subscribe to Jesus's teachings that the rich can't make it into heaven? Well, now you're going to have a mix of religious leaders and politicians who definitely don't want us pursuing that philosophy, so they'll need to oust those folks next.
You can keep this going and going and going until there's only one person left. Because ultimately, no matter which similar religions we may belong to (or not belong to), we all have different concepts of what "God" means to us at an individual level. Try finding consistency across the Bible - you may as well bang your head repeatedly against the wall.
Perhaps the "Christians" in this polyglot should consider what Jesus taught. But, nah, it doesn't align with their politics. "Try to make it real...compared to what?"
Some days the best retreat from ideologues obsessed with the noise of their own self-destruction is to occupy the space between the notes. I can park myself there for just a bit, then move on and try to keep up with the nimble brilliance of Theolonious Monk. The syntax of jazz resides in the highest levels of human expression - a place most ideologues are are either too stupid or lazy to apprehend.
Oh, wow. I used to go to the Five Spot as a kid to listen to him. This was back in the day when the drinking age in NY was 18 and kids got their fake IDs and went to Jazz Clubs. Thank you, this is fine listening and brings back memories for this 77 year old lady.
“When the sanctity of life doesn’t extend to women, then the sanctity of life isn’t the real issue but only the pretend issue.”
Exactly. When the anti-abortion folks say they’re “pro-life” what they really mean is “Let the women die.” They can deny it (and I expect they will), but their unwillingness to fix the problem they created proves my point.
Vote. Them. Out. Our lives (and our democracy) depend on electing people who will uphold the U.S. Constitution and make laws that protect all of us and preserve our individual rights.
Condidering the over thirty thousands of innocent soles, the total destruction of the strip and our government role in the genocide , melitarily, finacially and diplomatically, I find three posts in over four months not adequate. Furhermore, the tone of your posts is , uncharacterically, pasive and compromising as if you are trying to not rock the boat or not disturb the hornets nest. Sorry, but I am really disappointed
Seek the truth, speak the truth.
United States of America: The Beached Whale of the World.
Warning to Supreme Court Justices: You just cooked your own goose. For supposedly highly educated, legal eagles, you've made one the worst mistakes of justice in world history. People often say "remember the Alamo" - well, I say "remember the Nazi's". I suggest the justices exam Hitler's rise and fall in depth. You've fallen into complicit behaviors and judgement similar to those of Third Reich. History illustrates that the Nazi regime ended poorly. The same will hold for America. The country, as we once knew it, has been politically bastardized. The Russians, Chinese, North Koreans and the rest of anti-democratic nations will arrive at our shores not long after the failure of the democratic process, which will lead to the subsequent fall and inevitable domination of the once mighty United States of America. So, to all of the Trump appointed, and other, justices - your legacy will go down in history as having been complicit on the fleecing and fall of American democracy and the country as a whole. Bless your hearts and souls.
Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.’ (Robert Frost)
We have a saying in our house, “Family....the ties that bind....and gag”, so those words “family is gravity” touched me deeply. I deeply appreciate how you put clarity and sanity to talking about the issues of our struggles as a country. I especially think your observations and explanations (? Definitions) of Christian nationalism are brilliant. I love the depth and breadth of your writing. You put words to my feelings and to my deep fears about our country. I consider your Substack, my daily bread. Thank you.
Dear Kareem,
I have had the honor to provide Ketamine Assisted Therapy for 6 years before retiring.
Most depression, anxiety and PTSD come from family and workplace trauma.
I try to teach my patients that we have two families: the family we are born into and the family we collect along the way.
Duty to biological family ceases when the family is a source of trauma.
The Indiana agency that tracks sexual abuse states:
More than 90% of abusers are people children know, love and trust.
30-40% of victims are abused by a family member.
50% are abused by someone outside of the family whom they know and trust.
In addition to sexual abuse there is the trauma of alcohol and drug abuse.
In a paper published by the American Journal of Psychiatry:
“Results: The crude rates of intergenerational transmission of child abuse according to the studies reviewed are as follows: one-third of child victims grow up to continue a pattern of seriously inept, neglectful, or abusive rearing as parents. One-third do not. The other one-third remain vulnerable to the effects of social stress on the likelihood of their becoming abusive parents. Intrafamilial factors appear to be the cause of personally directed, as opposed to culturally condoned, child abuse. Broad social factors, and some medical and psychiatric conditions, lower or raise thresholds in which family and personal vulnerabilities and propensities operate.
Conclusions: There is no justification for any extremist advocacy in apportioning responsibility between the "sins of the parents" and the failings of society. The contention that clinical research on abuse is inferior to, and must give way to, large-scale or statistically balanced self-report and questionnaire surveys is plausible, popular, convincing, and wrong.”
These statistics require that we speak out when we encounter this sort of violence, offer safe haven when possible, and either prosecute or separate perpetrators from families and offer help to overcome the evils of cross generational trauma.
Karim, you should really stop referring to that country music article about Beyonce from last week's Substack post. Although I have no doubts that prejudice against artists of color exists, that article was garbage. It cited ONE country station, not several, as being problematic, and it was clear in the most recent update to the article that station management had no clue that Beyonce was producing country music (my wife is a country music fan and she didn't even know at the time that piece came out).
The station even admitted it took them some time to finally play her country songs after the requests came in, for they didn't own the licensing to these songs.
The author of the article relied on two tweets as her "sources". That's not journalism.
I've seen a lot of increased talk in the past few years about bringing Christianity into our politics. So let's say that happens - which form of Christianity are we talking about? If the Baptists, as an example, control the most power in Congress, then are they ousting the Catholics, the Methodists, and the Eastern Orthodox folks, to name a few? I mean, they've already ousted the Muslims and the Jews, so who is next?
And then let's say you got down to just the Baptists. What if some of the Baptists subscribe to Jesus's teachings that the rich can't make it into heaven? Well, now you're going to have a mix of religious leaders and politicians who definitely don't want us pursuing that philosophy, so they'll need to oust those folks next.
You can keep this going and going and going until there's only one person left. Because ultimately, no matter which similar religions we may belong to (or not belong to), we all have different concepts of what "God" means to us at an individual level. Try finding consistency across the Bible - you may as well bang your head repeatedly against the wall.
Perhaps the "Christians" in this polyglot should consider what Jesus taught. But, nah, it doesn't align with their politics. "Try to make it real...compared to what?"
Some days the best retreat from ideologues obsessed with the noise of their own self-destruction is to occupy the space between the notes. I can park myself there for just a bit, then move on and try to keep up with the nimble brilliance of Theolonious Monk. The syntax of jazz resides in the highest levels of human expression - a place most ideologues are are either too stupid or lazy to apprehend.
Thelonious Monk was just unalterably cool.
One of the side effects of reading your newsletter is that I am now getting into Jazz - a form of music I have always neglected. For that I thank you.
Maybe those embryos should be able to vote once they’ve been frozen for eighteen years.
Man. Thelonious Monk!