In the Appendix to ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ by Frederick Douglass (Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845), Douglass wrote:
“I find, since reading over the foregoing Narrative, that I have, in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting religion, as may possibly lead those unacquainted with my religious views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief explanation. What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference โ so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐, ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ: ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ญ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ, ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง-๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐-๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฉ๐จ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐. [Emphasis mine]. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.”
The entire appendix – nay, the entire book, but the appendix is a representative summary of Douglass’ thought – is a short but compelling read, and I recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the foundation of hate in Christian Nationalism.
The following text is a representation of how this attitude showed up in 1965, and which persists today, to the great shame and detriment of our society.
“The hate stare was everywhere practiced, especially by women of the older generation. On Sunday, I made the experiment of dressing well and walking past some of the white churches just as services were over. In each instance, as the women came through the church doors and saw me, the “spiritual bouquets” changed to hostility. The transformation was grotesque. In all of Montgomery only one woman refrained. She did not smile. She merely looked at me and did not change her expression. My gratitude to her was so great it astonished me.” Griffin, John Howard, Black Like Me.ยน
Given the gross disconnect between the Christianity found in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, and the behavior of far too manyยฒ of those who profess to be followers of Christ in the current timeline, it is no wonder that so many people are turning away from mainstream Christian churches, citing loss of belief, negative experiences, LGBTQ-related concerns, scandals, and politics.
As a nation, we must do better if we are to have a country that works for everyone, with no one left out. R. Buckminster Fuller expressed this idea in what came to be known as his “World Game,” after which this blog is named:
โMake the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.โ
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Footnotes
ยน Black Like Me, first published inย 1961, is a nonfiction book by journalistย John Howard Griffinย recounting his journey in theย Deep Southย of the United States, at a time whenย African Americansย lived under theย Jim Crow laws. Griffin was a native ofย Mansfield, Texas, who had his skin temporarily darkened to pass as a black man. He traveled for six weeks throughout theย racially segregatedย states ofย Louisiana,ย Mississippi,ย Alabama,ย Arkansas, andย Georgiaย to explore life from the other side of theย color line.ย Sepia Magazineย financed the project in exchange for the right to print the account first as a series of articles.(Wikipedia)
John Howard Griffin as a Black man, walking under an arcade in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photograph by Don Routledge.
ยฒ It goes without saying that there are countless people in all Christian denominations who do their best to emulate the teachings of Jesus and go about, in a quiet and unassuming way, doing good. These are they who form a bulwark against the flood of openly-practiced hate and division of the hypocritical Christian Nationalists.
It is almost impossible to describe how primitive Trump’s approach is and how much joy it brings to the enemies of the USA: After his suicide as a superpower, America will find it difficult to regain its status.
Guest post by Timothy Snyder in the Sรผddeutsche Zeitung
The United States is spending billions of dollars to lose a war against Iran that enriches its oligarchs, impoverishes its citizens, damages its alliances, and strengthens its enemies. The war reveals a guiding principle of US President Donald Trump ‘s foreign policy : superpower suicide. Empires rise and fall, but to my knowledge, no state has ever intentionally and systematically destroyed its own powerโcertainly not with such speed.
Note: The original Article in English – “America’s Superpower Suicide” – is at Project Syndicate, but is behind a paywall. This is a German translation by Jan Doolan.ย (Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2026) which has been back-translated by Google translate. It’s a poor substitute for the original English, but the text is important enough that I felt it should be shared.
This strategic suicide is hard to admit: one still hopes that Trump’s failures are based on some understanding of the US national interest . They are not.
A superpower must at least be a modern state thatโthrough the rule of law and other institutionsโencompasses a substantial number of citizens committed to a common goal. But the Trump administration treats the US not as a modern state, but as a business opportunity for a select few.
To remain a superpower, a state must also be able to sustain itself over time. Continuity depends on a principle for the transmission of political authority. By striving to remain in power indefinitely and undermining trust in elections, Trump is challenging the very principle that enables political succession in the United States. There are, of course, other ways to achieve this, such as dynastic rule or a politburo decision. A transition to either of these formsโone could imagine the circle of tech oligarchs responsible for the rise of Vice President JD Vance as a capitalist politburoโwould spell the end of the American republic.
The Trump administration has gutted the civil service and replaced the military leadership.
Ensuring the right people are in positions of power is crucial for a state to gain and maintain power. Throughout history , powerful states have found various ways to identify qualified individuals and promote them to leadership positions, regardless of their background. Ancient China had a system of examinations. Napoleon established the principle of merit in both civilian and military life. The US, for its part, once had a civil service the world envied, as well as a highly merit-based military. But the Trump administration gutted the civil service and replaced the military leadershipโa process overseen by people unqualified for the positions they held. The fact that Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth are now Director of National Intelligence, FBI Director, and Secretary of Defense, respectively, is a clear indication that a superpower is committing suicide.
In a deeper sense, a superpower must have an education system that prepares its population, and thus its political leaders, to face global challenges. But in Trump’s USA, public education is being defunded, universities face reprisals if they defend academic freedom, and school libraries, including those at military academies, are being purged of useful books.
Similarly, the appreciation of science, which fueled the rise of many great powers, has come under attack in Trump’s USA. Like the ancient Mesopotamians, whose astronomers developed scientific methods for mapping the heavens, and the Romans, who used the scientific knowledge of the Greeks to build an empire, the USA became a superpower by creating government institutions to fund science and attract scientistsโoften immigrants.
However, the Trump administration has launched a shocking offensive against science. It is withholding research funding for political reasons, preventing aspiring and established scientists from moving to the US, and questioning fundamental scientific findings such as human-caused climate change.
Even if Trump’s new battleships were built, they would be completely unsuitable for modern warfare.
As a result, the Trump administration abruptly halted the energy transition in the US and instead increasingly subsidized ecologically and economically obsolete fossil fuels. As a superb forthcoming book demonstrates, societies that embrace new forms of energy rise; those that do not perish. This may be the most profound truth in human history and makes Trump’s decision an existential error that will accelerate the decline of the US and empower Chinaโits main competitor and the global clean energy superpower . The same applies to the technology and innovation that underpin military power. The US has always spent enormous sums on armaments. Yet the administration is focusing on equipment of the past, including a new class of battleships to be named after Trump . The plan is a complete pipe dream. Even if these battleships were somehow built, they would be utterly unsuitable for modern warfare, the contours of which have been laid bare by the high-tech war between Russia and Ukraine. They can be considered doomed from the moment they are launched.
The Ukraine war is a prime example of how the Trump administration disregards the art of diplomacy in favor of “deal-making.” Yet there is ample evidenceโincluding his kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putinโthat Trump doesn’t know how to negotiate. Furthermore, US allies are vilified and ostracized for no other reason than personal grievances .
Without a sense of national interest, there can be no understanding of the purpose of alliances. Nor can there be any appreciation of the international systemโthe laws, rules, and norms that underpin US global dominance. It is almost impossible to describe how primitive Trump’s approach is and how much pleasure it brings to the enemies of the United States.
The war against Iran is a strategic defeat; to the extent that the US had any objectives at all, they were not achieved.
This brings us back to Iran. In international confrontations, a superpower wins at least sometimes. But the Trump administration loses time and again. The war against Iran is a clear strategic defeat; to the extent that the US had any objectives at all, they were not achieved. Trump’s policies have resulted in more enriched uranium remaining in the hands of an even more radical Iranian regime, which possesses new sources of economic power (control of the Strait of Hormuz; intimidation of the Gulf states), and have made it virtually impossible for the US to exert any influence on Iranian society. The government also celebrates defeats in symbolic ways, as is characteristic of declining states. Consider Hegseth’s comparison of the rescue of a downed US pilot to the resurrection of Jesusโa blatant blasphemy that could distract us from the underlying strategic helplessness. Such Christological imagery is used to transform a defeat in the real world into a victory in an imaginary one. Polish Romanticism, for example, viewed the collapse of a republic (primarily due to wealth inequality) as proof that Poland was the “Christ of nations.”
Finally, many states are losing power because they simply cannot afford to maintain it. For the first time since 1945, US national debt is higher than gross domestic product. A useful point of comparison: large deficits are normal when facing a challenge like World War II. But the Trump administration is running these deficits for a very different reason: to avoid taxing wealthy individuals and corporations. This approachโwhich views the government as a service provider for the super-richโis incompatible with winning wars or maintaining the social services that make a modern society function.
Reforms and corrections are no longer relevant, because the suicide of the US as a superpower under Trump is a symptom of the democratic distortions and inequalities that enabled such a world-historical strategic folly in the first place. What made the US a superpower also enabled the current attempt at self-destruction. Instead of striving for a return to the former status quo, intensive efforts must now be made to reshape US policy so that people are given more power to create a more just future.
A Louisiana resident who identified himself as Marshawn delivered a fiery, emotional speech to lawmakers during a state Senate hearing over redistricting Monday, accusing Republicans of trying to โcheatโ Black voters out of political power.
—-
“I have no doubt in my mind that the map’s going to pass, if y’all could give us less than zero seats you would do it.ย
Y’all do this under the orders of someone who says the civil Rights act was harmful to white people, that it caused Reverse racism.ย
RFK [Jr.] said that black children are overfilled on antidepressants and that they need to be re-parented on different forms, all of them.ย
Pete Hegseth constantly brings Doug Wilson to the Pentagon to give a prayer service. Doug Wilson is the same pastor that said slave owners were on strong spiritual ground.
I don’t have no belief on no morality on anybody that follows Donald Trump.
If you wasn’t with this map, you wouldn’t be underneath this President, you wouldn’t be in your party.
You would stand up, you would stand against it, you would speak out about it.ย
So as far as I’m concerned, if you here as one of these Trump Republicans, you already showed us who you are. You showed us what you want to do. And I believe the country as a whole is rebuking your party.
Y’all are in a death spiral. That’s why you have to redistrict. That’s why y’all have to cheat. That’s why Trump got to go to Texas and say he entitled to five more seats. It because y’all know what y’all is doing is abhorrent.ย
We letting our people die in Iran based on false pretense, that Tulsi Gabbard and Joe can’t say it ain’t real.ย
Y’all okay with all that. So I’m positive that y’all goin’ be ok with the map. But the beautiful thing is, the children that y’all have made, and the people that’s younger than y’all, don’t support none of this racism that y’all want.
The MAGA party is the last breath of the Confederacy, and I’ll be happy to see the millennials and gen z bury y’all. There will be no more of your party. The midterms gonna come and y’all gonna get wiped out.ย
Trump gonna get dragged out of the White House, and I’m gonna love every second of it. Because y’all loved every second of the suffering that he caused to everybody in this country, and worldwide.
We starvin’ Cuba. We bombed Nigeria. We holdin’ Zimbabwe and Zambia hostage for they minerals. We don’t want to give them AIDS support. The pro-lifers that say “all life is special,” y’all letting kids die of AIDS. What part of your Bible say that? Point out the scripture. I think everybody would love to see it. And we would love to see y’all in the midterms.”
—
After this powerful speech, the Republican in charge tried to hit back with this weak-sauce “neener neener” response: “Your hat says, ‘Trump was wrong about everything.’ It should say ‘You are wrong about everything.’ “
I do my best to be hypervigilant about scams, but there is so much going on in the world to worry about that sometimes I let my guard down as I reported here.
We recently remodeled our kitchen, and I thought these under-cabinet lights would be just the thing for a bit of extra illumination while working.
I started getting bad vibes from this company called “Aptsociable” when I noticed the actual charge to my credit card included $9.41 for sales tax on an order of $25.37, a 31% tax rate. When I inquired at their customer service address, they responded with this:
According to your email address, we have detected that you did not place an order in our online shop. Could you please checkour order details again? We are afraid that you may reach out to the wrong company and the wrong person.
After providing screen captures of my order confirmation and PayPal receipts, they sent this:
We feel so sorry for your dissatisfaction. The additional charge was made due to system error. We credited that additional charge back to your original account. Please kindly wait for 2-3 business days for the confirmation message from the bank.ย Yours sincerely,
Customer Service Team
Then I started receiving updates from shipping@24hservice.vip, the same bogus shipping company I mentioned in my earlier post, indicating that my package was working its way through Belgian customs, was being inspected, was in transit, and finally had been shipped to the US.
The package arrived yesterday (direct from China, it had been nowhere near Belgium). It was so small I had no idea what it could have been. Inside, there were four of these (guitar pick for scale)
The only good thing I can say about these little things is that they work, although the light they generate is woefully inadequate. I’m more angry at myself for falling for another shady Chinese merchant than I am at the weasels themselves; by now I have a firm conviction that many Chinese internet marketers, especially the ones who advertise on Facebook, have all the ethics of a starving honey badger. It is also worth noting that Chinese advertisers on Facebook, including those from China, have been linked to widespread fraud and scams, with reports showing Meta earned billions from such adsโup to 19% of its China ad revenue in 2024โdespite internal efforts to curb them. Meta tolerated high levels of these fraudulent ads (e.g., scams, porn, illegal gambling) to protect revenue, even after reducing them temporarily in 2024. Zuckerberg is, in my humber opinion, a scumbag.
The package, incidentally, was shipped from “Davve Garzaz, 1825 Paradise Trail, East Stroudsbury [sic], PA” There is a Stroudsburg, but no Stroudsbury. And this is what Google Maps shows for that address:
A rather abandoned-looking structure in the middle of a rural neighborhood.
These vendors pop up with a computer-generated name, make enough sales to generate some profits, vanish into the haze, and reappear later with a new name and the same merchandise. Being in China with only an ephemeral internet presence makes them impossible to find, and very difficult to extract compensation from. The best I could do in this case was to send their customer service address one final Message:
I can only hope someone actually reads it and feels a slight twinge of shame for their duplicity and lack of ethics.
Dr. Frank Crane said, โYou may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.โ I’d still rather not live in torment, but I’ve got to get better at not being sucked in by duplicitous Chinese vendors.
This video by Ronan Farrow clearly delineates the main far-right movements current in America. There are others, but these are the dominant ones infesting our society, and it helps to understand them.
Ronan Farrow
Below you will find the transcript of his remarks:
“In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination there has been a lot of discussion about the “far right” movement he was part of. But the “far right” is a spectrum of different movements, and understanding them might help you understand what is happening in America.
First, Christian Nationalism. This group’s leaders, like Kirk and Marjarie Taylor Greene, tap into valid frustrations with broken systems, but also exploit xenophobia and racism. They believe that the US was founded as, and must be restored to a Christian State. For many of them, that means white dominance and nonwhite immigration and multiculturalism are threats. Kirk himself said, “You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population” and called the Civil Rights Act a “huge mistake.”
The movement works within the system, and its leaders don’t openly call for violence, but their rage baiting rhetoric has inspired it, with adherents participating in the January 6th attack.
A different strain is the Techno-authoritariarian or Dark Enlightenment movement, pushed by Curtis Yarvin and Silicon Valley billionaire supporters like Peter Thiel.
They hold that democracy has failed, and want an authoritarian society run like a corporation, by an unelected CEO-monarch and enforcing a stratified racial hierarchy based on pseudoscience.
Finally, a view gaining ground across the far right is accelerationism. That’s the belief that society is byond saving and its collapse needs to be hastened.
This view is held by many within the Groyper movement, which is led by Nick Fuentes and seeks to establish a white, Christian, anti-Semitic, authoritarian state.
It’s named after its racist meme toad mascot. Fuentes avoids direct calls to violence, but his followers rely on online harassment, including threats of violence against political opponents and minorities. Some were also charged for their rรดle on January 6th.
The Boogaloo movement on the other hand explicitly calls for violence against the government. Its name drawn from memes about the ’80s movie “Breaking 2, Electric Boogaloo” is a reference to a second civil war. Self-described ‘boogaloo bois” have been convicted of domestic terrorism plots and murders of government officials.
A more personal nihilism is embodied in the Black Pill worldview, which cuts across these movements. Its adherents often identify as incels and they want to destroy the progressive society that empowered women to reject them. The name comes from The Matrix, which is ironic. Since that film’s directors have said that the pills were a trans allegory.ยน Black pill followers are mainly misogynistic, but they have a lot of natural overlap with white supremacists
Most are passive, but the philosophy has inspired several mass murders.
People in this country are hurting. They are frustrated with systems that are rigged against them. You can see how those anxieties are exploited in these groups and their visions from building an authoritarian state to just watching the world burn.
Written by a mainstream Christian, Kate Penney Howard on Facebook. I am immeasurably grateful for this post.
“In recent weeks, I’ve watched a troubling pattern emerge online. Whenever a news story mentions the horrific attack in Grand Blanc, there’s an inevitable chorus of voices “correcting” the record: “Actually, Mormons aren’t Christians.” Let me be clear: This is gatekeeping, and it needs to stop. One of the most dangerous temptations of religious life is the urge to define who’s “in” and who’s “out.” When we appoint ourselves as arbiters of authentic faith, we’re not protecting orthodoxy. We’re playing God. The Latter-day Saints call themselves Christians. They center their faith on Jesus Christ. It’s literally in the name of their church. They believe Jesus is the Son of God, that he died and was resurrected, and that salvation comes through him. They read the Bible, gather for worship, sing hymns, pray to God, and seek to follow Christ’s teachings about love, service, and redemption. I know a LOT of LDS folk and I have to say, they give me a run for my money in the being kind and graceful department. Do they have different theological perspectives than me? Absolutely. So do Quakers. So do Catholics. So do Methodists and Presbyterians and Episcopalians. So do Catholics and Orthodox Christians. So do Pentecostals. So do Seventh-Day Adventists. So do Unitarians. The body of Christ has always contained multitudes. Exclusion has consequences. We cannot talk about denying Latter-day Saints the label “Christian” without acknowledging the violent history behind such rhetoric. In the 19th century, largely at the urging of preachers in the Restoration Movement (thatโs us, my DoC friends), and Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, Mormons were driven from state to state, their homes burned, their communities terrorized, and sometimes killed. Missouri’s governor issued an extermination order against them in 1838. Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob. And throughout this persecution, one of the accusations hurled at them was that they weren’t “real Christians,” that they were dangerous heretics who deserved what they got. When we casually exclude LDS individuals today, we echo that violent history. We may think we’re making a theological point, but we’re perpetuating a legacy of exclusion that has caused real harm to real people. Rather than obsessing over differences, let’s consider what Latter-day Saints share with the wider Christian tradition: We worship the same God and proclaim the same savior. We share sacred scripture in the Bible We practice baptism and communion We value prayer, worship, and community as essential to faith We believe in serving others and caring for those in need We affirm that Christ’s resurrection offers hope and new life We gather to worship and encourage one another We seek to follow Christ’s example of love and compassion These aren’t minor overlaps. These are the heart of Christian faith. Do I think they are perfect? No, I do not. However, neither is my tradition and neither is yours. Here’s what troubles me most about the “Mormons aren’t Christians” crowd: the stunning confidence that their interpretation of Christianity is the only valid one. As if two thousand years of Christian diversity, debate, and development can be boiled down to a checklist, and anyone who doesn’t tick every box gets expelled. The early church argued about whether Gentiles could be Christians without first becoming Jewish. They debated the nature of Christ for centuries. They split over the filioque and papal authority. We built this country on religious freedom. Why do we think it’s suddenly our job to kick people out? I’m not suggesting all theological distinctions are meaningless. I’m not saying differences don’t matter. I’m saying that deciding who gets to claim the name “Christian” isn’t our call to make. If someone says, “I follow Jesus Christ,” who am I to say they don’t? What profound arrogance would that require? Instead, let’s practice some humility. Let’s recognize that God is bigger than our theological boxes. Let’s acknowledge that throughout history, the people who were absolutely certain about who was “in” and who was “out” have often been on the wrong side of justice. The Latter-day Saints have been our neighbors, our colleagues, our fellow seekers of truth. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and loved their neighbors. They have raised families, built communities, and tried to live out their faith with integrity. They call themselves Christians. That’s enough for me. But, Pastor Kate. We know you. We know you have strong feelings about some things, like the ordination of women and the safety of LGBTQIA believers. I do. I do have those strong feelings. And I also know that several LDS folk, including a Bishop, have kindly asked me if I would be open to talking to them about these two issues. And I did. And I could tell their ears were hearing me. I think thereโs hope that weโll agree on more things. Maybe instead of asking “Are Mormons really Christians?” we should ask: “What kind of Christians are we being when we spend our energy excluding others instead of living out Christ’s radical love?” Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). He didn’t say, “Everyone will know you’re my disciples if you have perfect theology.” He didn’t say, “Prove your faith by drawing the boundaries tightly.” He said: Love one another. The tent of God’s love is bigger than we imagine. Let’s stop trying to make it smaller.”
This is so comprehensive and well-written that it defies theological dispute.
What follows is the transcript (auto generated) of the interview with Katie Johnson regarding Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. It has not been edited except to remove the time stamps. Because of auto-generation of captions, there may be some small discrepancies between the text and what was actually said.
Warning: Graphic description of sexual abuse of children
Edit: There is no conclusive evidence proving the video is real or that the woman depicted is genuinely “Katie Johnson” from the lawsuit. The testimony matches the language in a now-dismissed legal complaint but has not been independently authenticated by credible news outlets, fact-checkers, or investigators. The veracity of both the accuserโs identity and her allegations against Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein remains unproven and highly disputed.This transcript and the link to the video are presented here as a part of the whole.
I came to this interview on my free will no there was nothing promised to me for doing this interview excellent yes everything that I say at this interview will be the truth um I met Donald Trump um at some parties I attend um that I was working um for Mr Jeffrey Epstein um there was about three or four times that I um had encounters with Donald Trump I was 13 the first time that I met Donald Trump uh was at uh a party at Jeffrey Epstein's um Mansion uh we were he was there was a um an orgy going on and he was kind of watching off in the distance um and and he basically asked um if I could come over and give him um give him a hand job and at first I wasn't very comfortable with it this was like my first you know first party and I I didn't you know I didn't think that that was my responsibility uh but my recruiter told me that I needed to do it um so I agreed to and um then he you know I said I began to sorry this is um a little difficult but um before I gave him a hand job he kind of slapped my hand away and said um you need to use a glove and the recruiter ran over and handed me a glove and said no one touches Mr Trump's penis without a glove so I needed to use a glove I um gave him a hand job and then um immediately after you know he had an orgasm he left and I didn't see him again at that party Jeffrey Epstein um is a billionaire friend of Donald Trump's that um was responsible for throwing the sex parties um there was um I originally um came to New York trying to be a model and um in my travels I met a girl named Tiffany there um who um was very interested in me and said that you know she that's what she did is that she helped girls you know get what they wanted and and and she could help me get get into modeling that she knew a lot of um people that were that were higher ups and that it would be no problem um and so that's why you know she but I would just basically have to come model um at a couple of events and meet some people there would be no sweat so um of course I went you know that sounded like no big deal um and she was recruiting the girls to come to these parties um and and they all looked I mean most of them were you know my age there was you know maybe a couple girls that were maybe 14 or 15 but it seemed to me like we were all very young so okay um Jeffrey Epstein knew that I was um 13 years old uh when he interviewed me um he asked me to get um down to my BR my just my panties and I thought that was weird but I mean modeling maybe it was something about my figure um and he asked that I give him a massage so he then he asked me my age he asked me and I told him you know told him that I was 13 I told him why I was there um and and he basically said well you'll do you know I'm sure that you'll you'll fit pretty nicely here and then he he tried to uh basically um slip himself inside of me and I I pushed him away and I said you know I'm I'm cuz at that point in time I still believed that there was models and then there was the girls that did that like I thought there was a sep ation so um I I told him that I wasn't interested in that but he said that I would do um and as far as Donald Trump um he knew that I was 13 and I believe that Tiffany told him he seemed to take a liking to me because I was a I was so young um and um I was also a virgin so I don't know he's it seemed like he wasn't really into having um having girls that that were liked by the other guys he kind of you know the whole glove he kind of liked things to be his first you know that for lack of you know a better term but he was the one who wanted to um get to get to a girl before everyone else did Donald Trump knew that I was 13 um because the first the first night that I was there uh Tiffany actually suggested that and she had a whole bunch of different wigs and I express interest in them you know I always told her that I would love to walk around with blue hair and so I tried some on and um there was a blonde wig that that that she said that looked great on me so I wore that wig um and Donald Trump had specifically asked about me because I remind him of his daughter and she said well she's 13 as well so he knew the first time that he saw me but he took a liking to me because I look like his daughter the reason I'm coming out now um is when it happened originally I just wanted to forget about the whole incident uh and when I saw that he was running for president um I felt it was my responsibility to come out and tell our country um what kind of man this person is um I don't think that he should even be the dog catcher let alone running uh the greatest country in the world after I met Tiffany at the bus station um she took me to basically went to her house her apartment and got ready um I put on a blonde wig because it seemed fun to pretend to be someone different but uh we went to the party that that I was basically inter interviewing for um and Jeffrey Epstein was the one that was running the party um he had a quick meeting with everyone that was um employed there and then um he had um a private interview with me the first time that I met Jeffrey Epstein um he did try to force himself um inside of me without getting to go ahead or anything um and then um on the it was probably about the third or fourth party is when um he basically um uh forced was it was another massage and it was basically like it wasn't sex um but it was there was penetration and I told him that I didn't want that but um he kind of got a little irritated so I don't know there was something about him that um I guess I kind of um held him like I held a lot of resentment towards him by that time that that happened I I kind of already started catching on that maybe I wasn't there for modeling and maybe I was just getting used for things and I felt that kind of held him responsible um I did receive money to go to these parties after every um party um I was paid by Mr Mr Epstein there wasn't out of all the girls that were there with me I never I've most of them were 13 14 I think the oldest one might have been 16 just but just turned 16 um and she'd been there for a while um it was actually it was Tiffany um he was it he was he he liked to watch other people have sex I I I it was must and he he's a germ doesn't like germs so he rather than partaking he just watches so um and Tiffany had informed him that I was the Virgin um and so he was I was basically um sorry I I I so it was Tiffany who introduced us okay second time that I saw Mr Trump um was same scenario he was uh on looking some at an orgy and uh Tiffany came over to me and said that Donald Donald Trump had requested that I perform oral sex on him um and and never I'd never done something like that with anybody so I was a little nervous um so I walked up to him uh and and he was standing sitting there very proud like and I just kind of moved in that direction and he kind of slapped me away and said what are you doing you know you need to put a condom on like I was some like dirty filter or something without a condom and Tiffany ran over um and handed him a you know me a condom and apologized you know profusely and said that would never happen again um that that and she looked at me and and scolded me basically like a child and said that that's not how you know Donald Trump always you know any time you touch his penis it needs to have a condom on or glove you know you owe and especially when it comes performing oral sex so um I apologized and then um I performed oral sex on him and once again once he was done he hopped up and that's the last I saw of him at that party it's like once he's done out so okay okay sometimes before the I some of the things that I noticed that were weird with him was sometimes before the parties he would come over um and him Jeffrey Epstein and himself would kind of banter back and forth and he was very uh Donald Trump was very racist he said a lot of racist things like there was uh there was a lot of comments um towards Mr Epstein about you know being Jewish um and you called him a Jew bastard you know so that he was Chap and there was some words I didn't even understand something about um his his P you know the shape of his penis um being directly related to his mole or I mean I'm I'm not too familiar with the Jew you know the Jewish tradition so but I'm pretty sure that whatever he was saying wasn't very nice um also referred to you know people of Hispanic or you know Hispanic n they called him spicks um was that was around the first time that the World Trade Center had gotten the bombed in the in the '90s um and he was you know talking about the towel heads and how you know we would just be better off if we you know uh didn't let him in or you know basically got rid of everyone every single one that was already here and I thought I just that it made me really uncomfortable really really uncomfortable he also loved to to call black people um [ __ ] and he um Arabic people he called sand [ __ ] um the only time that um that he tried to give me some money was the last our last encounter together um where he acted out of rape fantasy um it just um I was forced to I was forced to give that money back because uh Jeffrey Epstein paid us um after the party so but he just gave me the money I I don't even know why he gave it to me maybe to make me feel more cheap but it was um it was a pretty I it was a rap fantasy to him but I I wasn't playing so there was those there was those two times um and then there was after the next the next thing that was that Tiffany approaching with was that he had a fantasy where he walked in on his maid um Maids basically making out and that he it was some type of fantasy for him so she asked I mean I was at that point I was like I don't want to be involved with anything that has to do with him but she's like you were just basically the the other one so there's nothing that you will have to do just don't you know just he wants he's requesting you to be involved so um I reluctantly I mean I don't I I felt like I didn't have a choice there but um it was basically he's walking in his two Maids I was one of the maids I was the white maid and there was um a Spanish girl U Maria who was the Hispanic maid and we were making out and he walks in and he gets really angry and threatens to send call Immigration on Maria if she doesn't come over and make things right and give him a [ __ ] so while she is over there giving him a [ __ ] I am just look trying to you know I'm supposed to look scared like oh oh no you know and you cleaning try to cleaning up things and pretending like I'm trying to go back to my job as a maid um and then he he's being so rude to Maria I felt so bad for her um even though I guess it just didn't seem like a fantasy it didn't it didn't seem like it it's the weirdest fantasy as far as that you know he was threatening he was threatening to call Immigration on her you know so that she didn't know how to you know she went to she wasn't even near going down to give him um perform oral sex on him before he slapped her away and said you know what are you doing you know you need to put a condom on and and she's trying to M you know I'm so sorry and he's like you can't even can't even understand what you're saying you know just you speak English you know called her derogatory um comments um and then he's like you know what you don't know what you're doing have her come over and show you how it's done and so I again I said that I didn't you know I had to go over there or else he was going to call Immigration on Maria I didn't know if it was true or not but I felt that you know he said that if I wasn't if I didn't show her how to perform oral sex on him then he was going to um call Immigration on her and then get rid of us both you know it was anything that was in relation to him getting off or being satisfied or happy had to do with him being in power but extreme power and it's it's very um it's very hard to even it was it was always intimidating when he was like that it was always you didn't really know if it is true or I mean like if you refuse to play along would he really call Immigration on Maria would he really get rid of us both and I didn't even want to know what that meant you know I always didn't it wasn't a game it just felt like it wasn't a game yeah the one night that I had the blonde wig on um he mentioned that I looked like you know I looked like to you know that I reminded him of his daughter um and actually the the the maid fantasy I didn't have a blonde wig on I was trying to stay away from blonde wigs since the time but he actually requested told Tiffany that that's what he wanted me to wear like he wanted it and he's and anytime I put it on anytime I had it on and he'd see me he would say oh man you look just and it wasn't like a oh you remind me of my daughter it was this sick evil like H you remind me of my daughter it was just this weird pleasure sick smile like I I don't even want to know what he was thinking about I I could imagine what he was thinking about after the parties would end uh we were to report to Mr Epstein and basically tell him everything that happened uh with who um what they liked what they disliked if there was any requests if there was any um talk about anything uh that's what you know we told Mr abstein everything and then he paid us and then we got to go home and most with me you know I would either you know I normally got taken taken to the airport you know so to go back home the fact that Trump has a chance to be the next president makes me feel disgusting inside I've always been proud to be an American I think we live in a beautiful country but I just see him ruining everything he's a horrible what he portrays on the outside isn't even that great but people don't even know the half of how evil how sick and twisted that man is I have a friend that's been my friend ever since the school year that I stopped going you know the the eighth grade I confided her and she knows all about it she knows everything I mean I I destroyed everything of like you know any planes to I didn't I couldn't risk my my dad finding out um and now I think I'm old enough to where I think I don't think you I at that point I didn't want to not be his little girl you know I didn't want to lose my dad basically I I any I would never uh as far as keeping proof of any of the trips um the only person I never told my parents you know I there would be no happy you know there would be no good outcome of telling my parents you know they would have grounded me um I would have never been allowed of the house you know my my father would have come unglued um I did tell a friend my best she's still my best friend of this day she knows everything she knows it all I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to save the country that I believe that we have I know what he does behind P like closed doors like if it if that's all I'm willing to sacrifice my life to put our country back to in the right like going maybe in some type of positive direction not even there's no right or wrong but a positive direction this guy's not going to take us anywhere positive you know as far as um my life changing by coming out with this information I've thought long and hard about um whether or not I should uh and I've gone back and forth um but I think that I I can't I think that the American people need to know what kind of man this person is um and if my life changes because of that then so be it but the American people need to know what they're dealing with if I had the chance to talk to Donald Trump I would run the other way I'm scared of him like I've never been scared of any anything else in my entire life I I I can't I can't explain it to you but I just the fear of him even being in the Next Room make I have a panic I would have I have a panic attack um the last encounter that I had with Donald Trump um Tiffany approached me about um a rape scene that was supposed to be played out and I didn't like I didn't like the sound of that at all but um Tiffany prom ured me that it wasn't going to be if I if it was anything I wasn't comfortable with we could stop um that she would be right there and that um it would it wouldn't get out of it wouldn't get out of hand and that um it was just it was a fantasy like it wasn't really going to happen um and so she I told her that I would uh she she basically I mean Tiffany was always nice to me she wasn't that I felt I trusted her else I you know and I wouldn't always trusted her or done what she asked me to but um she was there and uh he came in and I was basically tied to a bed um with panty hose uh and he tied him there were so tied I could it hurt to even like lay there and I tried to you know triy to say something and it was like you know he's just you know shut up you shut up [ __ ] you know this is was basically like he was he was being really really rough and and I understand I don't I mean just didn't seem like a fantasy um and I started to get scared and and he was you know basically like ripping my clothes off and and I was actually really I started I got freaked out and um I told him that I didn't want to do this I was you know I screamed over for Tiffany you she was like Mr Trump she's only you know she's not she's this is scaring her and he's like oh you shut up too he just turned into this animal it was like a completely different um completely compl different person um it was like everyone in the room was scared of him and uh I was um it was like I uh I couldn't do anything about it and he ripped off all my clothes and he started to basically have sex with me and I screaming cuz I'd never had sex before it was my first time and Tiffany was yelling at him too she she was saying I was a virgin and he told us to just shut the [ __ ] up and just basically took my virginity while I was crying and telling him to stop and that's basically begging for him to just stop uh and I don't I Tiffany was didn't know what else to do either she no one was there to help us or me um and [Music] so so after the fact he he he basically finishes it you know didn't it didn't take that long um at all I mean it but it was just it felt like it was like 5 and 1 half hours like it was a eternity like I don't even know how long it was but um he was done and I was crying and Tiffany was Consulting me and she was you know apologizing she told me that she would never she didn't she just never put me in that situation again but uh he comes over mad because I was crying and so that I should be thankful that someone like Donald Trump took my virginity but he basically didn't say took my virginity he said I should be glad that someone like Donald Trump popped my cherry and not some pimply little 14-year-old and I just was like What if I I I said what if I get pregnant not even talking to him I didn't want to talk to him I was talking to Tiffany and he said well you'll get an abortion then [ __ ] and then just walked away um and I I I asked I I I went I told Tiffany I needed to go home I never went back again I guess um I guess it's for you to decide you know I mean if I don't have any kids myself um because I'm afraid to have kids because I who knows what kind of damage they can get into but if you have a 13-year-old daughter and you're I mean would you be okay with the person person who's running our country doing that to your little girl and I just I don't know I just want people to know I think that I I have I have a faith in our in our society that we'll make the right choice he seemed to be taking uh great pleasure and like dominance and control and and just the more I screamed the more I got scared the more he was enraged and like power enraged with power and and it was like he was just charged with it it was scary my experience um with Donald Trump and has made it to where um I I can't be in a healthy relationship much less I can't be in a relationship without um without myself sabotaging it I don't um I don't do well I I mean I I've I've been in I've been in a couple of relationships I mean they never of interest to me normally but one in particular that was a a wonderful he was a wonderful man and I completely knowing I I I I had like subconsciously it I couldn't even control myself it was like I had to get him out of my life because you know I don't I don't know why it was like anytime anyone loves me I don't feel worth it or you know um I've I mean i' I don't even know how to explain it like I can't friends I can have acquaintance that guys that are acquaintances but I just you know anytime it's maybe someone express any else besides that I can't I take some type of pleasure not some type of I don't take pleasure in it but subconsciously whether I mean to or not sometimes I've meant to it's like i' i' I've purposely hurt their feelings um just so they'll never talk to me again like I make sure that it's not ever a possibility and Donald Trump Donald Trump destroyed my feeling of selfworth and my self-esteem when it was still like when it was when it just bloomed it hadn't even had a chance to experience anything um I have I have only spoken to to one therapist about this just recently actually um I for the long time I just really just tried to forget about it just tried very hard but um I've been to counseling for other things um and I went to counseling for a previous the previous relationship that I was sabotaging and my counselor said something has happened to you that where you were just you need to deal with that that's actually what kind of was like hm he knew that there was something that had happened where I was self self Saab you know sabotaging these relationships but you know he said that it was my responsibility to deal with it of course uh this the situation with Donald Trump has has left it destroyed my self-esteem and and it's made it to where I feel like it's destroyed part of my life um I haven't the only he healthy relationship I've completely demolished um and I love to choose the dysfunctional ones that I know I can just push away uh he after what happened with him I can't trust a man ever again I thinking about it just makes me sick to my stomach someone when something so traumatic happens to someone that's so young you never ever really get over it
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Release the Epstein Files.
The Old Wolf has spoken, but Katie has spoken more loudly, and her words need to reverberate around the world until these child rapists are brought to justice.
This amazingly on-target video was created by Instagram user @somethingblackmade. It’s fairly long, so if you prefer to read instead of watching, here’s a full transcript of what he says.
It’s a challenge to the alt-right to really think about what they’re saying when they call for the death of anyone who disrespects the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Note: I do not condone political violence of any sort against any person. Civil disobedience, resisting, and protesting are not political violence.
White Conservatives, I get you now.
The double standard and selective outrage.
I understand it, now I get it.
Y’all can’t stand the mirror that’s been put in front of your face.
All of the [censored] that y’all have been serving for the last few decades now against minority communities, y’all can’t stand having to look at it when it affects you.
See that’s the thing, I finally get it. It took me a lot of time because I’m thinking, “Why are people reacting so violently to this?” And it reminds me of the very first event that I had when I was escaping the alt-right pipeline and changing my mindset of that; [it] was that anger and violence. Because here’s the thing, here’s the thing you really don’t understand because you refuse to put yourself in other people’s shoes and actually be empathetic to other people’s situations.
How do y’all think the Black community has felt for the last five yearsยน since George Floyd has died? All the memes y’all shared about that? How do you think they felt about all the memes about Breanna Taylor – you know, the woman who was gunned down in her sleep during a no-knock raid?
How do you think the Latino community has felt with y’all cheering Trump for his deportation efforts and buying merch for Alligator Alcatraz and egging it on that human suffering is a great thing for this country?
How do you think that the gay community felt with all the jokes y’all made about the Pulse nightclub shooting a few years back in Orlando that killed 50+ people in like a predominantly gay club? You are truly experiencing for the first time how it tastes.
The hatred you have been spilling out of your guts for years finally comes back at you and that’s the thing you don’t like.
But you know what the funny thing about all of it is? Where’s the black community calling for war with how you’ve treated them? Where’s the Latino community going up in arms and calling for war – and no, fighting off ICE and protesting, that is not war, that is civil disobedience – and that is our First Amendment right. But calling for the death of innocent civilians because they make jokes about a dead man who spent his entire political career actively making these communities worse with his rhetoric, and their situations worse, where’s their calls for war?
See, you’re just now kind of coming out of the illusion that your hatred and bigotry, that you claim is “free speech,” is free of consequences from the actions of what you just said because you only ever say it online, because when you do say it to someone’s face you almost always outnumber them five to one; you almost always catch people in situations where they are at a disadvantage, so when you say these things you’re protected.
But now with Charlie and his situation you’re having to come to reality for the first time of the vile and awful things that you believe in, and you don’t like it. You’re having to eat that. You’re having to stare that in the face. And what’s your first response? To be violent and angry to innocent people. Because you scream that “everyone’s entitled to their opinion.” You love dark humor but the second you see people making jokes about Charlie Kirk being gone, “Oh, that’s too far!” Oh, that’s too far?
The Hallowe’en costumes of George Floyd being strangled to death? Let’s not even glaze over the fact that I’m seeing a bunch of posts saying “Congratulations George Floyd for being five years sober.” Because he’s dead. But now you want us to care. You’re now noticing just how little actual emotion, like how little actual empathy and sympathy exist amongst your own ranks. Because the funniest thing about this entire situation is the fact that it was one of your own that killed him.
It was a 22-year-old white kid from Utah who came from a conservative GOP family that love Trump, and he was a registered Republican. [Fact Check: the shooter himself was not affiliated with either party, and did not participate in the last two elections, but his family did glorify firearms.]
So if you really, really, really think you want war or bloodshed with innocent people, how about you look in a mirror, and won’t you sit there for a few days and actually digest and break down your beliefs? Because I’m sure it’s screaming at you from the inside. I remember feeling that a long when I was younger and in the alt-right. When there’s this interior voice that is screaming at the things you are saying and doing are wrong, but you don’t care because it’s getting you brownie points with the people around you because you’ve surrounded yourself with hateful people.
How about you actually – actually think – for a few days on your politics and your beliefs. Because at the moment, y’all are disgusting. Y’all call us disgusting for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, well, we think you’re disgusting because really Charlie Kirk is no different than any child that has been shot in school for the last [censored] two decades. [Emphasis mine]
The things we have been trying to prevent, the things we’ve been trying to stop, the pain that these incidents cause families, how about you think about which side you’ve been fighting on that for a while.
Charlie Kirk was a human being with a family and friends and loved ones, and they are understandably sad and angry and outraged about their loss. I have nothing but condolences for them. But it must be remembered that Charlie Kirk preached, publicly and repeatedly, some terrible things. Things that a true follower of Christ would never espouse, things that a compassionate person would repudiate entirely, and in the end, those things came back to bite him.
MAGA have found a martyr for their cause, and they will politicize his death to the utter hilt… but God forbid any liberal should do the same. The sad fact remains that if there is political violence in this country, the vast, vast majority of it has been perpetrated by the right wing of the Republican Party. And you wonder why?
A number of lists of these great “quotes” have been circulating ever since the days of fax machines, even before “forwards from Grandma.” They’re funny and great to read, but is there any truth to any of them? Let’s explore.
The most famous one that I know of has been thoroughly debunked:
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” – Bill Gates
An analysis at Quote Investigator ended with “Since Gates has denied the quotation and the evidence is not compelling I would not attribute it to him at this time. Thanks for this difficult interesting question.“
During the early days of computing, programs were often written in Assembly Language, producing very tight code that could run in minimal spaces. The original Wang v.2 word processor was designed to run on workstations with 32K of memory, even though later workstations had a standard 64K.
Wang OIS 64K Workstation
If you want apocrypha, here’s a good one. This story was told to me by a Wang Laboratories internal employee, and I can’t verify its authenticity, but having worked with Wang software and hardware for around 10 years back in the ’80s and ’90s, I would be willing to bet a steak dinner that it is true.
The Wang Word Processor, version 2, was – as mentioned above – written in Assembly language. The source code was kept on these 300MB swappable disk packs which at the time were very convenient for changing storage media.
300 MB Disk Pack
Disk Drive for use with removable packs
As the tale goes, somehow an entire rack of those disk packs got knocked over, destroying both the source code (in Assembly Language) and the backups for that impressively small and fast piece of software. It was for this reason that WP+, the next generation word processor from Wang, was entirely re-written in a slower, larger, higher level language. It emulated many features of the original and added others, but it was cumbersome and inelegant by comparison. Again, I can’t verify this 100%, but it came to me from what I consider a reliable source.
Western Union’s opinion of the telephone
Facsimile Telegram
This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — Purported Western Union internal memo, 1876.
Telegrams were pretty much the way to get a message from one place to another rapidly. Prior to the development of the electric telegraph system designed by Samuel Morse, optical telegraphy which used visual signals seen at a distance was one of the earliest methods of long-distance communication.
Wikipedia reports that “The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of long-distance communication. It is a form of visual communication used over a long distance. In general smoke signals are used to transmit news, signal danger, or to gather people to a common area.” The use of smoke signals by the indigenous peoples of North America are probably the most familiar to Americans thanks to the popularization of western history in published and broadcast media.
Frederic S. Remington (1861-1909); The Smoke Signal; 1905; Oil on canvas; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; 1961.250
This method of communication has been the basis for much humor as well:
Charles Addams, The New Yorker
Lucky Luke – “La Diligence” (Dargaud, 1968 series) #32 by Morris and Goscinny
The joke here is that a single puff of smoke or one beat of a drum can communicate large quantities of information, which of course is not the case.
One of the most stirring cinematographic representations of optical telegraphy can be found in Peter Jackson’s version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Two Towers,” where the beacons of Gondor – signal fires strategically placed on mountaintops – played a crucial role in summoning Rohan’s forces to help Gondor.
The Beacons of Gondor
Once electricity came on the scene, the electrical telegraph, augmented by Morse Code, became the dominant method of rapid long-distance communication, and was the underpinning of the telegram system for which Western Union became so famous.
Telegrams – about which I have written elsewhere – were used for everything where information had to be transmitted rapidly, from business meetings, to military applications, to notifications of death, to congratulations on Broadway, and countless other uses.
Telegram sent to my mother from ANTA (American National Theater and Academy) wishing her good luck in “For Heaven’s Sake, Mother” on November 16, 1948. Sadly, the play only ran for fourdays.
So when the telephone made its debut on the world stage, Western Union supposedly turned up its nose and sniffed loftily that it was not anything worthy of consideration. While the invention of the telephone, followed by the modern Internet and the proliferation of smartphones, ultimately doomed the telegram to the vaults of history, at the time concern about the new technology was real. The supposed internal memo at Western Union, however, was not. A lovely article at Wondermark discusses the origins of this urban legend in great detail and is worth the read if such things interest you.
Be aware, however, that even the telegraph itself was met with skepticism by shortsighted individuals:
“I watched his face (Samuel F.B. Morse) closely to see if he was not deranged, and was assured by other Senators as we left the room that they had no confidence in it either.”
-Senator Oliver Smith of indiana, 1842, after witnessing a first demonstration of the telegraph
The Radio
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
David Sarnoff was an early pioneer in the promotion of wireless radio as a new technology. I asked Perplexity about the supposed response from investors, and it had this to say:
In summary, although the quote closely reflects real skepticism Sarnoff faced, there is no documented evidence that an investor sent this precise message to himโthe wording appears to be apocryphal or retrospective, encapsulating broader contemporary attitudes
Obviously, “fear of the new, from those with a vested interest in the old” (from the Wondermark article linked above) didn’t keep the radio from becoming immensely popular.
The March of Technology
“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” attributed to Popular Mechanics from 1949
This is a true quote, but is often quoted out of context, unlike the quote in the image above. Popular Mechanics was making a forecast based on the technology of that time, suggesting computers could shrink significantly but still be very large by modern standards. This reflected an era when computers were massive and used vacuum tubes. The prediction was reasonable then but didn’t foresee transistor and integrated circuit breakthroughs that led to much smaller, lighter computers. You don’t know what you don’t know.
More about Computers
Once more, this quote is a misinterpretation; a very good background is found here. The short explanation is:
From a question on the history of IBM on their website,ย “Did Thomas Watson say in the 1950s that he foresaw a market potential for only five electronic computers?”ย IBM offers the following explanation:
We believe the statement that you attribute to Thomas Watson is a misunderstanding of remarks made at IBMโs annual stockholders meeting on April 28, 1953. In referring specifically and only to the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine — which had been introduced the year before as the companyโs first production computer designed for scientific calculations — Thomas Watson, Jr., told stockholders that โIBM had developed a paper plan for such a machine and took this paper plan across the country to some 20 concerns that we thought could use such a machine. I would like to tell you that the machine rents for between $12,000 and $18,000 a month, so it was not the type of thing that could be sold from place to place. But, as a result of our trip, on which we expected to get orders for five machines, we came home with orders for 18.โ
You don’t know what you don’t know
“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.”
ย -The Editor in Charge of Business Books for Prentice Hall, 1957
“But what … is it good for?“
ย -Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”ย
-Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
The three quotes above are not examples of obtuseness or stupidity, but rather the inability to predict the incredible rush of innovation that the computer industry would experience. I have written about the incredible shrinking data storage elsewhere, and even that article is now outdated; SanDisk has introduced a 4TB MicroSD card, whether or not something of this nature is even needed.
There’s nothing new under the sun
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
–Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
According to Quote Investigator, Warner probably said this but more confirmation would be useful. The linked article provides some interesting background about resistence to the inclusion of sound and voice in films, which up until that time were entirely silent.
There are many more “boneheaded quotes” out there, but the above dive into some of the most famous is an indication that each one deserves to be investigated for accuracy before spreading them around as 100% accurate.
This post was spawned by one of Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” which was also posted on Facebook.
She wrote about the tragic 1955 murder of Emmett Till, an innocent 14-year-old boy, and about the hateful and unrepentant attitude of J. W. Milam, one of Till’s two killers.
Emmett Till
โWhat else could we do?โ Milam said. โHe was hopeless. Iโm no bully. I never hurt a n* in my life. I like n*s, in their place (emphasis mine). I know how to work โem. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, n*s are gonna stay in their place.โ
Milam’s attitude had it roots in 1620 when a Dutch man-of-war traded “20 and odd Negroes” for “victualle,” according to a letter from Virginia Colony secretary John Rolfe to Sir Edwin Sandys. From there, it evolved into a system of utter oppression and cruelty by whites, who used the principle of human bondage to treat their unfree laborers as less than cattle for their own petty satisfaction. These attitudes and the economy which arose as a result – largely the growing of cotton in the South – were officially and legally repudiated by the Civil War and subsequent amendments to the Constitution which guaranteed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to all citizens, and not just wealthy white landowners – but the attitudes in the hearts of many in the South clearly did not die, as witnessed by the conditions that Blacks dealt with prior to the Civil Rights area, predominantly in the South.
While thinking about John Rolfe’s letter, I kept having flashbacks to elementary school, and of vague memories of learning about the arrival of the Dutch ship in Jamestown. I could have sworn that the text was recorded as “20. and odd negars,” (at that time the word was simply a corruption of the Portuguese word for “black,” and had not yet become the hateful slur of later times). So I started doing some digging, and was intrigued to find that I was not the only one who remembered things erroneously.
The following websites commemorating the 400th anniversary of the beginning of human bondage in America quote that passage from Rolfe’s letter in that manner:
Here is plainly transcribed “20. and odd Negroes.” If you were not sure about the accuracy of the transcription, below we can see a scan of the original letter:
Having been unsuccessful in finding any explanations on the Internet for the discrepancy, I turned to Perplexity, an AI search engine which provides references with everything it is able to find. What I asked:
“The first arrival of African slaves in America is recorded in a letter by Virginia colony secretary John Rolfe, in which he recounted – according to some – that a Dutch Man o’ War traded “20 and odd Negars” for “victuals.” But a scan of the letter itself shows that the word Rolfe used was “negroes,” and the Encyclopedia of Virginia provides an accurate transcript of the letter from Rolfe to Sir Edwin Sandys. Even a report from the Congressional Black Congress in 2019 uses the phrase “20 and odd Negars.” I want to know how Rolfe’s “negroes” was changed to “negars” in some reports.”
I was not unhappy with the result [emphasis added to the salient parts]:
John Rolfeโs 1619 letter documenting the first arrival of Africans in Virginia describes the sale of โ20. and odd Negroes.โ This exact phraseโusing โNegroesโโis confirmed by direct transcripts from reputable sources such as the Encyclopedia of Virginia and republished excerpts of the letter, all of which indicate Rolfe wrote โNegroesโ and not โNegarsโ.
The origin of the spelling โNegarsโ or its substitution for โNegroesโ in some later reports seems to trace to evolving English usage and to historical misreadings or reinterpretations over time. Several factors contribute to this confusion:
The early 17th-century English language was not standardized, and words referring to people of African descent included a range of spellingsโsuch as โnegroes,โ โnegers,โ โnegars,โ and, later, โ[n-word]โ โ all derived from the Spanish and Portuguese โnegroโ (meaning black), and ultimately from the Latin โnigerโ.
The spelling โnegarsโ appears in several 18th and 19th-century works, and was sometimes used interchangeably with โnegroesโ or as an early variant in American English, especially in regions influenced by Dutch or non-standard English dialects.
Some secondary sources and later historical writings incorrectly retrojectedยน these variant spellings into the context of 1619, perhaps due to faulty transcription practices, unfamiliarity with the original manuscript, or confusion regarding the shifting terminology used to describe African-descended people in colonial records.
In summary, John Rolfeโs original letter used the word โNegroes,โ but through later historical reinterpretations, variances in early English spelling, and repeated citation errors, the term โNegarsโ emerged in certain secondary sources and reports. But direct examination of Rolfeโs correspondence confirms that โNegroesโ was his actual word choice in the context of the 1619 arrival.
At least, at this point, I know that my original memory from my grade-school days was not imagined up, and have a good idea of what happened between John Rolfe’s penning his letter and subsequent reporting.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Footnotes
ยน I love the word “retrojected,” to project into the past.
Playing in the World Game 