BAD GUYS....10/17/23

These notorious public figures are sweating bullets while doing their best to stay out of jail. They include:

- Former President Donald Trump who has 91 counts against him....

- Congressman George Santos who has 23 charges filed against him....

- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani who faces 13 counts....

- New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez who has racked up 4 charges....

- Sam Bankman-Fried who earned 7....

- And dozens more....

That’s 138 counts altogether, amounting to decades if not hundreds of years in prison if all of these miscreants are found guilty.

These guys had it all at one time, but as the late Jimmy Buffet so eloquently stated in his song, “A Pirate Looks At 40”, they “pissed it away so fast”.

Buffet may have squandered some of the money he made selling pot back in the day, but these guys pissed away not only their money, but their careers, their legacies, their reputations, and most likely….their freedoms.

DON'T TAKE MY BOOK....10/16/23

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most banned books in public schools AND one of the most taught.

65 million copies of this 1951 novel by J.D. Salinger have been sold, with a million added each year.

Texas leads the country by far in its attempt to ban books with 93 challenges to 2,349 titles in 2022. Pennsylvania followed a distant second with 302 titles on the chopping block.

The city of Katy, a suburb of Houston, recently purchased $93,000 worth of new library books but were forced to put them in storage until the censors found time to look at them.

One of the books that was axed is called, “No, David”, which features a cartoon character jumping out of a bathtub, exposing his buttocks.

Another book about a crayon that lost its wrapper and was therefore deemed “naked” was also flagged.

What’s funny is that the more books are banned, the more they are likely to be sold and distributed.

Move On’s "Banned Bookmobile Tour" is currently on a multi-state drive and handing out banned books for free.

Take that, Texas....

SEEING IS BELIEVING....10/15/23

Science denialism is big business. Take the Creation Museum as an example.

This 75,000 square foot behemoth in Petersburg, Kentucky opened to great fanfare in 2007 at an initial cost of $27 million. Further expansions are planned.

The entire focus of the museum is to promote the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis in the Bible, including the "fact" that the Earth is just 6,000 years old.

This belief is promoted by “Young Earth Creationism” which supports the preposterous notions that God created the entire universe in 6 - 24 hour days, that the first humans, Adam and Eve, ate fruit that contributed to the downfall of man, and that humans and dinosaurs co-existed.

Just about every other early Bible story is depicted using modern day technology designed to imprint the “truth” into visitors’ heads.

Bill Maher surreptitiously visited the “museum” soon after it opened to gather material for “Religious”, his documentary that challenges organized religion and religious beliefs.

He stated afterward that, "The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people....

....by irrationalists....

....by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken."