Monday, September 30, 2019

Impeachment for Trump? (comedy)

SNL; Jimmy Dore (KPFK, 9/27/19); Kimmel; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

Jimmy Dore Comedy Show: What about "impeachment"? (9/27, 5:00 PM archive.kpfk.org)


Social critic, satirist, and stand up comedian Jimmy Dore thinks this whole impeachment movement, as nice as it would be, is aimed at helping Trump and shielding Biden. Nancy Pelosi never wanted impeachment for anyone for anything -- not Bush administration official clearly guilty of war crimes and high crimes and misdemeanors, not Trump for any of his other many crimes, so why now? Listen


Relaxation TV (video)

Yellow Brick Cinema (Relaxation TV) Channel 24/7 via Wisdom Quarterly

Sunday, September 29, 2019

"Family Guy" begins new season (cartoon)

Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy/FOX TV) via Ours is the Fury; Will Thorne (variety.com); Seth Auberon, Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Bless the Harts by Maya Rudolph et. al. (fox.com/bless-the-harts...)


WARNING: Sexual references, comedic and exaggerated violence, deep satire, and witty nonsense!

Sundays, September 29, 2019 on FOX, all new episodes of Family Guy, The Simpsons, and a new cartoon series by Maya Rudolph called Bless the Harts.

The end of BoJack Horseman


BoJack Horseman is riding off into the L.A. sunset. Netflix announced the forthcoming season of the adult animated comedy will be its last. They also revealed the season will air in two parts, Oct. 25, 2019 and Jan. 31, 2020. “BoJack,” a former ’90s sitcom star, is voiced by Will Arnett. The voices of Amy Sedaris... More
South Park, the comedy classic on the heels of The Simpsons, in Recession

    The NEW Rules for Dating (video)

    Ariel Winograd (Tod@s Caen); Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly
    "Out, sinners!" - "We're sorry. Tell God we didn't mean to get an education!" (The Onion)
    Tod@s Caen ("Everybody Falls"), Spanish language from Mexico, with English subtitles. Rate PG.

    Adan (Spanish for "Adam," the first man, played by Omar Chaparro) is a charming seducer who believes he knows how to make any woman swoon. He prepares to teach his friends the art of conquering women, using his array of bullet-proof rules of seduction.

    Mia ("Mine," a kind of Eva/Eve or first woman, a seductress played by Martha Higareda) has learned THE RULES OF DATING the hard way -- lots of random sex and dating. Now she wants to share the rules with other women to spare them a lot of heartache and suffering.

    She is an ambitious TV producer in Mexico who dreams of having her own show about female empowerment: Todos Caen ("Everybody Falls"). She has the ultimate strategic guide to female dating and is ready to teach it to the world: Men are hunters who like to be led on even if everyone thinks they just want sex.

    Hey, Adan, nos vamos a ligar?
    Mia's guide teaches women how to hook men -- to have them eating from the palm of the hand in no time. She's so confident that she takes a bet that she can make Adan fall. What will happen when player meets player?
    .
    All The [OLD] Rules
    When they cross paths at a nightclub Mia has gone to with her friends because she knows it's Adan's hunting grounds, the game is on! It's an all-out battle of the sexes.

    But as they test their seduction strategies on one another, both find that sometimes the more you play hard-to-get, the harder you may end up falling yourself. Unless you're tricky (no, even if you're tricky).
    RHINOCEROS SUTRA: Love?
    Ven. Khantipalo a.k.a. Laurence Mills (With Robes and Bowl: Glimpses of the [Austere Wandering Ascetic] Life), Buddhist Publication Society (BPS.lk), Wheel #83; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
    What would the Buddha do? In the Rhinoceros Sutra (from the Buddhist sutra collection called the Sutta Nipata, literally "Discourses Falling Down," published as "Woven Cadences") -- translated long ago in England by E. M. Hare (in the Pali Text Society's Sacred Books of the Buddhists Series) -- we find some ancient Buddhist advice:

    Love cometh from companionship;
    In wake of love upsurges ill;
    Seeing the bane that comes of love,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros.

    In ruth for all one's bosom friends,
    A person, heart-chained, neglects the goal;
    Seeing this fear in fellowship,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros.

    Tangled as crowding bamboo boughs
    Is fond regard for child and spouse:
    As the tall tops are tangle-free,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros.

    The deer untethered roams the wild
    Whithersoe'er it lists for food:
    Seeing the liberty, wise one,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros.

    Casting aside the household gear,
    As sheds the coral-tree its leaves,
    With home-ties cut, and vigorous,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros.

    Seek for thy friend the deeply learned,
    Dharma-endued, lucid and great;
    Knowing the needs, expelling doubt,
    Fare lonely as rhinoceros. More

    Alan Watts: Buddhist Radio Los Angeles (audio)

    Pacifica Radio L.A. (KPFK 90.7 FM, Sundays); Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly


    You don't need it. Just be. But how?
    It's hard to get enough of Spiritual Entertainer, Zen translator, and all-around brilliant Eastern Philosopher Alan Watts (alanwatts.org). Born in England, he was a Zen practitioner who studied in Japan and went on to live the rest of his life in California, where he had a TV show, Way Beyond the West, and a long-running radio show in Berkeley at KPFA.org explaining Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Hinduism, Christianity, and Eastern and Western Philosophy in general. He was once an Episcopal priest, and all of that mixes for a fascinating talk on spirituality and the meaning of life. The only place he can regularly be heard is on "Buddhist Radio" Los Angeles, better known as Sunday mornings 8:00-8:30 AM and Thursday nights "Something's Happening" with Roy of Hollywood Tuckman, midnight to 5:00 AM. Both are available in the KPFK Archive (use drop down screen to find "Alan Watts" or "Something's Happening, Part A and B") free for 90 days from the day of broadcast. More

    Relax: Music for meditation, yoga, sleep
    Yellow Brick Cinema - Relaxing Music via Wisdom Quarterly

    Saturday, September 28, 2019

    Going vegan with Schwarzenegger (film)



    The Game Changers
     Arnold Schwarzenegger's vegan documentary 
    There are 101 reasons to go plant-based.
    It may surprise the world that Hollywood superstar, professional bodybuilder, and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is starring in and executive producing a vegan doc featuring James Cameron, Novak Djokovic, Chris Paul, martial arts expert and international superstar Jackie Chan, to name a few.

    Why would one of the most recognizable people in the world go vegan in public? To save the planet, to reverse the climate crisis, to live longer and be healthier in a better body?

    • A UFC fighter learns everything we've been taught about protein was a LIE. The Game Changers hits digital worldwide on Oct. 1st, 2019, available for pre-order on iTunes.
    Vegan is the way to go for those who want their own health and the health of the planet, which is otherwise exposed to increased demand for "factory farming," animal torture, pestilence, disease, a broken and overburdened health care system, and countless tortured live (over 1 million animals slaughtered a day in the USA, half of them to be thrown in the garbage rather than being eaten)? Schwarzenegger did it for optimal muscle growth, sports performance with clean plant-based proteins and nutrients as he ages badly due to the toxic effects of all the meat he previously ate and things he might have shot up to gain muscle mass (e.g., steroids). #Vegan

    Other versions of the Bible? (video)

    History.com via Universe Code; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly


    The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts
    In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors.

    In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading Bible scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel (Canaan) and its neighbors.

    They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Northern Africa — Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon — suggests that many of the most famous Bible stories reflect not actual historical facts but rather the world of the later authors:
    • the wanderings of the patriarchs,
    • the Exodus from Egypt,
    • Joshua’s conquest of Canaan,
    • David and Solomon’s vast empire.
    Israel/Canaan and Egypt are physically Africa.
    Challenging fundamentalist readings of Christian and Jewish scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today. More

    More archeological research and texts written by Finkelstein and Silberman (amazon.com)

    The comedy of Alex Jones (video)

    LastWeekTonight, 7/30/17; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


    Jerk Alex Jones: Last Week Tonight
    I'm not angry! It's righteous indignation!
    (HBO) Conspiracy theorist, useful idiot, tool, all-around loudmouth, disgraced and deposed Deep State Operative Alex Jones is known for pushing conspiracy theories, but he also spends a lot of time promoting his own products. Host John Oliver and a “doctor” “from” M.I.T. test out his marketing strategy.

    For more almost news as it almost happens (YouTube). Like it like your mom would (Facebook). See Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news. Official site for all that other stuff at once.

    Greta Thunberg writes us a letter

    Greta Thunberg (Facebook.com); minor edits by Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

    Recently I’ve seen many rumors circulating about me and enormous amounts of hate.

    This is no surprise to me. I know that since most people are not aware of the full meaning of the climate crisis (which is understandable since it has never been treated as a crisis) a school strike for the climate would seem very strange to people in general.

    How dare you, mofos, how dare you!
    So let me make some things clear about my school strike.

    In May 2018 I was one of the winners in a writing competition about the environment held by Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish newspaper. I got my article published, and some people contacted me, among others was Bo Thorén from Fossil Free Dalsland. He had some kind of group with people, especially youth, who wanted to do something about the climate crisis.

    I had a few phone meetings with other activists. The purpose was to come up with ideas of new projects that would bring attention to the climate crisis. Bo had a few ideas of things we could do. Everything from marches to a loose idea of some kind of a school strike (that school children would do something on the schoolyards or in the classrooms). That idea was inspired by the Parkland students, who had refused to go to school after the school shootings.

    I liked the idea of a school strike. So I developed that idea and tried to get the other young people to join me, but no one was really interested. They thought that a Swedish version of the Zero Hour march was going to have a bigger impact. So I went on planning the school strike all by myself and after that I didn’t participate in any more meetings.

    When I told my parents about my plans, they weren’t very fond of it. They did not support the idea of school striking, and they said that if I were to do this I would have to do it completely by myself and with no support from them.

    Swedish: "School Strike for Climate"
    On the 20th of August I sat down outside the Swedish Parliament. I handed out fliers with a long list of facts about the climate crisis and explanations on why I was striking. The first thing I did was to post on Twitter and Instagram what I was doing, and it soon went viral. Then journalists and newspapers started to come. A Swedish entrepreneur and businessman active in the climate movement, Ingmar Rentzhog, was among the first to arrive. He spoke with me and took pictures that he posted on Facebook. That was the first time I had ever met or spoken with him. I had not communicated or encountered with him ever before.

    Many people love to spread rumors saying that I have people “behind me” or that I’m being “paid” or “used” to do what I’m doing. But there is no one “behind” me except for myself. My parents were as far from climate activists as possible before I made them aware of the situation.

    I am not part of any organization. I sometimes support and cooperate with several NGOs that work with the climate and environment. But I am absolutely independent, and I only represent myself. And I do what I do completely for free; I have not received any money or any promise of future payments in any form at all. And nor has anyone linked to me or my family done so.

    And of course it will stay this way. I have not met one single climate activist who is fighting for the climate for money. That idea is completely absurd.

    Furthermore, I only travel with permission from my school, and my parents pay for tickets and accommodations.

    My family has written a book together about our family and how me and my sister Beata [and I] have influenced my parents way of thinking and seeing the world, especially when it comes to the climate. And about our diagnoses.

    That book was due to be released in May. But since there was a major disagreement with the book company, we ended up changing to a new publisher, and so the book was released in August instead.

    Before the book was released, my parents made it clear that their possible profits from the book Scener ur hjärtat ["Scenes from the Heart" about her famous opera singer mother Malena Ernman] will be going to eight different charities working with environment, children with diagnoses, and animal rights.

    And, yes, I write my own speeches. But since I know that what I say is going to reach many, many people, I often ask for input. I also have a few scientists that I frequently ask for help on how to express certain complicated matters. I want everything to be absolutely correct so that I don’t spread incorrect facts, or things that can be misunderstood.

    Some people mock me for my diagnosis. But Asperger’s is not a disease; it’s a gift. People also say that since I have Asperger’s, I couldn’t possibly have put myself in this position. But that’s exactly why I did this. Because if I would have been “normal” and social, I would have organized myself in an organization, or started an organization by myself. But since I am not that good at socializing, I did this instead. I was so frustrated that nothing was being done about the climate crisis [that] I felt like I had to do something, anything. And sometimes NOT doing things -- like just sitting down outside the parliament -- speaks much louder than doing things. Just like a whisper sometimes is louder than shouting.
    • [Asperger syndrome, or Asperger's, is a developmental disorder characterised by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. As a milder autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it differs from other ASDs by relatively normal language and intelligence. More]
    Also there is one complaint that I “sound and write like an adult.” And to that I can only say, Don’t you think that a 16-year old can speak for herself? There’s also some people who say that I oversimplify things, for example, when I say that “The climate crisis is a black-and-white issue,” “We need to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases,” and “I want you to panic.” But that I only say because it’s true. Yes, the climate crisis is the most complex issue that we have ever faced, and it’s going to take everything from our part to “stop it.” But the solution is black-and-white; we need to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases.

    Because either we limit the warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, or we don’t. Either we reach a tipping point where we start a chain reaction with events way beyond human control, or we don’t. Either we go on as a civilization, or we don’t. There are no gray areas when it comes to survival.

    And when I say that I want you to panic, I mean that we need to treat the crisis as a crisis. When your house is on fire, you don’t sit down and talk about how nice you can rebuild it once you put out the fire. If your house is on fire, you run outside and make sure that everyone is out while you call the fire department. That requires some level of panic.

    Respect Existence or Expect Resistance (Berlin 1/19)
    There is one other argument that I can’t do anything about. And that is the fact that I’m “just a child and we shouldn’t be listening to children.” But that is easily fixed: just start to listen to the rock solid science instead. Because if everyone listened to the scientists and the facts that I constantly refer to -- then no one would have to listen to me or any of the other hundreds of thousands of school children on strike for the climate across the world. Then we could all go back to school.

    I am just a messenger, and yet I get all this hate. I am not saying anything new, I am just saying what scientists have repeatedly said for decades. And I agree with you, I’m too young to do this. We children shouldn’t have to do this. But since almost no one is doing anything, and our very future is at risk, we feel like we have to continue.

    And if you have any other concern or doubt about me, then you can listen to my TED talk (my TED Talk), in which I talk about how my interest for the climate and environment began.
      And thank you everyone for you kind support! It brings me hope.

      - Greta

      P.S. I was briefly a youth advisor for the board of the non-profit Foundation “We Don’t Have Time.” It turns out they used my name as part of another branch of their organization that is a start-up business. They have admitted clearly that they did so without the knowledge of me or my family. I no longer have any connection to “We Don’t Have Time.” Nor has anyone in my family. They have deeply apologized, and I have accepted their apology.

      Friday, September 27, 2019

      Buddhism in SEVEN words

      Dhr. Seven, Ellie Askew, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal
      The Buddha-to-come Maitreya high in the Himalayas of Bhutan, outside Thimphu (WQ)
      .
      Seven questions to ask:
      What is the Path to Freedom?
      1. What is "greed"? — It is craving (thirst, clinging).
      2. What is "hatred"? — It is aversion (fear/dislike/anger).
      3. What is "DELUSION" (ignorance)? — It is wrong view (misunderstanding).
      4. What is "nongreed"? — It is letting go (giving, disenchantment, disillusionment, detachment, internal-renouncing).
      5. What is "nonhatred"? — It is loving-kindness (compassion).
      6. What is "nondelusion"? — It is wisdom (insight).
      7. What is "AWAKENING" (nirvana)? — It is complete freedom, liberation, the end of all suffering, safety from all bonds (enlightenment or bodhi).
      Can you simplify the Path to three things?

      Buddhism in seven words (2)

      Ellie Askew (Dhammapada, Chapter 14: Verse 183), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
      Siddhartha: Hmm, how to put this in brief? (The Buddha/pbs.org)
      .
      1. Do
      2. bad.
      3. the

      There are three dangers in the world

      Ajahn Khamdee; Ven. Sujato (Gonzo Dhamma), Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
      "You won't find reasonable men on the tops of tall mountains" (H. S. Thompson/Gonzo)
      .
      I've spent my life — from youth to old age — as a wandering ascetic, climbing mountains and hills, entering forests and jungles.

      Still, I have yet to see a tiger eat anyone alive. I've heard reports, but I've never seen it. I have yet to see a snake kill anyone, or a fierce spirit possess anyone and cause that person to die.

      What I have seen with my own eyes is that the people in this world are suffering — not from being eaten by tigers or bitten by snakes or trampled by elephants — but from their own greed, hatred [fear/anger], and delusion.

      Whatever may be making them suffer — greed, hatred, and delusion are the things that destroy them.

      This is why the Buddha taught that fools destroy themselves just as they would destroy others. They destroy themselves by acting in unskillful and corrupt ways, as we see all around us.

      Fools are reborn as human beings just like everyone else, but their behavior isn't like that of other human beings. Source

      Baking: Making Bread from Weed (video)

      The King of Random, Joseph & Joseph, Good and Basic; CC Liu, S.Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly


      Dude, let's make bread instead of getting high.
      A better gluten-free option would be to use sorghum, brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, tapioca, potato, organic corn, or even glutinous rice. Dr. Joel Wallach at criticalhealthnews.com warns that everyone who wants to be healthy will avoid 13 foods -- including wheat, rye, barley, and oats.

      (Yes, oats are almost exclusively gluten, which the plant uses to protect itself from being eaten. The "gluten free" label refers to wheat gluten, because oat gluten is not called "gluten" but avenins, prolamins, or gliadins.) Gluten is starch-glue, as used in papier mache, that makes bread stretchy and chewy, which feels and tastes good but is harmful and addictive. It damages the lining of the intestines, curtailing absorption of nutrients like minerals and vitamins, and it contains comforting heroin-like compounds.
      Let's make veggie burgers from Impossible
      Intolerance to certain gluten proteins includes oats: Gluten is present in wheat, barley, rye (as shown in this video), oat, and all their species and hybrids.[2][21] So it cannot be "gluten free" even if the bag says so in big red letters. It contains hundreds of proteins, with high contents of prolamins.[22] Oat prolamins, called avenins, are similar to toxic gliadins found in wheat, hordeins in barley, and secalins in rye (as in the weed here), which are collectively named "gluten."[2] Avenins toxicity in celiac people depends on the oat cultivar consumed... More

      Thursday, September 26, 2019

      CIA: LSD, Beatles' "Abbey Road" (video)

      KTLA.com; Variety; Macmillan; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly

      To celebrate the golden anniversary of the Beatles' Abbey Road album, fans in Los Angeles were given a chance to recreate the iconic album cover at an intersection near the famed Capitol Records tower in Hollywood on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, 50 years after its release. The event was held one day before the release of a new "50th anniversary box set" collection with new material. Jennifer McGraw reports from Hollywood, California for KTLA 5 News. VIDEO

      Abbey Road, Hollywood

      (Variety) Traffic has been perpetually tied up around London’s Abbey Road Studios for 50 years as fans flock to the street outside to recreate the Beatles’ photographic stroll. To celebrate five decades of that happy UK logjam — and also 50 years of the album “Abbey Road” — the City of L.A. closed down Vine St. at Hollywood Bl. on Sept. 26 to recreate the other famous intersection.

      Out now: “Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition,” a 50th anniversary box set including a newly remixed version of the album and previously unreleased outtakes from the 1969 sessions. More

      Bestselling author Stephen Kinzer tells the astonishing story of the CIA agent who oversaw the CIA’s illegal mind-control and drug experiments of the 1950s and ’60s.

      Jewish chemist for CIA created the Sixties
      "Big Brother" is the CIA (1984)
      The demented visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s master magician and gentlehearted torturer — the Company's agency’s “poisoner in chief.”

      As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project [previously laughed at as a ridiculous "conspiracy theory" but not taken for granted as all true], Gottlieb directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents.

      The CIA made pills, powders, and potions to kill and maim without a trace — including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders the USA and/or CIA wanted murdered.

      Gottlieb paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run whorehouses, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs.

      The CIA's experiments spread LSD across the USA, making Gottlieb a hidden godfather of the 1960s counterculture.

      For years this CIA agent was the chief supplier of weapons and spy "tools" used by CIA officers around the world.

      Stephen Kinzer, author of groundbreaking books about U.S. clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the 20th century.

      Agent Gottlieb’s reckless and Nazi-like experiments on “expendable” human subjects destroyed many lives, yet he considered himself deeply spiritual:

      He lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated, and rose before dawn to milk his goats [studied Mahayana Buddhism and no doubt took acid himself].

      During his 22 years with the CIA, Gottlieb worked in the deepest secrecy. Only since his death has it become possible to piece together his astonishing career at the intersection of extreme science and covert action. Poisoner in Chief reveals him as a clandestine conjurer on an epic scale.

      "Always Running" - gangs and drugs in L.A.

      This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.