Author: Kim du Toit

Cultural Ignorance

House & Home, Immigration

Last night I had to call 911, because I heard gunshots outside my apartment — first there were two shots, evenly spaced, and then three in a row, very fast.  Sounded like a small-caliber pistol, I told the operator.  (This being Texas, she didn’t bother to ask me how I could guess the caliber.)

Anyway, the cops arrived, and then a fire engine.

Not gunshots:  fireworks.

Of course, “fireworks” never occurred to me as a choice because I’m culturally ignorant, and had no idea that it’s Diwali Time, here in Little Hyderabad, Plano (that’s what they call it, because there are so many people from that city living in the area).

That would also explain why so many apartment patios are festooned with light strings — they’re not premature Christmas lights (which is what I mistakenly thought) but Diwali lights, which is apparently a whole ‘nother thing.  So instead of living amidst a large number of Christian folk, I’m surrounded, so to speak, by Diwali devotees.  (Okay, I knew that already.)

Anyway, I felt a bit of a fool for calling 911 just about fireworks, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t get the appropriate memo from the Ministry of Cultural Assimilation.  And honestly?  these were loud bangs, so my confusion is quite understandable.  (I had the 1911 in hand while peering through the curtains and making the 911 call.)

Anyway, the morons who set off the fireworks got their pee-pees whacked both by the Fuzz and the Apartment Lords, as setting off fireworks in these parts is Streng Verboten.  (We have an extensive forest on both sides of the nearby creek, surrounded by empty grass fields that have somehow escaped the attention of property developers, hence the fire risk and prohibition.)

And by the way:  the cops were on the spot in about three minutes:  nothing like “Shots fired” over the old 911 to get the donuts dropped and the engines running.  But of course if there had been gunshots, three minutes is far too long.

This is Kim, your local Cultural Ignoramus, signing off.

From The Archives

Business, History

Seen SOTI, this intriguing little question:

Note too the reference to Cuba.  Then this:

Someone tell James Cameron… and speaking of getting it wrong:

Still asleep, apparently.

Finally:

Given the newspaper, I’m amazed they didn’t lead with “Connally Shot” and only then in the sub-head: “Kennedy Caught In Cross-Fire”.

Good times, good times.

Call To Arms

Deep Thoughts, Resistance

At the Federalist Society, a speech from Bari Weiss which outlines the issue facing us at this time, and reminds us of our collective duty to save civilization.  As she rightly says:

When antisemitism moves from the shameful fringe into the public square, it is not about Jews. It is never about Jews. It is about everyone else. It is about the surrounding society or the culture or the country. It is an early warning system—a sign that the society itself is breaking down. That it is dying.

It is a symptom of a much deeper crisis—one that explains how, in the span of a little over 20 years since Sept 11, educated people now respond to an act of savagery not with a defense of civilization, but with a defense of barbarism.

Read the whole damn thing, because you must.

It’s not just Jews who are at risk.  We are all at risk, every one of us who claims to be civilized.

News Roundup

Bad News

…and in my case, the early morning sun.  Anyway, let’s see what the news had to offer us last week:


...let’s give the man the benefit of the doubt, here:  there are a couple hundred good reasons why someone would carry an AR-15 near the Capitol.

In Global Cooling Climate Warming Change© News:


...no reports from Minneapolis or Green Bay, though.

Now let’s look in at the Great Cultural Assimilation Project:


...joining the Scandi countries in this initiative.

A Technology Newsflash:


...betting is that the crushed guy was a lifelong Democrat voter, in which case the robot can be forgiven its confusion.

And still more technology, or rather, reversing technology:


...sadly, this is not the beginning of a trend.  I’ve seen the numbers (as a consultant to supermarket chains, remember) and the savings are just too great, in an industry which still runs on 1.75% net margins.

And now, in Wildlife News:


...no confirmation that her name was Mary.


...acting like Southside Chicagoans, in other words.  Still on bears:


...remember, kids:  shoot, shovel and shut up.  And for the “shoot” part, I can recommend the following (stainless because it’s kinda humid out there):
...the latter loaded with slugs, as extra-special anti-bear medicine. 

Time for a Glueball Jewhate update:


...yeah, guys:  that’s really sticking it to the Infidel.  You chumps.


...my suggestion:

In Travel News:


...yeah, I’ve flown coach on American too;  it’s no picnic.

And in the ever-uninteresting category known as INSIGNIFICA:

        ...for “star-studded”, read “well-worn vaginas”.
...killjoy.

And still on that note [sic], there’s Entertainment News:


...as long as it’s Kylie Minogue and not Lizzo.  Here’s the helium-voiced Kylie:

 

 

…and here’s Lizzo:

Read more

Irrelevant Protest

Culture, Marketing / Advertising

Talk about misplaced priorities outside Rome’s Colosseum:

Alexis Mucci, who has 7.5million followers on Instagram, donned nothing but satin robes and black lingerie sets with fitness model Issa Vegas. In the clip, which has gained more than 134,000 likes, the pair untied the belts on their robes to reveal their skimpy outfits.

Dark-haired beauty Alexis was seen in a strappy bra that barely covered her cleavage with a lacy thong and pair of patterned fishnet stockings. Meanwhile, Issa wore a black lace bra with a matching thong and similar stockings.

So far, so good.

However, some Instagram viewers took to the comments begging the OnlyFans model and her fitness star pal to “cover up.”

One user said: “Cover yourself it’s cold.” Another added: “Move I can’t see the colosseum.” A third commented: “What a shame they have to sell themselves like this.”

It’s the last comment which got me shaking my head.

Anyone who’s ever been to the Colosseum knows that it’s a hive of hucksterism:  people offering tourists “private tours” of the place, and gawd knows how many assholes dressed up as Roman legionaries offering to pose with said tourists in front of the ruins, all for a (horrifying) price, of course.

So in fact the Colosseum is the perfect place for two houris  to sell themselves.

Feel free to scrutinize them via the link, but be warned that they’re nastier than cheap Italian red wine.

Mixed Feelings

Freaks & Loonies, Legal Stuff

Here’s a story that gets me all philosophical:

A child psychiatrist in Charlotte, North Carolina, used artificial intelligence (AI) to make child porn, and he is now facing the consequences.

In a press release Wednesday, the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of North Carolina announced 41-year-old David Tatum will spend the next 40 years behind bars, then 30 years of supervised release for the sexual exploitation of a minor and the AI-generated child porn.

I’ll get to the philosophical bit in a moment because emotionally, of course, I want this perverted bastard to be burned at the stake and his ashes scattered far away from any children’s playground, never mind imprisoned forever.

However.

Did not some Supreme Court, in its Supreme Wisdom, decree a while ago that making cartoon-based child pornography did not constitute a crime?  Why yes, yes it did.  (The whole story, country by country, can be found here.)

I myself once looked at 3D-printed sex dolls, with the logical extension thereof as it pertained to creating sex dolls of children (FFS).

So ‘splain this to me Simon:  if it’s okay (perhaps) to create sex dolls of children, why not AI-generated images or even movies?  Remember:  no actual person is being harmed by this activity.

This is but my philosophical musing, of course — see my “burned at the stake” suggestion above.

And boy, have we created an Alps-sized slippery slope with this one.