“Supporters at the party for Proposal 1 to legalize recreational marijuana celebrate at a party in Lansing.”
Michigan Legalizes Recreational Marijuana – Now What?:
“Michigan has passed Proposal 1 to legalize recreational marijuana. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy it right away”
How legalized marijuana would work in Michigan:
“On November 6, voters will determine if recreational marijuana is legalized. If the measure passes, here’s what recreational marijuana use will look like in Michigan.”
Michigan legalizes recreational marijuana:
“Michigan this week became the 10th state to approve recreational marijuana, joining Missouri and Utah that have legalized medical marijuana. Colorado was among the first states to legalize marijuana use. Last year, Denver brought in nearly $45 million dollars in taxes from pot sales. Barry Petersen reports.”
“Trump’s pick for Attorney General is under investigation by the FBI.
The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service have a criminal investigation underway against a company that paid acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker as an advisory board member who promoted the company, the Wall Street Journal and the Miami New Times first reported. The FBI doesn’t comment on active investigations.
Whitaker wrote at least one email on behalf of World Patent Marketing to a disgruntled customer citing his former job as a U.S. attorney and threatened the potential of ‘serious civil and criminal consequences.’ He received $9,375 for his advisory role, and was owed $7,500, according to company records. The firm’s CEO also donated $2,600 to Whitaker’s 2014 Senate campaign in Iowa. Whitaker appeared in promotions for the company and his name and background was used as part of its telemarketing script.
01) The moral roots of liberals and conservatives – Jonathan Haidt
“Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we’re left, right, or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most. Jonathan Haidt studies how — and why — we evolved to be moral. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be civil and open-minded.”
01) WSJ Article: Hillary Clinton Will Run Again In 2020
“Get ready for Hillary Clinton 4.0. More than 30 years in the making, this new version of Mrs. Clinton, when she runs for president in 2020, will come full circle—back to the universal-health-care-promoting progressive firebrand of 1994. True to her name, Mrs. Clinton will fight this out until the last dog dies. She won’t let a little thing like two stunning defeats stand in the way of her claim to the White House.
I’m thinking at this point…the only graceful act we can expect out of Hillary, where it comes to any hope of her leaving the U.S. presidential races alone…is dying.
“Granda World in Action profile from 1971. If you like this please buy the restored DVD of The Naked Civil Servant that has great extras including this and ‘Mavis catches up with Quentin Crisp’ from 1989.”
Quentin Crisp on the gay liberation movement, 1977: CBC Archives:
“In this clip in 1977, author Quentin Crisp talks about his controversial life as an openly gay man in the 1930s and the gay liberation movement of the 70s. For more classic clips, go to”
$1000 a month minimum pay is possible…It’s still poverty level income…but it is possible to do, on a social level…
The thing is…everyday people need to let go of this fantasy we’ve been fed for decades…that we are all able to become filthy rich, and attain a life of privilege…
It always goes through my mind, whenever this type of issue comes up…a time when Bill Maher was talking about unrealistic expectations in U.S. living standards…and he asked, “why cant we be happy, with enough to make us comfortable and content?”…
…And, in my opinion…Bill was correct…
…We have this out of whack notion, that we need to escape the rat race, by somehow amassing large amounts of money and stuff…
…We’ve allowed the pursuit of work, earning and sustenance to become such a treacherous, soul destroying burden…that most people spend their lives fantasizing on how to escape it…
…It’s pathetic…because anymore…people who simply got in on a retirement plan from their employer, are like some type of lottery winner…for that, alone…It’s about as good, as your typical person can hope for…they put in their decades, and escape with a monthly allowance, once their most productive years are over.
A base income could work…
…But we need a radical change in social/cultural expectations…
…We need a fundamental shift, in how we look at quality of life…and how we value life, which is not solely our own life.
I get it, that there are people who need to pursue uncommon heights…I get it, that this freedom is important…I get it, that sometimes this requires massive amounts of money…I get it, that some people thrive on power…
…When it comes to something so universal and foundational, as the currency which everybody is forced to rely on…some of these individuals are having a treacherous impact, on the masses of society…
…Their pursuit of turning themselves into some type of “self made royalty”, is impoverishing untold numbers of people…There is a high cost, which comes with that type of inequality in wealth, status and power…and it’s sustained by vast swaths of the common folk.
I’m not saying individuals are unethical for becoming [or being] wealthy…
…But pursing wealth while isolated in one’s own bubble, often leads to unethical outcomes.
The money, power and freedom which rests with all that consolidated money…it should be spread around, in the hands of the masses…the people who need it to survive…
…It shouldn’t be in some billionaires bank account, so they can get a jolly kick out of getting a few extra zeros on their bank statements.
What real world value does having these massively wealthy people, bring to the masses of the world?…What is the social cost, of that kind of hoarding?
Even if we consider that a lot of these wealthy people are philanthropists…the power of that given money, is being funneled and decided upon, by the bias of one person [or, that of a relative few people]…whomever “owns” the money…as opposed to a representative collective of the population…
…This has a terribly corruptive impact…
…Or…it does if we most value the voice, and the quality of life, of the common individual.
There’s far, far, far more common people, who are barely getting by…than there are wealthy people, who live a pampered lifestyle [and who will likely be able to continue doing so, even if their taxes go way, way up]…
In a culture where being social and outgoing are celebrated, it can be difficult to be an introvert. Susan Cain argues introverts bring extraordinary talents to the world, and should be celebrated.
About Susan Cain
Susan Cain is a former corporate lawyer and negotiations consultant — and a self-proclaimed introvert. In her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Cain notes that although our culture undervalues them dramatically, introverts have made some of the great contributions to society. Based on research and interviews, she argues that we design our schools and workplaces for extroverts, and that this bias creates a waste of talent, energy and happiness.”
01) Tom O’Carroll May Not Support Me, But I Support Him [Dead Link Removed]
This selection from “In Self Defense: The Life and Times of An Atheist BoyLover…Memoirs and Ethos”, has been narrated by Rocco White. Please enjoy the listen, or read along if you like…or need to.
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Forgive the length of this…I’m a keyboard blabbermouth…and there’s really a lot that can be discussed here.
americanrifleman09 has an excellent point.
It’s not so much that we BoyLovers have been “leading the movement”, so much as we’ve been magnified by the social stigmas associated with us…Which is to say, people are more likely to point a finger at us, judging and condemning us as “the other”.
Due to a number of social prejudices…we are easy to parade in front of the masses, throw cheap shots at…and generally formulate the most extreme “pedophile horror stories” about.
That being said…I still have to go back to a principle I mentioned here, earlier…
…The homosexual pedophile [hebephile & ephebophile] community is every bit as valid, as any other sexual community…It has it’s own need for community, culture, peer support, etc, etc…
Even if I did happen to agree it would be better if Girl-Lovers took the brunt of exposure [I honestly don’t, but if I did…]…I don’t see much of anything that I do, changing…I’m not going to close up shop, and go away.
…Life from the perspective of a homosexual pedophile, is an important thing to document and share…It’s important to be out here, and be seen as who and what I am…even if it were only important to other homosexual pedophiles, and nobody else.
I’ve pretty well always wanted to see more Girl-Lovers involved…I’ve wanted to see more joint ventures, between our communities…and it’s pained me over the decades, to witness the sometimes vicious bad will, that’s existed within and between both the BL and GL communities.
On such BL strongholds as BoyChat…the degree of disdain toward GLs, has at times been mind boggling to me…And many BCers don’t like inclusive terms like Child Lover…Some identify deeply with the homosexual movement, and don’t care so much about what falls outside of their own interests.
In addition…there is this unfortunate reality…that these two communities merging, sort of brings together this “soup of variables”, which are not all native to each community…
…Is the issue of pregnancy in twelve to seventeen year old girls a natural problem for homosexual BoyLovers?…Absolutely not.
…Do Girl-Lovers have to deal with the “anal sex” stigma, that so many of us BoyLovers get saddled with [even when we’ve never done such a thing, and would not]?…No.
In their own ways…both of these things are major social pressures, to willingly take on and shoulder.
It is understandable…just why people who already feel like they are in an impossible position, might not want to take on fights they don’t view as “their own”…And even more so, when they believe other communities wont be there for them.
Not everybody has gotten to the point where they see the writing on the wall…and they believe society needs to change so badly, that they decide they are going to start speaking truth about every issue that comes in front of them, whether they believe it is “their issue”, or not.
I think that’s one of the biggest problems within the MAP community…
…Self preservation still trumps everything else…Most are hiding in their proverbial bunkers.
Considering how many of us there are…few people have honestly laid their own neck on the line.
As to the namesake point of your post…
…Upon broader reading of your writing…I can see, that you do have something of genuine substance, to offer and consider…Even if the earliest offerings were extreme…highly controversial, to say the least…and not entirely all, something I can condone…
For me…having been involved for a few decades…the fire is more less in decline…And I see the fight, right now, as being over equal, open access to the lines of communication [ie: the internet, and services on it] which everybody else enjoys…as well as a fundamental human right, to our own identity…as well as to human rights protections…
…This may place me in a “mild” position, in comparison to some [like yourself]…But, believe me…I’ve had to fight a war, for over a decade, based on these stances alone…
I believe…if we can organize enough stubborn MAPs, who aren’t going to tolerate the way things presently are…then these goals are attainable, in this time era.
I believe these are battles we can win…and we are winning.
…We have a new generation of MAPs, who may not hold all of my views…and some of what they do may annoy me…But we finally have young MAPs, not afraid to take the internet by storm, and outwardly identify as MAPs…This is a substantial thing, in itself.
The future internet, is going to be one where MAPs will be recognized and accepted as part of it…an expected part of it.
Something to consider:
Your blog could become some type of test, for free speech on wordpress.com…if enough of the censorship crazies get into a huff over it.
…I don’t believe most people understand, just how dirty, sinister and underhanded the really nasty zealots get…nor the large network that they make up…
…They can tap into their “journalists” associated with high traffic “news” websites, who aren’t afraid to author and spread wholesale lies, aimed at specific targets…They are well refined, in creating false panics aimed at other people, and exploiting the panics they have created, to the detriment of their targeted victims…
To people like that…it does not matter whether they behave morally, or not…They want and demand, what they want and demand…and they don’t care what they have to do, to get it.
I think, wordpress.com resisting the very public pressure when Tom O’Carroll first started blogging here, is an extremely good sign…It’s what prompted me to open an account here, after blog.com pulled an extremely dirty blog suspension on me [after two plus years of very active blogging]…
…I’m just not exactly sure how far wordpress.com is willing to extend it’s good graces, to bloggers who fall outside of “the polite” discourse…
I’ve already been through “the great blog purge” of 2006…and bounced around on various blog platforms, of differing reliability and trustworthiness, until 2013…There’s tons of personal writing I’ve done over the past decade plus, which is no longer online directly because of this…A lot of my earlier content, isn’t so terribly unlike the “in your face” style of your writing…
I’ve found, over the years…that altering my persona, tempering and refining it, has generally served me well…as I don’t really care to repeat re-building from square one, for the fifth [arguably, the sixth or seventh] time…
…If I were still young, this would not be so much of a problem…But, I’ve got bad eyes, bad health…and I’m generally just going down hill…and I need stability in my home bases online…I have it in me, to evolve into something else…but, I don’t know if I have it in me, to rebuild what I have with my blog [because it’s such a vast thing, I’ve created]…and I love being a blogger…
On that note…I’m not telling, nor encouraging, you to stop what you are doing with this blog…
…I’m just hoping that you understand the possible ramifications, for MAP bloggers who are on this platform, and who may decide to intermingle with your blog…in the event that some cancerous group of zealots, successfully gets wordpress.com by the “spooked advertiser, or blogger boycott” balls.
Maybe I’ve personally distanced myself enough…I don’t know…But I was hardly at the center of the storm, the first time that sort of thing happened.
While I do think this world is in desperate need of the stark reality we have to offer…this battlefield is anything but even…And I don’t believe we are in a strong enough position, today, to offer that reality and withstand the backlash.
Despite what progress we may have made, things are still fragile…and I have to agree with Tom…This is an era, for building non-criminal MAP networks [and bodies of writing, literature, media, etc.]…It’s a time to establish ourselves, as moral human beings and legal entities…
…It’s not a time to get careless, nor lack a respectful understanding, of what the frothing at the mouth zealots can do to us…And they can get away, with doing a lot of horrible things to us…make no mistakes about this…
…Many, many MAPs have been badly hurt, because they did not respect the fact…that sociopaths [of many different stripes] will come after them…nor that we don’t have an established network of MAPs, to guard their back.
I recently had to do, what some people are representing as “a retreat” on Twitter…because the utility and importance of my account [given all I’ve invested into it over the years], and keeping my own efforts focused on my prime objectives, outweighed the pleasures, of exposing a certain sociopath who’s been targeting and threatening me for many months, for the utter brain dead idiot that they are…
Does it stink, not being able to directly confront this sociopath, and their followers?…You bet it does…
…Is it a blow to the ego, going quiet under these circumstances?…Yup…
…But, ultimately, I win every single day that I am out here, as they remain out there, stewing in their own venom.
The current fight is not about abolishing the age of consent, nor even especially changing the world to what we think it should be…
I think it was Harry Hay, though it might have been somebody else…who made the comment, “we are in the battle, before the battle”…
…Which is another way of saying, we are fighting to get over the hurdles, which are impeding us from getting to the actual root conflict…
It’s a human rights tragedy that we are still fighting that battle, and not the true battle we need to be fighting…But until we manage nullifying all the brazen B.S. this current battle entails…we are not making any progress on the real battle…
…Which is why some of us have taken things back to the basics…and decided to fight such things, as the stereotypes that plague us…as well as the people, mindsets and tactics, which attempt to destroy us.
I want to end this on a good note, however…not that the previous notes were especially bad, I hope…
…But I want to say, I think I understand where you are coming from…because I have been there, myself…I cycled through it, as a really long phase of my own life…
…I could no longer stomach the dishonesty and abuses of this world…and I started tearing into it, in my own particular way.
I’m not displeased with what came out of that phase of my life…It was pure, unadulterated honesty…though a lot of it was very sharp tongued…Some of it delivered a good “bitch slap”, to this world…Some of it openly mocked, the world that presently exists…
…It was something within me, that I had to let out…and set free into the world…
I presume, you are going through that phase in your own life.
…And I think, it’s a generally positive, necessary experience.
01) Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun (32min HD video of the cancelled successor to Soul Reaver)
What a shame that this was cancelled…
…I forget the name of the engine…but this is clearly the same game engine used in the Mordor/Arkham games.
I enjoyed Shadow of Mordor, a lot…which is crazy, because I haven’t been that big on action RPGs, over the years…but it’s a ton of fun, slaughtering Orcs.
…The Batman series I just recently purchased the set on sale…I’ve played the first a bit…and I’m looking forward to playing through the entire series.
Dead Sun looks like it would have been fun…and they badly need to get the Legacy of Kain back off the ground…the main storyline has been languishing in limbo, since 2003…for crying out loud…They need to at least complete that.
It’s crazy to know how many games were originally planned in this franchise [at least ten]…realizing that at least half of them got canceled…The LoK universe was supposed to have been much wider.
Blood Omen was a wonderful game [one of my all time favorite games]…total joy to play…
…It was the Soul Reaver games that killed the series, in my opinion…As games go…they were too big of a change from the first official release…and the fighting/puzzles were mind numbing…We went from a beautiful, dark “Zelda” like game…to a 3D world, where you had to be jumping and landing on narrow platforms…and dying when you fail…and fail…and fail…and fail…I was no good at this, and quickly learned to hate these games.
To my mind…there’s only been one good Legacy of Kain game released…and it was the first one…Though, curiously…there was a predecessor that never got released.
I wish they would have carried on the primary storyline, through games more like the first Blood Omen.
All the same…I probably would have purchased Dead Sun.
01) Michigan voters legalize recreational marijuana
01) Tom O’Carroll May Not Support Me, But I Support Him [Dead Link Removed]
