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Take a Deep Breath…

…and repeat after me:

It is an opinion, not a ruling.

It is an opinion, not a ruling.

It is an opinion, not a ruling.

Yes, this definitely has the potential to turn into something truly horrific. And don’t think for one second that the same religious lunatics who have their sights set on Roe don’t also have designs upon Obergefell, Lawrence, Loving, and a host of other landmark civil rights decisions of the last sixty years. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the right wing of this country want to turn the United States into a Republican wet dream dystopian handmaid’s-tale theocratic hellscape where only straight, white, heterosexual christian males have rights or power.

While certain members of the court are already timidly braking, assuring everyone “the leaked draft is real but not final and can change,” I don’t believe a word of it. But I hope the backlash that results from this premature ejaculation will cause them to at least rethink it.

Fuck Alito. Fuck Cavanaugh. Fuck Gorsch. Fuck Thomas. Fuck Barrett. And most of all fuck Trump and McConnell and every.single.person who voted for the assholes who put those monsters in place.

The majority of the country is firmly in agreement with a woman’s right to choose—as well as  interracial marriage, gay marriage, and freedom to have sex with another consenting adult regardless of their sex.

And I find it ironic that the usual suspects on the far right are already braying about the leak itself, not its contents. They’re more concerned that this information was released—no doubt because of the possibility that this will influence the midterm elections in the Democrats’ favor—than they are at the contents of the leak and the warning klaxon it’s sounding for rights across this country.

Maybe that’s why it was leaked. Perhaps it was put out there by someone in full support of a woman’s right to choose, hoping that the sleeping giant that is the majority of voters in this county can be woken from its slumber to beat this kind of mid-century nonsense back into the ground. This is something that has the potential to touch every single life in this country—and the right wing is scared shitless that when people wake up and realize this, they’re toast.

And that is why it is vitally important that everyone vote BLUE in November.

At least that’s the belief keeping me sane at the moment.

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Quote of the Day

If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense.

If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true, and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.” ~ Penn Jillette

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Oops, I Did It Again

We all have our hobbies obsessions.

I spotted this beauty on eBay a couple days ago. It’s a Kenwood KR-7400 stereo receiver, dating from 1975. It’s the same model receiver I’d owned since 2005—thinking it would be the last bit of vintage gear I’d ever want or need because it sounded so phenomenal—but foolishly let go of in the aftermath of the fire 18 months ago. The auction described it as “powering up and playing, but no other testing was done.” Except for a few minor scuffs on the veneered edge panels, it is in excellent cosmetic condition.

The auction had a buy-it-now price I could not ignore. I should have it by the end of the week. I’m calling it an early birthday present to myself.

To be honest, at the time of the fire I hadn’t been using its predecessor. But I didn’t want to ever get rid of it. It was stored in the den closet, one of two areas that bore the brunt of water damage. I’d also somewhat fallen out of love with it with the arrival of my quirky Technics units a few months earlier and frankly, it needed some TLC that I did not have the skill set to provide. (I attempted to swap out the burnt out incandescent dial lights with LEDs and let’s just say I was not happy with the results.)

Still, as the months drew on, I regretted abandoning it. This prompted the purchase a year ago of the model that came out a year later that replaced it, the KR-6600. As excellent a receiver the 6600 is, I’ve never been fully enamored of it.

Ironically, it was that purchase that prompted me to search out a competent vintage service tech because while it worked just fine, it arrived with a few minor issues that needed to be addressed (not the least of which were the 40 year-old undoubtedly long-out-of-spec capacitors lurking under that metal top case that the previous owner specifically noted had not been replaced).

And that is why the quirky Technics units went north to be refurbished first. While the tech I found came highly recommended by the vintage community, I didn’t want to risk having that new-to-me Kenwood trashed; the Technics units would be a test to show me if the guy knew what he was doing.

And as I mentioned, he more than proved himself.

So…depending on the actual condition this new purchase arrives in, either it or the 6600 will be the next project for my technician.

 

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My First eBay Purchase

October 1999. I don’t really remember the events leading up to it, but I must’ve been bored at work and thought I’d start throwing out some search terms on eBay. Imagine my surprise therefore, when this beauty from 1979 came up in the results.

I remember when these first arrived on the scene. I was entranced by the design. Similar to Pioneer of the era, but the LED power meters were definitely something new. (These came out around the same time as the quirky C01 series components.) I don’t remember at this point if I saw these or the C01 series first, but in any case I was blown away.

Then I priced this series of receivers. The higher-end models with all the bells and whistles (which, naturally, I wanted) were out way out of my budget even back in 1979.

But on eBay 20 years later? Bidding was modest. Initial bid was $79, and by the time I jumped into the fray it was around $135 as I recall. I put in a bid for $200 and waited.

Several days later, I got notice that I’d won the bidding. I got this monster for $159! After several months of use, however, I began to miss my old Yamaha gear and ultimately replaced that and ended up selling the Technics. I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d held onto it (like an embarrassingly large number of so many other pieces of hifi that have passed through my hands over the years).

I couldn’t find any current listings for this model on eBay, but this auction shows how much these units have appreciated over the last 20 years since those heady first days of eBay.

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Throwback Thursday

We all have embarrassing photos.

Twenty years ago, February 2002. Taken at my dad’s place where I was staying, shortly after I moved back to Phoenix from San Francisco (for the last time). Pre-cancer, pre-Ben (he had just graduated high school a few months earlier!), pre-blog, pre-cell phones, pre-pretty much everything I am now. I was quite the little porker.

And oh yeah, I had hair.

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Some Thoughts on Current Events

“The best prediction I’ve seen about what is likely Twitter’s future is neither the optimistic nor the extreme pessimistic views, but rather that it will be mostly the same but go back to the less governed model of half a dozen years ago in which there was more harassment, neo-Nazis and government-backed disinformation campaigns. The simple truth is that content moderation is much, much less about ‘free speech’ or unpopular opinions than some random guy DMing pictures of his penis every day for a year to a woman he’s harassing, or hoaxes about people dying, or copyright infringement. Of course, as Musk knows as well as anyone, Twitter is also a great tool for market manipulation and securities fraud. In other words, it’s less about ‘speech’ than the digital amplification of the predatory dimensions of people’s personality disorders.”

That’s what this is and where we are: an extremely powerful and wealthy jackass on an ego trip. You can take the bro out of the frat house but you can’t take the frat house out of the bro.

[Source]

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Lauren Boebert’s Tweet To Elon Musk Claiming The Left Only Wants ‘Censorship’ Backfired Instantly

Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert was criticized after she claimed “leftists” opposed to billionaire Elon Musk’s recent move to buy Twitter only want “censorship.”

While Musk’s buyout was cheered by conservatives, it sparked concern from other—especially civil rights groups—who said that having one person have so much centralized power over political discourse online poses a significant threat to democracy.

Musk batted away these criticisms, saying his opponents are experiencing an “extreme antibody reaction” because they “fear free speech.”

And Boebert agreed, claiming Musk’s opponents not only want to censor him but that “Their ideas don’t hold up in debate.”

Musk has continued to allege Twitter’s algorithms are biased and conservatives have applauded his buyout as a win for free speech, which Boebert has often claimed is threatened on the social media platform, thereby constituting a First Amendment violation.

However, these claims do not hold up under scrutiny.

The First Amendment applies only to governmental action and does not apply to behavior by private employers, private companies, or private, non-government individuals unless they worked in concert with the government.

Ironically, Boebert’s Twitter activities have occasionally violated the First Amendment given she has previously blocked her constituents and was sued because she cannot legally block anyone who finds any of her tweets objectionable.

In 2019, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled online pages used by public figures to connect with their constituents are public forums, which means an official cannot block people from them because of the opinions they hold.

Boebert’s tweet garnered significant attention.

Her claims were swiftly criticized by those who pointed out Republicans have recently ramped up a campaign to ban books and limit what subjects teachers can teach in their classrooms.

https://twitter.com/johnhassomesoap/status/1519261642931978240

https://twitter.com/Wildchildwendy/status/1519111477617205250

Earlier this week, the Twitter board of directors agreed to a $44 billion buyout by Musk, potentially making it one of the biggest deals to turn a company private.

Twitter previously acknowledged it had received Musk’s bid, which comes out to $54.20 a share. The company confirmed in a press release its board of directors received the offer and would “carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.”

Rumors of a buyout began to circulate earlier this month after Musk disclosed a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter made him the company’s largest shareholder. Prominent conservatives appeared emboldened by the news, particularly because Musk had questioned Twitter’s content moderation rules in the days before his disclosure.

At the time, there was significant speculation Musk would join Twitter’s board of directors, a move that would potentially broaden his influence over the platform and its policies.

Republicans, spurred by former President Donald Trump, have often accused Twitter of limiting prominent conservative voices on its platform.

In 2018, while still in office, Trump claimed Twitter was “SHADOW BANNING prominent Republicans” in response to a news story that alleged accounts owned by Republicans were showing up in a general search of the website but not automatically populating when typing their names in the drop-down bar.

Twitter later issued a response, attributing the issue to a platform bug.

[Source]

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