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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost

@harrysimmons3578.bsky.social

200 followers 340 following 840 posts

An account of satire, in the vein of literary critic Henry Louis Mencken. Polemicist at Verdigris, please send essays [email protected] Send all hate mail to [email protected]

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · Jun 21

Hi everyone.

At long last, here is my promised essay on stupidity, with the title slightly changed: 'Word to the Wise: Cheap Music, Numbs Brains, and Stupidity'.

I hope you enjoy!

vdgasjournal.com/2025/06/21/w...

Word to the Wise: Cheap Music, Numb Brains, and Stupidity

I have been asked to write about stupidity. I cannot think of why. Perhaps it is that glowing sagacity that rises, like steam, off my hateful words? Or, perhaps, there is some desire for a voice of…

vdgasjournal.com

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 8h

This weekend, three men in Evanston hugged their families goodbye to look for work at Home Depot but were attacked by ICE before they could return home.

Two were abducted, one is petrified of leaving the home.

If you’re able, please help us support our neighbors: www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...

Donate to Stand With the Families Left Behind After Evanston ICE Raid, organized by Michele Hays

If you are on social media and live near Evanston, IL, you ma… Michele Hays needs your support for Stand With the Families Left Behind After Evanston ICE Raid

www.gofundme.com

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ACLU @aclu.org · 5h

ICE's escalating violence and use of excessive force are wreaking havoc and making cities less safe.

Armed, masked federal agents shouldn't be menacing our communities.

Tackles, projectiles and gunfire: Many fear ICE tactics are growing more violent

Videos taken by eye witnesses of federal agent encounters with immigrants in Chicago and elsewhere have shown increasingly tense incidents. Immigrant advocates and observers say they're indicative of a larger trend of aggression among federal immigration officers.

www.npr.org

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 11h

Very often, I advise people to not accept claims (especially those like this one that Pakman is pushing), but to think about it. Treat it as a fiction until you find proof.

Otherwise, pod people like Pakman will lead you by the nose into nonsense.

💀 🎃 ThemBOO! 🎃 💀 @thembo.bsky.social · 11h

Neither this author nor David Pakman bothered to substantiate where they were coming up with this, so I looked around, and it appears to be based on his association with Red Scare. You know, the explicitly far-right podcast the Left forgot about years ago and liberals never heard of. Concerning!

GQ @gqmagazine.bsky.social · 1d

Is hard-right streamer Nick Fuentes winning over women on the left? Writer Katherine Dee investigates www.gq.com/story/nick-f...

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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 11h

Normally people who get compared to iconic artists of the past aren't mentioned in the same breath as them when they die. Imagine working with the very clearly, colossally famous and talented influences D'Angelo did (Prince, Sly Stone!) and then very securely standing alongside them. It's just wild!

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Lisa Will @dustchick.bsky.social · 22h

I've always said this, but since last November, I've been pointing this out frequently in whatever venues to whatever audiences I can: "The planet NASA studies most is Earth."

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 1d

A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.

Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L

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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 13h

The Hawaii Supreme Court has assailed SCOTUS in recent rulings.

"The Roberts Court casually dismisses the lessons of American and world history, the warnings of prominent early Americans, and the judiciary’s storied legal minds," the court wrote.

Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS

The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents—unlike, they said, the Roberts Court.

boltsmag.org

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 14h

Evelyn Waugh is such a damn funny writer

Reposted by H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost

Dwayne Monroe @cloudquistador.bsky.social · 15h

Exactly. Every polite, middle classian I point to Ed's work bemoans he isn't 'nice' enough. If the house is burning, should one whisper the warning?

your #3 source for absurdist true crime 🔨 @davidgerard.co.uk · 17h

all these slopwanking fuckwits "i want a *real* AI critic not like that uncouth Zitron fellow"

it's always tone policing the guy with the numbers

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

Vaccines are safe and effective.

Autism isn't caused by vaccines, and autistic people and their families deserve our support.

When you want information, ask your doctor.

It's more important than ever for all of us to speak plainly, truthfully, and directly about public health.

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The New Statesman @handle.invalid · 18h

Staff of St Heliers and Epsom hospital have backed a strike and it seems they are now being heard

How hospital porters forced the NHS to the table

www.newstatesman.com

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 18h

culture without diversity.

H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 18h

To me, culture is a very, very wide range of ideas to be experienced. I do not believe in one liking everything from every culture, but I think one should absolutely strive to *experience* as much of various cultures as one can. Just as I think there is no politics without tolerance, there is no

H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 18h

I would add that I think the point of the classics is to help one learn their own tastes in regards to culture. You do not have to like every classic work you read (for example, I absolutely despise Hemingway) but reading the works of people whose work I disliked helped me know what I like.

🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 1d

One of my unhinged opinions now…

Hated classics should be taught . We need to lean in to finding out why people hate them !

Because it tells us what part of the world has changed

🇲🇽🐸rustbelt rebel🐸🇲🇽 @rustbeltrebel.bsky.social · 1d

A lot of those classics that everybody hates (like: catcher in the rye or all the Ernest Hemingway stuff) are actually very good and have earned their places in literary cannon.

Reposted by H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost

🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 1d

One of my unhinged opinions now…

Hated classics should be taught . We need to lean in to finding out why people hate them !

Because it tells us what part of the world has changed

🇲🇽🐸rustbelt rebel🐸🇲🇽 @rustbeltrebel.bsky.social · 1d

A lot of those classics that everybody hates (like: catcher in the rye or all the Ernest Hemingway stuff) are actually very good and have earned their places in literary cannon.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy passed away today according to the House of GG. She was a veteran of the Stonewall rebellion and a lifelong organizer for the safety and dignity of trans people, sex workers, and the incarcerated. She came from the same generation and milieu as Marsha and Sylvia. She was 78.

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 18h

I won't spoil the rest of the article, but the way it ends hits the nail on the head

H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 19h

Thanks to @cloudquistador.bsky.social for this incredibly insightful article
www.garbageday.email/p/the-great-...

The Great Dumbening

Read to the end for it’s Tronin’ time

www.garbageday.email

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 1d

How W. E. B. Du Bois responded to government policing of "anti-American" sentiment during the 1910s:

"I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, 'We are seeking to have the Constitution of the United States thoroughly and completely enforced.' ”

Federal agents invaded even the offices of The Crisis and the National Association for the advancement of colored people and asked searching questions: " just what, after all, were our objects and activities?” I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, “We are seeking to have the constitution of the United states thoroughly and completely enforced.” It took some ingenuity, even for Southerners, to make treason out of that.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 1d

"even MTG is condemning the Gaza genocide!" false. absurd. the words of a maniac. she has simply determined that at present, her wholly unchanged Christofascist white supremacist goals are served more effectively by opposing Israel. in your heart you know she loses no sleep over dead Muslim children

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H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 1d

To few people know of and appreciate Mary Shelley’s dystopian masterpiece ‘The Last Man’. It is a wonderful work of science fiction:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Las...

The Last Man - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

H.L. Mencken’s Winking Ghost @harrysimmons3578.bsky.social · 1d

youtube.com/shorts/iS02i...

George Sanders: Best Supporting Actor in 'All About Eve' (1950) | Reel Talk 🎞️

YouTube video by No Rules Film School 🎓

youtube.com

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Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 1d

In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

www.youtube.com

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FRANCE 24 English @en.france24.com · 1d

Main takeaways of Trump's speech to the Israeli parliament

US President Donald Trump hailed an end to Israel's "painful nightmare" in a speech to the Israeli knesset on Monday as the last surviving hostages returned from Gaza and the first Palestinian prisoners were freed under a US-brokered ceasefire. His lightning visit came ahead of a Gaza peace summit in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh.

f24.my

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Mona Burns @monaburns.bsky.social · 1d

WSJ:
"Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an ‘iron fist,' ..
Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump, Feeling Emboldened, Pushes Agenda Into Higher Gear

Recent moves by the president reflect a commander in chief who has seemingly faced little resistance to his agenda.

www.wsj.com

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Silverman on Security @silvermansecurity.bsky.social · 1d

Duffy was elected to Congress as part of the tea party wave. The tea party movement was astroturf funded by the Kochs & boosted by Murdoch on Fox, in the Post, & by Sinclair at their local affiliates. The only mass movements Duffy has any experience w/are funded by ultra-high net worth people.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

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