Democrazy...

Do you ever wonder if the true price of all the spending bills is the American quality of life? Look around the world and we see how many countries, in order to live as good as us or better as the case may be, institute flat taxes at a much higher rate or simply live a poorer quality of life. 

In the U.S. we pass bills, and our deficit soars because we don't want to sacrifice our quality of life, but we do it at the expense of the rest of the world and our own people since U.S. citizens still own the majority of U.S. debt. 

The question, I feel, will eventually become, "at what point does the role that the U.S. plays in global politics, no longer justify the amount of checks we write that we can't possibly hope to pay back?" 

At this point, I feel like the way the U.S. looks at debt is that it is something we will never have to pay back and part of that may be our role as global negotiator, but what happens if the balance of power shifts? What happens if the strongest military force and global peacekeepers becomes someone like China? 

They already handle much of the manufacturing around the world and they've installed powerful military bases around the world at strategic points near where the US strategic military bases are also located. They also have alliances with other powerful economies and leverage enough to survive U.S. based as well as European based sanctions with nations that we depend on for global trade.

So we find ourselves engaged in another cold war, and this time, it's not about weapons but about leverage and the position of the global parent to the nations of the world. 

Curently we view people like China and Russia as bullies and crazies but it's not beyond the realm of imagination that they might be viewed differently were they to do a few misleading "good deeds." Look at how much Donald Trump "got them in line" by simply allowing them to gain traction behind the scenes. 

By that I mean, do we really believe that the Chinese bullying and increased pressure on Taiwan happened entirely in 2021 and none of it came from Trump's presidency? Do we really believe that Russia's three pronged attack and amassing of troops on 3 sides of the Ukrainian border was entirely planned and executed in 2021?

The nations of the world are increasingly becoming run by, "strong-man" autocrats and men who flaunt the idea of democracy as more of a suggestion than an actual rule. The U.S. based NGO Freedom House just announced slippage from democracy in 73 countries worldwide and the democrazies out there seek to convince their people, in many cases successfully, that this is the best way. Even here in the U.S. you have farmers voting for rich city dwellers who seek to industrialize farming and cut them out of their jobs. It's kind of insane.

I've digressed though so I'll get back to the initial point, which is: what happens when Americans either cave to the global trend of autocracy as demonstrated by the break down of law and order on January 6th, or "strong-men" strategically win the new cold war with false flatery and strategic control? Can we continue with the American high quality of life without paying a high price for it in the end if the proverbial shit hits the fan or should we be taking steps now to equalize the playing field and not spend so much on everything but rather preserve the things we want the most?

It looks like it's either that or the European flat tax of 40% income tax on middle earners with higher wages for all. What is the cost of the American way of life or can we get away with it being this way forever?

The name of god (3 Rabbis, 3 opinions)

A few years ago, I talked to a few rabbis about the true name of God. I waited a number of years to post this and the names have been withdrawn with R for rabbi and numbers for which rabbi I was talking to.

Me: So I don't understand. Most internet sources I've reviewed say that Yod He Vav He is literally pronounced as Yaweh but the actual name of god is not Yaweh, even though that's how it's written. It stated kabalists know at least 12 names of god. Today, however, I feel the Kabala has been adulterated and infiltrated by fake mysticist Goyim: they skip over the Torah altogether and think they're special because they read the Kabalah but it's like saying I ate a chocolate wrapper the other day so I know all about chocolate. I digress. In any case, the tetragramaton as it's described is literally pronounced Yaweh but I've been told time and time again that this is a mistranslation by hacedic scholars and rabbis alike. Why is this a mistranslation? What I've read called "Adonai" and "hashem" and "hakadosh Baruch hu" substitutions. So what is correct?

R1: Nothing in the Torah prohibits a person from pronouncing the Name of God. Indeed, it is evident from scripture that God's Name was pronounced routinely. Many common Hebrew names contain "Yah" or "Yahu," part of God's four-letter Name. The Name was pronounced as part of daily services in the Temple.

With the Temple destroyed and the prohibition on pronouncing The Name outside of the Temple, pronunciation of the Name fell into disuse. Scholars passed down knowledge of the correct pronunciation of YHVH for many generations, but eventually the correct pronunciation was lost, and we no longer know it with any certainty. We do not know what vowels were used, or even whether the Vav in the Name was a vowel or a consonant. 

That’s in regards to the pronunciation of יהוה 

However, the Torah has many names for god. Why? Different tribes probably used different names, and each book of the Torah most likely orginated with different tribes within Israel and was later redacted into what we now know as the Bible. Some are stand ins for lord “Adonai,” and the first Name used for God in scripture is Elohim.

Me: Rabbi 2, same phrasing, same question.

R2: It can't be that because Hebrew doesn't have a W sound. The tetragrammaton is the name of Hashem. Hashem means literally 'The Name' and is a way to say it without saying it. Their are many many more names, including Adonai, none of which you should say except in prayer. But the tetragrammaton is the holiest name, and can never be said except by the High Priest on Yom Kippur when horns are sounded. It's never written with vowels and never supposed to be said so no one knows exactly how to say it. Adonai is said during prayer as a replacement, but can only be sad in prayer so in conversation we say Hashem. Baruch Hu just means 'blesses is He' , and is not a name but a response to hearing one of the names. 

Me: In my research they said that in Arabic, there is no V sound and many scholars agree that Vav would have been pronounced as a w.

R2: Other names include:

Adonai Eloheinu

Eloheinu

El-Shaddai

El

It's possible the Yemenites have a W But if it is we don't know. It's good the exact knowledge of the pronounciation is lost imo

Me: I remember reading that priests going to the temple used to have to have ropes tied to their feet because they might die by the power of God. Or something like that.

R2: I don't think its exactly like that, but there is an idea. I don't know it off top of my head.

Me: R3 told me that the real name of God is known but just not said.

R2: We know it, it's the Tetragrammaton, We just can't be 100% sure the pronouncement. But can make a good guess.

Me: His real name must hold tremendous power...

R2: Maybe a kabbalist would know for sure. Yes. Also just honor, do you really feel worthy to call Hashem by name?

Me: what is the proper way to study Judaism based on these different ideas?

R2: Torah: Contract

Talmud: Explanation of how to follow the Contract

Kaballah: Explanation of why you need a contract

Me: R3, thank you for meeting with me. Same question on the nature of God's name, same phrasing.

R3: Yahweh is incorrect. We read it as Adonai but that is also a substitute for the real pronunciation.

Me: So is the real pronunciation lost to history? Or is there a real pronunciation we just don't say?

R3: The latter.

Me: Sorry to be asking so many questions but I want to know about not only my heritage but what it means to be a good Jew and a good Christian since my parents are both.

R3: Ask away.

Me: Thank you. I think it was you who told me a long time ago in class that it is better to ask the question than to have a question and never say a word. Or something along those lines.

In any case, gentleman, thank you for speaking with me and answering questions on this specific issue. Have a great day.

Sex work in Georgia

The internet is a wierd place. It makes virtually everything possible, literally. In the case of this story, even the law did not seem to apply.

In Georgia and particularly Atlanta, prostitution is illegal but where there is a will, there is a way. So you can imagine I was not surprised when I saw on Twitter, a lady asking men to "meet up" with her for 40$. Before I tell my story, I would like to say for the record that I do not condone illegal activity of any kind. Nor would I willingly or otherwise engage in any acts of prostitution including acts that may fall in a gray area of the law.

As a journalist and writer, I simply saw a story here and chose to pursue it as much as I could without actually commiting any acts that would be heinous or unlawful. In light of this to pursue my story, I DM'd (Direct Messaged) the woman to figure out how she operated.

"Hey so you want to Meet up?" I asked.

"We can. Meet ups are 40$" she replied rather nonchalantly.

"What do you get with 40$ we meet up and chat?" I replied. This may need some explanation. I have read that many men who hire escorts, are just lonely and want to chat. So it was reasonable to assume that a low amount like 40$ may just be for company.

"Do it look like I wanna chat?" She replied. It seems I was incorrect. Still I had to probe to get the full story.

"So 40$ is sex. I just didn't know if it was like 40$ to meet up for head but sex is 60$ more," I casually asked.

"Head , anal and anything else is more," she replied.

So I dropped it there. After all it's illegal and I'm not going to jail for a story but it is interesting that by calling it a "meet up" instead of organized prostitution, they can get away with it. In this case, I believe this woman moves around the country, so that may have something to do with her success but still, it's amazing how easy it is, to use social media like Twitter to make the impossible, possible and to avoid the detection of law enforcement, ill equiped to deal with the problem. After all, if she didn't think she could get away with it, why would she do it?

I'm Dylan Paul and this is the news.

Genetalia pictures over the internet

Men love to send them, women are tired of seeing them. I'm talking about dick pics. Every now and then, a woman gets so bold to send one of herself but the trade is not even. Here, I seek to proove it to you.

Take the dick. It is a blunt instrument. No. Seriously guys, we should count our lucky stars that women still like these things. If you turn the dick into a dildo, depending on it's size, you can literally beat a man or a woman to death with it.

A vagina would never do that to you. A vagina is that epic door to the eternal ecstacy that is woman. These exquisite creatures manage to put up with the insatiable drive for sex that is programmed into the masculine side of the species, outsmart men in business a lot these days and create life with their bodies.

I know what some men are thinking: "I help too!" No. You enjoy yourself for probably about 2 minutes, depending on what kind of man you are, and then you fall asleep. "No. I pleasure my girl with my sweet pussy eating skills." A fraction of you are actually good at that and the majority have women who fake it and get themselves off.

Lord, somehow I've turned into someone who sounds like a feminist but I'm not. I'm a realist and I've come to accept that like the Avatar, the exchange is not equal. So I propose this: if we want a pussy pic, we have to have a nice dick, be able to talk dirty to what they want to hear and send at least 5 dick pics for every 1 pussy pic because let's face it, the two are not equals...

Top 10 American Serial Killers in Body Count

Note: We are not the first in number of kills by a serial killer. Our top serial killer in the US is only 9th in confirmed kills in the world.

Source: Wikipedia

1) Gary Ridgeway - The Green River Killer - Possible Kills: 71 - 90+ - Proven kills: 49

Ridgeway was a truck painter who confessed to killing 71 women. He almost exclusively targeted sex workers from Seattle. Suspected of killing over 90 victims, confessed to 71, convicted of 49.  Sentenced to life without parole.

2) Ted Bundy - Possible kills: 36+ - Proven kills: 35

Known for his charisma and good looks, Bundy officially confessed to 30 homicides, but has confessed to killing 35–36 women in the past. Some estimates run upwards of 100 or more. Infamous for escaping from prison twice and murdering multiple victims in one day; sometimes abducting women from the same location within hours of one another. He was executed by electric chair in 1989.

3) Samuel Little - Possible kills 90 - Proven kills: 34

Samuel Little was convicted of killing three women, but later investigations linked 31 other murders to him. Claims he killed as many as 90 victims total. The investigation into his crimes are ongoing.

4) John Wayne Gacy - The Killer Clown - Possible kills: 34+ - Proven kills: 33

John Wayne Gacy was known to have murdered a minimum of 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978, 26 of whom he buried in the crawl space of his Chicago home. Gacy was known as the "Killer Clown" due to the fact he often entertained children as "Pogo the Clown" or "Patches the Clown" at social events dressed in a self devised clown costume. Executed by lethal injection in 1994.

5) Dean Corll - Possible kills: 29+ - Proven kills: 28.

Corll was responsible for the Houston Mass Murders, the torture and murder of young boys in Pasadena, Texas, and elsewhere in outheast Texas. Murdered by accomplice Elmer With Henley when Corll turned on him.

6) Juan Vallejo Corona - Possible kills 25+ - Proven kills: 25.

Corona was convicted of murdering ranch laborers and burying them in orchards. He was sentenced to 25 terms of life imprisonment.

7) Ronald Dominique - "The Bayou Strangler" - Possible kills: 23+ - Proven kills: 23

Ronald Dominique was a Louisianan serial killer who murdered victims in the Terrebonne Parish, Lafourche Parish, Iberville Parish and Jefferson Parish. Sentenced to 8 life terms.

8) Earle Nelson - "The Gorilla Killer" "The Dark Strangler" - Possible kills: 25 - Proven kills: 22

Necrophiliac who primarily targeted boarding houselandladies on the U.S. West Coast during 1926; he was Captured after two murders in a small (now ghost) town in southern Manitoba. Found guilty, hanged by Canadian authorities in January 1928.

9) Patrick Kearney - Possible kills: 43+ - Proven kills: 21.

Patrick Kearney would pick up young male hitch-hikers or young men from gay bars near Redondo Beach, California, and kill them. He was Sentenced to life.

10) William Bonin - "The Freeway Killer" - Possible Victims 36+ - Proven Victims: 21

Bonin and three accomplices are known to have murdered a minimum of 21 youths aged between 12 and 19 in and around Los Angeles. The majority of his victims were discarded alongside various southern California freeways. Bonin was convicted of 14 of the freeway murders and was executed by lethal injection in 1996.

End Note: This list is compiled based on the one compiled on Wikipedia. There are other serial killers who may or may not be more prolific from American History such as H.H. Holmes. However, Holmes lived in a time when it was not possible to get an accurate representation of his kills and at his possible kill count ranges from 9 - 200+. If the reader has questions or comments, I do welcome them.

What a piece of work is man...

I recently read a post that said, what is the biggest problem on earth today?

A top answer was human beings. I thought on it and wrote this in response:

I like to take the optomistic approach. Human beings are the most capable species on the planet. We have created marvels of science, technology and even nature that were unmatched in the billions of years the dinosaurs existed.

Ice ages/climate changes have come and gone, however, the inspired and awesome resources that humanity has created have never existed before. That being said, I do wish we had things like the atmospheric condensers as suggested in Star Trek TNG's "the inner light" but that kind of technology may not exist yet. If it doesn't I am sure someone's working on it. In short, I am trying to say that a cosmic catastrophe can happen at any time (errant asteroid from the asteroid belt in the center of our galaxy, a supernova sun, an errant solar flare, extreme climate change, overpopulation causing massive destruction that cannot be fixed); the point is, that if anything in the history of the world has the capability of fixing it or evolving to find a solution no matter what happens, it is the human race. We have the tools and the capability, and while we do have our issues, the best hope for the world is mankind.

Complaining about our shortcomings is a tool of the weak but it is also understandable. When you lack the ability to look at the big picture or even are just simply frustrated and feel that the big picture is hopeless, it is easy to complain. I do not fault you or anyone for complaining because the problems facing our planet and our species are large and frustrating; often times, it seems like there's no end in sight but have faith in a creator or at the very least something larger than yourself and take solace in the fact that we are amazing creatures.

I will end with Shakespeare, "what a piece of work is man; How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals."

Atten... Hut!

There are those out there whose brains are focused in on happy things. There are also amongst them whose minds are fraught with worry or depression because the hardships and trials of this world are too much to bear; Or their brain chemistry plays tricks on them so doctor's pump them full of pills but I believe in another brand. A brand of person whose mind, no matter what they set it to always turns everything into a battle.

Sometimes they come off as disciplined but war is chaotic so there are some bred for it who come off as chaos. The chaos is only intensified no matter how much they run from it.

I have always been fascinated with war and the duty that befits a soldier. In youth, I played soldiers with my friends and built military dictatorships in the woods in cities made from sticks.

As I got older, I dabbled in the social hierarchy of an animalistic group of boys but was never so satisfied as when they went to war with each other and I got to serve as a soldier for either side.

My father thought wrestling would scratch the itch but he was wrong. Wrestling was just a fool's errand because it involved no strategy, just me (a little fat kid) getting his butt kicked; most likely because I was severely underpowered going against a much larger force in the midst of a testosterone fueled tank battle. Not that a suicide mission frightened me. On the contrary, I went in the ring every time and fought my hardest against unwinnable odds. I came out beaten and torn and not once shed a tear for myself. At my last match, I got so angry that I lost by points but I never let him put me on the ground. No, although it was physical battle, it was no war.

In highschool I dropped a bunch of weight and found delight in things like our Jewish fraternity which made use of a militant leadership structure with gubernatorial rewards that would have made the Roman Senate green with envy. Soldiers who fought to be the best chapter in the league were venerated with women and prizes the same way a Roman legion would have been.

Ironically, this was around the time that I first thought about joining the military and my parents discouraged it as they insisted that we were in the middle of a war and they would not watch their son go to his death.

More to the irony, later in life, after I had finished highschool, a friend in that same Jewish youth group did go off to war and was killed by a roadside bomb. I still remember driving in a procession to the graveyard and seeing the people lining the streets as we went by and crying because no finer a soldier had I ever met then my friend Jeremy Kane.

Back to highschool, however, my parents were delighted in my involvement with theater, however, I played Rolf and Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music and delighted that both were soldiers; Comberferre in Les Miserables who I delighted that he was the philosophy behind the revolution in the books and in real life as I read the story, an actual person fought and died just as he did in the June Rebellion in Paris. Oliver was not so much a war but there was a struggle of penniless orphans fighting to survive by any means necessary and Guys and Dolls was Gangsters vs. Police. I just happened to be on the side of the bad guys. So theater was all about actually living war for me.

In my dreams, I have often dreamed about the struggle between heaven and hell and great winged creatures vs. Demons or humanity is a running theme in my writing. 

I get great pleasure from standing with the soldiers at monument terrace in Lynchburg these days because although I've never fought in a war or been enlisted, I still fight battles in my life and mind. I still think with duty and honor and what would the soldier do? I have followed orders to the letter and when I haven't I have always thought of the end goal as a general would and sought to win a battle for the majority of people with the least amount of casualties (however they represent themselves). When someone gives me kudos for anything I've done I continue to use the same phrase to say "your welcome;" I tell them simply, "it's an honor to serve."

As we all go down the path of life, we will all fight our own battles and although there may not be many people as entrenched in battle in their minds as I am, we all seek to serve. The Bible says we cannot serve two masters so above all serve God first; but in service to him, serve his creation: your fellow man and woman as best you can. For each one of us is a soldier and until the lay us down to rest, welcome to the war recruits...

Why do people vote for Trump?

He's pig-headed, he's a misogynist, he's an opportunist, he's insane: these are all frequent terms used to describe the man. I know what you're thinking and before you say anything, let me say that I don't advocate for Trump; nor do I think that you should vote for him; nor am I voting for him but I would like to explore what makes someone vote for Trump.

So Hillary, Trump and every other political baddy ever, have been compared to Hitler. First of all, that's got to stop because none of said politicians have ever murdered 6 million people. It's the same reason we can't accuse them or Bernie of being Stalin, because even though Hitler is the better known villain, Stalin killed 10 million over a few more years. The point is that both of these guys are astronomical baddies. Comparisons being made to them are unfair and untrue so that's got to stop. So if neither one is really a super villain, why hate them?

Well, Hillary is a Clinton, and Clintons are an honorable house. We went through the Bushes and showed with Jeb Bush getting pushed out of the election, that we are tired of dynasty in this country but Hillary is an honorable family woman and deserves your vote. The other thing is that noticeable change did not come to the masses in their time of need during the last 8 years but the Democrats are an honorable party. My father quoted off to me earlier that now a tiny percent of the population owns half of THE WORLD'S wealth! That's unimaginable.

We have been through the ringer with Bill Clinton lying and now his wife is up after she got caught deleting emails, wrapped up in Benghazi with our soldiers lives lost and people tend to die of mysterious circumstance often when they oppose her but she is an honorable woman so we have to take her word that she's innocent and things just happen. This does not bode well for her especially for an uneducated (a large portion of the United States) populous.

I'm not here to honor Trump, but to understand why people vote for him. If she says he's pig-headed than he must be for she is an honorable woman.

People in this country want change and they want drastic change and here's where history does have similarities to past events. The people of Germany were so beat up after WWI and blamed for that war that their situation became dire. Desperate people act on instinct and vote for anyone who offers change and resolve to their problems even if that means insane ideas that put people in awkward moral dilemmas. Hillary is a diplomat and a politician. She offers long term plans, more spending and no quick solutions to any problems.

As I said, I do not support Trump and if I had my way, state self governance would be a thing again because America is too large and with too much diverse need to have as powerful of a central government that we have. However, the question that I try to answer is not what i believe or what anyone believes, but why do people vote Trump despite the media backlash: Because he offers them quick change.

People think that since he's a business man, he will know how to run the country like a business (even though he's not a particularly good businessman which is why I won't vote for him). People need hope right now, not politicians and even though Hillary may be the better option, people will vote for the candidate that gives them hope!

It won't matter in the end though. The popular vote doesn't count and Hillary is a ruthless murderer who will do anything, and I mean anything, to get her way, so this election at the poles, I'm going to vote third party and no one in the world can make me feel guilty about that because I will at least sleep better knowing that I didn't cast my vote for either one of these showboating aristocrats...

The meat bags libido

So I was at the nursing home when the hot hospital administrator and a young pernicious suitor stood at the elevator that I had to get on to go down a floor.  I should have known better, "take the stairs!" but, I got on the elevator where the two engaged in the pathetic repartee and banter, that is the romantic tryst of the young and semi-powerful. 

He showed his ego and she quickly tried to close the door like a desperate woman trying to blockade her sanctuary from zombie attack.

"That's a nice pin, why did you choose to wear that?" She pleaded with me.

"You're being used to deflect. Did you know that? How does that feel?" said the young cad.

Ignoring them both, "I just liked it.  Had it lying around and decided to wear it." I said with a quick smile and inner distaste for this intrinsically human moment.

As I left the hospital he sat there in a white SUV at the entrance till he noticed I was trying to get out.  In my mind I played scenes of the two engaged in awkward debate in the car.  Advances that are unrequited become debate afterall...

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

It is widely believed that if one climbs the ladder of power, they are imbued with respect but I think that's a small minded view of the dimwitted and a pigheaded view of the powerful. For those of us in between, respect is earned.

My director Todd who's the boss of my boss, has earned respect from me because daily his door is opened and he is always encouraging and talks to me when I have issues on my mind. It is for this reason, he earned my respect and in any given situation, I would support his cause.

Not all my bosses, however, have been that way. I once worked for someone who was never there and when they were there, they were short and always hurried when addressing me. This person did not receive my respect because they didn't even try to earn it. At that job, I tried my best because I wanted the respect of my patrons but in any of the hard work I did, I would not have devoted myself to that person and if the opportunity presented itself to usurp them, I gladly would have presented myself as a candidate based on my own honor and attention to those around me.

People we don't know are often imbued with respect by the weak minded and often worshiped like gods. Steve Jobs is respected because he made Apple computers which sucks the life out of people while devoting itself to little more than itself. I have 0 respect for Steve Jobs because he was power hungry and notorious for his ruthlessness to his own workers. I did not mourn his death because he was a false idol and when he died, in my eyes, so did his legacy.

Another example is Jerry Falwell Jr. Who many in the town of Lynchburg imbue with godlike status because of his family, but there is only one God and it's not Jerry Jr. His father put this town on the map and now he continues to grow it at an unwarranted pace, while lining his own pockets and putting people out of their livelihoods if they stand against him and his ideals. I have no respect for this man. An American man believed in diplomacy and democracy and when one stands against him, he is willing to open the floor to his constituency because he does not answer to only himself. That is monarchy and as an American, I can never agree with a monarchy. Call me a traditionalist and a conservative but I believe that we work together without a single person calling all the shots or we do not work at all.

The president works for the American people and I think we've strayed from this line of thinking as well. One does not make executive orders if the people vote against it. The people are not represented by other people like saintly intermediaries to god, we should represent ourselves and votes and petitions should still make a difference and they don't and lime Jerry Jr. This is why I don't respect the American political system any longer.

What I do respect are the ones who fight to their last for those initial ideas of what freedom and equality are all about. I respect soldiers who are willing to fight and die for our country but still remember that all life is sacred and man is fallible. I respect my friend PT who is in great shape and could definitely look down on other guys who do not offer eye candy and might even slow him down on his daily work out but he not only doesn't look down on others but lifts up and understands all people. I respect the people who live in low income neighborhoods but still give 100% of themselves to others and do not look at everyone as their enemy but rather they see everyone as a potential friend. I respect people who do not blame others for their situation, who can be objective, who love first and hold action as paramount. I respect people who when they see someone doing the wrong thing they try to help until they can no longer do so. I respect people who are accepting of help and actively seek to do the right thing and when their decisions affect others, I respect those who seek the opinions of those they affect.

Respect is earned by the individual. Respect is earned by people. CEO's, Kings, and people of power in every walk of life may have power but to earn respect, they have to be representative of a leader, a philosopher and one who is both humble and pure in their intent. We may not all make the cut, i n fact most won't but the desire to get there, earns my respect.

Torture

In a forum last night, I found a person making the argument that masochists would make the best spies because they like pain so they could stand up to any kind of torture. Clearly, this person must not have understood the nature of torture. A torturer, does not simply try to inflict pain. It's not about inflicting fear either. It's about power. For one who is completely in tune with their senses and loves pain like a masochist, sensory input invigorates them. For this, I would use a paralytic to inhibit movement and a sensory deprivation tank to take away all sensory input. As they lay in the tank with all senses deprived, the lack of sensory input would create boredom in the subject and cause them to start to experience the world that they sought to escape from through pain. All masochists do not necessarily need pain to survive but if they've endured so much they have begun to enjoy it, then sensory deprivation would be torturous for them and they may even go through withdrawal from not having the input they'd become accustomed to. Flashes of light could be added within the tank as well to give them the hope that there might be a reintroduction to the world but enough time in the tank and I'm sure I could get them to give up any information I wanted.

The mind is such a fragile thing. People can be indoctrinated to do pretty much anything. Even the psychopath has a sense of self preservation, but the goal of a torturer, is knowing how far to take it and finding the weakness in a man. I say man because the golden rule is and has always been that no matter what war you're fighting, "no women, no children." This rule separates us from the dogs in the middle East who'd chew off their own foot if it would suit their cause. They're not artists and they're not people when they do what they do. A man who kills women and children by cutting their heads off, is the reason that a torturer would be completely vindicated in his craft. God will judge them but it is up to man to stop them, by any means necessary.

The Witch

Often times, people will get upset over a book and ban it. They get upset over a movie and speak out against it. Art is called out for being nonsense because of its subject matter or content but the way I see it: if a child dies in an African war, does that mean you can stop it from happening by not looking at the pictures of it or criticizing the artist?

Sin is a concept we don't talk about. We marginalize sin because lying is something we can justify with it being a white lie. Lust is something we can justify by it being simple human nature but when we see it graphically portrayed in a truly disturbing context, then all of a sudden, we're offended and up in arms.

Envy, greed and wrath in our everyday lives look like a guy calling another guy a jerk for getting a bonus for hard work on a project at work; taking that bonus and using it to buy things he doesn't need or things that bog his life down with more sin; yelling at his wife or child because these things and this money have made him just as miserable as the man who envies him.

The movie The Witch, which promised to be a horror film turned out to not be a horror film but rather a graphic representation of these sins. There were moments in the movie that were a bit gratuitous but like any work of art, they were made to seriously piss someone off, and not to simply touch upon why a sin was dangerous to mankind.

The background of the Puritan characters made it obvious what they were trying to do and the fact that they hardly touched on The Witch, herself: where she came from, why she walked the woods, what woods these were and why these particular woods were significant; showed that the film wasn't about the witch, it was about the devil and sin.

At one point in the movie, the father of the family gets down on his knees and begs God, "forgive me for my pride! Do not punish my children!"

So for those who haven't seen the movie but intend to, you can stop here but for those who haven't or don't want to, here's the recap:

We see the little brother exemplifying lust. He lusts after Thomasan when she's in bed, while she washes clothes in the river and then when he meets the witch, he lusts after her and culminates in an orgasmic death reminiscent of The Exorcist movies to really solidify that: for all his puritain training and prayer, which he does often throughout the movie, he has not been saved through baptism and he still is the perfect candidate for sin just by being human.

Second: Gluttony. There is no exemplifying characters of Gluttony that I saw because the family is starving but perhaps the two fat little twins could be a hint of this. The mother's crying over her baby and neglecting her children could be seen as her being gluttonous in her neglect. The Father's cutting wood to drown out his sorrows could be considered gluttonous and perhaps his death at the end, burried under wood was representative of that sin.

Greed: the covetous nature of the wife over the silver cup could have represented greed. The entire motif of selling ones soul to the devil to get their loved ones back or to "see the world" as the devil says at the end could be considered greed.

Sloth: the mother was constantly having the daughter do all the chores and having the father go out to hunt and thinking about selling her silver cup to sustain her sloth. She came out only to yell at the Thomasan so the question of her being slothful was answered absolutely.

Wrath was also obvious in her as she turned her anger with their situation and not having enough and her bratty kids on Thomasan and at the end, culminated in trying to murder her as the embodiment of wrath.

Envy was also obvious as the mother was envious of Thomasan for being still young and beautiful and still in the house when she should, "already be married and serving a husband," just as the mother had done herself. That envy lead to wrath and her death so that commentary was obvious there.

As the father says at the end, pride is his biggest sin. He does not admit to taking his son hunting in the woods or selling his wife's silver cup because he is filled with pride. He lets his pride come before his wife and his children because he can barely keep it together after his pride gets the family kicked off their plantation at the beginning of the movie. Pride, may be the biggest theme in this entire movie because the daughter has it until she looses her cool at the end and shows that she has it, the dad has it and it gets him killed. The mother has it because she can't just admit that she's envious of her daughter Thomasan and that she's mad at her husband for getting them all kicked out of the place they lived and bringing them to the US in the first place. Pride is the single largest sin of the movie.

The movie itself could have used subtlety to illustrate some of these points a little better and not used such graphic imagery to explain their points but they remained consistent with the time period and not all of the graphic imagry was unfounded. There were places in there that I felt warranted less metaphoric pedantic motif and more attention to story and plot but as one who has been trained in English to read between the lines, I can see what the writers of the movie were trying to do.

Their movie will not get them an Oscar and it will probably be ignored and trashed by most who see it but I feel that to really see the movie, you have to be someone very specific. Someone who can both understand what the movie says, without being blatent or obvious, and someone who can appreciate and know what sin really is. When you are that someone, you recognize these sins from afar and come out of the movie very quiet because you have seen these things before, in your own life.

Trick and Tweet

Today's children and budding adults are bored and colleges are cramming so many of them into these learning farms, that individuality is won through ludacris acts of attention-starved vagrancy. It is due to this need to set themselves apart that teenage to twenty something women have come up with a dangerous game that could even cost them or someone else, everything.

It's called, "Trick and Tweet" and it's just in time for Halloween. Young women are taking to the streets or simply pushing themselves on jocks or willing participants of the sexual act and then tweeting their photos along with those men when the man has passed out.

"See back in my day, we just called it being a ho," said one college professor, Connor Linkous who was recently a victim of Trick and Tweet causing him to lose his job as a tenure professor due to the schools code of "ethics and superior integrity." "It cost me my job but it cost that [EXPLITIVE DELETED] her reputation. I'm not a handsome man but I have high standards and now everybody knows I can get with sexy women like her. I gladly trade my job as a professor in a dusty lab for a position as lab director that pays way better, AND a secure reputation as a P.I.M.P! Strike that last part for me though, will you?" No sir, we will not.

California University of Nano-Technology Dean of student life, Anita Pimbya, says of Linkous, "well, I mean he was an [EXPLITIVE DELETED] anyway, but I can't have my students turning tricks on anyone even [EXPLITIVE DELETED]-heads like Con. Wait, is this thing on?"

To get in the student mind we asked Tweeter and host to the University newspaper, Amy Ho, why students are degrading themselves in such a way in a student's words.

"Ha! A student's words. Well, I personally have not done anything like that and I'm not sure anyone in the lab has either but on the admin side, I know those people would and have, sold their souls to the devil to get our grant money or simply to put themselves ahead of the competition. We're a small industry, pun intended, and the amount of money to be made numbers in the billions. People will pay anything for a machine that rebuilds them at the smallest level.

At other colleges, though? Well i'd say cheerleaders don't need new excuses to be whores, they just have a new medium and working in the tech industry, i'm sure it hasn't hurt Twitter's reputation in the least either. It's a symbiotic relationship between under-appreciated, under achieving morons and brilliant tech geniuses that feed on their stupidity and neither side seems to mind."

There you have it. For The Regular Review, Silicon Valley, California, I'm Dylan Paul.

Spider... Fish?

Due to declining fish populations, over fishing and  polution, one small school in California (The California Living Institute for Technology or CLIT) has decided to do something about saving the fish.

"Our school was founded on the principals that technology can help improve and maintain life in many ecosystems and one of our gifted students put together this project in the hopes of doing just that," said school spokeswoman and Dean of student life, Anita Wong.

The idea was this: splice fish DNA with spider DNA so fish eggs that would otherwise be destroyed would float to safer havens on the current of winds. The results, however were disasterous: the fish ended up becoming stuck to the bottom of the watery biospheres they were being kept in and drowning in their own webs.

Here in the salty town of Walleye CA, where the best dish is a fish, fish nurseries and coastal fishing have seen their share of hard times and many involved in the project have family and friends in town who depend on the industry; so any attempt, whether it be inside or outside the fishery, is welcome by the townspeople. Not everybody sees things that way though and recently, government officials had to intervene.

"Right off the bat, we saw at least half of the fish population die in the mating process," said EPA spokeswoman and chair Gina McCarthy. "Mating involves certain unavoidable byproducts and fish are ill equipped to realize the difference between the gland for fertilization and the gland for shooting web. This whole thing was rediculous from the beginning!"

The EPA said that the research project is protected as long as it remains contained, however, Ms. McCarthy has lodged a formal complaint against CLIT and all its spider fish related research.

The organization PETA agreed with madam spokeswoman and staged a demonstration Tuesday to protest the fish faux-pas.

"I mean, I'm all for save the fish but when they're sticking them self in the mud and drowning because of human interference... well... we're not gods man. We don't have the right to dabble," said one protester before walking off in high heeled shoes with aquariums in the bottom. This reporter inquired as to the look to which the protester responded, "save the fish!" Flashed her breasts and disappeared into the crowd.

Here at The Regular Review, we prefer to get facts from the source so we went to project manager Veeshi B. Aiken for what his thoughts were and why he initiated the project.

"If I had known it would be this much of a hassle, I would have eaten sushi instead," said Veeshi on his way out of his dorm. He declined further comment.

This is Dylan Paul, The Regular Review, Walleye California.

Noise vs. Silence

Sometimes I wonder if people aren't generally divided into two groups: those who experience a cacophony and those who experience euphony. There are moments in everyone's life where they might experience both but when I view our brains in terms of the general definition of "noise" I think some people can't live without it.

The people who experience life through cacophony are those people that sit in a car, driving, and have to play the radio or listen to some song. Silence is not an option because something about it disturbs them. This is a clear cut example but the theme runs throughout their life: instead of speaking simply, they'll use many words to describe what they have to say because their minds are not quiet places.

"I woke up and saw the tv where I thought of the ferocious barking it made the night before and dreaded going to work; as it would take me away from my pleasant fictitious din."

I would say that phrase is of one who experiences euphony. The flow is pure and it expresses feeling through words as opposed to words derived from a feeling.

Someone once told me that the English language can be described with the sentiment of two of its main roots: German and French. German words are represented by words like, "bad", "good" and "rough"; while French words are represented by "malicious", "magnanimous" and "turbulent".

French rooted words are rooted in a Romance language which really means from Roman roots or Latin but the irony of the base being called Romance is that the sentiment behind a word that might be longer is to achieve an emotional response from that word.

If your talking to your boyfriend and you ask how his day was and he says, "good," one of two options arise: either you take his word for it, or you have to inquire farther because not enough information was given to satisfy your curiosity. If he were to say, however, "it was supremely delightful!" Now there's really only one option which is you must inquire farther because you actually want to know more.

The words we choose and the feeling behind them represent us to the people we're talking to and I have digressed but I can tie it all back with this: that silence and few words is a discipline that must be lived because it's very hard to speak a few words and maximize meaning. Poets have been seeking to do it for a thousand years and still struggle with it.

The mind that needs cacophony is not worse or stupid for not having this ray of love for the simplistic complication that is that yearning for calmness and oneness but rather just differnet.

Let's face it: without those who lived in stress, we who live in quiet calm would not be able to function and visa versa but we should not seek to empathize with the other because it will only make us angry that we can't understand it. Respect is the key to these personality types living side by side and finding a balance is the essence of life.

Totally turtle trivia time

What was the shredder's real name?

Oroshi Saki

Professor Baxter mutates into what animal?

A fly.

What was the first name of the vigilante who wore a hockey mask and fought crime with sports based attacks?

Kacey

What is Splinter's real name?

Hamato Yoshi

Rocksteady and Beebop were animals that mutated into creatures like the turtles. True or False?

False, they were humans who were given mutagen which mutated them into the last animals they came into contact with which were a rhinoceros and a warthog.

Shredder had help coming to power because of the disembodied brain from a warlord leader from dimension X named _______.

Krang

Krang's body was with him when he was first introduced, true of false?

False. Krang made a deal with the shredder to make him a body and that is where Shedder's technology originally came from.

"The foot" soldiers are trained street toughs in the original story, true or false?

False. They were robots.

How did the turtles get their names?

Yoshi, who originally found the turtles in the sewer and after he raised them and then they were covered in mutagen to become grown turtles, named them after his "favorite renaissance painters."

How Nancy Grace became a joke...

I'll start off with this disclaimer, I do not smoke it anymore because it's still illegal where I'm from and I get drug tested for my job but other than that, I believe it's a decent medicine for hard knocks.  Nancy Grace on the other hand, has it in her mind that like being Muslim makes people want to go out and kill other people, pot makes people want to feed it to a 2 year old.

So we don't cut corners, I believe the most simple way to put this is, "this heffer needs to shut her yap."
In the video, we see Nancy Grace parade her only argument to a rapper who's clearly too stoned to think straight in front of this powerhouse piglet.  Nancy Grace keeps showing this video of parents giving a child a joint and throwing this in the face of the rapper 2 Chains.  For the record, I believe him to be kind of ridiculous and am not a fan of his new age rap style.  I think these modern day rappers treat hip-hop the way their on stage personas treat women: like a whore.  However, that does not give Nancy Grace the right to attack this man's character when she should be discussing the issue like she's done some research besides her, "experimentation in college that she'll never admit to" or what she heard from her friend's husband's nephew's friend's closeted gay lover. So in lieu of 2 Chains seeming to flounder for words in this interview, this journalist decided to make an argument of his own.  On behalf of The Regular Review, let's shine the light back on Nancy and give her a big middle finger from all of us here:

How many times did she raid her parents liquor cabinet? or steal it at a Christmas party? or, since we are talking about Porky's cousin, scalpel lovin', "that leather jacket does not go with your old ass and bad hairdo, Nancy Grace-less, she probably just got up on the sink and got it out of her parents medicine cabinet; provided her parents weren't the type to pass out with it in their left hand, while holding a lukewarm glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in the other.

Just saying.

I don't smoke it anymore because I can't but there are plenty of legal drugs to give kids without fighting the uphill battle of making pot look like some dangerous drug.  No idiots, the only dangerous thing about any drug is the person taking it and that's on them.

The same goes for all things that want to kill us in this world: Guns? Shouldn't own one? Don't allow them to get it. Alcohol: Caught underage? You go to jail. Skydiving is dangerous? Don't jump out of a plane.  Police are beating innocent civilians in the streets? Fire them and make an example out of them. Children are being beaten or abused? Arrest those abusing them.  They're smoking pot? In the words of the oompah loompahs,

"Who do you blame when your kid is a brat?
Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat
Blaming the kids [and pot] is a lie and a shame
You know exactly who's to blame

The mother and the father"

Unfortunately, for the Nancy Grace's of the world, she's got an agenda and so does the network that pays her bills.  Basically, she's just a glorified prostitute in front of a camera but once again, Don't want to kiss rich media mogul's ass? Don't be a journalist for a network syndicate that pushes an agenda hard.

I don't judge you for selling your integrity for a story and all that money to still be ugly, Nancy... Well I kind of do but I'm not going on national television to do it without being pushed to have to say something; So how about we let the brother who doesn't make enough money to get horrible botox injections and own people to make that rat's nest of a hairdo on your head, hit the blunt a few times because let's face it, without him, and everyone like him, there would be no money for your ugliness either.

From everyone here at The Regular Review, do what you do and make something of yourself regardless. I'm Dylan Paul. Good Night.

Nope

Many people in this country today feel that Marijuana is the biggest issue facing the people of the United Stated but I say, “Nope,” Alcohol is. It’s always been the biggest issue because Alcohol is the “Nope” drug. It works in a series of “Nopes” that begin the moment somebody starts using it. I will demonstrate it right now:



“Can I make it to the bar after pre-gaming like a fat fumigated frat boy?”

Nope.

“I’ll have to get my non-drinking, nursing student girlfriend to drive me there.”

“Can I talk?”

Nope.

“…But my girlfriend loves me for my sober self with a 3.8 and law degree so she drives me anyway.”

“Can I drink without spilling my beer?”

Nope

“…But the bar tender understands that I’m drunk and clumsy and I have money so I look like I do and he forgives me anyway.”

“Can I have a conversation with a real girl without making a complete ass of myself and possibly treating her like an object?”

Nope

“…So her beefy ethnic boyfriend, who is also drunk but much larger and bulkier than myself; so he can drink like a Russian on iceskates, shoes me away barely avoiding a fight.”

“Can I pay the bar tab without kneeing the guy next to me in the groin and starting a bar fight, which I inevitably lose?”

Nope

“There is a possibility I will end up in the hospital or jail tonight, but more likely, I will end up falling asleep on my girlfriend’s floor as I could not make it to the bed and possibly piss myself; while having to cover it up in the morning with a dash to the washer/dryer combos in the dorm.”

“Was alcohol a good idea?”

Nope

“Will I do it again?”

“You bet you’re ass I will! That shit’s legal!”

The State V. Webster

In a stunning turn of events after a recent law suit against dictionary giant Marion-Webster, over terms in their dictionary not being "real-words", we at The Regular Review, have learned that a new hyphenated term will be added to the dictionary.  Spokesperson, Avharadg Jo announced at a press conference that in the 2015 edition of Marion-Webster's dictionary, the word, "Defense-Attorney" will hence forth be defined as, "A glorified and higher paid hooker."

This decision came after a settlement  between Webster's council, Berg, Stein and Mann and the prosecution for the state, of 8 million dollars to the plaintiff.  This just in, the word prosecutor will now be added as a synonym to the word "Ass-hat" which is defined as, "a person whose presence so offends that merely being around them gleans the experience of wearing one's anus atop their head."

All of this will no doubt breed new lawsuits but in this reporter's opinion, these turn of events are possibly the most hilarious moment in U.S. Legal history.

odd quote of the day

"pornography is kind of like Starbucks: They can add music, they can add cute girls making funny noises, but in the end, you're simply there to get a quick pick-me-up before you sojourn, as fast as you can, to any place in the world that's not there."