Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 04/21/19

“Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn’t, they’d be married too.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(Oh!  Somebody call the P.C. Police!  He’s stereotyping, and being dismissive of, women.  Time to burn all his works!  Stop the world.  Yer uncle wants to get off.  The final straw, for me, was when the New York Yankees, and now also the Philadelphia Flyers, decided to end the playing of Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America”.  And all because she sang some other songs – a hundred friggin’ years ago – that are now being deemed “racially insensitive”.  There wasn’t even anything hateful about those songs, they were just full of the racial ignorance of the time.  Those days are long gone, and those stupid songs had been long forgotten . . . until some nonsensical numbskull decided they just had to be dredged up.  I can’t stand the stinking Yankees.  I’m no fan of the Flyers.  I think the song is jingoistic nonsense that reinforces the small-minded notion that God actually takes sides, when it comes to nations of the world.  And, Kate Smith’s voice was always way to brassy for my taste.  But, this is just going too far!  What the hell is next???  Are we going to do away with “Gone with the Wind”?  I wonder what the Vegas odds are on that!  And, will it because of the #MeToo Movement, or the way overzealous racial muckrakers???  This is Big Brother fascism at its basest.  Shame on us all, for allowing it!)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 08/05/18

“Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(Said someone who probably never watched a baseball game.  Opera is predominantly written in Italian, but there are operas in other languages.  I’m sure even in English.  Baseball works in just about any language.  You don’t even need words, or even audio, to comprehend baseball, providing you understand the game.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Cryptoquote Spoiler – 09/16/17

“We are here and it is now.  Further than that all human knowledge is moonshine.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(He lived, and died, before the great leaps forward that science has taken in the last 60 years, but I still dig what he was saying.  All the traditional hocus pocus – despite the comfort it provides so many – is essentially “moonshine”.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 10/23/16

“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(Never really cared much for the concepts of “sin” or “evil”.  Simplistic terms, designed to keep simple minds in line.  I’d like to think that mankind has moved on – dare I say evolved – to more rational ways of viewing the world.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 10/18/15

English: This park and memorial were errected in Elliot Lake, ON in memory of local women who died as a result of domestic violence, and to remind of the struggle with violence that women face everyday. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“A gentleman is one who never strikes a woman without provocation.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(Is there any truth to this statement in this politically correct age?  We’ve all been conditioned to a kind of zero tolerance for an entire laundry list of things over the years.  Not that I advocate violence against women.  Essentially, I’m against all forms of violence, but occasionally it is going to happen, and it’s not always necessarily wrong.  Very often today the women are the aggressors.  And, in this age where we’re striving to to give women the equality that they definitely deserve, does their aggression constitute the provocation in Mencken’s quote?  Hmm.  Considering he died before I was even born, I doubt this was said tongue-in-cheek.  What do you think, guys and gals???  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

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Cryptoquote Spoiler – 01/05/15

English: Portrait of H. L. Mencken by Carl Van Vechten. Gift, Carl Van Vechten Estate. The Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it.”   —   H.L. Mencken

English: Adah Mencken (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(I generally like and admire Mencken, and I know he wasn’t a fan of representative democracy, but this sounds more like an Ayn Rand quote, to me.  I’d like to hear the context of this quote.  Hal, you are good at coming up with source documents. Was this part of a commentary on FDR, or Hitler, or something else?  Appreciate anyone’s help on this.  Probably no relationship to H.L., but I liked this retouched photo of the actress.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

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Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 12/15/13

 

Fred Jackson of the Buffalo Bills (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“We are here and it is now.  Further that that all human knowledge is moonshine.”   —   H.L. Mencken

(That approach works just fine for me!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

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Cryptoquote Spoiler – 12/06/12

 

English: Portrait of H. L. Mencken by Carl Van Vechten. Gift, Carl Van Vechten Estate. The Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(Hopefully, the judge will issue a few titter warnings, before imposing this harsh a penalty.  Life is too short!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

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Cryptoquote Spoiler – 05/04/12

 

H. L. Mencken (Photo credit: Union-Square)

“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”   —   H.L. Mencken

(Age will actually bring you one of two things; either a measured sense of caution, or the propensity to just say What the Fuck, I’m doing it!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

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(Fairly Tough) Sunday Cryptoquote Spoiler – 02/19/12

 

Image via Wikipedia

“A show of altruism is respected in the world chiefly for selfish motives.”   —   H. L. Mencken

(I guess the only true altruism is if helping others doesn’t make you feel good, but you do it anyway, of your own free will.  But, who in their right mind would do something they didn’t like doing, without being forced to?  No matter how you slice it, every “unselfish” act seems to have one kind of selfish motive, or another.  But, what of it?  I remember a friend of mine getting all bent out of shape about “environmentalists” wanting to “save the world”.  He’d say:  The world will go on whether we’re here, or not.  You want to save it for yourself/yourselves.  So-o-o . . . that’s a bad thing?)   —   YUR

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