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| Photo: © Stan Banos |
I can't for the life of me imagine why a fully grown man would ever contemplate parading himself about as... a Power Ranger- jeez, even nine year olds are long weaned of such an infantile super hero. Then again, it's infinitely more sane and practical than "open carry" proponents promenading about with their AR-15's on their way to the local grocery store. Or as one 'enthusiast' proclaimed, "Ya never know when you'll be confronted by multiple attackers."
Life, of course, is a constant, non stop struggle, one requiring unremitting amounts of patience, ingenuity and persistence- and all ever the more so as one ages, gracefully or not. It never let's up, never gets easy, never apologizes; every day the same length, every trial without guarantee of severity, repetition or reward.
In this case, parking the car is just the start of the process (the second comment by Knocky9Doors is gold):
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| Photo: © Stan Banos |
I've always liked Thanksgiving- for what it's supposed to be... an appreciation and celebration of life, as the cooling temps and turning colors announce the annual cessation of nature's bounty to await rebirth the following year. For some however, it is quite rightfully... a National Day of Mourning for the life and land stolen beneath their very feet.
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| Photo: © Stan Banos |
Saw this graffiti exiting the subway and thought it just the wild ramblings of yet another of our myriad of wildly delusional, street denizens. So I go home and google, not expecting to find much, if anything- and although I must admit I had zero knowledge of any of this... apparently, it does actually appear to be quite the thing!
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| Photo: © Stan Banos |
Lawdy, Lawdy- This is one of the most amusingly gratifying scenarios I ever did set to picture in my mind's eye!
And it only makes me further wonder how they went about describing it to The Don himself- 'Well, uhhh... he was so taken aback by the gravity of our presentation that he was literally dumbfounded! Never got one single word out! I tell ya, the guy never saw it comin'!'
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| Love the sarcasm- that is sarcasm... no? Photo: © Stan Banos |
The APEC summit is coming to town and the downtown area is in the process of being dehomelessized. They're definitely being scattered to the winds (well, at least their sidewalk blocking tents are) this week- whatever public safety/sanitation laws couldn't be applied previously, are now being applied... until they no longer are the following week! 8ft security barricades are also being deployed all around the Moscone Center as the Biden/Xi Jinping Express is scheduled to come barreling into town. It's gonna be one royal mess of crowds and security as yet another part of the world gets exposed to the embarrassment of vacant storefronts and vacant faces that is present day, downtown San Francisco.
And then it all reverts back to our now normal, everyday abnormality of filth, garbage, homelessness and insanity once the crowd returns home regaling their peers of the Dream once called American...
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| A "classic" I well remember going back to Viet Nam... |
It's pretty ironic(?) in a sick sorta way, that something so horrific that is happening literally halfway across the world would provide me with the opportunity to partake in what I most... enjoy- photography. That is, the horrendous deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza has stirred worldwide condemnation and protests for either side, some of those protests occurring right here in San Francisco, long known for its endless procession of protests.
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| All photos: © Stan Banos |
Such as:
1) The slaughter of innocent civilians (particularly children) is never 'a good look' for either side. Hamas slaughtered 1,400 civilians on Oct. 7; as of today over 4,000 innocent children alone have been slaughtered in Gaza in retaliation. Some will argue that the Israeli children were killed intentionally, while the deaths of Palestinian children are "collateral damage," the "consequences of war." I would argue that dead children are dead children, both sides very much aware of the direct consequences of their actions- whether by bullets at point blank range during a concert, or at distance by push button munitions deliberately aimed at the most crowded place on earth.
2) Hundreds, indubitably thousands, more children (not to mention women and elderly) will be slaughtered in Gaza before Israel succeeds in "wiping out every last member of Hamas," an objectively impossible 'objective.'
3) I'm going to stop, I'm going to stop- restraint must be exercised if others are expected to follow, or the usual tit for tat, back and forth ensues ad infinitum... Each side arguing and fighting as only those with God on their side can. And I am bloody well sick of the hypocrisy, the madness, the ceaseless slaughter...
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| Both sides now. |
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| No, not a phone- a booklet on... Palestine. |
Always amusing hearing MAGAites complain about Biden's gubs and gaffes. And, in all fairness, they're absolutely 100% Right (as in correct)- but they never (ever) mention (because they're never exposed to) the incessant and ever increasing myriad of verbal guffaws by Dear Leader. We currently have a POTUS verging on senility, who (if fate will have it) may well be replaced by one who is equally senile- as well as deranged!
As scary as the latter is (as in 'kiss any semblance of democracy goodbye' scary), and as ridiculous and numerous as Trump's mental/verbal farts may be- the absolute funniest thing in this clip is at 9:30!
I see this pretty much daily, and as bad awful as it is to experience live, it seems even worse on video. And while every store isn't closed, this shopping district isn't anywhere near as empty as the financial district directly next door,* and keep in mind you're not seeing the slew of: homeless tents, piles of garbage, mentally ill behavior, feces, drugs and general filth and squalor** of the neighborhoods of SOMA and the Tenderloin directly adjacent!
All this in a city with sky high fuckin' rents that compete with... New York City!!!
*All of pre-Covid downtown San Francisco was one helluva hustlin' bustlin', crowded and thriving part of town for a city barely reaching 1 million....
**(not to mention the stench)
