Cooler Heads Prevail!

Yes, I'm with Kevin Drum. The real dangerousness of Trump's campaign has been his overt racism. Throw in blatant misogyny too. It has been an incredibly harmful display. And the GOP has been defenseless in the face of it. And it has brought out the worst amongst us to verbalize all their rage, and hate and stupidity in public.  It's hard to argue with such over the top hatred. There's no way to rationalize, or understand it. So we all must call it out. Not fun and not easy to label a good segment of our population as hate-filled racists, but there it is. All we can hope for is that cooler heads prevail!

My Wounded Country!

Just an unfiltered, in the moment thought-stream this morning...

We are wounded. The People of the United States. We live in tumultuous times. We are a nation of winners and losers. And some of the winners used to be losers, some of the losers used to be winners. And The People are turning on each other. What happens when The People turn on each other? What happens to Democracy?

There is Humiliation in the land. Emasculation. That John Wayne, "Red River," America is a long ago myth. I mean, for sure, it was a myth when it first surfaced, but it had a resonance with much of America back in the 40's, 50's & 60's, but it is for sure and completely dead and buried now. There are no fish in that Red River. There are no John Waynes anymore. 

We are all suffering from PSTD. Think of the stream of events: 9/11. Katrina. Iraq War. Afghan War. Financial Meltdown. The Walmart-ization of the Land. Nothing is made in America anymore. Everything is made of plastic. Everything is "throw-away."

And White ones turn on the Black Ones. And the Brown and Red ones turn on the White and Black Ones. Everyone turning on everyone else. And there are differing ideas of what all those big ideas that we supposedly all believe in really mean.

For some "multiculturalism" & "diversity" are dirty words. There are differing ideas of Justice. Life. Liberty. Freedom. We are a wounded nation. A nation pulling apart. What happens? What happens to Democracy? What happens to The People?

Mini-Stalin, Baby-Mussolini!

Email-Gate. Kevin Drum tells us "There. Is. Literally. Nothing. Here."  The Political world goes crazy anyway.

I should probably post this Pussy Riot video every day until the election, (although, I promise, I won't). It is essential viewing.

And the choice is clear. A Woman who sent and received emails when she was Secretary of State, or Mini-Stalin, Baby-Mussolini, Putin's Puppet?!

Come on folks, it isn't a hard choice? WTF...

Pussy Riot Takes on Trump & Vaginas!

Pussy Riot. Brilliant. Essential. 

First they take on Trump's "Pretty Hate Machine." They imagine the unimaginable.  "No more Fat Pigs..."

And then they remind us that we all come "Straight Outta Vagina."  Mind-blowingly good.

"A Lying, Screaming Prophet of American Decline!"

Love this one... "There Will Be No Trumpism After Trump."  Trump is sui generis - "unique," "literally of it's own kind."

After November 8 we can forget that the man ever existed. Let him slink away into a dark corner, and let's all be thankful that he will never besmirch our national consciousness ever again.

"Trump’s major contribution was to offer himself as the GOP’s perfect vessel: a lying, screaming prophet of American decline."

We Lose Some Essential Liveliness Too!

To be positive, hopeful, optimistic. It's kind of a "counter-cultural" stance. So much of our public conversation is negative, fearful, pessimistic. It's considered "smarter" to curb your enthusiasm. So much easier to be cynical, sarcastic, ironic; there's a lot less at stake, it's less risky, there's less of a chance of being hurt. Of course you lose some essential liveliness too. Yes, we must open our eyes to reality, we must see clearly, but we also need to dream, to believe, to work towards a better day.

Enthusiastically Voting For & Against!

My friend and I voted yesterday. The first day of early voting in our locality. It was busy at the polling place. Lots of chatty folks in line waiting to vote. I think those who say there is no enthusiasm for the choices this year, are dead wrong. Folks very much are voting for and against. Enthusiastically!

So you get a real "two-for" this year.  I must say voting for the 1st Woman President ever in the history of our country after the 43 men who have served, was  quite surprisingly exhilarating.  It felt good. Really, really good. Satisfying!

And voting against the Short-Fingered Vulgarian was cleansing, life-affirming, exciting, and oh so necessary. Gratifying!

I am convinced that Hillary Clinton will win on November 8, and I do have high hopes that she will be not only a historically significant President, but also a very effective politician and policy wonk. She is an amazingly gifted person, which has pretty much been lost in all the hubbub and hurly burly. And after 40 years of being the target of the Right-Wing Noise Machine.

This thing is done. Let's get to work!

I Do the Work!

Time is leaking. Time is ebbing away. Tick, tick, tick...

So I have no time for some things. No time for back-biters, no time for those who fret, no time for the nay-sayers, no time for those who take it all away.

My method, I know, it sort of sounds like an advertising tagline -  I just do it, right? And I like to hang with those who just do it too.

I look at my life and the things I do in my life as the good work. And I do the work. Humbly, intently, seriously, with dedication and a sense of fun.

That's it. Keep me occupied while that clock just ticks away...

It Should Be Easier for Folks To Vote!

If we believe in Democracy, we should not make it hard for folks to vote in America. People should not have to wait in long lines to vote. These lines are the result of a conscious strategy. These lines happen in States that have a long history of trying to suppress the votes of minorities. 

I agree with Josh Marshall... it's "The Shame and the Glory!" Those folks waiting patiently, intently, willing to spend their precious time, in a line to vote, yes, it's kind of inspiring. And at the same time you realize it doesn't have to be that way.

Sink & Swim!

Hearing things. Sometimes you find yourself hearing things. Source or no source. Thought I heard this on the radio this morning, not sure: "Not one of us makes up the world from scratch."

Aye. There's the rub. If we did have to make it up from scratch we'd be busy just trying to get back to base. But since we don't make it from scratch, we are burdened with a grand inheritance. We get the good, the bad, the ugly.

And sink or swim. Or maybe more like sink and swim...

"Sin & Redemption!"

"Sin and Redemption." Those words floated to the surface last night. I saw and heard the words. They woke me up from a very deep sleep. Woke me up in the dead of night. Unbidden. 

I am not much of a religious person. But have spent lots of my life studying religion, thinking about it, reacting against it. I am pretty familiar with the Catholic tradition, the Zen tradition. I meditate, sometimes float up a prayer or two. You know, sort of ironically.

I believe in believing. In something. I think it helps. And we can use all the help we can get. Right? So yeah, "sin and redemption." I know what the words mean. They are not empty. They hold meaning. 

What do I do with them? Thinking about that this morning. I don't know. Not sure. I have sinned. Whether I believe in sin or not. I know what a sin is. Can I be redeemed? "Atone, make amends, save?"

An open question. The words came to me as a statement. Not a question. But I am left with a question. That's just the way it goes.

I'm with the Nasty Woman!

Yes, Politics again... what happened last night? Debate #3. Who won? The "Nasty Woman!" Of course, I'm totally with the nasty woman, I think she is just fine, she's nasty in all the right places, in the right proportion, she should be given a medal just for standing on stage with that Authoritarian Creep. And of course, she most likely will make a fabulous President.

Who called her "the nasty woman?" You know, that "ignorant, mendacious, mean, misogynistic, and unable to control his temper" guy. (Hat-Tip: Kevin Drum). What a piece of jet-trash!

"The Unable to Control His Temper Guy" is toast. He is the Walking Dead. A Zombie. No one has told him that he is living in a delusional bubble in his brain. Sam Wang reminds us "It's All Over Now Baby Blue!" 

Who is gonna explain to "Ignorant, mendacious, mean, misogynistic, and unable to control his temper Guy" that this thing is done?!

Demographics Baby!

Of course, when that Raging Buffoon tells us the election will be rigged, what he really means is that Women, and African Americans, and Hispanics, and other Minorities, legal citizens of America, have the right to vote, and they will vote, in great numbers. Someone please tell that clueless Raging Buffoon that angry, whiny, white folks aren't the only ones who can vote! And yes, well, the Raging Buffoon is going to lose, big time, no rigging necessary! Swamped by the Demographics, baby!

The Dead Will Save Our Asses!

I know the guy is just being a Smart-Ass Jerk. He has made it his own personal art-form. But when he tells us that "1.8 Million Deceased individuals will vote for somebody else,"  my first thought is: "Well, isn't that just wonderful?"

The Dead will come back to make sure that the Total Idiot will not be President. How nice and thoughtful of them. Supernatural! The Dead have "been there, done that," you figure they totally know their shit. And if they choose to vote for the Woman, well, God Bless Them!

This Tendency is Deadly!

Dr. Sam Wang discusses "motivated reasoning."  As he says, which explains a lot of the madness of the moment...

"Our brains are really good at letting in information that agrees with our prior views and we look for reasons to reject information that is disagreeable. In a complex media environment, this tendency is deadly."

So yes, "Richie-Rich" burns himself and his brand (see previous post) at the stake, and the racially resentful hordes cheer him on, and they actually somehow convince themselves that his burned- to-the-crisp-corpse would make an excellent Strong-man President!

Funny!

HST - Madness, Fear & Loathing 2016!

I try to imagine what Hunter S. Thompson would be writing today about this Election. If Richard Nixon was the Sick Dark Prince of America, what could Trump possibly be? Think the Jerry Springer Show, Scripted by the Farrelly Brothers, Directed by some Mad Crack-Poisoned Cretin. A tale of Madness, Fear and Loathing. The immolation of a man and a brand! Richie-Rich burns himself at the stake!

"There's always that guy that things happen to."

I play guitar and sing in a band called whitewolfsonicprincess. Think: Neo-Psychedelic Folk-Rock. Luckily, I am one of the founders of the band. If I were a hired hand, I think I would have been canned long ago.

As one of the other band members has said, "There's always that guy that things happen to." Unfortunately, I am that guy. I have decided to do a little exorcism. I will list all my little mishaps on stage with this fledgling little band. And by listing the mishaps, hopefully, I clear the energy, and give myself a clean start. That's the idea. 

So here we go:

I have broken strings (often), I have forgotten songs (in the middle of the song), I have played in the wrong key, I have played out of tune, I have misplaced capos (2 of them, one of them was in my pocket, how did it vanish?), I have played the wrong song and the wrong time, I have kicked cables (over and over again, you'd I'd figure a way not to do it!) I have lost my place on the fretboard, I have played songs too fast, too slow, in a completely new way, totally surprising the rest of the band. I continue to find new ways to screw up. 

Hopefully, I will finally exhaust all the ways you can go wrong, and then in that way find the right path... hopefully...

A Strange, Spiky, Brittle, Funny, Amazing Human Being!

Yesterday, I was high as a kite. Walking on a cloud. Overly-happy. I realize it was all because I started the day hearing that Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 (see previous post). Funny. I really have nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do with me.

Except, if I think of my life, and of the people who have been an influence, or a model, or an inspiration, Bob Dylan would be right at the top of the list. Right behind my parents. For sure. He was the first singer/songwriter I fell for, even before the Beatles. He came into my life (via my Mom), in a super-critical, impressionable time. Formative! So everything, all other music, and all the other cultural, social and political hurly-burly was reflected thru Dylan.

Dylan's sound. His poetry. His voice. His mad word-stream. His surrealistic thought-trains. His humor. The essence of Folk, the essence of ramshackle, edgy, spiky, intelligent r&r. That high "mercury sound."

Yes, Dylan. Inevitable. Essential. Everything wrapped up in that strange, spiky, brittle, funny, amazing human being.

Noble Bob Wins the Nobel!

Sometimes you wake up to great news... Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature 2016!

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind

Down the foggy ruins of time

Far past the frozen leaves

The haunted frightened trees

Out to the windy bench

Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky

With one hand waving free

Silhouetted by the sea

Circled by the circus sands

With all memory and fate

Driven deep beneath the waves

Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Like Attracts Like!

Like attracts like. Is that a thing? If you are a shameless hustler, you attract shameless hustlers. If you are a film-flammer, film-flammers flock to you like flies.

Trump's campaign is a collection of hustlers, film-flammers, the dregs of the dregs of the political cesspool. It must be a real trip to be a reporter and to follow these folks on the campaign trail.

Ryan Lizza has an insider look at the Trump campaign brain trust. Trust me, the brains on display are a house of horrors. And the ship is sinking! The rats are turning on each other.

Who will ever want to employ these folks ever again? I suppose there is a certain fame that comes with running one of the worst Presidential campaigns ever. But not the good kind of fame.

There are some classic quotes in the article. Creepy Trump insiders dissing other Creepy Trump insiders. Hilarious!

There's this: 

“I view her as an enabler,” one Trump campaign official told me. “Right now, post-debate, I guarantee you there’s a fucking Kool-Aid cooler the size of a fucking wheat silo that they’re all drinking from. I guarantee you, because none of them can accept the blame for what they failed to do.”


And this: 

"The end for Lewandowski came when Manafort and Kushner allied against him. “When Manafort was brought on, Corey and Manafort basically went head to head,” the Trump campaign official said. “Jared, the son-in-law, who is a snaky little motherfucker, a horrible human being, hated Corey, so Jared sided with Paul to get rid of Corey.”

No Accolades for the Full-On Moron!

Okay. Let's give the guy his due. He really does know how to play "Full-On Moron." To the hilt. He's elevated it to a high art-form. And lots of folks are flocking to him because of it. It is his super-power, his greatest attribute. But, fortunately (for us), although, playing Full-On Moron may get you lots of attention, it does not get you "the accolades!"

Post Debate!

It wasn't a debate. Words. I have words...

Bewildering. Astounding. Amazing. Funny. Ridiculous. Seriously off-the rails. A clown show. A horror-show. Mud wrestling. Pig wrestling. Mud wrestling with a pig. Not very edifying. Totally degrading. Humiliating. Sad. Pretty boring. A time-waster.

I am with the woman. The man is super-scary. Clueless. Dangerous. Deluded. Yikes!

It is Implosion Time!

"A dangerous virus that had somehow infected American politics." Yes, well, the virus has wreaked it's havoc, has infected our public square, has brought forward all the horrors alive in the land: White Supremacy, White Nationalism, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism.

A TV Celebrity, Rich White Boy, Vulgar Sexual Predator, Flim-Flam Man, Huckster, Blowhard, Gaseous Joke. It is Implosion Time! A pretty incredible event to witness. It couldn't happen to a more deserving man, and political party. The GOP is reaping what they have sowed. They own this sucker!

A Complete Horror-Show! I expect that The Basket of Deplorables will go down with the Trump Blimp. The rest of us can go on to live our lives and try to make the world a better, kinder, more progressive place. 

PussyGate - Frat-Boy Cretin!

Kevin Drum. Does he come up with his own headlines? Who knows. But this morning I just love these dueling headlines. Makes me happy!

Headline #1: PussyGate Might Be the Final Straw For Donald Trump!

AND

Headline #2: New Email Dump Reveals that Hillary Clinton is Honest & Boring!

Who is surprised that the Trump-thing is a total vulgar pig? I am beginning to think that my thought-train that he won't make it to November may be right on track. I'm waiting for all those hypocritically outraged Republicans to start calling for him to step down. Will they or won't they?

Didn't Trump know that the audiotape existed? Didn't he know that it would come out? Is he really surprised to hear himself speaking like a blatantly predatory frat-boy cretin? What a loser!

The Good Old Days...

You do wonder if your country has been infiltrated by the Body Snatchers. Lots of your fellow citizens talking funny. Kind of like half their brains have been eaten away. They believe everything the see on TV. And they only watch one channel: Fox News.

They parrot every thing they hear blaring out of their TVs. They talk nonsense, constantly, but try hard to sound reasonable and intelligent. Reason and intelligence has nothing to do with the words spilling from their mouths.

Their logic is absurd, convoluted. They embrace the big loud white guy. And can't wait to march behind him. They want to build walls, deport people, and make America great again. They can't really pinpoint when America was great before, but it seems to have something to do with the Founding Fathers, you know, maybe it was the time where white people owned black folks, and woman were considered property too? Oh yeah, that's when only white men had the right to vote.

The good old days...

The Man Who Was Doomed to Failure!

Yes, it almost, but really, surely, not quite makes you feel sorry for the guy. Born to lose, doomed to failure. His bombast, and over-stuffed bravado is just so much hot-air. His father was a successful, self-made man, but not so much for the Donald. The Donald's big comeback in Atlantic City was just the apotheosis of the huckster! And for a guy who is so much about being a "winner" he is so loudly and publicly hurtling towards a massive, humiliating defeat. Defeated by a woman. Doubly humiliating. You wonder if the Donald is secretly punishing himself? He must hate himself. The way he speaks of others, the total disrespect he has for his fellow human beings. Politico tells us that for years the Donald was played for a total chump by Howard Stern. The Donald played the creepy, leering, loser for laughs, and he wasn't even in on the joke. Pathetic. Inside the Donald must be a seething cauldron of fear & self-loathing. He embodies all that hatred, misogyny, sexism, racism, xenophobia. He takes it all into himself. The man doomed to failure takes all his foibles and failures down with him and in that way helps cleanse the nation.

Silence, Contemplation, Loneliness!

Yes. Our "distraction sickness." I do think Andrew Sullivan writes about something pretty damn important about our 24/7 multi-tasking, always connected, always distracted culture.

You remember Andrew? One of the original "uber-bloggers" who built a pretty impressive empire on the web, and then walked away from it all, in order to reclaim his health, his life. Andrew is certainly an odd duck, hard to put him in a neat box: British-born, American Citizen, Catholic, Conservative, Gay, HIV-Positive. Excitable. Intelligent. Excellent writer. Very eloquent about many issues. Really took a strong, perfectly reasoned, and impassioned stand against the Bush/Cheney torture regime.

Anyway, yes, we are distracting ourselves to death. Armed with our smart phones. Here but not here. Always scanning, flipping, surfing.

I still own a "flip-phone." So happy I grew up in an era where there weren't computers and smart phones. I got to experience the world without those filters. Where do we put out attention? Our attention is in short supply. Maybe instead of multi-tasking we should "un-task!" 

There is something to be said for silence, contemplation, loneliness, meditation, the ability to concentrate, to focus on one thing. One thing at a time. To be here now. I can easily walk away from my computer, and live my life, in the stream of life. 

There is a certain clarity in the silence. The aloneness. There is something pretty great in sitting in meditation, and letting the world wash over us. Undistracted!

Superior Knowledge & Diligence!

I'm not just voting against the bloated, despicable, multi-bankrupted excuse for a human being. I am voting for Hillary Clinton. She really does know the issues, she really does understand the system. She is working under the premise that "superior knowledge and diligence can be a tool of power."

Her guiding philosophy moving forward...

 "We want people to be idealistic. We want them to set big goals. But to take what we can achieve now and try to present them as bigger goals.”

Funny Math!

There is a strange new math in the land...

Be a loser of epic, colossal proportions. I mean, lose so much money, in such a short time, lose so much money from your own mis-management, incompetence, and ridiculous, overblown hubris, and then ipso facto, switcho-chango - you become a winner!

Boggles the mind. Right? And like a bloated, bankrupt, combed-over Phoenix, (too enormously gargantuan to fail), you rise from the ashes and you and your rabid, frothing at the mouth henchmen, declare that inexplicably, miraculously, you are brilliant, smart, nothing less than a goddamn genius!

Too funny. Let's call it Really, Really Funny Math!

Pure, Beautiful, Evocative Sound!

I have probably listened to Sigur Ros more than any other band I can think of since I discovered them around 2003. It was the "grey one" that I discovered. Put me in the camp with those who consider it one of the "great albums of all time."  A knockout. Unlike anything else.

We also own the "white one" and the "yellowish one."

What is the sound of Sigur Ros? Elemental. Transcendental. Symphonic. Enveloping. Spiritual. Powerful. Gorgeous. Intense. Harmonic. Seismic.

No choruses. No groove. No swing. No words. Or the words are all a "made up language," (Hopelandic), based on sound. Pure, beautiful, evocative sound.

Stately. Crystalline. Think of a thousand oceans crashing against a thousand shores. Think of a volcano singing. Think of the tectonic plates harmonizing.

We saw them perform at the beautiful, stately Chicago Theater on Friday. To say it was one of the best concerts I ever saw is probably an understatement. And doesn't really say anything. Life-changing, life-affirming, exhilarating, cathartic, inspiring.

Sound. Light. Image. Perfectly realized.

The Beast and the Beauty!

Sometimes I do think the Universe works by "poetic" principals - "having a beautiful or graceful quality."

And once in awhile, not often enough, events conspire to achieve some kind of supremely sweet poetic justice. Almost makes you think that God is not only possible but absolutely essential and knitted into the fabric of our lives.

Hah!

And there is something so funny and gratifying when a loud, petulant, childish, churlish bully has a complete unhinged meltdown triggered by a "Latina Beauty Queen." What an incredible display! And yes, the bully was artfully baited into an elaborate trap, and he took it all "hook line & sinker," and he is a total laughingstock now.

What a perfect way to destroy the big man. With unbridled laughter. What a fool. You can conjure a picture - a large, disheveled man, dressed in a ratty bathrobe, sitting propped up in bed at 3 a.m. typing into his smart phone. Twittering in a rabid, sputtering rage. 

This is the man some have rallied around. A pitiful, despicable monster. A narcissistic Id unmoored by his own aggrieved madness. The man has the ability to suck the oxygen out of a room, and to fill it with his own bloated, puffed up mummery.  Entertaining in a train wreck sort of way.

I do think this is the beginning of the end of this fool's errand. And not a moment too soon. All thanks to the Latina Beauty Queen. Poetic!