The River of Lies...

I suppose it is the "detachment from reality," the constant, incessent, unrelentling, compulsive lying from the folks on the other side of the political divide, that really grinds against me. They want to win the argument, any argument with a blizzard of untruths. Not a better idea, instead an overwhelming firehose of bullshit. There are no "artful" lies on the other side, instead, ridiculous, blatant, obvious, persistent, corrosive, shameless, weaponized lies. We have been flooded with disinformation and lies. And the liars amongst us are being rewarded. They should be shunned, humiiated, hounded from society, but instead they are being embraced and elevated. It is a disgusting spectacle. It takes time to wade thru the lies and marshall your facts to dispute the looming mountain of falsehoods. It can be daunting, overwhelming, & a bit exhausting to take on all that bullshit, and you realize that many folks just can't be bothered. The lies just hang over us, get passed around, & they become embedded in the everday-ness of experience. And you can see that it is destroying us. Our demcracy, our common-sense, and common-bonds, are totally under siege. We are all now living with & swimming in a river of lies. You think to yourself, "There must be the day of reckoning, the moment when the scales fall from our eyes, the moment when the truth comes blazing thru, and all fall down in humilty and service to the hard realities of what really is," but Human Beings are a complicated, tricky species, armed with prodigious powers of self-delusion, self-righteousness, & self-sabotage. The greediness,  the laziness, the will-full stupidity, & arrogance of the humans seems to have no limits or bounds. It is hard to acknowledge that we are going out of our way to fuck & out-fox ourselves, but of course, the evidence is all around us. No lie.

A Note...

A brief note about Politics in America in the year 2025...

"Nothing makes sense now."

Nope. It's Now All Bad Behavior...

Reading, or re-reading, Grendel, (see a couple posts previous), led me to delve into Seamus Heaney's "new verse translation" of Beowulf (1999). The Olde English text dates from 700–1000 AD. It is not a difficult read. Heaney's translation flows and connects. A tale of warriors and monsters, swords, getting plastered on mead, singing the old warrior songs about heroes battling and defeating demons. 

It's a Pagan world with some Christian ideas (possibly belatedly), stuck in there. Why is it an important text? It survived. Was it initially & primarily an oral text, passed on over the years, lips to ears, or was it a written text that was passed on hand to hand? No one knows for sure. One copy survived. It's a glimpse into a long ago Pagan world.

I am enjoying it immensely. Funny, that. I think there was a time this text would have left me cold. 

Still, I came across a line last night that just totally cracked me up.  "Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere." My immediate reaction: "Not today!" 

I mean, maybe in the past it was good behaviour was the behaviour that was admired, but not today. The Olde code: Slay the dragon, defeat the forces of Evil, live with honor & integrity bask in the admiration of your people. The New Code: Steal, cheat, lie & attack Paper-tigers, and unreal Straw-men, bully and beat up the poor, the weak, the defenseless, and bask in the glowing admiration of your fevered, deluded, proudly-deplorable mob. 

Ha. Today it is all bad behaviour on full display. That's what gets everyone's attention and admiration. We have become the society, the culture, the people, that rewards Bad Behaviour. It's all grotesque spectacle.

You know, the money, the bling, the bragging, the flaunting of laws, norms, and decency; that is the way of the Rich & Powerful now. And the really stupid, no-nothing people those Dunning-Kruger folks who think they are fucking geniuses, with no integrity, conscience, or shame, and can never admit they are ever wrong, well, those folks put their arrogance & stupidity front and center for all us to wonder at & admire. Folks whisper to themselves, "If only I too could be that shamelessly, unknowingly fat, clueless, stupid and rich."

And it seems most of the common ones only really envy and admire the rich greedy fucks now. "If only it were me with all those riches and no cares."  Fabulously rich, and don't give a fiddler's fuck for anyone else; isn't that the Libertarian, Tech-Bro utopia?  That's the way to do it now.

Honor, Dignity, Integrity, Heroism, Bravery, Good Action, Honest Words and Honest Deeds? Ha! That is so Olde World. Beowulf, sure, he was a cool & awe-inspiring Pagan dude who had his shit totally together, but he'd be so out of fashion today. You know, too brave, too good, too noble, too honest & true, too self-less, too happily Pagan.

"The Offense Most Flagrant, the Public Harm the Greatest, And the Proof the Most Certain..." - Special Prosecutor Jack Smith...

Well... he is not going to be tried. At least not in the foreseeable future. He doesn't have to face the music. He skates. Of course, he should be held to account. That is the way that Justice and the  Law is supposed to work in America, folks must answer for their illegal, ill-intentioned crimes.  No one is above the law. At least that was what we were all told.

"Do the crime, face the time." 

Except, of course, the very partisan and deeply corrupt Supreme Court has given this particular law-breaker a get out of jail free card. WTF. I mean at a minimum this law-breaker, this shameless insurrectionist, should have been disqualified from running for any, and every, freaking office in the land. You would not hire this toxic clown to cut your lawn.

It is a major tragedy for our country. You wonder will America ever recover? The jury is out, not even convened. Fuck.

As Special Prosecutor Jack Smith wrote (full report here):

"As set forth in my Report, after conducting thorough investigations, I found that, with respect to both Mr. Trump’s unprecedented efforts to unlawfully retain power after losing the 2020 election and his unlawful retention of classified documents after leaving office, the Principles [of Federal Prosecution] compelled prosecution. Indeed, Mr. Trump’s cases represented ones “in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain.” [Robert H.] Jackson, “The Federal Prosecutor.” […]"

"CONCLUSION […] [pdf145/147 p.137] The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not tum on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind. Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."

Read it and weep my friends...

We Find Purpose and Value In Our Lives...

Yes. Reading. I recommend it. It is very cold here in the Heartland. Darkness predominates. Brief sunlight hours framed by deep, long hours of pure, black, darkness. There's a darkness on the edge of town. Lots of time to read. I recently grabbed an old book (I read it a long time ago, a different me, a different time, I decided to re-read it, and, well, it's like I am reading it for the first time all over again, as they say you can't enter the same river twice. You are different, the river too),  off the shelf and totally fell into another world. A slim, old, sort of browning, paperback. A book published in 1971. "Grendel" by John Gardner.

Gardner reimagines the Beowolf epic poem as a narrative told from the monster's perspective. Ha. While reading the book I did a little research, and turns out that Gardner's Grendel is based on the philosopher, and famous writer, playwright, Existentialist Jean Paul Sartre. I had no idea. Much of Grendel's internal monologue actually uses many of Sartre's own words and ideas.

That just tickles my fancy.  

Yes. It is great little book. Funny, engaging. Maybe I am misreading it, and that's okay. All of my sympathies are with Grendel, the blood-thirsty monster who terrorizes the Humans.  The monster on the edge of town. The Humans seem so silly, with their games of violence, their visions of god, their heroism, and goofy tales of derring-do. If Gardner wrote the book to refute, or toy with, and ultimately kill-off Sartre, well, he does, but for me, there is sympathy for the devils: Grendel & Sartre are the flawed anti-heroes of this saga that speak direclty to me and my very human condition.

So yeah, I suppose I am totally in-line with Sartre, and I see a lot of myself in the gnarly, unruly, murderous Grendel too. I mean, not so much the murderous part, or the eating of humans part, I am a  vegetarian don't you know, but, a monster with a dark sense of humor, always on the margins, doesn't fit in anywhere, a born outsider, left on his own, always observing, and trying to make sense and meaning out of Life, and the things in the world.? Yeah. That totally rings a bell. Grendel is alone. A stranger in a strange land. Often bored. Looking for drama, for meaning, for purpose. Seems so familiar. Grendel is questioning everything. I can certainly relate. 

Supposedly, "Gardner, a strong believer in traditional values and the importance of community, found Sartre's emphasis on individual freedom and the inherent meaninglessness of existence to be deeply unsettling and ultimately destructive."

Ah, but, for me, Grendel is the most compelling figure in the book, and the one I can most easily identify with, even if he is a monster who likes to terrorize, to taunt, to haunt, & to eat Humans.  His doubts, uncertainties, and frailties are mine too. And of course, Sartre's Existentialism totally resonates with me:  "Existentialism, while recognizing the absence of pre-ordained meaning, actively encourages individuals to find purpose and value in their own lives. It's a philosophy of action and engagement, not passive acceptance of meaninglessness."

Exactly. Anyway. A fabulous novel of ideas, and of action too. A slim volume that asks all the big questions, but does it with humor, grace, heart, vivid, beautiful, poetic, language and imagination. Makes the dark hours fly by, and seems totally important too...

"The wall will fall to the wind as the windy hill will fall, and all things taught in former times: nothing made remains nor man remembers. And these towns shall be called the shining towns." - John Gardner

Devastating Tragedy, Unfortunately, Not Surprising in the Least...

Reading great books makes one smarter. Not a radical idea. Take it to the bank. Case in point, if you ever read Mike Davis' awesome book, it came out in 1998, about L.A. "Ecology of Fear," you would not be surprised in the least by the horrible tragedy unfolding in L.A. 100 mile winds and uncontrollable fires? Yes. Of course. You know, think: Apocalypse Now. Terrible devastation, totally predictable, and unfortunately, inevitable. Why inevitable?

"The book investigates the relationship between natural disasters and social injustices in Southern California. The author explores the history of urbanization in the area and how it has disregarded environmental common sense."

Yes. You know how we've all totally tuned out those Climate Scientists? Those folks telling us we need to radically change the way  that we all live on this little blue planet? The Humans are just "whistling past the graveyard," heads down, ignoring all the signs, carrying on with "drill baby, drill" and wondering why the world is on fire...

The Smart Folks recently asked a sadly-front-loaded question: "2024 Brought the World to a Dangerous Warming Threshold. Now What?"

"At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, Earth finished up its hottest year in recorded history, scientists said on Friday. The previous hottest year was 2023. And the next one will be upon us before long: By continuing to burn huge amounts of coal, oil and gas, humankind has all but guaranteed it.

"The planet’s record-high average temperature last year reflected the weekslong, 104-degree-Fahrenheit spring heat waves that shuttered schools in Bangladesh and India. It reflected the effects of the bathtub-warm ocean waters that supercharged hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and cyclones in the Philippines. And it reflected the roasting summer and fall conditions that primed Los Angeles this week for the most destructive wildfires in its history."

"We are facing a very new climate and new challenges, challenges that our society is not prepared for,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union monitoring agency."

Who knew? Oh yeah, only those folks who were alive, aware, awake to the world around them. The rest of us? Folks on the right, you know, those idiotic, lunatic, always lying right-wingers, want to convince us that Climate Change is a hoax. They just double & triple down on the gob-smacking, idiocy and madness. The rest of us are just stumbling & bumbling along, dancing around the flames, trying not to burn baby burn.

To Be Against...

Maybe it's good to have something to "be against?" You know, that's how you define yourself, how you take the measure of yourself? Like, you know, being against Fascism, Ignorance, Unreason, Racism, Injustice?  Big words that have real world consequences. You have to find, and then define, your limits. Discover what makes you, you?  Maybe it's also healthy to have a Nemesis? Or a series of them? Folks you bump up against in your life, that you just can't feature? You draw lines. Still, just like anything, you need to be careful in what you choose to stand against. And since you are just one little person stumbling around on the planet, you must realize that your personal stance isn't all that important to the rest of the world. No sense being "self-righteous," you can proceed with heart and soul, fully-committed to living a good, decent, life without colliding too hard against your fellow humans. It is ok to be "out of step," on the "margins," different from other members of the herd. Maybe just set an example for your self? Not an earth-shaking thing. A simple, careful way to live. Not looking for easy answers. Living with Mystery, and Wonder. Leaning to the Light. And you know, fuck those Evil-doers. They are out there, the greedy, the corrupt, the bullies, the folks who want to rule over the rest of us and tell us how to live our lives. They are the soul-killers, yes, those are the kind of folks to be against. You stand up for what you believe. Damn the torpedoes.

Felon One Day, Prez the Next, It's America...

Making History. Felon tomorrow (Ha! That's today!). President on the 20th. You gotta hand it to that guy. That's the ticket: Full on corruption & Fascism, baby!  You know, as they say, "Do the crime, do the time," but surprisingly, the Supremes have made an exception for this class of Felon. Instead of being carted off, we get him front and center for the next four years. "God help us!"

Vanishing...

"Smart & well informed." It is sadly obvious: a vanishing segment of the Human population. Actually it seems to be a disqualifier in many realms. Yikes! Are we all really doubling-down on "dumb and misinformed?" The answer seems to be "Yes." Stumbling, stupidly & boldly, into a precariously complicated Future?! We can do so much better. WTF are the Humans thinking?!

Curating the Playlist...

Curating the "playlist." I am in avoidance mode lately. I don't turn on the radio, I avoid the headlines, I absolutely refuse to listen to a word from that corrupt, looming Idiot (I think you know who I am refering to). I have a few go-to sources to keep me informed of the latest madness. I do indulge in some careful, super-selctive reading from intelligent, informed, sources, but my "gatekeeper" is on full-time lookout. Avoidance. I do not want to pollute my mind with disinformation, I refuse to swim in the lies, I can't stomach the ugly MAGA view of anything. Nonsense is on the "outs" with me. I am reminded that "reality has a liberal bias." I am embedded in the real, and very happy to be here.

A Major Fail, All Around...

This is the truth. Yes. I still believe in truth, reality, facts. I, for one, will never, ever get over the fact that the guy who instigated the January 6th obscenity, will soon be sworn in as President. A major fail all around. A debacle, a crime, a kick in the guts to  the truth, to our Constitution, Democracy, the Rule of Law, Justice and Good Sense; a stain & a black mark on our country. No doubt. No excuses. Bad fucking news...

"Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government, and his sedition has been rewarded with another term as president. That sentence represents a total failure of American law, politics, and culture, and the sheer enormity of that failure is something that our systems and institutions have not even begun to come to terms with, except to the extent that they are shoving that failure down the memory hole every day. And every time a Democratic politician says anything about how important it is to meet Trump halfway, every time one participates at a “prayer meeting” with Trump’s lieutenants, etc., that act of erasing the memory and meaning of January 6th is performed again." - Paul Campos, Lawyers, Guns & Money

Yes. Off the Rails...

Off the rails. Right?! It does seem like the late-stage capitalism being played out here in USA has taken a distinctly silly turn. We are all so captivated and hynotized by spectacle, the river of dollars, big talk, overstuffed egos, a weirdly distracting 24/7 smart-phone obession. Everything, and everyone, is now is an app. It is all hustle, dazzle, spectacle. The Big Never-Stopping for a Breath or a Thought Come-on. The unrealness of it all is all so real. Best way to experience this idiocy is to turn on your TV, dial in one of the major (dying) network channels, keep the sound on mute, and take a dip into the the razzlling, dazzling, human vanity on steroids, or is it ketamine, or, some other chemical-cocktail, or maybe you know it's just plain over-amped, over-juiced, hubris, arrogance, assholish-ness? There is a glitzy, flashy, hollowness, and soul-dead-ness, at the heart of all of this mind-numbing hurly-burly. WTF have the Tricky Monkeys  done to themselves now?!

Dooming on the Coming Fuckery...

Ok... well... my crowd is pretty much in the "dooming" mood. Recent events have taken a turn for the worse, and well, my folks, you know, intelligent, soulful, creative, empathetic, engaged humans are really spinning in a web of darkness. We all are wondering what kind of wrong turn has our country taken. The ship of state is being handed over to the worst of the worst of us. Who thinks that's a good idea? Certainly, not my people. In conversation, I do my best to be positive, to lean to the light, dooming is just not my go-to mode, but the tenor of the talk immediately takes a dark turn. Yikes.  What to do, what to think, what to say? I guess, best to take a wait and see approach. I have decided to begin every morning with my usual  cup of coffee and this phrase, this useful mantra, and query, on my lips: "What fresh fuckery, today?!

Truth. The Breakfast of Champions.

Speaking truth to power. Absolutely essential. Yesterday, I asked "Who will be the champions for Democracy?" Surprisingly, one of them is Dick (Darth Vader) Cheney's daughter, former (no room for truth-tellers in the Republican party), U.S. House Member Liz Cheney, a leading member of the January 6th Commitee, you know the Commitee that laid out all the facts of that dastardly-dark day, presented in full technicolor; gory, disturbing, a blow by blow tick-tock conveyed in vivid detail. They told story of all the crimes that unfolded that day; the unruly MAGA mob who beat cops, and stormed our Capitol, with the intent of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Egged on by the incoming (WTF?!) President. Yikes. The new guy is obviously guilty of crimes against our Democracy & Constitutional order. How is it possible folks gave him a pass? Fucking, gob-smackingly, democracy-defacing & mind-bogglingly, dsheartening, and destrucive.

The Truth: “Donald (Trump), this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you. Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overturning our Republic? We remember. And now, as you take office again, the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.”

Let's Try...

 America in 2025: "Let's try Fascism on for size."

Hmmm.... wonder how that's gonna work out? Who will be the champions for Democracy? Looks like we are in for a bumpy ride...

2025 - Let the Fleeing Begin...

I'm doing the Gypsy thing to start 2025. Going from a classic, old world mansion to a shiny new, modernistic mansion. Packing my little bag, getting ready to flee. I'm one of those little people who does lots of schlepping and fleeing. I have delusions of grandeur, thinking I too could be a mover & shaker, but, really, I am one of those who gets moved and shaken. It's just reality, baby. 

I am armed with the essentials to take it "on the road." Trusty Grado headphones, Sony Walkman, little spinning CDs, a Mr. Coffee grinder, a couple choice bags of killer coffee beans, a Chromebook, a couple changes of clothes, a hat, sweaters, coats. And, my shining, sunny, personality.  Of course, just like anyone else, I am always riding a rollercoaster of emotion.

I think 2025 is gonna be one of those years full of reality. Reality we either face up to honestly or dishonestly. Seems the evil-doers, the bad ones, the liars, the cheats, the racist shit-stirrers, the shameless arrogant assholes, are on the ascendant. It grinds against my optimism and hope. So yeah, there is a tension built-into my anticipation, and plans for a new year.

My plans? Keep my head in the game. Be totally present: alive, aware, awake at all times. See clearly. Breathe deeply. Keep a healthy dispostition: easy to laugh, flexible, ready to improv, light on my feet, open to possibilities. Don't let the darkness around me swamp me.  Move and shake with the best of them even in my tiny corner. Damn the torpedoes.

An Eerie Backdrop...

We traversed the streets last night in a Lyft ride. Heading over to a radio studio to play and talk about our music. My partner and collaborator had decided we must do something we love to do on the last evening of the last day of 2024. It was quite a nice experience. Strangely, the streets were empty all the way there, a cross-town drive, and all the way back too. It was a little bit of an eerie backdrop to a cool thing. We wondered, "Is everyone laying low?" You know, hunkered down in their living rooms watching the clock tick down? We knew there must be some epic parties and celebrations going down somewhere, but you couldn't tell out on the streets. We never clicked on a TV, so we didn't see other people having fun & frolic. We were sure the "ball was dropping," somewhere, this is the era of "out of bounds," wealth & excess, the young rich & beautiful must be getting to it, big time, but none of that was in evidence around us. Everyone we talked to was still in a bit of shock about the latest developments in the USA, and where things were heading. Talk of the new year, and of the future, were guarded and low-key. Yes. Hope and optimism seems kind of out of tune, out of touch & passe at the moment. Welcome to 2025, wonder what's happen now?

Puzzles, Answers, Wonders...

Ha. Yesterday I was confronted with a knotty, gnarly technical puzzle. A bit "over my skis," not exactly in my bailiwick, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. I flopped around on the shore for many confused and stumped hours. I searched, researched, tried a few things, nothing worked. Late in the afternoon, I threw in the towel. I gave up. Frustrated. Done. Funny, sometimes surrender is the first step to enlightenment. I totally unplugged, I listened to music on the box, read a book, had a long, restful sleep. This morning I woke up with the perfect formulation of the question front and center in my cranium, and I typed it into my Chromebook and submitted it to the great Oracle (Google). Miraculously, the perfect answer was delivered directly to me. From the lips of the AI gods to my welcome, needy ears. Puzzle solved! The key was to construct the perfectly posed question; directly, succinctly and astutely. I have had great luck finding answers out there somewhere, hiding in the tall grass. Knowledge, it is tangible, a quality, and a facility. What an odd, weird reality & world we live in today. Puzzles, answers, wonders lurking around every corner, in every little nook and cranny.

Garden, Gardener...

Certainly. Think of your body, mind and spirit as an interwoven, many-splendored garden. You must dig in; nurture, prune, water, care for that garden with all your creativity, imagination, skill and attention. Lean into the sunlight. Soak in the starlight. You also must always be on guard. There are elements floating in the air, on the ground, that can be harmful, pure poison, to a thriving, healthy flowering. You are your own Secret Garden. You are both the Garden and the Gardener. Strange, that, but true. Aware, alive, awake at all times.

Simple & Complex, The Human Math...

There is a Joker in the deck. 

Saturday was a perfect day: music, movies, good food, good conversation, solitude & relaxation. In the afternoon, three of us met at our little rehearsal studio: violin, guitar, percussion, two voices. We  played music together for 2 1/2 hours. We ran thru songs we usually play with our big band. It was so elemental, essential. Enriching. 

Later, in the evening, watched the fabulously funny, beautiful, confounding, and soul-enriching, "The Banshees of Inisherin." Amid the wonrdous, astonishing, mysterious beauty of Nature, human beings enact rituals of absurdity, madness, hilarity, raw, uncontainble, unquenchenable, violence; part Beckett, part Marx Brothers, tragedy and comedy melded so perfectly you have to laugh, even as the tears well up in your eyes. Great art feeds the heart, the head, the soul. And touches us in the deepest depths of our beings.

Then, hit the pillow, and a long night of haunting visions & dreams. Strange phenomena flooded my head. Lost connections. Lies. Failures. Dark scenes of humiliation and disorientation. Familiar people in unfamiliar settings. My own life-events jumbled together in a mysterious, alchemical stew; an off the rails jaunt into a hellish dreamscape. So odd to be gripped in the slipstream of dark thoughts & emotions; deep, unbidden, unwanted dislocation. Do I need to thank Mr. Martin McDonagh?  Yes. Indeed, I believe I do. Plus of course, let's give a tip of the cap to decades of my scrambled life, trauma and drama, comedy and tragedy, written in my flesh, my bones, my organs, & my DNA.  I come from a long line of dead folks, don't you know?!

This morning, still unsettled, I click on the radio, and the BBC tells me: "Win the day."  Sure. Simple.  Except, win the day, lose the night. Living in contradiction and complexity. The math of being Human, from simple to complex and back again, day to day, night to night...

An Outlier...

Out of step with the culture? Sure. I mean, aware, alive, awake. Always. Doing my best to be present. But, it is true, I do march to a different drummer. Ever since I can remember, I have always been on the "outside looking in." I have always gotten that vibe from my fellow humans: "Not from around here?" 

Not sure what drummer I am marching to, maybe Keith Moon? John Bonham? Ringo? Charlie Watts? I do have a rich inner life. I am happy being alone, reading books and/or listening to, and playing music. I don't feel obligated to listen to, or to read what everyone else is listening to, or reading. I don't really want to be part of the madding crowd. I am happy to find myself at play in a lonely field. I seek out my fellow outliers, those on the margins, but, not so much to commune with them, but just to know that there are others out there on the thorny, lonely paths.

"In it, not of it." But, of course, I am of it too. Deeply embedded in the Universe. Close to the street, close to Nature. Tuned into my own inner symphony. The longer one is alive on the planet, the stronger the hold, and the presence, of one's past grows. Not so much living in the past, but bringing the past firmly into the present. It makes for a deeper being. Truth be told, we are the past alive in the present. And our "past," is uniquely ours, unlike anyone else's. Billions of us, each uniquely unique.

Burn the Cash at the 50 Yard Line...

Ha. More thoughts (see previous post),  on that gobsmackingly weird Christmas extravaganza. Are we reaching the Limits of Bling? The limits of irrational exuberance and audaciously ostentatious wealth? There were all the colliding forces on that Netflix Football bachannal. Football>Gambling> Pop. What drives it all? Boatloads of cash. Spectacle built upon Spectacle. Dazzling. Wild. Strange. Watching the money feed into the joyous, gleeful adventure of the ritual burning of money without shame or consequence.

Sure, Beyonce is an amazing singer & performer. No doubt. But, of course, singing and dancing well,  really is not enough, not the game she is in. It's all about the over-amped Spectacle. How much money can one multi-million $ performer burn to grab and hold our attention for a few minutes? And what's the next hustle or product she is selling and leading us to? 

Beyonce was sandwiched between two halves of our most brutal and successful sport: over-amped, hyped-up, insanely-compensated atheletes, risking their the bodies and brains on a field of green for their teams and billion $ owners. And then there are those of us at home, all across America, on their couches, stuffing themselves with food & beverage, swiping their phones like mad-monkeys, betting their hard-earned dollars on each and every last play.

Maybe it would have been more direct, honest, and in our faces, to have Beyonce stand on the 50 yard line, singing and dancing next to stack upon stack of $100's? Many, many stacks, how about $10 million dollars worth of stacks of cash.? And then, she turns to the cash, sets those stacks on fire, and burns those dollar bills right before our greedy, needy, astonished eyes?

Yes. That's basically the essence of thing. We are in the era where the rich folk display their utter contempt for the folks who just don't have the cash to burn. These folks are so filthy rich, they can spend prodigious amounts of cash, for the mindless, Spectacle upon Spectacle, promising bigger Spectacles down the line. A celebration, and a ritual sacrifice of Bling. The millionaires and billionaires are up front & center now, showing us how just how insanely rich they are, and how they play by a totally different set of rules than the rest of us. 

Yikes. We have truly lost our shit. I mean, as a country & a culture. We live in the New Hall of Mirrors of Bling, Bling for Bling's Sake. Capitalism Run Amok, no guard-rails, no conscience, nothing but the Law of Spectacle, and $. I mean, shite, it is oddly impressive. The full-blown, hollow, soullessness of it all. But, you know, while it looks good; so shiny and dazzling, kicky, and strange, the heart of it is  total B.S. so far from the reality of things. You wonder when does it all break down, collapse into a heap of brokeness?

I still believe in gravity, in humility, good government, love & generosity, art & creativity. These things have nothing to do with the unholy, ungodly, totally off the rails ascension of the Spectacle. Yikes. We can be so much more, spiritual beings in a material world. We have totally diminished ourselves, enslaved ourselves to the Spectacle, the Bling, the Hustle. 

For those Hypnotized by $!

We watched Beyonce's halftime show in Texas last night. Our reaction?! $$$$$$$$$$$! This was a display of $ performing for big $, for the folks swimming in $, and for folks with dreams of swimming in endless rivers of $. It was an impressive spectacle. The Land of the Holy Bling. It was a Christmas (!?!) show, an overstuffed extravaganza, a homecoming for Beyonce on a football field in Texas. One couldn't help shouting out at the TV screen: "What The Holy Fuck is This?"  We grappled with trying to parse the signs, wonders and ultimate meanings of this grand spectacle. Hundreds of nubile and very flexible humans jumped around all dressed in white. Mainly Black people dressed in dazzling, sort of silly, improbably pure-white costumes; white cowboys and cowgirls, singing and dancing and playing instruments, frolicking around in Bling Heaven. Seems they were mainly singing about how they were all joyously jumping around, singing and dancing in Bling Heaven. A very self-referential Festival of Bling. "Why can't we all be billionaires?" My friend and I concluded this impressive display was not really intended for us, this was a show for those hypnotized by $. You know for the folks whose only One True God is the Almighty Buck. American Oligarchy Lives. Funny, and blindingly appropriate, that it was a beautiful, multi-talented, supremely-wealthy, fully-empowered, self-possessed, black woman who was the center of attention, and the ultimate messenger. It was like a surreal, big-budget Minstrel-show in Reverse. Black Woman and her friends playing at being white cowboys & cowgirls. Wild. Of course, my friend and I are seriously out of step with the present times, we still value humility, love, grace, generosity, heart & soul. You know, we are just the little people, the common ones, the working stiffs, those interested in other things besides $, those left gaping in awe at the grand, exuberant, audaciously-unholy soulessness of it all. Bling, Baby, Bling! Xmas 2024, the Apotheosis of the Holy, Holy Buck...

Random Xmas Morning Thoughts...

Random thoughts this Xmas morning.

You know little thought-trains. Nothing is written in stone. Random, flittering thoughts. All are subject to revision...

1. Family. No getting around it. Essential. Your roots. Your genetic heritage. Your people. You can embrace, or resist, acknowlege or deflect. No matter. Your reaction helps define you, but family is embedded in your every breath. Is that a good or bad thing? Yes. 

2. Simplicity is a virtue. Simplicity in motion, thought, emotion. Sure the Universe is complex & contradictory, and so are we. Leaning into simplicity is a tiny good thing.

3. Judgement & Non-judgement. Best to experience Life without judging too harshly. This is it. Same with people. Don't judge too harshly. A better mind, a better world: less judging, more experiencing, less harshness, more forgiveness and acceptance. Share forgiveness & acceptance with other folks, which means you are sharing those qualities with yourself too.

4. Intellect without emotional intelligence is a sterile, barren field. We are a stew of ideas, thoughts, emotions. It is a heady stew. Something to navigate and explore. We need to understand and try to get the mix right. The inner journey is just as important as the outer journey. "Know thyself," in all the airy realms, and the gnarly depths of our being too. Yes. Life is a life-long study.

5. Food is medicine. I'm thinking all the food we take in: physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional. Our bodies are elaborate chemistry labs. Everything we put into our bodies, our minds, make us who we are. We can nurture ourselves or poison ourselves with healthy or deadly choices, every choice counts. There are damaging substances, foodstuffs, ideas & experiences out there. Some we seek out willingly, some are imposed or forced upon us. There is luck and pluck in everything we do and experience. You hope not be crushed or poisoned in the process of living a full life, but really it is a crap-shoot out there, and you must live a full life. Damn the torpedoes.

Science in Action...

We talk about the "scientific method," around here. We believe in it. And use it. Sometimes it's not the most efficient way to live, but it seems to keep us grounded, closer to the real; open-ended & open-minded.  We start with an attitude of humility, possibility, and wonder. If I were to distill our own personal version of the scientific method in action it would be like so: "Who knows?! I mean, fuck, why don't we try it, and see what happens?" Sure. There are some dead-ends, some chasing rabbits down rabbit-holes, lots of knocking our heads against barriers, and hard, unblinking, realities. We don't know what we don't know. Then sometimes, with a bit of  improv & experimentation, and pure, dumb, luck, we come to a sort of tentative understanding. Some hard-earned, hard-won, knowledge knocks on our foreheads. Seems that sometimes we even actually learn something, and we get shit done. Funny, but true. Real-world, amateur-scientists, fumbling around, out in the wild.

The Wealthy are Skating...

This is THE STORY of our time: "How the Wealthist Avoid Income Tax." Why do we pamper our Billionaires?

"In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.

Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row."

Scandalous. Unacceptable. As they say, "every Billionaire is a policy failure."  It is well past time for this  to be addressed. Massive income disparity and inequality is going to destroy us. Remember: It takes a Village to Create and to Baby a Billionaire.

BTW - Pro Publica is a public treasure, doing the hard, necessary work of investigative journalism. 

Under the Thumbs & Boots of the Billionaire Class...

I think Josh Marshall of TPM gets it right... "To wrap it all together you also have the gobs of public time and attention and resources lit on fire by the tantrums, egomania and sundry character disorders of people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk because that’s a central feature of billionairedom: the rules don’t apply to you. Things most of us had to get straight with when we were in our 20s, because we live in the real world, guys like Elon Musk have magnified 100-fold by their 50s because the rules don’t apply to them.

Needless to say, it’s not great. But it really is tailor made for a politics focused on being the defense of ordinary Americans living on a budget."

So glaringly obvious. We need folks to stand up for the ordinary Americans just trying to make it, those who work for living, those struggling, doing their best to live with joy & dignity. Folks shouldn't have to live under the thumbs and the boots of the billionaire class. This is the new coming era of clarity, you know a renewed era of politics of, for and by the People. Every billionaire is a policy failure.

The Greedy Heart is a Prodigious Thing, Indeed...

"Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a pattern in which online products and services decline in quality. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders."

Who could have guessed? Turns out Spotify is a prime example of enshittification, just an elaborate rigged game. A money-making machine built to line the pockets of it's executives, board members & shareholders. It's a dominating, wildly-successful, obnoxiously-ubiquitous app that resides on everyone's smartphone. It's also a scam and a total hustle. I mean, fuck, knock me down with a feather, of course.

Did you know that, as Liz Pelly writes there are "ghost artists", fake artists churning out tracks for Spotify, completely b.s. creations used to just to goose the company's profits? Cutting out legitimate musicians. Ha. Not surprising. It is always amazing how the Tricky Monkeys will hustle and scheme to squeeze every last drop of juice from every last buck. We are amazing and so fucking predictable.

So yeah, what might have started as a nice idea has turned into an elaborate hustle. Music and musicians be damned. What does the future portend? Probably, let's just cut to the chase, have AI create the tracks, and then maybe have the AI create fake listeners to listen to them endlessly 24/7?  Maybe they can just eliminate the Human element completely?

Turns out we are all just hustling each other with this internet thing. Fake shit gobbling up all of our time and attention. What's a Pilgrim to do? Dust off that turn-table and go back to analog. Or fire up that Sony Walkman and spin those silver discs. That is more real world. Wake up Bunky, there is a world beyond the veil, beyond the world wide web. Maybe put that fucking smartphone down? I know, a radical idea, right?! 

Open the window. Go outside. Smell the roses. Take it to the streets. We have created this alternate reality and it's just an enormous Hall of Mirrors, we use it to hustle and lie to ourselves, a load of mumbo-jumbo and madness. Fuck it.

BTW - I was alerted to this subject by a musician I know very well. We make music together, totally on the fringes of the "music biz."

Here is an excerpt from a conversation via email:  "We were recently talking to another record label (chasing rabbits down rabbit holes) and for them it's all about the Spotify algorithm, they talked about it like it's some unholy god. They wanted to analyze our tracks with some kind of app that somehow predicts how the algorithm would respond. Very creepy way to think about music. It makes sense that the insiders at Spotify would rig the game to benefit themselves. The greedy heart is a prodigious thing, indeed. Yikes. What a world."

The MAGA Creeps are Flailing...

One creepy billionaire donated $250 million dollars to help elect another creepy billionaire, and now, what do we get? Chaos, dysfunction, bad blood, bad governing, idiocy on steroids. Fuck. Who could have seen it coming? Oh, yeah, pretty much any slightly-conscious citizen, you know, anyone with a brain.

The other creepy billionaire hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already the MAGA creeps are flailing. Seems we are heading towards the disaster phase of USA, you know the "fuck around and find out" period of our history. 

Living in the USA. It promises to be a wild ride. Not necessarily a fun one. Although, I am beginning to think there will be a very entertaining side to this unfolding, unholy, spectacle: watching the MAGAs, & the amped up billionaires, make total hash of everything. Sure they are rich and powerful, but it seems they are also toxic, clueless, incompetant clowns. 

Sure, we will all suffer the consequences, but there might be some dead-bounce laughter amidst the tears. It will be obvious who owns this clusterfuck.

Sure, it's a meager silver lining. Being proven right, as the ship of state teeters over the edge is cold comfort. But, who knows, maybe this will all shake out, maybe it's a necessary cleanse? Pushed to the breaking point, and then cooler, smarter heads wake up, the worm turns and we get back to actually trying run a real goverment with folks who know what they are doing? Hope dies last.

The Billionaires are Getting Surly...

“You don’t know anybody as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.” - Fran Lebowitz  Ha. Thank you, Fran...

Ok... another "know your history post,' (see previous post). 

The incredibly wealthy amongst us, the billionaires in our midst, seem to be seriously drunk on their money and power. They are now out in force, and they are at war with Goverment of, and by, the People. Suddenly the little people, the common ones, the working stiffs, you know, basically the rest of us, those who actually do the day to day work that keeps the economy humming along, are under attack. Seems those super-weatlhy folks aren't content unless they can Lord over the rest of us. Think: Hubris, Arrogance, Belligerance. These are not nice folks, they are not as smart as they think they are either.  Many of them are actually drug-infused and brain addled. Certainly, most of them seem to be saddled with egos of mammoth proportions. Not healthy people. They are part of the new shameless, empowered asshole class. Maybe we are in the "fuck around & find out"phase of the story. Even the super-wealthy & super-powerful can push things too far. They have conveniently forgotten that it actually takes a village to make a billionaire. When the villagers finally wake up, things could get very interesting. 

I Bet this Story Gets Worse...

"Legal sports betting revenue in the US has gone from $430 million in 2018 to $11.04 billion last year, i.e., more than a 25-fold increase in five years. Note that revenue means total bets minus total payouts, so that $11.04 billion is the net loss to legal sports gamblers in America last year."

This is subject dear to my heart. I used to love to bet on the ponies. I spent many an afternoon at horse-racing tracks around the city chasing after that big score. You do not want to be a gambling, risk-taking type human being, armed with a shiny little smartphone that connects your bank account directly to an online gamibling site. I mean, fuck, isn't that a fucking obviously super-bad idea? Yikes. This little monkey knows you do not want to feed that jittery big-score seeking monkey.

Of course, the online gambling industry is happier than pigs in shit. And the goverments, local and federal, are probably happy taking their cut too. This runaway money-train is gonna be hard to stop. But what of the poor schlubs gambling their fortunes, or hard-earned pennies away? 

Those hyped-up schlubs can now bet on every play of every game on every game day.  You know, just one click away.  Many of them will be just trying to get even, digging themselves in deeper and deeper with every crazy-ass bet.

Turns out online gambling, on pretty much everything, is draining the bank accounts of folks all acorss the land. Who could have seen this coming? Ha. Maybe just about everyone? And, don't forget, as the money pot grows larger and larger, we get closer to that inevitable sports-betting-scandal? You know someone throwing a game, dropping a ball, making a an obviously bad call to cover a bet, and score the big bucks. Does anyone remember the 1919 Black-Sox Scandal? Know your history people!