Tag: News

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Superfee

Dawn’s rosy blush quickly accelerated into sharp-edged sunshine. The wind is whispering, “Summer is coming.” 68 F now, we’re expected to troll through the mid 80s as a high in the Churchill Valley where I’m still staying. Clouds are mostly absent but more are expected. So are thunderstorms.

This is Wednesday, May 22, 2024.

Rudy Giuliana and ten others pleaded not guilty Tuesday to nine felony charges accusing them of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona. Not surprised that they went with not guilty. Standard reaction. Seems like impressive evidence for the charges exist. These individuals signed documents saying they were the electors when there was all kinds of evidence that they weren’t. The defendants face multiple felony counts, including forgery, conspiracy, and fraud.

But as we see with Trump’s current trial, getting justice delivered hinges on how words are delivered and interpreted. Anyone in a relationship can understand the I said/they said fluidity of the words’ meanings. The same thing has hampered us as a nation for years in the US when discussing the Second Amendment. We’re a nation divided by words.

Actually, it’s more than words dividing us. Serious differences in principles about rights, wealth, government reach, taxes, laws, and justice divide us.

I’ve been watching the Trump Trial on MSNBC. Part of the spectacle is Trump’s supporters showing up in color-coordinated suits and ties. That’s a symbol of their solidarity. Impressive, right? Yeah, that’s snark.

As a result of that, though, The Neurons fed “Gotta Serve Somebody” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark undefined). The 1979 Bob Dylan song seemed so appropriate for those Trumpettes. Dylan sings, “You gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the lord, but you gotta serve somebody.”

That works, right? Trump is the embodiment of the devil for about half of us. The other half has many who think Trump was sent by God. Many of us hearing that respond, “WTF?”

Anyway, that’s today’s theme music.

I urge you, remain positive about what can happen and be strong. It’ll help if you get out there and Vote Blue.

Coffee is being siphoned up. Here’s the music. Have a superb day. Cheers

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Agreeing with Trump’s Campaign

Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think? A little too ironic.

Rolling Stone rolled out a story about a new film that features Donald Trump. The article begins,

After the film The Apprentice debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, the Trump Campaign threatened to sue over the controversial depiction of the ex-president during his early days in real estate and his marriage to his first wife, Ivana.

Among scenes of Trump taking amphetamine pills and getting liposuction, Variety reported that the movie included a disturbing scene of the former president throwing Ivana to the floor and having nonconsensual sex with her. The outlet said a female attendee at the premiere referred to it as “rape,” while another agreed and said it was a disturbing sexual assault.

That beginning seized my attention. Reading on is where it became so Alanis Morrisette ironic:

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked,” Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to Rolling Stone.

Whoa, whoa, whoa – the Trump campaign is upset about blatantly false assertions? Garbage that’s been thoroughly debunked?

Gosh, we’re with you on that! Would that include assertions which have been thoroughly debunked like that the 2024 election was stolen, an assertion without any facts supporting it whatsoever? That the kind of assertions which have you upset, Mr Trump Campaign?

What about blatantly false assertions that have been thoroughly debunked like the US economy did so much better under DJ Trump?

Let’s thrown in that hilariously debunked assertion that Trump is 6 foot 3 and weighs a svelte 215 pounds?

Are you saying, Mr Trump’s Campaign, that you don’t like it when thoroughly debunked bullshit is substituted for truth?

Then you know how the rest of us feel about you and your campaign at this point. You must surely know how sick and tired we are of hearing about these debunked lies that you keep spouting as truths.

And just as you want these ‘thoroughly debunked assertions’ stopped, so…do…we.

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Infloofspitable

Infloofspitable (floofinition) – Place or activity which is unwelcoming for animals. Origins: North America, late 1960s.

In Use: “Worries about wolves have caused several states to make the world infloofspitable.”

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Sunfresh

Today is Monday 20, 2024. We’re paddling toward May’s end, on course to the middle of 2024.

I awoke to a broadside of sunshine. High white clouds faint as a fading spring breeze streak the blue sky. 68 F already, we’ll brush up against the mid 80s once again.

Yesterday was flat-out wonderful for me. We feted a new sixteen-year-old’s milestone at the littlest sister’s home. Talking around the kitchen table, playing with sis’s wonderful dog (Chloe), and eating made up the gist of the five hours we were there. It was the standard teenager fare of pizza, hoagies, chips, and cake with ice cream. All participants got along well. No fights were heard and very few disagreements. All of this was done under a light summer feel. It was a day of happiness where worries were scarce.

I’m going to brush aside politics and world news for now. I know it’s out there but I’d rather maintain a posture of innocence and hope for one more day.

I had a terrific writing day yesterday morning as well. Disliking breaking away from that activity, I thought, I could use more time. That prompted me to get up earlier today and out the door to get more time. While I was dressing, eager to have more time, “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon (2008) was plugged into the morning mental music stream (Trademark faded). I accepted it as the day’s theme song even though I was about using more time and not using somebody.

Stay strong, be positive, lean forward, and experience a good day. Coffee has begun its journey through my physical being and I’m feeling solid. Here’s the music. Hey, ho, let’s go. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffpassionate

May continues is march. Today is the month’s 17th day.

It’s Friday. Clouds have won the morning, but they’re a modest whipped cream overlay. 63 F out there, 70 F is today’s top. 70 F isn’t bad for me, although it always comes to me as ‘not quite hot, and not quite cold’. I feel like Goldilocks writing that.

I miss my cats, Tucker and Papi. Note: I also miss my wife but I get to chat on the phone with her every day. She presents updates: “It’s nice outside, so they’re out there sleeping somewhere.” Not much color there, but then, but they’re low-key floofies. My wife does tell me that Tucker sleeps with her every night. Papi, of course, wants out. I’ll be happy to be back with them.

The Neurons have plugged a Sly Fox song into the morning mental music stream (Trademark reflected). The group came out with “Let’s Go All the Way” in 1985. As an 1980s product, it offers an eclectic and intriguing mix of techno sounds with mellow, laid-back vocals.

What’s interesting about this song is that many perceived it as a tune about sex. The truth is, it’s about politics. Here’s the initial verse:

Sitting with the thinker
Trying to work it out
It’s a traffic jam of the brain
Makes you wanna scream and shout
Presidential party
No one wants to dance
Looking for a new star
To put you in a trance

And the chorus is about a better way:

Let’s go all the way
We need heaven on Earth today
Aah-aah-aah
We can make a better way
Let’s go all the way
Go all the way
Let’s go all the way
Yeah

h/t to Genius.com

I think The Neurons’ choice is pitch-perfect. We have that guy, Trump, a Bible Belt darling with some. He practices as they preach: hate and name-calling is his daily delivery, for, as the Bible orders, “Hate thy political opponent with all the anger on Earth.” Their Bible seems to also state, “Treat women like they have no rights. Grab by the pussy and move like a bitch. Cheat on thy wives and lust after thy daughter.”

Also in their Bible is the guidance about morals and ethics: “Lie and cheat to get ahead, for more money is key to your place in Heaven.”

So, my fellow Democrats, let’s go all the way. Vote out those MAGA Republicans and make it a better day.

Coffee has made its way to me. Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Then let’s work on restoring voting rights and women’s rights, and rights for everyone everywhere, and act like a compassionate nation that immigrants helped build, instead of treating them like garbage, as the MAGA Bible apparently directs.

Here’s the video. And there’s the rain. Cheers

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Tueday’s Theme Music

Mood: Bureausilized (when activities are rendered useless by bureaucracy and become fossilized)

Good morrow, gentle folk and fellow coffee guzzlers. Today is Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

For the record, we’re fully overcast in Penn Hills, PA. It’s comfortable out, 61 F, with rain and thunderstorms chugging our way. They’re scheduled to arrive noonish. Today’s high will stroke out at 72 F.

Trump on Trial (the hush money/business fraud business) holds my family enthralled. Details are reiterated and explored. They’re also enjoying Trump’s latest tax issues, whereby he seems to be on the hook for $100,000,000 in taxes.

But doubt has been expressed that anything significant will emerge from either of these matters. Trump is white, male, and wealth, even if he may not be as wealthy as he claims. He’s also an ex-POTUS and the woeful GOP’s current candidate. Looking at the crime and punishment Venn diagram, significant punishment and karma don’t seem likely. The lesson reinforced for most of us, I think, is that the U.S. has a tiered justice system that mocks ‘and justice for all’.

The Hunt for Mom’s Caregiver goes miserably. All agencies contacted have suggested other agencies to contact. It’s a quagmire of links and promises, but little of substance is ever found. Others have found caregivers, so it is possible. Just need to moving out of expectations that any government agency will be useful.

Likewise, there’s no movement on Mom’s hospital bed request. In his case the road goes through her PCP’s office. Calling it is like shouting into a sewer. There’s not even an echo in response.

Today’s theme music veers to remembrance of David Sanborn’s work. The saxophonist died this week, robbing us of another wonderful musical talent. While more talented musicians keep emerging, the ones who marked us with their style should remain recognized and appreciated.

One of the first songs The Neurons pulled up for David Sanborn was David Bowie’s “Young Americans” from 1975. Then, as I read appreciations about him, many more people mentioned this same song. Sanborn’s body of work was much better than that, though.

I like this video which I found to showcase Sanborn. Not the best sound quality, but there’s a lot of talent on display here beyond Bowie and Sanborn. So many of them have passed.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Meanwhile, create and adhere to a vision of a better world. We make it happen, yes, we can make it happen.

Coffee is being chugged. Here’s the video. Cheers

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Some Funny Memes to Share

Mother’s Day and Political Memes

Take them in and grin, giggle, and guffaw at existence. I particularly enjoy the Presidential goals. True yet funny, it aptly encapsulates GOP goals and progress for most of the last forty years.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: sunspired

It’s arrived at last, Saturday, May 11, 2024. Those who have been waiting for this day can let their breaths out. It’s here.

Sun is here as well, gleaming off metal and glass, raising hopes that spring and winter has passed. Not for Mom, though; she prefers winter’s cosy parameters, disliking the heat and humidity that summer ladles out once it’s in control.

All is not perfect out there. White clouds are fronting the hazy horizon. It’s a comfortable, even refreshing 53 F now. But — you knew it was coming — the weather masters inform us that rain will be here in three hours. So precise, aren’t they? Our high won’t eclipse 60 F. Meanwhile, my wife told me that they’d squeaked past 80 F back in Ashlandia.

I watched a lot of “Trump on Trial” with Mom on MSNBC this week. Man, they love discussing the details on those shows, trying to spin, what does it all mean? They emerge with titillating ideas about whether each witness was positive or negative for Trump, the defense, and the prosecution. They’re giddy over what Cohen will say.

But wait, there’s more! There are two witnesses next week. Who will it be besides Cohen? What does this mean for the trial? It is fascinating theater. I’m more interested in the outcome.

Listening and watching, I do wonder what’s going on in Trump’s head. He looks like crap. I wonder what the jurors are thinking. Will they buy the idea, one, that Trump didn’t pay any attention to these $35,000 checks he was signing from his personal account because he was too busy, that he had no idea what they were for?

Can the jurors agree that there was no sex at all? That’s it’s just a con job by Stormy Daniels?

Is it conceivable for the jurors to conclude that Cohen came up with this on his own, that Trump was totally clueless and uninvolved?

Well, there are people who think the Earth is flat.

Weezer is riding the morning mental music stream (Trademark buried). The song is from 2005, “Perfect Situation”. The Neurons introduced it after I rhetorically inquired of myself this morning, am I insane? That dovetailed with the song’s opening lines, “What’s the deal with my brain? Why am I so obviously insane?”

Stay fresh and regularly bathe. Also, be positive and stay strong. Aaannnd, Vote Blue in 2024. I’m drinking coffee now, and it’s good going down. Yeah, baby.

Here’s the music video. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffexcited

Sunshine rules Penn Hills and Monroeville this morning.

The clouds haven’t been dismissed like a MAGA claim. Oh, no. But they’re broken white and blue-grey pieces of what they once were.

This is May 8, 2024. Current temp here is 71 F. 82 F is our ceiling today.

We had a terrific thunderstorm around 1:30 AM this morning. Sky played cracked the whip with its sounds. I’d heard its soft rumbling beginnings as I was faded. Thought, what is that noise? Animal? Rain? Nope; thunder.

I listened to the storm progress and leave, then dropped into slumber land. There, the storm found its way into my dreams. Fun dreams, though. Nothing sinister or scary.

Mom had a good day yesterday. Physical therapist came by and spent time most of an hour watching her movements, talking to her, teaching her new exercises, closing with checking on the requested wheelchair and hospital bed for her. He was Jim, a nice guy. Man informed me that Jim also tends to clients in prison. I suggested that’s why Jim was selected to help Mom. A good laugh ensued.

Tonight, we attend my nephew’s final high school jazz ensemble concert. Other than that. preparations for a Mother’s Day cook-out at my sister’s house are in full bloom.

Conversations of note with Mom: she was talking about a meal her father used to make in the winters. This was a tangent from some jokes about goulash. She told me about slumgullion: ground beef, tomato sauce, macaroni or pasta, sometimes vegetables. I realized I’d eaten it throughout my life without knowing what it was called.

Another topic was the coal deliveries and the backbreaking work the boys in the household were required to do to get it into the house for its use.

It was absorbing talking to her and Frank about their youths, once again absorbing the mammoth changes in American living compared to eighty years ago. It definitely promotes speculation what people in America will be living like 80 years from now.

Today’s music comes from the dream. “Hang Fire” by the Rolling Stones was released in 1981. The Neurons released it to my morning mental music stream (Trademark stalled) after I contemplated my dreams this morning. It was a pretty good matchup. The song is a lightweight, pop offering. Not my favorite among the Stones’ offerings.

I would write about the Trump trial featuring Stormy Daniels, but I’m a little burnt out on it. I followed it live yesterday, discussing it with Mom. Now the trial has a day off, and I’m taking a day off from thinking and talking about it.

Nor do I feel especially inclined to bring up Gaza and the cease fire agreement, or the campus protests and crackdowns, politics in general, or the bad weather in some parts of the country and world. Just not up to it. More coffee is required before slipping down those muddy paths.

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the music video offering. Look at those youngsters!

And away we go. Cheers

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