Well I have my two front teeth but they are chipped. No my Christmas list is not about my looks. People's health and well-being is always on the list. Wishing you a Merry Christmas must include your physical and mental health for you to be merry. Oh, the Christmas holiday has been the tradition in my life BUT my wish of joy goes out to all no matter tradition you celebrate.
I don't really have a Christmas list as in a written down ordered list. Given the insane executive branch of our off-the-rails government, my wish to the universe is to give America a break from our reality star president and the awful people on his cabinet.
The commander of destruction offers this terrible picture of our White House this season.
I recently read the following in a news report: “Elected officials are also turning book banning into another wedge issue in the culture wars.”
The word “war” gets diluted by being used for situations that are not a war. The “cola wars” or local “gas wars” are examples.
I do wonder why some people appear ready to fight in these culture wars. I met a man who was about 5 years older than me at a neighbor's house last weekend. It didn’t take long for him to start his recruiting talk for his side of the culture war. I had mentioned having visited Arizona just before the pandemic. He threw out some negative comments about immigrants in Arizona. I can’t imagine that’s the only thing he could say about Arizona. I suggested we talk about less political things. I recall saying, “while I don’t know much about flowers I would rather talk about the nice flowers here.” We eventually left the war behind in our conversation.
Was my reaction different because he was on the other side than me in this so-called war? Maybe I would have joined in by criticizing the former Liar-in-Chief if his comment had matched my view.
War is not the answer. The culture war is not a real war but promoting it does agitate people and can result in tragic events such as the Jan. 6 2021 attack on Congress.
NBC news reported a scary story of how militia groups are using local emergencies in California to recruit people and get good PR. The NBC story's link.
“..the public largely set aside political differences and rallied in support of the nation’s major institutions, as well as its political leadership. In October 2001, 60% of adults expressed trust in the federal government – a level not reached in the previous three decades, nor approached in the two decades since then.”
I’m not saying we should remain quiet about what we see as wrong. We should dial down the anger. Peacefully demonstrate. Let's try to have a civil discussion.
I chose to avoid engaging with this culture warrior. I’m glad I didn’t bother to confront a guy with views I considered extreme rightwing. I’m fairly certain he picked up that our views differed. We don’t need to shout. I might mention him to my neighbor in the future because I’ve known my neighbor for many years. He is not a warrior. However he might have different views than me. I don’t recall ever talking politics with him.
Take a deep breath, feel like I’m chokin’
Everything is broken.
Ok, not everything is broken. But there are too many things broken.
A real deadly war is going on as I write this. I suspect most Ukrainians would not call our cultural issues a war.
December is the season of hope, joy, sharing, and maybe goodwill.
December 2020 I guess might be more like December 2018. I don’t have any personal information about 2018 since I’m not over 100 years old (still a long long way to go for that). The history lesson that describes the 1918 flu pandemic is worth comparing to our recent 2020 pandemic. It was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. As any 2020 reader knows this Covid virus became known to most in the spring. The 1918 pandemic came in waves just like this year. Now we are just starting to vaccinate against it this month. There was no vaccine for the 1918 flu virus. (interesting article about the reconstruction of the 1918 virus) There’s hope, but it will take months before a majority of the population is vaccinated.
even Elf-on-the-Shelf knows to quarantine
2020 was also an election year in the US. This brought me hope and some joy. Seeing our president of chaos and misinformation lose was a joy. Seeing that same soon to be ex-president continue to spread misinformation about the election and collect donations to fight the results is disturbing. He might set the record for the most donations raised by a lame-duck president.
I recently heard Josh Groban sing the old mellow Broadway song, “Try To Remember” on a PBS special. As you know, I enjoy changing the lyrics of songs.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Without an election democracy is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
The vote of November that made us mellow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember
And follow.
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
strange days indeed
enough already
Do you remember John Lennon’s song (recorded in 1980 but released posthumously by Yoko)?
These days since the election was called for President-Elect Joe Biden have been strange days indeed. It was not surprising that the reality TV president would not accept losing. But the firings within his administration and lack of other GOP leaders (lackeys) accepting the outcome is disturbing and becoming scary.
Picture Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Rudy Giulaini has been busy generating scary ideas and looks. He must dream about conspiracies because he comes up with weird ones. During this sweaty press conference he apparently got so heated up that his hair coloring started to run. Rudy gave a bizarre explanation of their case by comparing it to the movie “My Cousin Vinny”. Maybe Rudy is looking to break into the comedy movie scene.
I recommend stepping away from these disturbing administration scary clowns. I enjoy science so I go over to NASA.gov for a break. Have you heard of STEVE? Steve is a rare, mysterious, glowing purple arc in the night sky. I didn't know anything about STEVE before I stumbled on a NASA story. Here’s a link.
Civility comes from the word civis, which in Latin means "citizen".
The last few days of post-election counting and dishonest White House statements reminded me of the Black Knight scene in the “Holy Grail” movie.
King Arthur: Look you stupid bastard, you’ve got no arms left.
Black knight: Yes I have.
King Arthur: Look!
Black knight: Just a flesh wound.
Trump doesn’t need to lose his limbs, just concede and keep quiet.
Taken from email sent today by Joe Biden:
In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
All the leaves are burnt
And the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
On a fall day
I'd be scared and burning
If I was in L.A.
Trying to step up
Tree advice
I guess changing the lyrics of the hit song, California Dreamin’ to reflect the many wildfires would not be kind to California. Wildfires are not humorous. My mind drifts while listening to lyrics. Often those drifts turn into new lyrics.
I should be more serious. I do tire of being serious and thinking of serious problems. We all should be more serious about climate change.
Oh, one more for the road (one more for your browsing?). Remember the sixties song, “Stop Stop Stop”. Actually youtube suggested I listen to the song. It was easy to rework the chorus part.
Stop, stop, stop all the tweeting
Give me time to breathe
Stop, stop, stop all the tweeting
Or I’ll have to heave
I’ll leave the following two lines unchanged.
Heavy hand upon my collar
Throws me in the street
Hopefully next month we will throw commander-in-tweet out into the street. He and his cabinet should be locked away in a cabinet. In addition to that change, having Mitch McConnell sent into retirement would improve our world even more.
Here’s some non-political news (I think that type of news is still possible)
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, FOUR years Stole many a man's soul and faith
Yes, I've been watching the RNC coverage combined with some listening to lyrics of my favorite songs.
(please note most all my posts are non political but certainly not this one)
According to Wikipedia Thugs from the Thuggee cult
The Republican strategists attempts to polish up mean Mr. Mustard’s image enough to reassure swing voters that he is OK enough was on full display. In other words, asking for sympathy for the devil (more about the devil part later).
The week before I watched the DNC coverage. I watched both on the PBS channel. I enjoy the commentary. I used the mute button more with the RNC coverage.
So Trump got his name in fireworks over the Washington monument. That should be enough. Resign now it's not going get better Donny John. Oh, spelled out in fire, the devil? Oh never mine.
As I checking the lyrics to the Rolling Stone's hit song, I came across this line:
And I laid traps for troubadours Who get killed before they reached Bombay
I had no clue to what this referenced. Thanks to a bit of clicking on the internet I found it most likely refers to the Thuggee cult in India's past. Some historians believe the British exaggerated the problem to justify some harsh laws in India. I don't know, but it had me thinking of the thugs associated with mean Mr. Mustard. I included the Thugs picture I found on wikipedia.
The devil in the details - a favorite phrase but since I don’t really believe in the religious concept of the devil, I’m using the term more as slang. I do love deviled eggs.
I thought of updating an old nursery rhyme while in the shower today. The one involving an egg having the unfortunate last name of Dumpty. The poor guy had a thin skin and liked walls.
Then it occurs to me, Trumpty Dumpty. Well duh, that name has been around since the 2016 election. Maybe I subconsciously pulled it from my memory. I don't know.
So I did a quick google on "Trumpty Dumpty". Yeah I was not the first one to put those words together. Also an image search produced many orange-faced eggs.
One of the images lead me to this meme generator site called, imgflip.comwhere I created the following cartoon.
Here's my updated rhyme:
Trumpty Dumpty raided funds for his wall Trumpty Dumpty made an impeachable call Trumpty Dumpty took a big fall All the GOP pols and the GOP attorneys Couldn’t Trumpty back together again.
(don't blow the whistle on me but please leave a comment)
The first thing I remember I was lying In my bed I couldn't of been no more Than one or two I remember there's a radio Comin' from the room next door And my mother laughed The way some ladies do When it's late in the evening And the music seeping through
don't worry mom, I got this
That was before I met Julio. My parents turned on my activities after that.
Mama looked down and spit on the ground
Every time my name gets mentioned
Papa said oy if I get that boy I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention
Well I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going
I'm on my way I'm taking my time
And it was late in the evening And the Democrats blew House of Congress away!
I have posted on serious subjects before and most likely will again. I try to stick to my "theme" of lighten-up on this blog but since life often fails to go by lightly, happily, gently I occasionally post serious thoughts.
Cultures have celebrations in remembrance of good events. Sometimes these good events came out of bad events. Our Christmas season celebrates joy, peace, goodwill. Certainly if everyone was following along there would be no violence during this season of peace. But we know it doesn't work that way.
We are born innocent. Fortunately most children in first world countries remain innocent for the first few years of their lives. Even in some third world countries many young children don't see violence. I don't know at what age one should learn the world is not always a lovely peaceful place. I think by age 20 one should know. I don't believe a violent threatening world should be experienced by a child. The trauma could lead to a later cycle of violence by the afflicted child. We know violence can spread. Love and kindness also spreads. Love and kindness can be seen in the aid offered to victims after tragedies.
Old news - December 14, 2012- A horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary left 20 children, 6- and 7-year-olds, and six educators gunned down by a troubled 20-year-old.
There are no complete perfect fixes for our violent world. Instead of searching and waiting for some perfect solution we should strive today, now, to improve our situation by reducing the violence.
Today by way of a song I came across a group dedicated to improving the school situation. The group is called Sandy Hook Promise. They offer free training to schools and youth programs to educate students about recognizing early signs of violence.
The song that lead me to this group was "The Dreaming Kind" by Sheryl Crow. She wrote the song after the recent Las Vegas shooting. She decided to give the song to the Sandy Hook Promise as a vehicle to raise money. I made small donation for the song download. The Sandy Hook Promise has the links and information for making donations. The song starts with these lines:
I turned off the news again tonite
It’s getting hard to watch everyone fight
Every time I turn my face
I see the world from outer space
How small we are but look how much we have to waste
I don't see this so-called "war" on Christmas. I see a "war" on joy, peace and goodwill. Another Sheryl Crow song (about 10 years ago) suggests that we need to get out of our heads and into our hearts.
Disclaimer: Now I'm a disclaimer, not a trace of truth in my mind. Perhaps my twisted words have more truth.
I know you're hopin' to find
Someone who's gonna give you piece of mind
When times go bad
When times go rough
Won't you lay me down in tall grass
And let me do my stuff
I'm just second hand news
I'm just second hand news
Second hand news is better than fake news. Get ready, I’m going to bounce from Fleetwood Mac to Carly Simon to Simon and Garfunkel. I found a great parody of a classic song used to satirize Donny John (oh I decided to start using “Donny John” for our can-you-believe-it president - Thank you Tina Fey).
don't know if I want to try this beer
Before I get to this brilliant piece of satirical work I would like remind you (and myself) that back in the fall of 2015 I based a parody on “You’re So Vain”. Back then I just thought Donny John’s campaign was a PR stunt. Here’s a link to that old post.
Now that (can you believe it?) he hangs out at the White House when he isn’t at one of his resorts I’ve updated a few lines my parody.
You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your HAIR strategically dipped below one eye
Your scowl was taut
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself cavort
And ALT RIGHT dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and
You're so vain
You probably think this NATION is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this NATION is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
starting the world glowing
But my parodies don’t fly too well without a band and singer. This parody I found on Fakebook has it all - great words, and good singing voices. Check it out:
Everytime I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand
You'd have managed better
if you'd had it planned.
(more lyrics I skipped)
Don’t get me wrong, don’t get me wrong
Don’t get me wrong, only want to know,
Only want to know, only want to know,
Donald Trump, Donald Trump
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Donald Trump, superstar
Do you think you’re what they say you are?
(if you manage to avoid the news, please note our country’s administration is less than a month old and things have gotten out of hand. Not a good start)
Maybe I’ve caught a case of headline stress disorder. Lately the news has been derailing my train of thought. What is going on with my postings? In the past I’ve avoided politics and religion which I don’t believe mix well together. Now I write this post.
First off I’m NOT seriously equating DT with JC. I'm just picking out some lines from these lyrics and reinterpreting.Let me explain. I was thinking about this fake news garbage and then read a disturbing conspiracy theory (I might get back to it in a later post). As I pondered weird stupid theories/stories, I remembered a post I did back in 2011 titled, Aliens coming tonight.
After I awoke hours later, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar washes up in my brain. So I go to youtube and watch a clip of the hit song with lyrics. I like two of the songs in the set but I started listening to the other ones on my quest.
(short true side story - while I was looking up this rock opera, I accidently typed an extra ‘p’ and got “Jesus supperstar”. I think that fits since Jesus did have the most famous supper of all time.)
I guess my current worldview has become distorted because I’m relating these lyrics from a rock opera to today’s White House. The weird thing is as I looked over other songs from this rock opera I found more lyrics relating to today. The Brit, Sir Tim Rice, wrote these lyrics in 1970. Did he accidentally predict the future?
I offer you this selection of lyrics from a 3 different songs:
What’s the buzz?
Tell me what’s happening.
Why should you want to know?
-
Sleep and I shall soothe you
Calm you and anoint you
Myrrh for your hot forehead
Then you’ll feel everything’s alright
-
We dare not leave him to his own devices
His half-witted fans will get out of control
But how can we stop him
His glamour increases
By leaps every minute
Finally from the song, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, I find these words:
Should I bring him down
Should I scream and shout
Should I speak of love
Let my feelings out
I never thought I’d come to this
What’s it all about
If you have any answers to “what’s it all about?” please tell me in the comments.
I need to move on. I don't recall the departure of a president being as emotional as this one. Maybe if Hillary had won his departure would have been easier. No matter who won he and his family were going to leave the White House.
He was a fine father, and a fine president. I'm sure he will continue to be a fine father.
Over the last eight years I've enjoyed the Whitehouse.gov site and their youtube channel. (doing this post reminded me to unsubscribe to that youtube channel and the FakeBook White House page which of course are given to the current president)
Today I was watching some legacy type clips and found this interview of Pete Souza, the former White House photographer on the GQ site. Here's two photos from that interview story:
Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see it makes no sense at all
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
I like the middle. NOT my middle/midsection for it has increased over the years but the middle of the political spectrum. I view the extremes as being too limiting. There more room in the middle. Maybe the middle is boring but boring can be good and relaxing at times.
What will Donald tweet next?
Former reality TV star and soon to be world leader, Mr. Trump certainly expresses himself on twitter. Donald is a twitter gatling gun. Since the beginning of reality TV I disliked the format and never thought as an occupation/career it would provide any solid career advancement. Shows how little I know or understand about the world.
She-who-hooked-me-onto-public-radio and I listened to good NPR show about Trump and the media called “On the Media”. The particular show was titled “The Game Has Changed”. (link to show's page)
A cognitive linguist (never met one but sounds interesting) interviewed on the show offered categories of Trump tweets. Here’s his categories:
Preemptive framing - frames an event his way before others do.
Diversion - the recent Meryl Streep and Hamilton tweets are examples
Trial balloon - checks the popular reaction of an idea/issue
Deflection - attack the messager
One of the problems the media has with these tweets is their addiction to breaking news. They just mainline these tweets before they even think twice about it. Their handling of these outbursts makes me sick.
Just taking the time to categorized his tweets could be beneficial if you are not just going to ignore them. I’m not on twitter. You don’t need to be to see/hear about his tweets. I don’t care about twitterstorms. The media addicts take of that for you.
One of the tweets mentioned in that NPR show was this one:
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”
Since he doesn’t know what a landslide is maybe he will be caught under one someday.
Moving on, I offer this question for the comment section. I recently posed this question to my Fakebook community.
a question worthy of FB, but first a bit of trivia. Every White House administration going back to Theodore Roosevelt has had a pet dog. Many had additional pets too. Donald Trump does not appear to have any pets. My question to FB - Will Donald Trump get a pet dog and if so what type?
Oh a bit of background music for you while think of a good answer.
Also lately I have not been in the mood to post anything on my blog either. Lots of reasons come to my mind but the reasons don’t matter much. Now I don’t need to be on the sunny side of the street to write a post but it often helps. There has been a few marvelous things happening around me lately. Joyful events really. Getting diverted from the blog for wonderful family events is the way it should be. Actually, I tend to keep most family events good or bad out of the blog. If fakebook is good for anything it would be sharing family events.
If you have been reading this clown’s blog for awhile you probably picked up on my distaste disgust for political garbage on fakebook (the reason I started calling it fakebook). Anyone living in the US watching or listening to any news recently has been subjected to disgusting political mud slinging. Unfortunately, I have a few family members who (reasons I don’t understand) smear that smelly stuff around fakebook. I really do try to avoid getting drag into comment exchanges. Recently, I fell into the trap of replying to some political trash.
Not too long ago on FB I posted this survey type question:
I have a question for the FB users I know and anyone else who might see this. Given that the US is now about 1 month away from election day, do you think FB has helped or hurt your understanding of the candidates and what they represent?
(Overall, I find FB a misused distraction that distorts and spreads misinformation)
I was pleased that of the comments written most all the them agreed with my view on this. However, the ones with apparent extreme opposite views either didn't comment or argued with me. I believe discourse is one of our great freedoms. But much of the fakebook garbage is not discourse. It's more like the behavior of kids fighting on grammar school playgrounds. Name calling, bullying, and fear mongering is not discourse.
I thought I might try a little experiment on myself. Does listening to the old hit swing tune, “In The Mood” help me create a post. So far it has worked ok. Of course, I might need to collect more data. There are thousands of songs to try. Remember back in the 80’s, “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”? It was a one-hit wonder song. Wearing shades is fine, but I hope our future does NOT include needing to wear flak jackets and helmets.
Occasionally I've been known to break my own rules. I have a general rule to avoid politics on both FakeBook and this blog. Warning this post is breaking that rule. While I would like to change people's minds (or change the world - great song by Eric Clapton) I've found my influence on others somewhat limited. (however, I was told once that I had the best lunch ideas when the group couldn't decide where to go at work)
a ring of ??
Last summer I wrote about the blogging ring of fire.
not the ring of fire I had in mind
Writing is a burning thing
And it doesn’t help me sing
Bound by wild desire
I posted words of fire
I fell into a bloggin ring of fire
I went down, down, down (but not past the comment section)
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
The comments can be sweet
Give a facebook like or a tweet
I fell for readers like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild
Before thatsong gets stuck in you head, listen to this minor hit from the sixties using my parody version of the lyrics below: (clarifying note - sometimes when you write something it's clear to you the writer but not always clear to the readers. That happened here with these lyrics. It makes more sense if you think of Donald Trump singing this song. Yeah I know Donald singing ?? might not be pleasant.)
Ok everyone sing along:
Breakin' rules in the hot sun
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I need attention 'cause I had none
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I left TV shows and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
Reality TV the best that I ever had
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
Berating people is my fun
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I miss my business I run
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I left TV shows and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
Reality TV the best that I ever had
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
I fought the GOP and Hillary won
Kids and grandkids often trigger memories of our own youth. Today I overheard our daughter singing to our baby granddaughter. She was singing “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”. Instantly I remembered singing it as a child with the wrong words (sometimes I can't carry a tune or the words). I didn’t know a Bonnie so I thought the lyrics used “my body”.
Using the magic google window into the internet, I found this:
“When I was little I thought it was "my body lies over the ocean" I was a Dark child”
That was a comment left on a youtube clip of this Scottish folk song. Very reassuring that I was not the only one to hear “my body”. I never could figure out why someone’s body would lie over an ocean. It would be an amazing stretch.
I also learned that Bonnie probably refers to Bonnie Prince Charlie who was defeated in a battle and exiled.
Back when I first learned it was Bonnie, I thought like many do, that is was a love song. Now knowing of this exiled prince, I suspect it probably was a political song. Politics have been creeping into all aspects of life for a long long time.
I might just need to start working on an updated version:
My Obama lies over the ocean
My Obama lies over the sea
My Obama lies over the ocean
Oh, bring back my Obama to me.
Will this be yet another mistake? I don’t want this blog to get political. So I’ve been reluctant to share this idea of mine here. But on the other hand (that hand that doesn’t do much anyway) why not. The readership is down (close to being sunk). So I’m going to expand on the idea of making a mistake. However, I will not get drawn into a debate about the current political candidates.
“The perfect ending to the bad day”. That confusing phrase from Sheryl Crow’s “My Favorite Mistake” song can make sense if you let ‘perfect’ and ‘bad’ join together to describe a real terrible day. Phrases like this is why I enjoy listening to the lyrics.
Our never ending election cycles have given us a few perfect mistakes to consider.
Here’s my perfect idea for a bad post.
Do a parody of the song “You’re So Vain” using Donald Trump and his campaign. I always thought the Donald was very vain. I believe even his hair is vain. The Donald could become the perfect political mistake.
Now if you please, add your suggested lyric ideas in the comments. Of course, if you don’t find this at all funny then have a great perfect day and come back for the next post which will not be political at all. Actually, given that it’s Donald Trump I don’t consider this post very political since I have a difficult time equating him to a serious political leader.
Here’s my hope for a campaign hit:
(if you can sing along and carry a tune please do a recording and post it on youtube, please just mention this post )
You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your HAIR strategically dipped below one eye
Your scowl was taut
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself cavort
And all LAWYERS dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and
You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
Reality show several years ago
when you fleeced the naive
Well, you said you have such pretty hair
And your shouted words make me heave
Do you care who makes the things you love
And can you handle a hot Mexican tamale
They had some dreams, stopped by walls on the border
walls on the border and
You're so rich
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so rich
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
They had some dreams, stopped by walls on the border
walls on the border and
You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your HAIR naturally won
Then you spew words like you’re a nova
you curse everyone under the sun
Well, you're where you golf all the time
And when you're not, you're planning
Some lawsuits, Oh your third wife is no friend
Wife is no friend, and
You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
