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Trump's obituary

Cranky Old Man #81 

Republicans sing praises of Martin Luther King while blocking civil rights 

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Invasion of the hippies at Woodstock, 1969 

A handful of local grouches proposed forcibly shaving the heads of longhairs and calling on the New York State governor to declare Woodstock a disaster area so that soldiers could be called in to deal with the hair heads. Others wanted to meet the buses arriving in Woodstock and force hippies to stay on board and depart.

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Freedom of speech allows anything, we're told, but it's more like money allows anything. With big bucks bankrolling it, there are huge and highly-profitable channels and networks and websites designed to spew lies — Fox News, InfoWars, Newsmax TV, One America News, Joe Rogan...

If the Ku Klux Klan or the Taliban had the funding to launch a channel, nothing would prevent it.

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William Shatner's 1968 album, The Transformed Man, is often derided as absurd silliness. Well I say hey, wait just a gol durn minute. Have you actually heard it? Click it, I dare you. It's pretty good, in my humble opinion, and I declare it to be art.

Here's Shatner's explanation of what he intended and, in my opinion, accomplished:

“During appearances on several talk shows I had spoken the lyrics of several popular songs without causing any permanent damage. But on my first album I wanted to do more than that, I wanted to explore the unique relationship between classic literature and popular song lyrics. I wanted to emphasize the poetry of language, in both its written and musical forms, used to express the extraordinary range of human emotion. That was my concept for this album.

“What I decided to do was find a selection of beautiful writing and use that as a lead-in to a song that complemented it. Or at least served as a corollary. For example, I would use a selection from Cyrano de Bergerac ending, ‘I can climb to no great heights, but I will climb alone,’ to segue into Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ which had been interpreted to be Dylan’s allusion to his experiences with LSD — and I would perform it as a song sung by an addict bemoaning the fact that he is incapable of surviving without his drugs. In much the same way Hamlet’s classic speech, ‘To be, or not to be,’ led directly into ‘It Was a Very Good Year,’ made famous by Sinatra.

“It all made perfect sense to me. But apparently it was a bit obtuse for some other people. Okay, for many other people. All right, for most people.”

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Fifty years ago, Hunter Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, coming at politics from an outsider's perspective that saw through most of the bullshit.

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A newspaper is the first draft of history, someone once said, and history's chapter one is the obituary. What do you suppose Trump's obituary will say, one fine day when he's finally run out of lies to tell?

In the painfully objective mainstream media, his obituary will be fair and balanced because that's what they do. After listing his business and Republican-viewed accomplishments, the coverage will perfunctorily state that Trump was twice impeached, and was "controversial", and "critics said…" bad things about him, but before and after those perfunctory paragraphs, the bulk of the article will be highlights of his business and television careers, and glowing praise from Republican colleagues.

The true story of what he's done — fueling climate change and gutterizing politics and government, lying about everything, and on and on (no hyperbole here) destroying whatever was once good and decent in this world — will get little ink or attention in the news. Columnists and talking heads might say it, but the obituary is part of the 'news' section, so it will be objective and bland and miss the entire point of everything, no matter how obvious.

History books will mimic the fair and balanced obituaries, and fifty years after he's gone, if there are still classrooms (doubtful) Trump will be taught as just another President — Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump, Hannity, Trump, etc.

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Just a bunch of absolutely groovy houses, hotels, and other buildings, and I want to go there.

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How the refrigerator became an agent of climate catastrophe 

According to a report published in 2018 by the International Energy Agency, refrigeration in 2016 accounted for about six per cent of the world’s energy consumption, and space cooling accounted for about eight per cent. In the same report, the I.E.A. predicted that worldwide energy use by air-conditioners would triple by 2050, “requiring new electricity capacity the equivalent to the combined electricity capacity of the United States, the E.U. and Japan today.” Energy use by refrigerators is on a similar upward path.

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Killer cop Jason Van Dyke’s early release sparks outrage 

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Is this journalism or what? 

Republican Glenn Youngkin began his term as governor of Virginia on Saturday with executive actions that tackle education and the COVID-19 pandemic, including a ban on critical race theory in public schools and a lifting of school mask requirements.

Gotta love the fair-and-balanced coverage. Yes, the Gov did "tackle" education and the pandemic, same as a linebacker tackles the other team's quarterback.

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The Undoing of Joss Whedon

Maybe you don't know the name — Joss Whedon made Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, two TV shows I liked very much, and Firefly, maybe the best sci-fi show ever, and Dollhouse, a show both despicable and also simply bad. So he's three-for-four with a big whiff. He also made some movies, including the first Avengers flick, wrote Toy Story, etc.

He publicly painted himself as a feminist while fucking actresses, cheating on his wife, and treating women and apparently all other humans quite shitty. He's just like the worst boss you ever had.

The article is long and will be of little interest unless you're a fan or former fan of the man or his work, but it's thorough, and gives Whedon a fair chance to defend himself — which he botches badly. This should be the stake through his vampyric heart.

Firefly is still terrific, though.

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Is Donald Trump the Antichrist? 

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One-word newscast:
abortion
cops
no shit

Dead:
Clyde Bellecourt
Marlon Brando 

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 Mystery links  — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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 Sing along with Doug: 
 
 

Tip 'o the hat:
All Hat No Cattle • Linden Arden
BoingBoingCaptain Hampockets
Follow Me Here • John the Basket
LiarTownUSAMessy Nessy Chick
National ZeroRan Prieur
Vintage EverydayVoenix Rising

Extra special thanks:
Becky Jo • Name Withheld • Dave S.
and always, Stephanie

1/18/2022 

Cranky Old Man 

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3 comments:

  1. Where is Dr. Thompson when we really need him to document the horseshit?

    Shatner failed to understand the difference between habituation and experimentation. People don't become "addicted" to LSD. He was just trying to make a buck to support his "horse" habit.

    Refrigeration has sucked metric shit-tons of energy out of the global energy grids and has saved somewhere between hundreds of thousands to millions of lives by providing food free of badass bacteria to the populace. Pretty obvious conclusion: THIS FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM OF OURS WON'T SUPPORT EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE.

    Cogent, well-written, provocative column today. Not unusual for this site, but always welcome.

    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't paused to ponder it, but of course you're right about refrigeration, and your conclusion is correct. A whole lot of problems could be maybe not solved but made much smaller problems, with worldwide free access to birth control. And other health care, of course.

      Possibly because I don't drink much or take drugs, and that Shatner scratches the same itch, but I listen to The Transformed Man at least a few times every year. I think it's his best work, ever — faint praise, of course.

      There is to my knowledge not merely no-one of Thompson's ilk working in mainstream media, but also no-one even trying.

      Delete
  2. I'm familiar with most of the groovy houses, with one exception: the Boulder Reign house, which is ironically in my proverbial back yard! Never heard of it until just now!

    I'm convinced Frank Lloyd Wright came to us via Atlantis. His concrete block home designs are so otherworldly.

    ReplyDelete

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