Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXIV--Steve Winwood: While You See a Chance

I'd been working for Camelot Music about five months when this week's tune came out--all I remember of it at the time was that I didn't like it much.  Fast forward a few years and it came on the radio as I was driving to work one morning, and I remember thinking to myself."Why in the hell didn't I like this song?  This is a great song!"  And my epiphany would become the first of many through the years.

While most of us were playing with our toys and watching TV when we were in grade school, Steve Winwood was backing blues musicians such as B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Muddy Waters on their U.K. tours playing organ and guitar.  He joined his first band, the Spencer Davis Group, when he was fourteen, and the band had a number one hit in the U.K. by the time Winwood was 17.  He left shortly thereafter for the seminal sixties band Traffic, and then after several albums left them to help form Blind Faith (with among others, Eric Clapton).  In the late seventies Winwood finally got around to pursuing a solo career (at the ripe old age of 29), and it was there he had his greatest commercial success.  For his solo career, Winwood has released nine studio albums, with three top tens in the U.K. and three top fives in the U.S. (including one number one).  He has also released 25 singles, with six top ten hits in the U.S., including two #1's (for whatever odd reason, Winwood did not have nearly the single chart success in the U.K.).  Winwood has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic, but surprisingly has not been inducted as a solo artist.  Though Winwood has not released a new album since 2008, he continues to tour regularly 

"While You See a Chance" was the first single released from Winwood's second solo album, Arc of a Diver  in 1981.  The song reached #7 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and the LP hit #3 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Winwood is a multi-instrumentalist, and played all of the instruments on Arc of a Diver, as well as the release that followed, Back in the High Life.  

"While You See a Chance" is a carpe diem song, with Winwood exhorting us to take our best shot at both love and life.  Winwood's organ (synthesizer?) playing drives the song throughout, giving Winwood's exhortation an invigorating backdrop.  But in the end, it's Winwood's vocals (blue-eyed soul, an emaycee fave) that takes the song to another level.  Winwood has said his singing style was patterned after Ray Charles, and while he's not quite as gifted vocally as Charles, it's easy to see the similarities, especially the guttural, from the heart soul that resonates from the tips of your toes to the ends of your fingers.  Just another dazzling piece of pop music.

Lyric Sheet:  "Stand up in a clear blue morning/Until you see what can be..."

Enjoy:

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Rich man, poor man

 

Nothing a few thousand pitchforks couldn't cure

It's been a while since I told both of my readers that we're losing the class war, so I'll remind them again:  we're losing the class war.

I note this because research by economic think tank EPI shows that CEO pay rose 16% in 2020 while the average worker's rose less than two percent.  In actual dollars, this means a CEO making $2,000,000 per year saw his pay rise $320,000 while someone making $20,000 a year since his pay rise by...$400.  Or in real world terms, the above mentioned CEO's extra pay could buy ten SUV's off your local car dealer's lot, while the above noted working man's extra pay would be lucky to buy a family two week's worth of groceries.

If companies can afford to raise the pay of overrated and pampered millionaires by 16%, we goddamn surely can raise the minimum wage to $15.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Covid karma is gonna get you

The vaccinated all shine on

New data is showing that COVID-19 is still infecting the unvaccinated at rates equal to the pandemic's highs, and because republican have downplayed the seriousness of the virus and their voters aren't getting vaccinated at the rate Democratic voters are, it's beginning to look like the the future spread of it will be concentrated among republicans.

Thoughts and prayers!

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Cloud-cuckoo-land

Matt's best friend, the Tree o' Insanity

 Matt Gaetz--who allegedly had sex with underage girls and a proclivity for cocaine, and who is, quite frankly, dumber than a squirrel--said this week that if Donald Trump chooses not to run for President in 2024 that Gaetz himself would run and easily beat Joe Biden.

I'll say one thing for Gaetz--he's even more delusional than Donald Trump.  Trump was at least a minor celebrity before he ran for President; outside of the republican party, Gaetz is a nobody.

But as sure as Gaetz is that he could win, I'm even more certain that the Bidens' dog Major could run against him as a write-in candidate and get more votes than Gaetz.

And he'd be a much better President than Gaetz, too.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

That's the spirit!

Woke up fuming that GOP senators are going to vote against the commission, but calmed myself down in knowing we’ll spend the next few years making them regret it. #bulwarkoptimism

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) May 28, 2021

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

 

God-damn right

 

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

This can be America

 

Our next republican President...

Late last week, the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko faked a bomb threat and sent jets to force land a passenger plane in its capital city of Minsk that just happened to be carrying Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian journalist who is a leader of the the political opposition in Belarus.  Protasevich may eventually face the death penalty merely for opposing a fascist leader.

Anybody who doesn't believe that the actions of the Belarusian dictatorship to silence its opposition is exactly the way the current incarnation of the republican party (especially wannabe despot Donald Trump) wants to deal with its political opponents (you and me) is absolutely kidding themselves.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Fucked up priorities

231 mass shootings in 146 days this year: let’s make it easier to buy guns

16 alleged cases of voter fraud out of 160 million votes in 2020: let’s make it harder to vote

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) May 26, 2021

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

 

Come and keep your comrade warm

 

Back in the USSR?

An increasingly worrisome trend is that of republican politicians and their corporate benefactors cozying up to Russia--a nation that would love nothing more than to see America's downfall.  To wit:

• We know that Donald Trump accepted Russia's help willingly in winning the 2016 Presidential election and in an unprecedented display of disregard for America's national security, Donald Trump went to unheard of lengths to hide his conversations with Vladimir Putin.  Making Russia Great Again is more like it.
• Mitch McConnell most assuredly earned his nickname "Moscow Mitch" with shady business deals in his home state of Kentucky with a Russian oligarch, not to mention his refusal to let President Obama warn Americans that Russia was interfering in our elections.  Sounds like a Kentucky Fried Traitor to me.
• Ted "Kremlin Cruz" this week send out a tweet which praised Russian propaganda while denigrating America's military.  Nice how he put America First.
• There are many questions about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's unholy alliance with a Russian investor with a large stake not only in Facebook, but in a Donald Trump owned business as well, which may go a long way to explain how Facebook came to accept Russian misinformation campaigns so readily.  How many pieces of silver do you suppose America is worth?

How much longer can we ignore the fact that republicans and their patrons are putting the needs of the Russian government before the needs of the American people?

With a man like Vladimir Putin pulling their strings (who is oh, so much smarter and more wicked than any republican),  my guess is not for fucking long before we're drowning our troubles in vodka.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Killing business

In other words, Florida signed up to spend a huge amount of taxpayer money defending a law that they absolutely no won't stand up in court. All for Trump. https://t.co/pg3R2I85od

— Mark Sumner (@Devilstower) May 24, 2021

 Yes, I understand Florida's law has little chance to surviving intact in the courts, but in essence, hypothetically speaking, Marjorie Taylor Greene could send out a tweet telling the republican rank and file to start killing their Democratic neighbors, and thanks to Florida republicans disastrous misinterpretation of the right to free speech Twitter could get sued for endless billions by the families of those dead Democrats for allowing such a dangerous suggestion to be spread on social media.  Florida republicans believe it's more important to kowtow to an incompetent moron than to let businesses rightfully protect their bottom line.

You have to wonder how much longer it will be before America's business leaders wake up and realize that the republican party is sinking farther and farther into the pit of fascism, and have no regard anymore for the norms and institutions that have guided this nation since its inception.  With each passing day, the corporate gravy train is increasingly heading for a crashing halt because of republican insouciance.

If they're willing to gut one company's profits to please Donald Trump, they will surely gut any other.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Lords like fine whines, too

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Lady Goo Goo Ga Ga

Should replace the elephant as the symbol of the GQP

Marjorie Taylor Greene had another classy weekend, comparing mask wearing to the Holocaust and, as if that wasn't enough, actively encouraging treason in the form of lauding states seceding from the union.

It's reached the point, though, that getting mad at Ms. Greene is about as pointless as getting angry with a baby for shitting its diapers:  she doesn't have the intelligence to know any better and doesn't have the life experience to realize that others find the smell to be disgusting.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Commander Covidiot

 

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is On Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXIII--Steve Miller Band: Take the Money and Run

 This week we're going back to the decade that many--myself included--consider the best ever for rock and roll:  the 1970's.  And now, everybody together (with eye rolls), "OK, Boomer..."

Steve Miller moved to Chicago at the ripe old age of twenty-two to follow his dream of being a blues musician.  After a year he grew unhappy with the music scene there and in 1966 moved to San Francisco where he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band.  Shortly thereafter Miller took the bold step of taking the word "Blues" out of the band's name and it became just the Steve Miller Band (it was hoped that taking the word out would broaden the band's audience--it worked quite well).  The Steve Miller Band would have its first charting album in 1969, and would continue to chart albums moderately successfully until 1973 when it had its first pop hit with the song "The Joker" and the band would have four of its next five albums hit the top three on the Billboard 200 (with nary a number one, oddly enough).  In 1978 the Steve Miller Band released its Greatest Hits and to date the compilation has sold more than 13 million copies.  For their career, the band has released 18 studio albums, six live albums, and nine compilations.  They've also released thirty singles, with three #1's and two more top ten hits.  Sadly, most of the band's original members have gone to the Great Rock and Roll Concert in the Sky, though Miller still tours with the band's current incarnation.  Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 (and managed to be perhaps the only inductee to be such an asshole as to have the band inducting him--the Black Keys--later recant their speech honoring him).

Fun Fact:  emaycee fave Boz Scaggs met Miller at the age of 12 when the pair were in prep school.  They would later attend the University of Wisconsin together, and go their separate ways for a few years before meeting up again in San Francisco.  Scaggs was the guitarist on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums before returning to his solo career.

"Take the Money and Run" was the first single released (in 1976) from Miller's appropriately titled for the seventies album, Fly Like an Eagle.  The single would reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the albums would peak at #3.

"Take the Money and Run" tells the tale of two young lovers who rob a rich man and are followed by a mean detective until they escape over the border--which sounds somewhat lame until you remember America's fascination with outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger, folks who stole from the rich to support themselves.  The song is catchy, Miller's vocals are detached enough to keep the song from inanity, and there's some nice guitar work along the way.  While I would never say I waited with baited breath for a Steve Miller Band release, I liked a number of their songs as I went through my formative years.  But I chose this one because...in the second chorus and again right before the end after Miller sings "take the money and run" he bellows "Ooooh, Lord!" and it's one of those moments in a song that takes it from being a nice little single to one you want to hear again and again.  And it's those small (even if sometimes silly) moments that have kept me entertained listening to pop music for almost fifty years now.

Lyric Sheet:  "They got the money, hey/You know they got away/They headed down south and they're still running today/Singin' go on take the money and run/Go on take the money and run...oooh Lord..."

Enjoy:

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

The GQP alternate reality--historically speaking

british tourists visit washington, circa 1812 pic.twitter.com/yfVLjT6Iel

— gg 🙊🙈🙉 (@gina_goldberg) May 19, 2021

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

 

A drug addled pervert and a racist homophobe walk into a bar...

Smells like cat piss to me, too

This is what passes for fun among republicans these days:  attending a rally in Maricopa, Arizona (where republican auditors are doing their level best to make sure Arizona voters will be the victims of identity theft) led by a man (Matt Gaetz) who allegedly snorted cocaine while he had sex with women who were minors, and a woman (Marjorie Taylor Greene) who allegedly has an open marriage and has almost as many questionable financial dealings as Donald Trump to continue that lie that Trump, who got utterly annihilated by Joe Biden last November, somehow won an election he lost by over seven million votes.  

Nothing like those family values of fidelity, honesty, and purity of body and soul.

By the way, apparently the Smashing Dog Shit With Our Faces 2021 Tour was sold out in Maricopa for those looking for a show a little less disgusting.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

An idiot by any other name...

What's the difference between the Trump Organization and the Mafia?

The Mafia turns a profit.

— Leslieoo7 ☠️ 🇺🇲 (@Leslieoo7) May 19, 2021

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too 

Peace,

emaycee

Gutless

 

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Meanwhile on Fantasy Island

Da assholes! Da assholes!

 New York Times opinion writer Thomas Friedman recently wrote that despite the passage of time since January 6th, when republicans tried to overturn a legitimate election simply because they didn't like the outcome, that America is still in dire straits.  And that if republicans don't come to their senses, we're facing a political civil war.

Not sure which planet Friedman has been living on for the last thirty years, but the republican party has been swan diving down the rabbit hole since at least Ronald Reagan.  With each progression from Reagan to George W. Bush to Donald Trump the party has gotten farther and farther away from any semblance of respect for our ideals or our institutions or, for that matter, our people.  They've done nothing but coarsen our political discourse and have given up any semblance of being anything other than a party of racists whose only agenda is holding onto power so they can continue to make the rich richer.  They will not be coming to their senses.

Ever.

No, if America is to survive it's going to be up to the Democratic Party to continue to hold the White House, Senate, and House and to double down on their agenda that delivers a better financial future, the freedom to be who you are, and an unprecedented inclusiveness.

Republicans do not give a shit about America or Americans.  Democrats do.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace, 

Emaycee

What's in a name?

The two biggest threats to the future of America

 If President Obama is saying it, quite a bit actually.

When told that Donald Trump was making phone calls to foreign leaders like Vladimir Putin without any aides present--especially in lieu of Trump's collusion with Russia during the 2016 Presidential Election--a forthcoming book by Atlantic staff writer Edward-Isaac Dovere reports that President Obama called Trump, "...that corrupt motherfucker."

While I'm sure that when the book comes out next week republicans will get their fee-fees hurt and have their panties in a twist for weeks on end (fuck 'em if they don't get the joke), President Obama's statement captures Donald Trump and his four year cesspool circus perfectly.

President Obama also called the chubby cheeto "a fucking lunatic," but for reference purposes I think we all should stick with "that corrupt motherfucker." It encapsulates exactly what a human shit stain Trump is.

Props to President Obama for such an apt description of a man who is the antithesis of all that is good in America.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXII--Blur: Song 2

 We have another first for Friday Night Jukebox:  the first song that both of my readers are probably sick of, especially if they've seen a sporting event or any numbers of movies over the course of the past twenty some odd years....

Blur formed in London, England in 1988.  Originally a Britpop band, Blur would reinvent itself a couple of times over the course of its career with excellent results.  The band has had considerable commercial and critical success in its native U.K., and while they haven't quite enjoyed the same success here in the states, they have had a few hits and a nice following.  In the mid 90's Blur had a running battle with Oasis for the best band in the U.K.  It's generally conceded that Blur did not wind up on the winning end of the battle, but to even be a part of such rarefied air has to be a nice consolation prize.  Blur has released eight studio albums (with the last six all debuting at #1 on the U.K. Album Chart), five live albums, and five compilations.  They've also released 34 singles with 2 #1's and nine more top ten singles on the U.K. Singles Chart.  Blur has won five Brit Awards and been nominated for a Grammy.  The band took a hiatus from 2004-2008, and has been on another hiatus since 2016 but has not ruled out a future reunion.

"Song 2" was released as a single in 1997 from their cleverly titled fifth album, Blur.  The single reached #2 in Great Britain, and #55 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album was their third straight number one in the U.K., but peaked at #55 in America.

Fun Fact:  "Song 2" is two minutes and two seconds long, has two verses and two choruses, and was the second song on its album, as well as the second single released from said album.  No word as to whether the number two was a particular band member's lucky number...

Originally written by frontman Damon Albam as an acoustic tune to fuck with their record label, the song took on a new life when guitarist Graham Coxon suggested they play the song with a power pop energy...and their record executives surprisingly loved it.  It's one of those songs that after the first couple of guitar chords is instantly recognizable, and the opening progression is widely considered not only Coxon's best work but one of the better guitar openings in rock history.  From there it's a nod to American alternative power guitar, some frenetic vocals from Albam, and a whole heck of a lot of "woo-hoo"'s (it's the little things...).  Even with the ubiquity of the song, it's still a great listen and two minutes and two seconds of power pop joy.

Lyric Sheet:  "I got my head checked/By a jumbo jet/It wasn't easy/But nothing i-is/No/Woo-hoo..."

Enjoy:

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Idiot Anon

 

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

It's a real ripsnorter

Actually, it's powdered sugar

 In their never ending quest to prove to those of us who aren't batshit insane that they are indeed a cult, republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went on Sean Hannity and told his fellow cult members how much more energy Donald Trump had than President Joe Biden does.

You mean the guy who's a hundred and fifty pounds overweight, parked his ass in front of a TV ten hours a day, can't walk down a ramp, and needs two hands to hold a glass of water?  Or was he talking about some other guy named Donald Trump?

Or maybe it's because Joe Biden doesn't snort Adderall.

Just sayin'.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Don't you hate when that happens?

 Apparently, republicans in Congress are asking for proof that the people who rioted in the Capitol Building on January 6th were Trump supporters.

D'oh!

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

They're creepy and they're kooky

The best place for republicans--mental institutions

 There's a part of me that wanted Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, after she was accosted by Marjorie Taylor Greene this week, to ask Greene why she loved Hitler so much.  Or why Nazism was her political party of choice.  Or why racism seemed to be her best calling card.  Something, anything to show that we fight back.

Fortunately for all of us, Ocasio Cortez is a lot smarter than me.  Rather than get in a name calling contest, the result of which would have been more bothsiderism from the Beltway media, Ocasio Cortez initially said that as a former bartender (working class roots!) she threw people like Greene (just another drunk!) out of bars all the time.  Later, Ocasio Cortez questioned the mental health of Greene, because in the real world, stalking a congresswoman in the halls of Congress is a sign that maybe the Trumpmobile has a flat tire.

One has to wonder, as we watch one time right wing idol Matt Gaetz implode in epic fashion, how long it will be before Marjorie Taylor Greene has her own swim through the sewage pipes.  As nice as it would be to tell these right wing nutjobs to go fuck themselves, it's probably best that we let them be their own worst enemies.  The members of the GQP who are showing us exactly who they are has to be eye opening to the sixty percent of Americans who aren't all that interested in riding the fascist train to nowhere.

That way, come election time that sixty percent can cast their votes confidently for candidates who are actually interested in governing, like Democrats, and not those who are more interested in being celebrities and sucking all the donations they can from fools who can't afford it.

Like republicans.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Show me the money!

 

If they could pay you less they would

The first thing that struck me when news came out this past week that republican led states were ending the supplemental unemployment benefits due to a shortage of workers was that, well, maybe if they had followed strict protocol when it came to COVID-19 perhaps this would have been over months ago and the extra benefits may not have been needed.  

You reap what you sow.

The second thing that struck me is that, in a free market economy, if you have a shortage of workers the system is supposed to engender higher wages to attract people to work.  Amazingly enough that didn't happen, so republican governors are bailing out Corporate America by making their citizens slave laborers.

The free market, it appears, like much of American life only works for Corporate America and the wealthy.

While it is unlikely (you have to have a brain after all, and not be sheep), we can at least hope that maybe, just maybe, some republican voters may realize that the leaders of the republican party just flat don't give a shit about them or their families, and maybe, just maybe, that a few Dr. Seuss books being discontinued isn't quite so bad as your family being needlessly sick and going hungry because your republican governor took your family's benefits away so that Corporate America could get away with not paying you a living wage.

Baby steps.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXI--Jeff Beck: People Get Ready

 While I don't believe in God, this week's tune sure makes me wish there was one--sounds like my kind of train ride....

Jeff Beck has long been considered one of the greatest guitarists of the rock and roll era (or any other era, most likely), though unlike some of his contemporaries (Clapton, Hendrix, Page) Beck has never had quite the commercial success they have enjoyed (though he is often considered a guitarist's guitarist, which might be the highest praise he could get).  Beck started playing guitar at age six in his native U.K., and by the ripe old age of twenty he was already performing live and joining bands.  He is well known for his perfectionism and his temper; his lack of record sales may also be a reflection of the fact that Beck has always marched to the beat of his own drum (so to speak).  No matter--judging from a recent rockumentary I saw about him, he looks like he's very, very comfortable financially.  The list of artists Beck has worked with is as extensive as it is diverse, from Jon Bon Jovi to Stevie Wonder.  For his career Beck has released 17 studio albums (highest charting was #4), nine live albums, and two compilations.  He has won eight Grammy Awards (all but one for instrumental performance--surprise, surprise), and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and the other as a solo artist (2009).  Beck continues to perform and record, and released his latest single last year, a collaborative effort with Johnny Depp.

\

"People Get Ready" was released as a single by Beck and Rod Stewart in 1985 from Beck's album Flash.  The single was the highest charting in the U.S. of Beck's career, reaching #48 (with a bullet!), on the Billboard Hot 100 while the album peaked at #39 on the Billboard 200.  

Fun Fact(s):  "People Get Ready" was written by R & B legend Curtis Mayfield, and was originally released as a single in 1965 by the Impressions, of which Mayfield was a member.  The song peaked at #14 (with a bullet!).  Martin Luther King, Jr. said the song was the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, and Rolling Stone ranked it #24 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

From it's opening guitar solo to its closing guitar solo (and all those in between), both Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart give "People Get Ready" all the due deference its place in pop music history has earned.  While Beck's playing is understated, it also strips the song to its core and sends its message straight to the heart.  Stewart captures the hope and the sheer joy that the song evokes--if he was this train's conductor you'd be more than happy to follow him all the way to Jordan.  In the end, one of rock's greatest guitarists teamed up with one of rock's greatest vocalists to record their version of one of rock's greatest songs...and they nailed it.  A triumph from beginning to end.

Lyric Sheet:  "So people get ready/There's a train to Jordan/Picking up passengers/Coast to coast..."

Enjoy:

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Welcome to our nightmare

 

Say goodbye?

When people start playing political Chicken Little ("The sky is falling! The sky is falling") it's not so much that I don't believe them, it's that I generally consider their worries to be the worst case scenario and more often than not political outcomes in our country fall short of the worst possible scenario.  The election of Donald Trump was a disaster, but we voted him out in four years, and while there was far too much needless suffering due to Trump's incompetence and far too much cruelty thanks to the MAGA cult, we did avoid drifting into a dystopian dictatorship and at least have some hope for the future.  As bad as it was, it really could have been worse (especially if Trump had been even remotely competent).

When it comes to the 2022 midterm elections, though, I have a sick feeling that if Democrats fail to hold the House and the Senate come the 2024 Presidential Election American Democracy as we have known it for more than two centuries will cease to exist.  I have no doubts that if republicans control Congress, Joe Biden could carry every state in the Electoral College and republicans will nullify it and install whatever dimwit wins their nomination for President.  They do not care about the American people; they only care about keeping old white men in power.

On the bright side, it does appear that republicans may be overplaying their hand with regard to Donald Trump carrying them to victory in 2022--he might not be quite as popular overall (especially in swing districts, with Biden carrying a 54% approval to Trump's 42%) as they believe, and their continuing to lose voters in the suburbs doesn't bode well for both near term and long term success.

Nonetheless, it will be vital to treat the midterm elections as being every bit the existential threat that the reelection campaign of Donald Trump was in 2020.  Once again we will need to vote as if the very existence of America depends on defeating the fascist forces on the right.

Because it most assuredly will.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

History won't be kind, either

 

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

The law won?

Money, that's what they want...

 While Donald Trump is just one of a myriad of political problems with Facebook (including that Mark Zuckerberg just might be a closet fascist himself), I have to wonder (and I say this obviously as a layman and not a lawyer) how much their decision this week to continue the ban of Trump from their social media site was based on fears of legal liability if Trump were restored and more Americans were killed as a result of his blubbering, as happened to the five people killed at the armed insurrection in our nation's capital on January 6th.

I have to imagine that there are any number of law firms in America who were already having preliminary discussions as to future lawsuits against Trump should he kill more Americans with his hate speech as Trump was already responsible for five deaths and hasn't shown the slightest remorse for his actions (and four of the five who died were Trump supporters--not someone you'd want in a foxhole with you).  It's not like Facebook could argue they didn't know.

It probably wouldn't be pretty--especially if those killed happened to be Democrats.  Trump's adversaries do not worship the twit and likely would be more than happy to sue for sizable, and winnable, amounts.

If nothing else, it surely has to be food for thought for both Facebook's and America's lawyers.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Tipping their caps

 

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time

 [Blogger's Note:  Title borrowed from Maya Angelou]

With Mitch McConnell explicitly stating this week that his only goal in the next two years is to make "100%" sure the Biden Administration fails, and therefore all of America fails, it's fair to wonder just how much longer the likes of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema can continue with their bipartisanship charade.  Moscow Mitch, of course, made the same claim when Barack Obama became President, and republicans spent the next four years obstructing everything the Obama Administration did.  On the bright side, Obama did cruise to re-election in 2012; on the downside, a lot of good that could have been done for your average American was left in ruins.

Any efforts at bipartisanship are a fool's errand.  If Democrats try to appease republicans with smaller spending bills, republicans will still claim they're full of too much largesse.  Water down a voting rights bill, and republicans will still blanch at the perceived threat to white power.  Getting one republican vote for any bill will be a stretch, let alone the ten needed to proceed to cloture.

Better to let republicans wallow in their own shit and suffer the consequences of not signing on to the extremely popular Infrastructure Bill and the Family Act than to seek a bipartisanship that republicans have no intention of ever providing.

The sooner the likes of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema take McConnell at his word, the better of it will be for America.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

The book of truth

The opposite of republican lies

 As the republican party prepares to remove Liz Cheney from her post as House Republican Caucus Chair because of her refusal to support the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election (Biden 306, Trump 232), it's becoming increasingly obvious that the GQP has become nothing more than a cult of personality.

It's literally gotten so bad that a video could surface which shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin a blow job, and republicans from Marjorie Taylor Green to Josh Hawley would immediately--despite their fealty to the Old Testament and inherent homophobia--head to Fox News and begin to explain why Donald Trump giving head was as patriotic as "The Star Spangled Banner" but was still a filthy sin for gay men to do the same.

What was that term Hillary Clinton used to describe Trump's cult members?  Oh, yeah--deplorables.

Exactly.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Biden 306, Trump 232

Denial doesn't change facts

 Don't know about anyone else, but I've pretty much had it with the folks morons who continue to live under the delusion that Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election.  I think it incredibly more likely--considering Trump's unfitness for the job, lack of even a rudimentary understanding of either America's history or our political system, and his epic mishandling of the pandemic which resulted in nearly 600,000 American deaths and a crashing of our economy--that republicans cheated Democrats out of a landslide victory.

Nevertheless, it's high past time to set straight the Big Lie followers as succinctly as possible: 

FUCK OFF--TRUMP LOST, YOU IDIOTS

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Will the last person leaving Montana please turn out the lights?

And fuck the small fry country

 The Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, has announced that effective June 27th, Montana is cutting off its residents from federal unemployment benefits (which include the extra $300 a week plus the extension for those long term unemployed) in the hope of forcing people back to work because Montana is experiencing a severe labor shortage.  It is estimated this will cost Montana workers from $3000 to $4500 each.

To make clear, as Montana is a solidly red state, republicans are saying they are more than happy to make their own voters suffer financially to help businesses.  They are also explicitly sanctioning slave labor--forcing workers to return to work in the midst of a pandemic for peanuts shows exactly the same level of callousness as did the plantation owners of old.

Frankly, if we truly did live in a capitalist system, the easiest way to get workers to return to work would be for businesses to raise salaries enough to make it worthwhile to Montana's workers.  The state itself could raise its minimum wage significantly.  But as republicans have repeatedly shown, they do not give a whit either for capitalism or people.

This is just another in a long line of sops to their wealthy benefactors--the only thing free about our supposedly free market is the gifts republicans continue to give to Big Business at the financial expense of the rest of us.

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXX--Vic Damone: On the Street Where You Live

 As noted last week, this week's tune also was introduced to me via a sampler of Sentimental Journey:  Pop Vocal Classics, Vol. 1-4.  Little did I know, though, until just a few weeks ago when I saw My Fair Lady  for the first time, that it's actually a song from...well, My Fair Lady.  And the poor fellow who sings the song doesn't even get the girl in the end (and what a loss that was, as it was Audrey Hepburn... hubba-hubba).

Vic Damone was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928 and rose from his humble beginnings to become one of the great crooners of the 50's and 60's.  Damone's early career was marked by the releases of numerous singles and playing TV and radio shows that catered to fans of his type of music.  Frank Sinatra at one time said that Damone "had the best set of pipes in the business."  Damone's career ran from 1947 until 2002 at which time a stroke forced his early retirement (though he did do a one off concert in 2011 in Palm Beach, Florida so that his grandchildren could see him perform for the first--and only--time).  Damone scored nine top ten singles in his career, including one number one.  Sadly, Damone died in 2018 at the age of eighty-nine from complications from a respiratory illness..

Fun Fact:  Damone dropped out of high school to help support his family after his father died.  He worked at a theater as an usher, and one evening he spotted Perry Como (a big crooner of the forties and fifties for those not in the know) and stopped his elevator in between floors and sang for Como.  Como was so impressed he got him an audition...and the rest is Damone's history.  Damone would eventually name his first born son Perry.

"On the Street Where You Live" was released as a single in 1956, and rose all the way to #4 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  While Damone's version has since appeared on numerous compilations, it was originally released only as a single.

If you've ever fallen in love, you know there's a very special feeling when it first begins to happen and when you come anywhere near your newly beloved it can at times feel like you're walking on clouds. And that is exactly the spirit of love that is captured so brilliantly in "On the Street Where You Live."  While the strings and the stand-up bass (I think) add a lush undertone, it's Damone's otherworldly baritone that is the beginning, middle, and end of this classic ballad.  I noted last week that Johnny Mathis' voice conjured the singing of angels, and I'm not exaggerating (too much) when I say that Damone's would conjure the Gods themselves.  It's a beautiful song from a bygone era when ballads were ballads and an electrician's son could sing a tune that made the Gods of music smile--and smile, I assure you, they did for a long, long while.

Lyric Sheet:  "People stop and stare, they don't bother me/For there's nowhere else on earth that I would rather be/Let the time go by, I won't care if I/Can be here on the street where you live..."

Enjoy:

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee

Why I don't subscribe to newspapers anymore

 

It's Not Just an Infrastructure Bill, It's a Jobs Plan, Too

Peace,

emaycee