Please, somebody take your hand and slap some sense in me.

  It's been a raggedy week. Some sort of funk is still sitting on my head and I still prefer turning the rest of the world off as much as possible. Plus, I've had plenty of Actual Paying Work to get done this week, and that's eaten up most of my cleverness. So we're going to get the word count out of this and call it a day.

 I really don't know what I'm going to write about, though. Otis Clay's pretty badass and worth checking out if you like soul music. He recorded on Hi Records back in the '70s but he was from Chicago, so he's got that mix of Southern soul and Windy City soul. He was active up until his death in 2016 and did a pretty solid cover of Joe South's "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" as part of a gospel album of the same name in 2007. Anyone who does good covers of Joe South is okay in my book.

 What else. The political world is still buzzing with the revelations from the 18 interviews Trump did with Bob Woodward from February through July, which shoots holes into most of his bullshit despite his pitiful flailing. We talked a bit about this yesterday, and I'll re-emphasize what I said about it won't move his Base on inch. They love him like they're supposed to love Jesus, and one of the things they love about him is he drives everyone else up the wall with his lying, bullying, and general incompetence. Vote like the MAGA world hates and wants you dead because they do.

 One funny thing is the revelation that Woodward only sought out the first interview. The other 17 times the dumb bastard was flapping his gums was because he sought Woodward out for more. Apparently, the MAGA world is trying to throw Lindsey Graham under the bus for this while White House toadies are busy pointing fingers at each other instead of owning who left the playpen door open.

 The fires in Oregon are getting worse. I've been in contact with my brother and he says he and the missus are safe unless something drastic happens. Since the world has gone stupid, though, he is keeping an ear to the ground and they've got a bag packed. Some geniuses are blaming on Antifa lighting fires because Trump and conservative media have them convinced a group of poorly organized crust punks is the new Hydra.

 I don't know what else to get into. I'll be glad when Wingnut America finds them a new Emmanuel Goldstein so they'll quit conflating Marxism, Communism, Socialism, and Fascism. It's just tiresome to read and there's no point in trying to correct them. It's as bad as when people say "logic" when they mean "common sense but only if I agree with it." Logic is a pretty neat thing and it just bugs me when people don't even bother to understand the basics when they decide to use it as a rhetorical weapon. This isn't located just on wingnuts, though, because America did not pay attention in geometry class.

 I don't have a dog in the hunt when it comes to Marxism and all that. I'm of the belief that ideas by themselves aren't evil, it's people and how they use those ideas that are evil. Same goes for capitalism. By itself, it's just an economic theory, but greedy bastards use it as a reason to starve the world while they get fat. Or religion, for that matter. You can get men to do incredible evil in the name of God, but they're still the ones pulling the trigger.

 The reason people put so much stock into "X ideology/theory is evil" is that it places the responsibility on something other than human beings, thus removing responsibility from all of us. You're not responsible for my actions, it's Communism or Capitalism or Minarchy or what have you, so I can't be held responsible for mine, even though mine are Right and yours are Wrong. It's sort of connected to how screwed up American politics remains because everyone's looking for a Savior to make things Perfect, and that's just not how life works.

 I blame Hegel. That whole bit about "history is the process whereby the spirit discovers itself and its own concept," we never have gotten over that. Anyhow. That's word count and if something clever comes to me, I'll come back. Otherwise, see you tomorrow sometime for the week's wrap up. God help us and nothing else dumb will happen.