Monday, February 10, 2020

 After two days of sunny relief, the rain is back with a vengeance. It poured so much that the day went from a Mose Allison one straight into a Charles Mingus one. Believe you me, get Mingus out in the country is a pretty fierce rain indeed.

 We spent the morning put a new front door in with my Uncle, Momma's surviving brother. It has a little doggie door because Momma's tired of having to call me in to let Otis back in after he's decided he doesn't like being outside alone. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to grasp the concept. He'll see the cat and sit there losing his mind, not even paying the door any mind as he scratches at the bottom. I've had to push him through, and he still fights me. Ain't that a helluva note?

 For whatever reason, the Jukebox in the Corner of My Mind is working today. Used to, anytime I'd take a nap, I'd wake up with a song playing in my head. One of Alabama's last chart toppers was called "Jukebox In My Mind". I always thought that was apropos to my particular tastes in music and, more importantly, listening to music. I like variety. I want to hear Motorhead followed by George Jones followed by Art Blakely. I can't imagine people who listen to one or two albums over and over.

 I would always tell myself I'd start writing about those songs when they'd pop up, but before I got loose of the bayous, I never could make myself do it. Of course, once I decided to actually do it, the songs stopped coming. Somewhat coincides with the return of dreams, I wonder if they're connected. In any event, they came back today, and they'll be at the Tumblr site. Today's offerings are "Come Back To Us, Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard" by John Prine and, when I finish it, "Pray For Me Mama (I'm A Gypsy Now)" by Jason & The Scorchers.

 Well, what else? News? Oddly enough - or thankfully enough - there doesn't seem to be a whole lot going on today. The Coronavirus continues to spread, taking lives, and, far as I can tell, scientists and doctors are no closer to finding something to fight it. Both parties are camped out in New Hampshire tonight in preparation for tomorrow's primaries. Trump's having one of his usual Assemblies of the Faithful, telling the usual lies the crowd eats up like Sugar Babies. As for the Democrats, the odds are leaning towards a shootout between Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg with Elizabeth Warren pulling up third. Joe Biden seems to have already thrown in the towel in the Granite State but promises big things once we come down South.

 One thing that's again being ignored in this presidential election is the African American vote. This is, of course, nothing new. Trump loyalists are calling for him to get as high as 40 percent of the vote, but I wouldn't put money on this because not everyone thinks he's as magical as they do. Right now, Trump has like a 7 percent approval rate among black people and I really don't see him turning that molehill into a smallish hill, much less a mountain.

 Like every other white person who thinks they know all that needs knowing, I don't have a good bead on who might get the black vote. Were I still in New Orleans, I'd have more input, but on this Hill? Not so much. I'm seeing, however, a fairly even split between Biden, Warren and Sanders online. Time will tell, I guess. It's too bad the Democrats can't seem to realize that the most loyal voters they have is black voters and if they'd concentrate on issues that improve the black situation in America, other people would come right along. In any event, they need to stop chasing the "working class vote" which invariably means middle-class white people. We are not to be trusted.

In other news, Trump's using his "victory" in the impeachment business to launch another ridiculous budget, a $4.8 billion monster that promises more tax cuts at the expense of food stamps, student loans and Medicaid. Among other things, this budget will push the deficit to past $1 trillion dollars, but since deficits only matter during Democratic administrations, I don't really know if this actually means anything, I ain't going to lie.

 Finally, some folks are sort of put out that not one single Republican Congress critter spoke out against Trump's weekend head-piking of "disloyal" actors like Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and UN Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Both mean testified against Trump in the impeachment and, just like Mitt Romney, Trump and his howling sycophants are calling for his blood. The only thing that really confuses me is why anyone would think a single GOP politician would chasten Trump on this matter, knowing The Base would eviscerate them come election time. Y'all are asking for more spine than the average politician has, much less conservative politician.

 We're looking at more rain tomorrow. Matter of fact, we're looking at heavy rain until sometime Thursday and there's all sorts of concerns over potential flooding, especially since we've barley dried out from last week's drenching. Stay on high ground if you're in the path, beloved, because the sun will shine again eventually.

Monday, December 16, 2019

 I'm going to go ahead and knock as much of this as I can. We got some fierce weather to the north of us and to the south of us. Heavy winds, lightning, a few killer tornadoes, the whole nine yards. Stay above water, kids. At any given moment, the power might blip out and it could last all evening. Let's hope it don't.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

 It's a new day. The sun is shining, the temperature's warmer and what snow we did get has melted off the roof. We've got some stuff to get into today, so let's get to it.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

 Well, I am not going to lie. I am a little disappointed.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

 You know, there's just not a lot in the News that interests me. Trump said something stupid, not considering he might ought to sit down, shut up and concentrate on not being impeached. I still say it's not going to matter one way or another. Study on it, both anyone who's actually not bullshitting when they say the won't vote for Trump and neither will the MAGATs, if they got one thing in common it's that their opinion on Trump viz. 2020 is pretty much decided.

Monday, November 11, 2019

 Today is Veterens Day. Yesterday was the 244th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

Friday, November 1, 2019

 A week ends and a month begins, so here we are. I ain't going to lie, this week's been a booger. So we're going to take it easy today and just have a little fun.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

  I was telling both the Therapist and the Psych Doc that the most difficult part of all this was coming up with the opening paragraph. It's not exactly a lede for a newspaper story or an opening paragraph for an essay, because whatever this is, it isn't either of those. Anyway.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

 Not real sure where or what to start with today. It's been a pretty lazy day, Saturday notwithstanding. Even Otis was ready come back in and go to bed by the time I'd brought the newspaper back up the hill.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

 Hey, working without a net here. Let's see how it goes.

Grouchy bastard.

My therapist lets me go on my little rants, and at the end she’ll say, “What you hate is stupidity.” And I’ll say, “No. What I hate is cruelty and greed and mendacity. Stupid is most often a frame of mind and due to your own perception.”

 And there’s days like today when a quick waltz through a post-Democratic debate makes me realize that, yep, I do hate stupidity. Everyone’s an expert in politics now when you know they couldn’t be assed to vote or even pay attention before we all got smartphones with Twitter apps.