I can't think of anything.

  I just woke up from a dream where I was writing. My set-up was truly something and the initial paragraph was actually pretty good. It's a shame reality pales in comparison in so many ways. I read somewhere that copious marijuana use retarded dreaming or, at least, remembering dreams. That sort of tracks, as I really didn't remember the dreams I'd had when I was smoking more weed than Willie Nelson.

 That may be what I miss most about not being able to get (or stay, let's be honest) stoned. I remember my dreams these days and it's always disappointing. It's either a work dream and everyone hates me because I suck or it's got something to do with school where I'm late for a class I can't find and everyone hates me. Lots of dreams where everyone hates me, and I'm sure that says something but I don't care to know what. I have no illusions about my self-esteem. so all I'm getting from that is I really loathe myself more than I will admit. That's unsettling.

 The dumbest one I've had lately is I dreamt I was late for work at Whole Foods because I'd gone to a mall across town for a McDonald's hamburger. Or maybe it was a sausage-and-biscuit for breakfast. In any event, it was someplace I wouldn't go for something I don't like making me stress out over a job I hated. Imagine trying to be in a good mood after that.

 There are also the... I wouldn't call them "sex dreams" because there's no actual sex. They're definitely fantasy because they involve a woman I'm incredibly attracted to who desperately wants to be with me. To my shame, I've never had a heavy lust for any woman who was actively interested in having sex with me. Granted, the sexiest thing a woman can do is be physically interested in me so I've usually managed to get over that. It does generally come out in the end, though.

 That's a lie. Twice have I lusted after women who wanted in my pants, but neither woman wanted to stay around after the loving was through. I'm not sure I should count them, but again, that's all pretty telling, I think. Anyhow, the not-sex dreams are probably the most disheartening. Again, I don't mind that living my life as I wish has led me to become single in my mid-40s but it's still no fun when my subconscious rubs it in my face.

 Anyhow. So much for all of that. I'm depressed and miserable and probably desperately lonely and undoubtedly in denial about how deep all that is, but it's neither interesting nor all that revealing. This is the sixth day in a row that I've gone to sleep just before the sun came up and slept well into noon. I've decided to give into it for as long as it lasts. Might as well, it's been as hot as a bastard while the sun was up.

 It's been ridiculously hot here at Enon Holler World Headquarters. We've had heat indexes in the 110s all week, and we're not supposed to get relief any time soon. Apparently, the country's under a "heat dome," which is when the atmosphere holds heat in from hot ocean air. It's linked to climate change, so there you go. Between that and the spike in Delta cases - and particularly the conservative zealotry against vaccinations and the ilk - humanity is not looking good.

 I watched a YouTube video the other day saying how one would probably survive a Romero-style zombie outbreak. I used to think so myself, if for no other reason that eventually dead bodies break down. It takes a year or so for a human body to completely melt away, but give it a couple of days and your tendons would be so dry they'd snap, no worries.

 I'm not as certain now. Night after night of Tucker Carlson claiming zombie bites caused death and resurrection into a flesh-eating monster was merely a Democrat hoax to make Trump look bad would have a deleterious effect. Multiple Facebook groups where ding-dongs convince each other that there are no actual zombies and only people who live in fear would mind being bitten would have a deleterious effect.

 We would be at Day of the Dead within six weeks, man.

With one foot in the grave and one foot on the pedal, I was born a rebel.

  It's 10:30 p.m. and I'm just starting this. I knew I would put it off but I honestly didn't think about doing anything until now. If nothing else, that's an improvement.

 Talked to the Psyche Doc today. We mostly discussed how pissed off I am about the whole marijuana initiative debacle by the Supreme Court. I do wonder if the whole thing - the sessions, not the initiative - has become just two friendly people catching up. I come and go with my mood, and go through the world in a state of bemused irritation marked with wanting to be alone. I've come to accept that the rest of my life will be regularly marked with spots of deep blues and moodiness, and that's just how it is.

 That being said, and he pointed this out, I want everyone else to be as happy as they can be given circumstances. We both decided that's something to ponder on, but it's not a bad thing. The "music therapy" came up, too, though I've never considered relearning harmonica and guitar with occasional shots at the Cajun accordion. Baby Brother pointed out that the why's behind why minor chords are sad and where seventh chords go and whatnot is a "rewiring your brain" sort of thing. So, I guess that's good.

 What else is there? Today's been one of those "not pay attention to the news" days and from what I can tell, it's all "woke is destroying America" and the GOP desperately trying to sweep the Great American Temper Tantrum by Trump cultists. I need to come up with a better phrase for that. A cult presumes an active cult leader, and I really don't think Trump's that involved and directed. Same thing with it being a fascist movement. They do worship Trump as a savior, but guys like Franco and Mussolini put more effort into it than Trump ever did.

 Studying on it, I think the whole Trump phenomenon has more to do with him being a celebrity and a tv personality plus the American inclination towards if not actual authoritarianism, then at least having a Strong Daddy as a leader. Bush Jr. definitely got this and, at least in retrospect, so did Reagan. Trump isn't even as engaged as those guys were, and they were just ranch-standard Republican politicians. They still didn't get the firey love Trump does from his groupies, but I wonder if that's because they actually went through two terms. Both Bush Jr. and Reagan, by the time they finished off the second term, had some of the shine taken away.

 Trump's a unique case in American politics, though. I don't think he expected or even wanted to win, I don't think he ever put any real effort into the job, and he took every criticism as a personal attack driven only by personal jealousy. A rich prick who's never done anything on his own but has always had his ass kissed, that's the "leader of the free world." Bush Jr., at least, had an interest in doing the job, seems like.

 That's it, I guess. Forty-five minutes later and I'm googling Junior Wells stories. So that's that there then.

I'm going to the city. Gonna breathe that city air.

  I mentioned the other day that I finished that Hank Williams biography and it thoroughly bummed me out. For whatever reason, it's put me in a melancholy mood as we move through this last weekend of January 2021. Being depressed these days is a drag, partly because I know it's just my own brain wiring messing with me but mostly because I can't get stoned. Anyhow, here's this week's News.

 It was a pretty good week, more or less. Plenty to write about and something to explain, which is always fun. Monday was another slice of Today in the Biden Administration, but Wednesday and Friday were the fun ones. I tried to explain the whole GameStop-short stock business even though, as I note, I've never been able to wrap my head around how it actually works. Sort of like matrices in algebra or baking, it just plumb evades me.

 As far as that goes, it is entertaining as hell to see regular stock gambler types lose their shit because the hoi polloi is forgetting its place. Frankly, they should be thankful that we don't live in a just universe which would mean they'd be strung up by their own intestines, kept alive by medical science, and pelted repeatedly with pecans. That being said, people whose opinion on these matters I trust are saying the joke's starting to a bit long in the tooth and it's possible it might start causing some real danger.

 Of course, that just casts into sharp relief how flat dumb our economic infrastructure is. But that's beyond me and I won't pretend that it isn't. It'll be interesting to see where all this goes from here but I'm not going to act like I'm qualified to give a proper prediction nor give thoughts on what should be done.

 The other bit of crazy that's taken up this week's news is newly elected Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene showing the entire world that, yes, she is loony as a coot and probably shouldn't be allowed around sharp scissors, much less high-powered weaponry or the laws of the nation. She's a 9/11 truther, and I'm amazed there is still a healthy group of those dickholes. She's also a believer that the Parkland and Sandy Hook were "false flags," and that just shows a rotten, black soul. The one that got me, though, was the suggestion that the wildfires regularly bedeviling the West are caused by space lasers operated by International Jewry so as to clear land for high-speed train projects.

 That's just dangerous goofy. That Boebet woman's a thick-skulled crook who'll probably get busted for using campaign money to keep her restaurant afloat. That weird Nazi fanboy from North Carolina is going to lie himself right off the planet. But Greene's a danger to her fellow Representatives. I don't trust gun enthusiasts I don't know well enough to know that they know what they're doing. This woman is a prime example of gun nuts you don't trust. I'm not kidding. If she gets through her 15 minutes without shooting one of her colleagues, I'll be shocked.

  Anyhow, I'm tired and all I got to talk about still is that I've been playing The Shadowrun Trilogy with some of the player-mad scenarios modded in. One of these days I'm going to write about what it's like coming back into gaming before the days of open and encouraged modding, but today's not the day.

I knew I'd lost the light and I was moving through the night, running from the grand ennui.

  Man, yesterday was tedious. Exhausting. Luckily today was cold, wet, and miserable, and since I had nothing to do, I did just that. I'm somewhat calm down but I won't lie about it, yesterday got me extremely wound up. Took me one of the Klonopin the Psych Doc prescribed and it put me down.

 On a side note, I've never been a pill guy. Weed, naturally. Psychedelics, any day. That's about as far as I go. Being speedy never appealed to me anyway, so I've never messed around with coke or meth or anything like that. I unknowingly smoked a joint once that had been laced with meth and it was awful. But god's truth, yesterday was my first experience with opioids of any kind and, frankly, I don't recommend them. It's that sludgy, underwater feeling like overindulging on vaped weed. I don't care for it because it brought my brain to a screeching halt. Half, hell, most of the reason I like pot is it kicks my brain in gear.

 The other reason is that it soothes my nerves and that would've come in handy. The actual storming of the Capitol was bad enough but watching wingnuts try to juke the narrative was irritating. It was Antifa infiltration or they were pushed to do it because Democrats dared disagree with Father Trump. I really don't get that. For the past four years, they've been outright threatening civil war if Trump didn't win re-election. For the past two months, they've been screaming that if the election results were overturned because they say so, they'd have no other option but bloody revolution.

 But when they finally kick off the Second War for Independence & Trump, they want to point fingers at everyone but themselves. Astounding. Even dumber is how many of these yay-hoos made selfies of them jerking off in a Congress member chair or ripping down pictures of that RINO, Abraham Lincoln. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer, no.

 Interestingly, it seems everyone but the Most Faithful are running from Trump like he's been sprayed by a skunk. It started with Melania's chief of staff and, so far, we're at Betsy DeVos putting in her resignation. I figured she was ride-or-die especially after the solid he did for her brother week before last. Lindsay Graham turned on him and actual Republican congressmen are suggesting he be either impeached or at least have Amendment 25 laid on him.

 Some are sticking with him, though, and it's rarely a surprise who. Ted Cruz for one, but he's a worse suckfish than Graham. Soon as someone else becomes the Big Dog in the GOP, he'll latch on to them. He thinks it should be him, of course, but no one likes Ted Cruz. And Josh Hawley's dumbass, well. Simon & Schuster dropped his book deal so he's crying about the woke mob, but the sad and sorry fact is that boy's too damn stupid for his ambitions and has all the charisma of a bucket of white paint.

 He's still got Newsmax and OAN on his side while FOX News just goes back to blaming liberals for everything from the breakdown of society to their aunt's gout. And there's the whole cop thing - how badly they bungled the riot or perhaps aided and abetted it - that needs to be unpacked.

 Someone else can do it, though, because I am done with them. They've been telling us what they are for four years and yesterday they showed us. It was like when people riot when their team wins whatever championship, just revelry in destruction because you don't have to clean up the mess.

 They're not worth taking seriously or working with or trying to mend fences. They see me as an enemy? Very well, then I'm their enemy. I can live with that.

 Okay for that, then. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Trump made a video where he promised a peaceful transfer but he didn't concede nor do I think he will. The MAGA faithful isn't budging in their sense of righteous nor do I think they will. I don't know how or what the end result will be, but the Game is forevermore changed.

 Might as well have some fun, right?

Lord, if you won't take care of us, won't you please, please let us be?

  Well, it'd be fitting if the year closed out on me missing Deadline. The burger I ate tonight from Peppertown Restaurant was burnt and tiny, and the fries were soggy. It has a sort of poetry.

 I wrote the title around 7 p.m. and then pretty much fell asleep. Today was another one of those Big Sleep days, though I did manage to have a somewhat productive morning. But it's 10:15 Country Standard Time and I'm on it. I figure I can get 500 words in before the clock turns midnight and Enon Holler says goodbye and good riddance to 2020.

 I don't think anyone would disagree on it having been a booger of the year. No matter where you stand on, for example, the COVID-19 plague, I think we can all agree that it's been bungled greatly from the top to the bottom. People are still calling it overblown or, worse, some sort of intentional something designed to do... something.

 Conspiracy theorists are never really clear on that except it's somehow another way "They" can control us and/or track us. We never find out who "They" is and we all carry smartphones that are being tracked constantly and an internet that we've known for at least 20 years is tracked by the NSA. Wave hello!

 As for a method of control, please. Call me cynical but human beings, especially Americans, are incredibly easy to manipulate. Seriously, spend a season watching football fans. Or people who post on websites about television shows. It doesn't take much. For what it's worth, I think people who've lost loved ones to COVID-19 should be allowed to beat these sort of conspiracy theorists about the head and kidneys with a whiffle bat until they spit teeth and piss blood.

 Harsh? Perhaps, but I think it's fair. I've never been one to look back. That's why I write all this down, so I can remember it. But this has been a booger of a year and I am hopeful 2021 isn't quite a drag. As someone who watched a lot of B-grade science fiction and apocalyptic movies, I'm still sort of amazed we're living in this sort of future. I don't think anyone had "badly handled worldwide pandemic" and "millions of Americans cultishly following a complete dope" on their bingo card, as the kids say.

 Just to dip into the news for a bit, we're looking at Congressional Republicans being buttholes about the Electoral Vote count on January 6 when nothing they do will make any difference. There are a few complete lumps like Louie Gohmert who probably believe the latest Trump Conspiracy but most are Josh Hawleys, cynically manipulating the easily manipulated - speaking of the fact that Americans are so easily bamboozled that they'll almost beg for it - to set them up for a 2024 run.

 We really haven't considered the possibility the reason Trump's yowling about the election being stolen - apart from using it as a quick way to grift the griftable - is that he himself cheated. He'd already stated that if he lost it could only be due to chicanery and still maintains Hillary Clinton got three million dead voters in 2016 when that's patently untrue. And let's face it. Donald Trump is a lifelong cheat. He's cheated on his businesses, cheated his employees and contractors, cheated on his creditors, cheated charities, and cheated on his taxes. He's cheated on all three wives, cheated his kids, cheated his siblings, and would've cheated his folks if his dad hadn't been smarter and nastier.

 So fuck him and I'll be glad to see the end of him. I'll be glad to see so many awful people have to live with the realization that despite his high turnout, even more people turned out to see him gone. Hopefully next year we can get on top of COVID, have cops stop killing black people for spurious reasons, release everyone in prison on non-violent marijuana charges, get health care figured out and affordable, and figure out a way we can all exist on this planet, having a good time and being cool with each other, while not having to work ourselves to death just to be able to eat.

 Even if hoping 2021 is better than 2020 is a low bar, I'll still take it.

The regular Thursday thing.

  While it's only 8:30 a.m. and my brain hasn't even come close to getting in gear - maybe around five this afternoon - I'm going to go ahead and put something down here. I have some Actual Paying Work to do tonight. Not as much as last week, just one piece, but the ol' creative juices have been a bit on the dry side lately.

 I couldn't tell you why. The News has been fine, there's always some goofy shit there to write about. I'm just a bit drained here and, quite frankly, disinterested in the latest round of delusion by Trump dead-enders. Something about a DNI report on the way is the new hotness. I don't know and I don't care, coach, wake me up if it actually turns out to be something.

 Today is the day James Booker was born and the day Hound Dog Taylor died. I share a birthday with the latter. Different years, obviously, but I was born the day he died. Unfortunately, I'm not quite as subtle and skillful a slide guitarist. Anyhow, I thought that was interesting. I understand if no one else does.

 So much for now. It's time for breakfast.

Waiting on the tables, waiting for the tables to turn.

  It's Tuesday, the Earth rolls on, and I'm listening to Cajun music by Bonsoir Catin. It features the youngest daughter of Cajun fiddler legend Dewey Balfa, Christine. It's more traditional than anything else and it's pretty good if you like that sort of thing, which I do. I would like to find someone I haven't heard that does Cajun music less traditional style, a la some of Jo-El Sonnier's records. The Lost Bayou Ramblers are pretty good but they're getting a little too artsy for my tastes.

 And so much for all that. In case you missed it, electors from all 50 states and the District of Columbia cast their votes yesterday. Despite talk of some "faithless elector" shenanigans swinging in to save Trump, it went the way the election did. Joe Biden won 306 to 232, an ass kicking by any other consideration.

 Of course, the silly bastard's still crying about fraud and his Faithful are misunderstanding the Twelfth Amendment to the point where now they're hitching their wagon to "alternative electors" putting Trump in for another term. In a word, no. In three words, ain't gonna happen.

 I know I keep saying I'll quit writing about this, but it keeps getting wilder and deeper. I don't know if comparisons to flat Earthers or people who think professional wrestling is real and the moon landing isn't really fully encapsulate the level of reality-denying done by the Base. And for Donald Trump, of all people. That must've been one hell of a TV show.

 It's being said Trump lost due to COVID-19, but I don't think that's so. I think the election would've been tight even without him blundering the pandemic response as bad as he did. People hated this guy, that's what his flock refuses to understand. Early voting would've still happened and I give it even odds Joe Biden would've beaten him either way.

 However, his response to COVID-19 could've won him the election. Had he handled it properly, not just encouraging people to wear masks and social distance or working with Congress to provide some sort of meaningful stimulus packages along with renter's guarantees. That would've been fine, but what's really screwed us all over is how vehemently he argued it wasn't that big a deal or that all the worrying was just another attempt by the Democrats, Deep State, and the rest of the world to make him look bad.

 Seriously, had he taken it seriously and worked as he did, he would've won handily. But if Trump could be something other than a small-minded, petty boob, he wouldn't be where he is today. That's why his flock loves him so. They see in him an excuse to be mean, petty, stupid, and cruel because it means their dicks aren't as small as they fear.

 And so much for all of that. I don't know what else there is to talk about. I stayed up way, way too late last night playing XCOM 2 so I've been dragging all day. I'm thinking I might call it an early night tonight, get some reading in, and shut it down early. Yeah, that sounds good.

Listen to the rain a-fallin'. Can't you hear that lonesome sound?

 I was supposed to have some Actual Paying Work to do tonight. However, I was told to hold off on it for reasons beyond my control, so I find myself with a free evening and no idea what to fill this space with. I've gotten to like the idea of doing a quick check-up of Gibberish on working nights, mainly because it gives me an excuse to be lazy. And if there's one thing I love above all others, it's being lazy. Mainly because I'm incredibly good at it.

 So we'll gonzo it tonight and see what we can shake loose. The country's still insane. Joe Rogan - who I never got, partly because I make it a policy to ignore people who claim the moon landing was faked - is spreading rumors that the fires out in the Pacific Northwest are due to left-wing activists, which means the current All-American Enemies Black Lives Matter and Antifa. This comes on the heels of police and firefighters in the area, as well as such radical lefties as the FBI begging people to stop spreading rumors.

 And people are still trying to debate this down. One argument I see is it's "understandable after Antifa lit so many fires in cities while protesting, despite there being not only absolutely no evidence for that but, indeed, plenty of evidence at least a few were started by right-wing agitators. Another one I saw said it was something COINTELPRO, which might be even dumber. I'm not completely sure how that's supposed to work.

 The fires happen every year, but Americans can't remember past the week before. The Pacific Northwest has had a particularly dry summer, but Americans don't take climate change seriously. There have been a few folks attempting arson for completely apolitical (usually because they have loose screws), but Americans don't want to believe anything that doesn't fit their Narrative.

 This is just another iteration of the rank Dumbness that has taken over the country. Dingbats who have no inner life are rubbing their blue-vein throbbers of the idea of getting violent against people they think won't be able to fight back. While all this is going on, we're being told that we need to reach out to people who don't share our ideological viewpoints, which means liberals/leftists shouldn't give conservatives any guff. If it's any consolation, I don't even pretend to understand.

 Moving on. Today is Hank Williams' birthday. I am a huge fan of his music and long have had a fascination with his place in pop music and American culture. Like my brother said, he's one of those hinges of society. He made songs that were designed to be enjoyed by everyone, so they were, plus he was a mean-ass, hard-drinking miserable redneck bastard, as earthy and Too Real as they come.

 He didn't live long enough to grow out of it but he also didn't live long enough to start making shit music, either because his well was dry or his hard-living caught up to him. The very real pain and misery in his life came through in his vocals, regardless of how jaunty the tempo or amusing the lyrics. And the songs? The songs are fucking great, some of the best ever written.

 So, I dig me some Hank Williams. I've written two, count 'em, two 20-plus page papers in college on Hank Williams for non-musical classes. The one music appreciation class I took, I wrote a 10-page paper on ol' Hank. He's kind of like Otis Redding or Sam Cooke; it's a shame he didn't live long enough to produce more music and we've heard all we're probably going to hear, but it's all such concentrated awesome, there's just no chaff. Like with Elvis or the Rolling Stones, who both had some stinkers.

 Okay, what else. Joe Biden did a Q-&-A with voters tonight. Apparently, he did so well the wingnuts are saying he must've got the questions beforehand. This means the guy they've been saying has dementia for the past six months is still sharp enough to memories a bunch of rather complicated answers. Sure. I really shouldn't be surprised at how quickly and effortlessly conservatives change their tune - it was beyond a doubt way before Trump became president - it nevertheless gives me a sad chuckle every time it happens.

 Speaking of which, with all this talk of cancel culture and repression of free speech (or telling racists to fuck off), I'm reminded of the Free Speech Zones during Bush Jr's second nomination. None of this is new. The Hoover government sent the Army on World War One vets who were protesting. McCarthyism destroyed life after life, career after career, and with the full backing of a cowed United States government. Palmer raids, the MOVE bombings in Philadelphia. The Whiskey Rebellions and the Free State of Jones County. None of this is new.

 The Constitution doesn't give you rights. It tells the government what it can't do, and even then, almost every amendment has been circumvented, explained away, or outright ignored. The only actual right you have is the freedom to think whatever you want to think, and far too many of us don't want to put the effort into it.

So long, it's been good to know you.

Well, I'm up. Let's do this, or at least get it started. You can't expect everything.

 For whatever reason, I'm not completely in the funk I was in this weekend. I'm not exactly dancing on tables, no, but that gloom & doom that was sitting on my head has more or less dissipated. I admit I've been bad about taking my meds as of late, both the ones for my head and the ones for my heart, and that's no doubt had an effect. Yes, I do know better, but I got in a downward spiral and it's sometimes hard to pull out. I still don't know exactly what caused the start, but that's part of the fun living with chronic persistent depression.

Again, something I don't usually do, but check out yesterday's News. I think it's a pretty righteous deep-ish dive into the whole "Washington Redskins are finally changing their obviously racist name". It's not as deep as some of my other dives, but there is some neat stuff there. The situation isn't as black and white as one might think, but all in all, this is a good thing and a positive step in this country no longer being run by complete bastards.

 Some are saying the name change isn't legit because it's not being done for the "right reasons". That is, instead of a genuine come to Jesus moment about how wrong it is to name a football team after a racial slur, Dan Snyder's doing it because the people that hold the purse strings are leaning on him. They recognize that the times, they are a-changin' and aren't up for a middling football team to cut into their profits.

 Well... so? If that's true, and it probably is, it makes the name change no less legit and important. Besides, and let's be honest here, America rarely does anything for the "right reasons". If that were the case, the Civil War would've never had to happen, much less the Civil Rights movement. Or seat belts or fair working hours or women's suffrage or, hell... I really can't think of anything we've ever done solely because it was the "right thing to do". Is there? I sometimes think the only thing we as a people do with vim and gusto is go to war and/or blow someone up.

 Which is a nice transition to today's inability to act like we're from somewhere. The COVID-19 epidemic is spirally more out of control to the point where Trump-friendly governors like Dan Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida are having to weigh the choice between upsetting The Boss by defying him and being disloyal with the possibility of killing off a large number of their state's citizens because they refuse to budge from reopening. Plus, the ding dongs who're convinced wearing masks is somehow unmanly or ungodly or the first step in total domination by the Illuminati are doubling down on their dumbness to the shock and amazement of absolutely nobody.

 I really can't get inside their heads, especially over the whole "they're trying to control us" stroke. Control us to do what? Consume and spend money we don't have on absolute useless junk that's designed to fall apart within five years? Work ourselves to death for not enough money at a job that will happily replace us at the drop of a hat for any reason at all, even if it's no reason? Support thieving authoritarians who scream bloody murder if they're the least bit criticized as they give even more of the pie to the richest one percent? Keep us scared and under the thumb of an out-of-control police force whose first inclination is to fill us full of lead and then maybe ask questions a couple years later? Put ourselves in harm's way and at the mercy of a deadly, still-unknown virus, threatening the lives of our loved ones, just so the richest of the rich can keep getting richer? Then, I say mission fucking accomplished, there.

 Anyhow. Today's is Woody Guthrie's 108th birthday. I've always been a great admirer of Woody's music and his place in American history. His stuff resonates maybe even more these days, and I'd be down with making "This Land Is Your Land" the National Anthem. Another favorite is "Do-Re-Me", so is "Hard Travelin'", and I've always enjoyed the dry humor behind "Talking Hard Work Blues". I've always dug his songs about historical figures, too, like "Jesse James" or "Pretty Boy Floyd". I don't know if there's a single song by Woody that sums it all up, but this one - "All You Fascists Bound To Lose" - at least gives a little hope in a dark world.

 Let's show 'em what some hillbilly boys can do, indeed.

That Smokey Joe's a crazy fool.

 Before I get to rolling, here's what I did for the News this week.

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

 I freely admit that of the three, Friday's is the one most worth reading. In fact, once I get started on the regular Gibberish, it'll tie in neatly with it. Monday and Wednesday aren't bad, per se. I've just had a good bit of Actual Paying Work demanding my attention and my sleep schedule's shot all to hell.

 It's all kind of connected, though, as it's a look at this Thing we find ourselves smack dab in the middle. There's a better than average chance my home state and current residence Mississippi will jettison their state flag in favor of a new one before the days out. Hell, maybe before I finish writing this.

 (UPDATE: They did. I be damned. Check tomorrow's News for more info)

 The NCAA, the SEC and C-USA have all applied the screws to what hurts the most: money from collegiate sports. Granted, I think the casinos in Tunica and off the coast bring in more of the stuff, but the impression I get from them is that we, as a state, can go screw so long as we keep providing a cheap labor force and keep our mouths shut.

 And that's what a lot of this boils down to. It has now become unprofitable to ignore racism, and that's just a fact. Quaker Oats and Aunt Jemima, the flag, white cartoon voice actors saying they won't voice character of color, shows with blackface being pulled from streaming service. It's all part of the Thing. You may not like it, and cry of "cancel culture" or "woke mobs" or that old chestnut "political correctness," but guess what. 

 Catering to you at the expense of others is no longer profitable. So you better learn to love it, because that's just how it is. If your vision of Western Society falls apart because American chattel slavery is shown an unequivocally bad thing, than tough titty, you're money's not as good as that panty-waist SJW you mock. The loss of your cash is considered an acceptable risk by the Forces Of Capitalism, so either adapt or get bent. Ain't that a kick in the head?

  Speak of kicks to the head, after watching this country, the "leaders" and Our Fellow Americans, flounder around with the cold, hard fact that not only has COVID-19 not gone anywhere and maybe we shouldn't have reopened just year, but that it's in fact getting worse than we can handle and we really shouldn't open yet. More and more, we're hearing stories of kids - teenagers, pre-teens, toddlers, babies - dying from the virus in increasing numbers. Young people, middle aged people, they're all in the sights of this weird disease that if it doesn't kill you stone dead within a week, it'll take you months to get over and your body will be permanently damaged.

 And the President's trying to get the Supreme Court to strike down ACA when he's not sulking that a blowout isn't in the cards for November. It's like he's already packed it in and is just trying to get done what he promised the GOP bigwigs he'd do. Oh, Mr. and Mrs. MAGA, you thought he had your best interests at heart, whether it was making you richer or successfully owning the libs? You sweet, stupid child. This is the real world. Grow up and get a helmet.

 But you'll still die for him, yes you will. You'll show your ass in public about how wearing a mask and that's the least you can do is the height of authoritarian tyranny. That's why George Washington crossed the Delaware, so Karen and Jeff can have a night out at Dave & Buster's. Lunatics at city council meetings screaming like stuck pigs because they're asked to be decent human beings, just for a little while.

 Here's Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton fed up with your shit:

 That pretty much says it. I don't know if it'll do any good anymore. The Dumb have taken over. The Black Iron Prison the re-election of Nixon started 45 tears ago found its ne plus ultra during the Bush Jr. administration. Don't kid yourself. Trump was just topping the cake. Republicans and conservatives in general have been heading in this direction at least my entire lifetime.

 I don't know if we'll survive this and what sort of shape we're in if we do. Trump has permanently fouled the waters of what a president can get away with, and it'll be decades, maybe generations before things "recover". He's placed over 200 unqualified frat boys in federal judge seats, so Republicans will have loyal soldiers making it almost impossible for your grandkids' kids to halt the poisoning of the planet, much less stop the never-ending pounding the Corporate Overlords inflict on their workers.

 Seriously. Why the fuck do you think Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden? He didn't sell you out. He knows that if Trump wins another term, call the game, son. It will be over. It's going to be damn hard to undo the damage he's already done, especially after this mess is all over. Your purity and clean conscience won't save you when that day comes around.

 Over 9,000 new cases in Florida alone. That's on you as much as it's on Trump. You could've stopped this, you could've demanded better. You didn't. Now we have to pick up the pieces and do what we can, with Joe Biden, no less.