You know, I'm tired of being lonesome, on'ry, and mean.

 It's the first weekend in April, it was a beautiful day, I'm buying too many harmonicas, and I have a back tooth that's working its way loose. Periodontal disease is a drag, kids, don't skimp on those dental cleanings. But, hey, life goes on and I've got dental insurance.

 Anyhow, let's get down to business. I really don't have much to ramble about tonight so we'll try to run out the clock and see what pops out. First off, let's do the News. It was a lot of daily wraps up because it was that kind of week. We looked at our weird Spring weather Monday while touching on the beginning of the Derek Chauvin case and the union fight with Amazon in Alabama.

 Much as I hated to do it, I had to touch on the Matt Gaetz unpleasantness Wednesday and Friday. We also looked at some of the brilliance that comes from the Mississippi Legislature as well as Joe Biden's upcoming $2 trillion infrastructure plan. There was also some good news on the COVID-19 front and yet another mass shooting. And we touched on the MLB's decision to move the All-Star Game in response to Georgia's contentious voting bill.

 There's something to that. Conservatives are outraged that a corporate entity is doing something they don't like and reacting like they always do. That is, threats to never watch baseball again unless MLB does what the government wants. Yeah, that's never a surprise, nor is their glee at Georgia's smacking Delta's wrist for daring to question the state government's motives behind the radical and apparently unnecessary bill.

 This comes as no surprise to anyone. Indeed, it was predictable and will probably have as much an effect as the NFL boycott over the whole kneeling business. It wasn't a whole lot, actually, and last year's pandemic had more of an effect on the ratings than any boycott. I'm sure some folks will actually go through with it, but sports fans are more interested in their preferred sport than the political whatnot that goes on around it.

 It's all so tedious. Honestly, if it weren't for the News, I probably would drop completely out because it has become so boring and predictable. There's news that the Trump people really rooked the rubes that donated to them and the only thing less predictable than that is how little effect it's having on their support of the crooked fucker.

 What else? Well, as I said, I've been buying different brands of harmonicas all week. I've got a Marine Band today to join my Blues Harp, with a Fender Blues, a PowerDraw, and an Easttop on the way. Once my birthday comes - less than 10 days away from being closer to 50 than 40 - I'm going to get me a Lucky 13 Bass harp and perhaps a Lee Oskar of some sort. I figure I'll stick with G's, D's, and C's though the Blues Harp is already an A. I've also made a breakthrough on learning tabs, something I've always had trouble with, regardless of the instrument.

 That's the best thing about learning or relearning something. When you're able to break through some barrier or leap some hurdle that's been hanging you up, and you can do it like it comes naturally. It's like having a superpower. Anyhow, that's good enough for now. Maybe later I'll write some more after I eat something. I will say we finally got fiber optic here and it's nice to join the 21st century in one way, at least.

Was it singin' through my nose that got me busted by the man?

  I'm trying to not pay too close attention to what's going on in Georgia or, for that matter, D.C. They've had an amazing turnout, something like 80-90% of all registered voters. In fact, they saw a bigger turnout than they saw for the November election. Right now, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have a decent lead, but it's still too close to call and too contentious to not take it seriously. Rural counties are trickling in but turnout is lower than in the urban areas, I'm hearing.

 As for Washington, well, what can you say? Mike Pence says he's not going to do anything outrageous, which pretty much means regardless of all the shenanigans being pulled by Trump dingleberries like Josh Hawley, he'll properly count the electoral votes that have already been cast and registered. And the Trumpists are massing in town and promising violence if they don't get their way.

 They'll say the election's been stolen and if you ask for evidence, any evidence, they'll give you links to YouTube videos that'd make Templar conspiracy theories wonder how they made that stretch. And if you don't agree with them, they'll say you're brainwashed by the "mainstream media" because that's the only other option. It's the same thing Green folks said back in 2016 when you doubted anything Jill Stein said.

 Anyhow. It'll be funny as hell if Trump's post-election nonsense costs the Republicans the Senate. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are awful enough as it is, but the whole "Brian Kemp and Brad Raffernsperger won't steal the election for me, so don't vote for the Republicans" is going to have an impact. We're also seeing massive turnouts from Black and Hispanic voters, particularly the latter. Up from nine percent to thirty percent. That's pretty stunning and it's due to heavy-duty GOTV efforts from folks in-state.

 We're also hearing that FOX News is cutting away from election coverage. That doesn't really suggest one thing or another, of course, but it is interesting. And early numbers from Democratic-leaning rural counties show both Warnock and Ossoff with a 25-point lead. There's also a 98% turnout. Wow. Shows what happens when you act like a shitass to an entire state.

 That's one thing I'll be happy to see the backside of once Trump's out of office. It's bad enough to see conservatives act like shit to parts of the country because you think they all think differently, in lockstep, then you do. Sure, liberals do it, too, especially to the South and that's irritating as hell. And I'm not going to lie, I'm not the patriotic sort, we all know that, but one thing I do have an appreciation for is the actual people I share this ride with. I really don't appreciate a president, any president, saying cities and states that don't kiss his ass are garbage. San Francisco and Arizona are just as American as you and me, so fuck that noise.

 I haven't been doing too, good a job ignoring Georgia, have I? It's still leaning towards Ossoff and Warnock, pretty closely at roughly 51-49 for both as rural county votes roll in. I think it's time I checked out. I snagged some new games from the various sites' winter sales. Unavowed, for one, which I played a bit of. I remember the old-school adventure point-and-click, solve-the-puzzle-using-lateral-thinking games, and it does a pretty good call back to that. Plus, I like the concept. I still have Disco Esylium and Outer Wilds to check out, and I still have a $10 coupon to Epic that's good until tomorrow. I really can't decide on something else to buy, so I imagine I'll let it run out.

 And at the rally, Trump supports are chanting "Victory or Death!" I mean, come on. That's just silly.

Faded love, faded memories, how they linger in my mind.

  It's Saturday and the Alabama-LSU game is in high gear. Right now it's the end of the first quarter and the Crimson Tide is stomping the Tigers from Baton Rouge 21-0. Of course, there are three whole quarters to go. My alma matta Florida took out the loathed Volunteers of Tennessee 31-19. If all goes well, this could set up an Alabama-Florida battle for the SEC title. That would, of course, be a game that would have no losers and no winners, but it'd be a good game nonetheless.

 Okay, then. Enough sports. That's not why you come here. I don't know why you come here, but here we are. I've been getting a good number of hits lately, both here and over at The News, more so than the average one would see from webcrawlers and bots. So that's nice, much obliged. And that's as good as anything for a segue.

 I did a deep dive Friday on the MORE Act, which was passed early yesterday afternoon. The full story is at the link, but in a nutshell, it would remove marijuana from the list of Schedule One drugs and be the first step towards decriminalization and perhaps legalization. If we're lucky, it'll also be the first step towards expunging the records of non-violent drug offenders and operations to communities that have suffered the worst from the ill-conceived Drug War of the last half-century. It's good stuff, read it.

 Monday and Wednesday were fairly coming. More stuff on Trump's ongoing temper tantrum at the curb-stomping he got from the election and the delusions of the cult followers that are accomplishing nothing more than lining his pockets, the poor saps. There's some stuff on just how screwed we are from going into Winter with COVID-19 barely slowed down because we as a culture are too damn selfish and stupid. And finally a little bit on Neena Tearden, cabinet nominations in general, and why most of the garment rendering from the soi-disant left is ill-conceived and just another excuse for them to not actually have to do anything substantial. Also good stuff.

 Oh my. Just a few minutes into the second quarter and LSU has snagged two touchdowns, bringing the score up to 28-14. 'Bama better watch out, as it doesn't pay well to underestimate the Tigers here lately. It'd be a helluva thing if 3-4 LSU handed the Tide their first conference loss in this of all games. And though I spent nearly a decade in New Orleans, I feel no loyalty to LSU like I feel nothing for Georgia. Football is an emotional thing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 Okay, so what else? I don't know. I think I'm shaking off the blues I've had all week though I'm still doing more sleeping than is probably healthy. Regardless - or perhaps due to - that disconnect from the rest of the world continues. I couldn't tell you why even if I cared, but I don't so that doesn't really help, does it? Blogger, journalist, and all-around gadfly Glenn Greenwald's getting a lot of flack on Twitter lately, there's something.

 It is understandable, really, as he's gone further and further from the modicum of gravitas he built up from his blogging days and solid investigative journalism work by being Tucker Carlson's most recent "even" leftist and being complicit in the burning of Reality Winner. For what it's worth, I'm rather neutral on him. I read his blog a good bit during the Iraq War after he decided it was "bad," but lost all use for him when he started caping for Ron Paul. I don't give a damn what he says, his actions prove the lie to every line of bullshit the Distinguished Asshole from Texas ever laid out.

 Greenwald approaches journalism like the lawyer he is. He assumes the worst and then looks for evidence to back him up. That in and of itself isn't necessarily bad, but it seems he has a problem letting go when his initial assumptions prove misguided or flat-out wrong. His continued parroting of right-wing talking points about the Mueller Report proves that. In any event, he's a fine example of one of my axiomatic positions on journalists of all stripes: the facts and the story matters, the person who wrote it doesn't.

 Finally, in never-ending election news, Trump held one of his rallies down in Valdosta, GA, ostensively to support the sleazy Kelly Loeffler and the criminal David Perdue. However, to the surprise of absolutely no one, he's made it all about himself and how everyone is mean to him and how all his followers are victims and whah whah whah. There was even a "Fight For Trump" chant that drowned out the two Senators during their speech, which makes the idea that Georgia Republicans will boycott the election to "teach" the GOP a lesson, which would cause the two crooks' loss.

 Wouldn't that be just the perfect capper to the Trump Years?