Bird Box!

Really? Netflix says 45 million accounts have watched Bird Box since it debuted. Yeah I'm one of them. I dont get it.

First off I am not a horror picture person. A Quiet Place, though original, did nothing for me. Its just not my bag. Bird Box aint my bag either.
Bird Box features Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson (dont blink), John Malkovich, BD Wong (they get rid of the gays fast), Jacki Weaver and the only actor I cared about, Trevante Rhodes (that dude from Moonlight that made me watch it 3 times in 24 hours).

All over the world people are committing suicide after seeing some sort of vision, so to survive you have to walk around with a blindfold on, or drive a car with blacked out windows, just dont look or you end up sticking a knife in your neck, jumping out of a window, climbing into a fire engulfed car, or blowing your head off. Bullock must get her two children, one named boy and one named girl cuz you see she aint a nice person and she doesnt give a shit about anybody, to a sanctuary where the vision cant get to them.

The problem that I have with this movie isnt so much the "horror" aspect but the fact to be a thriller you shouldnt really give away in the first 5 minutes who is going to die and who is going to live. This truly destroyed any suspense the film may have had going for it.

Not that Bird Box is bad, it is not. But its not anything I'm going to remember a week from now. Its a big ehhhhhhhhhh.

Merry Marginal Christmas!

Trumps ruining Christmas for 7 year olds. Start drinking now.

Merry Christmas.

It's Not A Wonderful Life!

Now that Scrooge has shut down the government throwing a temper tantrum cuz he cant get funding to not build a gigantic steel slat monstrosity to keep the brown people from pursuing a better life, this worthless orange coal turd is sitting in the White Hose watching TV. Not that its any different from any other day in this disgusting administration, but the Orange scum is putting the entire world in danger.

Shutting down the government, furloughing hundreds of thousands of everyday people at Christmas time, with a complicit gang of uncaring trash named McConnell, Ryan and (insert Republican congress creep here) and dismissing the so called only adult left in the White House, a guy nicknamed Mad Dog, for a corporate executive who sees only profits in the death of young Americans. Yep, a Boeing CEO is now running America's defense, rather America's defense industry.Great.

The Orange excrement has also decided to withdraw troops from Syria because he has defeated ISIS and will allow the Turks to handle whats left over. You know, like the Kurds. The Orange useful idiot has taken his orders from other dictators in order to keep who knows what from the public. Now I know and you know that it was Obama that kicked ISIS in the nuts but in Trumpy Land, a scary place that exists only in the disease addled brain of POTUS45, and in the dissolving brains of his cultists, ISIS was running wild. But because of Orangeman, ISIS has "largely been defeated". Somebody stop this insanity.

I know its Xmas time and all of this shit should be forgotten but really, with the departure of Mattis and Kelly, the schmoozing done by Bond villains Mnuchin and his Lady McBeth in Cabo, the lack of any intelligence in the Cabinet, the Fox News obsession of this old man President, the grifting of Kushner and Ivanka, the cold hearted ice queen Nielsen, the death of 7 year old refugees, the locking in cages of children, the very presence of a gangly lunatic like Tom Cotton (Scarecrow-Ar) and a blabbing phony like Ben Sasse (Babbler-Ne), the sudden shift to Shitheel by chain migration First Porn Model Melania, and the Dallas Cowboys winning a division, we cannot afford to put this on hold.

Xmas is fun, Xmas is for family, in my case its the day my life changed for the better, but this is no time to rest. You can be assured these Russian fucks arent resting. Their useful idiots arent resting.

Goddammit Mueller, hurry the fuck up.

Movie Time!

God I need an escape from the deterioration of this entire nation. Its too goddamned much. I feel like pulling the covers up over my head and waiting for this putrid group of miscreants to go away. In the meantime, lets go to the movies.

The Mule

Clint Eastwood is really old. But Clint Eastwood is still relevant. The 88 year old directs like he doesnt have much time left. Its like a one take and I havent got time for a second. Who can forget the doll baby Bradley Cooper had to shake around to make it look alive in the horrific American Sniper?

The Mule is story of an old man, a neglectful old man who spent his whole life drinking with his buddies, growing his flowers and having nothing to do with his wife and kids. And the family hates him for it. He's alone, he's rejected, and he's miserable. He's also out of money due to the "damn internet" putting his flower business under water.

In a completely implausible scene he is offered a chance to make a lot of money just driving around. He bites. The next thing you know he's running drugs for the cartel in his old pickup, then his new pickup. He finances his granddaughters wedding, he saves his old VFW hall, he saves his broken down home from foreclosure. He's living high.

But then comes Bradley Cooper and Michael Pena. Working for the DEA, the two agents are after this so called Mule. They get closer and closer and the Mule begins to feel the heat.

The Mexican cartel needs to cut its losses and Clint is is deep shit.

No spoilers here but the story drags at this point. It ends with a whimper.

It's a complete mediocrity but the bar may be too high here. If this was directed by a youngster it would be considered great potential. But directed by the 88 year old legend its a complete ehhhhhhhhh.

Green Book

This movie is corny. Its the old opposites attract story. The rough and tumble Italian street guy and the high class genius black musician team up to tour the Deep South in 1962 America.

Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali play the antagonists who of course become great friends by the end of this movie. I know theres some controversy about making racism so fucking light hearted. And it does. But it works.

This film makes you laugh and cry virtually the entire 2 plus hours. Theres really not a dull moment. I got manipulated by the guy who directed Dumb and Dumber. And I am happy about it.

Widows

Ooooooo that twist at the end that if you know anything about anything you saw coming a mile away. It pissed me off.

Widows is the story of a bunch of widows out to finish what their dead husbands couldnt finish. A heist.

Viola Davis is money. Colin Farrell is money. The acting is money. But the story is not.

Oh and a hint. Keep your eye on the little white dog. That dog is the best detective in the movie.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Theres nothing new here. Its the cliched biopic. But its fucking wonderful. Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury is stunning. The other actors playing the rest of the band Queen are just fantastic. The cameo by Mike Meyers is just so pleasing it made me smile war to ear.

I am not even a fan of Queen yet I became one watching this movie. The last 20 minutes which is entirely a note for note copy of the actual Live Aid performance and it works, man. It reminded me that the only thing I remember about Live Aid was Queen and U2. Those were the memorable moments to me. The tiger like walking of Freddie Mercury and Bono dancing with that girl.

Bohemian Rhapsody brought it all back. See it.

A Star is Born

I wish people would stop raving about Lady GaGa and giving her an Oscar. She's good but why are you so surprised? She acts every stinking night while in concert. She's a pro.

This 4th remake of this familiar story of the fading star giving way to the up and comer is very good. I used to think of Bradley Cooper as a lightweight. A pretty boy. But here, as director and star he enters the reality of Hollywood. You have to take this guy seriously now. he knows what he's doing.

Cooper plays a drunken country rock star, a kind of cross between Eddie Vedder and Sam Elliott (who plays Coopers much older brother), who discovers Lady Ga Ga in a drag club. They fall in love, she gets big, he drinks himself into situations that are hard to even watch and you know the end.

Its certainly a Top 10 contender, hell it may win the Oscar, I dont know. All I can say is this. Sam Elliott will never win an Oscar, but his scene of pulling away in his truck from the last time he ever sees his brother is as good a scene of acting as you can expect. So shit, give it to Sam, just to hear that voice accept it.

Go see a movie, folks. Real life is a horrible enough.

Harvey Milk!

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country."

That was a quote from a tape made by Harvey Milk, to be released just in case he was murdered. If you dont know who Harvey Milk was you oughta learn.

40 years ago today a conservative San Francisco supervisor, that's city councilman to us rubes,named Dan White walked into City Hall and murdered Mayor Willie Moscone and Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the entire nation. Oh yeah, he used a gun, like all chickenshit assassins do, and he did it because he saw a conspiracy against conservative white men like himself.

1978 was a long time ago. I was in college. I had no idea who Harvey Milk was. I hardly knew any gay people. But the murder of a Mayor and a Supervisor by a loser "victim" like Dan White really appalled me. I didnt understand the grief, the horror, the fright that must have come down on San Francisco that day. It was just another assassination of somebody making a difference. JFK, X, MLK, RFK, Lowenstein and now Milk and Moscone.

But then came that candlelight march. That hit me hard. Hey kids, this was the days before the internet so I had to go to Love Library and read the San Francisco Chronicle for something other than news about the Giants. I learned a lot in the next few days. Lessons that changed me from naive and ignorant to woke as the kids say.

You wanna read a great story? Read The Mayor of Castro Street. I carried this dog eared paperback around with me for years and still have it. In fact, I think I'll read it again.

Harvey, we hardly knew ye.

Veteran's Day!

77 years ago my father tried to join the Marines. They said nah. Flat feet or something. So he joined the Army and spent the "4 worst years of my life" trudging around Europe stopping Nazis and fascists from murdering innocents, oppressing freedom and just being assholes. He never ever spoke of it except if the story involved humor, like stealing Generals jeeps cuz they were tired, having Italian POW's tell him that Mussolini, Hitler and FDR were all "son of a beeches" or becoming friends with a German kid named Rolfie who would warn them of approaching "Panzers" though they always turned out to be American tanks.

My point? There weren't any fucking bone spurs or flat feet that kept my Dad from doing whatever part he was assigned in defeating evil.

Yesterday a real life evil doer represented America at a World War I cemetery by sitting in his Paris hotel room and watching Fox News and tweeting that California fire victims were to blame for their own deaths. Oh did I mention it was raining and Jim Acosta was there? Ya know, messed up hair and a rude press guy forced the evil prick to stay away. Bet he doesn't miss the Putin job appraisal.

Thanks for your sacrifices to all veterans today.

The guy representing the country you sacrificed for is a disgrace.

Call To Arms!

77 years ago my parents generation came under attack by imperialists and fascists and Nazis and rose up and defeated all of them within 4 years. That was the Greatest Generation in the words of Tom Brokaw at least in regards to defeating a real threat to the world. Yeah yeah they had real problems at home that have never been fixed but the call to arms was made and they responded by being shipped off to squalor and death and horrors only they knew.

Hey Millennials ! This is YOUR call to arms. My generation of Baby boomers aint gonna save you. We are the fucking problem. We have turned from self interested protesters to a bunch of self centered morons who believe anything an orange toxin says. We elected an imperialist, fascist Nazi very fine person to run the country cuz we were afraid of the changes you Millennials accept as common sense. Equality and color blindness and who the fuck cares if you're gay.

2016 was YOUR Pearl Harbor. Will you young uns accept the challenge today? All you have to do is vote. Thats it. It takes 10-20 minutes and if the vote suppressors make it harder so be it. You can replace them. You have the power. You normally dont show up because your lives are busy and having fun is more important to you than responsibility. I get it. But take a few minutes or hours. I beg of you. Save Democracy from these closet Nazis.

I am in the 4th quarter of life and white so all of this will affect only my fragile psyche and perhaps my retirement. These people HAVE to be stopped. NOW! Its up to you. In cahoots with those of us who actually read and study things and realize what this current situation could become we can stop this. Fear of change, fear of brown people, fear of blacks, fear fear fear fucking fear. This is what the Republican Party gets. Fear.

Fuck fear. Fuck Republicans and fuck fascism. Help us!

Thanks Millennials.

Fascism Is 5 Days Away!

5 days to save the nation from a racist thug. The Mussolini in Chief has had quite the week. Inserting himself into all that is tragic, giving orders to a non existent military presence to shoot children throwing rocks, something that will never happen. Holding rallies in states for his oldster bitter base. Thinking he can change the constitution with a stroke of his EGG like signature. I mean what else can you think. Donald Fucking Trump is a thug. A creepy fascist. You know what he is. And in 5 days, he must be stopped.

Trump began the week by defying every Jewish leader, every politician, every decent human being in Pittsburgh by NOT staying away from the city attempting to recover from the Trumper maniac who murdered 11 Innocent folks in a synagogue last Saturday because of his economic anxiety. The story of Holocaust survivor being killed turned out to be false, but nonetheless, she was slaughtered by a gun toting mass murderer inspired by the words of a movement allowed from under the rock by the Racist in Chief. Trump went to Pittsburgh because of course he did what he was asked not to. And it was a typical Trump stepping in dog shit moment. He basically got run out of town. Go Pirates.

Trump continued his power grab by insisting, on the advice of "many legal scholars" led by what I assume is a gang of fake judges on TV. tghat he could eliminate an amendment to the constitution by signing a piece of paper. You see, the Bigot in Chief, doesnt think that babies born on American soil to non citizens, should be citizens. You know, like his 4 spawns of Satan born to non citizens. The idea that the 14th Amendment can be destroyed with a stroke of a dictators pen is ludicrous enough, but the fact he had support from various Republicans like the Screeching Lindsey Graham, still reeling from the latest Russian blackmail threat, is scary. The base loves it of course. Yay Donald! Get rid of those foreign browns and blacks. Russian women giving birth at Mar A Lago? What?

Trump sends 5000 military troops to border to fend off an invasion of women and children a thousand miles away. 10,000 more troops? Its getting dire down there. They are now only 995 miles away! The Fascist in Chief panicking America with his warning of something that happens regularly. People from other countries asking LEGALLY for asylum. People, forced out of American supported countries who fail to protect them from gangs and their own governments, flee and walk thousands of miles to stay alive. This is an invasion, per the Scaredy Cat in Chief and his wimpy followers, scared of their own shadow because its black.

This is the greatest overreaction to a non event since oh maybe ever. The Thumb Breaker in Chief then gave the order to the non existent troops to shoot to kill non existent women and children massed at the border if they threw non existent rocks. Shoot to kill? What is this, the 1970 Ohio National Guard?. This "order" would never be given by any military officer because they arent mass murderers but to Trump and his dumb base they apparently are.

We have 5 days to stop this crazy motherfucker. 5 fuckin days.

VOTE!

Just Another Week In Trump's America!

I dont even know where to begin. I am exhausted. Just this week alone has been so fucking crazy I am really not sure this entire nation is worth saving. I see so much moronic behavior it really gets one down. Oh Im not even talking about evil motherfuckers motivated by hatred and encouraged by Presidents to kill people they dont like. I am talking about ignorant cretins who cannot put down their foreign made MAGA hats for one day and give it a fucking rest. They go to listen the Unindicted Co-Conspirator in Chief spew out 30 seconds of condemnation and then 90 minutes of his greatest hits. Lock Her Up, Build the Wall. Ya know fuck all of you. Ive been in your midst. I know whats in your hearts. There isnt a doubt in my mind a substantial number of shitheels in the crowd Friday night in Charlotte would have cheered had the Instigator in Chief brought the guy onstage who tried to assassinate two ex Presidents and bunch of black Democrats with his pipe bombs.

The week began with the indictment of a group of white supremacists who enjoy walking around and beating up anti-Trump protesters. The Proud Boys, led by some nitwit who fancies himself a tough guy. A guy who was allowed to speak at a Republican event full of rich money hungry Republicans, You know, the kind of Republican that used to run that disgusting political party. Rich pricks with sociopathic tendencies. I have mine so screw you. Those types. I dont like them, but I understand them. And now, they welcome thugs like the Proud Boys who insist that Trumpsters become violent and crush the opposition in primal ways. Ya know, Like 1936 Germany. That was just the beginning of the week.

On Wednesday, a white man in Jeffersontown,Kentucky attempted to gain access to a predominately black Baptist church but could not get in. He then went to a local grocery store, walked in, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot a black man in the back of the head and then shot the man multiple times as he lay dead. The man's 12 year old grandson was there and cannot unsee it. The Trumper man then walked outside to the parking lot and shot an innocent black woman numerous times. A bystander pulled his concealed weapon and confronted the man who said "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites." The man exchanged wild fire with the man and hit nothing. The killer is in jail, taken alive of course. His name is irrelevant.

Also on Wednesday, a series of pipe bombs began arriving at the offices of various Democrats and their donors. George Soros, the billionaire deadbeat who has yet to pay me to protest. He must be pre-occupied with that caravan of terrorist babies he's paying to invade us. Hillary and Bill Clinton got one. Barack and Michelle Obama got one. Jim Brennan got one. Maxine Waters got two. Kamala Harris got one. Cory Booker got one. Joe Biden got two. Robert DeNiro got one. You get a bomb and you get a bomb and you get a bomb. The one thing all these people have in common is they all think Donald Trump is a fucking nightmare thrust upon this country by a band of ignoramuses, racists and thugs strengthened by an antiquated election system that only benefits Republicans. CNN got one, and all they do is tell the truth about the moronic statements and lies that the Thug in Chief spews out of his tiny piehole. An arrest was made on Friday of a man who had pro-Trump and anti-Democrats stickers plastered all over his van. This of course brought out the base. The conspiracy minded Republican base who doesnt believe facts but believes whatever their propagandists and Fox tell them. Its despicable.

Then came Saturday. A man who actually thinks Trump is not racist enough walked into a synagogue and murdered 11 innocent people attending a bris. A fucking bris. A baby was there. This right wing anti-Semite whack job had posted screeds on right wing web sites calling Jews the names I will not repeat. The coward with the AR 15 was taken alive, of course, and is now in a hospital with non life threatening wounds probably regaling medical staff with his "all Jews must die" bullshit. The thoughts I have are not good but it involves a pillow, preferably a My Pillow, and strong security guard. Fuck this guy.

Meanwhile, our Egomaniac in Chief gave himself the hand job of the day by appearing at rallies full of idiots who think this is some sort of stand up comedy act for stupid people. This fuckstick is killing us. He continues to rant about "globalists" which of course is code for Jews,and nationalists" which of course is code for white supremacy. He attempts to scare racists, which of course is not difficult die to their wimpiness, by hollering about a caravan of women and children and men fleeing gang violence and starvation. He lies about the caravan being full of non existent middle eastern terrorists and Central American gang members. He encourages group think among people who believe THEY are the oppressed and due their white birthright. Its only logical this creates a hatred that can be weaponized by a disturbed individual exercising their Second Amendment rights .

Goddammit!! VOTE. Our lives DO depend on it.

Tommie Smith/John Carlos!

50 years ago today, October 6th, 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics , two American heroes said no more. Tommie Smith and John Carlos said too the entire world, we won these medals for ourselves, not for a country that oppresses us.

50 years later, we realize that progress is dormant. NFL players kneel to protest cops killing unarmed black men and women and a conniving President runs the puppet show of gasbag patriots becoming outraged. As he always does, the Grifter in Chief changed the subject to convince dummies that the kneeling by NFL players has to do with the flag and veterans and disrespect for the law enforcement that kills their brothers and sisters with no consequences. As usual, the Liar in Chief is full of shit and his cultists are just plain dumb.

In 1968 the nation was outraged. Well, white people were. Smith and Carlos were pariahs. Their lives were threatened. They had trouble finding jobs. All because of an act most people lacked the guts to even support much less try.

Time moves on. People get smarter. What once was considered deviant or treasonous becomes normal and courageous. Progress always wears down prejudice.

Except when it comes to race.

Colin Kaepernick is the modern day Smith and Carlos. He's a pariah. He's a "son of a bitch" per our President. But he has more courage than the entire cult of phony patriots has combined. Its easy to stand and sing the anthem. That takes no courage. To participate in group think is not courageous. To risk it all by standing in front of thousands and not doing what they want you to do takes guts. It has nothing to do with wars and vets and the flag and the troops. It has to do with what is right and what is wrong.

So 50 years later, Tommie Smith and John Carlos deserve admiration and our thanks, not our disdain. Colin Kaepernick deserves the same. So do the members of the military and the veterans.

As far as I see, there is only one "son of a bitch" involved. And thats the guy who jerked us back 50 years and will continue to do so another 50 years if we let him.

Life At A Trump Rally!

I went. I did. To last night's crazy fest featuring a cast of nutjobs and their Dear Leader, Donald F Trump. Poor Uncle Donald, longing for Daddy's love, cant stop holding his Me-Me-Me rallies masquerading as Republican campaigns. Last night in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a city across the river from Omaha and referred to as Counciltucky, in an old casino paid for arena that is only used for circuses, monster truck shows and gun shows, the traveling Trump show arrived .

Led by motorcycle cops, SUV's with their lights going in the front window, Trumps motorcade arrived with angry white people lining the streets and waving and some protesters across the street flipping the bird. I was undercover, with the protesters because I couldnt get across the street with the Orange Toxin motorcade flying by.

A guy with a Union t shirt and a red MAGA hat ran across the street with me. His obvious contradiction totally irrelevant to this bunch. Grifters at tables sold red MAGA hats, made for pennies overseas, for $25 each to the rubes. Another con man sold Calvin pissing on the CNN logo t shirts for $30 at another table. I hope he had lots of XXXL's.

Being searched by Security in order to get in was fun. Wanded by some guy who obviously wondered what the fuck a hippie was doing there, I was let in as Lee Greenwood's I'm Proud to be a Hateful Redneck American blared. Where are my earplugs? There is guy to my left in full military salute as the song plays. I was placed in the back, near the press pen because to be in that sea of humanity (?) was out of the question. Gotta be back with my peeps. The truth tellers. The people who cant handle the truth stood in front waiting for a glimpse of their cult leader, Maybe this will be the night he orders us to kill a member of the press! Hoo boy!

As the worst song ever written ends out bounds a lumbering monster. Moving like a giant glacier, the President claps like a seal, points at nobody, claps some more, lumbers around, points at more adoring cultists and then takes the mike. The noise is deafening.

And then it speaks. Kavanaugh, the groping, lying, drunk that was put on SCOTUS is cheered. Trump talks about the handsy motherfucker like he's Saint Brett. He calls the people who didnt want the nation to be sent backwards "paid protesters". He dismisses women who have been assaulted as irrelevant as the gender traitors in the arena cheer.

He mentions E15, a type of fuel that literally sucks corn out of the mouths of starving kids around the world and is nothing but a giant welfare program for Iowa farmers. The crowd cheers like you would if someone said they like broccoli. They dont want E15 talk, they want red meat. They want to boo, and perhaps kill a press member.

Trump senses the lull and immediately moves on to simply naming off the first names of Fox News propagandists. Sean? Yayyyy Laura how about that Laura huh? Yayyyyy Tucker, we love that Tucker yayyyyyyy Steve? Who? So he throws in Doocy cuz who the fuck knows who that bonehead is? Judge Jeanine? Yayyyyyyyy. Its pathetic.

He moves on to "Pocahontas" which draws loud booing from the misogynists that make up the bulk of this mob. Trump lies about Elixzabeth Warren gaining advantages by faking that she "has Indian blood". Well at least he didnt call them Injuns. More booing.

On to "DaNang Dick" where he draws more boos by lying about Senator Richard Blumenthal who did falsely claim to have been in Vietnam but never claimed to be a hero or at Da Nang. By the way, Trump spent the Vietnam years unsuccessfully avoiding STD's. I know this because its obvious untreated syphilis is eating his brain.

Trump claims he knows Senator Dianne Feinstein (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) leaked the memo about Christine Ford. Well he's "99% sure" anyway. Chants of "Lock Her Up" start. The intensity grows cuz its a dame to boo.

The Molester in Chief then says to a right wing lynch mob that the "Dims" (HAHAHAHAHA) are a "left wing mob". More BOOOOOSSSSS.

Ya know we do need foreign workers to help on Iowa farms but they must come here legally. The inevitable "Build The Wall" chants begin. Nothing about rich Republican farmers hiring the foreigners illegally.

More Trump lies about how many jobs he's created and then he comments on how many Nebraskans are there even though he's in Iowa. The crazy idea of bridges and roads and a million Nebraskans right across the river baffles him. Then the "Go Big Red" chants begin. Go Big Red? The fucking team is 0-5 you stupid morons.

At this point I start to move towards the exit. This is a fucking shitstorm I no longer want to be a part of. I know what 1930s Germany must have been like. This roaring nasty crowd is as hateful a bunch as Ive ever seen and Ive been to Tool concert.

Trump lies some more. Then he brings onstage the Governor of Iowa. An appointed Gender Traitor named Kim Reynolds (Dipshit-Ia) who begins to screech at the top of her lungs. She even does a Howard Dean screech. Oh she's done now. She screamed that means she is done right? Guess not.

Trump praises Steve King the openly white nationalist bigot Iowans keep electing to Congress. He praises the hard boiled egg that runs Nebraska, refusing to bring him up onstage because he's "so far ahead he doesnt need to come up here".

Then I manage to get out. Another group of MAGA hat wearing stand outside watching a television, high fiving Trumpisms they like. A vendor asks me if I want a discounted hat, only $20. I dont answer. My soul has been crushed.

My faith in humanity is low anyway but its gone now. I wander over to the protesters and tell a couple what I just saw. Is there any hope? Fuck yeah one says, we have the numbers. Its happening 11/6. My spirits perk up. You're right man. We do have the numbers. Fuck Trump and those bird brained mob inside that falling down arena.

But I must say this. Its one thing to watch a Trump rally on TV. You can yell at the TV or laugh at the hand picked cult members behind him. But to be at one in person is exhausting. If you have an ounce of compassion, or empathy, or brains you see these screaming dimbulbs and realize the haters gonna hate hate hate. Theyve always been there, but in the past they only talked to each other in bars and VFW halls and in their backyards. Now they think they have the duty to get in your face and holler their insults and slurs. Its #sad.

Once they lived under rocks. Trump lifted the rock and out they came. My fear is how do we get them back where they belong? Back under the rock.

Boy Scout Ben Sasse!

Now that this entire disgraceful installation of Bluto Kavanaugh has concluded and we have lost again to the Orange Mussolini and his Turtle I have to say something about one of the major players in this disgrace.

About a month ago while sitting at yet another Nebraska football tragedy, a vendor bounded up the stairs carrying another Nebraska tragedy, Runzas hollering about what he had for sale, instant indigestion. With him was the vendors daughter and then staring me in the face was Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse (Phony-Ne). Sasse is well know for being a goof, he drives Uber, and sells concessions at football games. Wow what a great guy huh?

As Sasse looked me directly in the eye, I said "so how does it feel to support a perjurer?". This was before we knew that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was not only a liar but a grab ass drunk. Ben Sasse heard me, and turned completely around while ignoring my question. Reminder he was with his daughter, the one he claimed prayed with him to end Obamacare every morning. Oh well, he didnt answer. Why would he? He was bust being all folksy. All Nebraskan.

Ben Sasse stood in front of an EMPTY Senate chamber the other night and did what Sasse does best. Bullshit you. He yammered on, sometimes fighting back "tears", about how he urged the Orange Slime to nominate a woman to the seat now occupied by a handsy rummy. He claimed he knew the #MeToo movement was real and that The Sexual Molester In Chief was the wrong guy to lead it. He talked about how the confirmation of a drunken attempted rapist did not mean you dont understand women's pain. Oh Ben Sasse is one of those guys who get it, ladies, He gets your fear and horror and experiences with the Brett Kavanaughs of the world. He's down with you Vagina-Americans. Yes, chicks, remember that Ben Sasse thinks about leaving the Republican Party every single day. He probably thinks about lots of things he will never do. Like becoming a decent human being.

Ben Sasse votes the way he's told to vote. He votes with Trumski 95% of the time. Oh the Republican Turtle allows Ben to speak his mind, to an empty Senate floor, because they know when it comes down to it, Trustworthy Ben will do what he's told.

Yesterday, Boy Scout Ben voted YES to confirm Buzzed Kavanaugh to his lifetime seat on the Court of Owning The Libs.

Thanks Ben, but no thanks to your pious phoniness. Put a Runza in it. Be more like our other Senator, a backbenching robot named Deb Fischer (Gender Traitor-Ne). She doesnt even pretend to give a fuck. Try it, its actually less infuriating to those of us you turn your back on.

Farce Or Sham?

This farce is about over. Old man Grassley and his coffee buddy Old Man Hatch are satisfied that the dame who dared to accuse 53 year old frat boy Bart of being a handsy grabass is a liar. Of course, Grassley and Hatch would vote for Bart if he personally vomited on their 60 year old daughters or Devils Triangled their 40 year old granddaughters, but this sham of an FBI report has given them cover to huff and puff and put a dry drunk with an anger problem on the Court. What these fossils expect to get out of a 53 year old gambling addict baseball enthusiast before they drop dead and go straight to hell is beyond me.

Old Man Grassley would show up at a sex trafficking crime scene and start hollering theres nothing to see here, move along and lets go home to see the Hawkeyes and wave at cancer kids, most of whom he'd gladly throw into the streets, harvest their organs, drink their blood and then claim the kids were leeches upon society, now give me my bailout money.

Nobody actually believes this FBI investigation is anything than what it is. A fucking fraudulent report so limited in scope that they werent even allowed to interview the attempted rapist Judge and his victim harlot accuser. There is no doubt scumbags like McConnell, Grassley, Hatch, Cornyn, Lee, Kennedy, Tillis and our own gender traitors Fischer and Ernst didnt give a fuck what was in the report, as long as they got a SCOTUS proxy vote to limit womens rights, put the blacks back in line, get the gays back in the closet, and allow an Orange toxic pile of gizz to pardon everybody who participated in the sham of an election back in 16.

Look, theres not much hope for those of us who believe women to stop this raging drunk from getting on the Court to exact his revenge for the next 30 years. To be the same gender and color as the mummified remains of these soon to be dead Republican cranks is horrifying for me. But to be the same gender and color as these gender traitors like Deb Fischer (Welfare Rancher-Ne) and Joni Ernst (Cackling Witch-Ia) must be even more horrifying. Like those laughing old bags in Mississippi listening to another rapist cult leader and laughing at another woman's pain, women are often their own worst enemies.

When you are courageous enough to come forward and tell us of your experience only to be dismissed by men and laughed at by other women must be the worst thing that can happen other than the assault.

I am disgusted by this entire farce of a country right now. Every single time I drive by my polling place my anger makes me want to run in NOW and vote against every one of the Republican assholes.

Who's with me? Decent women and decent men. Lets cut Trumps balls off on November 6th.

Rage Against The Truth!

These are the people who matter. One mattered on a national stage 27 years ago and one mattered on a national stage last week. One was steamrolled by a patriarchal old boy network of men, including some Democrats, and her nemesis, a despicable unqualified lackey named Clarence Thomas was put on the Supreme Court for life. Thomas has had one mission since 1991, to own the libs. To follow another cynical conservative uninterested in anything except restoring 1783. Anita Hill courageously tried to stop the appointment of this toadying circuit court judge but failed. The rest is history. The country is lesser because of her failure. I thought the country was better because of her courage.

Cut to 2018. Yet another toadying questionably qualified Judge is being rammed through the Senate process to take a seat for life on the Court. A Judge who has had hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt wiped out overnight. A Judge who appears to lie with impunity. A Judge who believes a President cannot be indicted or even charged with a crime. A Judge who sat in judgement of Bill Clinton and reportedly wanted to know many more details of a blowjob than anybody else. A Judge who stated, even in his 40s, that what goes on at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep. A frat boy, a privileged punk intent on being a drunken jerk and proud of it.

Christine Blasey Ford had lived for 35 years with an incident occurring at age 15 that involved a couple of prep school bullies named Judge and Kavanaugh. How appropriate. We all know what allegedly happened that night in that room. We heard a woman describe it in great detail. We heard Dr Ford be polite and deferring and insistent without raising her voice. Now we all know had Dr Ford shown an inner anger or began weeping over a justifiable reason to do just those things, her demeanor would have called "hysterical" and most old white men would have dismissed her.....Oh wait thats exactly what they did anyway.

Within minutes of coming back from a break, Christine Blasey Ford was dismissed from the memories of 11 white males intent on getting a man onto the Supreme Court who would protect their cult leader forever. Intent on putting into power a man who would own the libs forever. A man who would vote to overturn civil rights laws, keep gerrymandering legal, protect traitors, keep the iron fist of maleness upon womans health and bodies, and with no consequences, accept gifts from his handlers.

The woman was no longer relevant. In fact the woman hired to protect the white men from backlash, Rachel Mitchell, was also dismissed once the old men yelling at clouds decided that huffing and puffing and defending sexual assault was going to work with the Republican base of cretins, male boneheads and traitorous females. Dr Ford was no longer even remembered. Her testimony was erased from their politically demonized brains.

Then came the man. The Judge. The beacon of fairness. Sober as a Judge? Ridiculous.

We all saw it. The blustering, the screaming, the snideness, the cheap shots, the water drinking, the Jekyll and Hyde personality. It was like every woman's worst nightmare coming out from behind the curtain. The raging drunk. The crying remorseful jerk. The frat boy who became a different person around his entitled "brothers". Yeah, ladies, you all know this guy. You've hopefully jettisoned guys like this long ago. But there he is. As of this moment, still a favorite to be put on the Supreme Court to affect everyone's life forever. Especially women.

We havent really progressed much in 28 years, have we? The one progress made in the last 100 years is voting. If women vote, we win.

Think about last Thursday in terms of the reality of the world. A soft spoken, reasonable woman with a long standing record of reporting this incident to friends, therapists, a husband and the press as opposed to a screeching, smart ass, cheap shot artist playing to an audience of one (The Assaulter in Chief).

Who would YOU rather be in the same room with? Reason and intelligence (Hill and Ford) or out of control rage (Thomas and Kavs)? The world depends on your answer. Vote!

Marty Balin!

Marty Balin was always third banana in the Jefferson Airplane behind Grace Slick and Paul Kantner. While Grace sang and Paul played guitar, Marty kind of stood off to the side and waited for his turn. Most people just remember Marty as the guy who got knocked out by the Hells Angels at Altamount. In fact other than Somebody to Love and White Rabbit, the Airplane is largely forgotten now. But Marty Balin has died at age 76. Paul Kantner died a couple of years back and Grace Slick is in exile doing who knows what.

The Airplane pretty much became irrelevant after 1968. They got some good footage out of the Woodstock movie (Migawd Grace was hot) but they ended because Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady wanted to play real music and the group broke up. Then came the Jefferson Starship which featured just Kantner, Grace and Marty with a band of hired Bay Area musicians. Then came Miracles. That was Marty's song. Then came Mickey Thomas and Marty was out again.

RIP Marty Balin. You never got the credit you deserved.

#Why I Didn't Report!

Did you read any of them? Did you? The twitter storm of women telling their stories of being sexually assaulted and why they never felt confident enough to report it were truly telling. I read them until I couldnt read them any longer. Look, I'm a guy. I went to an all boys high school. I've been around a culture of entitlement that I still cannot get over. I never joined a fraternity back in college because of this culture of male superiority (and the crazy homo-erotic pledge shit). Men run this fucking world and goddammit, they aint giving the power up without a fight.

This Kavanaugh thing is a wake up call to men. Decent men. You can wave it off as "horseplay" or remember maybe an incident in your past of which you believe would bring you down. But come on for chrissakes. If you dismiss this allegation, you dismiss ALL women and their memories and their stories. You dismiss crimes. You dismiss the degradation of someone's daughter or mother or sister or friend or grandmother. How dare you?

The Republican Senate doesnt give a shit. Led by the truly despicable Mitch McConnell (Sub-Human-Ky) this band of frat boys and their female collaborators are perfectly willing to ignore Doc Ford's story to confirm this creepy handsy motherfucker to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Let's face it. This is ALL about one thing. To keep control of women's bodies in the hands of men who care nothing about women. To make abortion illegal in a true 19th century dominance. To overturn Roe V Wade no matter how or by whom.

The Republican base has become a truly horrific band of people who see conspiracies around every corner, see women as temptresses, see minorities as a threat to their privilege, and see abortion as white genocide. The Republicans with brains have abandoned ship. The Republicans who only care about their own money have abandoned ship. Republicans who have true conservative beliefs yet have no axe to grind have jumped overboard. Basically all that is left is racists and the truly stupid who are dazzled by this talking orange cult leader and insanely believe this Elmer Gantry will restore a life they really never had. They hate minorities, they despise intelligence, they are in fear of losing the only privilege they still own, their whiteness, they hate the press that tells them the truth, but mostly they just enjoy driving the "libtards" crazy. Its really the only "power" they have. To say something so fucking dumb, or to praise a dimwitted bigot, and know that a lib will cringe makes them so happy.

This base that is left are snake handlers, believers in a Patriarchal Gawd, kool aid drinkers who have no sense of reality. That is why this panel of CNN Republican women saying some of the dumbest fucking things about sexual assault, including what boy didn't do this in high school (uhhhh me you idiotic woman) was so appalling. For this bunch of gender traitors, yes I mean that, to say this stupid shit about "all boys" committing sexual assault in their past is an insult to men. We arent all sexual assaulting drooling monsters and for these evil dames (thats a word you old biddies women like right?) to imply this simply to put the hammer down on young women they may or may not be jealous of is just wrong.

I am not only appalled at the fact these creeps in the Senate and their base of old bags women and hateful men are ignoring Doctor Ford, but are poo pooing every women and whatever horror haunts them in their dreams. I'm not sure I know a woman who DOESNT have one of these #WhyIDidntReport stories. So fuck you McConnell, Grassley and Hatch and Graham. You evil assholes need to step aside at best and be shunned at worst.

Ignore women at your own peril, guys. If they ever wake up and realize the power they potentially have, watch the fuck out.

The world might become a better place. In fact, it would be.

Brett Kavanaugh!

This picture is all I ever needed to know about Brett Kavanaugh. His refusal to shake the hand of Fred Guttenberg, a man whose child was murdered by a 2nd Amendment enthusiast at Parkland School, is all anyone should need to know about Brett Kavanaugh. To be quite blunt, fuck Brett Kavanaugh and the unicorn he rode in on.

But now a woman has come forward to save the nation. Kavanaugh, one of those entitled frat boy to bes while at an all boys Jesuit school back in high school, liked to drink. When he drank, he and his buddy, an erotic novelist wannabe named Mark Judge also felt like any woman, errr girl, wanted them so bad. According to the woman, the two lured her to a room during a party, where Kavanaugh and Judge attempted to remove her clothing and have their way with her because hey who wouldn't wanna fuck a slobbering 17 year old punk and a guy named Brett? The two drunken Prep school boys succumbed to what Prep school boys do best, get so drunk they cant function. The woman escaped. But did she? Living with an attempted sexual assault the rest of her life is hardly an escape. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh went on to Yale, Yale Law and where he was a member of some group called "Truth and Courage" aka "Tit and Clit" which is again all I need to know about Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh went on to work for Ken Starr and get all prissy over that bad bad Bill Clinton and his blowjob. Asking Ken Starr to ask sexually explicit questions of Bad Bill also tells me all I need to know about Brett Kavanaugh. What the fuck dude? The repression is gonna kill you. We know that when you're drunk as a skunk, you wanna get down with the babes whether they like it or not. You're a wild man, Brett. Embrace your inner frat boy, oh yeah you already are one.

Look, I went to an all boys high school. There is not one doubt in my mind this allegation is 100% true. The things I witnessed, the people I knew, the entitled aura, the sexual repression, the bullshit braggadocio , the homophobia. Going to an all boys high school is a recipe for disaster for many of those who already feel entitled. They just take whet they want and damn the consequences. The joke was how many zeroes need to go on this donation check to make this go away.

Did a 17 year old Brett Kavanaugh assault the 17 year old girl? Not a doubt in my mind.

Georgetown Prep. Tit and Clit. Ken Starr. Fred Guttenburg. Fuck him.

And thats not even mentioning perjury, gambling debts and $200K debts that suddenly disappeared.

Metallica!

I had never seen Metallica. They dont come around the sticks very often and when they do it sells out in minutes. They came to Lincoln last night and yes it had sold out in minutes but I was ready back in March and scored a couple of tickets for whoaaaaaaaaa, how much??? Never mind because it was worth every penny.

Jim Bruere, ex SNL cast member, he of Half Baked fame, opened the show by telling jokes. Mostly about being old and at a Metallica show. He has balls, I'll give him that, because opening for the best metal band ever cannot be easy. We are a polite folk and Bruere didnt get heckled off the stage.

At 8:38 pm the foursome that is Metallica took the stage and launched into a hodge podge of noise called Hardwired, a tune off the new album. Followed by Atlas Rise, another tune so LOUD I couldnt get my old ears to adjust to. I was scared this would be the whole concert, my old ears unable to adjust to the volume.

Then James Hetfield spoke to the 15 thousand or so assembled devotees. We have some new songs and a few old songs. BANG! Seek and Destroy. The ears adjusted immediately and the next thing that happened was this old guy screeching "Searchinggggggg, Seek and Destroy". It was fuckin great. I was in my 20s again listening to the band of Bay Area misfits I have loved since I first heard Fade To Black at 3 am back in 1984 or so.

The concert featured a bunch of graying 50 something men play their asses off. Hetfield was in fine voice, growling the lyrics and knowing when to step back and let the crowd take over. He has his choice of 8 microphones and 8 different angles to sing as the concert was in the round as they say. Lars Ulrich was his usual man possessed pounding a drum kit that made him appear even smaller than he is. He is the best. Kirk Hammett, the guitar master of this gang, was shredding it all night and James Trujillo, one of the most animated bass players out there. kept the rhythm going even when the others went offstage to drink water I assume.

There were 60 year olds and 8 year olds within one seat of each other head banging together, Yes, the 8 year old had headphones on which I only asked to borrow once. A half assed mosh pit formed on the floor in which people rammed into each other very softly and politely and then got tired and stepped back.

Highlight-- hearing For Whom the Bell Tolls and Fade to Black back to back. I almost couldnt stand the happiness I felt screaming along with two of my favorite songs. Its been a bad 18 months, folks. This made it better.

Weirdest Moment-- before the show began, a bunch of 40 somethings with shaved heads and an irate Hispanic guy apparently saw Husker head coach Scott Frost in a luxury box right above us and became irate. Screaming at him and flipping him the bird with the energy of people half their age. It was strange. Now I really have no clue if it was Scott Frost in that box above us cuz I couldnt actually see, but why the hell else would 4 guys not together all know this guy named "Scott" and decide they all hated him?

Low Point-- The inevitable time when a bass player solos to give the rest of them a break. The lines for the bathroom were long as hell and i had to stand in a pile of piss to pee. Great. Oh and Nothing Else Matters cuz I always confuse it with Wherever We May Roam. One I love, and one I tolerate. Guess which is which.

No Surprise--it was a complete sausage fest. There were 4 men to every woman. But as I used to say 30 years back if you're a dude who liked Metallica you were ok in my book and if you were a woman who liked Metallica Im not sure I should be around you. Of course that was a long time ago. Now I think if a woman likes Metallica, she's cool too.

Most Moving--the pictures on the overhanging drones of World War I faces, film of armies, and the scenes from Johnny Got His Gun during One. Many just rocked out, but it made me think of the waste of war. Those were real people who died for nothing. Ok stop thinking so damn much. Hey remember the 1989 Grammys and their performance of One?

Disappointment-- they didnt play Welcome Home (Sanitarium) which in my opinion is their most underrated song. Oh well, I cannot complain. And that Lady Gaga dint run out on Moth into Flame.

And then after 2 1/2 hours and Enter Sandman they were gone. Probably for years. I will treasure again an experience of being with Max at a concert with a band I love he now loves. Theres nothing like seeing yourself in a kid throwing his hair around and throwing his fist in the air screaming Master of Puppets.

Its so cool!

John McCain!

I make no apologies for loving Johns McCain. I make no apologies for calling McCain a true hero. I make no apologies for not calling him a typical conservative Republican who voted wrong and therefore I must hate his guts even in death. Fuck that. John McCain is gone. His life was the life of a man who made mistakes, admitted his mistakes, and stood down from no man. His hatred of Donald Trump shows you what kind of American he was. An American patriot, not a self indulged Russian stooge. The fact he has posthumously banned the Unindicted Co-Conspirator in Chief from his funeral while requesting eulogies from both Barack Obama and George W Bush tells me that even to the end, John McCain cared about his country first.

John McCain had my attention when he came back from Vietnam after being held prisoner for 5 1/2 years. Refusing to be released early by the North Vietnamese as a propaganda move, he subjected himself to more torture and stayed with his fellow prisoners. And fuck all you whack job conspiracy Trumpers currently calling him a snitch and a traitor under orders from your cult leader, the aforementioned Fuckstick in Chief.

McCain wasnt perfect, hell no, he got caught up along with another American hero, John Glenn, in a Savings and Loan scandal in the 80's. He admitted his mistakes, he didnt double down on his error like the Money Launderer in Chief, and he moved on.

In 2000 I honestly rooted for McCain to win the Republican nomination because had he won, the country would have been in good hands no matter who won the Presidency. Hell, I may have voted for him I honestly dont know. But the Karl Roves of the world made sure the dark underbelly of the Republican Party began to emerge and McCain lost out to Dick Cheney and an evil cabal of war mongers intent on making money off the lives of naive kids who were brainwashed into believing their bullshit. The rest was history that someday we shall again recognize as tragedy if we manage to save democracy in November.

In 2008 McCain's turn came. He was nominated to carry that rapidly deteriorating party on his back. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was the epitome of charisma and in the right place at the right time. The economy tanked, thanks to the Republican tax cuts and an unpaid for illegal immoral war (yeah plenty of Democrats participated in that act of cowardice). And perhaps the worst mistake of McCain's political life, the unleashing of the Kracken. The slithering vermin of the party crawled out from under the rock when he picked a dimwitted cynic named Sarah Palin, a female Trump. as his Veep. The bigots and the morons now felt empowered to openly voice their bigotry, not because of McCain, but because Palin never shut her big fucking mouth with her simple minded ignorance which appeals to the similar minded.

McCain lost that election, thank goodness, but the clip above of McCain defending Obama from the poisoned mind of that dumb woman and a helluva lot of those in the crowd will be his legacy. One of the last moments of human decency in Presidential politics. Bit the Republicans learned from that moment. Never ever be decent among the crazies. Feed their ignorance, cultivate their fear, and brainwash them constantly thru a television network of liars and scoundrels. McCain didnt buy any of that and he paid the price. The nutjobs who took over the Republican party hated him for being decent.

Ok, I loved John McCain. I hate Donald Trump. Its apparent. My hatred of that lumbering shitstain scares me sometimes. Trump is a danger to democracy. He's a danger to America, He's every bit as dangerous to the young as he is to his base, old white people who are so blinded by prejudice and fear they vote Republican. Hey dummies, they are going to attempt to take away your lifeblood as quickly as possible once you vote for them. McCain knew that. He knew Un American forces of evil are quietly conducting a coup bent on installing an authoritarian oligarchy. McCain wold have been a leading force to stop it.

So now who takes his place? Well nobody. The Republican Senate is full of cowards and stooges who dont care about anything other than establishing white supremacy and growing the gap between rich and poor. They will do anything to achieve it including allowing Russian hacking and suppressing the votes of the blacks and browns.

Goodbye to John McCain. You were in my Top 10 political heroes. The world is a worse place today and thats scary.

Pearl Jam At Wrigley!

I am the world's oldest member of Pearl Jams fan club. I pay $20 a year for the right to buy tickets if they ever come within 500 miles of me. Oh yeah you can get discounts on merch and you get a new song download (whatever that is) every year but I dont care. I just want the right to buy overpriced tickets and get a decent seat. I've been in row 13, I've been in the pit getting jostled by people one third my age , I've been in Wrigley in a seat that would have been great for a ball game and on Saturday I was on the field 17 rows back but still behind the massive amount of pit people. Thank goodness for big screens.

Max and I road tripped to Chicago for our second PJ concert at Wrigley this past weekend. Now Im old, overweight, claustrophobic and have a bad leg so what could be better than fighting crowds on L trains, standing in lines, walking a lot, sitting on a cement cover for the field (we would have been where the shortstops stand) and sweating my ass off while crammed into plastic chairs zip tied together? What happened? Here we go.

Slightly before 8pm (half hour late PJ is notoriously late) the band enters the gigantic stage in center field much to the delight of 40,000 cultists fans, dressed in their 800 different versions of PJ t shirts they stood in line for hours to buy. In front of me is a Dad and his 8 year old son, the Dad insisting the child is going to love it. The kid seems excited and is standing on a chair directly in front of me and is about 10 feet tall blocking my view. A bit to my left in front of me is a guy, oh picture Jerry Garcia 1967. who is tripping on something and probably thinks the Dead is up onstage. To the right of Max in our row is my 6th grade English teacher, a woman so out of place and so sour, I wonder if she got dragged there as a punishment. We both move a bit to the left.

Wash---never heard this one before live. Wash is from 10, and is on the backside (Im old I said!). I remember it. Not my fave, but a good sign this may be different.

Low Light--A new one for me. From Yield, this rocker sends Jerry Garcia into the stratosphere. His head is shaking, his hair is flying and he;s kicking his chair backwards into me. Max is rocking, the 8 year old kid is rocking.I'm getting annoyed already.

Elderly Woman-- ok ok its a staple. It must be done. Its a good tune. Its from Vs. Its old school whether you like it or not.

Breakerfall--from Binaural its now 3 of 4 Ive never heard them do live before. This could be something special. The kid is still standing there, Jerry is still shaking his head free of whatever lives in there and sourpuss next to Max shook her head a bit.

Eddie finally speaks. The worship of the Cubs. The hallowed ground of the dump that is Wrigley. Onward.

Corduroy -- The rocker from Vitalogy. Another staple that must be done. Its a great song, a cool dong and if you listen closely, everybody's life at some point. Everybody is shaking their heads, including me. Ive forgotten about my aches and pains.

Hail Hail--from No Code. Ive heard it a couple of times live. Its not a must. Its a great song too and not a lot of fans are into it. The steam is starting too leave Wrigley. Even Jerry has slowed down. The first whiff of weed hits me from behind.

Animal-- Oh my God. Its 1994 again. The young Eddie Vedder destroys the now unwatchable MTV Awards with this song. From Vs. This is a classic. I've never heard it live. I'm young again. Make fun of me, Jerry. I'm moving like I have a ferret in my pants.

Getaway-- from Lightning Bolt. After Animal I wanna get back into this. Max is rocking, Jerry is flipping his hair around and banging his chair backwards into me. Way to kill my buzz Jerry.

Leaving Here-- Ed grabs a guitar. Contrary to popular worship, when a lead singer, a front man, a Jagger, a Daltrey, a Vedder grabs an instrument its not a good sign. The song sounds like what he learned to play his first guitar on. It's fine. Drop the guitar Ed.

Present Tense-- from No Code and Ed leaves his guitar on. He doesn't play it much cuz the song is slow but it remains one of my faves. This is really some obscure shit. I love it. Jerry has lost a bot of interest. Max knows the words of everything. I'm impressed.

Even Flow-- oh the classic. The song everybody saw the video for back in 1992 and watched a young kid with a deep voice swinging from the rafters and saying what in the fuck is THIS?? As much as I want to say I'm sick of Even Flow, I cannot. Mike McCready absolutely shreds during this rocker. The place is going nuts.

Missing--Ed speaks of Chris Cornell, the late Soundgarden shrieker. I'm not that big of a fan but I certainly didnt want him depressed and suicidal. He then does this song, a Cornell solo effort. I guess. Nobody knew what the hell was going on. I never have seen so many people asking what this song was. Hey it was pretty good.

Garden--from 10. I love Garden. It reminds me of the genius of music. 10 was such a revelation after years and years of shit from bands full of high school dropouts and drug addled morons. Garden slows you down. Its almost psychedelic.It makes me wish I got high again.

Not For You-- The Vitalogy classic. I stood in line at midnight to get this CD (yeah Im a geek) This is a song of theirs I think is vastly underrated. From its slow start to its shrieking end. If you hate something, don't you do it, too. I'm screaming by the end of this one. Jerry is back into it. More marijuana smell. Max says, well at least this is the good stuff. How the hell do you know?

Can't Deny Me--its a fan club exclusive. Eddie begins beating a cow bell. Its a 4 minute Fuck You to Donald Trump. Nobody knows it. But if you listen you know.

Wishlist--from Yield. One of the few songs ever written with the word "neutron bomb" in it. Its getting deeper here. Jerry falls into me backwards. Sourpuss next to Max is moving her head a bit.

At this point Eddie sees a sign held up by a "guy with his hat on backwards". Its says "Play BR/Y you Evanston pussy. What the fuck? Ed asks is that anyway to ask for a favor? He then tells the guy "fuck you you fucking fuckwad". I hope thats this years Ten Club download.

I Wont Back Down--Ed begins to speak of Tom Petty. Jesus, how many rockers are gone in just the last year? He asks the crowd to lift their phones to the sky to say Hi. I do it. I feel dumb but the sight of all those phones is kind of cool. Thanks Tom.

Porch--What the fuck is this world? The whoah part is loud as hell. I'm whoahing with everyone. Man, this is like 1992 PJ. I am loving it. Who isn't?

The band then leaves the stage. Everyone sits down. Tghey dont scream for an encore cuz its not necessary. The guys will be back, They are all over 50. They need a break. So do I.

Back out after a 10 minute break or so. Eddie sits on a stool and mentions a woman named Laura, a well respected LGBTQ activist in Chicago. Yep, Im sure he means the good Ricketts kid. Not that killer Pete Ricketts or that Ted Cruz clone Tom Ricketts. Laura Ricketts who has been married for a while now. For all of you in a good relationship.

Just Breathe--the song from Backspacer that grabbed me and has never let go. Its a beautiful song. Its just Eddie with a guitar and Boom Gaspard on the keys. Its subtle and its breathtaking.

Sleeping By Myself-- its a ukulele song. He sings it and then truly weirdest thing of the night happens. Dennis Rodman wanders out, announces Chicago had his back during that North Korea shit and that when he dies he will be buried in Chicago. Eddie, taken aback a bit tells him to delay that as long ax he can. Vedder with the rebound!

Footsteps -- ok my night is made. The song I told Max I hoped I would hear. Its old, its on no album. I bought it as a single EP. The pain is real. The emotion is real. The fact they never play it makes it even more special. Max pats me on the back. The old mans dream came true.

State of Love and Trust--Oh so cool. From the Singles soundtrack. Holy shit this IS like seeing them at the Ranch Bowl back in 91. Jerry rocks out, Max rocks out, the over 50's really rock out.

Breath--from the Singles soundtrack. Breath is a song that gets played very seldom, Ed climbs off the stage and converses with a youngster in the front row with his Dad. The Dad was much more enthralled than the kid. Max announces well that made my night.

Know Your Rights--it gets political here. No not really. Because he needs Ricketts to bring out the World Series Trophy Ed cant offend him. So he simply says you know what to do on Election Day.Then its into the Clash classic, Know Your Rights. You have the right to free speech, unless you're dumb enough to actually try it.

Do The Evolution--Its my favorite Pearl Jam song. It just is I dont know why. I am the first mammal to wear pants. I'm at peace with my lust. I can kill cuz in God I Trust. Its their Sympathy for the Devil. Of course I am nuts. Jerry falls forward into the people in front of him.

Alone--The old school theme continues. My feet hurt. Must maintain energy. Jerry is done. Sour Puss is sitting. Max sits. I have permission. I sit.

RearViewMirror-From Vs. I am back up. Max is back up. Jerry has still had it. Saw things more clearly once you were in my Rear view mirror. Yeah. That.

They are done once again. They leave the stage to the cheers of 40,000 people and the freeloaders on the roofs. But we know they will be back. Curfew at 11. Its only 10:25.

They rush back out after a 5 minute break.

A short speech about how great the fucking Cubs are, blah blah and then Ted Cruz Tom Ricketts comes out with the World Series Trophy and a Cubs batting helmet. There are boos. A surmising number of boos. Either theres a lot of White Sox fans there or us libs dont like Tom Ricketts or Joe Ricketts or Pete Ricketts.

Rebel Rebel-yep that Rebel Rebel. The David Bowie cover. Never done before. They do a credible job.

Betterman--ok ok....I AM sick of this song. I dont like the crowd singing the fucking thing. I dont like the cliche' like lyrics. It just doesn't tickle my fancy. Never has. But its a staple. Later as Max and I sat on a bench we see a group of 3 walk by and the one guy exclaims "I am sick of Betterman, they play it every fucking show". Yeah what he said.

Alive-this is the one Max says he could do without. But how can you not do it? Its supposed to be played back to back with Footsteps but they never do that, per Max the local PJ expert. Alive is what it is. It means different things to different people, but its about surviving sexual abuse. I cant relate so it means something different to me. Thats music folks.

Theres still 20 minutes to go. Leash maybe?

Nah!

Rockin in the Free World--Neil Young may have written this but since Neil doesnt do it any longer, its Pearl Jams song now. It is just such a rouser how can you not hop around like a maniac?

Yellow Ledbetter--this indecipherable song closes a lot of shows but its only 10:50. People are singing and it makes Max wonder aloud "how can anybody sing this, there are no words". He's kind of right. There are no words, just a lot of moaning and whoahing. Its a solid tune, its just lyrically nonsense.

And then they all appear at the front of the stage arms entwined and do a half assed bow. Its like they want to go on, but have been ordered to stop by someone. Ricketts! That fucker! I know its him. They leave and everybody is perplexed. It was just weird.

Later I see that Leash WAS on the playlist, as was Indifference, but they ran out of time. Maybe next time lay off the Cubs shit. Fat chance.

As we leave, we go under the hallowed outfield ivy. Most people reach up to touch it in some sort of ritual. I touch it also but in a curse way. Everything I touch turns to shit, may as well be the Cubs. One guy touches it and yells "White Sox". And off we go into the night.

Is Pearl Jam worth driving 8 hours for, spending untold amounts of money on tickets, staying in expensive hotels, riding the packed L Train, being squeezed by crowds of weirdo cult members, standing for 3 hours, putting up with tripping Jerry Garcias and SourPuss women, and trying to get home?

Its a trip with my son. Of course it is!

Hey Man, Know Where A Rich Guy Can Score Some Fentanyl?

Nebraska Nice. Thats us. We are so nice. Midwest values. We work harder than everybody else. We are so nice.

Then why do we have so many creeps on death row here? There are currently 11 10 men on death row here in Nebraska. We have guys who murder babies and feed them to the dogs. We have 3 bank robbers who just shot everybody in the place. We have a guy they made a movie about called Boys Dont Cry who murdered a transgender. We have a guy who strangled his cell mate for talking too much. We have a crazy fucker with face tattoos who killed a bunch of people including a pretty blonde white woman. We have a guy who killed a 7 year old boy by drowning him. We have a guy who tracked down a 15 year old girl delivering newspapers and raped and killed her. We have a guy who raped and killed a 12 year old girl named Amber Harris with a hammer. We have a guy who bound two men with electrical cord while he robbed the house, then shot them dead before he left. And we had a guy who shot two cabdrivers in the back of the head to steal their money for drugs and porn.

Carey Dean Moore murdered Reuel Van Ness, a 47 year old cab driver trying to make ends meet to support his 10 kids, and Maynard Helgeland, another 47 year old cabbie trying to get his life back together. I mean this horror happened so many years ago, I was still in my early 20's. Today, in 2018, some 39 years later, Moore was murdered by the State of Nebraska. You may think great, finally, but the way we got here is disturbing.

Our Governor, a talking scrotum named Pete Ricketts, believes that he should get whatever he wants because he's rich. And what Pete Ricketts wants is to be Trump. What he says goes. Ricketts is the Governor of this state for one reason. He had an R next to his name on the ballot. Nobody likes this rich asshole. Hell when he tried to buy himself a Senate seat years ago, he picked up about 35% of the vote. Against a guy with a D next to his name.

Pete Ricketts doesnt get what he wants? He attempts to buy it. A legislator votes against his lets be Kansas agenda and what does Daddy Warbucks do? He funds a candidate to primary the offenders ass. Does this work? Well it depends on the IQ of whatever district is on the line. Dumb counties do whatever Baldy McBaldy wants and vote in the puppet while smart counties tell him to go fuck himself and the Cubs suck.

The Nebraska Legislature, a band of 49 people with very few whack jobs considering we are Nebraska. A couple of years back this same Legislature got enough votes to repeal the death penalty citing how much money it was sucking out of the state coffers and citing the fact we never use it and for many years had no method to even carry it out.

Ricketts vetoed the bill. The Legislature override the veto and the death penalty went away. At least until Ricketts threw a temper tantrum and opened his wallet to begin a petition to get the question on the ballot. Ricketts spent damn near a million dollars of his Daddy's own money to make sure he got to kill somebody. It got on the ballot and thanks to the Low IQ counties, 61% of Nebraska Nice voters said hell yeah we wanna kill.

So the death penalty came back to Nebraska Nice. Now how to do it. No drug company will sell you drugs so you can kill someone. So Nebraska began to go to the back alleys of the world to make drug deals with India and guys in trench coats, Once the drug companies found out that Nebraska was just some two bit junkie looking to score, they demanded their drugs back. Nebraska refused but the drugs went bad anyway so we again were jonesin for a fix. Eventually thru some back door pharmacy led by what has to be a truly awful person. the talking testicle bag Ricketts had his drugs. And then he got a willing inmate named Carey Dean Moore.

Moore didnt want to be alive any longer. Ricketts popped a boner. Moore withdrew all appeals and then today happened. Peter Ricketts, pro life Catholic and better than you, got to kill a guy. It only cost him a million dollars. Funny how if I spend a million dollars, or more likely a hundred, to whack a guy, even a bad guy, I'd go to death row myself. But Ricketts? He'll probably get re-elected. The Republican Party is truly the party of assholes.

The thing that bothers me the most about the talking taint Pete Ricketts is this. Ricketts is a guy who really hates drugs. He sued Colorado to keep marijuana illegal even though voters there said hey fuck off Nebraska Nice come smoke with us. Ricketts then jacked up local yokel Sheriffs out in the low IQ counties and the State Patrol, a band of minimum wage cops, to hassle the shit out of people coming back from Colorado with some legal pot. Ricketts just hates it when you buy legal drugs and bring them back to Nebraska.

Unfortunately for humanity, Ricketts has no problem buying illegal opiods in a back alley from a shady drug dealer so he can kill a guy.

After all, he spent a million to do it and what Petey wants, Petey gets.

BlackkKlansman!

Spike Lee makes movies that force you to think. He polarizes, he insults, he pokes the white bear and he doesnt give a rats ass what you think. Blackkklansman is one of those movies. Though I cant prove it, I think two white folks behind us were so offended they stormed out before the credits rolled with a loud LETS GO!. Maybe they were late for something, perhaps they were double parked, I have no idea, but something about that movie pissed them off.

BlackkKlansman is the story of a Colorado Springs police office, Ron Stallworth, who as the first black cop in the CSPD called a phone number one day that belonged to the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and started a conversation. This conversation moved onto an undercover operation in which a white cop became Ron Stallworth in person as they worked to take down the KKK in Colorado.

Lee begins the movie with the end of Gone With The Wind where the traitorous Confederate wounded lay all over the ground and Dixie plays in the background. Lee also throws in a few snippets of Birth of a Nation that the local Klan watches with great glee. Hey Spike Lee knows his history.

BlackkKlansman explores the times of 1972 when this event took place. The Nixon posters, the Afros, the black power movement, the racism of the police towards the first black officer, and the fact that things aint changed much in 46 years. America First, white power, police racism. Its all here and any mention of it draws laughter from the audience who I assume are mostly hip to Spikes message. A scene where Ron expresses his disbelief America could EVER elect a white supremacist to the Presidency was ALL of us just two years ago. It drew lots of nervous laughter.

The acting is top notch, especially by John David Washington (yes THAT Washington family) as Ron Stallworth, Adam Driver as the Jewish undercover cop who infiltrates the Klan, and by Topher Grace as a sleaze dripping David Duke. The directing is top notch also. It covers the black power movement as well. It makes you long for those days. The message delivered by Kwame Ture' at a Black Student Union event rang as true listening to it now as it must have in 1972.

But the ending. That ending. Wow! While the movie has it humor, and it really does have some funny scenes, nothing shuts up a crowd like this ending did. There was dead silence, Schindlers List type silence, as the final two minutes played out. I wont spoil it because I want you too to be stunned into silence, but it will both make you sad and yet infuriate you also.

For those who storm out, well we know you dont like facts. The fact is Spike Lee has made perhaps the best movie of the year.

Cult Of Personalty!

It's just exhausting folks. To explain these three dumb women fawning over a fat orange sexual abuser can only be explained by defining brainwashing. The cult is here. The cult consists of 35% of the country who are apparently so out of it they will accept anything that lies, cheats, and steals as long as they are told they are victims. Yes, you are all victims of a society unwilling to accept your racial superiority, your obvious entitlement, your non acceptance of change, your rejection of technology, and your disgust with all that doesnt look like you.

The Trump message is exhausting. Lie after lie after lie. Nothing comes of it because it has become normal. Just as I feared it would. From the moment Jimmy Fallon mussed up that Candidates hair to the false equivalency of Hillary's emails and Russian collusion, to the media going out of its way to appear "fair", to Obama's unwillingness to attack this traitor when he knew what was going on, to the give him a chance crowd I now loathe, this has become normal. This President, who needs the hand job he gets from a group of adoring cult members, has to be removed. It has to be done. Every day its not just one scandal, its 3 or 4. People are so overwhelmed by it it does get to be too much. Yet, when the Grifter in Chief gets a little down, he calls a rally and they show up. The morons, the racists, the mentally ill, the assholes, the anarchists, the truly dumb.

But now the Q people are showing up as the ones who have gotten to the yeah he's a nut stage drop off. Pretty soon the Q people will get the attention of this sick cult leader and he will aim to please. The Q people, a truly sick and demented bunch of conspiracy minded nitwits, are not necessarily growing in number, but they are getting bolder. Much like the white people who think now that a Racist in Chief is in charge, they have the right to call other people the N bomb, harass people with hijabs, tell anyone not white to go back where they came from, call the cops on anyone they dont like being in their space, beat up the gays, and just be plain assholes like him, the Q bunch is out there. With their stupid Q signs and their 5 XL t shirts they are now permeating the Traitor in Chief's "rallies". The truly disturbing thing about these fascist Bund rallies has gone from wow those people are fucking dumb hillbillies to wow, those Q people are fucking dangerous.

Oh man, it truly is exhausting to watch my country turn into a shithole run by con artists and supported by 35% of a population willing to go down with the ship as long as its a white ship.

Please vote in November. It's truly the last chance to save the nation from the likes of those three idiots in the picture above.