Der Furor!

 "They're poisoning the blood of our country...... They're coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia, all over the world". 

"All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning."

The frontrunner in the nominating process for a major political party in the United States said one of these things over the weekend up in New Hampshire/ The other was written in a book called Mein Kampf. Don't really see the difference?

In Iowa, home of the white rural Christo fascist, the frontrunner of a political party called his opponents "radical leftist thugs who live among us like vermin". A recent poll in the Des Moines Register confirmed that supporters of Trump love him even more because of these statements. Scary shit? Well maybe that America Firsters and so called "patriots" don't actually believe in America has been a pet peeve of mine for all of my life. Too many people have stated authoritarian bullshit in my lifetime that it concerned me even as a teen. Many in America has a strongman fantasy of crushing their opponents as long as its their side. This covers both sides of the spectrum by the way. I've seen leftists screaming at speakers they don't like, shouting them down, calling for their imprisonment, acting like assholes. I've seen right wingers doing the same. But leftists never have had a political candidate who leads the pack and says crazy shit to the delight of a majority of voters. 

Meanwhile though Trump is literally quoting Hitler, giving his primary opponents more than enough ammunition to hit back, I mean for crissakes its fucking Hitler, none of them have the courage to even slightly criticize Der Furor for his Nazi rhetoric. 

Ronda Santis said something like I dont talk like that (yeah ok) but its all the media's fault for reporting it...Nikki Haley, the school marm voiced "moderate" that former Republicans (yeah right, former) try to portray as normal, wouldn't say shit about it other than well shoot, he says some crazy stuff. Lindsey Graham, the noodle spined closet case, doesn't give a damn as long as Trumps concentration camps and police state get done. Vivek Ramaswamy, the motor mouthed maniac, just keeps talking and ignores any question cuz ya know he's Vivek Ramaswamy, genius. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakas , an Elise Stefanik wannabe from New York, simply denied he said it and even if he did, he meant "poisoning" the country with Democratic policies, not people from Africa or Asia. Oh no he didn't mean anything like that. he just likes the white countries better.

Republicans are cowards when it comes to Trump. He has a base of mouth breathing fascists who crawled out from under the rock they had hidden out in before 2015 or so. Those people ARE the Republican party 2023, because the sane people left and only the cowards stayed. The cowards who treasure power more than good. Treasure money more than what is right. Treasure ego over the common good. The Elise Stefaniks, the Nancy Maces, the Ted Cruzs, the Lindsey Grahams (who knows what they have on him wink wink) all will fall in line to get that base vote. It's so fucking easy to get that vote and they know it. Next thing you know it's a dictatorship owning the libs. And the ignorant will be run over just like the rest of us.

But it can't happen here, right? Hitler used to be a deal breaker, not any longer.

Arbeit Macht Frei.

Right Lindsey Graham?

Andre Braugher!

 Man, this hit me hard. Andre Braugher, an actor and a man who commanded whatever screen you saw him on, passed away at age 61. I was stunned. How is this man no longer here? 

First saw him as this bespectacled upper class educated black man in Glory, the movie that also starred an up-and-coming Denzel Washington and a legend named Morgan Freeman as men of the Massachusetts 54th fighting the Confederacy that had enslaved them. Though Washington won the Oscar, deservedly so, it was Braugher who left the wow who's that guy impression on me. I searched him out before the days of streaming. The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson for one. What a force.

Homicide: Life on the Street is still one of the greatest ensemble casts of all time. But who knew that it was Frank Pembleton who would be such a lasting character. Braughers scenes in "the box" interrogating people he thought were guilty, his awkward interaction with his coworkers, and his unabashed Catholicism (played so perfectly) made Pembleton a character that will never fail to impress.

We would watch virtually anything if he was in it because he made everything better for having been in it. Get on the Bus, Hack, Thief, Men of a Certain Age, even Last Resort, the wayward submarine drama that didn't last. The arch nemesis of Olivia Benson, a defense lawyer on Law and Order SVU, the therapist of the fucked-up Dr Gregory House, the showboat lawyer on the Good Fight, man there are so many. 

But in 2013, a show called Brooklyn 99 was about to debut. Maxs Mom and I both wondered what in the hell was Andre Braugher doing being in a show with a clown like Andy Samberg. But we watched it and goddam, we were totally off base about both of them. Captain Holt, a gay black cop with a husband named Kevin and a corgi named Cheddar. dominated the screen. And he was hilarious playing the intellectual stuck up by the book in life as well as policing Captain Holt. He hated the word Bone , he thought nothing of dentists , his prediction expertise , eating marshmallows, or Holt and Cheddar.

He was a such a joy. I will miss him.

Jayskers!

 Allow me to be provincial here. There's a creature here in Nebraska called a Jaysker. What's a Jaysker you may ask? Well, a Jaysker is generally a fan who in the fall supports Nebraska football with a fervor and once that is over, generally on Black Friday, they turn their attention to basketball. Nebraska basketball? Oh hell no. It's all Creighton basketball. Why? Well to a certain degree it's because Nebrasketball is a lifelong frustration of mediocrity at best and Creighton is a national power and Jays fans are the type of people who think paying $40K a year for a private Catholic college somehow makes it better than a state school you can attend for half that. Jays fans tend to be wealthier (lots of doctors and lawyers) than us unclean state school grads who weren't egotistical enough to bankrupt our parents because we are so special. I don't like Jayskers at all. They are disloyal and without any sports fan ethics. They are the type of fans who state they are Lakers fans, Yankees fans, Cowboys fans and Manchester United fans. In other words, they admire money, religion and phoniness. I would bet most Jays fans are MAGA, not because they are stupid like most MAGA but because they, as white wealthy people, they know whatever happens, they will be just fine. Its selfishness. It's being a Jaysker.

I first encountered Creighton basketball when my Dad had season tickets in the late 60's and early 70's and would take me to games at the old Civic Auditorium. Sitting in the seats that now would cost hundreds of dollars right behind the bench, I witnessed a Creighton student section that was in a constant frenzy. Not supporting their team but hating the other team, the referees and anybody else that that didn't act like an asshole. The sight of an entire section of young people constantly swearing and flipping the bird at refs and other teams (keep in mind this is a Catholic University) was appalling to me. This continued year after year until my Dad gave up his tickets somewhat due to the craziness and somewhat due to the fact money became tight in the 70's. He used to say how lawyers he knew acting like nutjobs was kind of embarrassing and he really didn't want to think of his acquaintances that way.

Nebrasketball never played Creighton when I was a kid for some reason but resumed the rivalry in the mid 1970's. The first game was in 1977 and it came in Lincoln, Creighton was better than Nebraska at the time. Friends of mine from Creighton came down to see the game. They trashed my apartment, got drunk and we went to the game. Nebraska won that game somehow and many of those Creighton fans were in tears. I never felt better. The arrogance was kicked in the nuts.

Then came 1978 and the 2nd game in Omaha. Creighton students dressed in overalls, chewed on straw, and danced around like the assholes they are. Again, the arrogance. Creighton won that game because the officiating decided that Nebraska was unworthy, threw out the Husker Coach, a Nebraska player and sent the Jays to the free throw line constantly. Yeah, they may have been better but at least give us a chance.

Throughout the years, the Nebraska-Creighton series became kind of mundane because Creighton sucked and lost year after year. The "crowds" at Creighton games dwindled to the hundreds because after all, bandwagon jumpers jump off as often as on. Nebraska was actually better for 15 years and then like all Nebrasketball mojo, it ended because of a firing of a coach. Then Creighton got a brand-new arena, and the Jaysker fan felt important again. Creighton got better, Nebraska got worse and the Jaysker fan sat in their luxury boxes feeling like the big shots they perceive themselves to be.

Yesterday the annual battle occurred in Lincoln and was supposed to be competitive. It wasn't. As a long-time Husker season ticket holder (loyalty, man), we were there surrounded by Jayskers in blue. The asshole-ness was still in full force. As Creighton continued to kick our ass, like KC Chiefs fan, they became even nastier. The very people who sat in the freezing cold the prior week watching Nebraska football, now became Nebraska haters. Taunting us about lack of football success, the perceived better education they received, the long hairs and foreigners who play for Nebraska, and the arrogance of yelling at the end of the national anthem "home of the FUCKIN JAYS". Infuriating to the point when we left the blowout and a Jaysker sarcastically yelled at me where I was headed, he got two birds from me. I despise them. They make me lose my mind. Like the time at a St Johns-Creighton game, we were in the top row of the upper deck. Being a St Johns fan since the heyday of the 1980's Big East, clad in a St Johns t shirt, after the Johhnies lost after missing a last second shot, an old Creighton fan, stuck in the nosebleeds same as me, growled in a not nice way, "enjoy the flight back to Newwwwwww York" like it was beyond his comprehension anyone from Omaha could hate Creighton, to which I replied "see ya next fall in Lincoln, Jaysker". Baffled.

It's just a game, right? Nope, it's a war against disloyalty and arrogance. Fuck Creighton1

Bush!

 Damn I still love "grunge". The style of hard rocking music from the 90's that put the hair metal bands out of business and thank gawd for that. Bush appeared at the new venue in Omaha called the Steelhouse last night and they still have it going on.

Opening act was something called Bad Wolves, a generic screeching metal band that was fine if you're into that cookie monster growling style of rock. I am not thus it was me looking at their setlist hoping for the end. 

And now a pet peeve of mine. Lead singers who call the crowd "motherfuckers" constantly. I know its schtick and its part of the identity, but I really don't like being called that from a stage because the crowd isn't making enough noise for the singer's taste. I first heard a lead singer calling us that during a Rob Zombie concert and it made me hate the guy forever. The lead singer of Bad Wolves even apologized for his constant motherfucker talk but then he kept going. LOL..I'm "offended" by stupid shit, indeed, and what does he care what a geriatric grunge fan thinks, but hey dude there was only one "motherfucker" in that venue, and it wasn't the crowd.

Bush took the stage and launched right into Everything's Zen sending the crowd into an immediate frenzy, Machine Head was the 2nd song and quite frankly they had gotten the songs I definitely wanted to hear out there immediately and for that I was happy. Newer songs then began to dominate the show as they were obviously saving the Sixteen Stone songs for the end. Their new stuff was good, much like the 90's grungy stuff but they lost the crowd as most people were not familiar with it. Lots of us olds were leaving early. It picked back up and the crowd came back. 

Gavin Rossdale is 58 years old, looks like he's in his 30's, and still has it going on. In fact, after he told the audience "Omaha you look great" a guy in his 50's next to me exclaimed "you look great too, Gavin, you son of a bitch". Classic old guy envy. Rossdales's voice is deeper, growlier,  and seasoned to the point he sounds better than ever. His stage demeanor is very English and very subdued. It was a great show.

I first saw Bush in 1995 with Toadies (how's that for grunge) at the old Omaha Music Hall, an old dump with horrid sound mercifully torn down in the 2000's. The new venue, the Steelhouse in downtown is rather new (opened in July of 2023) and it is wonderful. The sound is crisp, you can understand the performers, the "motherfuckers" were crisp and clear and the lyrics of the songs were understandable. It's the best arena for rock I've been to maybe anywhere. I plan to return.

My Fair Lady and Bush all in two days. Yes, I am very diverse.

Welcome To Hell!

 Henry Kissinger, who has led my annual dead pool list for decades, has finally drowned in his self-made bathtub of blood. Today the world is a better place than it was just two days ago when that genocidal maniac was still breathing. The man was evil, pure fucking evil, and was responsible for millions of people, mostly not white, being dead. His entire life was one of genocide, war crimes, meddling, and loving the spotlight that the elite gave him at the cocktail parties and events honoring this mass murderer.

Kissinger was responsible for so many unnecessary killings, all to benefit him and his benefactors, he certainly belongs on the list that includes Mao and Stalin and Hitler and Pol Pot. If you don't care about dead foreigners. as he did not. perhaps you care about 20,000 dead Americans from 1969-1975 in Vietnam. Kissinger and his fellow hell dweller, Richard Nixon, sabotaged the 1968 Paris Peace Talks that were on the way to ending that illegal and immoral war, in order to hang the war around Hubert Humphreys neck and gain power. Kissinger should have died in federal prison but instead limousined his way around the world in luxury and admiration. The motherfucker got the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war that could have ended in 1968, saving 20,000 Americans and untold hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Disgraceful.

He signed off on Chilean coups that resulted in the death of thousands of Chileans who had duly elected Salvator Allende. Pinochet, an actual convicted war criminal, was Kissinger's choice to rid Chile of democracy. He signed off on Pakastani massacres of Hindus, Indonesian Massacres of East Timor residents, Argentinian juntas. genocide in Cambodia, and the harassment of American liberals. 

I don't wish death on people, but if anybody needed to die and enter hell, it's this monster. The man had no morality, no ethics, no decency and no right to be alive at 100 years old while children died due to his indifference to humanity.

Kisinger was so amoral, so heinous, that he reportedly said after Israel violated a 1973 cease fire. "If it w re not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic. Any people who have been persecuted for 2000 years must be doing something wrong" An antisemitic Jewish guy.  Thats him. A total misanthrope with nefarious intent.

This corrupt human never stopped being corrupt. Right up to his 100th birthdate he was convinced his world view of kill em all and let God sort em out was still valid. He continued to "advise" the world's most depraved leaders to continue the depravity. 

As Nixon welcomed this malignant human to hell, I'm sure they plotted to continue to unleash evil onto the world they no longer inhabit.  

 Save this hell bound miscreant a seat, Henry, you wicked assassin. 

My Fair Lady!

My Fair Lady's national tour opened in Omaha at the Orpheum last night in front of a packed house (at least on the floor). Now this is a classic musical from the 1950's and 60's based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion. A cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, is taken in by a weird professor, Henry Higgins, who bets he can teach her to be a high-class lady who will fool them all. The training occurs, Eliza becomes a lady, Higgins treats her as a project that he won, she leaves angry and disrespected, he realizes he's in love with her and she comes back.....or does she? 

That's the story. Now the music. Some of the most iconic songs in theater history reside in this musical. Wouldn't It Be Loverly, With a Little Bit of Luck, the Rain in Spain, I Could have Danced All Night, On the Street Where You Live, Get Me To The Church On Time and I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. I mean if you didn't know those songs were all from one musical, you will realize it soon enough. It really is amazing that all those classic tunes those of us of a certain age grew up hearing on every variety show known to man in the 60's and 70's are all from one show.

The performances are great. Anette Barrios-Torres is only in her second week as Eliza Doolittle on this tour, but you'd never know it. She has the chops of a veteran. Jonathan Grunert as Henry Higgins has been doing the show so long its second nature to him and he shines. But now let's talk about Michael Hegarty as Eliza's father. Alfred P Doolittle. This guy has the moves of a Jackie Gleason, lots of power and energy to mention for a big guy he moves like an athlete and damn he can sing. He was a commanding presence every time he was on stage. During the number featuring Get Me To The Church On Time the musical turned into a wild burlesque show featuring dance hall girls and Hegerty doing a Ralph Kramden like pirouette. I half expected a bang zoom moment. The great talent on stage is undeniable.

Now the truth as I see it. This musical is dated. Though the final scene was changed to reflect modern times by leaving a did she stay, or did she go ending open to interpretation, you can see why this was popular in 1957 to about 1964, when the movie was made. In 1964 The Beatles changed everything. Modern audiences changed. Youth changed. It was no longer popular for rather mundane story lines reflecting middle class values and happy endings to dominate. Pretty soon Broadway had Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and Cabaret, musicals that reflected subjects that had been taboo. The war in Vietnam, homosexuality, religion, and the draft were all now able to be talked about and put to music. Old musicals like My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Carousel etc.. , though wonderful still, do not require a lot of thinking and that's good at times. It's candy and popcorn. Fantastic but not really nutritious. My Fair Lady fits there. It's not going to offend, it's not going to get protesters, it's not going to scare anybody away. It's just entertaining in a 1960 kind of way. Sometimes that's just what you need. Go see it.

$90 Turkeys And Overreacting!

 Yesterday on the network invented for people who live in an alternate geezer world these three fuksticks got together to wax poetically on the cost of turkey. Jason Chaffetz, an idiot who gave up a House seat to jump onto the Titanic called Truth Social, twitter for people who think Elon Musk is a Bolshevik, claimed out loud he went to the turkey store and paid $90 for a turkey. As he said this nonsensical statement, professional liar and devout "Christian" Kayleigh McEnaney, shook her head either in an agreement kind of way or I can't believe I'm still getting away with this shit way. Meanwhile at home, Mee Maw and Paw Paw were sitting there yelling "hell yeah" as their $15 turkey suddenly became $90 and PaPa had a new way to piss off the kids on Thursday (We paid $15 for this turkey but Biden raised the price yesterday we sure were lucky). Meanwhile generic white male on the right either grinned trying not to laugh or began to question his life choices.

By the way, turkey prices are down 6% from last year and inflation is under control as the oil companies play Bob Cratchit and only make outrageous profits for a bit instead of the robber baron profits from the last 2 years. I don't know about Chaffetz and his $90 turkey (maybe he ordered if from Door Dash and left a giant tip by mistake) but McEnaney knows better. But she's so used to over the top lying I'm surprised she didn't jump in with "I paid over $100 for mine". 

Meanwhile, over on Titanic Social, the Defendant posted this:

Wow there Herr Trump. Climbing onboard the Nazi train with direct quotes about his opposition being "vermin" and now "finish the job once and for all"?

Let's break this down.

Final Battle---appealing to the evangelicals who want so bad to die and go to heaven I'm surprised the suicide rate isn't out of control.

Deep State, warmongers, Communists, Marxists and Fascists (throw that part in as a wink wink) globalists-- AHA!!!We all know what "globalist" and "Marxists" means in MAGA speak. The  Jewwwwwwwzzzzz.......

Fake News Media---More Jewwwwwwzzzz

FINISH THE JOB ONCE AND FOR ALL! -- remember that gallows on Jan 6? Too slow. Arm yourselves MAGA and with a $100 contribution to me you too can be chosen to execute our enemies via lottery.

Well, this is getting serious isn't it. The Perps call to violence to save his ass is coming fast. Stopping him is not for sleepwalkers who insist ohhh that can't happen here stop overreacting. Oh yeah? Overreacting? 

Confederacy Of Dunces!

 I am not sure what the hell is going on in the hallowed halls of Congress any longer. But since about 1994 when Americans decided to vote for crazy fuckers the Congress is getting dumber and crazier. Now you can argue the House has always been full of some of the dumbest and craziest hissing possums known to man, but the Senate "The World's Greatest Deliberative Body" which used to have statesmen and not so crazy Republicans and Democrats is becoming the House. Idiots who never ever would have been elected in the past are now commonplace in the Senate. Tuberville, Blackburn, Mullins, Cramer, Daines, Crapo, Hagerty, Johnson, and Wicker are all just plain stupid people elected by other stupid people. Meanwhile people like Cotton, Cruz, Graham, Hawley, Kennedy, Lee, Rubio, Scott, Sinema, Vance and Manchin are not stupid but are just plain evil in the fact they are smart yet play dumb so the dumb people will vote for them also.

This week in the House, the asylum for the certified looney birds have been holding "hearings" to keep their dumb asses in the limelight so they can raise money from other dopes. 

Perhaps the two craziest motherfuckers in the House made asses out of themselves by daring to express their ignorance to actual smart people in a sort of gotcha way that only fellow nutjobs find appealing. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the cross fit trainer fucker, established herself as the Carrot Top of the House with her giant props. Unfortunately for America, she has zero sense of humor and acts like a crazed Gallagher as she smashes logic with a sledgehammer. Taking on FBI Director, Chris Wray, with gigantic blowups of tweets and charts and paranoia, she accused him of censoring her on Twitter and sic'ing the Dept of Homeland Security on her to which he replied with an answer anybody with a 6th grade education would know "I'm not in the Dept of Homeland Security". This just infuriated her more as she railed on with more statements of irrelevance. 

Disgraced former cop and drawling imbecile Clay Higgins took over. More giant props of photos of "ghost buses" that Higgins thinks in that gumbo of a brain of his that "proves" the Jan 6 trash was all FBI informants and agents dressed up like Trump supporters. After Wray looked at him like where are the guys in the white coats Higgins blew his stack and declared "your day is comin" like a madman in a red hat and ill-fitting suit on a stage spouting nonsense about retribution.

Over in the Senate, the world's greatest blah blah, a dipshit Okie name Markwayne Mullin, a former House nut, read mean tweets some Teamster head sent out about him being a phony and a fraud. Mullin, tough guy who hid in the House from the very people who voted for him on Jan 6, challenged said Teamster to a fight right there, stood up and removed his wedding ring, giving his poor spouse hope I'm sure, before the adult in the room, Bernie Sanders, told him to sit down, "You're a United States Senator, act like one". And before the Teamster knocked his ass out and buried him under a stadium someplace, Mullin sat down. Mullin, a former MMA meathead, then decided he looked weak and went on the typical ass kissing shows like Hannity and Newsmax and doubled down on his tough guy bullshit. Duels and caning and assaults, all of which were from the 1800s and look like idiocy now, seem to appeal to a CTE sufferer like Markwayne. 

This is your Congress, America. Keep voting accordingly like the 2008 election broke your fucking common sense. 

Elections and Free Speech!

The 2023 elections were last night in a number of states. The GOP was up for review in numerous places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and school boards all over the nation. And with the exception of lost cause Mississippi and its voter suppression tactics the Republicans got curb stomped. 

In Ohio voters, by overwhelming margins, codified abortion into the Ohio Constitution and legalized recreational weed. This red state, which I've driven through the rural areas, is every bit as red as Nebraska. The Trump barn is normal in rural Ohio, but the cities countered that by turning out and crushing the rural pro lifers and Reefer madness crowd. In fact, the rural areas did not even vote in overwhelming numbers to outlaw abortion and outlaw weed.  There are a lot of individuals who actually do believe in freedom and just don't just give it lip service.

In Pennsylvania the Supreme Court is now 5-2 Democratic. Yeah, good luck with that, GOP fascists.

In Virginia not only did the voters keep the state Senate in Democratic hands, it flipped the House from Republican to Democratic. Virginia voters were fooled by so called "moderate" Republican Glenn Youngkin in 2020 as a relief to the nutty direction the GOP had taken. But as usual, the "moderate" was just a MAGA wolf in a vest. Last night was a big fuck off to Glenn Youngkin, the supposedly sane guy other supposedly sane Republicans were gearing up for a potential 2024 Presidential run. Sorry, those plans are on hold.

Mississippi is still a lost cause. Despite scandal after scandal, Governor Goober, Tate Reeves, won reelection because Mississippi white voters gotta white vote. White supremacy the way grandpappy used to support is still in Mississippi's DNA. And with the new voter suppression movement, those pesky blacks were reigned in with understaffed polling places, lack of ballots and a judge refusing to extend the 9 pm voting deadline. 

But the best was Yusuf Salaam winning a seat on the New York City Council. You may recall 15-year-old Yusuf Salaam was arrested in 1989 along with 4 other black teens and convicted of the gang rape of a white Central Park jogger. He spent 7 years in prison before that pain in the ass DNA exonerated him and the rest. You may also recall a local real estate con man named Donald Trump took out full page ads in New York newspapers calling for Salaam and the rest to be executed. That didnt age well but in typical Trump fashion he refused to admit he was wrong. So last night was another fuck you to the Defendant.

Meanwhile in the insane asylum called the House of Representatives, a censure resolution was passed against Rep Rashida Tlaib. She had expressed pro-Palestinian statements and this was not to be tolerated in the pandering clown show. Now I have no love for Tlaib's from the river to the sea bullshit, but the House censured her for political speech, period. The crazies and the cowards banded together for once, including pandering Democrats, to pass this idiotic censure despite GOP idiots like Rep Max Miller and Rep Brian Mast calling for mass murder of Palestinian children and calling them Nazis. Also nothing about the presence of Camp Auschwitz guy and actual Nazi scum at the Capitol on Jan 6th. Read the First Amendment, cowards, or in the case of the crazies, have somebody read it to you.

Now you can get back to the paranoia over "globalists" and "Soros backed DA's".

Friday Ramblings!

Hamas, Israel, Palestinians oh my. First off the atrocities of Hamas are mind boggling and the thought that alleged humans like this exist in the world is troubling. Second, the marching on college campuses of young people chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is also troubling. 80% if not more of these idiots chanting it have no fucking idea what that means other than its a cute rhyme. It's a call for the destruction of the Jewish people and if you DO know that you are a monster. Third, Benjamin Netanyahu is a bribe taking scumbag (Israel's Trump) who probably belongs in jail. He holds off the mob of Israelis who hate his guts by responding to an act of war by the way all politicians do. Create a crisis, bomb the shit out of innocents, wrap yourself in the flag and holler a lot. See 2003 Iraq and 2002 Afghanistan. And fourth, this is so complicated that nobody knows what to do. Its probably somewhere between turn Gaza into a parking lot (the American right) and kill all the Jews (the American far left and the American far right). 

The Trumps on trial. Where, may you ask? Atlanta, DC, Miami or NYC. Well, this week it's in NYC as the spawns of Satan are forced to testify. The Sgt Schultz defense of I know nothing I see nothing seems to be the defense strategy set forth by Trumps spokesmodel lawyer. Meanwhile, the privileged Trump kids treat it as a joke. Junior joked about makeup, Eric denied it all until confronted with emails and then homina homina homina'd his way thru it. Vanky attempted to delay her "testimony" by claiming it was undue hardship because it came during a "school week" though for some reason that didn't matter when she attended a Kardashian birthday party the week before. These people are trash. Period.

The Texas Rangers won the World Series? They did? When was this held? Baseball (my fave) is a fucking sinking ship. 

The new Speaker of the House, a truly evil bigot and homophobe named Mike Johnson. is on the edge of darkness 24/7 365. He's catering to the Crazy Caucus, another band of evil bigots and worse, dumbshits and phonies. The GOP House is passing bills they know are DOA in the Senate and claiming how hard working they are after shutting the House down for 17 days. Thus far The Crazy Caucus has abandoned Ukraine, stood up for wealthy tax cheats, increased the deficit by $12 billion while claiming they did not, and attempted to censure a Democratic Congresswoman for not toeing the line on their Armageddon fantasies of Jewish folks being killed and Jesus coming back. Truly despicable as is the lame ass attempt to expel George "The Imposter" Santos before he's convicted of anything. Bad precedent folks. The guy is dead meat anyway and will only serve to make you campaign money.

The polls are meaningless at this point. The election is a year away. So what if Biden is tied with Trump in Nov 2023? Trump has plenty of time to keep yapping his treasonous mouth and jizz up his rather dimbulb base of deplorables. But every time he opens his yak, he does not gain any votes, he loses them . Keep talking Donnie. Now is Biden too old? Absolutely. Should he quit the race? Absolutely. I don't want 82-year-olds in charge of anything. But the choice is clear to people who say both the 81-year-old and the 77-year-old are too old, and the meaningless polls show this, that Biden wins that race 61% to 15%. So, who's panicking? Not me. Not now.  

Tina!

 The jukebox musical is a recent phenomenon. Familiar songs, familiar stories, and familiar reactions. There are some great ones (Jersey Boys, Beautiful) some good ones (Ain't too Proud to Beg ) some mediocre ones (Rock of Ages, On Your Feet) and some bad ones (Escape to Margaritaville). 

Tina hit town last night for the weeklong stay at the Orpheum Theater, where sound goes to die. Was Tina a great one, a good one, a mediocre one or a baddie?

Tina is the story of Tina Turner from her childhood days of Anna May Bullock, a poor child with a real dysfunctional family full of domestic abuse, abandonment and music. Tina moves to St Louis to be with her domineering mother and sister and to try and become a singer. She meets Ike Turner, joins his band, marries him and becomes a star. A miserable star indeed, beat up, humiliated and treated like a rag doll by Ike, a philandering drug addict prone to violence. Eventually she gets up the nerve to leave him, become poor again, and gets a 2nd chance at stardom and love.

Tina is not a fun watch. The music is great, the songs are great, but the story tries to cram so much into the 2 hours the music gets lost. The domestic violence scenes are brutal, the N bomb is dropped a lot (the last N bomb from a white record exec stunned the entire audience) and the story itself is cramped.

I don't know what to say other than I was entertained, but not really passionate about any of it. The actors were good, especially Tina's mother (Roz White) who got the good lines and made the most of it. Deon Lee as Ike showed why he was in the original Broadway run. He has that role perfected. Tina (Ari Groover) was a good lead, sounded like Tina Turner and carried the load of being in virtually every scene. Young Anna Mae played by a child named Symphony King, had a voice so powerful I had to see if she was really 9 years old. This kid is a phenom. 

Tina is a musical you should see if you are a fan. If you aren't, don't bother. 

The sound at this theater sucks. It always has and probably always will. I don't know if what I considered lukewarm audience reactions were a result of that or that the violence and gritty story just killed any musical momentum it had. It WAS Halloween, so maybe the demons that just to have to lurk in the 100-year-old facility were at work with the sound. There was just something off about the whole show. 

It's another On Your Feet, with violence. 

Killers of the Flower Moon!

 Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest Martin Scorsese movie that tells yet another important story in American history, the kind of story Republicans want to ban because it's the sort of history we should be ashamed of.

When the Osage Tribe was forced to move to worthless land in Oklahoma to be on a reservation what the Great White Father didn't count on was oil. The land housed lots and lots of oil and made a group of dirt-poor Osage into rich Osage. Mansions went up, cars were bought, jewelry was abundant, and that led to white men coming in to attempt to screw them out of their riches and in many cases, kill them. 

Robert DeNiro plays William Hale, a greedy amoral mob boss who runs the town of Fairfax, Oklahoma and everything evil goes through him. Leonardo DiCaprio is Hales nephew, Ernest Burkhardt, a WW1 vet who wasn't even bright enough to be in the infantry (he was a cook) and he comes to town looking for work. His "job" is to basically find an Osage woman and marry her thus putting him line to inherit her money. Lily Gladstone plays Molly, an Osage woman whose family is being targeted by Hale and his goons. They marry, Ernest sets the death of Molly in motion, Molly's sisters and mother are killed and then the Bureau of Investigation comes in to solve the murders. Jesse Plemmons plays Tom White, a stiff collared fed with a penchant for what's right and wrong. There are also short stints for Brendan Fraser (obviously still filming the Whale) and John Lithgow as attorneys. 

This movie is 3 1/2 hours long and to me, a guy who idolizes Scorsese, it may actually drag a bit at times. Scorsese's quest to show virtually every aspect of Osage life may have been the reason but nonetheless this film is important. It is real history, and may not be allowed to be taught to students in the state it took place in. Oklahoma has passed those stupid laws saying that white America might be offended by real history so just dont teach it. The Tulsa massacre (which is referred to in this film) and the Osage murders took place all in one 5-year period in Oklahoma. It would be malfeasance to not teach these events but hey its Oklahoma, a place where the head of education thinks the Bible is a history book. 

This is Oppenheimer 2. It's a long movie made for adults with great actors and a great director. It should be seen.

Lily Gladstone, you know her if you watch Billions and Reservation Dogs, will win the Oscar. She's the soul of this movie and plays it with a sadness that really gets to you. She is phenomenal. DiCaprio and DeNiro play dumb evil and just plain evil, respectively. They both have reached the point where their performances are just assumed to be great and therefore get no recognition. But they should be recognized. 

Is this better than Oppenheimer? Maybe but it doesn't matter because both are classics.

Wynton Marsalis!

 Who have I seen the most in concert? Its Wynton Marsalis. I would go every single day to watch this guy and his Lincoln Center Orchestra because jazz changes every time you see it.

Marsalis appeared in Lincoln on a Sunday afternoon in front of what looked like a packed house of olds, youngs, blacks and whites, males and females and jazz fans and not jazz fans (who became one if they had any taste). Marsalis knew that a substantial of young folks had showed up because he abruptly changed the set from mostly old stuff from Duke Ellington and McCoy Tyner to more updated jazz arranged by the younger members of his band.

I love jazz. It's actually my favorite music because of its spontaneity AND self-indulgence. But Wynton Marsalis transcends all that with his humility and obvious love he has for his band members. Every single band member got a chance to shine and as they knocked the solos out of the park, Wynton sat back and bopped along with a proud papa face. 

Long time band member Sherman Irby, a great sax and flute player, shined for me as he always does. Trombonist Chris Crenshaw shines with not only playing and versatility he also brought out the tuba for one jam, then was the butt of a joke for not reappearing fast enough after dropping the tuba off backstage. His deadpan eye roll was perfect. 

The trumpet section is top notch with Wynton and longtime collaborators Ryan Kisor, Marcus Printup and Kenny Rapton. These guys all got time to soar and as always, they did.

The engine is the rhythm section led by bassist Carlos Enriquez, drummer Obed Calvaire and pianist Dan Nimmer (whose constant tapping feet fascinated me). They keep the orchestra going full steam.

I loved every second of it as I always do. Though the band members are the same, the show changes and to the full house at the Lied Center, it's a 90-minute toe tapping good time.

Gym Jordan Fails!

 Gym Jordan is a total zero. He's a back benching incompetent congressman from a lizard like gerrymandered congressional district in Ohio, he spoke with Trump the day of the insurrection but doesn't remember what they talked about (oh maybe about the insurrection), he covered up sexual abuse of athletes while a wrestling coach at Ohio State, but he has the political party under the giant gut of Donald Trump backing him to be third in line to the Presidency. THIRD? Gee that wouldn't inspire MAGA nuts with guns would it?

Jim Jordan has two talents. He makes a lot of noise and he repels every sane person who comes in contact with him. Perfect to be Speaker of the House under this party of crazy cowards and actual insane people like MTG, Boebert, and Gaetz the statutory rapist. Since the House was taken over by the crazies who refuse to allow the presence of a majority on virtually anything, chaos has reigned. The Speaker was booted because he dared to work with Democrats to keep the government open. They have refused to do much of anything except pass meaningless bills that have no chance of passage in the Senate or be signed by the President. But thats what far right lunatics thrive on.  Chaos. Ya see they do not want to govern, they want to piss and moan because thats easier than working on solutions.

Jim Jordan, despite the threats he and his minions made to waffling members, despite the thuggish tactics of Sean Hannity, and despite the endorsement of the Defendant, failed to become Speaker today. 20 Republicans had the balls to say no to a Jordan speakership which of course would be nothing but a noisy shitshow. Jordan sat there with that stupid grin of his as his enablers patted him on the back and said its ok Jimmy, we will get you a participation trophy. 

Jordan may get more shots at it. He may even succeed as the 20 no votes get frightened of the death threats and the possibility of violence and losing the base's "loyalty". Christ, Jordan does nothing. He's perfect for Fox News, he just opens his big mouth and then runs off to Fox to be fawned over by the amoral gibbons that man that nightly clown show.

Gym Jordan is a shit throwing nihilist. What he cares about is virtually nothing. For fucks sake he doesn't even care about young adults being molested in a locker room shower because it inconveniences his lust for attention.

I have no love for former Speaker John Boehner but at least he recognized Jordan for what he is. As Jordan plotted to sabotage a debt ceiling bill Boehner exclaimed "Jordan was a terrorist as a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. A terrorist. A legislature terrorist."

Amen.

Cheap Trick!

 I couldn't have cared less about Cheap Trick until about 2012 or so. Their hits didn't do much for me, I didn't know much about them other than Rick Nielsen wore a crazy hat, Robin Zander wore a crazy hat and Tom Petersson wore a crazy hat, and Bun E Carlos was nuts.

Cheap Trick had a residence at Planet Hollywood or whatever it was called back then playing the Sgt Pepper album. Max and I were looking for something to do and found half-price tickets for the show. What the hell, it would kill off a couple of hours.

Then it happened. This garage band from Rockford, Illinois came out, played the entire Sgt Pepper album in exact order and then did their hits. Goddamn, this is what rock is all about. There's nothing fancy about them, they just come out and as they've done since 1975 or so and rock your socks off. I was hooked on a band I'd ignored for 35 years.

Since then, I've seen Cheap Trick 3 more times, including last night here in Omaha at the sound challenged Orpheum Theater. Cheap Trick aint fancy, no fire, no pyro, no backdrops, no overly self-indulgent crowd banter, it's just straight-ahead kick ass rock n roll. For guys north of 70 years old, they may not move like they used to but they get it done.

Robin Zander is exactly 70 and his voice is still fantastic. Rick Nielsen is 75 and at times moves like it, but his guitar chops are just as cool as ever, Tom Petersson can still keep the bass lines charging like a freight train. Now Cheap Trick has become sort of a family band as Robin Taylor Zander is the bands other guitarist and Daxx Nielsen pounds the drums. It's a family affair.

The show itself started at 8 on the dot, it was over at 9:40 on the dot because these guys insist on helping is old folks get home and to sleep at a decent time. Trust me kids, this will happen to you also as you just wish Springsteen or Phish or Pearl Jam would just fucking stop and day good night already!

The setlist is the same it's been for many moons. The deep cuts, the new stuff, the standards are all there. And like the pros they are, they make you wait for the stuff everybody knows. The last half hour is what a lot of people come for. The Flame, I Want You To Want Me, Dream Police all come in order. Then they leave the stage, old school like, and then come back for Surrender and Good Night. The 5-neck guitar comes out at the end, the jokes about "We're too dumb to quit" and telling you what a great audience you were. It is fucking great.

The crowd is older of course. A lot of them around me sat down during the deep cuts and just listened because if you weren't standing you couldn't see. Once the hits started though back up they came to rock out as much as decrepit old folks like me could (to be fair I stood the entire concert, a great achievement for me).

If you get a chance to see these guys, by all means do it. It's an hour and forty minutes of fun fun fun. And you'll be home by 10.

Monday Monday!

1) Justice and Tish James have the fucker right where they want him, looking all forlorn and realizing his 78 years of crime is coming home to roost. The resting I'm Fucked Face is all one needs to start a week off right. Oh yeah, the Defendant went on a rant for the cameras about witch hunts and how much his bed bug infested "resort" is worth (over a billion dollars) and "racist" Attorneys General and and how much the polls are with him and blah blah blah. He really should resist overinflating his Mar A Shithole hiding place for classified docs because thats why he's on trial for in the first place. Hey remember back when Florida tax officials valued Mar A Dumpo at $36 million and the Perp appealed the valuation as way too high and tried to get it lowered to $16 million?  He obviously just denies it happened. Throw the book at this fuckstick once and for all. The fact he's been gotten by a black woman is even more sweet. You go girl.

2) Over the weekend Rep Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm blocks away from the Capitol and the Republicans are shitting their khakis on how this is worse than Jan 6 and let all the feces throwing monkeys out of prison and throw his ass in prison and oh the drama. Republicans, already in a sort of pisser about Speakers and Ukraine and cutting safety nets and starving the elderly have their new "crisis" . A fucking fire alarm got pulled by a "Marxist" trying to overthrow the gubmint! The horror! While the GOP has serial statutory rapists and in public handjob givers and three toed sloths and yelling goateed screamers and frauds and ex felons on the payroll they want to expel Bowman for trying to get out a door to help them pass a spending bill. Meanwhile the friends over at Fox News are going to all the racist tropes they can insisting Bowman gets away with it cuz he's black. Cuz we all know the only oppressed people are MAGA white folks. This will blow over as soon as a new GOP "crisis" pops up and they can go apoplectic as they attempt to turn America into a fascist one party state.

3) The Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team I've been with since birth, a college football blue blood if you stop counting since 2003, is shit. Watching Michigan look like the 1995 Huskers in just pushing the entire team around like a bully for 3 1/2 hours was rock bottom? Or was it? We only stayed into the 3rd quarter when after stopping Michigan for once on a 3rd and 9 the Huskers were called for offsides which made it 3rd and 4 but noooo...a Husker was also called for an unsportsmanlike conduct giving the Blue a first down. The incompetence was too much and for maybe the 2nd time ever we left the stadium in quarter 3. The Michigan fans seated around us were almost more embarrassed for us than we were. Positive talk like "oh you guys will be back" and "just not your day" was abundant (funny thing is we heard the same thing back in 2018 when Michigan curb stomped us in Ann Arbor). Hey Blue, we are used to this sucking. Oh well, Husker fans ARE the Cubs fans of football. We just keep showing up no matter how bad it is. Go Big Red!

4) State Senator Katheen Kauth. God gawd what a hateful sour pussed woman .

She was appointed to the Nebraska Legislature by a trust fund baby named Pete Ricketts. Her bill to outlaw treatment for transgender youth was passed by the Lege after a contentious session that included a 12-week abortion ban to boot. Next session she vows to take on the next most important issue of our crazy times, forcing bathroom etiquette onto Nebraska schools. boys use boy's bathrooms and girls use girls bathrooms just like it is now. But because so many males are cutting off their junk just so they can leer at girls in a girl's bathroom this is priority one for the nutjobs like Kauth. Kauth recently had a campaign sign defaced with the word "facsist" and the anarchy symbol. Misspelled words and anarchy. Oh the humanity. Shes attempting to raise money off it because "Antifa" is obviously after her. Yeah, Kathleen, next time you go all Nancy Mace and have somebody deface your own sign get somebody who can fucking spell.

Friday Thoughts!

1) For the love of Bear Bryant, Alabama, you sent this ex football coach to the Senate instead of a decent guy named Doug Jones who had prosecuted the crackers who blew up the 16th Street Baptist church and killed 3 little black girls...Oh I get it now. Chinless crackers gotta chinless cracker. 

Tommy Tuberville is holding up military promotions because he dont care for those wimmen in the military gettin abortions and lettin the military pay for travel because certain states run by ex-football coach types and self-hating women won't let them get the procedure in states where the bases are. Tuberville, who without a doubt is the dumbest man in the Senate perhaps ever, continues to keep his stranglehold on national security because he wants all women to birth babies, especially the white ones,  he and his GOP colleagues can ignore after the first breath. I once saw Tuberville, coaching for Texas Tech, stick 14 players on the field during not one but two plays in a meaningless blow out of Kansas . Tuberville is not smart folks and he proves it every goddamned day. Thanks Alabama.

2) California Senator Diane Feinstein has died of being 90. She has been in bad shape for a few years now but stuck out the Weekend at Bernie's existence the Senate Democrats forced upon her because an even worse group of scumbags, the Senate GOP, would have refused to replace her on the Judiciary Committee and gummed up any new judges Joe Biden nominated with 7-7 votes. 

Feinstein was not perfect or even coherent the last few years but at one point she was in pure "First Woman (fill in the blank) " whether it be Mayor or Senator. She had her times at being brilliant and an advocate for gun regulations. Who can forget the 2013 version of a beardless ferret named Ted Cruz attempting to mansplain the 2nd Amendment to the 80-year-old Senate veteran who suffered no fools. She took Cruz's arrogance and shoved it back up his ass from whence it came.

RIP Diane. You were great for many years. I'm sure the GOP base will be very kind in its condolences 

3) Government shutdowns. They suck and they're always the results of far right wingnuts posturing for the GOP base prior to an election year. We need to cut spending and taxes, we need to reinforce the border to keep the browns out, we need to allow Russian murderers to do whatever they want, we need to starve the poor children we secretly enjoy to make our racist tropes. All day today the House and its really terrible actors faking outrage that it's not us shutting the government but the Democrats and their spending (the House is the purse not Joe Biden). 

The GOP House is being run by Neanderthals, ex strippers, statutory rapists, goateed yelling  confederates, self aggrandizing grifters and ex felons, GED failures, and power mad phonies.  As long as they exist the shit storm will continue. Vote them all out.

4) Curt Schilling is a piece of shit. He always has been whether he's smearing blood on his sock pitching for the Red Sox, taking government money because his business fails, expressing anti-Semitic tropes, or just being a MAGA asshole, Schilling is on a mission to be such a monster that he will never get into the Baseball Hall of Fame (which he doesn't belong in anyway) and thus can claim he's a martyr to the MAGA cause.

Schilling, a true teenager I wanna be first to tell you mode, disclosed that former Red Sox pitcher and general good dude, Tim Wakefield, has brain cancer. Then he also disclosed that Wakefield's wife also suffers from cancer just to compound his dickwadery. The problem is that Wakefield's family didn't want it out there. Being private people, it was NOT their wish to share this with the general public. But what does Schilling care? It's about him, not some beloved knuckleballer from the past. As far as I'm concerned, I'd put Tim Wakefield in the Hall of Fame (which will never happen) before I'd let a loud-mouthed cretin like Schilling in. 

Later

Division 3 Football Rocks!

 My first in person football game was in 1963 when my Dad took me to see Nebraska beat the shit out of South Dakota or South Dakota State I'm not sure. Then I saw the Steelers and the Vikings from a rickety bleacher at the old Rosenblatt. From then on it was Husker football, high school football, University of Nebraska at Omaha football (those were the days before Trev Alberts decided a hockey team was more important than football OR a national champion wrestling team), an occasional NFL game in Kansas City, and an occasional Kansas game (ugh). 

About 5 years ago or so, I discovered Division 3 college football. Because my nephew, Tad, was playing center at Nebraska Wesleyan and only because of that did I begin to notice that football for the love of the game actually existed on a college level. I know its all a cliche to say college players play for good old State U and the glory but we all know what bullshit that is. But Division 3 college players truly do play for the love of the game. There are NO scholarships, no NIL money (I think Tad once got $50 bucks for tweeting about Runza once), nuthin. They have no incentive to lift weights, work out, practice 6 days a week, take long ass bus rides to far away places and then back in the dead of night other than they love the game of football.

Nebraska Wesleyan began its 2023 season far away in Sherman, Texas against Austin College. Its ten hours away. Its in Texas for chrissakes. But Max's Mom and I decided what the hell, lets go. And go we did. To Sherman, Texas to watch Division 3 college football. This is exactly the type of adventure I love. An adventure nobody in their right mind, other than parents of players would endure. Aunts and uncles of players? Damn right.

The road to Texas consists of flat prairie, toll roads in Kansas (really, you haven't paid for freakin turnpike yet?), red dirt in Oklahoma, rest stops and Spotify and podcasts (thank god they exist what a time to be alive!). Sherman, Texas is a smaller town barely in Texas. It consists of I think one road in which you are constantly on in some form, the Sam Rayburn highway. You are on this road turning left going in circles so much it's like you actually drove in a NASCAR race.

Austin College is a small private college in Sherman with an NAIA athletic program. What's that mean? Well, they aren't in the NCAA Division 3, so they can give scholarships to play football (what that means I have no idea). They are called the Kangaroos or Roos for short and have a large stadium like all Texas schools do. They also went 1-9 last year and have a new coach so optimism reigns in Sherman. Nebraska Wesleyan also went 1-9 last season, so something has to give here.

The game itself is good football. These kids are out there in the Texas heat cramping up like crazy, getting hurt, giving it all they got, and what more can you ask? Nephew Tad is the starting center, all conference and a captain. Scoff if you wish but this kid is dedicated to being the best he can be as an undersized offensive lineman 24/7. I am proud of him and his ability to perform at a superior level and as a linemen get no glory. Dedication, man. 

Wesleyan broke Austin College early and held them off with two defensive goal line stands to take the season opener 19-7. As a point of pride, Tad made a serious block that saved a sack and allowed a long pass completion to be had (that it was called back for some reason is of no importance because the kid did his job). That's the play I remember and always will. 

After the night game, the NCAA forced Wesleyan to get back on their bus and ride home all night sore and tired and cramping (it was like a MASH unit on both sidelines there was so much cramping going on) because the NCAA sucks. Forcing a team to NOT stay an extra night at a hotel after a night game in the Texas heat is not only unsafe, but also downright cruel. But that's the NCAA, an organization stuck in the days of the flying wedge and sis boom bah. 

It was a long trip home also. A stop at Win Star Casino, a gigantic decadent resort that would fit right in out in Las Vegas, cut the drive from 10 hours to nine hours (woo hoo). 

Congrats to Nebraska Wesleyan. Back in Lincoln next Saturday to play somebody. But wait, my Huskers play at Colorado on TV at the same time. Oh well, I guess the Huskers will have to win without my help sitting on the couch screaming and scaring the dog. I'll be in Lincoln screaming Go P Wolves!

The Chicks!

 

Its been 14 years since the Dixie Chicks made new music and the Dixie Chicks never will make new music. but The Chicks will. Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer Robison blew into Omaha last night and were met by a 90% female audience of women and daughters and grandmas ready to become empowered by music.

After a 40-minute opener from singer songwriter Ben Harper (not my cup of tea and in fact a snooze IMO) the digital screen behind the stage played MTV videos of female rockers like Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, The Go Gos, The Eurythmics, The Runaways and finally the female rock legend Joan Jett's Bad Reputation to which the Chicks used as an opening to come to the stage and start.

Now I am not a Chicks connoisseur as I am not exactly their demo so a lot of the songs were unfamiliar to me though the experience of new music was actually thrilling because this is one helluva band. With Maines vocals, McGuire's fiddle and Strayers banjo and guitar, along with the three-part harmonies, these middle-aged moms delivered. From opening number Gaslight, a song off their new album, right up to the closing Goodbye Earl, I couldn't stop tapping my foot. I loved the song choices, the digital backdrop that featured shots of Trump floating on a lake with Putin and DeSantis floating on a rubber duck and sinking as Maines sang " you'll get what's coming to you" during a song called Tights On My Boat which I think was more directed at her ex-husband as she flipped a double bird during the song.

The hits were there. The beauty of Landslide, a song originally sung by a bleating goat (yeah not a fan of you know who) but with Natalie is a thing of wonder. Travelin Soldier, which for some reason I knew every word, Wide Open Spaces, and of course Not Ready To Make Nice and Goodbye Earl.

But the songs that I found most compelling were the ones I was not familiar with. A wonderful version of Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton's Rainbowland, a song that was banned in certain rural schools in Wisconsin cuz ya know, rainbows will turn you gay. A new song, March March, which Maines sang with a list of murdered black men showing on the digital screen. "March March to my own drum...Hey Hey I'm an army of one". For Her, another new song was also a standout to me ..."Stand up, show love, for her, for her". 

Look, Natalie Maines may be short, but she's been fighting all her life, whether its Toby Keith or George W Bush or the entire right wing smear machine along with the death threats that come from the goons it inspires, Maines truly has no fucks left to give. Never had any to give quite frankly. She says what's on her mind and she lets you know what it is. Between her defiant lyrics and the truly incredible musical talent of McGuire and Strayer, this band was meant to perform. And perform it does.

The arena was perhaps 75% full and most of it, a good majority of it, were women. Oh, there were men there, I was one, but the show was for women and their desires to be taken seriously. It was great because not once did I hear a typical Bro Country lyric about Friday nights, drinkin beer, trucks, and tight jeans. It was refreshing. I did see three men, all of whom looked like Jan 6 participants, wearing T shirts espousing the NRA, Back Rifle Coffee and one with a vulgarity regarding Joe Biden. Do these fucking idiots know where they are? That was not refreshing.

Vivek Ramaswamy!!

 That smile is so punchable. Its Vivek Ramaswamy , the "star" of the first Republican debate. The "star" because because the mush brains whose attention spans have wandered off the Mar A Lago grounds are looking for yet another loudmouth kook who owns the libs. Vivek was smiling his bleached teeth smile constantly even as Chris Christie and Nikki Haley gave the "star" a wedgie and stuffed him in the toilet bowl. 

Vivek Ramaswamy was a goofing voice of insanity and inanity all night as he advocated laying off 75% of government employees, climate change is a hoax, give Ukraine to Putin and Taiwan, elimination of the Department of Education AND teachers unions, and denying what he said on tape. It's no wonder the crazies are so smitten with the smiling cobra, he's a brand new grifter they can't wait to send money to. Ramassamy is the Trump of 2024. A smiling idiot with the gift of gab. For chrissakes he called Trump the greatest President of the 21st century which begs the question why the fuck are you running against him then?

The other parts of the debate. Ehhhh...Ron Desantis looked as if he needed somebody to unplug him and plug him back in. His creepy look and his constant repeating of his campaign talking points was nothing new. Tim Scott made no inroads. He's the guy the GOP says is good but would never support. He's just a feel good some of my best friends are black guy. Asa Hutchinson is up there for why? The leg challenged Governor of North Dakota has great Brezhnev like eyebrows but no substance. Besides he paid people $20 to give him $1. Economic "genius". Mike Pence is DOA for doing his constitutional duty. Oh he's still a piece of  crap but he is the one who MAGA wanted to hang.

Chris Christie is there because he hates Trump . Probably dumped by Trump and is still bitter. His calling Vivek a chatty AI bot pretty much was the funniest moment. But how long he sticks around is a guess. He has no chance and who knows how long before he'd crawl back to Trump begging forgiveness. 

Nikki Haley had perhaps the most logical moment when she attacked Ramaswamy for being a naive little bitch on foreign policy. Vivek's position to let Putin have Ukraine was an unfortunate position to have as yesterday was the day Putin murdered yet another guy who wronged him. I'm sure Trump was absolutely jealous and screaming why cant I do that while sitting there with fake Melania. Haley took Viveks manhood and flushed it down the toilet as the smiling idiot stood and watched. Oh sure, like Pence and Christie, Nimrata Haley is a low down scumbucket, just less so than the rest. 

But to the ADHD Republican base, because their god wasnt up there, they became distracted by the hollering little man with the Musk complex. And we all know to the base, money + crazy= Support.

Enjoy your "win" Vivek Ramaswamy. Your act will become tedious soon enough when the OG nutjob gets back.

Why??

 WHY isn't this loudmouthed crook not in jail yet?

Lincoln Salt Dogs!!

 The trip ends with a short jaunt down the road to Lincoln where the independent league Salt Dogs play at Haymarket Park, home to the underachieving Big Red baseball team.

On the way the traffic on I-80 came to a dead stop right past Exit 420 (IF Nebraska ever pulls its head out of its backwards conservative ass and legalizes marijuana what could be a better place for a dispensary than Exit 420?). The Husker traffic in the fall always does this but why on an August night when absolutely nothing is happening. Can the Salt Dogs be that popular? When the weigh station was within sight I saw the right lane was closed and the millions of trucks needed to get over and thus the standstill. At the weigh station were 5 State Patrol cars and about 8 or 9 officers standing in the right median, I dont know, discussing past glory on 2-pound pot busts, I have no idea. But that's what the holdup was, a State Patrol AA meeting or something.

Haymarket Park is right over the Interstate from the gigantic tomb like football stadium where lots of losses have occurred in the past few years. I mean seriously, before they put a fake side up and a fresh coat of paint on this pig, it was grey and dull and when it rained it looked like a home that Dracula would love. But thats another story.

Haymarket is a rather new stadium (20 years or so) with the modern walk around concourse though its not very wide. The price to get in is anywhere from $12-$25 a bit more expensive than the other places I went. The beer on Saturday night is $3 for the real low rent stuff like Hamms and PBR. Big deal I cant taste the difference any longer after that encounter with the on-fire tamales in Flagstaff.

The heat was unbearable, and I was under the overhang out of the sun. By inning 2 there were people leaving, by inning 4 there were lots of people leaving. I persisted. Switching from Hamms to water kept me from puking. As I wandered up to get water, I damn near passed out as I saw an older woman sitting with EMTs being tended to. JFC this heat and humidity is a killer.

The players are all 25-35 as Ive stated. Hanging onto a dream. A former Husker pitcher who had washed out in the minors was pitching and it became apparent why he had washed out. It was 5-0 by inning 3. But the decent sized crowd of Big Red/Saltdogs fans still stayed loyal and cheered him as he was pulled from the game losing 8-2. Go Big Red Forever baby!

Before the game, since the opposing team was from Winnipeg, the national anthem was preceded by the cheery tune of Oh Canada. That is a national anthem! My second fave. Too bad the opposing team wasn't from Paris or I'd have been even more happy. Once Oh Canada finished, that war promoting turd the Star Spangled Banner was sung and ruined it all. Ohhhhhhhhhhh Canada our home and native land.........,

I made it thru 7 innings and then had to go. I was dripping wet and and ready for A/C in the old Prius for the jaunt back home. The State Patrolman's meeting was over and it was clear sailing. Until next year, gawd willing, I sign off on the Minor league admiration tour.

Cedar Rapids Kernels!!!

Driving from Davenport to Cedar Rapids, Iowa is short and sweet, perhaps the ONLY drive I didnt despise in Iowa. I get that trucks are the lifeblood of the American economy but migawd are there a lot of them out there and they drive all sorts of different speeds and absolutely annihilate your cruise control. 

I resisted the temptation to visit the World's Biggest Truck Stop and carried on to the bustling burgh of Cedar Rapids to see the High A Cedar Rapids Kernels later on. Years ago we were in Cedar Rapids and attempted to go to the ballgame but were sent away as it was sold out. Really?

Anyway, killing time in Cedar Rapids involved a movie and the longest one I could find was one I've already seen, The 3 hour 20 minute plus trailers Oppenheimer. But the IMAX experience is so overwhelming and LOUD and with Nolans shitty sound mixing a lot of dialogue I missed. So see it in a regular theater with loungers and less loud. 

Now the story of Cracker Barrel. Earlier today there was a Cracker Barrel right next to the hotel. So I went there early in the morning. I havent been to a Cracker Barrel well since maybe 15 years ago, before I realized they catered racist white people.The food was bland, the waiter was nice, the hot sauce was used to add something, like flavor, and I was out of there.

The bad thing about eating bland food is after seasoning the shit out of it and actually consuming it its revenge is coming. 90% of the way thru Oppenheimer Cracker Barrell had its revenge. I had to leave, now I can get gross here, but I will use metaphors. I made a loud noise, realized it wasnt all noise, and had to leave to go to the loo to do loo stuff. It was ugly. Did I go back into the theater to finish the movie? Not on your life. pal. In fact I lost tire tread getting out of the lot before anybody from Oppenheimer came out to tar and feather me.

The Super 8 in Cedar Rapids was ok. It had a lot of noise and some older guy in a wife beater wandering up and down the hall asking for money or something. 

Veterans Memorial Stadium is a typical minor league park. Nothing fancy, old concourse, miniature theme park out back of left field, large dimensions (330 down lines and 403 to center) and High A baseball played by kids. Concessions typical ballpark fare but this time the corn dog was great and the Summer Shady was cold and it wasnt expensive.

Now the game...I've watched a lot of baseball in my life, my favorite place to be on earth is at a ballgame , but I aint never seen this happen before. In the first inning on the 3rd pitch of the game, the umpire ejected the batter, I assume for arguing balls and strikes, or maybe that he was black, I've no idea. The manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (not an affiliate of the D Backs but of the Brewers) came out to half ass argue and it was over. One batter ejected in the top of the first and a new batter came up to fly out to center.

One thing I saw that made me happy. 6 of the 9 Wisconsin Timber Rattler starters were African Americans (I looked them up). Thats rare nowadays. Black folk don't play baseball because it's all select teams and well off white people traveling around dreaming they have the next Mike Trout living in their house. In my youth the Pirates once started and entire lineup of black players and that became commonplace in MLB. Nowadays black American born players represent somewhere around 8% of all MLB players. Thats a disgrace. I recently saw the College World Series and the black players were few and far between. Something should be done to help black youth play ball and fall in love with the game like I did. MLB should do it instead of making 50 different uniforms for each team as a cash grab.

It was after the game when a young guy with a leaf blower on one shoulder, a backpack on the other and pushing a mower ahead a few feet then doing it again, asked me for "ride to Kirkwood". All the while he never stopped pushing that mower and walking forward. I said "I have no idea where Kirkwood is" and he kept moving and said "no troubles man". It was a weird exchange.

Later on that night I found out some drunk in a truck back home smashed into my fence and opened a gaping hole out onto a busy street meaning the poor dog was screwed too. So I will return to home base and not go see the Kansas City Monarchs. Life blows sometimes.

Quad Cities River Bandits!

The drive from Chicago to the Quad Cities is a short one. From the untold number of McDonalds and Caseys and weed shops Illinois is not the soul sucking slog of driving across Iowa but kind of charming, especially the weed shops (I kid I kid) that reek of marijuana and old people looking for their youth and to kill the pain of creaking joints. Now this is all hearsay (wink) but the Ottawa weed shop was a kind of stand in line with the other olds and wait for a budtender to help you. When you are allowed into the locked back room it is like being at a 70s Pink Floyd show with the smells and the music playing in your head. Apparently from what I've been told, Illinois has a daily limit of 250 mg of THC that can be purchased by out of state scum. So I  I mean my friend had to jettison some of it for legal reasons. Hey Nebraska Sheriffs, this was not me, it was what I was told by the voices in my head. Cool. Illinois is cool and getting mucho tax money from me I mean out of staters looking for relief from living in Nebraska  I mean Illinois?

Anyway, once the drive is complete and the Mississippi is crossed into Iowa the thrill of being out of the Plains states is gone. Davenport, Iowa, one of the Quad Cities is where the Quad City River River Bandits play what is called High A baseball. The stadium is right on the Mississippi and features quite the view of The Chamberlain Bridge over the river and a theme park for the kids out in left field. The gigantic Ferris Wheel is quite the sight also. The highway over the bridge goes over the entrance to Modern Woodman Park so when you walk up the rumble of trucks can be heard as you wonder how long it will be until the infrastructure collapses and kills dozens of fans.

Modern Woodman Park is 92 years old but obviously renovated with comfy seats and modern concourses. The concessions are typical ball park cuisine and not all that good. My corn dog was still frozen and the replacement bratwurst was cold. The beer was cheaper than most places and it was $1 Keystone Light night. $1 beer? Im in! 

The baseball is good. Being the High A affiliate of the KC Royals, I'm used to lousy minor league ball (ask me about that 20-1 game I saw where the Iowa Cubs beat the Omaha Storm Chasers with 5 home runs in the top of the 1st) but this team was ok to watch. Playing their heated rivals, the Beloit Sky Carp, the River Bandits consisted of a whole lot of 18, 19, 20 and 21 year olds trying their best. It was a 2 hour 10 minute game (thank you pitch clock again) and I can't even remember who won, other than me with my $1 beers and cold brat.

The hotel was a comfortable Super 8 with a Cracker Barrel right next door. More on that tomorrow. It was a nice place and even with the homeless guy living on the side where I had to enter I had no problems.

Modern Woodman Park....go there sometime for the view and the giant Ferris Wheel and $1 beers.