Day 776 Thursday February 21, 2019
620 Days to the 2020 election and 698 Days to Inauguration Day
I grew up on the Beatles. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” went to #1 the week after I started listening to the radio. The week before it had been The Trashman with “Surfin’ Bird,” popular recently because it was part of a dance along app. (“Well a bird bird bird, bird is a word, Everyone knows about the bird!”)
The Beatles dominated the top 40 and the album charts. They sold albums that didn’t have their top 40 songs in them. It was an amazing run. I had no idea. I thought it was normal. I just read that Ariana Grande has equalled one of the Beatles feats by having three songs in the top ten at the same time.
I bought the cd versions of Rubber Soul and Revolver the other day. Both for me were transitional albums. By that I mean I listened to them a lot, but they didn’t hold the sway that Sgt Peppers did. There were songs on each album that were different, very different from what music was being played on the radio. And not different in the sense of weird, “I’m gonna mess you up,” but song that showed a different kind of music than we had heard. They seem to have been lead ups to Sgt. Pepper.
Then there’s Jefferson Airplane’s “Surrealistic Pillow.” That album stands alone. It two most famous songs: “White Rabbit”* and “Somebody to Love” were brought over to the band by Grace Slick who had developed the songs with her old band The Great Society**.
* Some call this “The go ask Alice” song.
** This name was a play on Lyndon Johnson’s social programs of the same name.
The Airplane had this one beautiful album. They were more of a folk band before and more of a psychedelic band after. “After Bathing at Baxter’s” was a followup album that was good but never caught on. The band then morphed into Jefferson Starship and those songs seemed loud and confused with no one taking the lead and everyone making noise. But Surrealist Pillow had songs of quiet beauty and powerful emotion. “Today” comes through today as a shimmering quiet clean piece of work. It has been said that Jerry Garcia played lead, but that’s been debated. Marty Balin’s voice is sweet and plaintiff. He never seemed to have gotten his due. He died in 2018.
The Rubber Soul cd is a compendium of both the mono and stereo version of the album. In a lovely tribute they included the original record sleeve. This sleeve had pictured other albums by Capitol: 30 covers on one side and 20 on the other. Wayne Newton, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Junior, Bobby Rydell, Wanda Jackson, Buck Owens, Beach Party Bingo, the Beach Boys, The Kingston Trio, Cilla Black, The Lettermen – some names have endured, some have faded. It gives you a snapshot of what was hot back in December of 1965. A period of great transition and great promise was on the rise.
In so many ways that opportunity was squandered. Lost to drugs, hubris, naiveté.
We may be on the cusp of another great wave. I am hopeful, but fearful that once again the football may be snatched away.
The same messages of deception, division, and fear are being promoted by old and new actors. The Republicans are screaming socialism once again, as they have anytime a program to help the mass of people is suggested. (They love socialism for themselves: the rich, but everyone else can go screw.) These messages are being aided and abetted by new actors: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are some of the names we hear.
There is also the trend that has been pointed out that the rich are a combination of the inherited, the self-made, and the criminal. These seem to meld at a certain point, as the Panama Papers revealed. It doesn’t matter how you got your money, but once gotten there is a desire to keep it at all costs.
There was a book out a few years ago that speculated that the world was moving toward a division of the super rich and everyone else. This super rich class would be made up of criminals and those who had amassed wealth via stock ownership, not labor. this seems to be coming true. Unless we act.
There are positive signs on the horizon. Elizabeth Warren’s idea of taxing the super rich at 2% of all their accumulated wealth is very popular. So is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ suggestion to tax income of over $10 million at 70%. Yes, the Republicans and their super rich dark money people are screaming and scheming, aided and abetted by Russian trolls bent on driving divisions in the ranks.
I was surprised to hear that Bernie Sanders entry into the 2020 race generated so much financial support. He raised close to $6 million from 263,000 folks at an average donation amount of $27. Wow, that says alot about something. I’m not quite sure what. We’ll have to wait and see.
Andrew McCabe is on the book tour talk circuit. What he has said that he didn’t put in the book is as startling as what is in it. As Jim Comey said before him and he repeated, the Trump organizations mirror a mobster’s organization more than anything else. I think there is a simple explanation for this – it is. It is a mob organization. It has ties and may even be controlled by the Russian mob headed by Putin. McCabe has stated that the government and the criminal mob in Russia are the same thing. There is no difference.
Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out in his show last night that no one has come out and disputed anything that McCabe has said. They have made carefully worded statements, but there is no disagreement with what he has said. They have called him a liar because he was accused of lying, but that’s the best they can do. Of course Trump has lied about McCabe for years. Conflating and suggesting things that are easily provable to be false. There is nothing off-limits for Trump. He has attacked McCabe’s character, his family, his wife, his motives, and his actions. All have been shown to be untrue.
Oh and speaking of Trump, he released a video showing his building the wall. It didn’t take long for it to be pointed out that this was an Army Core of Engineers repair of existing wall with funds approved a long time ago. But maybe we should let the president continue to say he’s building the wall. Then he can at some point say the wall is finished and we can all say hooray and good job. Maybe W’s old banner of “Mission Accomplished” is still hanging around.
Michael Cohen is due to testify in open hearings. He won’t talk at that hearing about Trump and Russia. That only leaves Trump and hush money payments, Trump and shady business dealings, Trump and OMG so much.
Meanwhile Roger Stone will be in court. “Well, yes your honor, I did post a picture of you with cross hairs of a gun site near your head in a picture. I’m a bad boy. I said I was sorry. Yes, it was a stupid thing to do. I’m really sorry. Can’t you see how contrite I am looking? What? Listen they did use gestapo style tactics. They didn’t? SOP? Really? Hey, how about I’m sorry and I’m stupid? No? Jail time? Now? I said I was sorry and that I’m stupid. You agree? I still have to go to jail? Yes, your honor.”
I suspect when Trump is sentenced it won’t be like that but more like when the Duke rape case prosecutor or the Joe Paterno assistant coach got sentenced. They stood there in disbelief, not seeming to realize what had happened.
Stay strong. Stay focused on the task at hand.
620 Days to the 2020 election and 698 Days to Inauguration Day
PS Rubber Soul Record Sleeve
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