SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ NOV 19, 2016

1. I figured it wouldn’t be long before Donald Trump’s purloined “victory” seeped into the nether recesses of our collective online hive mind, like creeping tendrils of psychic mycelium, and began manifesting throughout the culture in odd and unexpected ways. And lo, it has come to pass!

Just take a gander at the next-level bullshit contained in the advertising copy for LIT: How to Get Your Soul Back, a sub-Iron John, no girls allowed, vaguely New Age-sounding self-help book that aspires to teach you how to defeat your mortal enemies so you can finally be the manly man that you’ve always known, in your heart of hearts, you were BORN to be!

And who might those enemies be, you ask? Here's a handy-dandy list of them, provided on page two:

Wall Street robbed us of our future when they raped and pillaged our retirement accounts. 

Feminists robbed us of love and affection when they poisoned women's hearts against us. 

Washington robbed us of our freedom when they legislated away our God-given rights one by one.

I think they hit the trifecta! No mention of George Soros or Anita Sarkeesian so far, but it appears to be a pretty thick book, so they're probably mentioned in there somewhere. 

Not since perusing the works of L.Ron Hubbard have I encountered such a hilariously transparent, ham-fisted, lowest common denominator attempt to get fools to part with their money. And yet, while it might be tempting to dismiss this as merely the product of a semi-literate SEO bro’s attempt to massage buzzwords nicked from MRA and Pick Up Artist reddits into a serviceable sales pitch, I think there’s more to it.

To elaborate upon the fungal metaphor initiated in the first paragraph, I see the appearance of this idiocy in my Facebook feed as nothing less than a fruiting body finally bursting, cordyceps-like, into view - already poisonous and swollen with corruption - after years spent hidden away in the spore-choked, obsessive-compulsive darkness of the alt.right noosphere, where it was unconsciously cultivated by countless mycologists of the mind.

Or maybe it’s just another shitty sales pitch, with a handful of reactionary ideas thrown in to make it stand out. You be the judge. Either way, I think it’s unintentional comedy GOLD! 

2. To those of you who hear about so-called "voter ID laws" being implemented by Republican legislators across the USA and wonder "What's the big deal?", please take the time to read about Eddie Holloway Jr's experience in Wisconsin, where one of these laws recently went into effect. Ari Berman's article for The Nation begins with an overview of Holloway's odyssey, as explained during sworn testimony before a court of law, on penalty of perjury:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said his state’s strict new voter-ID requirement worked “just fine” in the April 5 primary, but thousands of Wisconsinites were unable to cast a ballot because of the new law. One of them was Eddie Lee Holloway Jr. 

Holloway, a 58-year-old African-American man, moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 2008 and voted without problems, until Wisconsin passed its voter-ID law in 2011. “I never miss voting,” he said. He brought his expired Illinois photo ID, birth certificate, and Social Security card to get a photo ID for voting, but the DMV in Milwaukee rejected his application because the name on his birth certificate read “Eddie Junior Holloway,” the result of a clerical error when it was issued. 

Holloway, who worked as a cook in Illinois but is now unemployed and disabled, living with his family in Milwaukee, got a ride downtown to the Vital Records System to try to fix his birth certificate. Vital Records said it would cost between $400 and $600, which Holloway could not afford. 

He then called the Illinois Vital Records Division, who said he had to personally come to Springfield, the state capital, to amend his birth certificate. So Holloway bought a $180 round-trip bus ticket and traveled four hours back to his home state. Once in Springfield, the division said it needed a copy of his high-school and vaccination records. Holloway went to his hometown of Decatur to get his school records, paying $20 to his friend for gas money, but after returning to Springfield, Vital Records said it needed his full Social Security statement, which he didn’t have. He also visited the Illinois DMV, but had no luck there either. He left Illinois without getting the documents he needed to vote in Wisconsin. 

Back in Milwaukee, Holloway got two copies of his Social Security statement and asked Illinois Vital Records if he could e-mail or fax them over. They said he’d have to appear in person again. But Holloway didn’t have the money to make another trip to Illinois and gave up trying to get a voter ID. He’d spent $200, visited two states, and made seven trips to different public institutions, but still couldn’t vote in Wisconsin.

And THAT, dear reader, is why, if you've ever poo-poo'd the efforts of Republicans to make it as difficult as possible for minorities and other Democratic-leaning constituencies to cast their votes during elections, you are either severely disinformed, or you're a vile piece of irredeemable shit for whom a special room in Hell awaits, all burny and hurty with bright flaming justice.

3. And, finally for today, let's polish things off with a beautiful live performance by my good friend, Canadian stage and screen treasure Brad Brackenridge. In this video, Brad performs Bernie Martin's short play, "Life Comes To Resemble Unimaginative Literature: Or, The Moment Of My Death", a piece combining a monologue, some puppetry, and a lovely musical score. This performance was part of a recent evening of one act plays at The Theatre On King in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, as part of a festival celebrating Martin's work. Enjoy!

***

Yer Old Pal Jerky's Words of Wisdom #331

"If the Presidency went to those capable of drawing the biggest crowds, the candidates would have been Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters. If it went to whoever has the most Twitter followers, say hello to President Bieber."

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ NOV 17, 2016

Look, folks, I realize things aren't quite "normal" at this point, if they ever were. And I realize that, more likely than not, the Republicans are getting away with stealing yet another election (about which much, MUCH more in future editions). But what are we gonna do... kill ourselves? Oh, they'd love that, wouldn't they? So no, suicide is not an option at this point, even if only to deny those fuckers the pleasure.

In fact, if there's one thing keeping yer old pal Jerky going at this point*, it's the promise of a day soon to come... a day upon which I will get to witness one or more of these pridefully ignorant, fascist fecal golems - these Satanically animated piles of festering moral rot conjured to rancid life via some obscure Nazi witchcraft - get what's coming to them. The incredulous look in Stephen Bannon's rheumy, bloodshot eyes as he's being dragged out of his home by the authorities due to his penchant for [REDACTED] and his [REDACTED] "hobby" will be indescribably glorious.  

Good times are coming. All we have to do is wait. The bad guys have cornered themselves at the top, and there's nowhere for them to go... but down.  In the meantime, here are some interesting links to help while away the wait! - YOPJ

***

1. Okay, so now that I've tried to lift your spirits a bit with the promise of juicy scandals to come, above, along comes Neal Gabler with possibly the most depressing, despairing, and accurate post-election summary that I've read so far. You must read it, and you must pass it along to your friends, whom you must get to read it. It reads in part:

If there is a single sentence that characterizes the election, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t. 

This country has survived a civil war, two world wars, and a great depression. There are many who say we will survive this, too. Maybe we will, but we won’t survive unscathed. We know too much about each other to heal. No more can we pretend that we are exceptional or good or progressive or united. We are none of those things. Nor can we pretend that democracy works and that elections have more or less happy endings. Democracy only functions when its participants abide by certain conventions, certain codes of conduct and a respect for the process. 

The virus that kills democracy is extremism because extremism disables those codes. Republicans have disrespected the process for decades. They have regarded any Democratic president as illegitimate. They have proudly boasted of preventing popularly elected Democrats from effecting policy and have asserted that only Republicans have the right to determine the nation’s course. They have worked tirelessly to make sure that the government cannot govern and to redefine the purpose of government as prevention rather than effectuation. In short, they haven’t believed in democracy for a long time, and the media never called them out on it.

Democracy can’t cope with extremism. Only violence and time can defeat it. 

Read the rest. Then read it again. Then forward it to everyone you think needs to read it, and make sure they do. Talk about it, quiz them on it, shit like that. 

***

2. One of Deadspin's sub-blogs, Concourse, has a magically delirious array of photographs from Donald Trump's first day as President Elect, photos that prove he doesn't like this any more than we do! Seriously, the man looks positively petrified... that is, when he isn't putting on one of his other two favorite post-election faces: profoundly confused, or deeply disinterested. As article author Ashley Feinberg puts it:

Donald Trump likes going to rallies. He likes hearing people scream his name in ecstasy while calling for the imprisonment and death of his enemies. He likes going on TV. He likes hearing about how high the ratings were after he goes on TV. He likes grabbing women by the pussy and moving on them “like a bitch.” 

What Donald Trump does not like, however, is keeping his promises, sitting still for more than five minutes at a time, or doing any kind of work whatsoever, tedious or otherwise. It’s probably why so many of his business ventures were spectacular, blistering failures over the years. 

But unfortunately for Donald Trump and everyone else in the world save Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is about to be the president. And as miserable as it is for us, there is one small, saving grace amidst the despair: Donald Trump looks like he wants to die.

She's not even remotely joking about this; the man looks like he's aged half a decade in a couple of days. His hair is whiter, his skin is translucent, he's just generally lumpier and blotchier... it's not a good look. As he might himself tweet: "Not good. Not good."

***

3. And finally for today, I bring you a couple of short films by District 9 director Neil Blomkamp in honor of Donald Trump's election! Unfortunately, the films are on his Instagram, and I can't figure out how to embed them here. They're among the most recent items on the page, though, so they're easy enough to find. Then I went to Youtube and found a couple different versions of his videos (embedded below) but these have different music, so I'm assuming they're the product of someone who is unaffiliated with Mr Blomkamp, and who is using his content without permission. I like the bootlegger's music choices, though, gotta admit! Anyway, to find out more about this ongoing project, check out this AV Club link. Ciao for now.

* Two if you count the new Kong: Skull Island trailer.

MEXICAN ARTIST MAKES FILM ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS

DAILY DIRT FLASHBACK! NOV 10, 2002

I created this info-graphic in the wake of the United States' 2002 midterm elections, the first since the five activist conservative members of the United States Supreme Court - aka the November Criminals - treasonously ended the recount in Florida, effectively handing the White House to the loser of both the popular AND true electoral college votes. 

The 2002 election, some of you will recall, featured two of the most devastating blows ever delivered to America's failing democracy.  

First, and most tragically, was the assassination of incumbent Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone, which itself was an eerie replay of the assassination of Democratic Governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, two years earlier. With Wellstone, however, The Powers That Be didn't make the mistake of letting a spouse survive, or leaving enough time to change the ballots, like they did with Carnahan. Having the man's widow step in and snatch away the Missouri governorship from Bush Crime Family consigliere John Ashcroft was a lesson the Bad Guys took to heart, so Wellstone's family was wiped out in the hit.

The second blow was the panicked disbanding of the Voter News Service consortium smack dab in the middle of election day. The VNS had, for decades, conducted exit polling nationwide. But in 2002, for some "unexplained" reason, there were massive discrepancies between exit polls and the "real" results... all in the Republicans' favor, of course. Statistics experts called it "Red Shift", and basically declared it impossible. But hey, if the last couple decades have taught us anything, it's that experts don't know shit. Am I right? Yeah, you know it. Fucking eggheads.

This pro-Republican "discrepancy" in exit polls, by the way, has held true for every election since touch screen electronic voting machines have gone into service. 

More on this subject soon. But for now, enjoy this trip down memory lane as, in his own flailing inconsequential time-wasting way, yer old pal Jerky helps to educate you about...

ON REMEMBRANCE DAY

Today, I remember my beloved grandfather and middle namesake, George Dufour, who fought in both of the 20th century's bloody World Wars. He lied about his age in order to follow his elder brother to the front lines, and the Canadian army was so desperate for bodies, they didn't ask twice. He was 14 years old when he enlisted. He served in France, and experienced trench warfare. Unimaginable.

SUPERHEROES REACT

WORDS OF WISDOM

Yer Old Pal Jerky's WORDS OF WISDOM #330

"Polluted skies make for beautiful sunsets."

THE GREAT PIZZA PASTA PEDO SPIRIT COOKING MELTDOWN OF 2016

It all started when a bunch of Trumpniks on the chans decided that the liberal biased lamestream media were dragging their feet in analyzing Wikileaks’ cache of Podesta emails, probably to protect Hillary Clinton from all those shocking revelations everybody knows are in there if you know how to look. So they decided to do it themselves, going over all those emails with a fine-tooth comb.

Eventually, they came across emails that seemed odd to them, including some that made allegedly cryptic references to pizza. There are a handful of these emails, but the one that really set the antennae on their tinfoil hats to twitching was this one from a friend of John Podesta, thanking the long-time Clinton associate and his wife for that year’s Christmas present:

From:hms@sandlerfoundation.org
To: podesta.mary@gmail.com, john.podesta@gmail.com
Date: 2015-12-24 18:40
Subject: Cheese
Mary and John
I think you should give notice when changing strategies which have been long in place. I immediately realized something was different by the shape of the box and I contemplated who would be sending me something in the square shaped box. Lo and behold, instead of pasta and wonderful sauces, it was a lovely, tempting assortment of cheeses, Yummy. I am awaiting the return of my children and grandchildren from their holiday travels so that we can demolish them.
Thank you so much. I hope you and your gang are well.
I miss you both
Best wishes fro a merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Herb
Ps. Do you think I'll do better playing dominos on cheese than on pasta?

Upon reading the above email, the chan crowd decided that they’d stumbled across evidence of a child sex ring. How did they come to that conclusion? Well, by pointing out the presence of multiple “pedophile codewords” in it, such as pizza for girl, cheese for little girl, pasta for little boy, and sauce for orgy. There were other alleged code-words, too, culled from other emails; hotdog means boy, for instance, while walnut means child of color, ice cream means male prostitute, and map means semen.

Speaking of maps, I think mapping out some of the individuals and connections identified by these self-appointed Sherlocks might be a worthwhile and illustrative endeavor. Keep in mind that this story is metastasizing on an hourly basis, with new libels being hurled at more and more individuals with each tick of the clock, so the following is, by necessity, woefully incomplete.

• Tony Podesta is a Washington lobbyist and big time art collector.

• Tony's brother is John Podesta, a long-time Washington insider who has worked with the Clintons for decades.
  
• The Clintons, through The Clinton Foundation, solicited funds from self-made billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
  
• Epstein, it turns out, is sexually attracted to teenage girls.
  
• On multiple occasions, Epstein used his private plane to ferry young girls to and from his private island.
  
• The Clintons and Epstein became social to the point where both Bill and Hillary (along with a great many other people, including Stephen Hawking for instance) flew on Epstein's private plane to visit his private Island.

So ultimately, the connections flow as follows:

Epstein is a convicted statutory rapist.

Epstein knew the Clintons.

The Clintons employ John Podesta.

John Podesta's brother is Tony Podesta.

Tony Podesta owns art.

Some of the art collected by Podesta could possibly be mistaken for witchcraft and/or Satanism by... well, uncultured simpletons, to be blunt.

All of the individuals mentioned above have, at some point, eaten pizza.

Pizza is a secret pedophile code word, because Cheese Pizza has the same initials as Child Pornography.

Oh, and don't forget Jimmy Saville!

Which means they're all a bunch of baby-eating Satanists.

And there you have it. See how neatly all the puzzle pieces fit together? Personally, I just want to know how Kevin Bacon fits into all this.

I jest of course, but this goofy bullshit is getting dangerous. And trust me, it is goofy bullshit.

For instance, that list of alleged pedophile code-words? It’s the product of circular logic, a textbook case of tautology, because it had been BACK ENGINEERED from the very emails that they claim contain all these code-words. I actually watched this whole ridiculous spectacle unfold as it happened, in real time.

First, I watched as one idiot pointed out that some of these Podesta emails seemed suspicious. 

Next, another idiot cobbled together a list of “potential pedophile code-words” based on those emails. 

Shortly thereafter, a THIRD idiot chimed in with the terrifying revelation that - HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS! - he had discovered a whole bunch of those pedophile code-words scattered throughout the Podesta emails!

If this goonery had remained on the chans, or on the Trumpkin safe-zones of reddit, nobody would have cared. Those places are like septic tanks… you expect to find shit when you look inside. But things soon got out of hand, with the shit splashing everwhere - first at the usual online conspiracy sites, most of which have unfortunately transitioned towards full-blown hardcore fascism over the last little while, but then reaching Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

In no time flat, literally thousands of dangerous idiots were helping spread the word that members of the Clinton campaign had been caught red-handed taking part in Satanic Pedophile Sex Cult rituals. And widely read outlets like Drudge, InfoWars and Breitbart helped vector these ideas into the mainstream. Even FOX News got in on the act, with reports on this topic from their Number Two (in more ways than one), Sean Fucking Hannity.

And why are they doing this? To help Make America Great Again?

We are beyond mere madness at this point; fathoms beneath rock bottom. This kind of rhetoric is the beginning of nothing less than a return visit of the same dark spirit that gripped Nazi Germany, which led its own hot war against “degenerate art”, only this time it’s gussied up in the 17th century trappings of Salem, Massachusetts.

Don’t take my word for it. You can verify all of this for yourself on Twitter, where proponents of this idiocy are using the hashtag #SpiritCooking to coordinate their harrassment campaign.

#SpiritCooking is a reference to the work of legendary performance artist Marina Abromavic, who has indeed on occsion produced confronting, difficult work… something for which she has rightfully been celebrated over the years.

As mentioned in my rundown of the alleged conspiracy, John Podesta’s brother Tony is a big deal in the art world, and he’s been both a friend and a patron to Ms Abromavic. In one email, Abromavic invited the Podestas to a “Spirit Cooking” dinner. She claims it was an ordinary dinner with friends to celebrate a book launch, with no performance involved. The 4chan gang, however, has decided that Abromavic was likely serving up food made out of breast milk, menstrual blood, and semen - not unlike Aleister Crowley’s infamous “Cakes of Light” recipe.

Regardless of whether or not Abromavic, like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin before her, is influenced by Crowley’s work, there remains the somewhat mitigating factor that the Podestas did not attend.

Unfortunately, Ms Abromavic is now being hounded by thousands of fanatical simpletons vilifying her and accusing her of pedophilia, murder, cannibalism, and countless other atrocities. Wherever Google leads to her name, if there’s a comments section, Trump’s minions are there in their hundreds, a seething mob of dangerous imbeciles telling one of the world’s foremost artists that “she ought to be ashamed of herself”.

To say that the irony is staggering is to significantly understate the situation.

Similar patterns are developing around other people unfortunate enough to have had their names appear in the Podesta emails, on a much lesser scale; although the amazing Serb artist Biljana Djurdjevic is shaping up to be another principle target. Her penchant for painting disturbing tableaux that plumb the darkest depths of our collective unconscious, and of our species’ seemingly boundless capacity for evil, have been a source of great titillation among these self-appointed stormtrooping decency watchdogs who fail to realize that making people uncomfortable can actually be the whole damn point. 

And then there’s iconic Canadian artist Louise Bourgeois’s scuplture, Arch of Hysteria, which some are trying to say was modeled after one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims (pro tip… it wasn’t). I suppose it’s a good thing she passed away in 2010, or she’d currently be enduring a torrent of shit as well.

But hey, if taking part in an art world witch-hunt is a bridge too far for you, don’t worry… the ongoing neo-fascist Gish Gallop has something for everyone!

For instance, were you aware that “multiple reports” have now linked the Podestas to the high profile abduction of the young British tourist Madelaine McCann in Portugal, back in 2007!

This latest accusation is based on the following factors:

1. The Podestas are known to have been in Portugal at some point.

2. They currently sorta/kinda resemble a nearly decade old (and still unauthenticated) police sketch of potential persons of interest to the case.

3. The oldest email from John Podesta made available by Wikileaks is from May 5, 2007, literally one day after McCann’s disappearance!

This final point suggests, of course, that Podesta must have destroyed all the emails previous to that date, because he, his brother, and a vast underground network of art-loving pedophile Satanists had been using that account to plot their globs-spanning conspiracy to kidnap Madelaine McCann!

I know… it all seems so air-tight and rock solid, right?

Here’s the thing, though… the Wikileaks dump contains Podesta’s Gmail account. And Gmail only became available to the public on February 7, 2007. So what at first might have seemed like a 1/365 coincidence is in fact revealed to be nothing of the sort. Wikileaks doesn’t have any of Podesta’s Gmails from before May 4, 2007 because there were none.

It’s exhausting, I know. But, believe it or not, what I’ve written so far barely begins to scratch the surface. The mass psychopathy being put on display in the final days of this campaign for the White House is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

As a veteran of countless flame wars and a long-time observer of these online ecosystems, I am well aware that some of these theories are being concocted by trolls, purely for “lulz”. But even if the people creating these memes don’t believe them - and some, like this self-described autistic mystic, definitely do - that doesn’t make them any less damaging to the process of civil discourse, which has recently reached its nadir.

It seems to me as though a confluence of factors have intersected to form a Perfect Storm. Reactionary feedback loops of unyielding ideological conflict wreak havoc on the participants, who never realize that they are under the increasingly totalitarian thrall of unimaginably complex systems.

But what if, beyond the unintended and poorly understood consequences of the paradoxical networked atomization of our still-dawning Total Surveillance State, The Powers That Be understand that a sufficiently complicated order is, to the human mind, indistinguishable from chaos? And what if, understanding that nothing makes people yearn for order quite like chaos… that is precisely what we’re being served?

Wouldn’t it look a lot like this?

More after the election. Good luck to you all… and be careful out there.

Sincerely;
Yer old pal Jerky

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ NOV 7, 2016

1. The Rude Pundit has published his Final Word about tomorrow's election day, and wow... it's a fuckin' doozy. Entitled "Last Note to Trump Voters: You Are Wrong and You Are Shit and Your Candidate Is Shit", it begins:

If you want to waste some time in sad bemusement, you can read recent columns by open-hearted progressives and depressed conservatives, desperately trying to convince voters for Republican candidate and human whoopee cushion Donald Trump to change their minds. In the Washington Post, for instance, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson begs like a bitch, "In the end, a Trump victory would normalize the belief that the structures of self-government are unequal to the crisis of our time." Over in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman reaches out his friend hand to the Trumpsters: "I understand why many Trump supporters have lost faith in Washington and want to just 'shake things up.'" But, Friedman assures them, Trump's "policies won’t help them. Trump promises to bring their jobs back. But most of their jobs didn’t go to a Mexican. They went to a microchip." It's so kind of them to try to help their fellow Americans make such an important decision. 

However, none of these rational editorials rationally laying out how irrational a vote for Trump is even approach understanding the Trump voter. They miss one big goddamn thing: The very things they think should convince sane people to turn against Trump are the very things that Trump voters love about their orange cult leader. You aren't dealing with anyone with reasonable intelligence or the ability to process logic, so stop trying. Trump voters are shit humans, so obviously they want a shit human for president. And your oh-so-good points about how terrible Trump is are wasted on such shit.

Gorsh, Rudy! Why doncha tell us how you REALLY feel?! A-hyuck!

2. A couple weeks ago, I came home to find that every apartment in my building had been visited by the "Your Ward News" fairy... you know, the supernatural being who flits around the city, hand-delivering free copies of the most batshit insane publication in the history of printed media? "Hoorah!" I thought to myself as I scanned its bonkers pages filled with the most over the top racist, sexist, anti-Semitic drivel this side of Der Stürmer! "Just the thing to while away those otherwise wasted minutes on the shitter!"

So... what modern day Julius Streicher is responsible for this tabloid, which could serve as Exhibit B by anyone wishing to make a case that the Western World is undergoing an acute mental health crisis*? Why, it's none other than Dr. James Sears, mild-manered alter-ego to notorious Canadian Pick Up Artist Dimitri the Lover!

Look, I know it's all a lot of weirdness to absorb in one go. Just trust me that, if you're one of the growing minority of people who've come to realize that the allegedly resurgent Far Right has already reached Peak Pathetic, Your Ward News will provide lulz aplenty! It quite literally argues against its own political stance via reductio ad absurdum. And the best part is... one issue is all you'll ever need! I realize nothing beats the sleazy realism of dirty newsprint rubbing off on your fingertips, but you cheapos can download a free copy now, from their website. Remember, this stuff is ideological dynamite, so handle with care!

3. And what better way to end this Suggested Reading List than with a flurry of sad, disturbing, and yet still somehow lovely cartoons? Enjoy.

* Exhibit A is the Trump ascendancy.

SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ NOV 6, 2016

*** QUOTE OF THE DAY ***

November 6, 2016

“The left needs to acknowledge what the right has long known: that it’s a fiction to think we can move on beyond the brawl of the 1990s without settling it — and settling it requires helping Mrs. Clinton triumph once and for all against the calumnies that were created to define her. It would be a mistake to think that Mrs. Clinton, the imperfect politician, is not the right standard-bearer for this fight. She was nominated to her role not last July at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, but in 1992, when her husband destroyed the myth of Republican invincibility and Hillary Clinton was anointed the feminine face of evil.”

- Susan Faludi, in the New York Times Sunday Review

*** *** ***

1. Look, I realize former Pink Floyd front-man Roger Waters is a bit of a character. I know this. And I know that his albums, as albums, can be somewhat overstuffed, overwrought and overthought. However, nestled in among all that glorious excess are a number of bright, gleaming gems. I would like to highlight one here for you now: the emotionally brutalist, pseudo-Blues ode to the eternal Battle of the Sexes, "Sexual Revolution", from his first (and most reviled) post-Floyd offering, The Pros And Cons of Hitch-Hiking. I recommend paying attention to two elements, here. First, the paradoxical economy of the instrumentation compared to the intensity of the vocals, which creates a very interesting effect. Second, Eric Clapton's astonishing, effects-free guitar work. Personally, I think this song qualifies as an unappreciated classic, fully deserving of the accolade: GREAT.

2. Folks, nobody will be happier than yours truly when the day comes that I don't have to pay address this Apocalyptic race for the White House, but I wanted to call your attention to this particular bit of nastiness because I think it encapsulates everything I hate about the so-called conservative movement in America. I'll let Deadspin's Tim Burke explain...

Yesterday a Trump protester interrupted the president’s appearance at a Hillary Clinton rally in North Carolina, prompting Obama to quiet down a rowdy crowd and urge it to respect the man’s right to free speech. That’s a radical difference from the Trump approach already, but the GOP nominee saw things differently—accusing Obama of “screaming” at the protester and that the whole scene was a “disgrace.” 

Watch the video, and you make the call!

It doesn't require an overabundance of insight to imagine what Trump probably really wanted to say at that moment, but I'll spare you my own suspicions on that count.

3. Let's end this edition of the DDD's Suggested Reading List with something positive... something life-affirming and beautiful. And let that be in the form of this primitively animated but philosophically sophisticated episode of The Big Lez Show, the best thing to come from Down Under since Vegemite, or TimTam, or whatever other hackneyed, Ozzy cliche'd product that you can think of. The rest of this series is well worth watching, too, even though the first few episodes make South Park look like Disney's Fantasia by comparison. Enjoy!

THE FBI IS ROGUE, & THAT'S NOT ALL

Regarding the ridiculous Clinton e-mail "scandal" and Director Comey's ridiculous behavior last week - which now hilariously is looking like it might end up causing him to be put on trial - all this media posturing and public bluster, all this punditry balderdash and folderol, all this never-ending media "attention" being paid...

...and yet, just as with the Benghazi "scandal", I still haven't encountered a self-described conservative who can explain to me the substance of the crime or crimes that they believe Hillary Clinton to have committed.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. 

As you read this, there are arenas jam-packed with people being whipped into a blind frenzy of apoplectic outrage. Some of them are wearing t-shirts that declare "TRUMP THAT BITCH!" and worse, and some are chanting "LOCK HER UP!" and far, far worse. Some elected officials have even gone so far as to call for Hillary Clinton to be publicly executed for treason*.

And I'd wager not a single one of them could give you a coherent answer as to why.

It's Orwellian in the worst possible way; nothing short of terrifying. And for proponents of increased democratic participation in the shaping and guiding of public policy, it should be cause for alarm, followed by sober reflection and sincere soul-searching.

Now, as for the FBI, it's beginning to look like the that organization needs to be dealt with via decisive executive action, "Big League". 

I suppose I can kind of understand why President Obama didn't want to clear out Preznit Dubya's hyper-partisan, Jesus Freak appointees early on in his first term... but then, thanks to the GOP's 2010 Congressional redistricting gerrymander, doing so later became all but impossible. 

So what now? Personally, I think the DOJ should go nuclear before President Obama's term ends, absolutely purging the partisan, neofascist and yes, SEDITIOUS element currently infesting the FBI, and clean that house on a molecular goddamn level.

*West Virginia House Member Mike Folk (R)