Some Stuff To Read And Listen To, Plus

Proofreading, man, this sucks, plus whatever

Moored (credit Weldon Berger)

Some Stuff To Read

The Deep State is pushing the price of eggs ever higher, but the brave Trump administration has for practical purposes shut down the entire federal health research infrastructure while awaiting the installation of the brain-damaged recovering-junkie steroid-wracked new HHS administrator, thereby increasing your chances of getting sick from something and decreasing your chances of getting well, so you probably won’t give a fuck about the price of eggs, which erases a Deep State propaganda opportunity. MAGA’d, you devious motherfuckers.

The New York Times reported late last night that Trump has fired at least a dozen (gift link) departmental inspectors general. The story initially failed to mention that the action is illegal, but has since been updated to note that the law requires the president to give Congress a 30-day notice along with a detailed rationale for each firing.

But there is no law without somebody to enforce it and without someone to enforce it upon, which no longer includes the president.

It’s sort of comforting, the return of mass late-night weekend purges. It’s reminiscent not just of Nixon but of the Bush-Cheney regime as well, about the imperial ambitions of which David Addington, the guy sometimes known as Cheney’s Cheney, said “We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.”

At least Addington recognized the possibility of larger forces, by which he meant Congress and, to an extent, the courts. Unlike the first Trump administration, this one has nobody who might be inclined to bow in those directions.

Carl Beijer, the Socialist writer I recommended a thing or two ago, wrote a piece about how guys (they’re almost all guys) working out their troubled childhoods or hurt feelings or whatevers doesn’t make a huge impact until they’re running the world, or your workplace.

Without capitalism, the broligarchs would just be bros

It’s a good read, and not very long, so please read it. I should note that it isn’t to say that people working out their issues outside a therapists office can’t have a negative impact on anybody; just that they won’t have a negative impact on everybody.

I can’t remember who said it, but it seems right: the difference between a Nazi and somebody pretending to be a Nazi is nothing.

Nazi Nazi Nazi. Oi Oi Oi Oi.

Everybody knows about the Episcopalian bishop who spoke up on inauguration day. I have seen people saying she was fearless, but she wasn’t and isn’t; she just spoke up anyway, and millions of people took heart from it. Democratic politicians and others with a platform could and should take a lesson from that.

Some Stuff To Listen To

I listened to Mogwai’s new album, The Bad Fire. It is of a genre which I’m sure has a name. I wasn’t offended or entranced, although the latter might have happened if I was high, which I don’t get outside the ketamine clinic anymore. In any event, they’re recognizably talented so if you like whatever genre that is, this’ll be a banger.

The Mogwai album reminded me some of God Speed You! Black Emperor, a group I’d not listened to for a few months; long enough that they’d put out a new album since the last time, their first in three years. I’m very fond of this band, in particular their albums from 2012 and 2017, called Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, and Luciferian Towers respectively. The new (October 2024) one is called NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD.

You can probably guess what that’s about. It’s very insistent. I like it quite well.

Speaking of bangers, I mentioned the other day having listened to The Animals Retrospective, which includes “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” Sixty years old (!) and still timely. Although maybe now it should be “We Gotta Get This Place Outta Here.”

I’ve never been a big fan of pre-1960s jazz guitar, I think because the tone is so similar across players—same general guitar body style, same general pickups, same mellow tone, with some exceptions. Nevertheless, friend and supporter Jack D persists in recommending guitar stuff that I somehow like, such as “Moonlight in Vermont” from the album of the same name by the Johnny Smith Quintet featuring Stan Getz.

Proofreading Sucks

I used to be everybody’s go-to proofreader; on account of having the ability to read a page without getting distracted by the content. It’s much more difficult now so I’ve been sending stuff out with errors galore and I get angry at myself for it. On the plus side, I’m sending stuff out.

Plus Whatever

I was gonna write a little bit about climate stuff but too much bleak on too much bleak. Maybe another time.

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Take care; be well.