Qasem Soleimani in a Coffin

 I didn't want to go outside today.  It was a beautiful, temperate, and inviting, but it wasn't.  My body protested as soon as I walked out the door.  Christmas this year was a success in spite of the Coronavirus.  It was warm and humid on Christmas Eve, and surprisingly cold on Christmas day.  More importantly the air was calm.  It was not the usual angst ridden, violent, and malevolent air that encapsulates Fayetteville on a daily basis including the days leading up to Christmas.  Fortunately we were spared Christmas this year.  Both my mother and I felt normal and young again, and our normal Fayetteville driven neurosis was spared to reflect upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus.  This was a God send, because last year on New Year's day we were subject to the largest military mobilization of the last thirty years, but we knew nothing of it until now.  It made the front page of the Fayetteville Observer yesterday a documenting of this mass mobilization of the 82nd Airborne en route to the Middle East.  It was not long before America bombed an airport in Iran and killed a major Islamic terrorist leader.  Quid pro quo as the saying goes.  Mike Pompeo spent a lot of time in Israel not that long ago, and shortly thereafter Iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated.  Not long after that the Coronavirus appeared in America.  My thoughts are now it was instigated by Iran, because over time they seem to emerge at the core of American resistance in the Middle East.  It would make sense, Iran unleashing the virus on America.  I didn't want to go outside today for some reason.  Because I am a musician my senses are more tuned than most.  Perhaps I feel more things, and these things have the propensity to disrupt the human mechanism.  Perhaps I am a litmus test for the environment.  When I did venture outside today out of sheer claustrophobic anxiety, what did I see?  It was no surprise.  It was not New Year's day, and it neither was it Christmas Eve or Christmas day.  We had the best weather for Christmas in a decade, and thoroughly I absorbed all of its traits.  The air was crisp and clear as was the sky.  Today when I looked up into the Carolina blue sky what did I see?  This now is the compromise for Fayettenam, how entitled is Ground Forces Command to use our urban landscape as a practice field for their aviation activities?  We found out yesterday that the latticework in the sky on New Year's day last year was the largest military mobilization in thirty years unbeknownst to us.  We understand they like to keep it that way, although the likelihood of a domestic terrorist attack on the United States army at Fort Bragg is almost nonexistent.  They have dug in, battened down, and prepared for nuclear war out there.  It may be useful pedagogy to practice covert deployment, but it is not necessary.  No one is going to get on base with a bomb-laden recreational vehicle.  Today now like many days in Fayettenam chemtrails litter the blue sky.  They masquerade as cirrus clouds, but rest assured they are something very different.  My body and my soul have a gut reaction to dirty, violent, and oppressive air.  I felt guilty for not making more of the day, but I could not.  The day was meant for the United States military, and when they predicate war games that is what we get.  My eyes burn from the exhaust, and my senses shut down to ward off the ill effects of fighter jet activity. The most ironic occurrence of today was that while I was observing these chemtrails I was approached by the same jet that has been bothering me for several years.  It was not around during Christmas, and we were thankful.  Today after realizing the military was at work again, slowly over the treetops my personal jet emerged.  It is unusual to see a jet aircraft, a large commercial looking plane with a "T" tail and two rear mounted engines flying just above the treeline.  I have researched this aircraft before, and it may be a newly equipped Gulfstream with the Compass Call protocol.  Gulfstream got the new defense contract for this aircraft not that long ago.  It is the major aircraft used for electronic disruption of enemy forces.  It can perform the gamut.  I can't remember the reason for this blog entry.  It was because yesterday and the day before we had enjoyable weather.  We were not attacked with extraneous war like activity, and it was euphoric.  For a few days you could remember how we might feel most of the time, before Ground Forces came to Fort Bragg. 

Chemtrails and Musical Theater

I have been meaning to write a post for some time about a sensitive issue.  I will preface my brief opinion with commentary about a local play we saw today.  With this year's outbreak of Covid 19 necessarily the arts have been curtailed.  There has been scant live music, theater, or ballet at a time when it is needed most.  Most people are feeling the vacuum.  We opted to go see a Christmas musical today at the Thilbert Theater.  This is a small local theater housed in a historic downtown building which has been used for various purposes.  We have seen a few shows here, and they are amateur affairs.  This theater is a vehicle to provide opportunity for local thespians.  The stage is bare.  There is no proscenium.  There is no curtain.  There are a few props and a few lights.  The acoustic are acceptable.  It is grassroots music and drama at its core.  I paid no attention to this show until we arrived.  Most of the shows at the Thilbert Theater are alternative off Broadway types, although recently they did do Godspell.  Live musical theater is something you can't ignore.  If you buy a ticket and attend the show you must be willing to be engaged at some level.  You could fall asleep, and they would not care.  Most people there are being supportive of the cast members and other theater workers.  It is a family affair.  Knowing the Thilbert Theater is this you resign yourself to contributing to the show.  You can't just spectate and expect to receive a mind altering or heart warming experience.  There may be moments of sensitivity and awareness.  Most theater aspires to to this.  It does not always happen.  Sometimes the actors go through the motions and are not successful at achieving a moving and meaningful performance.  You, the audience, can help in this respect.  In theater history the interaction with and response of the audience always have been important.  At the amateur level with novice performers, they may just enjoy being in the limelight.  This is where the importance of a quality director reveals itself.  I have worked in the arts all my life.  I have been in talent shows playing piano.  I also acted in a few high school musicals.  Most of my experience is from playing piano in ship production shows which are highly staged and tracked affairs.  There is not a lot of room for drama, but the craft of the theater is well used.  Lighting, sound, and choreography are crucial to the success of ship production shows.  With that being said, I am an evolved enough musician and composer to know when a performance is effective.  The show we saw today had potential.  Like all of the shows at the Thilbert Theater, it was strange.  It was strange because local theater in and of itself is strange for the audience.  It is not an sporting event.  It is not a cocktail party.  It is a play, and if it is a musical there will be spontaneous singing and dancing.  This is a humorous vehicle, one often that is parodied.  Spontaneous singing and dancing only could be a musical comedy.  This does not happen in real life, although I suspect in the earlier days of America it was more possible .  Actors talking on stage is not that interesting.  Actors reciting lines on stage also is not interesting.  For a play to be interesting more is required, and it would seem this is not well known in today's modern theater.  The televised productions on PBS, some of which are on Broadway, often are amateur.  Usually I cringe when I see them, because there is something about this gap between what is required and what is  happening that is stark, upsetting, and misleading.  Most actors today recite lines from memory staring a into space which happens to be in the general direction of the audience.  Whoever tells them to walk upstage alone and talk above the heads of the audience is a fool.  If communication is the goal of theater, then this is not an effective method.  It would be better to speak to someone, either the audience or a fellow character in a play.  This also fails to happen.  Actors don't look at each other, because they are concentrating on remembering lines.  It is rare that you will see an actual "moment" on stage in local amateur theater.  The days of that securely are in the retired hands and mind of Bo Thorp.  Bo was a proficient director and actress.  She created the Fayetteville Little Theater which later became the Cape Fear Regional Theater.  Since Bo retired the shows have not been the same.  Sitting watching, listening, and trying to understand and enjoy today's show, a recurring theme presented itself to me.  It would not take much to make the shows better.  A few simple directions or rather understanding about what they are doing is all that is needed.  The first one is that words that are spoken are meant to convey meaning.  They are meant to communicate with the audience.  Speaking words to the void above the audiences head is not enough.  The performers in today's show were capable.  They are talented vocalists but struggling actors.  It is not their fault. Quality musical instruction is prolific in North Carolina.  Acting is a fleeting fancy, a lost art, and it made me want to help.  I did help some by buying into the expression on stage during Act ll.  After a small bottle of wine at intermission, I and probably others were ready for a more robust, hearty, and human experience.  Suffice it to say, I don't want to verbalize the concept about which I am thinking.  If I do then I will open myself up to contemptuous rhetoric of the Trumpian nature.  What is jazz?  Is there any real jazz?  Jazz is anything.  As a former college lecturer I will not go down this path, but I have to suggest about what I am thinking.  Other than reciting lines to a void above the audiences' heads, the most egregious mistake in theater is ignoring the intent of the author or playwright.  This applies to the sexual identity of characters in the narrative.  While Trumpians may disagree God's creatures at least coarsely, were created with a specific gender.  Whether the human race is supposed to evolve is not for me to say.  I don't believe that evolution created modern man.  I think it presents a solid argument for mother nature, because there is evidence in fossils that are dug up and studied.  So far we have not discovered anything other than men and women, although today it would seem this is too confusing for some.  They want to be the opposite of their gender of an amalgam of the two.  Okay.  My point is if you are going to perform traditional theater play or musicals, unless specifically you are creating a parody or satire, the original orientations of the characters must be maintained.  What is jazz?  Is there such a thing?  Why can't we transgender anything?  The answer is there is more to it.  Once we were able to get past the four loud, angry, and assertive women on stage complaining about not having more in their lives including bee-yoos, then the chance of a better Christmas future presented itself.  In retrospect this was the plot of this musical.  Misery in the first act.  Comedy and closure in the second act.  I didn't see gender having anything to do with any of it.   It is not uncommon to subject the audience to frumpy, sacharine, and boring women during Act l, and then "Delievering the Wow" in Act ll.  (This is a reference to the cruise industry for insiders.)  Today's flavor was not different.  While I viewed these women on stage trying my best to ascribe some type of humanity to them through gender, necessarily I failed.  Later I discovered that was the intent.  Four unhappy women stuck in a VFW club during World War ll.  One can still masturbate.  The severity of their situation became clear, as they realized that mounting their own version of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" would be positive.  It was what they sorely needed.  Eventually their situation and the situation of the characters in Dickens' play fused and communicated a common sentiment.  People are struggling, and it is best to realize and understand it.  Because the year 2020 America can not explain what has been beset upon us.  Still we are embroiled in survival making it difficult to understand how much we have missed in this one year.  I have lost four years of my life to this president, and it is not over.  Even after leaving the presidency this man will continue to mount a communist coup against the American government and people.  2020 is a glorified taste of Communist oppression.  No music.  No theater.  No dance.  No small business.  No recreation.  No love.  Get a big dose of it, because this is what Trump wants.  What's the point?  There are several.  One is corporate America has destroyed out environment.  The once neutral space in which humans could excel being creative and artistic has been destroyed.  If you look at any movie, television show, or listen to music recorded prior to 1990, you will see and hear traditional human expression.  Acting seen during this time almost feels dated, but its not.  They did act, because acting previous to 2020 was tangible.  They dug deep into their emotional wells and hearts, and it was expressed on their faces and in their bodies.  This was important, and it was called acting.  Today our space, the air around us which once was calm and supportive and rich with oxygen is violent, manic, destructive, and thin.  When we exited the theater this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. what was before us?  They were not fluffy cirris clouds adorning the Carolina blue sky.  They were chemtrails.    Chemtrails are the exhaust from a jet aircraft.  It is white and wispy like a cirris cloud, but instead it consists of noxious gas comprised of carbon dioxide, oxides and of sulfur and nitrogen, unburned fuel, soot, and metal particles.  These chemtrails appear over the city of Fayetteville regularly including the day after last year's Christmas.  The day after Christmas in Cumberland County, our sky was a lattice work of low-lying chemtrails.  Let's celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with a sky full of chemtrails.  While superficially these white trails resembling clouds may appear unthreatening, it should be understood that with each chemtrail your see, someone else is consuming your oxygen and replacing it with greenhouse gas.  A tax on emissions is ludicrous, when the tax should be on oxygen CONSUMPTION.  In the same way DuPont and Chemours somehow think they deserve to dump their waste in our ground water, into neighboring rivers, and into our air, the aeronautical establishment, whether it be military or commericial, each aircraft burns oxygen meant for the mother nature and us.  Not only do they burn the air in which the human race is meant to exist, they replace it with shit.  That is a tall asshole in my book.  Surprise!  Look at the pretty low-lying chemtrails over Fayettenam.  I only ask what is the mission?   Why are they sorties on Saturday at four in the afternoon?  Why did they muck up the beautiful blue sky the day after Christmas?   I understand it is the United States military, and I tire of it.  Other people live here too and many were here first.  Likewise this unbalanced scale is weighted by railroads, who also burn massive amounts of our oxygen and replace it with shit.  They still proclaim themselves "Green."  Trying to describe the existence of infrasound to the red wave is like trying to talk to a dying Covid patient watching Tucker Carlson from their hospital bed.  (sic.)  The stage for humanity is our environment, and it has been hijacked, ransacked, and discarded.  Without much left soon there will be no humanity at all.  The Republicans all ready have devolved to animals.  

Chemours the Killers

Beethoven's 5th Symphony isn't helping my train of thought, however the slow movement of Mahler's 5th briefly restored my interest in and engagement with human life.  Music is the most powerful art form with visual a close second.  That is a bold and discriminatory statement, but I maintain my ground.  It could not be proven today especially in America.  As a nation we have little use for music anymore.  Once we did.  Once upon a time, as the adage goes, music was woven into our fabric of life.  Perhaps it is and should be the fabric itself.  We would be happier as people.  It would be impossible to prove today for several reasons.  This hypothesis, like the argument between Democrats and Republicans, merely would be discounted.  It would be poo pooed. (I have decided catch phrases are okay in expository writing, because they are showing up on MSNBC.)    "Grifter" is an example.  The argument between the left and right has become nothing more than a shouting match.  Joe Biden won the argument with truth, honesty, and knowledge.  Donald Trump lost with lies, massive, far-reaching, and seemingly eternal lies.  Still he is lying, and so are his Republican supporters.  When you have no argument the current strategy of the Republican Party is lie and shout.  They are shouting now, and it will get worse unless President Biden does something about it.  Music no longer is important for the same reason all of the traditions of Americans no longer are important.  Gilded castles.  Golf clubs.  Posh skyscrapers.  Lavish luxury and excess.  Why these are so necessary is because one lacks the basic core components for a happy life.  That is opening Pandora's box.  (another term we are not supposed to use in expository writing)  What is a happy life?  Because I am rambling, distracted, and irate I will try to sum it up.  If we consider the human being a non-android, flesh and blood, piss and shit, cum and sweat living entity who at their core are animals with a larger brain, then our needs are simple.  The problem is there are not being met.  The basic needs of the human species have been sacrificed for corporate profit.  Not only have the basic needs of the human species been sacrificed, the human species is being sacrificed for corporate profit.  We do not hear much about this pagan sacrifice.  It portrays no drama, no golden lamb, no burning bush, and no demonic pageantry.  While this type of human sacrifice is evidenced in world history in some countries, our human sacrifice in America is more subliminal.  It exists covertly, in the trenches, behind closed doors, and on the fringes of polluting manufacturing plants.  Recently in the news it was mentioned the devastation corporate America is wreaking on neighboring citizens.  Donald Trump said they were being paid enough money to stay silent, like somehow money could ease their suffering.  This suffering was not just famine, pestilence, and poverty.  It was and is debilitating and often fatal disease.  People are dying at the behest of corporate America.  One would like to think that isn't true.  How could a large manufacturing conglomerate willfully want people to die, and yet DuPont, knowing that C8 was killing livestock and eventually people through cancer mutations, changed the name of the chemical and sold it to the Chinese.  These Chinese continue to manufacture the same chemicals as DuPont (or originally 3M), and in the most mystifying scenario in American conservation release it unabashedly into the ground water, neighboring rivers, and the air.  Let me reiterate that scenario.  When DuPont first was prosecuted with a class action lawsuit in Parkersburg, West Virginia for doing the same, they settle for 350 million dollars.  They claimants chose not to take this money and instead created a foundation whose mission was to formally study the effects of PFAS on human beings.  This study took seven years, and when it was concluded proved conclusively this chemical causes high cholesterol, kidney cancer, pregnancy induced hypertension, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, and ulcerative colitis.  Chemours in Fayetteville, North Carolina continues to manufacture this chemical and until recently also was releasing it into ground water, neighboring rivers, and the air.  This polluting garnered scrutiny several years ago, and attention was placed on Chemours.  Several years later some steps have been taken to mitigate this pollution.  Locals wells were tested for the contaminant.  It was found both down and upstream in the Cape Fear River, the Haw River and Jordan Lake.  The chemical was not limited to Wilmington.  Effectively human sacrifices have been taking place in America since her inception.  People must die for the greater good, the availability of Teflon and Scothgard.  There is one point here I do not understand.  How is it that companies such as DuPont and Chemours feel they have the right to dump their waste onto our land?  What tenant of responsible business or manufacturing would predicate that extreme and often fatal byproducts be handled by dumping them carelessly into the environment?  Is there some Trumpian statute that says raw sewage from our bowels be dumped into our drinking water?  Perhaps at some point in the evolution of mankind we discovered this was not a good idea.  If men wanted to continue to live, not necessarily thrive, but live we shouldn't shit where we eat.  DuPont and now Chemours believe the proper method of containing and disposing of their industrial waste is to dump it in the ground, the Cape Fear River, and the air.  To understand this concept would be to confront the absurdity of the recent presidential election.  Retired army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn is suggesting that outgoing President Trump muster the United States military, mobilize it in swing states where he lost to Joe Biden, and conduct a new election of which of course Trump would be the victor.  May I please point out that this conjecture is criminal?  Oh.  Mr. Flynn was convicted of felonies, but his sentencing continually was postponed, until Trump issued him a pardon.  That my friends is the system working for you.  Never could we point out that both DuPont and Chemours flagrantly are murdering Americans on a timeline and covering their tracks with fallen leaves.  When I rise each day this now is on my watch.  Chemours is in my hometown, and this company feels for some reason that they are not required to contain and dispose of their own waste.  They can run a factory.  They can employ workers.  They can make a useful but harmful product, but they don't feel it is necessary to take out the trash.  We could just let the beer bottles, fast food bags, cigarette butts, and cups pile up in the corner of the house, and then drag them into the creek out back.  Who will know?  Who would know that PFAS, C8, or whatever they decide to call it kills?  American has known this for half a century, and yet ceremonially human sacrifices still are being made without the consent of those being sacrificed.  "A few must die for the greater good."  America:  The Country Who Kills Her Citizens.  The word Fascism comes to mind, and yet the offending Republicans would just shout, wave their hands, and plan another Trump rally. 

American DeConstructionism

 Time to change it up a bit.  Employment as a musician in the cruise industry is a widely varied phenomenon.  The cruise industry had become one of the last remnants of full time employment for musicians.  I was thankful for such an opportunity to be able to hone my craft while earning a living wage.  The cruise ship industry is unique.  You may never know its flavor until you try it.  I have discovered after settling back on dry land, it is much more difficult to survive on terra firma (and you are not supposed to use foreign terms in expository writing)  than on a floating hotel.  Why?  The answer is that hygiene is crucial to the success of the cruise industry.  In such a contained environment any illness could be devastating to revenue, because the "guests" are the focus.  Possibly at one time customers or citizens were important in America.  Customer service was a tangible tenant of the retail industry.  Amazon and eBay have struck a major blows to in person customer service.  They have substituted a computer network.  This network must be programmed and manned by human beings, but it is not the same.  In person service is upon what the cruise industry is based.  Make the guests happy and the revenue will flow.  In many ways working in the cruise industry is easier than life on land.  The cruise industry offers nothing for retirement.  There is no monthly pension upon which to live if you retire.  Consequently the exchange rate for foreign currencies makes it lucrative for non Americans to work on American ships.  Everyone gets paid in American dollars, but foreign workers reap the benefit of the exchange rate in their own countries.  This is not true for Americans.  What you see is what you get.  There is no monetary surprise when you return home with your cash.  Immediately life becomes more difficult.  The biggest difference between the cruise industry and land is the automobile.  As I worked on ships I adopted a new form of transportation, one which was more environmentally friendly, more portable, and more fun.  It was called a skateboard and not the new school type.  Because my skating heyday was in the late 70's and early 80's, my quiver of sticks necessarily reflects that skate dynamic of that time.  It was best expressed by either The Bones Brigade or even more accurately by the Z Boys.  What are these Z Boys?  Skating again has lost public consciousness at least for now.  When the Coronovirus is tamed skating again will regain its importance in American popular culture.  When we are not worried about our lives, perhaps we can begin to think about more pleasurable activities whether they earn money or not.  The skate aesthetic of my time was called Surf/Skate, because skateboarders first were surfers.  When the waves did not present themselves, these surfers took it to the streets.  Because they all ready had mastered a very delicate and skillful balancing act, skateboarding fell into place.  They surfed on their skateboards and consequently searched for terrain that emulated the moving waves of the ocean.  Today the skating aesthetic has changed, and the "ollie" is the center of attention.  The entire style of skating today is based upon this maneuver, a movement which elevates the skateboard off of the ground in a jump.  The low surf stance of vintage purveyors is not necessary, although still it looks stylish.  When I ventured to our newly built skatepark, it felt foreign to me.  I do not know this style of skateboarding.  What I do know is slalom, freestyle, and carving.  Both slalom and carving are necessary in most aspects of skating.  Looking at the terrain of our local park, this is not obvious.  It is not obvious, because parks built today encompass an amalgam of skating styles.  There is a freestyle area.  There are rails to grind.  There are banks to fakie.  One thing often they don't provide is a serpentine or mogul run.  Moguls themselves are from snow skiing, but as with all board sports there is a common denominator.  Snowboarding of itself has developed away from the Surf/Skate aesthetic, because the way you control the board is by leaning on its rails, either front or back.  In surfing or how the Z Boys developed their approach to skateboarding, you must pivot from your hips like doing the dance the Twist.  Your feet are closer together, and you achieve a sharper turning radius enabling you to carve a narrow pool or banked wall.  As I watched New Zealand skateboarders carve their massive pool in Wellington, this was not apparent to me.  Your trucks much be loose, and while in the midst of a near vertical carve you must turn the board with your ankles and toes.  Therefore slalom is crucial to success, slalom being able to navigate very closely placed cones on a downhill course zig zag styled.  The Surf/Skate aesthetic lends itself well to slalom, and this is why Stacy Peralta easily won these competitions.  What does any of this have to do with anything?  It means that to be successful in a particular park, you must have a style in mind.  My style necessarily will not incorporate the "ollie," because I choose not to use it.  The ollie developed from ramp riding in Florida.  Alan Gelfand discovered that at the top of a steep wooden bank, if he pushed hard enough on the tail of his board it would propel him into the air.  Pop!  It is a rather ingenious thing, the ollie.  It was so influential that the entire modern aesthetic of skateboarding is based upon it.  Conversely it is possible to skate equally as skillfully without the ollie.  Ironically neither the Z Boys or the Bones Brigade used it.  Could anyone say these two competitive professional teams are less skilled than skaters today?  They just did it differently, "Not like stick men," in the words of T.A., Tony Alva.  A "low" stance was appropriate for them, because if you wanted to make it through the tube of a wave, you had to bend your knees and squat on your surfboard without loosing control.  Your feet moved closer together, and because water was your only resistance you almost had a 360 degree range of motion pivoting on the rear fin.  Skateboard companies have emerged that embrace this style offering specialty trucks that pivot.  Skateboard technology reached its peak during the 1980's, and the boards were more than just a ambidextrous Popsicle stick with wheels.  There was a specific nose and tail of the board.  Skating fakie is a crucial component to ramp riding, but it eliminates a appealing visual element for the spectator.  When I approach skating at our new park, I must skate a style that is familiar to me.  It must come from an aesthetic with which I am familiar.  For me that is Surf/Skate.  With this in mind how I approach the myriad of transitions will be facilitated.  You must own them.  There can be no doubt in your mind how you will approach, traverse, and exit these angles of concrete.  Most of the technique for doing so is in your ankles utilizing a "seesaw" movement.  After I connected my own skateboarding experience with this new park, it began to feel less daunting, and I less of a nerd.  Embrace what you know.  For years I have been interested in skate culture, and this interest culminated in a skateboard collection I alone curated.  I also created it.  Some of my boards remain in their original states, but many were assembled from components I researched.  I watched vintage skateboard videos on Youtube and DVD, took screen shots of the equipment, sourced these items on eBay, and assembled the completed boards to document historic advancements in the evolution of skateboard equipment.  Like the field of American popular music, there is a wealth of enlightenment, history, and information in this study.  My collection represents popular cultural values of America through through the second half of the twentieth century through skating.  This, like many unique American cultural trends (or Americana), has lost relevance.  With this in mind and deep in the midst of a deadly world wide pandemic, the void in American culture has been exposed.  One only has to try to watch a television Christmas special to understand traditional forms of education have failed for the arts.  The arts may be alive in the school systems, but they are not as a tool of solidarity for America like they once were.  America's neglect of education now has surfaced, not from just using it as a babysitter for our children, but for preparing our children for life.  There were times in America when art was a reflection of life.  These times were when America was operating authentically realizing her own ideals as a democratic, free, but sovereign nation.  This was America as her best setting examples for the rest of the world.  Things have changed, and with poor leadership, corruption, and contempt America has become plagued by parasites.  Foreign interested are doing everything in their power to destroy America's freedoms.  The most substantial evidence of this is our loss of culture.  Fervently I believe Universal Music Group did not buy Bob Dillon's music catalog to promote it.  They like others bought it to suppress it.  Time/Life or Time Warner systematically has bought the rights to most American popular music, and consequently we never hear it.  What's the point?  Yes, they can attempt to sell it in collections of CD's of which I have bought many.  My fear was this music, the history of America, would disappear forever.  It has.  Never has it been more stark that after an artist dies in America, they disappear into the abyss.  The greatest money earners in American popular music history, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Ray Charles rarely ever are heard anymore.   The same fate now has been applied to the artistry of America's greatest folk poet.  If you had heard a Bob Dillon song before now, you are lucky.  It will be a stretch if you ever hear one again.  This now is the deconstructionist theory of America, where the building blocks of culture and humanity no longer are deemed relevant.  Is this a good idea?  All you have is what you remember. 

The American Coconspirators

 Instead of worrying about the decimation of our democracy, the subsequent loss of our personal freedoms, and the resulting tyrannical rule of an impeached president, I rather would be thinking about Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Lord our Savior.  I have had little Christmas spirit for two decades.  I was working during Christmas providing entertainment for cruise ship guests, or I was away from home trying to become a better musician and composer.  When I lived in Columbus, Ohio I did stumble into several Christmas situations.  One was playing trumpet for two church services.  It was an easy and enjoyable gig, because I have done this most of my life.  Every Christmas and Easter my father and I played trumpets at St. John's Episcopal Church.  We began before I knew how to play the trumpet well.  Like many things in life you learn by experience or rote.  Providing this musical product forced me to be a better trumpeter.  It entailed warming up before the service in our living room.  Church environments prohibit the volume of brass, but to play the trumpet correctly it requires a specific and minimal threshold of airflow, minimal in the sense that there is a certain of air that will produce a musical sound.  You cannot go below this minimum value or your trumpet playing will suffer.  Trying to achieve this ratio of minimum airflow to effective volume is the challenge.  To achieve such a balance, a mechanism is required which disguises its great capability but performs in humility and moderation.  It develops strength but keeps it hidden.  Successful boxers use this technique by baiting their opponents for many rounds.  When their opponents eventually expend their energy, the winning boxer unleashes a torrent of powerful and incapacitating blows upon the unsuspecting opponent.  Playing the trumpet is not that dissimilar.  The first time I  saw a trumpeter use this methodology, was when I witnessed Miles Davis play for the first time.  Miles, in all of his boxing glory, breathed like a professional athlete.  He studied boxing all his life and was adept at throwing a punch.  Among other things he understood boxing strategy.  His approach was not unlike that of an accomplished chess player.  There was more going on in Miles' mind than the eye could see.  (I am smelling the wonderful aroma of a scented candle that smells like a live Christmas tree)  For several decades I have had absolutely no Christmas spirit.  Never during the weeks prior to Christmas did I ever feel a tinge of  holiday spirit.  When I grew up Christmas was a remarkable season, because its celebration at St. John's was vivid, enthusiastic, and spiritual.  The whole world was transformed for a brief time at the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, the baby of the Virgin Mary.  Two decades ago a war began on Christianity in America.  Headlines began appearing in major magazines questioning God, Creationism, and Heaven and Hell.  I will never forget the day Time magazine published such a cover.  What once was a respected and authoritative publication sold out.  So had the rest of American establishment.  Twenty years later we are reaping the punishment of this atheist bent.  To be a great trumpeter one must train for a lengthy time building musculature, endurance, and acquiring musical taste.  When that machine is built, it is run in low gear and its power harnessed in moderation.  Understanding this required mechanism, a substantial foundation upon which art can be made is produced.  With no foundation there will be no art.  This applies to life in all situations.  With no Constitution there will be no great nation.  With no laws and their subsequent justice, there will be no honesty.  With no scientific data there will be no vaccines.  The humanities, of which the ancient Greeks devised, are the building blocks for human existence.  They are the aesthetics necessary for enlightened living, and yet a group of America traitors has perpetrated a modern assault on this.  It has been a mystery since February how and why our current president forfeited an effective response to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Since then we have witnessed the most perplexing and confusing political coup in recent history.  Absolute chaos has ensued in America culminating in seventeen states filing a lawsuit to overturn the results of the presidential election of 2020.  Although notable, legal, and irrefutable milestones have passed, a group of Republican henchmen continue to sew anarchy in America.  Their behavior, seventeen Attorneys General, Republican operatives, and the President have proven their own monetary self interests are more important than dying Americans.  This action in and of itself summarizes the plethora of events which have transpired in the last year, the year of the presidential election.  Instead of trying to understand this irrational and dangerous behavior, it is easier to understand who they are and what they are doing.  The reason why Donald Trump spurned an effective Corona virus response, was because he is involved in the attempted subjugation of America.  All of the politicians supporting President Trump are co-conspirators.  It is difficult to understand, because most Americans want to believe our elected leaders are moral, ethical, Christian men and women.  Surprise.  They aren't.  The proliferation of Coronavirus is purposeful.  It is not an accident.  It is not a fumbled response.  It is not being driven by chance.  It was a premeditated political strategy meant to reelect Donald Trump and continue to empower Republicans.  One only has to look at the evidence.  A pathogen has been created which covertly and effectively kills people with preexisting medical conditions. The weak.  The disenfranchised. In God's eyes, the meek.  "The meek shall inherit the earth," but that only can be believed if Christianity lives.  This coup, this attempted covert political overthrow, has been in play for twenty years.  Donald Trump has studied communist fascist principles.  He has studied authoritarian methodology.  He was planned and mounted this attack on the sensibilities of America.  It is the only viable explanation why Republicans are so brainwashed to do his will.  It is uncanny their loyalty, but it is more understandable if we see this context.  2020 was a demonstrative example, irrefutable evidence that this body of Republican conspirators attacked America through her legal, political, and governmental processes.  This full frontal assault began with Dick Cheney redefining the role of the Vice President and coercing Supreme Court Justices to support his extreme Middle East agenda.  The Corona Virus was no accident, and Donald Trump's bungled response was no accident.  It was premeditated.  It is what was intended by Republicans.  They meant to kill Americans and reelect this president.  They still are killing Americans, and ironically they still desperately are trying to overthrow the American government.  It is fortunate that several centuries of academic prowess, policy, and statesmanship have formed the foundations upon which America was built.  We are witnessing in real time the unfolding of their virtue striking down a malevolent band of murderous thieves disguised as leaders.  It is a criminal enterprise, and it is in the best interest of America to strike a  blow to its ankles hobbling it for eternity.  As the legal community, courts, judges, and attorneys chuckle at its insipid effort, instead they should begin to understand 2020 was an integrated premeditated assault on America.  The casualty rate is is in the millions. 

Llife in 'Nam

Merry Christmas.  I am watching Conan, the Barbarian to tinnitus.  There has been a spike in Covid cases in Cumberland Country.  Could it be the guns raging at the post?  Several days ago the explosions were so strong, the house shook.  The marines are gone, but recent activity has been reinforced by political maneuvering.  Our president continues to spread false information, rally a future rebellion, and plot the overthrow of America.  I am convinced our infectious disease specialist is a closet Nazi who planned, financed, and engineered the development of Covid 19, and then unleashed it on the world.  That is far fetched but plausible.  I am reluctant to say it, but I think it is true.  Who is in a better position to profit from a global pandemic?  It would seem David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler have done such a thing with insider trading.  Covid was no accident, two men were murdered at a training range at Fort Bragg, and a soldiers head was found decapitated on the outer banks.  Such crimes are indicative of extremist behavior both in the Middle East and in Mexico at the behest of large drug cartels.  The Fayetteville Observer reported that the two men at Fort Bragg, a specialist and an army veteran were involved in illicit or criminal behavior.  They were found in a remote training area dead.  What were they doing at such a location?  A drug transaction perhaps?  Purchasing of guns?  Sexual deviance?  So many dead soldiers including helicopter crashes, sunken amphibious vehicles, and foul play.  One would think our well trained fighting forces are a bit vulnerable.  It's creepy, but beheading is not that uncommon.  Now we have a vaccine.  Joe Biden has it under control, but Donald Trump will remain a problem for years to come.  State prosecutors should indict him with prejudice for the pain and suffering he has caused America.  I don't feel much like writing anything.  I made a delicious chili for dinner.  Mom sat in the den in her leather recliner and read the paper with warm feet.  I cataloged my recent collection of vintage Christmas music.  It feels like death outside, as it often does in 'Nam.  A young man was killed on Plank Rd.  It is a tragedy a life cut short.  We cannot live in death.  Although is surrounds us, Fauci tells us not to celebrate the birth of Christ, not to shop in person, and shelter in place.  I believe Covid is real, but it is a tool of power and money.  There is a new Sheriff in town, and his name is Joe Biden.  All hell is breaking loose in the greatest attempt to undermine sanity, sew revolution in America, and inflict martial rule of the free world.  It is a trying time.  If any action could be considered helpful in the salvaging of America, it would be the electing of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.  This small political action in a giant peach would remove Mitch McConnell from his tyrannous reign of terror over our lives.  A preacher from Georgia with a steel trap mind, morals, and intelligence verses corrupt Republicans who have thrown Americans to the dogs.  Vote in Georgia, Democrat. 

Covid Cropdusting

 Personally I was elated to get past Thanksgiving, although according to our top infectious disease doctor at the CDC the surge has yet to expose itself.  Fine.  We are not in immediate danger in our household.  If there are irresponsible Trump supporters who do not heed constructive advice and endanger others in their own selfish pursuits, then they get what is coming to them.  Similarly our president deserves to get what is coming to him.  Endless days of the American President spewing lies, vitriol, and divisive rhetoric trying desperately to rally a violent protest of a fair, honest, and secure election.  This is what to which we are subject.  Garbage.  Garbage being thrown on us as soon as we wake.  Today was like that, the "jive" factor was off the map.  J-I-V-E with a capital "J."  Disingenuous.  Dishonest.  Evil.  That was what today was and why?  Because our sitting President is mad.  Crazy.  Mentally ill.  Compromised.  "The Madness of King George," an entertaining and informative movie about a ruling monarch who suffers a medical setback rendering him unable to lead.  America just seems to look the other way, as their cult leader blows shit our of his hole.  Today our Attorney General, William Barr, a staunch Trump yes man stated the Department of Justice could confirm there was no evidence of election fraud.  This is Trump's man, and for the first time since he was appointed resisted Donald Trump's intimidation.  If there was a correct assessment of the recent presidential election, then today it was confirmed.  The Attorney General of the United States, the top authority in law enforcement, specifically contradicted President's Trump erroneous claims that he won the election.  Enough all ready.  In spite of this proclamation by his own man, the day was rife with political vitriol.  Rudy Giuliani seems to be soliciting a pardon from the president before he is indicted of any crime.  Similarly Trump has been discussing pardons for his children, also before they have been indicted for any crimes.  This would indicate they are afraid.  Fox News now is suggesting that Trump pardon himself.  From what?  This is ludicrous, desperate, insane behavior smearing the United States Presidency forever.  The issue has become whether or not to pursue Mr. Trump after finally he exits the office of the president.  Joe Biden does not want to waste America's time with such a course of action at least on the federal level.  New York state attorneys may have a different idea.  The Presidency has shielded Donald Trump from prosecution, but whether he believes it or not, he and his family will walk out of our White House and back into reality.  The reality will be the stark, dangerous, and inevitable consequences of Covid 19.  I don't want to hear about vaccines, and yet they are the chosen topic of the day.  It has been reiterated time and time again, that if proper clinical trials are performed,a vaccine could not be ready before Spring.  On December 1st multiple companies are touting successful vaccines for the Coronavirus.  Who knows what to believe?  To what it boils down is a disconcerting discovery.  Covid 19 was a planned attack on the world.  It was no accident, and who will benefit?  The media said whichever company gets it right will be the new ruler of the world.  Playing with peoples lives?  We have gone back in times in Biblical proportions, and as I have predicted we are engulfed in an epic struggle for our on survival.  Ironically while President Trump had fast tracked the search for an effective vaccine, he is not being credited with its discovery.  I think the figure was three billion dollars all ready paid to Moderna, and yet there are multiple companies vying for FDA approval.  Who knows what to believe, and more importantly with a CDC doctor who owns the patents to many HIV drugs, it appears more and more reasonable Covid 19 was planned and implemented both for political and economic reasons.  This means that mass genocide has been inflicted upon the entire world.  With a Florida governor's continued refusal to implement Covid restrictions anywhere in the state, it would seem eradication of the elderly population is the goal.  Entitlements.  Strains on the federal economic system.  Social Security.  The Postal Service pension fund.  Food Stamps.  These are the things Donald Trump has wanted to abolish.  He wanted to build a wall on our Southwestern border to keep Mexicans out.  There was a Muslim ban.  Ethnic cleansing has been instigated through an engineered pathogen, and the question is who administered it and how?  Weird, low flying, suspicious planes have been flying over my house for the last four years and they are not crop dusting fertilizer or pesticides.  It is more likely they have been dropping Covid 19.