"Mar a Largo may be the biggest dead-drop in the history of espionage."

I find Beau's struggle to maintain calm restraint in this video even more telling than the ones in which he appears openly a little irritated. Clearly, he'd like to start screaming and breaking things.

But that line about Mar-a-Largo is priceless.

The Double-Ear-Worm.

My latest earworm is Herman's Hermits, "No Milk Today," but with a twist. There's a five-note phrase in the song which is identical to one in Chicago's "Saturday in the Park," and whenever my brain starts singing the first, it switches to the second when it reaches that point.

Not the first time this has happened (there are, after all, only so many notes to go around), but now I can't think of one without thinking of the other.

-- Mal

Unpack the Court, end the filibuster.

It doesn't take a genius to see that these are the two short-term tactics Congress could take to stop the rising tide of reactionary totalitarianism. But there is a problem: the Democrats do not have a reliable majority in the Senate to take such actions.

The argument "if we do it to them, then they will do it to us" is specious. They could always have done it to us, they just have not found it necessary. Before you say "Aha, then it is foolish of us to make it necessary," you should remember that they're already getting their way in all things, so letting them continue to get their way without a struggle is equally foolish.

Perhaps it would be well if the Democrats could grasp the slender power they now have, and make things so much better thereby that the voters will endorse them in future elections, rather than reject them as impotent.

-- Mal

"A pregnant woman has no rights the country is bound to respect."

Once the States get around to criminalizing abortion (and miscarriage, and all the rest), we will be faced with a Constitutional and jurisdictional crisis that will put the Fugitive Slave Laws to shame. The shade of Mr Justice Taney speaks above, from Dred Scott, if you didn't learn that in school.

And if the radicals get their way, make no mistake, we might as well just strike the "pregnant" from that statement.

-- Mal

To hell with Lysistrata.

Women who live in states that criminalize their reproductive rights should just move out. We should set up a fund to help all those who seek asylum from their own State governments.

-- Mal

The "My Pillow" guy is really appropriate for today's politics...

... since getting Congress to act on some things is like punching a pillow.

-- Mal

Thank you for the hearts.

It's nice to be loved.

-- Mal

"Pet Sounds" redux

... now, Brian will tell you that there is no theme connecting all the cuts on the album into a story, that it was just exercises in sonic variations -- his "Pet" sounds. So my interpretation does not have the seal of approval.

But, if you listen to the cuts in order, you come up with a story of the life and death of a relationship, with the guy going through "all kinds of changes" and then complaining that Caroline is not the girl he loved anymore. (Interestingly, "She's Not the Little Girl I Once Knew" was also recorded during these sessions, but not included on the album -- but it's kinship with "Caroline, No" thematically, if not sonically, is clear). I came away with the conclusion that the answer to the questions he asks in "Caroline, No" boil down to: you, bro.

Over the course of the album, the guy leaves his girl twice (she forgives him both times), tells her to shut up, he doesn't care about her feelings ("Don't Talk, Put Your Head on My Shoulder" ), virtually accuses her of being a slut ("Here Today" ), and ends by complaining that *she's* changed. It may be unintentional, but the album tells a story... and a pretty depressing one.

Which doesn't make me love it any less -- on the short list for GOAT.

-- Mal

Intersting little speculation from Beau about the text messages...

Please raise a glass to my late friend Jeff.

Filled with whatever poison you imbibe to remember your friends. He was a great character, and deserves to be floated to Valhalla on an ocean of booze (or, you know, apple juice).

Caught Covid in the nursing home, apparently aggravated by receiving the booster (how they didn't know he had covid before that point, who knows?). He had respiratory problems anyway, not to mention a catalogue of other physical problems (truth be told, he should have been dead already, but he was too stubborn to die). It got quite messy there at the end, with the medical staff trying to save him while he suffered most of the torments of the damned. They finally asked his family if they should continue or pull the plug, and they chose mercy. (He was already mostly incoherent from Altzheimer's anyway, so his opinion was apparently not solicited)

I loved the guy like a brother (well, we called each other adoptive brothers). He was a charming rat-bastard, and the two are not mutually exclusive (perhaps you know a few yourself). Then the dementia hit, hard and fast. Two months in the nursing home, and that was all she wrote. Life sucks, and death sucks worse. That's a crappy eulogy, but maybe I can do better later.

-- Mal