Pariah Nation

Used to be that the nations known as "pariahs" had tin pot despots running them.

You know,  Amin's Uganda, Qaddafi's Libya,  Duvalier's Haiti, Hussein's Iraq, Marco's Philippines, Assad's Syria, and North Korea under whomever.

All of these places were/are characterized by wide spread corruption, disregard for human rights and the rule of law, brutality towards anyone who appeared to challenge them, kleptocracy, plutocracy, and, of course, rampant nepotism by the ruling families.

Any of that sound familiar?

There was a time when we sneered at despots, decried their awful deeds, and by example tried to lead the civilized world.

Hahaha. That was then, this is now.

We, the good ol' US, are now officially a pariah nation.

Let's go down the check list:

Ignore Climate Change? You better believe it! As long as there's a drop of fossil fuel to be sold, Global Warming is just an "unproven theory".

Universal Health Care? Na. Too hard. Too complicated. Too, uh, "socialist".

Religious persecution? Yep. Certainly if you're a Jew or a Muslim or a non-believer. Those swastikas don't spray paint themselves!

Kleptocracy?  All of those proposed tax cuts for the rich? Selling off public lands to the highest bidders? The Republicans would take the pennies off a dead man's eyes and replace them with vouchers.

Oligarchy? Have you seen Der Trump's appointments? A rainbow coalition of rich, white, mostly males, with dollar signs where their consciences should be.

Rampant nepotism? Are you kidding? It's only a measure of how little Der Trump cares for Tiffany that she isn't at least a trusted advisor, perhaps even a cabinet member by now.

Admire, and even buddy up to, the scum of the earth? Our Piece of Shit in Chief is overly fond of other Pieces of Shit, like the Philippines' Duterte, who is nothing more or less than a psychopathic murderer. Then there's Der Trump's bromances with the likes of Putin, Sisi, Erdogan, and the entire House of Saud. Assholes always seek out other assholes. It's a law of nature.

To be fair, so far the Trump administration hasn't jailed or murdered any journalists or dissidents.

So far...

Signor Music's Favorite Rock Guitarists Of All-Time!!!!

Because we are all sick to death of politics and worrying about just how awful the next few months and years will be, (hint: pretty fucking awful--unless you're a rich, white male), herein follows my highly subjective list of favorite rock guitarists:

1. Jimi Hendrix

2. Bill Nelson

3. Pete Townshend

4. Mick Ronson

5. Prince

6. Neil Young

And then in no particular order: Joe Walsh, Jeff Beck, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Mike Campbell, Brian May, Billy Gibbons, Tom Verlaine, Paul McCartney, Mick Jones (Clash), Martin Barre, the Edge, Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, Phil Manzanera, David Hidalgo, Nils Lofgren, John Lennon, Dave Davies, Ron Wood, Richard Thompson, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, Robin Trower, Lindsay Buckingham, and Bruce Springsteen.

(I have to admit here that I haven't really liked Eric Clapton much since Cream, and, despite his obvious virtuosity, I never liked Jimmy Page much at all. The same applies to Eddie Van Halen.)

And, of course, we can't forget Chuck Berry, because quite simply there wouldn't be rock and roll without him.

Today's Post Is Brought To You By The Letter "T"

T is for Taken

T is for Tension

T is for Tawdry

T is for Turmoil

T is for Terrible

T is for Treachery

T is for Tool

T is for Tragedy

T is for Terror

T is for Treason

T is for Traitor

T is for Turd

T is for Trump

Stream Of Unconsciousness

The bad acid trip that is the so called Trump "Presidency" continues...

There was (and perhaps is, my subscription to Obituaries Daily having lapsed) a comedian named Professor Irwin Corey.

He spoke highly educated, or at least seemingly highly educated, nonsense.

It was entertaining. But it was also complete nonsense.

Of course, Corey knew he was speaking nonsensical double talk.

And that's what makes him, dead or alive, more qualified to be President of the United States than Donald J. Trump.

It's really something to have a blithering imbecile leading the most powerful nation on the face of the earth.

At least for the time being.

When the indictments start coming, and come they will, Trump may find that he can't incoherently tweet his way out of them.

There will then be a desperate search for multiple fall guys...because nothing is ever DonDon's fault.

However, since there is very little honor amongst thieves, after that fails, perhaps a nice long stay in a federal prison is in order for some of the Trump family. And RICO all of their assets.

Until that glorious day comes, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the daily psychedelic word salad tweets that make Sarah Palin sound almost sane.

And hope that they've hidden the nuclear football from Der Trump.

Nothing Is Ever Donald J. Trump's Fault

It is an amazing thing to reach the age of 70 without ever making a mistake.

All those bankruptcies? Other guys' fault.

The various marriages? Bitches be crazy.

Mob ties? Russian ties? Russian Mob ties? Other dubious foreign loans? Money laundering on an epic scale? Hey, that's just business, and no one is better at business than Donald J. Trump.

The most incompetent Presidency in modern times? Don't blame DonDon. It's just the wicked "fake news" media spreading lies to undermine a great man. The truth is that everything is great! 

Subvert the Constitution? Hire completely unqualified people for highly sensitive positions? Fire the man investigating you? Hey, if the President does it, it's not illegal. Nixon said that, and by golly that's good enough for Donald J. Trump. He is the President, after all.

To have lived all those years without ever having to be responsible for your actions must be wonderful.

Now, of course, somebody always has to pay for jaw dropping incompetence, sleaziness, crookedness, and outright thievery.

But it ain't Donald J. Trump!

Poor People Don't Deserve Anything

It is by now patently obvious that that is the motto of the modern Republican Party.

(They're all good Christians, by the way. Just ask 'em!)

And not just a motto, an operating principle.

(They're all good Christians, by the way. Just ask 'em!)

No subsidies for takers! Health care, after all, is only for people who can afford it.

Good schools, too. Honestly, if you don't care enough about your children to make a lot of money to support them, well, why should the state care about them? Tell you what, we'll give you vouchers for private school. What more could you ask for? Oh, by the way, the vouchers will only cover a fraction of the cost of a private school, while diverting money from public schools, but beggars can't be choosers.

And if you want clean air and clean water, well, move somewhere with clean air and clean water.

Or be prepared to pay for it, you fucking cheapskate.

Tired of the cops hassling you and yours? Make some money, move to a better neighborhood, and maybe the cops will overlook your skin color...Just kidding! That'll never happen.

So stop your pathetic whining, get with the program, and enjoy living in the best country there ever was or ever could be.

(They're all good Christians, by the way. Just ask 'em!)

Those Poor, Unappreciated, Needy Billionaires

Why do some billionaires, who have self-evidently benefited from our system to an extreme, want to destroy our system?

This is a puzzling question, to me at least.

Take the Koch brothers (please).

They are each worth upward of 50 billion dollars. Think about that for a second. 50 billion is 50 thousand million. If they never made another penny, they could each spend a million dollars a day for 137 years.

They achieved some of this wealth from inheritance, of course, but the vast majority of it they have "earned" under our system of government, including our economic system, and our taxation system.

Unfortunately, 50 billion apiece just isn't enough. In some way they still feel cheated. Poor things. They think they are overtaxed and over regulated, and that they would've done much better in the imaginary, libertarian, no-holds-barred, free market paradise that they dream of. 

So they've decided to buy up every politician they can to make sure that in the future they get a "fair" shake.

Perhaps by doing away with pesky things like clean air and water laws, OSHA, the EPA, unions, the minimum wage, and estate taxes.

Of course, contrary to 37 years of Republican economic policy, the more that flows to the top .1% the less there is for everyone else.

What pleasure do they, and their ilk, get from taking things away from poorer people? It must be intense, perhaps even sexual in nature.