With each passing day we are witnessing the full extend of Trump’s madness – which 70,000 Psychaitrist and psychologists have been telling us about in their statement:”Duty to Warn.” Symptoms of the “Malignant Narcissism” and “Paranoia” the doctors diagnosed in the personality of Daffy Donald is everywhere on display! As the myriad dirty deeds Devious Donald did in the dark come to light, we see the extent of the danger he represents to our country. Over the week end for instance, Donnie Dimwit, a twittering Twit, tweeted 75 times! One does not have to be a trained head doctor to see that this is the graffiti of a very dangerous mad man!
It is worth getting a Twitter account in order to follow the growing madness of this man who has possession of the US nuclear codes. In case you don’t understand what this means, all you really need to know is: There is nothing to restrain the Mango Mussolini from launching a nuclear war which would destroy the world but the refusal of the head of Strategic Command to refuse to act on his his orders. Since such a refusal would subject the Commander to a charge of Treason, we cannot count on a trained military automaton to refuse Trump’s command: This is the shocking state of the human condition as I write!
One of the things that has intrigued me for decades is that the average citizen does not want to know how easily our planet can be destroyed by nuclear weapons. Yet it is an indisputable truth that every city and town in the US can be reduced to piles of highly radio-active rubble a half hour from the time you are reading this essay. The most common response that I get from people when I tell them this dreadful fact is that since there is nothing they can do about it…. they would rather NOT THINK ABOUT IT!!!
I have always found this conspiracy of silence curious given the survival of our species is at stake; although I confess it is a difficult truth to live with. But I had no choice in the matter. Having been stationed on a nuclear strike base in the Strategic Air Command at the height of the Cold War, when I was a teenage college dropout, the full knowledge of these terrible weapons was thrust upon me. I went from practicing “atomic bomb drills” in 1959, to being perched in the center of America’s nuclear strike force in 1960!
I had a TOP SECRET security clearance, which meant that I was privy to discussions about US Nuclear War Plans, which was the nuclear destruction of Soviet Russia.” I thought the end of the world was at hand during the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” when the US and Russia almost destroyed the world in a conflict over the little Caribbean island nation of Cuba! It made a lasting impression on me, and I have followed the development and deployment of nuclear weapons ever since.
That’s why I understand that things, on an average day, are more dangerous now. There are far more missiles and they are now on line! And there are A MILLION AND A HALF ATTEMPTS A DAY TO HACK INTO OUR COMMAND AND CONTROL COMPUTERS! Hence a Commander, if ordered by the President to fire a nuclear weapon may feel that there is no time to adequately check, and double check, to see if our nation is actually under attack.
Yet until we rise up and demand that OUR GOVERNMENT lead the world in a nuclear disarmament effort. It is altogether fitting and proper that this historic role should fall upon Americans, since the US government introduced nuclear weapons into the weaponry of the world, has the biggest arsenal, AND REMAINS THE ONLY NATION TO USE THEM IN WAR!
The reason that I am thinking about nuclear weapons just now is because the man in charge of this DOOMSDAY ARSENAL is becoming visibly UNHINGED!!! My fears are compounded by the fact that Trump’s illness “Malignant Narcissism and Paranoia” first enters the psychiatric literature when the distinguished German Psychoanalyst, Eric Fromm, developed a psychiatric profile of ADOLPH HITLER, under a contract from the American government during World War II. Dr. James McIntosh, one of the psychiatrist who signed the “DUTY TO WARN” statement, has written a comparative analysis of the psychology of Hitler and Dirty Donald for “Commentaries On The Times.” It is compelling…and frightening!
As a supreme egotist Trump, like Hitler, conflates the nation with himself. In this view, only what’s good for Dirty Donnie is good for the nation. As I write I am listening to Lawrence Tribe, Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard, who tutored both President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts about the Constitution, expressing deep anxiety and fear about what Trump is capable of when he is impeached!
Tribe points out that Trump is already practically calling for a Civil War to halt the impeachment process. He notes that Trump’s ego is such he may well be willing to try and bring the nation down with him! This is what troubles me most, because when Hitler came to realized that he was losing the war, and therefore his power, he wanted to destroy the German people, who he felt was unworthy of a GREAT LEADER such as he!
That’s why Hitler refused to surrender and save Germany from total destruction even after he realized that the war was lost! Who knows WTF Dangerous Delude Donald Will do! WHAT WE SHOULD DO IS ANOTHER MATTER! THE FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO IS CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION – HOUSE AND SENATE – AND DEMAND THAT THEY PASS THE LIEU-MARKEY BILL! THIS WOULD RESTRAIN THE PRESIDENT FROM ORDERING A NUCLEAR STRIKE WITHOUT CONSULTING CONGRESS!!!!!!! NOW HOP TO IT…YOU LIFE AND THE LIFE OF OUR PLANET IS AT STAKE!!!
NOTE – See The paper linked below:” ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HITLER AND TRUMP” at, https://commentariesonthetimes.me/…/on-the-psychology-of-h…/
Posted in Uncategorized on September 29, 2019 by playthell
Devious Donald ” The Moscow Candidate” and his Handler
Kick Dirty Donald’s Corrupt Cakes to the Curb!
Like the wise seasoned political pro and master strategist that she is, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has orchestrated the impeachment process to remove Dastardly Don from office like a grand Maestro conducting a complex symphony of many movements. Politically astute voters and pundits committed to preserving constitutional democracy in America, this writer prominently among them, have been calling for Dirty Donnie’s impeachment for a while now. We thought it was time to kick him to the curb when he repeatedly violated his oath to “defend the Constitution,” and enforce the laws of the land.
Devious Donald’s cavaleir disregard for law and established custom, when he began violating the Emoluments clause prohibiting US presidents from accepting payments from foreign governments through his various businesses; refusing to take measures to defend the US electoral system against Russian cyber attacks; obstructing justice by firing Jim Comey, and using his bully pulpit to repeatedly attack the American press as “Enemies of the people” for carrying out their constitutionally mandated duty to serve as the people’s watch dog over those we elect to positions of power.
Thomas Jefferson, arguably the most thoughtful of the Founding Fathers, warned that “a democracy cannot work with an ignorant electorate.” Hence he viewed creating an informed citizenry to be at the heart of their project of building a functional constitutional republic of self-governing people that could stand the test of time. Tis belief no doubt inspired Jefferson’s declaration that, if given a choice between “a free press and no government, or a government and no free press,” He would choose “A free press and no government!” Nothing so dramatically exposes how far Dirty Donald has wandered from the spirit of governance envisioned by the architects of the American Republic as his assault on our free press.
These are times that conjure up Benjamin Fraknlin’s statement upon the drafting of the US Constitution in Philadelphia, his home town, in the hot dog’s days of August 1787: “Gentleman you have got yourselves a republic…if you can keep it.” Trump’s scurrilous and unconstitutional attack against our free press – a fundamental pillar of American democracy would have been odious in any case, but to call them enemies while repeatedly praising Vladimir Putin, whom all 17 US intelligence agencies say ordered the subversion of our election to help Dirty Don tha Con become president, is treasonous!
And Trump has been openly accused of Treason by former Governor Weld, and the other pretenders to the Republican presidency. The simple fact that the heads of US intelligence agencies all say that they have never been tasked with either developing an assessment of the extent to which Russian interference determined the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, nor to develop a plan to counteract such Russian interference in the future, provides ample grounds for the charge of treason.
It does not require a deep knowledge of US Constitutional law to recognize treason when we see it. Treason is clearly defined in the Constitution as “giving aid and comfort to an enemy with whom the nation is at war.” All one need understand is the President is first and foremost our Commander-In-Chief, entrusted with the responsibility of defending this nation against foreign enemies, and Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States has failed to do this. The only possible refutation to the verdict of treason is to argue that Cyber-Warfare is not really war.
I would argue that such a position is the acme of absurdities! Cyber-warfare is an extension of the technological arsenal in the war making arsenal of nations. And it is no exaggeration to say that Cyber-attacks are rapidly becoming the most powerful of our weapons; given the diverse capabilities to inflict harm on the enemy it provides. Alas, cyber-warfare can not only subvert elections, it can jam communications systems, bring down electrical grids, freeze banking functions, and threatens to break into nuclear weapons system and fire the nuclear nuclear weapons of another nation.
Indeed, Cyber-Warfare is not only real war, it is rapidly becoming the most dangerous form of war! And Devious Donald, our commander-In-Chief, has not only refused to defend the nation against Russian Cyber-War attack, but continues to deny that it even happened despite mountains of detailed evidence presented in the Mueller report, and has not only defended Putin, even publicly taking his word over his own intelligence agencies, but has met with him in private for over an hour with no American observers present in Oslo, and told Russian diplomats in the Oval Office after firing FBI Director Jame Comey, who was the chief investigator into the Russian affair, that their intrusion into our election was no biggie because the US does it too!
Despite the fact that Treasonous Trump’s statement was true: It is not the business of American president’s to give aid and comfort to an enemy who gas committed and act of war against the nation he is sworn to defend! This Scurrilous act is part of the reason why Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House of Representatives – upon whose shoulders the Constitution places the awesome weight of removing a duly elected American President from office – finally ordered the commencement of a formal impeachment inquiry.
The Speaker’s caution had begun to seem like inexplicbale foot dragging to those of us who feel the case for impeaching Don tha Con had long been made. The Specame around to empowering six committees in the House to conduct investigations to provide evidence for drafting Articles of Impeachment. Although she has been slow getting there – albeit wisely proceeding with caution – it is better LATE THAN NEVER!
Nancy Pelosi: Speaker of the House
Argueably the Most Effective Speaker Ever
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Witness Nancy Pelosi’s Evolution on the Impeachment Issue
ABC News Coverage of Speaker Pelosi’s Announcement of
The Euridite Blues philosopher Albert Murray observes in his seminal text “Stomping the Blues” that blues as music is the antidote to the blues as such. Hence far from being a sad lament of resignation in the face of life’s trials and tribulations, the Blues is a music that celebrates life. It’s sensibility is “the opposite of sack cloth and ashes. Indeed Blues musicians chase the blues away, “they stomp the blues!”
The essential lesson of the blues Professor Murray argues, is although “life may be a low down dirty shame we got to keep on swinging anyway.” Just keep on keepin own as the old colored folks used to say down home. Certainly this was true of the pioneering women in the blues tradition.
Although few in the audience may have known the troubles she had seen, when these ladies of the Blues took the stage they were powerful, often risque, triumphant Divas who were large and in charge on the bandstand; the opposite of a downtrodden helpless female. The themes of the songs they sang were varied and covered a wide rage of emotions and experience that capture the essence of the human condition in the modern world.
For instance, W. C. Handy’s iconic blues ballad “St. Louis Blues” is such an accurate mirror of the urban milieu in which he was living at the turn of the 20th century, that the distinguished Afro-American sociologist E. Franklin Fraizer refers to it in his analysis of the character of black life, culture and chances in their transition from rural southern to northern urban communities.
When Handy begins the St. Louis Blues with the lines “I hate to see that evening sun go down,” it was literally true, because he was homeless and sleeping in a park at the time! The claim that popular song is the “literature of the masses” is as valid for the blues as for the ballads of the great Trinidadian song poets of the Calypso tradition. Among it’s themes are magical conjurations, natural disasters and personal tragedies; most often expressed in their ordeals with men.
There are also comedic songs, the most clever of which is the double entendre songs which are often risque – such as “Handy Man” and “I’m Sellin my Porkchops but giving my gravy away,” marvelously performed by Alberta Hunter and Memphis Minnie linked to the bottom of this essay. They were wild women whose calling was to drive the blues away with their sassy songs which – as the Afro-American novelist, essayists and blues musician Ralph Ellison argues -confronted the unpleasant vicissitudes of life with “a tragi/comic sensibility.”
Female Blues singers were pioneers in the record industry as they were among the first Black singers and Blues artists who were recorded. They were also instrumental in popularizing the 12-bar Blues throughout the U.S. When they sang, they usually were accompanied either by pianists or small Jazz ensembles, which were generally males who worked for them. As employers of men, this made Blues Women pioneers pioneers in another important respect, for there were very few women who publicly bossed men around publicly as the head of an economic organization. Blues bands were not just artistic ensembles, they were also a business. Hence, blues women had to also be good businesswomen.
This required an independence of spirit, vision, self-confidence, and strenght of personality that was essential to success for any entreprenuer, but doubly so for a woman boss in a man’s world, and triple so as black women in a racist white mans world. As has been said of Ginger Rodgers, Fred Astaire’s dance partner: “She did every complicated step Fred did, but she did it dancing backward wearing high heels.”
For black women in the racist apartheid America of the early 20th century, it was like dancing backward, in high heels on one leg! This is why the Blues woman emerged as a heroes of the feminist movement; they were the kind of strong willed independent women successfully competing in a male dominated arena that has emerged as the feminist ideal.
This special is dedicated to these artistic Amazons who were the pioneers in the illustrious tradition of Black Blues Women, women who were willing to hang out all night in dives jammin with “The Cats” in order to master their art. In Victorian America, where the Blues was born, “respectable” women didn’t hang out in such places alone in the early evening; let alone the early morning. It was this rebel spirit that inspired the song “Wild Women Don’t Get The Blues.”
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (born in 1886, died in 1939), is known as “Mother of the Blues,” and is credited as the first to perform the Blues on stage as popular entertainment when she began incorporating the new music into her act of show songs and comedy around 1902.
Ma Rainey and Her Band
In her recording of “See See Rider,” a tale about a cheatin two timing man, we see the combination of vulnerability and strength that would define the Blues Woman’s dramatis persone:
“I’m goin’ away, baby, I won’t be back til fall Lord, Lord, Lord
Goin away, baby, I won’t be back till fall
If I find me a good man, won’t be back at all.
I’m gonna buy me a pistol, just as long as I am tall
I’m gonna buy me a pistol, just as long as I am tall, Lord, Lord, Lord
Shoot my man, catch a cannonball
If he won’t have me, he won’t have no gal at all.”
Ma Rainey’s music would inspire African American poets such as Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown. More recently, Alice Walker looked to Ma Rainey’s music as a cultural model of African American womanhood when she wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple.
Mamie Smith (born in 1891, died in 1946),was the first Black female vocalist to record the Blues. Titled “Crazy Blues,” the song was recorded in 1920 and sold over 75,000 copies. Smith became known as “America’s First Lady of the Blues”. In 1920, the vaudeville singer, Lucille Hegamin, who was born in 1894 and died in 1970, became the second black woman to record the Blues when she recorded, “The Jazz Me Blues”.
Mamie Smith
Bessie Smith
But the most popular of the classic Blues singers was Tennessee-born Bessie Smith (no relation to Mamie Smith), who was born in 1894 and died in 1937. She first recorded in 1923 and became known as the “Empress of the Blues”. She signed with Columbia Records and became the highest-paid Black artist of the 1920s, a fertile period for Afro-American musical innovation, recording over 160 songs.
Alberta Hunter (born in 1895, died in 1984), attained recognition in 1923 when her original song “Downhearted Blues” was recorded by Bessie Smith. In 1926, she replaced Smith in the leading role of How Come? on Broadway. Hunter toured extensively for the USO during World War II and again during the Korean War. After World War II, she performed in England, toured Canada, and played long residences in Chicago. She retired from active performing in 1954. Amazingly, she worked for 20 years as a nurse then came back to recording and performing in her eighties.
Ida Cox (born in 1896, died in 1967), was a vaudeville performer and a pioneering Blues singer who, along with Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith, founded the Female Blues genre which was an early form of Blues music popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional Folk Blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as Vaudeville blues. A savvy businesswoman, Cox served as her own manager and producer, and enjoyed a lucrative career. Marion Harris (born in 1896, died in 1944), became one of the first white female singers to record the Blues. She also appeared in a few movies.
Ethel Waters (born in 1896 or 1900, died in 1977) was a singer and an actress. At the age of 17, billing herself as “Sweet Mama Stringbean,” Waters was singing professionally in Baltimore, Maryland. It was there that she became the first woman to sing the W.C. Handy classic “St. Louis Blues” – a composition which introduced the Blue Note into western musical literature – on the stage. After roles in Broadway revues and musicals, in 1933, Waters appeared in Irving Berlin’s musical, As Thousands Cheer, her first departure from shows with all-black casts. Her rendition of “Heat Wave” in that show linked the song permanently to her. Considered one of the great Blues singers, Waters also performed and recorded with such Jazz greats as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Two of her other signature songs are “Dinah” and “Stormy Weather “.
Alberta Hunter
Ida Cox
Memphis Minnie was born in 1897 and died in 1973. Female Blues singers seldom recorded as guitar players and female guitar players (such as Rosetta Tharpe and Sister O.M. Terrell) were seldom recorded playing Blues. Excluding contemporary artists, the most notable exception to this pattern was Memphis Minnie. She was the most popular and prolific blueswoman outside the vaudeville tradition who earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the Blues artists she worked with throughout her long career. She recorded for Columbia, Vocalion, Bluebird, OKeh, Regal, Checker, and JOB. Her best work consisted of deep Blues like “Moaning The Blues”.
Sippie Wallace (born in 1898, died in 1986), carried on the tradition of Texas-styled Blues that emphasized risqué lyrics and rough-cut, rural vocal phrasing rather than the sophisticated accents of the era’s more cosmopolitan Blues singers. Wallace’s first recorded songs, “Shorty George” and “Up The Country Blues,” sold well enough to make Wallace a Blues star in the early 1920s.
Koko Taylor (born in 1928, died 2009) became known as the “Queen of the Blues.” She was known primarily for her rough and powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings. In the late 1950s, she began singing in Chicago Blues clubs and was spotted by the great Blues composer Willie Dixon in 1962, leading to larger venues and her first recording contract. In 1965, Taylor was signed by Chicagos’ Chess Records, the premiere lable for Blues music, for which her single, Wang Dang Doodle (written by Dixon, and a hit for Howlin’ Wolf five years earlier) became a major hit, reaching number four on the R&B chart in 1966 and selling a million copies. After her recovery from a near-fatal car crash in 1989, the 1990s found Taylor in movies such as Blues Brothers 2000.
Memphis Minnie
She Was Also an Accomplished Gituarist
Sippi Wallace
Koko Taylor
It must be noted that Katie Crippen, Edith Wilson, and Esther Bigeou, among others, made their first recordings before the end of 1921. These Blues recordings were typically labeled as “race records” to distinguish them from records sold to white audiences. Nonetheless, the recordings of some of the classic female Blues singers were purchased by white buyers as well. As has been the case with all genres of Afro-American music from Ragtime to Hip Hop, for black music has been the sound track for the American saga. “America as she is swung” as the brilliant blues philospher Albert Murray put it.
Other classic Blues singers, such as Clara Smith, and Sara Martin, who recorded extensively until the end of the 1920s These early Blues singers were an influence on later singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Janis Joplin. These Blues women’s contributions to the genre included “increased improvisation on melodic lines, unusual phrasing which altered the emphasis and impact of the lyrics, and vocal dramatics using shouts, groans, moans, and wails. The Blues women thus effected changes in other types of popular singing that had spin-offs in Jazz, Broadway musicals, torch songs of the 1930s and 1940s, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, and eventually Rock and Roll.”
At the end of the day an argument could be made for several of today’s top wideouts. Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr., Deandre Hopkins, Michael Thomas are all great. Yet If I were the General Manager of an NFL team, I would run not walk past all these names to sign who I believe to be the best receiver in the NFL, Julio Jones!
As a physical specimen Julio is a freak of nature. Like the Six Million Dollar Man he is “Bigger, Stronger, Faster.” At 6’4” 220 lbs. he dwarfs the competition. Antonio Brown 5’10” 185lbs.; Odell Beckham Jr. 5’11” 198; Michael Thomas 6’1” 212lbs. DeAndre Hopkins 6’1” 212lbs. What’s even more amazing is that Julio is actually the fastest of the group running the 40 yd. dash at 4.31 while Brown runs a 4.47, Odell a 4.41, Thomas a 4.58 and Hopkins a 4.41.
Julio Jones reached the 10,000 receiving yards milestone in just in just 107 games; faster than any receiver in the history of the game. But since each of our contenders vary in the number of years they have been in the league, it would be more useful to compare their per game averages. Julio leads the pack in both number of receptions per game and receiving yards per game. With respect to touchdowns per game Julio averaging .5 per game does lag behind both Odell with .7 per game and Antonio with .6 per game, but Julio has a greater percentage of catches per target both in and out of the end zone. Julio has more 250+ yard games than any of his contemporaries and is the only one them that has ever gone for over 300 yards (vs. .he Panthers on just 12 receptions).
Beyond his statistical dominance Julio is the perfect teammate. The only stories you ever hear about Julio have to do with his dominance on the field. While Antonio Brown has been making headlines from “helmet-gate”, to altercations with his G.M. resulting in his release from Oakland, and now rape allegations which are taking away from his new team – the World Champion Patriots – early dominance; Julio Jones, during a contract re-negotiation, quietly went about his business at camp, preparing for the new season. When asked he said he never considered a holdout as he felt it was important to be in in camp so he could continue to mentor his young University of Alabama protégé Calvin Ridley – which displays both maturity and generosity of spirit. On the field he brings it every game. If the defense double teams him, creating opportunities for his teammates and the team wins, he feels he’s done his part and praises his teammates accomplishments.
A Real Mellow Fellow
He is all about the team!
I began by saying there could be a case could be made for a number of other wide receivers in the league, but as I consider my arguments for Julio Jones, it’s simply not true. Julio Jones is the best wide receiver in the game period! And by the end of his career might just be the best ever.
On Treasonous Trump, the Congress and the Israel Lobby
Alas, just when we think Dirty Donald’s perfidies have peaked, he commits some other dastardly deed. Unfazed by the charges of treason leveled by some Americans due to his curious subservience to Vladimir Putin, Trump is again engaging in behavior that many Americans, this writer first among them, view as treasonous.
Among his many transgressions are: taking Putin’s word about his interfering in our presidential election over the unanimous conclusions of America’s 17 intelligence agencies; obstructing efforts to investigate the extent of his campaign’s cooperation in the Russian subversion; meeting privately with Putin for over an hour with no Americans present and emerging to confirm that he still believed Putin over American intelligence. Added to these is Trump’s refusal to task US intelligence agencies to devise a plan to prevent Russian interference in our electoral process, although US intelligence and Robert Mueller say it is ongoing as I write.
It has been an article of faith among Democrats and Republicans, that all domestic political disagreements “end at the water’s edge:” Which is to say that when our political leaders deal with foreign governments, friend or foe, they present a United Front. Not only has Dastardly Don waged war against his own intelligence agencies – who are tasked with defining the nation’s friends and enemies for US presidents – Trump has now joined forces with the corrupt leader of a foreign government in an attack on members of the US Congress!
In a shocking scurrilous sinister action, Trump called upon Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and gave him a green light to block a visit to Israel by Democratic Congresswomen Ilan Omar and Rahshida Talib to investigate the condition of Palestinians who are forced to live under the illegal Israeli military occupation on the West Bank. the twitterting twit in the White House isued the following statement to the Israeli Government regarding his fellow American members of Congress:
“It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!”
9:57 AM – Aug 15, 2019
Again during his brief venture into presidential politics Treasonous Trump sought the aid of a foreign government to achieve his agenda! Crooked Bibi, at the invitation of his partner in crime Dirty Donald, has the unmitigated gall to pull this dreck – which would be scandalous in any case – even though Congresswoman Talib, a Palestinian American, has family still living under the Israeli occupation.
This is yet another count in the growing Bill of Impeachment against Don tha Con. However within 24 hours and a hail of criticism, the Israeli government reversed it’s ruling on Ms. Talib, agreeing to allow her to enter the country on “humanitarian grounds.” But, after the Congresswoman studied the terms set by the Israeli’s she cancelled her visit, saying she was being treated like “a criminal.”
Even more potent was the critique issued by Ms. Talib’s family, in which they made it clear that they did not want her to accept the humiliating terms imposed by the Israeli government. Ironically, by banning the Congresswoman in a brazen attempt to muzzle her, this statement is being given much more ink and air time than it would ever have gotten had the Israeli’s treated the visit of Talib and Omar – who remained banned – as a routine affair. Instead they have focused world attention squarely on the plight of the beleagured and dispossessed Palestinian people; it is a scurrilous scene that cannot stand light of objective impartial scrutiny.
The actions of the accidental American President, who behaves like Putin’s pussy, are so outrageous in this instance that it not only offends Democrats and the renegade Republican intellectuals, but has even sparked a disavowal of Donnie Dimwit’s decision from AIPAC – one of the most influential political PACs in the powerful pro-Israel lobby.
In a grudging mealy mouth statement issued only hours after Donnie’s admonition to Bibi, and the Israeli Prime Minister quickly acting to ban the Congresswomen because of their “boycott activities against Israel,” AIPAC announced: “We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution… We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand.”
Many other Jewish organizations and elected officials denounced the Israeli government’s decision to bar entry to the Congresswomen. The full range of their response is beyond the scope of this commentary; hence a broader examination of that response will have to await a future commentary.
Perhaps, unlike Dizzy Donnie, these political pros recognize the inconvenient fact that the Democrats control the House and the annual Israeli entitlement of several billion dollars must pass the House before it can even get to the Republican controlled Senate, let alone the president’s desk. Hence while Dumb Donald may disparage the power of the US House of Representatives, professional lobbyists understand they are a co-equal branch of government; which is the first to be mentioned in the US Constitution, because the House is the most democratic branch due to the proportional method by which it’s members are selected and they must stand for reelection every two years. Whereas the President is elected for a four year term, the Senators for six, and Federal Judges for life!
In this time of great uncertainty, there is on thing that I am absolutely sure of: even if Devious Donald Trump were forced to leave office tomorrow, he will have thrown the American democratic system in disarray and greatly diminished the US presidency in the eyes of Americans and the world. Such has been the transgressions of this amoral, ignorant, incompetent, lying, buffoon whose unorthodox journey to the Oval Office was greatly aided and abetted by 156 million propaganda messages beamed into the brains of Americans by agents of Russian military intelligence.
Putin hated Hillary because of her anti-Russian perspective forged in the fires of Cold War, and needed a puppet to do his bidding. Alas, the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report has documented many instances where Trump and his charges welcomed Russian help. Now here we go again, as Don tha Con colludes with his buddy Bibi and shamelessly panders to the fanatical, anti-Jewish, “Christian Zionist” Evangelical vote that comprise his base!
Listening to the reactions of my fellow citizens to the testimony of Robert Mueller, a life-long public servant and genuine America hero who recently served as a Special Prosecutor, I am by turns elated, frustrated, amused, angered, and disgusted. Having completed an investigation into Russian interference into our presidential election with the objective of helping Donald Trump get elected over Hillary Clinton, sow discord among the American populace, and finding out the extent to which the Trump campaign engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” with the Russians to secure a Trump victory and efforts by the Trump administration to illegally cover up their deeds from the Special Prosecutor, people all over the world were anxious to hear what Mueller had to say. His testimony was greeted with hostility, disappointment and some delight.
After much resistance Mr. Mueller finally appeared before the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives to give an account of the product produced by his multi-million dollar investigation. Although he had warned the Committee “My testimony is in the written report,” and cautioned that he would not venture beyond the boundaries of the report, the Committee insisted that he appear anyway. Mueller’s appearance before Congress to be interrogated by skilled politicians, many of them lawyers, conjured an air of great expectations from pundits and the public. Alas, in an age rife with political ignorance and apathy, where the people are content with bread and circuses, pigged out on reality television shows that are often cheaply produced over the top melo-dramas masquerading as real life, the calm deliberative style of Mr. Mueller went over like a leas balloon.
The disappointment of MSNBC host Ari Melber, a bright and progressive lawyer and notorious hip hop head, was palpable. At one point he looked like he was about to cry. Other reactions among the media crowd ranged from quiet desperation and resignation in liberal/left circles, to jubilation among the FOX crowd on the right. Even declaring “Impeachment is dead!” I think both sides has misread what actually happened, for they viewed the hearing as though they were television critics evaluating a prime time show. Viewed from this perspective, production values become paramount and symbols are privileged over substance, entertainment over enlightenment. They wanted a good show, but when there were no fireworks many spectators were sadly disappointed.
However, while they were whining over the absence of fireworks, they overlooked the revelatory bombs Mueller was quietly dropping. The strategy of the Democrats was perfectly crafted for the type of presentation Mueller gave. Since he had made it clear that he did not wish to opine on the issues beyond the contents of the text, the democratic congressman read damming dramatic passages from the text and simply solicited a yes or no answer from the former prosecutor. Despite the absence of drama, Mr. Mueller delivered a devastating indictment of Trump.
Among the things he quietly confirmed were: Russian intelligence forces massively intervened in the US presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump; they viciously attacked Hillary Clinton in the more than 100 million dis-information messages they posted online; the Trump campaign led by the candidate enthusiastically welcomed it; once elected president Trump did nothing to retaliate for the intrusion or take any steps to prevent it in the future. In fact, Trump rejected the unanimous advice of US intelligence agencies in favor of former KGB intelligence officer Vladimir Putin’s version of events. In Trump’s attempts to cover up their cooperation with the Russians Trump committed ten acts that could qualify as “Obstruction of Justice,” including ordering his subordinates to lie and falsify documents. A thousand former federal prosecutors that Mueller confirmed were honorable professionals – some of whom he had worked with – signed a statement saying they would issue criminal indictments against anyone who had committed these acts. However Mr. Mueller admitted that he could not even consider indicting Trump because Department of Justice regulations forbid indicting a sitting president.
In reality this regulation amounts to a special dispensation for US Presidents that inoculates them against indictment, and in the view of many attorneys practically places the president above the law. This explains why Mueller did not indict or recommend indictment despite the fact that Mueller said Trump lied under oath and committed a crime when he encouraged Wiki-Leaks to hack the Democrats computers and used the stolen information gained to boost his campaign! As the hearing got underway we could see why Mr. Mueller had vigorously resisted testifying before the Judiciary Committee: he is not in the best of health. At times he looked befuddled, as if he was not sure what was going on. That, no doubt, is why he insisted to responding only to what was written in the report.
Faithfully rendering the written text was of little interest to the Republican obscurantists. Their sole objective was to assault the character of Mr. Mueller and cast aspersions on his motives as well as the veracity of his report, in the vain hope of vindicating Dirty Donnie in the eyes of the public; even if they personally consider him a slime ball! Hence they attacked Mr. Mueller with brutal verbal assaults, unrestrained by the fact that he is a venerable Republican public servant that has honorably served this country as a member of the US Marine Corps, where he was wounded in combat and received battle decorations, volunteering for duty while Devious Donald was a draft dodging coward who faked an injury to escape serving.
Despite his elite education Mueller constantly spurned a cushy career in a private law firm to prosecute criminals and terrorists instead, heading the FBI after the Muslim Jihadists attack on 9/11. But this made no difference to the depraved Republican charlatans in Congress, who tried to trash Mueller’s reputation while defending the white trash in the White House. It was a shameful charade that will be condemned by future historians who will view their dirty deeds far removed from the political passions of this moment.
To the untutored, morally deformed, wretched mob bewitched by the devilish seductions of Devious Donald, these shameless charlatans are heroes. But to thinking Americans of principle who are paying attention, these spineless amoral buffoons are the archenemies of our constitutional democracy; which grows more fragile so long as Trump remains in the Oval Office! The fact that Dirty Donald has publicly admitted he would accept damaging information about a political opponent from the Russians again, offers compelling evidence for this claim. In fact, when Mueller was asked if Trump’s behavior was setting an ethical standard that is becoming the “new normal,” Mr. Mueller said he hoped not: “but I fear it is.”
Based upon the facts of the Mueller Report, and the Republican response to it; which includes labeling it “un-American,” and Mr. Mueller “Un-American.” too, we cannot escape the conclusion that the Grand Opportunist Party doesn’t give a damn if the Russians interfere in our elections so long as they help Republicans win! This realizes George Washington’s fears about the development of political parties in the US. In an uncannily prophetic statement in his Farewell Address to the nation, America’s first president warned about the pitfalls of party politics in a federal democracy:
“The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty…the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”
Alas, is this not precisely where we find ourselves at this critical moment in the history of the American republic?
When the Republicans callously made fun of Mr. Mueller’s physical infirmities due to his age – which caused him to appear bumbling and somewhat disoriented at times, despite the fact that he always clear in his answers – we see a prime example of what President Washington meant when he warned that partisan politics “kindles the animosity of one part against another.” Alas, the Republican congressional caucus is exactly the kind of crowd Devious Donald had in mind when he shocked the world by proclaiming that his followers were so committed to him:”I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue in broad open daylight and get away with it.” Hence there is no reasoning with this cowardly immoral pack; they only respond to raw power.
That’s why the obvious antidote to this metastasizing cancer in the breast of our nation is to begin Impeachment proceedings against Donald J. Trump, the Moscow candidate, immediately! And Mr. Mueller, in yet another benefaction to the nation, has given us the weapons we need to take Treasonous Trump down. In one instance, he even lured Jim Sensenbrenner, a passionately pro-Trump Republican from Wisconsin, into virtually calling for the impeachment of Dirty Donald. In a fit of pique Sensenbrenner says to Mueller: “Well, if you’re not going to indict the president, then you just continue fishing. And that’s — you know, that’s my observation.”
However, rather than helping the president’s case, his “observation” leads us to Mueller’s conclusion in the report. Barbara McQuade, a Former federal prosecutor and law professor, summed the matter up this way: “Rep. Sensenbrenner’s question is answered in the report – even if President can’t be indicted, he can be investigated to ‘preserve evidence’ because he can be charged later or impeached.”
On father’s day my twin children, Samori and Makeda, took me out to the movies to see “Pavarotti,” a documentary on the great Italian tenor who dominated the Grand Opera stage for the second half of the 20th century, brilliantly directed by Ron Howard. I had chosen the movie when they asked what I wanted to do on my special day. It provided an opportunity for me to resume my efforts to tutor them in the complexities of fine art music; the two greatest examples of which are Jazz – a uniquely American classical music invented by Afro-American musicians – and European Classical concert music. Although I privilege instrumental music, the great singers in all genres often have the widest appeal to audiences. And in European music the highest form of vocal artistry is the Grand Opera, where the great composers collaborate with librettist in creating musical dramas that tell wonderful stories in song.
In a career that spanned two centuries – the 20th and 21st – Luciano Pavarotti dominated the Grand Opera stages of the world, and the movie captures his amazing career marvelously. One of the reasons for the success of the film is that we learn as much about the man as his music; which is to say that the film transcends the Opera stage. The artistic choices of the film makersdoes much to capture and hold the attention of an audience, who may not be opera buffs, by the way they jump-cut from the stage to real life in a seamless narrative. And most of the music centers around arias from Pavarotti’s most moving performances.
This is a wise choice because the non-opera fan who would become bored with large segments of an opera, are enthralled listing to the arias. The reason for this was explained by Robert Merrill, venerable baritone with the world renowned Metropolitan Opera. An avid baseball fan who sang the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium countless times, Merrill saw the game of baseball as a metaphor for the opera. He pointed out that baseball is often considered boring for the non-fan until there is a home run, or triple play, or spectacular catch in the outfield, Or acrobatic fielding by the short stop, or a strike out by the pitcher. For Merrill, these magic moments on the baseball diamond were the equivalent of the aria on the Grand Opera stage.
In the Italian opera, an art they invented, it is the tenor who most often sings the great arias with the soprano, and for those who know the score the most dramatic moment comes when the tenor is required to hit the high C. For fans with sadistic sensibilities, or are pissed because their woman has a crush on the tenor who is professing his love in heroic song, their fervent wish is that he will miss…. or at least crack the note. The movie reveals that Pavarotti was well aware of the possibility of disaster, and always took to the stage with great anxiety; announcing in the wings before taking the stage: “Now I go out to die!”
His fears proved fruitless, for The Maestro never missed a high C in performance. Two of the arias that present the greatest chance of failure is the challenging “Ah! mes amis” from “Daughter of the Regiment,” by Gaetano Donizetti, which contains nine high Cs! And the hauntingly beautiful Nessum Dorma, from Puccini’s Turandot, in which the challenge is the high B, and Pavarotti is featured in flawless performances of both. In discussing the ever present possibility of a spectacular failure in attempting to perform these operatic masterpieces with the Maestro, who says he is never confident he will succeed singing the great arias, the audience is provided with deep insights into the difficult art of classical singing.
We learn that all great singing is produced in the diaphragm not the throat, and that this is an art where few will succeed, even after many years of rigorous training. And we can count on one hand those who have reached the heights traversed by the great Pavarotti, whose sudden rise to international stardom in 1963 was serendipitous. He was hired to fill in for Guiseppe de Stefano in the role of Rudolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, at London’s renowned Covent Garden, and overnight a star was born.
Finally, there is the arresting and insightful portrait of Pavarotti the man that emerges from this film. Through footage of the Maestro, supplemented by 53 interviews with those who knew and worked with him in a variety of capacities, we see a man who possessed a zest for life that few among us will ever know. He was a loving devoted father that found real joy in the role; he was an admiring son who honored his father by following in his footsteps as a tenor voice and winning the acclaim that was denied to his father; who made his living as a baker and sang on the side. We see his gluttonous love for wine, food and women – which showed in his generous girth – and his mutual adoration with his audiences reveal a generosity of spirit as abundant as his physique. But we also see his unpalatable side alas.
With multitudes of finely clad voluptuous beauties flashing ‘come hither” smiles and “fuck me” body language, responding as if their ears were connected to the clits, it would require an impotent pooty pop or a righteous Saint with a greater will than David, Samson and Solomon to have resisted such temptations. And although a miraculous singer with a heavenly voice, Pavarotti was no Saint. Indeed, from all appearances he was a potent stud. Given the amount of time spent on the road performing around the world, he was bound to stray. This eventually led to the break-up of his family when his wife had had enough of his prolific philandering. But he would be married again to a beautiful younger woman; although she had no talent or interest in music, she was smitten by Pavarotti and proved to be an excellent business partner and soulmate.
Perhaps the thing that best revealed The Maestro’s expansive love of music is the series of concerts he performed billed as Pavarotti and Friends, and his stint with The Three Tenors, in which he shared the stage with the great Spanish tenors Placido Domingo, who could also credibly claim to be “the greatest tenor in the Grand Opera, and Jose Carreas.”This act was so wildly popular that a documentary was made on them and all three stars set records for earnings with Jose Carreras amassing a net worth of 250, million dollars, Pavarotti 275 million and Placido Domingo – who is also a conductor, 300 million!
This is big time Rock Star and Hip Hop mogul money, and the fact that they could accumulate these sums singing Classical Music is a testament to their unique appeal. Although Opera, especially the magnificent Italian tenor of the early 20th century Enrico Caruso, was once quite popular. For instance, the first record to sell a million copies was Caruso’s performance of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” in 1907. Pavarotti’s performances in the Pavarotti and Friends concerts,which were dedicated to raising money for charity, put Pavarotti on stage with the world’s biggest stars of popular music. He performed with Rock megastars like Sting and Bono, plus Rhythm&Blues icons such as Barry White and James Brown.
White, a singer/songwriter who was an overweight sex symbol with a girth comparable to Pavarotti’s, sold 100 million records, including 106 gold albums, with 41 becoming platinum. He also had 20 gold and 10 platinum singles. Which makes him one of the most beloved singers of all times worldwide; yet at 20 million dollars White’s net worth is a fraction of Pavarotti’s, who at one point was the most popular singer in the world. This wonderful film captures the complexity and presents an unvarnished narrative of the Maestro’s life, with all his vices and virtues, that’s more than worth the price of the ticket!
