March rambling: Clean up the faux king mess on aisle 47

272-867-5309

Just a couple of the many signs seen at the No Kings rally on Saturday, March 28, at the New York State Capitol in Albany: “Clean up the faux king mess on aisle 47.” “So many wrongs – so little cardboard.”

 

War Becomes Spectacle in His Horrific Propaganda Promoting War in Iran

Volume in stock and oil futures surged minutes before his market-turning post. (If you can access Substack, read Paul Krugman’s Treason in the futures market.) 

Ever find yourself watching regime officials and thinking, “What’s wrong with these people?” Three writers offer their answers. “The transition to pathocracy begins when a disordered individual emerges as a leader figure. While some members of the ruling class are appalled by the brutality and irresponsibility of the leader and his acolytes, his disordered personality appeals to some psychologically normal individuals. They find him charismatic. His impulsiveness is mistaken for decisiveness; his narcissism for confidence; his recklessness for fearlessness.” – Steve Taylor, “The Problem of Pathocracy

Robert Mueller: The former Marine overhauled – and, supporters say, helped save – the FBI after the 9/11 attacks. Then he took on FOTUS in the probe of a lifetime.

Sen. Whitehouse to uncover connections between FOTUS, Russia, and Epstein. (48:10)

What to do with the new FOTUS-signed paper currency

J.D. Vance and Police Stings: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Also

“Humanity has just endured the 11 hottest years on record,” said the secretary-general of the United Nations after the release of the new UN climate report. “When history repeats itself 11 times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act.”

An investigation by The New York Times found extensive evidence that
Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers co-founder and a civil rights icon, groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement for years.

Understaffing as a form of ensh!ttification

Valerie Perrine, Oscar Nominee and Superman Actress, Dies at 82. I saw her in Superman I and II, The Electric Horseman, and Lenny.

Chuck Norris, Black-Belt Action Star of Movies and Television, Dies at 86. I never saw a Norris movie; it wasn’t my thing.

The global nonprofit organization Cancer Support Community (CSC) is taking over one of music’s most unforgettable phone numbers. Anyone impacted by cancer can call CSC-867-5309 (272-867-5309) to receive immediate support, trusted information, and personalized guidance from trained specialists.

What’s the hardest MLB outfield to play in?

‘I’m Dead. Don’t Send Me Any More Mail.’ My relationship with my landlord was among the most reliable of my life. I miss her.
Dick Van Dyke – A Century On Screen

The Conspiracy That Led to the End of the World and The Day It Rained Blobs of Goo and The Man Who Made the Front Page Twice and When an Olive Garden Review Became Internet Famous and How Ignoring Orders Gave Us an Idiom and Because Not Everyone Can Be a Burger King

MUSIC
Heavy Foot – Mon Rovîa
Perspective – human/puppet duo of Sammy J and Randy Feltface
Days We Left Behind – Paul McCartney
Bein’ Alive – Melissa Etheridge
Irish Rhapsodies by Charles Villiers Stanford. 4: The Fishermen of Lough Neagh

Louella  – Marcia Ball

Tales: A Folklore Symphony  by Carlos Simon, “a four-movement piece for orchestra that explores African American folklore as well as Afrofuturist stories.”

Company (Broadway show) Tiny Desk Concert

I Believe – Andrew Rannells and the Broadway Company of The Book of Mormon (LIVE on The Late Show)
Little Green  – Joni Mitchell
Coverville 1573: The 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees and 1574: The Wilson Pickett Cover Story II
Green Onions -Booker T. & The MGs
Comedy Tonight from  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – Jason Alexander
The Albums of My Life: The WHEN HARRY MET SALLY Soundtrack, which I had never heard until now
I Got Rhythm from the musical Crazy for You
 Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revival
K-Chuck Radio: Many Rainy Nights in Soho
These Dreams – Heart
September again and again
True Love – Tobias Jesso Jr.
Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas
Sondheim/Webber medley – Will Anderson and Rachael Joyce
Rick Beato reacts to the experimental math rock band from Quebec: Angine de Poitrine
Loving You – Minnie Riperton
Start a Band, Even if You’re Terrible

March rambling: your AI slop

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

by Catbird c 2026

No one wants to read your AI slop

The $5.6 billion opening salvo: inside the staggering cost of his war on Iran
The Black Anti-Fascist Tradition Recognized That Fascism Didn’t Begin in Europe
Blowtorching the frog
USAID: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
These Women Exposed Prison Sexual Abuse. Now ICE Wants to Deport Them.

Florida Has Deemed All Existing Intro to Sociology Textbooks Illegal

Should charity CEOs get a percentage of revenue raised?  (NO!)

How selfish are we? An age-old debate about human nature is being energised with new findings on the tightrope of cooperation and competition

Is Freedom Enough? Notes from a Community Conversation

John Green: Risk Is a Privilege
Daryl Hannah: How Can ‘Love Story’ Get Away With This?
WHCL (Hamilton College) is 85 years old

Pete Townshend and Jodie Foster Take The Colbert Questionert

Now I Know: The Man Who Shipped Himself Home and The Underground World Time Forgot and How Mickey Mouse Saved Time and The “Lion” Whose Bark Was Bigger Than Its Bite
Kelly on biscuit
Pants on Fire
From here: For the last year, [FOTUS] has told us that he’s made life safe for democracy, and more affordable and better all around. During his record-long SOTU address on Feb. 24, he told us that our economy was strong, gas prices were $1.85 a gallon, and the stock market was above 50,000 for the first time. “When I came back, our country was dead. Now it’s the hottest country on the planet,” he said in what has become the standard stump speech pickup line.
Three weeks later, the average price of gas is $3.60 a gallon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down another 739 points Thursday at 46,677, a loss of more than 9% since the State of the Union. On Friday, it was down another 119 points, finishing at 46,558.
MUSIC
My Funny Valentine – Leslie Green (02 20 26)
Neil Sedaka, Singing Craftsman of Memorable Pop Songs, Dies at 86
Country Joe McDonald, Whose Antiwar Song Became an Anthem, Dies at 84
The Clarity of Cold Air by Jonathan Bailey Holland
Cartoon Collection – Medley sinfónico
Buddy Guy: Tiny Desk Concert February 27, 2026
George, Tell It Like It Is -Peter Sprague featuring Sinne Eeg
Umoja (and others) by Valerie Coleman
Objects In Mirror – Josh Ottum
Here We Go Again – MonaLisa Twins
We Can Work It Out -· Stevie Wonder

Hysteria (A Comedy Song) -Riki Lindhome

Kyrie – Mr. Mister

Desi Arnaz short (1946)

How Will I Know – Whitney Houston.

You Did It Your Way – Jimmy Fallon Serenades Stephen Colbert On The Late Show

If Stayin’ Alive Had Been Written in the 16th Century – Tabea Bös and Jonas Wolf

The Fate of Melania – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

MORE MUSIC
K-Chuck Radio: Were the Carpenters just a great cover band?

BlackbirdBeyoncé

Coverville 1571: Cover Stories for TLC and The J. Geils Band and 1572: The David Gilmour/Pink Floyd Cover Story
Strike Up The Band (Gershwin) – Thilo Wolf Big Band
Hot Stuff and MacArthur Park Suite– Donna Summer
The theme song from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon show – Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
Hurricane Country – Peter Sprague
Matt Forbes: L-O-V-E and It’s Almost Like Being In Love (Lerner & Loewe tune from the show, Brigadoon) and You’re Nobody’Til Somebody Loves You
Got To Get You Into My Life – Earth, Wind & Fire,
Flip Flop and Fly – Joe Turner and His Blues Kings
Ray Bolger dancing — alone and with a couple of past presidents — in April in Paris
Hello My Baby – Joe Howard on the Ed Sullivan Show, 1954
Genre Delve #13: AOR/Classic Rock

Dec. rambling: empathy

Peter Spraugue and Rebecca Jade

Empathy is the new Christian battleground (I’m pro-empathy)

The casino-fication of news: New partnerships between the prediction market Kalshi and cable TV networks will transform every news event into a betting opportunity.

Why Pregnant Black Women Are Routinely Ignored in American Hospitals

Polypharmacy Is a Real Issue. Dismantling Public Health Won’t Fix It. — A healthy society needs more than just “quick fixes.”

As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering

Australia just enacted the world’s first social media ban for children under 16 years old.

African leaders convene to recognize and seek reparations for colonial-era crimes

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. ADOPTED 10 December 1984 BY  UN General Assembly resolution 39/46

Black History Has the Power to Ignite Movements. That’s Why the Right Fears It.

Remembering the heroes and the villains of World AIDS Day

A teenager redrew the Alabama voting map – and it’s now state law

Legendary Architect Frank Gehry Has Passed Away—These Are His 10 Most Iconic Designs

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. “The Fall of Icarus” –  Andrew McCarthy, Cosmic Background

The Unlikely Story of an E-mail Time Machine

Drop-Off Day for A Shooting Star

At least 31 languages have a word very similar to ‘huh?’

Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze City in Kazakhstan

Now I Know: The Cost of Being a Simpsons Superfan and A Free Race Ticket, With Ups and Downs, and The Book That Got Americans Hanged  and The Worst of the Best is Still Pretty Amazing, and Let’s Have a Book Burning? and The Country of Cookie Dough

“Underinclusive”

A MAGA National Security Strategy; the document, which you should try to read if you can stomach it

Boat strikes: War crime or “fake news” hoax?

How he flipped America’s race conversation

Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation For Children Changed By CDC As Academy Of Pediatrics Opposes Decision

U.S. Wants to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History. Even visitors from countries like Britain and France, whose citizens don’t need visas, would have to share five years’ worth of social media.
Get ready to consume more forever chemicals.
Daily Show: Immigration Double Standard and Jordan Klepper’s Give the Man a Prize 

Is sleepy Donald the new ‘Sleepy Joe’?

New poll paints a grim picture of a nation under financial strain

MUSIC

Nowhere Man – Peter Sprague,  featuring Rebecca Jade

Song For Bob Dylan – David Bowie

Girl From the North Country – Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Beautiful Strangers – Mavis Staples 

The Gadabout, Part II – Bryce Dessner from the Train Dreams soundtrack from the Netflix film

It’s Beginning To Look Like F This and RFK! -Randy Rainbow Song Parodies

Alex Chilton  – The Replacements 

La Mer by Claude Debussy

David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert, 1 Dec 2025

Bees by Jerskin Fendrix from the motion picture Bugonia

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way – Waylon Jennings

The Fountains of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.

Peg – Steely Dan

New Directive – Nine Inch Nails from the movie TRON: Ares

Coverville 1559: The 22nd Annual Beatles Thanksgiving Cover Story and 1560: The Alex Chilton Cover Story

From the soundtrack to One Battle After Another by Jonny Greenwood

Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile) – Van Morrison

By the River, the second movement of the ‘Florida Suite’ by Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums and Best Music Videos of 2025

One of my favorite companies,  Joel Whitburn’s Record Research, has a future.

Seattle-based musician and chocolatier Aaron Lindstrom wanted to create a space that combined his two passions: chocolate and music. Cocoa Legato is a unique bean-to-bar chocolate factory and café that hosts live music performances and focuses on producing naturally vegan dark chocolate.  12/01/2025

September rambling: Tohubohu

a dangerous assault on democratic oversight

Word of the Day: Tohubohu – A state of chaos; utter confusion.

Threatening Vulnerable People Is No Way to Mourn Someone Who Was Murdered. Those who had nothing to do with the violence against Charlie Kirk are being menaced—just like always.

Big Tech Data Centers Compound Decades of Environmental Racism in the South

Scholars’ group cites mass civilian killings, starvation, and official incitement as evidence, while Israel and the United States reject the genocide label.

Pentagon press clampdown sparks First Amendment alarm. Journalists and free press advocates warn that new restrictions requiring pre-approval of even unclassified information represent a dangerous assault on democratic oversight.

Robert Reich on FOTUS’ Calamitous Crypto Corruption

Cartoon: The road to fascism

FOTUS to U.N.: ‘Your Countries Are Going to Hell.’ Read his full address at the U.N. General Assembly. 

Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez lays out what she found about the degree to which every New Yorker is being tracked, the harms that tracking is already inflicting, and the reasons to fear that things might get much worse, here and across the nation.

Modern dogs now occupy roles historically reserved for close human relationships and often receive greater moral concern than people.

RFK Jr., HHS secretary, “is correct that reported autism rates have exploded in the last 30 years — they’ve increased roughly 60-fold — but he is dead wrong about the causes,” the psychiatrist Allen Frances writes in The Times Opinion. “I should know, because I am partly responsible for the explosion in rates.”

FOTUS Has ‘Strong Feelings’ About Autism; the Issue Is Personal

Rural Health Clinics Begin to Fall Under Crushing Weight of Big, Ugly Bill

Nanoplastics are not just in seafood; a new study finds small plastic particles penetrate crops

Potential Trouble for Retirees: A Wealth Adviser’s Guide to the OBBB’s Impact on Retirement

History

In October, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine will reach an extraordinary milestone: 1 trillion webpages preserved. Record a video answering the question: “Why is the Wayback Machine important to you?”

The last look at American poverty? New data shows 41% of Americans are poor or low-income, revealing deep racial and regional disparities ahead of sweeping federal cuts.

Netanyahu: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 

Thieves Steal and Destroy Solid Silver Statue of Abraham Lincoln Created by Mount Rushmore Sculptor Gutzon Borglum

American Hindenburg -“the worst air disaster you’ve never heard of”

Jordan Klepper’s The Daily Show interview of John Fugelsang talking about his book Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. There is a lovely George Harrison reference as well. 

10 of the Oldest Cities in the U.S.

Why Romania Excels in International Olympiads

Internet Archive Designated as a Federal Depository Library

The Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Administrator has sent me $38.36 USD. I’m RICH!

John Masius,  St. Elsewhere, Emmy-winning writer, and Touched By An Angel creator, dies at 75

‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Ben Scripps Dies at 52 After Losing Battle With Cancer

Baseball’s Davey Johnson (1943-2025)

Now I Know: Why The Dot Got Dashed

Jimmy Kimmel

The Death of Free Speech – Legal Eagle

The FCC: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

He is Back!

HCR

Heather Cox Richardson, about the first of her Letters from an American newsletter six years ago: “In that first letter where I warned of rising authoritarianism, I wrote: ‘So what do those of us who love American democracy do? Make noise. Take up oxygen…

“If you are tired from the last six years, you have earned the right to be.

“And yet you are still here, reading, commenting, protesting, articulating a new future for the nation. And I am proud to be among you.

“I write these letters because I love America. I am staunchly committed to the principle of human self-determination for people of all races, genders, abilities, and ethnicities: the idea that we all have the right to work to become whatever we wish. I believe that American democracy has the potential to be the form of government that comes closest to bringing that principle to reality. And I know that achieving that equality depends on a government shaped by fact-based debate rather than by extremist ideology and false narratives.”

MUSIC

Freedom of Speech – Marsh Family parody of “Under the Sea” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”

Sonny Curtis, member of the Crickets who wrote the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” theme song, dies at 88; here he was on CBS Sunday Morning in 2022

Love Is All Around – Sonny Curtis; Mary Tyler Moore Show – Seasons 4-7 Intro & Theme

I Fought The Law – Bobby Fuller Four (1966), written by Sonny Curtis; I Fought The Law – the (post-Buddy Holly) Crickets (1959), featuring Curtis

Ouvertüre zum Lustspiel “Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien” by Franz von Suppé

From – Bon Iver

Wuthering Heights score by Alfred Newman, composed for the 1939 film of the same book.

Makin’ Whoopee – Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, September 9, 2025 – Radio Free Birdland #34

Need A Ride – Kathleen Edwards

Wuthering Heights suite from the 1939 film by Alfred Newman

Elegy by Mark Camphouse

Helter Skelter – The Beatles (Second Version, Take 17) [Anthology 2025]

K-Chuck Radio: Celebrating Earth, Wind & Fire Day

Ivonny Bonita – Karol G

Full Moon by Ludovico Einaudi

Sesame Street: Pentatonix Counts (and Sings) to Five 

Flash Gordon – Queen

Coverville 1549: Interview with Jeff Kanan of The Keep Recording and 1550: Cover Stories for Fee Waybill of The Tubes and B.B. King

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums of 2025 (Third Quarter)

St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) – John Parr

Money For Nothing – Dire Straits

August rambling: America’s wombmate

NEW Rebecca Jade!

Credit: DNY59/gettyimages

Big Brother Moves to Become America’s Wombmate -government access to medical data threatens patient rights.

Here’s a Map of What FOTUS-GOP Destruction of US Hospitals Looks Like

America First is America alone. Power-crazed he may be, but he fails to grasp soft power.

This is what extreme heat is doing to us: Policies to Make the Planet Hotter

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon Burned: The NPS Burns Too

The Founders of This New Arkansas Development Say You Must Be White to Live There

How Ireland’s ‘Mediocre’ Milk Powder Made it Big in West Africa

U.S. Drinking Drops to New Low, Poll Finds

How to champion libraries in Congress: a free virtual event on Tuesday, September 9 at 5 PM ET / 4 PM CT / 2 PM PT, where ALA policy experts and special guests will share updates, inspiring stories, and how you can pitch in at the start of this school year.

Mike Lindell & MyStore: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Kelly’s 2X4

Matt Damon & Ken Jennings on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

Marvel v. DC: The 25-Cent War from Tales From My Spinner Rack! by Gary Sassaman

Now I Know: The Dancing Plague and The Baseball Player With The Special ID, and He Bought His Freedom With Fake Money, and Why Some Movies Can’t Give it a Rest, and His Hometown Went to Pot? and Excel Has Bad Genes

ICE Raids and DC Occupation

Make democracy work part of ordinary life, not an add-on (ht/Paul Tonko). Lauren DesRosiers quoted Audre Lorde: “Every day of your lives is practice in becoming the person you want to be. No instantaneous miracle is suddenly going to occur and make you brave and courageous and true. And every day that you sit back silent, refusing to use your power, terrible things are being done in our name.”

DHS is using the Bible to promote ICE, claiming ‘righteous’ fight against immigrants. The agency refers to Scripture, including Micah 6:8, as it seeks to recruit agents.

 

New York State has seen a surge in ICE arrests, with totals four times the number seen during the same June-July period last year.

 

Don’t Let ICE’s Legal Abuses Stop You From Asserting Your Rights

 

‘Go Home, Fascists’: Protesters Jeer Federal Agents in Streets of DC

Federal agents face protests after Trump orders unprecedented takeover of DC police

Five Ways to Fight FOTUS Fascism by Robert Reich

Tonko and Fahy

My Congressperson, US Rep. Paul Tonko: “I traveled to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia… This visit was even more urgent given the results of a report from ICE’s Office of the Inspector General from an unannounced facility inspection earlier this summer. The report found the facility and ICE staff were not in compliance with federal law and used excessive, inappropriate force, including striking detainees and spraying them with pepper spray.

“Despite the pressing need for oversight and in violation of federal law that grants me and all Members of Congress access to these facilities, I was denied at the gate. The facility guards blocking my entry went so far as to confirm that they knew they were in violation of the law. If they are fine ignoring the legal rights of a Member of Congress, what does that mean for our own communities and individuals who are detained?”

You may or may not be able to read my state senator, Pat Fahy’s, newest op-ed in the Times Union, “about the paramilitary-type tactics taking over our streets. 

“No visible identification, no judicial warrants, no due process – these are setting a dangerous precedent for Americans and normalizing paramilitary secret police style tactics on our streets. That’s why I introduced legislation to prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks or face coverings during civil immigration enforcement in New York.

“Security and humanity can both exist, and instilling fear will not create the immigration reforms we need to enrich America and honor its legacy.”

Kudos to them both.

MUSIC

Not Me No Way – Rebecca Jade ℗ 2025 Ultimate Vibe Recordings, Released on: 2025-08-18

Join Ice – Jesse Welles

He Just Can’t Wait To Be King! – Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Coverville 1545: Cover Stories for Steve Martin and Modest Mouse and 1546: The Mamas & The Papas Cover Story

The Mamas & The Papas cover Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs: My Heart Stood Still (from One Dam’ Thing after Another, 1927); Glad To Be Unhappy (from On Your Toes, 1936); Sing For Your Supper (from The Boys from Syracuse, 1938). They sang those three songs and Here In My Heart (from Dearest Enemy, 1925) for Rodgers and Hart Today, a salute to the composers, which aired March 2, 1967, on ABC TV, then reworked it as  No Salt On Her Tail.

Symphony No. 1 in F minor by Dmitri Shostakovich

Gospel Plough – Robert Plant and Saving Grace

Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You from the movie The Music Man

You’ll Be Back – Primer

On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe from the movie The Harvey Girls (1946),  with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, and many others

Theme to the movie Emma by Rachel Portman

The Cast of Oliver with Davy Jones perform I’d Do Anything on The Ed Sullivan Show, Feb 9, 1964

Peter Sprague Plays Waters of March featuring Allison Adams Tucker

Run On -Elvis Presley

I Love You Period –  Dan Baird

Bernstein – Academic Festival Overture (Brahms)

Go Away, Little Girl – Donny Osmond

Beethoven “Moonlight Sonata” for Mongkol, the Old Bull Elephant (ht/aal)

The hairpin: The Most Misunderstood Symbol in Music (ft. Seymour Bernstein) by Ben Lade

Ramblin' with Roger
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