Tag: J. Eric Smith

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
I Don’t Wanna Know – Human Radio
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?

Blackbird – Beyoncé

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
Texas Flood –  Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
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
Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney
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

Feb. rambling: Complicity?

Catherine O’Hara

second-rate democracy

Non-Cooperation: When does cooperation become complicity? And what other choice is there?

Everything Is for Sale: Exploiting the 250th Anniversary of US Independence for Yet Another Grift

The EPA repealed the bedrock scientific finding that says greenhouse gases threaten human life and well-being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

The White House regularly circulates imagery that has been manipulated by A.I. But the photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong was different.

The Hardest Part of Fighting Fascism Comes After the Fascists Have Fallen

Dying in Broad Daylight. ‘This Is a Wake-Up Call’: Critics Disgusted as Billionaire Bezos Guts Washington Post. “Oligarchs are not the benevolent saviors media have long depicted them to be.”

Was Jeffrey Epstein running a kompromat operation for Russia?

Grid reliability projected to decline as data centers drive demand, watchdog says

A drop in CDC health alerts leaves doctors flying blind.

On Tilt. America’s new gambling epidemic

The World Factbook has sunset. It served the Intelligence Community and the general public as a longstanding, one-stop basic reference about countries and communities around the globe. [As a librarian, I used this source all of the time for info about other countries.]

Wordsmith: read especially the email of the week and limericks

The United States of consumption – Our trash and our lives, here and abroad

U.S. Employee Engagement Declines From 2020 Peak

Once called the “disease of kings,” gout is on the rise

These College Students Ditched Their Phones for a Week. Could You?

My Survivor’s Guilt

These Were the Most Popular Baby Names in 1926

Clowns + Firefighters = Police? and The Video Game System That Ran Up a $500,000 Bill, and Why is Mark Zuckerberg Suing Facebook?and The San Francisco Egg War

O’Hara
Catherine O’Hara, “Home Alone” and “Schitt’s Creek” actress, died at age 71 after a brief illness. . I especially loved her in SCTV and the mockumentaries such as Best In Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003),  and For Your Consideration (2006).  Top 10 Greatest Moments. Monologue: Musical Improvisation – Saturday Night Live.
She had previously revealed a diagnosis of dextrocardia with situs inversus, a rare congenital condition characterized by an abnormal positioning of the heart, which is mostly benign but highly peculiar. Her cause of death was pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as the underlying cause.
Good news

Complexly, the media company that produces Crash Course, SciShow, Eons, Bizarre Beasts, Study Hall, and more has always been privately owned by Hank and John Green. It is now a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit! “It’s never been easier to find information, but it’s also never been harder to know what to trust”. In addition to accessing more support from foundations and grants, this change means we can accept tax-deductible donations from you! You can donate to support our work at any time at complexly.org.

Doctor Driving Behind Man Saves Him After Heart Attack – Tamron Hall Show

Opportunity of a lifetime’: couple who wed at Bad Bunny Super Bowl half-time show included a registered nurse

The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming

ICE. Cold

ICE Is Watching You. Democracy dies by database.

The day before DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes stopped that termination until a pending court case worked its way through the courts. TPS holders participate in the workforce at an exceptionally high rate of 94.6%.  Haitian TPS holders pay $1.3 billion a year in taxes, and through their work in sectors that are desperate for laborers, they add about $3.4 billion to the U.S. economy annually.

Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas

 

ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern

Illness Is Rampant Among Children Trapped in ICE’s Massive Jail in Texas

House speaker says ICE is allowed to break down your door

Bannon Calls for ICE to Engage in Voter Intimidation During the Midterms

ICE Tactics Disgrace Us — And Resemble Abuses Closer To Home Than ‘The Gestapo’

MUSIC

Gershwin First Friday Concert -First Presbyterian Church of Albany,  February 6, 2026 (music starts c 9:30) 

City of Heroes – Billy Bragg

Lyin’ and Spinnin’ (and Cheatin’ and Hidin’) – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Never Enough – Turnstile

Main theme for the movie The Long Goodbye by John Williams

A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Memo – Joker’s Flight

Ancient Light – I’m With Her ( Sarah Jarosz · Aoife O’Donovan · Sara Watkins)
Young Americans – St. Vincent (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
Alone – The Cure
Water Concerto by Tan Dun
Overqualified -Durand Bernarr 

In The Clear – Billy Strings

Medley of Abba songs – Gavin Creel

Bitin’ List – Tyler Childers

Coverville 1567: The Phil Collins Cover Story III and 1568: The Chuck Negron Tribute and Three Dog Night Cover Story

Name that tune! TV theme songs (CBS Sunday Mornings)

These Musical Theatre Songs Made the Billboard Charts

Genre Delve #11: Hardcore vs. Post-Punk J. Eric Smith

“Weird Al” Yankovic Takes The Colbert Questionert

January rambling: American Hegemony

Rebecca Jade sings the Beatles

Mark Carney Warns “American Hegemony” Is Destroying World Order in Candid Speech

World to exceed 1.5°C heating threshold by 2030

FBI puts the final nail in the coffin of free speech

Philadelphia is suing the regime over the decision to remove an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park depicting the factual history of slavery in the United States.

FOTUS’s  second term delivers massive gains for billionaires as working Americans face cuts and rising costs

Study Reveals Who Is Paying 96% of Regime Tariffs

New CDC guidance could revive childhood meningococcal disease, a rare but deadly disease

Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ)

The RootsTech 2026 schedule is live. The world’s largest family discovery event will be taking place March 5-7. Register to hear inspiring speakers, watch exciting keynotes, and get expert help discovering your family story.

The Dangerous Power of Predictive Markets

Also

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Releases 2026 Child Vax Schedule, No Longer Endorses CDC’s Version

Dealing with a sudden death or loss

Bruce Bilson Obituary: Director on The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Hogan’s HeroesPlease Don’t Eat the Daisies, The Doris Day Show, The Odd Couple, Love, American Style, B.J. and the Bear, Barney Miller, The Fall Guy, Hotel, Dinosaurs, The Sentinel and Viper, among others

Forty years ago, they slipped the surly bond of earth

Baseball HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026: Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, and second baseman Jeff Kent.

The Trial of the Century: On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes.

New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident

Element Ball: Letter Gothic

Now I Know: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful? and Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing? and The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People? and The Panhandle That Failed and Not The Frisco Kids and The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol and Every Rose Has Its … Jalen?

ICE

Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Heather Cox Richardson: “Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.It looked like an execution.” 

As William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove noted: “Alex Pretti was killed by people who celebrated his death. They do not need better training. They demand a moral movement to disarm them and reconstruct democracy.”

Legal scholars and political scientists say the regime’s escalating ICE operation, National Guard brinkmanship, and Insurrection Act threats in Minnesota closely resemble conditions identified in civil war simulations, raising alarms about constitutional collapse and violent state-federal conflict. “We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.”

A photo taken during a protest in south Minneapolis after federal agents killed Alex Pretti encapsulates a story unfolding on America’s streets.

Nurse Alex Pretti’s Death and the Symbolism of the Human Body

Fact Checks

“…when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” — Audre Lorde

Legal Eagle: Unbelievable ICE Memo Just Leaked

Six steps for researching the corporate enablers of ICE

To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers

Why FOTUS Is Finally Waving A White Flag In Minnesota

Pete Buttigieg believes The Ground Is Shifting

Three songs:

Streets of Minneapolis – Bruce Springsteen

ICE, F**K You – A Protest Song for Minneapolis – Scared Ketchup

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent
— often attributed to Thomas Jefferson

MUSIC

Got To Get You Into My Life and Roll Over Beethoven -Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade from the All You Need is Love album, which you can buy individual tracks or the album here

For No One – MonaLisa Twins

Coverville 1564: The New Order Cover Story IV and 1565: The Flaming Lips Cover Story and 1566: The Bob Weir Tribute

From the CBS Sunday Morning archives: The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir

K-Chuck Radio: A moment of Midnight Oil memory (Rob Hirst)

J. Eric Smith on Bob Weir and Rob Hirst

She’s Not Blind – Roberta Flack

It Ain’t Necessarily So – Ella Fitzgerald · Louis Armstrong

Piece of Denmark – Marsh Family parody of “Piece of My Heart” by Erma Franklin re Greenland/FOTUS

John Fogerty: Tiny Desk Concert 16 Jan 2026

Poseidon and Amphirite: An Ocean Fantasy by John Knowles Paine

I Zimbra – Talking Heads
Third movement from Bach’s Partita No. 3 for solo violin
More music
These Are The Days – the cast of All In The Family (1975)
Stand By Me – The Buzztones
Superman  [1978] by John Williams,  Opening Titles/Credits Sequence
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover– Postmodern Jukebox

Da Doo Ron Ron – the Crystals

Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel

The Man I’m Supposed To Be – Bill Callahan

Popular – Lemon Squeezy with a song from Wicked

Mercedes Benz – Mari Gazen  (Janis Joplin cover)

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da –  The Police

I Just Might – Bruno Mars

That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne and Friends (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder)

J. Eric Smith’s Genre Delve #9: Hip-Hop/Rap and #10: Reggae

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

Song to Woody – Bob Dylan
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

November rambling: America’s Greatness

Second Cousin or Once Removed?

America’s Greatness: A Guest Commentary

The Vibecession and the AI bubble

America’s got a Jenga economy

Citizens United and the Decline of US Democracy: Assessing the Decision’s Impact 15 Years Later

A Vast Camera System Now Feeds Police Information on Drivers Across the US. They have been called invasive, insecure, and unconstitutional. 

Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

America is sliding toward illiteracy

Veterans Charities to Avoid

Panel discussion at Hampshire College’s 55th anniversary celebration: “Urgent and Unbounded: The Role of Liberal Arts Education in an Age of Rising Authoritarianism,” featuring filmmaker and historian Ken Burns, 71F, AI expert and author Gary Marcus, 86F, and Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, P08, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

The Wonderful Public Domain of Oz

Boss preppers: What does a captain of industry have to offer after the sh*t hits the fan?

Short of Medicare for All, Bernie Sanders Offers Democrats 6 Other Ways to Tackle Healthcare Crisis

Disney has lost Roger Rabbit.

Terrible Maps and a very tall garden shed

How a humble weed became a superstar of biology

What’s a capitonym? It is a prime example of the power of capitalization: a single letter can transform a regular noun, such as “turkey,” into a proper noun with a different meaning — “Turkey.”

Building a Book Lamp – actually, building a lamp made out of books

The Chinese Ban on “Fried Rice” and The Lake That Killed Its Neighbors, and At Least He Was Right About the Cake Thing? and Does This Expensive Coffee Taste Like Poop?

Relations

Because I was asked: Second Cousin or Once Removed? Untangling the Family Tree. The Kennedy example: Caroline, JFK’s daughter, and RFK Jr, RFK’s son, are first cousins.

Caroline’s son, Jack Schlossberg (who’s running for Congress in NYC), is RFK Jr.’s first cousin once removed. “If someone is your cousin ‘once removed,’ that means they’re one generation above or below you. For example, your mother’s cousin is your first cousin once removed.” Jack’s sister, Tatiana Schlossberg, also RFK Jr.’s first cousin once removed, announced she has a rare terminal cancer. She noted: “Throughout my treatment, he had been on the national stage… mostly as an embarrassment to me and the rest of my immediate family.”

Metamucilini and company

Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: He Faces Realities of Aging in Office

In Courting Saudi Arabia, He Emulates MBS’s Authoritarianism

RFK, Jr. Violates Agreement On CDC Vaccine Guidance, Putting Millions At Risk

The FDA Commissioner Is Missing the Point of Advisory Committees — Makary’s hand-picked panels lack diversity of opinion, robust evidence reviews, and credibility

Swastikas and Nooses Are No Longer Hate Symbols Under New Coast Guard Rules

Soldiers Must Disobey Unlawful Orders — It’s Their Legal Duty

List of Degrees Not Classed As ‘Professional’ by Regime

Marjorie Taylor Greene resigns: Read her statement in full. I’m oddly annoyed that he chooses to misspell her last name as Green.

MUSIC

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff dies, aged 81. The Harder They Come; Many Rivers To Cross

Robert Plant: Tiny Desk Concert, Nov 21, 2025

J. Eric Smith’s Genre Delve: British Folk Rock and Metal vs Hard Rock

Coverville 1558: The Neil Young Cover Story IV

MTG Has Broken Cover – Marsh Family parody of “Billie Jean” by MJ about Marjorie Taylor Greene

Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles

The Beatles Songbook – Christine Pedi 

Heaven -James McCartney 

Vltava (The Moldau) by Bedrich Smetana

Spill The Wine – Eric Burdon & War 

Waterways by Ludovico Einaudi

Not One Of Us – Peter Gabriel

The Hunt for Red October suite by  Basil Poledouris

Bach Fugue -The Newfangled Four | GWC 50th Anniversary Show

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Born Free 

White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane

Long May You Run – The Stills-Young Band

Time Of The Season– The Zombies

My Fair Lady overture

Take Me or Leave Me  – Idina Menzel · Tracie Thoms from RENT OST

Table for Two, Away from the Band, Please – Road Work Ahead

Organist John Jasper McClellan (1874-1925) performs the Overture from Tännhauser (1845) by Richard Wagner (1813-1883). It’s one of the oldest acoustic (church) pipe organ recordings ever made, from late August and early September 1910 in the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. Given the label print from the disc, this must have been a later production run of this record.

We Built This City – Starship

Blame It on the Record Label

Ramblin' with Roger
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