Saturday, July 22, 2023

Talking entry

Sorry, I've been sick all week and maybe am getting better now.  

It's a summer cold which didn't used to be a big thing but after COVID left my lungs scarred, every time now is bad and my doctor even asked Friday if I wanted to go into the hospital.  No. I'll be fine.  But it's been a rough week.  Elaine and I generally work out in the morning together and we talk and we sing while we're working out and I also dictate the snapshot during that.  On Friday, I couldn't even sing along with a recording of Cass Elliot and I can always sing along with Cass.  Prior to Friday, I hadn't even tried to sing because it was clear I was struggling with even talking.

But I did everything, every Zoom, every appearance.  My stomach hurts from coughing, not just my chest.  I've got a humidifier plugged in.  Whatever type of cold it was, I got a rash up my right arm on Monday for three hours that looked like poison oak and then vanished.  All I've wanted to do all week was sleep.  


In the public e-mail account (common_ills@yahoo.com) someone's e-mailed asking why I was going backwards and posting things?  He's referring to this:


  • Cher - Yesterday / Crocodile Rock (The Cher Show, ...
  • Aretha Franklin Performs "Don't Play That Song" in...
  • Mavis Staples Are You Sure Meijer Garden Grand Rap...
  • How Valerie June Mixes Appalachian Folk Music with...
  • Iraq snapshot

  • That's Friday.  Generally on Friday, the "Iraq snapshot" goes up and then at noon (PST), I post Cher's latest video if she's shared one.  And that's what I did Friday.  But Friday night, I was working to get stuff ready for Saturday so I could sleep.  


    And I was dizzy and I kept thinking, "Where are those posts?"  Because I couldn't see them and I knew I'd hit the right buttons, right?  I was dizzy and confused. It was before midnight Friday night and I was forgetting to change the date (to make them Saturday posts) so they were going up on Friday instead of being in the queue for Saturday.  I didn't realize that.  Didn't realize most things on Friday.  I was dizzy and almost lost my balance twice that morning.


    And, looking, I see these also are now up on Friday:


  • Diana Ross - Eaten Alive (Live) 13th Annual AMA's ...
  • Aretha Franklin - What a fool believes Live

  • Those were also done Friday night and were supposed to go up Saturday.


    The music videos that did go up today . . .



    That's Fionn.  It's a month old and from their new album. They're a folk-pop sister duo from Canada.  We posted the video of them below earlier today.



    I didn't know of them until today.  A friend was on the phone asking me to post the video of them performing live which I gladly did.  Here's the title track to their new album I MIGHT START SMOKING.


    I believe this is their fourth album.  My friend works for the label (604 RECORDS INC).


    If a friend asks for a favor, I note a video.  That's why we noted "Drinkin Beer, Talkin God, Amen" by Chase Rice, for example.



    I'd never heard of Chase Rice before a friend asked me to note the song.  That seems forever ago.  I think it was early April of 2021.  It's a great song. I'm always happy to note a great song.


    Randy e-mailed wanting to know how the videos are selected?  Unless someone's asking, I'm just looking for something.  Sometimes, there's a theme, most of the time not.  The bad thing about doing the music videos is I just can't post them.  If I'm doing a YOUTUBEr's segment and I'm tired (or sick -- or sick and tired), I can post them without streaming.  But any song that goes up here is something I do like and it takes longer because I'm not just embedding code and moving on to the next one, I'm listening all the way through to the song.


    There's a VANGUARD YOUTUBE segment up from last night or this morning that has someone upset.  How dare I call out Jimmy Dore for holding Cornel West's feet to the fire when I do the same thing.


    I am so sorry but I'm neither Zac nor Gavin of THE VANGAURD.  That video went up here with no comment from me.  I thought it was worth streaming to see what Jimmy's beef with Cornel was.  I have no idea what it was.  I actually planned to stream their video and started streaming it after posting it and finding seven more to post.  I was listening listening to THE VANGUARD waiting for them to get to the point while I was setting times for things to post the following day.


    They never did get to the point.  I streamed almost ten minutes.  That's it, guys.  I don't care that your pot connection interrupted the stream with a drop off.  I don't care.  I'm sick and I'm struggling to breathe and if you've got something to inform me of, ten minutes is too damn long.  Sorry.  


    And my time matters to me, so, no I'm going to go give it some more time.  I move forward, I don't go backwards.  


    I have no idea what Jimmy's problem with Cornel was.  


    Was he wrong to call out Cornel?  I'd have to know what he called out to know the answer to that.


    I don't like Cornel.  I didn't always feel that way.  But I felt like Tavis Smiley, a friend, was wrongly targeted and I felt like Cornel could have been a much better friend to him.  If you hurt someone close to me, you're pretty much dead to me.  And you're lucky if I don't go after you.  (Patricia Heaton insulted a friend of mine when she was on a talk show and I went after her for years as a result.) 


    As a political candidate?  I don't see the point.  I've never bought into his shuck & jive nonsense.  He loves words, he loves to issue words and he loves word patterns.  He gets lost in those, I don't.


    But the reason I attack his campaign?


    The lies.  


    I can't take all the lies.  Serial plagiarist Chris Hedges has plotted this nonsense all along.  When it was the People's Party's presidential nomination, Chris met with PP to discuss Cornel and him being on the ticket (Hedges as vp candidate).  Hedges' wife says no to that so Hedges doesn't run.


    But he does run his mouth and goes all over to all the sycophants who'll have him -- including Katie In Desperate Need Of Clue Halper.  And he lies.  He lies at SCHEER POST  as well.  He doesn't tell people about the backdoor deal that he negotiated.


    Then, when Cornel's reputation is suffering because of the reality of the People's Party, and they need to save his image, Chris and Jill Stein try to strong arm the Green Party into throwing out all their rules and naming Cornel their party's presidential candidate.


    And not only do they try to do that, they lie to YOUTUBERS that it is the case. 


    Which pisses me off because now I'm dragged into it with non-stop e-mails asking if this is for real so I have to start calling Green Party reps to find out what the hell is going on?


    The Green Party stood firm and said: No.


    They said he could run for the nomination, same as anyone else, but Chris' petty threats and yelling at people over the phone were not going to be rewarded nor were the rules going to be discarded.


    Jill Stein ran the party into the red in her 2016 run.  She still has serious FEC issues.


    But Katie and the YOUTUBERS don't give a damn because those are facts and they are whores.


    Jill Stein has done nothing to warrant applause.  She ran a crappy campaign in 2012 and she did so again in 2016.  She's done nothing to build the party -- though she did leave it in debt, didn't she?


    I do not agree with Howie Hawkins about Ukraine (he supports the war) but Howie, the 2020 Green Party presidential candidate, has spent every week since the election trying to build the party.  He has done weekly (sometimes more than weekly) videos addressing Green issues, bringing on Green politicians, writing pieces, you name it.  No one else who ever had that nomination spent a moment after their election trying to build the Green Party -- and that damn well includes fake ass and anti-vax Jill Stein.

    Jill is not liked among rank-and-file Greens.  She's basically what Joe Lieberman is to Democrats.  We loathe Joe and hold him accountable for his part in the 2000 fiasco (tossing out the rules for ballots on his MEET THE PRESS appearance to appease the right-wingers during the recount).  They hold her accountable for not one, but two bad runs.  And they are very vocal that she better not even try to be a running mate in 2024 with Cornel.


    You've got a group of liars behind him.  And then you've got a bunch of YOUTUBERs who would be calling out the backdoor deals and the non-disclosures if this were a Democratic Party candidate but are silent because who cares about the Green Party apparently.

    Okay, they've chopped up their show and now have a clip that is just about Jimmy.  So let's waste some more of my time and listen.



    I can't make it through the video.  By the 13 minute point, I haven't heard anything from Jimmy that I need to call out.  I'm not a fan of Jimmy.  He's too dramatic, yes.  I don't like him, yes.  But I do get where he's coming from.  And, I'll agree, that if you're not prepared to speak publicly (Cornel) don't go on TV.  


    Zac and Gavin make some points worth making but at the end of the day Jimmy appears to be acknowledging that Cornel has no chance in hell of winning and that the only impact he will have -- if any -- is on expanding the way we can talk about certain issues.  When Cornel goes on Anderson's show and doesn't even try to do that, Jimmy rages.  


    I get the rage.  If you're whole nonsense campaign is supposed to be about issues and getting them out before the public, don't make nice and let others define the parameters. 


    I did 13 minutes, that's more than anyone deserves.  I didn't see anything in there that made me think, "Oh, I better go after Jimmy!"


    Don't like him.  Would have loved to have seen something to go after.  As it is, I'm sick and under the weather and sleepy and have no idea about anything to cover and have stated that I may take the week off from THIRD.  Haven't done that before. But that's how bad I feel and how sleepy I am.  If Jimmy had just embarrassed himself or done something hypocritical, I would've said, "Hey, Ava and I can cover this!"  It would have been a gift.  But I don't see anything there.  Maybe it's after the thirteen minute mark?  I don't know.  I gave the boys 10 minutes Friday night and now 13 tonight.  And I'm still wondering what the point of it was?


    Applause to Olayemi Olurin and Jacqueline Luqman who addressed hate merchants online today and called them out:














      



    They are the real warriors and they do real work.  And JL is right, she's already dealing with enough.  It's outrageous that she has the energy and strength to defend all of our rights while others are too cowardly or embarrassing to stand up an be counted.


    Craziness continues in Iraq with attempts to storm the Green Zone.


    Reality, Iraqis should be storming the Green zone.  They should be tearing down every fence and scaring the hell out of the Parliament that does nothing to serve them. They should be demanding the government stop destroying Iraq with one new oil deal after another -- deals that repeatedly pretend that Iraq's own ecosystem isn't be destroyed in the process.  They should be demanding that public services and needs are met.  It is outrageous that the oil rich country can still not provide dependable electricity to the people (the oil plants aren't going without electricity or does no one notice that).  Or that there is still not good drinking water throughout Iraq.  Or that the public wastes systems have not been improved.  Billions are being stolen by these politicians.  Or that US troops remain on the ground in Iraq. 


    But they're okay with that.  With all of that.


    Let a holy book get stepped on or burned; however, and some want to rage.


    I meant what I said in Friday's snapshot.  I'm not here to coddle you.  Too much time has been spent saying, "We need to be sensitive to ____'s religion."


    No, we don't. 


    I don't care whether it's in the US or Iraq or where have you.  You are perverting the religion you claim to practice when you use that faith to destroy and attack.  You do not come off as followers of Jesus Christ or Mohammed or anyone when you vilify and attack.  You come off as crazed lunatics because that's what you are.


    If Mohammed's telling you to throw stones, throw the stones at yourself.  Bash in your own skull.  Trust me, you'll be doing the world a favor.  If Jesus wants you to pull a gun on somebody, blow your own brains out.  No one's going to miss you.


    We've got enough crazies on this planet.  


    If you truly believe that you are a person of faith and you also believe that your faith tells you to harm others?  There's either a problem with you or a problem with your faith.  I'm not here to justify your crazy.  


    The following sites updated: