caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

My most intense of many pet peeves is the way so many frustrated internet voices assume that cable news blather is "believed" by hordes of benighted fellow citizens. Such blather does get echoed across cyberspace, which is my gripe. They pay Rachel Maddow millions of dollars per month to pump out hard-nosed political advocacy for some reason I don't quite understand. Just as I do not understand why anybody takes cable news seriously, on any level.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...

Last week I posted a bit about how I don't recognize a lot of today's 'culture' - music stars, movie stars, tv anything...

And then a few days later I found something that inadvertently introduced me to one of the stars of today's music (Coldplay an English band which started in the very late 1990's, heh, yea young!), by using a popular star from my early youth and before: Dick Van Dyke. Yep, he's still here, and he's gonna be 99 tomorrow!

The video was filmed at Van Dyke's house in Malibu. It's really neat to watch Van Dyke dance a bit, to see his enjoyment of life, hear his reflections on things, how happy and amazed he was at Coldplay's Chris Martin's talent and the song he wrote for Van Dyke, and more. Also, I learned about Coldplay and now I'm a fan!

Good morning everyone.
A fine, foggy, frigid morning here in the high 30s, but no rain or snow. Still sans a heater, so stokin' the fire is the first chore. Then start the coffee a-perkin'.

Bully, Bribe, Bomb

Today's title is courtesy of Chas Freeman's description of US diplomacy and foreign policy. I think the big news this week is the sneak attack in Syria, but there are many pieces being moved around the global chessboard. There was the episode in S. Korea when the president attempted martial law...and was foiled. There was a vote of no confidence in the Macron government in France. There was Hunter's broad sweeping pardon by Biden. Tucker went to Moscow this week and interviewed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia continues to advance in Ukraine, and the genocide in Gaza grows with food and aid blocked. The INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern : Weekly Wrap touches on many of these stories and has a good rant by Larry.

(30 min)