European Clown Car Circus

Another news filled week. The European Chihuahuas came to seek the favor of their master. One snaps at the hand that feeds him, and all four leave with their tail between their legs. EU style democracy doesn't look so good. Calin Georgescu, the populist frontrunner in Romania's annulled 2024 presidential election, was arrested while en route to register his candidacy for the upcoming May election. Perhaps Trump will finally stop all shipments of weapons and money to Ukraine. Sadly that isn't the case with Israel which is now occupying parts of Lebanon and Syria as they continue their expansion in the West Bank. US hypocrisy is on display, J. D. Vance criticizes the EU for their suppression of speech as the DOJ and FBI target pro-Palestine speech. The economy is probably in a recession which looks to deepen. Those stories and more below the fold.

Afternoon folks!

On balance this week is going to be a little folkier than some others. We start off with some serious blues from Phillip Walker and Lonesome Sundown and go from there to a folkier blues with Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan and then on to Chet Atkins & Doc Watson. After that it's on to some r&b with Tracy Nelson followed by a 70's Dr. John album. Then it's back to some folk-rock with Lindisfarne and we finish off with a solo album from John Starling, vocalist and guitar player for the bluegrass band The Seldom Scene.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!

Well, good morning, good people, if that is even a possibility for you all, friends!

We continue to be on an Executive Order roll, such as Federal agencies shall provide English only materials, but have discretion to use whatever language makes their work more goals achievable.

This reminds me of the attempt to bring Honduran kids into schools, where none ever existed, but none of the kids understood a word the teachers were saying. The Guatemalan guide said at the least, education would help tamp down incest, although infrastructure and jobs would greatly help large families associate with each other, and brothers and sisters, moms and sons would have choice.

We have some Honduran-like communities in the US, amirite?

There have been many great societal changes down through history. I think it's inarguable that we are in one of those great changes at the present. How we got here is debatable, but I note a pattern to the trajectory, an oscillation, a swing from one extreme to another, like a pendulum.

Instead of rushing headlong into a rapid change, we're being marched incrementally to whatever it is that's been long planned for us. To me, it's been obvious the last few election cycles as we bounce from one amplitude of the pendulum to the next, ala Edgar Allan Poe's tale of a massive blade that's lowered ever so slightly upon each swing back and forth until society is broken and divided.