The Friday Link for 6/5/20

Hi everyone.

Let's start everyone off with something to clear your mind.

That is the lower part of 9 Mile Creek in Bloomington, MN.  Ever since we've been on Corona Virus lockdown, I've tried to get to as many of the local parks as I can, and this is one of the nicest so far.  

This week to take your mind off of all the bad things going on, let's revisit The Lord Of The Rings. Josh Gad, broadway star and Olaf from Frozen, has started a new show, Reunited Apart, where he reunites the cast of iconic films.  So far he's only done four, but he also has learned to go big or go home.

He got pretty much every major member of The Lord of the Rings to show up for a video chat about the film, and to re-enact some of the movies iconic scenes.  Does Elijah Wood not age?  Almost everyone but Cate Blanchet is here.

I still remember seeing the film in the theaters and being so angry when I realized it was going to be two more years before the trilogy was complete.  Peter Jackson's work so deserved an Oscar.

Hope you enjoy this!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Be safe!

Bob Kroll, Paul Gazelka and the Truth

On Monday June 1, an eye opening letter from the union head for the Minneapolis police department Bob Kroll, addressed to his union, came to light.  It's a letter to address the union in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder by Minneapolis police and the rioting in the city in the days afterwards which left Minneapolis looking like a war zone.  The letter is chock full of insanity and I broke it down extensively in the blog post Portraits of Insanity! The Bob Kroll Letter!

I want to focus on three sentences in the 5th paragraph of the letter:

• "I've had numerous conversations with politicians at the state level.  I gave a detailed plan of action including a range of 2000 to 3000 National Guard, their deployment allocations throughout our city and St. Paul, in a phone meeting with Senate majority leader Paul Gazelka.  The Senate was going to try and run the actions that the governor displayed he is clearly incompetent to do."

WOW!  That's a barn burner! It makes the allegation that the head of the Minneapolis Police Union was working with the Minnesota Senate Majority Leader (and maybe the entire Republican majority in the Senate) to...pick your word; undermine, overthrow, usurp Governor Tim Walz's power and install themselves in control of the state, at least during the riots.  It sounds like they were planning on a coup d'état.

Almost immediately Paul Gazelka came out and insisted this was a misunderstanding, that he never was looking to undermine the Governor's power.  He never said Kroll was lying, but he clearly was throwing Kroll under the bus.

The Senator did two interviews I listened too, one on MPR Monday night, with two clips posted on Brian Bakst's Twitter feed (@Stowydad) and another interview with one of the conservative radio stations in town.  He did this interview on Tuesday morning.  I will tell you the name of the station if you ask, but I won't promote the station here.  I've downloaded the hour of the show which features the Gazelka interview.

From Gazelka's own answers, let's assemble a timeline of events:

• Prior to the George Floyd murder, subsequent protests and rioting, the last time Paul Gazelka says he talked to Bob Kroll was in late March/Early April.
• Paul Gazelka admits the first time he as Senate Majority Leader talked to the Governor during this current crisis was in a series of text messages on Thursday night.  This surprised me on two levels.  We had the death on Monday, protestors abused by police on Tuesday, and chaos erupt on Wednesday and the the first time you contacted the Governor was on Thursday night...VIA TEXT?  Okay...
• Gazelka says in these Thursday texts, when asked about why the National Guard had not been deployed, the Governor responded "call Bob Kroll."  He then says he offered to help the Governor get Bob Kroll's contact information so he could communicate with him directly.  The presumption is he contacted Kroll that evening and got the okay to give the Governor the contact info.  It's also not a reach to presume this is where Kroll said he wanted to have an extended conversation with Gazelka, something which took place on Friday morning.  
• On Friday morning Gazelka and Kroll have the conversation which appears to be the conversation mentioned in Kroll's union letter.  During this meeting, Kroll lays out extensive plans to deal with the crisis in Minneapolis.  Gazelka apparently liked a lot of the plans, but reiterated that he never once talked to Kroll about the Senate taking action to usurp the Governor's authority.  Gazelka is insisting Kroll's 'Senate' statement is false.
• Friday afternoon, Gazelka has a press conference, which for some reason he feels is a direct communication with the Governor.  It's not.  It's a press conference, and considering the chaos in the state AND the pandemic, I don't think Governor Tim Walz is stopping everything whenever Paul Gazelka speaks.
• In both interviews, Gazelka admits he liked a lot of Kroll's suggestions and put them forward as actionable items during his press conference.  He insisted he was very clear these were options for the Governor to do, but demanding the Governor do something is very different than giving him options.  Gazelka seemed to be demanding.
• The first time Paul Gazelka actually had a real conversation with Governor Walz was Saturday morning, so for the record the first time he REALLY talked to the Governor was Saturday.
• The last timeline item was Gazelka mentioning he and MN House minority leader Kurt Daudt were both in the 'situation room' on Saturday evening as the Minnesota National Guard started a far more aggressive sweep of the city.

Gazelka went onto say (in both interviews) he never once talked with the commander of the MN National Guard until Saturday night.  And during the MPR interview, where he acquiesced much more than he did on the conservative station, he added it was foolish to think the Senate Majority leader has the power to do anything of that nature, the governor is the Commander and Chief and Gazelka insisted that never thought he was trying to usurp him.

I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but this is basically what happened.  Clearly Gazelka seemed more interested in talking to Bob Kroll directly than to the Governor.  Gazelka definitely liked a lot of Kroll's ideas, even incorporating them extensively into his press conference, and Gazelka is steadfast that he never had any intent of undermining the Governor's power.

That's it!  Case closed...well outside of one little nugget Gazelka himself shared on Friday night.  

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka himself admitted to trying to undermine the Governor's authority!!!

PRIOR to having a voice conversation with Governor Walz, Gazelka rushed to every media outlet he could late Friday night and early Saturday morning and bragged about calling the White House directly.  Quote: "I said Minnesota needs you.  Our Governor is not able to keep the peace. And we need help before our city burns down."  Full story from the Star Tribune here (but most news outlets have a version of the story, or live coverage from that night featuring Gazelka): https://www.startribune.com/walz-bolsters-guard-troops-after-4th-destructive-night/570882282/

Gazelka himself says he never asked the Governor if he should call the White House, that the only communication during this crisis he had with Governor Walz prior to attempting to call Trump were some text messages on Thursday and a press conference, which once again is NOT direct communication with Governor Walz, but rather Gazelka blabbing into cameras (with no guarantee Governor Walz actually saw the press conference).  It sounds like Gazelka took this action on his own.

Gazelka tried to go over the Governor's head and bring in the Federal government to wrestle control from Walz.  He begged for them to come here, insisted the Governor was failing, and that unless Trump interceded, the city would DIE!!!  Indeed, that does sound like an attempt to overthrown the elected governor of Minnesota.

Let me put out a completely hypothetical scenario:

• Kroll and Gazelka did talk about taking control of the state on Friday morning.  Gazelka might not have have the full Senate on board, but he might have insisted if push came to shove, he could get all the Republican Senators to go along with it.
• Their plan kicked off with the press conference, with Gazelka demanding many of Kroll's ideas to be put into action.
• Kroll and Gazelka knew the Minnesota National Guard would never go along with them (considering they are loyal to Minnesota, and Gov. Walz was a member of the MN National guard for 24 years), so they decide to directly appeal to Trump himself.
• Kroll and Trump are on friendly terms, something we know from the October 2019 rally, so he probably has contacts at the White House which might get Trump on the line with Gazelka.  Kroll needed a high level politician on his side if he had any hope to pulling this off. 
• The idea is simple; get Trump to send in the US military, Trump would tell Walz to step aside, Gazelka would offer himself as an interim leader, and Kroll would take over cracking skulls in Minneapolis.
• Gazelka was not able to talk to Trump directly.  My guess [hypothetical in a hypothetical] is that someone at the White House informed him the only person who can request Federal troops is the Governor himself.
• Gazelka, in a last ditch effort, runs to every media outlet he can late Friday/early Saturday to let everyone know he tried to call in the military, as Walz had failed the state.  By the way, Walz had a press conference very early Saturday morning where he said enough is enough and made the plans to put in the final strategy, which was implemented with success Saturday night
• Finally, after realizing there was no way to go around him, Gazelka conceded on Saturday morning and FINALLY calls Walz directly, telling him he's the one in charge. 

Like I said, a hypothetical; pulling it out of my caboose, but it does explain Kroll's letter comments, and no on can deny Gazelka tried to do an end around on the Governor with Trump on Friday night. 

I'm calling for a full investigation.  We should not take a (potential) attempted overthrow of an elected Governor lightly. 

If my hypothetical scenario is at all true, Kroll and Gazelka are idiots, as neither of them understand the structure of state/federal governmental power, nor do they understand the power of the position they so desperately wanted to occupy. Once again, IF my hypothetical is true.  One thing that is undeniable, neither of them have the intelligence or leadership of Governor Walz.

Portraits of Insanity! The Bob Kroll Letter

Portraits in insanity, The Bob Kroll letter!  

Here's the letter that Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis Police Union wrote to the Union, a letter former Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau posted to the world.  The following 25 (!) bullet points will break down the narcissistic megalomaniac Bob Kroll is.  Following the bouncing ball kids!

1 – [paraphrasing] “No one but us will recognize…the extreme bravery you’ve displayed.”  That is some serious brainwashing, cult crap.  

a)    No, many people have recognized it for what it was.

b)    I don’t think abandoning parts of the city and targeting journalists is ‘brave.’

2 –  “You’ve turned the tide of the…riot”  No, the National Guard was the main reason the tide was turned.  We’ll get you a participation ribbon.

3 – “…You have lacked support from the top.” Bull, if anything they gave you too much leeway at the beginning.  And city council members asking where the police are on Wed., Thurs. And Fri. is observational, not critical.

4 – “This Terrorist movement…”  People upset at the police murdering #GeorgeFloyd are not terrorists.  Criminals are causing a lot of problems, but calling them terrorist seems desperate.  It’s even too heavy handed if you are referring to the MPD themselves.

5 – Paragraph two is a weak attempt at blaming the crisis on the Mayor and city council not giving you everything you want during union negotiations. Poor Baby! And if you're at the point where residents NOT getting killed by cops is an ‘anti-police agenda,’ Guilty as charged! 

6 – What led to the riot breaking out was 4 police officers MURDERING George Floyd!  Remember, your department initially LIED about what happened.  They had body cam footage.  They knew.

7 – Paragraph three you talk about not being able to defend yourselves.  After the insane Thunderdome your officers displayed on the evening of Tuesday, May 26th, firing into crowds, indiscriminately, and targeting the media, I wouldn’t let you clowns have a spoon, let alone ordinance. 

8 – “people on the ground…make the tactical decisions to effectively end the situation.”  THAT sounds like you wish you could have mowed down the residents of Minneapolis en masse.  YIKES!

9 – Paragraph four you talk about the Mayor and Governor never praising the Minneapolis Police Department.  I’ve heard them both offer praise to the police.  I think this more of the brainwashing, cult, ‘I love you. They Hate you’ crap.

10 – Your swipe at the command staff in paragraph four is interesting.  It adds A LOT of credence to the idea you're trying to take over the Minneapolis Police from the union head position.  More of the brainwashing. (Don’t trust your boss, trust ME!)

11 – You and the Police Federation Board are cops right?  In Paragraph five, when you say you’ve been absent, WHY?  Shouldn’t you be out there as the city is falling apart?

12 –  Paragraph five starts to expose a FAR more nefarious plot where #BobKroll is trying to override the elected officials in the state and install his own governmental structure.  What do you mean you and Senator Paul Gazelka have been hashing out a plan?

13 – Also Paragraph 5, Sen. Gazelka and the slim majority in the Minnesota Senate agreed to overthrow (?!?) Gov. Tim Walz and install their own orders.  Bob Kroll is under the impression this coup was in the works…

14 – Bob Kroll, you do realize that Gov. Tim Walz was a member of the Minnesota National Guard for TWENTY-FOUR YEARS.  And he was HIGHLY decorated!  You thinking you could manage the National Guard better is LAUGHABLE!

15 – Also Bob doesn’t realize every police officer not wearing a Minneapolis police uniform has openly criticized the tactics and poor management of the Minneapolis police.  

16  –  For the record I called this last Tuesday morning, Bob Kroll attempting to character assassinate the victim.  “What is not being told is the violent criminal history of #GeorgeFloyd.”

Bob, on behalf of Minneapolis, and from the bottom of my heart, GO F- YOURSELF JACKASS!

17 – End of Paragraph 5, you are not only trying to remove any legal issues, you want the four officers to get their jobs back? This is a police officer insisting facts don’t matter, reality doesn’t matter, and the process doesn’t matter, only HIS way matters. That’s not law enforcement, that’s a dictator.

18 – Paragraph six.  Bob, don’t fool yourself, I’ve been targeting you for years, ever since you threw that temper tantrum with the Lynx. Sorry I hurt your Boo Boo Kitty feelings!

19 – “My visibility…would only increase your danger.”  That sounds a lot like Trump cowering in his cheeseburger bunker. Also more brainwashing, cult crap. "I’m sacrificing for YOU!"

20 – Anyone sending death threats to Bob, stop it.  Seriously, that’s pathetic.

21 – “Your Federation board will not remain silent” - after being on a self-quarantine for the last week where you had self-induced silence.  Okay…

22 –  The incident you describe in Paragraph 7, if it’s the incident I heard about, it wasn’t just police being targeted, but National Guard troops too.  Why would you omit their involvement?  And what’s with “this too is being handled.” Investigating crimes is a police officer’s job. OF COURSE you should be handling it!

23 – Can I ask, did you send a letter like this to the union after Mohamed Noor killed Justine Ruszczyk?  If not, what was it about that shooting incident which didn’t warrant you character assassinating, plotting with Paul Gazelka, and smearing ever Democrat you could…I have a theory!

24 – Does the MNGOP think taking your side, demanding all charges against the four officers are dismissed and the 4 get offered their jobs back, is a winning platform in Minnesota?  Even the conservative friends I have are aghast by the murder of #GeorgeFloyd. Good Luck with that!

25 – In conclusion, You suck Bob!  You have brought in a toxic mentality to the Minneapolis police.  You seem be trying to take control of the police.  You want to remove all elected officials in your way.  You’re a bad cop.  

#Resign!

Minneapolis, Late May, 2020

The Plumber

A conversation:

Person #1 (could be a Republican, or a member of the news media) - I am SO mad at my plumber.

Person #2 (rational sane person) - Why?

#1 - I can't believe how bad he is at building my new wooden staircase.

#2 - Umm...you said plumber.  Don't you mean carpenter?

#1 - Sure whatever.  I can't believe how badly the plumber did the bannister.

#2 - You just said plumber again, you mean carpenter.

#1 - Carpenter, plumber.  What does it matter?  Since they're both from the workman trades, they all can be lumped into one large group anyway.

#2 - No they can't.  Plumbers are here to fix pipes and drains.  Carpenters work with wood.

#1 - What's the point of me trying to keep them separate.  And speaking of which, that damn plumber also screwed up when they installed the new electrical plugs on my basement!"

#2 - Okay wait a second.  Now you are accusing the plumber of making the mistakes the electrician made.

#1 - Okay, sure I could specifically attribute the actions of the plumber to the plumber, the carpenter to the carpenter, and the electrician to the electrician, but it is much faster for me to just criticize the plumber.  It streamlines the narrative.

#2 - But it blames the plumber for all the actions and mistakes of the carpenter or the electrician.  That's wildly unfair to the plumber when all the plumber was doing was CORRECTLY fixing the drains and pipes.

#1 - Look at you being SOOOO nitpick-y.  Fine, if it makes you feel better I will attribute the actions of the carpenter to the carpenter and the electrician to the electrician.  Happy?  By the way, you know what REALLY made me upset about my local plumber?

#2 - What?

#1 - Well the guy comes here from someplace out of state, shows up and then did a crappy job at fixing the concrete in my driveway.

#2 - Whoa! Did you hit your head?  You mean concrete finisher, NOT plumber! And, if he was from out of state, then he sure wasn't local.  You are purposely going out of your way to unfairly criticize the plumber for things the plumber HAS NOT DONE, even mislabeling the local plumber as an out of state concrete finisher, just because it's convenient to your narrative to blame the plumber for all the bad things that have happened.

#1 - That sounds about right!




The people protesting the death of George Floyd ARE DIFFERENT from the people looting, vandalizing and burning buildings to the ground.  Labeling all the bad behavior as 'being done by protestors' is lazy, designed to vilify people falsely, and dismisses the actions of the people who are undeniably the criminals.

Republicans and media, stop being weak, stop pushing a false narrative and do your damn job.

Protestors protest.  Rioters, looters, arsonists and vandals ARE NOT protesting!

And scene...

The Friday Link for 5/29/20

I'm exhausted.

I planned on at least three blog entries this week, but then Minneapolis Police decided to kill George Floyd.  Then Minneapolis exploded. Then it exploded again, and again...

I'm too tired to type anything, plus it's my youngest daughter's birthday.

The Friday Link piggy backs off the song I played on my show today.  Here is the entire Rush in Rio concert from 2003.

When my mind is getting ready to break, I listen to Rush, the exceptional Canadian band.  With Neil Peart gone it's a bit sad, but I'll take it over the insanity of our world today.  Neil's drum solo is at 1:53:30.

Plus watching 70,000 Brazilians go nuts is kind of fun.  My favorite part is them singing along to the INSTRUMENTAL song YYZ (28:15).  This was the concert which made the music industry say "maybe we were wrong about the legacy of those prog rock guys.




Have a good weekend everyone.  Please stay safe.

The Friday Link for 5/22/20

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

I hope you have a nice weekend.  Please take a few moments to remember those who have fought for our country, those who serve our country, and the 100,000 people we have lost due to Corona Virus.

A few yeats back I featured a mash up. That's when you take to songs, usually from different genres, and mix them like a club DJ.  If I remember correctly is was an Ozzy Osbourne/Earth Wind and Fire combo platter, and it was really goo.

That was nothing.

Meet The Hood Internet and the INSANELY good mash ups of 50 songs from any given year, into a 3 minute long song.  The first one I watched was 1980.  At a minute in, Rush shows up (always a solid choice), but then he mashes together Steely Dan, Diana Ross and AC/DC.  AND IT WORKS!  The next 30 minutes was me just watching this insanely well put together mass ups.

For your listening enjoyment, let me post 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1986.  They're all gold!













Last thing this Friday, Randy Rainbow delivers again, this time with 'Distraction!'



Have a great weekend everyone!

The Sadness

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to write this post on this blog over the last few weeks.  I start writing, and...I get sad.  I've told myself maybe I'll just post something else, but I just don't have the heart.

I know the following statement is a big 'No duh,' but excuse me for never having been here before. Pandemics suck.

In 6 months we're going to have more people in the US die from COVID-19 than the number of soldiers killed in WWI.  Think about that for a second.  Think about every community who has a memorial in place for the lives lost in 'The Great War.'  That war, like the the Civil War and WWII, shook this country so much every small town went out of their way to remember the people they lost, yet today most people insulate themselves from the Corona Virus dead via Tiger King.

CoronaVirus is a real nasty virus.  Depending on how we coordinate our adjustments in the next two months, we could see a far deadlier 2nd wave; an explosion of deaths doubling or even tripling the initial body count.  At the end of the day, human life should matter most of all, but for a shocking amount of people it doesn't.

Trump did not cause Corona Virus, but his Administration's INSANE handling of this crisis has done unfathomable damage.  We're the worst county on the planet for number of people killed and the number of cases total.  My friends who live overseas refer to the US as a third world country now, saddled with a government incapable of taking care of its own citizens.

To be fair, the executives running the medical industry in America have made US medicine far less capable of taking care of the countries 330 million people.  They've turned to a business model geared to supplying healthcare to the people with the biggest bank accounts, streamlining every other medical service into limited use.  It's a system only focused on what's in front of the care giver at that given moment, a system of bare minimal care at an extraordinary cost.  This pandemic is only exposing the problems created by executives more concerned about their third vacation homes, as US medicine has become for profit only.

This was the worst thing that could ever happen to America with a guy like Trump in office.  A crisis like Corona Virus demands empathy, a trait Trump is incapable of delivering. This is a man who only cares about his image.  He tries to dismiss the virus.  He tries to bully the virus.  He tries to make the virus disappear, and yet (shockingly to no one) the virus isn't listening to him.  HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT AMERICANS DYING!!!  He only cares about getting his stock market bragging rights back and holding more of his Trump rallies, something he'd already done if not for staff members telling him no way.

Then there are the Trump supporters.  Screaming in the face of Governors who are trying to save their citizens.  Screaming the faces of scientists who dare tell them the virus won't just go away, and that ingesting household cleaning supplies is not a safe option.  Screaming in the faces of doctors and nurses because they feel they're part of some massive conspiracy to cost Trump the election. Screaming in the faces of people who want to social distance or wear a face mask, accusing them of also being part of the conspiracy against their beloved leader.  And dismissing the dead, as long as it's someone else's mother or father, grand mother or grandfather, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, neighbor or friend.  "How dare they die just to make Trump look bad."

The irony for Trump is how he could've saved his presidency by showing even the slightest bit of competency, by not getting jealous of all the media attention Corona Virus was getting.  If he would've been just passible in this crisis, the US death count would be dramatically less, people would feel safer, and he sure wouldn't have to encourage a near suicide death cult like mentality in his followers to feel better about himself (to the horror of the rest of us).

This is sad.  This is a freaking mess.  It's going to get worse before it gets better.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

The Friday Link for 5/15/20

Well I failed at posting anything this week.  I could tell you I didn't get anything written this week because I was busy (I was), or that I was exhausted (I was), or that I had other commitments (I did).

The truth is every time I started to write, I got sad.

Trust me, I've started to write numerous posts about the insanity which is the conservative mentality towards Corona Virus, but I get one or two words into it, realize how depressing this whole mess is, and I have to stop.

I took some really nice photos at the Arboretum today with the kids.  I'll post them tomorrow.

For this weeks Friday Link, let's talk about great movie scenes.  With more home based evenings, I've been watching more movies and here are some classic scenes which (in my opinion) make some movies just classics.

A warning:  I don't want to have anyone get upset with me about spoilers.  You click on the link, you are choosing to watch the scene.  If you want a spoiler free Friday Link, then go watch the movies and then come back.

First up a classic scene with Dudley Moore from Arthur.  The Moose scene.  This won't ruin the movie for you, but it is an all time classic movie scene.



Next up is a shockingly good scene from a movie I've watched repeatedly, and not just because I love baseball.  Moneyball is about finding a way to win without superstar players, and Brad Pitt's Billy Beane coming to grips with his career not being what he though it would be.  In this scene, Pitt and a wonderful Brent Jennings visit Chris Pratt, and surprise him.



Finally, and this scene will give away a lot, so if you want to watch Silver Linings Playbook without having it spoiled, then go watch it.

This is the dance competition scene at the end.  You have to watch the whole movie be able to put it into context but the reactions are brilliant, and Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper dance their cabooses off.  When you get two very unlikeable characters and are rooting for them in the end, a lot of things have gone right with the movie.

The language is quite rough too.   You've been warned.




Have a great weekend everyone.

The Friday Link for 5/8/20

Howdy all.

Yes this blog has been light but I'm losing 12 to 15 hours per week with kids stuff, now that they're home.  I've a lot of great post ideas but I find I'm too exhausted by the time I have a window to type.  Sorry.  I'll try to do better.

Tonight, let's start off with two adorable animal videos from The Dodo.  These stories will make you want a beaver and a squirrel for your own.





Finally, It's another edition of Some Good News.  This episode seemed appropriate considering the decision today to basically cancel all graduation ceremonies for any school with more than 100 graduates.  John Krasinski tries to make good for the graduates without a graduation.



Be sane graduates.  We're all really proud of you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Friday Link for 5/1/20

Howdy all!

This Friday, I'd be wrong to not feature Brad Pitt's Dr. Fauci impression from last weeks SNL out of the gate.  "Miracles shouldn't be 'Plan A.' Even Sully tried to land at the airport first."  Outstanding!



That being said, it's time to ask the question; is 2020 the worst year ever?

Not even close.  Hey, so far it's been pretty rough, and I highly doubt things are going to become stellar by Autumn, but it would take a lot to make this year the worst of all time. Seriously it would take a lot to make 2020 worse than 536.

Scientists have actually tried to figure this out, and they stumbled upon the consensus 536 was a God awful year to be alive, and not just because of the lack of internet and how you could die of a tooth ache.  How bad?  The sun disappeared, and then it went downhill from there.  Let me pass it off to Weird History and let them explain why no one is taking the time machine back to 536.



Then again, we really haven't seen this planet get its worst.  Currently we are ramping up on the heat scale and are very likely to have a massive die off on the planet in the next hundred years or so, but eventually the planet will cool back down.  That's how these things eventually go.

PBS Eons takes us back to the REALLY bad days; the last TWO TIMES the planet froze over.



On that bright note, have a great weekend everyone!

Pump up the Jams!

Lately, I've been dancing to end out the radio show each day.  I'm not sure why, but people like it.  I think they feel if I can smile at the end of all this they can too.

Here are some of the songs I've featured over the last few weeks.  No preference or list, just good booty shakers.  Enjoy!



























And the song that started it all off...



Shake your booty!

Tread Lightly

Joe Biden is the presidential nominee for the Democrats.  When he became the nominee, and Bernie Sanders withdrew, I wasn't surprised Tulsi Gabbard also withdrew, a candidate who only looked to be running in case there was a need for a third party moderate Democrat candidate (it remains to be seen if she was coordinating with the Russians/Trump or not).

I also wasn't surprised there was suddenly an allegation of sexual misconduct against Joe Biden.

I'm not here to negate Tara Reade's story.  She makes an allegation and the allegation deserves to be heard.

Reade's story is all over the place. In April of 2019 she specifically claimed Biden mistreated her by demeaning her, adding that her allegations were not a "sexualization."  Compare that with the story she told in March 2020 where suddenly it was an actual sexual assault allegation.

Inconsistency is a hallmark of Tara Reade.  That is still not negating her story, only stating a fact.  If you want to read the eyebrow raising inconsistencies yourself, check out the Medium story which leaves you with FAR more questions than answers. https://medium.com/@eddiekrassenstein/evidence-casts-doubt-on-tara-reades-sexual-assault-allegations-of-joe-biden-e4cb3ee38460

Also you can read the New York Times story on the allegations.  Although they just reiterated this doesn't prove Reade's lying, they found no evidence to back up her claims.  To quote their story:

• "Ms. Reade said she could not remember the exact time, date or location of the assault..." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-sexual-assault-complaint.html

Once again, this isn't saying she's lying, but she needs to clear up the bountiful inconsistencies in her story.

There are a few other issues I have with Reade's allegation.  Once again, I'm not discounting her, just stating facts.

The Obama Administration - You're telling me, in a time when right wing organizations were paying TOP dollar for anything that could smear the Obama Administration, no one came forward with this?  Not one friend, not one co-worker, not an ex-boyfriend, not a family member, NO ONE?  That by far is the hardest element of this story.  There was such pressure to find dirt on Obama and Biden the media made outrageous claims about dijon mustard, chewing gum, umbrellas, mom jeans and bowing too deeply in an effort to tarnish them.  There was a constant spotlight on that White House, with thousands of Republican operatives trying to dig up dirt.  It seems impossible this could've been missed.

Let me go back to how inconsistent her story is - She can't remember anything about the assault. She allegedly told one friend who will not go on the record.  She allegedly also told her brother, but he's being coy with interviews.  Another person who says she told her of this 'incident' was a former landlord.  Really?  Once again, facts might get blurred in a high stress situation, and it's easy to understand why a person would not tell too many people.  Her story on why she left DC is also all over the place, talking about job offers, then talking about getting blacklisted and then saying she had become disinterested in Democracy itself.  Plus she was outright praising Biden as recently as 2017, and her initial allegation specifically said she was not assaulted sexually.  You don't dismiss Tara Reade, but she needs to give a credible timeline.  She also needs to have others who supposedly can back her up to do so publicly, on the record.  

The House and Senate Republicans are being VERY quiet - This tells me a lot.  You can't have these hearings without Democrats being able to ask questions themselves.  The second they do, Reade's entire story will likely fall apart.  The Republicans don't want to look like they're pushing a trumped up allegation in an effort to discredit a candidate.  If Reade is telling the truth, they potentially could have a weapon to ruin the Democratic challenger to Trump, but so far they reluctance to use Reade tells me they themselves already know the allegations have issues.

This undeniably helps Trump - Like I mentioned earlier, much like Tulsi leaving the race when a third party moderate could no longer help Trump win (speculative), this allegation is incredibly convenient for Trump.  Trump has DOZENS of far more credible allegations against him.  Would Trump and the entities who want to see him win (Russia) fabricate an allegation as a way to take Trump's sexual assault allegations off the campaign table?  Of course they would!

The Russia Connection - Reade needs to do a FAR better job at explaining her Russia connection, and her never ending praise of Putin over the last few years (something explored in the Medium story), but this isn't the only Russian connection I've seen.  With my radio show I have a social media presence.  Like all major stories, I've posted links to articles about these allegations.  That was weeks ago.  Almost every morning I wake up to find comments on these weeks old stories, comments which are posted at 1 or 2 in the morning (9 -10 AM Moscow time).  The comments are always a 'How dare Democrats claim to be #MeToo and not believe Reade's story 100%.  I guess your outrage is one sided!'  When you click on the accounts posting theses comments, they're all troll accounts.  There's no content to them at all, featuring names like 'Steve Smith' and 'Mary Andrews,' claiming to be wholesome Americans, with stock images as their banner and avatar.  One of them even had Russian letters on their page.  The Russians are CLEARLY trying to push this story, and that alone is enough for me to question it.

Pro-Trump elements are desperately trying to make this story stick.  Much like the Russians, they imply Democrats are frauds because we aren't throwing Biden off the ticket.  These same people never demanded Trump be thrown off the ticket, even though we have definitive proof of his sexual deviance.  Nor did they demand Brett Kavanaugh's SCOTUS nomination be withdrawn.  The people pushing this story are demanding Democrats double down on their Democratic standards, remove Biden and concede the 2020 election, while at the same time they're embracing the non-existent Republican standards, never having any intent at EVER holding their politicians accountable for their FAR MORE credible allegations.  

I've repeatedly said you give Tara Reade her moment.  Let her speak.  If she wants to clean up her timeline and her story, by all means.  If she wants to testify under oath, I think that would be a good idea.  I won't dismiss, but that doesn't mean I won't ask questions.

If you never once demanded Trump or Kavanaugh be fully investigated, or demanded they needed to step aside until we find out the truth, you can officially shut the hell up.

Part of the Trump strategy is to get the Left to focus on Reade's allegations, to make the 2020 Election about Biden's faults, and not the horrific presidency of Trump.  Part of this effort will be to encourage Democratic voters to stay home and not vote.  I was hesitant to even write this piece, as I didn't want to give this story far more attention than it currently deserves, but here we are.

Supporting #MeToo and supporting women means you don't dismiss, but it doesn't mean you do ask questions.  I won't revisit this unless something FAR more concrete develops.