Keeper of the Clown Bell

There are some TV shows that I associate with a political era as they are conceived, go through pre-production negotiations, financed and "brought to life" as it were during a particular political reign and their popularity reflects a change in our social Zeitgeist. Looking back I think of All in the Family as springing from the Nixon years (same with M.A.S.H) and Dallas + countless other prime time soap operas born from Jimmy Peanut's America and riding the Reagan wave like everyone else. Geo. Bush #1 have us The Simpsons and Seinfeld and other shows about nothing. The Clinton years gave us The Sopranos which exalted (and tried to explain) the humanity of a criminal family striving to act like normal people. The Shield is the show representing the Geo. Bush #2 age and the compromise required to keep a lid on things which devolved into Breaking Bad during the Obama years. Obama's time on the throne of power is epitomized by Game of Thrones and the bleak merciless wo…

There is a force in nature that can not be underestimated or ignored and that force is consistency. In my part of the world, what I like to call John Bell country (otherwise known as The Heart of America),  that consistency comes every vernal equinox when the cercis canadensis prepares to bloom and over the next 6 weeks erupts into a fiery ball of life. Our State tree is the Dogwood and it is beautiful to see the flowers bloom in early spring against a backdrop of still dormant woodland with the yellow swaths of Forsythia and dabs of Daffodil. But when the Redbud starts popping and flowering along the branch it is magic to the eyes and it happens so slowly and with such consistency that you can actually watch the petals unfold. It happens every year the same as it has happened for millennia before humans walked this land and, God willing, it will continue long past my time but I sure do enjoy it while I'm here - in fact, I'd have to say, just by itself my annual spectating of…

Am I to understand that:
Gov. Ralph Northam was NOT in the Black Face/Klansman photo in his college yearbook page.
Jesse Smollett did NOT fake a hate crime against himself in Chicago.
Charlize Theron's adopted (black) son is NOT a boy because at age 3 (s)he decided to be a girl.

Just random observations floating in our political/cultural aether and it's best to NOT look too closely because, well, it's just hard to measure and confront the truth of the assertion. Don't ask a bunch of obnoxious questions or push too hard because there's no stomach for getting to the truth. Let sleeping dogs lie.

How about this dog?
The Intelligence Community was NOT spying on Donald Trump's campaign and presidential transition team.

It was not immediately clear what Mr. Barr was referring to, and he did not present evidence to back up his statement. The F.B.I. obtained a secret surveillance warrant on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, after he left the campaign, and r…

The KOTCB blog has been published since 2004 with a singular focus of identifying societies clowns and making fun of them so you can imagine the shock this lighthearted publication felt when Right Wing Watch splashed this headline a few days ago: White Nationalists Adopt Clowns as Their Next Racist Symbol (Yes, Seriously). Say it ain't so... Joe. If white nationalists "adopt clowns" to represent their race based approach to society, economics and culture then this blog is going to be very busy and the right-wing shall kek while the left-wing gets kerfuzzled. I happen to be a right-wing Francophileand a non-white supremacist member of the Alt-Right, if by Alt-Right you mean someone who's opposed to losing like the "traditional" right exemplified by Conservative Inc., so I'm already befuddled by the assertions the watch dogs are making about clown memes. On the face of it, nothing will change for this blog - we'll still "Ring Loud, Ring Often&qu…

On Friday March 22nd at 5pm ET Robert Mueller handed his Special Councel report on the "Russia Probe" to AG Barr and a gigantic pinata that had been crammed with goodies since late July 2016 is about to get ripped open scattering sweets and sours all over Washington DC. Everyone is still wide eyed at the spectacle of the moment after so many months years of anticipation and frozen with shock and awe that a document costing approx. $35k per page is going fall to the ground in a thousand pieces to be picked over by political operatives and journalists for the next 18 months. This thing is only 2/3rds over folks and we've got a lot more "Mueller Time" and "Russia Probe" in our future so it's time to get serious because now is when the fighting really starts. Vox did a nice job of explaining what the Left expected from the report but didn't get (yet). Over at the Conservative Treehouse sundance lays it all out w/timeline and makes the point that …

Last Thursday the Senate voted 59-41 to overturn the President's national emergency border declaration and the names of the GOP turncoats are Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rob Portman of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mitt Romney of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah. Senator Portman fears that "a future President may well say that climate change is a national emergency and use emergency authorities to implement the Green New Deal." It's a constitutional issue ya see:

"Declaring a national emergency to access different funds sets a dangerous new precedent," GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio warned in remarks on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. "It opens the door for future presidents to implement just about any policy they want."

This is very, very funny or sick or insane or something b…