Keeper of the Clown Bell

This month I was asked to officiate a wedding and while doing so I took it upon myself to write down some observations on this ancient institution as a codification of natural impulses and a binding of mystical forces that can produce both gold and nitroglycerine (and everything in between) depending on the measure and mixture involved. This great honor was bestowed upon me by my step-daughter so I applied myself and crammed a lifetime worth of contemplation on this subject into a few short paragraphs which, as it turns out, was a wise approach because I had to preform this wedding under the clock of an approaching thunderstorm. As I spoke these words the barometric pressure noticeably dropped and the first heavy drops of rain began to fall as a prelude to the April showers just over my shoulder. Friedrich Nietzsche made the pithy observation that “A married philosopher belongs to comedy” because, in his opinion, no thinking person would willingly shackle themselves ...

The critical battlefield was outlined by POTUS 44 with the mid-December release of  his annual list of favorites  from the closing year (2025) which includes the top movies he has watched in the hours that remain after reading many books and listening to a lot of music. Because he's a capitol (D) donkey I figure Barack gets to watch all of these pictures for free plus hear the industry chit-chat about what celebritards are paid to promote. As longtime KOTCB readers know, I do NOT usually watch the films critiqued here because, for the most part, I don't need to but unlike Barry I do give commentary regarding the themes in these flicks to explain WHY they make anyones list. The Enigma just lobs his picks skyward like he's shooting hoops with LeBron and hopes the rock falls into the hole.* For me it's one battle after another in the cinephile war and in the spirit of years past I humbly submit my reviews. Through a series of odd circumstances, I have actually watched a mo...

  First Kiss Standing outside an Episcopal church in Middletown, RI this October I was approached by a TDS addled Senator (D-RI) who said, "I didn't expect to see you here." It's probably true, I don't live in Rhode Island and I haven't summered there for well over a decade but I did make the 8 hour drive up I-95 to attend a memorial service for our old friend who had passed away in the summer after a long illness. She died in Scotland, which is a place she loved, and was buried there but her American friends insisted on gathering to celebrate her life and spirt on Yankee soil. I responded to the Senator, "I wouldn't miss this, she was a very important person in my life" which was the truth and he grunted an affirmation then pressed on to glad-hand his constituents. The recently deceased was best friend to his wife so maybe he had heard second hand stories or idle gossip about my past associations and intertwining history with the lady being eulo...

It was a lazy, hot July afternoon and I'm lounging with my son in the man cave watching the FIFA Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey just shocked by the way Chelsea is dominating PSG. Not what we expected but... I can't say we were feeling bad about the halftime score as we discussed first half plays and various strategies for the second half while ignoring Doja Cat and other misfits perform satanic rituals during the   "Global Citizen" halftime show . Just another sportsball diversion with the usual fake enthusiasm and cultural wasteland pomp we've all grown accustomed to when, to our surprise, a diminutive and deformed   Emmanuel Kelly took to the stage and busted out the opening lines of Coldplay's kindergarten carol “A Sky Full of Stars.” Laughter filled the room at the site of this Iraqi troll, deformed by chemical warfare and abandoned in a box, now temporarily fronting an English pop band at an international spectacle seen by millions....

There are three meta totems that serve as recurring symbols of the modernist ethos projected by the Techno-Fascist Imperium which I have contemplated my entire adult life. They are as follows: Disposable lighters  - released on the world in 1973 these little Promethean wonder sticks brought fire to everyman at almost no cost in a valueless plastic container which could be tossed or lost without consequence. In a post titled  July 5th - Disposable Culture  the KOTCB marked '73 as year zero of America's  50 Years Of Failure  in large measure because of the irony of these butane lighters and the impact they had on global human consciousness. Jell-O  - It is a food product that requires refrigeration but provides no nutritional value to the grinning Deeble who spoons the colored cubes of reconstituted cow bones(?) into his gaping mouth. I put the (?) behind the possible ingredient of Jell-O because... little known fact... only a handful of people, by which I me...

In the spring of 2021 I had a near death experience when my Chevy Silverado loaded with 30 cases of wine was rear-ended at 50mph  by a young lady who was texting-while-driving at 9:30 AM. Her Mercedes sedan flashed in my driver side mirror a moment before impact and that microsecond of awareness gave me just enough time to pull my foot off the break and jam the gas so when she plowed into my trailer hitch the impact met no resistance and launched my truck across the road and into the woods. I had stopped in the road, left blinker signaling, waiting for an oncoming pickup truck to pass and, by the grace of God, it did pass me just as the distracted driver in the mirror slammed into my flashing taillight. Everyone walked away from the crash with no serious injury but if the impact had transpired 2 seconds earlier it would have been a “Road Warrior” bloodbath of terror and death. When I stepped out of my vehicle and looked through the roadside trees I had miraculously missed hitting i...

As a prelude to inserterection Day Poop POTUS Jo(((k)))e Brandon made a pilgrimage to Valley Forge and upon that hallowed ground mumbled the curious supplication: Is Democracy still America's sacred cause? I'm not going focus on #DementiaHitler or his scripted answer to the question which was as dishonest and stupid as the last time he defiled a place of civic importance with his accusatory rhetoric and purposeful misreading of the nations spiritual mission. See KOTCB  Orange Brandon Razing  for a full review of that desecration and  World War Zzzz  for a follow up musings which, as it happens, link to the question of the hour. At the end of this meditation I will address one glaring historical observation that simply can not pass uncorrected but for the purposes of this post I will focus my comments on the real inserterection and why it happened. Here's an inserterection timeline with pithy descriptions + some reference links at the end. Attention: 2008 - Financial ...