Keeper of the Clown Bell

Now that Pride Month has climaxed and its debauched parades and divisive corporate controversy are fully spent I'd like to make a few post coital observations between puffs of an imaginary smoke while lounging upon my all too real daybed. I'm not at liberty to speak too freely on the subject of homosexuality specifically or the alphabet people in general because when I do, as I have done in the past, I inevitably get berated and ostracized by family and friends who hold different opinions than I do. The general consensus being that their opinions are right while mine are wrong (or evil), it serves no purpose restate what has already been said so eloquently in June's of yore: June 2015  Hamburger Hill #LustWins  - Same-Sex Marriage is philosophically impossible. June 2016  Gay Inc.  - Big Business reigns over the Pride Parade.  June 2018  “God made you like this and loves you like this.”  - The Pope, Andrew Sullivan and FBPOTUS gets schooled on sexualit...

For the first time in 2 years, 7 months and 10 days I tuned into cable news and watched Donald J Trump critique his indictment, arraignment, prosecutors and  the IC psyop  that has been relentlessly deployed against the American people for the past 8 years. Trump's indictment and arrest were no surprise to me -  I predicted it from the day the FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago Club "searching" for classified documents placed in boxes by nefarious actors in the White House during the packing up process  - so, while I was disappointed to see the US Justice system devolve to a Third World, Banana Republic standard of malversation, I wasn't angry. The anger, what anger there was, disintegrated long ago in the 2015/2016 GOP primary contest when all the politicians and thought leaders warned that Donald Trump  Poses an Unprecedented Threat to American Democracy  and because he's  the banana republic candidate  he  may be a threat to global democracy (exper...

John Henry Durham (great name) dropped his " REPORT ON MATTERS RELATED TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND INVESTIGATIONS ARISING OUT OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL   CAMPAIGNS " and, as the Keeper Of The Clown Bell, I feel compelled to write down my thoughts on this subject which has been the catalyst for so much bell ringing over the past eight (8!) years. I'm going to start with some hard truths, as I see them, and then move into speculative puzzling I've noodled over these long years of Cold Civil War. So don't stop reading even if the bumpy start makes you angry or despondent and be sure to click on the links which serve as footnotes or references for my report. I'm going to start on election night November 8, 2016 and reference a video recording of Government TV's coverage of the big event. The PBS NewsHour panel was populated by establishment left-wing talking heads and GOP squishes preparing to coronate Her as First Woman POTUS and for the first 4 hours of th...

I’ve got a 12 year old son who grew up with an iPad in his hands and, as a member of the Minecraft Generation,  developed a preference for rap music, European Club Soccer and Andrew Tate. He’s convinced that the FBI killed Juice WRLD, knows the FIFA talent rankings of obscure foreign football players (“use the English words”) and quotes Tate's philosophy - “Gods biggest mistake, aside from creating flies, is allowing the gay mindset.” Watching all this Euro football gave him the notion to learn the french language so he downloaded an app and started parler en français. He's already planning next summer’s European vacation while listening to Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" and, wether I like it or not, he's a citizen of the world.  I'm not going to call him un-American but he doesn't watch baseball and he won't eat hot dogs - " have you ever seen how those things are made? " - because of what he's seen on his screen. During my boyhoo...

Well my telephone was ringing, and they told me it was chairman Mao. You got to tell him anything 'cause I just don't want to talk to him now. According to the brilliant troubadour Lowell George the Apolitical Blues are " the meanest blues of all" and who am I to disagree with this soul man now after all these years of living by his maxim.  I first heard the song bursting from the 1972 vinyl of Little Feat's Alt-Rock-Country masterpiece "Sailin' Shoes" in the second story bedroom of my friend John's older brother Edie who, being about 3 years our senior, was instructing us on the importance of good music. This was circa 1975 and a formative time for my musical taste and overall aesthetic which, for better or worse, infuses every aspect of my existence including the KOTCB blog so a debt is owed this unforgettable "older brother" now that  he has shuffled off this mortal coil  and left us with smoky memories. A born rebel with the heart o...