Radio Free California Episode 2519, Jill Sobule's final song, RFK Jr is a fucking idiot and more

New music from Sub-Radio (whose album finally dropped!), Tetrarch, Sam Roberts Band, I'm With Her, Cypress Hill, Unwed Sailor, kid moon, Liam Finn, Little Feat, Molly Miller Trio, Elbow, The Amazons, Ainsley Costello and much more. Enjoy!

Sometimes I get queries from artists about how I decide what's going on my playlists and how do they get on them. The simple answer is that I have to find you. You can't buy your way on, and I have no idea why you'd want to. While I do heavily focus on brand new stuff there are other criteria as well. But sometimes, every once and a while, a slight bit of nepotism can creep in. Track 47 on this list is by Cameron Esther and it's her debut single. She's the daughter of a guy I knew in college and have seen a few times since.

But it wouldn't end up on the playlist if I didn't like it. 

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So in an interview yesterday RFK Jr. said during an interview that "Only very sick kids should die of measles." That's the exact quote.

No, you elitist fuck monkey.

No one should die from measles. No one. Ever. We cured the fucking thing. We created a situation where no one caught the disease anymore. No one died, and no one got sick.

Not until people stopped vaccinating their kids.

You didn't get measles. I didn't get measles. Although we grew up on opposite sides of the country, although you grew up wealthy and I did not, I know for certain that the reason for this is that you, me and everyone we both knew got vaccinated. Every state in the nation made vaccinations mandatory to attend school - both public and private.

And measles was gone. GONE. Motherfucking gone.

How about we don't let kids, or anyone else for that matter, get sick in the first place? It's easy, proven to work not just in the US but all around the world, and until you fucking idiots came along it was paid for by the government, as part of the common good.

People don't get religious exemptions from laws and lawsuits because giving anyone such a thing not only creates separate classes in this country, but is against the common good for everyone - that we all can pursue happiness. People shouldn’t' get a religious exemption for vaccines either.

And for the record, it has been proven over and over again that vaccines have NOTHING to do with autism. People who say that are LYING. They have been told a lie, and are spreading it around. 

Kinda like measles.

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I think it's worth pointing out that American Nazi Stephen Miller is counting on you not knowing that the Executive Branch doesn't have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. I don't think that gets taught universally anymore.

If Obama, Biden, or Clinton had accepted a gift as extravagant as an airplane there would be congressional hearing from here until doomsday, as there should be. This is a crime. a real, demonstratable crime. Who gave congress the hand job so that they'd shut up about it?

Also, if you don't think that airplane is full of listening devices then you're a fucking idiot.

By the way RFK Jr., why don't we start substituting the word "Kennedy" for the word "autism" every time you talk down to them? 

Can people stop going on any show hosted by Bill Maher? Please, it's embarrassing.

Remember when "Box Wine" Pirro conspired to place listening devices on her husband's yacht in an effort to catch him having an affair? Good times, good times.

Having an agreed framework for creating a trade deal and calling it a trade deal is the same as producing an empty sheet tray and saying you have cookies.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is sending signals that FDA will likely not authorize a COVID-19 booster vaccine this year for children, and perhaps not for the general population as a whole, saying he “cannot, in good faith” recommend booster vaccination for children. How about in bad faith? I'll take them in bad faith. I'll take a COVID booster regardless of your faith.

And I know people who have COVID NOW.

I've pretty much stayed out of the whole New Pope/American Pope/Leo XIV business because I'm not Catholic. He's not my spiritual leader, although even I cannot deny the papacy's influence. Setting aside jokes about the potential of deep dish Eucharist I will take note that taking the Leo name is a promising sign (you have access to wikipedia - look up the previous Leo) and I will also note that you can't bamboozle him with numbers. I'm pretty good with numbers but I don't have a degree in Mathematics from Villanova University. Second Pope in a row who came from academia.

People people people, stop looking so deep into the reasons why the new/old guy fired the Librarian of Congress. Dr. Hayden is a Black Woman. That's as deep as it goes.

And by the way, the Library of Congress oversees the Copyright Office, and the director of that office was fired as well. The DOGE fucks and the Capitol Police had a standoff there today. Just what is Musk trying to steal?

Notice that MTG dropped out of the Georgia Senate race louder than she entered it?

Even the Secretary of Transportation won't let family fly out of Newark. He blames Biden. He seems incapable of not gaslighting.

Hey! the new Pope has MAGA relatives too!

The new EPA chief says that he wants the agency scaled back to staffing levels it had under Reagan. A quick glance at the Google shows that the number of employees under Reagan was about the same is it was under Carter. And about the same as every administration since, including the current one. Once again trying to evoke St. Ronnie with nothing to back it up.

None of these assholes know what it was like under the Reagan Error, but they're willing to make it worse.

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And because I love you, here is the late Jill Sobule's final song:

Radio Free California Episode 2518, some thoughts on things

 

New music this week from Lights, Pink Skies, Mary and the Sharks, Suzanne Vega, Real Estate, Sparks, Say Sue Me, Mammoth, Home Free, Grouplove, Lucius, a new mix of an old REM song for a grand purpose, Hikaru Utada and much more. Enjoy!

A lot of music this week defies stereotypes of what you might expect from an artist. Suzanne Vega laying down a groove? Utada Hikaru returns to singing but in English and Japanese? New (sort of) music from R.E.M.? The Doobie Brothers heading towards Country? There's a lot of this going on.

It's also worth pointing out that the new album by Lights is bloody fantastic. I added 4 songs from that album to the rotation. Artist J Appiah really surprised me with his new single. I haven't thought much of him before but I need to seriously reassess that. The new album from Ben Williams is also a solid knockout even if much of it isn't the sort of thing you would catch on radio.

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I think it's about goddamned time to fully boycott Isreal. Especially if they do this.

The new/old guy keeps losing in court, but he hasn't complied with a single ruling regarding deportations yet. Please, start throwing these assholes in prison for Contempt. 

Oh, and happy Cinco de Mayo. If you support these deportations you aren't entitled to that beer in your hand. Put it away before I take it from you.

It looks like Government supported COVID shots are going bye-bye. I hope you still have a few masks left. I'm stocking up. I'd bet real money that Flu shots are next.

Followed by a huge spike in COVID cases in the fall, which they will call "seasonal".

Did you know that the new/old guy wanted to be a filmmaker when he was younger? I met him once, when I was in Television, and even I didn't know that.

As if $1,000 was a lot of money. Add 3 zeroes to it and I'd consider it.

In case you didn't notice it, the woman who won the Pulitzer for cartoon of the year was forced out of her newspaper job earlier this year because the newspaper she worked for wouldn't let her make fun of the head of Amazon. The Washington Post, her former employer, tried to take credit for her win. I also note that in giving her the award, the Pulitzer committee made sure to point out that she won in part because of her departure from the WaPo.

And because I love you, let's take a quick trip down memory lane with Level 42

Radio Free California Episode 2517, tariffs, and a couple of notes

 

New music this week from Fishbone, Ghost, Bells Larsen, Sunflower Bean, Billy Idol, KLER, Wishy, Luke Spiller, Uwade, bims, Deerhoof, Sammy Hagar, Suzanne Vega, The Fearless Flyers and much more. Enjoy!

Talking about music for a moment...

The new Billy Idol album is actually pretty good, but it's most certainly a toned-down version of the man. That's not a bad thing per se, but if he was trying to still how that he can rebel yell he doesn't quite pull it off.

New singles from Fishbone show that they're still as good as ever, from the sound to the dance-ability to the message.

Luke Speller's new album is a must have, called "Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine", which face it is a GREAT title.

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Bought anything from Temu today?

I really wish that reporters would call Tom Homan a liar to his face. He's a liar.

By the way, if you haven't seen this week's Last Week Tonight about the damage that RFK is doing to science in this country you really should.

I was unaware of this because I'm not on Tik Tok, but apparently "influencers" have embraced the idea that Americans should buy products direct from Chinese manufacturers instead of from import shops, claiming often (falsely) that these are the same goods as the brand-name designer goods. If there's a trade war going on with China, which it certainly appears there is, we're losing.

The new/old guy seems to believe that tariffs are high enough and strong enough to replace income tax as a method to fund the country. Uh, nope.

Signing off now. Gonna watch the Canadian Election results.

One more thing...

I have mentioned in previous posts that a friend of mine works for the CDC with only a few weeks left until she retires. Well, she somehow managed to make it to retirement without her job getting cut. She spent her last few days working in the office of another who was cut. I'm glad she made it out. I hope her retirement is still there and not blown at the track by these motherfuckers in charge. Congrats my friend for getting there.

And because I love you, I have to admit that the video for Sammy Hagar's new song really gets you in the feels. With Sammy are Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Kenny Aranoff.

Radio Free California 2516, and I'm not Catholic but I have a story

New music this week from Ghost, swim school, Bims, Follk Bitch Trio, Avi Kaplan, BBBL, I'm With Her, Aly & AJ, Melvins, Hawkwind, Beirut, World Order and much more. Enjoy!

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I really have no business commenting on the Life and Death of Pope Francis. He seemed a nice enough man and he tried to do good (he most certainly championed for the down-trodden), but he also did some bad (the church still has a huge child molestation problem).

I'm not Catholic. He wasn't my leader.

That said, I do have a story. 

A friend of mine (and even closer friend to my wife) was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2016. She was a decent if flawed person, just like anyone decent. She didn't deserve it and she went downhill quickly - certainly faster than any of us were ready for. She was in a wheelchair and frail when she was surprised with a trip to The Vatican to meet Pope Francis.

She was Catholic, and devout. As I understand it, to be granted an audience with the Pope, even in a group setting as she was to be, is considered one of the best things that can happen in a life. That she was ill and frail made no difference; she was going to get on that plane and she was going to go. Her audience was set for May 24, 2017.

Google the date, I'll be right here.

Yes, that's the same day Donald Trump pushed his way into the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, displacing a meeting with a small group of Americans - who never got to meet with Francis. Trump was an absolute pig of a man throughout the day - never once apologizing for his conduct or for displacing a group of Americans who had been planning this meeting for months. Francis chastised him to his face.

But he didn't meet with my friend. She and her group got bumped for Donald Motherfucking Trump.

She took it with grace, saying that the Vatican official apologized repeatedly about the circumstances, offering a tour and other amenities that I won't go into here. 

She would be dead a few short months later. She never saw the pandemic or just how ruinous everything would become.

I can forgive Pope Francis for the snub. The events of the day were obviously out of his control and the opportunity to lecture an American President to his face doesn't come often. I don't blame him for taking the meeting. I'm unhappy about the snub of the people who saved and paid to come see him directly, but they at least had the grace to apologize. My friend forgave them, so I will.

Which no one from the Trump administration ever did.

I notice that a lot about Catholicism (as it's practiced in most places - not the US) is about forgiveness. But I'm not Catholic.

I will NEVER forgive that fucker for bullying his way into destroying the dreams of a group of American Catholics, at least one of whom was dying.

But he's never going to ask either, so fuck him.

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Maybe y'all should have been more concerned about Pete Hesgeth's tattoos than about Kilmar Abrego Garcia's.

I will give Francis credit for smacking the current administration around as one of the last things he did before he died.

But I am getting a little sick of all the Photoshopped pictures of Francis and the (unsubstantiated) couch fucker together.

Look, I know that Ms. Noem has explained why she was carrying so much cash that it made her a mark for a thief, but why wouldn't she want a paper-trail to exist?

Why yes, I have noticed a serious decrease in the numbers of cargo ships making port in my area.

I have a friend who works at a government agency that has had to do the "e-mail us 5 things you accomplished this week" e-mails. I've seen a few examples of what she's done, and unless you have a PhD in her field you won't understand more than 4 words of it. So far, she hasn't been laid off.

We are at war with Oceana, not Eurasia. That has always been true. Tear down those lying posters now!

The Onion has been rerunning every article they ever did about Pope Francis. Some are quite funny.

I do believe that The White House did not take my bid for a sponsorship of yesterday's egg roll seriously. I offered $1.75

By the way, given the new/old guy's Easter address, does he suffer from Biden Derangement Syndrome?

So the guy who will run the Vatican until we have a new Pope is some dude named Kevin. Really.

I cannot understand why anyone would want to travel to this shithole country.

Speaking of which, can we send Stephen Miller back to whatever dystopian hellscape he comes from?

And because I love you, here is the video for the first song in this week's playlist:

Radio Free California Episode 2415 and some thoughts about where we are now.

 

New music this week from the late Nell Smith, Sub-Radio, Jetstream Pony, Mich harvey, Uncharted Course, My Raining Stars, Liz Stringer, Garbage, Green Day, Bells Larsen, World Order and much more. Enjoy!

I'm going to quickly call out a couple of artists on this week's playlist. First is Canadian Nell Smith, who was killed in October of last year in a car crash. The music I've added is from her first solo album and I'm sad to say is probably all we're going to get. She was only 17 when she died and she had tons of promise. Her full album is worth checking out, and it was released this week. Also this week brings to us new music from Canadian artist Bells Larsen, who had to cancel his US tour because current government policy will not accept his passport because the designation of gender doesn't match what's on his birth certificate. He's trans and is currently unwelcome by this country's present fascist regime.

What a fucked up country this has become.

And before I forget, I've also added a couple of songs from Liz Stringer's new album. It's a damned fine album and worth your time.

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Look folks, I am well past the point where I think that judges should start throwing people in prison for contempt of court because obviously this administration has no respect for the rulings of the judicial branch. They're going to keep doing this awful shit until you start throwing them in prison.

Better prisons than the ones they've been throwing people into, you should note, and ours can be pretty fucking terrible.

At what point does it change from rendition to kidnapping? By my count, we are well past that point.

Alas, our current Justice Department doesn't really seem to understand the word "justice". I mean, drawing a cock and balls on the side of a Cybertruck is a hate crime but setting fire to the home of a Jewish Governor and his family, while they are home on the first day of Passover, is not for some reason.

I got into a spirited debate on the internet over people who post that "cruelty is the point". I don't think it is. By this I mean that these people don't believe they are being cruel; they believe they are being righteous.

I'm not talking about self-righteousness, but actual righteousness. They honestly believe that they are doing right, and that those who don't do the same should be punished so hard that they change their tune. That is what they believe they are doing. It can't possibly be cruel, and they cannot be convinced that they are wrong.

It is not a fight that can be won. They will believe even as they fall into the fires of Mount Doom that they are doing the right thing. They can't be changed. They will get even worse. Hell, just today an official for DHS compared the man all the hubbub is about, a Maryland Father with no criminal record of any kind that they have already admitted was deported by mistake, to Osama bin Laden.

They need a solid ass-kicking. That's our job.

Have you heard the tale of the kidnapping of Merwil Gutiérrez? You should. If it doesn't make you sick and angry, then what the fuck are you even doing here?

By the way, not only are we in the midst of a Measles outbreak in the unvaccinated territories of the United States, but Whooping Cough has also made a comeback. 

In other health news, how is it that the new/old guy is so successful at making doctors lie?

Every Haitian immigrant granted parole under the last 3 administrations has been told to self-deport. These people are in the country legally and now they have to leave. How? you should ask. The US has no direct flights to Haiti. Zero.

Have you committed thoughtcrime yet?

The UN held a vote to create an International Day of Hope. Only 5 countries didn't vote Yes, and 4 of those abstained. The only No vote was the United States. So have you lost hope?

Did you know that two of the new/old guy's executives are crimes into themselves? Laws are not meant to single out a specific individual - a premise that has been upheld in court for centuries. Yet two of his more recent screeds (executive orders) have named specific people: Chris Krebs (former head of CISA) and former Homeland Security official Miles Taylor.

I'm not going to dive into the obviously stupid debate on tariffs save to say this, we are turning the economic control of the world over to China. They are strong enough to take the reins. Try getting them back - it could take a century.

Something I note the conspiracy theorists aren't talking about? That on that medical exam published yesterday about the new/old guy's health is that he is CURRENT on all his vaccinations. That would include Mumps, Measles, Whooping Cough and COVID.

I notice that the new/old guy is blaming Ukraine for the ongoing war. That's what rapists do - blame the victim.

State Department employees, have you yet reported your co-workers for not allowing you to put up pro-Christian propaganda at your desk, work area, or anywhere in the office? He you reported you coworkers for not letting you read the Bible aloud during break times (and non-break times)? are they a filthy Jew? Well, have you done your patriotic duty and reported them yet? We're meeting about it next week so get those forms in now!

By the way, when someone says to your face, ""In fact Mr. President, you have 350 million people to liberate. But to liberate 350 million people you have to imprison some." You are supposed to punch that Nazi in the face. But you didn't even mention getting the guy you sent to his prisons illegally back.

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I may puke. Here is the EXACT copy:

On Jan. 20, the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Fox News Media placed four people “in complete isolation in upstate New York, with no contact to the outside world — no phones, internet, television, or social media.”

Ninety days later, those four people will come out of their cocoon, but before learning about what happened in the world over the past three months, they have to get through Greg Gutfeld.

I may puke

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My wife's side of the family came over on the Mayflower, so they might be safe from deportation. It won't protect me though - we only arrived in the 1870's.

So the university that stands up to the new/old guy is Harvard? Really?!!?

I don't really follow this stuff unless it's NASA, but did we really just send Katy Perry into space?

Chuck Schumer keeps saying that the American People will rise up should things get this bad. Is he not an "American People"? Harry Reed would have punched these people in the dick by now.

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I have to wonder if John Lithgow will be booted from the new Harry Potter series under development when JK Rowling discovers that his breakout role was as a trans woman in "The World According to Garp"?

I'm starting to think that the stabilizing influence in Russel Brand's life was Amy Winehouse.

A press release has been issued by the New York Times: The story that JD Vance fucked the College Basketball Trophy are unsubstantiated.

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And because I love you, here is a sampling of Liz Stringer:

Radio Free California Episodes 2412, 2413 & 2414, plus things that make me laugh.

 

See what happens when I miss a couple of weeks? Such a backlog! New music from Envy of None, My Morning Jacket, Lucy Ducas, Orchards, Avi Kaplan, Little Feat, The Darkness, Uwade, Tetrarch and so much more it boggles the mind. Enjoy!

This is by far the longest playlist I've ever done, so take your time with it - stream in batches if you need. It's 129 songs and runs for hours and hours. I picked one hell of a time to move and not have internet access, eh?

Back to normal next week. Whatever the fuck that is.

By the way, track 114 by Marlon Williams is sung in the New Zealander's native Māori language.

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I don't really have anything to add to the whole tariff's story that you haven't already heard, although I do find it funny that we have imposed tariffs on penguins and a US Army base. Almost as if the list the picked to use was based on internet domains. I will admit to surprise that tariffs against Denmark weren't higher.

I hope your retirement fund survives this. I've handled money for a lot of my life, and this is a mistake of unmeasurable proportions. Yet.

All the protests this past weekend were great to see, and I support them without reservation. I find it hilarious that the right-wing fathom or conceive that such a thing could happen without someone bankrolling it.

I also find it hilarious that these people cannot fathom or conceive that people won't be upset about missed Social Security checks, missed payroll, erased history, Its as if they have no concept of what it's like not to be rich.

Another thing I find funny is how they all fail to understand that we on the left simply don't think like they do - they have convinced themselves that we do think exactly like they do but act differently not because we think they're wrong, but just to be divisive.

Sorry folks, I do believe, in all my heart, that you are the villains. That you are wrong.

It all makes me laugh. To quote a comic I am fond of, "Someday we will look back on all of this and laugh. It will be one of those laughs that builds slowly to an Earth-shattering scream, but still it will be a laugh."

But for now, because I love you, here is the new video by The Darkness:

Radio Free California Episode 2511, why I've been quiet for a couple of weeks, and an important anniversary for my career...

 

A little bit late but finally here, new music from Chris Trapper, The Doobie Brothers, Lot's Wife, Envy of None, Kings & Pills, Ainsley Costello, The Antinomy Insurgency, Swervedriver, Florence + the Machine, Beach Youth, a reissue from Vazz and much more! Enjoy!

Sorry I forgot to publish this - it's been one hell of a few weeks. I moved, for the first time in 20 years. How did I wind up with so much shit?

I filled two industrial sized dumpsters with just trash and things I was getting rid of, and I'm still up to my eyeballs in boxes in the new house.

I used to live 8 blocks from the ocean. I now live ONE. Next time I move it's going to be to a Quonset hut sitting off a dock extending into the ocean. Like in The Maldives or something.

I will do my best to make the next Radio Free California a real doozy, but this delay brings me up to something that happened that jump-started my music career.

Four years ago this week I released a single called "He Takes a Knee". It was my third single of the year 2021 - while we were all in lockdown. The first got some play because it was part of a fundraiser/charity album, but the second one dropped like a stone in a river.

As you might recall, a lot of terrible happened aside from the pandemic. There was the murder of George Floyd. The murder of Brianna Taylor. Black Lives Matter. Say their names. The anniversary of the Murder of Emmit Till. And a football player in my adopted home town benched for properly protesting while respecting veterans.

A dear friend of mine and former writing partner back in the day sent me a few lines of lyrics about it all, inspired by all of this. I already had a piece of music that demanded some rage to go behind it, so I put the two of them together and put it out in the world. I commissioned a truly bizarre video, rapped for the first (and hopefully last) time. I'm not a very good rapper, but the lyrics were smart and I think that saves it.

I again unleashed it to an indifferent world. Then something remarkable happened.

A football (i.e. soccer for the Americans) player for Manchester United took a knee before a game. Boy, you've never seen football fans like British Football fans, especially for their beloved Man U. There was both outrage and support, and it got the press to talk about anything aside from COVID. A local radio station decided to do a theme show about the protest, and my song "He Takes A Knee" probably got found through a google search. However it happened, it wound up on the show.

All of a sudden I'm doing radio shows - interviews. The video gets thousands and thousands of views (the one for my previous single only had 70 at that point). Manchester radio plays it again, and again. It winds up on a mix-tape show. The replays on British radio dies down, but the match was lit.

I get nominated for best alternative artist by the Radio Music Awards. I won. I got nominated by the Indie Music Channel as best artist. I won. For the first time in over a decade I get a royalty check. It wasn't a big check, but I still got one!

Everything changed for the better for me, all while locked into my apartment. I met other musicians, a couple of which I've collaborated with. I released better songs, got more radio play, won a few more awards, but it was "He Takes a Knee" that really got me going. I don't think it's even the best song I did during that whole stretch - it was just in the right place at the right time.

I did my first "producer for hire" work in over 2 decades. This year two of those bands also won trophies at the Radio Music Awards. I've won another SEVEN.

All kinds of crazy, all because I put together a song about events so far outside of my control that even with my meager conribution the needle didn't move at all. But my own life got better.

I've always followed the advice of Porky Pine, from the comic strip Pogo all those years and years ago: Don't take life so serious: it ain't nohow permanent.

But when life is good enjoy it. Far too much out there is trying to actively take joy away from you. Preserve the joy you have, if you have it. It's kind of amazing how important that is.

Here's that crazy video and song that got the ball rolling. See ya Monday.

Radio Free California Episode 2510, and a follow-up to an earlier post

 

 New music this week from Bob Mould (who has a great new album out), Lady Gaga, Divorce, Vulfpeck, Suzanne Vega, Sub-Radio, Sasami, I'm With Her, Bryan Adams, Jethro Tull, Benmont Tench, State Cows and much more. Enjoy!

So a few posts back I talked about my neighbor who has a Tesla Cybertruck. Welp, this past weekend his truck got tagged like many of those out there. It got a swastika, a lot of anti-Musk verbiage, and a swear or two. My neighbor didn't deserve it, but he does own the damned thing. I spoke to him about it and his reaction isn't what you might expect. He was mostly amused.

He loves that truck, but he hates Musk and he understands the protest. He's taking a very Irish point of view about the whole thing - "eh, what can you do?". He also noted that the spray-paint was pretty easy to get off. If you look at the truck now it looks brand new. He takes care of his vehicles.

He's keeping it garaged for now, but he's looking for a buyer. He wants a truck he can use.

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FYI, Moosehead Breweries, i.e. the Budweiser of Canada, is offering a case of beer with over 1,400 cans of Moosehead - one for each day remaining in the old/new guy's term. It has already sold out.

And because I love you, I am pointing you to a Vulfpeck Concert. It's their new album, in full.

Radio Free California Episode 2509, the Axis of Vanity, and little bits of news

 

New music this week from Tori Amos, Aluminum Days, The Sign of Leo, Andy Bell, Michi, Vulfpeck, Billy Idol, The Darkness, Deep Sea Diver, Shaggy & Sting, Peter Garret, Sons of Martha, Spin Doctors, L.A. Witch and so much more. Enjoy!

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While I do find it hilarious that the new/old guy wasn't even invited to this, I have to ask, when has a bully ever reacted to not being invited to the cool kid's party in any manner that suggests rationality? I'd be on the lookout for a different party where none of these people are invited.

The Axis of Vanity, I suspect.

Sanctions to be announced against Norway in 5...4...3...

By the way, in case you didn't see it there was a whole rant about Hunter Biden's bathroom in the middle of the whole unhinged attack on Ukraine's President that was committed by the new/old guy and his couch fucking lackey. You didn't see it because major new outlets edited it out.

If you're not in Los Angeles did you know there was an earthquake there? Of course not. DOGE fired all the people who would report this.

Anyone who dresses like this at work shouldn't be taken seriously. Unless it's your brand (see Zelensky). Not this guy.

Isn't it interesting that the head of the HHS is promoting Measles Vaccinations while the private organization he founded is saying that the current Measles outbreak was caused through vaccinations? That's a lie by the way. The outbreak is among the unvaccinated, and the one death (so far) in the current outbreak is the first in the us in a quarter century.

Of course they're about to fudge the numbers. If they told the truth it would look bad.

I think she's calling you all pussies.

Apparently there is this questionnaire out there for Atheists meant to "Open a Dialogue" with Theists. Okay, so it isn't so "apparently" as I've actually seen it. Allow me to break it down into it's most basic parts. 1) Do you believe in god? 2) If not, why not? 3) Are you sure? 4)Have you really thought about it? 5) Are you sure you're sure? 6) Are you really sure? 7) Are you really realllly sure? 8-30) see questions 2-7.

And hey, the Oscars got Best Animated Film right for once! In all fairness, they got it right last year too, but usually the Best Animated film doesn't even get nominated.

And because I love you, the video for the new Vulpeck song is a lot of awesome:

Withdrawl or Retreat? Gaza's Golden Calf? Some random thoughts

I think that just about anyone in this country (the US) can see that we are in the process of withdrawing ourselves from the world stage. We've left the World Health Organization, USAID has been crippled by Nazis and Incels, we've sanctioned a number of countries for reasons that make no sense (including punishing South Africa for ending Apartheid), voted in a block with Russia and North Korea regarding the war in Ukraine, and are making noises and taking steps towards leaving NATO. 

At the same time, is there any country other than Russia that we haven't insulted in the last month?

At a time when our access to the world is really global and thanks to technology really can't be stopped the whole idea that we're trying to pare ourselves down to a fundamentalist version of ourselves comes across as disrespectful to everyone else.

Speaking of respect, have you seen the AI Generated vision of Gaza that the new/old guy sent out over social media? It craps on the culture of millions of people, makes the new/old guy look like Jabba the Hut and shows Elon Musk raining down dollars as if celebrating the successful liposuction his profile demonstrates.

Yes, the new/old guy put out a video that includes a shirtless version of him sitting poolside that shows him as a fat slob. somebody in messaging needs to be reminded that he's supposedly only 230 pounds, not 320. It also shows a huge gold statue of him in a public space (he's thin in that one). If there was ever more ample evidence that he's the modern version of The Golden Calf I have yet to see it.

Oh, and his combover isn't working as well as it used to.

I do have to say that if Musk is taking over the FAA I may never fly again. No one will ever fly here again either. I mean, how will the handoff from foreign air traffic control to domestic even work?

Some days a person could really want to punch RFK Jr. in the face. Don't do it of course. We don't condone violence here. But today is one of those days.

I hate that the bullying worked.

But I love that it seems worthless. Maybe he should have called his book "The Fingerpainting of the Deal"?

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And because I love you, holy crap this new single from Cypress Hill!!!!!!! Whatever you're expecting it probably wasn't this.

Radio Free California Episode 2508, plus a few thoughts and an old activist calls us to action

 

Fantastic new albums from Shale, Call it Off and Franciscan Monks of Acies Mundi feature in this week's new music which also includes Vulfpek, Kings & Pills, Witch Post, Avi Kaplan, Counting Crows, Miki Berenyi Trio, Nao, Youth Lagoon and much more. Enjoy!

A fun little side note here. The guy who set "Hostile Government Takeover" to a EDM/Techno mix (from last week's playlist) also has a solo album out that is nothing like you'd expect. It's a concept balladeer album called "Tales of the Lesbian Hunter" and it's surprisingly good. A track from that album makes this week's playlist.

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With Conservative dickhead Dan Boingino now a Deputy in the FBI, and all the radio/TV hosts that the new/old guy has put in place, where are all the minions, peons and lower class peoples going to go for their 2-minute hate?

This is a genius prank. Best tor sucking prank EVAH!

Everyone should tell Rep. Gerry Connolly "We will not comply." You're a Democrat. Fight you fucking idiot.

Given that the leader of France called the new/old guy a liar to his face it seems to me that the old (and incorrect) slight about France being the country that surrenders may be assumed by the United States.

There are now reports that Tesla Cybertrucks are held together with glue, and not welding. I hope my neighbor knows that (see previous post on the subject).

“I don’t want to explain it now, but it’s sort of self evident I think,” is the exact thing the new/old guy said when asked why the US and Russia voted against a un resolution to condemn Russia on the third anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine. I agree. You're a corrupt motherfucker.

Kash Patel is running both the FBI and the ATF? WTF??

And how does MSNBC excuse firing all of their women of color? I've seen nothing to justify it yet and I'm not holding my breath.

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And because I love you here is Jane Fonda strong as ever. She and my mom are the same age.