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.

While you have been watching the circuses, the United States became a Dictatorship. Really. This isn't hyperbole.

While you've been watching people argue gender in court, airplanes crash, Elon's buzz-boys program themselves into government and have officials at multiple levels possibly collude with Russia, the new/old guy's administration issued an executive order turning the United States into a Dictatorship. I have the receipts.

This is a directive published on the White House's website. I'm going to quote the whole fucking thing in full, with some words (and a moment of relief) after:

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RESTORING DEMOCRACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ensuring that all federal agencies are accountable to the American people, as required by the Constitution. Under this Executive Order: The Order notes that Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests all executive power in the President, meaning that all executive branch officials and employees are subject to his supervision.

Therefore, because all executive power is vested in the President, all agencies must: (1) submit draft regulations for White House review—with no carve-out for so-called independent agencies, except for the monetary policy functions of the Federal Reserve; and (2) consult with the White House on their priorities and strategic plans, and the White House will set their performance standards.

The Office of Management and Budget will adjust so-called independent agencies’ apportionments to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely.

The President and the Attorney General (subject to the President’s supervision and control) will interpret the law for the executive branch, instead of having separate agencies adopt conflicting interpretations.

REINING IN INDEPENDENT AGENCIES: So-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight. These agencies issue rules and regulations that cost billions of dollars and implicate some of the most controversial policy matters, and they do so without the review of the democratically elected President.

They also spend American tax dollars and set priorities without consulting the President, while setting their own performance standards.

Now they will no longer impose rules on the American people without oversight or accountability.

ENSURING A GOVERNMENT THAT ANSWERS TO THE PEOPLE: This order fulfills President Trump’s promise to restore constitutional governance and accountability to the entire executive branch. Executive power without responsibility has no place in our Republic. The United States was founded on the principle that the government should be accountable to the people. That is why the Founders created a single President who is alone vested with “the executive Power” and responsibility to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Voters and the President can now hold all Federal agencies—not just Cabinet departments—responsible for their decisions, as the Constitution demands.

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So this stream of bullshit means there will be no such thing as an independent agency in the government anymore. They must all conform to the vision of the White House - including the Federal Election Commission, The Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission.

The Office of Budget Management can take whatever budget is passed by Congress and change it.

Watchdogs that report to the President will be placed in every agency, and they will report to the President and coordinate with a new branch of government, called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). 

You know, a Gestapo.

And those last two paragraphs make it look like what they're doing is increasing accountability, but the reality of the situation is while a President is accountable, everyone else is accountable to HIM and HIM alone. This is the real reason why just about every Inspector General was fired. We had a system of accountability and it worked.

Now we have everyone reporting to the Chancellor and he can direct the money appropriated by Congress into whatever the fuck he wants.

Is he a Chancellor? A King? He sure as fuck isn't an American President.

The oath that is taken is protect the country from all enemies, Foreign or Domestic. But what happens when the President is the Domestic Enemy? When he has put loyalists in every position that was formerly independent from him? When Congress has ceded their power over the purse strings of government to the whips of that same Domestic Enemy?

When that Domestic Enemy controls the military?

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Even getting a NEA Grant has been infused with this bullshit. This is a screenshot of a small section of the rules:

Basically, your art must conform to the administration's goals and beliefs. Dude, if it does that it isn't art - it's propaganda.

I'm considering applying, but I can't decide which of my songs they would find most offensive. I mean, I do have the song where I refer to anti-vaxxers and "Dumbest Motherfuckers", and I have the song in favor of Black Lives matter, but I also have a few now that tells them just how badly they get scripture wrong (see http://fmam.band).

Did you know that Elon and the gang have no actual Government authority to do anything? That the white house confirmed that today? ARREST THAT MOTHERFUCKER AND HIS GOONS!

By the way, avoid flying in US airspace for now.

The only bright spot I've seen in these past few weeks is how Steve Bannon is seething with jealousy over Elon's access to the new/old guy.

I mean, it really sucks to be a woman in the Hee-Haw version of the Handmaid's Tale.

Of course the new/old guy doesn't see himself as a Dictator. He is calling himself a King. I'm going to use Chancellor - because of what it implies.

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Because I love you and would like to leave you on an up note, here is Vulpeck. My gut feeling is that their next album is going to be a live one, with all new material like this.

Radio Free California Episode 2507, and draft Governor Tim Walz

 

New music gthis week from Gothik Serpent, Tetrarch, Big Big Train, OK Go, Love is Noise, Ukrainian artists alyona alyona and KLAR, Japanese Breakfast, Sweet (yes, THAT Sweet), Filizola, Black Crowes with Jimmy Page, an alternative track from one of my side projects; The Antinomy Insurgency, and much more. Enjoy!

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I enjoy this a lot less: the United States are now the villains. Get used to that. All of Europe is getting together to counter what we do, we have concentration camps, and a group of maniac children are running the government, firing people left and right and suspending/killing previously approved spending and calling it illegal.

Yes, judges left and right are calling out this bullshit and telling them to stop, but if no one enforces their rulings do they actually matter?

It's been said elsewhere, but if they were really looking for waste and fraud, they'd hire accountants and nor coders. Coders can change code (provided they understand it - some of them don't know COBOL) and that means they can hold these things hostage.

We've asked the government of Romania to intervene in the case of a suspected sex trafficker only because he likes the new administration.

We're trying to collapse the economies of 31 different countries now. That's right, we have imposed tariffs on 31 countries as of this writing. 

The guy who invented the Pizzagate story now works in the White House.

They're propping up an obviously corrupt and already indicted New York City Mayor, just to advance their desire to put brown people in camps. This has led to a huge number of DoJ officials resigning rather than carry out the order, and the Judge in the matter telling all parties to tell him why in person.

They're blaming the rash of air travel incidents (crashes) on DEI instead of the fact that they've fired far too many air traffic controllers.

They've taken over not just the Kennedy Center but they fired so many people at the John F Kennedy Library in Boston that it had to close.

I already ready to get behind a draft Tim Walz for President movement.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And because I love you, here's a song about digging up bones.

My next door neighbor owns a Tesla Truck.

It's true, he does. He bought it when they were pretty new, and he traded in his regular Tesla car for it.

My neighbor runs a green-energy construction business. He is a big believer in renewable energy, and he does some pretty high-profile work in the Bay Area, running the business from the garage of his home. I've known him for 20 years, and we get along.

My neighbor is an immigrant. He and his wife moved here from Ireland and have had 4 children in the time I've known him. I do not know if either he or his wife have taken American Citizenship, but I do know they go back to Ireland often. We talked about it as my roots are there as well, even if a few generations removed.

My neighbor owns a truck. He treats it like a truck, and not a fashion accessory. He uses it to haul construction equipment, lumber, bags of cement, tile, whatever the work he and his crew are doing that day. That it's made by Tesla is irrelevant to him. It's a truck, and he believes in electric vehicles, so he bought it. He uses it for his business, so it's a company car.

We have never really discussed politics. I did hear him refer to the current leader of the country as a "fuckin' idiot" but that's as far as it goes. We've exchanged more words about the qualities of Irish whiskey and beer, which I drink a lot of but he is more knowledgeable about.

Yes, my neighbor owns a Tesla Truck. He doesn't give a damn about the man whose name is most associated with it - he just needs a truck for his livelihood and believes in green energy and electric vehicles.

He may be the only person who has ever bought one who is using it correctly.

(Generic picture of a Cybertruck below. I'm not invading my neighbor's privacy)

Radio Free California Episode 2506, plus a few random thoughts

 

New music this week from Vulfpeck, DarWin, A Short Walk to Pluto, Dead Air, Prince, Bryan Adams, Jethro Tull, Bob Mould, Home Free, The Wildhearts, NOAPOLOGY, Dream Theater, Letters to Lions and much more. Enjoy!

Did Taylor Swift win the Super Bowl?

Nope. Don't Care.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Man, everything the new/old guy touches dies. Sorry, Kansas City.

Other people have said this but it bears repeating: If the richest man in the history of the world was looking for fraud he's have brought in accountants, not coders. We have given the keys to the engines of the country to a Bond villain, and it's not one of the better ones.

If they've changed code and they're the only ones who know the code, they can hold the entire country hostage with a keystroke. Erase the entire US Treasury. Who knows? That's the point, no one does.

Mike Hucksterbee believes that the new/old guy will do something "biblical" with Gaza. Coming from him, that means Ethnic Cleansing. Let's not kid ourselves about it. This man believes Palestine shouldn't exist.

Although it's already happening impersonating an ICE agent is illegal. For now.

While the new administration has been sued all over the place and judges have told them to stop, have you noticed that they haven't actually stopped?

I hear the penny is going out of production. Good luck getting change on cash purchases. Maybe they're going to round sales tax to the nearest nickel.

Now that the Attorney General of the US has shut down the FBI Foreien Influence task force, what happens to the TV show FBI: International?

There is a Judge who is issuing warning to the government about not doing what he says. Who can he have locked up for contempt? I'm hoping it's Elon.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And because I love you, here is the original version of the Infinity Song track added above. It's on their live album, but here is the studio version, for which they only released a video 2 days ago, instead of 2 years ago.

Radio Free California Episode 2505, So many crimes in so little time.

 

New music this week from The Laughing Chimes, Spin Doctors, Franciscan Monks of Acies Mundi, Yndling, Baby Said, Maddie Jay, Snow Patrol, James Bay with Jon Batiste, Chris Reed and the Anime Raiders and much more. Enjoy!

No, I didn't watch the Grammys. They almost never nominate the right artists in each category. It's a popularity contest, not a reflection of quality. For example, Lola Young released this past year one of the best albums in a decade and how many nominations did she get? ZERO. Also, The Beatles are nominated? They broke up 54 years ago! (P.S. I am told they won. I love the Beatles but give me a fucking break).

+++++++++++++++++++++

So what the fuck is happening to our government? The Treasury Department has been taken over with the skill and aplomb of one of the later Die Hard movies by a South African import and a child from Canada who calls himself "BigBallz". Hope you weren't expecting your social security or Medicare payments to be on time - or to ever come. They want to covert the treasury to blockchain - i.e. bitcoin. 

For fuck's sake Musk is an actual Bond Villian. There are only two reasons to convert the security of our nation's currency into bitcoin: 1) to destroy it or 2) to steal it. He could bankrupt the country and every bank in the nation in just a few seconds if he were to make that change. They would all be his hostages.

Not to mention that there have been two plane crashes and a third that caught fire in the past 5 days, and all press releases will now come through Elon Musk's "X" platform. It already appears that press releases for other agencies will only come through X as well. Also, anyone critical of the new administration will be banned from X. So sez the self proclaimed "Free Speech Absolutist". Did he lie? Yes, he did.

Oh and by the way, he's suing several companies for NOT advertising on X. That's not a crime, Apartheid boy.

This fuckhead has illegally taken over the purse strings of our government. The crimes have been committed and I would like to think we're going to start arresting people.

But probably not.

What else... oh yes! We're going to invade Mexico. We bombed a low-level thug in Somalia who mostly just blackmailed people. 

The State Department has appointed as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, i.e. the department mouthpiece, a known white supremacist who was the person who started the rumor that the FBI was behind the attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021. 

The Department of Education hasn't done much yet, other than eliminate all diversity education and policies, dismissed every complaint about book bans (believe it or not, a LOT of people complain about books being banned in schools) and celebrated "school choice" - i.e. vouchers and home schooling.

The tariffs have begun! By the way, this is in violation of the USMCA Treaty. You know who signed that one? The very man who is now in violation of it. I would like to think we're going to start arresting people. But probably not.

And then after I wrote the previous paragraph we suddenly aren't imposing tariffs on Mexico (and also Canada after a couple more hours pass) for the next month! He did manage to crash the stock market though, so I have to wonder how many short-sells he had in his pocket. Remember, he hasn't divested from anything.

The CDC has been told to hold all publications for review, to make certain that specific words that are now forbidden are not used. Those words include "Diversity", "Gender", "Transgender", "Pregnant person" "Pregnant People" and just about any issue involving the LGBTQA+ community. Oh, and have you seen the latest press briefings on Bird Flu or perhaps the greatest outbreak of Tuberculosis in this country in a century? Of course not - there haven't been any.

Can you say censorship boy and girls? 

And have you noticed how many government websites are now simply gone? Welcome to book-burning in the Digital Age. The people who burn books are never the good guys.

Our first Concentration Camp will be at Guantanamo, which is pretty far away from any prying eyes. You can't call yourself a decent person and not be outraged by this. Given the number of American Citizens that have been swept up in raids that have already taken place I am certain that American Citizens are going to wind up in Cuba because of the color of their skin, or because of their fluency in Spanish. And we're apparently using the same law used to inter Japanese in WWII. Which was also a crime.

You know who would be against all this bullshit? The Republican's beloved Saint Ronny. He even gave a radio address about it, which you can hear at this link.

I think even Reagan would break his own 11th commandment when it comes to this bullshit. 

Legislation has been introduced to ban all porn, and the definition is so wildly broad that Romance Novels will be affected. As in the authors will be sent to prison. Hell, the bible could qualify as porn under this definition. Also included is the end of no fault divorce, medical abortions, drag performances that can be attended by kids, cash incentives for covenant marriages... as if The Handmaid's Tale were an instruction manual and not a cautionary tale.

Just ask all of the women in Texas and elsewhere currently in prison for having had miscarriages. 

The Pentagon has informed the press corps that NBC, the New York Times, National Public Radio and Politico will be "rotated out of the building" to give space to the New York Post, Breitbart, OANN, and HuffPost. 

The Defense Department has paused observances of MLK Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, Juneteenth, Women's History Month, Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, and more. Some of these are Federal Holidays.

USAID has been shut down, according to Musk, who you might recall is not a government employee. I can't even count the number of laws he broken by not only doing this, but announcing it on the social media platform he owns. It's enough to put him in prison for life, if anyone has the spine to do it. Yes, the new/old guy will pardon him, but do it anyway.

And at least someone in the Senate is finally fighting back.

They tried to fire everyone at the FBI who worked on a January 6 case. The acting Director said no. So the hero of the moment is a guy who looks like he's called "Drizz"? And actually IS called Drizz? Shucks Scooby, I didn't see that one coming.

So what is happening to our Government? The same thing that happened to Twitter. To quote legal expert Sam Bagenstos, "move fast, break things (with “things” very much including the law), and then dare folks to try and do something about it. Their expectation is that people will be too overwhelmed, and the law will move too slowly, to stop them from doing what they’re doing."

You know, fake it 'till you break it.

Doing this to a company, either large or small, eventually end with bankruptcies and business closing down. Doing this to a government leads to the collapse of a nation. And a failing nation led by hypocrites and psychopaths and people with no business running a country will lash out. Germany did. Rome did. We will too, and we have nukes. 

Oh, and apparently we're going to punish South Africa for ending Apartheid.

And hey, please note that when Mike Flynn threatens you over treason respect the opinion. He's committed it often enough that he's an expert.

You don't want to be called a racist? Don't be one.

You don't want to be called a fascist? Stop hanging out with them. Stop emulating them. Stop listening to their advice. If you can't do all of that, you are already a fascist.

And one last plea from an ex-pat living in his own country: Instead of just saying "it's illegal" what they're doing, start FUCKING ARRESTING PEOPLE WHO COMMIT CRIMES!

Please. 

For example, a disgraced radio host is already boasting that he has illegally received classified information. That's a crime for both parties - and the other party is the new/old guy. That's like, you know, treason.

And can we offer a round of applause for this move by a Canadian? 

And because I love you, have the new single by Sam Fender, with a video that stars the Sexy Priest.

Water and Money, California Edition

So the new/old guy posted late last night that he had sent in the US Military to turn on the spigot so that Southern California has enough water. He posted about it on his self-owned social media site.

Now I actually live in California, and I can tell you that every single thing he said is a motherfucking lie.

• Southern California has enough water. The reservoirs are actually full. What got overtaxed was the ability to deliver the water to all of the fires. There wasn't enough plumbing.
• There is no water faucet in the Pacific Northwest to deliver water to Southern California. Their water comes from the Sierra Nevadas. It's CENTRAL California that gets its water from the north.
• There is no fake environmental drama. Sure, the new/old guy focuses on the Delta Smelt, but without the smelt we don't have Salmon. Or the bears who eat the salmon. Everybody has enough water these days. We've been out of the drought for a couple of years now.

So what is he actually claiming credit for? The truth is that this past weekend some generators in the Northern California Water System were taken off-line for maintenance. They were turned back on yesterday. That's it.

Full stop.

The new/old guy is a lying son of a bitch.

++++++++++++++++++++++

So you might have noticed that in the process of committing more crimes than the previous administrations combined in their first week (which includes an administration of the same people) an awful lot of previously approved funding has just stopped. NIH, WHO, Foreign Aid and so on.

I learned today, thanks to my college attending daughter, this this also includes financial aid for College Students. It's currently on hold.

Fortunately for us my daughter got her disbursement before the free went into effect. She's fine for this semester. But part of that freeze is also the application process, which has specific deadlines and they're coming up fast.

If nothing is done soon an entire generation is about to drop out of college. We're only barely in the top 30 in education around the world now - we might just be about to drop like a stone.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Medicaid has been shut down in multiple states.

Domestic Abuse Shelters are in the same boat.

And the new Director of the Office of Budget Management is the guy who wrote the Project 2025 manual.

Making

America

Garbage,

Asshole

But because I love you, have some Billie Eilish. Sometimes we all need some Billie Eilish.

Radio Free California Episode 2504, the onslaught, and keeping moving

 

New music this week including an amazing album from Johanna Stahley, The Antinomy Insurgency, Pom Pom Squad, Skinner, IDER, Sam Amidon, The Darkness, Lot's Wife, Chris Trapper, Vulfmon, Seye Adelekan, Hiromi, Ice Cube and much more. Enjoy!

As per usual this playlist will be on the radio station all day Wednesday. The special show 10 at 10 airs Sundays at 10am and 10pm PST, and again at 10pm on Thursdays, again Pacific Standard Time.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Feeling overwhelmed yet? You ain't alone there. I've been looking seriously at rentals in Canada. I can afford something pretty nice, actually.

The new/old guy and his administration are throwing so much shit at the screen that even if most of it doesn't stick or is struck down in the courts the screen is still ruined. A LOT of people are discovering that the Leopard will indeed eat their faces. There are already stories of MAGAnauts who have lost jobs, lost homes, and are wondering why the price of eggs is up 40% in the last week.

Nobody is telling anyone why because amongst all the orders and directives is that nobody says nothing. Bird Flu is running rampant, but the government isn't saying a damned thing about it.

Nobody is yet telling you that the new/old guy's fascination with Greenland actually comes from an old Nazi playbook.

And late last night he signed an executive order for the Federal Government to take over the California Water System, to solve problems that don't even exist. Anyone who says that the Republican Party is the Party of State's Rights is a fucking liar.

And let's not forget all those poor souls that are only discovering now that "Obama Care" and The Affordable Care Act are the same thing. Or all the people in poor neighborhoods in Southern California that the new/old guy pointedly did not visit.

And let's not forget that in revoking Dr. Anthony Fauci's security detail might be the same as putting a hit out on the man. And so is this, Senator Foghorn Leghorn Motherfucker.

Let's not forget that Trans people can no longer get a passport unless it's under their deadname and gender. Marco Rubio has a punch in the mouth coming.

Let's not forget that women are going to be kept out of combat roles, something they've been doing for decades now. And on a side note, let's notice that some of the military members the new/old guy wants to reinstate for getting Vaccinated won't be reporting for duty, thanks to COVID-19.

And let's not fail to notice that the amount of money that United Healthcare has lost so far this year is more than what Canada spends on healthcare in a year.

Let's notice that the HR department of the US Government has been turned over to motherfucking Nazi Elon Musk.

Let's not fail to notice that almost every raid by ICE so far has been in Blue states.

Remember that he has already taken the first steps to get rid of FEMA. Sure, it's California under the microscope right now, but wait until Hurricane Season.

Hope you've stocked up on Coffee, now that a 25% tariff on all goods from Columbia are in effect. I don't drink coffee myself, but nearly everyone else does. Good luck. Oh, but wait! It was all a ploy to get Columbia to take in people we've expelled.

If we take military action in trying to take Greenland you realize that will start a war with NATO, right?

Remember that when he says that you can tell a good immigrant from a bad immigrant by looking at them he's talking about skin color.

Try not to be creeped out by the sheer volume of people who refer to the new/old guy as "Daddy".

How do we resist all of this bullshit?

Well, first, remember your cute winter boots. Fly your pride flag. 

Ask your kids what they're doing and emulate them. You need to keep in mind that while this is all new to us for them this is how it's always been. There have always been racists, Nazis, and fucking idiots in government. To them, a President that doesn't represent the people who didn't vote for him is normal, not mind-boggingly bizarre. How are they dealing with it? Can you do at least as well?

Support your local Inspector General.Support Ukraine - the country isn't doing it any more.

Note that ICE agents usually only carry Administrative Warrants, and not Judicial ones. The difference is that they can enter you home with a Judicial one, but they can't come in using an Administrative one unless you let them. Say no.

Stay off Facebook, Xitter, Instagram and the rest being used/owned by the various Brollionaires and Broligarchs.

But use the internet. Use it skeptically and wisely. If you find a site saying something find another - one without the same agenda/viewpoint. That's how you might learn that the largest Tuberculosis outbreak in US history is happening right now in Kansas. The government isn't going to tell you.

Punch Nazis. Hundreds of thousands of our grandfathers died trying to rid existance of these fuckers. Now it's our turn.

Support subversive media. Boycot any and all public figures who support these morons. Sorry Snoop Dogg, that includes you. I know that going against your brand is your brand, but this was too much. Boycott all stores who put money into getting these dickheads into power.

Yes, that's going to be hard.

But on the flipside, you can support Ben and Jerry's. They support you.

And because I love you, this is the band Obverse: Drums, Bass and Harp. Some nice Prog-jazz here.

Rounding up brown people, day one.

So the rounding up of Brown-skinned people began yesterday in Southern Kern County, around the town of Bakersfield and the various farms that surrounds it. As a result, 75% of the agriculture workforce has stopped showing up for work, afraid of deportation, mis-identification and worse. There is already rampant racial profiling going on; rounding up people at Home Depot and at Gas Stations. Brown-skinned people. Even cars driving down the 99 Highway, which is the major highway through the valley, are being pulled over and detained. 

The people of Bakersfield, an overwhelmingly Right-wing populace (the new/old guy got 60% of the vote), have noticed it and are concerned. So should you, because this is going to impact your groceries.

Right now it's Citrus picking season. In this part of the state that's mostly Oranges. People tend to think of Florida when it comes to Oranges but the truth is that about 40% of the crop is in the Central Valley of California. And right now, that's work that's not getting done.

This time of year evenings get very very cold in the low desert. Not snow-storm cold, but destroy your crops cold. a workforce reduction this big at this crucial time means that the amount of Oranges available to consumers is going to drop dramatically. As per supply and demand rules, that means the price is going up. Way up.

Hang on tight friends, because Lettuce and spinach harvest start in a couple of weeks. Grapes just finished but maintenance time is underway now and that's not getting done.

Kern County has been rated one of the top three agricultural counties in terms of production in the nation, and the workforce is being rounded up to be sent to camps. Right. Fucking. Now.

A couple of things to point out here. I find it interesting that the first roundups, which everyone said would be in Chicago, are happening in California and specifically in the district that used to be represented by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and current head of Truth Social Devin Nunes. Nunes used to brag about his dairy operation in the area, which is actually in Iowa.

Everyone knows that the big dairy operation in Bakersfield is Larsen's (home of Sam the Hippo! who dies years and years ago). Side note: I remember that poor Hippo, which had been abandoned by some carnival that came through town. It was kept in conditions that would have Peta protesting for miles today. But when I was a little kid, the sheer novelty of there being a Hippo at the local Dairy was kind of amazing. 

Nobody has yet said where these people are being kept.

So how does a lefty blogger from San Francisco know all of this? Welp, I haven't always been from here. I grew up and spent a sizeable chunk of my childhood right where these raids have been happening, and while I don't go there anymore there are people in this world who think I should still know what's going on. I haven't lived there in 43 years, but still it happens.

The white middle class neighborhood I grew up in is mostly Latino now, I've been told. I don't keep in touch with anyone who still lives there. I remember book burnings when I was a kid. Nazi rallies. Fuck them. I am proud to say I escaped all that bullshit, and got most of my close friends and all of my family out of there. Okay, I mostly just shouted words of encouragement but it still happened.

But there was always a migrant worker population. I went to school with many of them. Many were allowed to come to school late because they worked on farms in the mornings. A few even got school credit for it.

None of these people were adding to the crime rate. None of these people were taking jobs other people wanted. Try farming sometime. I quit after 2 hours. It's hard work, and occasionally brutal work and I don't recommend it (I was terrible at it) yet they do it day after day after day because they want to feed their own families. Because what they had before was even worse.

A New York (now Florida) real estate developer is never going to understand the balance of migrant workers necessary to keep the food chain running. Neither is the former leader of a hedge fund, or someone whose whole farm (and/or political) experience has been talking about it on television. Neither is the white and nearly translucent Nazi fuckhead who is the new/old guy's closest advisor on brown people. Neither are the Billionaires of DOGE.

We need to let people know where the people rounded up are being kept. That's where the protests need to be. 

And becuase I love you, now that they've all left us, The Band.

The new/old guy is a terrorist, and other thoughts.

So the new/old guy just issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht (and spelled his name wrong while doing so). The founder of Silk Road, who was serving a life sentence. Why was he serving a life sentence? He created a network that facilitated the sale of illegal drugs, human trafficking and pedophilia, funneled money and weapons to the Taliban and other groups, and facilitated the hiring of hitmen. 

Supporting Trump is supporting Terrorism.

Don't go to the Website of the White House. It's now a fucking commercial for the new/old guy. Also, the link to the Constitution doesn't work anymore.

For those of you who find that Facebook now has you following the new/old guy and any others in the administration, keep in mind that if you followed the Biden Administration's pages that these are the same pages. The Biden stuff should be archived to a new place, same as they did for Obama.

Should.

New/old guy has rescinded President Biden’s Executive Order which created a task force to reunite families deliberately separated at the border by the previous terms of the old guy. As many as 1,000 families remain separated because of that policy.

The new/old guy fired Chef Jose Andres from the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, not realizing that he actually quit last week because his term was up. His parting words: "May God give you the wisdom, Mr. President, to put politics and name calling aside…and instead lift up the everyday people working to bring America together. Let’s build longer tables." The famed Chef has been in Los Angeles since the fires got bad.

The new/old guy revoked the Secret Security Protection Detail assigned to John Bolton, because the new/old guy has the temper of an addled 12-year-old.

Based on what I saw of the sermon that was given at the service the new/old guy attended yesterday, he may never set foot in a church again. He called the Bishop "Nasty", which seems to be his go-to insult.

Can someone please explain to me why all these women either dating or engaged to the rich men in the old/new guy's circle all look the same? Like a blow-up doll left in the sun too long? I know that the look that old/new guy prefers but seriously, do they all have to look life that? I've seen pictures of many of them from 15-20 years ago and they didn't use to look like that!

The new/old guy cancelled flights for 1,660 refugees from Afghanistan who were previously cleared by the government to come to the U.S., according to Reuters. The 1,660 Afghan refugees who have been taken off flights include family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, unaccompanied minors flying to the U.S. to reunite with family, and those who fought for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government.

The Fraternal Order of Police, who backed the new/old guy, are upset about the pardons. Welp, that's what the "FO" in FAFO" is for.

Today, the new/old guy revoked the Executive Order put in place by LBJ that says you cannot discriminate against any race, religion, or gender in the workplace, especially when it comes to hiring. Once a racist always a racist. Remember, this is the guy who wanted the Central Park Five executed AFTER they were discovered to be innocent. He also fired every person in Government whose job it was to enforce that order. I'm guessing that's a lot of people.

Apparently the new/old guy wants to Tariff Russia into signing a peace deal with Ukraine. I'm starting to think that the new/old guy can't learn what tariffs actually do. Besides, we trade hardly anything with them at the moment, so big fuckin' whoop.

Representative Mike Collins (Idiot-GA) wants the Bishop who gave the sermon (mentioned above) deported because their mother was Swedish. The Biship was born in New Jersey.

The new/old guy always pays attention to his TV ratings - and in fact that might be the yardstick to measure him by and what propels him to do anything - and viewership this inauguration was 32% lower than Biden's. It was about 30% lower than his own previous swearing-in and two-minutes-hate speech.

Anyone else notice how similar the new/old guy's new official portrait is to his mug shot in Georgia?

One person given a pardon turned it down. "Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation," she said. "I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative."

By the way, Mr. Free Speech has just ordered all health agencies in the government to stop talking.

Oh, and one more thing... have you checked the price of eggs? 

And because I love you, enjoy this performance by Cory Wong's band. 

So how was that one day of Dictatorship?

Here's a list of published on the new/old guy's first day in office. You know, the one where he promised to be a Dictator:

• Renamed Mt. Denali as Mt. McKinley. No one wanted this. No one.
• Renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. I think Mexico has to agree to this, don't they? They won't. Neither will anyone else. It makes us look like we're 12 years old.
• Renamed Drug Cartels as Terrorist Organizations. We're going to invade Mexico. Mark my words.
• End DEI as a hiring practice, which is against federal law and means only hire white people.
• He actually signed two orders for this.
• Declared Transgenderism as false, and that the gender you're assigned at birth is the one you have to keep. Someone please let Chaz Bono know. Or Wendy Carlos (google her - she transitioned before most of us were born).
• And oh yes, there are only two genders. He says so. Fuckable and non-fuckable.
• DOGE, DOGE, DOGE, DOGE, DOGE
• America First is now to be official Diplomatic Policy. We called these folks Nazi's when I was young.
• No one who disagrees with US Policy should be let into the country. I wonder how that's going to affect the UN?
• Destroy the Alaskan Wilderness for oil and gas that we don't need.
• Kick out every single undocumented person in our borders, and not let any back in or any new ones in.
• Dismissed all existing Tariffs implemented under the Biden Administration.
• Set up a department to collect all tariffs imposed going forward, an "External Revenue Service". Never mind that tariffs are not collected from foreign companies but from the people who buy foreign products.
• Sets up a Homeland Security Infrastructure that takes power and decision-making away from the Joint Chiefs and gives it to a Presidentially appointed civilian board. What could possibly  go wrong when those decision makers are all people who have previously made a living as telling people that they are experts (on TV) but without experience (in reality).
• Realign all foreign aid, and pause existing aid, to realign with new America First policies. Sorry Gaza.
• Suspended all off-shore wind farm projects. All of them. Your energy bill is going up.
• Oh, and we have an energy supply emergency (we blame Biden for this non-existent problem), so say goodbye to the Endangered Species Act.
• Say goodbye to the Civil Service. We knew that one was coming.
• Promoting Beautiful Civic Architecture? What the fuck does this one even mean? Are all Federal buildings going to need to be painted that shit-tinged yellow he calls gold?
• Bring back the Federal Death Penalty, and reimpose it on all those Biden commuted to Life Sentences. Force the manufacture of lethal injection drugs and make certain that every state has them. That includes you, California.
• Force California to re-route its water. He blames the fire response on this, even though it wasn't true. What he does say is that water needs to be diverted from the Central Valley to the South - never minding that they get their water from two different places. But the central valley is where the farms are. Your grocery bill is going up. By the way there is protection for the Delta Smelt in Northern California, where water is more plentiful, but none of that prevents water from getting to the central valley (which is fed from the Sacramento Delta) or Southern California (whose water comes from the Sierra Nevadas).
• (holy shit this is only the end of page 2)
• Close and wall up the borders.
• Fuck the 14th amendment. Seriously. It doesn't say what we've all agreed it says for the last 160 years. I guess this means we have to deport Baron Trump. UPDATE: About 30 seconds after I published this came word that 22 states including my own sued to block this one. Welcome to day two.
• Accept no more refugees, and maybe kick out most of the ones we took in.
• Get rid of Electric Cars (sorry Elon) and any other policy that could help reduce out impact on the environment.
• Deploy US troops to the southern border. We're going to invade Mexico.
• Tarriff the fuck out of everyone. Yes, it has come up again.
• Give everyone he appoints immediate Security Clearance, so that they can do their jobs while they go through the task of getting a security clearance. In other words, he appoints, they get the clearance. This is a fucking landmine. Some of his appointments have track records of supporting Russia, China, and Iran.
• Oh, by the way the Southern Border is now a National Emergency. Remember those troops we're sending there. Now they can shoot at things/people.
• Revoke the security clearances of 50 specific people. Here's the Enemies List.
• Oh, and again the civil service is no more. Hire only people that pass our own loyalty tests.
• We are leaving the World Health Organization. Here comes another Pandemic. Probably one that's worse than COVID-19.
• Puts a 75 day pause on the TikTok ban. And then probably do nothing.
• Commuted the sentences of 14 traitors, and gave unconditional pardons to everyone involved in the deaths of 5 police officers. Law and Order party my ass.
• Reject every treaty we've ever been involved with when it comes to the Environment.
• There is an executive order that basically just says "Prices, I demand that you get lower!" Seriously. Nothing about how to do it, but to just do it in spite of all the orders signed today that will make that impossible.
• Oops! Hiring freeze! I’m sure he didn't mean that for your job. I'm sure.
• Any rules about to be implemented? Fuhguddaboudit! They will be re-reviewed.
• You can't work from home any more if you work for the government.
• There is a whole memorandum about ending the weaponization of the Federal Government, which to the best of my knowledge never happened. They weren't against you because of your politics, they were against you because you're a CRIMINAL.
• Revoke 78 of Biden's Executive orders. The list is quite specific and can be found here. It includes rescinding hiring protections for trans people (remember, they don't exist anymore), the Biden ethics council, all of the various COVID-19 panels and departments, and interestingly enough revoking the order that Biden used to revoke so many of the new/old guy's previous executive orders. Oh, and the price savings Biden had built into Medicare? Those are gone too. Insulin prices are going back up.
• You can't fly flags at half-staff on inauguration day. Hoist them back up fellas. By the way, the flags in Washington DC, which is controlled by The Parks Service, were still at half-staff in honor of Jimmy Carter during this inauguration. The service said it was so cold outside they couldn't move the ropes.

I show you all of this because this is what the White House PUBLISHED. It is known that over 200 Executive Orders were put in place. We also now know that they're not going to publish them all. Nazi Skinhead Fuckface (Steve Miller) flat out said so on January 19th. This is the DISTRACTION. The real damage is as of yet unknown.

Not in those orders: The fact that he fired the head of the Coast Guard for being a Woman.

The new/old guy is a Domestic Threat to this nation, and that's just in what he says. Wait until you see what he does.. 

A quick note about the Fires in Southern California: The latest conspiracy I've seen is to blame the fires on Billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, because they control 58% of the water supply in Kern County, which is the first county north of Los Angeles, but part of the Central Valley. Neither they nor the Governor are to blame for hydrants running dry. It's the fault of a system not built to handle the capacity of water necessary to fight so many fires simultaneously. The water was available, but the system just couldn't get it there fast enough. I know we want someone to blame for the tragedy this has been - that's natural. How about looking at Capitol Hill?

About Biden pardoning his family... I don't give a fuck about the optics, Jon Stewart. I just don't. He's defending his family against a Nazi regime. He's allowed this one. I'd rather not have future high school children learn about his descendants as if they were Ann Frank.

And because I love you and you deserve a break, here's I'm With Her doing an inspired remake:

Radio Free California Episode 2503 and a few thoughts from the Resistance.

 

Welcome to the soundtrack for the end of America! New music this week from The Amazons, Envy of None, OK Go, Elephant Stone, Baby Said, Yola, The Sherlocks, Ex-Void, Franciscan Monks of Acies Mundi, I'm With Her and much more. Enjoy!

We are the resistance now. I live in California, so for me it's pretty easy. I will provide you new music from unconventional sources (and a few conventional ones as well) so that you can see that the world keeps moving while America loses its fucking mind.

Never play poker or chess with Joe Biden. In the last few hours of his Presidency he gave Pre-emptive Pardons to everyone involved in the J6 committee. Members of congress, people who testified - just about everyone involved. And while the predictable sources all screamed to the rafters he then quietly commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier. Did you have that on your Bingo card? I didn't.

I didn't watch the inauguration of the new/old guy, but I see from many sources that the richest man in the world gave a Nazi salute (I've seen the video - it's a fucking Nazi salute - PERIOD) and that one of the other richest men in the world (the one with the frizzy fright wig masquarading as normal hair and might be a T-400 upgrade) looked at him with absolute loathing. Oh, and the new/old guy didn't place his hand on the bible held by his wife when he took the oath. Possibly out of fear of getting his hand scorched, by either that bible or his wife's touch. I mean, he did fuck a sex worker while she was recovering from giving birth to his youngest child.

Meanwhile, My newest Senator looked the next attorney general in the face and called her a liar. TikTok vanished and then reappeared (so I'm told - I'm not on TikTok) and gave all the credit to the new/old guy - who did nothing. It was a publicity stunt and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fucking liar.

Well, this is where we are. For the first time ever, we have a President who isn't President for all of us, but only for the richest of those who has kissed his ass. Even last time around he gave some lip service to trying, although he failed.

Oh, and apparently he declared himself to be the President of Peace, and he'll invade Panama just to prove it. He also had General Mark Milley's portrait taken down at the Pentagon. It was unveiled only 10 days ago. What a petty piece of shit.

This this is all happening on the day the country celebrates one of the greatest muckrakers in our country's history is just appalling. All because some of you didn't want a woman playing in the sandbox.

Fuck Unity. Starting today, I am part of the Motherfucking Rebellion.

I will have a present for my friends to help you not be constantly angry for the next 4 years, and I'll hand that out in March. Being angry all the time is tiresome - this is something I know too damned well - but if you follow me at counter.social (I am @animeraider) you can see my pinned post and get it for free now. I am not on Xitter, not public on Fakebooks, not on Instagram, and not terribly active on Bluesky. I do have a tumblr account (same handle) but that's not terribly interactive.

Hang on my friends. Turbulence is here. I'll be back tomorrow.

This week's 10 at 10 will air Thursday at 10pm PST with repeats on Sunday at 10am and 10pm at the radio station. Every song on the playlist above will be played in a continuous loop on Wednessday.

And because I love you and to give credit to Biden's last chess move, have some Toad the Wet Sprocket: