My Music Monday

Covers is the theme of this month.

This week is and isn't a cover. It is New Order covering Joy Division.

Joy Division was only around for a few years and two albums before lead singer, Ian Curtis, killed himself in 1980. They only yielded two albums.  Oddly, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - today's selection - wasn't on either of those disks. 

Their official version of this song was recorded shortly before Curtis' death. Shortly after his death, the three remaining bandmates formed New Order. 

40 years later, New Order still exists, albeit with only two members left of Joy Division, but they still put out good music, though not as dark as the original band.  

Bernard Sumner is here to do a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart".   (Paul Young also does a decent cover - though not as morose as the original.)

Site of the Month

If you have not checked out the Lincoln Project, clearly I suggest you do - or I wouldn't be making it my Site of the Month, eh? 

Yes, it's a PAC - so what?

The more important part is that it is formed and run by republicans whose goal is to prevent the reelection of BLOTUS. 

Actual living, breathing republicans who want to take down that turd. How can this not be good? 

They've even endorsed Pappy Joe. 

Mind you, the committee has Steve Schmidt, whom I still blame for BLOTUS - albeit slightly indirectly. He brought us Palin, who gave us eight years of splintering and dumbing down even the GOP (which I get is more difficult than it sounds). But it was enough to bring us the Mega-Palin: BLOTUS. 

But it also has Kryptkeeper KelleyAnne's husband. 

For sure read through the site, but FOR SURE, you should watch the videos. 

Fingers crossed.........and all. 

the Neighbor

Another week. More animal shots. They do make weird times feel normal, and make you care more about them than yourself during busy busy work weeks.  So............let's get to it. 

This is Rey. Or maybe Rea. 

We have a name. We know her house. She's not a kitten, she's 13. She used to live with one family on the street and adopted another when the first got a dog. Rey gets food from us and from two doors down, so she's not starving by any means. And she's cute as hell. 

Doing some sorting work with two of the laziest helpers you've ever met. 

Yeah yeah - Luna's cute. But why must Shep never get mentioned. 

Very hot last weekend, so for two days in a row, we took Shep to the Chagrin River to frolic. 

We frolicked with him. 

Soph not wanting her picture to be taken. 

My greatest admirer ?

Shep still has reservations about Rey - and vice versa. 

Song by: the Chicks

Radioactive

Of course (?) you've heard of the nutbags concerned people who think that 5G causes Covid.  People have been trying to blow up cell phone towers to have them from having to wear masks. 

It is crazy. 

Or so I thought. 

While perusing amazon, they actually make boxer briefs that filter out 4G and 5G radiation. 

I mean you're kind of fucked if you're still on 3G. 

Made of 42% silver? Really?? 

Silver, per ounce, is about $22.67.  So if the boxers are $27.97 you're kind of getting ripped off.  Those shorts should be about 92% silver at that price. 

At this point in my life - and in the world - cell phone radiation is the least of my worries. Spending almost $30 on a pair of underwear ranks higher. 

Song by: Imagine Dragons

Guessing

Honestly, if these are the options, should I be the hostage, it just might be easier, and more humane, to let the kidnappers kill me. 

My lord, I just thought of something: say that kind of scenario happened in this country.  What would the least likely movie BLOTUS would have to recommend to release - say, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn or say, I dunno, Ghislaine Maxwell ?

I'll say, he should fight to the death to recommend the Interview with James Franco, our national treasure!

Now your turn......in the comments. 

Song by: Jules Shear

Missed Opportunity

So BLOTUS told Faux reporter Chris Wallace {please don't confuse him as the liberal end of Fox, he's still a dick} a number of bat shit crazy stuff this last Sunday.  The cognitive test conversation was fucking hilarious. 

Wallace attempted to get BLOTUS  to “give a direct answer” on whether he would accept the Nov. 3 election results or not.  The response?  “I have to see. Look, you — I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say ‘yes.’ I’m not going to say no and I didn’t last time either,”

I expected nothing less. 

But "journalists" being what they are these days did not do the obvious follow-up. 

Follow-ups, actually.  Plural. 

Since the Obese president didn't quite answer and since Wallace didn't quite say, "if the results said you lost....." (though that was the inference) the seemingly obvious first follow up should have been: 

"So, if the electorate says you won, you're saying you might not accept those results?"

Since the man is an egomaniac, naturally he would have said 'yes, he'd accept those results".

The second follow-up, would / should have been, "so with the same election, same parameters, same everything, why would you be so good with one set of results and not the other?".  

Then we'd get to watch the fat fuck flounder (I do love alliteration). 

But none of that happened........except in my mind.  Missed opportunities. 

Song by: Daryl Hall + John Oates

Ad of the Month

Just an FYI, I'm totally stealing this from David over at the Adventures of a Travel Penguin. I didn't ask permission, but I don't think he'd mind.  I hope he doesn't. 

It is just perfect for these times and it made me laugh. Out loud. Not in just that LOL way that people say but don't actually mean. 

My Music Monday

Covers is the theme of this abbreviated month of My Music Mondays. 

John Wesley Harding has a few great songs in an alternative rock / folk kind of way. He was all early 90's for me, though he is still making music for purchase. He just kind of fell off my radar. 

His second release - an EP in 1989 called G-d Made Me Do It - included a cover of a song that had been released that very same year...........by Madonna. 

Harding covered "Like a Prayer" in an acoustic manner - and it works! The song is not done tongue in cheek, just straight forward. 

Take a listen. 

Portland

Last I checked, the 1st Amendment still stands, no? 

Sure, this administration treats the Constitution like a piece of one-ply Charmin, and yes, usually it's only the 2nd one that the federal government truly values, but.....

Portland. 

What. The. Actual. Fuck. 

I'm not sure there is anything I can currently say about the fucked-uppedness that is Portland, Oregon at this moment that will come out concise, let alone clear. 

The right to Free Speech and Assembly are still on the books, right?  So the idea that BLOTUS has unidentified men (*) pulling protestors, and btw, non-protesters off the street and putting them in unmarked cars and taking them away is fucking frightening. 

Right now it's unknown if anyone is charged with a thing, how many are in custody or where exactly they were taken. Think about that for a bit. 

Sound familiar?   It should. 

Think: Poland 1939.

Often, I have compared this administration to Hitler and Nazi Germany. That comparison continues and it's all too real.  

Maybe Portland is test to see how much the White House and DOJ can get away with, who the fuck knows. My anxiety certainly comes from the fact that this administration has gotten away with everything. Even the folks tried in court and sentenced to prison.  Flynn and Stone, totally off the hook.  

Someone should tell Barr if it's safe for kids to go back to school, Paul Manafort can go back to prison. 

And I do mean that BLOTUS has gotten away with the slightest ethics violation to outright corruption, and along the way is killing all of us with his ineptness when it comes to disease management. 

 

Portland protests have not been out of the ordinary to send in militarized police tactics. Every other state has used their own police force as necessary - and even those have been excessive. This is new. Well, for this country. Many other dictatorships have already been down this road. 

Again, if you're not scared yet, you should be. 

 

*Department of Homeland Security has already acknowledged being there and sent by the Federal Government. 

Song by: the Replacements

Don't Fence Me In

We have a little kitty kat action today - it's a little more dog heavy. Some weeks, that's just the way it works out. 

Hiking with Shep. Beautiful day. 

Shep meets the new cat. 

It does not go well..................for Shep. 

Kitty held her (?) ground. Swiped at him too, but just missed his nose. 

Yes, she went up the fence, but it might be a stretch to say he truly chased her there. 

Cousins at the beach. 

Breakfast Club

Song by: Ella Fitzgerald

the Scientist

So, I did something dreadful and caught part of the night time national news yesterday. At least it was the second half, so while BLOTUS related, I'm sure not as bad as the first half. 

But there was a story that had Biden leading BLOTUS nationally 51% to 40%. They didn't say where the 9% resided. I'll assume "undecided".  And really?  Is THIS an election where you really don't know upon which candidate you land?  I mean - unless to see if Kanye makes headway? 

While it is 'good news', I don't hold a lot of stock in them as it is a moment in time, and months ahead of voting day. 

But even if Biden were to win, I'm not sure it will matter. BLOTUS is going to take the entire country down - and down hard. More so than he already has, obvi, but this time he seems to building more and more to his Jim Jones moment. 

Case in point: the discrediting of Anthony Fauci. 

A man with no medical degree, and a questionable admission into two colleges, has a larger platform than one of the top medical experts in the country when it comes to infectious diseases. And is using said platform to downplay and silence the expert. 

And people are listening.  

Sure, we have that braintrust leader: Chuck Woolery: 

The man who quit what was literally the easiest job on earth  {seriously, Vanna White does all the physical work}- and lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars -  knows more than well.......everyone. 

.....until it was literally a day later.....

No, 'sorry for my earlier tweet', but the damage was done. But he did delete his account after sending that last one. Coward.  

That tweet went out everywhere. Maybe even the Georgia state house. 

.....and then there is this twat.....

The White House is not trying to silence Fauci, but literally tell people to ignore science. 

This is not just what gets us killed, regardless of that aforementioned poll, this is what gets that dick re-elected.  He has torn down doubt in the press, justice, law and ethics that the possible last pillar is science. 

I've said it before, the only hope of that reversal are hundreds of thousands of more deaths. Hopefully, the majority will be the folks who believe him. 

Song by: Aimee Mann

the Right to Vote

For this upcoming election I had committed to taking the day off and driving people who could not get to their voting location. 

I figured, it is absolutely the least one could do to help democracy, especially when these are the folks the GOP is trying ever so hard not to get to said polls. 

Then I figured, why do the absolute least? 

If you haven't been paying attention, there is, and will be, a heavy shortage of poll workers this upcoming election. Covid is not helping matters in the slightest. 

The situation is serious enough that there may be limited polling places. We already saw Kentucky cut their primary voting by 3,500 locations!!!  That isn't all lack of workers, that's just fucking highway robbery. 

So, Covid be damned, I will sit / stand in a voting location for a shift - or two, if needed - and make sure people have the opportunity to vote. 

As it turns out, since I live in a heavily democratic area I will probably have to work somewhere not necessarily near me. Workers are supposed to be 50% each party. Chances are they already have enough folks. 

The hours - for one day - will be long:  probably 06:00 to 20:00.  I will have to take an on-line training class and an in person one as well. It's a paid gig, to which I don't care - the plan is to donate anything I make back to the ACLU. 

This is, without a doubt, the most important election of my life. I refuse to idly stand by and watch it be stolen. 

I challenge you all to something similar. 

Song by: Laura Nyro

Drive Thru Man

As you know, I'm a big reader of the daily obituaries. Though, that said, our local paper has redone the format and I'm not a fan. 

So much so, that I kind of breeze through most of them now. Maybe I don't care for change that much after all. 

Anyhoooo......if you read them, especially over the last few months, there has been a shift in them.....obvi. 

Like anything else these days, how one has - or doesn't have - a funeral has changed.   

The obits will always say "a celebration will be had at a later date to be announced".  BTW - the longer this virus carries on, the chance of that "later date" is zero. But we've gone from no funerals at all, to small ones with masks and social distancing required to 'drive thru' funerals. 

Now, I've read this and assumed things - and not necessarily incorrectly, but had not really given it tons of thought. Until last week. 

My cousin's wife passed away - expectedly unexpected.  I got a text from his daughter, who is closer in age to me than he is, telling me of his wife's passing. She mentioned the drive-thru funeral, which started this part of the chain (I'm in blue): 

Let it not be said that I am ever appropriate. Good thing Louise is usually on the same page as I. 

So yesterday was the day. I drove the 90 minutes to basically go through a drive through. And no drink or sammich to go with it. 

Not knowing how this would work, or the volume of cars, I got there shortly after the start. Only four cars ahead of me.....as you can see.  

As you pull in, a man takes the info you would have put into a guest book, then you get in queue. I happened to notice the two cars behind me were two other cousins. As we were just waiting (if the line got too long, I'm assuming the funeral folks would have urged things along), I got out of my car, and they theirs, and we stood 20' away from each other - with masks - and caught up briefly. I hadn't seen either one of these guys since my mother's service / celebration a year ago. 

Actually, now that I think of it, the last FIVE times I've seen them has been at funerals. And Dan I saw a sixth time, at the World Series a few years back. 

But then I pulled up under the portico, and my cousin, his kids and their spouses were there - with masks - and we got to chat for a few moments, express condolences and a promise of getting together when this is all over - or outside at a large table. 

Oh, and the casket was outside too, but not out with the family, but close to the actual building. Unless you truly looked, you wouldn't even see it. 

Louise and I - beforehand - mentioned how weird it all was, but clearly nothing was mentioned at the time. It was almost odd how not so odd it actually was. Not that I'd want to do this often, but that's true of any funeral. 

Welcome to the new normal. 

Song by: Nick Lowe

I Got Nothing - not even a song title title

Sorry folks. 

It's been a while since a nothing day, but I'm tapped out. 

I took a 15 minute, pre-time bedtime nap. 

But I'l leave you with this:  have we decided if the bearded guy from a show I've never watched, though they advertise it incessantly, is hot or not? 

Take the title image, then the one below. 

I'm leaning towards 'no'. 

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 123rd 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. Now it's just myself - of which I know.

05:45.  Peeing. 

This was a pic of Shep peeing. But the camera was in 'live' mode and this is what came out. It's more interesting than a dog in leg lift position. 

06:16.  Feeding 'hood kitty. 

I'm not 100% she's just not a kitten. I'm not 100% sure she has a home. If she's doesn't, she's thin and not a great hunter. So, when she shows up, I give her a handful of food. She devours it, which tells me she is hungry. I'm ok with feeding a cat. 

06:35.  Doing a little work, so I don't have to do it tomorrow morning before a 07:00 meeting

07:42.  Getting b'fast. 

It was to be a shot of cereal prep, but once again, I fucked up the shot and this is what you get. 

11:23. Heading to Bow Wow Beach. 

Weather said 'no rain' and there wasn't, but it sure looked like it. 

(technically 710 took this pic while I was driving, but asked him to.)

12:18. First Swim. 

Bailey took her first swim, with a little help from my sister tossing her in. She did well!

13:51.  Late lunch: PBJ

14:42.  Cleaning out the canning room. 

Basement room once used for canning and now just filled with partial cans of paint and stain. It all had to go, so I blocked out 90 minutes to empty the basement. 

15:59.  Groceries. 

Just needed a few things, but I was out and about, so.......

16:57.  Dog walks, dog park,  and cleaning out the basement and shopping made Blobby one sweaty sweaty boy. 

......and now and again, you gotta throw something in for the fans. 

18:17.  Sunday night video drinking. 

Since Covid isolation began, friends have been gathering every Sunday night for one hour / 2 beers. It has, without a doubt been the highlight of my year. 

18:53.  Dinner. 

Pork chops in the air fryer. 

That's it. I made it to 12 without having to resort to a dessert or flossing pic.  Lucky you!

Buckeye Battle Cry

As I cannot bring myself to write about Roger Stone or Fucker Carlson, I'm just going the light weight route. 

Even I think Dr. Spo can appreciate Script Ohio in any form, but I mean, why not with zero-turn riding mowers? 

  

If they only could have done it with more mowers doing all four sides of the field (which STILL thrills me).  

There was a huge missed opportunity for the guy dotting the 'i'.  Where was the bow???

Song by: the Best Damn Band in the Land

Jump in the River

Last weekend was the holiday one.  So, we went out a bunch with Mr. Shep.  Sophie guarded the house. 

Best way to get Shep into the river, is going in with him. 

Hike at a bog. 

Maybe it's the heat - but Shep has been charging Sophie a lot lately, not that she doesn't hold her ground. 

But this is at a time of détente.

We went to our first outing at Bow Wow Beach this last weekend. Someone had a blast!!!

Sophie hanging in Dad #1's office. 

Nice carpet and it's cool. 

Song by: Sinéad O'Connor