Losing Control

The horrible-ness of the deaths of fifty-nine American citizens cannot be diminished. They can, however, be appropriated for political purposes. In order to find meaning in the meaningless void of last weekend's mass murder in Las Vegas, sides are once again being drawn in that great debate we call "gun control." Many of the arguments for the law-abiding gun owner center on the notion that one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl. One "lone wolf" shouldn't be the reason to impinge on the rights of all those law-abiding wolves. Just because a number of high-powered semi-automatic rifles were used in the commission of this awfulness doesn't mean that the Constitution does not protect all those wolves who would like to have their own arsenal. "The bad guys all have guns," we are told. "Why shouldn't we?"
If all the bad guys jumped off the roof of the Mandalay Bay hotel, would you want to follow them? 
Two years ago, columnist Dan Hodges tweeted, "In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over." That thought has received a lot of replay over the past week as we try once again to unravel this bloody web of sorrow and regret. 
Of course there are those who have already made up their minds. Like our friend Alex Jones, who has made a career of staring down all kinds of reality and coming back with the realization that dark forces other than the obvious were at work. Jones fabricated a customarily lurid and complex tale involving the Islamic State group, former Vice President Albert Gore and former CIA official Philip Mudd, among other suspects. Jones also alluded to “the literal grandchildren of the folks that financed the Bolshevik Revolution out of New York and London,” an elaborate allusion to Jews that none of his devoted fans could have missed. Add to this the assertion that there was a second shooter involved, just like there was in Dallas all those years ago, and you've got a great big conspiracy pie with nothing but air an paranoia for its main ingredients. 
Who wants to talk about gun control when the Bolsheviks are at the door? You want to talk gun control? Use both hands!
Meanwhile the winners in all of this are the gun manufacturers whose stock and products continue to sell like hotcakes. Deadly, semi-automatic, armor-piercing large capacity magazine hotcakes. With silencers. How could any voice of reason be hears over that din? Not bloody likely.
Emphasis on the bloody. 

Tom Petty And The Heartbroken

I asked my wife to kick me in my backside. After her first attempt, I asked her to put a little something more into it. The second one had a little more gusto, and it served as my reminder to take care of things while they are in front of you rather than waiting until it's too late.
It's too late to see Tom Petty. Live, anyway. My very considerate wife reminded me that I could still watch Tom anytime I wanted. On my computer. On my TV. On my phone. In my mind. And yet, Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers join a list of regrets I carry called, "I never did see." Adding to my need to be kicked: The fortieth anniversary tour rolled through Berkeley last August 30, leaving me with very little excuse except that I figured there would always be one more tour. One more chance.
Tom Petty passed away on October 2, just a week after he and his band finished up his last tour at the Hollywood Bowl. I am certain there are fans who took in that last show and will savor the memories of it.
I will be listening to recordings and singing snippets of songs and wondering why I never bothered to get out and see a show. It might be that I spent so much time initially avoiding Tom Petty. That was my little brother's music. He wore out his copy of "Damn The Torpedoes." I was aware of this hit machine from Florida, but my sibling instincts kept me from diving in. It was another five years before I started paying full attention. Tom was hanging around with a host of different artists at that point, and when he released the video for "Don't Come Around Here No More," I was hooked. If that weren't enough, Tom was a Wilbury. The Traveling kind. Double hooked.
Somewhere around this time, I rediscovered the gem of a song, "American Girl." It could have been the one recording that got them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but there were so many others. Forty years of them. And now they're done. Not gone. Just done. You can put a bow around it: The collected works of Tom Petty. And I think I might miss hearing the stories more than the music. Tom told a story about George Harrison that summed up both of their spirits so very nicely. It was about how George always carried two ukuleles with him, because you never know when somebody might want to strum.
And that's what I hope Tom is doing now: strumming a uke with his pal George. Not exactly live, but full of life. Aloha, Tom. You rocked the Terra.

Bot And Sold

Twitter told congressional investigators Thursday that it found more than two hundred Russia-linked accounts during its review of malicious bots and misinformation during the 2016 president campaign. For me, this kind of puts a realistic spin on the fantastic, dark and creepy notion of Russian hackers finding their way into our rigidly protected cyberspace. This could be as simple as young Fyodor clicking a blue box that promises "I am not a bot," and proceeding to dump his brand of trolling into the stream. It puts a damper on the scene in which a bunker full of faceless drones type away at machines at once antiquated as well as souped-up for international espionage. 
With some mild frequency I experience some of this sabotage in the form of solicitations to try a carpet cleaning service as a comment on one of my blogs. Yes friends, it can happen here. Right here in the Paradise I like to call Entropical. I try to discourage myself from clicking on the supplied link, even though it surely seems legitimate enough. Why would this happen? How can this happen? 
Well, I guess the fact that this service is a free one and I am getting exactly what I paid for. The safeguards placed on my account is on a par with that "I am not a bot" check box. Once you've broken through that layer of security, you have reached the inner sanctum. The only defense I have is to delete the offending comment. 
Yes. That's all there is to it. That and the capacity to recognize an advertisement for a carpet cleaning service from someone wishing to argue a point or add a detail to one of my dispatches. Since I have rarely, until now, mentioned carpet cleaning I expect that these are the leaks in the net that I have to deal with myself. I do this with a heavy heart, since I never will know for certain that these were not encoded messages from someone trapped in a carpet cleaning company, strapped to a laptop, trying n vain to reach out to anyone who could give them the faintest glimmer of hope. Hope that fades to black as soon as I hit the "do you really want to delete this comment? Yes" button. 
So it turns out that a portion of the right wing rhetoric that was spouted leading up to the 2016 election may have been from that same scary warehouse. Or living room. Or Moscow penthouse. I am not alone in all this. Our "President" may have a following on Twitter that is more than half bot. Twitter, which does the occasional audit to see who is pushing their buttons, suggested that up to fifty-five percent of the "President's" followers might be just pretend. Which comes as sort of a relief. A really loud and annoying relief. Press the delete button. 

This Is Not Normal

Tom Price - The secretary of health and human services had elicited bipartisan condemnation over the cost of his air travel — he had cost taxpayers more than $1 million between his use of private planes for domestic travel and military jets for recent trips to Africa, Europe, and Asia, Politico reported.

Sebastian Gorka - A White House official confirmed Gorka's departure from the Trump administration on August 25. The former Breitbart News staffer and ally of chief strategist Steve Bannon served as a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump.  In his departing letter, first published on a pro-Trump website, Gorka told Trump he could better serve the president's "America First" agenda from the outside. Gorka was aligned with a once prominent nationalist arm of the Trump administration, occupied most prominently by Bannon and Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser. Bannon's departure a week earlier was seen as a significant blow to other nationalist, far-right figures in the White House, and Gorka implied as much in his letter, saying it was clear to him that "forces that do not support the MAGA promise are — for now — ascendant within the White House."

Steve Bannon - White House officials confirmed that Trump had dismissed Bannon, his chief strategist, on August 18 after reports of clashes between Bannon and other members of the White House reached a fever pitch in recent days. Bannon, who was instrumental in focusing the message of Trump's 2016 campaign, was considered the main conduit between Trump and his base of far-right voters. Bannon submitted his resignation to Trump earlier in August, The New York Times  reports. Matt Drudge, the conservative blogger, said Bannon might return to his former job as executive chairman of Breitbart News.

Anthony Scaramucci - Scaramucci was hired as the White House communications director and then dismissed in less than two weeks. The decision came at the urging of John Kelly, the new White House chief of staff, according to a Times report. Scaramucci most notably made headlines for his interview with The New Yorker in which he unleashed an expletive-filled tirade against members of the Trump administration.

Reince Priebus - Priebus resigned as White House chief of staff six months into his tenure after a public feud with Scaramucci. Trump announced in a tweet on June 28 that Kelly, the secretary of homeland security at the time, would take over for Priebus. Priebus resigned less than a week after Sean Spicer, the former press secretary, who was considered a Priebus ally in the White House.

Sean Spicer - Spicer, the embattled White House press secretary, resigned on July 21 after telling Trump he vehemently disagreed with the selection of Scaramucci as White House communications director. Spicer's tenure was marred by controversyand a sometimes awkward relationship with the president. Spicer said at the time that he would stay in his role until August.

Michael Dubke - Dubke resigned as the White House communications director in May. Dubke was replaced by Scaramucci, the founder of a hedge fund and a top Trump donor.

Walter Shaub - Shaub resigned as the director of the Office of Government Ethics in July after clashing with the White House over Trump's complicated financial holdings.Shaub called the  Trump administration a "laughingstock" after his resignation, and he advocated strengthening the US's ethical and financial disclosure rules, according to The Times.

James Comey - Trump fired Comey as FBI director in May. At the time of his firing, Comey was handling the bureau's investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election, creating a firestorm of controversy for the Trump administration.

Comey was the second FBI director to be fired by a president — Bill Clinton fired William Sessions in 1993. Michael Flynn - Flynn resigned in February after serving as national security adviser for less than a month. Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials about what he and Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the US, talked about in phone conversations during the transition — according to reports, they had discussed the Obama administration's sanctions against Russia.

Sally Yates - Trump fired Yates, an appointee of President Barack Obama, as acting attorney general within his first 10 days in office. Yates had refused to uphold Trump's executive order on immigration and denounced it as unlawful. Yates was also instrumental in the events that led to Flynn's ouster, as she had informed Trump days after his inauguration that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

Preet Bharara - Trump fired Bharara as the US attorney for the Southern District of Manhattan in March after he refused to submit his resignation to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Bharara was fired along with several other Obama-era US attorneys, though Trump had initially asked Bharara during the transition to remain in his position.

Katie Walsh - Walsh, the former deputy chief of staff and close ally of Priebus, left the White House after nine weeks to run America First Policies, a pro-Trump group outside the government.

Not Normal. 

A Brief History Of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is Spanish for "Rich Port."
Puerto Rico is not a state.
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Puerto Rico is an archipelago, a fancy name for a group of islands.
Puerto Rico has a capital called San Juan.
Puerto Rico is one of those countries "discovered" by Christopher Columbus.
Puerto Rico spent four centuries under Spanish Colonial rule.
Puerto Rico became part of the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War.
Puerto Rico would very much like to become a state.
Puerto Rico is located in the northeast Caribbean.
Puerto Rico was hit hard last month by Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico would very much like federal aid and assistance in the wake of that disaster.
Puerto Rico has a capital, whose mayor said, “We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency. I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying.”
Puerto Rico was described by our "President" as "an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water.”
Puerto Rico has a capital, whose mayor was recently described by our "President" this way: “The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help.”
Puerto Rico has a population of three and a half million people.
Puerto Rico has a population that is struggling to find clean water, fuel, electricity, and all manner of basic supplies.
Puerto Rico is an island. 
Puerto Rico  needs our help. 
Puerto Rico dos not need another tweet.

Continued On Next Shrit

When I woke up, it was dark. I didn't know how dark.
Not until I opened up the news. Fifty people had been shot and killed and hundreds more wounded in Las Vegas the night before. Thousands of folks who had attended the Route 91 Music Festival were targets for a sniper perched atop a high-rise hotel across the street.
Motives were not clear as the sun began to creep into the new day. Other than the obvious one: killing. No one wanted to talk about domestic terrorism, since it wasn't clear why a sixty-four year old accountant would turn sharpshooter and bring death from above. Was there terror? Was it home-grown? I suppose we'll have to wait for the authorities to determine all of that.
In the meantime, we as a nation are left with yet another disaster. There isn't much natural about this. All those concertgoers showing up to the last night of the three night country music extravaganza entered the venue across the street from the Mandalay Bay hotel through a screening process not unlike that found at most airports. Why wouldn't they feel safe?
The ability to spray bullets into a crowd is one that is safeguarded by our Constitution. At least that's what a lot of people will begin to assert as the traditional gun control debate pot gets stirred yet again. And at this point, I say, "Why bother?"
This is a country that spent two weeks arguing about professional athletes sitting or standing for our National Anthem, a song whose lyrics are all about fire and explosions. We have spent the last seven years arguing about the way we insure our citizens against medical expenses. We debate the reality of global warming while monster storms devastate our coasts. We seem to be just as ready to use our nuclear weapons as we ever have been.
Why bother arguing about gun control?
Because fifty Americans lost their lives in a senseless tragedy. It should have been avoided. Just like all those other mass shootings that are listed on the shirt my wife wears to remind us all of the toll of avoidance. We have not been able to keep up with the cities that have been added to that list since it was first printed. Commas instead of a period.
When I woke up, it was dark.

The Genuine Article

I have conflicting emotions about the passing of Hugh Hefner. The founder of Playboy Enterprises, publisher, pornographer, man about town, and hero to millions has gone to that great grotto in the sky. For as long as I can remember, Mister Hefner, Hef to his friends, promoted a lifestyle highlighted primarily by his insistence on wearing pajamas to work. Comfort being the prime motivator in the kingdom he created, Hugh Hefner lived a life of glorious excess right up until his subscription expired at the age of ninety-one. 
He began publishing his "men's magazine" in 1953 at the age of twenty-seven. Playboy reflected the fantasy world of a twenty-seven year old man: “We enjoy mixing up cocktails and an hors d’oeuvre or two, putting a little mood music on the phonograph and inviting in a female acquaintance for a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, sex.” That quiet discussion lasted for three generations, with so many lives impacted by the words and pictures found inside those slick covers. Kids of those generations had their puberties rocked by that soft focus planet of impossible lifestyle adorned with impossible women. 
And everyone I ever knew who had more than one issue that wasn't hidden under a mattress would tell me that they weren't looking at the pictures. They read Playboy for the articles. Last year, when the magazine decided to take those folks at their word and publish a magazine free of nude women, the experiment lasted less than a year. Apparently a quiet discussion of Picasso, Nietzsche, and jazz without the sex didn't sell.
Still, up on some hill in Los Angeles, the Playboy Mansion kept its ethereal glow. A man who made a point of being photographed with the subjects of his pictorials spun a web of mystery and intrigue. How could this lifestyle be maintained fifty years down the line? What sort of magical world was generated by a diet of "party jokes" and Pepsi? What sort of time vortex allowed that version of the American Dream to exist for so very long. 
I suppose you could acknowledge Hugh Hefner's strength of vision. Giving the people what they wanted? Maybe, but he hung around long enough to be eulogized as an entertainment mogul, head of the Playboy Empire. An empire built on a discussion of Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz and sex. But mostly the sex. Hugh Hefner stomped on the Terra, in silk pajamas and a smoking jacket, but stomp he did.