Some Pictures From Providence, Rhode Island (2019)

In July of 2019, I traveled to Massachusetts, mostly to attend an author event. The author was Derek B.  Miller, and it was going to be his first appearance in the United States to promote a book. It was also the only such event of his that my schedule would allow me to attend, so it either had to be go to this one, or just forget the whole thing. I decided to take the road trip, and although I never actually got around to publishing that particular post, that should be remedied in the very near future (hopefully later this week).

In the meantime, it seemed like a good idea to post some of the pictures that I did take that evening. At one point, while the sun was setting, I pulled over and took a picture of the sunset across some kind of a lake or reservoir. But mostly, the pictures were of Providence, the capital city of Rhode Island. 

Providence always seemed to have some measure of charm despite it being known traditionally as kind of a tough town. If memory serves correctly, I first visited this little city in the autumn of 2001, probably on an unseasonably mild day in November. I have been back only a few times since, but this particular visit was likely the briefest one.

Still, I do like the town. There is a narrow river that traverses the downtown, which always reminds me a bit of Europe. There is Brown University, an Ivy League school, which has a pleasant campus. And of course, my personal favorite landmark of Providence is the beautiful state house.  It was the state house that I mostly focused on for this particular trip, just as it was getting dark. The pictures came out okay. Certainly, there have been pictures that I have taken which seemed to come out better, clearer. Still, they seemed worth sharing, so here they are.

Enjoy.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims That Biden’s Coronavirus Vaccine Passport Plan Should Be Referred To As "the Mark of the Beast"

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Congresswoman who either seems to have escaped from, or possibly be the president of, a far rightwing extremist institution, likened President Biden's vaccine passport plan to the "mark of the beast" very recently.

This is the kind of ridiculous, over-the-top political tone that seems to have taken over among self-identified conservatives in this country. Republicans have long embraced a certain disdain towards inconvenient facts that would clearly favor policies that they are opposed to. Take climate change, gun laws, and the healthcare debates as just the most obvious examples.

However, we seem to have entered a phase where far too many Republicans are outright making what appears to be a biblical case for their policies and/or politicians. Some of them suggested that Donald Trump was basically sent by God, and some even went so far as to suggest that Trump himself was like a biblical figure. Surely, some self-identified conservatives are not entirely comfortable with this extremism, but they really need to shout this kind of ridiculous argument down, without equivocation. We really could use some standards in our national political dialogue. 

Once this was accepted as more or less normal, it was only a short step to even newer lows. Policy differences are one things, but implying and/or fearing that Joe Biden and/or Kamala Harris are seemingly literally agents of the devil, or about to set up a Communist dictatorship are utterly absurd. Sorry, but you just are not dealing with rational, intelligent people when you see or hear people making these kinds of arguments. There just is no excuse for that, but we now have people making these kinds of arguments who have a national platform. 

So enter Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has never seemed to shy away from making a mockery of herself with absurd, over-the-top conspiracy theories and unfounded claims. Again, claiming that Biden's vaccine policy to address the Covid-19 crisis is tantamount to the "mark of the beast" is utterly absurd. This is the kind of lunacy that made me - admittedly with some measure of reluctance - vote for Biden in the last election. I do not like Biden, and certainly have some differences of opinions with him regarding a number of policies. However, it really felt like this nation was seriously flirting with a cultish dictatorship with Trump in the Oval Office. And as I mentioned, even if Trump himself is gone (and he may not be gone forever from holding office), I nevertheless have stated in the past, and will state again here, that each step down makes the next downward step that much easier. Reagan and Bush made Clinton possible, and all of that made George W. Bush possible. Barack Obama was a disappointment, and then, all of the lunacy came together in 2016 and saw Trump elected to the highest office. At certain points, I felt like we could not get any lower, or at least tried to convince myself that we could not. But it feels clear to me that, in fact, we can get lower, especially when so many are trying to step up and replace Trump as the new voice of the political trend which has come to be known as Trumpism.

When we have elected officials like Greene holding a prominent office in our government and Washington, and having a serious media platform, and then shooting off her mouth with utterly absurd claims like this, it needs to be condemned as the lunacy it really is. This is not political dialogue. This is not even really hatred or mere ignorance. No, this clearly qualifies as being in the realm of ridiculous conspiracy theories with absolutely no basis in reality. That, to me, clearly qualifies as insanity, quite literally. I am not trying to be funny or even insulting. This is literally unbelievable, and once again, I find myself almost despairing at what feels like yet another low bar set for our national political dialogue. 

I used to hope that we could not get any lower than Trump. Yet, I feared that we could. For now, the individuals making these claims are not especially high-ranking in our national government in Washington. They have a platform, but it is limited. Greene is not in the White House, or even making a run (yet). But if we allow a member of Congress to get away with making this level of insanity - yes, I am using that word - by revealing herself to be a conspiracy nut job, then we seem to indeed be moving in the direction where something or someone worse than Trump is not only possible, but inevitable. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene says Biden’s vaccine passport plan should be called ‘the Mark of the Beast’ Biden administration reportedly working on new digital identification system to recognise the vaccinated population  Stuti Mishra @StutiNMishra 9 hours ago  

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-vaccine-passport-biden-b1824212.html?fbclid=IwAR1CXtRy1c2-8EstscJyC9m2HyrY7E3_Z_WillHX4bYKSzYm0-4HQ08kRt4

Chris Cornell's Last Completed Studio Album Finally Released By Cornell Family

Recently, I began to go through some of my unpublished posts, and found a whole slew of them which should have been published, but somehow never were. This will be the first of those posts. It is about Chris Cornell and his last studio album, which is appropriately tiled "No One Sings Like You Anymore," was released late last year. Here is what I wrote about it (this is not a review) in December, and had since mistakenly assumed had already been published:

Chris Cornell's death took the music world by surprise back in the spring of 2017. I had been a fan of his, and of his band Soundgarden, since back in the nineties. I saw them in Lollapalooza in 1996, and had seen Cornell, specifically, in concert numerous times since then. More than that, I came to appreciate his music even more when I grew older, even though often, perhaps even usually, it is the opposite. Our musical tastes often change, and what may have appealed to us when younger no longer appeals as strongly later on. But with Cornell, it was quite the opposite.

In fact, my son and I bonded over his music, particularly during trips that we took out west. The first of those was in Arizona back in 2015, and the next was the very next year, when we went all across the west, from the redwoods of northern California to San Francisco, then the Mojave Desert, and through northern Utah and Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then clipping the "Four Corners" region of southwestern Colorado, visiting Mesa Verde and the San Juan mountains, and finally through a bit of New Mexico before returning back to Arizona. Then again in 2018, when we visited Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and central Colorado, including Rocky Mountain National Park and the Garden of the Gods, as well as the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, which were fascinating. Listening to Cornell's music sometimes still brings us both back to those times, reminds us - sometimes intensely - of those trips.

One thing that I am glad to have done was to take my son to see Temple of the Dog (ToD), the band that was assembled to produce a famous album that greatly helped to boost the popularity of the then two emerging bands that formed ToD, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. It wound up being the only time that we would see Cornell in concert, as he died a little more than half a year later. Man, am I glad to have taken him to that show! Who knew? Something told me, though, to take him to see it, and we did. 

We still listen to Cornell every now and then. Sometimes it is Soundgarden, sometimes Temple of the Dog, sometimes Audioslave, and sometimes his solo work. He really is a great musician, and we appreciate almost everything that he did. But that also makes it a bit sad, because for a while, it felt like there was not going to be any new music of his released.

Now, the first posthumous compilation of his is finally being released. Not all of it is new, and it is an album of covers, so even if we have not necessarily heard all of these Cornell covers of other artists, there is a lot of stuff that we likely have heard before. Still, it is a good sign. 

The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien, a familiar name for anyone who is into the Seattle bands. It was recorded in 2016, and Cornell and O'Brien were the ones who reportedly played all of the instruments for the entire album. The album title is "No One Sings Like You Anymore," which is fitting, because it is true, and these are some iconic lyrics penned by Cornell for a now famous Soundgarden song. 

Concerning the album, Vicky Cornell, Chris Cornell's widow, said in a statement:

“This album is so special because it is a complete work of art that Chris created from start to finish. His choice of covers provides a personal look into his favourite artists and the songs that touched him. He couldn’t wait to release it.   

"This moment is bittersweet because he should be here doing it himself, but it is with both heartache and joy that we share this special album. All of us could use his voice to help heal and lift us this year, especially during the holiday season. I am so proud of him and this stunning record, which to me illustrates why he will always be beloved, honored, and one the greatest voices of our time.”

Below is the track list of the upcoming album:

No One Sings Like You Anymore track list:   

1. “Get It While You Can” — Howard Tate/Janis Joplin  

2. “Jump Into The Fire” — Harry Nilsson

3. “Sad Sad City” — Ghostland Observatory  

4. “Patience” — Guns N’ Roses  

5. “Nothing Compares 2 U” — Prince  

6. “Watching The Wheels” — John Lennon  

7. “You Don’t Know Nothing About Love” — Carl Hall  

8. “Showdown” — Electric Light Orchestra  

9. “To Be Treated Rite” — Terry Reid  

10. “Stay With Me Baby” — Lorraine Ellison

Below is a link to the article which I used in writing this particular blog entry, as well as from which I obtained all of the quotes used above. Take a look:

Chris Cornell's final completed studio album is released by his family By Rob Laing, December 10, 2020:

https://www.musicradar.com/news/chris-cornells-final-completed-studio-album-is-released-by-his-family?utm_content=bufferbb925&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer-musicradarfb&fbclid=IwAR07SuTauku-uZmiNCGcIG1XUiJb4ih9ypd28CK11iEWLJa_PQgpA4qDfck

At a Chris Cornell solo acoustic show in Reading, Pennsylvania, back in 2013, I was actually able to take a couple of really cool pictures of Cornell in concert. They are some of the best concert pics that I have ever managed to take, and it seemed like a good idea to share them here. So, here they are, in remembering Cornell and the great music that he gave us. 

FOX News Losing Audiences Because It Is No Longer Extremist Enough For Many Trump Supporters

So, perhaps this could have been foreseen. The destabilizing effects of Trump's rise to politics - where he clearly had no business, but where his ego and abilities to manipulate masses of people to believe the product of his own convenient, ridiculously flattering mythology of himself - was bound to have some serious, and probably unforeseen, ramifications. 

FOX News had been the unchallenged bastion of conservatism in the modern media up until the 2016 election, and the political rise of Donald Trump. Then, however, there was some friction, as some in the FOX News crowd seemed, at best, lukewarm towards Trump. Some seemed outright opposed to him, which felt, at the time, a bit comforting, as it seemed to confirm that even FOX News and the swarms of hard right-wing nuts had their limits.

Except that Trump is a master manipulator, and he managed to get his loyal supporters to believe that FOX was entering the conspiracy against him. In his mastery of manipulating just enough people and swaying them to his point of view, and to remain loyal to him, FOX News was itself put to the test in the court of right-wing extremist opinion, and often, it was found lacking. Enter alternative news sources, particularly One America News (OAN) and Newsmax, which have begun to steal FOX's traditional, hard right-wing media thunder.

Suddenly, many Trump fans almost seem to view FOX News as too liberal, as too anti-Trump. Yes, you read that right. Indeed, some of Trump's loyal supporters feel that FOX is too closely aligned with the "libtard" mass media, that it is dishing out reliably "fake news" with a liberal bent. And now, the master manipulator, Donald Trump, has gotten his crowd to begin to question the conservative credentials of FOX News, because FOX did not literally bend over backwards at all times to cater to his every whim, that they did not, in effect, become his unofficial but de facto loyal state media. The modern era's answer to Louis XIV might as well have been telling them,  "L'etat c'est moi."

For many Trump supporters, this seems to be what they literally believe. While I half expected someone like Trump to get elected at some point or other, it amazes me that I still seem to underestimate his power over the people he fools, time and time again. Many Americans never bought Trump's crap, thankfully. But those who did seemed to suspend any and all disbelief, and unashamedly turned this pathetic, needy man, this demagogue who posed an obvious and clear threat to democracy, into a virtual Biblical figure, quite literally. Some of them seemed to outright think that questioning anything that he did was tantamount to blasphemy. They stopped seeing him as a public servant, and viewed him almost as a ruler by divine right, and an infallible one, at that. Quite a number of them said straightfaced that he had been placed in the White House by none other than God himself. It seems hard to believe that so many millions of people could have become convinced of such a thing so quickly, but how many of us heard many of them claiming, without a trace of a a smile or irony, that Trump was the greatest president in American history? How many of them believed what he obviously wanted them to believe, namely that he was a hardworking man who had taken a modest loan of one million dollars and built an unbelievably successful business empire, and that he then selflessly stepped down from his success in order to share this successful approach of his (the secrets of success) for the country that he loved so dearly, only to be mercilessly attacked and ridiculed by mean-spirited libtards and traitors who hate all that America stands for? How many of them seemed to believe that this man should remain in office no matter what the official election results clearly showed, that he had lost the election? How many of them seemed to buy into what is arguably Trump's master stroke of manipulation, that he indeed is the last and best hope to "save the country" from the secret elites who were truly trying to run things deep inside of the deep state? And they believe this despite all of the overwhelming evidence that Trump himself is, always has been, and always will be an elitist?

The defeat of Trump in the election (which by no means felt like a certainty) would, I hoped, reveal the man's vulnerabilities to his adoring, unwavering loyal supporters. Even this, somehow, he spun around so that he came across as the victim. Funny, how he at once can insist on being a strong man showing no weaknesses, yet also manages to play the victim card time and time again, without any scrutiny by his followers. But he managed it yet again to the willfully idiotic, who once again, with no real surprise, bought into everything that he said. So he was the most successful president in American history, according to them, yet he was also, simultaneously, the most hated. Yet despite his being the most hated president in American history, they also believed that he would win the election in a landslide, and that the only way that he could possibly lose would be if they rig the election against him. That kind of logic only flies with Trump supporters.

Where do they get this kind of logic, and the nonsense propaganda that keeps feeding them these frankly literally unbelievable (to anyone with an ounce of common sense, or even two functioning brain cells remaining) story lines? 

Well, until recently, it remained FOX News. But that became less and less the case deeper into the Trump presidency. Once FOX News ran afoul of Trump, he began to cast aspersions towards them. Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump tools began to seek new sources of media, ones that would remain loyal to Trump no matter what, because even FOX's very slight criticisms of Trump, and their apparent reluctance simply to follow and support everything that he says and does without question, was enough to drive Trump fans batty. Talk about precious snowflakes!

In any case, now FOX is struggling. Donald Trump is now a former president, and finally, FOX News is showing the first cracks in the old armor. Ironically (and perhaps fittingly, given the nation's political climate presently), however, this turns out to be alarming, because it is losing audiences not because of a lack of credibility because of mindless support of a demagogue like Trump, but because they were not unconditionally supportive enough. Now, they are losing ground to some of the news media sources that are even "purer" in their unwavering support of Trump and Trumpism. The lunatic asylum is growing more crowded.

Meanwhile, FOX, having lost some of it's audience, has now fallen behind CNN and MSNBC in cable television, with the worst numbers it has experienced in two decades.

What specifically triggered this? FOX News calling Arizona early in favor of Biden, and against Trump. That was what did it. Now, FOX News ratings are sliding, and they may very well be entering an identity crisis, because they were not willing to bend over backwards in their support of Trump. With others now stepping up in that capacity, FOX finds itself struggling. Somehow, it is hard to feel sympathy for them, although it is yet another worrisome sign of the direction that this country is heading in as far as what, finally, managed to start to do FOX News in.

Television entrepreneur Jonathan Klein, the former president of CNN, probably put it best: 

“One America News and Newsmax were more willing to provide the heroin that conspiracy addicts were looking for.”

My fear is this: people will dismiss this group, understandably, as a small minority of nutcases. But that was what happened with FOX News in the beginning, as well. I remember the first time that someone warned me that FOX was setting up a hard right-wing conservative news channel, and I felt a little alarmed, but not too much. After all, the nation had just elected Bill Clinton, and there seemed to be a turning away from the Reagan brand of conservatism of the eighties. I knew that Reagan-style conservatism would not simply go away, but my blindspot was in underestimating just how influential right-wing media would prove to be, and updating Reagan conservatism to the neocon policies of Bush, and then eventually, to the white nationalist, xenophobia of Trumpism. I would have said conservatism, but frankly, I do not even think Trumpism qualifies as a strictly political ideology. 

Clearly, it will continue, with or without FOX News. Whether FOX News steps back in line and the far right-wing gets back to being in lock step (goose steps?) again, or whether they finally have a break and become the voice of more moderate self-identified conservatives or moderates, only time will tell. But the more extremist Cult 45 members now have their new outlets to continue to indulge in their convenient beliefs without having to bother with even an ounce of scrutiny. And that has proven detrimental to the country in the past, which makes me worry, once again, for the future of this country. How can you not, when FOX News proves to be literally to liberal and intellectual for some extremist nutcases?

Fox News Ratings Free Fall Is a ‘Self-Inflicted Wound,’ Insiders Say by Lloyd Grove Lachlan Cartwright Diana Falzone Justin Baragona Updated Feb. 03, 2021 9:54AM ET / Published Feb. 02, 2021:

The network fell behind CNN and MSNBC in key ratings figures for the first time in 20 years—a remarkable nosedive that has staffers worried and critics gloating.  

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-ratings-free-fall-is-a-self-inflicted-wound-insiders-say

Some Last Pictures From the Adirondacks

The trip up to the Adirondacks was a very pleasant break from the everyday routine. It is nice in new Jersey at this time during a beautiful spring. Yet somehow, this cold blast of winter during my trip almost felt welcome. Perhaps it was because it is late March, and the light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I believe that in New Jersey, we already have seen that light of spring, as the recent winter season seems to be in the past already. 

In the Adirondacks? Not so much.

Yet, this was why I came. To breathe some fresh mountain air and take in the views of the mountain scenery during the wintertime. For that matter, I was able to capture some of it with the photographs that I have shared now in several posts, including this one.

Indeed, it is pleasant getting to really know the beautiful Adirondack region a little better than I have ever known it before.

And so, here I will share these last pictures from this particular trip to the Adirondacks, always assuming that I do not have more still in my phone. Admittedly, I took the best pictures at a glance, just trying to get as many here and saved as possible, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility also that some pictures were missed. But for now, these are the last pictures from the recent Adirondack trip from a week ago already.

Enjoy!