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Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
The Trump Presidential Transition Team
By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.
We have not heard much from Governor Chris Christie and the transition team of late.
We have not heard much from Governor Chris Christie and the transition team of late.
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Sunday, October 23, 2016
News from The War on Drugs
1) "On September 21st, as part of a six-target raid using "military-type" helicopters by the Massachusetts State Police and the National Guard, drug warriors halted the criminal enterprise of Margaret Holcomb, 81, of Amherst, seizing the one and only marijuana plant in her yard that she had planned to harvest soon for relief of her arthritis and glaucoma." [Daily Hampshire Gazette, 9-30-2016]
2) "In September, police in Thurmont, Md., announced the culmination of a two-month-long undercover drug operation at the Burger King with two arrests and a total seizure of 5 grams of marijuana and two morphine pills." [Frederick News-Post, 9-28-2016]
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Saturday, October 22, 2016
Friday, October 21, 2016
drawing: faces 1675 — India Ink scratchboard
by Jack Brummet
Digitally reversed scratchboard:
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Thursday, October 20, 2016
The end of the line for Donald J. Trump
By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.
illustration: by Jack Brummet, 2011 (from his first possible run)
Fallout, Lust, Ambition & Madness. Oh DJT, you put a cork in it tonight. I've had The Willies about you for the last year or so but tonight, you laid my fears to rest.
illustration: by Jack Brummet, 2011 (from his first possible run)
Fallout, Lust, Ambition & Madness. Oh DJT, you put a cork in it tonight. I've had The Willies about you for the last year or so but tonight, you laid my fears to rest.
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The final shot of the 3rd Presidential Debate
This image was found by Jeff Clinton. . .somewhere.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
33 short poems
By Jack Brummet
In your chest beats the heart of a Good Samaritan
Who never quite got off the starting blocks
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Stealth
You think one thing,
Say another,
And do a third.
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The host and tenant lock
In benign equilibrium.
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Each valley followed by a slope.
Every going followed by a return.
Every going followed by a return.
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There is no relief without an ache,
And no virus without a host.
And no virus without a host.
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Bricks tumble into the moat.
The king's body hangs naked from the flagpole.
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The king's body hangs naked from the flagpole.
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For a fleeting moment
The condition for change exists.
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A roiling thunderstorm clears the air
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper
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A bad beginning can be overcome
But a good end lasts forever
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper
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A bad beginning can be overcome
But a good end lasts forever
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When you strip away the stage flats, makeup, and costumes,
It’s all one story starring our private heroes and dreams.
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Resurrection
He was ready to live again
Even if living just meant running
To keep ahead of the ghosts.
Even if living just meant running
To keep ahead of the ghosts.
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It’s so still and calm
In the mosque,
You could hear a fly expire.
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In the mosque,
You could hear a fly expire.
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The Marriage
Two tattered mannequins
Prop each other up
In the Salvation Army Store window
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Prop each other up
In the Salvation Army Store window
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Gone Fishing
As the forests swamps and bones turn slowly to coal
The last pterodactyl
Soars overhead, calling for a friend.
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The last pterodactyl
Soars overhead, calling for a friend.
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It's so quiet you hear
dust motes six feet up
bump in shafts of sunlight.
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dust motes six feet up
bump in shafts of sunlight.
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Take the worst that could happen
And add two zeros.
And add two zeros.
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High fidelity clouds gather over
The tattered stage flats of a world on fire.
The tattered stage flats of a world on fire.
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It's Getting Crowded
We cover the earth with Venn Diagrams
As our steps bisect old steps.
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The glass is not half-full
I saw our dreams disappear
Like a white pony
Over a low grassy hill.
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Like a white pony
Over a low grassy hill.
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The Golden Rule
Listen to the songbirds trill
But keep an eye
On the buzzard section.
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But keep an eye
On the buzzard section.
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An orchard of salt pillars
Circles Gomorrah's ashes:
Lot's Wife had no name.
Circles Gomorrah's ashes:
Lot's Wife had no name.
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If I don’t write it down
The words race away
Like a hit and run driver
Like a hit and run driver
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Your Wooden Leg
Run if you still can.
Drag that wooden leg behind you,
Drag that wooden leg behind you,
But keep up, jogging after your pipe-dream.
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Weather Report
Life is a raindrop
Sizzling as it skitters
Across the universal griddle.
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Sizzling as it skitters
Across the universal griddle.
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"And after all, what is a lie? ’Tis but the truth in masquerade"
The truth exists; the lie must be created.
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Waiting
There is no tomorrow
until we get through
the day after yesterday
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Possibilities
In your chest beats the heart of a Good Samaritan
Who never quite got off the starting blocks
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Torches & Pitchforks
The whole
Is far less than the sum
Of its parts:
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Is far less than the sum
Of its parts:
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Mission Statement
The Army has two duties—
To break things, and kill people;
Everything else is just fluff and overhead.
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Dodgeball
We weave around and through
We weave around and through
Unseen hazards and shoals,
Always feeling less safe
Always feeling less safe
Than we actually are.
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The Odds
Simple probability and statistics
Tell us ineluctably that the more times
You stick your head In the lion's mouth,
The more likely it is that one day he will close it.
Tell us ineluctably that the more times
You stick your head In the lion's mouth,
The more likely it is that one day he will close it.
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The Man In The Mirror
There's a civil war in his head:
Lobe against lobe.
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Lobe against lobe.
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Falling per se is not a bad thing.
The problems arise when falling
Becomes not falling, or, the uncontrolled landing problem.
The problems arise when falling
Becomes not falling, or, the uncontrolled landing problem.
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The Return Of The Kings
We never picture the aliens
Coming in peace
Because we never came in peace.
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Coming in peace
Because we never came in peace.
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Arthur John Provis's Paul Starr Pilot (1964)
Arthur John Provis was an English cinematographer and producer, best known for co-founding AP Films ("Anderson-Provis" Films) with Gerry Anderson. This pilot was never picked up. A few years later he gave up on puppet shows and went back to filming commercials.
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Monday, October 17, 2016
Sunday, October 16, 2016
RIP, prune tree
By Jack Brummet
Our huge Italian prune tree partly came down in the first wave of the storm Thursday night (it had some serious internal rot). The tree bros came today to take it down before it hit our garage or the neighbor's shop. It took out a gutter on the garage, but missed everything else (including the hot tub by about two feet). The wood is amazing--I'll save a couple of big chunks for maybe lathing some bowls in the future.
Our huge Italian prune tree partly came down in the first wave of the storm Thursday night (it had some serious internal rot). The tree bros came today to take it down before it hit our garage or the neighbor's shop. It took out a gutter on the garage, but missed everything else (including the hot tub by about two feet). The wood is amazing--I'll save a couple of big chunks for maybe lathing some bowls in the future.
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Saturday, October 15, 2016
Narcissism explained
A quick video on a personality disorder that has been in the news for the last year.
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Friday, October 14, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
The Boxtops fronted by Alex Chilton perform The Letter
The late great Alex Chilton (Big Star!) sang this song and hit the top of the charts when he was 16.
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Congratulations to Bob Dylan on his Nobel Prize (and thanks to the academy for being brave)
by Jack Brummet
Bob Dylan's team polices YouTube pretty well. There are few album cuts if any (there are thousands of covers, including Miley Cyrus covering "You're going to make me lonesome"--which she surprisingly does well). This clip is from D.A. Pennebaker's documentary "Don't look back."
Bob Dylan's team polices YouTube pretty well. There are few album cuts if any (there are thousands of covers, including Miley Cyrus covering "You're going to make me lonesome"--which she surprisingly does well). This clip is from D.A. Pennebaker's documentary "Don't look back."
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Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The french fry heist
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Monday, October 10, 2016
Trump v Clinton II: A strange and ultimately depressing debate
by Mona Goldwater, Social Mores Ed.
Donald's at times bizarre sniffing? Is this a tic? Is "I'm not as bad as ISIS" a good defense for Access Hollywood?
Note: Donald—quit running against Bill. Further, now that you tossed your running mate under the bus, do you have plans to drag him back out, or just let him hang onto the bumper for a few miles?
Hillary invoking Lanky Link's 13th amendment fight seemed muy estrano. I didn't get what she was driving at, except maybe buying time (e.g., running out the clock?). My propositional logic skills are rusty; maybe I'll diagram this up. I suspect Hillary was a bit rattled by the bizarre press conference Trump held just prior to the debate.
On the whole, this debate made me sad on a number of levels. Sad for us
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Sunday, October 09, 2016
Donald J. Trump's reverse bandwagon juggernaut
By Jack Brummet, National Affairs Ed.
As a politics geek, it's fascinating watching this shipwreck, especially the accelerating Reverse Bandwagon Juggernaut of friends and foes jumping off as the boat takes on water and lists even further. It's actually hard now to feature just how the debate tomorrow will look.
Mr. Donald J. Trump has nothing to lose. It's coming down to a Captain Queeg moment tomorrow night. Maybe DJT will come out all contrite, and every answer will be like a cocktail of Socrates, Jesus, and Bobby Kennedy; but you know he's going to come in hot. And I think probably half of HRC's debate prep must be based on the five or six targeted crooked Hillary accusations.
It is good fortune for Hillary that the WikiLeaks release of her speeches for corporations occurred just when this whole firestorm went down. They are virtually unnoticed.
So tomorrow we'll see contrition, defiance, or savage counterattacks and scorched earth craziness. Or, something like, I apologized yesterday, now let's move on to Crooked Hillary and these WikiLeaks. Will they pillory him? Will the moderators and/or the audience pile on? For all we know, more Trump tapes will appear tomorrow (his Apprentice 1st and 2nd season producer says there are tapes that make the Access Hollywood tapes look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm).
I'm not sure an amazing performance tomorrow can make a difference now. Stay tuned, eh?
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Three stages of Hillary Clinton processing the Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape
[Illustration by Jack Brummet]
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Saturday, October 08, 2016
Donald Trump's last 24 hours
Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2016 on Twitter
The Gutter King, Donald J. Trump
By Mona Goldwater, Social Mores Ed.
After Donald Trump's hedging [1] apology last night (ending "I pledge to be a better man tomorrow"), he inserted a passage like a song's bridge, where he seemed to evoke RFK spending time with the poor folks, and being transformed. Then he crawled back in the gutter on Bill Clinton, and ended his 90 seconds on a [shockingly] defiant note.
[1] a) that's not me; b) this is a distraction; it's ten years old; d) what about Bill Clinton?
After Donald Trump's hedging [1] apology last night (ending "I pledge to be a better man tomorrow"), he inserted a passage like a song's bridge, where he seemed to evoke RFK spending time with the poor folks, and being transformed. Then he crawled back in the gutter on Bill Clinton, and ended his 90 seconds on a [shockingly] defiant note.
[1] a) that's not me; b) this is a distraction; it's ten years old; d) what about Bill Clinton?
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A curious Publix advertisement from 1967
By Jack Brummet
What I love most about this 1967 Publix ad is the expressions on the people. . .
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Friday, October 07, 2016
Thursday, October 06, 2016
Mike Pence's whoppers at this week's VP Debate #PantsOnFire
From Huffington Post Politics:
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drawing: faces 1627 - Candy Shop
By Jack Brummet
[A sign I found about 20 years ago. Whatever it was painted with, you cannot use ink on the surface. I used a #5B pencil.]
[A sign I found about 20 years ago. Whatever it was painted with, you cannot use ink on the surface. I used a #5B pencil.]
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Fun with embalming fluid — a story from 1919
Not likely, but this should have been the origin of the phrase "stiff drink."
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Wednesday, October 05, 2016
Tuesday, October 04, 2016
Clown sightings: Bill The Clown
by Jack Brummet, Clown and Prankster Ed.
Reading the strange clown news lately, I remembered this image I snagged in the early days of the WWW. It was about 1992. Every new website was exciting, and we all passed around the few dozen really interesting ones. I don't remember which site this came from, but it was an archive of photos and early photoshop works. This image was—and remains—one of the creepiest I've seen on the web in the last 25 years, dated 1992, and titled "Bill The Clown," file name bill-the.gif.
Reading the strange clown news lately, I remembered this image I snagged in the early days of the WWW. It was about 1992. Every new website was exciting, and we all passed around the few dozen really interesting ones. I don't remember which site this came from, but it was an archive of photos and early photoshop works. This image was—and remains—one of the creepiest I've seen on the web in the last 25 years, dated 1992, and titled "Bill The Clown," file name bill-the.gif.
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