WLEM FM

Lyrics after the jump. Pretty edgy for Van Morrison

WKRLEM: Officially not Joe Biden's theme song

On Who's Worse Than Book People?

I just finished reading the transcript released by Trump of the unedited version of the 60 Minutes interview.

The excerpts presented at Powerline were enough to make me look and I'm sorry/not sorry I did.  Silently reading through the full exchange that took place was one experience and reading parts of the transcript aloud was another.  Both experiences gave me the opportunity to  "see and hear" more of what truly transpired than the edited video version presented by CBS or the excerpts presented by Powerline allowed.  I needed to read the whole thing myself to take in the content and form my own opinion. 

All of which led me to wonder (after appreciating the previous post and point on book people), who might actually be worse than them?  

The first answer that came up was mendacious interviewers, followed by liars who posit and wax on about character, with those who are purposely obtuse, profoundly ignorant and willfully blind following close behind.    

Book People Are The Worst

Back when I was a bookseller I knew an old couple -- I'll call them John and Jane Doe -- who were collectors. John and Jane were genuine "Cave Dwellers," members of Washington's old white aristocracy: Cosmos Club, patrons of the arts, friends in high places and all that. Also they were very nice, friendly and interesting people. Their home is the only place I ever saw a "Franklin Imprint" -- a book made at Ben Franklin's print shop -- that I could pick up and leaf through.

One day, probably at a book fair, a friend and I were chatting with John and Jane. Jane mentioned a disturbing dream she'd had: she had died, and was lying on her bed, surrounded by friends and family. "They were all talking to one another," she said sadly, "but I couldn't hear what they were saying." After an awkward pause, my friend said, "They were arguing over who gets your books."

WLEM TV

Lots of talk in a previous post about smuggling and even cognac. I thought I'd add mine.  I smuggled a bottle of "Havana Club" rum back from Grand Cayman. That disappeared over time, but my globetrotting FIL replaced the bottle and I still have some of that bottle. But it's stuck back in Irvine which is no longer my home. The Hackman said that Havana Club rum tastes like cognac:

Actually, it tastes a little gamey to me and I much prefer the version marketed by Bacardi instead of the stolen Cuban version. Here's that story:

Unbeknownst to most Americans, there is an ongoing trademark battle between Big Spirits (Bacardi vs. Pernod and the Cuban government).  Long ago, there was a brand of Cuban rum called Havana Club. After the revolution, the distillery and brand were appropriated by the Cuban government. Bacardi also left Havana and set up business in Puerto Rico with corporate headquarters in Bermuda. The Cubans (with financial help from the Europeans, i.e., Pernod) built the international brand of Havana Club which was available everywhere but the US. I have a bottle, procured on my honeymoon in the Caymans, which I smuggled back to the US.

More recently, Barcardi started marketing their own version of Havana Club rum in the US. They claim to have gotten the rights and original formula from the family of the long-dead owner. They are currently engaged in high-stakes litigation over who has the legal right to sell rum in the US under that brand name. Currently, Bacardi does and wants to continue to do so. Bacardi is prohibited from marketing their Havana Club in the rest of the world.

As an aside, I should point out that rum used to be the most popular spirit in the US. Recall that Rhett Butler was a rum runner, not a whiskey runner. Whiskey -- and related bourbon -- dominate the US spirits market, but only became more popular during and after prohibition. In George Washington's day, applejack was the most popular hard liquor. Whiskey is presently losing ground to tequila as the number one spirit in the US, just as Bud/Coors/Miller is losing market share in beer to Pacifico/Modelo/Corona.

New York is a ghost town.....so many ghosts

 The Nat Sherman cigar store on Fifth Avenue has announced that it will close after 90 years. Yes Cuomo and DeBlasio have done everything they can to destroy New York and all of it's institutions.

Back in the day in 1980's when cigars were in their heyday I would be invited to Nat Shermans for events where they premiered new cigars. Actually my buddy was invited as he had a space in their humidor for his cigars but he was always invited to bring some friends who were into the hobby. I would always spend more than I wanted too and would buy a couple of boxes of cigars. We often went to other events like the cigar cruise around Manhattan that was pretty cool. It was a five course dinner with a cognac and cigar for every course. A lot of fun.

Fun that doesn't exist in New York anymore. They control where you shop. They control how many people can meet up in a bar. They have destroyed the only reason to live in a city.

Another landmark pulled down and destroyed. 

Coyote Waits.......for no one

 Did you hear President Trump explain to Slow Joe that many if not most of the unaccompanied children in federal custody were brought by coyotes and cartels and not their irresponsible parents. Many bad actors with records bring a child who is not their own when they sneak in because if they were caught they would get a catch and release ticket. Dump the kid off to human traffickers and go on their merry criminal way.

Now you have a bunch of moron liberals (redundant) saying how would a coyote carry a kid over the border. Anyone with half a brain knows that coyote is the nickname for the smugglers and human traffickers who capitalize on human misery and help illegals invade our country. What a bunch of ignorant assholes. That's why they are liberal democrats and social justice warriors.

The coyote is an important figure in Native American religious lore especially the tribes of the South West like the Navajo and the Apache. Coyote is the trickster. The boogie man. There are innumerable stories of how the Coyote tricks people and steals from them in one way or another. So it is a very ironic appellation to call smugglers Coyotes. Irony is lost on the woke.

As an aside I highly recommend the novel by Tony Hillerman called "Coyote Waits":

It is one in the series of his Lieutenant Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee mystery novels set on the Navajo reservation. In fact I think it might be the best in the series.  You learn a lot about the culture and practices of the Navajo along with a solid crime story. Hillerman is one of the top crime writers that you should have on your kindle. Along with Robert B Parker, John D MacDonald, Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane and Loren D Estleman. Also Joe Lansdale and Michael Connolly. You can while away these quarantine hours with any of their novels and it will be time well spent.

So this happened .....again

 

I was minding my own business as I was washing my balls and all of a sudden a pin hole opened up in one of my veins. Since it was kind of serious because I take blood thinners I had to call on Lisa for help. She was upstairs working on her crystal show on Popshoplive. This is a home shopping app that we have been selling on since they first started a couple of years ago. I couldn't take my finger off it because I had to apply pressure to control the bleeding. If I did let go I would spew blood everywhere. I couldn't reach the phone as I was half in and half out of the shower. I called her on Alexa. What you do is call out an announcement on Alexa. "Alex announce: Lisa come to the basement I am bleeding out."

Which was not actually happening as I have been here before. You can't panic you just have to stop the bleeding. I just need the paramedics to come with a pressure bandage. After the requisite five minutes of panic she called them and they came down to the cellar and put on the bandage. Of course I was buck ass naked while he did that.

In the meantime the people on the app were freaking out. We have a little community that come every week and are used to our banter. So they were naturally worried and wondering what was going on.

Of course Lisa had to bring the fireman to guest star on the show and all of the women creamed their jeans because the dude was good looking. Those bitches forgot all about me.

I told them that he had seen my junk so he was off sex for a long time.

In the meantime we were losing sales. We have the ability to split screens so while Lisa was running around doing what I usually do for the show I was on the split screen. I told them that the only way I would feel better is if they bought more stuff. While I was saying that I went to Youtube and played the Sarah McLachlan song that they use on the ASPC commercials that play on late night TV were they show the pitiful dogs and ask for donations.

It worked and they started buying stuff.

You got to keep your eye on the balls. Ehh......the ball. You know what I mean.'

Small Businesses that didn't quite cut it.

 

Many of the people associated with great inventors or innovators try to cash in on the inventions with products related to the great advances made by the works of genius of great minds.

Billy Edison set up a light bulb company that failed. Walt Disney's brother tried to interest some studios in a movie about a talking cockroach since the mouse was so successful. Henry Ford's brother invented electric car that could never make it out of the driveway.

The most unsuccessful of all was the secretary of Alexander Graham Bell who tried to invent a portable phone. Selma Goldstein tried to invent a portable phone which didn't quite work out. You see miniaturization was in it's infancy. Unfortunately the only phones available were big and clunky and would not fit your purse or your pocket. So she came up with the idea that it would be placed on your head.

Alexander Graham Bell invested a great deal of money and lost all. He had a lot of faith in Selma. You see she was an expert on head. After all that was why he hired her in the first place.

(Small Businesses That Didn't Quite Cut It by Doris Kearns Goodwin)

Jesus wept.....the Devil's henchman strikes again.

 

 Once again Satan's henchman the false Pope Francis has signed an agreement to let the Chinese Communist government control the Catholic Church in China. The Vatican has signed on to extend the surrender of the Church to the filthy communists. The former Cardinal of Hong Kong Joseph Zen tells the truth about this evil evil man. From Breitbart: 

“With the protection of this agreement, the government forced the people from the underground to join the Patriotic Association… which is objectively schismatic,” Cardinal Joseph Zen told AFP this week, adding that the underground community has “practically disappeared” as a result.
In his ongoing criticism of the Vatican’s rapprochement with the CCP, Zen has insisted that Pope Francis is “naïve” in dealing with a country about which he knows little.
“The pope doesn’t know much about China. And he may have some sympathy for the Communists, because in South America, the Communists are good guys, they suffer for social justice,” Zen told the Catholic News Agency (CNA). “But not the [Chinese] Communists. They are persecutors.”

Will no one rid us of this troublesome Pope?

Can it get any worse? Of course it can!

 

The God Emperor has exposed so many horrible things during his Presidency. The crimes of the main stream media who are the enemies of the people. The senility of Nancy Pelosi. The corruption of the Biden crime family.

But the most hideous exposure is just too much for the mind to bear.

God save us from 2020!

Jeffrey Tobin brings his shoes and glasses to Zoom

Mum's The Word

The local Gardens deprived me of my Mass Chrysanthemum fix this fall, so I dug up my pictures from years past. Here's a couple:

I went back today, and it was more like:

Nice fall weather, sunlight, breeze . . . and more than half the people there were wearing masks. Sigh.

A rabbi, priest, and minister walk in a bar

A Murderer walks into a Press Conference......

They had a protest in front of the Cobble Hill Nursing Home where they protested the Murderer Cuomo's policy of sending Kung Flu positive patients to nursing homes to infect and kill vulnerable people. They put 6500 copies of his bullshit book in a coffin to symbolize all that died. Instead of using the hospital ship or the multi million dollar fiasco of a hospital set up in the Javits Center or the Cruise line terminal he sent these sick people to where they could do the most damage.

No accountability. No oversight by legislature. Very few questions from the enemy of the people media.

He is going to skate.

I just hope that these poor people who had parents die because of Cuomo's arrogance and criminality didn't pay for those books.

A President walks into a church......

The God Emperor of the Cherry Blossom Throne paid tribute to a power greater than himself by attending church in Las Vegas today He didn't wear a mask. He sat next to his aides. He threw money into the basket. Normal. The way most of America used to do.

Before the Kung Flu.

Democratic dictators in places like California, New York and Pennsylvania continue to defy the Constitution and prohibit people going to church. Getting married with their full family attending. Having a funeral with more than 10 people. 

Where are our religious leaders? Where are our bishops and Popes and Preachers standing up to Caesar as he places unbearable burdens on the believers? Why is ok to go to a Casino and not Church? Why is ok to go to Costco and not Church? Why does a racial arsonist like John Lewis or a murdering abortion lover like Ruth Bader Ginsberg can lie in state as thousands go to her funeral when you can't go to the wakes or funerals of your aunt or uncle?

When will the people stand up and say no more!

\\

 

I was told there would be no Dylan

 

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green rage; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How the same mouth sucks a Weinstein for a part

Small Business that didn't quite cut it

 

During the last pandemic various face coverings were devised to stop the transmission of influenza which had killed so many Americans. Mainly made of cloth many entrepreneurs tried to jump on the band wagon to profit off the needs of their fellow citizens. Some tried to even make them fashionable such as these cone like protuberances designed by the fashion maven Lane Bryant. Unfortunately they were a dismal failure as they were unwieldy and unattractive.

Still he found an alternative use and made a pretty penny in the fashion game until they too went out of style.

So Mr Bryant returned to his love of chubby girls and started a fashion line that catered to him and he was a smashing success. 

(Small Businesses That Didn't Quite Cut It by Doris Kearns Goodwin)

The Broken Scarlet Sky

 I decided to start from the place where most things start. At the beginning. At least the beginning of Meyer's visit to Boston. He was staying at the Boston Ritz Carlton across from Boston Common.

I walked into the main lobby and went up to the reception desk, A beautiful young woman of about thirty years looked up with an smile that she must of given everyone that entered the hotel. I gave her half of my smile. The one that charmed women from coast to coast. I didn't give her 100 Watts. Then she would have started to disrobe.

"Hello and welcome to the Ritz Carlton at the Boston Common. How might I help you? Are you checking in?"

"No not today. I would like to speak to the head of security. I thought it was Mike Callahan? Is he still the man?"

"Yes he is sir. I will call him. If you have a seat in the Lobby he will be with you shortly."

I walked over and sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the lobby. A few minutes later a tall Irishman with red hair that had gone grey walked into to the lobby. He limped from a wound he had from a shoot out with the Winter Hill mob. I knew him for years. Ever since he came up with Marty Qurik. 

"Spenser. What do you want." 

"Why would I want anything Mike?"

"You always want something when you come by so lets cut the crap and tell me what it is before I run your ass out of my hotel."

"Easy does it. I just want to know about a guest of yours that went missing a couple of weeks ago. He was a professor. A older gent. Name of Meyer. Ludwig Meyer."

"Not much to tell. He checked in. Called for room service. Left for his conference and never came back. We tried reaching out to his contacts but got no reply. After a week we needed the room so we boxed up his belongings and turned the room over. I notified BPD but they didn't seem very interested so that's where we stand. That's exactly what I told his friend."

"His friend? Let me guess. Older gent who looks like he was the first runner up in a George Hamilton bake off?"

"Yeah that's him. From Florida. He came by a couple of days ago. I refereed him to Belson."

"Thanks Mike. I owe you one." 

"One. That's about the tenth one you owe me. Do me a favor and make yourself scarce unless you are spending money in the bar. Say hello to Susan for me."

That's me. Spreading joy wherever I go.

Trooper York's Word's of the Day: Fecund vs. Fecal

 

fe·cund

/ˈfekənd,ˈfēkənd/

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertile.

fe·cal

/ˈfēkəl/

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. relating to or resembling feces.

   "discharge of fecal matter"

When you think you are the Duke but you are actually Hank Worden.

While the handfasting was going on I was filming it with my phone. I happen to have a phone case with a painting of the last scene of the Searchers where the Duke stands in the doorway of the house holding onto his arm.

As soon as the ceremony is over this dude rushes up to me to tell me he teaches film at a college and that he saw my phone case. He tells me that he always teaches the Searchers and that surprisingly his students actually pay attention to it and enjoy it unlike some of the other famous films he teaches. He then askes me if I know the significance of the pose and of course I told him it was a homage to Harry Carey who was a mentor to the young John Ford. He was a little nonplussed that I knew but we had a nice discussion about film so there was that.

The other thing that happened was that there were two dogs at the wedding. One was the overweight bulldog owned by the bride who wandered around and followed me all the time because he thought I might be dropping some food. I guess he figured that us fat fucks had to stick together.

The other dog was a rambunctious puppy who was running around all over the place. Everybody was trying to pet it or play with it but he was dashing around non stop until he was exhausted. Of course at the end of the night he comes over at sits at my feet. Actually on my feet and under my chair to go to sleep. You see animals love me. They always come over to hang out with me. I tell my wife that it is my calm spirit. You see I am saintly. Like St. Francis of Assisi. I'm a freaking saint I tell you.

I was just lucky that Winston didn't decide to sit on my feet.

Of course I suggested that we set up a Wicker Man.....

But I was overruled.

Let's tie the knot?

Sorry that I have not been around much but I have been kind of busy. We had a wedding this weekend. Actually Lisa did as she officiated at her first ceremony.

Her friend Tara wanted to have a handfasting ceremony which is an ancient pagan festival that Tara and her fiance wanted to have instead of a normal wedding ceremony. So Lisa signed up with a website on the computer so she could become an ordained minister. I think it is the same one that Jim Jones and Pope Francis got their credentials from so it is all legit. 

It was a shit pot full of work.

We went over there on Friday night to prepare for the Saturday wedding. Lisa and another friend put up the arch that they would get married under. They had to put each individual rose into the frame and it was a lot of work. It look like this after it was finished:

Prior to that we had to research the ceremony and create it from scratch. We printed it out in large type and pasted it into a book so Lisa could read it during the ceremony. It all went off without a hitch but it was a lot of work.

Everyone who came enjoyed it immensely. Even very conservative religious types thought it was a wonderful ceremony and did not have a problem with it so it was all worthwhile to help out a friend like that.

The reception afterward was fun as well. The thing was most of the people who were there were bar people as the bride was a bartender and invited several bar patrons and fellow workers so they all knew how to party. We left early because we can't party anymore because we are old and sick. Still it was a great shin dig.

So I hope to get back to posting more soon.

 

Fall's Here

          De ramis cadunt folia,              The leaves fall from the branches,

          nam viror totus periit,              The green world fades to brown. 
          iam calor liquit omnia               The warmth of summer steals away
               et abiit;                                      and goes to ground.
          nam signa coeli ultima              The sun seeks out the farthest signs 
               sol petiit.                                    upon his round.
             --Anon. ca 1200 AD                                    --Transl. Mumpsimus 2020 AD

"farthest signs" = the winter signs of the Zodiac.

This is the first stanza of a poem which is actually about winter; but the lines seem perfect for fall. You can see the whole poem, with Helen Waddell's translation, here.

WLEM AM

 

For the curious, I redirect you here

My new roost will be east of the mighty Mississippi, and so I changed the call letters from KLEM FM to WLEM FM. Deborah originally invented that handle, but she seems to have abandoned them. So I'm going to squat on them. She can have them back if she files a claim with me. 

Whose that girl?

She is a famous homemaker and hostess who never ate a twinkie. A great friend of Snoop Dog she hangs in the Hamptons after getting out of the joint.

Here she is with her friend Joy Behar.

Whose that girl?
 

Andrew Cuomo's New York

Andrew Cuomo announced new rules in response to the failure of the populace to acquiesce to his unconditional dictates.

He is placing a state trooper in front of every house of worship in New York State. These agents of the state will monitor worship services. Count how many people come in. See where they sit. See if they sing or pray loudly without wearing a mask. If they flout any of the states rules the house of worship would be shut down by the state.

He is paying particular attention to religious communities in Borough Park, Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Monsey New York. In order to properly identify the number of people entering said house of worship all who attend will be forced to wear a Star of David. Eventually they will be forced to get tatoos.

WKRLEM: No he can't........he's dead!

Small businesses that didn't quite cut it.

"A flesh colored fanny pack to carry your beer! Now from RONCO for $19.95 includes a six pack of PBR to give you that six pack you always wanted!

Available in many diverse skin tones. Pasty White Guy! Greasy Mexican! Caramel Harry Belafonte!

If you purchase tonight you also get a free Ginzu and a Popeil pocket fisherman! Order now operators are standing by!"

(Small Businesses That Didn't Quite Cut It by Doris Kearns Goodwin)

Lepanto: October 7, 1571

449 years ago tomorrow, the fleet of the Holy League, mostly warships from Venice and the Spanish Empire, met and crushed a large Ottoman fleet off the Western coast of Greece in the Battle of Lepanto. This victory decisively checked the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and, maybe, saved the Christian West and the achievements of the Renaissance.

Americans know of this battle, if at all, mostly from G.K. Chesterton's marvelous poem Lepanto, which was a staple in English Lit textbooks for many decades. It's a great piece of work, full of dazzling and memorable lines, from beginning:

               White founts falling in the courts of the sun,
               And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;

to end:

               Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
               White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.

Among the soldiers who fought at Lepanto was one Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who suffered three wounds. The envoi of Chesterton's poem reads:

               Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
               (Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
               And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
               Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain,
               And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
               (But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

These days, the mere idea of teaching Chesterton's Lepanto to schoolchildren would have entire School Boards cowering under their desks. Just the word "Crusade" would make their teeth chatter.

October Gardens

I expected to see banks upon banks of chrysanthemums, begging to be photographed. But there weren't many this year. I also saw:

Giant Mexican Marigolds

Lantana Camara

I guess they'll be dancing naked in the streets tonight.

 The Wolverines are loose!.

The MI Supreme Court has <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/02/michigan-supreme-court-strikes-down-gretchen-whitmers-emergency-powers/5863340002/">overruled the Ubersturmbannfuhrer's lock down</a>

I guess more than a few states will follow suit.

Best part, since it's a state affair, it can't be appealed to the Feds and dragged out indefinitely, although a Federal appeal would close down this nonsense for everybody.

Campaign Logos

This year, both campaigns have decided to go Big, Fat and Sans-Serif. Brutalist, to borrow a buzz-word from architecture.

As for "design," the Biden folks did that cute thing with the cap E, which forces you to stop reading, go back and figure out what it's supposed to be. I guess if you're a Design Firm you have to do something design-y to justify getting paid the big bucks. Me, I just find it irritating. The Trump people didn't attempt anything that could be described, even charitably, as "design.'

The Biden logo's message is "Hey, at least we're trying." The Trump logo's message is "Where's that intern who knows how to use QuarkExpress? We need a logo and we need 
it now."

In my opinion, the two Obama campaigns did much better:

There's that nice red-and-white swoosh-in-a-circle; it's pleasing, doesn't get in the way of the text, and is a useful graphic element to tie all the campaign materials together. Also, the type isn't all Super-Extra-Heavy Bold, and has some serif and slab-serif fonts mixed in, for a friendlier overall look.

What effect does all this have in the real world? My guess is it doesn't shift a single, 
solitary vote.

I'm reminded of when our local NBC affiliate spent, I think it was a quarter-million dollars, on a new logo, and wound up with this:

It looks like a stylized figure of a guy taking a dump.

Trooper York's Word of the Day: Protrusion

PROTRUSION mean an extension beyond the normal line or surface. PROJECTION implies a jutting out especially at a sharp angle.  those projections along the wall are safety hazards  PROTRUSION suggests a thrusting out so that the extension seems a deformity.  the bizarre protrusions of a coral reef  PROTUBERANCE implies a growing or swelling out in rounded form

Pope betrays Chinese Catholics...Spits in the face of the United States

 The evil henchman of the Devil known as Pope Francis has done it again. He has reaffirmed the corrupt deal that allows the Chinese communist government can name the bishops of the Holy Catholic Roman Church.

The Church has turned over the naming of bishops to the Chinese Communist Party. The party names people who will do their bidding not the holy men who opposed the government and did God's work. It is like letting the Nazi's name your rabbi. The evil Pope refuses to meet with an authetnic Chinese Catholic like Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Se-kium who was appointed long before the Devil took over the Holy See.

"88-year-old Chinese cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun — who was refused a meeting by Pope Francis after arriving at the Vatican last week — pointed out that the deal had backfired on the Church, leaving important dioceses without a bishop or with the impending appointment of a bishop approved by the atheist Communist Party."

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to meet with the Pope he was refused a meeting. The Pope feels he can disregard the United States when he is in the pocket the Chinese Communists. How do we let this happen? How does the American Church support this truly evil man?

The Chinese Communists have changed the actual words of the Bible. The Pope gives them the right to control the Church and name the bishops and priests. 

Jesus wept.