Day: October 16, 2022

The Big Lie Nightmare

Fandango15 Comments

“How can you say it’s untenable?” Donald asked. “I don’t know what that words means, but it’s not that, it’s the opposite. It’s totally tenable.”

“No, it’s not,” Mitch said. “You came up with this elaborate and cockamamie scheme, and it’s not going to work.”

“Wait,” Donald said, “wasn’t it George Washington who said, ‘If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it’?”

“Um, no, Donald,” Mitch said. “George Washington said. ‘I cannot tell a lie.’ It was Adolf Hitler who talked about the big lie thing.”

“Well, whoever said it, it’s working for me,” Donald said. “I started telling my big lie early and often and, as a result, all those suckers believe it to be true and I’m going to finish off the Dems once and for all and be re-elected in 2024.” So thank you Hitler. Thank you for my totally tenable blueprint. Now get on board, Mitch, or get out of my way.”

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One Word Challenge (untenable), Your Daily Word Prompt (elaborate), Word of the Day Challenge (early), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (finish).

Cellpic Sunday — 10/16/22

Fandango11 Comments

John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. I thought this might be fun so I decided to join in.

This photo below was taken in my backyard this morning with my iPhone. It’s a picture of some of the plants and shrubs behind our waterfall.

I know it’s not as scenic or as interesting as the kinds of cell pics others post, but I like it.

If you wish to participate in this fun cellphone photo prompt, please click on the link to John’s post at the top of my post to see his photo and to read his instructions.

Who Won The Week — 10/16/22

Fandango18 Comments

The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

This week’s recipient of Who Won the Week recipient is the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee unanimously voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump. It’s about time!

So now that the congressional committee has subpoenaed him, you have to wonder what the former president’s next move will be. Will he or won’t he comply. And if he chooses not to comply, what might the consequences — if any — be?

The first thing Trump did after learning about the subpoena was to send a rambling 14-page letter to committee chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson. He started off reiterating the Big Lie when he titled his letter, “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” It was not.

Trump did not say whether he would comply with the subpoena. Instead, he repeated various long-debunked election claims. But it seems unlikely that he will actually testify.

In his letter, Trump claimed that he “fully authorized” National Guard troops to be present at the Capitol before Jan. 6, but that Democrats, including Pelosi, refused the authorization. However, there is no record of Trump authorizing National Guard troops to be at the Capitol before the attack, and no evidence that Democrats denied such a request.

He also bragged about the size of the crowd that he had summoned on Jan. 6, claiming that it was a very big one, far bigger than anyone thought possible, and that it was “one of the largest crowds I have ever spoken to before, a very wide swath stretching all the way back to the Washington Monument.”

He went on to complain that the “massive size of this crowd, and its meaning, has never been a subject of your Committee, nor has it been discussed by the Fake News Media that absolutely refuses to acknowledge, in any way, shape or form, the magnitude of what was taking place.” What the hell does crowd size have to do with charges of instigating insurrection and engaging in seditious activities? It’s only meaningful to a sick egomaniac like Donald Trump.

Anyway, congratulations to the House Select Committee for voting to Subpoena the criminal Donald Trump. Now let’s see if anything comes of it.

So who (or what) do you think won the week?

If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

Song Lyric Sunday — Pink Floyd

Fandango22 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams asks us to feature a song by a band that we wish were still together. I was inclined to go with the Beatles, but I figured a lot of others would pick them. So I decided to select a band I really wasn’t all that into back in the 70s, but which has since become one of my favorites from that era: Pink Floyd,

Pink Floyd was founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). The band was named after two American blues !musicians: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

The Pink Floyd song I’m featuring is “Wish You Were Here.”

“Wish You Were Here” was released as the title track of the band’s 1975 album of the same name. David Gilmour and Roger Waters collaborated to write the music and Gilmour sang the lead vocal. It was a rare case of the Pink Floyd primary songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour mutually collaborating on a song, as they rarely wrote together. Gilmour had the opening riff written and was playing it in the studio at a fast pace when Roger Waters heard it and asked him to play it slower. The song built from there, with the pair writing the music for the chorus and verses together, and Waters adding the lyrics.

The song is about the detached feeling many of us float through life with. It’s a commentary on how people cope with the world by withdrawing physically, mentally, or emotionally. It is often considered to be a direct tribute to Syd Barrett, a Pink Floyd founding member, who was responsible for the lyrics in many of the band’s early songs, and his ordeal with schizophrenia.

Gilmour and Waters describe the original concept differently. Waters, who mainly wrote the lyrics,describes the song as being directed at himself. Being present in one’s own life and freeing one’s self in order to truly experience life is a main topic in this song. Gilmour, on the other hand, recognizes that he never performs the song without remembering Syd Barrett.

When Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, they played “Wish You Were Here” at the induction ceremony.

Here are the lyrics to “Wish You Were Here.”

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here

FOWC with Fandango — Untenable

Fandango20 Comments
FOWC

It’s October 16, 2022. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “untenable.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.