it seems like the jazz - or funk, if they'd prefer - theme is going to carry on into may.

good excuse to spin it, though.

i probably would have gone to see the damned tonight if the weather wasn't so terrible, or if i had april cash leftover. but, i'm not a big enough fan to fit it into the existing schedule, and i expect there to be other things happening this month that i'll prioritize over it.

they're 60. you know? how do you be the damned when you're 60? i don't mean to be ageist for the sake of ageism, but there's reasonable cut-offs to what they do, and there's a good argument that it ended quite a while ago.

i'm only familiar with their earliest material, which i suspect they'll only skim over, anyways. but, this band is in some ways actually ground zero for my musical tastes, in terms of influences. some people will look back towards the clash, or the sex pistols, but the band that was most influential on the bands that influenced me was this one.

i think i can say that i wish i was there, back in the day. but, tonight isn't going to be what i'd want it to be.

i hope people have fun, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1G1y7_r8bE

after having my blood pressure taken...

this is what making america great again meant all along, right?

fuck.

i want to see a revival of roseanne about as much as i want to see a tom arnold standup routine.

what the fuck is wrong with people?

i think that the bigger threat with north korea is that the debris from a failed launch may land somewhere and accidentally kill people. maybe the right angle is to try and convince them to stop pretending they have any serious capability, and go back to the drawing board?

it's hard to say who this guy speaks for - he was a representative of the current opposition party, but in a faction that seems to be more closely aligned with the current ruling party. i mean that: it's hard to say. the old pc wing seems to actually have enormous clout with justin trudeau.

if he speaks for himself, so be it. but if he speaks for more than himself, it is a positive sign that the government realizes what donald trump is as an entity.

i think that we have to accept that there was a deep miscalculation. but that just means that we have to adjust.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/a-reality-check-on-nafta-for-donald-trump/article34849854/

it's really just a standard definition of empire, right?

it's easy to say that trump sounds crazy, but there's just as much of an argument that it's a return to sanity. the post-war order was always meant to be designed for the benefits of american exports. so, europe was designed as a dumping ground for american goods. canada was basically a state, anyways, so it made sense to integrate it.

there was this discussion going around after the election about which historical american personality trump most resembled. there was a claim of jefferson, which was met with ridicule. i suggested he was more like the king of england.

and, this is a system that is more like something the british would have come up with, because they were an empire, and they told people they were an empire, and they had a sense of reverence for their (usually) empress.

it's just that the united states has historically gone to great lengths to deny that it is an empire, due to it's historical attraction to democracy - something the current administration has no real interest in.

for all of the valid criticisms of the united states, they created a world order (it is not from nothing, but still largely theirs) that is unlike anything the world has ever seen. it failed because they destroyed it, which is what created the situation of empire we're in today. but, it worked for a little while, at least.

it sounds crazy because we're holding to these ideals that may end up as a blip in history. the blame is not the point. the normal organization of powerful states is into empires.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/04/28/leaked-draft-order-shows-trump-blamed-nafta-for-massive-wealth-transfer-lost-jobs-illegal-immigration.html