What Ya Been Readin,’ What ya Been Watchin’?

As I sit down to write (3/17/25) what I hope will come across as an attempt to inject some wry commentary on what has been happening “out” there, it has been exactly 57 days since the 60^th inauguration took place in Washington, DC. I mean, why should only the late-night talk show hosts have all the fun? And boy, are they having fun, not to mention the daily onslaught of “meme porn.” More on that shortly. The fantastically enormous crowd all watched DT placing his hand on a bible, most likely his very own, which can be yours for only $59.99, or, if you’ve been recently laid off, you can use Shop Pay and get four interest-free payments. I wonder if Trump knows that Shop Pay is a subsidiary of Shopify, whose headquarters are in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the leading candidate to become the 51^st state. I wish I was making this up! I’ve heard rumors that the White House is going to extend a similar offer to Mexico to become the 52^nd  state, if only to justify the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

In case you’re wondering about this made in China bible, it is actually the “God Bless the U.S.A. Bible,” which was penned in 2021 by country music singer-songwriter, and former Member of the National Council of Arts (2008-2022), Lee Greenwood. His version follows in the footsteps, so to speak, of his signature song, “God Bless the U.S.A.” (1984). His tome contains the King James version of the Christian Bible alongside texts related to the foundation and politics of the United States. I will admit that I have not read it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that DT may have edited it further, especially the second book of the Old Testament, Exodus. Take for example Exodus 33:33:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware (sic) unto Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed will give it.

I imagined that it might now read like this:

And Trump said unto Biden, Depart, and go far away, you and those suckers which you insist belong here from all those “shit-hole countries,” because as I have sworn an oath to Elon, to Putin, to Don Jr., to Eric, to Barron, saying” “It’s my seed that will take the day.”

Where was I? Oh yeah… and what a 57 days it has been! Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on and, to be honest, this particular “fence” is not your Norman Rockwell, white picket fence that separates Billy Bob’s and Billy Joe’s suburban back yards. No, this is more like a wall (no, not that one) rather than a fence, perhaps more like a throwback to the Berlin Wall, the one separating two political ideals, that went up in 1961 (JFK) and came down in 1989 (HWB), signaling, as the “pundits” keep reminding us, the end of the “Cold War” two years later in 1991. I don’t know about you, but from where I sit, I would say that the “cold war” is far from over. . .different perhaps, but over, uh I don’t think so.

Why did I pick today to write this missive? Earlier in the day, I opened an email from a Canadian friend of mine, which contained a link to a YouTube video of a parody song titled, “We Will Survive” (written by Gord Moran and performed by Sonya Zaback), which is sung to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 disco hit, “I Will Survive.” Yes, it’s clever, witty, a tad predictable, but as another Canadian friend of mine pointed out to me after I sent it to him to watch: … “ironically it seems we can’t survive without using the tune from a song written and recorded by Americans!” Indeed. And that got me thinking; if that makes you nervous, it should!

While this is certainly not a new phenomenon in the “digital age,” we are being bombarded daily…no, make that hourly, with a plethora of headlines, news flashes, TV show snippets, testimonials, memes (thousands and thousands of memes), song parodies, jokes, etc., etc., etc. Now, if the “digital age” (also known as the “information age”) moniker seems like a historically quaint reminder of 50 years ago when computers first appeared on the landscape, you are not wrong. According to the “experts,” though, we are still in the “digital age”, but what is available to us today compared to the 1970s is almost difficult to comprehend. As a former teacher, I always bristled when my students would tell me that there was so much “knowledge” available to them now because of the Internet, and I would have to remind them that information is not knowledge. Information only becomes knowledge when you do something with it, process it, compare it, discuss it, etc., etc. And, it’s gotten worse, much worse. Why? Because most of that “information” that we are being bombarded with is either suspect, at best, or just downright bullshit. Now, just about everything I have been “readin’” and “watchin’” is definitely skewed towards the shock, horror, and dismay over what that _________ in the White House is doing to this country, but what I do not know, and do not want to know, is what dribble is being foisted upon those that are “readin’” and “watchin’” what’s being posted on the social networks from the other side of the fence…excuse me, wall. I was going to sign up for Truth Social, but after buying the bible, I’m short of funds!

All of what you’ve read thus far was going through my head today as I was on a morning walk, after receiving my friend’s video. I happened to be listening to some music as I walked and at some point, the following song came wafting into my ears: “Bulletproof,” by the English synth-pop duo, La Roux, from 2009. Why my mind immediately went to the failed assassination attempts, I can’t tell you, I blame it on the memes! However, immediately after having that thought, the next one that popped into my head was, I should take “Bulletproof” and re-write the lyrics. I told you to be nervous. So, without further ado, here is my re-working of that song (in red), now titled, “Nice Try.” And just in case you want to sing along…

Got to go now. Waiting for a call from the Grammy Awards!

Los Angeles 2025