Music Friday: "Love Boat Captain"

I woke up today with this song in my head. 

I've been listening to SiriusXM's Pearl Jam Radio station a lot recently, so it's no surprise it floated into my consciousness. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I despise how journalist use the term "false claim" such as Moscow Don is "making a false claim" that the Democrats are to blame for his administration separating children from their parents. Call it what it is: It's a goddamned LIE. 

It's what that narcissistic goon does best: Lies. 

During Josh Brolin's appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Brolin read Trump tweets in Thanos's voice. Check it out. 

It starts around 9:45 in. 

Music Friday: "Mr. Tillman" & "Date Night"

That Father John Misty character has been productive. Last year he gave us Pure Comedy. 

This year he gives us God's Favorite Customer. 

Here are a couple of solid tunes from his latest opus.

Random Notes from a Crank

A week or so ago a fraternity brother of mine bought the cardboard sign (below) from 1969 for me. I collect Schlitz memorabilia, and I found this piece wonderful. First, a beer company/distributor created a sign for teachers for some reason. Second, I am amused by the unnecessary quotation marks. This is going in my office. 

On July 1 my son and I are going to a Braves-Cardinals baseball game at Busch. My son is going with his travel team, which is the damned Redbirds. I'm a Cubs fan, and I throw up a little in my mouth when I see my son in his Redbirds jersey. For the game we're going to, I purchased a throwback Braves cap. I'm not a Braves fan, but I like the retro cap. 

So I wonder which team Moscow Don is rooting for in the World Cup? My bet is on I Russia. 

I enjoy watching the World Cup. There are certain teams I'll root for. I've always liked Spain. I like Spanish culture, and they usually have a solid team. As I type this though, Ronaldo just tied up the game with Spain. That dude is incredible. 

I'll cheer for Denmark because I'm part Danish. I'll also root for the African countries in the Cup: Egypt, Nigeria, and Senegal. I also like the underdog Latin American countries: Uruguay, Peru, and Costa Rica. France and Mexico's teams interest me too. 

Music Friday: "The World Is On Fire"

I picked up the recent album by American Aquarium yesterday and have given it a couple of listens. It's another solid offering. At times, the record has more a country twang than I'm used to. I like it when they rock.

Here's the opening tune on the album. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Leftover T-Bone and Peas Rice

This is a simple leftover lunchtime meal that I made today.

I had some leftover t-bone steak, so I put it to good use.

Ingredients
Leftover t-bone steak cut up
Leftover peas
Rice
Soy sauce

Process
Reheat the steak and peas in the microwave. Put them into rice you have cooked and add a bit of soy sauce. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Any American citizen needs to pick up the June issue of Harper's because one of the articles is a forum done at West Point. The title in the magazine is "Combat High: America's Addiction to War." The panel was made up of former soldiers, most of whom saw combat in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. 

Here are some snippets that should get your attention: 

• Dempsey: "Americans are beset by an attitude of respectful indifference."
• Kreps: "The United States has its tentacles everywhere."
• Dempsey: "It is utterly absurd. It ties in with the idea that the military can do no wrong."
• Dempsey: "Sadly, being played for suckers in other people's wars might just be the purest expression of American exceptionalism." 
• Bacevich: "To acknowledge that is to commit what, in the context of our civil religion, is a mortal sin."
• Daddis: "We have moved from having respect for the military to being unable to criticize it." 
• Daddis: "It's not a job ~ it's a drug. We've addicted our soldiers to war, and to the cycle of war. The costs of being addicted ~ damaging soldiers' psyches, tearing families apart, creating an unhealthy relationship between soldiers and the adrenaline rush of combat ~ are hidden until later." 
• Dempsey: "He's [Moscow Don] almost irrelevant to the argument. He was probably faced with, 'Do you want to be seen as a loser, or do you want to just keep bombing for a couple of years? And keep bragging about how great you are?" 

In addition, the issue has an essay that Seymour Hersh adapted from his memoir. It's about his dogged pursuit of his first and subsequent articles about the My Lai massacre, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. It's titled "Looking for Calley: How a Young Journalist Untangled the Riddle of My Lai." 

On a dumb lark the other day, I bought a tiny bottle of Old Camp Peach Pecan whiskey at my local liquor store. I poured it into a highball glass, took a drink, and hated it immediately. I dumped it out in the sink. 

Why do all these bourbon companies have to corrupt perfectly good whiskey with flavorings? Honey, blackberry, cinnamon, and whatnot are adulterating perfectly fine bourbon. What a shame. The fact of the matter is though that probably most of concoctions use some bourbon and then use grain neutral spirits to make it cheaper and thus not true bourbon. Atrocious.  

Music Friday: "Back in the U.S.S.R."

This Music Friday post is to complement the current President's obsession with being nice to Russia and Putin because apparently he wants to reinstate Russia to the G7 and is threatening our allies via trade. 

Stupid Moscow Don. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The other day I was at an establishment getting my car's oil changed. An older gentleman was there, and he had on a hat that said "Cold War Veteran." I respect veterans. I have all kinds of veterans in my family in fact. But if a person lived during the Cold War, aren't they too Cold War veterans in a sense? 

As a recent article relates, battling global warming will also save loads of money: "By Getting Serious about Limiting Global Warming, the World Could Save Itself More than $20 Trillion." 

I've never figured out why people get so angry about people speaking something other than English in the USA. As another recent articles informs us: "Spanish Still Polarizing in US."  With Moscow Don's idiocy about the wall and Mexicans and other immigrants, such English-only nonsense is only getting worse, unfortunately.

Music Friday: "Race to the Bottom"

"Up Nights" by Ha Ha Tonka came across my iPod shuffle yesterday. I like that band from West Plains, Missouri. 

Unfortunately, I didn't know they had a new album come out last year. I will be purchasing it. 

Here's a song from the new album.