Far Away, Long Ago, Right Now

"A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically 45 to 65 years old." -- Google

---

Many years ago, 34 to be precise, I was driving alone in my car along a familiar route listening to my favorite country music station on the radio, when a new song came on that stopped me in my tracks.

I pulled off the road to listen. It was a mournful but uplifting song from Cajun country with a soaring accordion, drum beat and lovely melody. The singer's deeply resonant voice told the story of a man down on the bayou, smoking a cigarette alone on a humid summer's night, drinking beer, imagining his lover's voice trying to shake him out of a bad mood. 

I loved it at first listen.

Though I heard it a few more times over the next weeks and months, it soon faded from airplay and I didn't hear it again for 33 years.

Last year, as I settled uneasily into my retirement/lockdown routine of sorting through the daily news, writing an essay, publishing it here on Facebook, I also started spending hours each day listening to music and interviews with songwriters on YouTube.

Some of this was pure entertainment (I'm retired so why not?) but some of it was research. Soon I began to append song lyrics to the end of each essay. 

I began marveling at how vast YouTube's library has become; like its parent, Google, it just keeps expanding and deepening all the time. Both databases seem to grow at exponential rates.

One night last year I decided to search for that song I'd heard years ago. All I remembered was the phrase "C'mon Joe," so maybe that was the song's name. 

After several nights of searching -- Bingo! -- I found a performance of the song, called "Come On Joe," at an early SXSW by the late Chris Gaffney. It was satisfying but it wasn't the version I remembered. 

So from time to time over the past year I kept searching until two nights ago when YouTube finally turned up the version I remembered. It's by a Louisiana country singer and accordionist named Jo-El Sonnier -- his name suddenly came back to me the minute I saw it.

That version brought back all those old memories with a clarity only music can do, at least for me.

I'd been in the middle of an extended depression in the period when I fixated on that song. My sense was that literally everything about my outer life was going to have to change. I didn't know why; there was no obvious precipitating cause. It just was a restless feeling that welled up from somewhere inside and it could not be suppressed.

Because I tried.

It turns out that "Come On Joe" was Sonnier's only single to ever crack the country charts, getting as high as #17, so that's why I heard it back in the day. As I've played and replayed the song these past few days, Sonnier's voice from the backwoods not only takes me back to that period but brings me back from it as well, giving me comfort along the way.

Sonnier might find me a strange fan. I don't smoke cigarettes or drink beer on the back porch, and I'm certainly not from the backwoods of Louisiana, but Sonnier sings to me as clearly as any angel closer to home might do.

That is the power of art. And this post is sorta about the power of YouTube. Like Facebook, it has its positive aspects. I am now a follower of Sonnier on Facebook. He turns 75 this year. But the songwriter, Tony Romeo from New York, passed away in 1995. 

I'd like to know his story.

***

For the first time in a year, I heard from an old friend from the assisted living facility where I lived until Covid struck. I had been a newcomer there, just two months in, and this guy was one of a handful of residents who befriended me. He's a character, a wisecracker who loves to play Dominoes.

He told me he got Covid in the facility but recovered. When he realized he couldn't stand the isolation of staying in his room and eating alone any longer, he moved out and in with a former neighbor, who offered to become his caretaker.

He told me a number of residents have died, one of whom was the sweet, friendly driver of the facility's van, who passed away from cancer just this January. I remember her as a cheerful grandmother in her early 60s, who took her grandchildren to Red Lobster on their periodic outings.

"They have such expensive tastes!" she would joke. "Why can't they just let me take 'em to McDonald's?"

Hearing of her death saddened me; hearing my friend's voice heartened me. Life goes on; it always does. 

This has been a very long year. I think I'll listen to "Come on Joe" once again.

***

The news:

* Georgia G.O.P. Passes Major Law to Limit Voting Amid Nationwide Push -- The law, which has been denounced by Democrats and voting rights groups, comes as Republican-controlled legislatures across the country mount the most extensive contraction of ballot access in generations. (NYT)

* U.S. civil rights groups sue Georgia over sweeping new voting restrictions (Reuters)

* Boulder tried to ban assault rifles in years leading up to mass shooting (WaPo)

* The California Supreme Court determined that the state's policy of detaining people simply because they can't afford bail is unconstitutional. The court took on the case after San Francisco man Kenneth Humphrey challenged the $600,000 bail assigned to him in 2017 after he was accused of robbing a neighbor of $5 and a bottle of cologne. [HuffPost]

* Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Democrats against running in the likely recall election, predicting that Governor Newsom will win. [Politico]

* A new study published in Science found that California’s pollution controls have reduced more emissions of diesel exhaust than the rest of the nation, lowering deaths from heart and lung disease. [CalMatters]

* Conservative news outlets, accused of election falsehoods, air disclaimers (Reuters)

* Dominion Voting Systems Corp said it filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, accusing it of trying to boost its ratings by falsely claiming the company rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential election against Trump. (Reuters)

* Biden May Be the Most Pro-Labor President Ever; That May Not Save Unions (NYT)

* California state prisons will begin allowing limited in-person visitations on April 10, more than a year after they were halted because of the pandemic. [AP]

* Biden’s news conference was pretty boring. That’s just fine. (WaPo)

* New data from the Department of Education shows that California is one of the slowest states to reopen schools fully for in-person learning. [EdSource]

* Biden Administration Ramps Up Debt Relief Program to Help Black Farmers (NYT)

* Across the country, Asian-American entrepreneurs are spending money to secure their businesses, including hiring security and limiting hours, after what they say is a sharp rise in attacks on their businesses that the authorities are not taking seriously. (WaPo)

* Sticky bombs slapped onto cars trapped in Kabul’s chaotic traffic are the newest weapons terrorizing Afghans in the increasingly lawless nation. (AP)

* Preservative in Pop-Tarts, Cheez-Its, hundreds of popular foods may harm immune system (StudyFinds)

* Kansas City newspaper sends a warning with a blank front page -- declining ad revenue (WaPo)

* We humans have dumped on the poor pigeon for too long; it’s high time to admire this fascinating, fast, quirky bird (Seattle Times)

***

"Come on Joe"

Well, it's a long, hot night
And the stars are shining kinda extra bright
Sitting on the back porch glidin'
Whetting my appetite

Well, I'm a six-pack high
And start missing the light of my baby's eyes
Wasn't it beautiful, the kind of a soul they said would never die

Well, it's muggy in the shack
And the backwoods are black
'Cause the clouds hid the moon away
The light from my cigarette flickers in the dark
The only way she knows I'm here
Then suddenly the sounds of the fiddles and accordions
Sweetly begin to play and I can almost hear her sweet voice say

Come on Joe, just count to ten
Pull yourself together again
And come on Joe, you gotta get hold of this mood you're in
Come on Joe, you gotta be strong
You're still young and life goes on to carry on
'Til we're together again

Hey, I know she's right
But it's hard to fight when you're hurtin' so
I tried to walk out of that door before but I just can't go
With the tears and the laughter in every rafter in every room
Wasn't it beautiful
Wasn't it the kind of happiness and glow

Come on Joe, just count to ten
Pull yourself together again
And come on Joe, you gotta get hold of this mood you're in
Come on Joe, you gotta be strong
You're still young and life goes on to carry on
'Til we're together again

Come on Joe
Hey, come on Joe
To carry on 'til we're together again

-- Tony Romeo

-30-

Facebook: The Positive

There are plenty of negative impacts of social media, so I thought I should note one of the positive aspects of Facebook in particular. The other day, after I wrote about the violence inflicted on Hazaras in Afghanistan, I received the following message from Fawad Ahura:

"I'm Hazara. You have heard right about the Hazaras people in Afghanistan. We are an oppressed group here. We are murdered in school, in the street, in the university, and in our home. No place is safe for us. Nowadays, even the government tries to kill us in our homes, they destroy and bombard our houses in Herat and in Behsood. What can we do? Nothing but watch and cry for our lost parents, and siblings. I'm eager to know your opinion about the situation in Afghanistan. How do you anticipate the future of Afghanistan?"

This was a remarkable development from my perspective. It would be extremely difficult for me to locate somebody on the other side of the world without Facebook.

As for Farad's question, I wish I had special insight into Afghanistan's fate. The violence has been going on for so long, it has become difficult to envision how it will stop.

Afghanistan's problem is it sits at the crossroads of the clashing empires of the East and West. When it has not been at the center of the fight between colonial Britain and imperialist Russia, or the Cold War standoff between the U.S. and the Soviets, it is stuck between rival aspirations of Iran and Pakistan, with India and China looming nearby as well.

Still desperately poor by global standards, Afghans are nonetheless resilient and determined people, willing to struggle to shake off external oppressors and achieve independence. But the tribal rivalries of at least seven major groups, with Hazaras at the bottom of the pyramid, will continue to be an internal issue when and if foreign powers finally leave Afghanistan alone.

Of course I'm aware of the many valid critiques of Facebook, especially how its algorithmic fueling of conspiracy theories and hate groups endangers our collective welfare, but I don't want to overlook the positives like Farad contacting me through its network. That is an example of how Facebook is a valuable resource.

***

The good old Associated Press, America's leading news wire service, also comes up with insightful analytical pieces now and then. That is the case with its new report suggesting the end of the pandemic is likely to come in a series of indistinct phases that will not bring a satisfying sense of closure to what has been a severely disorienting period.

"We believe in happy endings, you and I," sings the country singer, but the Covid-19 era will probably end with a series of wispy clouds, not a glorious rainbow.

That said, the day does seem to be approaching when the virus will no longer be at the top of our charts.

BTW, I should note that I was wrong when I said I assumed Biden would be a one-term President; now he says he'll run for re-election in 2024. 

***

The news:

* 

Weaned on Hollywood endings, Americans now face a messy one. “Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do,” President Joe Biden said this month. “In fact,” he said, “it may be the most American thing we do.” (AP)

* Biden says he plans to run for re-election in 2024. (Joe Biden)

* Few Facts, Millions Of Clicks: Fearmongering Vaccine Stories Go Viral Online (NPR)

* 4 theories:  WHO scientists mull clues on virus' origin --They are, in order of likelihood: from a bat through an intermediary animal; straight from a bat; via contaminated frozen food products; from a leak from a laboratory like the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (AP)

* The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines are effective in pregnant and lactating women, who can pass protective antibodies to newborns, according to research published Thursday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. (CNN)

* Democrats push Biden on returning war powers authority to Congress (WaPo)

* Democrats Begin Push for Biggest Expansion of Voting Since 1960s (NYT)

* Andrew Cuomo’s family members were given special access to covid testing, people familiar with the arrangement say (Albany Times-Union)

* Virginia became the first state in the South to abolish the death penalty, a punishment rooted in lynchings that is still disproportionately applied to black people. Virginia, the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty, has executed more people than any other state. [HuffPost]

* Pompeo rejected U.S. effort to declare “genocide” in Myanmar on eve of coup, officials say (Reuters)

* Jobless claims reached their lowest level of the pandemic, dropping to 684,000 last week, adding to evidence the economy is ramping up. (WSJ)

* White House Considers Executive Orders on Gun Control (NYT)

* Sen. Bernie Sanders' Next Progressive Frontier: Reshaping A 'Rigged' Tax System (NPR)

* The gun implicated in Boulder uses the same ammunition as an AR-15. It’s legally a pistol. (WaPo)

* Oakland is piloting a guaranteed income program to combat poverty in the city. Mayor Libby Schaaf announced that 600 low-income families of color, chosen at random, will soon get $500 a month for 18 months. The program follows similar experiments in California and around the country. [The Oaklandside]

* ‘I Will Die Protecting My Country’: In Myanmar, a New Resistance Rises (NYT)

* Sleeping Octopuses May Have Dreams, But They're Probably Brief -- Octopuses have an "active" phase of sleep, the kind that might involve dreaming, but they probably don't have long, complicated dreams like people do. (NPR)

* If there’s ever a scandal about me, *please* call it Elongate (Elon Musk/Twitter)

* Suitcase Spends All Year Looking Forward To Carousel Ride (The Onion)

***

We believe in happy endings 
Never breaking 
Only bending 
Taking time enough for mending 
The hurt inside 

We believe in new beginnings 
Giving in 
And forgiving 
We believe in happy endings 
You and I

-- Bob Mcdill

-30-

Jo-El Sonnier - Come on Joe

Power Pointless

In 1987, Forethought, a prophetically named software company in Silicon Valley, developed the visual presentation program PowerPoint for the Macintosh Operation System. Within a few months the new program was purchased by Microsoft as its first major acquisition.

Microsoft soon expanded the program to work with Windows systems as well as Macs, and then bundled it into the Microsoft Office suite that would essentially take over the world of business software. Since the late 1990s, PowerPoint's market share of the presentation market has consistently been estimated at about 95 percent.

I'm sure many people love it, and apologies to them, but from the first I have absolutely hated PowerPoint, finding it at best confusing and often downright unintelligible. What clearly must make sense to many other people makes no sense at all to me.

The logic that lies behind PowerPoint reflects the code that the brains of most people in business easily comprehend. I suppose it plays for them like music, though perhaps, from my perspective, that would be the genre of modern jazz that sounds like an inchoate traffic jam.

My hate for the software peaked while working in middle management at one leading technology company where the entire communication culture -- the entire corporate purpose -- seemed to hinge on PowerPoint. The large unit I managed worked for weeks on a presentation explaining what exactly it was that we were supposed to be doing and why.

Once my team determined it was ready, we forwarded the presentation to upper management, where it was discussed at length before being sent back to us for revisions. We would then produce a new round of PowerPoints with adjustments here and adjustments there before sending the revised deck back upstairs.

This went on for many months. The ultimate goal, apparently, was for our PowerPoint to be presented to the board of directors, a body composed entirely of men who lived far from where our company was headquartered and who reigned like distant gods over the entire enterprise.

Gradually, it occurred to me we were caught in some sort of invisible elevator a la Groundhog Day, going up, going down but we were never going to find true love, let alone board approval for our presentation. It was about this point that I realized the reason nobody could ever agree on the PowerPoint presentation was that we actually had no clear idea who were were at that company or why we even existed.

We were spending millions of dollars going nowhere.

The enterprise been two separate tech companies before being mushed together by some of the leading technology venture capitalists, who made off like thieves. Those of us who worked there, though generously compensated, quite simply would never be able to create a viable presentation of the un-presentable.

Inevitably the company spiraled into bankruptcy, which at the time was front-page news in the Wall Street Journal.

By then my loathing for PowerPoint was complete. I decided to rationalize my incompetence by declaring to myself *it* was flawed as opposed to the alternative possibility. For whatever queer set of peculiarities, my particular brain does not process information in that format. And in a pinch, I'll stick with my brain, even in its post-stroke condition.

To this day, when I sit through a PowerPoint, all those beautiful slides with bullet points simply fade into the background as the presenter drones on and on, and my mind floats away to a distant place. Every now and again, I jerk awake, remember where I am, and beg the universe:

Please just tell me a story!

POSTSCRIPT: Years after the company I described above went bankrupt and disappeared from the NYSE, I visited Japan only to discover that a Japanese subsidiary of the firm was still very much in operation. They used the same logo we had popularized before our demise and probably were still searching for *their* identity.

I'm guessing that they just never got our final PowerPoint. The one that said "Sayōnara."

***

The News:

* Shootings never stopped during the pandemic: 2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades (WaPo)

* Biden Seeks Assault Weapons Ban and Background Checks (NYT)

* Suspect in Boulder shooting had previously alarmed classmates with violent outbursts (WaPo) 

* Colorado suspect got assault weapon 6 days before shooting (AP)

* These killings can happen because the U.S. celebrates the sale of weapons made for war (Editorial Board/WaPo)

* The United States expects the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic to require further study, perhaps including a return visit to China, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

* A new and potentially troublesome variant of the coronavirus has been detected in India, as have variants first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. (AP)

* A giant container ship called Ever Given has gotten stuck lengthways in the Suez Canal, causing a massive traffic jam in one of the world's busiest waterways. The stuck ship is as long as the Empire State Building is tall. Oil prices are already rising. [HuffPost]

* Court papers filed by the Justice Department allege that a member of the Oath Keepers coordinated with the Proud Boys and a far-right, self-styled militia to form an "alliance" on Jan. 6. (NPR)

* As Europe’s Lockdowns Drag On, Police and Protesters Clash (NYT) 

* Homeschooling doubled from pandemic’s start to last fall (AP)

* Facing sweltering soldiers and flooded ports, NATO to focus on climate change (WaPo)

* In the Latin Quarter, Paris’s Intellectual Heartbeat Grows Fainter -- The closing of beloved bookstores is the latest in a series of blows to the neighborhood’s cultural vibrancy, a long decline accelerated by the pandemic. (NYT)

* Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg laid out steps to reform a key internet law on Wednesday, saying that companies should have immunity from liability only if they follow best practices for removing damaging material from their platforms. In testimony prepared for a joint hearing before two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on Thursday, Zuckerberg acknowledged the calls from lawmakers for changes to a law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives companies like Facebook immunity from liability over content posted by users. (Reuters)

* Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was let off with a warning after he violated state hunting regulations in the trapping and killing of a wolf near Yellowstone National Park last month. The news comes as a raft of bills heads to Gianforte’s desk aimed at reducing the state’s wolf population by making it significantly easier to kill them. [HuffPost]

* State and federal officials have issued stark warnings about California water supplies this summer and have told farmers to prepare for shortages. [Sacramento Bee]

* Banks provided $3.8 trillion in financing to oil, gas and coal companies — more in 2020 than they did in 2016, the year countries signed the Paris climate agreement. The trajectory of the finance sector is heading “definitively in the wrong direction,” warned a new report published by several nonprofits. [HuffPost]

* KFC, Taco Bell to Start Taking Orders via Text (WSJ)

* Silicon Valley firms in no hurry to open up offices despite easing of virus ban (Reuters)

* Former director of national intelligence says upcoming Pentagon UFO report reveals technology ‘we don’t have’​ (KTVU)

* The American bald eagle population has more than quadrupled from 72,400 to 316,700 over the last decade, the US Fish and Wildlife Service says. (CNN)

‌ * In one of those random developments that make sense only in baseball  a relatively obscure outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles, Anthony Santander, has become a big-time fan favorite in Britain. (MLB.com)

* Parents Can’t Tell If Pandemic Inhibited Toddler’s Social Skills Or If He’s Just Taking After Dad (The Onion)

***

Lost in my mind
Lost in my mind
Oh I get lost in my mind
Lost, I get lost
I get lost in my mind
Lost in my mind
Yes I get lost in my mind
Lost, I get lost
I get lost
Oh I get lost
Oh I get...

-- Songwriters: Chris Zasche / Kenny Hensley / Robert Tyler Williams / Josiah David Johnson / Jonathan Eric Russell / Charity Rose Thielen

-30-

Lack of Reason

Please help me get this straight. Trump's former lawyer, Sidney Powell, now argues that no reasonable person would have believed the claims of election fraud that she and Trump's other minions repeated angrily and loudly over and over again.

This is her defense in a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems -- if you can call it a defense. I'm no lawyer but it sounds more like an admission of guilt.

This might seem to be academic except that an armed mob screaming "Stop the Steal" stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to  overthrow the election, the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history.

And now one of the people who incited them to riot is essentially saying that they were fools, idiots, and too ignorant to realize that Trump simply lost despite what she, he and their cohorts were saying.

And what of the five people who died as a result?

This is sad but it is also fiercely dangerous. If I were a Trump supporter -- and there still for some unknown reason apparently are millions of them around the country -- I'd be angry that the man I voted for and his legal team considered me so easy to manipulate that they could just spout made-up nonsense and I would fall for it.

The saddest thing of all is that is exactly what happened. Trump played 75 million Americans for fools.

***

Biden is the polar opposite of Trump when it comes to psychodramas -- the biggest "scandal" so far in his administration is that his staffers who want to smoke dope have been told they can do so but only when working from home.

Horrors!

Seriously, Biden is precisely what the country needs in the wake of the disastrous four-year Trump show, as he calmly and systematically battles the pandemic and repairs the economy. The moves he is making are not sexy but they seem to be effective so far.

Assuming Biden is a one-term President, it makes sense for him to move fast and accomplish whatever he can before the mid-term elections next year.

If history is our guide, Republicans are likely to post gains in Congress, perhaps even reversing the current state of Democratic control, which is razor-thin.

Although those of us who long for a peaceful, unified nation may feel a temporary sense of relief, I fear we are merely in the eye of the storm, because the political pendulum will almost certainly swing back.

I wish, I truly wish, for the good of us all that we have heard the last of Trump and all he represents. But I fear this is one wish that will not come true.

***

The News:

* Covid cases rise across more than half of the U.S. as country races to vaccinate (CNBC)

* In wake of Colorado mass shooting that left ten dead, Biden renews call for gun control. (CNN)

* Boulder’s assault weapons ban, meant to stop mass shootings, was blocked 10 days before grocery store attack (WaPo)

* Australia’s Worst Floods in Decades Quicken Concerns About Climate Change -- In a country that suffered the harshest wildfires in its recorded history just a year ago, the deluge has become another awful milestone. (NYT)

* Trump officials hindered at least nine key oversight probes, watchdogs said. Some may finally be released in coming months. (WaPo)

* Parents across the U.S. are conflicted about reopening schools. Most are at least somewhat worried that a return to the classroom will lead to more coronavirus cases, but there’s an even deeper fear that their children are falling behind in school while at home. (AP)

* Buttigieg’s Next Job: Selling $3 Trillion Infrastructure Program (WSJ)

* As he tours the country promoting his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden is already plotting his next big spend -- a $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package that includes free community college and prekindergarten, and measures to vastly reduce carbon pollution. He'll be looking to help pay with tax hikes on the rich and corporations. (WaPo)

* 11 Years On, the Affordable Care Act Defies Opponents and Keeps Expanding -- More than 200,000 have used a special enrollment period to sign up for health insurance under the act, while Alabama and Wyoming eye the law’s Medicaid expansion. (NYT)

* 'Basically It's A New Pandemic,' Says Merkel, As Germany Extends Lockdown (NPR)

* Sidney Powell argues in new court filing that no reasonable people would believe her election fraud claims (CNN)

* Report: Extremist groups thrive on Facebook despite bans (AP)

* If you're against gun reform, you're not pro-life. (Robert Reich/Twitter)

* Americans Drove Fewer Miles in 2020. Pedestrians Weren’t Safer. -- The number of pedestrians killed in motor-vehicle crashes rose slightly in the first half of 2020, despite a 16.5% drop in miles driven. (WSJ)

* Roger Stone keeps appearing in Capitol breach investigation filings (WaPo)

* Menthol Cigarettes Kill Many Black People. A Ban May Finally Be Near. (NYT)

* AstraZeneca results may have included outdated info. (AP)

* Michigan's women's basketball team (16-5) defeated Tennessee 70-55 to join the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, just like the men's team. (ESPN)

* 

Redwood Tree Completes 300-Year Plan To Lean Slightly To Left (The Onion)

***

Buy me some rings and a gun that sings
A flute that toots and a bee that stings
A sky that cries and a bird that flies
A fish that walks and a dog that talks

Whoo-ee, ride me high
Tomorrow's the day that my bride's gonna come
Whoo-ee, are we gonna fly?
Down into the easy chair

-- Bob Dylan

-30-