Politic is a nasty business requiring thick skin and lots of money. It’s understandable why too many Americans hate politics, choose to avoid participation and their civic duty. To go public as an activist or politician at any level puts a target on your back, especially in single party controlled, retaliatory CA. It takes courage. Retirees are needed as ACTIVES on the front line outside of our comfort zones. The ‘Bubble Life’ is wonderful, but the future depends on our willingness to be called names. Simply consider the source; then stay focused on policy issues that matter.
Your mom was great. My mom, who I adored, was also great, however a complete Democrat. When she was 91 and Trump was elected she kept going on about how at least she'd raised me right not to vote for him. Finally I said “Mom, I did.” I thought I had killed her.
Thank you, Brent, for another terrific column. As my Methodist granny used to say when things were rotten “Oh joy.” My ex's Jewish mom used to say “Oy veh.” They were saying the same thing.
Joy. It's interesting that in later life, Friedrich Schiller was down on his “Ode to Joy” poem calling it “detached from reality.” Interesting, too, that it's Beethoven's melody from his 9th Symphony that was adopted by the EU, not Schiller's poem. Was that because the poem is unabashedly religious in its last stanza, whereas with the music you can try to pretend it's not about God. Accent on “try.”
Be embraced, all ye millions!
With a kiss for all the world!
Brothers, beyond the stars
Surely dwells a loving Father.
Do you kneel before Him, oh millions?
Do you feel the Creator's presence?
Seek Him beyond the stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.
The Ode to Joy is not about joy independent of the Creator. It is not about humans being able to dictate joy. It's about the fact that joy is only possible through surrender to the Higher Power. Joy does not belong in the Communist dictionary.
Shortly after Trump was elected my husband and I were at a dinner party. Everyone at the table was upset about Trump. Everyone was upset about Brexit. Except me and my hubby. But we had refrained from wearing our MAGA hats and we kept sombre faces. A lovely elderly woman stood up, took out her harmonica and played “Ode to Joy.” The other people at the table brushed away tears.
I wanted to start a conversation about Beethoven. I wanted to talk about a couple of things. About how Beethoven was prone to changing his mind - for example, at first he hero worshipped Napoleon, then hated him. Would Beethoven have approved of the EU using his aria? I've played (badly, I'm a lousy pianist) through and studied a lot of his music, especially the late works, which sublimely call upon both JS Bach and romanticism. I also read a great deal about him as a person. He didn't like group think. He was one perverse guy. And I doubt he'd have liked these people bemoaning the EU. I think Beethoven would have liked the EU at first, but would have felt betrayed as it became more interested in its own power as an organization than in saving Europe from tyranny.
But there's something else I wanted to say. Beethoven's “Ode to Joy” is one of the most beloved melodies ever written. Yet Beethoven was not an easy melody writer like Mozart or Handel. As Igor Stravinsky said, he struggled with writing melodies. And that's what makes the “Ode to Joy” so moving. The melody starts and stops. And then it soars. It's a heroic melodic journey to achieve joy. And when it breaks out, it is God who Beethoven is channeling, and suddenly the struggle is over and Beethoven allows us to feel the presence of the divine.
I kept myself from starting a fight and said none of those things. But what is meant by “joy” in Beethoven's music is that struggle to be in the presence of the divine. And the Communist Democrats who have renounced the divine will never own that word.
Yes, the American public needs protection from the lying, slanderous, manipulative, malignant and deceitful press. Long gone are such stalwarts as Cronkite, Murrow or Russert. Today’s press is in the bag and in the tank, for the Democratic Party. They are actively putting their thumbs on the scale of impartiality and are co-conspirators for a Harris victory. But why? Why has the Press flipped in such an obvious way? They don’t even try to hide their hatred of Trump! I fear a Trump victory will only reignite a constant drip, drip for removing a successful President Trump.
The American press has become a clear and present danger for our democracy. Hopefully, the shareholders of these media conglomerates will have enough of this lefty charade and restore trust with the American people.
We have seen the disaster of a one party state, here in California. We know her/they/them background and how she rose to power. Yes, Willie Brown is having a good old belly laugh on how this con was pulled off on the public….and the jokes on us, but we’re not laughing!
Tonight, hopefully will turn the tide in this election, even the press will not be able to hide the incompetence and word salad bowl that comes out of Harris.
Hope to see you folks this evening at Mesa. Don’t be surprised if the local “press” shows up tonight looking/hoping for a burning cross, brown shirt goose stepping and child sacrifice!
With so many good alternative media resources today, the Press in the old sense has beclowned itself into oblivion. They serve only as a reminder there are alternate viewpoints today, and do underscore the need to…..trust, but verify.
They are only opinion mongers today; nothing more. And their seriously declining viewership is their real message. They may continue to irritate, but their reach is minimal. Perhaps we are the last groups how still give them influence and credibility?
Wise, and agreed. Can I offer (as a veteran of the national news business) one small tweak though?
Let’s not over-romanticize how good (let alone objective) the national press used to be. During my years in the biz it seemed to me that 80% of what they printed or broadcast was p-r for the Establishment. The Washington Post had serious CIA connections, Henry Luce was more interested in setting agendas than he was in explaining what was really going on in the world, the NYTimes was comically activist while always attempting to project a sober tone … We had a more cohesive culture (and Establishment) in those days, though, so readers and viewers could feel less confused and addled than they often do these days. The news we were being fed *felt* more solid and substantial than it really was.
Even so: there’s a big diff between the old formula of “80% propaganda and 20% attempts at uncovering some truth” and the new one of “110% propaganda.”
Yes, Sawbilly, i do think you are correct about the news from the "old days" being tainted in one direction or another but not nearly so blatant as now and I don't think that there has anyone, past or present, that has been so relentlessly persecuted as Trump has with today's msm.
PEOPLE around the WORLD are 'WAKING UP' to the FACT (NOT
FICTION) that the CORPORATE [[D] party politically controlled] [6 CORPORATIONS OWN 90%] MEDIA [FAKE NEWS] IS NOT unbiased journalism but POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND CONTROLLED.
Methinks that many of the Fake News players will be held accountable (nobody walks away from this -> Subversion & Treason).
“The Powers That Be”………..David Halberstam……was an eye opener about that Golden Age of Journalism. Today withe growing number of sound alternative news/opinion resources may well be the best era yet.
On vacation right now myself….somewhat off the grid…and quite honestly relying on SB Currents for local updates, and BabylonBee for national assessments. I feel all bases will be well covered. If BabylonBee ever loses their sly sense of humor, I will know events have become dire and I had better check back in.
Monica: Sorry you won't be with us; we'll miss you. Happily, we've got us a sold-out affair: all 150 tickets are gone... and paid for! Can it be that Republicans and common sense voters (Santa Barbarians all) are waking up to a new reality??
Aw, I wish! I was hospitalized for a severe physical collapse a year ago. I've been pretty much housebound for a year. I create, cook, walk, exercise. Are you going?
How sick is it that the candidates will spend well over a billion dollars to get elected to be president. Until we get private funding out of politics it will remain an ugly, play for power.
Time to consider what really does money buy, before Election Day and what does it buy after Election Day. With easy essentially free electronic information, pre election money is not required to get a policy fundamentals message out.
After that, money is wasted primarily on calculated imagery and sound-bite marketing; the selling of the President and little else. The promise of re-election money is where the real damage gets done.
When you are faced with this type of junk what can you do?
Does anyone find it interesting that they attempted to kill him and yet the Democrats cannot state how terrible that is and was?
So what do you say? Just point out the truth. The inflation rate that will never be returned is their fault.
The "slingers" are responsible for "paying for airplanes to fly illegals into urban centers...and YOU get to pay for illegals (want peanuts with that drink?)
More? You want more? Then vote for the side that repeatedly states too bad he missed.
Hilarious to watch the Dems rebrand Kamala, isn’t it? The p-r shenanigans are out there for everyone to see. Just six hours ago she was widely thought to be a ditzy, ineffectual embarrassment whose every policy preference was flat-out Marxist. Today she embodies Joy! And the idiot, credulous Dem foot soldiers go right along with it.
Well, I guess “Hope and change” worked for them back in 2008 …
Sawbilly: Problem is/was is that "hope" meant hoping to get a government check, and "change" reverted back to Depression days: "Hey, buddy, can you spare some change?"
Thanks for pointing up the Ds attempt to ride the magic carpet of “Unity & Joy”. VP Harris & the D Party, with the Legacy Media’s help, have repeatedly used the word “joy” as a campaign slogan since the convention, alarmingly similar to one used by the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930s - “Strength Through Joy”. And, the Legacy Media has mirrored this message in their coverage of the 2024 race. The New York Times headlined an Aug 9 article, “Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her Campaign.” Similarly, AP reported, “Harris is pushing joy. Trump paints a darker picture. Will mismatched moods matter?” See how they work?
Unfortunately, the Joy play is falling flat, as the Fake News has lost its slave grip on the narratives. Who can we thank for exposing the fake news? Who coined the term Fake News? How many times, since Day 1, have we heard Trump label the Fake News as the enemy of the people? The Mockingbirds are a dying breed, as their mind control garnered by the psyops crumbles…
Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals...
Will be interesting to see if Trump is debating one opponent tonight or if the Mockingbird moderators can’t resist the urge to squawk.
I depends on the objective. Those Nazi jerks revered strength. The Commie-Dems, on the other hand, believe a happy, skippy, joy-joy focus might distract their groupies from a losing agenda.
Democrats always claim Trump is angry, vengeful and divisive. Therefore out of their own self-proclaimed angry, vengeful and divisive TDS imagery, they re-
created Harris as ……joy-joy-joy.
Just like out of whole cloth they created Russia-Russia-Russia and covid-covid-covid. Building one lie on top of another lie is a Democrat signature.
In the Presidential Debate I heard one candidate outline her proposals and plans for America if she is elected. From the other candidate I heard "immigrants are eating your cats and dogs," "they’re executing babies after they’re born," "I won the 2020 election by millions of vote," "inflation is up" (it's actually going down), "crime is up" (it's actually going down), and who failed to answer a single simple questions regarding his plans and proposals. "I have a concept for a plan" he blathered without further explanation, but that is NOT a plan. Yes, Trump actually said those things during the Presidential Debate, utterances from a cognitive impaired old man who is out of touch with reality and is not burdened by telling the truth. This is dangerous and WEIRD. America needs sane leadership, not more of Trump's nonsense.
Politic is a nasty business requiring thick skin and lots of money. It’s understandable why too many Americans hate politics, choose to avoid participation and their civic duty. To go public as an activist or politician at any level puts a target on your back, especially in single party controlled, retaliatory CA. It takes courage. Retirees are needed as ACTIVES on the front line outside of our comfort zones. The ‘Bubble Life’ is wonderful, but the future depends on our willingness to be called names. Simply consider the source; then stay focused on policy issues that matter.
About insults, my Momma used to say: "It's a question of mind over matter. I don't mind, 'cause you don't matter."
Your mom was great. My mom, who I adored, was also great, however a complete Democrat. When she was 91 and Trump was elected she kept going on about how at least she'd raised me right not to vote for him. Finally I said “Mom, I did.” I thought I had killed her.
Thank you, Brent, for another terrific column. As my Methodist granny used to say when things were rotten “Oh joy.” My ex's Jewish mom used to say “Oy veh.” They were saying the same thing.
Joy. It's interesting that in later life, Friedrich Schiller was down on his “Ode to Joy” poem calling it “detached from reality.” Interesting, too, that it's Beethoven's melody from his 9th Symphony that was adopted by the EU, not Schiller's poem. Was that because the poem is unabashedly religious in its last stanza, whereas with the music you can try to pretend it's not about God. Accent on “try.”
Be embraced, all ye millions!
With a kiss for all the world!
Brothers, beyond the stars
Surely dwells a loving Father.
Do you kneel before Him, oh millions?
Do you feel the Creator's presence?
Seek Him beyond the stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.
The Ode to Joy is not about joy independent of the Creator. It is not about humans being able to dictate joy. It's about the fact that joy is only possible through surrender to the Higher Power. Joy does not belong in the Communist dictionary.
Shortly after Trump was elected my husband and I were at a dinner party. Everyone at the table was upset about Trump. Everyone was upset about Brexit. Except me and my hubby. But we had refrained from wearing our MAGA hats and we kept sombre faces. A lovely elderly woman stood up, took out her harmonica and played “Ode to Joy.” The other people at the table brushed away tears.
I wanted to start a conversation about Beethoven. I wanted to talk about a couple of things. About how Beethoven was prone to changing his mind - for example, at first he hero worshipped Napoleon, then hated him. Would Beethoven have approved of the EU using his aria? I've played (badly, I'm a lousy pianist) through and studied a lot of his music, especially the late works, which sublimely call upon both JS Bach and romanticism. I also read a great deal about him as a person. He didn't like group think. He was one perverse guy. And I doubt he'd have liked these people bemoaning the EU. I think Beethoven would have liked the EU at first, but would have felt betrayed as it became more interested in its own power as an organization than in saving Europe from tyranny.
But there's something else I wanted to say. Beethoven's “Ode to Joy” is one of the most beloved melodies ever written. Yet Beethoven was not an easy melody writer like Mozart or Handel. As Igor Stravinsky said, he struggled with writing melodies. And that's what makes the “Ode to Joy” so moving. The melody starts and stops. And then it soars. It's a heroic melodic journey to achieve joy. And when it breaks out, it is God who Beethoven is channeling, and suddenly the struggle is over and Beethoven allows us to feel the presence of the divine.
I kept myself from starting a fight and said none of those things. But what is meant by “joy” in Beethoven's music is that struggle to be in the presence of the divine. And the Communist Democrats who have renounced the divine will never own that word.
Polly, as usual your comments are thought provoking: thanks.
Just keep writing! Your sanity and clarity are needed.
The " . . . struggle to be in the presence of the divine . ." That's kinda cool!
_Love_ your rants, dear heart - you one smart lady! :)
Yes, the American public needs protection from the lying, slanderous, manipulative, malignant and deceitful press. Long gone are such stalwarts as Cronkite, Murrow or Russert. Today’s press is in the bag and in the tank, for the Democratic Party. They are actively putting their thumbs on the scale of impartiality and are co-conspirators for a Harris victory. But why? Why has the Press flipped in such an obvious way? They don’t even try to hide their hatred of Trump! I fear a Trump victory will only reignite a constant drip, drip for removing a successful President Trump.
The American press has become a clear and present danger for our democracy. Hopefully, the shareholders of these media conglomerates will have enough of this lefty charade and restore trust with the American people.
We have seen the disaster of a one party state, here in California. We know her/they/them background and how she rose to power. Yes, Willie Brown is having a good old belly laugh on how this con was pulled off on the public….and the jokes on us, but we’re not laughing!
Tonight, hopefully will turn the tide in this election, even the press will not be able to hide the incompetence and word salad bowl that comes out of Harris.
Hope to see you folks this evening at Mesa. Don’t be surprised if the local “press” shows up tonight looking/hoping for a burning cross, brown shirt goose stepping and child sacrifice!
With so many good alternative media resources today, the Press in the old sense has beclowned itself into oblivion. They serve only as a reminder there are alternate viewpoints today, and do underscore the need to…..trust, but verify.
They are only opinion mongers today; nothing more. And their seriously declining viewership is their real message. They may continue to irritate, but their reach is minimal. Perhaps we are the last groups how still give them influence and credibility?
I just hope Trumpy remembers how unfairly the press has treated him - payback can be a bitch!
Wise, and agreed. Can I offer (as a veteran of the national news business) one small tweak though?
Let’s not over-romanticize how good (let alone objective) the national press used to be. During my years in the biz it seemed to me that 80% of what they printed or broadcast was p-r for the Establishment. The Washington Post had serious CIA connections, Henry Luce was more interested in setting agendas than he was in explaining what was really going on in the world, the NYTimes was comically activist while always attempting to project a sober tone … We had a more cohesive culture (and Establishment) in those days, though, so readers and viewers could feel less confused and addled than they often do these days. The news we were being fed *felt* more solid and substantial than it really was.
Even so: there’s a big diff between the old formula of “80% propaganda and 20% attempts at uncovering some truth” and the new one of “110% propaganda.”
Yes, Sawbilly, i do think you are correct about the news from the "old days" being tainted in one direction or another but not nearly so blatant as now and I don't think that there has anyone, past or present, that has been so relentlessly persecuted as Trump has with today's msm.
right on target Mr. Sawman…BUT,
PEOPLE around the WORLD are 'WAKING UP' to the FACT (NOT
FICTION) that the CORPORATE [[D] party politically controlled] [6 CORPORATIONS OWN 90%] MEDIA [FAKE NEWS] IS NOT unbiased journalism but POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND CONTROLLED.
Methinks that many of the Fake News players will be held accountable (nobody walks away from this -> Subversion & Treason).
“The Powers That Be”………..David Halberstam……was an eye opener about that Golden Age of Journalism. Today withe growing number of sound alternative news/opinion resources may well be the best era yet.
On vacation right now myself….somewhat off the grid…and quite honestly relying on SB Currents for local updates, and BabylonBee for national assessments. I feel all bases will be well covered. If BabylonBee ever loses their sly sense of humor, I will know events have become dire and I had better check back in.
I will miss tonight (don't like night driving on the Pass) but I'm sure I will read about the haps in The Current tomorrow. Have fun!
Monica: Sorry you won't be with us; we'll miss you. Happily, we've got us a sold-out affair: all 150 tickets are gone... and paid for! Can it be that Republicans and common sense voters (Santa Barbarians all) are waking up to a new reality??
Congratulations! You've done a great thing with SB Current. Sorry I won't be there. I'm not yet up to going out.
" . . not yet up to going out . . ." Fan mob? :)
Aw, I wish! I was hospitalized for a severe physical collapse a year ago. I've been pretty much housebound for a year. I create, cook, walk, exercise. Are you going?
That is fabulous! Will be anxious to hear about the evening tomorrow.
How sick is it that the candidates will spend well over a billion dollars to get elected to be president. Until we get private funding out of politics it will remain an ugly, play for power.
Time to consider what really does money buy, before Election Day and what does it buy after Election Day. With easy essentially free electronic information, pre election money is not required to get a policy fundamentals message out.
After that, money is wasted primarily on calculated imagery and sound-bite marketing; the selling of the President and little else. The promise of re-election money is where the real damage gets done.
When you are faced with this type of junk what can you do?
Does anyone find it interesting that they attempted to kill him and yet the Democrats cannot state how terrible that is and was?
So what do you say? Just point out the truth. The inflation rate that will never be returned is their fault.
The "slingers" are responsible for "paying for airplanes to fly illegals into urban centers...and YOU get to pay for illegals (want peanuts with that drink?)
More? You want more? Then vote for the side that repeatedly states too bad he missed.
Hilarious to watch the Dems rebrand Kamala, isn’t it? The p-r shenanigans are out there for everyone to see. Just six hours ago she was widely thought to be a ditzy, ineffectual embarrassment whose every policy preference was flat-out Marxist. Today she embodies Joy! And the idiot, credulous Dem foot soldiers go right along with it.
Well, I guess “Hope and change” worked for them back in 2008 …
Sawbilly: Problem is/was is that "hope" meant hoping to get a government check, and "change" reverted back to Depression days: "Hey, buddy, can you spare some change?"
' . . . rebrand Kamala' - talk about trying to turn a pig's ear into a silk purse . . . !
Thanks for pointing up the Ds attempt to ride the magic carpet of “Unity & Joy”. VP Harris & the D Party, with the Legacy Media’s help, have repeatedly used the word “joy” as a campaign slogan since the convention, alarmingly similar to one used by the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930s - “Strength Through Joy”. And, the Legacy Media has mirrored this message in their coverage of the 2024 race. The New York Times headlined an Aug 9 article, “Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her Campaign.” Similarly, AP reported, “Harris is pushing joy. Trump paints a darker picture. Will mismatched moods matter?” See how they work?
Unfortunately, the Joy play is falling flat, as the Fake News has lost its slave grip on the narratives. Who can we thank for exposing the fake news? Who coined the term Fake News? How many times, since Day 1, have we heard Trump label the Fake News as the enemy of the people? The Mockingbirds are a dying breed, as their mind control garnered by the psyops crumbles…
Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals...
Will be interesting to see if Trump is debating one opponent tonight or if the Mockingbird moderators can’t resist the urge to squawk.
The same media re-branded Biden’s SOTU address as “fiery”….the officially chosen mocking bird word of the day.
Exactly…everything is poll tested and scripted…we are essentially watching a movie…Enjoy The Show!
I depends on the objective. Those Nazi jerks revered strength. The Commie-Dems, on the other hand, believe a happy, skippy, joy-joy focus might distract their groupies from a losing agenda.
Democrats always claim Trump is angry, vengeful and divisive. Therefore out of their own self-proclaimed angry, vengeful and divisive TDS imagery, they re-
created Harris as ……joy-joy-joy.
Just like out of whole cloth they created Russia-Russia-Russia and covid-covid-covid. Building one lie on top of another lie is a Democrat signature.
In the Presidential Debate I heard one candidate outline her proposals and plans for America if she is elected. From the other candidate I heard "immigrants are eating your cats and dogs," "they’re executing babies after they’re born," "I won the 2020 election by millions of vote," "inflation is up" (it's actually going down), "crime is up" (it's actually going down), and who failed to answer a single simple questions regarding his plans and proposals. "I have a concept for a plan" he blathered without further explanation, but that is NOT a plan. Yes, Trump actually said those things during the Presidential Debate, utterances from a cognitive impaired old man who is out of touch with reality and is not burdened by telling the truth. This is dangerous and WEIRD. America needs sane leadership, not more of Trump's nonsense.