Ariel [1988)

The CIA carried out the attacks in Moscow by training Ukrainians and blaming the attacks on what is now a CIA proxy army:  ISIS.

That is my gut feeling.

Cui bono?

Look at Syria.

Syria has been in an ongoing civil war since at least mid-2012.

12+ years.

Who are the combatants?

On the one side, you have the Syrian Armed Forces under the control of Bashar al-Assad.

Allied with Syria in this civil war are Iran and Russia.

On the other side, you have such parties as the United States of America, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS.

So it is PLAUSIBLE that ISIS would want to attack Russia.

This “plausible deniability” is the essential coin in trade of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The USA ostensibly fought ISIS in Syria from 2014-2017.

The following year, the U.S. fought against “pro-government forces” (which is to say, against the government of Syria).

The USA provided “armament support” for the “Syrian National Army” from 2011 (before the civil war even began) till 2017.

The SNA was not even “officially established” until 2017.

The SNA, also with the notable help of Turkey, fights against the Bashar al-Assad government (and military) in Syria.

So you see NATO (USA and Turkey) meddling in Syria.

And you also see how the USA appears to have perhaps PRECIPITATED (or at least added fuel to a burning fire) by funding the SNA even before the civil war was started in earnest.

Also fighting in the Syrian Civil War are the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (of north and east Syria).

The United States CONTINUES to support this particular prong of the Syrian Civil War.

This particular support appears to have begun in 2017.

Then you have that really gnarly third prong of the anti-Assad forces:  the Salafi Jihadists.

Here you will find Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc.

I will leave it to those more savvy than myself to find USA/CIA direct material assistance to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, but any way you slice it:

ISIS and the USA are on the SAME SIDE in the Syrian Civil War.

Now…why would the CIA “burn” one of its assets (ISIS) by using them as a “fall guy” in a false-flag terror attack in Moscow?

Well, for starters:  that’s the nature of what the CIA does.

To say the CIA is unscrupulous would not even begin to scratch the surface.

Perhaps ISIS has worn out its usefulness for the CIA?

Perhaps the USA/CIA knows that the Syrian Civil War cannot be won by any of the aforementioned prongs and will, instead, be won by the government of Syria (Bashar al-Assad) with the assistance of Iran and Russia.

The CIA would have no qualms about “throwing ISIS under the bus” (so to speak).

Cui bono?

Next you have to look at Yemen.

You have seen the Houthis in the news.

How they are these horrible people for attacking ships in the Red Sea.

I agree that it is not optimal.

But the Houthis of northern Yemen have made up their minds.

What is most important to them is the protection of women and children in Gaza.

No other nation on Earth has really taken any tangible, meaningful step in confronting Israel’s gross slaughter of Arabs in the Gaza Strip except for Yemen (the Houthis).

I don’t approve of terrorism.

I don’t condone terrorism.

But what is it that Israel is doing in Gaza?

Let’s get a perspective on what Israel is doing in Gaza.

In response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7th, Israel has launched (and continues to wage) a war against Gaza.

How many Israelis have been affected?

Israeli citizens killed:  819

Israeli soldiers killed:  667

Israelis kidnapped:  253

Total:  1,739

How many Arabs in Gaza (Palestinians) have been affected?

Palestinian people killed:  32,142

Israel has killed 30 times more people that it lost on October 7th.

There were 1,143 Israelis killed on October 7th.

Israel has, in response, killed 32,142 Palestinians (so far).

Yemen is not ok with this.

Yemen’s solution?

To try and cut the supply lines of Israel.

If I remember correctly, Yemen (the Houthis) declared war on Israel not long after Palestinian casualties started piling up in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis control the capital of Yemen (Sanaa) even though they do not control the southern half of Yemen.

Who controls south Yemen (aside from the internationally-recognized “Republic of Yemen”)?

You guessed it:  ISIS.

Need proof?

Need references?

Do yourself a favor and watch the PBS Frontline episode “The Fight for Yemen” (Season 33).

And while you’re at it, also watch  the two episodes of “Bitter Rivals:  Iran and Saudi Arabia” from Season 36 of PBS Frontline.

[these episodes can be found on iTunes]

It becomes more and more apparent that ISIS is a CIA “Swiss-Army knife”–a proxy army.

We often hear of Iran as being a “state sponsor of terrorism”.

We hear of Iran’s “proxy armies” such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis (HHH).

What, then, is ISIS?

Hezbollah fights on the side of THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT (Assad) in Syria.

Which is to say, Hezbollah hates ISIS.

And the Houthis hate ISIS.

They are not on the same side.

What is going on in Yemen?

The USA and the UK are acting as a combined military force on behalf of Israel (by repeatedly bombing Yemen).

The “plausible deniability” here is that the US/UK are “just protecting shipping” in the Red Sea.

The problem with that is that the U.S. military (specifically the U.S. Air Force) has been on the ground in Israel during this entire “war” (genocide/ethnic cleansing/war crime) in a support role for Israeli bombing of Gaza.

[hence the disgust felt by honorable airman deceased Aaron Bushnell who burned himself alive in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. some time back]

Regardless of the specifics of how/where/when the USA has materially-supported the GENOCIDE/ETHNIC CLEANSING/WAR CRIMES of Israel in Gaza (it is indisputable that Joe Biden and the USA have continued to supply copious amounts of weaponry to Israel throughout this “war” [slaughter]), the U.S has not done what Yemen has done.

What Yemen is doing in the Red Sea may be wrong.

And what Israel is doing in Gaza is likely worse.

How many people have been killed by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea?

Three???

The USA and ISIS fight against Syria.

The USA and ISIS fight against Yemen.

[are you seeing this pattern?]

If we are to be utterly-naive, we would have to reckon this a HUGE coincidence…that the USA and ISIS just happen to keep showing up on the same side of conflicts.

If we knew a little more about history (which we do [see the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan {1979-1989} and its successor Al-Qaeda]), we would have to wonder whether the United States now effectively controls ISIS as a tool for attempted regime change.

Where the USA cannot expediently (conveniently) use American troops to achieve foreign policy directives, is the USA instead employing the services of ISIS?

Perhaps the main way of “employing” an army is to supply them.

Does the USA ever “accidentally” supply ISIS in Syria?

Does the USA ever purposefully supply ISIS in Syria (in the hopes of toppling Assad)?

And isn’t it convenient for the USA to be providing airstrikes on behalf of ISIS in Yemen.

The USA and ISIS just keep ending up on the same side.

Which is why it would not surprise me if the body cam footage from the Moscow terror attack came from Ukrainian (CIA-trained) assets, passed through the hands of the CIA, and then was passed on to ISIS.

Whereby ISIS could then “claim responsibility”.

Hell, we’re already helping ISIS in Syria and Yemen…maybe they owe us one?

“Here, guys.  Take the blame for this and we’ll get you a bunch more Toyota pickups with .50 cals mounted on the back.  Thanks in advance!”

Whatever the case may be, the ISIS “eager claim of authorship” for the Moscow terror attacks STINKS of CIA involvement.

And the REAL initial reports out of Russia are that the perpetrators were not Arabs.

Nor even Muslims.

But Ukrainians.

Cui bono?

Perhaps you are more of an audio learner.

Here, have this rock and roll refresher course on exactly what the CIA and Ukraine have to do with one another:

https://open.spotify.com/album/11Wzm0XHozgjD5Zfz45Sv7?si=8YMsQte9TmudP8TtDgq9BQ

There are definite connections.

It is not debatable to say that the United States is supplying (and has supplied) MASSIVE amounts of weaponry to Ukraine in what is, truthfully, a civil war there.

The USA is supporting the central governent.

Fine.

But what if the territories that seceded (Donetsk and Lugansk) had good reason to secede?

It is also not debatable that Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt were plotting the ouster/replacement of the Russian-friendly Ukrainian government back around the time of the Euromaidan protests.

The Russian-speaking, Russian-majority areas of Ukraine (Lugansk and Donetsk) attempted to declare independence from a Ukrainian “puppet government” (one which still controls the country…and America is pulling the strings).

Lugansk and Donetsk wanted nothing to do with this American-controlled Ukrainian central governement.

In response, groups like the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion (now a part of the Ukrainian armed forces [Azov Regiment]) terrorized the peoples of Lugansk and Donetsk.

This went on for YEARS after the USA overthrew the elected government of Ukraine via the CIA-provocateured Euromaidan protests.

Russia FINALLY stepped in and said, “enough is enough”.

While it is true that Russia tried to make it a quick war (by toppling the central government of Ukraine…the same central government that was overseeing the terrorizing and killing of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine), I believe Russia accomplished its main mission:  to protect the Russian-speaking peoples of Lugansk and Donetsk.

Cui bono?

Public support in the USA for the Ukraine war is waning.

Ukraine needs A LOT MORE TROOPS…AND FAST!

Ukraine is getting desperate.

They are losing the war.

The war is almost lost.

So would it be so hard to find a couple handfuls of crazed Ukrainians to train and send into Russia to commit a terror attack in Moscow???

The attack at Crocus City was meant to strike a blow to the public morale in Russia.

Timing is everything.

This was not the work of ISIS.

-PD

Trump Attorney Rips Off Mic After Questioning from CBSN Anchor [2021)

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/senate-acquits-trump-impeachment-lawyer-michael-van-der-veen/#x

It turns out some of the greatest patriots in the United States of America are still to be found in the northeast.

They may be few and far between, but they are powerful.

Donald Trump of Queens, New York.

Rudy Giuliani of New York City.

And now Michael van der Veen of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You’ve heard of a “mic drop”.

And this is literally that (if not a “mic throw” [with a lavalier microphone, no less]).

But that’s not the important part.

It was a punctuation of disgust.

But what is important here is that “reality has erupted within the spectacle” (to paraphrase Guy Debord).

This is as close as many people are ever going to get to seeing Peter Finch in Network shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!!!”.

And this is as close to a real-world example of that famous filmic moment that any of us have probably ever seen.

Lana Zak has the condescending fake kindness of Jen Psaki and all the charm of a 1980s android prototype.

Kamala Harris is fake as fuck.

Lana Zak is fake as fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

She has to sound disappointed.

And no doubt, she IS disappointed.

That Trump was acquitted.

She has to speak in somber tones.

Because there is only one side to every story.

And she has a role to play in holding up that one side.

From the University of Iowa to Harvard–from ABC to CBS, Lana Zak has proven that she can be trusted (to let absolutely no news leak through the fortified establishment filter).

After many years, she has been rewarded with an anchorship.

She has to sound excited and inspired that seven Republicans in the Senate voted to convict Trump.

This is very hopeful to her.

Her voice rises…as if imagining a future where all dissent will be squashed and her point of view (which just happens to align perfectly with the establishment point of view) is the only view allowed at all…ever…at all times…in all places.

But in the meantime, she is indulging in gross agenda setting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda-setting_theory

She calls the “assault” on the Capitol “deadly”.

Is she referring to Brian Sicknick?

https://www.revolver.news/2021/02/maga-blood-libel-why-are-they-hiding-the-medical-report/

Or Ashli Babbitt?

Or the two Capitol Police officers who committed suicide (were suicided?) after the incursion?

Indeed, Brian Sicknick died after the incursion as well (and not, as the above link points out, in the way which most media have described).

Therefore, the “deadly” “assault” on the Capitol, then, was merely deadly for one side:  the side which broke into the Capitol.

Ashli Babbitt was unarmed.

She was shot in the head by a still-to-be-named Capitol Police officer.

She died minutes later.

I am willing to bet that Lana Zak has never said the words, “Ashli Babbitt” on air.

And I’m equally willing to bet that she has said the words “Brian Sicknick” quite a few times on the air.

Yes, there were other “medical emergencies” at the scene.

But all on the side of the protestors.

A Trump supporter had a heart attack when a stun grenade went off near him.

But you won’t hear much about that.

And you won’t hear anyone #SayHerName in regards to unarmed victim of excessive police force Ashli Babbitt.

You won’t even hear about how she was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

You won’t hear about how she did three tours of duty in Iraq/Afghanistan only to be gunned down, unarmed, in her own Capitol Building.

You won’t hear #HandsUpDontShoot in regards to her.

You will only hear about Brian Sicknick and how he was bludgeoned by a fire extinguisher.

Except he wasn’t.

There is no proof of that.

The New York Times has had to retract that claim.

Every other news outlet ran with it as well.

Except that it appears to be untrue.

It is not supported by ANYTHING.

No video evidence.

No medical evidence.

The worst part is, that is probably the least strange thing about Brian Sicknick’s death.

Again, read it here:

https://www.revolver.news/2021/02/maga-blood-libel-why-are-they-hiding-the-medical-report/

So it should come as little surprise that Michael van der Veen is mad as hell.

The people who stole the election in his city and state (Philadelphia/Pennsylvania) have spray-painted “traitor” on his front driveway in red along with arrows pointing at his house.

All for upholding the due process rights of Donald Trump.

But the very first link in this article, indeed the whole reason for this article, is that no one has so succinctly voiced the disgust that (let’s say) 78 million Trump voters (McInerney numbers) have felt and are still feeling.

We hear about the coup in Myanmar, but how many of you know that Biden and the National Guard are planning on being in D.C. continuously until March 2022?

That news was released today.

Find it.

I’m not going to do all your work for you.

Don’t believe me?

Fine.

Have no vested interest?

Don’t care?

Not my problem.

The global media is non-critically reporting (amplifying) that protestors in Myanmar have the moral high ground.

The same media that told us Trump’s claims of election fraud were “baseless” (thanks, CIA) is taking that same show on the road.

All claims of election fraud in Myanmar (the official reason for the coup) are also “baseless”, we are told.

When the media is slightly less sloppy, they use the word “unfounded”.

But it’s not sloppiness.

It’s signalling [sic]:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_(economics)

If you know the true facts, you know that Twitter suspended Trump IMMEDIATELY AFTER he posted a video urging calm during the #Jan6 events.

Again, Twitter PREVENTED the sitting U.S. President from getting out a message to CALM HIS FOLLOWERS DOWN.

They did this by disabling the ability of the tweet to be shared.

President calls for peace.

Twitter stifles message.

You do the math.

But Twitter’s not on trial.

Twitter pays no price (other than a billion+ in market cap.).

Jack Dorsey pays no price.

He can go on reading The Satanic Verses and twiddling his beard and tweeting about pasta:

Screen Shot 2020-10-21 at 5.25.50 AM

Vijaya Gadde pays no price.

The House impeachment managers are bad “lawyers”.

Jamie Raskin has a J.D. from Harvard.

Will he be held accountable for the manipulated evidence presented at the impeachment trial?

Joaquin Castro has a J.D. from Harvard.

Will he be held accountable for the manipulated evidence presented at the impeachment trial?

David Cicilline has a J.D. from Georgetown.

Will he be held accountable for the manipulated evidence presented at the impeachment trial?

Madeleine Dean has a J.D. from Wiedner University.

Will she be held accountable for the manipulated evidence?

Diana DeGette has a J.D. from NYU.

Will she be held accountable for the manipulated evidence?

Ted Lieu has a J.D. from Georgetown.

Will he be held accountable?

Joe Neguse has a J.D. from the University of Colorado.

Will he be held accountable?

Stacey Plaskett has a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.

What about her?

Eric Swallwell has a J.D. from University of Maryland, likely slept with a suspected Chinese spy for four years, and is still on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees.

I won’t even bother asking again.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/02/politics/house-impeachment-managers/

https://www.axios.com/china-spy-california-politicians-9d2dfb99-f839-4e00-8bd8-59dec0daf589.html

https://www.oaoa.com/editorial/columns/opinion_columnist/hart-the-spy-who-shagged-well/article_64e1c9a2-41ce-11eb-8e36-035c4c7e880c.html

https://www.limaohio.com/opinion/columns/440774/column-chinese-spy-scandal-may-inclue-a-possible-sex-for-secrets-swap

“The prosecutors in this case doctored evidence.”

True.

“I’m not surprised to hear a politician say anything at all.”

Michael van der Veen:  citizen.

Listen to the world “all”.

Awl.

Peg and awl.

WWG1WGA.

E pluribus unum.

“What happened at the Capitol on January 6th was absolutely horrific, but what happened at the Capitol during this trial was, uh, not too far away from that.”

I agree.

Again.

“The prosecutors in this case doctored evidence.”

“The American people should not be putting up with this.  They need to look at who, uh, who these House managers were, uh, and look to see whether these are the folks they want representing them.”

Here’s where Lana Zak goes into full-on #SuppressionNews mode.

She HAS to SHUT DOWN Michael van der Veen.

She talks to her viewers like they are children.

And indeed, anyone relying upon Lana Zak and CBS News for anything resembling the truth are mental midgets.

“TO BE CLEAR FOR OUR VIEWERS…”

“TO BE CLEAR FOR OUR VIEWERS…”

[don’t listen to what this man is saying]

“I want to be CLEAR…FOR OUR VIEWERS…”

“The media has to start telling the right story in this country.  The media is trying to divide this country.  You are bloodthirsty for ratings and, as such, you are asking questions now that are…already set up with a fact pattern [#AgendaSettingTheory ].  I can’t believe you would ask me a question indicating that it’s alright just to doctor a little bit of evidence.”

“And the media should be looking at that at a square, straight way.  A straight way!  When I watch the news, I watch one station and it’s raining.  I watch another station at the same time and it’s sunny.  Your coverage is SO SLANTED…it’s gotta stop! You guys gotta stop…and start reporting more like PBS does…rather than…uh uh uh uh uh…TV news show that doesn’t have any journalistic integrity at all.  What I’m telling you is that they doctored evidence…and I believe your question says, ‘well, it’s only a Twitter check and, uh, changing a date of a year here.’  They switch the date of a Twitter A YEAR to try to connect it to this case.  That’s not a small thing, ma’am.  The other thing they did is they put a check mark on something to to try and make it look like it was a validated account when it wasn’t.  And when they were caught, they didn’t say anything about it.  They didn’t even try to come up with an excuse about it.  And that’s not the way our prosecutors OR our government officials should be conducting themselves.”

At this point I lost power and was freezing my ass off for the past few hours.

I wrote a really great ending to this piece, but it’s gone.

I’m gonna go ahead and publish this before the power goes off again.

Two days later (after 33-straight hours without electricity or heat) I am adding tags to this.

-PD

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? [2000)

This is a damn fine film.

Maybe yesterday I would have spoke as much with a mouthful of tobacco.

But today I take a more measured approach.

And still I must proclaim:  this film has aged like a fine wine.

I can find little fault with it.

No film will express all that we hold inside…exactly as we’d express it.

And so this is as close as we get to serendipity on a Tuesday night 🙂

Yes sir…let me tell you ’bout it.

I write to stay alive.

[now I’m telling you about me…or the film…by way of me]

We come from a long/short tradition.

Film critics.

Critics.

All the way back to the earliest Homer in the Greek.

Rage.

I owe Nick Tosches a debt of gratitude for pointing that out.

My favorite living writer.

This film [we’re back to the film] could have gone off the rails early on.

Like some errant Ken Burns pablum on PBS.

But the Coen brothers are of the most deft cinematic touch.

I have delved very little into their oeuvre.

Most recently I broached the subject with Fargo (a fine film), but Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? is a bona fide 😉 masterpiece.

You see, you must be conversant in naïveté as much as in erudition.

You must run the gamut from Delmar to Ulysses in order to evoke an appropriately universal sampling of the human condition.

Blind on a Pullman.  Nay.  Blind Sheriff Murnau.  Closer.

Blind but now I see.

Precisely.

Bill Moyers couldn’t get to Shakespeare in the recessed library.

Only God could move fate.

To see beauty.

For a moment to dream of a better life.

Saved from cancer.

I know not.

We feel it’s Isaiah.  Or the Oracle of Delphi.

Pythia.  As in pithy.

Icy.

You don’t get credit for half a master’s degree.

Ain’t no one in the world impressed by that.

Even if they should.

People like awards.  Bob Dylan said.

Grammys.  Nobels.

Sells records.  Books.  DVDs.  Tickets for admission.  Memorabilia.

But I doff my hat to Tosches and Quintilian.

We are all excursus.  As Céline was all ellipses.

[…]

The Sheriff is Cooley.  As in Spade.

A mean son of a bitch.

But we don’t care none about these transgressors no more.

The electorate has spoken.

50 states.

From the words Tommy Johnson.

It’s just a cool drink of water from Robert.

And we won’t even get into Lonnie.

We hear the devil is white.

Go to any American university and you will hear the same.

Indeed, our film only falters when it attempts to be too heavy-handed.

We uncloak what is cloaked in ourselves.

And this is the curse of critics.

No critic is writing about their subject.

In reality.

The underlying gist is always autobiography.

To admit as much should be refreshing.

But that is for you to decide.

Just sing into the can.

Voice your opinion.

On shellac.

For generations to plunder in treasure hunts of old South junk stores.

Searching for the Sugar Man/Soggy Bottom…Robert Johnson already dead when he became   sought after.

A prophet in his own land.

All is dream.  And religion comes to the silver screen.

The common man can relate.  And so can I.

With my Bible on my nightstand.

I ain’t ashamed to say.

I depend on God.

See Messiaen if you need abstraction.

Because Debussy gave the clouds first…and the sirens last.

And feasts or parties in between.

Night swimming.  Nocturnes.  Campfires.  Skip James.

Pulled from routine.

We were nearly eaten alive.

And we would have dived into that abyss out of desperation.

Yet the hand of the Lord was upon us.

Not for any deed which had ingratiated ourselves to Him.

But for grace.

Mercy.

Love.

No horror here.  Just a toad.  And Mark Twain.

And how to keep tobacco dry on a Mississippi River boat.

Uncle Sweetheart smells blood.

Years before Masked and Anonymous.

So be careful not to fall in love with your own reflection.

She said he was hit by a train.

And she looked good in a bikini.

To three pathetic roustabouts with no prospects.

Chewed up and spit out by both Tropics to wade in the water of possibility.

Nerds can box.

Maybe know an arcane martial art.

Don’t fuck with us.

But protagonists of epic poetry need something more than a couple of jabs and pinches.

Circumstances must have placed them in a true imbroglio…the mother of all situations.

The Gordian knot.

Ulysses is a lying bastard.  A mad man.  Advertising.  Op side coin propaganda.

But these are skills.  For gainful employment.  And we hover to ethics for guidance.

On how to wield words in the age of microblogging and memes.

He needed a story.

Chained together.

An inspiration.

Because we’re (for all intents and purposes) inseparable.

We can dream of $500,000 ($400,000)…as the “major D”…even the mâitre’d…if we’re feeling saucy.

Dream of land.

But what was Everett’s dream?

We know only later.

To spend 84 years in jail.

Released:  1987.

Incarcerated at age 3?

Not counting on these two to do the taxes.

The KKK took his baby away.  –Joey Ramone

Seems very Bohemian Grove.

But we don’t know these things.

We only know what we’ve gleaned from D.W. Griffith.

These synchronized David Dukes are meant to evoke a temple of doom.

It is the hinge (brisure) in the whole film (if we are doing a deconstructionist reading à la Derrida).

And thus auteur theory is vindicated.

Joel Coen had something to get off his chest regarding the treatment of blacks, JEWS, Catholics, etc.

We could deconstruct from there.

It’s easy.

Top psychiatrist Steve Pieczenik does it breezily when he traces Jill Stein back to her Jewish Chicago roots which give her the privilege to run as an agnostic.

But the Coen brothers are timeless artists here.

They have found the trick.

Hillary’s coven must have been on hiatus for the past few weeks.

Demoralized.

But it’s hard to fight back the tears as they get in front of that lozenge mic I’d associate with RCA…

As the Soggy Bottom Boys emerge from obscurity.

And they have a fan base (constituents).

And these mythical performers were not even confirmed to exist.

In the flesh.

Ah, but public relations…

He was proto- “drain the swamp” with his little man and broom.

But the planets shifted.

And he’s on a hot mic inserting both feet into his mouth, one at a time, very slowly, with each succeeding word.

The way politics works.

In Mississippi.  Louisiana.  Texas.

Suck on a cigar.  Think it over.  Maybe some cognac or brandy.

And seize upon an opportunity.

To hire the best.

The best who have appeared on this stage at this moment for this very reason.

Three years after Titanic and the Coen brothers wanted a weightless freak show of inanimate objects floating as Japanese melange symbolism.

I am the man with the can.  Not Dapper Dan.  And no record-cutting lathe.

Just a tin of tobacco.  My floating life.  And all we’ve been through.

Memory soup.

We pull up to the aquarium to peer into the mysteries of other realities.

And, by so doing, try to make sense out of our own.

-PD