The Sexiest Men Alive; A Statement of Wavering Male Principle

Surely one of the most welcome consequences to emerge from the #metoo movement will the inevitable demise of the annual People's magazine award to the "Sexiest Man Alive".

Frankly, if they had given it to JFK, Jr. every year and retired it when he departed this vale, no one of either gender would have had a beef over that particular slice of cake.

As for the George's, Brad's and whoever those other guys were, they're nothing but a dim cast of fading movie stars, unworthy of worship and who, let's face it, without makeup, were just a bunch of JAGS (that's Just Another Guy in male parlance).

No dude I know who knows how to stand up ever got a single vote to be the SMA. That's proof positive it's a rigged deck.

Henceforth and from this moment on, let the word go forth from this time and pinpoint place that We the Men of Earth are no longer hankering to be treated as hunky slabs spoiling on the tender hook.

Of course, if They the People wanna reconsider and bestow the honor upon yours truly, I would immediately disavow every word above and say "tough tooties" to the rest of you mugs!

HL 12.13.17

Men and Women; The Search for Common Ground

I have represented a score of sex assault victims in civil law suits involving conduct ranging from the "merely" tawdry to the brutally savage. I believed the claims of every single woman and man I represented. Never once was my trust betrayed. 

The Hollow Men

The Hollow Men (1925) by T.S. Eliot

(read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Eliot's apocalyptic vision on the future of post WWI Europe.  

The last stanza is among the most famous in English poetry. 

Mistah Kurtz—he dead.* 

A penny for the Old Guy

A SAFE PLACE

6.2.18 Yep. We're still standing. Still tending to a Safe Place. Come set a spell. We book no Trump here. 

This evening we present for your heart and soul's solace the legendary Peruvian singer, Susana Baca, and her wonderful group performing a folk tale of a young Peruvian slave girl named "Maria Lando".  One World.

Dawn breaks shattering like a statue

Like a statue of wings that scatter throughout the city

And noon sings like a bell made of water

A bell made of golden water that keeps us from loneliness

And the night lifts its tall goblet

Its tall, tall goblet, early moon over the sea

But for Maria there is no dawn

But for Maria there is no midday

But for Maria there is no moon

Lifting its red goblet over the waters

Maria has no time to lift her eyes

Maria to lift her eyes, broken by lack of sleep

Maria broken by lack of sleep from so much suffering

Maria from so much suffering, all she does is work

Maria just works and works

Maria only works

And her work enriches others

Songwriters: Cesar Calvo / Chabuca Granda

Maria Lando lyrics © Tintoretto Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8xuRPIdDjc

********************************************

Jared Kushner: First Impressions

First impressions of the mystery whiz kid and all around do everything fixer of the new world order, Jared Kushner, following his denial of Russian collusion.

Jared Kushner.
Quiet. Modest. Pleasant looking in a gee whiz kind of way.
Not just another Jewish fella; he's royalty. When Benjie Netanyahu came to New York, he was the house guest of the Kushner crew.

He's just getting the hang of this ruling the country thing, ya know, like reading 200 emails a day and going to lots of meetings with lots of folks he pretends he doesn't know.

If we would just leave him alone, he will bring peace to the Mid-East and a deliver a Trump Palace to rival any in history right in downtown Jerusalem where it belongs.

But look again. Look at his eyes. Unblinking. Carbon. Cold. Hard. Calculating.

And the lies that roll so readily from a titanium bladed tongue rather than the Trumpian blunderblast.

Always shrouded in a wisp of invisibility. An escape artistnever to be found when the deal goes down.

Jared Kushner is Donald Trump's viceroy . That makes him a very dangerous man.

Whether Jared Kushner escapes his present predicament or not, his long-term future is unlikely to be terminal. He is going to be a factor in our public lives for many years to come.

Senator Kushner. President Kushner. Such a nice boy.

Boston Globe on Kushner in Somerville

Harvard Crimson on Kushner as an undergrad

HL July 24, 2017

Nightmare visions abound

 Nightmare visions abound. Through the dank fog, visions emerge. We are staring at the intersection of geopolitics, international finance and organized crime. Laundered money being washed across continents and oceans. Conducted by rapacious mobsters of multiple lineages and nationalities, fueled by stupefying greed, self-dealing and monstrous hubris, undeterred by and unfettered by quaint notions of law, honor, integrity or patriotism. Coiled at the rotted core of it all stands the Lying Don, marching to the beat of a foreign drum.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the night, sifting through the smoke and gazing behind the mirror, The Law Man regards the Jumbo Jig Saw puzzle before him, rolls up crisp sleeves with smart precision, dons the Sam Waterson mask he has been saving for just the proper occasion, flicks the switch on the ceiling fan and resolutely resumes examining and placing the pieces, seeing them ever more clearly in the swiftly thinning haze. HL 7.13.17

Meeting at the Summit

Nightmare visions abound.

"Welcome to the team. Have a ball" - Boss Vlad

A Rifleman massacre for the kiddies

Bloody day after bloody day. 

Bleeding decade after bleeding decade.  

One murderous generation
following the next murderous generation

From our bloodletting birth
as a nation now circling the globe  

to our last expiring moment. 

We the People shoot to kill. 

This is what we do. 

This is who we are. 

Same as it ever was. 

Same as it always will be.

So tell me,
how did we ever get this way?

SCARBOROUGH'S COUNTRY?

 May 16, 2017

I have a bone to pick with Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Morning Joe. He went on one of his vainglorious rants this morning announcing he has never voted for a Democrat for President, never will and that he did not vote for Trump - who (here's the kicker) is a Democrat.

Now, hold on a second. Day after day, throughout the primaries, Scarborough and his writhing, wincing consort, Mika, paraded Trump out and fed him a constant stream of soft balls that helped raise Trump's visibility, gave him a veneer of credibility and, not coincidentally, boosted their own ratings. I watched it with bewilderment and frustration and ascribed it to a cynical calculation - it was good for business.

Moreover, Scarborough compounded his complicity by repeatedly insisting Trump's supporters were properly aggrieved and unfairly maligned by the media. (Having borne the brunt of hundreds of insults and dozens of threats from Trumpeters, that claim raises my personal hackles to the fucking moon. So, let's get this straight. The Republican party - Joe Scarborough's party - nominated Donald Trump and voted for him.

Whatever claim Scarborough now wants to make for insight or foresight, his television program, Morning Joe, helped enable the rise of Trump. So don't put it on US, pal. You and your fellow Republicans aided and abetted this abomination. Yours was a horrific error in judgment. Own it, dude.

May 17, 2017

Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts

"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable". - Leonard Bernstein

A measure of two men

First came Barack H. Obama. Then came Donald J. Trump. A measure of these two men can be found in the manner in which each reflects on their own lives. 

The measure of We the People, who elevated both men into power, demands a soul searching inquiry.   

NOT MY PRESIDENT. NOT NOW, NOT EVER.

A friend shared this with me following the election. The author is unknown. The message is heartfelt, true and worthy of sharing as a clarion call for continued, determined opposition and, more importantly, as a wedge to undermine the Trumpeters' faith in the Thug Who Would Presume. HL 2.9.17

We the People Demand Donald Trump Release His Tax Returns

"THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE GOT TO KNOW WHETHER THEIR PRESIDENT IS A CROOK." - RICHARD NIXON 
WE, THE PEOPLE, DEMAND DONALD TRUMP RELEASE HIS 

TAX RETURNS.