Where Can We Find American Culture: The Super Bowl or the Streets of Bakersfield?

Hey, you don't know me, but you don't like me,
Say you care less how I feel.
But how many of you that sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?

The Streets of Bakersfield

Homer Joy

Sung by Buck Owens

Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl last night, spewing rap lyrics I couldn't understand. Kendrick's performance was backed by a platoon of well-choreographed dancers--as disciplined as a Russian military unit.

What did Lamar's Super Bowl presentation mean, if anything?

Jon Caramonica, writing for the New York Times, treated Lamar's presentation as if it were as important as a Nobel Prize-winning novel, writing:

But what will always be remembered from this performance is not the musical choices Lamar made, or the aesthetics of his choreography, or the silhouettes of his outfit. What will remain is his grin when he finally begins rapping that song. It was wide, persistent, almost cartoonish in shape. 

The grin of a man having the time of his life at the expense of an enemy.

Caramonica clued me into the meaning of some of Lamar's lyrics; he was cryptically taunting another rapper! Gee, I'm glad I wasted a few minutes of my life watching that drivel.

Was Kendrick Lamar's performance a cultural event? Were there elements of his lyrics and the backup dancers' gyrations that were expressions of American culture? I don't think so.

I know what you're probably thinking. Who cares what some old Mississippi wheezer thinks about rap music? How could a retrograde fossil who lives on a gravel road in the goddamn middle of nowhere understand the profound meaning of Kendrick Lamar's lyrics?

If that's what you're thinking, it's a fair point. People living in Flyover Country have been left behind as mainstream American culture grows more youth-oriented, cynical, urbane, and dismissive of anything that happened last week.

Nevertheless, there are neglected currents of American culture that will endure long after Kendrick Lamar's music and his feud with another rapper are forgotten.

For example, most Americans are unaware of the Okie refugees who fled the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and settled in California. These people brought a music tradition that blossomed in the Bakersfield region. 

Merle Haggard was the son of Okies; his parents were from Checota, Oklahoma. He became the greatest singer and composer of country music to ever live--greater than Jimmie Rodgers or Hank Williams.

Buck Owens was born in Sherman, Texas, during the Great Depression and eventually moved to Bakersfield, where he and Haggard created what became known as the Bakersfield Sound.

Other Dust Bowl refugees contributed to the Bakersfield Sound: Tommy Collins, Wynn Stewart, and the great Wanda Jackson--the Queen of Rockabilly.

Americans enthralled by rap music have probably never heard of the Bakersfield Sound and may despise the people who listen to it as just a bunch of hicks from Flyover Country.

Nevertheless, 50 or 100 years from now, Americans will be listening to the Bakersfield Sound when Kendrick Lamar is just a footnote in the obscure history of rap.

"You don't know me, but you don't like me."
Image credit: WPA

 

What the hell was Nancy Pelosi doing in Belgium anyway?

The will to power came to take the place of the will to justice, pretending at first to be identified with it and then relegating it to a place somewhere at the end of history.

Albert Camus

Last December, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi suffered a severe injury while traveling in Europe. She fell in her high-heel shoes and underwent hip replacement surgery in Luxembourg.

What the hell was Nancy Pelosi, a wobbly octogenarian, doing in Europe anyway? According to a press release from her office, Pelosi traveled to Belgium and Luxembourg as a member of a bipartisan congressional delegation to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

Really? Does anyone think Nancy's junket benefited her California constituency in any way? And how did she get to Belgium? It's safe to assume she didn't fly coach.

Nancy went to Belgium five years ago to attend the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. Isn't one European holiday enough for Nancy to celebrate the Second World War?

Americans will remember that the Democrats were predicting the end of democracy last fall if Trump were elected President. They were calling him a fascist and a Nazi. Given the perilous state of the Republic, why did Pelosi think it was a good idea to put on high-heeled shoes and go to Belgium?

Our so-called progressive politicians pretend to be fierce advocates for social justice, but all they really want is power and the perks that go with it. Karen Bass, mayor of the nation's second-largest city, was in Africa as a presidential delegate when the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out. Is running Los Angeles a part-time job?

Our national debt tops $36 trillion and grows bigger every day, and yet President Biden, far gone in senile dementia, jets off to Angola. Meanwhile, federal bureaucrats don't even show up for work.

America's house is on fire, and Donald Trump showed up to douse the flames. Unfortunately, he may have arrived too late to save us.

Thank you for your service!
Photo credit: MEGA

Americans who help foreign criminals evade the police should do a little jail time: Governor Phil Murphy take note

 In Rules For Radicals, Saul Alinsky observed that it's okay to go to jail but not to stay too long.

Over the years, radical activists have adopted Alinsky's disruptive tactics again and again to paralyze local government, and many are quite willing to do some jail time. Al Shanker, head of the American Federation of Teachers, made his career by being jailed for promoting New York City's illegal teachers' strike in 1968. Incarceration converts irritating protesters into martyrs.

Today, some Americans oppose President Trump's efforts to stop illegal immigration. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy seemed to be flirting with martyrdom when he vowed that the Garden State would "fight to the death" to oppose Trump's effort to deport foreign criminals.

A few deportation opponents have gone so far as to aid immigrant felons in evading the police, which is a federal crime. Perhaps they believe they can thwart law enforcement officers with impunity.

These folks should go to jail, and they need to stay in jail long enough to dissolve any delusion that they're martyrs.

I'm not arguing for long prison sentences. Indeed, they shouldn't be imprisoned for as long as the nonviolent January 6th protesters. Nevertheless, they should sit in the cooler long enough to dissolve any romantic notion that they are the spiritual kin of Mahatma Gandhi.

And they should do their time with the general jail population and suffer the same daily indignities. Pro-life activists who went to prison for protesting at abortion clinics report that they were deprived of toilet paper when they were in the slammer. 

Governor Murphy, take note. If your opposition to Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration goes beyond bombastic rhetoric and you actually help felons evade the police, you should spend some time behind bars. Should this occur, remember to bring your toothbrush and some toilet paper.

Governor Murphy, don't forget to bring some Charmin!

USAID funded transgender opera in Columbia: The Deep State Hates Flyover Country

 Elon Musk, newly selected as the Deep State's chief villain, has discovered shocking cases of waste and abuse at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Among the agency's insane expenditures was money spent to fund a "transgender opera" in Columbia and a "transgender comic book" in Peru. 

Who approved these projects and disbursed the money? Who got the loot? Most importantly, why was taxpayers' money spent on such lunacy?

The answer to the last question is obvious: The Deep State hates the Heartland, which Deepstaters sneeringly refer to as Flyover Country. Our DC-based federal workers despise the patriotism, work ethic, and religious values of patriotic Americans, and they display their contempt by endorsing transgender opera in Columbia and transgender sports in the Heartland's school gymnasiums. 

Now, the Trump-launched Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) has pried up the rock under which the nation's salaried culture destroyers have hidden. The Deep State is fighting back, using the nefarious tactics it has perfected: specious litigation, hysterical rhetoric, and mass-circulated misinformation by the Deep State's sycophantic media.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who represents Harvard University and the Cherokee Nation in the Senate, accused Elon Musk of buying the presidential election. Warren apparently forgot that Kamala Haris, the Dem's genetically clueless candidate, spent far more campaign money than Trump and still went down to ignominious defeat.

Some Deep State politicians have even issued veiled hints of violence, calling for supporters to fight "in the streets." Perhaps they can rally the arsonists who burned down Minneapolis to make good on their threat.

We will soon see whether Trump's legion of decency or the Deep State will win the battle for our nation's soul. The leftist breastbeaters should remember, however, that Flyover Country is on Trump's side and that the people living in the Heartland will never consent to be governed again by the wingnuts of the DC swamp who want to allow hairy males in girls' bathrooms.

"Losing their minds"  Photo credit: Yahoo News

American universities are producing graduates with no hope and no skills. Why not just skip college?

In this proud land, we grew up strong.
We were wanted all along.
I was taught to fight, taught to win.
I never thought I could fail.
No fight left, or so it seems.
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted.
I've changed my face, I've changed my name.
But no one wants you when you lose.

   Don't Give  Up

Sung by Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor

American universities went all in on affirmative action, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hiring committees seeking to be more "inclusive" often hired new faculty members based on race, ethnicity, and sexual identity—not merit. Colleges hired thousands of highly paid DEI officers—1,100 at the University of Michigan alone.

According to one report, “the current undergraduate population at public universities will spend at least 40 million hours” taking required classes focused on DEI. Colleges created academic programs in gender studies, ethnic studies, Queer Studies, LGBTQ+ studies, Marxist and Socialist Studies, Equity Studies, and Social Justice.

Professors in traditional academic disciplines got on the bandwagon and adopted the philosophy of critical race theory as the cutting-edge pedagogy in the humanities, social studies, and liberal arts. Students exposed to this drivel were actually being indoctrinated in victimology--the belief that all human endeavors are conflicts between oppressors and the oppressed.

At the same time higher education was wallowing in DEI, grade inflation seeped into the academic assessment. Professors became too lazy to grade students rigorously; even at Harvard, most undergraduates were honor students.

Higher education's obsession with race, sexual orientation, and victimhood contributed to the spiraling cost of going to college. Few students can afford tuition pegged at $60,000 a year, but the federal government cheerfully loaned them the money.

The result? Millions of young people hit the job market with no reasoning or problem-solving skills, an inability to express themselves verbally or in writing, and no training in a substantive field of work. And they were burdened with massive student debt.

What's worse is that many students exposed to the universities's radical curricula became openly racist. It became acceptable and even chic to be anti-Semitic and to call for the destruction of Israel.

Minorities identified a "whiteness problem," and whites harbored the unspoken suspicion that students of color were the unworthy beneficiaries of DEI.

So, what do these clueless college graduates do? Some go to graduate school and acquire more debt without improving their marketability. Others take do-nothing government jobs or work the DEI hustle.

No wonder the United States is full of seething and resentful college graduates who can't figure out what to do with their lives or how to become productive citizens.

What's the solution? I don't know, but I am confident that no one should take out student loans to major in liberal arts, the humanities, or social sciences. If that is all you can think of to study, skip college altogether, get some vocational training, and work in the trades.

You'll meet a better class of people if you enter the world of actual work, and you'll probably meet fewer racists.

Image credit: Reuters

Is Senator Bernie Sanders auditioning for the lead role in the Bad Grandpa sequel?

Winter in southwest Mississippi is a lovely time. Even in February, the woods are dotted with green trees: magnolias, cedar, and pine.  Now that duck season is over, and the shotgun blasts have died away, Lake Mary, where I live, is especially placid. 

Unfortunately, I was anxious about President Trump's cabinet nominations, and I watched TV instead of contemplating the tranquil beauty of rural Mississippi. Would Trump's cabinet picks get through the Senate confirmation process and be confirmed, or would they be shot down like ducks in flight, destroyed by mean-spirited  Democratic senators delivering nasty questions like shotgun blasts?

Identifying the most boorish senator in last week's senate hearings would be difficult. Still, my vote goes to Bernie Sanders, Vermont's geriatric Jeremiah, who shouted at Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Sanders seemed to be interviewing for the lead role in the sequel to Bad Grandpa. When Kennedy accused Sanders of taking money from the pharmaceutical industry, Bernie went nuts. Why? Because Sanders indeed took money from Big Pharma--$1.4 million in 2019-2020. 

Sanders was not the only Democratic senator who behaved clownishly. It seemed that all the Democratic senators were acting out comedic roles. 

As I recently wrote, Senator Warren reminded me of Emily Litella, the scatterbrained citizen protester played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. Did Warren realize how ridiculous she looked as she screeched and shook her fists at the cabinet nominees?

Warren stridently accused Kennedy of profiting from vaccine lawsuits, yet like other Democratic senators, she took money from the pharmaceutical industry ($822,000 in 2019-2020).

Perhaps the least intelligent senator on Capitol Hill, Senator Mazie Hirono, reminded me of Roseanne Rosannadanna, one of Gilda Radner's SNL characters, who often began her commentaries by saying, "It's always something." During Kelly Loeffler's confirmation hearing, Hirono gratuitously asked Loeffler if she had ever been accused of making unwanted sexual advances. Such trashy behavior!

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who looks uncannily like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, behaved like a bully at Kash Patel's confirmation hearing. Blumenthal concluded a partisan sermon by demanding Kash Patel answer a "yes or no" question. Patel answered the question honestly and forthrightly, but Blumenthal maliciously chose to misinterpret Patel's response.

In my mind, last week's senate confirmation hearings came across as one long episode of Saturday Night Live; the Blue State Democrats appeared to be reciting their lines for laughs.

As I watched these disgraceful proceedings, I asked myself this question. If the Democrats behave so churlishly when out of power, how would they behave if Kamala Harris had been elected president?

Is Bernie Sanders auditioning for the title role of Bad Grandpa?

 

Is Senator Elizabeth Warren auditioning to replace Gilda Radner's Emily Litella on SNL?

To paraphrase Will Rogers, when Elizabeth Warren left Oklahoma for Massachusetts, she raised the IQ of both states.

Senator Warren's unhinged rants at Robert F. Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing should embarrass all Americans, especially Bay State voters who elected Warren to the U.S. Senate. 

In tones that were almost hysterical, Warren insinuated that Mr. Kennedy would use his cabinet appointment to enrich himself and that his public service over the years was motivated by veniality.  To his credit, Kennedy never lost his aplomb and accused Warren of trying to make him out as a shill.

Warren's shrill and gratuitously combative interrogatories at both Kennedy's confirmation hearing and Pete Hegseth's hearing were appalling and unbecoming of a U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate. 

Indeed, Warren's demeanor reminded me of Gilda Radner's Saturday Night Live character, Emily Litella, the addled and perpetually outraged busybody who raved on about topics she knew nothing about. 

"What's all this talk about youth in Asia?" Emily would ask during one of NSL's weekly paradodies of a national news program. "What's all this I hear about violins on television?"

These hilarious skits would end with the deadpan news anchor (usually played by Chevy Chase) explaining that the issue she was complaining about was violence on television, not violins; and euthanasia, not youth in Asia.

Radner's response, after being corrected, was always a congenial "Never mind."

Everyone agrees that healthcare in America is too expensive and that Americans on the whole are not as healthy as the citizens of other western countries. Moreover, actuarial statistics show that some U.S. demograhic groups are experiencing shorter life expectancies. 

RFK Jr., President Trump's pick to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has innovative ideas about how to solve these problems. Why were  Senate Democrats, with Senator Warren in the lead, so rude and dismissive? 

I would like to think Warren will eventually come to her senses about Mr. Kennedy and apologize for bullying him.  Unfortnately, unlike Emily Litella, I don't think Senator Warren will ever say "Never mind." 

Instead she will continue shaking her fists and pointing her fingers at Americans who strive to be good public servants until the people of Massachusetts have the good sense to vote her out of office.