I dreamt that I had a fabulous and completely original idea for a post. I woke up and it was gone. It happens. When in doubt, I fall back on potpourri posts. They always loosen my tongue.

Dr. A and I had a pleasant and low-key holiday. We tuned out the news, ate well, and made sure new kitty Perry Mason wasn’t too bothered by randos shooting off fireworks in our neighborhood. Perry doesn’t care for explosions, but he didn’t hide under the bed, so he did pretty well. New Year’s Eve is usually worse, so we have that to look forward to. There were, however, none of these:

There was the inevitable mass shooting yesterday during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois. The media hasn’t learned anything from the Uvalde Massacre, so the coverage is along similar lines. If official lies are told, they’ll once again be shocked.

For more on the MSM and its predictable response to crime stories, Our Athenae wrote about it for Dame Magazine last month: Journalists Know Better Than To Publish Copaganda.

Every time this happens, I think of this Peter Gabriel song:

We’re watching the current season of Stranger Things. It’s been erratic after three excellent seasons. We nearly quit after the first two episodes but persevered. Success has led to overkill: there’s too much going on. I’m hate watching the last few episodes. I’m not sure who I should emulate, Crow or Tom Servo?

Making Stranger Things matters worse, Joyce and Hopper have been exiled to a tiresome Russian prison camp plotline. I find the torture scenes torturous. I realize we’re back to hating the Russians but during the Cold War, they didn’t kill American prisoners they traded them for spies.

Speaking of Russian beastliness, the Brittney Griner story is back in the news. She’s written President Biden asking for help. In many circles, there’s outrage that the US government can’t do more to free her. A reminder that we’ve, quite correctly, taken sides against the Russians in the Ukraine War. Our influence with Russia is the lowest it’s been since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Timing is everything in life and it couldn’t be worse in this case. I hope something can be worked out.

It’s time for a Cold War musical interlude. I don’t like Dylan’s voice so here’s Joan Osborne’s cover:

Independence Day has come and gone. I wrote about patriotism as did Jamie O. I forgot to make an important point. The biggest mistake the anti-war left made during the Vietnam War was to forfeit patriotism to the hawks. It reminds me of my favorite line in Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland, “By 1970, the only thing Americans were sicker of than the war were the anti-warriors.”

That mistake wasn’t repeated by the anti-Iraq war movement and shouldn’t be during our current Cold Civil War. Despite its many flaws, the country is worth fighting for. A more perfect union remains a difficult but still worthy goal. A reminder that Republicans are the problem. That’s where I aim my fire.

I was gratified by the reaction to my Forked Tongue restaurant review. The comments on social media were largely positive but several people urged me to give Madre Lengua another chance. I’ll pass. It was one of the most expensive meals of my life. Besides, I live in one of the great restaurant cities in the world. There’s always an old favorite to return to or a new place to try. I rarely return to a place at which I’ve had a bad experience. There’s no reason to. BTW, I still hate hype.

It’s time for me to bite my tongue and try to remember the great idea I had in my sleep. Oh well, what the hell.

The last word goes to Neil Finn with the song that gave this post its title: