It’s worse than we thought.

Felice tuned out, my sister Jill was overwhelmed, but when I went hiking in the windy Santa Monica Mountains last night I decided to listen to the “Daily” and that’s when I realized what had happened was more than a party, more than know-nothings wandering around the Capitol, more than a blip to be noted and then ignored: https://nyti.ms/3q669Lv

The podcast scene is overwhelming. And the dirty little secret is most of the productions suck. Just like with music, the barrier to entry is nonexistent, therefore, everybody is playing and it’s hard to separate the good from the bad, then again in today’s world we only want great, there are too many other worthwhile distractions. Furthermore, some of the productions would be completely ignored in other mediums. The true crime? Enough already, it’s more akin to “Dateline” than riveting material. And the advice… When did advice cease being the purview of professionals? Everybody’s a self-proclaimed expert today, and as a result expertise has been devalued. Today’s podcast landscape is akin to the television era which Bruce Springsteen sang about, the one with 57 channels and nothing on. These are the glory days of podcast distribution. As for the quality of the content? We’re far from the golden age of television, which we’ve been living in for this past decade, if not longer. How is it a fifties joke, derided by the Boss and so many more, became the epicenter of the culture? Via high quality content. Yes, a lot of the dreck that gets attention is falling by the wayside with the death of cable, the systems will no longer support channels with few eyeballs that are barely different from the inane links you see at the bottom of web pages. And just to throw some gasoline on the fire, we’re in the same situation in music. The delivery system has been perfected, but the content is in the abyss. Today’s viewing assignment is Rick Beato’s YouTube episode with Tim Pierce, “Is Today’s Music just a laptop and a Celebrity?” https://bit.ly/2Xt19nP Watch to see Pierce delineate the musical changes that elevated hip-hop and killed rock, as well as the economic forces changing the landscape. Todd Rundgren said he turns off the sound when the musical acts come on SNL. Did you see Dua Lipa? Execrable. Also, Todd and Tim say that in today’s marketplace, the music is just a jumping off point to making money in other avenues. You want your music business insight, here you go.

So…

Other than technology, music hasn’t driven the culture in eons. Oh yes, hip-hop has influence, but nowhere near as much as Fox News. You don’t see hip-hop fans out protesting. Then again, they helped Democrats win in Georgia, but let’s not get caught up in the minutiae. The point is, up until half a decade or so ago, the internet drove the culture, and the internet is today’s story. Trump got kicked off of Facebook and Twitter. And that’s a start. But how do we kill misinformation? The key is the gateway, controlled in this case by Apple and Google. That is the story, the yin and the yang. These companies have too much power, but they can also exercise the power they’ve got for good. As in hobbling Parler. If you’re not in the App Store, you’re on the road to death. Unfortunately, you can still get on Android devices without being in the Google Play store, proving once again how Android is an inefficient, unsafe, free-for-all where your privacy is at risk and…Android dominates, but the money is all in iOS. But without making this a debate about the pros and cons of Apple, the question is how do we stamp out misinformation, conspiracy theories? Distribution is king, it’s never content, when you hear it’s about the content roll your eyes, those people are completely out of touch. If you can’t see or hear it, it doesn’t matter how good it is. I give you for example Oscar winner Bryan Fogel’s new movie, “The Dissident,” which fully examines the Khashoggi murder, the big streaming platforms wouldn’t buy it, because they were afraid of political blowback, especially in the Middle East, where they all do business, read about it here: https://nyti.ms/3q6eA9O So the truth is we can crack down on misinformation, we need to get the truth to all the people, then we can debate the facts, and right now the control lies with Apple and Google, they have their hands on the spigot. Sure, you can employ your web browser, but apps are more efficient. I could go on, but if you need more, just read this article: https://nyti.ms/2LC8peF

So, if you’ve continued to pay attention to Wednesday’s shenanigans, you’re now aware of the violence involved, the breaking of furniture, the stealing of property. These people weren’t just roaming the building, they were going into elected officials’ offices, plundering, even taking laptops.

And today I fire up my phone and I see…

“The Capitol mob desecrated a historical workplace — and left behind some disturbing artifacts”: https://wapo.st/3q9jClB

And I’m loath to link to MSNBC, for fear that people might not click through, but you should. You can even forget the commentary, just look at the video: 

“Must-see new video shows Capitol riot was way worse than we thought”: https://on.msnbc.com/3oqbehj

This was not a frat party, this was violence, this was scary, furthermore, one of their goals was to KILL PENCE!

Come on, watch this, do you have any question that if they’d found him they would have done it? OF COURSE THEY WOULD HAVE! When you’re a member of a gang, when things get heated, when there’s peer pressure, you’d be amazed at what people will do. Scratch any adult male and they’ll sheepishly tell you things they’ve done spurred on by the group that they now regret.

And yes, these rioters were racist, and also anti-Semitic: https://nyti.ms/3owhPH7

But now they’re going to arrest some of the perpetrators, they already have. And what will be the result…ALMOST NOTHING! This is America in a nutshell, the little people commit physical crimes which are caught on video and are penalized, but the real criminals, those who incite their minions to take action, SKATE!

This is why Trump should be punished. But not only Trump, but so many more. I point you to yesterday’s piece by Frank Rich, one of our clearest thinkers:

“The Trashing of the Republic – The only response to the carnage in Washington is to banish Trump and his traitorous collaborators from civil society.”: https://nym.ag/2XnnLWS

You need to read this, because Frank Rick takes no prisoners, he lays it all out, the culpable MUST PAY! Financier Stephen Schwartzman’s name needs to be removed from the New York Public Library, Hawley and his compatriots must be ostracized…

You see it’s polite society. Where money rules. And those in the media landscape are afraid to offend anybody with cash or power or both, they’re always pulling punches. But not Frank Rich. Also, everybody who lets bad behavior pass…when it’s all over, they express surprise for what they’ve enabled, THESE PEOPLE MUST PAY TOO! The culpability goes so deep, unless we’re willing to rebuild from the ground up, without the cronies of yore, we’re never going to have true progress.

Which is why Trump must pay. Forget that he’s gonna be out of office in less than two weeks. We have to show that this behavior cannot be tolerated. Never again. We’ve got to scare the living daylights out of politicians and their ignorant followers, just like we needed to scare the living daylights out of Wall Street in 2008, THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO PAY PENALTIES! Michael Cohen goes to jail, but the man he was working for goes scot-free. THIS IS JUSTICE?

So we’ve got to keep this story alive. That’s the other place where the internet has a nexus here. Not only do online platforms allow the distribution of falsehoods, not only are they utilized to drive action, they generate so much content that nothing survives, everything’s yesterday’s news, we are jaded and overwhelmed and for most people Wednesday’s insanity is already in the rearview mirror, if it had any impact at all.

“In Capital, a G.O.P. Crisis. At the R.N.C. Meeting, a Trump Celebration. – Party members at a gathering of the Republican National Committee endorsed President Trump as the man to lead the party forward, ignoring the turmoil in Washington.”: https://nyti.ms/3qi4sLh

I came home from my hike and read this and my head spun! As for Rush Limbaugh, the right’s cheerleader in chief, he blamed the riot on the DEMOCRATS! I kid you not! https://bit.ly/3blXOPK

Most people don’t get it. Wednesday’s travesty was not a one-off, it was a big step forward for the cause, a revolution, truly, wherein the “criminals” of the left are squeezed out of power and the righteous ignorant, racist and myopic are installed in D.C! It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

But the story is already losing traction. You just can’t keep a story alive in today’s world. That is job one today, to keep this story going, and to have those at fault penalized, so that others will be afraid of taking this path in the future.

It’s not like we weren’t warned. It’s not like this came out of the blue. Trump and right wing media have been agitating for this in plain sight for years! But everyone on the left thought it couldn’t happen here, meanwhile, for the past four years Trump and his cronies have done indelible harm to our land, our treaties, the environment, the list goes on and on…but if it’s done on paper, through the legal system, somehow it’s okay, but finally the line was crossed and people can truly see what these people have been up to.

IGNORE THE RIGHT!

This is part of the marginalization process. Don’t even argue, just put your foot down and rally those on the team. The left’s team is far larger than the right’s, as proven in the popular vote in the presidential election, despite the right’s efforts at curbing voting.

This is not about coming together. Does the high school principal try to understand the delinquent’s point of view, sympathize with them, let them off the hook? OF COURSE NOT! And do we wait for laws to be broken before we take corrective measures? We shouldn’t, otherwise law enforcement would stop stalking and eliminating terrorist threats, they’d just wait for the carnage and arrest the offenders!

This is a tipping point. This is not business as usual. The Republican party is not what it once was. Not only is it the do-nothing party in Congress, its main goal being to stymie any legislation, any action by the left, it is driven by those without standing, the poor, the working class, the tax hating religious zealots WHO ARE SUPPORTED BY FAT CAT MONEY!

The tail is wagging the dog. The corporate money fuels these actions with a desire to eliminate taxes and government oversight, but the truth is the great unwashed masses, the DEPLORABLES, some with money, some without, drive the Republican party today. Try to be reasonable and you’re primaried right out of office. And then we’ve got Hawley and Cruz and the other nitwits who believe that their only role is to satiate their base, right and wrong, the law, they don’t apply, not whatsoever. The fact that we’re debating the legitimacy of the election? UNFATHOMABLE!

So now is not the time to relax, now is the time to keep up the pressure. Pelosi saw the light, she immediately pushed for impeachment, ridding our nation of Trump. As for McConnell? He responded with some B.S. about process. Screw process, Trump doesn’t care about it. These people have to be shamed into doing the right thing. They must be revealed. I don’t care if they can be friendly, nice at dinner, THEY’RE RUINING THE COUNTRY!

Up is down. Right is wrong. Facts are seen as untruths. Experts are ignored. This is a cancer that’s eating at our society. At least John Dean switched sides and spoke the truth, then again back in ’74 the Republican Senators told Nixon he had to go. Today, all the elected officials on the right are afraid of Trump, afraid of his base. Is this any way to run a country? NO!!