Walter Becker -  Spotify

CAN’T BUY A THRILL

“Do It Again”

We thought they were a one hit wonder.

Go back, Jack
Do it again

There was something about the sound, which made it so strange for AM radio. Which I listened to because that’s all my car had. You usually didn’t hear this depth on Top Forty, but that’s where Steely Dan resided, in the winter of ’72-73, when I had to go to Nick Nichols’s room to hear it.

That’s right, in the seventies we did not have everything at our fingertips, that’s a relatively new paradigm. So certain albums we only heard in others’ rooms, dorm rooms that is, I was in college.

Steely Dan was not.

They’d left Bard.

As had Michael Tolkin, to join his girlfriend Wendy Mogel at Middlebury. We became friends. He told me that Bard was falling apart, that people would pull out balustrades.

But Bard had a reputation for creativity.

But the seventies were ending.

“Dirty Work”

This is the song that stuck out, the one you got the first time through, it came right after “Do It Again” on the LP. It was sung by David Palmer, who was excised from the group shortly thereafter, but at this point Donald Fagen did not believe in his vocal chops.

“Midnite Cruiser”

And in this case, the lead vocal was by Jim Hodder, the group’s drummer!

“Thelonius, my old friend”?

They were serving notice that they were not the average band, whether white or black, they were off on their own adventure, in a world where dumb ruled, but they were smart.

And today’s acts could listen to the chorus and see how it’s done, that’s right, the Dan never lost singability.

“Reelin’ In The Years”

This was the follow-up single. Also sung by Fagen, like “Do It Again,” a catchy chorus with a meaningful lyric. It sounds like college, where I remember hearing it, at some frat house, where you went to drink beer and be glad that you were not a member.

“Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)”

My favorite Steely Dan song?

Quite possibly.

I did not own “Can’t Buy A Thrill,” but when I moved to L.A. permanently I purchased the stereo of my dreams and borrowed my older sister’s copy and this was the track that stuck out, the one I played when I came back from my girlfriend’s house elated.

A tower room at Eden Roc
His golf at noon for free

This was when Miami was passe, when Kennedy was dead, Jackie Gleason was over and everybody went to the islands, but for those of us who lived through the sixties, we remembered.

As did the Dan.

COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY

“My Old School”

Took me at least a decade to get over Middlebury, I’m still not sure I’m over it. Put a couple of thousand kids in the middle of nowhere and it’s like “Lord Of The Flies,” everybody jockeying for position, meanwhile losing status in the real world which was passing them by.

Whenever the chorus comes on, with Jeff Baxter’s guitar for emphasis, I thrust my arm in the air and sing along…

I’M NEVER GOING BACK TO MY OLD SCHOOL!

That’s what Becker and Fagen were all about, rejecting their upbringing, they were middle class, infected by the music, and they woke up one day and said they were not going to paint by numbers anymore, they were a beacon.

“Bodhisattva”

This was a staple of the live shows. But it was not part of the culture upon release. Hell, “Countdown To Ecstasy” was a relative stiff, with some of the best reviews of the act’s career, but it was sans a hit. And it was on ABC, which lacked credibility, we still weren’t sure where the Dan fit…we hadn’t quite learned that was their essence, they didn’t belong ANYWHERE! They created their own paradigm, which only they followed, there were no imitators, just them.

PRETZEL LOGIC

“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”

It was ubiquitous, a huge hit when we thought the band was done, with sonic textures and gravitas, I’d push the button when I heard “D’yer Mak’er,” but never when I heard this. They ultimately broke the code by explaining the backstory when they were hyping their comeback in the twenty first century, but I liked it better the old way, when all we had were the lyrics, which we had to decipher and come up with our own meaning.

“Night By Night”

I bought “Pretzel Logic” from the Record Club of America, I returned it, the vinyl had so many clicks and pops, but so did the replacement. Once again, the LP got almost no FM play, but you dropped the needle and it was all of a piece, the same tone, engrossing, the album cuts could never be hits, but they were in your mind.

“Any Major Dude Will Tell You”

Sunny, but dark at the same time, how did they do this?

“With A Gun”

“Pretzel Logic” was full of winners, it was the first Steely Dan album I purchased, I immediately bought “Countdown To Ecstasy,” I wanted more, I needed more.

KATY LIED

“Bad Sneakers”

And a pina colada my friend!

I was addicted. I didn’t care that there were no hits, I didn’t care that the reviews were not as effusive as they’d been previously, I bought the LP and was enraptured. First by this cut, with so many words in the chorus, nobody ever packed them in this tight.

“Your Gold Teeth II”

Throw them out and see how they roll!

This was my second favorite cut on the album, so east coast serious, where your body is secondary to your mind, it swung, you could not help but get in the mood, nod your head.

“Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More”

I know every lick of “Katy Lied,” because I went to a family friend’s stereo store and borrowed a tape deck to make cassettes to drive cross-country by, and in those pre-satellite radio days you injected the tapes you had into the deck and played them over and over again, back when driving cross-country was still a thing, scratch a baby boomer and they’ll tell you about that one album that they might not even love that they know so well because…it was one of, if not the only tape they had!

THE ROYAL SCAM

“Don’t Take Me Alive”

Speaking of cross-country drives…

I had the world’s worst case of mononucleosis, I was sleeping on the couch in Al and Jimmy’s apartment, the ski season had ended, they were moving to a new abode, it was time to…

Go home.

But Utah was far from Connecticut.

But I went down to Odyssey Records and bought six cassettes, one of which was “The Royal Scam.”

And on the drive to Denver, whilst my driveshaft donut was breaking apart, I listened mostly to Wings’s “At The Speed Of Sound” and Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle.”

But after getting my BMW repaired in Denver, charging the $45 cost to my father’s Chevron card, since I was flat broke, I took to the highway, to drive across the great plains of Kansas.

And I was fatigued, I was sick, but I couldn’t find a hotel room. And it’s getting late and it’s been dark for hours and I remember stopping at a gas station while this song was playing.

I’m a bookkeeper’s son
I don’t want to hurt no one

I don’t think I’d ever heard that word in a song before.

And I kept driving, and I kept flipping the tape in the Blaupunkt, this was before the head would automatically jump and play the second side, keeping an eye out for a place to sleep. I was in a trance, and it’s in that window when I learned “The Royal Scam” by heart.

I eventually slept in a truck stop, with the bathroom down the hall…

“Haitian Divorce”

Bob Marley was not yet a legend, at least in America, but Steely Dan was employing the reggae beat, with a story.

“Everything You Did”

Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening

Really?

This was after “One Of These Nights,” but before “Hotel California,” the Eagles were not quite legends, and they couldn’t be any more different from Steely Dan, was this a put-down?

Of course it was.

But this was before we learned they shared a manager.

Irving Azoff.

AJA

“Deacon Blues”

Now it’s very important you get the lyric right…

I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too LONG!

No, not WRONG, that’s completely wrong, and screws up the meaning.

This player has dedicated his life to music and the lifestyle, he’s escaped from the mainstream, and he has not won, he’s not on the hit parade, but he’s got his sax, he’s got the music, and that’s enough, he’s made his choice and he believes in it, it’s the most important thing to him, he’s not gonna let you mess with him.

“Deacon Blues” is the first track that reached me on “Aja,” which came three years after “The Royal Scam.” You’d hear “Kid Charlemagne” on the radio now and again, but then Steely Dan took a left turn, into jazz, and became national icons, the radio was all over their record, it was the soundtrack to dinner, to the bedroom, no one had a bad word to say about “Aja” other than the punks, but the joke was on them, Steely Dan was not long in the tooth, repeating themselves, they were following their muse, surfing the zeitgeist, and most everybody got on board.

Proving you’re best when you do it your way.

Never forget that.

GAUCHO

“Hey Nineteen”

They were old. It happens when you don’t notice. It just happened in the music business, where a schism between old and young was precipitated by streaming, the youngsters got on board when the oldsters refused and now they rule.

What I always worry about when thinking about getting involved with a woman junior in years is whether she’d get the references. That’s what life is about, not eye candy, but connection. You don’t want a slave, but a compatriot, someone who gets the jokes.

“Time Out Of Mind”

That woman in “Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)”? We moved in together, shortly thereafter.

And then we broke apart.

We were the first generation to live together, we didn’t need no piece of paper from the upstairs choir keeping us tied and true. Life was a process.

So I moved into a new apartment. And bought a bunch of records. And the first thing I did when I moved in was to set up the stereo, I dropped the needle to soothe the pain, breakups are hard, even if you initiate them, and the two albums I played were “Arc Of A Diver” and “Gaucho.” And “Gaucho” had no hits, but at this point it and the debut are my favorites.

“Third World Man”

So slow and languid, little did we know this was the end, for now.

Fagen went solo, but something was missing, kinda like Mick without Keith, those records were good, but they were not Steely Dan.

TWO AGAINST NATURE

“Jack Of Speed”

They came back! Back when that was still a thing, before all the classic acts made the dash for cash, before it became about endless victory laps, I remember seeing them on Letterman with the backup singers and having the hair on my arms stand up straight, here they were!

And all that’s remembered about “Two Against Nature” is the belief that it won an undeserved Grammy.

Is that true?

You can make your own decision. Awards are irrelevant. It’s the art that remains.

If it’s worth remaining.

EVERYTHING MUST GO

Including you and me. But we didn’t expect Walter Becker to go this weekend. This is not how we thought it would end, we thought we would live forever, but this proved to be untrue. Rock stars were supposed to O.D., or never age, last forever, like their music.

But the Big C doesn’t care if you’re rich and famous. Health is your most precious commodity. I laugh at all the smokers. All those people abusing themselves. Ask Pete Townshend if he still hopes he dies before he gets old. He IS old, and he LIKES IT! The older you are, the happier you are.

If you’re not sick.

I heard it was a momentary illness. I didn’t expect Walter to pass. But since he missed those Classic shows, it’s not a complete surprise.

But it’s upsetting. He was only 67, born in the fifties, like me, like so many. We expected him to continue to crack jokes on stage for many more years. Yes, if you haven’t seen the band recently it’s Walter who adds the humor, who demonstrates that this is a band of whacked outsiders who refused to sell out and won by doing it their way.

But now Walter’s gone.

But it’s very weird, because Donald is still here.

What exactly did Walter do? Alice Cooper carried on without the band, but never underestimate the genius of Michael Bruce, who wrote so much of the early material.

You don’t know where Donald ended and Walter began, and vice versa.

And they never told us.

So we’re flummoxed. The band continues, but here we are doing eulogies.

We lost something, but we’re not exactly sure what it is.

But one thing’s for sure, whatever was created will not be created again. That line died out.

And you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

Walter is history, but his music lives on.

Exactly the way he’d like it.

That was Steely Dan, it was about what was on wax, nothing more, no cult of personality, no “Cribs,” all you had was the music.

And we still do.

You’ve got to have faith in the system.

And we’ve lost ours.

That’s why Hillary lost, people wanted a change. Democrats have been good for the elites, but the downtrodden, not so much. The Dems were so entrenched in the system they couldn’t see reality.

And sure, the Republicans thwarted Obama’s every move, but they’re even worse, at least the Democrats just ignored the deplorables, whereas the Republicans kept on saying they were gonna deliver for them, when all they cared about were the corporations and the religious zealots.

Don’t you see? The boomers’ sold out their children’s future.

And they’ve been working the system ever since.

So the only people voting for Hillary were the party factotums and the practical people who saw her as the lesser of two evils.

Meanwhile, we got a duplicitous strongman spouting falsehoods and getting away with it.

That’s how distraught the populace is.

You don’t get it, do you. Then you’re just like the people in D.C. You’ve worked the system to your advantage. You’ve employed your education and relationships to make things work. But if you went to a state school as opposed to an Ivy, if you didn’t go to college at all, you’re screwed.

Meanwhile, everybody without a wealthy parent is saddled with student debt, which never gets wiped from the slate, no matter how destitute you might be.

In Colombia, the government was in bed with the cartel. The narcos couldn’t be beat. Just like Wall Street, just like Trump.

That’s why the Russia case is important. Because we believe in the sanctity of elections, whether Trump is President or not. We like to peel back the covers and see what’s really underneath. This is not a political game, the left playing gotcha and the right defending their team at all costs, this is a fight for the soul of our nation. And if you don’t believe it’s so, you’re sucking at the tit of corruption.

That’s right.

America’s been corrupt for a long time. Only now it’s much worse. Come on, explain how cutting taxes on the rich benefits the underclass. And I don’t want to get into tax policy, but the truth is donors want something for their money, just like the narcos.

Hell, you’ll learn more about negotiation watching this TV show than a month of C-SPAN, since no one in Congress does negotiate.

Life is a game, I tell you. And when the public believes it’s rigged, the country’s in trouble.

The American creed is you’re supposed to put your nose to the grindstone and then you can win.

But the odds can be better in the lottery, and they’re positively awful.

That’s right, you want no welfare for the kids of bad actors. You believe in personal responsibility, but what are you gonna do when one of these scions of the underclass shows up at your door with a gun, drive around in a bulletproof car?

They do that in Colombia, I’ve been there. And everybody I met in Bogota had a dead relative, assassinated. Is that the country we want to live in?

Both parties have lost control of their constituents. And the media has been denigrated to the point it’s irrelevant, no one believes anything anymore, except for the holier-than-thou educated class which doesn’t want to sacrifice. That’s right, we’re a nation plagued by NIMBYISM, and if you don’t know what that is, you’re not part of the problem. But believe me, the people working the edges do.

So how does this play out? Do the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer?

What are you going to say to the legal immigrants when Arpaio is pardoned?

What are you gonna tell people to give them hope?

Art is supposed to give us insight, reflect the human condition, but Hollywood makes superhero movies and musicians are all about sponsorships, hell, both entities even feature corporate products in their wares! No wonder the take at theatres is tanking. No wonder music does not drive the culture. Because they’re bankrupt, just like our government. We need people we can trust, who are on our side instead of fighting their petty little wars while they rape and pillage.

FARC just made peace with the government, after decades.

We can solve our problems, if we just put one foot in front of another and agree being rich does not make you smart, never mind right, and just because you have money we should not be subject to your whims.

The Dodgers might set a victory record, but most of L.A. can’t see them on television.

And who wants to go to the park when all the good seats, the skyboxes, are sold to corporations.

It’s just like getting a good ticket to the show, you’ve gotta know somebody!

But here’s a tip, watch “Narcos,” it’ll open your eyes.

And like all the subscription sites the old guard is bitching about Netflix is cheap. And we’re addicted.

That’s the American Way.

Won’t anybody in politics give us a good proposition?

Won’t any leading lights in the arts show us a way out?

Over and out.

How could a live take of one of the most beloved tracks ever be even better than the original?

One thing I hate about Spotify is the codec they use, it just doesn’t sound that good, the old MP3s in my iTunes library encoded at 128 kbps are superior, and so is Deezer Elite, just relabeled Deezer HiFi.

We keep hearing we can’t hear the difference. But I can. Instantly. When I listen to Deezer HQ (high quality, i.e. CD quality) the music opens up, it’s like removing steel wool from your goggles, the world goes from black and white to Technicolor. I’m a big believer that music sounds like it does because of the reproduction methods we employ. Hell, Beats headphones are made to emphasize the bass, how messed up is that? Whereas in the seventies the goal was to earn/save up enough money to get full-spectrum speakers. Maybe KLH, maybe their predecessor AR, maybe Henry Kloss’s marvelous later iteration, the Advent, which only cost $125 apiece but sounded so accurate or maybe the much more expensive JBL L100, the same speaker they used in studios. You wanted to get closer to the music, now it just washes over you, after pounding your eardrums.

Now one of the things we’ve lost on the way to legitimacy is all the unreleased material that surfaced in the Napster era, live cuts, alternative takes, that will now be buried forever. Today’s ethos is different, acts release all their crap, but way back when you held it back, and now nobody wants to hear it, that’s what they say, but that’s untrue, I do. And I still can, on Deezer HiFi.

You see they’ve got all the bootlegs and radio broadcasts that are illegal over here, maybe there, in Deezer’s homeland France, too, but there are different copyright laws, the term is not as long, but the truth is if you dial up your favorite sixties and seventies acts on Deezer you’ll find a cornucopia of live stuff that’ll titillate you. By Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, everybody plying the boards back then. Hell, I’ve never ever heard a live version of “Lafayette Railroad,” but last night I did, and it brought me back to listening to “Dixie Chicken” in the spring of ’73.

When I was listening to “For The Roses.”

My college roommate had “Blue,” we played it occasionally sophomore year. But I controlled the stereo, and you don’t really know an album unless you own it, after you’ve paid for it you ply the grooves until you extract all the essence.

And everybody knew who Joni Mitchell was, but it wasn’t until “Ladies Of The Canyon” that she started to have mainstream impact. And if you don’t know “Conversation” and “Rainy Night House” you’re in for a treat.

But this is not about them.

This is about “A Case Of You,” a song even Prince covered, even though it was not a hit, not a single song from “Blue” was a hit, but the LP’s a classic, as I tell everybody, if I were stranded on a desert island I’d want AC/DC’s “Back In Black”…

And Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.”

And of course I’m saying that for effect, I’d want more, but the point is my tastes are broad, and no record touches the soul like “Blue.”

And the best song on “Blue” is “A Case Of You.”

Just before our love got lost you said
‘I am as constant as a northern star’
And I said ‘Constantly in the darkness
Where’s that at?
If you want me I’ll be in the bar

Strong women. Now they’re seen as Sheryl Sandbergs, winners doing everything, but in the mind of men it’s someone who can dish it back, who thinks for themself, who is not beholden to male-dominated culture, only a doofus would not follow Joni into the bar. We’ve heard too much of rap-era songs, about women being ho’s and kicking them to the curb, whereas a strong woman kicks YOU to the curb. She’s independent, she’s self-motivated.

Like Joni Mitchell.

On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh, Canada

These are the lines that go through my brain whenever I reflect on our northern neighbor, which I do quite often, because Canada is the anti-America, a place where everybody is well-informed and has an opinion and is willing to express it. I don’t know what makes Canadians so talkative, maybe it’s the cold, the sparse population, but they’re the most vocal of English-speaking peoples, and it’s welcoming and comforting.

Oh, you’re in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Relationships. Either you’ve been in one or you’re afraid of them. That’s right, so many hold back, they don’t want to share, they’re afraid they’re going to lose something, never be able to return to themselves. And they’re right, but the benefits far outweigh the losses. People change you, you bond and when you disconnect you feel like you’ve lost half of you and it takes years to recover, if you ever do.

Oh, I could drink a case of you darling
Still I’d be on my feet
Oh, I would still be on my feet

WHAT A METAPHOR! That’s what makes Joni Mitchell great, she doesn’t bend the words to fit the song, but vice versa, she knows what she’s gonna say and she does. She’s from Canada, where drinking is part of the national fabric, after all you buy your suds from the BEER STORE! And a case would normally put anybody but the most unrepentant alcoholic under the table, but when you’re in love, biology and physics don’t apply, like those people pumped up on adrenaline who lift cars when their children are under them, when you’re in love you can perform feats no normal person is able to.

Oh, I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I’m frightened by the devil
And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid

VULNERABILITY! We’re all imperfect, but we’re trained not to show it, especially men. But here’s this strong woman, standing up for herself, who’s revealing her weaknesses and is simultaneously asking for help. We need other people, no matter how much we deny this. What draws us to other people? We’re not sure…

I remember that time you told me you said
‘Love is touching souls’
Surely you touched mine
‘Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time

The best definition of love I know. It didn’t come from a movie, a TV show, not even a book, but a record. When done right, that’s what love is, touching souls. The energy is palpable, the experience changes you, and suddenly the other person is inside you, you start wearing what they do, saying what they do, acting like they do, and you don’t even notice it, but you’re all right with it because you feel alive in a way you never did when you were alone.

You can talk about the Beatles and the Stones. Michael Jackson and the Eagles. But no discussion of musical greats is complete without inclusion of Joni Mitchell. She was not a studio concoction, she wrote and sang, and played too, and that’s what she’s doing here, in this revelatory performance. It’s just her, no backing tracks, no auto-tune, nothing but naked humanity.

And although you won’t find this take on Spotify or Apple, Amazon either, you can still hear it on YouTube, where so many but not enough of the old Napster nuggets are still buried. And when you hear it you’ll be transfixed. The studio version of “A Case Of You” is perfect, but the live iteration is somehow beyond that, Joni is more passionate while being more studied and you think you’re peering into someone’s…

Soul.

That’s why music was so big back then. Not because of sleekness. But because the writers were laying it all down, their lives, we couldn’t get any closer.

But somehow we’ve lost that elixir. Everything’s bulletproof, everything’s about success, everything’s about the money. But somehow Joni Mitchell exists in a rarefied atmosphere that’s more appealing than all of it.

I could drink a case of Joni Mitchell and still be on my feet.

And so could you.

Joni Mitchell – 1983 Budokan Hall, Tokyo – YouTube
(start at 29:30)

It’s about the money.

We all need something to live for, and if you ain’t got it, life is gonna be quite boring.

That’s why Javi went back to Colombia.

That’s what people don’t understand. We’re not rational. We’re driven by our desires, influenced by friends, and sex and money.

And when you get old there’s gonna be someone to take your place.

That’s right, the baby boomers didn’t believe it, they thought they were gonna rule forever, but now they’ve been squeezed out of the corporation and are entering retirement and a whole bunch of other wankers are in control.

That’s right, it’s about the size of your unit.

And I hate to say that looks matter, but…

Minorities and women are fighting the wrong battle, you don’t complain about abuse, you don’t bitch that you’re being held down, you seize power, like a cartel.

I know this is politically incorrect, and for all I know it might be different in the future. But if you want something in this world, you’ve got to fight for it, you’ve got to take it.

So the DEA’s entire plan is flawed. Because they’re playing Whac-A-Mole, and if you think “Narcos” is ancient history, you’ve got no idea what’s going on south of the border. Yup, there are turf wars, cartels killing each other, but you know why they exist? Because your sons and daughters, your relatives are hooked on dope, and they provide it. Blame Purdue, no, not Frank, who spelled it differently, the chicken king, although chickens are a big part of one episode, but the pharmaceutical company, which foisted OxyContin on the populace and said it was not addictive, basing this fact on an obscure report in a medical journal having to do with hospital patients. That’s right, you have an operation, you want to get off drugs. But if you have no life, drugs are the biggest thrill you’ve got. And the government cracks down on Oxy and the cartels provide cheap heroin and people are dropping dead across this great country of ours.

And you think the problem is immigration, that building a wall will solve all your problems. Why don’t you tell your kids to stop shooting up, they won’t, but the net effect will be equivalent…NOTHING!

Pablo Escobar is dead. “Narcos” should be shite. And the first episode was uneven at best. But then…

It’s a true story. Albeit with a few changes. But hell, they show real footage of what was going on down there, back when you weren’t paying attention, when you were making bank in the go-go nineties.

So one cartel wants to give up.

But no one wants to retire as number two.

They’re dropping wisdom left and right in this series. You’ve got to understand men, they’re all about penis-size. Why else would they buy cars that look like genitalia? And Teslas to demonstrate how hip they are. While women compete on performance statistics that men don’t even care about. The clothing, the diets, all that other crap, real men just want women to listen to them. And sure, the bozos ruling the world, like our nincompoop President, want eye candy by their side, but you get older and you realize how ridiculous that is. That’s just another guy leading with his dick.

And if you can put your dick in your pants, you can win.

That’s the power women have over men. The one they want to deny in public. Pussy power. If you don’t think this world is run by women you must be one. Women can bring men to their knees, can influence all their decisions. Men are all bro-happy but it’s women who really support each other. if your goal is to be a bro at the law firm or the corporation you’re doing it wrong. The key is not to be like men, but to be yourselves, and then you can win. But you can’t say that in today’s politically correct world. That’s one of the reasons the left has lost and continues to lose, because it’s so busy believing it functions in a pretend world that it denies reality.

Relationships… Love, family, they rule this world. You look out for your kin. You’ll lie for your kin. Blood is thicker than water. It’s all still tribal, millions of years later, and we hope the government levels the playing field, but if you’re depending on the elected to solve your problems you’ve already lost, the elected are in the pocket of the donors, rich people, corporations, they own the government, and your only hope of victory is to band together and fight for what you want.

Come on, Trump pardons Arpaio and…

I thought there would be riots in the street. I thought when they started restricting abortion, same thing. But NO, we’ve got the left now saying it should be soft on abortion, and who cares about immigrants anyway.

That’s right, the wealthy keep talking about immigrant techies. How about the immigrants, legal or not, who are washing your clothes, watching your children, picking your fruit? There’s hypocrisy.

And you wonder why no one believes in anybody but themselves anymore.

That’s right, they capture a drug kingpin and the government functionaries want to let him out, but then the President says if they do, they’re gonna lose the trust of the people, and once that happens, they’re done.

That happened with Arpaio, you just don’t know it yet.

And you righties playing gotcha, e-mailing and posting when any leftie bangs on the President, the joke is on you, don’t you get it? They don’t care about you, they never did. They’re laughing at you. Giving up your government benefits just so the supposed “takers” don’t.

And speaking of takers, Cruz lied to the media saying he didn’t vote against Sandy payments, but the WaPo fact-checked it and he did, there was almost no pork in that bill, but that’s the world we now live in, where politicians lie and get away with it, where Google fires a think tank employee when they come out against the company, when Exxon says climate change is a joke and the real joke is on…

Us.

That’s right. We believe in the system. Tell me what that system is gonna do for the people in Houston? Oh, the corporations with connections will lobby to come out whole. The poor people? They’re screwed, they’ve got no flood insurance and no one cares about them.

That’s the joke of America, we donate a few bucks and slap ourselves on the back, saying how gracious and caring we are while we shut the gates behind us and turn on the alarm, we want nothing to do with these people, anybody who’s been unable to climb the greased pole.

That’s right, the truth is ugly.

The truth is you can write letters to the editor all day long. You can complain about the glass ceiling, but did that affect Travis Kalanick’s judgment whatsoever? NO!

And the joke is on you, because now Uber is hobbled and Lyft has moved in, and if you think any of these companies are soft and cuddly and care about you, you’re not driving for one.

So it’s every man for himself in this world. I’m supposed to say “person,” but changing the word is just gonna make those happy who refuse to get in the pit and fight. Sure, let women run the world, it’s fine with me, but I hope they run it better than men.

Because men are all about notches in their belt, status, looking good when they’re hollow inside.

But we’ve all got to play a game.

Decide which one is yours and put your nose to the grindstone. Otherwise you’ll find out your life has been wasted.

And watch “Narcos,” to see how the world really works. Sure, in America, they may not pay off the government, but they pay off everybody else.

This is what you’re up against. The sooner you admit it, the better you are.

But no, you abhor violence, Netflix is the enemy, CDs must be saved, Spotify’s the devil, there’s nothing like going to a movie theatre.

Wake up!

Or don’t, as you’re eclipsed.