What?

I hadn’t heard about it until this morning, but my inbox is filling up with references to it and one Norm Eisen, a name that will draw a blank with most people not part of the Murdoch bubble. This is Saul Alinsky all over again, a man almost no Democrat had ever heard of was suddenly the main force behind their efforts. This is the Republican playbook, create a target, demonize him or her and warn of the ending of society as we know it, therefore illustrating why Democrats should never be allowed behind the steering wheel.

Yesterday I wrote about the Democrats needing a plan to deal with Trump’s calling the election for himself whether he wins or not, how the rank and file need to be made aware of this, and now the right, the Republicans, are already ahead on this issue and saying the problem is the DEMOCRATS!

We’ve seen this movie before, with “fake news.” Somehow Trump turned it around, to his favor, that the problem was the news industry at large, not his falsehoods. And now we’ve got a recalcitrant media which reacts to the president at best, which is afraid of going out on a limb for fear of being excoriated.

The left really has no idea what is going on in Fox Nation, it’s got its head in the sand, believing if it just ignores the insanity it will go away. Susan Powter tried to stop the insanity, but that didn’t work, one person cannot stand up to either fat or an army of tens of millions, you need everybody to get on the same page. If you watch television news I implore you to turn on Fox, if you’re anti-flat-screen go to foxnews.com multiple times a day, it’s like an alternative universe, there are stories that never make it to the platform and every article is spun to the advantage of Trump, not that you can say this, no one has as thin a skin as a Republican, but you should be informed, since the number one rule of warfare is know thine enemy.

The left is clueless.

So, you need to watch this Tucker Carlson clip from last night:

“Darren Beattie & Tucker Carlson Discuss Color Revolutions & The Plot To Oust President Trump”

Then I point you to today’s “Independent”:

“QAnon: Mysterious conspiracy leader points followers to Tucker Carlson interview warning of ‘coup’ against Trump – Fox News host featured disgraced ex-White House speechwriter promulgating a Kremlin-style conspiracy theory about the Democrats’ supposed plan to wreck the election”

Why “The Independent”? Because it was the second hit on Google when I searched on “Norm Eisen,” the first from a well-known news outlet. We live in a networked world, “The Guardian” has more impact in the U.S., more traction than all the local newspapers brain-dead journalists living in the past are trying to save. Furthermore, “The Guardian” does it without a paywall.

So, if you read “The Independent” article you’ll see the power of not only Fox, but the power of Q. Yes, you’re laughing, but QAnon is real in the minds of Trumpers, and if you say it’s irrelevant get back to me after you read about Pizzagate.

This news is not in “The New York Times” or “The Washington Post,” I just checked. So, chances are unless you’re watching Fox you’re unaware, but you should know. Once again, our news outlets are letting us down.

And then we’ve got the ongoing campaign of Bill Barr:

“Barr’s undermining of the election is downright dangerous”

Barr goes on Fox and says it’s b.s. that Trump would stay in office if he loses, but then he goes on endlessly about fraud in the election, undermining the process.

Meanwhile, the Democrats keep trumpeting the process, saying to believe in it, it’s our route to victory. But have you ever heard the aphorism if you win you still lose? That is what is going to happen with the Democrats.

So, the Republicans are undermining the validity of the election results long before the counting begins, and fearmongering that the Democrats will end American society as we know it and most Democratic voters are absolutely clueless as to what is going on. All we’ve got is these inane e-mails from people telling us to VOTE! Sure, vote, I will, you should. But that is not the battle here. Look at the polls. Biden is ahead. But it’s not about the polls but the count. How can you win if the game is declared false, unreliable, rigged? This is how we lost truth, facts in America, and now the same thing is gonna happen with elections.

As for social media, I point you to the cover of the new edition of “Businessweek”:

“Facebook Is Basically In The Tank For Trump, Says Bloomberg Businessweek – On the magazine’s latest cover, Alfred E. Zuckerberg, let’s call him, dons a Make America Great Again hat and asks, ‘What, Me Partisan?'”

“Businessweek” and “The Atlantic” are being aggressive. “The New York Times” and “The Washington Post” are so busy just reporting the news that they’re not getting the proper message across. As for MSNBC…that’s like the He-Man’s Woman-Haters Club from “The Little Rascals,” an insular club of like-minded people that does not affect the world at large.

And now we’ve got Tucker Carlson featuring a woman claiming that the virus was man-made and it’s flagged on Facebook and Instagram and lives on Twitter:

Facebook and Instagram Flag Tucker Carlson Virus Posts

Yet now Carlson is fighting back:

“Tucker Carlson Cries Censorship After His COVID-19 Posts Flagged as Misinformation by Facebook, Instagram”

And you wonder why Republicans fail to wear masks.

Yes, social media is complicit. But, once again, the Democrats just tell us to vote for laid back Old Joe who can’t even get any traction in the media, who is two-dimensional in most people’s minds, other than the Republicans who keep saying he’s demented and evil, and that everything will work out. THAT’S B.S! Because first and foremost the odds of Biden actually getting into office are slim, because the right has been fomenting an all hands on deck campaign against the system itself.

Wake up. The right’s game plan is in plain sight. And if you’re not ready to stand up to it, if you’re not willing to go on the offensive, you’re gonna find yourself losing once again, scratching your head, wondering how we got into this fix as you truly lose your freedom. Yes, that’s a left wing concept, not a right, CAN’T WE RECLAIM IT!

Guitarist extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa opines on his upcoming couch concert from the Ryman on September 20th and also discusses his upbringing, his place in the musical landscape, how he and his manager four wall his shows and at the end we delve deeply into guitar collecting. Self-deprecating yet quick-witted, I could have talked to Joe for hours more.

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The only Democrat on the right page is Hillary Clinton, and she’s not backing down. She told Joe Biden not to CONCEDE!

At least one person learned the lesson of 2016. That Trump fights dirty and will do anything to win and if he doesn’t win he will still say he won. End of story.

Don’t believe me?

“Appearing on ‘Fox & Friends’ on Tuesday morning, President Trump again told his supporters to believe that if the election doesn’t deliver the result they want, the outcome is inherently illegitimate – that there are no democratically legitimate circumstances under which he and his supporters can lose in a fair election.

By my count, this is the third time he has stated this explicitly in recent weeks. Trump will generally say both that the election is likely to be rigged and fraudulent – say, due to vote-by-mail – and that he can lose only if that happens.”

Trump just repeated his ugliest claim about the election. Why isn’t it bigger news?

Trump is preparing not only himself for victory, but his minions. The Democrats? They’re still debating the issues, defending Joe Biden against all the bogus issues the right throws at him. So when the going gets tough, the Democratic constituency will be completely unprepared.

My friends want to argue the horse race, they want to whip out statistics, talk about Nate Silver, wince over Trump’s behavior, but all of those are completely irrelevant. Trump is gonna declare victory no matter what, then what?

The Democratic insiders are getting prepared. They don’t want to be outplayed like they were in 2000. But those not on the inside? THEY’VE GOT NO CLUE!

Let’s go back to Hillary. The problem is still her e-mails, they caused Covid-19 and global warming, of course. The Democrats played defense in 2016, but you can only win if you play offense. Kinda like the “deplorables.” Hillary and the left were badgered into retreating, taking back their words, and then they were lambasted for them all the way until election day, even after. The truth is Clinton should have doubled-down, isn’t that what Trump has always done? He owns his statements. And the truth is a lot of Trump’s supporters are deplorable, and what difference does it make if you label them so, they’re going to vote for Trump anyway.

There’s this canard that there’s a great swath of undecided voters out there. If not, why do we have this endless election process which takes up the better part of two years? If voters are already aligned, what difference do the articles and the debates make? NONE! We live in a completely tribalized society and yet when it comes to voting for president a great number of people don’t know which side they’re on, they haven’t made up their mind? That’s like the Yankees playing the Red Sox and fans not knowing who to root for, but it’s worse, it’s a matter of life and death, of democracy. As for those friends, if you’ve got any, who say they’re not sure, they just don’t want to endure abuse from their circle. Come on, you know some of these people, if you get them alone and push them a bit they admit it, they voted for Trump and will again, but if they say so they’ll be excommunicated from the group. You know, the ones who are educated but refuse to ever discuss politics. The undecided voter is a myth, I tell you.

So, Trump is playing the long game. He not only took control of the post office and hobbled it, he installed his own judges, who are tilting the playing field his way. Like the Trump judge who ruled the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania’s lockdowns unconstitutional. And don’t tell me to respect the bench, that would assume that no one lies in court and just because you were appointed you’ve got gravitas, when nothing could be further from the truth.

We could pay whac-a-mole here, delineate all of Trump’s offenses, but that’s what the right wants us to do. To get caught up in the minutiae, to debate facts and credibility when those are out the window completely. No, what we need to do is get out of the trenches and focus on the big picture, November 3rd and thereafter, how do Democrats counter Trump’s narrative?

Trump has been telling his acolytes for months that the vote is untrustworthy unless he wins it. Meanwhile, the left keeps talking about the sanctity of the vote, like the election process is inviolate and we’ve just got to let the system work. Yeah, right. No, what the Democrats need is to get their base riled-up for the fight. And they need to do this with sunshine, a slogan. Enough with the hosannas for Michele Obama, when they go low…WE DON’T IGNORE IT!

LEGITIMIZE THE VOTE! Maybe that should be the bumper-sticker. Or MAIL-IN COUNTS! Or, NOVEMBER 3RD IS JUST THE BEGINNING! Yes, everyone agrees that the odds of having a final count on election day are essentially zero. But those in the trenches say Trump will declare victory on November 3rd and then declare all resulting ballots illegal.

Not to mention the problem with mail-in ballots. A lot aren’t counted for numerous reasons. Not mailed in time, not properly signed. Double digit percentages are thrown out, how are the Democrats preparing people for this? Where is the line as to whether a mail-in ballot is valid or not? If the secretary of state in question is a Republican are they going to decide in favor of Democratic mail-in ballots or play the role of a record company, counting royalties in their favor? And yes, you can audit the label, but even if they’re wrong you never ever get a hundred cents on the dollar. You try to solve the problem via the initial contract. But in the case of voting, all these issues are not going to be addressed until the votes come in, and that’s too late.

WE NEED PUSHBACK!

As for the talking heads on TV…forget them, they’ve never experienced this. And they’re so wary of appearing one-sided that they’ll cite the other side’s opinion no matter how inane. But not on Fox! If you’re in the right wing media silo you live in an alternative universe where all Democrats are insane and if Biden wins life in America as we know it will end. There’s no concomitant left wing outlet. Forget the right excoriating MSNBC and CNN, it’s no contest, Fox is way off the rails. But the right keeps working the refs, undermining whatever credibility MSNBC and CNN have, so people won’t pay attention to them.

This is the battle of our lifetimes. This is the battle of the century. This is the ultimate battle for democracy. You’d think the Democrats would play a little harder. But no, they put up an old candidate who can’t even get traction in the news, who barely ever tweets, and close their eyes and hope that it will all work out. Oh, there’s another thing, you can’t say anything bad about Biden or you’re being disloyal. I’d buy that if the DNC and Biden campaign were employing a scorched-earth policy like the Republicans, but instead they’re holed up inside with their polls with their fingers crossed, like a kid praying he got an A on the test. That doesn’t work, but preparation does. And if you ever went to high school you know that the elite were often grade-grubbers, if they did not get the mark they wanted, the one they thought they deserved, they marched right up to the teacher’s desk and implored he or she to change it, to the point where the teacher got wary of giving bad grades to these “achievers.” As for business…it’s all about blurring the lines, if not outright fraud. But somehow, when it comes to the election process everything will be hunky-dory.

This is the message the Democrats must disseminate. That there’s a war on the election process itself and they are going to fight hard and not back down. The Democrats have to alert their voters that voting is just the beginning, and it’s not enough. Sure, vote. But that’s kind of like showing up at the stadium, it’s after you vote that the game begins, truly.

This is unprecedented. So it calls for unprecedented measures. Do you see any from the Democrats with less than two months to go?

This is the narrative that should be established. After all, the Republicans are literally telling their rank and file to take to the street if things don’t go their way. What’s the Democrats’ plan? Hope and prayer? The Republicans are planning a strike in plain sight. It’d be like Japan telegraphing FDR that they were going to bomb Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt doing nothing about it, sitting on his hands and being surprised when the bombs dropped. This isn’t even a sneak attack by the Republicans, they keep telling us if Trump doesn’t win the contest is illegitimate, and if the big bad, i.e. weak, Democrats don’t accept this be ready to fight it out in the streets.

Bite-sized. Hammered over and over again. That’s what the Democrats need. A slogan that everybody in America knows. To prepare them for what’s to come. Oh, don’t talk to me about dividing the country, it’s already divided. As for the Trumpers up in arms…are you gonna always play by their rules, always concede? Rush Limbaugh and his minions get it wrong about Covid-19 but somehow they’re right when it comes to climate change? The Republicans have their voters hoodwinked. They’re all-in. The truth is irrelevant. And their truth is that the Democrats are untrustworthy and Biden is bad for the nation and there’s only one true savior, Donald Trump. Yes, that’s the message, repeated over and over and over again, multiple times each day. And all the Democrats do is drop their jaws open in amazement. As if by pointing at the train-wreck you can prevent it from happening. No, you gain control of the train. It’s too late to rebuild the track or the locomotive. You prepare the passengers. You tell them you’re going to do your best to prevent an incident, but if it comes be prepared, and blame it on the lack of investment in infrastructure. Owning your faults only works if you’re a celebrity going to rehab. You circle the wagons and push back. That’s the nation we’re living in. The fight is not over the vote, but the count. Get that message hammered into people’s heads, and only then will you have a chance of victory.

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Even Springsteen can’t reach us. This was released last week and I just found out today, via a SiriusXM playlist I get from the company each week, of added tracks. I’d heard the Boss had a new album in the works, not that I cared, he seemed to have lost track, this happens when you get caught up in your image, are beholden to your fans’ perception of you, you ultimately become irrelevant to everyone else. Then again, it’s your fans that keep you alive, so… But Springsteen is one of those acts that we all knew and we all might be theoretically open to once again, assuming we knew he had new material.

Then again, Springsteen owns the press, he gets mainstream media hype every time he farts. His album releases are military campaigns. Then again, his story is about played out, with his book and stage show, what else is there to excavate, what story is there to tell?

He had writer’s block.

I did not know this until I started to research “Letter to You” after hearing it.

In the tradition of “Born To Run,” the sound is rough, it’s not crystal clear, and therefore you get that miasma of sound he’s famous for and it’s hard to pay attention and then…suddenly you wake up, your ears stand at attention, has Bruce found the plot again?

He hasn’t had it for a very long time. The overhyped “Rising” was disappointing, at least on an absolute Boss scale, but what came thereafter was even worse, more self-conscious and less appealing, but at least he soldiered on, when everybody else gave up he continued to write and put out new material, kudos for that. But last year’s overbaked “Western Stars” fell flat. I hate to say it, but shut up and play your music, let it stand or not. The backstory, the concept of “Western Stars,” if only the music lived up to the endless hype, we even got a film…it’s not like “Western Stars” was awful, it just wasn’t great.

The problem is Springsteen is competing with himself. And therefore he’s always trying to reach a mark he may not ever be able get to again. Once again, his brethren have solved this problem by not even trying. But somehow, the Boss has connected again with “Letter To You”…it’s close, but no cigar, but maybe a cigarette, it’s got the majesty and the energy of the records that made him famous. It’s nearly anthemic. And not a moment too long, actually its length makes the record better, it allows the band to stretch out, the lead guitar playing at the end is so satisfying.

As for the front cover photo… It’s great, but it’s also part of the hype, if you search online you’ll find a whole story about the creation thereof…talk about eviscerating the mystery.

There’s a generic guitar opening, yet there’s a wild lead guitar way in the background and then it all fades and Bruce starts to sing. But it’s the change that gets you, when Bruce sings “Tried to summon all that my heart finds is true,” that drop down is reminiscent of the hook that makes “Green River” so great, even though that minor Creedence classic (talk about a contradiction in terms…it’s not as great as the greats, but it’s so much better than the competition) is superior.

The band comes in on the second verse, classic Springsteen, and then you get that change once again, adding meaning, gravitas:

Dug deep in my soul and signed my name true
And sent it in my letter to you

Unfortunately, the chorus is not as good as the verse. Except for the last line, “And I sent it in my letter to you.” But in the break the organ in the background gives you everything but the kitchen sink E Street Band sound.

And then…quiet.

I’d quote the lyrics but they’re substandard. This entire song is not up to Bruce’s standard. If someone else wrote the words you’d shrug. And as for “letter,” why not “e-mail” or “text” or “iMessage”? We’re not going back to letters, no way, which is one of the reasons why the post office is floundering financially.

But, there’s that drop in the verse. And the break. And the playing at the end. No one else is doing this. Then again, like I said, most of Bruce’s contemporaries are doing nothing.

But what I immediately thought when I heard “Letter To You” is…WE HAD TO WAIT FOR THIS?

“Letter To You” is not a one listen hit. They’ll play it on AAA but you won’t be closed if you’re not a fan, it can slide right off of you, unlike Bruce’s best work. But, like I said, it’s close, it gives one hope Bruce can recapture the magic.

Bruce went back to basics. As in the band played together, there was not all this tracking, overdubbing, and that aids the song, the performance is cohesive, you can visualize the song being played in a club, where Bruce started.

But Bruce should be putting out this stuff on a regular basis. Instead of worrying about living up to his lofty standards, why not put out new stuff when he writes it, keep the juices flowing, maybe he’ll capture lightning in a bottle. The old paradigm is broken, why is he beholden to it?

And a stiff today does not matter, it doesn’t tarnish your image, it just fades away. And creators know when you throw off the rust and finally get inspired you frequently end up on a roll of creativity, which is why we got “Lucky Town” along with “Human Touch.”

Writer’s block is usually fear about doing something bad, not reaching the level you used to be at, a peak in your mind that you probably never achieved anyway, then again, one of the worst things about making it is you’re saddled with the adulation, it inhibits you. Can you say Alanis Morissette? She became so self-conscious as to become irrelevant.

But Bruce is first and foremost a musician. Who came up on the road. And that’s about playing each and every night, improving, learning what works and what does not along the way. Now he can do the same thing online. And, if he rings the bell, hits the note, word will spread, after all, he’s got his army, although I must admit they’ve turned off disbelievers nearly completely, I’m a fan and they bug me, what I always say about Bruce is I don’t hate him, I hate his FANS! After all, I saw him live at the Bottom Line in ’74, the year before “Born To Run,” most are johnny-come-latelies, like the young ‘uns who lecture you on the Dead even though they weren’t even born when the band cut “Workingman’s Dead.”

So my goal here is to encourage you Bruce. You’ve recaptured something you’ve lost. Sure, “Letter To You” is not an “A,” but it has elements that are so close. Get the band together, write the lyrics in the studio, lay down some tracks, put them on Spotify, the rest of the streaming services. Surprise us. Irregularity works online. Not a track a week, maybe one and then another six weeks later and then three a month after that and then maybe nothing for months and then six all at once. What a fan wants most is more material. And today, when fandom is one of the few ways people can feel like they belong, they’re less critical, they forgive mistakes, they want to send the message they’re there for you, every step of the way, that they’re supportive.

Yes, Bruce is for listeners, not for the media. The people at the “New York Times” didn’t go to shows in the seventies and stay up all night. And neither did Chris Christie. It’s the nobodies who own you, admit it. Nobodies run the planet. In their world you’re a somebody, you make their lives worth living, live alongside them! You don’t have to be on the cover of “Time” and “Newsweek,” you don’t need to be all over MTV, everything is small these days, everything is cottage industry, the biggest of acts is smaller than you ever were.

So, can old rockers have something to say?

Age is respected in country, but not rock, why not? Bruce’s kids are out of the house, music is what he’s got. It’s time to get back to the garden, to go back to the beginning, and to take chances too, to keep it interesting.

Bruce is incomplete. That’s why he does this, make records. He needs you to fill the hole inside him. And you want to, and you want to tell everybody if he does something worthwhile, that’s the joy of being a fan, telling others about what you love, even if Bruce’s fans have overdone it in the past. So, Bruce wants it. The audience wants it. We’re just looking for that one track. Listening to “Letter To You” makes me think he’s still got it inside, ready to come out when he throws off the cloak of respectability, stops worrying about what others think, just starts being the alienated musician with a dream once again.