Pussy Riot reeks of provocation

There’s a lot of fake political art out there: sophisticated propaganda that broadcasts liberal values to a liberal audience. Pussy Riot’s performance of A Punk Prayer (2012) occupies that pole: focusing on feminist-LGBT rights, while maintaining an explicitly anti-Putin line that dovetails with an undying support for the fascists in Kiev. It’s strictly identity politics & anti-Putin propaganda for these CIA cut-outs known as Pussy Riot.

Staged in brightly-colored balaclavas to conceal their identity, while punching & kicking the air in ‘punk defiance’, these feminist, pro-war phonies have existed under the protective wing of western imperialism for over a decade.  A Punk Prayer is nothing more than a provocative publicity stunt by a bunch of imperialist-backed puppets. After such a time, what is the balance sheet on their popular influence?

First, no one knows any songs by Pussy Riot. No kids have Pussy Riot content on any of their playlists, or seriously recommends their music. No members of Pussy Riot play any musical instruments or have any songwriting chops. No one can even name all the band members, or how they met, etc. Everything about Pussy Riot is shrouded in mystery. All their songs lyrics & political statements come straight from Langley, VA & the US State Department. Perhaps the most remarkable phenomenon about Pussy Riot is they are so well known in the media, without having any real fans– or content.

Pussy Riot’s western support is entirely from a wealthy political class & the fake corporate media. Since being mercilessly exposed as nothing more than anti-Russian propaganda by myself in the late 2010’s, Pussy Riot were branded “foreign agents” by the Russian government at the end of 2021, confirming my political & artistic analysis. As a musical artist, these imposters never fooled me, as I smelled a rat with Pussy Riot from the start.

At this point in history, Pussy Riot now labels itself an “activist art collective”, because they are obviously not a band or even musicians. Their “concerts” are a joke— instead of performing music, they talk about their feminism/lesbianism at length, then chant anti-Putin vulgarities while dumping water on the crowd. In 2020, Pussy Riot was online promoting a fake tour that didn’t exist, due to venue lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promoting Pussy Riot as ‘punk’ is no longer tenable, as all they do now is issue NFT crypto and promote US State Department propaganda through their website Mediazona. Here’s a cozy photo of Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, with Antony Blinken in 2022.

Mediazona is a US-supported media propaganda outlet focused on anti-Putin opposition, founded by Nadya Tolokonnikova & her Pussy Riot cohorts in 2014. This has become Pussy Riot’s primary vehicle for “activism”, since their musical “popularity” has waned due to inconvenient facts coming to light. Once again, can you sing (or even hum) a single Pussy Riot song? Do you know ANYONE who can?

Pussy Riot has become a world famous “act” with no recognizable content. That’s quite remarkable, and reveals much about the state of art in today’s world. The art market has become completely corrupted by big money to the point where there is no art– only dressed-up propaganda narratives packaged as ‘art’.

In 2012, Nadya Tolokonnikova was listed as Time Magazine’s ‘100 Women of the Year’, while also receiving the LennonOno Grant for Peace. In 2019, Tolokonnikova received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Rhode Island School of Design – for being a “powerful voice in the fight against tyranny,” while The Guardian ranked her #4 in Best Art of the 21st Century, for her Punk Prayer video. In 2023, Nadya Tolokonnikova was awarded the Woodie Guthrie Prize, rendering that honor meaningless while muddying the name of that great original folk singer. And so it goes, as Hillary Clinton is a big fan of Pussy Riot.

Kathleen Hanna was The Punk Singer (2013), the unmistakable voice of Bikini Kill, the last great rock band (in this artist’s opinion). What happened to Bikini Kill is what happened to the entertainment industry overall. Kathleen Hanna embraced Pussy Riot around the time her (long overdue) documentary was released on Netflix, so clearly her support for Pussy Riot helped with the movie distribution. For what it’s worth, The Punk Singer is a good documentary film and that’s what happened to Bikini Kill & rock music.

No, Pussy Riot isn’t here to save humanity from catastrophe though their fearless activism. They are instead stooges of imperialism. Pussy Riot receives complete support from the corporate media and every other capitalist institution. A February 2021 Greyzone investigative article titled Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to “weaken Russia,” leaked docs reveal’, confirmed this. Pussy Riot’s role in this NATO propaganda campaign is discussed in it:

New leaked documents show Reuters’ and the BBC’s involvement in covert UK FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] programs to effect “attitudinal change” and “weaken the Russian state’s influence,” alongside intel contractors and Bellingcat… As a UK FCO contractor, the Zinc Network said it was “delivering audience segmentation and targeting support” not only to Meduza, but also to Mediazona, a supposedly independent media venture founded by two members of the anti-Kremlin performance art group Pussy Riot. One of Mediazona’s founders, Nadya Tolokonnikova, shared a stage with former US President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation’s 2015 conference. The following year, Tolokonnikova trashed now-imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, claiming, “He’s connected with the Russian government, and I feel that he’s proud of it.”

For the record, Julian Assange is a heroic journalist, beloved by hundreds-of-millions worldwide, who was unjustly persecuted by the imperialist governments of the US/UK for years over phony sexual assault claims, for the crime of telling people the truth about government-approved war crimes, etc. Pussy Riot attacks Julian Assange (and anyone else who speaks for the oppressed masses) for inspiring revolutionary thinking & action. As reactionary puppets of imperialism, Pussy Riot reeks of provocation.

……………..<><><><><><><><>……………

Extended Play Singles (2024)

This Extended Play project began in Sanford, FL before the COVID-19 pandemic, as a collection of ‘swan song’ singles. With the release of “The Electric Cat” this project is complete and has been re-named Extended Play Singles. Cover photo, artwork & production by Tom Pearce. It is now available on your favorite streaming platform.

I’m also pleased to announce that Magnified (2012) has been re-released onto the major streaming platforms. It’s very complicated how these songs are put up and then later disappear, but that’s a reality of the modern mp3 streaming market. Platforms for upload & distribution change their policies, get bought out, go out of business, etc. Independent artists are constantly being taken down, moved back, marginalized & de-platformed to make more room for Beyonce & Taylor Swift.

The current artistic situation is untenable, and talented artists in every sphere: music, film, arts & literature are being squeezed out in favor of mediocre corporate phonies. This is why popular music, film & culture are at such a low level. There is no money for real artists. The idea of Trump and his billionaire class cronies, including all the Democrats, is to silence & destroy all the artists. Everything from Trump’s anti-immigrant racism, to the #MeToo campaign’s false feminist hysteria is meant to divide oppressed workers with ignorance & false political narratives.

No serious artists are allowed to perform anymore, and the list of blacklisted talent is staggering. It began with Kevin Spacey being witch-hunted with false sexual assault allegations in November 2017, as the #MeToo campaign instantly became known to the world. Every bourgeois media news outlet was part of this reactionary feminist campaign to attack prominent artists such as Kevin Spacey, and effectively remove them from the entertainment industry. Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, and countless others have been ‘cancelled’ by the #MeToo campaign, which is an identity politics prong of the CIA Democrats overall offensive on the working class.

Until there is revolutionary change in global society– meaning our economics & politics– there can be no substantial art & culture allowed into the mainstream. Only more football. All significant art taking place today is happening ‘underground’, meaning outside the corporate sphere. Thus, underground art is cut off from a mainstream breakthrough by every tentacle of monopoly capitalism & imperialism.

Those performers advocating for political reforms, while defending the Democratic Party, are lazy liberals. As proof: What impact did they have on Election 2024? The fascist Donald Trump steamrolled the imperialist flunky Kamala Harris, and now the Democrats & corporate media are looking forward to working with Trump in attacking the working class. On that, they are always united.

For real artists, the art is about the art. It’s not a vehicle to make money or a pathway to “stardom”. It’s about what you put into it and how it affects people– including yourself. It was fun to make this music, and certainly worthwhile, but when you’re all out of songs and no one in control will let you have the stage, then you move on to something else. That’s what I’ve done.

The music still lives, and that’s the point. As long as people care about music, film & art, it will live on. I had ideas I needed to express to the world in musical form and I hope it will inspire listeners & fans to do the same in their own creative way. That’s all an artist can do.

………….<><><><><><><>………..

 

Election 2024: final notes

Pre-election articles are here & here. Election night coverage is here.

Third party candidates as a composite (and where they were allowed on the ballot) had a hard time cracking the 2% threshold in any state. A total media blackout, combined with social media censorship, legal attacks, etc, dooms third-party candidacies to irrelevance, as both major parties claim they have the only “winnable” and “serious” candidates. It’s only when those terms are so distorted by cynical politics that this can be true, as it was in 2024.

The right-wing attack ads were endless and for much of that we have Elon Musk to thank. This crypto-currency billionaire fascist has just been elevated to political power without receiving a single vote. What we have is political opportunism & backroom deals, with nothing for working class voters– red or blue.

No left voice was allowed to be raised & taken seriously in the corporate media during the entire two-year presidential campaign. Jill Stein & the Green party, etc, orbit the Democrats. The Greens message in 2024 was “Vote Kamala, but if you can’t, then vote for Jill Stein instead of Trump.” Does this sound like a serious strategy? How can a political alternative be built with this approach? In short, it isn’t and it can’t.

Meanwhile, RFK, Jr endorsed Trump and (like Elon Musk) is in line for a cabinet position after being kicked out of the Democratic primaries. The Democrats went with a ‘Biden or bust’ strategy, until they couldn’t maintain that fiction anymore. Top CIA Democrats including Barrack Obama forced Joe Biden to step aside for Kamala Harris after his disastrous debate performance with Donald Trump on June 27. By then the primaries were over, with the delegates assigned to Biden, so a replacement candidate had to be installed. The Democratic party primary in 2024 was a rigged farce by any political definition. People noticed, and it surely influenced their voting in the general.

Recall that in 2020, Kamala Harris was schooled & badly defeated by Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) in an early primary debate. Despite being an early favorite (rising star, etc), Kamala Harris quickly faded into irrelevance– until Joe Biden put her on his ticket as VP. Nothing she did earned her that title, she simply checked the right boxes while being a toe-the-party-line yes-woman. No one thought anything of her as a VP, until Joe Biden was being pressured by party leaders & big donors to drop out of the race.

For a former state prosecutor, Kamala Harris is remarkably wooden & dull. She clearly wouldn’t have survived an open & fair primary in 2024. Instead, Kamala Harris was enabled every step of the way, the same way the Democratic party handled candidate Joe Biden until late June. The same way the DNC rigged the machinery & rescued Biden in 2020, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, both times from fake leftist Bernie Sanders (D-VT).

I earlier likened this entire campaign to episodes of House of Cards (2013-18). In Election 2024, Kamala Harris played the role of Jim Matthews/Jackie Sharp, meaning she was used & manipulated by higher powers to achieve their interests, in this case, handing the 2024 election to Trump. Opportunism, addiction to fame, flattery & celebrity, along with hubris allowed Kamala Harris to be manipulated by CIA Democrats– who prefer Trump to anything on the left. Kamala Harris & Joe Biden are now both lame duck losers. Joe Biden finally lost his grip on power because he’s an incoherent zombie. Kamala Harris never really attained any power because she’s a pretender. She’s not ruthless or smart enough in the eyes of the ruling class. That’s how she got played.

Kamala Harris started with all the momentum she needed to win, but ran a conservative run-out-the-clock campaign– befuddling insiders by avoiding press conferences, interviews, etc, for weeks on end. This was when most Americans barely knew who she was. It was a major red flag for someone running for US president, and a turning point for the Trump campaign. To Donald Trump’s credit, he apparently listened (by his standards) to his advisors more in 2024 than in 2020. Trump was able to posture himself as a folksy populist while Kamala was in hiding.

Whoever ran the Harris campaign wasn’t giving her the advice she needed to win. That’s perhaps a House of Cards episode in itself. Kamala Harris needed to tack left, anti-war with voters to beat Trump, but the CIA Democrats wouldn’t allow that. Thus Kamala Harris became politically indistinguishable from Joe Biden. When asked in an interview near the end of the campaign, Kamala Harris said she wouldn’t have done anything different as VP. That made her an easy target for Trump’s attack-ad campaign, bottomlessly funded by right-wing billionaires.

The Democrats relied on identity politics to mask Kamala Harris’ class politics. It didn’t fool voters in key battle ground districts. Being a black woman doesn’t mean anything in the arena of class & power politics. MeToo feminism, Black Lives Matter & LBGTQ+ campaigns are CIA Democratic attack dogs they unleash on the left & working class. It is a program of imperialist entitlement to create a thin later of representative stooges. Most voters despise these well-funded liberal snowflakes.

As I mix among the people the day after Election 2024, I see & hear very little jubilation. People are relieved this debased election is over, but they aren’t optimistic about the future. Most of those who voted for Trump realize he’s a sociopath & ignoramus, but they hate the Democrats even more and blame them for their misery. They have good reason for that, but the fact is nothing can be done about Trump & the CIA Democrats until workers & youth break from both parties of capitalism and take up the fight for socialism.

The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS.org) is the organ of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), which is the Trotskyist party of revolutionary internationalism. Any nationalist reformist programs & union bureaucracies are tools of the capitalist fake left, and must be smashed by worker-led organizations with a revolutionary program, as they all paved the way for Trump.

Speak openly with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc, about the important issues which were never discussed during Election 2024. Issues such as the imperialist drive to WW3, capitalist induced climate change, the forever COVID pandemic, attacks on democratic rights along with ever greater social inequality can no longer be ignored & suppressed. The only way these issues will move front & center in public debate is if workers & youth organize and act in revolutionary solidarity against the capitalist ruling class. I encourage all my fans & readers to read the WSWS and join the SEP.

…………..<><><><><><>…………

Democratic party collapses in Election 2024

Donald Trump won all seven battleground states: PA, WI, MI, GA, NC, NV & AZ to secure the Electoral College and become the next US president. This result was predictable and discussed here.

According to all the pollsters, Kamala Harris “underperformed” in the urban centers, on college campuses & with minorities. ‘Hillary 2.0’ is an apt description, as Kamala Harris failed to connect with working class & younger voters. Kamala Harris was a candidate of Wall Street & the military, and took a right-wing stance on immigration which didn’t endear her to key voting demographics.

Starting with how she was selected, to the billionaire support she courted, Kamala Harris didn’t fool enough voters in traditional demographics, most of whom ranked the economy & the direction of the country as their top issues. As far as protecting democratic rights goes, it was a major issue for voters, and attacking students & activists protesting IDF genocide in Gaza of the Palestinian population turned-off a lot of potential Democratic party voters– especially those in college & Muslim-Americans.

Trump didn’t win Election 2024 because he is popular. He won because it’s obvious that the imperialist Democratic party no longer offers any opposition to Republican fascism. The Democrats under Biden-Harris have started a war with Russia in the Ukraine, and a war in the Middle East with Israel as attack dog for US imperialism against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria & Iran– all with full Democratic party support.

The Trump party also won the Senate, defeating Democratic incumbents & overwhelming challengers in WI, MI, PA, NV & MT to take a 56-44 majority in the upper house, after pundits predicted only a 51-49 Republican edge. The House of Representatives is murkier as of this writing, but the Democrats are expected to regain control. [late edit 11-8-24: Senate is expected 54-46. Republicans will maintain their House majority, completely wiping out the Democrats in all three branches of federal government.]

This is nothing less than a collapse of grassroots support for the Democratic party. The party with money from big donor contributors, more favorable corporate media coverage (with star power endorsements), and arguably better political machinery infrastructure in key battleground states– lost. The Supreme Court has been packed with Trump appointees, meaning all three branches of the American government, executive, upper legislative & judicial will be controlled by MAGA fascists.

Workers & youth of the US and around the world must organize themselves under the banner of class struggle– independently of the Democratic party, the union apparatuses, and the fake left organizations such as the DSA and their associated NGO’s & other non-profits. This pseudo-left milieu is the reason Trump won in 2024.

The Supreme Court ruled this past summer that the president is above the law, while Trump has stated to his supporters that they don’t need to worry about elections & voting anymore. Those who rightfully fear the consequences of a second Trump presidency must rally around a political program of social equality & anti-war opposition to both major parties.

The Democrats have been floating olive branches to Trump for weeks now, shamefully acquiescing to fascism when it became clear that the Harris-Walz campaign was flailing. The only way to defeat fascism is by mass collective action from the only source of economic value, the international working class.

Wed 06 Nov 2024 03:15 AM CST

Post script: The role of the fake media in Election 2024 can be illustrated in a few NBC examples I observed. On Monday, election eve, NBC Nightly News reported “an earthquake” poll result in Iowa which claimed a 3-4 point edge for Kamala Harris in a red state that all the other polls had Trump easily winning. I turned off the news when I saw that and flipped to House of Cards on DVD.

Fox News coverage was amateur compared to NBC on Election Night. At 9:15 PM CST, I first saw the glum faces of NBC talking heads and knew the election was for Trump. Instead of admitting it & explaining this reality outright, NBC pundits maintained the fiction that Kamala Harris still had a chance. Blue wall and all that shit…

Fox (with lesser brains & technology) called Pennsylvania for Trump well before NBC. Donald Trump is being driven to a celebratory party of his supporters, ready to make a victory speech, and NBC still hasn’t called Pennsylvania, despite 90+% of the vote counted and Trump with an insurmountable lead. This was done partly to maintain false hope in the Democrats and partly to keep up the ratings– not necessarily in that order.

NBC will be hand-wringing its viewers for awhile, while they make their peace with Trump. As Joe Biden & Nancy Pelosi said after 1/6, “We need a strong Republican party.” In 2024, the Democrats got their wish.

……….<><><><><><>……….

“The Electric Cat” mp3 release

Preface: I feel this is my last original song. As a creative artist you eventually reach a point where you are out of songs, call it burnout or whatever, but it’s a natural process. You can’t be innovative as an artist forever. All are eventually overtaken by the next wave of revolutionary artistry and the new energy it creates. It’s similar to an athlete retiring, you have to accept it and move on.

In music this means if I return, it will be as a legacy act. That means no new songs, just fan favorites to make the paying audience happy. When you are a revolutionary artist, you have a chip on your shoulder and aren’t always willing to meet those fan expectations. Instead, you are challenging fans to meet YOUR expectations. That limits the fan base, but makes it more fanatical. It’s about deeply influencing those few who get you.

As a legacy act you are accepted, loved & paid, so it’s easier to return the love to the fans. Legacy acts only happen when there is money, and since that never happened for me, I’m not holding my breath. The political climate is still too reactionary for artists such as myself to be allowed venues that could connect us with a mass audience. Neo-McCarthyist witch hunting & blacklisting rule bourgeois politics & corporate mass media. MeToo, BLM, and fake ‘anti-semitism’ campaigns are CIA Democrat ‘big lies’ meant to intimidate & silence any genuine leftist opposition to capitalist imperialism.

My influence is still exerted as a blogger. Perhaps the most revolutionary thing I did in my musical artist career was creating this blog. No other artist (in any genre) has written as prolifically on so many subjects. The internet & social media made it possible, and my creative & effective use of these platforms has changed how people approach them. Blogging is now an artform. It is much easier to write an essay than it is to write a new song, so I’ll continue to express myself as an artist through blogging. Thank you to all fans for your continuing support!

Production notes & AI

After Tom recorded this song, we discussed artwork ideas, as usual. In real life the Electric Cat has died and I have no pictures, only images in my memory. I suggested a cartoon image, and that’s when Tom replied by suggesting an artificial intelligence (AI) app he had started using. There’s a learning curve which must be negotiated, but the result is this AI-generated image for “The Electric Cat”.

AI created a hyper-cartoon image for me (from no pictures) in just a few hours of email back-and-forth with my producer. Hyper-realism is a genre of art where the painter paints to exquisite detail. It takes a long time to complete a large canvas because every square inch is filled with painstaking detail. It’s extraordinary to look at, but often lacks soul or an important overall theme.

AI can produce images to a hyper-realistic level that display lifelike characteristics. AI doesn’t get offended and throw a hissy fit when I (the client) don’t like something it presented. In the hands of a learned technician, AI can do whatever you ask in a relatively short period of time. You just need to know what you want and how to communicate it.

These AI apps are much deeper & more powerful than photoshop, etc, which is how most pop art has been created for decades. This AI app took an idea (seed), and after Tom tweaked parameters & fed in descriptive details, developed it into what we wanted. In the past, I gave Tom ideas (or images) and let him run with them. He usually came back with something great and that was it. I learned not to expect anything in particular, because he’s not a graphic artist who can deliver exactly what I want from scratch. You have to be really gifted to do that, and neither of us are apt in that field.

AI apps replace (supersede) the efforts of entire marketing & art departments at major labels & studios such as Sony, Warner & Disney. Artificial intelligence has that power. AI can now take this Electric Cat image and mutate it into pop art quickly & cheaply, rendering high-quality, marketable images on demand. It’s almost too easy, and that’s the danger. Andy Warhol would smile, wryly.

If the song (or album) is a winner, artists now have the ability to create iconic artwork using AI. This solves a lot of problems for independent acts who don’t have access to major label resources. AI (in everyone’s hands) levels the playing field on that front, and opens up a world of new ones. There is a class of people who don’t want creative working people to know this.

AI is a big reason for the current entertainment industry & tech sector jobs bloodbath, for the reasons I’ve outlined above. Used in expert hands, artificial intelligence convinces you immediately. My experience happened to every Hollywood producer, director & entertainment industry bigshot upon being introduced to AI. In the future you are going to see more & more AI-generated content in music, film, TV, art, etc. It’s already started.

In music, Brian Eno has been an AI innovator, which is par for him. Ever since his first experiments in ambient music (early electronica) in the 1970’s, Eno has been a pioneer of self-generating, perpetual technology: first in music, then in images & film. Those who have led the way should be listened to the most, so no discussion of AI media use, potential, ethics & pitfalls can be closed until innovators such as Brian Eno have their say & are respected.

I’m a newbie, as this is my first foray into AI as a creative tool. I’m mostly watched, giving input to Tom as needed, and observing the results of the process while asking questions as they arose. I’m not a techie, so I don’t know the app or how it works, etc. Ask Tom about that. For me it’s all about what AI can do, and when I see these-type results, I get excited. Producers now need to add ‘AI skills’ to their technical arsenal. These are the people who will replace all those who are getting pink-slipped. Honestly, I’m in favor of eliminating this parasitic layer of entertainment industry mediocrity. All they do is siphon money & influence away from the original artists who create all the cultural interest in the first place.

This experience has instilled awareness about what the technology is, and raised practical questions about its ethics. I believe the artist is ethically bound to tell their audience about any AI-generated content. Educate fans & be 100% honest about its use– no exceptions. It’s easy to fool a naive audience into thinking that you are better than you really are by having AI-generated content in the music, etc. Only full disclosure earns respect in this field, and cheaters must be ruthlessly exposed as phonies. Fans have a right to know, and always feel betrayed when it turns out they have been duped by charlatans.

Beyond that, AI can be harnessed & used limitlessly to enrich & simplify our lives. AI is a tool for human use and has enormous potential to help solve all of our most difficult problems. The technology itself is neutral. It comes down to who controls it that determines its destiny. That will be determined by class struggle. The mission of artists is to enlighten humanity. Using AI creatively & openly for the benefit of all is now part of that.

———

The Electric Cat

Silently stalks & prowls throughout its habitat
The Electric Cat

Those crazy dogs got burs in their fur again. Drat! Why can’t they be more like that…?
Electric Cat

Silky & slinky with claws & a bite, lookout for that!

I give it food & love, it purrs by my side. I love that
Electric Cat

At its best and at rest, always respect that
Electric Cat

Felinus Electricus, a miniature Indian tiger cat
It’s all that
The Electric Cat

———

Recorded 01-12-2024 in Eustis, FL by Tom Pearce

Production & AI artwork* (see notes) also by TomP at Last Minute Productions

……….<><><><><><><><>………..

Why Kamala Harris will lose on November 5

What seemed impossible only a few months ago has turned into reality. Donald Trump currently leads in all 7 battleground states according to Real Clear Politics.

Michigan 48.3 47.4 Trump +0.9
Pennsylvania 47.9 47.4 Trump +0.5
Wisconsin 47.9 47.8 Trump +0.1
Arizona 48.8 47.4 Trump +1.4
Nevada 47.9 47.1 Trump +0.8
North Carolina 48.5 47.5 Trump +1.0
Georgia 48.7 47.6 Trump +1.1

After Joe Biden was forced out by top Democrats following his disastrous June 27 debate performance, Kamala Harris was propelled to the head of the ticket and quickly surpassed Trump in WI, MI & PA– the three battleground states she needs to win to get to 270 in the Electoral College. But in the last month or so, Harris has been slipping in every state. Wisconsin & Michigan which she had initially flipped, have turned back to Trump; and Pennsylvania which Harris had held a slight edge has flipped red with Trump consistently ahead in the polls. How did this happen?

First & foremost, the Trump campaign has received a massive injection of money from fascist billionaires such as Elon Musk, and they have gone on the attack with scathing commercials. Kamala Harris & “Bidenomics” are inseparable, and that message is getting through to struggling American workers. The real economy isn’t working for 80-90% of the population, so Donald Trump can attack & ludicrously posture as a candidate of “hope & change.”

Secondly, Kamala Harris’ position of full support for Zionist genocide in Gaza and the broader war with Hezbollah & Iran that has metastasized, is deeply unpopular with student youth & the working class. Furthermore, slandering anti-war & anti-genocide activists as “antisemitic” is a cynical big lie. This is Kamala Harris, who is no different from Joe Biden, politically speaking. Their debated differences are superficial window dressing, and most people recognize that.

Cracking down on anti-war dissent on campuses across the country is deeply unpopular, and it has been led by the Democrats. Biden, Harris, AOC, etc, have all slandered anti-war genocide protesters as “antisemitic,” which is a big lie from the CIA Democrats. This anti-democratic policy has cost Kamala Harris the young voters she needed to win these all-important battleground states.

Thirdly, the Democrats racialist & feminist cards aren’t working either. These are key planks to their identity politics campaign, which is meant to divide the working class along artificial lines while ignoring class inequality. MAGA Trumpists are fascists, filled with white supremacists & actual antisemites, but they are never called out by Kamala Harris and the Democrats for what they are, all in the name of bipartisanship. Joe Biden said, “We need a strong Republican Party,” when asked why he wasn’t prosecuting Donald Trump for his 1/6 coup attempt. Democrats enabling Republicans is how the two-party system works.

This means the Democrats are going to lose on November 5, because Trump and the far right need this win more than the Democrats. If Trump loses, he & his party are finished. It would be a crippling blow to fascism, which a class of billionaires won’t allow. These elitists will do whatever it takes to ensure a Trump victory, while the Democrats will meekly acquiesce.

That’s not how the majority of the US population feels. What we have with Election 2024 were rigged primaries on both sides, where no leftist or 3rd-party dissent was ever allowed. Massive blacklisting & censorship campaigns were undertaken by both major parties, but particularly the Democrats whose target was anything on the left. Removing 3rd-party candidates from the ballot through legal challenges in Democratic-friendly courts and censoring leftists in the mass media were major prongs of the Democrats election campaign in 2024.

In other words, it was a massive disinformation & censorship campaign on both sides, full of lies, propaganda, and other distortions of the truth. Omission has been a primary distortion. Nuclear war, capitalist-induced climate change, etc, were basically off-limits to serious discussion. Any “debates”, “press conferences”, “interviews”, etc, were distortions of those terms, with “moderators” injecting their bias at every turn, bastardizing the professional terms “journalism” & “reporting”.

When Trump wins, and Kamala Harris graciously concedes, the Democrats will then begin to blame the “deplorables” for their defeat, as Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Deplorables are especially white working males who weren’t smart enough to vote for the Democrats because they are racist, sexist, anti-gay, etc. Deplorables are stooges of Vladimir Putin and that Russian conspiracy to take away all our freedoms, etc. Those who oppose funding Zelensky’s Nazi Azov Battalion in the Ukraine are “agents of Putin” & “antisemites.” All this is why Kamala Harris will lose on November 5.

………….<><><><><><>………….

 

Facebook account disabled–again

On the morning of Friday, October 4, 2024, Facebook disabled my account. I have since been unable to access my personal page, artist page, or dentist page. Facebook has given me no reason for this. Facebook emailed me an ‘account recovery code,’ but allow me no link to use it.

This is how big tech jerks you around when they are censoring you. I’ve sent Facebook multiple messages through email and their service page, but get no response. It’s all AI bots & attack algorithms on their end.

I’ve received messages from friends who wonder why I’ve disappeared, did I de-friend them, etc? Facebook deletes me whenever they feel I’m too effective on social media. Facebook is controlled by the CIA Democrats, so I have no idea when/if I will return.

…………….<><><><><>…………..

Just a Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers (2024)

If you are a sports fan in Wisconsin, go see this movie.

According to Google, Marcus Theatres is the only place to see Just A Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. There are currently no other distribution deals in place. That’s a shame because this documentary film is about something bigger than baseball. In 1982, the people of Milwaukee, and the entire state of Wisconsin, got behind the Brewers with Bob Uecker on the radio all summer and it was an unbelievable energy.

This was a blue collar team from a beer drinking city, that fans became part of. It was fan energy than propelled the True Blue Brew Crew past the California Angels in the ALCS. Every Brewers fan knows if Rollie Fingers & Pete Vuckovich weren’t injured, they would have beaten St Louis. This was when the Brewers were in the AL East and had to beat the Yankees, Orioles, Tigers, Red Sox, etc, just to make the post-season. It was perhaps the most exciting pennant race ever.

The city of Milwaukee held a parade for the Brewers the day after they lost Game 7. Compare that to Boston in 1986 and how they treated Bill Buckner, or Philadelphia in 1993 with their treatment of Mitch Williams. When you cheer for a team like Wisconsin did in 1982, you don’t quit on them if they come up short. Note that if you go see this movie, you’ll be in the minority if you aren’t wearing Brewers gear. The best sports documentaries are the ones that tell a story that is bigger than the game.

The Brewers made the post-season in 1981, the strike season where the team with the best record in MLB (Cincinnati Reds) didn’t make the playoffs. The Brewers lost to the Yankees in the divisional round, which the owners rolled out after the in-season strike was settled.

Some championships in sports really don’t count, because the game became so distorted it wasn’t even real anymore. MLB in 1981 is one. MLB (& NBA) in 2020 are another, and in the NFL & NCAAF it happens regularly. The 1981 MLB players strike isn’t mentioned in Just a Bit Outside, but it’s the reason that team isn’t nearly as remembered.

Another weakness is owner Bud Selig being too nostalgic & stale, but give him credit for going for it when they had their chance in 1982, by acquiring HoF RHP Don Sutton (1945-2021) from the Astros at the trade deadline for a young RF Kevin “Smallmouth” Bass. The problem wasn’t the one that got away, but what the Brewers traded Sutton for after 1984, and this documentary doesn’t go there either, which lets you leave the theater happy. Orson Welles once said, “If a movie has a happy ending, it finished too soon.”

Bud Selig bought the hapless Seattle Pilots after their inaugural 1969 campaign of futility, forever brought to life in Jim Boutin’s Ball Four (1970)– one of the best baseball books ever. The Brewers weren’t good until 1981, and exhausted themselves in 1982. The Brewers fell just short the the Orioles in 1983, and were never competitive thereafter in the AL. Poor payer development, bad free agent signings & trades, etc, defined the Brewers front office, as Bud Selig whined about needing a new stadium to be competitive. Still at County Stadium, the Brewers finished last in the AL East, 26 GB the Blue Jays led by DH Paul Molitor in 1993, their last year in the AL.

Bud Selig was MLB commissioner by that point, and the Selig family held the team until 2004-05 when it was sold to current Brewers owners Mark Attanasio for $223M. Under GM’s Doug Melvin, then David Stearns, the Brewers have become a low-payroll sustainable model for MLB. They probably can’t win a World Series, but they can win their division consistently. Most die-hard fans recognize this and that’s why the 1982 Brewers are so beloved. It’s the closest they ever got, and likely will ever get. They gave it their all, but bad luck & injuries got them in the end.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but being in the same state as the Green Bay Packers provides a different perspective to sports fans in Wisconsin. Cheeseheads have experienced NFL titles & Super Bowls to the extent that Vince Lombardi is on the trophy. Baby boomers & generation-X Packers fans also remember the down years of the 1970’s & 1980’s. They weren’t good, as WR James Lofton was their only great player in a long era of losing & mediocrity for the Packers. Fans still sold out every game at Lambeau, and regional TV revenue has always been strong. This was the grassroots support the Milwaukee Brewers finally tapped into in 1982.

……………..<><><><><>……………

Trump assassination attempt in PA: Murky murky

Sat 13 Jul 2024 08:20 PM CDT

Insane news, just breaking. Someone tried to shoot Donald Trump during a campaign rally in PA earlier this evening.  Evidentially the shooter is dead, and a rally attendee was killed. You can see someone go down in the audience to the above right of Trump after shots were fired. Trump was grazed by a bullet to his right ear, but is okay, according to reports. All this violence plays into the hands of the far right, which is why all socialists condemn assassination as a political weapon.

The US Secret Service has probably already identified the shooter, but aren’t releasing any information to the public yet. Everything is kept secretive in events like this. A narrative needs to be established (behind close doors) that doesn’t make Uncle Sam look bad before info can be released. Any unpleasant facts (ex-military, far-right, etc) will be buried, or at least overlooked in the media. This is standard operating procedure.

I was just chatting this afternoon with someone who has to work downtown next week, with all the security restrictions surrounding the Fiserv Forum & beyond. There are “red zones” you can’t go into, “pedestrian zones” surrounding that where no vehicles are allowed, etc. Parking & traffic downtown is always a problem, as everyone who lives in Milwaukee knows, and now it’s going to be much worse for the week of the RNC.

There are ~50,000 Republicans coming to town, who all think they are VIPs and demand immediate service. Everything is gonna be way worse now, after this. For instance, this could affect the ability of prostitutes to get to the major hotels and service clients. That would cause outrage among these politicians.

These streets & buildings that Milwaukee taxpayers don’t have access to for the next week are to be used for a gigantic orgy of wealth & debauchery. This shooting that Trump was a target of today is a result of his countless incitements to violence. He has himself to blame for this, but he will blame the far-left & socialists, as always.

If there’s anything crazy that ties the Trump shooter to the US military or Intelligence, it’s being deep-sixed right now. This tampering of evidence was prevalent during the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando back in 2016. The shooter’s father had ties to US Intelligence in Afghanistan. The bin Laden family was protected and flown out of the US after 9/11, etc. Controlling the information the public gets during murky events such as these prevents uncomfortable truths from becoming widely known. This censorship & withholding of facts is essential to news propaganda.

It feels like Trump has angered so many dangerous people that this was inevitable. self reflection is important here. The whole world wants to know who this asshole was, but the US Secret Service/FBI have things locked up tighter than the Virgin Mary. Where is the network reporting here? They all still have nothing and it’s nearing midnight, hours after the event. These media lapdogs are too used to being spoon-fed stories to know what to do here. National security BS. A witness says he informed agents and they just stood around as the shooter was bear crawling onto a rooftop with a rifle.

I keep mentioning the Black Hand as a powerful force that works imperceptibly to the public eye. That’s active now. Keep you eyes open & a clear head. “Two officials told The Associated Press that the shooter was not an attendee at the rally.” Officials must know the identity of the shooter to make that statement. Still nothing to the public…

Well after midnight, the shooter was finally identified to the public as Thomas Crooks, a while male age 20. He was a registered Republican.

Sun 14 Jul 2024 11:30 AM CDT

Thomas Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers. The FBI is still keeping his motive airtight. Why? How did he get the weapon & ammo? Why did he do it? We are being kept in the dark on that by the FBI– standard procedure. Narratives were being created & crafted in the meanwhile.

Apparently in 2017, Crooks donated $15 to ActBlue a centrist-Democrat PAC. Crooks obviously drifted to the far-right since. The fake media describes ActBlue as “left-leaning,” when it is actually centrist. A 2017 donation means Crooks was age 13 when he donated $15 to the Dems. Why was this information released, instead of facts & a motive?

The concealed motive of the FBI, Biden & Trump will be to cover-up anything embarrassing and blame the left. Trump has incited & encouraged this type of violence for years, while Biden has stood silent. By all indications, this Trump shooting was blowback. The US government doesn’t want to talk about that– especially during an election.

Try to imagine being grazed in the ear by a bullet. Trump was speaking as a megalomaniac in front of his die-hard supporters when he discovered there are people who really hate him and are willing to act on that. One supporter died hard and two others are critically injured. Trump is fortunate that shooter wasn’t steady & accurate because he reacted very slowly, lowering himself to the ground awkwardly after being hit. He didn’t realize. The JFK shooters [!!] would have gotten Trump easily.

Of course, now Donald Trump is a martyr to his fanatics. Sad really. We won’t see Trump for awhile, he’s never endured such physical pain in his life. Perhaps worse is the psychological pain he can never get rid of. A near-death experience teaches you are vulnerable. It also reminds Trump he is hated. This will affect him personally & politically.

Historically, Trump is Hitler. When a group of top Wehrmacht officers tried to assassinate Adolph Hitler in July, 1944, he was injured & shaken by it. The Wehrmacht was then ruthlessly purged. Serious questions need to asked on all sides. What Thomas Crooks teaches us politically is that the Republicans are just as divided as the Democrats. Crooks was a registered Rep… killed by US Secret Service. Murky murky

Lawmakers this morning are urging people not to jump to conclusions, the FBI is on it, etc. That’s their “leadership” on this. Let’s see this kid’s social media posts, online activity, etc– PRONTO! Perhaps that would help people understand better. Where & how did he get the military assault rifle & ammo? This could be a black eye for the NRA.

Lots of security questions being covered up presently, that’s for sure. Murky murky. Ex-presidents get Secret Service protect for life. Evidentially, Trump’s assigned security team isn’t entirely enthusiastic about protecting him. Agents were told there was a threat and they apparently didn’t act. I imagine there are those who feel the same way whose job it is to protect Joe Biden.

Sun 14 Jul 2024 08:00 PM CDT

Final update: Thomas Crooks was a registered Republican who was a bullied loner, according to classmates. The political conclusion is that he took his right-wing anger & violent aggression out on the chief bully of the Republican Party. Trump is lucky the kid was a confirmed lousy shot. That’s hard for certain people to say or admit.

Joe Biden blathered on & on to us again about the importance of unity with Republicans on national TV. He did this after 1/6, but had taken the opposite position during his 2024 “campaign,” stating that Trump is a tyrant who condones violence, etc. This was Joe Biden’s political position as recently as last Thursday evening… But when this violence he encourages blows back to Trump directly, Biden is there to defend him & prop him up. It’s the ‘presidential’ thing to do. The shooter is a “monster” and Trump must be saved, that’s all we need to know.

Unasked question to Joe Biden: Why do you keep flip-flopping on Trump?

Where did Thomas Crooks get his gun & ammo? It been over 24 hours and the public still hasn’t been told. And what about his politics? The FBI, etc, absolutely know. “Don’t listen to online chatter,” we’re being told by leading politicians & pundits. Instead listen to the people who told us Jeffery Epstein committed suicide in prison. Anything else is a conspiracy theory to be ridiculed.

Trump was lucky, but a firefighter & two others weren’t. Violence begets collateral damage, which becomes propaganda. That’s where everything is going here in the fake media and both parties of capitalism. This completes the propaganda cycle and another dramatic episode in the US civil war election campaign.

…………..<><><><><><><><>………….

The Electric Cat: advance promo

I have fans on all inhabited continents. My demographic is 18-24, girls & boys. The messages I receive from them are mostly, “Wow!! How come I’ve never heard of you? You’re amazing!!” These are serious young kids who have been scouring the internet for new acts, kinda like the kids who devoured the fanzines & watched MTV obsessively back in that day. My reply to them is, “I’m too good & too far left, so I’m blacklisted. Read all about it on my site.”

That’s how I’ve marketed & promoted myself over the years. Eventually the platform cuts me off from my fans as a power grab and that’s when I stop on that platform because you can do anything without a true connection to the fans. The industry rule is: there is no money for Ric Size so every platform steals my juice to pump themselves up & put me down.

In the real world, I’m blacklisted from every venue and even if I could book something, that venue would soon get pressured to drop the show. That’s the nefarious influence of the CIA Democrats. No one will pay 100% in advance, non-refundable to an artist, so I’m being unreasonable there, etc. It’s impossible for me to do business with anyone and that’s why I don’t perform live. I have covers and can do-it-all solo, but too few people in the business even respect that anymore. The fans are the ones who suffer the most. Mainstream music today sucks and it’s been that way since the late 1990’s.

With that introduction, I’d like to advance announce the latest Ric Size single, “The Electric Cat”. This is the cover image and it was created with artificial intelligence (AI) by my producer. I’ll be publishing much more on this exciting & powerful new technology.

……………….<><><><><>…………….