Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Israel PM Netanyhu visits China - wow didn't see this was coming. I figured China would be searing after the Israeli air strikes of Syria.

I finished City of thieves, an interesting tale of Russia during WW2 by David Benioff , yesterday. Benioff blended humor in nicely to brutal tales of the German occupation of Russia. The character Kolya,  a Red Army deserter and fledling writer, quipped a few times about how a writer  often  borrow  the best lines of other writers.

When I first heard the line  "nothing is true , everything is permitted"  in a Jim Carroll song  (circa 1980),  I considered it a solid line from the jaded junkie,  however most data points back to this line being a deathbed utterance of  Hassan-i Sabbah, the early 12th century leader of the Hashashinis (later to be called Assassins). Then again, that may not be true.

Sports, politics,  and assassins- did I capture the events of the day?


Put in a penny,   check the Chechnyans,  pat the poet,

enough of this vamp: To put together; fabricate or improvise:

8/28/13

Is Obama going to take us to war ( recall Libya?)  with Syria w/o Congressional  approval. Why not let both sides (Assad & Iran vs.Al Queda) kill each other? And,  I get the chemical warfare argument.

9/1/13

 Now King Barack says he'll consult Congress on Syria although he doesn't have to. Load of crap from BO

10/26/13

FBook follows Obama's NSA lead trying to give me cyber staph with its search graph . The govt and  corporations don't value privacy so stop trying to sell us that crap.

Is Putin's attempt to incorporate Ukraine  going off the rails despite the $$$?  Ukraine's Prez is compromising but folks want more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25923199

4/21/14

NSA spying , invasive  airport searches ,   and a kid hops the fence and sneaks into the wheel well of a plane. Indeed everything is permitted.  link

4/28/14

Fits with the topic title. Donald Sterling, the former owner of the NBA Clippers before a lifetime ban for racist comments, was a DNC & NAACP donor.

7/20/14

Blog title  fits my  theme of the day.
USA border agents strafed at the Rio Grande
Russian separatists moved the bodies from  the Malaysian airlines ' wreckage

11/13/14

Thought this would fit the blog title from BBC:

European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker denies allegations he encouraged tax avoidance during his time Luxembourg prime minister

12/09/14

Didn't Feinstein sign  off on the alleged CIA ills she's exposing today?  quite a time for Dems to be transparency

4/9/15

What happened to Feinstein's "war' with the CIA?

4/13/15

Hey China: Why not reduce taxes on the mainland?  or other things. link

Parallel trading has been a key factor in the growing anti-mainland sentiment in Hong Kong.
There is huge demand in China for household items from Hong Kong, in particular milk powder, as they are seen as being both cheaper and better quality.

7/31/15

Is mainland China creeping into Taiwan's culture? link

 But opponents have charged that the revisions whitewash Taiwan’s authoritarian period under Nationalist rule before it became a democracy in the early 1990s, and amount to inserting pro-mainland China ideology into the curriculum.

1/17/16

Good election for Taiwan:  Taiwanese voters have voted for Ms Tsai  to keep Beijing at a distance. Hope she's succesful.

1/18/16

China's response is not surprising but still chilling. 

Chinese state media lashed out swiftly in the wake of the victory, saying that Taiwan should abandon its "hallucination" of independence.

6/5/16

 Malka Leifer an Israeli woman facing 74 child sex charges in Australia, is mentally unfit, due to panic attacks, to face extradition. I'd have panic attacks, too. Plus they just lifted her house arrest

7/25/16

A political marriage  #kyi and Gen Min Aung Hlaing , not only permitted but possibly working. Kyi has gone from being under military house arrest to getting  a  visit from Gen Hlaing. #burma

9/5/16

My favorite headline of the day

What Al Capone can teach India about prohibition

Gujarat, a state in India ,outlawed alcohol in 1958, but contraband liquor is still readily available at hooch stalls.

1/1/17

#shawcross is proposing a charity tax to fund a  hotline that will advise charity trustees how to increase and enhance public trust in charities.  and this guy is permitted to keep his job as chairman of the UK Charity Commission

4/11/17

Mainland China has hurt a once vibrant #hongkong  economy, but did permit Hong Kong leader-elect Carrie Lam to state the obvious on  Tuesday: 
"there is no room for moves towards independence in the former British colony which she said needs the support of the central government in Beijing to boost economic development over the next five years."

6/25/17

Update on #malkaliefer: #israel continues  to prevent her extradition as she leads a normal life in Israel  then runs to a nuthouse each time she faces an extradition hearing to Australia.

6/30/17

Hey we're just enforcing the law. F'n commies: Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, known as "Me Nam" #MotherMushroom was sentenced  ten years in jail by a court in #Vietnam for blogging. Yep, she dared to question the state.

9/20/17

American Left on a mission to destroy Dems: #NancyPelosi heckled as 'liar' in DACA protest in San Francisco.

11/04/17

Politicians permitted to say anything. #Bush1, the ex Prez who said read my lips, no new taxes, then raised taxes, calls #trump, a blowhard. Now that's rich!

11/29/17

#SlobodanPraljak drank from  a small bottle a liquid what he claimed was poison during a War Crimes Trial. I guess security permits this????

12/29/17

This would prove everything is permitted:  I've been invited to #PrinceHarry 's wedding. Now, back to dislodging my tongue from my cheek.

2/18/18

This fit the blog theme. Nigeria's top anti-corruption judge, #DanladiUmar ,tasked with high-profile cases, has been charged with illegally accepting money.  accused of demanding a bribe from a suspect.

9/26/18

I guess everything  has been permitted in #acapulco : The entire police force has been disarmed and put under investigation for being under the control of drug cartels.

4/28/19

 Ain't this sadly amusing from #JeremyCorbyn who can't control the anti-Semites in his Labour Party: #TheresaMay should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honour a President (Trump) who used racist and misogynist rhetoric,"

10/28/19

 A vase given to then PM Thatcher by former #Cyprus president #GeorgeVassiliou three decades ago was sold at auction. Diplomatic protocol bars selling off state gifts. No answer yet from the British Government.

11/10/19

 Outgoing Sri Lankan President #Sirisena  pardoned #JudeJayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, saying he had behaved well in prison and had been jailed  at the age of 19 over an "incident of impatience". The act of impatience was the 2005 murder of a Swedish woman #YvonneJonsson .

1/14/20

 Watch out folks! A Swiss judge, Judge Philippe #Colelough, said due to the imminent danger of the climate crisis the students ,who played tennis inside a Credit Suisse branch in 2018 in protest of fossil fuel investments, were not guilty of resisting arrest and refusing to pay fines. Yep, everything is permitted.

Lou Reed smacks my brain, again.

I'm eating some dry cheerios , & reading sports stories when  Lou's  Video Violence comes from my stereo. Here's part of a stanza that grabbed me.

Down at a bar some woman is topless She's acned and scarred, her hair is a mess While he shoves $5 down her exotic panties The video jukebox is playing Madonna

Sometimes, LR is morose and  you want to eject the record cuz there's only so much psychoanalysis you want to hear in one sitting , and other times he's side splitting. I tip my morning ice tea to Lou's lyrics from his late 1980's albums.

Video Violence

12/3/12

 The New Sensations album in the early 80's surprised me the most. and it was probably his closest approach to the center line . he was definitely goofing with the fun tune: I Love you, Suzanne.

6/2/13

 Lou is recovering from a liver transplant. Maybe he's feeling the magic  this magic moment

8/20/13

 Bigtoke got me thinking of Lou Reed and "girl" songs.  You better watch out for Charley's girl

9/13/13

Since this blog entry gets the most hits, here's one of my faves from Lou: Families

10/09/13

This is my Lou Reed, who may not endorse my choice,  song  response to more Govt. via Obamacare  Leave me alone

10/26/13

"The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet. I've lost my 'school-yard buddy,' " Cale wrote on Twitter.

RIP Lou,: and I won't be   standing on ceremony

10/30/13

I listened to Ceremony, Think it over, Growing up in Public yesterday. Leave me Alone from an earlier album is next on the Reed memory trail.

11/22/13

Lou left us a few weeks ago, but  he recorded this around 1980. The day JFK died

12/20/13

line from Dirty Boulevard:

The traffic's backed up to 39th street the TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck

12/23/13

Consternation about visiting the  family: Listen to 9/13/13 link

2/13/14

" a son who was cursed by a harridan mother and a weak simpering father , at best" A line from How do you speak to the prettiest girl  that still reverberates

3/26/14

great line from the song growing up in public:

they edify your integrity so they can play on your fears

4/20/14

replay the 9/13/13/ link - it's Easter

10/2/14

replay the  10/9/13 link as Hong Kong's reply to China. Since the Brits handed it over in 1997, it's a steady deterioration of freedom

11/22/14

replay the link from last year.

5/4/15

from Lou's new sensations tune:

It's easy enough to tell what is wrong but that's not what I want to hear all night long Some people are like human tuinals

6/13/15

Long before Rachel Doldezal  claimed to be black  Lou Reed  penned the biting I WANNA BE BLACK "i wanna be black- don't wanna be a fucked up middle class college student anymore"

7/16/16

I suspect Lou was jabbing at the notion that it's cooler or nobler to be black or anything else than white. Basically deal with who you are.If we're going to be equal or equivalent, there's no room for the less than or greater than symbols.

12/26/16

After Obama's latest smack of Israel, would replacing Jesse(Jackson) with  Barack(Obama)  work in this line from Reed's Good Evening Mr #Waldheim. "Jesse you say Common Ground-does that include the PLO?"

3/6/17

#Dolzeal has taken the "I wanna be black" theme to an absurd level by changing her name to the west African Nkechi Amare Diallo.

5/13/17

Saturday morning ritual, no TV , just my wmp player. Hung upon Lou's tune "who am i" THIS MORNING. I 'm not feeling as morose as the tune,  but  Lou's lyrics are ricocheting around my cranium. live version who am I

"Sometimes I wonder who am I
The world seeming to pass me by"

5/20/17

If you want to know how clueless some of today's college kids are check this out. A student association at #ontariouniversity apologized  for having #loureed 's walk on the wild side on a playlist because it was transphobic and said the creator of the playlist didn't understand the lyrics. It doesn't get much lamer than snowflakes combining stupidity with arrogance.

9/2/17

The dim bulbs  enforcing current FBook and Google  broad #Orwellian policies on alleged  hate and bullying would have a field day with these #LouReed late70s  lyrics from "Charley's Girl" about a drug bust.

They wanted to bust the whole band I said if I ever see sharon again I'm gonna punch her face in

11/20/17

Reviewing the lyrics to Reed's "the day JFK died,  Man, did Americans have high expectations for #JFK.

 I dreamed I replaced ignorance, stupidity and hate

1/27/18

keep thinking of  lines from #loureed 's song Smiles : "  stylish smiles of buffoonery, chicanery and larceny abound"
3/3/18 : It would have been #loureed s 76th birthday yesterday. this line from Reed's "wild child" popped into my cranium a few times : "He thought it was funny that I had no money to spend on him"

3/5/18: re-spinning  Lou's "Leave me alone" and cranking it high at the #oscars. You lecture me on guns while being surrounded by private armies., and you shout #metoo while giving #Kobe , an award. 

July 22, 2020

I was a bit surprised to hear a track yesterday of Bob Seger covering Lou Reed's tune, "Busload of Faith". Maybe a more surprising cover than Duran, Duran  version of Lou's "Perfect Day"?

SEPT 5, 2020

re-spinning "I wanna be black" FOR  #jessicakrug , GW professor

June 26, 2021

While reading  some Damon Runyon short stories, I started to ponder who he influenced with his nicknames about urban characters on the streets and in entertainment clubs. The nickname Spanish Johnny obviously triggered Springsteen song characters. Also I thought of Kerouac, Jim Carroll, and Lou Reed, who named a character Sugar Plum Fairy in the tune Walk on the Wild Side.

Perhaps Carroll is saying from his grave : Buster , you must be eatin reds to mention me in the same sentence with Springsteen.

july 17, 2021

Runyon reported on Al Capone’s trial, enthusiastically recorded the gangster’s tailoring bills from Marshall Field’s, and the shopping he did for his home. 

I guess that didn't bother Al.

aug 24, 2021

Capone’s granddaughters are selling a trove of keepsakes  which includes his“favorite” gun (a Colt .45 pistol starting at $50,000), a Patek Philippe pocket watch monogrammed with 90 diamonds, and personal letters.

Lou Reed and Runyon would have a field day with this comment from an article on the auction: "ethicists debate the value of objects of historical significance but moral murkiness"

sept 4, 2021

 Some notes from reading book reviews of ‘You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone’, a bio on Nico. I concur that  #Nico helped VU on these tunes,  “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” ,and didn't know Warhol’s bugged Reed to give Nico some vocals Also, I was unaware  that Jim Morrison  encouraged her to write her own tunes.

oct 3, 2021

Another Runyon short story had me searching for the meaning of duckets. Basically it's hustling for funds.

Nov 22, 2022

Listening to Reed's "the day JFK died" at the blog and pondering a comment I heard on CSpan Sunday about Damon Runyon criticizing Alf Landon, a fellow native of Kansas, during Alf's1936 presidential run against FDR.