caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

Afternoon folks!

More great stuff this week! Starting off we've got a live album from a great Chicago blues guitarist, Eddie Taylor, followed by an album from a great Delta blues guitarist, Big Jack Johnson backed by harmonica player Kim Wilson (best known for his work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Pinetop Perkins. After that there's an album of raucous, upbeat blues from Sandra Hall and some modern Zydeco from Buckwheat Zydeco. Then it's on to a live concert from The Band back in 1971 and we finish up with a 60's psychedelic album from a relatively obscure group called Fever Tree.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!

Good morning, good friends!

Hope this OT finds you in fine fettle.

I should have know going to a funeral last Saturday would set the tone and tenor for the week ahead, and it sure did.

The widow wore a pair of cowboy boots I had bought her to wear at her wedding to my friend and office computer technician. She is leaving Texas after 18 yrs to be with her family in both Nevada and Utah.

She takes Texas boots and great memories with her.

Happy Friday everyone. Welcome to Friday Night Photos, your once a week escape from the day to day insanity of the world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music or whatever else you find of interest that helps tune out the madness.

Spring has sprung. Today is the first day of spring, thou you wouldn't know it with the weather we've had this week. Temps have been in the mid to high 90's inland where I live, and upper 80's along the coast. I've lived in San Diego county since 1977 and I can't remember temps ever being this high this early in the year.
Temperatures are not the only thing on the rise. Since the start of the illegal war of aggression against Iran the price of gas has crept up $1 from $4.29 a gallon to $5.29.

A dozen shots from my last visit to Balboa Park.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has released a discussion of a potential bill that will change the course of the internet as we know it.

Blackburn Releases Discussion Draft of National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released a discussion draft of her legislative framework to codify President Trump’s executive order to create one rulebook for artificial intelligence (AI) that protects children, creators, conservatives, and communities from harm while ensuring the United States wins the global race for AI supremacy:

“Instead of pushing AI amnesty, President Trump rightfully called on Congress to pass federal standards and protections to solve the patchwork of state laws that has hindered AI innovation,” said Senator Blackburn. “Now, Congress must answer his call to establish one federal rulebook for AI to protect children, creators, conservatives, and communities across the country and ensure America triumphs over foreign adversaries in the global race for AI dominance. The TRUMP AMERICA AI Act is the solution America needs.”

This was my escape from the war narrative. Working on it on and off in between chores entirely for entertainment purposes.

1.

The contrast could not be greater. This evening listening to the steady croak of frogs. The first calf of the season should arrive this week. Canadian geese have been flying in pairs looking for nesting spots. Periodic Osprey calls pierce the air. Daffodils and first wave of fruit trees in bloom.

The economic changes caused by US actions are just starting to show. My heart is heavy with sadness on the loss of life, destruction of communities throughout Western Asia and anticipated changes throughout the world.

To review from this diary:

Deontology: about the extent to which doing a particular thing is a good-in-itself. Wikipedia:

We Can Hope!

Some writers, for instance David Sirota at the Lever, are seeing a bit of good news in all the crap coming from United State’s current politics - like the Democratic Party's Moment of Reckoning. Some of the new candidates are ‘radical’ compared to the usual Democrat stock-in-trade, and more of these ‘radical’ candidates are appearing. And that is a good thing.

Sirota begins his article with:

A decade after Bernie Sanders almost tore the presidential nomination out of the decrepit hands of the Democratic establishment, the party’s old guard, ancient political formulas, and outdated corporate politics seem to finally be facing a moment of comeuppance. The long-overdue reckoning appears to be happening not just in a few predictably liberal locales, but across varied swaths of the country that seem ready to embrace populist politics.