Author Archives: cleek

Fired employee indicted for stealing from workplace

MIAMI – A former employee of the United States federal government who was let go due to extreme incompetence has just been indicted on charges of stealing from his erstwhile employer.

Donald Trump, 76, has a checkered work record and a well-documented history of poor job performance. It’s not clear how someone known for ineptitude and malfeasance obtained high-level employment with the US government, but it’s believed that the parties who hired him were similarly incapable of carrying out their own responsibilities either due to stupidity or malice.

“I’m not surprised he stole a bunch of stuff when he was terminated, with some people that kind of behavior is pretty easy to predict,” said one of Trump’s former co-workers. “It all comes down to upbringing. I don’t wanna stereotype, but I find that people who inherit a great deal of wealth from their parents are almost all thieves.”

After somehow being employed by the US government, Trump quickly proved himself unable to perform the functions for which he was hired and only managed to keep his job for four years due to a technicality that prevented him from being discharged until a suitable replacement was found. Upon his dismissal, Trump allegedly absconded with a large number of valuable items belonging to his employer.

Remain in Light

Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison, and the guest guitarist on that album, Adrian Belew, are on the road with a tour highlighting the Heads' awesome 1980 album, Remain In Light. It's an eleven member band, seven of whom are themselves the band Cool, Cool, Cool. The others are Harrison, Belew, longtime Belew collaborationist bassist Julie Slick, and percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres.

I wasn't sure what to expect - were they going to just walk out and play the whole album? Would they throw some other stuff in? What about the fact that the last three of the eight songs are very slow, atmospheric things (co-producer Brian Eno's influence is strong), and one of them is about a middle eastern terrorist blowing up westerners with his homemade bombs ? [1980 was a different time]

They solved that problem by playing only the first five songs from Remain In Light, with a bunch of Talking Heads' classics (Psycho Killer, Slippery People, Take Me To The River, etc), a Jerry Harrison solo tune (Rev It Up), and Thela Hun Ginjeet from Belew-era King Crimson, mixed-in. On the Heads' songs, Belew, Harrison, the baritone saxophone player, and the two female singers all took turns doing lead vocals.

It was nice to see Jerry Harrison. Probably the only time I'll see a Head. And the rest of the band was sizzling. But honestly, the two women singers kinda stole the show. They were so good, and those Heads songs have such great backing/counterpoint parts. If you've ever seen the Stop Making Sense movie, you probably noticed how important the two female singers are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyDb4szpWmc

Good show. Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade was the headliner that night, but we weren't up for it.

They're playing in Asheville tonight, and I was tempted to drive out there to catch it, but the show is sold out. Oh well.

I'm Not Sure

But this might be the most horrifying thing I've ever heard.

The comments on YouTube are 99% positive. And not just "Wow. Neat" but "im THRILLED and AMAZED", "I began to appreciate it more and more, eventually coming out of it with chills to the bone", "TRULY Obsessed. This rendition is everything!", "Absolutely BRILLIANT".

Makes me wonder if I might be insane.

Step By Step

The people behind these anti-CRT bills have admitted that they are part of a larger strategy to undermine our confidence in public education and advocate for privatizing education. For example, Christopher Rufo, the architect of the right-wing crusade against CRT, is “preparing a strategy of laying siege to the institutions” that will lead to parents having “a fundamental right to exit” public schools. In practice, this means using CRT to promote private school vouchers.

By an amazing coincidence:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) recently signed legislation that might radically undermine the state’s education system by making Florida’s already robust school voucher program the largest and most expensive in the country.