Ichabod's Kin
A place for politics, pop culture, and social issues

          Comedians start out, “What’s with–?” to introduce comedic remarks. My humor is lame but I do have some observations.

          What’s with MAGA Nation’s hatred of Taylor Swift? I guess she steals the spotlight from all the tough-guys with their “Don’t Try This in a Small Town” and other misfires aimed at who they imagine to be the Woke crowd of America. They play all patriotic and righteous while being anything but, like Merle Haggard and “We Don’t Smoke Marijuana in Muskogee” when he was as big a stoner as anyone.

          What’s with making celebrities out of local yokels who spew the news, get climate forecasts from somewhere else and are wrong anyway–as if we can’t wait to leave work early and drive home like madmen just in time to watch our favorite weatherman! How bad does life have to suck for that?

          We do know what’s with the Royals over the Pond. They’re on their last legs and gone to in-fighting. We know too that the royal press is their last hope and will make Harry and Meghan look as bad as possible while the family lies or obfuscates about Kate, tells us that the King is wearing clothes, and insists that the latest portraits of both are masterpieces that put Da Vinci to shame.

          And what’s all the smack over Biden and the Border? No one could have predicted the extent of the world’s immigration crisis—not even Trump. His long-ago border spew was not prescient; it had to do with playing to those who don’t like people who are different, however few they may be. It’s called NIMBY—Not In My Backyard–a form of racism, if you will.

          Migrant crises are age-old: with the accession of Elizabeth I the whole world went on the move, called “pilgrimages,” to places like Jerusalem, Canterbury and Rome, to name but a few, in search of relics and hair from saints and martyrs, and supposed pieces of “the Cross.” And there was hardly a complaint—after all, it brought tourist dollars. In our case, it brings willing labor if only we will use it—since good ol’ red-blooded Americans don’t wanna work anymore.

Why do so many migrants come here? Well, Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money was; these want to come here and work for it. Where do YOU go in the U.S. to chase your prosperity? You’ll even move to Arkansas if the job is right.

          What’s with folks in the Middle East who will never, ever kiss and make up? There is so much more to that story than in the daily news. So “what’s with Hamas?” is only the first question. “What’s with Bibi?” is the next one. He has his critics in Israel but deafening silence from Jews here. We kick Trump everyday but where are those crying anti-Semitism who will say a word about the Israeli Trump? Actually Donald can’t wait to be prez again and try to outdo his bosom-buddy. As for me and my house, I never trust anyone whose name ends in “-yahoo.”

          My “Moment Of Zen” from all the nonsense is to watch Jeopardy! and marvel whether it’s intelligence or merely photographic memories that rules. It’s all ruined next day by the online nit-picking over buzzer-timing, quality of questions, the way contestants hold their mouths, or some evil conspiracy on the part of Ken Jennings to manipulate the outcome. Clearly, Americans know nothing else to do about their anger over the way the world is.

          So I ran to another Tusk tribute to Fleetwood Mac at Blue Ocean just to hear Kathy Phillips sing Stevie Nicks songs so I could understand the words. The bigger miracle is that Stevie wrote “Dreams” way back in 1976 in no time at all and with an economy of chords. Okay, I give her that but not her swooping around on stage as if she were Isadora Duncan. It’s no different to Vanna White walking back and forth touching letters and becoming America’s Darling for so doing.

          So that’s just me, but you may ask, “what’s with that?”