Noose at Eleven

As expected, Donald Trump crushed his opponents in the Iowa caucuses after which he made a live victory speech in which he said...(Bzzzt!)...he said...(Crackle!)...he said...

Sorry about that. The problem is NOT with your television set. Rather, if you were watching alleged "news" networks CNN or MSNBC, the transmission of Trump's message was cut off by an ideological problem that technicians are most definitely not rushing to repair.

Rather, the management of both networks decided to just not air anything Donald Trump says live anymore - even if it's a politically salient victory speech - because they claim they don't want to knowingly transmit anything that might be lies. Of course, they can't just leave the airtime unfilled while they're protecting you from whatever lies they've had premonitions about. So they open up the conversational floor to their (ahem) "news" people who then tell rock-solid truths like Trump has declared that he will be dictator for life, that if Trump wins he'll order the "crazies" who follow him to kill his political enemies, and that Trump will clearly destroy our country if re-elected because he forgot to do during his first Presidential term in which he was sending the economy through the roof, keeping us out of wars, improving employment and opportunities for minority Americans, projecting strength to our nation's adversaries, and giving away his salary to charity. The rat bastard.

This is among the most blatant acts of election interference imaginable and every minute of airtime devoted to talking up Joe Biden or talking down Trump needs to be listed as a political "contribution in kind" to the Biden campaign. Additionally, any special First Amendment protections applied to news organizations should be immediately yanked from these two propaganda mills. 

But why do CNN and MSNBC think they need to hide Trump's words from their viewers? If what Trump is saying is offensive, then the people should hear it to help them decide who to vote for. And if what Trump is saying is lies, then the networks should air those lies along with the proof that Trump is lying - again, for the benefit of their viewers.

Then again, CNN and MSNBC may believe that their viewers are such bone-headed morons that they'll simply believe any outlandish thing they hear on cable news. In fact, that's their entire market strategy.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY ARTIFICIAL

I'm still fiddling around with AI programs and music generators (hey, I need to do SOMEthing when I'm avoiding the news) and I recently came up with a song that is...dare I say it...kind of good?

I asked ChatGPT to write lyrics that sounded like a Byrds interpretation of a Bob Dylan song. I then plugged those lyrics into app.suno.ai and told it to generate a pop song with good harmonies. There were a lot of false starts, but then a good iteration. Which started a process of prompting the engine to add a little bit more and a little bit more until it was a whole song. And I added a music video (barely) so I could stick it on Youtube.

The song itself isn't intended to be a joke nor is it political. In fact, it's a bit of feel-good inspirational throwback rock that I've been listening to when I need a mood boost (hint: hourly). And maybe you'll enjoy it, too!

And for any Karaoke fans...sing along!

"Echoes of Tomorrow"

[Verse 1:]

In the whispers of the morning,

Through the mist of dawn's embrace,

Lies a truth that's softly spoken,

In the lines of every face.

Winds of change are blowing,

Across the fields of time,

Where dreams are sown like golden grains,

In the garden of the mind.

[Chorus:]

Oh, echoes of tomorrow,

Ring through yesterdays of sorrow,

And the songs of freedom hum,

Beneath the setting sun.

May the words we say,

Light the path and show the way,

For the echoes of tomorrow,

In our hearts will stay.

[Verse 2:]

See the river's constant flowing,

Past the mountains, through the plains,

Like the endless quest for knowing,

That in every heart remains.

Shadows of the evening,

Dance with the glow of fireflies,

While stars above keep weaving,

Tales of love beneath the skies.

[Chorus:]

Oh, echoes of tomorrow,

In the laughter and the sorrow,

Like a melody that flies,

Underneath the moonlit skies.

Let our voices rise,

Through the dark and stormy skies,

For the echoes of tomorrow,

Are the dreams that never die.

[Bridge:]

In every whispered wind,

In every songbird's call,

The answers lie within,

In the rise and in the fall.

[Chorus:]

Oh, echoes of tomorrow,

In the love that we can borrow,

From the chapters yet to write,

In the silence of the night.

Hand in hand we'll go,

Through the high and through the low,

For the echoes of tomorrow,

In our hearts will glow.