Friday, July 3, 2026

Republicans are not Patriotic

 Transcribed from a TikToker named Cassandra (@myokayestlife)


Republicans are the least patriotic people in this country. 

They hate that this country is a country of immigrants, despite the fact that every single one of them comes from an immigrant family. And they'll be like, "Well, my family did it the right way." One, you don't know that. And at the time, the right way was stepping off a boat and getting a stamp. Now the right way takes decades. It costs thousands of dollars. And the Republican Party is intentionally attacking multiple different correct avenues to get citizenship so that they can justify locking up as many of these people as possible.

They hate the history of this country. That's why they don't want it being taught in schools, why they're constantly attacking the education system, and why they're constantly banning books.

They killed the American Dream—the idea that you could work 40 hours a week and be able to keep a roof over your head, have affordable housing, affordable education, and well-funded community resources. It's all gone. You can thank Nixon and Reagan for that.

They hate all of the foundational documents of this country. They will unironically say things like, "This is a Christian nation," despite the fact that the Treaty of Tripoli says—and I quote—"The United States government is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." That treaty was unanimously ratified by the Senate and signed by John Adams, the second President of the United States of America.

If you read the Declaration of Independence and get to the part that lists all of the ways that King George is tyrannical, they will say that you have Trump Derangement Syndrome because they think you're talking about Trump—and they don't see the irony.

And dear Lord, do they hate the Constitution.

Just starting with the Preamble—every single goddamn line in that Preamble—they fucking hate it.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union"—they fly the Confederate flag.

"Establish Justice"—Donald Trump is a felon.

"Ensure domestic Tranquility"—oh yeah, January 6, so tranquil.

"Provide for the common defense"—oh yeah, let's send them all off into an unnecessary war and kill more than a dozen of them, and also fuck over veterans every opportunity we can. Definitely providing for them then.

"Promote the general Welfare"—don't even mention welfare in front of these people. They will lose their ever-loving fucking minds.

"Secure the Blessings of Liberty"—they are die-hard authoritarians.

"To ourselves and our Posterity"—what posterity? The ones being killed in the highest infant mortality rate that they don't want to do anything about? The ones being shot in school that they don't want to do anything about? Or the ones that are going to die from climate change that they don't want to do anything about?

They hate the Emoluments Clause, and they're happy to see Donald Trump stomp all over it.

They hate states' rights if it's a blue state because they want the ability to fuck over blue states.

They hate the separation of powers, and they're happy to consolidate as much power as possible in the executive branch.

They hate the First Amendment. They think that freedom of religion only applies to Christianity, so they will gut the number of recognized religions but leave all the Christian ones. They think freedom of the press only applies to the press that they like. Everybody else is called fake news, gets sued, and gets kicked out of Pentagon press briefings.

They hate freedom of protest. They will drive a car through protesters. They will give protesters longer prison sentences.

And they might think that they support the Second Amendment, but really they support an officer's ability to kill you if they even think that you have a gun. How do you have the right to own one if law enforcement is legally allowed to kill you if they think you own one?

They somehow keep running into the Third Amendment. Do you understand how difficult that is?

Don't even get them started on how much they hate the Fifth Amendment—the right to due process.

They exploit the ever-loving fuck out of the Thirteenth Amendment, and they are massively backed by private prison industries to do so.

They have the highest incarceration rates in the nation, and they intentionally target Black people. Why? Because they also hate the Fifteenth Amendment. So they lock up Black people to intentionally take away their right to vote.

They hate the Fourteenth Amendment. We just saw that one play out in the Supreme Court.

They want to overturn the Seventeenth Amendment because they know they've gerrymandered the ever-loving hell out of those state legislatures, and they think that we should give the state legislature the ability to pick your senators. So now they want to use gerrymandering to control the House and the Senate.

They hate the Nineteenth Amendment. They don't think that women deserve the right to vote, and they will gaslight the ever-loving fuck out of you if you point that out to them. They'll go, "Oh no, that's just a niche little group of people. What are you talking about?" It's so niche that the President and the Vice President of the United States regularly go to the exact same conferences where they're having this conversation. Yeah, super niche.

They hate the Twenty-Second Amendment because they unironically think that Donald Trump should be allowed to run for a third term.

They hate the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. They keep trying to find their way around that ban on a poll tax. They'll call it a voter ID law and then charge you money for your ID, and also for all of the documents that you need to get your ID.

And for fuck's sake, they refuse to enact the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

They hate this country. Functionally, they're Confederates. They fly the Confederate flag. They have Confederate monuments. They control the Confederate states. They rename military bases after Confederate soldiers. If you read them the Cornerstone Speech, they'd agree with all of it.

They're Confederates. And being a Confederate and supporting the Confederacy is fundamentally un-American and not patriotic.


Treaty of Tripoli (1797)

Claim: The United States is a Christian nation by constitutional design.

Reality: The Treaty of Tripoli explicitly states the United States is “not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” and it was unanimously ratified by the Senate and signed by John Adams. From its earliest diplomatic agreements, the U.S. defined itself as a secular government.


Declaration of Independence (1776)

Claim: Strong leaders are justified in concentrating power if they believe they are protecting the nation.

Reality: The Declaration is a rejection of concentrated power. It lists abuses of authority as justification for rebellion and establishes the principle that legitimate government derives from consent and is invalid when it becomes tyrannical.


U.S. Constitution – Preamble

“To form a more perfect Union”

Claim: The Confederacy represents a legitimate or patriotic alternative to the United States.

Reality: The Confederacy was formed to leave and dismantle the Union. Supporting it conflicts directly with the Constitution’s stated purpose of strengthening national unity.


“To establish Justice”

Claim: Justice should vary depending on political identity or loyalty.

Reality: The Constitution requires equal justice under law. Political power does not alter legal rights or protections.


“To ensure domestic Tranquility”

Claim: Political violence or coercion is justified to achieve ideological goals.

Reality: The Constitution’s framework depends on peaceful civic order and lawful transfer of power. Political violence undermines that foundation.


“To provide for the common defence”

Claim: Military power can be used selectively for political ends while neglecting obligations to citizens and veterans.

Reality: The Constitution requires national defense as a public responsibility, including the obligation to protect and care for those who serve.


“To promote the general Welfare”

Claim: Government involvement in public welfare is illegitimate.

Reality: The Constitution explicitly authorizes government action to promote general welfare as a core purpose of the federal system.


“To secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”

Claim: The rights and well-being of future generations are secondary to present political or economic priorities.

Reality: The Constitution explicitly commits the nation to protecting liberty not only for current citizens but for future generations.


First Amendment

Freedom of Religion

Claim: The United States is intended to privilege Christianity over other religions.

Reality: The First Amendment prohibits establishment of religion and protects free exercise of all faiths equally.


Freedom of the Press

Claim: Media is only legitimate when it supports preferred political views.

Reality: Press freedom protects criticism of government and opposition viewpoints as essential to democratic accountability.


Freedom of Assembly and Protest

Claim: Protest rights do not apply when demonstrations oppose preferred political outcomes.

Reality: The First Amendment protects peaceful assembly regardless of viewpoint or political alignment.


Second Amendment

Claim: Gun rights exist even when government authority can override them through broad discretionary force.

Reality: Constitutional rights must be meaningfully protected in practice, including limits on arbitrary enforcement.


Fifth Amendment

Claim: Due process protections are optional when dealing with politically unpopular individuals.

Reality: Due process is a foundational constitutional safeguard that applies universally, regardless of public opinion or political status.


Thirteenth Amendment

Claim: Forced labor can be expanded through criminal punishment systems.

Reality: The amendment abolished slavery except as punishment for crime, but its intent was not to create a system of exploitative labor or unequal incarceration practices.


Fourteenth Amendment

Equal Protection

Claim: Equal protection can be applied selectively based on race, status, or political power.

Reality: The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection under law to all persons within U.S. jurisdiction.


Citizenship

Claim: Citizenship rights can be restricted through reinterpretation or administrative barriers.

Reality: The amendment establishes clear national citizenship and protects its legal rights.


Fifteenth Amendment

Claim: Voting rights can be indirectly restricted through legal or administrative barriers targeting specific populations.

Reality: The amendment prohibits denying the right to vote based on race, and its purpose is to prevent systemic disenfranchisement.


Seventeenth Amendment

Claim: State legislatures should control federal representation regardless of voter preference.

Reality: Senators are directly elected to ensure democratic accountability to the people, not political intermediaries.


Nineteenth Amendment

Claim: Voting rights should be restricted based on gender or traditional social roles.

Reality: The Constitution guarantees women equal voting rights nationwide.


Twenty-Second Amendment

Claim: Presidents should be allowed unlimited or extended terms if politically supported.

Reality: The Constitution limits presidents to two elected terms to prevent concentration of executive power.


Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Claim: Voting can be conditioned on financial or administrative burdens.

Reality: Poll taxes and similar financial barriers to voting are unconstitutional.


Twenty-Fifth Amendment

Claim: Presidential incapacity should be ignored for political convenience.

Reality: The Constitution provides a formal mechanism to address presidential disability or inability to perform duties.


Core Constitutional Pattern

Across all amendments and foundational documents, one consistent divide appears:

Claim: Political authority is justified when it advances a preferred cultural or ideological order, even if it weakens constitutional limits.

Reality: The U.S. Constitution is designed to prevent exactly that outcome. It restricts power, enforces equal rights, and treats legitimacy as dependent on law—not identity, ideology, or loyalty.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

The songs are the same, just dressed differently.

 

Every Song is the Same


Scott Miller said "Originality is unmusical". He believed that music is about building on that which you love and striving to be "original" means you didn't think enough of the music to begin with. (That part is mine)

But I've been listening to a lot of music lately and noticing that pretty much all "Pop" and "Rock" music is reinventing something with new technology and new takes. 

For instance, I'm not sure anyone has ever really recognized that Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town is really a soul record. But the critics of the day would not have allowed that to permeate their crispy white Rock world. So, instead of realizing that Bruce was writing Curtis Mayfield and Temptations songs, they focused on the blue collar message and raspy voice and whitewashed him. 

Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” is another example.

At first glance, it is a Springsteen song: longing, escape, regret, the restless American dream.

But underneath, it is practically a Motown song.

The handclaps. The vocal arrangement. The pop structure. The immediacy.

Springsteen was not abandoning his identity. He was revealing another layer of it. The great rock songwriter was also a pop craftsman.

The same thing happened when other artists reinterpreted existing songs. Zoot turning “Eleanor Rigby” into a heavy rock statement does not change the song. It exposes something that was already there: the darkness, the loneliness, the weight.

The clothes changed.

The skeleton remained.

Adam Ant is another purveyor of this. He, and Bowie. But they are separate in that Bowie was a master of reinvention, constantly becoming someone new. He had an ear to the underground. He knew how to bring it to the public. Adam is a post-punker/punker who moved into dance, and rockabilly and pop and, deep down, all the songs are the same, just gussied up a little differently. And his voice is better, more elastic, more interesting. 


Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The Sweet Spot - Andy Scott's Sweet - Full Circle

 


(Andy Scott's) Sweet - Full Circle - 2024


Life is a circus, surrounded by clowns...

I can imagine that Andy Scott's life has been a rollarcoaster. You come in as a replacement guitarist to a bubblegum band in the late 60s. Reach a pinnacle of sales in the 70s. Basically provide the blueprint for "Hair Metal"'s riffs and get no credit for it. Mick Mars and the rest of Crue owes you everything but to the rest of the world you are "Ballroom Blitz" and nothing else.

Here you are in your mid-70s. You are the last remaining member of that storied band. And you still wanna rock. 

This is the last album under that moniker. "The Answer" was 1992 when it was first released. Sweetlife was 2002. It's been 22 years since any original music was put out under the name.

And it rocks with riffs, the kind of soaring glam metal songs that a band that wishes it was still 1985 would make. Paul Manzi is the vocalist. He's more snarly than Brian would ever have been. And undecipherable from Mal McNulty. In other words, totally serviceable. 

One thing is, you aren't going to get truly emotionally wistful or nostalgic stuff from these guys. It's rawk. 

I love Sweet and I love Andy so this gets a little more oomph from me. 

B+ 

ASide: Circus, Destination Hannover, Full Circle
BlindSide: Burning Like a Falling Star, Changes

Reflecting Pool - Green Day - Saviors




Instead of turning into a pure nostalgia act, Green Day, like Pearl Jam and Weezer, the standing giants of the 90s, keep pumping out record after record.

I, for one, didn't HATE Father of..., and I really can't remember a thing from Revolution Radio. 

This one got announced as I was in the fever pitch of record collecting so, it was perfect for me. As I sat in an airport in Toronto and got a notification, boom, pre order. 

It's incredibly listenable. And some of it ("Father to a Son") makes me cry.

The gang has been together since the 80s. No kidding. They started playing together in High School. 39/Smooth was released in 1990. That's crazy. Almost 40 years. Did you know that?

This one sounds like a professional band that plays what it knows how to play and it never falters. 


Grade: A

ASide: The American Dream is Killing Me, Look Man, No Brains!, Coma City, Strange days are Here to Stay, Father to a Son

BlindSide: Bobby Sox, One Eyed Bastard, Goodnight Adeline, Corvette Summer, Suzy Chapstick

DownSide: 

Saturday, January 31, 2026

The Format - Boycott Heaven

The Format
Boycott Heaven
2026
The Vanity Label


After 20 years Nate Ruess got back together with Sam Means, with whom he should have stayed in the first place (although he would make the monies with fun.), and have graced us all with a new Format record.

And I love it. 

Harder and much crunchier than any Format or Fun record. And of course it is. Nate used to write songs by singing them and getting other musicians to flesh them out. So they were all melody and nuance and indifferent to conformity and structural rules.

But then he learned guitar. And that has resulted in Boycott Heaven's edge and anger.
But it's not without it's own nostalgia for those mid-aughts anxieties and forlornness. I find myself crying at times, but that's because I really really miss those days.
The days of The Format and Fun and Steel Train and The Heavenly States and The Cat Empire and The Fratellis...The age of Napster and Audiogalaxy. When the music was widely shared (to the detriment of pockebooks) but before it all felt so commodified.
But this record is angrier then Dog Problems in it's approach. Not in the emotions. But it the approach.
What is even stranger to me is that it's produced by Brendan O'Brien and not Stephen McDonald who did Dog Problems and Aim & Ignite and Steel Train but...when I listen to it, especially the song, "Depressed"...Nate Ruess and Sam Means seem to have made an excellent Redd Kross record.
Time is a flat circle.

Grade: A

ASide: Holy Roller, Shot in the Dark, Depressed, Human Nature
BlindSide: No You Don't, Right Where I Belong, 

Sunday, January 4, 2026

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Zoot - Just Zoot


Zoot
Just Zoot
1970

Before he was Rick Springfield, he was Rick Springthorpe and he was the guitarist for the Australian band, Zoot in the 60s. Rick's songwriting suggests, yes, he should have a huge career ahead of him. "Flying" is a prime example. 
But he's not the only songwriter here. But, I believe he's the only member of the band that wrote any songs. Which is weird since Beeb Birtles would go on to form Little River Band. But I don't see any songs credited to him here. 
"Who's Afraid of You" couldn't be more Who influenced or maybe it's The Easybeats. But it showcases Rick's guitar proficiency. 

There's a lot of psychedelic neo-folk and that's to be expected. It's 1970. 

3.5 out of 5
ASide: One Times, Two Times, Three Times Four, Mr. Songwriter, Monty and Me
BlindSide: Flying
DownSide: Who's Afraid of You

 

Saturday, January 3, 2026

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Big Hits - Greatest Hits Volume 2

 


Big Hits
Greatest Hits Volume 2
2025
Sing Records

Hits! Hits! Hits!

Or are they?

You know what this is? A great collection of songs, many of which were never put on vinyl, some didn't stream until recently. 
Stuff from Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance, an album of his I adored when it came out. And some from Venus in Overdrive, which I gave a B+ to here: https://septenary.blogspot.com/search?q=venus+in+overdrive.
And my favorite RS song, the one he did with Foo Fighters. The one I would've put Throttle Back Sparky back together for if I was invited to participate in the RS tribute record (which I wasn't), "The Man that Never Was."
And stuff from Rocket Science and Songs for the End of the World.
The unreleased singles, "Who Killed Rock and Roll?" and "Party at the Beach Bar" are both worthy additions to the RS pantheon of songs I would like to see live. 

In other words, "hits" is doing a lot of heavy lifting on this offering but, man am I glad to have this on vinyl and in my collection.

4.75 out of 5

ASide: I'll Make You Happy, What's Victoria's Secret, The Man That Never Was, Will I?, Light This Party Up, Venus in Overdrive, Automatic
BlindSide: Wide Awake, Our Ship's Sinking, Down, World Start Turning (Orchestral Version), Little Demon Live N ew Year's Eve 2019, Party At The Beach Bar


From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Automatic

 

Automatic
SVR Records
2023

The man just won't stop recording. And, unlike the guy who kept getting mistaken for, Rick is operating at high energy. He won't slow down. I don't think he can. But he's not aggro. His blood just courses with adrenalin and God and sex and love. Depression will do that to you.

He's 74 here. And this is the best he's sounded, popwise, in ages. Well, since Rocket Science. Which was just a couple years past. 

It gets a bit mired in the electro-dance pop that Rick sometimes finds himself gravitating to. 

The first half is a good RS record. The second half is a bit of a drag. 


ASide: Exit Wound, She Walks With Angels, Automatic, We Are Eternal

BlindSide: Broke House, When God Forgets My Name, Heroes

DownSide: Fake It Til You Make It, Did I just Say That Out Loud?

Friday, January 2, 2026

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - The Red Locusts

2021
Lollipop Records

If The Beatles were fronted by Rick, it would sound like this. Because that's what this is. "Locusts"? "Beetles"? 
Remember that Zoot did a fantastically bizarre version of "Eleanor Rigby" in the late 60s? This is just keeping that fire burning.

Thing is...while it's deeply John and Paul flavored, it's 100% Rick. 

Where Utopia's Deface the Music was seemingly designed to say, "See? It's easy to do what they did!" The Red Locusts seems to be saying, "Man, we loved what they did. We hope we came even slightly close."

Paul Ramon was the name Paul McCartney would use as a pseudonym in his very early days with the silver beetles.

So, it makes sense that, when he would write an album in the style of The Beatles and early Power Pop, Rick Springfield would use that name as nod to the great Paul McCartney.

He teamed up with the Bissonette brothers and the three of them, along with a keyboardist and an additional guitarist to create The Red Locusts. Rick said, “We wanted to do an album that was influenced but would send us to Beatle jail”

Give a listen for a sec.

The song Miss Daisy Hawkins is based on the original name for Eleanor Rigby and could definitely get them in that jail.

As an inveterate lover of all things Rick Springfield, when I learned that this was available on vinyl, it became a grail.

It's a perfect Power Pop homage to the greats.

4.25 out of 5

ASide: Another Bad Day for Cupid, Miss Daisy Hawkins, Honestly
BlidSide: Sons and Daughters, Glow Worm
DownSide:

 

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - The Snake King

 


The Snake King
Soulfood Music
Frontiers Music
2018

Rick Springfield, Blues Man?!
Yes. 
For all the Noah Drakey/Jessie's Girlian/Mission Magic telegenic actory stuff, Rick is, above all things, a musician. He's also good friends with Tim Pierce who is all over this thing, showing why he's one of the best guitarists of the modern era. 
But it's not just Tim. It's Jorge Palacios. And so many others. AND Rick, who solos here with the best of them. Check him out on the title track.
This was one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years because it's hard to break through the Taylor Swift and Pop noise when you are a 68 year old who is only known for those TV shots and pop tunes of the 80s.


4.25 out of 5

ASide:In the Land of the Blind, The Devil That You Know, Jesus Was An Atheist, Santa Is An Anagram
BlindSide: The Snake King, The Voodoo House, Orpheus in the Underworld
DownSide:

Thursday, January 1, 2026

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Jack Chrome and the Darkness Waltz by The Morris Springfield Project

Jack Chrome and the Darkness Waltz
2021
Ambition Records

Until about 2 weeks before this writing I had no idea that this project existed. 
Russell and Rick have known each other for decades. Morris sent Rick a song. Rick sent one back. Next thing you know, they are collaborating on a bluesy, folksy, dark meditation on the Dias de Los Muertos. 

It's moody and emotive. It would work in a David Lynch movie and I think I could hear Tom Waits covering this whole album. 


4 out of 5

ASide: I Am Jack Chrome, Carmelita's Dance
BlindSide: Death Drives a Cadillac, We Are the Dead, La Calavera Catrina, The Darkness Waltz