(The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Socotra House Publications. Our inability on this morning to change the font size of the title or add pictures direct into the text may reflect some eccentricity of the ancient America On Line application. We are struggling to repair).

Goodness, there is a lot of “stuff” going on! We took a look at what we thought was news in this past week and plugged it into the Weather Report. As we always try to keep ourselves on the compliant side of the Free Speech argument, which is part of the larger cavalcade of chaos. This morning, the “news” includes word that US Forces struck 85 targets in the broad swath of territory stretching from Iraq, Syria to Jordan. That is in response to more than 160 strikes from some disgruntled residents of the area against visitors.

That is a euphemism, of course. This is about the strained relations between Tehran and DC that has continued since we were young and vigorous. The targets our forces struck appear to have been selected to minimize civilian casualties. That is something we support, generally speaking. But hitting targets with the goal of not hitting things around those aim points is something quite different.

The election is what it is all about, and the world is watching. The stakes are high. Some financial sources place the bucket of cash our government spends will be something like $7 Trillion dollars in total cash flow per annum. Of that, a trillion will be raised with new Public Debt, currently around $34 Trillion. One of the common questions we have for the Chairman’s Finance Committee is how something unsustainable can be continued. There is old debt coming due next year, and the interest rates on the money our Government will borrow to retire it is now double or triple what it was when those notes were incurred.

The consensus is that we are going to be paying increasing amounts of tax dollars simply to retire higher interest existing and new debt. Like the rest of Washington, we decided to ignore the potential consequences and worry about Taylor Swift and her tours, three-hour movies and ralleged omance with a Kansas City Chiefs tight end.

We join you in general consternation about that. Taylor Swift has been one of the most dominant cultural figures of the social conflicts of the past year. We just noted the anniversary of The Day the Music Died- it was this day in 1959 that musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “Big Bopper” J. P. Richardson we killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. That marked a sad moment in popular music, but Taylor has put on an entirely larger event with global impact. That includes her “Eras Tour,” reportedly the first in the billion dollar revenue range, the movie to go along with it, Grammy nominations and the very public display of affection with football star Travis Kelce.

We stopped watching football when the knee-taking thing became highly visible. That seemed to have been contained, since it affected crowd appeal in a similar manner to Dylan Mulvaney’s disastrous trans-endorsement of Bud Light beer. On the more optimistic end of things, the Jersey with Kelce’s number on it has risen dramatically in sales.

Swift’s popularity is being used to reassert some normalcy in what will be an increasingly partisan election year. She has been twisted into a social threat by a contingent of far-right, Donald Trump-supporting conservatives who have started circulating conspiracy theories about the singer, the Super Bowl, and the 2024 election.

We are naturally excited about that, and can’t wait to update the Weather Report for next week!

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com