Hammer Mill Days

Did you bring a blanket? No? Nah, neither did I. Never think of these things when you're in a hurry. Fortunately, it's the middle of the summer, and it's freaking eighty degrees. So ... eff the blanket. Yeah, I'm sure you expected this. We met our ornery neighbors upstairs in virtual battle - a war of words, let's say - and they prevailed ... because they're just bone mean. So we have been temporarily expelled from our beloved abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill and have taken up provisional residence in the mill's backyard. Humiliating, yes, but it's not the worst kind of humiliation we've had to endure. Nothing near as bad as what we experienced on Neptune some years back, nor the depredations of Hegemonic Records and Worm Farm, Inc., our erstwhile corporate record label. Still ... not good. Hey, we're pushovers - what can I tell you? When neighbors say jump, we jump. When they say run, we jump, mostly because we're not real good at running. O

It is possible to kill people with your mouth, particularly when you're president of the United States. I'm referring to the kind of rhetoric that has broad public impact rather than speech that sets deadly official policies in motion - both kill, and we should take both very seriously. In the wake of the El Paso shooting, it's that first kind that calls for extra examination. A president's public expressions of hate, bigotry, whatever, provide space for extremists and overzealous citizens to act. Nixon called student anti-war protesters a bunch of bums, and before long we saw Kent State. Now Trump has done the same thing, except to a much more explicit degree. As he did three years ago, Trump is centering his campaign on fear of brown immigrants. Not immigrants in general, you understand - he doesn't seem to have a problem with people from Canada or "Normay". The president claims repeatedly and consistently that the United States is being "invaded