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Midnight Muse, Thank you for your review and for the NPR clip. I totally agree with Alameddine's belief "We can reach more people through humor than we can through . . . portentousness." The exact quotation that Alameddine was trying to cite is "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution" -- attributed (wrongly) to Emma Goldman.

Inspired by seeing "a sea of people" during her performance at Woodstock, "hippie chick" Melanie (Safka) composed Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), then immortalized it, backed by The Edwin Hawkins Singers.

Seein' as how you're "on the front lines" in "The Heartland" and hip-deep in MAGAmaniacs, BD, I shall heed your sound advice. FYI and for future reference, my tongue is generally firmly in my cheek when I compose my nBP posts. V.3 earlier addressed you and I as "warriors." I don't know about you; but in my case, the prefix "keyboard" must be applied. Because in real life, I'm about as warlike as Winnie the Pooh. . . . and these days Pooh Bear seems to have the edge on me in that department.

Cap'n, you keep using "should" in your rebuttal, which, for me , makes your argument academic. Step outside your ivory tower and put on some sunglasses because the light that you are going toward is blinding you to How the World Really Is. What people should do is very different from what people do, will do, or want to do. All people should eat a "balanced diet" of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and chocolate chip cookies . . . okay, maybe not that last one. But do they? All people should drive with their hands at "ten and two," not "gun it" at a yellow light, and keep one car length for every 10 mph behind the car in front of them*. But do they? All people should "do unto others." But do they? Say you ". . . TOGETHER thing is the key. we can accomplish anything together . . . we have the power." Meanwhile on Red Planet MAGA, your polar opposite 3.V ("Come over to The Dark Side") is saying the same thing to RPM citizens. So the battle is a numbers game. Can more of "us" band together than more of "them" band together? Way I see it, We might have more pitchforks. But They own the pitchfork plants and have bigger, better, and heavier pitchforks. "What is it the thing that ordinary Americans can do to prevent authoritarianism?" "Americans have to be engaged"* Unless the car ahead of you has a "T-R-U-M-P 2028" bumper sticker. Then you zoom in 'n ride up on the driver's MAGA @$$ while flipping the bird and making faces at the mofo.

Say that to Holocaust survivors and their progeny. Yo, Guru V.3, I gave your response a "thumb's up" because I applaud your passion and (seemingly) indomitable idealism. Just a "Heads up!" and FYI, the light that you're going to might be an oncoming train. Meanwhile Back on Planet EarthAs they used to say on Top 40 radio: And the hits just keep on comin'! How T-R-U-M-P Can Keep the House without Winning the Midterms What he said.

Beatles Here, There, and Everywhere: A Sprinkling of Copycat-Beatles Bands Live by The Merry-Go-Round Baby Blue by Badfinger Go All the Way by The Raspberries Between Us by The Rutles

. . . and look what happened to Martin Luther King, Jr. . . . and Mahatma Gandhi . . . and Jesus Christ, to list but a few promoters of nonviolence and peaceful protest. Of course, King's contemporary activist Malcolm X (who advocated self-defense "by whatever means necessary" and who called MLK a "chump") was also murdered. Assassination has the same outcome for radicals pacifist and militant. Far be it from me to diss pacifism and peace activism. But extreme threats call for extreme measures. If anyone reading this does not believe that America is currently in the throes of political, autocratic, nationalist, and totalitarian extremism . . . Well, whatever you're smoking, drinking, snorting, or popping, I hope that you have enough for everybody. I'm no fan of General George S. Patton. But in these extremist times, I think that attention must be paid, by doves, to his famous reminder to American troops: "I want you to remember that no b-a-s-t-a-r-d ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb b-a-s-t-a-r-d die for his country." By all means, give peace a chance. But there'll be a skyful of pork when marching alone . . . when sign-carrying alone . . . when editorializing alone . . . when petitioning alone . . . when preaching alone . . . when screaming "SHAME!" at a murderer alone . . . or all those nonviolent protests combined overcome and defeat tyranny. Suggested ReadingNonviolence and Black Self-Defense The Problem with Pacifism: How Pacifism Can Lead to Genocide and Why One Should Fight to Combat Evil

Ray Stevens is perhaps best known and remembered for silly novelty songs such as Ahab the Arab, Gitarzan, and The Streak, as well as the schmaltzy Everything is Beautiful. But, I shall forever revere him for his venomous attack on the corporate, capitalistic, button-down Establishment: Mr. Businessman. 'Tis a great pity (to me) that Stevens did not continue in this caustic vein.

I like my classical music Thunderous! Majestic! Grandiloquent! Epic! -- which perfectly describes Dance of the Knights by Sergei Prokofiev.

One of the great mysteries of the universe is why the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental was given to Jethro Tull. Whatever. By then JT had changed its tunes, which did not appeal to me. But twenty years prior, Tull frontman Ian Anderson composed and sang the tender, symphonic lullaby Reasons for Waiting, which immensely pleases my ear and also calms my soul.

For some inexplicable reason, Hugo Friedhofer's majestic main theme for The Best Years of Our Lives stirs my soul. My eyes always mist and my throat always develops a lump whenever I listen to it.

I have very few fond memories of my parents. One blessed memory is listening to their collection of Sérgio Mendes records, which instilled in me a lifelong love of Bossa Nova.

It's summer 1963. A Camelot Year. I am with my family watching a parade. Standing in front of the (long-gone) Plaza Theatre, I longingly gaze at the movie poster for The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock starring my favorite person in the whole wide world: Lou Costello. Somebody among the crowd of people has a transistor radio playing this song. And all is right with the world.

Two years ago I was introduced to tragic, ethereal singer Nick Drake by a fellow cinephile and movie lover in a cyberspace forum devoted to movies. The jaunty melody accompanying Drake's wistful rendition, for me, make One of These Things First sublime.

To date the only Top 40 hit about cannibalism, Timothy was composed by Rupert Holmes* and performed by "one hit wonders" The Buoys. Lead vocalist Bill Kelly laudably and dramatically enhanced Holmes' macabre lyrics with the appropriate tones of hysteria and melodrama. * Who later penned the (to me, odious) Escape (The Piña Colada Song) and (to me, more appealing) Him.

A triple shot of Missing Persons, erotically fronted by petite, pint-sized punk-pixie Dale Bozzio. Her voice was baby doll-squeaky, her skimpy couture was hot, and her Playboy allure was hotter. In the linked clips, she musically questions the purpose of existence, communication, and peregrinating on foot through The City of Angels. During the 1980s, provocative New Wave rock groups such as MP took the edge off of the depressing era of President Ronald Reagan. Destination Unknown Walking in L.A. Words

Nothing But a Heartache by The Flirtations. For all you youngsters out there who missed The Swinging Sixties, this is how girls dressed and walked back then -- in bell bottoms, in unison, finger-snappin', swayin' 'n a-sashayin', slippin' 'n a-slidin', movin' 'n a-groovin'.

From the Mystery to Me album by Fleetwood Mac (pre-Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks), the mystical and mesmeric, oneiric and oracular Hypnotized, composed by Bob Welch.

Overshadowed by the tragedy in Minneapolis and continued reporting on America's raid on Venezuela: the "death" of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. On January 5, the CPB board of directors voted to dissolve the 58-year-old nonprofit corporation. sic transit gloria Big BirdBoard vote dissolves defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 Do federal funding cuts spell the end for Big Bird and Cookie Monster? List of Public Broadcasting Systems Programs

Oh, I do indeed agree with Malcolm X. Power only understands, respects, and heeds power. The violent only understand, respect, and heed violence. My father would growl at my siblings and me when he got tired of hearing us crying, "Stop that crying or I'll give you something to cry about" (a horrible thing to say to a child . . . or anyone, for that matter). The current administration is always crying about the "radical left" and the threat that leftists are to America. To which I growl, "Stop that crying or we'll give you something to cry about!" Hit it, Panthers! Revolution has come Off the pigs! Time to pick up the gun Off the pigs!

I am more pessimistic than you are, BD. I don't think that, in this American era, shaming works. At all. After Renee Nicole Good was murdered by an ICE agent, one of her neighbors repeatedly screamed "SHAME!" at the agent. Today Vice-President JD Vance sternly lectured the press, ". . . Everybody who's been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you." Everybody's playing The Shame Game. De Republicans get shamed. De Democrats get shamed. De Right get shamed. De Left get shamed. De Media get shamed. All God's chillun get shamed. But, nobody is ever ashamed. . . . or when the revolution comes, citizens will arm themselves. Remember this couple?

When you're right, you're right. And you're right, BobDylan. To me, Professor Táíwò is naive to believe that saying "Shame!" to The Impenitent will cause them to see the error of their ways and stop their shameless behavior. During the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, lawyer Joseph Welch disgraced Senator Joseph McCarthy when he famously asked the ruthless Communist-witch hunter, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" Back then Welch's public shaming exposed McCarthy as the villain he was, destroyed his crusader image, made him a pariah among his colleagues in the Senate, and arguably ended McCarthyism*. Seventy-two years later, the spirit of Joseph Welch endures via "left-wing" media outlets such as MS NOW, The Nation, Pacifica Radio, and newBluePlanet. But 21st century GOP reincarnations of "Tail-Gunner Joe," to date, have proven themselves to be made of sterner stuff -- monsters with hearts of stone who are impermeable to criticism and censure . . . and shame. Alas, shame won't cut it in modern America. By my lights, stronger measures for defeating The Shameless are needed. Measures considerably stronger than "our side" (as you put it) dare advocate and support (Paging Luigi and Tyler!). I'm inclined to agree with you that boycotts -- financial boycotts -- would be the best stratagem to fight and cripple, if not defeat, autocrats and their acolytes and toadies. But, good luck with that. * With notable "assistance" from broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow.

This forum seems (to me) to be the most appropriate for the topic of shaming. In the December 28, 2025 broadcast of Philoso?hy Talk, the hosts and guest Philosophy Professor Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò debate shaming as an appropriate and effective tactic against the utterly shameless. Professor Táíwò is the author of How Can We Live Together? On the Philoso?hy Talk website, select the topic The Examined Year: 2025, then click the 16:04 mark on the progress bar. The duration of the debate is about 17 minutes, 33 seconds.

In a bullfight, I'm rooting for the bull. In a shark attack, I'm cheering on the shark. In a fox hunt, I'm pulling for the fox. And in an au naturel, truly fair "fight" between Man and a lion/tiger/elephant/buffalo/bear/alligator -- in which bare hands and teeth are pitted against fangs, tusks, horns, claws, jaws, maws, and paws -- my money will always be on the critter (and winner).