Monday, March 3, 2025

Kendrick Lamar’s Breakthrough


At the 67th Grammy Awards, with its live ceremony broadcast on CBS on Sunday, February 2, 2025, Kendrick Lamar won in every category in which he was nominated: Record of the Year; Song of the Yeat; Best Rap Performance; Best Rap Song; and Best Music Video.

Record of the Year and Song of the Year are two of the most prominent categories in the main field. (This is along with Album of the Year and Best New Artist and Producer of the Year—Non-Classical.) Record is for a single recording. Song is for writing.

Lamar was prized—for achievement for the year 2024—with both Record and Song for “Not Like Us.” His breakthrough is that this is only the second hip-hop recording, and it is also recognized as a diss track, to win these categories. “Not Like Us” is a diss against another recording artist, Canada-born Drake, as that performer and Lamar (born in Compton in Los Angeles, California) are in an ongoing feud.

I do not follow the Grammy awards, regularly, as I am in my 50s and tend to listen to music from past decades. Music I grew up with and connect. But I do not begrudge today’s music being enjoyed by anyone. And “Not Like Us” is technically brilliant and creative…the very sound of it combined with the writing and, ultimately, the recording.

I will include the following videos: the music video for “Not Like Us”; Kendrick Lamar winning the 2024 Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year; and Sabby Sabs covering this breakthrough achievement, for which she has appreciation, on her program. (This topic was delayed because there were critical Jimmy Dore Show interviews which were published the last two weeks in February 2025.)


Monday, February 24, 2025

Jimmy Dore Interviews Christian Parenti

Jimmy Dore recently welcomed as a guest investigative reporter Christian Parenti, son of Michael, and they discussed U.S. president Donald Trump’s focus on the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

One point touched on is that the then-nomination for Kash Patel, who is now FBI director, should have people who are truly on the left feeling enthusiastic.

First video’s description: “In this wide-ranging conversation, Jimmy and Parenti discuss why progressives should welcome President Trump’s assault on the FBI, an organization with a long history of targeting, infiltrating and undermining left movements.”

The clips were published to YouTube on February 15 and 16, 2025.




Monday, February 17, 2025

Jimmy Dore Interviews Steve Bannon

Jimmy Dore interviewed Steve Bannon, who was critical in getting Donald Trump elected to the presidency of United States in 2016, on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. 

This is interesting…and I reserved this week to include the clips of that interview which have since been published to YouTube.




 
 

Monday, February 10, 2025

‘All of them’



On February 4, 2025, Caitlin Johnstone wrote and posted on X the following on the alliance—to cleanse Palestinians from Gaza—between U.S. president Donald Trump (two weeks into his second term) and Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.…


Grinning like the cat that ate the canary, Hague fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu sat beside Donald Trump as the US president unequivocally told the press on Tuesday [February 4, 2025] that the plan for Gaza is to permanently remove all Palestinians from the enclave.

“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said. “I think that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They’ve lived like hell.”

Asked for clarification on whether the Palestinians would have a right to return to Gaza after its reconstruction, Trump said the plan is to build them housing in other countries that’s so nice they won’t want to return.

“It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return,” Trump said, adding, “I hope that we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back. Who would want to go back? They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”

Asked how many people he was talking about removing, Trump replied, “All of them.”

Shortly thereafter, the president announced that the US would soon “take over” and “own” Gaza and oversee construction projects there.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings — level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

Given what Trump previously said about permanently removing all Palestinians from Gaza, there is no question who he is talking about when he says he wants to provide housing for “the people of the area”. He is talking about a very straightforward ethnic cleansing operation, driven by the United States.

Trump clarified that when he said the US would “own” the Gaza Strip, he did not misspeak. “Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land,” he told the press.

Trump reiterated his previously stated position that the people of Gaza could be relocated to Jordan or Egypt or “other countries”. Of course the possibility of Palestinians living anywhere else in their historic homeland has not been mentioned, because that’s not how ethnic cleansing works. The agenda is to remove an undesirable population from the land so that they can be replaced with a desirable one; allowing Palestinians from Gaza to live in Israeli territory or the West Bank during reconstruction would defeat the purpose of Israel’s actions since October 2023.

Trump repeatedly spoke of how devastated, dangerous and uninhabitable Gaza is, making it sound like the area was hit by an unfortunate natural disaster and not a deliberate and methodical operation to make the enclave unlivable. This ethnic cleansing plan is being presented as a humanitarian solution to tragic circumstances, when in reality the US and Israel destroyed Gaza on purpose with the goal of advancing the exact agenda they are working to advance today.

This move is sure to be aggressively resisted, both internally by Hamas and by neighboring powers, even if the Trump administration can find nations willing to facilitate its ethnic cleansing plans. This means we can expect significantly more violence and killing in the region if this agenda moves forward.

And it should here be mentioned that Donald Trump has publicly admitted to being bought and owned by Zionist oligarchs. The president openly acknowledged on the campaign trail that the first time he was president, megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson were at the White House “probably almost more than anybody” demanding favors for Israel like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledging Israel’s illegitimate claim to the Golan Heights, which he eagerly granted. Miriam Adelson, who is Israeli-American, gave the Trump campaign $100 million last year.

And that’s the price of entry if you want to become president of the United States. You have to make alliances with oligarchs and empire managers who want very ugly things for our world, and you have to be the sort of person who is sufficiently dead inside to make such Faustian bargains. That’s why US presidents are so consistently evil; if they weren’t, they’d never make it anywhere near the presidency.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Avoiding Super Bowl LIX

Super Bowl LIX is next Sunday, February 9, 2025.

I will not be watching,

The above video is a wonderful discussion which speaks to my decision.

Monday, January 27, 2025

Marital Status for Former First Couple



Recent questions concern the marital status of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Married since 1992, and with their daughters Malia (born in 1998) and Sasha (b. 2001) now adults, the 44th U.S. president (b. 1961) and former first lady (b. 1964) are now subject of rumors about their status.

Michelle was absent at both the funeral for 39th U.S. president Jimmy Carter and the inauguration for the re-elected 45th and 47th U.S. president Donald Trump.

This has people—and the media—questioning if there is trouble in the marriage of the Obamas.

I find it credible…more so given Michelle’s absence at Carter’s funeral. Her absence at Trump’s inauguration can be explained as disapproval and displeasure. That she was not willing to attend. But to be absent at Carter’s funeral, where she could have been seated away from Trump, stands out. 

It will be interesting to see if anything is coming up.

It would not surprise me if they are in trouble. Marriages, even ones which lasted more than 30 years, have been known to end. And a lot of what we learn, historically, is information not revealed until much later. A divorce would be the first in U.S. history for a former first couple. If that is to materialize, I would not be surprised if it turns out—as this publishing date—they may be separated.

Monday, January 20, 2025

Donald Trump—Once Again—Is President of the United States!


Following his first term as the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump begins his second non-consecutive term as the nation’s 47th president on Monday, January 20, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

What I am wanting from the second term of Trump’s presidency is improvement with the economy, for people to be able to better survive, and for support for Ukraine to end. I also want an end to the conflict, and the genocide, in Gaza. And, of course, a Ceasefire agreement was reached last week. (Credit not to Joe Biden…but to Trump.)

We will find out how it goes with Trump’s second term. I do not have my hopes up. But I am more encouraged, rather than discouraged, especially given the end of the presidency of Joe Biden (and whoever else has also earned [dis-]credit for that debacle). Perhaps there is some light.

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