Van
Morrison has opened up about how being moneyless and at "the bottom"
whilst living in New York and Boston inspired some of his best music.
The
Grammy Award winner from Belfast has a career spanning seven decades,
with favorites such as Brown Eyed Girl and Days Like This still as
popular today as when they were released.
But there was a time the Irish singer, 77, was struggling and worried it was "game over" when he was in the US in his 20s.
"I had absolutely nothing," he told The Times.
"After
Bert Berns died, an Irish-American guy got me out of New York and I was
in Boston, sleeping on a friend’s couch, no proper management set-up,
and I was abroad so that made it worse. I was at the bottom. Game over.
Total oppression."
The Moondance hitmaker said
he fought his way out and back to business through music, and told how
his album Astral Weeks was born out of that time of stress and chaos in
his life.
I'm
lazy and I'm also a bit of a chicken. At least when it comes to
suicide. There have been depressing moments in my life -- usually when a
family member has passed away. But I've never believed things wouldn't
get better. Van Morrison broke and running out of hope and then, boom,
he's got ASTRAL WEEKS -- which is a classic album from 1968. I could
never do anything like jump out a window or something slower like take
an overdose. I'd be too afraid that there was a turned corner just
waiting a day or two later for me. Also, I'm Catholic and don't want to
be in purgatory.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The UN Secretary-General visits Iraq,
Moqtada's forces occupy an abandoned area in Baghdad, Marjorie Taylor
Greene and her pal Glenneth Greenwald remain jokes, and much more.
I
know we've noted the 5,000 year old tavern recently discovered in Iraq
several times in the last weeks but I don't believe we've noted a video
report of it. It is a big find and historically signficant.
Centuries ago, people gathered there.
Today?
Moqtada
al-Sadr's militia likes to gather in an abandoned building in Baghdad
but the PMF is apparently attempting to root out of the building.
The
PMF leadership at various times claimed and rejected the affiliation of
Saraya al-Salam, the large and powerful militia loyal to Sadr, which
has influence in Basra and other parts of Iraq’s south as well as a
strong presence in Baghdad. But the tenuous association between the PMF
and Saraya al-Salam, which never included an operational integration of
the Sadrists into the PMF, was often confrontational with competition
over legal and illegal economic rents and vote banks.
Both the PMF and Saraya al-Salam entrenched themselves in
and took over Iraq’s many formal and illegal economies, from the
construction contracts that followed the devastation of war; the service
sector; and the scrap metal trade to generalized extortion; customs
evasion; and oil, drug, and other contraband trafficking.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, is visiting Iraq today.
AFP notes, "UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Iraq for his first
visit in six years Tuesday in a show of 'solidarity' after a drawn-out
political crisis in the country." Guterres' last visit to Iraq was in 2017. Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports:
“This is a visit of solidarity,” Mr Guterres said in a briefing with Mr Hussein after arriving at Baghdad International Airport.
“A
solidarity with the people and the democratic institutions of Iraq and a
solidarity that means that the United Nations is totally committed to
support the consolidation of the institutions in this country.”
He
said he was confident that “Iraqis will be able to overcome the
difficulties and challenges they still face through an open and
inclusive dialogue”.
Mr Hussein described the visit as important, praising the relations and co-operation with the UN special mission to Iraq and UN.
“We always thank the secretary general for his support to the political process and democracy in Iraq,” Mr Hussein said.
Moving over to the US, we're going to again note THE DAILY SHOW for Chelsea Handler's look at MTG.
Marjorie
Taylor Greene: I have people come up to me and say crazy things to me
out of the blue in public places that they believe because they read it
on the internet.
Chelsea
Handler: Well if that's not the pot calling the kettle QAnon. This
woman thought 9/11 was a hoax, that the Clintons killed JFK Jr. and that
Jews are in charge of space lasers. But please, don't come at her with
some crazy ideas -- she might believe them.
MTG is still calling the kettle QAnon. As Daniel Villareal (LGBTQ NATION) reports, Marjorie is whining that she was eating out and a woman and her son yelled at her:
The last time the U.S. had such a division, it resulted in a 4 year
civil war. The war killed over a million Americans, including soldiers,
non-combatant civilians, and slaves.
In response to Greene’s tweet, [David] Hogg, now age 22, wrote a tweet directly tagging her Twitter screen name.
“@mtgreenee Man that sucks. I was attacked and screamed at in 2018 by
an insane woman named Marjorie Taylor Greene. She had no respect for
the privacy of me as an 18 year old school shooting survivor or my
staff. She was self righteous, insane, and completely out of control,”
Hogg wrote.
Ever notice that if
Marjorie were a Drag King, she could impersonate Glenneth Greenwald?
It's the nose, right? Maybe that's why he made her his hag?
The
great Glenneth Greenwald has spoken -- or at least hissed -- Elizabeth
Warren is a fool. The thing about Glenneth and other foolish people is
that they never realize they're foolish. What prompted his fit? The
senator Tweeted the following:
Elizabeth Warren
@SenWarren
·
Feb 24
In the 1990s, America had 51 major contractors bidding for defense work. Today, there are only five massive companies remaining. Defense contracting should be reworked to break up the massive contracts awarded to the big guys and create opportunities for firms of all sizes.
Glenneth reTweeted a mocking of her and then added this:
In the mocking thread they go on and on about weapons.
Is Elizabeth really the fool or are they?
Now
we actually pay attention to Iraq so I'm fully aware that defense
contractors do much more than just defense. They're hired by the
Defense Dept so they're contractors for the Defense Dept. But they may
be doing something as basic as cleaning, they be part of a construction
project, they can do any number of things. The Government Accountability Office has noted that service acquisitions account for a big portion of the budget and has stressed that oversight is greatly needed.
Was
Elizabeth the fool or was the fool all the people who were so stupid --
including Glenneth -- that they didn't realize how the defense
contractors work?
Excelsior University notes:
The
use of defense contractors stretches back to the American Revolution.
During that war, the Continental Army was inexperienced and
ill-equipped, so contractors provided food, clothing, horses, wagons,
weapons, and even scouting services. Today, the Department of Defense
still requires the help of defense contractors for the U.S. military.
A
defense contractor is a business organization or individual who
provides products or services to a government’s military or intelligence
department. These products and services can include technical support,
training, weaponry, aircrafts, vehicles, communications support,
logistics, and electrical systems.
Defense contractors often play a major role overseas,
where they provide deployed troops with services such as language
interpretation, perimeter security, weapon systems maintenance, and
supervision of other contractors. During past US military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan, they have often made up 50% or more of the entire DOD presence, including military personnel.
If it's all too confusing for you -- and if you're a fan of Glenneth, it probably is -- you can refer to this primer from the US Defense Dept on their contractors. We'll note this since it's about Iraq:
In Iraq, armed and unarmed security contractors have been
employed to provide services such as protecting fixed
locations; guarding traveling convoys; providing security
escorts; and training police and military personnel. The
number of security contractor employees working for DOD
in Iraq and Syria has fluctuated significantly over time,
depending on various factors. As of the fourth quarter of
FY2022, DOD reported 941 security contractor personnel
in Iraq and Syria, none of whom were identified as armed
security contractors.
Only thing missing was this diversity angle but, with a tweet that perfect, who can complain?
That
wacky Glenneth taking time out from giving Marjorie Taylor Greene a dry
hump to provide laughs on Twitter. As for the diversity angle -- it's
built into contracts with contractors. Does it hurt when you're that
stupid, Glenneth?
And, for the record, the Tweet fits in perfectly with other Tweets the senator's been offering:
found that corporations in the most concentrated sectors have been the most successful at expanding their profit margins on the backs of consumers. This is exactly why we need to enforce antitrust laws and increase market competition.
Or are those concepts beyond your limited vision and, sadly, even more limited knowledge base?
Maybe
Glenneth could get off Twitter for 24 hours and work on composing an
apology to the Iraqi people for promoting the Iraq War that destroyed
their country and killed over a million people?
