You’re STILL WrongorMykel's May 2023 Blog/Column Repeating Myself
by Mykel Board
“Tomorrow
you promise yourself will be different, yet tomorrow is too often a
repetition of today.”
- James T. McCay
Those
who do not learn history are doomed to repeat It. –
George Santayana
“Don’t
repeat yourself. It’s not only repetitive, it’s redundant, and
people have heard it before.”
-
Lemony Snicket,
The
nouns go first. Proper nouns…names.
I lie in bed…
turn on my side… raise a hand to touch my face… instead I touch
skin… someone else’s... warm, supple. I raise the hand to a
shoulder... round and soft with a little roughness… maybe a pimple
just above the scapula. I pull my body next to the other one. Bury my
face against the neck beside me.
“Ah
you are wonderful. You are my… my… my… “ The name? I can’t
remember the name.
“Oh
Mykel,” comes the answer. “I never want to leave you. It’s not
only this…” A hand comes between my legs and squeezes gently.
“It’s you. You. Yes Mykel! Mykel! Mykel!”
I
want to answer with a name… but I can’t remember it! It starts
with an M… I think. One syllable… a nickname… Max? Maybe two
syllables… Mani? Morgan?
That’s
what I want to write about this month. Not only my own ever-failing
memory. (Did I tell that story before?) But my writing… and more…
our COLLECTIVE memory where, if I hear the word unprecedented one
more time, I’ll bite the tits of the utterer… hard!
It’s
mostly on the news. With unprecedented climate change,
unprecedented insurrection, unprecedented aggression…
and more.
FLASH
TO 1968, May 17. Nine Catholics, including Philip and Daniel
Berrigan. both priests, go to the Catonsville office of the Selective
Service… the army draft center. They restrain an employee while
gathering records into wire bins, They then take the bins to the
parking lot and set them on fire. After that, they recite the Lord's
Prayer and explain to news crews that they’re protesting the
Vietnam war. Three hundred and seventy-eight draft records are
destroyed. Destroying government property! Wow! That never happened
before… or since… right? Can you say January sixth 2020?
FLASH
TO ME! (Did I already write about this? I don’t remember.) I’ve
just graduated from High School... on my way to my first year at
Beloit College. But before that, a stop in Chicago… the Democratic
Convention. I spent the last year or so in New York… as a Yippie.
Going to meetings by Union Square, hangin’ out with Jerry Rubin and
Abbie Hoffman… reading their books.
I
listen to/read Jerry Rubin telling me to just DO IT! Then there was
Abbie Hoffie talking about Revolution for The Hell of It.
We’re going to change everything. Overthrow the government… but
with a smile. We’re pranksters too.
Abbie
jokes about a plan to put LSD in the Chicago water supply. They…
the press… the government believe our joke. The army corps of
engineers comes to see if it’s possible. It could be done, they
report… the suckers.
Wait!
Is that QAnon revealing child-sales at the Wayfair Furniture Company?
Is Hillary Clinton funneling children through a pizza parlor? Get it?
QAnon is the yippies of the 21st Century… as funny as
costumed pirates throwing British tea in Boston Harbor.
Back
in the 60s there were trials… one main trial actually... the
Chicago Seven… with a side trial of Bobby Seale who is gagged and
tied to his seat. I remember Jerry Rubin appearing dressed as a South
American guerilla… with shoulder bullet belts over his naked chest.
Abbie Hoffman is draped in an American flag. Sound familiar? Maybe
like a fur vest and hat with horns on it?
Is
there a Congressional investigation of the Yippies? Calls for years
in prison? I don’t remember any. There is a big trial… with Judge
Julius Hoffman pounding the gavel and calling contempt... as
prejudiced as any Liz (What’s her name? Wait, I’ll look it up.)
Cheney. There are some convictions and sentences… some
exonerations. They call it a circus… kangaroo justice.
On
appeal, in 1972, all of the criminal convictions were reversed. The
majority opinion of the appeals court unanimously found several
errors by Judge Hoffman and censured the judge and the prosecutors
for their conduct during the trial.
After
the battle of Chicago, we are more convinced than ever that there’s
going to be a revolution and “Amerikkka” will never be the same.
We’re going to lead the insurrection.
But
wait, there’s more:
In
2022, The Shadow runs
a story by Paul DeRienzo. It’s titled The Time The Left
Took The White House. You
can read it here.
In short, the story talks about a left-wing invasion of the White
House in 1982, during the Reagan regime… government
property destroyed!
Eeeek!
Get
it?
The
costumed invasion of Congress is nothing new. And the destruction of
government property by the capitol invaders. What a horror!
Destroying government property… just like the Berrigan priests.
Let’s
take those lefty Catholic protesters… again!
On
September 9th, 1980, the brothers Berrigan entered the General
Electric missile factory in Pennsylvania. They hammered on two
nuclear nose cones... poured their own blood on warhead documents
and order forms, and prayed for disarmament and peace.
You
think that’s different from pissing on a congressman’s desk?
And
then there are whistle-blowers. Chelsea Manning went to jail for
exposing the evils of the Afghan war. Barack Obama, in one of his few
good moves, pardoned her. Still, whistle-blowers have a bad rep these
days. They’re vilified as Russian spies or enemies of the state.
They’re not new.
In
1969, Marine Corps veteran Daniel Ellsberg released stolen top secret
government papers, later known as The Pentagon Papers. They
revealed that, early on, the government knew that the war most likely
could not be won. Further, as an editor of The New York Times
wrote, these documents "demonstrated, among other things, that
the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the
public, but also to Congress.”
Ellsberg
was a hero… all charges against him were dismissed. Today’s
whistle-blowers, like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, following
the same kind of heroic journalism as Ellsberg and Manning, are
vilified by Democrats and the (barely) left as enemies, and
“Trumpists.”
It
all repeats. Down to the Hunter Biden scandal.. an errant member of
the presidential family. How embarrassing! THAT never happened
before. Can you say Billy Carter? The brother of my favorite
president was up to his pupik in scandal from alcoholism to secret
deals with foreign countries. Hunter Biden’s laptop and his
dealings with Ukraine is a rerun of Billy Carter’s adventures in
Libya... and his love of booze. It doesn’t stop!
History
repeats itself, you see. But it gets reported from different sides.
And most of the people who supported the originals, now tsk tsk over
the reruns… with a new cast.. Or even worse, they deny that the
reruns are reruns at all.
See
you in hell.
Mykel
Board
ENDNOTES:
[You can contact me on facebook
or
by email at mykelboard@gmail.com.
Through the post office: send those... er... private DVDs..or music
or zines... or anything else (legal only!) to: Mykel Board, POB 137,
New York, NY 10012-0003. If you like my writing, you can be notified
when anything new is available. Send
me an email with
SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Back blogs and columns are at
https://mykelsblog.blogspot.com]
→
Legal
but not moral dept: Dorothy Parker and I were discussing the idea
of privacy last week. And I just came across this
article about protesters picketing the house of a State
Senator because they didn’t like his stance on some climate and
other issues. Every person should have the right to be secure in his
living place. It’s so easy to be driven out of a neighborhood… or
harassed by neighbors.
In
the 1990s, A. J. Weberman (yes, THAT A.J. Weberman) spray painted the
outside of my building Mykel Board Is A
Nazi, because he found
my name on the mailing list of a rightwing racist newspaper… as
if reading what other people think makes you one of them.
I
would never advise you to go over to his place and spray paint on his
building in retribution. If any of my friends can dig up his address,
please post it on facebook as
a comment so people know where NOT to go to pay him a visit. I
repeat, I’d
never advocate such a thing.
→
I
was wrong department:
I’ll admit it. I’m pushing 80, and during that ¾+
century I’ve been wrong at least twice. Once was when I complained
about Political
Correctness.
It was PC this and PC that. It became a kind of shorthand, and
without explanation I used PC-itude to dismiss behavior I didn’t
like… lazy
thinking.
So,
in
my annoyance at someone using the word houseless
when it should have been homeless.
I
wrote, Anybody
heard the word "houseless" or "unhoused" as the
woke word meaning "homeless?" This is just crazy! I live in
a tiny NYC apartment. I rent.
It's an apartment not a house. Am I houseless?
In
response, someone sent a photoshopped picture:
Okay,
you’re right. I learned my lesson. If I use the word again, you
have my permission to insert a thick-but-sterile
wire into my urethra. That should get me woke.
And,
oh yeah, a nice cartoon from In These Times. Wokeness
Explained:
See
you in hell, redux,
MB
THE
NATION AGAIN
I’m
a long-time subscriber to the The
Nation.
It’s the only lefty publication that I find myself not only
agreeing with, but also getting inspiration from. Strangely,
when I post this stuff on facebook, no one looks at it. My “friends”
would just rather call me a “Trumpist” or a “Republican” for
all the times I don’t follow the party line. If it’s printed in
THE NATION, it should give me street cred, right? Yeah right.
This
time
there’s
a
great article
that
involves true investigative reporting. The Democratic war-masters
blast the Russians for helping steal Hillary Clinton emails to
support Trump in his election. But there was another country involved
in the spying and
promotion of Trump.
The NATION reveals who it is.
Then
there’s a
nice column
by Adolph Reed Jr. (people still name their kids Adolph???) about the
stupidity promoting
diversity
among rich people… or others
who
do bad things… like real estate developers.
And
finally, the often correct Jeet Heer, takes
aim at those
Republican AND Democratic government officials calling for a US
invasion of Mexico. And you thought it was the Russians who were
invasion happy. Maybe the US will get support from Ukrainian troops
in the
invasion.
Late
addition: There’s a
great editorial by Jeff Faux about the US and Joe Biden’s love
of war and its cost to Americans. War is, lately, something most
everybody can get behind. Right? You wavin' your Ukrainian flag?
LINK
TRADE DEPARTMENT:
I
did a nice interview with The Aither zine. Interesting questions,
complete, and questions I’ve never been asked before. You can read
it here.
It’s a good one.
I
read that the search engines like lots of links... and it's also nice
to support my friends and enemies in their blogs. So facebook
me or email
me
if
you have a blog, webpage or something else to connect to. I add you.
You add me.
Here's
a start:
Jason
Rodgers sent me his book Invisible
Generation…
free! And I lost it. Jason, a long-time partner of Suzy Poe, has been
bugging me to review it… and I can’t. So the best I can do is
promote it. I have a lot of respect for Jason… he is a libertarian
(in the best sense of the word), and a super-smart guy. When/if I
find the book, I’ll give you some more details.
Video
of the week: My long-time friend Sid Yiddish appears on a YouTube
DatingGame-like
video.
Guess who wins the bachlorette!
Here’s
Richard Goldberg:
goldberg.wordpress.com
Poetry
and humor fans will like Justin Martin in The
Latency
And
my friend Mike R has a nice site with recipe hits from the past! (He
cooked for me once... great stuff.) Check out Yesterday's
Recipes.
And
here's one by a member of ANTI-SEEN... a tour
diary of
sorts.
Andy
Shelton has an interesting blog here
Savage
Hippie is a guy who has been YouTubing
for a long time. Our opinions largely overlap... but he complains
that I'm a Communist. I'm not! I'm a communist.
Chris
Stecher publishes a zine called PRECIS.
You can see the back issue links there... and he promises a new issue
soon.
George
Fertakis has a very nice graphics-heavy blog... with music and books
featured prominently. If there’s no link here (I can’t find it
temporarily), then Google… er… Duckduckgo him for information.
And
my long-term pal Sid Yiddish contributes with his Mishegas
Master Blog.
And
connect to TRUST Zine, a long-running German punk zine… that STILL
PRINTS!!! Yeah, they have a website too… of course! It’s here.
Here
are a couple video links.
This
from Jon Cox https://squelchchamber1.bandcamp.com/album/down-so-low
And
this
one from
my very long-time friend Roger Armstrong.
Jim
Testa moved his long running zine, Jersey Beat, to the blogosphere
awhile back. You can read it here.
Jim also recommended a kind of unique album… in a style you don’t
see to much of these days… or any days. Neo-Hassidic Rock Opera.
You can stream the album here.
Kyle
Nonneman is in prison in Portland. At least he can’t be kidnapped
by the secret police… I think. I post his
blog
for him, he can’t do it from the klink. Lots of stuff about noise
metal… and some very weird politics that will either fascinate or
repulse you… or both.
My
long time pal, Jim Hayes rightfully complained about my leaving out
his blog. He’s a great writer, so it was a tragic omission. Here
it is.
Oh
yeah, then there’s me.
I have a blog of stuff I’ve written mostly from last century. You
might enjoy it. Then again, you might not. It’s here.
Let
me know if you have a blog… or a print zine… or a YouTube and
want to be added to the list. You show me yours… you’ve already
seen mine. mykelboard@gmail.com
“Tomorrow
you promise yourself will be different, yet tomorrow is too often a
repetition of today.”
- James T. McCay
Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat It. – George Santayana
“Don’t
repeat yourself. It’s not only repetitive, it’s redundant, and
people have heard it before.”
-
Lemony Snicket,
The
nouns go first. Proper nouns…names.
I lie in bed…
turn on my side… raise a hand to touch my face… instead I touch
skin… someone else’s... warm, supple. I raise the hand to a
shoulder... round and soft with a little roughness… maybe a pimple
just above the scapula. I pull my body next to the other one. Bury my
face against the neck beside me.
“Ah you are wonderful. You are my… my… my… “ The name? I can’t remember the name.
“Oh Mykel,” comes the answer. “I never want to leave you. It’s not only this…” A hand comes between my legs and squeezes gently. “It’s you. You. Yes Mykel! Mykel! Mykel!”
I want to answer with a name… but I can’t remember it! It starts with an M… I think. One syllable… a nickname… Max? Maybe two syllables… Mani? Morgan?
That’s what I want to write about this month. Not only my own ever-failing memory. (Did I tell that story before?) But my writing… and more… our COLLECTIVE memory where, if I hear the word unprecedented one more time, I’ll bite the tits of the utterer… hard!
It’s mostly on the news. With unprecedented climate change, unprecedented insurrection, unprecedented aggression… and more.
FLASH TO 1968, May 17. Nine Catholics, including Philip and Daniel Berrigan. both priests, go to the Catonsville office of the Selective Service… the army draft center. They restrain an employee while gathering records into wire bins, They then take the bins to the parking lot and set them on fire. After that, they recite the Lord's Prayer and explain to news crews that they’re protesting the Vietnam war. Three hundred and seventy-eight draft records are destroyed. Destroying government property! Wow! That never happened before… or since… right? Can you say January sixth 2020?
FLASH TO ME! (Did I already write about this? I don’t remember.) I’ve just graduated from High School... on my way to my first year at Beloit College. But before that, a stop in Chicago… the Democratic Convention. I spent the last year or so in New York… as a Yippie. Going to meetings by Union Square, hangin’ out with Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman… reading their books.
I listen to/read Jerry Rubin telling me to just DO IT! Then there was Abbie Hoffie talking about Revolution for The Hell of It. We’re going to change everything. Overthrow the government… but with a smile. We’re pranksters too.
Abbie jokes about a plan to put LSD in the Chicago water supply. They… the press… the government believe our joke. The army corps of engineers comes to see if it’s possible. It could be done, they report… the suckers.
Wait! Is that QAnon revealing child-sales at the Wayfair Furniture Company? Is Hillary Clinton funneling children through a pizza parlor? Get it? QAnon is the yippies of the 21st Century… as funny as costumed pirates throwing British tea in Boston Harbor.
Back in the 60s there were trials… one main trial actually... the Chicago Seven… with a side trial of Bobby Seale who is gagged and tied to his seat. I remember Jerry Rubin appearing dressed as a South American guerilla… with shoulder bullet belts over his naked chest. Abbie Hoffman is draped in an American flag. Sound familiar? Maybe like a fur vest and hat with horns on it?
Is there a Congressional investigation of the Yippies? Calls for years in prison? I don’t remember any. There is a big trial… with Judge Julius Hoffman pounding the gavel and calling contempt... as prejudiced as any Liz (What’s her name? Wait, I’ll look it up.) Cheney. There are some convictions and sentences… some exonerations. They call it a circus… kangaroo justice.
On appeal, in 1972, all of the criminal convictions were reversed. The majority opinion of the appeals court unanimously found several errors by Judge Hoffman and censured the judge and the prosecutors for their conduct during the trial.
After the battle of Chicago, we are more convinced than ever that there’s going to be a revolution and “Amerikkka” will never be the same. We’re going to lead the insurrection.
But wait, there’s more:
In 2022, The Shadow runs a story by Paul DeRienzo. It’s titled The Time The Left Took The White House. You can read it here. In short, the story talks about a left-wing invasion of the White House in 1982, during the Reagan regime… government property destroyed! Eeeek!
Get it?
The costumed invasion of Congress is nothing new. And the destruction of government property by the capitol invaders. What a horror! Destroying government property… just like the Berrigan priests.
Let’s
take those lefty Catholic protesters… again!
On
September 9th, 1980, the brothers Berrigan entered the General
Electric missile factory in Pennsylvania. They hammered on two
nuclear nose cones... poured their own blood on warhead documents
and order forms, and prayed for disarmament and peace.
You think that’s different from pissing on a congressman’s desk?
And then there are whistle-blowers. Chelsea Manning went to jail for exposing the evils of the Afghan war. Barack Obama, in one of his few good moves, pardoned her. Still, whistle-blowers have a bad rep these days. They’re vilified as Russian spies or enemies of the state. They’re not new.
In 1969, Marine Corps veteran Daniel Ellsberg released stolen top secret government papers, later known as The Pentagon Papers. They revealed that, early on, the government knew that the war most likely could not be won. Further, as an editor of The New York Times wrote, these documents "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public, but also to Congress.”
Ellsberg was a hero… all charges against him were dismissed. Today’s whistle-blowers, like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, following the same kind of heroic journalism as Ellsberg and Manning, are vilified by Democrats and the (barely) left as enemies, and “Trumpists.”
It all repeats. Down to the Hunter Biden scandal.. an errant member of the presidential family. How embarrassing! THAT never happened before. Can you say Billy Carter? The brother of my favorite president was up to his pupik in scandal from alcoholism to secret deals with foreign countries. Hunter Biden’s laptop and his dealings with Ukraine is a rerun of Billy Carter’s adventures in Libya... and his love of booze. It doesn’t stop!
History repeats itself, you see. But it gets reported from different sides. And most of the people who supported the originals, now tsk tsk over the reruns… with a new cast.. Or even worse, they deny that the reruns are reruns at all.
See you in hell.
Mykel Board
ENDNOTES: [You can contact me on facebook or by email at mykelboard@gmail.com. Through the post office: send those... er... private DVDs..or music or zines... or anything else (legal only!) to: Mykel Board, POB 137, New York, NY 10012-0003. If you like my writing, you can be notified when anything new is available. Send me an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Back blogs and columns are at https://mykelsblog.blogspot.com]
→
Legal
but not moral dept: Dorothy Parker and I were discussing the idea
of privacy last week. And I just came across this
article about protesters picketing the house of a State
Senator because they didn’t like his stance on some climate and
other issues. Every person should have the right to be secure in his
living place. It’s so easy to be driven out of a neighborhood… or
harassed by neighbors.
In
the 1990s, A. J. Weberman (yes, THAT A.J. Weberman) spray painted the
outside of my building Mykel Board Is A
Nazi, because he found
my name on the mailing list of a rightwing racist newspaper… as
if reading what other people think makes you one of them.
I
would never advise you to go over to his place and spray paint on his
building in retribution. If any of my friends can dig up his address,
please post it on facebook as
a comment so people know where NOT to go to pay him a visit. I
repeat, I’d
never advocate such a thing.
→
I
was wrong department:
I’ll admit it. I’m pushing 80, and during that ¾+
century I’ve been wrong at least twice. Once was when I complained
about Political
Correctness.
It was PC this and PC that. It became a kind of shorthand, and
without explanation I used PC-itude to dismiss behavior I didn’t
like… lazy
thinking.
So,
in
my annoyance at someone using the word houseless
when it should have been homeless.
I
wrote, Anybody
heard the word "houseless" or "unhoused" as the
woke word meaning "homeless?" This is just crazy! I live in
a tiny NYC apartment. I rent.
It's an apartment not a house. Am I houseless?
In
response, someone sent a photoshopped picture:
Okay, you’re right. I learned my lesson. If I use the word again, you have my permission to insert a thick-but-sterile wire into my urethra. That should get me woke.
And,
oh yeah, a nice cartoon from In These Times. Wokeness
Explained:
See you in hell, redux,
MB
THE
NATION AGAIN
I’m
a long-time subscriber to the The
Nation.
It’s the only lefty publication that I find myself not only
agreeing with, but also getting inspiration from. Strangely,
when I post this stuff on facebook, no one looks at it. My “friends”
would just rather call me a “Trumpist” or a “Republican” for
all the times I don’t follow the party line. If it’s printed in
THE NATION, it should give me street cred, right? Yeah right.
This time there’s a great article that involves true investigative reporting. The Democratic war-masters blast the Russians for helping steal Hillary Clinton emails to support Trump in his election. But there was another country involved in the spying and promotion of Trump. The NATION reveals who it is.
Then there’s a nice column by Adolph Reed Jr. (people still name their kids Adolph???) about the stupidity promoting diversity among rich people… or others who do bad things… like real estate developers.
And finally, the often correct Jeet Heer, takes aim at those Republican AND Democratic government officials calling for a US invasion of Mexico. And you thought it was the Russians who were invasion happy. Maybe the US will get support from Ukrainian troops in the invasion.
Late addition: There’s a great editorial by Jeff Faux about the US and Joe Biden’s love of war and its cost to Americans. War is, lately, something most everybody can get behind. Right? You wavin' your Ukrainian flag?
LINK TRADE DEPARTMENT:
I did a nice interview with The Aither zine. Interesting questions, complete, and questions I’ve never been asked before. You can read it here. It’s a good one.
I read that the search engines like lots of links... and it's also nice to support my friends and enemies in their blogs. So facebook me or email me if you have a blog, webpage or something else to connect to. I add you. You add me.
Here's a start:
Jason Rodgers sent me his book Invisible Generation… free! And I lost it. Jason, a long-time partner of Suzy Poe, has been bugging me to review it… and I can’t. So the best I can do is promote it. I have a lot of respect for Jason… he is a libertarian (in the best sense of the word), and a super-smart guy. When/if I find the book, I’ll give you some more details.
Video of the week: My long-time friend Sid Yiddish appears on a YouTube DatingGame-like video. Guess who wins the bachlorette!
Here’s Richard Goldberg: goldberg.wordpress.com
Poetry and humor fans will like Justin Martin in The Latency
And my friend Mike R has a nice site with recipe hits from the past! (He cooked for me once... great stuff.) Check out Yesterday's Recipes.
And here's one by a member of ANTI-SEEN... a tour diary of sorts.
Andy Shelton has an interesting blog here
Savage Hippie is a guy who has been YouTubing for a long time. Our opinions largely overlap... but he complains that I'm a Communist. I'm not! I'm a communist.
Chris Stecher publishes a zine called PRECIS. You can see the back issue links there... and he promises a new issue soon.
George Fertakis has a very nice graphics-heavy blog... with music and books featured prominently. If there’s no link here (I can’t find it temporarily), then Google… er… Duckduckgo him for information.
And my long-term pal Sid Yiddish contributes with his Mishegas Master Blog.
And connect to TRUST Zine, a long-running German punk zine… that STILL PRINTS!!! Yeah, they have a website too… of course! It’s here.
Here
are a couple video links.
This
from Jon Cox https://squelchchamber1.bandcamp.com/album/down-so-low
And this one from my very long-time friend Roger Armstrong.
Jim Testa moved his long running zine, Jersey Beat, to the blogosphere awhile back. You can read it here. Jim also recommended a kind of unique album… in a style you don’t see to much of these days… or any days. Neo-Hassidic Rock Opera. You can stream the album here.
Kyle Nonneman is in prison in Portland. At least he can’t be kidnapped by the secret police… I think. I post his blog for him, he can’t do it from the klink. Lots of stuff about noise metal… and some very weird politics that will either fascinate or repulse you… or both.
My long time pal, Jim Hayes rightfully complained about my leaving out his blog. He’s a great writer, so it was a tragic omission. Here it is.
Oh yeah, then there’s me. I have a blog of stuff I’ve written mostly from last century. You might enjoy it. Then again, you might not. It’s here.
Let me know if you have a blog… or a print zine… or a YouTube and want to be added to the list. You show me yours… you’ve already seen mine. mykelboard@gmail.com
