And the Rancid Bitch Known As Hillary Clinton has an idea:
“You know, because at some point, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult [MAGA] members, but something needs to happen.”
“Formal” deprogramming? Why, whatever do you mean, you fucking Stalinist sow? And who, exactly, would you suggest to “make this happen”?
Every time my friends and I play the “One Bullet” game, she’s always in the top five vote-getters.
From HSLDA comes this email:
Dear Kim,
We just received news from ICE that the Romeikes are going to be given a one-year stay of deportation on Wednesday. This is excellent news! According to our friends on Capitol Hill, this outcome is the direct result of your calls, your petition signature, and your outreach to Congress on this issue. Now the reality is that until this is signed on Wednesday this is not guaranteed, but we do expect a positive outcome. We are sending our attorney, Kevin Boden, to join the Romeike family while they meet with ICE next week.
According to Kevin, “I spoke personally with the ICE officer in Knoxville, who told me we can anticipate them signing the order of supervision out for another year. And while we are very grateful for this news, we are continuing to advocate for a long-term solution for the Romeike family to allow their permanent stay in the United States.”
As Kevin said, this stay is not a permanent solution. It’s a bandage, but a very important one—and one that could not have happened without your diligent efforts on the Romeikes’ behalf.
The long-term solution is that the Romeikes need to be granted either asylum or permanent residency status. While we still have work to do, we are very grateful for this temporary reprieve. Please continue to support the Romeikes as we move forward. To do that, please go to hslda.org/Romeike.
We will update you as to the result of the Wednesday meeting. Thank you so much for your signature, calls, emails, donations, and prayers.
Sincerely,
I don’t like the fact that this is only a temporary stay of deportation. I bet that ICE and the apparatchiks who “changed” the original orders are hoping that in a year’s time we’ll all have forgotten about them and their persecution of this family. But I’m going to be following it closely.
For the back story of this saga, here are Part One and Part Two.
So: 
And on that topic:
Speaking of safe words, here are two: Paige Spirinac
♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work you go… ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪
We’re moving away from the movies today, and looking at a few women who were the mistresses of various kings and emperors. First up:
Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Catherine (Katya) Dolgorukova
Next, Britain’s Charles II and…
Barbara Villers Castlemaine Palmer
Phew… it’s a wonder the old boy had any time left over to do any ruling. Anyway, now it’s the turn of:
King Frederick William II of Prussia and Wilhelmine Rietz 
Back to Britain for some King Georges.
George I and Sophia Kielmansegg
George II and Henrietta Howard
George IV and Mary Robinson
And lastly for today, from Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Joseph I and:
Anna Nahowski
(who, by the way, was all of fifteen years old when FJ started bonking her; then again, she was already married and thus by law no longer a minor)
More next week.
Did you ever find a band whose music you absolutely loved, and then somehow forgot about, or lost track of, and then years later re-discovered, and began kicking yourself because you’d somehow passed them by?
That would be me, and one of the best bands I’ve ever heard: King’s X.
I came upon their music really late — Dogman (released in 1984, but I only discovered them in, I think, 1990), which sounded unlike any other music I’d ever heard. It was heavy rock, soulful, thoughtful and unbelievably complex, played by virtuoso musicians, with wonderful singing — all things that normally attract me to a band and grip me like glue. Other examples of my ear-glue would be Genesis, Procol Harum, Yes, Steely Dan and a host of other prog-rock bands whose music I continued to listen to, yea unto this day — but none sounded like King’s X.
Anyway, after Dogman I set about listening to their other stuff, starting with Out Of The Silent Planet, followed by the marginally less-heavy Gretchen Goes To Nebraska (from 1989, and surely one of the most obscure album titles ever), and I loved them even more. Faith Hope Love (1990) and King’s X (1992) followed, and I liked them, but not as much as the first three I’d listened to. That didn’t stop me buying all five CDs, though.
And then, for some unknown reason, I just stopped listening to them, and pretty much forgot about King’s X — I did make mention of them on this website some time ago, and then forgot about them all over again.
Which is a shame because they’ve had an entire career since then, and I’ve missed it all. Only a brief mention of drummer Jerry Gaskill’s heart attack caught my attention. They’re still together, and they’re still touring.
Here’s the thing, as I see it. Sadly, King’s X’s albums have never been smash hits in terms of chart success, which means that record companies treat the band like dirt, despite their obvious ability as musicians and the quality of their music. So they’ve had to tour, opening for much “bigger” bands like Cheap Trick, Scorpions and Pearl Jam. (They have a fanatical following in Texas, by the way, which they regard as their home outside home state Missouri. I know this because I once tried to see them live in Houston, and the venue was completely sold out, for all three performances.)
Anyway, if you’ve never listened them, give them a shot. I will freely admit that their music is not to everyone’s taste (hence their albums’ dismal sales). But King’s X may be the best — or heaviest — “power trio” that ever played rock music, and that should count for something.
And no, they are not a Christian band, despite what some of their lyrics may make you think.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to Three Sides Of One.
I know that the Comment-login thing is getting worse, and I apologize. Tech Support is on the case, and warns that there may be some “fuckyness” [sic, good word, will steal] while he’s exploring the innards of WordPress.
Please be patient while he activates the high explosives.
On a similar note, while talking about fuckyness: correspondents may have noticed that my replies to emails come under my old own_drummer account. Do not be alarmed; this is because for some reason, when I reply using me@ or [email protected], the messages are bounced by the mail server. This too will be addressed after the login fuckyness has been fixed.
In the meantime, here’s a little diversion:
