Willie Nelson

Medical martial law, vax Americana and decriminalizing cannabis + this day in history w/the New London School explosion and our song of the day by Willie Nelson on your Morning Monarchy for March 18, 2020.

Pencil drawing of John Lennon by Robbie Robertson-by Reese Erlich@ReeseErlich

This isn't a new poll but it could be the numbers we see on our TV screens tonight. Say a prayer. A result like that in Texas today is going to be dependent on, among other things, Latino turnout. Virtually all polling models assume Latinos will not turn out in large numbers. If that changes today, say goodbye to Ted Cruz and... HELLO BETO! Nearly 39% of Texans are Latino. BETO will win if they vote today in larger numbers than has been usual.

Campaign videos don't have to be expensive to be effective. I asked Mike Siegel what this one cost him. I caught up with him just as he was headed out the door to meet Beto for a rally in Elgin. He told me the video was part of a package that includes 12 clips and some mailers, but that if you break down the package, you could say the video cost around $1,500. "This is what a resistance campaign in 2018 looks like," he told me. "Focused messages targeted at specific segments of voters.

Can you picture me spinning country music at a cowboy bar? Interviewing dozens of country music stars for Country Music Magazine? How about being on the Board of Directors of the Country Music Association? Yeah, and I was the west coast editor of Country Music Magazine too. Don't worry, I was never into the Nashville sound, just Outlaw music, the punk rock of country. That's how I met Willie... around 40 years ago. He had recently released Red Headed Stranger which I wore out on the turntables of the Cinch and wrote about as often as possible and for as many outlets as possible.

The NRCC, the House Republicans' campaign arm, raised $10.5 million in February, a record-- and more than double what they took in last February. (In January the NRCC took in $10 million, also a record and beat a DCCC many Democrats are growing increasingly sick of for it's venality, incompetence and lame leadership. In January the DCCC took in $7.8 million.

The DCCC never goes after powerful GOP chairmen and the DCCC never looks outside the box towards districts to expand the electoral map, unless, that is, its to promote a shill from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (a New Dem or Blue Dog). But early in the cycle Blue America saw a shot for dedicated Berniecrat, Tom Wakely running against Lamar Smith in TX-21.

Jeb Bush didn't stand up to Trump convincingly enough but he hit the nail on the head in December when he labeled Trump the "chaos candidate." Too bad no one was paying any attention to Bush by then. Trump wants chaos. He's learned how to profit when everything seems to be falling apart; it's part of his business model-- part of whatever passes for a creed he has.

This ugly sour puss is Blue Dog Brad Ashford, the only "Democrat" to co-sponsor the anti-refugee billIn regard to last Thursday's ugly anti-immigrant vote in the House, we've mostly been concentrating on the 47 coward, craven Democrats who voted with the GOP on that shameful 289-137 roll call.