Today is Sunday, January 30, 2022. A story that is fast brewing on the music platform Spotify concerns the moral stand taken by one of our preeminent rock musicians, Neil Young, who has decided to boycott the platform because of one despicable person, Joe Rogan, who has one of the streaming platform’s most popular podcasts, which I have never heard – and will never do so anytime soon – and has been accused by the principled rocker of sowing disinformation on COVID-19 on his show. I have heard snippets of this bald-headed misinformer on The Banter podcast and have cringed over how nonsensical he sounds as well as his ridiculous guests. I can’t believe this guy has one of the most popular Spotify shows out there, as I can’t grasp how popular “Fucker” Carlson still is, even though he’s just as bad as Rogan is. An opinion on this newly developing story appears on my smartphone by Richard Galant in his “Neil Young put his finger on America’s big divide.”

Galant writes that Young told Spotify to remove his music “if it continues to feature those who regularly disseminate lies and conspiracy theories about COVID-19.” Young then cited Rogan and his lies spread on his show which enjoys a large following – why, I’ll never know. There’s no accounting for good taste, it seems, in America at this moment.

Galant writes, “The battle lines over truth and falsehood aren’t just cutting across the political sphere, they are dividing people in media, music and sports.” Another person hailing Young’s decision to boycott the platform is lawyer and author Jill Filipovic who noted that “Rogan claims his show is an intellectually honest exploration of ideas. The Covid misinformation Rogan is spreading is told as truth. And a startling number of people clearly believe it.” Filipovic believes that Young is right and that Spotify “should draw the line at dangerous life-threatening conspiracy theories and the kind of misinformation that could result in unnecessary illness and death.”

In the field of sports, quarterback Aaron Rodgers who has received deserved derision for his misleading comments regarding his COVID-19 vaccination status and for peddling unproven ways to treat the coronavirus suffered dwindling public support in a big way last weekend when his Green Bay Packers lost in the NFL playoffs. Other sports figures have attracted attention because of their antivax positions.

After Young announced his ethical stand against the platform, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell just announced that she will remove her music from Spotify as well. In a statement posted on her website Friday, it was written, “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.” She further added, “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

As for what Rogan is disseminating on his antitruth podcast, it is his discouraging of young people and children to get vaccinated, while incorrectly claiming that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” promoting off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19, which has been proven to be as efficacious as drinking your own urine, and spreading a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, which has led to people dying who listen to him. Recent guests on the bald guy’s program were also cited for comparing pandemic policies to the Holocaust, which is fucking batty no matter how you analyze it.

Instead of canceling this dangerous host immediately, Spotify agreed to remove Young’s music from its platform, even though Young has over 6 million listeners and Mitchell has 3.7 million listeners. Maybe more music superstars will follow the admirable example of Young and Mitchell and do the right thing by boycotting the platform. Is Taylor Swift listening? Even though I find what these two musicians doing to be extremely admirable, I wish this step could have been taken much earlier – before we entered the third year of combating this pernicious virus. There are too many gullible people out there who blindly accept the lies and misinformation out there to find themselves hospitalized before their throats are even scratchy. They can then thank Joe Rogan for their plight.

The backlash against Spotify did not just extend to Mitchell and Young removing their music archives from the platform, it started earlier this month when a group of more than 250 scientists, doctors, and nurses wrote an open letter to the platform condemning the streamer for platforming Rogan and calling on Spotify to warn its listeners about misinformation.

Did anyone listen – or even care? – about what the loser ex-president said at one of his Nuremberg rallies the other day in Texas when he dangled the prospect of providing pardons for supporters who participated in the deadly January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol if he returns – God forbid! – to the White House? Dumpf also lashed out at the prosecutors who are going after him and his unethical organization by declaring them as “racist.” How can anyone accept this description of those prosecutors who are doing their bound duty by investigating apparently fraudulent practices within the Trump Organization? How could he even describe these people as “racist,” when he and his horrible family are white? Where is the racism there?

This bloviator also began calling for more violence if Republicans retake the House after the midterms. He vowed retaliation Saturday night for those who are investigating the events of January 6.

The disgusting crowd roared its approval when Il Trumpino boomed, “When Republicans retake the Congress, the Biden corruption will be investigated and exposed.” The Orange Menace whined, “They want to put me in jail. This has been going on since I came down the escalator . . . in Trump Tower six years ago.” Dumpf showed his mobster characteristics when he called for massive protests if he’s prosecuted. Can you believe the effrontery of this guy? The jerk is inciting the mob once more; didn’t he do it on January 6? Isn’t once enough? Someone should put a muzzle on this asshole!

If Trump’s comments are not another formidable reason to bar him from ever running for any political office, I don’t know what is. He’s as despicable as ever!

Today in the wake of yesterday’s storm, Elliot and I decided to venture out to Jackson Hole for breakfast. Despite the snow on the ground, the sun was shining and the weather was tolerable, even though temperatures were in the low twenties.

The restaurant was somewhat crowded despite what one would expect. We were ushered to a table near the window and we ordered right away. I ordered the cinnamon raisin French toast, while Elliot preferred a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread. I asked for freshly squeezed orange juice, along with coffee.

After breakfast, we drove home, where Elliot got out to do some shopping and I took the car to the garage. Later I went out again to go to the gym and to the bank, where I saw signs plastered on the windows declaring it to be temporarily closed. I wondered why this was so. When I peered into the interior of the bank, I thought I saw water cascading down from the ceiling, so I imagined this closure had probably something to do with this phenomenon. So we will have to see how long this closure is in effect before I really start complaining.

The highlight of the afternoon had to be the accidental locking of my keys in our storage unit with the lock outside clamped shut. You see, I went down to the unit after coming home to take some Bounty towels up, and I opened the key before stepping inside the cluttered room to pick up some single rolls of Bounty towels for upstairs. Within seconds, I put down my house keys on a bin inside the room and forgot to take them with me as I locked the outer key. Oops! I suddenly realized my horrible predicament.

I certainly couldn’t open the outer key, so I rushed upstairs to inform Elliot of my utter stupidity. My keys were not that far back into the cage, so if I acquired some extension like the end of a broom, I thought, I could maneuver the handle into the unit to move the keys off the bin and onto the floor, where I could extend my hand to grab the keys. Elliot said to take a broom, which I did and ran downstairs. I had visions of someone breaking the outside lock before I could step inside to take my house keys from where I put them. But I dispelled these thoughts from my brain as I began the effort to retrieve my keys without having to do anything to the outside lock. I positioned the end of the broom through the bars of the cage to get to the set of keys. I also took down a wire hanger for extra assistance if I needed it. I performed this maneuver several times before I was able to get the keys to drop down to the floor below, where I put my hand under the bottom of the door and successfully picked up the keys. My plan worked! Whoo!

I took my keys, locked the outside door, went upstairs, and promptly boiled some water for tea and had a slice of my Italian cheesecake to soothe my nerves.

Now I could enjoy the rest of the afternoon without having to leave my house keys inside the storage unit in order to retrieve them another time. That was a close call.

So have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.