I have to go to church. I’ll finish and proof read this later……probably not till tonight after we watch another episode of Mr. Robot with our daughter and son in law. My hero Lincoln will be making an appearance in a less than saintly light…….doesn’t change my mind about him in the slightest, if you are worried for me.
As I begin this I’m listening to NPR and one of their surprising little stories. It’s about country music singer Dwight Yoakum and his new album “Swimming Pools Movie Stars”. Anyone of my vintage will recognize those lyrics of the Beverly Hillbillies instantly.
The surprise came when he was asked why Prince’s Purple Rain is on it. He explained that while he was recording with his band Prince died and the Minneapolis singer’s signature song was playing along with the news. The band was bummed and went back to their studio and figured out how to play the song in a private evening’s tribute not meant for anything other than a night’s reflection. Later when the producers of the album they’d been working on noticed a tape labeled “Purple Rain” they urged him to put it on the album which was otherwise composed of his “back catalogue”of “older releases.” Yokum decided it would be a fingerprint of the times the album was being put together.
It was a revelation to hear Prince’s masterpiece as country western.
My children are of the Occupy Wall street Era even if they didn’t camp out and protest the system. Therefore it’s a bit of a role reversal that my wife and I found and recommended the latest binge-worthy Television offering to them – Mr. Robot – and not the other way around. It tells a story that fits in with the Bernie Sanders movement with its paranoia about corporate overreach. The hero is both brilliant, modest, schizophrenic and a world explodingly good computer hacker. We watched another episode last night, number three from season 2.
Just before we watched it Claudia called me down as she was cooking our latest Blue Apron meal because she thought I would like the latest “History Detectives” on PBS that had just begun. I surely did. It focused on an event from the Civil War’s aftermat the sinking of the Riverboat Sultana that cost the lives of 2000 unfortunate Federal troops being taken home after their release from the infamous Andersonville Prison.
For the last century and a half there has been a great interest in the mystery of its sinking. You can find it here.
The show made a convincing case that President Lincoln shared much of the blame for this terrible accident even though it took place over a week after his assassination. They made a good case and he bore a lot more responsibility for it than Hillary Clinton did over Benghazi.
The chaos of difficult political times covers a lot of ground and the President had no way of knowing how his actions would permit a political underling to put so many innocent lives at risk.
As is so often the case the twenty-four hours between starting and finishing a post (this one) has washed out much of what I was eager to blather on about so I’ll just cut to the chase.
Lincoln made many of his decision based on political exegincies (nescessities) based on his conviction that he and not George McClellan should remain President to continue the war to preserve the Union. Every war time president has faced similar choices.
