…so…uhhh…how’s things?

Syria’s rebel forces, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), have entered the capital Damascus, capping a stunning advance across the country. In an extraordinary day for Syria, president Bashar al-Assad is reported to have fled, his whereabouts are unknown.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/syrian-rebels-enter-damascus-everything-we-know

…well…that…escalated quickly?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/07/syria-assad-damascus-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-insurgents

…I mean…I’ve spent the week feeling shittier than I have since I caught something nobody thought of calling covid on account of it was a week or so before that was a novel possibility…so I expect to feel like I’m playing catch up…but…damn, reality…you couldn’t resist just putting that pedal to the metal, eh?

A motion to impeach the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his ill-fated declaration of martial law this week has failed after members of his party boycotted the vote.

The walkout on Saturday meant the national assembly did not have the 200 votes needed to begin the process of forcing out the embattled Yoon.

“With a total of 195 votes, the number of members who voted did not reach the required two-thirds majority of the total members,” the national assembly speaker, Woo Won-shik, said. “Therefore, I declare that the vote on this matter is not valid.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/07/motion-impeach-south-korean-president-fails-after-vote-boycott-yoon-suk-yeol

…remind you of anything…maybe a couple of things…I dunno…the phrase “the worst lack all conviction” would arguably be a clue?

…yes, I know the poem has the best lacking conviction & the worst being full of passionate intensity…but…c’mon…the part where people claim there’s a meaningful rule of law while also saying that according to the rules the law can go fuck itself because they’d rather lie & call a guilty man innocent than let anything suggest they might be physically capable of honoring trivial shit like oaths or constitutions

Opposition parties, led by the Democrats, hold 192 seats in the 300-seat assembly and needed just eight PPP lawmakers to join them for the impeachment motion to succeed.

But the plan unravelled when members of the PPP filed out of the chamber just before the televised vote, leaving the assembly without enough MPs for the motion to pass unless they returned.

The lawmakers left to angry protests from some of those still in the chamber, while an estimated 150,000 people demonstrated outside.

…now…I’ll be honest…if there were any kind of indicators that declaration was in the offing they weren’t anyplace I see things so very little of the situtation really makes sense to me…but the parallels?

Yoon is less than three years into his five-year single term. His declaration of martial law, which lasted six hours before it was overturned by MPs in the early hours of Wednesday, has drawn widespread condemnation across the South Korean political spectrum and triggered mass protests in Seoul and other cities.

…well…full marks for not letting the example of the US sap your optimism there…for a start

Demonstrators booed, and some wept in frustration, as the lawmakers walked out on Saturday. “Even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted today, I am neither discouraged nor disappointed because we will get it eventually,” said Jo Ah-gyeong, who was among the protesters.

…maybe over there second time lucky is a thing

Given their failure to start the legislative and legal process that could have led to the end of Yoon’s presidency, opposition parties could introduce a second impeachment motion, possibly as early as Wednesday.

…but…genuinely curious…how many of the MAGA contingent that were delerious with joy that their senate reps’ explicit denial of reality for partisan purposes kept their criminal avatar in the game even after they went double or quits think korea currently looks like it doesn’t know how law works…because I fucking bet there’s a few…that still don’t think they fit the definition of hypocrites

There is speculation that PPP lawmakers wanted to avoid the drama of impeachment – a move that could hand the political advantage to the main opposition Democratic party when the country elects a new president – and try instead to arrange a more orderly exit.

…these systems of representative government keep turning out to be badly out of tune

A recent poll showed 73.6% of South Koreans support impeachment, with majority support even in traditional conservative strongholds.

…even if they do suck less than all the other sorts of not-even-a-little-bit-democratic ones

Han said on Friday he had received intelligence that during martial law, Yoon ordered the country’s defence counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities”.

Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, later told lawmakers that Yoon called after imposing martial law and had ordered him to help the defence counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians.

…the thing is…well

Yoon’s presidency has been plagued by policy failures, mounting economic problems and controversial appointments, as well as scandals involving his wife, Kim Keon-hee, who has proved to be his greatest political liability.

These include allegations of stock price manipulation, unlawful involvement in party candidate nominations, and accepting a 3m won (£1,675) Dior bag as a gift from a pastor.

Yoon has vetoed three separate bills seeking to establish a special counsel to investigate his wife, leading opposition lawmakers to include the alleged attempts to shield his family from investigation among their reasons for impeachment.

On Saturday, MPs voted down a fourth attempt to establish a special counsel to investigate Kim immediately before the impeachment motion. The back-to-back vote was designed to ensure ruling party lawmakers took part in both motions, but PPP lawmakers began leaving as soon as the first vote concluded.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/07/motion-impeach-south-korean-president-fails-after-vote-boycott-yoon-suk-yeol

…if you keep pushing that particular envelope…pretty soon you can just say any old shit provided you can throw enough money after it

Elon Musk has emerged as the sole financial architect behind a provocative political action committee that appropriated the name of late US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to bolster Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, according to federal campaign finance reports released on Thursday.

The RBG Pac, funded entirely by the world’s richest man with a $20.5m donation in the final two weeks of the campaign, ran advertisements and mailers suggesting an ideological alignment between Trump and Ginsburg on abortion.
[…]
​​The RBG Pac’s strategic advertising push arrived at a critical political moment, following months of Democratic attacks on Trump’s abortion stance. Its website featured a photo of Trump and Ginsburg with the caption “Great Minds Think Alike” – a claim that directly contradicts Ginsburg’s well-documented judicial philosophy and her personal opposition to Trump.

“Why did Ruth Bader Ginsburg agree with Donald Trump’s position on abortion?” the website asked. “Because RBG believed that the federal government shouldn’t dictate our abortion laws.”

…how people manage to believe in an all-powerful deity that ain’t smote the everlovin’ be-jeesus outta that shit for brains monomaniac…I confess I do not entirely comprehend

[Clara] Spera [the justice’s granddaughter] has shared in the past that Ginsburg’s dying wish in September 2020 had been that she was not replaced on the court until a new president was sworn in. That request was ignored by Trump when he appointed Amy Coney Barrett, who would later be part of the conservative majority overturning Roe v Wade.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/06/elon-musk-rbg-pac-abortion

…if that’s not…ummm…”inadmissable”?

The three key external national actors in the Syrian crisis tried to regain control of the rebellion on Saturday by calling for renewed direct dialogue between the country’s President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups, adding that it would be “inadmissible” to use terrorists to gain control of the country.

…ok…now I’m really confused…three nations that…aren’t syria…figure they get to say who does or doesn’t get to be admissible to the list of potentially-depose-that-guy options…I mean…it doesn’t sound subtle…but apparently it’s literally impossible to achieve a critical mass of irony…because, look

Amid reports that Russian diplomats are fleeing Damascus in the face of the lightning opposition advance, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Russia “was trying to do everything possible to prevent terrorists from prevailing even if they claim not to be terrorists”.

…no implosion…no event horizon on the horizon…dude can just say that shit & go right on walking around like he hasn’t been spaghettified

But there is no guarantee that Turkey can control the Islamist HTS, or simply order the group to end an offensive that has proved far more effective than even the HTS expected.

Lavrov repeatedly pointed out that HTS is listed as a terrorist group by both the UN and the US. He questioned whether the group had moderated from its al-Qaida roots as its leadership claimed, saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. 

…speaking of which…remember how the pumpkin that turned back into a coach or whatever his malfunction is liked to make out vlad wouldn’t have invaded ukraine if he’d been allowed to be this asshole last time…well…this shit isn’t happening because he *isn’t* getting that second bite at the cherry…so…there may be some folks who ought to ask themselves some questions

Turkey, Russia and Iran took hold of the Syrian peace talks in 2017 through the Astana Process, but the outcome of their 21 meetings has been a political deadlock and divided country in which different factions held sway in different areas, until two weeks ago.
[…]
Turkey will ignore Iranian accusations of a betrayal, but is under pressure to explain its future vision for Syria, and whether it also regards HTS as a viable Syrian national leadership. Its proxy army, the Syrian Defence Forces, could not aspire to rule the whole of Syria. Ankara craves political stability inside Syria since the 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey will not return to their former homes unless Assad is crushed. Erdoğan is facing domestic criticism for failing to secure the refugees’ return, and running a one man foreign policy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/07/assad-syria-turkey-iran-russia-diplomats-regime

…well…at least he’s a head of state…which is better than this bullshit

Israel seeks Elon Musk’s influence in resolving hostage situation in Gaza [Guardian]

…for realsies?

Money, lawyers or boosting Farage on X: how Elon Musk could affect UK politics [Guardian]

…how much of this can shut-up-donnie-you’re-out-of-your-element’s ego take?

Republicans who oppose Donald Trump face risk of retaliation from Elon Musk [FT]

…because…you can wrap shit up in a bunch of different ways

Have you heard of the “sickfluencers”? I admit the phenomenon had passed me by until this week. “Sickfluencer” sounds like a term to describe the world’s least aspirational Instagrammer, where instead of trips to Bali and fine jewellery, brands send codeine and incontinence pads. #gifted #bestlife

In fact, it’s about the disability benefits system. But then what isn’t, nowadays? Just a week after the government published its unemployment white paper, Channel 4’s Dispatches: Britain’s Benefits Scandal reported that disabled and chronically ill social media users – dubbed “sickfluencers” – are using platforms such as YouTube and TikTok to share advice on securing disability benefits. Some are publishing template answers that followers can use to fill out their own forms. Others are sharing tips on Facebook and Reddit.

For the rational among us, this might seem perfectly reasonable, not least after a decade of decimated welfare rights services and legal aid cuts. When in-person support is removed, those left to fill in lengthy and complex paperwork alone – all while enduring debilitating symptoms – will naturally turn online for support.

But if the Daily Mail has taught us anything, it’s that rationality has no place in discussions of “welfare”. Instead, try unbridled hysteria. When former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson investigated the story alongside the wider benefits bill on Dispatches this week, his brow was furrowed for a full 48 minutes. At one point, Nelson stared at pixelated influencers on his phone with the anguish of a daytime TV presenter seeing a cowboy builder fleece pensioners rather than, say, a mum on YouTube helping cancer patients access money for food.

Scroll through the Times or GB News reports and they are similarly frenzied, breathlessly describing one influencer as “a self-proclaimed anarchist” who suggests followers tell assessors “about your absolute worst day”. Perhaps – and I’m just spitballing here – that’s because people with fluctuating conditions are often more likely to be unfairly rejected for benefits.

That “sickfluencers” are being “exposed” in the context of the rising number of people off work due to illness or disability makes the implication behind all this clear: claims for disability benefits are soaring not because of NHS waiting lists, growing poverty or a pandemic, but because sneaky scroungers are helping each other game the system.

It is a deeply nasty narrative, of course, in which sick people’s desperation is framed as duplicity. More than that, though, it distorts the structural problem of an opaque benefits system defined by faulty decisions and errors into a story of personal character failings. This is a system that asks people with Down’s syndrome how they “caught it” and quizzes depressed claimants about why they haven’t killed themselves yet. One so absurdly broken that 70% of appeals are successful, and benefit delays and rejections are a key reason the majority of people turning to food banks have a disability.

It is not hard to understand why, faced with this rigged game, some disabled people turn to each other for help to at least understand the rules.

Contrast the furore over “sickfluencers” giving out benefits advice to the glee of television items that reveal “pension secrets” or newspapers that promote tax-saving tips to wealthy workers. Indeed, over the past few months alone, the Times has had multiple articles advising its readers how to cut their tax bill. What’s legitimate for the rich and healthy is cheating for the poor and sick.

…it’s very simple…if you want help…the key is to not need it…them’s the rules

The rise in disability benefit claims has only encouraged this, perpetuating the bizarre idea that illness is something to covet rather than avoid. Read the comments under one of the many recent pieces on “workshy Britain” and you will see a good chunk of the general public appears to be channelling Miss Marple if she specialised in detecting Munchausen syndrome. It is reminiscent of the spate of articles musing that the rise in chronic illnesses and diagnosis rates of ADHD could be down to influencers and celebrities talking about them, as if long Covid was a buzzy new Thai restaurant. Disability has been the hot trend for 2024 in the same way that the bubonic plague was in the 14th century. When it feels like everyone else has an armpit pustule, you’ve just got to have one.

If this is starting to all feel rather ludicrous – and it really should – perhaps it is worth going back to basics. So, here are a few eternal truths. No one wants to be sick. Very few people enjoy being unable to work. Fraud rates for the key disability benefit are effectively zero.
[…]
That there is more outrage directed towards the ill people finding ways to navigate this rotten system than the politicians who are responsible for it is the real sign of a sick society. There are people who should be shamed for their part in this mess – and it is not the ones on TikTok crying out for help.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/07/sickfluencers-tiktok-disability-sickness-benefits

…so, anyway

‘Climate bomb’ warning over $200bn wave of new gas projects [Guardian]

…I’m sure it’s nothing, really

McKinsey paid $1.6m to ‘guide’ Australian climate policy despite working for fossil fuel companies [Guardian]

…just a coincidence

What Trump’s Cabinet Picks and Advisers Say About Climate Change [NYT]

…nothing to see here

Trump Organization Plans an Ethics Policy Without Banning Foreign Deals [NYT]

…just some birds of a feather flocking together

Far-right activists from Germany spent US election day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago [Guardian]

…boys…will be boys…some more than others

These boosts to boys’ self-esteem can also lead to overconfidence, which is much more common in boys and men. One academic paper, unusually entitled Bullshitters. Who are they and what do we know about their lives?, studied 40,000 15-year-olds in nine countries. They were given a list of 16 mathematical concepts and asked to rate their knowledge of them, from “never heard of it” to “know it well, understand the concept”. Unbeknown to the teenagers, the researchers had inserted three fake concepts – ‘subjunctive scaling’, ‘declarative fraction’ and ‘proper number’ – into the list. In all nine countries, boys were much more likely than girls to claim that they knew and understood the fake concepts. What’s more, the bullshitters believed their own bullshit. They thought they were better at maths than they were.
[…]
All through school and university, girls’ and young women’s talents are assessed objectively, through anonymised exam papers, and they outperform boys and young men. But once women start work, the biases creep in. Because we all tend to confuse confidence with competence, we are more likely to believe, hire and promote the over-confident, entitled man who tells us how brilliant he is than the less confident but far more competent woman.

Until we start to recognise this bias and correct for it, we are never going to close the authority gap which holds women back and propels men forward.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/06/why-do-some-men-behave-badly-i-think-i-have-the-answer

…sorry…what was that?

Fury as US argues against climate obligations at top UN court [Guardian]

…something stuck in your throat, there?

Trump’s policies ‘should be turning off farmers’ – why did so many vote for him? [Guardian]

…only you sound like you’re choking

Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t just ‘loyalists’. They’re groveling, subservient yes-men [Guardian]

…wouldn’t be polite to say what on

Gaza peace deal possible before Trump inauguration, Qatar’s PM says [Guardian]

…but some shit be pretty clear

Body-cam shows Ohio police fatally shooting 15-year-old boy [Guardian]

…& all due respect to the NYT

The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms [NYT]

…I know the idea that people who are sick in ways we have medicine for should…uh…get the medicine…on account of what’s the fucking point in having that shit otherwise…is, like, some extremist revolutionary shit you’d have to be willing to…I dunno…cast off the chains of tyranny by taking on the great powers of the world or something before you…oh, who am I kidding?

If you spotted the person who shot Brian Thompson, would you a) turn them in to the police or b) continue to go merrily about your day?

Judging by the gleeful reaction to the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder, 99% of the United States would choose option b. There have been a lot of memes after Thompson was gunned down in what appears to have been a targeted attack in Manhattan. There have been a lot of jokes about pre-existing conditions and denied coverage. There have been a lot of shocking stories about how UnitedHealthcare has ruined people’s lives by denying coverage. What there hasn’t been is very much sympathy for the 50-year-old insurance CEO. In a country that can’t agree on much, an awful lot of people seem to agree with the Clarence Darrow quote: “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

I don’t need to spell out why Thompson’s death has elicited so little sympathy. It doesn’t matter how great a guy he might have been to his friends and family; he was a top executive at a company that has treated millions of people very poorly. Health insurance in the US is a racket that is more focused on increasing profits than providing care. And UnitedHealthcare is particularly egregious when it comes to getting its customers to pay enormous premiums, then turning around and denying them care when they desperately need it. According to data from ValuePenguin, a consumer research site owned by LendingTree that specializes in insurance, the company dismissed about one in every three claims in 2023. That’s the most of any major insurer: the industry average is 16%.

Denying claims is apparently very profitable. UnitedHealth has a market value of $566bn, and generated nearly $372bn in revenues last year. It’s the fourth-biggest publicly traded US company by sales. Thompson himself got a nice little cut of that: he earned $10.2 million in 2023. He was also very good at selling his stocks at opportune moments: Thompson was one of three UnitedHealth Group executives named in a class-action lawsuit accused of dumping more than $120m of stock while the company was the subject of a federal antitrust investigation.

In short: Thompson was the face of an unfair system that has screwed millions of people over. Nobody knows what the motive behind Thompson’s murder was yet, but the shooter wrote “deny”, “defend” and “depose” on the shell casings left at the scene – which echoes the title of a book about predatory insurance company practices. There has been a lot of speculation (and it is purely speculation) that the shooter may have been someone whose loved one was denied coverage by UnitedHealthcare.
[…]
To be clear: I am not in any way condoning Thompson’s murder or endorsing vigilantes shooting CEOs on the street. Murdering anyone is quite clearly wrong. But please spare me the pearl-clutching from people (mainly politicians and billionaires) who are shocked by the satisfaction Thompson’s murder has inspired, yet who happily endorse or ignore other forms of violence. It’s quite illuminating to see who is vocally outraged by Thompson’s death yet indifferent to murder on an industrial scale. Representative Ritchie Torres, for example, has tweeted that Thompson’s assassination “is so shocking that it leaves one speechless”. Meanwhile, Torres is working overtime to whitewash the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza – which Amnesty International has labelled a genocide. Violence is apparently not shocking when it’s against people you consider subhuman rather than wealthy white CEOs. Nor does violence seem quite as shocking to some when it’s baked into an economic system that kills people via greed and neglect rather than with a gun.

Brian Thompson’s death has elicited little sympathy. I don’t need to spell out why [Guardian]

…not for nothing…but…if kamala had gotten elected…we don’t know brian would be breathing…but…there’s only so many last straws out there to draw on…&…much as I would argue neither is a sign of an untroubled mind…voting to empower the decline & fall of the overinflated egos of the world makes a damn sight less objective sense than making a lethal statement about taking money for a service you systematically deny to those whose cash you covet

…shit ain’t complicated

…but…you know…#notallbrians?

As I leave the office, my editor wishes me luck. “Hope he’s not too grumpy!” she says. A moment later, the deputy editor asks where I’m off to. To see Brian Cox, the actor, I say. “Oh!” she says, with a rather-you-than-me look. “Hope he’s not too grumpy!”
[…]
“I feel I’ve upset a few people over the years,” Cox says with an angelic smile. “The problem is, I can be quite a loudmouth. Sometimes I have been fairly volatile, and I think, ‘Why the fuck did you say that?’” He’s looking back over his epic career. “There’s a lot of stuff I’ve done which I look at and think, ‘That was crap.’” But today’s not the time for negativity. “No, I’m not going to go down that road.”

Blimey, I say, we’re going to have to out you as a diplomat? He laughs – a lovely youthful chuckle. “Yes! You can out me as a diplomat!” he says enthusiastically. The thing is, he adds, certain people are overrated. We’re talking about his memoirs, and the unflinching references to the likes of Depp and Seagal. “But then they probably think they’re overrated as well. So I’m not saying anything they don’t think anyway.”

…national fucking treasure, this one

I ask him why he so often gets cast as grumps. He holds his hands up, nonplussed. Is it because he is one? “No, I’m not like that at all. It’s the antithesis of who I am, actually.” He stops to think about it. “No, that’s not entirely true. Of course, I get grumpy. Particularly about politics, I get very grumpy. A lot of that makes me angry. The failure of the Labour party in particular.” Pause. “But I don’t want to get into that.” Another pause. “Listen, I could go on for ages.” And another.

…ok…so maybe I’m just biased

One, two, three. And he’s off. “I don’t know why the Labour party is called the Labour party. It’s not labour orientated. I just think … ”

He exhales with loud disappointment. “Keir Hardie, the guy who started it all, was an extraordinary man. And it was a very inclusive thing he was after – social justice. And this lot coming in now, they’re not exercising social justice. It’s true that the last lot left us in deep shit, so there’s a lot of stuff they’ve got to do, but they’ve got to be a bit canny about it in order not to alienate the folk. And Starmer is not exactly the most charming of individuals. He’s not Mr Charm. He’s not got the thing Tony Blair had, which served him brilliantly till hubris got the better of him. Starmer is minus one on that score.” Nor does he rate Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, on the charm front. “She’s had a charm bypass. There’s no question.” He laughs again. But he’s worried – for Scotland, for Britain, for Europe, for the world.

Cox has been campaigning with the group Independent Age against the scrapping of the winter fuel payments for pensioners who aren’t on certain benefits, urging older people to check whether they are eligible for pension credit. “I just think it’s not on. It’s unjust. And means testing?” He hisses the word with contempt. “Means testing is something they did in the 30s. And I find that … I don’t know.” He stops, lost for words. “I can’t get with it at all.”

…or…to put it another way

He loves his politics. For many years, he was a Labour loyalist. “I was a big Labour man. I was the voice of Labour for the 1997 campaign.” Eventually, he fell out with Blair over Iraq. As for Corbyn, he says, he was not cut out to be a leader. “Jeremy Corbyn is a great guy, don’t get me wrong, but he’s a professional backbencher. He’s a naysayer. And you can’t just be a naysayer, you’ve got to come up with something else in its place. That’s what progress is about.”

…I just…like the guy

As a US citizen, how does he feel about the return of Donald Trump as president? “The penny doesn’t seem to drop about him. I can’t understand it. That’s why it’s so shocking. A man known to be sexist, racist, a suspected rapist … ” He turns puce, and struggles to get the words out. “And he’s got a big Catholic vote behind him … and I kept thinking, ‘How does that tie in with Catholic consciousness?’” No wonder, he says, that he gave up on religion. “It’s all bollocks. BOLLOCKS,” he roars. I’ve never met anybody who says bollocks with such ferocity. Then he rows back. “I don’t want to be disrespectful of people who believe, so bollocks is a bit harsh.”

The older he gets, the more he wants to know why we’re on Earth – what our purpose is, if there is any. And the re-election of Trump makes him even more baffled. “We don’t understand who the fuck we are. We really don’t. We have no fucking clue who we are. How did we get to a stage where 80 million Americans will elect this fucking, you know, to become president.” He says “fucking” every bit as ferociously as he does “bollocks”.

Does the US election make him lose faith in people?” “No, it doesn’t make me lose faith in people. It just makes me realise people are stupid. We’re in for a pretty rough old four years coming up.”

…anyway…this is late, already…so…it is what it is, I guess

It’s time to leave. We head off together. He talks about where I grew up in Manchester, the years he spent there working in the theatre, and the people and places he loves that I may know. Grumpy? No way. Sure, he’s passionate about a better world and pointing out all that’s bad in the present one. Yes, he’s a loudmouth with a penchant for roaring “Bollocks” at the world’s shysters and hypocrites. But, whisper it, Brian Cox may just be one of life’s great enthusiasts.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/dec/07/i-feel-ive-upset-a-few-people-over-the-years-actor-brian-cox-on-overrated-co-stars-charmless-politicians-and-the-joy-of-smoking-weed

…say…uhh…maybe there’s something to that weed business…I don’t feel as bad as I did the last few days…but…I could stand to feel better?

…oh, wait

…I owe tunes…or…something like that, anyway

…hopefully that’ll tide you over while I get that act together…or…buy me some time, any road?