Mint Forebrain

Being called upon to do something outside one’s area of expertise isn’t unusual. Not his day job, Labann’s legacy can be summed up by thousands of pages in hefty volumes documenting a century of culture often traced to origins. Much of it exposes incompetence and malfeasance rather than sings praise in human forbearance. Kick ‘em when they’re down? No, appeal to better natures bestowed. Although B&C targeted bicyclists, they travel lightly, so never took up this heavy load. Though it all fits on a single CD less than 2 ounces encased, it preoccupies billions of synapses that would lay waste any rider’s attentive capacity and sensitive taste.

Regret no inquiry and wouldn’t change any figure of speech. Unless you invent something useful, make a lasting impression, publish a popular book, or share embarrassing details, you’re remembered only by a grave marker (unless ash strewn cremated, lost at sea, or mass interred) or some footnote or list entry from a news microfiche. Born, lived, died, forgotten. Among attention starved wannabes since WWII, protests went from beatnick be-ats, to hippie be-ins, to little man extremists bashing capitol barriers with bike racks. Loud boys leftist anarchists and proud boys rightist terrorists don’t speak for vast moderate majority though they try desperately to divide. Only a hundred thousand humans are jealously vilified or vaguely lionized versus a hundred billion who ever lived. CBS could only muster a list of 151 lost celebrities in a year that will forever be known for mass death, 400,000 Americans to COVID alone, nearly as many as Influenza epidemic a century ago, and a surprising increase in automotive deaths given huge cuts in motorized trips and increase in those biked. 

Break down intelligence: What you find is autonomic autopilot, hindbrain responses, limbic instincts, midbrain processes, and muscle memory carrying bulk of the load, with forebrain functions directing decisions as little as possible, since that expends a great deal of electrochemical fuel. Brain uses more than any other organ. Neglecting proactive action risks earning a reputation as a fool. Explains why many hate to read and repeatedly do self destructive things, let themselves be exploited, and suffer losses. Proper planning prevents poor performance, yet so few behave responsibly, hardly anything winds up within conformance. On plus side, their forebrains are left in mint condition, wear free, worth harvesting if you’re a politician, vampire or zombie.

Energy you expend can be replaced and gets rewarded: Biking long distances, earning wages to save, hiking up a mountain to ski down, paddling a kayak against tides. Anyone who won’t disbelieves allure uttered, while alive slips by and apathy steals vitality, what for, and why. With gyms and schools shuttered, it’s back to fresh air and sunlit reps along icy lanes strewn with fallen leaves in between reads among extensive sheaves and time spent on overlooked movies that each internet search retrieves. Inside the White House, however, president elect Biden will probably pedal his customized Peloton. Who knew he was a cyclist like so many predecessors?

Underscored by Irene Cara hit tune What a Feeling during intro scene of Flashdance (Adrian Lyne, dir., 1983), aspiring ballerina and nightclub dancer Jennifer Beals stylishly commutes on her steel ten speed Motobecane to her steelworker job, where she’s sexually harassed by Pittsburgh coworkers. Chasing a dream is hard work that usually has to happen fast to succeed at all. Never felt completely safe on many a damp predawn commute.

In teen sport flick Rad (Hal Needham, dir., 1986) listed in B&C, aspiring BMX’er Cru Jones (Bill Allen) tries to qualify for Hell Track race run by corrupt promoter Duke Best (Jack Weston) and beat Olympic champion Bart Conner (played by himself) who is sponsored by Mongoose.

High school teacher and wannabe novelist Lance Clayton (Robin Williams) isn’t World’s Greatest Dad (Bobcat Goldthwait, dir., 2009), far from it. When his teen son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) accidentally kills himself during autoerotic sex, he ghost composes an embarrassment saving suicide note, then a fictional journal, which win notoriety and sympathy. Then he publicly confesses causing confusion and dispelling illusion. Kyle’s only friend, Andrew (Evan Martin) bikes to catch Lance and express approval in final scene.

Set in 2092, planet’s last mortal human, Mr. Nobody (Jaco Van Dormael, dir., 2009), played primarily by Jared Leto among others at different ages, has a secret: He can recall any time during his life, both back and forward, including alternative timelines based on crucial pivots. In a late scene he upsets a space ladder that delivers bicycles to the moon, spilling cargo into void.

Testament of Youth (James Kent, dir., 2014) casts Alicia Vikander (bike messenger tomb raider Lara Croft) as Vera Brittain, whose best selling memoir 100 years ago of volunteering as a nurse on WWI front elevated admiration of her as feminist, pacifist, and socially conscious writer. More than a few times telegraph runners arrive by bicycle to deliver devastating news.

Spanish melodrama La Bicicleta (Sigfrid Monleón, dir., 2006) has Valencia couple Carlos and Pilar Bardem deliver an optimistic message about dehumanizing effects of urban developments that ignore bicycling. Same bicycle resurrected by Sancho Gracia, who swaps in components from other bikes in an ecological and sustainable fashion, gets transferred among three owners at different stages of life. Sancho gives it to 12 year old orphan José Miguel Sánchez, but it gets stolen. Bárbara Lennie uses it as a bike messenger, then leaves it with old fisherwoman Pilar Bardem. Cities are living organisms, continuously transformed, and, as Baudelaire said, “The shape of a city changes faster than the heart of a mortal.”

Bicycling comic artist Kent Osborne stars as himself in Uncle Kent 2 (Joe Swanberg, dir., 2106), an unnecessary sequel that mocks movie industry’s feckless reliance on repeating familiar themes to pick audiences’ pockets. Kent goes to San Diego Comic-Con despite worry over The Singularity causing an apocalypse. He remains upbeat, “We’re here, we’re alive, and we should make the most of it.” He pedals in a hazmat suit and on a tandem side-by-side with a female fan Lyndsay Hailey.

School teacher Lucy Taylor (Jodie Sweetin) in Love Under The Rainbow (Tony Dean Smith, dir., 2018) falls for single parent Jack Evans (David Haydn-Jones) of preteen student Sophie (Dakota Guppy) after outings including riding bicycles together around Stanley Park Seawall Bikepath in Vancouver, British Columbia. Chalk it up as another saccharine made-for-television confection from Hallmark channel that has characters chasing delusional rainbows.

Ombres et Lumières (Martin Amiot & Philipe Bellemare, dirs., 2013) is IBike Studio’s 12 minute documentary about Montreal fixie culture. French with English subtitles.

Whoever you are, wherever you ride is Rapha Core’s 5 min inspirational ad (Martin Gilluck, dir, 2016). “Not riding your bike is like a lobotomy.” Perspectives is a multi-sport followup (Christian Woodmansey & Daniel Wieckmann, dirs., 2017) of their China manufactured, London designed, Walmart owned apparel and bib shorts nicknamed Rapha after 1950’s road team St. Raphael.

Huntress (Kelsey Leigh, dir., 2018), a beautifully produced and wildly immersive 7 minutes, has distaff bike messengers plying NYC streets quietly seeking space and sustenance while withstanding sexist comments.

In German crime thriller Cut Off (Christian Alvart, dir., 2018) coroner Paul Herzfeld (Moritz Bleibtreu) discovers a capsule in the skull of a corpse during an autopsy. Note inside shows his daughter’s name and her phone number. Hannah (Barbara Prakopenka) soon goes missing. Similar clues planted on other bodies help him track her to ruins of a Nazi era U-boat bunker on frigid isolated Heligoland in North Sea, which Britain blew up during WWII in the largest manmade nonnuclear explosion ever. Paul conscripts local civilian Linda (Jasna Fritzi Bauer) to assist on the car free island. Plot slowly reveals that serial monster Sadler snatched bicycling child of a vicious mobster triggering a chain of events into which coroner inadvertently gets drawn because he once refused to compromise his principles and testify falsely against Sadler.

It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, dir., 2014) on foot, relentlessly, even when high school senior Jay (Malka Monroe) tries to ride away on a BMX. Wheels are an advantage against this supernatural death threat transmitted by sexual intercourse, but sometimes you’ve got to sleep. This critically acclaimed horror flick taps into date and disease anxieties in a world full of HIV and STDs.

Set in 1936 France, Les Beaux Jours (Jean-Pierre Sinapi, dir., 2003), aka The Beautiful Days, has Gaby (Clotilde Courau) and Mado (Nadine Marcovici) boldly taking nation’s first paid holiday by bicycling to seashore sans spouses, while other spineless young adults fear losing their factory jobs. Gaby wastes a lot of time loudly deriding them for it.

In opening scene of psychological thriller I See You (Adam Randall, dir., 2019) Riley Caya goes gravel biking and suddenly is lifted from saddle into obscurity beginning a series of strange occurrences investigated by sheriff Jon Tenney.

American Utopia (Spike Lee, dir., 2020) has David Byrne and his company performing their acclaimed concert live on stage without typical encumbrances for a more intimate interaction with audience. Afterwards, entire band leaves Hudson Theater to bike about midtown Manhattan’s theater district together.

Centennial biopic Radioactive (Marjane Satrapi, dir., 2020) celebrates Madame Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike) and covers her controversial fame. The only woman to have won 2 Nobel Prizes, in both chemistry and physics, Marie was not only a gifted scientist but a role model for women. When she acquiesces to marry Pierre Curie, they go on a bicycling honeymoon of pure bliss which doesn’t last. As always, ethics must govern how you exploit what you discover. From Satrapi's banned graphic biography Persepolis about growing up during theocratic overthrow of Shah of Iran comes indelible quote, "The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don’t turn, it falls."

Unstable Augean

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” said founding father Benjamin Franklin hundreds of years ago, and wound up on a hundred dollar bill. This sound advice has become trumped up doublespeak in a post-truth milieu. B&C has always been about confronting delusions, eclipsing adages, and setting sayings straight. Government policies crush personal efforts. Blackguards stifle safeguards and usurp power. Trillions in federal debt will cause rampant inflation and decimate personal savings and purchasing value. While science agrees regular sleep decreases stress and improves stamina, diet, economy, exercise (esp. bicycling), genetics, habits (esp. drugs and smoking), and worry impact longevity more. Pandemics erase precautions reasonable people take. Wisdom is an amalgam of anticipation, experience, forethought, intelligence, judgement, knowledge, logic, manners, memory, perspiration, proactivity, and repetition ascribed to those who burnt candles on both ends when viewed with 20/200 hindsight.

How should government be run? Who has such arrogance to ask? Do citizens still have a right to be informed and shape? Shouldn’t someone with sense say what must be said? So many ill conceived decisions come out of Congress, constituents often figure they could do better themselves in a chamber scrape. Constitution calls for public service and taxpayer representation, as much anachronisms as jingo flags unfurled across a partisan landscape. Had evolved into either blind ideologies or influence pedaling. Lately it’s printing trillions of dollars, sticking into own pockets, tossing hostile dictators some bones, upholding deals with patronage directors, and vowing workers token pittances never delivered. If this continues, nation has no future. And, as goes America, so goes world in which no one is secure.

Face it: Besides conducting business crucial to life, government bilks wage earners, keeps them in line by enforcing laws they themselves don't follow, and writes omnibus bills less read and more wordy than Labann’s volumes full of arm twisting, blatant kickbacks, and pork barrel proposals. Such a sweet deal, but for whom? Pigs at the trough of late, GOP finds ever nervier ways to cheat and dominate, never serve interests efficiently or solve issues equitably, a situation you don’t need Bernie Sanders to substantiate. A century ago same could be said of Jim Crow Democrats, same mentality under another name, switching affiliations according to number of voter registrations. Largest voter group is independent and unrepresented, proving disgust with party platforms. Democrats today are restorationists, so recent victories spell more of the same. Hustlers misinform, but political parties apply mind control, brainwash with propaganda aimed at ego and fear, and conflate anecdotes into trends to falsely convince. For them pride yields profits and terror quells rebellion. Nation’s history has been a litany of oppressive policies favoring richest few.

During last half century Americans only prospered as a whole when Democrats had control of both Congress and executive office. Republican administrations resulted in economic recessions and illicit discriminations. Conservatives describe everything leftish as communism - including moderate majority mainstream - and reject change, improvements, progressive ideas, realignments, regulations, social spending, taxes, and whatever redistributes wealth from callous greedy to innocent needy. Unlike Trump, few can easily take out billions in loans and never repay. Relief checks reward lenders. You can bet your collection of music on CD and 3D videos on DVD that many homeless wretches never seek a handout or rather trade last dollar bill for some chemical thrill readily available. Many of them are mentally ill and not specifically responsible. Society can't ignore them any more than reckless industrialists who dump toxic wastes or terrible products on unsuspecting populace.

Worst part of trickle down stance wasn’t that it was a boldfaced fraud, but it made more billionaires than ever. Nation bears 788 or so billionaires, too many to avoid inequality becoming a catastrophe. About 10% of residents, 33 million of total 329 million, live under umbrella of millionaire households. In stark contrast, 43 million subsist below poverty line. Since wealth is a finite resource, every billionaire (inc. Trump) means that 50,000 families fail. Somewhere on earth someone dies every 3 seconds from poverty, 14,400 per day. Global poverty is as bad as any pandemic. Due to effort, faith and luck, 75% of Americans get by on an annual median income of $32K. Households need at least $25K per year after taxes to manage with basic connectivity, food, insurance, shelter and transportation. That leaves between $6K and $7K for retirement savings (as IRA code suggests), lifetime savings of $250K to $280K, provided you ride a bicycle and skip luxuries and vacations. That’s retirement pay each year for every ex-presidential couple. Some elder abuser or nursing home will wheedle it all away when you’re too feeble and old to deal. Increasingly more choose to earn less lest they be victimized by work stress or make targets of themselves and what they possess.

Joe McCarthy’s protege, proponent of trickle down, and puppet president Ronald Reagan constantly pops up on lists of nation’s most famous, because every ugly resident loves a criminal precedent who succeeded. Easy to pick People of the Year, winning team of Aunt Kam and Uncle Joe. Hard to pick Scourge of the Year, a tossup between any Trump political antic and traumatic COVID pandemic. While boasting of an 18% edge in a 2020 Gallup poll, Trump couldn't beat 21% undecided and won't ever tie Jimmy Carter's 29 time record as most admired American; it’s something of a cruel joke to all who Agent Orange so grossly offended that he’s even appended. Most polls of historians place Trump below James Buchanan among worst on lowest quartile. Throughout his short stint in politics, his approval ratings hovered below 40%, final 34%, the lowest a president ever defended. Only Nixon exited lower, at 24%, after escalating war, flipping out, and resigning in disgrace.

B&C dabbles in poetry and wordplay not serious policy and theology today. Can barely muster discipline to perform safety procedures that delay disease, while COVID-20 mutation has already appeared in England. According to the CDC, COVID is twice as likely to infect and thrice more likely to kill non-Caucasian peoples except Asians, who are half as likely to contract but equally as susceptible to die along with elderly and other high risk groups. This genetic bias might be explained by bioengineered weapons. Yet deplorables go about without masks in defiance, straddling 2 parking spaces in rude contempt for everyone. Those who seek opinions that validate their positions will more likely be deluded or disgruntled. But all inquiry is inextricably interlinked; there's no way to divorce stupidity from what experts say, especially among Dunning-Kruger morons whose illusions of superiority interfere with self awareness of abject incompetence. A half baked essay by late novelist John le Carre is as close as you'll ever get to a historically accurate assay. Truths have already been redacted from every news story. Dig as you will, anything of value lies beneath tons of overburden. Pointless details get relentlessly piled atop nuggets of wisdom that affirm a life’s entirety. William Butler Yeats was right, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity,” but isn’t that because decency demands cool cooperation and patient compromise?

Any cat with a Cheneyer grin, megalomaniac within, and orange skin must be a slimy alien symbiont totalitarian. UFO extraterrestrials must be consummate vermin. No human is so happy hollering into an echo chasm of conceited sin. Only a malignant narcissist demands so much self esteem strokin’. Analyzed by psychologists, Trump’s interminable speeches over 20 years reveal an amoral, anti-environmental, autocratic, biased, bullying, conceited, criminal, denialist, divisive, elitist, fascist, greedy, low class, lying, misogynist, narcissist, nationalist, paranoid, racist, rambling, sadist, sanctimonious, self absorbed, treasonous xenophobe who’s dismissive of citizens with disabilities, doesn't know what statesmanship entails, has no domestic or foreign policies other than raid federal treasury and strike unholy deals with worst adversaries, and only respects those who prey upon “losers” given his long history as casino owner and cruel landlord who cheated lenders, profited off the suffering of others, and suborned gaming addictions and sex trafficking. Extremism on multiple fronts earns him interminably long lists of denouncements and intensely packed paragraphs. Ego, fear, greed and hate are all Don the Con has ever dealt in. Such scams work because scoundrels discover what people have already convinced themselves of and elaborate upon their delusions, where all betrayals begin.

Big Mac Donald is a chronic liar and flattering cad who cared for no one but himself as he stuffed his pockets between 250 golf outings (most on record for a sitting POTUS), a raucous racketeer, and short billed cawing crow (genus and species Corvus brachyrhynchos). His planned news network will bugle lies and subjugate fools. Can't let this aberration continue to dominate every conversation with a quarter billion internet posts to date. It’s just his way of erecting another wall to hide his heinous crimes against humanity behind, yet may prove worse than traitorous sellout and vile greed, since he smears democracy itself. Everyone knows presidency lost luster during 43's decade, but 45’s tenure undermined America’s self determined way of life. Augurs ill for entire planet if autocrats do whatever they want, electors get ignored, while formidable task of ridding Congress of corruption goes unattended.

In Dan Partland’s biopic Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, senior psychologists analyzed a plethora of actions, announcements and appearances to diagnose his antisocial, paranoid, sadistic tendencies. His documented 20,000 lies confused, gaslighted, and pushed supporters remotely into violence without remorse. They'll never acknowledge how he regularly cheats on golf, taxes, and wives and overlook his bribery schemes that sell pardons to felons. QAnon ignores his actual suborning human trafficking while accusing honest officials of the same. If his alleged genius IQ is really 156, then he ought to understand why he was the only president in over 2 centuries to be impeached twice, a record you can be sure he's proud of. Voters were all too willing to dump Trump and replace with any face, kick can down road, not learn an important lesson. 

Having condensed what hundreds of investigative reporters disclosed about 4 years of Trump’s example, must conclude civility was bled from nation’s beautiful, best and brightest, never mind crimes he's committed, how much he stole, lust for power, and perversion of truth. “Despite the constant negative press, covfefe” (COVid For Election Fix Expected), Trump tweeted, and wanted 75% of Americans to catch COVID, erroneously thinking that would achieve herd immunity; 75% of his associates complied and contracted, including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who nevertheless quaffed an exclusive medical cocktail then partied at Mar-a-Lago maskless out of quarantine with guests who paid to see no-show Trump. You can't make such stuff up. Mar-a-Lago was once a national park until The Man of Steal extorted from former owner for less than half its value. No one becomes immune to influenza, which is why you need annual vaccinations. Took a big resurgence in November to knock a little sense into heads of masses to wear their masks and wash more. Trump’s solution to these embarrassments is to defund PBS and dismantle legitimate Press. What did nation expect from a naked self proclaimed emperor? No one in media has ever been as maniacally determined to misinform with utterly disreputable nonsense. Reveals a dire degree of desperation to grip engineer’s position on gravy train.

Captain Outrageous figured he was being clever by tapping into social media, like Arab Spring, to galvanize loner and loser discontent and portray himself as a Herculean hero cleaning Augean stables of federal and state governments thereby restoring power to the people. Backfired. Heroes don’t suddenly appear to shoulder impossible tasks. Followers imagined this billionaire bully to be a fresh outsider on a cleanup mission, which was daft wishful thinking. They flung open henhouse door to a wolf. All online commentary ever does is raise hackles and resentments. It doxes whoever tweets, infers preferences, and reveals flaws. The less you say, the better your reputation, as Labann can attest. The Bible itself and subsequent history prove, if anything, that messengers get crucified, not autocrats, dictators or monarchs, who wear a mask of divine rights. Outsiders aren’t allowed into that clique until they destroy civilization, rebuild from scratch by whipping slaves thus deprived, and rewrite script before they die, thought of as the unlikeliest of scenarios. Anyway, next ruler erases all traces of you.

“Trump’s basic message has always been ‘I love you, and you love me, and we all hate the same people... I am suffering for you,’” said Berkeley sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. “In Trump, they have found the paranoiac in chief of the conspiracist sphere.”

Trump called presidential salary ($570,000/year including expenses) a trifle to be refused (not donated), then collected half a billion alone in hotel fees from secret service while on golf junkets at his own resorts. Who knows how much else? Politicians only care about power that money buys, much of which comes from lobbies and political action groups. Couple Trump will leverage their $240,000/year retirement to continue his relentless attack against civil rights, common sense, decency, democracy, inclusion, race, reason, tolerance and women while promoting progeny into office in order to pull strings and wield power. Demented rubes will continue to follow evil incarnate down a dark alley into dirty deals. Accepting a pardon means admitting guilt and removes right to avoid self incrimination, something prosecutors should apply to compel damning testimony. Trump has already drafted precluding pardons for himself and family.

“To announce loudly that you accept the proclamations of the Church of Trump, no matter how false, contradictory, or exaggerated, is to identify yourself as a member of that faith community; to deny them is to risk excommunication... Among the Trump faithful, acknowledging the actual outcome of the presidential election is apostasy.” Adam Serwer, in conservative slick The Atlantic, 10 December 2020.

Goal of autocracy is to supplant acquired knowledge, earned erudition, learned facts, and studied reason with loyalty oaths to the point that all conversations and decisions follow preset patterns that consolidate control, enslave masses, and purge dissenters. Conservatism is a virulent contagion that addles minds, stifles imagination, stokes fears, and sucks in all demographics through ego boosts, empty promises, and protection extortion. Prophets of doom live short lives of misery. Who needs panic porn they spout? But that's what bad leadership brings about. Everyone needs to do their own job instead of being a useless lout. When lazy recipients of federal largess look for heroes to make lives tolerable, they get victimized by villains. Columbus went from paragon to pariah overnight, as will Trump, though he exposed a vicious fascist movement hidden behind rightist establishment.

Election long over, lame duck wouldn’t concede. He just couldn’t accept another loss, tried to overturn 74 electoral and 7 million popular votes, 4% of a record 180 million votes tallied, not even close. After last campaign Trump claimed to have won 2 elections, when, in fact, he’s never earned any popular consensus, only one crowded primary by a narrow margin. Lost popular vote to first women ever to run for president, then to a moderate gentleman, all the more galling. Concerned citizens didn’t vote for Biden, they voted for “Bye, Don. You’re fired.” Democrats should have objected to states he carried, where fix was rigged in GOP’s favor by disenfranchising urban voters, forcing them to vote in person, gerrymandering districts to promote rural supporters, and removing poor from rolls. Conservative judges in appellate and circuit courts did everything possible to limit absentee ballots, democratic liberties, and legitimate voting rights. Those who claimed he still had a path to victory cited past frauds as hopeful examples. In those cases, counts were tight, hundreds apart not tens of thousands. In 2000, Bush’s own brother in Florida canceled ballots legally cast to beat Gore by a few hundred. "The Ham-bugler" has been a loser in every electoral and legal maneuver. After arm twisting of 150 local officials, blatant coercion, illegal attempts, and legislative conspiracy, his challenges fell flat in 80 court decisions.

On behalf of American public and Republican party "The Plague President" ceded the House, Senate and White House, disgusted 75% of citizens, drove Dow industrials down 60% (with rapid regain upon election results), enflamed Neo-Nazi extremism, lost 9 million jobs, mismanaged COVID killing one citizen per thousand (including 750 of his rally attendees) while trying to exploit and profit politically from it, put 30 million families at risk of being evicted from homes, then ludicrously described his 4 years as, “The greatest first term in presidential history,” Distributing tarnished Medal of Freedoms to political allies Jordan, Limbaugh and Nunes (no way on par with previous recipients Neil Armstrong or Walt Disney) demeans yet another institution among many he's already trashed. Football coach and former supporter Bill Belichick refused MOF from him. Blame the few who benefitted, knew all this, and shamelessly enabled him.

“Trump and his Republican enablers have normalized corruption and nepotism, degraded public discourse, invited foreign involvement in US elections, abused presidential pardons, deepened racial divides and politicized the bureaucracy in ways rarely seen in American history. Trump's refusal to concede after a clear loss is sweet music for autocrats across the globe and a stain on American's reputation. But his effort to subvert democracy has failed.” Timothy Frye, CNN broadcast, Dec. 22nd, 2020

A military or Supreme Court coup d'tat, as in banana republics Trump vilifies, might have negated results or War Powers Act delayed, if constitution didn’t exist and too many weren't willing risk prison sentences. Don’t think masses would stand for martial law; widespread civil unrest would break out, much to delight of neocons, who profit from conflict. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, himself under investigation for securities fraud, filed a SCOTUS lawsuit to invalidate results on behalf of a POTUS known to hand out pardons for such loyalty. What a shameless ploy! Hundreds of pages of filings offered no evidence just pure conjecture, yet withheld claims of actual voter fraud, since multiple recounts already disproved and that would be perjury. Hard to prove false counting in swing states, where they relied on verifiable paper ballots that can be rechecked and were. Only states that allow computer voting were vulnerable, such as Texas, where the Angry Creamsicle prevailed. After GOP routinely upheld state sovereignty, conservative hypocrisy wanted to pit one state against another. How can Texas tell Wisconsin how to conduct polls? Even though they stocked Supreme Court with allies, justices voted unanimously to reject Paxton’s suit according to the constitution they are bound to uphold.

In an action not seen since foreign invasion in 1812, insurrectionists armed with handguns and rifles waving confederate, MAGA, and nazi flags planted explosives with molotov cocktails in reserve, and set up a gallows to symbolize lynchings of nonwhite citizens and Obama reformers while they stormed Capitol Building. This clash that claimed six lives was directly incited by president, his adult children, personal lawyer, and several legislators, who thereby committed felonies broadcast live. Seems almost inconceivable. Hoover’s FBI would have already arrested all of them; so far, 70 conspirators have been charged. No democracy exists without inconvenient participation. If you’d rather not learn issues, identify candidates, investigate results, and prosecute traitors, you might be happier under a dictator or oligarch, though you might get whacked upon suspicion or whim.

Why allow an unstable clown to terrorize Americans with ridiculous post election disruptions? Anarchists and pyromaniacs want world to burn so their suicides drag others down. With humans you get gifts and waste, jewels and jokers; goal is to encourage less of one and more of the other. Otherwise civilization and sustenance nosedive. Would have posted this sooner but for weeks of disbelief at “what next” from this decomposing jack-o-lantern, who thrived upon disrespecting anyone who wouldn't kneel before him. What's to keep Putin's Puppy from selling state passcodes and secrets, when he cowered DOJ and FBI directors and obligated SCOTUS justices? What of penalties for libel, perjury and sedition? Shouldn't lawyers who suborn such nonsense be disbarred for life, and senators who support be impeached or recalled? How about restoring FCC rules that prohibited fake journalism and foul propaganda? “Words matter, and the power of life and death is in the tongue.” asserted Senate Chaplain Barry Black, after reconvening from riot and running for their lives Congress confirmed electoral decision for Joe Biden at 3:42 AM, too late on purpose for working stiffs to follow and rejoice in a smooth transfer of roles.

By inciting armed insurrection, mounting relentless challenges, and refusing to concede, Trump raised an additional quarter billion allegedly for legal defense, likely pocketed along with untold amounts from federal treasury. Who’s really paying for all these specious lawsuits? It’s just another way to transfer obligatory taxpaying into private pockets. Any wonder why deficit has doubled? His reckless accusations agitated 25% of nation with assault weapons and mental disorders, who serve as his most loyal minion. Fomenting civil disruption and overthrowing constitution is the very definition of sedition, an extremely serious capital offense punishable by death, because even noncombatants die during civil wars. It’s all a facade to continue with impunity capitol atrocity, oversea sellout, plunder of treasury, self-evident treason, but will be about as ineffective as his xenophobic barrier against Latino intruders.

Is The American Dream caught between social equity for all or unbridled prosperity only few can achieve? Equal opportunity and pay - irrelevant of age, creed, gender, orientation, and race - honors sanctity of nation’s 4 Freedoms. Too liberal a society for your avarice or tastes? If you don't like how things are run, you have options: Fight back as prescribed by law, hide in a hole or some remote backwater, run for office, or self exile elsewhere. Wrong to let yourself be duped or sold, you can always choose to do nothing or the opposite; don’t have to justify your reasons to anyone. However, if you act irresponsibly someone pays a price, often those you love or you. Calls came out for coming together, healing nation, but promoting fascism has no place and putting aside partisanship for sanity’s sake only welcomes worse transgressions. Nazis are not good people; they embody every known evil. Red states exist because residents there don't get along with customs on chaotic coasts where arrivals and departures run riot. Trump's family has already escaped to gated Florida estates where they’ve bought executive homes after fleecing the gullible and oblivious, but communities rushed to exclude them from cabals, country clubs, and cliques.

Many say they want honesty, yet recoil in hypocrisy when truths are told. Everyone’s bombarded relentlessly with rank misinformation and ruthless propaganda upon which they feel compelled to be bold. As if assailed by a cult, see up to 20 unsolicited emails daily of conservative codswallop under different names - GOP Times, Independent Press, Patriots News, Red Right Press - with links to dozens of bogus stories with nonsensical headlines and ridiculous fabrications that don’t convince, rather call underlying intent into question. Only the guilty drive so hard deceive. Pure absurdity, you’ll never get it in real mail, since that would constitute fraud punishable by fines and imprisonment. Carriers refuse to deliver such mendacity. USPS has been under assault, because as a government agency they enable voting, which minority party wants suppressed. Republicans only succeed when disenfranchised don’t show up and only supporters are permitted to vote. Freedom of speech imposes a duty to assume responsibility and report factually. All that tyrants need to succeed is that good people say nothing, so tacitly permit them to proceed.

“An electro cruiser coasted towards the exit and turned on Peaceful Valley Boulevard. ‘People make the difference,’ read a billboard above a long line of idling cars... Who’ll be the one to lead this world? Who’ll be the beacon in the night? Who’ll be the one to lead the nations and protect God's creations? Politicians gathered for a summit and came away with nothing to decide...” Neil Young, Le Noise, 2010

Digging up the dead with a shovel and a pick. It’s a job, it's a job. Bloody moon rising with a plague and a flood. Join the mob, join the mob.  It's all over, it's all over, it's all over. And there's a leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room. The poor, the lame, the blind: Who are the ones that we kept in charge? Killers, thieves, and lawyers. God’s away, God's away, God's Away... On Business.” Tom Waits, Epitaph Records, 2002

Solstice Quatorzain

Bicyclists consider seasons and segments with interest and reverence. A segment that one is willing to tackle often depends upon conditions at different times of year. Autumn strews bike paths with leaf and twig litter, so streets might be preferable. Icy winter might preempt slippery climbs and descents, so slight rolls appeal. Even muddy spring can reroute you from potholes hidden by puddles. You can choose as you go, but can’t certify what terrain might reveal. Cyclists think in terms of what it will take to begin and end any bit of a ride, perhaps turn aside. Am I steering into a hazards headache? Are my knees up to it? How much exertion will it take? Is there any fuel left in tank? Rather go long way around a towering obstacle, to be frank.

When it comes to urban transportation, BBC Life Project asks. “Maybe the car doesn’t have to be the default?” So many people are stuck in cages because of palpable fear, perceived convenience, and physical weakness, bicyclists are deemed a crank minority as long as gasoline remains available, prejudice against pedaling persists, or price of e-vehicles hover above grasp of masses. Society marginalizes cyclists because they act singularly. Critical Mass did raise awareness and inspired planning that led to action, in this case, cheap paint designating bike lanes in some cities where mayors understood. Labann has even painted own bike lanes at neglected sites and pointed out pavement oversights on bikeways by circling them with temporary highlights.

Like city planners, composers, craftsmen and wordsmiths assemble elements. Artists and authors, on the other hand, derive visions out of interactions in moments, new memes, and old tropes. Literary artists cannot create from nothing, take tiny fragments of own life to weave into narratives without, necessarily, malicious intents. Though developed experientially, B&C extrapolated logically and passed along input from sportifs who learned the ropes. Companion Reader complements referentially and expands upon appendices. Believe it wise to advise whence text derives rather than simply let readers surmise. Barely acceptable products are an amalgam of many components and contributors. Anything of value comes from cooperation and distribution in tandem with individual determination.

Fabric of life benefits from varying strands, from emotionally intelligent to physical strong to spiritually pliant. Never beloved and seldom liked is anyone who shocks others awake with heartfelt honesty. A poet can capture vibrant insights though likely stands to be dismissed, hated or ignored until all goes wrong and policies fail to go along. No system withstands very long, not even quatorzain sonnets 14 stanzas strong. You can tolerate incompetence in many fields, but not government. Unfortunately, that’s where it’s most prevalent. There's nothing quite like song as a sweet caress to soothe wounds endured while meeting demands in shifting sands; audiences devote short segments of their lives to those they choose to hear.

Eric Knight’s orchestral piece The Great American Bicycle Race never made it onto B&C’s song list because no recording had been found. But according to a contemporary New York Times article, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recorded it in 1983. Knight, who was principal pops conductor of the orchestra, was commissioned to write “music to bike by” to commemorate the United States Professional Cycling Championship won by David Phinney that year. Performed live only once since by Philharmonisches Orchester Würzburg in 2014, can only imagine how its 6 minutes of bassoons, clarinets, piccolos, strings, and timpani sound. Knight described it as a rousing American fanfare, followed by a polka or galop (a duple time dance from 1820’s Paris) that represents movement. “It has a slow, bluesy middle section - I imagined this to represent them going very slowly uphill - and then it ends with a puff of smoke.”

John Farnham, Break The Ice, Rad [Soundtrack], Curb Records, 1986

Thanks go to Dinnos Demian, who recently updated an impressive 181 bicycle song list on Youtube. Majority were already listed in B&C, but found these 14 hitherto unknown on-point tunes below, more later. Not conversant in Greek, did not know ποδήλατο (podilato) meant bicycle. Further investigated best and cogent, skipped obscure, though worth a look. Historic wonderworker Saint Nicolas of Bari and Myra was a Greek, known now as jolly elf Santa so closely associated with holiday season. Foolish to forget how popular bikes could be on Greece’s 227 inhabited islands among 6000, especially given economic downturn over last decade. Another nation archipelago, Japan’s 6852 islands are likewise infested with jitensha, where Santa begins to unload all those wished for bicycles on his westward itinerary.

Kostas Makedonas, To podilato [Greek], Pame gia orthopetalies, Sony BMG Music, 1996

Aya Hisakawa, Ashita mo mata Jitensha (Bicycling Again Tomorrow) [Japanese], Sailor Moon [Soundtrack], Toei Animations Company, 1996
Hopeful personality image song depicting character Ami Mizuno, who becomes Sailor Mercury in hit TV anime series which spawned a media universe. Sailors are teens who become warrior defenders against evil villains. “Handles - Pedals - Brakes - Tires - Chainz: It’s all exceedingly logical. He's coming to show me his new trick on the bike he loves. What is it about it that appeals to him so much? Bicycle - Marvelous magic. It’s a little frustrating... I’m losing my breath... squeezing out my last bit of strength. The sky unfurling... The sun setting in the city below...  It was the first time I'd started riding downhill! Bicycle - Melting into the wind... His smiling face, the scenery around me... Bicycle - Wondrous magic!”

Aqua Timez, Jitensha (Bicycle) [Japanese], 「七色の落書き (Seven-colored Graffiti), Epic Records Japan, 2006 “Bicycle, my bicycle, I'll put you on it. The dream that we had... is for us. It ’s brilliant.”

Eleni Vitali, Το ποδήλατο (The bicycle) [Greek], Epta... Kai Na Prosecheis, Melody Maker, 2008

Pavlos Pavlidis & B Movies, Το ποδήλατο [Greek], Ayto to Ploio Poy Olo Ftanei, Archangel Music, 2010
“I saw you by chance riding your bike, You looked as if the world was made to be yours... Paradise is like a road that reaches you.”

Too Dumb To Die, Little Bike, single video, self, 2008
When this European band on a world tour by bicycle arrived in Japan, chance acquaintance Moku Teraoka shot a video.

Serafim Tsotsonis, Bicycles On Hudson (no bike lyrics), So This Is Heaven, Klik Records, 2011

Sisterkingkong, The Glory Is Lost [German in English], She Sees Wolves, VierSieben Records, 2011
No bike lyrics, band slow rides bikes throughout official video.

Giorgos Dimitriadis & Lakis Papadopoulos, Pare Podilato (Get a Bicycle) [Greek], single live, Minos-EMI SA, 2012

Killo Killo Banda, My Bike [Serbian reggae], Amongst the People, Phonofile Balkan, 2012
“I like to ride my bike... It gives me inspiration, a kind of meditation. It gives me comfort, the only way of transport... in this concrete meadow... You can never get me down. I’m the king of the clowns with a wheel as my crown.” Catchy.

Lucas Santtana feat. Féfé, Diário de uma bicicleta [Portuguese], Sobre Noites e Dias [About Nights and Days], No Format!, 2014
“You, me, us and our friends. Sun, grass, bicycles and whatever happens... My life on the pedal, slowly... Don't try not to overtake, friend. Face the gap. Here comes the bus. They don't scare me, but without experience and caution they’ll devour you.”

Sotiris Alexakis, The girl with the bicycle [Greek instrumental], single/video, self, 2018
Simple pleasures of pedaling seaside promenades into town at night.

Konstantinos Angelopoulos, Μπλε Ποδήλατο (Blue Bicycle) [Greek], single, self, 2017
“With my old blue bike, I'm looking for an unguarded border to escape the downhill, because its cost is unprofitable... wheel and my durable tire, life short or a quatrain?”

Jitensha, Under Control [Canadian folk], Periscope, self, 2019
“Don’t get emotional. You’ve got to ride it out. You got a long way to go. Relax. You got it under control... With every mile that passes, you start to understand. What once looked like a mountain can fit inside of your hand.”

Non Sequitur Hain

Unless a long view across a fenced hain or hallowed vista encourages corporal penance, climbing hardly seems worth hours of bodily pain and perils of speedy descents. Rather save strength to further distance. Years ago used to attempt double metric century rides for up to 8 hours. Things change as time passes; now slam hard for only 3 while distancing from disease by steering clear of cities. But where’s the fun in sequestering self? Tottering on a pandemic precipice one contemplates shifting priorities.

Same can be said about living with blinker blinders, ear plugs, and mask muzzles. If you don’t make what matters to you understood in no uncertain terms, you’ll be forsaken and mistreated. Likewise, if you accept blindly non sequiturs foisted upon you instead of assessing intelligently what’s been done and said, you suffer same old torments senselessly. Hear, see and speak surely. Be proud that over 150 million Americans, a record 66% of those eligible, braved contagion and ignored propaganda to cast a vote in 2020 election, but, ironically, timid mail-in ballots decided results.

Incumbent immediately attacked states where he was ahead on election day because he feared what might show up among absentee ballots also cast in record numbers. Commanding a lockstep small cadre, GOP never does as well when disenfranchised independents side with Democrats and results swell. The more disgusting the candidates, the better GOP does while gloating in their self fulfilling prophecies. Over eighty million Americans struck a genuine blow against tyranny by chipping in a half billion in donations >$20, designating Uncle Joe and Aunt Kam, and deposing a dictatorial narcissistic sociopath and national embarrassment with his fake facts, fake news, fake presidency, and soon fake broadcast network to continue his relentless attack against civil rights, democracy, inclusion, race, tolerance and women. Speaks volumes about incumbent when his supporters protested at polling places armed with assault rifles and intimidation tactics. Why wasn’t National Guard called in to protect count volunteers?

Fact that Earl Blumenauer is being considered as USDOT Director promises consideration for bicyclists, who recognize him as the sort who bikes to White House when summoned and secured Bicycle Commuter Bill. Maybe more of country will begin to resemble Portland, Oregon, which he represents in Congress. But a GOP Senate would probably block his appointment. Constructing bike paths is not enough; full bike infrastructure alongside motorways minimally meets existing guidelines. Blumenauer must’ve read Carlton Reid’s Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling (Island Books, 2017, 272 pp.). Like many observers, Forbes transportation editor Reid details contrasts in bicycling’s acceptance between Americans and Europeans. In answer, each European lives in a former city state, a compressed urban center commutable by bicycle surrounded by rural riding miles in which to recreate. Americans are spread from cities to farms across suburbia and vast plains accessible on cheap fuel prices and high taxation that built unsustainable roads as some sort of privileged welfare to construction bosses rife with graft and kickbacks. Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, London and Paris have many flat narrow lanes. Similar places in USA, such as Boston or New York City's boroughs, tend to have greater ridership than vast expanse of less populated continent, though biking also boomed in Bloomington, Minneapolis, Portland, Providence and Seattle, whose mayors are enlightened to alternatives. Distance and terrain impact bicyclists more than motorists, as well as economic class, given average cost of car ownership verges on $9,000/year, beyond reach of minimum wage workers even though some used beater can provide sketchy service for less. While roadnet incentivizes Americans, their perception of safety remains lower than Europeans.

After campaigning door to door, contributing for decades, and engaging in activism, Labann owes no one and watches from sidelines. In certain states voting is symbolic, since you can be assured of outcome beforehand. Sometimes all you do is neutralize opinion and normalize perception. Yet 2020's election cycle has been called bitterly divisive. Wonder why? Neither party ever makes promises or serves public, too busy padding own pockets and securing spots at sloppy trough. Either you’ll be abidin’ Biden until some humble hero rises to serve the common good, or stay stuck in a system too broken to set straight again. No country has meant more to entire world with class upgrade, fair trade, and foreign aid, but leadership is never made in the shade.

Labann’s strategy for only posting several paragraphs a handful of times each season, rather than repeatedly on some punitive schedule, provides for quality messages when they'll do least harm and most good. Plus essays give insights into their composition, as if metadata. Literary art appreciation isn't part of any advanced curriculum or social prerequisite. Critics, when not discussing prurient fictional plots, tout convincing nonfictional arguments, neither of which Labann indulges in, just explanations of all sides of any issue with no simple resolution, which precisely describes reality. A wide range of responses should always be expected in life as well as in movies, though baker’s dozen that follow seem tangled in today’s headlines.

German language masterwork of Hitler’s last 12 days, Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel, dir., 2004) stirred recent controversy when a BP technician used a meme from movie to describe poorly conducted labor negotiations, which cost him his job. Courts overturned that decision. History seems to be in a time loop. Beset Berliners are bicycling around bomb craters scurrying for shelter, while Hitler (Bruno Ganz) is blaming and sacking staff members for his own failures, His secretary, Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara), who narrates story, sneaks Peter, a Nazi youth street fighter decorated by Adolf himself, past a Soviet blockade and steals a bike so they can escape.

Diana (Uma Thurman, Kill Bill) still has PTSD decades after a terrorist teen shoots up her public high school. Otherwise, The Life Before Her Eyes (Vadim Perelman, dir., 2008) as an adult seems pretty good. College professor husband Paul (Brett Cullen) bikes to classes and daughter Emma (Gabrielle Brennan) attends parochial school. Together they enjoy a mostly pleasant life in a gardened home in an upscale neighborhood. Oops, it’s all a dream. Dee as a teen (Evan Rachel Wood) in good conscience can’t let her bestie confidante Maureen (Eva Amurri) choose to die to save her, an existential ordeal many face on a daily basis, while few appreciate sacrifices made.

Sad schoolmarm Anna (Christina Ricci) crashes her car after a spat with fiancé Paul (Justin Long), and winds up on an embalmer’s slab. Is she dead? She has several conversations with mortician Eliot (Liam Neeson). Line is blurred between actual life and After Life (Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, dir., 2009). Either Eliot is a serial Kevorkian hastening unwilling victims out of their corporeal skin or sympathetic listener uncannily helping souls to make this transition. On the other hand, Anna’s student Jack (Chandler Canterbury), who Eliot takes under his wing, is an obvious fan of death. While biking by his favorite haunt, Eliot’s funeral home, he sees Anna upright, and warns Paul only to incite panic. Later Jack buries a hen chick alive, flagging his nascent sociopathy. Solution to sparing pain is not terminating life. Every heartbeat is another second vibrant with potential.

Scumbag grifters Alan (Jake Sandvig) and Ben (Jason Ritter) steal bicycles from a school yard for fun and support themselves in a house with an in-law apartment by felonious means, such as boosting cars and snatching purses. Alan’s sister Melanie (Rebecca Hall), a stalwart waitress at Waffle House, disapproves. Just because they were born with a A Bag of Hammers (Brian Crano, dir., 2012), they figure they can scam everyone in Fresno. They rent apartment to short tempered single mom Lynette (Carrie Preston), who’s so depressed she can’t feed son Kelsey (again, Chandler Canterbury, nominated for a Young Artist Award), and desperate, she kills herself. Suddenly Alan and Ben are faced with a choice between freeloading amorally and taking responsibility for Kelsey. In a Bike&Chain moment, they man up for once. Critics hated Crano’s first feature dramedy, but its message of less broken helping like needy is heartwarming compared to gratuitous violence that so often passes as entertainment.

Autumn Wanderer (Nathan Sutton, dir. and star, 2013) has boy Charlie (Sutton) meet girl Nia (Elisha Skorman). But his dream encounter has no future. Charlie knows schizophrenia is inherited, dad has it full blown, and he’s not about to inflict such misery upon someone he cares about. Film is remarkable not only for depicting mental illness with quiet dignity instead of slasher cues, but producing on a bare shoestring with film studio values. However, sociopathies sometimes rise to highest office and trigger atrocities. 

Another timely message, The Quiet Season (Brandon Neubert, dir., 2013), endorses November dusks in a lovely, spot on, 7 minute short that any bike commuter knows so well as brilliant glorious hours among otherwise drab green jaunts. Lisa Neubert rides alone to Great Salt Lake outside Ogden, Utah, and not only composed and performed its music, she wrote and narrated its prose. If only candidates would settle into this interregnum so serenely. For 5 minutes of pure immersion into urban bicycling culture, check out this Bicycle Film Festival montage. Recognize only a few from its dozens of sources.

Alone in Berlin (Vincent Pérez, dir., 2016) has working class couple Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson secretly leaving postcards that denounce Nazi government and urge civil disobedience after they lose their son, who was conscripted into army during WWII. Number of bicyclists shown riding former Reich rivals today’s Paris. Gestapo agent (Daniel Brühl) assigned task of hunting down culprits is beaten by superiors after being stymied for 3 stealthy years. Based on forgotten real heroes Elise and Otto Hampel, who were guillotined for their resolve to oppose tyranny.

Indie black comedy Laundry Day (Randy Mack, dir., 2016) draws lowlifes to a New Orleans dive bar laundromat, Suds and Duds, where a fight breaks out. Film covers each participant’s perspective - corrupt bartender Bart (Billy Slaughter), homeless busker Natalee (Samantha Ann), incompetent dealer Ethan (Dave Davis), and self-destructive musician Dee (Kerry Cahill) - from events leading up to incident, during which each is involved in bicycling, none as humorous as Ethan, who attends a job interview with supplier’s go-between on a pedicycle. When Bart crashes his bike and winds up arriving hours late, havoc has already broken out in bar. Dee wouldn’t have gotten an expensive ticket had she carried her instruments on a bike trailer to sing for tips. Natalee crosses paths with all three while dodging authorities.

Period drama 1945 (Ferenc Török, dir., 2017) deals with aftermath of Nazi Holocaust. Two Jewish survivors, father and son, arrive unexpectedly to a rural Hungarian town. Stationmaster questions them, then rides off on his bike to warn villagers. Folks fear visitors have come to reclaim property they’ve illegally seized and react badly. A wedding is cancelled when groom bolts. Bride burns down bourgeois pharmacy of hateful in-laws. One villager hangs himself out of remorse. The Hermanns just want to repatriate what little remains of their incinerated loved ones - baby shoes, garments, and toys - in the family’s cemetery plot. Stationmaster, busy spying on them upon his bike throughout, passes them as they trudge back to train.

Stranger Things (Matt and Ross Duffer, dirs., 2018) have occurred in Indiana than a 2020 Democratic win. Back in fictional 1980’s in this Sci Fi television series, small fictional town Hawkins harbors a secret DOD paranormal laboratory. When kid named Will goes out at night on his bike and winds up missing, his buddies, Dustin, Lucas and Mike, search for him by bike. They find Eleven, a psychokinetic girl authorities are looking for who can flip a van.

Surviving Blackwood sisters Constance (Alexandra Daddario) and Mary Katherine (Taissa Farmiga) reassure themselves, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Stacie Passon, dir., 2018), after poisoning deaths of their parents go unsolved. Town gave up trying to solve mystery after Constance is acquitted. Ladies in mansion atop hill overlooking village draw intense resentment and suspicions, which they both abide until cousin Charles (Sebastian Stan) shows up and tries to split them up, though his interest is only in what money he can take from their safe. Vicious kids on bikes taunt them, and turn to flee like little girls when confronted. Sisters have no need of telephone or transportation, since they so infrequently leave castle, even after left in ruins by a fire.

The Burnt Orange Heresy (Giuseppe Capotondi, dir., 2019) has vicious art dealer Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger) hiring ambitious critic James Figueras (Claes Bang) to steal a particular masterpiece from enigmatic and reclusive artist Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland). Debney lives in a ramshackle bungalow in a sequestered corner of Cassidy’s magnificent Lake Como estate a short bicycle ride for Figueras. Title might as well been ripped from election headlines.

Recent RA.com ad has a women with rheumatoid arthritis riding a bicycle that disintegrates along a bike path, signaling damage disease does to joints. Stands out among many Giant and Specialized ads in that it’s not about selling wheels on backlog. 

Another unusual spot follows a biking kid, who later becomes a paperboy, then a young man gone a courting on same BMX, while toying with Daisy Bell lyrics suggesting best use of an outgrown bike is donating it to Goodwill, which means it’s a bicycle built for two or more. Time for an adult tandem! Of course, all bikes impact not only buyers but employees who manufacture them when not furloughed, material miners, road builders, taxpayers, shop owners, transportation workers, and whoever else gets involved in supply chain. Skyrizi psoriasis medicine commercial has sufferer mountain biking across dunes.

Voting Grein

Any internet search sends you around globe for another dozen examples of songs relating to bicycling from everywhere, listed below by year of release. Makes you wonder whether they care what happens here. They ought to. Bad US policy has a chilling effect on many countries.

Bicycling moves so slowly you take in everything: Business, environment, money, planet, politics and religion. Most distressing has always been conservatives who are anti-green, bio-hostile, coal enamored, fossil fuelish, science denying self serving shams obligated to oil oligarchs and pleonectic plutocrats. Just about everything wrong with bikenet and roadside roulette can be blamed on their political threat. Liberals say straight out they’d accommodate everyone independent of their transportation choice, though they fail to convince neocons, who want to keep trillion dollar revenue stream for themselves, so stifle your voice. In America barely enough excess is spilling to make life a success for those willing to overlook mess and withstand stress.

On Election Day in America, networks predictably run relevant films, such as comedy The Campaign, or horror The Purge: Election Year. Included among them was Attack of the Giant Leaches, which better describes candidates. Used to be that citizens were passionate about casting ballots, voted grein yearning to be surrounded by things green in all senses they mean. But government’s been rigged so whoever gets in does the same, keeps those on top in control, while working slobs pay the toll.

Toquinho no Mundo da Criança, A bicicleta [Brazilian], Toquinho e suas canções preferidas, Paradoxx Music, 1996
Tracked down original details and recent video. “B-I-C-I-C-L-E-T-A. I’m your bike friend. I'm the one who keeps you company around, between, streets, avenues, at the edge of the sea. I go with you to buy and help you enjoy popsicles, gum, figurines and comic books. I spin the wheel and time turns and it's time to go back. For that to happen you just have to pedal me.” Goes on to explain how adults adopt bikes for other reasons, like weight loss.

Colin Meloy made a recent video that acts out lyrics of 2001 ballad Apology Song, previously listed under his Portland band’s The Decemberists. “I'm really sorry Stephen, but your bicycle's been stolen. I was watching it for you til you came back in the fall. I guess I didn't do such a good job after all... bet she's on the bottom of the Frenchtown pond rudely abused on some hesher's joyride.” Interestingly, recently reviewed a film called Hesher, a term that describes an anarchist who only wants to burn and trash world.

Spinvis, Bagagedrager [Dutch, Luggage Rack], Bagagedrager EP, self, 2002
"...no matter how you hold your handlebars, the wind comes through your gloves, your fingers are numb. There’s always something that paralyzes you... It keeps haunting your head. It was a long time ago, an eternity, you were riding on the Afsluitdijk [a long seaside causeway atop a dike in Holland], and I don't know how you feel about it now.”

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Topsy Turvy, I Bet You Say That To All The Boys, Fashion Brigade, 2003
“You're in two minds; you can't decide... She wants you all to herself. She won't share, and everyone is pulling you, pulling on your hair... I know this world is topsy turvy. I know this world has lost its mind. You’re riding your bicycle through town. You’re riding your bicycle across town. You’re riding your bicycle. Don't fall! If I tell you how I worry... 'Cause I know this world is topsy turvy.”

Ketchup Mania, Bicycle [J-pop], Just in Lust, Groove Drunker Rec., 2004

Vanessa da Mata, Bicicletas, Bolos e Outras Alegrias [Brazilian, Bicycles, Cakes and Other Joys], Bolos e Outras Alegrias, Sony Music Ent., 2010
Brazilian star known as just Vanessa offers up a little sympathetic magic for emotional ills of contagion. “Go, Didi, go buy milk and sugar at the nearest grocery store. Want cornmeal cake, but it doesn't help. Go by bike, by bike... Who said that sugar and affection cannot cure? Grandma said it was perfection, tradition and evolution. It was the cake that everyone liked... Brings love in three days or your money back.”

Adrian Lux, Strawberry (Radio Edit) [Swedish in English], Strawberry EP, Merlin - Ultra Music, 2008
Character voiced by Rebecka Rolfart rides a bike nearly throughout, except when plastering Adrian with title fruit.

Zoe Boekbinder, Typewriter Girl, Artichoke Perfume, self, 2010
Portrays a short productive life of cycling office worker: “...a typewriter girl born on the first day of summer in 1928... rides into work on her bicycle every day. She types out every letter of every word that everybody did say... on the first day of summer in 1948... under the wheels of a cable car did break.”

BC Unidos, Bicycle feat Shungudzo (Carli Remix), single, self, 2017
“Set the street on fire, all I need is two tires on my bicycle. Riding on my bicycle... I don’t plan stopping for the traffic light... If I reach a curb I’ll just bunny hop... There’s no place in the world I won’t cycle to."

Tequila e Montepulciano Band, La bicicletta [Traditional Italian], Viva l'Italia, Vol.7 (La bottarella), Musicomania Produzioni Discografiche, 2017

Ani DiFranco, Do or Die, Do or Die, Righteous Babe Rec., 2020
Anti-petroleum, politically active DiFranco has no bicycle lyrics in new album title track, but bikes a considerable amount in official video. Shaving her head means mama’s gone to war with a timely message. “Do or die, cuz yankee doodle dandy didn’t feel free once, so he used his pen to pick the locks. And yankee doodle dandy did some doosey kinda carpentry when he fashioned that ballot box. And if you think your vote doesn’t matter, then you’re not paying attention. Yes, everything they do, they do to keep you from their invention.” Given her consistent activism, Ani was sought out for an interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

Burning Bicycles, Moonlight, single, self, 2020
No bike lyrics, but video is entirely about bicycling around Queens, NYC at night.