Stephen Shaiken's Blog, page 6

ISAAC ASIMOV WAS ONE HELL OF A SMART GUY!

COMING THIS WEEK: THE FOURTH NJA CLUB NOVEL

Coming Next Week:
The fourth novel in the NJA Club Series.

The Brooklyn Mafia comes to Bangkok, and it’s up to Glenn Murray Cohen and the NJA Club regulars to fend them off.

Check out the first three books of the series here:
https://lnkd.in/gQyjS6TA?

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Cover photo courtesy of Crosswinds Press

RIP WAYNE SHORTER, THE NJA CLUB SERIES WILL MISS YOU

Photo courtesy of Britannica

The death of saxophone great Wayne Shorter saddens jazz fans the world over, but it hits especially hard at the NJA Club. Wayne Shorter is far and away Glenn Murray Cohen’s favorite musician, and we all know how seriously Glenn takes his music.

Glenn first introduces us to Wayne Shorter in Bangkok Shadows, the first novel of the NJA Club Series, when Glenn eases his mind by listening to Night in Tunisia, the great album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, with Wayne on sax.

In Bangkok Whispers, the second novel in the series, Glenn unwinds by listening to an unnamed early album by Wayne. Wayne is not mentioned in the third novel, Bangkok Blues, but he makes an appearance in the soon-to-be-released Bangkok Changes, as Glenn relaxes to the sounds of Speak No Evil, Wayne’s 1965 album.

I make a solemn pledge to jazz fans and Wayne Shorter fans in particular: both jazz and Wayne will live forever on the pages of the NJA Club series.

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Coming soon: Bangkok Changes, the exciting fourth novel in the acclaimed NJA Club Series. When the Brooklyn Mafia comes to Bangkok to make trouble, it’s once again up to Glenn and the NJA Club gang to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Click here to visit the Amazon Series page for all three novels.

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RIGHT WING ISOLATIONISM IS NOTHING NEW

                                 RIGHT WING ISOLATIONISM IS NOTHING NEW When WWII broke out, there were a group of Americans determined to prevent any American assistance to the Allies. The membership was almost exclusively right wing Republicans, with a sprinkling of conservative Democrats and a tiny number of seriously misguided leftists (like Norman Thomas) who took the same view, that whatever Roosevelt wanted they had to be against, and that what happened between Hitler and the Allies was none of our concern.  We need to keep all the money at home, they argued, so no aid of any sort, not even medicine or food, let alone weaponry or ships. How could it possibly impact us, they asked, and determined that if Hitler conquered England, it would make little difference.They even suggested FDR sign a peace treaty with Hitler. Fortunately for America and the world, FDR was smarter and braver than those fools.Sound familiar? BTW, they called themselves “America First.” Do you hear anyone today saying what a great bunch that America First was, or how much better things would have been if we had sat by and let Hitler win? Two sayings to keep in mind: There’s nothing new under the sun (old proverb), and those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. (George Santayana, which I constantly use because there’s a constant need.)

                                                       STAND WITH UKRAINE!

THE COVERS OF MY FOUR NOVELS (A NEW NJA CLUB NOVEL COMING NEXT MONTH!)

Free Amazon Kindle Ebook today- Queensborough Rock, the rock ‘n’ roll novel you’ve been waiting for

If you love rock ‘n’ roll, the Sixties, and New York city, this book is for you. Jack Bernstein struggles as a rock manager who is unable to afford an office in Manhattan and operates out of a basement apartment in Bayside Queens. His career is going nowhere until a friendly Queens mobster makes him an offer he can’t refuse.

Click on the link below to visit the Amazon page and download your free copy of Queensborough Rock

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8284F

Published by Crosswinds Press

TRUMP VS DESANTIS: ROUND ONE

Much as I despise the man Trump dubbed “Ron Sanctimonious,” I doubt this is really him or even if it was, anything improper occurred. That’s because we all know no young woman ever wanted anything to do with Ron DeSantis. (Alex Jones or MTG might say he’s renting out actors to pose as his wife and kids. Oops, I may have handed Trump his next post on his failed social media platform!) I only wish Trump were as concerned about what DeSantis is doing to our high school students right now instead of dwelling on what he imagines occurred decades ago. And you have to admit, it’s fun watching our mealy mouthed bully of a governor being publicly humiliated in front of fellow far rightists by the man who put him in office in the first place. In 2018, DeSantis was a little-known backbencher GOP Congressman until Trump endorsed him and got him elected. Shakespeare famously wrote “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Substitute “Trump” for “woman” and you can figure out what lies ahead for DeSantis, a nut who lives in deadly fear that people might be reading the wrong books or even worse, having sex without his permission. Photo Courtesy of Tampa Bay Times

NOTED AUTHOR IS ALSO A ROCKER!

Photo by Josie Shaiken Photo by Josie Shaiken [image error] [image error]

That’s me on the right, playing guitar.

After several years of playing guitar in my living room and bedrooms, I finally summoned up the courage to jam with other musicians when I received an invite from The Catastrophically Bad Amateur Musicians of Tampa Bay. Actually, they are pretty damn good, and you become better by playing with such musicians. BTW, the drummer, also named Steve, was in the same Tampa writers group as I was, but we lost touch during COVID. Hey, if Johnny Depp could play with the incomparable Jeff Beck, there’s hope for me

JORDAN PETERSON IN MORE TROUBLE- MAY LOSE PSYCHOLOGY LICENSE

Once again, Canadian crackpot and pseudo intellectual Jordan Peterson is in the news for all the wrong reasons. This time, he’s in hot water with the Ontario, Canada agency that licenses psychologists. The charges against him stem from statements he’s made on Twitter and in live interviews. The agency believes these comments undermine public confidence in the profession and raise serious questions about Peterson’s willingness to abide by professional standards and ethics. (Read the article below.)

This is hardly the first time the controversial proclaimed philosopher-king of the dark side has been the subject of adverse reporting. This blog has covered Peterson for years, and those posts are among the most popular. Check out: EXPOSING JORDAN PETERSON, PSEUDO-INTELLECT SUPREME OF THE FAR RIGHT AND WHITE NATIONALISTS, the first post on this icon of far-right extremists. If it tickles your fancy, take a look at JORDAN PETERSON: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING. If you’re still game, don’t miss JORDAN PETERSON: STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, or JORDAN PETERSON THROWN OFF TWITTER FOR ANTI-TRANS HATE RANT.

As is set forth in this blog’s prior posts, Peterson has been questioned about the mysterious death of a teenager he’d communicated with shortly before his apparent suicide,  reports of bizarre drug addiction treatment in Serbia, an unsubstantiated claim that he had cured his own depression with a paleo diet, and as explained in this article, Peterson was previously ordered to address his professional deficiencies and did not. 

Despite the howls of Peterson and his band of supporters, this is not politically motivated. It’s simply that Jordan Peterson is a bad psychologist who isn’t living up to the professional standards of his profession. 

In other words, he’s as lousy at psychology as he is in philosophy, political theory, socially, and writing books.

Jordan Peterson says Ontario psychologist licence may be suspended over public statements

TRUMP’S TAXES RELEASED, WE’LL SEE WHAT HE WAS HIDING

TRUMP FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON

So we finally get to see Trump’s taxes. The only parts that would be relevant to the rest of America would be evidence of tax crimes, or something that could have impacted his role as President. We already knew he wasn’t much of a businessman-that’s been proven by multiple bankruptcies, inability to obtain domestic financing, and his suggestion that the U.S. try offering less than face value to bondholders with a threat of default.

What is of real significance  are the motives of a candidate who refuses to produce any tax records. When someone runs for office, they have to accept that their entire life is an open book, and what might be purely private areas for ordinary citizens becomes important public knowledge when one is in a position of power. There’s not a whole lot you and I can do to influence the direction of any of our investments, but elected officials can and do. If someone wants to serve the country in an elected capacity, we have a right to know if there are any conflicts of interest or if they are beholden to any foreign power or any special interest groups.

Right now there are no laws requiring candidates for federal office to release tax returns. The U.S. Constitution sets forth the requirements to hold these offices, and aside from age, residence and citizenship, there are no others. It’s dubious Congress could pass a law requiring this as a condition for getting on the ballot and that such a law law would survive a court challenge.

However, the Congress itself could likely require all members after election to publicly disclose their tax returns. The Constitution says that each house of Congress shall determine it’s members’ “qualifications,” who it seats, and who it expels, and there’s no reason to believe the Founders meant to permanently limit that to citizenship, age or residence. The Constitution grants  Congress authority to refuse to seat or expel a member; if returns evidenced wrongdoing or profound ethical violations, shouldn’t they be able to prevent such a person from being seated? We know from the Trump tax matter that the statute authorizing certain House committee chairs to subpoena and release the taxes of any American is fully constitutional, so long as it serves a valid legislative purpose. (In Trump’s case, he himself set off the process when he claimed he couldn’t release his taxes because the IRS was hounding and persecuting him with what he called a permanent audit. Congress decided to investigate, as there is a law calling for an annual audit of a President, but not an endless one. As it turned out, the IRS under Trump was not even carrying out the audits for the first two years, and then simply looked at his forms the next two. We would have never learned of this dereliction of duty but for the subpoena.) Congress could make release a condition of being seated under the evaluation of qualifications. 

A statute like I’m talking about would have stopped a fraudster like George Santos dead in his tracks. All his lies about employment, charity and affluence would have been exposed immediately. The nation and the people of his district would have been spared what is increasingly a political nightmare for the GOP, a loss of representation for that district, and if such a thing is possible, has lowered public opinion of Congress.

We all have to show our taxes to buy a house. Anyone who wants to sit in the House (or Senate) ought to be required to do the same.