Motley Kamuka

I'm reading The Oasis of Now , a selection of poems by  Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) translated into English. There's a faint ring of Walt Whitman to him, he sings to the multitudes. The bio says he knew some things about Buddhism, which is perhaps fairly rare in Iran, but he died fairly soon after the revolution when things were more open and allowed in Iran. He was also a painter who traveled all over Europe.  I'm really enjoying this poetry book, published in Rochester, by BOA . I couldn't recommend this book more, or this publisher.  I am intrigued by the other poets he's compared to:  Nima Youshij  (1895-1960), Ahmad Shamlou , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales  (1925-2000), and Forough Farrokhzad  (1934-1967) (the one female). My library has a book by Ahmad Shamlou and 2 of Forugh Farrokhzad. She died in a car crash as 32. The link reference has other Persian poets, including  Simin Behbahani (1927-2014). Parvin Etesami (1907-1941). Her mother outli...

I consolidated my blogs into this one, and now I want to unconsolidate, split them up again. First I started a movie blog  to put those places. A music one .  I'm going to have to make a music one, because I want this to remain literature, books, reading. Putting politics back onto a politics blog. Today I unfollowed all the political subreddits on Reddit, and I've withdrawn from Twitter. I'm going to vote and not think about politics ever again. That's not true.  Politics is going to my politics blog . Might as well plug my other blogs. My Buddhist one is my favorite. 

Watch and listen to this song "Hi Ren" by Ren Gill I've been watching  Elizabeth Zharoff break down the song. Fell in love with Zharoff's analysis, watching all her videos. She has another one on Ren Money Games . She interviews Ren . He's had some health problems that he talks about. He was fairly sick from 21-26. He's 34 now. Sounds like stem cell treatments helped. He's tried many things.  Links Ren discussion on Reddit Ren on Twitter . Some great clips of live music like It's Alright . Or this duet . Instagram YouTube Soundcloud Spotify

Motley Kamuka Blog endorses Kamala Harris. In general, Trump just wants to lower taxes on the rich, and do nothing, sell whatever influence he can to line his pockets. Apparently the emoluments clause in the constitution has no teeth. Harris has a set of ideas about policy that are fairly middle of the road. In most countries she's would be seen as a centrist. Spin about her radical agendas are exaggerated.  I'm not sure how he got past " grab them by the pussy ", but he did and here we are. Women: Obviously the idea of giving women pregnancy tests at the borders of the state, and then if they come back and don't have a baby, they go to jail, isn't really what most women want. Pick Harris.  I understand if you think abortion is murder, maybe you've been told that by the Catholic church, which has the same ideal of Buddhism that you don't kill--so follow your religion for yourself. Not everyone is Christian or Buddhist or even has a religion. Women are ...

First some history: My friend says Xerxes is called Ḫašayaruša in Iran. We have different names for things. The Persian king sacked Athens and Sparta. Reading about how Rome, including Marc Anthony, had trouble when they tried to conquer Persia and the Parthian empire.  Talking to an Afghanistan immigrant in the park, and he told me the Ayatollah died in 1989, and I said he was still alive. I pull up  Ali Khamenei , and he pulls up  Ruhollah Khomeini . We were both right. Seems like Iran is in a holding pattern waiting for the Israel retaliation for the latest missile attack .  A sort of continuation of the cold war, proxy wars, asymmetrical warfare, Iran meets with Putin .  Hezbollah, Hamas and and maybe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command (PFLP-GC) in Syria are all supported by Iran.  This situation is boosting Israeli hardliners ( Foreign Affairs ). Some recent articles: Here is a historical perspective about how the USA h...

I'm reading about Iran and I come across this ancient rock relief inscription that Darius (522 BCE – 486 BCE) wrote supposedly that says, "I am not friends with a man who is a lie-follower," and guess who I thought of? All my friend who I lost who voted for the rapist pedophile felon, because I can't be friends with a lie-follower. That's many years ago.  Thinking about George Harrison's Beware of Darkness. "Soft shoe shufflers." "Make you sore and what is more That is not what you are here for" I love the video of a comedian laughing and laughing when Trump said he was truthful .  Obama has outrage when he thinks about politicizing relief aid. "Why would we go along with that?"

I don't like that Iran funds Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. My friend there says the government is about making everyone miserable. Ali Khamenei has been a dictator for 44 years, it's never good when a fundamentalist is in charge, whatever religion. No dancing in public, among other things. You read about Afghanistan banning women singing in public.  It's surprising, I reading Hafaz and he's an amazing poet. It's hard to imagine the same country with so many great poets would have such dolts for rulers. The film industry is amazing, I've watched 4 films recently and really enjoyed them all.  So I'm reading A History of Iran  (2008) by Michael Axworthy, even though there are some hate reviews on Goodreads. Reading Iranians movie reviews on Letterboxd, I think it's a place where people ventilate some of their hate.  First references I looked up from the book: Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 – 1274) was a Persian polymath, arc...

Read this article: Jack Smith’s Big New Jan. 6 Brief Is a Major Indictment of the Supreme Court ( Slate ). My thought:  Couldn't he have brought this sooner? A month before the election almost guarantees they'll wait till after the election. Isn't the tale of Trump that the judiciary is either scared or corrupt. I was taught the 3 branches balance out the concentration of power, a 4th if you count the press, they've all dropped the ball in confronting Trump's crimes. The legislature is controlled by GOP, the judiciary is often appointed by him, justices tell lawyers what to argue. I'm not sure what happened to the press, but they haven't really put the truth before the American people, New York Times became a joke of bothsidesism, even NPR puts out positive puff pieces about this monster.  Isn't the story of Trump that these institution are easily overwhelmed and manipulated by lying, a flurry of corruption, cheating and bluster? What a pathetic whimper....

  A collection of drawings on Reddit .

Recently watched some films, hoping to understand Iran better. They were The Holy Spider, A Persian Melody (Jameh Daran) (2015) and The Salesman (2016), Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others (2014) My Iranian friend recommended The Salesman . Quite a horrible scenario. A john comes by his old hooker's place, and someone else lives there, but he rapes the woman anyway. The husband is busy teaching school and acting in Death of a Salesman, and isn't maximally supportive to his wife, but he's busy. Woof.  A Persian Melody starts out confusing and weird, and then you kind of learn about the secrets and lies. This movie is on Tubi at the moment.  The Holy Spider is about a man who killed 16 prostitutes before he was caught, and he thought he was going to be let go because he fought in the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988, and he thought he was doing god's work. Quite a horrible and grim movie, but somehow good in exposing some injustice and quirks of society. This movie is on Netfl...

 Not a good sign: I think they knew the attack was coming. Later: Iran launches missiles.  (CNN) NPR Biden told USA military to help shoot down missiles. ABC Video of missals raining down. Bibi met with Trump and decided to delay a ceasefire with Hamas till after November 3rd. Now the war is spreading to Lebanon and Iran. Those two countries were looking for reason to lob some bombs, and they gave it. In the world of asymmetric war, where all the fundamentalist Islam countries take their pot shots at Israel. Iran will say they killed a Hezbollah leader in Iran, so they have a right to strike back. Israel invaded Lebanon to stop the Hezbollah bombs coming from there. Luckily Syria is too poor to send too many missiles.  Both sides keep giving each other reasons to strike back. Everyone thinks their righteous killing people.  So many hostile countries lobing in bombs, you root out when they come inside your country, there's going to be no mercy for Hamas. I get that I...