(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog’s Favourite Living Canadian)

So, in addition to asking America to believe that he’s going to spend Easter watching services live-streamed to his laptop from a church led by a wingnut preacher who believes that 9/11 was God’s punishment against our sinful nation, El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago also told us that he is going to inflict another task force on us, one that reportedly will include his daughter. It will be called the Opening the Country Task Force, possibly because “Profiteers Unlimited” didn’t test well with the focus groups.

I’d be utterly amazed, if it were possible to be utterly amazed by anything anymore. Opening the Country is still a deadly fool’s errand. And to put the decision in the hands of his usual flock of aging, plutocratic buzzards is worse than doing nothing. Of course, he needs all the help he can get, because, as he pointed out on Friday, the virus is outsmarting him.

"No, one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it, they’re constantly trying to come up with — a new. People go to a hospital and they catch — they go for a heart operation, that’s no problem, and they end up dying from problems. You know the problems I’m talking about.”



Yes, I believe I do.



The Master. Bettmann Getty Images

This is as good a try at this impossible project as I’ve ever seen. It respects New Morning, The Master’s underrated recovery from the Self Portrait calamity. “Went To See The Gypsy” contains what is to me Dylan’s funniest line: “He did it in Las Vegas and he can do it here!” The sincerity and conviction with which he sings it never fails to crack me up. For NM's other entry I would have changed out “If Not For You” for “Sign on the Window,” a small masterpiece. “Groom’s Left Waiting at the Altar,” an orphan single that rocked harder than anything he’d done since Highway 61, is given its due. My only real beefs are that “Blind Willie McTell” is too low, and that “Idiot Wind” is too high.

Completists will complain that his early political work is given short shrift. (No “Times They Are A’Changing”? Sacrilege!) And it might have been a mistake to disqualify The Basement Tapes material. But, since I have been rearranging my top five since some time in 1966, I can’t begrudge anyone’s list. In case you were wondering:

1) "Blind Willie McTell"

2) "Tangled Up In Blue"

3) "One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"

4) "Desolation Row"

5) "Visions of Johanna"

This list might last a couple of hours, depending on what pops up on shuffle.

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: “Nigeria” (Gulf Coast Jazz): Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans, may god be good to its people. This is another reason.

Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: Here are some citizens of Malagasy, lining up to vote despite an influenza epidemic. The president and his wife seem to be enjoying themselves, but one of the voters has a much better hat. History is so cool.

Is it a good day for dinosaur news, Sci-News.com? It’s always a good day for dinosaur news!



The fossilized eggs belong to Massospondylus carinatus, a 5-m-long sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived approximately 200 million years ago (Jurassic period). “At the ESRF, an 844-m-long ring of electrons traveling at the speed of light emits high-powered X-ray beams that can be used to non-destructively scan matter, including fossils,” the paleontologists explained. “The embryos were scanned at an unprecedented level of detail — at the resolution of an individual bone cell.”



They did not live long enough then to make us happy now, but I’m sure they would have.



How’s everybody doing? Being smart? Listening to experts? Ignoring everything the president* says? I have to admit, the Five O’Clock Follies have become a regular part of my day. It’s a way to make sure I know what time it is. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starting to lose track of what day it is every now and again. But I do know I’ll be back on Monday with whatever develops in our housebound nation. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line, and remember that jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io