Bob Schwartz

Covid was our training ground. How did we do then with a damaging and deadly virus? How are we doing now with a different kind of virus?

Coronavirus in N.Y.: Toll Soars to Nearly 3,000 as State Pleads for Aid, April 3, 2020

Covid was a virulent virus—and still with us—that spread across America and the world.

In America, the response was mixed. Scientists worked tirelessly to develop an effective vaccine, though some questioned the science. Some citizens responded by changing their behavior and taking the vaccine. Other citizens refused to change behavior and rejected the vaccine. As a result, we got through it, but millions died, many needlessly, and millions were left with lasting Covid effects, many needlessly.

If today we are subject to a damaging and deadly virus of a different kind, how are Americans responding? Acting as if there is no virus, not acting vigorously against it, questioning science and rationality, hoping it will “just go away eventually” is not a plan. As with Covid, that is a path to millions suffering or dying, and our ways of life being changed forever.

NFL gives Green Day Super Bowl opening ceremony

Don’t wanna be an American idiot
Don’t want a nation under the new mania
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America
Green Day, American Idiot

Whether or not you are an NFL fan, we have to give it credit for Trump resistance.

First, if money is power, the NFL is very powerful. It is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, making it the richest sports league in the world. Which means that unlike FIFA, the global football/soccer organization that gave Trump a made-up peace prize, the NFL doesn’t have to bend a knee, kiss an ass, or give a shit.

To prove it, the NFL gave the iconic half-time show to Bad Bunny, a massive star from Puerto Rico (yes, he is American) who sings only in Spanish. Now the transgressive punk band Green Day will play at the opening ceremony.


Super Bowl LX Green Day to Kick Off Game, Another Trump Dig!!!

Published January 19, 2026

Donald Trump’s haters are absolutely thriving right now … Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has been outspoken about his disdain for the present administration … and the band has just been tapped to open the Super Bowl!

The punk rock band — which hails from Rodeo, California, in the Bay Area — will kick off Super Bowl LV at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, February 8.

Billie Joe released a statement … “We are super hyped to open Super Bowl 60 right in our backyard! We are honored to welcome the MVPs who’ve shaped the game and open the night for fans all over the world. Let’s have fun! Let’s get loud!”

This comes after the singer led a crowd at Download Festival last summer in a chant calling Trump a “fat bastard.”

Remember … Trump had a lot to say about Bad Bunny — another known Trump critic — headlining this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, calling the decision “absolutely ridiculous.”

He complained … “I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know who he is,” in an interview with Newsmax’s Greg Kelly in October.

TMZ


European theme song: Madman Across the Water (1971) by Elton John

It’s quite peculiar in a funny sort of way
They think it’s very funny everything I say
Get a load of him, he’s so insane…
But is it in your conscience that you’re after
Another glimpse of a madman across the water
Madman Across the Water, Elton John and Bernie Taupin


Critics and fans have believed the song is talking about either the thirty-seventh president of the United States of America Richard Nixon or German dictator Adolf Hitler. Although most people believe that it is about Nixon, Bernie Taupin denied it, stating “Back in the seventies, when people were saying that ‘Madman Across the Water’ was about Richard Nixon, I thought, ‘that is genius’. I could never have thought of that.”


We can believe Bernie Taupin, lyricist for so many Elton John hits. But these days, more than fifty years later, the song again resonates. Do we think that Europeans looking across the Atlantic Ocean see a “madman across the water”? Do we think that Americans here see a “madman on this side of the water”?

A great song. And if the song fits…