A Dictator Singing 'Imagine' Should Be Considered a War Crime
Top O' the Briefing
Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The Sine Qua Non Sequitur is chaperoning some mathletes as they tour a tadpole farm in eastern Kentucky.
At my old neighborhood watering hole in Los Angeles, there was a young bartender who was from Venezuela. We were having some drinks after he got off work one evening, and he began telling me about Venezuela, specifically how communism had ruined it. He had come to the United States — legally — so that he could send money back to his family. Inflation was sky-high, and people there were suffering like people always do under socialism/communism. His eyes started to well up with tears as he was describing what communism had done and what it was doing to his family. It was heartbreaking.
Once wealthy and thriving, Venezuela has suffered under two commie strongmen — the late Hugo Chávez and now Nicolás Maduro. To the surprise of no one, Maduro was able to wreak all of the havoc he wanted while Barack Obama and Joe Biden were in the White House. The world's worst actors tend to thrive when the United States has a weak president.
President Donald Trump is decidedly not a fan, however, and is letting Maduro know it.
There has been a lot percolating around Venezuela of late, and Sarah has been writing about most of it. Here's the beginning of a VIP post she wrote over the weekend:
If you've read any of my articles on Venezuela, you know that I like to point out that the closer he is to falling, the louder and more defiant the country's illegitimate narco-terrorist dictator, Nicolás Maduro, becomes. For the last few months, as the United States has increased pressure on him through sanctions, threats, military activity, increasing the reward for his arrest, ending diplomatic talks, and various other actions, he's wavered between defiant cries of anti-imperialism and begging Donald Trump to leave him alone and just talk it out.
For several months, a lot of people thought that we might be going to war with Venezuela; the noise had gotten that loud. We have been assured that it will not be the case. That doesn't mean that Maduro and the other Venezuelan bad guys will be getting off easy. This is something that Sarah shared in another column she wrote last weekend:
That should eventually have more punch than a strongly-worded letter from the United Nations.
President Trump and his administration haven't been shy about confronting powerful cartels. They've largely gone ignored by previous presidents and allowed to do whatever they wanted. The Trump 47 crew always swings for the fences, though. By now, world leaders, good and bad, know that Trump doesn't make idle threats.
Let's circle back to Sarah's VIP post and get to what I mentioned in the headline:
"Do everything for peace. Like John Lennon said, right?" Maduro said during a speech this weekend. He added, "What a beautiful song, the lyrics — for younger listeners, look them up. It's an inspiration for all time. It's an anthem for all eras and generations, a gift from John Lennon to humanity. Long live the eternal memory of that great poet and musician, John Lennon."
Maduro actually started singing the song at one point. Sarah has a video of it in the post.
Yes, musical tastes are subjective, but "Imagine" is as close to an objectively awful song as you'll ever find. It was probably on a lot of the Gitmo playlists. John Lennon did some great things with the Beatles, but "Imagine" was a real legacy buzzkill for me. It's also a cautionary tale about what too many drugs can do to one's brain.
That so many people are inspired by the insipid pablum that passes for lyrics in "Imagine" is a sure sign that the apocalypse is nigh. If not a war crime, Maduro's singing of even a few bars of the song should at least be considered a hate crime. He's begging for more enemies. It's really the only justification any other world leaders need to nudge him out of power.
Imagine there's no "Imagine"; it's easy if you try.
No comments:
Post a Comment