A poetic riff or a riffy poem or just another ill-tempered and sarcastic rant about the absurdities of our political and cultural prospects.

My first reaction to hearing this news was visceral—even though it was certainly no surprise. I think everybody expected this. But then Biden goes and does it and he does it in the expansive way he did it and he does it while still pathetically and stupidly bragging about how when he lies to the American people it ain’t that really because special circumstances on account of life ain’t fair and Republicans are mean bastards.

But they didn’t make you lie, Joe. And this ain’t the first time. You’re well practiced at it. I mean, increasingly, you have smelled more and more like Trump, and increasingly it has made it easier for people to vote for the evil one and all those other Republican scumbags. You blurred things and you also insisted on pointing out how your kid was gonna rate the special circumstance “Get out of jail free” card, while everybody else’s kid can go to jail—and hell.

Anyway, this is my pod-rant about it all. As I noted in my note this morning, the asshole should pardon everybody!

What can we say about the importance of identity that has not already been said? Well, I made an effort to explore answers to that question. And so this podcast. As always, do not blame me. You are totally responsible for choosing to listen to this. I mean, the show notes do not sound very fun. So...be accountable.

This is the first podcast of Parthian Shot.

I spontaneously jabber about one of my favorite aphoristic commandments. And I arrive at the strong suggestion you use your other eyes to obediently perform the trick.

I do not know what good this will do you. But the soundtrack just totally rocks, doesn’t it?