Main page    Feb. 07


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We're extra late today, which we don't like, but sometimes it happens. If you would like to know why, Milli Vanilli has the answer: "Blame It on the Rain." Not only does precipitation do a number on the L.A. infrastructure (like the wires that make Internet service possible), it also increases the time required for potty walks by tenfold. The staff dachshunds will not do their business on grass that is being rained upon, and they will only do it very, very reluctantly when led to a patch of cement that is covered by a roof.

MuskWatch: Pushing All the Wrong Buttons?

Yesterday, we observed that Elon Musk is not terribly popular, and that "Eat the Billionaires" could be a potential angle of attack for the Democrats in 2026 and 2028. Events of the last 24 hours or so have done nothing to dispel that notion. A rundown:

• Here Come De Judges, Part I: It turns out the rumors of the legal system's death are greatly exaggerated. On Thursday, in response to a lawsuit filed by federal employee union members and retirees who claimed various violations of privacy laws in allowing Elon Musk and his merry band of teenagers to root around in (and possibly loot) the nation's payment and collection system, the DoJ agreed to restrict access to those systems.
  
  Under the proposed order, which the judge signed Thursday morning, "the Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service." There is an exception for two "special government employees," Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez, the 25-year old Musk employee, who are permitted "read only" access "as needed" to perform their "duties," and federal employees who also need access to do their jobs. (More on Elez below.)
  
  This agreement is in response to a request for a temporary restraining order and will remain in place until the judge rules on the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction, which will be heard on February 24. Presumably, any shenanigans between now and then will be brought to the Court's attention, so there is much incentive to adhere to the terms of the order, especially since it's the defendants' proposal.
  
  What is not in the order, but is a requested remedy in the suit, is a requirement for Musk and his staff to turn over any information they have already obtained. No doubt, the judge will address this in any order on the preliminary injunction. It's also unclear what "duties" Elez and Krause have, since they are not authorized to do anything with these sensitive government systems. If the plaintiffs prevail in their motion, we should expect the judge to remove permissions from those two altogether. (Incidentally, the judge in this case, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, has a bipartisan pedigree, having been appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan, elevated to the D.C. District Court by Bill Clinton and then appointed to head the FISA court by William Rehnquist.)
  
  Given this posture, someone at the DoJ must have finally gotten through to either Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Musk, Elez, or all three. Perhaps one of the few remaining competent prosecutors pointed out that while Trump may enjoy king-like immunity, no one else does. And Musk's 25-year old charge is especially vulnerable here—cybercrimes like the ones they could be accused of carry multiple life sentences. Do they really want to hang their hat on a possible Trump pardon, especially if Trump decides Musk has gotten to be too much of an annoyance? Not to mention that states also prohibit cybercrimes, for which Trump cannot grant pardons.
  
  We can't quite breathe a sigh of relief, especially since Musk is now rooting around in other agencies' data systems, but maybe this is the beginning of institutional pushback. One can only hope. And please be clear, we do not see this as a partisan issue at all. It's a good government versus very bad government issue, in our view.
  
  
• Here Come De Judges, Part II: The wrangling over the nation's financial systems was not the only legal setback for a Musk-Trump initiative yesterday. Yesterday was supposed to be the deadline for federal employees to accept the administration's "buyout" offer, or else to accept the risk of being summarily terminated without compensation. The whole thing is a somewhat dubious proposition, since both federal law and union contracts protect a fair number of federal workers (though not all of them, and not most independent contractors).
  
  Anyhow, just hours before the deadline was to arrive, Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (a Bill Clinton appointee, in case you are wondering) issued an order pausing the deadline until Monday afternoon. The Judge will hold an additional hearing then, and will decide whether to grant a more substantive injunction.
  
  
• The Co-President Is Angry: Many, many commentators have noticed that Elon Musk is acting as if he is the actual president. Sometimes, as in our repeated references to "co-presidents," such observations are couched in snarky language. In other cases, as in this piece headlined "It is Elon Musk who is now running the United States. Not Donald Trump" (one example among many), it is an outright declaration of the current state of affairs.
  
  There may be no human being on earth who hates being upstaged more than Donald John Trump. And so, earlier this week, the administration reminded the South African that there is one person in the country who was elected president last November, and it is NOT Elon Reeve Musk. At the moment, despite the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the official posture of the White House is that all is well in the relationship between the Co-Presidents. However, we are less than three weeks into Trump v2.0, and this is not the first instance of tension between the real billionaire and the paper billionaire.
  
  We stand by our view that there is no way that two men who both have giant egos, who both see themselves as "disruptors," who both pride themselves on being "alpha males" can co-exist, long-term. Look at Trump v1.0, and notice that the only high-level folks who managed to hang on for more than a couple of years were people like Steven Mnuchin, who made sure to always fly under the radar (well, except when they were flying to see a solar eclipse). Anyone who challenged the throne, even a little, eventually found themselves on the outside looking in.
  
  
• Air Traffic Control?: In his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday (more on this below), Trump continued to cast blame for the recent airplane-helicopter collision that cost the lives of 67 people. This time, instead of blaming DEI, he blamed what he described as an "obsolete" air traffic control system. "I think what is going to happen is we're all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new—not pieced together, obsolete," he vowed.
  
  We have no knowledge whatsoever as to how good or bad the nation's air traffic control software is. Given that this appears to be an area where the budget-makers tend to cut corners, we think it is entirely believable that an overhaul is needed. However, we are not sanguine that Trump will have success here. First, because so many of his promises turn to vapor as soon as they are out of his mouth. Second, because Musk has seized upon this as an opportunity for him to gain some more influence, declaring that DOGE will make "rapid safety upgrades" to the software.
  
  Just as we know nothing about air traffic control software, we are confident that Musk and his DOGEys know nothing about it, either. On top of that "rapid upgrades" necessarily means "poorly tested upgrades." The notion of making changes to complicated software, on the fly, when lives are on the line, sounds like a very bad idea to us. This software is complex beyond belief. It would take a company with the expertise of Microsoft, IBM, or Oracle years to rewrite it and test it adequately.
  
  Forgive the semi-non sequitur, but in August 1986, Aeroméxico had one fatal crash and one near-miss in the span of a week. The airline's safety record is not particularly better or worse than any other major carrier, but the two incidents in close proximity served to fix the idea that "Aeroméxico is not safe" in the minds of many would-be passengers, and nearly caused the airline to go bankrupt.
  
  On Wednesday, roughly a week after the fatal Potomac crash, there was an incident at Seattle-Tacoma International airport where a Japan Airlines plane clipped a Delta plane. Both were on the ground, and nobody was hurt. However, if there are numerous airplane-related incidents in close order, it could well stick in the minds of voters, and become an anchor around the neck of Trump, whether that is fair or not. And if Musk actually does rewrite the software, and THEN there is some sort of incident, then the White House will definitely be in deep doo-doo.
  
  
• DOGE Uber Alles: Marko Elez spent roughly a week as one of the most powerful people in the country, by virtue of his hacked-in, high-level access to the nation's payment systems. What he, and his DOGE boss Musk, apparently forgot is that once a person has such a high profile, an army of reporters and activists begin looking anywhere and everywhere for skeletons. And in Elez' case they were not hard to find, as he was in the habit of sharing impolitic opinions on eX-Twitter. For example:
  
  
  • "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity."
  • "Normalize Indian hate."
  • "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool."
  • "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth."
  
  In case you are wondering, Elez is a white fellow of Russian extraction. We do not know, however, if his list of acceptable marriage partners would be limited exclusively to Russians, or if he is open to white people of any (non-Jewish) heritage. Probably doesn't matter, since we would be willing to bet large sums of money he is an incel.
  
  As a result of being outed as a bigot, Elez has "resigned." It would seem that such ideas are OK if you are a co-president, but not so much if you are just a Blackshirt foot soldier. We put "resigned" in quotations because we are not really sure what that means in this context. First, Elez was already an un-appointed member of the administration. Is his resignation going to end all contact with Musk (unlikely) or will Elez just assume some other sub-Musk position (say, as an employee of SpaceX)? Second, as we and others have noted, Elez apparently achieved substantial access to the nation's financial systems, via a setup that would be hard to shut down, and that would not require Elez to be "in the building" to muck around. Is anyone really sure that he's been completely cut off? Even if Trump and Musk WANTED him to be completely cut off, it's not clear to us that they could make that happen short of forcibly seizing his notebook computer, doing a secure erase on it, and reloading the operating system from the manufacturer's website.

To return to where this item started, the evidence is mounting that Musk is a liability for Trump, and also that... the Democrats have figured that out. As to the first part of that, poll after poll has shown that the voting public is now decidedly unenthusiastic about Musk's participation in the government. Broadly speaking, in November, about a quarter of independents and Democrats liked the idea of his getting involved. Now, both groups are in the single digits. Among Republicans, about half were enthused about Musk playing a role in the Trump administration. Now, that's down to about a quarter. And again, we're only 3 weeks in. That's a pretty precipitous decline for such a short time.

Undoubtedly taking notice of this, Democrats are calling very loudly for investigations into Musk's activities. It's not entirely impossible that Republicans will comply; it would take just one Republican vote, on most committees, to make it happen. One could imagine a purple-district GOP-er deciding that it's better to be on the Musk-skeptic side than the Musk-enabler side.

In addition, we already have our first anti-Musk messaging bill, courtesy of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI). We generally roll our eyes at the tortured-bill-names-that-are-also-acronyms, but Pocan's is smoother than most. It's the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy Act, or ELON MUSK Act. The bill will not become law, not while Mike Johnson (R-LA) is speaker, but what it would do is prohibit people who work as "special" government employees (like Musk) from receiving federal contracts (like the once SpaceX has). Presumably, you can see where this is headed. Once this bill, and others like it, end up in Johnson's trash can, Democrats will scream: "See? The Republicans are more than happy to make the fat-cat billionaires even fatter with YOUR tax money."

And there you have more than 2,400 words on just one day of Muskery(?). We hereby nominate "muskrat" for "Word of the Year." Who could have seen that possibility, say, 6 months ago? (Z & L)

Pam Bondi: Bill Barr, the Sequel

Donald Trump made Matt Gaetz his initial pick for attorney general because he wanted someone who would serve as his personal attack dog. Gaetz did not work out, but it's already clear that the President has found an alternative, in Pam Bondi, who will be as much a fawning lackey as Gaetz would have been, and as Trump v1.0 AG Bill Barr actually was.

To start, Bondi slipped this in during her first full day in office, such that reporters did not catch it until this week. She has ordered the FBI to disband its Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and to pare back enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. That entity, and that law, are meant to combat the efforts of Russia, China and other hostiles to interfere with American elections. And despite being a task force, the FITF has actually done pretty good work. Another directive, issued on the same day, brought an end to efforts to seize assets from Russian oligarchs.

Officially, Bondi made these changes to "free [FBI] resources to address more pressing priorities," but does anyone really believe that? We certainly don't. We have to conclude that Bondi (and Trump) have taken a long look at the situation, and concluded that Republicans benefit much more from foreign interference in elections than Democrats do. Making kissy-kissy with Russia and Vladimir Putin is presumably an added benefit.

Meanwhile, coming second chronologically, but probably first in terms of icky-ness, Bondi issued a memo late Wednesday night that instructs the DoJ to investigate and potentially prosecute illegal DEI/DEIA programs. It's not too hard to figure out the plan, since the title of the memo, in ALL CAPS, is "ENDING ILLEGAL DEI AND DEIA DISCRIMINATION AND PREFERENCES." Increasing the icky factor is that the division that will take on primary responsibility for this task is the DoJ's Civil Rights Division.

Undoubtedly, this will end up in court, sooner or later. And it's not likely to withstand much scrutiny. On the same day that Bondi issued her memo, U.S. District Judge John Cronan (a Trump appointee, in case you are wondering) issued an opinion that, while not directly addressed to the new "policy" from Bondi, makes clear that her interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause is on shaky legal ground. Conservative judges in Florida found the same thing, when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) tried to punish DEI/DEIA-utilizing businesses and entities.

If Bondi is allowed to move forward, however, then it could mean chaos. Cases involving discrimination, regardless of who thinks they are being victimized, are notoriously difficult and expensive to litigate. The federal government has unlimited resources, whereas the government's targets do not. Trump and Bondi could use this to perform political theater, say by targeting universities, or corporations that dare to push back against Trumpism. Alternatively, Trump could use the threat of anti-DEI/DEIA suits to extract cash or other concessions from corporations, the way he's done with his various phony-as-hell defamation lawsuits.

The bottom line is that, as we've already written several times, the judicial branch is emerging as the first, and most important, line of defense against the illegal and problematic excesses of the Trump administration. The judiciary was largely up to the task for Trump v1.0, we will soon learn if that will be true for Trump v2.0. (Z)

Donald Trump: He Was Nailed to the Cross for Me

Yesterday was the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Donald Trump, as readers will know, pretends to be a Christian for the benefit of his base. We don't believe he's the first president to execute this particular masquerade, though his pretension is the least believable, given the life he leads, and has led. As you might imagine, given the nature of the event, not to mention that Trump is in the middle of a frenzied period of "doing stuff," he took the opportunity to announce yet another initiative of dubious legality and/or questionable efficacy.

Via executive order (naturally), Trump told the audience that he will create a task force to "eradicate anti-Christian bias." He decreed: "While I'm in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals and in our public squares. And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God."

Let us imagine, for a moment, that the new task force was dedicated to combating Islamophobia and/or antisemitism. If that was the case, and if the plan was substantive as opposed to performative, we might well be on board. The reason is that we are well aware of concerning expressions of both Islamophobia and antisemitism in American society (some of them from Trump himself, or else members of his administration). We are not aware of such expressions of anti-Christian sentiment. This is not surprising, since Christians have vastly more power in American society than members of any other religious group.

Is it possible that we have our blinders on, as godless pinko commie academics? Perhaps. However, that brings us to another relevant point. Every time a Fox or a Breitbart starts squawking about anti-Christian stuff, it invariably seems to be nonsense, like whining about whether or not you can say "Merry Christmas," or complaining about this year's winter cup designs at Starbucks, or talking about how schools really should be allowed to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, First Amendment be damned. We operate under the assumption that if there were real, legitimate expressions of anti-Christian bias in American society, it would not be necessary to invent things to carp about.

And this, in turn, is why we describe the new "task force" (never a promising start) as being of dubious legality and/or questionable efficacy. It appears rather obvious to us that either the administration is going to pursue objectives that will not hold up in court, or the whole thing is just an empty gesture for the benefit of the Prayer Breakfast audience. We would guess it's mostly or entirely the latter, but it could be both.

On a very related point, the National Prayer Breakfast—which was first held in 1953—is supposed to be an occasion where partisan differences are left at the door, and the unity of the American people is put front and center. But Trump doesn't do "unity." So, as part of his announcement of the anti-Christian-bias task force, he went on an extended harangue about the "Godless" Democrats:

After years of decline, Americans are reasserting our true identity as a people ordained by God to be the freest and most exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth.

But we weren't that for four years. I don't believe we were. And we're getting there very soon.

Very quickly, I'll be able to say it and we'll be able to say it again. As I said in my inaugural address two weeks ago. A light is now shining over the world, the entire world.

And I'm hearing it from other leaders, I'm hearing it from leaders that have traditionally not been on our side, that there's so much more there's such a good feeling in the air, so different than it was just a short time ago.

Because here in America we are once again a nation that believes in ourselves. We believe in our destiny and trust in the providence of almighty God.

And I can tell you the opposite side, the opposing side. And they oppose religion. They oppose God.

Such remarks would be in poor taste if they were coming from an actual believer. Despite religious fundamentalists' claims to the contrary, a person whose relationship with God (or with the gods, or with the universe, or with "ultimate reality," to use the scholars' term) is different from yours is not inherently "Godless." The fact that these remarks are coming from someone who doesn't give a damn about God, the Bible, church or Christianity adds an additional, very thick, layer of hypocrisy.

The great irony here is that pushing Christianity on people does not create more Christians, it creates fewer, by driving people away. On the whole, (some) nonbelievers are open to a moderate version of [Religion X] or [Religion Y]. They are not open to an extreme version, and the extreme version of Christianity is what Trump's base wants him to promote (impose?). About 27.7% of Americans identify as members of one of the religious groups that the President is pandering to. It will be interesting to see if that percentage is higher or lower than Trump's approval rating on the day he leaves office in 2029. (Z)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Rock Fish

We had two hints for last week's headline theme. The first was: "[W]e are reminded of our Shakespeare: 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.'" The second, which we nearly forgot to share, was: "The solution is a killer." And here is that solution, courtesy of J.N. in Zionsville, IN:

This week's headlines all feature symbols or animals associated with the Zodiac.

• Confirmation Hearings: Trump May Not be Able to Ram Gabbard, Kennedy Through—Aries
• Trumponomics: A Heaping Pile of Bull... Well, You Know—Taurus
• Today in Fawning Obeisance: Meta Appears to Have Abandoned All Pretense of Balance—Libra
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Little Lion Man—Leo
• This Week in Schadenfreude: Boebert Tries to Be a Hawk, Ends Up as a Goat—Capricorn
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Fires, Meet Water Bearer—Aquarius

Naturally, we accepted answers that were in the vicinity, like "constellations" and "astrological signs." And, of course, the "Fish" from this headline is Pisces.

Here are the first 50 readers to get it right:

J.N. in Zionsville B.F. in Nashville, TN D.S. in Layton, UT J.R. in Austin, TX S.R.G. in Grecia, Costa Rica S.K. in Ardmore, PA A.D. in Vass, NC A.O'N. in Wiesbaden, HE, Germany P.M.C. in Vero Beach, FL J.M.R. in Muncie, IN N.H. in London, England, UK M.M. in Leonardtown, MD E.S. in Providence, RI T.P. in Kings Park, NY S.C. in Mount Airy, MD M.B. in Albany, NY M.T. in Simpsonville, SC T.C. in Danby, NY P.R. in Kirksville, MO M.M. in Dunellen, NJ C.G. in Pittsburgh, PA K.M. in Olympia, WA B.G. in Bedford, MA B.W. in Tyngsborough, MA B.F. in Madison, WI

S.S. in Emmenbrücke, LU, Switzerland J.U. Chicago, IL D.C. in Teaneck, NJ K.R. in Austin, TX M.W. in Northbrook, IL G.G. in Nottingham, UK T.B. in Richardson, TX B.R. in Arlington, MA G.K. in Blue Island, IL M.K. in Long Branch, NJ W.S. in Greenville, NC M.W. in Altea, Spain V.F. in Bowie, MD J.W. in York, England, UK P.L. in Skövde, Sweden S.F. in Pemberton Borough, NJ G.W. in Avon, CT M T. in Wheat Ridge, CO J.P. in Fredericksburg, VA S.S. in Santa Monica, CA D.S. in Brookville, OH S.T. in Federal Way, WA J.D.W. in Baltimore, MD D.B. in Pittsboro, NC R.G. in Bella Vista, AR

Just in case the second hint flew over anyone's head, it was a reference to the Zodiac Killer, who remains at large, though he's probably dead.

For this week's theme, the Trivial Pursuit category is Entertainment. It relies on one word per headline, and as a hint, we'll note that the headline for the first item today was almost "MuskWatch: Americans are Leary of Elon." We scrapped that because we did not want a bunch of messages correcting our deliberate misspelling.

If you think you have the solution, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject "February 7 Headlines." (Z)

This Week in Schadenfreude: Don't Mess with... Black Churches

Enrique Tarrio is a felon and an outspoken bigot. And these days, he is hanging out at Mar-a-Lago and plotting a run for political office. "I think my future is in politics. I think I'm going to take a serious look at running for office at some point, in 2026 or 2028, and I believe that there is a path for that, because it is my passion, you know?" If that is not an indictment of the Trumpublican Party, we don't know what is. Normal Republicans deplore racism and lawlessness, but not the MAGA Militia.

There is one small fly in the ointment, however. It won't necessarily stop Tarrio from pursuing his aspirations, but it will make it a wee bit trickier. His fame, and with it his potential base of support, comes from his having been the leader of the Proud Boys. Undoubtedly, he would like to use that in campaign materials. However, he will not be able to do so because, as of this week, the name "Proud Boys" belongs to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church of Washington, DC (MAMEC).

How, exactly, did that happen? Well, the incident that sent Tarrio to prison (for what was supposed to be 22 years) was a Proud Boys attack on MAMEC that he led. The head bigot, and his bigoted followers, scaled the walls of the church and commenced an extensive campaign of vandalism, including tearing down a Black Lives Matter banner. This came immediately after Tarrio and his goons attended a Donald Trump rally.

While the criminal judgment against Tarrio may be in abeyance, the civil judgment against him and his co-defendants is still in effect. They owe $2.8 million to MAMEC, and have paid $0.0 million of that. So, the Church went to court and asked for ownership of the Proud Boys name, as partial satisfaction of the judgment. Superior Court of the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Jones Bosier (a Joe Biden appointee, in case you are wondering) was pleased to grant the request.

This means that if Tarrio endeavors to use the Proud Boys name to promote himself, to raise funds, to run for office, etc., he is infringing on MAMEC's intellectual property. And do you think they will be satisfied just to send him a cease-and-desist letter? We don't. The Church's lawyers are going to run to court so fast, it will produce a dust cloud like in those old Road Runner cartoons. There will be no expectation of recovering any damage; the purpose will be to create headaches for Tarrio (and possibly to get him sent to prison for contempt of court). It will be at least some small amount of payback for the violent behavior of a racist a**hole. (Z)

This Week in Freudenfreude: Tryin' to Get Up That Great Big Hill of Hope

When we look around for material for this feature, you might be surprised how often writing an item about Dolly Parton is a real possibility. Or maybe you wouldn't be surprised at all. We have gone with her once or twice before, and today we're going to do so again. In part, because while she is undoubtedly Christian, she embraces the charitable and tolerant aspects of Jesus' ministry. From where we sit, that stands in marked opposition to the behavior we describe above, in "Donald Trump: He Was Nailed to the Cross for Me." And in part, because this week marks the anniversary of the release of her album Jolene (February 4, 1974). It wasn't her first album, but it was the one that really put Parton on the map, and launched her on the path to superstardom.

Here is a list of news items about Parton from just the last week, most of which could plausibly have served as the basis for this item, all by themselves:

• Entrepreneurial Spirit, Part I: The title track from Jolene is about a red-haired woman who tried to steal Parton's husband away from her. For this reason, the singer says she could not tolerate red wine for decades. But this week, perhaps in a version of exposure therapy, Parton announced that her vineyard will begin selling a red wine... called "Jolene." For those who want to get their drink on, it will retail for $14.99 a bottle.
  
  
• Entrepreneurial Spirit, Part II: Also on the Dolly-as-businesswoman front, the 40th anniversary of the founding of Dollywood is imminent (it's a couple of weeks away). The Knoxville News Sentinel had a story about how Parton's investment in the park, and thus in the poor, rural town of Pigeon Forge, served to revitalize the area.
  
  
• Garden Variety: This week, the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center will open a new hospital. And the entrance of the hospital will feature a "healing garden," paid for by a $100,000 donation from Parton. The donation is in honor of Parton's mother Avie Lee Parton, who was born nearby (at home, as was the custom in that day).
  
  
• Reading is Fun...damental: For a number of years, Parton has been part of a group that operated the "Imagination Library," an organization that delivers free books to children around the world, mostly in very poor communities. The service was suspended in some areas, due to funding issues, followed by the pandemic, but this week, thanks to extra money being kicked in by the Dollywood Foundation, it's back.
  
  
• Number One: Despite her substantial work as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, Parton is still keeping her hand in the game as an artist. Her most recent album is Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith, and Fables, which brings together recordings that represent five generations of her family. This week, the album debuted at the top of the U.K.'s Country Compilations chart. That's the eleventh time Parton has pulled off that particular feat.
  
  
• Just Duet: In addition to doing her own albums, Parton has also gotten in the habit of recording duets with other prominent artists (Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash, among others, also liked to do this in the latter stages of their careers). The most recent duet to be released is a cover of "What's Up?" by Four Non-Blondes, backed by Linda Perry, who wrote the track and played guitar on the original version. Perry is also an extremely out lesbian, so apparently not every Christian sees being LGBTQ as an offense against God. Anyhow, it's pretty rockin' (and is also the source of the headline for this item). On Wednesday, details of Parton's next duet were unveiled; it will be a rendition of Sabrina Carpenter's "Please Please Please," with Carpenter as the backing musician.
  
  
• Broadway Bound: Parton also has a musical in the works, titled Dolly: An Original Musical. Yesterday, it was announced that there will be preview showings in Nashville this summer, before the production heads to Broadway early next year.

Let us not forget that Dolly Parton is 79 years old, and this is just one week's worth of stuff. Clearly, she is working much longer hours than just 9 to 5. We tip our caps to her.

Have a good weekend, all! (Z)

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