If you’re gonna lie, make sure the facts aren’t easily verified.

That’s kinda rule number 1 of telling lies.

What brought this to mind was the wailing and gnashing teeth over Jason Aldean’s song, “Try That In A Small Town

The song itself has been out since May but the music video has gained all kinds of attention in recent days. From what I’ve seen of the video, it incorporates news clips of violent riots, and crimes taking place.

It’s nothing we haven’t all seen in the past two to four years too. (As an aside, the last five words of the previous sentence are why you should know how To, Too, and Two, work. And yes, the “Too” at the end is grammatically incorrect.)

Anyhow, before I digress into some linguistic insanity, I’ll get back on point.

The media, and even other country singers are saying that Aldean’s song is a call for violence and some have gone so far as to say the song is racist and calls from lynchings.

Uhh. NOPE! I’ve personally heard the song. The Lyrics are readily available on the internet.

THE COLONY, TEXAS – MAY 10: Jason Aldean performs at the 2023 ACM Lifting Lives Topgolf Tee-Off And Rock On Fundraiser at Topgolf on May 10, 2023 in The Colony, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Try That In A Small Town

Jason Aldean

Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re tough

Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they’re gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right

If you’re looking for a fight
Try that in a small town
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
Ooh-ooh
Try that in a small town

Written by: Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy, Kurt Michael Allison

Album: Try That In A Small Town

Released: 2023

I guess it’s okay as far as songs go, were it not for the controversy I’d have missed it entirely. As prose goes, there are a few stanzas that just seem strained. That’s just my opinion, and worth exactly as much as you paid for it.

There are a number of Jason Aldean songs I like a lot, this just isn’t one of them.

The point is, there’s nothing racist in the lyrics. Nowhere is the word lynching used. Nowhere do the lyrics suggest that “Old Black Joe,” should be strung up.

Before you freak out screaming I’m a racist. “Old Black Joe’s still picking cotton,” is a line from a Leonard Cohen song called “Everybody Knows” I wanted to use an actual verifiable lyric that was easily checked.

Everybody Knows should be an anthem for the Biden years!

FYI I prefer the Sigrid performance to the Cohen performance. I think it’s the orchestration.

Before screaming harridans decide to cancel Leonard Cohen, they should know that a) Cohen will not give a fuck because he’s dead, and b) they’ll have to cancel the movie Justice League because “Everybody Knows” is the opening song. If it was good enough just a couple of years ago what’s changed?

I’m just asking…


The problem is that the video clips in Aldean’s music video kind of rub the leftists’ noses in the shitstorm they’ve caused and continue to allow with their stupid policies.

Everybody Knows multiple cities in this once great nation are dumpster fires of crime without consequences. I live 70 miles from one of these festering shitholes. Approximately 400 miles up the interstate is the penultimate example showing where these policies lead.

That city is called San Francisco. But it’s not just the city of San Francisco, you have to include Oakland too. Oakland has always been teetering on the edge. Even 20 years ago, you didn’t want to be on the street after dark in Oakland. Now…

I’m thankful that should I decide to go visit the northern parts of California, Interstate 5 swings well clear of the Bay Area.

It does sort of piss me off. San Francisco was once a breathtakingly beautiful city.

I always enjoyed business trips in that city and while I knew the hotels were way overpriced as was the food, I didn’t mind paying because San Francisco had a happy vibe.

Business trips, or even standing in the Moscone Center all day for a trade show weren’t horrible. I knew in the evening I’d be trying some new food, or seeing something that would put a smile on my face. The last rays of the sun gleaming off the spire of the TransAmerica building for example. The Golden Gate Bridge disappearing artfully into a fog bank.

Chicago, New York, and St Louis, had some interesting sights. But once I’d seen them I was done. For me, there was never the desire to live in any of those cities. San Francisco on the other hand, I always picked up the newspaper for the real estate section.

Property and apartments were always out of my price range. Or more concisely, beyond what I personally would pay. A one bedroom fixer-upper shack of a house with street parking and no yard for 750,000 was simply insanity that I could not and would not buy into.

Now I wouldn’t even think of living in or near San Francisco. I can’t even think of myself visiting the city because I don’t think I could stand the heartbreak.


The racist claim against Jason Aldean is false on its face. In many of the clips shown, you can’t really tell what race the perpetrators are.

The fact that the leftists assume the race of the perpetrators then accuse Aldean of racism says a lot more about the leftists and their view of the world than it does about Aldean.

Leftists have spent the past decade reopening old wounds. They’ve divided us along racial lines, I think their assumption Aldean is racist based on the news clips, means they expect violence to be committed by black and brown people. Even though in Portland, and Seattle the mix of the crowd was about even.


Leftists, if you’re going to lie, at least do it well. You’re not even putting in any effort. You just expect everyone to believe whatever CNN or MSNBC chitter on about.

That may be true and has been for many years, but you should ask yourself how much longer that will last, if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. You should be constructing at least marginally believable and difficult to disprove lies.

It’s the “marginally believable and difficult to disprove” part that makes CNN’s or MSNBC’s spin work. Without that, the people will simply stop watching the mainstream media and then where will you be?

If you get right to it maybe leftists have been phoning it in for a while.

How many lies have unraveled in just the last two weeks or so?

IRS Whistleblowers having evidence to show that their investigations into Hunter was stymied with intent.

Hunter’s laptop being not only real, but verifying the accounts of corruption and disproving Joe’s lies about talking with Hunter about business dealings and / or receiving bribes. It’s strange to see the laptop corroborating the whistleblowers stories.

Those of you on the left, really do need to step up your game.

I’m sure however, that Jason Aldean appreciates that you and CMT pushed his song to Number one on the iTunes Charts. Keep screaming morons, Aldean and his lovely wife will roll around naked in the additional millions you’re swinging their way.

Great Job you MORONS!!!!

Thanks a million you TQ2+ (Insert random characters, glyphs, and numbers)

We of the LGB community want a fucking divorce, and we want our LGB community back from you.

We spent a shit ton of time and effort to calm down the church folks and the rabid conservatives. Anyone remember the controversy surrounding Anita Bryant?

We worked super hard getting the majority of people to realize that all we wanted was the ability to have all the rights marriage effortlessly conferred. We didn’t want anything more or less than equality and to live with who we loved.

In a very few short years you motherfuckers in the arbitrary, (I’ll be Trans today,) or gender fuck drag community have fucked us all.

In truth, the majority of the world doesn’t give a fuck about how anyone gets their rocks off. The general population doesn’t care that you’re trans or whatever. Most of us just wish you’d deal with your shit and leave the rest of us out of it. We really don’t care, and just wish we didn’t have to hear about it all day, every day, or deal with your bastardization of the language.

Here’s a simple question for you to ponder. What part of, “I don’t give a shit,” don’t you understand?

That’s coming from a gay guy.

Have any of you morons heard the religious right lately? A lot of them who used to be at least tolerant, sound worse than Westboro Baptist Church now. (Look it up, godhatesfags.org)

They’re quoting the book of Revelations about the vomitous abortion you’ve made of the rainbow flag. By extension they’re trying to rally around taking back the rainbow flag in God’s name.

Personally I don’t think we need a flag anymore and you assholes have sure screwed that pooch (No! Not your friend in Puppy Play Drag! Don’t get me started on this…)

When folks start whipping themselves into a frenzy over a deity who doesn’t make his or her intentions clear, you get rabid revival tent preachers claiming that God spoke to them and demanded action from the faithful.

You want to see what that looks like? Look up gay murders or executions in Muslim countries. There are plenty of videos of their faithful tossing Gays off roofs.

Historically, “Thou shalt not Suffer a Witch to live,” Had some serious consequences during the inquisition and / or Salem witch trials! Remember… It’s a short step to, “Thou shalt not suffer a fag to live.”

You got a sampling of it at the Dodgers Game over the weekend. That crowd was mostly pissed off and offended Catholics.

Great job, you’ve set us back 40 years and you’re too selfish and stupid to recognize the danger or the damage you’re causing.

Moreover, you’re going to have the LGB community siding with the conservatives and religious folks in this battle.

Because…

WE THINK YOU’RE WRONG

We’re tired of hearing about your perceived grievances.

At least those of us honest enough to speak our minds are.

We know full well that there’s a bunch of our ultra progressive brothers and sisters who will excommunicate or cancel us.

I say so what? I’m also pretty sure that there are a lot of folks like me, who resent the annoyance of using your pronouns or trying to figure out which bathroom symbols mean “Men’s room”.

Half the time I’m tempted to go behind a building and piss on a wall. This is especially true if I’m a little tipsy.

One of the new symbols looks like some kind of weird clock and I’m not sure what time it’s supposed to indicate. I really resent having something as simple as taking a piss being made complicated with gender ideology bullshit.

The simplest solution is not new and confusing symbology. The solution is a sign that says, “Bathroom”. If there are two doors with the same signage social convention would have people knocking before attempting entry and waiting their turn.

Ain’t it funny how the old or simplest solutions often work the best?

This is one definition of irony!

According to the Associated Press:

Mexico is using images and video of a Philadelphia Street to warn children in Mexico about the ills of drug abuse.

The actual article is linked below:

Mexico depicts Philadelphia street scenes in anti-drug ads

I’d laugh but this is so fucking sad, I almost can’t believe it. At first I thought it was a satire article from The Babylon Bee.

Unfortunately as is the often the case these days, much of what should be satire is entirely true.

The real kicker for me personally is that the folks from Philadelphia are more concerned that the videos and images of homeless drug addicts shambling around the city, may have been used without permission of the people appearing in them.

Uhh… Maybe you should be more concerned with the drug problem, crime, and violence in your city than whether the addicts gave their permission to be filmed. Odds are good that even if they’d given permission in exchange for their next fix, they wouldn’t remember it. 

Good God almighty! Where the hell are our priorities?

Here is the article for your convenience.


From The Associated Press

Mexico depicts Philadelphia street scenes in anti-drug ads

By MARK STEVENSON and MARYCLAIRE DALE
November 11, 2022

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government is using video of homeless people and open-air drug users in Philadelphia’s embattled Kensington neighborhood in a national ad campaign to try to scare young people away from drugs.

The spots never identify the city or neighborhood shown. But just how or why the Mexican government decided to use street scenes from the U.S. to scare Mexicans — who have their own drug problems — is not clear. Critics say the ads recycle scare tactics about drugs rather than offer help or treatment.

Jesús Ramírez, the spokesman for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, proudly presented the ad series Tuesday. But Ramírez did not respond to repeated requests for comment as to where the government got the Philadelphia videos or why they used them.

The use of the videos, apart from sparking concern over Philadelphia’s image, or whether those filmed had given their consent, raised questions, in part because Mexico is the source of most of the fentanyl being sold in the United States.

In one spot presented Tuesday entitled “Crystal” (meth), a Spanish-speaking narrator says, in a voice-over above scenes of drug users shaking or contorting along trash-strewn Kensington Avenue, “Crystal (meth) finishes you off quickly, it takes away hunger and tiredness and causes hallucinations and psychosis. It damages the body and mind.”

The Philadelphia Mayor’s Office acknowledged the drug problem but said it is not limited to one city or neighborhood, and noted that all people are capable of “hope, healing, and resilience.”

“The opioid and overdose crisis in Philadelphia is part of a national and even international epidemic, and we agree it is important for everyone to understand, as this video notes, that all street drugs now present an elevated risk of overdose because of fentanyl’s extreme prevalence,” a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney said.

“Having said that, it is always hard to see our city’s people and neighborhoods portrayed in a limited and negative light. No neighborhood, and no person, should be defined by this tragic and widespread crisis,” they said.

Philadelphia is debating solutions to the overdose crisis — Kenney supports proposals for supervised injection sites — while the number of overdose deaths continues to climb, reaching 1,276 deaths last year.

Another Mexican spot depicts scenes of drug users or homeless people slumped or standing unsteadily in Kensington, which can be identified by transit signs in the videos.

“Now the narcos are adding fentanyl to hook you from the first time you use. Fentanyl kills,” the narrator says in Spanish. “It is 50 times more potent than heroin. Two hundred people die every day from using it. Don’t risk it!”

However fentanyl use remains relatively low in Mexico — almost all is exported to the United States — while there are plenty of meth and crack users.

Only one of the government anti-drug ads — one focusing on glue-sniffing — used recognizably Mexican street footage. Other scenes show people wearing sweatshirts that say “California” and “Barcelona.”

“These are terrible ads; they’re truly terrible,” said Mexico security analyst Alejandro Hope. “They are badly thought out, badly produced, and they are the result of bad public policy. There is no public health message there.”

Instead of offering help, hotlines, advice or treatment options — which in the public sector are almost non-existent in Mexico — Hope said they repeated the most aggressive U.S. drug-scare tactics of the 1980s.

“I don’t think these ads are aimed at users, at youths at risk,” said Hope. “I think these are aimed at a wider and much more conservative audience that viscerally rejects any kind of drug use and whose moral buttons you want to push, to generate a moral terror.”

López Obrador, while he projects himself as a leftist, has actually been “deeply conservative” on issues like drugs, abortion, the family and women’s rights, Hope said.

Quetcy Lozada, elected Tuesday to represent the Philadelphia City Council district that includes Kensington, said the area includes many hard-working families who want to stay and make things better. But the ads and frequent media attention only draw more users and curiosity-seekers to the streets — and more problems, she said.

“Philadelphia has so many amazing places and so many amazing people, it embarrasses me that this is the type of footage that is being used,” Lozada said. “(It’s) just not acceptable.”

In a TV ad entitled “Crack,” the narrator says, in a voice-over with street scenes in Kensington. “Taking crack cocaine damages your brain and heart and causes anxiety and paranoia.” The ad quickly segues into scenes of homeless people, apparently filmed at a nearby park.

Kelly Garant, a peer care coordinator in Philadelphia for a nonprofit organization, helps people struggling with addiction, as she once did, get medical and other services.

“They are actually in a state of crisis, and to be exploited when they’re that vulnerable, it’s just not acceptable,” Garant said. “You don’t know whose mother or father or brother that is.”

Years from now, she said, they may have their lives back on track, but the images could still be out there — for their children, friends and work colleagues to see.

Addiction, she said, “doesn’t discriminate.” It’s just less visible in other neighborhoods.

“In other parts of the city, people overdose in their homes,” she noted. “If they’re talking about anti-drug campaigns, there are people doing drugs inside their homes and we can’t get to them.”

___

Dale reported from Philadelphia