musitorial noun, a mashup of musics, musings and editorials: music and song that evokes thought and commentary.
Hunter Biden, if you can believe it, wins my prize for “balls of the year” for his recent social media post (if you can believe it) recommending the Nobel Peace Prize for Republican President Donald J. Trump (DJT). The post makes it clear that DJT has now managed to stop 38 wars, a truly remarkable feat, though in truth we’ve all lost count.
’Course, it’s the same war. According to Biden, DJT had ended the war on Iran no less than 38 times (at time of writing, for that number is increasing almost daily), more than any other President, demonstrating that he (DJT) is not only worthy of the Nobel but, at the very least, of an entry in Guinness World Records for 2026.
Speaking of awards, I am pleased to announce that I plan to nominate Republican department of offences Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth for this year’s Darwin Award.[1]
I’m paraphrasing here, but since 1992 the Darwins have annually been awarded to a person or organization that exemplify a lack of understanding of the ways of the world, society and its evolution.
Like many evolution deniers, award recipients often refuse to accept that some ways of knowing and being are widely accepted by evolving human sciences.
After carefree consideration, Musitorial editors (me) have elected to nominate Hegseth in recognition of his uneducated and antisocial views of what it takes to be a man, to be a soldier, sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and to defend the American people from oppressors. Demonstrating contempt for both, this man recently decreed that only biological males having acceptable levels of testosterone are suited for armed services.
I was reminded of an observation made by a high school friend that men like Secretary Hegseth believe that girls have long hair and boys play basketball. Full stop.
In my uneducated (I flunked out of high school) but avowed human view – and this is supported by social science – the most vociferous voices to reverse social change are from people most threatened by it (“it” being “change”), even if the change is for the betterment of humankind.
USA Republican president Trump stated unequivocally at his inaugural ‘look at me, I’m the king of the world’ speech that in the United States there are only two genders, male and female. Secretary Hegseth’s world assumes that men have testosterone and make babies, and women have hormones and carry babies. No doubt “gender” is a foreign concept in that world unless you mean sex, but social science accepts that there are innumerable genders, no matter what the sex.
Even if one doesn’t really understand or “get it” (meaning understand it, not get sex), it doesn’t take testosterone to make today’s soldier. Yes, it takes balls, but not testes to be a brave, reliable (and pliable) soldier.
It’s no coincidence that current warfare engagement is via drones, for armies have always been about drones. Male drones. Mindless creatures whose sole purpose is to do battle at the behest of a higher order. Okay, maybe that’s over the top; national defence readiness has long been an accepted part of defending nations.
Of today’s musitorial, you may be expecting me to refer to “YMCA” by the Village People (Cruisin’, 1978, prod. Jacques Morali, Casablanca), cited by many as a gay male anthem, but I’m not.
Instead, I’m recommending a clip from Arlo Guthrie’s timeless classic film, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (1968, dir. Arthur Penn, United Artists) links to which are provided below. Enjoy!
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Link to the Darwin Awards landing page: https://darwinawards.com/
Link to The Hill report about Hunter Biden’s post: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5951873-hunter-biden-trump-nobel-peace/
Link to Wikipedia entry on Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (1968, dir. Arthur Penn, United Artists): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Restaurant_(film)
Link to YouTube video of Alice’s Restaurant recruitment scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0a6iWHSWbA
Link to an Acıbadem International Group article on gender: https://acibademinternational.com/health-library/how-many-genders-are-there-here-is-what-the-evidence-says/
Link to Wikipedia entry on The Village People and “YMCA” (from the album Cruisin’, 1978, Casablanca): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y.M.C.A._(song).
Link to YouTube video of the song, “YMCA” (from the album Cruisin’, 1978, Casablanca): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k
[1] “The Darwin Awards honor those who tip chlorine into our gene pool, by accidentally removing their own DNA from it during the spectacular climax of a 'great idea' gone veddy, veddy wrong” (https://darwinawards.com).
