​Watch Trump as he begins pardoning people. 
Right and left. 
In an almost random, indiscriminate way.  
Many of the pardons will be questionable.  
Many will be...just hard to understand. 
Yes, there will be a silent chorus among the pundits:  
“What is this one about?”     
“That guy is a democrat!”
“Was she a friend of his?”
“What is he doing?
 We are so queued-up these days to seize upon his political or psychological motivations.   
But I’ll tell you what he’s doing with these pardons:
He is MESSAGING
And the message is:
     “See what I’ll do if you convict anyone associated with me!
     See what a waste of time it is going after us!
     See the power I have!
     See how I can overturn justice!
     See how I can fuck with you and your Department of Justice!
     See that I am beyond the reach of the law!
     Remember how Ford pardoned Nixon?
 
He is trying to intimidate and deflate the process of justice.
 
 

​REVIEW OF ‘SETTLING SCORES’ 
TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH   with Google Translator
                                                            
Grant Peeples is what you call a damn busy bee. The recently released "Settling Scores Vol. II "is already tenth man's release since his debut in 2008. And as far as I'm concerned personally it is also his very best. The first thing I have nothing to criticize. The first person who knows how to captivate me from start to finish. An album equally striking because of its constantly very high song quality.
Scrambled with the ominous "Pitchforks And Torches". A particularly tasty, stiff roots rocker. Then we end up at the already very nice slow "Goodbye". "A Steve Earle song I would have written ... if he had not," Peeples said himself in the liner notes. The subdued "Dear Judas" in turn, according to Peeples, might just as well have called "Love, Betrayal And Forgiveness" and that also says a lot about its content. The bluesy "This Could Be A Long Night" caused my thoughts to wander to Tom Waits, love song "Liliana" is a reprise of a song from his own, for a while no longer available "PawnShop" -album from 2009, "The Black Dress" not only lives on a funeral affair, but is also inspired by further insight and funky "More For Us, Less For Them" is obviously a sneer to the current policy of the States and all who can find.
 
The absolute highlight of "Settling Scores Vol. II "should come as far as I am concerned. More specifically, the epic valve "The New Brownsville Girl". That shows, on closer inspection, a rewrite of the Dylan-number that we knew from his "Knocked Out Loaded" album. Nice to hear how Dylan-fan Peeples knows how to give his own example to the song of his great example.
 
For the production of "Settling Scores Vol. II "drew Gurf Morlix. Other prominent guests included keyboardist David Webb, drummer Rick Richards and accordionist Joel Guzman.
 
                                                                                              
Harryde Jong
Lust for Life Magazine