Venezuela

My sleep schedule was still off from New Year's, so I was awake at 2am when the Venezuelan military conducted its surgical strike against Washington DC, capturing president Trump and his wife.

It seemed like it must be some kind of a hoax, or like I'd slipped into some kind of alternate reality. For months Maduro had been posturing, blowing up fishing boats off the coast of Florida, claiming they were smuggling drugs. Now, he'd taken his threats and boasting to a level which, even given his sharp decline into the deranged rhetoric of their colonial past, his not-so-subtle evocation of the "raza cozmica" [^1] theory of mestizo superiority, was shockingly surreal.

Helicopters appearing out of nowhere, like they were rising out of the Potomac, missiles ravaging the Ronald Regan airport. Sirens, explosions blooming in the sudden absolute dark, all lights and communication snuffed out except for a single message of violence.

Watching Maduro, with his gang of cabinet members, all of them in the same pose, hands clenched over crotches, chests and chins out, it occurred to me how sexual, how rapey, their language was. Southern Spear. Midnight hammer. Action, penetration, violence.

[^1]: "La Raza Cozmica" is a real book written in 1925 by José Vasconcelos, arguing (if I remember correctly) that Latin Americans are a new, superior, amalgamated race.

Jazz Progression: ii - V - I - vi (Key of C)

Chord	Function	Fret Pattern	Fingering (Low to High)	Notes
Dm9	ii	x-5-3-5-5-x	Middle, Index, Ring, Pinky	D, F, C, E
G13	V	3-x-3-4-5-x	Middle, Ring, Pinky, Index	G, F, B, E
Cmaj9	I	x-3-2-4-3-x	Middle, Index, Pinky, Ring	C, E, B, D
Am9	vi	5-x-5-5-7-x	Middle, Index, Index, Pinky	A, G, C, B

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Detailed TABS

Dm9 (ii)

E |---x---| B |---5---| (Pinky) - E (9th) G |---5---| (Ring) - C (7th) D |---3---| (Index) - F (3rd) A |---5---| (Middle) - D (Root) E |---x---|

G13 (V)

E |---x---| B |---5---| (Pinky) - E (13th) G |---4---| (Ring) - B (3rd) D |---3---| (Index) - F (7th) A |---x---| E |---3---| (Middle) - G (Root)

Cmaj9 (I)

E |---x---| B |---3---| (Ring) - D (9th) G |---4---| (Pinky) - B (7th) D |---2---| (Index) - E (3rd) A |---3---| (Middle) - C (Root) E |---x---|

Am9 (vi)

E |---x---| B |---7---| (Pinky) - B (9th) G |---5---| (Index) - C (3rd) D |---5---| (Index) - G (7th) A |---x---| E |---5---| (Middle) - A (Root)