CNN (cannabis news network) for potheads, the Republic Of Rastafari’s Underground News Network and its master blaster newscaster Ek Balam (Black Jaguar) is the alternate surreality to Fox and MSNBC and probably just as reliable.  Balam has uploaded close to 400 newscasts/manifestos to Youtube and his stream of consciousness raps are weirdly compelling. While toking on spliffs the size of a baby’s arm, Balam delivers disjointed (pun intended) mashups on the state of the modern world, the Mayan calendar, Hopi prophecies, conspiracy theories, Rastafarianism, Fortean pseudo-science, reggae, Islam, and a motherlode of other topics. In the thick haze of pot smoke, certain thoughts emerge with clarity while others flit around like stoned moths circulating the brushfire hanging from Balam’s lower lip. Edward R. Murrowjuana ina Babylon.

The out-of-synch audio adds to the overall strangeness of the experience.