Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I really should read my own blog.

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16Comments

  3. 3.

    Nicole

    Yesterday on VH1 Classic, they aired the All Time Greatest Top 10 Rock Bands, or whatever they called this particular countdown show. It was fun to watch, though it probably should have been called "The Rolling Stones and 9 other really good bands who were clearly very influenced by the Stones with the possible exception of Bruce Springsteen but the producers really like ‘Born to Run’ so there you are." Anyway, my husband and I started discussing whether the Beatles should be considered a rock band (we felt yes, as rock music covers a pretty wide spectrum of music) and if one was to do a countdown of the 9 best bands clearly influenced by the Beatles, who would be on the list? XTC and Elvis Costello were easy, but then we started diverging. Thoughts, fellow Beatles fans?

    And yes, Pet Sounds is a great album.

  4. 4.

    djork

    re: Pet Sounds

    Probably my favorite album evah. I love the vocals and the orchestrations. About 8 years ago, I had the honor of seeing Brian Wilson perform it in its entirety with an orchestra. Beyond awesome.

    Beatles influenced bands:

    Gosh, there are so many.

    Badfinger
    The Raspberries
    Jellyfish
    The Byrds (earlier stuff, moreso than later country sounding stuff.)
    Emitt Rhodes
    Klaatu
    ELO

  5. 5.

    Incertus

    Just to add to the list of bands influenced by the Beatles–Oasis. Not saying they’re a great band or anything, but definitely influenced by the Beatles.

    And on an open thread note, behind-the-scenes at a Presidential turkey pardoning.

  6. 6.

    Nicole

    @Incertus: Oasis was one of the bands my husband mentioned- I was curious to see if anyone else would, too. For all their shenanigans, they were still a pretty solid band.

    Djork- Jellyfish! How could we have not thought of them? I wouldn’t have thought of the Byrds- I guess I associate them so much with that California sound from the ’60s. But I can see the connection.

  8. 8.

    Svensker

    Speaking of Bach, I need some help.

    Anybody know a good recording, still in print, of Bach’s B Minor Mass? The one I know isn’t available in CD.

  9. 9.

    J. Michael Neal

    One of my cats has cancer. I just got the call from the vet, who took a biopsy of a sore on his paw that she thought was a burn. It’s a skin form of lymphoma, which I didn’t know existed. Apparently, she didn’t, either.

    She’s going to call me back in a couple of days, once she can research it, and let me know what the options are. Eddie’s the sweetest cat I know, and the youngest of the ones I have.

  10. 10.

    South of I-10

    @J. Michael Neal: I am sorry to hear your cat is ill, that must have been a shock. One of the kitties I have had through the years had kitty cancer when she was 13. It was a large tumor on her belly and it was too late by the time we saw/felt it. It sounds like you were able to catch this fairly early. Is there a vet school near you? A lot of people here take their pets to the LSU vet school, who have done amazing things.

    This was the only cat I was ever able to teach to do something. She would come when I would whistle.

  11. 11.

    J. Michael Neal

    I live near the University of Minnesota, which has a very good veterinary school. I’m also feeling a bit more optimistic than I was, since a bit of reading (always a dangerous thing) seems to indicate that a lot of cases of lymphoma of the skin never move past the stage he’s in right now. If it doesn’t move into the lymphatic system, it isn’t life threatening.

    I do, however, need to get him to stop bleeding on my stuff.

  14. 14.

    Gravenstone

    @Nicole:

    As with pretty much all their "Top Ten" lists, its basically Top Ten Bands we have rights to air videos from. Hence the glaring exclusion of the Beatles.

    All their lists (that I’ve seen to date anyway) can be largely dismissed. Example, Top Ten Metal Bands – and they open with Poison. Poison? Sweet Jeebus, Poison doesn’t even make the top 50 in a rational universe. But they were by god an MTV band, so they have to shill for them one last time. Besides, it’s good corporate synergy with VH1 having the Brett Michaels whorefest that is "Rock of Love".

  15. 15.

    jrosen

    I haven’t listened (Menuhin toward the end of his career became a first-rate conductor but his violin playing was very rough.) However, whatever he is playing in this photo it is NOT the Bach 1st Sonata…with his left hand that high up on the fingerboard he is playing notes that no instrument could play in Bach’s time, and that sonata doesn’t go above F++ (2 1/2 octaves above middle C) which was close to the top of the violin’s range then. (The instrument’s necks were slightly shorter and so the maximum high pitch was less.)

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