Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

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

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Everybody saw this coming.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

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62Comments

  1. 1.

    gbear

    This song has captured my political mood for years. I was trying to find a Soft Boys (original) version of it, but this version was too much fun to resist. I Wanna Destroy You.

  2. 2.

    Wile E. Quixote

    So I keep looking at that PJTV ad for "The Third Jihad" and I keep wondering about the guy revealing the secret manifesto of the American Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, former physician to the US Congress who is described as a "Muslim American". I wasn’t aware such a thing existed. Does that mean that "Christian Americans", "Jewish Americans", "Buddhist Americans" and "Pagan Americans" exist too? Would I, even though I haven’t been to church in years, be described as a "Lutheran American"?

  5. 5.

    Fulcanelli

    The more things change, the more they stay the same it seems… Here’s another from the master for you Mr. Cole:

    More Trouble Comin’ Every Day (peak wingnuts en regalia)

    Well I’m about to get sick
    From watchin’ my TV
    Been checkin’ out the news
    Till my eyeballs fail to see
    I mean to say that every day
    Is just another rotten mess
    And when it’s gonna change, my friend
    Is anybody’s guess, so I’m
    Watchin’ and I’m waitin’
    Hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear em sayin'
    There's no way to delay
    That trouble comin' every day
    No way to delay the trouble
    Comin' every day

    Wednesday I watched the riot
    Seen the cops out on the street
    Watched     em throwin’ rocks
    & stuff & chokin’ in the heat
    Listen to reports
    About the whisky passin’ round
    Seen the smoke & fire
    And the market burnin' down
    Watched while everybody
    On his street would take a turn
    To stomp & smash &
    bash & crash &
    slash & bust & burn
    And I'm Watchin' and I'm waitin'
    Hopin' for the best
    Even think I'll go to prayin'
    Every time I hear     em
    sayin’ that there’s
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    No way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    It can’t happen here, It can’t happen here

    /RIP FZ

  6. 6.

    gbear

    I saw Frank Zappa headline at the St Paul Civic Center in the mid-70s on a triple bill that also included Styx and The Average White Band. No lie. It was a strange night. Zappa’s bass player had broken his hand so he spent the entire night standing behind his amplifier. On the front of the amp he’d posted letters corresponding to all the notes on the scale, and he spent the night frantically pointing at the peices of paper while a stand-in bass player tried to follow along with his back to the audience. Styx had cut their show short after about 3 songs because all the sonic gimmicks that put their songs across kept malfunctioning and they got pissed off. The Average White Band was fun live and made it thru their set disaster-free.

    DougJ: I was unfamiliar with the Circle Jerks but that video might make me a future fan. They screwed up a couple of the lyric lines though. I’m a big Robyn Hitchcock fan.

  10. 10.

    Ned R.

    Great minds think alike, Mary! I’m on a major Depeche kick right now! And lord I cannot wait for the new album, it’ll be stellar.

  12. 12.

    John Cole

    @gbear: Buttars is an old favorite of mine- do a search for Buttars.

    My favorite all time Buttars quote:

    Buttars doesn’t disregard evolution completely, rather he believes God is the creator, but His creations have evolved within their own species.

    “We get different types of dogs and different types of cats, but you have never seen a ‘dat,’ ‘’ he said.

    How do you beat that?

  13. 13.

    gbear

    Oof. Sorry John, but I’d rather eat cilantro than listen to Tom Waits. I wasn’t born with the gene that makes Tom Waits sound good. Blame my parents.

  17. 17.

    gbear

    “We get different types of dogs and different types of cats, but you have never seen a ‘dat,’ ‘’ he said.

    John, He sounds like a sweetheart. Has he ever used the argument that same sex marriage would lead to bestiality?

  18. 18.

    bootlegger

    Speaking of circle jerks, apparently a ginormous crowd of teabaggers wandered over to Lafayette Park to protest a tax cut by da commies. Interestingly, Salon points out in this article that the original Tea Party was also in response to a tax cut–for the East India company that affected Colonial importers. You simply cannot take the postmodern Teabag Party seriously (though I hope the Secret Service and FBI are).

  20. 20.

    Cap'n Phealy

    When it comes to the late, great FZ and the depiction of wingnuts, one of my favorites is the Dumb All Over/Heavenly Bank Account/Suicide Chump medley from "You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1". Doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, though.

  22. 22.

    Common Sense

    While we are talkin crazy Utahans (Utahites?) Just though I would point out:

    Utah (and red states in general) is full of perverts:

    The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000.

  23. 23.

    grimc

    @DougJ

    I think it was you who did the post wondering exactly why Gregg pulled out of Commerce consideration. Maybe this new revelation of a real estate deal was it?

    I know next to nothing about Gregg, but if this is true, it’s corruption on such a remedial level that you gotta wonder how he lasted so long.

  24. 24.

    Comrade Stuck

    I never much liked Zappa back in the day, until I heard he named his youngin’s Moon Unit and Dweezle. Nobody has topped that before or since. RIP Mr Zappa.

  29. 29.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    Fuckhead, most people know him for his countrypolitan stuff. I know that when I listened to Top 40 radio in the early 70s (God, I miss the whole chaotic mess of true Top 40), I loved The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, and I still think it’s a pretty fine song.

    But I got his Sun Singles collection from eMusic a couple of years back, was knocked back off my feet, and began hunting down everything else I could get by him. Country Soul is NOT an oxymoron.

  30. 30.

    bootlegger

    @Common Sense: Yes, but sales dipped 1% on Sundays so at least they were keeping holy the sabbath.
    Speaking of blasts from the past, Black Sabbath (apparently named for a day without high speed bukkake downloads).

  31. 31.

    Martin

    On the front of the amp he’d posted letters corresponding to all the notes on the scale, and he spent the night frantically pointing at the peices of paper while a stand-in bass player tried to follow along with his back to the audience.

    They need better friends. I was at this concert when Bruce came out to play for Bono who had a broken arm. Pretty happy people in Philly when Bruce shows up. They also pulled someone out of the audience to play one of the easier songs. That must have been quite a moment finding yourself up in front of RFK.

  32. 32.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Well, I missed that early 70s country vibe so I went and got him and a few others. Remember when they’d play Charlie Rich’s hits in rotation with Lynn Anderson’s Rose Garden, Melanie’s Brand New Key, Charlie Pride’s Kiss an Angel Good Morning, Tanya Tucker’s Delta Dawn, ah I could go on forever.

  33. 33.

    forked tongue

    Zappa’s been dead for sixteen years, and he really needs to stay that way. There really aren’t any words for how much I loathe that guy’s music, his contempt for both those who aren’t his audience and those who are, his utter failure to be able to rock nearly as hard as songs he likes to hold up as examples of bad popular taste, his attitude toward sexuality (which is that it’s interesting to exactly the degree that it’s degrading to everyone involved), his scatological obsessions (which are just gross), and on and on. As it happens, he was my hero when I was thirteen. Then, unlike a lot of his fans, I smartened up some. I don’t expect to convince any of his fans through this post, I just wanted to congratulate John C. on recognizing that Tom Waits is better. WAY better. Waits is a genius for the ages, but almost ANYONE is better.

  34. 34.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    @bootlegger: From the Department of Don’t Know What The Hell We’re Talking About:

    "We have to do what the blacks did in the civil rights movement," said Randy Michaux, a protester from Virginia. "What we need is something like the Million Man March."

    Bet: This dumb motherfucker thinks Dr. King gave his Dream speech during the MMM.

  35. 35.

    AnneLaurie

    This dumb motherfucker thinks Dr. King gave his Dream speech during the MMM.

    You know the old saying: All "those people" look alike…

  37. 37.

    gbear

    I just wanted to congratulate John C. on recognizing that Tom Waits is better. WAY better. Waits is a genius for the ages

    There really aren’t any words for how much I loathe that guy’s voice.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Stuck

    @gbear:

    I really like his singing in early songs. But then he started putting too much gravel in his voice to almost a growl. He’s still a fine song writer/poet though.

  41. 41.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The man who taught me to play guitar was a Marine, who was brilliant, from New Jersey. He was half ethnic Jewish, and would read dictionaries on Friday nights. We were roommates. This guy looked like a linebacker and could bench 225#, but for some reason did not date.

    He got kicked off stage, he told me, by his Principal in high school, because his band played Clapton’s Cocaine at a school event. I do not fully understand why Jewish people tend to vote Democrat. He was, and I hope still is, a truly excellent guitar player.

    He graduated from College in three years with an ‘A’ average. In our interpersonal relationship, he rose to a college-military-office where twice he had to reprimand me. He meant it, as far as I can tell. Something about my not taking things seriously.

  43. 43.

    AhabTRuler

    @Comrade Stuck: I take him on a song-by-song basis. When I got together with the SO, the only thing I liked Waits in was Tommy the Cat. He’s grown on me (and as my step-cousin said, he captured Cindy McCain perfectly in "Frank’s Wild Years"), but not every song.

    But there are a great many good ones.
    Don’t go into that Barn is one of my favorites, but then so is Earth Died Screaming, Clap Hands, Dirt in the Ground, Blind Love, Trampled Rose, I could go on and on.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    Yes, gbear! And NIck Lowe, like Charlie Rich, is a silver fox who has been all about Country Soul for a couple of decades now. It all comes round full circle.

    I must admit there were times
    When all I ever did was climb the walls
    But if even I, a feckless man
    Who’s thrown away every single chance he’s ever had
    Can find someone to check his fall
    There must be hope for us all

  45. 45.

    gbear

    @AhabTRuler:

    I thought ‘Road To Piece’ was pretty cool.

    Comrade Mary, I’ll have to admit I struggle a bit with Lowe’s new stuff. I tried to follow him when he was putting out those deeply depressed and self-recriminating records, and I finally had to give up. I know he’s come around but I’m a bit gunshy.

  46. 46.

    Max

    Zappa’s Live at the Fillmore East is one of the greatest albums ever made.

    The one and only time I took LSD, I listened to Live at the Fillmore East. I’d heard it dozens of times before so I wasn’t totally freaked out by it, but the guy I was tripping with never forgave me.

    "Little House I Used To Live In" alone was worth the price of admission. HOOPLA! OINK OINK!

  47. 47.

    Martin

    He got kicked off stage, he told me, by his Principal in high school, because his band played Clapton’s Cocaine at a school event. I do not fully understand why Jewish people tend to vote Democrat. He was, and I hope still is, a truly excellent guitar player.

    Bill, you have GOT to explain the relevance of that middle sentence.

  48. 48.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    @gbear: At My Age came out in 2007, and it’s a much less pained CD than his post-divorce ones. Some people really do gain grace as the years pass.

    But yeah, I’ll always have a soft spot for pub rock/new wave Lowe.

  49. 49.

    Brick Oven Bill

    I have Jewish in-laws, who I respect and enjoy the company of. There was a 4th of July fireworks ceremony, where they had parked on the street, and were ticketed by the police. This normally rational man was convinced that the ticket was somehow a consequence of his religion. This was not his neighborhood.

    I personally think it was because he parked where he was not supposed to park his car. Last time I checked, cars are not labeled by the religion of their owners.

    The man who taught me guitar had the world by the balls.

  51. 51.

    gbear

    Last time I checked, cars are not labeled by the religion of their owners.

    In MN, Volvos pretty much say ‘Lutheran’.

  52. 52.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    And considering Lowe was about eleven when they were recording, that’s especially impressive.

    Hey, do you remember Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel? Much more OTT, but very much continuing the British/oddball/glam/music hall tradition. I guess "pub-rock" is a pretty broad concept.

  54. 54.

    Common Sense

    I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I love Bill’s posts. It’s like completely clueless stream of consciousness where random thoughts just pop out (Why are Jews all Democrats? I like Chinese. I saw a toothless lesbian lose her shirt in a fight. The Cheese Index continues to rise).

    Rock on, Bill. You are, IMO, one of the finest posters we have.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack

    As usual, I’m the last one left standing in night-owl mode.

    But can a brother get some basic Farfisa chord organ and a trippy guitar solo? Money quote: "A man with a fork in a world of soup." Word.

  59. 59.

    Steeplejack

    I give up. Something is teh fucked with the link-mo. This is a sign from Yahweh that I should go to bed.

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse:

    Thanks. I am aware of all most Internet traditions, and the comment(s) looked fine in preview, but then the B.J. software prefixed the URL with this site’s address. WTF?! Even upon (re)editing, the comment looked okay, and then it got screwed up again.

    Great song, though. Listened to it a few more times this morning.

  62. 62.

    Martin

    Rock on, Bill. You are, IMO, one of the finest posters we have.

    Agreed. And that was the quality of response I was hoping to get.

    (I still have no idea how that sentence relates to the rest of his post even after his explanation, but I don’t recall getting high marks on my Ulysses paper, so maybe I just suck at this)

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