Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Let there be snark.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

You cannot shame the shameless.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    Poopyman

    Gordon Lightfoot? Isn’t he dead by now?

    Honestly Cole, you gotta bring your game into at least the 1980s.

  3. 3.

    debit

    I got my calendar yesterday! It’s even more awesome than I expected as there’s bonus pic of Oliver in there.

    Speaking of Oliver, he’s now recovering from Operation Testicular Fortitude. When I went to go pick him up, the vet tech said, “Oliver. Hmm, Oliver. Oh yeah, that’s the cat that, um, ran away. Yeah.” Apparently he charmed everyone he met and was almost the victim of serial kidnapping.

  6. 6.

    PaulW

    Hey! Those 29 men on the Edmund Fitzgerald died for your sins!

    …okay, seriously. People suffered that day. Just because the Lightfoot song is an Earworm doesn’t mean you have to get all snippy aboot it.

  11. 11.

    Steeplejack

    Oh, you’ll get an argument from me, dude. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”–yeah, that sucks and blows. But if you skip back past Lightfoot’s late-period MOR pop to his folkier ’60s stuff there is a lot of good music that holds up really well. Some Most of today’s young emo balladeers could take a lesson or two from Gord.

    Sunday Concert (1969) is a gem from beginning to end. Even has a better sinking-ship song: “Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle.”

  12. 12.

    adolphus

    For those from the Canadian Side of the Great Lakes, might I suggest the cover of that song by great white north prog/techno/art/new wave/whatever rocker Nash the Slash. Much better.

    I’d post a link, but can’t find a version online. Look for it on iTunes. Worth 99 cents.

    Rosalita: Today is the anniversary of the actual wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Apparently it is inducing 70’s folk flashbacks.

  15. 15.

    Cataphract

    The Edmund Fitzgerald song is some pretty good poetry — hey hey, I’m a prose guy, stifle it.

    What’s with the hatin’ on the Great Canuckistani Lightfoot?

  16. 16.

    evap

    I went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert in Chicago around 1977. Not my choice, but he was actually pretty good. The opening act was a then-unknown female singer: Bonnie Raitt!

    When I was about 11, I saw the Monkees in concert. The opening act was Jimmy Hendrix! (I’m not making this up, although I don’t remember him at all.)

  19. 19.

    Punchy

    I dont understand. Does Gordon Lightfoot drive a garbage truck? Does Lightfoot operate a recycling company?

    Does Sully have a crush on either Gordy or municipal refuse? This post makes no sense.

  20. 20.

    Tom Johnson

    Exactly where is the news value in this? Gordon Lightfoot has always sucked. Announcing it now is like running a headline that the Cubs aren’t in the World Series.

  21. 21.

    Sir Nose'D

    John Cole, ya better take care
    If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs…

    Sometimes I think its a shame
    When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain.

  24. 24.

    Joe Ramirez

    Neil Young and Robbie Robertson have called Gordon a Canadian National Treasure. The lyrics to Edmund Fitz. are pretty good, imo. Witness: “Does any man know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?” Is that bad?

    OTOH, I only know two Lightfoot songs…

  25. 25.

    gene108

    How appropriate to bring out Gordon Lightfoot today, since it’s the 35th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, commemorated by his song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

    I haven’t listened to much Lightfoot, but I really have enjoyed that song for over 30 years.

  26. 26.

    Paul

    @Poppyman Today is the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

    “That song” is in heavy rotation on Twin Cities radio stations today…

  32. 32.

    Liberal Sandlapper

    Went to a Lightfoot concert in ’08. The guys voice died in ’06. We walked out at intermission.

  38. 38.

    Mr. Prosser

    Gord was a great folk type before he got into pop, a lot like Ian Tyson (Look him up, young’n.) I blame Janis Joplin, they partied hard together and the tequila got him.

  39. 39.

    Ash Can

    I like Gordon Lightfoot, and I’ve always loved The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. But then, this is folk music we’re talking about. The emphasis in folk is on the lyrics, with the tune serving as little more than the vehicle for their delivery.

  40. 40.

    Kryptik

    You know, with all the stupid bullshit like “OMG, SOROS IS TEH PUPPETMASTSERZ RUNNING OUR ECONOMEEZ INTO THE GROUND!!”, it makes me wonder…how?

    How are folks like Soros running things when taxes have been the lowest they’ve been ever, disastrously so?

    How when astroturf groups are successfully able to convince people that “single payer = DEATH PANELZ!!!” and that insurance companies should be able to deny coverage for…you know, mortal diseases because tough titties you’re not blessed enough to be rich?

    How when you have nearly every single major media outlet in the country parroting the exact lines by a certain media outlet that is owned and run by another ‘foreign billionaire’, yet not only gets a pass but lauded by folks like…hrm…the ADL.

    How, when the Republicans just got the biggest fucking gift handed to them in fucking forever because they had a fucking hissy fit and demanded that nothing be done, because that’s the way it fucking has to be, and the people saw this and decided “You know what, yea, fuck the Dems for doing things slow, we don’t fucking awnt anything done at all, YEAH, fuck those fucking stupid fucking liberals for not being Republicans!!”

    If people like Soros or ACORN or whatever fucking boogeyman liberal strawman they construct were so damn powerful, why the fuck do you goddamn motherfuckers run every fucking thing in the country now?!

  41. 41.

    Randy P

    You insult one of the Gods of my youth!! I’m never reading this blog again!!!

    Actually, I’ve been in shock and mourning since Nov. 3. Joe Sestak lost a squeaker for Senate after being ahead with 75% counted, and Brian Lentz lost his Congressional run. Those were the two races most important to me personally.

    Now I’m represented by a couple of looney tunes. And I’m scared of the legislative disasters to come in the next 2 years. Will Congress go full-time Obama Impeachment?

    So I haven’t had much heart for reading political stuff the last few days.

    ETA: Actually, speaking of Gordon Lightfoot, maybe I should just go to bed and listen to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” 24/7 for a few days.

  46. 46.

    Culture of Truth

    Speaking of the Internet…
    A watchdog group is calling for a probe into a company that it says is far too cozy with the Obama administration: Google. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a group that advocates for a smaller and more ethical government, wrote to leaders of the House Oversight Committee this month urging them to investigate a major privacy breach by Google. It wants to know if the company’s ties to the administration helped it dodge penalties after the incident.

    “Like Halliburton in the previous administration, Google has an exceptionally close relationship with the current administration,” the letter says.

    Darrell Issa, who has promised a thorough investigative agenda when he ascends to the top of the House Oversight Committee, has previously worked to shed light on ties between Google and the administration.

  48. 48.

    Loneoak

    My calendar came yesterday! Turnip dog is a model! (She’s in the middle of December, sleeping in her bed surrounded by squeaky squirrel carnage.)

  49. 49.

    Kryptik

    @Culture of Truth:

    And let me fucking guess: they didn’t say a fucking peep about Halliburton until January ’09.

    I just…hggh..dmgndkhfdioh…..I feel like the whole fucking thing is gonna fucking give me an aneurysm.

  51. 51.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Culture of Truth:
    By all means, go after teh Google. I’m sure that a thorough investigation by Darrel Issa will in no way affect the search returns for “idiot” or “moron.”

  52. 52.

    Culture of Truth

    Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said last week that he thought Google’s actions were intentional. He said he would likely investigate Google’s Wi-Fi breach if he were to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a position he is campaigning for.

    Why is the GOP so anti-business? Do they think that will create jobs?

  53. 53.

    Kryptik

    @Ash Can:

    It’s not so much Glenn Beck, so much the fact that the country has decided he’s infinitely more trustworthy than anyone fucking left of Rush Limbaugh, and somehow feels like we liberals, Democrats, etc. somehow run the world in some fucking shadowy evil criminal SPECTRE-like organization when almost every single fucking thing in this country has shown rapid progression toward everything the GOP has wanted down to the sheer ratfucking of the poor.

    It fucking feels like having your identity stolen and accounts raided, then being told to pay back all the money you stole from the very person who took everything you had.. It’s just…god damn fucking hell, I just can’t take this retarded shit anymore.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I never thought you could feel this way
    And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it

  55. 55.

    jnfr

    @debit:

    I got my calendar too, and it’s wonderful. I’m going to order a second one as a gift for a friend of mine who I know will love it as much as I do.

  57. 57.

    gbear

    I’ve always preferred the Allman Brothers and Van Morrison versions of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” anyway.

  59. 59.

    PurpleGirl

    If it wasn’t for The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald would as people know of the wreck or care about it? It would have remained a local, Great Lakes concern.

  62. 62.

    aliasofwestgate

    @PurpleGirl:

    It likely would have remained a local legend here in michigan. For us its a normal thing to think of the lakes eating ships for breakfast all the time. As it is, there are tons of less famous wrecks all over in every single great lake, and most people don’t even know of them.

  63. 63.

    WyldPirate

    Looks like Obama will double down on the war in Afghanistan and walk away from his withdrawal deadline.
    White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline

    WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to walk away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president’s pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials said Tuesday.

    The new policy will be on display next week during a NATO conference in Lisbon, Portugal, where the administration hopes to introduce a timeline that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014, according to three senior officials and others speaking anonymously as a matter of policy. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said Afghan troops could provide their security by then.

    He’s probably afraid of the howling jackals from across the aisle braying “weak on defense” and doesn’t mind needlessly blowing up and maiming a few hundred US troops and pissing away a few hundred billions of dollars.

    Got’s to get re-elected you know. So what if it gets a lot of wasted blood and guts on your hands in the process.

  64. 64.

    Jane2

    What’s with the hate for the Greatest Canadian Folk Singer Ever? He’s too old to have showed up in a big noisy truck to dig up a tree in your alley.

  66. 66.

    John Cole

    BTW- I was just trolling you all. I like Lightfoot, and love the Edmund Fitzgerald. Just I was bombed with it by 20 friends first thing this morning.

  68. 68.

    PaulW

    The song of the Edmund Fitzgerald does highlight that there’d been other wrecks on Lake Superior over the decades. It’s just that when it happened in 1975, the Fitz’s sinking was major news and considered the biggest lake-side disaster in years.

    It’s not like people have written songs about TWA 800 or the collapse of the original Sunshine Skyway back in 1979. So it does seem unfair that we all know of the fate of the 29 men of the Edmund Fitzgerald at the expense of all the other tragedies. It’s just the tune is too damn catchy!

  71. 71.

    meander

    For all of those animal and science lovers out there, check out Nova’s new episode called “Dogs Decoded“. It explores the bond between humans and dogs, looks at their intelligence (there’s a border collie in Germany that can recognize 300+ objects by name — tell her to “get the carrot” (in German) and she runs to get a squeaky toy carrot), examines nature vs. nurture (trying to raise a wolf puppy like a dog is a BAD IDEA), shows some remarkable multi-decade research on fox domestication in Siberia. The full episode is available for viewing on-line.

  74. 74.

    A Duck

    WyldPirate: I saw that, and I also saw that USA Today (spits) reported that we are stepping seizures of ammonium nitrate in Afghanistan as a way of reducing the availability of bomb-making materials, but I am not sure how that’s is supposed to work out in a largely agricultural economy.

    Looks like I picked the wrong week to start paying attention to my CO detector.

  76. 76.

    Bnut

    And if no one has mentioned it: Happy Birthday Marine Corps! Feels strange not getting ready for a ball.

  77. 77.

    eemom

    oh fer fucks sake Cole. This time you’ve gone too far.

    Granted, we may be a bunch of hopeless losers who have nothing better to do with our lives than cater to your every fleeting whim of a conversational topic…..but ya don’t gotta rub it in.

  79. 79.

    Tax Analyst

    Best Gordon Lightfoot album: “Back Here On Earth”. Apparently Gordo had grown a little tired of all the orchestration in some of his previous albums, so he retreated to the hills of Tennessee and over just a few days in September 1968 he recorded this album with just basic folk/country acoustic instrumentation. Sidemen Red Shea (lead acoustic guitar) and John Stockfish (bass), plus Gordo’s 6 & 12 string guitars were the only things on this album except Lightfoot’s voice. It’s clean and totally free of syrupy strings and the like.

  81. 81.

    Bruuuuce

    @Jane2: Gotta argue with you about the title of Greatest Canadian Folksinger ever. That goes, hands down, to Stan Rogers.

    Lightfoot’s okay: “Edmund Fitzgerald” is a decent song, and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy is brilliant”, but his version of “The Hillbilly Auctioneer” is sappy and soggy compared to, say, Steve Goodman’s.

    For Canadian artists, I really miss Moxy Fruvous.

  82. 82.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Went to a Lightfoot concert last year and it really sucked. One could barely hear him or understand what he was singing, and the decrepit old crowd reeked of cheap beer and cheap cologne. We left early.

  83. 83.

    Delia

    I love the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And a bunch of his other songs.

    Now John Denver is another matter.

  84. 84.

    Quicksand

    I have been thinking about the Edmund Fitzgerald quite a bit recently. A recent “repair” to one of the toilets here at my place of employment has given it sufficient flush strength, I suspect, to bring down a 750-foot cargo ship.

  85. 85.

    LT

    You find new ways to annoy daily. Gordon Lightfoot is not Loudon Wainwright II, or John Prine, or Townes Van Zandt, but if all you ever do as a songwriter is write “Early Morning Rain,” then you don’t suck. Not ever.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    @Jane2:

    What’s with the hate for the 2nd Greatest Canadian Folk Singer Ever behind Leonard Cohen? He’s too old to have showed up in a big noisy truck to dig up a tree in your alley.

    fxt

  90. 90.

    Julie

    Just a thought. Gordon Lightfoot was the Michael Bolton of the ’60’s and ’70’s, or Michael Bolton was the Gordon Lightfoot of the ’80’s and ’90’s.

  91. 91.

    Delia

    @trollhattan:

    What’s with the hate for the 2nd Greatest Canadian Folk Singer Ever behind Leonard Cohen?

    Well, to be perfectly honest, Leonard Cohen is great, but he’s not in the Folk Singer category. He’s in the Singer-Songwriter-Poet category. Like Dylan, but different.

  93. 93.

    mapaghimagsik

    Ah, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, back when the death of 29 people was considered tragic, and something that brought us all together.

    In this day and age, it just seems quaint.

    I like the song. Its a Michigan thing, I think.

  94. 94.

    Svensker

    @Mr. Prosser:

    a lot like Ian Tyson (Look him up, young’n.)

    Dead thread, I know, but I loves me some Ian Tyson. Sylvia, too. The two of them in the early days was reaaaallll good.

  96. 96.

    jon

    I wouldn’t put old Gordon down. He had something… special in his delivery. I found that I could serenade my special one toward a night of passion just by doing an incredibly romantic rendering of “Edmund Fitzgerald” but in the style of this guy.

    Honestly, it worked beyond my wildest expectations. Try it yourself. Your money back if it doesn’t work.

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