Forunate Son was sung at the Concert for Valor.
The US and China are trying to do something for the environment.
Obama is still President.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!
JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”
We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.
The willow is too close to the house.
When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.
Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.
Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.
The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.
Books are my comfort food!
The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.
Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.
Let there be snark.
There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.
Not all heroes wear capes.
I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.
At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.
Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.
I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.
Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?
Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.
Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.
You are here: Home / It’s a Day Ending with “Y,” And Here Is What Wingnuts are Pissed About
kindness
John, do us an entertainment/educational post on West Virginia and Joe Manchin. What is the over/under on when he flips parties and what do the locals think about it? The national media sucks at telling us anything.
Jerzy Russian
I am surprised they are mad about “Fortunate Son”. After all, the GOP have shown a history of missing the point about a great many things, like the Canadian Ted Cruz did with Green Eggs and Ham.
Cermet
What would be great is if China and the US really just achieve these goals!
raven
It ain’t me.
Shakezula
I’m sure the sight of soldiers enjoying themselves when they should be off somewhere getting blown up was upsetting to the fragile winger.
Joseph Nobles
I get the Breitbartians’ daily email, so I already heard about the Springsteen travesty.
I hope these people never hear what they sound like.
raven
These are the same people that freaked out when “The Pacific” depicted Americans killing surrendering Japanese on Okinawa and Pelilu. They also couldn’t handle mild sex scenes when the jar heads were in Australia. Fuck em.
the Conster
After spending a week in total despair, I’ve decided that watching the GOP “govern” will be total epic FAIL and somewhat amusing. Even the media clowns won’t be able to polish that turd, although they’ll give it a whirl.
elmo
Where did this newfound understanding of popular rock songs come from? This is the same party that used “Born in the USA” as Reagan’s patriot anthem.
Mike J
@Joseph Nobles:
Have you ever noticed that the people who complain the loudest about a kid getting a trophy for participation are the most likely to say everyone in uniform is a hero?
the Conster
@Joseph Nobles:
“rock ‘n roll welfare queen”? WTF are they talking about? He’s like one of the hardest working acts in the music industry and has been for 40 years, and everyone knows it.
Steeplejack
@Joseph Nobles:
What does that even mean?
Maybe I don’t speak wingnut as fluently as I thought.
Bobby B.
Sad that veteran John Fogerty has not made himself heard in this Isis muckety muck (unless he has and I havent gotten wind of it).
Patricia Kayden
@Joseph Nobles: How is Springsteen a welfare queen? Perhaps he should have sang his anti-war anthem “Born in the USA” instead.
raven
@the Conster:
Napoleon
@the Conster:
And on top of it although he was almost considered a prodigy, or the next sure thing when he was first noticed, the reality of it was it took him years after that point to really make it, and at that he did it with what was the last chance his record company was going to give him.
CONGRATULATIONS!
I hate Springsteen with the boiling heat of a thousand suns, not because of his politics but simply because he is not that good a songwriter, performer, or musician. But I don’t make a point out of saying so in public because then people consign you immediately to the “asshole musician who’s just pissed because he didn’t make it” bin.
Kudos on him for playing that particular piece at that particular gig, BTW. Credit where credit is due. That’s as big a “fuck you” to the rich and powerful as has ever been written, and there’s a time and place for it…and that was the time and place.
Bag on Springsteen. FOR HIS POLITICS. Oh yeah. You’ll get a lot of friends that way.
The GOP keeps digging and has sent an urgent request for more shovels.
@Joseph Nobles: I hope it rings in their ears as they are dying, drowning out all other sounds, for all eternity.
Cacti
Winning the Senate means they can’t blame Harry Reid for their lack of governing.
Failing to win a 67-seat majority means they can’t override Presidential vetos or remove Obama from office.
Enjoy the next two years, Yertle and Boner.
raven
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA on August 20/1981. This is from the bootleg ‘As Dreams Don’t Mean Nothin’ – A Night For The Vietnam Veterans’
John Cole +0
@kindness: He won’t flip now. No point. They have the majority and he is not vote #60. He’ll just sabotage them at every chance.
roxy
I blame Obama for all days ending in “Y”
raven
Bobby on Bruce at about 1:12
Cacti
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
What’s the difference between a Springsteen fan and a Jehovah’s Witness on your doorstep?
Eventually the JW will give up on trying to convert you.
the Conster
@raven:
Doesn’t that make all those Vietnam Vets welfare queens, and not Bruce Springsteen? I give up. It’s just Palin level word salad stupidity that has no connection to anything anyone else accepts as reality.
mai naem mobile
@Joseph Nobles: these wingnut theories get more convoluted and harder to follow by the day. How is Springsteen a rock n roll welfare queen? Isn’t welfare queen in wing nut speak code for black person on public assistance?
Also too, i skimmed over the Pew piece.77% of GOP want their party to be more conservative. Lemme be the first one to introduce Hitler to this thread. Seriously, if you get any more conservative, you would have to go Nazi. Or the current Russian plutocracy.
Jebediah, RBG
I see I’m not the only one befuddled by calling Springsteen a “welfare queen.” Is that just an all-purpose, essentially meaningless insult for them now?
JPL
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I think he’s hot!
MomSense
@Patricia Kayden:
He actually did sing Born in the USA later in the same concert.
EMINEM said motherfucker about 25 times in the same concert. Were the conservatives upset about that?
Tommy
I used to enjoy spending a few hours a day reading the news (mostly political) even if it got my blood pressure up. I’ve found I do it less and less. There are great “long form” sites (Longform, Medium, and Longreads to name a few) where I can find stories, well written, that are often not about politics, but enjoyable to read. It is just at this point the wingnuts are some combo of both predictable about what they will get upset about and so depression I’ve just kind of said fu*k it. I’ll scan Talking Points, Dibgy, Daily Kos, and a few other sites. Most stories don’t even hold my interest much anymore. Factor in Democracy Now and The Young Turks and I get all the news I needed. As I have said before getting rid of cable months ago and not listening to MSNBC as background noise in my home office for 5-10 hours a day has greatly increased the quality of my life :).
raven
Not bad from the WAPO
roxy
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
Oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no Senator’s son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh
But when the tax men come to the door
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Yeah, some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Oh, they only answer, more, more, more, oh
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no military son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no, no, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate son, no, no
Oh just in case you want to hear CCR sing the song here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKhAHR5I
Joseph Nobles
I admit, I don’t get the welfare queen thing either. Maybe I should click the link and find out? But I’m afraid.
chopper
the golgafrinchans’ biggest fuckup was filling the B-ark based on a person’s class rather than their intelligence. otherwise it would have been a great system.
Jebediah, RBG
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
But – now that its out there, and it would be irresponsible not to speculate, etc. – is that the bin you’re in?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Cacti: No shit, those fuckers are relentless.
@Jebediah, RBG: 100%, my friend. Oddly, I make a lot more money now that I gave up, but still…failure leaves a sting that does not go away.
raven
@MomSense: You have to watch the first HBO’s Sonic Highways. It’s done in Chicago and they interview Buddy Guy about when he came there. He said “Motherfucker had a whole different meaning, it had nothing to do with fucking you mother. At first I was really bothered by it but, after a week in the studio, someone would say “hey, motherfucker, and I’d say, “yea”!
Joseph Nobles
Damn it, the link doesn’t explain the welfare queen thing at all. It’s too busy explaining why “Fortunate Son” is an anti-troop song, I shit you not.
Belafon
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I’ve never quite understood why a person would get so excited about a musician, sports figure, what have you, that would cause the person to either love or hate the person.
But, then again, I read computer science and math books for fun.
Tommy
@Patricia Kayden: I am not much of a Springsteen fan, and I even know calling him a rock-n-roll welfare queen is a massive combination of both stupid and lack of knowledge. Has anybody ever accused him of conducting a tour just to rake in the money? Doesn’t he still often show up at super small venues just to play, because clearly he loves to play live, and to test out new material?
raven
@Joseph Nobles: He makes money from music, it’s not any more complicated than that. Don’t give these motherfuckers too much credit.
mai naem mobile
The Pew poll is depressing . More people think the GOPs foreign policy, tax policies, deficit policies and jobs policies are better than the Dems. Seriously? Do that many people have memory loss issues in this cointry?
raven
@Tommy: The title of his show in LA was “Concert for Vietnam Vets, It Don’t Mean Nuthin” It don’t.
danielx
And alive, don’t forget that part.
@Steeplejack:
We’re past colloquial wingnut and well into gibberish. Don’t blame yourself for not speaking in tongues.
Wingnuts can comfort themselves with the thought that Springsteen is only a “rock and roll welfare queen”…whatever the hell that is. If he ever decided to go into politics, (which may god forbid) say as a Democratic Senator for or Governor of the state of New Jersey, anyone running against him might as well pack it in.
roxy
@raven:
I saw what you did no fortunate one
beth
Springsteen takes advantage of some favorable tax loopholes to claim property as a farm even though he doesn’t really farm, IIRC. Of course some rich Repub doing the same would make him a financial genious.
MomSense
@raven:
I’m a big Buddy Guy fan. My oldest and I had to do a three hour drive over the weekend and we listened to Junior Wells Hoodoo Man which featured a young Buddy Guy.
I don’t really care about the language but usually the conservatives get all bent out of shape about superficial things like wardrobe malfunctions and profanity.
Calouste
@mai naem mobile: They like the GOP brand better than the Dem brand, nothing to do with the actual product. These are the same people that kept buying GM cars in the 90s even though they could have bought a better specced, more reliable Toyota for less.
Tommy
@danielx: The three people that I first met that were huge Springsteen fans was while I was in college. All former vets in their early 20s using the GI Bill. All the first to go to college in their families. Their fathers (well families for generations) worked at auto, beer brewery, or coal miles in and around the Quad Cities. Hardworking men that didn’t take any BS from anybody. Springsteen spoke to them. I’ve never been to a Tea Party rally (thank god) but it would seem people like this would fit in.
snoey
Springsteen owns some farmland in NJ and pays the discounted agricultural rate on his property tax, hence the welfare claim.
catclub
@Tommy:
Andrew Tobias is almost uniformly upbeat. [Amazingly, he is(? was) also the treasurer of the Democratic party.] A good counter to much of the others.
catclub
@snoey: I laughed.
Tommy
@MomSense:
Same here. My musical tastes were pretty limited until I went to grad school at LSU and saw I don’t know how many amazing live shows. Saw him at the Varsity in Baton Rouge in the early 90s. Honestly didn’t even know who he was. Maybe 350 people max. Blew my mind. Of course I had heard a little Clapton and Jimi on the classic rock stations. But I didn’t realize somebody could do that with a guitar.
It is hard for me to rank my top 5 or top 10 shows of all-time because of the Varsity and the 930 Club later in DC, been blessed to see so many live shows. But if Buddy Guy isn’t in the top 5 or the top 10, he’d can’t be far out of it.
lurker dean
you missed a big one JC – the war on christians and jews!!
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/11/12/3591358/maryland-school-board-muslim-holiday/
schrodinger's cat
The midterm election results are dispiriting. According to Edsall at NYT, the GOP strategy going into the Presidential elections is to peel away even more white voters from the Dems. So what’s next for the GOP, starting to openly advocate for apartheid?
Kryptik, A Man Without a Country
@mai naem mobile:
Especially infuriating and ironic considering what initiatives passed that are diametrically opposed to what the GOP candidates that got voted in want to do.
I half wonder if this is as much a case of ‘they won, so they must be super-extra better than those LOSERS’ as anything. But at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a majority of the country wouldn’t rush to embrace the health benefits of snorting asbestos if Obama made even a tepid statement about its dangers.
@danielx:
Morbid and depressing a thought as it is, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if, upon the day of Obama’s death, the GOP didn’t rush to declare it a national holiday. And I wouldn’t be surprised either if at least 40% of the country lauded such a shitlord of an idea.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Interesting bit from the Pew poll:
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Joseph Nobles: I clicked the link. That’s some weapons-grade glossolalia right there.
Speaking in tongues, indeed. I was a more coherent writer in junior high.
“I meant what I meant it to mean, not what you read!”
The Ancient Randonneur
Has President McCain weighed in on any of this yet? Guess we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out.
beltane
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): “Liberal” as a term has been so trashed for so long that it’s a wonder four-in-ten Dems still identify as liberal.
Jebediah, RBG
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I’m not convinced that “failure” is really the right word. Music (like some others) is a maddening biz where one can be passionate, talented, and energetic and still not make it. I’m at least a little bit glad that, as someone with no musical talent, I was never tempted to try it myself. I’m far too delicate a flower to handle its harsh realities.
Elie
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yeah – but earlier in the piece he talks about the broo-ha-ha that Paul Gruber made that “proved” that Obamacare is perceived as having cramed health care reform down white people’s throats to cover “coloreds” — that representing a complete breach of trust with them and the Democrats. According to Edsall, that breach was what is behind the majority of the white vote going to republicans — that Democrats are only serving the “coloreds”. By running away from Obamacare, Democrats buttressed this perception.
Somehow, the message that working class whites are getting the big screw and that disparaties are getting wider has not been successfully given to working class white America. Indeed, the Democrats had very little message at all this election — I can’t think of what it was at all.
Its not hopeless, but our party actually has to have a message and have good candidates with courage of their convictions honestly promoting it.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@schrodinger’s cat: The staggering numbers of so-called “liberals” in favor of charter schools, “right-to-work” laws and stop and frisk programs lead me to believe that such a stratagem would be successful beyond their wildest dreams.
Amir Khalid
Does anyone remember the original furore over American Skin 14 years ago? That time, the head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called Springsteen, among other things, a “fucking dirtbag” and a “floating fag”. And Bruce hadn’t even insulted anyone. I think this is like that.
sharl
@lurker dean
Heh, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone – part of the promo tour for his movie “Rosewater” – Jon Stewart brought up this very thing:
slag
The fact that Republicans claim that Fortunate Son is “unpatriotic” only reinforces the point made in the song that ‘fortunate sons’ are themselves unpatriotic.
It’s just like when men complain about sexism by calling women a bunch of uppity bitches or when white people complain about racism by calling Obama an empty suit. The argument makes itself.
Howard Beale IV
@raven: Let’s also add Bob Seger into the mix while we’re at it.
Tommy
@schrodinger’s cat: I am sure it is. I am not totally proud to say this, but said similar things here. Almost nobody I know in my day-to-day non-online life. Family. Clients. People that live around me. I might be able to count on less than two hands people I know that are white and over say 35 that are what I’d call “liberals.” Many that just hate politics and don’t vote. More than a few “blue dogs.” A surprising number of pretty far right (most of my clients — which I never have understood). Finding more ways to bait race stuff and get more older, white votes is their only chance to win elections at this point.
Just one happy thought to what I view as a depressing comment by myself, all the younger people I know are the exact opposite.
Kryptik, A Man Without a Country
@Elie:
Again, the main problem is that while activism and enthusiasm has to be from the bottom up, the franchise is top down. All the enthusiasm and activism in the world can’t help if the folks you’re canvassing for run away from the shit they’re supposed to represent.
Belafon
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yep, in the form of White Populism. If the GOP wins the White House and controls Congress, I suspect there will be a minimum wage increase, with restrictions, such as not applying to fast food places, home care workers, etc.
lurker dean
@sharl: LOL, i hadn’t seen that interview.
They are in the middle of Rockefeller Center talking about “They won’t let us put up a Christmas tree!” Meanwhile, they’re next to a 60-foot Christmas tree in a place with so much Christmas stuff up it looks like Santa’s balls just exploded.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodinger’s cat: I assume that voter suppression and Blacks having to show their IDs to vote was part of an apartheid state.
rlrr
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
only about four-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (42%) identify as liberal. (emphasis mine)
Considering how for the last 35 years Americans have been harangued be messages stating liberals are evil, I’m surprised it’s that high…
raven
@Howard Beale IV: Try this one from Mongrel
Bob Seger – Leanin’ On My Dream
I was walkin to the corner drug store
and what should I happen to see
there were picket lines
and the people were a shoutin’
“Down with democracy”
as I strolled on by someone grabbed my arm and said
“buddy where do you stand”?
I said “I stand wherever I choose my friend
and you best let go of my hand”
as I walked away on a sunny day, I swear IA heard him scream
“you know you’re leanin’ on my dream”
“Hey man you’re leanin on my dream”
Got home and turned on the tv set
and sat me down to eat
and a man came on
talkin’ bout the coppers
they were blockin’ off another street
Seems some folks was raisin’ cain
and a riot had broke out
and they flashed the camera on the guy who had stopped me
I watched him runnin’ about
as the cops were draggin him away
I heard on of ’em scream
“you know you’re leanin’ on my dream”
“these kids are leanin’ on my dream”
oh yeah
well I got up and turned off the tv set
and to tell you I was feelin’ mean
an I thought a while
tryin to make some sense
out of everything that I have seen
I was addin’ the score when there’s a knock on the door
was a letter addressed to me
It read “greetings from the president, united states”
I fell down on my knees
The next day I was on the picket line
and Lord you should have heard me scream
“you know you’re leanin’ on my dream”
“hey man you’re leanin’ on my dream”
Another Holocene Human
What the FUCK is wrong with Harry Reid that he won’t take up the new AG?!
Is the party trying to commit suicide?
Why should we vote for them at all if we can’t get a fucking justice dept and judges and so on?!?
Tommy
Is there an FAQ of what gets comments put into moderation here? I just posted one with no cuss words. No links. No company names. No emails.* I do WordPress development for a living (what this site is based on) and I realize there are all kinds of ways to moderate comments with the core software and plugins (which is clearly what is happening).
I also know a human has to do it. I am not upset my comment was put into moderation, I know just how the comment moderation works on WordPress and it is a total pain in the ass for a high comment site. I don’t want people here to have to deal with it if I have rules I can follow it to ensure it doesn’t happen.
*What I have heard and witnessed causes problems.
raven
@Tommy: No “former vet”. Maybe former soldier.
Elie
@Another Holocene Human:
Is he punishing Obama for some reason? Didn’t one of his aides go off the morning after the election blaming Obama for whatever? Obviously, he must be trying to leverage something, though what I wouldn’t know
Cacti
As for “Fortunate Son,” the reason right wingers hate it is because it’s anti-chickenhawk, not because it’s anti-military.
It’s a working class swipe at “patriots” like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, who “support” wars safely from the sidelines, while poor people’s sons are the ones who get sent to die.
Hits a little too close to home, I guess.
Belafon
@Another Holocene Human: Leaving it until next term isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Republicans will have to choose between approving her or leaving Holder in office. Are AG nominations normally cleared in two months?
Another Holocene Human
Okay, I just called Harry Reid’s DC office and told them that I was a dem activist on the 2012 and 2014 campaigns and I don’t see why I should put myself out in 2016 if the Democratic Party won’t even give us an AG. I haven’t called a congressional office in a while, but never have I been this pissed about anything Reid’s done. It might be ‘the caucus’ too, but he needs to grow a spine and whip them into shape because there is a downside risk to continued cowardice.
I told them the people don’t vote because neither party has their back and guess what, Senate Dems are out to prove it.
raven
New York (CNN) — New York emergency crews Wednesday were attempting to rescue two workers trapped in a window-washing scaffold dangling perilously at the 69th floor of the 1,776-foot One World Trade Center building in lower Manhattan, authorities said.
eta Sounds like they are safe.
Cacti
@Belafon:
Not a Reid fan, and I’m fine with him letting the GOPers own confirmation of the next AG.
Like you say, if they sit on it, that means they keep AG Holder, and they despise him for his protection of voting rights.
Another Holocene Human
@Belafon: Why wouldn’t they leave Holder there? Everybody knows his name and they know that some portion of Dems don’t like him either because he supposedly went easy on the banksters. Lynch has a great resume for Dems and they’ll have to re-educate their FOX-news zombies about the new negro. Or they could just deny appointments endlessly.
The Senate Dems have a simple majority and can ram through what they please, if they please. You’d better believe that the Republicans would do the same. The ones who came up from state leges, ramming shit through is all they know!
Trollhattan
@Joseph Nobles:
My sole guess is Springsteen isn’t sporting much of a suntan so they couldn’t call him “n-clang” and thus, used the fallback term.
As to meaning it’s about like calling Ban Ki-moon a shitty slalom skier.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: Did you mention Senator Cory the Unmentionable? Or perhaps the pill that is neither purple nor green but somewhere in-between? Or perhaps the place one can obtain such an item?
beth
@raven: looks like they saved them. The anchor asked what they were doing in the building with the rescued workers – I would say giving them clean undies would be first.
philpm
@mai naem mobile: My guess is that the ‘pubs are everyone.
Trollhattan
@raven:
My worst day at work evar would be nothing like what those dudes experienced. Aaaaack.
Another Holocene Human
@Belafon: or agricultural workers, like the current white power minimum wage law
Helen
@raven: NY1 is telling us that they are OK. They punched a hole in a window and pulled them through.
Jose Padilla
@mai naem mobile:
The American public needs to be reminded every so often exactly how bad the Republicans really are. It seems Watergate, Iran/Contra, the Iraq War, the Great Recession and various other Republican “accomplishments” simply aren’t enough.
Another Holocene Human
@catclub: the happiest little boy in the world?
Napoleon
Regarding Reid and the new AG, this is just speculation but perhaps what is going on is that he figures between now and the end of the session, assuming maximum Rep foot dragging, he will be able to bring X number of Obama nominees to a vote, the vast majority of whom we have no idea who they are. Perhaps he figures they will confirm the AG so if he brings her to a vote now it bumps someone into next year who will not be passed by the Rep. So its not that he doesn’t want to bring her to a vote, its just he will get more bang for the buck bringing someone else to a vote now.
Steeplejack
@Howard Beale IV:
Great song. A favorite of mine.
Suzanne
@Tommy: Not that he owes anybody anything. Springsteen entertains people for money. He’s a job creator!
Not sure where this cultural idea came from that musicians and artists and entertainers and designers either don’t work, or that they should give their work away.
Another Holocene Human
@Jose Padilla: lead poisoning is associated with aggression and impulsivity
The GOP speaks to that
Throw in some vicious, and you’re good
beth
@Suzanne: Yeah, I especially hate when some GOP’er sneeringly calls someone a Hollywood liberal. Last time I looked, Hollywood and the entertainment industry made billions of dollars and created more jobs than most of the Republican led industries they worship.
Howard Beale IV
Yes, this really exists: Ted Cruz Saves America coloring book.
Another Holocene Human
@Napoleon: Maybe we don’t know who they are because it’s not as fucking important … if these noms were trivial why didn’t they do it pre-election since it’s so non-controversial? Holder is tired, that is 100% obvious, and the fight is more crucial than ever. This isn’t an abstract, it’s an existential issue. I guess this just finally hit the end of my patience. I’ve been told to wait and wait and wait and wait. Kids are being gunned down in the street, there is no justice, and I’m supposed to wait again? Fuck that noise. A dept like Energy will hum right along without a spokesnerd and CIA heads are all Village insiders so it doesn’t matter who’s in the Senate for that.
Running a bunch of judges through would be an awesome parting fuck you to the GOP but apparently they want to curl up like beat dogs. Now how sad is that that they couldn’t see this ass-whooping coming 6 or 9 months ago? It’s only hitting them now? Or are they thinking about their next move, that lobbying job they think they’ll get even though they’re Democrats and even that asshole from CT didn’t get paid in the end.
Suzanne
@beth: No kidding. Popular culture is America’s biggest export. If the GOP wasn’t a bunch of hypocrites, they would thank those people for creating so much wealth and prosperity in this country.
Tommy
@Cacti: I didn’t realize that was what that song was about. I bet it scares them, to their core. I come from generations and generations in a row of people that have served in the military. Two groups. We either saw a war was coming/happening and we signed up. Or like with my father and an uncle and now two cousins choose the military as a career. Wars, multiple wars then happened.
We don’t deal with “chicken hawks” well. My father broke both his legs jumping out of a plane in military high school and couldn’t enlist to go to Vietnam. It pained him greatly. The level of pain, even for a war I knew was wrong, that I didn’t serve in Iraq pains me to this day.
I am the non-service person. What stuns me is nobody I mentioned here would ever bring up their service in a political conversation or ad. I’d have to pull the service of my family, out of them with plyers and that might not work.
I was with my father in FL almost three years ago. A tribute to his military school no longer around. The book my dad wrote on it. An anniversary of a school no longer around.
Three Medal of Honor Winners there from the school to speak. It was hard to hear.
Another Holocene Human
@Howard Beale IV: Finally, a publisher meets the Republican base at their level.
Tom Levenson
.@mai naem mobile: That’s partly the post-election bounce. People want to think well of the winners. But yeah, there’s some deep stupid implied by those numbers.
Another Holocene Human
@beth: Hollywood loves them some economically suicidal tax breaks as much as the next industry.
How’s that workin’ out for ya, New Mexico?
Another Holocene Human
The GOP knows how to do faux populism while the Democrats wring their hands and do whatever their last donor demands.
The GOP in 1980 fucking ran on an anti-big business platform. Yes. For real.
It was a lie, of course, but that’s what they ran on.
(Just like that lie this cycle about OTC birth control pills which the Dems for some reason had no answer for.)
Calouste
Btw, when is the US going to join the 19th century and seat its newly elected representatives the week after they have been elected instead of two months later?
Bobby Thomson
@raven:
Man, the WaPo is stupid. Those songs criticize politicians, not the armed forces.
Another Holocene Human
@Tom Levenson: Have you noticed that basically every formerly neutral in reputation national news organization just cold lies for the GOP on a daily basis? NPR, CBS, CNN, you name it, they just tell lies all day long to benefit the big corporations and the Republican party. Part of it’s the Village but it’s broader and deeper than that.
A lot of the entertainment channels also lie a lot. History runs programs around every Christian holiday assuring their viewers that there’s plenty of archeological evidence for a historical Jesus (there’s not) or that Biblical archeology verifies everything in the Old Testament (yes, but…). Other programs assure white viewers that brown people didn’t and really, couldn’t possibly have built the great pre-Columbian monuments in North, South, and Central America.
There’s also the endless propaganda around climate change and engineering, that engineering advances will mitigate all the problems of climate change such as sea level rise, that the US military is techno-awesome beyond your understanding, that the only reason we don’t live in utopia isn’t our tax system and legal system but some deep government conspiracies to keep techno wizardry out of our hands.
Our media is nothing but nonstop propaganda aimed at the middlebrow viewer.
For the less-educated, there’s a stream of CT crazier than you can imagine. Little historical tidbits are tossed out to awe those who were cheated out of a proper education, all wrapped in a package that superficially seems to explain all the trouble they’re in.
schrodinger's cat
OT: Do any BJers have any experience with MoTo G or MoTo X?
kindness
Saw Springsteen two tours ago. Maybe 3. The band did 24 songs. I was completely beat by the end. I can only imagine how tired they were.
So CONGRADULATIONS!, I’ll ask for your opinion when I want it. I can see as far as rock acts go your opinions suck.
the Conster
where are all of my comments going? FYWP sideways with a blowtorch
@Another Holocene Human:
The media carefully cultivates not just the view from nowhere, but the view from no time. It is remarkable how easy it is to create sheeple when ahistorical and non-contextual ‘news” is transmitted, with celebrity gossip thrown in for filler. It’s only going to get worse. It was an interesting experiment, this middle class/democracy stuff, but it’s over now. Nothing will be left to pass down.
Roger Moore
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I disagree. The big secret to the Reagan Revolution was putting a happy face on racism, and a huge part of that was hiding it just well enough that people could convince themselves they weren’t being racist. Openly advocating Apartheid would please the hard-core racists in the party, but it would drive away the people who are only willing to vote for racism when it’s hidden behind a screen of respectability.
Villago Delenda Est
Epstein (the “Fortunate Son” whiner”) is, to put it mildly, what my NCO’s used to refer to as “fuckin’ civilian slime.”
Mind you, that’s the mild way that they’d put it.
Villago Delenda Est
@elmo: Well, they tried to use it, until Springsteen’s lawyers informed them that they were violating the law by doing so without his permission, let alone paying royalties.
How is it that Dems seem to always get this, and Rethugs want to steal the work of musicians?
Villago Delenda Est
@mai naem mobile:
Well, they do loves themselves some Vlad Putin, so there’s that.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tommy: It’s FYWP being broken and stupid.
Content has little to do with it, often. FYWP just feels like tossing a post in the recycle bin for shits and grins, best I can tell.
Jebediah, RBG
@Villago Delenda Est:
My theory is that most Dems/liberals appreciate that artists, like everybody else, should be paid for their work, while Republicans are entitled egomaniacs who think artists (who don’t really produce anything of real value anyway) should be HONORED to have their stupid little song associated with such a Great American as themselves.
Pee Cee
@Jebediah, RBG:
It’s the same argument Republicans (and far too many “liberals”) use against teachers. They get paid too much as it is, they don’t really do work, and they should be honored to teach the childrenz.
Roger Moore
@schrodinger’s cat:
I have a MotoX, and I’m very pleased with it. Motorola’s skin over stock Android is pretty thin, and the bits they add are optional; the ones I’ve used are mostly improvements. I like getting notifications even when the screen is “off”, and the voice command works well. Perhaps the best feature is its car mode. It can automatically recognize when you’re driving, and while you are it will offer to read new text messages and let you dictate responses. Unlike some other phones, it will then read your dictated response back to you so you can correct errors before sending. It’s the first Android device I’ve used that seems to be trying to be smarter and more efficient rather than just cramming in more power and more goodies.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@beltane: I get my family in a froth with my “Socialism: Because People Matter More Than Profits” bumper sticker. I left “Liberal” in the dust 40 years ago.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: Thanks! What about Moto G, besides being smaller what are the differences, do you know?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@schrodinger’s cat:
If you mean Moto X the phone, I’ve got one, love it and highly recommend it.
gene108
@Another Holocene Human:
I’m sorry, but I’ve watched enough Ancient Aliens to know that everything that has every happened to humans – from our evolution at the hands of alien gene splicers to the U.S. Constitution – is the result of extraterrestrial intervention on our planet.
We are nothing more than lab rats for ancient astronauts.
schrodinger's cat
@Steeplejack (tablet): Yes I do, thanks for your input.
gene108
@Another Holocene Human:
I watched a good bit of one of the Tillis-Hagan debates. She did have an answer for the OTC line. Other Dem politicians did to.
But all the individual answers mean nothing, when the airwaves are awash in unlimited corporate cash pushing the Republican side of things.
Do not underestimate the effect of CU and the increase in political campaign spending it has caused that has hurt Democrats.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Pretty good rundown here.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@schrodinger’s cat: I’ve had my G for almost a year now. Great phone. What can we do for you?
grandpa john
@Joseph Nobles: why are these assholes upset about anti-troop songs, I’m sure none of these draft dodging bastards ever fell into the category that would be called troops or soldiers. If they are so fucking concerned use some of their fake anger and concern to work for better veterans benefits, especially for those who are disabled because of war injuries and those families that lost fathers, mothers , sons or daughters while these pieces of shit were living it up and calling for more blood from the unfortunate sons.
schrodinger's cat
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I am thinking of getting it, and was trying to figure out if the X was really worth double the price.
schrodinger's cat
@Steeplejack (tablet): Thanks!
CONGRATULATIONS!
@schrodinger’s cat: This is something I wrestled with for a while. I don’t know what you use your phone for, but here’s the decision tree I went through:
Moto X: kickass phone, has every cell band in it (can do CDMA or GSM), looks real nice with the wood finishes
Moto G: gotta get the Verizon CDMA version to do CDMA, and I was leaving them anyway. Does all the GSM bands. Powerful enough, certainly a vast improvement over my iphone 4. And of course, less than half the price of the X, and about 20% the price of a new iPhone.
Thought I’d take a chance on the cheap one. For once, I was not sorry. It’s an amazing phone. The 2014 Moto G is somewhat better on paper.
Two caveats: it has a decent camera but if you like iPhone quality pics buy the iPhone. Nothing can touch that camera. Also, if you are an audiophile, stick with the iPhone. There’s not one good-sounding Android phone out there.
Can’t go wrong with either one.
catclub
@gene108:
So the The Hitchhikers Guide explanation that Benjy mouse and his friend were conducting delicate experiments on humans through the way they ran lab mazes was not convincing to you. Huh!
42.
PIGL
@CONGRATULATIONS!: well that while enjoying the parboiling in an infinite vat of boiling dogshit.
schrodinger's cat
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Thanks! I am tending towards the cheaper option too, can always upgrade later if I want.
schrodinger's cat
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I use my phone mostly to talk, text and send an occasional e-mail.
dance around in your bones
@raven: Thanks, raven – I was never a huge Springsteen fan but the older I get the more I appreciate him.
And I watched the Concert for Valor last night and heard some boos when he sang Fortunate Son. That’s fucked up, ’cause as any person who has served knows that war is fucked up – regardless of the adrenaline rush you get from time to time, and the shitting in the pants thing.
mclaren
This is what a police state looks like:
American ISPs stripping encryption from emails without senders’ knowledge.
As the U.S. increasingly abuses its position as owner of the internet and originator of the default international exchange currency, the U.S. dollar, other countries become increasingly interested in getting out from under our thumb. Russia now setting up an alternative interbank money transfer system to the U.S.-based SWIFT program. Tired of the endless NSA spying and the constant U.S. freezing of foreign assets without judicial process, other countries are finally saying “Enough. No more!” and setting up their own alternative systems. This will eventually fracture both the world information infrastructure, as multiple incompatible internets arise, and the global financial system, as multiple incompatible electronic money transfer systems appear.
Result? A new Dark Ages, where people in different parts of the world will no longer be able to send money or information back and forth. That will hurt everyone, and it’s all due to U.S. abuse of its position of trust in the areas of information and finance.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam lays down on the couch for some Empire Addiction therapy…
Yes indeedy, here in the United Snakes of Amnesia, it’s still 1945. The big blockbuster in the U.S. theaters is FURY, a movie about (wait for it…) WW II. Yes, the heroic American tank crew must defeat those evil Nazis.
Time has passed, events have moved on, but America remains stuck in 1945, like an middle-aged former high school football star boring everyone at the local bar about those glory days when he scored touchdowns for his school.
It would be pathetic and slightly funny…if it weren’t for all the
dead third world wedding parties.
J R in WV
The next two+ years are going to be hard for me and other liberals (all 8 of ’em!) to swallow. Even with half of the legislative branch and the Executive branch in the hands of Democrats, the constant lying by and on behalf of Republicans has been incredible!!
Liberals kept the country alive through the Great Depression, where the Republicans would have
allowedpreferred to force the country to slide into American Fascism to restore the oppression of ordinary Americans by the uber-wealthy who own the Republican Party. They would have used starvation as a political tool, just as Stalin did in Ukraine and Georgia.Liberals, led by FDR, created Social Security, a taxpayer funded pension plan created to ensure that our grandparents, our parents, and now we boomers would not starve as people too elderly to work 60 hours a week. This program is of course fully funded by those who benefit from it, no taxes are involved, Republican lies to the contrary notwithstanding~!
Republicans would prefer to turn government-managed Social Security, paid for by the workers who will receive their benefits in turn as they age, into privately owned insurance programs which will profit the owners of the Republican party greatly, while forcing elderly retirees into abject poverty, homelessness and starvation.
Liberals, led by LBJ, created Medicare so that elderly folks could see a doctor to keep them healthy, or when their health failed, to help them cope with their illness or decrepitude. I’m going to live a while longer, but I need joint replacement surgery, followed by rehab. Needing joint replacement means you hurt all the time, and are gradually losing your ability to do common everyday things. Medicare will enable me to afford that health care option!
Republicans would prefer a country where people like you and me, when injured past working hard, would just have to go away and suffer and die in private, where our descent into pain and death won’t bother them as they enter their nightclubs and churches of unChristian inequity.
Then Liberals, again led by FDR conquered both the Japanese Imperial Navy and Army, after conquering the Nazis and Italian Fascists in Europe, Africa and Russia.
Then Liberals created the Interstate Highway System, using government and taxes to pay for the whole huge project, while also building out the Rural Electrification program. My first boss got out of the Army that fought and won World War II and worked surveying to run power to tiny communities and individual farmsteads in rural boondocks America.
If it was up to Republicans, we would pay top dollar to drive on privately owned and managed toll roads, to provide more profit for the owners of the Republican Party. Republican neglect of our expensive infrastructure allows Interstate bridges to fall into the rivers they were built to cross, killing people instantly in that great crash, and slowly killing others who suffer without that failed highway.
Much of the electrical power distributed by Rural electrification was generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a government project to create navigable rivers and power plants throughout the Southeastern part of America. Another huge infrastructure program managed by the government and paid for with taxes and low-cost bonds.
Without Liberals people would be going to bed at sunset because it would be dark without a power system – built by the government!
Without Liberals and unions we would all be working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, without overtime pay. No 40 hour work week, ever, at all! There would be no safety equipment in our workplaces, and no recourse if you were hurt on the job. Just a future of starvation for you and your family. Liberals and the Social Security they created provide disability insurance for those who cannot work any more. So your family doesn’t have to starve while watching you die of your workplace injuries.
Liberal educators created State University programs, some of them Land Grant institutions, all over the country, where people could afford to attend school and learn to be teachers and engineers and doctors and biologists. They were inexpensive (some were free, like universities today in Germany!), and grants and work-study allowed almost anyone to graduate with a college degree to find a good job doing things that helped their fellow Americans, and everyone across the world, to live a better life.
Conservative Republicans have now turned these University programs into profit centers for their
contributorsowners, and created a system of over-billing people for educations that used to be provided by low-cost publicly supported institutions, not expensive profit-seeking centers of conservative iniquity!I am proud to be a Liberal Union Member! Everyone should strive to work hard with their liberal Union Brothers and Sisters to bring improvement to everyone in America!
I think Republicans who are supported by uber-billionaires in order to protect those wealthy greedy exploitive monsters and their methods of keeping working class people divided and afraid to join together to protect their way of life from the ravages of the wealthy autocrats – I think those Republicans are fighting everything good that America stands for.
Those Republicans, paid for and owned by wealthy John Birch founders, are as unAmerican as the Nazis and Revanchist Russian autocrats we fought in WW II and the Cold War. They deserve to be treated like the war criminals were after being captured in the final collapse of the Third Reich of Germany!
Trials for treason, with swift justice to follow, for attacking the Freedom of Americans.
I don’t understand how so many people can be fooled so throughly by such obvious grifters and unAmerican people as those leading the Republican party on behalf of their owners, Adelson and the Kochs and the other wealthy, greedy, unAmerican uber-wealthy owners of the Republican party.
Maybe I’m just a little stupid about emotions, and how people can be manipulated by playing on their fears. We only have one thing to fear today, the traitors in our midst, using fear of non-existent threats to manipulate people into buying their snake oil…
Liberals represent everything George Washington and John Adams and Tom Paine and John Henry fought for. Republicans represent George III, and will give old George the power of the ancient Roman Emperors.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jerzy Russian: dare we recall Regan using “Born in the USA” as a campaign song?
karen
@Kryptik, A Man Without a Country:
I’m sure they’re planning on it. I’m being serious, the hatred their ginning up can’t go anywhere else. They tried the Presidential election. They tried discouraging and disenfranchising blacks and women and Latinos and everyone else that’s not them. They tried to storm DC with guns blazing and demands for the President to resign. They tried making everyone hate him and killing the economy. None of that worked and he’s still there. So now they have no choice and they’ll keep going until they persuade someone to do their dirty work. They will never forgive him for not knowing his place.
Chris
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Oh, good, it’s not just me!
Okay, I don’t actually hate him. His music doesn’t annoy me like nails on a blackboard (like Edith Piaf’s voice). It just doesn’t do anything for me.
Chris
@MomSense:
According to my one conservative friend in DC, yes. She found it “inappropriate.” Again, it’s the kind of music I’m generally inclined to find terrible in any case, so whether or not there are F words doesn’t significantly alter my opinion.
Speaking of “inappropriate,” is it unpatriotic to wonder why what started out as Armistice Day, celebrating the end of the most wasteful and useless war in history, was scrubbed clean off the calendar in favor of another expression of “support our troops?”
Chris
@raven:
He is a liberal.
He made his money through the simple process of writing songs that people (God knows why) liked enough to pay to hear and see live.
That made him rich.
Because of the free market.
But liberals cannot be rich via free market, they are socialists, and besides that would mean that the Righteous Judge that is the Invisible Hand can reward liberals for their talent as well as conservatives.
We cannot face this possibility, ergo he’s a welfare queen.
Sort of like the Death Eater regulation that Muggle-borns must have stolen their magic, because to admit that they’re capable of making it on their own is to contradict Death Eater beliefs.
Chris
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
A Jewish friend of mine in college asked me once why liberals didn’t do more, rhetorically, to tie the Republican Party to overt white power hate groups (like they do when tying us to commies), because the ties and similarities are there and are anything but subtle. I told him that if we did manage to connect the hate groups and the “mainstream” right in the public mind, it would probably just end up increasing the fringe groups’ popularity, rather than lowering the mainstream’s.
I still think it’s true.
I can just see all these white “moderates” being talked into the notion that look, black people and Hispanics have their own hate groups, look at the Crips and Bloods and MS-13 and 18th Street Gang, and there’s all this invasion and lawlessness from Mexico that the feds aren’t doing anything about, so either
1) yes, white hate groups are bad, but we should stop obsessing on them because clearly these OTHER hate groups are a much bigger problem in this day and age (after all, segregation’s over, and white people ended it, haven’t you heard?), or
2) look, clearly this isn’t the best option, but if the politically correct race-baiting Obammunist federal government won’t protect poor helpless hardworking whites, somebody has to, and while these Aryan and militia types might be a little rough around the edges, who else is stepping up to do it? QED.