Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

Giving up is unforgivable.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

All hail the time of the bunny!

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

No one could have predicted…

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Republicans do not trust women.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Books are my comfort food!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Sancho Panza Always Has the Most Fun

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Sancho Panza Always Has the Most Fun

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I have no idea what the hell this game show is supposed to be, but give Gronk credit: The man commits to every bit, down to his last sequin.

(The tweet showed up on one of the political threads I follow, I swear.)

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  6. 6.

    MomSense

    I’m a terrible person.  I read about Gaetz having an adult “son” and immediately thought the worst.

  8. 8.

    Jay

    "There is a reason these protests must be stopped…We have finally called their bluff; we are more peaceful without them, we are more organized than they are, we are more loyal to one another than we are to any cop." t.co/0XfeUCTLCP— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) June 18, 2020

  14. 14.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m still reading Larson’s THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE. I just read about a bizarre incident in mid-1941 in which Rudolph Hess, #3 in the Nazi hierarchy, secretly flew a Messerschmitt  by himself to Scotland, meaning to try to talk the English into ceasing to fight. He crashed and wound up in a local jail. Then he had trouble convincing people he was who he said he was. Eventually, they identified him and put him in the Tower for safekeeping.

    He didn’t tell anyone ahead of time about his plan but left letters behind to be opened after 4 hours. Goebbels ordered the Luftwaffe to shoot him down before he got to Scotland, but it was the night of big air raid and there were lots of planes in the air. Plus he had a big head start.

    I had no idea.

  17. 17.

    Martin

    Gronk is the guy who figured out that he was happiest when he was 7, matured in all the ways that were necessary, but never gave up on wanting to be 7.

    He’s never spent a penny of his NFL salary. He banked it all. Lived off of endorsements and other earnings. I’m kind of shocked he came back given how much the game affected him. 5 years ago he could drag defenders down the field, but years of low hits (because it’s pretty much the only way to knock the guy down) left him visibly struggling to run.

    He’s a good guy.

  18. 18.

    Nora Lenderbee

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s an amazing story, isn’t it? He had the same delusion as Himmler and some others–that the British would be more than happy to negotiate with anyone who wasn’t Hitler.

    Hess spent the next 46 years in prison, where he died age 93.

  21. 21.

    Jay

    Free COVID testing stations were one of the first sights I saw upon entering the CHAZ/CHOP. I didn't photograph/film the interactions, of course, but I saw several people talking with volunteers, availing themselves of the service. Area was also well equipped with hand sanitizer. t.co/V0Pn4YQy8x pic.twitter.com/bAkkirfiYA— e c o n o m y b r e a k f a s t (@econbrkfst) June 18, 2020

  23. 23.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jay:

    I saw that and one of three million hopes I have for a Biden term is that we start to see a regrowth of unions and union support.

  24. 24.

    PPCLI

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That made me smile to remember a turn of phrase in a decades-ago column from Alan Fotheringham (A Canadian Art-Buchwald-type political humorist who wrote for Macleans magazine): “This was the least auspicious career move since Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland”.

  25. 25.

    Jay

    @Ken:

    pretty sure that due to current Cop Culture, the structure needs to be razed to the ground, and completely new services created.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    F*** Gronk and the cheating horse he rode in on  ;)

    Did y’all see the Biden campaign’s response to trumpov & Co’s demand that there be more debates?  (After acting like they weren’t going to show up for any debates at all)

    WaPo:

    With only Trump dominating the political stage, the president’s numbers have continued to sag in swing states as voters fault his handling of the pandemic and police brutality protests across the nation, according to a wide array of public polls. The Trump campaign sees more debates as a way to potentially damage Biden, whose favorability numbers have to go down for Trump to win, according to campaign advisers.  The Biden campaign accused Trump of a political ploy.  “Six months after announcing he did not want to debate, Donald Trump — now trailing in the polls — wants to change the subject from his failed leadership, and launch a ‘campaign’ for many debates,” deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement. “But there’s a catch: he’ll only do it if he can pick the moderators.”

    Rented mule, thy name is trumpov.

    The end of the statement is chef’s-kiss kind of stuff!

    Biden campaign:

    And with that settled, perhaps president* trumpov would like to take the time he is wasting on the debate distraction gambit and use that time to fight COVID, fix the economy, address systemic racism, or do what he usually does: go to a trumpov property at taxpayer expense to play golf.

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

  29. 29.

    prostratedragon

    Football players and martial artists are dancers at heart — one should see the latter preening in warm-ups at tests.

    @Wyatt Salamanca:  Hey hey! (He’s a Sir now, eh?)

  32. 32.

    Martin

    @HumboldtBlue: I agree, though I think unions need to restructure themselves. Their power in is their size, yet US unions always seems to devolve to the ‘Federation of the guy who turns the ¾ inch wrench’. Internal power struggles have really undermined them, and working for an organization with I think 14 different unions, they are not above undermining one another.

    The IWW has the right idea.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    @Martin:

    One of my friends is a special education Ed Tech Here in Maine.  Her wheelchair bound student loooooves Gronk.  They sent him a letter and he showed up and spent time with her student.  No fanfare. No press.  Just a really nice guy.

  34. 34.

    germy

    President Trump’s campaign lobbied the presidential debate commission Thursday to schedule an additional contest between the president and former vice president Joe Biden this fall as Trump officials seek to cut his deficit in the polls.

    Trump representatives also argued that the two campaigns should have sway over debate moderators, rather than only the bipartisan debate commission, an argument that has previously been rejected by the organization’s chairman.

    washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-campaign-makes-pitch-for-fourth-debate-with-biden-amid-declining-p…

    Hannity and the Fox & Friends trio as moderators.  Or maybe the young lady from OANN.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    @Jay: My bank just sent email they’re closing tomorrow in honor of Juneteeth and in support of BLM. Other corporations are doing the same.  Another wedge between the business and rabid wings of the Republican party?

    Edit: And below, Baud says that labor is opposing the police unions for racism.  This is moving faster than I would have imagined.

  39. 39.

    geg6

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Oh yes!  Such an interesting story.  Back in my teenage years, I read a book by a journalist who interviewed Hess while he was in Spandau Prison after the war.  He really thought he could do this.  Hitler was furious.

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @geg6:

    I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised these were not the most well-balanced people in the world.

    ETA: Speaking of people who are not well balanced, I’m trying not to think too hard about the Matt Gaetz story. He’s always creepy and he just got creepier.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    You’re dreaming if you think the wrenchers will ever work cooperatively with the screwdriverites. 

    Sounds like they could use a few episodes of Dinotrux.

  49. 49.

    West of the Rockies

    I dig that a guy like Gronk can knock toxic masculinity on its ass and still be a very cool dude.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    @Baud: Well sure, I mean the International Brotherhood of ⅝” Socket Workers had to break off from the International Brotherhood of Imperial Socket Workers when they agreed to a smaller pay increase in exchange for protecting the jobs of the 3/4″ socket workers who were to be replaced by 19mm socket workers.

    And you expect them to get along with the American Federation of Philips Screwdriver Workers, who have been feuding with the United Robertson Drive Workers for decades.

  51. 51.

    prostratedragon

    Illinois (or maybe just Chicago) voters, watch your e-mail, if it’s part of your registration info. Applications for mail-in ballots are being sent out. I got and returned mine today. The ballots will be received Sept. 24–Oct. 9, or a couple of business days after the application is submitted if later than Sept. 24. They can be returned by mail or dropped off when the early in-person voting begins.

  52. 52.

    Sab

    Apparently our local hate crime wasn’t a hate crime. Just mistaken identity and stupid adolescents with guns. I really hate the second amendment.

    Haters will be haters and kill with glee or rage or whatever. But kids with guns are often just kids with guns.

    A lot of these kids will grow up , be free or in prison and will be really sorry forever, and the kid they killed will still be dead.

  57. 57.

    Anne Laurie

    @Martin: I’m kind of shocked he came back given how much the game affected him. 5 years ago he could drag defenders down the field, but years of low hits (because it’s pretty much the only way to knock the guy down) left him visibly struggling to run.

    He’s Sancho Panza.  When Don ‘Brady12’ Quixote calls, Sancho has to come running!

    I sincerely hope that Brady has enough of this particular ego trip after one season (assuming there *is* a 2020/21 season) so that Gronkowski can retire for realz.  No particular interest in Brady himself, but this ‘you can’t cut me, I’ll transfer to a much worse team’ is macho egotism with a side of childishness.

  58. 58.

    Martin

    @Anne Laurie: Yeah, I don’t see what good can come of this. You want to be the GOAT, then retire at a high point. No fucking way he and Gronk can turn a 7-9 team around alone.

  60. 60.

    frosty

    I saw Gronk on “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” a couple of years ago. He was good, like you said – full commitment.

  61. 61.

    Mary G

    Let me tell you what I wish I’d known

    When I was young and dreamed of glory

    You have no control

    Who lives, who dies, who [borrows your song title to write a cash-in book when they could have testified before Congress]tells your story…

    t.co/mJlJaxGDnf— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 18, 2020

  63. 63.

    Anne Laurie

    @MomSense: I am somewhat addicted to the comic strip Tank McNamara (even though I don’t get half the sports jokes).  Early in the series, way back in the late 1970s / early 1980s, there was a Sunday strip where someone asked former-pro Tank, ‘Did you ever consider doing anything besides football?’… followed by a series of ‘memory’ panels where teenage Tank is entranced by a ballet he sees during on a school field trip… tries some barre work in private… and gets screamed at by his dad & wept over by his mom.  ‘Nah, not really’ he replies in the final panel.

    When I saw my first Gronk commercial, I recognized Tank McNamara made flesh!

  66. 66.

    MomSense

    @Anne Laurie: 
    I love that! When I was still teaching, I had some football players for students. They discovered quickly that it is much tougher than it looks.

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PPCLI:

    Dr. Foth came to Atlanta in 1988 to cover the Democratic Convention. I was a very new staffer at the Canadian Consulate General, and somehow ended up having lunch with him. He was funny and curious and a wee bit flirtatious :-)

    If anyone had asked, I would have assumed he was long dead. But no, according to Wikipedia he’s 87 and living in rural Saskatchewan. Haven’t thought of him for years, but you brought back a nice memory.

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    Fresh off the Twitters, Balloon Juice favorite Elizabeth Warren has endorsed Booker for KY senate primary against Amy McGrath proving yet again that she is still in the shadow of BS.
    She has also endorsed Eliot Engel’s challenger for Congress in NY following the Vt senator’s footsteps.

    When is she going to give the 2020 interview of how DNC rigged the primary for Joe Biden?

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    In other news, … smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-reveals-malicious-state-based-cyber-attack-hitting-several-sect…

    A major, sophisticated, state-based cyber attack has targeted key Australian organisations across industry, government and essential services.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to say who was behind the attack on Friday morning but said there are few countries capable of such sophisticated activity.

    “Based on advice provided to me by our cyber experts, Australian organisations are currently being targeted by a sophisticated state-based cyber actor,” Mr Morrison said.

    “This act is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure.”

    […]

    Are the Kims having a tantrum, for some reason??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Where is the Matt Gaetz thread we need?! He is getting dragged up and down Twitter like a wrecked chariot in Ben-Hur. This thread is a gold mine of hilarious comments:

    For all those wondering, this is my son Nestor. We share no blood but he is my life. He came from Cuba (legally, of course) six years ago and lives with me in Florida.

    I am so proud of him and raising him has been the best, most rewarding thing I’ve done in my life.
    pic.twitter.com/JB96wzOzYU

    — Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 18, 2020

  78. 78.

    HumboldtBlue

    Officer Patrick Skinner continues to be an extraordinary and effective voice for completely overhauling how we police ourselves in this country.

    Back to work tomorrow. Focused on work but obviously I am very aware of the exposed rupture between neighbors and the police departments that work for them. It’s insane the damage our warrior mindset has done & still does. We are not warriors. We are not at war with our neighbors.

    So much talk now of a war on police because all we can do is frame everything as a damn war. I refuse to fight this war on crime. With my neighbors & my colleagues, we are gonna change it. Change it all. We have to end this war. We hate to reform. We all matter or none of us do.

  79. 79.

    Jinchi

    Just checked the latest and it’s just astounding that the five states Trump has picked to restart his rallies (Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Texas) are all experiencing a surge to their worst numbers since the start of the pandemic.

    The arrival of Trump is like the approach of the grim reaper.

  83. 83.

    Anne Laurie

    @MomSense: Hinds & MIllar were ahead of their times.

    There was a long sequence, back at the height of the AIDS crisis, where a Black pro athlete is sentenced to community service at a local hospital… and discovers one of the victims on his ward is not a ‘filthy queer’, but a little Black kid whose mom made some bad choices.  The kid wants Pro to read to him… but the pro’s own secret is that he semi-literate (‘When I’m an NBA star, I’ll have people to read *for* me’).

    Half the commentors were outraged because ‘the homosexual agenda’ should not have intruded on their sports entertainment. Many of the professional sports commentors were shocked / outraged that Tank had just ‘outed’ the dirty little secret of how many professional athletes had been awarded a college degree and still had to rely on menus with pictures while on the road.

    (Shortly thereafter, IIRC, Charles Barkley tried to sue his ghostwriter because Barkley hadn’t read his own ‘autobiography…’)

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack (phone):
    E.g.:

    For all those wondering, this is my son Enrique. We share no blood but he is my life. He came from Paraguay (legally, of course) six years ago and lives with me in Palm Springs

    I am so proud of him and raising him has been the best, most rewarding thing I’ve done in my life.
    pic.twitter.com/QYRgTFXk2z

    — Gen JC Christian, Patriot, Expertise Expert (@JC_Christian) June 18, 2020

  87. 87.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    This is my non-white son Tomás. We share no blood but he is my life. He came from Arizona (legally, of course) three years ago and lives with me in Utah.

    I am so proud of him and raising him has been the best, most rewarding thing I've done in my life.
    pic.twitter.com/1nzZtRCXkY

    — Publius Opposes the Death of Democracy (@PubliusBenedict) June 18, 2020

  89. 89.

    JMG

    It is important to remember that Gronk is a ficitional character the real life Rob Gronkowski plays for fun and profit, It’s part of him, but it’s not him.

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat: When is she going to give the 2020 interview of how DNC rigged the primary for Joe Biden?

    That, I very much doubt will happen.  But I do think Warren is signaling that she’s not actually all that pumped about leaving the Senate to run as Joe’s VP.

    Which is a stance with which I totally agree!  I’m all in for Kamala Harris as VP — although I’d be happy with most of the other ‘top list’ candidates, including / especially Tammy Duckworth.

  92. 92.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Another Scott:

    It was posited the other day that Un was dead and the sister was making her move to consolidate power.

    Granted, I could have typed out absolute gibberish in that sentence and it would have contained all of my knowledge and insight of North Korea as the one above does.

  95. 95.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Anne Laurie: I doubt that the letter by 100 fans to make her VP was sent without her knowledge. My biggest problem with her is her proximity to the Roses and their leader, the senator from Vt.

    I don’t think Biden is going to nominate her but we shall see.

  97. 97.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Oh, I did. It’s very cute. I looked at the whole thread you initially linked. I just mean, I can’t let myself ponder this.

    What happened to the Lady G scandal we were all promised?

  99. 99.

    Anne Laurie

    @Another Scott: Just from what I’ve seen while looking for articles on the pandemic, China & Australia are currently having a major ‘diplomatic conflict’.  China says they’ll stop buying Australian pork if the Aussies don’t stop saying COVID-19 ‘originated in China’, and the (right-wing) Australian government is flexing about CCP propaganda & Ozzie self-sufficiency.  So I’d guess the Chinese government is the suspected source of those internet attacks.

    (We’re not hearing about this in American media because IMO, (a) ‘so far away’, and (b) according to English-language media outside the US, talking about AUS v PRC hits a little too close to metaphorical home, ifyouknowwhatImean.)

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @Jinchi: Which is cause, and which is effect? He’s only going to states that allow rallies, meaning low restrictions on crowds.

  103. 103.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT: I am exploring the origin story of Hinduism how the word was coined by the British lawyer and linguist William Jones. The early history etc it is fascinating. BJP is weaponizing India’s past to destroy its future and to counter their lies I felt like I needed to know more than I do now.

  106. 106.

    PaulWartenberg

    I have no problem with Gronk dancing, but I question his choice of song? SERIOUSLY?! “I WANNA KNOW WHAT LOVE IS”? EVEN FOREIGNER HATES THAT SONG! CHOOSE BETTER, GRONK.

    Dammit, now I dread the possibility the Bucs are cursed because of this song choice. DAMMIT.

  109. 109.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Both. I know the broad outlines of history but a lot of the conventional wisdom comes from the 18th and 19th century mainly written by the Brits and sometimes by their Indian interlocutors, Brahmin males (since they had the monopoly over learning Sanskrit)

    • India is never changing
    • Indians (Hindus) are not materialistic, they are spiritual
    • India was wonderful and every body got along before Islam came to India about a 1000 years ago

    And so on,

  111. 111.

    Anne Laurie

    @Steeplejack (phone): Can’t we wait 24 hours?  There DOES exist the chance that Gaetz legitimately wanted to give a Cuban kid a better chance (however effed-up his conception of ‘better’) — but ‘hid’ him because he assumed that everyone would draw EXACTLY the conclusions you just did.

    If my best impulses are wrong… Gaetz will still be mock-worthy tomorrow.

    (To tell the truth, I didn’t post about Gaetz’s weird outburst last night because I assumed there was more to the story, although I was guessing more along the lines of a dark-skinned lover from Matt’s own teenage days.)

    Jumping on this story like cats for a laser pointer only gives the Wingnut Wurlitzer ammo about the ‘filthy-minded Demon-crats who don’t understand Christian charity.’

    Also, the kid’s 19 now.  Let him speak up, before we start sniggering, okay?

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    The scandals can’t develop properly because the assembly line is moving too fast. It’s like Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory.

    This one will be gone tomorrow becaue, I dunno, Ted Cruz will dare Ron Perlman to fuck his wife or something.

  115. 115.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I fell in the yard moving camp chairs out to the car this afternoon for my trip to Joshua Tree tonight.  Skinned up my knee pretty bad, the bleeding has stopped.  Still going.

  117. 117.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: And the Jains that the adherents of the Vedic religion massacred.

    The period when Buddhism declined and was replaced by Vedic religion at royal courts around 2000 years ago is of particular interest to me.

  121. 121.

    frosty

    Well, I dropped that comment about music in 1968 in an earlier thread and had to leave so I just got back to read all the comments. There were a lot of good responses, sorry I wasn’t around to continue the conversation. I didn’t mean to imply there was never any good music since. 70s and 80s had my two favorites of Ronstadt and Springsteen, for instance. And my local public radio station (WTMD) had a lot of good stuff in the early 2000s.

    The commenter who mentioned that every genre was played on the radio in the 60s hit the nail on the head. And the Billboard Top 100. It was a crazy mix and then it split out again into AOR and all the other kinds of playlists.

    So thanks for the conversation!

    PS Sturgeon was right. “Yummy yummy yummy I’ve got love in my tummy” charted?????

  122. 122.

    schrodingers_cat

    Rose gang endorsed Booker immediately after the poll showing McGrath ahead of Moscow Mitch for the first time. And now Ryan Grim of the Intercept (he was among the people that pimped the Tara Reade story). These people are not our friends.

  124. 124.

    raven

    @frosty: Try “Star Making Machinery: Inside the Business of Rock and Roll”

     

    5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What a Well-written In-depth Look at the Music Recording Industry Back in the Day
    Mr. Stokes did an outstanding job writing this tell-all book that used the story of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airman to illustrate the industry back in the 70s.

    While perhaps not absolutely pertinent to today’s industry, if you enjoyed music in the late ’60s and ’70s, this book is an eye-opener.

     

    Commander Cody came within one week of making the big time! One week!

     

  126. 126.

    zhena gogolia

    @Anne Laurie:

    Did you see the tweets where Gaetz had labeled him a “House page” or a “local high-school student”?

    It’s weird, Anne, there’s no getting around it.

  127. 127.

    Barbara

    @prostratedragon: Football players do really well on DWTS – they don’t have technique but they are coordinated and learn choreographic moves (“plays”) quickly. But my favorite dancing NFL player is Alex Collins, who began Irish step dancing because he thought it would help his footwork. You can find videos of him.

  129. 129.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Hee! I knew it was Rhythmic Gymnastics from an anime, Ranma 1/2.(Though in the Ranma 1/2 universe, it was “Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, because *everything* in that world – even the tea ceremony! – has an accompanying martial art.) Of course, it’s *possible* that Rhythmic Gymnastics is a freshwater sport, not a salt water – oh, wait, never mind, wrong post/response thread.

  130. 130.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Speaking of music, over a Noirish LA, the thread starter posted a pic of the “Executive Room” which was in Koreatown.  In 1972 they had a guy playing the piano there going by the name Bill Martin.  He wrote a song about the experience and became his first bit hit, Piano Man by Billy Joel.

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    @Anne Laurie:

    This guy deserves absolutely no slack at all.

    I don’t care if Gaetz is as queer as a three-dollar bill or just a well-meaning guy trying to help out a child in need, and I draw no conclusions. What I am sniggering about, to use your schoolmarmish term, is the fact that he himself has broken the story in the most awkward, inconvenient, self-contradictory way possible, and it has given rise to an epic, hilarious Twitter thread. If further details come out that clarify everything, I’m sure Gaetz can count on the same acceptance and understanding that he has extended to all his opponents in public life.

  134. 134.

    Origuy

    @schrodingers_cat: Off and on, I’ve been reading India: A History by John Keay, a (British of course) historian. I’ve only made it up to 500 AD. It seems to be very comprehensive. He’s written other books about India, as well as other subjects. I’d be interested in a history written by an Indian for a Western audience, if there is such a thing.

  137. 137.

    raven

    @frosty: It wasn’t really the 60’s but much of the music he played was. Also, pick up
    So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful Of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer’s Life by Jacob Schilter.
     

    He was the drummer for one hit wonder Semisonic, a white guy from Champaign, Il who majored in African American Studies at Harvard.

    After years of working day jobs and making music in his basement, Jacob Slichter wondered if his dreams of rock stardom were a vain illusion. Then he was recruited by two of his successful musician friends to form a band that became Semisonic. Who could forget the smash single “Closing Time,” a runaway hit in 1998 that thrust Jake and his bandmates into the international spotlight and helped them sell over two million albums worldwide? But along the road to fame and success came bewilderment and personal chaos: How will we ever get a record deal? Which record company is the best? The worst? Do I really have to wear these ridiculous boots? Why isn’t radio playing our song? What if I have a panic attack right here on stage? What should I write on this fan’s CD? Am I famous? Why isn’t the video director getting more shots of me? Did I say the wrong thing during that interview? Help!

    So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star is a telling and witty look at what happens just before and during one’s time in the spotlight. Jake takes readers on a step-by-step journey of his evolution from fledgling drummer to globetrotting performer and proves to be the perfect guide—feisty and humbled—to the inner workings of the music industry and instant celebrity. So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star speaks to all of us who dream again and again of rock superstardom and shows how one kid can go from picking up a pair of drumsticks to picking up a platinum record.

  138. 138.

    lamh36

    @Steeplejack: this!

    All Gaetz had to do was take the “L” he rightfully earned from Ced Richmond yesterday.

    But he was gonna be damned if he let that Black guy PWNED him.  So he put his son’s name out there and then used his son’s Cubanness as some way to say having that Cuban born son means of course he understands Blackness cause he has a Cuban son…

     

    GTFOH…he’s getting the work for that bullshit “reveal” alone….

  139. 139.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I just hope there’s a huge movement to wish Matt Gaetz a Happy Fathers Day.

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    The @SecretService has convinced federal prosecutors to issue a federal grand jury subpoena to unmask an anonymous Twitter user for a tweet that is not even remotely plausibly a true threat against anyone.

    I am representing the Twitter user pro bono.

    /1

    — SickPuppyHat (@Popehat) June 18, 2020

    Donnie and his minions just keep getting worse and worse…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    frosty

    @raven: Commander Cody? Yes, early 70s IIRC. And like you said, his songs were from earlier. Lots of different genres there, too.

  142. 142.

    Amir Khalid

    @lamh36:

    So Gaetz doesn’t understand that even from that close, from having a black family member, if he’s not black himself he’s still on the outside looking in at blackness?

  143. 143.

    raven

    @frosty: No, Radio Rabbit. The Commander was a trip without a suitcase. I saw him the night Oakland won the series and they wouldn’t play until the game was over. The A’s won and they tore it the fuck up!

  148. 148.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @PaulWartenberg: look on the bright side; this maximizes the chance that Gronk-rolling could become a thing. I don’t think they do that for good songs.

    (Am I going to be swarmed with Rick Astley fans over this? If so, are there still fewer than 10 worldwide, and 2 in Washington?)

    (Hey, he *used* to have a lot more fans, but now, he can’t even sing that song in concert, because everyone instinctively groans and starts to leave as soon as it starts….)

    (ObDisclaimer: *of course* people don’t really walk out; and, I’m sure he has *at least* 3 fans in Washington.)

  151. 151.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Amir Khalid:

    Someone commented in an earlier thread when it was proposed a thread about Gaetz was needed — “No No fucking No” — I paraphrase.

    Naby Lad.

  152. 152.

    Steeplejack

    @lamh36:

    Love the follow-on tweet:

    Matt: This is my secret Cuban son who I groomed for success by adopting him at age 12 and then finding him a position as a congressional page so we could be together while not telling anyone that he lived with me.

    PR person: [Archer “Phrasing!” GIF]

  153. 153.

    Bex

    @Baud:  Didn’t notice that Jeff Sharlet was the author of the article until the end. He knows what he’s talking about. Thanks for posting.

  154. 154.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Anne Laurie:  I’m not *sure*, but if this Crooks and Liars link *IS* the precursor to the tweet, it sounds like Gaetz doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. This sounds a lot like Gaetz is claiming reforms are *less* necessary, because, after all, *he* has a kid who’s not white, so he’d know.

  155. 155.

    Another Scott

    @lamh36: 

    What a day…

    Nestor can't be Matt Gaetz's "son"…

    The US State Department has recorded exactly ONE adoption from Cuba since 1999: a girl in 2000.

    That Gaetz was holding Nestor out to be his "son", even to his fellow congresspeople, is fucking weird and creepy.

    — Pé (@4everNeverTrump) June 18, 2020

    True? No idea. (See that thread for more info/speculation/etc.)

    (via NotLarrySabato)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  156. 156.

    Anne Laurie

    This much, I’ll grant:

    Mark Harris ✔ @MarkHarrisNYC
    Just to be clear about what’s being mocked today…

    A single man adopting or fostering an older kid: Excellent.

    Keeping it secret for 7 years: Weird.

    Calling him your “helper” or “local student”: Creepy.

    Revealing his existence only when it’s politically convenient: Contemptible.


  158. 158.

    Anne Laurie

    @HumboldtBlue: My dread secret?  My commentor account here is much older than my front-pager account — and it’s linked to an email at a service that no longer exists.

    So I can’t update my commentor link, because anything sent to that email disappears into the ether.

    And I can’t figure out, on my cranky home-brewed system, how to get even the stripped-down ‘commentor’ version of a tweet to show up correctly.

    Since this problem comes up maybe twice a month, and always when I’m tired / busy… I haven’t bothered to work it out. Yet.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack

    @Anne Laurie:

    Can’t you update your commenter account just by changing the e-mail to an account that does exist? FYWP will preserve the change going forward. And you’re not receiving anything now at the nonexistent address anyway.

    ETA: And I’m sure there is more than one commenter here whose purported e-mail address is “nonexistent.” I don’t see the problem.

  162. 162.

    Kent

    @Baud: You’re dreaming if you think the wrenchers will ever work cooperatively with the screwdriverites.

    Here in Portland the longshoremen’s union got into a tremendous multi-year fight with the electrician’s union over who was going to be allowed to plug in the power cords of refrigerated shipping containers when they would be stacked at the dock.  That was it.  Which union’s guys was going to be allowed to plug in the containers.

    They went through so many work stoppages and slow downs and sabotage over that one issue that the big shipping companies gave up and pulled completely out of Portland leaving the entire container terminal in mothballs and everyone out of work.

    For real.  Years later Portland still is unable to talk any container shipping companies to return.  The nearest functional container terminals are in Tacoma and Oakland.  No one can ship containers out of Portland anymore.  I sometimes go biking by the big container terminal on the Columbia.  It just sits there empty, acres and acres of giant cranes.  portofportland.com/Terminal6 It seriously screwed the farmers who used to ship products down the Columbia for transit overseas as well as a lot of other industries that now have to truck their stuff back and forth to Tacoma.

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