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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / And you want to travel with her

And you want to travel with her

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Thought I’d a couple nice and easy fundraising pitches this Sunday morning. First — Hickenlooper in Colorado. He’s up in the polls and doing well in fundraising, but that’s no reason to ignore the race. We have to win this one if we’re going to retake the Senate, most likely.

Goal Thermometer

And a special request from reader Suzanne:

So the fire that burned down the Democratic Party office building in Phoenix has been declared arson. There are multiple images from security cameras in the area of a man throwing a firebomb into the building. The building had two sides, the Maricopa County Party offices were on one side and the state party offices on the other. The County side is a total loss, with hundreds of computers and tablets and campaign material lost, which will not be replaced before the election. In a bit of “a sign”, the US flag, Arizona flag, and Barack Obama Community Award (a silver cup) ended up unscathed.

They really need donations. Apparently they won’t get any insurance payout for six months, and obviously this is an election year. Maricopa County is one of the ten largest counties in the country, and with Mark Kelly running, and AZ potentially going blue, there is much that needs to be done.

You can give here to the Maricopa County Democratic party.

Goal Thermometer

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  2. 2.

    Ian

    The Dynamics in Co seem solid yet the situation here in Northern Colorado has me on edge.  Hickenlooper blasted through his warchest twice, once running for president and again in the primary.  Outside dark money has filled the airwaves with nebulous difficult to prove but difficult to explain accusations of government corruption and private trips during Hickenloopers term.  These attacks are not being answered in the media here.  Hickenlooper’s team may have decided that the area I am in (60-40 D) isn’t worth investing resources in, but the less funded Gardner campaign is going all in.

    If Hickenlooper wins here in CO in 2020, it will be because of Trump, not because of his campaign or his two term tenure as Governor.  That scares me

    Edited to add- it scares me not just because the senate seat.  Gardner wants to be president one day.  He is intelligent and has great political instincts.  He is my former congressman and I have followed his career.  If we do not stop him here in 2020 we will see him on a national level.

  3. 3.

    Suzanne

    Thanks, y’all.

    For more information about the arsonist arrested, read here. He is a former state committeeman for the Party who displayed some troubling behavior and was banned from involvement, and he bore a grudge about it. He appears to have some significant delusions (apparently said at one point that he impregnated Ivanka Trump). I don’t think there’s a political narrative here. Just really, really sad. The building is a total loss and they are out a lot of computers and equipment.

  4. 4.

    L85NJGT

    Favorables/Unfavorables in new ABC/Ipsos poll:
    Joe Biden: 46/40 +6

    Kamala Harris: 43/34 +9

    Donald Trump: 31/59 -28

    Mike Pence: 31/49 -18

    August 11 before the start of either convention:

    Biden: 40/43 -3

    Harris: 35/31 +4

    Trump: 35/58 -23

    Pence: 31/45 -14

  5. 5.

    germy

    Breaking via NYT: The Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the Russia investigation, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of Trump’s personal and business ties to Russia.https://t.co/67m7IOsB40

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 30, 2020

    “Within days, the former deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere.” https://t.co/YB5GSdBdqR

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 30, 2020

  6. 6.

    dnfree

    I’m going to go through some of your previous posts also today and hit the thermometers. That’s what I decided to do with my stimulus money, since I’m retired and my income hasn’t been affected.   Originally I thought of food banks, etc., but I think winning these elections is more important right now.

  7. 7.

    germy

    “…Melania didn’t want to move to the White House right away in part because she didn’t want to have to use the same shower and toilet as former First Lady Michelle Obama and was waiting for the bathroom to be renovated.” < Racist, not juicy. https://t.co/7daswejF9i

    — Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 29, 2020

    This book is remarkable both for its intimacy and for the sheer volume of receipts it contains. It’s also the first real look at what’s under Melania Trump’s hood—which, in Wolkoff’s telling, is surprisingly callous and ugly.https://t.co/csrtU8IEgW

    — Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) August 29, 2020

  8. 8.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

    Thanks for pressing this issue forward, Suzanne. We kicked in for this, hope they get back on their feet soonest.

    Sorry to hear it was a crackpot who probably needs medical care, but probably won’t get it because our mental health system is disabled.

    ETA: Read linked news story, really sad. This guy’s family is unwillingly drawn into crazy time along with the state and county Democratic party groups. At least no one was harmed physically in this strange attack.

  9. 9.

    West of the Rockies

    @germy:

    So Rosenstein is a weasel after all… I actually thought that he appeared neutral and professional throughout much of the impeachment investigation.  May his career now end in disgrace.

  10. 10.

    Chyron HR

    @germy:

    It’s also the first real look at what’s under Melania Trump’s hood—which, in Wolkoff’s telling, is surprisingly callous and ugly.

    Surprisingly?

  13. 13.

    randy

    “want to travel with her”
    Was your title meant to remind me that Judy Collins grew up attending my church here in Denver?

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    @J R in WV: Oddly, we have the pandemic to thank for the fact that no one was hurt. Everyone was working remotely and the building was empty.

    Before we left PHX, I worked in the building across the street. If it had been a normal day, there would have almost certainly been people hurt or killed, even though the attack happened at 1AM.

  15. 15.

    J R in WV

    Really, not wanting to use a bathroom used by someone else?In the White House…?

    That is really strange… has she never stayed in a hotel where real strangers have spent time in that room? Flown on a commercial airliner? Stayed at a friend’s camp? Showered at a gym?

    I guess she probably hasn’t ever stayed at a state park… all these normal things I have done over the years.

    Barack and Michelle flew in AF 1, and presumably used those bathrooms.

    Perhaps this was an excuse Melania used to stay away from Donald Trump as long as she could? To keep “her” son away from Trump as long as possible, for his own mental health… It is the kind of thing Trump would have a propensity to believe, being a racist himself. This time line is getting more strange , in a bad way, every day!

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @germy: It’s also the first real look at what’s under Melania Trump’s hood

    Wait, are those nude pictures a photoshop job?

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    @J R in WV: In the high-end real estate market, it is definitely not rare for people to replace every plumbing fixture before they move in. It’s bonkers to me.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @randy: Judy Collins??  For me that is such an odd connection to this song.  It s like saying Hallelujah was a Jeff Buckley song. The dark Jewish guy not good enough for ya? ?

    Well if you want to get clear, here is one that is not sung by a cute white man or woman:

    Famous Blue Raincoat

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    @Immanentize: When I was in graduate school, I had a critic ask me during a review if I had ever heard of Leonard Cohen. I was like, “Well, I was named for a Leonard Cohen song, so….”.

    I got a good review.

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl: I’m genuinely not sure if this is a racist thing. The replacement of plumbing fixtures is a thing in the high-end real estate market. Even in corporate interiors, like the CEO gets his private washroom renovated so he doesn’t have to piss where his predecessor did.

    But regardless of whether or not it’s racist, it’s wasteful AF, especially with public dollars.

  23. 23.

    Immanentize

    @J R in WV: Have you ever heard the LBJ/Nixon shower story?  It seems that LBJ liked a vigorous shower, so he had pressure pumps installed to up the power of the hot water shower stream in the bathroom ceilings.  Nixon hated them and had them all immediately removed. Nixon yearned for the soft life. The first time Nixon showered at the White House he probably said something like, “Fuck LBJ.”

  27. 27.

    H.E.Wolf

    @randy:

    I think it might be a shout-out to our own Suzanne, who suggested the Maricopa fundraiser.

    To the best of my recollection, “Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river” is the first line of the song. :)

  29. 29.

    germy

    Cathy Smith, the woman who injected John Belushi with a fatal overdose, died a few days ago.

    She was 73

    Also a backup singer and the ex of musician Gordon Lightfoot, Smith became a figure of infamy as part of the small crowd that partied with Belushi at West Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont in his final days, a coterie that also included Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. He died March 5, 1982, of an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine — known as a “speedball.”
    Later that year, Smith told the National Enquirer that she had injected the drugs before leaving the actor’s bungalow. “I killed John Belushi,” she said. “I didn’t mean to, but I am responsible.”

    https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/27/21404317/cathy-evelyn-smith-dead-john-belushi-speedball-chateau-marmont-cocaine-heroine-gordon-lightfoot

  30. 30.

    There go two miscreants

    Dropped some more $ in the Fire Recovery fund.

    Do we still have a fund for the Most Endangered House incumbents? Use one from earlier this year?

  31. 31.

    David Evans

    @Immanentize: I love the song, but for me the Jennifer Warnes version is canonical, so much so that I found myself muttering to Leonard Cohen “You’re doing it wrong”

  32. 32.

    oatler.

    I don’t see anything in the future but bloody civil war. It’s happening now, with the police on their side.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Adam Serwer @AdamSerwer· 9m
    Biden: *condemns violence*
    Media: Why won’t Biden condemn violence????

    Trump: *Encourages violence*
    Media: And now a panel of three newspaper reporters and a GOP operative will discuss whether Trump’s embrace of chaos is the greatest tactical move since Napoleon at Austerlitz

    I just wonder what network Serwer was watching.

  37. 37.

    Immanentize

    @David Evans: oh c’mon.  I get that such preferences are what make horse races, but there is simply nothing at all New York in the winter about the Jennifer Warnes (who I love) version.

    Next you’ll tell me Dylan does The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” wrong.

  38. 38.

    dnfree

    @Immanentize: the first time I was aware of Leonard Cohen was through Judy Collins’ version of Suzanne. I don’t think that was atypical at a time when she was famous in the folk world and he wasn’t yet. His versions of most of his songs are definitive to me, but Judy Collins doing Suzanne and Willie Nelson doing Bird on a Wire remain favorites. Oh, and Aaron Neville doing Ain’t No Cure for Love. It’s no disrespect to an artist to like someone else’s version of a song, especially if it’s the version you first knew.

  41. 41.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl: Many rich people have more money than sense. I no longer do corporate interior work, but I’ve been a part of projects in which an organization hires someone new, and as part of the hiring package, that person gets a full renovation. New interiors, furniture, everything…. even if the previous work and furniture is almost brand new and in good shape. Remember Ben Carson and his ludicrously expensive dining room set? I find it really upsetting, and it’s one reason I don’t work in those markets. I’m not saying that Melania is not racist—we know she happily participated in birther nonsense—but this is something she may have insisted upon even if her predecessor was white. With private dollars, it’s gross and totally unsustainable. With public dollars, it’s reprehensible, as well.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Melania was a birther and she wore a coat that said “I really don’t care” when she went on photo op faux-sympathy tour of the cages her husband was using to torture brown children. I don’t really need more evidence of her racism.

  49. 49.

    dnfree

    @David Evans: Song of Bernadette is my favorite Leonard Cohen done by Jennifer Warnes. Apparently she co-wrote it with him. Makes me cry to hear it, but then I’m old.
    “So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
    Torn by what we’ve done and can’t undo
    I just want to hold you, come on let me hold you
    Like Bernadette would do
    We’ve been around, we fall, we fly
    We mostly fall, we mostly run
    And every now and then we try
    To mend the damage that we’ve done
    Tonight, tonight I just can’t rest
    I’ve got this joy inside my breast
    To think that I did not forget that child
    That song of Bernadette“

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @oatler.: @Baud: What Baud said.  Look back at US history, when have police been on the side of the people?  Now expand it to world history.  Vote.  Work to get out the vote.  Don’t panic.

  54. 54.

    dnfree

    @Immanentize: Have you heard the ones I listed?  Jennifer Warnes’ Song of Bernadette and Aaron Neville’s Ain’t No Cure for Love are pretty good. I don’t think many people are even going to attempt covers of Cohen’s last two albums.

  55. 55.

    Marcopolo

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   In case no one has replied–I am commenting before reading the entire thread that would be MTP w/ Chuck Toddling.  This is the 3rd time this month he’s had a GOP politician on one of his panels w/out a corresponding Dem.

    For the third time *this month* @chucktodd has put a Republican on its PANEL OF JOURNALISTS and not included a Democrat:-Hallie Jackson, NBC-Michael Schmidt, NYT-Yamiche Alcindor, PBS-FORMER REPUBLICAN GOV. PAT MCCRORYThis is open bias. @MeetThePress is a right-wing show. pic.twitter.com/5VpgQRsdj6— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) August 30, 2020

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Does anyone know why pragmatic progressive twitter is going after Michael Moore on this fine Sunday?
    Whatever the reason, I am, as the youths say, here for it

    Maya Contreras @mayatcontreras·45m
    5/Dear Media, Please don’t invite @MMFlint to be on your programs again. Looking at you @chrislhayes @AriMelber Michael Moore’s a grifter and a chaos agent. He’s not an activist nor an advocate for anything other than advocating for himself to get more airtime. Write that down.

    I’d add relentless star-fucker Lawrence O’Donnell and the bewildering Moore fan Ali Velshi to that list

  57. 57.

    Marcopolo

    On the happier news front:

    some news of the record-breaking variety for your saturday night: as of tonight, august 2020 is the best online fundraising month in DNC history* (!!!)— jessalyn reid (@jessalynsays) August 30, 2020

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: Judy’s version (1966) was released before Leonard’s (1967).  In this case, people’s perceptions of the song were set by her.  Like Patti Smith with the Spingsteen penned “Because the Night.”

  63. 63.

    randy

    @Immanentize: One of my roommates said it was a crime against humanity that I didn’t know L. Cohen thirty years after hearing his songs from other people. Since corrected.

  64. 64.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Suzanne:

    Cool that you’re named for that amazing song. In other Leonard Cohen news, his estate is considering legal action against Trump for using Hallelujah at the RNC after they said no twice; said they’d consider allowing “You Want It Darker.”

    GOTV in Maricopa County can help flip AZ’s previously R electoral votes and Republican-held US Senate, US House, State Senate, and State House seats, and transform the county government (Maricopa has a larger population than 23 states)

    AZ-6, a good US House opportunity, overlaps multiple state opportunities including legislative district 20 – where Doug Ervin is running to flip the state senate seat and Judy Schwiebert to flip a state house seat – and Maricopa Board of Supervisors district 3, where Whitney Walker is running to flip a supervisor seat. Previously Democrats only ran 2 candidates for the 5-member board governing the county, but have 5 candidates this year. Sinema carried 3 of those seats.

    In AZ-6, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni is running against a corrupt R, redundant, yeah, but Schweickert has spent $1 million in campaign funds on legal defense, followed by a $50k fine.

    Geographic distribution of the vote matters. Turning out more voters in north Phoenix could flip those seats and flip the legislatures, while in south Phoenix Democratic incumbents would just win by larger margins against weak opponents without affecting the number of seats. Important to run up the score in base areas, reduce the margin in R areas, and win competitive seats: synergy up and down the ballot!

    DougJ: County link wasn’t working for me, so just in case fire recovery fund isn’t working for others:

    https://maricopadems.org/recoveryfund/

  66. 66.

    realbtl

    I was first exposed to Leonard Cohen through reading his novel Beautiful Losers. After that the dark side of his lyrics always stood out.

  67. 67.

    germy

    ABC will be showing Black Panther tonight at 8, uninterrupted by commercials.

    Followed by a tribute to Chadwick Boseman

    Per Variety, ABC will air a commercial-free showing of Black Panther from 8pm to 10:20pm. Immediately following the film, the network will show Chadwick Boseman – A Tribute for a King, a special produced by ABC News. In a statement, ABC News said the special will “celebrate Boseman’s storied life, legacy and career, and the cultural imprint he made on- and off-screen. It will feature tributes that have poured in from celebrities, political figures and fans across the world, special words from those who starred alongside him and knew Boseman best, and shine a light on the medical condition he privately battled.”

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: hell I’m still mad about him (and Sarandon and Tim Whatsits and the then newly radicalized Arianna Huffington and Tom Morello and Bill Maher and…) over “not a dime’s worth of difference…” in 2000

  69. 69.

    Suzanne

    @BlueGuitarist: So I lived in Maricopa County (off and on) from 1988 to this May of this year. I was a PC in LD 18, and I volunteered every election cycle starting in 2004. I think the race that broke my heart the most was 2010, when I spent months volunteering for Harry Mitchell’s reelection to the House and then he lost to David Schweikert.

     

    Harry Mitchell was a civics teacher at Tempe High School, which is a very racially diverse and fairly low SES school. Then he became principal, and then he became mayor of Tempe. Not a fancy dude…. he voted against Congressional pay raises and regularly went to lunch at Costco for the hot dogs. He lost his seat to that corrupt piece of shit and I have never gotten over it.

  70. 70.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: Even though Dylan released “Blowin in the Wind” before PP&M I think I heard their version first and it will always stick in my mind that way.

  72. 72.

    PsiFighter37

    Had no idea the party’s Maricopa County HQ was burned down. That’s not a good thing, since whether we win the state or not is going to hinge on how we do there.

  75. 75.

    raven

    @oatler.: I was just watching Cavett interview Altman about how trashed the sound was on the early release and it killed the reviews.

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @dnfree: I do like both of those.  I am a big Neville fan. I think I have just moved away from women folk singers of that period when I got into more women country singers and jazz singers. And punk….

    I can’t remember which reggae star it was — Jimmy Cliff? — who was once asked about a ‘cover’ he did and he said, “This is not a cover, this is a version.. Whenever Neville puts his voice in something, it is a version.

    This would be a fun thread sometime — covers you like!
    I immediately thought of The Band’s “Atlantic City” (Springsteen).
    And Devo’s “Satisfaction” (Rolling Stones). Now that was a version!!

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Biden: *condemns violence*
    Media: Why won’t Biden condemn violence????
    Trump: *Encourages violence*
    Media: And now a panel of three newspaper reporters and a GOP operative will discuss whether Trump’s embrace of chaos is the greatest tactical move since Napoleon at Austerlitz

    He’s right but I feel like Twitter so ferociously attacked them for this that we may head it off :)

    Then they can bothsides it, so it’s perfect for them.

  80. 80.

    Patricia Kayden

    Read the goddamn website. I’m tired of twitter geniuses asking to be convinced that Biden-Harris policies are better. Read them for yourself. They actually put a lot of time and thought into them and coordinated with lots of progressives including Warren and Sanders. https://t.co/h87HRqTGNC— John Legend (@johnlegend) August 30, 2020

  81. 81.

    germy

    In 2012, avid supporters of the incumbent showed their enthusiasm by knocking on doors, making phone calls, and registering people to vote. In 2020, avid supporters of the incumbent are riding thru cities with AR-15s, shooting paint balls and mace at people. #bothsides https://t.co/h8azjeNxqu

    — Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) August 30, 2020

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @dnfree:

    Judy Collins was also Joni Mitchell before Joni was. CSN similarly premiered “Woodstock” before Joni herself, who did not attend the event but CSN did where they opened their set with “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the Judy of which is Collins.

    Funny how things work out, sometimes.

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    @Haroldo: that’s great.  But I must admit that Suzanne is one of my least favorite Cohen songs.  Maybe because it was so ubiquitously covered?  I dunno. But that Nina Simone is fine. I have a big compilation of her work. Amazing range in song choices.

  85. 85.

    germy

    @Immanentize:  She took that old 1920s song and made it her own. “My Baby Just Cares For Me”

    Listen to the original cast recording from 1920something and then appreciate how she recreated it.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    @Timodc
    2h
    So has the president condemned the attempted vehicular homicide Trump truck parade yet?
    Have the people who obsess over Biden condemning for the umpteenth time random looters that may or may not even like him made this demand?
    Not hard to see what’s happening here.

    There’s a lot of it. They’re right too- there is no possible way to justify the double standard that is being applied here. The Trump people were shooting paint balls and spraying pepper spray out of a moving vehicle. That would be charged as a lower level felony here- they’d probably bump it down to a misdemeanor but not one of the minor ones. You can’t assault people.

  87. 87.

    opiejeanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    Somehow, I’ve never seen Michael Moore on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show. We watch him pretty regularly. IIRC, Rachel has had MM on several times this past year, or maybe it was one of her substitute hosts when she’s off fishing. I either change the channel or fast forward past him. The execrable Chris Hayes has had him on his show a lot, and he’s the one I’d call a starfucker.

  89. 89.

    opiejeanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: The first time I heard “Suzanne” it was a recording by Spanky and the Gang. I bought their album for a different song and there it was.

    After Mama Cass died, Spanky was the replacement for her in the Mamas and the Papas.

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @Immanentize:

    And Devo’s “Satisfaction” (Rolling Stones). Now that was a version!!

    Back in the day there was a small kerfuffle over “Satisfaction” and whether it was really written by Otis Redding and not the Stones. On the Devo album they give a wink to that by giving the song-writing credit to Devo.

  94. 94.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: Umm….the song was released before Cohen even had an album out:

    The song “Suzanne” was first performed by The Stormy Clovers in 1966 and then recorded by Judy Collins, appearing on her 1966 album In My Life. It was later released by Cohen on his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen. Cohen’s recording did not reach music charts.[8]

    In 1967, Noel Harrison’s version—the second cover of the song—reached number 125 in the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart on the week ending September 30.[10] Harrison’s version entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 86 on October 28 and peaked at number 56 on November 25, 1967.

    (You could look it up.)

    Most of those who were of sentient age at that time remember the Noel Harrison (son of Rex) “rocked-up” version – it was released as a single & got a fair amount of airplay (& I saw Harrison “perform” it, whatever that meant, on at least one TV variety show). I may still have the 45 somewhere in the back acres…

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The Trump people seem to be relying on some generalized, group assertion of “self defense” that doesn’t exist. There is no defense that says “I can go attack this huge group of people because I saw on Fox that some of them looted, either here or in some other city, unless it was another country and it was really 2006”

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @opiejeanne: I presume I heard the Collins version first.  My parents have both “In My Life” and “Song of Leonard Cohen” in their record collection.  I was only 2 when the first came out and 3 when the second did.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    @opiejeanne:

    “Michael Moore will explain it all to you” is reason enough to flee any chat show. Not that I watch many but still, can we get some fresh blood on camera for once? It’s not 1989.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @trollhattan:

    That’s actually what should worry Lefties. It’s not that they don’t get invited onto tv- it’s that the absolute worst examples of them are their standardbearers. Can they not find an actual working class person to speak for them, someone who is appealing and persuasive? Hire one.

  104. 104.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Nethead Jay: Before he died in early 1973, LBJ knew George Herbert Walker Bush as a 2-term Congressman, twice-failed US Senate candidate, & later UN Ambassador. So he wasn’t exactly prominent on Lyndon’s radar.

    But IIRC, IMHO he nailed Prescott Bush’s little boy and all-around prig perfectly as

    the kind of guy who’d get out of the shower to piss

    (paraphrased from memory)

  106. 106.

    Marcopolo

    Since this is a Leonard Cohen thread with a campaign donation subtext, here’s where I am with donations atm.

    One of the things I do when making donations to campaigns is keep track of who sends a thank you note. Then I send all those folks a follow up donation. Which I did just now. 12 candidates, all women, funny how that works. I also looked at the stats on my donations. 68% to women; 65% to POC. My US Senate contributions is where a lot of the male (and pale) candidates are. And living in MO, I have given to a dozen MO races (state legislative, gov, and US Congress) and while those candidates are 10-2 in favor of women there are fewer POC running in MO to flip seats from Red to Blue. That’s due to gerrymandering–most of the districts repped by POC are very safe D.

    I’m hoping for at least a 50% success rate. That’s what I hit in 2018, including half the US House folks I gave to who were running to flip their districts. Keeping my fingers crossed.

  107. 107.

    BruceFromOhio

    @germy:

    It’s also the first real look at what’s under Melania Trump’s hood—which, in Wolkoff’s telling, is surprisingly callous and ugly.

    Consider: would someone sensitive and beautiful marry that fucking horror show?

    Be Best, Melania.

  109. 109.

    BruceFromOhio

    Fifty clams to the Maricopa Democrats, and remember, once upon a time we did this without all the gadgets. Yes, it was definitely more difficult and less efficient. Not impossible, either.

    I’m sort-of relieved that it was a whack job that done it, and not a harbinger of new waves of civil war.

  110. 110.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    From the AP article: “The fire destroyed computers, tablets, phone-banking equipment, campaign literature and years of candidate and organizing information….It also burned political memorabilia accumulated over decades, including campaign materials for John F. Kennedy.”

  111. 111.

    Zinsky

    The treachery and perfidiousness of the modern Republican Party knows no bounds.   These vermin will lie, cheat, steal and apparently, commit arson and even murder, to get the orange spray-tanned, obese geriatric pervert re-elected.  Every Democrat needs to work like Hell between now and November 3rd to get Democrats elected up and down the ticket!

  112. 112.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    It’s not just the predicts losses, he blames it on Democrats for not being lefty enough. In 2000 he was all out for Nader, then made Fahrenheit 9/11 without mentioning his own role in giving us George W Bush. He is a reliable critic of the Democratic Party.

  115. 115.

    oatler.

    @opiejeanne:

    I loved Mama Cass but Spanky and her crew made some magnifcent albums.Their singles got us all going. “I’d  Like To Get To Know You”.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    @Frankensteinbeck: Decades of election memorabilia was lost. A minor thing, in the grand scheme, but still incredibly sad. And they won’t be made financially whole for months, so donations now help them work through the upcoming election.

    And the building is a total loss.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @James E Powell:

    then made Fahrenheit 9/11 without mentioning his own role in giving us George W Bush.

    even in the heat of the moment, ready to cheer on the Bush-bashing, I remember sitting in the theatre listening to him emote over the footage of the House vote to certify the EC results and thinking, “Dude, you spent a year telling us it didn’t matter who won in 2000”. If there was any acknowledgement of his role in 2000 in that movie, I don’t remember it.

  118. 118.

    Immanentize

    OK.  This is OT but I had to share.  I was eating lunch, reading the deadtree NYT and on pg 9 is an ad about Robert Trump (dead you know) which includes this odd gem:

    He loved the outdoors and operating his collection of vintage construction machines, the type he remembered seeing as a young boy growing up when visiting his father’s construction sites.

    The rich, they are not like us.

  119. 119.

    Suzanne

    @BruceFromOhio: Plz remember that phone-banking is probably more important in Maricopa County than most places, as it is typically north of 100 degrees up until Halloween in Phoenix. In-person canvassing is very difficult in those conditions. So the loss of the equipment is a big blow.

    Spoken as someone who did a lot of in-person canvassing. Hot damn.

  120. 120.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Suzanne:

    Impressive to keep doing the basic work of democracy thru heartbreaking results.

    Leonard: “Democracy Is Coming to the USA/It’s coming from the sorrow in the street”

  124. 124.

    dnfree

    @trollhattan: it took me a while to distinguish Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. But them I have face blindness and it took me a while to distinguish two blonde roommates, too.

  128. 128.

    Brachiator

    @Immanentize:

    He loved the outdoors and operating his collection of vintage construction machines, the type he remembered seeing as a young boy growing up when visiting his father’s construction sites.

    It’s like something out of a Richie Rich comic. Instead of playing with toy trucks and cars, he’s got real trucks.

  129. 129.

    James E Powell

    @Immanentize:

    Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower” is arguably the greatest cover ever. Johnny Cash “Hurt,” Nirvana “Man Who Sold the World,” and Joe Cocker “With a Little Help from my Friends” are also contenders.

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    @James E Powell:

    Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower” is arguably the greatest cover ever. Johnny Cash “Hurt,” Nirvana “Man Who Sold the World,” and Joe Cocker “With a Little Help from my Friends” are also contenders.

    More contenders: The Righteous Brothers version of Unchained Melody.

    Or Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness, which was a notable Depression era song.

  133. 133.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Marcopolo:

    Can you say more about the local candidates?

    I’ve been trying to identify places/candidates in overlapping winnable districts. I’ve mostly looked at states significant for electoral college or US Senate. Do these seem like good candidates/districts:

    MO-2: Jill Schupp

    MO-Senate-15 Deb Lavender

    MO-House-100: Helena Webb?

  134. 134.

    opiejeanne

    @oatler.: That was the song that prompted me to buy the album.  Before she starts singing there’s the quiet background clatter of dishes and cutlery in a restaurant and her voice saying, “You must be crazy. I don’t know you.”

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    @James E Powell:

    On second thought, the greatest cover ever in the rock era. No contest. The Kingsman and “Louie Louie.” A song so “notorious,” it soaked an FBI investigation into its subversive lyrics.

    And a song which has inspired garage bands since 1963.

    The original, by Richard Berry, was composed in 1955 and recorded in 1957.

  137. 137.

    Haroldo

    @Brachiator:

    Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower” is arguably the greatest cover ever. Johnny Cash “Hurt,” Nirvana “Man Who Sold the World,” and Joe Cocker “With a Little Help from my Friends” are also contenders.

    More contenders: The Righteous Brothers version of Unchained Melody.

    Or Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness, which was a notable Depression era song.

    I don’t know if it’s the greatest cover, but Aretha’s version of Redding’s Respect is right up there.

    P.S. Ever hear Sinatra’s version of Try a Little Tenderness?  Different universe from Otis.

    P.P.S. Entirely with you w.r.t. Louie, Louie.

  138. 138.

    Gravenstone

    @Immanentize: Kind of puts Trump indulging his inner little boy behind the wheel of the dump truck outside the White House in a little different light. That whole family is probably broken. And we’re the ones paying the price for that damage.

     

     

    eta: corrected the vehicle based from an earlier commenter

  140. 140.

    raven

    @Baud: Nah, we’ve been back almost a week. I’m still screwin around with the starter in my truck. I put in new battery cables and now I’m crusin around getting it hot to see if my “heat soak” problem persists.

  144. 144.

    AliceBlue

    Talking Heads’ cover of “Take Me To The River” is another winner.

    Anyone remember the Archies’ song “Sugar Sugar”?  I was listening to Sirius XM Underground Garage a while back and they played a version of it by…Wilson Pickett.  I almost drove off the road.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @Haroldo: 

    I don’t know if it’s the greatest cover, but Aretha’s version of Redding’s Respect is right up there.

    Absolutely!!

  147. 147.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gravenstone: reminds of that infamous family portrait where Barron is posed with the toy stretch limo that is found in every totally normal toy chest and is not at all a sign of needy insecurity on the part of his status-obsessed father. And looking up the actual portrait, I do believe there are two stretch limos on the floor.

  149. 149.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    It’s not that they don’t get invited onto tv- it’s that the absolute worst examples of them are their standardbearers.

    This, at least, is not their fault.  At least since Reagan, the Narrative has been that Republicans are mature and serious because they understand that tough love is the only kind that works, and are brave enough to inflict it the weak.  Democrats, since they believe in helping people, are adorable but irrational idealists.  That Narrative runs so much of national political coverage that it’s ridiculous.  In this case, a clear-headed, reasonable leftist who is interested in getting things done is an aberration, and can safely be ignored.  The Warren wing of the Democratic Party must be the subset of the Sanders wing that would prefer a woman.  You’ll notice that Warren became a media darling when it looked like she would be another Sanders pissing on the Democratic Party from the inside.  Then the more it became clear she was a team player, the less she got coverage except as a name in ‘the progressive wing’ that was supposedly battling ‘the centrists’.

    Michael Moore is invited on television because he is what 90% of television pundits think a progressive is.

  150. 150.

    James E Powell

    @Brachiator:

    I wonder why the FBI didn’t listen to Richard Berry original? The lyrics are pretty clear. It would have saved time.

    @Immanentize:

    I think most people use cover & version interchangeably, but I’m open to hearing arguments supporting a distinction.

    I took a few music classes back in college and I recall a distinction between interpretation and realization, but I don’t remember what the difference was.

    This list of the 100 Greatest Covers put together by the NY Post in 2007 may be of interest. Note: It is a compilation not a ranked list.

  151. 151.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @oatler.: “I’d Like to Get to Know You” is mediocre at best. (The “psychedelic” bridge is complete horseshit.) Only a kulchur snob would think otherwise. Of course this blog is filthy with kulchur snobs…

  152. 152.

    raven

    Anatomy of a Catastrophe
    Good piece on Kenosha.

     

    Whatever it is that pisses you off about the whole sad circus is supposed to piss you off. YOU ARE NOT WRONG, and I don’t even know what it is specifically that has you smashing the keys on your social media abattoir of choice. I’m not kidding. Pick your poison. I get it and I agree with you. Now to the part you won’t like…

    Any discussion of this incident that does not acknowledge the dozens of poor decisions it took to make this catastrophe possible is disingenuous at best and deliberately misleading at worst. That we cannot abide. You can be angry about virtually any aspect of the events, but if you think that gives you permission to ignore this horrific Rube-Goldberg machine of incompetence, delusion, and felonious stupidity, then you have clicked on the wrong goddamn article.

  155. 155.

    piratedan

    I would volunteer SCOTS covers of Nitty Gritty and Daddy Was A Preacher, Momma Was A Go-Go Girl…. Whitney Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You is pretty awesome too…

  159. 159.

    karen marie

    The Phoenix Police Department identified the suspect as 29-year-old Matthew Egler on Twitter.

    Jesus. Can we please get some literate journalists? I had to read it three times because I couldn’t believe they identified who he was on twitter. Shit like that makes me want to break things. #WordOrderMatters

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: Gad zooks you are amazing in your commenting skill here.  You are brilliant at cutting to the chase and distilling complex political narratives into just a few phrases.

    You should be a writer!

    Oh, yeah, you already are.  :-D

    Where’s the Suggestion Box at MSNBC to get you to be a Professional Pundit there?  Well, it looks like it’s here:

    https://www.wikihow.com/Contact-MSNBC-News

    Seriously – thanks.  That’s a great comment.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    J R in WV

    In general when a super star musical talent does a version/cover of a song, it will be terrific, and often superior to other versions, even that of the creator of the song. Just my 2 cents.

    Some people are great writers of music, others are great performers, only a few are great at both skill sets. On the other hand, Nina Simone doing Ellington, that sounds like a peak experience.

    I never got to see Duke live, did see Count Basie and Louis Armstrong, and Louis was touring with Pearl Bailey … was quite a show, at one of the great old theaters in St Pete. We got cheap tix late and were up against the ceiling with a lot of black folks wearing their finest. I worked hard on mom and dad to buy tix — we were on a Christmas at the beach vacation, I’m sure they didn’t budget that show, but wow, what a memory.

  162. 162.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    @lgerard: Thanks for sharing this. It’s upsetting and makes me so angry that this young woman had to deal with such harassment for so long. I hope some Congressional person sees this and starts rattling cages. It’ll be one more thing to put on the list of CBP offenses. That department needs to be reorganized and reformed.

  163. 163.

    J R in WV

    Having taken a look at the “thermometers” and seeing how our fellow Jackals blew past those goals, you folks make me proud to be a Balloon Juice Jackal… I’m not sure which total looks better to me, Hickenlooper more than double the goal,  or the Maricopa County building recovery fund, which raised over 16 17 times the more modest goal.

    We have contributed to many AZ candidates, spending as much time out there as we have over the past decade. We were so heartbroken when Ms Giffords was attacked and so horribly injured, after Sarah Palin sent around literature with rifle crosshairs over Gifford’s face. The shooter was crazy, but I still think Palin should be in deep water for fomenting that attack with her despicable propaganda. Grateful Gabby is recovered as well as she has!

    We have contributed mostly to Dr. Hiral Tipirneni and to Capt. (ret) Mark Kelly, hope they both make it. I’m just trying to keep my cool, sleep enough, take care of my wife and neighbors, keep my cool. Plenty of time to loose your cool come November!

  164. 164.

    Marcopolo

    @BlueGuitarist:  Sorry, I went off to eat lunch and then had a very long Zoom with some friends to accomplish some game playing.  However, if you are checking back in long after this thread is dead:

    I am on a monthly recurring donation to Jill Schupp.  Flipping MO-2 is the most likely  big win D’s will see in MO (I’ve given to Galloway too and that would also be monumental but she has a much much steeper lift).

    Within the borders of the MO-2 congressional district I have given contributions to all of the state house & senate candidates–my philosophy is running for office is hard & folks who run should be rewarded.  That includes Helena (who I also have on a monthly donation & really really like–she’s running a kickass campaign) & Deb Lavender.  Candidates to whom I gave follow up thank you contributions today also included Jean Pretto (HD-94), Erica Hoffman (HD-96), Ann Zimpfer (HD-95), and Angie Schaeffer (HD-98).  I’m hoping there might be some synergy between the US & State House races.  Guess we will see.

    Last, but not least, there are two other recent incumbents, Trish Gunby (who flipped HD-99 in a special in 2019) and Paula Brown (who flipped HD-70 in 2018) who I’ve contributed to because their districts are really borderline and the first election after flipping a district can be very tough.

    Hope that answers your question and that you have a chance to see this answer.

  165. 165.

    prostratedragon

    @Haroldo:  I also thought of Aretha’s Respect, though I guess it depends how you define “cover,” since Otis might not have recorded it first.

  167. 167.

    RaflW

    @J R in WV: I’m pleasantly stunned by the giving to the AZ Dems. I happened to give to Jevin Hodge yesterday. I research downballot races, and he’s running for the Maricopa Board of Supervisors (yes, I get that finely grained – we need to be raising up new talent, esp POC new leaders).
    I’ve also given to multiple AZ legislative candidates (as an out of stater, the two Dem/two Rep thing in the state house confuses me, but it is what it is and I want well funded candidates).

    AZ is a state that Dems should be doing better in, and I hope shortly will.

  169. 169.

    dnfree

    A little late, but I just ran through your list and upped the total on a few buckets.  Thanks again for doing this, and keep it up!  Also giving to three local candidates in the Chicago suburbs, my own and two neighboring districts–Sean Casten, Raja Krishnamoorthi (you wouldn’t believe the “you’re from India” comments on his Facebook page), and Lauren Underwood.  Lauren Underwood’s page did not use ActBlue–something called Fastrack, if I spelled that right.

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