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Music

You are here: Home / Archives for Music

Medium Cool – Fictional Dads Fictional Characters

by WaterGirl|  June 15, 20257:00 pm| 72 Comments

This post is in: Books, Medium Cool, Music, Open Threads, Popular Culture, TV & Movies, Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We're Living In

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

Auto Draft 21
To Kill A Mockingbird

If you could have a fictional character as your dad, or be a dad like a fictional character, who would you choose?

You know what, let’s not leave that gender specific – let’s go with parent so everyone can play.  And let’s widen it a bit.  Okay, a lot.  Spouse, friend, sister, brother, boss, employee.  What characters are the aspirational you or others in your life?

Books, TV, movies, opera, music – anything related to culture is fair game.

Medium Cool – <s>Fictional Dads</s> Fictional CharactersPost + Comments (72)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Here We Go Again

by Anne Laurie|  May 27, 20256:50 am| 202 Comments

This post is in: Democratic Response to Trump 2.0, Music, Open Threads

(Lovely version of my favorite, “Chimes of Freedom”.}

House Republicans passed their bill that’d rip health insurance from millions and take food assistance away from millions including households with kids as young as 7 in the largest Medicaid and SNAP cuts in history – while giving giant tax cuts to the rich.

Thread on the next steps of the process.

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 8:06 AM

The bill now goes to the Senate. Bcuz this is a reconciliation bill, it can’t be filibustered. This means that, even w/ all Ds opposed, Rs can pass it through the Senate on their own – as long as they follow the rules of reconciliation. This is the same process they used to try to repeal the ACA.

Rs will be allowed to skip the committee process and go straight to the floor. But before any voting can happen, they’ll need text, and Ds and Rs will comb through it & spend weeks debating every single part of it in front of the Senate Parliamentarian, arguing about whether they violate the rules.

This is adjudicated line by line, clause by clause, and sometimes word by word. Entire sections will fall out because they do not comply with the rules of reconciliation (like the AI section, for instance). Sometimes specific clauses or words will drop.

Eventually, Republicans will move to proceed, there will be 20 hours of debate split evenly (and Republicans can yield their 10 hours, so there really could be only 10 hours of debate), and then we go into vote-o-rama and then to final passage of the bill.

If Republicans know exactly what they’re doing and have pre-baked the politics and the language, the entire Senate process, from start to finish, could be less than a month.

This means we do not have much time to convince them to vote no.

show full post on front page

Importantly, there is a 0.00% chance the Senate version is identical to the House version, so the House will have to vote again (and they might even go to conference).

A lot of Republicans voted yes, assuaging worries by telling themselves it would change in the Senate. If the Senate can pass something, that will no longer be true. And so when it comes back through the House, it’ll be for real, and we’ll have another chance to defeat it there.

The most important thing you can do, by a parsec, is attend a town hall with your Republican Senator and with your Republican member of Congress. There is nothing more useful than spending even a minute talking face-to-face with them and telling them you do not want them to vote for this.

Calling your Republican Senate and your Republican member of Congress is also very useful. They need to hear from you. They need to know why you don’t want this to become law.

It is also useful to talk to your Republican governor because they talk to the Senators and House members and they have feelings about how this would negatively affect their citizens and how many costs it would push onto them.

This bill would cause so much additional suffering. It would be by far the largest Medicaid cuts in history, kicking millions off their health insurance and condemning thousands of those people each year to die due to lack of coverage.

(note the House-passed version is actually worse than this)

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— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 8:25 AM

It would also be by far the largest SNAP cuts in history, ripping food assistance away from millions, including households with children as young as seven years old.

[image or embed]

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 8:26 AM

It will be a very hard fight to win, but it's worth it to try, because people matter.

We owe it to our family members who rely on Medicaid and SNAP. We owe it to our friends. We owe it to our neighbors. We owe it to the people we'll never meet.

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 8:28 AM

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Here We Go AgainPost + Comments (202)

Open Thread: Creativity Is inherently Non-Conservative

by Anne Laurie|  May 20, 202510:39 am| 139 Comments

This post is in: Music, Trumpery

Lmao he's so mad that fancy artists don't like him and all he's got is Kid Rock

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM

MAGA fads and conspiracy theories can be labelled ‘creative’, but actual creativity relies on being open to seeing things… differently. Anathema!

“Unwell” is a new sub-hed.
@rollingstone.com
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol…

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 9:57 AM

Pres, Gagliardi, of the ???? Federation of Musicians:
“We will not remain silent as 2 of our members Bruce Springsteen & Taylor Swift r singled out & personally attacked by the POTUS. S&S r not just brilliant musicians, they r role models & inspirations 2 millions of ppl in the US & across the??”
????????????????????

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— lindsay berger sacks (@lindsaybergersacks.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM

Open Thread: Creativity Is inherently Non-ConservativePost + Comments (139)

Medium Cool – Best Album Covers!

by WaterGirl|  May 18, 20257:00 pm| 199 Comments

This post is in: Medium Cool, Music, Popular Culture, Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We're Living In

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

Tonight let’s talk about album covers!

(What do they call those now that most music isn’t sold as a physical object with a picture on the front?)

Best ones, worst ones?

Album covers and albums that remind you of college or high school or that old girlfriend?  That job you loved?  That job you hated?

Share your favorites, and even your stories of what they remind you of.

Update:  Link to your favorite album covers if you can!

In case you are new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.

Medium Cool – Best Album Covers!Post + Comments (199)

Sunday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  May 18, 20258:34 am| 308 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, Music, Religion

Since Donald Trump is freaking out about Bruce Springsteen calling this the most corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration, it would be a shame if this video was shared even more widely….

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— dharmalee3 (@dharmalee3.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM

Full Bruce comments here:
mdavis19881.substack.com/p/watch-spri…

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— Mike Davis • Feed After Midnight (@mjdavis1988.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM

Sunday Morning Open Thread 18

(Jack Ohman via GoComix,com)

Pope Leo XIV, history’s first American pope, is vowing to work for unity so that the Catholic Church becomes a sign of peace in the world. Leo has offered a message of communion during an inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square before tens of thousands of people, presidents, patriarchs and princes.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 18, 2025 at 5:17 AM

Happy Feast of Thurgood Marshall Day to all my Episcopal friends.

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— Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM

This weekend, Baltimore pays tribute to a towering figure in American history: Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The celebration, anchored by a special Episcopal feast day, brings together civic leaders, faith communities, and families to honor Marshall’s enduring legacy in civil rights and education.

The centerpiece of the commemoration is being held at the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, located at 4 East University Parkway. The event began at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and is open to the public throughout the day.

Reverend Al Hathaway, President and CEO of the Beloved Community Services Corporation, joined FOX45 News to highlight the significance of the event and the historical impact of Justice Marshall’s work.

This year’s celebration marks the 71st anniversary of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which struck down racial segregation in public schools. As lead attorney for the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in the case.

Hathaway emphasized the significance of the Brown v. Board ruling: “If you think about it, separate but equal, which was the Plessy v. Ferguson… basically they had distinct different school systems. Now this joins school systems together.”

He also pointed to Baltimore’s critical role in implementing school desegregation. “Baltimore City was the first school system south of the Mason-Dixie line to desegregate. Walter Sondheim, D’Alessandro led that effort. And so now we’re talking about, okay, this is living history.”

In addition to the feast day observance, the weekend includes a variety of activities, including book signings, educational talks, and community gatherings. Key speakers at Saturday’s event include Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, the Honorable Wanda Heard, and Bishop Eugene Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese….

Sunday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (308)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Circuses Everywhere

by Anne Laurie|  May 13, 20256:02 am| 176 Comments

This post is in: Music, Republican Venality

The Eurovision party is officially underway. Welcome to a week of power pop, outrageous outfits and, inevitably, protests.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM

in 2009 and 2010, a lot of dems voted for the aca knowing they’d lose their jobs because it, but willing to do so because it meant giving millions of people health insurance
\soon, we’ll see if republicans are willing to lose their seats to kick millions off their insurance and condemn many to death

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 12:26 PM

We are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
Commuter rail, we are often told, operates at a loss. But we spend even more on street and highways, and take in little direct revenue from them. Yet no one ever says they are operating at a loss.

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— John Skiles Skinner (@skiles.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 10:56 PM

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I met with air traffic controllers at the Aurora control center on 1/30, the day after the American Airlines / helicopter crash. Their biggest concerns were (a) DOGE-threatened layoffs (b) whether any female / minority employee would be blamed and (c) mental health resources…

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— Sean Casten (@seancasten.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM

Pope Leo XIV expressed solidarity with imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.” He spoke in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM

And the NYTimes is happy to assure us that the new South African ‘refugees’ are not just grubby rurals barking some guttural creole…

"life coach and campaigner for white South Africans who want to apply for US refugee status"

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) May 11, 2025 at 10:45 PM

The Trump superfan showcased as one of the first Afrikaner refugees from anti-white racism in South Africa.

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 7:42 AM

2/ Notable thing here is that this "refugee" status is usually framed around "white farmers". But this woman who is the poster-person for this lives in Cape Town and it doesn't seem like she's Afrikaner since her bio says she was born in Zimbabwe back when it was still known as Rhodesia.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) May 12, 2025 at 8:10 AM

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Circuses EverywherePost + Comments (176)

Medium Cool – Music That Takes You by Surprise

by WaterGirl|  April 27, 20257:00 pm| 190 Comments

This post is in: Medium Cool, Music

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

What musical artist or song or album or piece do you like that took you by surprise?

Classical music is not something I typically listen to, but I love Pachelbel’s Canon in D.  And it turns out that I enjoy Vivaldi.

I swear the soundtrack for Schindler’s List was the only reason I was able to make it all the way through the movie.

I am not a big country music fan, but a friend was playing a Vince Gill Christmas album one night while we were all playing cards, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Not a punk rock girl, but I love the Ramones.  I wanna be sedated.

How about you guys?

In case you are new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.

 

Medium Cool – Music That Takes You by SurprisePost + Comments (190)

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