On the heels of the Kudlow news, I wonder if someone can get Trump to switch from cable to Netflix so he can branch out from his self-imposed 90’s cable prison. For example, he’d probably think that Jessica Jones would make a great FBI director, and he might also make Paul Ryan fuck a pig on live TV. Or perhaps you have other ideas for the way that Trump should be inspired by Netflix. Here’s an open thread for that or anything else.
Up in The Rafters a Rope is Dangling
The Dark Side of Classic Rock Values.
Rock and Roll will never die. It shambles on and on over the terrestrial airwaves and streams into our homes, cars, and deserted shopping malls. Sometime in the late 60’s recording technology reached a level of sophistication to produce the harmoniously integrated frequencies that would justify rock music’s jump from the tin can AM sound of the single mono speaker in the dashboard of my uncle’s truck, to the FM experience of sitting rapt with a pair of headphones (or my head lain between two speakers) hypnotized by life-like and beyond life-like stereo imaging. Freeform and Progressive radio stations were coopted by commercial interests once enough FM radios were sold and the acceptable compromise of AOR Radio is born.
But rock music still promised unbounded horizons. Unbridleable energy. Operas, tone-poems, sophisticated appropriation of folk themes. Greater experimentation, crazier and crazier ideas!
Music is a bottomless well of possibilities. Rock music was big, seething, electric sex-tent of generational energy. Even more importantly, a swooning, depthless sea of profit.
And then, following this breathtaking expansion, Rock withered and blackened into a hard little creosote lump of conservatism. As Rock journeys through the 70s it increasingly must conform to specific instrumentation, tempo, time signature.
The pop and rock explosion of the 50s and 60s exposed black music to a wider audience, but AOR Radio only likes the honky version of stuff. (Bob Marley was shrewd enough to recognize this, cut out the middle man, dialed back the bass and drums, and made his own sanitized, radio friendly version of Reggae. Smart dude!)
Rock portrays a shirtless, hyper-masculinized landscape of he-men or willowy androgynous white guys. Women are almost never heard from and when they are it is because they imbibe the tired tropes of Rock music. You won’t see a more integrated approach until punk rock.
What was Rock’s reply to punk? Retrenchment. A drooling afternoon nap of complacency that would give birth the likes of Van Halen, Loverboy and the abominable Night Ranger. Shit, even Cheap Trick (they’re kinda punky) are pretty goddamn tame. Who here is proposing a radical critique of art and living and society? “Disco Sucks,” comes the reply.
In 1980, in Cleveland Ohio the radio station M105 proclaimed itself Cleveland’s Classic Rock. Classic Rock would narrow the scope of the AOR format even further. Faced with the energy and freshness of New Wave pop, and possible extinction, Classic Rock Radio tried restore Rock music to supremacy and greatness.
You know who else came along in 1980 promising to restore greatness?
I’m sorry I put Reagan on your screen. It had to be done. The only way to punish me is to donate to the fund that’s split between all eventual
Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.
Nobody Likes Paul
Paul Ryan’s fan club is limited to a couple hundred DC reporters. Outside the beltway, he’s political poison, so Conor Lamb ran against him, hard. This ad is great:
Paul Ryan likes to talk about "entitlement reform." Well Mr. Speaker, people are entitled to Social Security & Medicare — they paid for it, worked hard for it & expect us to keep our promises.
Watch our new ad & help us keep fighting back in #PA18: https://t.co/1XleY64HDQ pic.twitter.com/sDkXqTMM91
— Conor Lamb (@ConorLambPA) February 8, 2018
Kos has a new polling effort. Here’s their tracking poll on Ryan’s popularity, and it’s brutal:
Despite Ryan’s efforts to show a sad face every time Republicans fuck the poor and middle class, people get that he’s a little shit that will steal their Social Security and Medicare. And please don’t tell me that Lamb didn’t run as a Democrat. Social Security and Medicare are the core of being a Democrat.
Great success
Big win in Pennsylvania. It proves, once again, that this is a right-center nation.
There are over one hundred Republican-held districts that are bluer than PA-18, let’s win them all. Give here to the Balloon Juice fund that is split equally among all eventual Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.
The Magnificent Kids
Happening now:
We're seeing the first in a nationwide wave of student walkouts to protest gun violence. Here's video from Parkland, Florida, where exactly one month ago a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.#NationalWalkoutDay. pic.twitter.com/iUGFJheWjF
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 14, 2018
I’m so damn proud of them. They’ve already made a difference, and they’re not done. Know any kids who are participating?
Stephen Hawking, RIP
Russiagate Open Thread: Will Assange Take Down Roger Stone?
Trump's closest advisor with a history of dirty political tricks was in contact with the outlet that distributed the emails hacked by the Russians. https://t.co/mB89OqMefc
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 13, 2018
EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone, a Trump ally, told *two* friends he knew of a trove of hacked emails that would damage Democrats in 2016 — months before the public knew they existed. Me w/ @thamburger @jdawsey1 @shaneharris . https://t.co/ZEtB0vRCeZ
— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) March 13, 2018
I doubt I’ve been a good enough person for the Universe to reward me with video of Roger Ratfvcking Stone being dragged off in handcuffs, but then, I’m not the only person praying for his downfall, either…
In the spring of 2016, longtime political operative Roger Stone had a phone conversation that would later seem prophetic, according to the person on the other end of the line.
Stone, an informal adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, said he had learned from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that his organization had obtained emails that would torment senior Democrats such as John Podesta, then campaign chairman for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The conversation occurred before it was publicly known that hackers had obtained the emails of Podesta and of the Democratic National Committee, documents that WikiLeaks released in late July and October. The U.S. intelligence community later concluded that the hackers were working for Russia…
Stone’s possible connection to Assange has been under scrutiny since the 2016 campaign, when he made public claims that he was in contact with the London-based WikiLeaks founder. Since then, Stone has emphatically denied any communication with Assange or advance knowledge of the document dumps by WikiLeaks, which embarrassed Clinton allies and disrupted the 2016 campaign. WikiLeaks and Assange have also said they never communicated with Stone.
Potential contacts with WikiLeaks have been probed by federal investigators examining whether allies of President Trump coordinated with Russians seeking to tilt the 2016 race. The president has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, declined to comment…
Nunberg told The Post that the questions he was asked by Mueller’s investigators indicated to him that the special counsel is examining statements Stone has made publicly about WikiLeaks.
“Of course they have to investigate this,” he said. “Roger made statements that could be problematic.”…
A very chastened Nunberg seems to have accepted that Mr. Mueller will not be dismissed by threats or bluster. And he may even have realized that his “mentor” never actually respected him…
Roger Stone told the Post that "I think I will go to London for the weekend to meet with Julian Assange" was just "a throwaway line" to get Sam Nunberg off the phone. https://t.co/EQdjD9qunq pic.twitter.com/ETg3kfWYuD
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 13, 2018
Just in: Director @morganpehme confirms Trump ally Roger Stone was trying to contact Julian Assange in 2016: pic.twitter.com/aaqWuixMYc
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) March 13, 2018
I’m looking forward to the mea culpas of every single person who used a Russia – Roger Stone psyop to wound good people in order to hurt Hillary’s campaign. Including every reporter who gleefully led the maelstrom. https://t.co/gSpN1LDoLN
— Neera Tanden ?? (@neeratanden) March 13, 2018
Russiagate Open Thread: Will Assange Take Down Roger Stone?Post + Comments (210)