Oh noes! I was in a hurry so I forgot to mention that after he finished speaking, Vance was played off to the guitar solo from Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow," and you could actually hear the 1992 Clinton Democratic Convention roll over in its grave.
I would add that but my new laptop won't let me edit anything that's already been posted, probably some weird Chrome hiccup I need to figure out.
I know Hamilton and the Crew already thanked you but I want to emphasize how much the kittens are appreciated. I have hated JD Vance for so many reasons and can not believe he is a fucking senator and now a possible VP. I'll be seeing that smarmy ass face every where now. Jesus Fucking Christ on a cracker this country is so fucked up. So thank you so very much for the kittehs, Dok. You the man!
It's APPALLING how the most mediocre white men manage to fail upwards in this fucked up country. And under a new Trumpian Fourth Reich, this will only get MUCH, MUCH worse.
The snarky correspondents for the Mexican intellectual daily La Jornada (the only newspaper I know where opinion pieces often have footnotes and bibliography) -- venturing into enemy territory by covering the convention -- love the incongruity of Trump's entry to the "gay anthem" Y.M.C.A. And the other day, opening their convention with another old gay bar standard: Celebrate Good Times (c'mon).
All writing that mentions anything resembling a theory should have a bibliography. I consider the lack of one proof they just pulled this out of their ass. Like this comment of mine: Just pulled it out my ass.
She has some regrets from the grave, I imagine. Seeing her with Chicken Shack when I was 15 had a lasting impact on me. That was a brutal industry for young women to navigate.
The Democratic Party's downfall started with Bill Clinton and the 1992 convention. If the Democrats had stayed Democrats instead of becoming Republican-lite...
I'm with you on being disappointed with the Clinton years, but I'm pretty sure the Democrats had some serious problems before Clinton. The first three Presidential elections of my lifetime were all in the 80's and in those elections the Dems lost 45 states, 49 states, and 40 states, respectively.
the guy who fixed the deficit? the one who presided over eight years of peace and prosperity? the one who balanced the budget and brought in a surplus WITHOUT doing it all by fucking over the poor? what a monster.
That's what makes the Clinton years so unusual. Bush Sr. stuck our Marines into Somalia in his last days as an f-u to the new Administration, but Clinton got them out and did not send our troops to fight anywhere.
Yeah, that was fucking terrible. Luckily, Chimpy righted the boat when SCOTUS slid him in between the pages.
Which is to say, our recall of the past greatly differs. I believe there was a guy called Obama who was in there too. As I remember, he did all right.
After 12 fucking years of Ronnie and Bush senior, Clinton was oxygen to a nation drowning in nihilism. He was center-left, not some conservative Trojan horse, so please quit trying to rewrite history because you didn’t get a fucking pony.
Note: I might be a little fucking cranky this morning.
Never, ever let any of us forget that practically the first thing the shiny new Chimpy/Cheney regime was loot the surplus to send out, under Chimpy's signature, checks for chickenfeed (I think mine was for $106) plus a cover letter to drive home the pitch that this was all due to the warm-hearted generosity of Dubya.
Bill Clinton was a very popular POTUS. He finished with a Gallup poll approval rating of 65%, higher than that of every other departing president measured since Harry Truman. Note that he was MORE popular than Reagan, because he left a booming economy.
I would hardly call that a "downfall." Jimmy Carter lost 49 of 50 states in 1980, because Republicans promised to cut everyone's taxes and we'd all get rich, and they are better with the economy. Luckily for them, we just ceded that talking point to them.
And Al Gore thought that Bill was damaged goods because of "blowjobgate" which nobody actually cared about. If Al had been smart enough to let Bill (65%, see above) campaign for him he not GWB would have ascended to the White House in 2001.
Gore would have won if our own far left hadn't voted for Ralph Nader in Florida. They always want to teach the rest of us a lesson, and they always do.
They always teach me how horrific the GQP is, and how miserable my own life becomes under Republican rule. I lost my life savings and my retirement in 2008. They also taught close to a million Iraqis how to lose their lives. So, uhhh. thanks for that lesson, I guess?
Al Gore and his wife were a couple of prudes. Bill Clinton was popular with the white working class, and black people. He's the last Dem who got both of those groups.
In 1992 the Democrats had held the presidency for precisely 4 of the previous 24 years. That's not great actually! Whatever you think the golden age of Democratic political effectiveness was, it ended well before 1992.
Fleetwood Mac probably doesn't own the song. Whatever corporate media conglomerate that does own will probably let them use it for free in exchange for some clicks
I know. A much different lyricist, and unlike Nicks it’s clear what her songs are about. I originally assumed that “Edge of Seventeen” was about a creepy house - Wikipedia says it’s about her grief over the loss of both John Lennon and a family member in one week.
I always wanted someone to play King Nothing as he boarded AF1 for the last time. Can we play it when we drop his dick in the dirt (with votes) in November?
Hmmm. Conceivably that poor frail old woman at the end of her life who couldn't get around so well (if Vance didn't simply invent her) was plagued at that stage by a failing mind. If she heard a sound which she thought sinister and fumbled in haste for a firearm, she might have blown her own foot off, or worse, shot herself in the head. Actually, that could happen even if she still had her wits about her, due to her wrists and fingers no longer being nimble. Aged and alone, with 19 loaded handguns in her house? If a burglar did break in, he might well get his mitts on one of them before she did. Take it any way you like, that's a recipe for disaster.
Once again, I'm calling bullshit on JD Vance's hillbilly roots. Look at that plump little face, that fucker has never missed a meal in his life. Hardscrabble my ass.
If you read Hillbilly Elegy (and I did - wtf was I thinking?) you find out that his parents had an income of over 6 figures. In the 90s. Think about that! In other words, he must have started growing those plump little jowls early on.
It takes real balls for Republicans to blame NAFTA on Democrats. Put it this way - if only House Republicans had voted, NAFTA still would have passed by an overwhelming margin. If only House Democrats had voted, it would have failed miserably.
Republicans are a pack of fucking liars. There’s not an honest person anywhere in the party anymore.
I learned all I needed to know about Hillbilly Elegy at the East Palestine train derailment.
Within three hours, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro were on the scene. The next morning, Vance clearly woke up and realized he was supposed to be doing something and immediately rushed to the scene where he stood around, no idea what he should be doing there as a Senator, getting in everyone's way.
Chump and Hillbilly Elegy have a total of five and a half years of elected experience between them.
It wasn't about the protection, it was about the dementia-based hoarding. My Mom hoards catfood for her beloved cat, which is annoying but cute. I guess Vance's Mawmaw had nothing but guns to love and appreciate, which makes him suck even harder for me. Really? Your supposedly beloved Mawmaw had nothing but guns at the end of her life? No family? No care? Nothing but terrified paranoia? Fuck all the way off!
I read the book too and I don't disrespect Mamaw. But I hugely disrespect Vance.
Also, when old people horde guns or continue to drive their cars after they've become a menace, responsible grandchildren step in. They don't cackle to themselves and then use it as campaign propaganda.
I worry about everything. I find things to worry about if things seem okay.
I have stayed up worrying about the dinosaurs coming back, like Jurassic Park. I have worried about the sun burning through the ozone layer and turning into a laser that melts everything it touches (saw it in a movie, must be real).
I have made my peace with being dino food, and I used to have a plan, in LA, to get to JPL or the science museum and get inside a vehicle meant for space. Once I have a plan in place, I can sleep, even if that plan is Game Over Man.
But now, I lay in bed at night and hear sounds that are probably the murderers breaking into the house to kill my family. It doesn't matter that the dog isn't barking. They either already killed her, OR, well, she's old and sometimes doesn't hear things when she's sleeping.
I'll tell myself, 'Sunshine, you're ridiculous, and it's not murderers, it's just normal house sounds, just like EVERY other time you heard sounds.' But then I'll hear another sound, and my brain is like 'nah, THIS time it really is the murderers' and I force myself to go check. So far, no murderers, but this happens more often than I should admit.
What I am saying is: I am extremely irrationally anxious about intruders (logic doesn't exist after midnight) and yet, during the day when logic prevails, I don't go out and buy a gun, or many guns.
Oh noes! I was in a hurry so I forgot to mention that after he finished speaking, Vance was played off to the guitar solo from Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow," and you could actually hear the 1992 Clinton Democratic Convention roll over in its grave.
I would add that but my new laptop won't let me edit anything that's already been posted, probably some weird Chrome hiccup I need to figure out.
My husband is a walking/talking DJ, he told me about the music! LOL
I know Hamilton and the Crew already thanked you but I want to emphasize how much the kittens are appreciated. I have hated JD Vance for so many reasons and can not believe he is a fucking senator and now a possible VP. I'll be seeing that smarmy ass face every where now. Jesus Fucking Christ on a cracker this country is so fucked up. So thank you so very much for the kittehs, Dok. You the man!
It's APPALLING how the most mediocre white men manage to fail upwards in this fucked up country. And under a new Trumpian Fourth Reich, this will only get MUCH, MUCH worse.
Leave it to the Republicans to use a song that they don't actually know what it means...and also co-opt it from Bill Clinton
The snarky correspondents for the Mexican intellectual daily La Jornada (the only newspaper I know where opinion pieces often have footnotes and bibliography) -- venturing into enemy territory by covering the convention -- love the incongruity of Trump's entry to the "gay anthem" Y.M.C.A. And the other day, opening their convention with another old gay bar standard: Celebrate Good Times (c'mon).
All writing that mentions anything resembling a theory should have a bibliography. I consider the lack of one proof they just pulled this out of their ass. Like this comment of mine: Just pulled it out my ass.
I recall that the first time PAB was made the GOP candidate, the convention's closing song was "You Can't Always Get What You Want".
I have no idea what they were thinking - or smoking.
I think it how they were using it without permission and screwing them commie musicians.
No Dueling Banjos for the hillbilly?
Weird because my first thought was the Pita food truck display from The Simpsons
You could hear Christine McVie rolling over in her grave, too.
But she has stopped dreaming about tomorrow.
She has some regrets from the grave, I imagine. Seeing her with Chicken Shack when I was 15 had a lasting impact on me. That was a brutal industry for young women to navigate.
To sleep - perchance to dream...
Aye, there's the rub- for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil?
The Democratic Party's downfall started with Bill Clinton and the 1992 convention. If the Democrats had stayed Democrats instead of becoming Republican-lite...
I'm with you on being disappointed with the Clinton years, but I'm pretty sure the Democrats had some serious problems before Clinton. The first three Presidential elections of my lifetime were all in the 80's and in those elections the Dems lost 45 states, 49 states, and 40 states, respectively.
Only President who didn't send Americans overseas to die in a war.
the guy who fixed the deficit? the one who presided over eight years of peace and prosperity? the one who balanced the budget and brought in a surplus WITHOUT doing it all by fucking over the poor? what a monster.
Peace? That's news to me, as far as I know the USA is always at war.
That's what makes the Clinton years so unusual. Bush Sr. stuck our Marines into Somalia in his last days as an f-u to the new Administration, but Clinton got them out and did not send our troops to fight anywhere.
Hang on, checking Wikipedia...
Wars started during Clinton's period (1993-2001):
Haiti, Kosovo, and that's it. You're right, that is quite peaceful for USA terms. Just two small wars and they actually ended quickly.
Ah, I'd forgotten about Kosovo. But I wouldn't really count Haiti as a "war"
Yeah, that was fucking terrible. Luckily, Chimpy righted the boat when SCOTUS slid him in between the pages.
Which is to say, our recall of the past greatly differs. I believe there was a guy called Obama who was in there too. As I remember, he did all right.
After 12 fucking years of Ronnie and Bush senior, Clinton was oxygen to a nation drowning in nihilism. He was center-left, not some conservative Trojan horse, so please quit trying to rewrite history because you didn’t get a fucking pony.
Note: I might be a little fucking cranky this morning.
Never, ever let any of us forget that practically the first thing the shiny new Chimpy/Cheney regime was loot the surplus to send out, under Chimpy's signature, checks for chickenfeed (I think mine was for $106) plus a cover letter to drive home the pitch that this was all due to the warm-hearted generosity of Dubya.
Bill Clinton was a very popular POTUS. He finished with a Gallup poll approval rating of 65%, higher than that of every other departing president measured since Harry Truman. Note that he was MORE popular than Reagan, because he left a booming economy.
I would hardly call that a "downfall." Jimmy Carter lost 49 of 50 states in 1980, because Republicans promised to cut everyone's taxes and we'd all get rich, and they are better with the economy. Luckily for them, we just ceded that talking point to them.
*Walter Mondale lost 49 of 50 states in *1984
I thought Carter just won GA, but Carter actually won 6 states, plus DC. Reagan still creamed him.
And Al Gore thought that Bill was damaged goods because of "blowjobgate" which nobody actually cared about. If Al had been smart enough to let Bill (65%, see above) campaign for him he not GWB would have ascended to the White House in 2001.
If he were smarter he'd have never picked Lieberman
Gore would have won if our own far left hadn't voted for Ralph Nader in Florida. They always want to teach the rest of us a lesson, and they always do.
They always teach me how horrific the GQP is, and how miserable my own life becomes under Republican rule. I lost my life savings and my retirement in 2008. They also taught close to a million Iraqis how to lose their lives. So, uhhh. thanks for that lesson, I guess?
Plus some other stuff, in Florida and elsewhere.
I don't understand why people can't see the reality of how Republicans are terrible and worse in every way than the imperfect Democratic candidate.
Al Gore and his wife were a couple of prudes. Bill Clinton was popular with the white working class, and black people. He's the last Dem who got both of those groups.
But I still have to be grateful to him for "Futurama"
Anything to save us from trickle down economics for 8 years was a good thing.
He's also just an excellent politician who communicates well.
https://youtu.be/BXmEJL1mnuU?t=44
I can't stand Snotra
In 1992 the Democrats had held the presidency for precisely 4 of the previous 24 years. That's not great actually! Whatever you think the golden age of Democratic political effectiveness was, it ended well before 1992.
Let's just say it died in 1968 in Chicago.
NO idea what you're talking about. We currently hold 2 out of 3 branches of government. WHAR DOWNFALL?
Uh, 1.5, maybe.
And at this point the word "government" is questionable since little governing is being done, especially in the House.
I hope Fleetwood Mac sues the hell out of 'em.
Fleetwood Mac probably doesn't own the song. Whatever corporate media conglomerate that does own will probably let them use it for free in exchange for some clicks
An equity firm in...New Jersey.
really? not overseas? a minor bauble pocketed by some Chinese or Russian oligarch?
They'll end up having the RNC pay millions so Trump can claim victory, again!
Don't Stop Sueing Until Tomorrow.
I don't know. They've always seemed pretty live-and-let-live, no capacity for bitterness or spite in them.
No drama at all.
And no one ever blew cocaine up anyone's butthole.
OK, I read that in Steely Dan.
Dang it, cats startled! Look at Stevie giving Lindsey sideeye during this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Ojjn35kP8
As much as I respect the band, Stevie Nicks’ lyrics in and out of the band are so elliptical that the 45s should have come with Cliff’s Notes.
Don't Stop is a Christine McVie song.
I know. A much different lyricist, and unlike Nicks it’s clear what her songs are about. I originally assumed that “Edge of Seventeen” was about a creepy house - Wikipedia says it’s about her grief over the loss of both John Lennon and a family member in one week.
And inspired by Tom Petty's wife, who told Nicks that she met Petty at the “age of seventeen.” With her Southern accent, of course.
Maybe your new laptop has a protective feature that hides "Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow"? I would not turn that off if I had it by default.
Don't! ...
Stop thinkin' about tomorrow!
Just like the Supreme Court's "No, one is above the law."
like
[leaning in and sweaty] It'll soon be here.
I'll be here, [sarcastically] "better than before"
[scared and angry] Yesterday's gone. [Sadly] Yesterday's gone.
It's all in how you parse it.
I'm sure there are plenty of Russian hackers at the RNC convention who can help you.
I find it hard to think about tomorrow as July 19th, 1955. They seem not to.
When Jim Crow made parts of America a closed fascist state
I grew up in Florida. It was as thoroughly racist as any (other) Deep South state was, before the Civil Rights Act.
Now it is again…
Lots of rural counties.
Same. I experienced culture shock when I came back after 10 years in California.
I lived there as a child.
A lot of us still do
Still living as a child? If you have to live there I guess that's the best way to do it.
Chosen for effect.
The effect of ruining the song.
Probably the best campaign song ever, I remember it well in '92.
First POTUS campaign I ever volunteered for.
No, the best campaign song would be Metallica’s “And Justice For All”
I always wanted someone to play King Nothing as he boarded AF1 for the last time. Can we play it when we drop his dick in the dirt (with votes) in November?
I always liked HIllary's choiced of Sabbath's "War Pigs."
Trump playing the Misfits’ I Want Your Skulls was a little too on-point, though.
Hmmm. Conceivably that poor frail old woman at the end of her life who couldn't get around so well (if Vance didn't simply invent her) was plagued at that stage by a failing mind. If she heard a sound which she thought sinister and fumbled in haste for a firearm, she might have blown her own foot off, or worse, shot herself in the head. Actually, that could happen even if she still had her wits about her, due to her wrists and fingers no longer being nimble. Aged and alone, with 19 loaded handguns in her house? If a burglar did break in, he might well get his mitts on one of them before she did. Take it any way you like, that's a recipe for disaster.
"Hardscrabble"
Is that where you play with half the vowels removed?
Once again, I'm calling bullshit on JD Vance's hillbilly roots. Look at that plump little face, that fucker has never missed a meal in his life. Hardscrabble my ass.
If you read Hillbilly Elegy (and I did - wtf was I thinking?) you find out that his parents had an income of over 6 figures. In the 90s. Think about that! In other words, he must have started growing those plump little jowls early on.
Oh, it's Beverly Hillbilly Elegy! And thank you for your service, in reading his book for us. Respect.
Excellent critique of Schvantz’s bullshit speech
It takes real balls for Republicans to blame NAFTA on Democrats. Put it this way - if only House Republicans had voted, NAFTA still would have passed by an overwhelming margin. If only House Democrats had voted, it would have failed miserably.
Republicans are a pack of fucking liars. There’s not an honest person anywhere in the party anymore.
https://www.citizen.org/article/final-house-vote-on-nafta/
I learned all I needed to know about Hillbilly Elegy at the East Palestine train derailment.
Within three hours, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro were on the scene. The next morning, Vance clearly woke up and realized he was supposed to be doing something and immediately rushed to the scene where he stood around, no idea what he should be doing there as a Senator, getting in everyone's way.
Chump and Hillbilly Elegy have a total of five and a half years of elected experience between them.
It wasn't about the protection, it was about the dementia-based hoarding. My Mom hoards catfood for her beloved cat, which is annoying but cute. I guess Vance's Mawmaw had nothing but guns to love and appreciate, which makes him suck even harder for me. Really? Your supposedly beloved Mawmaw had nothing but guns at the end of her life? No family? No care? Nothing but terrified paranoia? Fuck all the way off!
Uh, this whole Trump / Vance business has a decidedly Tiberius / Caligula vibe. Throw in an as-seen-on-teevee MyPillow and... History Repeats!
Chump picked Hillbilly Elegy to bring in that important youth vote.
He's this generation's Dan Quayle without the depth of political experience.
Sounds like Mamaw went batshit crazy before she died.
Ta, Dok. So was the grandmother suffering from dementia, or was she just plain nuts? Discuss.
Vance is a fucking idiot. End of line.
In defense of Mamaw: https://www.facebook.com/markedmelungeon/posts/pfbid0Nf6FLo2KQgPqN3xnAFdJHjA4SPyaUz1pCpfCqiig6y7oSFRV9tdLEpZR72WRN8ETl
I read the book too and I don't disrespect Mamaw. But I hugely disrespect Vance.
Also, when old people horde guns or continue to drive their cars after they've become a menace, responsible grandchildren step in. They don't cackle to themselves and then use it as campaign propaganda.
I worry about everything. I find things to worry about if things seem okay.
I have stayed up worrying about the dinosaurs coming back, like Jurassic Park. I have worried about the sun burning through the ozone layer and turning into a laser that melts everything it touches (saw it in a movie, must be real).
I have made my peace with being dino food, and I used to have a plan, in LA, to get to JPL or the science museum and get inside a vehicle meant for space. Once I have a plan in place, I can sleep, even if that plan is Game Over Man.
But now, I lay in bed at night and hear sounds that are probably the murderers breaking into the house to kill my family. It doesn't matter that the dog isn't barking. They either already killed her, OR, well, she's old and sometimes doesn't hear things when she's sleeping.
I'll tell myself, 'Sunshine, you're ridiculous, and it's not murderers, it's just normal house sounds, just like EVERY other time you heard sounds.' But then I'll hear another sound, and my brain is like 'nah, THIS time it really is the murderers' and I force myself to go check. So far, no murderers, but this happens more often than I should admit.
What I am saying is: I am extremely irrationally anxious about intruders (logic doesn't exist after midnight) and yet, during the day when logic prevails, I don't go out and buy a gun, or many guns.
Mawmaw had too many guns.
Oh for a news organization that would mention this stuff.
IK, R?
Seriously, fuck your mamaw.
And fuck his Peepaw! Fred Willard’s Law: there is no oaf like a Buckeye State oaf.