I don’t know why, but I think this belongs here:
It’s one of those nights, folks. Too much work, a trip tomorrow — to Kalamazoo, perhaps my favorite city name in the whole state — and too much miscellanea in the One of These Days file. Like this list, not the top 100, but the first 81. So many songs that should never be played again, and yet, I probably know every word, because if there’s ever an effective memory-cementing device, it’s a 14 year old and a transistor radio. Alan digs up “Troglodyte” on YouTube every few months, just to torture me. “She was one of the Butt sisters!” he crows, and justlikethat, the song is re-embedded in my frontal lobes, along with…pretty much everything else on this list. There may be two songs here I couldn’t sing beginning to end, and I don’t think I want to learn them.
More fun fotos! The royal family before the annual Diplomatic Reception:
I love the fam’s official photographic record. Those knickers, the heir, the heir’s heir, the consort and the young commoner-turned-duchess. Do you ever wonder if, while getting dressed, maybe Bill and Cathy Cambridge sing “Duke of Earl” to one another?
And when I hold you
You’ll be my Duchess, Duchess of Earl
We’ll walk through my dukedom
And a paradise we will share
I hope so, anyway.
Finally, pro tip: “Pumping Iron” is on Netflix this month. You should watch it. I did, the other night, for the first time since the 1970s. It holds up, with young Arnold Schwarzenegger displaying all the charm that took him to fame and riches. He’s smart, confident and a real competitor in this bizarre sport. Plus, it’s 87 minutes long, which strikes me as pretty perfect for a documentary.
Into the weekend we go.
Sherri said on December 8, 2016 at 10:13 pm
I think at least 8 of these songs are on my iPhone.
51 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 8, 2016 at 11:29 pm
Ah, I was in 7th grade, had a radio I’d won/earned selling newspaper subscriptions on my route (21-031 for the Gary Post-Tribune), and an earphone to listen to WLS-AM. I can play every song on that list in my head.
214 chars
Dave said on December 8, 2016 at 11:40 pm
Beautiful Sunday by Daniel Boone? Convention 72 by The Delegates? Novelty record, no doubt. Most of that list is another reminder of my aging self, you’re on a roll lately, Webmistress.
188 chars
basset said on December 8, 2016 at 11:43 pm
We listened to WLS and sometimes WAKY Louisville on the school bus down in southwestern Indiana, I was a high school senior in late 72 and still rode the bus. Not one of the cool kids then, not now, not any time.
213 chars
Sue said on December 8, 2016 at 11:46 pm
Oh, that was a good year for music.
35 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 8, 2016 at 11:47 pm
This picture goes with that list: https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7213/7356516794_a517a59327_b.jpg
96 chars
Sue said on December 8, 2016 at 11:47 pm
I prefer the royal family in Christmas sweaters:
https://www.yahoo.com/style/please-enjoy-photos-royal-family-115745199.html
125 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 8, 2016 at 11:49 pm
Out of curiosity, what was the first piece of personal technology you owned for yourself? (And can you find a pic of it, to which I guarantee with a little patience, persistence, and creative use of search terms, the answer should be “yes” . . .)
246 chars
Sue said on December 9, 2016 at 12:04 am
I just took a closer look at Nancy’s royal family pic. Look at all the flair those guys are wearing! They must have just finished their shift at Chotchkie’s.
And the guy in the painting to the left? That’s Graham Chapman. This has been a Monty Python skit all along.
271 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 12:10 am
The first piece of personal technology that was mine alone was a TI-30 calculator, in about 1979: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-30#/media/File:TI-30_LED.png
$25, and like all TI calculators, had a crappy keyboard. I replaced it with a TI-55 II, which had an even crappier keyboard, it turns out, and then saved up and spent $100 in 1981 on a HP-11C calculator, which still works as well as the day I bought it. Best calculator ever made. I still use it.
https://www.amazon.com/HP-11c-11C-Scientific-Calculator/dp/B005IEGSTU
532 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 12:12 am
Big mumps outbreak, and it can’t be blamed on lack of vaccination: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/as-mumps-outbreak-grows-auburn-tells-unvaccinated-students-to-stay-home/
187 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 12:37 am
The best tech reporter there ever was has taken the buyout: https://backchannel.com/tech-journalism-just-got-worse-74d4a6763901#.hakk4ju9n
139 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 9, 2016 at 12:45 am
With the TI-30, do you remember the story problem that ended up giving you the answer: “710.11345”?
99 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 1:07 am
No, don’t remember that, Jeff(tmmo),
36 chars
Dave said on December 9, 2016 at 1:23 am
I had a six transistor radio that I got for Christmas in probably 1962, an Airline that looked much like this, only it had a black mock leather case with it. Airline was a Montgomery Wards house brand.
http://tinyurl.com/zykv6sv
232 chars
LAMary said on December 9, 2016 at 1:55 am
I was thinking about that Shell Oil thing the other day. Couldn’t remember the story.
85 chars
Dexter said on December 9, 2016 at 3:48 am
I watched a doc last night that blew my mind. Viceland has a show called Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia.. This young chemist, Hamilton, runs around seeking the history of everything from LSD to mushrooms.
I am not a druggie, and I was only surfing because I was watching football, but whoa! This dude knows Casey Hardison , son of my late friend Barefoot Bob Hardison, who came to my house to spend a day on his way to Montreal to buy a cataraman, head to Florida, and eventually do a solo expedition from Florida to Ireland and Gibraltar, where he was sunk by a heavy wake of a ship, rescued by an Egyptian freighter, and finally sent back to the USA. Casey is a chemist and former LSD manufacturer, who gained international notoriety over a decade back when he was sentenced to 20 years in a Sussex, GB court for making LSD in a lab in a castle. Sounds like a movie? Nope. It was an hour show, hell—I didn’t even know Casey got sprung three years ago. Also featured was a 90 year old MDMA pioneer called “The Liz”. He made MDMA in a blasted out volcano…oh, ya just gotta see it! I never met Casey Hardison, but his dad always spoke highly of him. Damn…Bob, nearly at guru status among a huge following of sober drunks, and Casey, high priest of cannabis these days. https://erowid.org/columns/metanoia/
1318 chars
ROGirl said on December 9, 2016 at 5:08 am
The Royals: Mummy dear, won’t you please let me be king before I turn 70? It would be jolly decent of you, mums.
112 chars
Alan Stamm said on December 9, 2016 at 7:09 am
You had me at Bill and Cathy Cambridge and then topped it sweetly with We’ll walk through my dukedom.
I hereby pledge my lifelong devotion to thee, illustrious Bard of GPW.
191 chars
alex said on December 9, 2016 at 7:13 am
Dave at 3,
Yes, Convention ’72 was a novelty record and I remember it well because I bought the 45. Here, for your listening pleasure, although it’s pretty hokey to my adult sensibilities.
The record borrows from Troglodyte and many more.
I guess my first piece of personal technology was either my radio or my phonograph.
Shitty job of proofreading, whoever put that list of songs together. “Along Again Naturally”? “Song Sun Blue”? I’ll bet it was old farts who didn’t listen to current pop music. Just like the one that I’ve become.
621 chars
basset said on December 9, 2016 at 7:19 am
Math bad, math scary, no TI for me. First piece of personal electronics was probably an Automatic Radio 8-track player in my first car in 1971.
144 chars
basset said on December 9, 2016 at 7:22 am
And where was this WXIT? Google shows a station in NC which went on the air in 1983 under different call letters.
114 chars
alex said on December 9, 2016 at 7:23 am
“Suavecito y gringa…” Probably couldn’t have been aired at the time in English. That was part of the fun of pop music. A lot of it was subtly subversive and when moralists and right-wingers went ballistic about it, everyone just looked at them like they were cray-cray.
344 chars
Suzanne said on December 9, 2016 at 7:30 am
Queen Liz looks very very old in that pic. Well, I know she is but she usually does not look it. Sue @ 9, thanks for the morning laugh!
I don’t remember my first electronic device. I’m the youngest kid and we did not have much money growing up, so all I ever had was hand-me-downs. It irritated the heck out of me when my mother dressed my older sis and me in matching dresses because I knew I’d be wearing my dress until I outgrew it and then my sister’s when she outgrew hers. One would think that would have spurred me on to be super successful in life so I could buy my own stuff, but you know, I still do a lot of shopping at resale shops. I got an awesome vintage winter coat a few weeks ago at a resale shop for $4!! Woot! My early life lessons taught me well. My iPhone is a hand-me-down from a friend.
Queen Hand-Me-Down. That’s me!
848 chars
WallyCurtis said on December 9, 2016 at 7:32 am
My big sister’s boyfriend (ver. 1972a or 1972b) left us tons of 45’s. I believe most of them are on your list. I have a musician friend who will do battle to the death defending 1972 as the best year in music ever.
Heads up you all. We are stronger and time will prove it.
278 chars
alex said on December 9, 2016 at 7:50 am
Looking at that list of music reminds me of the days when people didn’t self-select their music. Or their news.
Radio stations were limited in number and served everyone, so you’d have R&B and country and rock and gospel and comedy all playing back to back in the Top 40 rotation, and I think it was in some ways a unifying experience for the people of this country.
374 chars
nancy said on December 9, 2016 at 8:48 am
Thanks, Alan, but Bill and Cathy Cambridge is not mine, but Tom & Lorenzo, the fashion bloggers. They refer to the queen as “Grandma Betty.”
As for WXIT, I’m not sure. This came from a site dedicated to West Virginia, and at first I thought it was the station we used to listen to when we were pasting up the Post in Athens, late at night, but that was WXIL. It’s possible this was its forerunner (same format), and changed the call letters, but honestly, I dunno.
This list is so evocative to me, encompassing the truly great with craptastic novelty, bubblegum, R&B, etc. Neil Young and Donny Osmond wouldn’t share the same chart today, that’s for sure.
662 chars
Deborah said on December 9, 2016 at 8:55 am
1972 was the year I graduated from college and married my ex.
First personal technology was a transistor radio http://www.terapeak.com/worth/rare-ge-p-2790-transistor-radio-blue-dot-box-works-original-docs-vintage/222290352278/ I bought it with saved up babysitting money, I think in 1964. That link may not be the exact model but close.
340 chars
Peter said on December 9, 2016 at 9:03 am
This is really going out on a tangent, but my first electronic device was my HP calculator.
Like many students in an engineering school, you wore that black case on your belt like it was a .45 in a holster. I started noticing that the photo students would walk around with them as well, which first struck me as odd.
One day at lunch my friend Sam reached for a photo students calculator while that person was in line getting food – needed to finish some calculations. He opened the pouch and instead of a calculator found it jammed with weed and pills. Sam wrote a note and left it on top of the books “Mike – needed to borrow your calculator – will return tonight.” We walked out, and three minutes later there was this really loud moan…..
753 chars
Julie Robinson ch said on December 9, 2016 at 9:48 am
Suzanne, I feel your pain as I too had to wear those dumb matching outfits twice. When I got older I grew five inches taller than big sis and then, when I wanted to borrow her clothes, they didn’t fit. Unfair!
I remember listening to WLS at night on a transistor radio with the crappiest sound ever. When I was headed off to college I invested all my graduation money in a component stereo system with huge speakers and a state of the art dual cassette deck. Remember quadraphonic sound? I narrowly escaped putting my money there.
Now Duke of Earl is in my head so I had to go watch a performance of my lad singing it a few years back: https://youtu.be/edK4eQT281U?t=12s
677 chars
Charlotte said on December 9, 2016 at 10:49 am
72 was a Very Bad Year — youngest brother got cancer and died just after his 2nd birthday, Dad left because he was “truly in love,” we moved off the farm and into town and just as Dad bankrupted us all, Mom put us in the Fancy Private School in Lake Forest where I was perpetually the kid with the wrong outfit. We were those kids growing up – the ones with the parents whose divorce was an ongoing war/topic of conversation. But 74 was pretty good — we drove out west and spent the summer in Sun Valley — nearly moved out here — that was a road trip fueled on 8 track tapes of Sonny and Cher (I got you Babe), Three Dog Night, and Neil Diamond. I still get the warm fuzzies when I hear any of that cheeseball music … sounds to me like that road trip, when the three of us thought we might just be okay.
809 chars
FDChief said on December 9, 2016 at 10:53 am
What I remember from “Pumping Ion” is how it gives you a glimpse of Ahnuld as the proto-politician. As I recall one of his competitors is Lou “The Incredible Hulk” Ferrigno, and Ferrigno is pretty damn cut. Arnold knows that Lou’s gonna be his main challenger…AND that Lou’s got emotional/self-image issues a mile wide and the Terminator goes to work on him. It’s pretty vicious, and it works. So you can get how Arnold had the chops to succeed in the political game (to the extent that he did – I’m not really familiar with his tenure as governor of California but my understanding is that he is regarded as one of the worst in history).
644 chars
Jakash said on December 9, 2016 at 11:52 am
Earliest personal technology, eh? Hmmm… Does King Zor count?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVP4fMCMuIE
111 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Jeff(tmmo), perhaps you can take you exploration about whether conservatives have less empathy to the state legislature and have a talk with Jim Buchy, who has never thought about why a woman might seek an abortion but didn’t let that stop him from pushing for the heartbeat bill.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/ohio-lawmaker-never-thought-about-why-women-get-abortions.html
378 chars
Scout said on December 9, 2016 at 12:21 pm
1972 was the year that my parents decided to uproot us from the town we had lived in and I had gone to school all my life. I was 14. Just reading that song list took me back to a difficult time.
I mentioned here earlier in the week that we have been watching The Crown on Netflix. We finished it and are looking forward to whenever season 2 is released. Highly recommended.
https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678
417 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 9, 2016 at 1:19 pm
Jim doesn’t think much, period.
31 chars
Kirk said on December 9, 2016 at 1:22 pm
1972 was a good year for music, but most of it is missing from that list.
73 chars
Kirk said on December 9, 2016 at 1:24 pm
WXIT / 1490 / Charleston, W. VA.
24 HOUR ALL HIT RADIO
THE WXIT ROCK 100 OF 1972
82 chars
Kirk said on December 9, 2016 at 1:26 pm
I prefer this picture of the royal family:
http://www.vogue.com/13510552/kate-middleton-royal-family-ugly-christmas-sweater/
127 chars
Suzanne said on December 9, 2016 at 3:06 pm
Looking at that photo of the royals, it is very obvious that Kate Middleton is a commoner. Does she have a handbag? No. That must be one of those unwritten rules that let you know who is really who.
198 chars
Jolene said on December 9, 2016 at 3:11 pm
For the next four years, we fans of Tom and Lorenzo will have to be satisfied with their commentary on Cathy Cambridge and Hollywood celebrities, because, though they loved chatting about Michelle Obama’s fashion trials and triumphs, they are not going to comment on Melania or Ivanka Trump.
502 chars
Jolene said on December 9, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Suzanne, if you stretch the photo a bit, you’ll see that Cathy is carrying a small red clutch. Probably they have other ways of letting her know that she is a commoner.
168 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 3:17 pm
The rot is broad and deep, and they now control government. Another critter from the depths of the swamp, dragged out to serve in the White House, in a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-worked-with-trumps-pick-for-white-house-counsel-he-doesnt-care-about-corruption/2016/12/09/76f0793c-bcac-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html
387 chars
brian stouder said on December 9, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Well, honestly – now that the ‘dog has caught the car’ – and the R’s absolutely OWN all that happens, congressional inertia ain’t gonna work anymore; they’ll (Congress) have to act.
And as they act – on ‘Obama-care’ and on environmental issues and on taxes, etc – the question will arise: how badly do they want to embarrass themselves?
Or, put another way, in my lifetime there have been (essentially) two impeachments – Nixon’s and Clinton’s…and so it is the R’s turn again.
And indeed, I think the congressional Republicans like Mike Pence – so elevating him to the presidency might begin to look better and better, as the president crashes into one ‘emoluments clause’ violation after another (and another, and another).
Back in the day, I liked ol’ Ronald Reagan – although in hind-sight he was pretty much an empty suit. It would be tempting to lump the B-actor president together with the reality TV president, except ol’ RWR has three very important stripes on the DT: 1) RWR was “up from dirt” – and truly KNEW the United States and the folks who live here, from Tampico, Illinois on upward; RWR got himself elected governor of California, and had some inkling of how to govern, and of the limits of what he could do; and Ronald Reagan actually did have a few guiding principles (agree or disagree with those principles, but they were delineated). The DT was born into wealth, and is used to always commanding deference; DT has never been elected to any public office, nor served his country in any way (apparently including NOT paying his taxes); and DT has no guiding principle at all, excepting personal profit and personal gain.
RWR should have been impeached over Iran/Contra, but was not…and I think in the next 18 months or so, the wheels may begin to turn on the impeachment process for the DT, as one report after the next (including, probably grudgingly, Fox News) about enormous personal enrichment for the president, via his hotel in DC and his holdings around the world……..unless – McConnell and Ryan decide to run the nation, and simply tell the president what he’s going to do.
I think the DT will either be their ‘useful idiot’, or else the first president to be impeached and convicted, so that President Pence can take office with enough time to make a credible run in the next electoral go-round
2431 chars
Colleen said on December 9, 2016 at 4:09 pm
First electronic of my own was a GE AM/FM transistor radio that my Gramps gave me for my 6th birthday. I still have it, and last I knew, it worked. I spent many nights with that thing pressed to my ear, listening to WOWO (back when they were owned by Westinghouse and played top 40 music). It’s probably why I ended up in radio.
328 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 4:09 pm
Other than personally enriching himself through the presidency, Brian, and probably being less likely to accidentally start a war, what do you think would be different about a Pence administration? Gutting the social safety net, overturning Roe v. Wade, restricting voting rights, destroying the EPA, eliminating the Dept of Education, killing unions and workers rights, cutting taxes for rich people: these are all mainstream Republican positions now. Which of these would Pence oppose? Why wouldn’t they prefer to have the attention focused on Trump’s kleptocratic ways?
They won’t impeach him because he embarrasses them. They’ve already made it clear that they’re not capable of embarrassment. They’ll only try to impeach him if he starts vetoing their bills, and maybe not even then. You saw how well they stood up to him on the campaign.
Wake up, Brian. This is not business as normal.
899 chars
Heather said on December 9, 2016 at 4:14 pm
Er, I was two years old in 1972. My musical tastes ran more to the “Free to Be You and Me” album.
In the mid-70s my great-aunts bought my brother and me one of those shoebox-sized tape recorders, which we used to record funny “shows” and interviews with them. I wish I still had those tapes. I also vividly remember getting a Walkman in 1982 or thereabouts and being very excited about it, more because it was a status symbol at my school than to be able to listen to music.
477 chars
Jeff Borden said on December 9, 2016 at 4:35 pm
I agree with Sherri that we are in unknown and terrifying territory with this presidency. What is especially upsetting is that all of this is establishing precedent. Will another presidential candidate ever release their taxes? DT didn’t. Will they furnish a full accounting of their physical and mental health? DT didn’t. Will they put any business or financial holdings in a blind trust? DT hasn’t.
But I’m also leaning in Brian’s direction that this clown car cannot remain on the road for long. The Orange Ape refuses to learn or adapt. The GOP would much prefer a duller but equally vicious bastard like Mike Pence in the Oval Office, but I’m not sure what exactly he would have to do –that he already hasn’t done– that would lead them to take some action. Perhaps DT will find the presidency a tad constraining after a few months and leave.
Regardless, we are screwed. Either we are led by a lewd and vulgar nincompoop or by a quieter purveyor of hatred, bigotry and ugliness. Whatta country.
1006 chars
Suzanne said on December 9, 2016 at 4:45 pm
I do think the GOP’s plan is for DT to be their useful idiot with the purpose of deflecting attention while they pick our pockets. Problems may arise, however, when DT doesn’t do what they want him to do, which he probably won’t. He always has to have the upper hand so when he does something they don’t like, they’ll have to be very careful getting him back on track or he will bite them.
The next book I read should probably be Frankenstein.
444 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 5:07 pm
But Jeff(tmmo), my question is what would be the difference functionally if Pence were at the top of the administration? Trump is noisier about breaking norms, but the Republicans have breaking norms for decades. What else do you call the persistent use of the filibuster? The refusal to hold hearings for Merrick Garland? The willful obstruction of everything Obama tried to do with the explicit intent of making him a one-term president, even before he had been sworn in? I could go on.
The major difference between Trump and Pence, who is a mainstream Republican these days, is that Pence is more in line with the normal consensus on US foreign policy, for good or bad, while Trump is a complete wild card who is far too cozy with Putin. Pence is also not a blatant kleptocrat. Pence’s cabinet would not have obviously unqualified nuts like Ben Carson in it, but would have people just as dedicated to gutting their departments.
935 chars
Suzi said on December 9, 2016 at 5:13 pm
I cannot when it comes to Trump, but this post was a reminder that lack of political experience can be a positive attribute. Schwarzenegger was the governor of California, and was competent in that role despite his newcomer status. He was not able to change much of what he set out to do because of general governmental statis – perhaps this will be a salve for nn readers concerned about Trump. (Meaning that Trump may do less damage than he actually intends, not that Trump and Arnold are equivalent.)
506 chars
Scout said on December 9, 2016 at 5:25 pm
I’m glad Tom & Lorenzo won’t comment on the Trump women. Besides protecting themselves from the Trumpanista crazies, they starve M and I of attention. If all media had done that with DT and his whole trashy family from the beginning we would not be facing the crisis we now do.
281 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 6:01 pm
I hope you all know the lyrics to Dixie: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/12/09/how-trump-and-the-gop-will-try-to-turn-the-entire-country-into-dixie/
I moved away, remember?
199 chars
alex said on December 9, 2016 at 6:40 pm
The Jill Stein recounts and the Electoral College had given me some small sense of hope, though this was dashed when I happened upon the Facebook page of one of our local electors:
https://www.facebook.com/aheckrich?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf
This pompous old harridan has been for Trump all along. She was all in for Brexit. She also posts crap where they talk Bilderberger and Agenda 21 bullshit. And she’s what passes for high society, such as it is, in Fort Wayne.
I don’t know much about her other than that her husband dumped her thirty-some-odd years ago (probably because she was insufferable, not because she was never attractive) but she keeps his name because it used to have some cachet.
710 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 7:07 pm
I’m really not normally an alarmist, but I strongly believe that now,is the time for alarms. Recounts and the Electoral College will not save us. The Republican Congress will not save us by impeaching Trump. The media is not going,
231 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Sorry, accidentally hit submit.
The media isn’t going to save us. You want to be saved, you’re going to have to do the hard work yourself. We increased our annual donation to the ACLU by 2.5. I’m meeting with someone next week to discuss a volunteer role. I’m working with some women planning runs for office next year. It’s going to be a marathon not a sprint.
364 chars
basset said on December 9, 2016 at 7:13 pm
And I would guess that Camilla’s sash points the other way because she’s not of the royal blood? why doesn’t Kate have one?
124 chars
alex said on December 9, 2016 at 7:21 pm
Cuz she’s of even lower social status than Camilla:
http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/09/royal-splendor-101-sashes-and-stuff.html
139 chars
Sherri said on December 9, 2016 at 9:32 pm
президент: https://sherrivotes.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/party-before-country/
87 chars
Deni Menken said on December 10, 2016 at 12:18 am
And then Mrs. Mitch is welcomed to the Trump team of henchmen and women. My chest hurts all the time now.
106 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 1:11 am
Let this sink in.
James Comey not only knew about the intelligence, he knew that Congressional Republicans refused to let that intelligence be revealed when he sent that letter to Congress about the emails on Weiner’s laptop.
The incident that both sides believe flipped the election was done by someone who had full knowledge of all of this. WTF?!
354 chars
David C. said on December 10, 2016 at 8:14 am
I can’t help but be really angry at Obama right now. Fuck McConnell and the rest of the Republican traitors. Obama knew what was going on and went into his bipartisan mode, something that hasn’t served him well for the past eight years, yet he goes back there again and again. He should have released what intelligence knew and let the chips fall. LBJ knew god damned well that Nixon’s people were talking to North Vietnam before the ’68 election. Republican treason again, and did nothing because he feared it would look too partisan. Why do we keep letting this happen? I guess he thought he needed to be more Jackie Robinson than Muhammad Ali. I get that, but even with all his caution and consideration, they still hate him. So what was the point? He had nearly two years with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. He knew Kennedy was dying and he pissed it away looking for that one Republican vote make the village happy. I’m so tired of being rolled and in the great sitcom milk money thief tradition, I’m ready to punch somebody in the fucking face.
1062 chars
Suzanne said on December 10, 2016 at 9:35 am
David C, don’t go to the comments section of any story about the Russia/election connection as half the comments are that it doesn’t matter, the liberals are only mad that Hillary’s emails were leaked & want revenge, that the CIA screws up all the time (Iraq WMD), yada, yada
If you felt like punching someone before…
325 chars
brian stouder said on December 10, 2016 at 12:58 pm
David C – well said!!
21 chars
ROGirl said on December 10, 2016 at 12:58 pm
Suzanne, I’m feeling a lot of angst because my sense is that nothing matters, nobody cares. This helps to confirm it. A woman in my office is a big supporter of Trump and she explained to me that the birther thing started with the Obama campaign, back when he was running the first time (not, as I tried to point out, from Trump), and Hillary’s campaign used it, too. According to her they used his exotic background to separate him from the Al Sharpton / Jessie Jackson black activist/politician. His own campaign promoted his foreign roots to make him more acceptable to whites. When I said that his mother was American, she brushed past it, it didn’t matter. When I said that if he hadn’t been born in this country he wouldn’t have run for president, and why would his own campaign say something like that, it didn’t matter. She’s a very intelligent person, went to Michigan, but she is kind of unhinged. She’s just one example, but there are millions more.
960 chars
Jakash said on December 10, 2016 at 2:26 pm
Yeah, ROGirl, angst, indeed. It’s pretty clear that this election outcome arrived courtesy of unnecessary, transparently anti-Democratic (in both senses of the word) voter ID laws and an electorate that is so badly un- and misinformed that it makes a mockery of the so-called “information age.” A new poll shows that 67% of Rump voters think that the unemployment rate went UP under Obama, when it’s declined steadily, now at 3.2% lower than it was in 2009.
This is the issue that they supposedly care the MOST about, so if they’re so clueless about it, what hope is there for them to acknowledge other facts that don’t fit in with their preconceived notions?
As for Merrick Garland, why is there nothing to be done about that? One side of the political apparatus decides “We’re not playing!” and that’s it? Where are the “checks and balances” for the unbalanced R’s? The only satisfaction I get from that whole issue is that some of them were so transparently partisan and stupid as to say BEFORE THE ELECTION that, uh, maybe they’d go 4 years and never approve any Hillary S. C. nominees, were she to be elected. Talk about an unforced error — but thanks for letting us know just HOW unscrupulous y’all are.
1224 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 4:00 pm
One of the interesting sidelines to the year have been the unexpected places where you do find truth being spoken to power, when the big name orgs roll over. Teen Vogue is not somewhere I’d expect to get hard-hitting political coverage, but then you see things like this: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america
Not the only time Teen Vogue has spoken out, either.
395 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 4:44 pm
I’ve got a riff on a NYTimes article about private equity: https://sherrivotes.org/2016/12/10/the-carried-interest-loophole/
(The Times article is good, which is why I get so frustrated at the Times political coverage.)
223 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 5:24 pm
Our Trumpnut legislators from the other side of the state have pre-filed a bunch of nutty bills, like allowing guns at stadiums and getting rid of the part of our constitution that makes education our “paramount duty” and the conservative favorite du jour, a bathroom bill. A perennial making its annual appearance is a bill for Eastern Washington to secede from the state; this time I’m wondering if we should just let them go. Maybe Idaho would take them. Yeah, I know, House of Representatives and electoral college and all that, but at least we’d be able to have nice things.
579 chars
brian stouder said on December 10, 2016 at 6:37 pm
Y’know, I never realized the song (and lyric) was “Song sun blue”; I’ve always (thought I) heard “Song sung blue”.
Sherri – last year it made it onto my radar that northern California wanted to break off from the rest of the state.
And indeed, I recall hearing similar garbage about how some Illinois-ans want to break Chicago off, thus assuring two more knucklehead senators from that region.
That stuff aside, I have asked our young folks – who just voted in their first presidential election – to remember these days well.
At some point (I’m thinkin’ in 4 years, but maybe later than that), we’ll be on the WINNING side, and now it will be easier to have empathy for the folks who have to buck-up, and support the new president who they don’t like.
In further conversation, it came back to me that my mom and dad really, really liked JFK; were too young to have voted until Ike came along (and who didn’t like Ike?) and disagreed about all the successors ’til the end of the movie. But JFK was the special one, even before the terrible ending of that administration. He was young, as they were, and had a young, growing family, as they did; and he was a Navy vet (as my mom and dad both were).
On further reflection, I think JFK was their one truly and especially satisfying president; the #1 most-connected-with-them-and-their-generation guy, and then he was so suddenly gone.
Really, I think President Obama is my #1 most special president, and indeed – I may never have another president that I trust/admire/support/identify with, quite so much, ever again. He’s my age (more or less) and I identify with his beautiful family, and I got to shake Michelle’s hand – so there’s that!
Hillary would surely have filled that bill for many millions of Americans….and the DT cannot possibly have that sort of an attachment with his voters. Maybe I’m going into Pollyanna-mode, but I think all he can possibly do is disappoint his supporters as time passes
1994 chars
brian stouder said on December 10, 2016 at 6:39 pm
PS – “two more knucklehead senators from that region” of Illinois – meaning down-state, rural Illinois – and excluding Chicago/Cook County
145 chars
susan said on December 10, 2016 at 6:47 pm
Sherri, believe it or not, there is a sizable number of liberal/progressives on the “other side of the state.” We work hard to move things leftward, but we have little to no help from Democrats/Democratic Party who feel so comfortable on the other side of the state. It’s hard to get liberals to run for office when there is no monetary or professional support. And because of the wretched “top two” primaries, often we have a choice between a Republican and a worse Republican in the general elections. How far can you get with that situation? We’re sick of these shit-heads, too. We keep plugging along. I don’t think you’d want to cut us adrift in the red sea. But there’s more to life than politics and living on the wet side. Have you been in the shrub-steppe in spring? May I invite you?
793 chars
Heather said on December 10, 2016 at 7:43 pm
Sherri @67, I noticed that Elle magazine (I follow them on Twitter) was really speaking out against Trump on a level that few other media outlets were doing. Who knew? Maybe because women have had to deal with this kind of bullshit forever?
240 chars
Sue said on December 10, 2016 at 8:02 pm
Well, winter’s here. This year it’s like someone flipped a switch.
67 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 8:22 pm
Susan,
Sorry, just letting my frustration get the better of me. I know there are good progressives on the other side of the state, and if it makes you feel any better, from what I can tell here on the ground, the party isn’t all that helpful or effective on this side of the state either. That’s why I’ve put my effort into candidates rather than the party, because the party seems so ineffective.
I have been visiting the eastern part of the state regularly for the last 4 years, with my daughter at Whitman. I’ll be in Walla Walla in early April for a choir concert and then again in May for graduation, assuming all goes according to plan! I do enjoy the sunshine.
674 chars
Deborah said on December 10, 2016 at 10:24 pm
First a French pork stew report: yesterday we went to Abiquiu after I picked up my husband from the airport in Albuquerque, I made the stew on the wood burning stove in our cabin and it turned out fantastic. I had chopped and prepackaged all of the ingredients before going out there because it’s pretty elaborate and there’s not a lot of room for that out there. I made a couple of changes, I didn’t use flour or cream because we like our stews more brothy. I think it was the best stew I’ve ever eaten.
Second, we discussed the political situation ad nauseum. My husband thinks the dems fucked up big time, that they need to look in the mirror and engage in some much needed problem recognition. He is bereft that we are now in a situation where we will probably be set back 50 years because of our being so stupid, not understanding what was about to happen, getting it completely wrong. Problem recognition is the first step, but hubris is keeping the dems from being able to do this. Everyone is trying to blame it on something else. I’m not in complete agreement on this, I keep reminding him that it was only 80,000 votes in 3 states that made the difference and Hillary won the popular vote, by a lot. It wasn’t a landslide for Trump by any stretch of the imagination, and NOBODY saw it coming. But he says we are the majority in the country yet we’ve managed not to be in power in congress, in the senate and soon in the presidency. This is no longer a representative democracy. Why is this happening? Why indeed is the Democratic Party so ineffective? Why haven’t dems been pushing local elections? And why are we hearing nothing from dems about what we can do about the situation?
We’re going back out to Abiquiu to spend a couple of days, we only came back to Santa Fe to meet with some friends to see an opera at a movie theater in town tomorrow. I’m not a big fan of opera movies and this one lasts 3 1/2 hours. Our friends are professional musicians though so it will be fun to listen to their comments after.
2030 chars
Sherri said on December 10, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Republicans have been screaming about made up threats to American sovereignty from Agenda 21 for 20 years, yet faced with evidence of another country disrupting our election, and that country is Russia, their reaction is, no big deal. It seems like just yesterday that they were complaining that Obama wasn’t standing up to Putin, and now they don’t care that Putin is trying to undermine liberal democracy in the Western world?
They disgust me. Are tax cuts for rich people their only principles?
500 chars
Heather said on December 11, 2016 at 1:52 am
Sherri: I think so. It’s all about money for them.
50 chars
Dexter said on December 11, 2016 at 2:40 am
Three and a half hours and it’s an opera movie? When I first read it, an opera in a movie house, I imagined an orchestra live on stage, but that long and a movie…wow, I am sure the audience is going to be 100% opera sophistos. I have never heard of opera movies, and that makes me a non-sophisto fersure.
308 chars
Deborah said on December 11, 2016 at 3:33 am
Dexter, there are indeed opera movies. I like the spectacle of opera, seeing the sets, going to an elaborate opera house, hearing the music live. When you’re sitting in a dingy movie theatre watching it on the screen it takes all of that away for me. My husband likes it though, not as much as the real thing, but it can draw him in. Somehow I missed it when we made the plans to go with these friends that it will be 3 1/2 hours long. Ugh. I hope I can stay awake.
465 chars
Julie Robinson said on December 11, 2016 at 6:43 am
They also show a few ballets and musicals in movies, but, not here. Mom used to go before she moved here and misses them.
Deborah, our son agrees with your husband re the Dems and thinks it’s because they got too cozy with corporate America. After flirting with the Greens and other minor parties he decided the party had to be changed from the inside. He’s now a card-carrying member going to party gatherings, but I wonder how patient he will be. Remember being young and wanting everything to change overnight?
First big snow overnight. Should be an interesting drive to church.
588 chars
David C. said on December 11, 2016 at 7:18 am
The problem I see with the Dems is that they don’t seem to know the Republican party is the enemy. I don’t hate individual Rs, in fact, I like rather a lot of them, but I definitely hate the party. To fight a war, you need to know your enemy. The Dems seem to think the Rs are friends they haven’t persuaded yet and ultimately reasonable people. They aren’t. When the Rs do something shitty, the Dems wait around for the referees to throw a penalty flag and walk off a 5 percentage point penalty or something. This never happens. Obama, like Brian said above, is probably my special President too, but god damn that blind spot of his. They aren’t people who can be reasoned with. You have to throw grenades at them and when that weakens them, you throw a few more just for good measure. I don’t know who should head the DNC, but I don’t want someone nice. I supposed I don’t quite mean someone who isn’t nice, but definitely an iron fist in a velvet glove type person. We’ve tried nice, and it isn’t working. We need someone who will punch a billionaire in the balls to get him to cough up for a decent society like the Kochs do for their wretched vision.
1155 chars
Suzanne said on December 11, 2016 at 8:27 am
I think the difference is that the Democrats on the whole want people to be able to live their own lives as they see fit and to be as content as they can be in this world. Republicans have to be right. Always. If being right causes someone to suffer, too darn bad.
264 chars
Diane said on December 11, 2016 at 9:38 am
Being in agreement with those saying that the work needs to be done at the local level and from within the party, I just went to my 1st meeting of the county Democratic Party here. I am not optimistic but not despairing either.
228 chars
Sue said on December 11, 2016 at 9:51 am
Friends of my husband’s needed health insurance until they are eligible for medicare. They are careful shoppers and here is what they got:
$1250 monthly premiums
$8000 deductible
So, Paul Ryan wants to give seniors some cash and tell them to go onto a for-profit marketplace to find healthcare. Can we assume, knowing that Medicare doesn’t cover everything even today, that Ryan’s cash amount will be at minimum enough to cover just the monthly premiums for whatever the for-profit companies think it will cost them to cover seniors AND make their required profit?
Why no, no I don’t think we can assume that.
615 chars
Deborah said on December 11, 2016 at 10:59 am
David C, there were/are hard hitting Dems like Harry Reid (I realize he retired) and others. I don’t think we necessarily need more of that and neither does my husband, granted we need some of that, but that’s not the only answer. I think Dems need leaders with solid progressive values and policies who also very importantly have the skill of being able to communicate that to the audience and be able to read their audience like Obama and yes, Bill Clinton (obvious flaws aside). The Dems need to unify and quit being so splintered, that’s going to be difficult because it’s such a big tent. They need to get better computer models to read and understand what’s going on. Dems are smart but there is a lot of hubris making them not realize they’re not always smart enough. Time and again I heard Clinton surrogates completely drop the ball in interviews either because they hadn’t done their homework or because they didn’t listen to the question (?). I’m not sure that lurching to the left is going to get us anywhere. I realize that the Rs have lurched further and further to the right and have been successful. I think this talk of Medicare and SS privatization is complete overreach. Because they have Trump they may succeed in getting it, but who knows if DT will be their idiot? I certainly can’t predict what DT will do.
Julie, I still have faith that the Dems may eventually straighten out but they need to get their heads out of their butts and start recognizing the problems. I hope it can be done in 4 years. A valid third party may evolve but it has to be grassroots and that takes ages.
But what do I know?
1628 chars
susan said on December 11, 2016 at 11:26 am
Patti Smith. Accepting Dylan’s Nobel prize. Wow. A beautiful, emotional performance. The orchestration, rich and subdued, but in perfect tone with the piece and the singer. Patti Smith was perfect, especially in her halting, open singing. People carefully wiping tears. Good for Dylan, and good on Patti Smith.
368 chars
susan said on December 11, 2016 at 12:22 pm
Sherri @75 – Ah, I forgot your daughter was at Whitman! Then, as you well know, the Walla Walla valley is sure beautiful in April and May. But the sagebrush/steppe in spring is a local treasure of wildflowers. I dig roots in my special rooting area from February to May every year, and not coincidentally, watch the progression of flowers, maybe the real reason I go there. That keeps me grounded, so to speak, and removed from the Stupid.
The local Dems are hosting a “winter social” this Friday and I am considering going, even with my bad attitude. The state Dem chair will be there, so there’s that. And a good liberal fellow who actually put himself on the ticket and ran for state lege against the usual Republican idiot. And lost. But I should go and give him kudos and monetary support to help retire his campaign debt, if nothing else. He at least gave it a good shot. I agree with you, to put effort in the ground game.
932 chars
Jakash said on December 11, 2016 at 12:57 pm
I’m not an “opera sophisto,” by a long shot, but I’ve been to a number of them. An acquired taste that I’ve not totally acquired, in my case. I do think it curious that 3 1/2 hours is considered a deal-breaker by many, though. If you enjoy it, what would be the problem? When Springsteen plays for over 3 hours, fans LOVE it. Run-of-the-mill, quite-boring-to-the-uninitiated, baseball games take over 3 hours, these days. Folks all over the country today will be worshiping at the altar of the NFL, taking in as many 3 or 3 1/2 hour games as they can squeeze in. Each of which will contain, what, 30 minutes of action? To each one’s own! (This is a general comment, not aimed at you, Deborah, FWIW.) At Dexter? Maybe. ; )
733 chars
Suzanne said on December 11, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Amen, Jakash! I love opera and wish I could go more often. People would rave about a 3 hour concert by almost any big star, but 3 hours of opera is considered too much.
Speaking of football, I had a conversation today with a man who was going on & on about how much football has been ruined by all the new rules to avoid concussions. Sure, whatever. Who needs a functioning brain?
389 chars
Bitter Scribe said on December 12, 2016 at 5:57 pm
I know maybe a third of those songs, even though I’m about Nancy’s age. My musical memory just isn’t as good, I guess.
118 chars