For all his tawdry conduct and grotesque malfeasance, in campaigning as in governance this doesn't even constitute Segretti-level ratfucking.

It's just cute.

It shoulda been the first comment, because it deals with the topic Amy offered: Idiotic television....

This could have been the flipside to the aggressive Reddit cynicism which Lenona cited yesterday. Read a few comments.

It's weak joke in a beer commercial! And it's old. It's essentially guileless. But look at the bitter, wounded, sarcastic replies… In defense of no actual human being.

It's like the pattern in which wokies offer goofy defenses for the feelings and interests of minorities without actually consulting any minorities. Y'know, in person. With eye contact, rhetorical exchanges, etc.

I admire Peter Thiel, but if you'd like to start your week with a we're-so-screwed thumbsucker from a major media outlet, this will do nicely.

SOMETIMES parents have enough humility to admit that when their backs are turned, their misbehaving kids need polite reprimanding, even by strangers...

https://babysideburns.com/2016/05/playground-dicipline/

Many pointed out that 60 years ago or so, if you were a kid and some teacher or other local adult yelled at you for misbehaving, the news would get home before you did, and you'd be in BIG trouble with your parents.

But today, of course...there were many commentators telling grim tales of parents who either defended their kids' bad behavior, denied it, or yelled at the other adult for talking to their kid at all, however politely. (Including one neglectful father who beat up another father for no reason, sad to say - that was from Nadja at May 27, 2016, 2:58 pm.) Plus tales of busybody adults who really SHOULD have kept their mouths shut - such as a 65-year-old woman who accused a child of stealing a toy from a store shelf when he was actually bringing it to his mother in the next aisle - at HER request.

Anyway, I liked this one, even though it sounds as if the mother didn't learn much from it:

Rey Acevedo
May 28, 2016 at 5:24 am
You have the same rights as a paraprofessional substitute teacher.
You are in public.
In a playground for all.
I followed a wandering around little girl (3) because she was crossing the street headed to a jumping castle far away that I could see by kneeling. I had asked her where she was going.
Mother of that child had told the older two to watch her, 4&6 yrs at best, while she sat nearby on her phone texting.
Finally, after many people were witnessing this she stared to run back to were she came from. Her mom was crying while on phone to Police when we came up. I recounted the story to her and the P.O. The mother never said a word to me and the Ifficer just rolled his eyes, shook his head and said thank you. I smh and left.
The mom was also yelling at the kids for not watching her.
Remedy? I think…
Mother’s phone confiscated and given to judge…
P.O…one hour of his pay billed to that mom.
Lady that did help me…Bless her for she blessed us.
50 or so witnesses that sat eating BBQ during this ordeal…citation and made to watch child endangerment video and what to do.
Me? High-five, that’s all.
I’ve coached youth soccer, baseball, Scouting, raised kids.
Get involved.

(end)

Politics this time: I feel I must.

Evidence has been found, on a computer belonging to Hunter Biden, that his family has been neck-deep in organized crime for 30+ years and are "owned" by corrupt officials in China and Ukraine. So if he wins, China is literally running the United States. Please help prevent this disaster.

My source is attorney and ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has a copy of Hunter's hard drive and other witnesses, and lays it all out on his video podcast here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVq7yWg6KA

[continued]

https://www.djournal.com/lifestyle/living/john-rosemond-parents-can-recover-from-not-getting-over-the-hump-of-parenting/article_03ad7627-5678-599c-806f-ad62e685e902.html

Q: In a recent column, you identified toddlerhood as “the hump of parenting.” As a grandmother who managed to raise five kids who were out of the house in their early twenties and are responsible citizens, I could not agree more. Two of them, however, did not get over the hump with their kids and now have spoiled, difficult children whom I sadly do not enjoy being around. Do you have advice for how parents can recover from this condition with school-age and teenage children?

A: The column in question prompted a slew of responses...

(snip)

His column reminded me of what he said elsewhere, in effect - that the reason you can't train a child as easily or predictably as you can train a puppy is that dogs are born wanting to please their owners, but children are born wanting to please themselves. So, "love" is obviously not all a child needs, and to pretend that discipline is optional only makes parenting far more exhausting and complicated than necessary. (On top of that, any dog owner will tell you that even DOGS don't always do as they're told!)

> 60 years ago or so, if you were
> a kid and some teacher or other
> local adult yelled at you for
> misbehaving, the news would get
> home before you did

I've read that kind of thing before. It makes the wave of timidity that's happening with the woke generation (which wants to pass judgment on human nature despite have seen so little of it) seem like a continuation of the impact of radio & teevee.

I mean, people used to KNOW what to be afraid of. They would learn from the real world, without commercial interruption of smartphone notifications.

Btw, Crid, sorry to ask, but I'm still curious about this - maybe you didn't see my question.

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2020/10/college-isnt-fo-1.html#comments

Apologies for the oversight, I took a stab at it (and tried not to be a gasbag).

I can finally get some sleep, knowing that Oreos and powdered milk are now safely ensconced in their own Norwegian Arctic vault, waiting for the post-apocalyptic horror that will be 2021.

Gee. Crime shows? Those are real, right?

As shown on "Cops" and "LivePD", police have to determine who's who at a distance because it's way easier to get shot at close range, AND they MUST positively ID themselves. The 18-to-1 KILL ratio, young black males vs. police, is suppressed, because bullets are racist.

So is positive ID. This lament appeared years ago, but since then two bars in Aiken, SC, one open since 1946, have had to close entirely / close at 5:30PM to keep a certain self-entitled and childish demographic from showing up with guns.

One of the few avenues available is to require positive ID to enter. The license check and the camera at the door are Thug Kryptonite.

Thugs mostly win, because they have convinced enough people that they simply cannot succeed without handouts of all kinds. Your chance of meeting one is directly proportional to how many handouts are available near you.

• The Red Shirt shoulda been Uhura in the scoop-neck uniform.

• Biden's halfway there.

• Blackie's my favorite.

• Take this personally if you deserve to.

The Red Shirt shoulda been Uhura in the scoop-neck uniform. ~ Crid at October 26, 2020 7:26 AM

Especially since there's a woman in the original.

Ah, Millennials. I know dad that you're dying of cancer and I want you to know that it's still about me! reeeeee!

https://twitter.com/exjon/status/1320530781492572160

There's something wizened about this face that I've seen on tour guides and docents in a number of parks and museums over the years… Sheezus, this group hasn't left the house since electricity....

Ah, Millennials. I know dad that you're dying of cancer and I want you to know that it's still about me! ~ Sixclaws at October 26, 2020 7:50 AM

Yeah, 'cause the most important thing to do when daddy's dying is to argue politics with him; and then post it to Twitter that you made sure a dying man in his last days did what you wanted him to do, not what he wanted to do. Rotten daughters.

Y'never know… Fruitsy-Fallzy-Treezy, etc. Maybe her reflex was honed (by example) in the home. She may or may not recoil with shame after Dad passes.

It kind feels like asking for a follow-up report on a 1995 sitcom episode, but it would be neat to learn if she regrets this in a few years.

Woke-itude is an intellectual fashion, a hemline or lapel width… And fashions change, bay-bee.

I got some knit neckties that are skinnier than your pinky.

Well, dang.

Did you see that James Rand! died on the 20th?

For a while, he was a big part of the Skeptrak at Dragoncon, even performing a Million-Dollar Challenge preliminary there. Fine fellow to his fans. I have a handshake of his.

That's a great line, and I'm going to steal it.

But for Pastorius.

This fire escape is a neat idea: Simple enough to be reliable, and safer than being in a fire!

That feeling you get when someone asks a metaphor to carry more freight than it can bear.

Today my kid's school had everyone wear tie-dye to show they didn't want to use drugs.

2020 is bringing the toughest imaginable competition for 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳™…

But suddenly… in late October(!)… a bold young contender charges toward the podium!

As of 8:48 EDT, they're not saying that Comey has been sworn in by Thomas yet. When they (Twitter) do, I'll post a message in here so we can all light our candles.

I wish for men to stop sending me d*ck pics!

The monkey paw curls a fingers

https://twitter.com/lporiginalg/status/1320520582404796416

Ben, quit whining and just wear your fucking mask.

Today my kid's school had everyone wear tie-dye to show they didn't want to use drugs.

Ben at October 26, 2020 3:56 PM

If this was my kid’s school, my kids would not be wearing tie die.

I pulled mine both out of the DARE program because I don’t think police belong inside the schools.

I stepped away and missed it. It was circa 21:09 EDT.

Totally okay with this.

Found a thread about recent robocalls from MIT's Dr. Shiva. (He claims the Republican primary was stolen from him and is telling people to write in his name on Nov. 3rd. I swear, given his general record, he sounds mentally ill. Or something.)

https://www.universalhub.com/2020/some-people-might-quit-when-theyre-behind-not-man

What also caught my eye was the four comments, near the top, about how the former Johnny Rotten is now pro-Trump - and why that makes sense. (He lives in Venice, Amy. Did you ever run into him?)

From Wikipedia:

...Lydon became a U.S. citizen in 2013 because he "believed in Barack Obama" and his health care reform, on which he states, "his healthcare thing didn't quite work out what we all want, but there is a great potential there. Now we're looking at dismantling and, you know, [a] crazy loony monster party."

Before his election, Lydon said in response to questions about Donald Trump's prospects for being elected President of the United States: "No, I can't see it happening, it's a minority that support him at best, and it's so hateful and ignorant." In 2017, though, he said "I'm up for anyone shaking up the jaded world of politicians". During a Good Morning Britain interview in March 2017, Lydon described Trump as a "complicated fellow" who "terrifies politicians". Lydon said that there were "many, many problems with (Trump) as a human being" but defended him against accusations of racism: "What I dislike is the left-wing media in America are trying to smear the bloke as a racist and that's completely not true." He elaborated to NPR: "He's a total cat amongst the pigeons ... [He's] got everybody now involving themselves in a political way. And I've been struggling for years to get people to wake up and do that."

In 2018, Lydon was photographed wearing a Make America Great Again shirt. In October 2020 Lydon told BBC's "Newsday program "Yes, of course, I'm voting for Trump," he said. "I don't want a politician running this world anymore."

________________________________

Of course, it's possible he's just trying to get attention. Half the time, anyway.

I never understood the appeal of punk. It was all the worst showbiz aspects of rock with none of the beauty & innovation.

But it's not just punksters: In adult life, there's been zero meaningful political value from the rock stars whose work, in the context for which it was created, was so fufilling.

That the wordy way of saying that Imagine was childish, as were Zappa's rantings in the late 80's.

From a pre-boomer:

"...(in 1975) punk was an underground backlash against the slick, juiceless, studio-produced sound that had begun to dominate the charts in the mid-seventies. Punk professed to being a return to rock's roots. It was raw, hungry, and angry. It lived for the moment. It was hard and fast..."

And, given that the alternative would have been giving disco (shudder) even more breathing space than it got, I don't blame them.

Besides, Blondie was, at least, semi-punk.

I returned from a long and distant deployment, armed with the latest Rolling Stone, and walked into my hometown record store. "What's all this I'm reading about punk, punk?" - and left with a copy of 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols'.

They had their own 'ha ha, you got took we can't play!' vibe that was tired out by the end of Side A. Side B did not improve. I laughed. They got my money, partied too hard, boinked some girls, and enjoyed a bit of fame.

So - good on ya, mate, ya fookin twits. Now piss off.

Side note: Angus Young, he of AC/DC fame, is quoted as saying "I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same". So there was precedent.

• Three hours after ACB was sworn in, here's a remarkable daydream from Reddit… As if it had worked well last time. Maybe they suddenly feel like expanding the court just seems too complicated and slow....

• AOC is, in this instance, correct. William F. Buckley used to say something similar.

The earlier comment was harsh. In his 'testimony' before congress about record labeling, or in news interviews at the time, Zappa made the point that rock music wasn't for people with conservative tastes.

But it's silly to hold rock 'n roll responsible for the colorless conformism of disco, and to make rock stupider as a response.

Here's Zappa in 1975, as disco was starting to go over big. Loud, aggressive and weird… What's not to love? There were plenty of people making interesting rock & hybrid forms which were worth hearing… All you had to do was listen for them.

Meanwhile, sure, there was a broad and perhaps over-distributed array of mundane material in the channels which could have offered something better. But the thing is, disco, and the super-popular forms that proceeded it, made people happy.

I mean, disco had drums and duples, but that didn't mean it was rock. After Elvis, EVERYTHING, ESSENTIALLY AROUND THE GLOBE, has had drums and duple rhythms.

Still does! Go ahead and find something (at least mildly popular) which doesn't… It'll take you a while. I particularly enjoy listening to Iran on that website: Even when trying to keep the grumpy, sexually oppressive mullahs happy, the pop artists drip with western Teen Appeal™ and electrifying production technique.

Punk didn't solve any problem present in rock 'n roll, and it didn't do anything to improve the milquetoast media channels (TV/radio/print) which it purported to so-daringly assail. Those guys were unremarkable assholes, and easily ignored at the time (as were the worst of the disco-bots).

Still don't need to hear what they think. Presumably they and journos who still talk to them are in a handsomely symbiotic financial relationship, but it's got nothing to do with the music I loved, which has by now spawned generations of innovators in music and recording.

You really ought hear "Andy" through headphones— That album is one of the best mixdowns of the decade.

Besides, you're reading this at work, for crying out loud.

Also, Lenona, no way you're a pre-Boomer.

Cops down in Philly, one AM EDT.

Still less violent than the seventies we were just talking about, but, y'know, it's a bad look.

AOC is, in this instance, correct. William F. Buckley used to say something similar. ~ Crid at October 26, 2020 10:54 PM

His most famous comment on the subject was, "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2,000 people on the faculty of Harvard University...."

Besides, Blondie was, at least, semi-punk. ~ Lenona at October 26, 2020 9:39 PM

Blondie was more in line with the "anti-corporate music" punk ethos than many of the bands that proudly adorned themselves with the punk label. They mixed more musical styles than most bands are even aware of - reggae on "The Tide is High," rap on "Rapture," and disco on "Heart of Glass," just to name a few. Some of the songs were silly and some of the mixes didn't work, but when they did work, you had a lifetime ear worm.

Some will argue that Blondie was new wave, not punk, forgetting that they started out in the NYC punk scene and were ostracized by many of the denizens of that scene for mixing disco into "Heart of Glass."

BTW, the Miley Cyrus version of "Heart of Glass" needs to die. Debbie Harry sang the song seductively. Miley Cyrus shouts the lyrics at you, as she seems to do with every song she "sings."

Punk's main problem was that once you got past the anger, there was very little left. Few of the later bandwagon punk bands understood that the earlier punk bands actually made music - e.g., The Velvet Underground and Blondie. The Ramones understood that, but didn't have the chops to make music, so they turned themselves into a parody of a hardcore punk band (see the Angus Young comment cited above).

Of the West Coast punk bands, only X really stands out as having anything besides riotous anger to sell. In the UK scene, the Clash made some songs that lasted beyond your teenage years.

As the punk artists got older, and richer, they lost their anger at the world. The ones that could actually play had to turn to doing the very thing they'd railed against in their youth, playing more mainstream music. The ones that couldn't flamed out.

I returned from a long and distant deployment, armed with the latest Rolling Stone, and walked into my hometown record store. "What's all this I'm reading about punk, punk?" - and left with a copy of 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols'. ~ Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 26, 2020 10:36 PM

Never a huge fan of that album, but had friends in high school and college who played it to death. They liked Zappa, too.

Three hours after ACB was sworn in, here's a remarkable daydream from Reddit… As if it had worked well last time. Maybe they suddenly feel like expanding the court just seems too complicated and slow.... ~ Crid at October 26, 2020 10:54 PM

Such a move would do more lasting damage to our republic than would Court packing (or "expanding" as the Dems insist on calling it this week).

If you impeach and remove a SCOTUS justice simply because you don't like the circumstances of her nomination and approval, you've effectively destroyed any checks and balances on the power of the government. Impeachment will then be simply a tool used to usher in one-party rule. Can civil war be far behind?

Mostly, Blondie was a stone fox. Audio-wise, whatever. There was a picture of her topless on the internet a few weeks ago, but I didn't save it to disk… I'll always feel bad about that.

And now, let's shatter the moment:

Blondie is older than Hillary.

“And, given that the alternative would have been giving disco (shudder) even more breathing space than it got, I don't blame them.”

At least you can dance to it. I still love Donna Summer.

"I pulled mine both out of the DARE program because I don’t think police belong inside the schools." ~Isab

The program isn't effective. And when you are having everyone wear tie-dye to show they are 'drug free' you've really run out of ideas. Today was crazy socks and hat day. Tomorrow is Hawaiian day. And then we close with wear boots day, closing out our week of DARE.

Which really shows the level of estrogen poisoning at most schools. Guys don't do all the different clothes like girls do. I've never owned 'crazy socks'. The concept just never occurred to me. So we had to miss out on that last year due to a lack of such things. When I went to buy some it looks like retailers are aware of the gender split. Lots of 'foxy lady' labeled colorful socks. But zero 'sexy man' or dump truck or whatever male themed colorful socks would be. Guys get white or black and there just isn't a market for much anything else.

Huh. The plagiarist was called on it here, years ago...

Re Debbie Harry: one move of hers led to my observation that at the extremes, clothes may make the man, but the woman makes the outfit... she wore Hefty bags on SNL. Hands, head, stilettoes stuck out, and she looked wonderful. Top that, Gaga!

Huh. The plagiarist was called on it here, years ago... ~ Radwaste at October 27, 2020 8:49 AM

I wonder if Slate still stands by its rather negative assessment of Biden's character all those years ago.

http://www.slate.com/id/2198597/
http://www.slate.com/id/2198543/

Silly Conan,

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” ~Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Really pairs well with "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House".

Blondie is older than Hillary.
Crid at October 27, 2020 5:46 AM

I knew a guy, who knew a guy, who used to be her manager back before she was famous.

Silly Ben.

I know Salon won't stand by those editorials now. Today, they've just gotta get Trump out of office and by any means necessary, including canonizing Joe Biden. The enemy of the Orange Man is a saint, simply by being against the Orange One.

I just wanted to remind folks what a liberal magazine once published about Joe Biden - before the Left made him the Sainted One come to save us from Trump. "Unusually creepy" I believe one of the editorials called him.

And I'm sure some conservative publication had nasty things to say about Donald Trump back then, too. He is not a nice man and wasn't then either. But the major media is regularly saying nasty things about Trump, so we don't need to set the Wayback Machine to find those things.

Slate had cleaned out most everything good from its Kinsley & Kaus-era origins by the middle of Obama's first term, as had Salon. Youngsters browsing the internet would be stunned to learn the scope of opinion they each offered, despite their liberal enthusiasm… And at this hour, it seems certain they'll never have a chance to see anything like them.

> before she was famous.

Did his heart, as the kids say, go on?

Because I can imagine that that was the end of that.

> before she was famous.

Did his heart, as the kids say, go on?

Because I can imagine that that was the end of that.

Crid at October 27, 2020 11:41 AM

I met him once. He looked pretty low rent then, even by 1979 New York City standards.
I’m sure that was the end of that.

Slate had cleaned out most everything good from its Kinsley & Kaus-era origins by the middle of Obama's first term, as had Salon. ~ Crid at October 27, 2020 11:38 AM

You're right, I meant Slate in my response to Ben. Sorry, Ben.

It was tongue in cheek Conan. Humpty Dumpty isn't the great scholar he would have us believe he is.

On conservative papers being nasty to Trump prior to the 2016 election, I doubt there is much there. Trump wasn't a serious politician until he became the president. So I doubt he was worth spilling much ink back then.

On a related note not only are congressional Democrats talking about packing the supreme court for short term gain some have now raised the idea of impeaching justices they don't like. As you noted in the past Conan, it is all short term power politics these days. Just like with the slow erosion of the filibuster Democrats will be shocked and appalled when Republicans do the exact same thing as them and impeach a justice they like.

Detroit in the 1960's wasn't known for its humor....

Crid: "...no way you're a pre-Boomer."

Of course not.

I'm surprised you didn't bother to google the quotation, though.

(It was from Deborah Spungen, if you must know. Born in 1938.)

At any rate, there's another well-established reason for punk's existence - with rampant unemployment in the UK of the 1970s (and anarchy in NYC), it's little wonder that disillusioned young people felt no connection to older, wealthy rock and pop stars. As biographer Ray Coleman put it:

" ' No more Elvis, Beatles or Stones in 1977' screamed the Clash. The young punks were bored and angry with the remote rock elite. They wanted their own heroes and were not content with second-hand idols, whose lives and music bore no relation to their own."

And, from Zoe Milagro Villegas, at Medium (I removed the annoying, inaccurate apostrophes):

...In 1977, England reverted to a Dickensian state of urban poverty. In an era of large glitter platforms, self-mythologizing superstardom, and total excess, rock became so far removed from the reflection of its audiences lives ; an audience who lived with garbage piling over the surfaces of the streets as a strike for the garbagemen was in full swing. Rock music was a circus which lost its designation as the voice of angsty youth amidst class warfare.

Then came punk.

Punk infused democracy into popular culture. It was a shift that could not easily be undermined. The media found itself in a conundrum of validating punk by vilifying it. It saturated the headlines with “the Filth and the Fury.”

Commercialization came along with large record deals. Capitalism did what it does best and made the resounding voice turn against itself...

DuckDuckGo, given only the name, returned this.

Anyone can listen to anything they want to hear, and God Bless 'em…

But a culture that really loved its children would teach them to distinguish the music & showbiz components of their enthusiasm. Disco and the charts weren't the enemy, unless listeners thought they were supposed to be satisfied with the tastes of others.

But every now and then you'll hear somebody whistling (one of the voices in) the guitar solo from "Killer Queen." If there's a similar, work-a-day touchstone of melody from punk — something worthy of Coleman's 'idolatry' — nobody's mentioned it.

I'm eternally grateful that Zappa and Rundgren and the Weather Report guys and the Return to Forever guys and all the rest were living lives which bore "no relation" to my own.

There's no way bring jazz into the discussion, but this is the best essay I've seen on music in the last ten years.

And regarding the 6:30 pm comment — Talent is not democratic. The guys I liked were doing things I could never be a part of, and it was some of the best money I ever spent.

And besides, that comment makes me long for Thatcher again.

'Cause know what happened next?

Ben Says:

"Just like with the slow erosion of the filibuster Democrats will be shocked and appalled when Republicans do the exact same thing as them and impeach a justice they like."

There is no reason on earth to think that Democrats will be "shocked and appalled" any anything the Republicans may or may not do in the future.

Everyone already knows they are ready and willing to do whatever they wish if they have the power to do so... neither history, nor precedent, nor conscience, nor principle will constrain them at this stage.

As David Frum has astutely observed:

"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”

We can already see the evolving rhetoric supporting this thesis.

This is why it is Republicans who are presently talking about adjusting the rules for designating electors *after* the election is complete if it turns out things don't go as they would prefer.

Such is not the behavior of folks who respect the will of the people. Reasonable people do not even consider the possibility of changing the rules of a competition after the competition is over because it turns out they lost.

Anyone who has been watching understands this reality already and will not be "shocked" if they follow through.