Open Thread, Oct. 20: Graham Nash, music and activist

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This, then, is about Graham Nash, a guy from Manchester, England who's gotten fairly famous.

I've been doing some music OTs doing a little history (and I do mean a little!! it's not like I really know much about this stuff!) and if I were to continue in chronological order this would be about music in the 1850s. But hey, I want to get to some other topics. We were talking about musical artists and wondering why young'uns aren't as political as the singers of the 1960s. Back then they all had opinions and weren't shy about sharing them. The question back then was "how do you want your revolution? violent or non-violent?"

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Graham Nash started singing with his friend, Allan Clarke, when they were young teenagers. They idolized the Everly Brothers and worked out harmonies to copy the Everlys. I think it's pretty cool that they met their idols after an Everlys show in Manchester and got to talk to them outside the theater. And then the Hollies became popular, the Brits took over the charts, the Everlys decided to do an album in England and got the Hollies to be their backing band for the album "Two Yanks in England". That must have been a thrill for Nash and Clarke...and the other fellows too.

nash hollies.jpg

Early Hollies, their version of the Doris Troy song, "Just One Look"

and here are the Everlys doing a song written by the Hollies

Nash joined the Everlys years later. Here's photgraphic proof!

nash everlys_0.jpg

Anyway, as is pretty well known, he felt like the Hollies were a good pop group but it was time to say more and he needed a new vehicle. Off he went to California where he joined up with David Crosby and Steven Stills. They made some records.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were active in the '70s, campaigning against war and against nuclear power plants. Nash's activism has continued through today. He and Crosby went to Zucotti Park and played for the Occupiers. Nash co-wrote a song about and for Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning. He was a big Bernie Sanders supporter. I don't know who he's for now. I don't want to ask.

So he's kind of a good guy. Although....I mean....there's this...

nash sennett 1.jpg

That's Graham Nash and his wife Susan, back in the day. They got married in 1978. And here's how they aged together...

nash sennett.jpg

38 years...that's a good length of time together. And it's admirable, isn't it?, for a world famous musician, a pretty good looking guy (especially for a 74 year old), who probably has all sorts of would-be homewreckers flirting with him. And yet 38 years later, still married to the same woman. Good for him!

Until...

2016 and jeepers, here comes a woman half his age and biff! bang! pow! he's divorced and living with this...this...this child!

nash homewrecker.jpg

I guess nobody's perfect. Except us, of course.

Oh well. I'll respect him for his music, his political leanings and his outspokenness. We need more of that. Well done, Graham! And I hope Susan got a large pile of money, you #$%&!!!

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As the saying goes, there's no fool like an old fool. Hope the old wife got a boodle.

Speaking of fools, Greenwald does a masterful job of turning Maher into a petulant ass.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

mimi's picture

that speaks through Greenwald's words.

How amazing that Greenwald even appears on Maher's show. I never watch Maher anymore since a long time. He is a hippocrite.

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to do it, Maher IS a petulant ass.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

gulfgal98's picture

So when I first heard the Hollies, I immediately liked them too for their tight harmonies. Then came CSN and I really liked them for their harmonies and great song writing.

It is past 7:15 am when I usually leave on my walk, but it is still too dark. Until daylight time is over, I will have to leave later.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

jwa13's picture

(lower latitude, I guess - 40N); usually take off just as the horizon is beginning to get lighter. 'Course, it all depends on how impatient the pup is on a particular morning --

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When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.

Lily O Lady's picture

My husband called home from the Outer Banks one evening many years ago. I told him I'd been mowing the grass. "In the dark?" he asked. "It's not dark here yet," I replied. He was on the eastern side of the time zone, while I was near the western edge. It makes a difference.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

earthling1's picture

And it was a time of harmonies.
Think Jan and Dean. Simon and Garfunkel. Righteous Brothers.
Many others. Thanks for the rare glimpse of a much loved era of rebeling without a cause.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

shaharazade's picture

sang me to sleep as a kid with this lullaby. I would put my transistor radio next to my pillow and listen to pirate radio from Tijuana Mexico. Huggie Boy my favorite DJ played Doo Wops and ended his show with this...

Another great Everly Brothers song

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Hopefully he'll fix this. I used the video link, but you can see, it didn't work. The link I left in case does work, but it is really trespassing into the right hand column. Sorry

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

but no video embed. That is probably because the video does not have a Youtube link so that it could be embedded easily. I am sure there is a way to embed without using Youtube, but I have never found how to do that myself.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Amanda Matthews's picture

I swear I see people post videos from other sources than Youtube but I have NEVER been able to figure out how its done.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

many videos other than youtube will embed here. Go to the video page and look for either an "Embed" or "Share" link. Click it and it should display the embed code. Copy and then paste that embed code into the c99p text editor and you're done.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

video didn't show up. I thought that the embed code was what I was supposed to use.

I'll try it again.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

I just changed a configuration, try to embed the Facebook video, it should work now. Try embedding it with the "Share" link.

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so I can't log in to troubleshoot. But, I did change a configuration and you should be able to embed the Facebook video now, try it. Try embedding it using the "Share" link on the video page.

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mimi's picture

meet-ups. I never log into facebook. It's hard to resist, but so far I am in "boycott" of Mr. Zuckerberg's empire. I wished more political people would find ways to circumvent facebook. Sigh.

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riverlover's picture

but there are some of us rats scurrying about in here. And they be nice rats, only occasionally doing Instagram shots.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

The first test contains the code I used the first time. I don't think it was embed. Let's see if this one works.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

riverlover's picture

I am currently having battles with updated win10. Testing what is allowed.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

riverlover's picture

I will recycle dead with a tape across saying "not a terrorist!". Any other ideas?

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

shaharazade's picture

finally started using fb. There are some 'friends' on my feed? from years of blogging and my close by and far flung extended family. I aslo have friends from Portland mainly musicians and artists who are fun to read and it lets me keep up with community events and shows. I belong to a fb group called Stop Demolishing Portland which organizes demonstrations and shares the latest news about the rabid bulldozing and redevelopment/gentrification of our city. Were trying to get the worst culprits out of the city government, by election and by recall. So I'm guilty of feeding the Zuckerman's beast. What the hell the fb and google started tracking me years ago from dkos and google. Today I made DuckDuckGo my default search engine and surprise, surprise it is way better then google. It doesn't try to steer you into the mainstream propaganda news sources or google/yahoo owned sites like pintrist.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Mark from Queens's picture

Was in the kitchen about to feed that baby and turned on WBAI as we do every morning to hear Amy Goodman and I heard Hillary's grating voice and was reminded there was a debate last night, and immediately turned it off. Fired up the computer instead, and as the water boiled for tea and saw this. What a better start to the day.

Graham Nash. Man, he's become somewhat of a hero to me as I've become more active with my politics. Had always been a fan. As I think I'm of the generation just after you I only marginally knew the Hollies, mostly post-Graham (more in the 70's with big hits "Long Cool Woman" and "The Air That I Breathe") but of course had heard "Bus Stop," which he's been opening up his shows with on the past couple of tours, and a couple of others. Didn't know they actually recorded with The Everly Brothers, thanks for that.

In the past few years post-Occupy have gotten to speak with him on a couple of occasions. He was engaging, sweet, open and encouraging. Here's one I wrote up when I was still on FarceBook.

It very nearly didn't happen today, but as it turns out sometimes things have a way of falling into place that just might be a manifestation of the greater connectedness at work.

Got home at the usual hour for a Friday night, which was around 3 or so, and was settled in bed reading before 4. Arlene's last night was fun and had an innocence about it that was reflective of the best parts of that gig. Visitors from Brazil, England and Vancouver, Canada each got up with a genuine appreciation for the show they had heard about, and were proud to be able to sing on that stage with us, most of it being punk rock (Brazil apparently loves the Ramones).

Set the clock for around 11:30 but found myself up an hour earlier. Saw a note that Stacey was at yoga but saying she wanted to go to the Graham Nash book signing from 12-2pm in Soho. I was happy to hear that, but knew I had to be in Kensington, Bkyln at 1:15 for a job and didn't think we could make it.

I stayed in bed reading, thinking how much I'd love to buy the book, meet him and have him sign it. Nash continues to grow in stature for me (as does the Y, in CSNY), outpacing so many others from that era; his McCartney-esque penchant for melody and harmony and his lifelong commitment to political activism hold a very big esteem for me. I missed his appearance with David Crosby at Zuccotti Park two years ago (for which they were interviewed by Keith Olbermann, currently languishing as a sports anchor). In the ensuing time he's been an outspoken supporter of OWS and even written a great tune for Bradley Manning called "Almost Gone." I had to meet him, or try to.

We decided to give it a go, even though we got a late start, and amazingly we got to Soho in a relatively short time. Which does't mean much on a sunny beautiful Saturday at midday, when the shopping contingent are on the hunt, sidewalks almost impassable with vendors, and tourists with designer shopping bags moving slowly, and you have to park a big Ford van.
Somehow a spot appeared on the very corner of the block where Morrison Gallery was at Prince & Greene. We reversed into it onto a one way street from the corner because there's no way we would have gotten it if we had gone around the corner and made our way there.

Inside was a modest crowd and a relaxed vibe, with books for sale and prints of some of Graham's personal photographs lining the walls of the gallery. We could have gone right over to him but I wanted to give him a moment. I had brought a couple of the 5000 postcards commissioned by Yoko Ono for OWS that I picked up for a friend of mine in the Arts & Culture working group of OWS who had coordinated the project with her. I quickly wrote a short note to him saying how much his music had inspired me and thanked him for his continuing role as an activist.

"Your music has been a great inspiration to me, and I wanted to also thank you for writing a song for Bradley Manning," I think I said. "We were frequent visitors to Occupy Wall St."

His cordial demeanor changed. His eyes lit up, and he leaned in closer and spoke with genuine interest.

"What's going on with Occupy now?", he asked, as if suddenly the three of us were not at a fancy art gallery but at an activist planning meeting.

We told him about the efforts of Occupy Sandy and how we were inspired to form our own group in Astoria, Queens, and how we hope to transfer some of that energy into galvanizing our neighborhood in to more civic action through a community space that will host lectures, run a film series and allow people a chance to bring and hear ideas of how to improve their lives by challenging the corporate system.

"I heard something about Occupy running some candidates." To which we explained there were a few who were doing just that, but that we're more interested in gathering folks to exchange ideas on how to circumvent the corporate structure, creating networks of mutual aid and helping people to be able to better understand how deeply corrupt the system is so they can better choose their options.

"But we don't think anything is really going to change inside the system, do we?" I asked wryly, knowing Graham was fully at the heart of the last great counterculture movement, in which correctly nobody trusted the system.

"No," came his quick response.

We took our leave so that others could get a moment with him, but not before he shook my hand and kissed the top of Stacey's hand. He thanked me for the postcards also.

As he was getting ready to leave we asked if he would take a picture with us. He asked one of his people to do that favor for us.

"Good luck to the both of you," he said. " And don't run out of energy."

We couldn't believe we made it in in time, found a spot on the corner, then got to spend a couple of moments with Graham Nash, a kindred spirit and gracious, passionate human being. We walked out into the cool sunny day feeling uplifted and joyful, his presence and compassion suffused in our step and all those wonderful songs started bouncing in our heads.

We also got a cherry on top of that. Afterward as were riding on the BQE stuck in traffic just before Atlantic Ave on the way to the Brooklyn Bridge we heard someone calling from a car next to us. The van is pretty high so you're not as aware of people next to you, plus we were all talking and the radio was on.

"Hey, I love your stickers!," said an older black woman driving two other peers. We exchanged smiles and thumbs up.

Then I realized I had a few different stickers, and was curious.

"Which one?"

"The 99%."

Last time we saw him, after his show In Tarrytown, I handed him the Occupy Finance book, produced by the folks in the Alternative Banking Working Group of OWS.

Graham has always stood tall in writing songs for the moment and lining his singing voice to many a benefit concert and all sort of advocacy. As Shah mentions, Almost Gone for Chelsea Manning most recently, and perhaps most famously here:

And this, written when he was in his early 20's:

Thanks for the morning trip with Nash!

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

mimi's picture

through your musical souls. That was a write-up I wished I could for myself in other ways, may be one day. I like you feeding the baby too... Smile

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Mark from Queens's picture

It really is so good to be here among kindred spirits. So much so now too, when lately I've been finding myself so contemptuous of my fellow humans (especially Americans). It's not a good mindset.

There was something transformative for anyone who experienced Occupy that gave a glimpse into what a utopian socialist world could feel like. Endorphin overload of pure joy, love and solidarity rarely experienced in life. It was because people were openly sharing and giving, in the context of a universality being understood all at once that things didn't have to be like what we'd been enduring in this horrifying merciless grinder of relentless capitalism devouring each and every one of us, pitting us against one and another. All of us who were touched so have been indelibly effected by it, and have sought since " to get ourselves back to the garden," as Joni wrote (to use a phrase associated with this Graham Nash thread).

And so when hitting the books and devouring Kurt Vonnegut a passage in his Address to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1971 from "Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons" (is there a better book title? He gives the definitions of each word at the start of it. Perfect.), on what his anthropology professor Robert Redfield called the "The Folk Society," hit me like a thunderbolt. It's hard to find the full passage online. Which reminds me, on a side note, of just how much we've been duped into thinking Google holds the totality of man's written work and experience. As expansive and accessible as it may be I would say it's still only infinitesimal compared to what's been written over the ages. In other words I'm not parting with my books because "Google's got everything." Anyway, I don't use Big Brother Google anymore. Duck Duck Go has been just fine.

Here's some of what he described as the "folk society," that to me explains some of why so many of us feel disconnected, ironically within the progress of modern society:

(The professor) acknowledged that primitive societies were bewilderingly various. He begged us to admit, though, that all of them had certain characteristics in common. For instance: They were all so small that everybody knew everybody well, and associations lasted for life. The members communicated intimately with one another, and very little with anybody else.... There was no access to the experience and thought of the past, except through memory. The old were treasured for their memories. There was little change....

I say to you that we are full of chemicals which require us to belong to folk societies, or failing that, to feel lousy all the time. We are chemically engineered to live in folk societies, just as fish are chemically engineered to live in clean water—and there aren't any folk societies for us anymore.

How lucky you are to be here today, for I can explain everything. Sigmund Freud admitted that he did not know what women wanted. I know what they want. Cosmopolitan magazine says they want orgasms, which can only be a partial answer at best. Here is what women really want: They want lives in folk societies, wherein everyone is a friendly relative, and no act or object is without holiness. Chemicals make them want that. Chemicals make us all want that.

Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again. If we become increasingly wild and preposterous in modern times—well, so do fish on river banks, for a little while.

If we become increasingly apathetic in modern times—well, so do fish on river banks, after awhile. Our children often come to resemble apathetic fish—except that fish can't play guitars. And what do many of our children attempt to do? They attempt to form folk societies, which they call "communes." They fail. The generation gap is an argument between those who believe folk societies are still possible and those who know they aren't.

C99 in some ways is our little substitute Folk Society.

Having said that, I immediately caution myself that there really is no substitute for meeting up together in person.

Speaking of, when shall we do that again, dear mimi?

Maybe next time it can be a national thing, with Shah and all the rest of you beautiful West Coast folk.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

mimi's picture

by Robert Redfield (if I understood that correctly).

The first time I read what others usually call tribal societies as a positive innate condition of humans with the expression "folk societies".

So much so now too, when lately I've been finding myself so contemptuous of my fellow humans (especially Americans). It's not a good mindset.

That mindset you are talking about is the worst to get into and the hardest to get out of, if it really sticks with you longterm. The hate generated eats up the humanity in you and even that is probably what those, who stoke the fire of hate feeling, want. I try everything to help people not to fall into it. It's hard sometimes.

Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again.

So true. If you apply for jobs over the internet what most people have to do, you feel treated like a thing and not as a person. What can I say... it's hard to watch ... people getting furious in front of their computer screens and crying.

This morning I found myself listening to what made me hopeful a while back in the words of Sanders:
[video:https://youtu.be/LrMXyovf9e8]
Now of course that is all gone.

May be he should just drop Hillary and ran this clip over and over. It is hard to believe. Sanders wouldn't have to campaign for Hillary anymore. Trump will never win. He is already defeated, imo, by Hillary. Now, I guess, we are responsible to defeat Hillary as well. Sanders has done his duties. He should stop campaigning for Hillary. Sanders was very weak on his foreign policy statements. Hillary is extremely dangerous on her foreign policy intentions and statements. We really don't need that. Stop the wars, the military training, the drone bombings everywhere. Call your military guys home.

Oh well, it's really hard to swallow. At least I am glad to learn that Freud admitted he had no clue what women want. He always seemed to me kinda stubborn in his theories. Who cares anyhow today.

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful quote and comment. And yes, it would have been nice to have a face to face meeting again. Unfortunately I don't know where I will be, east bound or west bound and kinda clueless what will be next. I feel defeated somewhat. I did part with a lot, just not my books, which I try to read since 25 years, now where I am retired. I am tired more than retired, but that too will pass.

I hope this "little C99% folk society" will stay online. It's my "facebook" substitute of communication, or it least it was so far.

Have a good one and take care, dear Queens' man. Smile

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earthling1's picture

Airing that clip over and over again.
And at the end , instead of "Bernie"...........
Just "Stein".

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

earthling1's picture

Will be mulling it over all day. Thank you much.

Edit; " Food for thought " was the term I was looking for. Argh, more coffee.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Shahryar's picture

what a great addition to the discussion! That was a very cool discussion you had with him.

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Mark from Queens's picture

at first, as you know it can be when you're meeting your heroes - those you've spent so much time listening to, thinking of and reading about; but it very quickly melded, by his graciousness and passionate doing, into a conversation of like-minded peers eager to get into it together. He put us totally at ease, perhaps as people who have shared in an experience but haven't met personally might interact.

It was validating as an activist to be acknowledged thusly, especially by someone whose life's work contains a lot of outspoken advocacy. I walked away thinking as a fellow musician, activist, and passionate dude about culture, art and politics, "man, I think we could have rapped for a few hours in another place and time." Anyway, yeah it was really neat and fulfilling.

I know you've probably seen it but for anyone who hasn't you're in for a treat. Crosby and Nash on the BBC in 1970. Sucky thing is for some reason, the PTB licensors have taken away the opening tune, which is one of my favorite singles of all-time, "Marrakesh Express." You can catch a tiny snippet of the really cool fade-out they did for it, before they play the Crosby gem "Guinevere":

And, to get a feel for just how heavy these cats are and how deep their sense of justice flows check out their appearance on Olbermann during Occupy. On a related note, so sad to see how far Keith has fallen from the kind of righteous indignation he had in those days and for years during the Bush debacle. What happens to these people? Is it just they get too soft from all the money that they abandon their moral mores? Makes it all the more impressive to see folks like Nash, and also Roger Waters and Neil Young to name a couple more from those days, still speaking out loudly and clearly.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Lookout's picture

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Mark from Queens's picture

for her:

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Big Al's picture

Every time a police department wants to hire a cop, said cop must be approved by the CRB after an in person interview. One question that could be asked is, "are you willing to beat and pepper spray, or worse, American citizens who are exercising their constitutional right to gather in protest"?

If they say yes, out the door they go. If they say no, they're hired. If they waffle, let them know it's an easy yes or no question.

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mimi's picture

the CRB should have the legal power to send them to prison and take away their "license" to carry a weapon.

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shaharazade's picture

there were last week? demonstrations at city hall about out of control cops. The city and the police union were negotiating a 'controversial new contract 'The demonstrators wanted to have citizen oversight along with abolishing 48 hours rule where cops who kill have 48 hours before they have to testify or be questioned. So of course the mayor turned the robocops loose on the demonstrators. A 'compromise' was adopted the cops lost the 48 hour rule but no citizen oversight no input from the people, and they got a hefty raise.

Portland police used pepper spray and arrested protesters during tense encounters Wednesday on the steps of City Hall in the aftermath of an unruly demonstration over a newly approved and controversial contract for rank-and-file officers.

The scene devolved into a lengthy standoff, with dozens of protesters swarming Southwest Fifth Avenue and blocking traffic and light-rail trains until an estimated 75 officers in riot gear intervened.

Police had already shoved protesters out of City Hall, dousing some with pepper spray, after they disrupted a City Council hearing.

Portland police clashes with protesters under review by federal Justice officials
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/10/portland_police_cla...

I read this this morning

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/10/federal_justice_off... U.S.

Department of Justice has cited the Portland police commissioner's failure to seek an immediate investigation of former Chief Larry O'Dea's off-duty shooting as an example of the city's and Police Bureau's continuing struggle to hold officers accountable for misconduct.

The critique is part of the Justice Department's latest review of how Portland police are carrying out a wide range of reforms stemming from a settlement agreement with the city after a 2012 federal investigation found police used excessive force against people with mental illness.

"Tragically, conduct by the former PPB Chief illustrated PPB's accountability failures,'' the federal report said.

I don't understand why the police have a a powerful 'union' that makes them above the law and unaccountable. Apparently citizens are not allowed to see what they are up to let alone 'review' and impose any restrictions on their power.

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Damnit Janet's picture

Absolutely HATE PDX PIGS.

And that's all they are. Fucking pigs.

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"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

question would be Why did the elected officials give in to demands for more pay and why didn't they make the cops give up their military gear? The union can ask for anything but management has the last word. Let the union strike, bring in scabs like the National Guard or county deputy sheriffs and, if the Portland officers want to end their strike, have them work to the old contract or quit.

I think most of the blame lies with elected officials not heeding the voters...Unless they are heeding the voters, I don't know.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

shaharazade's picture

it's both the 'elected ' officials and the cops. Ask me they are in cahoots. Our city Democratic government all of it, is bent and crooked. They do not heed the voters about much here. The city counsel excluded the public from the bargaining/ negotiations of the cop new contract. The cops here are just pigs Dammit Janet is right. They specialize in killing mentally ill people the handicapped and of course black people. Now the Feds are stepping in to investigate as they had to in 2012. They will slap them on the wrist and the killer cops will continue to be pigs.

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as bad as you can make it. Sorry. It should not work like that, and once in a while it doesn't work like that.

It's said in California, the politicians are afraid of the prison guard union. I think that can be solved by not sending non violent offenders to prison and give them work release? home detention? Whatever - you keep the prison population down and lessen the number of prison guards and prisons - both social goods in my view.

Bloomberg when he was mayor called the 36,000 officer NYPD "my army" - it's wrong for the cops to sell out to the politicians and vice versa.

Good luck.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

riverlover's picture

has had her DNA testing to become an egg donor! She (and half of I) are negative for the inherited diseases. Plus her father was of middle European Jewish decedents. Bonus points there.

We have discussed this, plus her husband is in the loop. The compensation from getting jazzed-up on hormones for a bunch-o-eggs (human) is $5K. Much legal involved, only contact after live birth of my first grandchild. Who I will never see, probably.
The compensation goes toward her MSRNNP. She is already a BSRN, that is supposed to make a salary jump but did not. We live in a crazy time when selling body parts for a comfortable life.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Lily O Lady's picture

has their way.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Friendly advice to stay away if you can. Thanks.

Not f'd — you won't find me on Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is TIME Magazine's Person of the Year? Where's the "dislike" button?

[...] Because so many sites — including TIME — use Facebook's user-tracking "Like" button, Zuckerberg is able to collect information about people who aren't even users of his site. These are precedents which hurt our ability to freely connect with each other. He has created a network that is first and foremost a gold mine for government surveillance and advertisers.

With friends like these ...

[...]
Facebook is a well-funded project, and the people behind the funding, a group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, have a clearly thought out ideology that they are hoping to spread around the world. Facebook is one manifestation of this ideology. Like PayPal before it, it is a social experiment, an expression of a particular kind of neoconservative libertarianism. On Facebook, you can be free to be who you want to be, as long as you don't mind being bombarded by adverts for the world's biggest brands. As with PayPal, national boundaries are a thing of the past.

Although the project was initially conceived by media cover star Mark Zuckerberg, the real face behind Facebook is the 40-year-old Silicon Valley venture capitalist and futurist philosopher Peter Thiel. There are only three board members on Facebook, and they are Thiel, Zuckerberg and a third investor called Jim Breyer from a venture capital firm called Accel Partners (more on him later). Thiel invested $500,000 in Facebook when Harvard students Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskowitz went to meet him in San Francisco in June 2004, soon after they had launched the site. Thiel now reportedly owns 7% of Facebook, which, at Facebook's current valuation of $15bn, would be worth more than $1bn. There is much debate on who exactly were the original co-founders of Facebook, but whoever they were, Zuckerberg is the only one left on the board, although Hughes and Moskowitz still work for the company.

Thiel is widely regarded in Silicon Valley and in the US venture capital scene as a libertarian genius. He is the co-founder and CEO of the virtual banking system PayPal, which he sold to Ebay for $1.5bn, taking $55m for himself. He also runs a £3bn hedge fund called Clarium Capital Management and a venture capital fund called Founders Fund. Bloomberg Markets magazine recently called him "one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the country". He has made money by betting on rising oil prices and by correctly predicting that the dollar would weaken. He and his absurdly wealthy Silicon Valley mates have recently been labelled "The PayPal Mafia" by Fortune magazine, whose reporter also observed that Thiel has a uniformed butler and a $500,000 McLaren supercar. Thiel is also a chess master and intensely competitive. He has been known to sweep the chessmen off the table in a fury when losing. And he does not apologise for this hyper-competitveness, saying: "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."

Peter Thiel has poured millions in support of Prop 64 in California, it is his bill and Gavin Newsom is his politician. The shittiest bill I have ever seen, still haven't finished reading it but legal weed and taxes galore! So it will pass. One step forward, two steps back. In less than a decade people will be screaming about two or three Bigs owning everything, the state and feds will still be putting "unlicensed" people in prison, and of course the ever-rising prices. "That's the system" "embrace the suck." Follow the money.

Peace

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TheOtherMaven's picture

This time it's probably coincidence, but a doctor who treated La Strega for one of her blood clots was recently found dead at his workplace, apparently of suicide: http://awarenessact.com/maryland-doctor-who-treated-hillary-clinton-for-...

I backtracked the story, and there is a not-all-that-sinister possible explanation: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/courts/five-conn...

So, apparently he was caught overcharging for services and couldn't face the risk of going to jail (considering the hellholes our jails have turned into, this shouldn't be surprising). Still hard on his family, if he had one (no info on that).

IMHO to the extent that La Strega isn't acting as a capo and ordering covert assassinations (boy howdy is she going to love getting to play with drones!), she's a walking talking Malocchio (a hoodoo for those who non parla italiano) who brings bad luck and despair to everyone who knows her even slightly.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

enhydra lutris's picture

for Harmony's sake", such as perpetrated by the Beach Boys, I nonetheless liked the Everly Brothers. That, of course, could've been a product of my youthful age and musical naivete at the time of their popularity. Nash took a while to sink in with me, I think CSN's melodies were too melodic for where I was at at the time, even though I liked the content.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

shaharazade's picture

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shaharazade's picture

Buffalo Springfield, which had Steven Stills and Neil Young as members of the band. I liked Crosby, Stills Nash and Young. Once Neil Young quit not so much. Their harmonies are to high pitched and the sound like demented chipmunks to me. I'm not a big fan of David Crosby so that put a damper on my being a fan. I like them more now that I'm a grown up. Same with the Birds. Could the common denominator be that David Crosby is not my cup of tea and that I like Neil Young.

CSN and Young

And some Hollies

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enhydra lutris's picture

Buffalo Springfield was also one I liked a lot.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

snoopydawg's picture

I came home to visit my brother who was dying from AIDS and we went out to see my friends who lived close to to the Great Salt Lake.
After leaving their house, he asked me to drive some more because he hadn't been out of the house for a long time.
We drove through farmlands and watched as the sunset over the the lake and that song was playing when he turned to me and said that he felt his time here was coming to an end soon.
I didn't know what to say to that, so we drove in silence listening to the song and seeing the beauty of the area.
Any time I hear that song I am filled with such sadness but also with joy that I have that memory of us being together for the last time.
The next time I saw him, he had lost his ability to speak.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

four more years of victimization

Like the female protagonist of a quest narrative — or, perhaps, of a dystopian fantasy — Clinton has made it through all her challenges to face the bull-headed Minotaur of sexism at the end of the maze.”

If you think that’s over-the-top, you haven’t seen anything yet. Trump’s various “sexist” comments, wrote Ruth Marcus on September 8 in the Washington Post — a full month before the real doozies surfaced — illustrate “some of the gender-based challenges that Hillary Clinton confronts as she seeks to become the nation’s first female president, and that she would continue to face in office.”

Translation: Even if Clinton wins the most powerful office in the world, America’s cloud of sexist oppression will always haunt her. She will forever suffer, even with butlers on speed dial and her fingers on the nuclear codes. The feminist victim narrative, you see, can never die. Alas, thanks to the GOP’s Trumpian adventure, it just got a major boost.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

[This comment was supposed to attach to gjohn's comment above, a pointless communication, in any event.]

She'll be dragging her phony broken wing all over the world stage for the next four years. Somehow, all of the world leaders of note, who also happened to be women, didn't have to whip up feminist resentment and weaponize it. They were merely powerful and effective leaders, without playing the victim.

Thus, the spectrum of allowable public discussion in the US has narrowed considerably from here forward. Criticism of Hillary past or present is now a direct attack on all women.

The feminist victim narrative, you see, can never die. Alas, thanks to the GOP’s Trumpian adventure, it just got a major boost.

However, I don't buy the author, Heather Wilhelm's, cheap shot conclusion blaming the GOP. I don't even buy that Donald Trump is a Republican. He's the Outsider who destroyed their party, forcing many of their most prominent to leave the party and huddle under Hillary's Neocon umbrella.

In the 2016 Election Cycle of Populism, the Populist supporters of Trump have very different priorities than the Republican Party. They don't care about the Neocon wet-dream of Empire; they care about their own interests, which can be summed up as "jobs and nothing else." Jobs are not on the Republican Agenda any more than the interests of Populist Democrats are on the Democratic Agenda.

The only blame that the GOP has, is that were too chicken to get rid of Trump at their convention.

One small hope, however, remains for the American people:

Perhaps Hillary will do for relations between the sexes what Obama has done for race relations.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
shaharazade's picture

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