Open Thread - 06-28-24 - Whew, Boy!
I watched the debate so you wouldn't have to. I was going to do a summary write up about it, but after watching it I don't want to sound biased, so I'm not going to make a judgement call on this one.
Except for this:
Watching this debate was like watching two schoolyard bullies pounding their chests about how great they are and daring the other to knock the proverbial chip off of their shoulders.
If you didn't watch it and I don't blame you if you didn't, surely, in the next few days, you all will see clip after clip of this melee, I'll leave it up to you to make your own judgement.
Whew, boy!
For the Music Lovers Out There
The Real Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse by: Rick Beato
12:41
Rick Beato's conclusion: With all of the music down through history accessible with the click of a button on services such as Spotify and others, it has devalued the experience of the listening pleasure.
In my time I would sit and listen to an album with the cover in my hand, reading the liner notes, learning about the artists, absorbing the great album art (not to mention it made a great rolling tray). It was a total experience where I'd do nothing but just listen.
Whereas today, one can quickly click from Mozart to Hendrix, as one goes about every day life with the music in the background, much like muzak, or elevator music. Listening to music has gone from a total immersible experience to just background noise.
And that is why most music sucks today. This dude abides.
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
To be honest I wish I hadn't watched the debate, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
I will say this though: About three months ago I made the case that the Democrats are setting the table to replace Joe Biden, I think that position has been proven correct. He's out.
I have to pack this morning for a weekend trip to the Texas Hill Country, we're going to see The Derailers at Albert Dance Hall in Albert, Texas. It's a five hour trip so I might be able to be around for a while this morning, otherwise, I'll catch up this evening.
Have fun in the comments and please remember there's laws against elder abuse. LOL!
I didn't watch the debate but...
The best outcome would be if Biden won.
The 2nd best outcome is if Biden does so terrible that the Dems can no longer ignore his age-related mental issues.
The worst outcome would be if Biden did just good enough for the Dems to keep denying reality.
Of course if the Dems don't replace Biden then it will be an obvious reveal that they are playing for next season's draft pick.
In that case: Thank you for your service!
I only heard about the debate yesterday when Matt Taibbi published his drinking game rules for it; I did not quite realize there was going to be one TODAY (besides, I'm on vacation).
I'd been wondering who they were going to have play moderator, since last year we lost the only person I can think of who'd have been fit for the job:
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Jerry Springer...
as moderator would have been perfect emphasis on modern American politics, fake and absurd, complete with chairs being thrown and the American public asking for a divorce.
Good Morning
I am afraid this is the end game of American politics. For 50 years I have heard less and less about how either party will benefit their citizens. When they do accomplish something resembling a benefit to us, it turns perverse, like Obama care, and benefits private capital.
For 50 years the erosion of our way of life has been relentless no matter who is in charge. The real prize is power, and with power those in charge can float above us, exempt from the consequences of their rule. For 50 years the real basis of our politics is what problems the parties won't touch, because it will mean raising taxes. Since we have a homeless problem, a healthcare problem, an education problem, a housing problem....you get the idea.... these problems down where we live preclude going to that source for funds, that well is dry. Neither side will seriously go after wealth. If the dems opt for dumping Biden, It will be for one of the Obamas, or Oprah or some other out of touch rep of the wealthy class.
Biden, Trump are a logical end, much as the inbred mentally ill royalty ruled nations in old Europe, starting wars, playing god. I am afraid that the only way out of this is going to hurt us serfs. The republicans don't care, and the dems don't care enough.
Well said...
I think the trajectory is dictatorship. With the abdication of much of congresses' powers and the widespread use of executive orders by the president, we're over half way there now.
It was obvious last night why the other third party candidates weren't allowed in the debate, they would have exposed the intellectual shallowness of the two major party candidates.
This is most excellent:
Yup.
Couldn't agree more
Except for the homelessness problem. The SCOTUS just ruled that being homeless is a crime, so it's no longer a problem I guess.
It doesn't seem like a conscious strategy --
-- to hide from the public any notion that anyone else other than Joe Biden could be the Democratic nominee. It's more like a complete forfeiture of imaginative power. Does Newsom want to be President?
Here I must also point to the phenomenal powers of ignorance exhibited by Democrats. They've ignored the past whole year of history, in which Biden foreign policy has exhibited James Buchanan-level incompetence, and even so, displayed memes like this one:
Given all of the pundit blather about this debate, I'm guessing that they will just refuse to discuss it, and wait until the debates go away amidst the wandering eye of the corporate news media.
Of course, this is a losing strategy, but it doesn't seem as if they really care in that regard either. At the top of their economic pyramid are people who get paid -- and paid well -- regardless of who is President. What's frustrating is that a lot of people who ought to know better are still pretending that the Democratic Party matters. This revealed itself just recently in spades with Jamaal Bowman's defeat in the NY primary, and the whole funereal discussion that you see on Facebook about that event. Sure, Bowman lost because Latimer had a voluminous spigot of AIPAC money at his disposal. But he also lost because he endorsed a far greater recipient of AIPAC money: Joe Biden. And this is what they don't want to recognize: there was nothing there to begin with.
*****
As for music getting worse, this was also something that Cornelius Castoriadis complained of, when he was alive. Castoriadis thought the potential for jazz had been exhausted when Miles Davis died in 1991. My opinion is that I don't really complain about the reduction of music to background noise. The problem with music began with Seventies pop, and accelerated with the rise of U2 through the corporate ranks. U2's only claim to anything is because their only solid album, "The Unforgettable Fire," was produced by Brian Eno, and that was in 1984. And these people play in stadiums. Too many people in declining American culture have gotten into the habit of pretending that completely derivative music matters, when in fact it doesn't.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
The Democratic Party...
sycophants calling for Biden to step down or replaced is deafening. This being the earliest debate in history is now suspect in my eyes, it has clearly shown that Biden can't possibly make it through another term.
The American political soap opera is going to get really weird in the next few months.
In my humble opinion, pop music began its decline with the advent of disco music. Modern music reflects modern society, fake and controlled. Fake by stars who's really cannot perform or sing and are promoted by slick productions, and controlled by auto-tune. I posted a video recently of a parrot that carries holds key better than most contemporary singers.
Well, maybe they'll do something.
And another:
And another:
There was one response that said: go to Heather Cox Richardson's page.
Here's what's on Heather Cox Richardson's page:
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
I’ve lost track
of the number of times dems have told me that my Stein votes have been completely selfish, blah, blah, blah, mumble, and accused me of everything up to and including crime against humanity.
I used to try to engage with them. I got tired of that in 2016, and now I just use my usual explanation that ends with “and the horse you rode in on”. The dems have lost this voter on a permanent basis.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Oh for sure.
Reality Principle." Do they have any idea of how they look to others?
At this point I'm fascinated by the "liberal" interaction with what Sigmund Freud called the "“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Begs the question
The Democrats remind me of Castoriadis' notion of human nature
Thus, for them, it's a matter of what can we -- the elites -- say next that will allow the American people to see themselves as great and to see Joe Biden as their champion. The inner "understanding," on the other hand, is that we -- the elites -- rule the little people, we are good, and that's all that matters.
That's what explains all of the nice imaginations coming out of the Democratic Party mouths.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
power
Yes. Newsome used to be the mayor of San Francisco, so I've watched him for a long time. He's a climber.
I had no reason to watch the debate
It's just more tribal noise and I don't belong to any tribe.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
You wont be able to escape it...
if you roam around the internet at all, you'll see it, in dribs and drabs, but it will be there in all of its absurdity.
Beck was a way, way underrated guitarist.
Gotta go folks...
I'll catch up this evening.
My partner has been watching
My partner has been watching "Married At First Sight", which, if you haven't seen it, is pretty much what you think.
At one point between episodes we switched to the debate. Biden was mumbling. I couldn't even understand what he was saying.
It's sad, really. A fragile old genocidist (is it a word) versus a mentally ill psychopath. This is what comes from the people who control our parties.
Myself, I'm voting for the guy with the worm in his brain rather him than either of the two "frontrunners". In a sense, this was all predictable. There must have been someone in the ranks of Dems that could have been a better candidate. Buttigieg at least can speak coherently (although I worry about what he was doing in Afghanistan). Maybe Newsom. He's a central Dem. In fact, I think that any full-voiced Dem will do better than Biden.
Otherwise, I'm rooting for the freckle-faced woman and the Ashton Kucher (?) lookalike as the couple I'm rooting for. The guy who's a male model is just too in love with himself. And what has happened to American morals? Guys waiting eight weeks to consummate the marriage because they didn't trust each other. I grew up in the sixties, and people had lots of sex. At least I did.
One person watching debate said
Their 4 year old came into the room and asked what the two grandpas were arguing about.
Yes!
Krystal Ball: "this was so far beyond what I anticipated." She clearly hasn't taken care of a dementia patient at any time in her 42-year-old life.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Also of note...
...RFKII is making do with what he's allowed to have:
https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1806462171892895808
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Hola, Johnny. You two go enjoy the hell out of yourselves.
Have a great weekend
be well and have a good one
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 --
Yup did not watch. Just read some of the commentariat. Scary.
This from Michael Tracy. Will Trump make himself a war president. Or actually will Biden start a 1-1 war with Russia to bolster his run? War remains in our future. Could say Trump is lying but he had war mongers in his last admin, and looks to bring them back in.
oh, we're getting Trump all right.
Jamaal Bowman) who endorsed him and his projects.
And then it will be time to remind the so-called "Left" in this country what a great lot of time and opportunities they wasted on Biden and on the people (e.g.“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Caitlin Johnstone made the excellent point
that Democrats now openly saying Biden needs to step down because he can't debate Trump, or because he can't win the election, are ignoring the fact that Biden is PRESIDENT NOW and should step down NOW because he's incoherent, because can't find words, because he can't think from the start of a sentence to the end of it, because he can't answer questions with correct information, and at the same time, he's in charge of deciding whether to use our nuclear weapons to kill everyone on earth.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/28/caitlin-johnstone-biden-not-runnin...
Wait for the Russian response --
Then that memory of Joe Biden's dementia performance will come in quite handy.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
This shit show is anything but random.
Chaos, fear and uncertainty will finish tenderizing we hordes of ‘useless eaters’.
Who replaces Biden does not matter.
The fix is in.
I watched the three-way version of the CNN ‘
debate’ national disgrace. Kennedy was the youngest but only adult who showed up. He’s the only one of the three I would ever consider voting for, assuming he is on the ballot and still alive come November.I’m done with Dems, no matter who they switch around to.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
tough choice
.
.
RFK or Stein
will see how things shake out
biden or trump? no way hos'ey
Voting? Democracy?
Until our elections are done in person with paper ballots and counted by hand in front of observers from all interested parties (and on video), I just can't waste a single brain cell on this farce. We now run our elections on computers, particularly for counting, and isn't it odd that we have to wait days for the results, when we used to get them almost immediately and often before the polls closed? Heck, they even did away with exit polls.
Other than being a Bernie delegate in 2016, I have not voted since. I do believe this will be repaired and replaced, and I believe the show that we are now viewing will (and already has to a great extent) reveal the utter corruption and venality of our "elected" representatives and their heretofore anonymous handlers/controllers. This is scripted, it is controlled, and it is long overdue. There will be no civil war, there will be no nuclear war, and a large number of people will be held accountable. Are none of you aware that there are about 500k sealed indictments in the federal court system (Pacer) in all 50 states? Isn't it also odd that certain parties (establishment GOP and DEM) have been pressing for the closure of Gitmo for years, yet the facility has been greatly expanded and has added two more courtrooms, despite 911 occurring 23 years ago. There will be some hardship as our current international financial system based on the US petro dollar collapses, but it needs to collapse since it only benefits the global banking elites and their servants. Enjoy the show.
Hey, buddy!
I agree with all your opinions except civil war. I think states may one day give the finger to DC.
I truly do.
Bernie betrayed and humiliated me. I will never forget.
Always great to "see" you.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp Try this one: https:/
https://bad-boys.us/
Try this one:It's the first link I found with a search, but stuff is afoot. Bernie crushed me as well. I do believe he is compromised with pedo stuff. I believe it will be exposed. Sad, because I support almost all of his stated policies.
Maybe pedo stuff,
Howe the hell did Biden get where he is with his daughter's accusations? Because Mossad didn't put her in the shower stall?
I wonder what will trigger the unseal?
Thanks for the chart.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Howdy all,
Hi all, Hi JtC,
Yeah man, disco was the beginning of the end. Sure there were bright spots here and there since, if you coiuld find them. At first a little bit of electronic processing and experimentation was fun, and fine, and creative. Then a decade later whence disco, it began its journey to become all there was. Corporate monetized music and it went to shit. Formulaic pablum.
The Derailers sound great! Y'all have a great time at the show! Watch for deer at night, and those hill country black pigs. Have fun in the hills!
happy trails all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein