Open Thread - 30 April 2026 - We love the King or do we? And American Music
We love the King or do we? And American Music
I’m not much of a Kings’ person, so I’ve been ignoring the King’s stuff, although I guess his address to Congress was pretty good (5 Takeaways from the King’s Historic Address to Congress). Ohh and this is the British King, not the wannabe American one (Hi, Prez!).
I’m not sure that the Beeb’s take on this is entirely correct - ‘Smiles and wonder: How the US reacted to King Charles’, but who knows. Here’s a bit:
The United States declared independence from the British crown 250 years ago - but this week, it could not get enough of it.
From the minute King Charles and Queen Camilla stepped onto the White House South Lawn, US networks dumped their standard diet of political warfare and breaking news for something rare: pure pageantry.
In a country that seems to agree on almost nothing, the British royals managed something close to a clean sweep - drawing warm receptions from both sides of a political spectrum where neutral ground is rare.
The visit came at a fraught time in US-British relations, with the White House and Downing Street at odds over the war in Iran, straining a relationship both governments insist remains unshakeable.
The reviews following the King's appearances at the White House, in Congress and in New York were warm across the political divide.
I gotta admit, I’m not a big fan of the royals, even if they make a great visit to the US. Ok, so this isn’t American Music, but it is punk and it’s pretty pertinent even now! The lyrics could now be - ‘God save the King, and Trump’s fascist regime’ instead of - ‘God Save the Queen, and the Fascist Regime’!
And here’s the American Music. First the Violent Femmes. Dunno why, but I love this song:
Hard to believe all the young people in that video are now old people, like me! Hahahahah.
And the Reverend Horton Heat, singing about Liquor, Beer and Wine.
This song always makes me remember driving through so many cities and towns in my youthful journeys around the US, seeing the flashing signs which always seemed the same and yet different for every little town or huge city.
Enjoy the weird songs and here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Listening to? Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday!
Hope everything is going well for everyone! I am getting my hair cut today. Ohh boy! And there is always a lot of gardening and yardwork to do, as usual. What's up with you? How you doing? Let us know!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Have never understood
.
proles fascination with royalty.
thanks for the varied tunes!
Zionism is a social disease
I don't get it either, that fascination...
Most Americans I've ever interacted with, if we ever talked about royalty, disliked it or just didn't care. Ironically, about the same amount of Brits had the same reaction. That's what comes from living in NE England, I think
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
My take on the royals visit
Much ado about nothing.
MAGA
Morons
Are
Governing
America
Perfect!
Much ado about nothing!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
AI is not our friend
.
This topic came thru from a local 'activist' regarding
a few timely issues. One is how big tech is trying to hi-jack
local land, power and water to develop hungry data
centers to encrapify and surveil us (and our experiences)
for just another layer of control over our lives.
The computing requirements to maintain their full-spectrum
dominance come at a huge cost, both resource and financial
wise. Wall Street is betting the farm on the new AI bubble. It is
requiring huge investments of capital and extreme wastage of
resources (cooling water and electrical usage) to prop-up this
new dystopian dream.
Perhaps this is an attempt to supplant human thought with a digital
version, more easily manipulated by the overlords.
There are grass-roots organizations thru-out the country fighting
against this legislation to prevent developments in their communities.
Anti AI is a thing now. People are realizing the cost in lost jobs and shitty
replacement of human interaction. What can you do?
"We should think of this fight as an opportunity. A genuinely nationwide coalition has organically formed in opposition to the greed and avarice of an industry that is endangering our democracy, undermining our labor, and enshittifying every aspect of our lives. That coalition has settled, for completely sound strategic reasons, on demands for national, state, and local moratoria on AI data centers. The Left should be uniformly on its side."
https://time.com/7377579/ai-data-centers-people-movement-cover/
Zionism is a social disease
Maybe the experts...
should use their 'wonderful' AI to figure out how to feed and power such 'wonderful' AI. Without the data centers and all the crap that goes along with that. I really don't like AI, even when it makes cute pictures of kittens...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Charles wants US to join greater effort on Ukraine, Congress
stood to applaud.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
What bothers me the most now
is the way that Trump's absurdity has become an entry point for hyping the Better war against Putin in Ukraine. That poison pill has done plenty of damage already. Just because that scam is not AS ridiculous as the Iran misadventure, is no reason to celebrate the absurdity of Biden's dream war.
Some Dems are actually bloviating about how Trump is distracting from the correct war.
Maynard G. Krebs had it by the balls: "Oh what an age we live in."
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Yep, Ukraine!
One awful wasteful war... but very European!
Iran! Another awful wasteful war, but not European!
Both are awful.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning Sima, thanks for the OT and the tunes. Not sure
I have time for the tunes this am, need to be up in onoma by about 11:00 am and it is an hour and a half drive,
It has been said that USians love the brit royals because we have none of our own, and everybody loves pom and ceremony. The Brits were colonizing empire building troublemakers throughout their history and striving always to achieve a "balance of power" by keeping potential equals under attack. The Crimean war, for example ws undertaken solely to keep the Rus from gainins at the expense of the Ottoman empire which was perceived to be too weak to win the war it started with said Rus. The Brit royals, like all of europe's are generally highly inbred and it shows, but that it another matter.
The call to support ukiestan it idiotic and violates the alleged principle of self-determination by its refusal to accept the results of plebescites in Crimea, Dombass, etc. The Euroids only accept plebescites when they think that the result will somehow work to their advantage. In this instance they stated through one of their bodies that the plebescites have to be ignored in order to maintain Ukiestan's "territorial integrrity" A good look at Hkie history will made it clear that there is no such thing, and to the extent there might be some feeble support for such an idea, such territory would by no means extend east of the Dnieper and probablyn ot even as far as Odessa or Kiev. The Rus created the silly place with people like Catherng The Great and Kruschev adding bits and pieces to some western zone for their own internal purposes during periods when thee was no independent ukiestan.
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 --
USians loving royals...
I dunno. I dunno. Maybe it was the generation I was in, but I was taught, I suppose I could be wrong (/*sarcasm*/), that the US fought a couple wars against the Brits for independence. I was taught to ignore royalty, if not to despise it. And living in Britain didn't teach me any different. I lived in a place (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) where unions were born, where Queen Victoria would lower her blinds and not allow her train to stop because so many people disliked her...
I'm happy to note that the regulars here are not royalty lovers
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning, sima!
It will be a cold day in hell when I bow or curtsy before another human being.
Royals are not particularly intelligent, seldom add anything of worth to society, and deserve no respect just for being born to the right parents as their sole attribute.
Your Highness has no chance at being uttered by me.
When I get a chance, I will check out the songs.
Thanks for the OT, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Frederick The Great wrote ( and played) ssome works for
flute and orchestra. -) He was also good buds with Voltaire, supported the fledgling US and prevented brit mercenaries from passing through Prussia , but he ws somewhat excptional.
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 --
Indeed!
n/t
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Once I was walking through Newcastle
on a normal day, on my way to university (when I lived in Britain). I didn't pay a lot of attention to the 'news' so I didn't know what caused the closed roads and pedestrian traffic jams in the city. Lots of cops were out, and soldiers! Weird!
There were some people lining the closed roads, but more of us were walking by, trying to get to work, or go shopping, or get kids to school, or whatever. Suddenly a cavalcade of cars came by. In one of them was the Queen's sister. People were cheering and waving at her, but more of us were either ignoring it, or flipping her off. Hah. Of course, we were not featured in the news even though we were much more numerous, but the people cheering and waving were...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so