Heh. That's exactly what I was thinking when I heard the news!

I deduce that "Sleepy Joe" is Nod... so who is Winkin? ;)

Queen's A Night at the Opera celebrated 45 years yesterday. So, this one's for Kick,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZpZQG2z10

Thanks, EM! Ranks right up there as one of the best albums ever recorded.

Interesting thing about that music video is the spectacle of John Deacon sitting there playing a grand piano when it's quite obviously an electronic piano on the recording. Grand pianos do not make that metallic sound. :)

Sadly, we won't get see her squirm in front of house lawmakers this week.

LL&P

Woo hoo!

-CW

Like most, I bat an eye at people of colour who vote Republican, it seems discordant because we associate the GOP with revisionist social imperatives like keeping a boot on the necks of all peoples not white. If this past election has shown us anything it is, Black Americans can't be considered a monolithic and decided voter-base anymore.

There's growing sentiment in communities of colour that the Democratic party has taken their support for granted and still nothing has been achieved to lessen the disparity between white America and themselves across the board.

Trump, being the huckster that he is, somehow stumbled onto this and even in his backhanded smarmy-racist way managed to dislodge a surprisingly alarming amount of traditionally reliable votes to his cause. Sure, Trump sold a bill of goods to them like he did everyone else whose ability to delineate between a political con-job and a real platform of governmental priority.

To my mind, in this regard, black and Hispanic men might just be ahead of the political thinking curve in the US that breaks with the rigidity of the 'one party for life' thinking that's so prevalent in US society.

Pragmatism is central to liberal thinking in the same way rigidity and blinkered thinking is to conservative ideology. In almost every contingency I would say pragmatism leads to a measured response, but not in this instance, it's an Achilles heel for the Democrats as they watch traditional voting blocks become less and less inclined towards their party out of an overall ennui of their social grievances.

From the Beast... https://www.thedailybeast.com/more-black-men-went-with-trump-this-time-i-asked-a-few-of-them-why?ref=scroll

I suspect that the man focused in the article hasn't taken into account the Republican's have, for decades, actively disenfranchised people colour at the polling stations, been determined to block any bill that in any way improves their lot in society, fund communities of colour equitably with those primarily white and just generally refuse to accept them as equals in society. In many ways, Obama's eight years in office re-energised the racist right-wing and made the lives of people of colour a bit harder by focusing on race while Moscow Mitch publically stalemated the first black American president for the singular reason of his hue.

Sadly, I don't see Biden being able to change this reality even if he wanted to unless the Georgia run-off delivers the senate to the Democrats. The racist doorstop will kick in again and spoil another Democratic presidency.

LL&P

Siblings, behold... This is how democracies deal with upper-echelon corruption within the government. * I've had cause to run up against the 'Bettencourt wall' in the past, she's probably, if not, the richest woman on the planet, an unabashed right-wing political tinkerer, and a complete Michael Hunt.

Trump should take pause, the people involved in this scandal have 'real money' and social stature to face allegations in court, and will probably lose regardless. However, the French usually take this kind of political window licking more seriously than most democracies as their regulations regarding political financing of campaigns are jealously (if not over-zealously) monitored.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/french-ex-president-sarkozy-s-trial-for-corruption-suspended/ar-BB1bgT6A?ocid=msedgdhp

*An Investigative judge is essentially a lead prosecutor in the French system, they gather information, place it before the court, the two or more parties involved are then tasked to prove or disprove their side of the matter at hand. A magistrate oversees the proceedings and settles disputes between parties and then submits it to the jury relatively unfettered by unsubstantiated claims by either side. A jury is empanelled without voir dire of the case at hand, as jurors are randomly picked from a pool, they weigh the evidence and submit their findings to the Magistrate who can then either reject, modify or even disregard their findings. The 'inquisitorial system' sounds archaic because of it's filtering of minutia and its dumbing-down of information for easy consumption by the hoi polloi, but it makes for smoother running justice. Whereas in the 'adversary system' allows latitude for all manner of reasonable doubt to eke into the minds of juries that really has no business in a court of fact and truth (see OJ Simpson murder case for the only example needed to prove my point)

LL&P

~eugene field

As per usual, there will be in-person physical-distanced seating tickets on sale and donations will be accepted for the live stream online!

https://theempiretheatre.com/live/classic-albums-live-let-it-be/

What movie is that from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtuVP8Mj4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF0lrzsnqLw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZpZQG2z10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKJLbv5khLg

Take it away, JFC!

I thought it would be interesting to watch the series again during the lame-duckery phase to fill a bit excess boob-tubery-time.

Season 5, Episode 4, (2016).

It's eerily not unlike this moment in time 4 years ago on the show, along with foreign meddling, staff meltdowns over presidential tweeting and missing uncounted ballots.

The writers of the show presaged the Trumpian era uncannily.

When you watch it again, with the benefit of hindsight, it somehow enriches the experience.

LL&P

It's so hard to believe but I really didn't even think about it today. Now I know it's outta my system. It's been a long time coming ...

The anniversaries I am talking about are all about the music! :)

you mean other than the JFK assassination?

here's reggae in yer tub

expecting critical thinking out of the american public? what universe have you been living in?

Has anyone noticed that the "anti-maskers" are also mostly pro-life, so while they scream your violating MY rights they don't seem to realize that the pro-life stance of NO abortion EVER tramples on the rights of others?

Ahhh, the joy of the fuqing gen "me" generation. Frigging ESPer's....

Maybe by the time his second term rolls around I'll get used to calling him president!

I cannot deny, that definitely constitutes progress, but you'd think among 330,000,000 Americans, we might be expected to do better than that!

A very happy birthday to you, Senator Biden!

don't you mean, President-Elect Biden?

just askin'

JL

Tucker Carlson should NEVER be cited for anything other than fascist, racist buffoonery.

Has everyone already forgotten Carlson's "dog ate my homework" escapade of a few weeks ago? NO ONE should be bestowing him 'journalistic integrity'.

'Carlson went on the air Wednesday night to announce the loss of the documents, which he said would be "damning" to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign.
He told viewers his team received the documents from a source recently and that they were related to the Biden family. He did not give other details.'

https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/ups-says-it-found-the-lost-cache-of-documents-that-tucker-carlson-claimed-would-damage-joe-bidens-campaign/articleshow/78938843.cms

NOW is the moment for progressives to repackage their message.

"Pro-life", "Death Tax", etc. are perfect examples of rebranding to lull the dimwitted into voting against their own interests. It's past time for the Democratic intelligentsia to descend from their ivory tower and either think like a rural voter -or- pay for the P.R. experts to do so.

I hope that
a) carpetbagging Democrats will STAY AWAY, providing only 'dark money'
b) the two Democratic candidates highlight that the two Republicans are filthy rich and out of touch with the voters of one of the poorest states in the nation and
c) Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight organization will again mobilize GA Democrats to show up at the polls on 5 January.

No surprise that Republicans are already in dishonest-mudslinging mode in GA.
'Republicans are taking to the airwaves and social media to frame the pastor as a radical and tool of the "extremist" left. Using sound bites from his past sermons, they’re making the case to Georgia voters that the Democrat is anti-police and anti-military. TV ads play up his criticisms of police officers and try to connect him to polarizing figures like Fidel Castro, who visited Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1995 while Warnock was a youth pastor there. Taking several pages out of the 2008 playbook, they’ve also tried to tie him to Jeremiah Wright, the former senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Chicago, whom Republicans used to try to sink Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.'
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/19/raphael-warnock-georgia-republicans-438027

Click on this link for a cheap laugh!
http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/bio.html

It's no surprise that New York City wishes Rudy Giuliani had never been associated with them.

I am a bit disappointed that there are no FTPs this week, nor next. (I completely understand your desire to celebrate Thanksgiving though) Democrats must stake out their territory early and often for the coming standoff with a (probably) Republican-majority Senate. Time's awastin'!

I almost forgot about that!

A very happy birthday to you, Senator Biden!

I read that he has settled on a pick for treasury ... hmmmm ... I wonder who it could be ... that's one of the toughest jobs around.