Alby's Latest Posts
Another Reason Russiagate Matters
I think the No. 1 reason is that foreign money in elections was a foreseen consequence of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, and I hope I don’t have to convince you this is a bad thing. Leftists who think Russiagate is no big deal seem to believe it’s all just political. But leave aside […]
Ilhan Omar Kabuki Theater
Many progressive pundits have noted the irony: Congressional Democrats rush to condemn alleged anti-Semitic comments by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, but they rarely protest some of their Republican colleagues canoodling with true anti-Semites. (Remember the deplorables chanting “Jews will not replace us!” in Charlottesville?) I see a much sharper irony, but I’ll get back to […]
Song of the Day 3/6: Rowland Salley, “Killing the Blues”
Donviti has inadvertently triggered a lot of blues lovers by saying he hates the blues. I don’t think he meant it literally, but it reminded me of this song. Most people know it by John Prine’s cover — lots of people think he wrote it — or the duet by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant […]
Kathleen Davies Vindicated Again
The State News is running a story by AP’s Delaware reporter, Randall Chase, that no local news-gathering organization had the staff to cover. The Merit Employee Relations Board voted 2-1 Monday to order that former chief administrative auditor Kathleen Davies be reinstated to her previous position within 30 days, and that her termination be changed […]
Song of the Day 3/5: Brewer & Shipley, “One Toke Over the Line” b/w “Oh Mommy (I Ain’t No Commie)”
This 1971 stoner classic is the answer to the trivia question, “What’s the only song covered by both the Grateful Dead and Lawrence Welk?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVxA1MkEkyo Folk duo Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley, both originally from the Midwest, hooked up in LA in the late ’60s but moved back to Missouri to eke out a living […]
What’s Unique About AOC — It’s Not What You Think
It’s unfair to say Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has unhinged Republicans, both among the base and in elected office — many of them have been unhinged for years. But her mere existence has evinced in them the kind of existential horror that accompanied the Black Death. The principal signs of the infection are sneering and incoherent babbling. […]
Song of the Day 3/4: Bob Rivers, “An Ignorant Man”
When Donald Trump proclaimed Sunday via Twitter, “I am an innocent man,” was I the only one whose mental jukebox immediately jumped to Billy Joel singing that line? But I think Trump got it wrong. He’s not an innocent man. He is, as in Bob Rivers’ parody of Joel’s hit, an ignorant man. Rivers was […]
Song of the Day 3/3: Bruce Springsteen, “My City of Ruins”
Springsteen sang this at the 9/11 memorial concert, and its gospel inflections and its message of hope amid the wreckage fit the moment so well that most people thought it was written for the occasion. It was actually written for, and debuted, the previous December at a charity concert for Asbury Park. His performance, backed […]
The Race Hasn’t Even Started and Biden Is Already Gaffing It Up
This is why Joe Biden’s final campaign is doomed: He’s too easy a target. Biden is running on his foreign policy credentials, so there he was Thursday at the Chuck Hagel Forum in Global Leadership at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, trying to make a point about the spread of Trump’s toxicity by citing […]
Song of the Day 3/2: Rod Stewart, “Gasoline Alley”
It’s hard to remember now, after decades of listening to him sing shlock, that Rod Stewart was once an artist who mattered. He could rock as raucously as the Rolling Stones with the Faces, but his standout skill was his sensitive way with the ballads and the folk-based songs on his solo albums. “Gasoline Alley” […]
Song of the Day 3/1: Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, “Cantaloupe Island”
You learn something new every day, and what I learned the other day blew my mind. Jeff Goldblum — yes, Jeff Goldblum the actor — is also a jazz pianist, and a pretty good one. He and his band play a weekly gig at a Los Angeles piano bar, and they occasionally come east for […]
The Big B Prepares to Enter the Race
Not Joe Biden, whose Delaware-sized ego is going to convince him to run again, despite the cries of a majority of Democrats. No, I mean Beto O’Rourke, who appears to have made up his mind to enter the race, according to the Dallas Morning News. The newspaper is only reporting that anonymous sources close to […]
Song of the Day 2/28: Talk Talk, “It’s My Life”
The music world is mourning the death of Mark Hollis, founder of the British band Talk Talk, best known for a string of synth-pop dance hits in the early ’80s, culminating with “It’s My Life,” later an international hit when covered by No Doubt. If that was all he ever did, his passing would hardly […]
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