International
DL Open Thread Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022
Media scolds yesterday chided Joe Biden for flying Air Force One to Delaware to — sit down now — vote in Tuesday’s primaries. “But, but, but he could have voted absentee!” Well, yes, but remember, he’s accustomed to Delaware election rules, and until Covid Delaware had the tightest restrictions in the country on who could […]
Song of the Day 9/10: The Three Degrees, “Givin’ Up, Givin’ In”
King Charles might be new to the throne, but he’s been living under Fleet Street’s microscope for a long time, and seldom given much respect. At best he’s treated as an eccentric, the kind of guy who embraced crackpot causes like sustainable farming, global warming and classical architecture back when doing so made one a […]
Song of the Day 9/9: Chumbawamba, “Her Majesty”
The death of Queen Elizabeth II is guaranteed to reignite debates about the future of the British monarchy. Not right away, of course. Lots of people who hate the institution loved, or at least respected, a sovereign who earned her popularity by taking her ceremonial job seriously, so critics will hold their fire for 10 […]
Song of the Day 9/7: Maxwell, “Radiation Funk”
The invasion of Ukraine has mostly faded from the news, but one aspect threatens to put it back at the top of the broadcasts. Russia, demonstrating the ineptitude that has distinguished its war effort thus far, again shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, putting if off the power grid and bringing it […]
Song of the Day 8/24: The Gap Band, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”
I’ve been trying to work up some concern that the Moscow car-bombing of Darya Dugina, daughter of “Putin’s Rasputin” Alexander Dugin, will lead to something worse than what’s already happening in Ukraine. Sorry, just can’t see it. Conventional wisdom claims that Putin will react by cracking down harder. Uh, no. You might as well take […]
Song of the Day 8/13: Nena, “99 Luftballons”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona A lot of sabers are rattling these days, except nobody uses sabers anymore. The threat from Russia in the Ukraine and maybe China in the Pacific is all about the nukes. It’s a familiar situation, and bands in the ‘80s were really feeling it. Detente with the Soviet Union was […]
Song of the Day 8/7: Nini Music, “LongMa”
I bet when Nancy Pelosi was digging to China as a little girl, she didn’t think she’d find Taiwanese folk metal when she got there. I assume this showed up in my feed because I was reading stories about Taiwan; until a couple of days ago I never even considered that such a genre might […]
Song of the Day 7/23: Queen, “Bicycle Race”
This year’s Tour de France isn’t over, but the winner was determined this morning when teammates Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard finished 1-2 in Stage 20, a 40-km individual time trial. Vingegaard, who’s more than 3 minutes up on pre-race favorite Tadej Pogacar, will wear the yellow jersey when the Tour finishes with its […]
Song of the Day 7/13: Graham Gouldman and Brian May, “Floating in Heaven”
NASA has released the first batch of images captured by the Webb space telescope, and rock’s top astrophysicist, Brian May, has teamed up with 10cc songwriter Graham Gouldman on a new tune to celebrate the occasion. You’ve probably seen this widely reproduced image showing scores of galaxies. What you might not have seen is how […]
Song of the Day 7/7: The Who, “Boris the Spider”
Despite what Pete Townsend says in the introduction, it’s not a very strange song — it was just decades ahead of its time when it debuted on “A Quick One” in 1966. Yeah, sure, it’s supposedly about a spider. He couldn’t very well have called it Boris the Johnson, now, could he? That would have […]
DL Open Thread Friday, June 24, 2022
So what do we call them? The Dingleberry Six? Five Jackoffs and a Jill? The Jan. 6 committee named five congressmen who asked Trump for preemptive pardons over their little putsch, along with hearsay that Madge Taylor Greene did, too. Her response: Nuh-uh, you’re the Nazi. The more interesting news was yesterday’s FBI raid on […]
Song of the Day 5/31: Sex Pistols, “God Save the Queen”
With England set to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70 years on the throne, it seemed like the perfect time to release a TV series about the Sex Pistols’ constantly controversial 2½-year existence, and the tumultuous times the band both caused and reflected — particularly because reactionary governments and social movements again seem […]
Song of the Day 4/29: Kool and the Gang, “Too Hot”
Maybe it’s too common to be news anymore, but the Indian subcontinent is suffering under a brutal heat wave. Temperatures have been 10 degrees above normal for weeks and have reached 112°F. In related news, CO2 levels at Mauna Loa set a new record at over 422 ppm this week. “Too Hot” was the second […]
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