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Home » Open thread 5/28/24

Open thread 5/28/24

The New Neo Posted on by

I was going to add the earlier (1971) studio version. But then I saw this and couldn’t resist, because of the spoken intro and how it connects to the added verse in the above video. The circle coming round, indeed:

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Open thread 5/28/24 — 63 Comments

  1. Just upgraded my Fedora Cinnamon SPIN 39 USB to Fedora 40. I install my favorite Linuxes on USB’s so they can be used in any computer. Upgrade actually took longer that a clean install—but then all the apps need installing, and then all the new settings added. Was lazy this year so just upgraded it.

    Florida Public Schools Are Closing Down As School Choice Takes Off

    As Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed school choice initiatives, leading to a spike in charter and private school enrollments, public schools are shutting down.

    “If your product is better, you’ll be fine. The problem is, they are a relic of the past — a monopolized system where you have one option,” Chris Moya, a Florida lobbyist representing charter schools, told Politico. “And when parents have options, they vote with their feet.”

    In March of 2023, DeSantis signed legislation promoting school choice for parents and students. The bill eliminated restrictions based on financial eligibility and got rid of school enrollment caps.

    The 500 – ‘A letter from 500 Jews at Columbia University may be a landmark in the struggle to escape a stifling regime of doublethink and ensure the American Jewish future through proud and open dissent’

    In the furor over America’s campuses, it was easy to miss the letter that 500 of Columbia University’s Jews penned and signed to present their position in their own voice. Yet it was this letter, quietly distributed and far less aggressive than some of the other events that overshadowed it, that may prove to be the turning point in the struggle for American Jewry’s future. This is why.

  2. If you wish to read a damning indictment of the fiasco of the pier in Gaza, go read CDR Salamander.

  3. Oh golly, Danny’s Song. In terminally groovy Boulder Colorado where I used to live in the late 60s-mid 70s (attended CU), this song made all the crunchy granola/cream yogurt girls of that town swoon.

    There were a lot of crunchy granola/cream yogurt girls in Boulder back then. Lots and lots.

    Regrets, I’ve got a few . . .

  4. Oddly, Boulder was also where Bob Brown and his “Soldier of Fortune” magazine was headquartered. Go figure.

    I interviewed with Bob Brown for a writing job at SOF. Now that was an experience. Crunchy granola and cream yogurt were not mentioned in our conversation.

  6. here’s a sample

    https://ia802901.us.archive.org/4/items/soldieroffortunemagazine/Soldier%20of%20Fortune%20%5B1976%20Summer%5D.pdf

    losing the featured engagement, caused the nearly forty years of agony that zimbabwe endured under mugabe the salvadoran military
    prevailed in the 80s, despite some serious misteps, which we won’t revisit here, in the 00s, Chavez’s money helped bring the guerillas into power, where they stayed for the better part of a decade, like bukele eventually replaced them

  7. Karmi, thanks for posting the link to purchase Office 2021 (in an earlier thread). Do you know if the version of Word in that package includes Modern Comments? I hate Modern Comments and want to avoid them.

  9. yes working class students can’t afford this foolishness,

    https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1795280860876612057

    the way they are trying to spin the maralago revelations,
    ayers was the scion of a textile exec, doehrn came from wealthy lawyers, if memory serves, there was another whose name escapes me whose father was a high johnson administration official goines

    there was something about they way they always represented the guerillas again largely in the Times and the main nets,whether they be PLO ANC Brigatte Rossi
    red Army faction, one is supposed to understand the one side, and hate the
    other

  10. In Trump’s NYC jury trial, the court has released drafts of the closing arguments and Judge’s instruction, today.

    A walk through here exposes Judge Merchan’s invidious instructions, specifically citing Greta Van Susteran on Richardson v United States (1999), as others have.

    The Judge is giving the Jury carte Blanche to devise for themselves, and not unanimously, on the crime that Trump’s false business records facilitated.

    Yet SCOTUS has already weighed in on this menu shopping prosecutorial strategy and overruled the Richardson conviction.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wcgy3sd9yg

    THIS clarifies things like the coming appeal’s grounds. And knowledge about how Trump’s very likely conviction will be debated, after theJury’s verdict.

    Listen up to the first ten minutes or so to know how to think about this matter. Of course, opinion journalism will be all over this through the coming week, and until the election — at least.

  12. IrishOtter,

    I think we went down this road before…I was at CU 70-74. Hated Danny’s song. Back then, I remember really being thrilled by Mountain giving a free concert on the library steps. Tulagi’s was ok, but a place down at the end of 13th, The Sink (?) I thought had better music featuring locals. My favorite place on the Hill however, was across the street from Tulagi’s: Round the Corner…best hickory burgers ever.

  16. Well, they are shameless.
    And psychopathic.
    Not to mention off-the-charts power hungry.

    That’s a pretty explosive combination.
    And extremely dangerous.

  19. @Barry Meslin:“A simple test to check ‘criticism of Israel’ for antisemitism”

    In my experience, antisemites only make the “Zionism” distinction when responding to a charge of antisemitism. The rest of the time they make no distinction between Jews, Israelis, and Zionists. They don’t talk about “Israelis” running Hollywood, banking, or big business. They don’t complain about the pernicious influence of Israeli Arabs or Druzes or Christians, or accuse them of stealing the land of, or masterminding genocide against, Palestinians.

    There are anti-Zionists who aren’t antisemites, I’m sure, but I can only be sure of anti-Zionist Jews.

    It is very difficult, for some reason, to treat Israel as a nation like any other, composed of humans like any other. A person who tries is going to get criticized by all the people who don’t, whether pro- or anti-Israel, or philo- or antisemitic.

  20. I can certainly understand the distinction between the two anti’s.
    But I wonder why the anti-Zionists seem to feel/believe that Israel must be DESTROYED?

    That is, can’t they be against it without needing to destroy it?

  22. Barry 11:59am – great article in Tablet. It needs to be read by everyone, probably not here since most of us don’t need it (except Bob Sykes lol) but by the “naive” anti-Zionists who are not actually antisemitic.

    It reminds me of an encounter I had with an Arab-American online once. He was very hostile to Israel and we used to joust regularly in a discussion group. I asked him, “Sammy, would the Middle East be better off if the other countries were more like Israel or if Israel were more like the other countries?” He replied, “I don’t have a good answer for that, let me get back to you”. Of course he never got back to me because he already knew the answer. As do the millions of Arabs and Muslims who rail against Israel while living under the hideous regimes that characterize the rest of the ME.

  23. Niketas: “There are anti-Zionists who aren’t antisemites, I’m sure, but I can only be sure of anti-Zionist Jews.”

    I wouldn’t be too sure of them either. I could go on but just think of the term “self-loathing”. Aside from the ones who claim to be Jewish but are not; I suspect there are quite a few of those. It’s amazing how many people who criticize Israel on the internet lost relatives in the Holocaust.

  26. Good catch, Bob Wilson!

    Yeah, not the first time that these “secondary” explosions killed civilians, but it still didn’t dawn on me that this was what happened until your update.

    Want to be a shield for Hamas, then expect to die…

  27. look at the map, the target was between the camp and rafah, so what are they complaining about now,
    i’m reminded of a similar strike in the northern yemeni village of al majala,in 2009,

    aqap was just getting their debut, they had been involved in ft hood and a series of other minor evens there was collateral damage but they got the target,it wasn’t awlaki it was one of his underlings al kazemi, was that a war crime, no a mistake they had used cruise missiles which are not as accurate as drones

  28. My second-favorite anti-Woke movie critic, just behind the Critical Drinker (PBUH), is Nerdrotic. a high-energy ex-comic book store owner with a big dwarf’s red beard and old-style black frame glasses

    Here’s Nerdrotic’s latest, acerbic analysis of the Decline and Fall of Hollywood, regarding the current flop in the making — a Mad Max movie sans Mad Max, running neck and neck with “The Garfield Movie.”

    –Nerdrotic, “Why Furiosa FLOPPED – Hollywood Girl Bossed Too Close To The Sun”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnaQFXD8YQ

    Girl Bossed Too Close To The Sun … love it.

  29. This might be the most important 58 minutes you spend watching Vivek Ramaswamy speak at the Libertarian Party Convention and then have a Q&A session.

    I said early on when looking at potential presidential candidates I didn’t trust Vivek. This does clear up some of it. Vivek is a Libertarian/libertarian in policy. He made a choice that, much like President Trump, working within the system, he was more likely to influence policy than standing outside the system and shouting to be heard.

    He would be what I characterize the realist wing of the Libertarian party.

    I think Trump announced he had made a choice for his VP without naming him, and this speech could be one of two things– Vivek is Trump’s VP choice or a cabinet position/advisor in the Trump administration.

    Vivek’s speech came a day before Trump spoke and some of the themes suggests it was coordinated. Obviously Vivek didn’t win over some at the convention to consider Trump– but based on some video of booing during Trump’s speech doesn’t really say anything about whether Vivek’s speech influenced people at the convention.

    I haven’t jumped on the Vivek bandwagon– but it would be an interesting strategy way beyond my pay grade if Trump has chosen Vivek. Vivek views his move to the America First wing of the party as a once in a lifetime opportunity to influence the policies toward a libertarian pov.

    The most compelling/funny argument for choosing Vivek from one of the comments: LW: IF Trump makes Vivek his VP, the Deep STate will think twice BEFORE taking Trump out

    Vivek Remarks & Debate at Libertarian Party Convention Full Speech
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9InXrUpETKs

  30. oh hes great, if you want a brutal taxidermy, which will be up soon, you get mauler,
    callum something or other, with the dr doom icon,

    the film seems to be pretty good, but it suffers from slow pacing, and probably undeserved backlash and it’s not a madmax film, its an adjacent prequel,

    one expected ministry of ungentlemanly pursuits to have done better, same with the fall guy, but the hype machine has burned itself out, this last cycle that began with
    the x men and carried through to endgame,(thats nearly 20 years) warner had some hits thanks to nolan, but they threw all that good will away,

  31. @Brian E:IF Trump makes Vivek his VP, the Deep STate will think twice BEFORE taking Trump out

    Can’t see why. The executive branch and the military saw nothing wrong with ignoring Trump’s directives and just doing what they wanted, I’m sure they can also ignore Vivek’s and just do what they want.

  32. they used a lot of smoke to do it, they went after general flynn because he can read intelligence and produces perhaps the best product, when he was at DIA,
    the whole echo chamber with the danchenko dossier with the phony fisa warrant
    that didn’t actually produce anything, one often has to use cutouts like kushner on the Abraham Accords, or grenell on balkan matters, because the possums are not helpful,

  33. Niketas Choniates:

    Can’t see why. The executive branch and the military saw nothing wrong with ignoring Trump’s directives and just doing what they wanted, I’m sure they can also ignore Vivek’s and just do what they want.

    Trump has no Leadership Ability at all…heck, I doubt the White House mail boy did anything Trump asked. According to ‘my sources‘ (sarc/) at that time, the mail boy was going from office to office gathering leaks from office leakers.

  34. Related:
    “Following reports on Rafah attack: Arab-Israeli activist explains how Hamas deceives”—
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390711

    + Bonus:
    “IDF refutes allegations of new strike on Rafah evacuees;
    “IDF says accusations 20 were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Mawasi area where Rafah evacuees gathered are false.”—
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390713

    I suppose they could always throw in a hospital….
    Tried ‘n true, tried ‘n true….

  35. Danny’s Song has my favorite lyrics and some life changing good advice.

    I found a girl who holds the world in a paper cup and I drank it up. I love her and she brings me luck. I find that she helps my mind so I took her home. I don’t live alone. We’ve earned what lovers own.

  38. For a rather entertaining [fill in period of time], do the following search on DuckDuckGo:

    Iranian + “pro-israel”

  39. Niketas C., Vivek is certainly a more articulate version of Trump. But that doesn’t mean he would have any more influence getting the policies of reducing the size of government through Congress.

    If I had said the comment was amusing rather than compelling/funny would that have changed your response? I thought it was funny.

    I’m not sure how much Libertarian/MAGA philosophy converge, since in many ways Trump is fine using government to achieve his policy aims and at the core Libertarians seek to abolish government, though Vivek doesn’t go that far.

    Trump won in 2016 with a coalition of disaffected Democrats (Reagan Democrats) and disaffected tea party Republicans/conservatives. I think the Trump campaign realizes they will need every vote– so the outreach to the Bronx and the Libertarian party.

    Despite Karmi snarkiness, and as you suggest, the Washington bureaucracy is proving to be an immovable object. Reform/RIF will most likely be done at the margins. Even Reagan failed to get rid of Education Dept.

  40. “…better off…”

    But I don’t think that’s the issue really.
    The issue is: Israel is illegitimate and should not exist. Full stop.
    Its creation was, and its continued existence is, a grotesque crime not only against the Palestinians but against humanity as a whole.

    Therefore: Attempting to destroy it is [a religious duty/the cutting edge of morality/the ethical imperative of our time/necessary to right a gruesome, galling and unspeakably cruel injustice/required to help make the world a much, much better place/well you get the idea….]
    AND it will always be thus UNTIL ISRAEL IS DESTROYED.

    Or…one can devise/invent/make up/ any other idea du jour that appeals to one’s finely-honed sense of right and wrong….(at least when it comes to Israel).

    (Jews can be remarkable useful…for certain things…)

  41. RE: UFOs and proof

    On the “Good Trouble Show” the other day lawyer, Ivan Hannel, gave a good analogy to the current situation with regard to people not wanting to admit to the weight of the evidence pointing to the reality of UFOs.*

    He mentioned a New York Times story from 2020 about a man who, in his small public housing apartment in Harlem, and over the course of almost three years, had raised an 8 week old Tiger cub to become a full sized, 425 pound Siberian-Bengal Tiger.**

    Hannel pointed out that many people in that apartment building probably observed something which had pointed to the existence of this Tiger—they heard it roar, maybe caught sight of it at the apartment’s window, smelled it’s scent (they complained about a strong urine smell), heard its heavy tread, or perhaps noticed that the man who was raising the Tiger, would go to the grocery store every day, and buy 20 pounds of raw chicken drumsticks which he then took back to his apartment.

    Yet, for years, each one of these other people in his apartment building dismissed the clues–the evidence of their senses—because they likely thought they pointed to something which was just too fantastic to be real and, yet, it was all too real.

    (He was caught when the Tiger bit him, and when he went to the ER and told them that a small dog had bit him, these ER doctors knew he was bitten by some animal which was much, much bigger, so the police investigated.)

    * See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j5VzhrSuZs&t=385s

    ** See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/nyregion/ming-tiger-harlem-nyc.html?smid=em-share

  43. In an open thread, it’s best to scroll on by any post on a topic you find boring, there’s no need to be a jerk to other commenters. And if neo doesn’t want such things posted in open threads, she has the tools to deal with it.

  45. Miguel, they want to “protect science from Trump?” These are the people who have distorted “science” for years over the “climate crisis” and who twisted and denied science during the recent pandemic. Science needs to be protected from THEM.

  47. Niketas:

    Thanks for sharing your vastness of knowingness, your highness.

    You choose to post an answer to a request not made.

    Open threads are just that and Snow on Pine is free to proselityze, as he isn’t a Flat Earther or a troll or a sock puppet. neo has limits.

    But you be you.

  48. @om, your financial support for neo is commendable and generous, but it doesn’t justify your habitually rude, and frequently dishonest, attacks on other commenters.

    How about you scroll past my comments, and I scroll past yours?

  49. Its like a mel brooks sketch notably dr frankensteen

    We know a tiger is a known creature we suspect alien beings exist im not ruling it out but extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof

    Before trump who thought you could repatriate american business put an embassy in jerusalem build a wall or at least significant element
    Enact a major peace deal with the Arabs pur islamic State the Revolutionary Guard Aqap on its heels

  52. Niketas:

    I have no idea how generous my level of support for neo’s blog is relative to anyone else. Do you? Every mite helps, IMO.

    I have no idea how long you have been reading neo’s work. It seems you are a recent commentor. That is all I “know” of you.

    You got you feathers ruffled when I did not agree with assumptions in one of your arguments regarding Ukraine. You have decided that it was a case of lying and dishonesty.

    You be you.

  53. @om:You got you feathers ruffled when I did not agree with assumptions

    Another lie. It’s not worth restating what actually happened, though.

    You repeatedly and deliberately misstate what others say, to force them to either waste time trying to correct the record or be misunderstood by people not following closely. It is a troll’s tactic.

    And if that weren’t enough, you hold grudges against screen names and are deliberately rude out of the gate once you see they’ve posted something. You have done it to more than one person, and quite recently. Snow on Pine is one, DNW was another, just in the last seven days.

    I’m going to scroll past anything you post from now on, regardless of whether you follow suit. Everyone here already knows how you operate anyway.

  54. One of the reasons I recommend people watch Vivek’s speech and debate/conversation afterwards is it puts what he talks about in perspective.
    He knows the people and was at ease.

    Vivek will no doubt have a role in a Trump administration.

    I’ve said previously the fact Trump’s wealth was made in the real estate industry is significant. Going back an election, Romney made it clear that those who made their wealth from Wall St. would find it hard to represent the rust belt/average working class.
    There are probably some that would recognize the need to protect industries that are vital to our national interests– and we are seeing the consequences of outsourcing for the last 30 years. But some/most of those same people should have recognized the risk/costs earlier– but the profits were likely irresistible.

  55. Niketas C., I understand the impulse to just ignore om’s snark, but I hope you occasionally respond to keep om honest.

  56. Honesty from the apologist. LOL

    And Niketas spinning his tails. If you are misunderstood and can’t be bothered to clear up the misunderstanding, who is to blame?

    Bain E and Niketas C. the dynamic duo, protectors of truth, as they see it.

    Niketas may not have been around in the good old days of Zaphod and DNW? Oh well.

  57. om:

    Please stop baiting people. I don’t mind substantive arguments, but I’m getting tired of the sniping.

  58. On the “Good Trouble Show” the other day lawyer, Ivan Hannel, gave a good analogy to the current situation with regard to people not wanting to admit to the weight of the evidence pointing to the reality of UFOs.

    Snow on Pine:

    I’m certain there is much more to the UFO story than we are getting. Still, please stop the onus-shifting.

    Are you one of those people not wanting to admit to the weight of the evidence pointing to the reality of Jesus Christ?

    I’m not half-serious… 🙂

  59. Re: Andy Edwards / Emerson, Lake & Palmer Albums — Ranked

    I love this prog drummer/rock critic guy! The thing to keep in mind, I say, is that Edwards is a YouTube performer — a stand-up critic, working mostly in real-time like a great college prof with more leeway to cover the subject he loves most, personally and professionally.

    Edwards is all about prog rock, passionately. So now he’s got a YouTube channel, insatiable for content (neo knows about this, I’m sure) and he decides to cover Emerson, Lake & Palmer — ELP as fans know.

    Problem: He hated ELP! But he is an honest critic. He relistened to all the ELP albums and concluded:
    ______________________________

    … coming to this from a more mature point of view I’ve been able to see the absolute genius of this band.

    –Andy Edwards, “ELP | Ranking the Albums”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuGTSaW5bLg
    ______________________________

    Which of course is his opinion, revised upon an earlier opinion. I enjoy the fierce back-and-forth of Edward’s internal development.

    I don’t demand people change their minds, but I like to see it happen organically.

    I too am passionate about ELP. I was in a sweat about the final top rankings, but I think Edwards got it right:

    1) “Emerson, Lake & Palmer” (1970)
    2) “Trilogy” (1972)

    FWIW….

  60. Back in the days of the 1970s when people wrote really good songs instead of this Taylor Swift nonsense.

  61. BrooklynBoy:

    Rick Beato has taken some pains to note that Taylor Swift and many other popular acts employ committees of top-flight pros to write their music. Sure, Swift is a real talent of her own and she guides the process. But…

    It’s not like John and Paul breaking out their guitars to get a song started, then George and Ringo coming in to put it all together. Or George getting the ball rolling as he came in to his own as a songwriter.

    –Rick Beato, “NYT Says Taylor Swift Is Bigger Than The Beatles!? WTF”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxrwjJHXPlQ

  62. Thank you for the Danny’s song clip, Neo. Hearing it, I was suddenly sixteen again and singing along on a memorable road trip to check out Case Western Reserve college. Then learning the back story from Kenny, and his recent added verse on the occasion of the birth of his granddaughter, I am in tears over the circle coming around again as our daughter awaits the birth of her daughter next month…

  63. RigelDog:

    You’re welcome!

    I was very moved by it, too. I had fertility problems and when I finally got pregnant and had a son I was very happy, and “Danny’s Song” was something I sometimes listened to with pleasure. Now I’m a grandmother. So I know what you mean.

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