Those Spotify would-be censors, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell
Yes, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and whoever else has joined their cause have the right to threaten to leave Spotify if the platform doesn’t boycott Joe Rogan. But they would serve their cause better if they just state clearly what bothers them about Rogan or his guests, and then try to prove it wrong by arguing against it and marshaling some facts to prove their thesis.
Ah, but they’re musicians, see, and what’s more they’re famous ones. A lot of people are joking about how their time is long past and much of the Spotify listening public hasn’t a clue who they are. There’s no doubt their time in the sun has gone by. But their music is still better than almost everything new that’s more popular on today’s streaming platforms.
That’s my opinion; make of it what you will. “Heart of Gold” and “Both Sides Now” are great songs, whatever the present-day political idiocies or even self-righteously tyrannical dreams of their creators.
I’m used to ignoring, or at least getting past, the politics of artists whose work I admire. It helps in the case of Joni Mitchell or Neil Young that listening to them doesn’t automatically involve buying anything. YouTube’s free, for example – although, like everything else, listening on that platform has its political problems for me as well.
Commenter “SHIREHOME” asked this question:
Wouldn’t you think that musicians that are “passed it” (classical reference) would like that Rogan is bring[ing] listener[s] to the music?
My answer is that it’s my hunch that both Young and Mitchell think that in the Venn diagram of “Young fans,” “Mitchell fans,” and “good people,” there’s a huge amount of overlap – and that in the Venn diagram that adds “Rogan listeners” to the mix, the “Rogan listener” circle is way off somewhere – overlapping greatly with a “bad people” circle.
Young and Mitchell also most likely thought their threat would work, and that Spotify would choose them over Rogan. So far, it hasn’t. But I’m not sure how much they care. They can now wrap themselves in a mantle of sanctity with the people they believe constitute almost all of their fans, and certainly all of their virtuous fans. How many fans do they need, at this point?
[NOTE: I will add that so far, Spotify was initially hurt financially in terms of the value of its stock (which had been falling somewhat even before Young’s announcement), but it seems to have recovered to its pre-announcement levels. At least, that’s how I read this graph. From what I gather, Young made his announcement last Monday.]
[ADDENDUM: Here’s Rogan’s reply. And here’s Spotify’s statement. Seems to me that Young and Mitchell were at least partially successful in achieving their goals in terms of policy.]
Seems everywhere Spotify caved to Fauci, Big Pharma and the Left and will have some caption or disclaimer if the show content doesn’t follow protocol.
Just got Spotify couple months ago, can drop it just as fast. Didn’t live with it before, can live without it tomorrow.
Can I guess too their “Hub” of ” dedicated doctors and scientists ” are the CDC sanctioned ones only?
The best that could happen to Rogan is for Spotify to drop her for this. Would probably get a ton of cash and he could start up his own company.
Building our own economy is the best possible response to all of this and obviously this would not be a left/ right thing it would be a freedom/freedom of speech vs. censorship/authoritarianism.
That is the path forward.
Seems everywhere Spotify caved to Fauci, Big Pharma and the Left and will have some caption or disclaimer if the show content doesn’t follow protocol
More of a half hearted attempt to mullify the would-be speech suppressors by putting the silly disclaimer up. It will probably just end up annoying both sides. The speech suppressors of course want nothing short of Rogan (and all others like him) completely deplatformed. It’s humorous that these ancient hippies have sided with the anti free speech authoritarians. The very same sorts of people that they supposedly railed against so vehemently more than a half a century ago they’ve become.
Rogan’s response was spot on. He’s just having conversations. It’s to his benefit to bring on someone to discuss the other side. But not someone who pontificates, except maybe to tear apart. And it’s to Rogan’s benefit to have the reputation of offending the old fascists and holders of important offices.
To put it in the genre. Joe Rogan is the band bringing in the crowd. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc. are the peanuts they put out on the bar. Pulling the peanuts and putting out pretzels will barely be noticed in a week. Spotify, the bar owner, isn’t gong to toss out the band to keep the peanuts.
Like the pre-WWI German youth movement this was written for, the 1960s “rebellious” youth are so described.
“The youth movement was an impotent and abortive revolt of youth against the menace of bureaucratization. It was doomed because it did not attack the seed of the evil, the trend toward socialization. It was in fact nothing but a confused expression of uneasiness, without any clear ideas and definite plans. The revolting adolescents were so completely under the spell of socialist ideas that they simply did not know what they wanted.”
–von Mises, Ludwig (1945). Bureaucracy
Once the likes of Young got on the money train, they just kept selling their product, if it wasn’t an affectation to begin with.
Rogan can move to Locals, Rumble, or wherever he wants.
Joni and Neil not so much. Like their music. Their posturing, meh. Tools of the man.
But what does CardiB, or Bruce Stringbean, or Bono, or …. have to say?
Preference cascade, or tsunami?
Was his mentioning ‘Chuck E.’s In Love’ when talking about Joni Mitchell and innocent mistake or an intentional shot at Joni Mitchell’s lack of relevance in current times?
Griffin:
I think it was a joke.
neo writes: “Seems to me that Young and Mitchell were at least partially successful in achieving their goals in terms of policy.”
I agree. I was disappointed when I heard Rogan say he thinks the policy is a good idea. Of course, I know nothing of Spotify management or how the policy will work. Rogan could be correct. But a warning message about content seems like it could too easily devolve to “trigger warnings” and a race to see whose aggression can be the most micro. Which Rogan interviews won’t warrant a content warning?
This isn’t surprising coming from Neil Young who has been all over the map for going on 60 years now and him and Joni Mitchell go way, way back to their Toronto days so I think that was her show of support for him.
I’ve always really liked Young’s guitar playing. It had a very distinctive style that I really like and his song ‘Like A Hurricane’ is genius lyrically and musically with two great guitar solos.
Instapundit has taken the last few months to titling posts ‘I’ve seen the lockdowns and the damage done’ which is a play on Young’s ‘The Needle And The Damage Done’ another great song.
Young is a pathetic figure at this point but he has always been one honestly.
Griffin and om,
You may already know this, but Rogan was on his own and raking in wheelbarrows full of revenue with his podcast. Spotify gave him $100M to move it to their platform. That’s more than he was making on his own.
If Spotify wants to part ways with him I doubt he’d fight. He’s cashed their check and he can go back to his old set-up, but he already was independent.
Paul Joseph Watson has an interesting take on Young’s attack of Rogan; it’s all the work of Young’s wife, actress Darryl Hannah.
Neil Young has certainly produced number of catchy, rockin’ tunes, during his career.
Most of us liked Cinnamon Girl as kids; and I have personally linked to Out of the Blue and into the Black, here. He really crushes it on that one.
Never been able to listen to Heart of Gold all the way through; but then, whiny emo songs are not my thing, any more than are generational “aren’t we special” anthems.
Of course no one would expect more from some guy who doesn’t appreciate ballet or poetry or even much fiction. (Well in truth, dancing girls – good looking sexy ones – are almost always appreciated. Even if it’s in ballet. )
That said, I do give the Young devil his due: even if he has every bit, and more, of the collapsed, twisted, scowling and smirking face of the aging punk-ass he has been for the last 20 years: A twisted face he deserves and has earned. ( His work with Lionel, notwithstanding)
Now, I don’t know that I’d go so far as to push him down a flight of stairs if I caught him alone in a wheelchair. That would be a bit melodramatic – and has been enacted better before.
Does anyone else think that Neil Young leading the pack calling for canceling someone he doesn’t agree with—“or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll…leave yer stupid fake news site”—is amazingly funny?
File under:
“…I’ve been to Hollywood
I’ve been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean
So jus’ do’s yer TOLD…
…
And I’m gettin’ decrepit…”
…Yep, the conscience of his generation(s)…
We really have gotten to the threshold of a totalitarian social place.
Just exactly where the progressives of 50 years and more ago always aimed to take, or to herd, us, every last one.
I still have some desire to peer into their heads and see what makes the wheels turn … To see what the driver for all these collectivist anxieties is in biological terms. I say “biological” since there seems to be no real honest reasoning or proportionality involved.
But then we may be reaching the crisis point where it won’t matter anymore what their reasons or motives are; or whether they are sincere, mistaken, or just plain maliciously cynical and self-serving.
You won’t have much luck reasoning a schizophrenic out of her delusions. I am increasingly convinced the same applies to most genuine progressives.
It is just what they are. They are just natural born molesters, for whom all boundaries other than those they have chosen for and to protect themselves, are meaningless.
I was disappointed that Spotify folded. I was on the verge of subscribing based on their initial reaction. I’m glad I waited.
My understanding is that Spotify’s stock drop paralleled a simultaneous drop in the overall stock market, not in response to Young’s announcement, and its recovery since has been part of the general recovery from those drops and has been reflected in many stocks.
From that, my understanding is that the hype about Young’s announcement adversely affecting Spotify was greatly exaggerated.
I’m no stock analyst so I’m not qualified to say either way, but that type of cherry picking data to support a narrative has pretty much become the modus operandi of the left so I tend to lend it credence.
At any rate, I’ve got no dog in this fight. I’ve never listened to more than a few minutes of a Joe Rogan podcast (not a podcast kind of person), have no Spotify account and no financial interest in Spotify (unless one of my several retirement account mutual funds is invested…I don’t keep up with it at that granular a level).
I hope Joe sticks to his guns because from what I’ve seen, he’s a voice of reason among the insanity and has a wide-reaching impact, but honestly, I think all the fuss is nothing more than the left railing against a breach in their effort to control the narrative. Our spending so much time talking about it is playing right into their…oh look, a squirrel…
I don’t listen to any of the three people nor use Spotify or interested in using Spotify. However, it seemed crazy for Spotify to drop Joe Rogan after the huge investment they made in him. It would be like Sirius/XM dropping Howard Stern, although the acquisition of Stern didn’t influence me to stay with Sirius/XM (I pay them, because my wife likes the traffic and weather info sent to her car and that’s part of the package. I like my wife, so I have Sirius/XM).
Just read over at Instapundit that Sirius/XM has now revived their Neil Young station (didn’t know one ever existed). And that Apple and Amazon offered promotion algorithm influence to Neil Young. It is almost as if this was a publicity stunt, and now the money is coming in from competitors of Spotify.
Speaking of “amazingly funny”, it looks like Chelsea Clinton is taking on Substack in a bid to earn some stripes:
“Millionaire Book-Writer And Professional Board-Sitter Chelsea Clinton Attacks Substack Authors As “Grifters””—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/millionaire-book-writer-and-professional-board-sitter-chelsea-clinton-attacks-substack
I suppose she has a point, though: if Neil Young can attack Spotify, why can’t Chelsea Clinton attack one of the few decent and intelligent free-speech sites left?
(Still, that “grifters” remark is…well, remarkably—deliciously—tone deaf…if not entirely surprising….)
I was a big Joni Mitchell fan. On several of the Facebook fan pages I followed (now unfollowed) the comments were more negative to Joni than positive. I won’t be listening to her music anymore. Enough with the censorship.
I just want to add this about boycotts. I think it’s fine to advocate boycotting this product, this person, this country. I think it’s wrong to advocate boycotting or lobbying any entity that is associated with that product, person, or country. If Joni had said, “Don’t listen to Joe Rogan.” – that would be fine. She crossed the line when she lobbied his employer – it’s him or me. Good riddance, Joni.
With reference to medical “misinformation,” Alex Berenson says Joni Mitchell says she suffers from Morgellon’s disease, which many medical people consider to be a psychological problem, not physical.
Did you see where Joe came out and said that his favorite Joni Mitchell song was “Chuck E’s in Love?” Heh. I’ve never understood all the Joni love. I don’t discount it; I’ve read about it from many very accomplished artists. I just don’t get it. And I much prefer Rickie Lee Jones.
“…has now revived their Neil Young station….”
Sounds like falsetto news to me.
But looking on the bright side, if it IS true, then a whole new generation will have the opportunity to get thoroughly nauseated by “Heart of Gold”…
Chelsea Nepot McCoddleston Clinton is attacking people on substack as … “grifters”?!!??!?
I just assumed it was an attempt to generate publicity for Young/Mitchell. I would guess that the majority of their listeners strongly support the official vaccine narrative.
I’m too lazy to look it up to confirm, but I read somewhere that Young has already sold 50% or his catalogue of music and that Mitchell has yet to sell. I assume the ultimatum was made in an effort to increase the value of their respective music catalogues (or, at a minimum, that the impact on the value of the collections was a major consideration).
Not a big Joni Mitchell fan but this is one of the best melancholy Christmas songs ever. Truly beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHxxBTl71I
Barry Meislin:
I’m somewhat surprised at the animosity here from some towards “Heart of Gold” as a song. Nauseated? I may end up writing a post about this. What nauseates you about it? I assume you mean the song, not Young’s behavior now.
One version of the song has 99 million views on YouTube, and there are other versions with several millions as well. A lot of people seem to like the song, even in recent times.
Perhaps it’s something about his voice you don’t like? It’s not for everyone.
AMartel:
Rick Beato has a lot on his YouTube channel about how and why he really really really likes Mitchell. I like her well enough, but I’m not that intense a fan. I think Beato likes her guitar playing, the way she uses her voice and its jazzy qualities. If I’m not mistaken, he was a jazz guitarist and teacher.
neo,
Yes Beato did a ‘What Makes This Song Great’ on ‘Amelia’ by Joni Mitchell and she loved it and commented on it and invited him to visit her which he did.
He also ranked ‘River’ which I linked to above as his favorite Christmas song ever.
Sometimes i think people hate an artist’s most successful songs just because of oversaturation. ‘Heart Of Gold’ was a massive hit and I think it’s good but he has had numerous better songs like this one performed live at the BBC. It has 77 million views on YouTube,
‘Old Man’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2a1_Do_fc
Young and his Canadian compatriot Joni Mitchell are both childhood polio survivors, and so their vehement pro-vaccine stance is understandable, although they are inexcusably misinformed regarding Joe Rogan’s podcast interviews with Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Thomas McCullough.
Does anyone believe that Young or Mitchell actually listened to either interview? This sounds like a ginned-up moral panic with unclear motivations.
In any case, it’s one thing to take a principled (if wrongheaded) stand and pull your music from Spotify. It’s quite another to give Spotify the kind of ultimatum that Young did.
I suspect that Mitchell, meaning whoever is thinking and/or speaking for her, simply followed Young reflexively—and reactively.
Things were clearer when the fascists still wore jackboots, not Birkenstocks.
Sailorcurt:
From what I saw on the chart, my impression was that Spotify stock first dropped because of the generalized stock market drop, but then dropped even further after Young’s announcement, and then picked up to about where it was before his announcement. So his announcement seemed to have a negative but temporary effect, so far.
You see these stock price drops from high profile low impact events all the time. They almost all end up in a snap back to wherever the stock was.
My favorite was when Zion Williamson the basketball player was at Duke and had a massive blowout during a game where his Nike shoe basically fell apart and he sprained his ankle. Somehow Nike’s stock price survived that night.
In the midst of those stock price gyrations, Spotify caught an analyst upgrade at Citi from neutral to buy.
I like Rufus’ comment about Young possibly being pushed/led around by his wife Daryl Hannah. I knew she came from money and had an ancient bad relationship with Jackson Browne, but other than that I didn’t know much.
This is Hannah’s IMDB bio.
This last bio quote gives an impression:
[on addressing the skepticism of climate-change deniers] I make a concerted effort to do conservative media. People go, “Oh no, don’t do that. They’ll eat you alive.” But I don’t care; that’s what I need to do. I need to reach those people and at least give them the opportunity to listen to the information. I really believe if people have information, they will make wise decisions.
Yeah, it’s the conservatives who eat people alive.
So Joni Mitchell suffer’s from Morgellon’s disease (never head of that one) and Daryl Hannah suffers from agoraphobia and might have been borderline autistic as a child. Well, OK then.
And I ponder what will Yoko demand regarding Rogan and her Spodify content! Could happen? 🙂
Yup, I saw Rick Beato’s video about Joni Mitchell. Just didn’t hit with me. I respect the opinions of those much more learned than I in the music world but, at the same time, I love pop music and am open to all kinds of artists, regardless of their politics, and Joni Mitchell just never did it for me.
Ditto.
Yes, I do. I think it is funny as well as contemptible.
But again, giving the Young – or younger – devil his due, he did manage to put out some enjoyable and even rousing music, if Old Man and Heart of Gold, were not among them in my unassailable opinion.
I earlier mentioned Hey Hey, My My (Out of the … into the …) as one of them; and that I had left a link to it previously. As it was then unfamiliar to some, including, if I recall aright Huxley, I’ll chance that there is someone else who might be interested. You will have to try and ignore the camera as it pans across the faces of those particularly susceptible to spasms of crown induced ecstasy as they ferociously fellate the lyrics with their own lips.
But the guitar work up on stage is good. With Neo’s indulgence …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_hoW6qmeOo&list=RDw_hoW6qmeOo&start_radio=1
Neo also mentioned Young’s, YouTube channel.
Hits like Cinnamon Girl can be heard there, as well as Young getting his inner Lynard Skynard on with Cowgirl in the Sand. That whiny pathetic voice though. Geez, makes you want to slap him around just hearing it.
Think I’ll go listen to “Green River” ….
There is a thing called an “off” button. Some know how to use it, some just fantasize about the red neck lurking within. You see the other kind of “red neck” is an ignorant, hostile, and aggressive dude. Don’t be that guy.
I had forgotten about “Mister Soul”.
You can add that to the scale on behalf of Young. Maybe we can just sneak him into purgatory by the skin of his teeth.
“Ok kids. Yes you can watch the show. But only one glass of soda pop each, and don’t get popcorn on the carpet.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8VvEzuQ6Y
Speaking of sitting on the floor of the family room, looking up at that fancy new console color TV and watching The Smother’s Brothers, or Sonny and Cher, and seeing all the new acts .. here is a guy most of us have forgotten.
He showed up, had several hits, wrote several hits covered by others, and then disappeared.
Joe South … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M9se64HoTg
Re “Heart of Gold”: I was a pretty enthusiastic Neil Young fan in the Buffalo Springfield days, am one of the relative few who bought and was mostly enthusiastic about his neglected first solo album, as well as Everybody Knows. That’s by way of preface to saying that I didn’t like “Heart of Gold,” and was generally disappointed in the whole Harvest album. It wasn’t general dislike of Neil Young, obviously. I just thought it was a dull song, and then it got overplayed on radio to the point where I disliked it.
It was a “mellow” song on a “mellow” album and I soon realized that I disliked pretty much everything to which that adjective was applied.
Young and his Canadian compatriot Joni Mitchell are both childhood polio survivors, and so their vehement pro-vaccine stance is understandable
No, not really. There are vaccines and there are vaccines. You should be able to tell the difference between the menu of childhood vaccines you receive (you need once in your life), tetanus (decennial boosters), and flu vaccines (received annually, may reduce your risk of the flu by about 1/3). It should also occur to you to differentiate between pharmaceuticals which have been extensively vetted and those who have been given the quick-and-dirty. Nothing about having been ill as a youth excuses you being an obnoxious twit. Note, this wasn’t some tacky dispute with restaurant staff that landed in the Enquirer. They went out of their way to call attention to themselves.
Molly G.: “Things were clearer when the fascists still wore jackboots, not Birkenstocks.” Weren’t they though.
DNW: “Now, I don’t know that I’d go so far as to push him down a flight of stairs if I caught him alone in a wheelchair. That would be a bit melodramatic – and has been enacted better before.”
Richard Widmark as giggling psycho killer Tommy Udo in “Kiss of Death” (1947). Tough to beat!
Agree with Mac. The Winnipeg Whiner hit his peak with his second solo album, the one with “Cinnamon Girl”, “Down by the River”, “Cowgirl in the Sand”, “The Losing End”, and “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”. After that, meh.
For myself once a performer, musician, actor, whatever, goes public using their fame to promote the ideology of slavery and oppression I can no longer listen to their songs, view their movies/TV shows and see past their imbecilic politics. Whatever they do from then on all I see is someone who wants me and mine dead or in chains.
I wish I could sue them to get back the money invested in their work product which no longer has any value to me. I’d wonder what those who own the most of rights to the music of Young and Mitchell but they are likely lefties too.
Hubert:
Agree about the second album, after that it is a mixed bag.
DNW’s (6:44pm) video of “Hey, Hey” has got the most bass-ass bass sound I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard a lot, and I’ve heard this song a few times before, but I don’t recall hearing that. It’s no accident that the first bar of the song is just the bass. I think I hear some sub-harmonics in there.
I like some Neil Young songs and even bought one of his albums, “This Note’s for You.” I like Joni Mitchell quite a bit. “Court and Spark” is likely in my top 20 rock albums.
But…
“Heart of Gold?” “Old Man?” Nails on a chalkboard. Neil Young’s voice is an acquired taste that I never acquired. His whining so annoys me I realized I probably hadn’t heard “Heart of Gold” all the way through so I just google’d the lyrics, thinking maybe I missed something profound. Nope. Doesn’t look like I did.
Well, the chorus is profound, and I imagine that’s what folks appreciate about the song. It is a very strong concept, “searching for a heart of gold but getting old.” Sort-of a romantic twist to the tale of Diogenes. That phrase does say a lot. I’ll give him that. And that phrase is profound enough that it justifies the song, but “I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve been to Redwood?!” What are they? 500 miles apart? Writing a line about searching the Earth, and all of humanity and coming up empty, the best he could rhyme is two cities 1/50th of the planet’s diameter?!
In the interest of fair play, perhaps the stock price of Spotify is insufficient. We should be contrasting the number of Rogan listeners with the number of plays that Young’s and Mitchell’s songs are getting, over the long term trend. Let’s compare some numbers and view the trend lines, shall we?
I’m feel certain that Mr. Rogan is sleeping fine and that his lifestyle is unaffected. I don’t listen to him much, but I do review the guest list and then take in selected podcasts. It’s rare that I turn one off before completing it, but I sometimes do.
I’m coming around to the point of view that this might be a cynical deal for nest-egg padding by the Doddering Duo. And I notice that nobody else of any particular star quality has linked arms with them, as of yet. Rogan is authentic. They have become – not.
@ Art Deco: “ There are vaccines and there are vaccines.”
Exactly. That’s why I noted that Young and Mitchell are misinformed, while also suggesting that their ignorance may derive in part from their shared misfortune of having had polio before a vaccine was available. At least that is what I meant to suggest.
Ha. You nailed it. Something about film noir, or some of it. Of course for a certain generation before Ted Turner the stuff was shown free on TV … a couple decades after its release. Imagine that! American 8 year olds getting a free education French film students pay real money for. Assuming francs are real money of course.
Speaking of which, movies, not francs, you reminded me that I have to ask Neo a question …
The end will come when the left starts to believe their own BS. I remember Goebbels in the bunker railing at the allies as they bomb him to oblivion.
Ok Neo, if you read this, and if you have the time and or the inclination to humor me. A question:
You are from New York, right?
Please watch the intro to this movie, and tell me what street it is @ 1min:13 secs to 1: 20
A magnificent from on high shot of a canyon of skyscrapers caught at dusk’s last light. I have seen it on a 60″ screen and it is clearer. Would be one heck of a still shot.
The Big Combo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIkCXF9Y4ow
By the way Hubert certainly knows already, but I only lately put the theme song author’s name to the guy who wrote “Laura”.
I’m feeling more generous toward Neil Young already.
Rufus–“Hollywood to Redwood” reminds me of the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See:” “”Gonna take a freight train/As far as I can/I ain’t never coming back;
Ride me a southbound/All the way to Georgia/Till the train it run out of track”
The band was from South Carolina. “all the way to Georgia” was maybe a hundred miles, tops. Always gives me a chuckle.
Still a great song…
That is funny, boatbuilder. “west” and “north” – bound would also fit the meter and there are a lot of two syllable states in those directions they could have chosen instead, to add some real distance. Also, since there is a state south of Georgia why would the track run out of track there?
DNW:
I can barely see the buildings on that street on the film, it’s so noir. I don’t know what street it is. For a moment I considered Times Square because of the puffs of smoke on the right, a la the famous Camels sign, but they were too high and the shape of the street doesn’t seem right.
I notice that Rogan goes right to the evidence. Isn’t that an interesting contrast. One side makes accusations, hides behind vagueness, stamps its foot. The other talks to the subject. What would an objective person see?
And Rogan is not an intellectual, nor is he a debator, nor is he a polished public speaker. Why is he so persuasive?
Rufus T. Firefly:
I have long connected “Heart of Gold” to Diogenes – even to the point of imagining the singer with a miner’s helmet on with a light on it (“I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold”), which is a little like Diogenes’ lantern.
His voice is weird, and that’s why I mentioned that people might dislike his voice. I happen to like it. Not my favorite voice to be sure, but I like it.
Regarding Young and Mitchell, it may just be a case of “Us iconic Canucks gotta stick together…”
(And by the way, $#&%@!# truck drivers….)
In any event I’ll just have to help myself to some more of that Gordon Lightfoot, Blue Rodeo (or even Bare Naked Ladies) stuff…
Speaking of those Canadian truck drivers, all they have to do is form a cartel to smuggle fentanyl across the border and it’s a dead cert that “Biden” (no doubt with the blessings of “Obama Light”) will give them free and easy cross-border access….
“Cartels Have Operational Control Of US Border…”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cartels-have-operational-control-us-border-are-terrorizing-us-says-rep-chip-roy
There you go: Supply chain problem solved!…
…Alas, Sec. Pete is too busy exploring more important things, viz. how to expedite Big Brother “Biden”‘s dominance over the Land of the Free….
“The speed camera nightmare that’s coming to America…”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10455557/The-speed-camera-nightmare-thats-coming-America.html
H/T Zerohedge.
Meanwhile, “Biden” is “thinking”…”outside the box” (or at least claiming to do so):
“Biden To Designate Qatar A Major Non-NATO Ally Amid Efforts To Blunt Putin’s ‘Energy Weapon'”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/biden-designate-qatar-major-non-nato-ally-amid-efforts-blunt-putins-energy-weapon
Cute! Clever!: “Thinking” of ways to “blunt Putin’s ‘energy weapon'”…while actually enabling it!
But “Biden” IS good at that sort of thing! Another example:
“Biden’s ‘Anger’ Over High Insulin Prices Is Fake. Here’s Why”—
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/01/30/bidens-anger-over-high-insulin-prices-is-fake-heres-why-n1554354
Key graf:
“…Make no mistake about it: Joe Biden isn’t angry about the high cost of insulin. Why not? Because he is responsible for it….”
Let’s just say “he” has the knack….
Aggie,
Regarding Rogan’s persuasiveness:
He’s been a stand-up comic for 30 years. Persuading people to laugh is probably one of the more difficult human emotions to elicit. If a group of pastors sat down with a group of comics I imagine they’d find they have a lot in common.
Back through the looking glass….
…where it’s more than a bit discouraging to see how evil always seems to get more and more… evil….
“CBS News Tells Viewers Joe Rogan Is Killing People”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-cbs-news-tells-viewers-joe-rogan-killing-people
(As though Fauci, the Democrats and their media supporters, including CBS haven’t caused enough deaths…and continue to do so.)
– – – – – –
Related:
Laurence Fox and Ivermectin (continued), as he attempts to hoist the wokerati on their own foolish petard—
“…Laurence Fox says people who call controversial treatment Ivermectin a horse dewormer are racist – because ‘hundreds of millions of Africans take it'”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10463583/Covid-hit-Laurence-Fox-says-people-call-Ivermectin-horse-dewormer-racist.html
@ Barry > in re Canadian Truck Drivers “There you go: Supply chain problem solved!”
Your suggestion of forming a fentanyl cartel to get unrestricted border-crossing privileges is not one that the Canadians will embrace, I suspect; it’s similar to the suggestion that people unable to meet the stringent Covid requirements for air travel to US airports simply go to Mexico instead and walk across the border.
However, the supply chain issue has a curious “dog that didn’t bark in the night” quality that I haven’t seen discussed on any of the punditry I’m aware of: with all those trucks tied up in seditious insurrection (NYP estimates 2700 for the main protest)*, what’s happened to the goods that they usually transport, and why isn’t anyone talking about it?
Obviously, if someone has mentioned it, please let me know!
I can think of three possibilities –
(1) The supply chain is so empty they didn’t have anything to carry anyway, and are protesting in their free time;
(2) The supply chain is in such good shape, their trucks aren’t needed, and it won’t matter if they all quit over the vaxx mandates;
(3) The stores in Canada are suffering so much from the diversion of that many trucks from the supply chain, the government / media don’t dare call attention to it for fear all the other truckers will threaten to go on strike and the public will see what a fix they would be in then.
What am I missing?
*It’s hard to pin down any real numbers, and what percentage of the trucking fraternity is involved. The news reports seem to conflate number of trucks & number of protestors, most of whom are not driving; cross-border truckers & domestic truckers, who are not affected by the ban; and vaxxed truckers (90% in some stories) with unvaxxed ones.
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are auditioning for a part in a Casablanca remake
Major Strasser: Victor Lazlo published the foulest lies in the Prague newspapers until the very day we march in it. Even after that he continued to print scandal sheets in the cellar.
Ah yes, 50 years ago listening to the whiny drone of those two and trying to look wistfully into the distance, in the hopes of impressing some hippie chick enough to score free pussy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnzmpORTE8