Veterans Day Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. MarkedMan says:

    [This is a continuation of an obscure discussion between me an Matt B]
    @mattbernius: I’m sure you are right about various sections of 490, but it appears the Erie Canal bed was used for the subway and later for 490. From Wiki:

    From downtown Rochester to the Can of Worms, it follows the former right-of-way of the Rochester Subway and, before it, the Erie Canal.

    I realized the Erie Canal connection of 490 when I was house shopping. I noticed that a) most of the highway I used from the Aves to Xerox in Webster was substantially lower than street level, and b) some houses that butted up against the highway were situated on lots that broke the grid pattern and adapted to the diagonal boundary on the highway side, and those houses were built decades before the highway. I asked some friends if it been built on a riverbed of some sort and they explained the Erie Canal connection and pointed out that every day I drove past the preserved remnants of two of the locks, with plaques indicating what they were. Here’s one of them.

    1
  2. wr says:

    Hey, all you free speech warriors here.

    I mean, the guys who start jumping up and down and screaming “cancel culture” when some college kid refuses to laugh at a comedian’s jokes or clowns on Twitter circulate a petition to pull some movie off a streaming service.

    I’m wondering why you’ve been so silent in recent days. I realize that maybe the current threats to free speech aren’t as chilling as someone trying to take down a statue, but surely it deserves mention that in Florida, professors were prevented from testifying in trials as subject matter experts (in areas like voting rights and health policy) if their opinions contradicted those of the governor — because the government decided they were agents of the state and thus they were expected only to repeat the government’s line or face firing.

    Oh, and in Pennsylvania and Virginia, school boards are going through school libraries and yanking dozens of books off the shelves — starting with Toni Morrison, and including just about every Black author other than Thomas Sowell. Oh, and the head of the school board in Virginia said that these books were evil and should literally be “thrown in a fire.” Another board member is more generous — he thinks the community should be allowed to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.” https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/11/cancel-culture-7

    Oh, and in case anyone here cares, the list includes a lot of acclaimed YA novels. I realize this isn’t nearly the threat to writers that being criticized on Twitter represents, but I’d think that at least some of you who are so concerned when all those awful progressives act against free speech might have an issue here.

    But… crickets.

    5
  3. Stormy Dragon says:

    As predicted, moderates immediately break their BBB promises the minute BIF is passed:

    NEW: Sen. Joe Manchin could punt Biden’s Build Back Better agenda until next year over inflation worries — potentially killing a quick deal on the $1.75 trillion package, people familiar with the matter tell Axios. https://t.co/TmUZfLuPwg— Axios (@axios) November 11, 2021

    3
  4. mattbernius says:

    Hey just wanted to recognize the service of the Veterans in our little community. Here’s to you (in no particular order) James, Andy, HarvardLaw92, Jim Brown, @John430, and any others I’ve missed.

    14
  5. mattbernius says:

    @MarkedMan:

    I’m sure you are right about various sections of 490, but it appears the Erie Canal bed was used for the subway and later for 490

    Right. My issue wasn’t so much that they decided to follow the bed, but rather the idea (and perhaps I got your intention wrong) that the bed was selected because it was easy to build on or there were no buildings/neighborhoods on it.

    By the time of the construction, at least downtown, a lot had been built upon it, and creating both the loop and 490 destroyed a lot of housing and building and broke up communities–especially downtown and in the 19th Ward).

  6. wr says:

    Hey EddieinCA — Any thoughts on the strike vote coming up this weekend? My only source is Deadline, and they are completely untrustworthy on any labor issues, since the companies buy ads and the unions don’t…

    2
  7. CSK says:

    Warning from a former executive in the firearms industry:

    http://www.thebulwark.com/prepare-for-the-shock-troops/

    I posed that question last month when I first read the opening quote. You know they’re just salivating at the prospect of using their guns.

  8. Mike in Arlington says:

    I saw a man this morning
    Who did not wish to die:
    I ask and cannot answer,
    If otherwise wish I.

    Fair broke the day this morning
    Against the Dardanelles;
    The breeze blew soft, the morn’s cheeks
    Were cold as cold sea-shells.

    But other shells are waiting
    Across the Aegean Sea,
    Shrapnel and high explosive,
    Shells and hells for me.

    O hell of ships and cities,
    Hell of men like me,
    Fatal second Helen,
    Why must I follow thee?

    Achilles came to Troyland
    And I to Chersonese:
    He turned from wrath to battle,
    And I from three days’ peace.

    Was it so hard, Achilles,
    So very hard to die?
    Thou knewest, and I know not—
    So much the happier I.

    I will go back this morning
    From Imbros over the sea;
    Stand in the trench, Achilles,
    Flame-capped, and shout for me.

    –Patrick Shaw-Stewart

    4
  9. CSK says:

    “I’m really worried about a return of Donald Trump this time, because this time, the Velociraptors have figured out how to work the doorknobs.”

    — David Frum, November 10, 2021

    10
  10. Kathy says:

    @Stormy Dragon:

    I’ve a better idea:

    Let’s take $2 trillion and use it to buy shares of the most highly valued companies. then turn the shares over to the companies, because the government shouldn’t be playing the stock market. This will, well, something, mumble-mumble-mumble, jobs and trickle down, I think.

    2
  11. Michael Cain says:

    How quickly things become routine. Reading through my usual news sources this morning, one would never know that SpaceX successfully launched another crew bound for the ISS last night. Meanwhile, Boeing thinks it may be mid-2022 before they are ready to make their second attempt to launch the unmanned version of their capsule to the ISS.

    2
  12. Kathy says:

    @Michael Cain:

    Hm. I usually get email alerts from SpaceX for every launch. Not this time.

  13. wr says:

    @barbintheboonies: So I gather that you are in favor of burning Beloved and making university professors vassals of the governor?

    2
  14. CSK says:

    F. W. de Klerk has died.

  15. mattbernius says:

    @barbintheboonies funny to suddenly see you back with a vengeance talking about evil democrats and riots. I wonder where that rightous preaching was on all of those 1/6 threads and comments.

    3
  16. mattbernius says:

    Another, more somber note for Veterans day: if you know a veteran, today’s a great day just to check in on them and see how they are doing. Veterans, regardless if they saw direct combat or not, are at a higher risk of mental and emotional illness. Service often comes with a lot of trauma and the impacts of that can be felt for years and years.

    Here are resources that can help: https://www.samhsa.gov/smvf-ta-center

    3
  17. Monala says:

    Hey! Racist Barb is back!

    3
  18. CSK says:

    Trump is apparently engaging in foreign policy. Today he announced that his “Envoy Ambassador Ric Grenell visited the Kosovo-Serbia border to highlight this important agreement,” one made during his administration.

    1
  19. MarkedMan says:

    @wr: I’m not sure where you would put me on this spectrum, but I’ll take them one by one:

    but surely it deserves mention that in Florida, professors were prevented from testifying in trials as subject matter experts (in areas like voting rights and health policy) if their opinions contradicted those of the governor

    It absolutely deserves mentioning and it is a terrible thing. The power of the state or an organization to stop people from publicly stating their beliefs or testifying in an area they are expert in should be used very sparingly and then only in extreme cases. One example would be if the public employee is spreading lies or misinformation, but that should be judged by other experts in the field and the process should be open and apparent.

    Oh, and in Pennsylvania and Virginia, school boards are going through school libraries and yanking dozens of books off the shelves — starting with Toni Morrison, and including just about every Black author other than Thomas Sowell.

    I had only heard about the Toni Morrison book and so can only speak to that. I think the parent that brought it up had a legitimate concern. I haven’t read it but from news accounts understand the book contains very graphic scenes including one where chained black slaves are forced to sodomize white overseers. If this book was being given as required reading to say, a freshman lit class, I would also have a problem with it. I can imagine only too well how 13 years olds would react to such a thing, and if black kids were in the minority in the classroom, how easily comments in the hallways could get incredibly ugly. In the event though, the book was assigned to AP level seniors and are therefore considered to be at the college level. That makes sense to me and I would trust that the teachers involved could keep an eye on any immaturity or racist behavior or comments. That said, I think the left and progressive reaction has been stereotypically bad. The parent who raised their concern and those who joined in are ignorant hicks, little more than racist boobs. I firmly believe that public officials are responsible to address all legitimate concerns by their constituents, even if they don’t share those concerns. A much more productive reaction would have been, “I would agree with you if this was being assigned to a general high school course, but this is the type of difficult reading that is typically assigned in college, and that is what the AP program is about. If a child is not ready for it, then that is essentially evidence that they shouldn’t be in an AP literature course.”

    5
  20. wr says:

    @MarkedMan: It’s not just Beloved, and it’s not just about books being assigned. It is essentially every book that has anything more complex than hop on pop, they’re not just taking them off lists but yanking them out of libraries, and they are literally planning to burn them.

    Is burning books in your mind a legitimate concern?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/10/i-think-we-should-throw-those-books-fire-movement-builds-right-target-books/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F35423c0%2F618d50409d2fdab56b84f48f%2F5976bb999bbc0f6826ba7fed%2F38%2F72%2F618d50409d2fdab56b84f48f

    1
  21. MarkedMan says:

    @wr:

    Is burning books in your mind a legitimate concern?

    Of course not. We have a disagreement on tactics, not values. Why are you trying to paint me as an enemy?

    3
  22. Jen says:

    What is striking to me about this book banning/burning issue is that it is not confined to books actively being taught in classes, these people want the books *removed from the school library.*

    That’s censorship. That is saying “not only do I not want MY child reading this book, YOUR child cannot read it either.”

    That’s different and it’s worse. Parent your own child however you want to. Stick your head in the sand, take away anything that might challenge their thinking so that they can grow up to be good little MAGAs/Stepford Wives. But don’t take away the right to read from others.

    My parents didn’t police my reading at all. I read plenty of stuff that would cause these pearl-clutchers to faint dead away. I was reading V.C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic in 7th grade. I think I read Go Ask Alice the year before that. Granted, I was an advanced reader, but that has to do with vocabulary, not maturity. Honestly, just be glad your kids are reading and create an environment at home where they can ask questions about what they read if they want to.

    I can’t BELIEVE we’re still talking about book banning in 2021.

    10
  23. steve says:

    I was the physician and veteran asked to give a veterans speech for our network today. I gave a fairly anodyne short speech on values. The non-physician, we always have a non doctor, spent a goodly amount of time ranting about how the socialists are destroying the country.

    Steve

    4
  24. Michael Reynolds says:

    @wr:

    Oh, and in case anyone here cares, the list includes a lot of acclaimed YA novels. I realize this isn’t nearly the threat to writers that being criticized on Twitter represents,

    What bothers you more, @wr, an insult from someone who knows you and who you like? Or an insult from someone you know despises you?

    In the kidlit community we are long since grown indifferent to attacks from the Right. We know they’re assholes. We know they’ll attack us. For example, there was a small but bizarre effort by some on the Right to attack ANIMORPHS because turning into animals is satanic, dontcha know. Our reaction was to laugh. In fact, I’m still annoyed that I have not yet been officially banned by school districts. Unofficial bans, sure, but not on the all important banned books list, which is universally seen as a badge of honor.

    We did not expect to be stabbed in the back by our friends and allies. A lot of writers abandoned YA and went to middle grade in part to avoid ‘friendly fire.’ Editors and writers are walking on eggshells, not because of the Right, but because of the Left. Taking fire from one side is bad enough, being stuck in the middle between loons on both sides is a bit much.

    5
  25. Jc says:

    @Jen:
    Exactly. It’s bizarre parenting for sure. I can guarantee that 100% of these righteous parents bought iPhones for their 11 year olds and allow them to waste away on mindless tik toks, Snapchat, Twitter with all it’s non offensive rants and writings, you tube, or just free search the internet at will, because, hey, what could possibly come up on the net worse than a book in a school library, that breeding ground of filth lol . Most of these kids don’t even read. That requires putting down your phone

    2
  26. Michael Reynolds says:

    @wr:
    BTW, what do you think happens to books pulled from the market because of Lefty objections? Is mulching better than burning? Or just less dramatic?

    1
  27. wr says:

    @MarkedMan: ” Why are you trying to paint me as an enemy?”

    I’m not. You and I were referring to two different scenarios.

  28. wr says:

    @Michael Reynolds: I understand the sentiment, but I can’t help feeling that a lot of liberals are spending huge amounts of energy blasting those friends while we’re beginning to see a real Fascist movement towards book burning and censorship, and it’s being ignored because it’s just “those people.” Trouble is, “those people” are seizing control over school boards, and they don’t want to let people have access to a lot of important books.

    Maybe we on the left could declare a cease-fire for a bit and go after what is about to start growing into a dangerous monster.

    3
  29. CSK says:

    @CSK:
    By the way, what exactly is an “Envoy Ambassador”? AFAIK, they’re two different things.

    3
  30. Mu Yixiao says:

    @wr:

    we’re beginning to see a real Fascist movement towards book burning and censorship,

    You’re just paying more attention to it now. Nothing’s changed in the past 50 years (except, perhaps, fewer of the books actually get banned). Banned Books week has been an official thing for almost 40 years.

    Banned books were showcased at the 1982 American Booksellers Association (ABA) BookExpo America trade show in Anaheim, California. At the entrance to the convention center towered large, padlocked metal cages, with some 500 challenged books stacked inside and a large overhead sign cautioning that some people considered these books dangerous.

    2
  31. Mister Bluster says:

    @Michael Cain:..one would never know that SpaceX successfully launched another crew bound for the ISS last night.

    I read this story on the My Yahoo homepage last night.

  32. Sleeping Dog says:

    Oh my. The only announced NH R senate candidate seems to believe the path to election is to attack the incumbent R governor calling him a “communist sympathizer.” R wack jobs calling their erstwhile opponents ‘communists’ has a long and sordid history in NH politics, me thinks Boldoc is living in the 1960’s.

    Maggie wants this guy as her opponent.

    While some of Bolduc’s rhetoric appears to be motivated by personal anger at Sununu’s unwillingness to back him in last year’s Senate primary, the retired general has embraced conspiracy theories as a central part of his campaign.

    Bolduc is touting Trump’s fact-free claims about the Biden campaign stealing the 2020 presidential campaign.

    Bolduc was also one of 124 retired generals and admirals who released a letter in May claiming the election was rigged in Biden’s favor. And his most recent campaign event headlined disgraced former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

    “He was a lousy candidate when he was sane,” one NHGOP insider told NHJournal. “Running as a lunatic isn’t much of an improvement.”

    2
  33. wr says:

    @Michael Reynolds: “BTW, what do you think happens to books pulled from the market because of Lefty objections? Is mulching better than burning? Or just less dramatic?”

    To me, the difference is that those books can only be pulled if the editors and publishers in question choose to bow down to the Twitter howler monkeys, and I’m hopeful they’ve learned, or will be learning, that lesson. The actual Twitter mob has no power other than the power to persuade. The right-wing book burners are acting with state power behind them, as in Florida in stifling the speech of faculty members.

    6
  34. wr says:

    @Mu Yixiao: “Nothing’s changed in the past 50 years (except, perhaps, fewer of the books actually get banned)”

    Except that the book burners are no longer cranks on the outside shouting in, but thanks to the right-wing hysteria over “CRT” have seized power in multiple school districts and are putting that power to work.

    3
  35. CSK says:

    @Sleeping Dog:
    Not just a “communist sympathizer,” but a “Chinese communist sympathizer.” Yowza.

    Maggie Hassan must be jumping for joy. I didn’t realize she was running behind Chris Sununu.

  36. Mu Yixiao says:

    @wr:

    Except that the book burners are no longer cranks on the outside shouting in, but thanks to the right-wing hysteria over “CRT” have seized power in multiple school districts and are putting that power to work.

    Also not new. They’ve been doing that using the spectre of communism, feminism, evolution, etc., going back decades. Hell… the Scopes Monkey Trial was in 1925.

    And liberals have fought back every time, and made progress. Slow, halting progress, but forward movement nonetheless. In fact, the current events are quite likely prohibited based on the SCOTUS case “Island Trees SD v Pico“, which holds that a SD may not remove books based solely on their content.

    1
  37. Kathy says:

    Antisemitism was nothing new in Germany in the 1930s, until it was.

    4
  38. Joe says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    At the entrance to the convention center towered large, padlocked metal cages, with some 500 challenged books stacked inside and a large overhead sign cautioning that some people considered these books dangerous.

    I say throw in some ANIMORPHS books. Michael needs the royalty pop!

    1
  39. JohnSF says:

    Meanwhile in Europe, the fun continues:
    Belarus threatens to cut gas deliveries to EU if sanctioned over border crisis
    And Russian Tu-160’s carry out strike exercises in Belarus.
    Belarus leader says he needs Russian nuclear-capable bombers to navigate border crisis

    EU responds by floating option of direct funding of frontier barriers.
    And refuse to back down on sanctions.

    “Work on the fifth package of sanctions is in full swing. If all goes well, the foreign ministers can give the green light as early as Monday,”

    Speaking to the Bundestag, Heiko Maas:

    “…the European Union will expand and strengthen sanctions against the regime of Lukashenko,”
    “It is high time there were consequences because of the migrant crisis”,

    Maybe Berlin is at last beginning to have second thoughts about its favourite top tunes:
    “wandel durch handel” and “energiewiende!/atomkraft nein danke”

    1
  40. Sleeping Dog says:

    @CSK:

    In the spring the numbers were reversed and she was besting him by 2-3 points. But the Dem infrastructure follies and now inflation have taken there toll. 40-42% is pretty much the ceiling for any candidate Dem or R, if you only look at those voters who will only vote for candidates of one party. Probably due to the education levels, NH has a higher percentage of true swing voters and it is likely that Sununu was capturing a chunk of those voters in the recent polls.

    I read another piece that whined that Sununu was only out for Sununu and not for the party. Of course in NH that is considered a feature and not a bug. By claiming that he is putting his family and NH first, he gets a lot of love from the voters. The problem for NH Dems will be finding someone to run against him for governor. Is there a special term for sacrificial lamb in politics?

  41. Kathy says:

    Following the Homer Simpson Principle (or one of them), some people find it’s easy to get vaccinated, but it’s even easier to lie and say you were vaccinated.

    These people are finding like-minded individuals, for whom it’s easy to say they’ll produce a vaccination card in exchange for money, but it’s even easier for them to produce nothing in exchange for money.

    It’s reare when some crime leaves you feeling no sympathy for either the victims or the perpetrators.

    1
  42. Sleeping Dog says:

    @JohnSF:

    You would think that Putin is too smart to go to war with Europe over Belarus, but that Lukashenko is dumb enough to believe that he would.

    All this builds the French case that Europe needs a unified defense structure. And yes, Germany’s shutting down its nukes was folly.

    1
  43. CSK says:

    @Joe:
    That’s the silver lining. I can’toffhand think of a banned book that isn’t still in print. Every time someone tries to squash a literary work, a bunch of people go out and buy it.

    Remember when a fatwa was issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie because The Satanic Verses was deemed blasphemous? A hitherto fairly obscure book became a bestseller. Of course, Rushdie had to go into hiding, but I’m sure he appreciated the money and acclaim outside of the Ayatollah’s followers.

    3
  44. dazedandconfused says:

    @steve:

    Where The Veterans Are

    She serves your food
    At your favorite restaurant
    Because she couldn’t
    Concentrate on college,
    So her GI bill stopped paying,

    He mows your lawn
    Because he has trouble with authority
    Especially the high-school-aged
    Assistant-manager type
    Like the ones in restaurants

    They work as janitors
    Because they have no problem
    Cleaning urinals, especially
    During the night shift
    When no one else is around
    And they don’t mind
    When a job well done
    Goes unnoticed.

    They are home and homeless,
    Attempting to reconnect
    With basic needs,
    Those they lost,
    And the time
    They all really lived.

    -Somebody.

    4
  45. JohnSF says:

    @Sleeping Dog:

    “…the French case that Europe needs a unified defense structure.”

    On that topic Josep Borrell, European Union Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy yesterday:
    “Europe is in danger…We need to have rapid deployment capabilities”
    “We have a strategic responsibility. Citizens want to be protected. Soft power is not enough”
    “All the threats we face are intensifying and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining,”

    Given that France is pushing this hard, and blockage by the UK is no longer a factor, if Berlin can be persuaded to actually pony up, there is some chance of this finally gaining traction.

    Assuming that Hungary can be neutered; be interesting to know how Warsaw/Budapest diplomacy is going right now.

    And yes, it would be very nice to know what Putin’s real game plan is for this; assuming it’s not just the Kremlin auto-troll reflex at work again.

    1
  46. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Kathy:

    Even funnier version I saw is that Greek doctors were taking bribes from anti-vaxxers to inject them with saline so they could get around the country’s vaccine mandate, but then injecting them with the real vaccine anyways and keeping the bribe money.

    2
  47. CSK says:

    @Stormy Dragon:
    You may have seen it here on OTB. 😀 I mentioned that a few days ago. It was pretty funny.

  48. Kathy says:

    @Stormy Dragon:

    I’ve heard of that, right here in fact.

    I don’t know what’s in the vials Pfizer ships, exactly, but after thawing, they have to dilute the contents with a small amount of saline solution. Ergo, the Greek doctors are injecting saline to their patients.

    Win/Win.

    On other news, New Zealand, after a long time successfully keeping the trump disease away, is ready to jump on the bandwagon and get itself some thousands of cases, overwhelmed hospitals, and stacked corpses.

    New Zealand’s problem isn’t that it took extreme measures to arrest the spread of SARS-CoV-2, nor that it was very successful, but that hardly any other countries did even 1/10th as well.

    The whole COVID pandemic leaves me in the unusual position of quoting from Revenge of the Sith:

    Kenobi: Wait a minute. How did this happen? We’re smarter than this!
    Anakin: Apparently not.

  49. Kathy says:

    If anyone has anything to say of TV brands Hisense, Vizio, and JVC, I’d be very grateful.

    These sell cheap, but for all I know might be the electronic equivalent of a lemon. Well-known brands like Samsung, Sony, and LG are priced higher. I think I recall owning a JVC VHS deck decades ago, but I’m not certain.

    My defunct Samsung LCD 32″ actually malfunctioned once before, shortly after I first got it. It was fixed under warranty, and kept working well until a few months ago.

  50. Thomm says:

    @Kathy: the Vizio’s I have had at home and in workplaces have been pretty durable and great pic for their price point.

    2
  51. CSK says:

    @Thomm: @Kathy:
    I’ve had a pretty good experience with Vizios.

    2
  52. Kathy says:

    @Thomm:

    Thanks.

    I see these brands everywhere, and wonder whether they are legit or cheap junk. At that, LG was once called Goldstar, and it suffered from a bad reputation quality-wise.

    @CSK:

    I guess I’ll give them a look then.

  53. gVOR08 says:

    I see the DC Circuit has issued a temporary stay so the Nat’l Archives won’t be releasing TFG’s 1/6 papers tomorrow. They apparently plan a hearing on Nov. 30. I guess that’s their idea of expeditious. So Garland has an excuse to delay doing anything about Bannon’s subpoena for another three weeks at least, and gawd knows how long after that until the DC Circuit rules. And Trump will then appeal to the Supremes, hoping to delay to the midterms and a chance of a GOP House.

  54. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Kathy:

    We have a couple of Vizio TV’s in the house and they seem fine. As I recall when we bought the first one, I did a bunch of research and they were well regarded, even compared to more expensive units.

    Frankly, unless you are looking to be blown away by the picture and sound, any TV that is well regarded will make you happy. Lately, I’ve been upgrading my audio equipment. If I were buying new it would be stupid money, but used it is only, how much! That said, I can tell the difference and appreciate that difference. But TV’s eh.

    3
  55. Kathy says:

    @gVOR08:

    Before the Supremes, il piccolo duce has to try the full DC appeals court, in order to add more time to his delaying moves. That’s all he wants, as you’ve noted. He knows he won’t win

  56. Matt Bernius says:

    Add me to the Vizio list as well. For the price point we were willing to spend is worked out great.

  57. Gustopher says:

    Today, in Spotify’s “new releases” for me was Tom Jones covering Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet.”

    Mr. Jones does not effectively capture Dylan’s basic tone of staggering bleakness opting instead for a more hopeful and triumphant reading of lines such as:

    Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
    Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain

    And

    I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
    I know it looks like I’m movin’ but I’m standin’ still
    Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
    I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
    Don’t even hear the murmur of a prayer
    It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there

    I’m sure it’s not the worst cover of a Bob Dylan song (that would go to Billy Joel, transforming “Make You Feel My Love” from a song threatening violence to a sweet love song about persistence), but it’s pretty impressively awful.

    Strongly recommended for those who love bad covers that completely miss the point of the original.

    (Tom Jones’ cover of the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down The House” remains an unironically beloved classic, however)

  58. Kathy says:

    @Sleeping Dog:
    @Matt Bernius:

    Thanks,

    I guess I’m lucky when it comes to video and audio. Once the picture or sound is clear, that’s enough for me. Anything above that is wasted.

  59. Michael Reynolds says:

    @wr:

    Maybe we on the left could declare a cease-fire for a bit and go after what is about to start growing into a dangerous monster.

    I’m all for that. I held my fire in kidlit and against progressives more generally, all during the Trump regime. I did not go on Twitter and point out that ‘Defund’ was electoral suicide that would absolutely fuel a backlash. I did not make the point that Antifa were appropriating BLM and discrediting it with juvenile antics. Or that #believeallwomen was insane self-defeating overreach. I resisted pointing out that progs can’t win a race in a district that’s not at least D+10, and that Bernie couldn’t carry three states in a general election. I did not make the point that ‘socialism’ was a sure loser. And so on, and on.

    And I stopped engaging with kidlit at all after I realized my ‘peers’ were simply not up to debating or defending what they took to be Received Truth. You might as well try debating virgin birth with a Fundie.

    All that atypically restrained behavior on my part, despite having been repeatedly ‘canceled’ by the progressive kidlit Twitter mob for taking positions, every one of which was later vindicated. I started with the assumption that people on my side, liberals, progressives were, you know, the good guys. They are the better guys, usually, but progressives are also intolerant, narrow-minded, and quite often so fucking stupid they’d smash themselves in the face with a mallet.

    I’m all for kumbaya with progressives, despite the fact that they will absolutely continue to self-sabotage with half-baked policy ideas, all while viciously attacking their allies over any slight deviation from their holy writ – holy writ as updated hourly. But sure. Peace.

  60. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @mattbernius: Thank you Sir!

    1