The PNAC Devolution.

Where's

WolfieVille


Shorter Driftglass:

“...As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time...”

Donald Rumsfeld, 2004.

“...You’ve got to go to war with the president you have..."

William Kristol, 2025

Meanwhile, the president the neocon mob currently has has shortened the Friedman Unit from six months to two weeks.

Imagine that!

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Acronym in the header?...This.

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Bruno Gerussi's (Real) Medallion.

Where'sRelicWhenYou
NeedHimVille



A few weeks ago e. and her friend (i.e. not her sister) E. took me to a show at the Vogue theatre.

I got there a few minutes ahead of them and thus got to stand around on Granville Street in Downtown Lotusland watching the river flow for awhile

I found the plaque, above, in an eddy in the stream.

****

So...

Who did we go see?

Why it was Sharon Van Etten, someone whose all three of have liked for a while now for a bunch of different reasons.

Van Etten is a little like Neil Young used to be.

Not in musical substance or style but instead in the way she has to keep reinventing herself to move forward.

As such, most of her set was, to my mind at least, a somewhat bizarre simulacrum of Gary Numan and his synthesizers forever stranded on the set of the movie Cabaret.

It was interesting, but it sure was a long way from the earlier cosmic cowboy(ish) tunes of Ms. Van Etten's early period.

Here is a cover of one such tune...

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Header explained?....These guys.

Ms. Van Etten talks about the writing of the tune...Here.

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Announcing The Occupation.

WillThePeopleBe

AwokenVille


I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts the other day. It's by two smart guys who are politically aware but who mostly talk about other things that pique their interest.

Things like bird calls, geo guesser, guitar pedals, the difference(s) between lakes and ponds, and the world's most awesome skylines.

Anyway, this week, one of the pair, who lives in Los Angeles, mentioned how, except for occasional snippets on the news, he wasn't even aware of the ICE/National Guard/US Marine activities in his city.

Again, this is coming from someone who is very politically aware.

Which is why the incident with with US Senator Alex Padilla really matters.

And not just because of the outrageous actions of overzealous uniformed officers who led the senator away, forced him to the ground, and hand-cuffed him.

But because the resulting hullaballoo has ensured that everyone has also now heard the following statement by a senate-confirmed member of Mr. Trump's cabinet about the situation in Los Angeles:

"...We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city..."

In other words, this particular cabinet member was announcing that the Trump administration was using the military to occupy a city where the explicit, stated goal is to destroy that city's democratically elected government.

And now every American, not just the fine folks who watch FOX News, knows of that statement thanks to Mr. Padilla.

Which means that every American also now knows that the Trump administration is an autocracy.

Of course...

Whether every American understands what they now know is, unfortunately, another matter.

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As Long As There Are Stars Above You.

MoreThanJustPendletones

AndHamburgerStandsNowVille

Brian Wilson has died.

Ben Sisario has an excellent omnibus obituary up at The New York Times (web archive link):

..“Being called a musical genius was a cross to bear,” he (Wilson) told Rolling Stone in 1988. “Genius is a big word. But if you have to live up to something, you might as well live up to that.”...

Indeed.


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Earworm in the header?...This.


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Who Goes MAGA?

They'reOutThereHavingFun

InTheWarmCaliforniaSunVille

Who goes MAGA?

"...Sometimes I think there are direct biological factors at work—a type of education, feeding, and physical training which has produced a new kind of human being with an imbalance in his nature. He has been fed vitamins and filled with energies that are beyond the capacity of his intellect to discipline. He has been treated to forms of education which have released him from inhibitions. His body is vigorous. His mind is childish. His soul has been almost completely neglected..."

The passage above is from a famous essay that was written by Dorothy Thompson.

In August of 1941.

Given the timing of the piece, Ms. Thompson was writing about the joiners, enablers and go-along-to-get-alongers of a different, but not entirely ideologically dissimilar, group that was also identified by a four letter acronym.

In other words, at present there is nothing truly new happening under the Southern California sun.


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Subheader earworm?....This.

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The Fifty-Five Percent That ABC Vancouver Is Not Really Into.

OurPollingSays
ABCVille


From a 2023 Daily Hive piece by Kenneth Chan that itself was based on a Metro Vancouver Regional District report released that same year:

..(I)n 2021, there were 305,335 households in Vancouver, including 138,845 ownership households (45%) and 166,490 renter households (55%)...

So.

What does ABC Vancouver think they should do for renters who have, say, difficulty with their landlords?

Absolutely nothing according to a piece by Jen Schuermann who covers city hall for Rogers:

Vancouver city council has decided against bringing back an agency designed to protect renters.

Coun. Lucy Maloney’s motion to bring back the Renter Office was voted down on Wednesday.

Established in 2018, the Renter Office provided information and assistance to tenants about their rights.

In 2023, however, ABC Vancouver voted to defund the office, despite city staff recommending that the service be continued...

Quelle surprise!

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But Can He Catch A Football?

Zap!

You'reFrozenVille


It seems that a lot of folks on the progressive side of the ledger and/or Althia Raj of the Star are aghast that Mark Carney is playing footsie with our oiligarchs while introducing an omnibus 'strong borders' bill.

But what did they/we expect?

After all, as Eric Scrimshaw has pointed out, we progressives made our choice when we elected a progressive conservative/pink tory to keep the whackaloons from gaining power.

Given that, it makes perfect sense, from a hard-nosed realpolitik point of view, for Carney to cut two of the stoutest whackaloonian legs out from under them while at the same time doing what's right for stability and the business environment.

Heckfire.

If noted pink tory from days of yore Robert Stanfield hadn't dropped that football on the tarmac in North Bay Ontario in 1974 it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that he would have espoused similarly themed pre-millennial policies back in the day.



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It turns out that the roll of film shot by Canadian Press photographer Doug Ball that day in 1974 had a number of shots of Mr. Stanfield catching the ball as well...It was the Globe and Mail that chose the dropsie shot for its front page, a decision that many folks figure caused Stanfield's demise and electoral loss to Trudeau senior that year.

Subheader?...This was a phrase Pierre Trudeau used to deride Stanfield's call for wage and price controls during the 1974 election campaign. Of course, the following year Trudeau instituted both.



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