How shall we recognize their valor?

With cannon blasts, motherfuckers.

BOOM. ROOOOOOOCK!

The gym the other day was playing 80s hair bands. They still sucked, but at least they weren't poets.

Rascal's favorite song right now is The Final Countdown. Obviously Gob Bluth appreciates it way more than I ever could, but the earnestness still amuses me.

It's a literal countdown. They're leaving Earth for Venus and they're not sure they're going to come back. It's not a metaphor for anything. Just a truly passionate song about blasting off to Venus, without the wink and sweetness of Rocket Man or the existential angst of Major Tom.

There's no way taking a phallic rocket to "venus" could be about anything but space exploration.

Look, they had the chance, but chose to rhyme "Venus" with "Seen us." That would have been a different song, okay?

Now I'm actually trying to figure out if this is about sex:

We're leavin' together
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back
To Earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
Will things ever be the same again?

We're all getting ready to have sex together? Or is he singing from the point of view of the seamen?

We're headin' for Venus (Venus)
And still we stand tall
'Cause maybe they've seen us
And welcome us all, yeah
With so many light years to go
And things to be found (to be found)
I'm sure that we all miss her so

Wait. This is about a bunch of sperm. Poor things not knowing if they'll reach the unfertilized egg or be thwarted by a diaphragm.

The current gym owner - young guy from the Rio Grande Valley, in his 20s - just loves heavy metal. I'm noticing that a lot of heavy metal has background singers chiming in (a la Venus (Venus)) in ways that are kind of surprisingly traditionally do-wop. And in ways that have kind of gone out of style since then.

Huh - it looks like Frost may have gotten that quote from someone else and twisted it to be about political liberals, specifically JFK, when it wasn't originally. A 1942 book puts in quotes the phrase "so very liberal that he cannot bring himself to take his own side in a quarrel", which sounds like it might be the older nonpolitical meaning of "liberal"; it seems to have been in a philosophical context.

With so many light years to go

Venus is a whole lot closer to Earth than that. I think maybe Joey Tempest is lost.

He's lost and having sex with a future seller of essential oils and Jill Stein-voter.

It would be nice if someone told liberals that the salt of the earth working class whom they pretend to care for don't respect the cringing, placating "Well, I know you're a smart guy; let's take a step back..." style of engagement.

Which is another way of saying that that CNN doctor should have met J/o/e R/og/an's very predictable, tedious aggression with something other than professional managerial class submissiveness.

There is a problem with liberals assuming good faith on the other side that doesn't exist, being generally reluctant to call out shitheads for being shitheads, and then getting walked all over. I read the quote as saying they shouldn't do that and it sounds about right to me.

Was never a big AC/DC fan, but my appreciation has grown somewhat over the years*. In particular "It's a Long Way to the Top ." Relatively early in their career and they were willing to go big with bagpipe thing. Has held up very well.

The Angus Young continuing schoolboy pants thing is pretty creep however...(or has he finally stopped)

On topic because I'm kicking him while he's down unlike a weak liberal: Rep. Fartenbury was indicted for campaign finance violations.

God it makes me so happy that AC/DC can be so earnest about rock and roll.

Thinking about unironic tributes to rock and roll, I'm reminded of the Mojo Nixon version of "This Land Is Your Land."

Robert Frost's porn name is "Robert Frost."

||
Adorno on the LA times astrology column 1952-54
https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/745814/e47ccf96d74aa1d7202e480e57c47667.pdf
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Rock n Roll: JJ and the Blackhearts cover of the MTM theme, Love is All Around

Hüsker Dü's version still makes me very happy.

Flippanter: I'm guessing that the CNN doctor (I presume, Dr. Sanjay Gupta) would argue that he's neither conservative nor liberal, in his role as a doctor, and that he's just arguing for the science. And sure, we libs (fuck would I like to kick McConnell in the nuts some days) would rejoinder that "believing in science" is a liberal position, so fuck it man, grab yer rifle and start shooting. But lots of scientists aren't going to be convinced by that: not least because their professional stature is partially due to their being seen as reliably truthful even under duress.

20 You read Warzel on Gupta (on Rogan)?

https://warzel.substack.com/p/joe-rogan-destroyssssss-cnn-you-wont

My first thought is, there's a difference between being too open-minded about principles and too open-minded about methods. Sure, we shouldn't compromise on the importance of e.g. free and open democracy, but there's room for debate about the national popular vote compact or other methods of improving or circumventing the Electoral College.

My second thought is, that's not too helpful because roughly 80 percent of the country would say they have the same principles, but roughly half of them are lying or so misled about the basic facts of reality that the distinction doesn't matter. So maybe we should pick whatever the best method is and elevate it to a principle? I don't know.

It took me longer than I thought to write this because was hard to find examples that were vaguely within the realm of possibility. An earlier example for ways to improve democracy was something about proportional representation, but at the national level at least, that would require a Constitutional convention. There's no way that's going to happen and it probably wouldn't go well for us if it did. Before that I might have said something about meaningful punishments for the attempted coup... So maybe another problem is just how hard meaningful progress is? Ugh.

We should want to be people who can and do consider different points of view, and who can take part in productive conversations. But we should also be capable of recognizing the difference between a productive conversation and a fight, and be reliable about siding with our allies when a fight is what's happening.

I sorta wish that the Democrats would realize that the other side is not in good faith and is willing to use any dirty tactic whatsoever to win, and respond appropriately. I'm not holding my breath though.

Everything is getting rougher. Alec Baldwin is shooting people.