P.M. Headlines

(Chicago Tribune): "Pearl Harbor veterans mark 'day of infamy'"

(Politico): "When Barry Met Kathy: Almost never, it turns out"

(The Hill): "Immigration advocates bank on budget deal to rescue overhaul"

(New York Times): ""Lowest jobless rate in 5 years raises odds of a Fed move"

(ABC News): "War vet tourist returns home after North Korea detention"

The new and improved Kirsten Gillibrand

By Michael J.W. Stickings

What a difference a few years can make.

Back in 2009, when then-New York Gov. David Paterson named then-Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary's vacated spot in the Senate, I said it was "a horrible, horrible pick": 

Earlier, I suggested that Gillibrand, who represents a pro-Bush district, is "almost a Republican." Almost? I'd say she pretty much is, what with a 100% approval rating from the NRA, support for the Iraq War, and, as she herself put it, "one of the most conservative" voting records in the state, including voting for the FISA bill that included telecom immunity and to lift the ban on the possession of semi-automatic weapons in D.C. Her father was close to former Republican Governor George Pataki. She even once interned for former Senator Al D'Amato, a conservative and hyper-partisan Republican.

Was that wrong? No. But has Senator Gillibrand emerged as something altogether different? Yes.

The fact is, Gillibrand represented a fairly conservative district in upstate New York. (Obama won it decisively in 2008 and 2012, but Bush won it by fairly large margins in 2000 and 2004.) And so her views very much lined up with what she had to do to succeed there. That's not to say she was lying about herself. While she was strong on civil liberties and a proponent of same-sex marriage (and gays in the military), there is no doubt that she was genuinely a conservative Democrat, and that's why many of us were concerned when she was appointed to the Senate.

But give her credit. She's adapted to her role as New York's junior senator and broadened her views, or at least her positions, to reflect a significantly more progressive outlook.

Read more »

On the Hustings

(ABC News): "Rand Paul says wife is against a 2016 run"

(The Hill): "Poll: Millennials turning against ObamaCare"

(Roll Call): "Club for Growth stands with Cochran challenger"

(Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel): "Gov. Scott Walker gaining support for plan to sidestep Obamacare"

(Real Clear Politics): "Hickenlooper, Udall hold small leads in Colo."

Jefferson, Christmas, and Sarah Palin's faux America; or, further evidence that Sarah Palin is a complete moron

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Raw Story:

If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, Sarah Palin said, he would probably go on Fox News to complain about the war on Christmas.

The former half-term governor of Alaska and failed vice presidential candidate appeared Thursday at Liberty University to promote her new book Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.

She told the audience of students that the U.S. Constitution was written by and for moral and religious people, and that nonreligious people probably were incapable of appreciating its principles.

*****

Palin said Jefferson would likely agree that secularists had set their sights on destroying the religious themes in Christmas celebrations.

"He would recognize those who would want to try to ignore that Jesus is the reason for the season, those who would want to try to abort Christ from Christmas," she said. "He would recognize that, for the most part, these are angry atheists armed with an attorney. They are not the majority of Americans."

Palin said there was a double standard that protected atheists at the expense of the religious.

I was going to go through her incorrect statements one by one, but, really, everything she said is wrong. The woman has zero understanding of America, its Founders, and its Constitution, and it's simply ludicrous that she opens her mouth to suggest otherwise.

[Keep reading to see how Woody Allen fits into all this.]
 
Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(CBS News): "Obama lights the national Christmas tree"

(CBS News): "Washington welcomes release of detained American"

(Huffington Post): ""Third Way op-ed writer says Elizabeth Warren's backing of Social Security plan was the 'final moment'"

(New York Times): "New York’s junior senator, doggedly refusing to play the part"

(Charlie Cook): "Can Democrats recover from the Obamacare catastrophe?"

Stupidest Shithole in America: Pickens County, South Carolina

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(We haven't done one of these in months. Needless to say, though, there are many, many shitholes all across America -- like Nelson, Georgia; Mississippi; Dietrich, Idaho; and Burkesville, Kentucky -- so let's get back to it.)

Sorry, people of Pickens County, South Carolina. Whether you're part of the problem or not, it's your sheriff who gets you on the map this time:

Rick Clark, the sheriff of Pickens County, S.C., vowed on Friday to defy President Obama's order that U.S. flags be lowered to half staff in honor of deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Clark made his promise in a Facebook post to keep flying the flag at the Pickens County Sheriff's Office at full height.

"I usually don't post political items, but today is different. I received this notification today, 'As a mark of respect for the memory of Nelson Mandela, the President orders that the flag of the United States be flown at half-staff effective immediately until sunset, December 9, 2013,'" Clark wrote. "Nelson Mandela did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!! The flag should be lowered at our Embassy in S. Africa, but not here."

Well, at least the guy's not explicitly anti-Mandela, at least not publicly, but his excuse is still incredibly stupid. The U.S. has lowered its flags for non-Americans before, and I think it's fair to say that Mandela was more than "just" a South African. And of course it doesn't help matters that this is happening in the South, where, you know, slavery, Jim Crow, etc., etc.

It looks like there's some beautiful country down your way, Pickensians, or whatever you're called, but some of your humanfolk leave rather a lot to be desired.

(Cue banjo.)

On the Hustings

(Roll Call): "Cochran to seek re-election in Mississippi"

(Londonderry Patch): "Scott Brown in 'no hurry' to decide on NH senate run"

(The Hill): "Biden or Clinton? Obama won't choose"

(Washington Post): "For 2014 midterm elections, Republicans may decide to be cautious"

(National Journal): "Can Tom Cotton win the Senate for the GOP?"

When Rick Santorum is one of the "brightest" you have....

By Richard K. Barry

Think, man. What is the dumbest thing
I can say today?

I was waiting to see how soon Republican foolishness would manifest itself in the wake of Mandela's death, and it didn't take long. 

GOP big thinker Rick Santorum appeared with Fox News bigger thinker Bill O'Reilly yesterday and tied the world changing work of Mr. Mandela to Obamacare, and not in a good way.

“He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument that we have a great injustice going on right now in this country with an ever-increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people’s lives — and Obamacare is front and center in that,” Santorum said Thursday on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Yes, providing healthcare to millions of previously uninsured Americans. Mandela would have hated that. 

A.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s liberator as prisoner and president, dies at 95"

(CNN): "Nelson Mandela death: World mourns South Africa's first black president"

(Wall Street Journal): "Democrats’ spat over think tank escalates"

(NBC Politics): "Obama: GOP should be 'embarrassed' by low productivity on Hill"

(USA Today): Nov. job gains, 203,000; jobless rate, 7.0%"

P.M. Headlines

(CBC News): "Nelson Mandela dead at 95"

(New York Times): "Mandela’s death leaves South Africa without its moral center"

(Politico): "Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela: Inspiration from afar"

(Washington Post): "Stolen cobalt-60 found in Mexico; curious thieves likely doomed"

(Bangor Daily News): "LePage sees upside for global warming in Maine with opening of Northeast Passage"

On the Hustings

(Boston Herald): "Elizabeth Warren pledges she won't run for president in 2016"

(Washington Post): "There is no wave coming in the 2014 election"

(Real Clear Politics): "Democrats' 2013 drop-off problem"

(Roll Call): "Young Americans least familiar with Obamacare"

(Des Moines Register): "FBI executes search warrant, takes computers from Kent Sorenson’s home"

Today in non-sequiturs

By Mustang Bobby

Sarah Palin responds to Martin Bashir resigning from MSNBC:

…I just hope that unprovoked attacks like that don’t result in people being hesitant to jump in the arena anyway, to get out there and serve the public or start a business or really commit themselves to changing within their family, their community, their world, doing whatever that they can, despite the fact that in this world, you are gonna be hurt and attacks will come your way. I just hope an attack like that doesn’t make people hesitate.

In other words, a snake is like a bicycle because a vest has no sleeves.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(Daily News): "Bill de Blasio appoints William Bratton Police Commissioner, reactions pour in"

(Fox News): "NSA reportedly collects 5 billion cell phone location records a day"

(The Hill): "Obama: 'Profoundly unequal' economy a 'fundamental threat'" 

(Los Angeles Times): "Compromise taking shape to avoid another government shutdown"

(Washington Post): "Why Barack Obama can’t win"

P.M. Headlines

(Politico): "Enrollment surge on HealthCare.gov"

(First Read): "What do Republicans do next (on health care)?"

(Greg Sargent): "Inequality is ‘the defining issue of our time’"

(Washington Post): ""Iran accord in Geneva followed by new violence, new diplomacy for Mideast"

(Politico): "Martin Bashir resigns from MSNBC"

Hey Trey, don't bogart those lines

By Richard K. Barry

Time was when a politician got busted for something like a drug charge or perhaps admitting to recent illegal drug use, they would be forced to resign in shame. But that is so last month. Now it appears one can, perhaps, ride out such a shit storm. 

As Roll Call noted yesterday concerning the case of Rep. Trey Radel, arrested for cocaine use:

Rep. Trey Radel continues to cling to his seat in Congress in what could ultimately become a testament to the changing mores on Capitol Hill.

The Florida Republican, who checked himself into rehab last month, has faced his fair share of calls to resign — notably from home-state Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and state GOP Chairman Lenny Curry.

But leadership in D.C. appears not too concerned. 

Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appear content to let the voters decide whether Radel’s punishment will extend beyond probation and a $250 fine. Neither is calling for his resignation or for any significant punishment, such as removal from committee assignments, nor have they issued general statements of condemnation.

Perhaps if Radel survives he won't be such a hard-ass when it comes to other poor schmucks who get caught with spoons, or dollar bills, or straws (or whatever, people tell me, they use) up their noses. I'm not holding my breath. 

On the Hustings

(Associated Press): "Vitter to decide on governor's race by January"

(Jonathan Capeheart): "The GOP might as well be dead"

(BuzzFeed): "Top Hillary Clinton fundraiser in talks to join priorities USA"

(Roll Call): "Elizabeth Warren to campaign in Massachusetts special election"

(WMUR): "What's in a Twitter name? Scott Brown drops 'MA' from his handle"

Conservatives hate Obamacare for no reason

By Frank Moraes

As you've probably heard, the Healthcare.gov website is now working quite well. But I had the unpleasant experience of hearing Charles Krauthammer on Fox News yesterday. Do you know what he was saying about Obamacare and Healthcare.gov? Exactly what he was saying a month ago! Now instead of claiming that Obamacare is hopeless because the website wasn't working, it is that Obamacare is hopeless because it has a 1% error rate. He even had the pea-brained idea that the government can't do anything right because Amazon is able to manage a much larger flow of traffic with less difficulty. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Amazon has been in business for almost 20 years. Second, and much more importantly, what Amazon does is trivial compared to what Healthcare.gov does.

The point is that the conservative complaints in general, and the Fox Newscomplaints in particular are of no value. They hate Obamacare and they will attack it no matter what. Their actual argument against healthcare reform is that it taxes the rich and gives health insurance to the poor. But clearly, that won't fly. Even most die hard Republicans would find that argument repellent. So they use the "government can't do anything" argument and grasp at any and every problem that comes along. And, let us not forget, they make up problems.

Read more »

Wisconsin Gov. Walker plays Grinch

By Richard K. Barry

You'd think a guy like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would know a thing or two about campaigning. Whatever one thinks of his union-bashing crazy right-wing politics, it's no easy matter getting yourself elected to statewide office. 

I was, therefore, rather surprised to learn that his team thought it a good idea to screw around with Christmas as a campaign tactic, specifically suggesting in a fundraising e-mail that supporters bypass presents for the kiddies so that the money left unspent can be sent to him. 

“Instead of venturing into the cold this Black Friday,” it began, “stay in and give your children a gift that will keep on giving. This year, we are celebrating the Holiday Season with a Black Friday special that is better than any deal found in stores. Donate $5, $10 or $25 to help Governor Walker get reelected and save your children from a future of double-digit tax increases and billion dollar budget deficits.”

As The Raw Story notes:

It continued by noting that any “electronics or toys” that parents buy for their children “will undoubtedly be outdated, broken, or lost by the next Holiday Season,” whereas a contribution to the Walker reelection effort will help to create “a Wisconsin as great as the one [Walker] grew up in.”

Just what I wanted for Christmas when I was a youngster, a commitment from some politician to keep my taxes lower at some point in the distant future. Better than a bike any day. 

A.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Obama to defend health law as economic benefit"

(New York Times): "Considering which head or heads may roll for a troubled website rollout"

(The Hill): "Obama: 'We're not going back'"

(Daily Kos): "Why the Third Way hates Sen. Elizabeth Warren"

(Capital): "Zucker plans massive change at CNN"

P.M. Headlines

(BuzzFeed): "Democrats form Obamacare “strike teams” to sell troubled law"

(Greg Sargent): "Medicaid expansion becomes weapon against GOP governors"

(NBC News): "Detroit bankruptcy forges ahead -- who will foot the bill?"

(Andrew Sullivan): "Rush Limbaugh knows nothing about capitalism"

(The Hollywood Reporter): "Lionsgate in early talks to pick up Hillary Clinton biopic 'Rodham'"

Infrastructure demands action

By Carl

It’s really sad to read stories like this and then realize they are nearly wholly preventable:

The revelation that a New York City commuter train derailed while barreling into a sharp curve at nearly three times the speed limit is fueling questions about whether automated crash-avoidance technology could have prevented the carnage.

Safety officials have championed what's known as positive train control technology for decades, but the railroad industry has sought to postpone having to install it because of the high cost and technological issues.

Investigators haven't yet determined whether the weekend wreck, which killed four people and injured more than 60 others, was the result of human error or mechanical trouble. But some safety experts said the tragedy might not have happened if Metro-North Railroad had the technology, and a senator said the derailment underscored the need for it.

That Senator, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, may draw up a bill to provide financing for the implementation. After all, Metro-North serves Connecticut, as well, and indeed, other derailments have occurred that positive train control, PTC, could have prevented.

Read more »

On the Hustings

(Washington Post): "D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray will seek second term"

(NorthJersey.com): "No one in N.J. GOP is stepping up to challenge Booker in 2014"

(Washington Post): "Appeals court upholds law banning political ads on public broadcasting"

(Sam Stein): "House Republicans have 'no plans' to shut down the government over obamacare again"

(Politico): "GOP targets blue states in battle for Senate"

How to improve the capitalist system

By Frank Moraes

Okay, so Jeff Bezos wants to send carrots to my door via helicopter drones. Or something. I don't know. My father gave me the news last night that 60 Minutes continued their long history of hard hitting investigative reporting by doing a puff piece about how Amazon totally rocks! They could have just photoshopped a picture of Matt Yglesias sucking Bezos's cock, but that wouldn't have eaten up 15 minutes of air time. Look, I'm for Amazon. Last year I was able to order Christmas gifts, have them wrapped, and sent my nieces and nephews without ever having to talk to them. Now if Amazon could just come up with a service to handling those "thank you" calls, I'd be set.

But here's the thing. What if Amazon succeeds? The truth is that our income inequality problems are the result of exactly this kind of thing. We need to think about whether the capitalist system really works as human labor becomes less and less important. I've begun to think about it like a game. Imagine that the World Series was decided by a single game. It is well known that any team in the major leagues can beat any other team on any give day. So that wouldn't be fair. But take it further. Imagine that none of the players on any of the teams got paid unless they won the World Series. That's pretty much the system that we have.

Read more »

Random thoughts

By Mustang Bobby

If, as TPM says, Rush Limbaugh thinks Pope Francis is preaching “pure Marxism,” I wonder what he thought of what the founder of the church was preaching with all his heal the sick, help the poor, and love thy neighbor stuff.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(The Hill): "Obama will highlight Obamacare benefits"

(Politico): "White House returns to Obamacare sales mode"

(Politico): "Obama to sign up for health insurance through exchange"

(Political Capital): "Coalition of industries and advocates fight sequestration"

(Xinhua): "China voices hope ahead of U.S. VP's trip"

Bad economic data

By Carl

This statistic is less of a surprise than it appears:

Thanksgiving night shopping looked like a new family tradition this year as stores opened earlier and consumers took advantage of the extra time to spread out their Black Friday shopping.

The Thursday-through-Sunday tally, though, was less buying overall, according to data from several firms.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday combined brought in an estimated $12.3 billion in sales, according to shopping analytics firm ShopperTrak. Thanksgiving Day traffic grew 27% as nearly one-third of shoppers headed to stores on the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation. Many retailers opened earlier than ever, some at 5 or 6 p.m. Kmart opened at 6 a.m.

"Probably the most interesting is the amount of energy the consumer put into Thursday shopping," says Bill Martin, founder of ShopperTrak. "The retailers did a good job getting them up from the dinner table and into stores."

No, not the influx of shoppers on Thanksgiving Day. That makes a lot of sense to me. Dad and the boys are watching football all day. Opening on Thanksgiving was bound to be seen as a form of counterprogramming, instead of insipid marathons of bad programs on other networks, plus it gets you out of the house for the inevitable “drunk-cle” incidents.

No, that holiday shopping is off, actually down for the vital Christmas rush so far. There’s only so much cheap credit and endless refinancings will contribute to the cash position of Americans. Real jobs, with real wages that reflect the costs of living and the productivity increases that corporate America has seen over the past thirty to forty years, that’s what needed or we’re going to see more and more people leaving the commercial foodchain. Sure, there are going to be blips in the data, years when people feel a little more flush, but we’re entering a generation with the Millennials who have seen their wages stagnate too, and Baby Boomers stay off the retirement rolls longer, forcing a sort of “wrinkled ceiling” on wages and promotions. People will cut back. They have to.

After all, we’ve pulled every trick out of our asses to keep on keeping on: two-income families, with second jobs. Fewer kids. More credit. We the people are out of options, and the only one left to us is to drastically cut back in purchasing power.

(Cross-posted at Simply Left Behind.)

On the Hustings

(The Hill): "GOP strategist: Reagan is dead; move on"

(Real Clear Politics): "Parties recruit veterans to run for House in 2014"

(Tampa Bay Times): ""Health care sets tone for 2014 midterm elections"

(The Hill): "Republican doctors running for Congress amid Obamacare rollout fiasco"

(New York Post): "Christie's 'bizarre behaviour" could undermine presidential chances"

Prison, dentists, and the least among us

By Frank Moraes

The worst thing about society is our tendency to want to see justice done. The problem with this is that the universe is unjust and our society is even more so. I have heard a number of supposed feminists gloat about the idea of a rapist going to prison and being raped himself. Even apart from that not being an example of justice, the fact is that rapists who go to prison are far more likely to be rapists there than they are to be the victims of rape. That's the way things work in our "justice" system.

Our prisons exist to meed out retribution, not justice. Right now, there is a continuing over-crowding and healthcare crisis going on in California prisons. But the question is how did this come to pass? The people wanted to get "tough on crime," but they didn't want to pay for it. Because people in jail just don't matter. Addicts are left to detox in great pain in prison with nothing but a couple of Advil every four hours and a private cell if they are lucky. Others are allowed to die because their healthcare needs are not taken seriously. As a society, we just don't care about these people. They are "bad" even though most would be better defined as simply "unlucky."

Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(Time): "Hawaii rings in speedy start to gay marriages"

(Nuclear Beast): "The GOP’s nuclear winter strategy"

(The Hill): "Democrats admit reboot needs stronger White House team"

(Washington Post): "113th Congress, going down in history for its inaction, has a critical December to-do list"

(New York Times): "Putting military pay on the table"

P.M. Headlines

(USA Today): "White House claims success on HealthCare.gov repairs"

(TPM): "Plouffe: Obamacare will work even better in 2017"

(CNN): "U.S. 'deeply concerned' about citizens held in North Korea, including Newman"

(Ross Douthat): "The Pope and the Right"

(The Boston Globe): "Bipartisan group finds bridges hard to build"

Listening to Now: Tegan and Sara - "Goodbye, Goodbye"

By Richard K. Barry

I 'd like to offer a disclaimer, which is that I try not to limit my musical posts to things I actually like. Mind you, I do have limits and I don't think you'll be seeing Bieber or Cyrus videos at this site any time soon. 

Still, I love music and have a natural curiosity about what other people listen to. I have a number of younger friends and like to talk music with them. I even have friends with teenage children and sometimes ask what they like.

As we know, because of the Internet and the fragmentation of music delivery systems, it isn't always easy to know what's out there. When I was a kid, if it wasn't on WABC radio in NYC and Cousin Brucie wasn't spinning it, it wasn't popular. Sure, there were always underground things going on, but you really had to be into a "scene" (if you'll forgive the dated reference) to know about it. 

Tegan and Sara, a Canadian indie rock band, composed of identical twin sisters, has been having some success lately. As I live in Toronto and as Canada is, at least by population, a fairly small place, and since I make a point of following the music industry up here, I knew about them. They also got noticed by the folk crowd here some time ago, where I used to be involved organizing festivals and conferences back in the '90s. In other words, I'd heard about them all on my own.

Under slightly different circumstances, though, I could imagine having missed them entirely. 

So, Tegan and Sara. I probably wouldn't be a fan myself, but I get it. I suspect they have a solid college age following, maybe younger. Hey, making it in the music biz. That's not easy. No slight intended. I'm sure most Tegan and Sara fans would find my Sinatra vinyl collection a big snooze.

On the Hustings

(WMUR): "Fmr U.S. Sen. Bob Smith changes mind, will challenge Shaheen"

(The Baltimore Sun): "Bongino captures national attention as he runs uphill in Md."

(Washington Post): "More liberal, populist movement emerging in Democratic Party ahead of 2016 elections"

(The Hill): "Scarborough: I won't run any time soon"

(Politico): "Jimmy Carter’s legacy hovers over grandson’s run"

A.M. Headlines

(Washington Post): "HealthCare.gov meets deadline for fixes, White House says"

(New York Times): "Inside the race to rescue a health care site, and Obama"

(New York Daily News): "Elderly woman could be city’s 10th ‘knockout game’ victim"

(New York Times): "4 dead in Metro-North train derailment in the Bronx"

(CNN): "U.S. 'advising' airlines to 'comply' with China request on disputed zone"

Opeth: "The Devil's Orchard" and "Harlequin Forest"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Let's kick it up a notch tonight...

I came to Opeth, a Swedish band that has evolved from death metal in its early years to a generally more expansive prog rock sound to the point where it is now considered one of the world's leading prog acts, by way of Porcupine Tree.

It's not clear to me exactly how it happened, but the evolution of both bands, with Opeth becoming more progressive from Damnation (2003) on and PT embracing metal from In Absentia (2002) on, seems to parallel the close friendship of the two bands' leading forces, Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and PT's Steven Wilson, a friendship that led to their fascinating and unpredictable collaboration as Storm Corrosion.

However it all happened, though, you can't be a PT and Steven Wilson fan, as I am, without coming across Opeth. (Aside from the obvious cross-influences, Åkerfeldt provided backing vocals on PT's Deadwing (2005), while Wilson mixed Opeth's most recent album, it's tenth, Heritage (2011).) And of course Opeth is certainly a worthy band in its own right, and I suspect a lot of people came to PT by way of Opeth.

Anyway, I can't say I'm a huge fan. I don't much care for the death metal stuff -- actually, I dislike it immensely -- and while its more recent albums are certainly more progressive, there's still that hard sound that is, well, just a bit too hard for me, and lyrically Opeth is just way too overwrought for its own good. (I've never liked, say, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, or Iron Maiden, all of which have been key influences on Åkerfeldt.) I like how Wilson incorporated some metal into PT's sound, but that's about all I can take.)

Still, there's a lot to like on, say, Watershed (2008), despite Åkerfeldt's sometimes growling vocals, and Heritage, which is as far from death metal as Opeth has gone thus far, is an impressive album. And so let's go there tonight...

Here's the video for "The Devil's Orchard," the second track off Heritage:


And let's do another one, showcasing Opeth's harder sound...

Here's "Harlequin Forest," from Ghost Reveries (2005), performed live at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2010 and released on the band's live concert album: