Donald Trump and the War on America

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The rest of the world knows what's going on.

Take, for example, Germany, which is now far more of a leader of "the free world" than Trump's American dystopia.

Once upon a time, it was America going to war against German fascism. My, how the roles have reversed. It may not be a war, yet, but Germany is certainly on the side that is fighting American fascism.

Yes, the great threat to America is Kim Jong-trump, the orange-tinted demagogue roaming the White House in his bath robe.

We know what's going on.

Steven Wilson: "Home Invasion" and "Regret #9" (live)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From a Yahoo! / Live Nation broadcast, here are Steven Wilson and his awesome band performing "Home Invasion" and "Regret #9," two songs that work as one, both on Wilson's 2015 album Hand. Cannot. Erase. (to me, the Dark Side of the Moon of our time, and, like Pink Floyd's masterpiece, one of the greatest albums ever made -- perhaps the pinnacle of Wilson's career so far, including his time with Porcupine Tree), at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on June 13, 2015.

I saw Steven Wilson in Toronto on that tour, and "Regret #9" was certainly one of the highlights of what was a truly incredible show from start to finish. The back-to-back keyboard and guitar solos by Adam Holzman and Dave Kilminster, respectively, were simply astonishing, as they are here.

Enjoy!

The Pineapple Thief: "A Sense of Fear"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's a great video from another of Kscope's great acts, The Pineapple Thief, a fantastic band that released the truly fantastic album Magnolia, which includes this song, last year.

This isn't the first time I've mentioned them here.

For The Pineapple Thief admirably covering Pink Floyd's "Money," see here.

For the song "All the Wars" (one of my favorites of 2012) by The Pineapple Thief, from their album of the same name, see here.

For the song "Frozen North" (one of my favorites of 2013) by The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord and Katatonia's Jonas Renkse, see here.

Enjoy!

The Receiver: "Transit"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted anything. Other things going on, other priorities. Alas. But we're still here, we're still blogging, and, well, let's get back into it this Friday evening with some music.

Specifically, a song by The Receiver, a couple of brothers from Ohio, Casey and Jesse Cooper, who recently signed to my favorite label, Kscope (home of Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, The Pineapple Thief, and Gazpacho, among others, the absolute best in "post-progressive" music).

The Receiver's new album is called All Burn, and this is one of the highlights.

Enjoy!

Gov. Kasich jumps in because, you know, why not?

By Richard Barry

Whatever one may think of John Kasich as a presidential candidate, and he’s certainly not my cup of tea, the man has the kind of resume you would expect from a serious contender: Governor of Ohio, member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001; a commentator on Fox News Channel, hosting Heartland with John Kasich (2001–2007). He also worked as an investment banker, as managing director of Lehman Brothers’ Columbus, Ohio, so he’s got the private sector covered.

On Tuesday Kasich will announce his bid for the presidency, making him the latest entrant in a very crowded field of Republican contenders.

The question is will anyone care?

His strategy appears to be built on the fact that there is no presumptive nominee so anything could happen, particularly as Jeb Bush hasn’t been able to get the job done.

“He hasn’t caught fire, and that’s why there’s so many people running,” said John Weaver, Kasich’s chief strategist and a veteran of presidential politics, who argued that for the first time in more than half a century the party lacked a presumptive nominee. “There’s not a front-runner in this race.” As he sketches out a path to the nomination, Kasich — who waged a short-lived bid for the presidency in 2000 — is preparing to make his most aggressive stand in New Hampshire, the famously independent-minded state where, his advisers believe, his plain-spoken approach and pugnacious style will garner the most appeal.

Now, there’s a campaign slogan: “Anything Could Happen, So Give Kasich a Look.”

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)

A tale of two (Wisconsin) priorities

By Frank Moraes

Kevin Draper over at Deadspin reported, Wisconsin Senate Votes To Give $250 Million To Billionaires. This is in reference to the Wisconsin state senate voting to give a quarter billion dollars to build a new sports center for the Milwaukee Bucks. The owners of the team — Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens — are both billionaires. But that’s the great thing about being rich: you never have to pay for anything. Well, not much anyway. The two of them are going to throw in a total of $150 million dollars. So the actual owners will pay a whole 37.5% of the cost of their new home. And I don’t know the deal, but I assume that these guys are also getting huge tax breaks. So it is questionable whether they are paying any part of this.

Some people will claim that this is a great thing for Wisconsin to do. You know: the Bucks will bring in all kinds of money to the area. But as David Cay Johnston has noted in Free Lunch, the tax breaks and outright payments for sporting venues almost never pay for themselves. The big economic boost that is supposed to take place around the arenas, never comes. Instead, people drive to the events, spend their money at the events, and drive away. There is no spreading out — no trickle down.

What’s more, Johnston has done the calculations. It turns out that if it weren’t for taxpayers providing all the money they do for the millionaire and billionaire owners of the teams, none of the four sports leagues — baseball, basketball, football and hockey — would be profitable. We taxpayers spend $2 billion per year subsidizing all these teams. Obviously, the owners don’t need the money. They own these teams because they like it. But apparently, they don’t like it enough to pay for it. Regardless, as I said: the rich are used to not having to pay for anything.

Johnston noted something else interesting about our 43rd president. He’s a great example of how these things work, “George Bush owes almost his entire fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket and into the use of eminent domain laws to essentially legally cheat other people out of their land for less than it was worth to enrich him and his fellow investors.” He’s talking about the time that they built a great stadium for the Texas Rangers in Arlington. One of the best ways to make money is to take a team from a crummy venue and move it to a nice one. All you have to do is get someone else to pay for it.

But the case in Wisconsin is particularly interesting. Because just a few days ago, “Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a state budget that includes cuts of $250 million to the University of Wisconsin system, among other cuts to public education funding.” But this is the standard way for the modern Republican Party. Gone is any pretense of what conservatism used to mean. Now it is all about taking from the poor and giving to the rich. We’ve seen this in Kansas recently, where previous tax cuts for the rich blew a big hole in the budget. When it came time to fill in the hole, the Republicans in Kansas raised taxes on the poor.

In Wisconsin, we are seeing the same thing. Education has to be cut! So they have money to give to rich guys who own sports teams. Welcome to modern America.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

Move over Ted Cruz, there's a new fool in town

By Richard Barry

 

The problem with running a campaign based on channelling voters' grumpy old man is that there is always a possibility of being out-grumped. This seems to be happening to Sen. Ted Cruz who, according to a new poll of insiders by Politico, is suffering the most from Trump's unlikely recent success.

Insiders say ... Trump ... is as uncompromising as Cruz on hot-button issues like immigration - and can deliver the message with even more fiery rhetoric," by Katie Glueck: "Roughly a third of Iowa and New Hampshire Republican insiders pointed to Cruz as the candidate who is damaged the most in their states by Trump's rise in the polls. [An Iowa Republican:] 'Cruz, the incumbent proxy for the disaffected GOP "Hell No!" Caucus, has been virtually starved of oxygen since Trump entered the race.' ..

Sure, Trump is a jerk, and having to endure his enhanced celebrity status is annoying, but just for today I am going to take some pleasure in how unhappy it must be making Ted Cruz. The enemy of my enemy is a temporary source of satisfaction.

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)