Texas Lt. Governor lies and blames Blacks for Covid surge

No: Despite claims from conservative news outlets, Black and BIPOC communities are not the most vaccine hesitant group. And they are not responsible for this summer covid surge. https://t.co/4PXRBAcUrg pic.twitter.com/dHZQHofbMm
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) August 21, 2021

Facts First: An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that White adults account for the largest share of unvaccinated adults. https://t.co/s3SpXHLLg2
— CNN (@CNN) August 21, 2021

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is delusional. Black Texans are not the driving force behind the surge of Covid cases in Texas. Falsely casting blame on the Black community is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and we expect better from an elected official. https://t.co/yiUXWdUBVS
— Derrick Johnson (@DerrickNAACP) August 20, 2021

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick placed blame for surging covid-19 cases on “African Americans who have not been vaccinated” during a Fox News appearance. His comments drew immediate criticism. https://t.co/P3h0Zb8Mge
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 20, 2021

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Black Americans are the "biggest group" who are unvaccinated. But in terms of raw numbers, an estimated 5.6 million white Texans are eligible and unvaccinated, while 1.9 million Black Texans are eligible and unvaccinated. https://t.co/5bSPFjhtVw
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 20, 2021

Covers: New York State of Mind

“New York State of Mind” is a 1976 Billy Joel song. It was never a single.

The organization @NYCNext, dedicated to building NYC into a more equitable place for all, is honoring the city with a special performance of Billy Joel's classic, "New York State of Mind." The video features performances and cameos by an array of entertainers pic.twitter.com/BgH4366lli
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) August 15, 2021

David Simon’s list of murder songs

David Simon (creator of The Wire among other fine achievements) posted a list of songs about murder in response to a tweet asking about them. He lists 70 songs in a series of tweets.

The most amazing murder song is “I’m Gonna Murder My Baby” by Pat Hare who actually did kill his girlfriend.

1. Stagolee
2. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.
3. John Hardy
4. Hurricane
5. Frankie & Albert
6. In The Pines
7. Long Black Veil
8. Hey Joe
9. Cocaine
10. Who Shot The La La? https://t.co/iD8a52mp0f
— David Simon (@AoDespair) August 19, 2021

Today, you might hear murder ballads from the catalogs of @JohnnyCash and @thechicks, all steeped in the finest storytelling. https://t.co/lVEszNhglh
— American Songwriter (@AmerSongwriter) July 30, 2022

My view on the Beatles White Album

The Paranoid Style on Twitter is one of my favorite accounts. She does a great job making fresh observations about music. I don’t agree with her about the White Album but I respect her opinion.

When I was bored at work meetings, I would make a list of all the songs from an album when I was in high school decades earlier. One time I was at a conference which was so bad, I did the White Album. I remembered 29 or 30 songs. The nest day,, I recalled the one I missed (“Sexy Sadie”) and I even like that.

To me, “Honey Pie”, “Wild Honey Pie”, “Helter Skelter”, “Revolution #9”, “Good Night” and “Long Long Long” are trash. In “Back in the USSR”, they are parodying a band (Beach Boys) who weren’t as good as them. “When I’m 64” was fresh. The old time stuff got weaker as they did “Your Mother Should Know” and “Honey Pie”.

The paradox of the 'White Album' is that there is no way to extract its weaker material and still maintain the menacing dream-logic which makes the entire experience so powerfully psychically dislocating. I wonder if it is the first LP to consciously employ bad songs as a tactic.
— The Paranoid Style (@paranoiacs) August 20, 2021

I think some of the best Beatles songs were done near the end where they circled back to basic rock and roll enhanced by their growth and experience. I'm talking about "Get Back", "The Ballad of John and Yoko", "Don't Let Me Down" and "Old Brown Shoe".
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 20, 2021

another viewpoint: The Beatles’ White Album tracks, ranked – from Blackbird to While My Guitar Gently Weeps

the real story behind this John Byrne painting, proposed “White Album” artwork, and the finalized album artwork done by Richard Hamilton: a thread 🍏🦋🐈‍⬛🐇 pic.twitter.com/QGs7hdbAwj
— stella 🍰 (@groovegalz) March 26, 2024

Covers: I Only Want to Be with You

“I Only Want to Be with You” by Dusty Springfield from 1963 is probably the most popular record by a female artist from 1964’s British Invasion. This great record stood out among the tsunami of records by male groups led by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Dave Clark Five.

The Bay City Rollers version is the most popular remake. Check out the version with clips in 16 languages!

Arizona – Ducey’s bad actions against mask mandates

Like DeSantis & Abbott, Ducey is escalating his offensive against blue jurisdictions requiring masks or vaccines. The dominant GOP impulse remains to defend the unvaccinated-even as evidence grows that the vaccinated, across party lines, are ready for tougher steps against them. https://t.co/wjKw5rTMl0
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) August 17, 2021

This is the most absurdly dangerous and anti-science step @dougducey has taken (and that’s saying a lot, 2020).

Until kids under 12 have access to the vaccine, what are parents supposed to do? Just hope their kids don’t get sick and end up in the ICU? https://t.co/8f6IOqtwHX
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) August 17, 2021

Gov. Ducey is now going to incentivize #AZ schools to ignore public health guidance and put our children’s health at risk. https://t.co/fo43Qy8u8v
— Kelli Butler (@KelliButlerAZ) August 17, 2021

Watching DeSantis, Abbott, & Ducey choose death over life; & centralized power over community decision making is painful & resulting in unnecessary, premature deaths.

It is one thing to NOT have a mask mandate. Wholly another to block municipalities from letting science lead. https://t.co/DSQmJ7hYoi
— (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) August 17, 2021

It’s like these governors are competing to see who can be more reckless and irresponsible.https://t.co/KCrDQMxoHL
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 14, 2021

One Perfect Shot on the commentary on Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights is a great film. I would put in my top 25 American films without question.

BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997)

Cinematography by Robert Elswit
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
What we learned from this film's DVD commentary: https://t.co/ZLJvjuxVEz pic.twitter.com/XgE4Vt898H
— One Perfect Shot (@OnePerfectShot) August 17, 2021

Trump won’t promote the vaccine but his cult members wouldn’t take it anyway

It’s too late. They are locked into their position. I blame Trump for this and thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Let's be honest about the Right:

If Donald Trump had said when this all began: "This is a serious danger. We all need to mask, distance, wait on a vaccine, and get it once it arrives" that's what Conservatives would have done—period.https://t.co/C2R3vZyTl2
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) August 14, 2021

Trump ignoring pleas to promote vaccine, thinks it helps Biden: report #SmartNews https://t.co/fpWUm0E46b
— Sandra Rodkey (@SandraRodkey) August 14, 2021

For many in the Trump base — like some of the folks we met here this week at the Mike Lindell event in South Dakota — getting vaccinated is a red line. They wouldn't take it even if Trump really pushed it, they say. pic.twitter.com/JcbR9dceF7
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) August 12, 2021

“We did not predict the politicization of vaccines that has led so many Republicans to hold back,” Trump’s HHS Secretary says, adding Trump should have gotten it on tv. https://t.co/7MQb44Udc9
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 3, 2021

Despite being approached by multiple allies, Donald Trump has no interest in doing any public service campaign to promote the COVID vaccine – even though its development in Operation Warp Speed was one of the greatest achievements of his administration.https://t.co/q06FepEIoP
— Politics1.com (@Politics1com) August 12, 2021

Barbecue/pit beef I have eaten during the pandemic – Baltimore

Support local restaurants! Pit beef is a Baltimore thing – it’s not the same as barbecue but there are similarities. For pit beef, start with Chaps. The original location is on the parking lot of the Gold Club strip club!

Mission BBQ:

Smokey’s Barbecue Shack:

Urban Bar-B-Que:

Chaps:

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A post shared by Baltimore History Channel (@baltimorehistorychannel)

Bullhead Pit Beef:

John Hersey

I admit that I have never read Hiroshima by John Hersey. I have read several of his novels – A Bell for Adano (1944), Too Far to Walk (1966) and Under the Eye of the Storm (1967).

A Bell for Adano has been made into a good film which has never been on DVD or Blu-ray. TCM broadcasts it occasionally and I recommend it.

Guys. I have been trying to track this down forever: the original August 31, 1946 issue of the @NewYorker, which contained John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” report WITH the original white paper band … and this treasure was just unearthed in storage at the John Hersey High School in IL: pic.twitter.com/UnNqxf8dB0
— Lesley M. M. Blume (@lesleymmblume) August 10, 2021