@nytimes DC reporter covering DOJ & FBI, plus politics.
Ex-POLITICO, ex-Newsday, ex-City Limits, ex-Carvel.
“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."
‘When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when a people become an audience... then a nation finds itself at risk’ — Neil Postman, 1985
Kanye West hugs President Trump, drops F-word and talks social issues ... and hydrogen planes and mental health and endorsement deals and politics and, oh, so much more. By @catherine_lucey: https://t.co/ggwv1cSDu1
Francisco Alvarez since returning from the IL on June 9th (19 games):
.265/.306/.515 (.820 OPS)
2 doubles, 5 home runs, 9 RBI
127 wRC+
He needs to stay healthy and be on the field, because if he does, he is a part of the solution, not the problem here
By popular demand, I'm resharing this piece on Karoline Leavitt getting paid to put her name on op-eds extolling Miles Guo, who got 30 years yesterday for stealing $1 billion from followers of the phony political movement he and Bannon launched. https://t.co/CuXZaySah5
Also notable: The younger Dems are addressing the very real problems of younger voters — gig workers pricesd out of home ownership and unaffordable high end rentals for whom the economic benefits of higher education no longer accrue…
It’s notable that the 3 statewide Dems - Polis, Bennet and Hickenlooper- came into political power when CO was still a purple state. It’s now dark blue and the Dems running now are better versed to connect w/ the more liberal base.
The Definitive Top Ten American Bands
Everclear
Marcy’s Playground
The Flys
Smash Mouth
Sugar Ray
Fastball
Powerman 5000
Soul Coughing
The New Radicals
Stabbing Westward
Sean Manaea may be pitching his way into a trade after a good month in June
29IP / 3.72 ERA / 7BB / 26K / 1.07 WHIP
$25M still owed on his contract for next season, Mets will probably have to eat some of that. But a really good turnaround for a really good human being
First experienced this on the revote for the bailout bill during the first financial crisis -- from Rs who were like "We thought the Dems had the votes!"
Such a great post... Got into a debate with a colleague about E Street... It's a tough call. But if you add them -- how can you say they were better than, say, the Stax house band? My big quandary was whether or not to add The Band (but they were mostly Canadian).
I only agree with maybe three or four of Glenn’s choices. But one of his picks really raises an interesting question (or two) in the context of these lists of best “bands” or “groups” or “artist.”
1) Glenn lists The Supremes and they are without a doubt one of the great American musical groups of all time. As a group, they are second only to the Beatles in terms of number one hits on the Billboard charts. But in most of these rankings, vocal groups (especially “girl groups”) are overlooked. They aren’t not seen as a “band” so they don’t get included in “best American band” lists.
It’s sometimes easy to just make a simple distinction saying well, such groups (including The Temptations, Four Tops, The Miracles, etc.) only use vocals and the music is being supplied by often anonymous background musicians. That’s true, but what do you do with a group like the Bee Gees? They are clearly and predominantly a vocal group yet the brothers Gibb are also excellent guitarist and bass players, plus they had a regular recording and traveling band. So are they just a group or are they a band?
2) Relatedly, I’m often stumped on whether to include in a list of American bands, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and similar groups where there is a named first among equals. I’ve seen Springsteen a couple of times once with the band and one solo (sadly I never got to see Tom Petty even though he’s one of my favorite recording artists). Maybe this is a distinction without a difference, but for whatever reason, I find Springsteen and Petty and perhaps you could also throw in Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band in this category as well. I find it difficult to think them in the same way as, say, collaborative entities like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or Zeppelin or etc. Even though Bruce and Tom have opted to put their backing band in the name of the act, it still seems to me that as an artistic endeavor, the music is more a singular vision than a shared group product.
3) Finally, it’s nice to see at last Parliament/Funkadelic included on more of these lists. Anyone who has seen George Clinton and his associates at the top of their game can tell that this is not just a band but a freaking funky Orchestra! And don’t get me started on the amazing 70s and 80s album output that the Parliament and Funkadelic versions of Clinton’s psyche managed to produce.
Startling find from this great & comprehensive @BlockClubCHI investigation of ICE use-of-force incidents during Midway Blitz:
Trained veterans, not rookies, were among the most violent agents.
And some lied in their reports, per their own bodycams.
https://t.co/GeK2Yhoqku
1. Allman Brothers
2. Santana
3. Nirvana
4. Parliament/Funkadelic
5. Creedence
6. The Supremes
7. Aerosmith
8. The Doors
9. Grateful Dead
10. Public Enemy
Fine, I’ll bite:
10 Greatest American Bands of All Time
Beach Boys
Hüsker Dü
Nirvana
Parliament/Funkadelic
Pixies
R.E.M.
Sonic Youth
Talking Heads
Velvet Underground
Yo La Tengo
Andy Green says that Jared Young will play "pretty consistently" at first base moving forward:
"He's locking down kind of the lion's share of at-bats over there."
Stearns deserves all the heat but I do think there's some truth here. W/Cohen's backing organization has been upgraded in many ways. And sources say relationship between player development and scouting now much more cohesive. For now though hard to get past Stearns bad decisions.