What music do I have to have? Kat texted me earlier that she and Ruth were going to write about music tonight. They're on edge re: Iowa and I understand that. I think we all are. So I'll write about music too. My dad has a huge music collection. It is an entire room and then some. If you asked him what albums he'd take to a desert island, he could probably reel off 50 without batting an eye. Me?
Not so much.
But I will talk about the acts that have stood up for me. I don't mean Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Rolling Stones. I love them, yes. Their music has stood the test of time, absolutely. But that was already true before I was ever born. So I'm talking about since I was born. The White Stripes were a great band and their albums still hold up. Why did Jack and Meg break up musically? (They were also married at one point though they passed themselves off as brother and sister.) "Seven Army Nation" remains one of the best songs of the '00s.
Next?
Dashboard Confessional. THE SWISS ARMY ROMANCE, THE PLACES YOU HAVE COME TO FEAR THE MOST and A MARK, A MISSION, A BRAND, A SCAR -- are three classic albums. I will never grow tired of those albums. Sade. She starts early. But in my high school years she and her band released LOVERS ROCK and SOLDIER OF LOVE. Both are great albums and "By Your Side" should go down as one of the top ten singles of the '00s.
So now let me do some of my favorite albums from before I was in high school or, in some cases, even born.
The Rolling Stones' AFTERMATH, A BIGGER BANG and SOME GIRLS. Diana Ross & the Supremes' REFLECTIONS. Everything of the Beatles starting with REVOLVER. Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS and TUSK. Stevie Nicks' WILD HEART, ROCK A LITTLE and 24 KARAT. Stevie Wonder's TALKING BOOK, IN SQUARE CIRCLE, HOTTER THAN JULY, INNERVISIONS and SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE. Bruce Springsteen's THE RIVER, NEBRASKA and BORN IN THE USA. Tina Turner's PRIVATE DANCER. Prince's CONTROVERSY, 1999, PURPLE RAIN, AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY, SIGN OF THE TIMES, PARADE and THE BLACK ALBUM. George Michael's LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE VOL. 1 and OLDER. R.EM.'s DOCUMENT. Liz Phair's EXILE IN GUYVILLE. Nirvana's IN UTERO and NEVERMIND. Tori Amos' LITTLE EARTHQUAKES, UNDER THE PINK, BOYS FOR PELE, TO VENUS AND BACK, SCARLET'S WALK, , THE BEEKEEPER, UNREPENTANT GERADLINES, Oasis' WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY, PJ Harvey's LET ENGLAND SHAKE, Joni Mitchell's BLUE, FOR THE ROSES, DOG EAT DOG, HEIJIRA, COURT AND SPARK, NIGHT RIDE HOME and SHINE. Carly Simon's ANTICIPATION, HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY?, COMING AROUND AGAIN, HOTCAKES, BOYS IN THE TREES, THE BEDROOM TAPES, PLAYING POSSUM, HELLO BIG MAN, SPOILED GIRL and THIS KIND OF LOVE. U2's THE JOSHUA TREE. Cat Stevens' TEA FOR TILLERMAN. David Saw's BROKEN DOWN FIGURE. David Rovics' HALLIBURTON BOARDROOM MASSACRE. Lauryn Hill's THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL. Janet Jackson's CONTROL, JANET, THE VELVET ROPE, ALL FOR YOU and UNBREAKABLE. Don Henley's BUILDING THE PERFECT BEAST. The Afghan Whigs' GENTLEMEN and DO TO THE BEAST. The Mamas and the Papas -- everything. Even the PEOPLE LIKE US album. Love everything they've done. My favorite is THE PAPAS AND THE MAMAS album. Phil Ochs' ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SING. Rickie Lee Jones' RICKIE LEE JONES, PIRATES, FLYING COWBOYS, THE SERMON ON EXPOSITION BOULEVARD and NAKED SONGS. There'd be a Laura Nyro album or two. John Lennon's SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY. Lou Reed's NEW YORK. Diana Ross' SWEPT AWAY and DIANA and THE BOSS. Sam Smith's IN THE LONELY HOUR. Joss Stone's LP1. And many more.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Two days later and still no results out of Iowa.
On Monday, Iowans turned out to caucus. That generally means that late that night the country knows the results. It's not a day later, it's two. And the results are still unknown.
Iowa is not a vastly populated state. It has approximately 3.1 million residents and, of those, about a quarter are children (under 18). By contrast, NYC has a population of 8.6 million and Los Angeles has a population of 4 million. Those are cities.
2,325,000 is the approximate number of voters in Iowa. The most recent data (2010) has 645,000 registered Republicans in Iowa. That would leave you with 1,680,000 eligible voters. That's if they all participated in the Democratic caucus -- 700,000 is the number of registered Democrats per the most recent data. Not everyone participated in the caucus. (NPR's Mara Liasson said approximately 170,000 participated in the caucus. That's a very small number if it's correct.)
There is no excuse for this failure to have happened. There is no excuse for the results to still remain unknown. The process failed and this was agreed on this morning in a discussion featured on NBC's TODAY SHOW.
By releasing a partial result yesterday evening, the Democratic Party in Iowa did further damage. We don't need a news dump for the evening news that was about 71% of the tally. This is outrageous.
Yes, Iowa should suffer consequences.
So should the hideous Shadow, Inc who sold the state party the new technology.
On Monday, Iowans turned out to caucus. That generally means that late that night the country knows the results. It's not a day later, it's two. And the results are still unknown.
Iowa is not a vastly populated state. It has approximately 3.1 million residents and, of those, about a quarter are children (under 18). By contrast, NYC has a population of 8.6 million and Los Angeles has a population of 4 million. Those are cities.
2,325,000 is the approximate number of voters in Iowa. The most recent data (2010) has 645,000 registered Republicans in Iowa. That would leave you with 1,680,000 eligible voters. That's if they all participated in the Democratic caucus -- 700,000 is the number of registered Democrats per the most recent data. Not everyone participated in the caucus. (NPR's Mara Liasson said approximately 170,000 participated in the caucus. That's a very small number if it's correct.)
There is no excuse for this failure to have happened. There is no excuse for the results to still remain unknown. The process failed and this was agreed on this morning in a discussion featured on NBC's TODAY SHOW.
By releasing a partial result yesterday evening, the Democratic Party in Iowa did further damage. We don't need a news dump for the evening news that was about 71% of the tally. This is outrageous.
Yes, Iowa should suffer consequences.
So should the hideous Shadow, Inc who sold the state party the new technology.
Pinned Tweet
We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers.
That pinned Tweet? After mid-day Tuesday, that wasn't nearly enough. Last night? You mean two nights ago? Shadow, Inc should announce that they recognize the harm they've done and they'll be closing their doors before they cause further problems.
Ronald Brownstein (CNN) points out, "The meltdown in reporting results made it extremely unlikely that the full momentum that has often followed a caucus victory would flow to any of the candidates [. . .]"
Responsible call by @nprpolitics colleagues, per @NPRnie: “Various individual Democratic campaigns are releasing their own numbers with estimates of how the Iowa caucuses turned out. We are NOT reporting these numbers, which are hand-picked.” We’ll get you reliable results.
Will you, Steve? You will? Because this morning, you reported on (here for THE MORNING EDITION segment) partial results. That's not reliable results. We still do not know who came in first -- we can't know that with what you termed this morning "some vote totals."
I'm not interested in partial counts. The only thing I will note is that Joe Biden may come in fourth when the full totals are released. May not, but he may. In yesterday's snapshot, I noted he came in fifth in 2008 and appeared to do the same this go round. If the results hold, he will come in fourth. That's still not enough to justify his remaining in the race. He had the biggest name recognition. He had the easiest press. He was declared the front runner the moment he announced he was running for the nomination. Bill Barrow and Brian Slodysko (AP) report:
Joe Biden’s third
presidential bid enters a critical stretch after a disappointing finish
in the Iowa caucuses sent the former vice president on to New Hampshire
with a skittish donor base, low cash reserves and the looming threat of
billionaire rival Michael Bloomberg and his unlimited personal wealth.
In
New Hampshire on Tuesday, Biden insisted he had a “good night” in Iowa
even as he trailed the top moderate candidate, former Mayor Pete
Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and the leading progressive, Bernie
Sanders, according to initial returns from 71% of precincts. Biden was
running fourth, close to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who just days ago
polled in single digits.
[. . .]
Biden aides have
said for months that he didn’t have to win in Iowa or on Feb. 11 in New
Hampshire because he was better positioned in Nevada’s Feb. 22 caucuses,
South Carolina’s Feb. 29 primary and a slate of March 3 primaries with
more than a third of Democrats’ national delegates at stake on a single
day.
That never meant, however, that Biden could sustain a bad showing in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"This is a very disappointing finish for Joe Biden," NPR's Mara Liasson observed this morning and noted that this was low even after his campaign had attempted to lower expectations and she noted that some had been saying that "he really had to come in a close second to in order to raise the money to keep on going."
Not a single poll in Iowa had @JoeBiden performing as badly as he did. They were off, in most cases, by nearly 10%.
We think it shows that Biden’s polling is badly inflated by landline polls and that polling for Biden also misses new voters, young voters, and independents.
Shaun may very well be right. However, there may be more to it. It's also true that historically what this usually means is that people who are really not paying attention and don't plan to vote often say they will be voting when called on the phone for polling. In other words, you're put on the spot by a pollster and you go with the first name you know while pretending you'll be voting when you actually don't plan to show up. That really sounds like Joe's base. Smart campaigns always prepare for that possibility if they're seen as the front runner.
Kenneth R. Rosen (NEWSWEEK) reports:
The War in Iraq cost nearly $2 trillion, roughly $8,000 per U.S. taxpayer, representing 9 percent of the national debt.
The current cost to the federal government for conflict zone operations in Iraq is an estimated $1.922 billion, including increases to the base budget in funding from the U.S. Department of State and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), homeland security, reenlistment bonuses, healthcare costs for active-duty and war veterans and accrued interest, according to a new report from The Cost of Wars project.
Without a war tax and few war bonds, direct war spending by the Pentagon resulted in interest payments of about $444 billion, the report estimated. The author warns even if the fighting stopped today, and the Trump Administration pulled out of all ongoing fights in the "Global War on Terror," those cumulative interest payments would continue to rise. If all war spending stopped today the existing war debt would "rise ... to $6.5 trillion by 2050," according to the report's estimates.
While the report does estimate that amount of interest on the debt, they do not attempt to estimate the costs of treatment over the coming years for the veterans of the war.
In Iraq, the protests continue.
University and institute graduates protest in Kirkuk after controversial hiring plan scrapped
nrttv.com/En/News.aspx?i… #NRTnews #Iraq #Kirkuk #TwitterKurds
The revolution never die, we made it, and will not give up.
#IraqProtests
#Iraq journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who became famous for throwing shoes at President Bush at a 2008 press conference, answers questions on the protests and the contemporary situation in Iraq
#IraqProtest #iraq_Protest #iraqprotest #Iraqi_demonstration| Demonstrators inside Tahrir come out with big number of demonstrators against Sadr attitude towards and Calls for resignation of #Mahamad_Aalawi_Tawfiq a new iraqi PM.
0:24
The Blue Hats gangs burned more than four tents at #Baghdad's Al-Umma Park early today
#BaghdadPost #IraqProtests
#saveIraqipeople #FreeIraq
#Save_the_Iraqi_people #muqtada_is_a_terrorist
1:22
In other news, this is being reported . . .
#BreakingNews | #Iranian pilots arrive at #Balad Air Base with an #Iraqi militia team to seize Iraqi F-16s.
#BaghdadPost #IraqProtests
#saveIraqipeople #FreeIraq
#Save_the_Iraqi_people
Is it true? I have no idea. Did anyone worry about that when the US was making this deal with Iraq? Uh, we did raise the issue here.
The following sites updated:
