Brilliant! – Page 52

Street justice

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Mike

Andrea Widburg on a phenomenon that, as Feral lawlessness continues to go unpunished, we’ll be seeing more and more of: vigilantism.

VIDEOS: Americans step up because the police aren’t there

Last week, a video made the rounds showing what happened to a man who entered a restaurant, waved a gun around (later shown to be fake), and demanded people’s valuables. That’s a common enough occurrence nowadays, but this one went viral when one of the customers, recognizing that a criminal pointing a gun at others poses an imminent threat to life, shot the man…again and again and again.

Most people agree that the initial shots were righteous, but there’s debate about the last shot when it appeared that the threat the robber presented had been neutralized. However, we really don’t know whether the robber was still a threat. After all, we’ve all seen videos of bad guys absorbing round after round and still killing or wounding people. (E.g., here.) The law allows citizens to keep defending themselves as long as necessary.

Two more videos of citizens taking action have emerged. One is wonderfully amusing because it shows Guitar Center employees in Phoenix unceremoniously throwing out a would-be thief…

The second video shows people corralling a would-be purse snatcher. When he makes a break for freedom, a woman who had a gun trained on him shoots him in the back as he flees. Under the classic American standard, unless she can colorably claim that he still posed an imminent threat as he fled, she’s in trouble.

The vid:

Don’t steal purses in Texas pic.twitter.com/avf1j6RlZM

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec)

January 15, 2023

Another example of what I call a Righteous Shoot™, to my way of thinking. But hey, maybe that’s just me. In practical terms, though, it really isn’t going to matter.

Regardless of the shot’s righteousness, this is another example of what happens when citizens feel they’re on their own. In Houston and El Paso, crime in Texas has run rampant, and the authorities are doing nothing to protect law-abiding citizens. So, again, citizens will protect themselves.

As they should, and in fact must. There is no innate moral obligation that requires decent, law-abiding people to docilely put up with being preyed upon indefinitely. That obligation is instead part of an unwritten, informal charter we used to call the social contract. And when the authorities once entrusted with its enforcement tacitly renege, it can be revoked. And it will be. Gonna be pretty tough on the Dindus, I’m afraid, but here as always the FAFO rules apply. When Normals realize that legal justice is no longer available to them, then street justice will be all they have left.

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Talking sense to Woke

Posted on January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by Mike

I’ve seen the vid recommended several places but didn’t watch it, hoping some sort of at least partial transcript might eventually become available. Well, one has.

Comedian Konstantin Kisin’s Oxford Debate Speech Was Epic, Signaling That WOKE May Finally Be Going, ‘Bye, Bye’

Konstantin Kisin is a satirist, podcaster, author and political commentator and on his “Triggernometry” podcast, he and his co-host Francis Foster focus on these subjects, as well as the WOKE culture that has overtaken the Western world.

At 40, Kisin is an early Millennial (or Xennial, as they are now being categorized). So, he has lived some life, had a taste of career success, and has a family. Some of the things that indicate that your views on how life and the economy works is not merely theoretical. Kisin also was born in Russia and emigrated to Europe, domiciling in Great Britain. So, he has not always benefited from living in the Western petri dishes where WOKENESS germinates and takes hold.

Which is what makes him, and this debate speech he gave at The Oxford Union Society so compelling. The Oxford Union is a membership club that encourages debate among its members as well as celebrity, political, and guest speakers. Kisin was debating, Resolved: Has Woke Culture Gone Too Far? And Kisin’s epic counter response is the reason this video is getting so much play.

Kisin started his treatise by expressing that he is tired of talking about WOKE culture and its targeted attacks to destroy freedom of speech, as well as its false flag operations to create “equity,” which is merely racism in a cheap jacket:

“I am so tired of talking about Woke culture. That’s why it’s gone too far more than anything else.

[…]

“No, No, Free speech is not some right-wing reframing of whatever, it’s the foundation of Western civilization. Upon which this civilization is built and the alignment values that led to it.

“The only way to deal with the problem of racism is to treat people on the content of their character. And nothing else. And the fact that WOKE culture seeks to overturn that is a new form of racism that we must all oppose.”

Kisin warned that we will destroy ourselves if we continue to allow this erosion of our culture and our confidence in Western values.

Then Kisin turned his focus on Climate Change, directing his speech toward Millennials and Gen Z—at least the ones who he felt might be, “open to rational argument.” Although he knew he was speaking to young people who honor their feelings above any rational truth, Kisin made this fact-based point.

“[Climate Change will be decided] by poor people in Asia and Latin America who don’t care about saving the planet—because they’re poor.”

Kind of hard being concerned about the future of the planet, when your future only extends to your next meal.

Threatens the tyrant

Posted on January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by Mike

The usual blather from a gun-grabbing blowhard.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has blasted the more than six dozen sheriff’s offices across the state for vowing to defy a new gun control law.

“This is political grandstanding at its worst. The assault weapons ban is the law of Illinois,” the governor’s office told Fox News on Monday. “The General Assembly passed the bill and the Governor signed it into law to protect children in schools, worshippers at church, and families at parades from the fear of sudden mass murder.”

The state Senate passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act last week, which bans assault weapons 2A-protected semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity standard-capacity magazines from being sold or manufactured in the state.

Edited by me, for purposes of veracity.

At least 74 sheriff’s offices have publicly stated their opposition to the law, calling it unconstitutional.

80 at last count, out of a possible hundred and two counties in Illinois. Which adds up to an overwhelming majority in anybody’s book. Gee, Gov Prickzter, think maybe the problem here might not lie with these stalwart sheriffs, who are standing up straight and tall in resistance to mendacious authority, but with this soggy sop you’re tossing to the fear-stricken and factually-challenged in your sorry state?

“Part of my duties that I accepted upon being sworn into office was to protect the rights provided to all of us, in the Constitution,” Edwards County Sheriff Darby Boewe said on Facebook. “One of those rights enumerated is the right of the people to KEEP and BEAR ARMS provided under the 2nd Amendment. The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people.”

The Illinois Sheriff’s Association stated last week that they have opposed the bill since its inception.

“We, as a representative of chief law enforcement officials throughout Illinois, are very concerned and disturbed by the ongoing and escalating violence throughout our State and Country,” they said. “We are always supportive of new tools, techniques and laws that assist us in preventing and holding accountable those that wage efforts of harm and violence on others. However, this new law does not do that.”

As statistics and studies have confirmed, over and again.

Pritzker’s office continues to maintain that law enforcement in the state doesn’t have the right to “pick and choose which laws they support.”

Perhaps so, and then again perhaps not. What they DO have is a clear and specific duty to refuse to enforce patently unlawful and contra-Constitutional edicts such as this one, you multi-chinned fascist slob. These good men and true are upholding their oaths of office; you’re violating yours. If this nation is to survive qua nation for very much longer, it will require a whole lot fewer of YOU and a whole lot more of THEM to see to it that it does.

Next time grubby, greasy Gov Prickzter is consoling himself with a few dozen fully-loaded triple-decker fatburgers in the privacy of the Governor’s Mansion, I hope he chokes to death on ’em.

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So close, and yet so far

Posted on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Mike

As y’all no doubt know by now, I find myself increasingly frustrated with James Kunstler. He is indeed a wonderfully skilled, insightful writer, no doubt about it. But his recent penchant for constructing an impeccable argument on a given issue, only to shy away in the last paragraph or two from the obvious conclusion that there really is no political solution to be found has become downright wearisome, at least to me.

That said, though, the opening ‘graph of today’s piece is a real gem.

So many calamities, quandaries, and mysteries swirl in the zeitgeist these days that life in the USA feels like swimming against a rising tide of poisoned guacamole. Nothing has been able to stop that green spewage from the political Left, especially as it desecrates our very language to turn everything up, down, and everything inside, outside. You end up drowning the consensus about reality under the muck. Now, finally, there are political forces gathering to oppose all this deliberate malice and deceit and they will need something like a fire-hose to clean the joint up.

Heh. “Green spewage,” poisoned guacamole, and firehoses? Now, THAT is gooooood squishy right there. Makes me kinda reluctant to read the rest of it, knowing the piffle about “investigations” and “Congressional inquiries” and other such rot that surely awaits towards the end of it.

Update! And sure enough.

Obviously, there are many other channels of inquiry waiting to be explored in the government’s war against the people, especially the lingering questions about election interference and the official censorship of news. The excellent writer who goes by Sundance at The Last Refuge website made some capital suggestions for going forward with these inquiries: one is to rely primarily on witness testimony rather than on documents that federal officials will surely do everything possible to hide. Don’t turn this into a futile battle over the docs. Let’s just hear what the people-in-charge have to say. Secondly — and this may be hard for many angry, injured people to swallow — immunize witnesses against prosecution, to give them no incentive to hide what they know, what actions they carried out, and who told them to do it. Give them this immunity, Sundance wrote, in the interest of maximum transparency — because punishment of these characters is less important than showing the people of this country how far off the rails we have gone, and how to get back on. It may not be optimally satisfying, but it’s an argument worth pondering.

No, it assuredly is NOT—seeing as how the argument from the very git-go relies entirely on a fatally-flawed premise: that the best way to “get to the bottom” of all this knavery and deception is via the selfsame government that is indeed waging war against its people. It’s pure self-deception, and it’s pathetic.

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Southern gentleman

Posted on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Mike

His hallowed name will resonate deeply in the hearts and minds of every proudly unreconstructed Southron forever and ever.

Robert E. Lee, in full Robert Edward Lee, (born January 19, 1807, Stratford Hall, Westmoreland county, Virginia, U.S.—died October 12, 1870, Lexington, Virginia), U.S. Army officer (1829–61), Confederate general (1861–65), college president (1865–70), and central figure in contending memory traditions of the American Civil War.

Robert Edward Lee was the son of Henry (“Light-horse Harry”) Lee and Ann Hill Carter Lee. His father had been a hero of the American Revolution and governor of Virginia, and uncles and other relatives had signed the Declaration of Independence, served in Congress, and otherwise achieved notable reputations. When Lee was age six, his father moved to the West Indies and never returned, leaving the family in financially straightened circumstances.

Lee entered the United States Military Academy in 1825 and graduated second in the class of 1829. Fellow cadets referred to him as the “Marble Model”—a nickname that reflected envy as well as admiration. Just under six feet (1.8 metres) tall, with black hair and brown eyes, Lee cut a striking figure. High class ranking entitled him to enter the Engineer Corps as a second lieutenant on July 1, 1829.

More than a decade and half passed before Lee saw a battlefield. Promotions to first lieutenant (September 21, 1836) and to captain (July 7, 1838) punctuated his peacetime engineering service. In June 1831 Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis, the only daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington. The couple would share a 39-year marriage that produced four daughters and three sons. Lee took seriously the ties to George Washington, whom he sought to emulate throughout his life.

On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. Between March and September 1847, Lee served on the staff of Winfield Scott during a campaign that ended with the capture of Mexico City. Lee impressed superiors throughout these operations and won brevet promotions to major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel.

As sectional stresses related to the institution of slavery mounted in the 1850s, Lee held the superintendency of the United States Military Academy (1852–55) and later served as lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in Texas. In 1859 he was in Washington, D.C., when the abolitionist John Brown mounted his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Summoned to the War Department on October 17, Lee proceeded to Harpers Ferry with a detachment of Marines and the next morning orchestrated the capture of Brown, whom he described as an “enemy of the Country.”

Which, y’know, he in fact was, in light of the deadly and disastrous conflagration Brown’s murderous fanaticism helped to touch off.

Ever since Lee’s illustrious, entirely admirable conduct of himself as the CSA’s foremost general, he has been held up as a role model for young Southern boys, a pluperfect exemplar of what every Southern man should always strive to be. This is only meet and just, a well-earned plaudit for a true paragon among men. For me, the great Robert E Lee will always be a hero, plain and simple. Shitlib Yankees inclined to disparage him ought to pay careful heed to the righteous words of Merle Haggard.

PREACH it, brother.

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Five years gone

Posted on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Mike

I began working on this post earlier yesterday, Jan 15th being the actual anniversary date of Dolores O’Riordan’s death in 2018, but balked at finishing the damnable thing. For any fan of O’Riordan’s music (and I most definitely am that), let alone the family and friends who loved her best, it’s a most painful anniversary indeed. In the end, though, I just couldn’t let it go by unremarked.

What an incredible talent she was. From Wikipedia:

Dolores Mary Eileen O’Riordan (/oʊˈrɪərdən/ oh-REER-dən; 6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) was an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. She was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist for the alternative rock band the Cranberries. One of the most recognizable voices in rock in the 1990s, she was known for her lilting mezzo-soprano voice, signature yodel, emphasized use of keening, and strong Limerick accent.

O’Riordan was born in County Limerick, Ireland, to a Catholic working-class family. She began to perform as a soloist in her church choir before leaving secondary school to join the Cranberries in 1990. Recognised for her “unique” voice, she quickly achieved worldwide fame. During her lifetime, she released seven studio albums with the Cranberries, including four number-one albums. Over the years, she contributed to the release of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993), No Need to Argue (1994), To the Faithful Departed (1996), Bury the Hatchet (1999) and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001) before taking a six-year hiatus starting in 2003.

O’Riordan’s first solo album, Are You Listening?, was released in May 2007 and was followed up by No Baggage in August 2009. She reunited with the Cranberries the same year. The band released Roses (2012) and went on a world tour. She appeared as a judge on RTÉ‘s The Voice of Ireland during the 2013–14 season. In April 2014, O’Riordan joined and began recording new material with the trio D.A.R.K. Throughout her life, she had to overcome personal challenges. O’Riordan struggled with depression and the pressure of her own success, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015. She subsequently released her last album with the group, Something Else (2017).

O’Riordan died from drowning due to alcohol intoxication in January 2018. The following year, the Cranberries released the Grammy-nominated album In the End (2019), featuring her final vocal recordings, and subsequently disbanded. With the Cranberries, O’Riordan sold more than 40 million albums worldwide during her lifetime; that total increased to almost 50 million albums worldwide as of 2019, excluding her solo albums. In the US, she was awarded fourteen Platinum album certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and in Canada, ten Platinum certifications. In the UK, she received five Platinum certifications. She was honoured with the Ivor Novello International Achievement award, and in the months following her death, she was named “The Top Female Artist of All Time” on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs chart.

Tragically, Dolores had a pretty tough go of things, beginning early on in her life.

In 2013, O’Riordan told LIFE Magazine she was molested for four years starting when she was 8 years old by someone whom she trusted.

The rocker often talked about how motherhood was her priority, and also said having children changed her life for the better. “The kids were actually completely elemental in my healing process,” she told LIFE about trying to move on from the abuse.

In 2011, O’Riordan was also devastated after losing her father Terence to cancer. “I felt him around me a lot for a while. I could feel him trying to protect me and communicate with me,” she told Billboard last year.

She also revealed to the Belfast Telegraph that she “tried to overdose” in 2013, but that she was “meant to stay here for the kids.”

Additionally, she opened up to the outlet about her struggles with substance abuse. “I am pretty good but sometimes I hit the bottle,” she said. “Everything is way worse the next morning. I have a bad day when I have bad memories and I can’t control them and I hit the bottle. I kind of binge drink. That is kind of my biggest flaw at the moment.”

But enough of all that sort of thing. When we remember Dolores O’Riordan, let it be her soaring, lovely voice which transcends the despair for us, lighting up mortal darkness in the way that only music can ever do.

Rest easy, Dolores, and be ye now and forevermore at peace.

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NAILED it, and I do mean ALL of it

Posted on January 15, 2023January 15, 2023 by Mike

Our good friend Chris Muir has really outdone himself with today’s strip, I think.

True as true can be, right down the line. Well done indeed, Chris.

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A look back

Posted on January 14, 2023January 15, 2023 by Mike

At the man who helped make Elvis the once and forever King.

On the day Sam Phillips died, the crowd at the world’s (alleged) all-time biggest rock concert, in Toronto, booed and threw bottles at teen heartthrob Justin Timberlake, of the boy band ‘N Sync. Master Timberlake was said to be too “plastic” and “manufactured” for the taste of rock fans there to see Rush and AC/DC. This is the fellow to whom, as she revealed this summer, Britney Spears surrendered her much-advertised virginity, which suggests that letting the suits in the head office mold your identity is not without its compensations. But young Justin sportingly said he thought the bottle-hurling was “understandable”.

And so it is. Rock’n’roll may be the most aggressively corporate branch of showbusiness ever invented but it’s still obsessed with being “raw” and “authentic” and “countercultural”. That’s where Sam Phillips comes in: he represents rock’s BC era – Before Corporate -before Elvis said goodbye to Sam’s Sun Records, in Memphis, and headed for RCA and Hollywood and Vegas. But back in 1954 it was Sam who told Elvis to sing the country song (“Blue Moon Of Kentucky”) kinda bluesy and the blues song (“That’s All Right”) kinda country, and, as Elvis was a polite 19-year old who obliged his elders, somewhere in the crisscross something clicked.

No, no, a thousand times no. Or not quite, anyhow. Contrary to popular belief, Elvis allowed himself to be wheedled, cajoled, or otherwise manipulated by absolutely NOBODY when it came to his music. As Peter’s Guralnick’s brilliantly-done two-part biography of him makes abundantly plain, Elvis knew exactly what he was doing from the very beginning, only losing his way both musically and personally after succumbing to various excesses and overindulgences in the early 70s.

Phillips’s nevertheless crucial role in one Elvis Aron Presley’s (Aron pronounced “AY-ron,” the better to sync with the name of his stillborn twin Jesse Garon, actually) journey ever upwards from rawboned aspiring singer and interpreter of the Great American Songbook, which is how Elvis saw himself and was all he ever dreamed of being, was that of a collaborator and partner, not a Svengali.

It’s the Phillips tracks that redeem Elvis for everything that came afterward.

Not necessarily. Can even a remotely credible contention be made that these stellar vocal performances somehow need to be “redeemed”?

No sir, it can NOT. Onwards. Seeing as how my music posts tend to run a bit, um, long, and also that Elvis, Phillips, and rock and roll generally are subjects I’ve spent most of my “adult” (allegedly) life studying closely, I’ll tuck the rest of this one below the fold.

Continue reading “A look back” →

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Not just a slogan, a way of life

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Mike

Looks like this websty has now found itself a new motto, philosophy, and creed.

Via WRSA.

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Unintentional (?) hilarity

Posted on January 14, 2023January 15, 2023 by Mike

The Revolver author takes it as satire, but after looking the thing over a cpl-three times, I ain’t so sure about that myself.

With our coverage of Ray Epps, Scaffold Commander, and the ever-elusive MAGA Pipe Bomber, we at Revolver have done our part to thoroughly discredit the mainstream narrative of January 6.

Most of America, of course, has moved on from January 6, regardless of how it voted in 2020. But then, there are the diehards: The collection of people for whom a few hooligans in the Capitol was the most psychologically traumatizing event of their entire lives.

And now, they have a comic book. Fresh from OneSix Comics, it’s…“1/6: The Graphic Novel”!

My bolded bit below would seem to be a dead giveaway as to satirical intent and authenticity:

1/6: The Graphic Novel asks and answers the question: what if the January 6, 2021 Insurrection had been successful? In an entertaining, chilling, and sometimes humorous form, 1/6 illustrates how close we came to authoritarian rule in the United States, demonstrating how strategic disinformation, racial and religious bigotry, and cynical political ambition convinced millions of ordinary Americans to reject cherished constitutional values and support violent sedition.

Harvard Law School Professor Alan Jenkins and New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Gan Golan have teamed up with veteran comic book artist Will Rosado to depict, in chilling detail, what the Insurrectionists and their allies had planned on that day, the threats to our democracy that remain, and what can be done about it.

Ayup, NOT satire. Still hilarious though, if only in a dark way.

For now, here are Revolver’s nine favorite details from Volume 1.

1. The story opens with a team of special forces storming a CNN-esque news station, and executing the staff without a trial.

2. The murdered news anchor is replaced with a new one, and apparently, the new anchor is supposed to be Tucker Carlson. Only problem is, he looks more like Mitch McConnell in a toupee.

I’m digging it already. My personal fave from the unfortunately notional MAGAmerica? This one.

5. The old Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building has been renamed in honor of a far better black Supreme Court justice…and also his wife, for some reason.

The building’s courtyard is dominated by a massive statue of Clarence Thomas and Donald Trump both waving gavels.

Heh. Yep, totes digging it. ¡Viva la MEGA-MAGA revolucion!

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Fucked around. Found out

Posted on January 14, 2023January 14, 2023 by Mike

Recent events would seem to indicate that ordinary Americans are just about fed the fuck UP with lawlessness, theft without repercussion, and random scumbaggery.

Albuquerque guitar center doesnt mess around. pic.twitter.com/hsx01RboQU

— 🥀_Imposter_🕸️ (@Imposter_Edits) January 13, 2023

When I forwarded this to him via text message, habitual commenter brack said: “The collar/belt buckle heave-ho into the trash can is priceless.” I couldn’t agree more with that assessment. This post is going into the “Art” category, among others, because that fast-takedown is a true thing of beauty.

(Via Driscoll)

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“What happens when you land on the wrong aircraft carrier?”

Posted on January 13, 2023January 13, 2023 by Mike

Hilarity ensues.

When there used to be more than one carrier in a task group, if an aircraft landed accidentally on the wrong ship, some fun was had before sending him “home”.

Imagine doing this today.

The flight deck crew would be sent immediately to undergo 100 hours of mandatory sensitivity training, so as to be sure Peter “Wrongway” Peachfuzz’s hurt feeeeeelings were properly assuaged, of course. But none of these all-in-good-fun hijinks would be possible today, sad to say. For one thing, it would require a sense of humor, which is a rara avis indeed in these parlous times.

I purely love what they did to this F2 Banshee.

Strikethrough — *Must be Chair Farce—heh*

The “Down Bird” Phantom is good too.

FYI, it’s an aircraft from USS Constellation, see, that mistakenly set down on the deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard, whose crew-assigned nickname (all USN ships have one, which is voted on by the crew from a list of candidates which have been pre-approved by their CO) is the Bonnie Dick. Lots more rib-tickling photos at the link, going all the way back to an old F4U that got itself declared a “POW” owing to its poor pilot having shit the bed, so to speak, in similarly spectacular fashion.

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Ignore illegal orders

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Mike

In Illinois, of all places.

Some Illinois Sheriffs Say Departments Will Not Comply With Assault Weapon Registration Requirements

As potential legal fights percolate over Illinois’ new assault weapons ban, law enforcement officials in several counties have said that their departments will not enforce provisions of the bill that require existing weapons to be registered with the State Police.

Their arguments center around their stance that the bill, which makes it illegal for Illinois residents to purchase, transfer or manufacture assault weapons and extended magazines, violates the Second Amendment.

McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman was one of numerous law enforcement officials throughout the state who shared messages on social media in the aftermath of the bill’s passage.

“Neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the state, nor will we be arresting or housing law abiding individuals that have been charged solely with non-compliance with this act,” he said.

Many of those law enforcement officials shared identical messages, including Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey, Sheriff Jack Harlan in Boone County and Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana.

In a statement, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office called the messages “political grandstanding at its worst,” and said that sheriffs and departments that refuse to enforce the ban are “in violation of their oath of office.”

Au contraire, you rat-bastard prick; YOU are. Heartfelt kudos to these fine fellows; clearly, they understand their oath of office, the US Constitution, and their solemn and sacred duty to uphold it a damned sight better than their shitlib Goobernor ever will, or could.

(Via Divemedic)

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Rock in a hard place

Posted on January 9, 2023January 9, 2023 by Mike

I can agree with most of this. But not all of it.

From Vinyl Roofs to Classic Vinyl
REVIEW: ‘The Lives of Brian’ by Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980 after the death of the band’s original singer Bon Scott. Before we proceed to Johnson’s amiable rockography, The Lives of Brian, we should clarify the musical technicalities. AC/DC are not a heavy metal band. They are frequently hard rock, but essentially they are a rock ’n’ roll band. Like Motörhead, and like the early punk bands that shared their energy and glee, they are the last, late progeny of ’50s rock ’n’ roll. They are loud and bluesy, and have more in common with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates than with Metallica or Def Leppard. The boogie in their early albums carries echoes of the age before Elvis. Like Motörhead’s Philthy Phil Taylor or The Damned’s Rat Scabies, the drumming of AC/DC’s first drummer Phil “The Stud” Rudd swings with the ghost of Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

Second, AC/DC are Australian. Formed in 1973, they came up the old way, which is the hard way, on the Australian pub circuit. The “pub” part might evoke cozy and ramshackle British country inns, but Australian pubs, according to those who have visited them and survived, are cavernous beer halls full of raging drunks. These bracing conditions made AC/DC what the Irish call a “show band,” playing other people’s hits, and entertaining the punters like a very loud vaudeville act. Hence their guitarist Angus Young dressing as a schoolboy, complete with satchel.

Third, Bon Scott was and always will be AC/DC’s singer. This is the Raft of Theseus part. Scott had been with the band for six years before he choked on his own vomit after an especially exuberant night out in South London. Brian Johnson replaced him in 1980, and freely admits that he is a singing caretaker, preserving Scott’s songs and the band that made them. Johnson’s 42 years on the job begin where The Lives of Brian ends. This is the story of what Johnson did before he became famous, and what he did to become famous. It is, as Bon Scott wrote, “a long way to the top if you want to rock ’n’ roll,” but the scenic route is much more interesting than the rock star’s cycle of arena shows and private jets.

“Caretaker”? Like hell. No slight of any kind to the inimitable Bon Scott intended, of course, but AC/DC has done some of its very best work with Johnson up front and center. I’ve been fortunate indeed to see Oz’s gift to real rock and roll live four times over the years, including my first time shortly before Scott passed on, and I can say without fear of contradiction that Johnson stepped up and filled some unimaginably oversized shoes with aplomb, class, and style. He never tried to make anybody forget about Scott, or to supplant him; he made the wiser choice to go his own way and add to Scott’s legacy instead, which is greatly to his credit both as a singer and as a man.

Yes, Bon Scott was AC/DC’s singer—WAS. But now Brian Johnson is, and not just the band itself but all of its fans have benefitted greatly from that. And if you try to tell me that this doesn’t stand on its own, no reference to the late great Bon Scott needed, well, I’m gonna tell you you’re as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.

WHOA, that’s good squishy.

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Success story

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Mike

Doing the jobs Repugnicants just won’t do.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking another victory lap, highlighting all his’ Free State of Florida” 2022 accomplishments (wins), including his hurricane response, protecting parental rights, investing in teachers and higher education, and combatting the “woke society” he has been pushing back against since first taking office in 2019.

Here is Gov. DeSantis complete outline of his “Free State of Florida” wins:

It is indeed a long, long list, reinforcing my fervent hope that he won’t waste any time and energy running for Prexy in ’24. He’s gotten way more worthwhile things accomplished as Governor than he’ll ever be allowed to while besieged in the Oval Orifice. Such as this, which didn’t make the list.

Gov. DeSantis taps Christopher Rufo, 5 others to transform New College of Florida into ‘classical college’

The DeSantis administration wants to model New College on Hillsdale College.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed conservative activist Christopher Rufo and five others to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees in his continuing move to eliminate “political ideology” from public higher education.

With the six new members of the school’s Board of Trustees, the DeSantis administration plans to weed out concepts like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory (CRT). The move comes amid low student enrollment at the New College of Florida and as DeSantis ramps up his second term.

In a statement Friday, DeSantis Communications Director Taryn Fenskesaid New College has been “completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning.”

“Starting today, the ship is turning around,” DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin continued. “New College of Florida, under the Governor’s new appointees, will be refocused on its founding mission of providing a world-class quality education with an exceptional focus on the classics.”

Rufo, along with several of his fellow appointees, has been a driving force in the movement against CRT.

“I’m proud to announce that Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed me to the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida,” Rufo tweeted. “My ambition is to help the new board majority transform New College into a classical liberal arts institution. We are recapturing higher education.”

Others appointed Friday are Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein, Claremont-McKenna College professor Charles Kesler, attorney Debra Jenks and Inspiration Academy Co-Founder Jason “Eddie” Speir.

Rounding out the list is Matthew Spalding, dean of Hillsdale College D.C. campus’ Graduate School of Government. Hillsdale College is a private conservative liberal arts college that the DeSantis administration is referencing as its model for transforming New College.

You go, Gov.

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