#509 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday November 15)
Good morning,
A Tuesday potpourri…
WHAT IF WE WOKE UP AND THE BEATLES WERE GONE?
This weekend, I suggested a few groups that remind me of other groups. One is the comparison of Oasis to The Beatles. This elicited the following movie review from Peter Bain. He correctly identifies the movie Yesterday as a great rom-com, music-related story, and pondering of a world where something so core to our civilization all of the sudden goes missing:
“I applaud your including the Oasis-Beatles comparison, something which has received deserved attention in the music world. And I would point you to a small detail in a lovely Danny Boyle film. “Yesterday,” as you will know if you have seen it, presents a struggling English musician, Jack Malek, who awakens after being hit by a bus to a world in which The Beatles never existed - except for Jack. He runs home and gets on his computer to Google “The Beatles” but only gets links to insects. He learns that The Stones, Bowie, and pretty much everyone else we know and love still exist. But then he pauses at the keyboard, types in “Oasis,” and is taken to a picture of water in a desert. It is a wry moment in a charming film. Anyone who has affection for The Fab Four should see it.”
THE PARTY OF TRUMP?
Perhaps last week’s election has weakened the grip of the charlatan Donald Trump over the Republican party. Perhaps people will no longer feel a need to subscribe to the ridiculous, unfounded, lie of the “stolen election” and will stop using virulent language and spread information. And then, perhaps not, as the crazy wing of the Republican party will have a fair bit to say about the organization and direction of the House, given the expected narrow majority of the party. In the meantime, here is Brad Tabach-Bank’s view of the party’s descent. Where it heads after this week is anyone’s guess:
MORPHING OF THE GOP TO THE PARTY OF TRUMP
“I suggest that Americans stop calling the party of Trump, DeSantis, Cruz, Graham and Abbot (together with their anti-democratic cronies, followers and sycophants) the “Republican Party.” The party no longer adheres to its once respectable core conservative beliefs of limited government and individual responsibility, as espoused by its 20th century leadership - the likes of Eisenhower, Reagan, Buckley, Dirksen, et al. Ever since its adoption of Newt Gingrich’s misanthropic “Contract with America,” the once proud GOP has devolved into a society of hate, claiming a perceived right to recapture for itself alone a mythic past that never actually existed. In pursuit of this goal, its leadership has snidely relabeled its opposition as the ‘Democrat Party,’ a nasty act of pure derision. However, such name calling is no longer limited to political opponents; instead, it is a major component of the Republican tribal fear that ‘others’ are stealing their rightful and sole ownership of the American Dream. I believe President Biden was correct in distinguishing old-line Republicans from MAGA Republicans, but this distinction falls short of today’s political reality.
Under the early tutelage of Roy Cohn, and with the support of Mitch McConnell, Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, and the cowardly minions of Republican legislators who fear his wrath, Trump has upset the norms of our governmental system and morphed the Republican Party into a personality cult. Through open deception, Trump has nurtured prejudice and encouraged the belief that costal elites, liberals, minorities and, especially, immigrants are all bent on destroying his followers’ America and they must cheat, even fight, to stop that from happening.
‘Make America Great Again’ has become the touchstone of their cause. But what truly makes America great are the things Trump and his followers actually hate. Today’s Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln and no longer deserves to carry that banner.”
PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
I referred to podcasts a few weeks ago and received this “best of” list from Melody Zaghi. I’m curious of other suggestions:
Politics / News
-Left right and center
-Planet Money
Science
-Hidden Brain
All topics
-TED radio hour
-This American Life
Great Stories
-The Moth
Series / entertainment
-Serial
-S. Town
-We Were Three
Have a great day,
Glenn