by John Walters
Eddie Shredder
One of the true legendary guitarists of the rock era, Eddie Van Halen, passes at the age of 65. From lung cancer.
“Panama,” “Eruption,” “Runnin’ With The Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Dreams” and even the guitar riff on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Eddie authored all of them and always with that impish grin. A virtuoso on the ax, sure, but that impish grin always reminded fans that the co-founder of Van Halen was having fun.
From Van Halen’s eponymous debut album, which opens with the band’s greatest song (“Runnin’ With The Devil”), and then leads into the above Eddie guitar solo masterpiece “Eruption,” there was little doubt that Eddie was as gifted a technician as any guitarist of his era. Prince and he were at a different level than everyone else. And then he went ahead and married his twin-from-another-mother, Valerie Bertinelli, and they had a son, Wolfgang.
Eddie and his brother Alex, the band’s drummer, were born in the Netherlands. We saw them play once, in early 1984, during their tour supporting the album of that name.
Donald Chump
Remember that guy who did not pay income taxes in 10 of 15 years since 2000, paid $750 the year he became president, and who just took a helicopter to and from a 3-day stay at a hospital the cost of which (the stay, the helicopter rides, the Secret Service detail, etc.) had to exceed $500K, easy? That guy?
Yeah, well he just told Americans who are desperately seeking a stimulus package to pound sand. President Donad Trump said he won’t even engage in negotiations until after the election. Trump’s reasoning, if you can call it that, is that he does not want to allow Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to waste a single second of Mitch McConnell’s time because he needs Mitch to fast-track Amy Covid Barrett to the Supreme Court so that she can help illegally give him a second term.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans (not this one) will struggle to pay bills and thousands of businesses will fail the next few weeks. The guy who never pays for anything is holding America’s tax dollars hostage and telling everyone, You’ll get it after I’m elected.
In short, he’s black-mailing America the way he did anyone who ever did business with him. And you rubes voted for him.
And Now A Few Words From The Most Inarticulate President of Your Lifetime—And You Were Alive For George W. Bush
We counted the word “dominate” three times in the 86 seconds during which Trump spoke here. It says a lot about his warped life perspective: You either dominate or you are dominated. Harmony? F*** that.
Also, there was the usual parade of ignorance and arrogance (“I may be immune, I dunno”) that accompanies any Trump talk of more than 30 seconds that has not been ghost-written for him by someone else. Speaking of which…
Coronavirus Infected With Stephen Miller
Poor coronavirus. Some of it is trapped inside the white supremacist walking corpse that is Stephen Miller. Pray for the coronavirus.
The Nearly Perfect Storm
If you combine their 6-0 postseason run that just ended with a WNBA championship with their regular season record, the Seattle Storm went 24-4 this season.
Now, consider that 24-4 record. In her final three seasons as a UConn Husky, Storm point guard Sue Bird lost four games total. In her four seasons as a Husky, Storm MVP Breanna Stewart lost five games.
This 24-4 season would have been the 2nd-worst season either Bird or Stewart ever suffered in Storrs (UConn went 29-5 Bird’s freshman year, which is slightly worse than 24-4 %-wise). From Storrs to Storm, these two have become legends.
In the first game of the Storm’s three-game sweep of the Las Vegas Aces, Bird had an incredible 16 assists while Stewie poured in 37 points. Two of the best all-time.
I dunno. Trump was tweeting repeatedly the past week or so for Congress to “get the Stimulus done” & then all of a sudden, he tells them (the GOP-Nazis) to stop & that he wouldn’t sign off. At least until LAST NIGHT when he’s back to pushing (at least publicly) for the Stimulus. Here’s a possibility – McConnell & the other GOP-NAZIs that have really been running the federal govt (to the ground/hell) the past 4 years KNOW Trump is a LOSER in November & possibly they will lose the Senate too. So they convince (trick) the moron Sociopath that the stimulus will only help the Democrats in the election so he’ll stop calling for it & meanwhile, they work ‘feverishly’ (get it?) to get that horrific woman shoehorned onto the SC & to RUIN the economy as much as possible for the incoming administration, once again proving they care NOT AT ALL about the “country”.
One of his minions then got to the Sociopath last night (during his sporadic bouts of consciousness) to say his lack of pushing for the Stimulus would HURT him in the polls, so he is back to publicly (but not really) advocating for it & when it doesn’t get done, he’ll blame the Democrats.
The Democrats need to start blanketing the TV time with ads about who is REALLY to blame for a lack of 2nd stimulus & the ‘extra’ Unemployment money. And that the SOCIOPATH says the virus that has killed 210,000 AMERICANS & counting is really nothing to “afraid of”. Sure, get out there & go maskless when you’re contagious like their moronic ‘leader’ & spread the virus some more, kill 500,000 in another 6 months.
As much as I detest that son of a bitch, McConnell, Graham, Cruz, & the rest of that VILE NAZI party are REALLY to BLAME. They need to PAY.
The 1st thing the Dems need to do when we have the WH, the House, & the Senate is to ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE! Then work on voting rights AGAIN. We need to prevent the Hell of this year from ever happening again. I would also call for a ‘Nuremberg Trial’ type thing for all the GOP-NAZIs that caused the nightmare of the last 4 years. “LOCK THEM UP!” Oh, the irony.
I was expecting a rant on Eddie’s passing, Susie B. You always surprise me!
I just read that “LESS than 11%” of those with federal student loans are actually PAYING on them the last 6-7 months. To extrapolate, this mean 89% of these folks are supposedly unemployed this whole time & thus can’t pay? I DON’T THINK SO! This pisses me off, everyone trying to SCAM the system & we’re going to be expected to PAY OFF THESE LOANS FOR THEM? Oh, HELL NO!
Sure, if you lost your job or had your pay cut or just graduated & couldn’t look for a job due to COVID, the loans can be put in penalty-free deferment but not if you’ll still working as usual!
And jdubs, I wrote above about YOUR other big item of the day. Which is far more impactful to the country than the passing of a rock singer, even though his passing is sad. And the more I read about Trump’s onslaught of overnight/early morning tweets, that POS should be REMOVED from office RIGHT NOW due to medical incapacitation. The GOP-NAZIs thought they could KEEP doing ANYTHING but the shit on their shoes is now starting to stink. And what do you do with shoes that can’t be cleaned of shit? YOU THROW THEM OUT! (Since you’re not a farm boy, this is probably beyond your purview, but trust me on this).
Susie B.,
Your point in the first paragraph is jumping the gun quite a bit. Because they haven’t been paying in the middle of a pandemic means they are scamming the system?
What do YOU call it? Some, if not the majority, of these folks have had NO interruption of their work & income & yet STOPPED PAYING BACK THEIR LOANS. They are taking advantage of what was supposed to aid those in desperate straights. Of course, WHY these folks didn’t have to prove they have been adversely affected due to the pandemic is perplexing to me.
Do YOU think 89% of student loan holders have had no (or downsized) income the past 7 months due to COVID? Do the majority work in the travel & hospitality/food service industries?
I’m not going to have a conversation with someone that talks IN SUCH A CONDESCENDING MANNER.
Is that alright with YOU?
FINE WITH ME.
Great EVH you posted. A great example of his virtuosity—— and the visual reminder of the habit that caused His cancer. Always a lit cig, wedged in the tuning knob onstage
Question – during Lindsey Graham’s repeat appearances on Fox ‘News’ to BEG FOR MONEY, does he tear up? I’d get a kick out of seeing that. Even more than the video clip I just saw of a errant sheep experiencing a trampoline for the 1st time. 🙂