Tessera

This week's listens: Ricky Warwick/Blood Ties/2025 Badflower/No Place Like Home/2025 Ally Venable/Money & Power/2025 Slash/Live At The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival/2025 The Dead Daisies/Lookin' For Trouble/2025

If we hadn't helped orchestrate the coup of Iran's democratically elected prime minister in 1953 to install the Shah, maybe there isn't a seizure of our embassy, a hostage taking of 52 U.S. citizens, a failed mission that killed eight servicemen, and perhaps no 47 years of brutal theocratic rule...

Iran executes protesters in public as regime expands postwar repression, human rights groups say

Public executions returned to the streets of Iran last week as the regime clamps down on public dissent after months of war with the U.S. and mass protests in January.

abcnews.com

If you could have handpicked the biggest moron and most incompetent world leader to start an unnecessary war of choice with no clear metrics for victory then bungled it and created an international quagmire that is now in its sixth month... I give you TFG. And his pet parasite Little Petey Hegseth.

I'm old enough to have lived during some pivotal events in world history and American politics. Even as a kid I understood the terrible implications of inequality and injustice, of seemingly endless wars, of presidential abuse of power and political overreach. Demand better. Expect better. #VoteBlue

August 8, 2026

At 4:00 this morning, just before they left for a five-week recess, Senate Republicans confirmed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the position of Attorney General of the United States.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

The Mord @paganroadkill.bsky.social · 6d ago

For every Republican who confirmed Blanche as AG... For every politician, of either party, who has voted in favor of any cabinet-level posting or federal law enforcement appointment... If ever you'd failed to push back against TFG and his MAGA bs... May you find yourself in a Circle of Hell.

I've owned a manual transmission since I was 17. I do not imagine life without a stick shift. When driving a stick, you are more fully engaged. There is a knowing reliance on exerting and controlling your driving experience. Its both cultural and mythic. Its like vinyl, rotary phones, and cursive.

The death of the stick shift is almost here

His father was a devoted fan of the stick shift, and so when it came time for Alvaro Puig to get his driver's license in the early '90s, that meant figuring out how to work the clutch and three pedals...

yahoo.com

TFG: "The blue cities have something in common... vicious, violent crime... They're all dirty. They're filthy, dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell... They're disgusting..." The incendiary provocations of an election denier, attempted election stealer, and treasonous insurrectionist.

Jack White Torches Trump Over Detroit 'Third World' Election Rant

Jack White fired back after Donald Trump claimed Detroit’s Wayne County was 'corrupt' and warned of a 'rigged' Michigan election.

parade.com

Every so often when I'm shadowing the shorelines of the U.S.-CAN border, I feel like all of Canada is looking at me and the entirety of their country is collectively rolling its eyes. All I can say is I've really disliked that orange turd since the mid-Eighties and its gonna' stay that way.

Canadian Prime Minister Trolls Trump With Perfectly Timed ‘Conspiracy’ Crack

Mark Carney got laughs for his joke about the U.S. president.

huffpost.com

"Keep the name out your damn mouth" -Abdulrahman Mohamed El‑Sayed Know when to flex and flex when you got 'em.

Abdul El Sayed (D-MI) to Mike Rogers (R-MI): "Keep the name out your damn mouth"

YouTube video by C-SPAN

youtube.com

Wherever you affix your center left ideological hat, whatever hand-wringing doubts, lingering resentments, campaign grievances, or purity tests that could get in the way come November, STOP IT! We, our nation, cannot allow for moral or even Pyrrhic victories. Decisively defeat TFG and MAGA. Period.

The new Democratic Party is here. Learn to love it. | Opinion

The DNC establishment needs to listen to voters and stop the hand-wringing over Abdul El-Sayed’s 'electability' and progressive platform.

usatoday.com

Scores of us discover The Blues in our own way though I'd bet many anecdotes are not dissimilar. For myself, it began with The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and seeing Blues artists guesting on the variety shows of the day. But man, when I heard Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy", it was damn defining.

The blues saved my mother. Morgan Freeman wants to save its legacy.

With his Morgan Freeman Symphonic Blues Experience coming to Houston and a new album featuring the likes of Taj Mahal and Shemekia Copeland, the actor has become a standard bearer.

houstonchronicle.com

Just 'cos...

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues (Official Video)

YouTube video by BobDylanVEVO

youtube.com

Earlier TFG referenced the Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate race as a "communist versus socialist" contest. Aside from the fact that he's patently stupid and an inveterate liar, maybe a corrupt sociopath who's bungled a war he'd started, screwed our economy, and alienated our allies shouldn't opine.

Lately I've preferred being a mid-evening voter. I like that I can kinda' check in on the turnout. Tonight, at 6:10pm, I was the 180th to cast their ballot in my precinct. A little depressing, really, but I am hoping a sizable number took advantage of early voting or did mail-in. #DefendDemocracy

An outsized level of influence and amount of money has been plowed into the Michigan race to be the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. I was all in for Mallory McMorrow when it'd been a race between three. Now just the two and not as simple or binary as an either/or. That said... VOTE! #Blue2026

Michigan Democrats pick between moderate and progressive in high-profile Senate primary

Michigan voters head to the polls Tuesday for primary elections including a closely watched Democratic U.S. Senate contest between U.S. Rep.

apnews.com

1/ The Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary is a good example that it can be a prickly battle when you're an "other" running for elected office or perceptibly an outlier or troublingly iconoclastic. But I think in terms of positioning and policy, often there is not as big a difference between the

'The Country Isn't Ready': How an Electability Myth Became a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Is America "ready" for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Pete Buttigieg to be president? How the electability myth becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

rollingstone.com

The proof is in the CFP wins: Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana. If I'm watching college football, its the Spartans and the Wolverines and any other Big Ten game that might appeal. Then the MAC. And if I can find a good one, a FCS game. If I'm at all watching the SEC, its for the individual talents.

Curt Cignetti fires shot at SEC: 'We don't cry a river, whine and complain'

Flanked by college football's last three national title trophies, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti seemed to target the SEC "hype machine."

usatoday.com

1/ I think my sense of public service has always been a little bit shaped by the idealism of "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and the harsher truths of "The Candidate". You read enough history and political writings and you'll see that exasperating push-and-pull of governance; those defining big

Turnout is just about everything in terms of shaping the direction our nation will tilt. But being informed and casting a ballot or pulling the lever for an initiative or proposal really is just the start. Pay attention, stay aware, and whoever you'd voted into public office, hold them accountable.

The White House interiors are starting to resemble a bordello with all its garish, tacky, cheap adornments so it follows TFG would be just as classless and ignorant when it comes to our historic sites and public spaces. He's like some ghastly af combination of termite, bed bug, and cockroach.

Critics Say Historic Sites Are Endangered by Trump-Aligned Panel’s Plan

Proponents say the changes to the federal preservation rules are necessary, but critics argue they are alarming and would help expedite the president’s redesign of Washington.

nytimes.com

"Blues musicians don't retire. They drop." -Buddy Guy