Comments

While I have been pretty satisfied thus far with how members of the "corporate media" are covering Dumbass Donald Dick, it's with mixed emotions similar to how I felt about Barack Obama's commutation of Chelsea Manning's 35 year sentence. Like we wouldn't be in this situation if you either did your job (if anyone want to make the argument that "their" job these days is less about service to the American people and more about generating revenue and disseminating messages from our shareholders & slave masters, I won't disagree) or just did what you promised in the first place (if anyone wants to make an argument against Manning's actions, I'm going to undermine it with the quote, "most transparent administration in history" and reminders about abuse of the Espionage Act and evasion from the Freedom of Information Act among other reminders about corruption and crime), respectively. Basically, I start to wonder, "why am I giving you credit, again?" Going forward while I don't want them to distract too much from policy, I do hope that select critics (op-positional members of Congress, members of the media, celebrities, anyone in a position of power and influence) exploit the idea that the easiest way to derail Dumbass Donald Dick is to keep attacking his name and perception of reality (when you're insecure, all sizes matter) until he blows a gasket (gallows got me thinkin' bout his heart and his casket). Like if either (or both) Culture went to #1 on the Billboard 200 and/or the Atlanta Falcons won the Super Bowl, I need a representative from either party to shout out John Lewis and for John Lewis to take credit (obviously, much stranger things have happened in this parallel universe than the possibility of John Lewis and Migos publicly recognizing each other) and brandish it like a weapon against Dumbass Donald Dick the way he will take credit for the future success of the trash artists who played his Inauguration or NYG, NYJ,(sorry Buffalo) Washington, or his friend, Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl.
Raindrops Gold top Crackin' on cracka with the orange cock (A political rant and a quick music tangent) For those of you that don't have time (or the patience) to keep up, the following link is to the first article in a series that will summarize all of Trump's political actions of note each week of his reign: Donald Trump's First Week. Missing from the above article was today's executive order that essentially puts a cap on immigrants and temporarily bans refugees from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. Hey, wait a minute...where were the hijackers from 9/11 from again? Oh yeah, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Lebanon! *Rereads list of countries temporarily banned from US* Huh?!? I wonder which countries are on the list of predominately Muslim countries the US has either bombed or imposed crippling sanctions before and during my lifetime? I guess when you're scaremongering about ISIS and "radical Islamic terrorism" (while both ironically and unironically creating terrorists), they'll let you do anything (that generates monetary and political capital and doesn't anger US "allies").
Honestly, the outcome of "Just 'a security review' and a Republican Director of the FBI" should have been about as surprising as the ending of Grizzly Man. I'll see your "fuck James motherfucking Comey" and raise you fuck Hillary Clinton; fuck Donald Trump; fuck Barack Obama; fuck George W. Bush; fuck Bill Clinton; fuck George H.W. Bush; fuck Ronald Reagan; fuck every US president and vice president; fuck Democrips and Rebloodicans; fuck the US government; fuck the US IC and the US MIC; fuck corporate media; fuck Wall Street and K Street; fuck our Shareholders and our Slave Masters; fuck "American Exceptionalism" i.e. US hubris and hypocrisy; fuck the United States of America. I love the theory of my country 'tis of thee but fuck the reality. "It was fucked from the beginning until the end" will probably be an appropriate headstone . P.S. 2.5 Minutes to Midnight; let's fucking go, 2017!
http://media.timeout.com/blogimages/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tumblr_m9rlk1otqw1r89dnyo1_500.gif
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/20/16/86/201686273ee06a252efcb2e97770ecc6.jpg
https://38.media.tumblr.com/1ad28b9878b15e299c81cb47e7b2d187/tumblr_nlkbtqo2qI1uq61k8o1_500.gif
@cheap_suit_jr_jr Dave Longstreth is 15 years into his career. In 15 years, Animal Collective went from Spirit They're Gone... to Painting With . In 15 years, Bjork went from Debut to Volta. In 15 years, Radiohead went from On a Friday to Kid A/Amnesiac. In 15 years, David Bowie went from David Bowie to Let's Dance. We could go on all day; I think that you probably get the point I'm trying to make, but if not, let a motherfucker breathe! Adding on "I know, I know they have a lot more albums than that" kind of misses the point of the project. It's best to imagine Dirty Projectors as Dave Longstreth's pseudonym the way that David Bowie is the pseudonym of David Jones. You have rotating musicians under the same umbrella but the spiraling vision/direction really belongs to one person (Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor is probably a better analogy). At least wait until you hear the whole album ( and maybe revisit the albums released before Rise Above) and the actual context of the singles before you start saying uninspired and Bon Iver. I'm with you on not feeling much for Bon Iver's music (I think that he's obviously talented but prefer him as a wing man in a smaller dosage) but he and DP sound world's apart in influence and both vocal and music arrangements to my ears. Quick related-tangent/bone-to-pick, can critics (paid and unpaid) stop saying x sounds like y when they aren't even a year apart in release? I fucking hate "we're in a post-_____ world" declarations when x and y were created over the same time period in their own little bubbles (they're obviously reacting to their own music, the world, and other music, so I 'm saying relative to each other). I'm not mad. On the contrary, this is 2/2 for me. Let's go, 2017! Burn in Hell, 2016. Fuck Donald Trump.
Exactly! I don't know much about Chazelle but the little I do know indicates to me that so far in his young career, he is writing what he knows and the casting of Stone and Gosling in a relatively smaller project like La La Land is a "no duh" move that works for prestige and business. I'm with your train of thought that Rostam has noble intentions and is mostly trying to stay in his lane but I wonder if he has said anything about representation to the creative team of writer Brit Marling and his writer/director brother Zal Batmanglij. I enjoyed their first two movies together and have only watched the first episode of their new series, The OA (for which Rostam has music composition credits), but Brit Marling and a straight white guy appear to be the leads in every project (again I just started the series but it appears to be the same case with slightly more diversity than their movies). I'd wager that he hasn't said as much primarily because they are family, but also because he knows that those are independent passion projects where they are essentially writing what they know, targeting a specific audience, and basically at the beginning of their careers. I would love to see more people like me (black), Rostam (Asian/gay) (Ha Moonlight, the best movie I've seen so far, kills a few birds with one stone), and other minorities in leads roles but at the same time I recognize there is a vicious cycle in the film industry (like most American institutions) where money does the talking. Which demographics in America have traditionally had the money and power to not only get movies made that are mirrors to their worlds and the ones they imagine but also which audiences have traditionally had the economic viability to "vote" for these movies with their dollars? Trying to sink a movie like La La Land is sort of self-sabotage in that studios are more likely to take the wrong lesson going forward that musicals are toxic, don't finance them. I honestly don't see too many present day solutions besides celebrities with money and power starting their own studios (like Brad Pitt did) to give platforms to people without those opportunities. You could harass younger writers and directors but vitriol should be saved for those with actual money and power like top-tier directors, studios, and casting directors. But once the money starts to flow to finance the bigger projects, it's important to remember who that money is coming from, what their expectations and pull are, and what both success and failure could mean for you and people "like you". Of course, the music and entertainment industries are similar on the surface but their business models diverge in many different manners. I obviously don't speak for a majority of black people because we and other populations aren't as monolithic as people like to pretend, but like Shabani noted below, the black friends and family I know care more about tangible economic power than being represented on the big screen. Don't get me wrong, it's nice, (and it makes perfect sense for those fighting that battle in their creative field to do so publicly) but even switching over for a quick political analogy, getting Obama elected looks fantastic, but the way the 2007/08 financial crisis DEVASTATED black homeowners/communities and decimated black wealth among the myriad of other shit that's continued to happen, became public knowledge, has gotten worst, and yet, still looks to get even worst, he becomes just a symbol that extraordinary people can ascribe towards (completely leaving acceptance out of the equation). I love Rostam's music and salute his intentions but we (the under-represented) have MUCH bigger existential problems than La La Land (what an appropriate title for this point), that I would recommend tweeting at 100,000 followers.
Hey Califonia Lovin, I dropped a long Lupe recommendation in the James Taylor thread. If you've already heard Tetsuo & Youth feel free to ignore it.
I actually think that Tetsuo & Youth (Lupe's last album from last year) was a fantastic return to form. Ignoring whatever else was going on in the arts or around the world, it definitely got overshadowed not only by coming out between Black Messiah and To Pimp a Butterfly but also coming out the same day as B4.Da.$$, Vulnicura, No Cities to Love , and Viet Cong. Those albums plus Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper (came out a week earlier) are everything that was competing for my attention during January and then a few weeks later, I Love You, Honeybear and If You're Reading This, It's Too Late were released in February. So, I imagine with that very stiff competition, Lupe was cut out (understandably based on his previous two albums) for everyone with varied musical tastes including the arts blogs I follow. If you haven't heard the album, it does suffer from being too long (like all of his albums) but that is more due to there being three songs that are over eight minutes long than there being obvious filter (although, IMO, most albums that go over fifty minutes can usually stand to cut a few songs as this one can). Most importantly, though, he sounds focused in a structured album (seasons that get longer like a Chicago Requiem for a Dream ) and the production is much better than the two previous albums (probably his biggest musical problem next to the career-derailing record label fights and penchant for controversial statements). If 78 minutes is too long for one sitting, try dividing it into 20-30 minute EPs by cutting off before the season changes and let me know what you think.
Yeah, I was surprised that the article left out the best part of the story that he decided (correctly) to use the voice of God.
@raptor jesus On the other hand, the same broadcast media outlets don't mind publicizing war in Syria and skewing the U.S. role in those sectarian conflicts to garner support from its citizens while comparatively, blacking out our complicity in war crimes and mass slaughter in Yemen. While the former is a shitshow with too many cooks, the latter is essentially a one-sided affair where our ally is using bombs, "intelligence," fuel, and our unwavering support to bomb the fuck out of what is essentially the poorest country in the Middle East. I don't need to ask which of those three conflicts we have more control in stopping. Off-subject but tangentially-related, the relationship between the CIA and large media outlets in the U.S. and history of Psy-Ops on the American people is why I have been skeptical (and ranting like a madman here and there) since the first "Russian Hacks" (If you're going to subvert and pervert FOIA standards and do everything in your power to punish whistle-blowers and block adversarial journalism, I'm going to call it Karmic phishing for transparency) happened months before the Podesta emails began to be published. I agree that the messenger and his/her/their potential intentions are important but shouldn't be used as a means to route damning information. Like the War in Iraq before (and that in Libya and the upcoming sequel: War in Iran (and if we're lucky, the exciting conclusion WWIII) our politicians (*ahem*and plutocrats and policy-makers and partners) have a tendency to set the table like a shit magician who just needs a willing audience that will listen to the words, go along with the trick, shut-up, and not pay any attention to the hands. TLDR: I suspect that the U.S. has much bigger fish to fry (and larger bucks to make) than pay any mind or dare divest any resources to what is tragically happening in the Philippines. Remember that it's not about "spreading Democracy" as much as it is about what's in it for US (and by US, I of course mean the masters and the puppets who need the peasants but don't really give a fuck about them).
"I just left the strip club, got some glitter on me/ Wifey gonna kvlt me, she the female OJ (Chris Ojeda)/ Y'all don't feel me, man this ain't okay/ [Trump Tower], take a shower, new clothes, I'm reloaded" Kanye always has his bases covered (unless Amber is at bat). Yeezus is a fan of both the New Testament and the Old Testament.
(S)Layers http://anotherimg.dazedgroup.netdna-cdn.com/442/azure/another-prod/350/1/351710.jpg
Thanks to Stereogum's Band to Watch profile on Algiers, I caught them live last year with Omni (who, beside The Drones, Preoccupations, and Exploded View, quietly released one of my favorite angular guitar records this year) in Atlanta. I thought that Algiers sounded great on record but live, HOLY SHIT, it's a revelation! They have so many weapons at their disposal: THAT voice, THOSE lyrics, THOSE guitars, THOSE samples, and now Matt Tong (probably in my Top 5 of All-Time Favorite Drummers) who they added after completing their first record. I'm honestly expecting Algiers' new album to be along the lines of Return to Cookie Mountain and anticipate them being one of the great emerging explicitly sociopolitical rock bands not just because they are in the right place at the right time and in tune with the times, but primarily because they kick major ass.
Surely, someone has written the article/paper/thesis/book that ties together the ties that bind Kanye West and Donald Trump and "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and "Watch the Throne" and "Yeezus" and "The Life of Pablo" and Donald Trump's ascendance to power and "Conservative America"'s Rejection of West and "Liberal America"'s Rejection of Trump and "Liberal America"'s Rehabilitation of West and "Conservative America"'s Rehabilitation of Trump and Capitalism in America and "Who Will Survive in America" and Education and Entertainment and Mental Health and Ego and Id and Ignorance and Arrogance and Stigmatization and Celebration and Normalization and "Obama's Nation" and White Power and Black Power and Projection and Television and Confusion and Division and Destruction and the other Ions of the World... I'm sure of it.
http://images.wired.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/16133001/1474018198_landscape-1473974695-radiohead-present-tense.png
"Finish him!" 11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree 12. ScHoolboy Q - Blank Face LP 13. The Avalanches - Wildflower 14. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered. 15. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - I Had a Dream That You Were Mine 16. Mitski - Puberty 2 17. Anderson .Paak - Malibu 18. Saul Williams - Martyr.Loser.King 19. Nicolas Jaar - Sirens 20. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo 21. Preoccupations - Preoccupations 22. Charles Bradley - Changes 23. Deakin - Sleep Cycle 24. Junior Boys - Big Black Coat 25. Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love! Tomorrow is Bleak but Bright: Chance the Rapper, Jamila Woods, Noname, Saba, Joey Purp, Adia Victoria, Margaret Glaspy, Car Seat Headrest, Exploded View, Fat White Family, Gallant, Kelsey Lu, Moses Sumney, Kaytranada, James Blake, Vince Staples
My cream and red Braids' t-shirt that is a print of all of the lyrics to Deep in the Iris is my favorite band t-shirt. They've blown away the headliner (Baths, Toro y Moi (my hometown heroes), and Purity Ring) of every bill I've seen them play. There are certain bands like Braids (Ava Luna comes to mind and I'm hoping this doesn't happen to Weaves) where you would think the power of their live performance would be able to propel them to a HUGE audience, but I think that it is just the nature of our digital/streaming age where they are helped and hurt by everyone having all of the music and getting more every week that they and many other bands don't get the attention that we think they deserve. It'll be a shame if Braids don't get the call to the majors, but if they do, I know that they'll be amply prepared.
Ha, it's interesting what the untouchables are for different Radiohead fans (and those of other artists). On my hypothetical HTTT edit that I made below, I was going to say cut "Go To Sleep" and leave "Backdrifts" (because both I like the latter more and it flows into "Where I End and You Begin" better) but I have a feeling that in a fan survey, more people like "Go To Sleep" than "Backdrifts". I do stand by my opinion that even though its a perfectly fine song (with a fantastic groove), "A Punchup at a Wedding" probably drags the sequencing of HTTT the most and that might just be do to its placement more than its actual tempo or length.
Mr. Gruff the Atheist Goat and Saturnian on Status Ain't Hood last month brought up the point that if Kendrick Lamar made To Pimp A Butterfly during the Obama administration, imagine what he would make during the Trump administration. I'm thinking as oddly prescient as Radiohead have been throughout their career and besides A Moon Shaped Pool being an appropriate swan song to exit, what might they come up with during and after Brexit and a Trump administration?
This is an interesting version of HTTT. I did the opposite for TKOL (primarily for road trips), although, I do like it for its relative brevity. Having two versions of everything would be nice. For this "HTTT Alternate Tracklist", I was surprised to see that "The Gloaming" made the cut (a song that I didn't "get" until hearing it played live in '08 where Colin's bass both anchors and drives it) and "We Suck Young Blood" didn't, but overall, I dig it on first listen. My criticisms would be that "2+2=5" probably works best as an opener (either side A or B) or the closer (side B), and I wouldn't have dared touch the original sequence of the final three songs ("Scatterbrain" might be my favorite penultimate song of all time. Bird up to RJ). My opinion on the length of HTTT changed over the course of a few years from thinking it was too long to feeling like it had to be as long and messy (my favorite word of 2016 (and a fair description of my writing style)) as it was to 1) be an outrage reaction and reflection of the complex times and events that influenced it and 2) match the perfect artwork made for it. The one song I wouldn't lose any sleep over cutting is "A Punchup at a Wedding". If I were to make a similar edit to the original side A sequence, it would pain me but I could live with cutting "Backdrifts". Then, you have a 46 minute HTTT. To reach the 45 minutes or less classic LP time, you could also cut "I Will" which does flow into "A Punchup at a Wedding" ("I Will" into "Myxomatosis" has a very cool jump cut feel), is kind of like a coda to "You and Whose Army?", and as the reverse to "Like Spinning Plates", sort of belongs more to Radiohead's Kid A/Amnesiac phase. I guess those cuts would be like the Hollywood Compromise version of HTTT, and it still sounds damn good to my ears (I might be too easy to please when it comes to Radiohead) TLDR: I love thinking and talking about sequencing too much like all you other music nerds. Just have a look at my history (please don't) where I've shared edits for First Impressions of Earth, The King of Limbs, and The Life of Pablo. I guess that I accepted Hail to the Thief before becoming a tinkerer of tracklists.
Holy fuck...can you picture people LARPing after rolling on a combo of rando festival drugs? I imagine it would look something like this: http://www.newcontinental.net/UserFiles/Images/field%202.jpg
https://media.giphy.com/media/A9KfKenpqNDfa/giphy.gif
You're right that he has always done that when singing even in his earlier years. I wrote it off as being apart of his improv and theatre-kid background. And you're right that it works very much to his advantage on this new album because it was in the nature of those who strongly influenced the album. Dammit, you're such a wise man.
Do you remember the Ok Computer/In Rainbows Golden Ratio Theory? God, being a Radiohead fan in college made for fantastically strange times. I had the honor and pleasure of taking the first Radiohead course my university offered and that spring semester coincided with the release of The King of Limbs. So, everyone wrote 10+ page papers analyzing that album. I imagine it was like a Stockholm Syndrome for some but I genuinely loved TKOL when it was released and still love it in the present tense.
What is Childish Gambino's "over the top bullshit"? I'm not really a stan, just a fan, and he (nor anyone for that matter) doesn't needs my defense, but I'm curious.
"The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it/ Let these words be your Earth and Moon, you consume every message/ As I lead this army, make room for mistakes and depression/ And with that being said my nigga, let me ask this question: When shit hit the fan, is you still a fan?" -Kendrick Lamar, A Mortal Man
This guy fucks! http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img923/8574/YAkRKx.jpg
Thanks for taking a trip back to go forward, Gambino. It's love at first listen for me. Awake, My Love! sounds like CG is conjuring and channeling black spirits both dead and living, both familiar and foreign from the past, present, and future to deliver messages that his idols, peers, and progeny have and will continue to send: really love one another, know your true enemy, fight the power & fear & hate, empathy is the key to understanding, our survival depends on imposing but not insurmountable obstacles, and keep chasing the stars. Lyrically, the album is primarily bleak and a mirror of our times but not too in your face (with the aforementioned ideas being littered in the few moments of levity throughout the album) with Gambino's voice singing (not rapping) and constantly shifting shapes and altered states while the music tries to be the escape to get high and fly away like so many funk and soul classics of the late 60's and 70's (there is one interesting stylistic detour from the throw-back amalgamation that plays like California English: Part 3 (and is appropriately titled "California")). The dark clouds finally lift in the final one-two punch and it's gorgeous and Gaye. So, yeah, I hope that this artistic breakthrough/leap/evolution/whatever is the first step in a new old path forward for DG. He and his crew has revitalized some fantastic vibes and sounds on this album in times of despair similar to those faced by many of the spirits on this album and their ancestors before them. Like Glover on the final song, I know that it's going to be tough but I'm optimistic and ready to fight for the future.
Understanderable, that's how I usually am.
@dansolo Agreed on her performances. I'd only ever been an outside admirer of Beyonce so while I've definitely helped destroy dancefloors to her singles over the last decade, I still haven't fully watched her self-titled "visual album" (I'll check it out this month) and I honestly might not have watched Lemonade (I'm a proud owner of 2 versions (great decision by Bey)) if it didn't air on HBO. My first viewing was on a whim with my black parents (funny that my dad might be the biggest fan I know) so, despite the Formation video and her superbowl performance we were blind-sided by the direction of the project and that was an unforgettable first experience for me. I was blown away, especially with the inclusion of the Warsan Shire poetry, but for the reasons given, I get why you (and other fans) might not have been as impressed. My little soapbox was aimed more at people who feel that Lemonade is overrated but have only heard the music (sorry again smizzbomb if that doesn't include you). In their defense, maybe Lemonade should have been released in "visual album" format only like Endless. But then in defense of critics paid to make lists, it's sort-of part of their job to have watched the " visual album" and it's tough to divorce the images and full narrative from the music once you've watched it.
@smizzbomb Because Lemonade is both a "visual album" and an "album album", it's tough to judge for a list of just albums (kind of like including a short film in an image competition). It is probably the album I've listened to the least of my top twenty, but watching and hearing the "visual album" is my #1 favorite art experience of 2016. So, my compromise was to place it at #3 on my list. If you did a survey (please don't) of how a person was first exposed to Lemonade and whether or not he/she has experienced the "visual album", I think that you'll usually be able to predict how a person feels about it. I could see Lemonade venturing into the realm of pretension for some people, still, but it's a trip worth taking before calling it overrated. I apologize for making my assumption if you watched it before making your comment.
If I was held under duress at this very moment, my top ten would be: 1. David Bowie - Blackstar 2. Solange - A Seat At The Table 3. Beyonce - Lemonade 4. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service 5. Frank Ocean - Blonde 6. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool 7. Angel Olsen - My Woman 8. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition 9. The Drones - Feelin Kinda Free 10.Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker With an honorable mention to my most played album, The Life of Pablo, and its choose your own sequence + updates adventure. If anyone wants to see my symmetrical lists (I doubt it) let me know.
http://cdn2-www.musicfeeds.com.au/assets/uploads/dronesfeelinkindafree_2_1-300x300.jpg Imagine if Damon Albarn's younger brother was kidnapped by Nick Cave, mentored, and eventually left to fend for himself in Perth. 20 years into his musical career after six albums and a curated ATP show (with MBV, GY!BE, Einstürzende Neubauten, & Swans headlining), he and his band release (to my naive American ears) the Australian version of Hail to the Thief...and it's even more lyrically and melodically messy and glorious. Feelin Kinda Free by The Drones is a cocktail of beauty and ugly that sounds like a band reacting to the last sixteen years of world history by meeting the challenge head-on and biting back. The album is on the edge of my top ten, and I wish that it got more attention. I honestly might have missed both the album and band if they weren't featured as a cameo in Courtney Barnett's "Elevator Operator" video earlier this year (really makes me think about all of the books, music, movies, and art that I'll never experience and appreciate that which I do). Thanks, Ms. Barnett!
Yo, shut the fuck up, Ass-Kicked. (I can't just leave an opening like that for anyone else to come in an destroy me)
Let it out, man. Even though I agree with different points from each of you, I've got anyone's back who wants to vent. All I've done for the past year for therapy is use Stereogum (basically my AA) to rant about politics because I've been locked-in and stressed-out for the past three years to an unhealthy degree. It does seem like an odd forum choice but like everyone else here (I assume), my obsession with music exceeds everything else. I realize that I've been insufferable when most people here would definitely rather this be an escape from all of the bullshit, and I do apologize (went off the rails a few times), but I also appreciate no one ever just straight up saying, "Yo, shut the fuck up, Ass-Kicked," even though I'm sure people (myself included) have often thought it. My post-election resolution is to not talk about politics here for a VERY long time (out in the RL, you better believe I'm going to be engaged more than ever before) but I still support anyone who does (and of course all other miscellaneous topics) because sometimes you need a place to rage and I believe this community to be exceptional.
+10000000000000000000000
While you are right that the DNC deserves the lion's share, the reason I save most of my blame for the 4th estate is that if instead of colluding with the DNC they (I guess the gatekeepers who have the most power is who I'm referring to) actually exhibit the ethics of old adversarial journalism days, there is no rise of Trump (who it was actually revealed was aided by the DNC pushing him, Carson, and Cruz to the media) and Bernie isn't completely sabotaged. One important observation of the leaked emails was that the DNC and "Clinton Wing" of the Democrats is entrenched in QUITE the DC bubble, so hopefully the elected officials of the "Progressive Wing" will lead the reflection process going forward.
Stay strong, Tom. I'm hopeful like you that not only is Trump not Mike Pence (who is probably the next president when, not if, Trump gets impeached) but he isn't Ted Cruz (who I now see with less a path to presidency than before). Power, intolerance towards marginalized groups, AND religious fervor is what really scares me and Trump is surrounded by it but my hope is that these "leaders" going against their "morals" to attach to his ship is going to publicly backfire and sink the whole damn thing out at sea.