Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 500505)

Hope springs eternal for special snowflakes like Ted. That such a clown ever considered himself a serious candidate is a testament to the power of ego, lack of self-awareness, and delusional thinking.

I understand a guy like Bernie thinking, in the face of a crowd of 30 thousand people, and raising $40mil a month, "Hey, maybe I can actually win this thing." But Cruz? Who did he think would be receptive to him? The only reason he got anywhere was because he set up a great ground crew and, being a manipulative prick, gamed the system where he could, and... big "and" here: Because the anti-Trump crowd gave him a boost.

Had Trump never succeeded, Cruz's campaign would have been dead months ago. He exists by the grace of Donald and those who desperately seek anyone, however vile and hopeless in general he might be, to hobble Trump.

Cruz has never been viable, and only persists in soiling our TV screens at this late date as the Never Trump Movement's useful idiot. I'm sure some on the Establishment think he has a path to the White House, but they're the dimmest of the dim. No one with brains thinks or has ever thought this person had a serious chance in a national election. It's laughable to even consider it.

And yet, despite his intelligence, I'll bet Cruz thinks there's some angle - some litany of perfectly executed connivances - by which he can maneuver himself to the Presidency. Always the sneak, always the lawyer, the gamer, the "liar." Trump's nickname nails the man in full. Here's to this being the last of Ted in national politics.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 500517)

I just read a thing on FB from upworthy about how they are changing the 5/10/20 dollar bills. What was surprising was the fact that the most used bills are the $1 and $100 bills, $20 coming in third. There has got to be some major uses of $100s that are outside my experiences.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 500519)

Before, I thought you underestimated his stamina, perseverance, or whatever you call the quality that allowed a single painful and partially-ingrown hair to survive near my butt-crack for months, even while the hair on my head is gone to the breezes of history.

Now, I think you underestimate the strength of his ambition, and also the powerful effect of having a horde of people fawning over you. I doubt that Cruz expected to get anywhere close to the nomination, and the confluence of events -- mainly, Trump picking off anyone who was within screaming distance of sanity, leaving Cruz the unlikely savior of the GOP establishment -- was something not even he anticipated.

But he's in this for the long haul. It is a mission. Run this year, lose. Run in four years, blame everything bad (and everything good that you spin as bad) on the country's failure to vote for you, and (if applicable) blame the party's loss last time around for their failure to nominate you. Repeat as necessary. Eventually, your moment will come, for you are God's chosen one, the flame on his sword, and so forth.

After all, Ronald Reagan didn't win his first presidential campaign, or his second.

He thought that he SHOULD be president because he's on a mission from Jesus. He thought that he COULD be president because he found so many vacant-eyed Jesus freaks and Tea Party whackjobs, plus SEC Chick who is nice, to sing his praises, i.e the people running the ground game that you rightly acknowledge.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 500519)

Before, I thought you underestimated his stamina, perseverance, or whatever you call the quality that allowed a single painful and partially-ingrown hair to survive near my butt-crack for months, even while the hair on my head is gone to the breezes of history.

Now, I think you underestimate the strength of his ambition, and also the powerful effect of having a horde of people fawning over you. I doubt that Cruz expected to get anywhere close to the nomination, and the confluence of events -- mainly, Trump picking off anyone who was within screaming distance of sanity, leaving Cruz the unlikely savior of the GOP establishment -- was something not even he anticipated.

But he's in this for the long haul. It is a mission. Run this year, lose. Run in four years, blame everything bad (and everything good that you spin as bad) on the country's failure to vote for you, and (if applicable) blame the party's loss last time around for their failure to nominate you. Repeat as necessary. Eventually, your moment will come, for you are God's chosen one, the flame on his sword, and so forth.

After all, Ronald Reagan didn't win his first presidential campaign, or his second.

He thought that he SHOULD be president because he's on a mission from Jesus. He thought that he COULD be president because he found so many vacant-eyed Jesus freaks and Tea Party whackjobs, plus SEC Chick who is nice, to sing his praises, i.e the people running the ground game that you rightly acknowledge.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 500519)

But he's in this for the long haul. It is a mission. Run this year, lose. Run in four years, blame everything bad (and everything good that you spin as bad) on the country's failure to vote for you, and (if applicable) blame the party's loss last time around for their failure to nominate you. Repeat as necessary. Eventually, your moment will come, for you are God's chosen one, the flame on his sword, and so forth.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 500524)

This is why we must crush him.

And then open the border on the Rio Grande with Mexico wide open and create an accelerated path to citizenship so we get more sane people voting in Texas.

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 500519)

Before, I thought you underestimated his stamina, perseverance, or whatever you call the quality that allowed a single painful and partially-ingrown hair to survive near my butt-crack for months, even while the hair on my head is gone to the breezes of history.

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 500525)

They don't vote. This state hasn't had an ethnic majority in awhile. The Obama team came down two years ago under the Aegis of "Battleground Texas" to mobilize Democratic voters. Google the results of the Wendy Davis / Greg Abbott race to see how that worked.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 500527)

It will take years and hard work.

For today's Afro-pop, a mix of traditional and native instruments from Mali. Toumani Diabate is pretty well-known over here, even won a grammy. My sister spent four years in Bamako, her second stint in Africa in what became a twenty-five year career doing relief work. They know how to party in Mali.

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower (Post 500528)

So good. I don't know if I mentioned this about the St. Germain show but one of the people I went with was from Mali, and the band had a significant number of traditional Malian instruments and he was able to give the names and histories of them all. I wish I had retained some of it.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 500529)

Evan Ziporyn, a composer at MIT who runs a great music series there, had a guy over who had learned traditional instrument making in West Africa, traveling around for years along the Niger and Gambia, and then turned it to making new instruments. He had some wild stuff, and mixed a whole lot of stuff about the instruments in with his concert, describing the woods, the different ways of construction, the uses of metal. Have to see if I can remember who he was. We saw him about two years ago.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 500530)

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower (Post 500526)

This is one of the most simultaneously repulsive and evocative bits of prose to appear on this board in years. Well done.

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower (Post 500536)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CglZfDdVEAAwlcr.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8BMm6Jn6oU