Bob Schulties

Thank Ted It’s Friday!

Nothing, on any level, will ever get better in the United States until the United States adopts a single-payer health care system. Everything revolves around that.

As I watch the West Coast burn, I am reminded of the show Newsroom and this scene about climate change. Now, sure, it was fiction.

The West Coast being on fire is not.

📰 Woodward had recordings since February and we’re only hearing about them now?!

New rule: Ted Lasso needs to be on 52 weeks a year. We’re in a pandemic and it’s incredibly important to see some optimism on a weekly basis.

I keep seeing headlines that read (I’m paraphrasing) Biden campaign brings in $300 million (Clinton brought in $150 million in same time frame)

The fact this kind of money is needed to win anything is depressing¹ because I imagine there are many folks out there with fantastic, live-changing ideas will never be able to raise that kind of money.

📰 Every single newspaper should be calling for Trump to resign¹. Who is controlling Biden? “People that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows.”

This is the talk of a person unfit for office. Everyone knows it, but no one is saying it. As soon as one big newspaper prints it, others will follow.

I have two stories about meeting Justin Townes Earle. They aren’t amazing stories and I guess I’m writing them down so I remember (or at least remember what little I remember).

The first time I “met” Justin was... I actually don’t remember. It was about 20+ years ago in Manhattan. Jen and I went to a Steve Earle show at the Beacon Theater in the upper west side of Manhattan. It was the first time I recall Steve mentioning his son. Steve said his son would rebel against him by playing golf. I am pretty sure he had Justin come on stage and play a song with the band. After the show Jen and I went over to Steve’s bus to wait so I could give Steve a calendar of some photographs a friend of mine had taken of Civil War battlefields.

We waited a bit and the bus driver opened his window and asked us what we were waiting for. I explained and then driver called Justin over. All we did was say hello and then I or Justin handed the driver the calendar.

Flash forward years later and Justin released some of his own music (Yuma EP and then a full album called The Good Life. I immediately loved his sound, his style - the whole shebang. In fact, when I re-entered the workforce, I would listen to The Good Life endlessly as I commuted. I remember walking west on West 17th Street listening to that album. I know it couldn’t have been every single day, but boy... if anyone could wear out an MP3, it would have been me and that album.

As Twitter became a thing (not the awful thing it has become now), I started following him. One day he tweeted he’d be playing a free show at a small bar in Manhattan. It might have been the 11th Street Bar, but I honestly don’t remember. Looking on a map now, that seems right.

I don’t recall the year, but my children were young and so I almost didn’t even go.

I got there early and saw Justin setting up his equipment in the small area just past the bar. So I sat at the bar and ordered a drink. I was the only one there. A few minutes later Justin comes walking down and sits right next to me. We talked for about 15 minutes. I am pretty sure I didn’t gush. I did, however, ask him “Which three artists should I listen to?”

He said, Charlie Rich, Don Covay, and Willis Alan Ramsey. I had only heard of Charlie Rich (who hasn’t?) and, in fact, my note still has Covay written as Covey and the other as Willis Allen Ramsey.

The other thing I remember about that encounter was noticing we both had iPhones (still pretty new things at the time). His phone rang. The name that came up said MOM.

To say I’m heartbroken is an understatement and I can’t imagine the grief his folks feel. And I just feel plain sick for his wife and their little girl.

RIP Justin Townes Earle.

🍔🍟☠️ I wonder how many died as a result of not listening to health experts? Do the people responsible for this feel any guilt? Haha, just kidding. They have no feelings other than rage and hate.

😍🎶👩🏻 I just watched Linda Rondstadt: The Sound of My Voice and damn it was great.

If you are not familiar with Linda Rondstadt, you are in for a treat. Not only are you going to hear some fantastic music and get a crush on a woman (the from the 1960s on), you’re also going to see what a real singer sounds like and how a true professional acts.

🏫👩🏾‍🦱📓 Reopening in-person teaching in grade schools now is premature. There is no vaccine and there aren’t enough treatments of symptoms. I’m fully aware of the hardships parents face and I understand young children could see some social developments hindered.

Nevertheless, opening schools in facilities that were, even in the best of times, merely adequate, will show us the devastation of this virus. To be clear, it’s not just the facilities that are the issue. Young children will not be able to not closely interact with one another. And it’s not their fault. Young children should run and play and hug... so we have to step in until science figures this out.

If NYC teachers go on strike, I will support their decision. My children were fortunate to have some completely wonderful people as their teachers (and one child still does). Stay strong teachers, I love you.

I dropped off my daughter (she’s the oldest) at college today. It was a weird feeling of being proud, being the sad kind of happy, and being anxious because the United States is full of fucking morons about this virus.

She decided to take what’s probably considered a low class load of four classes. I told her I don’t care how long it takes her to get her degree. College shouldn’t be rushed and full of stress. I want her to enjoy her gradual ease into adulthood and study at a pace that she can maintain. There is no need to rush.

Anyway, I’m proud of her and want her to enjoy learning. But I still have a bit of the sad kind of happy.

Even with a vaccine (which is still only a maybe), 2021 will be another lost year.

This is such bullshit. The school system is only reversing her suspension because it makes them look bad, not because they truly believe they were wrong about it in the first place. The student in question should demand it stay on there. It’s a sign of making good trouble. And, by the way, good for her!

The olds are scared. Lower it to 16, I say.

Is 150,000 a lot?

🖕 Those playing a game know to protect their own and sacrifice the pawns first. The amount of fuck and you can’t be combined fast enough for these puckered anuses.

“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson told Cox. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”

Either Republicans leaders don’t understand the science or they don’t give shit. Ha, just kidding. They know the science¹. They just know if they say what their constituents want to hear, everyone will be happy. Some will die, of course, but… (see footnote).

🖕 A designer played a part in this. Boils my blood and reminds me of a zine by my close personal friend, Mike¹.

While it’s true the amount of Black history I don’t know could make for a… long podcast, this episode of 99% Invisible¹ Freedom House Ambulance Service is simply eye opening. It’s 100% worth your time.

Ron DeSantis is responsible for a lot of death. And I here I thought Rick Scott was a fuckup.¹

☠️☠️☠️ Fuck the death penalty.

👱🏼‍♀️🏫☠️ If school districts insist on opening without an honest-to-goodness plan in mind that centers around the health of everyone (teachers, paraprofessional, staff, and students), then the entire country’s teachers’ union should go on strike.

What the hell is the point of a union if it can’t, if nothing else, protect you from unsafe working conditions?

Schools are NOT babysitters.

If people wear masks, we’ll be able to make it long enough to deal with the virus. If people quit Facebook, we’ll be able to make it long enough to deal with what’s happened to our democracy.

My daughter is supposed to start college in the fall (2020). All the schools are talking about going back into session (that is, having students back in campus) but I honestly don’t see how it’s going to happen. Same for all schools (not just college).

No vaccine, no in-person learning.* It’s really that simple.

*Shhh… don’t get me started on this distance-learning. It’s more like distance-assignments. I don’t blame the teachers. This virus-caused distribution is just another thing we plop onto the plate of underpaid and over-burdened people.