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For all the talk about Punk rock being a UK thing or a New York thing, it may come as a surprise to some to know that at the same time as both legendary music scenes were exploding, Toronto was undergoing a similar musical transformation. Using the famous Horseshoe Tavern for a homebase, bands such as The Diodes, The Viletones, The Ugly, The Mods, Cardboard Brains, The Scenics, L’Etranger (featuring future N.D.P. parliamentarians Charlie Angus and Andrew Cash) and from Hamiliton, Forgotten Rebels and the most famous punk band of them all, Teenage Head, all ruled a music scene that burned brightly for a few years before fizzling out in a series of riots and then being swallowed by the arrival of New Wave and Alternative music that characterized the 1980s. But for a few short, intense years at the end of the 1970s, punk rock in Toronto was as vibrant a music scene as anywhere else in the world. You can believe it. It’s true. While all of the aforementioned bands had their moments of artistic brilliance or notoriety, it was Teenage Head that came closest to actually becoming national and international stars. They had even signed a U.S. record deal and were prepared to start touring in America when fate intervened with other plans for the boys. However, despite never becoming Canada’s version of The Clash or perhaps more fittingly, The New York Dolls or The Ramones, Teenage Head still left an indelible mark on Canada’s music scene…a mark that began with the arrival of their self-titled debut album and a song called “Picture My Face”.
Teenage Head: Gord Lewis, Nick Stipanitz, Frankie Venom, Steve Mahon.Teenage Head formed in Hamilton, Ontario in 1975. The original members were Frank Kerr (who donned the great stage name of Frankie Venom), Gord Lewis, Steve Mahon and Nick Stipanitz. While I will be talking more about the punk scene as it played out in Toronto, I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of the fact that the city of Hamiliton (immediately to the west of Toronto) had a burgeoning music scene of its own. During the 1970s, bands such as Forgotten Rebels, Simply Saucer (whose members floated in and out of the lineup for Teenage Head over the years) and, of course, Teenage Head all played in venues around the working class city that was built upon a foundation of steel. While Teenage Head was playing high school dances and legion halls in the city, across town musician/producer Daniel Lanois had opened Grant Avenue Studios and was producing the likes of Martha and the Muffins just as they released “Echo Beach”, The Spoons (and “Nova Heart”). Johnny Cash came through, as did Brian Eno, the Killjoys, and even Peter Gabriel stopped by, too. Today, The Sheepdogs and The Arkells proudly call Hamilton home. But back in the day, it was the four lads who made up Teenage Head that made the most noise and helped to put Hamilton firmly on Canada’s musical map.
The band’s name was nicked from a song on an album by 1960s US rockers The Flamin’ Groovies. Being teenage boys, the idea of “Teenage Head” appealed to them, and they adopted that moniker as their identity. But what made Teenage Head successful right from their very first album was that these guys could actually play really well. As much as Teenage Head is called a punk band, they were equally a rock band. Many people flocked to their live shows, not because the band was outrageous or even dangerous, it was because Teenage Head knew how to put on a good show and knew how to play great party music. It is for this reason that many people say that Teenage Head and The Ramones were musical cousins of a sort. In any case, in the pre-Internet world of the late 1970s, it was word-of-mouth by fans of the band that helped pave the way for Teenage Head to migrate down the highway from Hamilton to Toronto. It also helped that the band had a single that was actually available in record stores. That single was called “Picture My Face”. While not the first Canadian punk song to hit the airwaves, “Picture My Face” became one of the most popular. It was a clarion call to the music world that Teenage Head had arrived and would not quickly be forgotten. The lyrics to “Picture My Face” speak of remembering the tough times and having your character forged by those experiences. Because of that DNA in their blood, the band declared themselves as a band that would not merely survive but actually become a band worth remembering.
Once in Toronto, Teenage Head quickly became one of the top must-see punk acts. Their live shows were great fun and their recorded music was well received. In fact, it was when they released their second album called Frantic City and issued their first single “Let’s Shake” that the band really took off all across the country. “Let’s Shake” was very much a radio friendly song that became a staple of many a high school dance playlist as the 1980s began. Also from that album came smaller hits “Something on my Mind” and “Disgusteen”. Not long after Frantic City became a national hit, Teenage Head was positioned to be the next big thing and were preparing to sign a contract with a U.S. record label. However, just prior to leaving for a series of showcase performances in New York, guitarist Gord Lewis was involved in a serious car accident. The performances never went off as intended. This might have been a blessing in disguise, because had they officially signed in America it was rumoured that they were going to be pressured to alter their band name to become Teenage Heads so as to remove the sexual connotation that their Canadian band name implied. In any case, by the early 1980s, the band released an album called Some Kinda Fun and had a big hit with that, too. They had one last album in the early 1980s called Tornado which contained the title track which, in turn, landed on the soundtrack of a Michael J. Fox movie. It was to be Teenage Head’s last charting song. As the 1980s rolled along, the lineup of the band became unstable, with members coming and going. There were several other albums and reunions along the way, but the glory days of Teenage Head were drawing to a close.
Crowds gather outside of The Horseshoe tavern in Toronto for The Last Pogo.However, the legend of Teenage Head remains to be told. While their music helped to gain them a measure of fame, it was their involvement in two separate riots that has cemented their status as one of Canada’s greatest bands. First things first: let’s start with The Last Pogo. One of the things that caused punk music to emerge as a genre was that it was partially a reaction to what some people perceived as being the bloated, leaden state of rock music at the time in the world. In the case of the Toronto punk scene, there was a gathering of all the most well known Toronto and area punk bands at a venue called The Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West. For almost a full year, two local music promoters known as “The Garys” had leased out The Horseshoe in order to put on punk shows that would cash in on this fresh, emerging music scene. After nine months, the owners of The Horseshoe had had enough and terminated the lease agreement with The Garys. At the same time as this was transpiring, famed movie director Martin Scorsese released his ode to the famous rock group The Band called The Last Waltz. In Toronto, this documentary was greeted with the same disdain by local punk rockers as UK prog rock bands like Yes, Genesis and others of that ilk were viewed by The Sex Pistols and The Damned over there. Back in Toronto, The Garys decided to mimic Scorsese’s The Last Waltz by organizing a punk rock blowout that they dubbed The Last Pogo. Maybe everyone knew it at the time or maybe they didn’t, but The Last Pogo concert at The Horseshoe Tavern turned out to be the last great moment for the original first wave of Toronto’s punk rock scene. Because almost every punk band of note was scheduled to appear, crowds quickly gathered outside The Horseshoe. A filmmaker was hired to document the concert (just like Scorsese did). As with most events of this type, there was a series of opening acts who all took to the stage in front of an overflow crowd. The final two acts were scheduled to be Teenage Head and The Viletones. By the time Teenage Head took the stage, it had become dangerously hot inside The Horseshoe Tavern. It was also becoming late in the evening, and at the time, there were noise restrictions in place for how loud a band could play and how late into the evening they could play. Because crowds were spilling out onto Queen Street West and because the concert was still going full tilt late into the evening, by the time Teenage Head took to the stage, the police had arrived and were intent on shutting the concert down. The members of the band began to play anyway and got through two songs before the police put their foot down and canceled the rest of the show. Needless to say, their intervention was not appreciated. A full blown riot erupted outside on Queen Street and inside the Horseshoe Tavern, too. The Last Pogo was punk rock’s last great stand in Toronto and the genre went down fighting. A twenty-eight minute documentary came out of the experience. The documentary is called The Last Pogo and was recorded and produced by a man named Colin Brunton. I have watched it. It is a terrific historical document of a time when music really mattered in Toronto. You can feel the heat and the claustrophobic nature of the scene through your own screen. You can also get to watch a roster of bands who were at the top of their game in 1978. It is a great film and a sad film at the same time. Because it was Teenage Head battling the police, quite literally, their status as a legendary band was confirmed for all time.
But that was not the last big incident for Teenage Head. The second riot that they found themselves in the middle of happened two years later at an event called The Heatwave Music Festival that was being held at a location known as Ontario Place. For those of you unfamiliar with Toronto, Ontario Place is a theme park, of sorts, that sits on the southern edge of the city along the shores of Lake Ontario. In 1980, you could buy a day pass into the park. Included with this pass was free access to the concert bowl. There had never been an issue with this setup until the day of the Heatwave Music Festival. Like all concert facilities, there was a capacity limit at the concert bowl. By the time Teenage Head took the stage there, the capacity limit had been far exceeded. Festival promoters were overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of people who swarmed into the concert bowl and, in a panic, decided that the best course of action was to lock the access gates. This infuriated people who were not yet inside but had paid their fare to get a day pass. Needless to say, another riot broke out. People became injured. The police were needed to restore order. From that point on, the owners of Ontario Place enacted a concert ban that lasted for over a decade. As for the general public, Teenage Head cemented their reputation as the most notorious band in the land. Even if they were still a fun party band, the atmosphere surrounding attending a Teenage Head concert going forward had changed. Teenage Head may have formed in a blue collar town as a reaction to the rules of authority figures such as politicians and the police, but they were never a band whose purpose was to call for anarchy and to incite violence. Teenage Head was a rock band at its core. It played songs that spoke of lust and partying. As such, the tone surrounding concerts by the band changed. Even though they had some commercial success in the years that followed the Ontario Place riot, things were never the same.
Teenage Head at Ontario Place…just before the riot.As mentioned above, by the mid-1980s the members of Teenage Head splintered into various alternative projects, only to reform as Teenage Head every now and again throughout the next two decades. In 2008 Frankie Venom passed away from throat cancer. In 2022, guitarist Gord Lewis was found murdered at the hand of his own son. In 2023, the surviving members of the band worked with drummer Marky Ramone (of The Ramones) to record and release a collection of B-sides and alternative tracks called Teenage Head with Marky Ramone. Former Toronto Star newspaper columnist Geoff Pevere penned the definitive book on the career of Teenage Head and about the Toronto punk scene in general. His book is called Gods of the Hammer: the Story of Teenage Head. That title cleverly gives a nod to another great rock n’ roll music book called Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis about Led Zeppelin. It is also a nod to the city of Hamilton, which many locals call “The Hammer”. Finally, in addition to the documentary called The Last Pogo, TVO (TV Ontario) has produced a documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story. This documentary takes a look at the history of the band but focuses mostly on the last days of Gord Lewis’ life and his many struggles with addiction and mental illness. And finally, for the last time…I really mean it…there is a video for a series produced by the CBC called Backstage Pass that is hosted by two members of modern Toronto punk band F*cked Up! This twenty-five minute show is hosted by Damian Abraham, lead singer of F*cked Up! and Jonah Falco, who is the band’s drummer. Abraham has become known as a music historian of note and hosts his own podcast where he delves into the stories behind the songs that defined Punk Rock history. In this particular video, he talks about The Last Pogo, and, with his band, he covers some of the most memorable performances including doing a ripping cover of “Picture My Face” by Teenage Head.
All in all, Teenage Head has earned its place in Canada’s musical canon. If you are not familiar with their music, then I am predicting that “Picture My Face” may surprise you. It is more rock n’ roll than what many would consider punk rock to be. If you go on to listen to songs such as “Let’s Shake” and “Some Kinda Fun”, you will be even more drawn into the rock n’ roll party vibe that Teenage Head was really known for. In any case, class is dismissed for the day. If you didn’t know about Teenage Head before, well now you do. If you didn’t know that Toronto had a kickass punk rock scene that rivaled those scenes in the U.S. and the U.K., well, now you know that too. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks for reading my words.
The link to the video for the song “Picture My Face” can be found here.
***This video is the actual performance from The Last Pogo. You will note how chaotic it all was inside the Horseshoe tavern just before the riots began. lyrics video is here.
***A cleaner, clearer version is here.
***The lyrics version is here. This is a full live concert that was held as a tribute when Frankie Venom passed away. Pete Macaulay stood in for Venom. All songs have subtitles. “Picture My face” is song #2.
The link to the official website for Teenage Head can be found here.
The link to the video for The Last Pogo documentary can be found here.
The link to the video for the TVO documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story can be found here.
The link to the video for the CBC Backstage Pass episode hosted by Damian Abraham and bandmate Jonah Falco regarding the history of The Last Pogo can be found here.
The official website for The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto can be found here.
The name of this series is borrowed from a lyric in a song called “Boxcar” by a great punk band called Jawbreaker. Please take a moment and visit Jawbreaker’s website. You will find it filled with great videos, tour information, cool merch and much, much more. Thanks. You can link to their website here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#PictureMyFace #Punk #TeenageHead #TheHorseshoeTavern #TheLastPogo #WhoSPunkWhatSTheScore_ #2
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For all the talk about Punk rock being a UK thing or a New York thing, it may come as a surprise to some to know that at the same time as both legendary music scenes were exploding, Toronto was undergoing a similar musical transformation. Using the famous Horseshoe Tavern for a homebase, bands such as The Diodes, The Viletones, The Ugly, The Mods, Cardboard Brains, The Scenics, L’Etranger (featuring future N.D.P. parliamentarians Charlie Angus and Andrew Cash) and from Hamiliton, Forgotten Rebels and the most famous punk band of them all, Teenage Head, all ruled a music scene that burned brightly for a few years before fizzling out in a series of riots and then being swallowed by the arrival of New Wave and Alternative music that characterized the 1980s. But for a few short, intense years at the end of the 1970s, punk rock in Toronto was as vibrant a music scene as anywhere else in the world. You can believe it. It’s true. While all of the aforementioned bands had their moments of artistic brilliance or notoriety, it was Teenage Head that came closest to actually becoming national and international stars. They had even signed a U.S. record deal and were prepared to start touring in America when fate intervened with other plans for the boys. However, despite never becoming Canada’s version of The Clash or perhaps more fittingly, The New York Dolls or The Ramones, Teenage Head still left an indelible mark on Canada’s music scene…a mark that began with the arrival of their self-titled debut album and a song called “Picture My Face”.
Teenage Head: Gord Lewis, Nick Stipanitz, Frankie Venom, Steve Mahon.Teenage Head formed in Hamilton, Ontario in 1975. The original members were Frank Kerr (who donned the great stage name of Frankie Venom), Gord Lewis, Steve Mahon and Nick Stipanitz. While I will be talking more about the punk scene as it played out in Toronto, I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of the fact that the city of Hamiliton (immediately to the west of Toronto) had a burgeoning music scene of its own. During the 1970s, bands such as Forgotten Rebels, Simply Saucer (whose members floated in and out of the lineup for Teenage Head over the years) and, of course, Teenage Head all played in venues around the working class city that was built upon a foundation of steel. While Teenage Head was playing high school dances and legion halls in the city, across town musician/producer Daniel Lanois had opened Grant Avenue Studios and was producing the likes of Martha and the Muffins just as they released “Echo Beach”, The Spoons (and “Nova Heart”). Johnny Cash came through, as did Brian Eno, the Killjoys, and even Peter Gabriel stopped by, too. Today, The Sheepdogs and The Arkells proudly call Hamilton home. But back in the day, it was the four lads who made up Teenage Head that made the most noise and helped to put Hamilton firmly on Canada’s musical map.
The band’s name was nicked from a song on an album by 1960s US rockers The Flamin’ Groovies. Being teenage boys, the idea of “Teenage Head” appealed to them, and they adopted that moniker as their identity. But what made Teenage Head successful right from their very first album was that these guys could actually play really well. As much as Teenage Head is called a punk band, they were equally a rock band. Many people flocked to their live shows, not because the band was outrageous or even dangerous, it was because Teenage Head knew how to put on a good show and knew how to play great party music. It is for this reason that many people say that Teenage Head and The Ramones were musical cousins of a sort. In any case, in the pre-Internet world of the late 1970s, it was word-of-mouth by fans of the band that helped pave the way for Teenage Head to migrate down the highway from Hamilton to Toronto. It also helped that the band had a single that was actually available in record stores. That single was called “Picture My Face”. While not the first Canadian punk song to hit the airwaves, “Picture My Face” became one of the most popular. It was a clarion call to the music world that Teenage Head had arrived and would not quickly be forgotten. The lyrics to “Picture My Face” speak of remembering the tough times and having your character forged by those experiences. Because of that DNA in their blood, the band declared themselves as a band that would not merely survive but actually become a band worth remembering.
Once in Toronto, Teenage Head quickly became one of the top must-see punk acts. Their live shows were great fun and their recorded music was well received. In fact, it was when they released their second album called Frantic City and issued their first single “Let’s Shake” that the band really took off all across the country. “Let’s Shake” was very much a radio friendly song that became a staple of many a high school dance playlist as the 1980s began. Also from that album came smaller hits “Something on my Mind” and “Disgusteen”. Not long after Frantic City became a national hit, Teenage Head was positioned to be the next big thing and were preparing to sign a contract with a U.S. record label. However, just prior to leaving for a series of showcase performances in New York, guitarist Gord Lewis was involved in a serious car accident. The performances never went off as intended. This might have been a blessing in disguise, because had they officially signed in America it was rumoured that they were going to be pressured to alter their band name to become Teenage Heads so as to remove the sexual connotation that their Canadian band name implied. In any case, by the early 1980s, the band released an album called Some Kinda Fun and had a big hit with that, too. They had one last album in the early 1980s called Tornado which contained the title track which, in turn, landed on the soundtrack of a Michael J. Fox movie. It was to be Teenage Head’s last charting song. As the 1980s rolled along, the lineup of the band became unstable, with members coming and going. There were several other albums and reunions along the way, but the glory days of Teenage Head were drawing to a close.
Crowds gather outside of The Horseshoe tavern in Toronto for The Last Pogo.However, the legend of Teenage Head remains to be told. While their music helped to gain them a measure of fame, it was their involvement in two separate riots that has cemented their status as one of Canada’s greatest bands. First things first: let’s start with The Last Pogo. One of the things that caused punk music to emerge as a genre was that it was partially a reaction to what some people perceived as being the bloated, leaden state of rock music at the time in the world. In the case of the Toronto punk scene, there was a gathering of all the most well known Toronto and area punk bands at a venue called The Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West. For almost a full year, two local music promoters known as “The Garys” had leased out The Horseshoe in order to put on punk shows that would cash in on this fresh, emerging music scene. After nine months, the owners of The Horseshoe had had enough and terminated the lease agreement with The Garys. At the same time as this was transpiring, famed movie director Martin Scorsese released his ode to the famous rock group The Band called The Last Waltz. In Toronto, this documentary was greeted with the same disdain by local punk rockers as UK prog rock bands like Yes, Genesis and others of that ilk were viewed by The Sex Pistols and The Damned over there. Back in Toronto, The Garys decided to mimic Scorsese’s The Last Waltz by organizing a punk rock blowout that they dubbed The Last Pogo. Maybe everyone knew it at the time or maybe they didn’t, but The Last Pogo concert at The Horseshoe Tavern turned out to be the last great moment for the original first wave of Toronto’s punk rock scene. Because almost every punk band of note was scheduled to appear, crowds quickly gathered outside The Horseshoe. A filmmaker was hired to document the concert (just like Scorsese did). As with most events of this type, there was a series of opening acts who all took to the stage in front of an overflow crowd. The final two acts were scheduled to be Teenage Head and The Viletones. By the time Teenage Head took the stage, it had become dangerously hot inside The Horseshoe Tavern. It was also becoming late in the evening, and at the time, there were noise restrictions in place for how loud a band could play and how late into the evening they could play. Because crowds were spilling out onto Queen Street West and because the concert was still going full tilt late into the evening, by the time Teenage Head took to the stage, the police had arrived and were intent on shutting the concert down. The members of the band began to play anyway and got through two songs before the police put their foot down and canceled the rest of the show. Needless to say, their intervention was not appreciated. A full blown riot erupted outside on Queen Street and inside the Horseshoe Tavern, too. The Last Pogo was punk rock’s last great stand in Toronto and the genre went down fighting. A twenty-eight minute documentary came out of the experience. The documentary is called The Last Pogo and was recorded and produced by a man named Colin Brunton. I have watched it. It is a terrific historical document of a time when music really mattered in Toronto. You can feel the heat and the claustrophobic nature of the scene through your own screen. You can also get to watch a roster of bands who were at the top of their game in 1978. It is a great film and a sad film at the same time. Because it was Teenage Head battling the police, quite literally, their status as a legendary band was confirmed for all time.
But that was not the last big incident for Teenage Head. The second riot that they found themselves in the middle of happened two years later at an event called The Heatwave Music Festival that was being held at a location known as Ontario Place. For those of you unfamiliar with Toronto, Ontario Place is a theme park, of sorts, that sits on the southern edge of the city along the shores of Lake Ontario. In 1980, you could buy a day pass into the park. Included with this pass was free access to the concert bowl. There had never been an issue with this setup until the day of the Heatwave Music Festival. Like all concert facilities, there was a capacity limit at the concert bowl. By the time Teenage Head took the stage there, the capacity limit had been far exceeded. Festival promoters were overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of people who swarmed into the concert bowl and, in a panic, decided that the best course of action was to lock the access gates. This infuriated people who were not yet inside but had paid their fare to get a day pass. Needless to say, another riot broke out. People became injured. The police were needed to restore order. From that point on, the owners of Ontario Place enacted a concert ban that lasted for over a decade. As for the general public, Teenage Head cemented their reputation as the most notorious band in the land. Even if they were still a fun party band, the atmosphere surrounding attending a Teenage Head concert going forward had changed. Teenage Head may have formed in a blue collar town as a reaction to the rules of authority figures such as politicians and the police, but they were never a band whose purpose was to call for anarchy and to incite violence. Teenage Head was a rock band at its core. It played songs that spoke of lust and partying. As such, the tone surrounding concerts by the band changed. Even though they had some commercial success in the years that followed the Ontario Place riot, things were never the same.
Teenage Head at Ontario Place…just before the riot.As mentioned above, by the mid-1980s the members of Teenage Head splintered into various alternative projects, only to reform as Teenage Head every now and again throughout the next two decades. In 2008 Frankie Venom passed away from throat cancer. In 2022, guitarist Gord Lewis was found murdered at the hand of his own son. In 2023, the surviving members of the band worked with drummer Marky Ramone (of The Ramones) to record and release a collection of B-sides and alternative tracks called Teenage Head with Marky Ramone. Former Toronto Star newspaper columnist Geoff Pevere penned the definitive book on the career of Teenage Head and about the Toronto punk scene in general. His book is called Gods of the Hammer: the Story of Teenage Head. That title cleverly gives a nod to another great rock n’ roll music book called Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis about Led Zeppelin. It is also a nod to the city of Hamilton, which many locals call “The Hammer”. Finally, in addition to the documentary called The Last Pogo, TVO (TV Ontario) has produced a documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story. This documentary takes a look at the history of the band but focuses mostly on the last days of Gord Lewis’ life and his many struggles with addiction and mental illness. And finally, for the last time…I really mean it…there is a video for a series produced by the CBC called Backstage Pass that is hosted by two members of modern Toronto punk band F*cked Up! This twenty-five minute show is hosted by Damian Abraham, lead singer of F*cked Up! and Jonah Falco, who is the band’s drummer. Abraham has become known as a music historian of note and hosts his own podcast where he delves into the stories behind the songs that defined Punk Rock history. In this particular video, he talks about The Last Pogo, and, with his band, he covers some of the most memorable performances including doing a ripping cover of “Picture My Face” by Teenage Head.
All in all, Teenage Head has earned its place in Canada’s musical canon. If you are not familiar with their music, then I am predicting that “Picture My Face” may surprise you. It is more rock n’ roll than what many would consider punk rock to be. If you go on to listen to songs such as “Let’s Shake” and “Some Kinda Fun”, you will be even more drawn into the rock n’ roll party vibe that Teenage Head was really known for. In any case, class is dismissed for the day. If you didn’t know about Teenage Head before, well now you do. If you didn’t know that Toronto had a kickass punk rock scene that rivaled those scenes in the U.S. and the U.K., well, now you know that too. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks for reading my words.
The link to the video for the song “Picture My Face” can be found here.
***This video is the actual performance from The Last Pogo. You will note how chaotic it all was inside the Horseshoe tavern just before the riots began. lyrics video is here.
***A cleaner, clearer version is here.
***The lyrics version is here. This is a full live concert that was held as a tribute when Frankie Venom passed away. Pete Macaulay stood in for Venom. All songs have subtitles. “Picture My face” is song #2.
The link to the official website for Teenage Head can be found here.
The link to the video for The Last Pogo documentary can be found here.
The link to the video for the TVO documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story can be found here.
The link to the video for the CBC Backstage Pass episode hosted by Damian Abraham and bandmate Jonah Falco regarding the history of The Last Pogo can be found here.
The official website for The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto can be found here.
The name of this series is borrowed from a lyric in a song called “Boxcar” by a great punk band called Jawbreaker. Please take a moment and visit Jawbreaker’s website. You will find it filled with great videos, tour information, cool merch and much, much more. Thanks. You can link to their website here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#PictureMyFace #Punk #TeenageHead #TheHorseshoeTavern #TheLastPogo #WhoSPunkWhatSTheScore_ #2
-
For all the talk about Punk rock being a UK thing or a New York thing, it may come as a surprise to some to know that at the same time as both legendary music scenes were exploding, Toronto was undergoing a similar musical transformation. Using the famous Horseshoe Tavern for a homebase, bands such as The Diodes, The Viletones, The Ugly, The Mods, Cardboard Brains, The Scenics, L’Etranger (featuring future N.D.P. parliamentarians Charlie Angus and Andrew Cash) and from Hamiliton, Forgotten Rebels and the most famous punk band of them all, Teenage Head, all ruled a music scene that burned brightly for a few years before fizzling out in a series of riots and then being swallowed by the arrival of New Wave and Alternative music that characterized the 1980s. But for a few short, intense years at the end of the 1970s, punk rock in Toronto was as vibrant a music scene as anywhere else in the world. You can believe it. It’s true. While all of the aforementioned bands had their moments of artistic brilliance or notoriety, it was Teenage Head that came closest to actually becoming national and international stars. They had even signed a U.S. record deal and were prepared to start touring in America when fate intervened with other plans for the boys. However, despite never becoming Canada’s version of The Clash or perhaps more fittingly, The New York Dolls or The Ramones, Teenage Head still left an indelible mark on Canada’s music scene…a mark that began with the arrival of their self-titled debut album and a song called “Picture My Face”.
Teenage Head: Gord Lewis, Nick Stipanitz, Frankie Venom, Steve Mahon.Teenage Head formed in Hamilton, Ontario in 1975. The original members were Frank Kerr (who donned the great stage name of Frankie Venom), Gord Lewis, Steve Mahon and Nick Stipanitz. While I will be talking more about the punk scene as it played out in Toronto, I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of the fact that the city of Hamiliton (immediately to the west of Toronto) had a burgeoning music scene of its own. During the 1970s, bands such as Forgotten Rebels, Simply Saucer (whose members floated in and out of the lineup for Teenage Head over the years) and, of course, Teenage Head all played in venues around the working class city that was built upon a foundation of steel. While Teenage Head was playing high school dances and legion halls in the city, across town musician/producer Daniel Lanois had opened Grant Avenue Studios and was producing the likes of Martha and the Muffins just as they released “Echo Beach”, The Spoons (and “Nova Heart”). Johnny Cash came through, as did Brian Eno, the Killjoys, and even Peter Gabriel stopped by, too. Today, The Sheepdogs and The Arkells proudly call Hamilton home. But back in the day, it was the four lads who made up Teenage Head that made the most noise and helped to put Hamilton firmly on Canada’s musical map.
The band’s name was nicked from a song on an album by 1960s US rockers The Flamin’ Groovies. Being teenage boys, the idea of “Teenage Head” appealed to them, and they adopted that moniker as their identity. But what made Teenage Head successful right from their very first album was that these guys could actually play really well. As much as Teenage Head is called a punk band, they were equally a rock band. Many people flocked to their live shows, not because the band was outrageous or even dangerous, it was because Teenage Head knew how to put on a good show and knew how to play great party music. It is for this reason that many people say that Teenage Head and The Ramones were musical cousins of a sort. In any case, in the pre-Internet world of the late 1970s, it was word-of-mouth by fans of the band that helped pave the way for Teenage Head to migrate down the highway from Hamilton to Toronto. It also helped that the band had a single that was actually available in record stores. That single was called “Picture My Face”. While not the first Canadian punk song to hit the airwaves, “Picture My Face” became one of the most popular. It was a clarion call to the music world that Teenage Head had arrived and would not quickly be forgotten. The lyrics to “Picture My Face” speak of remembering the tough times and having your character forged by those experiences. Because of that DNA in their blood, the band declared themselves as a band that would not merely survive but actually become a band worth remembering.
Once in Toronto, Teenage Head quickly became one of the top must-see punk acts. Their live shows were great fun and their recorded music was well received. In fact, it was when they released their second album called Frantic City and issued their first single “Let’s Shake” that the band really took off all across the country. “Let’s Shake” was very much a radio friendly song that became a staple of many a high school dance playlist as the 1980s began. Also from that album came smaller hits “Something on my Mind” and “Disgusteen”. Not long after Frantic City became a national hit, Teenage Head was positioned to be the next big thing and were preparing to sign a contract with a U.S. record label. However, just prior to leaving for a series of showcase performances in New York, guitarist Gord Lewis was involved in a serious car accident. The performances never went off as intended. This might have been a blessing in disguise, because had they officially signed in America it was rumoured that they were going to be pressured to alter their band name to become Teenage Heads so as to remove the sexual connotation that their Canadian band name implied. In any case, by the early 1980s, the band released an album called Some Kinda Fun and had a big hit with that, too. They had one last album in the early 1980s called Tornado which contained the title track which, in turn, landed on the soundtrack of a Michael J. Fox movie. It was to be Teenage Head’s last charting song. As the 1980s rolled along, the lineup of the band became unstable, with members coming and going. There were several other albums and reunions along the way, but the glory days of Teenage Head were drawing to a close.
Crowds gather outside of The Horseshoe tavern in Toronto for The Last Pogo.However, the legend of Teenage Head remains to be told. While their music helped to gain them a measure of fame, it was their involvement in two separate riots that has cemented their status as one of Canada’s greatest bands. First things first: let’s start with The Last Pogo. One of the things that caused punk music to emerge as a genre was that it was partially a reaction to what some people perceived as being the bloated, leaden state of rock music at the time in the world. In the case of the Toronto punk scene, there was a gathering of all the most well known Toronto and area punk bands at a venue called The Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West. For almost a full year, two local music promoters known as “The Garys” had leased out The Horseshoe in order to put on punk shows that would cash in on this fresh, emerging music scene. After nine months, the owners of The Horseshoe had had enough and terminated the lease agreement with The Garys. At the same time as this was transpiring, famed movie director Martin Scorsese released his ode to the famous rock group The Band called The Last Waltz. In Toronto, this documentary was greeted with the same disdain by local punk rockers as UK prog rock bands like Yes, Genesis and others of that ilk were viewed by The Sex Pistols and The Damned over there. Back in Toronto, The Garys decided to mimic Scorsese’s The Last Waltz by organizing a punk rock blowout that they dubbed The Last Pogo. Maybe everyone knew it at the time or maybe they didn’t, but The Last Pogo concert at The Horseshoe Tavern turned out to be the last great moment for the original first wave of Toronto’s punk rock scene. Because almost every punk band of note was scheduled to appear, crowds quickly gathered outside The Horseshoe. A filmmaker was hired to document the concert (just like Scorsese did). As with most events of this type, there was a series of opening acts who all took to the stage in front of an overflow crowd. The final two acts were scheduled to be Teenage Head and The Viletones. By the time Teenage Head took the stage, it had become dangerously hot inside The Horseshoe Tavern. It was also becoming late in the evening, and at the time, there were noise restrictions in place for how loud a band could play and how late into the evening they could play. Because crowds were spilling out onto Queen Street West and because the concert was still going full tilt late into the evening, by the time Teenage Head took to the stage, the police had arrived and were intent on shutting the concert down. The members of the band began to play anyway and got through two songs before the police put their foot down and canceled the rest of the show. Needless to say, their intervention was not appreciated. A full blown riot erupted outside on Queen Street and inside the Horseshoe Tavern, too. The Last Pogo was punk rock’s last great stand in Toronto and the genre went down fighting. A twenty-eight minute documentary came out of the experience. The documentary is called The Last Pogo and was recorded and produced by a man named Colin Brunton. I have watched it. It is a terrific historical document of a time when music really mattered in Toronto. You can feel the heat and the claustrophobic nature of the scene through your own screen. You can also get to watch a roster of bands who were at the top of their game in 1978. It is a great film and a sad film at the same time. Because it was Teenage Head battling the police, quite literally, their status as a legendary band was confirmed for all time.
But that was not the last big incident for Teenage Head. The second riot that they found themselves in the middle of happened two years later at an event called The Heatwave Music Festival that was being held at a location known as Ontario Place. For those of you unfamiliar with Toronto, Ontario Place is a theme park, of sorts, that sits on the southern edge of the city along the shores of Lake Ontario. In 1980, you could buy a day pass into the park. Included with this pass was free access to the concert bowl. There had never been an issue with this setup until the day of the Heatwave Music Festival. Like all concert facilities, there was a capacity limit at the concert bowl. By the time Teenage Head took the stage there, the capacity limit had been far exceeded. Festival promoters were overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of people who swarmed into the concert bowl and, in a panic, decided that the best course of action was to lock the access gates. This infuriated people who were not yet inside but had paid their fare to get a day pass. Needless to say, another riot broke out. People became injured. The police were needed to restore order. From that point on, the owners of Ontario Place enacted a concert ban that lasted for over a decade. As for the general public, Teenage Head cemented their reputation as the most notorious band in the land. Even if they were still a fun party band, the atmosphere surrounding attending a Teenage Head concert going forward had changed. Teenage Head may have formed in a blue collar town as a reaction to the rules of authority figures such as politicians and the police, but they were never a band whose purpose was to call for anarchy and to incite violence. Teenage Head was a rock band at its core. It played songs that spoke of lust and partying. As such, the tone surrounding concerts by the band changed. Even though they had some commercial success in the years that followed the Ontario Place riot, things were never the same.
Teenage Head at Ontario Place…just before the riot.As mentioned above, by the mid-1980s the members of Teenage Head splintered into various alternative projects, only to reform as Teenage Head every now and again throughout the next two decades. In 2008 Frankie Venom passed away from throat cancer. In 2022, guitarist Gord Lewis was found murdered at the hand of his own son. In 2023, the surviving members of the band worked with drummer Marky Ramone (of The Ramones) to record and release a collection of B-sides and alternative tracks called Teenage Head with Marky Ramone. Former Toronto Star newspaper columnist Geoff Pevere penned the definitive book on the career of Teenage Head and about the Toronto punk scene in general. His book is called Gods of the Hammer: the Story of Teenage Head. That title cleverly gives a nod to another great rock n’ roll music book called Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis about Led Zeppelin. It is also a nod to the city of Hamilton, which many locals call “The Hammer”. Finally, in addition to the documentary called The Last Pogo, TVO (TV Ontario) has produced a documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story. This documentary takes a look at the history of the band but focuses mostly on the last days of Gord Lewis’ life and his many struggles with addiction and mental illness. And finally, for the last time…I really mean it…there is a video for a series produced by the CBC called Backstage Pass that is hosted by two members of modern Toronto punk band F*cked Up! This twenty-five minute show is hosted by Damian Abraham, lead singer of F*cked Up! and Jonah Falco, who is the band’s drummer. Abraham has become known as a music historian of note and hosts his own podcast where he delves into the stories behind the songs that defined Punk Rock history. In this particular video, he talks about The Last Pogo, and, with his band, he covers some of the most memorable performances including doing a ripping cover of “Picture My Face” by Teenage Head.
All in all, Teenage Head has earned its place in Canada’s musical canon. If you are not familiar with their music, then I am predicting that “Picture My Face” may surprise you. It is more rock n’ roll than what many would consider punk rock to be. If you go on to listen to songs such as “Let’s Shake” and “Some Kinda Fun”, you will be even more drawn into the rock n’ roll party vibe that Teenage Head was really known for. In any case, class is dismissed for the day. If you didn’t know about Teenage Head before, well now you do. If you didn’t know that Toronto had a kickass punk rock scene that rivaled those scenes in the U.S. and the U.K., well, now you know that too. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks for reading my words.
The link to the video for the song “Picture My Face” can be found here.
***This video is the actual performance from The Last Pogo. You will note how chaotic it all was inside the Horseshoe tavern just before the riots began. lyrics video is here.
***A cleaner, clearer version is here.
***The lyrics version is here. This is a full live concert that was held as a tribute when Frankie Venom passed away. Pete Macaulay stood in for Venom. All songs have subtitles. “Picture My face” is song #2.
The link to the official website for Teenage Head can be found here.
The link to the video for The Last Pogo documentary can be found here.
The link to the video for the TVO documentary called Picture My Face: The Teenage Head Story can be found here.
The link to the video for the CBC Backstage Pass episode hosted by Damian Abraham and bandmate Jonah Falco regarding the history of The Last Pogo can be found here.
The official website for The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto can be found here.
The name of this series is borrowed from a lyric in a song called “Boxcar” by a great punk band called Jawbreaker. Please take a moment and visit Jawbreaker’s website. You will find it filled with great videos, tour information, cool merch and much, much more. Thanks. You can link to their website here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#PictureMyFace #Punk #TeenageHead #TheHorseshoeTavern #TheLastPogo #WhoSPunkWhatSTheScore_ #2
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Civil Discourse – The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come – Joyce Vance
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
By Joyce Vance, Nov 29, 2025
“You must refuse illegal orders.” That’s what was said in the video made by six Democratic members of Congress. Trump accused them of seditious behavior. The FBI launched an investigation.
Then, on Black Friday, the Washington Post ran with an exclusive story about the September 2, 2025, attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, the first of a series of attacks that have involved strikes on at least 23 boats to date. The Post reported that in advance of the strike, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. ‘The order was to kill everybody.’”
That’s what the special operations commander overseeing the attack did. After the initial hit, live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander “ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions … The two men were blown apart in the water.” The video Trump released later that day did not include the second strike.
The Post quoted Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who had advised special operations on the illegality of the order: “Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight ‘would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.’”
My colleague Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, an online forum focused on U.S. national security law and policy, will join us Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. EST for an in-depth Substack live discussion of the issues raised here. Mark your calendars now and make sure you have the Substack App downloaded so you can join us for cutting edge legal analysis on this most important of issues. Ryan has been tracking these strikes and their legal implications since they first began. After the story broke in the Washington Post, he tweeted, “Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing.”
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Britain had stopped sharing intelligence on Caribbean drug running with the United States “amid concerns information supplied may be used to engage in lethal military strikes by American forces.” They specified that the cooperation was “paused shortly after the US began a campaign of lethal strikes in September,” but there was no explicit mention of the order Hegseth issued as the cause.
Friday evening at 5:42 p.m., Hegseth tweeted:
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.”
Hegseth did not deny that two defenseless people were killed. We still do not know what, if anything, they were guilty of. Certainly, as they clung to the wreckage of a boat in the ocean, they did not pose an immediate threat to the United States. The lawful thing to do would have been to rescue and prosecute the men. Instead, per Hegseth’s instruction, they were executed.
Hegseth doubled down a few moments later, tweeting, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
The Pentagon Spokesman, Seth Parnell, tweeted, “We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday. These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people.”
But shortly after the story ran in The Post, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, issued a joint statement with the Committee’s top Democrat, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, vowing “vigorous oversight” of Hegseth’s “kill them all” order. They wrote, “The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
By Saturday night, there was a growing call for, if not accountability, investigation, including by both House and Senate Republicans. The Washington Post wrote, “In a rare split with the Trump administration, GOP-led panels in the House and Senate say they want a full accounting in the September military attack.” Saturday night, Democratic Senator Ed Markey tweeted, “Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.”
Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
Tags: "Kill Everybody", Caribbean, Civil Discourse, Democratic Congress Members, Ed Markley, Joyce Vance, Moment, Narco-terrorists, Pete Hegseth, Pick a Side, Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Wicker, The Washington Post, Unlawful Killing#killEverybody #caribbean #civilDiscourse #democraticCongressMembers #edMarkley #joyceVance #moment #narcoTerrorists #peteHegseth #pickASide #senateArmedServiceCommittee #senatorWicker #theWashingtonPost #unlawfulKilling
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Civil Discourse – The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come – Joyce Vance
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
By Joyce Vance, Nov 29, 2025
“You must refuse illegal orders.” That’s what was said in the video made by six Democratic members of Congress. Trump accused them of seditious behavior. The FBI launched an investigation.
Then, on Black Friday, the Washington Post ran with an exclusive story about the September 2, 2025, attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, the first of a series of attacks that have involved strikes on at least 23 boats to date. The Post reported that in advance of the strike, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. ‘The order was to kill everybody.’”
That’s what the special operations commander overseeing the attack did. After the initial hit, live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander “ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions … The two men were blown apart in the water.” The video Trump released later that day did not include the second strike.
The Post quoted Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who had advised special operations on the illegality of the order: “Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight ‘would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.’”
My colleague Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, an online forum focused on U.S. national security law and policy, will join us Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. EST for an in-depth Substack live discussion of the issues raised here. Mark your calendars now and make sure you have the Substack App downloaded so you can join us for cutting edge legal analysis on this most important of issues. Ryan has been tracking these strikes and their legal implications since they first began. After the story broke in the Washington Post, he tweeted, “Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing.”
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Britain had stopped sharing intelligence on Caribbean drug running with the United States “amid concerns information supplied may be used to engage in lethal military strikes by American forces.” They specified that the cooperation was “paused shortly after the US began a campaign of lethal strikes in September,” but there was no explicit mention of the order Hegseth issued as the cause.
Friday evening at 5:42 p.m., Hegseth tweeted:
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.”
Hegseth did not deny that two defenseless people were killed. We still do not know what, if anything, they were guilty of. Certainly, as they clung to the wreckage of a boat in the ocean, they did not pose an immediate threat to the United States. The lawful thing to do would have been to rescue and prosecute the men. Instead, per Hegseth’s instruction, they were executed.
Hegseth doubled down a few moments later, tweeting, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
The Pentagon Spokesman, Seth Parnell, tweeted, “We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday. These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people.”
But shortly after the story ran in The Post, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, issued a joint statement with the Committee’s top Democrat, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, vowing “vigorous oversight” of Hegseth’s “kill them all” order. They wrote, “The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
By Saturday night, there was a growing call for, if not accountability, investigation, including by both House and Senate Republicans. The Washington Post wrote, “In a rare split with the Trump administration, GOP-led panels in the House and Senate say they want a full accounting in the September military attack.” Saturday night, Democratic Senator Ed Markey tweeted, “Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.”
Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
Tags: "Kill Everybody", Caribbean, Civil Discourse, Democratic Congress Members, Ed Markley, Joyce Vance, Moment, Narco-terrorists, Pete Hegseth, Pick a Side, Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Wicker, The Washington Post, Unlawful Killing#killEverybody #caribbean #civilDiscourse #democraticCongressMembers #edMarkley #joyceVance #moment #narcoTerrorists #peteHegseth #pickASide #senateArmedServiceCommittee #senatorWicker #theWashingtonPost #unlawfulKilling
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Civil Discourse – The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come – Joyce Vance
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
By Joyce Vance, Nov 29, 2025
“You must refuse illegal orders.” That’s what was said in the video made by six Democratic members of Congress. Trump accused them of seditious behavior. The FBI launched an investigation.
Then, on Black Friday, the Washington Post ran with an exclusive story about the September 2, 2025, attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, the first of a series of attacks that have involved strikes on at least 23 boats to date. The Post reported that in advance of the strike, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. ‘The order was to kill everybody.’”
That’s what the special operations commander overseeing the attack did. After the initial hit, live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander “ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions … The two men were blown apart in the water.” The video Trump released later that day did not include the second strike.
The Post quoted Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who had advised special operations on the illegality of the order: “Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight ‘would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.’”
My colleague Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, an online forum focused on U.S. national security law and policy, will join us Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. EST for an in-depth Substack live discussion of the issues raised here. Mark your calendars now and make sure you have the Substack App downloaded so you can join us for cutting edge legal analysis on this most important of issues. Ryan has been tracking these strikes and their legal implications since they first began. After the story broke in the Washington Post, he tweeted, “Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing.”
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Britain had stopped sharing intelligence on Caribbean drug running with the United States “amid concerns information supplied may be used to engage in lethal military strikes by American forces.” They specified that the cooperation was “paused shortly after the US began a campaign of lethal strikes in September,” but there was no explicit mention of the order Hegseth issued as the cause.
Friday evening at 5:42 p.m., Hegseth tweeted:
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.”
Hegseth did not deny that two defenseless people were killed. We still do not know what, if anything, they were guilty of. Certainly, as they clung to the wreckage of a boat in the ocean, they did not pose an immediate threat to the United States. The lawful thing to do would have been to rescue and prosecute the men. Instead, per Hegseth’s instruction, they were executed.
Hegseth doubled down a few moments later, tweeting, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
The Pentagon Spokesman, Seth Parnell, tweeted, “We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday. These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people.”
But shortly after the story ran in The Post, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, issued a joint statement with the Committee’s top Democrat, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, vowing “vigorous oversight” of Hegseth’s “kill them all” order. They wrote, “The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
By Saturday night, there was a growing call for, if not accountability, investigation, including by both House and Senate Republicans. The Washington Post wrote, “In a rare split with the Trump administration, GOP-led panels in the House and Senate say they want a full accounting in the September military attack.” Saturday night, Democratic Senator Ed Markey tweeted, “Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.”
Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
Tags: "Kill Everybody", Caribbean, Civil Discourse, Democratic Congress Members, Ed Markley, Joyce Vance, Moment, Narco-terrorists, Pete Hegseth, Pick a Side, Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Wicker, The Washington Post, Unlawful Killing#KillEverybody #Caribbean #CivilDiscourse #DemocraticCongressMembers #EdMarkley #JoyceVance #Moment #NarcoTerrorists #PeteHegseth #PickASide #SenateArmedServiceCommittee #SenatorWicker #TheWashingtonPost #UnlawfulKilling
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Civil Discourse – The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come – Joyce Vance
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
By Joyce Vance, Nov 29, 2025
“You must refuse illegal orders.” That’s what was said in the video made by six Democratic members of Congress. Trump accused them of seditious behavior. The FBI launched an investigation.
Then, on Black Friday, the Washington Post ran with an exclusive story about the September 2, 2025, attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, the first of a series of attacks that have involved strikes on at least 23 boats to date. The Post reported that in advance of the strike, “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. ‘The order was to kill everybody.’”
That’s what the special operations commander overseeing the attack did. After the initial hit, live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander “ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions … The two men were blown apart in the water.” The video Trump released later that day did not include the second strike.
The Post quoted Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who had advised special operations on the illegality of the order: “Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight ‘would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.’”
My colleague Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, an online forum focused on U.S. national security law and policy, will join us Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. EST for an in-depth Substack live discussion of the issues raised here. Mark your calendars now and make sure you have the Substack App downloaded so you can join us for cutting edge legal analysis on this most important of issues. Ryan has been tracking these strikes and their legal implications since they first began. After the story broke in the Washington Post, he tweeted, “Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing.”
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Britain had stopped sharing intelligence on Caribbean drug running with the United States “amid concerns information supplied may be used to engage in lethal military strikes by American forces.” They specified that the cooperation was “paused shortly after the US began a campaign of lethal strikes in September,” but there was no explicit mention of the order Hegseth issued as the cause.
Friday evening at 5:42 p.m., Hegseth tweeted:
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.
The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.
Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.
Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narco-terrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.”
Hegseth did not deny that two defenseless people were killed. We still do not know what, if anything, they were guilty of. Certainly, as they clung to the wreckage of a boat in the ocean, they did not pose an immediate threat to the United States. The lawful thing to do would have been to rescue and prosecute the men. Instead, per Hegseth’s instruction, they were executed.
Hegseth doubled down a few moments later, tweeting, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
The Pentagon Spokesman, Seth Parnell, tweeted, “We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday. These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people.”
But shortly after the story ran in The Post, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, issued a joint statement with the Committee’s top Democrat, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, vowing “vigorous oversight” of Hegseth’s “kill them all” order. They wrote, “The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”
By Saturday night, there was a growing call for, if not accountability, investigation, including by both House and Senate Republicans. The Washington Post wrote, “In a rare split with the Trump administration, GOP-led panels in the House and Senate say they want a full accounting in the September military attack.” Saturday night, Democratic Senator Ed Markey tweeted, “Pete Hegseth is a war criminal and should be fired immediately.”
Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Moment to Pick a Side Has Come
Tags: "Kill Everybody", Caribbean, Civil Discourse, Democratic Congress Members, Ed Markley, Joyce Vance, Moment, Narco-terrorists, Pete Hegseth, Pick a Side, Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Wicker, The Washington Post, Unlawful Killing#KillEverybody #Caribbean #CivilDiscourse #DemocraticCongressMembers #EdMarkley #JoyceVance #Moment #NarcoTerrorists #PeteHegseth #PickASide #SenateArmedServiceCommittee #SenatorWicker #TheWashingtonPost #UnlawfulKilling
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Wednesday Reads: What a Mess Trump Has Made of Our Beloved Country!
Good Day!!
We’re moving closer to the midterm elections. Yesterday, there were some important primaries in Texas. Another of Trump’s enemies–John Cornyn–went down in flames, and now he’ll join other losers like Bill Cassidy who are now free to criticize his policies. Is it possible that Texas could turn purple in 2026? Here’s the latest:
Shane Goldmacher at The New York Times (gift article): Cornyn Crushed: 7 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Runoffs in Texas.
Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed and MAGA-backed insurgent, ousted Senator John Cornyn in a runoff on Tuesday, becoming the second primary challenger to knock out an incumbent Republican senator in less than two weeks in a raw display of President Trump’s powerful hold on the party base.
Texas Senator John Cornyn
The contest was the most expensive primary in American history — and Mr. Paxton prevailed despite being outspent on advertising by pro-Cornyn forces by roughly $80 million.
Now, Republicans are bracing for a potentially competitive general election in Texas, where Democrats have not won statewide in a generation. Democratic donors nationwide have swooned for their nominee, James Talarico, a smooth-talking 37-year-old seminarian and state legislator, in the hopes he will realize their long-dashed dreams of turning Texas blue.
National Republicans have warned for months that Mr. Paxton’s scandal-riddled past could put the Republican-held seat in jeopardy. But G.O.P. primary voters proved on Tuesday that they were in no mood for political guidance from Mr. Cornyn or a much-reviled party establishment.
The scope of his defeat was staggering. Mr. Cornyn, once the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, was trailing in nearly all of Texas’ 254 counties.
Here are Goldmacher’s takeways from the election. You can read more details on each with the gift link above.
— Cornyn’s defeat is another proof point of Trump’s sway.
— An ugly G.O.P. primary could take time to heal.
— The general election is going to have a Texas-size price tag.
— Cornyn’s loss could reverberate on Capitol Hill, too.
— An old-guard Democrat [Rep. Al Green] goes down.
— Crypto spent big and won.
— A sheriff’s deputy prevails over a sex therapist accused of antisemitism.
Read more details at the link.
Commentary on the Texas elections:
Matthew Choi at The Washington Post (gift article): Why some Republicans are worried about Ken Paxton as a Senate nominee.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican Senate primary in his state Tuesday night, ousting incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
Paxton excited President Trump and his MAGA base. But many Republican leaders and strategists are worried.
Few politicians have garnered as much scandal in Texas as Paxton. He was impeached by the Republican-controlled state House on multiple charges of abuse of office. His own senior staffers reported him to the FBI, alleging he illegally used his position to help a prominent donor. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce last year on “biblical grounds,” citing adultery.
Ken Paxton
And yet, Paxton has repeatedly come out on top. The state Senate acquitted him on all charges, and the FBI dropped its investigation. Paxton won reelection for his current job twice and defeated Cornyn, one of the best-funded Republicans in the country, with a fraction of the resources and institutional support.
Senate Republicans are now nervous they’ll have to pour boatloads of cash into the race to prop up Paxton against state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate in the race. Talarico has blown past fundraising records for a contest that is likely to break spending records.
Why is Paxton so controversial?
The state House impeached Paxton in 2023 on overwhelmingly bipartisan grounds, with 60 Republicans joining 61 Democrats. Only 21 Republicans voted against impeachment charges.
The charges stemmed from his relationship with Nate Paul, a real estate developer and political donor. Paxton allegedly ordered his employees to improperly intervene in Paul’s legal troubles. Paul allegedly provided Paxton free services including a home renovation and a job for a woman with whom Paxton was allegedly having an extramarital affair. Paxton was also charged with retaliating against whistleblowers on his staff who had reported his conduct to the FBI in 2020.
Paxton was tried on 16 charges in the Senate, which acquitted him on all of them. His wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, was part of the Senate jury, though she was not allowed to vote.
The Justice Department continued investigating the allegations made by his senior staff to the FBI but closed its investigation at the end of the Biden administration.
Paxton was also indicted on felony securities fraud charges just after becoming attorney general in 2015. He was charged, as a state senator, with defrauding his fellow lawmakers by encouraging them to invest in Servergy, a tech company where he was secretly making a commission on their investments. He agreed to settle the case in 2024, paying $300,000 in restitution, though he never admitted to any wrongdoing. That case was unrelated to his impeachment.
It’s hard to believe this guy is still in office. But Trump likes him, and I guess that’s enough for Texas Republican voters.
Karen Tumulty at The Washington Post (gift article): Trump is liberating his Republican critics in Congress.
President Donald Trump proved once again that his endorsement is, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton put it in his primary runoff victory speech Tuesday night, “the most powerful force in politics.”
One by one, Trump is putting an end to the political careers of lawmakers in his party that he deems, for reasons more personal than policy-oriented, to be apostates. But in doing so, he may also be liberating them as they serve out their remaining seven months in Congress. They now have nothing to lose if they stand up against him.
By giving belated independence to a handful of incumbents he vanquished at the ballot box or forced into retirement, the president is creating a growingly noxious dynamic between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Thom Tillis
“It’s hard for me to see how the president is going to get his agenda through the Senate in the next seven months if he keeps purging Republican senators who support him,” former senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) told CBS News last week. “… I think Republican senators will find they can say what they think and the country will be better off if they do.”
In his Trump-engineered defeat, Sen. John Cornyn joins a club of two other Republicans in the chamber, where their party holds a 53-47 majority. The other two are already expressing resistance to the president’s dictates.
One is Thom Tillis (North Carolina). Under a barrage of Trump attacks for opposing parts of the president’s agenda — including the sprawling One Big Beautiful Bill that was its domestic centerpiece — Tillis announced his retirement last year rather than making what was deemed to be a hopeless bid for a third term.
Tillis has since become a regular Trump critic. He has criticized the Justice Department’s recently announced “anti-weaponization fund,” which could allow the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to receive taxpayer dollars, as “stupid on stilts” and said: “These people don’t deserve restitution. Many of them deserve to be in prison.”
Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), who failed to even make the runoff in his party’s May 16 primary, voted for the first time a few days later to advance a resolution to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran without congressional authorization.
If you want to read more, you can use the gift link above. I’m using up my gift articles because it’s close to the end of the month.
Paxton will now face Democrat James Talarico in November.
Adam Wren and Irie Sentner at Politico: James Talarico’s theory of victory in Texas.
In the end, James Talarico and Democrats got the matchup they had been salivating over for months.
Within two hours of Ken Paxton’s GOP primary win on Tuesday, Talarico had hauled in $600,000 — the strongest two hours of his entire campaign. Recent internal polling from a pro-Talarico PAC shows the Democrat has a 7-point lead against Paxton. Both figures were shared first with POLITICO.
In an interview, Talarico said he’s confident about his chances.
But Talarico faces a Texas-sized challenge to finally deliver on Democrats’ long-held fantasy of flipping the state, just two years after Trump won it by 14 points….
James Talarico
Talarico said Tuesday night that to win in November, he must convert supporters of Sen. John Cornyn — a conservative by almost any metric, except Trump’s. After Cornyn conceded, Talarico thanked the four-term incumbent for his service and told his supporters “you have a place in our campaign.”
It’s all part of his general election pitch, which Talarico outlined in the interview following Paxton’s primary win.
“I have a legislative record that I think has a lot to offer supporters of Senator Cornyn. Ken Paxton has a criminal record. I have a legislative record,” Talarico told POLITICO (Paxton struck a deal in 2024 where he paid restitution and securities fraud felony charges were dropped). He emphasized his history reaching across the aisle “to cut property taxes and raise teacher pay and lower the cost of housing and child care and prescription drugs,” and touted his willingness to break with Democrats on issues including energy and the border that are important in Texas.
“I’ve called out the extremes in both parties, on the right and left, and as you know, called out President Biden for failing to secure our southern border,” he said. “I’ve pushed back against national Democrats who want to hurt the Texas oil and gas industry and so I think that Texans are looking for a senator who is going to be independent, who’s not going to serve a political party, not going to serve any special interests or megadonors, but who’s going to serve people of Texas.”
We’ll have to wait and see. The dream of Texas going blue again has been with us for a long time, but so far it hasn’t come close to happening.
New York Times elections expert Nate Cohn thinks it could happen (gift article): A Blue Texas May Be More Than a Dream for Democrats.
Could Texas really turn blue in 2026?
While it’s tempting to be skeptical, a blue Texas is increasingly easy to imagine. It’s even easier to imagine after Ken Paxton’s victory over John Cornyn, the incumbent senator, in the Republican primary runoff on Tuesday night.
That’s partly because Mr. Paxton, the state attorney general, has distinct political liabilities. He’s faced investigation, indictment, impeachment and a messy public divorce.
But there’s another reason Democrats might pull off a statewide win for the first time in three decades: demographics. Texas is one of the most diverse states in the country, and national polls show Democrats surging back in support among young and nonwhite voters — and especially Hispanic voters.
On paper, these national demographic trends ought to send Texas racing toward the left and into contention. Add in Mr. Paxton’s nomination and you can start to see how Democrats could flip Texas this fall.
After a decade of big talk from Democrats about Texas, it’s understandable that people could harbor some doubt about flipping the nation’s largest red state. Judging by presidential election results, Democrats barely made any progress at all: President Trump won Texas by almost 14 percentage points in 2024.
But beneath the state’s stable Republican voting record, extraordinary demographic shifts have put Texas Republicans in a much more vulnerable position. To an extent few would have imagined a decade ago, Texas’ status as a reliably Republican state now depends on elevated levels of support among Hispanic voters.
Read more at the gift link.
Let’s face it. Democrats have to take back the House if we are to have any hope of impeaching Trump. They need to take the Senate too, but even if that happens, they won’t have the votes to remove him. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to impeach him. Democrats need to do everything in their power to weaken Trump, because he obviously has no plans to leave the White House unless he is dragged out or carried out on a stretcher.
Iran war news:
The Trump administration and the Iran government disagree about what is in their supposed peace agreement.
Erika Solomon, Sanam Mahoozi, and Leo Sands: What Iranian State Media Says Is in Outline of ‘Unofficial’ Deal With U.S.
Iranian state television on Wednesday released what it said were details of “an initial, unofficial document” outlining the framework for an agreement between Iran and the United States that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.
The White House immediately dismissed the report as a “complete fabrication,” and it was not clear whether the United States and Iran were any closer to an agreement.
Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, said that under the framework, Iran would allow shipping to resume through the strait in return for an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. For days, the two sides have been alternating between renewing hostilities and issuing positive signals.
In its framing of the draft, the broadcaster presented it as a broad victory for Iran while cautioning that it was not final.
The report said that, under the agreement, commercial marine traffic would return to prewar levels within a month of the framework’s implementation. It also said that Iran would handle the strait’s management in cooperation with the Gulf state of Oman, a U.S. ally.
A bit more:
The reopening of the strait was the only one of the five main sticking points in negotiations that was mentioned in the brief report. The waterway is a crucial route for the world’s oil and gas that Iran has effectively closed since March. There was no reference to the future of Iran’s nuclear program and its stockpile of enriched uranium
The report said the framework included a U.S. pledge to “withdraw its military forces from the areas surrounding Iran” without specifying the geographic area included. The United States has a number of military sites in neighboring Iraq and nearby Gulf countries.
“Whether this includes forces newly deployed to the region or only permanent base personnel remains subject to negotiation,” the report said.
Trump called a cabinet meeting to discuss the situation.
The New York Times: Iran War Live Updates: White House Denies Iranian State Media’s Outline of ‘Unofficial’ Deal
Iranian state television said Wednesday that it had obtained a draft of a preliminary deal with the United States, which the White House quickly dismissed as untrue, calling the described memorandum a “complete fabrication” amid tense negotiations.
Trump speaks at cabinet meeting he called to discuss the Iran a proposed agreement with Iran.
According to the reported draft, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial marine traffic in return for the United States lifting its naval blockade. Iran’s broadcaster projected the “initial, unofficial” 14-point agreement as one in which Iran “cemented its power in the Strait,” while laying out a potential path to peace with the United States.
President Trump dismissed the idea of letting Russia or China take control of Iran’s nuclear stockpiles.
“No, that would not make me comfortable,” he said, when asked if he could accept that step….
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting next to the president at the cabinet meeting, also did not offer details on the negotiations with Iran. “I think there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made,” he said. Rubio said that diplomacy was the administration’s preference but added, “You have other options available to you if that doesn’t work.”
What a mess Trump has created!
Some of the current messes:
AP: ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an ‘alarming’ rate, an AP investigation finds.
Brayan Rayo Garzon was distraught. Detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was on his fourth day of isolation in a Missouri jail as he battled the fevers and chills of COVID-19.
His request for mental health treatment had been put off, records show, and staff had forbidden Rayo from making his nightly call to his mother as a precaution intended to prevent the spread of illness.
This photo provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows a note written in Spanish by Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee Brayan Rayo Garzon asking for a phone call with his mother before he committed suicide.
He pleaded with his jailers in handwritten notes to arrange a conversation with her. “I feel in my heart that she’s very worried about me,” he wrote in Spanish.
A guard collected the note and walked away. Within an hour, jail records show, he was found unconscious in his cell. An autopsy determined he killed himself.
Rayo’s April 2025 death was the first suicide in a spike among ICE detainees that has alarmed public health officials and jail experts. They said the unprecedented number of suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.
An Associated Press investigation found that at least 10 detainees, all men, have died by suicide since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, a pace that far exceeds the growth in the detainee population, according to a review of ICE data, autopsy reports, coroners’ rulings and police records. Since October, seven deaths have been classified as suicides, a number that is already the most for any fiscal year in the agency’s history. ICE has usually recorded one or no such deaths annually. “Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of public health or mental health perspective,” said Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who cowrote a study documenting the increase in mortality and suicide rates among ICE detainees. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”The Daily Beast: Snubbed Trump’s Petty Revenge Plot Is Revealed.
Donald Trump is pulling out bombers and warships set aside to help NATO, according to a report.
The president is also planning to withdraw fighter jets and refueling aircraft, after becoming incensed by European allies’ refusal to back his war in Iran, Der Spiegel reported.
An envoy of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Alexander Velez-Green, informed senior officials from NATO member states of the withdrawal at a meeting last week in Brussels, Belgium, according to the German outlet.
The number of fighter jets will reduced by a third and the number of strategic bombers halved, Der Spiegel reported.
All submarines will be pulled out, and the destroyer count will also be reduced.
Putin must be thrilled.
The New York Times: Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya.
The Trump administration plans to send to Kenya U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus rather than bring them home for observation and treatment, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The approach is a stark contrast to the way previous administrations responded to outbreaks, during which health care workers and other U.S. citizens exposed to the virus were brought home to be treated at specialized medical units. The administration this month flew an American doctor who developed symptoms to a hospital in Germany, and transported six other Americans for monitoring in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Ebola virus
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated to have ballooned to more than 1,000 cases and more than 200 deaths in just the 11 days since it was first announced, making it the third largest on record already. Aid cuts by the Trump administration shut down crucial disease surveillance networks and medical supply chains that might have detected and contained the epidemic sooner.
Last week, the Trump administration invoked a public health law known as Title 42 to bar immigrants and legal permanent residents who had been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days from entering the United States.
The administration’s new plan would also keep U.S. citizens who might have been exposed to Ebola out of the country, according to two of the people with knowledge of the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
A few dozen Public Health Service officers are now being trained to deploy to Kenya to provide medical care to Americans who are deemed at high risk of developing Ebola. The initial plan was to monitor those Americans in Kenya, but to move anyone who started to show symptoms for treatment in Europe.
Because we no longer have a real CDC, and Trump, Musk, and RFK, Jr. fired all the disease experts.
The administration is looking for volunteers (!) to screen for Ebola cases at airports. Reuters: US CDC seeks staff for Ebola screening as outbreak response expands.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked staff to volunteer for urgent deployment to support Ebola screening at the country’s entry points, according to an email seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya said in the email that the agency had activated a Level 2 emergency response on May 18 to an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and was expanding recruitment beyond its usual emergency responder pool as screening of selected international arrivals ramps up.
Level 2 is an intermediate level of emergency response. It indicates a need for substantial additional staffing to meet response demands, according to the CDC’s website.
The CDC said enhanced screening operations are already under way at several port health stations and will require additional personnel. Staff across roles, including public health advisers, emergency specialists and licensed medical providers, are being asked to support the effort, subject to supervisor approval.
Volunteers could be tasked with monitoring incoming travelers for signs of illness, checking temperatures and referring suspected cases for further assessment, according to the email.
Unbelievable. Ebola remains dormant for weeks after exposure. What if people don’t report exposures or don’t realize they’ve been exposed? We’re going to have a lot of Ebola cases here, aren’t we?
One more from The Guardian: UFC arena under construction on White House lawn to mark Trump’s 80th birthday.
Construction is under way on the White House lawn for an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) arena that will host a cage match next month to mark the US’s 250th anniversary and Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
The mixed martial arts fight is planned for 14 June.
Photos of cranes and other construction equipment on the White House lawn on Tuesday showed the beginnings of the temporary construction. Trump has said that the finished project will feature “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House”.
Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like. The octagon-shaped cage will be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live.
The cage and stage will themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including ringside space for a full marching band that can set the entire scene to blaring music.
In December, Trump said the White House event would host “eight or nine championship fights – the biggest fights they’ve ever had”. But like the size of the crowd, the number of fights expected to be held on the White House
lawn has shrunk. The fight card includes two title fights: a lightweight championship fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje in the main event, and an interim heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane.
This is beyond disgusting. I feel like I’m going to throw up.
I’ll end there, even though there are plenty more Trump messes that someone will have to clean up. Hang in there everyone. We can and will survive!
#BillCassidy #CDC #DonaldTrump #ebola #ICE #IranWar #JamesTallarico #JohnCornyn #KenPaxton #NATO #StraitOfHormuz #suicidesInICEDetentionCenters #TexasPrimaries #ThomTillis #TrumpCabinetMeetingOnIran #UFCAreaOnWhiteHouseLawn -
blurghed: adding feature flagging to a node app using OpenFeature.
Get started with a simple hard-coded feature flag provider in literally a couple of minutes, with the option of a seamless future upgrade to the full-blown feature flagging frameworks that integrate with OpenFeature.
https://blog.thepete.net/blog/2023/03/02/five-minutes-to-feature-flags/
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@pete @breadandcircuses
#MastodonNewbie #newbie #boost #mastodonvocabulary
May I know what does “boost” mean/entail on mastodon—so I may add it to my mastodon vocabulary list? Is it a good or bad thing?So far I’ve learned “fediverse,” “instance,” “toot,” “reboot,” and “favorite.” Are there any other terms I should learn about?
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⬆️
>> #Hamas funding by #AlQuds — part of extensive network of #MuslimBrotherhood axis, founded in guise of charity by Hamas in #Lebanon to fund #terror, & operates globally with 13 branches)— might explain bias in SA case at #ICJ.
>> Al-Quds uses proxies (#BaitulMaqdis) to bypass sanctions & to funds Hamas through #StandardBank, #NedBank, & #Absa
Attaching this toot here ➡️ https://mastodon.social/@SteveThompson/111846253801738295
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⬆️
>> #Hamas funding by #AlQuds — part of extensive network of #MuslimBrotherhood axis, founded in guise of charity by Hamas in #Lebanon to fund #terror, & operates globally with 13 branches)— might explain bias in SA case at #ICJ.
>> Al-Quds uses proxies (#BaitulMaqdis) to bypass sanctions & to funds Hamas through #StandardBank, #NedBank, & #Absa
Attaching this toot here ➡️ https://mastodon.social/@SteveThompson/111846253801738295
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⬆️
>> #Hamas funding by #AlQuds — part of extensive network of #MuslimBrotherhood axis, founded in guise of charity by Hamas in #Lebanon to fund #terror, & operates globally with 13 branches)— might explain bias in SA case at #ICJ.
>> Al-Quds uses proxies (#BaitulMaqdis) to bypass sanctions & to funds Hamas through #StandardBank, #NedBank, & #Absa
Attaching this toot here ➡️ https://mastodon.social/@SteveThompson/111846253801738295
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I no longer trust *anything* that the #Quisling hacks on the #Zionist-run #BBC spew out! Its blatantly clear that #Radio4Today & #BBCNews routinely, with senior editor & #Ofcom acquiescence, flout the #RoyalCharter #EditorialGuidelines [https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/editorial-standards] on behalf of the #WarMongering #NeoLiberal #Establishment!
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"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band #Cream. With elements of #hardRock and #psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist #JackBruce based it on a distinctive bass #riff he developed "almost in a fit of desperation" after working unsuccessfully all night on creating a song with his writing partner, lyricist #PeteBrown who muttered "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8 -
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band #Cream. With elements of #hardRock and #psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist #JackBruce based it on a distinctive bass #riff he developed "almost in a fit of desperation" after working unsuccessfully all night on creating a song with his writing partner, lyricist #PeteBrown who muttered "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8 -
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band #Cream. With elements of #hardRock and #psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist #JackBruce based it on a distinctive bass #riff he developed "almost in a fit of desperation" after working unsuccessfully all night on creating a song with his writing partner, lyricist #PeteBrown who muttered "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8 -
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band #Cream. With elements of #hardRock and #psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist #JackBruce based it on a distinctive bass #riff he developed "almost in a fit of desperation" after working unsuccessfully all night on creating a song with his writing partner, lyricist #PeteBrown who muttered "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8 -
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band #Cream. With elements of #hardRock and #psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist #JackBruce based it on a distinctive bass #riff he developed "almost in a fit of desperation" after working unsuccessfully all night on creating a song with his writing partner, lyricist #PeteBrown who muttered "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8 -
#Kirkwall really needs to sort out their “pedestrian” street.
Fast, entitled drivers are common especially dropping or collecting friends. -
#HES #HistoricScotland Urquhart Castle happy to ridicule Scotland’s national animal but refusing to sell Loch Ness monster souvenirs.
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@dacig @scottsantens it is also a very efficient stimulus to the economy, as giving money to people are not wealthy results in them spending it into the economy.
Just like #ubi
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@dacig @scottsantens it is also a very efficient stimulus to the economy, as giving money to people are not wealthy results in them spending it into the economy.
Just like #ubi
-
@dacig @scottsantens it is also a very efficient stimulus to the economy, as giving money to people are not wealthy results in them spending it into the economy.
Just like #ubi
-
@dacig @scottsantens it is also a very efficient stimulus to the economy, as giving money to people are not wealthy results in them spending it into the economy.
Just like #ubi
-
@dacig @scottsantens it is also a very efficient stimulus to the economy, as giving money to people are not wealthy results in them spending it into the economy.
Just like #ubi
-
https://edinburghmagazine.com/edinburgh-overtakes-london-in-gdp-per-capita-for-the-first-time/
Edinburgh has overtaken London in GDP per capita, and London has overtaken Edinburgh in money laundering and increasing rates of child poverty. #inequalty #billionnaires #moneylaundering #epsteinclass
