Andy Bongo

[nigel99 144]

I don't feel it's appropriate to post this in the Blue Skies thread, but there are enough people here who knew him. 

Andy was quite keen to vote for Trump, but missed the shit show. But Andy was a massive Taylor Swift fan. The recent far right outrage against her always reminds me of him and I wonder what he would have thought.

I used to wind him up about being a swifty teenage girl, and his response was to buy me tickets to a Taylor swift concert! 

[winsor 186]

1 hour ago, nigel99 said:

I don't feel it's appropriate to post this in the Blue Skies thread, but there are enough people here who knew him. 

Andy was quite keen to vote for Trump, but missed the shit show. But Andy was a massive Taylor Swift fan. The recent far right outrage against her always reminds me of him and I wonder what he would have thought.

I used to wind him up about being a swifty teenage girl, and his response was to buy me tickets to a Taylor swift concert! 

What's the source of outrage?  I've heard a couple of her songs and they're okay, but I'm generally impressed with her.

She appears to have earned a good reputation for treating her fans and staff well, and her work ethic and energy level set a high standard.

The adulation of her young fans does not appear to be toxic, a claim that many stars could not make.

I don't get anyone being 'for' Trump.  A couple of people's take was along the lines of 'yeah, he's an asshole but he actually supports policies with which I agree somewhat more often than his opponents.  This is shy of 100%, and it's tough to tolerate his penchant for blurting out whatever crosses his mind.'

 

[gowlerk 1,914]

8 minutes ago, winsor said:

What's the source of outrage? 

In the fall she spoke in favour of covid vaccines and had the nerve to endorse a D candidate for the US senate. When you are that big it doesn't take much.

[lippy 773]

55 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

In the fall she spoke in favour of covid vaccines and had the nerve to endorse a D candidate for the US senate. When you are that big it doesn't take much.

Her music isn't my personal jam, but there's no denying she's a superstar and I can't help but admire the following she's amassed by having some genuine talent and working her ass off.

[jakee 1,255]

2 hours ago, winsor said:

I don't get anyone being 'for' Trump.  A couple of people's take was along the lines of 'yeah, he's an asshole but he actually supports policies with which I agree somewhat more often than his opponents.  This is shy of 100%, and it's tough to tolerate his penchant for blurting out whatever crosses his mind.'

Unfortunately, by simply ignoring his tendency to try and demolish democracy and the rules based order in politics as we know it, these people are acting just as moronically as the ones who hang on his every word.

Especially when they try and convince themselves that it's no different to supporting a Democrat, and buy into any anti-Biden conspiracy going just so they don't have to think too hard about what voting for Trump means.

[normiss 622]

5 hours ago, gowlerk said:

In the fall she spoke in favour of covid vaccines and had the nerve to endorse a D candidate for the US senate. When you are that big it doesn't take much.

She also shares her money with her employees, BIG time, and she is VERY vocal about people voting and pushes the Get Out The Vote and sending people to vote.org. Her efforts to encourage people to vote has made a big impact in the numbers of young, female, democrat voters. Vote.org reported record setting numbers after her concerts.

There's an interesting video of her with her parents and some of her assistants discussing her desire to be a voice against the Trump insanity and encouraging her fans to vote. Her dad seemed almost insistent that she NOT do this due to the insanity of the current nothing but Trump attitude and some of the violent actions. They were concerned for her safety. She insisted that she would be that voice. She has the platform to do it, and it's the right thing to do. She said she had to do it.

I agree with her.

 

 

Oh...and I miss Andy.

Edited December 16, 2023 by normiss

[ryoder 1,384]

I've heard about 50 truck drivers became Swifties at the end of her Eras Tour:

Taylor Swift gives $100K bonuses to truck drivers on her Eras Tour

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

3 minutes ago, ryoder said:

I've heard about 50 truck drivers became Swifties at the end of her Eras Tour:

Taylor Swift gives $100K bonuses to truck drivers on her Eras Tour

Hi Robert,

$100k - a mere pittance.  From your link:

Taylor Swift's tour is on pace to make a record-breaking $1 billion in sales

Jerry Baumchen

[nigel99 144]

8 hours ago, winsor said:

What's the source of outrage?  I've heard a couple of her songs and they're okay, but I'm generally impressed with her.

She appears to have earned a good reputation for treating her fans and staff well, and her work ethic and energy level set a high standard.

The adulation of her young fans does not appear to be toxic, a claim that many stars could not make.

I don't get anyone being 'for' Trump.  A couple of people's take was along the lines of 'yeah, he's an asshole but he actually supports policies with which I agree somewhat more often than his opponents.  This is shy of 100%, and it's tough to tolerate his penchant for blurting out whatever crosses his mind.'

 

I think other people summed up the outrage pretty well. 

I had posted here not in the Blue Skies thread, because of the Trump/Taylor connection reminding me of Andy. I expected a decent amount of political commentary, but wanted to remember a great person with a big heart and I miss the spirited discussions with him about politics and world views. He passed away just before Trump got into office. 

For his last Christmas he had mentioned to someone that all he wanted for Christmas was a young beautiful blond - He got given a Barbie doll! 

[JoeWeber 2,299]

On 12/16/2023 at 11:19 AM, lippy said:

Her music isn't my personal jam, but there's no denying she's a superstar and I can't help but admire the following she's amassed by having some genuine talent and working her ass off.

As if I didn't have enough reasons to be irritated by you, I decided to be serious and listen to the ERA's songs to have an informed opinion. I now cannot get the absolutely crappy song "Shake it Off" out of my head. You owe me.

[lippy 773]

23 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

As if I didn't have enough reasons to be irritated by you, I decided to be serious and listen to the ERA's songs to have an informed opinion. I now cannot get the absolutely crappy song "Shake it Off" out of my head. You owe me.

To be fair, I did say I wasn’t a fan. I’m not the anti-hero here Joe

[JoeWeber 2,299]

32 minutes ago, lippy said:

To be fair, I did say I wasn’t a fan. I’m not the anti-hero here Joe

You sucked me in. Now you owe me a jump.

[lippy 773]

9 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

You sucked me in. Now you owe me a jump.

That’s fair

[TriGirl 268]

To keep on topic: my grand-nephew, age 4, is a HUGE Swifty.  He had a Taylor Swift-themed birthday party, and his mother posted a cute vid of him dancing to Lavender Haze (while also wearing a replica fuzzy lavender coat) during a cinema Eras tour broadcast.  His father, OTOH, was a massive Trump supporter in 2016 (haven't spoken with him about politics lately, but I have no reason to believe he has changed his opinion much, if at all). 

[nigel99 144]

3 hours ago, TriGirl said:

To keep on topic: my grand-nephew, age 4, is a HUGE Swifty.  He had a Taylor Swift-themed birthday party, and his mother posted a cute vid of him dancing to Lavender Haze (while also wearing a replica fuzzy lavender coat) during a cinema Eras tour broadcast.  His father, OTOH, was a massive Trump supporter in 2016 (haven't spoken with him about politics lately, but I have no reason to believe he has changed his opinion much, if at all). 

That's funny! 

[olofscience 422]

On 12/22/2023 at 1:45 AM, JoeWeber said:

As if I didn't have enough reasons to be irritated by you, I decided to be serious and listen to the ERA's songs to have an informed opinion. I now cannot get the absolutely crappy song "Shake it Off" out of my head. You owe me.

Apparently, you've now been captured by the Pentagon's "psyop" as some conspiracy nutters are now claiming: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/31/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-super-bowl-rightwing-conspiracy-biden

Quote

The hysteria has been building for weeks. In early January, Jesse Watters, a Fox News host, devoted a segment of his prime-time show to claiming that Swift was a “Pentagon psyop asset”, whose fame and success has apparently been encouraged by leftwing operatives.

“Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?” Watters said.

“Well around four years ago the Pentagon’s psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset, during a Nato meeting. What kind of asset? A psyop for combatting online misinformation.”

He's calling the stuff he's saying "misinformation" and it's still not registering...