David Cantwell
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cantkill.bsky.social
David Cantwell
@cantkill.bsky.social
1.6K followers 340 following 410 posts
Music critic. Husband. Dog Lover. Author of “The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard.” Cofounder No Fences Review. Midwesterner
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Reposted by David Cantwell
“Buck naked” is unclothed.

“Butt naked” is unclothed and up to something.
Not to be THAT dictionary, but…

It’s ‘per se,’ not ‘per say.’
It’s ‘dog-eat-dog world,’ not ‘doggy-dog world.’
It’s ‘hunger pangs,’ not ‘hunger pains.’
It’s ‘one and the same,’ not ‘one in the same.’
It's 'buck naked,' not 'butt naked.'
Reposted by David Cantwell
Just had a version of this earlier, and do people not realize that it's rude to introduce yourself to a stranger by telling them what they should or shouldn't talk about?
Begging people on here to please look into someone's background and work before replying to chide them about something else you want them to say. I can't tell you how many times a reply asks "why aren't you talking about THIS?" and it's something I've been shouting about for a decade or more.
Reposted by David Cantwell
the truth is that this isn't a theocracy and jesus isn't my fucking king
Chip Roy: "The truth is the marxist, radicals, and Islamists the Democratic Party promoted this weekend, they cannot handle the truth. The truth is that there is a king and that king is Jesus. And the president has been willing to say it, & Charlie Kirk was willing to say it & he got killed for it."
Reposted by David Cantwell
America As No-Longer-Democracy and Not-Yet-Dictatorship

Where does the country stand after the largest day of protest in U.S. history? Putting “No Kings” in perspective.

Some thoughts from my new piece:
America As No-Longer-Democracy and Not-Yet-Dictatorship
Where does the country stand after the largest day of protest in U.S. history? Putting “No Kings” in perspective
steady.page
Reposted by David Cantwell
A mere 19 months ago, Trump’s net worth was $2.6B, and he owed hundreds of millions in civil penalties. Today, Trump is worth $7.1B, and most of the civil penalties have been tossed out.

Presidential politics is by far the most lucrative business venture of Trump’s career. trib.al/XjAdogE
Reposted by David Cantwell
the INVISIBLE MAN is imho probably the best of the OG universal horror films. it is delightfully unhinged and the invisibility effect is still astonishing all of these years later
got a hankering to watch one of the best movies ever made
Reposted by David Cantwell
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
Reposted by David Cantwell
For Tolkien fans, a timely passage for No Kings Eve, from WH Auden’s review of Lord of the Rings.
Wrote this a year ago, about a month after Kristofferson's death. It holds up, I think. (For sure, his ironic anthem "The Law Is for Protection of the People" will be in my personal No Kings playlist today.)
Kris Kristofferson, 1936 - 2024
David Cantwell on the singer-songwriter's legacy
open.substack.com
Reposted by David Cantwell
Yes
When administrators try to soft-pedal censorship of student press by cutting only the print edition, they are reminding us that paper is the medium of liberatory potential.
Reposted by David Cantwell
"This probable decision comes in the midst of an attempted autocratic takeover of the U.S. government in which elections are the only real recourse for the defenders of constitutional and democratic rule."
Will SCOTUS Rig the House?
I read a group email from Capitol Hill yesterday essentially predicting the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Reposted by David Cantwell
Somebody reading these writeups might be inclined to believe country's biggest 2023 trends were (1) songs with good beats you could dance to and (2) young women following Taylor Swift's footsteps like garage bands trying to be the next Stones in 1966. More likely that’s just my own personal taste.
40 Best Country Singles of 2023
The conversations about country music I saw online in 2023 generally revolved around either white male Southern small-town lost-cause grudge-keeping (Jason Aldean, Oliver Anthony, and Maren Morris’s b...
chuckeddy.substack.com
Reposted by David Cantwell
I really think we need to reconceptualize this shutdown as the last stand for the rule of law and Art I. Bring it to default if that’s what it takes. If Congress can’t assert the power of the purse, we are in “move to Portugal” territory of screwed.
This cannot just be about healthcare. The existing constitutional system hangs in the balance. The rule of law is now baked into this shutdown in a huge way.
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Reposted by David Cantwell
The Supreme Court’s majority right wing indicated in oral arguments that they think racism is over on the same day that the vice president defended the “I love Hitler” guy, and that the NYT reported that the current administration plans to accept only white, English-speaking refugees.
D'Angelo deserves far better, and much more, but at No Fences Review, we rounded up some favorite cuts and recommended readings from across the years. W/ @charleshughes2.bsky.social
D'Angelo, 1974-2025
A tribute playlist to one of the greats
open.substack.com
Breaking: Some NYPD officers worry about Como becoming the NYC mayor.

(How do I know that? Because this basic some-worry kind of non-statement can be made about any group and any candidate EVER)
Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...
Protests songs for a better America and against apartheid, plus more new music from Carter Faith, Princess Nokia and more. At No Fences Review w/ @charleshughes2.bsky.social
Turn It Up - 10/14/25
Earworms, obsessions, recommendations
open.substack.com
Reposted by David Cantwell
Trump govt did not reverse these firings out of goodness or self-owning a "mistake." They would have been happy to get away with it. This reversal is the result of strong opposition. We undercut our own power when we give them the credit. Resistance matters. And remaining cuts are still devastating.
TRUMP CDC REVERSAL: Trump administration racing to reverse some CDC layoffs. Disease detectives, measles responders, MMWR staff RIF’s are revoked. DC office still shuttered. w/ @apoorvanyt.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...
Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by David Cantwell
“The way I see it, unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.”

Major Frank Burns
Reposted by David Cantwell
Goldman: “We estimate that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims increased to about 235k for the week ended October 4th, by combining the Department of Labor (DOL)’s pre-released seasonal factors with this afternoon’s release of state-level claims.”
Reposted by David Cantwell
The campaign against “antifa” is about establishing a beachhead for further attacks on speech and assembly rights. We see that today in the effort to preemptively label No Kings protesters as “terrorists.”