As he ponders the future of the free world, the fate of social security or the state of the brush on his Crawford ranch, US President George W. Bush can turn to one source for solace: his iPod.
A birthday present from his daughters last year, the Bush iPod contains just 250 songs, from the knockabout comedy of Joni Mitchell's (You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care to the straight ahead country blues of Stevie Ray Vaughn's The House Is Rockin.
Although Bush doesn't do anything so vulgar as download the songs himself -- that duty is performed by an aide -- the selection of music has analysts scrambling to deconstruct the contents of the presidential iPod.
What, for example, to make of the inclusion of The Knack's chirpy yet sleazy My Sharona, a staple of US college life for the last 20 years?
But that is about as risky as it gets.
"If any president limited his music selection to pro-establishment musicians, it would be a pretty slim collection," Mark McKinnon, Bush's chief media strategist last year, cycling buddy and fellow iPod enthusiast, told the New York Times.
But even the patriots on the Bush iPod are troubled souls. Country singers George Jones and Alan Jackson make the list, while Texan band The Gourds are best known for their zydeco cover of Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice.
His selection, said Joe Levy of Rolling Stone magazine, "tells you that the president knows a thing or two about country music and is serious about his love of country music."
"This is basically boomer rock'n'roll and more recent music out of Nashville made for boomers. It's safe, it's reliable, it's loving ... It's feelgood music. The Sex Pistols it's not," Levy said.
The presidential iPod was first spotted in a photograph published in January which showed a pair of hands said to be Bush's holding one of the distinctive boxes. The song on the screen, showing Bush's sensitive side, was Van Morrison's plaintive Brown Eyed Girl.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS