Friday Stuff

RIP Leonard Nimoy – a lot more to this guy than just Spock, though he will always be remembered for that above all else, which is probably as it should be (please don’t smoke, people – find a way to stop somehow).

“This Side of Paradise” might be my favorite episode of the original “Star Trek” series (partly because Spock gets to knock Kirk around a bit :-), and this is probably the key moment of revelation between Nimoy and Jill Ireland – of all the clips of Nimoy that could be presented as a tribute, this is the one I personally prefer the most…



…and as usual, pop culture parody is the sincerest form of flattery…



...and by the way, we had great Net Neutrality news this week, though I'm sure the lawsuits from the usual corporate suspects will follow (video lags at end)...



…and kudos to Dem Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for this…



...and sportscaster Dale Hansen does it again here - kudos as well...



…and I guess this video depicts just another Friday night for you millennial hipsters out there – I remember those days (sigh).

Thursday Stuff

I think it’s actually pretty hilarious to watch anyone from our supposedly “respectable” corporate media take shots at Jon Stewart for supposedly debasing our already-trashed political discourse, and Fix Noise dutifully obliges here (as always, though, it’s a stretch to consider these particular frauds as emblematic of anything whatsoever besides rank propaganda).

The networks with initials for names have fundamentally failed to educate and inform their audience on the critical issues that we face in this country, opting instead for a two-or-more-dueling-talking-head format that serves only to inflame passion instead of cultivating reason (for ratings of course, and also to try and deflect the charge of “liberal bias” that will be made by the usual suspects regardless). And the void created by that terrible decision has been filled by Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, John Oliver, and many others.

I would ask that you consider all that while you watch this clip (here)…

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…and I give you Ed Schultz on Jeb Bush (Rachel Maddow, among others, covered some of this already, though it shows that Jeb definitely haven’t “sealed the deal” with the base)…



…and here is Cenk and Ana from TYT on Patricia Arquette (NSFW…sounds like the extremes of both sides were mad, which must mean that she was doing something right)…



…and here is something bluesy and more current than the rest of what I’ve featured here this week.

Wednesday Stuff

By the way, when we refer to the “corpocracy,” we’re not kidding, and never have been – and oh yeah, the Idaho Repugs apparently need a biology lesson; the serious stuff, though, has to do with DHS (an update is here - yep, looks like congressional Repugs still can't get their act together; heckuva job, all you idiot voters who gave them the keys to the metaphorical car that they promptly drove into a ditch)…



...and as I watch this, I wonder why the hell every Democrat running for election last year didn't wrap themselves around health care reform - and yes, I know the answer...



...and after watching this NSFW clip, I have even less interest in ever actually seeing “American Sniper”...



...and "the quiet Beatle" would have been 72 today.

Monday Stuff

I give you Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds, from here…

Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, in his famous novel Starship Troopers, envisioned a society where voters, too, had to demonstrate their patriotism before being allowed to vote. In his fictional society, the right to vote came only after some kind of dangerous public service — in the military, as a volunteer in dangerous medical experiments, or in other ways that demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice personally for the common good. The thought was that such voters would be more careful, and less selfish, in their voting.

So when the five-day wonder of questioning Barack Obama’s patriotism is over, perhaps we should address another question: How patriotic is the electorate? And how long can we survive as a nation if the answer is “not very”? And we should proceed from there.

So, just for the record, "The Ole Perfesser" thinks that voting should only be allowed if someone of a suitable age had first participated in an activity like this...



…and I have no idea whether or not author Robert Heinlein was ever influenced by controlled substances or not – makes me wonder a bit based on that clip – but in case he was, I think that makes this NSFW commentary from Bill Maher (here) particularly at the end even more timely…



…and I have three words for Cenk Uygur based on this…Nail. Hammer. Head…



…and RIP Clark Terry.

Saturday Stuff

Malcolm X was killed 50 years ago today, just so you know (more here)...



...and I know I put up this tune a month or so ago already, but I think it fits for the occasion, definitely if you've seen the film, which is great.

Friday Stuff

Meet the new Bush, same as the old Bush…



…also, Ed Schultz tells us more about the battle to keep the U.S. Postal Service in operation – yes people, it really is a bargain, and if it goes away, we’re going to be really screwed…



…and I give you more misogynist Repug hijinks (yeah, let me know how that whole “outreach to women voters” thing goes, OK)…



…and I really don’t have a dog in the hunt, as it were, concerning Tinsel town’s upcoming soiree on Sunday evening (here), but may the best in each category win – makes me recall this glam-rock-ish tune, which I think is apropos.

Thursday Stuff

By the way, allow me to say right now that I am absolutely done with this crap about what Obama did or didn’t say about radical Islam at that prayer breakfast, whenever it was. I expect Fix Noise to come down with a case of the vapors, but I’m beyond disgusted with how the supposedly liberal MSNBC is wasting precious time and resources on this idiocy also.

Meanwhile, there goes Shep Smith of Fix Noise practicing some actual journalism again here, this time with another Dubya-era flunky who apparently pines for the firm foreign policy hands of "Honor and Virtue" McCain and Huckleberry Graham...



…and though I’ve never completely bought into the concept of Black History Month, which we observe in February of course – what about Jewish History Month or Catholic History Month? – I have to admit that I thought this was a good report by Melissa Harris Perry…



…and in a related story, just remember that idiot Mississippi state rep Gene Alday is the real victim here, people – sure he is (more here)…



...and I hope she's on the mend from her recent health issues - can't tell based on this.

Wednesday Stuff

Rev. Al takes a look at the stalling going on in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” concerning Obama Attorney General Nominee Loretta Lynch (though I think the following needs to be pointed out here – not taking a shot at Lynch, but only saying that there’s a way for intelligent adults to discuss the HSBC stuff…I realize that many in the Senate are not intelligent adults, of course…and by the way, it’s particularly galling for the Repugs to complain about improper fiscal oversight given this, where they punted on their own chance to do the same thing, which led to the meltdown of our economy)…



…and as far as I’m concerned, one answer to this is to shop at Office Max and tell Staples where to go (and just toss out the 5:00 – 6:00 stuff with this guy from The Manhattan Institute – trying to un-couple the employer mandate from the individual mandate would be catastrophic to the ACA, and if he isn’t smart enough to know that or honest enough to admit it, then he doesn’t belong on my teevee)…



…and congrats to Miss P (woof!)…



…and boy, am I sick of that other tune from this guy, though this is OK I guess – kind of dark for a “relationship” song, though.