Friday, October 16, 2015

Friday Stuff

Maybe I shouldn’t be infuriated by this story, but I am; as far as I’m concerned, it should ALL come out – I don’t know if Hastert will do time or not, but if he walks, he should be as big a pariah at this point as Bill Cosby - just try to imagine how this would be reported if Hastert were a member of the "D" Party…



...and actually, this is pretty damn outrageous too (re, Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama closing the DMV offices in his state so "the blahs" can't vote "Democrat"...more here)...



...and Chris Hayes and Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times tell us of the damage wrought by Citizens United, the gift that keeps on giving, for the Repugs anyway (as shown in the report)…



...and speaking of damage (here)...



...also, Melissa Harris-Perry gives us more reality-based reporting on race in this country on the one-year anniversary of the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice (she kind of sputters over her words a bit because of her palpable outrage, which to me is entirely justified - sorry I didn't see her interview afterwards)...



...and Al Jazeera America tells us of the ruinous effect of the lack of sex-ed in Louisiana schools, as well as the efforts of Dem State Rep Wesley Bishop to change the awful status quo...



...and hey, did you hear the one about the conservative who decried Muslims and she ended up being greeted warmly by the folks she was protesting (OK, so it's not much of a joke) - Cenk and Ana explain (slightly NSFW)...



…and here is more good news, as far as I’m concerned, to end the week (and I’m sure this tune is included).

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Thursday Stuff

Yes, I admit that I’m a little behind on the debate – this is the only clip I’ve seen so far that matters IMHO (sorry, Gov. Chafee, but you earned a seat at the little kids table here…and by the way, Larry Lessig should have been there too)…



…and I thought this was a fitting contrast (and I also think some props should go out to Anderson Cooper here, to be fair – while our side tries to come up with solutions to actual problems, the “party of Lincoln” is preoccupied with nonsense like this)...



…and as another contrast, I give you a Trump supporter doing something that I suppose they do very well (here)…



…and speaking of “The Donald,” a hat tip goes out to Chris Hayes for this; just the context we need (I guess I'm a day early...smile - the spitter in the above clip wasn't drunk as far as I know)…



…and to get serious for a moment, this tells you about the dangers faced by actual journalists, as opposed to many of the news mannequins foisted upon us by our corporate media (as far as I'm concerned, the very last sentence spoken in this clip says it all)…



…and happy 80th birthday to ‘60s icon Barry McGuire.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Wednesday Stuff

I think this is how change starts to happen – all the best to the two wounded officers (here)…



…and speaking of gun insanity, Prof. Daniel Hamermesh is my latest hero for this…



...and I give you once again another installment of "This Day In Doomsy History" from 10/14/09, in which Jon Stewart has a lot of fun with the "leave it there" network, although CNN apparently did a good job with the recent Democratic presidential debate...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorRon Paul Interview

...and I like this tune, even though I don't usually trust anyone wearing jeans and suspenders :-).

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tuesday Stuff

(I also posted here, for what it's worth.)

As former PA U.S. House Rep Patrick Murphy reminds us here, yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole (and I think some important context on that is here; basically, the official story – which I believe – is that it was not officially determined that bin Laden was responsible until after Clinton had left office, and that’s why Number 42 didn’t retaliate)…



...and by the way, there should be a HELL of a lot more of this right about now - I can't recall a better time for the Democrats to make the case of what kind of a SANE alternative they offer to Not Your Father's Republican Party, but aside from stuff like this, I'm pretty much hearing the sound of crickets (well, until the debate I mean)...



…and speak of the devil, I'll read about it tomorrow, thank you very much; in the meantime, I thought this was a funny bit from Trevor Noah…


…and God almighty, what is it with Republicans using songs without permission from the artists (here)? Even though, in this case, it gives me an excuse for this whompin’ little tune.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Monday Stuff

I think this is an example of humor getting a little too close to reality - the sad part is that it's basically true (not an excuse for giving up, I wish to emphasize)...



...and good for Katie Nolan, laying bare the hypocrisy of the oh-so-august-in-their-imaginations National Football League here (and Terry Bradshaw had similar commendable words on this subject)...



…and I thought this was a nice report from Al Jazeera America on a program in Maine for teenage offenders that serves as an alternative to prison (always wonder why conservatives don’t advocate cost-effective solutions like this, but I guess their need to look for someone to punish outweighs everything else)…



…and I know I just featured Yo-Yo Ma last week, but I’m going to go against the grain a bit again; today marks what would have been the 80th birthday of legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti (once more, a bit of culture for y’all - the English translation of this is gorgeous all by itself).