Thursday Stuff

Thom Hartmann give us econ and labor news (pot going strong in Colorado with apparently no ill effects, and I like the proposed law in CA making politicians advertise their corporate donors)...



…oh, and apologies for being a bit behind on this great MLK day segment from Larry Wilmore (here)…



…and yeah, I’m definitely not going to take a shot at the kids either, but as appalling as it is to use them for props, as far as I’m concerned, all that’s missing here are the brown shirts (and I’m not so sure it’s terrible that lefties are posting about this…actually NOT NSFW with Jimmy Dore, so that’s progress)…



...and time for some cool new music from this century.

Wednesday Stuff

God, I love it when the wingnuts have a circular firing squad (here); they end up blasting each other better than I ever could...pass the popcorn (and kudos to Charles Pierce for keeping a straight face)...



...and you know what? It's almost funny at this point with Governor Bully - almost (here, and yeah, I guess he WOULD be opposed to a healthy eating initiative - ooooh, YOU BAD LI-BU-RUUL! HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE CHRISTIE's APPEARANCE!)...



…and sticking with the "Last Word" host, this is a truly ballsy “Rewrite” segment from Lawrence O’Donnell about Donald Trump and “The Duke”…and oh yeah, O’Donnell is absolutely right (I seem to recall reading how pissed off Wayne was about the movie “High Noon,” which is actually the antithesis of the supposedly great American western…O’Donnell says something I’d actually been thinking about but never gave a voice to myself…and oh yeah, I’ve GOT to go see “Trumbo” now)…



…and even though “classic” rockers have been dropping like proverbial flies lately, it’s time to commemorate the passing of yet another one, and that would be drummer Dale Griffin of Mott the Hoople…RIP.

Tuesday Stuff

I suppose I’m presenting this video not so much as an exercise in masochism, but merely to demonstrate yet again the world of deep, deep, DEEP denial in which the wingnutosphere truly lives (here) – at least Julie Roginsky, God bless her, is TRYING to interject some reality (and oh yes, “Wall Street” Scott Brown is such an unimpeachable source when it comes to veracity – and by the way, what you might call an “inconvenient truth” or two on this subject can be accessed from here…the right wing chooses to deny reality yet again and tries to invent its own version instead)…



…and I guess I should be arrested because I may end up voting for HRC and I’ve seen the latest Michael Bay movie (heh)…



Update 1/21/16: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

…and kudos to Rachel Maddow for speaking truth to stoo-pid once more, this time on conservative hagiography in the matter of The Sainted Ronnie R and Iran (nice observations by E.J. Dionne also – I may add that book to my reading list)…



...and I thought this was a pretty good summary of how the “haves” have made out under Number 44 – and I don’t know who these commentators are, of course, but as far as they’re concerned, that Kenyan Muslim Socialist can’t do anything right I guess (by the way, I hope everyone at the news networks with initials for names pays attention to this clip at about 4:45 – 4:50 to find out just how much that supposedly ruinous deficit has actually shrunk)…



...and nah, there ain't no stinkin' income inequality out there - just li-bu-ruul propaganda, amirite? (snark mode off)...



…and bloody hell; we just get over commemorating the loss of Bowie and now along comes this – RIP (if you get the chance, watch that terrific documentary on The Eagles on Showtime, which I’m sure will be rerun now; among the many great stories, we basically learn that Jackson Browne gave up on “Take It Easy” in the middle of the second verse and Frey finished it…after hearing this tune so many times, to me at least, it’s easy to forget what a superb piece of musical craftsmanship it truly is…I may put up at least one more tune by Glenn Frey before the end of the week).

Monday Stuff

I thought this was one of the smartest commentaries I've heard in awhile about Trump and right-wing nationalism all over the world...



...and here is a clip of The Donald from 1988 talking about that year’s presidential election; I’ll give him some points for consistency (the boogeyman that year was the Japanese as I recall), but as usual, no specifics on anything…



…and “Wise defense spending” (more here)? God lady, are you some kind of a damn socialist or something? We have to bomb more dark-skinned people into oblivion…U-S-A! U-S-A! (yes, I know – snark mode off)…



…and in honor of Dr. King’s day, I give you a link to a portion of his speech at the Barratt School in Philadelphia in 1967 – truly words to live by (oh, and speaking of the prior item, he definitely had something to say about the military/industrial complex too, as noted here).

Saturday Stuff

Kudos to the Newark Star-Ledger (and Rachel Maddow of course - more here and here) for holding Governor Bully accountable…” (Christie) lies like the rest of us brush our teeth” – truly precious…



…and good for the kid in this story for not pointing out what an utter dumbass Ben Carson is, though I’d have something to say to this idiot if I were the father, I have to admit (Jimmy Dore makes this NSFW)…



...and what the hell - here's a Bowie encore...



...and this one was covered a whole bunch of times, but he made the original...



…and this gets pretty freaked out at about 3:50 to 4:15, just to warn you (the theme from the “Cat People” remake in the 80s with some film clips)…



...and I didn't like the videos with the "Future Legend" intro segment, so I'm just presenting the final tune/video by itself.

Friday Stuff

RIP Alan Rickman – of all of the roles he played, maybe my favorite was that of Colonel Brandon in “Sense and Sensibility” (yeah, I know, Mr. Artsy Sensitive Type…great acting by communicating exactly what is going on with his character without saying a word) – I’m sure he’ll get well-deserved props for, among other things, helping to kick-start the whole “Die Hard” franchise with his terrific portrayal of villain Hans Gruber…also once shone playing “mad Monk” Rasputin in an HBO movie awhile back…



…and no, I won’t shed any tears either for a publication that was once called "Joe Lieberman Weekly"…



...and Thom Hartmann brings us econ & labor news for 1/4, a little behind again I know (boy, is he ever right about cleaning out the financial swamp of our political campaigns – might be a good idea to avoid Capital One, and it’s ALWAYS a good idea to avoid for-profit colleges…good for the University of California, though, for divesting from for-profit prisons; God forbid something in this country doesn't make money)…



...and this to me is so funny that I don't think any further explanation or embellishment is required...



…and as we wind down this week’s tribute to David Bowie, let’s not forget about some of his collaborations with a whole host of performers, including Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, and this guy…



…as well as his contributions to movies, including The Hunger (no, not the Hunger Games), The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (offbeat to be sure, in keeping with his persona - more here) - with his passing, the appreciation of his legacy on both music and popular culture overall will only grow greater over time.

Thursday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty good summary of BHO's tenure in An Oval Office from The Young Turks minus Ana (timed for the SOTU) – easy to forget just what a certain Barack Hussein Obama inherited from Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History…



…and to me, the real takeaway here is in the last minute when Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee talks about taking a public health approach to gun safety (follow up to the State of the Union address, the final one from Number 44 – sigh)…



...and for anyone who thinks renewable energy is going away, think again (here and here)...



…and I didn’t catch the name of the person in this video, but she’s absolutely right because of this – oh, and by the way, speaking of class action lawsuits, the Repugs in Congress (or their campaign contributors, more precisely) have dreamed up this latest scam…



Update 1/26/16: And the preceding video brings this to mind as far as I'm concerned.

…and returning to Bowie, he always gave credit to Mick Ronson for helping to come up with that whole Ziggy Stardust-era sound; once heard a funny interview where Bowie talked about how Ronson didn’t want to do the whole androgynous thing (he being a studly guy from Hull and all that), but he embraced it with no problem once he realized how the groupies responded to him for it…



…and let’s not forget that Bowie made sure that we found out about this guy too.

Wednesday Stuff

I thought this was an absolutely hilarious headline that appeared in Monday's issue of The Trentonian; Governor Bully recently delivered his "State of the State" Address, you see (more here...ya' think the Guv might actually decide to stay awhile?).

On another note, on the subject of Guantanamo, either charge the detainees and transfer them to a Supermax prison in this country (not like we have a shortage) or release them and close the damn thing…



Update: God, am I sorry to hear about this – AJAM deserves a lot of credit for courageous reporting of stories that matter as far as I’m concerned, but in today’s high-dollar media age, they had to make a big splash in this country and get dollar-paying subscribers in a hurry to become a “player,” and I’m sure this didn’t help…if they screwed the proverbial pooch, then they should owe up to it, but again, I don’t see ANY of the news networks with initials for names doing their type and quality of reporting.

…and I’m glad to see Seth Meyers give those Oregon militia idiots the treatment they deserve, including Mr.-Hiding-Under-The-Blue-Tarp Guy (and Little Ricky continues to be an utter embarrassment…more on the whole sentencing thing is here, and I think the student here deserves a lot of credit)…



…and even though it’s a new year, that doesn’t mean that I’ve done away with “This Day In Doomsy History” – I think this clip from 1/12/10 is a bit of a cautionary tale about the Teahadists; despite the fact that the political landscape is different now in some ways, it is still much the same as far as I’m concerned in other ways, at least in terms of the battle to keep the other side from getting the momentum because the consequences could be beyond disastrous if that happens… I thought Mark Leibovich's point was interesting about how both the energizing AND shrinking of the Repugs and their beloved "base" was taking place...this country ended up giving the Teahadists what they wanted in the fall elections that year; let's not make that mistake again…



…and I thought Cenk and Ana had some interesting remembrances on Bowie here, particularly his face off with Mark Goodman of MTV in 1982 over the lack of black artists on that network at that time…



…and speaking of “the thin white duke,” here is a cut from his ’74 performance at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia…



…and a latter-era selection.

Tuesday Stuff

Yep, if you’re watching the Sunday morning gab fests, then you’re probably a Republican (and probably NOT reading this, I’m sure)…



..and Dem U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass talks about what she thinks Obama will talk about on guns during the SOTU (she's absolutely right at the very end)...



...by the way, I'm probably going to be featuring Bowie stuff all week; hope you like it..."it's not the side effects of the cocaine, I'm thinking that it must be love" - I absolutely wore out my copy of this recording years and years ago...



...and here is Bowie singing "Arnold Layne" by Pink Floyd, with David Gilmour and Richard Wright.

Monday Stuff

I don’t think either one of these “money guys” from the Murdoch Street Journal are necessarily political; I think they’re just sticking to their fields of expertise here when it comes to forecasting what we could be looking at economically in 2016 – I still thought this was an interesting segment…



…and sticking with the economy, I thought this was a good segment on how the GOP presidential candidates pretend to care about poverty; this is actually an abbreviation of a longer clip at MSNBC’s wretched web site…



Update 1/12/16: Uh, yep.

…and RIP David Bowie – still in utter shock like just about everyone else I guess; in keeping with the example of George Harrison, Warren Zevon and probably more than a few others, he managed to complete his final recording before he left us; so much great music to choose from, but I liked this tune in particular, which actually is a cover originally performed by Johnny Mathis, believe it or not (David Live at the Tower Theater is a landmark performance, and “Serious Moonlight,” IMHO, is one of the greatest concert recordings of all time - I personally preferred the "thin white duke" phase as opposed to Ziggy Stardust)…



...though that doesn't mean he didn't make great music during the whole glam-rock thing too, like this.

Friday Stuff

Gabby Giffords was shot five years ago today, and Federal Judge John Roll and Christina-Taylor Green were murdered, along with 4 others, as noted here, among many other victims.

And as noted here, it's not as if the wingnuts hadn't been mad at Giffords prior to all of this horror unfolding (and yet again, with all due respect to Giffords - I don't care about Chuck Toddler and his corporate media mannequin - where is the Democratic equivalent to this?)...



...and I think it’s appropriate to revisit a typically fine Special Comment from K.O. on the subject…



…and I think Lip TV asks a good question here; namely, are armed white men more of a threat than terrorists, particularly given the stuff going on in Oregon (I hope Steve Moore is right at the end – we’ll see)…



...and this is a recap of the gun control measures proposed by Number 44 (opposed by all Republicans as far as I know, including this asshat)...



...and this tells us about the gun violence restraining order legislation enacted in California, stemming from the truly scary case of Elliot Rodger (easy to dismiss Rodger as a spoiled brat without looking below the surface, I realize – and as far as I’m concerned, Sam Paredes and his ilk can go right to hell; always throwing cold water on ANYTHING to keep guns out of the hands of lunatics)…



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about Missouri relaxing its gun control laws, and the inevitable follows (and yes, you guessed it - there's a theme to these videos)...



...and good for Trevor Noah here in a recap of Obama's actions on guns this week - terrific and totally justified smackdown at the end (sorry I couldn't fix the autoplay issue)...

...meanwhile, Wayne LaPierre of the NRA argues here for universal background checks - oh, by the way, he did so in 1999, as opposed to now...

...and of course, leave it to philly.com conservative quota hire columnist Christine Flowers to make it sound like the alleged legitimacy of Obama's tears is actually a "thing"...

…and sorry to disappoint, but I’m actually not going to conclude this with an anti-gun song, but instead will only note the recent passing of famed music producer Robert Stigwood; he will quite rightly be remembered as the guy who helped the Bee Gees resurrect their careers and rocket to proverbial super-stardom, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s the guy who hastened the breakup of Cream by making them tour almost to the point of exhaustion (though he did produce Clapton later...go figure) – this is the final tune from their final album.

Thursday Stuff

Just because that supposedly liberal MSNBC network rescheduled Rev. Al to ratings no man’s land on Sunday morning, that doesn’t mean that he no longer has anything worthwhile to say – far from it…



…and I’ll be honest; I know humor is highly subjective, but I never thought Jerry Lewis was particularly funny, and I NEVER got the whole French thing about how they thought he was some kind of a comic god or something – yes, absolutely give him props for all of the dough he raised to fight Muscular Dystrophy, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s it…



…and I give you John Oliver, someone who to my mind is legitimately funny, with a word or two on New Year’s resolutions…



…and here is a band I never get tired of.

Wednesday Stuff

I think Rachel Maddow brings us an interesting report here on some of the campaign tactics shared by “The Donald” and George Wallace, but let’s not forget how well she starts this with the clip about LBJ and guns (the interview was with historian Michael Beschloss, by the way)…



…and this is a shocking bit of sanity from Falafel Man on the issue of guns, though why he chooses to close his remarks by saying “think about it, Mr. President” is something I cannot possibly imagine – oh, riiiight…Billo has to find a way to blame that Kenyan Muslim socialist somehow…



…and oh yeah, speaking of Bill Orally, Cenk tells us “a tale of two BLMs” (NSFW)…



...and today marks the 20th anniversary of the so-called "Blizzard of '96," which dumped about 2 1/2 to 3 feet of snow in these parts - here is a tune for the occasion.

Tuesday Stuff

I don’t know if this will turn out to be Number 44’s finest hour or not, but I have to tell you that it’s right up there (h/t Balloon Juice; more here – and of course, here is the predictable wingnut response; a voice of sanity on this is here, a person who has a perspective on this that I hope no one else is ever forced to acquire)…



...and Thom Hartmann gives us a history lesson on The Sainted Ronnie R and the beginnings of “austerity” (and actually, going back even further than that to Tricky Dick)…



...and John and Cenk tell us about Trump supporters and "Trump shame" (I'd be embarrassed too...have the guts to be honest, OK? This is actually kind of scary - this election concerns me a bit like the '00 election did - love to be wrong of course)...



…and for the occasion of President Obama’s announcement today, I tried to find an anti-gun song that I haven’t used already…at least, I don’t think I’ve used this before (Jeff “Skunk” Baxter plays the dobro I believe).

Monday Stuff

I give you the following from here...

If 100 Muslims banded together in a group with an open disdain for government, protested against the government and openly professed their willingness to kill federal officials and/or die if need be in opposition to the United States government – would they not be considered terrorists? What's the difference between a terrorist believing it's acceptable to kill Americans and right-wing militia members believing the exact same thing? Because when these militia idiots say they're willing to use force, they are quite literally saying they're prepared to kill Americans.

I've never quite understood how it's "patriotic" or "American" to believe you have the right to "rise up against" the government that was created by the United States Constitution. A government that's elected by the people.

Oh, and let's not forget this too (however, I should note that I don't agree with this assessment - MOVE was a very different circumstance that had gone on for years, and puh-leeze spare me Ramona Africa and her sob story)...



Update 1/5/16: OMFG.

...also, I don’t totally buy Philip Howard’s assessment when It comes to what he would call “excessive” environmental review (and I think an interesting counterpoint is here), but he does make a good point I believe when it comes to what it would take for the “party of Lincoln” to actually cooperate with Democrats on the vital issue of repairing and rebuilding our infrastructure…



...and this doesn’t have anything to do with politics as far as I know, but I’m sorry – I have to add it anyway (actually, I’m not sorry; love the line at the end)…



...and why do I have a feeling that, if the Black Keys and Little Feat somehow combined, they would sound like this?

Friday Stuff

Thanks to John Amato at Crooks and Liars for this clip (here); to say that Rod Serling had a unique perspective on what you might call “the human condition” is an understatement…



…and on the subject of Trump and demagoguery, I think Bernie Sanders hit the right note, as Thom Hartmann tells us (more here)…



…and there are times when I think we’ll finally come around on the issue of guns, but after watching those anti-Obama Roseburg protestors, I’m not sure that this country will ever learn (here)…



…and RIP Natalie Cole, who I’m sure is with her dad again at long last.

Thursday Stuff

(I also posted here).

Yeah, the “party of Lincoln” sure learned from that “autopsy” after Willard Mitt Romney lost in 2012, didn’t they – uh huh…



…and isn’t it great to see how our ol’ buddy Vlad Putin is supposedly helping us in Syria – for my money, he’s a bigger butcher than Assad…



…and hey, don’t look now, but the Iraqi Army did something right; the real culprits though, as far as I’m concerned, are the uncharged criminals in this country behind Iraq War II who created the whole damn mess in the first place; now all the Iraqis have to do is hold the ground…good luck…



…and I give you Media Matters’ choices for the worst Islamophobia of 2015 here (and if you guessed that most of it has to do with Fix Noise, then you win a free autographed copy of Billo’s book on The Sainted Ronnie R – and yes, that’s a joke, such as it is)…

…and I think this describes the consequences pretty well (nice work by “The Donald” and his pals on this) – nah, those awful words and sentiments don’t have an impact; not much…U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!...



…and here are the final tunes for the year – the way Scott Weiland left us was tragic, of course, but to me, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t hear from him one more time…



…and this song kind of embodies my hope starting at about 12:01 AM EST…



…and in keeping with recognizing the birthday of Patti Smith, I want to play this tune once more to end the year…never, EVER forget every word of it; best wishes for a happy and healthy (and Democratic!) 2016.

Wednesday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Fortunately, karoli wrote a great commentary here to this woman, because otherwise people like her are totally beneath my contempt and don’t deserve a response.

You want to know why our planet continues to melt, our infrastructure continues to crumble, our economy cannot rev up and create jobs the way it’s supposed to, we can't get anywhere on common-sense gun control measures or immigration reform, and our government is basically incapable of doing anything anymore except creating and perpetuating the freak show that enables Republican politicians and presidential candidates and doesn’t do much of anything else?

It’s exactly because of people like this woman. Low-information idiot voters who watch Fix Noise, listen to right-wing radio and either don’t bother to vote or, if they do, dutifully elect Republicans who do absolutely nothing but steal from them. And unfortunately, these people comprise just enough of the population to block the rest of us from accomplishing anything constructive.

Take your bigotry and go parade it somewhere else…



...and I think it’s unintentionally hilarious that the life forms who want a federal database of Muslims recoil in horror when the same thing is proposed for guns, which would actually help (hate to say this, but we’d better get used to the very real possibility that Trump will actually win the Republican nomination, which is appalling but not surprising considering the rest of that utterly sorry field in his party)…



…and given the continued warmth we’ve been having in these parts (as well as the wild weather elsewhere), comparatively speaking, I think it’s time to revisit “This Day In Doomsy History” from 12/29/10 – Reese Halter talks to Sam Seder on “Countdown” about climate change (love the map - a few ads in the beginning…and by the way, there’s a bit of a “Star Wars” goof by Rachel Maddow at the very end if you watch the whole thing)…



…and yes, this is an awful story, but I think Karamo Brown is right to claim that there’s no simple way to analyze it without looking at a lot of other factors (under-staffing, working long hours, patients with no insurance, etc.)…



...and to me, the TPP isn't worth a hill of proverbial beans, but this is progress anyway...



...and I would say that this is a timely question.

Tuesday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Yeah, this is pretty awful all right - if nothing else (and this is a poor substitute for charges, I'll admit, which should have been filed against the two officers - more here), this should force all of those damn Airsoft guns off the market once and for all...



...and RIP Acdemy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler...



…and somehow, I don’t think you’re going to hear about this on Fix Noise…



…and this may be the best cover of a Black Sabbath song that I’ve ever heard.

Monday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

RIP Meadowlark Lemon; maybe a bit too much "minstrelsy," if you will, but you know what? He was talented and he made people laugh - not much else to think about as far as I'm concerned...



...and this story is about a human tragedy first and foremost, and all efforts should be made to help those affected by the hellacious weather in the South (here). However, I believe this is a factor also…



…and in a somewhat related vein, apparently USA Today has a series on what is happening to our global groundwater (here) – important stuff…



…and here’s a neat little tune I stumbled upon while I was busy doing my holiday music thing.