Friday Stuff

Silly Chris Hayes – doesn’t he know that purposeful, righteous shaming of our elected officials like this is sooooo pre 9/11 – OK, snark mode off; kudos to Hayes for saying this…



…oh, and in case you’ve been wondering what happened to our rain in these United States, this tells us of the awful flooding in Russia and China, which has a lot to do with the misery at the Green Island Zoo in Ussuriysk noted in the clip below (all of this is still under investigation, I should point out...and by the way, I'm definitely not trying to trivialize the enormous suffering going on - if you want to help, click here and here, though I don't vouch for these sites)…



…and it looks like Sesame Street figured out what was going on with The Donald long before anybody else (here – and no snark about Kevin Clash, please)…



…and I’d like to present the following for local folk in Bucks County, PA, and the Philadelphia area; local musician Gregg Parker will perform the music of singer/songwriter Harry Chapin exclusively at the first free "Harry Chapin Hall of Fame Petition Drive, Tribute and Benefit" at Old York Cellars Winery, 80 Old York Road tomorrow from 1-5 PM in an effort to get Chapin inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (didn’t know there was one – a no-brainer of a choice as far as yours truly is concerned…more details are in the linked story…there’s a YouTube clip out there of a tribute concert to Chapin from about ’82, and Pat Benatar did an absolutely amazing cover of this song).

Thursday Stuff

Good news from the NLRB for contract workers and their efforts to unionize (more here)...



...and way to go, all you idiots in the PA legislature who keep fighting Gov. Tom Wolf over his sane, responsible budget - witness the effect of your sloth and stupidity (and yes, I know Chester Upland has had problems for a little while now, but Harrisburg is partly on the hook here too)...

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...and yeah, it looks like Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis is at it again (here - the hell with these stupid "conscience" provisions; TRY DOING YOUR DAMN JOB! And in response to this, I say GOOD! Besides, I'm sure a new job awaits at Fix Noise when she gets out)...



...and I think this band is local - regardless, I think this is a pretty cool tune.

Wednesday Stuff

Alex Witt talks to Shawn Henry, former FBI director and (now) consultant on rail security, on what we can do to help with keeping our trains safe both in this country and abroad (basically, “see something, say something” - maybe not terribly original, but an important reminder)…



..and with the supposedly "progressive" MSNBC network pretty much in full retreat, I need to bring some other voices to the table, as it were, so I now give you cartoonist Mark Fiore (who I probably should have included all along anyway)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, it looks like Mark Hamill is laying a Jedi mind trick on all of the gun nuts out there by sending out a tweet in support of Andy Parker, father of slain daughter Alison, the latest casualty from the utterly wretched plague of gun violence that self-inflicts this country (NSFW)...



...and I guess putting up this tune means that summer is winding down - sigh.

Monday Stuff

Rev. Al may have been exiled to a comparatively crappy time slot on Sundays, but that doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t have important stuff to say, as he does here to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till, which would be called a hate crime if it had happened now…



…and once again, with the Katrina anniversary in mind, Vice News does real reporting on what’s happening with the Gulf coast…



…and I’m putting up this video once again for the benefit of PA’s own Senator Bob Casey, who apparently is STILL undecided about the Iran deal (to try and persuade him to favor the deal, click here)…



Update 9/1/15: Way to go, Bob and Sen. Chris Coons (here).

...and I'm definitely overdue for a new tune, and I think this is a great one.