A Tough Weekend For Black Lives Matter, says the headline of an article in today’s Atlantic. And why? Two things: (1) an officer-involved shooting of a black youth by cops in Ferguson, Missouri at the end of a day of otherwise peaceful protests, and (2) a demonstration at a Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle on Saturday. The first one was … Read More
Another Lazy Jon Stewart Tribute
I call this lazy, because I’m not writing it. I just liked what The Rude Pundit said in a couple of paragraphs: Stewart was never our crusader. If he was going to change things, it would be on a small scale, by bringing attention to issues like veterans’ rights and 9/11 responders’ health. He was our pressure valve, but his … Read More
Good Sports
If you’ve watched the Daily Show in the past couple years, you know that Jon Stewart has taken pot shots at Arbys. This ad appeared on the Daily Show last night.
70 Years Ago Today (UPDATE: And 50 Years Ago Today)
UPDATE: Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed 50 years ago today…. Sadly, much of the key components were eviscerated by the Supreme Court in 2013.
The Effect of The Video Releases On Public Opinion of Planned Parenthood
It appears that the video releases which show Planned Parenthood employees talking about the legal things they do could not be spun in a way to make Planned Parenthood look bad. In other words, Operation Defund Planned Parenthood is a fail. Yougov, a right-wing polling firm, has found that people’s opinions of PP have barely changed due to the videos. … Read More
Facepalm Quote Of The Day
“We have no problem with the girls sitting on the bench. We don’t care who sits on the bench with the teams, that goes for anybody … to sit on the bench.” – National Travel Basketball Association president John Whitely, after telling the boys’ basketball team, the Charlottesville Cavaliers, that they could no longer participate in the tournament because ten-year-old Kymora Johnson … Read More
Adventures In Police Framing
Then: A police officer in Alabama proposed murdering a black resident and creating bogus evidence to suggest the killing was in self-defence, the Guardian has learned. Officer Troy Middlebrooks kept his job and continues to patrol Alexander City after authorities there paid the man $35,000 to avoid being publicly sued over the incident. Middlebrooks, a veteran of the US marines, … Read More
The New Word For “RINO” (And What It Says About Republicans)
In the early 2000s, just as the wars in the Middle East were ramping up, a new word started appearing in the Internet lexicon: RINO. It stands for “Republican In Name Only”. It is an insult hurled from Republicans to any member of the GOP who’s more liberal than a Republican “should be”. Any politician tagged as a RINO — and many … Read More
Planned Parenthood, the Abortion Debate, and 2016 Elections
There is very little to recommend being over the age of 50, but one of the nice things is that it gives perspective and wisdom — the kind of experience that can’t be taught, but can only come from having lived several decades. There is one thing I have learned – abortion rights are not going away. That wasn’t always … Read More
Everybody Hates Everybody
From First Read: From the new NBC/WSJ poll we released last night: Almost everyone is in lousy shape. Hillary Clinton’s fav/unfav numbers dropped from 44%-40% (+4) in June to 37%-48% (-11) now — which gives her a worse popularity rating than President Obama has ever had during his presidency. Jeb Bush’s fav/unfav rating, at 26%-40% (-14) is even worse — … Read More
Endangered Animals On The Empire State Building
This could be cool: TRAVIS Threlkel was standing on the roof of a building on Fifth Avenue and 27th Street looking uptown at his canvas. It’s hard to miss: It’s theEmpire State Building, and on Saturday evening he and his collaborator, the filmmaker and photographer Louie Psihoyos, will project digital light images of endangered species onto the building in an … Read More
U.C. Officer shoots and kills Sam DuBose
Ray Tensing is the first officer in Cincinnati to face murder charges for killing someone in the line of duty. The video proved to be crucial evidence to the grand jurors who indicted Tensing, and it stunned city officials, prosecutors and the relatives of shooting victim Samuel DuBose. It also was a reminder that video, whether captured by witnesses on … Read More
Remains Of The Day
Cool new archaeological discoveries at Jamestown announced today: Archaeologists have uncovered human remains of four of the earliest leaders of the English colony that would become America, buried for more than 400 years near the altar of what was America’s first Protestant church in Jamestown, Virginia. The four burial sites were uncovered in the floor of what’s left of Jamestown’s … Read More
Trump’s Lawyer May Be Dumber Than Trump
Another day, another Trump scandal. This one is a little different. Rather than Trump sending the media into a fervor, it was the reverse. Trump, as we all now, has been making hay out of the supposed “rapists” that the government of Mexico is sending into America. There’s no evidence that undocumented Mexicans are any more responsible for rape than … Read More
GOP Candidate Ted Cruz Weighs In On…. Captain Kirk?
Ted Cruz gets interviewed for The New York Times Magazine and this exchange occurs: You’re also a fan of ‘‘Star Trek.’’ Do you prefer Captain Kirk or Captain Picard? Absolutely James Tiberius Kirk. ** a question or two later ** If you were a journalist interviewing you, what would you ask? Who knows, I might well ask, ‘‘Kirk or Picard?’’ I’ve never … Read More