One less bell to answer
This is a big bunch of catch-up, here, 'cause it's been a helluva few weeks.
Gaius Publius interviewed Alan Grayson on Virtually Speaking, where Grayson discussed "how he 'cracked the nut' that allows him to get progressive legislation passed. Part of his secret - his goal is to be a person who 'gets things done for the progressive movement,' not a person who introduces bills and 'then does nothing' with them. In the last two weeks of the last Congress alone, for example, he passed 15 progressive amendments."
- Cliff Schecter and Spocko discussed Boehner's independent Israel summit mistake and Brian Williams' little fibs and what the current media tone means, and how to try to take advantage of the current state of embarrassment in the media to try to get more opposing voices into the discussion of war, on Virtually Speaking Sundays, where Culture of Truth also reported on a question never asked before on the Sunday talk shows.
- Matthew Sutton, Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of History at Washington State University, discussed his book, American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism, on Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd. "The book describes the rise of the pre-millenialist foundation of modern evangelicalism, and how it has affected social and political participation of the very large fraction of Americans who believe the Second Coming is something we can expect to experience in the next generation or so."
- Dave Johnson & JoanMcCarter, "Which lies really matter, Brian WIlliams' or Dick Cheney's? GOP governors and Medicaid expansion encapsulated in King v Burwell and the tension in the party between doing as the Koch's command and what their constituents need.," on Virtually Speaking Sundays
Obama's progressive picks!
- Marcy Wheeler, "Loretta Lynch: Not Enough Evidence to Charge HSBC Banksters"
- Ring of Fire, "Only Obama and Wall Street Criminals will Love Loretta Lynch as AG"
- Crooks and Liars, "After Laundering $800M In Drug Money, How Did HSBC Executives Avoid Jail?"
The FCC Chairman's plan to ensure network neutrality.
The newspaper many of us refer to as the Torygraph nevertheless has some great news coverage compared to most other British newspapers, but a funny thing happened with their HSBC coverage....
Dean Baker, "Throw the Truth Out the Door: President Obama Has to Pass a Trade Deal: Wow, this stuff just keeps getting worse. Apparently anything goes when the big corporations want a trade deal. Otherwise serious people will just make stuff up, because hey, the big campaign contributors want a trade deal to make themselves richer. The latest effort in creative myth-making comes from Third Way, which tells us that post-NAFTA trade deals aren't job losers like NAFTA." Yeah, right.
A "meritocracy" is a society in which people who have too much money think they are better than you even though they are as manifestly stupid as this rank stupidity from Michael Bloomberg.
Natasha Chart is glad that her heartbreaking situation wasn't made worse: "I Had an Ectopic Pregnancy, and Anti-Choice Laws Could Have Made My Experience Much Worse."
Ian Welsh, being tempted by thoughts of Revolution, but like some of his commenters, I think that road leads to madness. He revisits the subject here.
Bernie Sanders speaks at The Brookings Institution.
Lee Camp talks to Presidential Candidate Jill Stein on Redacted Tonight.
John Oliver on Doctors who market to doctors.
A sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, written in 1960.
David Tennant receives National Television Award for being Best David Tennant.
Photo: Something seems wrong here.
Gnome Liberation Front strikes Boulder.
RIP: Gary Owens, 80. He wrote for Rocky & Bullwinkle and Fractured Flickers, but we heard his voice our whole lives, the man who minted the phrase "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" and was the on-camera announcer on Laugh-In, and a lot of other things. We loved him.
- Lesley Gore, 68. She sang one of the great early feminist pop anthems.
- Joe Challmes, fondly remembered newsroom character at The Baltimore Sun. Ettlin left out that although at first he didn't look like much, he sure had beautiful eyes.
If you can deal with Facebook, Lenny Kravitz posted a neat little video from New Orleans.
It's not unusual for science fiction authors to have a sideline.
Everything we know about corsets is false?
Keb' Mo'
Fifth Dimension
00:11 GMT comment
Take my hand as the sun descends
I am going to be a little busy for the next few days. Wish me luck.
On Virtually Speaking, Charles Lencher joined Jay to talk about corruption in New York politics and Andrew Cuomo.
"Barrett Brown Sentenced to Five Years, Vows to Keep Investigating Government Wrongdoing [...] 'The U.S. government decided today that because I did such a good job investigating the cyber-industrial complex, they're now going to send me to investigate the prison-industrial complex,' Brown said mischievously in a written statement following his sentencing. 'For the next 35 months, I'll be provided with free food, clothes, and housing as I seek to expose wrongdoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world's greatest prison system.' 'Wish me luck!' he added."
There is simply no excuse for Hugging the Saudi floggers
Nice take-down by Alex Pareene of Jonathan Chait's latest freak-out against political correctness - or rather, of people failing to show proper respect for Jonathan Chait. And Glenn Greenwald said: "It would be wonderful on one level if all criticisms were expressed in the soft and respectful tones formalized in the U.S. Senate, but it's good and necessary when people who wield power or influence are treated exactly like everyone else, which means that sometimes people say mean and unfair things about you in not-nice tones. Between erring on the side of people with power being treated with excess deference or excess criticisms, the latter is vastly preferable."
12-Point Platform - I think I might quibble with this but it's good for thinking about.
Ice cream made easy
"Prize-Winning Animation Lets You Fly Through 17th Century London" - Strangely reminded me of the Ankh Morpork simulation in Second Life.
The Langston Hughes Google Doodle
We haven't had much news lately from the shadowy Gnome Liberation Front, but I think we may know who is stirring up all the trouble.
Susie Bright at the church of Patti Smith
10:47 GMT comment
