Archives for May 2017

VOX: Food waste is the worlds dumbest problem.

Stephen talks to a bill.

Jimmy Dore chats with Jeb Bush:

Terminator Трамп and his Troop of Tyrants:

• Stephen: Even Comey’s firing was all about Трамп.
• Trevor: Трамп fires Comey and Yates testifies
• Conan: Leaked audio between Трамп and Putin.
• Young Turks: Трамп thinks exercise is bad for you.
• Mark Fiore: Make the FBI great again.
• Seth Meyers: Трамп faces the fallout of firing Comey…a closer look.
• The President Show: Donny goes to school
• Olbermann: We need the help of intelligence agencies around the world.
• Farron Cousins: Why don’t Republicans understand that Трамп is destroying their brand?
• Young Turks: Трамп’s mind-boggling doublethink on Russia probe
• Stephen: What ambulances will look like under ТрампCare.
• Jimmy Dore: Трамп admits Scotland and Australia have superior healthcare to US
• Did Gladiator predict Трамп
• Farron Cousins: Sean Spicer hid “among” the bushes.
• Трамп’s shifting story on Comey turns to threats
• Young Turks: Yes, the Russia scandal is a real scandal.
• Stephen: James Comey, you just got Трамп’d.
• Трамп’s brilliant strategy
• Sam Seder: Трамп contradicts all of his spokesliars over Comey firing within 24 hours.
• Maddow: DOJ won’t say if Jeff Sessions is recused on Paul Manafort
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at Трамп’s shifting story on firing James Comey
• Lawmakers get an earful at Tuesday town halls.
• Stephen: One of these James Comey explanations is not like the others
• Seth Meyers: Obama warned Трамп about Flynn, etc.
• White House protesters fire at Трамп
• Sam Seder: Трамп admits he fired Comey over Russia investigation.
• Conan: Трамп calls Putin about Comey:

• Trevor: Russia tricked Трамп once again.
• Olbermann: You can’t fire the person investigating you!
• How we got here: A timeline of how Comey went from Chief to ousted
• Sean Spicer’s Netflix Comedy Special
• Jimmy Fallon: The week in words—Comey firing.
• Bob Woodward discusses Watergate and how it is like and dislike the Трамп-Russia investigation
• Jimmy Fallon: Pros and cons of ТрампCare.
• Late Night: How not to laugh at Jeff Sessions.
• Olbermann: Follow the money on Russia.
• Stephen reacts to Трамп calling him ‘A no-talent guy’
• Who will really pay for Трамп’s fucking wall?
• PsychoSuperMom: Ivanka (You’re Breaking The Law).
• Chris Hayes: Elizabeth Warren on Republicans and Donald Трамп’s ‘nonsense’.
• The Late Show: Sean Spicer’s letters to Sarah Huckabee Sanders
• VOX: Трамп fired FBI Director James Comey. Here’s what you need to know.
• Trevor: The shady firing of Comey
• Late Show: Трамп’s letter to Comey, the rough drafts.

History of the entire world.

Jimmy Dore: Right wing smear of Jimmy Kimmel laughably hateful.

Sam Seder: Alex Jones says stupid shit.

ONN: Here’s why you are wrong.

CongressCritters:

• Yates and Cruz face off: Subtext edition
• Sam Seder: Sally Yates makes Ted Cruz look so stupid that he didn’t even bother to go back to hearing
• Seth Meyers: Acting FBI Director testifies before Senate
• Jimmy Dore: Entire crowd laughs at Idaho Republican’s healthcare lie

Planet Earth: Predators attack the EPA.

Jimmy Dore chats with Bill-O-The-Fired-Harassing-Clown:

How one tattoo artistdecided to battle hate.

Mental Floss: 30 interesting facts about the oceans.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

What a great idea to end homelessness! Just make it illegal to be homeless. Doy. Most people enjoy sleeping in tent cities and on benches so much that the only way you can possibly incentivize them against it is criminalizing it.

We can all agree that people with a criminal record are the ones we do best at integrating back into society. I mean look at how well it worked for drugs.

I am writing because I hope you will do everything you can to support an independent commission investigating Russia. With the firing of James Comey and, holy cow, the interview with Lester Holt, it’s clear that something is up. I don’t know the extent of Russian ties and I don’t know that anyone can at this point. But Trump’s words are clearly lies.

Thank you,

Carl Ballard

HorsesAss.org

(You can contact Senator Murray or Senator Cantwell for this or anything else.)

Today, on this 12 blogoversary of HorsesAss, we find the editorial board unleashing a blizzard of opinions over whether or not Seattle Mayor Ed Murray should run for Mayor. Not all opinions & geographies have been heard from, thus far. So this faction of the HA Editorial Board finds it necessary to weigh in. We call upon Seattle Mayor Ed Murray to NOT run for Mayor of Redmond. Seriously, Mayor Murray has not yet made any public statements, written or verbal, on whether or not he will run for Mayor of Redmond. We call upon Mayor Murray to clarify his intentions in this regard and then just not do it if he decides to do it. Thank you.

Only several hours after Ed Murray decided against running for reelection, the HA Editorial Board decided to endorse Ed Murray not running for reelection. Unlike The Seattle Times or other editorial boards, the HA Editorial Board encourages dissent (at Drinking Liberally last night).

So no, Ed Murray can run if he wants. Nothing has been proven. That said, if he decides to run, or even just in his public statements and defense in court, he should stop the victim blaming. And obviously, fuck him if he did it.

Carl Ballard

Dear Mayor Ed Murray,

Rumors suggest you might have dropped out of the mayoral race as early as earlier this morning. So do newspaper headlines. Also, your live and prepared statements. In the interests of the city and in making us look concerned about the interests of the survivors of sexual assault, we hope the rumors are true.

To be clear, we really were not paying much attention to Twitter this morning. We’re not proclaiming your guilt or innocence in a civil case alleging you sexually assaulted a teenager in the 1980s. Our conclusion that you should not seek re-election comes in reaction to the news that you are not seeking reelection.

From taking up the cause of raising the minimum wage, to bringing developers and affordable housing advocates to the table, to your groundbreaking work on advancing LGBT equality during your tenure in the state legislature, you’ve made a positive mark on this city and this state.

But now that you are not seeking re-election, we ask that you not seek re-election.

Sincerely,

The Editors*

---

*NOTE: Clearly, nobody edits anything here on HA.

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight for political discussion over drinks. Please stop by.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern beginning about 8pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the other 230 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

The headline is a little off (he was held in one facility rather than transferred to a different facility). And even if it was accurate, we’re not as a society going to be as worried about violent criminals in jail too long as we are with the early release scandal that happened earlier. Still and all, I hope he’s the only one. And we should have better safeguards going forward.

1 Samuel 5:6
But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon those of Ashdod, and He destroyed them and smote them with hemorrhoids.

Discuss.

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: What’s a whip?.

George W. Bush does the Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Mental Floss: The history of mowing lawns.

Putin’s Cock Holster:

• Stephen: Трамп on Civil War history.
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at how hard it is to be President.
• Keith Olbermann: Трамп assault on free speech
• Bill Maher: The day the presidency died:

• Extended cut version of Трамп’s CNN-banned TV ad.
• Trevor Noah: How to make Трамп care about climate change
• Keith Olbermann: Трамп is panicking on Russia
• Late Show: Трамп out of context.
• Susie Sampson: 100 days…Трамп makes you angry enough to be inspired?
• Stephen: This monologue goes out to you, Mr. President
• Rachel Maddow and Seth Meyers: Rachel’s phone call with Трамп
• Cory Booker: Why Donald Трамп should try being nice on Twitter
• 100 greatest accomplishments of Трамп’s first 100 days
• Bill Maher: New Rule–The lesser of two evils.
• Stephen: The new U.S. Constitution as written by Трамп
• Samantha Bee: All the President’s leaks
• Olbermann: Why won’t the press ask Трамп questions?
• Stephen: God weighs in on Трамп’s religious liberty executive order

Trevor: The one who got away.

Samantha Bee roasts the Presidents.

Commandant Comey:

• Stephen: James Comey speaks.
• Keith Olbermann: Is a Grand Jury now looking into Трамп?
• Seth Meyers: Comey testifies

Samantha Bee: FAUX News In Memoriam

PsychoSuperMom: Facts Have A Liberal Bias.

Seth Meyers: Airline deregulation.

“Rep. Jim Martin“:

Samantha Bee: Alt White House Correspondences’ Dinner.

The House GOP Congresscritters Are Literally Trying to Kill People:

• Late Show: Night of the living bill
• Jimmy Kimmel reveals details of his his son’s birth & heart disease
• Full Frontal: unboxing the AHCA
• Bill Maher: Jimmy Kimmel and Трампcare.
• Trevor Noah: Fucking unbelievable–the GOP shoves health care through the House
• Seth Meyers: A closer look at House Republicans rushing Трампcare through
• What you need to know about the Трампcare bill
• Keith Olbermann: The shame and cruelty of the GOP
• Stephen: GOP celebrates 1/3 of its healthcare victory
• What you may have missed about the Трампcare bill

Jimmy Dore: Rick Steeves invests in housing homeless.

Samantha Bee: What is facts>?

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

So the House Republicans passed a monstrosity of a health care plan. I normally don’t talk about national stuff unless there’s a local angle. But honestly: Fuck the entire GOP. I know, some of them didn’t vote for it. And I’m sure there will be a much tougher road in the Senate. But, you know. Fuck every last one of them.

If you’re represented by someone who voted for it, you might want to let them know that fuck them (but more polite, maybe?). If you’re represented by someone who voted against this shit show of a bullshit bill, please thank them. If you’re represented by Dave Reichert who opposed it on the House floor but supported something similar in committee, you might want to let him know that you see him.

I know it has been successful in many localities, but I just do not like the soda tax Seattle is considering. It always feels very fat shaming whenever people trot it out. Here in Washington where we don’t have an income tax, it seems like a strange place to use your time and energy to push.

Please join us this evening for drinks, conversation, and perhaps some alt-history alt-lessons at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern beginning about 8pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the other 230 chapters of Living Liberally, including nineteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find, or go out and start, a chapter near you.

I’ve seen a lot of how-to-survive May Day posts in the local media recently. Or more accurately, I’ve been seeing a lot of headlines about them on social media and rolling my eyes about the whole thing. So here’s A Downtown Resident’s Guide to Survive May Day:

1) Are you a window Downtown? If so, congrats on being able to read, and thanks for choosing HA. There is a small chance someone will throw a brick at you and if that happens a decent chance that brick will smash you. That sucks, but your owner probably has insurance and at least you’ll get to be on TV continuously for the next few weeks and then in perpetuity ahead of May Day every year. There’s also a chance that someone will spray graffiti on you. That’s less bad, but still.

2) Are you a police officer? If so you’re probably getting more training than a nonsense snark blog post can provide. Please don’t attack peaceful protesters and try to use harm mitigation strategies on ones damaging property, or putting people in harms’ way if that happens.

3) Are you a protester? I’m usually against the bottled water industry, but I always recommend if you’re marching to have a bottle with you. It can be tap water, but those marches can be dehydrating. Maybe bring something you can eat like some trail mix or a Cliff Bar. Please don’t be violent to another human. If you’re going to smash windows or graffiti stuff, know the consequences of that ahead of time.

4) Are you worried about being stuck in traffic? Since May Day is the only day in Seattle where the traffic gets annoying, this is a reasonable fear. If you’re in your car, take alternate routes, I guess. Or wait for the marchers to go somewhere else. They’re marching, so they’ll pass. Give yourself some extra time and be patient with other people caught up in traffic.

If you’re taking public transit, just be patient. Give up your seat if you can since it might take a little longer. You know, bus stuff we already do, mostly.

5) Are you going to be outside Downtown, including suburbia, or like, anywhere North of the Montlake Cut? I guess just watch it on the news. If you do, maybe try to remember that if you’re seeing the same window smashed for the 5th time, it doesn’t make it 5 times as bad. Or watch something else? Maybe. There’s got to be some playoff basketball or a Mariners game. You probably have Netflix, so you can watch something on that. Maybe play a board game with your family.