Archives for August 2018

Roe v. Wade saved my daughter’s life.

Winlar: Hey! America!:

Minute Physics: How to stop structures from SHAKING.

Funny or Die: When u a Congressman and things get awkward AF at the outdoor festival.

The Atlantic: “Man-killing jobs” and environmental racism.

Young Turks: Fan to Alex Jones, “What about the trans porn on your phone?”

Trevor with Dahlia Lithwick: The politicization of Neil Gorsuch’s SCOTUS confirmation.

Egosurfer Dotard Трамп and His Associates in Crime:

• Chris Hayes with Adam Schiff: What happens if Democrats take the House?
• Ali Velshi: The Dotard Трамп’s disapproval soars as Robert Mueller approval holds solid
• Jim Jefferies: A Jew, a Christian, a Muslim and a Jim.
• Rachel Maddow: The GOP’s misuse of private security documents
• Young Turks: Трамп’s conspiracy theory about Russia tapes
• David Pakman: The Dotard is now arguing why we shouldn’t impeach him
• Farron Cousins: Betsy DeVos wants to redefine what “sexual assault” means
• Chris Hayes: The Dotard Трамп’s bizarre obsession with birds
• Conan: Трамп promised evangelicals….
• Liberal Viewer: Faux News spins Трамп threat as metaphor
• Ali Velshi: The story that set the Dotard Трамп off today
• Rachel Maddow: Robert Mueller gets another guilty plea flip following foreign money
• The Daily Show: So much winning!
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Dotard Трамп angry at Google, silent on Puerto Rico and border crises
• Heads of State: Трамп SINGS “The Sound Of Music”:

• Chris Hayes: President Dotard Трамп’s list of “good guys”
• Rachel Maddow: Attacks on DOJ to protect Трамп
• Young Turks: These polls are bad news for the Dotard
• Farron Cousins: Dotard Трамп lays framework to fire Sessions and Mueller
• Superdeluxe: Getting to know the Huckabee family
• Our Cartoon President: “My fellow Americans, I declare…”
• Dotard Трамп: Even more signs of dementia? (Episode 5)
• Ali Velshi: The Dotard Трамп caves on honoring Senator John McCain
• David Pakman: Roger Stone claims Dotard Трамп Jr. is getting indicted
• Chris Hayes: Dotard Трамп vs. speakerphone
• Andrea Mitchell with Pres. Jimmy Carter: Трамп’s “serious mistake” refusing to lower flag for McCain
• Lawrence O’Donnell: British intel snubs Rep. Devin Nunes requests for dossier info
• Randy Rainbow: IF YOU EVER GOT IMPEACHED:

• Farron Cousins: The Dotard is mad at Google and will look at “regulating” search results
• WaPo: Networks keep booking Трамп guests who can’t disparage Трамп
• Young Turks: The Dotard finds a new level of stupid
• Chris Hayes: A Dotard Трамп exposed to blackmail
• Ayman Mohyeldin: Manafort ally help foreign payment to Трамп inauguration
• Vox: Why obvious lies make great propaganda
• Trevor with Adam Schiff: Investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election
• Rachel Maddow: Dotard Трамп is frantic to shore up his base as scandals deepen and insiders flip
• Ali Velshi: The other federal investigation worrying The Dotard Трамп
• Daily Show: Separation anxiety
• Young Turks: etsy DeVos’ proposed sexual misconduct guidelines update
• Farron Cousins: Furious Трамп wants Google investigated because he doesn’t like search results
• Chris Hayes: The Dotard Трамп intervened in plan for FBI HQ near his hotel
• Rachel Maddow: Paul Manafort looked to cut a deal with Mueller in second trial
• Chris Hayes: The Dotard Трамп to rally for Senator “Lying” Ted Cruz

WaPo: What is salmonella?

Trevor with Rep. Jim Himes (D CT-04): Why gun deaths are a uniquely American problem.

John Oliver: Retractions.

Sam Seder: Republicans say the darndest things on C-SPAN.

Minute Earth: Why do some animals eat poop?

David Pakman: Transphobe Alex Jones caught looking at transgender porn on live stream.

Midterms On The Horizon:

• Young Turks: Ron DeSantis on Black opponent, “The last thing we need to do is monkey this up”
• WaPo: Who is Andrew Gillum?.
• Mark Fiore: Back to screwed.
• Farron Cousins: Republican Governor candidate makes major racist gaffe.
• Young Turks: DeSantis uses racist language against Andrew Gillum
• Pap: Rep Duncan Hunter and Wife charged with federal crimes in campaign fund scandal
• WaPo: Beto O’Rourke was in a punk rock band. The Texas GOP tried to shame him.
• David Pakman: Nutjobber Republican blames McCain of dying to deliberately hurt her campaign
• Farron Cousins: Трамп-backed Republican runs racist, conspiracy theory-pushing Facebook page
• Young Turks: Трамп is terrified of Andrew Gillum

SuperDeluxe: Elon Musk as an Indie synth-pop song.

Sky News: Can people give up social media for 30 days?

Daily Show: DiscrimiNATION

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

Oh man! Rain now clearing out the remaining smoke, and a forecast of a good long weekend. What a time to celebrate labor.

Just walking around Downtown this morning, there were a couple piles of clothes. They were several blocks away from each other. Was there a raid? Is it just a coincidence?

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets on Tuesday night for an evening of political conversation over cocktails. There will be primary elections in Florida and Arizona and some runoff elections in Oklahoma along with lots of local and state-wide issues to discuss.

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

Can’t make it to Seattle? There are 255 chapters of Living Liberally, including 22 in Washington state, seven in Oregon and three in Idaho. Find a chapter near you. Or consider starting your own chapter.

Man, I went for a semi-smokey bike ride yesterday without a mask. I thought it was clear enough. But no! Semi-smokey is still too much if you’re breathing heavily.

OK last vacation post. Back to the regular nonsense schedule later.

A lot of people are sharing personal stories about interactions with John McCain on his death. And it is important that he seemed to treat constituents he disagreed with, and staffers for people on the other side of the aisle well. And his heroism as a POW is undeniable.

But while that’s important, it isn’t really how you should judge the legacy of an elected official. And on policy, he was garbage. He should be judged for his full throttle support of the Iraq war among many others. He should be judged for tax cuts for the wealthy, and fuckall for the poor. He had a few moments where he did good things (his ACA vote, saying Obama isn’t a secret Arab), but none of them would be the bare minimum if it was a Democrat.

Trevor with D.L. Hughley: Racially charged police violence and “How Not to Get Shot”

Corporate Landlords: The fight for affordable housing in California.

Mother Jones: March for Our Lives (full studio interview).

Jim Jefferies: Sitting down with QAnon conspiracy theorists:

The Atlantic: Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition.

New Yorker: What it’s like chasing the world’s biggest tornadoes

Trevor: Silicon Valley discovers Africa.

Bill Maher: Wok the vote.

Real Engineering: Why the US Airforce ejected a bear.

Vox: The fractured politics of a browning America.

Mother Jones: Indicted California Republican blames his wife.

Trevor: Alex Jones’s Twitter timeout and Andrew Cuomo’s MAGA gaffe.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Chaser the dog shows off her smarts.

Unindicted Co-conspirator Dotard Трамп and His Koterie of Krooked Kakistocrats:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Трамп talks impeachment, as Трамп allies talk to fed prosecutors
• WaPo: Not just misleading. Not merely false. A lie.
• Chris Hayes: All the President mess
• Our Cartoon President: Трамп galactic military empire
• Conan: The walls Mexico is offering to pay for
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Dotard Трамп’s “worst week” as top allies talk to feds
• Lauren Mayer: (I thought truth was) true
• Rachel Maddow: David Pecker’s past practice puts POTUS in a pickle
• Trevor: Deregulation station—For-profit colleges and Трамп’s liberation of corporations
• WaPo: The definition of “truth” keeps changing under Трамп
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Michael Cohen says Dotard Трамп ordered him to commit crimes
• Heads of State: Giuliani and Трамп as Hall and Oates—“Truth Isn’t Truth”:

• Our Cartoon President: “Sir, is everything okay?”
• Ayman Mohyeldin: Republican “cover-up” for Трамп “shameful”
• Daily Show: My Super Tweet 16—The “best” of Dotard Трамп’s Tweets
• Lawrence O’Donnell: After Michael Cohen’s plea, “How many other smoking guns are there?”
• Conan: Трамп calls into Conan to discuss the big news
• WaPo Opinion: Трамп is facing worse than Watergate. I should know.
• Rachel Maddow: New Michael Cohen subpoena could mean new legal trouble for Трамп family
• Our Cartoon President: “Making America A Military Wonderland”
• Chris Hayes: President Dotard Трамп, The “great” endorser
• Trevor: Katy Tur on the road to the Трамп White House in “Unbelievable”
• WaPo: Pundits keep (wrongly) predicting the end of Трамп’s presidency
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The Dotard Трамп claims “I could run” Robert Mueller investigation “if I want”
• Randy Rainbow: OMAROSA!

• Rachel Maddow: Michael Cohen more than happy to tell Mueller all that he knows
• WaPo: What’s next for Трамп after the Manafort and Cohen convictions?
• Mark Fiore: The wonderful White House isn’ts
• Bill Maher: Orange Tuesday
• Chris Hayes with Sen. Chris Murphy: On impeachment and delaying the Kavanaugh hearing
• Trevor: Трамп feuds with Omarosa
• Ali Velshi: Michael Cohen pleads guilty, implicates Dotard Трамп.
• WaPo: Where The Dotard’s tweet about South African land seizures came from
• Conan: A Nazi prison guard was found hiding at a Трамп rally
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Paul Manafort evaluating options, after “tremendous victory” for Mueller
• Ayman Mohyeldin: Former prosecutor says Трамп’s language is like “kingpins and drug dealers”
• Chris Hayes: The Dotard Трамп has surrounded himself with criminals
• Vox: Michael Cohen—Sex, lies and campaign finance
• WaPo: The worst day of Трамп’s presidency?

Daily Show: 100% Трамп-free show.

The Atlantic: It’s good to be a rebel.

Jimmy Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship.

Chris Hayes: Representative Duncan D. Hunter throws his wife under the bus.

WaPo: Women of color candidates break barriers in the 2018 midterms.

Trevor: The midterm elections are weird.

Songify: Zucc smokin meats.

Winlar: Racist F and Things:

Congressional hits and misses from a 2-day Senate work week

The Atlantic: Social media and hate speech—Who gets to decide?

Wendover: How to build a $100 million satellite.

Daily Show: Let’s talk about Black women’s equal pay day

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

Someone in my family said that Trump ate a classified document. I refuse to look it up. If it happened, it’s so much less bad than separating families. If it’s not true, he still thinks Mexicans are rapists who can’t be judges, or at least judge him. He is a walking, talking violation of the Constitution; If he’s an eating one too, that’s probably the least of our worries.

Man, I went for a semi-smokey bike ride yesterday without a mask. I thought it was clear enough. But no! Semi-smokey is still too much if you’re breathing heavily.

Someone in my family said that Trump ate a classified document. I refuse to look it up. If it happened, it’s so much less bad than separating families. If it’s not true, he still thinks Mexicans are rapists who can’t be judges, or at least judge him. He is a walking, talking violation of the Constitution; If he’s an eating one too, that’s probably the least of our worries.

I am beginning to suspect that electing a man who admitted to crimes while he knew he was on mic, and who surrounded himself with criminals, was a bad idea. Although Donald Trump is a crisis to our democracy, the fact that he got so far for so long is also exposing a flaw in our court system. The man’s criminality was known for a long time, but allowed to fester. We have had decades to do something, and yet he has been mollycoddled for 4 decades.

Anyway, lock her up or whatever.

I’ve had my dog Feisty almost as long as I’ve had this blog, a 13-plus-year span in which she has been a source of love, metaphor, and humor. And so, while I don’t really blog here anymore, I thought it appropriate to briefly post on her passing.

She was a good dog (mostly), a loyal companion, and an enthusiastic hiking partner. In fact, without her, I don’t think I ever would have cultivated my love of hiking through our region’s many mountain trails. I already miss her deeply. But after months of progressive kidney failure that left her unwilling to eat and increasingly unable to walk, my daughter and I sadly did the only humane thing to do, and held her in our arms as the vet relieved her of her suffering.

But since this is HA, it would be a disingenuous tribute to Feisty to mark her passing without making at least one political point: When we euthanize a beloved pet, we rightly call it an act of compassion. But if we euthanize a beloved family member, the law calls it an act of murder. Whatever. When my time comes, if I am unable to avail myself of WA’s Death with Dignity law, I sure hope that my daughter has the strength to lovingly murder me the way we just lovingly murdered our family dog.

Rest in peace, Feisty. In the remote event that there’s a doggy heaven, I hope you were greeted by 72 squirrels to do with what you please.

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally has been getting together weekly since early 2005. For our first nine months, until the indoor smoking ban, an evening in a Washington pub meant inhaling lots of second-hand smoke and going home with stinky clothes. So join us this evening for an (unintentional) retro edition of DL. I mean, if you are going to inhale smokey air, you might as well do it while sitting in a bar with a drink in your hand talking politics! Amiright?

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

Can’t make it to Seattle? There are 255 chapters of Living Liberally, including 23 in Washington state, seven in Oregon and three in Idaho. Find a chapter near you. Or consider starting your own chapter.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.