In the debut episode of his new series, “The Closer with Keith Olbermann," GQ's Keith Olbermann tallies the most outrageous of Donald Trump's offenses in what is now his 15-month assault on American democracy.
Sep 13, 2016
Today's Olbermann
Sep 12, 2016
A Razor Blade In The Apple
Buzzfeed:
Hillary has made some noise about swinging around in opposition to TPP, even tho' her buddy, Virginia Gov Terry McCauliffe says she'll swing right back once she's been sworn in - so we just don't know.
All the more reason to find out as much as possible about any given candidate's leanings on something like "Free" Trade. Guess it's time to email Jane Dittmar on this one.
It might be nice if a Press Poodle or two got up on their hind legs and started asking real questions, specific to things like ISDS.
PS) Elizabeth Warren - please come to my house so I can hold you and pet you and call you George...
The secretive private legal system written into many international trade treaties is the epitome of a “rigged game,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told BuzzFeed News. But it is not set in stone, she said. In an interview in her office on Capitol Hill, she outlined three steps that could get rid of it entirely.
This legal system, which empowers foreign businesses to sue entire countries for hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, was the subject of an 18-month investigation by BuzzFeed News published last week. Among the findings: Executives convicted of crimes have used the system to avoid punishment, and companies have used the mere threat of a lawsuit to gut a country’s laws.
Warren described a case, highlighted in the investigation, that she said “really jumped out in front and put the human face on what this obscure clause can actually do”: A court in El Salvador found that a factory had poisoned a village with lead, failing for years to take government-ordered steps to prevent the pollution. But by threatening to take the matter to this global super court, lawyers for the company helped it avoid a criminal conviction and the responsibility for cleaning up the community and providing needed medical care.
“The company that damaged so many people just gets to slip away,” Warren said of the case. “This is a reminder how the game is rigged.”If there's something like "the other side" of this one, I haven't heard much of it yet. My main thing is that the ISDS thing wreaks of privatization and corporatocracy. Too much power in too few hands.
Hillary has made some noise about swinging around in opposition to TPP, even tho' her buddy, Virginia Gov Terry McCauliffe says she'll swing right back once she's been sworn in - so we just don't know.
All the more reason to find out as much as possible about any given candidate's leanings on something like "Free" Trade. Guess it's time to email Jane Dittmar on this one.
It might be nice if a Press Poodle or two got up on their hind legs and started asking real questions, specific to things like ISDS.
PS) Elizabeth Warren - please come to my house so I can hold you and pet you and call you George...
HRC's Episode
Some tweets:
I'd rather they just come out and tell us what's going on. I think I understand that they don't wanna make her the center of attention in order to countervail the fact that Trump superimposes himself on everything in sight; and they believe they always have to protect her from the shit that everybody throws at her every minute of every day and blah blah blah - but she's gonna catch that shit either way, so I think she's better off if they stop trying so hard to be cute with it and just let her own it.
"Yeah - I tho't it was just the usual allergies that bother me this time of the year. Turns out I have pneumonia. And then I did a coupla campaign stump speeches and a fund-raiser or two, and a buncha other work-type stuff, and then I sucked it up on a Sunday and went to a 9/11 memorial and I started feeling really bad and I had to take a little break - because pneumonia, bitches. Do ya think Presidents get to call in sick every time they feel a little funky? I'm gonna do this job, and I'm gonna keep on doing this job, and they're gonna have to carry me out in a fucking box before I stop doing this job. Hear what I'm sayin'? Good - what else ya got?"
hillary has pneumonia and is still campaigning 24/7 meanwhile my back kinda hurts so i ordered delivery 3 times today— jomny sun (@jonnysun) September 11, 2016
Wait, so Hillary has PNEUMONIA and she's still campaigning as hard as she is? You realize how badass that is, right?— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 11, 2016
It shows her doing her best to grit her teeth and work hard even with pneumonia. And it's humanizing, relatable.— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 11, 2016
I'd rather they just come out and tell us what's going on. I think I understand that they don't wanna make her the center of attention in order to countervail the fact that Trump superimposes himself on everything in sight; and they believe they always have to protect her from the shit that everybody throws at her every minute of every day and blah blah blah - but she's gonna catch that shit either way, so I think she's better off if they stop trying so hard to be cute with it and just let her own it.
"Yeah - I tho't it was just the usual allergies that bother me this time of the year. Turns out I have pneumonia. And then I did a coupla campaign stump speeches and a fund-raiser or two, and a buncha other work-type stuff, and then I sucked it up on a Sunday and went to a 9/11 memorial and I started feeling really bad and I had to take a little break - because pneumonia, bitches. Do ya think Presidents get to call in sick every time they feel a little funky? I'm gonna do this job, and I'm gonna keep on doing this job, and they're gonna have to carry me out in a fucking box before I stop doing this job. Hear what I'm sayin'? Good - what else ya got?"
Sep 11, 2016
Wow.Just.Wow
It just can't ever be about anything but Trump.
There's audio of Trump patting himself on the back for having the tallest building in Manhattan after the WTC fell! pic.twitter.com/vQFFcAibQz— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) September 11, 2016
Sep 9, 2016
Listen For It
The next GOP rebranding is well underway. Because they know they're gettin' their butts kicked and they have to salvage something.
"What The American People want..." Listen for it.
Then go to their Amazon link...
"What The American People want..." Listen for it.
Then go to their Amazon link...
...and buy some stuff (that you were gonna buy anyway), which helps the podcast at no extra cost to you.
Sep 8, 2016
Gary and Jill
I have an editorial policy that requires me to address politicians by the appropriate title, and with the appropriate respect.
That said - fuck this Johnson jagoff. "What's Aleppo"!?!
That said - fuck this Johnson jagoff. "What's Aleppo"!?!
Libertarians - we just wanna be free from Government Interference, man - and Societal Norms - and Facts - and having to think about anything but ourselves. OK?
And speaking of the fringe candidates, Dr Jill Stein went to North Dakota to get in on the demonstrations of the Standing Rock Sioux as they try to stop a pipeline - which of course is getting minimal coverage because when did Neo-Americans start giving one single fuck about "The Noble Savages"?
CANNON BALL, N.D. — A North Dakota county has issued a warrant for the arrest of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is accused of spray-painting construction equipment during a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Stein was charged Wednesday in Morton County with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and criminal mischief.
A spokeswoman for Stein said Tuesday that activists invited her to leave a message at the protest site, and Stein sprayed “I approve this message” in red paint on the blade of a bulldozer.
So first, good for you, Dr Stein.
But then, bad, Dr Stein. Civil Disobedience is (at least it can be) a very good thing. But you're not doing it right if you don't stay for the whole party.
ie: you need to get arrested and you need to pay the fines and/or spend some time in jail, and then make sure you make enough noise that the press covers the thing so everybody can see the injustice of what you're protesting. Otherwise, you're just making yourself the center of attention. And that makes you a grandstanding asshole, using good people and their good cause as nothing more that chumps and unwitting accomplices for a publicity stunt.
Get your ass back up there and finish what you started, Jill.
Sep 7, 2016
Music
From NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts:
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop
"Sailor To Siren"
"Know The Wild That Wants You"
"Every Songbird Says"
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop
"Sailor To Siren"
"Know The Wild That Wants You"
"Every Songbird Says"
Sep 6, 2016
Bible Bust
I guess we should keep an eye on it, because it's possible that maybe someday, if Ken Hamm can spoof his way thru enough pigeons, he could manage to make it work, but - nah - prob'ly not.
Here's some drone footage from a fairly recent Sunday, about 30 minutes before the place opened.
Here's some drone footage from a fairly recent Sunday, about 30 minutes before the place opened.
Now, maybe, the good little Christians were all still at church, but it does seem there could be a bit of a problem considering the break-even number for visitors per day is estimated at about 5,600. That sounds a bit low, but never mind, because it makes no real difference when you only get 10,000 visitors on the whole of opening Weekend. Uh-oh.
Adding to the potentially fatal embarrassment, here are a few pictures I grabbed from The Ark Encounter's website:
Not what I'd called "crowded" cuz, y'know, you kinda need a crowd to be crowded. And in case you didn't notice, in a coupla those shots, the employees outnumber the visitors - never a good sign.
Today's Tweet
...has not pledged allegiance to you. pic.twitter.com/s6zPYefWEc— deray mckesson (@deray) September 1, 2016
Sep 5, 2016
Ding Dong
Paraphrase Bette Davis. My mom told me only speak good the dead. Phyllis Schlafly is dead. Good.— Packers (0-0) (@ShomahKhoobi) September 6, 2016
I'm never gonna celebrate anybody's death, but the news of somebody like Phyllis Schlafley dying doesn't exactly make me sad. She was destructively wrong about a lotta things for a long time. And the things she was wrong about - things she led the fight to stop or deflect or delay or mitigate - are all things that would've helped make life a little better for millions of women in this country and (probably) hundreds of millions of women around the world.
If we help women, it's almost automatic that we'll get whole big batches of better men out of it too.
So if such a thing is possible, when Ms Schlafley gets to hell, she can hang out with Fallwell and Scalia, and they can cogitate on why there seems to be such a shortage of Liberals down there.
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