Last year we didn't think it possible, but this year was actually worse. 2020 was the year that the entire world's proverbial dog died, along with likely more than 2 million people who weren't supposed to be on the Grim Reaper's radar, most of whom we would have preferred to have stuck around. Once again, John Oliver helpfully provides us with what we all wanted to say but couldn't exactly find the words:
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Pizza, Sex, and Healthcare
John Oliver hits the nail on the head, and it only takes about 10 seconds.... (17:26-17:36)
The sad irony is that the EMTs who are out there saving lives aren't necessarily even making enough money to take care of themselves.... (16:45-17:25)
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Ah, McMeowy!
Need I say more?
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| Dr. Fauci unveils a mask that could save millions of lives! (by McMeowy) |
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
A Mini Compendium of Recent Things That Have Caught My Eye or Stirred My Soul
Since the coronavirus crisis started, there certainly has been plenty of fodder out there in the political arena, and creative folks out there are rising to the challenge of helping to filter and interpret it all for the millions or even billions of people who are thirsting for information and some kind of clarity.
TYT (The Young Turks) provides a strongly progressive perspective:
This is my go-to source for news analysis, and news anchor Ana Kasparian had a fiery speech on Friday, April 9, in response to a segment on CNBC. In this segment, someone, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital and an ex-Facebook exec, finally said that billionaires who make bad investments shouldn't be bailed out, they should be washed out, and that the people who really need to be bailed out here are the people on Main Street who barely had enough money to survive before the coronavirus. Check it out:
Beau of the Fifth Column has just a (few) thought(s) worth hearing:
Beau has become a bit of a guru for me in many, albeit not all, ways. He's extremely thoughtful and well read and does his research, but also presents himself as a backwoodsy man of the people who knows what life is like for regular folks, because he's one too. He had some great ideas recently about how tumultuous times present an opportunity for us to change things for the better. Have a listen:
Let's talk about unfinished dreams and MLK....
I certainly have been combing the Internet and scrolling through screen after screen of Facebook to keep on top of things, mostly just for the sake of self-preservation. I wanted to somewhat randomly share some of the things I've come across in my virtual travels of late. Favorites include Dangerous Minds, TYT-The Young Turks, and Beau of the Fifth Column, among others.
Dangerous Minds does some great work...with just a hint of irony:
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| American Deaths by Disaster, Per President, as Reinterpreted by the Whitehouse and Fox News |
This is my go-to source for news analysis, and news anchor Ana Kasparian had a fiery speech on Friday, April 9, in response to a segment on CNBC. In this segment, someone, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital and an ex-Facebook exec, finally said that billionaires who make bad investments shouldn't be bailed out, they should be washed out, and that the people who really need to be bailed out here are the people on Main Street who barely had enough money to survive before the coronavirus. Check it out:
Beau of the Fifth Column has just a (few) thought(s) worth hearing:
Beau has become a bit of a guru for me in many, albeit not all, ways. He's extremely thoughtful and well read and does his research, but also presents himself as a backwoodsy man of the people who knows what life is like for regular folks, because he's one too. He had some great ideas recently about how tumultuous times present an opportunity for us to change things for the better. Have a listen:
Avi Schiffmann's nCoV2019.live:
I learned of this high school student's project via Democracy Now in their segment "Meet 17-Year-Old Avi Schiffmann Who Runs Coronavirus Tracking Website Used by 40+ Million Globally." He provides a super-straightforward summary of what's happening vis coronavirus around the world, and I check it every day to say just how "great" a job Trump is doing in his heroic attempts to Make America Great Again (MAGA). For example...
Hey, he really did make America great again!
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| World Covid-19 Stats as of 9:57 a.m. on 2020-04-13 |
We have the BEST number of confirmed cases
AND the BEST number of dead people!
Saturday, April 4, 2020
How to Interpret What Trump Says: A Simple Guide to Trumpspeak
Here's something I've been meaning to write for a while. As you all know, given the sheer numbers, it can be difficult to keep track of and interpret all of the lies that Donald Trump tells. I'm hoping that the simple system I'll describe here will be helpful.
What he says
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What it means
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I didn’t do that.
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I did that.
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I did do that.
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I did that, and I think that just by telling you I did that, I become unaccountable for having done it.
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He/she did that.
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I did that, but I think that by saying someone else did that, somehow no one will realize that it was me who did that.
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Saturday, March 21, 2020
Coronavirus Words of Wisdom from True Leaders
In the greatest crisis this world has experienced since the world wars, we need leaders who can keep a level head, communicate clearly to the people they're leading, and show compassion and humility. We've seen or heard about the egotistical rantings of the current U.S. president. In stark contrast, it's great to hear from true leaders who exhibit the characteristics I've listed.
The true "leader of the free world," now that the U.S. has a president who's abdicated that role, is perhaps, as noted in New York magazine's Intelligencer, Angela Merkel ("The Leader of the Free World Gives a Speech, and She Nails It"). Give a listen to (or read the subtitles) what she has to say about the crisis to the people of Germany.
"We are a democracy. We don't live by being forced, but by sharing knowledge and collaboration."
As a thought leader in U.S. politics, Bernie Sanders has been promoting a platform that seems like it was custom made for our current situation. That's one reason he comes across so authoritatively in this video.
The true "leader of the free world," now that the U.S. has a president who's abdicated that role, is perhaps, as noted in New York magazine's Intelligencer, Angela Merkel ("The Leader of the Free World Gives a Speech, and She Nails It"). Give a listen to (or read the subtitles) what she has to say about the crisis to the people of Germany.
"We are a democracy. We don't live by being forced, but by sharing knowledge and collaboration."
As a thought leader in U.S. politics, Bernie Sanders has been promoting a platform that seems like it was custom made for our current situation. That's one reason he comes across so authoritatively in this video.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
As the Media Struggles with the Rise of Bernie
It's been interesting watching the mass media lately as they contemplate what they should do about Bernie Sanders. The panic and desperation are palpable. Do we assume that he's vulnerable enough that we should continue attacking him relentlessly to try to make sure he doesn't get elected? Or do we pretend "we knew it all along" [that he could win] and try to "get ahead of this thing" by running positive stories about him?
At times it's hard to tell the difference, but in general MSNBC leans a little more toward the right than CNN. While MSNBC maintains its penchant for reactionaries like Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews, CNN has brought in more diverse voices like Van Jones and, more recently, Andrew Yang. Both of those gentlemen are friendly to the Sanders cause, at least more so than the folks at MSNBC. On the other hand, in the debates with CNN moderators, Bernie has endured nonstop accusations from the likes of Wolf Blitzer and Chuck Todd, who only seem to know how to ask "Given that your plan is likely to destroy the country, tell us why we should believe you when you say it won't."
Now I definitely can't say I'm an expert on the national news media. Because MSNBC and CNN are only for those willing to pay astronomical cable bills, I only see their coverage through what free clips are available. And I don't usually watch network TV because I don't like cop shows or reality TV series. However, the media are so ever-present and pervasive that one accidentally consumes all sorts of content from many different sources without even realizing it. Also, I have watched almost all of the debates, and it's rare that I miss any story about Bernie, be it positive or negative.
So whether it's through osmosis or intentional consumption, I have actually noticed a subtle shift in coverage of the Sanders campaign. Up until recently, it was rare to see any positive stories from any news outlet that was less edgy than Rolling Stone, or Mother Jones, or Grist. (Yes, I know, calling those sources edgy is stretching the definition of the word.) But recently I've seen positive stories from USA Today, and even CNN just released one of the most touching articles about Bernie supporters that I've seen ('He understands us': Why his supporters are loyal to Bernie Sanders).
I think there's evidence, too, that the broadcast networks might be trying to pull ahead of CNN and MSNBC to be in the vanguard of the media that actually get it through their thick corporate skulls that the survey results are real, and the majority of people in the United States are actually politically progressive. When ABC sponsored the New Hampshire debate, George Stephanopoulos was remarkably even-handed in his treatment of the candidates. After the CBS-sponsored South Carolina debate, one of their post-game panels said almost nothing negative about Bernie, even featuring CBS post-debate poll results that showed Bernie Sanders at the top in nearly every category...and not declaring them illegitimate! I was a bit dumbfounded.
Well, maybe there's hope for MSNBC even. Chris Matthews actually apologized for comparing Bernie's campaign success to the nazi invasion of France--that took real humility. Perhaps some people/news outlets are realizing that if they keep following their outdated biases to the bitter end, they will end up being completely irrelevant. Much of their coverage is already seen as laughable by anyone who's Internet savvy, and the information is out there in plain sight to debunk pretty much any false claim they might try to make.
For more on this topic, also check out Waleed Shahid's opinion piece on BuzzFeed: "Why Pundits Can't Comprehend Bernie Sanders."
At times it's hard to tell the difference, but in general MSNBC leans a little more toward the right than CNN. While MSNBC maintains its penchant for reactionaries like Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews, CNN has brought in more diverse voices like Van Jones and, more recently, Andrew Yang. Both of those gentlemen are friendly to the Sanders cause, at least more so than the folks at MSNBC. On the other hand, in the debates with CNN moderators, Bernie has endured nonstop accusations from the likes of Wolf Blitzer and Chuck Todd, who only seem to know how to ask "Given that your plan is likely to destroy the country, tell us why we should believe you when you say it won't."
Now I definitely can't say I'm an expert on the national news media. Because MSNBC and CNN are only for those willing to pay astronomical cable bills, I only see their coverage through what free clips are available. And I don't usually watch network TV because I don't like cop shows or reality TV series. However, the media are so ever-present and pervasive that one accidentally consumes all sorts of content from many different sources without even realizing it. Also, I have watched almost all of the debates, and it's rare that I miss any story about Bernie, be it positive or negative.
So whether it's through osmosis or intentional consumption, I have actually noticed a subtle shift in coverage of the Sanders campaign. Up until recently, it was rare to see any positive stories from any news outlet that was less edgy than Rolling Stone, or Mother Jones, or Grist. (Yes, I know, calling those sources edgy is stretching the definition of the word.) But recently I've seen positive stories from USA Today, and even CNN just released one of the most touching articles about Bernie supporters that I've seen ('He understands us': Why his supporters are loyal to Bernie Sanders).
I think there's evidence, too, that the broadcast networks might be trying to pull ahead of CNN and MSNBC to be in the vanguard of the media that actually get it through their thick corporate skulls that the survey results are real, and the majority of people in the United States are actually politically progressive. When ABC sponsored the New Hampshire debate, George Stephanopoulos was remarkably even-handed in his treatment of the candidates. After the CBS-sponsored South Carolina debate, one of their post-game panels said almost nothing negative about Bernie, even featuring CBS post-debate poll results that showed Bernie Sanders at the top in nearly every category...and not declaring them illegitimate! I was a bit dumbfounded.
Well, maybe there's hope for MSNBC even. Chris Matthews actually apologized for comparing Bernie's campaign success to the nazi invasion of France--that took real humility. Perhaps some people/news outlets are realizing that if they keep following their outdated biases to the bitter end, they will end up being completely irrelevant. Much of their coverage is already seen as laughable by anyone who's Internet savvy, and the information is out there in plain sight to debunk pretty much any false claim they might try to make.
For more on this topic, also check out Waleed Shahid's opinion piece on BuzzFeed: "Why Pundits Can't Comprehend Bernie Sanders."
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