The Earth bids farewell to Rowdy Roddy Piper.
In Closing: I have a problem with the fact that a night in jail can be a death sentence; the TPP is still out there; the NSA is scaling back; Too Big To Fail; the other lion; who the hell are the parents who make it necessary to say this??; the same guys who say kids under 2 must never see a television running and grocery carts are evil want to be in a tizzy that doctors are not doing the nurse’s job; can’t kill the beast; soybean oil.
Sorry for the tab dump here. I’m in the progress of migrating RSS readers and all is madness.
Gee, I wonder why that would be!: These big events tend to inspire copycats. Well maybe if we didn’t glorify the asshats who do this stuff….
On Bad Trade Deals: Um, yeah, we need to keep paying attention.
It’s All Greek to Me: No?
On the Redditpocalypse: I was beginning to think the place was too big anyway. I have yet to evaluate alternatives.
On with the body count: Our police violence problem has gained international attention.
YSK: Ponzi and pyramid schemes.
Meanwhile: How dare people — particularly young people — want jobs that pay a living wage! Particularly in these 10 states…
An interesting view: On consent.
Lemmings: Well, I suppose inasmuch as illegal immigrants are by definition here illegally, sure. But by that standard, lots of people have “bad intent.”
Finally: Via my old and dear friend Rachel, a misplaced dominant seventh chord was once all it took to land you in jail. Listen for yourself near the bottom.
It’s what the Ferguson Police did, and it’s very important right now. Of course my readers knew that before the riots even started. If you’re interested, the Washington Post is going to be keeping track of police shootings.
Some of you are wondering about the title of today’s post. Tomorrow is the 35 anniversary of the release of the now classic comedy film, Airplane! “Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.”
Bad: let’s start off with a few choice items on the TPP, including the full text… HA! Made you look!
And she can sing: Ariana tells it how she sees it.
Frozen 2: Now that’s not exactly a Disney Princess.
Don’t think I’ve forgotten about Spying On Americans: NSA isn’t going away, just going quiet.
Inequality: The media has us pointing fingers at one another about race, and we’re overlooking economics.
The Accidental Experiment: UHF and Sesame Street.
And finally: Tigers on surfboards.
So on one side we have a lot of people saying stuff that boils down to “those people are animals and that’s why they can’t have nice things.”
This attitude ignores the realities on the ground: no jobs, no economic development (because after all who would open a factory there?); a minimum wage that won’t get you above the poverty line and barely allows you to pay rent. Oh yeah, and there’s a teensy weensy double standard in play too.
And hey, why not punish “those people” for daring to want things like the right to get arrested without dying on the way to the station? “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is for other people?
Sometimes, you need a comic writer or two to put things in perspective.
Of course, it turns out that the situation was at least in part caused by the police — no, not just because they killed somebody. When you show up in riot gear, force adolescents off school busses so they can’t go home, and then wait for trouble, you are the problem and will never be the solution. They came prepared for a problem caused by their own preparation.
And lest we forget that police-delivered death sentences occur in many places around our great country, Raw Story has these “tips”.
In Closing: don’t forget TPP; I bet we’d get “reform” real quick if cops shot up a banker or two; a couple feminism items; really #5 should be first, because you won’t get an interview without it; shipwrecks.
So I just came across this little gem from December:
Finally, Christian Bale recently said he felt jealous to see Ben Affleck wearing the cape and cowl – do you ever get that?
No. Do you know why? Because I’m Batman. I’m very secure in that.
You know, I wasn’t sure he was Batman 25 years ago, but I’m pretty sure he is now. And now, what I’d love to see happen is a Batman Beyond live action film featuring Michael Keaton as old Bruce Wayne.
In Closing: “free” trade deal my fanny; keep playing those spy gaaaames, forever; belated tax day thoughts; here kitty kitty; I don’t understand why they aren’t already pushing for this; no kidding, Sherlock; interesting; Buddha cats; and now you can fit this computing power in your pocket, many times over.
For the longest time, it seemed like the only person truly trying to bring attention to the flaming bag of feces on America’s doorstep known as the Trans Pacific Partnership was Dave Johnson. Thank [deity] he’s so tenacious. Well, now he’s getting some traction. Here’s from today’s New York Times:
Under the accord, still under negotiation but nearing completion, companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and court rulings — federal, state or local — before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United Nations.
Let me translate that for you: a company doesn’t like a law. They can sue the city/county/state that made the law in a UN Tribunal! While the feds or a state might have the funds to fight that, your city or county is effectively bullied into compliance with corporate demands. Say goodbye to environmental regulations, fracking bans, efforts to curb corporate abuses. Kneel before your corporate overlords!
Yeah, I’m not a fan of the NYT’s 10-hits-per-month thing either. But I’m glad that a Serious News Source is pointing out reality.
In Closing: not sure how many of us have the patience to make rice this way; zombies and you; “His life story is so ridiculous that if they made a movie about it, nobody would believe it is true”; while I don’t agree with all of it, I have to admit that it works (and would work so much better with a public option!); one meeelion people have “get out of the security line free” cards (that’s one out of every 320 people in our nation, the rest of us better bathe and watch how we yawn!); the Supreme Court had to say “um yeah, you should follow the law.”
Ok, so it’s been pointed out multiple times that the Starbucks Trenta holds more than a typical human stomach.
In Closing: keeping the average man down, or rather beating him until he’s part of the underclass who knows his place (and spy on him if he seems like he might think about doing something illegal about his predicament); arguments against TPP (which will only make the previous point worse).