August 30, 2014

Was this photo of Feinstein with a gun photoshopped?

Today I learned that Adam Baldwin is a rightwing loon and and it really has now ruined one of my favorite shows (Firefly). Baldwin rants about Obama, gays, and other Hollywood "liberals" so I am perplexed as to how people like Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion could work with him without comment.

Also, he is in the middle of an attack on a woman game designer helping stir up the stalkers to abuse her for having the nerve to criticize the portrayal of women in video games.

I then saw this photo posted on his Twitter account and it looks "wrong". Any Photoshop experts out there who can tell me if this is yet another Soviet-style fabrication.

August 20, 2014

How to make presidential debates draw 100+ million viewers

Presidential debates are boring and other than political junkies, few pay attention to them until they are cut up into "gotcha" sound bites for political ads.

I think it is time to make debates "must see TV". I propose a series of debates with the following people as panelists moderators:

Stephen Colbert - Moderator
Jon Stewart - Panelist
John Oliver - Panelist
Lewis Black - Panelist

Tina Fey - Moderator
Whoopi Goldberg - Panelist
Liz Winstead - Panelist
Margaret Cho - Panelist

Dave Chappell - Moderator
Chris Rock - Panelist
Aasif Mandvi - Panelist
Larry Wilmore - Panelist

George Takei - Moderator
Wanda Sykes - Panelist
Dan Savage - Panelist
Rachel Maddow - Panelist

These are four debates I can guarantee would not only have record-smashing viewership, but would have a worldwide audience as well. Hell, you could sell tickets to the live event for a $100 a pop (for charity) and sell out any venue.

And finally, my absolute fantasy panel that, sadly, can never happen:

George Carlin - Moderator
Sam Kinison - Panelist
Robin Williams - Panelist
Bobcat Goldthwait - Panelist

August 14, 2014

Why Obama’s statement on reporters’ arrests in Ferguson is hypocritical

And how many here will defend this hypocrisy?

http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/obama.php

In a news conference Thursday addressing the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown and resulting unrest in Ferguson, MO, President Barack Obama criticized the arrests of two reporters there on Wednesday night.

“Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs,” Obama said in a news conference televised from Martha’s Vineyard, where he’s vacationing. On Wednesday, Washington Post Reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly were arrested when working out of a McDonald’s in Ferguson. After being taken to the Ferguson Police Department, both were quickly released.

Just minutes after the president finished his remarks, a coalition of journalism organizations at the National Press Club in Washington began a news conference condemning the Obama administration’s attempt to compel James Risen, a New York Times reporter, to identify a confidential source. The menagerie of groups this morning presented a petition, signed by more than 125,000 people, calling on the Justice Department to end its six-year effort to force Risen to testify against his source.

In June, the US Supreme Court turned down a last-ditch appeal from Risen, removing the final legal barrier for federal prosecutors who want him to take the stand.

The coincidental timing puts a spotlight on a White House that has repeatedly defended its claim as the most transparent administration in history. In the past five years, however, the Obama administration has been decried repeatedly for both its secrecy and its aggression toward the press. What’s more, it has pursued more criminal leak investigations than every previous White House combined.

August 13, 2014

This is what a police state looks like folks

I wish I had the time to run down every person over the last ten years who told me I was being an "alarmist" for saying that the U.S. was a de facto police state so I could show them this picture.

More here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/ferguson-photos_n_5674573.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics