Here's the thing that has been bothering me about the entire Brian Williams story. There is much hullabaloo about how Williams lied about his experience on a chopper in Iraq and his potential lies about Katrina. That kerfluffle misses the real issue. Brian Williams is simply one now very public symptom of our propagandized media and the selling of news as infotainment.
From talking to people here and there, I think there is a pretty strong chance that "fast track"--and, perhaps, even TPP--will be defeated in the House thanks to a left-right alliance. That alliance is nothing new, however. Even if The New York Times has just discovered it.
Good Morning 99percenters!
Some news and blues harp virtuoso Rod Piazza.
John Kiriakou: Blowing Whistle on Bush-Era Torture 'Was Worth It'
Whistleblower, who's now serving remainder of 30-month sentence at home, told Democracy Now! that 'entire torture program was approved by the president himself.'
This evening's music features early Memphis bluesman Frank Stokes and Mississippi delta bluesman Ishmon Bracey.
Frank Stokes - I Got Mine
Good morning 99percenters!
A couple of news items and some B3 goodness from the great Jimmy Smith
Last November Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Congress how we could defeat ISIS in Iraq without deploying U.S. combat troops. He was surprisingly blunt about the precarious scenario required to achieve this objective.
Good morning 99percenters!
A couple of news items and Grateful Dead.
'Game-Changing March for Climate' as Californians Rise Up Against Fracking
Thousands kick off protest to demand Governor Jerry Brown halt toxic drilling in state
Good morning 99percenters!
Short news and John Hiatt.
I feel the need to write about the Pope tonight. I’ve been in a couple of debates lately about him and I want to expand on how I see him.
First, let me say I have big differences with Pope Francis. I don’t like that he is still against marriage, civil unions, and adoption for my LGBT friends. I don’t like the free speech quip he gave in the wake of Charlie Hebdo, though with that, I think he was meaning we should be careful of our speech, but that’s neither here nor there; he could’ve meant we shouldn't have it. I don’t like that he is still against any contraception save for the rhythm method. I don’t like that he didn't do an en masse opening of files to hold all priests accountable that were in the child molestation scandal. I don’t like that he is not quite warm to considering women for priesthood. And I don’t like that he is not fully on board with the Nuns on the Bus. There are other things too, I just can’t think of them off the top of my head.
I’m a liberal, a big leftie left leftist, to be honest, so really I didn't expect to like the Pope much, if at all. In my lifetime, we've never had a Pope that was even close to saying much of anything that in my opinion could help the people of the world. I was raised Catholic, and the Popes have always been hardline dogmatists, and what with my heretical beliefs, what they said never held much water with me. And like me, there are a ton of us liberals (at least post John XXIII) who've never really liked a Pope, and who aren't likely to like this one, save for a Pope who effects wholesale change of most or all of the faults of Church dogma.
To many of my fellow lefties’ chagrin, I look at this particular Pope a little differently. It’s definitely not that I forgive him for those things that I don’t like about him; forgiveness of that would require forgiveness of also the Church, and unless things change in the dogma, that isn't going to happen. And yes, I know we are supposed to strive to forgive, but I am not close to that point yet; I am only – and very – human. This brings me to the point about how I feel about this Pope.
This evening's music features blues, r&b and rock and roll guitarist Bo Diddley.
