Politics Archives - Page 4 of 32 - Ramblin' with Roger

Oct. rambling: total Latin dorks

Rebecca Jade, Death Cafe, and the embarrassing Herschel Walker

**Angela Lansbury was in the movie Mutiny (1952), set during the War of 1812. She’s on the cover of Movie Love #16, only rarely offered by Heritage Auctions**

CEO Pay Has Soared by 1,460% Since 1978

The Onion advises the Supreme Court’s ‘total Latin dorks’ on parody

Decomposing HUMAN remains can legally be used as compost from 2027 thanks to new California law aimed at tackling climate change

Someone is pretending to be me, and Internet Trolls Have Tormented This Sci-Fi Writer for Years—and He Can’t Stop Them

Cheating scandal at an Ohio tournament rocks the competitive fishing world

NY-CT Border Disputes and The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee

Against All Odds – Building Albany’s Free Black Community in the Early 1800s

The U.S. Just Renamed 650 Sites Around the Country—Here’s Why It Matters

MAD magazine’s oldest active artist is still spoofing what makes us human. Sergio Aragonés has drawn for the publication since he arrived in New York from Mexico 60 years ago. At age 85, he’s contributed to its 70th-anniversary issue: “Drawing has become like walking.”

Charles Fuller, Playwright, and Screenwriter Behind A Soldier’s Play, Dies at 83

Robbie Coltrane, Comic Performer Who Played Hagrid in Harry Potter Movies, Dies at 72

Sacheen Littlefeather, Who Delivered Brando’s Oscar Rejection Speech, Dies at 75

Kitten hailed a hero for saving a family poisoned by carbon monoxide

Daniel Abesames-Hammer of D III Cornell College is among the smallest college football players ever

Hitchcock Talks About Lights, Camera, Action

Mark Evanier: Blackhawk and me

Variety Intelligence Platform’s Level Up report examines the interrelated sectors within the near-$200 billion global gaming market

All aboard!

Now I Know: When a Lot of Wine Had to Defend Itself in Front of the Supreme Court, and How a Lot of Typos Led to Late Emails and The Intentionally Bad Song That Accidentally Worked and We Are All Invisible Pinocchios

POLLY TICKS

The Making and Remaking (and Remaking) of MAGA Heir Ron DeSantis

Florida GOP’s Assault on the Freedom to Teach

What is a MAGA Republican? and Racism, Lies, and Hypocrisy Are Now Seen as Electable Qualities in GOP Candidates

Herschel Walker says forget about him holding a gun to his wife’s head because Jesus and Does anything matter?

Democrats Warn That Republicans Will Turn US Into a Fascist Hellhole If GOP Prevails in Midterms

Speaking Out Against Hate: SPLC Intelligence Project Director tells a congressional panel that white supremacy threatens communities, education, and democracy

Inside the S–tshow That Was the Trump-Biden Transition

Why ‘Veep’ and ‘The West Wing’ Plotted a Crossover Reunion (Hint: to Save Democracy)

Someone named Gregory purchased http://www.governorgregabbott.com/ and built for him his very own (not very complimentary) website. “More content is on the way.” He also bought the following:
EliseStefanik2022.com
KevinMcCarthy2022.com
TheLaurenBoebert.com
GymJordan2022.com
SenatorRonJohnson.com
SenatorMarcoRubio.com
OfficialSCOTUS.com
DevinNunes2022.com

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Bolsonaro, Brazil’s terrible leader

MUSIC

Some Controversial Classics From Loretta Lynn; One’s On The Way

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzola.

Tired Of Waiting – MonaLisa Twins (The Kinks Cover)

Democracy – Leonard Cohen.

Coverville 1416: The Motley Crue Cover Story

Autumn Gardens by Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now from Hairspray

Portland, Oregon – Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Loretta Lynn, Feisty First Lady of Country Music, Coal Miner’s Daughter, dies at 90. Living in her America. Over her long career, she documented the highs and lows of rural life in an incredibly complex emotional register.

Official release date of Rebecca Jade’s newest album, A Shade of Jade

For more than 40 years, taxpayers funded the FBI’s fruitless surveillance of Aretha Franklin

Linda Ronstadt on Her New Memoir, Feels Like Home, and Her Mexican American Heritage

Questlove and Black Thought Know Much More Than Music

DEATH CAFE in Albany, NY

The parking lot in the back of the Library and the street parking meters are free on Saturdays.

Learn more about this international movement at DeathCafe.com

Folks will break into small groups of 4-6, as always. Please wear a mask inside until you are seated with your small group, and your group chooses to be masked or not. Homemade treats and cold and hot water for tea; feel free to bring your own mug and/or beverage.

As always – it is not a support group. We just talk about whatever our group chooses and respect each other’s views.
Please RSVP by emailing to DeathCafeAlbany@gmail.com

September rambling: perfect Yiddish word

Rebecca Jade interview, Middle Earth debate

An Ode to Oy — the Perfect Yiddish Word

And speaking of which: Rings of Power Cast Slams Racist Threats Against Performers: “Middle-Earth Is Not All White.” This hurts my head. Someone wrote, and I’ve misplaced the attribution, I’m afraid: “When did we stop being able to just sit down and enjoy something that’s been created? Just take all shows and movies as fan fiction of any book that they take it from and enjoy the creators’ stories.”

Sah Quah: More than twenty years after the American Civil War, an enslaved Alaskan walked into a Sitka courtroom and sued for his freedom

The Church Left on the Curb: A chance trash-day encounter reveals a 170-year institutional history

Bernard Shaw, CNN’s First Chief News Anchor, Dies at 82

Anne Garrels, the longtime foreign correspondent for NPR, dies at 71

Culcha

In Memorium Video from this year’s Emmys and going about a decade back

Jazz Pianist & NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis Dies at His Chicago Home, September 12, at the age of 87

“Weird Al” Yankovic on the Long, Hard Road to Bring His Mock Biopic to the Big Screen

Ken Levine ends his blog, but his podcast will continue

At 100, Norman Lear Looks Back (And Ahead)

Whiz! Bang! Boom! Energetic Ads Hold Viewers’ Attention

Real Money, Fake Musicians: Inside a Million-Dollar Instagram Verification Scheme

Quentin Tarantino, Miramax Settle ‘Pulp Fiction’ NFT Legal Battle

Flin Flon: One Book’s Unlikely Survival

Has a computer ever passed the Turing test?

The Twisted Life of Clippy, Microsoft’s annoying paperclip. Its developers never imagined the virtual assistant would become a cultural icon.

Some good advice from John Green

Of Elbows and Tables

Best State Capitals to Live In – 2022 Edition. Albany, NY, is #9.

The Small Town In New York With More Historic Buildings Than Any Other

Can Something Be “Very Unique”? Modifying Absolute Adjectives

Now I Know: What About Bob (dot com)? and The Wisdom of Crowds of Sports Fans? and The Almost-War Over a Bear’s Missing Privates

Polly ticks

President and Mrs. Obama Become a Part of White House History with Reveal of Official Portraits, and Barack Obama just won the Emmy

How deranged anti-Obama conspiracy theories led America to Donald Trump

Fascist is a description, not an insult, and “Semi-Fascism”: The Shoe Fits

Judge Cannon’s Incredibly Flawed Trump Special Master Ruling

The faulty premise of the ‘2,000 mules’ trailer about voting by mail in the 2020 election

How Many Of ‘Her Emails’ Were Classified? Actually, Zero

Thomas, Barrett will further delegitimize SCOTUS when they fail to recuse on key cases

The Battle for Voters’ Imaginations over Abortion. Pete Buttigieg was correct.

When We Rose to Fight COVID, We Were Deliberately Turned Against Each Other

The Return of the Bitter Politics of Envy

UN Report Highlights Ongoing Racism in the US

Nebraska HS newspaper and journalism program shut down over student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues. The shutdown of the prize-winning student newspaper after 54 years occurred because an edition in June contained student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues, the origins of Pride Month, and the history of homophobia, material members of the local school board considered inappropriate.

Demographics

U.S. life expectancy drops sharply, the second consecutive decline

Most and Least Ethnically Diverse Cities in the U.S.

Demographic divide – the key differences in media and entertainment that continue to evolve between younger and older Americans.

New Data Reveal Inequality in Retirement Account Ownership

When and How Often People Marry Changes by Birth Cohort

MUSIC

Behind the Beats article about Rebecca Jade by the Smooth Jazz Network!

The In Crowd – the Ramsey Lewis Trio

The Comedians – Dmitry Kabalevsky. The second section, The Galop, is EXTREMELY familiar to me.

Wade In The Water – Ramsey Lewis

Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis

Coverville 1412: The Clash Cover Story III and 1413: The Squeeze Cover Story III

Conductor Seiji Ozawa leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss’s overture to Die Fledermaus

Hang On Sloopy – Ramsey Lewis Trio. I still have the Hang On Ramsey album on vinyl

If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot

Julyish rambling: in search of meaning

That’s Life

HTETEOTW Chapter 3: Energy, Complexity, and Civilization

Inflation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Pope apologizes for ‘catastrophic’ school policy in Canada

As Monkeypox Spreads, US Vaccine Access Is Pitifully Inadequate

How Much Household Income Is Required To Be Considered ‘Rich’ In These US Cities

Journalists Sense Turmoil in Their Industry Amid Continued Passion for Their Work

Five journalists covering the Internet in search of meaning, not viral trends

When Mixology Meets Medicine

LIVE: Around the World Cams / Beautiful Earth Webcam

The story we tell ourselves about today’s Stars and Stripes is a lie. The truth is much stranger.

John Green: Has this artist ever seen a baby?

Now I Know: The Herd Mentality That’s Actually Rather Democratic, and Maybe Monday Should Still Be the Weekend and The World Record That Will Definitely Stick and Hungry Hungry Hero Dog?

Defending democracy

Trump doesn’t have a side of the 1-6 story; there is no ambiguity

The Jan. 6 Hearings Utterly Embarrassed Trump and All Involved. The final January 6 hearing of the summer spotlighted Trump and allies like Kevin McCarthy and fist-pumper to fleeing coward Josh Hawley. It should serve as a reminder of their humiliating but dangerous thirst for power.

Mark Leibovich’s new book, Thank You For Your Servitude, pillories a party whose leaders remain (at least publicly) in the 45th president’s thrall. e.g., Elise Stefanik Attacks NYS Department of Education

The Secret Service Has Managed to Locate Only One Coup-Related Text Message

If Trump Wins in 2024, Christian Nationalism – which MTG has suggested for the GOP – Could Reign Supreme in Government. Also,
Authoritarianism 101: Trump Plot to Purge Civil Servants If Reelected Draws Alarm – “Do not underestimate the destruction this will cause”

Roberts’s Attempt to Keep “Roe” Intact Fell Apart After Alito’s Draft Leaked

Matt Birk (R-MN) Warns Abortion Leads to Women Having Careers and Claims Pro-choice Advocates Are Always Playing “the Rape Card”

“Pro-Life” Idaho Republicans Declare Women Should Be Left to Die to Save Fetuses

Primala Jayapal Shares Her Own Abortion Story — and Why Abortion Rights Are Vital

Why did Republicans vote against legal condom use?

Screenshot_of_Tweet_January_6_Audio_Clip

That’s Entertainment

Comic-Con 2022 Trailers

Marvel’s Movie Math: Comic Creators Claim It’s “Bait and Switch” On Payments

Kennedy Center Honors Will Fete George Clooney, Gladys Knight, and U2

Whatever happened to Sandy Duncan?

Discover the late Peg Lynch, a woman who, in the early days of television, wrote 11,000 scripts and starred in her own TV network hit sitcom for six years

Emma Allen, the New Yorker cartoon editor, makes history as the youngest and first woman in the role

Permanent JEOPARDY hosts and second chance contestants

How I Became the Fake Tom Cruise

There was a CBS-TV series called That’s Life (2000-2002) about “Lydia DeLucca, a 30-something, a blue-collar underdog who turns her life upside down when she ditches the guy she’s about to marry and goes back to college. Now, Lydia must juggle her classes, work, family, and friends, all the while trying to make ends meet.” I watched it because of Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino, who played Lydia’s parents. Sorvino died at the age of 83.

Burt Metcalfe, Producer on Every Season of ‘MAS*H,’ Dies at 87

Mary Alice, Actress in ‘A Different World, I’ll Fly Away, Sparkle, and much more, dies at 85

Alan Grant, Legendary Batman, Lobo, Judge Dredd Writer, Has Died

Actor David Warner has died

Aaron Latham, Screenwriter, Journalist Dies at 78. Husband of CBS News’s Lesley Stahl

Taurean Blacque, Det. Neal Washington on Hill Street Blues, Dies at 82

MUSIC

There’s a guy named Maxwell Frost (D-FL) running for Congress. Every time I see his name, I think of this song by Mann and Weil

Coverville 1407: Cover Stories for Imagine Dragons and Joan Osborne and a Fast Times Tribute and Coverville 1408: The Don Henley Cover Story

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s score to Finding Neverland

Audra McDonald sings Climb Ev’ry Mountain from the 2013 televised version of The Sound of Music

Playing for Change: King Clave featuring Mickey Hart

All That Jazz – Bob Fosse Tribute, with scenes from Chicago, Cabaret, and Sweet Charity

Celluloid Heroes – Blackmore’s Night

We Both Reached For The Gun from the show Chicago in Korean

The Music Man with a partially deaf cast

Joni Mitchell Surprises Fans With Her First Full Concert In Nearly 20 Years

July rambling: Do you remember America?

V-Discs

Do you remember America?

Science shows US Supreme Court abortion, guns, and environmental rulings will have devastating consequences

Dark Money Fuels the Anti-Abortion Movement’s Push to Control State Legislatures

How Much Do Health Disparities Actually Cost?

One Big Reason Hollywood Hasn’t Begun Boycotting States Over Abortion Access

An immature notion of Freedom

The Highland Park Shooting Is a Stark Symbol of a Uniquely American Crisis

White Replacement Theory is Nothing New

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Water and Rent

As of July 16, 2022, dialing 988 will connect all landline and cell phone users with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 988 if you or someone you know is in danger of suicide or experiencing a mental health crisis.

STILL: History is not a feel-good story.

Giuliani: ‘She was NEVER present when I asked for a pardon‘

What Happened to Michael Flynn?

Ted Cruz feuds with Elmo’s dad

674 times 3

The State of Local News: The 2022 Report

14-year-old’s “I Voted” sticker submission goes viral

James Webb Space Telescope has returned its first imagery,

Walking the World: Hanoi (part 1); more Walking The World if you subscribe

Gettysburg National Military Park: 2022 Road Trip

Safety Town

Bill Finger Awards 2022

Harrison Ford is 80; he was pretty good in Call Of The Wild

Larry Storch, Corporal Randolph Agarn on ‘F Troop,’ Dies at 99

James Caan Dies at 82. I only saw him in The Godfather, Brian’s Song, and Misery

Joel Whitman, Legendary Chart Historian, and Reference Book Author, Died at 82. I’ve owned several iterations of his Billboard charts books.

Larry Wilmore interview

Chuck Miller: Empire State Plaza Fireworks Photos, 2022 Edition

Confessions of a Delaware Park, Buffalo, First-timer

Now I Know: The Center of the Universe, Oklahoma Edition and How My Search for Strawberry Jam Led to Pigs in Las Vegas and The Swine of Sin City and Frosted Flakes? Or a Bright Idea? and The Banned Fashion Accessory You Wore on Your Head and The Silver Miners That Left Behind Blue GoldBlue Gold

John Oliver: Beach dolls

MUSIC

Sunrise Mass by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo

V-Discs: World War II at 78 RPM

Don Juan by Richard Strauss

Ain’t Misbehavin’ – Fats Waller from Stormy Weather (1943)

The Godfather orchestral suite by composer Nino Rota

Coverville 1405: The 50th Anniversary of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Dances of Galanta by Zoltan Kodaly

Wing Ding from The Lucy Show (1965)

Street Symphony plays in harmony with Skid Row’s ‘sacred spaces’

Theater!

Sweeney Todd if Lin-Manuel Miranda had written it and
the company of Hamilton played the parts

1968 Tony Awards, is the one, the only…Groucho!

Fourteen-minute deconstruction of the five-minute number Ariana DeBose and friends performed to kick off the 2022 Tony Awards ceremony.

Broadway in Yiddish? with Joel Grey

Not running for office

Vote in New York for school budgets on May 17

First, I should make it crystal clear that I am NOT planning to run for office. I found this question on Quora asking people to show the Presidential electoral college map based on the states they had visited.

I should define “visited”, I suppose. Almost every blue state I have slept in, except two: Delaware and South Carolina. But I have eaten in both of them. Delaware was a stop to and/or from some antiwar demonstration in DC. Re: South Carolina, my father went there in order to sell stuff when he used to sell at flea markets.

Mississippi I was in very briefly c. 1970 on a trip with a bunch of teens from my high school. We went to either Shelby or Fayette County, Tennessee, described to us as one of the poorest counties in the United States at the time. We were walking down this dirt road and crossed into Mississippi, went a short distance, then decided it may not be that safe for a bunch of young integrated Northerners.

At some level, when I was much younger, I suppose I thought I would someday consider running for public office. I was president of the student government in my high school. Someone signing my high school yearbook anticipated that I would be president of the United States one day!

When I ran for the Financial Council at SUNY New Paltz, it was a discouraging process. For one thing, there was quite likely voter fraud. Also, there were members of the Council who were… not as scrupulous as they might have been.

Petitions

But mostly, I just hate campaigning. I’ve carried petitions in 1974 for a Congressional candidate named Matt McHugh, who won. But I really hate getting folks to sign papers, though I’ve done so four other times.

There was a time in this century when I did actually consider running for office. There was a guy who ran MULTIPLE times for Albany Public Library trustee. How do I say this politely? OK, he was a neo-Nazi. And if he were likely to get elected – if there were only two slots and he was one of two candidates, I would have scurried to get on the ballot. And if I were too late, I would have run a write-in campaign. Fortunately, this never happened.

In fact, this year for the library board, I understand that there were 17 people carrying petitions for the four slots open. And I know two of them personally. “The library budget vote and trustee election are held in conjunction with the City School District of Albany budget vote.” The vote is on May 17; the polling places are NOT always the same as the primary and general election sites.