The Rolling Stones played their first gig 57 years ago today.
The club at which they played that gig closed over 20 years ago.
They are still touring though.
Paint It Black may be my favorite song of theirs:
Tag: Video
Get out There and Canvass
So says Bernie, so say we all:
Great video from @BernieSanders, in 2018, on the importance of canvassing pic.twitter.com/1U0WXRd2uy— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) June 28, 2019
Seriously, it’s tough to go up to strangers an ask them to vote for your candidate, but just do it.
He Should Not Apologize
Lately, Bernie Sanders has been criticized for his opposition to the Vietnam War, the invasion or Iraq, and a potential invasion of Iran.
He has refused to apologize, and he should continue to refuse, because he was, and is, right, and his critics are, and were, wrong:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took aim at calls for him to “apologize” for his refusal to support U.S. armed conflicts in the Middle East, saying Friday that he was “right” about past U.S. wars and would continue to advocate against war with Iran.
In a tweet, Sanders wrote that he will “apologize to no one” for supporting peaceful diplomatic efforts over armed conflict with Iran, citing U.S. wars in Iraq and Vietnam as examples of past U.S. armed responses that resulted in long-running and exhausting wars.
“I was right about Vietnam. I was right about Iraq. I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran. I apologize to no one,” the senator tweeted, along with a video explaining his stance against war with the country.I was right about Vietnam.I was right about Iraq.
I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran.
I apologize to no one. pic.twitter.com/Lna3oBZMKB
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 24, 2019
In the topsy-turvy world inside the Beltway, being right is somehow indicates that he is not “serious” about foreign policy.
Needless to say, this is complete bullsh%$.
support your local police
We now have revealing releases about police misconduct.
First, The Investigative Network managed to uncover additional video of Sandra Bland’s encounter with a Texas state trooper, showing the Officer to be little more than a jack-booted thug:
New cellphone footage from the now infamous traffic stop of Sandra Bland shows her perspective when a Texas state trooper points a Taser and yells, “I will light you up!”
Bland, 28, was found dead three days later in her Waller County jail cell near Houston. Her death was ruled a suicide.
The new video — released as part of a WFAA exclusive in partnership with the Investigative Network — fuels the Bland family’s suspicions that Texas officials withheld evidence in her controversial arrest and, later, her death.
Until now, the trooper’s dashcam footage was believed to be the only full recording of the July 2015 traffic stop, which ended in Bland’s arrest. The trooper claimed he feared for his safety during the stop.
The 39-second cellphone video shot by Bland remained in the hands of investigators until the Investigative Network obtained the video once the criminal investigation closed.
………
Needham and other Bland family members believe the video was intentionally withheld.
“We also know they have an extremely, extremely good cover-up system,” Needham said.
Texas Department of Public Safety officials declined an on-camera interview but said the video was not withheld.
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they, and that cop never spent a day in jail for his abuse..
In another notorious case, where Oscar Grant was murdered by Officer Johannes Mehserle, we have another cop, Anthony Pirone, making a complete lie of the phrase protect and serve:
A police officer involved in the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant on an Oakland train platform repeatedly lied to investigators and had punched the unarmed 22-year-old without justification, according to newly released records.
The report on the New Year’s Eve killing, which sparked national police accountability protests, was disclosed this week following journalists’ requests under a new California police transparency law. The previously sealed internal file, written 10 years ago, documented how the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) officer Anthony Pirone “started a cascade of events that ultimately led to the shooting”. Pirone called Grant the N-word while detaining him, hit him in the face in an “unprovoked” attack, and later gave a series of false statements contradicted by videos, investigators said.
The death of the young father was one of the first major US police brutality cases in which cellphone footage went viral, prompting widespread outrage years before the Black Lives Matter movement. The killing was later made famous by Ryan Coogler’s 2014 film Fruitvale Station, named after the site of the death.
The officer who shot Grant in the back, Johannes Mehserle, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a rare criminal trial over a killing by law enforcement.
………
Pirone was fired after the investigation was finalized, a Bart spokesman noted on Thursday. Pirone’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.
This guy engaged in assault under the color of authority, and recklessly and deliberately escalated the situation, and obstructed the investigation, and he was never in the dock for his crimes.
In this world of ubiquitous cell phone cameras, I would hope that successful prosecutions of bad cops, along with jail sentences for their misdeeds will become the rule, rather than the exception.
Bad Day at the Office
A Sukhoi Superjet-100 just crash landed and caught fire at a Moscow airport.
Death toll exceeds 40:
Seventy three passengers and five crew members were on board the plane when it made the emergency landing on Sunday afternoon at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Elena Markovskaya told the journalist, saying that “41 people” have died.
At least six of the 37 people rescued were rushed to a hospital. Three are now in intensive care after suffering burns and smoke inhalation injuries, health minister Veronika Skvortsova said, in a brief press statement.
The Aeroflot flight SU 1492, en route from Moscow to the Russian northern city of Murmansk, had to turn back to Sheremetyevo after reporting an emergency on board less than half an hour after takeoff.
Leaked CCTV footage appears to show the Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft attempting to land. The plane is seen bouncing off the runway and hitting it with full force, as the engines burst into flames.
Notwithstanding the rather spectacular video, I will wait for the investigation to drawing any conclusions.
Bernie in the Lions’ Den
Bernie Sanders kicked serious ass at the Fox News town hall.
He was on point, answered the questions, and was a forceful advocate of his policies.
The hostile hosts were owned.
Favorite bit: Fox drone host asks audience who has insurance through their employer. (Lots of hands go up)
Drone host then asks who among them wants Medicare for all. (ALL the hands stay up, and they begin to cheer)
It’s probably the best thing that has been on Fox News in years.
What is the Difference Between the British Army and Oswald Mosley?
Video has emerged of soldiers on a shooting range in Kabul firing at a target of Jeremy Corbyn. MOD confirms it as legit: pic.twitter.com/qOr84Aiivj— Alistair Bunkall (@AliBunkallSKY) April 3, 2019
Fascist Much?
Not much, it appears.
A video has emerged showing British soldiers engaging in target practice of a Jeremy Corbyn poster :
A video showing soldiers firing at a Jeremy Corbyn poster for target practice demonstrated a serious error of judgment, an Army chief has said.
Brigadier Nick Perry said the Army was taking the matter “extremely seriously” and would fully investigate.
“The video shows totally unacceptable behaviour that falls far below the behaviour that we expect,” he said.
Labour leader Mr Corbyn said he was “shocked” by the clip; his party said it had confidence in the investigation.
Mr Corbyn added: “I hope the Ministry of Defence will conduct an inquiry into it and find out what was going on and who did that.”
The short clip shows four paratroopers in uniform firing down the range before the camera pans to the target, a large portrait of the Labour leader.
Brig Perry, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, said there were currently 400 soldiers from his brigade working with Nato and Afghan partners in Afghanistan, where the footage is thought to have been filmed.
I’m wondering whether these are simply idiots who should be expelled from the military, or if it’s some sort of message that someone is trying to send to Corbyn.
I really hope that it is the first.
Seriously, Reality Outstrips My Wildest Hallucinations
At the confirmation hearing for David Bernhardt, Trump’s nominee to replace the fabulously corrupt Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior, a protester donned a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” mask:
A protester dressed as a “swamp creature” was escorted out of a confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary nominee David Bernhardt Thursday morning.
The protester remained seated for two hours before being escorted out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
A protester dressed as a “swamp creature” was escorted out of a confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary nominee David Bernhardt Thursday morning. The protester remained seated for two hours before being escorted out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
Bernhardt, a former oil and gas industry lobbyist, reportedly helped block the release of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study outlining the effects of pesticides on endangered species while working as a deputy Interior secretary under Ryan Zinke, according to The New York Times.
An Interior Department spokesman told the Times that Bernhardt’s actions had been “governed solely by legitimate concerns regarding the legal sufficiency and policy.”
Seriously weird:
Monty Python Abides, Brexit Edition
I see the similarities
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said that Theresa May is like the legless knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
It’s an inspired analogy:
“Tis but a scratch.” “A scratch?! Your arm’s off!” “No it isn’t.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte likened Theresa May to a Monty Python character who refuses to admit defeat despite losing all his limbs in a sword fight.
“I have a lot of respect for Theresa May. She reminds me occasionally of that Monty Python character where all his arms and legs are cut off and then says to his opponent: let’s call it a draw,” Rutte said in an interview on the “WNL op Zondag” TV show, Bloomberg reported.
He was referring to the Black Knight (played by John Cleese, a Brexiteer) in the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” who, even after having all of his limbs cut off by King Arthur, declares “I’m invincible.”
I have no clue as to why May has not been turfed out by her Tory colleagues, but the Dutch PM has her nailed.
Charming to the Last
It turns out that some pro-Amazon protesters were paid $30/hour to participate:Protesters who supposedly gathered to express outrage after Amazon dropped plans for a Queens headquarters included mercenary activists paid to turn up, according to video and some participants.
The crowd picketed outside the retail giant’s brick-and-mortar store on West 34th Street Feb. 15 in a protest spearheaded by Long Island City landlord Sammy Musovic, who said he’d borrowed money to renovate his four-story apartment building in anticipation of the company’s arrival.
Flanking Musovic was a group of about 10 men holding up signs reading “Boycott Amazon!” and “Amazon Left Us!”
But two of those participants told Patch they had responded to a Craigslist post recruiting people to hold signs for $30 an hour. A video obtained by Patch shows a man handing out cash to a group of protesters after the event.
………
Musovic denied any knowledge of the Craigslist post and the payments. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said by phone. “We were just trying to get Amazon back on the table.”
When a reporter described the video documenting the payments, Musovic repeated the denial and hung up.
I believe that the term for this is “Manufacturing Consent.”
On this Day in 1630………
Indians in Massachusetts introduced English settlers to popcorn.
I will leave the rest to the Swedish Chef:
Bernie is in the House
You had me at, “I”
Bernie Sanders has made it official, he is running for President again:
Sen. Bernie Sanders has confirmed to VPR that he is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
His official announcement video was posted online Tuesday morning.
“I wanted to let the people of the state of Vermont know about this first,” Sanders told VPR’s Bob Kinzel. “And what I promise to do is, as I go around the country, is to take the values that all of us in Vermont are proud of — a belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings — that’s what I’m going to carry all over this country.”
Sanders said he is running to oppose President Donald Trump, and to enact many of the progressive ideas — including universal health care coverage, a $15 minimum wage and reducing student debt — that he championed in 2016.
“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country,” Sanders said. “I think he is a pathological liar… I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants.”
Sanders said his campaign hopes to enlist one million people in a “grassroots movement of people prepared to stand up and fight.”
He’s already done pretty good on the whole, “Grassroots Movement,” thing, as is indicated in his blowing past Kamala Harris’ first day total in only 4 hours. (Harris’ fund raising had the pundits in paroxysms of amazement)
Also, this time around, it looks like his campaign staff will be a lot more professionally savvy:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has tapped Faiz Shakir to serve as his campaign manager for his second run at the White House, The Daily Beast has learned.
In hiring Shakir, Sanders brings into the fold one of the Democratic Party’s better-traveled operatives—an official with limited campaign experience but with ties to the party’s think tank infrastructure, its Hill operations, and the larger progressive universe.
Shakir joins the Sanders operation from the American Civil Liberties Union where he served as national political director since early 2017. Before joining the ACLU, he was a senior adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and before that he worked with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). He first made a name for himself as an editor at the website ThinkProgress, the news arm associated with, though editorially independent of, the powerhouse Democratic think-tank Center for American Progress.
Hopefully, Shakir will let Bernie be Bernie.
Brexit, Now With Tits
First, yes, this is British TV presenter Rachel Johnson disrobing in protest to Brexit, and yes, she is Boris Johnson’s sister.
Every time that I think that the political situation cannot get any weirder, someone in the UK seems compelled to say, “Hold my lager, mate.”
Seriously?
This looks like an ineffectual and desperate attempt at relevance, which makes sense, since she recently joined the Lib-Dem party.
Speaking of Chicken Sh%$s
Amid record profits, GM is shuttering Canadian plants, and moving production to Mexico, and the Canadian auto union Unifor has run a Super Bowl ad condemning the move.
GM has responded by threatening to sue the labor union:
The Canadian trade union Unifor is pissed that GM is shutting down the Oshawa Assembly Plant, which has a long and rich history spanning over 100 years. GM says on its website that the facility—which now builds the Cadillac XTS, Chevy Impala, Chevy Silverado, and GMC Sierra—has been open since 1953, but that before that, it built McLaughlin Buicks and Chevrolets prior to The Bowtie merging with GM in 1918.
Despite all of that history, in 2018, GM announced plans to close the historic manufacturing site. Shortly thereafter, workers walked out in protest, and the president of Unifor, the trade union representing the plant workers, voiced his displeasure, saying “They are not closing our damn plant without one hell of a fight,” per CTV News.
But last night, during the Super Bowl, the battle between Unifor and GM got heated, with the former unleashing this commercial in Canada:
The commercial is scathing, mentioning how Canada helped GM with the bailout last decade, and criticizing the company’s expansion into Mexico. “GM, you may have forgotten our generosity,” the commercial concludes, “but we’ll never forget your greed. If you want to sell here, build here.”
According to the Detroit News, GM wasn’t thrilled, and even threatened legal action:
Who knew that the automobile manufacturer was such a bunch of beautiful cinnamon rolls who are too good for this world?
In related news, Unifor is also calling for a boycott of Mexican made vehicles.
If the VIN starts with the number “3”, it’s from Mexico.
For Once, I Admin Regret for Missing an Awards Ceremony
Epic!
At the Golden Globes, the first, and generally the most trival, of awards ceremony of the season, Christian Bale thanked Satan for being his inspiration in playing Dick Cheney:
Poor right-wing Twitter snowflakes couldn’t handle it when an actor made a joke about…
…Dick Cheney?
Christian Bale won a Golden Globe Sunday for his role playing Dick Cheney in “Vice.” Given that Dick Cheney isn’t exactly “Mr. Personality,” Bale thanked Satan for being an acting inspiration.
………
“I will be cornering the market on charisma-free as$holes,” he said. “What do you think, Mitch McConnell next? That would be good, wouldn’t it?”
It wasn’t a comparison between Cheney and Satan, but rather a contrasting. Satan is interesting.
Still, conservatives can’t let him go.
I use the right flying monkey crowd’s tears to flavor my Slivovitz.
Think of as a vengeful Balkan Margarita.
Tweet of the Day
“The Hillary Clinton campaign didn’t spend their money on white workers or people of color. They spent it on themselves.They took a billion dollars and set it on fire and called it a campaign.” –@VanJones68 pic.twitter.com/cRFPJ7vpq1
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) December 9, 2018
This is at its core why some people, myself included, loathe the entire Clinton campaign, and think that everyone who worked for this should be asking people if they, “Want fries with that,” for a living.
The incompetence and outright looting of the Hillary Clinton’s campaign gave us Trump, and these people want another opportunity to get paid for their incompetence.
They are the real Washington Generals.
This Business Will Get out of Control. It Will Get out of Control and We’ll Be Lucky to Live through It.
A Sh%$ Mess of Planes and Guns
Geography is a Bitch
Russia and the Ukraine are having confrontations over ship transits in the black sea, which has culminated in the Russians seizing 3 Ukrainian military vessels after a ramming, and a possible exchange of gunfire.
In response, the Ukrainian President is calling for martial law:
The Ukrainian president has proposed the imposition of martial law after Russian forces shot at and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Black Sea, injuring six crew members according to Kiev, in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries.
On Monday, Ukrainian MPs will vote on whether to declare nationwide martial law in response to the attack following an emergency war cabinet held by the president, Petro Poroshenko. He said that the imposition of martial law would not imply a declaration of war and was only intended for defensive purposes.
The UN security council will also hold an emergency meeting on Monday about the incident following a request from Ukraine, the US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley confirmed.
Sunday was a day of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with hostilities focusing on the Kerch strait, which connects the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea. Russia has constructed a $3.69bn (£2.7bn) bridge over the strait following its occupation of Crimea to link the Russian mainland and the peninsula. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, officially opened the bridge in May.
The FSB, Russia’s principal security agency, said its patrol boats had seized three naval vessels from Ukraine and used weapons to make them stop, adding that the boats had entered its territorial waters illegally.
About the only thing that could make this worse is if the, “Very Serious People,” in the US foreign policy and defense establishments, aka, “The Blog,” decide that this should be a problem for them to fix. (Which, of course, they will)
We are completely screwed.
They Define Themselves by their Hate
At the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, two women kissed, and the Talibaptists completely lost their sh%$:
Millions of small children just watched two girls kiss and had their innocence broken this morning. @nbc and @Macys just blindsided parents who expected this to be a family program, so they could push their agenda on little kids. #macysthanksgivingdayparade #MacysDayParade pic.twitter.com/EmCLSfNmAj— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) November 22, 2018
Seriously. All these folks have is hate.
I really feel sorry for them.
This was a dance number from the Broadway play, “The Prom,” which is about a girl in Indiana who wasn’t allowed to bring her girlfriend to the prom.
Good for the producers of that musical, and for NBC, and bad on the haters.
The haters’ tears are sweet to me.
The dance number is below: (The kiss is at about 3:13_
Wicked Bad Day at the Office
Look to the left
The moment it goes pear shaped
We now have video of the Soyuz failure, and it was booster separation that caused the mishap:
On Thursday, Russian space officials held a news conference to lay out their findings into an October 11 accident that involved the launch of a Soyuz FG rocket and its spacecraft. The crew of NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin escaped safely, but the rocket was destroyed.
The problem, the officials said, boiled down to a “bent” sensor on one of the rocket’s four boosters that failed to properly signal stage separation. This caused one of the booster stages to improperly separate from the rocket, which can be seen in the video released by the space agency. This booster then struck the core of the rocket, causing a significant jolt and triggering one of the Soyuz spacecraft’s automatic escape systems.
According to the officials, the sensor rod was bent by a little more than 6 degrees, and this happened during assembly of the rocket. The Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, has classified this as a handling error. To fix the process, Soyuz rockets already assembled for launch with their booster packs will be disassembled and reassembled to assure that similar mistakes have not occurred.
It should be noted that, by the standards of man-rated boosters, the Soyuz is quite safe, and the escape system functioned as it should have.
Still, a bummer for the astronauts/cosmonauts and ground crew, no doubt.
Seriously?
Here’s @CNN’s footage of a Saudi operative wearing Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes. This is important because it helps explain why, on Oct.3, the Saudi government confidently claimed Jamal left the consulate shortly after he entered it. https://t.co/UyeXvDDtP2— Margherita Stancati (@margheritamvs) October 22, 2018
This is not, as the spies say the pinnacle of trade-craft here.
15 minutes after they murder him and dismember him, they have already stripped off his clothes and and have a half-assed look alike wandering around Istanbul in an attempt to show that he’s really alive.
I really do not know how the House of Saud can manage to eat a pretzel without choking to death.