Dave Allen was a comedian of Irish origin. He was a very funny guy, doing both standup and sketch comedy and I have linked to clips from his shows before. He was a master storyteller who died in 2005 at the age of 68. In May of this year they released a one-hour long documentary of his life. I discovered that he was also a serious actor and documentarian as well. [Read more…]
On The Daily Show Jon Stewart and Larry Wilmore have one of their periodic discussions on the state of race relations in America and how black Americans who become successful (and in the US this means rich) are confronted with having to deal with conflicts that set their personal financial interests against taking a stand for what is right. [Read more…]
Since I do not have cable TV, the only times I see the 24/7 cable news shows is when there are TVs in public places that I cannot avoid. Seeing them for such short times only serve to reinforce my desire to never watch them. [Read more…]
As I said before, I think that the problems with the Affordable Care Act are technical and therefore soluble. It is already the law and is not going to be repealed. While it is true that the implementation of the ACA has problems, some of them serious, The Daily Show wonders why those opposed to it feel the need to exaggerate and even flat-out lie about them. [Read more…]
Did you know that men and women are being treated equally when it comes to setting premiums for the health care plans under the Affordable Care Act? Yes, that is the awful injustice being perpetrated on us that has some members of the right wing in an uproar.
Stephen Colbert understands their pain. [Read more…]
Today is election day in the US. Cartoonist Jen Sorensen describes that it is all part of a diabolical plot that was hatched a long time ago and seems to be working the way its evil originators intended. [Read more…]
When William Shakespeare had Hamlet say (Act 2, Scene II), “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”, he had not anticipated the rise of the 24/7 cable news networks in the US that, despite the fact that they have so much time to discuss the inevitable nuances of complex political issues, still seem to be so rushed that everything must be quickly reduced to a one-word answer to a simple question: Is it good or bad? [Read more…]
When we think of those states the US that are likely to be the last to accept same-sex marriage equality, the Bible Belt in the deep south tend to figure highly, with Mississippi and Alabama vying for the top (bottom?) spot. Al Madrigal of The Daily Show does some careful research to see which state gets the trophy and finds a surprising result. [Read more…]
It is rapidly becoming conventional wisdom, because of the determined effort to repeat it at every opportunity by supporters of the NSA and the national security state in general, that all these revelations of government spying is no big deal. Didn’t these people’s mothers’ tell them what mothers all over the globe tell their children when they ask to do something because all their friends are doing it: “If they jump over a cliff, are you going to jump too?” [Read more…]