There is nothing intrinsically wrong with partisanship. We often have to decide one way or the other on some issue and in the absence of any significant information that dictates how to choose, it is not unreasonable for people to align themselves with ‘their’ side, with those with whom they feel generally close to on most issues. [Read more…]
The late Irish comedian Dave Allen often had a very funny take on religion, delivered with nice timing and facial expressions. I posted this clip a long time ago but came across it again and enjoyed it so much that I decided to repost it for the benefit of those who have not seen it before. In just five minutes, he captures some of the major points of Christian doctrine, with its absurdities and contradictions. [Read more…]
My knowledge of TV talking heads is somewhat scattershot, largely dependent on the video clips that come my way when I am surfing the web, usually in relation to news stories. I was vaguely familiar with the name Nancy Grace as a former lawyer as a legal analyst on cable news, but that was about it. So when in response to a post commenter Crudely Wrott said of her that she “seems to thrive on, no, display an actual need for, human suffering and callous, horrific crime. Like a vampire’s dependence on blood”, I thought it was perhaps a tad harsh. [Read more…]
A few days ago, I came across an amusing news item. Cable news teams had all rushed to Phoenix, Arizona to cover the impending verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial which had inexplicably become a national obsession, when the sensational news from Cleveland about the dramatic rescue of the three kidnapped women and the child broke, and they found themselves having to cover both. [Read more…]
The Daily Show turns its attention to how the US Congress can act fast when it wants to benefit itself. In this series of three short clips, the show looks at how quickly it moved to exempt the Federal Aviation Administration from the rules of the sequester so that they could recall air traffic controllers from their furloughs so that flight delays were eliminated just in time to let members of Congress go on their vacations. Meanwhile, much worthier programs where sequester cuts had harmed many people were left unchanged. [Read more…]
As regular readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of Orly Taitz, that devoted seeker of truth who has made it her life’s work to expose the fact that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the US because he was born in Kenya and his father was not a US citizen. The former is disputed but Orly says that that is not necessary since the latter fact alone is sufficient to make him ineligible to be president. Constitutional lawyers dispute this but whom are you going to trust as a better judge of the constitution, some smarty-pants scholars or someone who is a triple threat, not merely a lawyer but also a dentist and a real estate agent? [Read more…]
His ‘Getting to know your district’ series, where he interviews the elected members of various districts in the House of Representatives, is pretty funny. Here Colbert talks to a Democratic member from Pennsylvania. [Read more…]
In a comment on my review of Skyfall, Daniel Schealler introduced me to the ‘Honest Trailers’ series, where people create their own trailers poking fun at the film. Of course, it is funnier if you have seen the film and I particularly liked this one. [Read more…]
Jon Oliver has had a spectacularly good three-part series comparing gun control efforts in Australia and the US, putting the lie to the claims in the US that gun control does not work to curb gun-related violence and that implementing it is hard and takes a long time. [Read more…]
It looks like I was premature in giving the Justice Department credit for reading Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights. It appears that they questioned him for a long time before a judge insisted on reading him his rights on Monday. So once again, we are dependent on the judiciary to intervene to make sure the government does not violate the rights of people. (In a separate case, a federal judge is challenging the government’s claim to broad secrecy powers.) [Read more…]