Archives for December 2015

From Deez Nuts To Donald Trump: Goodbye 2015:

Jimmy Dore: Bill-O is intoxicated by the holidays.

Say “goodbye” to 2015 bad memories.

The most important people of 2015.

Sam Seder and Digby Year in Review: Part 1 and Part 2.

Young Turks: The real War on Christmas revealed.

Politics is a Drag: The year in politics.

Ann Telnaes: Out with the old, in with the Trump.

Mental Floss: 21 things that turned 21 this year.

Look at the bright side: When politicians made us go WTF in 2015.

Francesca Fiorentini: Resolutions to actually make America great again:

Meet the Press: Crazy year in politics.

Jimmy Dore: Jeb Bush believes in the miracle of billionaires.

The business of New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s Get Political:2015’s Top U.S. Politics Headlines.

Go!

Let’s bid farewell to 2015 over drinks and conversation at this week’s Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. And next Monday, the Yakima and South Bellevue chapters meet.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

I hope you had a good Christmas if you celebrate it, or a good long weekend if you don’t. Back to the grind.

Jeremiah 10:2-4

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Discuss.

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) uses big numbers.

Obama: The top 10 things that happened in 2015:

David Pakman: Health care costs rise slowest since 1961 thanks to ObamaCare..

Minute Physics: Why December has the longest days.

Obama wins the War on Christmas™.

Maddow: Debate audiences crush records.

Thom: The Good, The Bad and the Very Very Ludibriously Ugly.

Congressional Hits and Misses: Best of the Rules Committee.

David Pakman: 2015 lies of the year.

White House: West Wing Week.

The 2016 Carnival of Crazy:

• Thom: Republican’s obsession with strong-man leadership is un-American and un-natural
• Sam Seder: Trump says Hillary Clinton Got ‘schlonged’ by Obama in 2008
• Young Turks: Trump jokes about killing reporters.
• Two guys build an asshole wall around Trump Tower
• Sam Seder: Don’t worry…Trump comes out against killing journalists.
• Thom: Trump supporters are building bombs?
• David Pakman: Trump said Hillary got schlonged….
• Young Turks: Trump says Hillary got “schlonged” by Obama in 2008.
• Sam Seder: Donald Trump has no idea with the nuclear triad is.
• Anne Telnaes: GOP hopes for its own Miss Universe disaster.
• Maddow: Crass remarks from Trump are a signature style.
• Sam Seder: Trump suggests that Hillary Clinton is disgusting for going to the bathroom
• David Pakman: Is Ted Cruz surging or is Donald Trump running away with it?
• Steve Kornacki: Ted Cruz will not make overturning gay marriage a priority.
• David Pakman: Does this Ted Cruz rally creep you out?
• Jimmy Dore: Ben Carson explains how to defeat ISIS.
• Jimmy Dore: Ben Carson thinks carpet bombing is like saving kids from cancer
• Sam Seder: Losing is the new winning.
• Jimmy Dore: Jeb Bush ain’t taking shit from no one anymore.
• Sam Seder: Jeb’s! sad, sad closing.
• Young Turks: Down goes Lindsey Graham.
• Jimmy Dore: Chris Christie takes bold stand for WWIII

Obamas’ Christmas address

Library of Congress highlights the first book printed in America.

Jimmy Dore: Far right kook wonders how he became so liberal:

Young Turks: Senator Cotton suggests that disability benefits lead to heroin abuse.

Maddow: Best campaign ads tell the story of U.S. politics.

White House: A historic agreement to combat climate change.

The Young Turks: Is Chick-fil-A going gay?

Stephen is ready to go to Mars.

Thom: Are the Koch prison reforms only helping executive & white collar crimes?

The FAUX News Chelsea Clinton conspiracy theory.

Twelve rejected political parody videos:

Maddow: NASA to survey belching, toxic gas leak.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Every year I bravely wage the War on Christmas, and yet once again, despite my best efforts, it came just the same. Damn you, Bill O’Reilly!

Mental Floss: 25 holiday film facts.

Mark Fiore: The Real War on Christmas.

What does Santa want for Christmas.

Young Turks: Santa Claus field trip causes controversy

The uncensored 12 Days of Christmas:

David Pakman: Some alternative Christmas carols.

A holiday message from Hillary Clinton.

What do Syrian refugees want for Christmas?

Unaired SNL Christmas with fighting siblings.

Thom: Mystery meat for the holidays?

Uncensored office Santa.

Black Santa is very in demand.

The pagan origins of Christmas:

Key of Awesome Christmas Parody Spectacular.

Young Turks: Cheesy politician Christmas cards.

Best Christmas gift ever.

Happy Holidays from Boston Dynamics.

Monday evening, returning to the US from our “vacation of a lifetime” to the Galapagos*, I was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents at Miami International Airport.

I hadn’t flown internationally in 15 years, so I was unfamiliar with the reentry process. As instructed, my daughter and I used the automated kiosks provided for US citizens. We scanned our passports. We answered the questions honestly—”no” to everything that would warrant further inspection—and had our photos taken. (The touch-screen kiosk is actually pretty nifty; it automatically adjusted its height lower to take my daughter’s photo.) Katie’s reentry pass printed out with a slightly goofy surprised smile. Mine printed out with a big X printed across my face, and instructions to go see an agent… who promptly confiscated my passport and called an armed agent to escort me to a holding area. My passport had been “flagged,” I was told.

“How long will this take?” I asked the agent, mentioning that we had a connecting flight to catch.

“Could be five minutes; could be five hours,” he offered uncooperatively. “Could be five years,” he added with a slightly ominous tone.

Yikes.

While others were escorted into rooms for their interviews, my daughter and I sat and waited, making plans for her to continue to Seattle without me or our luggage if the process dragged out too long. After about 45 minutes, I was called to a counter, handed my passport, and instructed to take a left, head down a hallway, and then go through a gray door. It was only once I opened the door that I realized it was an exit. It would have been useful had they told me they were done with me, considering my daughter was still waiting in the sitting area around the front.

I retrieved my daughter, and after a bit of a search, our luggage (our flight information had scrolled off the monitor, and no airport personnel could tell us on what carousel it had arrived, so we had to sort through thousands of bags). The process leaving the baggage area was routine. At no time during my encounter with CBP was I questioned; at no time was my body or belongings searched. Fortunately, we had a three-hour layover, so we made our connecting flight.

But the question remains: Why the fuck was my passport flagged?

I suppose it could have something to do with this. Or this. Or maybe this, this, or this. But although I’ve been a brash and frequent critic of the security theater that has characterized the Orwellian-named Department of Homeland Security in the post-9/11 era, nothing I’ve said or written could reasonably be interpreted as an actual threat. Still, I’ve always entertained the possibility that my writing could leave me open to some sort of retaliation.

But assuming this incident was intentional rather than due to some weird glitch (and to be clear, there was nothing random or routine about my detainment), I’m guessing it probably had more to do with something like this. Or even more likely, this. And if it was, judging from their actual lack of interest in me or my belongings, I can only characterize this experience as an episode of official harassment.

Okay. Lesson learned: From this point forward I will always speak my mind clearly and forcefully—even recklessly—without any fear of the consequences. I’ll just never, ever book a return to the US again expecting to make a connecting flight.

Suck on that, DHS.

 

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* And yes, it was a vacation of a lifetime.

 

Our long national thread is open.

Please join us this evening for a holiday edition of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. We start at 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. And the Burien chapter meets on Wednesday.

There are 186 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, three in Oregon and one in Idaho. Find—or start—a chapter near you.

Have some chit chat…

Leviticus 3:17
So you and your descendants must never eat any fat or any blood, not even in the privacy of your own homes. This law will never change.

Discuss.

Stephen: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power explains the world.

Minute Physics: The physics of car crashes.

The 2016 Krazzzy Klown Kar:

• Red State Update watches the G.O.P. debate.
• Young Turks: Worst line of the CNN debate?
• David Pakman: Which 2016 candidate lies the most?
• Friday hottakes.:

• Jessica Williams give some G.O.P. debate pointers.
• Young Turks: Republican candidates compare childlike ISIS “strategies.”
• Jimmy Dore: GOP debate ignored Christian and Climate terror
• Resolve over fear.
• Totally weak.
• Daily Show: Fact-checking the G.O.P. debate.
• Still not a scientist.
• David Pakman and Ben Dixon: Who bombed and dominated the G.O.P. debate?
• Thom: The G.O.P.’s path to the Dark Side.
• Maddow: Facts a low priority at Republican debate:

• Young Turks: Republicans would target and kill families of terrorists.
• Farron Cousins: GOP insanity is no laughing matter.
• David Pakman and Ben Dixon: Most insane moments of the GOP debate.
• Jimmy Dore: Rand Paul says something sane, but destroys his campaign.
• Mark Fiore: Trumplandia.
• Jimmy Dore: Trump gathers goons for his gestapo.
• The G.O.P. debate summed-up.
• Darth Trump.
• Young Turks: Debate summary.
• Michael Moore’s message for Donald Trump: “We are all Muslim”.
• When someone shows you they are a Fascist….
• Seth Meyers: G.O.P. debate wrap-up.
• Michael Brooks: What are Trump supporters thinking?
• G.O.P. candidates’ technology fayle.
• Stephen totally watched the CNN G.O.P. debate.
• Young Turk: Donald Trump’s YUGELY excellent medical report.
• Liberal Viewer: Donald Trump supports affirmative action?
• David Pakman with Pap: Progressives shouldn’t be afraid to call Trump a fascist.
• Trump wants to be Preznit to finish his bucket list.
• Trumpax: Make your vagina great again!
• Jimmy Dore: Trump = Hitler except for one thing.
• Stephen: Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin explains Trump’s credibility gap.
• Maddow: Donald Trump defies decency for conspiracy fringe.
• Did UK Prime Minister David Cameron call Donald Trump ‘stupid’?
• Young Turks: The worst debate answer ever?
• Sketch: Trump in the family.
• You’re a mean one Mr. Trump:

• Young Turks: Best line of the G.O.P. debate.
• Ann Telnaes: Cruz or Trump, the G.O.P. loses either way.
• Sam Seder: Cruz disgusted by suppression of Islamaphobia and paranoia.
• #CruzYourOwnAdventure: Ted Cruz Genetic Secret Exposed.
• Jimmy Dore: Ted Cruz out-weirds everyone during National Anthem.
• Young Turks: FAUX News savages Ted Cruz over immigration.
• Jimmy Dore: Ted Cruz dog whistles racism using FDR.
• Farron Cousins: Ted Cruz would nuke the Middle East.
• The many faces of Ted Cruz.
• Jimmy Dore: Ted Cruz promises to carpet war crime the Middle East
• Ann Telnaes: Ted Cruz, carpet bomber-in-chief.
• Young Turks: What was Jeb! doing during the debate?
• Jimmy Dore: Jeb! stands up to Donald Trump.
• Mike Huckabee tells youth to get off their butts and fight ISIS.
• Sam Seder: Ben Carson’s bizarre analogy between carpet bombing and brain surgery.
• Richard Fowler: Ben Carson hates transgender people.
• Michael Brooks: Ben Carson does a perfect impression of an incoherent Ben Carson.
• Young Turks: Biggest loser of the debate was Rubio.
• Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins: No, Marco Rubio is not surging; stop pretending he’s “a thing”.
• Jimmy Dore: Chris Christie embraces fear itself.

David Hawkings’ Whiteboard: 2016 Calendar.

Phillip Chang comedy: It ain’t easy being Asian-American.

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about holidays.

Farron Cousins and Howard Nations: Koch brothers attempt to infiltrate progressive organizations.

Young Turks: Judge swears in on Koran to “conservative” outrage.

Climate Summit:

• Seth Meyers: A closer look at the Paris climate change pact.
• Sam Seder with Ben Adler: What the Paris climate deal means.
• Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) celebrates climate deal.
• Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins: Ted Cruz finds someone dumber than himself to deny climate change.
• David Pakman: Paris climate deal reached with huge non-binding goals.
• Stephen: Whoo! The world will stay hospitable for human life!.
• Thom: What is next for climate activist?
• Pap and Ferron Cousins: Sociopath Karl Rove perfectly exemplifies Republican selfishness.

Stephen: Walk like a Putin.

Maddow: Anti-Muslim attacks in U.S. more than double.

Thom: Time to cure 21st century America of its original sin and prosecute Bush, Cheney, & Co.

Adam Ruins Everything: The reason we thing vitamin supplements are good for us.

Thom: The Good, The Bad & The Very Very Clinquantly Ugly!

Merry War On Christmas:

• Trevor Noah & friends: War on zombie Christmas.
• Kids perform an accurate nativity scene.
• Holiday gifts nobody wants.
• Sam Seder: War on Christmas™ update.
• John Oliver: Regifting.
• David Pakman: It’s “Merry Christmas” so fuck off.
• 360 holiday tour of the White House.
• PsychoSuperMom: Jew-In-A-Gentile-World-Blues.

Young Turks: Congressman pranked by C-SPAN Caller.

Jimmy Dore: Your fear is being used against you.

Stephen: Creepy advertisements.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sydney Robinson: Baby boomers brought us this Republican creep show.

David Pakman: The disastrous impact of income & wealth inequality.

Non-Shutdown Accomplished:

• Young Turks: Bipartisan budget agreement gives more to the rich.
• Some thing in the new spending bill.

Thom: The Good, The Bad and The Very, Very Orecticly Ugly!.

Songify the News: The Fish Awakens:

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Maddow: New clues about mysterious buyer of Nevada’s largest newspaper.

Adam Ruins Everything: Why orange juice is so unnatural.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

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