Displaying 541 To 570 Of 13,190 Comments Weekend Music Thread: Music From Around The World If you’re in need of a little comic relief during the pre-Holiday rush, here’s a young woman who’s gaining popularity daily as a comedienne as well as a legitimate singer. Her name is Colleen Ballenger, and she’s created an ultra-nerdy alter ego character named “Miranda Sings.” Guess this would be in the category of: “From Outer Space.” Here are “both” of them singing a holiday classic. It truly is hard to believe that they are the same person!
» Posted By kesmarn On December 20, 2014 @ 12:52 pm Very pretty! » Posted By kesmarn On December 20, 2014 @ 12:43 pm Love that Flash Hannukah celebration, SLM! The traditional dance steps with the 21st century music! ‘”Oy” is just “Yo” backward!’ Too funny. » Posted By kesmarn On December 20, 2014 @ 12:34 pm Some of the greatest voices of the 20th century gathered in one room for that one, Nirek. What a choir. » Posted By kesmarn On December 20, 2014 @ 8:54 am Awesome, Nirek! The guy with the baby face has the lowest voice of them all! Love the choreography. » Posted By kesmarn On December 20, 2014 @ 8:45 am The Torture Report – An Organization Held to Account…But Not One Single Person They think of everything, don’t they AdLib? Like making sure before they tortured that they got a statement from John Yoo that it was all legal. They’re good at setting up a CYA fall-back before they commit crimes against humanity. Thanks so much for the info on their names. That’s the first I’ve seen of it! I don’t know why it matters to me so much that their names are out there, but it does. None of these people can ever claim to hold any high moral ground over ISIS, that’s for sure. No matter how many degrees they have or how many documents that allegedly provide legal cover, what they did was profoundly morally wrong and the whole world knows it. » Posted By kesmarn On December 11, 2014 @ 7:36 am I just finished reading that article and it really is sickening. We Americans would love to delude ourselves that “our guys” wouldn’t do things like that. But it’s so obviously not true. It would be easy to simply blame Cheney and Bush. But doing things like this required the cooperation of a lot of other people too. From Michael Hayden at the CIA and John Yoo, the lawyer who cooked up the phony legal “justification” for all of it, all the way down to medical personnel who went along with what happened and didn’t strenuously object. » Posted By kesmarn On December 10, 2014 @ 6:22 pm Not a surprising reaction from the rest of the world, is it Kalima? As the details of this horror story are coming out, it just seems to get worse and worse. According to the article, even the Prime Minister of Lithuania is still uncertain as to whether or not there was a CIA torture facility in their country! Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius called on the US to say whether CIA used his country to interrogate prisoners. A previous Lithuanian investigation found the CIA set up and ran a facility near the country’s capital but could not determine if prisoners were held there. How arrogant is it to set up a place like that — apparently without even bothering to get the consent of the “host” nation? When Dubya was in office I remember saying to friends that it would take decades to clean up the mess that he’d left behind in the world financial community, the environment and the shambles of America’s reputation in the world. I think I may have “mis-underestimated.” » Posted By kesmarn On December 10, 2014 @ 2:31 pm I can’t imagine going for counseling to anyone who had that “accomplishment” on his/her resume, Homie. Sounds like a pair of psychologists who need to see a psychologist. Or psychiatrist. Maybe some shock treatment would be in order? » Posted By kesmarn On December 10, 2014 @ 2:19 pm Thanks so much for a very thoughtful and thought-provoking article, AdLib. I read an interesting suggestion today and — honestly — I’m still not sure what I think about it. The suggestion was that President Obama should issue a formal and very public pardon to (at the very least) Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Not because they’ve asked for it or deserve it, but because — in the absence of charges against them — it’s the one way to clearly establish that they committed crimes. Even if for no other reason than the fact that Cheney and Bush would find it incredibly galling to be pardoned by Obama — this may deserve some consideration. Also — I’m no fan of John McCain’s. Not at all. But I have to say that I was impressed by his speech today in support of the value of the report itself and of the public release of its contents. It was really very eloquent and called (for once) on the GOP to heed its better angels. He also countered the usual Republican argument that releasing this report would cause a furious and violent backlash against Americans (especially military) around the world. He said — I’m paraphrasing here — that it’s not as if American servicemen and diplomats are not in danger already. They’ve been in danger for a long time. Doing this is the right thing and there are people in the world who will recognize that too. Final thought — I would really love to see released the names of the two psychologists who were paid $80 million dollars to devise new and more hideous methods of torture. I think they should also return the money and lose their licenses. But that would be a whole other article. » Posted By kesmarn On December 9, 2014 @ 8:41 pm Grand Juries Agree: Police Are Authorized to Kill Poor Black Men c’lady, you are living proof (just had to correct an almost-typo…I had typed “loving” proof…maybe I should have left it that way) that taking a stand against injustice is nothing to be sentimentalized. It’s tough business. It can be dangerous business. If everybody loves you and you don’t have a single enemy in the world, you’re doing something wrong. » Posted By kesmarn On December 8, 2014 @ 6:40 pm I agree, glenn. Politicians can’t just sit back and hope that things improve. We elect them to get things done — to change things that are wrong — and they’re collecting their salaries for nothing if they don’t even try to do that. Today on the way home, I was listening to the radio in the car. NPR had an interview with Perry Wallace, whom I’d never even heard of. He was the first Black basketball player at Vanderbilt University and he chronicles what he endured in the South in a book that has just been published. Wallace says he can still remember the kinds of slurs spat at him: “We’re going to kill you, we’re going to castrate you … People are going spit on you … they’re going to lynch you.” He remembers being called “the n-word, a coon, a jigaboo.” Wallace he says there’s one scene that will stand out forever in his mind: “It is that of what looked like three generations of a family, and all of them were spitting, screaming, calling me names, and threatening me. This was just great sport for them.” Is this ever going to change? Now that the South has gone completely GOP, wouldn’t you love to ask every one of them: “What are YOU doing about this culture?” » Posted By kesmarn On December 8, 2014 @ 6:33 pm glenn, I think you’re making a good point here. Yes, Ferguson and the Eric Garner case are about race. But there’s an element of class here too. Poor whites are not treated much better by law enforcement. And we only have to look at video of the way police reacted to Occupy demonstrators a few years back to see that being whacked with a baton, roughed-up and/or tear gassed for no reason can happen to almost anyone who happens to be on the “wrong” side of an issue. I agree, this is also an issue of police over reach (and over supply with ridiculous military hardware and no training regarding when and how to use it) and income inequality. (When was the last time you saw a cop choke a banker?) » Posted By kesmarn On December 8, 2014 @ 9:48 am I wouldn’t bet against you on that one, Nirek! » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 4:44 pm This is an example of how things can go wrong with Anonymous — even when intentions are good: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/anonymous-got-wrong-ferguson » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 4:38 pm I couldn’t help but note the irony of the fact that the guy who was flakking for the police department tonight had the last name of — Lynch. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 3:11 pm Thanks again. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 2:02 pm Thanks so much, Michael. It’s a powerful statement. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 2:02 pm VB, I think you know that I never said that having a pregnant wife meant Wilson has a license to kill. That really isn’t fair. And I didn’t say that Anonymous had released his personal info. I said I hoped they wouldn’t. A discussion is fine, but I shouldn’t be placed in a position of defending statements that I never made in the first place. I hope the Feds bring justice to this situation. But we need to let them do their jobs first. Not step in and do it for them. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 1:59 pm A completely awesome piece of research, Michael, and just what is needed. Facts. Two questions: may I pass this along (with credit to you) to others? And: in your research, have you EVER come across a case in which a cop shot an unarmed Black person and went to trial? (Much less was convicted?) Thank you so much. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 10:47 am If I may weigh in… I didn’t have a problem with it when Anonymous took over the Twitter account of the KKK for a few days there because it sent a message without causing physical harm to anyone (as far as I know). But I sincerely hope they don’t plan to reveal the home address, phone number and credit details of Darren Wilson. We have to remember that this guy has a pregnant wife too. And that the federal government is not entirely done with this situation yet. The rule of law can be excruciatingly slow and imperfect, but it’s the only way to maintain a civilized society. I have serious misgivings about any group — and for me, the one that I’m most concerned about is Oath Keepers — that offers to interpret the law for us, and then enforce their version of it. “For our own good.” We didn’t elect Anonymous and we didn’t elect Oath Keepers. Which means we also don’t have the power to “un-elect” them. Not a good position in which to find ourselves should we object to anything they do. » Posted By kesmarn On December 4, 2014 @ 10:39 am Stunning that this has happened twice in less than two weeks, isn’t it AdLib? As difficult as it is to get an indictment for a policeman killing an unarmed black male, it seems to be amazingly easy for the person who recorded such an incident to get into hot water. (And his wife as well!) With a little “help” from law enforcement, that is. » Posted By kesmarn On December 3, 2014 @ 8:54 pm What Mandate? Obama’s Approval Rises as The Republican Congress Craters Another excellent article, AdLib. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that a whole bunch of the (few) folks (over all) who voted GOP are waiting with bated breath for January 2015. “Now we’re REALLY going to start getting things done,” they’re thinking. We own Congress and there are going to be bills flying out of there to help the middle class every single day.” To which I respond: Hahahahahahaha. Just wait, nitwit voters. And pull up a chair because you’ll be waiting a looooonnng time for that GOP Congress to do anything for “you people.” They forgot all about you on November 5th. I have a feeling that when the XL shipment of nothing that has been coming out of Congress continues unabated, even these naive loyalists are going to start getting cranky. And — truth be told — I don’t get the sense that the American people care all that much about whether the immigration mess gets fixed by way of executive action, the passage of a bill or Tinkerbell waving a magic wand. As long as SOMETHING finally gets done. All the drum-beating about “lawlessness” is falling on increasingly deaf ears. More and more,it’s going to be a case of “show me the money”! And the GOP is not going to deliver. Not for the middle class anyway. This is a highly unscientific poll, but for what it’s worth, here it is. On the way out of choir practice this evening, a fellow member (who I could have sworn was a Republican) pointed to my Obama bumper sticker and said: “I like that.” “Really?” said I. “Really,” he answered. (P.S. Just one final question: am I losing it, or are the approval numbers for Congress reversed in your article, AdLib? It’s late and I’m tired, so it could be me…) » Posted By kesmarn On December 2, 2014 @ 9:09 pm A Thanksgiving Tradition – 2014 What a great way to spend the day, Chica! » Posted By kesmarn On November 27, 2014 @ 9:12 pm I’m sneaking in just under the wire at midnight to wish you and all the Planeteers a very Happy Thanksgiving, AdLib! See that lady in the Rockwell painting up there at the top? Well, that was me today — except that she is looking way more sexy and glamorous than I am. Especially at the moment. We did have fun though. Even though we had to substitute a long-haired cat for the hair gel game, since we were lacking a dog. Loved this year’s political “thankfuls.” Especially Putin. He is so much the anti-Obama in every conceivable way that making fun of him never gets old. Thank you so much for the kind words. You and Kalima are really the heart, soul and brains of the Planet, and I’m so honored that you let me play too. The Planet just gets better and better as the years go by. A truly unique online community. And one that really feels like family. » Posted By kesmarn On November 27, 2014 @ 9:09 pm Wow! That’s really something to be thankful for, Michael. What great news. Enjoy every minute. They fly by so fast! » Posted By kesmarn On November 27, 2014 @ 8:59 pm The Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Kalima, I did not know that — about the DA’s father having been a policeman who had been shot by a black man! That should have raised red flags right off the bat. When Wilson describes the struggle in the police car, he initially says that Brown was holding cigarillos in his right hand. Then — mysteriously — the cigarillos are in Brown’s left hand as he is allegedly pummeling Wilson with his right. Then — next thing we know — Brown has handed off the cigarillos to his friend and isn’t holding them at all. And that’s just one of many inconsistencies. » Posted By kesmarn On November 25, 2014 @ 5:52 pm Kalima, thank you so much for posting the link to the Ferguson transcript. I’ve been reading it on and off all day. There seem to be lots and lots of holes in Wilson’s testimony, and I’m not even finished with it yet. The more I read, the worse this smells. » Posted By kesmarn On November 25, 2014 @ 5:02 pm Thanks for the update, Murph. How do things seem to be out on the streets of Ferguson at this point? Are you hearing anything? » Posted By kesmarn On November 24, 2014 @ 7:23 pm It’s really horrible. I just saw a tweet that went something like: “Thanks for that statement from Darren Wilson’s defense attorney…” That seems to sum it up. » Posted By kesmarn On November 24, 2014 @ 7:21 pmComments Posted By kesmarn
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