These are the mad political rantings of one Matthew McNeil, Liberal/Democratic radio host in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. The postings are mine, the thoughts are mine. Mostly about politics, but I will occasionally get into raising kids, cooking, gardening, the arts and my favorite sports. Bon Appetite!
Hey all. Another week and it's still light content on the blog because of the Election. Maybe this weekend after Daylight Savings I'll use that hour we pick up to write...who am I kidding. I'll be asleep.
First off, something REALLY important. With the latest Republican court ruling, any absentee ballots received after Election Day in Minnesota will be separated. This means the Republicans are going to try to get those ballots, which includes ballots from Active Duty Military, The Greatest Generation and many others, thrown out.
You can still drop off a completed absentee ballot prior to Elections Day. You can also still do in-person absentee voting up until Monday, and of course you can always vote in person on Election Day.
Some protest stuff for you tonight, but a warning, there is some language! You've been warned!
First off is the insanely good song from Dessa, Tyranny. It's so much for a little over 2 minutes. Dessa is 1000% bad ass; a pure bolide in dark times.
Next up is the Daily Shows exceptional list of Trump's 100 Most Tremendous Scandals. It's shocking how bad Trump has been, how corrupt and incompetent his whole Administration is. If you watch this, which I encourage you to do (it is all verifiable!), the only reason you'd still vote for Trump is because you're a racist and you like how he validates your hate.
For goodness sake, #63 is numerous members of the Trump Administration using private servers to conduct official business. That was the main violation EVERY Trump supporter argued disqualified Hillary Clinton from being president!
It's ONLY number 63 on Trump's list.
Finally tonight, Epic Rap Battles of History features the traditional Election fight. I do think Biden gets the win.
Happy Halloween everyone. Be safe. Watch for the kiddos! Remember to turn back the clocks Saturday night before you go to bed. Have a nice weekend!
Good news everyone! I started a blog entry this week, even got four paragraphs done! Then my week swallowed me up. Seriously, I've had no time to write since Tuesday. Tonight I'm playing nursemaid to my dog who just had surgery.
Short and Sweet! Pod People from MST3K! Actually this might be my all time favorite movie riff. The movie is atrocious and the jokes are non stop. "It Stinks!"
Enjoy!
Have a great weekend everyone.
Remember to VOTE! For more information about voting in Minnesota: www.mnvotes.org
Another week and once again, this is the only new post. Maybe after November 3rd...
I love October. I feel it's the prettiest month, starting with changing leaves and ending with pumpkins. Not only is it my birth month (Libras rule!), it's also the month of Halloween, so let's get scary.
I don't think I've ever featured Monstrum before. This series from PBS puts forward the myths and urban legends behind the monsters we all know and love. Hosted by the enjoyable Dr. Emily Zarka, the series dives deep in to all time classic monsters, urban legends and even modern monsters.
Zarka's love of the subject matter, and her intelligent and well researched notes, make this show addictive. I highly recommend going through her entire series on You Tube.
Tonight, behold the origin of the zombie, which interestingly enough is not so much monster, but more religion based.
To finish out this evening, Cinema Sins small screen cousins, TV Sins, went after 'It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' and it is hilarious. A little adult, so viewer be warned (Probably not for the little kiddos!).
Sorry. Lately there aren't more posts here, outside of the Friday Link. That's because this news cycle is going to blow up my mind.
In his coverage of the Vice Presidential debate, Stephen Colbert made a comment which I had forgotten. Politics is supposed to be relatively boring. It really is. I remember when Obama was President and there would be days I didn't hear a thing from the White House. Today, the news cycles during a single day can have 6 to 7 massive substantial stories which upend your sense of comprehension. There are days when I'll be reminded of a story which broke at 8 AM that morning and I'll ask myself "was that today?"
This environment was designed by Trump and Republicans. You drive people away from the news cycle by overwhelming them with stories, while at the same time you get away with undeniable crimes you're committing right in front of everyone's face, because an act which would've gotten a President thrown out of office in the past is just lost in a never ending steam of insanity.
The good news is this time around enough people have had enough of the constant noise and are demanding it get turned off on November 3rd.
One of the reasons I think the GOP ramped up this insanity starting about 2010 (even before Trump. Remember how they screamed about Ebola?), was Jon Stewart, the former host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central. One of the most intelligent men in media was a comedian hosting what was supposed to be a fake news show mocking the current headlines. His ability to succinctly pierce through the bull that was being thrown at America was refreshing, but also infuriating for the Right. It was impossible to get away with what the Conservatives were trying while Stewart was pointing it out.
I honestly think if Jon Stewart would've been on the air in 2016, Clinton would've won. I'm not saying that to begrudge Stewart. It's just no one else was doing what he was able to do. His (deserved) retirement created a vacuum Trump took advantage of.
First up tonight Stewart's masterful takedown of former New York Times reporter Judith Miller for helping to deceive the US into war. It's in two parts.
And then the interview with Chris Wallace where he tells off Fox News to their face.
That is gutsy, factual and just awesome. Have a great weekend everyone.
Remember all the information you need to vote early in Minnesota is on the Minnesota Secretary of State's webpage, www.mnvotes.org!
I'm feeling emotionally unstable right now. I can't stand Trump. He's a horrible person, a nightmare of a leader, and a man who's undeniably guilty of committing crimes while in office. I don't want him to win re-election, period.
That being said, I don't want the guy dead. I don't! You can dislike a person for their politics, and hope they live a long life. I can say the same thing about the litany of Minnesota Republican officials who were exposed to COVID-19 by Trump and his campaign staff. I dislike your wealth worshipping at the expense of 95% of this country, but here's to your health! I'm consistent. I've wanted people to be healthy and safe from Corona Virus; ALL people.
With Trump's worsening condition, there has been a question of what would happen if a candidate for the Presidency died a few weeks before the election. The answer is unless both the House of Representatives and the US Senate vote to delay the election (something very unlikely), the election will go on as scheduled. The Constitution is pretty clear that only the Congress can delay a Presidential election. The party who lost the candidate could name a replacement, but there's a nightmare of how exactly you vote for that person, especially when early voting has already begun. You can't assume just because someone votes for one political candidate from a party, the same vote would go for a replacement candidate. So if it becomes a write in campaign, the odds they'd be able to pull that off are astronomical.
It boils down to this. There will be an election on November 3rd in the United States, and at the end of the day, either Joe Biden or Donald Trump will win. No one else has a chance.
The other time in American History we had a Constitutional Crisis like this was with the 9th President, William Henry Harrison, better know as the guy who died a month after talking office. A lot of the rules were unwritten then, so we ended up having to create standards about line of succession.
For all your William Henry Harrison knowledge, let's start with the election of 1840 itself, courtesy of Hip Hughes.
From The History Channel's exceptional series on The Presidents, Harrison was the shortest entry, 3 and a half minutes:
Finally, let's look at the life and death of Harrison. Like a lot of Presidents from back then, he made a name for himself killing and dominating Native Americans, including leading US forces as they ran Native tribes off their lands in Ohio and Indiana. Like all history, William Henry Harrison's should be complete, with both the good and the bad.
There's also a lot of question about what exactly killed him. The original story goes that due to his age (he was the oldest man to take the Presidency until Reagan took office in 1981) he decided to have a long and hearty Inauguration Address, going two hours. It was a cool day, leading to people insisting he died of a cold he'd gotten from giving the Address. The problem with that story is that for the first three weeks he was in office, he actually felt fine.
After reviewing the doctor's notes of the illness, the determination was he actually died of Typhoid Fever brought on by drinking contaminated water, a common death culprit from those days.
'Today I Found Out' has the complete story.
There you go, more than you ever wanted to know about William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States, for five weeks.
