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!
Howdy everyone, and Happy Easter weekend to all who celebrate.
I'm going to start off with religious content. This is not about converting anyone. You do, or don't do, whatever it is you want to do or don't want to do. I'm Christian.
I'm a person who's desperately trying to wrestle Christianity, a religion based on love, peace, welcoming, compassion, diversity, inclusion, and equity, away from those who constantly use it as a vehicle of commanded hatred. I'm always on the lookout for people who intelligently and honestly talk about religion. John Fugelsang is one of my favorite people to listen to talk about this subject. Wickedly intelligent and funny as heck.
This week I want to introduce you to Dan McClellan, a scholar of the Bible, and one of the smartest theological minds I've ever had the privilege of hearing. This guy knows his Bible, down to astounding detail, and provides the research which backs up his talk. I discovered him on social media and I became an immediate fan.
We will start this Good Friday with two of his videos, beginning with him having an epic takedown of Michele Bachmann, Minnesota's own clown car of ignorance. Bubbles tries to put forward the lie that the Constitution is a Biblical document and Dan McClellan takes her to task, bringing the receipts! Enjoy!
Also, enjoy his video which takes down the notion that Easter itself is an ancient celebration that was forced into Christianity. None of what this guy posted is true. It wasn't, and Dan explains where exactly Easter came from.
Speaking of challenging ignorant people, Jordan Klepper challenges the MAGA crowd trying to make their brand of extremism mainstream. His point about Trump embracing the Jan. 6th Insurrectionists as patriots while also bellyaching about Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem puts a lot of Trump's insanity into perspective. As he says, we can't allow that to happen.
And finally tonight, something to make you smile. Honest Trailers dismantles Madam Web.
Have a great weekend, make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations, and if you do celebrate Easter (like I do) I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I have to be short and sweet this week as I have a lot of fun family stuff planned!
Let's start off with an MST3K! The newest season was a little hit or miss, but I thought the best one of the new season was the first one they did, Santo and the Treasure Of Dracula. This features Jonah and his crew (they had alternating hosts this year, including a few episodes with original boss Joel Hodgson) but this movie is freaking BONKERS!
It's a wrestler who's a scientist with a time machine that goes back in time to Dracula in Mexico. They had me with the line, "he's a Hershey's Kiss in a suit!"
There are some ads on this but not too bad. Pluto TV, which is free, has the entire season. By the way, due to age restrictions on this one, you have to click the link:
Also tonight another great video from John Oliver. I have two kids in college and it is downright terrifying the debt load we burden college graduates with. People who complain about the idea of making college cheaper are usually:
1) Unaware that when they went to college a complete degree cost you 20K. Now that's not enough for a single year at most major universities, and
2) They don't understand that it hurts the economy to have a generation of our biggest wage earners saddled with 30 years of debt, and
3) Most people against offsetting college costs have personal, usually petty, issues with doing it for others.
Regardless, college costs are out of control, and for the record, Joe Biden is trying to do something about it. Here's Last Week Tonight's breakdown of it.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Make sure to keep up to date on your vaccinations.
Let's start this one out with 90 seconds of pure bliss. Here is John Mulaney presenting at last week's Oscars. This is comedy brilliance.
I started out with a very funny bit because the rest of the Link this week is more serious. Let's next go to John Oliver and Last Week Tonight. Two weeks ago he broke down what the hell is wrong with Boeing, and he made a very compelling case on why the Federal Government needs to start regulating the heck out of that company.
I could try to explain it, but Oliver does it so well.
Last video tonight is a tragedy I never heard of before I saw this video. Back in 1866, 16 people were killed when a small creek quickly burst over its banks amidst a massive rain storm. If 16 people died today, society would remember it very clearly for a few years, but time has a way of making us forget. Let me give you an example. When was the last time you thought about the 35W bridge collapse? That was only 17 years ago. Thirteen died, 145 were injured and most of us hardly think of that tragedy at all anymore.
We've had fires that wiped out entire towns, boating accidents (the Sea Wing Disaster killed 98 in 1890), industrial accidents, and our fair share of natural disasters (Armistice Day blizzard). When it comes to major disasters, our memories start to forget them 15 to 20 years later.
But one plea. The grave this guy found near where the tragedy occurred has a Veteran's marker on it. Someone who served is there and has been long forgotten. We should not forget the Veterans. Someone from the US Army needs to get out there and make sure we pay some proper respect.
State Treasures has the story and takes us to the site of the disaster from 1866.
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations!
Hi all! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Let's start it off by giving everyone recurring nightmares.
When I was a kid, there was one character that scared me, and most people, to the core; The Child Catcher from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.' That move was weirdly unsettling overall, but The Child Catcher had kids screaming themselves awake for years. The movie was released in the late 1960s, but (like a lot of kids' movies back then) was played consistently in theaters on weekends up through the 1970s. I must have been 5 or 6 when I saw The Child Catcher for the first time and I remember refusing to look at the screen for the rest of the movie in case he showed up again.
To tell you how scary The Child Catcher was, I remember seeing 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' on a weekend flipping through TV channels in the 80s, and when I saw The Child Catcher again, I froze. Who was the psychopath who decided he needed a hook?!? Even today the character gives me the freaking creeps!
I had placed him out of my mind until The Cyan Man on YouTube decided that we really needed to talk about how messed up The Child Catcher really was. Relive the terror for yourself (and laugh a little too) as The Cyan Man has a pretty funny take.
Also with the Oscars this weekend, let's all enjoy the Screen Junkies guys doing their annual Honest Trailer takedown of the Best Picture Nominees.
And finally this week, The Daily Show sent Michael Kosta to Eagle Pass, Texas to talk with the locals about the real invasion that is breaking them, the invasion of right-wing ideologues that have tormented their community.
Side note: In this video, the Chair of the local Republican Party repeatedly uses a derogatory slur about immigrants. This should be VERY newsworthy, but this just seems to be the Republican Party today. Twenty years ago, this Chair would be run out of the Party. My guess is she got a commendation for her open racism.
Please make sure to stay up to date on your vaccines and be safe!
This week let's start with the SCOTUS' decision to weigh in on whether or not Trump has full immunity from all actions while he was president. It's clear Trump tried to orchestrate an overthrowing of the government on January 6th, 2021 with the intentional purpose of disregarding a legitimate election and installing himself as President. But now he claims that as long as he was President, you can't hold him accountable for any crime he committed while in the White House.
The Supreme Court could have picked this case up in December when there was a call for them to weigh in on it. They turned down the chance then, and now seem to have given Trump a massive advantage by waiting until March to change their minds. This delays his trial until likely Fall, but that will only happen then if they don't make one of the worst rulings in the history of this country and side with Trump.
The founding Fathers CLEARLY did not want the position of President to be unaccountable to anyone, but let's face reality. Alito and Thomas are already bought and paid for Immunity votes. Gorsuch will likely join them. The rest of the Supreme Court must decide if they want to be part of what would be one of the worst decisions in the history of this country. Let's hope they think about their legacy.
This is a great opportunity to revisit what could be the worst SCOTUS decision in the history of this country, Dred Scott. The case involved a slave who left a slave state, was in a free state (at one point being stationed at Fort Snelling in Minnesota), and then returned to a slave state. The law back then was that if a slave was taken to a free state, that slave was then free in the eyes of the law. The SCOTUS ruling contradicted the existing law, basically saying slaves would be slaves regardless of where they were in the US (Free state or Slave state), that Black Americans were never to be considered actual citizens of the country, and the ruling clearly implied freed Black people could become slaves again with zero recourse. Next stop the Civil War.
Sweet Lord was that an atrocious ruling. Taney was a horrible human being.
Crash Course Black American History has the details of the ruling.
Speaking of the Civil War, let's now look at the conflict that freed the slaves and one of the most interesting military leaders this country ever produced, William Tecumseh Sherman. Up until Grant and Sherman took over, Union military leaders were trying too hard to not upset their former buddies in the Southern Military, thinking the South would eventually come around to their way of thinking. Grant and Sherman understood that if they wanted to end this war, they needed to break the South over their knees, and they did.
Sherman wasn't perfect. He was cruel to the freed slaves, viewing his job as more beating the South versus being a great liberator, but he sure did understand how to send a message in military terms.
The folks at '55 Folks' have a great breakdown of Sherman and his war-ending actions in Georgia.
Finally tonight, the Daily Show takes on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s insanely stupid campaign for President.
Have a great weekend everyone and remember to keep your vaccinations up to date! I don't want you sick, dead, with long COVID, or bankrupted by medical bills.
