This week, since the 4th of July/Independence Day is next Thursday, I will post videos that never get old, the Muppets, particularly Sam the American Eagle trying to celebrate the holiday.
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!
Friday, June 28, 2024
The Friday Link for 6/28/24
Friday, June 21, 2024
The Friday Link for 6/21/24
Hi all! I hope you've all had a good week.
The three for this week are all revisiting some of the regulars.
First up is Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. His take on why corporate America is starting to look ridiculous with their botched attempts at appealing to the LGBTQ community at pride, how their stupid mistakes are due to their real master (profits), and how it might be time for them to stop.
As a Veteran, I can relate. A lot of companies try to plaster veterans all over their logos to make THEMSELVES look patriotic. Sure they might offer a minor benefit to those who served, but the real benefit is in their marketing.
Friday, June 14, 2024
The Friday Link for 6/14/24
Howdy all.
I just realized I have not done a round up of my favorite SNL sketches from the last season. I know everyone loved the Ryan Gosling Beavis and Butt-Head skit (and it is on this list) but it's not #1.
#10 - Hot Ones with Beyoncé 2 - Maya Rudolph is just too good to not have at least one of her sketches on this list.
Friday, June 7, 2024
The Friday Link for 6/7/24
I have to make it short and sweet as this week has been a bear. I forget how crazy the last few weeks of the school year are.
RiffTrax is funny as heck!
Do you want content? Here is TWELVE HOURS of RiffTrax!
Sunday, June 2, 2024
2000 Lies
Friday, May 31, 2024
The Friday Link for 5/31/24
Guten Abend everyone!
So today I'm going to start by getting a song stuck in your head. Meet Bodo Wartke and Marti Fischer, two German dudes who seem to be musicians. They made a cute little song which basically is a German tongue twister, Barbara's Rhubarb Bar. These guys are VERY good at singing this, and the beat is solid. It's a cute little thing. Enjoy!
Friday, May 24, 2024
The Friday Link for 5/24/24
Howdy all! I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day Weekend.
I want to start off this week with an instant classic Jon Stewart rant from The Daily Show last Monday. He takes on the LAUGHABLE argument there is an actual Cancel Culture.
People being critical of someone saying something stupid, or ignorant, or racist, or bigoted, or misogynistic is NOT Cancel Culture. It's called Freedom of Speech. Too many people present Freedom of Speech as meaning freedom from criticism. Freedom of Speech protects the speaker as well as the person(s) critical of the speaker. They know this, so as a way to dismiss and negate legit criticism, they insist the person being critical is engaging in "Cancel Culture."
Do you know how you can tell "Cancel Culture" is a non-existent myth? When a TV show was Cancelled, they didn't come back with another two seasons of them screaming "We've been canceled!" Nope, the show was done and that was the end of that. The people who scream Cancel Culture is silencing them NEVER STOP SCREAMING THEIR IGNORANCE. They feign vindication to seem like they've stood up to some mythical mob and survived, yet keep screaming they're being silenced.
When you think about it, it really is stupid.
Jon Stewart did a magnificent job calling it out. In the end, he does point out the one true Cancel Culture group out there, Republicans who will cancel you in a heartbeat if you dare talk ill will of their true God, Trump. Enjoy!
Friday, May 17, 2024
The Friday Link for 5/17/24
This week Stephen Colbert invited Steve Carell onto The Late Show and they revisited one of the best bits to ever come out of The Daily Show, Even Stevphen. This was a take off of the 'Crossfire' style of news show of the late 90s early 2000s. The real news shows were so contrived. They'd randomly pick an issue, one guy would be for it the other guy against it and they'd squabble pettily over who was right or wrong. It was PERFECT for The Daily show to parody.
First up is the Even Stevphen version from this week, a fight over aging.
Also here are three of the classic episodes from over 20 years ago. TWENTY FREAKING YEARS!
Friday, May 10, 2024
The Friday Link for 5/10/24
Howdy all.
I don't have delusions of grandeur. I know Elon Musk could care less about what I have to think, or maybe he does. The dude literally threw billions of dollars into Twitter to stop people from mocking him, only to see it tumble in value because he doesn't know what the heck he's doing! But smart business choices are not his forte. This is also a guy who runs an electric motor company and decided to tell his likely consumer base (liberals) that they're all political hacks. That's like opening a meat-free alternative burger joint and then bad-mouthing all vegans.
The Cybertruck is the latest stupid thing this guy has done. Forget the "truck" looks like a set piece from a 1980s sci-fi TV show, the vehicle is bad! It seems to have an insane amount of design flaws and doesn't really operate well as an urban vehicle, let alone as a truck. The video of the thing getting stuck in 4 inches of snow does not bode well for the off-road durability.
This week, let's get some evaluations on the Cybertruck. First up is Vehicle Virgins with a review which seems to want to be nice to Elon, but in the end exposes a lot of the faults of the vehicle. Who the hell would even think a rearview mirror where you can't see anything behind you was a good idea.
Friday, May 3, 2024
The Friday Link for 5/3/24
I never thought I'd ever say this, but the Friday Link this week features a...MIME!
For some reason the YouTube algorithm gods put Tom the Sea World Mime into my suggested viewing window and I've been addicted. He is a really good mime, a profession you don't see portrayed in a positive light too often. Most references to them today are in a fairly negative light, so when I saw one come into my suggested videos, I had to watch.
This guy is good. Seriously, he is one of the best at this art form I've ever seen. And he makes me laugh.
Maybe that's why I am featuring four of his videos this week. I think we all need a good laugh.
Enjoy the mime.
Friday, April 26, 2024
The Friday Link for 4/26/24
Hey all! I have an eclectic Link for you this week.
I'm starting off with a regular contributor to the Friday Link, Ze Frank, and his True Facts series which talks about the animal kingdom. He's very funny as he unloads a series of weird and interesting facts about a certain creature in the animal kingdom, but I'm incredibly impressed with the educational content of his latest video.
Bees can count? Yes, they can, and they're incredibly smart when it comes to other tasks too. It has a little bit of adult content, but enjoy (what I consider to be) a fascinating trip into nature!
Next up is the VERY R-RATED video for the latest Deadpool movie 'Deadpool & Wolverine." It looks fantastic. Just take my money!
Friday, April 19, 2024
The Friday Link for 4/19/24
Howdy all!
I love Doctor Who and it's been a while since I featured the classic TV show, now 60 years strong, in the Friday Link.
Let me start off with the positive. What Culture, a YouTube Channel that gives us random rankings of various entertainment and cultural categories has its own Doctor Who channel, WhoCulture! They did their own ranking of the best Doctor Who episodes of the modern era (minus the recent specials that just aired) and I have to agree with most of this list. It helps that the list is comprised by the channel's Doctor Who experts. Watch any of these episodes (especially Blink!) and you'll find a lot of joy.
But I will also post the WhoCulture 'best of' version of fan-rated episodes. This one is a little weird, and very 11th Doctor Matt Smith-heavy. I do like The Doctor's Wife and Vincent and the Doctor being included, but be careful with The Angels Take Manhattan. Not that it's really bad, but it's not in my top 30 episodes of the modern era.
I will also post the WhoCulture list of the worst Doctor Who stories of the modern era. The only one of these episodes I disagree with is Nightmare in Silver. I liked that episode, and how they made the Cybermen super creepy (but the kids were obnoxious).
Finally tonight, the Beavis and Butthead skit from SNL. I would have featured it first but I featured SNL last week. One of their best skits of the last ten years.
Have a great weekend everyone. Stay safe. Get vaccinated!!!
Friday, April 12, 2024
The Friday Link for 4/12/24
Last weekend I was in Chicago and had the chance to catch one of the latest shows at Second City, the comedy Mecca which has launched an insane amount of great comedic talent. A long time ago, I did some comedy improv in the Twin Cities and I held my own in the local group. I wasn't the best, but I did okay. The people who were the best absolutely shined at comedy, creating a light that drew everyone's attention. Every time they were on the stage, for even a second, they commanded the audience.
Now consider the comedy improv like baseball. I did a comedy improv which was more like an A Ball. The best move up to bigger improv groups and then bigger improv groups. Second City is the major league of comedy improv. Even at that level, some people absolutely stole the show. Three in particular. I kept asking how are they not on SNL at this point.
Kristen Wiig is one of those people who steals the show with her presence. She is just so far ahead of everyone else, with a natural poise and cadence that draws you in. Watching her in the current season of SNL it reminds me how insanely good the cast from her time at SNL was, back when she was a regular (from 2005 - 2012).
Here are three skits from last week's show and notice how Wiig just elevates the comedy.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Dishonesty
Remember in 2016 when you would see Twitter accounts that seemed like they were Democrats, echoing some Democratic talking points, playing all friendly then suddenly start insisting "There's no difference between Hillary and Trump!" I remember that. I talked about it all the time on the radio show. I would confront the individuals and say "You can't be serious."
Not only would the individuals double down, but they sometimes would make the argument that they wanted Trump to win because "it wouldn't be that bad."
Spoiler alert, it was! It was horrible! And it was only after the 2016 election we realized these were fake Twitter users, manufactured trolls whose goal was to convince Democrats they were one of them, and then try to convince as many Democrats to either vote for Trump or sit the election out (usually with chants of "Bernie!").
They did their job and just enough Democrats decided to not vote for the candidate they agreed with 80% of the time, and instead help install a President they never agreed with.
Well, it sure appears to me that they're doing it again.
Republicans are starting to have a massive math problem. GenZ is firmly against them and their strong base, the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers, two generations with very loyal support for the GOP (cultivated by Reagan), are dying off. They're desperately needing to convince the younger voters they are not that bad or to sit the election out, even as the Right openly takes their rights away from them. To do this, they are going back to the old tool, trolls disguised as leftists whose job is to trick them into either supporting Trump or sitting the election out.
I've already come across a few. I'll be the first to say I can't say for sure, one way or the other, if they are actually plants or just deeply misinformed fools, but regardless you need to be careful and err on the side of caution.
Let me give you an example of this.
Now, once again I am not saying this person is someone intentionally deceiving others. She might just be a misguided individual, but by the time we get to her last argument, I think we'll all agree something is going on here.
This is a profile where I have taken out some information:
I am sure someone can track her down, but I do not want to help her with her links or cash app features. She showed up a few times in my timeline, and even though she says she's on the very far left of the political spectrum, she seemed to make a few good points. She also posts a lot of party and fashion photos. She was a fun account to follow.
And I do clearly see 'socialist' in her profile. When I first looked at her posts, I would place her more in the Democratic Socialist category. Needless to say, you would not think someone on the far left of the political spectrum would in any way entertain a far-right fascist as a good political option.
This morning this post showed up in my timeline:
Friday, April 5, 2024
Friday Link for 4/5/24
Happy weekend everyone! I hope you've had a great week and are looking forward to a fantastic weekend.
This week we start with a person who has become a must-watch when I see a new video or post from her, Katherine Abughazaleh, or as everyone knows her, Kat Abu.
If you have not seen my two previous posts with her, she's a brave soul who watches, views, reads, and immerses herself in conservative media, and gives you a breakdown of the insanity without you ever having to delve into the deep end of the pool. She's fantastic, so find her on all social media.
This week she really dives in front of the bullet for us and breaks down what sounds like an atrocious book, "The Cancel Culture Dictionary," written by some idiot at Fox News (it really is irrelevant who the author is. It's just the latest in keyword-focused, light-speed written, crap sandwich talking point scribblings attached to the latest Fox dolt to keep their viewers feeling like they're cultured).
What makes Kat one of the best at this is how she approaches it. This isn't just a lazy "It's stupid" diatribe. She actually reviews the book like a NY Times reviewer, and by doing so she is much more astute to the failings of this knee-jerk literature. This book is bad, but even Kat finds one or two things she doesn't hate about it. By pointing those rare moments out, she exposes the depths of the word sewage that makes up the rest of the offensive tome. It's a brutal takedown because she does take it seriously.
Kat, thank you for your service. I salute you again!
Friday, March 29, 2024
The Friday Link for 3/29/24
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!
Friday, March 22, 2024
The Friday Link for 3/22/24
Hi all!
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbT3kGtJAMY
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.
Friday, March 15, 2024
The Friday Link for 3/15/24
Hi all!
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.
Friday, March 8, 2024
The Friday link for 3/8/24
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.
Friday, March 1, 2024
The Friday Link for 3/1/24
Hi all!
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.
Friday, February 23, 2024
The Friday Link for 2/23/24
Howdy all! Hope you've had a great week.
This week we start with The Daily Show, but NOT with Jon Stewart (wait for it!). Michael Kosta is the resident white guy, right-leaning correspondent for the show, a role the former correspondent Jason Jones was AMAZING at. I preface this video with that information because he does come off a little jerk-ish in this piece.
With climate change undeniable (See: 2024 Minnesota Winter) there have been a few stories of climate refugees making their way to northern Minnesota and the beautiful city of Duluth. I love Duluth but it is cold, something Kosta plays up here in a piece about the city as a refuge.
It's a little punching down, but I think Duluth looks good at the end of it. And they did make Kosta do a polar plunge!
Friday, February 16, 2024
The Friday Link for 2/16/24
We delve into familiar territory with this week's Friday Link as we get the best of the Super Bowl Ads.
These are my picks for the best ones from last weekend's game, and FYI the Arnold Schwarzenegger State Farm ad and the Beyonce Verizon ad finished 4 and 5.
Number 3 for me was the Booking.com ad featuring Tina Fey. Forget the 30-second ad from the game and focus on the 90-second MUCH better version:
Friday, February 9, 2024
The Friday Link for 2/9/24
Friday, February 2, 2024
The Friday Link for 2/2/24
Hi all! Tonight it's all political on the Friday Link, starting with what might be the smartest mind in political analysis today, Kat Abu!
Katherine Abughazaleh, or as she goes by on social media Kat Abu, is wonderful! Here is a link to the full bio piece Huffington Post did on her last year (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kat-abu-the-tiktoker-mocking-fox-news-just-for-funsies_n_644c0f85e4b04997b577b4c2). Basically this poor woman subjects herself to watching Fox News and breaks down the network's stupidity, so you don't have to watch it. How she manages that without going crazy remains to be seen.
But what makes Kat exceptional is how she takes a complicated issue, breaks it down into almost Hemingway-esque minimalism, and conveys it to the average social media viewer in a completeness that puts a long New York Times article to shame.
Case in point, she tackles the lie that "shoplifting is destroying the retail sector." It's not, and not only does she expose that truth, but then expertly links it back to how this lie is just greedy executives trying to cover their company's disappointing earnings. AND SHE DID IT IN 2:18!!! I'm 55 years old and have 30 years of radio under me and I only wish I could be so clean with a topic.
Friday, January 26, 2024
The Friday link for 1/26/24
This week we start with a weird phenomenon in online video posting, the popularity of mowing/yard clean up videos.
We've all seen that house where the grass and yard are overgrown and it's the neighborhood eyesore. I actually have one a few blocks from my house, a place that was foreclosed on in 2009 and has sat empty ever since. A few times it's been mowed, but for the most part it stays overgrown more often than not.
As bad as it gets, it's still nowhere as bad as some of the houses featured in the videos from SB Mowing. This is a guy who goes around (he started in Kansas but I am not sure if he exclusively mows there or goes around the country), finds the most overgrown yards he can, and then trims them back for free. The transformations are incredible and it is a ton of work. I think the popularity of these videos comes from the idea of bringing order from chaos.
I have enjoyed these videos for a while, but I had not posted them on the Friday Link because I thought this was an old man thing. That was until I found one of my 20-something friends posting one of the videos, telling me they loved watching them too.
Here are two from SB Mowing to get us started.
Friday, January 19, 2024
The Friday Link for 1/19/24
Let's start with the video this week that got everyone in the world of dance abuzz! This is the University of Minnesota Dance Team 2024 Jazz performance from the national championships. The first video is the preliminary run through, the qualifying round. This one features the music more clearly.






