Sometimes the best way to make a point is with humour …
Tag Archives: Stephen Colbert
Oh, The Irony …
On February 13, 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly, leaving the Supreme Court with an open seat. President Barack Obama nominated a moderate, middle-of-the-road judge, Merrick Garland, to replace Scalia. However, the Senate, led by none other than Mitch McConnell, not only refused to confirm Garland, but refused to even schedule interviews with him, let alone hold a confirmation hearing. McConnell said that, with less than a year left in Obama’s term, the empty seat on the bench should be left vacant until a new president was elected.
Fast forward to 2019 when the House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed Trumps accounting firm, Mazars, for some portion of Trump’s financial records. Trump filed a lawsuit in order to keep Mazars from handing over the subpoenaed records. That suit came before Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Long story short, on Monday Judge Mehta upheld the subpoena and ordered Mazars to turn over the requested records, saying that the committee had demonstrated a facially valid legislative purpose for its investigation and the issuance of the subpoena.
“It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a president for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry.”
Trump, predictably, called the judge’s ruling “crazy” and once again blamed Obama for his troubles …
“We think it’s totally the wrong decision by, obviously, an Obama-appointed judge.”
Naturally, Trump’s lawyers immediately filed an appeal asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case and overturn Judge Mehta’s ruling. Judge Merrick Garland serves as the chief judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Let that one sink in.
Now, before you begin jumping for joy, talking about poetic justice (pun intended) and all, let me urge caution, for there is no guarantee that Garland will be one of the three judges who will hear the case. And even if he is one of the three, Merrick Garland is a man of integrity, unlike some others, who will follow the letter of the law and not let past grievances colour his judgement. But take some pleasure in the knowledge that Trump likely had nightmares last night in which Judge Garland was banging his gavel on Trump’s head!
And just for kicks, take a look at Stephen Colbert’s and Jimmy Kimmel’s take on this whole thing … both are guaranteed to bring you a few deep belly laughs!
Trump’s E-Score?
I struggled to focus tonight, being tired, tired of Trump, and in rather a black mood. But then, thanks to our friend Ellen, I found something with which to amuse you, my friends! Y’know, late night comedians like Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers, John Oliver and others are much the same as the political cartoonists we all enjoy — they can say so much with humour. Good ol’ Stephen Colbert is always good for some laughs, and Friday night’s monologue is no exception. So, grab a fresh cup of coffee and spend a few minutes having a few laughs at Trump’s expense! Thank you, Ellen, for pointing me in this direction!
Steve King Strikes Again!
Back when I was still doing my Idiot of the Week posts, in March 2017 to be exact, I awarded Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award to a member of Congress named Steve King of Iowa. Mr. King apparently appreciated the award so much that he keeps flitting across my radar, begging to be given some additional recognition, it would seem. All I can say is that he’s lucky I don’t live in his home state of Iowa!
Let’s face it … any representative that earns a score of zero from the Humane Society, but an ‘A’ rating from the NRA is not somebody you’re really going to look up to! Now, King has a reputation, well-earned, of being a racist and a bigot. He is firmly against LGBT rights, has spoken cruelly against Mexicans in general, against Muslims, was against President Obama because of his ethnicity, loves Donald Trump, supports racial profiling, is a climate-change denier and … need I go on? There is a word for people of his ilk … it starts with a ‘J’, ends with another word for a donkey, and if I have to tell you what it is, then you are in the wrong blog!
So, what has King done now, you ask, to ruffle the Filosofa’s feathers? Back in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit both the Florida and Louisiana coasts and nearly devastated much of New Orleans, as parts of the levee system were breached, King was one of 11 members of Congress who voted against a federal aid package for New Orleans. On Thursday, 14 years after the devastating hurricane that took the lives of at least 1,500 in Louisiana alone, King spoke at a Town Hall meeting in his district.
“Here’s what FEMA tells me. We go to a place like New Orleans, and everybody’s looking around saying, ‘Who’s going to help me? Who’s going to help me?’ We go to a place like Iowa, and we go, we go see, knock on the door at, say, I’ll make up a name, John’s place, and say, ‘John, you got water in your basement, we can write you a check, we can help you.’ And John will say, ‘Well, wait a minute, let me get my boots. It’s Joe that needs help. Let’s go down to his place and help him.'”
What. A. Jerk. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), by the way, denies his claim. It should be noted that King’s state, Iowa, is predominantly white, whereas New Orleans is 60% African-American. If New Orleans were predominantly white, King would almost certainly not have made such a ridiculous statement.
Once again, as has happened multiple times in the past year, his fellow republicans took him to task. Representative Steve Scalise, whose district includes parts of New Orleans, said …
“His comments about Katrina victims are absurd and offensive, and are a complete contradiction to the strength and resilience the people of New Orleans demonstrated to the entire nation in the wake of the total devastation they experienced.”
Last weekend, King came under fire for this Facebook post …
Nice, huh? And in January he was stripped of his committee assignments in the House for white supremacist remarks he made. When asked about an apology for his remarks, he refused to apologize. Even Mitch McConnell condemned King’s remarks …
“There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind. I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. Representative King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position. If he doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive, he should find another line of work.”
The late night hosts didn’t miss the opportunity …
The people of Iowa have elected this doofus nine times now! This nation is undergoing a very tense, divisive time and the very last thing we need is an obnoxious white supremacist with a loud mouth in Congress, for we already have one in the White House. Iowans … PLEASE remove your heads from your patooties, wake up, and vote Mr. King out of Congress next year!!!
Trump Is Leading Cause Of Depression In Americans
I saw this on Twitter earlier this afternoon, and enjoyed the bit of tongue-in-cheek humour, so I thought you guys might enjoy it also! Thank you, Austin, for this post and for your generous permission to share it with my readers!
According to a new report, President Trump is now the leading cause of depression in Americans, Modern Philosophers
The study, released by the Department Utilizing Statistics and Tables (DUST), revealed that Trump caused depression in more Americans than the next four items on the list combined.
Here is the rest of the Top 5:
2. Finances.
3. Realizing that you are trapped in a dead end job because of your finances.
4. Listening to someone from an older generation tell stories about the good old days.
5. Watching an episode of This Is Us.
The White House has yet to release a statement about the study, but anonymous sources have revealed that President Trump was ecstatic to top the list.
He was even heard to say, “Obama was never number one on that list!”
Experts have put together a list of suggestions for coping with Trump Induced Depression (ICD-10 code…
View original post 342 more words
♫ Fire and Rain ♫
I love James Taylor’s voice … it is sensual, somehow. It is … as if he is singing to me and only me. I did not know, until doing a brief bit of research for this music post, that he had been heavily into drugs. Silly me, eh … what else should I have expected? Sigh.
Taylor wrote this in 1968 at three different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles’ Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor explained: “The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (that would be Suzanne – explained below). The second verse is about my arrival in this country with a monkey on my back, and there Jesus is an expression of my desperation in trying to get through the time when my body was aching and the time was at hand when I had to do it. And the third verse of that song refers to my recuperation in Austin Riggs which lasted about five months.”
“It concerned a girl called Susanne I knew who they put into an isolation cell and she couldn’t take it and committed suicide.” Her name was Susie Schnerr, and Taylor also explained that it was months before he found out about her death, as his friends withheld the news so it wouldn’t distract Taylor from his burgeoning music career.
In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor added: “I always felt rather bad about the line, ‘The plans they made put an end to you,’ because ‘they’ only meant ‘ye gods,’ or basically ‘the Fates.’ I never knew her folks but I always wondered whether her folks would hear that and wonder whether it was about them.”
When Taylor performed this in 2015 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he and Colbert had some fun, with Taylor explaining that he was still working on it. “I wrote that song in 1970, and I just hadn’t seen that much back then – mostly fire and rain, so that’s why I keep saying it over and over again in the song,” he said.
Taylor then explained that he had never seen a calzone at the time, but if he had, he would have definitely added it to the lyric. Taylor and Colbert then performed an updated version of the song with new lyrics. A sample:
“I’ve seen man buns, Myspace and the Baha Men, but I never thought I’d see a new Star Wars again”
“I’ve seen grandmas reading 50 Shades of Grey”
“Quidditch teams and skinny jeans cutting blood off from my thighs”
Oh my!
Fire And Rain
James Taylor
Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Won’t you look down upon me, jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
To come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, now
Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you fire and rain, now
Songwriters: James Taylor / James V Taylor
Fire And Rain lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
