New Democrats in Congress include:
New Republican Congress members include:
Idiots: “Both parties are the same!”
I’m already sick of these damn Bernie Bots and Russian trolls trying to divide us. “Why Bernie supporters should crush Beto supporters” says one article. There’s another article saying why liberals should abandon Hillary. It’s written by a right-wing columnist, and liberals are sharing it. Really? You want to take advice from these people?
NO.
When progressives fight it’s exactly what the Republicans want.
NO. NO CRUSHING OTHER DEMOCRATS. And yes, I know that Bernie isn’t really a Democrat but it does us absolutely no good to trash him, either.
When discussing potential candidates, there are two big questions:
1. Who do I like best?
2. Who do I think can win?
These are often not the same person. I’ve been voting in Democratic primaries since 1976 and the only time the candidate I wanted in the primary got the nomination was with Obama. And in every single case, the person who was nominated was still better than the Republican candidate.
Demanding perfection and turning on anyone who isn’t on your side 100% means you are destroying the candidate who is only on your side 75% of the time. And then the Republican who is on your side 0% of the time wins.
Stop demonizing the candidates who aren’t perfect in your eyes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying “We have many good candidates, but I prefer X.”
Stop doing the job of Republicans and Russian trolls.
Back when I was young, I was happy to see even one new animated film a year. Now there’s practically one a week.
In the 80s, I started a magazine called “Animato!” that later grew quite large and popular. I got to meet and interview great animators like Chuck Jones and Ralph Bakshi but later sold the magazine, and it went on to even bigger successes until the internet killed all magazines.
So I’m still an animation fan, but it’s basically impossible to see all the films and all the animated TV shows these days unless you’re a full-time animator or animation historian, I guess.
There were some really great films this year I did get to catch, though.
These days, with so much CGI, we can debate what an “animated film” even is, but generally the accepted definition is that the main characters must be animated — not just the monsters or effects. (And “motion capture” doesn’t count.)
So here’s the end-of-the-year list of best and worst animated films (based on their Rotten Tomatoes score). It only includes films that actually were released to theaters and had at least five reviews in order to get a Rotten Tomatoes score. (Lots of bad films go directly to DVD or cable.) Ties are broken by number of reviews.
“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.” – John Lennon
Trump proved that this morning when he angrily tweeted, all butt-hurt because Saturday Night Live made fun of him:
I know, I know … it’s embarrassing how the leader of our country doesn’t understand basic concepts that a 5th grader learns in social studies. The idea that the press needs to be free to criticize our leaders is so damned important that the founders made sure that was the first thing mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but this wannabe dictator wants to silence anyone who disagrees with him.
And despite what he says, Saturday Night Live isn’t “news” although it is protected by our Constitution just the same. (You know — the Constitution. That thing Trump swore an oath to defend. That Constitution.)
Meanwhile, Fox “News” continually airs completely false things (as any watchdog agency has documented many many times) but Trump has no problem with that because it’s his own personal propaganda tool.
So to answer our idiot-in-chief: It is absolutely legal. Maybe if you had the slightest bit of knowledge and experience for the job you currently hold, you would know that, you incompetent corrupt baboon.
Merry War on Christmas, everybody!
Anger drives ratings, as Fox News is well aware. And that’s why they created the War on Christmas. Those poor Christians, being attacked and persecuted and treated terribly — how awful it must be to be a discriminated against majority. All those laws requiring people to never say “Merry Christmas” … oh wait.
cartoon by Pat Bagley
Every example Fox News gives for a “War on Christmas” always boils down to something like “They won’t let us force kids to sing our religious songs!” or “They say ‘Happy Holidays’ which acknowledges that not everyone is a Christian and therefore they are attacking us!” or “They are refusing to allow us to use taxpayer dollars for a religious display.”
So for six years now, I have challenged anyone to give me an example of a real “attack on Christmas,” because every one of these examples is, in reality, fought in defense. You wouldn’t even hear about them if these particular Christians weren’t trying to require everyone to obey their beliefs.
Or else they’ll point out one misguided grinch who complains about a decoration or something as if that was evidence of a vast, coordinated attack. This year, they’re trotting out an elementary school principal who, in an effort to avoid controversy, banned even secular representations of Christmas such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees. She changed her position once people complained, but that was hardly a “war on Christmas” as much as it was someone who understood that religion does not belong in a public school but mistakenly went too far.
And this in no way prevented any family from celebrating their religion in any way they wanted to on their own.
So there’s my yearly challenge: find me one example of anyone trying to prevent people from celebrating a religious Christmas. Just one.
I have a feeling I know what the result will once again be.
(And yes, of course, just to clarify: #notallChristians)
ventrellaquest.com 