BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Sure, I know it’s a question I’ve kicked around for years, but in light of Rep. Kantor’s election loss I’m willing to ask it yet again if only for its pure “irritation” effect. This time let’s direct it specifically to the real dolts within the Republican establishment (on the other hand, I suppose that description could aptly designate anyone within the Republican establishment these days), those hard-right oracles of lies, injustice and the un-American way; those so-called “influential” conservative media know-it-alls who profess to have all the answers so long as the questions don’t rise above the red-neck line. […]
BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY: Live From Wizard World
We duly deputized the gang from Panic Hour as our Geek Space Correspondents and sent them to Wizard World to ask the really hard questions nobody has the guts to ask anymore. No geeks were hurt in the making of this video. Special thanks to Scrapple TV/Woodshop Films, our partners in new media crime.
WHAT WE DO IS SECRET: Jason Fagone’s Excellent Profile Of ‘FOIA Terrorist’ Jason Leopold
Illustration by KRISTIAN HAMMERSTAD MEDIUM.COM: I first learned about Leopold’s work from Twitter. His profile picture showed him standing in front of the entrance to Guantánamo wearing a T-shirt from the punk band Black Flag. He called himself a “FOIA terrorist”—FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act. I started following him. The range of stuff that zips by on his feed is staggering and kind of thrilling: 140-character dispatches about guards and prisoners, spies and secrets, corporate intrigue, torture and war. Many of his tweets link to government documents he’s dug up. The documents regularly supply ammo to left and libertarian […]
Talking Guided By Voices w/ Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary, United States Of America
Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally ran September 12th 2012. We present this encore edition to mark the news that Carney has just resigned his White House Press Sec. post, with a lengthy, never-before published exchange about 9/11 wherein Carney speaks at length about being on Air Force One as a reporter for TIME Magazine on that day. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Back in the spring, MAGNET’s collective jaw dropped when we learned that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declared, in the middle of a briefing with the Washington press corps, that Guided By Voices was “the […]
EXCERPT: Brothers In Harms
\ MOTHER JONES: After eight years at MIT and a consulting firm, Charles returned to Wichita to learn the intricacies of the family business. Together, he and David would build their father’s Midwestern company, which as of 1967 had $250 millionin yearly sales and 650 employees, into a corporate Goliath with $115 billion in annual revenues and a presence in 60 countries. Under their leadership, Koch Industries grew into the second-largest private corporation in the United States (only the Minneapolis-based agribusiness giant Cargill is bigger). Bill, meanwhile, would become best known for his flamboyant escapades: as a collector of fine […]
ENDORSEMENT: N.A. Poe For City Council
Photo by LAUREN M. WAKSMAN Folks, we got trouble right here in Philadelphia. Trouble with a capital “T.” And that rhymes with “C” and that stands for CORRUPTION. All the major institutions in this city are wretched hives of patronage hires, hacks and shady backroom deals. There is zero accountability for the police, the unions, the politicians and don’t even get us started on the PPA. There is just one candidate running for City Council that aims to do something about it. His name is N. A. Poe and he is running on a platform of pulling back the curtains […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Robin Hood In Reverse
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Screw you! We got ours. Get your own. So spews the Republican leadership, and the major American corporations that keep them like Don Sterling f*ck toys, as they continue to defecate on any and all Democrat attempts to raise the standard of living of America’s working poor. Meanwhile, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer fires her just hired (15 months on the job) COO and provides him with a $58 MILLION severance package! You know, it’s sh*t like this that makes one wonder just how far this American plutocracy of ours is willing to go to prove it’s the most selfish, middle-finger-up-the-ass-of-the-less-fortunate, […]
John Oliver Schools The Climate Change Denialists
TIME: Marco Rubio may or may not be ready to hold the most powerful job in the world, but one thing is clear: He’s certainly prepared to run for it, at least in the modern Republican Party. If there was any doubt on that score, it was settled during an interview on ABC News on Sunday, when he checked one of the most important boxes on any GOP hopeful’s job application: declaring that he did not, could not, would not, believe that climate change is real. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our […]
Cliven Bundy Is The Exploding Racist Cigar That Just Went Off In The Tea Party’s Mouth
CLIVEN BUNDY: “I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids—and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch—they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” […]
SMUS: This Land Is Your Land
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Can anyone give me an update on how the native Americans are making out in their negotiations with the federal government on getting their original land holdings returned? Yeah, that’s what I figured — about as well as today’s Palestinians are progressing with getting THEIRS back. But I guess that’s how it goes when the land in question was originally doled out to the ancestors of its present occupiers by no less a grantor than Jehovah himself. One could almost be forgiven for thinking all of this is simply a bad dream were it not, in fact, such a completely despicable […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Democracy, Just Do it!
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY The next time you hear pissing and moaning — from your mouth or others’ — about the plutocratic state of U.S. politics, you might want to ask the bellyacher(s) about their voting record. If the answer turns out to be “seldom or never cast ballots,” you have just spotlighted the person(s) responsible for drowning the American dream. And just to be certain there’s no confusion: I’m not just saying they’re PART of the problem; I’m saying that each and every one of them ARE the problem! Statistics show that if Liberals/Progressives lose a preponderance of elections […]
LISTEN: The Flaming Side Of The Moon
THE FLAMING LIPS new digital release, FLAMING SIDE OF THE MOON is live now in digital form. Designed as an immersive companion piece to the original 1973 album, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, listeners are encouraged to listen to the new LIPS album while listening to DARK SIDE at the same time. FLAMING SIDE OF THE MOON was also carefully crafted to sync up perfectly with the 1939 film, THE WIZARD OF OZ. For ideal listening conditions, fans are encouraged to seek out the original Alan Parsons’ engineered quadraphonic LP mix of DARK SIDE, but it will work with the album on any format. Available now through all participating digital outlets. […]
SMUS: There IS A Class War, And We’re Losing
Illustration by POASTERCHILD BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Question: Do you think it’s good for the American “democracy” to have 10% of its citizens own 75% (and growing more disparate by the minute) of its wealth? I’d prefer to direct this question to the leader of the Republican party, but of course there isn’t one. So far the selection process is only in the I-hate-everything-Obama-likes-more-than-you-do stage which still leaves that most pinnacled of all plutocratic dunce caps searching for a head. So, for the present I guess I’ll have to settle for addressing my query to all of those grand old dragons vying for the cone-shaped hat. Your phony “trickle ‘up’” economics and […]