Advertisement

We are this close to winning

The Kochs, the Supremes and the conspiracy to buy our votes

 

 

It’s surprising that the Gateway Film Center isn’t screening Citizen Koch as part of its Nightmares on High Street series. If your politics are anywhere to the left of, say, Antonin Scalia’s, the documentary is as scary as any horror flick.

The title alone should bring shivers to those who see the PAC-funding Koch brothers as all-powerful manipulators of public opinion. Some even blame them for the recent defeat of the Columbus Zoo levy, thanks to misleading information put out their organization, Americans for Prosperity.

Well, maybe they’re not that powerful. Post-election analysis shows that voters had many problems with the levy, even if they weren’t dumb enough to fall for the group’s propaganda.

But filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin demonstrate that the Kochs and other deep-pocketed conservatives do pack a formidable punch. And it’s gotten even more formidable thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which made it possible for wealthy individuals, corporations and other organizations to contribute essentially unlimited amounts of money to the task of shaping public opinion.

A Brief History of Iraq for Westerners

 

 

Iraq was saved from ignorant subhuman barbarism by a gentlewoman named Gertrude at the time that the civilized nations of the world were, in a quite advanced and sophisticated manner, slaughtering their young men in a project now called the First World War. 

Because the Arabs were too backward to be allowed to govern themselves, or even to contemplate creating a world war, and because tribes and ethnicities and religions never really garner much loyalty or support that can't be wiped away with a good cup of tea or a few clouds of poison gas, and because the French were too dumb to know where the oil was, it became necessary for the British to install an Iraqi leader who wasn't Iraqi, through a democratic election with one candidate running.

Activists hope to bomb the world back to ecological health

 

 


 

 

Some movies pack so many plots, subplots and characters into their running time that you just about need a chart to keep them all straight. Night Moves is not one of those movies.

It sticks to three basic characters and a slim plot that could be summarized in little more than a minute. None of this will surprise fans of director/co-writer Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff), who favors subtle character study over action, but other viewers should be prepared to exercise a little patience.

This is the kind of film we used to describe as “glacial” before the glaciers started melting and retreating due to global warming—which, by the way, is something the three protagonists presumably know something about. They’re all radical environmentalists, and they’ve come together to blow up a hydroelectric dam in the Pacific Northwest.

That One Time My Little Brother and I interviewed Waka Flocka Flame

 


I had the edgiest/funniest Waka Flocka interview planned. I had interviewed Waka twice before, and also had reviewed his shows back when the Atlanta rap star was playing the Underground Club circuit. The rapport was there.

I had read various interviews where Waka and his Brick Squad Monopoly camp would invite writers to party with them before shows during interviews. Basically, a member of Brick Squad opens a bottle and then tells the writer to help him kill the bottle. After proving his ability to drink, and bonding Wake shows up and hangs out for an interview.

The Park Street venue location of the Columbus show reflected Waka’s market expansion into the EDM circuit from working with Steve Aoki, and Flosstradamus

So I was preparing for a party sort of encounter.

The Legacy of World War II

 

 

June 6th came once more. D-day was a long time ago and I didn't intend to make anything of it.  I was surprised by the emotional turmoil I felt, by how I felt about that day in my gut.  I realized that while I was born after the war was over, D-day and World War II were a real and tangible part of my childhood.  It was part of my family's life, my teachers lives, my friends parent's lives. It wasn't just old men who remembered it, every adult in my youth had stories from that war. It was amputees on street corners selling pencils and people all around me still dealing with it. It was part of my life and it played a role in my enlistment for Vietnam.  Of course I felt this day in my guts. Why did I think it would be otherwise?

E3 2014: All Scruffy White Dudes, All The Time

 

 

E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo — is where the video games industry shows off all its upcoming games, consoles, and ways to totally not spy on you sitting in your living room in your underwear eating ice cream while binging on Netflix. Every year CEOs of companies like Sony and Nintendo get up on stage and make fools of themselves to show the audience and the gaming public watching online what the future of gaming will be.

And in 2014, it looks like the future of gaming is scruffy white dudes getting angry about things.

Nintendo was the standout this year. They showed up with a demo of the latest Super Smash Bros game, a teaser for a new Legend of Zelda with a well-rounded cast of playable characters, and Splatoon, a family-friendly paint-shooter featuring adorable kids who turn into squids.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS