Politics
Michael Stipe, Phoebe Bridgers, Hayley Williams to Play Virtual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tribute
Phoebe Bridgers, Michael Stipe, and Hayley Williams (photos by Ben Kaye); Ruth Bader Ginsburg Despite the fact that the COVID-19 outbreak currently working its way through the government possibly started at her nomination ceremony, the GOP seem set on pushing through Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings. Even worse, the move goes against the dying wishes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the iconic Supreme Court Judge whose seat Barrett is trying to fill, and will likely spell the end of Roe v. Wade, the ACA, and other progressive causes. In response, a number of politicians, musicians, and entertainers are joining forces for a virtual RBG tribute called “Honor Her Wish”. Set to take place October 12th (the first scheduled day of Barrett’s SCOTUS hearings) at 8:00 p.m. ET, the event ...
Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Tiffany Haddish, More Celebrities Get Naked in Voting PSA: Watch
Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Mark Ruffalo, and more celebrities have literally stripped down to be “completely butt-ass naked,” to quote Tiffany Haddish, for a new PSA video about voting. In the clip, titled “These Naked Celebs Have an Important Message for Voters”, a dozen famous actors, comedians, and models come together to inform viewers about “naked ballots,” a technical term for improperly filled-out ballots that require multiple envelopes. Some key states in the upcoming presidential election, such as Pennsylvania, have introduced a new rule where absentee and mail-in ballot voters must use both envelopes included with their ballot when submitting their vote. If they don’t, their votes will be automatically void. To help explain the importance of voting correctly to a...
Scathing Report Reveals Jeff Sessions & Rod Rosenstein’s Involvement In Child Separation Policy
Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Before the unfortunate arrival of COVID-19, one of the Trump administration’s biggest scandals was its abhorrent family separation policy at the border. Tuesday (Oct.6), the New York Times published details from a draft of the Department of Justice inspector general report into the administration’s family separation policy. It explicitly details how those involved did not care how inhumane the idea of separating children from their parents was. According to notes taken by people in the room, during a meeting with five U.S. attorneys along the border, Jeff Sessions told them: “We need to take away children, If you care about kids, don’t bring them in. Won’t give amnesty to people with kids.” Jeff Sessions wasn’t alone either in pushing for enforcement of Tru...
Facebook Pulls Donald Trump’s Post Falsely Claiming the Flu is More Lethal Than COVID-19
Donald Trump knows firsthand what it’s like to have COVID-19, and he also knows what it’s like to have the best medical treatment immediately available. Yet, less than a day after being released from the Walter Reed Medical Center, Trump posted messages to social media downplaying the severity of coronavirus. Facebook responded by taking down the post, while Twitter flagged it with a warning label, reports Mashable. Trump’s post to social media on Tuesday morning seemed completely unbothered by the ongoing pandemic. “Flu season is coming up!” it read. “Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations fa...
Indie Venues Devastated After Trump Kills Stimulus Talks: ‘This Is Real. We Need Help’
“It’s devastatingly horrible news,” says Stephen Chilton with the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix. “More venues are going to close — I think the reason we haven’t seen even more venues shut down is because everyone is holding out hope that Save Our Stages passes. I’m not sure how much longer people can hold on — there’s rent, there’s debt obligations and there’s a lot of costs. It’s already been six months with zero revenue.” The news came as a major disappointment for two major independent arts associations who were encouraged last week when Pelosi announced that the Save Our Stages Act would be included in the $2.2 trillion Heroes Act. Save Our Stages would have provided up to $18 million to any independent music ...
Kanye West Offers Prayers After Trump Announces COVID-19 Diagnosis
Source: SEBASTIAN SMITH / Getty Kanye West is asking for civility from the masses after Donald Trump announced that he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19. On Saturday (Oct. 3), the “Birthday Party” candidate took to Twitter to tweet out his well wishes to the current First Family, before noting that he would have done the same thing if Joe and Jill Biden were on the receiving end as well. West who recently unannounced then reannounced his Presidential bid, while still remaining relatively quiet on the political front, also called for “civility across the board” before asking that the nation “come together.” “There’s a crying need for civility across the board. We need to and will come together in the name of Jesus,” Kanye tweeted. “I’m praying for President Trump’s and Melania’s ful...
Sheryl Crow: “If You Really Were Pro-Life, You’d Be at the Border Trying to Help”
Kyle Meredith With… Sheryl Crow Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Sheryl Crow speaks with Kyle Meredith about her new single, “In the End”, and its themes of leading with compassion and the danger of the religious right. Although she hopes for a Biden/Harris win, Crow admits that the money fueling the two main political parties has driven her to become a libertarian instead. Crow also opens up about the freedom of being a commentator with music that has immediacy, her virtual live series, and plans to possibly perform The Globe Sessions LP in full. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wedne...
Halsey Supports Wealth Tax & Voting for Joe Biden in Conversation With Bernie Sanders: Watch
Halsey then opened up about growing up in a “lower class family” and now living in “the one percent,” and how that has shaped her views. “My parents dropped out of college to have me, my father is a person of color, my mother is white, and we grew up in really, really underprivileged situations,” she explained. “My parents had access to medical assistance. I grew up in those scenarios. And now, as an adult, at 26 years old, I’m part of the one percent.” She went on to voice support for a wealth tax and criticize those who are against the idea. “Having that sort of shift in perspective, given the ability to kind of see things from both sides, there’s one thing that I know for a fact. It’s that for me, personally, there ...
Bon Iver Pays Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg with New Song “Your Honor”: Watch
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon (photo by Ben Kaye) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (photo via WikiCommons) Ever the political advocator, Justin Vernon recently launched For Wisconsin, a get-out-the-vote initiative in his home state. As part of the registration drive, the Bon Iver frontman is hosting “A Visit with Vernon”, in which fans nominate a friend who is undecided about voting to have a conversation with Vernon. Video of the first visit has been revealed, and it includes the debut a new Bon Iver song dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Entitled “Your Honor”, the song came about shortly after RBG’s passing two weeks ago. Though Vernon said writing new music is something “I never do anymore,” he was compelled to recognize the late Supreme Court Justice’s legacy. “Times getting sho...
This Is Spinal Tap Cast to Reunite for Pennsylvania Democrats Benefit
The trend of nostalgic virtual reunions is being cranked up to 11, as the cast of This Is Spinal Tap is set to reunite for a benefit livestream supporting the Pennsylvania Democrats. Set to take place October 14th, the event will see Spinal Tap themselves — Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins), and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) — coming together with Rob Reiner (Marty DiBergi). Comedian Patton Oswalt will serve as the evening’s moderator. The event is being put on by the same folks behind the recent Princess Bride table read, which also featured Reiner and Oswalt. That partial reunion (Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, and Billy Crystal also took part) raised $4.25 million for Wisconsin Democrats. The Spinal Tap gang will hope to hit similar numbers for t...
Megan Thee Stallion Uses SNL Debut to Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor: Watch
Megan Thee Stallion used her Saturday Night Live debut to demand justice for Breonna Taylor and publicly rebuke Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his handling of Taylor’s murder case. Midway through her performance of “Savage”, Megan played audio of Malcolm X’s “Who Taught You To Hate?” speech in addition to recent comments made by activist Tamika Mallory, who accused Cameron of being “no different than the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery.” Megan herself then proclaimed, “We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women, because at the end of the day, we need our Black women.”. At the end of the performance, Megan and her dancers raised their fists, and the message “Protect Black Women” was displayed on the video screens in the background. Last...
Jim Carrey Makes His Saturday Night Live Debut as Joe Biden: Watch
Saturday Night Live kicked off its 46th season with a cold opening parodying this week’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with Jim Carrey making his debut as the former vice president. Appropriately, the cold opening began by acknowledging that Tuesday’s debate feels like “it was already one hundred days ago” (in the time since then, Trump has been hospitalized for coronavirus.) Even so, “We thought it was important to see it again since it might be the only presidential debate, and it was pretty fun to watch — as long as you don’t live in America” the narrator explained. Carrey walked on stage wearing Biden’s signature aviator glasses and with fingers guns a-blazin’. He then pulled out a tape measure to check distance between the two candidates’ podiums. ...
