The Child Soldier Crisis: ‘Kids Are Cheap’
1619-2019: From Slavery to Mass Incarceration
Flat Earth conspiracy is growing especially among born again religious zealots
John Oliver Slaps Down Coal Baron’s SLAPP Lawsuit: ESB
Samantha’s Journey Into the Alt-Right, and Back from The New Yorker Radio Hour with David Remnick. I happened upon this while listening on the radio in the car last week. Whoa.
Susie Meister: How Studying Religion Made Me a Liberal and The Reality of Being a Reality Star, from Ken Levine’s podcast
Why use Ukraine to impeach when you’ve got the emoluments clause (and the Hatch Act)?
Weekly Sift: An Impeachment Hearing Wrap-Up
Recognizing Israeli Settlements Marks the Final Collapse of Pax Americana
The GOP Tax Cuts Didn’t Work
As a Veteran, I Refuse to Celebrate War
On Nov. 19, 1863, the accomplished Massachusetts statesman Edward Everett gave a two-hour speech at Gettysburg, but history gave him the shaft
RIP, the great Howard Cruse, from cancer.
Now I Know: The Woman Who Sniffed Out Parkinson’s and The Man Who Won a Trip to Mars and The British Ban on Clapping and When the US Air Force Bombed Montana and How Luke Skywalker Beat the Puffins and Why Did the Crab Cross the Road? and The Poacher Who Got Sent to the DVD Player
Gifts of grace
Ranked-Choice Voting “Allows You to Vote for the Person You Really Like”
Why bad taste is over – An interview with John Waters
Ruthie Berman & Connie Kurtz Residence – NYC LGBT Historic Site
Worker Training Program tackles opioid misuse and addiction. I know Jonny Rosen IRL.
Syracuse University janitor who cleaned racist graffiti replaces it with kindness
We desperately need to get out kids back outside
250 families receive “gifts of grace” to donate to meaningful causes
US Census Bureau: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month
Authentic black beauty
102 Common English Idioms with Meaning and Examples
The Beautifully Macabre Cartoons of Gahan Wilson
Massachusetts Highway Exits to Be Renumbered by 2022
It’s a Musical
Who’s the greatest JEOPARDY! player of all time? I’m so glad this is on ABC-TV in January, not part of the syndicated series
Gone in 13 Episodes (or Less!)
The story of The Whistler radio program
Groucho Marx on TV after the game show You Bet Your Life
MUSIC
He’s Just a Gurl Who’ll Quid Pro Quo – Randy Rainbow
Dommage – Bigflo & Oli; English lyrics to Dommage
Papaoutai – Stromae
I’m Going Home – Sacred Harp Singers At Liberty Church; Idumea– ditto; Sacred Harp and Shape Note singing
The Rock by Sergei Rachmaninov
Mr. Tambourine Man – the Starbugs, from New Zealand
One, a U2 cover, features McKenna Breinholt as the soloist and the 100-person Cinematic Pop orchestra and choir, arrangement of Rob Gardner
Hooked on a Feeling – Pomplamoose
Coverville 1285: The Bonnie Raitt Cover Story and 1286: J. Geils Tribute and Indie Hodgepodge
Metamorphosis episode of Star Trek (original series), incidental music
Rockin’ in the free world, the Netherlands, 2016
Mah Na Mah Na – Piero Umiliani (1968); Mah Na Mah Na – first Seaame Street appearance (1969)
LAY DOWN (Candles In The Rain) – Melanie & The Edwin Hawkins Singers (1970). Full recording.
I Wanna Be A Lifeguard – Blottomoji version
A highlight of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Convention
Tina Turner is 80 years old. The big Interview
The Best-Selling Music Artists of the Last 50 Years
The Census Bureau writes: “The results of the 2020 Census are critically important because this once-a-decade census data helps businesses, researchers, and communities make decisions. The data can help inform where your community needs a new fire department, more funding for school lunches, or new roads.