Tag: video of the day
WATCH: Justice Ginsburg’s Epic Hobby Lobby Dissent, In Song Form

WATCH: Justice Ginsburg’s Epic Hobby Lobby Dissent, In Song Form

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke for many liberals and women’s health advocates with her searing dissent to the majority decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Now, songwriter Jonathan Mann is singing for them.

As Think Progressexplains, Mann — who has been writing a song a day for years — took less than four hours to turn Ginsburg’s legal argument into an acoustic ballad.

Mann’s song isn’t completely faithful to Ginsburg’s dissent — the liberal justice never used the term “slut-shaming geezers,” for example — but it does capture the general spirit of the thing.

Ginsburg’s entire dissent can be read here.

H/t:Think Progress

Photo: Nicholas Eckhart via Flickr

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WATCH: Joe Conason Discusses Return Of The Neocons On ‘Hardball’

National Memo Editor-in-Chief Joe Conason discussed the situation in Iraq and the return of the neoconservatives who made the original case for the war, during a Friday evening appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Video of the segment is below, via MSNBC:

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WATCH: Elizabeth Warren Rallies Fight For Progressive Values

WATCH: Elizabeth Warren Rallies Fight For Progressive Values

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) laid out an unabashedly liberal economic vision on Thursday, calling for a higher minimum wage, tougher Wall Street regulations, and other liberal crowd-pleasers during her speech to the Campaign for America’s Future’s New Populism Conference.

Addressing an enthusiastic crowd at the Capitol Hill gathering, Warren decried the “powerful interests” that “have tried to capture Washington and rig the system in their favor,” before laying out her progressive economic platform.

“It’s a simple idea,” Senator Warren said. “We all do better when we work together and invest in our future.”

“We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we’re willing to fight for it. We believe no one should work full-time and live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage – and we’re willing to fight for it,” she continued. “We believe that a kid should have a chance to go to college without getting crushed by debt – and we’re willing to fight for it. We believe workers have a right to come together, to bargain together and to rebuild America’s middle class – and we’re willing to fight for it.”

Warren’s speech clearly fired up the liberal crowd at the conference. Those who hoped that the freshman senator’s vision would lead her into a presidential campaign went home disappointed, however; during a question and answer session after her speech, Warren shot down the latest in a long series of 2016 questions.

I’m not running for president,” she insisted.

Photo: Senate Democrats via Flickr

WATCH: Stephen Colbert Interviews Vampire LARPing Candidate Jake Rush

WATCH: Stephen Colbert Interviews Vampire LARPing Candidate Jake Rush

Florida congressional candidate Jake Rush, who made headlines earlier this year when his vampire role-playing hobby was exposed, discussed politics, Florida’s third congressional district, and — of course — vampires with comedian Stephen Colbert in an interview on Thursday’s Colbert Report.

“[Rush] is running on a platform of traditional marriage, strict constitutionalism, strong national defense, and repealing Obamacare,” Colbert said of the Tea Party-backed Rush in his introduction. “[He] is everything you could want in a congressman — and maybe more than you do.”

Surprisingly, Colbert’s mockery of Rush’s past as a role-playing vampire was not the most embarrassing part of the interview. When pressed on actual issues, Rush badly stumbled. “[Incumbent congressman] Yoho vowed to oppose any military action against any country that is not a direct threat to the United States,” Colbert said. Unflinchingly, Rush responded: “Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Colbert then begged, “What country would you have military action against that is not a direct threat to the United States?”

“For instance, the battle in Syria,” Rush responded. “There’s an adage in military and law enforcement: You never want to have to take the same ground twice,” said Rush.

“Like going into Iraq twice?” Colbert asked.

“Right,” Rush responded.

Colbert then pressed him: “Which one of those should we not have done?”

Stumped, Rush replied: “I don’t know. Wars are complicated.”

After Colbert’s tounge-in-cheek questions about foreign policy and Florida’s “fighting third” congressional district, the host got to the pressing issue at hand: “Sir, for the record, are you a vampire?” Colbert asked.

Rush, slightly amused, responded with a simple “no.”

The full interview is below.

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Screenshot via Hulu