Like Maria Said Paz: Melissa Etheridge

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Melissa Etheridge

I used to do weekend pieces on music noting five songs I liked by an artist. I figured I'd drop back in on that this weekend. Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge.

1) "The Weakness In Me."

I was on auto-play on YOUTUBE and this song came on. Had never heard it before an hour ago. Really like it and it's why I decided to note Melissa.

2) "I'm The Only One"

This is one of her big hits and one of her great songs. I'm noting the official video; however, this is a song you can stream her doing live as well and never be disappointed. She can alter it a little bit from time to time but it's such a great song that a little faster, a little slower, emphasizing one section or the other, it always works.

3) Melissa covers Taylor Swift's "Lover"

I really never heard this song until Melissa did the cover. It was on the background many times, but I never really heard the song and got the song until Melissa brought her own touch to it.

4) Melissa covers Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman To Me."

Billy Joel wrote some great songs and this is one of them. Stan noted Billy in "Tonight I hand out the Emmys" earlier this week.

5) Melissa covers Stevie Nicks' "Landslide."

"Landslide" is a classic. It was first recorded by Fleetwood Mac. Stevie wrote it and she's covered it solo as well. In addition, Smashing Pumpkins and the Chicks have recorded it.

Melissa is a solid songwriter ("Yes, I Am," "Angels Would Fall," "Come To My Window," "Scarecrow," "Fearless Love," etc) but she might want to consider doing a covers album. When she does a cover, she brings a fresh take to it and, sadly, that's not the case for a lot of artists doing covers. But she makes it unique and she could probably really do a solid album of covers that could make a cohesive statement -- something few are able to do.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, November 11, 2024. White priv seems to be the only thing they refuse to check as Katrina vanden Heuvel and her merry band of fellow racists lead THE NATION further astry.

If it doesn't apply to you, let it roll down your back. I'VE HAD IT. Often a good podcast. A video from it went up yesterday while I was dictating the snapshot because I had pm on the time stamp and not am for the one that was supposed to go up before the snapshot. As I was dictating the snapshot, I learned it was past the half hour and nothing had gone up. So I asked what was new and learned I'VE HAD IT was new.

That video was a disappointment and I'm glad to explain why. Two White Women discussing politics? Love it. Can be great. Discussing entertainment? No problem. We can all use a break.

Hiring someone to hang your Christmas lights?

I would not have okayed that had I know that was the topic -- the title did not make clear what the topic was. I would've said, "Find another Cher interview and post it so everyone knows about her new book that came out this week" or I would've said, "Find a new Cynthia Erivo music video" since WICKED comes out today. Instead, I okayed the video I hadn't seen and there were complaints on the video being posted here. My apologies. I understand and it shouldn't have been posted, my apologies.

What made it so irritating to so many -- I still haven't streamed it myself -- was that the two women are tired of being over talked to -- ok. But not ok when they're talking about workers they are hiring.

Ladies, you're White and you came off entitled and if a butt crack was shown by one of the workers on or around your house, "Oh the horror!" Grow the hell up. It wasn't that funny when Dan Aykroyd did it on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- the humor was always in Gilda Radner and Bill Murray's reaction -- and it wasn't the end of the world when Karen on WILL & GRACE had to 'deal' with it -- she also sprayed the worker with perfume. Karen's a hilarious character but she's not a role model, nor is she meant to be. You came off highly entitled. And like a Karen, in fact.

Again, I did not stream it before it posted -- or since -- it shouldn't have gone up here. I don't mind something not on politics but it struck many as offensive -- as they explain it in e-mails and also in the roundtable last night for the gina & krista round-robin -- it shouldn't have gone up here. It was very elitist. If you think the country needs to hear you complain about the labor -- complain and mock -- you're hiring for your personal projects, I'm sorry ladies, you are wrong, they don't.

I've got a great staff and a wonderful housekeeper. I've noted that many times before. If I didn't have such great support? I wouldn't say a word about it. I'd just never bring up the topic. There are real problems in this world and "We Are So Back" wasn't about real problems.

It may have been an effort to be light and humorous. Making fun of people who work for you? That's really never a good look.

So that's one White woman issue. The other is much more serious.

Dog Face Katherine Krueger. I guess she's being published with her garbage article in THE NATION because she met Katrina vanden Heuvel at the ladies' auxiliary for the KKK?

The last thing THE NATION needed, quite honestly, was another slam piece on Kamala Harris. The only thing THE NATION needed even less? Another White woman writing.

There's a reason Black women are blocked out of THE NATION. I guess we're not supposed to notice that Patricia J. Williams -- the most popular female columnist they ever had -- was Black. And that they have no regular Black woman columnist now. More to the point, Patricia arrived at THE NATION before Katrina -- I believe Katrina was still sleeping with her professor. But one night, she had her torch burning and her sheet covering her face and Katherine had her torch and her sheet, and the two embraced and promised to always spit on Black women.

And that's how racist Katherine Krueger gets published in THE NATION.

She didn't get there by brains or qualifications. Her pre-election days were spent -- you know this, right? -- trashing Kamala Harris.

And her election 'analysis' was to praise US House Rep Rashida Tlaib, "She bucked her Party’s leadership, because she refused to ignore the needs of her constituents -- which in this case meant opposing a genocide." That, racist Kath, wants you to know is how she got more votes in Dearborn than Kamala!

No, dear, she got more votes in Dearborn due to racism.

The Gaza voters in Dearborn are racists and they are homophobes.

It's a shame that so-called left outlets don't want to tell that truth to their readers.

And it's a shame that the reality there -- as it is exposed -- only further lowers support for the Gaza Freaks.

They're liars. America doesn't like liars. They're racists. They're homophobes.

Reality, Rashida couldn't get elected to the US Senate. She can't win a state race, let alone a presidential one.

But Katherine hates Black women -- we know her type, don't we?, the ugly dog faced racist -- and she pretends like Rashida accomplished.

Maybe Rashida did. It was her and her sister that started off the movement to keep people from voting for Joe Biden. Then they turned it against Kamala.

F Donald Trump? Didn't Rashida say that a few years back.

Hey, big girl, let's hear you do that now?

Or do you realize that you're on your own?

You thought some Democrats refused to defend you before?

Honey, that was before you worked to tank an election.

Black women are especially clear on how we owe you nothing. Not one damn thing. Your refusal to stand with Black women? We register it. So you're on your own now. No one gives two s**ts about you.

You stabbed the entire party in the back. You will most likely face a real primary in two years.

You were brave! You were strong!

You were pathetic and you stabbed the Democratic Party in the back and you stabbed Black women in the back.

You stabbed your country in the back as well. Look at your hands. In a matter of months, they'll be soaked with blood because you worked to put Donald Trump into the White House -- a man who hates Arabs.

You have the blood on your hands. You tried to punch above your weight and were just exposed as a narcissistic idiot who wanted to play politics with people's lives and you played and you lost.

I don't have any respect for Rashida. I defended her here so many times. Not only did we not walk away from her when she was under attack, we doubled up our support for her.

It was solidarity and let's stand together for the good of our country -- stand together for the good of our country? Clearly, Rashida's never shared that same thought.

When you make that clear, you're on your own.

So now she's the same as baldy.

Chris Rock's a friend, true.

But anyone who would've been slapped like that? If I saw baldy Anya defending the attacker, praising it, I would have been as outraged as I was. A sitting member of the US Congress taking to Twitter to praise violence at an awards show? That idiot is beyond crazy and isn't fit to serve in the US Congress.

And that's why we don't care about her and don't cover her. Again, Chris Rock is a friend of many, many years.

So Rashida's dead to me and Anya's dead to me.

But leave it to racist Katherine to treat Rashida as a hero.

NATION readers have never been told about the vacation many Black women are taking currently. They have no clue.

Apparently, Katrina wants to keep it that way because she published a racist column from Katherine as opposed to one by Olay, Danielle Moodie, Tabitha B or any number of Black women who could explain what's going on.

Boiled down? Dearborn and Hamtramck -- racist and homophobic communities -- stabbed Kamala Harris in the back. Black women have marched and spoken and phone banked and done everything needed for everyone. But we're not doing your pink hat marches to DC now or your Gaza protests or whatever else. You can't do a damn thing on the left without Black women. And now we're going to work on Black issues. And you can consider us on vacation. Some may never come back -- and more power to them. You have spat on us and you have abused us and we're done. We'll work on our causes. Otherwise, some of us are done -- for a month, a year, four years, forever -- and others of us will work on some issues -- especially ones that intersect with our community.

And that's an interesting story for the left -- even if THE NATION magazine prefers to publish more drivel from the White racist woman than actually explore the aftermath of this election.

I don't know any Black woman that wants the Palestinians to die (I don't know any Black woman who doesn't believe that the Gaza Freaks have sentenced the Palestinians to death with their actions). But we'd been there at the protests for Palestinians. And our thanks for that was a hissy fit from uninformed idiots.

We've shown up every election cycle and worked to help everyone. But racists -- especially White women -- didn't want Kamala to be president so they created one obstacle after another and held her to a standard that they have never held a man to. They think we didn't notice that.

Which is only even more insulting because we're not stupid but we get now that they wish we were.

So Donald orders Rashida dragged off the floor of Congress and disappears her? I don't think you're going to see a lot of support from Black women. You're not going to see us whooping with joy. But we gave and we gave. And when you had a chance to celebrate Black women, you instead spat on us.

And we're not stupid like the college students you've fooled.

Meaning, we were never dumb enough to think Gaza would be settled in an election. We fought apartheid, we fought for Civil Rights, we fight police abuse. We understand long battles. We also got that Kamala would be better on Palestine.

We're forever supposed to support you. Oh, Rashida said something with her foul mouth again and now it's our job to rush forward and defend her or Ilham's in trouble for this so we have to speak out or . . .

It gets old and we don't play. Some White women may want to be doormats, we've got a little more pride in ourselves and our community.

Again, this is a pretty important story. Racists like Katrina and Katherine apparently don't want it told.

By the way, Katherine is on BLUESKY. She got on months ago and stopped months ago. She's a racist so she's forgotten the account and returned to X. BLUESKY is the better off for it since death threats was all she had to offer.

If you're wanting to read her avant racista writings check out out October's "Kamala Harris' Deeply Demoralizing Campaign" -- but only if you enjoy the rants of White women racists.

"At the most loathsome end of this spectrum, some liberals are descending into pure unfiltered racism, seemingly clamoring for Arab and Latino voters to be deported and for Gaza to be leveled as a hateful form of retribution for the election result."

No, dear, we just don't feel its our job to fight for people who (a) didn't care about us and (b) were too stupid to fight for themselves. That's why the Black communities in Dearborn and Hamtramck are boycotting Arab or Muslim businesses. You didn't want to vote for the Democrat? Well we don't want give your our money.

It's so easy for the White racist women Like Kath. In fact, it's been far too easy which is why they can vote for Trump or, like Kath, they can attack -- for months -- a qualified Black woman candidate. They never think they have anything to lose because the nation has always bent to their Whiteness.

So they can't see what's coming. At RAW STORY, Carl Gibson reports:

Thanks to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, President-elect Donald Trump may now have an extra tool at his disposal to effectively destroy any organization that mobilizes against him.

H.R. 9495 could feasibly be used against some of the groups that vocally opposed Trump during his first administration, like the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood and the Southern Poverty Law Center among others. It could also potentially be used against nonprofit news outlets like ProPublica, Mother Jones, the Texas Tribune and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Kath, that's thanks to you and your kind who worked to destroy enthusiasm and support for Kamala Harris with one attack after another.

Katrina published Kath because, apparently, THE NATION magazine is short when it comes to covering White opinion and since the corporate media won't cover White opinion, THE NATION has to pick up the slack?

Is that the lie Katrina, Kath and THE NAION want to put out there?

Here's ABC NEWS.

Three Black women being interviewed about the election and explaining what they saw. Despite all the money we have given THE NATION over the years, ABC NEWS is the one offering more view points and more diversity.

That tells you all you need to know about how racist THE NATION magazine has become under Katrina vanden Heuvel.

The racism at THE NATION magazine is a very real problem and it goes to Katrina vanden Heuvel who would render us Mammies or Maids if she had her way.

She's a racist and her actions bear that out. She is THE COLOR PURPLE's Miss Millie come to life.

THE NATION magazine did not -- and does not want to -- explore the very real issues at play this election cycle.

Instead, it was left to Dr Elwood Watson to do so at THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

Kamala Harris would have been the first woman of any race and the first South Asian person to have been elected president of the most powerful nation in the world. Rather, she lost the election, as well as the popular vote, to Trump, whose coalition transcended racial and gender lines in unprecedented ways as he made notable inroads with people of color and netted a larger share of women’s votes. The nation was provided an opportunity to allow a biracial Black woman to move us forward beyond several years of Trump’s racist, sexist, and toxic style of grievance politics with a broad agenda steeped in hope, concern and access. However, America, particularly the majority of White Americans, said: “No thank you.”

From the minute she was selected as Vice President, Harris immediately found herself in the political fire. Several Republican members of Congress referred to Harris as a “DEI hire,” which is a reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but in this instance, an assumption that Harris became the nominee only “because of her ethnic background,” as Republican Representative Glenn Grothman dishonestly declared. Far right wing conservative activist Tom Fitton reveled in fierce neo-birtherism, by inferring that Harris’s Jamaican and South Asian parents resulted in her being unable to run for president.

The former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne “alternative facts” Conway attacked Harris as lazy, commenting , “She does not speak well; she does not work hard; she doesn’t inspire anyone.”

Republican Representative Harriet Hagemen of Wyoming declared, “Intellectually, [she is] just really kind of the bottom of the barrel.” The fact is that the Vice President is more accomplished and likely more intelligent than any of her critics. A September survey from The Associated Press/NORC Research Center showed 38 percent of voters think being a woman hurt Harris’s chances of winning, and only 13 percent of voters said the same about the GOP nominee.

The claim that sexism and racism are present in the race was amplified last month as Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said he thinks they “still exist” in U.S. politics, citing the presidential race as an example. I think it is an issue with a lot of different voters across this country, and it’s something that our country — you know, we’ve come a long way as in terms of women’s suffrage,” The Florida Democrat said in an interview. “We’ve come a long way in terms of making sure of equity in this country, but there’s still a lot of this bigotry in this country in terms of sexism, in terms of racism. And we still have to work at getting over that.” “Those things are still here,” he continued. “They still exist in a lot of communities, and we still have a lot of work to do here.”

Being candid, there are two, perhaps, the major reasons why Kamala Harris did not prevail, no matter how effective a campaign she ran: racism and sexism. For the second time this century, Americans rejected a woman to lead the nation. If they weren’t ready to trust a woman for the job, they were even more apprehensive to trust a woman of color. The truth is that no honest person can dismiss the fact that being a woman of color has been a political handicap for Harris. Many Americans have never been comfortable with Black women in leadership positions.

It is not accidental that we have had only two Black women elected to the US Senate: Kamala Harris and Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois. Laphonza Butler was appointed by California Senator Gavin Newsom. Just last week, two states, my home state of Delaware, elected Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland selected Angela Alsobrooks, two Black women, as senators bringing the total number of Black women who have served in the US senate to five.

As THE NATION grows ever more racist with each day and as it offers the text equivalent of the garbage and no-thought required remarks of THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP, I have to wonder who is stupid enough to continue to donate money to the rag?

Ben Meiselas (MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK) writes:

As we head into the weekend, you may catch an NFL game. I want to reflect on that for a moment. Before I started MeidasTouch, I was a litigator, and in 2017, I served as the lead lawyer for NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick peacefully took a knee to show respect for unarmed Black and brown people who were killed by police.

At first, the NFL supported Kaepernick taking a knee. But then, in September 2017, Donald Trump gave a speech in Huntsville, Alabama, saying, “Get that son of a bitch off the field,” and claimed Kaepernick’s protest was anti-American. MAGA forces attacked Kaepernick, arguing that his protest insulted the National Anthem and the military.

Kaepernick never played in the NFL again.

The same people who attacked Kaepernick and LeBron James—telling Black athletes to “shut up and dribble”—are now encouraging NFL players to do Donald Trump’s idiotic YMCA dance. A propaganda campaign is underway to turn the NFL and all professional sports into a political arm of Trump. This is straight out of the fascist playbook.

Let’s not forget that Donald Trump encouraged people on January 6 to use the American flag as a weapon to assault police officers. Trump sells American flags with his name printed on them. He even replaced the National Anthem with the “January 6 Choir Song” during the election. All the while, the media gave Trump a total pass, even encouraging his propaganda at professional sports events.

Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to submit or cave to the threats he faced in 2017—and in the years since—reminds me that heroes can rise from unlikely places. It also reminds me that resistance to authoritarian forces is not guaranteed. Kaepernick potentially lost hundreds of millions of dollars for standing up for what he believed in. Will others today be willing to make the same type of sacrifice, or has the idol worship of billionaires who exploit people become the fluorescent light drawing us in like mosquitoes to a zapper?

We knew who Satan was and we knew what he was capable of. So those of you who chose to vote for him at the ballot box or to vote for him with your daily attacks on Kamala Harris (THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, THE PROGRESSIVE, IN THESE TIMES, et al), you're on your own. You can pretend all you want that you're not responsible but you are and you're racists. Being on the left does not mean you cannot be a racist -- as your own actions have made clear.

The country is going to suffer. And it is not racism on the part of the Black community that has so many saying we're on a vacation now (and not doing your free labor for you anymore) or that we're not doing business with you. This is a political response to the actions that you took, the racism that put into action. You're like someone who supported Bully Boy Bush and we're not interested in supporting your or helping you.

The country needed saving and instead of working on that issue, you elected to elect Trump -- by actually voting for him and especially by your never-ending attacks on Kamala and your inability to ever stop yourself and say, "Wait, I've never made these kind of demands on a White male presidential candidate. Why am I doing this to her?"

In other news, Matt Gaetz is done. Despite the support of groomers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and JD Vance, the man America now knows for his 'interactions' with underage females is no longer a nominee for Attorney General.

Far from the nonsense of THE NATION magazine, in the real world, Senator Cory Booker issued the following:

Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation aimed at promoting ethical conduct and accountability for ethics violations within the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Representative Daniel Goldman (D-NY-10) introduced companion legislation in the House earlier this year.

Numerous allegations of ethical improprieties and undisclosed conflicts of interests and gifts, along with refusals to recuse by Supreme Court justices have eroded the public’s trust in the Court and increased demand for more transparency and accountability in the nation’s highest court.

The Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act is a critical first step towards improving ethical standards among the justices and holding justices accountable when they commit ethics violations. Specifically, the bill would establish two new offices within the Supreme Court:

An Office of Ethics Counsel that would provide regular ethics training and advise justices on ethics issues, including disclosing gifts and deciding when to recuse from cases.
An Office of Investigative Counsel that would investigate potential instances of ethical impropriety by justices and report the findings to Congress.

“There is no reason that the Justices who sit on the highest court in the country should be held to ethical standards that are lower than those of any employee in our federal government,” said Senator Booker. “There’s a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court. Public trust in the institution is at its lowest point in decades as a result of alleged ethical lapses and conflicts of interest. By creating a mechanism to investigate and hold justices accountable for ethics violations and establishing an Ethics Counsel to provide consistent advice on issues like recusal, gifts, and disclosures, this bill is a critical step towards restoring the credibility of the Court in the eyes of the public.”

“Our nation’s highest court continues to face an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy, in part because there is no enforceable code of ethics nor accountability as required of all other federal judges,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “I am thrilled that Senator Booker is leading the charge in the Senate to pass my ‘Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act.’ This legislation is a sorely needed step to hold Supreme Court Justices accountable and restore Americans’ faith in the Court.”

“Americans should be able to have faith in the integrity of the highest court in the land, but the justices rely on each other for ethical guidance, and have no one checking their work,” said Senator Hirono. “This legislation will help to address these issues by establishing offices to provide professional advice to justices on ethical matters and to investigate complaints made against them or their spouses. The American people should be able to trust that justices arrive at decisions fairly and objectively, and the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act will help to hold the highest court in the land to the highest level of ethical accountability.”

“The Supreme Court’s lack of enforceable ethical standards degrade and detract from its credibility and trust. This measure takes an important step forward in making the Supreme Court more accountable to the American people by establishing internal offices to advise justices on ethical issues and investigate potential wrongdoing. Basic transparency and accountability—along with an enforceable code of ethics—is urgently needed to restore sinking public confidence in the Court,” said Senator Blumenthal.

“It’s no surprise that repeated allegations of Justices accepting lavish paid vacations and other conflicts of interest have decimated public trust in our nation’s most powerful court. Since the Court has decided to disregard its ethical obligations, Congress must step in to hold Justices accountable,” said Senator Welch. “This legislation is a necessary step toward increasing transparency and accountability in the Supreme Court and restoring public trust in this vital democratic institution.”

This legislation is endorsed by the following organizations: Fix the Court, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Accountable.US, End Citizens United (ECU), Project on Government Oversight (POGO), P Street, Court Accountability, and Demand Justice.

The Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

Let's close with this from GLAAD:

A resolution proposed by Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina misgenders transgender women and targets Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, who is set to become the first out transgender member of Congress.

The resolution seeks to ban transgender women from using female restrooms inside the Capitol, barring both House members and employees from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex [sic].” “Biological sex” is not an accurate nor a scientific term, but is used by opponents of transgender people to dehumanize them and deny their equal access to society.

Rep.-elect McBride responded in a statement and on Twitter/X: “This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on,” she added.

There is no data of any kind to support the claim that inclusive bathrooms undermine anyone’s safety. Thousands of school districts around the country allow transgender students to use facilities based on their gender identity. These policies make schools more safe by ensuring privacy and safety for all students. Charlotte Clymer, trans writer and DC-based advocate, noted, “It remains very unclear how this rule would be enforced, and when Rep. Mace was asked that exact question last night, she refused to offer anything in the way of a direct answer.”

“What I find most interesting about all this is that trans women have been using women’s restrooms in the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings and the White House and the Pentagon for many years now, including during all four years of the Trump Administration,” Clymer continued. “Under Donald Trump’s leadership, trans women were permitted to use women’s restrooms in federal buildings in D.C. and there was never any issue.”

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis responded: “Every member of Congress is elected to represent their constituents and states, and it should go without saying that they deserve the same rights and respect as every other member of Congress, including from their colleagues. The people of Delaware have spoken and have chosen an outstanding public servant to work on concerns they care the most about, including the cost of health care, child care, and housing. Everyone in Congress might try focusing on solutions to improve people’s lives and leading with kindness, and see what progress you might make for every American.”

Rep. Mace’s claims that she supports protecting women and girls conflict with her public stance with her own colleagues accused of rape and assault. Rep. Mace has endorsed the nomination of her former House colleague Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, despite accusations that Gaetz had sex with underage girls, showed photos of women he had sex with to colleagues on the House floor, and accusations that Gaetz participated in sex trafficking. Mace also refused to speak out against president-elect Donald Trump even after he was found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, has been credibly accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women, and has admitted to forcing himself on women.

The following sites updated: