Daddy Yankee and John McCain

My friend Charlotte runs an amazing music review site over at nonewmusic.club, and recently let me share my thoughts on Daddy Yankee's instant classic Gasolina. In the course of my writing and research, I made some shocking discoveries about Daddy Yankee's political affiliations.

From the piece:

"But not as shocked as I was when I learned that Daddy Yankee is apparently a huge fan of John McCain.

That’s right. In a 2008 appearance during Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, Daddy Yankee went on record calling McCain “a fighter for the Hispanic community” and “a fighter for the immigration issue.’’

In fairness to Daddy Yankee, this was before McCain supported the draconian Arizona law, S.B. 1070, which allowed police to arrest anyone (read: any non-white person) who wasn’t carrying identification or immigration papers. But it was after McCain chose Palin as his running mate, so really, what were you thinking, Daddy Yankee?"

You can head over to NoNewMusic to read the whole journey I took with Daddy Yankee, and find out what his song is really about!

Top Ten Supreme Court Cases

Some time ago, before everything in the world got too crazy, a friend of mine approached me to write a post about the Top Ten Supreme Court Cases. I was immediately interested, and we spent the rest of day volleying cases back and forth until we settled on ten of the most important cases in American history.

What makes a Supreme Court case worthy of the list? For the purposes of this listicle, my soon-to-be-lawyer friend Jeff and I have decided to only consider cases that are both ground-breaking and advance people’s rights. There’s no denying that a case like Plessy v. Ferguson is “important” but it also created the doctrine of “separate but equal” which no one alive today would argue is a good thing.

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The Bella Pori Comprehensive Timeline of Openly Gay Elected Officials

It's no secret that I only love two things; politics and gay people. So when you show me an openly gay politician, I don't know if there's anything I love more. But I've been frustrated for some time with the lack of comprehensive timeline of gay elected officials. I want to know who the first openly gay elected official was! I want to know who the most recent was! I want to know who the 25th was!

So that's why I've made my own list, the Bella Pori Comprehensive Timeline of Openly Gay Elected Officials. The methodology for the list is simple. People are ONLY eligible if they run while they are openly gay. That means if you come out and resign, or you come out and never serve another term, you are not eligible for the list. If you come out while serving and are re-elected, you are on the list, but because you were re-elected with the benefit of incumbency, you have an asterisk. When multiple people were elected in one year, the timeline is organized alphabetically by last name. Finally, this list does not include judges. I have a lot of free time, but I don't have that much free time.

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Radi-Aid

It's been a dark couple of weeks since the election, so I wanted to take some time to highlight one of my favorite things in the known universe. Four years ago, a group called Africa for Norway released a charity single to raise awareness of how cold it is in Norway. A group of selfless Africans decided to generously donate their heaters to protect those poor, defenseless Norwegians. If you haven't seen the video, you need to take some time out and watch it right now.

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Fired Up About the Death Penalty

This week on West Wing, Best Wing Molly and I basically spent the whole time reinforcing each others opinions on the death penalty with a few side anecdotes about Tony Hillerman, murder at sea, and Kenny, Joey Lucas' sign language interpreter who is probably my favorite person in any television series. Listen to the episode here, and follow us on Twitter here.

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Everybody Form A Line

Have you listened to our latest West Wing, Best Wing episode yet? If not, go listen to it. I'll wait.

Ok, you're back! Or, you never left because you're an avid West Wing, Best Wing fan and you follow us on Twitter, so you've already seen the link to this week's episode. For the latest podcast, Molly and I reviewed "He Shall, From Time to Time" which was an episode about President Bartlet's state of the union, as well as other personal dramas that we will discuss in depth in future episodes.

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Short List, Long Confirmation Process

Our West Wing, Best Wing episode this week was a topical one, with the recent appointment of Judge Merrick Garland. This episode also marked the first week that we used a new app to record, and as Molly stated "it sounds like we're hiking" so set your techpectations low. 

This episode, we discussed what happens when a president nominates a candidate to the Supreme Court, and why the Bartlet nomination looks different than the Obama nomination. And boy, are there some big differences.
 

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Got A Lot of Enemies

This week on the West Wing Best Wing podcast, Molly and I discussed "Enemies," the eighth episode of season one. And no, we didn't just pick it because I have a minor crush on Fake VP John Hoynes, to go along with my major crush on Real VP Joe Biden.

No, we picked this episode because there was a complicated political issue that Aaron Sorkin didn't really explain. In the episode, Congressional Republicans attach a land-use rider to a banking bill that the White House has been working hard to pass. But what is a rider? And what can the president do when faced with a rider?

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Crackpots

My lovely friend, former roommate, and current West Wing fan Molly, and I recently started a podcast where we summarize West Wing episodes with a focus on the actual policy involved. The name, appropriately enough, is West Wing Best Wing, and the second episode is out now! 

This week, we discussed Episode 5, The Crackpots and These Women, which introduced the famous Big Block of Cheese Day. Well, technically Andrew Jackson introduced this practice, by putting an actual 1,400 pound block of cheese in the lobby of the White House for everyone to eat.

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West Wing, Best Wing: The Podcast

Fondly referred to as the Second Most Popular West Wing Podcast on the Internet, West Wing, Best Wing is a podcast that summarizes episodes of the seminal early 2000s show, The West Wing, with a focus on the policy involved in each episode. If you watched the Stackhouse Filibuster and didn't know what a filibuster was, this is the podcast for you! If you ever wondered if a president like Jed Barlet would ever really get things done, look no further! If you want unsolicited opinions on 1990s fashion, we have got you covered.

For these, and all your other West Wing needs, West Wing, Best Wing is finally here. You can listen to our first episode summarizing the pilot now, and stay tuned for future episodes!