Once again, it's time for my favorite holiday of the year, in which we celebrate labor unions and all they have given us as well as honoring working people...and all they have given us.
And for the fifth straight year, I celebrate this day as a proud (and very thankful) member of UCFW #876. They continue to help my family (and every other family in our corner of the business world) in ways immeasurable, through both our wages and our benefits, as well as providing us with job security. Added bonus: We had an incident earlier this year where the department I work in was asked to sign a new set of rules that would apply only to us. It seemed a little bullshit, so I refused to sign it and passed it on to our union steward who promptly called our union rep who promptly called our store management and told them, "It's not in our contract, so stuff it." Righteous!
As I have done for the past few years, I'm going to feature a song that celebrates labor unions, and this year has the extra perk of being a clarion call for the November midterms. This year's is a little new to me, but it's "Better World A-Comin'" by Woody Guthrie (lyrics are here).
Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend: Still nothing on the White House website about Labor Day. One might think Trump and his administration could care less about working men and women.
Weekends.
Workplace safety protections.
Child labor laws.
Retirement security.
Paid time off.
These are things we enjoy today because workers fought for them and won. This Labor Day, let's get inspired and keep fighting for better for working people ✊
EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian government roles.
They include Rob Maness, Kurt Schlicter and Tom Anderson, better known as Cynical Publius.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Apple renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America" on its Maps app — and employees are furious. Insiders say leadership is "resigned" to these concessions, understanding Trump "will f--- with the company if the company doesn't do what he wants." bit.ly/4zK114i
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60+ Cherry Trees were cut down in DC to make way for a golf course for Trump. This act violated a court order. They did it anyway because the law doesn’t apply to this administration. These trees were gifted to the American people by Japan in 1912. More destruction by a criminal government.
Let's be clear: this isn't a win. This is proof Trump put our service members at risk to get Venezuelan oil for his billionaire buddies.
Putting our soldiers’ lives on the line for private profit is a gross dereliction of his constitutional duty.
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/b...
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top military brass has now privately warned him directly: His war in Iran is unsustainable and is draining America’s ability to defend itself from threats elsewhere—and at home.
Google Maps has updated to label Lake Ontario as Lake America for users in the U.S., following an executive order signed by President Trump last week amid an escalating trade war with Canada. trib.al/5axpigr
Over the past year, the number of Canadians visiting the US has dropped 25% compared with 2024. Are discounts enough to lure them back? ft.trib.al/zk0l5Lk
When you’re too stupid to realize that universal healthcare is about providing healthcare to people for free (other than their taxes), not making doctors work without compensation.
In a joint appearance at a regional security meeting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support in wartime and urged that their nations work together to oppose U.S. sanctions.
Gloria Steinem, March 25, 1934 – September 2, 2026.
May her legacy live on in every person willing to speak up, push forward, and refuse to accept inequality as inevitable.
#GloriaSteinem #WomensRights #Equality #Feminism
EMERGENCY EPISODE: Harmeet Dhillon just announced the DOJ will deploy 1,000 election observers for the midterms. The DOJ wants you to think this is business as usual, but I break down why this deployment is laying the groundwork for what comes after Election Day. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZjB...
U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) says Congress isn't doing enough for the wealthy.
"Don't let anybody tell you the people running Congress right now are looking out for the rich. Actually, I think we should do a little more for them."
CBS News’ story connecting the 9/11 anniversary with El-Sayed was blasted as racist and Islamophobic. But inside the network @status.news has learned Bari Weiss praised the piece even as senior staffers raised concerns with CBS’ standards department
www.status.news/p/cbs-news-e...
For the record, George Washington would be utterly horrified at Donald Trump being president, as Trump is pretty much the summation of all the worst fears of the Founding Fathers, come to life. bluevirginia.us/2026/08/sund...
ICE has detained another 5-year-old little boy named Liam in Texas.
Immigration agencies have detained more than 6,200 children since Trump took office.
Our tax dollars should not be used to traumatize innocent children.
On Monday, the Department of Defense was forced to correct a Truth Social post by Trump, which wrongly asserted, through the use of AI-generated video, that U.S. military forces had conducted a large-scale attack on Iran’s Kharg Island. “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” Trump wrote.
U.S.Patriot missile stocks in Europe have fallen to “critical levels” due to the war with Iran. A senior U.S.defense official reportedly assessed that,in the event of a Russian ballistic missile attack,NATO could be forced to“take the hit”because of an insufficient number of interceptors
Source :AP
Without meaning to, of course, the Republicans on the court are giving Dems an assist by keeping the ballroom front and center as we head to the midterms
Reminds voters that Trump cares way more about this than them - and he'll keep talking about it nonstop too
ICE arrests have hit a record high for Trump's second term.
A vast majority of those who have been arrested are people with no criminal history.
Remember that private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group were some of Trump's biggest donors.
They're now reporting billions in revenue.
Nobody ever heard of it. Maybe because he just made it up.
"In fact, hospitals now are doing reverse surgery at my order," Trump claimed during his speech. He added, "They're doing reverse surgery. Nobody ever heard about it."
www.yahoo.com/news/politic...
Trump has opened a new front in his campaign to intimidate political foes — threatening the Center for American Progress with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit over a report concluding that his deployment of the National Guard has had little effect on reducing violent crime.
Do we get to randomly rename stuff too?
"The president lives at the Pedophile House, where he checks in on the latest news in the Iran conflict from the Department of Massive Losses before doing an event with Secretary of Human Suffering RFK Jr."
Retailer Target pulled a children's Halloween costume from its shelves after widespread social media backlash, apologizing for selling a garment critics said evoked racist minstrel caricatures. n.pr/4ivka3L
[Blogger's note: Once again, we have a Friday Night Jukebox post on an actual Friday...but only because I'm a week late. On the bright side, we have back-to-back days of FNJ posts, which should bring plenty of joy to my loyal readers (all three of them)....]
I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray, but when I woke up this morning, could have sworn...I was (lucky seven? days) late again....
Surprisingly enough, my introduction to this week's tune, as with my introduction to the previous tune of his I wrote about, came when the soundtrack to the film that drove his stardom into the stratosphere was released. I will say, though, the first time I heard this week's song was one of the few times when I thought "This is destined for greatness" (or some such phrasing) and was actually correct....
I wrote about Prince in Vol. DLXI (and in a bit of kismet, last week as well), and the only new news in the last year and a half is that his estate is releasing another compilation, on of all days, today (kismet strikes yet again). Pretty certain it will not be the last. On a side note, it is very hard to believe that it has been ten years since his death, though at my age and with my gained knowledge of the passing of time, it probably shouldn't be.
"Purple Rain" was the third single released from his 1984 masterpiece, the rather floridly entitled Purple Rain(for those playing at home, I figured some synonym of cleverly which I usually use for songs and albums with the same name just would not fly for Prince, and yes, I did have to look up floridly as a synonym for purple). The single would reach #2, being kept from the top spot by Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (gag me with a motherfucking spoon). The album reached number one. Rolling Stone ranked the song #18 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" while the album is ranked #8 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." That's some serious greatness....
Fun Fact: "Purple Rain" was originally written to be a country duet with Stevie Nicks. Prince sent her a ten-minute instrumental and asked her to write lyrics for it. Nicks felt overwhelmed and turned him down. Such is destiny!
While I was doing my half-assed research for "Purple Rain," I came across a quote where someone said that it could be the greatest song ever written. And instead of wrinkling my nose and thinking, "Are you fucking serious?' I thought, "It very well could be." And I literally thought of writing that and leaving it at that. Alas, I listened and listened and came across a couple of aspects that I'd like to highlight. One is the majesty of the song--if he'd mentioned God a few times this could have been a hymn sang in any number of churches. Second, the song really highlights what an incredible guitarist Prince was--the work is at once stunning and revolutionary (play on words there...). Finally, roughly five minutes in, when Prince begins his otherworldly ooooooh oooh ooohing, I literally get chills and almost choke up--he reaches that place that fills all the holes in your soul. Amazing. Superlative. Incredible. An eight-minute lesson in all that's good in the greatest of the great in popular music.
Lyric Sheet: "If you know what I'm singin' about up here/Come on, raise your hand..."
WaPo Exclusive:
Ticket sales and fundraising collapsed after Trump's name was added to the Kennedy Center — even as the center's leaders publicly claimed a financial turnaround, according to confidential documents obtained by The Washington Post.
What do you do when you've launched a moral panic about transgender athletes in the WNBA, but there has never been an active trans player in the league? Simple: you start a conspiracy theory about every single woman on the court.
Wise men say, only fools fall in love, but...I'm (lucky thirteen? days) late again....
My introduction to this week's tune was when it was originally released, but it really seemed worthy of the pantheon that is Friday Night Jukebox (as if) a few years back when--you guessed it!--I found a CD of this week's group's greatest hits at our semiannual library used book sale and gave it a listen for a few months. While I had a passing interest in the group prior to my find, I came to appreciate their talent for bitchin' pop tunes a lot more after careful listening as I drove back and forth to work. Almost makes the daily grind worth the while....
The Bangles formed in Los Angeles in 1981, with its original lineup of Susanna Hoffs,Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson (yes, sisters), and Annette Zilinskas. Zilinskas left in 1983 and was replaced by Michael Steele, thus forming what is considered to be their classic lineup. The band released its first album to good reviews and no sales in 1984, but their follow up made them stars. They'd release one more album before disbanding in the face of internal tensions. They would reunite in 1998 and release two more albums, and have been togethers ever since, though Steele left in 2005, and Zilinskas rejoined in 2018. For their career, the Bangles have released five albums (with one hitting the top five), one EP, ten compilations, and twenty-five singles (with two #1's and three more top five). Along with the Go-Go's, they are considered by many to have paved the way for the many all-female bands that followed them.
"Manic Monday" was the first single from their 1986 LP, the rather illuminatingly entitled Different Light.The single would reach #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as # 2 in Luxembourg (which I mention only because it's the land of my ancestors and when the hell else am I going to get to say, "So many cool kids in Luxembourg!"). The album was the highest charting of their career, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200.
Fun Fact: "Manic Monday" was written by Prince, who, for some odd-ass reason, decided to use the name Christopher for the songwriting credit. Not sure it made any difference, as everyone knows he wrote it and I'm sure he got paid the many, many royalties that came with such a big hit.
Once again, while doing my half-assed research and listening again and again and again (three sounds about right), I noticed for the first time how wonderful the opening piano is for "Manic Monday" and how it sets the stage for the rest of the song (thank you Christopher!). The song is a whimsical take on the horrors of Monday after your weekend off, and getting ready for another work week. Its melody is catchy as catchy can be, the band's backing vocals are exquisite (especially the whoa-oh-ohs in the chorus), and Hoffs' vocals put the manic in their manic Monday. It's all the joy, subtext, and sex of a classic Prince song, wrapped up in a bow by a very talented group of young women who seized the moment and created a scrumptious piece of pop music pie.
Lyric Sheet: "Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream/I was kissin' Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream..."
JEFFRIES: “We’d like for you to help us make healthcare more easily available.”
KUSHNER: “No, but we’d like you to help us murder fishermen in the Caribbean, get me another two billion dollars from the country that supplied most of the 9/11 terrorists, and put the name Trump in gold on EVERYTHING!”
Oh, honey . . . You didn’t show up to that game to support women. You showed up to opportunistically use women to rudely score some desperately needed attention.
And harassing women is *not* supporting them. Let THAT sink in.
Trump told the Supreme Court this month that he must build his ballroom so he'll have a secure space in case of attack.
But he already has one, former officials say — a secret bunker under the White House. (No, not the one under the East Wing.)
Our exclusive tonight at @washingtonpost.com.
BREAKING: the administration is now threatening in federal court to LEVEL the Kennedy Center if Trump does not get his way
His path of destruction knows no bounds & he will answer for it in court @democracydefendersaction.org @WLG -TN
Linda McMahon: "After the Biden administration allowed schools to secretly transition students without parents' knowledge, President Trump is defending parental rights like never before"
NEWS: Canada is hitting back at Trump’s escalating trade war with new tariffs on more than 700 U.S. goods worth $27.6 billion Canadian, or roughly $20 billion USD.
The counter-tariffs will take effect September 8. Canada is also rolling out new support for workers impacted by the trade war.
"Canada has all the resources we need to pivot and to prosper."
"[the United States] is trying to break us so they can own us. Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on [the US].
We are already giving ourselves more than they can take away. And we are just getting started." #cdnpoli
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
