Friday Stuff

(Yes, I know I’m going back on my promise from last time to show Yemen kids – I’ll try to do so again as soon as I can.)

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us his take on Shep Smith’s reporting on the utterly ridiculous whitewash press conference held by Attorney General William Barr yesterday pertaining to the Mueller Report (and the “illegal leaks” stuff from Barr is particularly stoo-pid)…



…and Lawrence O’Donnell gives us his take on the redacted Mueller Report also, including what may be the most memorable line of all; I think O’Donnell is absolutely right – at least I hope so – on how the Dems will follow up (even thought this is a particularly pathetic response from the party’s “leadership,” though this from AOC is typically spot-on...you can tell how much she hit a nerve by how rabid the trolls are in the comments, misspellings, typos and all) and the Repugs will try to bury everything…



Update: As far as I'm concerned, she's been leading the way on every issue that matters, so I'm not surprised she's ahead on this too (here).

…and Stephen Colbert weighs in also (didn’t see anything else from his show or from Sam Bee)…



…and I thought this was a precious little nugget from history; the Gropenfuhrer comments on the Bill Clinton/Monica Whatsername stuff from ’98 with Tweety…see if you can detect criticism aimed at Number 42 that now applies to our Russian Operative head of state – we’ll see what kind of “Teflon” remains from our current occupant of An Oval Office…



…and I have to admit that I got a kick out of this; if Fix Noise covered Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Deatheater-in-Chief the way they covered his predecessor, it would probably go something like this…



…and this Monday marks the 60th anniversary of the final session for “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis, which (last I checked) was still the largest selling jazz recording of all time (I know the solos are by Davis and by John Coltrane, and I think the pianist was Wynton Kelly, but I’m not sure of the other musicians).

Wednesday Stuff

I know that, at this site as well as many others, we ridicule Republicans (quite rightly as far as I’m concerned) when we think they deserve it, which is just about (but not quite) all the time…sometimes they actually AREN’T horrible, such as the one time out of at least 10 (closer to 20) when Brian Fitzpatrick actually does the right thing. And of course that includes our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Orange Dictator, though I haven’t had a reason to give him credit for ANYTHING and I don’t expect that I ever will. And a lot of that has to do with the typical political/media/Beltway insider BS that passes for so much of our political dialogue.

However, it’s a very different story as far as I’m concerned when stuff in the news isn’t the typical idiotic fodder (such as our supposedly elite opinion-makers bloviating as usual), but matters pertaining to genuine human misery and actual life and death.

And yes, I’m talking about Trump’s veto of the honest-to-goodness bipartisan Congressional resolution (and truth be told, when does THAT happen anymore?) to end our involvement in the slaughter in Yemen (here).

It should be obvious to even the most casual observer what kind of a monster truly resides in An Oval Office these days (oh, and by the way, don’t think he’ll be a pushover with fundraising numbers like this unfortunately). And it is just as apparent that there are waaay too many life forms out there all too eager to let our Deatheater-In-Chief have his way (under the guise of religion, hatred of “the other,” whatever Fix Noise tells them…or any and all of the above). So for that reason, I’m planning to include pictures of the children Trump has sentenced to an all-too-short life of pain and misery with these posts as opposed to snarky cartoons and other memes.

John Iadarola and Alex Emmons of The Intercept give their commentary (and yes, unfortunately a lot of presidents might do this, but we know who is responsible)…



…and here’s further embarrassment from Number 45, this time on his typical idiocy about fighting the Notre Dame blaze with flying water tankers or something (oh, but he’s SO GODLY according to those evangelical sheep, waiting to be led to the proverbial slaughter)…



…well, maybe this is the version of Him who those supporting the Gropenfuhrer truly worship (and about the Vote part, let’s not forget the primaries in many locations next month, including our beloved commonwealth)…



…and yeah, leave it to the “land of the yellow rose” to come up with some wackadoodle who is so pro-life that he’ll kill people for it, as Kyle K. tells us (NSFW - more here)…



…and Seth Meyers somehow finds comedy from this and related nonsense concerning our Russian Operative chief of state…



…and I now give you what I would call a rather interesting piece of musical trivia; on this day in 1971, all four members of The Beatles had a single on the UK chart as solo artists…”It Don’t Come Easy” by Ringo, “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison, “Another Day” by Sir Paul, and this tune (as true now as ever).

Monday Stuff

Mon cœur se casse – there are some days when a news story dwarfs everything else, and this, sadly, is one of those days (here)…



Update 1 4/16/19: Mon coeur est heureux (here).

Update 2 4/16/19: And I think this is well said also.

…and because the “meat and potatoes,” if you will, of this site is political stuff and related news, I give you Brian Tyler Cohen on Chris Wallace and Shep Smith pushing back against Trump BS on immigration.

And by the way, I am SO FED UP with watching Democrats act absolutely flummoxed on the whole “sanctuary cities” thing…the term, like so much other garbage in our dialogue, came from a right-wing think tank…a “sanctuary” city or state obeys the rule of law; someone from ICE can’t just come up to you and say, “I don’t like you, and you fit my profile of someone breaking the law, so you’re coming with me”…bullshit! In a “sanctuary city,” someone purporting to arrest you has to produce a warrant and show cause.

This tells me, then, that conservatives favor “detention cities” where you can be strong-armed against your rights, in violation of anything approximating due process. BUT I NEVER SEE CHICKEN DEMOCRATS ACTUALLY MAKING THAT ARGUMENT!

Anyway, here is the BTC clip…



…and CNN’s Brian Stelter tells us here how the latest garbage about Dem U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar got started (a little uncomfortable with fire references at the moment given the Notre Dame tragedy)…



…and I can’t think of too many other tunes to offer right now besides this one.

Saturday Stuff

It looks like the wingnutosphere is all in a rage yet again over Dem U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar – so, people lose their minds over her saying “some people did things” about 9/11 but the routinely offensive actual garbage from people like Generalissimo Trump, Louie Gohmert and Steve King draw yawns by comparison? Uh…yeah – I guess that’s where we’re at.

For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t get this by now (maybe one or two), please allow me to explain.

Fix Noise and the New York Post are probably the chief operators in what is (I would guess) about a billion-dollar outrage machine in this country. And as far as their “subscribers,” if you will, are concerned, hate is like oxygen to them. In point of fact, Omar could have given a news conference and said, “Gee, I woke up this morning and saw that the sky is blue,” and there are people out there who would still go nuts and say, “OMIGOD, IT WAS CLOUDY OUTSIDE THIS MORNING! SHE’S PART OF A GLOBALIST CONSPIRACY!!”

Well anyway, I thought this was a good response from Cenk and Ana (along with their sadly apropos commentary on the Democratic Party congressional “leadership”)…



Update 4/15/19: By the way, when it comes to Democrats Behaving Badly, I suggest that you follow Lee Fang on Twitter (here) who has been doing great work (along with some other folks) following the proverbial money between the Center for American Progress, the New America Foundation, and some truly strange bedfellows, as it were.

…and when it comes to Democrats with actual guts, I give you this about AOC giving it to the “banksters” in a recent congressional hearing, as Brian Tyler Cohen tells us (this is what actual representation in a democratically elected government looks like, by the way...and so is this)…



…and it looks like the Trumpsters found a way to weaponize the tax code, as CNN’s John Avlon explains here…yet another reason to hate this bunch of criminals; I can personally attest to this…we haven’t owed on our federal return in over 15 years, but we do now - and you voted for this, Bri-Fi)…



…and this is one hell of an argument for getting rid of the filibuster from Dem Sen. Elizabeth Warren…



…and I give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 4/13/14 (I know I haven’t done this for a little while)…the next time you see anything having to do with Dem Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, remember that her former fellow Dem Senator Al Franken, speaking out here against the proposed Comcast and Time-Warner merger (which eventually failed, by the way), who was accused of sexually related misconduct as we know, wanted a Senate ethics committee investigation in response but Gillibrand said no – Franken had to resign immediately…not condoning what Franken was accused of in anyway, but I think this video gives us an idea of just how much of an important voice we ended up losing…and in a related story as they say, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao will NEVER allow a vote on Net Neutrality in the Senate, and I think this is the main reason why...also, here is more on McCutcheon which Franken referred to...Bri-Fi also voted against Net Neutrality, as noted here)…



…and exactly 50 years ago today, this song was Number One on the Billboard Top 40 chart (more here - and yes, this was yet another production with The Wrecking Crew).

Wednesday Stuff

Former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry recently appeared before the U.S. House on the climate crisis, and met with typical wingnut Repug idiocy, as Brian Tyler Cohen tells us (more here...and in a related story, this was a thing too as it turned out...good Lord)…



…and here is more proof WHY OUR STUPID CORPORATE MEDIA IS PATHETIC, Part The Infinity as Charlie Pierce might say (here) – it takes a COMEDIAN to tell the truth anymore, as usual, though I realize Stephen Colbert is pretty damn “woke” in his way (I could feel brain cells dying as I watched that pitiable orange meat sack)…



…and Farron Cousins tells us about the U.S. House Dems standing up to pharmaceutical executives; of course, Teahadists Mark Meadows and Gym Jordan are telling Big Pharma not to cooperate with the request from the party in power in the House, as you might expect…



..and I think they’re coming to the Mann Music Center in these parts in July – might pay StubHub a visit shortly.

Tuesday Stuff

Brooke Thomas and John Iadarola of The Damage Report tell us here about Dem U.S. House Rep Katherine Clark of MA squaring off with Cruella DeVos over the Ed Secretary’s citing of a propaganda screed disguised as serious research claiming that minority kids basically aren’t going to do anything in school but cause trouble – yeah, that’s about par for the miserable course for this regime of criminals, charlatans and fools (more here)…



…and I give you the latest Trumpster fire nominee for the Federal Reserve Board (more here)…



…and Farron Cousins tells us about the departure of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen – don’t let the door hit you on the way out, lady (more here)…



…and I know I already said something about the Dems in the U.S. House (and some Repugs including Bri-Fi) voting to reauthorize the VAWA, but I wanted to note in particular the utter Neanderthal treatment given to Dem U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell, with a commentary from Brian Tyler Cohen…



…and Kyle of Secular Talk tells us about Stuart Varney and some other talking head-ette who are mad at Pope Frank for opposing the Gropenfuhrer and his stoo-pid wall (very mildly NSFW by Kyle’s standards)…



…and last Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana…not trying to sound like a Pollyanna, but try to stay away from the bad stuff and always reach out to try and get help if you think you need it or you know someone who does.

Friday Stuff

John I on The Damage Report tells us how our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Orange Dictator is deciding to face off somewhat with AOC – I largely try to ignore that misogynist methane dispenser taking up space in An Oval Office, but I guess sometimes I have to actually acknowledge his existence…



…and Dem U.S. Senator Michael Bennet stands tall again in the face of more garbage from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao on blowing up the U.S. Senate, cutting the time for debating judicial nominees from 30 hours to 2 hours, as Brian Tyler Cohen tells us (and in a related story, I think Sen. Elizabeth Warren is on the right track here – let’s end this fairy tale that the U.S. Senate, the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” is some kind of collegial place where everybody gets along in a respectful manner…BS; Repugs have been doing everything they can to knee-cap the Dems for decades, and if getting rid of the filibuster helps to return that “favor,” then that works for me)…



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act in the House, and the wall it is likely to run into when it reaches the Senate (related to the prior clip as far as I’m concerned…and to be honest, the actions of Dianne Feinstein here trying to play nice with Repug Joni Ernst are more worrisome to me IMHO than when she talked about the Green New Deal in her office in front of those school kids…and though I have a lot of issues with him aside from this, I have to be fair and note that our Repug house rep Brian Fitzpatrick voted in favor of VAWA renewal)…



…and I’m afraid that we may be looking at the beginning of the “Trump slump” on the economy (terrific), as Farron Cousins tells us…



…and Sam Seder and The Majority Report tell us about some idiot named Roger Williams in Texas (of course…not “born free,” I guess…sorry – a bit of an obscure joke) who asks “if you’re a capitalist or a socialist” and says “Yes or No answer” – uhhh, brainiac? You’re not asking a “yes” or “no” question…just say “oops” and get out…the subject is reauthorizing the national flood insurance program, apparently – oh so clever, this one is…



…and as a parent, I have to tell you that I’m not crazy about the drug references in this song, but otherwise I think this is a great tune for a Friday night.