Friday Stuff

(I'm going to be cutting back on posting for a bit, just to let you know.)

I know I mentioned this previously, but here is the clip of John of The Damage Report telling us about “MAGA Mike” Johnson getting the treatment he deserved at Columbia (with Elise Stefanik and the equally odious Virginia Foxx...GREAT points by John about the “party of Lincoln” being totally disingenuous, to say nothing of patronizing, in criticizing the student protests, having typically no interest in dissenting points of view from their prepared talking points...I mean, Johnson and his pals could be in D.C. doing some, y’know, actual legislating that HAPPENS TO BE THEIR DAMN JOBS, but they’re doing this nonsense instead)...



...and for the reality perspective on Israel’s incursion into Gaza, I thought Bernie Sanders was spot-on here (and I was glad to see this...God only knows the condition of the remaining hostages after all this time)...



...and I have to admit that I’m not paying a lot of attention to the trial of Combover Caligula in Manhattan, but I thought it was interesting (as Farron Cousins explains) to hear from the hilariously-inaptly-named David Pecker of the National Enquirer about all the negative stories involving #45 and how they were handled (letting the Trump gang know about some controversy blowing up and how to try and resolve it, a tactic which might actually be illegal, in addition to being immoral as hell of course...as far as I’m concerned, Mango Mussolini should be in the slam already, but this is where we are...sigh)...



...and I should note that I was a bit anxious about the fate of Dem U.S. House Rep Summer Lee of our beloved commonwealth of Pa, but it looks like she whupped challenger Bhavini Patel in the primary, fortunately (Lee brough back a gang of dough to her district and won endorsements up and down the Dem ballot, which had a lot to do with her victory...and truly awesome to stick it to Trumpist sycophant Jeff Yass by the way, who funded Patel)...



...and we were able to get a bit of a refund already from the feds, and I hope you were able to get yours also; with that in mind, Josh Johnson of The Daily Show speaks with tax expert Robert Wood about how we can maximize our gains, you might say...basically, if you own a home, never sell it and hang onto it until you die...got it...



...and I need something kind of mellow to close out the week, and I think this works.

Thursday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore brings us the news of Repug Mississippi guv Tate Reeves proclaiming Confederate Heritage Month again (additionally, kudos to Dem former MS governor Ray Mabus for speaking out against this garbage...this clip pretty much lays bare the ridiculous claim that the “war between the states” had nothing to do with slavery)...



...and Kyle Kulinski lets us know that Newsmax and OANN were recently smacked with having to pay out to Smartmatic and (probably) Dominion over 2020 election lies (terms not disclosed...couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of scumwaffles – NSFW/H)...



...oh, and did everybody catch what Repug U.S. House Rep Tony Gonzales said recently about his colleagues, Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz and the incredibly-inaptly-named Bob Good in particular (here)? And yeah, innocent until proven guilty and all that when it comes to the rep from Flori-DUUH!...but we’ll see, won’t we?...



...and when it comes to bottom-feeders from the “party of Lincoln” in the U.S. House, we can’t leave out Marjorie Traitor Greene, can we, who was recently trashed by Thom Tillis, among others, including “The Mittster” – she looks even worse than usual after threatening to dump “MAGA Mike” Johnson, with the foreign aid package getting through anyway despite her ridiculous threats (Jeff Waldorf explains)...to do something about “Capitol Hill Karen,” click here...



...and Emma V. of The Majority Report tells us about faculty joining protests on college campuses against Israel, starting with Columbia of course – “This is absolutely not one of these times when it’s time to be silent” indeed (mildly NSFW/H)...and it looks like Harvard has joined in also as noted here...additionally, I don’t have a clue as to what the U.S. House Speaker thought he was going to accomplish, but I’m glad he got the treatment he deserved (here)...



...and this tune sure works for me any time of the year, including now (and on any issue also, including the one noted in the prior clip).

Tuesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen presents a clip of Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff going after U.S. Senate Repugs for not moving on a border security bill co-authored by James Lankford, and of course U.S. House Repugs, doing the bidding of you-know-who, continue to act in bad faith (and yes, I know the foreign aid bills, concerning what Rosa DeLauro was saying, FINALLY passed for Ukraine, Taiwan and, unfortunately, Israel)...



Update 4/24/24: I meant that the aid package FINALLY passed the House; as noted here, it has now passed the Senate and Biden will likely sign onto it before too much longer.

...and while Ossoff quite rightly held the “party of Lincoln” to account, Dem Jasmine Crockett in the U.S. House brought the receipts, you might say, in response to typical BS talking points about immigrants driving up crime and increasing the size of municipalities and, by extension, big gumint benefits for blue states, when in reality, Texas grew by 2 congressional seats and New York lost a seat, as Crockett points out, as well as the fact that violent crime has gone down in all categories in Tarrant County and the rest of “the land of the yellow rose,” which shoots down another line of right-wing BS about immigrants and crime...



...and for more nonsense from the “loyal opposition,” John and Francesca of The Damage Report bring us this clip of CNN’s Dana Bash and South Dakota Repug guv Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem trying to evade answering a question about abortion, of course, saying that there should only be an exception for the life of the mother (even though those “exceptions” are basically toothless)...Noem also says that “one tragedy shouldn’t beget another tragedy,” or something, meaning that the mother should be forced to carry her rapist’s baby to term, making Noem one of the most enlightened minds of the 13th century...



Update 4/26/24: Given the corporate media hagiography surrounding her, it's easy to forget what a monster Noem truly is (here).

...and for some truly absurd behavior from the Trump Party, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report gives us a look at the West Virginia Republican gubernatorial primary, complete with some truly ridiculous transphobic ads, which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise, mainly from Chris Miller and Patrick Morrissey...oh, but their PACS aren’t coordinating with the candidates...yeah, tell me another one...and for the zillionth time, KIDS AREN’T GETTING GODDAMN BOTTOM SURGERY as Figueredo tells us...and of course, this Moore Capito guy has to do his own fear mongering on this too...and by the way, what does it say about this guy’s parents, including her mom the senator, that they thought her maiden and married names would be good enough for this guy and he didn’t even need a first name of his own, but I digress (NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know that the Dems won another special election recently, this time in Michigan...yes, as Cousins points out, these were pretty blue seats anyway, but the level of turnout is the key as far as I’m concerned, and we need to sustain that... I know Cousins isn’t telling us to rest on our laurels or anything, and neither am I, but I’m just saying that we should keep things in context, that’s all...



...and happy belated 65th birthday to Robert Smith of The Cure.

Monday Stuff

This New York Times retro video deals with the Columbine mass school shooting...we recently observed the 25th anniversary, believe it or not...I guess, like a lot of other people, I’ll be wrestling with exactly why the ‘90s was a time when (mostly rural) rage on the part of white kids whose brains were broken for some reason seemed to flourish, in this attack, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Branch Davidian siege, and assorted other incidents of violence...more than anything IMO, it’s the damn, stinking guns, but I would argue also that, in the “heartland,” our government’s failed neoliberal policies (and The Sainted Ronnie R is definitely to blame I believe, but he has company on both sides of the aisle), particularly towards our farmers and businesses that built up towns across the country, was a factor also, though there was plenty of violence in our cities too, and that remains the case across the country to this day, tragically...it takes more courage, imagination and will to tackle our gun violence epidemic across this country than I believe we possess at the moment, and I’d love to be wrong about that (more here)...



...and this Now This clip deals with Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), which are pretty much vehicles for wingnut indoctrination and provide no medical purpose for pregnant people seeking an abortion or related services (and CPCs don’t deserve one stinking dime of federal funding – trying to cut that off is yet another good move by the Biden Administration flying under the corporate media radar, if you will)...



...and John Russell and More Perfect Union inform us of the biggest labor win in decades, and that is Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, TN just voting to join the UAW...awesome! Now, onto Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, and South Carolina! (and here is more on the BS anti-union efforts on the part of Repug Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, among others, presented because we can expect this at a minimum in response to other pro-union organizing)...



...and Jeff Waldorf lets us know here that “Capitol Hill Karen” received a warning, apparently, to lay off “MAGA Mike” Johnson from some conservative personality named Sarah Posner, who came to Johnson’s defense, along with this Liz Peek person...jeez, a wingnut “food fight” (pass the popcorn...and to do something about Marjorie Train Wreck Greene, click here)...



...and this clip from TYT shows Dem U.S. House Rep Jim McGovern pushing back against Repug U.S. House idiot Guy Reschenthaler, who accuses Democrats of being guilty somehow of anti-Semitic incidents and sympathizing with terrorists, or some such nonsense...and by the way, when it comes to a ridiculous over-reaction against pro-Palestinian protests, you’d be hard pressed to find a more excessive response than that of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik as noted here...



Update 4/23/24: It looks like U of P isn't doing any better on this issue (here).

...and by the way, Happy Earth Day.

Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins presents an ad from the Republican Accountability Project against the Gropenfuhrer and his boasting about ending Roe; the ad points out that 33 million women live in states where abortion is effectively illegal (and it looks like U.S. Senate Repug idiot Joni Ernst went out of her way to remind everybody which party is responsible for this atrocity)...



Update 1: And apparently Lex Luthor Scott wants to join the party, as it were (here).

Update 2: Gee, isn’t it great that we made women’s health care the responsibility of the states instead of enshrining Roe into law the way those dirty hippies wanted (#sarcasm – here)?

...and it appears that Marjorie Traitor Greene recently gained the support of equally useless U.S. House idiot Thomas Massie in Greene’s bid to try and oust Johnson as House Speaker...and the Mayorkas impeachment in the Senate got the treatment it deserved (here – NSFW/H)...



...and this clip from Sam Van Pykeren, Ari Berman and Mother Jones explains How Minority Rule Is Threatening U.S. Democracy Like Never Before...the point is that this country has been governed by a privileged class since its founding, and that is taking on new dimensions in our current era that we have to be on the lookout against and fight as our time and means allows (I know he’s hawking a book, but Berman is a pretty bright guy when it comes to this stuff IMO...one of the great points is the obscene amount of wealth from our politicians in this current time – how the hell can you expect them to represent us as opposed to their rich pals unless we scream out heads off, as it were? - clip is slightly NSFW/H also)...



...and the next time you hear anybody say, “oh, the two major political parties are the same...there’s no point in voting,” show them this clip of Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff in Georgia going after the guy who is STILL somehow U.S. Postmaster General, and that’s Trumpist holdover Louis DeJoy...Ossoff calls out DeJoy over the beyond-ridiculous mail delays in Georgia, particularly around Atlanta apparently (here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss what the media gets wrong about Trumpers with author David Masciotra...interesting background on the “exurbs” and how they took off in the ‘90s, right about when Fix Noise started and all of the rage against the Clintons was at full froth, and how the wealth level of those folks definitely belies their “populist” myth (see Jim Worthington of the Newtown Athletic Club in these parts)...yes, I believe Masciotra that a lot of the Trumpers are better off than we think, but there are PLENTY of individuals without a “pot,” if you will, who have signed on also...

...including individuals such as the asshat driving this vehicle (no idea of how wealthy this person is, but I'm guessing he/she is somewhere in the shrinking "middle class")...



...and this definitely isn’t the way I was planning to end the week – RIP Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers Band...I’m sure a few folks will recall “Ramblin’ Man” and “Blue Sky” among other tunes, and they’re great, but I’m settling on this one.

Wednesday Stuff

Chris Hayes informs us that Repug U.S. Senator Tom (“Militarize Our Cities”) Cotton recently opined on Xitter/whatever King Elon is calling it about basically disrupting protestors any way possible, up to and including using violence (here also...and 139 separate incidents of running over those exercising their rights, huh, including the action of this loser? And yeah, I get it that it’s frustrating to sit in traffic when people are making a disruption, but the right of peaceful protest is articulated in the First Amendment to the Constitution, a document with which Cotton should familiarize himself)...



...and when it comes to putting wingnuts in their place, Jesse Dollemore brings us this item about George Stephanopoulos rather politely caling out New Hampshire Repug guv Chris Sununu for saying that he’ll support Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence after first saying he’d support Nikki Haley – I know there were folks tripping over themselves to praise Stephanopoulos, and he does deserve credit, but I think what was displayed is all the push-back that was allowed given the circumstances (I think both George S. and Hayes have been told how far they can go when calling out members of the “party of Lincoln”...Jesse is right of course to recall the wingnut caterwauling over Bill Clinton, though I most definitely do NOT agree that the impeachment was “necessary” – censure and move on, I always said, FWIW, and here is more Sununu family idiocy towards the Clintons...NSFW/H)...



...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report let us know that the stock of Truth Septic is continuing to take a nosedive (more here...yep, another scam from Our Ochre Abomination – and how would you like to be Jerry Dean McLain of Oklahoma from this story?)...



Update 4/20/24: Way too damn funny (here).

...and I know I’m a little delinquent on this item, but Sam and Emma of The Majority Report let us know that it looks like the nomination of Adeel Mangi to the federal appeals court is just about dead, for racist Muslim reasons of course from the usual “R” Party suspects as pointed out here (and leave it to some corpa-Dems in the Senate to pile on also, sadly, including Jacky Rosen in Nevada...and yeah, she’s in a tough re-election, but I don’t think that makes her position the right one by any means...as noted, this is a tough issue for Biden since he’s trying to build support from the Muslim community any way he can, from the self-inflicted wound of supporting our “ally” in Israel)...



...and Alec Opperman and More Perfect Union tell us about all the ways the food companies in this country are slowly poisoning us...interesting parallels between the purveyors of so much of our processed garbage and corporate villains like Philip Morris and how the former decided to market their products in much the same way as the latter, and with comparably ruinous health effects (more info here and here)...also, to protest the price gouging of Kellogg’s, click here...



...and I know I said yesterday that there are 2 belated 80th birthdays I want to get to, and here is the second one for Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.

Tuesday Stuff

Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that Repug U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (long “A,” in case you were wondering) of Idaho opposes the monthly child tax credit passed during COVID relief which pulled about 35-40% of kids out of poverty, and then it ran out and we said whoopsie! and Repugs blocked renewing it (along with President Manchin I believe)...sounds like there’s some half-assed scheme to try and bring the tax credit back tied to corporate tax cuts – OF COOOUUURRRSE!, as Cenk Uygur would say (more here)...



...and Farron Cousins informs us that U.S. Senate Repugs recently told MAGA Mike Johnson to not be a coward...yeah, I can’t think of the Kubrickian absurdity behind those Repug lowlifes in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” now supposedly being the responsible adults vs. the other chamber, or some such nonsense...I mean, Team “D” could be the ones yelling about this stuff instead, but I guess that’s too controversial for Dem Senate “Leader” Chuck Schumer (who will NEVER get called out in our corporate media for being utterly spineless)...



...and speaking of those unruly children in the U.S. House, David Pakman tells us about an incident from last December with Bo-Bo Boebert that we’re just finding out about now where she was apparently “three sheets to the wind” and trying to force a “selfie” with Combover Caligula...pathetic for so many reasons (and to do something about Boebert, click here)...



...and the prior clip is probably an appropriate segue into this one, where Leeja Miller points out all of the distractions that we’re faced with from our media consumption...yes, like Miller, I’m definitely not trying to be “holier than thou” either – one person’s mental break online can be another person’s source of ridicule I suppose, though I definitely don’t advocate attacking folks for going to Tik Tok or scrolling over Facebook or Instagram if that’s your “jam”...if Lauren Boebert actually acted like a reasonable adult in her job, then yeah, it probably would be excessive to include a clip having to do with her getting hammered at some fundraiser or whatever, but in her case, the hypocrisy is the point... interesting historical context on the rise of our preoccupation with celebrity, and I knew media consolidation was bad, but I didn’t know we’d gone from 50 companies down to six...ugh! – and yes, lay the blame at the feet of The Sainted Ronnie R, though he’s hardly alone on that one...one of the reasons why this clip is important IMO is because it explains how our preoccupation with what I would call “celebrity piffle” sucks all (or most) of the effort out of actual political engagement, as Miller points out (more here and here – NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias discuss state Repugs in AZ trying to get rid of judicial retention elections so the wingnuts in robes can stay on the bench for-evah...some minutiae and fine print stuff discussed here by Elias, but this is what the “R” party does to stay in power since their numbers to do that through the electoral process are dwindling (and when it comes to judges, the goal of the “R” party of course is to stay in power to render more goofball decisions to take away voting agency from the majority of this country and hand more of it to the ”one percent”)...



...and there are a couple of belated 80th birthdays I’d like to acknowledge if I can, and here is one for John Kay of Steppenwolf...one reason why this tune is awesome is because it tells Kay’s early life story on the run with his mother from then-Soviet occupied East Germany to West Germany; I think it’s pretty safe to say that that experience informed some of the band’s more political work, which we can all draw from for inspiration as far as I’m concerned.