Friday Stuff

This clip from Meidas Touch is particularly relevant IMO given the claims from the “party of Lincoln” about “backing the blue”...sure, just as long as they’re breaking the law along with you, right?...



...oh, and I know this will come as a complete and total shock, but Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao opposes a bipartisan congressional 1/6 commission, blocking something he apparently had agreed to previously...yep, #MoscowMitch is doing what he absolutely does best, and that is to obstruct (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I admit that I haven’t had many segments with Kyle Kulinski lately because, to be perfectly honest, I’ve had a lot of issues with his “takes” on particular subjects, and I do so again here – yeah, Smerky’s headline on CNN about Americans supposedly not valuing a work ethic any more is typical centrist corporate media garbage, and trying to justify that by quoting Daniel Henninger of the Murdoch Street Journal, of all people, is disingenuous beyond words, but I also think Kyle’s take here that people are avoiding work because of unemployment compensation of one form or another or wanting to do something else is wrong and disappointing in that he apparently didn’t do any research into what exactly is going on...if I read ONE MORE BLOODY “SKY IS FALLING” TAKE ABOUT THE APRIL JOBS REPORT, I’M GOING TO FREAKING SCREAM!!! WE NEED MORE DATA – LET’S CHECK THE MAY NUMBERS, OK??!!...actually, if you want to look at some “cross tabs,” if you will, on what’s going on, I think this link to Pew Research is informative...basically, jobs related to leisure and hospitality got hammered along with other low-wage industries, and people who work those jobs are primarily low wage white and minority women who also frequently have to deal with child care issues...also, if the available labor pool shrinks (maybe – oh, I don’t know -because those would-be workers are RECOVERING FROM FREAKING COVID OR DON’T WANT TO GET SICK AT THEIR OLD JOB!), then the cost of available labor goes up and those businesses don’t want to adjust salaries accordingly; hell, I’m definitely not a Wharton graduate, and EVEN I KNOW THAT!!...



...and this CBC report gives us the latest on Texas’s anti-abortion law (that photo-op of Greg Abbott with his Republican cohorts and that sanctimonious, ridiculous speech of his made me was to vomit; I think it’s a good idea to see how this story is covered internationally, since our bought-and-paid-for fourth estate is going to break it down with the typical lack of depth and substance for which they’re already notorious...and yeah, I think this says it)...



...and Sam, Emma and Brandon Sutton give us their take on D.A. Larry Krasner’s victory in the Philadelphia Dem primary; I’m glad to see Sam push back on all of the manufactured media BS...lots of good commentary, but I have to say that the Majority Report videos just run too damn long generally, with frequent U-turns in the discussion that are off-topic as far as I’m concerned...part of the reason I’m including this is because Chris Hayes recently had a well-done feature on Krasner’s win, but for some reason the video isn’t available online – for whatever my take is worth on these things, suburban conservatives and sympathetic media, most notably the Inquirer, wanted the contest with Carlos Vega to be more competitive than it turned out to be and that DEFINITELY played out in how it was covered (got almost as tired of hearing about how the cops were mad at Krasner as I did about finding “Trump voter in Trump country” stories), but Krasner turned out to be more shrewd politically than anyone realized, even though I’m sure that won’t be a part of the ongoing media coverage on this (I’ve gone back and forth on Krasner and MOVE mainly because it’s hard for me to have sympathy for that motley collection of bipeds, even though that will NEVER justify what happened on 5/13/85, particularly to the kids, and Krasner most definitely isn’t doing anything to help Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is the right call for a number of reasons...oh, and of course, “centrist” Dem and former Philly mayor and PA governor Ed Rendell weighed in for Vega – Rendell ceased to be relevant once he started shilling for the “catfood commission” of Pete Peterson...to be honest, I'm more concerned about those two garbage ballot questions to limit the PA Governor that passed than I am about Krasner)...



...and while the cease fire between Israel and Palestine cannot help but be a good thing, Omar Baddar, a policy adviser with the Arab American Institute, tells us that that DEFINITELY won’t be enough by itself to solve the crisis...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us that the WaPo’s Carol Leonnig has apparently written a jaw-dropping new book on the Secret Service with many mind-blowing revelations, including reporting on the Trump gang basically doing the nasty with some of those tasked to protect them (eeeewwwww!)...



...and did you know that yesterday was World Bee Day? Neither did I – learn something new all the time I guess.

Thursday Stuff

via GIPHY

Farron Cousins tells us that “Curtsy Kyrsten” is on the side of Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao when it comes to taxing the rich to pay for infrastructure (Sinema must have saw dust between her ears if she thinks this is a winning strategy for re-election and/or anyone is going to forget about her antics)...



...and Rachel Maddow presents a clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Tim Ryan quite rightly freaking out over all of the members of the “party of Lincoln” in that body who opposed forming a bipartisan commission to look into the 1/6 insurrection; yeah, good luck getting any kind of a “compromise” with these life forms (to his credit, though, I need to mention that Bri-Fi was one of the 35 who supported the Dems on this as noted here)...



Update: And of course, since we’re talking about the U.S. House Repugs and Bri-Fi, they tried to get back brownie points with their wingnut base by opposing additional funding for Capitol Police as noted here...and I respect the principles of “the squad” in their opposition, but I also think they chose the wrong vote upon which to make public their dissatisfaction, though the statement at the end of the Intercept story makes good points I'll admit.

...and speaking of the squad, this clip from More Perfect Union presents Dem U.S. House Rep Cori Bush speaking up for the unemployed in her state, in contrast with Missouri’s fat-headed white guy Repug governor trying to cut these people off at the metaphorical knees...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about AOC introducing a bill to stop the sale of about $735 million in bombs to Israel to try and get that criminal Netanyahu to agree to a cease fire at a minimum in the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine (selling so-called JDAMs)...



...and Sam and Emma V. tell us that there are actually 35 states where you can be denied a government contract if you support the BDS movement (here); on the other hand, Italian dock workers are supporting the Palestinians – I didn’t see the Tom Cotton clip, and rest assured that I don’t care to...



Update: It should not have taken all of this carnage to get a cease fire, but yeah - progress (here).

...and I’m afraid the title of this tune describes what will happen to the Dem congressional majority if they seriously think the GQP party will be honest actors in trying to do ANYTHING to help this country, as Tim Ryan forcefully pointed out.

Wednesday Stuff

David Pakman tells us Repug U.S. House Rep Andrew Clyde, who said the 1/6 insurrectionists were “tourists,” was shown helping to barricade the door of the U.S. House chamber; to me, this is why you can’t trust ANY REPUBLICAN to be an honest actor on ANY ISSUE (more here...if they’re not going to do the right thing on an attempted takeover of our democratically elected form of government...well then, is there ANY LINE that they’re willing to draw?)...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us a clue on what life could be like under a brutal American oligarchy (he mentions the “guard rails” being taken off by the SCOTUS in Buckley in ’76 and Bellotti in ’78...the last minute of this is huge)...



... and this Now This clip tells us of Dem U.S. House members speaking out on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict...as far as I’m concerned, Netanyahu should have been prosecuted as a war criminal in 2014 for this...



...and Chris Hayes gives us a litany of the bad faith conservative arguments against overturning Roe, which they’re chomping at the bit to do once and for all...



...and that actually leads us into the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 5/20/19, in which we learn about Repugs and their statewide anti-abortion laws...



...and David Doel tells us about Dem U.S. House Rep Katie Porter demolishing another fat cat CEO with her white board; this time, the thoroughly deserving victim is Richard Gonzalez of AbbVie, the makers of Humira, with Porter taking him to task over the INSANE prices of their medication as well as figuring out how the $$ is actually spent at his company (yep, you guessed right if you thought it was for stock buybacks and dividends)...



...and RIP actor Charles Grodin; kind of an offbeat guy I guess with good comic timing and an underrated actor generally (clip is from Midnight Run...NSFW/H)...



..and happy upcoming 75th birthday to Cher (hey, why not?).

Tuesday Stuff

Well, it seems the “holy grail,” if you will, for the wingnuts is within grasp unfortunately, and that is to overturn Roe v. Wade based on a Mississippi test case the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR has agreed to hear (including Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett); Rachel Maddow speaks with Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights...I hope all of you squishy Dems and independent voters who cast their ballots for Repugs are happy now, because this is what you’ve wrought, though many others are to blame also (I've since seen a comment online that the cabal of the Christian Handmaiden, "I Like Beer" Brett and Gorsuch also have their eyes on Griswold, which also figures unfortunately - I've never known wingnuts to merely settle for half a proverbial loaf)...



...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us about Palestinian deaths skyrocketing as a result of the conflict with the Israelis – no goddamn excuse in the world why this shouldn’t be currently undergoing some kind of international peacekeeping intervention...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about U.S. House Dem Eric Swalwell speaking with Jim Acosta of CNN about Swalwell pushing back on an idiot aide to that utter loon Marjorie Taylor Greene on the subject of wearing a mask...



...and speaking of Greene, Farron Cousins tells us that she apparently committed tax fraud by claiming 2 residences on a homestead exemption instead of the 1 allowed by law – womp womp...



...and David Doel tells us that a guy accused of killing his wife signed her ballot for Mango Mussolini in the 2020 election – if he’s found guilty, he should be made to watch a seemingly endless loop of Biden speaking as president as the sentence against the guy is carried out...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about the Heritage Foundation working in secret with Repugs on voter suppression bills (“so [they] have that grass roots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe,” huh? Utterly disgusting, deceitful wingnut harpie...and of course, this cretin is involved also)...



Update: Apparently this woman's name is Jessica Anderson (here), and she and Heritage Action may have violated House ethics rules...nicely done.

...and Robert Reich tells us about getting rid of the stepped-up basis rule loophole (wonky stuff I know, but important)...



...and RIP Pervis Staples.

Monday Stuff

I never thought I’d see the day of a Repug approving a tax increase – of course, it’s not aimed at the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd in any way; just another attempt to stick the metaphorical shiv in the “99 percent”...



...which is all part of the fascist GOP garbage that we need to reject, as illustrated in this clip...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Bret Baier interrogating Liz Cheney on behalf of Our Traitorous Orange Pustule (a particularly on-point commentary here IMO...if I were Cheney, when Baier asked her if she voted Republican, I would have said it’s none of your damn business)...



...and Joy Reid discusses Repugs whining about “critical race theory” (with historian and author Jon Meacham, who is exactly right in his comments)...



...and I think David Doel is correct as well; what MSNBC’s Ali Velshi states here (calling out “Apartheid” against the Palestinians) should be the norm in coverage, not the exception (part of the reason this latest horror show is going on in that area of the world is so Netanyahu can consolidate political power enough to form a government, and I can’t think of how disgusting it is to try and justify the carnage for that reason...



Update: Let's see if we can get "Bibi The Butcher" trending, OK? (here).

...and Cenk and Ana tell us that anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are masking up and socially distancing to protect themselves from liberal proteins, or something...and nothing like the threat of impotency to get these clueless bipeds to start taking the virus seriously, right?...



...and the Daily Show gives us a bit of humor pertaining to Our Prior Treasonous Ruling Cabal and their attempt to destroy our democracy on 1/6...



...and I suppose the title of this newer tune is applicable every day, but it’s up to us to persevere in spite of it anyway I know.



Update: By the way, for anyone voting in person in tomorrow’s PA primary, please vote No on the two disaster emergency declaration ballot questions (here). They’re nothing more than garbage attempts by the Commonwealth Foundation (linking to Chucky Koch of course) to undercut Gov. Tom Wolf and give more of a say pertaining to disaster management to idiot Republican legislators in Harrisburg who are still butt hurt over Wolf’s pandemic management (and never forget that, if Scott “Stomp On Wolf’s Face With Golf Cleats” Wagner had his way, PA would have been every bit as bad as Florida under Ron #DeathSantis, and maybe worse).