Friday Stuff

John and Wosny Lambre of The Damage Report tell us about Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and the vacations/gratuities he’s accepted from this megadonor named Harlan Crow, starting with June ’19, when Thomas and his Qanon wife went on a 9-day junket on a yacht to Indonesia...the two of them need to be the subject of Watergate-style hearings largely, but not totally, because of this; I mean, even SCOTUS justices are supposed to disclose this stuff (amazing work by ProPublica to dig up this story)...



Update: According to ProPublica and the New York Times, the vacations go back nearly two decades...and I don't buy this nonsense of "well, Crow is a friend, so I didn't think it had to be reported" for a minute (here).

Update 4/8/23: As I read this, I had the tune “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones running around in my head.

HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF JUSTICE THOMAS AND HIS DONOR FRIEND WITH THE NAME OF A KLAN VILLAIN, YOU FILTHY LIB!! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!

...and Ana of TYT tells us about red states rolling back child labor protections – in Iowa for example, a bill has passed through committees even though a full vote apparently is pending, and of course Repug guv Kim Reynolds will sign it if it reaches her desk (and Sarah Huckabilly Sanders has done the same on something similar in Arkansas)...



Update: I give you another "miracle" of Repug-run state governance here.

...oh, and apparently there were more insults aimed at Marjorie Trailer Park Greene that Lesley Stahl neglected to mention in her recent interview, but fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is ON IT, PEOPLE!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that there are actually signs of a pulse from the Democratic Party in Flori-DUUH!, with state party leader Nikki Fried and Lauren Book (minority senate leader) getting arrested for protesting the passage of a six-week abortion ban, which I believe passed the same day that guv Ron #DeathSantis signed his almost-as-disgusting permitless carry law (and boy, is Cousins ever right about the Dems in that state needing a fighter for a leader)...



...additionally, Trae Crowder tells us how the latest Trumpian garbage is distracting us from the recent mass shooting in Tennessee...and just as a reminder, only Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee state house as noted here, which is bad enough...yeah, the racism pretty much smacks you in the face (and the Bud Light reference has to do with this)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell recently pointed out that Huckleberry Graham expressed a lot of angst over Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive and his legal issues, but absolutely not one bit of grief or sympathy over the recent Nashville slaughter (as well as any other gun-related violence, really)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/4/11...Rachel Maddow tells us that CEO pay had gone up 27 percent from 2010 and companies climbed their way back also, with sizeable taxpayer assistance, from The Great Recession, while worker pay was essentially flat...and yes, that was indeed a “transfer of wealth” as she tells us...”the deficit would be cut in half if we allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire”...wonder how much better that would be if we did the same thing to #45’s tax cuts also? And as noted here, CEO pay also went up over the prior year in ‘22 (21 percent...the wealth transfer continues), average worker pay increased by about 3 percent from last year (here), which is barely better from what happened in 2011, and as noted here, the unemployment rate is about 4.5 percent, which is definitely better now than where we were in the 2011 clip...the most recent job numbers from today are here (again, not great, but OK given inflation which is also letting up...more here)...



...and here’s a newer tune to help us slide into the weekend; taking a break from my recent “moldy oldies.”

Thursday Stuff

David Doel informs us that Marjorie Traitor Greene got the “big apple” treatment she should have gotten from Lesley Stahl when Greene went to NYC for the arraignment of our 45th *president (and Jamaal Bowman stood tall once again...and for that disgusting harpie Greene to compare Trump to Jesus during Holy Week is offensive into the stratosphere as far as I’m concerned)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dumb Jr., Eric and that trashy loon from Georgia basically trying to dox the daughter of the judge hearing the case against Combover Caligula (sentencing will come one day I believe, and when it does, I’ll celebrate)...



...next, Farron Cousins tells us how getting indicted has been a cash cow for Our Treasonous Orange Pustule...never a shortage of goofballs apparently who just can’t help but fork over money to this third-rate con man...



...and John and Jayar tell us about Van Jones breaking out the world’s smallest violin for our Indicted Executive Criminal Suspect (yeah, Jones has sure fallen down the metaphorical rabbit hole all right)...



...turning to more substantive political matters, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the three Tennessee state lawmakers who are facing expulsion from that body for advocating for gun control, and they would be Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson (more here)...yes, these three were in the right to stand up with the students who were protesting for their safety, but I have to ask whose idea it was to bring a bullhorn into that chamber (a bit tangential I know, but I believe that’s what gave those pig-headed Repugs the opening to expel these three reps)...



Update: As Will Bunch sez, it's pretty much "Racism 101" from "the volunteer state" (here).

...and speaking of butt-hurt Repugs, Jeff Wiggins of Rebel HQ brings us the remarks from man-baby Dan Kelly of Wisconsin in the wake of his loss to Janet Protasiewicz for a seat on that state’s supreme court (and kudos to Brandon Johnson also for his win in the Chicago mayoral race)...



...also, Joy Reid speaks with the exonerated Central Park 5 member (Yusef Salaam) who ran a full-page ad imitating the look (but not the angry, factually wrong claims) of an ad Our Ochre Abomination ran against him and the other 4 defendants in 1989; good luck in his run for city council from Harlem (and I don’t give a damn about anything prosecutor Linda Fairstein might have to say in this case...more here)...



...and on this day in 1968, Pink Floyd announced that lead singer Syd Barrett was leaving the group due to his deteriorating mental health from drug abuse...makes me recall this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that (and hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen!) voters are already tired of these alleged investigations by U.S. House Republicans, especially with the debt ceiling nonsense going on that the “party of Lincoln” ALWAYS stages when that party runs Congress and a Dem is in the White House (oh, and yeah, Gym Jordan kind of slid his supposed report from his “weaponizing government” committee under the door last Friday, apparently hoping no one would notice).

(Oh, and speaking of U.S. House Repugs, I tried twice to watch that abortion of an interview Lesley Stahl of the ”third eye” network conducted with Marjorie Trailer Park Greene, and I just couldn’t do it...nothing whatsoever against David Doel who did the analysis, but this is from the network where Edward R. Murrow once stood up to Joe McCarthy and his “See It Now” program was just about run off the air for it. I just can’t take a second of listening to that lying lunatic, no matter how much Stahl tried to normalize her.)...



...and John and Jayar bring us another lesson in white fragility in Flori-DUUUH!; apparently this goofball parent named Emily Conklin is trying to get the film “Ruby Bridges” banned because she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for second-grade students...the “sunshine state” is really pushing Texas hard to be “the land that time forgot” among all of the “great 48,” and on this day of all days (more here)...



...and Beau tells us that things are looking bad for the Foxies in that lawsuit with Dominion; the trial may start on 4/17, though there are likely to be delays as Beau points out...”there needs to be some baseline of reality” indeed (and speaking of legal matters, I know a certain 45th president will be arraigned probably this afternoon, but I’m going to try to stay away from the hoopla since I know the Gropenfuhrer is all about the spectacle and pretty much nothing else unless it lines his pockets somehow...great call on Beau's T-shirt BTW)...



...and I don’t know how many people have noticed that our former ol’ pal “Bibi” is trying to turn Israel into a dictatorship (of course, it appears to be that already to the Palestinians), but the people of that country have noticed for sure, as this Guardian clip shows (more here)...



...and in addition to the very important judicial contest in Wisconsin today (click here to help Judge Janet), there is also a mayoral election in Chicago, and this More Perfect Union clip gives us more on Paul Vallas, who might as well be a Republican...to help Brandon Johnson, click here...



...and my “this day of all days” remark in the Flori-DUUUH! clip had to do with this – hard to believe that it’s been 55 years.

Monday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about all of the wingnut “copium” out there over Mango Mussolini’s indictment from the Stormy Daniels hush money stuff, featuring Dumb Jr., Watters, Cancun Cruz and a host of others (and yeah, I know I got into this yesterday also, but why not give it another shot?)...



...and Chris Hayes offers a commentary on the legal stuff behind the indictment of the Gropenfuhrer vis-a-vis how criminal justice works in this country for some high-ranking public officials versus with the rest of us...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen discusses the recent confrontation in the U.S. House between Dem rep (and former teacher) Jamaal Bowman and Thomas Massie (huge props to Bowman for this, BTW)...I know Massie put out some tweet later saying “in schools with open carry where teachers are armed, there is no gun violence” or words to that effect...yeah, brainiac; teachers often have to pay out of their own pockets for class materials because of the miserly budgets for teaching our kids, so now they’re ALSO supposed to pay for gun instruction and arming themselves too? And if someone comes into a room and the teacher mistakes them for an active shooter and accidentally takes somebody out, are you going to pay their legal fees and defend them in court? OF COURSE NOT! (as Thom Hartmann says, call 202-224-3121, ask for your representative and/or senator, and give them an earful...clip is NSFW/H)...



Update: As the song goes, the kids are alright (here - this too behind the Inky's damn paywall).

...next up is Jesse Dollemore giving us the pearl-clutching from wingnut lickspittle Matt Walsh, with his carrying-on that will get trans people killed (and that goes for Walsh’s fellow hatemongers “Tuckums,” Michael Knowles, etc. – and how sad do you have to be in your life to play second fiddle basically to Baby Ben Shapiro...great job by Dollemore to present Walsh’s take on Nashville vs. Uvalde...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here how Flori-DUUUH! guv Ron #DeathSantis got schooled by The Mouse on this business of trying to take over Disney (I think Cousins means “before DeSantis’s people took over the district” not Trump’s people)...



...and RIP Procal Harum lyricist Keith Reid.

Sunday Stuff

Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence over the indictment of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg; along with the threats of violence of course from this pack of cowards (and again, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but if anybody deserves to take a victory lap over this, they do..a little NSFW/H)...



...fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is here to help, sort of (more here – also NSFW/H...)...



...and one of the biggest apologists for Our Ochre Abomination is Cancun Cruz, and in this Rebel HQ clip from Richard Ojeda, we find out that Cruz apparently asked for unanimous consent for a Senate gun bill that, to put it charitably, wasn’t fully formed, and he was rightly called out for it by Dem Chris Murphy of Connecticut...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Missouri Repug state rep Chris Sander (a gay man) trying to get a marriage equality bill passed...and as a result, he has faced 2 censure votes (NSFW/H also...yeah, at a certain point, I really think Sander should “get the memo” here)...



...and I know a state supreme court election may not sound like a big deal, but it definitely is that this Tuesday in Wisconsin...if wingnut Dan Kelly wins, then he could potentially sway the court to not seat electors in next year’s presidential contest, assuming Biden (or another Dem) were to win...to oppose Kelly and help Judge Janet Protasiewicz instead, please click here...



...and kudos to Dionne Warwick for this.