Friday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the remarks from that Heritage pantywaist Kevin Roberts threatening violence against “the left”...with due respect to Cohen, he quite rightly mentions Project 2025 but doesn’t elaborate much; I thought Leeja Miller made a great video on that that you can link to here...and I don’t know who the $#@! decided that Michael Knowles, of all people, is supposed to be some arbiter of morality (The Daily Wire assclown putting down IVF and comparing it to rape), but it was nobody I know and nobody I would take seriously if I did...all of these scenarios get scarier by the minute, but the one from Glenn Kirschner about the “pardon kiosk” from Cantaloupe Capone may be the scariest of all...



...and this TYT clip brings us Dan Goldman and Summer Lee swatting back the idiocy of Nancy Mace, Marjorie Trailer Park Greene (of course) and Tim Burchett, with Mace asking who can identify female biology, basically, proving once again that the wingnuts think gender and biological sex are the same thing, WHICH THEY FREAKING AREN’T (and Mace says she was “rape shamed” by the left? Any proof for such a disgusting charge? Did anyone involved with that publicly apologize? What date and location for this? Bring some goddamn receipts!)...and I guess “black letter law” is the new wingnut line getting beaten to death, since they apply that to Dobbs I guess but were too dishonest to admit that they’d never apply it to Roe – figures...



...and when it comes to U.S. House reps actually standing up and doing the right thing (along with Lee and Goldman), Farron Cousins tells us that AOC plans to file articles of impeachment against at least one of our thoroughly bought-and-paid-for SCOTUS justices (I’m not taking issue with Cousins blaming Biden for not doing anything on the “High Court”; I know he’s right, but there are a lot of other reasons why the Court is corrupt, and I know Cousins knows that)...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about Dem Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson guaranteeing vacation days for all workers, as part of his effort to make The Windy City the most pro-worker location on the planet, to quote Johnson...and of course, the pro-business caterwauling in response (and I can’t think of a single time when the Chamber of Commerce types yapped like this and they were actually RIGHT) begins in three, two, one...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from about 7/5/11, in which the late, great Ed Schultz takes on income inequality in this country, pointing out that it was worse here than in Pakistan...that was 13 years ago, and an update is here...



...and I thought this was a clever bit from Bette Midler concerning our Theocrats in Robes on the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR; a small “nit” I have to pick is that I wish she’d put a message at the end telling everyone to vote and where to get registered online (you could try here), but that’s OK...



...and RIP Robert Towne, who won an Oscar for best screenplay for the legendary noir pic “Chinatown,” even though he did indeed have a battle with director Roman Polanski over the story (noted in the Times obit as well as this great book), but I would say that the fruits of all of that turned out to be sublime in terms of movie making (the pic marks its 50th anniversary this year, BTW)...Towne also was an active screenwriter in the ‘70s and ‘80s also (this clip is the film’s climax, including the memorable line at the end)...



...and after a week that has proven to be a bit disheartening to say the least, I think we can use a newer tune to help us refocus, and I think this is made to order to do just that.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us of Brave Sir Josh Hawley doing the “Christofascist” thing apparently in front of some “faith and freedom” audience, or something...I definitely believe religion is important, but it should be largely kept to oneself unless you choose to try and lead through example and NOT impose your beliefs on anyone...when it comes to Repugs, it is ALL ABOUT PROJECTION, in case we somehow don’t know that by now...and yeah, the Lochner era SCOTUS was pretty bad and I have no memory of that of course, but I cannot imagine how this current High Court isn’t worse...and when it comes to promoting the approved “Christian” faith for the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, it’s “feels over reals” as the kids would say (NSFW/H)...



...and I’m going to stay away from anything from Emma Vigeland if it has to do with punditry, but here, she speaks with Professor Joanna Wuest on securing rights for LGBTQ individuals...important history on what I guess you could call the intersectionality of rights for gay/queer people with labor movements including teachers, and of course the push back from life forms like guv #DeathSantis in Flori-DUUH!, and John Briggs in California who faced off with Harvey Milk in the ‘70s...and I should have probably known that the poverty rate was higher for LGBTQ people, but I’m glad that was pointed out here...important also to note the lukewarm support for LGBTQ rights by businesses (the Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney episode speaks volumes, unfortunately, but at least the North Carolina bathroom ban blew up on the wingnuts as noted...apologies for not really saying or doing much for Pride Month in June, which ended earlier this week of course)...



...and Robert Reich gives us some cautionary words on immigration, including the fact that it could potentially grow our economy by $7 trillion over the next decade...I’m putting aside the argument in favor of immigration having to do with basic human decency and rewarding people who have made the sometimes unholy sacrifice to come to this country in search of a better life (and I didn’t know about the comparative safety of border towns, but yeah, that makes sense too)...also interesting that immigrants pay more in taxes than they get in government benefits, but since that completely flies in the face of wingnut propaganda, I believe that as well...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us how U.S. House Repugs including “MAGA Mike” Johnson are helping fentanyl smugglers across our border, most of whom are U.S. citizens...the problem is that there are appropriations bills stuck in the House that would allow for the purchase of scanners that would nab these shipments before they get into this country, but of course the “party of Lincoln” has to make the border an issue for Our Ochre Abomination somehow, health and well being of this country be damned...



...and happy 100th birthday to actress Eva Marie Saint, shown here in “Exodus” with Paul Newman of course (screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, who stepped from behind aliases he was forced to use during the McCarthyite purges and essentially broke the blacklist by going public once more...Trumbo did this with the sizeable help of film director Otto Preminger and Kirk Douglas, who gave Trumbo the screenwriting job for “Spartacus”)...

...and I present the following as a bit of a holiday meditation...



…and I guess this counts as another “This Day In Doomsy History” entry, since I first put it up about five years ago...



...and best wishes for a happy Fourth to one and all.

Wednesday Stuff

(I actually posted over here, shockingly enough; don't know if I'm going to get the WP site up and running again or not.)

Yes, I know what The Lincoln Project is, and no, I haven’t forgotten about Rick Wilson’s horrible ad comparing disabled Vietnam vet the late Max Cleland to bin Laden many moons ago, but (God help me) Wilson is absolutely right in this instance about the Dems needing to “suck it up” and keep fighting, including this guy (but again, as I said yesterday, the "bedwetting brigade" comment was WAAAY out of line and the person who made it should apologize...and speaking of boneheaded remarks, allow me to share this - gee, misogyny much, JR?)...



...and I think this quick NSFW/H video from Vote Vets sums up the position of yours truly pretty well (and millions of others I’m sure)...



Update 1: And while we engage in the typical hand-wringing on our end, the other side has stepped up the eliminationist rhetoric (here), just to remind us of who our REAL enemy is (and I checked and could find no record of military service for Kevin Roberts, so my guess is that, if shots were fired for real, the first thing he would do is soil himself - more here).

Update 2: I will acknowledge that the Biden camp has issues to deal with. However, this definitely isn't one of them.

Update 7/5/24: Interesting responses IMO are here and here.

...and Farron Cousins tells us about a ProPublica story telling us how Trump has rewarded people called to testify against him, basically trying to buy their silence like the mobster he is...so OF COOUURRSE Bronzer Beelzebub is threatening to sue over it...and yes, Cousins is exactly right; if, God forbid, Our Treasonous Orange Pustule gets back to An Oval Office, he will exact revenge on everyone and everything...



...and I’ll admit that it takes awhile for me to get around to these clips from Leeja Miller, but even though they’re long, they’re excellent and I want to make sure I give them the proper attention...in this one, she takes a look at actual “fake news”...I didn’t know about the Rand analysis in 2018 called “Truth Decay” (clever)...also didn’t know how bad the misinformation around COVID was in February ’20, though maybe I should have; anybody who deliberately spread lies or propaganda about masks, social distancing or the vaccine itself has blood on his or her hands as far as I’m concerned since that likely contributed to unnecessary deaths...”The platforms want us fired up, but in a way that keeps us doom scrolling” indeed...pretty damning stats on what has happened to Xitter since King Elon I took over...that Jill Biden deepfake is genuinely scary, until of course they give away the game at the end (NSFW/H)...



...and this clip gives us some important history on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, brought to you by the Democratic Party over the fierce opposition of whites (many former “Dixiecrats” who ended up switching to the Republican Party for good); the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Act was yesterday...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/1/12 (I’m going to try and dig up more of these, to be honest, because I’m pretty pissed at some of the online people I usually link to because they’re all weak in the knees over Biden’s debate performance...THE CHOICE IS BETWEEN AN ADMITTEDLY SOMEWHAT DODDERING OLD MAN AND A DELUSIONAL SOCIOPATH WHO WANTS TO BE DICTATOR....WHAT THE HELL ELSE IS THERE TO THINK ABOUT??!!)...there has been some opining from so-called “principled” Repugs who profess that they won’t vote for Cantaloupe Capone (though HEAVEN FORBID that they would vote for Biden), and that includes former U.S. House Rep Paul Ryan of Wisconsin here (who only did everything in his power to make the “one percent” as comfortable as possible at our expense when he was in Congress)...given that, I think it’s important to bring back this “Worst Persons” segment from K.O. concerning Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv, when Ryan was against budget reconciliation before he was for it...



...and I’m going to sneak in another NSFW/H video from Jonathan Pie on the U.K. elections, which are probably just about to take place – not exactly the most ringing endorsement for Labour, but I guess that’s as good as it’s going to get...



...and apologies for being tres late on this one, but RIP Kinky Friedman...we’re in a bit of a tough patch for satirical singer-songwriter-musicians, probably at a time when we could use them the most (NSFW/H also).

Tuesday Stuff

Meidas Touch (with Ben Meiselas and Michael Popok) bring us the horrid SCOTUS ruling on Mango Mussolini and presidential immunity (thank God this ruling wasn’t handed down prior to Watergate, or Nixon would have been completely exonerated, though I’m not sure about the stuff with Clinton and Monica Whatsername)...I knew this was bad along with everyone else of course, but Popok’s analysis of Almost Silent Clarence Thomas basically giving cover to “Judge” Aileen Cannon to trash the special prosecutor is particularly infuriating (more here)...



...and that sentiment is echoed here by Glenn Kirschner with Brian Tyler Cohen discussing this utter travesty from our Theocrats in Robes, and this may be the worst ruling of them all (and that’s saying something...one hell of a takeaway from Kirschner starting at about 14:20...paging Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin – looks like you have more work to do, whether you want to do it or not)...

...and Beau tells us what we all should already know by now (though I'm sure some of us don't), namely, that there is ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE GODDAMN THING IN THIS UTTER HORROR FOR ANYONE TO CELEBRATE!!! (unless you're #45, Leonard Leo, or our 6 Philistines in Robes on the High Court of course...and I'm loathe to give credit to The Philadelphia Inquirer to be honest, but they've been "killing it" lately, and they do so again here)...



...all of which may hasten the arrival of a day as dark as the one depicted below, hopefully not in an example of art imitating life...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about Our Ochre Abomination humiliating himself in front of CEOs, still promising more stinking tax cuts (OF COOUURRRSE!) along with the stuff about no longer taxing tips from tipped workers (who should be paid a serious living wage anyway so tips wouldn’t be necessary, but I digress), a policy that I’m sure Cantaloupe Capone has forgotten about already...and yeah, he’s promising to overturn more regulations on the heels of the SCOTUS kneecapping the Chevron ruling from 40 years ago...



...and given the calamity of yesterday’s SCOTUS horror show, I don’t think we should be seriously talking about last week’s debate any more, but I’ve been meaning to include this great clip from Lawrence O’Donnell and I don’t want to pass it up, talking about, among other things, Combover Caligula’s inability to understand what a tariff is...interesting perspective on Dem operatives losing their sh*t over Clinton’s paltry polling over the summer preceding the ’92 election, which turned out to not matter since Clinton won of course, and I honestly didn’t know that about Jason Chaffetz endorsing the Gropenfuhrer after saying at first that he wouldn’t, but it surprises me not in the least...also didn’t know about Hubert Humphrey having the disadvantage he had in fundraising because of entering the ’68 campaign so late (with LBJ dropping out and RFK’s assassination), but I think that’s important context also...



...and God, I hope the Tories get bounced in the UK elections this Thursday, but I fear that would represent a gain not for Labour but Nigel Farage...love to be wrong (Jonathan Pie is back again...very NSFW/H as per usual)...

...and I had something else completely in mind to include as a musical selection, to be honest, but I just can’t add it now...the context for this one doesn’t completely apply I know, but when I’m p*ssed off (and I believe we all should be at this moment), this is one of the songs I want to hear (and in terms of the pic immediately above, I offer this).



Update 1: Gee, I guess the Huffington Post is now bored with the fact that our Supreme Court just gave the president dictatorial powers, and we can rely on Dementia J. Trump to use them if he ever, God forbid, gets the chance (and once more, yes, Biden had a bad debate...but how many people are aware of the fact that #45 JUST MADE REFERENCE TO A FICTIONAL CHARACTER AGAIN AS IF HE WERE A REAL DAMN PERSON!!! – here).

My gripe with HuffPo has to do with this (and as far as I'm concerned, this is an example of the media "tail" wagging the metaphorical dog)...

My take, for what it's worth? As long as Biden has so much as a pulse with any discernible brainwave activity, then we should automatically support him versus the other guy who wants to trash our government and make himself ruler for life (and probably adding his wretched family to the mix also).

Oh, but we ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE our online lefty circular firing squad, right? We absolutely MUST have Emma Vigeland blaming Ruth Bader Ginsburg for not stepping down earlier and calling once more for Biden to be replaced (I’ll let you find it on Xitter, dear reader). And I don’t know if the Biden people have managed to scrape together the few moments from the debate that they want to highlight and make a video to be distributed on social media, but if they haven’t, WHY THE F*CK NOT?!

I believe what I need to do is spend less time doing this and more with actual voter outreach of some type in Democratic campaigns, since I think that gives us a much better chance of saving our country than generating online blatherings for like-minded folks who also want to put the brakes on our slide into some corporatist “Christian” oblivion. Who’s with me?

Let's get started.

Update 2: Based on this, Lloyd Doggett should make it official and sign up here.

Update 3: All of that being said, whoever it was in the Biden White House who came up with that “bedwetting brigade” line should be fired on the spot and forced to apologize (here).

Monday Stuff

I just thought I should mention, while we’re wringing our hands over President Biden’s recent debate performance (happily cheered on by our corporate media of course, which wants to see #45 return, God help us, for more tax cuts), that our Ideologues in Robes on the High Court recently handed down a decision which, as Brian Tyler Cohen and lawyer Glenn Kirschner point out, could impact many aspects of our lives that we’ve come to take for granted, and that is to overturn the 1984 Chevron ruling granting power to administrative agencies to make sure our air is fit to breathe, our water is fit to drink, etc...the “one percent” pulling the puppet strings of our politicians and judges have been trying to find ways to kneecap federal administrative agencies for years, going back at least to the days of the Teahadists around 2010 or so and probably even before that...this Court should be barred from ever uttering the phrase “stare decisis” again since they plainly don’t respect it, on this issue, Roe, gun control, voting rights, etc....a very minor sliver of light here is that this ruling supposedly will have no retroactive effect on already-decided cases, as Kirschner points out (and this isn't surprising either, is it?)...



...though our Philistines in Robes intervened on behalf of emergency abortions in Idaho, so that’s something – Thom Hartmann, though, tells us that the Supremes basically kicked this decision back to the lower court so another anti-abortion case wouldn’t be a factor against Combover Caligula in the fall election...the Supremes also blew up the Sackler immunity deal, but of course the “big ticket” issues affecting the majority of people’s lives in this country are what matters the most, such as blocking Biden’s air pollution plan and ripping apart the SEC’s fine capability, saying jury trials are required instead (wonder if the Inquisition is next for this bunch – I probably shouldn’t ask)...I didn’t hear his report on who supposedly put the SCOTUS in charge of everything – I’ll do some research on my own about that...



...and it looks like our renegade SCOTUS basically knee-capped the 1/6 prosecutions over the fact that the Sarbanes-Oxley law was used to go after those participating in the insurrection; apparently the case that was the source of all of this had to do with a cop named Fischer in Lebanon, PA (here) who participated in the treasonous events of that fateful day...so it sounds like Hangin’ Judge JR is putting official functions of the U.S. Congress in the same priority as zoo animals and trash-talking football players? I’m no “legal eagle,” but I would say that that’s a pretty demented interpretation (completely shocked that KBJ joined in this awful decision, but I guess it’s more important for her to be in the club and play both sides, if you will – Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats tells us about this latest mess)...



...and under the heading of “marginalizing the homeless even more”...well, I guess it isn’t surprising that our Theocrats in Robes ruled that cities can criminalize homelessness (here)...somehow I can’t envision that this ruling will spur an increase in investing in services for people that are unhoused, though I’m sure it will spur an increase in breaking down encampments and herding the homeless off to jail or some other Dickensian fate...the comment at the end that it cost three times the $ to incarcerate someone who’s homeless vs. providing shelter should appeal to conservatives, though it won’t of course...and I’m sure the “Catholics” on the High Court are emulating “Republican Jesus” here by telling the homeless to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” (snark mode off)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report give us their take on the fallout from the debate...I’d like to know more on whose decision it was not to have debate fact-checking...if it was Biden’s, then that indeed was an unforced error IMO...at least Daniel Dale was FINALLY able to prove that every word out of the mouth of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule was a damn lie, as per usual...one saving grace from this debacle is that Our Ochre Abomination didn’t appear to get much of a post-debate “bounce,” and hopefully that will hold; if Biden were running against #DeathSantis or Nikki Haley, this election might very well be over (and let’s not forget the “black jobs” and ”Hispanic jobs” garbage from you-know-who also as noted here)...



And by the way, I’m going to give Philadelphia’s right-wing “paper of record” credit for this courageous editorial and NOT assume that they wrote it because they want to see Governor #DeathSantis or Nikki Haley enter the presidential contest instead of Cantaloupe Capone.

...and RIP Martin Mull, performing one of his signature tunes with Glen Campbell (definitely enjoyed Fernwood 2 Night back in the day with Fred Willard...I believe it was on “Austin City Limits” where I once saw Mull basically turn his guitar into a pedal steel by using a baby bottle...genius!)