Friday Stuff

I know we’ve had some fun with J.D. Vance over the couch thing, but when it comes to admittedly more important matters, he is absolutely a stone cold liar when it comes to accusing Kamala Harris of making illegal immigrants somehow legal (and also notwithstanding the fact that an immigration bill to address the stuff he and Sweaty Orange Boy are yelling about is languishing in the Senate because #45 told his Repug minions to sit on it), to say nothing of the fact that the veep nominee is (as we know) making up BS on this subject...well, now comes U.S. House numbskull Clay Higgins of Louisiana to turn the racist MAGA xenophobia “up to 11,” as Mike Figueredo tells us (more is here...NSFW/H)...



...and this Lincoln Project video reminds us that, given that he’s hating on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio (who have done not one wrong thing, let’s not forget - the car crash that killed young Aiden Clark was a tragic accident), fake populist and couch f*cker (alleged!) J.D. Vance basically is telling everyone that he also hates his wife of Indian descent and his own mixed-race kids (and it looks like Vance had another idiotic rant based on this)...



...and Steve Shives, sitting in again for Jesse Dollemore, lets us know that Alex Jones will pretty soon find himself with a pot to piss in and that’s about it, thanks to the fact that he’s going to have to liquidate all of his Infowars garbage in order to pay the $1 billion settlement he faces for maligning the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook gun massacre and bringing living hell onto these people who already suffered the most horrible imaginable losses...I can think of plenty of other people in Jones’s orbit who truly deserve this fate also, but for now, this is some justice anyway...



...and this segment from More Perfect Union hits yours truly where he lives, since it has to do with food service workers at Philly sports stadiums striking against Aramark, which is indeed a truly awful company...I hope the workers manage to get a contract that doesn’t constitute indentured servitude...we manage to get to Citizens Bank Park about once a year for a Phillies game (which is often a fun night out, and made better when they win of course), though getting tickets for the postseason is a wholly other matter, and we’ve been to the “Linc” to see the Eagles, but given ticket prices ($400 apiece for “nosebleed” seats), I don’t expect to do that again anytime soon, and I’m sorry (well, not really), but for me, the Wells Fargo Center isn’t that great of a venue anyway, to say nothing of the fact that I’m not happy with the Sixers for basically trying to extort a Center City arena, and though the Flyers have come back pretty far, they’re still a work in progress (I keep waiting for our alleged sports media geniuses to hold that franchise to account for all of their screwups, and I know I’ll never see that day either)...



...and for anybody out there who remembers the “I’m Just A Bill” cartoon from “Schoolhouse Rock” (maybe one or two I guess), I thought this was a pretty good takeoff on that having to do with Project 2025...this stuff (and much more on this subject of course) can’t be repeated enough times as far as yours truly is concerned...



...and I admit that I have a bit of housekeeping to do with this musical selection; before the start of fall on 9/21, I usually include this number to mark the official end of my summer tunes...well, I goofed on that last week, so please allow me to make amends now.

Thursday Stuff

John Iadarola and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report let us know here that Kamala Harris wants to sh*tcan the filibuster to bring back Roe, so departing Dem U.S. Senator Joe Manchin haz a sad...by the way, it should be made crystal clear WHY THE F*CKING FILIBUSTER HAS BECOME NOTHING BUT A TOOL OF OBSTRUCTION, and it is because of that death eater from Kentucky far and away more than anybody else, as noted in the graph presented by John (Reed does mention that a bit, to be fair)...if the Repugs, God help us, take back the Senate, they’re going to blow up the stinking filibuster and our corporate media will just act like it’s another day with a “y” in it, which is even more reason why we need to do all we can to ensure that that doesn’t happen...and John’s right about the rich at the end, tragically).

As noted from here...

From 2009 through 2014, there (were) a historic 382 cloture votes held in the Senate.[27] Fully half of the 168 Senate filibusters of executive and judicial nominees in American history (came) during the first five years of the Obama Administration, when Mitch McConnell (was) minority leader.

via GIPHY

And leave it to "Curtsy Kyrsten" to be utterly wrong on this also...

More is here, and the video follows...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner discuss the latter’s testimony before that phony baloney “weaponization of government” subcommittee run by Gym Jordan, with Kirschner accepting an invitation from Dem U.S. House Rep Stacey Plaskett...Kirschner testified about Project 2025 and Schedule F employees, who of course can be fired at a moment’s notice if they don’t pledge their undying loyalty to Dear Leader #45 (again, assuming by some disaster that he manages to land in An Oval Office again)..and yeah, it sounds like Jordan and Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz wouldn’t let go of the chicken switch (mildly NSFW/H)...



...meanwhile, in the upper chamber, Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse takes on the garbage SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity; the Rhode Island Dem continues to be a voice of reason calling out amidst the darkness of our politics, currently engulfed by Trumpism and the craven greed of the ”one percent” and like-minded courts, politicians and media ideologues (and in a related vein, more good work by Whitehouse’s fellow Dem Ron Wyden is here)...

...and I'm sure you just knew that “couch boy” was going to show up somehow, and as Sam and Matt Lech of The Majority Report inform us, ol’ J.D.’s little grocery stunt having to do with eggs backfired on him (insert “I Am The Walrus” snark here)...and by the way, for the record, your humble narrator worked at a Philly McDonald’s for a couple of years back in the disco era; if Cantaloupe Capone were to actually stand in front of a steaming fry vat for a millisecond or two, all of that ridiculous bronzer would immediately melt from his face (and yeah, I’m sure independent voters will now flock to Our Treasonous Orange Pustule in droves from his latest rant...smh)...



...and I have to admit that it’s been a looong time since I saw a clip as enraging as this one...David Doel presents a bit of a documentary on extremist Israelis taking a boat tour of demolished Gaza, presumably to look over land they intend to occupy after Bibi has murdered the last Palestinian, and all with the support (directly or indirectly) of the Israeli government... that interactive map at the end tells the story of those damn settlements on the West Bank and how they have destabilized the region also (and yes, for the zillionth time, I acknowledge that the murdering Hamas cowards started this with their attack on 10/7, but Israeli actions in response are utterly indefensible as far as I’m concerned)...



...and RIP jazz composer and performer Benny Golson, who brought us this memorable track among his catalogue of great tunes.

Wednesday Stuff

Thom Hartmann lets us know what’s behind Repug book bans (over 10K banned from US public schools, with a huge increase over last year)...I would argue that those who are able to get these ridiculous book bans passed and enforced are trying to maintain some kind of a white elderly entitled patriarchy (catering to boomers of course) on behalf of those who are utterly afraid that the generation on their way up and already here won’t sign onto their bogus laws and policies that enforce the existing power structure...but that’s just me I guess...



...and Steve Shives sits in for Jesse Dollemore to tell us about Combover Caligula and like-minded idiots who are big mad about not getting their government shut down...what stoo-pidity...wonder what would happen if they started missing their Medicare coverage or SSI payments, assuming they qualify – video includes a terrific analysis of the SAVE Act from the aforementioned Thom Hartmann, including stuff I didn’t know about making it harder for women to vote (and what say you, @RepBrianFitz who voted for this atrocity? To do something about that, click here)...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about followers of Our Ochre Abomination trying to harass voters in 8 districts in Georgia and also trying to get counting of electoral votes changed in Nebraska, with Huckleberry Graham supinely doing the bidding of the Gropenfuhrer...and boy, is Maddow ever right about standing up to these scumwads...the ending is yet another reminder that we have to do what we can as our means allows for campaigns to help Harris/Walz and EVERY SINGLE down ballot Democrat...



...and I guess I need to remind people of the utter lies continually concocted by Bronzer Beelzebub at these more and more cartoonish rallies of his...oh, and it’s too late, supposedly, to do another debate? Whatsmatta? Our big, beefy, Big Mac-ingesting orange criminal is afraid that scary dark-skinned woman is going to kick his bulbous butt all over the place again?? (and the black Nazi guy running for guv in North Carolina didn't show his face, as it turns out? Too funny...David Pakman brings us the gory details)...



...and this video from More Perfect Union brings us the disgusting story of private equity’s takeover of the last affordable housing in the U.S. (with correspondent Sam Black)...can’t think of a word to describe how lowdown it is for these private equity guttersnipes to be going after mobile home parks...”There is no American dream anymore. All it is is survival.” indeed...I’d like to see this Frank Rolfe character get a taste of his own vile medicine; same for Randall Smith and their pals...



...and RIP Nick Gravenites, who collaborated with Janis Joplin on some tunes with Big Brother and the Holding Company; he also produced this hit single with its rather obvious drug reference (which I’m fine with, for the record).

Tuesday Stuff

Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about “couch boy” being interviewed by Kristen Welker of NBC, with Welker asking him about what he plans to do about health care...and no, it isn’t you imagination; the Abraham Accords have NOT ONE GODDAMN THING TO DO WITH HEALTH CARE!...good discussion by Sam of how Our Ochre Abomination did his best to try and tear down the ACA...and oh yeah, remind me again about all of the “peace” in the Middle East right now (here) – go ahead, I’ll wait...and boy, is Emma ever right about the Repugs and their “divide and conquer” strategy when it comes to ANY government program...as Sam says, health insurance really doesn’t work unless you “socialize” the cost (for lack of a better word) across age groups...trying to make these risk pools as granular as Vance is talking about is truly a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what he and his “R” party pals want...



...and keeping with Repugs in “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats tells us about Kaitlan Collins of CNN pushing back somewhat in response to Tom Cotton of Arkansas of course spewing more nonsense about how Democrats allegedly attack “religious liberty,” with Cotton trotting out yet another dog whistle, knowing that our Philistines in robes on the High Court have catered to that (I’m a Roman Catholic, and I’m not harassed one bit by my party, for the record)...interesting that the Vatican is investigating those who wish to perform the Latin mass, which I honestly didn’t know, and I don’t have a “dog” in that fight one way or the other...



...and staying down south for Repug U.S. senatorial idiocy, David Shuster brings us the sorry tale of Louisiana’s John Nimrod Kennedy insulting a woman of Arabic descent who testified before the committee on which Kennedy sits (sorry I’m a little late with this)...yeah, Sen. Foghorn Leghorn sure fits all right - Kennedy should get booted off that committee for telling that woman she should put a bag over her head; just imagine the outcry if a DEM said that...oh, and by the way, UNRWA has about 30,000 members working to provide relief (as much as it CAN be provided) across the Middle East (including about 13,000 in Gaza). Do you want to know how many UNRWA members have been accused of sympathizing with Hamas? 12, as noted here (and the names of these people were shared with Israel and other member states)...oh, and by the way, Kennedy has a net worth of $16 million (last time anybody checked)...



...and staying below that Mason Dixon line, this New York Times Opinion video brings us the story of Sarah Bynum of Tennessee, who gives back to her community big time but isn’t allowed to vote, even after she served her sentence for a felony conviction for aggravated assault (and yes, the process to try and restore her voting rights is indeed absurdly complicated, but not surprising for that locality sadly)...



...and Kyle Kulinski provides more bad polling data for Cantaloupe Capone...an NBC News poll has Harris up among likely voters 49 to 44%...and a 16-point favorability increase in polling for the head of the Dem ticket? Awesome...and Kyle is correct on the history of Dubya’s polling after 9/11; believe it or not, there was a brief period when I saw #43 with the bullhorn near the rubble of the WTC site, and I thought “this guy represents absolutely nothing that I believe in, but maybe he’s the person we should have in An Oval Office right now”...more fool me...Kyle is also right about how PA is a little sluggish, shall we say, when it comes to polling against other battleground states...and it’s definitely cool that third-party goofballs like RFK, Jr., Comrade Jill Stein and Cornel West are (according to what we’re seeing here) taking more votes from Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence than they are from Harris/Walz...



...and as far as I’m concerned, John Knucklehead Kennedy of Louisiana ought to try showing the quality reflected in the title of this tune.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us a clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Jared Moskowitz pretty much schooling Repug U.S. House Rep and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to his face on the Biden impeachment fiasco, so OF COURSE Comer goes running over to Newsmax with his hurt fee fees, but he didn’t get much sympathy over there either...good! (and "the big knish," huh? Too funny)...



...and speaking of Dems in the U.S. House doing a great job, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about Greg Casar, questioning some wingnut named Mark Krikorian, who of course is up to his eyeballs in Project 2025 and wants to utterly dismantle civil rights protections; Krikorian also thinks Haiti should have been enslaved for at least 30 more years...what a disgusting puke Krikorian is (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and when it comes to pathetic examples of Repug non-governance, you can bet that Combover Caligula is going to show up somehow somewhere, and he does in this item from Farron Cousins where we learn that #45 wants a government shutdown if a budget is passed without the SAVE Act, which, again, is supposedly a “solution” in search of a problem that doesn’t exist, which is to bar non-citizens from voting in federal elections...and I wouldn’t have figured that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao would be the voice of reason here, but actually, that death eater from Kentucky is acting sane for a change (an update is here; it looks like a shutdown was averted for now)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about more madness from the Gropenfuhrer, this time on the economy...the Repug prez nominee apparently doesn’t understand his own economic plan (namely, that tariffs are indeed a sales tax to be paid by Americans consuming products bought from those the tariffs are levied against...should we be surprised...story is timed for Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s rate cut)...still utterly painful to watch that insulting answer from Cantaloupe Capone in response to the child care question...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us why the Mars snack food merger would be bad for consumers, and that’s basically because it would create the largest snack food company in years...want to know why price gouging continues? It’s because of these damn mergers and acquisitions, creating mega corps that can charge whatever the hell they want, that’s why...



...and this song was released 50 years ago today.