Friday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell gives us a deeper dive into the latest filing from Jack Smith – gee, looks like Mike Pence took notes, huh? Too bad for Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...and why did I know that John Eastman was the Trumpist bootlicker trying to plead the case for Mango Mussolini (and I’m sure Eastman will end up in the slam for a looong time, which is exactly what he deserves)...I think O’Donnell kind of trips over himself a bit from about 3:18 to 3:24, but you get the idea that the Electoral College Act forbade what Eastman had in mind and it seems like he and #45 wanted Mike Pence to do the dirty work with getting the slates of fake electors to the state legislatures for confirmation, but Pence wouldn’t go along – never thought I’d be giving Pence credit for anything, but I guess I have to even though he acted out of legal self-preservation...and yeah, Couch Boy made it pretty obvious on Tuesday that he would do what Pence wouldn’t (more here)...



...and I kind of put this on the back burner because of other more timely stuff, but Steve Shives (who previously sat in for Jesse Dollemore, though Jesse is back now) lets us know that Our Ochre Abomination’s latest scam is to sell crappy watches to his sheep-like followers, and for $110 grand? Truly, it is to laugh; indeed, the grift never ends...and “not on our watch,” huh? Nicely done...and that goes not just for Combover Caligula and his “mini me,” but we have to VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE DAMN BALLOT, PEOPLE! (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and in keeping with Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that #45 was caught typically trying to lie his way out of the fact that people are leaving his little Bund rallies early...and yeah, there was a hurricane in Flori-DUUH! all right Bronzer Boy...how about the fact that wide swaths of the Southeast up to North Carolina were PULVERIZED by Hurricane Helene, and maybe instead of that typical Ivermectin scam of yours, you could put up an 800 number and a URL onscreen for people to make donations for Helene’s victims? Oh, but that doesn’t help your grift of course...I can dream, can’t I?...and GREAT point about how easy it would be for despots to get Cantaloupe Capone to bait him into doing what THEY want, given how easy it is to get under his skin...



...and of course our thoroughly corrupted SCOTUS did an awful lot to try and establish the leader of Cult 45 as dictator, in the beyond-awful event of Biden’s ruinous predecessor somehow getting another shot at power in An Oval Office...with that in mind, John Oliver take a look at our court system, including circuit courts, state appellate courts, and of course Leonard Leo – and yeah, we already knew that Leo was a lying scumbag, but this segment emphasizes that also...and good for focusing on overturning the Chevron doctrine and the truly huge number of times Chevron was successfully cited as a precedent (and I would say that that was truly a mask-off moment with Gorsuch when he was trying to do his “man of the people” bit...GMAFB!)...



...and at a certain point, I guess you just have to laugh a bit, albeit through clenched teeth (here - incredibly NSFW//H)...



...and the prior clips had to do with political BS, but this one has to do with life and death unfortunately...Mike Figueredo informs us that a South Carolina woman named Amari Marsh was charged with murder after a miscarriage...and yeah, the fact that this lady was contacted BY A GODDAMN COP FOR HER MISCARRIAGE is the first fluorescent red light flashing all over the place...and by the way, cops investigating miscarriages is definitely a thing in South American “Catholic” countries, but I guess we’re officially a third world nation now and I missed the memo (NSFW/H also)...



...and related to the prior clip, Thom Hartmann asks if Texas has outlawed health care for women, given that four counties in “the land of the yellow rose” have passed travel bans saying that, if you transport a woman through that county to get an abortion, you can be sued for up to $10K...also, Repugs are trying to prevent abortion legalization measures from getting passed in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio, and other anti-women’s healthcare nonsense is going on in other states also, including trying to prevent pro abortion rights petitioners from getting signatures...I hope I’m wrong of course, but I can’t see how this won’t lead to violence somehow...



...and in musical news, today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Paul Revere (of The Raiders, mainly from the ‘60s)...would you believe me if I told you that I accidentally ran into him swimming in a pool at a Residence Inn in Laurel, Maryland? I didn’t realize who it was at first; he struck up a conversation, and at first I thought, what’s the deal with this guy? Then, as we talked, he found a way to work into the conversation that he was a musician, and it came up who he really was; I probably should have recognized him sooner (and I later checked out what he said, and he was right of course...he mentioned that a band member was from Eugene, Oregon, which is correct...turns out it's Mark Lindsay), and I was definitely blown away when we talked with him (I was with our son)...I ran some of the band’s legendary song titles past him, and the smile on his face was electric enough to light up a whole room; I honestly think it was him...damn nice guy...RIP.

Thursday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty decent partial list of the lies from J.D. Vance in last Tuesday’s VP debate from Joy Reid; yeah, Couch Boy does indeed have his whole act patented where he sounds intelligent and doesn’t provide much fodder for his opponent, but you indeed have to dig through what the Repug U.S. Senator from Ohio is saying to find out what a brazen con man he truly is (here)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Never Trumper Charlie Sykes pointing out that the Gropenfuhrer’s cognitive decline is getting worse...and yeah, it‘s scary to contemplate that people in this country know they’re being lied to and don’t care; I can assure you that I will NEVER tolerate someone lying to me on an issue, regardless of what political party they represent...clip ends at about 4:38 without the ad...



...and also pertaining to Biden’s ruinous predecessor in An Oval Office, New York Times reporter Michael B. Schmidt discusses how Bronzer Beelzebub wanted to make himself a prosecutor of sorts to go after his critics in 2018, but apparently was stopped by John Kelly and Don McGahn, fortunately (if, God forbid, #45 gets another crack at this, he won’t be told No this time, people, and as Schmidt points out, #45 did indeed go after Schmidt’s phone records as well as those of other reporters)...



...and David Pakman lets us know that Cantaloupe Capone is big mad that Biden delivered hurricane aid to red states (as usual, every accusation from the “R” party is a confession)...and Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz took a break from trying to solicit sex from teenage girls (allegedly!) so he could vote against FEMA aid to Flori-DUUH! before Hurricane Helene struck...just say “oops” and get out, OK?...I think Pakman needs to do something about his mic...



...and this report from More Perfect Union lets us know about Google and Meta (Facebook) buying up local news organizations and siphoning off billions in ad revenue from these smaller operations...didn’t know how important ad exchanges are to the entire profit-making equation for newspapers and smaller publishers...interesting that Australia came up with a strategy around what Google and Meta are doing (and more on Google’s tactics against the CJPA is here)...as far as I’m concerned, we’re going to have to get serious in this country when it comes to forming some kind of a public-private partnership to fund local news orgs so they can keep people and communities informed (and get through some lean periods of declining ad revenue), but I definitely don’t see enough of an appetite for that, unfortunately...



...and happy 45th birthday to drummer Nate Wood of The Calling.

Wednesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us some clips of last night’s VP debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance...wow, Couch Boy sez we need to be energy independent; uh, yeah, and as Cohen points out, that is EXACTLY what Biden and Harris have been working on (creating about 800K manufacturing jobs), as well as the fact that 150K manufacturing jobs left this country when Our Ochre Abomination was in charge; and I thought Tim Walz made a great move to put climate change in the context of what our farmers are dealing with... I’m also glad that Walz mentioned the bill from Repug U.S. Sen. James Lankford that would address what Combover Caligula is screeching about on the border, but #45 wanted Lankford’s bill killed so Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence would have the issue to demagogue about instead...also, it was more than a bit of a tell that Peter Thiel’s puppet Vance wouldn’t acknowledge that NOTHING GODDAMNED ILLEGAL HAPPENED in the 2020 election (here)...Walz needed to at least hold his own last night, and it looks like that happened, so it sounds to me like mission accomplished...



...and I don’t recall that much was said about the “tech bros” supporting Vance in pursuit of a pretty hardcore neocon agenda, but Rachel Maddow covered that pretty well here...and shocker! This all leads back to the at-least-as-nutty Curtis Yarvin...and yeah, we need a CEO/dictator instead of a fully funded, staffed and functioning government – in some insane universe that is (and sure, go ahead and abuse our military yet again for their commitment to protect our way of life by so easily wanting to hand it over to fascists and tin pot dictators)...



...and pertaining to the Repug presidential and VP ticket, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/3/20, in which we learn about all of the individuals Combover Caligula exposed to COVID after he was exposed to Hope Hicks, his White House communications director, who herself tested positive (and #45 eventually tested positive also of course)...typical of his utterly lackadaisical attitude in the face of a global pandemic (more on that is here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore lets us know about the head of the Alabama Supreme Court, Tom Parker (seriously, that’s his name, with no “colonel” added) expressing his support for something called the “seven mountains mandate” which calls on evangelical Christians to “reshape American law and society based on their beliefs” (ugh...no wonder these nematodes support Couch Boy)...oh, and Parker is also calling for his sheep-like followers to pray against a measure that would allow African Americans to have another congressional district...and excuse me while I go out on a bit of a limb here, but somehow I can’t imagine that such a matter is “front of mind” for The Almighty, but what do I know? (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and in somewhat of a related vein (e.g., appealing to wingnuts), Kyle Kulinski (definitely not him) brings us the story of Derrick Anderson, a Repug politician who decided to pose in what appears to be a family photo...um, the problem is that THIS ISN’T HIS FAMILY; I think Kyle is spot-on when he says that these Philistines are trying to find any way to communicate the message that SEE? WE REALLY DON’T HATE WOMEN AND WANT TO DEPRIVE THEM OF THE RIGHT TO MAKE THEIR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME GODLESS, ABORTION-LOVING LIB??!! (NSFW/H)...



...and I hope you’re in the mood for a newer and self-affirming tune, because here it comes.

Tuesday Stuff

Happy 100th birthday to President Carter...yes, he had what I guess you could call a complicated presidency, but there were definitely high points as far as yours truly is concerned, such as the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaty and fully normalizing relations with China; on the minus side was inflation (which any president is limited in fighting, actually) and the Iran Hostage Crisis, with the latter two fully exploited by The Sainted Ronnie R in the 1980 presidential campaign...we should all be disgusted by the lies of Mango Mussolini, but our 40th president set that precedent in the ’80 campaign with all of his untruths, let’s not forget...and of course, Carter’s post-presidency is a model for all of us...



...and speaking of untruths, I have a feeling that the “mini-me” for Our Ochre Abomination will be dealing them fast and furiously tonight in the veep debate, as The Lincoln Project reminds us...



...and in keeping with a theme from the prior two clips, David Doel tells us about Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN spreading the untruth that Dem U.S. House Rep Rashida Tlaib said that Michigan AG Dana Nessel was only prosecuting certain cases because Nessel is Jewish, which TLAIB NEVER FREAKING SAID! And yeah, the “both sides” BS is thick enough to cut with a knife here, because as we know, some campus protestors who may have chanted something impolite about Israel or used spray paint is exactly the same thing as cluster bombs and sniper fire from IDF murdering Gazans as far as our corporate media is concerned...and yeah, I would most definitely agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates also...and good for Doel to put this in the context of the ongoing settlement expansion and occupation...and yeah, it is indeed beyond pathetic to watch Jake Tapper try and weasel his way out of this in questioning Nessel...”well, didn’t YOU imply that about Tlaib and not MEEE??” (and sorry I’m a little late with this)...



...well, to hear something that’s actually true, Miss Beau reminds us that Kamala Harris received about 740 more national security endorsements from across the political spectrum – speaks volumes, I would say...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about Blackrock: The Conspiracies You Don’t Know; the video also looks at State Street and Vanguard, the two other “big three” asset managers...this is a good video, but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that, yes, Vanguard does charge fees, but overwhelmingly, their success is driven by fund performance and shareholder returns, which is the vision of John Bogle, the company’s founder...and once more, offering stock options to executives as compensation used to be illegal, but it became legal under...all together now...The Sainted F*cking Ronnie R (here...though, to be fair, options have been also offered to employees as part of compensation, though at a greatly reduced amount)...that bar graph at about 8:08 does indeed tell the story...



...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that it looks like independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn is doing well in Nebraska running against incumbent Repug Deb Fischer (and yes, that is a compelling ad)...Osborn isn’t a Dem for sure, but if he could get in and cut into the Repug U.S. senate minority, that would definitely be a win (more on the other U.S. Senate races is here)...



...and I have to tell you that there are some issues, people, personalities etc. that I admit to having a blind spot about, more or less, and maybe #1 on that list was Pete Rose, who signed with the Phillies for what seemed like a gazillion dollars way back when, and there was only one reason for that, and that was to win a World Series, which looked hopelessly out of reach for a roster of high-priced but talented players...there were certain constants growing up in these parts back in that era, and it was that the Phillies and Eagles would likely never win championships; it’s hard to put into words the joy that we felt when the Fightin’ Phils FINALLY won a Series in 1980, which became official when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson immediately after the catch in this clip (easily my most memorable Rose moment)...the red pinstripe bunch doesn’t pull this off without #14; it’s that simple (the ESPN host offering Rose a tribute last night more or less said that Rose should be included in a discussion of the game’s greatest players, and I agree 150 percent...yes, Rose was wrong to gamble and lie about it, but I can think of athletes who have done far worse...just make a damn exception and let him into the HOF, OK?)...



Update 10/2/24: Apologies for failing to note the passing of this sports figure who wore the uni of the Sixers for a brief time; our basketball team traded for Dikembe Mutombo when the Allen Iverson-led Sixers were preparing to go against Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers in the NBA Finals in 2001...our guys did their best, but the Lakers were at their peak back then and they prevailed over the hometown bunch four games to one...Mutombo had the thoroughly unenviable task of going up against Shaq, and the former did his best against the latter, a courageous effort in a losing cause.

...and in addition to the 100th birthday of our 39th president, today also marks the 60th anniversary of the “free speech” movement on college campuses, begun by the arrest of former University of California at Berkeley graduate student Jack Weinberg as noted here (Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer has more here...here is a tune for the occasion).

Monday Stuff

David Shuster of TYT informs us about Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence attacking Haitians in the town of Charleroi, PA...and a 2000 percent increase in the town’s Haitian population (and again, all there legally)? Uh, try 20%, Bronzer Boy, according to the town’s mayor...and yeah, I’d heard about the 30K lie total under his ruinous administration (including more here)...and I give Michael Shure so much credit for trying to reason with these MAGA life forms, which is becoming more and more of a hopeless endeavor, and good job by Shuster to present the actually sane point of view from residents of Charleroi...



...and Leeja Miller debunks more Repug BS on the economy; ”I’ll take grocery price gouging for 100, Alex”...more great work by the Groundwork Collective pointing out that about half of inflation was due to high corporate profits (from price gouging, I would argue)...one of the many great points in this video is the lack of antitrust enforcement since the presidency of The Sainted Ronnie R, though there have been exceptions from time to time, such as the Microsoft lawsuit under President Clinton (anybody else remember that?)...also didn’t know that the average CEO salary was 344 times higher than the average worker (something out of a Charles Dickens novel as far as yours truly is concerned)...and to me, it’s no surprise whatsoever that CEO compensation has gone up 1,209% from a time which pretty much coincides with the beginning of the ruinous conservative ascendancy under which we all live...video also does a great job of pointing out how food is monopolized in this country...”only fifteen cents of every dollar spent on groceries goes to the people who grow the food”; if that isn’t an indictment of our monopolistic capitalism, I don’t know what is...she does a great job at around 14:40 to about 15:40 of explaining what a clusterf*ck of a system we have for producing our food and subsidizing farmers who need government assistance (i.e., help from you and me) to even survive...not surprised that about two-thirds of campaign donations from the food industry during 2020 went to Not Your Father’s Republican Party...also easy to see why Repugs HATE Lina Khan of the FTC, and yeah, look to More Perfect Union for more on Khan (and I’m also not surprised that stinkin’ Project 2025 is aimed at dismantling the FTC also...NSFW/H – she tries to bleep herself, but a couple of “F” bombs get by...that’s OK)...



...and David Pakman lets us know about Marjorie Train Wreck Greene’s boyfriend (ugh!) suggesting intimidating non-white voters; yeah, just keep repeating the word “caravan” to keep the wingnuts in full froth...”Hello, Department of Justice? Can somebody please wake up Merrick Garland and have him look into this?” (and by that I mean Brian Glenn’s propaganda)...



...and David Doel lets us know about diplomats walking out on “Bibi” and his UN speech, with the Israeli PM bringing his own cheering section – kind of an Orwellian touch, I must say...oh, and by the way, it should be noted that Netanyahu HAS EXPANDED HIS EFFORTS TO START WORLD WAR III INTO LEBANON!, as we learn about the apartment buildings getting leveled in Beirut...and I might as well go out on a bit of a limb here and note that, as far as the claim from “Bibi” that Hezbollah is putting rocket launchers in garages, how much do you want to bet that, about three weeks from now, the IDF will be confronted on this and they’ll just say, “yeah, well, it turned out that there were no rocket launchers in garages in Beirut,” and the New York Times will give that about 4 inches of column space on the bottom of page A14...and by the way, even though I side with Biden and the Dems of course, don’t think I’m overlooking the fact that “Bibi” is playing #46 for the biggest sucker on earth...and Jeet Heer may be right about Antony Blinken and others in the Biden cabinet, but he was quick to join in the OMIGOD BIDEN HAS TO DROP OUT NOW!! pile-on after the first debate, so he can “go scratch” as far as I’m concerned (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Desi Lydic of The Daily Show gives NYC Mayor Eric Adams the treatment he deserves here in light of his charges for bribery and campaign finance offenses...a truly appalling degree of corruption in NYC, starting with Adams...I guess it really is true about the fish rotting from the head down, as they say...looks like Istanbul was somehow a layover for every single pleasure junket he ever took – interesting...



...and RIP Kris Kristofferson, who served our country and also established himself as a balladeer for our times...he’ll always be a hero for yours truly for the way he once handled Toby Keith as noted here (here also...Kristofferson downplayed it when he was asked, but his widow confirmed that the incident took place).