Saturday Stuff

I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 1/12/17, in which somebody named Bo Bice had a bit of a white grievance meltdown over being called “white boy” (which – and please work with me on this – is something HE ACTUALLY IS) apparently by an African American employee at a Popeye’s restaurant...this of course leads to the inevitable wingnut umbrage from Fix and Fiends (and Mike Huckabilly too)...I don’t know what happened to Samantha Bee, but she did a good job with stuff like this a few years back (slightly NSFW/H)...

Here's what happens when white Americans taste (what it's like to be part of) the rainbow. #SamanthaBee pic.twitter.com/NlEeyKoUAH

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) January 12, 2017

...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report presents a clip of $100-million-man Scott (“We risk revolution”) Galloway dropping more than a few “truth bombs” on “Morning Jo(ke)”...I think Galloway inappropriately conflates anger at insurance companies with the #MeToo and BLM protests; I don’t think the latter two have anything to do with income inequality...the stunned silence from the entire panel is funny in a way – you can almost see the thought balloons over everyone’s heads with the words “I sure as hell didn’t expect this guy to say this stuff”...Galloway’s take is commendable I believe, but I think what’s spurring this on is the “one percent” still quaking in their boots over the Brian Thompson murder and not any impulse related to altruism (love to be wrong, and no, I don’t condone violence against anyone)...video does a good job IMO of explaining the chasm in this country between what people want when they’re polled on issues and policies that actually matter versus what the politicians supposedly representing them are focused on doing instead...and I haven’t heard it explained before how elections have been monetized for the “one percent” (actually, a fraction of that), but it makes sense unfortunately...and I completely agree with Figueredo that “we should always aim higher”...



...and Chris Hayes gives us more information on the “tech bros” indeed coalescing in support of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, including Jeff Bezos (referencing the Ann Telnaes cartoon again)...also, Zuckerberg ditching fact checking from Meta to indeed curry favor with #47 (with a segment yesterday from Belle on that...important history from Hayes in this matter)...if nothing else, these tech dudes in their insufferable egotism and greed have truly provided a “mask off” moment (my assessment, not really Hayes’s in so many words...I have a feeling Hayes wants to go further in pointing out how dramatic this is, but MSNBC has to walk a tightrope of sorts since Comcast has cut them loose, making them easy prey for our incoming oligarchy, so they may feel it’s necessary not to give this incoming bunch of usurpers any more ammunition than necesary)...



...and David Pakman lets us know about MAGA/Steve Bannon turning on King Elon I...kind of hilarious to me to hear this wingnut hissy fit over “de-boosting” “excretions” or whatever madness is going on in Musk’s cranium (particularly regarding the H-1B Visa issue) when this bunch of grifters and nematodes had no problem of course when those metaphorical guns Musk is now bringing against Bannon et al were aimed at Dems and lefties in general during the election...I agree with Pakman’s assessment that #47 is pretty much “leaving Bannon at the altar,” you might say, in favor of Musk and his vast amounts of dough...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen and election lawyer extraordinaire Marc Elias tell us about North Carolina Repugs trying to steal an election lawfully won by Allison Riggs for the State Supreme Court (Riggs is a judge)...and yeah, GREAT point by Elias not to wake our sleeping fourth estate cousins, who of course will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while this thievery from the “party of Lincoln” proceeds apace...yeah, let’s just pitch 60K votes because we feel like it...what country am I living in again?...



Update 1/13/25: Fortunately, sanity prevailed (h/t Eschaton).

...and I don’t know about you, but I need something kind of mellow to wrap up the week – I think this will do the trick (and dripping with nostalgia too for good measure).

Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes informs us here that there are not as many trannies as the Repugs want us to believe (and no, they’re not raiding our bathrooms either)...less than one-tenth of one percent of teenagers in this country are trans and receive gender-related medicines including puberty blockers...and of course, Stephanie Ruhle commendably asks the inaptly-named Repug U.S. Senator Jim Justice how many trans athletes there are in his state of West Virginia and he has no freaking clue as to the answer...and for at least the two thousandth time, I want to point out that KIDS UNDER 18 AREN’T GETTING FREAKING BOTTOM SURGERY, PEOPLE!!! (and God almighty, I wish we had an actual functioning national political party in this country that could effectively make these arguments)...



Update 1/11/25: And when it comes to anti-straight intolerance, I think you can draw a line right back to Anita Bryant and people like John Briggs in California, who sponsored Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools (the measure was defeated, fortunately). I mention this because news has just come out that Bryant died last December...and no, I’m not going to include a clip of Bryant’s pie incident since we’ve all seen it. I’m just acknowledging something in the news; I realize that, if you don’t have something good to say about someone who has died, you should just leave it alone, and I’m trying to do that.

...and Belle informs us here that Facebook is going to end fact-checking on their platform, and I’ll plan to say more about this (under the guise of letting AI take over)...just another “bend the knee” gesture from a tech oligarch towards the incoming regime of Combover Caligula...no good outcome looms for any of this, sadly...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that Marjorie Train Wreck Greene will introduce legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico, which of course lines up with what Our Ochre Abomination wants...I give Jesse credit for being an absolutely straight shooter in the matter of those who voted for Mango Mussolini – not a time for equivocation, people...and no disrespect to Jesse, but I was hoping we were done with “Dirty Dirk” Kempthorne from the bad Bushco days, but I guess not...and you-know-who sez Biden allegedly got rid of $50-$60 trillion in assets?? WHAAA?????...



...and man, does this TikTok guy drop more than a few “truth bombs” on the subject of Canada versus this country...

This video should infuriate anyone ignorant and dumb enough to have voted for Trump. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/Q4CCdKNFg7

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 10, 2025

...and Desi Lydic of The Daily Show gives us an update on the efforts to fight the California wildfires (more here) as well as our incoming *preznit proposing to invade Greenland (and I know I’ve gone over this before, but I assure you, on this and other matters, all roads lead back to Vlad The Butcher as noted here)...



...and happy 80th birthday to Rod Stewart.

Wednesday Stuff

David Pakman discusses the clip of Repug U.S. Senator Deb Fischer getting sworn in by still-VP-for-now Kamala Harris while Fischer’s husband did everything he could possibly do to ignore Harris...what an utter POS this guy is (and last I heard, Fischer was supposedly in trouble in her re-election against this independent guy named Dan Osborn, but I guess the Repugs fell in line at the end as they ALWAYS do)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here about Cantaloupe Capone pressuring Congress to do something utterly stoo-pid, and that is to put all of what Mango Mussolini wants (tax cuts for the rich of course, along with border nonsense and God knows what else) into “one big, beautiful bill,” and MAGA Mike Johnson basically says, “Thank you sir, may I have another?” in response...yep, slipping on the metaphorical banana peel right out of the gate, as it were...I would agree with Cousins except that, as much as I detest #47, I’d be an idiot to ignore the possibility that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule will get his way on this by browbeating his party into submission and getting just enough cowardly Dems to support this nonsense also...



...well, at least one person out there has taken a rather visible stand in opposition to our slow slide into some utterly craven and destructive corpocracy, at that would be (former) WaPo cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who resigned in protest after her cartoon lampooning those worshiping at the altar of #47 was spiked by owner Jeff Bezos...democracy does indeed die in darkness, but also in the midst of greed and cowardice as well (John and Jackson White provide details...and this video is more evidence to me that Trump won because of depressed Democratic turnout for a variety of reasons, and yeah, our *preznit-elect isn’t going to be seeing any damn 42 percent approval rating again after his bulbous butt secures itself behind the Resolute Desk in An Oval Office)...



...and on the subject of the recent election, I think this man's NSFW/H commentary hits home for all of us...

This gentleman speaks for all rational patriotic Americans. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/1hx7qBpW3E

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 5, 2025

...and this segment of ”The Classroom” from More Perfect Union (with Karan Menon) presents an important IMO discussion of pensions and how they were once associated with union membership (pensions being a so-called “defined benefit” plan that used to exist with an employer until “defined contribution” 401(k) plans were instituted, which were only intended at first to supplement defined benefit plans, not replace them)...and yes, we can thank this Ted Benna character for the rise of 401(k) plans (and yes, I’m being sarcastic)...I have to admit that I didn’t know that this country’s population over 65 is the largest group living in poverty, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised...and I DEFINITELY knew about the role played by The Sainted Ronnie R in messing up Social Security (more here)...



...and RIP Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary (you can consider this an appreciation of his musical contribution, though he has a scummy backstory, I'll admit).

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins lets us know that Hangin’ Judge JR was whining recently that folks are complaining that the SCOTUS is too politically biased or whatever...hey, time for you to own that, pal (and I would say that that’s a fairly comprehensive list of rulings from this wretched SCOTUS that Rolling Stone has assembled that have ensconced power for the one percent and corporations while sticking everyone else in the metaphorical neck, and that’s only for the last few years...very slightly NSFW/H at the end)...



...and Rachel Maddow lets us know about some Trumpist nut beating on a door where Nancy Pelosi supposedly was at Coral Gables in a 2018 protest who is our new ambassador to Panama (not familiar with this incident I’ll admit), and Maddow does so against the backdrop of the possibility that the life forms responsible for 1/6/21 could get pardoned...take a bow, all of you numbskulls who enabled this by wasting your vote last year...I realize Maddow has to calmly and logically look at the fact that one of our political parties commendably wants to continue playing by the rules of governance that have been in place for roughly 250 years and the other major political party wants to drive our democracy right off a cliff, as it were, but to be fair, she spent months up to now warning us that we were at a “break the glass” moment...and leave it to the Murdoch Street Journal to try and soft-sell the threat imposed by Mango Mussolini...the only options I can think of besides trying to endure all of this as best we can are those that I don’t want to speculate about in this space (and no, I don’t mean violence in opposition)...



...and the latest from More Perfect Union brings us the sorry tale of corporations trying to buy influence with #47 and King Elon I through Xitter, which has to be pretty much of a “loss leader” at this point from its collapsing revenue, though our corporate bottom feeders know that and pretty much don’t care if it frees them from experiencing one of Bronzer Beelzebub’s legendary hissy fits (NSFW/H also)...



...and Kyle Kulinski informs us of China pretty much kicking our butt on high-speed rail as well as infrastructure overall...and yeah, I’ll admit that China’s approach is to do everything perfectly or people end up disappearing if they don’t, which is terrible in its own right of course, but you can’t argue with their results vs. ours unfortunately...and I agree with Kyle on the insidious influence of neoliberalism and the heavy hand of private equity in this country (NSFW/H as well)...



...and Brittany Page lets us know about Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian tripping over the metaphorical rake when it comes to the “housing first” model to fight homelessness, with Ana merely misunderstanding the concept but Cenk claiming that getting rid of “housing first” ended up cutting down on homelessness of our veterans, which is flat out wrong (highest numbers of homeless ever recorded according to the most recent HUD report, tragically, among vets and everyone else, and again, don’t expect that to get any better with this incoming regime of grifters and frauds)...I’ve tried to avoid commentary on the rightward turn of the TYT hosts because I think there’s more important stuff out there, but sometimes that situation is impossible to avoid...



...and I now give you today's regional weather forecast.

Monday Stuff

John Iadarola and Abelina Sabrina of The Damage Report inform us that the bloody purge against any actual undocumented immigrant or someone viewed to be such from Our Ochre Abomination seems just hunky dory for about a quarter of this country, including 46 percent of Republicans among those polled...sure, let’s just pleasantly stroll right into fascism...God almighty...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the tale of a South Dakota dairy farmer hoping he doesn’t get screwed over by Mango Mussolini, assuming that #45/47 and “Unsafe At Any Speed” Kristi Noem won’t do their level best to put him out of business...yeah, him hedging in response to the reporter’s questions isn’t a good sign right off the bat, people; why indeed would someone go along with this? I guess he was brought up to believe that that the “D” party is the “mommy” party and the “R” party is the “daddy” party...more fool him (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and David Pakman tells us that 47 is approaching a “fork in the road” when it comes to his promised economic policies and their real-world impact (i.e., tariffs, roundup of immigrants, etc.)...and I have no sympathy whatsoever for low-income residents of our beloved commonwealth of PA who didn’t bother to educate themselves on what Combover Caligula was proposing and cast their ballot for him anyway...another terrific discussion from Pakman about the importance of immigration to sustaining and growing our economy; again, this version of Not Your Father’s Republican Party, based on their idiotic notions of “governance,” doesn’t have a clue about this stuff...”the slogans don’t pay the bills” indeed...



...and I know I’m a little late with this, but Mike Figueredo brings us his “Best and Worst” of 2024...and by the way, I think scolding John Fetterman for supporting our “ally” “Bibi” AND telling people not to take pleasure in the execution of Brian Thompson of United Healthcare is entirely consistent...and I wish Figueredo had cited one particular instance of Bill Maher needing to STFU; I think Maher is the correct choice, but that doesn’t mean we should be “painting with a broad brush” either...more reasons to go after Maher are here...and yes, he’s allowed to criticize the alleged leadership of the Democrats, but Maher’s reasons have to do with affecting his privilege and not because of anything remotely close to issues affecting people who constitute his ever-shrinking audience...I think Figueredo is a little too tough on Biden here; yes, Biden should probably have dropped out at the midterms, but he was going to get pilloried regardless of what he did – I don’t agree with Biden on Israel either, but does anyone seriously think that situation won’t get more out of hand after Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence is sworn back in? (NSFW/H)...



...and awww, let’s all break out the tiny violins for Bronzer Beelzebub who haz a sad over flags set at half-staff for former President Jimmy Carter (here)...Texas Paul gives our incoming preznit the response he deserves IMHO...and on that note, I give you more Repug BS here (and I saw that Jim Worthington of the NAC FINALLY set his flag at half-staff a day or so ago)...

Texas Paul with some truth regarding Trump's hissy fit about the flags flying at half mast during his innauguration. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/UG86sXNQO1

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 4, 2025

...and happy belated 80th birthday to Stephen Stills.