Friday Stuff

I know I’m a little late with this, but Jon Stewart gave us the following commentary on Monday over the beyond ridiculous tariffs courtesy of Combover Caligula...and yeah, who’s the “PANICAN” now, you guttural orange turd...spot-on commentary by Stewart as per usual with humor but also pointing out that our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing...and yeah, we’ll sure be able to compete with southeast Asia for tech jobs while we’re busy putting screws into iPhones...



...and Leeja Miller lets us know that the tariff backlash has indeed begun...yep, I would say so (I know it’s hard to keep up with all of the insanity from Bronzer Beelzebub, which is completely by design, but this is still a pretty thoughtful and well-researched analysis)...also, Ground News is definitely an important site/app...many good points including the fact that whatever trade deficits we actually have (notwithstanding the phony baloney numbers in that dumb chart) are likely more than offset by the fact that the US is the largest exporter of services among industrialized nations, as Miller points out...I’m definitely not an econ major from college also, so I can’t get into the “whys” and “wherefores” of how the tariff numbers are ridiculous; I’ll just take the word of reputable people in this area who say that...Miller gets to Peter Navarro at about 16:56, who is one of the most guilty parties in this madness...she also makes a totally cogent argument leading up to the inescapable conclusion at about 22:26 that this insanity only benefits the rich...and that subreddit person says “I get the sense I’m not being told the truth,” huh? At what point were you FINALLY going to figure out that WE HAVE A RULING CABAL OF LIARS AND GRIFTERS IN CHARGE??!!...also, as others have pointed out, the ruinous Smoot-Hawley tariff greatly exacerbated The Great Depression...glad we’re not at a Costco Slop Bucket Level of Apocalyptic Panic; hopefully we won’t economically deteriorate to that point (and one of Miller’s great points is that this actually is a good time to buy stocks while share prices are lower)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the tariff madness (and yeah, I would say that the “Lucy, you got some explaining to do” moment is here for sure also)...and as far as the news about the IRS is concerned, it doesn’t take a genius to see that tax information will be another way to try and round up more suspected illegal immigrants for Bronzer Beelzebub’s deportation flights to El Salvador, Louisiana, or some other place where there’s a black hole to stick these people with the intention of never hearing from them again (and oh yeah, I can also see the IRS now going out of its way to audit Democrats, as Whitehouse suggests...Whitehouse is spot-on also IMO with his example of the shoe lace manufacturer in his state)...



...and Brittany Page brings us the sorry tale of food assistance getting hammered (SNAP) to pay for tax cuts for the rich from the “party of Lincoln,” as well as cuts to Medicaid...and oh great, “Bobby Brainworms” is going to make sure that we’ve can’t capitalize on the potential cancer breakthrough; heckuva job!...and I can’t think of a minute when I’ve seen Jim McGovern and he hasn’t stood tall (terrific analysis by Page of how there ALREADY ARE work requirements for SNAP, and anybody familiar with the cost of child care, which excludes congressional Republicans I realize, knows that you basically have to choose between often crappy employment for not much dough or foregoing work to take care of your kids...an even worse update is the news that the U.S. House approved that disgusting budget that does indeed cut Medicaid and SNAP; every Dem voted No and every Repug, including Bri-Fi, voted Yes...here and here)...



...and RIP Robert McChesney, who wrote a whole bunch of books about control of our media by monopolies... Amy Goodman and John Nichols pay tribute...as Nichols says, McChesney, maybe more than anyone else, brought to our attention the fact that the media itself can be an issue when it comes to serving either democracy or corporate power...I definitely would say that McChesney figured out the monopolistic game played by the telcos and others with an internet presence to maximize profit and manufacture consent in favor of the economic elites more than anyone else (and I honestly couldn’t tell you where we are with Net Neutrality...I’m sure certain online presences are getting “throttled” – maybe including your humble narrator – while others sail through if the price is right, but I can’t prove it of course)...



...and RIP also drummer Clem Burke of Blondie.

Wednesday Stuff

Tennessee Brando lets us know about MAGAts celebrating losses in their 401(k)s because of Pumpkin Pol Pot (I can most definitely assure you I don’t share that mood in any way)...and oh yeah, we get more of the same pabulum along the lines of “don’t worry, be happy” including Judge Winebox, along with that idiocy again from Harris Faulkner about supporting the war effort, or some such nonsense...as Brando says, I don’t recall hearing anything like that from Faulkner while Biden brought us out of the pandemic...and Brando is about 150 percent right about not being able to debate some MAGA goofball or someone simpatico with that bunch (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and Belle discusses the Trade Review Act of 2025, with more Repug senators signing on along with a bunch of Dems, with Repug rep Don Bacon introducing a companion bill in the U.S. House (to reclaim tariff power from Our Demented Orange Man-Baby)...also, the Gropenfuhrer is getting sued over tariffs by a group backed by Leonard Leo and Charles Koch (“don’t mess with the money” indeed...so let me see if I can figure this out; trashing the environment, taking away women’s health care, putting children into dangerous factories, cutting food assistance to families, letting Israel do genocide in Gaza, letting guns proliferate like crazy, attacking LGBTQ individuals and rounding up basically anyone who appears to be an immigrant whether they actually are US citizens or not...that’s all fine with the MAGA crowd, but touching everyone’s retirement is the “third rail” that FINALLY gets the attention of these clowns?)...



Update 1: Now watch and see all the gutless lickspittles of #47’s party forget about clawing back tariffs after this.

Update 2: Jamelle Bouie is probably the only columnist from the "paper of record" that I take seriously any more, FWIW (here - and I know that last sentence is tongue-in-cheek).

...and speaking of “Bibi” and his Gaza carnage, Emma of The Majority Report tells us about a video exposing the slaughter from the IDF of paramedics providing assistance to residents of Rafah in Gaza...absolutely shocking also that the report on this came from Fix Noise, but I have to give them credit...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the ‘terrible, absolutely ridiculous way to run a government” from Cantaloupe Capone...yeah, so the “solution” from these Trumpist/DOGE nematodes for all of the misery they’re responsible for related to Social Security is just to not tell anybody about it...also, nice job by Arizona AG Kris Mayes to set up a website to report Social Security problems; that should be the case in all 50 states, D.C. and our territories as well...I know the wingnuts will squeal like stuck pigs as usual over commentaries like this (too f’ing bad), but Maddow is spot-f*cking-on with her analysis...



...oh, and by the way, people from other countries are avoiding this nation like the plague (and rightly so), as Jesse Dollemore points out in those particularly damning line graphs...it looks like travel from this country overseas has remained constant thus far, but I would argue that that’s because those trips were likely planned months ago – the real test will be how many trips overseas are planned by people in this country as the year unfolds, and I’m sure that number will fall off the metaphorical cliff also...



...and Elton John released “Jump Up,” his 16th studio album, on this day in 1982...the “hits” from that recording were “Ball and Chain” and “Empty Garden,” but I decided to include this for obvious reasons I guess...he always struck me as a good dude (at least in terms of how he presented himself in public); I’ll always give him credit for “Rocketman,” which was one of the most warts-and-all biopics I’ve ever seen – he definitely deserves points for honesty.

Tuesday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report let us know about the usual suspects on Fix Noise trying to oh-so-politely criticize the Gropenfuhrer over the epochal destruction from his trade war, though I guess they think they can’t go too far in invoking the wrath of the Man-Baby With Delusions Of Godhood...and I’m sure this Trumper Howard Lutnick SOB has already transferred his assets overseas, and as far as Sean Inanity is concerned, John makes a great point about #47 apparently trying to destroy the trade deal THAT #47 HIMSELF APPROVED SIX FREAKING YEARS AGO!!!...



...and Jesse Dollemore reports on still more stock market carnage, with the DJIA down about 5,000 points yesterday at the open of trading, though it closed down 350, as it that is supposed to be good news somehow (and $6 trillion drained from the market in a week because of those beyond-ridiculous tariffs)...



...and Belle discusses the potential of a trade war turning into the real thing, and as Belle says, it would only be with China...maybe out of my lane a bit, but here’s a question; since China is ascendant economically, how would achieving some kind of military conquest help that? Basically, would it be worth the cost of a military engagement to enhance their economic position – just wondering (I’m tempted to think no, and I hope to God I’m right)...



...and Farron Cousins informs us of significant damage coming to Medicaid to pay for still more stinking Repug tax cuts for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch, and yes, overwhelmingly it will hit states that voted for Cantaloupe Capone, so this definitely shouldn’t be a surprise, and yes, people will die as a result (love to be wrong, but we know how this movie ends, you might say)...



...and Rachel Maddow interviews Dr. David Kessler, who had a lot to do with keeping millions of people safe during COVID; Kessler also lets us know that #47 fired the doctor who likely saved his life when Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence came down with COVID – no bottom too low...and oh yeah, the “fertilization president” guts the CDC...yeah, he’s full of fertilizer all right...I knew this second ruinous term for Mango Mussolini was going to be carnage and retribution, but I honestly didn’t think the scale of the destruction would be this broad... this clip should be viewed by everyone in this country, though I guess some would ignore it coming from “MSDNC” allegedly...more fool them for being the troglodytes who, more than anyone else, inflicted this mess on us all...



...and today marks the 90th anniversary of Congress voting to approve the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in response to the Great Depression...the clip gets into more background, and more information on the projects completed by the WPA is here (shocking I know to recall a time when Congress actually worked on behalf of the majority of this country as opposed to the one percent)...



...and this is probably the best explanation I’ve heard yet behind all of the damage from the horrible tariffs of Our Ochre Abomination from Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias (and once more, let’s not forget that the power to impose tariffs rests with Congress, but because #47 declared some kind of “emergency,” he claimed the tariff power and the supine lackeys of his party on Capitol Hill are letting him get away with this madness)...this is the only way thus far that Yambo has figured out how to behave like a strongman as opposed to serving as the elected leader of a free people...and yeah, it’s so despicable to see how law firms have caved, among other entities...and yes, I know the market has rebounded a bit today thus far (briefly NSFW/H)...



Update: And apparently I spoke too soon because Orange Sh*tstain just f*cked the market again with a 104 percent tariff on China...

...and I’m just in the mood to hear this newer tune – feel free to read into that however you want.

Monday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore brings us the sorry tale of Texas U.S. House Rep Keith Self (do I really need to note the political party?) quoting Joseph Goebbels during a hearing questioning someone from the Biden Administration supposedly guilty of “censorship” (spoiler alert: she wasn’t)...Self should be immediately removed from office and disallowed from serving when it comes to government in any level at all in this country (and I give less than a rat’s ass that this idiot served for over 20 years in the Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel; if anything, that makes this worse...I think this asshat was trying to allege that the Biden Administration somehow was guilty of Nazi propaganda, which 1) is utterly ridiculous, 2) does not stand up to any actual proof, 3) Are you f*cking kidding me?, and 4) Are you eating paste and lead paint chips for dinner?)...very slightly NSFW/H...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the Gropenfuhrer blowing off the dignified transfer of the remains of our soldiers killed in Lithuania to watch a golf match and attend a dinner for the same in Flori-DUUUH!, apparently, which shouldn't be surprising from the guy responsible for this...



...oh, and in case anyone was wondering about the reaction of world leaders to "liberation day" last week (as in, "liberated" from over a year's worth of accrued value in our 401(k)s), Brian Tyler Cohen gives us the details (with Emmanuel Macron of France taking the lead in responding)...and yes, Jamie Raskin is about 150 percent correct, and the notion that Yambo thought the entire world would grovel to him is spot-on also...

Update: As far as I'm concerned, we're in 25th Amendment territory right now.

...and David Shuster informs us that the tariffs of Pumpkin Pol Pot are so bad that he’s getting called out by Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul of Kentucky and Senator Foghorn Leghorn of Louisiana (and it’s “Smoot-Hawley” Rand, not the way you said it, whatever that was, though Paul is otherwise spot-on, shockingly enough...Daniel Dale pronounced it correctly later...and I'm genuinely sorry about the man running the hotel/B&B in Maine; looks like a beautiful place)...



...and Bernie Sanders recently introduced a resolution of disapproval to our funding of the criminal regime of Netanyahu in Israel, sending over $9 billion in military hardware (and I think we’ve long since passed the point where we need to say, “yeah, but Hamas...” – the resolution failed, which isn’t surprising unfortunately, but there was some movement on the Dem side...of course, fugghetaboutit from the “party of Lincoln”)...



...and John Prine left us 5 years ago today due to COVID complications; the pandemic was another catastrophe completely and totally bungled by Combover Caligula.

Sunday Stuff

What follows is an overhead video of the “Hands Off” protest yesterday in Chicago...



...as well as Boston (Provincetown also – and yeah, that was a particularly ridiculous Repug lie at the end...well, I did “a quick Google search” and found this)...



...additionally, here is the protest in Detroit...



...and Philly is included in this report (and as far as that idiocy about tariffs restoring manufacturing from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, I give you this from people who actually know what they’re talking about)...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network has more, including protests in Concord, New Hampshire, Boston again...also Fort Lauderdale, Portland, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Minnesota, and on and on, as well as oversea in France and Germany, and Meiselas also presents some truly demented insanity from #47’s on Truth Septic...



....and this gives a look at yesterday’s international protests (“It’s not a question of location, it’s a question of principle,” indeed.)..

Protests also took place at the following locations:

Carthage, NC (a pro-MAGA town, apparently)

Kalispell, MT

Easthampton, MA

Albuquerque, NM

Additonally, New York Times reporting is here and Reuters reporting is here.

...and I’m presenting this clip again from a product manager who explains pretty well why we’ll never “tariff” our way to onshoring our manufacturing capability again...I mean, we could try to do that with significant public investment in concert with the private sector, but good luck trying to do that with the knuckleheads currently in charge of our federal government (NSFW/H)...

One of the most informative explanations of what Trump's tariffs are going to do to America that you'll ever hear. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/UZ6jpbkzP2

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) December 7, 2024

...and if you’re looking for a tune for this occasion, I would suggest the following.



Update: Also, there were protests yesterday at the Texas state capital of Austin...



...as well as Milwaukee (as well as at the state capital of Madison in Wisconsin) and elsewhere.