Friday Stuff

I know I’m still playing catch-up on some stuff, but I didn’t want some of these items to fall under the radar...Hunter Avallone of Occupy Democrats brings us more on the commencement address at Wake Forest by Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes," calling out Our Ochre Abomination in what I would call the required manner (oh, and by the way, I wonder how Comcast and Brian Roberts feel now about donating $1 million to Pumpkin Pol Pot’s inaugural committee as noted here?)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Cantaloupe Capone’s corruption is so bad at this point that one-on-one face time has grown from $1 million to $5 million (as reported by Rolling Stone), and that’s assuming those meeting with him will catch Our Treasonous Orange Pustule on a good day as Cousins points out...um, is anybody on the “D” team besides Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Murphy (and maybe AOC, Jamie Raskin or Jim McGovern) prepared to make any noise about this? (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and based on what Thom Hartmann says in the following clip, apparently Bronzer Beelzebub leaned on Qatar for that $400 billion plane; I mean, that’s what Qatar is saying now (which is believable as far as yours truly is concerned)...and why the $#@! is the plane parked in Dallas, which apparently was the case pending the sale? And kudos once again to Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy for telling our “dear friends” the Saudis to stop paying off our thoroughly bought-and-paid-for *preznit...



...and this More Perfect Union clip features a man named Darrell Chapman who works at a federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, who supported #47 last year...I know this is true of millions of other voters also, but for the life of me, I do not understand why this man turned out to be easy prey for a cheap grifter and con man like Mango Mussolini, but that’s what happened, and of course, the first chance #47 gets, he tries to destroy collective bargaining rights and union organizing as well as existing union contracts, which anybody with a brain should have foreseen (sorry, but at a certain point, I lose patience with people like Mr. Chapman...clip also features Brandy Moore White, President of the American Federation of Government Employees )...



...but if there’s one thing you can count on from this wretched administration, it is trying to carry out more illegal deportments, and this New York Times video mentions traffic stops turning into immigration arrests (with state troopers and ICE agents working in tandem to arrest people they’re profiling, shown in Nashville, TN....sooo, ICE can’t pull people over, but the troopers can, and after the troopers do their thing, that leaves these people as fair game for ICE’s jackbooted, masked thugs, and I have no doubt that ICE will do everything they can to expand this to all 50 states, as well as D.C. and the territories...what country am I living in again?)...



...and echoing the Occupy Democrats clip, Tennessee Brando informs us that NPR is standing up to Our Treasonous Wannabe Dictator by suing over #47’s cut in federal funding...and doesn’t it figure that the attack on public media began under The Sainted Ronnie R...of course, the “party of Lincoln” would just LOVE to see a media landscape dominated by wingnut entities such as Sinclair, where news people have to literally read from prepared scripts...and yeah, if God forbid our ruling regime somehow finds a way to basically abolish the First Amendment, what makes anybody think they’d be satisfied with that and NOT go after the Second as Brando says (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and RIP Rick Derringer...



...and if I'm going to include this tune for the month, I'd better hurry up.

Wednesday Stuff

(Pic is a reference to the online game Minecraft for the uninitiated...)

Lawrence O’Donnell opines on Our Ochre Abomination, calling him straight up the stupidest and most cowardly president who always chickens out, according to the Financial Times of London, which introduces the acronym TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)...sounds like they figured out #47, which isn’t hard I’ll admit...we get more background on the Gropenfuhrer’s typically idiotic war with Harvard...and it’s darkly humorous I’ll admit to see wealth managers and other knowledgeable people in other countries realizing that Cantaloupe Capone is going to cave on his tariff nonsense and basically factoring that into their decision making...not sure why July 9th was decided as the day when Our Treasonous Orange Pustule decided to (maybe) reinstitute his beyond ridiculous EU tariffs, but we are where we are, you might say...and why am I not surprised to see Kevin (“Human Capital Stock”) Hassett with his sh*t-eating grin trying to justify this madness? And kudos in particular to O’Donnell for connecting this job-killing tariff bedlam and the U.S. House Repug budget that steals health care from workers who may end up losing their jobs (hopefully not)...also, GREAT example of the Bivo water bottle company getting it in the neck over this tariff clusterf*ck (I mean, I’m sorry for the company, but it’s an illustrative lesson)...



Update: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

...and this Rebel HQ clip with Ben Gleib and Daria Rose tells us about Pete Buttigieg talking about how Dems need to reconnect with voters on policy and why voters’ circumstances would be markedly improved economically if they supported Dems (and good for Pete for doing this “bro podcast” thing...he may be the best Dem of the lot when it comes to going to hostile spaces and constructively making good points, though Ro Khanna is right up there too)...



...and David Pakman brings us a clip of Dem U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts going right after this Billy Long guy, nominated to be head of the IRS under Pumpkin Pol Pot...yeah, Long tries his “good ol’ boy” schtick here, but Warren quite rightly IMO expects Long to say that it’s illegal for our *preznit to use the IRS as a weapon to go after people and entities he doesn’t like (and revoking non-profit status), which Long won’t do of course because he knows that his boss will start flinging ketchup all over the room if #47 sees something on the TV he doesn’t like...and I have absolutely no information on the Justice Department looking into Andrew Cuomo, but yeah, a targeted political persecution would be right out of the playbook for off-brand Erdogan (and other presidents too, to be honest)...



...and RIP longtime Dem U.S. House Rep Charlie Rangel...admittedly, he was a difficult figure to pigeonhole from another political era, though unlike too many people in government now, he did serve our country as an Army staff sergeant...in the following clip, I seem to recall that the resolution he spoke in support of was to try and get Dubya to draw down from “the surge” as part of #43’s No-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network discuses King Chuck from “across the pond” journeying to our northern neighbor to restate that which is obvious to any sentient life form (discounting you-know-who of course) and that is the fact that Canada is a free, sovereign nation – pathetic that we’re at a point where that needs to be restated I know...and of course, leave it to a leader on the world stage who’s actually competent to talk about climate health and sustainability and respecting indigenous people...definitely a crafty move by Chuck and Canada, and I’d do the same thing if I were in their shoes...in our epochal, dunderheaded stoo-pidity, we let Bronzer Boy run amok, leaving us wide open to something like this...



...and happy 80th birthday to John Fogerty.

Tuesday Stuff

(I'm not sure about posting for the rest of the week, just to let you know.)

Here comes another item where I’ll admit that I’m behind the news cycle a bit – apologies...Chris Hayes tells us about the recent crypto dinner with Cantaloupe Capone, a “Met Gala of presidential pay-to-play” for largely foreign donors...I wonder what the reaction would have been if, say, President Biden had attended a fundraising event for his son Hunter to defer legal costs, but the elder Biden said, “Oh, I’m just attending this in a personal capacity and not as president”; any idea how many heads would have exploded on Fix Noise?...and gosh, isn’t it con-vee-nient that, after Justin Sun purchased Trump’s meme coin, the case against Sun was dropped shortly after #47 was sworn in, huh?...and how emasculated do you have to be to be taunted as “little Marco” by Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, but then end up as a job working for him anyway (more here and here)...



...and with the prior clip in mind a bit, John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report bring us “the state of the haves and the have-nots”...apparently, the top 10 wealthiest Americans have earned a billion dollars a day over the last year...John gives us more gory details on the recent tax scam bill passed by the House, with $135 billion (at a minimum) drained from US tax receipts; as the clip states, according to Oxfam, a measly 3 percent tax increase on these bastards would cover food and housing assistance for over 22 million people...



...and David Shuster tells us about Our Ochre Abomination recently sinking global markets again, this time by calling for a 50 percent tariff on goods from Europe (from last Friday)...I realize Our Orange Imbecile doesn’t understand and/or care about the consequences of his actions, but as I’ve said before (and there are plenty of people smarter than I am on this), messing with stocks is one bad thing, but you REALLY can’t do that to the bond market since it reflects the good faith and credit of this country...and oh yeah, let’s not forget (as Shuster says) that Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating over that beyond-ridiculous bill the House just passed which constitutes the largest redistribution of wealth in this country’s history...and oh yeah, this Scott Bessent character makes a snarky remark about the CBO, and without proof of wrongdoing of course since he knows that pretend journalist Bill Hemmer won’t actually call him on that claim, and it’s also cowardly of Bessent to drag Janet Yellen into this mess...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network speaks with Dem U.S. House member Jared Moskowitz, who worked with FEMA in the past...clip also shows us rural Trump voters on FEMA being MIA across areas in the south devastated by tornadoes (I believe assistance was denied to Tennessee and Arkansas, but I’m not 100 percent positive on that...yeah, politically those states are basically nuts, but I would never argue that they should be denied relief for that reason)...according to Moskowitz, dog killer Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem is “going to turn FEMA into the Newark airport”...and FEMA has lost 30 percent of its workforce? I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am...and yeah, these “blanket pauses” on funding sure sound illegal according to Moskowitz, and knowing our ruling regime, I’m sure they’ll get challenged in court over it, lose, but just keep engaging in this bad behavior and dare anyone to try and stop them...



...and here’s another item I meant to get to previously; Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that a Dem recently won a statewide special election in New York in a district Trump won by 55 points...story leads into a report on the Trump backlash dragging down conservative candidates all over the world, particularly in Australia, Romania and, of course, Canada...and I’m sorry to throw cold water and I hope I end up being wrong, but overall, Hakeem Jeffries isn’t meeting the moment with the required urgency as nearly as I can tell, though he’s definitely spot-on about pretend “moderate” Repugs, like Bri-Fi...



...and Brittany Page brings us the tale of San Jose, CA Mayor Matt Mahan threatening to arrest the homeless if they refuse shelter...and echoing Page’s fine point, what the $#@! exactly is a “quality of life” crime? And yeah, as someone who regularly interacts with the city of Philadelphia, I get it that homelessness can be a nuisance for someone dropping in from the ‘burbs for one reason or another (and I’m not trying to say that any urban policy should be constructed around my personal convenience, for the record), but there HAS TO BE A BETTER SOLUTION than to arrest these people...and don’t think I’m going to take it easy on this Mahan guy because he’s a Dem...



...and I thought this was a nice, heartfelt little ditty from our neighbors to the north...



...and as long as I’m in a Canadian frame of mind (go Oilers!), allow me to wish a happy 80th birthday to Bruce Cockburn (performing with Richard Margison).

Monday Stuff

(To contact the U.S. Senate, click here.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that it looks like Repug U.S. House Rep Virginia Foxx has appointed herself the head of the “civility police” when it comes to that nasty, dark language about the “Big, Beautiful Act”...if anything, that language isn’t harsh enough...as Figueredo and others have pointed out, this cruel monstrosity facilitates “the largest transfer of wealth upward in American history” (not my words)...and boy, is this Marianette Miller-Meeks a sweetheart (apropos first name for a puppet)...not! And that chart at about 5:45 has a lot of important info...8.7 million people will lose health insurance over the next 10 years as a result of this bill (if it passes in its current form), to say nothing of the fact that hundreds more rural hospitals will be forced to close if this wretched garbage is enacted...and OF COURSE there is an anti-trans provision stuck in this ghastly mess of legislation not allowing Medicaid and CHIP to reimburse for gender-affirming care...and funding for #47’s “gold dome”?? WHAAA???? And by the way, spare me with this “no taxes on tips” BS...what really matters is RAISING THE SUB-MINIMUM WAGE (which varies by state) SO TIPS ARE FREAKING UNNECESSARY!! And GREAT point by Figueredo that the extra tipped income someone would declare as non-taxable would also bump up their taxable income to the point where they would likely no longer qualify for other deductions...and more related cruelty is here (NSFW/H)...



...and Tennessee Brando chimes in with his take on this abominable piece of legislation...yeah, the “peanut butter sandwich” analogy works for me...didn’t know that U.S. House Dems introduced 500 amendments over 24 hours to try and hold up this mess; nice work...and God almighty, they’re bringing back the tanning bed tax deduction again – typical for these lowlifes...also, I think I incorrectly said this would add $3.8 trillion to the debt, which is wrong (I wish it were ONLY that)...that figure is the addition to the yearly deficit; the debt number could be closer to $20 trillion (the debt is compiled over multiple years)...(NSFW/H also)...



...and Robert Reich discusses what we probably already knew at this point, and that is the fact that Our Ochre Abomination is trying to drag us back to The Gilded Age of the 1890s...does this clueless orange meat sack want to see an economic crisis that will stimulate the drive for union membership and empower workers in this country? Maybe he does, to the extent that his gnat brain on meth can comprehend anything whatsoever (more is here)...



...and related to more alleged cost savings in this trash fire of a presidential administration, Farron Cousins tells us about 60,000 metric tons of food rotting in this country and overseas because it’s not getting delivered due to cuts to US AID from King Elon I and Bronzer Beelzebub, leading to the deaths of many more in underdeveloped nations relying on this assistance, mainly kids (once more, Cousins’s outrage is commendable)...



...and Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show tells us that DHS Secretary Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem recently floated the idea of a citizenship “Hunger Games” TV show...and oh yeah, there’s more of “Kash and Bongo” (sounds like the name of a bad cop/buddy movie), along with Sean Duffy being a total imbecile while our planes keep crashing...ugh...and yes, I know that’s really Jordan Klepper (NSFW/H as well)...

...and I thought this was a well-done Lincoln Project video with today’s holiday in mind...



...and I realize that, with the passage of time and the foul, fetid Bushco years receding in the rear view mirror a bit, it’s easy to forget the significance of this tune for the holiday, but I don’t think it should get the ”memory hole” treatment, so here it is again (more here)...



...and here is another selection for our annual observance.