Wednesday Stuff

David Pakman reports here that, according to his source, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao has been unconscious for three weeks since he was admitted to the hospital...obviously, this hasn’t been confirmed by anyone so take that for what it’s worth, but it only backs up my suspicion...and I’m sorry (well, not really), but I don’t believe characters like Thune and Barrasso one bit when they say, “Oh, I just had a 20-minute conversation with him”...there’s a REALLY EASY way to confirm that, and that of course is to SIMPLY TELL THE DAMN TRUTH and have McConnell appear onscreen to end all of this speculation...personally, I think we’ve got a “Weekend at Bernie’s” thing going on here because Kentucky Repugs don’t want Dem Governor Andy Beshear to try and appoint a Dem to take McConnell’s place (which I don’t think he can do anyway, since that state passed a law tying Beshear’s hands on this) and want to run out the clock as much as possible to get to a special election where they have an advantage (I’m admittedly neither an expert on Kentucky politics nor am I one on medical practice)...and boy, is Pakman ever right to point out how sketchy this is since the “R” team lost their collective sh*t over Joe Biden’s medical issues (and Laura Loomer is certifiable as far as yours truly is concerned)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us that it looks like actor Patrick Dempsey might (?) declare himself as a candidate to succeed Graham Platner as the Dem U.S. Senate nominee to run against Susan Collins in Maine (and Dempsey is right about men’s health screenings – women’s also...I also wouldn’t blame Dempsey if he stayed away from this, to be honest)...I don’t know exactly what Platner is up to at this moment, but for him to still be hanging on reflects equal parts egomania and masochism – beating Collins was going to be difficult anyway, and unfortunately it will be damn near impossible now with all of this...also, it looks like, though Vlad The Butcher has been dealing lethal blows to the brave people of Ukraine, he’s getting more than a taste of his own deadly medicine – good!...



Update: Platner's out (and so is Dempsey).

Update 7/9/26: It isn’t often when I feel like I need to pick a fight with folks on our side, but this is one of those occasions.

If you want to criticize ANY politician (including Bernie Sanders), fine. No one is exempt I know. But last I checked, I didn’t see that it was the job of Bernie Sanders to vet political candidates. He gravitates to politicians based on whether or not they profess to be an economic populist, and we have too damn few of those folks as far as I’m concerned. John Fetterman claimed to be that, though he’s totally flipped the script at this point. Platner claimed to be that also (and Daily Kos diarist Emily Singer also mentions former Dem Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum along with “Tokyo Rose” Gabbard).

As far as I know, though, it’s the job of national Democratic party organizations (such as the DNC, DSCC, and the DCCC) to go over these candidates and make sure they’re battle-ready. It isn’t the job of any Dem (or Independent) politician on the local, state or federal level.

Actually, I think it’s kind of bitchy to single our Sanders here (especially since he said that Platner should now step aside). I don’t see where he’s responsible for the failures of political candidates who didn’t see the attack coming at them and ended up betraying the causes they professed to support.

via GIPHY

...and John of The Damage Report lets us know that guv #DeathSantis in Flori-DUUH! got slapped down by a US Court of Appeals in the effort to ban teaching of race and gender in that state’s public schools (and the “chef’s kiss” is that one of the judges ruling against him was appointed by the Gropenfuhrer)...echoing John’s point a bit, I think #DeathSantis is indeed going to take another shot at the big chair in ’28 and try riding his “anti-woke” hobby horse, so to speak, but I have no doubt that that will lead to the same result as before (though God knows who will get the nod instead – possibly “Couch Boy” I guess, which would also be horrific)...



...next, I give you actor Sean Astin’s wonderful speech before Congress about the NO FAKES Act (more here)..as is so often the case, we plunge forward with technology without having the robust public debate that we need about the costs as well as the benefits...



...and on this day in 1976, Richard Nixon became the first president to be disbarred over his involvement in the Watergate scandal – makes me recall this novelty number from awhile back (and that’s John Denver in the middle before he rose to fame)...



...and here is another seasonal selection.