Tuesday Stuff (update)

Oops! It looks like Betsy DeVos is BUSTED (as TYT tells us), caught not paying taxes and flying the flag of the Cayman Islands on one of her 10 yachts – womp womp (sometimes David Sirota pisses me off with his CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! act, but I have no issues whatsoever with his first-class reporting, and this is an example…Ana is on fire at about 4:20 or so, and Cenk is later, and they’re both spot-on…and as much as this is awful wretched excess on DeVos’s part of course, I don’t favor vandalism either)…



(And by the way, speaking of “Corporate Dems”…no, I don’t like the fact that corporations have an outsized say in our politics either. But like many of you I’m sure, I get BOMBARDED with soliticitations from candidates, and more often than not, I’m unable to throw them anything. Basically, even though I don’t like it of course (and I admit I don’t know from firsthand experience), I don’t know how you can possibly run a political campaign WITHOUT corporate contributions. That’s why, aside from anything related to our health and that of our planet, campaign finance reform and TOTAL PUBLIC FUNDING OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS MUST BE the most important issue…but good luck getting the vast majority of the American sheeple to support it. The candidates need to earn my trust, though, to convince me that they won't do the bidding of corporations at my expense.)

…back to the videos – and kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep (and vet) Ruben Gallego for standing up to the right-wing nut jobs out there; this is how it’s done (again, with the recent one-year anniversary in Charlottesville in mind…nice job with a bit of trolling by Gallego, and I think Gallego did a good job of fending off those idiotic Avenatti questions; haven’t we gotten into enough trouble with ONE TV personality already??!!)…



…and I think the prior video (with the Pelosi question) is actually a pretty good lead in to the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/12/12 – the next time you hear anybody bitching about the U.S. House Dem Minority Leader (while some in our party wrongly “measure the drapes,” and a GREAT recent column on this from Prof. Krugman is here), keep in mind that she had A LOT to do with the legislative accomplishments Rachel Maddow notes here, the last time Dems ran all branches of the federal government...I know this originally aired late in October/early in November 2010 of course – and by the way, I will NEVER accept the supposed choice between using political capital just for the sake of politics and consolidating power (as Repugs do) vs. using political capital to get stuff done but losing for it at the ballot box (Dems); as far as I’m concerned, use political capital to get stuff done, make the case to the voters that you’re better than the other guy because of it, and see if you win re-election or not…



..and Velshi and Ruhle tell us that it looks like all of this “winning” under the Gropenfuhrer may be slowing down as we get closer to the end of the year – but I’m sure he’ll find a way to blame Former President Hopey Changey anyway…



…and Thom Hartmann talks with Wendell Potter, formerly of CIGNA, about how healthcare interests (pharma and insurers) are trying to scare us out of universal health care – great job by Thom and WP to talk about the $32 trillion vs. $49 trillion health care expenditure in this country over the next 10 years; I think this is an example of the campaign they’re talking about (gee, how about rolling back the exemption noted here for starters instead?)…



…and happy belated 75th birthday to Jim Kale, bassist for The Guess Who; he and drummer Garry Peterson had kind of a nasty legal spat with Cummings and Bachman over playing under the name of the band with just Kale and Peterson…as far as I’m concerned, C&B should let bygones be bygones, but what do I know?



Update: Right now, for what it’s worth, my reaction is shock and horror. The anger will come later.

No wonder they worked so hard to keep the report from being released.

Monday Stuff

To note the recent anniversary of the Charlottesville protest and the killing of Heather Heyer, Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, James Thompson, and Adrienne Lawrence of TYT give us an example of what I think can best be called “white privilege in action” (more here – heh)…



…and Rachel Maddow tells us Dem U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida's quote about Russia having “free rein” to move around in that state’s election infrastructure (and OF COURSE Lex Luthor Scott would think it’s a joke; when these Russian hacks actually benefit DEMOCRATS, let me know, OK? And I didn't see the follow-up segment.)…



…and if Peter Strzok was fired only because of the texts about Trump, then that’s total garbage – apparently there was new stuff out there that FBI director Christopher Wray mentioned, however…we’ll find out if that’s just cover or not – Pete Williams of NBC reports to Velshi and Ruhle here…



…and this BBC story tells us about a conference of young progressives in New Orleans… I think the guy at about 1:31 is spot-on…get Dems elected, get a taste of power (dare I hope?) and THEN remake the party to be more representative of the country as a whole.

(…and here’s another thing to consider – Elizabeth Warren is great, and if she somehow ends up as the Dem prez nominee of course she’d have my support, but last I checked, MA guv Charlie Baker is a Repug, so our team would lose Warren’s seat for sure, and the Senate might be too close for comfort on that…just “spitballing” here…)



…and of all of the Gropenfuhrer’s utterly baldfaced lies, maybe the one about him supposedly being such a good deal maker may be the worst – maybe, as Robert Reich explains…



…and I don’t have to put the NSFW label for a song very often, but I do here – nice rockin’ tune all the same.

Friday Stuff

Yeah, blame those damn tree huggers for the CA wildfires all right – of course, that’s typical Trumpian nonsense, as Farron Cousins tells us…



…and I think that’s the best possible segue I could ask for to the latest installment of “This Day in Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/9/13, in which we learn about Chucky and Davey Koch and their climate change denial apparatus – more here…



..and yeah, I think Jimmy Kimmel gives the whole “Space Force” thing the treatment it deserves here, though I can never tell if Fred Willard is joking or if he’s serious (I actually posted about this here, believe it or not, bringing back the Wordpress site at least for now)…



…and Kyle K. tells us that the so-called “Right (Not) to Work” law in Missouri was rejected this week – hooray for our side! (NSFW – the last minute or so of this is particularly good IMHO)...



…and I didn’t want the week to end without this “New Rule” from Bill Maher…



…and I think this is a good summer tune for a sunny Friday in these parts.

Thursday Stuff

Gee, isn’t it nice when one of the leading industrialized nations speaks out for human rights? You know, like WE used to do (leading to the expulsion of Canada’s ambassador Chrystia Freeland, discussed here by Gordon Duff of Veterans Today…yes, PressTV is partly funded by the Iranian government, but I don’t think that de-legitimizes the story…more here, here and here)…



…and Chris Hayes tells us about Trumpster FCC head Ajit Pai lying again, this time about their site crashing again in response to a call from John Oliver to try and save Net Neutrality (I have a feeling this will be the very last video I ever use from MSNBC’s site, though I may use what I can from YouTube instead – MSNBC’s site has been horrible forever, and it just keeps getting worse and worse, so I’m done)…

…and gosh, it looks like Generalissimo Trump is trying to find a new way to kill us (I think some important context on this is here, by the way)…



…and I don’t totally agree with Kyle’s assessment of religion, though he’s right that too many people have used it to justify all kinds of crap, but I think the statement from Pope Francis about the death penalty is noteworthy (still thinking about it to be honest, though it does show more consistency from the Catholic Church on this when you think about the whole "pro-life" thing too - as I said, I'm still pondering it), so that’s mainly why I’m including this (could also do without Kyle’s inane references to a “sky wizard,” though I know that’s just how he rolls, you might say – NSFW)…



…and Hasan Piker of TYT brings us the “breakdown” on Stuart Varney of Fix Noise caterwauling about “SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM!” in Venezuela, though, as you might expect, “socialism” is in the eye of the beholder, you might say…I agree with Piker’s analysis, except for the part about Maduro and the alleged “drone strike” (here - mildly NSFW also)…



…and yesterday was International Cat Day I know…well, today is International Book Lovers Day – never thought I’d have an excuse for this tune, but I’m glad that I do at long last.

Wednesday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the segment Alisyn Camerota of CNN recently hosted that highlighted an apparent rift between MAGA nitwits who, for my money, refuse to see reality, and Trump voters with genuine regrets; yes, I’m tempted to trash the latter group too, but if someone’s making a good faith effort to “make straight their path,” then that would be wrong on my part (Cenk is ON FIRE at the end, and boy is he right)…



…and Lawrence O’Donnell hosts retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey and Jason Johnson here; I honestly try to avoid much of the “Trump is crazy!” stuff because I think that issue was settled long ago, but I think McCaffrey has a unique and important perspective, though I greatly disagree with him about Mike Pompeo… GREAT point by Johnson at the end about Trump’s racism basically being a national security issue…



…and Farron Cousins of “Ring of Fire” tells us that half of all Repugs polled think Trump should be allowed to shut down media outlets…and how the hell am I supposed to find some kind of common ground with these life forms? And I’d also like to find out more about this “12 percent of Dems” who actually agree with our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator on this.

(Also, though I agree with Cousins’ assessment of the corporate media overall, I think he’s wrong to say that the California wildfires have been ignored - though maybe you could argue “under-reported” instead – and yes, while MSNBC continues to report on RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA for ratings I realize, I think it’s also important that they keep doing what they’re doing because the story warrants this kind of coverage.)

(In addition, this segment is kind of funny in a “gallows humor” kind of way when you consider how our conservative house organs masquerading as newspapers in this area – and yes, I’m talking about the Inky and the Bucks County Courier Times – cater so slavishly to the right wing, lizard-brained bipeds who would so quickly throw them over if “Dear Leader” ever gave them the word.)...



…and, as a bit of a change of pace, allow me to point out that today is International Cat Day (kind of makes me want to hear this tune from one of the silliest movies ever made – but still fun in a ‘60s, hare-brained kind of way).

Tuesday Stuff

Gosh, it looks like the NRA is getting hammered for some, shall we say, record-keeping irregularities in New York, though, to be fair, it’s more than a little hypocritical I think for Cenk to bash MSNBC for “All Russia, All The Time” (here) when he also reports on what that country’s up to here…



…and Farron Cousins tells us just how sick our health care system in this country truly is…



…and Seth Meyers brings us up to date on the latest insanity from Generalissimo Trump (and EVERY Repug who fails to speak out against all of this shares some measure of guilt for this nightmare as far as I’m concerned, including this fraud, who of course refuses to breathe a word about this also - to do something about that in PA-01, click here)…



…and as anyone with at least a double-digit IQ has figured out, the point of the Iran nuclear deal was to stop its manufacture and proliferation of NUKES, NOT to stop its support of terrorism and its other bad behavior; I realize the Gropenfuhrer and his lizard-brained minions don’t understand this, but actual adults know that there are times when you can’t get every stinking thing that you want and you have to settle for half a loaf for now and try to get the rest later…yeah yeah, I bleeping know…MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA!!!!!!!...



…and I actually have to give the “Morning Joe” bunch (and CNN) credit for unearthing this clip about Mike Pence, though I think it’s more than a little sickening to hear religious pontification from Scarborough, who made his bones hating every single stinking thing the Clintons ever did…and Mika B.’s comment about 5:25 about Pence supposedly forgetting what he is is truly uproarious – THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT PENCE IS AND WHAT HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN – A DISGUSTING, MISOGYNIST (and probably other stuff) HYPOCRITE!!! And even though everyone on this show is fundamentally right IMHO, I can’t think of a word to describe my disgust over the fact that nobody really paid attention to our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator like this in 2016 when they should have done so…



Update 8/11/18: This should be required reading for every time you see Scarborough, Jennifer Rubin, Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace, Rick Wilson, etc. on TV (h/t Bob Cesca).

…and I’ve been meaning to get around to this tune from Jonatha Brooke’s “The Works” project about unpublished Woody Guthrie songs – hope you like it.

Monday Stuff

I thought this was a good editorial from Katy Tur of NBC News, though it's absolutely pathetic that she needed to say these words (here)...



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us more about the Gropenfuhrer trying to roll back Obama-era rules, this time on car pollution (great points about certainty and also the laughable claim that the Repugs support “states rights”)...



…and I know this is shocking, people, but guess what – the vast majority of this country got hosed on the Repugs’ latest tax scam (and yes, it bears repeating I know – Farron Cousins explains)…



…and Nancy MacLean of Duke University sounded the alarm about the potential for an “Article V” convention on “Real Time With Bill Maher” recently, and here’s more on why we must oppose that from Robert Reich (yes, believe me I know it’s exhausting to fight battles day and night like this, but forget the damn tweets for a second – THIS is the “long game,” people)…



…oh, and speaking of the most recent episode of “Real Time,” I think these words from Steve Schmidt should be played on a 24/7/365 rotation from now until November 6th at a minimum…



…and given the heat index outside, I think this is as good a time for this tune as any.

Friday Stuff

Michael Brooks of The Majority Report leads off with the latest from the life forms supporting our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Orange Dictator Wannabe in Tampa (and the Seth Rich stuff was particularly odious even for them…and why do I have a feeling that the Rolling Stones tune “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” playing in the background is yet another goof aimed at these imbeciles…NSFW)…



…and Chris Hayes has more on this QAnon idiocy (oh, right…more baseless fringe media conspiracy garbage to benefit Trump – got it…with Sam Seder, and of course Reddit loves it; kind of explains the point of the Gropenfuhrer’s latest brown shirt rally…and by the way, when someone presents a crazy lefty idea, I promise I’ll give it the treatment it deserves)…



…and Ali Velshi talks with Mayor Catherine Pugh of Baltimore, one of the plaintiffs in a suit against the Gropenfuhrer who continues to do his best to undercut the Affordable Care Law (and imagine somebody DYING because they couldn’t get dental care – are you freaking kidding me?)…



…and in a related item, Kyle K. tells us about how Medicare for All could potentially save a net of about $17 trillion over the next 10 years (more here – this isn’t really a new story, but it definitely bears repeating - NSFW again)…

…and with the Rob Rogers cartoon at the top of this post in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/1/07; yep, we’re going back a bit for this “Back Talk” segment (this was the first, and I believe there were three total…and gee, I hear Dubya complaining about the “investigation” into Harriet Miers at that time also, kind of like the Gropenfuhrer complaining about Robert Mueller now…ah, but maybe it’s just me, right?)…of course, Dumbya thinks Brett Kavanaugh would be just peachy for the Supreme Court (here), with Repug U.S. Senator and Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley all set to ramrod Kavanaugh through at the earliest possible moment, as noted here…



…and happy 55th birthday to James Hetfield; as I’ve said, there’s no such thing as a bad time to hear Metallica (had this tune in mind for the first two videos in particular).

Thursday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about the hissy fit between Generalissimo Trump and Chucky and Davey Koch – yep, more misdirection from the “haves” at the expense of the “have nots”…



…probably to try and make us not pay attention to garbage like this - Stephanie Ruhle speaks with Dan Nathan, co-founder and editor of RiskReversal.com, and Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, about another potential Trumpian tax giveaway for the one percent (Nail. Hammer. Head. by Brown at about 4:45…a little bit more of an in-depth takedown of the perpetual con of “trickle on down” economics)…



…and Cenk and Ana tells us more contemptible garbage that the Sandy Hook parents have to deal with; yes, do whatever it takes within reason to hold that disgusting life form Alex Jones to account, and anyone who continues to give a social media platform of any time whatsoever to Jones is a miserable coward, but I actually am a little concerned about the precedent that could be established here if Jones loses in court, which he should…the emphasis must be on the threats of violence and the harm he has caused to the Pozners, among the other families (and don’t give me this “politically” shit when he’s making the gun motion with his finger and thumb...Mueller has more guts in his cuticle than Jones has in his entire body)…Jones definitely fails the “yelling fire in a crowded theater” test IMHO (more here, and this is predictable too I guess)…



Update 8/6/18: WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

…and nothing whatsoever against TYT, but I feel like I need a bit of a palate cleanser after that last item – hopefully this summer tune will do (I always loved this cover maybe just as much as the original).

Wednesday Stuff

Nice to see some genuine outrage from Chris Hayes here in light of the Trumpian HHS official who raised concerns about his regime’s family separation policy; Hayes speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (no particular reason why I'm leading off with Hayes for the second night in a row other than the fact that's his videos have been really good lately)…



...and leave it to Rudy 9iu11ani to move the metaphorical goalposts once again on his boss's collusion with Russia...



…and Ali Velshi tells us about this Cody Wilson nut trying to print 3-D guns; I don’t know why the hell Wilson isn’t in jail already for this (and don’t seriously expect me to feel sorry for the NRA – they, among others, let this demonic genie out of the metaphorical bottle…I’d really like to learn more about what the Obama Administration did and didn’t do on this…also surprised to hear about our beloved commonwealth of PA showing some common sense on a gun issue for a change)…



…and Kyle K. tells us about Repug U.S. House Rep Jason Lewis of Minnesota 2nd District calling welfare recipients “parasites” (NSFW – to do something about it, click here)…



…and yeah, when all else fails, it looks like it’s time for our beloved corporate media to bash millennials again, as Hasan Piker tells us…



…and the prior two clips put me in a bit of a mind to hear this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

Kudos to Chris Hayes for this, given his recent comment about how any story on climate change equals sucky ratings; again, not blaming Hayes so much as I am anyone who thinks this is a “ho-hum” story…



…and Stephen Colbert gave us this segment last Thursday on the most recent Trumpian media garbage (don’t want to imagine how stoo-pid the life forms are who continually praise the “hate pumpkin,” as Hunter of Daily Kos called him not long ago – and apparently our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Dictator Wannabe and his lizard-brained minions were at it again tonight, as noted here and, in particular, here...spoiler alert: you don't need an ID to buy groceries)…



...and Ari Melber talks with Dara Lind, senior reporter for Vox, on the latest immigration/asylum nightmare from Generalissimo Trump (hard to keep all of this insanity straight at this point, I have to admit; the Trumpsters obviously had no stinking clue about what to do when their actions were inevitably proven to be wrong – the “liberals rejoice” news turned out to be this, by the way)…



…and TYT’s Francis Maxwell tells us about the Gropenfuhrer’s “Religious Liberty Task Force” – uh, yeah…you wanna try to explain to me how they’re NOT the “American Taliban”?...



…and RIP Dem Congressman Ron Dellums…Rachel Maddow spoke with Dellums about five years ago, on the occasion of the death of Nelson Mandela in 2013 (important history here for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is to recall how truly insidious The Sainted Ronnie R actually was despite his ridiculous smiling façade)…



…and happy upcoming 60th birthday to Michael Penn.

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that that utterly ridiculous evangelical fraud Franklin Graham is telling us that we can’t call out the Gropenfuhrer or else we’ll risk incurring God’s wrath (more here, and more on F. Graham is here…mildly NSFW)…



…and Ari Melber talks with Ken Dilanian of NBC News about the utter non-appearance of anything approximating urgency from our supposedly Godly preznit over the ongoing interference by Russia in our elections…



...and some of this on Generalissimo Trump's ruinous tariffs and the farm $12 bil payoff is old news I know, but I still think it's noteworthy to point out that our neighbors to the north aren't fooled in any way, shape or form ("socialism in full force" - uh, yep, though good "socialism" is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose)...



…and Rachel Maddow talks with immigration attorney Lee Gelernt about the 700-900 kids separated from their families by the Trumpsters who still have not been re-unified (and let’s not forget the silence, in essence, from the entire “party of Lincoln” in response)…



…and as far as I’m concerned, Dem Congressman Ro Khanna continues to impress for the reasons Kyle notes in this clip; yeah, our ridiculous defense spending is the most wasteful of our expenditures, but if you say something about that, yeah, you’d better watch your back (not sure if it’s NSFW or not, but it probably is)…



...and I know I'm falling behind on my summer tunes again, so here's another one.

Friday Stuff

Well well, it looks like the case alleging that the Gropenfuhrer is in violation of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution can go forward, as Kyle K. tells us (NSFW)…



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about those lunatics in the U.S. House “Freedom Caucus” trying to impeach Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein – yep, when all else fails, just keep trying to stoke the fires, if you will, with their beloved “base” which will buy any Repug BS whatsoever apparently (not sure I'm totally OK with "fire your congressman.com," but the sentiment definitely has merit)…



…and Elizabeth Holtzman is my badass of the week for this, as Thom Hartmann explains (more here)…



…and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/28/12, in which the “I’m Just A Bill” cartoon from “Schoolhouse Rock!” was updated in accordance with the odious tactics from ALEC…clever stuff by Mark Fiore (and the “stand your ground” reference at the end is particularly vile given this recent update – not blaming Fiore; all he’s doing is holding up a mirror to the utterly contemptible tactics of Chucky and Davey Koch, first and foremost…more here)…



…and I know I said something about Maria Butina earlier, but I think it’s fair to revisit this subject given Sam Bee’s commentary (here); besides, why not give the NRA and the “prayer breakfast” another well-deserved slap? (love the parody ad at the end!)…



…and happy belated 75th birthday to Mick Jagger.

Thursday Stuff

(By the way, the sign in the pic above was once located not too far from Le Manse Doomsy. However, it was pulled awhile ago, when the “party of Lincoln” realized how toxic it really was, and not just for “Bri-Fi”.)

And with that in mind…gosh, color me shocked – you mean that, for the Repugs, maybe tax cuts aren’t their “Jesus” after all, as actor Bradley Whtiford once so correctly put it on “Real Time With Bill Maher”? Wow, so all of their amazing polling and marketing data, cross tabs and all, isn’t worth bupkes if the voters aren’t buying their snake oil any more, huh?...

By the way, I sure hope Cenk and Ana are right, but we still need to make it happen...



…and Farron Cousins tells us what MSNBC’s Chris Hayes recently had to say about stories on climate change, and I also give Hayes credit for telling the truth – I think Cousins’ take here is exactly right, and I hope nothing happens to Hayes either…



…and speaking of MSNBC, Rachel Maddow talks with Rebecca O’Brien of the WSJ about Generalissimo Trump’s real or alleged involvement with a publisher that must have paid off someone named Karen McDougal and what that might entail from a legal point of view; I’m old enough to remember when the phrase “bimbo alert” was rightly or wrongly associated with our 42nd president – may be time to dust that off once more for our Orange Nightmare…



…and Sam Seder, Michael Brooks and company on “The Majority Report” tell us the latest on Little Sean Spicer…apparently his book isn’t getting good reviews – c’est dommage…the stuff about Mark Foley shouldn’t be funny, but as far as I’m concerned, it is (more here)…



…and Kyle K. tells us about Repug U.S. House rep Keith Rothfus of our beloved commonwealth acting like a total tool about THE HORRORS OF SOCIALISM!!! (NSFW – to do something about it, click here…Rothfus is apparently running against Conor Lamb – uh, yep)...



…and I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood to hear a summer song, particularly since the sun has made a return appearance in these parts.

Wednesday Stuff

Stephanie Ruhle brings the receipts, you might say, when it comes to “who’s monetizing who” in Generalissimo Trump’s White House (here)…



…and Ana and Brett Erlich of TYT tell us about the bribe kickback reimbursement of about $12 billion that our Tiny Handed, Treasonous Orange Dictator wants to give to farmers to offset the effect of his typically ruinous tariffs…



…and Mike Malloy tells us how our ruling regime doesn’t even understand how NATO works, which shouldn’t be surprising since it was obvious during the presidential campaign (remember?)…oh, but the Gropenfuhrer was ratings gold, and that’s all that mattered (then as now) as far as our utterly useless corporate media is concerned (very NSFW)…



…and I thought this was a pretty cool new tune, so here it is.

Tuesday Stuff

Seth Meyers tells us about Generalissimo Trump’s latest rage tweets, as well as Michael Cohen’s recordings – this might be the slowest slow-motion metaphorical train wreck I, for one, have ever seen…



…and when it comes to the Trumpsters, I’m sorry, but Shirley Stigall doesn’t get sympathy points from yours truly…



…and Lawrence O’Donnell and John Heilemann tell us about how most of this country isn’t with the Gropenfuhrer (here, and no, I don’t think our corporate media needs to focus so much on the damn Trump voter…yes, they’re white and “disaffected,” probably pretty damn stoo-pid too…let’s move on, OK?...abrupt video cut at end)…



…and Robert Reich tells us that, even though you can’t exactly nail down the definition, it’s safe to say that we’re in the midst of a constitutional crisis all right…



…and Thom Hartmann speaks with author Thomas Frank about what we can do about it (Frank draws a line all the way back from now to infamous Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, even though he probably could go back further still)…



…and I’ll bet you didn’t know that today was National Tequila Day –not sure why they didn’t just combine it with Cinco De Mayo and save everyone the trouble; here’s a tune for the occasion that I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, and celebrating its 60th birthday too (and with Pee Wee Herman nowhere in sight, I should add).

Sunday Stuff

I have to admit that I was as aghast as anyone else to hear about what happened with #HelsinkiDon last week, but alas I wasn’t able to offer anything in response and I know I have some makeup work to do, so please allow me to offer the following segment with Ali Velshi and Sen. Jeff Merkley (oh, and I didn’t run into “Dersh,” which was probably just as well – may end up revving this up again in fits and starts…we’ll see)…



…and I was just as repulsed to hear about this, even though it isn’t surprising in the least; I’m beginning to think the Russians are bankrolling the whole damn GOP through the NRA (pertains to the U.S. House Repugs’ “zeroing out” funding for a measure to improve election infrastructure – good stuff by Steny Hoyer, who I’m sure will be widely criticized yet again by our side for being nothing but a “corporate Dem”)…



…and speaking of Russians, Stephen Colbert tells us about Maria Butina, who apparently gets around in GOP circles too (and with this Paul Erickson guy, who formerly advised John Wayne Bobbitt…and ”a forehead that just won’t quit”…priceless!)…



…and happy belated 70th birthday to Yusuf Islam, otherwise known as Cat Stevens of course.

Thursday Stuff

(By the way, a good friend of mine passed away about five years ago today – you can read about him here at the last bullet.)

Nice to see the FBI’s Peter Strzok open up a can of whoop-ass on those frauds Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte (here); I never imagined I’d a see a Republican, let alone a politician of ANY party, conduct a public flogging of someone in our intelligence and/or law enforcement services (no doubt this is all hilarious to Putin, of course)…



…and Goober Gohmert plunged to new subterranean depths of idiocy even for him, to say nothing of Gowdy…gosh, Hillary Clinton testified for 11 hours on BENGHAZI!!!! and you could only absolve her, you knucklehead…you know, because that hearing was a joke also – in a way, I don’t want to know how much this ridiculous circus is costing the U.S. taxpayer…remember in November, people, and VOTE!!!...



…and Joe Scar and Mika B. & co. do what I think is good work here analyzing what really went on with “Celebrity Presidential Apprentice – NATO,” recently, but let’s not forget that the Gropenfuhrer represented a clear and present danger, you might say, during the 2016 election, but this bunch rode the proverbial tire swing as much as most of the rest of our corporate media did because – all together now – Trump Was Great For Ratings! (including David Ignatius, as pretentious an SOB as I think you'll ever find...and “I just want everyone to be happy” – please allow me to retch)…



…and Kyle K. tells us about the Israelis arming neo-Nazis (yeah, I think the four horsemen are saddling up, all right – NSFW)…



…and Farron Cousins tells us that a U.S. judge has ruled that kids don’t have a right to learn, ignoring most of the history of this country beyond the Industrial Revolution…



…and this from Judy Woodruff of The News Hour tells us about our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator pardoning the nuts in Oregon (more here)…



…and I give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/13/12, in which Stuart Zechman tells us why it’s important to regard Medicare and Social Security as insurance and not an entitlement; this is more than a matter of semantics, as Zechman explains (I think it’s important to keep this in mind considering this…and Repugs will NEVER stop trying to “block grant” Medicaid to death)…



...and here is a summer favorite that I don't put up here nearly as often as I should.



…and with that, I take my leave of you for now; we’ll be heading up to our blue state paradise for maybe the last time for a while – I can’t think of a time in my life when I’ve needed a vacation more than now…best wishes to you for a nice break also. I’ll look to rev this up again roughly around the 24th.

If we see “Dersh,” I’ll make sure to extend greetings and felicitations :-).

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire tells us about the Gropenfuhrer typically embarrassing us once again, this time with NATO and Angela Merkel, who has more guts in her cuticle than our Tiny Handed Treasonous Egomaniac has in his entire wretched person…



…and Rachel Maddow talks with Sherrilyn Ifill, head of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, about the thoroughly awful Brett Kavanaugh, who is of course Generalissimo Trump’s Supreme Court nominee (and I have to admit that Schumer’s “Zelig” reference was apropos)…



…and related to Kavanaugh, Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about departing Justice Kennedy’s price tag request to #45 about his successor – I don’t think this story is being reported anywhere near as much as it should be (and Kennedy’s reputation was never that great anyway as far as I’m concerned)…



...and here's a nice summer tune, which is 55 years old (damn).

Tuesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow talks with Dahlia Lithwick of Slate about Brett Kavanaugh – under the McConnell Rule as shown, we shouldn’t be considering ANY Supreme Court nominee from Generalissimo Trump, so yeah, he’s an automatic No as far as I’m concerned, to say nothing of the fact that he’s a movement conservative or else he wouldn’t even be considered anyway…



…and I guess I could make a joke here about one boob trying to affect feeding off another, though that wouldn’t be appropriate since this is definitely a serious issue (more here – “The Russians ultimately stepped in to reintroduce the measure” – I want to vomit)…



…and I’m not totally sold on UBI either; I think we should approach it cautiously, and giving the same money to Bill Gates as to, say, a single-parent head of a household at 23rd and Diamond street in Philadelphia, is absurd – besides, Republicans would only use this as a reason to try to shred the safety net even more, particularly with Medicare, which would be a disaster…



...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us about kids supposedly representing themselves in court on deportation - what country am I living in again? And by the way, this judge Jack Weil character has said this previously about 3-year-olds representing themselves (here), and while I grudgingly cede the point that the Obama Administration kept kids improperly also, Pap and Cousins shouldn’t foist this nonsense at the end about Democrats never calling out other Democrats who do wrong…if Jim Jordan were a Democrat, he’d already be gone by now…



…and speaking of the foul, fetid U.S. House Rep from Ohio, yeah, he really is that vile of a life form (more here – and I’d laugh at their remarks about Schumer if they weren’t completely true…pathetic)…



…and I thought this was a nice, rockin’ little number to listen to as the Gropenfuhrer leads us all straight to hell.

Monday Stuff

I realize that, if I started to catalog every bit of dictatorial madness from Generalissimo Trump, I wouldn’t be able to put up videos about anything else and I’d be as guilty of “shiny object syndrome” as our corporate media is, but I liked this zinger from Nicolle Wallace, which I felt deserved attention (and I agree with Evan McMullin’s assessment that the Gropenfuhrer is trying rebrand the party, but I think he’s wrong to act like Trumpism is somehow different from what his party basically consists of anyway – they’ve been on this downward trajectory for at least 30 years, and Wallace was once part of that too...it's all about the branding for these frauds)…



…and Joy Reid interviews attorney and former Lt. Col. Margaret Stock on the Trumpsters getting rid of immigrants serving in the military – yep, this regime is plunging to new depths as usual…



…and #MAGA, #SoMuchWinning…



…and best wishes to Elvis Costello – still getting through the book, but it’s a good read.

Friday Stuff

(The pic has to do with this story, by the way.)

Joy Reid tells us more stories on the cruelty of kid separations from our ruling cabal of treasonous frauds (with Bob Ferguson, Washington State Attorney General…I’ve already said what I think of the people behind this and how vile they truly are, to say nothing of anyone who supports it)…



…and Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire tells us about the judge who laughed when the “team treason” legal team asked to push back a trial having to do with using their foundation as a personal piggy bank for our crime-infested first family (gosh, wasn’t this the same bunch that screamed about alleged illegality from the Clinton Foundation? Color me shocked!)…



…and I actually agree with Hasan Piker in this video; yeah, go after public people, confront them and call them out through the legitimate political process and using freedom of speech, but don’t harass some highly misinformed clod wearing a MAGA hat, which is his right after all…



…and John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson tell us that the Trumpsters are seriously considering war with Venezuela – um, at some point, is ANYONE going to come for Number 45 with a straight jacket and/or a butterfly net?...



…and I know I’m a little late with this commentary from Robert Reich about patriotism, but I still think it bears repeating…



…and happy belated 75 (!) birthday to Robbie Robertson – actually, this song has been on my mind lately.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us about yet another putrid Scott Pruitt scandal over our environment; yeah, it’s great that Pruitt is finally gone, but good luck hoping for a capable (or, at least, a non-utterly-compromised) replacement from the Generalissimo Trump gang…



…and yeah, before we get too pumped, we should know that Andrew Wheeler, Pruitt’s replacement, is terrible also of course, as John I. and Jayar Jackson of TYT tell us…



…and RIP Ed Schultz, who spoke here with Dem U.S. House Rep Dan Kildee on the Flint water crisis created by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder – this interview was conducted in February 2016 under the Obama Administration; God only knows what’s going on, if anything, with the Trumpsters (we know RT is The Putin Network, but sometimes they actually come up with legitimate stories IMHO – I think Ed ended up being a bit of an RT pawn at the end, but I don’t think that should diminish what for the most part was his great reporting and editorializing…his voice will be missed)…



Update 7/6/18: Actually, I was looking for this clip earlier and couldn't find it - to me, this may be one of Schultz's finest moments...



…and I don’t think we should let this slip under the radar much either – yep, for the Repugs, it’s all about the messaging; of course, for the most part, Dems fall down on that to our great folly (and as noted here, if you see more garbage going on such as the firing of Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, don’t be surprised if it turns out that it was somehow instigated by Bill Shine…yes, he’s a typical Fix Noise cretin who, at a minimum, turned a blind eye to the predatory garbage from Ailes and Billo, but I’m just saying that that’s not the end of the story)…



…and I didn’t think much at first about what Mark Sumner correctly points out here, mainly, that it looks bad for anybody to be having a junket outside of the U.S. on July 4th (unless it’s related to the military of course), but all the same, I thought the Repug politicians taking up space with our former ol’ buddy Vlad Putin deserve this tune in their honor (and yes, I’m being sarcastic...and I once had a reel-to-reel...good times).

Wednesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow talks with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul about the entirely Republican delegation in Russia utterly sucking up to meeting with Russian officials, and apparently not being impolite enough as to broach a single difficult topic in any way…gosh, didn’t their hero once give a speech about Russia and call it “the evil empire”?...



…and I thought this was utterly hilarious – we plan to be heading there soon, and I promise that, if I somehow run into “Dersh,” I’ll tell him just what I think of him and he can continue to lament about “the new McCarthyism”…yeah, way to make your bones sucking up to Claus Von Bulow, you toad (better not tell Dersh about the story of Robert McNamara and the ferry, or else he’ll never come out if his hidey hole and miss all the trendy parties)…



…and in case there’s anyone out there who somehow doesn’t get this whole “fourth of July” thing…well, allow me to assist with that…



...and I thought this was an appropriate tune.

Tuesday Stuff

I saw the clip below on The Rachel Maddow Show last night, and it has me absolutely enraged.

As noted here, the ACLU brought suit against Generalissimo Trump’s utterly vile policy of separating immigrant kids from their parents, and the judge found for the ACLU and told our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Orange Dictator Wannabe that he has to keep the kids with their families together and reunite those that he’s torn apart.

Do you want to know how our criminal regime responded?

Well, if someone trying to enter the country passes what’s called a “credible fear interview,” they are allowed to post a $1500 bond to free themselves from detention. After they’re freed, then the parents can search for their kids (a GoFundMe page has apparently been set up to raise money to help the detained parents post bond and search for their kids).

As it turns out, the Trumpsters have apparently raised the price of the bond, even though they’re not saying anything about that of course, as immigration lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch tells Maddow.

And as far I’m concerned, if you go along with this by supporting Generalissimo Trump (or if you condone it by your silence and/or inaction), to say nothing of acting in accordance with his wretched political party to try and legitimize this, then you’re every bit as much of the same vile scum as our treasonous ruling cabal of crooks and frauds…



Update 7/5/18: Even though I’m sure it won’t be, this should be the VERY LAST word on supporters of Number 45.

…and as Farron Cousins notes, it looks like the Gropenfuhrer’s immigrant crime hot line has failed as completely as a sane person would think that it would…



…and gee, whaddaya know? It looks like Freedom Caucus wingnut grand poobah Jim Jordan of Ohio may have known about sex abuse when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach and of course did nothing in response (gee, maybe I should Google Larry Nasser, Jerry Sandusky, Dennis Hastert, etc. - more here)…



…and I had this tune in mind after reading this – looks like Number 45 is going to do the right thing with the flags on behalf of the Annapolis victims, after some shaming apparently (and the more things change...).

Monday Stuff

(I know this pic doesn’t directly complement the first video in the manner that I usually go for, but I thought the quote from Joe Kennedy III was too good not to include here.)

To begin, Farron Cousins tells us that the Trumpsters are actually right to scream about fake news, but not in the way they would ever imagine - NSFW…



…and gosh, Fix Noise has a new lady CEO who is suddenly concerned about “inappropriate remarks” – must…stifle…uproarious…LAUGHTER!!! (and I’m sorry, I know Cenk has an axe to grind about MSNBC, and I can’t say I totally blame him, but to immediately pivot to that network instead of the US Pravda network at about 2:34 here is really silly, though Cenk is absolutely right of course about the role that profit plays in this for everybody)…



…and yeah, when all else fails, it’s just a matter of stoking the fears and prejudices of their beloved “base” when it comes to the Party of Lincoln, as Kyle K. points out (NSFW again)…



…and here’s a newer tune with some summer-looking stuff going on, even though the video is a bit edgy I guess.

Sunday Stuff

(Note: I’ll be featuring signs from yesterday's immigration protests for a few days, and this was one of my favorites.)

And with the pic in mind, what follows is a clip of some of yesterday’s marches (and while marching is great, registering to vote and ACTUALLY VOTING is what matters, people)…



Also, I have a message for the Scott Wallace campaign:

I’ve been visiting a family member in the hospital for the last few days, and I have seen this idiotic commercial in a steady rotation claiming that Wallace supports the BDS movement to divest from Israel (he doesn’t), as well as something about a home in Maryland and flying back and forth from South Africa, or some such nonsense, claiming that Wallace is supposedly “too extreme” for Bucks and Montco.

Yes, this is horseshit. However, this is forcing the media narrative and making Wallace play defense (and I’ve checked and I’ve seen nary a trace of a response from the Wallace campaign).

For the benefit of the alleged political/media geniuses running the Wallace campaign, I’d like to point out at least two things. 1) You need to bleeping respond to this because you’re getting hammered, and 2) You want a REAL issue? How about the fact that, according to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight (here), Brian Fitzpatrick has voted with Trump 83 percent of the time?

No wonder our side gets creamed so often, particularly in the mid-terms – now, to change the subject somewhat, I give you this from Farron Cousins (slightly NSFW, but how true!)…



...and RIP acclaimed sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison (I once read a collection of stories called "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" - yeah, trippy, but good stuff...remembered mostly for this...and Ellison hated the TV adaptation, by the way...pretty sure the gum-chewing guy is Richard Harris)...



…and there was a time when I featured this song at this site a lot, especially around elections, but even though yesterday’s show of force against the Gropenfuhrer’s horrible immigration policy was great, I think I need to feature it again.