Wednesday Stuff (updates)

Gee, I wonder if Gritty will end up as the new Flyers GM?

As somewhat of a lapsed fan of the orange-and-black, I feel compelled to weigh in on the recent firing of GM Ron Hextall (here), for whatever my opinion is ultimately worth in these or other matters (I've followed the team on an ever-less-frequent basis since they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010 mainly because of the front-office screwups that frequently occurred before Hextall was named as GM).

Let’s see now – I believe, when Hextall first took the reins, the Flyers had previously unloaded Patrick Sharp, Dennis Seidenberg and Justin Williams since the team had ZERO patience with developing prospects (and all three went on to win Stanley Cups with other teams) and, in return, the Flyers, being stuck in their 1970s mindset, acquired bigger but slower and less-talented players who usually ended up getting hurt, waived or traded themselves.

Oh, and did I mention Sergei Bobrovsky? The guy who posted about a 2.40 goals against average in his rookie year and who was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets? All he did was go on to win a Vezina trophy, that’s all.

The Flyers’ salary cap situation was a joke when Hextall took over. He got them out of deals where they had to pay off Vincent Lecavalier basically for NOT playing, as well as Chris Pronger and that Russian tragedy of a goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov (it was former GM Paul Holmgren’s brilliant idea to basically rip the team apart by trading Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to be able to pay for “Bryz” based on Pronger’s recommendation…I’ve seen Pronger’s name floated as a possible GM replacement, and great player though he was, I think he should be disqualified for that reason alone, though I have to admit that Holmgren, partly due to Richards’s drug issues, ended up doing all right with acquiring good players in both moves).

The team also didn’t have any younger talent coming up from the minor leagues to push the veterans, but now, players at Lehigh Valley such as Oscar Lindblom, German Rubtsov, Mikhail Vorobyev and Mike Vecchione have all either seen time with the parent club in Philly or are on the short list to eventually make the NHL roster for good. And Hextall deserves the credit for that more than anyone else. And I know fans are anxiously awaiting the callup of Carter Hart as the long-hoped-for answer to the ridiculous game of musical chairs the Flyers keep playing with goalies (worse than the band Spinal Tap going through drummers), but he’s at least a year away – he needs time to develop; the worst thing to do would be to bring him up too early and watch him flame out.

David Scott, one of the owners, spoke out publicly about Hextall’s firing and cited the evergreen “philosophical differences,” more or less, with Scott saying he wants to “win win win” now, as if that was somehow in opposition to what Hextall was doing (oh, and did I mention that, as a player, Hextall was the winningest goalie in Flyers history?). And of course now-team president Paul Holmgren, wanting to remain employed himself, went along.

Do you want to know what’s really going on here? Envy and spite, that’s what.

The Eagles just won a Super Bowl, even though they’ve now imploded themselves partly due to injuries and are now scraping for some way to win their division and get in the post-season (and somehow winning the NFC East is the only way they’ll do it). The Sixers have taken big leaps forward also, though they’ll have to find some way to resolve this situation with Markelle Fultz, who may end up as the biggest number one overall draft bust in NBA history. The Phillies have rebounded also, though, with the exception of Aaron Nola, they have some big-time pitching concerns.

And that leaves the Flyers. And short of coming up with another Disney-esque on acid, Muppet-ish mascot, they had to find a way to be talked about again or risk utter irrelevancy once and for all among the Philly sports/fan/media cognoscenti (or so they think they are).

Here is the bottom line: I don’t see a plan from this organization. The only person who had one (whatever you may think of it) was Hextall. He knew the parent club of course, he knew the minor league affiliates, he knew all the coaches, he knew the scouts (I’m sure he hired more than a few), he was (and still is) known and well regarded throughout the league and had contacts all over the place. And now all of that is gone, even though (by Holmgren’s own admission) the fans have kept attending the games and have shown more loyalty than I ever would have if I were a season ticket holder.

And even though he’s dead, I have to say it anyway – this move to fire Hextall for specious reasons at best (as far as I’m concerned) has Ed Snider written all over it.

And it seems that the purge continued today, as noted here – I definitely respected Gord Murphy as a player, and I don’t know enough to critique him as a coach, but the Flyers have been absolutely awful defensively this year. And apparently it was enough for Chris Pryor as a Hextall loyalist to merit him getting canned also, regardless of whether or not he did a good job as head of scouting.

The Flyers continue to act like they think they’re the New York Yankees. In reality, they’re a lot closer to the Charlestown Chiefs (here).

And as you watch this from last night, keep in mind that Ottawa statistically is at about the same place as the Flyers (and when it comes to the goalie carousel thing, Anthony Stolarz is innocent as far as I’m concerned – he’s basically a rookie anyway...that winning goal by Matt Duchene was a pretty amazing play I thought that you couldn't do much about)…



Update: And while the Flyers make headlines for stupid reasons, the Eagles make headlines for great ones (here).

Update 12/5/18: All the best to Chuck Fletcher (here) – not exactly sure why he decided to join the cast of this soap opera, but he’s innocent as far as I know.

Update 12/17/18: And who didn't see this coming?

…and now, I return to what is typically more normal fare for this blog…I admit that I touched on the GM layoffs yesterday, but I thought this was more in-depth commentary from Farron Cousins on that and our farmers getting creamed from Generalissimo Trump’s tariffs, as well as straight-up corporate greed of course as Cousins says…



…and Willie Geist of “Morning Joe” brings us the latest on the Gropenfuhrer’s declining approval with a panel including Eugene Robinson (I understand the numbers here are pretty positive for the Dems and they’re reported as such, but I still think the “Republican-centric” focus of this commentary/reporting is pretty disgusting…and I hate to admit it, but I think Sam Stein is absolutely right about the remaining Repugs being even more beholden to the orange lunatic after the election)…



…and Kyle K. reminds us of the true cost of befriending the country that produced 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers…of all of the atrocities committed by our ruling cabal of fools and criminals, support for the Saudi regime has to rank as one of the very worst…



Update 11/29/18: Yeah, I think this says it all right.

…and Cenk and Ana tell us about the latest horrible anti-abortion bill being contemplated by Republicans, this time in Ohio, making it punishable by death – yeah, keep telling me that “The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t a documentary for the life forms sponsoring this monstrous cruelty…by the way, laws like this already exist in South/Central America, where women are prosecuted if they even miscarry (here), to say nothing of trying to end a pregnancy on their own...and boy, is Cenk right from about 6:29 to the end…



…and sometimes I put up these holiday tunes in particular as a bit of a palate cleanser if you will as opposed to some of the other relentlessly bad news, and this is one of those times (dogs are great, but I don't have the patience to take care of them - sorry).

Tuesday Stuff

(More on the pic is here, by the way...also, today is the runoff election in Mississippi between Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy; once more, everything you need to know is here.)

Hasan Piker gives us more info on the Wisconsin high school Nazi salute thing vs. selective instances of punishing other students, particularly African Americans (yep, sounds like, once again, “free speech for me, but not for thee”)…



…and in a similar vein, Sam Seder of The Majority Report tells us about Louis Klemp of Kansas, he of the “master race” comment who has since resigned as county commissioner as noted here (yes, I know this is bad, but somehow this sounds like the makings of an SNL sketch…”Christmas With The Klemps”?)…



…and I thought this was a well-done report from the WaPo on the history of General Motors, and it reinforces my opinion that the company's senior management are clueless idiots...sinking $$ into driver-less cars??? And speaking of clueless idiots, it looks like this is more bad news for the Gropenfuhrer...



…and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (again, more or less) from 11/25/14, in which former Indiana governor (and now VP of course) Mike Pence came up with the following allegedly cute analogy of people on food stamps supposedly helping themselves up by their bootstraps, which is Republican Boilerplate 101 from The Sainted Ronnie Reagan of course (yep, sounds like “The Hunger Games” for real…Cenk is hilariously tongue-in-cheek here about the “banksters” and the oil company criminals, though yeah, I know the bottom line is that this is more wingnut BS)…



..and kudos to Philly rapper Meek Mill for this (very NSFW)...



...and JB knew a thing or two about the criminal justice system also - didn't end up hurting his great artistry either.

Monday Stuff

(By the way, everything you need to know about the U.S. Senate runoff election tomorrow in Mississippi between Repug Cindy Hyde-Smith and Dem Mike Espy is here.)

And yeah, it looks like, now, we have no problem with shooting tear gas at migrant women and children trying to cross the border (here...makes me recall this in particular...and what a typically soulless, execrable remark from this harpie)…



…and speaking of people who are destitute, did you know that, according to one Arkansas Repug (of course), poverty was a “choice”? Me neither, as Kyle tells us (NSFW)…



…and yeah, nothing to see here, just an African American veteran getting shot and killed at an Alabama mall while the police originally reported that he was the “perp,” only to find later that the shooting victim was innocent while the in-all-likelihood suspect got away (more here and here)…



…and of all of the atrocities of wholly-Repug "governance," this may be the absolute worst – without a decent climate, nothing else matters (don’t understand why this wasn’t more of an issue during the election…maybe because too many voters tuned it out? And releasing the report on Black Friday is about what you would expect from the regime of Generalissimo Trump)…



…and speaking of Black Friday, I didn’t know there was a Philly connection to the holiday – this is one of those times when I actually learn something doing this blogging thing…



…and based on the CBS clip above, I would trust the cartoon cops here more than the AL ones (yep, this is a seasonal item all right).

Friday Stuff

Sam Seder and The Majority Report tell us that CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin has come around on the whole “Hillary Clinton Email Server” thing given this (Toobin is a little brighter than many of the dim bulbs on that network, I should hasten to add)…



…and gosh, I guess the Gropenfuhrer never heard that line from President Harry Truman that “The buck stops here,” meaning the desk of the president, since Number 45 is apparently too much of a goddamn snowflake to hear about what happened to Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi…oh, but “America First,” right? GMAFB!...



…and partly with the Khashoggi murder in mind, Seth Meyers dutifully tries to create comedy from the latest awfulness from Generalissimo Trump, particularly his servile pandering to the Saudis (and speaking of servile pandering…)…



…and as long as we’re in the travel season, I thought I should mention this from Farron Cousins; I guess when Tom Bodett says, “We’ll leave the light on for you,” that means ICE too apparently, as Scott Hardy says…



…and I know I’m a little late with this, but I still thought this was important history from Joy Reid on the holiday we just celebrated (and I think we should keep this in mind too)…



…and dear God, it really is that time of year again, isn’t it?



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

And it looks like the ever-fashionable Cindy Hyde-Smith went down in flames in her recent debate, as it were, here (and given her campaign with Espy, I think this should be kept in mind also).

Update: And I have no doubt whatsoever that this is true.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

And no, I haven’t forgotten that today is the 55th anniversary, believe it or not (here and here).

Now to "turkey day" items...I got a kick out of this (courtesy of Pixdaus and Daily Kos)...

...and here's another holiday fave, with an intro by Seth MacFarlane as Stewie Griffin (and again, the captions make this hilarious as far as I'm concerned)...



...and here's more holiday fun...



...and I kind of liked this also (hat tip for this to Daily Kos)...



...and here's a Thanksgiving message for those wonderful folks at the TSA.




Update 1: And here is another late addition.



Update 2: Might as well add this too.



Update 3: Imagine all the people that can be fed for $35 grand (here, getting serious for a minute).

Update 4: And since I add to this list every year, I might as well include this too (hasta la vista, baby!).



Update 5: And I suppose this is an apropos item for the era of the Gropenfuhrer.

…and I guess this is an appropriate tune for the day...



…and you know what? The John Hiatt tune is great IMHO, but here is another one that fits in as far as I'm concerned.

Wednesday Stuff (updates)

Farron Cousins tells us how the Repugs and their latest tax cut con has left the vast majority of this country with not one damn thing good to show for it (more here)…

…and heckuva job, all of you numbskulls in North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri and now Florida who have rewarded them for it by turning out Democratic senators in favor of Republicans…

…and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 11/17/14, in which much-younger versions of Cenk and Ben of TYT comment on Medal of Freedom winner “Saint Orrin” Hatch (here, here and here) defending Abu Gonzales from ’07 (more here)…



…and speaking of Attorneys General (and yes, that is the plural), keeping to truly wretched Trumpster form, Acting AG Matt Whitaker may have engaged in a violation of the Hatch Act (nothing to do with the departing Utah senator, I hasten to add), as reported by MSNBC’s Pete Williams…



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

And it now looks like, in addition to being proud of the NRA (here), Cindy Hyde-Smith has lied about allegedly protecting the health care of her constituents with pre-existing conditions (here), which is par for the wretched course with these life forms.

With everything going on in the Senate campaign for that state, this tune came to mind.



Update 1: And please explain to me how this benefits law enforcement in any way whatsoever.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Update 2: Just say "oops" and get out (here).

Update 3: And MI is 4th per capita in gun deaths - you REALLY think that will change with ANOTHER Republican (here)?

Update 11/22/18: PREACH! (here).

Tuesday Stuff

Cenk and Ana tell us about the latest mass shooting in this country, in Chicago this time (here)...in addition to access to high-powered weapons of death, the other common thread in all of this awfulness is violence against women (and yeah, as Ana says, statistically, weapons used in Chicago gun crime are overwhelmingly purchased in Indiana – a state where too many fools just voted for a Republican senator over a Democrat – and Wisconsin (here)...and where’s your “gun reciprocity” now, Bri-Fi?)…



…and maybe this is too abrupt of a transition, but Seth Meyers tells us about the latest weird lie by Our Delusional, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator Wannabe, this time about Finland and raking and attacking Admiral McRaven over bin Laden – I guess one response is to call the Gropenfuhrer a pathetic, chicken shit lunatic who poses a grave threat to the safety of the entire world by his continued existence in the White House, but on the other hand, he might try to “rake my floor” over it, so…



…and oh yeah, wasn’t Number 45 oh so clever with his nickname for the incoming Dem chair of the House Intelligence Committee; as someone said, our preznit had better get used to the proper spelling because he may end up seeing it on a lot of subpoenas…



…and I think Francis Maxwell is right; even by their standards, the wingnut obsession with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is more than a little weird…



...and boy, is Farron Cousins also spot-on about the Repugs knowing how important the judiciary is vs. the Dems...



...and here's a neat new tune to break up my string of moldy-oldie selections.



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

And Cindy Hyde-Smith is so fashionable as always (here) - no wonder she doesn't want any press at the debate tonight (here).

Update: Rut-row (here)...

Monday Stuff

You want to know why Repugs win in the Midwest and the south on a fairly regular basis? It’s partly due to garbage like what is shown above in St. Louis County, Missouri before the election (hat tip for the pic to Tris Resists on Twitter...the Ring of Fire clip was from about 10/23)…



…also, Cenk talks to author Jason Stanley about the fact that, as Stanley sees it, fascism has always been in the U.S., and I think it’s hard to argue that point (yeah, as Stanley says, forget about the mass genocide from the former Austrian painter for a second, but just for a second, and realize how what the Gropenfuhrer says and does dovetails into what Stanley is talking about…not that the Evangelicals care about that of course since they’re taught to be sheep anyway)…



…and while we’re on the subject, Hasan Piker tells us about those idiots in Wisconsin at the prom throwing up the Nazi salute (this photographer is seriously lacking in brain matter as far as I'm concerned...oh, I apologize sort of only if people were offended…GMAFB)...



…and if there is a bright spot to Number 45 trying to rule like a dictator, it’s that he so often trips up in the attempt and ends up looking like a bigger clown than he is already…this time, Generalissimo Trump sez you need an ID to buy cereal...a little late with this I guess (great pause by Kyle, and he's spot-on about election fraud - NSFW)...



…and RIP author and screen writer William Goldman, who brought us some truly iconic movie lines including the one uttered by Hal Holbrook here (definitely have to crank the volume given the context of what’s going on)…



...and I know I need to work in some new music, and I will I promise, but not now - happy belated 80th birthday to Gordon Lightfoot.



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

And let's not forget that, for the Repugs, disenfranchising voters is a feature, not a bug (here).

And OF COURSE she takes campaign donations from a white supremacist (here) - I mean, why not, right?

Friday Stuff (update)

I thought this NowThis video was a fitting response to all of the “ammo-sexuals” out there who told doctors to “stay in their lane” recently on the issue of common-sense gun reform (more here)…



…and nothing to see here, move along…just the Repugs trying to steal more elections in Flori-DUUH!, particularly for Ron DeSantis against Andrew Gillum and for Rick Scott against Bill Nelson (I swear, we need UN election monitors in that state, and probably Georgia too among other places)…



…and Kyle of “Secular Talk” tells us about Ro Khanna (who continues to impress me, for what it’s worth) speaking out against the Repugs in the U.S. House blocking our efforts to try and end our involvement in the Saudi incursion against Yemen (NSFW - about 9:30-10:30 is particularly important about Sunnis vs. Shia IMHO)...



…and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 11/18/09, and it is a preview of “16 Deaths Per Day” from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films about people getting killed on the job…don’t know if that figure has gone up or down since then, and this is a sadly predictable related development…among the many ways that our corporate media fell down in the last election is the fact that this issue didn’t receive the attention it deserved, assuming it somehow received any attention at all (more here)…



…and it looks like we’re close to the gift-giving season, now that this has appeared…what do you give to the wingnut who has less than nothing, possibly not even a clean undershirt? (heh)…



…and happy 65th birthday to Philly-born David Ricketts of David and David.



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

And let's not forget that, for the Repugs, disenfranchising voters is a feature, not a bug (here).

Update: So let me get this straight – Smith makes a remark about a public hanging, but Cory Booker is the "extremist" (here)? Suuuuure…

And I guess I'm just a snotty liberal for saying this, but I have to - that ad included in the tweet I linked to is truly ridiculous. Literally, it is nothing but a list of Democratic politicians with the word LIBERAL LIBERAL LIBERAL LIBERAL LIBERAL all over the place!

You want to talk REAL issues? How about the fact that Mississippi is rated Number 48 for child well-being (moving up from last – yaaay! And yes, I’m being sarcastic.) but still the highest poverty rate among all states, as noted here? Also, the lowest income rate, as noted here. Also, lagging behind in developmental screenings for kids, as noted here. And the nation’s highest cardiovascular death rate in 2017 and the second-highest rate of cancer deaths (here). Also, syphilis is apparently making a comeback too (here).

(By the way, this was pretty much a cursory Google glance, if you will. If I did more digging, I'm sure I'd find more indicators of that state's misery.)

This is what happens when, year after year, decade after decade, generation upon generation, you do NOTHING but elect Republicans who give you NOTHING but tax cuts for the one percent and war without end!

And to me, I can’t think of anything more “extremist” than that!

Thursday Stuff

Stephanie Ruhle tells us about our military being used for that ridiculous PR stunt along the Mexico border, and apparently, they can forget about Thanksgiving with their families, and potentially Christmas too – heckuva job, all you Trumpsters and anyone who did anything whatsoever to make sure this idiocy took place…what a way to completely piss away about $220 million…I’d be sputtering with rage too if I had to report something as cruel and STOO-PID as this…



…and Rachel Maddow tells us about the Alabama ”poop train,” otherwise known as the Trey Glenn story…and yes, there is a connection back to the regime of Our Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator, referring to Ryan Zinke in particular (didn’t see the follow-up report on why the “Hail Mary” play from the Gropenfuhrer probably won’t work)…



…and it looks like Number 45 and French President Macron are no longer ”buds,” given the latest Twitter fit from you-know-who, as Cenk and Ana tell us (the reality of Franco-American relations, as many thinking adults know, is a bit more complicated, as noted here)…



…and Seth Meyers brings us another “Closer Look” segment with recent (and typically absurd) news developments…Rachel Maddow already mentioned the thing with John Kelly I know…



…and I have to admit sharing Farron Cousins’s singular disgust with the Kansas City Health Department for this story…and GREAT timing to do something like this close to the Thanksgiving holiday, you nitwits…



…and I know I’ve been overdoing it with the “message” musical selections this week, but in light of the last video, I couldn’t help but include this also.



And once again, given this story...

To help with phone banking for Mike Espy, click here.

To send text messages for Mike Espy, click here.

To donate, click here.

Update: Wow, she sure is a prize, isn't she? (here).

Wednesday Stuff (updates)

I wonder what kind of wingnut and corporate media caterwauling we would have had to endure if somehow a Democratic president had travelled overseas and essentially spit on our veterans and come home and done the same thing (which would be justified, I might add)? Farron Cousins explains…



…and when it comes to the last election, I think there was a little more going on in North Dakota, for example, with Heidi Heitkamp (namely, that nonsense with the Indians with PO boxes at their residences not being allowed to vote), but Kyle and David Dayen otherwise make some good points here (NSFW…and I think Yucca Mountain had a lot more to do with Dean Heller losing than this story…too complicated to pigeon-hole what happened in the Senate IMHO, which of course was NOT a net benefit, though NV and AZ were positive of course, and as always, we'll see about Florida, which should have UN monitors…irritating to me that the Repugs could somehow “crack that code” to knock off Heitkamp, Donnelly and McCaskill but we couldn’t do that to save them…Kyle is exactly right, though, about the typical corporate media response to the bipartisan banking “reform” bill)…



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the black security guard killed by cops, despite, apparently, everyone in the ENTIRE BAR where the incident occurred warning the cops that the security guard WASN’T THE PROBLEM…



…and whenever a Repug politician does or says something crass, insensitive and/or stupid (or all of the above), particularly when it comes to race, leave it to one of their minions to come back with “Oh yeah? Well, ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION and, by the way, ABORTION,” in response, as noted here (to do something about this, click here)…



Update 11/15/18: Here are some more links for Mike Espy:

To help with phone banking, click here.

To send text messages, click here.

To donate, click here.

…and Robert Reich tells us about just how much we in the blue states help those in the red states, as it turns out…



...which makes me recall this tune (frequent use of the "N" word, just to warn you).

Tuesday Stuff

So it appears that a certain Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History was in Philly to receive the Liberty Medal (here), apparently for his service to veterans (and presented by ultimate Beltway insider Joe Biden – love and kisses again for the bankruptcy bill, Joe!).

I know the political/media/industrial complex is constantly trying to perpetrate a con on us, but sometimes it's sickening beyond words.

Somehow I don’t think that squares with the fact that Dubya engaged those veterans he now claims to serve in a war against a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. But what do I know, right?

As far as I’m concerned, the only thing Former Commander Codpiece should receive is a date to report to a federal prison to serve a sentence for violating the Constitution and committing crimes against humanity – makes me recall this clip…



...and this also - easy to forget when Dubya and Abu Gonzales got rid of all of the DOJ lawyers...



…and how sad is it that the Gropenfuhrer is actually RIGHT about Dubya? NSFW (and of course the Russia stuff isn’t “nonsense”…I think Kyle has “evolved” on that issue, you might say)...



…and returning a little more to the present, Seth Meyers tells us about the criminal enterprises of Our Tiny-Handed, Delusional Orange Dictator as well as his efforts to stop the Florida recount (the rerun of this farce isn’t any better than the original, which of course ended up benefitting Number 43)…



…and I don’t think a political party should receive all of the credit when the market does well and all of the blame when it does poorly, but inasmuch as I know of these things…well, somewhat…the markets (particularly the bond markets) seem to respond negatively to fiscal instability such as – oh, I don’t know – maybe utterly STOO-PID trade wars, tariffs, and fiscally irresponsible tax cuts (though, so far, it has rebounded a bit today)…



…and happy belated 73rd birthday to Neil Young, with a tune that’s perfectly aligned with much of this post – very sorry to hear about his home, however (hell of a birthday present)…to help anyone affected by the fires in California, click here (more here from Neil).

Monday Stuff

I thought this was a great segment by Ari Melber basically showing that, when it comes to the Gropenfuhrer in particular (and probably everything else also), Huckleberry Graham has no core principles whatsoever…



…and it’s apparently humorous to these life forms at Fix Noise, including that slug Bill Hemmer, that Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez can’t afford an apartment in DC until she’s sworn into office…”Gosh, you mean she’s actually NOT a millionaire like us?” And good for Michael Brooks for calling out Iraq war liar Judith Miller (NSFW - the last minute of this from Sam Seder about "Deadeye Dick" is particularly noteworthy IMHO)...



…and sticking with our “state TV” network, which has always been nothing but the media apparatus of the Republican Party, Kyle tell us how Steve Douchebag totally ignores, as Kyle says, a REAL person with a REAL issue...namely, a lady who lost her husband because of a lack of health care (NSFW, and boy, is Kyle right about how serious the stakes are)...



…and Mike Papantonio and Peter Mougey tell us about Chiquita Brands basically paying off terrorists to keep their workers in line, regardless of the cost (I seem to recall posting about this during the years of Bushco…I guess what’s old is truly what’s new also)…



...and RIP Stan Lee, who probably deserves more credit for Marvel Comics than anybody else, but never forget Jack Kirby also...



...and happy belated 65th birthday to Marshall Crenshaw, burning it up here with longtime Elvis (the U.S. one) guitarist James Burton.

Saturday Stuff

So “Cadet Bone Spurs” supposedly couldn’t visit the Aisne-Marne American cemetery in France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, sending White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo instead (here).

What a pathetic excuse for an alleged chief of state!

Well, at least one leader of an industrialized nation knows how to pay proper respect (here).

However, the Gropenfuhrer has no problem involving our military in a ridiculous PR stunt to supposedly fight off that relentless horde of destitute immigrants posing no threat whatsoever that are approaching our border with Mexico…



Update 11/11/18: Talk about a picture being worth a minimum of a thousand words (here)...

…and Mike Papantonio and Mollye Barrows tell us about a phone “help line” for women who, apparently, are trying to self-induce abortions at home and avert prosecution (heckuva job, all you evangelicals or anyone else out there supporting Generalissimo Trump and the Repugs who are responsible for this travesty)…



…and Cenk brings what I consider to be quite justifiable outrage to this discussion of newly elected U.S. Senator (my God…) Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and her comments in the wake of the Thousand Oaks mass shooting – I know I’ve said a variation of this many, many times and I’m sure I will again, but how messed up of a person do you have to be to actually vote this soulless harridan into any kind of a position of governmental responsibility whatsoever?...



…and given our Tiny-Handed Dictator Wannabe’s latest outrage, I couldn’t help but think of this song.

Friday Stuff (update)

I know Kyle (NSFW of course) got pretty “wonky” here, as he put it, but I think there’s not one thing wrong with that – he talks about Trumper Larry Kudlow saying a federal minimum wage is a "terrible" idea (typical… wonder if ol’ Larry has been visiting the snow man again? And no, I’m not trivializing drug use by saying that.)… I would also argue that another example of conservatives being dragged kicking and screaming into the cold light of day is on health care coverage for pre-existing conditions, putting aside the brazen lying that went on in the most recent election of course (and by the way, the Repugs’ idea of a “small business” would be, oh I don’t know…maybe Papa John’s? And a “living wage law”? And “Medicare for all” by state? Interesting…)…



…and I was tempted to say the “recently concluded” election, but I’m definitely glad that I CAN’T say that, though the electoral garbage going on in Florida and Georgia DEFINITELY doesn’t make me happy…oh, but didn’t Hangin’ Judge JR of The Supremes, he of the “I just want to call balls and strikes” BS, tells us that racism doesn’t exist anymore and that’s why he gutted the Voting Rights Act? Well, maybe not for him…



…and while the Dems winning back the U.S. House was definitely a high point of the week, this for sure was another low point for all of the reasons Cenk and Ana tell us here – didn’t know much about it until I saw a tweet from Charlie Pierce yesterday…so many ways that this is wrong and STOO-PID!...yes, we know what Tucker Carlson is, but LEAVE HIS FAMILY AND HIS HOUSE ALONE!! WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED TO SAY THIS??!!

Yeah, now this validates his garbage that we’re all a bunch of Saul Alinsky-loving, violence-prone socialists who want to destroy motherhood and apple pie and let the Honduran immigrant caravan full of ISIS and MS-13 killers run rampant on our border and rape and pillage everything in sight – heckuva job, you idiots!...nice that you now have common cause with these lunatics...



Update 11/10/18: OK, so the door wasn’t broken, but apparently the property was spray painted? Nice (here…and yes, I’m being sarcastic).

As I said, we know what Carlson is and how he manages to stir up the wingnut fever swamps against selected targets, which is awful and truly deplorable…but YOU…DON’T…GO…TO…HIS…HOUSE!

…and I was going to put this up as my NSFW-also response to the U.S. Senate contests so far – though I think we all need to hear this from time to time – but I should point out that I definitely don’t share Will McAvoy’s opinion of millennials, who came through big time in the elections earlier this week from what I read (including here)…well done (and speaking of the electorate, apparently white women are starting to give up on Generalissimo Trump as noted here, but I think they need to do it a little damn faster!)…



…and Beto drops the “F”-bomb here in thanking his supporters (shades of Chase Utley in these parts about 10 years ago), which I’m fine with given the circumstances…I know I alluded to this recently , but I’m sure we’ll be hearing from Beto again…hope so anyway…



…and RIP jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove.

Thursday Stuff

Here is a BBC report on the latest mass shooting carnage in this country; according to this story, 13 are dead (developing story of course), including the shooter, though there are at least two twists to the story this time around…the person pulling the trigger was a veteran, and he actually DIDN’T use an AR-15 but, apparently, a .45 caliber handgun with an extended magazine (update is here, and that means of course that it’s time for “thoughts and prayers,” because we can’t expect that much of anything else will happen on the national level, can we?)…

Oh, and by the way, I have a message for Republican voters in Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota: you DO realize, don’t you, that you just elected politicians from the Trump/Kavanaugh Party to the U.S. Senate to replace Dems who will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the issue of gun violence, right? Were you soooo scared about the alleged “immigrant caravan” full of MS-13 gang members and ISIS murderers coming to our border that you took leave of your senses? Apparently so (and oh, by the way, let’s not forget this too.)

And I would bother to chastise Texas and Florida also, but even though I know there are some great Democrats in these states, they’re comparatively hopeless at the moment and probably for the foreseeable future...

…and speaking of the election that just took place, Hasan Piker tells us more…



…and Trevor Noah weighs in also on the news, including that ultra-bizarro presser the Gropenfuhrer held yesterday where Jim Acosta was called out (if I ever see Acosta, the first drink is on me), and also the departure of immunity gnome Jeffy Sessions (and cannabis stocks went crazy yesterday on the news of the firing – have to get a piece of that action somehow)…



..and though this remains a great tune, I’ll look forward to the day when I no longer feel that I need to respond to a news tragedy by including it in one of these posts.

Wednesday Stuff

(My electoral post mortem, for what it’s worth, is here.)

John I. and Cenk of TYT tell us more on progressive women running and winning in yesterday's elections…



…and I think Pete Davidson of SNL probably could have handled this situation a little better with one of our veterans, but as far as I’m concerned, this is yet another example of “the billion dollar anger industry” revving up – hey, instead of churning up indignation over this idiotic faux pas on TV, why not direct it towards our politicians who continue to place our military in harm’s way without giving them a good reason why their lives should be on the line in the first place? Oh, and what about our alleged Leader Of The Free World WHO IS TOO BUSY PLAYING GOLF TO VISIT THEM?

Kyle erupts at about 8:15, but he’s absolutely right, though I think mentioning Rand Paul (who I still think is an idiot) and “Medicare for All” was “a bridge too far” IMHO (NSFW)…



…and if Dems had any brains (we’ll see), they should go all in on “Medicare for All,” but I’m not holding my breath…



…and happy 75th birthday to Joni Mitchell.

Tuesday Stuff

(In case you may still need reading/viewing material before casting your ballot, I provided a bunch of info from yesterday’s post.)

Here are things that I definitely WILL NOT miss now that this latest tortuous election cycle is nearly over:

Dem purity tests from the usual suspects (yes, Cenk and TYT are great and do terrific work, but I’m tired of tweets saying, “Oh, the House races are more exciting because of progressives” (which is true I know) “and the Senate races by comparison are boring and we’ll probably lose because of all of the corporate Democrats” (well, we’ll see, but comments like that are DISTINCTLY UNHELPFUL…can we PLEASE have the self-incriminating, circular-firing-squad BS AFTER the election and not DURING??!!)

And this is a perfect example from someone else who I otherwise greatly respect.

Update 11/7/18: After looking at what I've seen of the results, Cenk turned out to be absolutely right. However, competing for the U.S. Senate, especially in "white bread" middle America and the south, is a much trickier proposition than running for a U.S. House seat.

Anything whatsoever to do with Steve Kornacki – I can think of few pursuits that are more futile than trying to examine the “tribalism” of our politics.

Here’s what’s going on. The other side is getting crazier by the day, and a big part of our side has been (wrongly, I think) moving more towards the center to accommodate them somehow, which is now and always will be a waste of time. Meanwhile, the progressive left is providing a future for this country (a vision combined with practical, real-world proposals) that is a hell of a lot more in line with what the vast majority of this country truly wants.

The end.

Lectures from “boomers,” my generational cohort, to millennials, saying, on the one hand, “Oh please save us – you’re our only hope,” while simultaneously lecturing and hectoring them for not voting in the numbers of other demographic voting blocks.

Note to boomers: the mess we’re currently dealing with is overwhelmingly OUR FAULT because we let ourselves be tricked and conned into either staying home when we needed to get our asses to the polls instead or deciding to trust in a certain delusional, orange maniac who possessed neither the mental capacity, disposition, or inclination in any way whatsoever to practice governance as a democratically elected chief of state. And don’t even get me started on how we ended up putting Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao or Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv in charge of Congress, to say nothing of letting the “party of Lincoln” dominate our state and municipal elections.

And given that rant, it may seem to be a little contradictory to include this video from Bill Maher, but I nonetheless thought he made good points…



…though this is definitely an encouraging sign…



…and never, EVER forget this (more here)…



…and oh yeah, speaking of the traitorous "loyal opposition," let’s not forget about the former Hazelton, PA mayor running for the U.S. Senate…



…on the other hand, here are reasons for support incumbent Dem Bob Casey instead…



…and when it came to the chief Teahadist in our beloved commonwealth, as I said before, I was so repulsed by the violence that I forgot about the elitism (golf spikes?)…



…in opposition, though, I think this really rocks, and let’s all show it in PA by electing Gov. Tom Wolf to another term…



...and on this day, I can think of no more appropriate tune than this one.

Monday Stuff

(By the way, my prior posts related to the 2018 mid-terms are here, here, here, here, and here.)

Rachel Maddow tells us that, should the Dems win the U.S. House tomorrow, that would mean that THEY would be in charge of the House congressional committees, which wield a hell of a lot of power, including subpoenaing the tax records of a Certain Orange, Delusional, Wannabe Dictator…



…and I didn’t forget about the Tallahassee yoga shooting (here) – God almighty…



…and Farron Cousins tells us that Energy Secretary Rick “Goodhair” Perry recently gave away the proverbial game when it comes to storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, which is a big deal in Nevada (yes, Dean Heller opposes it because he isn’t dumb as a door knob, but what good does THAT do when the rest of his party SUPPORTS IT?).

In response, to support Dem Jacky Rosen, please click here…



…and Pete Olson of Texas kind of mixes up both his bigotry and racism in attacking his Dem opponent (just say “oops” and get out - this is actually hilarious in a thoroughly unintentional way)…



…and turning to our beloved commonwealth, please support Perry Warren for state representative (for PA-31 folk)…



…as well as Steve Santarsiero for State Senate (District 10)…



(By the way, if anyone from Steve's campaign is reading this, check your site. I haven't been able to access it all day...Update: I just got in.)

…and Scott Wallace for the U.S. House of Representatives (for PA-01)…

(And by the way, I don’t know if I ever said this in so many words, but the reason why I’ve included this pic is to show that, as is so often the case, Not Your Father’s Republican Party was guilty of big-time overreach on their latest tax cut scam. I drove past this sign awhile back a couple of times, but finally, when I saw it the third time, I realized I had to pull over and get this picture. And sure enough, as soon as the Repugs realized that voters were onto their latest con, they pulled up these signs. And of course, you can consider my inclusion of this picture my attempt to make sure that voters NEVER FORGET that this is part of their latest disgusting swindle at our expense…and as we know by now, Bri-Fi voted for those horrible tax cuts from Trump and his party, not once, but twice).

Update: Oh, and I somehow forgot about these oh-so-precious moments from Bri-Fi's campaign (probably because I subconsciously wanted to preserve my gag reflex)...

…and here’s a tune to put some “pep in our step” while we engage in any last-minute campaign activities and get ready to head to the polls.