Friday Stuff

Robert Reich tells us how corporations tilt the metaphorical scales against the working class in this country (tax advantages in their favor, union membership declining especially in the private sector, crappy trade deals, ignoring infrastructure...yep, the usual laundry list of offenses I know, but it bears repeating)...



...and while we're on the subject, it looks like the vote to unionize Amazon workers in Alabama has failed unfortunately (here), but David Doel tells us how Jeff Bezos and his pals rigged the election against the employees, who hopefully can get a do-over, but we'll see...



...and sticking with the theme of why we should feel sorry for those poor, put-upon corporations (removing my tongue from my cheek), Ana and Francesca of TYT tell us about Neil Cavuto clutching pearls, if you will, over the portrayal of the CEO in the flick Godzilla v. Kong...love the snark...



...and speaking of corporations once more, Rachel Maddow tells us about their influence in getting Congress to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in 2006 before it was gutted by the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR 7 years later (once more with the quote from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao telling corporations to “stay out of politics”)...



...and thanks once again to the U.S. Senate parliamentarian, the Dems can pass an infrastructure bill with zero Republican votes as Thom Hartmann tells us, even though I’m sure Manchin and/or Sinema will idiotically find a way to try and prevent it...



...and with all of this and the ruinous reign of Mango Mussolini and the January 6th insurrection, it looks like the number of voters who identify as Republicans has taken a nosedive, which is a terrific opportunity for Dems; hopefully they’ll know how to capitalize on it, but we’ll see...



...and I don’t suppose I can ignore any longer yet another attempt at conservative comedy; this time it’s the show “Gutfeld!” brought to us by Fix Noise of course, with commentary from The Majority Report (and yeah, Brian Williams sure blew it with the helicopter thing, but for the record, he actually apologized, and as noted, that’s years-old anyway; I think they had the opportunity to actually mine something somewhat amusing from that, but of course they blew it, and apparently the show has gotten progressively worse over succeeding nights...mildly NSFW)...



...in response (concerning actual humor for real), I should note that today is the 93rd birthday (God bless him) of the funniest math professor of all time...we can always use a laugh.

Wednesday Stuff

(I guess, to be precise, the cartoon should show a Texas Rangers jersey, but the Yankees jersey for historical accuracy of the reference is correct of course.)

John and Aida of The Damage Report tell us about baseball fans in “the Lone Star state” showing their love of the national pastime, to the likely detriment of their own health of course, as well as that of friends and family members...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about the latest nonsense with the NRA trying to declare bankruptcy so they can re-incorporate from New York to Texas (speaking once more of “the national laboratory for bad government,” as The Eternal Molly Ivins once referred to her home state) in response to the lawsuit from NY AG Letitia James, with stuff coming to light such as Wayne LaPierre being afraid of those allegedly mean Sandy Hook moms who lost their kids to gun slaughter to the point where he had to hide on a 108-foot yacht...



...and this “Now This” clip tells us of businesses speaking out against Georgia’s restrictive anti-voting law...oh, and so NOW Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao wants businesses to “stay out of politics”? Does that mean all that sweet “dark money” that the Repugs count on every election cycle too? And no, I realize it doesn’t, but I have to ask the question anyway...



...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line, Ana and Ryan Grim tell us about Matt Gaetz opposing a revenge porn bill when Gaetz was in the Florida statehouse (and no, I don’t think any of this will hurt Gaetz in the panhandle either, unfortunately)...



...and as long as we’re in the Sunshine State, I give you Farron Cousins telling us about a study indicating that Republican-controlled states are worse for democracy than Democratic-controlled states...



...and happy 70th birthday to Janis Ian.

Tuesday Stuff

This Now This clip tells us about the “party of Lincoln” making it harder to vote but easier to get guns – surprised? And I don’t know what the hell that idiot Thomas Massie was saying at the end, and somehow I don’t think he does either.

It’s about taking away the damn AR-15’s, which overwhelmingly (but not totally) is the weapon of choice used by those intent on committing mass slaughter (how many goddamn times are we supposed to say that?). And I realize you can’t arbitrarily confiscate people’s property without cause, but we can institute a national buy-back program to try and keep us all safer (“If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring...”)...



...and turning to our former ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes, Rachel Maddow tells us about Combover Caligula sponging off people (some of whom were apparently dying, to add another level of sickening behavior) by using these auto-deduct checkboxes on online forms that were apparently hidden in plain sight of the donor somehow (kind of a weird edit at the end)...



...and Mehdi Hasan discusses the mainstreaming, if you will, of Stephen Miller as some alleged “thought leader” or something on immigration; Miller is nothing but a sick, twisted sadist, and for him to be treated as anything but that is monumentally insulting...



...and FL Repug Guv Ron #DeathSantis is apparently trying to imitate Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence with this new grift involving Publix stores and the COVID vaccine, as Ana and Francesca discuss...



...and with the theme of cruel, stupid Republican obstruction in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/7/09, in which we learn that not a single U.S. congressional member of the “loyal opposition” voted in favor of former President Obama’s first budget (had this in mind a bit after that item on John Boehner yesterday)...



...and David Doel tells us that Arkansas was about to become the first state to block health care for transgender youth, with more on the way apparently (God almighty), but fortunately Repug Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the bill (the fact that these bills exist at all is nauseating as far as I’m concerned)...



Update 4/7/21: Assholes.

...and I saw a blip or two on Twitter that Charles Barkley said something of a political nature, and I actually agree with a good bit of it (re, the people who want to divide us as a nation), and I also agree with Kyle’s clarification...I thought Barkley was about ¾’s of the way towards making a terrific point (as Kyle says, it’s not by any means equal between the “R” and “D” teams, but the latter is guilty of it too to a degree) – I remember when Barkley was a player here and he spoke his mind, and sometimes he put his foot in it, but usually he was right as he is once again here...



...and it looks like I’m overdue again for a new tune, and I hope this will suffice.

Monday Stuff

Kudos to Mehdi Hasan for setting the record straight on some attempted revisionist history from “Man Tan” Boehner over the latter’s role in fomenting the rebellion against the Obama Administration (timed for release of his book of course); I also thought Boehner has gotten a pass for far too long over his role in the ruinous “sequester”...



...and on the subject of Major League Baseball making the commendable decision to pull the All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia’s ridiculous new voting laws, Beau of the Fifth Column reminds us of how the “party of Lincoln” uses bigotry to motivate its beloved base...



...and John and Brett of The Damage Report tell us about some of the typical perception nonsense from the usual suspects, as it were, over Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill (and yeah, once more, the Dems start out with a low bid before the negotiations even begin)...



...and as long as we’re talking about the “I” word, I give you this from Emma V., Matt and the “Majority Report” crew over Repug S.D. Guv Kristi (Unsafe At Any Speed) Noem and her quote about not being able to support Biden’s infrastructure bill “because it goes into pipes” – just say “oops” and get out (and she’s supposed to be some kind of an up-and-comer in this bunch of charlatans and idiots)...



...and Farron Cousins reminds us that Dr. Deborah Birx has been saying that Mango Mussolini censored her when it came to discussing the COVID pandemic with the media...well then, she should have resigned in response, right?...



...and maybe you can consider this a gesture of support for MLB on its decision to remove the All-Star Game from the peach state, even though I really never need much of a reason to hear the Allman Brothers, especially during their ‘70s heyday.

Happy Easter 2021

I hope you all you all have a happy and blessed Easter. If you don't observe anything, may you have a happy and blessed long weekend (and sorry I forgot to wish everyone who observes it a Happy Passover - hope it was enjoyable.)

Friday Stuff

It appears that additional body cam footage was recently released in the trial of Ofc. Derek Chauvin concerning the death of George Floyd, which makes it look even more like Floyd was executed, but I don’t want to say anything prejudicial – innocent until proven guilty and all that; John I. discusses with some really good commentary from Charles F. Coleman Jr...



...and I was tempted to totally ignore this week’s death of Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy because I didn’t want to give him any more attention than he deserved, but then I came across this 2009 clip of Cenk Uygur talking about Liddy’s despicable reaction to this (forgot Liddy was a conservative media loudmouth for a time also)...



...and Ana and Aida R. of TYT discuss “vaccine passports,” so of course that utter loon Marjorie Taylor Greene lost what’s left of her mind over it (which the EU apparently uses also based on this)...



...and the prior clip alluded to Amazon’s abysmal work practices (and the next clip does too, truth be told), and this from David Doel is in a similar theme about Amazon using fake online accounts to talk about how allegedly wonderful they are (luckily, as smart as Jeff Bezos is about becoming a gazillionaire, he’s apparently pretty dumb when it comes to this stuff)...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Stuart Varney wanting Bezos to conduct a smear campaign against Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (figures...don’t often agree with Kyle a lot these days, but he’s right about the WaPo going after Bernie...not sure why Varney doesn’t get pilloried in quite the same way as Ingraham, Sean Inanity and The Swanson TV Dinner Heir; maybe it’s because he’s on TV earlier in the day and he has an English accent – mildly NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of plutocrats, Robert Reich tells us about all the ways we can tax the rich and begin to address the whole host of issues we face as a nation...



...and I know The Lincoln Project has gotten a lot of press along the lines of “oh, those people are typical Republicans except they oppose Trump...what can you expect them to be but grifters also?” and there may be more than a bit of truth there, but as I’ve said a few times, they keep making good ads, including this one about all the Repug voter suppression garbage out there, with a focus this time in Michigan (this is the best response)...



...and it looks like Paul Simon is now the latest member in the “I sold my catalog to a multinational entertainment corporation for a stupid amount of $$” club (here); not saying he doesn’t have the right to do that, but I can’t help but be a little disappointed (I hope he took care of Art Garfunkel).

Thursday Stuff

Ana and John I. talk about Trumpers “dunking” on Matt Gaetz given the recent legal issues of “Florida Man” Jr. (not surprising, since there is truly no honor among thieves and lowlifes...interesting to speculate whether or not there is actual substance to the dislike of Gaetz or it’s just a personality thing as Ana notes...and in case you think the pic is harsh, remember this)...



Update: Glub, glub, glub...

Update 4/2/21: What a pig - beyond disgusting (here).

...and Rachel Maddow speaks with the NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifill on Coke and Delta speaking out against GA voting laws (and great idea to use that as leverage to try and get them to support the For The People Act)...



...and turning from the legislative to the judiciary, Lawrence O’Donnell interviews Dahlia Lithwick and Prof. Allison Harris of Yale about President Biden’s federal court nominees and the pressure on SCOTUS justice Stephen Breyer to step down (which probably would be a good idea as things stand now)...



...and Beau of the Fifth Column tells us about Trump getting sued by Capitol police officers for 1/6 (good advice to be mindful and continue watching all of the lunatics out there who, as Beau says, want to undermine what this country stands for...and yeah, not that I care a lot about messaging to other Republicans, but he’s also right that they need to watch out too)...



...and speaking of lawsuits, Farron Cousins tells us about Dominion and whether or not they decide to sue Mango Mussolini for the 1/6 insurrection (as Cousins says, it sounds pretty much like a slam dunk to me too – don’t know what else there is to think about)...



...and Marvin Gaye was shot to death 37 years ago today.

Wednesday Stuff

Normally I guess it’s wrong to take pleasure from someone else’s misfortune, but in the case of Repug U.S. House Rep (and big-headed white guy) Matt Gaetz, it is kind of amusing to see him flopping around like a carp in the sun freshly dumped into a fishing boat (yeah, try falling back on your presumed privilege when all else fails, you knucklehead – and I’m not trying to trivialize his alleged conduct with the underaged girl here, which of course is completely serious and should be treated as such...Ana and Aida R. tell us more)...



Update: Too funny.

...and Rachel Maddow brings us the recording of the Koch flunky explaining to his puppet masters that, gee, I’m sooo sorry, but it turns out that the people of this country DON’T WANT plutocrats like Chucky Koch laying waste to our government and way of life so he can get whatever the hell he wants (recording from Jane Mayer of The New Yorker...this has to do with the John Lewis “For The People” Act in the Senate)...

via GIPHY

...and gosh, color me shocked – it looks like Dem U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s approval rating has taken a total nose dive...I can’t imagine why (removing my tongue from my cheek...David Doel explains...and by the way, I know it’s taken as gospel, you might say, in some lefty circles that Biden/Harris didn’t push hard enough for the $15-an-hour minimum wage to get Sinema and Manchin to move on it, but as far as I can tell, that is all supposition at this point that has yet to be proven, and it may never be)...



...and Emma of The Majority Report tells us about idiot Repug U.S. House Rep John Joyce of our beloved commonwealth of PA going on Dana Perino’s Fix Noise show to unveil a law to protect Dr. Seuss, apparently; yeah, taxpayer dollars won’t go to states that ban books (I’m sure that somewhere, in the great beyond, Mr. Geisel is laughing his ass off over this...you can cut the stoo-pid here with a knife, just about).

Seriously, though – I’m trying to unpackage Joyce’s idiocy here (probably spending more time on this that it deserves)...sooo, he’s ostensibly opposing “cancel culture,” but by denying federal funds to libraries that make a decision to take books off the shelves for whatever reason, to say nothing of the Seuss estate and the publisher who also quite rightly have a hand in this, isn’t he “cancelling” the libraries too? NSFW/H (And I think the show they were trying to think of was “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” – and yeah, that show was pretty “woke” for a kids program, and don’t ask me how I know that.)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us that, according to a study form The Brookings Institution, 400K Americans would still be alive if Trump had given a crap about COVID (and spare me about “Operation Warp Speed”...all good questions at the end by Thom, and I don’t have a clue as to an answer)...



...and yesterday marked what would have been the 71st birthday of guitarist Dave Ball of Procol Harum (never realized just how dark a song this was until I paid attention to the lyrics).

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that the ARP was written in such a way that you can’t put $$ in the general fund of a state or commonwealth to cut taxes, so OF COURSE 21 Republican legislatures are SUING over it...as actor Bradley Whitford said forever ago about the Repugs, tax cuts are their Jesus...



...and speaking of idiotic Republican state legislatures, Rachel Maddow tells us how those culprits in Missouri are trying to block Medicaid expansion...



...and MSNBC’s Alex Wagner speaks with Jacob Soboroff on Dems and Repugs at our southwest border and who is trying to do some good and who is looking for photo-ops (yeah, I’m sure you know who’s who on that score, right?)...



...and speaking of illegal immigration, it looks like Repug Montana U.S. Senator Steve Daines recently lamented over homegrown meth, apparently, versus what is coming over the border (is Daines a subject matter expert here, I wonder? Mildly NSFW from David Doel – paging Walter White)...



...and I don’t know much about Dr. Naomi Wolf, but it looks like she got owned on Twitter by Ken Klippenstein for trying to spread some anti-COVID-vax nonsense (John I. and Francesca explain)...



...and today marks the 40th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and the shooting of three others, including Press Secretary James Brady, by John Hinckley, Jr. (here - I realize Hinckley used a .22-caliber revolver and not a .38 which this tune is about, which is fortunate – sorry anyone was shot at all, but all four people probably would have been killed – but even though I know I’ve been overdoing it with the gun songs, I thought the occasion called for this one...and speaking of guns, there is this).

Saturday Stuff

Last Thursday marked the 110th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (shop shown in pic), which took the lives of 146 people and led to labor reforms including the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (John and Wosny Lambre draw a parallel between this and the fight for unionization of Amazon workers)...



...and Kyle K., echoing Wosny Lambre a bit, tells us why the Repugs have no ideas – I think this is a startlingly spot-on commentary for the most part, though I also think he dumps on the ARP in kind of a dumb way...yeah, it could ALWAYS be better, but look at the merits of it more seriously please...and I seem to recall Dems pushing back on the Dr. Seuss/Mr. Potato Head nonsense, contrary to Kyle’s claims (NSFW)...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about some of the debate on the DC statehood push (yeah, no mines and car dealerships, huh, and that latter part isn’t even true as it turns out – God, the stoo-pidity)...



...and I'm looking for something a little mellow for the weekend (and I guess with the ILGWU in mind) - hope this will suffice.

Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes tells us about Georgia’s ridiculous new laws to curtail voting in that state, along with State Rep Park Cannon getting assaulted and carried off when she tried to witness the signing of the bill by that state’s illegitimate Governor Brian Kemp (here) – there should be all kinds of stuff in response, including destroying the U.S. Senate filibuster and passing the “For The People” act to overrule this...I also saw Charlie Pierce I believe make the excellent suggestion that Major League Baseball should move this year’s All Star Game from Atlanta - good call...



...and sticking with voting, I thought Beau of the Fifth Column was spot-on again here, on the subject of Dominion and their defamation lawsuit against Fix Noise for $1.6 billion (he may be right about more people getting sued at The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...



...and in keeping with the theme of Republican election nonsense, Rachel Maddow tells us about Aaron Van Langevelde in Michigan, the Republican vice chair of the that state’s Board of Canvassers, who sided with the rule of law in counting the votes in the ’20 election between Biden and Trump (yeah, he had to do what he did or he could have been sued also, but he gets kudos for standing up against what I’m sure was a tidal wave of BS from the Trumpsters not to certify the results)...



...and returning to the theme of the latest gun carnage, Joy Reid speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep (and U.S. Army vet of the 82nd Airborne) Jason Crow...and again, we’re returning to the theme of blowing up the filibuster, which desperately needs to happen...



...and related to the prior clip, this Now This video tells us of all of our U.S. Senators and U.S. House members bankrolled by the NRA...



...and speaking of pointless cruelty, Farron Cousins tells us about our “good friends” the Saudis bombing the crap out of Yemen, with a quarter of the casualties being children (15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers...)...



...and in an effort to be a bit hopeful here, I present this Meidas Touch clip on Attorney General Merrick Garland; yeah, wouldn’t it be ironic if Garland ended up making a bigger impact in this job than he would have as a Supreme Court justice, a role he was cheated out of by Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao?...



...and since what’s old is new again given the voting garbage going on in Georgia (and with the pic at the top of this post in mind), I present this tune from back in the day.

Thursday Stuff

In response to that thoroughly execrable POS #CancunCruz here, I present the following video of actual grieving human beings from our most recent gun carnage in Boulder, CO (“We have to be loud, not silent.” Indeed...and oh yeah, there's this too)...



...and sticking with Repug U.S. Senatorial asshats, David Pakman tells us that John N. Kennedy is concerned about “idiot control” instead of gun control (maybe he should start with himself)...



...and in response to Cruz and Kennedy, I present this clip of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger (who was hardly a lib, it should be noted) talking about, in essence, the utter fraud of the misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment (and Burger mentions cars too)...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about all the moolah Cruela DeVos “earned” while taking up space as Trumpster Ed Secretary (pardon me while I puke)...



...and gee, did you know that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao said the filibuster wasn’t racist? Uh, suuure – “just say ‘oops’ and get out” (and c’est dommage on this too, Sen. McTurtle... and yeah, “What indeed are the Democrats going to do about the filibuster?” That is indeed the question, but I guess they’d better ask “President” Manchin)...



...and it looks like U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Y’all-Qaeda) used our currency as an attempted excuse to attack Georgia’s “souls to the polls” Sunday voting initiative, trying to claim some “holier than thou” high ground (and call me a filthy unkempt liberal blogger, but what the hell is she doing commenting on voting in Georgia? Oh, and isn’t the “sabbath” from dusk Friday to dusk Saturday and not Sunday anyway? David Shuster explains)...



...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line, kudos once again to Rachel Maddow for connecting the dots on Texas Repug Sen. John Cornyn’s opposition to Vanita Gupta at the DOJ – more here (God almighty, how much of an idiot do you have to be to vote for these characters like all of the Repug senators in this post? Maybe it’s just as well that I don’t know)...



...and given what just happened in CO, I have to tell you that I'm not done with my gun songs (particularly in light of this treasonous numbskull from that state), so here's another one.

Wednesday Stuff

It makes me mad that the entire “A” block of The Rachel Maddow Show from last night is apparently unavailable by itself – at least, I can’t find it (re, our wretched history of trying to get common sense gun laws passed – I found out that the latest lunatic alleged to commit mass gun slaughter in Boulder a few days ago was born the year of the Columbine massacre, which is truly a pitiable, disgusting symmetry as far as I’m concerned)...I say that with the following excerpt in mind because the entire nearly-half-hour segment was positively epic (lots of talk on social media on how Maddow quite rightly pilloried Joe Manchin...and I’m tired of this ridiculous garbage of, oh, we’d better make Manchin happy or else he’ll become a Repug and Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao will be back in charge again – how much longer is the majority of this country going to allow itself to be held hostage because about 30 or so percent of it, from largely but not completely southern and western rural states, is certifiably insane?)...



...and I know I already linked to this, but David Doel reminds us about that vile NRA tweet about overturning the Boulder ordinance banning AR-15s and limiting magazine sizes shortly before the latest gun carnage in that city (hey, where was the “good guy with a gun” while people were being shot to pieces? And no, I’m not trying to trivialize the loss of life in any way)...



...so, if we’re not talking about common sense gun reforms, what IS the “party of Lincoln” focusing on instead? Do you even need to ask? Sam and Emma on TMR tell us (In a weird way I guess, it’s almost refreshingly honest to hear Asa Hutchinson say that that ridiculous Arkansas anti-abortion law was written in such a way that it would be challenged to the point where it would be appealed to the SCOTUS...their end game here is to criminalize abortion in all forms, and also prosecute women and their physicians and health care providers if one is performed, as well as criminalizing birth control; as far as the “pro-life” wingnuts are concerned, they’re both the same thing...actually, Sam offers a pretty sound analysis at the end of how the SCOTUS “sets up the tea leaves,” if you will, to be read by future plaintiffs so they’ll know what cases to bring before the High Court to overturn whatever precedent they want)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 3/24/11, in which the late, great Ed Schultz called out former U.S. House Speaker “Man Tan” Boehner on the latter’s alleged “focus on jobs, jobs, jobs,” when in reality (in typical Repug fashion), the majority party in the House at that time went after “values” B.S. related to abortion, Planned Parenthood, those scary Muslims, NPR, English only, “In God We Trust”...what a typical joke...



...and I would argue that the wingnut distraction machine is currently in overdrive on the situation Biden inherited on our southwest border, as reporter Brian Karem tells us (mildly NSFW/H)...



...with the Repugs yelling “OMIGOD THE SCARY BROWN PEOPLE ARE COMING TO RAPE AND KILL US!” partly because they don’t want people paying attention to the "For The People" Act, which is now in the U.S. Senate (and God only knows what will happen to that or ANY further legislation with the utterly wretched filibuster in place)...



...and gee, wasn’t Saint Ronnie Reagan once the hero of those nutsos at Fix Noise? You know, the “tear down this wall” guy? Oh, but now, Putin is the "man crush" for these methane dispensing bipeds, huh? Figures...



...and with all of the horrors in the news, I feel like I need a bit of a palate cleanser if you will, so I present the following in honor of the recent 90th birthday of Captain Kirk – glad he’s managed to “live long and prosper,” you might say :-).

Tuesday Stuff

I just don’t know what the hell else there is that's left to say at a certain point – an update from our most recent gun carnage, this time in Boulder, Colorado, is here...and to think we’ve been covering this same old tired, stupid ground on this for at least 12 years based on this (expired links and all), though much longer in actuality I know...and what great timing for this tweet...



Update 1: The NRA is absolutely the scum of the earth, but we knew that (here).

Update 2: And oh yeah, I almost forgot this.

...so, given that they’re blowing off the gun crisis in this country, what are Repugs (and their corporate media acolytes) focusing on instead? Why, the situation at our southwest border that was allowed to deteriorate under Our Traitorous Orange Pustule instead (though of course Biden is getting blamed for that now...K.O. introduces some reality here)...



...and as part of the whole, “Don’t pay attention to 10 people killed and 21 injured in a Colorado mass shooting – look over there instead!” nonsense, the “party of Lincoln” is complaining about gas prices which (and everyone sing along at home with me) always go down in the fall and winter and always go up in the spring and summer, as David Shuster explains...



...oh, and in “the sunshine state,” they’re also trying to criminalize civil disobedience (what country am I living in again?)...



...and I guess this constitutes little more than a bad joke at this point, but I feel like pointing it out anyway – apparently, that syphilitic orange sack of trans fats that allegedly served as our 45th president is going to try and launch his own social media platform, as Farron Cousins tells us...



...and given the headline story, I offer the following without further comment.

Monday Stuff

It appears as if Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wants a “redo” on “I Like Beer” Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged FBI investigation (John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us more... I took what Jayar said at the end to mean that people would remember the theatrics of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, in particular with Huckleberry Graham, more than they would the actual facts and evidence, and unfortunately I think that’s correct)...



...and Sam and Emma tell us that Trumper Lee Zeldin got a little testy when asked whether or not Biden own the election last year...what a tool...just say the freaking words! (and of course, as noted, he was on this list)...



...and while I think there is something to be said about religious oppression contributing to the “incel” insanity, from institutionalized religion overall, at a certain point, it also comes down to individual choice...God knows the Catholic Church hasn’t budged for centuries on this subject, though it should, but I also don’t recall an “incel” movement over centuries either...sexual oppression isn’t a legitimate excuse IMHO to get a gun, go to some Atlanta massage parlors and kill 8 people (Thom Hartmann tells us more)...



...and I thought this was a good segment from Chris Hayes on the dustup in Tennessee over the bust of Confederate traitor and murderer Nathan Bedford Forest in the state capitol (Hayes speaks with state rep London Lamar...as usual, if the Repugs don’t like the outcome of the game, they want to pick up their ball and go home)...



...and speaking of games, David Doel tells us that Bobby Kotick of Activision Blizzard got a huge bonus after laying off a gang of employees (nice freaking guy – I’m definitely not a gamer, and I don’t intend to be especially after this...mildly NSFW)...



...in reality, though, I guess the title of this tune is emblematic of what I used to play at happy hour on Fridays many moons ago (that and Tetris of course...definitely assisted the experience to have a few belts before I popped my quarters, but please don't imitate this, I hasten to add).

Saturday Stuff

It looks to me like FL Gov. Ron DeathSantis is taking a page out of the Repug playbook of “Don’t pay attention to what is actually important – look over there instead!” with this typically stoo-pid pronouncement that “critical race theory” isn’t going to be taught in schools in The Sunshine State (believe it or not, I’d actually never heard of that, so this made me look it up...I’ll admit that, being a filthy unkempt liberal blogger, I SHOULD HAVE known about it, so yeah – thanks, I guess? And yeah, “please clap”...John and Brett tell us about it)...



Update: More here.

...and Sam and Emma V. tell us about the Biden staffers let go or reassigned because they used pot – not sure why this step was taken if these people passed a security clearance (definitely not on board with legal weed for recreational use for selfish personal reasons, but if people want it, it should be the law of the land or state or wherever...medical pot should just be the way it is with marinol prescribed anyway, decriminalization should be federalized and dispensaries should be able to operate like regular businesses...all that being said, I think Emma is right that Biden was adhering to the letter of the law somehow, but yeah, firing the staffers is pretty dumb given that his veep actually joked about taking a toke)...



Update: It's kind of infuriating to find myself aligned in any way with utter idiots like Nebraska Repug Gov. Pete Ricketts (here).

...and this Now This clip tells us about the 12 Repugs who voted against honoring Capitol police, which was more than the number of the “party of Lincoln” who voted to hold Our Traitorous Orange Pustule to account for his role in the 1/6 insurrection (the latter folks are also included in this video)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, I should note that we have new disturbing video from the 1/6 riot against the Capitol cops, with commentary from David Shuster, along with Cenk and Wosny Lambre (great point at the very end from Cenk about how the wingnuts truly define “law and order”)...



...and Jeff Waldorf tells us that the Trump figure at Madame Tussaud’s in San Antonio (didn’t know they had one there) had to be removed temporarily because people kept punching it (which, to be fair, also happened with Dubya and President Hopey Changey, sort of)...



...and with the last clip in mind, I thought I’d present this tune which, to me, contains one of the all-time great rock lyrics...”I love you from the bottom of my organism”...genius!

Friday Stuff

Yeah, RoJo should be gone from “the word’s greatest deliberative body” (please), but he’ll probably be around until 2022, but hopefully not longer than that (to do something about that, click here)...



...and Brian Williams speaks with journalist Kurt Bardella about the aftermath of the Atlanta massacre, including the remarks of Texas congressional idiot Chip Roy (and apparently the alleged shooter asked if he'd spend the rest of his life in jail (here)...well no, actually – since GA has the death penalty, you may get a date with a needle instead... and I’m sorry, but I don’t believe Chris Wray that the attack wasn’t racially motivated...given his stonewalling of Sheldon Whitehouse, I don’t believe Wray on anything)...



...and leave it to the Swanson TV Dinner Heir to come up with the completely wrong take on this, as John and Yasmin Khan tell us, with the Fix Noise host saying “the left” is blaming white supremacy for the Atlanta shootings...yeah, nice straw man you got there Tucker; we’re still learning more about the latest white kid with a grievance and a gun who allegedly decided to go nuts and I don’t think a link to white supremacy has been established...but would it really be a surprise if we found out that it existed? Also, I know the police said they didn’t even think the shootings constituted hate crimes against Asians, as we alluded to earlier, though that’s coming from the same police force that made that remark about the alleged shooter “having a bad day”...



...and given all of this, you would think Repugs would provide SOME support to renewing the Violence Against Women Act (commendably introduced by Brian Fitzpatrick), but....naaaah (yep, the “party of Lincoln” wants crazy stalking boyfriends to be able to get guns, and of course, as David Doel tells us, the “R” team automatically hates anything having to do with the LGBTQ community...and Debbie Lesko doesn’t get brownie points here because she was in an abusive relationship; as Doel points out, she’s straight-up lying here...mildly NSFW)...



...and speaking of Repugs behaving badly, apparently Pat Toomey blocked a bill to prevent private debt collectors form seizing ARP checks (here) – how pathetically predictable...



...and while we’re on the subject of Republican U.S. senatorial mistakes, I should have realized that there is NO LIMIT to how low that numbskull Rand Paul will go to try and make himself look intelligent (though he will always fail), especially against someone FAR MORE ACCOMPLISHED THAN HE WILL EVER BE – in this case, Dr. Anthony Fauci...Hey Kentucky, just how stoo-pid are some of you to continually elect this clown and Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao anyway...



Update 3/20/21: Ugh...

...and Farron Cousins tells us that it looks like the 2020 redistricting may be a little more complicated for the Repugs than we first thought; they might up accidentally oppressing their own voters; HR1, however, would make that matter moot...we’ll see (and “Democrat” is not an adjective)...



...and given the Brian Williams clip and those horrible remarks form Chip Roy (yeah, as if the only people allegedly believing in justice are from Texas - what a POS), I think this tune is appropriate.

Thursday Stuff

John and Francesca of “The Damage Report” tell us about some corporate media nonsense involving Jeff Zeleny and FL Repug Gov Ron DeathSantis on COVID-19 (yeah, nothing like trying to muzzle Rebekah Jones who's making every effort to tell the truth on how the "sunshine state" is coping – nice to see Francesca get the opportunity to lead in the segment)...



...and Fix Noise is of course another culprit when it comes to propping up Repug politicians, and as Farron Cousins tells us, a former neo-Nazi skinhead named Frank Meeink told us recently how much the Roger Ailes BS Factory markets hate...



...and Nicolle Wallace interviews former CISA head Chris Krebs about the report that the claims by the Trumpsters during 2020 were typical BS (though this was interesting of course)...



...and maybe it would have been more appropriate to present this Meidas Touch/Heather Gardner clip yesterday instead of today about poverty and the people who make $$ off of it in this country, but better late than never I guess...



...but for more information on how to return prosperity for all in this country, I think Robert Reich has some information here that we should all look at closely, in particular our politicians of course; yeah, this stuff is boring and wonky, but it’s pretty damn important too...



...and on this day 20 years ago, the cover of "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy hit #1, five years after her death.

Wednesday Stuff

(Note: I should emphasize that authorities aren't sure whether or not the Atlanta shootings are definitely hate crimes, but I thought it was timely to show this pic light of this.)

Mrs. Joe Scar and Willie Geist speak with NBC News reporter Blayne Alexander about the violence in GA, which appears (allegedly) to be perpetrated by yet another young white male with issues of some kind or another (and “having a bad day”? Really?)...



Update: Once more, The Onion dances on that razor's edge between reality and satire (here and here).

...and Thom Hartmann wonders if we’re coming to the end of the conservative era (God, I hope so, but I’m not holding my breath; Thom says he thinks the American Rescue Plan and Biden’s recent speech could be the beginning of something much better, with the bad old days initiated by the Powell Memo ...he gets kind of cut off in mid-sentence at the end)...



...and oh look – John and Ben Dixon tell us that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is threatening Dems with gumming up the works in the Senate even more than he’s done already; somebody pointed out that getting rid of the filibuster is risky given that all it takes is for one elderly Dem in that body to leave us, and a Repug governor of that state could appoint someone from his party and McConnell would be back in charge again (somebody like Pat Leahy should have 24/7 protection for that reason, but I think it’s far riskier to leave the wretched filibuster in place)...I honestly think it’s more than voters acting dumb when they vote for the R’s; I want to see ES&S get the same treatment as Dominion and Smartmatic and let’s see what happens...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s greeting to new AG Merrick Garland, particularly on “I Like Beer” Brett Kavanaugh (“Welcome, Mr. Attorney General. Here’s enough work to keep you busy for at least the next year and a half”...but kudos to Whitehouse for this)...



...and David Pakman tells us about Repugs taking credit for the American Rescue Plan (and I know I already mentioned Roger Wicker), but to be fair, Maria Salazar was taking credit for something unrelated to the ARP as noted here (and I seem to recall recently praising Adam Kinzinger for voting for Trump’s 2nd impeachment, when of course, in the end, Kinzinger turned out to be just a typical wingnut)...



...and speaking of stuff that has to be seen to be believed, these corporatist a-holes who basically pull the puppet strings for any politician belonging to the “party of Lincoln” never cease to utterly disgust me with their callow behavior, as this Koch-ette lobbyist from the Commonwealth Foundation demonstrates once again as she’s called out by Dem State Rep Malcolm Kenyatta (on the issue of a $15 an hour minimum wage, and I’m sure it isn’t hard to figure out where she sides on this)...



...and sticking with “Now This,” I thought this was a good response from The Rev. William Barber...



...and happy St. Patrick’s Day – hope you’re all “wearin’ the green” for your Zoom meetings :-).

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins reminds us that red states did a worse job overall of handling the COVID-19 pandemic than blue states (“you conditioned your voters not to listen to the smart people” – Nail. Hammer. Head.)...



...and when it comes to Republicans trying to keep their constituencies stoo-pid, I give you Mississippi Repug Gov Tate Reeves, who decided to forfeit millions in Medicaid expansion (here - Reeves should be recalled immediately, but I’m sure he won’t be)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen once more refutes a wingnut Repug U.S. Senator, and this time it’s Mr. Elaine Chao (yeah, so called “Operation Warp Speed” Trump promised to get 100 million people vaccinated last year, and the actual number was only about 3 percent of that – but let’s watch it with the “Democrat only” stuff, please...and in a related story, kudos to Dick Durbin for this)...



...and Cenk and Ben Dixon of TYT tell us that the military is now apologizing to the Swanson TV Dinner Heir – ugh (I really don’t understand Cenk’s U-turn here to attack progressives...I think that’s a topic for another day – and I’m sorry, but I don’t give a damn about his musician friend who’s misguided; he chose to be willfully dumb...I suppose this was inevitable because of the conservative representation in our military, but it’s still damn depressing)...



...and this Lincoln Project ad supports the nominations of Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke for positions in the Biden Administration (shouldn’t be necessary to advocate for these fine choices like this, though it is a good thing to do so of course – more here)...



...and happy upcoming 70th birthday to Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy.

Monday Stuff

Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao thinks that the people of this country don’t need more of a stimulus, if you will, in response to the COVID pandemic (I agree that the CNN reporter did a good job by talking to actual voters in this country and that people often don’t find out what’s really happening on issues since our news mannequins, for the most part, don’t fulfill the function of educating their viewers any more)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen gave what I thought was a pretty good example here of why congressional Repugs don’t deserve to be taken seriously in their opposition to COVID relief, with Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana (who apparently goes to great pains to remind people that he has a medical degree) pretty much nit picking around the edges as an excuse to get rid of the entire bill (and yeah, Chris Wallace pushed back slightly, but it was a love tap compared to what a Dem would have faced on that network)...



...and sticking with The Roger Ailes BS Factory, John and Bridget Todd tell us of Laura Ingraham’s fear mongering on HR 1 (and “Democrat” voters...typically disgusting from this shameless harpie)...



...and as long as we’re on the subject of Fix Noise, I thought I’d bring you this commentary from Beau of the Fifth Column responding to the latest garbage from the Swanson TV Dinner Heir...



...and Sam and Emma of “The Majority Report” tell us about Ilhan Omar speaking in favor of the PRO Act to help unions...great stuff, but it won’t matter unless the Senate gets rid of the filibuster because they will NEVER get Repug support for this or any other legislation...



...and turning to world news, David Doel tells us about Palestinian kids arrested for picking vegetables in the disputed area of the West Bank, apparently based on the complaints of Israeli settlers illegally living there (Want to know where tomorrow’s terrorists will likely come from? Look no further)...



...and in the matter of COVID, I thought this was a good PSA featuring all living former presidents but for a pretty obvious (and justified IMHO) omission (I’ll temporarily put aside my beef with Dubya)...



...but unfortunately, it won’t matter for yet another person we’ve just lost, and that would be Bliss Michelson of WRTI-FM...almost too broken up for words right now – deepest sympathies to his family and friends (I don’t know a lot about classical music, but this elegy features a double bass, which was Michelson’s area of expertise...one of them anyway – when we have FINALLY rid ourselves of this COVID scourge, there should be monuments put in every town, village, township, city, state...you name it...with the names of the people lost from those communities).