Monday Stuff

Leave it to “Goober” Gohmert to lead the charge against Mondaire Jones in the U.S. House who quite rightly called out “militarize our cities” (and how quickly THAT got swept away in our news cycle, huh?) Tom Cotton with his preposterous BS argument about why the District of Columbia shouldn’t be its own state ...I guess Gohmert is worried again about “aspersions on his asparagus” or something (Cenk, Jayar and Julie Oliver tell us more...great wrapup by Cenk at the end about the racist history behind the filibuster)...



...and Gohmert is back again here (who owes his seat to beyond ridiculous gerrymandering in Texas) to talk about that utterly absurd recount going on in Arizona (the “party of Lincoln” is the biggest bunch of crybaby punks I’ve ever seen)...



...and speaking of crybaby punks, John and Brett Erlich tell us about The Swanson TV Dinner Heir and his association during his college days with something called the Dan White Society, with more information on why that’s particularly disgusting...



...and along with the killer of Harvey Milk and former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Carlson claimed some affinity with Jesse Helms; with that in mind, I’m bringing back this clip from the late, great Michael Brooks speaking with author Nick Martin about Helms (cut off a little at the end, but the interview makes good points about how Helms came to be so influential in the Republican Party, sadly)...



...and David Doel comes down as a “no” on the question of whether or not AOC should debate Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Green New Deal...I’m inclined to say no like Doel, but I admit that I’m going back and forth; AOC would be absolutely right on the facts of course, and Greene would just whine and try to “work the refs” like all wingnuts do – and God, how are we supposed to take these cretins seriously when they can’t even freaking spell??!!...



Update: Uh, yep.

...and it looks like Tinsel Town goofed again during the Academy Awards last night by not giving the Best Actor Oscar to the late Chadwick Boseman, which would have been a nice way to pay tribute to his way-too-short but distinguished career (and Anthony Hopkins, the winner, tried to blunt that a bit with his own tribute in an Instagram post, which was a nice touch)...I have to admit that I’m pretty much clueless on new movies any more; the only shot I might have of knowing the pic would be if it was streaming on Netflix, and even that’s problematic...I guess this admittedly long-winded setup means it’s time for this tune.

Saturday Stuff

I would call it a double standard at a minimum to allow “I Like Beer” Brett Kavanaugh to write the majority opinion in a case that overturns precedent once again, this time having to do with immature youthful behavior and its effect on potential lifetime incarceration, as Rachel Maddow explains (more here and here)...



...and Chris Hayes is absolutely right to basically consider it a travesty that, to date, there hasn’t been a public accounting of the treasonous events of 1/6, but that’s what happens when the voters of this country elect a dangerously delusional sociopath as president, to say nothing of being manifestly unqualified for the job; we do indeed need the equivalent of a 9/11 commission (and I would argue with subpoena power), but when the other side is going to be completely unserious, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is for claiming to include BLM and Antifa in such an investigation (and it should be noted that neither law enforcement or any kind of impartial journalistic or investigatory body of any kind HAS IDENTIFIED EITHER GROUP AS HAVING ANY INVOLVEMENT IN THE EVENTS OF 1/6)...well, let’s just say I’m not holding out much hope (and Hayes’s frustration at the end is completely called for IMO)...



...and I know I went after Dubya on Thursday over that dopey interview of his, but I thought this was a pretty good take on the comment from number 43 about lies online or whatever that mess was (though Kyle has to also rain on his own parade by acting like the stuff with Trump and Putin was just nbd as he always does, which is actually pretty damn infuriating)...



Update 4/25/21: And speaking of Dubya...

...and I have to admit that it’s been a looong time since I’ve done anything close to recreational biking (good exercise overall, but I have to listen to what my middle-aged body is telling me about that), but I have never in my life heard of a license requirement for a bike (though I also don’t plan to visit Perth Amboy any time soon, I hasten to add – hey, why not give these kids credit for getting some exercise outside as opposed to being shackled inside to a gaming controller all day?)...



...and this TYT clip from Adrienne Lawrence tells us about Colorado Judge Natalie Chase, who has stepped down basically for being racist AF (appointed to the bench by former Governor and now U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper - not sure why the segment leads off with that old clip of Cenk and Ana)...



...and speaking of racism, don’t look now, but here comes Brit Hume to tell us how it doesn’t exist any more (and Emma V. is exactly right – if Fix Noise existed in the ‘60s, Hume would be saying “Oh, there’s no such thing as systemic racism, it’s just a few bad apples...BUT LOOK OVER THERE AT THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY THUGS IN PHILLY! THEY’RE THREATENING THAT ELDERLY WOMAN AT THE POLLING PLACE BY HOLDING THE DOOR OPEN FOR HER!”)...



...and I have to admit that this clip from Thom Hartmann is a little atypical, but I still thought it was important – I honestly believe that there are situations where self-medication under a doctor’s supervision of course is definitely called for, but I also think it’s good to discuss any possible way to effect lifestyle changes that could head off the need for medication depending on the circumstance – definitely not saying to toss all your meds right here and now, but certainly when it comes to learning particularly for kids, maybe we can pursue other strategies (kind of an open-ended comment I know)...



...and this is a cool combo I must say of Sir Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl performing a pretty kick-ass lockdown song – nice tune for a weekend too (and I wonder if someone will have the guts to tell Jagger that he doesn't have to worry about playing the guitar).

Friday Stuff

I love it when the Repugs gang up on each other; let them tear themselves to pieces – fine with me (and once more, The Lincoln Project keeps cranking out these great ads)...



...and I can’t think of a word to communicate my disgust with the anti-maskers for trying to harass kids, and I can’t say “oh, it’s a southern thing” since this is from CA...we shouldn’t do a damn thing for these lunatics if they end up in a COVID ward (and isn’t it ridiculous that there’s no anti-protest law against this, as opposed to that garbage anti-protest law that just passed in FLA?)...



...and the prior David Pakman clip mentioned overseas actors, if you will, using social media to influence opinion in this country against COVID immunization (bastards), and I thought that was an appropriate transition to this interesting clip from the BBC about how China is responding to COVID-19 with its own brand of propaganda; yeah, some of this is to be expected by a totalitarian regime, but some of it was egged on by our prior ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes too...



...and back to dollars-and-cents stuff...David Doel is exactly right on how Bernie and the Dems started out on a lowball number on negotiating for the $15-an-hour minimum wage (and by the way, $15 an hour is hardly extravagant...that’s basically a below-poverty wage and doesn’t even remotely keep pace with productivity gains for comparable work over, say, the last 40 years – not slamming Bernie because he’s trying to do good, but the Dem U.S. Senate “leadership” instead...just assume the "party of Lincoln" will NEVER have a good idea and go on without them because that is probably EXACTLY how events will play out regardless of whatever bill you're talking about)...



...and echoing that, I give you this clip from Farron Cousins with Biden basically telling the other side to “put up or shut up” on funding the infrastructure bill...



...and Number 46 is featured prominently in this Ari Melber report on the 1994 crime bill; I’m glad Melber mentioned that it’s a sign of wisdom to understand that sometimes you need to change course since that’s 100 percent true, and I believe Biden understands that – and yes, there’s a lot we can take issue with in retrospect about “The Big Dog” and the whole “centrist Democrat” thing, but I also think we need to recall that Clinton found a way to win the White House for “Team D” after a 12-year absence, and in politics that is absolutely an eternity...as far as I’m concerned, we had a good run under Clinton, and yeah, there were some missteps, but there were a hell of a lot of gains too...



...and sticking with The Comcast Network, I give “Doc” Maddow a lot of credit for this segment on the Chevron oil company trying to protect its oil field in Myanmar and propping up a military junta at the same time (making our planet safe to manufacture panty hose, apparently – got it)...



...and I know I make some “U-turns” from time to time here with my musical selections, and here comes another one...today is the 60th anniversary of the Carnegie Hall performance by Judy Garland, a show which was truly stunning, including this timeless number.

Thursday Stuff

Yeah, count me as somebody who’s pretty damn fed up with attempting to somehow normalize George W. Bush, for the reasons Ana and Francesca point out...and this POS is actually going to talk about “nativism”? What the hell do you call all of this “you’re either with us or against us” crap in the wake of 9/11? What do you call turning one of the most awful days this country has even seen into Republican hate porn like you, Cheney and your pals did for 8 miserable years? What do you call those garbage “purple heart band aids” your lizard-brained followers wore to ridicule John Kerry’s military service at that Hate Fest convention in 2004?

I’ll admit that there are some slight threads of decency in Dubya that are utterly buried beneath a mountain of hubris and arrogance, but he only looks reasonable to a tiny degree because 45 was an utter sociopath (and boy, does Francesca in particular nail it)...



...well, given the prior clip, I think we need to bring back this little number from the awful Bush/Cheney era (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and I know this clip from Chris Hayes is a few days old, but this is one of the best takedowns of right-wing garbage media and the COVID pandemic that I’ve seen in a while, and kudos to Hayes for laying this right at the feet of Lachlan Murdoch, who apparently is now the caretaker for The Roger Ailes BS Factory (and oh yeah, memo to The Swanson TV Dinner Heir...the point of masking after immunization is to MINIMIZE THE IMPACT OF THE F*CKING VARIANTS!!!!)...



...and I also know I touched on this recently with a clip from “The Majority Report,” but Rachel Maddow (speaking with Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones) gives us more detail on the completely disgusting 81 anti-protest bills sponsored by Republicans (and yeah, protecting the monuments to Confederate traitors is another “FU” in all of this)...



Update 4/23/21: And Oklahoma now joins the stupidity parade also (here).

...and I honestly wasn’t going to pay attention to that Missouri scumbag Josh Hawley, but I changed my mind after this most recent foul episode from this disgusting life form...



...and when asked, Dr. Fauci said “How can you say that gun violence isn’t a public health issue?” – Nail. Hammer. Head...



...and David Pakman tells us about a law passed in the House allowing banks to transact with pot dispensaries...not sold on federal legalization, but if states want to allow pot, then there should be no problem with dispensaries operating like a regular business, and of course it should be federally decriminalized...



...and by the way, Happy Earth Day.

Wednesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us about the official police statement after George Floyd’s killing, which made no reference to what actually happened; if it weren’t for people taking cell phone footage including the one brave young lady in particular who testified at the trial, there might not even have been a trial at all, let alone a guilty verdict handed down to Derek Chauvin (oh, and yesterday also brought us this cringeworthy moment)...



...and in response, I have a feeling we can look forward (tongue in cheek) to a whole lot of garbage just like this, with this wingnut Florida sheriff trying to re-define and criminalize protest (...”but don’t register to vote and vote the way they did up north, or you’ll get what they got”...REALLY???!!! And “A gathering of three or more people can be labeled a riot”...terrific! – the land of Mickey Mouse indeed, all while Governor #DeathSantis looks on with approval)...



Update 4/22/21: Some related information is here.

...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 4/21/14, reminding us that crazy Repug governors are a feature, not a bug – Jeb Bush and Bobby (“Don’t Call Me Piyush”) Jindal are discussed, creating the template for the insanity of #DeathSantis (the late, great Ed Schultz speaks with Pap and David Cay Johnston...yeah, the “vulture chart” pretty much says it, and this was 7 years ago – can only imagine what that’s like now)...



...and gosh, what a shame...it looks like the “New KKK Caucus” of Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene in the U.S. House may not be a thing after all – I’m sure the Swanson TV Dinner Heir, among others, is crest fallen over it, as Ana and Francesca discuss (interesting note from Brett Erlich about our legal system traced to Islamic law)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Stacey Abrams giving it right back to Huckleberry Graham over his attempt at “gotcha” questions over Georgia’s BS new voting laws (and as usual, talking over and interrupting – I’d seriously like for someone to ask Graham how the hell he feels that he has the right to interfere in anything having to do with Georgia since he allegedly represents South Carolina)...



...and RIP Jim Steinman – yeah, we know what “Pig Loaf” would turn into, but “Bat Out of Hell” was still a great recording (including this tune), partly made so by the contribution of Todd Rundgren.

Tuesday Stuff (updates)

Thom Hartmann makes what I think is a convincing argument, sadly, that this country has turned into a fortress as opposed to a “shining city on a hill” based on this (and our insatiable lust for guns is a big part of that of course...many good points here, including blowing up all that “Oh yeah? Chicago has strict gun laws and look what’s going on.” BS)...



...and Cenk and Ana of TYT talk about Louisville, KY cops beating up a protestor – can you guess the skin color? And yeah, it’s a typical cop trick to yell “Stop resisting!” as they do it – the only “resisting” this guy is doing is breathing. The clip also discusses a FLA law basically making it legal to run down protestors (and Cenk is absolutely right when it comes to reporters and the first amendment, re, the protests, asking #DeathSantis if he supports it or not – if the fourth estate wasn’t preoccupied with “access,” then yeah, maybe they’d grow a spine and do what they should on this)...

via GIPHY

...and oh look! It’s time for more utter performative nonsense from that U.S. senatorial mistake, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, showing off her “F-off” ring (what a pitiable joke this woman is – John and Francesca provide commentary)...



...and once more (and for probably the 100th time I know), I know what The Lincoln Project is, but they keep cranking out good videos like this one, so here it is (though I'm not sure that America is the only country founded on an idea, but yeah, I guess that could be true)...



...and RIP former Minnesota U.S. Senator and VP (under Jimmy Carter) Walter Mondale; I’m sure others will come out with obits that will do much better justice to Mondale’s accomplishments in public life than I could do here, but I thought I’d present this one clip in his 1984 debate against The Sainted Ronnie R where Mondale wiped that big, dumb smile right off The Gipper’s face; yes, I realize that Mondale got creamed in that election, but fighting the good fight still counts, as well as naming Geraldine Ferraro as your running mate (trying to break the glass ceiling Kamala Harris shattered)...



...and I’m not encouraging that anybody “toke up” today, but if you do, please be careful and don’t operate any heavy machinery, including a car of course.

Update 1: THANK GOD! I honestly was wondering for a little while about this.

I have no clue as to whether or not this will be the beginning of the end of the cops and “open season” on African Americans, but now we know that there’s a line to be drawn SOMEWHERE.

They’d better send Chauvin to a “club Fed” for the rest of his life (which, again, is still a better deal than George Floyd got). If Chauvin ends up in a general prison population, he’ll be dead in 20 minutes.

Update 2: Aaaand we're back to what is apparently the sickening normality of American law enforcement (here) - I can only imagine how some of these pigs are going to respond to the Chauvin verdict (and an extra "FU" by the cops is here).

Monday Stuff

Joe Scar of “Morning Jo(ke)” shows his true wretched colors here with Dem U.S. House Rep Sean Maloney, with the MSNBC host parroting Repug talking points and having a hissy fit when Maloney calls him on it (I think the attack lines Scar mentioned caught the Dems off guard, but not because the attack lines weren’t absolutely ridiculous in the first place...AOC said the Dems need to do a MUCH BETTER job on social media to blunt this garbage, and she’s absolutely right – we need to replace their crappy messaging with our GOOD messaging, and as David Doel says, incumbent progressives won re-election in the House last year, though I realize the picture is complicated by other factors too)...



...and sticking with the subject of wingnut temper tantrums, there are all kinds of reasons why I rate Repug lunatic U.S. House Rep Gym Jordan as a lower life form than a garden slug (a shame you can’t pour a beer on Jordan and watch him disintegrate into a mass of sodium goo on a sidewalk), but for now I decided to punish myself (and, by extension, you dear viewer) and air this clip of his interaction with Dr. Fauci...to listen to this craven demagogue rant at someone who has more intellect in his little finger than Jordan does in his entire wretched self was just about too much to take, particularly when this asshole from Ohio talks about going to church (yep, performative garbage, as Brian Tyler Cohen correctly describes it)...



...and in a sane world, a life form like Jordan would inflict this treatment on the “Karen” who coughed on the woman who had brain cancer instead of Dr. Fauci, as Farron Cousins tells us (I swear, I may never visit Florida again after this...mildly NSFW)...



...of course, maybe all of the anti-maskers out there could try this product instead (hey, we have to find humor somehow)...



...and John, Cenk and Bridget Todd tell us about cops donating to a fund to help (accused, let’s not forget) Kenosha, WI shooter Kyle Rittenhouse – I know I said a couple of days ago that the Adam Toledo shooting (a kid all of 13...just a reminder) was more of a gray area because it was a dark alley and Ofc. Eric Stillman had less time to respond, which is true, but it’s still an undeniable fact that Toledo had his empty hands up and was shot fatally in the chest anyway...I can’t recall all of the clip at the moment, but I remember recently seeing the head of the Chicago police union I believe acting pretty indignant over the fact that Stillman is being questioned at all, and I thought, sure a-hole, go ahead and fan the flames, as it were...



...and damn, I’m pretty sure it was just a few weeks ago when I wished Rusty Young a happy birthday – RIP.

Friday Stuff

This brief clip from The Guardian provides the latest update on yet another mass shooting, this time in Indiana - yeah, it's a problem that we apparently can't resolve because there are so many in this country who just shrug and tell us to move on even though this doesn't happen to the same degree in any other country on earth (the tune at the bottom of this post is for the "shruggers")...



Update: And apparently, it's yet another white punk kid with a grievance (here).

...and this USA Today clip tells us about the other big gun story, and that is the shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago (David Doel had an excellent video on this, but YouTube flagged it for some reason; I would encourage finding it and watching...apparently, this boy had a gun when he was chased and ditched it, but his hands were empty when he raised them before he was shot...ugh)...



Update: After I posted this, I watched the unedited video of the shooting. I most definitely am NOT going to post it here (trust me...you don’t want to see it. I felt like it was an invasion of sorts when I saw it).

This certainly isn’t George Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, or maybe a hundred other similar incidents. It appears (and I don’t want to say anything conclusively one way or the other to prejudice this legally) that Toledo discarded the gun as he put up his hands. In a situation with a dimly lit alley where an officer has fractions of a second to respond, that makes these events all the more problematic.

This is a terrible tragedy to Adam Toledo and his family, first and foremost. However, I can’t help but wonder what the hell he was doing in an alley in “Chi-raq” like that at 2-3AM in the morning (though that is NOT AN EXCUSE FOR WHAT HAPPENED, I hasten to emphasize). And I hope the individual who (again, allegedly) game him the gun is apprehended and sent to prison for a minimum of 20 years.

via GIPHY

...and returning to more typical fare for this site (though I guess that varies), John and Ben Dixon tell us about the minimum wage “compromise” that the Dems who voted down $15 an hour are trying to come up with, including Curtsy Kyrsten of course (great point by John about how the “compromise” she supports is LESS than the minimum in her own state...”after years of trickle-down economics, you now get the Kyrsten squat”...sad but true, and anyone who thinks ANY REPUBLICAN would go along with it is truly delusional...and if this doesn't give away the game, I don't know what does)...



..and this segment from Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki handling a reporter trying to parrot more Repug talking points – great analysis by Cohen on the whole “oh, we can’t raise taxes on high earners because our utility charges would increase” nonsense...



...and speaking of swatting down idiocy, Thom Hartmann handles an anti-vaccine caller exactly the way we all should; I understand that he can’t shut down too many callers or else he won’t have a show, but there’s absolutely no justification in giving a platform to liars, especially when it comes to our ongoing plague...



...and Robert Reich tells us once again about the economic scams from the usual suspects, as it were...



...and given today’s top stories, I couldn’t help but have this tune in mind; maybe one of my more cynical selections from a guy who knew a thing or two about protests, I’ll admit.

Yes, as others have pointed out, we have a crisis in policing in this country where, apparently, the cops are trained to escalate any confrontation immediately (that is, if you’re not white). But I also believe that we’re not going to have any kind of unilateral reform in this country on that issue. We need to get the cops to the table, as it were, and involve them in whatever discussions and/or policy recommendations hopefully come out of such meetings with all parties represented. We’re not going to have a prayer of coming up with any solutions to keep more people breathing unless we do that.

And as far as the Indianapolis shooting is concerned...yep, just another day in this country with a “Y” in it, unfortunately; there’s roughly about 30 percent or maybe more in this country who just aren't going to budge on that issue along with the other critical ones facing us (including rebuilding this country and addressing the climate crisis, immigration reform, common-sense taxation, etc.). If someone has some kind of a magical means to remedy that, please let me know, because I’ve got nuthin’ (and yeah, this tune goes out to the “30 percent”).

Thursday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the response from Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN to the charge from The Swanson TV Dinner Heir that the COVID-19 vaccines allegedly aren’t any good (making it excruciatingly hard to actually get to a point where we can resume something approximating a normal routine – I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll EVER be rid of this plague...and as someone who gew up in Philly, maybe I shouldn't say this, but I love the fact that Fauci responds with his "New Yawwk" accent that he grew up with, as if to add an unspoken "FU" to Carlson)...



...and sticking with The Roger Ailes BS Factory...as much as I wish for Rupert The Pirate to get his comeuppance at long last, I just don’t see that happening in this world, though, like Limbaugh, Murdoch’s ultimate reckoning awaits...



...and this Now This clip tells us about Republicans from the Texas suburbs who were encouraged to be poll watchers against “fraud” in Houston – yep, only people with the right skin color should use the universal franchise once more as far as they’re concerned, and the whiter, the better I guess...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about the assclown governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, who apparently wants to designate April as Confederate History Month (yep, when Repugs refuse to face issues for real, they just retreat to their tribal culture wars BS)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about “Man Tan” Boehner’s attempt at image rebuilding to sell his book, with the help of the thoroughly unctuous Willie Geist of “Morning Jo(ke).”

As for yours truly, I’ll tell you exactly what my issue is with Boehner (and I’m a little surprised the video didn’t touch on this)...

Boehner played a pivotal role in the 2011 budget ceiling garbage and the sequestration deal that resulted from it (a totally manufactured “crisis”) with the Obama Administration. The thinking by the Obama folks was OF COURSE we’ll come up with some kind of an agreement over spending with Boehner, because nobody wanted the sequester to go into effect, arbitrarily slashing governmental spending across the board (except, quite rightly, for entitlements and the military, though apparently entitlements have been affected somewhat too). Well, it turned out that the Obama folks naively didn’t pick up on the fact that INITIATING THE SEQUESTER WAS THE WHOLE GODDAMN POINT!

And if you want to get an idea of how harmful the sequester has been, I offer this, this, and this (and I'll keep looking for more current information, but this is apparently yet another topic that our corporate media refuses to deal with)...



Update 4/21/21: And let's not forget this about Boehner also.

...and speaking of fails by the fourth estate, I honestly don’t know why this wasn’t included in the clip with Rachel Maddow speaking with Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP about all of the garbage voting bills in this country, as well as this and this (Maddow led into this segment by mentioning the full-page ads in the Times and the WaPo...and speaking once more of fourth-estate fails, I give you this)...



...and this video is about a year old I know, but it has to do with CEO Dan Price, who has been trumpeting how he commendably raised the salaries of his workers and managed to grow his business at the same time, contrary to right-wing BS economy orthodoxy of course (more here)...



...and as long as money seems to be a recurring theme in this post, I thought I’d present this timely number (I believe the filing deadline was extended to May 17th – we managed to do OK this year and we hope you do too).

Wednesday Stuff

This Now This clip provides some more detail from Igor Volsky (formerly of Think Progress) on the executive actions taken by President Biden related to common sense gun reform (of course, what we REALLY need is for Congress to act, but I’m not holding my breath given that nothing on the federal level happened after Sandy Hook...once more, love to be wrong)...



...and this Meidas Touch video (titled the “GOP Pedo Ring”) is kind of self-explanatory (and once more, if the Democrats knew anything at all about messaging – noted in another video in this post – they would make damn sure what’s presented here became ingrained in the minds of every voter in this country)...



..and David Pakman tells us that embattled GOP congressional lowlife Matt Gaetz is suspected in a “ghost” candidate scheme...I know I touched on this last Saturday, but apparently more metaphorical shoes have dropped on this story since, though apparently Gaetz is in deeper doo-doo on other stuff of course...as far as I’m concerned, Jill Stein was a “ghost” candidate in 2016 (and still, the only candidate of the “party of Lincoln” who has told Gaetz to GTFOH is Adam Kinzinger...still crickets from this guy)...



...and this TYT clip tells us about Fix and Fiends attacking Biden on Infrastructure (yes, Buttigieg was off with the numbers, sure, but take a look at the people throwing stones, and he’s also done a good job in other interviews despite what Ana says...I get a little tired of Cenk and Ana beating the anti-corporate Dem drum the way they do, though I definitely agree with them that the Dems SUCK at messaging and are still behind the proverbial 8-ball in using social media – why I will never truly know)...



...and a hat tip for this video goes out to Egberto Willies of Daily Kos (you can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his YouTube channel also of course), with Mika B. talking with Steve Rattner about increased income inequality as a result of the pandemic (of course, Willie Geist and Randall Lane have to find a way to blunt this story somehow ...“hey, we had 483 new billionaires”...but fortunately, Rattner and the other political reporter at the end make sure we “keep our eye on the ball”)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Al Green (not the Dem TX U.S. congressman, I hasten to add, though he's a good dude too...any time I hear this song any more, all I can think of is a close-up of Bruce Willis's face listening to profane instructions from Ving Rhames based on this movie).

Tuesday Stuff

I would say that the era of “vaccine passports” has already arrived, in accordance with Keith Olbermann’s entirely correct IMO observations here; actually, given stories like this, we may get to the point in this country where people from one state/commonwealth may have to quarantine when they travel vs. people from other places who won’t have to – love to be wrong...



...and Cenk and Ana tell us about Caron Nazario, who was the officer pulled over in Virginia by police in that commonwealth (and by the way, I’m not disagreeing with what Cenk and Ana say here about the Democrats – Obama once had that “beer summit,” which was nothing but a stupid one-off of a photo op – but I would only point out how the Dems got absolutely clobbered over “defund the police” in 2020...blame cowardly politicians, but blame STOO-PID voters for validating bullshit right wing talking points too...and in response to this, I have one word: GOOD!)...



...and David Doel tells us about the shooting of Daunte Wright in Minnesota by a cop who apparently thought she had a taser instead of a gun (an update is here)...And I can tell you right now how the wingnuts are going to clap-back over this; they’re going to mention the state troopers in Texas and Iowa who were killed recently (apples and oranges, I know) and say...to paraphrase Cenk...”HOW DARE YOU EVEN MENTION DOING ANYTHING WHATSOEVER TO AFFECT THE COPS OVER THIS!! BACK THE BLUE!!! BLUE LIVES MATTER!!!” And their lemming-like viewers and listeners will lap it all up and use it to vote against Democrats, screwing themselves over yet again...see previous comment about BS talking points...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/15/11...it’s not often that these selections are so topical in the news, but this is one such rare occasion; the following video from the “Rethink Afghanistan” series from Brave New Films gives us the “Afghan War Calculator,” which is timely given this announcement from the Biden Administration that we are leaving that country at long last, as noted here...



Update 4/14/21: The Afghanistan story made me recall this post, for what it's worth.

...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us all about wingnut Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s selective outrage over the conditions at a migrant detention facility (and yeah, spare me this garbage of “under Trump it was federal and we didn’t have jurisdiction, but under Biden it’s a state matter, so we do”...you either care about kids separated from their families and forced to live in horrendous conditions of utter deprivation or you don’t)...



...and I honestly don’t have a clue as to what corporations in the aggregate, you might say, are going to do with the mid-term elections coming up, though, as Farron Cousins says, it’s interesting that they had a call over the weekend to figure out what to do in response to the awful voter suppression bills such as the one in Georgia and others making their way through legislatures across the country (in the end, Repugs fall in line, and I have a feeling they’ll do that again here, though I very much want to be wrong on that also)...



...and I was glad to come across this clip from Ali Velshi of MSNBC about the importance of immigrants to this country (should be obvious, but I guess it bears repeating from time to time)...



...and happy 77th birthday to bassist extraordinaire Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna (and my bad for failing to mention the 80th birthday of Jorma Kaukonen last December).

Monday Stuff

John I. and Dr. Rashad Richey tell us about a Republican attack ad vs. Marjorie Taylor Greene in an anticipated primary...unfortunately, I think Richey’s analysis is spot-on, though I don’t mean that against him of course...only wish to say that, as Richey says, Greene’s base won’t care about this ad – might rally support for her as he says...



...and RIP former Lyndon Johnson Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who, in addition to serving as a Marine, fought for progressive causes and had a lot to do with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (here, he speaks with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now from 2013 about the effort to free attorney Lynne Stewart, who died in 2017)...



...and Cenk, Jayar and Ben Dixon tell us about Eric Bolling storming off the set of a BBC interview in response to Georgia’s horrible anti-voting law...good job to bring up all of Bolling’s prior garbage...and boy, does Jayar nail this at the end...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with a PA caller in support of a national infrastructure bank (you can read more about the group she discusses from here)...



...and you can consider this 1980 clip of conservative godfather Paul Weyrich, speaking out in favor of voting restrictions, to be a reminder of the impetus behind all of the garbage anti-voting laws the “party of Lincoln” is currently trying to pass in state legislatures across the country (more here)...



...and I guess I had this newer tune in mind for the first video in particular, though I know it can be applied to many others besides the GA-14 lunatic wingnut U.S. House rep.

Saturday Stuff

OK, so let me get this straight – Joe Manchin apparently took as a lesson from the 1/6 insurrection that we need to work more with those poor, misunderstood wingnut Trumpers who tried to install Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Dictator for another term (and who managed to get people killed, including Ofc. Brian Sicknick, as well as scores injured), instead of, y’know, quite rightly vilifying these life forms in the manner they deserve. WHAAAA????

Cenk says that’s just cover for Manchin sucking up to his donors and looking out for his own interests, and I think Cenk is right (with Ana in the TYT clip below...I think Cenk’s outrage is commendable, but I can easily see Manchin going over to the “R” side if he gets his shorts in enough of a knot, handing the Senate back to Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, which makes Manchin even more disgusting of course)...

via GIPHY

...and turning to the other half of that utterly useless Dem U.S. Senate duo, Kyrsten Sinema acknowledged that "the world's greatest deliberative body" is broken, but has now officially gone on record saying that she won’t do anything about it...figures (Farron Cousins explains)...



...and when it comes to media prognostications that very definitely didn’t age well, John and Dr. Rashad Richey of “The Damage Report” tell us that Fix Noise managed to summon forth the fossilized remains of Brit Hume in April ’20 so he could basically say that COVID-19 wasn’t going to be a big deal...as usual, wrongness is a badge of honor for media punditry, where there is almost no accountability (and on the subject of our ongoing plague, I swear, considering this story, we may get to the point where we'll need ID cards from every state, with people from some states not being allowed to enter others where a higher risk of infection is feared)...



...and speaking of our ongoing plague, Kyle tells us here about a rule that apparently Combover Caligula put into place allowing Big Pharma to charge whatever it wanted for a COVID vaccine (and I’ll admit Biden should get on this, but I think there’s only so much the guy can do given that he’s been on the job for only about 2 ½ months...I think Kyle is referring to this, by the way)...



Update 4/14/21: And when it comes to making the COVID vaccine prohibitively expensive, let’s not forget this person by the way.

...and Chris Hayes tells us about the differences between voting in Georgia, land of Jim Crow 2.0, and Colorado, which now will host the MLB All-Star Game and has, commendably, actually entered the 21st century in that department...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us how Matt Gaetz was apparently involved in a “fake candidate” scheme run by Florida Repugs (makes me recall when that was tried up here with a guy named Jay Russell who ended up in the Bucks County Commissioners contest that included Steve Santarsiero, as noted here)...



...and I really don’t have much to say in response to the news of the death of Prince Philip in Great Britain, but I would only add that we should look at the full context of his life of patriotic service and not just some alleged recent quotes about the skin color of Meghan Markle’s baby (a BBC tribute follows)...



...and on about this day in 1976, Frampton Comes Alive! made it to #1, on the Billboard chart I believe, including this tune.

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.)