Monday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report gives us a brief look at the many ways that the “party of Lincoln” has obstructed Congress, including in response to a bill to codify election procedure (i.e., not allowing VPs to overturn elections), which received only 9 U.S. House Repug votes, and all from reps who were leaving, so of course Bri-Fi voted No also – to do something about that, click here...



...and turning to the U.S. Senate race in our beloved commonwealth of PA, it looks like one of Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz’s highest profile backers, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, has turned on his former pal for mocking John Fetterman over the latter’s stroke – to help Fetterman, click here...



...and it looks like Oz’s family had to pay the largest ICE fine in history (against the Asplundh tree cutting company...they’re all over the place in this area by the way), and of course, Oz crows about “illegal immigration” (the hypocrisy is the point of course...segment goes to about 5:30, then leads into a discussion about 58% of Republicans believing in “white replacement theory”...with Ana and Cenk)...



...and Chris Hayes speaks with Bernie Sanders about the popularity of Biden’s loan forgiveness and the response to the concentration of corporate wealth vis-a-vis the increased unionization efforts in this country (and of course, Cancun Cruz and his pals will try to fight student loan forgiveness because that’s what they do...yeah, numbers look good for now, but we should all work for campaigns as if we’re 20 points down, partly because – unfortunately – dark money swooping in at the 11th hour with a blitz of negative ads often still works in campaigns more than it should, though I honestly believe the tide is turning on that...will that hold be broken in this cycle? I don’t know, and we should assume NOTHING...this clip is a few days old and it took me a little while to get to it, I know...David Doel also had a good recent segment on this piece)...



...and it looks like FLA Guv Ron #DeathSantis is getting sued by the migrants he tricked into flying to Martha’s Vineyard, and of course he doubles down on his BS because that’s all he knows how to do...Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about it...



...and Beau tells us about the call that allegedly came from inside the White House to somebody at the Capitol on 1/6 based on the “60 Minutes” interview with Denver Riggleman (here)...it should be plainly obvious to anyone with at least a double-digit IQ by now that Not Your Father’s Republican Party hates representative democracy and demonstrates that at every opportunity...



...and Caroline Johnson of Rebel HQ discusses the “trickle-down effect,” if you will, when wingnut preachers try to cram their version of morality down everyone’s throats (I’m honestly not sure which one of those two guys in NYC is supposed to be the goofball; maybe the guy in the cap is supposed to be normal?)...



...and RIP Jim Post of the ‘60s one-hit-wonder duo Friend and Lover, with their signature tune.

Saturday Stuff

Robert Reich gives us another one of his periodic reminders that the “self-made billionaire” BS is truly a myth, starting with Musk, Bezos, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc...



...and Chris Hayes gives us a preview of what would happen if (God forbid) Republicans capture any of the two legislative bodies on Capitol Hill, to say nothing of the White House also in 2024 (more motivation for us to do what we can to get Dems elected, as if we didn’t know how important that is already)...Medicare and Social Security ABSOLUTELY will be on the chopping block, and we can expect a federal 15-week abortion ban and more stinking tax cuts (and this J.R. Majewski clown really put his foot in it with his alleged military service, didn’t he...update is here...and what the hell is it with Repugs who actually think they can rap?...and I thought this was a hoot also)...



...and Trae Crowder tells us about Repugs losing what’s left of their minds over the Stacey Abrams quote about the lack of a six-week fetal heartbeat, which was verified by medical science (which Repugs don’t believe in, I know)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tells us that protestors of Vlad The Butcher’s war of choice in Ukraine have automatically been drafted into service (and yeah, as they say, what kind of message does it send to your existing forces to conscript people WHO DON’T EVEN WANT TO BE THERE??!!)...



...and Brittany Page joins Jesse Dollemore on The Dollermore Daily to talk about Mississippi, first on the water in Jackson – and also what a doctrinaire Repug fathead Tate Reeves is – and second, having to do with the Brett Favre funds misappropriation stuff (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and it’s “up, up and away” with this neat newer tune (make sure you hang around until the end :-).

Friday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that Our Treasonous Tiny Handed Former Dictator is BIG MAD that #DeathSantis apparently stole his awful immigrant kidnapping idea, and of course leave it to #45 to add his particularly heinous twist to all of this of shipping actual violent criminals to blue states, and except for Cheney and Kinzinger, NOT A DAMN ONE OF THEM IN HIS PARTY WILL SAY ANYTHING TO OPPOSE HIM!!! And by the way, all the best to Dollemore on his health issues...



...and this clip from The Lincoln Project tells us about Doug Mastriano and the connection between his campaign and the utterly awful and depraved Gab anti-Semitic web site; to help Josh Shapiro, the Dem running for PA governor, click here...



...and uh oh, it looks like Mr. Crudite himself, Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz went to Kensington to (allegedly) help drug addicts shoot up to film a campaign video...and yeah, I’d like to know how many of those people in that vehicle made it to drug rehab also...this is a serious problem that deserves a MUCH BETTER treatment than a drive-by photo-op...that crowd Oz spoke to later (“See? I actually went to Democrat cities! I’m not just a Hollywood celebrity!”) was about as “diverse” as a jar of mayonnaise...I think this segment goes off the rails a bit in the last minute over the George Floyd stuff to be honest, though the fundamental point about performative stuff from the “R” party (and the Dems to a lesser extent) is true, I have to admit (in response, to help John Fetterman, click here)...



...and here’s a backgrounder on Ashley Ehasz, the Dem running to unseat Brian Fitzpatrick as PA-01 U.S. House rep; to help the campaign, click here (and more on Bri-Fi is here)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about more anti-abortion garbage in Georgia, West Virginia, Texas and Utah...and refusing to treat miscarriages? Looks like some of our states below that Mason-Dixon line are being run by some of the most enlightened minds of the 13th century...



...well, one way to try and fix that is to vote for Dems like Beto O’Rourke, running for Texas governor against the thoroughly despicable Greg Abbott – to help, click here (I keep waiting for elderly white conservative boomers to start loving their kids and embracing climate justice, economic reform and sane policies concerning women’s reproductive health more than they viscerally hate Democrats, and I’m sure I’ll keep waiting...clip is briefly NSFW/H, but for a good reason)...



Update: I saw on Twitter that the Houston Chronicle says that voters are breaking towards Abbott based on immigration and away from abortion; not taking issue with the paper, but this makes zero sense to me given that Abbott was responsible for this.

...and turning to entertainment, this week marked the passing of a guy who probably was the very last surviving male member of The Rat Pack, and that was longtime character actor Henry Silva – here he is in a truly great film that had trouble getting released for awhile because of the subject matter (re, an assassination)...



...and Silva made a living portraying villains, which brings to mind this tune (for me anyway, which is actually a cover of a Larry Williams song).

Thursday Stuff

I realize that we here in our beloved commonwealth of PA don’t have bragging rights when it comes to election corrupt idiot politicians (see “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey), but I have to admit that it is predictably discouraging to see voters in Wisconsin apparently trending towards RoJo – love to be wrong...here is a reminder of why Johnson most definitely does NOT deserve another term in the U.S. Senate from Texas Paul at Meidas Touch, with RoJo blaming “CRT” and “wokeness” for the Uvalde massacre (to help Johnson's opponent Mandela Barnes, click here...NSFW/H)...



Update: And how is this for a Freudian slip?

...and I thought this was a pretty well-done New York Times video with Johnny Harris (taking a break from bitching about NIMBY libs and real estate in Southern California) and Michelle Cottle about the most urgent threat to our elections...this is what happens when we coddle the Trumpsters including Bannon and Mango Mussolini himself, and this is also what happens when the John Lewis For The People Act gets stopped dead in its tracks in Congress by the “party of Lincoln” – Dems (and in this case, Liz Cheney also) have tried to pass laws to ensure election integrity (here), but as noted here, Bri-Fi (among others in his party) have opposed these efforts...to do something about that, click here (and let’s not forget the role of the John Eastman garbage in all of this as noted here)...



...and speaking of legal stuff, Farron Cousins tells us that the defamation lawsuit against Pillow Guy from Smartmatic will be allowed to proceed (and yeah, Dominion should follow with their suit also, and I’m sure they will)...



Update: More here (what a freak show).

...but as deserved as that is, the REAL topper came from the 11th Circuit Court hours ago against Our Ochre Abomination himself, in which the whole “special master” ruling from Trumpster flunky judge Aileen Cannon got the legal thrashing it deserved...Beau tells us more (more here)...



...and from Satan’s lips to his minions’ ears as far as I’m concerned; I think that’s the best way to summarize this next story, with MAGA lunatics flooding the suicide prevention hot line for our veterans to try and release the treasonous insurrectionist 1/6 criminals (Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us more)...



..and this tune was #1 on the Billboard pop charts on this day 55 years ago.

Wednesday Stuff

(This is just a reminder that the "kangaroo court" pictured above, including that smiling African American woman, are the ones - along with all other Republican politicians - who have decided that women in this country shouldn't be allowed to exercise their own bodily autonomy.)

Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about Huckleberry Graham’s latest abortion stunt blowing up in his face, you might say...and yeah, Dems damn sure should run with what Graham says here in ads throwing it back at him, but we’ll see – more here...



...and for a bit of heartbreaking reality on this story, Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss a Texas woman named Kailee DeSpain, who apparently was passionately anti-abortion along with her husband; she had to travel out of state to get an abortion herself because of truly dire pregnancy complications (to New Mexico apparently)...and in case anyone thinks I’m going to be snarky about that, think again; I’m genuinely sorry for the heartbreak she and her husband have faced as a result of this horrific development concerning the in-utero life inside her, but I would only ask that they please try to understand that anyone who is pro-choice loves the life of the unborn also, even though I’m sure the DeSpains can probably see our side in a more tolerant light now, though I’m sorry it’s because of what has happened to them – and I think Cenk is referring to the Sandy Senn clip that I included a couple of days ago with Brian Tyler Cohen...



...and turning to other domestic political matters, it looks like Our Ochre Abomination is threatening civil war if he’s indicted...well, he’s on the way to that based on this, among many other reaons (Richard Ojeda has more on this...and here is more on Matt Whitaker, yet another Trumpist bottom feeder from our prior ruling cabal)...



...and it sounds like U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, Mango Mussolini’s handpicked “special master,” is all done with the games from #45 on the Mar-a-Lago docs mess (David Pakman gives us the details - love the face freeze)...



...and in case anyone has forgotten about Vlad The Butcher and his war of choice in Ukraine, Beau tells us about the latest Russian referendum and how it’s a propaganda stunt as a likely pretext to further conscription of young men of fighting age in that country to be sent off to “the meat grinder”...



...and since tomorrow is the first day of fall, it’s time to ring down the curtain on my summer selections until next year (sniff, though this is a great time of year also).

Tuesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Javier Salazar, Bexar County, TX Sheriff, who is apparently trying to open an investigation into Ron #DeathSantis’s little stunt of flying 48 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard...of all of the aspects of this ridiculous story that (I have to admit) that I didn’t pay much attention to, one was the taxpayer cost of flying these people to the island...



...and Farron Cousins references the video clip with Sheriff Salazar...Judd Legum got his hands on the brochure that #DeathSantis used to lure the migrants, which may very well end up being more ammunition behind the lawsuit(s) that will surely follow from all of this...



...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us about a MA lawmaker also looking at #DeathSantis for human trafficking...GOOD! (and good also for John for pointing out that immigrants come into this country from a whole bunch of other places besides the border with Mexico...it remains to be seen how much more of this Abbott and #DeathSantis are going to pull, but the more they do, the more it will add to the legal consequences against them)...



Update 9/21/22: Gee, isn't THIS interesting?

...and as if there weren’t more reasons to be mad at Flori-DUUH’s utter Republican mistake of a governor, this More Perfect Union clip notes that energy prices in The Sunshine State are going nuts because of the Florida Power and Light utility, which is a big-time player in Republican politics of course... wonder if #DeathSantis’s MVY stunt was intended to deflect from this? And more is here...



...and here is still another reason to despise #DeathSantis, with him making fun of those paying off student loans, and anyone going to college of course...thank God we didn’t have a-holes like this guy calling the shots after WWII when a whole bunch of vets, like my dad, went to college on the GI Bill – when this guy falls hard, which he eventually will, I’m going to sit back right easy and have a good laugh (and “zombie studies,” huh? And how big of a teacher shortage are you looking at again? And of course he utters this puke in front of those Heritage Foundation guttersnipes - to do something in response, click here)...



...and I’ve had this song on my mind while all of this migrant misery has been playing out, so I thought I’d share it here.

Monday Stuff

(I know the cartoon should say 2022 instead of 2019, but I think it's close enough.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the ongoing campaign in this country to take away women’s bodily autonomy, with a focus on “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are not licensed medical facilities, it should be noted, but are instead places for wingnut indoctrination – NSFW/H...



...and related to the prior story, Brian Tyler Cohen talks about 2 South Carolina Republicans in the state senate duking it out over more garbage anti-abortion nonsense...and yes, Sandy Senn is absolutely right here, and Shane Massey is just another idiot Repug male trying to regulate women’s biology (more here – and yeah, for every anti-abortion bill, I think a companion bill should be introduced that sets up a database that tracks purchases of Viagra and Cialis for male politicians, as well as keeping a record of which ones have received vasectomies)...



...and when it comes to that depraved stunt by FLA guv Ron #DeathSantis to dump the undocumented migrants at Martha’s Vineyard (who were transported off the island to a facility set up on Cape Cod where they can be processed through immigration), I thought Vaush had a particularly smart take here (more here – Emma V. of The Majority Report had a segment on this also, but it included a clip with Jesse Watters and Mike Pompeo, and I absolutely can’t stomach those two together)...



...and related to the MVY story, Stephanie Ruhle tells us how this little maneuver by #DeathSantis and Greg Abbott of Texas mirrors the “reverse freedom rides” of exactly 60 years ago (more here)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT bring us the story of Trumpster Cathy Latham in Coffee County, GA, who allowed voting machines to be hacked on 1/7/21, which of course was the day after the insurrection...time to start throwing these people in prison for a looooong time, as Cenk says – more here)...



...and in the Wordpress post I linked to above about Martha’s Vineyard, I mentioned the public radio station WMVY, which is terrific; this newer number comes right from their playlist.

Friday Stuff (updates)

(If you don't speak out against them, Bri-Fi, then you're complicit in these acts from the people in your party.)

To begin, Trae Crowder tells us about the sick, twisted scheme of Repug Guvs Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron #DeathSantis of Florida to fly 50 illegal immigrants from Texas to Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, with Abbott apparently flying some also to D.C. to the residence of VP Kamala Harris (mildly NSFW/H)...I mean, I know it’s not a news flash to point out how depraved conservatives are, but imagine being told that there’s a job for you in Boston, then you fly about 3-4 hours, and then get dropped off on an island where you don’t know ANYBODY, and you’re left to walk for about 3 miles to shelter (and the people living on the island don’t know you’re coming)...I’ve also read estimates that this cruel idiocy cost Florida taxpayers about $8 million and Texans $12 million (Update below: For #DeathSantis, this cost about $613K from a $12 M fund)...more on this here, here, here, here, here, and here...I also read that Charlie Crist, running against #DeathSantis for FLA governor, is going to ask the Justice Department to investigate since this is human trafficking...to help, click here...



...and Ana and John tell us about the Feds seizing the cell phone of cracked-out pillow guy Mike Lindell...c’est dommage, wingnut – yeah, what does it tell you about Lindell that all he had to do was wipe his phone, but he wasn’t even smart enough to think of that...



...and remind me to NEVER visit Florence County, South Carolina...at least, not if I can help it, because the cops might try to stomp my head in while they yell at me to “stop resisting” (yeah, it was a little odd for that guy to be filming the building, but he wasn’t breaking any law, apparently, and he was on public property)...David Shuster tells us more...



...and Beau tells us that “Dark Brandon” struck again, apparently averting a national rail strike, with the estimable help of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (and Bernie Sanders standing up for workers again here)...



...and Thom Hartmann talks about the lady in Louisiana who was pregnant with the fetus that didn’t have a skull (I know I mentioned this previously) and how she could have been impacted by Huckleberry Graham’s potential nationwide abortion ban...and I haven’t heard anything from Silent Brian on this either (and I’m DEFINITELY not holding out much for Chuck Schumer to do what he’s supposed to as well)...



...and the very latest from Second Thought asks Why Is College So Expensive (and yep, the line goes straight back to The Sainted Ronnie R and Tricky Dick - more here...”If you think that ‘woke culture’ is what’s suppressing free speech on college campuses, consider how much more it hurts free speech to keep millions of working class Americans out of the conversation entirely.”...as I watched this clip, I recalled all of the trash columns J.D. Mullane wrote for the Bucks County Courier Times making fun of a liberal arts education...I don’t know if he’s still cranking out that drivel, but if he is, I wouldn’t be surprised)...



....and I’ve had this kicking around for a little while, and I really should get to it now – Hollywood actress Marsha Hunt recently passed away at 104, and the clip below tells us about her commendable activism while the studio system reigned and they really discouraged her from standing up...



...and speaking of activism (and with the Trae Crowder clip in mind along with the linked articles on the immigrant/MVY debacle), I thought the following tune from Jackson Browne and Sangre Machehual was appropriate for the occasion.



Update 1: I think DHS has ended up with a bit of egg on its face over this sick, cruel stunt from #DeathSantis and Abbott, but after watching this clip, I think one message should be loud and clear to these two; time to lawyer up, assholes!

Update 2: So #DeathSantis paid a firm $615,000 for relocation, huh? (here). That rounds off to $12,300 per refugee, as Charlie Crist says. Curious to know what Florida taxpayers think of THAT.

Update 3: Oh, OK...so, before we pile onto DHS, Ryan Grim reports that #DeathSantis TOLD the immigrants to change their addresses for USCIS (here...I probably should have picked that out earlier from the clip, but Grim did fortunately).

I think we’re getting to the point with this story where the U.N. Commission on Human Rights needs to weigh in.

Update 4: I know it shouldn’t come as a news flash that conservatives are monumentally bigoted and STOO-PID. However, the total shitposting about Martha’s Vineyard in the wake of this stunt from #DeathSantis and Abbott is plummeting to new lows even for them. And just about everything they say can be easily disproven by some of the easiest Google searches in recorded human history...too damn many to list here.

Thursday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about that particularly bonkers lead-in to the recent candidates debate in Colorado involving incumbent U.S. House Repug Lauren Boebert and Dem challenger Adam Frisch, with Boebert arguing with the moderator over a tweet that the CO-3 U.S. House wingnut didn’t even bother to read completely...more debate idiocy with Boebert is here, including her not knowing the purpose of the 19th Amendment...and what does it tell you about the voters in Boebert’s district that, as Cousins says, she’ll likely win re-election anyway?...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses idiotic Republican attacks on “CRT” along with LGBTQ rights that has led to a 250% spike in “educational gag order” bills and what that means in our slow descent from democracy to some religio-fascist corpocracy (I definitely feel better about OAN going down the metaphorical drain after watching that extended clip of their “news” anchor spewing her nonsense about “the left”)...



...and Ana and Cenk tell us about 15,000 nurses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area (and Duluth) who are striking over patient care and nurse/patient ratios, which is a big goddamn deal (a 300 percent increase in unsafe staffing levels since 2014, huh? And money is an issue, but not the MAIN issue – certainly not one to strike over by itself...more here)...



...and turning to world stuff and Russia’s war of choice in Ukraine, it looks like Vlad’s troops are getting routed (Chris Hayes speaks with Ben Rhodes)...I hope our defense and intelligence geniuses in this country have thought about what could happen if Putin falls from power, which he should (not advocating violence, though he’d deserve it) – it could take decades to try and repair the damage in that besieged country (structurally, to say nothing of the brave people standing up for themselves...and let’s not forget that Mango Mussolini called Putin’s incursion “genius”...and speaking of stuff disappeared by our corporate media, has anyone besides me realized that the story of what Wonder Boy Jared got for $2 billion, likely form the Saudis, has somehow vanished from “the discourse” by our news orgs with initials for names?)...



...and speaking of Our Ochre Abomination, I thought this was a pretty hilarious self-own from Sean Inanity...



...and happy belated 45th birthday to Fiona Apple.

Wednesday Stuff

This just in...Huckleberry Graham just decided that about half the population of this country isn’t entitled to bodily autonomy that would allow for making their own health care decisions.

I mean, what does it tell you about the hubris of Graham and his same-party pals, along with sympathetic judges and Supreme Court justices, that they think they can metaphorically cram all of this stuff down women’s throats so close to a mid-term election? Hell, if it weren’t for stuff like this along with Dobbs which takes a nuke to Supreme Court precedent (as well as #45 showing his orange ugly mug everywhere), the Democrats would be getting their clocks cleaned in the electoral polling (to say nothing of considering what has happened in Kansas and Alaska so far).

And by the way, since Graham knows he doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on, allow me to point out that Roe was ruled on a “by trimester” standard for allowing abortions (affirmed by justices confirmed under Republican presidents) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey relied on a “fetal viability” standard which took into consideration innovations in pre and post-natal care over the prior 19 years since Roe (affirmed by Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor, installed on the SCOTUS under The Sainted Ronnie R). And both rulings allowed states to have a say in third-trimester abortions (which, again, don’t happen unless something has gone catastrophically wrong with the pregnancy). In other words, Graham somehow blaming the Democrats only for the status quo prior to Dobbs is just more proof that he’s a lying, opportunistic hack (and speaking of political bottom-feeders, who the #@$! was that smiling African American woman onstage with Graham, along with those other women who just nodded while South Carolina’s Republican U.S. Senate mistake announced that he was going to try and inflict more ruin on millions of people in this country?).

(I should add that I typically don’t wade into this issue since I’ll never birth a baby and definitely don’t consider myself an expert, but in my own small way, I’m trying to bring sanity to an utterly insane situation. And once more, if MEN got pregnant, none of this would be happening. “Morning after” pills would be available everywhere, and there probably would be a special section for getting abortions “on the go” at Home Depot, next to the aisle selling power tools.)

So without further ado, here is the Graham clip, with great commentary from Brian Tyler Cohen...



Update: Every time you think it can't get worse with lowlifes like Graham, it does.

...oh, and by the way, Ken Starr is dead (here - more here...TYT clip is from August '17)...



...and this Rebel HQ clip with Jayar and Jessica Burbank tell us that Goober Gohmert recently decided to “buddy up” to 1/6 insurrectionist Dr. Simone Gold (and oh boy, doesn’t that wingnut video with the orchestration turn the propaganda meter up to 11)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that Repug U.S. Senate candidate (and Peter Thiel-bankrolled) Blake Masters in AZ (who, when last seen, was busy trying to scrub anti-abortion language from his campaign web site as noted here) thinks Hispanics will support him...in a weird way, I have to give Masters credit for cramming so much BS into about a minute and a half, or however long that was...and boy, is Sam ever right about this segment from The Swanson TV Dinner Heir aimed at their majority white elderly audience – mildly NSFW/H...



...and I thought The Lincoln Project came up with a great ad here for Masters’ opponent, incumbent Dem U.S. Senator Mark Kelly; to help Kelly’s campaign, click here (and I'll overlook some of the McCain hagiography for now)...



...and RIP Ramsey Lewis; I give you his signature hit.

Tuesday Stuff

Brianna Keilar and Kristen Holmes of CNN discuss Maggie Haberman of the New York Times and her revelation that Trump said he wouldn’t leave The White House...and I have to admit that it’s darkly hilarious to hear Wonder Boy Jared Kushner compare himself to a priest (Mags saved these revelations for her book of course, just like every other disgusting lickspittle who knew how crazy Trump was but didn’t say anything until they could make $$ off it – more here)...



...and Farron Cousins discusses a Reuters poll indicating that the majority of the country agrees with Biden that the MAGA morons are a threat to U.S. democracy...and I agree that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to say “Yeah, MAGA is dividing us...but Biden is wrong to point that out.” (huh?)...



...and John and Jordan Uhl of The Damage Report call out Fix Noise for their typical hypocrisy over student debt relief, and a clip is also included about demonizing teachers while there is a nationwide shortage...and yeah, that mashup at the end is indeed sickening; kudos to the person at Media Matters who put it together...I can’t imagine a job where I had to watch that trash network and highlight their very worst excesses without losing what’s left of my sanity...



...and Sam discusses that recent clip on CNN (returning to that network) with Al Franken and wingnut Alice Stewart in the arguing-talking-head format moderated by Jim Acosta, and the subject is the legitimacy of the SCOTUS (Sam says independents are leaning towards Dems based on data at the moment, though you could argue that the data can be interpreted a couple of different ways at least – I’m afraid independents, who for my money are basically idiots, may turn against Dems on inflation, not realizing that inflation IS AFFECTING THE WHOLE GODDAMN WORLD COMING OUT OF COVID...and I’ve read people bitching at Franken for interrupting that mouthpiece for Mike Huckabee, and normally I might agree, but you know what? On this occasion, GOOD! This is what Dems have had to endure since forever, and far worse actually, and Franken is FREAKING RIGHT! It’s nice to see some damn push back for a change...when you lie like this Alice person does here, then you DESERVE to be talked over, and I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman...and as far as the Dobbs leak is concerned, I’m sticking with the story that the leaker was Ginni Thomas, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong)...



...and with all the changes “across the pond” (new PM, death of QE II), it might be a good idea to get a report on the UK from “Jonathan Pie” via the New York Times (somewhat NSFW/H, though a lot was bleeped - when we were there six years ago, you couldn't read anything about Jeremy Corbyn in the newspapers unless he was getting vilified every way possible; I can't possibly see how he could actually be worse than what has transpired since)...



...and sticking with world stuff, yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the death of anti-Apartheid South African activist Steve Biko; here is the tune by Peter Gabriel.

Monday Stuff

This video from More Perfect Union tells us about the unlikely ideological coalition behind Medicaid expansion in South Dakota, with idiot Repug Governor Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem basically refusing free federal $$ to enable expansion in her state (for ideological reasons of course, since she’s no doubt looking to build her political career)...



...and Dems Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate and Brad Sherman in the U.S. House have introduced a bill to overturn the “right to work” portion of the Taft-Hartley Act (Jessica Burbank and Cenk of TYT tell us more...I think they could have provided a little more background on this as opposed to immediately going to all the “corporate Democrats” stuff – not saying Cenk is wrong, but I think he should “turn the record over”...more here)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report discusses that moron Greg Gutfeld saying only angry single women vote for Dems (abortion on demand up until the point of birth, which actually happens to be illegal unless dictated by medical necessity in states without ridiculous anti-abortion laws, blah blah blah...oh, but Gutfeld is the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher...give me a damn break!)...



...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about GOP election workers in Michigan being trained to break the rules (lead-in from Brianna Keilar of CNN)...and why the hell shouldn’t people go to jail for this? (and by the way, Cheryl Costantino, voting isn’t supposed to be “fun,” you MAGA hack!)...



...and Jessica Burbank is back with John of The Damage Report to discuss former NFL quarterback Brett Favre (just in time for the new NFL season), who received $1.1 million from public funds in Mississippi to give motivational speeches, taking the $$ and not giving the speeches – and of course, in addition to asking why Favre was such a deadbeat on this, this also begs the question of why the hell an NFL gazillionaire like Favre would need public funds for any reason whatsoever...and when it comes to the totally fouled drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi, I overwhelmingly blame their idiot Repug governor Tate Reeves and the state assembly, but I think a measure of blame should also go to Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and I don’t enjoy saying that...I saw something on Twitter about Mayor Lumumba supposedly not coming up with a plan to repair the water infrastructure which he needed to submit to the state, and unfortunately I can’t come up with much to refute that...more here...



Update 9/13/22: And $5 million for a new volleyball stadium (here)? While Jackson doesn't have safe running water? Heckuva job...

...and the video for this tune contains a lot of bright, flashing images and the use of tobacco, so consider yourself warned.

Sunday Stuff

This CNN story basically tells us that the COVID pandemic erased about two decades of advancement in elementary school test scores for math and reading...and, as with every other issue, Republicans have no answer or proposed solution to anything, but merely pointless carping instead – more here...and gee, maybe fathead Repug politicians out there (looking at you, Guv #DeathSantis) should shut the hell up and stop demonizing teachers by calling them “groomers,” given that we have a teacher shortage in this country and students have fallen behind so badly...yet another disaster you can lay at the feet of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence as far as I’m concerned...



Update 9/12/22: Yeah, this says a lot, doesn't it?

...and if you want to know why I blame Our Ochre Abomination more than anyone else for the still-ongoing ruin inflicted by COVID-19 (which factored in the prior clip in a big way, primarily because it made distance learning a necessity), I present the following from March 2021...



...and when it comes to Mango Mussolini and this solemn day, I would ask that you never forget this also...



...and a restaurant in Virginia apparently came up with (and I wish I were kidding) a “9/11-themed menu”...Jessica Burbank and Cenk tell us more (and I don’t give a damn what family member of Pete Davidson served as a first responder; I find NOTHING even remotely amusing about someone trying to make a joke about that horrific day...not directly relevant for Cenk to mention Our Tiny Handed Orange Would-Be Dictator and Chris Christie, but I’m glad he did anyway)...



…and these next two clips are timely for this day also of course (related items are here, here, and here...oh, and this is typical for Our Former Orange Pustule-In-Chief also).





Update 1: Yep, I think this is a pretty good question (here).

Update 2: More here.

Update 3: In the immortal words of David Huddleston in "Blazing Saddles," "Now who can argue with that?" (here).

Update 9/12/22: Important related info is here.

Friday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of the Humanist Report tells us about GOP candidates campaigning with their wives to try and get rid of the stench over their supporting Dobbs and fetal personhood, which of course means that you can criminally prosecute women and their health care providers...that is, if awful legislation and/or court rulings related to women’s bodily autonomy were to allow that (NSFW/H)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about Alabama jailing a bleeding pregnant woman for smoking pot while she carried, for which she ended up in an overcrowded jail cell for 3 months where she had to sleep on the floor...not admirable behavior I realize on the part of the would-be mom, but the draconian punishment definitely FAR outweighed the crime (and I thought Cenk made a great point – if she miscarried because of her detainment, then shouldn’t everyone responsible for her confinement be prosecuted for murder? I mean, hey, if you’re going to go after the pregnant woman with that threat hanging over her, then you should go after everybody)...

...and I think anyone who votes for a politician or a judge (hard to separate the two at times I realize) because they’re allegedly “pro-life” and for no other reason should be ridiculed as the Trump-supporting nitwits are who are roasted in this Lincoln Project clip (and apparently Our Ochre Abomination lost what’s left of his mind over it, which is definitely a bonus as far as I’m concerned)...



...and speaking of clueless Trumpsters, Farron Cousins tells us about Michigan Republicans who are suing and claiming the 2020 election results need to be overturned...yeah, we’ve got a real bunch of Darwin award nominees here, don’t we?...



...and I thought this was a typically interesting take from Beau on Cara Mund, a former Miss America running as an independent for North Dakota’s sole U.S. House seat...to her credit, Mund is pro-choice, which seems to be going over better in a red state than you might think...something about Mund was familiar to yours truly (not for any personal reason I hasten to add), and I realized that it was because of this post from a few years back...



...and David Doel gives us a fairly balanced perspective on the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II...I think she quite rightly will be regarded as one of the truly towering historical figures of this century and the prior one for a lot of good reasons (some of which I noted yesterday), but if a lot of folks including her subjects (until recently) end up going “meh” over it, I can’t blame them...



...and here is another Second Thought video on How Capitalism Robs The Developing World...and why did I somehow know that United Fruit was involved in the exploitation of farmland in Cuba? In terms of the history of how capitalism has evolved, so to speak, this might be the best video he’s ever made...and the U.K. along with most of the industrialized world, including the U.S. of course, has profited from the ruinous practice of extracting from so-called undeveloped nations...I know I’m playing catch-up with his videos once more...



...and I also know we have a couple of weeks until the first day of fall, so I’ll try to squeeze in some more summer tunes, including this one.

Thursday Stuff

David Pakman offers his take on the whole Trump and Secret Nuke Docs at Mar-a-Lago story (discussing the whole “special master” thing too)...probably repetitive, but if there’s a story out there that should be repeated, this one is it...



Update: Yeah, if ever there was a ruling where an appeal was mandated, it was this idiocy from Aileen Cannon (here).

...and when you’ve gone too far for Steve Douchey of the Fix Noise “crotch couch,” then yeah, you’re in pundit no man’s land for sure (and oh yeah, isn’t Little Marco HILARIOUS to criticize the FBI and the Justice Dept. for allegedly leaking on Trump and the secret nuke docs from the SAME BUNCH that cheered on the Comey BUT HER EMAILS!!! leaking garbage against HRC in October 2016)...



...and I’ll Take Ridiculous Campaign Advice For $100 (for whoever replaced Alex Trebek), and Repug U.S. House Rep Gym Jordan sure offers it, telling his party to embrace Dobbs...actually, I hope that that is exactly what they do (Ana and Cenk tell us more...I think Brian Kilmeade was trying to form a sentence but somehow failed)...



...and this clip from Rachel Maddow aired on 8/30 so I know I’m a little late with it...apologies...it has to do with Trumpsters going against the National Archives and all the other loony wingnut BS (against school boards, election workers, libraries, etc.)...and in a way, I think that Huckleberry Graham stuff should be mentioned again instead of going down the corporate media memory hole; I don’t know what kind of disciplinary measures “the world’s greatest deliberative body” could carry out against Graham, but I definitely think he deserves a follow-up for it...it would be worth it for no other reason than to see him kick and scream like they whiny little bitch he truly is...

...and like the rest of the world, I’m still sorting things out a bit over the death of Queen Elizabeth II (here)...yes, she was the head of “the firm,” and brooked no deviation from the course she set out for the royals, but in her defense, she grew up with World War II raging, and the UK suffered from postwar shortages for years, long after we experienced them...in short, her character was forged in tremendous adversity, played out both on the world stage and within her own family, watching the disintegration of her father, who was forced onto the throne because of Edward VIII’s abdication (as noted in the PBS clip)...she also had to establish herself in a government dominated by men of course, which she most definitely did (and that includes the personal stuff with Prince Philip, and she had to go along with that stuff involving her sister Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend)...yeah, you could argue that the whole royalty thing is antiquated for our current age, but it means a lot over there (based on my admittedly limited exposure), and don’t you think some kind of a patriarchal or matriarchal role overarching our government would have reined in, say, Number #45 and all of the fallout from his treasonous garbage? Maybe it wouldn’t have, but as Beau says, it’s just a thought...



...and here is one of the most popular tunes of the day (especially for WWII) while Great Britain endured its finest hour and Princess Elizabeth waited in the wings to ascend to the throne.

Wednesday Stuff

Nuclear Nuclearbomb GIFfrom Nuclear GIFs

Brian Tyler Cohen discusses the WaPo revelations about other countries’ nuke info getting out via Mar-a-Lago (I swear, NOBODY will ever trust us again with any kind of secrets after the escapades of this ruinous egomaniac)...



...and I was going to put up Beau’s commentary on the whole ‘special master’” thing, but events over the last 24 hours have made that a little less of an important discussion; Beau outlines all of the options based on the WaPo story, and they’re all bad...even as we’ve continued to swirl down the metaphorical hopper as a country as a result of the megalomaniacal behavior of this craven, spoiled toddler of a *president, I don’t think I’ve ever felt genuine dread until now (and for the record, on the “special master” thing, one of the reasons why that was a totally whack ruling from that Trump-appointed judge is because the “sm” is apparently someone who mediates between parties, which sounds more applicable to some kind of a civil action...the only matter open for “dispute” is how long the prison sentence will be for Our Treasonous Tiny Handed Former Chief Executive...and again, the question is WHAT THE HELL WERE THOSE DOCS DOING AT TRUMP'S PLACE TO BEGIN WITH??!!)...

...and if some of the life forms who showed up in Wilkes-Barre recently were capable of firing off a brain synapse or two, I’d ask them how proud they must feel for supporting this maniac of a former *president (I’m sure I know the answer, but I’m inclined to ask anyway)...

...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about Texas Governor Greg Abbott lying when he says he can’t raise the age limit on purchasing an AR-15...I’m not going to get into a pissing contest over the legal technicalities, but for Abbott to claim that he can’t call some kind of special legislative session (as Abbott’s challenger Beto O’Rourke has called for) to raise the age of purchasing one of these monstrous weapons of death is an insulting joke (I hope John is right about beating Abbott, but hating Dems is a hell of a drug down there too, as opposed to elsewhere in this country...more here)...



...and Repugs apparently want to sue the Biden Administration to block student debt relief – yeah, Heaven forbid that a president actually tries to enact a policy to help millions in this country as opposed to the uber-wealthy, as David Doel tells us (and damn those lazy millennials for listening to their iPods and MP3s or whatever and not buying homes and raising families...removing my tongue from my cheek)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Herschel Walker in Georgia has a far better chance of actually winning his U.S. Senate contest against Raphael Warnock than he should, which is also news to keep us pacing the floor at night (we should do what we can for Warnock for the reasons Cousins tells us, not because Warnock is a bad candidate, but because Kemp and the Georgia Republicans are going to do everything they can to screw over the economy in that state to help out Walker, who is nothing but a disaster as a human being...love and kisses to President Manchin and Vice President Sinema for making this country safe for dirty energy criminals and hedge fund managers and letting everyone else fend for themselves, which has a lot to do with making this race MUCH CLOSER than it should be)...



Update 9/8/22: So Walker will only debate if he gets the questions in advance? What a damn joke!

...and I was going to wind down my summer selections with another relaxing tune on my playlist, but I feel more in the mood for this one (will probably be drinking early today).

Tuesday Stuff

(Pic has to do with this, by the way...oh, but Paul Manafort, of all people, says 45 apologized, which would truly be a first for Combover Caligula, who never apologizes for ANYTHING...yeah, like I'm supposed to take the word of anybody in "Trumpworld" like Manafort.)

John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us that Cancuz Cruz is in high dudgeon about the “87,000 new IRS agents” BS, allegedly going after the “middle class” (with Cruz failing to point out that that staffing is OVER 10 YEARS, and barely makes a dent in the decades-long IRS underfunding as John points out)...and a clip is added at the end about Cruz (allegedly some genius of jurisprudence in his imagination) saying he thought Obergefell was wrongly decided, or something (“Christian Nationalist Colonel Sanders” – good one by Francesca in an added clip, and the right to privacy was implicit in Griswold also; if anyone thinks “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and his pals aren’t coming after contraception too, then you truly haven’t been paying attention)...



...and Jayar, Cenk and Rayy Vana of TYT tells us that, if (God forbid) Our Ochre Abomination gets the chance, he’ll pardon everyone responsible for 1/6 (in his interview with Freaky Psycho Woman "News Anchor" Who Wants Everyone To See Her Face All The Time)...I get the stuff about Mango Mussolini going to every single wingnut platform out there and maybe the Dems should do a better job of outreach to the lefty equivalents, but on the other hand, at this point, Trump is so desperate that he’ll talk to ANYBODY if he can get some $$ out of it...



...and The Lincoln Project tells us about still more of the OMIGOD THAT CRAZY SENILE DEMOCRAT BABY-KILLING SUPPOSED CATHOLIC SOCIALIST BIDEN WAS SO MEAN TO US WITH HIS NAME CALLING whining about #46’s recent speech in Philly (to me, the most amusing crack came from Louisiana Republican U.S. Senator Cornpone, and former PA Repug U.S. Senator Man-On-Dog seems to always find a way into the conversation also)...



...of course, if the wingnuts cared about threats FOR REAL, then MAYBE they’d have something to say about this Matt Walsh goofball who riled up his lizard-brained followers, one of whom apparently phoned in a bomb threat to Boston’s Children’s Hospital, as David Doel tells us (oh, but Walsh blamed our side because it was only a threat – I guess Walsh would have taken a victory lap if part of the building were destroyed and people were killed or injured...what a loudmouthed, pusillanimous nothing this guy is)...



...and sticking with the theme of pig-headed intolerance, this CNN story tells us about Idaho wingnuts demanding that 400 books be banned from a library (funny in a twisted way considering that the library in question had NONE of those books at the time)...and of course, none of these protesting cowards would go on the record...”The American Redoubt,” huh? God, what a bunch of loons...and why am I not surprised to learn that it’s tied to weaponry? And how ironic that someone came form that alleged liberal bastion of sin in California to mess up the minds of these people...and I’m not sympathetic to the “Welcome to Trump Country” mayor, since, as far as I’m concerned, he helped open the door for this garbage by not seeing Cult 45 as the threat that it truly is...



...and here’s a happy, upbeat newer number about a healthy and fulfilling relationship :-).