Tuesday Stuff

Well, well, it looks like “Tuckums” is OUTTA HERE, as former Phils announcer Harry Kalas likely would have put it...David Shuster offers a bit of a remembrance; we’ll just have to see which biped life form The Roger Ailes BS Factory decides to put in his place; I’m sure there are no shortage of humanoids clawing and scratching their way all over each other to try and land that “crowning jewel” of a prime time slot...here is my thought about this (which I’ll likely never be able to verify of course); Rupert The Pirate told Carlson he had to apologize on air for the Dominion stuff and he said he wouldn’t do it, so he went buh-bye (more here and some interesting stuff about Carlson's departure is here)...



...and this prior clip form Joy Reid tells us about Carlson and all the “race lady” stuff...if The Swanson TV Dinner Heir had had any guts, he would have just said the “N” word instead since that’s surely what he really wanted to do (and it’s not like it would have hurt him with his elderly boomer white bread audience – they probably would have given him better ratings for it)...



...and I think the prior two clips are pretty good set-ups for this from Second Thought, in which we learn that You’re Not Immune to Propaganda...good job to mention Edward Bernays and how his methods of persuasion in advertising were used by non-benign political actors tied to neoliberalism, and I honestly didn’t know about Bernays’s link to United Fruit – “neoliberal propaganda communicates the most shallow and meaningless definitions of freedom and democracy” indeed...I have to admit that I also didn’t know about the Macron quote where he said “just cross the street and you’ll find work” to the unemployed French dude..sacre bleu!...



...and as David Doel tells us here, another “head rolled,” you might say, in the corporate media biz, and that was Don Lemon of CNN...how telling is it that Lemon confronted a conservative on air and was given the boot for it, and that was indeed a particularly ridiculous lie from Vivek Ramaswamy about the NRA and the second amendment allegedly aiding the civil rights struggle (more here), and to say that to an African American like Lemon was in singularly bad taste IMO...as I’ve said repeatedly for what it’s worth, the worst thing you can do in media is piss off a conservative, and I get the whole “access” thing, but that’s still no excuse...lying and embellishment (see Brian Williams and an alleged Iraqi helicopter ride), not so much in terms of being allowed to keep your job – “if you want sunshine and rainbows, watch Teletubbies”...nicely done...



...and turning to the latest developments regarding Our Treasonous Orange Pustule who continues to walk amongst us as a free man (and this was a particularly revolting recent story IMO), Farron Cousins tells us that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is allowing Gym Jordan to send a subpoena to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, meaning that Pomerantz will testify in front of Jim Jordan's Judiciary Committee; Bragg may have done this because he understands that this is only going to end badly for Jordan since a lot of stuff the Gropenfuhrer wasn’t charged on under former Manhattan prosecutor Cy Vance and Pomerantz may end up getting read into the Congressional record – womp womp...



...and sometimes I need a tune to mellow out a bit after a morning of driving on the PA Turnpike and the “blue route” in these parts (long story), so I now offer the following.

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that this Texas Repug state senator named Drew Springer wants to make it illegal to file three or more environmental complaints about energy companies (or ANY company, it sounds like) in that state that don’t result in an enforcement action (and yeah, good luck with that...how this ISN’T a violation of the First Amendment is something I cannot imagine...and in case anyone thinks I’m deliberately ignoring blue-state Repug idiocy, allow me to present this)...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us that Arizona is “ground zero” in the war on public schools (not sure why they used that green caption text, but that’s a minor criticism, along with that “Turning Point Academy” typo...report has to do with $$ taken from funding for public schools to go to these private charter schools instead, with a typical unholy alliance between the Walton family in Arkansas and the DeVos family in Michigan, as we learn from the clip...I didn’t know about the ways that people like the DeVos and Walton families can “make bank” at the expense of educating our kids, to say nothing of that nematode Charlie Kirk, but as nauseating as it is, I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised)...



...and speaking of The Grand Canyon State, it looks like “Curtsy Kyrsten” is livin’ large all right, to the tune of 100K (at least) on that sweet, sweet donor cash (and to think, there were individuals out there getting big mad over people who once chased her into a bathroom stall – there’s a word in the English language called P-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E! Maybe the people defending Sinema – maybe one or two – should bother to look it up...John and Brett Erlich tell us more)...



...and here’s a shocker...it’s “Banana Republican” Bri-Fi poking his head out of his hidey hole long enough to misuse the term “Democrat” (which is a noun, not a f*king adjective, you assclown) and yammer about the debt ceiling...of course, like everyone else in the “Trump party,” he voted for the Gropenfuhrer’s utterly ruinous tax cut in December 2017 and had not a word to say about “THE DEBT! THE DEBT!” when he did that, but of course now that we have a Democrat-IC president, he pretends to be fiscally prudent (to do something about that, click here...and don’t get me started on Josh Gottheimer)...



Update 4/26/23: Hey, whaddaya know? It looks like Harlan (I Bought Clarence Thomas’s House For Six Figures) Crow gave donations to Bri-Fi’s beloved “No Labels,” as noted here.

Care to comment, Bri? I didn’t think so.

..and Jesse Dollemore informs us that Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin has sent a letter to SCOTUS Chief Justice Roberts about Almost Silent Clarence Thomas’s antics and Roberts appearing before Durbin’s committee (and it seems like, based on this, Hangin’ Judge JR is going to blow off Durbin once again)...



...and heading back below that Mason-Dixon line, as long as this state is going to pull nonsense like this, I’m going to keep including this tune.

Friday Stuff

I know I haven’t checked in with John Oliver in quite awhile, but he recently gave us this segment on the plight of farmworkers that I found to be particularly well done (NSFW/H). – so, two people die from falling into a manure vat and all they rate is $5 grand apiece? And yeah, wasn’t that reaction great from the farm owner (I guess that’s what he was) when Dolores Huerta was mentioned? And the other family of the guy who yelled at a bunch of workers using the “N” word was a trip also; can only imagine what happens when the cameras aren’t rolling (the segment makes me recall when we used to air programs like this)...



...and when it comes to bottom feeders trying to subvert our democracy, Brian Tyler Cohen gives us this recent recording of Cleta Mitchell talking to other traitors about how to disenfranchise primarily younger voters...Mitchell, in addition to playing political footsie with the Gropenfuhrer, is also buds with Ginni Thomas, wife of our thoroughly compromised SCOTUS justice (one of them anyway) as noted here...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss corporations going back to bribing attorneys general (this RAGA group it seems, who no doubt made common cause with Mitchell and her pals), despite the fact that many at these corps said earlier that they wouldn’t do that if any of the AGs were found to have anything to do with "the big lie" and the 1/6 insurrection...more great work from ProPublica – and yeah, Comcast is acting typically sleazy here again...once more, these two find a way to blame Democrats, and yes, I realize the “D” party is also pretty slimy in taking corporate dough, but when it comes to the attack on our government on 1/6, that’s a different discussion and Ana and Cenk should treat it as such...



...and when it comes to undermining our government, Jesse Dollemore (not him) tells us about barely sentient life form Lauren (“Democrat Party”) Boebert, who keeps screeching that we’re a “Constitutional republic” and not a democracy...here is my take on what’s going on with that; that phrasing is deliberate, because the end game for the wingnuts is to hold their utterly awful Article V “Constitutional convention” and tear our most important founding document to shreds, rewriting it for the benefit of Charles Koch, Peter Thiel, the Sacklers, and all of the other plutocrats in this country (many of whom chose to donate to “big lie” proponents and insurrectionists that Ana and Cenk noted earlier)...if that catastrophic development ever happened, then yeah, we would be a “Constitutional republic” and NOTHING like a true democracy...of course, Boebert is way too dumb to realize how she’s giving away the game here with her inane phrasing (Jesse makes something like that point at around 7:00 – her idiocy is typical for someone associated with stuff like this)...



...turning to more people-powered stuff, Robert Reich tells us about the impact of junk fees (kind of a boomer “tell” to refer to a Dolly Parton “record,” which is pretty “analog” of him, but his points are spot-on otherwise)...



...and this New York Times video essay tells us how non-compete agreements are abused by employers in all manner of industries which often have absolutely nothing to do with retaining intellectual property and more to do with controlling workers trying to seek gainful employment (info on the FTC proposal to ban non-competes is here)...



...and when it comes to individual action on a “grass roots” (or asphalt?) level, John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about “the Governator” saying hasta la vista, baby to a pothole near his residence (road repair is indeed an issue that crosses political lines...plenty of work to do in that regard near Le Manse Doomsy)...



...and given that tomorrow is Earth Day, I should note that I usually include the video for “If A Tree Falls” by Bruce Cockburn, but I’d like to change it up this year with the following selection...I’m kind of hot and cold on Dave Matthews to be honest, but it seems that, when it comes to politics and important causes, he’s a pretty good dude.

Thursday Stuff

Beau of the Fifth Column tells us about Dominion settling its lawsuit with The Roger Ailes BS Factory...typically great point about how this settlement could lead to a flood of additional litigation from people involved with the 1/6 insurrection, as well as anyone else who could have been impacted by that network’s attacks on Dominion, and as Beau notes, the Smartmatic lawsuit is a whole other mess that that propaganda network will have to deal with...also, this should give more of an impetus to trying to get that network banned from military bases...



...and Stephen Colbert tells us more here, along with an “apology” from Fix Noise, and also including more NFTs from Combover Caligula, Iowa’s child labor bill passed at 4:52 AM and King Chuckie’s coronation plans...



...and continuing with still more antics from Mango Mussolini (one of these days, he’s actually going to be behind bars...), the watchdog group CREW sez Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence made $160 mil from foreign governments as prez (doesn’t consider how much $$ he made domestically), as Jesse Dollemore tells us...



...and color me shocked (well, not really), but U.S. Senate Repugs are hoping Our Ochre Abomination stays the hell out of ’24 races (that’s why EVERY Dem for Congress, including the U.S. House, should make their GOP opponent disavow the Gropenfuhrer, if they’ll do that of course)...



...and I know I’ve taken plenty of well-deserved IMO shots at Flori-DUUH! recently, but Sam of The Majority Report tells us about a navy commander in Martin County, FL who had some commendable words about fanaticism, religious or otherwise, within our borders...props to him for standing up, this time as a civilian (he references Adm. Hyman Rickover, who said we should be exposed to different ideas, something he has apparently communicated to his son...spot on)...



...and going in exactly the opposite direction, Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that wingnuts are launching a “woke” phone app to let conservative snowflakes know what products to avoid if they hurt their precious fee fees – I thought Ana stumbled onto a good point that too many people in this country think the only power they have is through consumerism, which is definitely not the case...



...and taking the “anti woke” stuff to a thoroughly ridiculous extreme, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report informs us of some guy in Topeka, Kansas arrested for destroying cases of Bud Light and exposing himself, apparently (NSFW/H, especially towards the end), leading to another idiot melting down at a LEGO store, as well as this other assclown at “Build a Bear” (and somehow I don’t think that idiot at the end with the Biden 2024 shirt is actually a Biden voter...and yeah, I think “clout chasing” describes it, sadly - more here)...



...and I thought this was a neat newer tune; I haven’t had anything from Seth Meyers in awhile I know, not because I dislike him I hasten to add, but mainly because I just haven’t paid much attention to his clips lately...they’re either too long or cover redundant topics; I’ll see if I can work him back into these posts...also, maybe I should have something pot-related given the date, but I got nuthin' on that for now.

Wednesday Stuff

This More Perfect Union “Classroom” clip with F.D. Signifier tells us the tale of “Neutron Jack” Welch, who (according to the clip) invented mass layoffs in the ‘80s, though I think “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap at Sunbeam and Unisys disaster architect Michael Blumenthal deserve dishonorable mentions also...the clip focuses on how Welch basically destroyed the family-and-union-friendly atmosphere of General Electric in pursuit of the proverbial “bottom line,” buying up assets that led to massive shareholder wealth including insurance companies...the clip also focuses on executive largess from stock buybacks, which used to be illegal until they were allowed by The Sainted Ronnie R...Welch’s practices played a big role in mergers and acquisitions, and when it comes to the “business roundtable,” I think the supervillain analogy is perfectly apt (NSFW/H)...



...and continuing with the theme of misbehaving CEO’s, David Doel brings us Andi Owen of MillerKnoll, who recently got mad in a Zoom meeting or whatever about employees wanting a bonus after she gave herself one for at least two years running of over a million dollars each year – video also points out how unions raise wages for members and non-members...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen discusses Repug congresswoman Nancy Mace actually making some sense when talking about abortion and women’s health care (atypically for her party), though I think Cohen is spot-on to say that Mace is only saying this stuff out of concern for her electoral prospects, and you can tell that Mace is on the right track because this Fix Noise hairdo is trying to get her to shut up (Cohen, as usual, commendably "brings the receipts" to show where the "party of Lincoln" really stands on this stuff)...



...and I have to admit that I thought Justin Pearson was already back at the Tennessee state house along with Justin Jones, though apparently not, and it also seems that Pearson and his constituents are getting threats from the governmental body where Pearson serves that is getting a lot more attention from voters and the media than it could ever want, as noted here (John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us more..."we've got to stand for something or fall for everything" indeed)...



Update 1 4/20/23: And it looks like a member of GOP "leadership" who voted to expel the "Tennessee Three" is now accused of sexually harassing interns - heckuva job! (here).

Update 2 4/20/23: Womp womp...

...and the threats in Tennessee seem to be more political in nature, but Rachel Maddow discussed a recording that was a lot more overt when it comes to bodily harm...it seems that a newspaper publisher in McCurtain County, Oklahoma left a voice-activated recorder at some kind of local government meeting because he thought stuff was going on away from public scrutiny, and boy, did he ever turn out to be right about that...racist conversations, “killing and burying reporters,” and on and on, with laughs and jokes aplenty over it...I see a trail of criminal and possibly civil litigation resulting from this that could last for years...



...and Thom Hartmann asks if civil rights are getting cancelled for African Americans, which unfortunately is a pertinent question... and yeah, he’s right about how this tracks with the rise of the Gropenfuhrer (scary stuff about how African American history is getting erased from textbooks and school curricula, but yeah, that’s typical for Trumpism, which is just the latest flavor of GOP intolerance...and given the role that Oklahoma Repug Governor Kevin Stitt is playing here, his indignation over the McCurtain County stuff in the prior clip is merely a bad joke as far as I’m concerned)...



...and Farron Cousins, sitting in for David Pakman, tells us that millennial and Gen Z voters have pretty much had it with the GOP for all of the reasons Cousins points out (can’t blame them one bit...guns, climate change, abortion, being saddled with ridiculous debt before entering the workforce, to say nothing of the racial intolerance on display in the prior videos)...



Update: More here.

...and today marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of choreographer Cholly Atkins, who taught dance moves to a whole bunch of Motown acts “back in the day,” including The Temptations as shown in the following clip.

Tuesday Stuff

Once more, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but I thought this was an apropos little clip about 15-vote House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his antics with manufacturing a debt ceiling crisis – once more, this NEVER happens when a Repug is in the White House, but only when there’s a Dem and the “loyal opposition” is in charge of the U.S. House...



...and I know this related clip from Ali Velshi is about three months old, but I don’t think a lot has substantively changed on this issue since then of course; Velshi gets into the “nitty gritty” of how bad a default by this country would be, and he draws a parallel to this and what happened under President Obama about 12 years ago...



...next, David Doel discusses Dem U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s health issues (I don’t think Ro Khanna should be on Fix Noise – and leave it to this hairdo to try and attack Fetterman in the process even though he isn’t part of this discussion; I wish Khanna had found a way to mention that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao has been away also, as Kirsten Gillibrand did – but Khanna is right when it comes to Feinstein...I think we all know people who’ve dealt with friends or family members in declining mental health, and I don’t say this to “pile on,” but Feinstein needs to step down and get the help and support she needs...and I still have an axe to grind with Gillibrand over Al Franken, so no, I definitely don’t take her seriously...in that Klobuchar clip, what was more telling to me, aside from the spat with Feinstein, were the empty seats on the Repug side of the conference table; anyone missing from that hearing should have a damn good explanation for it...and of course, leave it to #MoscowMitch to try and exploit a situation against Democrats any way he can as noted here and here)...



...and John, Cenk and Jordan Uhl of TYT bring us the story of some wingnut in Nebraska, State Sen. Steve Edrman, who basically echoes the “great replacement theory” from Tuckums on abortion, pretty much saying that those who were aborted could have been working in jobs, or something (as opposed to those nasty foreigners who got the jobs instead...what a train wreck of an alleged human being this guy Erdman is...he wants a six-week abortion ban like Flori-DUUUH! of course...makes me recall “human capital stock” Kevin Hassett...”strip the state for parts” indeed...I guess the emerging new line from the GQP is that abortion is bad because it deprives workers for the corporate machine, which is a variation of what the equally-useless Tim Scott also said recently – and no, I don’t believe that that will be a winning strategy either)...



...heading south, David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about a cop in Pensacola, Flori-DUUH! who pulled over an African American counselor for the apparently criminal offense of TRYING TO DO HIS DAMN JOB! And yes, I know that the statute on that state of allegedly “fleeing” police is ridiculously strict, but that doesn’t in any way justify the actions of this cop, and good for this counselor to sue the police, all of which happened in 2020...



...and continuing with cataloging Republican stupidity (and I acknowledge that I end up doing an awful lot of that around here), South Dakota Repug guv Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem recently bragged about giving her two-year-old daughter a hunting rifle...oh, but the NRA isn’t a cult...just keep telling yourself that (more here)...



...and I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m doing it again now; this Now This clip discusses the case of Daniel Perry, for whom Texas Governor Greg (“All Hat No Cattle”) Abbott has pledged a pardon when Perry is sentenced for killing a Black Lives Matter protestor (more here and here, including a defense of Perry from “Killer Kyle”...sorry if it's hard to read the text in this video; might be better off watching the clip from YouTube)...



...and RIP Ahmad Jamal.

Monday Stuff

I apologize for including so much idiocy from South Carolina Repug senatorial mistake Tim Scott (who somehow is operating under the delusion that he could actually be president), but it is instructive in a way to see his utterly nonsensical answers to the question of supporting a nationwide abortion ban (Janet Yellen? Really??)...Chris Hayes is exactly right in that the “R” party wants the courts to inflict a nationwide ban so political bottom-feeders like Scott can try to escape from this issue, even though it shouldn’t be hard for a Dem to tie extremist judges to Scott and the “party of Lincoln”...one can hope so anyway (and yeah. #DeathSantis couldn't wait to free his fingers from pudding long enough to sign that horrible 6-week ban into law as noted here)...



...and frequent Fix Noise contributor and former detective Ted Williams goes off script while talking to Neil Cavuto after the Louisville shooting and points out that IT’S THE DAMN GUNS!!!, as Brian Tyler Cohen tells us (NSFW/H...as does this guy, amazingly enough)...



Update 4/21/23: Yeah, I think this says it.

...and Ana of Cenk of TYT discuss some Trumpist loon named Seth Weathers launching “woke free beer” aimed at Bud Light of course...and $20 for a six-pack? Too damn funny (more here, and from the “’f’ around and find out” department, I give you this)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses nutball state senator Mike Moon in Missouri, who says it’s OK for 12-year-olds to get married...I linked to this a few days ago I know but I think it needs to be mentioned again (Moon is confronted by Dem Peter Meredith in the clip...and yeah, I love that “California values” remark from this assclown, or whatever that was, as if his lunacy is somehow the fault of an accursed blue state...NSFW/H also)...



...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report bring us up to date on the latest illegality with SCOTUS justice Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and retro-Klan-member-named-guy Harlan Crow...Michael Beschloss reminds us here that liberal Abe Fortas was driven off the court way back when for a hell of a lot less than this (paging Merrick Garland? Can anybody find a pulse?)...I thought this was a good related column from Jamelle Bouie in “the old gray lady”...and believe it or not, there’s more, as noted here...



Update 4/18/23: And this sure was a predictable response from the “party of Lincoln,” wasn’t it? “That Democrat Party is trying to smear a great American again! Corruption in six-figure amounts happens all the time in Washington! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP YOU FILTHY LIB!”

...and like last year I believe, the tax filing day was moved to tomorrow 4/18; hope you all end up OK – we did all right, fortunately.

Friday Stuff

Beau of the Fifth Column discusses the Repugs and their “Principal Skinner” moment when it comes to losing younger voters; this epiphany of sorts is brought to us courtesy of Kellyanne Conjob – “they’re demonstrating that they want to rule, not represent” – uh huh...



...and Ana of TYT tells us that big stupid head Matt Gaetz wants Biden to indiscriminately cut funding of programs relied on by poorer Americans, all for the sake of raising the damn debt limit (JUST MINT THE FREAKING COIN ALREADY, DARK BRANDON!)...



...oh, and speaking of Gaetz, Bobo, Marjorie Traitor Greene and all of their pals, it looks like they want to defund the FDA over the abortion pill, as Farron Cousins discusses in this clip (the party of limited government strikes again)...



...and in the prior clip, we learn about the consequences of nutty Trump judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to ban the abortion pill; staying in “the land of the yellow rose,” John and Jayar of The Damage Report introduce us to married-with-a-child state rep Bryan Slaton, who warns everybody about “groomers,” but whaddaya know...it looks like he’s a little too chummy with one of his under-21 interns (just say “oops” and get out)...



...and going even further down the rabbit hole when it comes to Repugs, their media acolytes and “doing the nasty,” Kyle Kulinski (in a pretty much NSFW/H clip) brings us Blaze TV host Steve Deace, who basically says that men, according to him, are getting so much sex that they’re bored, which, among other things, is more than a bit of a “tell” about how he approaches the subject...not my business I know, but I wonder how his wife feels about that statement...I did a little checking on this guy, and apparently he’s a wingnut “fave” because of disgusting nonsense such as this, this and this...



...well, to return the content to something more hopeful and upbeat, David Doel tells us about thousands of Rutgers faculty on strike...for graduate students to have to fight for a $30K-or-so wage that is basically poverty given what they have to spend on their education is highway robbery at a minimum, particularly for a university that made $816 mil last year as the video tells us (more great reporting on this from The Lever is here)...



...and with Justin Jones and Justin Pearson returned to the Tennessee state house where they belong, Lawrence O’Donnell tells us that the two recently appeared with fellow Dem Gloria Johnson to commemorate the 60th anniversary of “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in front of the Lorraine Motel, where King was gunned down (the site is now a museum, as O’Donnell tells us)...



...and here’s a newer tune for the kids to help us into what hopefully will be a good weekend for everybody; I had a chance to put this up a week ago, but I don’t think Good Friday would have been the correct time for it...everybody has to draw the line somewhere I guess.

Thursday Stuff

Francis Maxwell with Meidas Touch brings us the remarks of San Antonio Spurs basketball coach Gregg Popovich regarding the most recent mass shooting in Nashville (not counting Louisville also of course) and some of the related commentary from Big Hair Blackburn in the U.S. Senate; to me, the wonder isn’t that Popovich continues to speak his mind on this, which is commendable, but that more public figures don’t follow suit...



...and with our most recent gun carnage in mind, including Louisville (and is it me, but is it telling that there’s been virtual silence as far as I can determine from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul on that mass casualty event?), the TMR crew tells us that Charlie Kirk sez that mass slaughter is the “price of doing business” to protect our sacred Second Amendment (or at least, Kirk’s ridiculous misinterpretation of it, comparing gun violence to peanut allergies or some such nonsense...and let’s not forget that the NRA is closely aligned with Kirk’s Turning Point USA as noted here)...



...and kudos to Dem Washington state governor Jay Inslee for standing up to that troglodyte Repug governor Brad Little in Idaho who wants to criminalize abortion everywhere (once more, heckuva job with Dobbs, High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR!) – Rachel Maddow explains...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us how Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg gave it back to Gym Jordan over the latter’s typically ridiculous upcoming hearing in The Big Apple (and I think this is exactly what Jordan deserves in response)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the news that, apparently, some idiot named Lance Wallnau says people are going to get killed next month for not supporting Combover Caligula...looks like we’ve got another candidate for the rubber room (and I don’t mean Jesse of course...gee, I wonder if Jordan – allegedly so concerned about victims of violent crime – is going to look into this? Don’t hold your breath)...



...and John and Conscious Lee of The Damage Report tells us about Webster Barnaby, some Repug state rep in Flori-DUUUH!, who thinks trans people are like X-men mutants walking among us, or something...of course, his analogy likely falls apart in his mind when you recall that those comic book characters were the “good guys”...I know there are a lot of good, hard working Dems in that state fighting the good fight, and props to them, but at times like this, part of me thinks that that state can’t break off from our continent and sink into the ocean fast enough...



...and this More Perfect Union clip brings us the story of workers at the Kroger supermarket chain who have dealt with wage theft, something to keep in mind as that giant retailer tries to merge with Albertson’s, which probably would be good for shareholders but lousy for everyone else...



...and I neglected to post yesterday because I got hung up with cataloging my Nazi memorabilia (joke - more here), but I did manage to come across this item where Missouri is apparently not going to fund public libraries any more...yeah, just keep everyone smart enough to work the machines but too dumb to do much of anything else, as The Eternal George Carlin once put it...considering that, I had this “book” tune in mind (and I also give you this insanity from Rep. Mike Moon of the "show me" state).

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, if it’s a day with a “y” in it, then that means that it’s not time to politicize gun violence again; according to MSNBC, the cops are treating this as a workplace-violence-related issue...obviously it’s a “gun” issue also (5 are dead including the shooter and 6 are being treated at University of Louisville Hospital...one is critical...there were 9 injured total but 3 were treated and released...and this lunatic had an AR-15 as noted here)...



...and on the subject of imaginary “violence” (as opposed to the all-too-real kind), Farron Cousins tells us that some Fix Noise bimbo is mad about Biden inviting Tennessee state reps Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson to the White House in response to the expulsion of Jones and Pearson (Jones was just reinstated of course), though, as Cousins notes, this harpie has not one damn thing to say about other ACTUAL violence in this country, against women, LGBTQ individuals, or anyone on the wrong end of a gun...



...and sticking with the subject of real violence, Kyle Kulinski tells us that All-Hat-No-Cattle Greg Abbott of Texas is looking to pardon some assassin named Daniel Perry who got it into his head to have a showdown with a BLM protestor and killed one of them exercising his right of free speech (the protestor of course)...Abbott was spurred into action by the caterwauling of The Swanson TV Dinner Heir as we find out (more here)...



Update 4/13/23: Gee, this sure figures about this nut, huh?

...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the disgusting party switch form Team “D” to Team “R” by Tricia Cotham in North Carolina, giving Repugs a veto-proof majority in their state legislature...I get it that people switch sides in politics all the time, but in Sinema-esque fashion, Cotham did it in such as way as to totally flip off all of the people who worked for her campaign...



Update 5/5/23: "Rot in hell" indeed (here).

...and to give you a bit of actual good news, David Pakman tells us that Dem Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer just signed into law a repeal of that state’s 1931 abortion ban...



...and given the first clip, if you guessed that I think it’s time for another damn anti-gun song, you guessed correctly.

Monday Stuff

In the latest Second Thought video, we learn Why Work Is Getting Worse – “We’re not going to find a solution in some mythologized past. It’s only going to be when people have actual collective autonomy to make economic decisions and aren’t forced to generate profits for a small group of wealthy businessmen that work can actually, and durably, improve.”...yeah, I would say so (have to remember this for Labor Day)...



...and I touched on this a bit on Friday with the Trae Crowder clip, but here is Max Burns of Rebel HQ telling us more about MAGA nitwits like Kid Rock attacking Bud Light (privileged white dudes with guns and some hurt fee-fees...more here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with Mehdi Hasan about Netanyahu and Israel (and get in a plug for Hasan’s book, which I know nothing about, but considering that it’s from a straight shooter like Hasan, it’s probably good)...



...and returning to this country, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report talks about Bari Weiss running with a story from this Emily Yoffe person about a child taking puberty blockers as part of gender-affirming care, with the mother claiming that her child is being abused by the hospital performing these procedures despite the child’s responses to the contrary (NSFW/H)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report discuss the expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee state house (GREAT idea from John to make this into a campaign issue; I’d like to see an actual peaceful protest on the steps of the state capitol over getting the two reinstated, but I’ll take what I can get at this point)...



Update: A terrific development is here...and isn't this interesting?

Update 4/12/23: And then there were two (here).

...also, Joy Reid interviews MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin about the horrible abortion pill decision by Texas judge (and Trump appointee) Matthew Kacsmaryk (Biden has already appealed the ruling, as well he should...and I thought this was a good column by Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times about the utterly awful Comstock ruling underpinning the Kacsmaryk decision; Comstock should be cast into the legal dustbin at this point – Goldberg is kind of a mixed bag as a columnist I know, but I think she was spot-on here)...



Update: More here.

...and as the over-arching theme, if you will, of “governance” by Not Your Father’s Republican Party is revenge-based violence, as Thom Hartmann tells us, adding that isn’t the last move as part of their fascist descent – it’s the first...



...and happy belated 60th birthday to Julian Lennon (very mildly NSFW/H).

Happy Easter 2023

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 that goes for Passover and Ramadan too).

Friday Stuff

John and Wosny Lambre of The Damage Report tell us about Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and the vacations/gratuities he’s accepted from this megadonor named Harlan Crow, starting with June ’19, when Thomas and his Qanon wife went on a 9-day junket on a yacht to Indonesia...the two of them need to be the subject of Watergate-style hearings largely, but not totally, because of this; I mean, even SCOTUS justices are supposed to disclose this stuff (amazing work by ProPublica to dig up this story)...



Update: According to ProPublica and the New York Times, the vacations go back nearly two decades...and I don't buy this nonsense of "well, Crow is a friend, so I didn't think it had to be reported" for a minute (here).

Update 4/8/23: As I read this, I had the tune “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones running around in my head.

HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF JUSTICE THOMAS AND HIS DONOR FRIEND WITH THE NAME OF A KLAN VILLAIN, YOU FILTHY LIB!! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!

...and Ana of TYT tells us about red states rolling back child labor protections – in Iowa for example, a bill has passed through committees even though a full vote apparently is pending, and of course Repug guv Kim Reynolds will sign it if it reaches her desk (and Sarah Huckabilly Sanders has done the same on something similar in Arkansas)...



Update: I give you another "miracle" of Repug-run state governance here.

...oh, and apparently there were more insults aimed at Marjorie Trailer Park Greene that Lesley Stahl neglected to mention in her recent interview, but fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is ON IT, PEOPLE!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that there are actually signs of a pulse from the Democratic Party in Flori-DUUH!, with state party leader Nikki Fried and Lauren Book (minority senate leader) getting arrested for protesting the passage of a six-week abortion ban, which I believe passed the same day that guv Ron #DeathSantis signed his almost-as-disgusting permitless carry law (and boy, is Cousins ever right about the Dems in that state needing a fighter for a leader)...



...additionally, Trae Crowder tells us how the latest Trumpian garbage is distracting us from the recent mass shooting in Tennessee...and just as a reminder, only Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee state house as noted here, which is bad enough...yeah, the racism pretty much smacks you in the face (and the Bud Light reference has to do with this)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell recently pointed out that Huckleberry Graham expressed a lot of angst over Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive and his legal issues, but absolutely not one bit of grief or sympathy over the recent Nashville slaughter (as well as any other gun-related violence, really)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/4/11...Rachel Maddow tells us that CEO pay had gone up 27 percent from 2010 and companies climbed their way back also, with sizeable taxpayer assistance, from The Great Recession, while worker pay was essentially flat...and yes, that was indeed a “transfer of wealth” as she tells us...”the deficit would be cut in half if we allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire”...wonder how much better that would be if we did the same thing to #45’s tax cuts also? And as noted here, CEO pay also went up over the prior year in ‘22 (21 percent...the wealth transfer continues), average worker pay increased by about 3 percent from last year (here), which is barely better from what happened in 2011, and as noted here, the unemployment rate is about 4.5 percent, which is definitely better now than where we were in the 2011 clip...the most recent job numbers from today are here (again, not great, but OK given inflation which is also letting up...more here)...



...and here’s a newer tune to help us slide into the weekend; taking a break from my recent “moldy oldies.”

Thursday Stuff

David Doel informs us that Marjorie Traitor Greene got the “big apple” treatment she should have gotten from Lesley Stahl when Greene went to NYC for the arraignment of our 45th *president (and Jamaal Bowman stood tall once again...and for that disgusting harpie Greene to compare Trump to Jesus during Holy Week is offensive into the stratosphere as far as I’m concerned)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dumb Jr., Eric and that trashy loon from Georgia basically trying to dox the daughter of the judge hearing the case against Combover Caligula (sentencing will come one day I believe, and when it does, I’ll celebrate)...



...next, Farron Cousins tells us how getting indicted has been a cash cow for Our Treasonous Orange Pustule...never a shortage of goofballs apparently who just can’t help but fork over money to this third-rate con man...



...and John and Jayar tell us about Van Jones breaking out the world’s smallest violin for our Indicted Executive Criminal Suspect (yeah, Jones has sure fallen down the metaphorical rabbit hole all right)...



...turning to more substantive political matters, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the three Tennessee state lawmakers who are facing expulsion from that body for advocating for gun control, and they would be Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson (more here)...yes, these three were in the right to stand up with the students who were protesting for their safety, but I have to ask whose idea it was to bring a bullhorn into that chamber (a bit tangential I know, but I believe that’s what gave those pig-headed Repugs the opening to expel these three reps)...



Update: As Will Bunch sez, it's pretty much "Racism 101" from "the volunteer state" (here).

...and speaking of butt-hurt Repugs, Jeff Wiggins of Rebel HQ brings us the remarks from man-baby Dan Kelly of Wisconsin in the wake of his loss to Janet Protasiewicz for a seat on that state’s supreme court (and kudos to Brandon Johnson also for his win in the Chicago mayoral race)...



...also, Joy Reid speaks with the exonerated Central Park 5 member (Yusef Salaam) who ran a full-page ad imitating the look (but not the angry, factually wrong claims) of an ad Our Ochre Abomination ran against him and the other 4 defendants in 1989; good luck in his run for city council from Harlem (and I don’t give a damn about anything prosecutor Linda Fairstein might have to say in this case...more here)...



...and on this day in 1968, Pink Floyd announced that lead singer Syd Barrett was leaving the group due to his deteriorating mental health from drug abuse...makes me recall this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that (and hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen!) voters are already tired of these alleged investigations by U.S. House Republicans, especially with the debt ceiling nonsense going on that the “party of Lincoln” ALWAYS stages when that party runs Congress and a Dem is in the White House (oh, and yeah, Gym Jordan kind of slid his supposed report from his “weaponizing government” committee under the door last Friday, apparently hoping no one would notice).

(Oh, and speaking of U.S. House Repugs, I tried twice to watch that abortion of an interview Lesley Stahl of the ”third eye” network conducted with Marjorie Trailer Park Greene, and I just couldn’t do it...nothing whatsoever against David Doel who did the analysis, but this is from the network where Edward R. Murrow once stood up to Joe McCarthy and his “See It Now” program was just about run off the air for it. I just can’t take a second of listening to that lying lunatic, no matter how much Stahl tried to normalize her.)...



...and John and Jayar bring us another lesson in white fragility in Flori-DUUUH!; apparently this goofball parent named Emily Conklin is trying to get the film “Ruby Bridges” banned because she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for second-grade students...the “sunshine state” is really pushing Texas hard to be “the land that time forgot” among all of the “great 48,” and on this day of all days (more here)...



...and Beau tells us that things are looking bad for the Foxies in that lawsuit with Dominion; the trial may start on 4/17, though there are likely to be delays as Beau points out...”there needs to be some baseline of reality” indeed (and speaking of legal matters, I know a certain 45th president will be arraigned probably this afternoon, but I’m going to try to stay away from the hoopla since I know the Gropenfuhrer is all about the spectacle and pretty much nothing else unless it lines his pockets somehow...great call on Beau's T-shirt BTW)...



...and I don’t know how many people have noticed that our former ol’ pal “Bibi” is trying to turn Israel into a dictatorship (of course, it appears to be that already to the Palestinians), but the people of that country have noticed for sure, as this Guardian clip shows (more here)...



...and in addition to the very important judicial contest in Wisconsin today (click here to help Judge Janet), there is also a mayoral election in Chicago, and this More Perfect Union clip gives us more on Paul Vallas, who might as well be a Republican...to help Brandon Johnson, click here...



...and my “this day of all days” remark in the Flori-DUUUH! clip had to do with this – hard to believe that it’s been 55 years.

Monday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about all of the wingnut “copium” out there over Mango Mussolini’s indictment from the Stormy Daniels hush money stuff, featuring Dumb Jr., Watters, Cancun Cruz and a host of others (and yeah, I know I got into this yesterday also, but why not give it another shot?)...



...and Chris Hayes offers a commentary on the legal stuff behind the indictment of the Gropenfuhrer vis-a-vis how criminal justice works in this country for some high-ranking public officials versus with the rest of us...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen discusses the recent confrontation in the U.S. House between Dem rep (and former teacher) Jamaal Bowman and Thomas Massie (huge props to Bowman for this, BTW)...I know Massie put out some tweet later saying “in schools with open carry where teachers are armed, there is no gun violence” or words to that effect...yeah, brainiac; teachers often have to pay out of their own pockets for class materials because of the miserly budgets for teaching our kids, so now they’re ALSO supposed to pay for gun instruction and arming themselves too? And if someone comes into a room and the teacher mistakes them for an active shooter and accidentally takes somebody out, are you going to pay their legal fees and defend them in court? OF COURSE NOT! (as Thom Hartmann says, call 202-224-3121, ask for your representative and/or senator, and give them an earful...clip is NSFW/H)...



Update: As the song goes, the kids are alright (here - this too behind the Inky's damn paywall).

...next up is Jesse Dollemore giving us the pearl-clutching from wingnut lickspittle Matt Walsh, with his carrying-on that will get trans people killed (and that goes for Walsh’s fellow hatemongers “Tuckums,” Michael Knowles, etc. – and how sad do you have to be in your life to play second fiddle basically to Baby Ben Shapiro...great job by Dollemore to present Walsh’s take on Nashville vs. Uvalde...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here how Flori-DUUUH! guv Ron #DeathSantis got schooled by The Mouse on this business of trying to take over Disney (I think Cousins means “before DeSantis’s people took over the district” not Trump’s people)...



...and RIP Procal Harum lyricist Keith Reid.

Sunday Stuff

Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence over the indictment of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg; along with the threats of violence of course from this pack of cowards (and again, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but if anybody deserves to take a victory lap over this, they do..a little NSFW/H)...



...fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is here to help, sort of (more here – also NSFW/H...)...



...and one of the biggest apologists for Our Ochre Abomination is Cancun Cruz, and in this Rebel HQ clip from Richard Ojeda, we find out that Cruz apparently asked for unanimous consent for a Senate gun bill that, to put it charitably, wasn’t fully formed, and he was rightly called out for it by Dem Chris Murphy of Connecticut...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Missouri Repug state rep Chris Sander (a gay man) trying to get a marriage equality bill passed...and as a result, he has faced 2 censure votes (NSFW/H also...yeah, at a certain point, I really think Sander should “get the memo” here)...



...and I know a state supreme court election may not sound like a big deal, but it definitely is that this Tuesday in Wisconsin...if wingnut Dan Kelly wins, then he could potentially sway the court to not seat electors in next year’s presidential contest, assuming Biden (or another Dem) were to win...to oppose Kelly and help Judge Janet Protasiewicz instead, please click here...



...and kudos to Dionne Warwick for this.