Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that Kayleigh McEnany apparently didn’t bother to "vet" her lie about Hunter Biden and his dad, saying the Devon Archer testimony was broadcast when – oopsie! – it was BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!...example number 45,232 that that network thinks their viewers are idiots (more here)...
...and speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory (featured in the Majority Report clip), it looks like frat boy goon (in Kyle Kulinski’s completely correct analysis IMO) Jesse Watters called climate change a “psyop,”...God, are those “before” and “after” pics of Lahaina ever heartbreaking...
Update 8/17/23: And when it comes to "Mrs. Kyle," if you will, I would call this a truly boneheaded take (Biden approved a disaster declaration for the island almost immediately).
...and Mike Figueredo tells us that it looks like the Repug state chair of Flori-DUUH! is attacking families of LGBTQ people fleeing their hellhole of a state (and twisting himself into metaphorical knots trying to blame the “Democrat Party”) since it’s apparently becoming obvious that they’re losing $$$ from queer tourism, you might say...yep, once more, all these life forms understand is money (and hatred of “the other” of course)...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT bring us the story of Karen Lauritzen, who apparently was named Teacher of the Year last year in Idaho, who now plans to leave the state and move to Illinois because of wingnut outrage, due to Lauritzen basically recognizing that the U.N. actually exists and because she posted a picture of herself on social media with the apparently incendiary logo of “Love is Love” with a rainbow...yeah, I’m not hearing anything but wingnut stoo-pidity here either (Cenk really goes off, but I think he’s completely justified – I’d love to see somebody on the right push back against the crazies too, but naaah, that won’t happen, sadly...I’m a little leery of these two any more especially Ana to be honest, but I think they need to be given credit when they’re right...not exactly sure why Ana is so blasé in comparison, but I guess that’s her default setting now, if you will, for this stuff)...
...and this More Perfect Union video featuring labor author Steven Greenhouse discusses the “Joy Silk Doctrine”...sounds like this is kind of a back-door means to try and bring back the “card check” provision of the Employee Free Choice Act, which the wingnuts typically went bonkers over of course...”oh, this is so undemocratic! It takes away the right to vote!”...not really (under the EFCA, employees had a choice, hence the name), but it also takes away the “right” of employers to coerce employees into not unionizing, as Greenhouse explains...
...and I need to catch up on my summer tunes a bit, including this one.
I thought this was a pretty convincing video from Robert Reich explaining how Combover Caligula is really a fascist versus an authoritarian; of course, #45 now has his 4th indictment, this one in Georgia for election interference, along with his minions (here)...so much winning!...
...and I have to admit that I’ve fallen behind a bit again on my “Second Thought” videos; this one has to do with trying to unearth “The Secret Marxist Conspiracy”...didn’t know about Michael Minnicino, Gerald Atkinson and William Lind before; I may have heard of Lind in passing...the video does a great job IMO of showing how wingnut media types and politicians whip up their base into a frenzy to oppose “the other,” whoever that may be, in an ongoing effort to consolidate political and economic power for themselves...NSFW/H...
...and one way to suppress dissent of course is to go right after the media, which we learn about in the following clip (and I’m sorry I’m a little behind on this story) – this has to do with the newspaper publisher in Marion County, Kansas who was raided by the cops, supposedly for a document that the newspaper had already told the police about, likely leading to the death of the paper’s 98-year-old co-publisher and apparently the mother of the paper’s editor-in-chief (more here and here)...
...and another way to exercise authoritarian control is to use law enforcement to attack those deemed to be troublemakers or malcontents by virtue of their socio-economic class, race, ethnicity or other characteristic; witness the horrifying racist police abuse in Rankin County, Mississippi, basically sending out the so-nicknamed “Goon Squad” to kidnap and torture (or so the complaint states) two African American men, as Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page discuss (NSFW/H)...
...and there were folks who pretty much saw authoritarianism coming (at a minimum) in this country, and one of them was Frank Zappa, who cracked the code” in the ‘80s when it came to the wingnuts trying to establish a “fascist theocracy” as Zappa correctly put it (and of course conservative Robert Novak told Zappa he was wrong, though neither are still with us to see Zappa vindicated...Brett Erlich of Rebel HQ tells us more...and I’ve read that that quote about fascism and America WASN’T attributed to Sinclair Lewis)...
...and if the prior clip isn't an excuse for a Zappa tune, I don't know what is.
Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about wage theft in this country; the Economic Policy Institute informs us that $50 billion is stolen from workers every year, including unpaid overtime, as well as the scam (noted in the clip) of forcing pizza delivery drivers to stock shelves as employees while still technically classifying them as contractors...that number dwarfs criminal offenses such as robbery ($500 million) and burglary ($3 billion) and surpassed all other types of theft in 2018 (NSFW/H)...
...and in the category of corporate criminals, Sam Seder of The Majority Report (no, not him) tells us about Jack Welch’s pernicious influence on climate reporting at NBC I believe (with author David Gelles...so many interesting points here about “Neutron Jack,” but one to me is how G.E. Capital was used to try and influence the earnings of the parent company by manipulating the price of the company’s stock – and yet another cautionary tale against rewarding executives with that type of compensation, a practice enabled by The Sainted Ronnie R that, prior to that, had been illegal and should remain so...and yes, drag Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek into this...”we are looking at decades of work ahead of us” to try and straighten out our economy and our political institutions indeed)...
...and turning from corporate to political idiocy, Jen Psaki tells us about all the individuals from the “party of Lincoln” taking credit for infrastructure-related and other spending who opposed it with every fiber of their wretched being while taking up space on Capitol Hill...
...and when it comes to politics to actually achieve a good ends, Kyle Kulinski tells us about Biden raising construction worker pay in essence, ensuring prevailing wage law is enforced, restoring the Davis-Bacon Act (from The American Prospect...yes, I know Clinton and Obama weren’t perfect by any means on the economy, though they got a lot right as far as I’m concerned, but for Kyle to automatically conflate them on this issue with The Sainted Ronnie R and the destruction Reagan waged on the middle class is beyond a joke – and I know Kyle is right on the policy, but I should point out that my cat has about the same chance of being elected president as Marianne Williamson)...
...however, as much as I’d like to, I cannot disregard the state of Flori-DUUH! and their assclown guv #DeathSantis for ignoring the various crises under his mind-numbingly idiotic “governance” (environmental, economic and public health-related), as Farron Cousins tells us...
...and RIP Tom Jones (no, not THAT Tom Jones); I’m referring to the co-author of the play “The Fantasticks,” which brought us this evergreen tune.
Leeja Miller tells us How Philanthropy is Ruining America (interesting) – so many great points, but one of them is how the philanthropy scam (and it is just that in many cases) is really just another means of tax avoidance for the uber-wealthy...didn’t think much about how crooked foundations can be until I watched this, and yeah, they can be sweet deals for family members with the right estate planning...and I’d never heard of ”philanthrocapitalism” until now, truth be told, and I also never thought much before about the importance of mutual aid orgs either, but I can see how important they became during and as a result of the pandemic...of course, the easiest answer is for the rich TO JUST PAY THEIR DAMN TAXES, AND THAT GOES FOR THE POLITICIANS ALSO OF COURSE (NSFW/H)...
...and when it comes to the High Priest, if you will, of scamming people and not paying what he owes, Jesse Dollemore (not him) tells us about Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack attacking the Georgia prosecutor looking to indict him for that infamous phone call to Brad Raffensperger...oh, and #45 made some typically disgusting remark about Biden’s sons...”A sociopath’s stand-up act” indeed, and I’m sure Jesse is totally spot-on about the 2024 elections (and even THIS didn’t satisfy the wingnuts of course)...
...and Beau tells us that the DOJ is looking at another potential area of illegality for the Gropenfuhrer, and that is fundraising after yelling about fraud in the 2020 election, and the “Save America” PAC, with an apparent assist from Bernard Kerik...I had to include this clip to show Beau’s great T-shirt if for no other reason...
...and when it comes to the minions of Dear Leader Fergus Laing, retired Army Major Richard Ojeda (again, definitely not him) informs us that Marjorie Trailer Park Greene’s boyfriend sez there will be a full-scale riot if Trump loses again – so tired of these pitiable life forms braying like sheep to the slaughter...
...and Luke Beasley, sitting in for David Pakman, reminds us of Bo-Bo Boebert taking credit for an infrastructure spending bill she voted against, of course (specifically for wind turbines), along with jabs from “Dark Brandon” at that assclown Tuberville and Mango Mussolini of course, and nice job by Beasley to run down the list of accomplishments from the Biden Administration at the end...good luck trying to get our beyond useless corporate media to pay attention, however...love to see that change somehow (and to do something about Boebert, click here)...
...and here are three more tunes from The Band to conclude my tribute to Robbie Robertson (blistering guitar solo from Robertson on this next number).
Brian Tyler Cohen and voting rights attorney Marc Elias discuss the failure of the anti-abortion ballot initiative in Ohio...and while it's true that the measure was to raise the percentage of votes required to pass a ballot initiative to 60 percent as opposed to 50, it definitely had to do with abortion, albeit indirectly (and even though it went down, look for Frank LaRose to try and use this to energize his campaign to win the Repug nomination and take on Sherrod Brown in that state’s U.S. Senate race)...
...and you’d better believe that the “fundies” are on board with eliminating not just abortion, but contraception, same-sex marriage, and the whole gamut of what you could justifiably IMO call social progress, to the point where preacher Russell Moore, who formerly was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, is apparently shocked that congregants dismiss quotes from Our Lord as “liberal talking points”...not sure why Moore would be surprised, since that’s the direction they’re going with their adoration of Dear Leader Trump...a lot of important history here about the rise of the evangelicals and the role played by The Sainted Ronnie R, echoing some of the Leeja Miller video from about a week or so ago, though I think this stuff bears repeating...and I think Mike Figueredo is spot-on to equate this with what you could call “late-stage capitalism” (NSFW/H)...
...with another symptom of our de-evolution in this country being the Trumpists ascribing to “the big lie,” as Rayy Vana tells us (and Republicans generally as far as I’m concerned)...yes, I know what these people are, but unfortunately, we need to pay attention to these life forms...
...and as Ana and John of TYT tell us here, the same forces behind the garbage I noted previously are coming for your kids too, and this clip tells us about what’s going on in Flori-DUUH!, in essence banning Shakespeare... “Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, for I am sick when I do look on thee.”...and for those of you keeping score at home, that’s from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” appropriately enough.
Oh, and OF COOURRSE PragerU is somehow involved...that video which I think has to do with “Christopher Columbus” is as ridiculous as you’d expect, as is the one with “Frederick Douglass”...surprised the video doesn’t mention the Bowling Green Massacre too (a minor issue with Ana is that I don’t know of anybody on our side trying to dumb people down through education; if she has evidence of that, I wish she’d let us know).
Meanwhile in the world of reality, do you want to know what the REAL Frederick Douglass thought of slavery? I give you the following (from here)...
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?
“I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”
Anyway, here is the TYT clip...
...and as a tribute to Robbie Robertson of The Band, I offer the following...
David Shuster discusses some Fix Noise hairdo named Julie Banderas twisting herself into figurative knots trying to defend Combover Caligula, saying being a narcissist and hatching schemes to stay in office isn’t a crime...hate to break the news to you cupcake, but where the first may not constitute illegality, the second definitely does (here)...
...oh, but the Gropenfuhrer wants his D.C. trial moved to a supposedly “diverse” location like West Virginia, as David Pakman tells us (which is about as “diverse” as the difference between alabaster and mayonnaise...I can’t take credit for that line – forget where I first saw it, but I think it fits... and the alleged “free speech” defense is typically pathetic, coming from a character who’s little game of “three card monte” is just about up...more here)...
...and Mehdi Hasan tells us about the great unwashed (led by their thrice-indicted former *president) trashing the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, including Megan Rapinoe, for their recent World Cup loss (with you-know-who ATTACKING THE WOMEN IN ALL CAPS ON “TRUTH SEPTIC”...I can recall when an alleged "man" doing something like that would be scorned en masse, but I guess those days are over, sadly)...
...and even though Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack is no longer occupying An Oval Office (and, God and the voters willing, never will again), his wretched legacy lives on in the person of wingnut judges and justices, including this loon Brantley Starr, who ordered lawyers for Southwest Airlines to attend “religious liberty” training...a lot to unpack here, but apparently a Southwest flight attendant named Charlene Carter sued her employer because she alleged that she was terminated for expressing her views opposing abortion on social media...sounds like Southwest fumbled it a bit in handling this case, leading to her winning an award...that’s how the system works I realize, but making the lawyers attend an 8-hour class from the Alliance Defending Freedom, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group,” over a minor wording mixup is beyond parody (Mike Figueredo tells us about it...NSFW/H)...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 8/9/13, in which we learn about the role of the Koch Brothers in the climate change denial machine (and yes, David Koch now resides in some kind of an afterlife we can only imagine, but the awful legacy of he and his brother Charles live on in Project 2025, mentioned here)...
Update 8/10/23: As far as I'm concerned, blood is on the hands of every climate change denialist over this.
...and RIP Robbie Robertson – another musical icon leaves us; I’ll plan to feature some more tunes by The Band over the next day or so.
Jesse Dollemore tells us that it looks like attorneys will seek a restraining order against the Gropenfuhrer and his attempts to intimidate witnesseses and other social media nonsense, as well as the antics of #45’s attorneys...and I think Jesse makes a great point that this behavior should come as absolutely no surprise...yeah "Trumpty Dumpty" isn’t acting like a third-rate mobster, is he? Not much he isn’t...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us how Mango Mussolini robs his supporters yet again, this time to keep Melania well-pampered apparently (and I have to admit that I’m getting a little tired of ANYBODY being politically infatuated with “Governor Bully” who has NO POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ON A DAMN THING TO HELP ANYBODY! “Oh, but he’s so courageous for coming out against Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack”...freaking spare me! He’s STILL polling in the single digits last I checked)...
...and turning to health care matters, this clip of “The Classroom” from More Perfect Union tells us how United Healthcare rips off both doctors and patients...a family member in the Doomsy household is in the health care biz (and make no mistake...it IS a business, though it shouldn’t be that IMO), and United Healthcare are truly one of the VERY WORST corporate actors in existence, particularly in this space (with Sean Morrow and correspondent Alec Opperman)...
...and now for something completely different, as somebody once said, and that is the very latest on manatee orgies in South Flori-DUUUH!, with Francesca, Cenk and Jordan Uhl of TYT (God, how “woke” can manatees get...and yes, I’m kidding...”if the manatees are rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’” indeed...I’d like to think that “pudding fingers” #DeathSantis would know not to say anything about this, but yeah, on second thought, he probably would, especially since the brother manatees were apparently letting nature take its course...more on manatees is here and here, probably more than you’d ever want to know :-)...
...and RIP acclaimed film director William Friedkin, who helmed “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” among other movies...concerning the latter of the two, I though this was a great story about getting permission to film the legendary scene with Gene Hackman driving the car chasing the elevated train...
...and I always associate this tune with summer - hope it provides a nice mid-week respite.
Thom Hartmann discusses some truly disturbing info buried in Jack Smith’s multiple-count indictment of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, and that is the plan for what could have been basically another version of the Kent State massacre, but on a national scale (The Sainted Ronnie R’s remarks as CA guv led to the bloodbath Reagan wanted in Ohio on 5/1/70...I didn’t know the Kent State carnage led to an explosion of membership in The Weather Underground, but it doesn’t surprise me...frightening to realize how close we were to losing our government, and that’s not hyperbole - I mean recently...and of course Rojo and Sen. Grasshole are allegedly involved, and Tuberville also...feel like I’m picking up with this asshat from Alabama where I left off last Friday...and it looks like Jamelle Bouie noticed the same thing as Hartmann based on this)...
...and Chris Hayes speaks with PA Dem U.S. House member Madeleine Dean, who rips Senate Repugs who acquitted #45 (and silence from Bri-Fi too of course...I give Dean a lot of credit, but it’s almost quaint at this point to expect Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao to act in any kind of an honorable way)...
...and Beau tells us about the latest social media mess with Combover Caligula – he just can’t stop trying to grift, and he also can’t stop yelling and acting up like the demented toddler that he is (as I type this, there’s probably some stuff going on with the Obama-appointed judge...we’ll see of course)...
...and when it comes to Trumpist sycophants, it looks like the “mayor of 9/11” is in legal trouble too (“your tits belong to me,” huh? God, I feel like I need to be de-loused after this, and also for the anti-Semitic stuff too, and I mean no disrespect to Jesse Dollemore) – NSFW/H...
...and when it comes to the competition for the Repug Party nomination for preznit next year, it looks like Flori-DUUH! guv #DeathSantis is into “slitting throats”...(good one about not getting his hands dirty unless it involves pudding...and not to quibble with Cousins, but really, it’s only 45 people since Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms...I think Cousins is completely spot-on with the rest of his commentary, though)...
...and David Doel tells us about CNBC’s Jim Cramer quaking in his metaphorical boots over UAW President Shawn Fain and a potential strike (Cramer remains an unbelievable tool...and more on former UAW head Walter Reuther is here, by the way)...
...and for anybody in Ohio who may be reading this, I would just like to remind you of how important tomorrow’s vote is (more here)...
Update 8/8/23: Sweet! (here, and yeah, I think this about says it).
...and I’m continuing to work my way down the list of summer selections with this tune.
Farron Cousins tells us that the antics of Repug U.S. Senatorial idiot Tommy Tuberville of Alabama arguably just cost that state the Space Force; Mango Mussolini had made the decision to send the SF from Colorado Springs to Huntsville in Tuberville’s state (likely because that state, as you would expect, went for the Gropenfuhrer big time in ’16 and ’20), but it looks like “Dark Brandon” reversed that (more here – Nail. Hammer. Head. commentary from Cousins...”play stupid games, win stupid prizes” indeed...that state could have had Doug Jones instead, but they elected this hammerhead in Jones’s place)...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Tuberville’s “it’s called summer” remark, leading into similar idiocy from U.S. House Repug Steve Scalise and his same-party pal Kevin Cramer of North Dakota in the U.S. Senate...Cramer won a close election because of that last-minute ruling that post office boxes weren’t allowed as acceptable residences for that state’s voters, which ruled out a whole bunch of indigenous folks who would have likely voted for Dem Heidi Heitkamp instead as noted here...by the time the ruling was overturned, the damage was done (I'm pretty sure that's what happened - I'll keep checking)...oh, and it looks like the cretins behind Project 2025 want to boil the planet also, as Kyle tells us...
Update 8/12/23: I said this somewhere else, but I'll say it again here; climate change deniers like Tuberville have blood on their hands for this.
...and speaking of the heat, John and Yasmin Khan tell us that prisons in “the land of the yellow rose” have reached 146 degrees Fahrenheit...but of course “all hat, no cattle” Greg Abbott couldn’t give a fig, just as he doesn’t care about any dead bodies found near his barbed wire in the Rio Grande River (here...and it's likely that at least 271 prisoners have died in Texas jails due to the heat over an approximately 20-year period, as we learn in the clip).
Oh, and being the pointy-headed lib that I am, I feel compelled to mention that such abuse of prisoners runs counter to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; this year marks its 75th anniversary, and of course this country signed off on it (more here and here)...and I realize one problem is that the language, commendable as it is, allows for some legal wiggle room for political weasels like Abbott and his pals...
Update 8/11/23: One more for Abbott's body count (here).
...and I realize this is a recurring theme for Repugs like “It’s Called Summer” Tuberville, but this New York Times report tells us about people down on their luck trying to deal with the baking temperatures in Flori-DUUUH!, focusing on “the city of the Mouse”... “I Feel Like I’m In Hell” is a thoroughly unsurprising sentiment from these folks just trying to survive...
...well, because I want to wrap up this post (and likely the week) with something a little more upbeat, I now bring you the latest form Leeja Miller about Why Unions Will Save America (NSFW/H – she swears like a truck driver, but I believe it’s warranted and I hope YouTube doesn’t ding her for it...the segment starts out by talking about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike dealing with potential impact of AI and residuals, particularly for streaming productions...the history of the labor movement is discussed going back to the 1800s – I didn’t know it took 10 freaking years for staffing levels to return to normal at airports after The Sainted Ronnie R broke up PATCO, but yeah, that sure figures...and when the wingnuts scream about union membership, they always talk about public sector unions, which traditionally have lower paying jobs than those in the private sector, but often better benefits to offset that...however, the number of private sector unions, as a result of Reagan giving the signal to his fellow plutocrats that unions were fair game, is now microscopic – GREAT point about the protection of union membership to try and hang onto jobs despite losses due to the pandemic – “without unions, the $$ doesn’t ‘trickle down’ – it coagulates at the very top” indeed...more on the PRO Act is here...I realize I'm probably a month early with this video, but there's always a good time for it IMO)...
...and I would tend to agree that “the heart is the hero” indeed...some on the other side of the political spectrum mistake compassion for weakness, which is their folly as far as I’m concerned...if doing this exercise of mine can somehow benefit a single person versus any damn corporation in existence, then I feel like I’ve accomplished something, and maybe I can build on it to help us all see better times someday.
Robert Reich tells us about the five made-up “crises” by the “party of Lincoln” in an attempt to deflect from the REAL issues (the climate, worsening wealth inequality, attacks on women’s health care, failure to substantively address gun violence, etc. – I would only add that we need a vigorous response from Team “D” in light of all of these issues and more)...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tells us that the DOJ of “Dark Brandon” is going after “All Hat No Cattle” Texas guv Greg Abbott on putting the barbed wire in the Rio Grande by filing a lawsuit (and Emma has a point about Biden and Title 42, unfortunately, as noted here, though Abbott is primarily at fault here of course - more here)...
Update: Monstrous and awful, but not surprising unfortunately (here).
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us the back story on EV jobs, focusing on Lordstown, Ohio, which was a GM plant for six decades, but it shut down in 2019 – apparently, the Biden Administration is trying to bring the plant back to life through this company called Ultium, which is paying its workers poverty wages to do incredibly dangerous work, and is still fighting its work force over a collective bargaining agreement...
...and David Pakman tells us about Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee who will be overseeing the trial from the 3rd Trump indictment, this one with 4 counts all carrying prison time – apparently, to her credit (as Pakman tells us), Judge Chutkan has been tough on sentencing defendants found guilty on charges related to the 1/6 insurrection...sadly, I think Pakman is right; the MAGA life forms will do anything they can to go after her, unrepentant vermin that they are...
...and as a “compare and contrast” exercise, I give you Jeff Waldorf discussing Laura “What Need Have We Of Proof?” Ingraham when it comes to the Bidens vs. the Trumps of course (with Ingraham and her fellow bottom-feeders yelling louder and louder about OMIGOD HUNTER BIDEN'S NUDE PICS AND HIS LAPTOP! as more garbage seeps out about Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack...more here)...
...and I find myself in need of a musical palate cleanser of sorts; I think this seasonal tune will do.
Ana of TYT tells us about the 3rd indictment handed down against Mango Mussolini (here), this one with 4 counts related to the January 6th insurrection, and each count carries prison time, with the minimum of the 4 stipulating 5 years in the slam; I’m inclined to believe Ana, though, when she says that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence probably won’t end up behind bars and will spend the rest of his life appealing guilty verdicts...
...and Max Burns of Rebel HQ brings us the clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Dan Goldman telling us what we likely already knew, and that is that all of this Devon Archer testimony (“OMIGOD THE SMOKING GUN SHOWING JOE BIDEN INTERCEDED IN BUSINESS ON BEHALF OF HUNTER!”) turned out to be a complete and total flop, with Gym Jordan and Andy Biggs bravely running away from the cameras when questioned about it (God only knows how much taxpayer $$ was spend on this idiocy)...
...and Burns alluded to Biden’s economic record in the prior clip, and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us more about that, with Maria Bartiromo of The Roger Ailes BS Factory rooting for a recession, while of course the good news from “Bidenomics” belies that - awwwww...once more, GREAT work by Cohen contrasting Dems vs. Repugs when it comes to money matters...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about the insane right-wing propaganda taught in schools in Flori-DUUH! (from PragerU, of course)...and dontcha know Charlie Kirk and TP USA are somehow involved in this mess now also...depressing to hear about Gen Z boys, but that’s kind of borne out by my own admittedly limited knowledge on this subject – one of the many ways that girls are ahead of the curve, relatively speaking (nonsense like this is all the “party of Lincoln” has to offer in lieu of actual governance that actually helps people, as evidenced in the Cohen clip)...
...and speaking of wingnut idiocy, some “right side broadcasting network” scumbag named Matthew Alvarez basically encourages violence in his comments with some Trumpist life form in Erie, PA who wants to “kill them all”...oh, but later, Alvarez tried to claim he wasn’t serious when he said that...GMAFB! – David Shuster tells us about it...
...and if it's early August (and it is now), then that means it's time for this summer tune.
Leeja Miller brings us a well-researched clip on How Religious Conservatives Ruined Everything...her lawyerly perspective comes through in an important way as far as I’m concerned when she talks about the free speech cases that got the “fundies” all butt-hurt, particularly on school prayer, leading to the backlash under Falwell and Robertson and encouraged by The Sainted Ronnie R...I’m loathe to give Dubya credit for anything, but at least under his watch, we didn’t get constitutional amendments banning abortion and school prayer, thank God (NSFW/H)...
...and Thom Hartmann discusses some Nazi student at the University of Chicago who somehow managed to shut down a professor who wanted to teach a class about the history of “whiteness”...this loser named Daniel Schmidt basically doxxes the professor and the usual attacks happen, unfortunately, as the wretched jihad against free thought continues in this country (more here...and a backgrounder on the whole "gay wedding website" nonsense that the SCOTUS used as an excuse to destroy protection against discrimination is here)...
...and speaking of Nazis (or Nazi-like behavior at a minimum), Mike Figueredo (definitely not him) of The Humanist Report tells us about sadistic right-wing a-holes celebrating a couple fleeing Flori-DUUH! to protect their trans child...and the U.S. now has to be part of the “rainbow railroad” to get LGBTQ people out of hostile countries (or states at least – also NSFW/H)...
Update: Naaah, that state isn't doing "the big swirl in the hopper"...not much it isn't (here).
...and turning a few degrees west, Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp tells us about Dem U.S. Senator Brian Schatz going after his Repug colleague Tommy Tuberville of Alabama for the latter’s hold on military promotions; interesting theory that Tuberville may be doing this in case, God forbid, a certain Treasonous Orange Pustule managed to worm his way back into An Oval Office so he can see to it that lickspittles who obey 45 only are installed...truly the stuff of nightmares (yet another NSFW/H clip)...
...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the story of this Derrick Van Orden character of Wisconsin who first went nuts over a John Oliver segment about “an LGBT-positive book,” and NOW he’s attacked the congressional pages in the Capitol rotunda for taking a nap (????)...I don’t care if this guy is a former Navy SEAL or not; it sounds like he needs to address his anger issues, but first he needs to f*cking resign from Congress (a little late on the weekend wishes I’ll admit...still another NSFW/H clip)...
...and I know I’m also very late with extending happy 80th birthday wishes to Mick Jagger – I’m sure he had a blast.
I know I sounded off on Saturday about the Dems and lousy messaging, but while this isn’t from the major party organizations, it DEFINITELY nails the important talking points on Biden and the economy (link is here...kudos to Cliff Schecter and others on his Blue Amp channel - I subscribed on YouTube immediately after I saw this, FWIW)...
...because this is what we’re up against, people (and more depressing info on that is here)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tries heroically IMO to refute the lies from Combover Caligula about our economy under Biden (mildly NSFW/H...and who does he think will go for this "Communist" line?)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that the Gropenfuhrer wants “All Trump, All The Time” over at Fix Noise, and apparently he’s not getting that, and he’s having yet another meltdown over it with ALL CAPS POSTS APPARENTLY over at “Truth Septic”...and he’s throwing “law enforcement” under the bus too? I thought Repugs “backed the blue”...so confusing...and I’ll admit that I need to read up on “diminishing marginal utility”...
...and it’s all the more incredible that the “party of Lincoln” continues to enjoy such support from “the great unwashed” given the mounting evidence that the deaths of Repug supporters in Flori-DUUUH! and Ohio have been linked to anti-vaccine BS, and other deaths overall are attributed to political allegiance...and yeah, I think stating that there were “thousands of preventable deaths” kind of soft cells the problem, I would say (Kyle Kulinski tells us more...NSFW/H)...
...and Rayyvana, Cenk and Jackson White of TYT tell us about a Houston, TX school district that is eliminating librarians apparently and replacing them with “team centers” for kids with disciplinary issues...WHAAAA??? (Rayyvana, Cenk and Jackson White...pretty solid analysis from Cenk on this, to be fair...and this school superintendent Mike Miles is bad news, as noted here)...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about the latest with the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher (and no, I’m never going to stop harping on that), and that would be Greg Gutfeld of The Roger Ailes BS Factory apparently trying to explain the ”good side” of the Holocaust to Jessica Tarlov, who (and this is the cherry on the icing of this sh*t sundae) is Jewish (more is here)...
...and RIP Randy Meisner of The Eagles; I once saw that great Showtime documentary on the band years ago, and Glenn Frey recounted how Meisner said he wasn’t going to perform “Take It To The Limit” one night before a show (which, as far as I’m concerned, is an anthemic tune – a lot of Meisner remembrances are featuring that number, which is only right) because Meisner was tired of singing it, and Frey told him to perform the tune because there were people in attendance who may end up seeing the band live only once in their lives and might have come just for that number (or words to that effect), so Meisner sang it and then quit the band soon afterwards...not trying to diss either Frey or Meisner here, neither of whom are here any longer to defend themselves.
Jesse Dollemore tells us that it looks like 20 million of our fellow Americans say we need violence to reinstall a certain Treasonous Orange Pustule to An Oval Office again...and yeah, this Guardian story is scary for sure, but as Dollemore says, “both sides-ing” this is utter nonsense...”anger and radicalization,” whatever “radicalization” means (just saying that can be open to interpretation, that's all), is definitely not the same thing as a threat or actual violent move of some type against someone or something, which the Trumpsters are more than willing to do again, and I see ZERO equivalent on our side when it comes to this madness...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the news that the utterly odious Frank Luntz is trying to sound the alarm about the latest ad from The Gropenfuhrer, this one about the “deep state” of course (though I agree with the TMR crew that the only individuals who will be motivated to do anything are the lizard-brained earthlings that comprise Cult 45 and probably no one else)...and yeah, among the other lunacies, there’s the bit about “owning every politician that mattered” and they have a pic of Michael Moore, WHO ISN’T EVEN A FREAKING POLITICIAN!!!...
...well, at least the mayor of Erie in our beloved commonwealth of PA has apparently gotten the memo, you might say, and he wants Mango Mussolini to pay the cost of his upcoming brown shirt rally tonight in advance since there apparently is a matter of $35K outstanding from one of #45’s 2018 hate fests there (Ana and Cenk of TYT...one of the best critiques of the MAGA lunatics I’ve heard in a while, to be fair)...
...and when it comes to other Repugs who want to be preznit, Max Burns of Rebel HQ tells us about Tim Scott, who definitely wants to cut Social Security for younger voters along with #DeathSantis, Pence, Nikki Haley, and pretty much the rest of that damn party (and as Biden basically said, Scott starts throwing around these numbers for Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security which actually pale when compared to the TRILLIONS in tax cuts signed into law by Combover Caligula, which his party in Congress passed of course)...
...and speaking of the governor of Flori-DUUH!, apparently he would nominate RFK Jr. to run the FDA or the CDC if, by some catastrophic development, #DeathSantis ends up winning the election next year...I thought this was a good clap-back from The Lincoln Project (more here)...
...and Mehdi Hasan speaks with Paul Krugman about Biden’s economy and what I would call the gulf between public perception and economic reality – and let’s not forget the importance of the Infrastructure Investment Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act also.
And by the way, I give Hasan credit for pushing the point about how the Dems CONTINUALLY SCREW UP THE MESSAGING on just about any damn issue and let the other side run with their utter BS narratives, which end up filling the void on social media because the “D” party REFUSES TO FIGHT BACK! (and to be fair to Krugman, I really don’t expect him to be an expert on that topic). And yes, we know what the online stuff is (including this space, I’ll admit), but if you’re serious about winning hearts and minds, you’d damn well better be out there trying to tell people THE FREAKING TRUTH!
(And yes, I know I’ve beat this drum many times, but I believe I have to yet again. And I'll even admit that it's not completely the fault of Team "D.")
Here is yet another example. Lauren Boebert is truly one of the most vile examples of homo sapiens walking on two legs as far as I’m concerned, and we all know about how she threw the pin in the trash of the young girl who was one of the victims of the Uvalde massacre. Well, as noted in the Yahoo News story, she’s blaming the fact that she was wearing air pods and mistook the individual who handed her the pin for someone who had confronted her earlier.
As far as I’m concerned, that excuse is totally ridiculous, but utterly typical. However, as a bit of a “thought exercise,” let’s pretend that what she says is the truth. Do you want to know how an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion likely would have handled an incident like this? They would have said, “The other day, I was approached by someone who handed me a pin that represented 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, who was killed by a gunman in Uvalde, TX. It was shaped in the form of one of the sneakers she typically wore. I mistakenly took the pin and tossed it in the trash without thinking, and I am genuinely sorry for such a callous act. As a response, here is what I want to do. My office will donate $25,000 to Everytown USA or The Brady Campaign to combat gun violence. I personally don’t support these organizations, but I would like to extend this gesture of goodwill on behalf of Maite Rodriguez and the other Uvalde victims and their families and friends. Thank you.”
I realize that, as this Repug Party is presently composed, there is ZERO POSSIBILITY that ANYONE in that group would even contemplate a gesture like this. However, as I said, this is what an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion would do. And the fact that there is STONE FREAKING SILENCE on this from those professional election losers at the DNC and DCCC is a typically pathetic response (and that also goes for Adam Frisch, who supposedly is running to try and unseat Boebert next year. I haven’t heard a peep from him on this either).
Anyway, here is the Hasan/Krugman clip...
...and I’m a little behind on this I know, but John and Brett Erlich bring us their “garbage people” from the week before last I believe, and Kyrsten Sinema made that list for her idiotic “Barbenheimer” tweet...God, is this woman ever living in her own private Idaho, you might say (though RoJo still led the pack in awfulness, which is definitely “on the nose” for him...I definitely plan to see "Oppenheimer," and if I have anything worthwhile to say, I may post about it, just to warn you in advance)...
...and I hope you’re ready to rock into the weekend with this new little number.
Willie Geist and some of the “Morning Joe” crew (I recognized Mike Barnicle, but not the other lady) interview Bloomberg News reporter David Kocieniewski on the story of the proliferation of U.S. guns in Thailand, the Philippines, Central America and elsewhere, particularly these weapons of death manufactured by Sig Sauer (typically disgusting story of how the gun maker tried to “launder” the sale of the German weapons in this country, and when Germany found out about it, they put the CEO in prison for a few weeks, which is exactly what some of the corporate criminals in this country deserve also...and yeah, I’d like to see the Biden Commerce Department stand up a little more on this issue too)...
...and Thom Hartmann discusses “Operation Save America,” yet another spin off group from the evangelicals...yeah, they hate gays and Muslims of course, but they REALLY hate women who have abortions (this all-male panel in charge...of course...thinks that women not giving birth deserve the death penalty)...but they’re “pro life” – uh huh (more here)...
...and Mike Figueredo tells us that it looks like a bunch of conservative moms tried another ban of LGBTQ-themed books at a pride display at a San Diego library...these loons basically checked out the books in question and pretty much held the books hostage, if you will, and boy, did San Diego ever step up big time in response – nicely done...and all of this madness while the planet continues to melt (NSFW/H)...
...and gee, it looks like Repug U.S. Senators Cornpone Kennedy and Huckleberry Graham are all in a snit over Dem attempts to rein in our out-of-control SCOTUS with even the blandest of measures...the proposals from Dem U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse, important as they are, have a hard road in the “60 Votes For Passage” U.S. Senate and no shot whatsoever in the U.S. House with those lunatics in charge, but it’s important to try and hold our renegades in robes accountable (John and Jayar tell us about it...this is yet another issue where I hear nothing but stone freaking silence from the national Democratic Party organizations, who may end up losing the battle for the narrative on this issue among others)...
...and Beau tells us that “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy may actually launch an impeachment inquiry against Biden...yeah, I can see that slim majority going up in smoke big time next year, though we all need to work to make sure that happens; good point by Beau on what independent voters would likely think of this nuttiness, especially since those who might vote in favor of impeaching Biden failed to do so for Mango Mussolini when much stronger cases were made against him...
...and here’s another summer tune to help us all (hopefully) decompress a bit.
I thought this was a pretty comprehensive video by Leeja Miller on the history of policing in this country and how police forces can trace their origins back to hunting for runaway slaves, and I think it’s safe to say that that mentality also prevails at the moment, expanded a bit for people of other ethnicities...I know it’s been covered pretty thoroughly that investing in communities before law enforcement gets involved (as well as funding mental health services for real) yields a better return on investment, if you will, and if wingnuts weren’t so preoccupied with “punching down,” they’d be onboard with that, but we know the score on that one...
...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about the recent dustup between CNN’s Dana Bash and former VP Mike Pence on the question of the 1/6 insurrectionists...Pence is a coward basically, but I grudgingly have to point out that he did the right thing when the Trumpist mob stormed the Capitol; I know Cenk Uygur, among others, has noted that, if Pence had refused to certify the election, then the states would have sent their fake Trump electors (and make no mistake – they were ready to go on that, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia), and since there would have been a conflict with the actual electors, the whole thing would likely have been decided by the House of Representatives...fortunately, the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR ruled against that “independent legislative theory” BS (which would have opened the door for Repug-run legislatures to ignore the vote on behalf of a candidate for their party), but you KNOW another case related to that will come around again...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that Ron #DeathSantis of Flori-DUUH! recently ran another controversial campaign ad, with this one invoking Nazi imagery; at least this latest ad didn’t have borderline homoerotic porn, so I guess we’re supposed to call that progress? More here...
...and Mike Figueredo brings us the story of Texas Dem U.S. House Rep Greg Casar protesting HB 2127, which denies water breaks to construction workers in that state (Casar is staging a "thirst strike" in response)...I realize the Biden Administration has its hands full trying to run the country and also trying to combat all of the idiocy from the “party of Lincoln,” but if there’s a way to craft a federal rule to override what Greg Abbott and his fellow maniacs are doing on this issue in particular, then I personally am all for it...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that the Club for Growth is dropping $20 mil for lunatic U.S. House Repugs, because of course (the “Patriot 20,” huh? Pardon me while I gag...and OF COUUURRRSSE it includes Biggs, Boebert, Gaetz, Gosar, etc...the “worst of the worst” indeed...and yeah, great point by Cousins about why the CFG would want THESE lunatics as opposed to OTHER Repug lunatics who likely would win those seats in the general election anyway, unfortunately...I guess these corporatist mongrels need to throw their money around in other new, creative ways now that “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey is mercifully gone at last from public life)...
...and I knew it was only a matter of time before the wingnuts got all ZOMG OBAMA KILLED HIS CHEF!!! after the news broke about the awful accident involving Tafari Campbell at South Beach on MVY...of course, this totally ignores the pesky little fact that the Obamas WEREN’T EVEN FREAKING THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED!!!, though of course they apparently were on the island...cue the "X Files" music I guess...ugh - let the wingnut conspiracy theories commence (John and Adrienne Lawrence discuss it)...
...and RIP Sinead O’Connor – 56 is way too young (and as always, pop culture imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)...
...and while she wasn’t personally my musical cup of tea, she represented a particular type of artistry, and I respect that (and no, I really never cared about her tearing up that picture of the Pope...she was trying to give voice to institutionalized religious oppression, which is actually worse now here than in Ireland).
Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson tell us that blue states are planning to use shield laws to send abortion pills to patients in red states, which I think is a good way to say “FU” to the wingnuts on this issue; shield laws have apparently been put into practice in the EU also, which is where the idea comes from I believe...kind of unbelievable that, in this day and age, we have to create what amounts to an “underground railroad” like this, but thanks to wingnut judges along with the execrable Leonard Leo and The Federalist Society, we are where we indeed are...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that Hunter Biden’s lawyers have filed an ethics complaint against Marjorie Traitor Greene for introducing those nude pics in that congressional hearing last week...yeah, Greene should end up in the slam for that, and I don’t say that lightly, but speaking only for myself, I’ve had enough of the utter nonsense of that bunch and it’s waaaay past time for somebody to pay a price for it, and with the exception of Boebert, who else is more deserving?...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Alabama Repugs flipping off the SCOTUS, more specifically, on a ruling that would require the voting map in that state to be redrawn to include a second majority African American district...
...and Eric Swalwell talks about “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy trying to expunge Trump’s impeachments, which I don't even think is a thing (and one of those 19 U.S. House Repugs in Biden-won districts is this guy of course – to do something about Bri-Fi, click here...and good for Swalwell to mention rebuilding that section of I-95, which was a partnership with the Feds and PA Dems and was indeed a remarkable accomplishment...and yes, I know we have to pay attention to Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence from time to time, but to be honest, I’m tired of wasting calories on that narcissistic sociopath; put him in the slam for 20 years and be done with it)...
...and David Doel tells us about a volunteer group in Houston (Food Not Bombs) which has been fined thousands apparently for feeding the homeless outside of a library (doing so when the place is closed after hours...and yeah, four cops are just standing there waiting to ticket the group – can’t get my head around the stoo-pidity, I have to admit)...and in case anybody out there is thinking “oh, there he goes bashing Repugs again”...well, they’re at least partly to blame for what goes on in this country, but Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is a Dem...and yeah, I think Doel is exactly right that all of this is because the mayor doesn’t want the homeless near city hall...
...and this is a bit of a summer song...looks like the mercury is going to climb again in these parts, so please be careful and look in on anybody who’s infirmed or elderly if you can as well as kids, and don’t forget your pets either if you have them.
