Tuesday Stuff

Sam Seder of The Majority Report gives us a video of President Biden and a gentleman from North Carolina talking about Medicare negotiating for lower drug prices (for about the top 50 drugs, anyway...yeah, I’m sure a lot of that speech was prepared, but that doesn’t make it any less true)...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses college students at West Virginia University protesting budget cuts affecting curricula, mainly liberal arts of course (and 169 faculty positions? God almighty) – this is the real story I wanted to highlight; New Hampshire Republicans can all eat each other’s faces as far as I’m concerned (figuratively speaking of course)...



...and Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page read an Email from a woman seeking an abortion in post-Roe America...to be honest, part of me is wondering why this woman didn’t have her tubes tied or is her partner didn’t take some protection measure on his own (pregnant at 47?), but that’s not my business and it’s not the real issue here...also, kudos to Dem Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for doing his part to protect women’s bodily autonomy (NSFW/H)...



...and tied to the abortion issue also, Farron Cousins tells us about lunatic Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who apparently is planning to bring criminal charges against anyone who helps a woman leave his state to get an abortion (GREAT point by Farron Cousins about how the Commerce Clause allows someone to say “F you” to Marshall and help a woman seeking an abortion anyway, but yes, this will indeed have a chilling effect, which is what Marshall and the life forms who support him want of course)...



...well, in a story focused on roughly the same geographic area as the prior video, this report from CNN's Jake Tapper tells us about the gay Louisiana pediatric cardiologist who was pretty much forced to leave his state to practice somewhere else because of laws about not discussing gender identity for grades K through 12...kids are pretty smart IMO and they can tell the difference between kind, caring adults loving and respecting them for who they are as opposed to intolerant a-hole parents and politicians trying to cram an obtuse set of beliefs down their throats...



...and also from the “FAFO” file, I give you this Lincoln Project clip about 1/6 insurrectionist Joseph Biggs and his sentencing (NSFW/H - more here)...



...and here is today's regional weather forecast...



...and RIP Steve Harwell of Smashmouth...

Monday Stuff

This clip from More Perfect Union tells us about the standoff that could shut down the auto industry...looks like autoworkers for Ford, GM, and Stellantis (first time I’ve heard of that third automaker) may strike for pay raises to make up for lost ground from The Great Recession, along with other stipulations in a proposed new contract, including trying to end the practice of using “supplemental workers” as full-time employees, which is another lowdown trick to cheat the workforce...



...and Ana of TYT tells us that a Kroger employee in Tennessee died from extreme heat while working in the salvage department of the grocery store, leading into more information on workers dying or getting sick form the heat across the country, particularly in Texas (big surprise, I know)...



...and this video from Second Thought asks Why Managers Exist (interesting little “Seinfeld” spoof there...mildly NSFW/H...”Managers just became a step in how (capitalists) made their decisions, not a power that could challenge their authority,” and “Exploitation never disappears, it only changes how it presents itself according to the complaints of its time,” indeed...I think he’s a little glib on the role of managers to be honest – they do have actual responsibility, to a point of course – but when it comes to true corporate power sharing, he’s definitely right...clip goes through the Industrial Revolution to the present day, and as much as I detest Reagan and Thatcher, to be fair, I think heads of state prior to those two are guilty of subservience to neoliberalist ideology also)...



...and Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! discuss Haitian workers in impoverished conditions at sugar plants in the Dominican Republic; trying to improve conditions by installing solar panels for communities without electricity (Goodman and Gonzalez moderate the interview with Arturo Massol-Deyá of the Puerto Rican environmental group Casa Pueblo, or House of the People...more here)...



....and here’s a reminder of the importance of the holiday, as well as the labor movement overall (more here , here, here, here, and a true relic is here...and as noted here, the beat goes on, you might say)…



...and here is a tune for the occasion.

Sunday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about Pope Francis criticizing conservative Catholics for believing ideology over church doctrine; at least, that’s how I interpret the issue (here)...as Kyle says, people criticizing the pope now had no issues with Benedict or John Paul II since what came from the Vatican aligned with their beliefs...to me, faith should be a constant regardless; yes, there are plenty of times when I've disagreed with the doctrine from Rome, but that doesn’t mean that I ever question the legitimacy of what comes from the “vicar of Christ”...oh, and I can honestly do without Kyle’s snark about the transubstantiation, but I get it that he’s not a believer, and that’s OK...



...and as long as we’re talking about the nexus, if you will, between politics and conservative ideology, allow me to present this from Mike Figueredo about a gay Trump official getting roasted for condemning Texas’s ban on his group (God almighty, bro, when the $#@! are you going to get the memo that THEY THINK YOU’RE NOTHING??!! And yeah, we’re talking about the effing “Log Cabin Republicans” again) – and the fact that it’s Ric Grenell who is SUCH A TRUMPIST LACKEY (especially on the X/Bird app/whenever King Elon I is calling it these days as he ruins it) is truly the cherry on the icing of this sh*t sundae...as Figueredo says, if Grenell thinks that the “party of Lincoln” is going to do ONE DAMN THING to alienate their hard core evangelical base, particularly at the expense of LGBTQ individuals, then he’s more delusional than I can imagine (NSFW/H)...



...and the latest clip form Leeja Miller explains how Money Is Ruining Democracy (yep)...didn’t know about the Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1910, and also, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971 that allowed corporations to create PACs...Buckley v. Valeo in ’76 was the beginning of loosening the law on “independent” campaign finance spending, further eroding FECA...this may be the best video I’ve yet seen explaining all of the legal stuff that got us to this point...doesn’t get into all of the attacks waged by Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and his pals against the BCRA (otherwise known as McCain-Feingold), but I realize she can’t cover everything or else this video might run for about 24 hours (also NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of dark money, David Doel tells us that it looks like the Super PAC for Guv #DeathSantis is scaling back its operations big time in states with a lot of delegates for Super Tuesday...and no, I can’t believe we’re even considering this stuff right now – ugh (but way too bad for the “war on woke” candidate)...and yeah, I get it that the Dem Party in Flori-DUUH! needs a lot of work to be sure as Doel mentions, but unfortunately, what wins in that state and elsewhere is the Repugs’ superior ground game and voter outreach, including to Hispanic voters (gosh, voters speaking a language besides English; what a concept, huh @DNC?)...when #DeathSantis pulled that stunt with tricking the African American voters with criminal records into illegally registering (here) and I didn’t hear a peep out of Charlie Crist and Val Demings in response, I knew those two were toast in their respective elections (another mildly NSFW/H clip)...



...and Farron Cousins gives us what I would call a pretty clear-eyed analysis of something called the Republican Accountability Group, or whatever this outfit is...yeah, as Cousins says, they’re right about Our Ochre Abomination, but they’re WRONG to support the “party of Lincoln” in any way whatsoever for the reasons Cousins states, and more...



...and my schedule got a little discombobulated for a variety of reasons, so instead of a “Friday with Frank” clip to mark the unofficial end of summer (sniff), I now present some “Sunday With Sinatra” instead, though I have to admit that I still have a couple of “summer” tunes I plan to get to before I officially “ring down the curtain,” for what it’s worth.

Saturday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that Marjorie Trailer Park Greene recently demanded that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao resign from the Senate after another episode where McConnell froze in response to a reporter’s question...I have plenty of political issues with the utterly wretched Kentucky U.S. Senator, but despite what he and his pals wish for us, I don’t wish for any illness towards him...yes, you can argue that his health situation means he needs to give it up, but you can say that about Di-Fi on our side too of course as Cousins notes (and yeah, it’s typically cowardly and disgusting for Greene to take swipes at Sen. John Fetterman and #46 – and from that same party, I have a pretty damn low opinion of this person also, who somehow is trying to remain relevant as a candidate for preznit)...



...and I know this video is a few days old, but I still thought it was some pretty relevant stuff from Beau on the water problems in “the land of the yellow rose,” Houston in particular (and this is behind a paywall – sorry – but it takes a good, long, hard look at how corrupt ERCOT is in that state)...



...and Yasmin Khan of Rebel HQ tells us that someone in Alabama associated with the political party that screeches the loudest about voter fraud was nabbed for – wait for it! – voter fraud for real (more here)...



...continuing, Jesse Dollemore gives us more evidence that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence wants to imprison Dems if, by some utterly nightmarish circumstance, he’s re-elected next year...I can’t believe Glenn Beck is still out there grifting (maybe I shouldn’t be surprised), but that does seem to be the case - and I'll add that book to my reading list (and of course, what would Repug demagoguery be without references to the “Democrat Party”?)...



...also, Cenk, Michael Shure and Aida Rodriguez tell us that Biden has removed pot as a Schedule I drug, moving it to Schedule III (yes, good news, and I’ll admit I don’t know all the legal whys and wherefores, but I STILL don’t know why the $#@! pot dispensaries can’t operate like normal businesses AT LONG FREAKING LAST...I’m good with Cenk here until at about 11:00, arguing that Biden is dishonest because he didn’t fight for the public option in health care reform – I’m not going to go back and research that even though Cenk may be right, but I’m just saying that that’s a rather gratuitous slap at #46 and the Dems...pot legalization and decriminalization polls well with older voters too, though personally I’m more in favor of the latter than the former; there should be conditions behind legalization for recreational use IMO)...



...and RIP Jimmy Buffett...I always liked his songs and I think, more than anything else, he just wanted to put on a good show for folks, which he did for a hell of a long time; my biggest problem was with a-hole yuppies in management who treated their workers like crap, but then would say “Whoo-hoo! Buffett’s coming to the Camden Waterfront (or whatever it’s called now), and I’ve got tickets, so I can put on my parrot head, drink too much and generally act like a total idiot!” or words to that effect of course, but that wasn’t Buffett’s fault...he also did a terrific cover of “Pacing The Cage” by Bruce Cockburn...I’ve referenced this clip from David Letterman in the past, and I’m glad to show it once more now, though I wish it weren’t for this occasion.



Update 9/3/23: Good times.

Thursday Stuff

David Doel discusses The Roger Ailes BS Factory deciding to turn on Vivek Ramaswamy...aww, poor widdle baby (yeah, it is kind of amusing to hear Vivek R. try and confront Al Sharpton over a lack of political experience...take a look in the freaking mirror, dude! And yeah, when you’ve crossed Eminem, you’re in dangerous territory...interesting report discussing what a conniving shyster Ramaswamy truly is, which makes him perfect for that party I know)...



Update 9/1/23: Probably some duplication here, but I think it needs to be pointed out all the same.

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that Jesse Watters of the previously noted utter trash network of an alleged “news” channel recently said that African Americans like Trump because he’s a criminal...gee, racism much? And apparently Charlie Kirk chimed in on this also...oh yeah, “rage against the regime” is soooo clever...NOT! (NSFW/H)...



...and I suppose I probably should leave the whole Oliver Anthony thing alone at this point, but Mike Figueredo tells us that Anthony tried to clarify himself and managed to be more incoherent...maybe the song is unintentionally representing more people because it IS incoherent politically and there’s a lot of that out there, in no small part because of confusion on the issues caused by our “both sides” corporate media IMO (NSFW/H)...and I have to admit that I didn’t have actually agreeing with Marc Thiessen on my Bingo card, but there you are...this all reminds me of the dustup when The Sainted Ronnie R gave credit to Bruce Springsteen for “Born In The U.S.A.” without having the first clue of what the song was about...start out with the truth, as in someone’s true circumstance, and craft a song about THAT instead of navel-gazing for no good reason...and no, I don’t think the song is an endorsement of Dems either in any way...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy appears to be moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry on President Biden...hang this around the necks of EVERY REPUBLICAN POLITICIAN IN THIS COUNTRY!! And by the way, one of those “R plus 3-4” U.S. House reps Cousins mentions happens to be this guy (and to do something about him, click here)...



...and in this New York Times video, 5 college students are interviewed about “legacy admissions,” which they apparently benefitted from when they were accepted (“affirmative action for the rich” indeed, it seems)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to drummer Danny Seraphine of Chicago - hope it was a good one.

Wednesday Stuff

Francesca Fiorentini and Nina Turner discuss the Biden/Harris ad to protect abortion rights (I’ll grant Turner's point that Roe wasn’t “codified” when it should have been, but I blame the Democratic Party at large for that as opposed to one president...the “D” team should have seen the game the other side was playing on abortion and fought back – of course, HRC said in ’16 that the SCOTUS was on the ballot and too damn many people blew her off, and that played a part in our current mess also...really, though, what we need is a constitutional amendment on this, as well as birth control, interracial and same-sex marriage, etc., since that seems to be only way to really beat the wingnuts on this stuff, but good luck with all of that when we, to this point, still can’t get the ERA done in this country, which isn’t even binding, but just a recommendation that women get paid the same as men...Turner also assumes that Biden could have gotten Manchinema to do what he wanted on the filibuster; would that that were true...to be honest, I think Turner’s take on Biden’s role in this is a little skewed, to put it mildly – not saying Biden is perfect, but only that he can’t just tell Congress to “make it so” by snapping his fingers or whatever)...



...and in a related item, Beau tells us that the “party of Lincoln” thinks it should restrict reproductive rights on the federal level...yeah, keep playing that number despite the fact that it’s MASSIVELY UNPOPULAR, and do the Dems’ work for them of having to remind voters about how wretched the Repugs are on this issue in particular...



...and Thom Hartmann asks if the governor of Flori-DUUUH! Ron #DeathSantis inspired the Jacksonville gunman...I realize we’ll never know, but interesting, and important, to speculate (Thom goes down the list of policies from the wretched governor of that state that likely played a role in their recent gun carnage)...



...and Farron Cousins focuses on another Repug candidate for preznit, and that would be Nikki Haley, who apparently wants Gen Zs and millennials to work until they’re dust (assuming they can all find decent paying jobs of course)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT bring us the story of a CEO of a bank in Australia who’s forcing employees back to the workplace for their “mental health”...I actually agree with the take here that the CEO has the right to encourage the work force to come back to the office, even if only for a couple of days a week (she may have just misspoke on the “mental health” thing; she probably would have been fine if she left that out)...it’s kind of a “push pull” thing with the workers; I definitely get it (e.g., at what point does it become financially prohibitive given commuting costs, for example, versus just staying at home and doing the work there)...I’m a little surprised Ana and Cenk didn’t know what “hot desking” was, which means that where you end up working when you DO come back to the office is kind of a crapshoot...



...and when it comes to the latest developments concerning Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, Rachel Maddow tells us what it could be like if, by some horrific possibility, #45 manages to get elected again (kind of restating the obvious, but it needs to be repeated over and over IMO...this is the kind of typically restrained corporate media take that I’ve come to expect from The Comcast Network...nothing personally against Maddow, but I almost expected her to start blinking her eyes in some kind of code like a hostage, as if to say “DON’T YOU FREAKING PEOPLE REALIZE THE GAME THAT’S BEING PLAYED HERE BY MANGO MUSSOLINI AND HIS MINIONS? WAKE THE F*CK UP!”...more here)...



...and I’ve had this kicking around for about a week or so, and I think this is the time to present it (actually some GOOD news)...U.S. scientists have achieved a net energy gain for the 2nd time in a nuclear fusion reaction...I mean, it’s not like we’re going to be living in the world of “The Jetsons” tomorrow, but it’s still cool stuff I have to say (report is from the CBC)...



...and here’s a bit of an inspirational newer tune to help us keep trying to bend that arc towards justice, as MLK once said (and I know we recently observed the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and the “I Have A Dream” speech – more here).

Tuesday Stuff

Leeja Miller tells us Why Republicans Are So Chauvinist, or something (NSFW/H...interesting analysis of the Barbie movie I have to say, and no, I have no intention of seeing it, though I did see “Oppenheimer,” and as far as I’m concerned, they should just give Christopher Nolan the Oscar now, as well as Cillian Murphy...the important history lesson starts at about 10:48 with Betty Friedan and her book The Feminine Mystique from 1963, and I think it’s safe to say that that book broke a lot of ground...I’d forgotten about exactly what happened with the ERA, but yeah, we can thank Phyllis Schlafly and The Sainted Ronnie R for killing it thus far...”black and white thinking will be the death of us all” – I hope not of course, but we’ll see...also, “Anti-feminism must be understood as part of a larger ecosystem of ideological polarization, social segregation, and misperceptions.” – uh, yep)...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us more about the recent Jacksonville, FL shooting, with more info on the murderous coward who perpetrated it (I don’t know what Vivek Ramaswamy said about race in that “debate” that was so terrible, but as far as I’m concerned, anyone who has the gall to believe that they can lecture Don Lemon, of all people, about African Americans by saying that they owe whatever civil rights they’ve won to the Second Amendment, as noted here, should not be taken seriously any longer on a damn thing)...



...and Ana of TYT tells us about some alleged health insurer called Corizon Health which supposedly caters to prisons; apparently, they’re looking at lawsuits over alleged malpractice, approximately 475 total...dear God (the video discusses the “Texas Two-Step,” which appears to be some corporate maneuver to escape liability and declare bankruptcy at the same time – bleeping criminals all!)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with Jon Shelton, author of “The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy” (glad to hear Shelton make the connection between public education and trying to be informed citizens in a democracy, which is exactly what the wingnuts want to utterly destroy...also good to hear a fairer take on the Truman Administration; yes, it was a bit of a complicated legacy, but there was “glass half full” stuff for sure, like his education commission as Shelton points out)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that the “one percent” knows that Mango Mussolini can skate in the Repug primary, but he has no shot in the general election (and boy, is Cousins ever right about Repugs falling in line on election day...it will be interesting to see if an alternative to Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence emerges from this motley group, but in the final analysis, I think we should keep this foremost in our thoughts from Will Bunch)...



...and RIP David LaFlamme of It’s A Beautiful Day, with their signature hit from “back in the day.”

Monday Stuff

Katie Phang of MSNBC speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep Max Frost of Flori-DUUH! on this country’s most recent gun carnage in Jacksonville; yes, it’s true that the person who pulled the trigger was a lone nut who apparently was influenced by neo-Nazi garbage (don’t have to worry about “allegedly” since he’s dead), but anybody who doesn’t feel a shred of blame for propagating hate of any kind (LGBTQ, racial, anti-immigrant, etc.) and helping to create the festering toxic stew that allowed this character to bubble to the surface truly has no soul (and this is about as dumb a “take” as you can expect from Repug prez wannabe Vivek Ramaswamy...and apparently that state's guv #DeathSantis got an earful when he spoke publicly on it...more on him a little later)...



...and in the “stoo-pid is as stoo-pid does” category, Retired Army Major Richard Ojeda (definitely not him) tells us that the wingnuts are apparently trying to be funny again by continuing to punch down, as evidenced by this “Tyrus” guy who, as Ojeda explains, was accused of sexual harassment at that putrid noxious outhouse of an alleged TV network (where that “Gutfeld” mess airs)...



...and apparently (and with a nod to a clip from last Friday), apparently Kid Rock and Oliver Anthony have gone “woke”...I’m not a bit surprised to find out that Kid Rock really drinks Bud Light and apparently serves it at his bar, even though he professes to hate the product, and I didn’t know anything about this Oliver Anthony guy until this clip, but he apparently has some reservations about the wingnuts embracing his song (NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen gives us additional info on Anthony – looks like his song was really aimed at classism/elitism and wasn’t meant to be some jingoistic tune on behalf of one side or the other, really; points to him for his honesty (the clip also includes that nonsense in the debate from #DeathSantis about making America like Flori-DUUH!, and a great response from Billy Bragg is here – NSFW/H once more)...

via GIPHY

...and as long as we’re mentioning “The Sunshine State,” I should also include this More Perfect Union video about how #DeathSantis is letting billionaires destroy his state...looks like the guv got this $30K golf simulator from a real estate mogul, more or less, and 42 of these billionaire cretins are fronting #DeathSantis, according to investigative journalist Jason Garcia (and it also looks like these real estate criminals are doing everything possible to fight basic landlord/tenant protections against raising rent, eviction moratoriums, etc, all while screaming like spoiled little brats for their damn tax cuts...clip has to do with the ruin inflicted when it comes to housing, insurance and energy...after watching this report, I’d sooner contemplate moving to Yemen than I would to #DeathSantis-stan)...



...and given the recent passing of Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake, I guess I'm almost legally obligated to show this video.

Friday Stuff

PREACH, JOY REID! (from here)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that there apparently are issues on the “home front” for Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack; this is a bit of a twist on the usual stuff, since, according to the source noted in the clip, Melania is “furious” with you-know-who over mentioning Barron Trump online...she’s another one from this sorry, pathetic cabal, but I grudgingly have to admit that, on this one occasion anyway, she has a point...kids should be off limits, though that never stopped the wingnuts from going after Amy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, or Sasha or Malia Obama...



...and with this clip, I suppose I’m going back a bit on my pledge not to pay much attention to that Repug prez candidates’ train wreck last Wednesday evening – c’est dommage...Jesse Dollemore rightly called it a “clearinghouse of assh*le-ry” IMO...we see ”Governor Bully” getting it from the crowd for going after Dear Leader Trump...and yeah, that whole “raised hand” moment was also typically pathetic for this bunch, and that includes the debate moderators, but seriously, what else could we expect from Fix Noise?...



...and speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, Brian Kilmeade (of course) mocks Jake Tapper for discussing climate change with Dem U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii...actually, knowledge of climate change goes beyond the ‘70s all the way back to 1959 as noted here (Emma of TMR tells us about it)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that even Repug voters don’t care about the “war on woke”; that talking point is polling at barely 50% among likely GOP voters...looks like this is a big reason why Guv #DeathSantis and his chances for the Repug nom for prez are fading away...awwww (report also tells us about all of the conventions cancelling from Flori-DUUUH! over this and other nonsense from that state’s utter clown of a governor...NSFW/H)...



...and I’m continuing to work my way down the list of summer selections with this tune.

Thursday Stuff

(By the way, if you’re looking for analysis of sorts related to the Republican candidates’ clown show sans #45 on Wednesday evening, this isn’t the right place. I heard that Vivek got his head handed to him by Governor Bully...so many attack lines you can use to go at Christie if you want, but none would probably play for that audience. I guess this is about as good of an analysis that I’ve seen; as far as I’m concerned, those knuckleheads consume way too much of the attention of our corporate media anyway...if there was anything I might have been interested in, it would be to see someone ask Tim Scott about abortion again to watch him lose his mind trying to flip-flop his way out of answering...also to see if Doug Burgum has a pulse.)

Turning to the videos...I have to admit that I’m glad to see “Dark Brandon” go on the offensive here – would that WAAAY MORE DEMS would follow that example...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about the Bureau of ATF under #46 rescinding the ability of gun sellers to allow their weapons of mass carnage to be sold on the (presumably) open market (122 out of about 16,500 isn’t even one percent, by the way, but it’s still better than nothing; I more or less did the math on that...and I think Kyle is referring to this mess, by the way)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about the allies of Mango Mussolini getting humiliated after their mug shots were posted online in response to the Georgia election fraud charges from D.A. Fani Willis (the one for the “mayor of 9/11” is just too damn precious)...I wish they could have done a ”perp walk” for “America’s Mayor”; it definitely would have been appropriate...and I wonder if Jenna Ellis thought it was a photo shoot for Redbook or Good Housekeeping or something?...



...and pursuant to the prior clip a bit, Lawrence O’Donnell tells us that it looks like some of the fellow Georgia defendants of Our Tiny-Handed Treasonous Former *president are flipping on each other – what an unbelievable bunch of knuckleheads (I’d say it’s Keystone Kops Time, but that’s an insult to the Keystone Kops)...pass the popcorn...



...and I know we’ve been poking fun at the various bottom-feeders surrounding Former President Fergus Laing (as well as the “party of Lincoln” in general), but Thom Hartmann has a discussion with a caller over the very serious topic of foreign operatives who’ve likely been killed or gone missing as a result of the failure of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence to secure top secret intel, which he likely sold to the highest bidder (MBS, Vlad The Butcher, etc.)...



...and somehow I have a feeling that, given all of the legal travails of the Georgia co-defendants in the election fraud case from Fulton County DA Fani Willis, it will be nearly impossible for everyone named in the indictment to follow the advice of the title of this song (though, on the other hand, maybe that’s what got them into trouble in the first place).

Wednesday Stuff

Chris Hayes speaks with journalist Noah Goldberg of the LA Times about the murder of CA shop owner Lauri Carleton, who courageously flew a pride flag over her shop before she was shot to death by some apparently “pro life” lunatic (here)...is it my imagination, or are there *crickets* from the other side in response to this? I guess that’s not surprising given the wingnut embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse, George Zimmerman, etc...



...and speaking of right-wing insanity, Jayar Jackson and Aida Rodriguez discuss how the wingnuts are realizing (maybe) that their anti-abortion and anti-trans talking points didn’t work in recent related elections in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, and aside from trying to suppress younger voters from exercising their franchise, the “party of Lincoln” doesn’t know what to do about it...of course, they could embrace policies shared by the majority of their constituents, but their “funders” wouldn’t like that I’m sure...GREAT point by Rodriguez about the REAL issues the wingnuts don’t want people to focus on, as opposed to trying to “trans” your kids...GMAFB! (and this is the politician Jayar was referring to, by the way; that would be Tim Burchett)...



...oh, and of course another area of attack for the “party of Lincoln” is in education, and one example is Arkansas, where schools are apparently defying Governor Sarah Huckabilly Sanders on teaching AP African American studies; that state’s DOE has ruled that the students won’t receive college credit I believe for the course, but the schools said they’ll go ahead with the course anyway (Rayy Vana, Cenk and Yasmin Khan...kind of a pointless slam by Cenk on Bill Clinton here, but I guess he can make a case for that)...



...oh, and when it comes to the wingnut outrage du jour, Jesse Dollemore tells us how the supposedly responsible opposition is giving it to President Biden for visiting Hawaii (at the scene of the devastating fires) and...petting a dog (here)? – Jesse really lays into the Gropenfuhrer, and I’m here for all of it and more (and meanwhile, apart from the DC media bubble, I give you this)...



...and in this latest video from More Perfect Union (“The Classroom”), Alice Cappelle asks ”Could The U.S. Have a General Strike Like France?”...I wasn’t aware of the U.S. overtaking Europe in the late ‘70s when it came to who worked more hours, but it does fit the sorry pattern of that era..and of course Maggie Thatcher (a “man in a frock,” according to the late, great Glenda Jackson) brought neoliberalism to the UK, and to the EU by extension...I’m not sure about the answer to the question either, especially since some states have passed laws making protests illegal (here), but that doesn’t mean that we should give up trying to organize...



...and considering what I’m sure may the unintentional hilarity of the nonsense from tonight’s GOP “debate” (pretty much a “race for second place” as those who spend more time preoccupied with this stuff than I do have pointed out), I didn’t think it would hurt to present something amusing for real, especially since this tune went gold 45 years ago on this day.

Tuesday Stuff

Yasmin Khan of Rebel HQ informs us that Jessica Tarlov of Fix Noise laid a bit of a “truth bomb” on the other knuckleheads of her network who were spinning furiously to try and come up with some bad news on #46 (didn’t know about this “doom loop” tour, which is typically disgusting for those characters...saying she knows of a small town notable for “Jesus and meth” is sadly typical I’m sure)...



...and speaking of media idiocy, Kyle Kulinski is here to tell us that our beloved ”fourth estate” is basically zeroing out any mention of climate change in their reporting of the Hawaii wildfires (Media Matters did an analysis and found that 4 percent of the coverage mentioned the climate crisis, which is basically nothing...un-freaking-believable!)...



...and Jayar Jackson and Aida Rodriguez of The Damage Report tell us about Louisiana AG candidate Liz Murril (you can guess the political party I’m sure), who says that anything you can buy illegally online contains fentanyl, or something, including abortion bills which, last I checked, weren’t illegal...yet – hopefully that won’t change, but we’ll see with some of these goofball judges...also, I’m not going to try and verify what Murril is talking about here because I’m sure these words are intended for wingnut consumption and pretty much nothing else...Rodriguez paints with a pretty broad brush here IMO, but I find it hard to argue with her...



...and the latest video from Second Thought tells us about America’s Forgotten Socialist History...yeah, it all started with those damn Native Americans and their collective ownership (tongue-in-cheek here of course)...the clip mentions the organized labor movement from the 1820s to the 1860s, including the Knights of Labor (started in 1889, which grew to 700K members by 1886, the same year as the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, which took place on 5/1...that was the day of strikes across the U.S. to demand the 8-hour workday)...I think he’s wrong about the origins of policing in this country, though; it really goes back to landowners trying to keep their workers in line...and yeah, I’m talking about slavery on southern plantations basically...also discusses the 1894 Pullman strike...nice work to show how much socialists were part of the history of the ”red scares” and the movement towards racial equality in this country...I’d mention fighting the push for child labor, but unfortunately, that’s coming back in this country, which supposedly “loves the kids”...tell me another one...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/20/15...it looks like the “party of Lincoln” is going to try and stage a presidential candidates’ debate tomorrow night (or their version of a legitimate debate), with one rather large orange omission as noted here, and with that in mind, I bring you the following, which I thought was amusing (and with at least one of the candidates in this clip slated to make a return appearance tomorrow)...



...and I’m continuing to work my way down the list of summer selections with this tune.

Monday Stuff

Rayy Vana and Jackson White of The Damage Report bring us the news that a 3-year-old child died on one of Greg Abbott’s migrant forced bus rides ("oh, but they signed a waiver promising a job and a place to live"...more lies), this time to Chicago, and apparently at least one other child that we know about expired also for the same reason...if we had a government that actually represented us, we would have congressional hearings into this that actually mattered, but part of what’s going on here I’m sure is that the prison industrial complex in this country (which has a big role to play in all of this) are big campaign funders, which I’m sure has a lot to do with nothing happening; that’s overwhelmingly the fault of Repugs, but some Dems are also to blame too...



...so when it comes to kids, what is the “party of Lincoln” and their media toadies preoccupied with instead? As Newsmax’s Eric Bolling puts it, those “little felt Communists” at Sesame Street...what a pitiable joke (Ana and Cenk)...



...and as long as we're on the subject of conservative idiocy and/or the appearance at least of criminality, it seems like nary a week goes by without some mention of Alabama’s U.S. Senatorial mistake Tommy Tuberville, and this time, it has to do with him making bank on trading futures commodities...and gee, whaddaya know? His committee oversee those businesses, and apparently, he has other similar financial corruption issues, as Adrienne Lawrence and Brett Erlich tell us (and when even big stupid head Matt freaking Gaetz of all people supports a ban on stock trading, you KNOW it’s way past time for that...and when it comes to Tubervile, let's not forget this)...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us how the National Right to Work Foundation (hmmm, just smell the Astroturf!) is doing the anti-union dirty work for Starbucks (and when you follow the money, yeah, it goes right to the typical wingnut billionaires who want to make as much money as they can destroying the planet and dragging everything and everyone down with them)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that a Montana judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by 16 young climate activists can go forward because of risks posed to the health of the plaintiffs...good news for a change...a long way to go until a (hopefully) victory, but progress...and as Cousins notes, now we have to identify someone to go after in the suit, which will be the hard part, but again, things are going forward for now...



...and RIP Bobby Eli of Philly International records, who co-wrote the following tune and played a big role in creating some of the biggest hits from the biggest groups of that era (the ‘70s primarily, that is).

Friday Stuff

Thom Hartmann asks Why Do Billionaires Fund Anti-Black and Anti-Trans political movements (the statistics Thom presents are staggering, with gun violence as the leading cause of death in this country)...also, I’d never heard a number before on all of the dough stolen from the middle class of this country stretching back to The Sainted Ronnie R, but $51 trillion probably makes sense – and it’s heartbreaking also to realize what happened once more to the For The People Act and who the culprits are for its likely demise; all of them should be summarily tossed (including Manchin and Sinema) and Dems elected instead (REAL ones in the latter two cases), but good luck expecting the Trumpers and independent voters to go along with that (and when it comes to the real-world impact of hating LGBTQ folks, I give you this...more here)...



Update 8/20/23: Ugh (and why is this not surprising?)

...and Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Channel tells us about the billionaires who control Republican politicians (and more than a couple of SCOTUS justices), with commentary also from Lawrence Lessig...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report brings us the story of Wisconsin Repug state senator Cory Tomczyk, who is trying to sue a newspaper out of existence for publishing an anti-gay slur that he apparently said in public, in front of witnesses; he has also admitted to using the slur in the past...”waging lawfare” indeed (more here – mildly NSFW/H)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, Brian Karem of Meidas Touch discusses media consolidation since the ruinous years of Our 40th President...I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all that so much of what afflicts this country goes back to that sorry era (I would argue even further than that, to Tricky Dick at least)...this is an update to the story of the cops shutting down the Marion County, KS newspaper; the warrant to allow this was approved by wingnut judge Laura Viar, who seems to have her own closet skeletons to hide, allegedly of course, as well as referencing the previously noted Wisconsin case...Karem correctly calls for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine (which would have to be updated anyway to take cable TV news into account, and it would have to survive the inevitable legal challenges), and I would also call for a return to the equal time requirement, and no, they’re not both the same thing – maybe a constitutional amendment for both? Yeah, I know, good luck with that too...



...and in keeping with the theme of “the fourth estate” (and hacks such as this guy - not Atrios of course), Sam and Emma of TMR speak with Jon Marshall on how the Repugs’ war on the “liberal media” puts us all at risk – I’d forgotten about Biden and the “disinformation governance board” or whatever that was...pretty sure Cancun Cruz and his fellow lunatics went nuts over it, despite, or probably because of, its well-intended goals (sad but not surprising that the COVID conspiracy BS got over four times the views of what I would call legitimate news, but not surprising...I wish I had a magic answer for this, but I really don’t; it’s going to be a hardass slog trying to reverse the damage to our discourse going back about 40 years, really)...



...and that chaise lounge chair, or whatever that is, looks pretty inviting I must say – I think this tune fits for the weather in these parts...hope it’s nice where you are also.

Thursday Stuff

(The cartoon quote recalls one of the all-time great gangster pics IMO, FWIW).

Chris Hayes speaks with Noah Bookbinder of CREW, who makes what I would call a compelling case that Our Treasonous Orange Crapsack can’t legally run for preznit again because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment – works for me (citing a precedent in New Mexico)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen speaks with election attorney Marc Elias, who does a deeper dive into Mango Mussolini’s 4th indictment brought by Fani Willis, this one for the Georgia garbage (along with 18 others I believe), and RICO charges are in the picture this time...couldn’t happen to a more deserving traitorous scumbag (pretty solid analysis of this stuff from Elias IMO)...



...and Beau speculates on whether or not AZ will be the next state to bring an indictment against #45 – yeah, it kind of makes sense not to hop too quick on the “oh, AZ is going to indict him also” bandwagon as Beau says (and wouldn’t it be just too sweet if the state laying low with filing future criminal charges is our own beloved commonwealth of PA? And yes, I know the difference between a state and a commonwealth)...



...and Farron Cousins, sitting in for David Pakman, tells us about some Trump-loving maniac doxing the grand jury in the Georgia trial of Combover Caligula (and yes, as Cousins says, this stuff and the threats are never OK regardless of which side it’s coming from, but it seems to be coming overwhelmingly from the right)...



...and speaking of threats, it looks like conservative “Christian” broadcaster Steve Deace, on something called Blaze TV, sez we should just start the hangings now as opposed to, y’know, paying attention to dumb stuff like science and vaccine clinical tests (still ranting about COVID, unbelievably enough) – David Shuster tells us more (more on this idiot Deace is here)...



...and I have a feeling that this video was filmed in North Brunswick, NJ, but I’m not sure...I’ll have to check it out a little more (nice tune, though).

Wednesday Stuff

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.

Tuesday Stuff

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)...



Update 8/16/23: Curiouser and curiouser (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.

Monday Stuff

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)...

via GIPHY

...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.