I know I’m a few days late here, but I guess attention must be paid to that ridiculous freak show last Wednesday that masqueraded as a Repug Party prez candidates’ debate...so Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Pence want a national ban on gender affirming care and requiring that schools “out” kids who may be trans, huh? Nah, we’re not devolving into Nazi Germany much, are we (Francesca and Farron Cousins of The Damage Report discuss)...
...and Robert Reich gives us another useful reminder about what exactly it is that our government is supposed to do for us by taxation; namely, providing services, performing general maintenance for our aging infrastructure, and yes, national defense, among other needs (a response to everyone decrying the allegedly awful “s” word)...
...and the latest from Second Thought tells us more about Why The Government Can’t Run Out of Money (admittedly dry but still interesting stuff on how foreign currency can lead to inflation, among many other points of discussion, to say nothing of price gouging...”The problem with government spending is profit,” which I always suspected, and I’m glad to see that explained here...good to see the point raised at about 13:50 about how we can influence our government’s money decisions...”The only obstacle left is how much improving people’s lives costs the capitalist ruling class” indeed)...
...and Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Channel brings us Dem U.S. House Rep Jasmine Crockett commendably going off during the utterly bogus Biden impeachment inquiry, along with Repug Rep Brandon Williams smugly telling everybody that he would continue to collect a paycheck during the shutdown even though many, many other federal employees and contractors wouldn’t be able to do that (and yes, yet another temporary agreement was reached as noted here...NSFW/H)...
...and Jayar and Rayy Vana tell us about John Fetterman’s plan to forgive school lunch debt (Sheldon Whitehouse and Peter Welch in the Senate are also on board as noted – Farron Cousins alluded to this earlier)...yeah, let’s throw the “personal responsibility” BS at HUNGRY FREAKING KIDS, you effing Repug ghouls! – and yeah, the stuff about wishing a kid a happy birthday but saying, “you can’t eat” despite that is something out of a Kubrick movie...
...and I hope you're in the mood for a newer, angst-filled Britpop tune, because here it is.
Here is President Biden’s recent speech at the McCain Institute about our democracy (here)...speech is about 35:00 – I’m not going to try and paraphrase it because it’s so important that I think we should watch all of it (and I can’t believe he was interrupted like that by that clown yelling about fossil fuels at about 8:50...I don’t give a damn if the guy’s a lefty or not; that interruption was rude and stoo-pid) – someone who is allegedly a doddering old man could not come up with something like this – I have a feeling he wrote a good bit of it, and he did a terrific job delivering all of it...and he’s used that line “not the example of our power but the power of our example” at least once before, and that was at the inaugural – of course, Peter Baker of the New York Times will find a reason to criticize it in an upcoming negative column I’m sure...I wish Biden had spoken more about the “dark money” interests behind atrocities such as Project 2025, which he alluded to a bit with that “Schedule F” remark, but what he said was definitely good enough and motivation for us all to do our best to negate, as much as possible, the garbage in what passes for our political discourse and work to get Democrats elected...
Update 9/30/23: And as a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise when it comes to presidents and speeches, I give you this.
...and in Biden’s speech, he made reference to Our Ochre Abomination and #45’s attacks on Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; David Pakman gives us an excerpt of an interview with Milley to air on “60 Minutes,” probably this Sunday (and I realize I shouldn’t dignify Mango Mussolini’s absurd comments on Truth Septic about the Afghanistan withdrawal under President Biden, but I’ll only say this...you can blame Biden for maybe not recognizing how badly the situation on the ground had degraded, as well as overly optimistic thinking of how willing the Afghan army was to fight against the Taliban, but you can also blame 45 for originally setting a thoroughly unrealistic withdrawal date of May 1st, 2021 as well as allowing the Taliban to achieve its greatest level of strength in that country since 2001...as noted here, there wasn’t going to be an easy way to end our nation’s longest war regardless of who the president was...and who was it again who initially invited the Taliban to Camp David for peace talks before the justifiable outcry forced him to cancel the meeting as noted here?)...
..and RIP Dianne Feinstein – yes, her final years were forgettable (I defended her in those remarks to the kids about “my way or the highway” because I thought what she said was taken out of context a bit), but she was definitely a titan of the Senate in her day...what propelled her career, as it turns out, was the twin murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, which I can’t imagine that any sane person would have wanted, but she answered the call as San Francisco mayor and also by serving in the “upper chamber”...big shoes to fill to be sure...
...and Leeja Miller gives us another comprehensive clip on Why The U.S. Has So Many Prisoners (another great report, this time on the history of incarceration in this country pretty much...as Miller correctly points out, it was an easy transition to be fearful of African Americans as slaves and keep them oppressed to being fearful of them as “the other” in the ‘60s and ‘70s in response to civil rights when it came to our criminal justice system and keep them oppressed for that alleged reason also)...and yes, that quote from John Ehrlichman pretty much nails it, as we know...lots of other important history, including the drug stuff that funded the Central American garbage in the ‘80s under The Sainted Ronnie R which played a big role in the crack cocaine epidemic in this country back then, and the 100-to-1 ratio of crack vs. powder that played a role in the beyond-ridiculous mandatory minimum sentencing (with the explosion of incarceration as noted)...and as others have pointed out, the prison furlough policy Michael Dukakis was victimized for in the ’88 presidential contest (the Willie Horton ad of course) was instituted by a Republican Massachusetts governor (here)...
...and Jesse Dollemore brings us a video about a GREAT ad from the “Lose Cruz” PAC...I’ll probably have a nightmare now of “Cancun Cruz” yelling “PODCAST!”...this is all good fun I know, but to do something about Cruz for real, click here...and yes, I know it’s Texas and the odds are long, but there’s no hope at all if we choose to do nothing...
Kyle Kulinski tells us about the U.S. House Repug spending plan (using the term charitably – extortion scheme is more correct IMO) to keep our government operating (harking back to Project 2025 again...the cruelty is always the point with these maniacs)...
...so, if the “crazy caucus” isn’t bothering with dumb stuff like, y’know, trying to keep our government operating, what are they focusing on instead? Why, trying to impeach #46 because Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *preznit wanted his party to do it, as David Doel tells us (and GREAT job by House Democrats, especially Max Frost, to give this hearing the treatment it deserved)...I can recall when Jonathan Turley was on “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann all the freaking time, but I guess he likes his bread buttered by the other side now...looks like this was the price “15 Votes For Speaker” McCarthy had to pay in order to get his crazy caucus not to let the government shut down, though they apparently will do that anyway – that’s what you get when you negotiate with someone trying to hold you hostage...and nothing on the home page of this guy about his party’s plans to toss thousands of people out of work and throw the lives of millions into chaos if a budget isn't approved by end of 9/30...
Update 9/29/23: And concerning the shutdown, I give you this and this from the party that spits on anyone who isn't part of the "one percent."
...and David Pakman gives us Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise trying to flog this narrative about Biden interfering against Ukraine and Victor Shokin on behalf of Hunter (which has been disproven MANY times), and the Fix Noise mouthpiece gets the pushback he deserves from former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko...
...and Emma of The Majority Report comments on a clip of UAW worker Douglas Moore speaking about the strike...important to note that more established line workers like Moore who apparently aren’t affected as much by the tier system are walking out for the benefit of younger workers who are, and in addition to ending tiers, Moore wants the COLAs to be restored, which, given the profits of the automakers, seems like a pretty damn reasonable request...
...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about a New Deal-era program coming back to fight climate change (the “American Climate Corps,” discussed in an interview with Ali Zaidi, the Biden White House National Climate Advisor)...
...and 9/29 marks the 15th anniversary of the Dow’s suffering what was (at the time) the largest single-day point drop in its history (here), which kick-started The Grear Recession, brought on by Congress’s inability to pass a budgetary relief bill from Bushco – another lesson in Repug congressional intransigence that led to fiscal disaster...hopefully past isn’t prologue given what looks like an upcoming shutdown as previously noted...I think this tune is apropos.
David Doel tells us about President Biden speaking out in support of the UAW strikers; lots of good stuff about the pro-worker Biden NLRB; I didn't know this is the first time a chief executive did this, which is all the more notable...I knew about that National Right to Work outfit (hmmm, just smell the Astroturf!), but I also didn’t know we were up to 27 states with right-to-work laws, which of course is “right to work for less with lousy or no benefits” (pretty sure Illinois got rid of their RTW law)...props to the workers who utterly blew up the BS about Mango Mussolini supposedly being “pro-worker” echoed by the corporate media nonsense from “the most trusted name in news”...
...and I’m behind a bit on my Leeja Miller clips and I’m going out of order here to present the following on “Project 2025”; I think I got into this with a Kyle Kulinski clip, but this is a much deeper dive (NSFW/H)...I know the whole “administrative law” segment is pretty dry, but it’s also pretty damn important to know about to get an understanding of why the wingnuts hate our governmental agencies so damn much, mainly because they interfere with our precious “free market” from doing whatever the hell it wants...and oh yeah, we learn about the whole “unitary executive theory” madness once more...and I’d never heard of “Schedule F” until now, but yeah, it’s pretty “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” like the rest of this depraved lunacy...the conservative grievance mentality drips from every word of every odious page of this wretched “manifesto,” including basically imprisoning any LGBTQ person, anyone who purveys “pornography,” or anyone advocating a “woke agenda” of course...the fact that forces in this country could produce something like this in the 21st century is truly a “mask off” moment...
...and the Blue Amp Channel guy (not Cliff Schecter) tells us about the 3 things the Repug candidates for preznit won’t talk about in tonight’s clown show debate...
...and Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page tell us about the “party of Lincoln” being more concerned about attire in the U.S. Senate than hungry kids (well-done interview clip with Nell Menefee-Libey discussing the WIC program, and if I were to see “I’m Disappointed” Collins in a bikini, I would likely need shock therapy...NSFW/H)...
...and Mike Figueredo tells us about Repugs getting all big mad at Talyor Swift for encouraging thousands (at least) of her fans to register to vote...OF COOOUURRRSE!, as Cenk Uygur might say...as for her music, I really don’t have an opinion either way – it’s OK I guess, but it doesn’t do anything for me, which is fine (NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of musicians, RIP Terry Kirkman of The Association.
Chris Hayes discusses the utterly woeful anti-union record of Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *President, who apparently will be speaking at a non-union auto parts manufacturer in Michigan as noted here (and oh yeah, “woke” EVs are the issue...GMAFB!)...
...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us that, apparently, Evangelicals at the Family Research Council’s “Pray, Vote, Stand” summit are being a little closed-mouthed about their victories, particularly on Dobbs, probably b/c they know how pissed off people are about them (as Francesca notes, interesting to me that there’s apparently a larger decline in Sunday services attendance among Repugs than Dems...and let's not EVER forget that Roe was struck down by SCOTUS justices nominated by and confirmed under Combover Caligula...those wretched three made the difference)...
...and Kyle Kulinski discusses Mehdi’s Hasan’s commentary on Dem U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (more here...kind of a pointless dig at Dick Durbin, but I agree with Kyle’s other points, especially comparing the response of lefties to Menendez vs. Repugs doing what they do best, and that’s pretty much falling in line for the antics of their party, and spot-on to draw a comparison also to Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and “George Santos”...mildly NSFW/H)...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 9/22/15...the Hillary Clinton campaign (remember her?) put together this video from the Repug Party debates from that period to point out that the “party of Lincoln” was utterly silent on the issues that mattered most, something to keep in mind for tomorrow night’s idiocy (and gee, that HRC sure was a stinky candidate for ABSOLUTELY NAILING THEM ON THIS, wasn’t she...yes, tongue-in-cheek once more)...
...and last Sunday marked what would have been the 75th birthday of the one and only Phil Hartman...
David Pakman gives us a clip of Our Ochre Abomination threatening Jews for not supporting him, and on Rosh Hashanah no less (and happy Yom Kippur to all who observe, by the way)...in the process of having another online tantrum at Truth Septic, #45 rattles off his highly questionable list of “accomplishments” (and of course, what would ANY kind of a conservative message be without misspellings?)...
Update: Naaah, this isn’t what dictators and demagogues do, is it?
...and Jesse Dollemore gives us another example of poor white Repugs screwing themselves over for Trump (three clips include Marjorie Traitor Greene’s boyfriend interviewing a couple of people at an Iowa rally for the Gropenfuhrer...I don’t know if the problem is that these folks have just grown up to advanced middle age in an environment where there is no alternative media besides right wing talk radio and other like-minded broadcast networks, or how much of a role their faith plays in all of this – not trying to impugn religion per se, I hasten to add – but these folks are flat-out, dead wrong to support the “party of Lincoln” in any way whatsoever)...
...and Krystal, Kyle and friends discuss the Andy Beshear ad featuring a young girl named Hadley who was raped by her stepfather, and the clip is aimed right at Kentucky Repug Daniel Cameron...yeah, call out these monsters for what they truly are...more here (and I thought this was a little illuminating also, though not in a good way)...
...and Francesca and Mondale Robinson of The Damage Report tell us about a Texas school cancelling, if you will, a graphic novel of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” supposedly because it has all that icky gay woman stuff (tongue in cheek; watching this, it occurs to me that we don’t have to refer to Repugs, “Moms for Liberty” and other like-minded clowns as figurative Nazis; this is LITERAL Nazi garbage)...
...and Cliff Schecter tells us that Dem U.S. House Rep Eric Swalwell of CA made Gym Jordan run away in the recent Merrick Garland hearing by speaking truth to Repug Party BS (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and I know these guys are touring, but on the other coast at the moment – don’t know if they made it into our area recently, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if they return in the future and try to get the word out here...love their sound.
Leeja Miller gives us a history of the "party of Lincoln" caterwauling about "voter fraud" (and I'm definitely a fan of Ground News also, FWIW)...I briefly forgot about how much the lies from McCain about Obama and ACORN managed to stick...glad to see Kris Kobach get dragged over propaganda on immigration and voting fraud (and the "Show Me Your Papers" law, along with Crosscheck), along with Samuel Huntington...and I'm REALLY glad to see Cleta Mitchell get her "time in the barrel" (and the Bradley Foundation) and it's shocking a bit to learn that Mitchell started on "Team D" and ended up with the likes of Ginni Thomas...the last 3:00 in particular really nails the issue...."That tarnishment of democracy becomes obvious only at a point when it's impossible to reverse it" indeed...
...and I thought Kyle Kulinski did a great job here of summarizing all the ways Dems in state government have improved the lives of their constituents, and the latest example of that is PA Dem guv Josh Shapiro, getting a “motor voter” measure put into place, which could get “tens of thousands” more PA voters signed up in the first year as noted here (and Al Schmidt, by the way, was the former Republican elections official in Philly targeted by Mango Mussolini and his minions over alleged “voter fraud,” referenced in the first clip of course)...
...and Cliff Schecter tells us about Rupert The Pirate stepping down from his perch at News Corp apparently, but handing the reins over to his son Lachlan, who might actually be worse, believe it or not (more here)...
...and Mike Figueredo tells us about Louisiana Repug John Raymond, who apparently is trying to run for the state house and has been endorsed by his party even though he has been charged with child cruelty (here...though of course, he wants to “protect” kids from LGBTQ individuals...uh huh)...Raymond is apparently a pastor-turned-politician (heckuva combo)... and I watched the first two seasons of “Survivor” and then said enough because I thought those people were suffering way too damn much for the sake of a freaking TV show; more to the point, this guy Raymond needs counseling at a minimum and should have nothing whatsoever to do with a job representing constituents in a public role...NSFW/H...
...and I know I spend a hell of a lot of time at this site basically documenting all manner of Repug-party misbehavior to varying degrees of illegality, but if you think that means that I’m going to turn a blind eye when the culprit is someone from the “D” party, you’re very much mistaken, and there is probably no better (worse?) illustration of that than Dem U.S. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey; as far as I’m concerned, he dodged an electoral bullet, so to speak, in 2018 when the R team ran the utterly awful Bob Hugin against him, and I said at the time that they won’t make that mistake again, and I’m sure they won’t...and yeah, Menendez is entitled his day in court as are we all, innocent until proven guilty and all that and everything is alleged, but I don’t want to imagine the awfulness of losing control of the U.S. Senate because Menendez wouldn’t give up his job despite all of the cries for him to step down at last (more here and here)...
...and when it comes to the unruly children in charge of the U.S. House (who STILL haven’t passed the bills they need to fund the government - more here and here), it looks like Dan Bishop, Gym Jordan, etc. tried to rattle AG Merrick Garland, to no avail whatsoever (to Garland’s credit – Francesca and Mondale Robinson give us the details)...
...and given what I just said, I suppose I should note that the cretinous U.S. House mongrels in charge have come up with their idea of a budget, which, as Thom Hartmann says, can indeed be summarized by this statement; the rich get richer, and you die (Thom provides more discussion of Jordan’s antics against Merrick Garland...good for Jerry Nadler to call out Jordan for the liar he is)...and yeah, the budget games from these unruly children in the U.S. House is typical...I’d forgotten that Bill Clinton didn’t add to the deficits (interesting background on the “two Santa Claus theory”...more on wingnut Jude Wanniski is here)...
...and I don’t know if this qualifies as some kind of a “Gen Z” anthem or not, but at least it’s an upbeat number for us to drink and party to for what looks like a soggy weekend coming up in a few hours.
Getting called out by filthy, unkempt liberal bloggers like yours truly is one thing, but when it comes from a hometown TV station that is taking you to task, then I would say that that’s a wholly other matter, as Kyle Clark of 9NEWS Denver recently showed us concerning Bo-Bo Boebert (to do something in response, click here)...
...and Blue Amp Channel gives us an ostensibly humorous item concerning the head of Boebert’s party in the House, and that would be “15 Votes for Speaker” Kevin McCarthy (and from the Reap What You Freaking Sow file, I give you this and this)...
Update: I had a feeling it would be a sh*tshow trying to get anything from the House after the 15 speaker votes lunacy, and it looks like I was right (here).
...and Jesse Dollemore informs us that, apparently, this Shannon Bream person at Fix Noise lamented the fact that Repugs get blamed for government shutdowns...uh, YEAH! (and the bar is set pretty low when Turd Blossom actually looks like a statesman; as usual, it’s all about the “optics” for our corporate media cousins as opposed to, y’know, actual stuff that impacts people’s lives...and here is the latest concerning that trash "news" network)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us here that Our Ochre Abomination would scribble “To Do” lists on the back of classified documents like the demented toddler that he truly is...here’s a video idea in response; I’d like to see someone pretending to be a head of a hostile foreign country with a classified doc they smuggled out of Mar-a-Lago, but then seeing ketchup stains on it or #45’s itinerary, and they have a good laugh over it and the camera freezes just as they’re getting ready to press a button launching an attack against this country...do I think this is funny? Hell freaking no, but maybe something like that could get the attention of the majority of this country that has just come to accept this insanity as so much white noise, and I have to reluctantly add that that includes your humble narrator at times (and if anyone came up with a video like that, it would probably be The Lincoln Project, since we can’t count on anything like that from the @DNC...probably worried about offending independent, Trump-leaning voters in an Ohio diner somewhere)...
...and speaking of The Lincoln Project, this is a pretty solid endorsement of “Dark Brandon” (not like there’s much choice I know, but credit where it’s due, something to give us more reason to support Biden and the Dems given this insanity...and good work by #46 here also)...
...and I should note that, given my pretty thorough disinterest in much of what country music has become, I didn’t know anything about Maren Morris until yesterday, but it looks like she’s had enough of that whole scene based on the following tune and “Get The Hell Out Of Here”...welcome to the fight (more here).
Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page on the “I Doubt It” podcast discuss alleged Democratic U.S. senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia saying he just wants to “bring people together” while he helps plunge millions of kids in this country into poverty...and Harris Faulkner is every bit as disgusting as usual, and I agree that the woman panelist on that Fix Noise mess should have just said “hey, the child tax credit was expanded in the American Rescue Plan of 2021, which EVERY REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST (here and here) and the credit was allowed to sunset, and President Biden is trying to bring it back” and left it at that (more here and here)...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us about the Princeton Gerrymandering Project (and yeah, I agree that it’s not much of a name either), which, fortunately for all of us, is keeping track of the awful gerrymandering going on in (primarily) Repug-run statehouses, leading into a commentary on Janet Protasiewicz winning the state supreme court seat in Wisconsin (Maddow interviews Ben Wikler about it...a link to the site Wikler mentions is here)...
...and David Doel tells us that Mango Mussolini plans to give a speech to the striking UAW members on the same day as another one of these ridiculous Repug “debates” that 45 intends to blow off again...yeah, ask the employees of Carrier in Indiana how much Preznit Fergus Laing looked out for their jobs as noted here (about 80 were saved vs. 600 or so getting offshored)...uh huh (pretty comprehensive report comparing the “R” and “D” teams on this, and props especially to Rashida Tlaib)...
...and it looks like conservative women are slamming Bo-Bo Boebert for her recent antics with her date while they were watching the musical “Beetlejiuce” in that Denver theater...yeah, all the outrage is completely deserved (and how's this for a typically laughable excuse...NSFW/H)...
...and I don’t know a lot about this Mission Democracy group, but this is one hell of an ad, harking back a bit to at least one during World War II where we needed to be on the lookout against insidious forces trying to thoroughly corrupt our way of life, then as now...
...and Adrienne Lawrence Esq. of Rebel HQ discusses the wingnuts going after John Fetterman and the relaxed U.S. Senate dress code (I have a lot of issues with “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” but this definitely isn’t one of them)...
...and the last clip was a bit amusing, but this one couldn’t be more serious; time to give these lunatics trying to turn this country into some kind of Christo-fascist corpocracy the treatment they deserve (from here)...
...and RIP British singer-songwriter Roger Whittaker; I can recall this tune getting played all over the place “back in the day.”
I apologize for being a little late to the party, as it were, on the mess with Kristen Welker taking over on “Meet The Press” and allowing Our Ochre Abomination to (as usual) lie with virtual impunity; this is partly because I was waiting for other folks to weigh in, as Beau does here (and more from my A-list “betters” is here and here...it’s all about rating and views/clicks and ad dollars, and #45 apparently still helps with all of that despite the fact that he’s utterly allergic to the truth)...
Update: I know Keith Olbermann has spoken almost reverentially abot Russert (speaking of "Meet The Press"), and K.O.'s entitled to his "take" of course, but I think we need to remember this too.
...and David Pakman tells us about President Biden making a deal with Iran to unfreeze assets for the release of 5 U.S. citizens detained by that outlaw country, and of course the wingnuts lose what’s left of their minds...
...and Rayy Vana and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us that Oho Repugs are trying AGAIN to get an anti-abortion ballot measure passed, and this time, they’re trying to add language to confuse voters even more (yeah, really trying to whip up that “anti-baby” voting bloc; I swear, do Repugs pass ANYTHING besides anti-abortion bills and tax cuts? And Frank LaRose is doing this stuff, by the way, to help mobilize his base since he may end up taking on Sherrod Brown for the U.S. Senate from Ohio next year, and if there is EVER somebody out there who deserves our support, it’s Brown)...
...and David Balaban of Rebel HQ tells us about a woman holding an anti-abortion sign who was questioned about the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, and as a result, ended up too stumped to continue the discussion, along with Our Treasonous Lying Fraud Of A Tiny-Handed Former *Preznit and “executing babies” (and no, that definitely isn’t a “thing”)..by the way, the catchphrase “abortion on demand” has been around forever, and it has ALWAYS been used to whip up the wingnuts into full froth (not that surprising, I realize)...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that the Repugs keep fighting Biden on weed (and once again, I’m in favor of full decriminalization, but for it to be legalized, I think there should be a bunch of caveats, but that’s just me I know)...good call by Kyle to mention regulating the THC content; also, James Lankford is a Repug U.S. Senator and Pete Sessions is a Repug U.S. House rep, just to make that absolutely clear, though they’re both awful...
...and today is the 50th anniversary of the death of legendary country rocker Gram Parsons; The Eagles wrote this tune in Parsons’ honor.
Leeja Miller tells us all about the conservative attack on public schools and how the emphasis went from using them as a way to make those who'd recently arrived as immigrants familiar with this country to becoming a means to build a career ...a lot of important history and many good points, including how “school choice” is a “two-fer” – one, it attacks funding for teachers unions which traditionally vote Democratic as Miller says, and two, it’s an effort to eliminate public schools, in line with what Milton Friedman and the “Chicago boys” want for public education, which is to kill it altogether (and school vouchers are a tool to help accomplish that also) – didn’t know about that Grover Norquist quote, but it sure fits...and yeah the quote from Mike Pompeo is as stoo-pid and inflammatory as you can expect...and just as a reminder, the whole “litter boxes in schools” thing started because teachers set them up for students who might be stuck in lockdowns BECAUSE OF AN ACTIVE FREAKING SHOOTER, WHICH TIES BACK TO THE FACT THAT THIS COUNTRY PRETTY MUCH REFUSES TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT OUR EPIDEMIC OF GUN VIOLENCE (more on that a bit later), and teachers quite rightly realized that some students might need to relieve themselves when stuck in a classroom for an extended period of time...this video also gives charter schools the treatment they deserve (NSFW/H)...
...and Thom Hartmann discusses some unanswered questions about January 6th, such as who planted the pipe bombs in D.C., who removed the panic buttons in the office of Dem U.S. House rep Ayanna Pressley, etc. (the 1/6 Commission with Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger was a good start, but so much more needs to be done on that front)...GREAT questions asked by Thom Hartmann about what we STILL don’t know about the 1/6 insurrection, including wondering if Tuberville is deliberately holding open military promotions in case, God forbid, Our Tiny-Handed Treasonous Orange Pustule gets back into An Oval Office and then he’d be able to appoint his favorites to those posts...and I also didn’t know about the bus being locked that contained the riot gear for the DC cops – ugh...and more on the recent “second bullet” revelation from retired Secret Service agent Paul Landis, written about recently by Will Bunch of inquirer.com, is here...
...also, Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson discuss the recent revelations about South Dakota guv Kristi (Unsafe At Any Speed) Noem and Corey Lewandowski (womp, womp)...and man, it’s hard to keep track of Lewandowski’s antics even with a scorecard...and GREAT point by Francesca that, somehow, we know every damn thing in the world about Hunter freaking Biden, who wasn’t elected to a damn thing, but garbage like this with Noem and Lewandowski manages to seep through and go largely untouched; as I’ve probably said before (and will say again in a minute or two), what people do in their personal lives isn’t an issue with me as long as they’re adults and everything is consensual, but the hypocrisy of these folks doing all this while they screech about how other people should live is the point...
...and I have to admit that I’m a little amused by this next item; it turns out that Repug party donors may be fleeing Tim Scott because they think he’s gay (mildly NSFW/H)...my problem with Scott has nothing to do with his personal life, which isn’t anyone’s damn business – it’s the fact that he gives you about two minutes of word salad when you ask him about abortions along with the fact that he’s from a party that is COMPLETELY BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE DONOR CLASS...and yeah, that’s true of way too many Dems also, but definitely not all...
Update 9/19/23: Again, I don't care about the personal stuff with Scott, but I VERY MUCH care about nonsense like this (auto workers are NOT federal workers, you assclown).
...and Rayy Vana and Nina Turner of The Damage Report bring us the news that Dem New Mexico guv Michelle Lujan Grisham has temporarily suspended “open and concealed carry” in her state, with some exceptions, because of a recent spate of shootings, leading to wingnuts’ heads exploding of course...and I’m sure Rayy Vana means “gun control advocates” (an update is here, telling us that a federal judge, David Herrera Urias, has at least temporarily blocked the governor’s order, because Heaven forbid that we do ANYTHING to interfere with the almighty Second Amendment, or at least the wingnut misinterpretation of it...and by the way, as much as I wish we could, we can’t blame Combover Caligula on this one; the judge is a Biden appointee)...
...and happy belated 70th birthday to jazzman Earl Klugh.
Farron Cousins tells us that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence may have created a ruling while he was prez that will make it impossible for those numbskulls in the House to impeach Biden since parties that could be involved (such as banks) don’t have to comply by turning over records to the investigation since the inquiry didn’t begin with a full House vote (womp, womp)...
...and based on this Lincoln Project clip, YOU tell ME who’s apparently too old and senile to be president...this is yet another example of our corporate media cousins pushing a narrative for clicks, reads and likes, and money ultimately; we’re only talking about a 3-year difference between Biden and Combover Caligula anyway...
Update 9/16/23: Gee, where's the tut-tutting corporate media BS from @peterbakernyt over this? I mean, he's a one-man factory for cranking out contrarian stuff over #46 (here...and no, I'm not going to pick apart his latest anti-Biden screed because I've done that too many damn times already...all I'm asking for is a little perspective with you-know-who, that's all, but apparently that's too heavy a lift for Baker and his brethren).
...and Emma of The Majority Report asks Why Conservatives Hate Democracy, with author Matthew Dallek discussing his book about how the Birchers energized the American right and how they’re anti-democracy...I forgot about some of the stuff with Patrick Buchanan in the ’00 election, and I’m glad to see Ron Paul get dragged here because he absolutely deserves it...he used his libertarian contrarianism to try and hide his racism as far as I’m concerned...also good to link the influence of the Birchers to these “Moms for Liberty” treasonous lunatics infesting school board meetings and curricula all over this country...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us all about that sick f*cking cop in Seattle who, in response to running over a female protestor, had a laugh and said, “just write a check – she had limited value”...apparently, one cop did the running over and another cop did the joking about it (more here)...
...and More Perfect Union tells us that, amidst all of the labor stuff going on with the UAW, workers for Marvel just won the first union in visual effects history (oh, and when it comes to the SAG/AFTRA walkout, this should not be a surprising development in any way...Maher basically crossed the picket line to continue his now-wretched program during the last screenwriters strike from 2007-2008)...
Update 9/18/23: Lots of issues with Maher, but kudos to him for doing the right thing here.
...and today is a somber anniversary; to be precise, it’s the 60th of the firebombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church that killed “4 Little Girls”...former U.S. Senator Doug Jones prosecuted the case and brought the two Klansmen accused of this heinous, cowardly act to justice (here)...of course, Jones was tossed in his most recent election in favor of Tommy Tuberville, which, as far as I’m concerned, is an almost unspeakable insult...
...and I tried coming up with a tune that’s timely for this weekend’s climate protests, including New York City (here), and I settled on this one...
...and I held out for as long as I could, but since this is the last official weekend of summer (sniff), that means I have to conclude my seasonal tunes with this number.
Mike Figueredo gives us a pretty clear-eyed commentary on what Canada plans to do if this country officially loses its mind next year in the event that it returns the Rethuglican Party to power across the federal government (and of course, we have a preview of that with the deranged, out-of-control toddlers running the U.S. House)...with professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat explaining why the entire “party of Lincoln” is a threat to democracy and not just Combover Caligula (NSFW/H)...
...and Kyle Kulinski (referencing Mike Figueredo) gives us a reminder of the utter horror show of Project 2025, if (God forbid) the wingnuts are able to put it into play (under the scenario that's definitely giving pause to our neighbors on our northern border as noted previously), which makes it all the more urgent that we do all we can to prevent that from ever happening, and as far as I’m concerned, that partly means yelling our heads off about it as well as doing some organizing of our own, helping with campaigns, writing to newspapers, and confronting people like this guy to get him on the record as to whether or not he supports it, because, if anybody does, it makes it all the more urgent that we vote them the hell out (and to do something about Bri-Fi, click here)...
...and David Pakman asks How Did The Right Wing Destroy America...I think he hits on a lot of important stuff, though he can’t cover all of it of course (and yes, I realize there is a theme in these first three clips)...
...and I referenced the out-of-control toddlers running the U.S. House previously, and one of their most notorious members would be Bo-Bo Boebert, who apparently got tossed from a theater production of “Beetlejuice” in Colorado because rules against vaping, recording the program and apparently just acting like a decent, civilized person don’t apply to her, you see (to do something about Boebert, click here...and as far as Politico is concerned, Atrios...or maybe Charles Pierce?...called it "Tiger Beat on the Potomac" for a reason)...
Update 9/15/23: As usual, every accusation is a confession (here...and for this? Ewwww...gross!).
Update 9/16/23: Give it enough time, and yeah, their accusations will bite the wingnuts in the butt (here).
...and it’s been a little while I know since some corporatist POS made noise to decry “the rabble” working for a living, but not to worry...along comes Australia’s Tim Gurner to bleat that any economic problems are all the fault of those entitled millennials drinking their $4 lattes and eating avocado toast (more on “We Need To See Unemployment Rise” Gurner is here and here – Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us more)...
Update: If you can't take the heat, then don't run your mouth with stoo-pid BS in the first place (here).
...and happy 64th birthday to lead singer Morten Harket of the ‘80s pop band a-ha...yeah, I could include their hit, but I always liked this number too.
David Pakman discusses Kaitlan Collins of CNN interviewing Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace about the impeachment inquiry that the Freedumb Caucus in the House has started against President Biden...yeah, no evidence apparently and a bunch of bills to fund the government and other important needs sitting on the desk of “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy as noted here, but THIS is what they decide to do with their time – pathetic...
...and as far as I’m concerned, the impeachment BS is in part meant to distract from this, which is Biden’s overwhelmingly positive record on the economy (as Jayar and David Shuster tell us), though there are some chinks in the armor, as it were (and yes, I know about the damn polling), and if the “party of Lincoln” weren’t so hung up on the usual BS, including “values” nonsense (OMIGOD, THE GAYS AND THE TRANNIES ARE GOING TO INDOCTRINATE YOU!!), they might help to address the actual financial issues Jayar and Shuster are talking about (yeah, I can dream, I know)...
...though, apparently, the “party of Lincoln” apparently has FINALLY “gotten the memo” on how toxic their “pro life” label has become and are looking to rebrand themselves...yeah, it’s all about the marketing for these cretins and that’s it...God forbid that they’d actually, y’know, change their awful policy – fine, go ahead and keep losing elections (Rayy Vana, Cenk and Nina Turner...and I don’t understand Cenk saying “politicians” are massive liars – yeah, but on this issue, it’s the “R” party and that’s about it – Cenk does make a GREAT point with that “You just described Roe” line...and isn’t it also amusing that somehow we NEVER found out who leaked the draft Dobbs opinion? My money is on Ginni Thomas, and someone will have to prove to me that I’m wrong...and even though I agree with her, what’s with this “Senator” Nina Turner business? She’s not in Ohio state government any more)...
...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us about Maine fighting back against soaring utility bills and lousy service (with Pine Tree Power vs. Versant and Central Maine Power, with the latter two entities including a lot of overseas investment...that by itself isn’t a bad thing if they’re providing the best customer service, which doesn’t even seem to be remotely happening, apparently)...
...and David Doel discusses an interview Jake Tapper of CNN conducted with UAW president Shawn Fain, with the spot-on quote “we’re going to wreck THEIR economy,” referring to the shareholder class of course and the pending strike...and I honestly don’t know why Doel wouldn’t give Biden credit for anything positive from the NLRB, which is an agency of the federal government after all (and yeah, the Andrew Ross Sorkin clip with the Ford CEO is about what you can expect – the Ford guy is indirectly right when he says “we live in a different world”...also, I know ’24 is still a ways off, but why anybody would even imagine voting for a “green” – which is pretty much a vote for Trump – is something I cannot fathom)...
...and fall isn’t officially here yet, so I think there’s still time to get in a bit of a dreamy end-of-summer tune (and a newer one at that).
David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about Peter Douchebag of Fix Noise claiming that President Biden is treated like a toddler, or something, based on some quote from some goofball book about the Biden Administration, and Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against that nonsense of course (and as noted here, this is yet more projection from The Roger Ailes BS Factory, which employs the “reporter” in question...and no disrespect to Shuster, but I have ZERO interest in anything to do with Marjorie Trailer Park Greene)...
...and in this episode of the “I Doubt It” podcast, Brittany Page and Jesse Dollemore tells us about the governor of Flori-DUUUH!, “Pudding Fingers” #DeathSantis, and his interrupting an African American man (and a veteran no less) who asked a legitimate question about how the policies of the #DeathSantis Administration are hurting African Americans, while the Neo-Nazis are on parade of course...and oh yeah, Ainsley (“HE’S READ BOOKS!”) Earhardt is execrable in this also, and Kayleigh McEnany is no better (pertaining to the climate crisis)...
...and we know of course the significance of 9/11 in this country and much of the world, but that date means a whole other nightmare for Chile; they recently observed the 50th anniversary of a U.S.-backed coup that installed strongman Augusto Pinochet and overthrew socialist Salvador Allende (with no small help from “Dr.” Henry Kissinger, who somehow still draws breath, and the “Chicago Boys” including Milton Friedman, as noted here and here)...
...and normally I wouldn’t pay much attention to either Joe Rogan or Bill Maher, but I thought this was an interesting clip from Kyle Kulinski where he discusses Maher pushing back on Biden vs. Trump (though of course Maher can’t help but sound like an utter fool over the alleged “woke” stuff in the Biden Administration...the next time somebody makes that charge, I would LOVE for the interviewer to get an explanation of what all this supposedly awful “woke” stuff is)...yeah, Rogan is a knucklehead for sure...”oh, Biden lies.” – shocker!Name for me a politician who doesn’t (NSFW/H)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us here about the Repugs on Capitol Hill launching bills in the House and Senate to try and overturn Biden’s effort to lower student loan repayment (briefly NSFW/H, which is out of character for Cousins, but he’s absolutely right in his context...Nail. Hammer. Head. for sure)...
...and happy belated 80th birthday to Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.
Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about sending that letter to Hangin’ Judge JR about “Strip Search Sammy” Alito’s shady grifting (as well as the “nutty” observations about Congress and the SCOTUS...yeah, Alito is all “I KNOW NUUUU-THING!” a la Sgt. Schultz in his confirmation hearing, but he just chirps merrily along to the editorial board of the Murdoch Street Journal...nice – more here)...
...and Beau had another good take here IMO on that nematode Tommy Tuberville of Alabama pertaining to the “warrior poet archetype” (and once more, it’s actually amusing in a weird way to see the total pass that Senate Majority “Leader” Chuck Schumer gets on this – and yes, I know overwhelmingly this is the fault of Tuberville and Republicans – but our corporate media totally loses their minds over “OMIGOD NANCY PELOSI IS 80 AND SHE’S RUNNING FOR ANOTHER TERM!”)...at least Elizabeth Warren is showing signs of life on this issue as noted here...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Big Stoo-pid Head Matt Gaetz (and I can’t believe he’s going to skate over that charge of consorting with underage girls for sex, but apparently he will as noted here) and Caribou Barbie invoking violence if the crimes from Mango Mussolini keep him off the ’24 prez ballot, which, by all rights, should be the case based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, if for no other reason (and as noted in the clip, Palin was responsible for that “crosshairs” pic with the district of Gabrielle Giffords before Giffords was shot in the head – you would think the half-term former Alaska guv would know not to engage in violent rhetoric in any way after that, but apparently not...and as far as Mike Huckabilly is concerned, he needs to STFU also)...
...and Thom Hartmann lets us know that “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy has a whole bunch of bills to keep our government operating that aren’t moving, and of course the “Freedumb Caucus” wants to burn everything down as we know...
…and these next two clips are timely for this day also of course (related items are here, here, and here...oh, and this is typical for Our Former Orange Pustule-In-Chief also...and I thought this was also a timely reminder).
Update 1: Yep, I think this is a pretty good question (here).
