Tuesday Stuff

Tell me once more how Biden is the one who supposedly has cognitive difficulties; The Lincoln Project brings us about a minute and a half (which is all I can take, to be honest) of our treasonous, delusional narcissistic former *preznit in his most recent public appearance (and yeah, he says he’s in Sioux Falls, when in reality he’s in Sioux City, Iowa...and yes, I know The Lincoln Project are just yesterday’s Republicans, and maybe in the future too, but they keep making good clips for now)...



Update: Duly noted, but as I said, their videos are still good.

...and I know I’m a little behind the news cycle with this David Pakman clip of the Gropenfuhrer giving top secret intel on our nuke subs to Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, but it’s still a vitally important story...#45 should be in the slam for this if for no other reason, though there are plenty of others of course...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report bring us proof positive (according to the WaPo) that those stinking December 2017 tax cuts from Combover Caligula (voted for by all Repugs, including this guy, and to do something about Bri-Fi, click here) increased the debt by $10 trillion (along with Dubya's of course)...remember this the next time you hear these frauds carrying on about OH, THE DEBT THAT’S STEALING FROM OUR GRANDKIDS!!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Fix Noise staffers are apparently letting out the secret that Our Ochre Abomination is being blacklisted from live interviews on their propaganda network because they don’t want to get sued by Smartmatic or Dominion again, so they’re only allowing pre-recorded appearances so they can screen what he says in advance...actually, Benedict Donald should be “blacklisted” from appearing on The Roger Ailes BS Channel AT ALL...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 11/3/16, in which Keith Olbermann gives us another of his “The Closer” segments about “Trump TV”...as far as I’m concerned, the only reason why #45 didn’t implement some of the stuff K.O. talks about here is because Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive didn’t understand how to wield the power to try and make it happen; in the beyond nightmarish scenario of another Trump term, I believe he would know how to put what Olbermann is talking about into place...

...and given that admittedly frightful prospect, I still would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween.

Monday Stuff

It looks like Bo-Bo- Boebert in CO-03 is going to get a Repug primary challenger as a result of “Getting Handy With Her Now-Ex Boyfriend At The ‘Beetlejuice’ Musical”-gate, as Francesca and Brett Erlich tell us...more than any other reason, I’m sure it’s really because of her paltry fundraising numbers compared to Dem challenger Adam Frisch (and it shouldn’t be all about the $$ I know – sigh); to help Frisch, click here...



...and sticking with the “Centennial State,” apparently some idiot Repug state rep named Ron Weinberg sez that kids using their preferred pronouns could confuse police during a mass shooting...kind of breaking the stoo-pid meter on that one, I must say...



...and Eric Gardner of More Perfect Union discusses the effort from Medicare to try and negotiate prices for 10 prescription drugs and the full-on legal war waged by those Big Pharma bastards in response...



...and just in time for the visitation of witches, goblins and other spectral forces, Robert Reich brings us the three myths of “zombie economics” that absolutely refuse to die, though they should have been buried long ago of course...



...and here are a couple of tunes to get into the spirit of the season, if we aren’t there already.

Friday Stuff

(A backgrounder on this typically clueless moment from "The Gipper" is here.)

Leeja Miller asks Why Is Healthcare So Expensive (GREAT question)...I knew our maternal mortality numbers in this country were awful, but I didn’t know the figure was over twice as bad as the OEC average...one of the many great points in this video has to do with the specialization in health care as Miller notes, in order to maximize profit IMO; this is one of the reasons that I would recommend a nurse practitioner for a yearly checkup if you can because that’s the only class of medical professional I’ve seen who looks at the WHOLE patient picture (NSFW/H at the very end, though I agree with what she says...I meant to put this video up earlier in the week, but it got bumped for other more timely items)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the wingnut threat from within and without of our government (I think he means “Section 8” housing, not “Section 9”)...Thom starts by talking about the carnage from right-wing billionaires, then shifts to global threats, alleging (correctly I think) that the “party of Lincoln” is doing its best to weaken our standing in the world (and when it comes to billionaires trying to undermine this country, I would add this person to that sorry list)...



...and when it comes to what I would call domestic enemies of this country, I don’t think it’s possible to ignore Marjorie Traitor Greene...kudos to Becca Balint of Vermont here, even though her commendable effort will likely go for naught since this howler monkey in a dress from Georgia doesn’t possess a molecule of contrition...



...and with an eye towards the Middle East, Mike Figueredo tells us that the wingnuts in this country (along with the far right in Israel) treat Palestinians as animals (which we knew), alleging that they all support Hamas (spoiler alert – WRONG!) – and I’m not going to waste my time rebutting all of the nonsense from that nematode Jesse Watters...didn’t know that 38 states have adopted anti-BDS laws, including my own beloved commonwealth of PA...ugh...and with all due respect to Mike Figueredo, I’ve been yelling about “Bibi” Netanyahu for a little while now, starting with his goading of this country to go after “militant Islam” after 9/11 here, though Figueredo is completely right to call out ANYONE who supports anti-BDS laws, which run completely in opposition to our Constitutional freedoms (NSFW/H also)...



...and in case you were wondering whether or not some wingnut propagandist would try to link the Hamas attack on Israel and their Gaza incursion with the most recent mass gun slaughter in this country in Maine...well, no need to worry on that, because Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich is all over it – oh, and here is one response to his idiotic claim that, basically, more “permit-less carry” is needed in this country...

"By making it easy for almost anyone to carry a concealed handgun in public, right-to-carry laws increase violent crime, firearm robberies, gun thefts, workplace homicides, and mass shootings. Right-to-carry laws make it harder for law enforcement to solve violent crimes and are opposed by many law enforcement leaders across the country. Similarly, permitless carry harms public safety by removing essential safety measures designed to ensure that those carrying handguns in public have been properly trained and vetted. Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the removal of concealed carry permitting systems is associated with higher rates of gun homicide and violent crime."

More from Emma V. and the Majority Report on this is here...



...and I think we all deserve a nice weekend after this week’s insanity, and I’d like to get that started with this little number.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

I’d like to offer “thoughts and prayers” for real to the families and friends of the victims of the latest mass gun carnage in this country in Lewiston, Maine (particularly for the father who believes his son was one of the victims), and I’m sorry that that sounds like the typical pat, nothing response at times like this. For that reason, I think I should give what I believe is a more concrete explanation that has a lot to do with this horrible tragedy:

U. S. House Democrats passed a renewal of the assault weapons ban last year, as noted here (with all but 2 Repugs voting in favor while all others opposed it).

The renewal of the ban died in the U.S. Senate because it didn’t meet the magical 60-vote threshold for passage (here), with just about every Republican opposing, along with “President” Joe Manchin and “Curtsy Kyrsten” refusing to get rid of the stinking filibuster (if that were gone, only a simple majority vote would be needed).

That more than any other reason is why mass gun slaughter continues in this country (with the typical garbage, "values voter" nonsense from "MAGA Mike" Johnson on this issue here)...



Update: Commendable, but more like this - A LOT MORE.

Update 10/28/23: Good - hopefully he's doing somersaults in hell at this moment.

...and speaking of the new, truly awful U.S. House speaker, Brian Tyler Cohen gives us more here...yeah, when you get the endorsement of Matt “Trying To Pick Up Underage Girls, Allegedly Of Course” Gaetz, you have NOTHING to be proud of...I just wish SOMEBODY had asked Johnson if he’d received Trump’s endorsement before he put his name in nomination for speaker, but I’m sure a whole gang of wingnuts would have shouted SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!! instead of Ol’ Grandma Ginny Foxx (and by the way, this puts Johnson second in line for the presidency, in case we’d forgotten about that...and one of those 18 Repugs in Biden-won districts voting for Johnson is this guy, and to do something about Bri-Fi once and for all, click here)...



Update 1 10/27/23: The more I think about this stuff, the more if occurs to me that Johnson may have been the guy the wingnuts wanted all along and the stuff with Gym Jordan, Emmer, etc. was just a smokescreen. The way these cretins operate, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were the case.

Update 2 10/27/23: Given this, let’s make sure that #MAGAMikeJohnson continues to be “the gift that keeps on giving,” in particular when running against those 18 Repug U.S. House Reps from Biden districts (including this guy, and once more, to do something about Bri-Fi, press here).

Update 3 10/27/23: Uh, yep.

Update 4 10/27/23: And the hits just keep on coming for the new U.S. House Speaker (here, here, here, here, and here).

Update 5 10/27/23: I wonder if Johnson will, at some point, wish he could crawl back under the rock he emerged from; too late for that, though (here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Update 10/30/23: Maybe Johnson needs to spend a little less time with "the good book" (though he likely misinteprets it) and a little more time providing constituent service for real (here...and this is scary AF as far as yours truly is concerned...this stinks too, as does this).

Update 11/2/23: And this is sketchy AF about "MAGA Mike" too.

Update 11/10/23: Still more Johnson Christo-fascist garbage is here.

...and our wet noodle PA-01 rep likes to tell us all about his involvement in “No Labels”; fortunately; Robert Reich cuts through that BS here...



...oh, and in the matter of Ms. SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!, I thought this was a good video from The Lincoln Project (boy, would I LOVE to see the @DNC or @DCCC come after her with an "oppo" ad for this, y'know, like Repugs would try to do to us)...



...and when it comes to Not Your Father’s Republican Party, it appears that they engaged in a bit of revenge porn against Dem candidate Susanna Gibson running for Virginia state house delegate (District 57 I believe), as Kyle Kulinski tells us...



...and happy 70th birthday to Keith Strickland of the B-52s.

Wednesday Stuff

Apparently, U.S. House Repugs have done what they do best, and that is to get in line behind a fairly nondescript, corporatist white guy who checks all the wingnut checkboxes (and approved by Trump of course) and make him U.S. House Speaker – how pathetic (more here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

And by the way, as Jesse Dollemore points out here, Mike Johnson of Louisiana was one of the 7 of 9 overall speaker candidates who voted against certifying President Biden’s election (oh, and as noted here, Johnson “double dipped” while he allegedly served in state government, picking up “tens of thousands” in fees on a legal team representing the state in a federal court trial over abortion clinic restrictions)...



Update 1: And this was a typically charming moment also featuring "Granny Clampett" Virginia Foxx (apologies to Irene Ryan).

...and ZOMG! “Dark Brandon” was comped with a $200K payback from his brother for what I guess was a family loan..I guess the “scandal” is that Biden does his best to take care of his family..??? (more nonsense from James Comer and U.S. House Republicans...Jayar Jackson and Viviana Vigil discuss)...



Update 2: When it comes to political figures (which SCOTUS justices are, let's not forget) and alleged financial shenanigans (real in this case, IMO), I'm sure Comer and his pals won't have a word to say about this.

...well, for some more positive U.S. political news, Faron Cousins tells us that Ruben Gallego is pretty much cleaning the metaphorical clocks of Kari Lake and “Curtsy Kyrsten” Sinema in fundraising, though we indeed do have a looong way to go until November ’24 – to help Gallego, click here...



...and it looks like, if you imagine that you’re going to criticize Israel in any way whatsoever, you’re going to be met with a whole bunch of SHUTUP SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP SHUTUP!!!!!, as Dave Chappelle recently found out, though he also criticized Hamas, as well he should (Kyle Kulinski tells us more)...



...and speaking of African American entertainment icons (I guess Chappelle qualifies), RIP Richard Roundtree – I once read an interview where he said that, to portray John Shaft, he pretended he was really director Gordon Parks (an icon in his own right IMO), since that’s the way Parks acted, and Roundtree meant it as a tribute of sorts...



...and I guess The New Basement Tapes is the latest supergroup of sorts to come along (I detected The Living Elvis, but I’m a little fuzzy on the other members)...I thought this was a well-done tune.

Tuesday Stuff

(I had some unexpected technical difficulties, but hopefully they've been resolved.)

Farron Cousins discusses Jeffrey Toobin’s recent Op-Ed in the New York Times arguing that Mango Mussolini is going to get someone killed, with Toobin linking the antics of 45 to the Murrah building bombing by Timothy McVeigh in ’95; the clip also notes how #45 and his minions are going after New York AG Letitia James, among others targets with, at a minimum, threatening vitriol – hopefully no worse than that, though that’s bad enough...



...and gee, wasn’t Kayleigh McEnany the one who said she would never lie to us, or something? Well (as David Shuster points out), McEnany’s trash network clipped a quote of President Biden answering a reporter’s question about the Israel/Hamas war and the horrific loss of that conflict to try and make Biden look bad– typical for these lowlifes...



...and speaking of the Israel/Hamas war, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss the threats and censorship to pro-Palestinian voices, which Is insane...and yeah, GREAT point to ask where the #$@! these alleged “free speech warriors” like Bari freaking Weiss are when Harvard students are getting doxed and having job offers rescinded for supporting the Palestinians, who overwhelming DO NOT support Hamas, though the incursion by Netanyahu is forcing them in that direction...and on the one hand, I DO NOT support the fact that Israel has allowed the Gaza “open air prison” to exist, but on the other hand, I cannot think of a hell hot enough for Hamas...and don’t ask me who bombed that hospital, because I have no clue on that...



...and on the subject of domestic political stuff, Thom Hartmann talks about what will happen to the right to privacy if (God forbid) the wingnuts win in next year’s elections (or even some THIS year, I would guess)...Thom discusses the Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell SCOTUS rulings, which are in the sights of Harlan Crow puppet Clarence Thomas, “Strip Search Sammy” Alito, etc...

...but not Loving...hmmm, I can’t imagine why.



...and Brian Tyler Cohen speaks with attorney Marc Elias on redistricting legal cases across the U.S. that could create more Dem districts, though it’s impossible to predict how courts will rule of course...the only one I’m hearing that looks out of reach is Ohio unfortunately, and North Carolina’s map is horrible also sadly, but there are definite pickup possibilities elsewhere...



...and RIP Sirius XM’s Dusty Street – she was based on the “left coast” so I didn’t hear her during my formative years, but I came to enjoy her show over the last year or so on the “deep tracks” channel...heard a few wonderful tributes lately including one from Jim Ladd; I think this is an apropos tune in her honor.

Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us that President Biden is up by 7 points in a recent Marist poll, which is positive news of course, though we do have a looong way to go until November ‘24 (and independent voters are still idiots...God forbid that our democracy goes down the tubes, but if that awful event happens, it will be because of them...and I think Kyle is doing a bit of navel-gazing here speculating about what kind of pull RFK Jr. could have with Dems – hopefully there isn’t any negative impact against #46)...



...and Beau gives us his take on Biden’s 3rd-quarter funding numbers vs. Combover Caligula...good point about the importance of the “cash on hand” dollar figure, where Biden also smokes Our Treasonous Orange Pustule – but yeah, Beau is right of course; have to be vigilant and take nothing for granted...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about this wackadoodle MAGA “pastor” named Robert Henderson who didn’t think a president should be criticized under Trump, but whoopsie! He’s singing a different tune now that Biden is in office (more here)...



...and once more, I know what The Lincoln Project is (if you choose to make a donation, that’s on you), but they keep cranking out good clips, like this one about Gym Jordan, who I believe is going to make another attempt to be U.S. House Speaker - ugh!...



Update 1: What is it that they say about the definition of insanity? Doing the same wrong thing over and over and getting the same result? (here).

Update 2: Um, yep.

...and in a related vein, Brianna Keilar interviews Repug U.S. House idiot Austin Scott, who keeps repeating the same damn tired talking points about how the Dems took out McCarthy, he was the largest House fundraiser, etc. – kudos to Keilar for reminding this asshat that the motion to vacate was brought against McCarthy by a member of McCarthy’s own damn party, and if everyone in the GOP House had voted to keep McCarthy, WE WOULDN’T EVEN BE FREAKING TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!...



...and I didn’t know that “climate gentrification” was a thing, but it appears now that it is, particularly around Miami in Flori-DUUH! of course, given the encroaching seawater on that state from the climate change that they don’t want to seriously address; Thom Hartmann offers some commentary...



...and this clip from “The Classroom” at More Perfect Union tells us about The Secret Meeting That Broke Our Food System (destroying the “free seed” system and the role played by the ASTA – kind of wonky but important...definitely didn’t know about the battle to privatize every single molecule of our food, but I know I shouldn’t be surprised – DID know about the link between Bayer and I.G. Farben and Zyklon B, I have to admit, and OF COURSE Bayer absorbed Monsanto, who IMO is responsible more than anyone else for the garbage in our food...NSFW/H)...



...and I’m kind of liking this new tune from Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company...hope you agree.

Thursday Stuff

Leave it to that cowardly pantywaist Jesse Watters of Fix Noise to want REVENGE! against Palestinians in the utterly awful Israel/Gaza war...fortunately, a Navy SEAL put Watters in his place in a matter-of-fact way; I have to admit that I don’t understand how “Bibi” in Israel was caught completely off guard with an attack that apparently was in preparation for two years...in terms of an intelligence failure, yes, there is a comparison to be made between this catastrophe and 9/11 as far as yours truly is concerned (David Pakman tells us about it)...



...meanwhile, for the reality point of view on a related story, Joy Reid speaks with Mehdi Hasan and Michelle Goldberg on the utterly awful news of the 6-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago, Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed to death (26 times? Dear Lord...), and his mother was attacked also...so much credit to Hasan in particular for calling out the usual suspects here...I kind of go back and forth on Goldberg (not crazy about the “keyboard radicals” stuff and wanting “a decent left,” to be honest, which she seems to backpedal from in the interview), but I’ll cut her some slack on this occasion...



...and Joy Reid quite rightly points out that the wingnuts howling about George Soros, in addition to being ridiculous (yeah, some retired billionaire on a farm or whatever in New York state is in reality this evil lefty puppet master), is also anti-Semitic, and Leeja Miller dives a lot deeper here into how Soros became such a boogeyman for conservatives...terrific reporting on how Soros made his billions and his “open societies” philosophy, and yeah, Miller nails it by tying all of the anti-Soros BS to Arthur Finkelstein (linking it to Viktor Orban and other Repug politicos going back to Tricky Dick...NSFW/H at the very end, but boy, is she ever right!)...



...and Jesse Dollemore discusses the utter dysfunction by the children in the U.S. House of Representatives and presents a clip of Chris Hayes talking with Jamie Raskin about, maybe, Liz Cheney or The Mittster as an alternative U.S. House Speaker...and here is my question in response; if the roles were reversed, would the Repugs be asked to capitulate for the sake of a Democrat? Probably about half past NEVER ON YOUR GODDAMN LIFE!...and yeah, good for Jesse here to point out, though Cheney and Romney support the Constitution (which shouldn’t even be a question for any of these knuckleheads in government), Cheney and Romney are TERRIBLE on the actual issues, and it does show indeed how far we’ve fallen that we’re apparently making that a secondary consideration (the Letterhack YouTube thing was yesterday I believe)...



...and oh yeah, as long we’re talking about The Mittster, I think we should rerun this campaign ad from Former President Obama on 10/19/12 about that infamous quote from Romney about letting Detroit go bankrupt during The Great Recession (here), in case anybody gets it into their head that Romney is some kind of a “reasonable” Republican (and yeah, you guessed it; time once more for “This Day In Doomsy History”)...



...and happy 66th birthday to Karl Wallinger of World Party.

Wednesday Stuff

Francesca and Brett Erlich bring us an update on the SAG-AFTRA strike, which apparently is going on because the studio heads are digging in their heels on the issues of AI, wages keeping up with inflation, and increased revenue share (the WGA strike has been settled for a little while now as noted in the clip)...that graphic with the studio CEO pay and median studio employee salary with the ratio of one to the other is pretty damn mind blowing and actually comparable to what corporate plutocrats in this country are earning vs. the workforce; not saying it’s right, I wish to emphasize, but only making a comparison...



...and Kyle Kulinski informs us that “Meatball Ron” #DeathSantis thinks that ALL Palestinians are anti-Semites, which is both factually incorrect and a ridiculous piece of wingnut propaganda...I think this is a pretty good takedown from Kyle about the dangers of the black-and-white thinking (or what passes for thinking, I should say) on the part of #DeathSantis and his same-party pals, as Kyle points out (and yeah, are there pro-Palestinian protests at colleges? Yep, but there are also plenty of pro-Israel protests in college campuses as noted here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report wonder Why The Crimewave Myth Persists...the crew looks at a Target store closing in East Harlem with no data to back up the claim of an alleged increase in crime, though ANOTHER Target will be built about a mile from the one that will close, and yeah, I also think Target guessed wrong here on where the gentrification would take place; doesn’t sound like it really has much to do with crime...GREAT point about CVS and their stock buybacks; if you’re so damn worried about crime, maybe reinvest back into security indeed...and yes, I think there is a correlation between locations of violent crime and lowest minimum wages in the country as Emma notes...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about some Texas Repug U.S. congressional dumbass named Keith Self who blames OMIGOD BIDEN OPEN BORDERS! for the fact that his party can’t get their goddamn act together in the U.S. House, though fortunately this clown Self was called on it by CNN anchor Boris Sanchez (who had better watch his butt now – as I’ve said before, the worst thing you can do in corporate media is NOT to be deliberately, factually wrong...it’s pissing off a conservative)...and by the way, Gym Jordan lost his second vote for speaker with more defections than the first vote, but not Bri-Fi of course...to do something about our PA-01 rep who supports a guy who did nothing when OSU wrestlers contacted him about being sexually abused, click here.



(And by the way, when it comes to Repug congressional dysfunction, there’s more than just the nonsense in the U.S. House and “Coach” Tuberville blocking DoD-related promotions as noted here...there’s also Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul blocking diplomatic appointments as noted here.)...

...and I know I’ve bashed the @DNC, @DCCC, @DSCC and related organizations plenty of times because of what I would call their “duck and hide” social media strategy (or what passes for one, with notable exceptions like AOC and Bill Pascrell of NJ), so the least I can do is put up this video of what they do with our donations; clip is almost a year old and I’m sorry I didn’t find it sooner (should not have been that hard to track down), but better late than never I guess (always a good time to contribute however you can, and this video is an important lesson IMO especially for the even-more-critical races next year)...



...and given the first clip, I’m in the mood for a tune about movies; this immediately came to mind.

Tuesday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us that Gym Jordan may end up as the next U.S. House Speaker and opines on what an awful development that would be, even though apparently Jordan lost the first round of voting...Thom goes down the whole sordid list of Jordan and Trump-related offenses, to say nothing of legislation Jordan has opposed, as well as the fact that not a single piece of legislation Jordan has proposed/introduced has become law over his 16 years in the House (and when you're a Repug who has lost Man Tan Boehner, you’re really out on a limb...despite the initial vote setback, I’m sure this guy, a member of this group, will cave as he always does and vote for Jordan – to do something about Bri-Fi at last, click here)...



Update: Yep, Bri-Fi caved for Jordan all right (here).

...and when it comes to the usual corporate media “take” on all of the dysfunction in the U.S. House that has created an opportunity for Jordan, you can rely on “both sides” Dave Gregory to find a way to blame Dems for this utter mess in one of our legislative branches of government (and actually, I was at least as PO’ed about Gregory’s “ferment on college campuses” and “anti-Semitic left” remarks also as I was with the “where are the Dems?” idiocy...”Dancin’ Dave” is indeed working overtime here to come up with some kind of faux equivalency between the two sides, as Jesse Dollemore tells us)...



...and given the theme of Repug politicians going off the deep end, Mike Figueredo brings us the story of someone named Joseph Viso, Jr. (anti-vax skeptic, anti-LGBTQ, thinks Dems are communists, etc.) who literally smeared sh*t on the locks and doorknobs of a day care where he had a dispute next to his business at the time...nice freaking guy...oh, and I guess I can only say THANKS, OBAMA! in response (and yes, I’m definitely kidding...sooo I guess this happened awhile ago, so why is it coming to light only now I wonder?...NSFW/H)...



...and this report from the CBC tells us that the U.S. and France, among other countries, are trying to contain the horror show going on in Gaza between Israel and Hamas...I have to be careful with these clips because I want to keep information as current as I can, and I also don’t want to get dinged by YouTube for violent content, which I really can’t do much about...doesn’t mean I’m trying to ignore this, I wish to emphasize...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less), with a 10/18/08 clip courtesy of Michael Morrill and Keystone Progress...folks from Chester County, PA speak out in favor of President Obama and criticize the rhetoric coming from the McCain/Palin campaign aimed at former President Hopey Changey...I never criticized – or at least, I don’t think I did – some of the attacks from McCain aimed at Obama and Biden back then since they weren’t personal; my biggest complaints with McCain had to do with policy – of course, the former half-term Alaska governor who was McCain’s running mate was another story...this is kind of a relic that pre-dates the rise of the Gropenfuhrer of course, but I still think it’s timely to present something like this every so often as a reminder that we can agree or disagree without trying to tear each other to pieces in the process...



...and I may be a month or two early for this number, but I thought it was a neat newer tune (and sadly apropos), so here it is.

Monday Stuff

Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report brings us the latest on the U.S. House Speaker mess, with Don Bacon and Austin Scott criticizing their party for acting like the spoiled brats that they truly are; Scott did indeed take a shot at speaker, but lost the vote and said he would support Gym Jordan instead, who would be a typically horrific choice, which probably means Jordan has the best shot...and by the way, all I hear from this guy is crickets, except for some typically bland, milquetoast statement criticizing “extremism”; to do something about Bri-Fi at last, click here...



...and Leeja Miller gives us another well-done IMO clip, this time on The Heritage Foundation, which was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner and also Joseph Coors (of Coors Beer)...good job by Miller to discuss the spinoffs of Heritage including ALEC, and the link between Heritage and the Powell Memo (which sprang in part from the regulation of the auto industry on behalf of consumers, to say nothing of linking cigarettes to cancer and warning this country about that also, which hurt Powell’s benefactors at Philip Morris)...didn’t know about the “Mandate for Leadership” that was ready when The Sainted Ronnie R set about trying to destroy our government in 1981, as well as future iterations of that atrocity...also didn’t know about the hand that Heritage played in Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare “reform” bill, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised...also didn’t know about Heritage’s rebound under Mango Mussolini (with the utterly execrable Jim DeMint leading the way)...and the “Index of Dependency” is another typically repulsive deliverable, if you will, from these guttural bottom feeders...also important to note the State Policy Network (founded in 1992 by Thomas Roe, former board member of Heritage) and their impact at school board and local zoning board/town hall meetings, which Miller discusses, as well as the link to Project 2025 (NSFW/H especially near the end, and yes, her swearing is appropriate IMO)...



...and the latest from Second Thought discusses What Happens To Rich People Under Socialism...to me, the takeaway is that there would still be rich people, but they would accrue wealth within a bottom-up framework in favor of workers instead of the “trickle down” propaganda that has been spoon fed to us by our media among other culprits...personally, I think you should be able to get rich if you also take care of your workforce, but you shouldn’t if you don’t...nice to hear some sanity on the issue of what a socialist economy would actually look like...“The main concern of socialism is equal democratic and economic power”...sounds like a plan!...



...maybe those opposing socialism think it would be like this scene from “Doctor Zhivago” (spoiler alert: it wouldn’t be...clip depicts life immediately after the 1917 Communist revolution in Russia)...



...and speaking of movies, RIP Piper Laurie (clip is from “The Hustler” of course)...



...and RIP also Rudolph Isley of The Isley Brothers.

Friday Stuff

David Pakman presents a clip of Sean Inanity basically interrogating RFK Jr. now that the, shall we say, lapsed Kennedy scion has declared as an independent candidate for prez which could potentially draw votes from the Gropenfuhrer...such a transparently pathetic attempt to prop up #45 and defeat the monster that has indeed been created in part by The Roger Ailes BS Factory as Pakman notes...



...and as we see here, the other talking heads from that joke of a network are laughably bad also, with Laura Ingraham saying the charges against Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence should be dropped, which is absurd for the reasons Kyle Kulinski points out...



...and when it comes to the legal machinations related to Our Ochre Abomination, Jesse Dollemore tells us the 45’s lawyers are actually arguing that he didn’t have a duty to “support” the Constitution, but only to preserve, protect and defend that most important foundational document (as if there somehow could be a difference between the two sets of terms), as part of his filing against those who argue that Trump isn’t allowed to run for prez again given that he supported an insurrection (I can’t believe this alleged strategy was concocted by people who graduated law school and passed a bar exam)...



...and believe me when I tell you that it takes A LOT for me to take Joe Scar seriously enough to include a clip from him here, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary (with Mrs. Scar and Willie Geist) about not just Combover Caligula, but the whole U.S. House “leadership”...really no need for me to point out the insanity of the remarks in this clip since it should be pretty goddamned freaking obvious – oh, and the bit about “what does you-know-who have against Obama” was unintentionally hilarious...gee, I dunno – how about FREAKING RACISM!! How about everything Trump and his old man did to African Americans in their real estate businesses? How about THE CENTRAL PARK FREAKING FIVE TOO??!! I think Geist kind of tiptoes around a bit on that by mentioning the birther stuff, but that’s probably as far as he’s allowed to go.

Scar made a name for himself by doing everything he possibly could to attack the Clintons for any reason whatsoever, and in a totally propagandistic fashion (here). He helped put the “R” Party on its current abhorrent, utterly ungovernable path, so he has NO ROOM WHATSOEVER to go tut-tut over that bunch now...



...and when it comes to those with power and privilege (harking back a bit to the first clip), Robert Reich gives us a lesson on the robber barons of The Gilded Age and what it took to defeat them; we’ll need the fully marshalled forces of working men and women and families all over this country to overcome the plutocrats who want to totally rig our politics and economy in their favor at the expense of everyone else...



...and Jayar Jackson and David Shuster of The Damage Report tells us that Almost Silent Clarence Thomas haz a sad because the SCOTUS apparently won’t look at New York Times vs. Sullivan, which is a foundational court precedent having to do with press freedom; Thomas is apparently PO’ed in light of the media reporting painting him as the thoroughly compromised fraud and ideologue that he is and of course, being an entitled crybaby, he wants to get back at people and entities offending his delicate sensibilities...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses the forces trying to destroy this country...1) the corporatist monsters who, as Thom says, want this country to be something out of a Dickens story in terms of poverty and having to plead for table scraps from the billionaires; 2) the MAGA chuds who think Mango Mussolini is God, and 3) the “tankies” who think we should have an autocratic state a la Putin, Viktor Orban in Hungary, etc. (and Thom does another great job IMO in explaining how life is quantifiably better in blue states vs. red states by just about every measure, with the color terminology rising to prominence in the 2000 election, let’s not forget...and by the way, apparently Steve Scalise doesn't want to be House Speaker after all, as noted here)...



...and given today’s date, I looked for a “13” song on the calendar and found this moldy oldie – enjoy.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo tells us how King Elon I has utterly wrecked Twitter/X/whatever by allowing all kinds of unverifiable and neo-Nazi crap to go and propagate without moderation of any kind whatsoever; of course, hollowing out the company’s infrastructure has gone a long way towards this sorry outcome, which is also amplified with all of the propaganda raging given the Israel/Hamas war...



...and speaking of propaganda, Farron Cousins tells us that Alabama recently trashed a bunch of training manuals for preschool teachers, books that cost $165 apiece, totaling about $16,500, because they were "woke"? Really??...one of the most clear-eyed commentaries I’ve ever heard about the state of Alabama, and no resident of that state should feel so much as a speck of pride after hearing what Cousins has to say...and they should also feel more than a bit of contrition over electing this clueless, provincial goober (and I don’t mean Gen. Hayden...and yes, I know what Hayden actually meant), but I’m sure they don’t...



...and on the subject of performative nonsense, Jesse Dollemore tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina recently wore a scarlet “A” on her dress after her vote to oust her party’s speaker Kevin McCarthy, believing that she’s being punished for being a woman and being demonized for her voice, or something (showing no undertstanding whatsoever of the meaning behind that symbol from Nathaniel Hawthorne's timeless novel)...in response, I’d like to link to an article on Dem D.C. U.S. House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton – given that she can appear but not actually vote on legislation, I would say that Holmes Norton has much more of a right to feel that she’s “demonized” than Mace ever will...



...and once more, I’m keeping TYT on a short leash, if you will, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary by Ana and Cenk about idiot Repug lawmakers like “running man” Josh Hawley saying we should divert aid from Ukraine to Israel, which is a typically idiotic and cowardly sentiment from a member of the “party of Lincoln” (and apparently, Cenk has announced a run for president, which means to me that TYT has officially “jumped the shark”)...



...and Kyle tells us about politicians losing their sh*t over Rashida Tlaib with a Palestinian flag next to her office – too freaking bad!...GREAT point by Kyle that just because you may support the Palestinians, that doesn’t automatically mean that you support the Hamas butchers also...



...and I probably shouldn’t include this tune because this band is from Atlanta (hiss, boo – just kidding...go Phils!), but I think it’s a catchy number anyway.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on “bias,” which can take many forms, which likely led to the horrific assault on Israel by Hamas (and which played a role in the January 6th attacks, and 9/11 also as far as I’m concerned...you could probably go back pretty far with Beau’s observation, likely to Vietnam also)...he also had another commentary where he said he hasn’t seen any evidence to indicate that Combover Caligula gave away any intel that enabled Hamas to launch their horrific attack – I’ll accept his point since I think he has more of an inside track than I do, but I’m only saying that #45 wouldn’t know enough to know what it was that he could have given up; combined with other intel, it could have given Russia/Hamas what they needed...and yeah, I’ll never get a conclusive answer on that either, but at a minimum, I think the possibility should be considered and examined, especially because of this...



...and Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative speaks out in defense of his country (fractured as it is inside an open air prison that Israel created) on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN program...as Emma Vigeland points out, Barghouti may not be aligned with Fatah or certainly Hamas (Fatah recognized Israel but, to hear Barghouti tell it, Netanyahu didn’t recognize Palestinian land based on a 2014 agreement, a claim which I believe), but for Barghouti to claim that Hamas only targeted military assets is a cruel, sick joke...that said, it’s impossible to ignore the context behind the Hamas attacks as well as those of Russia against Ukraine...



...and this BBC report with correspondent Nick Beale tells us about the Israeli air strikes on Gaza and tells us about the casualties/possible hostages, including Brits and Americans (updates are here)...



...returning to political stuff in this country, Kyle tells us about Ronna Romney McDaniel saying that the Dems are “pro criminal” and “pro Fentanyl” or something...so glad to hear Kyle point out the double standard of the corporate media outrage cycle when a Dem puts his or her foot in it, but when a Repug does the same thing, cue the sound of crickets...I actually agree with what Kyle says here about 2016 vs. 2020 Trump voters; I think some of the ’16 people were well-intentioned but made an awful mistake, but the ’20 people are utterly nutzoid IMO...



...and Mike Papantonio/Farron Cousins discuss Credit Suisse bank, which – allegedly – is sheltering $$ again for individuals and entities trying to illegally escape taxation, even though C-S was caught doing this once before, which was discovered when whistle blowers came forward...I wish I could argue with what they’re saying about Eric Holder, but they have better information on him than I do and I suspect that they’re right...also mentioned is the pizza shop owner in Ohio who says he doesn’t want to hire “stupid people”...I understand how a business owner can be frustrated on that score, but no, that definitely isn’t something you should advertise...that being said, I’m not going to go nuts over this one way or the other...



...and on this day in 1968, George Harrison recorded this tune for “the white album” for his pal Eric Clapton, who apparently had a toothache (Harrison added the saxophones, to be precise)...even though “Slow Hand” has made some great legendary music, he’s pretty much persona non grata for yours truly given stuff like this.

Tuesday Stuff

(I realize this pic might have been more appropriate for Indigenous People's Day yesterday...oh well.)

Leeja Miller brings us another well-done video, this time on Why Conservatives Hate Immigrants...gets into our LOOOONG anti-immigrant history in this country, in which we vilified first European emigres especially those who were German, Irish and Italian, then Asians, and then African Americans and Jews, and finally (up to now) Hispanics and Muslims...didn’t know Lincoln passed the Homestead Act and the Contract Labor Act to help immigrants find employment in war industries during the Civil War, offering land and jobs...among other important points, the clip tells us that the “great replacement theory” BS actually goes back to the 1870s...surprised to hear that Obama deported more immigrants than Trump, but maybe I shouldn’t be...not surprised to hear that #45 got rid of the Family Case Management Program that was working (and was cost effective) under Obama...NSFW/H...



...and Emma Vigeland of TMR brings us more on the Hamas strike against Israel, with an editorial in Haaretz laying the blame squarely at the feet of Netanyahu (here) - the latest is here...Hamas is terrible and does a pathetic job of providing services for the Palestinians, and there’s no excuse for killing or maiming ANY civilian or taking anyone hostage, but as noted in the clip, there were plenty of warning signs that this could happen that obviously were ignored by the Israeli government...I see no immediate end to this horror show, though I’d love to be wrong and see some solution worked out – not likely I realize...and once more, let’s not forget this too...worth noting IMO that the last Israeli head of state who embraced peace was Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and he was murdered by an Israeli nationalist...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher (spare me) has called for civil war because “elections don’t work”...I agree with a lot of Kyle’s commentary on what an utter intellectual turd Greg Gutfeld is, but as far as Kyle’s “elections don’t matter” comment at the end correctly aimed at idiots who try to discourage voters, I would only point out that Kyle didn’t vote in ’20 by his own admission (or at least, not for Biden), so I really don’t think he has the intellectual high ground on that one...



...and Texas, unsurprisingly, has passed a law saying schools should have at least one uniformed, armed cop on the premises, who could be a retired officer or private security, but of course the Texas morons passing this law didn't provide enough funding for it, leaving school districts to pick up the rest of the cost (as Rayy Vana says, that’s $$ NOT used for textbooks, school lunches, cost of AC and heat for the schools or salaries to hire additional teachers...Nina Turner provides commentary also)...



...and this More Perfect Union segment discusses the plot to get rid of public schools (speaking of education), led by the Alliance Defending Freedom (I was equal parts horrified and enraged as I watched this; I can’t think of a word to describe the arrogance and sanctimony of these bottom feeders trying their best to destroy public education)...video also mentions the SCOTUS rulings of Zelman (’02), Montana (’20) and Carson v. Makin (’22) that have been whittling away at public education in favor of vouchers...looks like this will end up as another post where I’m unable to end on a note of “people power” coming to the fore...sorry – I’m sure I’ll be able to resolve that sooner than later...



...and I don’t know if you had a Gen Z, angst-filled heartbreak song on your musical Bingo card, but here it is anyway.

Monday Stuff

This news report from MSNBC tells us about the fighting that has broken out between Israel and Hamas (and yes, ANY loss of life or injury on ANY side should be condemned...an utterly horrific update is here) – I think it was Marcy Wheeler online who wondered how much Putin could be behind this, sharing intel from this country and you-know-who with our enemies to escalate tensions in the region to try and divert attention/resources from Ukraine...among other things, this is a disastrous failure of Israeli intelligence...the last president who I can recall was actually serious about some kind of peace in that region was Jimmy Carter; eventually, we’ll need to find a way to lead on that subject once more, but not for the foreseeable future, sadly (and by the way, let's not forget this when it comes to the "R" party and their lie about the $6 billion as noted above...more here and here)...



...and Sam and Emma give us what I think is a pretty good analysis on the recent comments from Hillary Clinton about “deprogramming” the MAGA nuts...those cretins from the “party of Lincoln” are sinking, SO DON’T THROW THEM A FREAKING LIFE PRESERVER!! And I hope that line that this might generate $50 million in fundraising on their side proves to be wrong (hopefully not more than that), but that may be correct unfortunately...and by the way, how the hell do you “deprogram” this? (these nut fundie "megachurches" have their fingerprints all over this too). And yeah, this response also comes right from the wingnut nether regions I realize...



...and as long as we’re mentioning those claiming to speak in the name of religion, retired Army Major Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ (not him) tells us about this William Wolfe character, some fundamentalist preacher who sez (to the equally odious Stew Peters) that this country should submit itself to Christ (or at least Wolfe’s interpretation of Scripture), ignoring the separation of church and state that is implicit in the Constitution...



...and this Damage Report clip discusses a recent WaPo article making the case that red state policies on health care shave years off of people’s lives (more here)...and doesn’t it figure that this does indeed trace back to The Sainted Ronnie R? Also, I should check on the “seat belt law” thing since I think that was federally mandated...Rayy Vana is pretty smart on this stuff, but she may be off there (with Aida Rodriguez...I thought Rodriguez’s remarks were kid of all over the place; I wish she had talked instead about how the “party of Lincoln” is fighting tooth and nail against Medicaid expansion in the states as noted here)...



...and today would have been the 83rd birthday of John Lennon...



..and happy birthday also to Jackson Browne.