Wednesday Stuff

Robert Reich tells us about some important SCOTUS-related history on rulings that have led to corporations acquiring outsized influence in our elections, at the expense of voters victimized by the equally awful Shelby County v. Holder decision, to say nothing of the rest of us (knowing our Philistines in robes, I’m sure more legal atrocities will be forthcoming, and believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong)...



...and Chris Hayes discusses U.S. Senate Repugs lining up behind Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence (And 34-Count Convicted Felon), as well as the response to Maryland Repug U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan when he tried to find what I guess you could call some kind of a diplomatic way to address #45’s criminality (to ensure that this vitally important U.S. Senate seat remains in Democratic hands, click here)...



Update: Absolutely beyond belief, even for these troglodytes in "the world's greatest deliberative body" (here).

...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 6/5/17...as noted here, there was a particularly horrific terror attack on London Bridge on 6/3 that year, but true to form, our brave Brit friends tracked down those responsible, meted out justice, and carried on (such attacks occurred with frightening frequency leading up the events of 6/3...I put up this video at the time, and I’d just like to include it again as a tribute to the land from which we’ve just returned, and that goes for the people too of course)...



...and don’t look now, but our neighbor to the south just elected a progressive woman as president, and apparently someone pretty eco-friendly also...would that we would do the same...and by the way, AMLO is this guy (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and David Doel informs us here that “Bibi” and his bloodthirsty Israeli pals have been using fake online accounts to influence opinion on their latest incursion into Gaza (particularly aimed at U.S. lawmakers)...yeah, as the “X” poster said, if Russia, North Korea or Iran had done this, there’d be plenty of outrage, but likely bupkes since it’s coming from our “ally”...



...and happy belated 80th birthday to Roger Ball of the Average White Band.

Tuesday Stuff

Ali Velshi gives us a bit of a history lesson on immigration going back about 100 years or so...“America must be kept American” according to President Coolidge in ’23, keeping out Asians more than any other group, though they weren’t the only ones...Velshi uses some pretty solid economic arguments to support his claim as to how necessary immigration is to maintain our quality of life in this country, aside from the arguments about altruism and basic human decency...important to remind us all about this while the “party of Lincoln,” led by their convicted felon of a presidential candidate, screeches exactly the opposite...didn’t see Velshi’s follow-up segment (and BTW, The Great Depression didn't hit until 1929)...



...and John and Yasmin Khan tell us that “the land of the yellow rose” is trying to get laws passed mandating the death penalty for abortions despite polling to the contrary, along with a ban on in vitro fertilization, and also requiring bible study for elementary school kids...The Eternal Molly Ivins once referred to Greg Abbott-stan as the breeding ground for bad government, or words to that effect, and I see absolutely nothing that would make me change my opinion on that (more here)...



...and Trae Crowder informs us that the wingnuts are still contorting themselves to try and justify the actions of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule – more here ("All pride, no shame - what else needs to be said" indeed...NSFW/H)...



...and Anthony Vincent Gallo (I think that's his name) of Occupy Democrats reminds us that litigation is still ongoing across multiple states concerning the fake electors scheme in ’20...even though our beyond a joke “fourth estate” is paying little heed to that story as well as others that cast the “R” party in a negative light, we need to be mindful of this heinous garbage...



...but if you’re in the mood for news that’s actually good (and who isn’t), Farron Cousins tells us that Minnesota just passed a law making book bans illegal, as opposed to the idiocy going on in red states...



...and I have only this to say to the son of Repug U.S. House rep John Rose; a grateful nation thanks you :- )...I wouldn’t be surprised if someone approaches him with an offer for a late-night talk show after this...



...and Beau gives us an update on Marjorie Traitor Greene’s antics during the hearing with Dr. Fauci, to say nothing of Greene’s same-party playmates...one of Beau's many good points is that, if the “lab leak theory” stuff was somehow ever proven to be right, then #45 withholding funds from the WHO to try and contain the leak makes Dementia J. Trump look even MORE culpable...



...and I thought this was kind of a dreamier newer tune, which works for the summer as far as I’m concerned (and I’ll be getting into more seasonal selections before long).

Monday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore brings us the sorry tale of MAGA freaks losing it in NYC after the verdict against Mango Mussolini, in which the convicted felon was found guilty on all 34 counts in a hush money election- year payoff to Stormy Daniels...and isn’t it precious for the guy to claim that we should love everyone while also saying “go ‘f’ yourself and your mother” (NSFW/H)...



Update 6/7/24: I see the YouTube "sensibility police" have struck again for the prior clip, which they seem to be doing with ever-greater frequency...ridiculous.

...and Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that some of the same execrable bipeds I just alluded to are, predictably, trying to dox Judge Merchan, Alvin Bragg, and the trial jurors (Marc Elias is absolutely right about trying to get everyone to tamp down the violent rhetoric, but yeah, good luck with that...and in the matter of how #45’s conviction may affect his polling, I think this is food for thought...this too)...



Update: This too.

...and when it comes to wingnut BS, David Shuster blows up some typically incorrect talking points, specifically related to crime as well as the economy, which is actually doing well under “Dark Brandon”...



...and Mike Figueredo gives us more reasons why every single goddamn Democrat should oppose AIPAC, particularly since that group also embraces Trumpsters, but good luck with that also...of all of the members of “the squad” seeking re-election, Jamaal Bowman and especially Cori Bush have the biggest fights on their hands (Schumer’s “we stand with Israel” clip with “MAGA Mike” made me want to puke, as did Nikki Haley’s little “bomb” message)...I think Figueredo goes a little hard on Jill Biden to be honest, but yeah, I have to admit that he does have a bit of a point (NSFW/H also)...



...and the following clip from More Perfect Union discusses what it’s really like to work at Apple...looks like a facility in Towson, MD voted to join a union a couple of years ago, but the company is dragging its feet every way possible to avoid entering into serious negotiations, even to the point of proposing new benefits but saying, “well, because you have this union here, we can’t implement these benefits,” which is illegal as hell according to Biden’s NLRB (one of the many reasons to support #46 is that none of us can imagine how corrupt that agency would be in a disastrous return of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence)..



...and you can chalk this up as another newer tune I’ve been meaning to get to – kind of a nice, little tribute clip, and we find out the details at the end.

Friday Stuff

Steve Schmidt gives us another "Warning" episode on the fact that the Repugs are going to fall in line anyway behind Our Convicted Felon Of A Former *president despite the fact that #45 was found guilty on all 34 counts in his recent criminal case concerning election-related payoffs to Stormy Daniels; I believe it was Chris Hayes who made the excellent point that Our Ochre Abomination has now been held to account twice by everyday citizens of this country, whereas the rich and powerful continue to coddle him, no doubt hoping for more stinking tax cuts in the disastrous event of Combover Caligula getting returned to An Oval Office (and this speaks volumes also as far as I’m concerned...more related food for thought is here)...



...and when it comes to coddling the well-to-do, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about the WaPo apparently spiking the initial story of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito’s upside down flag from a week or so after the insurrection, “in a pre-Dobbs world,” or whatever nonsense justification they’re coming up with – “democracy dies in darkness” all right, and also from a lack of vigilance in order to appease treasonous wingnuts (and pertaining to the High Court, this sure figures, doesn’t it?)...



...and in case you thought political intrigue against lefties was confined to our shores only, David Doel lets us know about Faiza Shaheen apparently getting booted out of the British Labour Party because she liked a tweet from Jon Stewart (British PM Rishi Sunak just called for a “snap” election, so that makes this a timely story)...yes, this is ridiculous, but as someone who’s been exposed somewhat to the rough-and-tumble of British politics, I should say that it’s hard to overstate how thoroughly the media “across the pond” utterly hates Labour (Jeremy Corbyn in particular), but yeah, this story also proves that the Labour Party is a mess anyway, and I’m talking about the party’s “leadership” (and nice work by Stewart here)...



...and given the prior clip about the WaPo (and, I would argue, the Shaheen clip also), I think it’s important to be mindful of how the fourth estate helps to poison the life blood of democracy, not just in the U.S. but elsewhere...I think Thom Hartmann is typically spot-on here...he saves some fire for Bill Clinton signing the telecommunications bill in the ‘90s, but more than anyone else, The Sainted Ronnie R needs to be held up to ridicule IMO for no longer enforcing antitrust law and gutting the Fairness Doctrine and the equal time requirement for TV news orgs (more here)...



...and Kyle Kulinski brings us the story of Iraq war vet Tomas Young, who, in his dying moments, called out “Deadeye Dick” Cheney and Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History over our Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Mesopotamia - may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (I originally had this slated for a couple of days ago, but I moved it for the Rachel Maddow clip on Fani Willis, which I thought was a little more timely)...



...and Jeff Waldorf informs us of an individual named Ben Pollock, the father of two MAGA rioters captured by the FBI who attempted to place a stone honoring insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt and others from the 1/6 Capitol attack at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day; Pollock was rightly turned back at the gate to the cemetery, apparently (more here)...



...and Ana and John of TYT bring us the story of microplastics found in human and dog testicles – and yeah, why exactly is it that they’re looking at testicles anyway, but I guess it’s a good thing that they are (and I think John is exactly right to focus on the BS that we let corporations get away with when it comes to poisoning our air, water, and food)...



...and RIP Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly (and I'll bet you knew that this was coming, right?).

Thursday Stuff

We know of course that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a *president doesn’t possess any instinct towards self-reflection whatsoever, but if he did, I wonder if he’d regret this (in light of this of course - guilty on all 34 freaking counts!)...



...or this...



...or this...



...more to come, but I think this tune works for now.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about Bo-Bo Boebert, running in CO-04 of course since she bailed on her CO-03 constituents over that “Beetlejuice” stuff, having a hissy fit over quite rightly getting called out by Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for taking credit for infrastructure funds in her district from a bill she voted against, namely the Infrastructure Bill (Cousins’ disgust is commendable IMO...mildly NSFW/H...to do something about Boebert, click here...and it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to point this out, but maybe Boebert ought to shut her yap when it comes to trying to criticize other families besides her own)...



...and as we await the word on whether or not Our Ochre Abomination is going to be convicted in the NY criminal case, David Pakman lets us know that – oopsie! – more classified docs were found, this time in Trump’s bedroom (and one way you can tell that this is legit is because Trumpers aren’t automatically yelling, “OH YEAH? WELL, BIDEN DID THAT TOO!”)...



...and Rachel Maddow reminds us that the case that was supposed to be first, instead of the NY criminal case, was the Georgia election fraud garbage where Our Treasonous Orange Pustule asked for about 11,780 votes, but Repugs in that state threw every roadblock they could come up with to prevent that (trying to hurt the case against #45 I mean), including going after Fulton County, GA DA Fani Willis in all kinds of disgusting ways...



...and Robert Reich lets us know that Dementia J. Trump and the “party of Lincoln” want to wreck our bank accounts, take away health insurance and student debt relief, make permanent those stinking, ruinous tax cuts from December 2017 that EVERY REPUBLICAN voted for, including this guy, etc. (and to do something about Bri-Fi, click here)...



...and I’m sure it comes as no surprise whatsoever to learn about oil companies colluding to raise gas prices in an effort to hurt No Malarkey Joe at the ballot box – Faiz Shakir of More Perfect Union brings us the infuriating details (especially concerning Scott Sheffield, former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, who coordinated with our dear friends the Saudis to cut the supply of oil and keep gas prices high)...



...and happy belated 80th birthday to Gladys Knight (and kudos to The Pips too).

Tuesday Stuff

Yasmin Khan of Rebel HQ lets us know about the Gropenfuhrer’s decision to sue George Stephanopoulos in light of the ABC News host making the completely true statement that #45 was found liable in the E. Jean Carroll rape case (and isn’t it just too precious to see Nancy Mace try to manufacture fake outrage?)...at about 3:29, the clip switches to the lawsuit against Jessia Tarlov, maybe the only sane person on Fix Noise at this point, filed by Trumper Tony Bobulinski, because Tarlov also quite accurately said that Bobulinski’s legal fees were being paid for by a Trump Super PAC (shocking to see Tarlov supported by Fix Noise, but credit where it’s due...and as Khan reminds us, Bobulinski was supposedly the “smoking gun” from James Comer in the Hunter Biden sham investigation)...



...and when it comes to right-wing insanity and The Roger Ailes BS Factory, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show “Foxsplains” the alleged assassination attempt against Bronzer Beelzebub...I realize this is humor, and Lydic knows that of course, but she really isn’t too far off from what passes for alleged thinking on the part of Trumpers.

And just as a reminder, life forms like the person driving the vehicle with this obnoxious bumper sticker are part of what we're fighting againat...



...and Cenk Uygur, Jordan Uhl and Jules Suzdaltsev of TYT tell us the sorry tale of Repug U.S. Senate hopeful Royce White getting caught using campaign funds for going to a strip club and (allegedly!) all manner of other improprieties (and you can put me in the “maybe criminals SHOULDN’T run for office” camp, as it were)...



...next, Thom Hartmann speaks with Alex Lawson on the subject of How Social Security Works...good news on how well run SS and Medicare are, extending solvency into 2099 (looks like the trust fund is doing well, fortunately...more proof that we need to get rid of the stinking cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding...and yeah, the “banksters” are absolutely salivating over trying to get all of that dough...still more evidence is provided in this clip as to how utterly scammy Medicare Advantage is...more here)...



...and Beau gives us his take on Schumer and the U.S. Senate Dems putting “R” party members in that body in a metaphorical box by utterly caving on the immigration bill, only to see the “party of Lincoln” walk away from it anyway, leading to voters not thrilled with the performance of their “R” party senators (would LOVE to see that translated into votes against these charlatans, but I’m not going to hold my breath on that...I’m loathe to give Schumer credit for ANYTHING, but apparently knuckling under was the right call)...



...and RIP harmonica virtuoso Phil Wiggins of the duo Cephas and Wiggins.

Monday Stuff

Brett Erlich of The Damage Report named Dementia J. Trump as his “garbage person” recently for #45’s approval of a “Never Surrender” banner getting unveiled at Yankee Stadium during the national anthem, which, as Erlich quite rightly informs us, is hypocritical at the very least considering Bronzer Beelzebub’s reaction to Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the anthem for reasons that made a hell of a lot more sense...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report lets us know about the Supremes approving a racist gerrymander in South Carolina...I think Figueredo means that all the SC districts are represented by Republicans EXCEPT James Clyburn’s...yeah, this whole “presumption of legislative good faith” is every bit the utter BS that you can expect from our Philistines in robes on the High Court, and yeah, this falls right into the laps of Alito and Thomas, and Figueredo goes over the Alito flag stuff again, which is fine by me...and once again, AOC nails it...and in a related matter, it appears that more lunacy is coming from this bunch based on this (NSFW/H)...



...and David Doel lets us know about the ICJ ruling about Israel’s incursion into Rafah and a commencement speech by Harvard graduate Shruthi Kumar; apparently the university (or its parent corp?) isn’t going to let 13 pro-Palestinian students graduate (I don’t know about you, but I smell a lawsuit coming...hope so anyway)...and yeah, the attacks against Karim Khan of the ICC are about as ridiculous as you can expect, especially from Huckleberry Graham...



....and I’d been meaning to get to this video since I got back, and I’m finally doing that now...Leeja Miller explains why everything is more expensive, and she chalks it up to corporate mergers and price gouging...basically, about 806 billionaires can hire all the lobbyists to write governmental rules however they want...the clip ties into the importance of antitrust law, with important history from that era dating back to the late 1800s, including that dealing with magnates John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and George Pullman (and I didn’t know about Pullman protecting his casket from workers who might abuse his corpse, which I have to admit is a whole other level of crazy...and examining the legacy of TR is a whole other subject, but to be fair, he indeed stepped up antitrust enforcement when he ascended to the White House)...video is a GREAT primer on how unregulated monopolies can get totally out of hand, effectively screwing over all of us and potentially (or, in the case of Nazi Germany, ACTUALLY) leading to fascism...one of the nearly forgotten names who are responsible for our current sorry state is indeed Aaron Director of the Chicago School of Economics, and I’m glad to see his metaphorical feet held to the fire once more...didn’t know the history of the IBM and AT&T antitrust lawsuits, to be honest, and how that led to the innovations that I believe have been overall positives for the way we live now...and yes, kudos to No Malarkey Joe for stepping up antitrust enforcement, which is yet another issue where the Dems should be doing a better job of messaging to voters (and I know this is a recording...and you can definitely count yours truly as a “neo-Brandeisian”...NSFW/H also)...



...and I thought this was a well-done Lincoln Project video with today’s holiday in mind...



...and every once in awhile for the holiday, I include the following tune because, to me, it speaks to military heroism in the face of great personal sacrifice...

via GIPHY

...which is something the above individual will never, ever understand.

Friday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell interviews Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about the latest flag madness with High Court Justice “Strip Search Sammy” (good for Lawrence to remind everyone that Dubya gave us Alito)...I didn’t know that recusal for SCOTUS justices was actually based on a law; good – kind of a longshot to see Alito and Thomas head off to the gray bar hotel for their antics I know, as opposed to what you would call the “garden variety” corruption of Gorsuch, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett, but it’s still nice to think about IMO...GREAT historical context by Lawrence towards the end of how Repug presidents overall have put us on what you could call a glide path to this sorry day...



...and with the prior video in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 5/25/20, when COVID was raging and, in essence, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao of Kentucky said that blue states should fend for themselves...glad I found this clip from comedian Vic Dibitetto, since I believe his response applies to this also...



...and as far as I’m concerned, this story should outrage everyone on earth...David Doel lets us know about Israeli activists (I guess that’s what they are) blocking and destroying food aid to be sent to Gazans, who are in the midst of a full-blown famine...Doel quite rightly lays the blame for this at the feet of “Bibi”; yes, for the zillionth time, we know what Hamas is, and they started this with their attack on 10/7 (arguably, though Israel has been mistreating Palestinian prisoners for years), but it’s pretty damn plain that all Israel cares about in response is genocide against the Palestinians as official policy (NSFW/H)...



...and turning from something cruel and deadly to something else that’s merely pathetic and actually a little humorous, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report let us know that “America’s Mayor” recently got served on the livestream of his 80th birthday party related to an Arizona election lawsuit – good times...



...and Kyle Clark of 9NEWS in Denver brings us a report on that state’s Repug party telling Colorado families to pull their kids from public schools so they won’t be “turned trans," or something...yep, this is about what you can expect from a bunch whose political influence is dwindling and chooses to offer ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to their constituents (here)...



...and if you want MORE evidence that Not Your Father’s Republican Party has ZERO INTEREST in actual governance, then allow me to include this clip of Farron Cousins informing us of Repug U.S. House Rep Andy Ogles proposing the “Let Trump Speak” Act that would prohibit judges from issuing gag orders to any defendants in civil or criminal proceedings...yeah, assuming idiocy like this could actually be enforced in legal proceedings (Cousins’ outrage is commendable IMO)...



...and I’m going to go “meta” again briefly and point out that, during the break, we traveled once more to the U.K., and as far as I’m concerned, they’re definitely ahead of us when it comes to the “tube” and regional rail (though we do a lot right in this country to be fair, given our crumbling infrastructure)...with that in mind, I was glad to see this item about how high-speed rail could actually be coming to the U.S. AT LONG FREAKING LAST...and we should absolutely credit “Dark Brandon” and the Infrastructure Bill for getting that started, as noted in the video (with Jessica Burbank and More Perfect Union)...



...and I’ve got a backlog of cool new tunes to get to, so I’d better start with that now...hope you enjoy.

Wednesday Stuff

I realize I’m a little late in bringing the clip of Marjorie Train Wreck Greene getting her ass handed to her by Jasmine Crockett when the GA-14 nightmare made yet another stoo-pid remark, this time about Crockett’s eyebrows, but I absolutely couldn’t let this pass by (with a commentary by Mondale Robinson... and I have to admit that John Fetterman totally blew it with the tweet that AOC responded to here)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here about Willard Mitt Romney criticizing fellow Repugs for showing up at Generalissimo Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, alluded to in the prior clip...I have no illusions about The Mittster, but for now, credit for good behavior...



...and when it comes to Repugs vying to join Romney in “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Rachel Maddow tells us about the issues facing those running in Michigan, Montana, Arizona, and our own beloved commonwealth of PA, including Connecticut’s own Dave McCormick who sort of well maybe but not really grew up on a farm, or near one, or something)...



Update 5/24/24: Here is another name for the rogues gallery.

....and I’m not familiar with the gentleman from Occupy Democrats who brings us the following clip, but in the ongoing matter of Harrison Butker’s ridiculous commencement address, it looks like the nuns who founded Benedictine College where Butker spoke decided to set the record straight...nicely done...



...and going from something merely ridiculous to a story that’s cruel and barbaric, well, you can count on Texas guv Greg Abbott to lower the bar to subterranean depths as he does here, pardoning a life form who murdered a BLM protestor – Jesse Dollemore tells us about it...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to drummer Bill Bruford of Yes and King Crimson.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins discusses how #45 is trying to conjure up some imaginary debate with Biden on Fix Noise as a way to ultimately pull out of the scheduled debates with #46 that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence supposedly agreed to...at this point, why anybody would trust Mango Mussolini as far as they can pee is something I will never, ever understand...



...and John of The Damage Report informs us that Our Treasonous Former *preznit is trying to take credit for the stock market, again, which just hit 40,000...and again (and I know this needs to be pointed out over and over), the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P, etc. are just ONE MEASURE of how the economy is doing overall, as Brett Erlich points out...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Alabama’s attempt to expand a “Don’t Say Gay” bill through 12th grade, which died the legislative death it deserved (copying and pasting from Flori-DUUH!, with questions getting asked by Republicans about how bogus the bill is; they obviously didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to play along with this nonsense and not hold it to scrutiny...NSFW/H)....



...and Alex Wagner discusses the kerfuffle with Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker’s commencement address at Benedictine College, where Butker of course reeled off the laundry list of wingnut grievances and tossed in a bit of old-fashioned misogyny to boot...one reaction, as far as I’m concerned, is that it’s absolutely ridiculous for an NFL football player to act like he has the remotest clue about what college graduates will be dealing with in that mean old world that awaits them, but on the other hand, I didn’t hear anyone in that audience booing him either...quite the opposite, which, to me, is a testament to how thoroughly those in attendance have been indoctrinated...Wagner discusses this with Leah Litman, law professor at the University of Michigan, and kudos to Wagner for presenting this in context with all of the hateful legislative BS in this country in support of Butker’s intolerant IMO views (and of course, leave it to the wingnuts to claim that Butker's being oppressed as noted here...spare me)...



...and turning to the destruction in Gaza, Beau informs us that the ICC is seeking applications for arrest warrants for what passes for Hamas leadership and “Bibi” over the 10/7 attack and Israel’s latest incursion into Gaza...important to note, as Beau says, that these are applications for warrants at this point; we’ll see what comes afterwards (and I don’t have anything on this item – hardly a fan of Iran, but I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone)...



...and speaking of mortality, RIP David Sanborn (ugh)...I’m going to break into my summer selections a little early for this one as a tribute (and James gets a little NSFW/H part of the way through here, just to warn you).

Monday Stuff

Time to rev this thing back up again for real, and for starters I give you this clip about “Strip Search Sammy” Alito flying the U.S. flag upside down at his house in sympathy with the 1/6 insurrectionists...I have issues with Steve Schmidt, but there’s lots of good commentary here IMO, including Schmidt admitting that those who criticized Alito at his SCOTUS confirmation hearing were right after all, but I disagree with Schmidt saying that we can’t do anything about our 9 Philistines in robes...Biden needs to at least try to bring the total number of justices to 13, but I know that won’t happen anytime soon, if at all...Schmidt also deserves credit for calling out Dubya for saying nothing whatsoever about Alito, Thomas, or anyone else on our bought-and-paid-for High Court, but that fits the profile for #43, sadly...



...and I guess it’s apropos to transition from Schmidt to The Lincoln Project (again, if you choose to support them, you’re on your own, and I believe Schmidt has separated himself from the group); and yeah, I know, “Trump, Hitler, blah blah blah,” but it’s important to keep beating the metaphorical drum on this stuff...



Update 5/21/24: A "unified Reich," huh? Nice (here)...

...though Leeja Miller gives a bit of a different interpretation of what a beyond awful second presidency from Bronzer Beelzebub would look like, ultimately ending our democracy (NSFW/H)...didn’t know about the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, I have to admit...video discusses the Gropenfuhrer rolling back environmental initiatives, staffing government agencies with lackey loyalists from think tanks and corporations, curtailing the right to protest and using the military to forcibly deport immigrants (at a minimum), and otherwise wield any power he wants under his typically perverse interpretation of Article II of the Constitution, among other acts of madness...and yes, I know I just included the Trump/Hitler clip, but I believe that Miller is correct in that a catastrophic Trump second term would bring us the dissolution of rights more typical of Viktor Orban’s Hungary or Erdogan’s Turkey than something as dramatic as the Nazis, but I could be wrong of course and we need to do all we can to make sure this remains a merely theoretical discussion...



...and while I was away on my break, we lost a notable Dem in our beloved commonwealth, and I’m referring to Cyril Wecht, who served as Allegheny County coroner, though he’s most notable for casting doubts on the conclusion of the Warren Commission concerning the JFK assassination – I have no idea if scientific evidence will ever be released to confirm that Wecht is correct to say that there was more than one gunman, but I’ll hold fast to the hope that we’ll see that day...I’m not familiar with the case Wecht is referring to where he says he has his biggest regret – Wecht also went after the NFL for its treatment of concussed players who were later found to have developed CTE, and of the many who suffered that awful fate, I can recall what happened with Andre Waters of the Eagles and shudder...



...and last Friday marked the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education SCOTUS ruling (from a time when our High Court wasn’t totally purchased by Leonard Leo and The Federalist Society)...yes, this was a momentous and long-overdue decision to assign the scurrilous Plessy v. Ferguson atrocity to the legal dustbin where it belonged, but do not fail to note the extent of the white backlash to Brown which persists to this day and will likely continue, including the “massive resistance” movement and the unfortunate fact that segregation has returned to schools such as those in Virginia, with state and commonwealth budgetary decisions limiting educational opportunity for everyone except the most well-to-do (here)...



...and RIP Duane Eddy.

Friday Stuff

OK, I’m back from my much-needed break, and I’ll probably rev this thing up again for real starting early next week. Until I do, though, I have to address some unfinished business, you might say.

While I was on my unplanned absence at the beginning of the month (slightly before that to be exact), we lost the last surviving member of the original lineup of The Moody Blues, and I’m referring to Mike Pinder (pictured). It should be noted that Justin Hayward and John Lodge stepped into the lineup to replace Denny Laine and Clint Warwick, and from that point, the group reconstituted themselves from a combo performing what you would call pop hits into the prog rock-based fivesome that went off in a wholly other direction starting with “Days of Future Passed.”

With that in mind, I’d like to present the following tunes either written or heavily influenced by Pinder as a tribute...







...including this one, which may be the most recognizable from the band’s entire catalog (Pinder voiced the “Late Lament” at the end).

Friday Stuff

This time a week ago, I said I’d be cutting back on posting. Well, I hadn’t expected to cut back on it as much as I did.

I’ll just briefly go “meta” again (and sorry...I know this is boring) and say that, once in a while, life stuff and my for-profit activities collide in a big way, and that’s kind of what’s going on. It’s not bad stuff, I wish to emphasize, and it’s working itself out. When that happens, posting to this dumb little blog is a casualty since it doesn’t earn yours truly any bread and is actually kind of a vanity exercise, I know. And I’m not complaining when I say that. As I’ve said in the past, I know there’s stuff I could do to raise my profile and generate more traffic, but I haven’t, and that’s on me.

So now, I’m playing a bit of a game of catch-up with some of these items, and I don’t expect to be truly caught up any time soon. With that in mind, I begin with John and Francesca of The Damage Report talking about “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy saying that President Biden should involve himself in the criminal trial for #45...to send a message that #46 isn’t involved? WHAAA??? And GREAT point by John that, if somehow the roles were reversed, Combover Caligula would be spouting off on Truth Septic nonstop about it...



...and I think Chris Hayes gives us a pretty comprehensive look at this country’s most recent protest history, going back to student demonstrations over Vietnam and the Iraq war as a bit of a compare-and-contrast exercise with the college campus protests over Israel’s latest incursion into Gaza...could there be agitators in these current protests trying to radicalize the student protestors further? I’m sure that’s possible, but I also think dismissing the student protests out of hand is categorically wrong (and interesting note about Samuel L. Jackson)...



...and Texas Paul on the Meidas Touch network gives us his take on the bit about Kristi Noem shooting her dog for supposedly eating chickens, or something...there are ways to humanely put down the animal, especially if you live in rural America like Texas Paul does...I think “trying to live in a modern world off of old fiction” explains it...yep, lots of “made-up crap” indeed (more here...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I believe Beau gave us some pretty thoughtful analysis on the U.S. House Dems protecting “MAGA Mike” Johnson against the vacate motion by Marjorie Train Wreck Greene as a reward for Johnson helping to get the Ukraine aid through...I agree with the observation that helping Johnson is probably the best alternative for now, since the Dems obviously don’t have the votes to install Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker...at least not yet...



...and Leeja Miller informs of the wingnut strategy against contraception, with Alabama’s Supreme Court’s ruling that “all embryo’ed lives matter”...I think Miller takes a pretty clear-eyed look at what these Philistines in robes want to do to the 14th Amendment (referring primarily to the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR)...the clip also discusses those troglodytes trying to ban mifepristone, along with trying to keep government agencies from doing their jobs, in this case the FDA, and turning it over to wingnut courts instead via hypothetical lawsuits (leading often to Trumpist lackey judge Matthew Kacsmaryk..clip is also a primer on the beyond-ridiculous Comstock Act...and yeah, leave it to the Catholic Church to come out against IVF and surrogacy...important history in particular at about 25:50)...NSFW/H (and again, I know I’m a little behind on some of these clips)...



...and happy belated 70th birthday to bassist Prescott Niles of The Knack.



And with that, I take my leave of you once again for a scheduled absence. I’ll plan to rev this thing back up again around 5/19 or 5/20.

Friday Stuff

(I'm going to be cutting back on posting for a bit, just to let you know.)

I know I mentioned this previously, but here is the clip of John of The Damage Report telling us about “MAGA Mike” Johnson getting the treatment he deserved at Columbia (with Elise Stefanik and the equally odious Virginia Foxx...GREAT points by John about the “party of Lincoln” being totally disingenuous, to say nothing of patronizing, in criticizing the student protests, having typically no interest in dissenting points of view from their prepared talking points...I mean, Johnson and his pals could be in D.C. doing some, y’know, actual legislating that HAPPENS TO BE THEIR DAMN JOBS, but they’re doing this nonsense instead)...



...and for the reality perspective on Israel’s incursion into Gaza, I thought Bernie Sanders was spot-on here (and I was glad to see this...God only knows the condition of the remaining hostages after all this time)...



...and I have to admit that I’m not paying a lot of attention to the trial of Combover Caligula in Manhattan, but I thought it was interesting (as Farron Cousins explains) to hear from the hilariously-inaptly-named David Pecker of the National Enquirer about all the negative stories involving #45 and how they were handled (letting the Trump gang know about some controversy blowing up and how to try and resolve it, a tactic which might actually be illegal, in addition to being immoral as hell of course...as far as I’m concerned, Mango Mussolini should be in the slam already, but this is where we are...sigh)...



...and I should note that I was a bit anxious about the fate of Dem U.S. House Rep Summer Lee of our beloved commonwealth of Pa, but it looks like she whupped challenger Bhavini Patel in the primary, fortunately (Lee brought back a gang of dough to her district and won endorsements up and down the Dem ballot, which had a lot to do with her victory...and truly awesome to stick it to Trumpist sycophant Jeff Yass by the way, who funded Patel)...



...and we were able to get a bit of a refund already from the feds, and I hope you were able to get yours also; with that in mind, Josh Johnson of The Daily Show speaks with tax expert Robert Wood about how we can maximize our gains, you might say...basically, if you own a home, never sell it and hang onto it until you die...got it...



...and I need something kind of mellow to close out the week, and I think this works.

Thursday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore brings us the news of Repug Mississippi guv Tate Reeves proclaiming Confederate Heritage Month again (additionally, kudos to Dem former MS governor Ray Mabus for speaking out against this garbage...this clip pretty much lays bare the ridiculous claim that the “war between the states” had nothing to do with slavery)...



...and Kyle Kulinski lets us know that Newsmax and OANN were recently smacked with having to pay out to Smartmatic and (probably) Dominion over 2020 election lies (terms not disclosed...couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of scumwaffles – NSFW/H)...



...oh, and did everybody catch what Repug U.S. House Rep Tony Gonzales said recently about his colleagues, Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz and the incredibly-inaptly-named Bob Good in particular (here)? And yeah, innocent until proven guilty and all that when it comes to the rep from Flori-DUUH!...but we’ll see, won’t we?...



...and when it comes to bottom-feeders from the “party of Lincoln” in the U.S. House, we can’t leave out Marjorie Traitor Greene, can we, who was recently trashed by Thom Tillis, among others, including “The Mittster” – she looks even worse than usual after threatening to dump “MAGA Mike” Johnson, with the foreign aid package getting through anyway despite her ridiculous threats (Jeff Waldorf explains)...to do something about “Capitol Hill Karen,” click here...



...and Emma V. of The Majority Report tells us about faculty joining protests on college campuses against Israel, starting with Columbia of course – “This is absolutely not one of these times when it’s time to be silent” indeed (mildly NSFW/H)...and it looks like Harvard has joined in also as noted here...additionally, I don’t have a clue as to what the U.S. House Speaker thought he was going to accomplish, but I’m glad he got the treatment he deserved (here)...



...and this tune sure works for me any time of the year, including now (and on any issue also, including the one noted in the prior clip).

Tuesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen presents a clip of Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff going after U.S. Senate Repugs for not moving on a border security bill co-authored by James Lankford, and of course U.S. House Repugs, doing the bidding of you-know-who, continue to act in bad faith (and yes, I know the foreign aid bills, concerning what Rosa DeLauro was saying, FINALLY passed for Ukraine, Taiwan and, unfortunately, Israel)...



Update 4/24/24: I meant that the aid package FINALLY passed the House; as noted here, it has now passed the Senate and Biden will likely sign onto it before too much longer.

...and while Ossoff quite rightly held the “party of Lincoln” to account, Dem Jasmine Crockett in the U.S. House brought the receipts, you might say, in response to typical BS talking points about immigrants driving up crime and increasing the size of municipalities and, by extension, big gumint benefits for blue states, when in reality, Texas grew by 2 congressional seats and New York lost a seat, as Crockett points out, as well as the fact that violent crime has gone down in all categories in Tarrant County and the rest of “the land of the yellow rose,” which shoots down another line of right-wing BS about immigrants and crime...



...and for more nonsense from the “loyal opposition,” John and Francesca of The Damage Report bring us this clip of CNN’s Dana Bash and South Dakota Repug guv Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem trying to evade answering a question about abortion, of course, saying that there should only be an exception for the life of the mother (even though those “exceptions” are basically toothless)...Noem also says that “one tragedy shouldn’t beget another tragedy,” or something, meaning that the mother should be forced to carry her rapist’s baby to term, making Noem one of the most enlightened minds of the 13th century...



Update 4/26/24: Given the corporate media hagiography surrounding her, it's easy to forget what a monster Noem truly is (here).

...and for some truly absurd behavior from the Trump Party, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report gives us a look at the West Virginia Republican gubernatorial primary, complete with some truly ridiculous transphobic ads, which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise, mainly from Chris Miller and Patrick Morrissey...oh, but their PACS aren’t coordinating with the candidates...yeah, tell me another one...and for the zillionth time, KIDS AREN’T GETTING GODDAMN BOTTOM SURGERY as Figueredo tells us...and of course, this Moore Capito guy has to do his own fear mongering on this too...and by the way, what does it say about this guy’s parents, including her mom the senator, that they thought her maiden and married names would be good enough for this guy and he didn’t even need a first name of his own, but I digress (NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know that the Dems won another special election recently, this time in Michigan...yes, as Cousins points out, these were pretty blue seats anyway, but the level of turnout is the key as far as I’m concerned, and we need to sustain that... I know Cousins isn’t telling us to rest on our laurels or anything, and neither am I, but I’m just saying that we should keep things in context, that’s all...



...and happy belated 65th birthday to Robert Smith of The Cure.