Friday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell gives us a deeper dive into the latest filing from Jack Smith – gee, looks like Mike Pence took notes, huh? Too bad for Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...and why did I know that John Eastman was the Trumpist bootlicker trying to plead the case for Mango Mussolini (and I’m sure Eastman will end up in the slam for a looong time, which is exactly what he deserves)...I think O’Donnell kind of trips over himself a bit from about 3:18 to 3:24, but you get the idea that the Electoral College Act forbade what Eastman had in mind and it seems like he and #45 wanted Mike Pence to do the dirty work with getting the slates of fake electors to the state legislatures for confirmation, but Pence wouldn’t go along – never thought I’d be giving Pence credit for anything, but I guess I have to even though he acted out of legal self-preservation...and yeah, Couch Boy made it pretty obvious on Tuesday that he would do what Pence wouldn’t (more here)...



...and I kind of put this on the back burner because of other more timely stuff, but Steve Shives (who previously sat in for Jesse Dollemore, though Jesse is back now) lets us know that Our Ochre Abomination’s latest scam is to sell crappy watches to his sheep-like followers, and for $110 grand? Truly, it is to laugh; indeed, the grift never ends...and “not on our watch,” huh? Nicely done...and that goes not just for Combover Caligula and his “mini me,” but we have to VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE DAMN BALLOT, PEOPLE! (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and in keeping with Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that #45 was caught typically trying to lie his way out of the fact that people are leaving his little Bund rallies early...and yeah, there was a hurricane in Flori-DUUH! all right Bronzer Boy...how about the fact that wide swaths of the Southeast up to North Carolina were PULVERIZED by Hurricane Helene, and maybe instead of that typical Ivermectin scam of yours, you could put up an 800 number and a URL onscreen for people to make donations for Helene’s victims? Oh, but that doesn’t help your grift of course...I can dream, can’t I?...and GREAT point about how easy it would be for despots to get Cantaloupe Capone to bait him into doing what THEY want, given how easy it is to get under his skin...



...and of course our thoroughly corrupted SCOTUS did an awful lot to try and establish the leader of Cult 45 as dictator, in the beyond-awful event of Biden’s ruinous predecessor somehow getting another shot at power in An Oval Office...with that in mind, John Oliver take a look at our court system, including circuit courts, state appellate courts, and of course Leonard Leo – and yeah, we already knew that Leo was a lying scumbag, but this segment emphasizes that also...and good for focusing on overturning the Chevron doctrine and the truly huge number of times Chevron was successfully cited as a precedent (and I would say that that was truly a mask-off moment with Gorsuch when he was trying to do his “man of the people” bit...GMAFB!)...



...and at a certain point, I guess you just have to laugh a bit, albeit through clenched teeth (here - incredibly NSFW//H)...



...and the prior clips had to do with political BS, but this one has to do with life and death unfortunately...Mike Figueredo informs us that a South Carolina woman named Amari Marsh was charged with murder after a miscarriage...and yeah, the fact that this lady was contacted BY A GODDAMN COP FOR HER MISCARRIAGE is the first fluorescent red light flashing all over the place...and by the way, cops investigating miscarriages is definitely a thing in South American “Catholic” countries, but I guess we’re officially a third world nation now and I missed the memo (NSFW/H also)...



...and related to the prior clip, Thom Hartmann asks if Texas has outlawed health care for women, given that four counties in “the land of the yellow rose” have passed travel bans saying that, if you transport a woman through that county to get an abortion, you can be sued for up to $10K...also, Repugs are trying to prevent abortion legalization measures from getting passed in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio, and other anti-women’s healthcare nonsense is going on in other states also, including trying to prevent pro abortion rights petitioners from getting signatures...I hope I’m wrong of course, but I can’t see how this won’t lead to violence somehow...



...and in musical news, today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Paul Revere (of The Raiders, mainly from the ‘60s)...would you believe me if I told you that I accidentally ran into him swimming in a pool at a Residence Inn in Laurel, Maryland? I didn’t realize who it was at first; he struck up a conversation, and at first I thought, what’s the deal with this guy? Then, as we talked, he found a way to work into the conversation that he was a musician, and it came up who he really was; I probably should have recognized him sooner (and I later checked out what he said, and he was right of course...he mentioned that a band member was from Eugene, Oregon, which is correct...turns out it's Mark Lindsay), and I was definitely blown away when we talked with him (I was with our son)...I ran some of the band’s legendary song titles past him, and the smile on his face was electric enough to light up a whole room; I honestly think it was him...damn nice guy...RIP.

Thursday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty decent partial list of the lies from J.D. Vance in last Tuesday’s VP debate from Joy Reid; yeah, Couch Boy does indeed have his whole act patented where he sounds intelligent and doesn’t provide much fodder for his opponent, but you indeed have to dig through what the Repug U.S. Senator from Ohio is saying to find out what a brazen con man he truly is (here)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Never Trumper Charlie Sykes pointing out that the Gropenfuhrer’s cognitive decline is getting worse...and yeah, it‘s scary to contemplate that people in this country know they’re being lied to and don’t care; I can assure you that I will NEVER tolerate someone lying to me on an issue, regardless of what political party they represent...clip ends at about 4:38 without the ad...



...and also pertaining to Biden’s ruinous predecessor in An Oval Office, New York Times reporter Michael B. Schmidt discusses how Bronzer Beelzebub wanted to make himself a prosecutor of sorts to go after his critics in 2018, but apparently was stopped by John Kelly and Don McGahn, fortunately (if, God forbid, #45 gets another crack at this, he won’t be told No this time, people, and as Schmidt points out, #45 did indeed go after Schmidt’s phone records as well as those of other reporters)...



...and David Pakman lets us know that Cantaloupe Capone is big mad that Biden delivered hurricane aid to red states (as usual, every accusation from the “R” party is a confession)...and Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz took a break from trying to solicit sex from teenage girls (allegedly!) so he could vote against FEMA aid to Flori-DUUH! before Hurricane Helene struck...just say “oops” and get out, OK?...I think Pakman needs to do something about his mic...



...and this report from More Perfect Union lets us know about Google and Meta (Facebook) buying up local news organizations and siphoning off billions in ad revenue from these smaller operations...didn’t know how important ad exchanges are to the entire profit-making equation for newspapers and smaller publishers...interesting that Australia came up with a strategy around what Google and Meta are doing (and more on Google’s tactics against the CJPA is here)...as far as I’m concerned, we’re going to have to get serious in this country when it comes to forming some kind of a public-private partnership to fund local news orgs so they can keep people and communities informed (and get through some lean periods of declining ad revenue), but I definitely don’t see enough of an appetite for that, unfortunately...



...and happy 45th birthday to drummer Nate Wood of The Calling.

Wednesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us some clips of last night’s VP debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance...wow, Couch Boy sez we need to be energy independent; uh, yeah, and as Cohen points out, that is EXACTLY what Biden and Harris have been working on (creating about 800K manufacturing jobs), as well as the fact that 150K manufacturing jobs left this country when Our Ochre Abomination was in charge; and I thought Tim Walz made a great move to put climate change in the context of what our farmers are dealing with... I’m also glad that Walz mentioned the bill from Repug U.S. Sen. James Lankford that would address what Combover Caligula is screeching about on the border, but #45 wanted Lankford’s bill killed so Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence would have the issue to demagogue about instead...also, it was more than a bit of a tell that Peter Thiel’s puppet Vance wouldn’t acknowledge that NOTHING GODDAMNED ILLEGAL HAPPENED in the 2020 election (here)...Walz needed to at least hold his own last night, and it looks like that happened, so it sounds to me like mission accomplished...



...and I don’t recall that much was said about the “tech bros” supporting Vance in pursuit of a pretty hardcore neocon agenda, but Rachel Maddow covered that pretty well here...and shocker! This all leads back to the at-least-as-nutty Curtis Yarvin...and yeah, we need a CEO/dictator instead of a fully funded, staffed and functioning government – in some insane universe that is (and sure, go ahead and abuse our military yet again for their commitment to protect our way of life by so easily wanting to hand it over to fascists and tin pot dictators)...



...and pertaining to the Repug presidential and VP ticket, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/3/20, in which we learn about all of the individuals Combover Caligula exposed to COVID after he was exposed to Hope Hicks, his White House communications director, who herself tested positive (and #45 eventually tested positive also of course)...typical of his utterly lackadaisical attitude in the face of a global pandemic (more on that is here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore lets us know about the head of the Alabama Supreme Court, Tom Parker (seriously, that’s his name, with no “colonel” added) expressing his support for something called the “seven mountains mandate” which calls on evangelical Christians to “reshape American law and society based on their beliefs” (ugh...no wonder these nematodes support Couch Boy)...oh, and Parker is also calling for his sheep-like followers to pray against a measure that would allow African Americans to have another congressional district...and excuse me while I go out on a bit of a limb here, but somehow I can’t imagine that such a matter is “front of mind” for The Almighty, but what do I know? (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and in somewhat of a related vein (e.g., appealing to wingnuts), Kyle Kulinski (definitely not him) brings us the story of Derrick Anderson, a Repug politician who decided to pose in what appears to be a family photo...um, the problem is that THIS ISN’T HIS FAMILY; I think Kyle is spot-on when he says that these Philistines are trying to find any way to communicate the message that SEE? WE REALLY DON’T HATE WOMEN AND WANT TO DEPRIVE THEM OF THE RIGHT TO MAKE THEIR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME GODLESS, ABORTION-LOVING LIB??!! (NSFW/H)...



...and I hope you’re in the mood for a newer and self-affirming tune, because here it comes.

Tuesday Stuff

Happy 100th birthday to President Carter...yes, he had what I guess you could call a complicated presidency, but there were definitely high points as far as yours truly is concerned, such as the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaty and fully normalizing relations with China; on the minus side was inflation (which any president is limited in fighting, actually) and the Iran Hostage Crisis, with the latter two fully exploited by The Sainted Ronnie R in the 1980 presidential campaign...we should all be disgusted by the lies of Mango Mussolini, but our 40th president set that precedent in the ’80 campaign with all of his untruths, let’s not forget...and of course, Carter’s post-presidency is a model for all of us...



...and speaking of untruths, I have a feeling that the “mini-me” for Our Ochre Abomination will be dealing them fast and furiously tonight in the veep debate, as The Lincoln Project reminds us...



...and in keeping with a theme from the prior two clips, David Doel tells us about Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN spreading the untruth that Dem U.S. House Rep Rashida Tlaib said that Michigan AG Dana Nessel was only prosecuting certain cases because Nessel is Jewish, which TLAIB NEVER FREAKING SAID! And yeah, the “both sides” BS is thick enough to cut with a knife here, because as we know, some campus protestors who may have chanted something impolite about Israel or used spray paint is exactly the same thing as cluster bombs and sniper fire from IDF murdering Gazans as far as our corporate media is concerned...and yeah, I would most definitely agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates also...and good for Doel to put this in the context of the ongoing settlement expansion and occupation...and yeah, it is indeed beyond pathetic to watch Jake Tapper try and weasel his way out of this in questioning Nessel...”well, didn’t YOU imply that about Tlaib and not MEEE??” (and sorry I’m a little late with this)...



...well, to hear something that’s actually true, Miss Beau reminds us that Kamala Harris received about 740 more national security endorsements from across the political spectrum – speaks volumes, I would say...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about Blackrock: The Conspiracies You Don’t Know; the video also looks at State Street and Vanguard, the two other “big three” asset managers...this is a good video, but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that, yes, Vanguard does charge fees, but overwhelmingly, their success is driven by fund performance and shareholder returns, which is the vision of John Bogle, the company’s founder...and once more, offering stock options to executives as compensation used to be illegal, but it became legal under...all together now...The Sainted F*cking Ronnie R (here...though, to be fair, options have been also offered to employees as part of compensation, though at a greatly reduced amount)...that bar graph at about 8:08 does indeed tell the story...



...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that it looks like independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn is doing well in Nebraska running against incumbent Repug Deb Fischer (and yes, that is a compelling ad)...Osborn isn’t a Dem for sure, but if he could get in and cut into the Repug U.S. senate minority, that would definitely be a win (more on the other U.S. Senate races is here)...



...and I have to tell you that there are some issues, people, personalities etc. that I admit to having a blind spot about, more or less, and maybe #1 on that list was Pete Rose, who signed with the Phillies for what seemed like a gazillion dollars way back when, and there was only one reason for that, and that was to win a World Series, which looked hopelessly out of reach for a roster of high-priced but talented players...there were certain constants growing up in these parts back in that era, and it was that the Phillies and Eagles would likely never win championships; it’s hard to put into words the joy that we felt when the Fightin’ Phils FINALLY won a Series in 1980, which became official when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson immediately after the catch in this clip (easily my most memorable Rose moment)...the red pinstripe bunch doesn’t pull this off without #14; it’s that simple (the ESPN host offering Rose a tribute last night more or less said that Rose should be included in a discussion of the game’s greatest players, and I agree 150 percent...yes, Rose was wrong to gamble and lie about it, but I can think of athletes who have done far worse...just make a damn exception and let him into the HOF, OK?)...



Update 10/2/24: Apologies for failing to note the passing of this sports figure who wore the uni of the Sixers for a brief time; our basketball team traded for Dikembe Mutombo when the Allen Iverson-led Sixers were preparing to go against Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers in the NBA Finals in 2001...our guys did their best, but the Lakers were at their peak back then and they prevailed over the hometown bunch four games to one...Mutombo had the thoroughly unenviable task of going up against Shaq, and the former did his best against the latter, a courageous effort in a losing cause.

...and in addition to the 100th birthday of our 39th president, today also marks the 60th anniversary of the “free speech” movement on college campuses, begun by the arrest of former University of California at Berkeley graduate student Jack Weinberg as noted here (Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer has more here...here is a tune for the occasion).

Monday Stuff

David Shuster of TYT informs us about Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence attacking Haitians in the town of Charleroi, PA...and a 2000 percent increase in the town’s Haitian population (and again, all there legally)? Uh, try 20%, Bronzer Boy, according to the town’s mayor...and yeah, I’d heard about the 30K lie total under his ruinous administration (including more here)...and I give Michael Shure so much credit for trying to reason with these MAGA life forms, which is becoming more and more of a hopeless endeavor, and good job by Shuster to present the actually sane point of view from residents of Charleroi...



...and Leeja Miller debunks more Repug BS on the economy; ”I’ll take grocery price gouging for 100, Alex”...more great work by the Groundwork Collective pointing out that about half of inflation was due to high corporate profits (from price gouging, I would argue)...one of the many great points in this video is the lack of antitrust enforcement since the presidency of The Sainted Ronnie R, though there have been exceptions from time to time, such as the Microsoft lawsuit under President Clinton (anybody else remember that?)...also didn’t know that the average CEO salary was 344 times higher than the average worker (something out of a Charles Dickens novel as far as yours truly is concerned)...and to me, it’s no surprise whatsoever that CEO compensation has gone up 1,209% from a time which pretty much coincides with the beginning of the ruinous conservative ascendancy under which we all live...video also does a great job of pointing out how food is monopolized in this country...”only fifteen cents of every dollar spent on groceries goes to the people who grow the food”; if that isn’t an indictment of our monopolistic capitalism, I don’t know what is...she does a great job at around 14:40 to about 15:40 of explaining what a clusterf*ck of a system we have for producing our food and subsidizing farmers who need government assistance (i.e., help from you and me) to even survive...not surprised that about two-thirds of campaign donations from the food industry during 2020 went to Not Your Father’s Republican Party...also easy to see why Repugs HATE Lina Khan of the FTC, and yeah, look to More Perfect Union for more on Khan (and I’m also not surprised that stinkin’ Project 2025 is aimed at dismantling the FTC also...NSFW/H – she tries to bleep herself, but a couple of “F” bombs get by...that’s OK)...



...and David Pakman lets us know about Marjorie Train Wreck Greene’s boyfriend (ugh!) suggesting intimidating non-white voters; yeah, just keep repeating the word “caravan” to keep the wingnuts in full froth...”Hello, Department of Justice? Can somebody please wake up Merrick Garland and have him look into this?” (and by that I mean Brian Glenn’s propaganda)...



...and David Doel lets us know about diplomats walking out on “Bibi” and his UN speech, with the Israeli PM bringing his own cheering section – kind of an Orwellian touch, I must say...oh, and by the way, it should be noted that Netanyahu HAS EXPANDED HIS EFFORTS TO START WORLD WAR III INTO LEBANON!, as we learn about the apartment buildings getting leveled in Beirut...and I might as well go out on a bit of a limb here and note that, as far as the claim from “Bibi” that Hezbollah is putting rocket launchers in garages, how much do you want to bet that, about three weeks from now, the IDF will be confronted on this and they’ll just say, “yeah, well, it turned out that there were no rocket launchers in garages in Beirut,” and the New York Times will give that about 4 inches of column space on the bottom of page A14...and by the way, even though I side with Biden and the Dems of course, don’t think I’m overlooking the fact that “Bibi” is playing #46 for the biggest sucker on earth...and Jeet Heer may be right about Antony Blinken and others in the Biden cabinet, but he was quick to join in the OMIGOD BIDEN HAS TO DROP OUT NOW!! pile-on after the first debate, so he can “go scratch” as far as I’m concerned (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Desi Lydic of The Daily Show gives NYC Mayor Eric Adams the treatment he deserves here in light of his charges for bribery and campaign finance offenses...a truly appalling degree of corruption in NYC, starting with Adams...I guess it really is true about the fish rotting from the head down, as they say...looks like Istanbul was somehow a layover for every single pleasure junket he ever took – interesting...



...and RIP Kris Kristofferson, who served our country and also established himself as a balladeer for our times...he’ll always be a hero for yours truly for the way he once handled Toby Keith as noted here (here also...Kristofferson downplayed it when he was asked, but his widow confirmed that the incident took place).

Friday Stuff

I know we’ve had some fun with J.D. Vance over the couch thing, but when it comes to admittedly more important matters, he is absolutely a stone cold liar when it comes to accusing Kamala Harris of making illegal immigrants somehow legal (and also notwithstanding the fact that an immigration bill to address the stuff he and Sweaty Orange Boy are yelling about is languishing in the Senate because #45 told his Repug minions to sit on it), to say nothing of the fact that the veep nominee is (as we know) making up BS on this subject...well, now comes U.S. House numbskull Clay Higgins of Louisiana to turn the racist MAGA xenophobia “up to 11,” as Mike Figueredo tells us (more is here...NSFW/H)...



...and this Lincoln Project video reminds us that, given that he’s hating on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio (who have done not one wrong thing, let’s not forget - the car crash that killed young Aiden Clark was a tragic accident), fake populist and couch f*cker (alleged!) J.D. Vance basically is telling everyone that he also hates his wife of Indian descent and his own mixed-race kids (and it looks like Vance had another idiotic rant based on this)...



...and Steve Shives, sitting in again for Jesse Dollemore, lets us know that Alex Jones will pretty soon find himself with a pot to piss in and that’s about it, thanks to the fact that he’s going to have to liquidate all of his Infowars garbage in order to pay the $1 billion settlement he faces for maligning the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook gun massacre and bringing living hell onto these people who already suffered the most horrible imaginable losses...I can think of plenty of other people in Jones’s orbit who truly deserve this fate also, but for now, this is some justice anyway...



...and this segment from More Perfect Union hits yours truly where he lives, since it has to do with food service workers at Philly sports stadiums striking against Aramark, which is indeed a truly awful company...I hope the workers manage to get a contract that doesn’t constitute indentured servitude...we manage to get to Citizens Bank Park about once a year for a Phillies game (which is often a fun night out, and made better when they win of course), though getting tickets for the postseason is a wholly other matter, and we’ve been to the “Linc” to see the Eagles, but given ticket prices ($400 apiece for “nosebleed” seats), I don’t expect to do that again anytime soon, and I’m sorry (well, not really), but for me, the Wells Fargo Center isn’t that great of a venue anyway, to say nothing of the fact that I’m not happy with the Sixers for basically trying to extort a Center City arena, and though the Flyers have come back pretty far, they’re still a work in progress (I keep waiting for our alleged sports media geniuses to hold that franchise to account for all of their screwups, and I know I’ll never see that day either)...



...and for anybody out there who remembers the “I’m Just A Bill” cartoon from “Schoolhouse Rock” (maybe one or two I guess), I thought this was a pretty good takeoff on that having to do with Project 2025...this stuff (and much more on this subject of course) can’t be repeated enough times as far as yours truly is concerned...



...and I admit that I have a bit of housekeeping to do with this musical selection; before the start of fall on 9/21, I usually include this number to mark the official end of my summer tunes...well, I goofed on that last week, so please allow me to make amends now.

Thursday Stuff

John Iadarola and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report let us know here that Kamala Harris wants to sh*tcan the filibuster to bring back Roe, so departing Dem U.S. Senator Joe Manchin haz a sad...by the way, it should be made crystal clear WHY THE F*CKING FILIBUSTER HAS BECOME NOTHING BUT A TOOL OF OBSTRUCTION, and it is because of that death eater from Kentucky far and away more than anybody else, as noted in the graph presented by John (Reed does mention that a bit, to be fair)...if the Repugs, God help us, take back the Senate, they’re going to blow up the stinking filibuster and our corporate media will just act like it’s another day with a “y” in it, which is even more reason why we need to do all we can to ensure that that doesn’t happen...and John’s right about the rich at the end, tragically).

As noted from here...

From 2009 through 2014, there (were) a historic 382 cloture votes held in the Senate.[27] Fully half of the 168 Senate filibusters of executive and judicial nominees in American history (came) during the first five years of the Obama Administration, when Mitch McConnell (was) minority leader.

via GIPHY

And leave it to "Curtsy Kyrsten" to be utterly wrong on this also...

More is here, and the video follows...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner discuss the latter’s testimony before that phony baloney “weaponization of government” subcommittee run by Gym Jordan, with Kirschner accepting an invitation from Dem U.S. House Rep Stacey Plaskett...Kirschner testified about Project 2025 and Schedule F employees, who of course can be fired at a moment’s notice if they don’t pledge their undying loyalty to Dear Leader #45 (again, assuming by some disaster that he manages to land in An Oval Office again)..and yeah, it sounds like Jordan and Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz wouldn’t let go of the chicken switch (mildly NSFW/H)...



...meanwhile, in the upper chamber, Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse takes on the garbage SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity; the Rhode Island Dem continues to be a voice of reason calling out amidst the darkness of our politics, currently engulfed by Trumpism and the craven greed of the ”one percent” and like-minded courts, politicians and media ideologues (and in a related vein, more good work by Whitehouse’s fellow Dem Ron Wyden is here)...

...and I'm sure you just knew that “couch boy” was going to show up somehow, and as Sam and Matt Lech of The Majority Report inform us, ol’ J.D.’s little grocery stunt having to do with eggs backfired on him (insert “I Am The Walrus” snark here)...and by the way, for the record, your humble narrator worked at a Philly McDonald’s for a couple of years back in the disco era; if Cantaloupe Capone were to actually stand in front of a steaming fry vat for a millisecond or two, all of that ridiculous bronzer would immediately melt from his face (and yeah, I’m sure independent voters will now flock to Our Treasonous Orange Pustule in droves from his latest rant...smh)...



...and I have to admit that it’s been a looong time since I saw a clip as enraging as this one...David Doel presents a bit of a documentary on extremist Israelis taking a boat tour of demolished Gaza, presumably to look over land they intend to occupy after Bibi has murdered the last Palestinian, and all with the support (directly or indirectly) of the Israeli government... that interactive map at the end tells the story of those damn settlements on the West Bank and how they have destabilized the region also (and yes, for the zillionth time, I acknowledge that the murdering Hamas cowards started this with their attack on 10/7, but Israeli actions in response are utterly indefensible as far as I’m concerned)...



...and RIP jazz composer and performer Benny Golson, who brought us this memorable track among his catalogue of great tunes.

Wednesday Stuff

Thom Hartmann lets us know what’s behind Repug book bans (over 10K banned from US public schools, with a huge increase over last year)...I would argue that those who are able to get these ridiculous book bans passed and enforced are trying to maintain some kind of a white elderly entitled patriarchy (catering to boomers of course) on behalf of those who are utterly afraid that the generation on their way up and already here won’t sign onto their bogus laws and policies that enforce the existing power structure...but that’s just me I guess...



...and Steve Shives sits in for Jesse Dollemore to tell us about Combover Caligula and like-minded idiots who are big mad about not getting their government shut down...what stoo-pidity...wonder what would happen if they started missing their Medicare coverage or SSI payments, assuming they qualify – video includes a terrific analysis of the SAVE Act from the aforementioned Thom Hartmann, including stuff I didn’t know about making it harder for women to vote (and what say you, @RepBrianFitz who voted for this atrocity? To do something about that, click here)...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about followers of Our Ochre Abomination trying to harass voters in 8 districts in Georgia and also trying to get counting of electoral votes changed in Nebraska, with Huckleberry Graham supinely doing the bidding of the Gropenfuhrer...and boy, is Maddow ever right about standing up to these scumwads...the ending is yet another reminder that we have to do what we can as our means allows for campaigns to help Harris/Walz and EVERY SINGLE down ballot Democrat...



...and I guess I need to remind people of the utter lies continually concocted by Bronzer Beelzebub at these more and more cartoonish rallies of his...oh, and it’s too late, supposedly, to do another debate? Whatsmatta? Our big, beefy, Big Mac-ingesting orange criminal is afraid that scary dark-skinned woman is going to kick his bulbous butt all over the place again?? (and the black Nazi guy running for guv in North Carolina didn't show his face, as it turns out? Too funny...David Pakman brings us the gory details)...



...and this video from More Perfect Union brings us the disgusting story of private equity’s takeover of the last affordable housing in the U.S. (with correspondent Sam Black)...can’t think of a word to describe how lowdown it is for these private equity guttersnipes to be going after mobile home parks...”There is no American dream anymore. All it is is survival.” indeed...I’d like to see this Frank Rolfe character get a taste of his own vile medicine; same for Randall Smith and their pals...



...and RIP Nick Gravenites, who collaborated with Janis Joplin on some tunes with Big Brother and the Holding Company; he also produced this hit single with its rather obvious drug reference (which I’m fine with, for the record).

Tuesday Stuff

Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about “couch boy” being interviewed by Kristen Welker of NBC, with Welker asking him about what he plans to do about health care...and no, it isn’t you imagination; the Abraham Accords have NOT ONE GODDAMN THING TO DO WITH HEALTH CARE!...good discussion by Sam of how Our Ochre Abomination did his best to try and tear down the ACA...and oh yeah, remind me again about all of the “peace” in the Middle East right now (here) – go ahead, I’ll wait...and boy, is Emma ever right about the Repugs and their “divide and conquer” strategy when it comes to ANY government program...as Sam says, health insurance really doesn’t work unless you “socialize” the cost (for lack of a better word) across age groups...trying to make these risk pools as granular as Vance is talking about is truly a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what he and his “R” party pals want...



...and keeping with Repugs in “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats tells us about Kaitlan Collins of CNN pushing back somewhat in response to Tom Cotton of Arkansas of course spewing more nonsense about how Democrats allegedly attack “religious liberty,” with Cotton trotting out yet another dog whistle, knowing that our Philistines in robes on the High Court have catered to that (I’m a Roman Catholic, and I’m not harassed one bit by my party, for the record)...interesting that the Vatican is investigating those who wish to perform the Latin mass, which I honestly didn’t know, and I don’t have a “dog” in that fight one way or the other...



...and staying down south for Repug U.S. senatorial idiocy, David Shuster brings us the sorry tale of Louisiana’s John Nimrod Kennedy insulting a woman of Arabic descent who testified before the committee on which Kennedy sits (sorry I’m a little late with this)...yeah, Sen. Foghorn Leghorn sure fits all right - Kennedy should get booted off that committee for telling that woman she should put a bag over her head; just imagine the outcry if a DEM said that...oh, and by the way, UNRWA has about 30,000 members working to provide relief (as much as it CAN be provided) across the Middle East (including about 13,000 in Gaza). Do you want to know how many UNRWA members have been accused of sympathizing with Hamas? 12, as noted here (and the names of these people were shared with Israel and other member states)...oh, and by the way, Kennedy has a net worth of $16 million (last time anybody checked)...



...and staying below that Mason Dixon line, this New York Times Opinion video brings us the story of Sarah Bynum of Tennessee, who gives back to her community big time but isn’t allowed to vote, even after she served her sentence for a felony conviction for aggravated assault (and yes, the process to try and restore her voting rights is indeed absurdly complicated, but not surprising for that locality sadly)...



...and Kyle Kulinski provides more bad polling data for Cantaloupe Capone...an NBC News poll has Harris up among likely voters 49 to 44%...and a 16-point favorability increase in polling for the head of the Dem ticket? Awesome...and Kyle is correct on the history of Dubya’s polling after 9/11; believe it or not, there was a brief period when I saw #43 with the bullhorn near the rubble of the WTC site, and I thought “this guy represents absolutely nothing that I believe in, but maybe he’s the person we should have in An Oval Office right now”...more fool me...Kyle is also right about how PA is a little sluggish, shall we say, when it comes to polling against other battleground states...and it’s definitely cool that third-party goofballs like RFK, Jr., Comrade Jill Stein and Cornel West are (according to what we’re seeing here) taking more votes from Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence than they are from Harris/Walz...



...and as far as I’m concerned, John Knucklehead Kennedy of Louisiana ought to try showing the quality reflected in the title of this tune.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us a clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Jared Moskowitz pretty much schooling Repug U.S. House Rep and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to his face on the Biden impeachment fiasco, so OF COURSE Comer goes running over to Newsmax with his hurt fee fees, but he didn’t get much sympathy over there either...good! (and "the big knish," huh? Too funny)...



...and speaking of Dems in the U.S. House doing a great job, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about Greg Casar, questioning some wingnut named Mark Krikorian, who of course is up to his eyeballs in Project 2025 and wants to utterly dismantle civil rights protections; Krikorian also thinks Haiti should have been enslaved for at least 30 more years...what a disgusting puke Krikorian is (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and when it comes to pathetic examples of Repug non-governance, you can bet that Combover Caligula is going to show up somehow somewhere, and he does in this item from Farron Cousins where we learn that #45 wants a government shutdown if a budget is passed without the SAVE Act, which, again, is supposedly a “solution” in search of a problem that doesn’t exist, which is to bar non-citizens from voting in federal elections...and I wouldn’t have figured that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao would be the voice of reason here, but actually, that death eater from Kentucky is acting sane for a change (an update is here; it looks like a shutdown was averted for now)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about more madness from the Gropenfuhrer, this time on the economy...the Repug prez nominee apparently doesn’t understand his own economic plan (namely, that tariffs are indeed a sales tax to be paid by Americans consuming products bought from those the tariffs are levied against...should we be surprised...story is timed for Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s rate cut)...still utterly painful to watch that insulting answer from Cantaloupe Capone in response to the child care question...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us why the Mars snack food merger would be bad for consumers, and that’s basically because it would create the largest snack food company in years...want to know why price gouging continues? It’s because of these damn mergers and acquisitions, creating mega corps that can charge whatever the hell they want, that’s why...



...and this song was released 50 years ago today.

Friday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell gives us a powerful commentary IMO here on Amber Thurman of Georgia, who died because she couldn’t get the medical care that used to be standard when Roe was the law of the land...also appropriate to play that clip of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule’s comments to Howard Stern basically telling #45’s pregnant girlfriend to go get an abortion, which was readily available at the time of course...I’m glad O’Donnell isn’t letting Dubya off the hook here, but I’d include Poppy Bush also for Almost Silent Clarence Thomas, but that’s just me I guess...also glad O'Donnell mentions how routine a “D&C” procedure is, or should be anyway (or was when he was growing up in one of the most ultra-Catholic locations in this country), and how that procedure has not one damn thing to do with abortion...



...and in a related story, this Lincoln Project ad has to do with IVF (and those asshats in the Senate for the “R” team just voted down Tammy Duckworth’s IVF bill...again...and by the way, the language about “breaking with Trump” in the Times headline is beyond a joke...to imply that Mango Mussolini has any core beliefs on this issue or any other is more ridiculous mythology from “the old gray lady”)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us how Bronzer Beelzebub is prepping his lizard-brained followers for the likely outcome of election losses in New York, California and hopefully the majority of other states by screeching about “FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!”...yeah, I’m sure the Harris/Walz campaign is quaking in their shoes over the electoral “strategy” of telling Trumpers to “get your fat ass out of bed” (and yeah, mispronouncing the Biden VP's first name is typically vile for this cretin)...one day, Cantaloupe Capone will no longer be part of our political discourse, and when that day comes, I assure you that I will celebrate...



...and Mike Figueredo discusses how Trump cronies in swing states plan to steal the election if Kamala wins, including Texas of course, which is purging voters from some suspense voter list that – oopsie! – JUST HAPPENS to include 2.2 million voters in Austin, who primarily vote for Democrats (and Ken Paxton is the utterly crooked AG for the “lone star state”)...clip also includes a discussion of voting-related garbage in Georgia of course, along with other states and including our beloved commonwealth of PA (NSFW/H)..

...and turning to the veep nominee on the Repug presidential ticket, Kyle Kulinski tells us how “couch boy” won’t defend his wife of Indian ancestry (Asian, that is) against the racism of his own party (also definitely NSFW/H)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about Neil Cavuto of Fix Noise pushing back against wingnut claims that Dems wanted to “off” Trump at his golf course...and I’ll give Cavuto a bit of credit here, but for the zillionth time, please inform me as to the comparable insanity from Team “D,” if you can...go ahead, I’ll wait (and boy, am I ever SICK AND TIRED of listening to men, who will never be “in the stirrups” if you know what I mean, opening their pie holes and pontificating about freaking abortion!!)...and oh yeah, Tim Burchett is the guy who once said that his daddy told him there wasn’t anything we could do about gun violence in this country, or something (here)...



...and Thom Hartmann brings us the news that, apparently, Ron Wyden’s Senate Finance Committee had a hearing on Social Security, with Martin O’Malley (who oversees the SS trust fund I believe), and we discovered courtesy of Sheldon Whitehouse that the ultra-wealthy are avoiding more than $2 trillion in taxes every 10 years...good argument for getting rid of the damn cap on earnings subject to SS withholding, and good for Sen. Whitehouse to have a bill correcting that, and of course, leave it to the “party of Lincoln” to be the culprits who want to raise the retirement age...and 67 million people (about that) watched the Harris/Trump debate? Nice...



...and RIP J.D. Souther, who wrote a bunch of memorable tunes as part of the whole So-Cal rock scene in the early-mid ‘70s, which included Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell, and Linda Ronstadt of course...once again, kind of tough to pick one tune in particular as a tribute to a given musician/songwriter, but for better or worse, I’m settling on this one.

Wednesday Stuff

(I assure you that in absolutely no way am I trying to be amusing by including this cartoon.)

Leeja Miller is back with a segment on How Conservatives Ruined Marriage...absolutely spot-on when it comes to the wingnuts trying to whip up some kind of a panic as opposed to, y’know, ACTUALLY TRYING TO SOLVE THE ISSUE THEY’RE YELLING ABOUT!...didn’t know about the concept of “coverture” until I saw this, and yeah, it’s a pretty gut-churning idea as far as yours truly is concerned...video does a nice job of summarizing the legal benefits of marriage versus living as a single person; still the second-biggest commitment you’ll ever make as far as yours truly is concerned, though it’s worth it IMO, even though the cost gets more prohibitive every day, and the “marriage penalty” for someone of less $$ marrying someone who makes more is indeed a factor...conservative attempts to “fix” the marriage “problem” tend to not take into consideration the complex factors that can be detrimental to relationships (paraphrasing here I’ll admit), and she also makes good points about welfare disincentivizing marriage; yeah, I’ll admit it...and I didn’t know about “the ‘war’ on no-fault divorce,” but it doesn’t surprise me; pretty powerful arguments in favor of no-fault divorce that I didn’t know about...and God almighty, there are more thoroughly antiquated ideas about marriages and families that are utterly awful (the ideas I mean) which are covered in...everybody say it with me now...Project Freaking 2025! (NSFW/H)...



...and this ad from the Harris/Walz campaign features a brave young woman who is pretty much “collateral damage” as far as the Philistines in robes on the High Court are concerned (as well as Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence of course)...



Update 9/19/24: And by the way, it finally happened; a woman died because of Dobbs as noted here (according to Kamala Harris, and I believe she's correct...and I'm sure there are many other cases we don't know about).

...and Miss Beau informs us that the Supreme Court for our beloved commonwealth of PA has ruled that mail-in ballot envelopes must be dated or they’ll get thrown out, which is a ridiculous procedural BS ruling for the reason she states; when the envelopes are received, they’re logged and dated anyway...ugh...I always make sure my mail-in ballot envelopes are dated anyway, for the record...



...and David Pakman reminds us that there has only been a fraction of the discussion on the mental faculty failure of Cantaloupe Capone versus President Biden’s lapses after the first debate (and I think the term “sane washing” is apt)...

...and Sam of The Majority Report discusses a clip of the couch-f*cker (alleged!) on CNBC trying to justify immigrant hatred...if Vance and his fellow pea-brains who support him would actually crack open a U.S. history book, they would find out how important immigration is to this country; the clip informs us that Springfield, Ohio went over $1 billion in tax revenue last year, and the hard work of Haitian immigrants in that town rebuilding their economy had a lot to do with that...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the beyond-ridiculous tale of the beyond-ridiculous Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, who threatens violence if the SAVE Act isn’t passed (more idiotic fluff from the nutters in charge of the U.S. House; actual voter fraud at the polls takes place at such a microscopic level that there’s almost no point in keeping track of it, and it’s caught by poll workers doing their due diligence...I moved this from yesterday because of the Eleven Films clip, which was more timely)...



...and we lost the "Notorious RBG" 4 years ago today...God willing (and dependent on our efforts), the Dems will hold the Senate and the White House (and take back the House??), and if that happens, Justice Sonia Sotomayor seriously needs to consider stepping for health reasons IMO...



...and happy 75th birthday to guitarist/keyboardist Kerry Livgren of Kansas.

Tuesday Stuff

John Iadarola tells us that King Elon I of Xitter recently took a break from his quest to utterly destroy that once-pretty-good social media platform and instead promote some ridiculous meme about Kamala Harris allegedly being a Communist, or something, in response to Harris’s completely true observation that Bronzer Beelzebub did indeed say that he wanted to be a dictator on day one...have to admit that I got a kick out of the responses to Musk...



...and as I just about always say, yes, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but they keep coming up with good ads, and I think this is a pretty good response to the prior segment...



...and David Pakman tells us more about the former supporter of Combover Caligula who (allegedly) took a gun to the Mar-a-Lago golf course to whack #45...yeah, this alleged perp does indeed have a long history of run-ins with law enforcement (and I can guess who gave wackadoodle responses to this attempt on the life of Our Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive and who was actually sane)...

...and David Doel lets us know that the Repug VP nominee just admitted to making up the story about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio...I have no doubt that all Vance hears about are alleged problems with Haitian immigrants because (as Doel points out) that’s all you’re going to hear when you only interact with racists...



...and here is a public service message from sane people everywhere...



...and every once in a while, I feel like I need a newer tune as a palate cleanser of sorts, and I think this will do the trick.

Monday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about Kamala Harris getting a post-debate bounce in the polls...and by the way, don’t include me as one of the people who said that Biden got “shellacked” during the first debate; yes, he came across as a doddering old man, which was bad, but I have yet to hear a criticism OVER ANYTHING HE ACTUALLY FREAKING SAID!!! DID ANYBODY PAY ATTENTION TO THAT???!!! And yes, Biden being “pushed aside” says it (Kyle corrected himself, but he was right), and Biden’s exit is the main reason why I’ve barely looked at the “old gray lady” for a while, especially for the political coverage and the columnists...Biden stepping down for Harris was, in essence, a positive development, but I’m still PO’ed about the way #46 was shoved out of the way after the first debate...



...and I thought this ad from The Lincoln Project captured the utter horror and shock in 2016 upon finding out the presidential election result...should redouble our efforts to ensure that that NEVER happens again (and yes, I heard about this, and I have no comment except the obvious, which is to say that violence in any form is wrong)...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us more on the real horror of the presidency of Our Ochre Abomination...and believe it or not, I’m sure there is more stuff not listed here...



...and echoing the cartoon a bit, Jesse Dollemore tells us about bomb threats shutting down Springfield, Ohio, while Combover Caligula and his “mini me” fan the flames with their hateful rhetoric and propaganda about immigrants eating dogs or some such insanity (more here, here and here...and oh yeah, we can't forget this either...and an important and thoroughly unsurprising update is here)...



...and every once in a while, I try to change up things a bit here, so I’m presenting the following item...I saw this, and I couldn’t help but think of this scene from “Bull Durham”...



...and RIP bassist Herbie Flowers; he sat in on a bunch of hits, though he’ll likely be remembered for his playing on this tune from Lou Reed more than any other in his discography.