Jesse Dollemore tells us that 47’s regime is shaping up to be an authoritarian nightmare, with potential Trump FBI head Kash Patel promising retribution to those considered to be enemies of the state, more or less (and OF COURSE more screeching on Truth Septic has to include a typo, right?)...yep, as Jesse says, this ruinous term about to begin will be about revenge first and foremost, and I’d be lying if I said I knew what form that would take...
...and Rachel Maddow gives us some important context on Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter (and I know I touched on this earlier also); namely, I’m talking about a comparison to similar presidential power exercised by 45/47 as well as his beyond ridiculous cabinet appointments...yeah, spare me the selective outrage, especially since, as Maddow notes, Bronzer Beelzebub will likely pardon everyone convicted in the 1/6 attack on the Capitol (and more on pardons is here)...
...and David Pakman presents this clip of Trumpist lickspittle Joe Kernan admitting that Combover Caligula is about to explode inflation...I know these clips lately have had a bit of a recurring theme, but I think it’s important to emphasize that Bronzer Beelzebub INTENDS TO UTTERLY WRECK OUR ECONOMY, which should have been plain as day to idiot voters in this country, but we are where we are, sadly...I heard about Kernan and the Scaramucci thing, but I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to it to be honest...important to note what Trump going after immigrants and those in this country with temporary protected status would do to the economy also...
...and this gentleman explains what led to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Trump and his pals are poised to utterly destroy (slightly NSFW/H)...
To the ignoramuses who have no fucking clue of the damage Trump is about to do to America when psychotic shitstain abolishes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/YUcfApEoQJ
David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us a clip of Texas state rep James Talarico, who does his best to shame a MAGA Repug (to the extent that these life forms can even be shamed at all) concerning a bill to post the Ten Commandments in all classrooms in that loathsome state (discounting Austin of course)...they kind of cut the video in a strange place here...
...and I thought this lady had some good NSFW/H advice for the Trumpers out there, which I totally expect them to ignore of course...
Every motherfucking thing this woman said. If after learing how shit works, you still support Trump — you're not just dumb, you're evil. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/kkudIn3rdy
...and Chris Hayes brings us the reality perspective here, informing us that our worst economic nightmare has indeed come true...and yeah, I think the comparison to what Liz Truss did in the U.K. is probably accurate unfortunately, but a big problem is that nobody over here can declare a “snap” election whenever they feel like it if the ruling party loses confidence among the voters...we’re stuck with Our Demented Orange Toddler-In-Chief for at least four years, to say nothing of the fact that the U.K. will preserve representative democratic government, and God only knows what #47 will do...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 11/29/18...let’s just say that Fix Noise talking head Pete Hegseth has been in the news recently (also as noted here), and here he is a few years ago making excuses for this typically pathetic episode from Repug U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, making casual remarks about lynching, because why not I guess...
I thought the guy making this video gave us a pretty good glimpse of the “shell game” that we can expect from Mango Mussolini and his lizard-brained followers once they grab the reins of power (thanks to Bill Madden of Xitter for some of these Tik Tok clips...NSFW/H)...
...and Farron Cousins lets us know that Trump voters are starting to realize that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule intends to crater the economy...again (I thought this was a pretty sound analysis of what we could be looking at, unfortunately, and as Cousins says, it’s not like we weren’t warned)...
...and it looks like Louisiana has passed what is in essence a “flat tax” of 5.5 percent for individuals and businesses, which will be highly regressive for poorer earners (more here), even though increases to standard deductions for seniors and other individuals were thrown in as a bit of a “sugar high” before the crashing reality sets in, with Yasmin Khan (I continue to be thoroughly unimpressed with Sharon Reed; if she’d bothered to actually do her homework on the taxation issue instead of pivoting to abortion, which is a whole other matter, she would have brought more to the conversation, and the “mayor of 9/11” really isn’t part of this story either...pushing a “flat tax” was the hobby horse of sorts that former Repug wunderkind Jack Kemp rode forever ago (here); it was wrong then and it’s wrong now, but leave it to the Repugs to NEVER abandon their bad ideas hoping that people forget, which often happens unfortunately)...
And oh yeah, there is this (in response to this...also this)...
Oh, fuck off, everyone clutching their pearls over Biden pardoning his son. MAGA motherfuckers, including Trump, wrecked his life. As Biden said, "In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me." So fuck them. Use power when you have it. It's a lesson all Democrats could learn.
Update: And OF COURSE Repug-lite Gluesenkamp Perez along with the equally useless Michael Bennet and Gary Peters take shots at Biden for doing the right thing (here)...I can promise you I’ll remember this if Peters seeks another term in the Senate and decides to start emailing and texting me day and freaking night for dough like he did last time...not surprising also that “the old gray lady” thought this story required three reporters, just to make sure they belittled President Biden as much as possible like they’ve done all along (I have what I think is a principled disagreement with Jason Crow, so I'll leave him out of this for now).
(By the way, I'll probably be on a bit of a modified posting schedule in anticipation of the holidays...also, since they've arrived late this year, I'll also be squeezing in more seasonal tunes; sorry for the boring bit of housekeeping stuff.)
David Pakman tells us about Dr. Jerome Adams on Xitter who sez we could be looking at 3 pandemics under RFK, Jr. as HHS Secretary; H5N1, whooping cough, and measles...lots of important info in this clip from Pakman about immunization rates to get to “herd immunity” on this potential outbreaks...and yeah, if you live in a state under Repug governance, well, maybe one option is to move to a blue state if you can...
...and I now give you the latest installment of This Day In Doomsy History (more or less) from 11/30/17, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury gives us his take on the alleged religiosity of Trump and his minions (NSFW/H)...
...and it's time to (more or less) begin my seasonal selections with these tunes...
Occupy Democrats (not sure who this gentleman is) tell us about Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU, issuing a warning about Russia aimed at the world and, I would guess, you-know-who in particular (as well as Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, who is pretty much the puppet of Vlad The Butcher)...U.S. Undersecretary of State For Political Affairs Victoria Nuland gives us a bit of the reality perspective on this also...
...and sticking with overseas matters, David Doel informs us of the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for our “ally” Bibi, along with former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant (here)...and not surprisingly, Bernie Sanders is standing tall on this issue...I know I sound like I’m wearing my tin foil hat, but I still say that Russia got some intel from #45 that went to Iran and Hamas that led to the 10/7 attacks...Netanyahu has gone into Gaza repeatedly and has only ended up killing innocent Palestinians, many of them kids, while not degrading Hamas (you want to “degrade” Hamas? Give them no reason to exist by addressing Palestinian issues)...and like Mike Figueredo, I think Doel goes a little far here saying that Biden should get an arrest warrant also...and OF COURSE incoming Trumper Mike Waltz says the ICC “has no credibility” – what the hell else can you expect?...
...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ lets us know that Trump still hasn’t submitted an ethics pledge stating he’ll avoid conflicts of interest, in compliance with a law passed over the 3400 cited violations from #45’s first term...and leave it to Rojo The Clown to reiterate what an unctuous bootlicker he truly is, and of course Thom Tillis thinks heads of the NLRB and CFPB are “hyper partisan” or some such nonsense, and apparently Tillis thinks it’s more important for Trump to do better than Obama when it comes to recess appointments; never mind how qualified these Trumpist life forms truly are (still amazes me how many people in this country lost their damn minds because we once elected an African American president)...and I will admit that Brian Kilmeade knows a thing or two about “clown cars”...
...and Miss Beau suggests going after Cantaloupe Capone by holding him to his promises in all the ways mentioned in this video (including capping credit card interest rates), ostensibly to help working people and families...I have every confidence that Trump will completely abandon any such promises, but I have low confidence that our side will make that case convincingly to voters, since it will need to be demonstrated repeatedly and most Dems in party leadership don’t have that kind of fight in them, I hate to say...she’s right I believe in the gap of sorts between progressive advocates (politicians and the “foot soldiers”) and the commentariat, which, for the most part, is looking for the next circular firing squad...love to be wrong...
...and I know we just concluded the holiday, but I still think this is a nice meditation from The Lincoln Project...
...and dear God, it really is that time of year again, isn't it?
I got a kick out of this pic, I have to admit (courtesy of Pixdaus and Daily Kos)...
...and here's another holiday fave, with an intro by Seth MacFarlane as Stewie Griffin (and again, the captions make this hilarious as far as I'm concerned)...
...and here is more holiday fun...
...and I liked this also, I have to admit...
...and here's a Thanksgiving message for those wonderful folks at the TSA.
Update 1: And here is another late addition.
Update 2: Might as well add this too (and yeah, "Man Tan" Boehner is long gone I know, but those who've followed him have done their best to make things worse).
Update 3: Imagine all the people that can be fed for $35 grand (here, getting serious for a minute).
Update 4: And since I add to this list every year, I might as well include this too (hasta la vista, baby!).
Update 5: And I suppose this is an apropos item too.
…and thank goodness the “culture warriors” of Fix Noise are trying to protect the holiday (more here)…
…and I guess this is an appropriate tune for the day...
...along with this.
Update 11/25/21: Well said.
Update 11/27/21: And here is a video about another holiday tradition.
...and I'll let Trae Crowder have the last word for now (NSFW/H).
Andrew Rivera of More Perfect Union brings us the tale of Why Mailmen Are Raising Up...looks like USPS workers got hosed in contract talks, unfortunately (and imagine having to install a shower in union offices because letter carriers are paid so little that some are homeless and that’s the only place where they can clean up)...and workers are also tracked minute by minute by data on their package scanners, huh? I know Biden couldn’t get rid of DeJoy on his own, though I cannot understand why the commissioners he got appointed to the postal board couldn’t have done that by now (and yes, I know one Republican was named)...no air conditioning in vehicles, mandatory overtime, and those are just the beginning of the indignities, to say nothing of the physical threats letter carriers face...and it does indeed sound like union head Brian Renfroe is a rubber stamp for DeJoy - I hope Renfroe gets the help he needs, but he should indeed step aside while he addresses that (NSFW/H)...
...and Kiera Butler of Mother Jones tells us about the five ways the “Christian” nationalist nut jobs will try to attack government to achieve their foul ends under Trump (and “natural family planning” doesn’t have a damn thing to do with birth control; it has to do with trying to figure out the best way to get pregnant, and I can say that because Mrs. Doomsy and I attended a class on that a while ago...and I don’t know what version of the Bible these people follow, but the one I was raised on didn’t have one word to say about hating on LGBTQ people)...
...and in another election post mortem, David Pakman asks if something is wrong with this country, and as far as I’m concerned, if you have to articulate that, then you’re probably answering your own question (and I agree with him)... and I don’t think Pakman is being a smug pr*ck; I think he’s pointing out a real issue that should have been considered by our alleged political/media Beltway geniuses of the @DNC during the recent campaign (mildly NSFW/H)...and in a related item, I think this articulates my feeling about the election better than anything else IMO (maybe there’s a bit of smugness in the Xitter post actually, but I also think there’s a hell of a lot of truth...more here)...
...and Leeja Miller gives us some good ideas here IMO on fighting back against the incoming Trumpist plague; she gives some important background for about the first 6:00 or so...I have to admit that it’s been awhile since I studied Maslow’s hierarchy of needs...well said that we need to patch together a coalition of sorts and prioritize what matters most in terms of keeping our government functioning for us and in a manner that fairly represents the majority of this country; and yeah, I believe that this is something that the @DNC and affiliated organizations should be doing to the point where it’s second nature, but then again I’m just some schmoe and not a high-priced political consultant, so what do I know?...GREAT point about going on the offensive for a change instead of constantly being in this stoo-pid reactive mode of “What crazy thing did the Repugs do today?”...another great idea is to reverse engineer the truly infamous Powell Memo, and I love the five “prongs” she came up with to put her strategy in place effectively, though it will take a while to do this and the cost will be substantial, and I just hope and pray that we have the necessary time and funds to make it all work...”That terror of being called ‘biased’ is what got us here in the first place”; boy, is she ever right about that; the “slippery slope” started as soon as objective reality became de-prioritized in our media in favor of “balance”...lots of great ideas here, and this is another book that should be read for coming up with the roadmap Miller proposes here...and in a similar vein, there is this (mildly NSFW/H as well)...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Trump getting rid of the CFPB, again, and also kneecapping the NLRB I’m sure – interesting item from Kyle about the CFPB looking out for some scammy outfit allegedly providing identity theft protection, which was just taking the dough for no good reason as it turned out (NSFW/H also)...
...and I guess this newer number is a coda of sorts for yours truly...don’t know what’s up with playing it in a dirt basin or whatever that is, but I’m in tune with the sentiment I have to admit.
Brittany Page, sitting in for Jesse Dollemore, brings us a clip of CNN’s Pam Brown interviewing Oklahoma school superintendent Ryan Walters, who wants to have Trump bibles in schools and also wants to get rid of the Department of Education...for the record, I will never oppose anyone saying a prayer as a private citizen, but I will ALWAYS oppose someone saying it in an official capacity as an elected official on behalf of individuals of all faiths, as well as individuals who practice no official faith whatsoever...and one reason why I don’t want to hear these idiots on the right yelling about “the left” opposing religion is because they just did everything in their power (along with “centrist dipsh*ts” and others) to get rid of a president who, in addition to doing the best job among leaders of industrialized nations of successfully bringing an economy out of COVID, was also a practicing Roman Catholic who regularly attended Sunday services, something else Biden got zero credit for (I mean, I don’t think ANY politician should receive a vote because of their religious affiliation, but idiots like Walters opened the metaphorical door on this, not me)...and why the $#@! would you include our country’s foundational documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence IN THE FREAKING TRUMP GODDAMN BIBLE???!!! Oh, riiight – it’s because you’re part of the cult...my bad for not picking up on that...
...and John Iadarola informs us that Texas is willing to build a camp for those the incoming Trump gang will round up and deport, because nothing says “I’m a good Christian” like detaining and kicking out those less fortunate whose only “crime” was to imagine that they could emigrate here in search of a better life for themselves and their families...and knowing this incoming gang of thugs, I'm sure people who've already lived here will be included also unfortunately (Sharon Reed also comments)...
...and with “the land of the yellow rose” in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 11/25/12, in which former governor Rick “Goodhair” Perry opens his pie hole about his state seceding, which was tried once before and didn’t go so well as I recall; it should also be noted that Texas received about $105 billion in federal aid as noted here, so they could kiss that goodbye also (and by the way, the current guv has run his mouth about leaving the union also as noted here...talk is cheap, cowboy)...
...and Daivd Pakman lets us know about the “mandate” for Cantaloupe Capone (based on the election) which continues to shrink – winning margin is 1.6% points and 2½ million votes as of now...as I’ve said already, I think the story of the ’24 election will be all the ways the Harris vote was suppressed (and how ANYBODY could have stayed home in an election as important as this one is something I cannot fathom and a reality that those guilty of that offense IMO will have to live with for the rest of their lives...and Pakman is right to focus on the 1-in-5-functional-illiterate thing, something the alleged geniuses at the @DNC should have focused on also when doing whatever voter outreach they did, or more likely, DIDN’T do)...
...and in this unearthed clip, RFK Jr. calls Trump supporters “Nazis” and “idiots”...and yeah, Matt Taibbi has really “jumped the shark” also (Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the details)...interesting background from Sam on how RFK Jr. used to be pretty coherent policy wise (to say nothing of actually being correct, especially on the climate and the DAPL protests as Emma mentions), but how Jr. has pretty much lost him damn mind since then...and yeah, Emma is sure right about lefties who go over to “the dark side” for the almighty buck...
(I previously posted about the JFK Assassination here from a year ago, in case you want to revisit that topic.)
To begin, Thom Hartmann tells us about a Texas (of course) Repug state legislator who introduced a bill that would force ISPs in that God-forsaken state to block any websites dealing with abortion or abortion medication, basically saying anybody can sue (kind of mirroring the bill where people in “the land of the yellow rose” can rat out others who are involved in transporting a pregnant person for an abortion and get $10K for doing so)...and this lunacy actually extends to Iowa, Idaho and Tennessee, and Alabama too of course (trying to prosecute abortion providers under the RICO Act, which is used to go after organized crime of course, and when Repugs take over the federal government in January, I think we can rest assured that they’ll try to pass something like this on the national level...heckuva job, all you idiots who voted for this madness - and boy, is Thom right about these characters and "1984")...
...and when it comes to our slow-motion stroll directly into fascism, Rachel Maddow informs us of the bill Trump would use to shut down any organization he doesn’t like (H.R. 9495, which I commented on last week I know)...and OF COURSE, despite the fact that this garbage bill to help Combover Caligula be even more of a dictator was shot down at first, leave it to the “party of Lincoln” to try and breathe life back into this monstrosity (and as noted here, this horror was indeed reintroduced in the House and passed, and Bri-Fi, being the utter coward that he is, voted Yes once more...this garbage will be stalled in the Senate...for now...also, it looks like Comcast is “spinning off” NBC and MSNBC, so the future of the latter in particular may be in jeopardy, but hopefully not – wish that cable behemoth would do that for The Flyers)...
...and Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats brings us the tale of wingnut Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace introducing a bill mandating that members use bathrooms associated with biological sex from birth (here), which is aimed right at the first transgender person in that body, Sarah McBride (who was just elected from Delaware)...and great point by AOC to mention Mace fundraising off this...and yeah, inspecting women and girls’ to check their genitals before they go into bathroom? What freaking country am I living in again?...
...and Jesse Dollemore gives us a rather gut-churning update on the police report from Trump Defense Secretary candidate Pete Hegseth, who has allegedly abused women in a truly gross and likely illegal manner (just like Jesus would do – snark mode off)...even with the redactions, it looks like Hegseth can be credibly accused of r*pe...I’ll keep an eye out in case this video gets age-restricted by YouTube...apparently, acting like a caveman this way is required to serve in Trump’s cabinet...
...and Mike Figueredo discusses Chris Van Hollen (interviewed by Mehdi Hasan) quite rightly calling out Biden for allowing our “ally” Bibi to walk all over him...eventually, the story of why Harris/Walz lost will be told, and I believe it will have NOTHING to do with embracing Mango Mussolini, but instead will be based on Netanyahu’s latest incursion into Gaza, the RELENTLESS drumbeat against Biden on the economy from the wingnuts and “centrist dipsh*ts” as Atrios quite rightly calls them, and also, Dems’ complete and utter failure to compete with Repugs on messaging...heckuva job, DNC! (as either Barron’s or The Economist noted, Biden had a lot to do with giving the U.S. the best-performing post-COVID economy in the world)...about Van Hollen – I believe he’s basically right, but he’s from a deep blue state of Maryland (a terrific place), and while politics shouldn’t take precedence over human lives, I think Biden has had much more of a difficult political task here (representing the whole nation) than Van Hollen has (probably more to say about that, but I’ll leave it there for now...and yes, I know human suffering here is the primary issue and not “keeping score” between the parties)...it does appear that there is no good end to this tragedy...I wouldn’t go as far as Figueredo does here in calling Biden a war criminal (especially since Figueredo makes no mention of what started all of this on October 7th), but I understand his point (NSFW/H at the very end)...
...and I guess I’m overdue for a newer tune and video dealing with what appears to be twenty-something angst...hope this will suffice.
(And before you cry out, "Oh, how dare you, you dastardly dumb lib! That's blasphemous!," you should recall that 45 once said the Holy Eucharist was "my little cracker," OK?)
To begin, Farron Cousins informs us that a 29-year-old MAGA church leader was recently charged with sexually assaulting children...can’t think of a hell hot enough for life forms who do this stuff (yeah, maybe all the wingnuts screaming about the trannies and drag queens should realize that kids feel a hell of a lot safer around them than they do with leaders of established religions, tragically, but those culprits brought this on themselves)...
...and as you watch this NSFW/H clip, please allow me to emphasize that I don't feel morally superior to anyone (I got into this awhile back here), though this man makes some terrific points IMO...
Worth the 6 minutes. Just listen.
This man spoke perfectly for every single person who voted against MAGA.
...and Brittany Page, sitting in for Jesse Dollemore, lets us know that Kristen Welker of NBC played a clip of Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin calling out Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz, the guy with the truly weird looking eyebrow liner, while Welker interviewed Mullin...still pretty tame stuff from Welker, but she did the right thing here...and oh yeah, it looks like the alleged underage sex trafficker (Gaetz of course) may end up heading the DOJ (hope you 78 million numbskulls who voted for 45 are ready for an out-of-control ride on the most dangerous rollercoaster you can ever imagine, because it’s coming thanks to you, you knot-heads!)...
Update 11/22/24: OK, it looks like Gaetz is out - can't imagine how horrific that House committee report is.
...and this clip from Leeja Miller brings us the story of How Right Wing Media Took Over America...and I didn’t know that The Daily Signal was owned by the Heritage Foundation either, but it makes sense, sadly...as Miller says, this does indeed go back to the ‘50s with some fragmented attempts from ex-New Dealers who were mad at FDR to get their own channel of sorts going, as well as John Birch Society goofballs and a burgeoning conservative movement led by William F. Buckley, among others (all of which is discussed in this great book), but yeah, Nixon indeed helped whip all of this into overdrive...familiar but important history on the demise of the Fairness Doctrine and the rise of wingnut AM radio, led by Flush Limbore; I actually met Sandra Fluke while phone banking for Hillary Clinton in 2016 (she was utterly trashed by Limbore for trying to get the ACA to cover contraception, with Limbore predictably calling her a slut), and she was almost embarrassed when I told her how much I respected her courage for putting up with all of the predictable wingnut attacks that ensued...and oh yeah, this story includes the rise of Fix Noise starting in 1996...Miller also mentions the wingnut nematodes like Tim Pool who were busted for taking compensation from Russia for pushing pro-Putin BS; I think anyone doing that should be charged and, if convicted, should do serious time for it, but that’s just me I guess...good to call out The Epoch Times for doing their best to infect the media bloodstream also...and oh yeah, Sinclair Broadcasting has pretty much taken over local news unfortunately...also mentioned is Philip Anschutz of the Washington Examiner, and the Wilks brothers’ affiliation with PragerU, as well as Dick Uihlein and the Donors Trust Fund (and yes, the Powell Memo does indeed figure infamously in all of this)...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that Mr. and Mrs. Scar recently went to Mar-a-Lago to “bend the knee” before Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, and in response, Sam “brings the receipts”...Scar made his bones as probably the most rabid hater of the Clintons anybody has ever seen, and when he “served” in the U.S. House he was one of the most doctrinaire Repugs in existence, so this doesn’t surprise me actually...and let’s not forget that Scar once represented Michael Griffin, accused and later convicted in the murder of abortionist Dr. David Gunn (and no, I don’t give a damn that Griffin’s father was a friend of Scarborough’s in-laws)...I wish I could disagree with the stuff that Emma V. says at about 9:00 or so (about Biden and the toxic plague of DC “centrism” from our political/media/industrial complex), but I really can’t (lots of snark in this clip, which is appropriate IMO)...
...and today is the 41st anniversary of the tragic death of Tom Evans of Badfinger, who took his own life (one of the most star-crossed bands of all time).
Kyle Kulinski tells us about a voter in Scranton, Pa (allegedly some middle-of-the-road guy) who voted for #45 even though he thinks he’s like Hitler...yeah, I don’t know what to do with this kind of lunacy either...this is the product of at least 30 years of right-wing media BS and failure in teaching civics and social studies, but IMO, it’s also the failure of Dems to try to engage with folks like this guy...it shouldn’t be up to people like Michael Shure going to rallies to try and explain reality to these nematodes (no disrespect to Shure of course)...NSFW/H...
And by the way, I thought this was a tweet with good advice from the daughter of MLK and Coretta Scott King...
— Scott Smith, MSW #BLM 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇦🏳️🌈🌈🟦🟧 (@Canaansdad1987) November 16, 2024
...and speaking of cultish behavior, it looks like “Rocky” has taken one too many blows to the head, introducing 45 at the “America First” policy institute and comparing him to Jesus and George Washington...Jesse Dollemore gives us the story...
...and Francis Maxwell of the Meidas Touch Network informs us that world leaders are positioning themselves in response to what will likely be a catastrophic trade war with Mango Mussolini and his beyond-ridiculous tariffs, especially Emmanuel Macron of France (these people aren’t stupid...the world leaders I mean of course), and that information on MSNBC presented by Steven Rattner I believe spells out the economic ruin that is likely to ensue (also, credit to women leaders around the globe for standing tall)...heckuva job, all you U.S. imbeciles who voted to give the convicted felon another shot at tanking our country...
...and Thom Hartmann talks about Vlad The Butcher dumping nudes of Melania on Russian TV, along with the unveiled threat from Moscow to Trump himself...can’t imagine what kind of kompromat Putin has on 45, but it must be awful...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias give us a bit of an election post mortem...if Elias says that the ’24 election was free and fair, then I believe him; I still say what will emerge over time is information on all of the ways that the Harris vote was suppressed, but again, not by anything illegal to my knowledge (though the bomb threats from Moscow were a factor also)...I’m not going to go off on Dems and messaging all over again; as much as I SINCERELY HATE TO SAY THIS, the Trump party did a better job of driving turnout than the Harris campaign did (and the DNC, DSCC and other affiliated orgs proved themselves to be utterly clueless once again)...GREAT question by Cohen about why down-ballot progressive measures won even though Dems on that ballot lost, and it’s utterly depressing to point out that Trump won the popular vote, albeit not by much (so fine folks like Thom Hartmann won’t be able to keep pointing out how Repugs lost on that score); FWIW, I think the result proves that the economy absolutely held sway over every other issue including abortion, and writ large, it also goes to the overall declining quality of life in this country, a matter in which Dems have some proposed solutions that are OK but don’t address systemic issues, and the Repugs have no solutions at all (a lesson this country will relearn in short order...and speaking of Elias)...
Yesterday I led off with a Hispanic group hoping Trump doesn’t deport him or anyone he knows, and today I’d like to start with Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network bringing us the leader of Michigan’s “uncommitted” movement pleading to President Biden for help after this Michigan guy decided not to support Harris/Walz...and I know I was a little sympathetic to Muslims in Dearborn for not supporting Harris, but upon further consideration, yeah, they’re a bunch of damn morons given that 45 has said he would bulldoze Gaza...just keep stepping on that rake, dude (and yeah, those clips of Huckabee are pretty damn disgusting, but we knew what he’s all about, or should have anyway by now)...
...and Miss Beau tells us that it looks like John Thune will be the new Senate Majority Leader – about as much of a pro-business establishment Repug as you can get..pretty bad, but not as bad as Lex Luthor Scott, and yeah, I know we’re talking about degrees of awful...have to admit that I’m surprised that Thune is saying he won’t shoot down the filibuster, but we’ll see...
...and this CBS News report lets us know that Alex Jones’s Infowars has been bought by The Onion, which is thoroughly appropriate IMO, and I’m glad that the deal (which apparently was managed by the Sandy Hook families) includes a tie-in to ads for Everytown for Gun Safety...there are some folks who I think should be forced to live in some kind of a display for people to walk past and make a mockery of (if that makes sense), and Jones is pretty high on that list as far as yours truly is concerned...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report lets us know about a young woman upset that she apparently isn’t being supported by her family for her Trump vote...well, when you support a delusional authoritarian strongman for president, what else can you expect? And oh yeah, the Trump supporting Mexican woman thinks immigrants should enter our country the “right” way; as Figueredo says, our immigration system is broken, though it works for businesses who want to pay poverty wages to their workforce...a pretty depressing summation at about 21:00, but he’s probably right about trying to reach the MAGA chuds; not much chance if their own families can’t do that, so it’s a fool’s errand to expect that Dems can pull that off with some of these characters, to say nothing of “moderate” Republicans...NSFW/H...
...and John Oliver gives us his take on Trump’s re-election...yeah, anybody who says the Dems need to move to the center or should come out against trans rights is definitely working from the wingnut playbook and doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously (and that includes Tom Suozzi)...video goes over the looniness of Trump’s proposed cabinet nominees, including King Elon I of Xitter wanting to cut $2 trillion from the budget (truly bleak when I find myself agreeing with Larry Summers)...didn’t know about the PRESS Act, and yeah, that should have been passed already, but good luck with trying to get that done now (love to be wrong)...great news about Emma Curtis in ruby-red Kentucky elected as Lexington’s first transgender public official, as well as the pro-choice measures passing in seven states (also NSFW/H)...
...and I need a bit of a mellow newer tune to listen to as we rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, and I think this will suffice.
David Pakman brings us the leader of Latinos for Trump who thinks “family oriented” Latinos won’t be deported...yes, you can chalk this up to cosmic stoo-pidity, but again, when there’s no competing message for this garbage, people are going to believe these fairy tales (I definitely don’t wish ill on anybody, but what else can you expect?)...
...and John Iadarola and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report inform us that the House voted down a bill to allow Trump to accuse a non-profit of supporting terrorism and giving them 90 days to respond or lose their 501c(3) status, referring to the applicable section in the tax code (and given that the appeal would go to Trump, they would likely lose anyway and go out of business in the scenarios John mentions) - would have been used to go after DEI and the BDS movement for sure...and as far as I’m concerned, a big reason we lost the way we did a week ago is because of the mentality behind 52 GODDAMN ALLEGED DEMOCRATS!! who voted for this garbage!...and I have to admit that I’m shocked that Thomas Massie did the right thing here, but he did...of course, Bri-Fi, being the good little lapdog that he is, went along with it...and sorry if this sounds mean, but Sharon Reed still adds just about nothing to these discussions...
Update 11/21/24: The bill was reintroduced and passed the House (as noted here) and will be stalled in the Senate...for now (and Bri-Fi, being the utter coward that he is, voted Yes again).
...and Alec Opperman of More Perfect Union tells us about the games CVS is playing with staffing and endangering people’s lives in the process...and why am I not surprised to hear that likely the biggest root cause of the problem is insurance companies not reimbursing independent pharmacies to the same extent as the chains...PBM stands for Pharmacy Benefit Manager, by the way, and yes, they have a lot to do with deciding drug reimbursements...and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find out that CVS has the largest PBM in the business, and that would be Caremark...shocked that the state of Ohio did the right thing here, but credit where it’s due (and more on the Pharmacies Fight Back Act is here)...
...and yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Karen Silkwood in a road accident; she was on her way to meet with a New York Times reporter to discuss the goings-on at the Kerr-McGee plutonium manufacturing facility in Oklahoma...Silkwood is mentioned in this tune by Gil Scott-Heron about the dangers of nuclear power.
David Doel takes a fairly deep dive into what happened about eight days ago... interesting that every governing party in the world lost vote share when running for election this year, which is the first time this has ever happened apparently...great point about Biden being hurt by programs ending that he initiated, which he really didn’t have much control over (thank Manchinema among others for refusing to kill the filibuster and allowing the plans on this list to expire; I’m sure that will help those two cash in now for cushy gigs at some wingnut foundation or some such group of rich miscreants)...the two issues that did in Harris according to this were immigration and the economy – I know I’ve already gone off on the Dems and messaging, but I can count on one hand and have fingers left over the times that Harris/Walz mentioned that Trump killed the Lankford bill in the Senate, which would have addressed a lot of the immigration issues; the economy would have required more imagination I know, and even that might not have worked, but the effort definitely could have been better of course...and I don’t care what anybody says; Putin told Jill Stein to stick her face in Rashida Tlaib’s district in order to get the Muslim vote over Israel/Gaza and take it from Harris; yes, I saw some lefties online screaming about allegedly dumb voters in Tlaib’s district, but what the hell do you expect from them when their population is getting slaughtered in Gaza and the Dem prez ticket offers essentially nothing? At least the progressive measures that passed in Missouri and Alaska are encouraging; let’s see how long it takes for the Repugs to roll them back...and yeah, it’s unbelievable that the Harris people brought on Tony West, with all of the likely negative consequences – I think Doel is spot-on there – but that is indeed what happened...I think Doel is a little too hard on Biden here about the programs ending as already noted, but if he wants to argue that Biden could have fought harder for them, then maybe I’ll go along with that...
...and Farron Cousins tells us about would-be Trump staffers fighting, and he’s only been president-elect for a week...yeah, I know the Dems and the Harris campaign lost the narrative (and they might have lost on the economy even if they’d bothered to get the messaging right), but heckuva job, all you Trump voters, for inflicting this on us...
...and Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report brings us a clip from a French leftist that offers a bit of encouragement, telling us “you will make it”...I hope to God she’s right...
(By the way, I may be cutting back on posting generally for a lot of reasons. I pretty much beat my brains out during the election, and that is something I just can’t keep doing anymore. If there are any developments in particular to affect that, I’ll let you know. I also plan to cut back on the Trump/Vance snark, mainly becuase I think it's boring and repetitive at this point.)
And by the way, I don't know who this gentleman is, but I definitely want to include his perspective on last week's carnage (NSFW/H)...
...and I thought this was a pretty interesting commentary from Miss Beau...of course, Trump is going to claim credit for some recent stock market rallies, which means you also have to give Biden credit for the stock market increases prior to the election (which won’t happen of course – when has Biden gotten credit for anything?)...and yeah, good point about bond yields going up, meaning that the loan is riskier, and the future economy is in question, as she says...
...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report give us some insight into the seamy characters taking their victory lap over last Tuesday’s atrocity...yeah, Nick Fuentes of course, somebody named Evan Kilgore, and on and on...
...and Bernie Sanders (anybody remember him?) speaks with Dana Bash on CNN about continuing the fight...I don’t think the @DNC can find its own metaphorical butt with multiple sets of hands, but if they could, they would pay more attention to what Sanders has to say and act accordingly...
...and I’m going to let Tennessee Brando have the last word for now, including a clip of the response from Eric Swalwell (slightly NSFW/H)...
(My take on last Tuesday's disaster for what it's worth is here.)
I think Jonathan Pie was a bit harsh in his assessment of the Kamala Harris campaign (not saying he doesn't make good points, though), but I also think his core argument that there could have been more separation on the issues by Harris from Biden is well taken; as far as I’m concerned, our “fourth estate” also had an outsized role in what happened on Tuesday with continually dumping on Biden and giving him ZERO CREDIT for bringing this country back from the ruinous Trump 1.0 years of COVID and job losses in the millions, leading to Biden's unpopularity and depressing turnout (there were many other factors too, most of which I tried to outline in the linked post above...I think Pie’s “across the pond” perspective on this and other matters is always interesting and often funny, though not humorous now I’ll admit...NSFW/H)...
Update 1: By the way, I don't totally absolve myself for blame here, in case you were wondering about that. I was probably a little "Trump-and-Vance-obsessed" in the last couple of weeks especially also, but first and foremost, I was trying to communicate what a threat he was and not so much commenting on the perverse spectacle of what he said and did. And I would have included instead information on what the Harris/Walz campaign was proposing along with Democrats generally...but I couldn’t find the damn information! I will always favor subject matter about actual policy versus "the horserace" if I can manage to track it down.
...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the tale of this Trumpist nut Mike Davis (who may be Attorney General) wanting to drag bodies of Democrats through the streets, apparently...and we’re supposed to find a way to make common cause with these lunatics...oh, but he means “political” bodies, so it’s not really violence, huh? Suuuure...also NSFW/H)...
Update 3: I have a feeling that I will have MANY updates to this post, so I might as well include this also.
...and Thom Hartmann lets us know about Trump’s coming attack on America’s economic backbone (e.g., the “administrative state”)...and Thom’s right about every Republican president having an economic downturn, something else that I suppose the @DNC decided not to remind voters about during the campaign because I guess they thought it was impolite or something (and I know it’s hard to translate for low-attention-span voters just how bad it was for the SCOTUS to nuke the Chevron ruling as Thom points out, but that was a critical development also)...one of Thom’s great points is that recessions are great buying opportunities for billionaires, and I can’t imagine that we won’t see that again sadly (I also didn’t know about the origins of our civil service as a result of the assassination of President Garfield and the connection to Schedule F employees...interesting stuff, but potentially tragic of course unfortunately)...
...and with fingers crossed I’ll admit, I want to give a bit of a qualified endorsement to what Jon Stewart says here...
Update 11/9/24: It also just occurred to me that, in my lifetime, there have only been two occasions where a presidential candidate for the party of the incumbent president has won election in his own right. The first was LBJ in 1964, and the fact that JFK was assassinated the year before was a big factor (as I’ve read – I was quite young at the time). The second was in 1988, when Poppy Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in a presidential campaign run by Lee Atwater that was so lowdown (i.e., Willie Horton) that it created a template that was followed by other Repug politicians ever since (still, though, it worked). I’m only pointing this out to emphasize how important it was for Kamala Harris to separate herself from President Biden; in many ways she couldn’t, though, to be fair...I don’t know if a little more imagination from Harris in that regard would have mattered, but it’s just a thought, you might say.
Update 11/10/24: I don’t know about the attribution of the diagram from this link, but that’s an absolutely staggering number of eligible voters who didn’t participate, considering that Biden got about 80 million four years ago – just proves my point that Mango Mussolini benefitted from depressed turnout and really didn’t build on the base that made up his popular vote total in 2016 (Update 11/11/24: Actually, the number of Harris voters I'm seeing now is 76 million, which tells me that all of the garbage that led to suppressing her vote worked infamously well).
...and before everything hit the fan last Tuesday, I was getting ready for a tribute to Quincy Jones, so please allow me to present that now...
...and here is a tune from one of Jones’s many terrific recording sessions.
