Wednesday Stuff

For those of you keeping score at home, I’ll admit that my posting has gotten a little goofed up this week for a variety of reasons. I will try to restore some equilibrium at some point, but I can’t guarantee anything for now.

Turning to the videos, Farron Cousins informs us that the one issue where the Gropenfuhrer seemed to be polling not too badly was on immigration/deportations, but now it looks like those numbers are taking a nosedive too...I still can’t believe that he was EVER taken seriously on that, but that’s pretty much all over with, along with taking Our Ochre Abomination seriously on pretty much ANY issue (and there’s more here on the contradiction of the Trump-loving base vs. the federal programs they need that Dear Orange Leader and his pals want to utterly destroy)...



...and echoing the prior video somewhat, Kyle Kulinski tells us about torture reported at ICE facilities, with migrants shackled behind their backs and made to kneel down and eat “like dogs,” among myriad other abuses, such as forcing detainees onto a bus where they had to share a toilet that backed up and caused the bus to smell “like feces,” and making men and women share a toilet in view of each other...utterly monstrous evil typical of regimes this country used to fight against...and I definitely share Kyle’s observations on immigrants overall (NSFW/H)...



...and Brittany Page brings us the news of a lawsuit from some idiot in Texas who sued an abortion provider in California who sent medication abortion pills to his girlfriend who the Texas guy impregnated – the Texas guy is suing on behalf all current and future fathers of unborn children, and how much do you want to bet that the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR will find a way to take up this case in 3,2,1 (yet another typically devious way to enshrine “fetal personhood”)...of course, this Texas numbskull could try to garner support for more health care funding for pregnant women as well as more early childhood and pre-K funding as well as enhancing SNAP benefits and ensuring that Medicaid remains viable for poor families, but naaah...let’s set money on fire over nonsense like this instead...and this isn’t the main issue, but I think it needs to be pointed out; when Dems had congressional majorities (and a Dem president), they should have found a way to abolish the utterly wretched Comstock Act (and I’d heard of Jonathan Mitchell before, but I’ll admit that I didn’t know just how bad he truly was...typically low for a scumwaffle like Mitchell to encourage men to dime out their wives/girlfriends who’ve had abortions, all in pursuit of some kind of nationwide abortion ban...and a link to the National Network of Abortion Funds is here)...



...well, partly to keep my sanity and also party because there are plenty of people we’re ideologically opposed to who deserve humorous ridicule, I’ll include this clip of Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show telling us about Scott Jennings, who will likely be the Repug running to succeed that death eater in Kentucky Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao...yep, stoo-pidly combative and obnoxiously proud of his utter wrongness all right – looks like exactly the type who many of those troglodytes in that locality will want to reward with a six-year team in high office (love to be wrong)...



...and let’s take a trip across the country to Oklahoma, where the self-righteous wingnut hypocrisy is “as high as an elephant’s eye,” you might say; Mr. Newberger gives Ryan Walters the treatment he deserves over this...



...and that’s probably an apropos lead-in to this number from Tom Lehrer.

Tuesday Stuff

Apparently, Combover Caligula went off on windmills again when he was visiting his golf course in Scotland, with taxpayers footing the bill of course (here)...you may be shocked to hear me say that he has a tiny bit...and I truly mean, a tiny bit...of a point when he gripes about the cost and impact of winding down wind energy projects (disposing of equipment, determining environmental impact...more data is here, and the appropriate push-back is here), but here’s the thing...you never, EVER hear that from ANY politician (definitely not any Repug politician) when it comes to dirty energy, mainly oil and gas...trying to determine impacts such as illness to people living nearby a dirty energy facility (more here) as well as environmental impact on fracking and mountaintop removal, etc. – I would most definitely say that determining the cost and impact of oil and gas exploration is MUCH WORSE than the equivalent for renewable energy...I think this clip puts #47’s latest idiocy in the context it deserves (I can't believe we have 3½ more years of this...ugh!)...



..and Leeja Miller tells us how Only Billionaires Benefit from AI along with their plan to criminalize homelessness...she starts with a recap of the Skydance/Paramount merger...I may have said earlier something about CBS wanting Paramount to stream its content and that was behind it – if I did, just spank my butt and call me Charlie because that wasn’t the main driver of the merger; basically, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is doing all it can to let itself be consumed by Skydance, which is why Paramount put out the word to CBS to can Stephen Colbert when he started joking about it (hmmm, that pesky First Amendment is still a thing as far as I know)...and yes, David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison of Oracle (one percent plutocrats both) is behind Skydance in case you were wondering...wasn’t aware of the role that Open AI and Ellison the Elder played in also trying to curry favor with our ruling regime...and I’m sorry to say this, but if I were a resident of Abilene, Texas, I would do all I could to get the hell out since Open AI development is coming whether they like it or not (while #47 and this bunch get rid of those pesky “government regs” that basically keep us safe and maintain our quality of life in order to build these humongous data centers)...oh, and see how seamlessly crypto ended up in this report with this Michael Kratsios guy, with ties to Peter Thiel of course? Typical for this bunch of grifters...and David Sacks (with ties to Thiel and Apartheid Clyde) is another one of these numbskulls yelling about “woke ideology” on college campuses; this report to me is more evidence that the characters in this video are prepping “Couch Boy” for the big chair in case Mango Mussolini doesn’t make it through his term, and no, I’m not wishing ill on anybody...and this is yet ANOTHER example of government funding used for R&D that has led this country to a position of dominance that will be sh*tcanned by these “free market” zealots and that will likely lead to us losing out to other countries, most notably China of course...among the many, many great points here is the cruel stoo-pidity behind non-compete agreements...and I know Brittany Page previously hit on the efforts of the Gropenfuhrer to basically imprison the homeless, but I think it needs to be mentioned again, especially since it ties back (along with damn near everything else) to Project 2025 in attacking cities...Miller cranks off near the end, but I think her take is definitely spot-on; she’s made a lot of good videos, but IMO this is one of her best – definitely connects the dots in a big way...NSFW/H...



...and Yasmin Khan of Rebel HQ informs us that it looks like not just the MAGA humans don’t know what to do, but neither do their “bots” (powered by AI of course) with about 400 of them exposed on Nazi Twitter by researchers at Clemson and others apparently (with the “bots” as confused as the humans behind the accounts)...didn’t know these accounts originated around last year’s elections, but that sure figures...if nothing else, this provides a good example of how to use social media to drive messaging, albeit in a conflicting way and with devious intent, a lesson those clueless election losers at the @DNC could profit from (and oh yeah, Mark Zuckerberg is doing what he can to encourage this madness...big surprise I know...and speaking of lessons to be learned by the @DNC, they should memorize every word of this)...



Update 8/4/25: There are times when I thought the @DNC found a way to monetize losing elections. Well, I was wrong, but the linked article from here comes pretty close to that as far as I'm concerned.

...and tying back a bit to the Leeja Miller video, this clip from More Perfect Union lets us know about a man living near a Bitcoin mine outside of Dallas (Granbury, TX) who says that “his life is hell” from excessive noise (and sadly, he has a lot of company in that regard)...the outfit guilty of this is called Marathon Digital Holdings from Flori-DUUH!...driving up energy costs, damaging the water supply – yep, this is another consequence IMO of the pernicious influence of Citizens United and opening the money spigot so politicians can feed on it at will...and oh yeah, in addition to the damage to the nearby residents from noise pollution, there’s increased energy costs as well, to say nothing of manipulating electricity and taking water (ah, but the shareholders live happily ever after, don’t they? And oh yeah, so does “Cancun” Cruz)...and I realize we’re talking about a location that’s pretty much bedrock Republican, and I certainly will never understand that...I can guess how that came about, though...but I would never say these folks should be denied relief because of that (these people obviously are getting their information from Fix Noise and other right-wing media, and probably from the pulpit too, but again, they deserve not to live like this)...



...and oh yeah, it looks like Cantaloupe Capone is coming up with creative new ways to try and get rid of the taint of Jeffrey Epstein, apparently to no avail (and leave it to Mr. Newberger to give this the treatment it deserves)...



...and as far as I’m concerned, anyone who has written or performed a song parody over the last 50-60 years owes a debt to Tom Lehrer (and I may have to do a penance for this one 😊...and to be serious for a minute about faith matters, it looks like "Republican Jesus" has struck again in Portland as noted here).

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen brings us more on Jeffrey Epstein co-collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell and her lawyer meeting with DOJ attorney Todd Blanche (who has a tie to Emil Bove of course, who I discussed on Friday)...I realize this report doesn’t tell us about a quid pro quo, but the fact that ANYONE is talking about a pardon for Maxwell is beyond reprehensible (and I’m sure the condition for a pardon is her absolving Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence)...and Cohen is right; the point of all of this media fluffery and obfuscation is to COMPLETELY BURY the Epstein file (some think the file doesn’t actually exist, but I’m inclined to believe that it does) - NSFW/H...



...and Josh Johnson of The Daily Show tells us about Epstein (in a 2010 deposition) pleading not just the fifth, but the sixth and 14th amendments (?) also to get out of answering a question about the Gropenfuhrer and underage girls...and to be serious for a minute, it cracks me up in a way that Trump supporters were apparently OK with DOGE destroying our government, including killing US AID and sentencing millions in starving countries to death, along with siding with “Bibi” and his carnage in Gaza (and no, I don’t give Biden a pass on that either), along with ICE deporting everyone they decide to profile, especially if they’re students (leading to the “brain drain” Kyle K., among others, mentioned last week), endangering our nuclear stockpile, making our airspace more dangerous from firing air traffic controllers, blowing up scientific research, effectively destroying Medicaid and gutting the CFPB, and on and on...no, the #1 reason these life forms decided to contact their elected representatives was over the likely association their god-king-ruler has with a dead pedophile (and the “Ozempstein” bit is clever also)...



...and Chris Hayes speaks with Sam Seder about the latest episode of “South Park” and you-know-who – yep, unfortunately “nascent authoritarianism” does seems to fit, in the context of Columbia University and U of P caving to try and appease our demented orange toddler of a *preznit...good point by Sam about the self-censorship, particularly on cell phones for people flying in and out; way beyond pathetic that we’ve reached that point...another good point about the Smothers Brothers and Nixon getting THEIR show cancelled back in the day...



...and Brittany Page tells us about Cantaloupe Capone signing an executive order to criminalize homelessness, with 220 similar bills already passed in states...I’m old enough to remember that homelessness in this country hit a big spike after The Sainted Ronnie R decided to close institutions that treated people with mental illness, including Byberry in these parts (here), so this is finding a typically demented way for the “party of Lincoln” to more or less close that circle...and it looks like “the Cicero Institute” is another one of these wingnut think tanks that sprung up like festering mold in a garbage can as more or less a result of the truly infamous Powell Memo...once again, a Republican tries to spook suburbanites with more tales of “oh, those baaad street people in (insert blue big city name here)...they’re homeless EXCLUSIVELY because of their behavior, and we’re the ‘right’ people living in our McMansions, so we’re absolved from caring or doing anything to help whatsoever, even if it means paying a pittance more in state or federal taxes to house these people”...as Page notes, drug use prevention efforts to help the homeless are going to get blown up pretty much by the destruction of Medicaid in the Big Beautiful Clusterf*ck...when Page breaks down the numbers of what Pumpkin Pol Pot is planning to spend on detention versus homelessness, it’s pretty damn plain that the latter isn’t a priority for this bunch ($170 billion in detention versus about $12.8 billion in new housing – you can do the math on that as well as I can...more here)...



Update: Actually, the Cicero Institute was formed in 2016 and has ties to Peter Thiel, so it’s more or less a “grandchild” when it comes to their relationship to the Powell Memo...more direct offspring, if you will, would be the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, to be precise.

...and I’ve been jonesin’ for a newer tune for a little while now, and I think this will do the trick nicely...



...and dusting off the memory banks, I can tell you that, at an early age, there were certain people who informed my sensibility when it comes to news, politics and the world in general, and one of them (for better or worse) was Tom Lehrer, who I’ve dubbed as the funniest math professor of all time (he famously said he couldn’t do satire any more after Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 because he correctly surmised that nothing could be more absurd than that)...I know I’ve gone overboard lately with the tributes when it comes to Brian Wilson and Ozzy Osbourne, but Lehrer deserves that treatment also, beginning with this number...RIP.

Friday Stuff

Leeja Miller tells us about U.S. Senate Repugs doing their best to ramrod the nomination of Emil Bove for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, along with the walkout of the Dems on the Judiciary Committee in response (and yes, that’s a lifetime confirmation), all of which would put Bove in the running to replace Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and “Strip Search Sammy” Alito on the SCOTUS (here)...and oh yeah, Bove’s most recent full time job was defending Pumpkin Pol Pot; I realize that, if we lived in an era that was actually sane, the issue of “conflict of interest” would matter...oh, and Bove carried out a vendetta of sorts against prosecutors who went after the 1/6 insurrectionists, among Bove’s other myriad disqualifying factors, including Bove’s involvement in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and Bove’s attacks on “sanctuary cities,” and oh yeah, there is Bove spiking charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams (who no doubt celebrated with another flight to Turkey)...there’s also the matter of a letter against Bove’s confirmation signed by 900 DOJ attorneys...I’m definitely not in a position to evaluate Bove’s successful prosecution of foreign criminals related to illegal narcotics, but as Miller points out, that’s kind of a curious background to have if you’re angling for a job on the federal bench, which should be heavy on interpreting existing statues and case law as opposed to finding ways to deport people...and yeah, this Whitney Hermandorfer sure sounds like a prize also (here - NSFW/H)...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that the war on science waged by Dementia Donnie has hit a disgusting new low...Kyle’s absolutely right about the ”brain drain” on this country, and as we learn here, up next for the “sledgehammer treatment” is the Office of Research and Development at the EPA, because who needs scientific research to maintain and (dare I say it) actually IMPROVE our quality of life... and to echo Kyle’s point, I don’t care what anybody says; when it comes to Bronzer Beelzebub, every...damn...thing...he...does...hurts...us...and...plays...right...into...the...hands...of...Vlad...The...Butcher – I don’t know how the hell else to say it (NSFW/H also)...



...and Thom Hartmann lets us know about Our Ochre Abomination making the CFPB basically non-functional by firing the people who stood up for us and replacing them with the typical toadies doing the bidding of the Gropenfuhrer; this was the only government agency that helped us when we were defrauded by the big banks...Thom talks about the CFPB dropping the case against the Navy Federal Credit Union, which is typical for this bunch...also, a rule that would have lowered bank overdraft fees was just overturned by the Republican congress, because of course...a lawsuit brought by the agency against Capital One bank was also canned, and Thom also mentions other actions brought by the CFPB that Trump dropped as soon as he took over...



...and Farron Cousins informs us that King Elon I’s “America Party”or whatever could mess up the Repugs for the ’26 midterms...interesting, but I seriously don’t think the ketamine addict has the slightest inclination towards doing the work (or, more likely, HIRING people to do the work for him) that it takes to put together a slate of candidates and field them for next year, to say nothing of ’28 (sure would be interesting if he did, though)...and I’d heard about Our Treasonous Orange Pustule trying to gerrymander state maps for Repugs; never a bottom too low for these nematodes...



...and David Pakman tells us that Jeffrey Epstein’s “ex” Stacey Williams has accused Cantaloupe Capone of groping her...and yeah, I think you’d have to be a stone cold moron at this point (and I realize that doesn’t eliminate a lot of the MAGA crowd) NOT to believe that #47 and Epstein were buds, at a minimum...and I didn’t make the connection with Tulsi Gabbard trying to worm her way back into Bronzer Beelzebub’s good graces by floating the Obama treason nonsense, but that seems to fit also...



...and the Onion News Network brings us jarring video of a motorist stopped by police in a completely non-threatening manner and not accosted or intimidated in any way whatsoever; I’m sure this will prompt an immediate congressional investigation (and yeah, this is a joke...I hope)...



...and RIP Chuck Mangione...



...and I’d like to conclude my tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with this number from Black Sabbath.

Thursday Stuff

Belle of the Ranch talks about the allegation from you-know-who about President Obama and “treason”; good catch noting that the person who approved the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was none other than the Gropenfuhrer’s Secretary of State, Little Marco Rubio (here)...yep, this is still more insane attempts at diversion from Our Treasonous Orangs Pustule over the Jeffrey Epstein stuff...



...and if Pumpkin Pol Pot’s wish was to teach Stephen Colbert a lesson of sorts by getting Colbert’s show cancelled, I would say that that strategy backfired; #47 created a monster more or less because Colbert has basically nothing to lose at this point...and yeah, leave it to “MAGA Mike” Johnson to basically put up the “We’re Closed” sign when the going gets tough, and ol’ Tim Burchett jumps to the front of the line to make excuses for Dementia Donnie...oh, and Obama was “sedacious”? In what language is that actually a word, because it doesn’t exist in English as Colbert says...



...and Robert Reich tells us about taking the fight to the oligarchy; when it comes to evaluating whether or not a politician is serious about this, we should look at the legislation they’ve supported in the past and intend to support in the future and vote accordingly (not exactly “headline” stuff I realize, but just important to keep in mind, that’s all...and yeah, I think the status quo is pretty putrid also)...



...and Brittany Page tells us about the supposedly critical threat of “food dyes” to our health...I didn’t know much about this Marty Makary character either, but why the hell should I trust ANYONE associated with this regime (especially someone who sucks up to “Bobby Brainworms”)? And yeah, COVID vaccines for kids and pregnant women? Naah...and oh yeah, our HHS Secretary released a report citing “studies” that, y’know, DIDN’T ACTUALLY EXIST!...and “data points from listening to parents,” huh? Are you sure you just didn’t get this stuff on food dyes from an angry Reddit forum post (probably worth about the same thing)? And yeah, let’s just let the housekeeper die because she couldn’t make exorbitant health care premium payments while also trying to provide for her family...sorry to be such a downer, but we need to know about this stuff (the danger of breast cancer is that it metastasizes quickly, so please get checked out)...besides, if our regime wants to focus on science to keep people healthier, how about paying attention to the fact that roughly 38 million people in this country (at least) are living with diabetes (here)...



...and Mr. Newberger gives us the following based on this (have to take humor where we can get it these days)...



...and I’m continuing my mini-tribute of sorts to Ozzy Osbourne with this tune.

Wednesday Stuff

This clip from the CBC (because you have to go outside of this country to get serious reporting on this) takes a look at the Gropenfuhrer’s health and the “chronic venous insufficiency” diagnosis...I’m certainly not a medical professional and I don’t have any inside scoop of course, but when you’re looking at a 79-year-old man who leads a pretty unhealthy life overall (partly by design as *preznit I realize, but also partly for diet and exercise reasons), I think a healthy suspicion is warranted, particularly in response to how President Biden was treated (and if Pumpkin Pol Pot tried to ride a bicycle the way #46 did, I predict our current chief executive would suffer a stroke...interesting stuff on this here and here)...



...and David Pakman informs us that, oh noes! White House econ flak Peter Navarro admits that “president deals” is selling more snake oil, as usual, in an interview with screeching harpie Maria Bartiromo...I didn’t know one party sending a letter to the other party constituted a “deal” (I guess that’s because I’m not a graduate of Trump University)...and “trillions of dollars in tax cuts,” huh? And a $27 billion budget surplus for June from tariff revenue? Well, that’s true, shockingly enough, but more context on that is here – basically, that had more to do with government expenditures paid in May instead of June because June 1st was a non-business day and those expenditures wouldn’t be paid on a Sunday (which was 6/1); if they had been paid in June, it would have been about a $71 billion deficit instead...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the Hunter Biden interview with Andrew Callaghan – not familiar with Callaghan to be honest...Nail. Hammer. Head IMO on the first clip from Biden about immigration (as Jesse says)...oh, and along comes Pee Wee Goebbels to spew more lies about #46 and the border (for the reality perspective, I give you this and this)...Jesse doesn’t really get into the stuff Biden the younger said about David Axelrod (claiming that Axelrod pretty much rode Obama’s coattails...may be right) or Rahm Emanuel/James Carville not having won an election in about 30 years (spot-on) or criticizing George Clooney (who, last I checked, was one of the first people to shove 46 out of the way after that admittedly bad debate...I’ll mark that up to Hunter defending his father)...the younger Biden also said something about his dad looking really gone during the debate because the prez was getting over Ambien after travelling overseas; maybe, but the moment was too important to let something like that happen...as always, though, there’s more than a bit of a double standard when it comes to what our media lets Repugs get away with versus the “D” team (NSFW/H)...



...and Tennessee Brando tells us about farmers fighting back against ICE...I don’t know how effective the three-day strike was, but it’s infinitely better than just letting Mush Mouth Tom Homan and company send their jackbooted ICE thugs after these people with no push-back...and great point by Brando that SOMEBODY hired these farmworkers, so if you’re going to pursue an utterly wrong-headed policy, try rounding up the employers too...oh, but those are the “job creators,” so we can’t have that, right? Spare me... ...and in a related item, WAAAY back in the Stone Age when we used to watch documentaries in prime time on TV, this production opened a few eyes to say the least (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that some wingnut media is currently not “bending the knee” to Cantaloupe Capone (though I'm sure they'll come around at some point)...I wouldn’t say that this Rob Schmitt character is pushing back against Combover Caligula as much as he’s acknowledging actual reality...and I give Dem U.S. House Rep Robert Garcia credit for going after Fix Noise for editing the clip with #47 and the Epstein files, but I think we know what that network is likely to do in response – pretty much nothing, except heap more ridicule on Dems of course...



Update: Way too damn funny...

...and it looks like the ongoing Epstein saga has inspired this little number from Mr. Newberger...



...and speaking of music, apparently Luzerne County in our beloved commonwealth of PA cancelled a show with Low Cut Connie over this song and the desire not to be “political” or something, which may be the weakest excuse for cancelling a performance that I’ve ever heard in my life (here...of course, they were fine with this – make it make sense somehow, if you can)...



...and RIP Ozzy Osbourne...I don’t know the particulars of what happened, but apparently he was suffering from Parkinson’s...I’ve gone back and forth on him to be honest – it’s easy to overlook that there is a spirituality of a sort in some of those Black Sabbath tunes and I think he and the band should be credited for that, but I think he also became a symbol of wretched excess...still, sorry for his family and friends over the loss...I’ll include some Black Sabbath tunes this week as a bit of a tribute (I used to include this tune with footage of Dubya’s Iraq War, but that’s now age restricted by YouTube).

Tuesday Stuff

Ben Gleib of Rebel HQ tells us about MAGA “Christians” worshiping their demented god-king...and once more, here comes mush mouth Tom Homan threatening to arrest more people indiscriminately...to me, freedom “from” religion is at least as important as freedom “of” religion, maybe more so for these sorry times...and kudos to Dem U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock for putting some of these charlatans in their place, albeit with kid gloves...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us more on the Gropenfuhrer’s “Distractapalooza 2025” including changing back racist sports team names and the "arresting Obama" clip (definitely some AI slop) – you can tell Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence is indeed trying to change the narrative, as it were, but I seriously don’t think it will work for the Epstein story...once more, heckuva job, all of you numbskulls who could have spared us of this last year but were apparently too afraid of the “DEI brown lady” to cast your ballot for her...



Update 1: And speaking of distractions, there is also this.

Update 2: And my admittedly non-fearless prediciton is that this stunt won't work either.

...and John and Brian Unger of The Damage Report inform us of more lies from Combover Caligula on prices...I haven’t seen gas at $1.99 a gallon since I was carded when I went to New Jersey to buy beer because I wasn’t 21 yet (and I’ll take the trade of NOT having to live in Mississippi with its overall rotten quality of life and pay more at the pump instead)...and oh yeah, inflation is getting worse again, which we all knew (and I haven’t said anything about the “autopen” business because I thought it was yet another idiotic distraction, mainly to take our attention away from this stuff)...



...and this video from More Perfect Union discusses the role of Wall Street in an energy crisis for a Montana town...reporter goes to the “Treasure State” to find out about an energy power plant (from an outfit called NorthWestern Energy) built in the most populated area of the state, and you can imagine what that’s doing for the quality of life (and once more, God forbid something doesn’t turn a profit in this country)...report tells us once more about the pernicious influence of private equity, including BlackRock and Vanguard (and it sounds like the allowed profits for these utility investments are WAAY out of whack, given that they should be around 5-6 percent but are actually around 9 percent as we learn in the report, with customers paying at both ends, if you will)...if we had a government that wasn’t locked up by the one percent, there would be some serious restrictions on investor-owned utilities, assuming they were even allowed at all (NSFW/H)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/21/13...as we know, it’s hard to keep up with all of the destruction from our ruling regime of grifters and bottom feeders, but something that may get lost a bit in the midst of everything is that premiums are going to spike next year for anyone getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare of course (and actually, it should be called Romney-care since the model came from the era when “The Mittster” was governor of Massachusetts)...credits for ACA coverage were of course gutted by Republicans in that recently-passed awful bill, so more healthy people will likely opt out of coverage, which means insurers will charge more because the pool of patients remaining will be more “high risk” (here)...the following video takes a commercial from 12 years ago brought to us by Chuckie Koch and his late brother, with an actual physician responding to the BS talking points in the ad...I realize there isn’t a lot we can do about the ACA at the moment, but if nothing else, shoring it up by reinstituting the just-removed credits should be one of the many rallying points for Democrats in the midterms next year (yeah, I know...we’ll see)...and speaking of the ACA, one of the biggest right-wing nut jobs complaining about it was Edwin J. Feulner, a co-founder of The Heritage Foundation, who recently died...I could probably write a humongous post about all the ways that Feulner was an utter liar on this and other issues, but I think it would be another case of not being able to reach anyone on the right drinking the Kool Aid and not needing to explain Feulner to anyone on our side since it’s obviously that Feulner was nothing but a shameless shill and propagandist...



Update 3: More here, and from the usual corporate media suspects.

...and happy belated 77th birthday to the former Cat Stevens.

Monday Stuff

Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report tells us of congressional Repugs (in the dead of night befitting a criminal, of course) passing a bill to defund public broadcasting (using this “recission” garbage again in the Senate – didn’t know the Gropenfuhrer tried that and failed in his last term)...and before anybody decides to give Bri-Fi credit for voting No in the House in defense of public broadcasting (no doubt given cover to do that by MAGA Mike Johnson), it should be noted that Fitzpatrick SPOKE NOT ONE WORD PUBLICLY to discourage this typically wrong-headed move, which will cripple WRTI-FM and WXPN-FM in these parts, to say nothing of WHYY-TV also...and kudos to Patty Murray for getting after Russell Vought of OMB, the main architect of Project 2025...yep, it sounds like Vought is going to violate the plain text of the law when he feels like it – typical for these Trumpist bastards...also, Dem U.S. House Rep Morgan McGarvey speaks on MSNBC about the critical need for public broadcasting in his commonwealth of Kentucky...”voting to immiserate (Repugs) own constituents because of a cult of personality at the top” indeed...also, $8 billion clawed back for foreign aid is worth fighting to protect also (it sounds like PEPFAR was saved, though that’s a tiny blip of funding versus what is going to be destroyed overall)...and yep, all of this recission garbage does indeed go back to Tricky Dick Nixon (and speaking of Trump f'ing over his supporters, there is also this...and also, "why" indeed as noted here)...



...and David Pakman presents a clip of Jessica Tarlov on Fix Noise with polling data pointing out how unpopular #47 is on immigration in particular (which is supposed to be the “go to” issue for Our Ochre Abomination...I won't mention Murphy-Lankford again because I guesss our corporate media has given that the "memory hole" treatment)...and if you want proof that Fix Noise is a propaganda operation as opposed to a “news” organization, pay particular attention to the gonzo chyrons onscreen...good point that Cantaloupe Capone is actually deporting half the number of people Obama deported; our ruling regime instead wants to lock up and punish people they don’t like because the cruelty is a feature, not a bug (another example is here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us his take on CBS deciding to end “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”...I don’t think it takes a genius to point out what has already been said elsewhere, and that is the definite possibility (certainty, really) that Colbert was axed to appease Dear Orange Leader in an effort to get the CBS/Paramount merger approved...that being said, I think there’s merit to the argument that broadcast networks are getting their metaphorical clocks cleaned by the streaming services, mainly because of the quality of programming (with Colbert being a notable exception on the broadcast side)...I’d be shocked if Colbert and his crew don’t end up with some kind of deal with Netflix, Hulu or another service when all of this is done (more here...and once again, kudos to Ground News)...



...and Hunter Avallone of Occupy Democrats includes a clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Dan Goldman pointing out the idiocy of turning over grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case (as if that exonerates Our Treasonous Orange Meat Sack, which it doesn’t for the reasons Goldman explains)...Teresa Helm from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation talks to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now on this also...oh, and it sounds like Scarborough and his crew are after #47 also on this (and Pumpkin Pol Pot will appoint a special prosecutor on the Epstein case when pigs fly)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell tells us about #47’s lawsuit against the Murdoch Street Journal over the alleged birthday letter Our Sweaty Orange Boy sent to the aformentioned Jeffrey Epstein, and our course our *preznit is backpedaling furiously (and it’s almost funny to hear Couch Boy stir things up again in as clueless a manner as you can guess)...this takes a heavy turn at around 13:30 or so, but for a very important reason; kudos to O’Donnell for putting this awful story in the context it deserves...



...and RIP songwriter Alan Bergman, who co-authored English lyrics with his wife Marilyn (who passed in ’22) on this tune composed by Michel Legrand for the film The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968 (here).

Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski brings us the godawful story of Generalissimo Trump deciding to incinerate 500 metric tons of food meant to feed at least 1.5 million malnourished children – oh, but the “party of Lincoln” SOO loves the kids, don’t they?...and just as a reminder, it should be noted (as Kyle adds) that this was contractually agreed to between Biden and Congress more or less, but because US AID was gutted by DOGE, it became impossible to deliver this food to the people who desperately needed it...Kyle is dead-on when he says it’s an indictment on MAGA that, apparently, they were fine with the DOGE garbage including this, but it took the Jeffrey Epstein stuff for them to wake the hell up at last...and Kyle is also correct to point out that China is going to fill the void that we stoo-pidly created with horror shows like this...and if you’re looking for outrage from the “D” team on this, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz “stepped up to the plate” here...more here and here (NSFW/H)...



...and Belle reminds us here that Cantaloupe Capone and his accomplices on the SCOTUS are going to end up pretty much destroying the Department of Education...this latest insanity from our theocrats in robes has to do with letting #47 dismantle the DOE, even though functions of this agency were determined by Congress...and kudos to Sonia Sotomayor for her 19-page dissent on this latest utterly mad ruling (I mean, it’s not like silly little matters like, y’know, precedent and statutes make a difference to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR)...Belle’s tone is pretty strident here, and she’s absolutely right to be that way; the regime of the Gropenfuhrer has managed to construct so many slow-motion train wrecks in their ruinous term that it’s hard to keep track of all of them (and that’s completely by design), but the consequences will be felt for decades (and I’m glad to hear Belle lay all of this at the feet of the billionaires, where the blame truly belongs...sorry to be relentlessly negative with this stuff, but I don’t know how else to present it)...



...and Brittany Page, sitting in for Jesse Dollemore, tells us about Greg Gutfeld and this Kennedy person on Fix Noise admitting they’re Nazis while making “N”-word jokes...yeah, Gutfeld is another of these loud-mouthed cowards who call for utter misery to be inflicted on people they don’t like even though he personally will never get his hands dirty doing that of course...all this madness begins with the story of the Cal state professor who stood up to ICE during one of their jackbooted raids in which a migrant farm worked died as Page explains...oh, and leave it to this Kennedy person to call the professor who tried to toss aside a tear gas cannister as a “trans Borat,” as if that’s a fair and impartial way to set up this story; I realize that network of cackling hyenas doesn’t care about that, but I thought I should mention it anyway...and when Gutfeld says, “the blacks,” that sure as hell is a “tell” on his racism...clip also provides more important context on “Alligator Alcatraz”...and as I’ve said before, my father and thousands (millions probably) of other men of draft age fought against Nazis for real, which is something that callow assh*les like Gutfeld will never care about or respect...



...and Mike Figueredo brings us the tale of some insufferable New York Times pundit named David Litt (God only knows how our corporate media manages to find these people); Litt thinks he has the right to lecture leftists, saying that it’s time to stop disowning MAGA family members (and all because this Litt guy had a pleasant surfing experience or something)...I won’t kid you; this is a tricky subject for your humble narrator since it does indeed hit close to home, but here is what always gets me about this discussion, namely that Dems/liberals/progressives ALWAYS must assume the burden of trying to move to the right, while the other side NEVER has to do anything in return, which is one of the reasons why I think talking points like the ones espoused by Litt are ridiculous...also, I think the fact that Litt’s column was published by Bari Weiss kind of gives the game away a bit in that Litt is trying to push his contrarian schtick against what you could call verifiable truth and reality (Weiss being a preachy lib who loves talking down to “the rabble” a la Bill Maher, and is looking for related input on that)...and I’ve definitely checked out when it comes to TYT and Cenk Uygur/Ana Kasparian...the payoff for me comes at about 13:56-14:26 (NSFW/H also)...



...and Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show tells us about the latest demented ramblings from Bronzer Beelzebub...sooo, we go from Uncle John Trump (who didn’t have 3 degrees from MIT) who supposedly taught the Unabomber (which never happened) to Jeffrey Epstein again (who was never a factor “in terms of life”...or something...suuuure)...oh, and Bo-Bo Boebert wants Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz to be the “special counsel” looking into Epstein? Well, I guess Gaetz is a subject matter expert in that area (and speaking of late night comedy shows, I’ll likely have more to say about this ridiculous development later...mildly NSFW/H as well)...



...and I don’t know if it was the intent of Steve Miller to draw attention to the climate crisis by cancelling his outdoor concerts because of extreme weather, but if it was, I give him credit...apparently Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders voiced similar sentiments...maybe if more public figures take a stand like this, we’ll do a better job as a nation of giving this most important issue the serious attention it deserves.

Thursday Stuff

Rachel Maddow brings us a NEWS FLASH, that is, that FEMA head David Richardson FINALLY showed up at the site of the disastrous flooding in Texas...she uses this moment as an opportunity to take a stroll down memory sewer, as it were, with “heckuva job” Mike Brown as FEMA head under Dubya and the Katrina devastation from 20 years ago, believe it or not (and I know we’ve been over the “fired FEMA call center people” story, but it deserves to be pointed out over and over)...



...and as a bit of a counterpoint to yesterday’s clip with religious huckster Paula White, I present this Rebel HQ segment with Sharon Reed telling us about the Rev. Caleb J. Lines calling out Our Ochre Abomination for his Big Beautiful Atrocity...nice work to contrast what Lines is preaching with these “prosperity gospel” frauds; I believe we’re all going to have to make an accounting for ourselves one day, and while I’ll admit that I need to get my own house in order as it were, I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of people who claim that Jesus wanted them to have a million dollar private jet with all the amenities...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 7/17/19, in which Robert Reich brings us the true cost of what you could call “corporate welfare”...so many ways that the “one percent” and their pals game the system as Reich notes, by being able to claim all kinds of deductions that the rest of us can’t, and that lost revenue is often made up by US when we pay more for assistance to people who need food, health care, child care, etc., stuff that the allegedly “greatest nation on earth” is supposed to provide via shared sacrifice from EVERYONE...I realize there’s nothing much that’s new here, but if nothing else, this serves as an important reminder of who wins and who loses in our end-stage capitalist economy...



...and I happened to come across this CBC interview with Finland President Alexander Stubb giving us his take on relations with his nation and Our Demented Toddler-In-Chief (this clip is going to be Canada-centric, which is fine with me)...did Stubb actually say we need to go “the full monty”? That’s kind of hip in a way, even though the Ukraine war is nothing but tragic of course...I have to admit that I didn’t consider the Iran attack as part of the entire global picture – of course, that’s how actual statemen and leaders look at it, as opposed to the bunch in charge on our shores...I didn’t know we’d signed an agreement with Canada and Finland to build ice-breaking ships; kind of sad actually that that seems to be a technological growth area...



...oh, and we have yet another breaking story from the Onion News Network...it looks like the White House “trans alert system” was breached recently, though fortunately the damage was minimal and everyone survived with their heterosexuality in check (better keep an eye on “Couch Boy” though, just to make sure)...



...and here's another seasonal number to enjoy in an effort to preserve our sanity.

Wednesday Stuff

David Shuster of Rebel HQ informs us that, gosh, Dementia Donnie’s poll numbers on immigration are going down in a big way...who would have thought that turning ICE into jackbooted thugs and carrying out raids indiscriminately would be so wildly unpopular, huh (Harry Enten provides the gory details)...and leave it to mush mouth Tom Homan from this regime of liars to spread more untruths about racial profiling on Fix Noise...and wow, what a hard-hitting “interview” with Lara Trump...spare me...and I knew at some point Greg Abbott was going to get around to blaming the victims of the flooding disaster in his state, and true to his wretched form, he did so, comparing the death of over 100 people (and many others missing) to a damn football game...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the sorry tale of well-off MAGA “Christians” laughing over Vlad The Butcher bombing a Ukraine nursing home during some White House gathering, and of course Paula White is smack dab in the middle of this mess...she’s actually right about this regime accomplishing more in the last five months than the past several decades, but there is NOT ONE DAMN THING to be proud of about that...and once again, tell me which recent U.S. president actually attended worship services and who didn’t – go ahead, I’ll wait while you look that up...I actually apologize for including any video at all of this clueless orange meat sack spouting his gibberish, but attention must be paid at some point, unfortunately...mildly NSFW/H...

via GIPHY

...and Sam and Emma and the crew of The Majority Report give us an update on “Alligator Alcatraz” – maybe “Alligator Auschwitz” is more apropos...kudos to the Miami Herald for their reporting on this travesty...hundreds detained with no criminal charges...and “vicious and deranged psychopaths,” huh? Show me some proof...and hundreds with “pending” charges? Suuuure...just leave it to our ruling gang of cretins to make up something at some point I guess...and once more, Dem U.S. House Rep Max Frost stands tall...and yeah, the trucking company involved in transporting detainees to this torture chamber is putting duct tape over their logo to keep people from finding out who they are...”proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free,” right?...



...and David Pakman brings us the latest on “the list” from Jeffrey Epstein that apparently either doesn’t exist after all or, if it does, then it was created by “Crooked Hillary,” “Sleepy Joe” and Obama, and don’t you DARE even imagine that Bronzer Beelzebub is on it, you godless commie lib...and by the way, it looks like Ghislaine Maxwell is getting ready to spill the proverbial beans; I hope her life insurance is paid up (don’t wish anything negative, I hasten to add)...



...and the prior item is a bit of a lead-in to this number from Mr. Newberger...



...and I think this tune is apropos for the individuals mentioned in the second video (and I don't mean Jesse).

Tuesday Stuff

David Doel informs us of Republican dumbasses in Wisconsin and Minnesota blaming Canada for wildfire smoke entering our country, which (as noted in the clip) is ridiculous partly b/c Canada helped us when we had wildfires...and oh yes, only Americans enjoy summer and want to create lasting good memories or something, whereas Canadians...oh, I don’t know...yearn for a constant 32 degrees Fahrenheit or something? And a “smoky” one at that? And OF COURSE Tom Tiffany is right smack in the middle of this, along with Glenn Grothman, Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and other knuckleheads...oh, and by the way, when it comes to China and their response to the climate crisis (in response to that assclown Grothman), I give you this; “more wind turbines and solar panels were installed (in China) last year than in the rest of the world combined”...slightly NSFW/H...



...and Chris Hayes tells us that, indeed, there are times when things need to be politicized (referring to the recent devastating flood in Texas and the sorely lacking response...more here, which probably covers some familiar ground, but I think it needs to be mentioned over and over and over)...



...and as a bit of a follow-up, David Pakman tells us that DHS Secretary Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem apparently thanked God that MORE people weren’t killed in the flood...Noem’s feeble words about faith sound like utter garbage (and no David, I don’t think you’re missing anything)...mildly NSFW/H also...



...and Rachel Maddow lets us know that Our Ochre Abomination and his cohorts are trying to be scary, but in reality, they’re awful and weird...and oh yeah, CA needs its National Guard troops back to prepare for wildfire season, but Mango Mussolini says nuuuh-uuuuh – I need them to roust legal immigrants at Home Depot, work sites and restaurants instead...and oh yeah, let’s fan out across MacArthur Park for no good reason, apparently because someone left a cake out in the rain (sorry...couldn’t resist)...



...and I realize our ruling cabal of idiots and bottom feeders keep perpetuating their own twisted mythology in all kinds of disgusting ways, and here is another one, as Jesse Dollemore tells us...the official White House account on Nazi Twitter posted a meme comparing Cantaloupe Capone to Superman...y’know, I wonder if anybody is going to break the news to Our Demented Toddler-In-Chief that Superman is an alien who relies on solar energy – kind of defeats their idiocy I would say (mildly NSFW/H as well)...



...and I need a summer tune to decompress a bit, and I always thought this was a good number for that, so here it is.

Monday Stuff

Belle of the Ranch gives us a commentary on MAGA throwing a fit over the Gropenfuhrer deciding to sh*tcan the Epstein client list (oh, I’m sorry...I mean “Pam Blondi” instead, as if the latter would act without the direction of the former)...and did anybody seriously think that list would be released EVER?? I mean, I know MAGA collectively are idiot rubes, but boy does this take the proverbial cake (and if you supported Combover Caligula because of the Epstein thing only, then you’re too damn stoo-pid for words)...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us data to indicate that we may be heading for a depression in this country (I guess we’d better stock up on canned goods and gold futures...peachy), with consumer spending down .9 percent for May...all kinds of other indicators going down also...I honestly didn’t know the business with the debt ceiling went back to Woodrow Wilson and World War I, but I DID know that the debt ceiling became an issue when Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich was House Speaker...also, I’m pretty sure the so-called “Gephardt Rule” automatically raised the debt ceiling when a budget was passed, but it was repealed by Republicans of course...and yeah, capping the so-called SALT deduction at $10K was indeed a Trumpster move to screw over blue states as Thom says, and I knew blue states contributed more economically to our country than red states, but I didn’t know by just how much until I saw this (at a minimum, I think we’re looking at stagflation in the third quarter...love to be wrong)...



...and Caleb Cunningham and Farron Cousins tell us about Bronzer Beelzebub/DOGE cancelling about 1,653 scientific research programs that will put us DECADES behind the rest of the world when it comes to advancements in all kinds of ways to improve our lives...oh, but one day, #47 will bring down the price of eggs and everything will be good, right?...and yes, there was definitely a push-back in 2004 against research funding, but Repug animosity towards higher education really goes back to Tricky Dick Nixon, and probably even before that...I’m a little unnerved with Cunningham’s remark about “not being competent enough to have a minimum wage job”; maybe true, but that rhetoric doesn’t help anybody...good argument about how ridiculous it is for Louisiana to keep feeding the prison-industrial complex, as well as the fact that the return on scientific investment should be “above the fold,” as it were...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell brings us the newest wretched developments of Pumpkin Pol Pot’s war on civil liberties, with the haunting words “they can do that to anyone”...I never imagined that we’d be at a point in this country where I need to carry a passport card, but then again, I never imagined A LOT of things we’re currently dealing with from our ruling cabal of bottom feeders and guttural lowlifes...and yes, it definitely figures that the Gropenfuhrer would try to get his criminal defense lawyer, Emil Bove, installed on the Supreme Court (and kudos to Erez Reuveni for standing up and speaking out)...oh, and by the way, a federal judge in New Hampshire appointed by Dubya issued a nationwide injunction to stop Our Ochre Abomination from trying to deny birthright citizenship...have to keep fighting in the courts and wherever else we’re able to at this point...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report do a good job IMO of pointing out just how petty and small Our Treasonous Orange Pustule truly is by going after PBS (and Sesame Street, because of “Donald Grump”) and NPR...



Update 7/15/25: Heeding their master's voice again - way beyond pathetic (here).

...and I like this newer tune, and I think the message (inasmuch as there IS one) speaks for itself.