There he goes again, calling for HRC to be shot – calling Trump a vile, disgusting person is an insult to other vile, disgusting people (here)…
…and all I can do in response is replay this clip from Cenk Uygur, which, to me, is full of all the outrage that is called for…
…oh, and NOW “Fergus Laing” is claiming that he didn’t start all this “birther” garbage and HRC did? Even for a liar like The Big Orange Cheetoh, this is one for the books…
…and fortunately, Shep Smith provided the correct response (here)…
…and I‘m sorry I didn’t get this video up before or during the conference on the 15th and 16th, but the message from Secretary of State John Kerry remains as timely and urgent as ever (and kudos for the shot of Aquinnah at about :35)…
…and “Mama” Cass would have been 75 today (I’ll leave the snark in response to the video - but not the song - up to you, dear reader).
Sounds to me like Number 44 has no more sh*ts to give when it comes to this utterly wretched Congress – kudos…
...also, Rachel Maddow examines the whole "Pepe The Frog" thing (and yes, it is a “thing,” even though, as noted here, the artist behind it is supporting HRC…the last minute of this is full of as much muted outrage as she is permitted I'm sure by The Comcast Network)...
…and K.O. reminds us that the Trump campaign appears to be borrowed from a few well-known and at least one barely-known movie…
…though when I think of Trump and movies, this scene comes to mind (and I’m not kidding)…
…and speaking of movies, RIP playwright Edward Albee, the man behind “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” among other films…
…and happy birthday to Fee Waybill of The Tubes, paying homage to the device that almost put the flicks out of business in the ‘50s.
Lawrence O’Donnell comments on the media giving “Fergus Laing” a pass on everything really, but the alleged audit of his taxes in particular (and kudos to Alisyn Camerota of CNN)…
…and it was nice to see SOMEBODY hold The Big Orange Cheetoh to account, specifically the pastor of the church in Flint, Michigan where Trump recently spoke (here, and of course, leave it to “Donald Drumpf” to come up with this in response)…
…and K.O. reminds us of how ridiculous it is for Rudy 9iu11ani to say that HRC needs to come clean over her health, or some such nonsense (and bonus points for sticking it to “Greatest Generation” Brokaw too)…
…and I LOVE IT when a Dem kicks ass like this (here)…
…and to help Katie McGinty against “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey (R-Elevator), click here…
…and after this, our entire corporate media should be singing this song, though I’m sure they’re not.
...and K.O. is back with another commentary, this time on HRC and her “deplorables” remark…
…and Lewis Black provides analysis of this utterly interminable election as only he can here (Note: We still have to go out and get it done for HRC and a Dems in general, but in the case of the Dem presidential nominee, I wish she could find a way to generate some buzz about domestic issues and thus, some enthusiasm – I know the media isn’t helping a bit, but we can’t use that as an excuse)…
...and one of those Dems we have to help is Katie McGinty (noted in the second of two Seth Meyers vids); to do so, click here (let's do what we can to make sure Pat Toomey runs out of elevators)...
…and you’d better pack a lunch for this one, but I think it’s worth it (this is the stuff that matters as opposed to the political sideshow); Chris Hedges speaks with economist Mark Blyth, and the two of them discuss the utterly ruinous policy of austerity and its effects in this country, the U.K. and Europe – there’s a lot of digest here and some of it I don’t agree with, for example the analysis of Brexit in the U.K., which, as far as I’m concerned, has the fingerprints of David Cameron and his Tories all over it – I don’t think it was some kind of popular uprising that caught the elites off-guard…Hedges and Blyth, though, do a great job IMHO on linking austerity to the rise of extremist political movements, both here and abroad; yes, I know HRC is a centrist Democrat and I’m more than a little concerned about her capturing the “base” with a populist economic message, which she’d better find a way to do, but for God’s sake we need to support her instead of you-know-who…the thought that Trump could capture some kind of economic momentum somehow, even though his every utterance on that like everything else would be a lie, scares the hell out of me…
Keith Olbermann is back, and his timing couldn't possibly be better (to say nothing of more urgently than we ever thought it would have to be - here)...
…and yeah, as Rachel says, when you’re arguing about the percentage of your supporters who are white supremacists as opposed to the fact that you have white supremacists as supporters AT ALL, I would say that you have a problem entirely of your own making and no one else’s…
…and leave it to The Big Orange Cheetoh to reply and shoot himself all over again in the process (here)…
(Oh, and by the way, I don’t have much to add on the stuff about Trump cleanup manmouthpieceexcuse-maker VP nominee Mike Pence not calling David Duke “deplorable” because he doesn’t like name calling, made even more ridiculous by his boss’s antics as many others have already noted. I would only point out that, as noted here, Pence once referred to himself as a “cheerful right-wing conservative” when he tried to malign Valerie Plame during the “Scooter” Libby fiasco about outing Plame as a covert operative. As noted here, however, I don’t believe that anyone trying to utilize Planned Parenthood services in Indiana would consider Pence to be “cheerful.” - Update: Um, yep.)
…and I have to admit that, in addition to K.O., I missed Samantha Bee – glad to see that she’s back (here – clipped a bit at the end, though)…
…and by the way, I have a message for everyone screaming about Emails on personal servers and alleged “access” given to Clinton Foundation donors and how she’s really a corporatist Democrat who does the budding of her Wall Street benefactors (not saying that charge isn’t totally without merit, for her or any other politician) – do us all a favor and be quiet long enough to just watch this two-minute video, OK?...
…and happy 61st birthday to Steve Berlin of Los Lobos (and a Philly guy too).
I think this great commentary from Lawrence O’Donnell on the press’s reporting on presidential health records ran on for a minute or two too long, but his point about the press’s typically idiotic obsession with HRC’s attack of pneumonia while the Trump people casually talk about World War III is well taken…
…well, at least Kyle was paying attention (NSFW – “no duuuh” indeed)…
…and David Fahrenthold of the WaPo commits some actual journalism here looking into the alleged charitable donations from The Big Orange Cheetoh (well done)…
…and the title of this song describes what I think this presidential campaign has been at times.
I know, I know it’s tiresome by now, but it bears repeating (“Somewhere between stupid and scary” indeed – and I honestly don’t know how someone can pretend to be surprised by now)…
…and hmmm, secret plan, secret plan – why does that ring a bell (of course, to imagine any equivalency between Trump and Nixon is laughable; the latter was a demonic figure in our politics to be sure, but among other things, he was a self-made man for better or worse, which “The Donald” will never be)…
...and Tara Setmayer lost me in the last minute or so yakking about HRC and the damn Emails again (Who died as a result, and spare me on the "Benghazi Four"? What wars were started? What laws were broken? Bueller??), but otherwise, I thought this was a pretty good exchange about Matt Lauer's utterly wretched performance last week (maybe David Zurawik's finest commentary, and it's shocking that I'm saying that, but credit where it's due)...
...and Cenk and the gang tell us about the latest folk to get scammed by The Big Orange Cheetoh - luckily they didn't appear to lose any $$ (oh, and by the way, I hope HRC pays attention to the second half of this ad, especially the very end…Kyle of Secular Talk said, “go to the left,” which are the truest words I’ve yet heard in this election)…
…and kudos to former Seattle Seahawks player Nate Boyer, interviewed here by Tamron Hall about the national anthem protests over this weekend; as I said, I personally don’t agree with Colin Kaepernick on taking the knee during the anthem, but he does have the right to do what he’s doing, the last I checked (and what else could we expect but idiocy from “Fergus Laing,” and this lunatic also)…
…and yeah, I think this great new song pretty much covers it.
Yeah, I know – don’t politicize this day; well, after 15 years, I think it’s time to do so a little bit (and remind me once again why the NFL decided to have opening day today?)…
…and the renewal of the Zadroga Act was eventually passed, but it never should have come to this (re: what Jon Stewart portrayed in the video)…
…and I offer the following two videos without further comment.
(By the way, @chrislhayes conducted a great interview last night with a surrogate of the 2012 presidential campaign of Willard Mitt Romney about how Trump is supposedly not representative of the Repug Party – I don’t totally buy that of course, but it was still a good interview…no shot of finding it at MSNBC’s horrible web site of course.)
On to the videos...Matt Lauer should be forced to watch the following clip in a non-stop loop for an hour (here); I would argue that the very idea of having “Today” show host Lauer host a presidential candidates debate ensured a mediocre-at-best performance; meanwhile, kudos to Shep Smith once again, dragging Fix Noise correspondent Carl Cameron, among others, into the cold light of day…
…and speaking of Lauer, I thought his stupidity was on display also here in what I also thought was a great answer by HRC to a question about Iran’s nukes – good catch by Sam Seder…
…oh, and speaking of which, remember when “Deadeye Dick” Cheney said the Iran nuke deal was “madness” here? Well, K.O. responded better here than anyone else as far as I’m concerned…yes, time once more for “This Day In Doomsy History” from 9/8/15 (pretty much going “around the block” for this one - and by the way, when it comes to Bushco and GITMO, let's not forget this)…
…and kudos to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for continuing to fight the Dakota Access pipeline (more here)…
…and let’s see now, I knew about Florida AG Pam Bondi dumping the Trump U investigation after the campaign donation from “Fergus Laing,” and I knew about the little fundraiser he threw for her, but I didn’t know about the lawsuit between Bondi and the Katrina victim whose dog Bondi wouldn’t give up (here) – a “rising conservative star” indeed…
I wish I could share the faith that Number 44 shows here in our voters and the Democratic process, but I'm still skeptical on that - I would be more of a believer on that if "The Donald" had been properly called out long ago the way he should have been called out; I'm glad President Obama said this of course, though I wish he had done a better job of holding our corporate media to account here, including this toady (Lauer I mean, whose performance last night was apparently a festival of suck, which I guess shouldn't be surprising)...
…and Seth Meyers takes a look at the latest nonsense with “The Donald” and his Pam Bondi payoff (including this – and I’m sorry, but the stuff with HRC pales by comparison; the Repugs have had all this time to make a legitimate case against her, and all they’ve got is a parade of supposition)…
…and yeah, as I said, I think Colin Kaepernick should stand for the anthem, but once again, he definitely has a point (NSFW)…
...and do you want to hear a slow, torchy Thursday ballad? I hope so, because here it comes.
...and by the way, this is how a president is supposed to act - kudos to Number 44 for this...
...also, Lawrence O’Donnell speaks here with David Cay Johnston on the Trump University scam going on in Florida (here - and gosh, could Florida AG Pam Bondi feign outrage any better?)…
…and here’s a heck of a post-Labor Day story; kudos to the Indian workforce responsible for this – all the best…
…and I give you a couple of major music milestones – happy 65th (!) birthday to Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders of course (with a tune that was allegedly a shot at this guy)…
Yeah, when “Fergus Laing” says that he wants to be Mr. “Unpredictable,” I have a two-word response: Mission Accomplished…
...and hey, idiots of our corporate Beltway courtier media (here) - want to find out about a REAL scandal (here and here)? Watch this clip about how investigations were ongoing into Trump “University” in Texas and Florida before Trump gave donations to Texas AG Ken Paxton and Florida AG Pam Bondi – problem solved!...
...and I would say that it's time to pass the popcorn (too funny - NSFW)...
Update 9/13/16: And for the benefit of anyone who actually cares, Levin eventually caved (here).
...and gee, maybe we ought to rethink this whole fracking thing, huh? (here)...
…and this is the most benign treatment from our media, that, as far as I’m concerned, Phyllis Schlafly deserves (she actually deserves far worse than this – typically solid reporting by Rachel Maddow...we hear about Schlafly at about 8:00)…
Ed Schultz speaks with Leo Gerard, head of the Steelworkers Union, about the threat of the so-called “Right to Work” movement, which is really a euphemism for “right not to get paid a livable wage”…
…and sticking with Ed, he speaks with John Nichols of The Nation about the labor movement overall in this country…
…and John Oliver brings us Labor Day observations as only he can (hey History Channel, thanks for being jerks and yanking the video that was here previously…yeah, I make SO MUCH MONEY doing this, don’t I?)…
…and this is one of my favorite songs about working – not very upbeat I know, but well done by JT.
When it comes to The Big Orange Cheetoh and the “alt-right” (still hate that phase because it’s way too tame), if it walks like a goose-stepping duck, talks like a goose-stepping duck, and quacks like a goose-stepping duck, what you’ve got is a goose-stepping duck (here, and his remark about pretending to respect women, gays and minorities is typically laughable)…
…and do you want to know why I think our corporate media is, collectively, a gaggle of compromised idiots? As far as I’m concerned, this entire CNN clip is about nothing…ZOMG HILLZ IS SOOOO UNTRUSTWORTHY! SHE ACTUALLY GAVE “ACCESS” TO SPECIAL INTERESTS!!! HOW COULD SHE GOVERN!!!! And Matt Bai is the biggest twit on that panel (by the way, some actual context on the supposedly oh-so-godawful Clinton Foundation is here)…
For the benefit of anyone who actually cares, here are a few “hot takes” from yours truly:
On the one hand, I definitely applaud the stand taken by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the issue of police violence against African Americans (including the socks, which I’m sure the oh-so-august-in-their-imaginations NFL will find a way to ban - here). To me, though, when the national anthem is played, you stand your ass up. If you don’t, you’re also partly disrespecting our military and their sacrifice (and hey, if you want to raise your fist like these guys, have at it). That's my story and I'm sticking to it (and I think it's hilarious that controversy surrounds a Chip Kelly-coached football team once more).
Update 9/3/16: OK, now the Santa Clara, CA cops just lost me with this – awww, did that mean football player hurt your widdle fee fees with his cartoon socks? Stop your whining and do your damn jobs!
I give you the latest antics from Governor Bully (here)…
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie demanded today that the Senate “do its job” and act on seven judicial vacancies that are jeopardizing the efficient delivery of justice to citizens in Mercer County, where the reassignment of a Superior Court judge this week underscored the emergent need for a full complement of judges in the vicinage.
In May, Governor Christie nominated seven qualified candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, to fill the Mercer County vacancies, but the Democrat-controlled Senate has failed to schedule them for a review and confirmation.
As noted here, Judge Merrick Garland now holds the record for the longest wait for a Senate confirmation hearing (oh, and both chambers of Congress are run by Repugs, in case we had somehow forgotten.)
Oh, and by the way, you big, fat oaf, I could care less about your budget problems, but because you can’t manage numbers correctly, now you’ve apparently ended a 39-year reciprocal tax agreement between your state and the commonwealth of PA, as noted here (and yes, I work in NJ, so this matters to me personally...Update: Steve Santarsiero posted on his Facebook page that he'll meet with PA Guv Tom Wolf to see what we can do to prevent this from taking effect, if anything).
For anybody out there reading who is as mad as I am over this, the best response is to click here and support Steve for the U.S. House, who fought tooth and nail to try and prevent this.
Now back to the videos – RIP Philly guy Jon Polito, who, in addition to appearing in movies by the Coen Brothers and the cultish TV series “Crime Story” (which definitely was a fave for your humble narrator back in the day), also turned in a great supporting performance in “The Freshman,” starring Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando, which, to me, was a genuinely clever and funny movie (what follows is a clip with Polito in a typical darkly funny role)…
..and as Atrios would say, we do so love our children (more here and here)…
...and this tells us about the dangers of lead poisoning and a link to crime (uh, yep)...
...and I honestly hope Shep Smith doesn't get any grief from his odious employer for telling the truth like this, going off-script once again - kudos once more (here)...
…and speaking of voting, if there’s any truth to this, then heads should roll among the corporatist frauds at the Democratic National Committee (NSFW)…
…and oh, aren’t our dear good “friends” the Saudis helping us ever so much on the War on Terra! Terra! Terra!, which is still being fought of course by killing many innocent civilians and radicalizing their families and friends better than al Qaeda or ISIS ever could (and kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep Ted Lieu for this)…
…and wow, when Bushie Jim (The Dow Will Hit 36,000!!) Glassman comes out for HRC, then that’s kind of a “well, spank my butt and call me Charlie” moment – I remember this guy facing off with The Eternal George Carlin on “Real Time” once…tried some verbal sleight of hand, but as you might expect, Carlin was having none of it…
…and as we bid farewell to summer (sniff), what better way to do it with a little “Friday with Frank.”
I thought this was a fascinating history lesson from Rachel Maddow about what has led to anti-immigrant hysteria in this country dating back almost a couple of hundred years (and probably before then, to be honest – sorry for inflicting so much of The Big Orange Cheetoh on you in this clip, but I think it’s necessary)…
…and I think the prior clip definitely puts this in the proper perspective…
…and I’ve been meaning to get to this report for a little while now on education in Finland versus this country, so here it is…
…and I’m not totally sure what to make of this story; but here it is anyway – I think the goal of keeping Canada’s heath care public should be foremost, but even though it could turn into the thin edge of the proverbial wedge (I don’t understand how someone would not be able to obtain coverage, but I’m hardly an expert on this topic), maybe a “private option,” if you will, should be allowed in extreme circumstances…thinking…
…and apparently Repug U.S. House Rep Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv dropped into our area last night to try and prop up “Mikey Part 2” (here) – if that isn’t a reason to help Steve in his PA-08 contest, I don’t know what is (here...and yes, background checks weren't enacted for the zillionth time, we know already, blah blah blah)…
…and believe it or not, I still have some summer songs to get to; hopefully this one and a final one tomorrow.
Normally I wouldn’t give Joe Scar the time of day, but I thought Eugene Robinson made some good points here in response to the typically idiotic claim from the Trump campaign that the Democrats have left African American voters behind...not saying Dems are perfect on this under any stretch of the imagination, but who was responsible for the Civil Rights Act of 1964? The Voting Rights Act of 1965? Fair housing and anti-discrimination laws? The Earned Income Tax Credit (which had bipartisan support when first passed in 1975 and was expanded under both Reagan and Clinton, but has since become anathema to “movement” conservatives)? And by the way, I'm almost not phased by the Trump supporter's depiction of HRC in blackface - almost numb to the despicable behavior from his campaign by now - almost...
...and staying with The Big Orange Cheetoh, Kyle tells us that a Pew study reports that 75 percent of Trump supporters polled favor common sense gun restrictions including universal background checks (not quite 100 percent with Kyle on the terror watch list, but I think he's pretty close; the last 2 minutes of this should be memorized by every Dem pol and operative anywhere in this country - not as big a fan of Alan Grayson as I used to be, though...NSFW)…
...and Lee Camp brings us up to date on what Chucky and Davey Koch are up to (NSFW also)...
…and I’m a little late with this installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 8/28/11 I know, but this is a reminder that FDR (quite rightly, IMHO) considered it “our plain duty” to support Social Security, something to remember in light of this…
…and I had this tune in mind for the latest exploits of the “Trumpster Fire” (#fail)…here’s how I see it; Nieto of Mexico meets with Trump and somehow gets the upper hand, which, to be honest, I don’t think is likely, and then he looks like a strong leader…however, in the more-likely event that Trump manufactures something that manages to make it look like HE won the day (with Mrs. Greenspan, Joe Scar and the rest of our corporate Beltway courtier media gushing over it), then Nieto can yell that Trump is the “ugly American,” which he is anyway of course…basically a win-win for an unpopular head of a country.
I thought this was an interesting historical nugget from Rachel Maddow about the last time we went to “Defcon 3” and why that happened in 1973 (and I don’t know anything about HRC’s intelligence briefing, by the way)…
…and the Murdoch Street Journal is going to report this story in such a manner as to totally absolve Apple CEO Tim Cook of course of the scandalously low tax rate his company pays and blame the country of Ireland for allowing it, which I guess is partly justified; as far as I’m concerned, Cook is just another member of the “masters of mankind,” as Adam Smith once called them, who of course see grandiose visions only for themselves at the exclusion of everyone else (and yes, I recently saw this, which was well-done though depressing – not an excuse for inaction, though)…
...also, I give you the following from here (there are people who I respect claiming that "No Corporate Tax" Pat Toomey is somehow a moderate on the issue of guns - these people are utterlywrong...to help, click here - sad that the commercial is as long as the ad, by the way)...
…and The Fab Four played their last live concert in San Francisco, as noted here (not counting “Let It Be” on the roof, of course) 50 years ago yesterday (and the tune that follows is from Revolver, which was released at about the same time).
Trying to find a funny film moment with Gene Wilder? You might as well try to find a spec of sand on a beach (“How about a little applause?” indeed – RIP)…
…and gee, it looks like every still-living member of the Council of Economic Advisors (serving, as Rachel Maddow points out here, every president back to Nixon), has a simple message for “The Donald” – YOU’RE FIRED (sorry, too easy)…
…and I thought this was a particularly good “Rewrite” segment from Lawrence O’Donnell on the Protests at Standing Rock (about another goddamn oil pipeline in North Dakota)…
…and boy, do I hate it when a Democrat gives the party a bad name (here), allowing the bottom-feeders to pile on as well (here - the song title applies on a couple of levels of course).
