I thought this was a great report by Rachel Maddow on Bruce Ohr and the cowardly, idiot Repugs in Congress going after him for working with Mueller…
…and Ana and Brett Erlich of TYT talk about the student loan ombudsman on his way out of the CFPB and taking some well-deserved shots at Mick Mulvaney as he departed…
…and here’s some reality from the CBC on the true scope of the horrific tragedy in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria (more here)…
…and Kyle discusses Duncan Hunter and the best way to get back at atrocities like him, which is to run a good candidate in opposition, and it looks like Ammar Campa Najjar may have come along at the right time…NSFW…
…and I know I’ve been leading off with Farron Cousins a few times, so I think I’d better give someone else a chance (apparently, the Gropenfuhrer is mad at Google for the search results; anyone who voted for this delusional treasonous narcissist should be made to wear something like a scarlet letter in public and beg for forgiveness)……
…and here’s another summer selection as I keep working down my list of tunes (and God, somehow this song is now 50 years old!).
It looks like the Gropenfuhrer was set up for a photo-op with a bunch of young kids, maybe pre-school or an early-grade elementary school, and all he had to do was color the American flag and he couldn’t even get that right – really says something about not just him but his handlers that he was able to screw up something as easy as this…
…and speaking of the kids, I noted in passing yesterday that they've started going back to school – yep, Heaven forbid that our legislators actually try to address the problem staring them in the face, though I’m sure they’ll never end up having to look down the barrel of a gun like these kids might have to…love to be wrong about that (and kudos to some of the school personnel trying to come up with creative solutions while the “party of Lincoln” continues to cower in fear of losing NRA blood money in the form of campaign donations)…
…and from the ridiculous to the even-more-ridiculous we go, with Trumpster Kelli Ward in AZ saying that John McCain timed the announcement that he was ending his cancer treatment in order to hurt her campaign – she should be disowned from anyone who would allow her to enter public life of any kind ever again, but I’m sure she won’t be (clip ends at about 2:34)…
…well, how about if I make this post a lot more uplifting and point out that today marks the 55th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (and speaking of McCain once more, I give you this in a related item)…
…and to another "blast from the past" we go…I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 8/28/11, in which FDR reminds us of the importance of Social Security, which (and make no damn mistake about this, people) the Repugs MOST DEFINITELY WILL GUT if they somehow manage to hold onto congressional power after the fall elections, with this Steve Stivers character being the latest to give away the proverbial game, as noted here – “our plain duty” indeed…
…and I’m continuing with my summer tune wrapup with this great cover, even though James drops an “F” part of the way through, just so you know.
Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire tells us what the Trumpsters might do (or not do, actually) when the walls start closing in on their hero; Cousins also tells us why he doesn’t debunk the latest conservative idiots (and speaking as someone who once had the time to do this at this site, I can definitely relate to this commentary)…
…and gee, I’m sure glad this Alabama pastor didn’t get “political” (I was waiting for this asshat to start singing “The Girl From Ipanema” or “Besame Mucho”…and no, Kyle, not all religions are like this - NSFW)…
…also, Cenk and Ana tell us about Trump’s media acolytes on TV (yeah, we know what Matt Schlapp is, as well as “Dersh”)…
…and Robert Reich tells us about congressional Repugs shielding the Gropenfuhrer, including this guy – to do something about it, click here…
…oh, and by the way, we just had another mass shooting, this time in Jacksonville, and with that in mind, Ali Velshi tells us about Florida’s ridiculous gun laws (more senseless carnage and destruction while it's time not to "politicize" the gun debate again...and yeah, also time for more “thoughts and prayers” from Lex Luthor Scott)…
…and I know I need to keep working on my summer tunes – kind of a drag to still be doing this while kids are going back to school, I know.
Like many others, I had a lot of disagreements with U.S. Senator John McCain (here), but among his many notable accomplishments, he saved the Affordable Care Law (at least for the time being, despite the garbage being perpetrated against it by Generalissimo Trump and his band of lapdog congressional Republicans). As noted in the clip below, he also spoke out eloquently against torture (with a perspective on this unique to anyone else in public life), and he also worked on campaign finance reform with former Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold.
Oh, and somehow I’m sure you will NEVER, EVER hear a Republican candidate for president or anything else speak so eloquently against his Democratic opponent (again, as noted in the clip) – RIP…
…and Kyle K. tells us about more Drudgico BS about how the Dems should continue looking for that mythical centrist “middle” and stay away from Medicare for All – oh really? How about a 70 percent approval for something that is supposedly unpopular, as noted here (NSFW)?...
…and yes, I’ll admit that these are words and not actions, but coming from Pope Francis, I believe the words matter, though yes, there needs to be more follow-up (on the abuse scandal and the PA grand jury report of course)…
Robert Reich presents some recommendations for our corporate courtier media when covering Generalissimo Trump (yeah, good luck with that, I know, but kudos to Reich for speaking out on this and other matters of course)…
…and speaking of the “fourth estate,” Kyle responds to Jake Tapper on Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and “Medicare For All” (NSFW – I think Kyle goes off the rails a bit especially at the end…I have no problem with showing some respect to John McCain which I alluded to in previous posts…but Kyle is absolutely right about Tapper’s ridiculous framing of the discussion about health care spending, along with NOBODY pointing out how STOO-PID it is for us to keep spending on defense as we do while our infrastructure continues to crumble)…
…and Farron Cousins sez that Rudy! was on the receiving end of a screaming match from the Gropenfuhrer about Uday Jr. and his involvement in all of the Trumpian criminality since America’s Mayor didn’t take the AG job instead of “immunity gnome” Jeff Sessions, with Trump thinking that Jr. would have “skated” with Rudy instead – everybody got that? (GREAT point at the end by Cousins that, if our Tiny Handed, Orange Lunatic had just decided not to run for president, he would have been a whole lot better off)…
…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us that the current resident of An Oval Office is apparently warming to the idea of putting Erik Prince in charge of the Afghan War, which, let’s not forget, is still going on (and I’m not going to say what my reaction would be to a Dem saying the garbage Prince said - US military was “a litany of death and failure,” huh? Not really a privatization, but a rationalization, huh? – because I honestly think no Dem would have said anything that horrific)…sure, watch the Repugs privatize the profit and socialize the risk as usual…what could go wrong?)…
…and Hasan Piker does his best to debunk more wingnut horror stories of alleged white genocide (and, if it has anything whatsoever to do with perceived white oppression, you can be sure that Tucker Carlson is ALL OVER IT, PEOPLE!)…
…and yes, I know this story comes from The Putin Network and he’s only too happy to win propaganda points against us, but again, the reporting looks pretty solid (on the subject of the US prison inmate strike)…
…and I couldn’t let the week come to an end politically without including this clip from Dem Texas U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke answering a question about the NFL protests – yep, he hit a walk off grand slam, as it were, as far as I’m concerned (for God’s sake, Texas, PLEEEEEAAAASSSEEE vote him in and send Ted Cruz packing!)…
…and tomorrow marks what would have been the 100th birthday of legendary American pianist and composer Leonard Bernstein – I think this is an appropriate tribute from “West Side Story,” which he was integrally involved with along with Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (proof once more that art transcends boundaries including language).
Farron Cousins reminds us that, as far as deficit “hawks” are concerned, the red ink only matters when Democrats are in charge, because of course their ultimate goal is unending tax cuts for the 1 percent, war without end and gutting the social safety net…
…which is the perfect transition to this item about Bri-Fi in PA-01 (and by the way, the latest Repug garbage in Bucks County, where political campaigns are supposed to be “honorable” according to that conservative mouthpiece masquerading as an almost-daily newspaper, is that you can’t trust Scott Wallace around kids – I didn’t think this gang would EVER go any lower than questioning former rep Patrick Murphy’s military service or one-time candidate Ginny Schrader’s support for Israel given her Jewish husband, but it shows how wrong you can be I guess – I had more to say about this here)…
…and all Congressional Repugs are bad as far as I’m concerned, but some have endorsed our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Wannabe Dictator more than others, and Lou Barletta is “all in,” you might say – to help Bob Casey, click here…
…and I’ve devoted space here defending Nancy Pelosi’s admittedly fine record of legislative accomplishment when she was House Speaker, but she just stuck a pin in that metaphorical balloon by totally caving on the question of impeaching the Gropenfuhrer with her utterly lame answer to that question, as Cenk and Ana tell us (referencing the 1999 clip of Huckleberry Graham in high dudgeon over Number 42 – and I couldn’t tell you anything about the Joe Crowley story...also, I’m not 100 percent certain of this, but I believe Lawrence O’Donnell was the one who unearthed the Graham clip – if so, kudos to him)…
…and wow, it looks like Walking Clothing Allowance (as Charlie Pierce calls her) sure is outraged about the admittedly tragic murder of Mollie Tibbetts, and of course it's all the fault of dastardly libs like yours truly (oh, and about the suspect being “illegal,” I give you this - more Tomi Lahren hilarity is here)…
...and here's another summer selection, as I work my way down the list on the way to Labor Day (trying not to think about it...)
Welcome to the GOP “Grand Old Crime Blotter” post…to begin, Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen flipping on his former boss and implicating the Gropenfuhrer for authorizing a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels (again, if this were a Dem, this person would have been tried, impeached and sentenced to prison by now, with our corporate media and everyone else wringing their hands about how awful it is, and it would be that…but isn’t it great for ratings too??!!)…
…and next, Ali Velshi tells us about the Paul Manafort convictions (not sure why we need a damn split screen with 7 people, but Velshi is right of course when he says in essence that, in a normal world, people would resign over this, though of course we’re not IN a “normal” world, even though this doesn’t directly tie Generalissimo Trump to Russia…yet)…
…and I’ll bet Repug U.S. House Rep Duncan Hunter is thinking that he’s one lucky SOB given that the indictment of both he and his wife for misuse of campaign funds wasn’t even the biggest news story yesterday (and as noted here in an update, Hunter bought a pair of Hawaii shorts and said later to claim them as golf balls for the Wounded Warrior Project…nice)…
…and Farron Cousins tells us about Repug U.S. House Rep Mike Rogers of Alabama, who, as it turns out, was the one really behind all of the recent “Space Force” idiocy…
…and Mike Malloy wonders what it would take to get Trump out (Don’t we all at this point?), as well as the little 6-year-old boy in dreadlocks showing up at the “Christian” school who was apparently turned away (very NSFW)…
…and I’m not sure that I’ve ever included this summer song before, or at least this version of it – hope you like it (from '65, I believe).
I wish I could agree with the sentiment that the PA election for governor is “over” (and in favor of the Dem incumbent Tom Wolf, I hasten to add), but I know it definitely isn’t, and I was reminded of that when I heard about this from our fat-headed Repug nominee, as well as this – in response, to help Wolf, click here…
Update 8/22/18: Yep, Wagner and Lou Barletta are each doing their best (worst?) to see who can "out-Trump" the other (here).
…and Chris Hayes discusses the remark about Don McGahn supposedly being a “rat” (takes one to know one, doesn’t it, Generalissimo Trump?) – and yeah, before we consider McGahn to be such a supposedly heroic figure (with McGahn doing all this because he doesn’t want to end up “in the slam,” let’s not forget), let’s also think about all of the radical right nut jobs McGahn is helping to put on our courts, to say nothing of his role to try and get Brett Kavanaugh to join The Supremes – the clip from “The Sopranos” is the perfect context, by the way…
…and Mike Papantonio tells us that the potential merger between Tribune Media and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group won’t go through – womp womp (yes, this is more from The Putin Network, but the reporting looks pretty solid to me)…
...and I know I'm falling behind on my summer tunes again - here is a bit of a "guilty pleasure" I guess (may have to crank the volume a bit).
I cannot even imagine what future generations will think of this time of utter madness in our political discourse, which, as Farron Cousins describes, has degenerated into a lower farce than I could have ever predicted (more here)…
…and I know of course that, when we’re talking about our Treasonous Orange Dictator, we’re talking about someone who’s pretty damn far from any semblance of rationality, but I thought this was a particularly stupid moment even for him recently (and yeah, naming the defense authorization bill after John McCain is a bit much I’ll admit, but of course leave it to the Gropenfuhrer to flub even THAT attempt at a tribute to someone who actually deserves it as far as I’m concerned)…
…and I’m going to try and make the subject matter of this post a hell of a lot more honorable and decent by now paying tribute for former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan – RIP…
…and staying with world stuff, I would say that this Danish politician gave a pretty good “clap back” to Fix Noise humanoid Trish Regan, who happened to be completely and utterly wrong about Denmark…
…and Bill Maher’s comments on the Catholic Church and last week’s horrific PA grand jury report were typically idiotic and ridiculous (yes, we get it that you think religion is a phony product, and the comparison to Jiffy Lube doesn’t even merit a response – let’s move on), but I think Jennifer Granholm, the Axios reporter and (shockingly) Charlie Sykes were correct, though we could do without the enema reference…Sykes is right, though, that this is a “reformation” moment for sure…and this is positive, but the time for words is over – only action now…and by the way, Maher was also complaining that Dems and their spokespeople or whatever aren’t on the cable news shows the way Rudy 9iu11ani is concerning Trump, Russia and Mueller, to which I have at least two responses: 1) Have you seen MSNBC lately, though I’ll grant you the point that that network definitely is not “liberal,” and 2) If “America’s Mayor” is going to make this much of an ass of himself, isn’t it best to stay the hell out of his way?…
(And this is why it is hard for anyone to believe that the Church will EVER clean up their own wretched mess, to say nothing of this…if the priests were all gay, they would just date each other and that would be that, you assclown.)
…and I was happy to hear about this from The Eagles (the band, that is, not our Super Bowl champs – ahhhh, it never gets old), which gives me an excuse for this great selection from their top-rated recording.
Yeah, it appears that Larry Kudlow is every bit the type of miscreant that you would expect to populate the Gropenfuhrer’s cabinet of fools and frauds (and a snowflake to boot based on this)…
Update 8/22/18: Only on a news day as utterly unbelievable as yesterday could this story be put on the proverbial back burner.
…and of all the Trump criminals in our ruling regime, I think we need to pay more attention to this Elliott Broidy character – I’ll admit that paying off the women Trump cheated with may be low-hanging fruit, as it were, by comparison with the mountain of other garbage, and as much as I detest Trump I’m still not hearing proof that he knocked up somebody and paid for an abortion, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it eventually turned out to be true…
…and Farron Cousins talks about a Robert Reich column about how Generalissimo Trump is trying to abolish every regulation that he can, although this is definitely a “team R,” thing overall if you will (and Cousins doesn’t provide any proof that it’s partly a “team D” thing as well, unfortunately, though I’m sure he could back up that claim)…
…and speaking of Reich, he tells us why our Treasonous, Tiny Handed Orange Egomaniac’s trade war is ruinous for this country…
…and I hope you’re up for an encore of Aretha Franklin tunes, because here it comes (and of all of her legendary recordings, “Think” may be the most transcendent as far as I’m concerned).
Cenk and Ana of TYT discuss Generalissimo Trump and revoking the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan - all of the people who've had their clearance removed by Trump, including Brennan, have worked with Comey and/or have some relationship to the Russia investigation (and that goes for more people who could also have their clearances taken away, which Trump is making noise about of course)…if these people don’t have their clearances, then they can’t prepare for testimony, including before Congress and/or Mueller…fortunately, people like Dem U.S. Senator Mark Warner are wise to this; of course, trying to stop it is another story (Rachel Maddow had a good video on that last night, but if you want to try and find it at MSNBC’s site, be my guest…this was the story Cenk teased a bit at the end, by the way…kudos to Adm. McRaven)…
…and a lot of this is echoed by Ari Melber, author and former CIA analyst David Priess and Tim O’Brien of Bloomberg News (and yeah, we know what Sarah Hillbilly Sanders and Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv truly are, but since we’re talking about our thoroughly compromised corporate courtier media here, Heaven forbid that they don’t get their faces on TV)…
…and staying with national security and international stuff, Kyle K. tells us how pulling out of the Iran nuke deal has been disastrous (NSFW at the very end)…
…and happy 75th birthday to legendary Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro (and, as we know, DACA turned out to be yet another Trump lie – “Part The Infinity” as Charlie Pierce might say…I would say that, given what has passed since these questions were first asked not quite a year ago, Poppy Harlow looks like an idiot)…
…and here are two more musical selections to pay tribute to Aretha Franklin (more here).
By the way, good job by newspapers to push back against the “fake news” idiocy from the Gropenfuhrer today; the CNN story is here, and nice work by The Intelligencer in these parts is here (but Eric Boehlert is correct IMHO here too).
Update 8/17/18: Yes, Jack Shafer made a good point here that the press blew it in covering our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator, but are they now supposed to do NOTHING in response? I was always taught that you're supposed to stand up to bullies.
Now, turning to our demented orange child king…Seth Meyers gets into some Omarosa-related stuff here (again, I don’t care about the “N” word tape, not because it isn’t bad but because you’d have to be stoo-pid at this point to think Trump ISN’T a racist)…
…and Brett Erlich and Ana of TYT tell us about the one racist guy getting yelled at by his dad and the other one complaining about life on his boat, or something…
…and I thought this was a hilarious idea from Frederick Joseph, even though he was trying to make a serious point, but of course there was nothing even remotely funny about some of the reactions he got for it…
…and RIP to the Queen of Soul, remembered by critic Jon Pareles in this fine New York Times feature (more here - for what it’s worth, Elvis passed on this day in history too)…
…and trying to highlight her best work over only the next couple of days is a fool’s errand I know, but here are a couple of selections we know well.
What follows is a CBS report of PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaking about the grand jury report that named 300 priests in allegations of sexual misconduct – Shapiro uses the phrase “the weaponization of faith” which, sadly, is totally apropos I believe…at about 8:16, Shapiro admits that “we don’t think we got them all,” despite the incredibly exhausting and commendable work by the grand jury on this (more here)…
…and even though, as far as I’m concerned, the grand jury report is an earthquake by comparison, I know I have to keep an eye on the political stuff too, so I give you the following from Stephen Colbert about Generalissimo Trump’s latest idiocy…
…and TYT with Cenk and Ana tell us about Ted Cruz wanting the Gropenfuhrer’s help in his U.S. Senate campaign against Beto O’Rourke (yeah, it would be pretty funny if Cruz was doing that shimmy also…and when we’re talking Number 45, let’s not forget this too)…
…and continuing with our ruling regime of frauds and criminals, Mike Malloy gives us the following about Melania’s family and "chain migration" (and by the way, she gets no pass whatsoever from yours truly – and concerning a not-directly-connected story, I could care less if Omarosa has tapes or not…we know what our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Egomaniac truly is – let’s get over our case of “shiny object syndrome” and pay attention to what matters, OK…and yes, that’s aimed primarily at our thoroughly useless corporate media - NSFW)…
…and Hasan Piker claps back on some wingnut yelling in his car about NFL protests…
…and even though I believe the tragedy discussed in the first video is man-made and a deity isn’t responsible, I still felt like hearing this song.
Oops! It looks like Betsy DeVos is BUSTED (as TYT tells us), caught not paying taxes and flying the flag of the Cayman Islands on one of her 10 yachts – womp womp (sometimes David Sirota pisses me off with his CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! CORPORATE DEMS! act, but I have no issues whatsoever with his first-class reporting, and this is an example…Ana is on fire at about 4:20 or so, and Cenk is later, and they’re both spot-on…and as much as this is awful wretched excess on DeVos’s part of course, I don’t favor vandalism either)…
(And by the way, speaking of “Corporate Dems”…no, I don’t like the fact that corporations have an outsized say in our politics either. But like many of you I’m sure, I get BOMBARDED with soliticitations from candidates, and more often than not, I’m unable to throw them anything. Basically, even though I don’t like it of course (and I admit I don’t know from firsthand experience), I don’t know how you can possibly run a political campaign WITHOUT corporate contributions. That’s why, aside from anything related to our health and that of our planet, campaign finance reform and TOTAL PUBLIC FUNDING OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS MUST BE the most important issue…but good luck getting the vast majority of the American sheeple to support it. The candidates need to earn my trust, though, to convince me that they won't do the bidding of corporations at my expense.)
…back to the videos – and kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep (and vet) Ruben Gallego for standing up to the right-wing nut jobs out there; this is how it’s done (again, with the recent one-year anniversary in Charlottesville in mind…nice job with a bit of trolling by Gallego, and I think Gallego did a good job of fending off those idiotic Avenatti questions; haven’t we gotten into enough trouble with ONE TV personality already??!!)…
…and I think the prior video (with the Pelosi question) is actually a pretty good lead in to the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/12/12 – the next time you hear anybody bitching about the U.S. House Dem Minority Leader (while some in our party wrongly “measure the drapes,” and a GREAT recent column on this from Prof. Krugman is here), keep in mind that she had A LOT to do with the legislative accomplishments Rachel Maddow notes here, the last time Dems ran all branches of the federal government...I know this originally aired late in October/early in November 2010 of course – and by the way, I will NEVER accept the supposed choice between using political capital just for the sake of politics and consolidating power (as Repugs do) vs. using political capital to get stuff done but losing for it at the ballot box (Dems); as far as I’m concerned, use political capital to get stuff done, make the case to the voters that you’re better than the other guy because of it, and see if you win re-election or not…
..and Velshi and Ruhle tell us that it looks like all of this “winning” under the Gropenfuhrer may be slowing down as we get closer to the end of the year – but I’m sure he’ll find a way to blame Former President Hopey Changey anyway…
…and Thom Hartmann talks with Wendell Potter, formerly of CIGNA, about how healthcare interests (pharma and insurers) are trying to scare us out of universal health care – great job by Thom and WP to talk about the $32 trillion vs. $49 trillion health care expenditure in this country over the next 10 years; I think this is an example of the campaign they’re talking about (gee, how about rolling back the exemption noted here for starters instead?)…
…and happy belated 75th birthday to Jim Kale, bassist for The Guess Who; he and drummer Garry Peterson had kind of a nasty legal spat with Cummings and Bachman over playing under the name of the band with just Kale and Peterson…as far as I’m concerned, C&B should let bygones be bygones, but what do I know?
Update: Right now, for what it’s worth, my reaction is shock and horror. The anger will come later.
No wonder they worked so hard to keep the report from being released.
To note the recent anniversary of the Charlottesville protest and the killing of Heather Heyer, Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, James Thompson, and Adrienne Lawrence of TYT give us an example of what I think can best be called “white privilege in action” (more here – heh)…
…and Rachel Maddow tells us Dem U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida's quote about Russia having “free rein” to move around in that state’s election infrastructure (and OF COURSE Lex Luthor Scott would think it’s a joke; when these Russian hacks actually benefit DEMOCRATS, let me know, OK? And I didn't see the follow-up segment.)…
…and if Peter Strzok was fired only because of the texts about Trump, then that’s total garbage – apparently there was new stuff out there that FBI director Christopher Wray mentioned, however…we’ll find out if that’s just cover or not – Pete Williams of NBC reports to Velshi and Ruhle here…
…and this BBC story tells us about a conference of young progressives in New Orleans… I think the guy at about 1:31 is spot-on…get Dems elected, get a taste of power (dare I hope?) and THEN remake the party to be more representative of the country as a whole.
(…and here’s another thing to consider – Elizabeth Warren is great, and if she somehow ends up as the Dem prez nominee of course she’d have my support, but last I checked, MA guv Charlie Baker is a Repug, so our team would lose Warren’s seat for sure, and the Senate might be too close for comfort on that…just “spitballing” here…)
…and of all of the Gropenfuhrer’s utterly baldfaced lies, maybe the one about him supposedly being such a good deal maker may be the worst – maybe, as Robert Reich explains…
…and I don’t have to put the NSFW label for a song very often, but I do here – nice rockin’ tune all the same.
Yeah, blame those damn tree huggers for the CA wildfires all right – of course, that’s typical Trumpian nonsense, as Farron Cousins tells us…
…and I think that’s the best possible segue I could ask for to the latest installment of “This Day in Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/9/13, in which we learn about Chucky and Davey Koch and their climate change denial apparatus – more here…
..and yeah, I think Jimmy Kimmel gives the whole “Space Force” thing the treatment it deserves here, though I can never tell if Fred Willard is joking or if he’s serious (I actually posted about this here, believe it or not, bringing back the Wordpress site at least for now)…
…and Kyle K. tells us that the so-called “Right (Not) to Work” law in Missouri was rejected this week – hooray for our side! (NSFW – the last minute or so of this is particularly good IMHO)...
…and I didn’t want the week to end without this “New Rule” from Bill Maher…
…and I think this is a good summer tune for a sunny Friday in these parts.
Gee, isn’t it nice when one of the leading industrialized nations speaks out for human rights? You know, like WE used to do (leading to the expulsion of Canada’s ambassador Chrystia Freeland, discussed here by Gordon Duff of Veterans Today…yes, PressTV is partly funded by the Iranian government, but I don’t think that de-legitimizes the story…more here, here and here)…
…and Chris Hayes tells us about Trumpster FCC head Ajit Pai lying again, this time about their site crashing again in response to a call from John Oliver to try and save Net Neutrality (I have a feeling this will be the very last video I ever use from MSNBC’s site, though I may use what I can from YouTube instead – MSNBC’s site has been horrible forever, and it just keeps getting worse and worse, so I’m done)…
…and gosh, it looks like Generalissimo Trump is trying to find a new way to kill us (I think some important context on this is here, by the way)…
…and I don’t totally agree with Kyle’s assessment of religion, though he’s right that too many people have used it to justify all kinds of crap, but I think the statement from Pope Francis about the death penalty is noteworthy (still thinking about it to be honest, though it does show more consistency from the Catholic Church on this when you think about the whole "pro-life" thing too - as I said, I'm still pondering it), so that’s mainly why I’m including this (could also do without Kyle’s inane references to a “sky wizard,” though I know that’s just how he rolls, you might say – NSFW)…
…and Hasan Piker of TYT brings us the “breakdown” on Stuart Varney of Fix Noise caterwauling about “SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM!” in Venezuela, though, as you might expect, “socialism” is in the eye of the beholder, you might say…I agree with Piker’s analysis, except for the part about Maduro and the alleged “drone strike” (here - mildly NSFW also)…
…and yesterday was International Cat Day I know…well, today is International Book Lovers Day – never thought I’d have an excuse for this tune, but I’m glad that I do at long last.
Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the segment Alisyn Camerota of CNN recently hosted that highlighted an apparent rift between MAGA nitwits who, for my money, refuse to see reality, and Trump voters with genuine regrets; yes, I’m tempted to trash the latter group too, but if someone’s making a good faith effort to “make straight their path,” then that would be wrong on my part (Cenk is ON FIRE at the end, and boy is he right)…
…and Lawrence O’Donnell hosts retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey and Jason Johnson here; I honestly try to avoid much of the “Trump is crazy!” stuff because I think that issue was settled long ago, but I think McCaffrey has a unique and important perspective, though I greatly disagree with him about Mike Pompeo… GREAT point by Johnson at the end about Trump’s racism basically being a national security issue…
…and Farron Cousins of “Ring of Fire” tells us that half of all Repugs polled think Trump should be allowed to shut down media outlets…and how the hell am I supposed to find some kind of common ground with these life forms? And I’d also like to find out more about this “12 percent of Dems” who actually agree with our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator on this.
(Also, though I agree with Cousins’ assessment of the corporate media overall, I think he’s wrong to say that the California wildfires have been ignored - though maybe you could argue “under-reported” instead – and yes, while MSNBC continues to report on RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA for ratings I realize, I think it’s also important that they keep doing what they’re doing because the story warrants this kind of coverage.)
(In addition, this segment is kind of funny in a “gallows humor” kind of way when you consider how our conservative house organs masquerading as newspapers in this area – and yes, I’m talking about the Inky and the Bucks County Courier Times – cater so slavishly to the right wing, lizard-brained bipeds who would so quickly throw them over if “Dear Leader” ever gave them the word.)...
…and, as a bit of a change of pace, allow me to point out that today is International Cat Day (kind of makes me want to hear this tune from one of the silliest movies ever made – but still fun in a ‘60s, hare-brained kind of way).
Gosh, it looks like the NRA is getting hammered for some, shall we say, record-keeping irregularities in New York, though, to be fair, it’s more than a little hypocritical I think for Cenk to bash MSNBC for “All Russia, All The Time” (here) when he also reports on what that country’s up to here…
…and Farron Cousins tells us just how sick our health care system in this country truly is…
…and Seth Meyers brings us up to date on the latest insanity from Generalissimo Trump (and EVERY Repug who fails to speak out against all of this shares some measure of guilt for this nightmare as far as I’m concerned, including this fraud, who of course refuses to breathe a word about this also - to do something about that in PA-01, click here)…
…and as anyone with at least a double-digit IQ has figured out, the point of the Iran nuclear deal was to stop its manufacture and proliferation of NUKES, NOT to stop its support of terrorism and its other bad behavior; I realize the Gropenfuhrer and his lizard-brained minions don’t understand this, but actual adults know that there are times when you can’t get every stinking thing that you want and you have to settle for half a loaf for now and try to get the rest later…yeah yeah, I bleeping know…MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA!!!!!!!...
…and I actually have to give the “Morning Joe” bunch (and CNN) credit for unearthing this clip about Mike Pence, though I think it’s more than a little sickening to hear religious pontification from Scarborough, who made his bones hating every single stinking thing the Clintons ever did…and Mika B.’s comment about 5:25 about Pence supposedly forgetting what he is is truly uproarious – THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT PENCE IS AND WHAT HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN – A DISGUSTING, MISOGYNIST (and probably other stuff) HYPOCRITE!!! And even though everyone on this show is fundamentally right IMHO, I can’t think of a word to describe my disgust over the fact that nobody really paid attention to our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator like this in 2016 when they should have done so…
Update 8/11/18: This should be required reading for every time you see Scarborough, Jennifer Rubin, Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace, Rick Wilson, etc. on TV (h/t Bob Cesca).
…and I’ve been meaning to get around to this tune from Jonatha Brooke’s “The Works” project about unpublished Woody Guthrie songs – hope you like it.
I thought this was a good editorial from Katy Tur of NBC News, though it's absolutely pathetic that she needed to say these words (here)...
…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us more about the Gropenfuhrer trying to roll back Obama-era rules, this time on car pollution (great points about certainty and also the laughable claim that the Repugs support “states rights”)...
…and I know this is shocking, people, but guess what – the vast majority of this country got hosed on the Repugs’ latest tax scam (and yes, it bears repeating I know – Farron Cousins explains)…
…and Nancy MacLean of Duke University sounded the alarm about the potential for an “Article V” convention on “Real Time With Bill Maher” recently, and here’s more on why we must oppose that from Robert Reich (yes, believe me I know it’s exhausting to fight battles day and night like this, but forget the damn tweets for a second – THIS is the “long game,” people)…
…oh, and speaking of the most recent episode of “Real Time,” I think these words from Steve Schmidt should be played on a 24/7/365 rotation from now until November 6th at a minimum…
…and given the heat index outside, I think this is as good a time for this tune as any.
