Rachel Maddow tells us the latest on the infrastructure bill...and I don’t think Biden should cut anything to make idiot Republicans happy...OF COURSE the “party of Lincoln” doesn’t want broadband investment since that means that folks in rural areas would be able to get media aside from Fox, Sinclair and right-wing radio...
...and David Pakman tells that only half of rural voters know the COVID relief came from Dems...yet another example of crappy messaging on social media by team “D” (with the Repugs being typically lying dishonest actors as usual) though, as noted above, broadband access is critical for rural voters to find out what’s is going on since these folks mostly get their info from TV and radio, which is pretty much a dinosaur unless you’re talking about satellite vs. commercial...
...and Thom H. tells us how the Repugs have become the party of bullies (and I’m shocked to give props to Meghan McCain, but she’s right)...
...and John and Viviana V. of The Damage Report tell us that the Capitol police security bill BARELY passed 213-212 – kind of torn on “the squad” making a stand here, but they’re definitely right to wonder why this vote was scheduled NOW BEFORE any findings of the 1/6 commission (that has yet to be seated of course); the problem with what happened on 1/6 wasn’t because the Capitol police didn’t have enough funding...it was because Trumpsters like Chris Miller didn’t get help to the cops in time, and the complaint about funding the cops vs. providing relief where it’s needed to people who are likely to be stopped by police is also very spot-on...
...and Letitia James, the New York AG, has joined the criminal and civil legal effort by SDNY against the Gropenfuhrer (with the same, tired predictable response of course – Farron Cousins explains)...
...and more info on that is here..
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us that Don Mullen Jr., formerly of Goldman Sachs, is trying to make $$ off the COVID-19 housing crisis along with other scumbag equity firm managers at Pretium Partners and Ares Management (can’t think of a pit in hell deep enough for life forms like this guy)...
...and I'm not going to try and wax any of his lyrics to try and sound clever, but I'll just say happy 80th to "mistah Bob"; whether or not he chooses to actually enjoy it is up to him.
Gee, it sure didn’t take “Bibi” too long to break the cease fire between the Israelis and Palestinians, did it (David Doel tells us that the Israeli security forces recently raided the al-Aqsa mosque)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently complained about the House mask mandate, which is being kept in place by Pelosi (and rightly so) because the idiots in McCarthy’s own caucus won’t get vaccinated...
This clip from Meidas Touch is particularly relevant IMO given the claims from the “party of Lincoln” about “backing the blue”...sure, just as long as they’re breaking the law along with you, right?...
...oh, and I know this will come as a complete and total shock, but Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao opposes a bipartisan congressional 1/6 commission, blocking something he apparently had agreed to previously...yep, #MoscowMitch is doing what he absolutely does best, and that is to obstruct (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and I admit that I haven’t had many segments with Kyle Kulinski lately because, to be perfectly honest, I’ve had a lot of issues with his “takes” on particular subjects, and I do so again here – yeah, Smerky’s headline on CNN about Americans supposedly not valuing a work ethic any more is typical centrist corporate media garbage, and trying to justify that by quoting Daniel Henninger of the Murdoch Street Journal, of all people, is disingenuous beyond words, but I also think Kyle’s take here that people are avoiding work because of unemployment compensation of one form or another or wanting to do something else is wrong and disappointing in that he apparently didn’t do any research into what exactly is going on...if I read ONE MORE BLOODY “SKY IS FALLING” TAKE ABOUT THE APRIL JOBS REPORT, I’M GOING TO FREAKING SCREAM!!! WE NEED MORE DATA – LET’S CHECK THE MAY NUMBERS, OK??!!...actually, if you want to look at some “cross tabs,” if you will, on what’s going on, I think this link to Pew Research is informative...basically, jobs related to leisure and hospitality got hammered along with other low-wage industries, and people who work those jobs are primarily low wage white and minority women who also frequently have to deal with child care issues...also, if the available labor pool shrinks (maybe – oh, I don’t know -because those would-be workers are RECOVERING FROM FREAKING COVID OR DON’T WANT TO GET SICK AT THEIR OLD JOB!), then the cost of available labor goes up and those businesses don’t want to adjust salaries accordingly; hell, I’m definitely not a Wharton graduate, and EVEN I KNOW THAT!!...
...and this CBC report gives us the latest on Texas’s anti-abortion law (that photo-op of Greg Abbott with his Republican cohorts and that sanctimonious, ridiculous speech of his made me was to vomit; I think it’s a good idea to see how this story is covered internationally, since our bought-and-paid-for fourth estate is going to break it down with the typical lack of depth and substance for which they’re already notorious...and yeah, I think this says it)...
...and Sam, Emma and Brandon Sutton give us their take on D.A. Larry Krasner’s victory in the Philadelphia Dem primary; I’m glad to see Sam push back on all of the manufactured media BS...lots of good commentary, but I have to say that the Majority Report videos just run too damn long generally, with frequent U-turns in the discussion that are off-topic as far as I’m concerned...part of the reason I’m including this is because Chris Hayes recently had a well-done feature on Krasner’s win, but for some reason the video isn’t available online – for whatever my take is worth on these things, suburban conservatives and sympathetic media, most notably the Inquirer, wanted the contest with Carlos Vega to be more competitive than it turned out to be and that DEFINITELY played out in how it was covered (got almost as tired of hearing about how the cops were mad at Krasner as I did about finding “Trump voter in Trump country” stories), but Krasner turned out to be more shrewd politically than anyone realized, even though I’m sure that won’t be a part of the ongoing media coverage on this (I’ve gone back and forth on Krasner and MOVE mainly because it’s hard for me to have sympathy for that motley collection of bipeds, even though that will NEVER justify what happened on 5/13/85, particularly to the kids, and Krasner most definitely isn’t doing anything to help Mumia Abu-Jamal, which is the right call for a number of reasons...oh, and of course, “centrist” Dem and former Philly mayor and PA governor Ed Rendell weighed in for Vega – Rendell ceased to be relevant once he started shilling for the “catfood commission” of Pete Peterson...to be honest, I'm more concerned about those two garbage ballot questions to limit the PA Governor that passed than I am about Krasner)...
...and while the cease fire between Israel and Palestine cannot help but be a good thing, Omar Baddar, a policy adviser with the Arab American Institute, tells us that that DEFINITELY won’t be enough by itself to solve the crisis...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us that the WaPo’s Carol Leonnig has apparently written a jaw-dropping new book on the Secret Service with many mind-blowing revelations, including reporting on the Trump gang basically doing the nasty with some of those tasked to protect them (eeeewwwww!)...
...and did you know that yesterday was World Bee Day? Neither did I – learn something new all the time I guess.
Farron Cousins tells us that “Curtsy Kyrsten” is on the side of Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao when it comes to taxing the rich to pay for infrastructure (Sinema must have saw dust between her ears if she thinks this is a winning strategy for re-election and/or anyone is going to forget about her antics)...
...and Rachel Maddow presents a clip of Dem U.S. House Rep Tim Ryan quite rightly freaking out over all of the members of the “party of Lincoln” in that body who opposed forming a bipartisan commission to look into the 1/6 insurrection; yeah, good luck getting any kind of a “compromise” with these life forms (to his credit, though, I need to mention that Bri-Fi was one of the 35 who supported the Dems on this as noted here)...
Update: And of course, since we’re talking about the U.S. House Repugs and Bri-Fi, they tried to get back brownie points with their wingnut base by opposing additional funding for Capitol Police as noted here...and I respect the principles of “the squad” in their opposition, but I also think they chose the wrong vote upon which to make public their dissatisfaction, though the statement at the end of the Intercept story makes good points I'll admit.
...and speaking of the squad, this clip from More Perfect Union presents Dem U.S. House Rep Cori Bush speaking up for the unemployed in her state, in contrast with Missouri’s fat-headed white guy Repug governor trying to cut these people off at the metaphorical knees...
...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about AOC introducing a bill to stop the sale of about $735 million in bombs to Israel to try and get that criminal Netanyahu to agree to a cease fire at a minimum in the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine (selling so-called JDAMs)...
...and Sam and Emma V. tell us that there are actually 35 states where you can be denied a government contract if you support the BDS movement (here); on the other hand, Italian dock workers are supporting the Palestinians – I didn’t see the Tom Cotton clip, and rest assured that I don’t care to...
Update: It should not have taken all of this carnage to get a cease fire, but yeah - progress (here).
...and I’m afraid the title of this tune describes what will happen to the Dem congressional majority if they seriously think the GQP party will be honest actors in trying to do ANYTHING to help this country, as Tim Ryan forcefully pointed out.
David Pakman tells us Repug U.S. House Rep Andrew Clyde, who said the 1/6 insurrectionists were “tourists,” was shown helping to barricade the door of the U.S. House chamber; to me, this is why you can’t trust ANY REPUBLICAN to be an honest actor on ANY ISSUE (more here...if they’re not going to do the right thing on an attempted takeover of our democratically elected form of government...well then, is there ANY LINE that they’re willing to draw?)...
...and Thom Hartmann gives us a clue on what life could be like under a brutal American oligarchy (he mentions the “guard rails” being taken off by the SCOTUS in Buckley in ’76 and Bellotti in ’78...the last minute of this is huge)...
... and this Now This clip tells us of Dem U.S. House members speaking out on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict...as far as I’m concerned, Netanyahu should have been prosecuted as a war criminal in 2014 for this...
...and Chris Hayes gives us a litany of the bad faith conservative arguments against overturning Roe, which they’re chomping at the bit to do once and for all...
...and that actually leads us into the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 5/20/19, in which we learn about Repugs and their statewide anti-abortion laws...
...and David Doel tells us about Dem U.S. House Rep Katie Porter demolishing another fat cat CEO with her white board; this time, the thoroughly deserving victim is Richard Gonzalez of AbbVie, the makers of Humira, with Porter taking him to task over the INSANE prices of their medication as well as figuring out how the $$ is actually spent at his company (yep, you guessed right if you thought it was for stock buybacks and dividends)...
...and RIP actor Charles Grodin; kind of an offbeat guy I guess with good comic timing and an underrated actor generally (clip is from Midnight Run...NSFW/H)...
..and happy upcoming 75th birthday to Cher (hey, why not?).
Well, it seems the “holy grail,” if you will, for the wingnuts is within grasp unfortunately, and that is to overturn Roe v. Wade based on a Mississippi test case the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR has agreed to hear (including Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett); Rachel Maddow speaks with Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights...I hope all of you squishy Dems and independent voters who cast their ballots for Repugs are happy now, because this is what you’ve wrought, though many others are to blame also (I've since seen a comment online that the cabal of the Christian Handmaiden, "I Like Beer" Brett and Gorsuch also have their eyes on Griswold, which also figures unfortunately - I've never known wingnuts to merely settle for half a proverbial loaf)...
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us about Palestinian deaths skyrocketing as a result of the conflict with the Israelis – no goddamn excuse in the world why this shouldn’t be currently undergoing some kind of international peacekeeping intervention...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about U.S. House Dem Eric Swalwell speaking with Jim Acosta of CNN about Swalwell pushing back on an idiot aide to that utter loon Marjorie Taylor Greene on the subject of wearing a mask...
...and speaking of Greene, Farron Cousins tells us that she apparently committed tax fraud by claiming 2 residences on a homestead exemption instead of the 1 allowed by law – womp womp...
...and David Doel tells us that a guy accused of killing his wife signed her ballot for Mango Mussolini in the 2020 election – if he’s found guilty, he should be made to watch a seemingly endless loop of Biden speaking as president as the sentence against the guy is carried out...
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about the Heritage Foundation working in secret with Repugs on voter suppression bills (“so [they] have that grass roots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe,” huh? Utterly disgusting, deceitful wingnut harpie...and of course, this cretin is involved also)...
Update: Apparently this woman's name is Jessica Anderson (here), and she and Heritage Action may have violated House ethics rules...nicely done.
...and Robert Reich tells us about getting rid of the stepped-up basis rule loophole (wonky stuff I know, but important)...
I never thought I’d see the day of a Repug approving a tax increase – of course, it’s not aimed at the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd in any way; just another attempt to stick the metaphorical shiv in the “99 percent”...
...which is all part of the fascist GOP garbage that we need to reject, as illustrated in this clip...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Bret Baier interrogating Liz Cheney on behalf of Our Traitorous Orange Pustule (a particularly on-point commentary here IMO...if I were Cheney, when Baier asked her if she voted Republican, I would have said it’s none of your damn business)...
...and Joy Reid discusses Repugs whining about “critical race theory” (with historian and author Jon Meacham, who is exactly right in his comments)...
...and I think David Doel is correct as well; what MSNBC’s Ali Velshi states here (calling out “Apartheid” against the Palestinians) should be the norm in coverage, not the exception (part of the reason this latest horror show is going on in that area of the world is so Netanyahu can consolidate political power enough to form a government, and I can’t think of how disgusting it is to try and justify the carnage for that reason...
Update: Let's see if we can get "Bibi The Butcher" trending, OK? (here).
...and Cenk and Ana tell us that anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are masking up and socially distancing to protect themselves from liberal proteins, or something...and nothing like the threat of impotency to get these clueless bipeds to start taking the virus seriously, right?...
...and the Daily Show gives us a bit of humor pertaining to Our Prior Treasonous Ruling Cabal and their attempt to destroy our democracy on 1/6...
...and I suppose the title of this newer tune is applicable every day, but it’s up to us to persevere in spite of it anyway I know.
Update: By the way, for anyone voting in person in tomorrow’s PA primary, please vote No on the two disaster emergency declaration ballot questions (here). They’re nothing more than garbage attempts by the Commonwealth Foundation (linking to Chucky Koch of course) to undercut Gov. Tom Wolf and give more of a say pertaining to disaster management to idiot Republican legislators in Harrisburg who are still butt hurt over Wolf’s pandemic management (and never forget that, if Scott “Stomp On Wolf’s Face With Golf Cleats” Wagner had his way, PA would have been every bit as bad as Florida under Ron #DeathSantis, and maybe worse).
Farron Cousins tells us that, based on our current trajectory, If we don’t meet Paris Climate Accord goals by 2060, we won’t be able to stop Arctic melting (but we shouldn’t just say the hell with it...need to keep working on trying to fix this, as Cousins notes)...
...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 5/13/16, in which we learn that Germany powered itself completely from renewable energy for at least one day...
...and John and Ana tell us about the new wind project approved for 12 miles off Martha’s Vineyard, which hits close to home for your truly; I originally opposed Cape Wind, but I’ve definitely reconsidered that (and of course, Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a former *president opposes the project, which automatically counts in its favor)...
...and speaking of #45...gee, it turns out that former Reagan deputy national security adviser John Poindexter has emerged as a Trumper (here); wish I could say that I’m surprised, but given the following clip (about Poindexter and Ollie North each “taking the fifth” during congressional testimony on Iran-Contra from back in the day), yeah, it really does fit the profile (more here)...
...and Chris Hayes speaks with former Repug U.S. House Rep Mickey Edwards and Sam Seder about a potential 3rd party made up of disaffected people from the “party of Lincoln” (Sam is exactly right about drawing a line back for 20 years at least, and while I applaud Edwards’s efforts, he’s hopelessly naïve if he can’t see the line that Seder is talking about, though I think he admitted it a bit towards the end playing off Sam’s remark about the John Dean book)...
...and I know I included some videos on what’s going on with the Israelis vs. the Palestinians yesterday, but David Doel brings us this well-done clip featuring the late, great Michael Brooks on the overall conflict...
...and I didn’t want to let the week come to an end without noting the passing of Norman Lloyd at 106, a legendary actor, producer and director, and apparently, a pretty self-effacing guy by all accounts...
...and I’m glad to hear that the East Coast pipeline hack has apparently been resolved (here); I had this tune in mind for a few days but didn’t get around to it for various reasons, so I might as well do so now.
David Shuster of “Rebel HQ” tells us that, apparently, the anti-vaxxers put on their own version of “Burning Man” recently...what a bunch of asshats...
...and my bad for not acknowledging the current situation that has boiled over between the Israelis and the Palestinians; I thought this was a pretty good BBC report (sounds like an unholy cauldron, if you will, made up of political opportunism, religious intolerance and an oppressive occupation, made worse by an apparent split between Hamas and Fatah, which has a lot to do with this, and as usual, primarily innocent people end up as collateral damage)...
...and John I. and Dan Evans of “The Damage Report” weigh in also...
...and David Pakman tells us that Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, recently called out Fix Noise’s BS in front of news mannequin Martha MacCallum (didn’t see the Newsmax clip, but I’m sure it pertained to this – to be honest, I thought that was kind of a dick move by David Litt...probably partly deserved though...but having a conversation premised on Elon Musk hosting SNL is even more ridiculous as far as I’m concerned)...
...and Chris Hayes reminds us that the garbage Repug voting bills that statewide legislatures are trying to pass across this country would not even be possible without the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR having utterly gutted the Voting Rights Act (the remedy is the John Lewis For The People Act, which looks less and less likely to pass with Manchin and Sinema in the way and making sure the filibuster doesn’t go anywhere – more on that is here)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dem U.S. House Rep Ro Khanna ripping into Trump acting SecDef Chris Miller about the alleged 36-minute delay in sending troops to the Capitol (and Stephen Lynch quite properly IMHO piled on also - mildly NSFW/H...more here)...
...oh, and this clueless meat sack from Georgia named Andrew Clyde said those trying to violently attack our democracy and re-install the Gropenfuhrer for another term were “tourists” – I wish I were joking...
Update 5/14/21: Yeah, I think this says it.
...and congrats to Upper Darby’s Todd Rundgren for FINALLY being named to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame (here).
This clip tells us that the less-than-useless Repug governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, is saying no to extended unemployment benefits for those who are jobless (as usual, the only thing the “party of Lincoln” knows how to do is to “punch down” on those who need help...more here, and in a related story, this is noteworthy too)...
...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line in Tennessee, it looks like they just passed a garbage bill allowing motorists to run over protestors with impunity (and it looks like the governor of that state is imitating Reeves in Mississippi with this idiocy; for the reality perspective, I give you this)...
Update 5/17/21: And if we're talking about Republican stupidity, you just KNOW Greg Abbott has to be part of that discussion (here).
...and an Amazon worker in Bessemer, AL was found dead in a bathroom; yeah, I realize you can’t directly call this “Death by Jeff Bezos,” but for a company that spies on its workers as relentlessly as Amazon does, it’s pretty damn implausible to claim that they couldn’t have helped this guy (Cenk and Ana tell us more)...
...and echoing Paul Krugman a bit (from the Tennessee clip), I give you this from Beau of the Fifth Column (workers allegedly making more on unemployment versus going back to their jobs)...
...and I guess this is as direct as Chris Cillizza of CNN is going to get when it comes to cowardly Republicans and Our Traitorous Orange Pustule (and ex-President)...and when it comes to the political dustup du jour, I give you this...
...and Thom Hartmann gives us another valuable history lesson, this time of the Repugs and voter suppression (mentioning Paul Weyrich in 1980...really excellent analysis by Thom of the garbage voting bills proposed by Repugs and how it would turn over administration of elections to Repug legislatures, which indeed is truly evil stuff...to contact your U.S. Senators, click here)...
...and Robert Reich tells us that the political window of opportunity for Dems, particularly in the Senate, could close at any time...
...and happy belated 80th birthday to Eric Burdon (of the Animals and War of course).
Cenk, Jayar and Trae Crowder of TYT discuss the Missouri “lege” passing a bill to proclaim Rush Limbaugh Day; terrific – I guess that means that everyone in the state will get all jazzed on “hillbilly heroin” and head to the Dominican Republic for hookers, right? (more here and here)...
...and sticking with the “show me state,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar calls out that scumbag Josh Hawley for complaining about allegedly being censored (and I take particular offense over this garbage person’s claim about something allegedly being wrong with the vote in PA...as Keilar points out, Hawley has opposed EVERYTHING from the Biden Administration...and yeah, it appears that whining about "cancel culture" is now the go-to move for every entitled prick in this country who believes that they're not getting their way)...
...and as regards our corporate media, it seems that “Foxitis” could be a variation of the “Twinkie Defense” once used by Dan White on trial for murdering Harvey Milk and George Moscone in San Francisco (Alicia Menendez of MSNBC speaks to Jill Wine-Banks, a former Watergate prosecutor...interesting questions about using this as a defense in front of a jury, which is kind of pathetic actually...and with all due respect to J W-B, I don’t see anything happening from any legislature in this country in a “bipartisan” way when it comes to a 9/11-style commission, though it should of course, and though the gaggle of Trumpsters mentioned here including Barr and Giuliani SHOULD be disbarred, if I had to bet, I would say that that’s unlikely, though again, it would be totally deserved)...
...and turning to another network that is the direct political opposite of The Roger Ailes BS Factory (from Rachel Maddow), allow me to present the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 5/10/20 (just a short trip back today), when we had only about 76K in COVID casualties and Combover Caligula got “lava level mad” when he felt he was exposed to ‘rona (notwithstanding this of course...an update is here)...
...and kudos to Mehdi Hasan for doing a state-by-state breakdown of GOP voter suppression efforts – kicking butt and taking names in my book here...
...and Bill Maher is fading in relevance by the day; this time, he attacks Twitch users (yeah, it’s definitely not my first choice of online information or entertainment, but at a certain point, I think you need to ask yourself if you’re just a cranky old fart for complaining, and I think Maher reached that point awhile ago, as John and Francesca explain)...
Update 5/13/21: Please understand; I don't wish ill on Maher of course despite his idiocy, but I think it's concerning that he's supposedly fully vaccinated but tested positive anyway (here).
...and I thought this was a neat ad by Public Citizen on behalf of the John Lewis For The People Act (yep, when life forms like Barrasso, Mike Lee and Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao are all complaining, then you’re heading in the right direction)...
Rachel Maddow gives us a bit of a history lesson here on the “purity of the ballot box” language that found its way into the voting-related statutes in southern states, Texas in particular (no surprise I realize) and has re-emerged in the new, restrictive, Democracy-defying voting bills spreading across Republican legislatures (I realize I should never advocate violence at this site, but if I did, it would be to encourage the ass-kicking of that pusillanimous little creep trying to defend this garbage bill - more here)...
...and one way to defeat this insanity is to support the John Lewis “For The People” Act, which of course is one of the pieces of legislation that is currently blocked by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in the U.S. Senate, with Manchin getting called out by Chris Cuomo; the latter makes the excellent point about the Repugs knowing what to do with power when they get it, as opposed to weak, vacillating pols like the “Democrat” from West Virginia...
...oh, and since it’s a day of the week with a “y” in it, then it looks like there’s another mass shooting in this country, this time in Colorado Springs (here), which makes this “Now This” clip timely once more, unfortunately...
...and John and Yasmin Khan discuss AOC’s response to a tweet from bankster Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase on the issue of President Biden wanting to raise taxes on anyone making more than $400K (apparently Dimon wanted an itemized list of how the tax $$ would be spent by the federal government) – sometimes the greed takes your breath away a bit...
...and David Pakman tells us about the soldier in the Wisconsin National Guard who was charged in the 1/6 insurrection; it may take years to totally unwind what led up to that as well as figuring out who all of the life forms were who participated and how exactly they were radicalized, including our military (I still say we’ll need what basically amounts to an ongoing “truth and reconciliation” commission with the ability to refer charges for some of these cretins)...
...and RIP actress Tawny Kitaen; she was up front about her fight against substance addiction and apparently she also helped women in abusive relationships, so kudos to her for doing good work (and I guess it’s trite to include this video, but how could I not, really?).
Adrienne Lawrence of Rebel HQ tells us about the 1/6 insurrectionist who basically claimed that he was brainwashed by Fix Noise and blamed the Gropenfuhrer for leading him on – the stoo-pid is strong with this one, I see (and that goes for his lawyer too)...
...and apparently, the whole “Russian bounties” story on our soldiers targeted in Afghanistan really was a thing after all, and of course it leads back to Putin’s GRU...big surprise I know – and of course, Mango Mussolini did nothing about it...
...and Dem U.S. House Rep Katie Porter wants to raise the fees charged to Big Oil who are developing on public lands...sure glad there was a robust public debate on THIS story (the businesses getting the land I mean, and yes I’m being sarcastic...kudos to Porter, and Louie Gohmert dumbs everything down as usual)...
Like you I’m sure, I’ve heard of outlier cases of people getting very sick from the COVID vaccine, but those are most definitely exceptions; there’s some humor in this clip which is definitely called for IMO, but the underlying message couldn’t be more serious (and yes, for the record, I had both Moderna shots...had some chills and fatigue and a low-grade temp briefly after the second one and arm soreness after each shot, but they both passed)...
...and there’s nothing amusing whatsoever about that garbage human being Andy Biggs and his role in the 1/6 insurrection...
...and some of our lower life forms from the “R” party and their media acolytes have decided that they can’t exploit the situation at our southwest border any more, presumably because the Biden Administration is doing its best to turn around that calamity, but of course far be it for these contemptible frauds serving in Congress to give the “D” team any credit for it, as Chris Hayes tells us (didn’t see the interview with Alejandro Mayorkas)...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us more on Repugs taking credit for stuff they opposed in the American Rescue Plan...I know I’ve included videos on this subject before, and I plan to keep doing that lest people forget about this...
...and of course, since we’re the greatest country in the world (or at least we like to think that), it seems that South Carolina will now use execution by firing squad to murder people, joining 3 other states who also use that means of extermination (Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us more – cannot help but recall the case of Troy Anthony Davis as I watch this clip...7 of 9 witnesses at his trial recanted, but Georgia took his life anyway)...
...and Sam and Emma V. of The Majority Report tell us that, apparently, Austin, TX wants to criminalize homelessness...I thought that city was a little more progressive – shows what I know I guess; it looks like we’re just going to round up more people ultimately for the private prison/industrial complex when they can’t pay the fines...I’d like to know more about the “dark money” behind the advertising on this initiative – we’re either going to get serious about this problem and figure out how and where we’re going to house these people and help the ones we CAN help or we’re going to round up and incarcerate them, which may lead to more COVID deaths also, which will also likely keep us from getting to herd immunity...I think The Rude One is spot-on again here, and as noted here (first bullet), after the 2010 midterms (won by Republicans), Matt Mackowiak gloated “isn’t it funny how the losers (Dems) always want bipartisanship?”
Yeah, it’s really freaking hilarious, you insufferable meat sack...
...and as I probably mentioned earlier, I knew absolutely nothing about any of the Academy Award nominees, but Thom Hartmann tells us a little more about “Nomadland” and how that reflects on this country (e.g., The Grapes of Wrath for our era...Thom mentions taxing Social Security benefits under Reagan and wonders why there’s no help for people if the proverbial bottom falls out – good point...kind of ties into the prior clip about Austin and housing)...
...and I thought this was a nice tune that’s a bit quieter than usual to mellow out the end of the week a bit.
Leave it to Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise to (apparently) invent some kind of new game show called “Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?,” so of course the Fix Noise sycophant automatically disqualified himself, as Brian Tyler Cohen explains; good thing the call was all remote, or I’m sure Kilmeade would have tried to steal the kid’s lunch money for complimenting President Biden...
...and speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, apparently staffers are trying to get the Murdochs to fire the Swanson TV Dinner Heir, which will NEVER happen for the reasons Farron Cousins explains (to do something about this, click here)...
...and (sticking with our beloved corporate media), as David Doel explains, Jake Tapper has apparently recently discovered that Repug lawmakers are liars...uh, yeah – and by the way, I’m fed up with these arguments about how we supposedly need a strong Republican Party...I have NEVER IN MY LIFE heard ANYBODY say, “Oh, we need a strong Democratic Party” when REPUBLICANS were totally in charge and running the table with their insane tax cuts and putting the cost of two wars under Bushco essentially on a credit card with the price tag to be paid by future generations, to say nothing of letting the housing/cheap credit bubble expand until it burst and nearly wrecked the global economy...I GUARANTEE YOU that, about a year or so from now, the airwaves are going to be FILLED with garbage “issue” ads to try and favor Republicans along with fawning media coverage of the same, so save your crocodile tears for the “party of Lincoln,” OK?...
...and I probably should have said something about this much earlier, but at least I’m getting to it now; Rachel Maddow talks about the soft sentence for a Trump illegal voter in Delco vs. Crystal Mason in TX (she voted illegally but apparently was unaware that she broke the law, and I believe her)...and good job by John Fetterman to keep after that lickspittle Dan Patrick in Texas over “voter fraud” for real (also, there is this)...
...and yeah, I think this is pretty damn funny; it looks like Combover Caligula just announced his brand-spanking-new “platform,” which apparently is pretty close to something like you’re reading at this very moment, with a “Contribute” link of course (David Pakman tells us more – unfortunately, though, I have to disagree with Pakman when it comes to the right and their presence online – from what I can determine, they're kicking the asses of “team D” when it comes to social media engagement)...
...and Happy Nurse’s Day (starting Nurse’s Week – the title of this song isn’t 100 percent accurate, but it’s close).
Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about Repug lawmakers in Missouri basically saying “FU” to their constituents on Medicaid expansion (pretty damn arrogant indeed, even for a Republican; I’d forgotten that anecdote about Claire McCaskill and a minimum hourly wage in her U.S. Senate election, but yeah, it’s pretty unbelievable)...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us of FL Guv Ron #DeathSantis (speaking of stoo-pid Republicans) getting ready to sign another awful voting bill in FL which, apparently, will hurt Repug voters too – womp womp (Maddow speaks with reporter Amy Gardner of the WaPo)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us more on the Repugs who took credit for this restaurant revitalization fund (or whatever it’s officially called) in the American Rescue Plan even though they voted against it (a follow-up to the earlier Maddow clip featuring Elise Stefanik)...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 5/5/11, in which Minnesota state Rep Steve Simon criticized a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in his state (backgrounder is here...something to think about particularly with all of the garbage anti-trans bills out there as noted here)...
...and based on this Lincoln Project ad, it looks like it’s Mango Mussolini vs. Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao competing for the coveted title of “king of the swamp”...pass the popcorn (and speaking of that death-eater from Kentucky, I give you this)...
...and John and Francesca talk about those Newsmax idiots criticizing President Biden for giving Dr. Jill a dandelion...and yes, I’m serious (I know there’s an effort out there to #UnfoxMyCableBox, but I think we should have the same thing for these clowns as well as OANN)...
...and happy upcoming 90th birthday to the one and only Willie Mays (clip is of Mays’ legendary catch in the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz)...
...and RIP noted recording engineer Al Schmidt, who worked with a few different artists, including the Jefferson Airplane on their sessions for what turned into “After Bathing At Baxter’s,” including this number.
I think it’s safe to say that Jim Acosta of CNN has had enough (NSFW/H, but for a good reason)...
...and as a follow-up, this may be Joy Reid’s finest moment, going after The Swanson TV Dinner Heir – sweet! (makes up for the Bernie Sanders body language expert)...
...and sticking with the Roger Ailes conservative propaganda channel, John and Jayar tell us about “Fix and Fiends” getting all bent out of shape about “free” college (yeah, we’re already paying our tax dollars, so just allocate it for public colleges a little more fairly instead of doling out still more tax cuts and stock buybacks for people who don’t need it, as Jayar points out)...
...and I know I’m a little late on some stuff in this post including this item; Repug state rep Ray Garofalo of Louisiana mentions the “good part” of slavery – he would have been better off if he’d said, “yeah, there was a financial benefit to slavery for the slave owners, even though the practice was utterly disgusting and reprehensible for so many reasons”...I’m not sure Garofalo honestly meant for his remark to be as stoo-pid as it was since he backtracked immediately, but I guess that’s because he was called on it right away...I just think it’s ridiculous for legislators of ANY political party to be wasting their time holding hearings or discussing content in history books, mainly since the people taking offense are doing so because they want THEIR version of history recorded for the record as opposed to anyone else’s (yeah...what’s really going on here is that some good ol’ boys are butt hurt over “critical race theory”...and of course, since FL Guv Ron #DeathSantis is trying to be Trump 2.0, he’s involved in this idiotic discussion too – more here)...
Update 1 5/4/21: God almighty, what’s next? A “both sides” opinion commentary on lynching (here)??!!
Update 2 5/4/21: Still digging that hole I see (here).
Update 5/6/21: I think this is what happens when we neglect civics and social studies in our schools.
Update 5/7/21: I'm starting to wonder if these updates will ever end (here).
...and David Doel tells us about a Miami private school that is banning vaccinated teachers, which is part of the reason why we apparently aren’t going to get to “herd immunity” as noted here (mildly NSFW/H also)...
...in addition, I think David Shuster is doing a really good job with these “Rebel HQ” videos, this one having to do with the death of insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, and of course Babbitt’s family are suing Capitol police for $10 mil in response (obligatory eye-roll)...
...and speaking of those who have departed us, RIP Olympia Dukakis (great dinner scene in Moonstruck with the also-departed John Mahoney)...
...and speaking of milestones, since it’s May 4th, we cannot ever forget this.
And speaking of The TV Network Where Truth And Reality Goes To Die (as noted at the top of this post), I’ll bet you didn’t know that its founder may have had an indirect contribution to what happened at Kent State. Well, you can argue that he did, as Gabriel Sherman does in The Loudest Voice In The Room, pgs. 69-70:
(From Ailes’ days as a political consultant):
In the spring of 1970, Ailes was in the middle of another contentious GOP primary race for an open Senate seat in Ohio, one that would have spillover effects for (the Richard Nixon presidency) and the country. Ailes was advising the Ohio congressman Robert Taft Jr. against the “law and order” candidate, Governor James Rhodes, who had been considered as a possible Nixon running mate in 1968. The race was pushing Rhodes even further to the right.
When Taft debated Rhodes in Akron in late April, Ailes walked onstage thirty seconds before airtime and handed Taft a note with one word written on it: “Kill.”
“Rhodes got shook up,” Ailes bragged afterward to a Boston Globe reporter. “I gave Taft the note, partly facetious, partly for a laugh – just to try to get Bob to be a little tougher in his answers.”
The gambit worked: the Toledo Blade noted that “the usually placid Mr. Taft accused the governor of lying about his record and told him he should be ashamed of himself.” A few days after the debate, Rhodes flew to Kent State University, which was engulfed in student unrest. At a press conference on the morning of May 3rd, Rhodes lashed into protestors who had burned the ROTC building the previous night and declaimed that the demonstrators were “worst than the Brown Shirts and the Communist element.”
Rhodes’s inflammatory speech intensified the conflict at Kent. In the chaos, National Guardsmen fired into a group of marchers. The volley of more than 60 shots in 13 seconds left four dead and nine wounded. Kent State, (Nixon Chief of Staff) Bob Haldeman later wrote in his book The Ends of Power, “marked a turning point for Nixon, a beginning of his downward slide towards Watergate.”
Joy Reid tells us more about the “cyber ninja” guy trying to conduct a recount of votes in Arizona from the 2020 election; I can’t think of a word to describe how pathetic it is that this is still going on and hasn’t been stopped yet (Reid didn’t mention in the clip, by the way, that the use of ultraviolet lights in the procedure is likely to damage ballots, as noted here...and I never expected to give Cindy McCain credit for anything, but she deserves it for this)...
...and Thom Hartmann discusses how Charles Koch and his greed head pals are trying to get that Article V convention going to rewrite the Constitution...truly a BFD (referencing Paul Krugman - more here)...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us how no Repug clapped (including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) when Biden talked about replacing lead pipes in his recent address to Congress (and I agree with a lot of what Cenk and Ana say about the Democrats not having the killer instinct, in particular, on clean water? Are you freaking kidding me??!!), but to be fair, Biden told the “R” party to “put up or shut up” when complaining about how Biden wanted to pay for his infrastructure plan, and this is the laughable alternative they came up with (and good job by Cenk to provide the important context on Solyndra – and I think Ana is being a little tough on Laura Italiano of the Murdoch NY Post rag because Italiano admitted that she did wrong, but I’m not going to go nuts over it...)...
...and in keeping with the theme of timid Dems, Rachel Maddow discusses Republicans taking credit for the American Rescue Plan even though they voted against it, including this guy (voting against it I mean); this clip actually started with Greg Pence and runs for almost 10 minutes, but for some reason MSNBC hacked the crap out of it...didn’t want to offend their Comcast overlords I’m sure (a running list of these characters should be available on the DNC web site, in big, bold type, but of course we’re stuck with the Dems we have who are too busy trying to get everybody to sing “kumbaya” and beg for $$ while not daring offend the other side I guess, though apparently Nancy Pelosi has used “Voted No, Took the Dough” in some tweets, so I suppose that counts as progress)...
...and John I. and Brett Erlich tell us how Matt Gaetz is sinking; couldn’t happen to a more deserving POS (Gaetz’s pal Joel Greenberg said the 2 of them paid for sex multiple times, including with an underage girl...womp womp, and yes I know that’s a serious issue...great snarky comment by Brett to lead off...an update is here)...
...and happy upcoming 55th birthday to Anders Osborne (the title of this song is a question I ask myself every single day).
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, who, as we know, was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks (here and here...I hope this day is recalled by most of us with credit given to those responsible, most notably Seal Team 6, though that also includes former President Obama and his team, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates...I'm pretty sure I said once that I would never include a pic of bin Laden here until after he was dead, so I'm just keeping with my word)...
...and on the subject of extremism, I thought this was a particularly good new ad from Meidas Touch...
...and this clip of Rachel Maddow speaking with historian Michael Beschloss compares President Biden to LBJ a bit in the sense that they were moderates as senators, though they’ve ended up pursuing more progressive and socially conscious policy goals, to their credit...
...and this song was #1 on the pop charts 60 years ago today.
