Friday Stuff

I guess “Donald Drumpf” would consider a boot across someone’s throat to be “safe” too (here)…



…and apparently we need to update this ad based on this…



…and by the way, I’m not kidding (and the stuff about Nixon is truly chilling)…



…and I wonder if we should start calling him “Donald Trumpovich” (here - more here)…



…and I know some of this stuff on "Fergus Laing" has been done to death already, but I liked the comment from Seth Meyers in particular about Twitter here…



…and it shouldn’t be necessary to run this ad since women should be on a par with men when it comes to equal pay, among other measures, but it is (to help, click here – I’m going to miss Barbara Mikulski)…



…and this is just a reminder to PA-08 folk that we can’t forget to help Steve Santarsiero in his fight to prevent “Mikey Part 2” this fall – to help, click here (and yes, it's true background checks weren't enacted, but not because Steve didn't give it a hell of an effort)…



…and I guess, given the earlier videos in particular, you can call this a theme for a “Trumpocalypse” that we have to make sure never happens.

More Thursday Stuff

Why indeed (more here)…



…a question that should be posed to this fraud from our own beloved commonwealth also (to do something about "No Corporate Tax" Toomey, click here...and let's not forget this too)…



…and I am sooo glad someone brought back this clip about how "Donald Drumpf" VP candidate Mike Pence once compared Iraq to an Indiana open market, or something (here, and I got a kick out of this too)...



Update 1 8/14/16: I would say that this fits the sorry "Pence profile" also.

Update 2 8/14/16: OUCH!

…and yeah, I think this song fits given everything in the news lately.

Thursday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

To me, this clip proves that all of the stuff with “Fergus Laing” is waay too far inside the proverbial looking glass to just write it off as partisan politics…



…and dare I hope that this is the beginning of the end of voter ID laws?...



…and as long as we’re talking about legal stuff, I should note that this may be the best commentary on holding hearings for the nomination of (and eventually confirming) Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court that I've heard yet…



…and a belated happy 90th birthday to Tony Bennett.

Wednesday Stuff

Note to HRC – this particularly abysmal Gallup number for Trump is golden, but there’s a long way to go in this election; it still has to be won…



…and yet another funny commentary on the most recent election stuff from Samantha Bee has an appropriately hard edge at the very end (here)…



…and I’m not sure exactly how Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley got out of his most recent infidelity scandal, but I guess he did somehow…and who knows, he might get out of this too…



…and yeah, I think it’s time to dial up some sweet jammin’ blues – enjoy.

Tuesday Stuff

No, I haven’t forgotten about “This Day In Doomsy History”; the latest installment below is from 8/2/11, in which K.O. delivers a truly epic “Special Comment” on that stinking debt deal between Number 44 and “Man Tan” Boehner, who was then Speaker of the House, which brought us the beginning of the wretched austerity we, and a good part of the world, still live under…


Update 8/12/16: And here is why that still matters.

…and by the way, let’s not forget about the antics of Fix Noise head Roger Ailes (“alleged,” let’s not forget, though it’s telling that, as Chris Hayes and Gabriel Sherman tell us, the stories of these women are pretty similar even though they, in all likelihood, have never communicated with each other…a related post is here)…



…and I don’t know how the hell the miserable ingrates shown at this rally for Repug VP nominee Mike Pence can boo and throw catcalls at the military mother asking about “Donald Drumpf” and his attack on the Khans, and then applaud themselves with Pence making the utterly saccharine and disgusting remark about “honoring their service” in regard to our veterans (and here is more garbage from Pence on this – by the way, as nearly as I can tell, Pence never served, though his son serves in the Marines…also, as Think Progress tells us, Humayun Khan was killed in 2004, while Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History was still taking up space in An Oval Office, as opposed to Number 44…”that’s what freedom looks like,” huh? Shouting down someone who disagrees with you? Well, I guess that’s how it looks to YOU)…



…and a hat tip goes out to Dan Reed of WXPN in these parts for the reminder that “The Concert for Bangladesh” took place 45 years ago yesterday, which, to my knowledge, was the first of the all-star shows of its type for various worthy causes, including “Farm Aid” and “The Concert for New York City” after 9/11 – as the Wikipedia article tells us, the money raised from the two shows was eventually distributed to those who needed it by 1981, and if you want to blame anyone for the holdup, blame former Beatle manager Allen Klein…George Harrison would also advise Bob Geldof on financial matters for “Live Aid” in 1985 to prevent the same mistake.

Monday Stuff

Geez oh man, it’s looks like that “Indian-sounding” Fareed Zakaria brought his potty mouth to the party here – kudos (and when it comes to racist, sexist, and other types of garbage spewing from the mouth of the presidential nominee of the “party of Lincoln,” it’s a feature, not a bug, you might say)…



…and yeah, what John Oliver says here too – NSFW (I just hope HRC doesn’t get caught up in this stuff too and realize that she’d got to go out and win this election)…



...and here is more from Donald "A Little Ride" Drumpf (hard to catalog all the refuse he spews, I'll admit - and by the way, here is a bit of reality on this subject - not saying our military hasn’t gotten its act together on this, but we’d all be best served by the proper context)...



…and I don’t know if this tune is apolitical or not, but I think it rocks, with maybe more than a bit of a message to the subject of these videos.

Sunday Stuff

I’ve got some leftovers from the prior week I still need to get to, so here they come – among other things, last week was a really bad one for voter ID laws, as noted here, which is truly good news…



…and the Rev. Dr. William Barber really “brought the heat” at the DNC, as it were, reminding us of what Democrats are supposed to be all about (and no disrespect to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who I’m sure was good too, but how on earth do you top that?)…



…as did former Dem Michigan Mayor Jennifer Granholm here – I’m sure a lot of people got the Carly Simon reference, but I’m sure many others were scratching their heads over it too (didn't know Granholm packed that kind of ooomph - learn something new every day)...



…and I absolutely can’t forget about this summer tune, now can I?

Friday Stuff

(By the way, my page views have been going insane over the last week or so, which is probably coincidental timed for the conventions…still, thanks to one and all.)

And speaking of same, kudos to Gen. John Allen (here) – like, wow…



…and I would call this stirring also, though for a wholly other reason; tied to the same theme as the prior clip, though…



…and from the sublime to the ridiculous we go here – just say “oops” and get out, NC Repugs (more here)…



…and I have a feeling Ed Schultz is still getting over the fact that Hillary is the Dem nominee for prez and not Bernie Sanders, but we are where we are, and credit to HRC where I think it’s due – besides, it’s all about keeping out “Fergus Laing” at this point…



…and maybe I shouldn’t be diverting attention to “The Donald” again, but I feel I have to; kudos to Thom Hartmann here…



…and when even those evangelical sheep finally realize that they’re getting conned, then maybe the shadows for the Repugs are longer than we thought…



…and it’s probably no surprise whatsoever that I agree with Eric Holder’s assessment of the nominee of the “party of Lincoln,” namely, that his latest remarks about Russia hacking Hillary Clinton’s Email automatically disqualifies him for president, but I’m presenting the clip anyway…



…and best wishes for a happy 70th birthday tomorrow to Jeffrey Hammond of Jethro Tull (doesn’t rock out quite like the original, but I would still call this a pretty good version).

Thursday Stuff

This may be it for President Hopey Changey and his great speeches – if so, he sure exited with a memorable one (here); the wingnuts will always hate him of course, in no small part because Obama truly understands this country better than they ever will (and I'm sure the Dems had permission to use the music)…



…something amplified by Joe Biden earlier, particularly in this excerpt (here)…



…and I always respected Joe Crowley for a lot of reasons, but I REALLY respect him for this (Sam Seder is talking about “The Music Man” and Professor Harold Hill, by the way, which would fit The Donald if he had a benevolent molecule in his body, which of course he doesn’t)…



…and given that the Dem convention is wrapping up tonight, what do you say to a tune to help us get about the tough work of winning this damn election, and (dare I hope) taking back Congress?

Wednesday Stuff

I know the focus in Philly is quite rightly on the Democratic National Convention, but I thought this was a cautionary discussion Chris Hayes had with Howard Fineman and E.J. Dionne recently; I’d love to agree with the latter about Trump’s “ceiling,” but one of the truly scary aspects of all of this is that I don’t think we really know what that is – just means we have to work harder for HRC, that’s all…



…that being said, I should also say that this absolutely has to mean the end for this guy and his presidential hopes (and yes, I know there have been a slew of these moments already, but this has to be the proverbial last straw – more here)…



…and this starts with Sen. Al Franken talking about Michelle Obama’s speech, but it ends with Franken telling the media to do their damn jobs (“facts don’t seem to matter,” Mrs. Greenspan? Are you vying for the title of Grand Dame Of Our Beltway Courtier Media?)…



…and when I think about Trump (I try not to do that a lot, I'll admit), songs like this come to mind.

Tuesday Stuff

John Oliver does it again (NSFW)...



…and yeah, I guess I got trolled by Juilan Assange on some of the earlier Wikileaks stuff – not ashamed to admit if I made a mistake; I thought he had the wherewithal to know when he was getting played by Putin, but apparently he doesn’t (stuff like this from the Trump campaign shows a sophistication I didn’t expect I’ll admit, though I don’t think it shows sophistication to violate U.S. campaign finance law either…you would think that the quite-likely involvement of foreign actors in our election would infuriate the voters of this country…you would think)…



…and I thought this was a good commentary by Kyle Kulinski about what was probably the most memorable line of Michelle’s Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention last night (NSFW also – the last minute or so in particular is the true takeaway IMHO)…



…and a happy belated birthday to Chepito Areas of Santana – I hope the title of this song reflects the spirits of the country overall after Day 2 of the Dem convention as opposed to last week’s hatefest in Cleveland.

Monday Stuff

Kudos to Fareed Zakaria for this (and I don’t give a damn about his accent – actually, if you want to hear an extremely NSFW response to Coulter, click here)…



…and memo to our corporate media; any chance that you people are going to wake the hell up and confront “The Donald” over his failure to release his tax returns (here)?

Naah, didn’t think so (zzzzzz)…



…so yeah, maybe it’s time once more for some good old fashioned outrage, and Jon Stewart brings it, as they say, just in time (here)…



…and I don’t know if the rain making its way through these parts will bring much relief over the next day or so – hopefully it will.

Saturday Stuff

For the record, this is Cheri Bustos, Democratic Party U.S. House Member from Illinois.

Also, she is absolutely driving me nuts with solicitation Emails and phone calls (home and cell) to support her campaign for re-election.

Let’s see now, Cheri Bustos…why is that name familiar again?

Oh yeah, it’s because she partnered with our very own Mikey the Beloved in this “No Labels” idiocy over at least the last two years. You know…pretending to be a Sensible Centrist™ even though she is, in fact, a version of Republican Lite (more here).

So guess what, Cheri Bustos? I hope you lose your election. And stop asking me for money, because I’m not giving you a dime!

Yeah, that means one less Dem in a contest where we need all the Dems we can get, I know. But with “Democrats” like Bustos, we’d be better off with the wretched status quo we already have.

Back to the videos - and all I have to say in response to this is buen trabajo, Tim Kaine (in the clip below, Kaine joined the filibuster by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut in favor of common sense gun reform - can't track down the rest of what Kaine said, but I think you can get the gist from the clip)...



...and kudos to the NBA for this (and Pat McCrory’s utterly predictable, and stupid, temper tantrum of a response is here)...



…and I think this utterly idiotic GMO labeling law is par for the course with this wretched Congress…



…and here’s something a little dreamy and ethereal in the spirit of the season.

Friday Stuff

In light of all of the nonsense from Cleveland this week, I thought I would provide this as a palate cleanser of sorts.

Now that the convention idiocy is over and the “party of Lincoln” has proclaimed Donald Trump as its standard-bearer, Republicans all over the place are saying, “oh, Trump doesn’t represent me…how in Heaven’s name did we get to the point where he is our nominee for President,” clutching their metaphorical pearls all the while and looking for their also-metaphorical fainting couch.

(In a similar vein, I give you this today from the eternally wretched Christine Flowers, concocting yet another unintentionally hilarious diatribe which is truly all we can expect from philly.com’s conservative quota hire columnist.)

Do you want to know how you got to the point where “Fergus Laing” is actually your nominee for president, Republicans? Do you want to know who is really to blame?

Try looking in the goddamn mirror!

Every time you demonize and ridicule someone without any basis in actual fact, or at least without any evidence that will stand up to what you might call “the cold light of day”…every time you demonize and ridicule someone merely because they belong to a particular race, gender, or other demographic that takes issue with what you might call your political point of view…every time you repeat baseless charges over and over and over again against your opposition when they have been thoroughly or utterly disproven or, perhaps, not even proven to begin with…every time you demonize a political member of the opposition for all of the reasons I noted previously in this paragraph without any provable, corroborated facts or evidence…every time you demagogue against those who are most vulnerable in our society, again without facts or evidence…every time you demagogue against someone trying to address the most vital issues we face, such as matters of war and peace, the economy (and, as a part of that, issues pertaining to what you might call economic and social justice), and the future survivability of this planet (and, in the process, argue with proven principles of math, science, and, pretty much, plain common sense)…when you do any or all of that, do you know what you also do?

You perpetuate the forces that ultimately gave us Donald J. Trump as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States, that’s what you do.

So spare me your pitiable mea culpas, because, now, it is up to Democrats to try and clean up the mess you created but, not surprisingly, couldn’t find the political will to fix yourselves.

Now for some videos – and it looks like, based on this, Laura Ingraham gave away the game, as they say…



…and yeah, it sounds like Bill Maher captured what went on in Cleveland this week pretty well (here)…



…and I thought this was some great perspective on “The Donald” from filmmaker Ken Burns, speaking with Christiane Amanpour (and of course, the inevitable wingnut outrage followed here)…



…and our neighbors to the north are paying attention (as is the rest of the world, as noted here – dear Lord)…



…also, I cannot possibly imagine why Fix Noise didn’t want their viewers to see this (here – removing my tongue from my cheek)…

…and it seems like Republicans can’t get through a week, or even days sometimes, without infringing on a musician’s work without getting permission, which, in this case, I’m sure they’d never get anyway (I think the following tune, were it to be allowed by the estate, would be more appropriate).

Thursday Stuff

I would call this progress of a sort...



…and maybe throwing Al Baldasaro’s sorry ass in prison for about ten years would send the right message (here)…



...and here is the latest in the annals of "Crooked Trump"...



…and “one more night” of this mess in Cleveland – luckily, the adults will be coming to Philly next week.

Wednesday Stuff

Awww, poor “Governor Bully,” in response to this (naah – just kidding…more here and here)…

…and this is funny stuff from Stephen Colbert, bringing back his “Comedy Central” character a bit, but the very last sentence is about as tongue-in-cheek as you’re going to get (here)…



…and Trump’s veep nominee gets the Samantha Bee treatment here (NSFW)…



...and no "milestone" or "message" music tonight - just a cool new tune.

Tuesday Stuff

It looks like time is drawing short for Roger (“Voldemort”) Ailes in light of this (a day that has been a long time in coming)…

...and golly, it looks like the latest trophy wife of "The Donald" sure put her I'm-sure-elegantly-pedicured foot in it big time (here)...



…and Kyle Kulinski tells us about the latest in the annals of “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” Repug Party nonsense, particularly regarding Trump VP nominee Mike Pence (NSFW)…



…and I know people are going to be having fun with the latest idiocy that transpires from Cleveland (not a shot at the city, mind you – we hosted these characters in 2000, after all), and it’s going to be hard to pick and choose of all of what I would call “hate porn” in an effort to find what is most despicable (the grieving Benghazi mother who deserves our prayers, respect and support but who was allowed by life forms almost too despicable for words to rant in a public forum against HRC, along with all of the calls for Former Secretary of State Clinton to be imprisoned or worse, etc.), but right now, this might be the lowest of the low (a lot of competition, I’ll admit) – if Freddie Mercury were still with us, he might offer this as a response.

Monday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Yeah, I know some of this stuff may be a little too “inside baseball,” but I still think it shows that not everyone is singing “Kumbaya” in Cleveland (here)…



…and speaking of the all-but-named Democratic Party nominee, I have only three words for this video: Nail. Hammer. Head. (here)…



...also, David Pakman tells us about recent shootings in this country we may not have heard about (telling that, while overall violent crime is down in this country, shootings are up)...



…and happy belated 70th (!) birthday to Linda Ronstadt; all those years I spent holding up her poster with one hand – smile.

Friday Stuff

God, hasn’t France suffered enough already? To help, click here…



…and I honestly was going to ignore this – naah, sorry, I can’t (kudos to Kyle for keeping it clean)…



…and hey, as long as “The Donald” just gave us fresh, new ammunition (here)…



…and speaking of Trump’s new veep nominee, Rachel Maddow brought us this report earlier in the week on how it can be a fruitless exercise to try and run against the “number 2” on the ticket…



…and I agree with South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott on nothing, but kudos to him for this…



…and while making a lot of money isn’t a crime I know, it could be if you use the influence it buys to screw over everybody else…lots of ways that our senatorial mistake from PA has done that which I’ll try to present over the coming weeks and months; in the meantime, to help Katie McGinty, click here…



Update 7/18/16: Actually, this should go a long way towards telling us how awful a senator Toomey truly is.

…and what, are we actually supposed to think that Stuart Varney ISN’T a scumbag because he has an English accent? (NSFW)...



…and Harry Chapin left us 35 years ago tomorrow – among his other accomplishments, he also was a tireless advocate against hunger and poverty in this country…to say his voice is still needed is a huge understatement.

Thursday Stuff

Fine – let everybody shoot each other; no never mind to me…



…and it looks like Indiana Governor Mike Pence may be the VP for “Fergus Laing,” though it isn’t official of course (dag, all those Mickey D’s meals “Governor Bully” got for Trump for nothing, apparently); I thought this was an informative segment about Pence’s most recent moment in the spotlight (don’t think his “freeze” was a big a deal as that awful law he signed)…



Update 7/15/16: And speaking of Pence, does anyone remember this besides me?

…and isn’t this just precious? Sam Seder tells us that Jeb Bush blames the Pope for losing the South Carolina Republican primary and shooting down his presidential hopes; naaah, didn’t have anything to do with his brother’s utterly failed, ruinous presidency…not much (NSFW)…



...and it looks like Dale Hansen has done it again here - kudos...



…and as damn awful as this is, and it is that, I’d love to see Governor Bully take time from waiting on “The Donald” to try and explain this, assuming he gives a crap, which I’m sure he doesn’t of course…



…and I think this is a really cool tune from an exceptional musical family (that twangy axe in the background can only mean the "Bob Dylan of Britain").