Saturday Stuff

I know I mentioned that I would replay Jason Kander's GREAT ad, so I'd better do it before the year ends (he was the Dem running against Roy Blunt for the U.S. Senate from Missouri, a contest Blunt won but by a tighter margin than the so-called experts predicted)...



…and with the spirit of that ad in mind, Kyle K. tells us here that Bernie Sanders is telling all of us to stand up on January 15th to protect our health care (NSFW)….



...and Chris Hayes talks with Rick Perlstein, author of “Nixonland,” about parallels between Number 37 and the demented child-king about to take the reins of power on 1/20/17 (God help us – thanks once more, everyone who voted for this assclown, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, and also to the “Bernie or Bust” crowd)…



…and kudos to Cenk and TYT for raising a half mil from their audience to stand up for actual quality journalism; excellent (and here is yet another example of corporate media stupidity)…



...and I also failed to note the passing earlier of Al Brodax, responsible for "Yellow Submarine"...



…and yeah, I think I’ll let John Oliver have the last non-musical video word here (incredibly NSFW – some good things happened for yours truly this year, and I’m grateful, but overwhelmingly I share these sentiments)…



…and did you know this year that almost an entire band died? That would be Keith Emerson and Greg Lake of EL&P (best wishes for a long and happy life to Carl Palmer)…



…and what else can you say about 2016, the year that (thank God!) is about to come to a close?

Remember the actual hope and optimism last summer, when we were talking about the better-than-even-money chance that the Dems had of taking back the Senate? Including the return of Russ Feingold in Wisconsin? I mean, they CAN’T POSSIBLY return that big stiff Ron Johnson for six more years, could they?

Well, they did, incredibly enough. And by the way, as a resident of the commonwealth of PA, I know I have no gloating rights whatsoever in that we had the chance to do the same thing to that corporatist fraud Pat Toomey, and he won another term also. In fact, the only Repug U.S. Senators who got sent packing (in what should have been a “change” election for real, since it was also a presidential election of course – and the less said about that, the better, I know) were Repugs Mark Kirk in Illinois and Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, hardly right-wing firebrands (Kirk went down in no small part because he made fun of the ancestry of Tammy Duckworth, a decorated veteran maimed in the Iraq war, and Ayotte’s political demise was aided by the presence of a third-party candidate and an incredibly popular Democrat and former governor in Maggie Hassan, who won).

Oh, and remember the fleeting moments when – what do you know? – the Dems, according to some statistical models, actually had a chance, however slim, of retaking the House depending on the margin of a projected Clinton presidential win? And we know what happened there also, particularly in PA-08, where the voters, in their utterly dunderheaded stupidity IMHO, refused to vote for a great progressive, Dem Steve Santarsiero, and instead chose to fill “Mikey The Beloved” Fitzpatrick’s vacant seat with his brother, who has no experience holding elected office (as opposed to Steve, who served for four years on the Lower Makefield Board of Supervisors and four years as a PA House Rep).

Yeah, it sure was ugly. The whole damn thing was drowned in dark money payoffs, voting machine malfunctions and other forms of suppression, a tidal wave of fake and orchestrated news against Hillary Clinton (to say nothing of negative ads, some of which were true and many of which were bogus), the supposed revelations from James Comey about alleged Clinton Email illegality based on Huma Abedin’s server that her then-husband Anthony Weiner used for porn (to say nothing of the supposed Clinton Foundation “scandals”), and dutiful stenography on the part of our utterly bought-and-paid-for political/media/industrial complex, the net effect of which was to thoroughly regurgitate all Republican-friendly talking points with hardly any push-back in response. And oh yeah, this was aided by the actual, documented, mind-numbing incompetence of the Hillary Clinton campaign. And all of this led to the voters making the most horribly uninformed electoral choices possible, including electing (again, notwithstanding voter suppression and actual fraud for real) Donald J. Trump as president.

Well, I’m going to have a good, stiff drink on New Year’s Eve, take some down time at some point, and then try to figure out how we’re going to attack this mess all over again. But before I do, I want to thank everyone who has spent any time whatsoever at this site over the last year and extend my wishes for all good things in 2017 (and never forget the words to this song - for the belated 70th birthday of Patti Smith).

Friday Stuff

(By the way, keep this image in mind as the Repugs do their best to privatize Social Security and Medicare and try to utterly destroy the Affordable Care Law - from here.)

While other Dems cower and lick their wounds, leave it to Sen. Elizabeth Warren to put down the right marker to the p*ssy grabber-in-chief here…



…and with that in mind, kudos to former Rockette Autumn Withers for speaking out against performing at the inauguration for President-Elect Big Orange Cheetoh here (as far as I’m concerned, Steve Kornacki is nothing but a corporate media hack)…



…and Kyle K. does another great job here IMHO, this time pointing out the idiocy of “Bibi” and his little temper tantrum over the U.S. abstention over the recent UN vote against Israel and those damn settlements (NSFW)…



…and today marks the 80th anniversary of the sit-down strike in Flint, MI in an effort to get recognition for the United Auto Workers union (here – the strike was successful, in no small part due to the sympathies of Michigan Gov. Frank Murphy; good luck trying to get that kind of support now from the individual who, as far as I’m concerned, had more to do with the poisoning of Flint’s water than anyone else – here…a cautionary lesson for us all on pretty much what it takes to win concessions for rank-and-file workers)...



…and there have been so many celebrity and/or musical passings this year that I know I’ve missed a few, and here is one, and that would be guitarist Rick Parfitt of Status Quo (this was a YUUGE hit back in the hippy, trippy ‘60s)…



…and call him Ziggy Stardust, The Think White Duke, or whatever, but I think the death of David Bowie this year was the biggest musical loss of them all.

Thursday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us that Baby Newton Leroy is running his mouth against Obama again - typical...and by the way, here is more on the "Caucus Room Conspiracy"...



…and yes, Repug U.S. House Rep Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv really is that big of a dick, people…



…and I give you another installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from The Young Turks at 12/23/13 (that’s when I put up the video, which is actually closer to four years old as it turns out) – yeah, I know it’s another video about the importance of saving our climate (more here from that time also), as important as that is, but I think it’s important to revisit this story in light of this typically stupid development here from the pretender about to take the reins of power (ugh – yeah, try telling me how committed somebody like Rex Tillerson actually is to saving our planet - here), as well as this – no more “oh, other countries that are polluting as much as we are won’t do anything, so why should we?” excuses…



...and sticking with the climate, with the cold weather this time of year, I have a feeling you may hear this a time or two...



…and happy 80th birthday to boomer icon Mary Tyler Moore – with what’s been going on with celebrities from that era lately, we’d better cherish the ones we have left (the “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary” clip was the literal end of the series, for anyone who somehow doesn’t know that)…



…and speaking of milestones, we can’t let this year wind down without remembering Glenn Frey one more time – wish I could put up the awesome video, but this great tune on its own will do for now I’m sure.

Wednesday Stuff (updates)

RIP Carrie Fisher…



Update 1 12/29/16: You know, I get really steamed when Bill Maher lectures lefties about political correctness, but then I read about something like this and I see that he’s getting more ammunition from our collective side.

How could anyone think that Steve Martin – Steve Martin, of all people! – could say something in response to the death of Carrie Fisher that would be anything but an endearing and heartfelt tribute??!!

Oh, for shame! He actually complimented her looks, as if that’s somehow sexist or something. Fetch the fainting couch!

Ridiculous (and why do I have a feeling that, were she still with us, Fisher would be laughing her ass off in response?)…

Update 2 12/29/16: Hat tip to Joe Conason on Twitter for this...

…and normally I wouldn’t pay a lot of attention to those zany Brit royals at this site, but I think Prince Charles is pretty spot-on here; I get it that people vote for their pocketbook as it were and are too busy living their lives to take the “long view” from time to time, but I think that’s exactly what we need to do here…



...and I give you Kyle Kulinski on corporate media stenographer Dana Bash and her notions of "bipartisanship" (very NSFW but right, what Kyle says I mean)…



…and in a year of what I guess you could call a more normal or typical amount of musicians who have left us, I think this would be a more notable milestone, but with all of the others who have gone in 2016, this might have been obscured somewhat, but I don’t think it should be – cutting to the chase, you can consider this to be a tribute to Paul Kantner.

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, I think President-Elect Fergus Laing needs a little psychoanalysis at a minimum, and probably a straight jacket too while we’re at it…



...and dude, there’s nothing “satirical” about genocide, regardless of who you’re talking about – listen, I love free speech as much as anybody as long as no one is being physically hurt, but this comes fairly close to the “shouting fire in a crowded movie theater” test for my money…



…and yet again, it’s all about jobs! Jobs! Jobs! for Not Your Father’s Republican Party (NSFW)…



…and with the time left before the end of the year, I’d like to pay tribute to artists who left us in 2016, which was a particularly horrendous year on that front as well as others of course – I thought I’d kick things off with an homage to “the purple one.”

Monday Stuff

I know we have to try and finish off the post-mortems of the Hillary Clinton campaign, but I thought this was a particularly good one from Cenk Uygur…NSFW; basically, the Bernie Sanders people were trying to help her and were rebuffed…unbelievable; probably the most damning commentary I’ve heard yet on what happened, and I can’t imagine how it’s untrue in any way – yeah, the Comey stuff and the Putin leaks were awful (as well as the Kris Kobach garbage and all the other stuff that went on since the Voting Rights Act has basically been gutted), but the campaign was digging its own metaphorical grave leading up to that…again, I don’t personally blame Hillary Clinton, but her advisers did a horrible job – as Cenk explains, they COMPLETELY missed the boat on what this election was all about…



…and Seth Meyers brings us the following on Trump and climate change (I know he’s trying to make some serious points with humor, but I think it’s getting harder for him to do that given what we’ll be facing after 1/20/17, and I don’t blame Meyers one bit for it - here)…



...and Chris Hayes talks with Dem Secretary of State Jason Kander of Missouri about the nominees from President-Elect Fergus Laing, including climate change denier Scott Pruitt (noted in the Seth Meyers clip also) to head the EPA (Two things: 1) Kander is absolutely right at the end over the betrayal of soon-to-be #45…the Repugs of course are partying now, but that will come to an abrupt end, and sooner than they imagine and possibly for good, and 2) Kander ran what was easily the BEST POLITICAL AD of the abysmal 2016 election season, which I’ll put up again soon – it turned what was looking to be a snoozer of a U.S. Senate race against Roy Blunt into something hotly competitive, and Dems everywhere should use that as a template for any political campaign from now on)…



…and with this, I bring down the curtain, as it were, for the seasonal tunes - hope everyone's holidays are enjoyable.

Merry Christmas 2016

Just for the record, I should note that we lost JB 10 years ago today…



…and I still think this tune hold up after all this time, which I guess is a little sad in a way…



…as does this – I think its rather trenchant observations are eternal…



…and by the way, Merry Christmas from me and Nat.

Saturday Stuff

I think K.O. is starting to unveil the con that the Repugs in Congress plan to pull on us while we try not to become distracted from the latest idiocy of Generalissimo Trump…



…and yeah, I think “The Resident” here on Putin TV makes a good point about the school district administrators getting a little weak in the metaphorical knees about cancelling a Christmas play in my beloved commonwealth (here - the fact that it’s near Lancaster is beside the point as far as I’m concerned), but let’s not forget this aspect of the story too…



…turning to the seasonal stuff, this is the latest date that I can ever remember for the beginning of the “festival of lights”…



…and I’m sure these other three selections need no introduction.

Friday Stuff

I personally have been screaming about our corporate media for a little while, and it looks like I’m not alone in my negative opinion based on this Young Turks video (I think Cenk is a little too kind to the Teahadists here, since they’re corporately funded too, but I believe his fundamental points are correct)…



…and time once again for another installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 12/23/08; what follows is a trailer for the documentary “The Warning” from that time about, basically, Dubya’s administration (which, thank God, was about to end), though we should probably revisit this given what is coming as of 1/20/17, unfortunately…



...and here is some more seasonal stuff to try and take our minds off all of this mess.

Thursday Stuff

(By the way, the San Antonio Spurs and their great coach Gregg Popovich are my new favorite pro basketball team for that quote - hat tip to The Sports Whisperer on Twitter.)

…and In case you were wondering if anything has actually changed for the better on guns after the Sandy Hook massacre that took place about four years ago...well, here is the answer (NSFW – sigh)…

…oh, and the next time you hear about “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey and others demonizing about “sanctuary cities,” I would ask that you consider this.

You want to know what defines a so-called “sanctuary city” (a political term and not a legal one, by the way)? If Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to detain an individual suspected of some kind of wrongdoing, well gosh, they just have to go to court and show cause in order to get an arrest warrant (what a novel, quaint notion in the era of Generalissimo Trump – observing and honoring the rule of law). That applies if you live in a “sanctuary city.” If you don’t, then ICE can have you detained indefinitely without an arrest warrant (gee, didn’t we have a problem with doing that leading to the whole mess over trying to close Guantanamo and all those people indefinitely detained without charges filed against them, with trying to close it and failing perhaps the biggest monument, if you will, to Repug congressional obstruction?).

And by the way, not that it matters now of course, but Hillary Clinton had it exactly right on this issue. And when I saw how squishy Katie McGinty was, I basically knew she would lose (and by the way, as far as I'm concerned, the newscaster in this clip is categorically wrong on this issue)…



…and Sam Seder tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Bill Huizenga (Stupid-MI) is basically guilty of child endangerment at a minimum as far as I’m concerned, all for the sake of promoting Huizenga’s “free market” bona fides at the expense of his son’s health (stupid to be sure and probably worse, but at least he wasn’t dumb enough to do this before the election – wish he had, though…the garbage coming from Huizenga on this is definitely one source of “fake news,” by the way)…



...and here are some seasonal favorites - yeah, nothing like getting together with family this time of year, is there?...



...and I like Seth MacFarlane's cover, but to me, there's nothing like the original...



...and I don't hear this tune nearly enough for my liking this time of year, so here it is again (slightly NSFW)...



...and I'll bet you knew this was coming, right?...

…but I’ll bet you didn’t know THIS was coming too – consider this to be my tribute to a true broadcasting legend, and that would be Dave Conant of public radio station WRTI of Temple University, who signed off today after an illustrious career spanning over 40 years in radio (here)…his forte was classical music, so here is a seasonal tune in his honor (the dancing isn't bad either).

Wednesday Stuff

I thought it was appropriate to revisit this clip in light of this development – oh my, do Mikey the Beloved and “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey have their shorts all in a knot (as usual, conservatives can’t get through their day without a fix of phony outrage - and as far as Philadelphia’s wingnut newspaper of record is concerned, Heaven forbid that you include Adegbile’s picture at the top of the story as opposed to that of the cop killer)…



…and what a great report from Allana Harkin on “Full Frontal” about the usual corporate media suspects trying to pit vets against refugees – why does ANYBODY still take those idiots seriously, the pundits I mean?...

Did you know veterans and refugees are not just political talking points, but actual people too? @AllanaHarkin investigates. #SamanthaBee pic.twitter.com/t0HB4AoFoT

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) December 21, 2016

...and turning to the seasonal stuff, it looks like Harry is ready for his closeup again...



...and I guess Santa wants a "present" of his own (heh)...



...meanwhile, Pearl has a really good idea too...



...and yeah, this is pretty tongue-in-cheek also from "Captain Kirk."

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, I’d say that George Lucas fellow called this, amirite?...



…and Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich warns us yet again about how President-Elect Fergus Laing has been playing (and will continue to play) the media like the proverbial harp from hell, as it were (and here is more on the Sinclair stuff Reich is referring to - they have a typically f'ed-up definition of "straight" also, which I'm sure you realize by now...let's see how well-received the "victory rallies" are for this self-absorbed, narcissistic, chauvinistic idiot after he's sworn in and actually has to function like, y'know, an actual head of state)…



...and these are some carefully measured words in response to Generalissimo Trump from K.O., which make them more powerful as far as I'm concerned; a bit of a disquieting note about Al Gore, though - sure, he could have run a better campaign (as I said, this year's contest mirrored the 2000 one in uncomfortable ways), but he still did well enough to damn near win the whole thing (which, discounting the Miami-Dade chicanery, he actually did as far as I'm concerned)...



…and you know what? I want to take a bit of a break from the political stuff with this clip, since the news is mostly bad anyway and what follows is something more in line with the season as far as I’m concerned…

.@RachaelRayShow tomorrow: Margaux Murphy talks about providing home cooked meals to homeless in Philly every week w/ Sunday Love Project pic.twitter.com/m76kaLEuVg

— Action News on 6abc (@6abc) December 20, 2016

…and here is a particularly jazzy seasonal selection…



…along with a holiday tune from the funniest math professor of all time…



…as well as a tune from a Philly guy…



…and I hope this takes you to the same happy place that it takes me.

Monday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Rev. Al Sharpton talks to Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights on the voter suppression in the 2016 election (looks like his corporate overlords at The Comcast Network were breathing down his neck to cut this short – God forbid the American sheeple realize just how much the proverbial game is fixed)…



…and Thom Hartmann tells us about the – how shall I put it? – jaded history of the Electoral College (and when it comes to standing up to Generalissimo Trump, I give you this great column from Eugene Robinson)…



...and I REALLY feel like I need the Christmas selections today.

Sunday Stuff

“The reality show version of King Lear” – perfect quote from Charlie Pierce to describe the (God help us) incoming administration of President-Elect Big Orange Cheetoh (and sorry, but I don't think one bit of this is funny)…



…and heckava job, all you voters for President-Elect Fergus Laing; the whole world was watching, but now they’re laughing at us (here)…



...and now for some seasonal stuff (from the ridiculous to the sublime)…



...and this is pretty good too.

Saturday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us more about the anti-HRC FBI faction (and kudos to Hartmann for continuing to point out the impact of that mongrel Kris Kobach and his abuse of the interstate cross-check list, possibly the most unreported story of this entire sorry election; how in God’s name that was even legal is something I cannot imagine)…



…and gosh, I’m so shocked – NC Repug “bathroom bill” Governor Pat McCrory loses, so he and the Repugs in the NC state legislature try to metaphorically “kneecap” the incoming Dem governor-elect…typical (didn’t know that the Dems were worse on gerrymandering than the Repugs – shouldn’t be legal for anybody, and boy, do I agree with Cenk on how Roy Cooper should be handling this)…



…and time once more for some seasonal selections – and he didn’t even have to throw the tomahawk for this one (you can Google it)…



…and who says Santa doesn’t know how to swing?...



…and I was really waiting for him to break out in a Stewie Griffin impression here, but he didn’t – nice job (and standards are tough to sing, from what I know of that, which isn’t much I’ll admit)…



…and I think it’s safe to say that these guys are light years beyond the treadmills by now.

Friday Stuff

Yeah, I definitely think we should all familiarize ourselves with the meaning of the word “kleptocracy”…



…and to head that off, I give you the following recommendation from K.O…



…and Martin Sheen, among others, here…



…and how dumb were you anyway, voters for “Donald Drumpf” who actually DIDN’T think this would happen? (coming for Social Security, led by this fossilized Republican chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee on the House Ways and Means Committee, from Texas of course)...



…well, time again then for an escape with the holiday selections…



….and here’s a song in the Christmas spirit, you might say…



…and here’s a retro tune…



…and if you’re going to get hammered, please don’t drive (no joke).

Thursday Stuff

Looks like Santa got his fake news delivered to the North Pole, all right (or should I say "alt-right"?)...

Good Grief, It's A Stephen Colbert Christmas Special pic.twitter.com/sFVq31YozJ

— McSpocky™ 👽 (@mcspocky) December 14, 2016

...and Thom Hartmann tells us how President-Elect Fergus Laing and his minions will try to achieve their nefarious goals if we let them (speaking once more of fake news)…



…and I think Seth Meyers makes a similar point, though with a little more humor…



…and yeah, it’s time for another patented K.O. smack down, as it were – I’ve seen some posts from the usual conservative suspects alleging that Olbermann is talking crazy talk; yeah, the fact that others are trying to marginalize you is the first step towards eventual acceptance (oh, and isn't this just precious also?)…



…and time to enjoy more seasonal selections while I take a tranquilizer.

Wednesday Stuff

Given the end of Trey Gowdy’s ridiculous BENGHAZI!! circus (here), I think it’s important to revisit this segment from Lawrence O’Donnell…



...and Samantha Bee has some advice for the Democrats here (something to note also in light of this)...

Democrats in the wilderness. #SamanthaBee pic.twitter.com/7dF7ABUrde

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) December 13, 2016

…and oh yeah, remember when this country was capable of the type of moral outrage that U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power displays here? Well, you can put something like this in a time capsule and you should probably lock it up tight, since it will be nothing but a historical curiosity after the regime of Generalissimo Trump takes over (she might as well have asked some of these questions directly to The Big Orange Cheetoh himself)…



…and I’ll admit that I’m a little behind on this, but Mike Malloy tells us here about the KKK parade in Roxboro, NC for President-Elect Fergus Laing…



…and once more, I give you some holiday selections to keep from going completely bonkers.

Tuesday Stuff

Here’s K.O. with #11 in his series “The Resistance,” summoning the fury that I believe is completely appropriate…



…oh, and why exactly does this clip sound familiar again (here, and kudos to HRC for this - and what does this also tell you)?...

It's almost like someone tried to warn us about this. pic.twitter.com/lvyDxQXSAg

— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) December 10, 2016

…and I’m trying to scale back on the political stuff, even with all of this insanity going on, so here are the seasonal selections (not sure when I’ll get back to actual new music, but I will eventually)…



…though this is a new holiday selection…



…and it’s really difficult to imagine Christmas without Darlene Love, at least for me anyway (thankfully she's still with us of course)…



…and yeah, I still need that bicarbonate of soda.

Monday Stuff

Rachel Maddow brought us this recent report on supporters of President-Elect Big Orange Cheetoh and polling, which tells you just what kind of a parallel universe they truly live in (and by the way, I’m not trying to impugn the woman in the pic above extending her finger)…



…and I give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 12/12/11; the video is a compilation of instances where the blog Think Progress performed some actual journalism, taking some of the supposedly august members of the political/media/industrial complex and holding their metaphorical feet to the metaphorical fire, as it were – TP has slipped a notch as far as I’m concerned, not because it’s not a great blog anymore IMHO…it definitely still is that; it’s just that its work was of such a high quality at one time that I didn’t think it would be possible to maintain that level of excellence forever…if nothing else, consider this video a lesson in what we’ll ALL have to do with the incoming regime of Generalissimo Trump and his “cabinet of deplorables” (also, as our new US authoritarian overlords due to take over on 1/20/17 malign those not towing the Repug conservative line. such as TP, Crooks & Liars, and even Talking Points Memo, believe it or not)…



…and here are more seasonal selections.