Friday Stuff

David Pakman presents a clip of Sean Inanity basically interrogating RFK Jr. now that the, shall we say, lapsed Kennedy scion has declared as an independent candidate for prez which could potentially draw votes from the Gropenfuhrer...such a transparently pathetic attempt to prop up #45 and defeat the monster that has indeed been created in part by The Roger Ailes BS Factory as Pakman notes...



...and as we see here, the other talking heads from that joke of a network are laughably bad also, with Laura Ingraham saying the charges against Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence should be dropped, which is absurd for the reasons Kyle Kulinski points out...



...and when it comes to the legal machinations related to Our Ochre Abomination, Jesse Dollemore tells us the 45’s lawyers are actually arguing that he didn’t have a duty to “support” the Constitution, but only to preserve, protect and defend that most important foundational document (as if there somehow could be a difference between the two sets of terms), as part of his filing against those who argue that Trump isn’t allowed to run for prez again given that he supported an insurrection (I can’t believe this alleged strategy was concocted by people who graduated law school and passed a bar exam)...



...and believe me when I tell you that it takes A LOT for me to take Joe Scar seriously enough to include a clip from him here, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary (with Mrs. Scar and Willie Geist) about not just Combover Caligula, but the whole U.S. House “leadership”...really no need for me to point out the insanity of the remarks in this clip since it should be pretty goddamned freaking obvious – oh, and the bit about “what does you-know-who have against Obama” was unintentionally hilarious...gee, I dunno – how about FREAKING RACISM!! How about everything Trump and his old man did to African Americans in their real estate businesses? How about THE CENTRAL PARK FREAKING FIVE TOO??!! I think Geist kind of tiptoes around a bit on that by mentioning the birther stuff, but that’s probably as far as he’s allowed to go.

Scar made a name for himself by doing everything he possibly could to attack the Clintons for any reason whatsoever, and in a totally propagandistic fashion (here). He helped put the “R” Party on its current abhorrent, utterly ungovernable path, so he has NO ROOM WHATSOEVER to go tut-tut over that bunch now...



...and when it comes to those with power and privilege (harking back a bit to the first clip), Robert Reich gives us a lesson on the robber barons of The Gilded Age and what it took to defeat them; we’ll need the fully marshalled forces of working men and women and families all over this country to overcome the plutocrats who want to totally rig our politics and economy in their favor at the expense of everyone else...



...and Jayar Jackson and David Shuster of The Damage Report tells us that Almost Silent Clarence Thomas haz a sad because the SCOTUS apparently won’t look at New York Times vs. Sullivan, which is a foundational court precedent having to do with press freedom; Thomas is apparently PO’ed in light of the media reporting painting him as the thoroughly compromised fraud and ideologue that he is and of course, being an entitled crybaby, he wants to get back at people and entities offending his delicate sensibilities...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses the forces trying to destroy this country...1) the corporatist monsters who, as Thom says, want this country to be something out of a Dickens story in terms of poverty and having to plead for table scraps from the billionaires; 2) the MAGA chuds who think Mango Mussolini is God, and 3) the “tankies” who think we should have an autocratic state a la Putin, Viktor Orban in Hungary, etc. (and Thom does another great job IMO in explaining how life is quantifiably better in blue states vs. red states by just about every measure, with the color terminology rising to prominence in the 2000 election, let’s not forget...and by the way, apparently Steve Scalise doesn't want to be House Speaker after all, as noted here)...



...and given today’s date, I looked for a “13” song on the calendar and found this moldy oldie – enjoy.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo tells us how King Elon I has utterly wrecked Twitter/X/whatever by allowing all kinds of unverifiable and neo-Nazi crap to go and propagate without moderation of any kind whatsoever; of course, hollowing out the company’s infrastructure has gone a long way towards this sorry outcome, which is also amplified with all of the propaganda raging given the Israel/Hamas war...



...and speaking of propaganda, Farron Cousins tells us that Alabama recently trashed a bunch of training manuals for preschool teachers, books that cost $165 apiece, totaling about $16,500, because they were "woke"? Really??...one of the most clear-eyed commentaries I’ve ever heard about the state of Alabama, and no resident of that state should feel so much as a speck of pride after hearing what Cousins has to say...and they should also feel more than a bit of contrition over electing this clueless, provincial goober (and I don’t mean Gen. Hayden...and yes, I know what Hayden actually meant), but I’m sure they don’t...



...and on the subject of performative nonsense, Jesse Dollemore tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina recently wore a scarlet “A” on her dress after her vote to oust her party’s speaker Kevin McCarthy, believing that she’s being punished for being a woman and being demonized for her voice, or something (showing no undertstanding whatsoever of the meaning behind that symbol from Nathaniel Hawthorne's timeless novel)...in response, I’d like to link to an article on Dem D.C. U.S. House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton – given that she can appear but not actually vote on legislation, I would say that Holmes Norton has much more of a right to feel that she’s “demonized” than Mace ever will...



...and once more, I’m keeping TYT on a short leash, if you will, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary by Ana and Cenk about idiot Repug lawmakers like “running man” Josh Hawley saying we should divert aid from Ukraine to Israel, which is a typically idiotic and cowardly sentiment from a member of the “party of Lincoln” (and apparently, Cenk has announced a run for president, which means to me that TYT has officially “jumped the shark”)...



...and Kyle tells us about politicians losing their sh*t over Rashida Tlaib with a Palestinian flag next to her office – too freaking bad!...GREAT point by Kyle that just because you may support the Palestinians, that doesn’t automatically mean that you support the Hamas butchers also...



...and I probably shouldn’t include this tune because this band is from Atlanta (hiss, boo – just kidding...go Phils!), but I think it’s a catchy number anyway.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on “bias,” which can take many forms, which likely led to the horrific assault on Israel by Hamas (and which played a role in the January 6th attacks, and 9/11 also as far as I’m concerned...you could probably go back pretty far with Beau’s observation, likely to Vietnam also)...he also had another commentary where he said he hasn’t seen any evidence to indicate that Combover Caligula gave away any intel that enabled Hamas to launch their horrific attack – I’ll accept his point since I think he has more of an inside track than I do, but I’m only saying that #45 wouldn’t know enough to know what it was that he could have given up; combined with other intel, it could have given Russia/Hamas what they needed...and yeah, I’ll never get a conclusive answer on that either, but at a minimum, I think the possibility should be considered and examined, especially because of this...



...and Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative speaks out in defense of his country (fractured as it is inside an open air prison that Israel created) on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN program...as Emma Vigeland points out, Barghouti may not be aligned with Fatah or certainly Hamas (Fatah recognized Israel but, to hear Barghouti tell it, Netanyahu didn’t recognize Palestinian land based on a 2014 agreement, a claim which I believe), but for Barghouti to claim that Hamas only targeted military assets is a cruel, sick joke...that said, it’s impossible to ignore the context behind the Hamas attacks as well as those of Russia against Ukraine...



...and this BBC report with correspondent Nick Beale tells us about the Israeli air strikes on Gaza and tells us about the casualties/possible hostages, including Brits and Americans (updates are here)...



...returning to political stuff in this country, Kyle tells us about Ronna Romney McDaniel saying that the Dems are “pro criminal” and “pro Fentanyl” or something...so glad to hear Kyle point out the double standard of the corporate media outrage cycle when a Dem puts his or her foot in it, but when a Repug does the same thing, cue the sound of crickets...I actually agree with what Kyle says here about 2016 vs. 2020 Trump voters; I think some of the ’16 people were well-intentioned but made an awful mistake, but the ’20 people are utterly nutzoid IMO...



...and Mike Papantonio/Farron Cousins discuss Credit Suisse bank, which – allegedly – is sheltering $$ again for individuals and entities trying to illegally escape taxation, even though C-S was caught doing this once before, which was discovered when whistle blowers came forward...I wish I could argue with what they’re saying about Eric Holder, but they have better information on him than I do and I suspect that they’re right...also mentioned is the pizza shop owner in Ohio who says he doesn’t want to hire “stupid people”...I understand how a business owner can be frustrated on that score, but no, that definitely isn’t something you should advertise...that being said, I’m not going to go nuts over this one way or the other...



...and on this day in 1968, George Harrison recorded this tune for “the white album” for his pal Eric Clapton, who apparently had a toothache (Harrison added the saxophones, to be precise)...even though “Slow Hand” has made some great legendary music, he’s pretty much persona non grata for yours truly given stuff like this.

Tuesday Stuff

(I realize this pic might have been more appropriate for Indigenous People's Day yesterday...oh well.)

Leeja Miller brings us another well-done video, this time on Why Conservatives Hate Immigrants...gets into our LOOOONG anti-immigrant history in this country, in which we vilified first European emigres especially those who were German, Irish and Italian, then Asians, and then African Americans and Jews, and finally (up to now) Hispanics and Muslims...didn’t know Lincoln passed the Homestead Act and the Contract Labor Act to help immigrants find employment in war industries during the Civil War, offering land and jobs...among other important points, the clip tells us that the “great replacement theory” BS actually goes back to the 1870s...surprised to hear that Obama deported more immigrants than Trump, but maybe I shouldn’t be...not surprised to hear that #45 got rid of the Family Case Management Program that was working (and was cost effective) under Obama...NSFW/H...



...and Emma Vigeland of TMR brings us more on the Hamas strike against Israel, with an editorial in Haaretz laying the blame squarely at the feet of Netanyahu (here) - the latest is here...Hamas is terrible and does a pathetic job of providing services for the Palestinians, and there’s no excuse for killing or maiming ANY civilian or taking anyone hostage, but as noted in the clip, there were plenty of warning signs that this could happen that obviously were ignored by the Israeli government...I see no immediate end to this horror show, though I’d love to be wrong and see some solution worked out – not likely I realize...and once more, let’s not forget this too...worth noting IMO that the last Israeli head of state who embraced peace was Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and he was murdered by an Israeli nationalist...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher (spare me) has called for civil war because “elections don’t work”...I agree with a lot of Kyle’s commentary on what an utter intellectual turd Greg Gutfeld is, but as far as Kyle’s “elections don’t matter” comment at the end correctly aimed at idiots who try to discourage voters, I would only point out that Kyle didn’t vote in ’20 by his own admission (or at least, not for Biden), so I really don’t think he has the intellectual high ground on that one...



...and Texas, unsurprisingly, has passed a law saying schools should have at least one uniformed, armed cop on the premises, who could be a retired officer or private security, but of course the Texas morons passing this law didn't provide enough funding for it, leaving school districts to pick up the rest of the cost (as Rayy Vana says, that’s $$ NOT used for textbooks, school lunches, cost of AC and heat for the schools or salaries to hire additional teachers...Nina Turner provides commentary also)...



...and this More Perfect Union segment discusses the plot to get rid of public schools (speaking of education), led by the Alliance Defending Freedom (I was equal parts horrified and enraged as I watched this; I can’t think of a word to describe the arrogance and sanctimony of these bottom feeders trying their best to destroy public education)...video also mentions the SCOTUS rulings of Zelman (’02), Montana (’20) and Carson v. Makin (’22) that have been whittling away at public education in favor of vouchers...looks like this will end up as another post where I’m unable to end on a note of “people power” coming to the fore...sorry – I’m sure I’ll be able to resolve that sooner than later...



...and I don’t know if you had a Gen Z, angst-filled heartbreak song on your musical Bingo card, but here it is anyway.

Monday Stuff

This news report from MSNBC tells us about the fighting that has broken out between Israel and Hamas (and yes, ANY loss of life or injury on ANY side should be condemned...an utterly horrific update is here) – I think it was Marcy Wheeler online who wondered how much Putin could be behind this, sharing intel from this country and you-know-who with our enemies to escalate tensions in the region to try and divert attention/resources from Ukraine...among other things, this is a disastrous failure of Israeli intelligence...the last president who I can recall was actually serious about some kind of peace in that region was Jimmy Carter; eventually, we’ll need to find a way to lead on that subject once more, but not for the foreseeable future, sadly (and by the way, let's not forget this when it comes to the "R" party and their lie about the $6 billion as noted above...more here and here)...



...and Sam and Emma give us what I think is a pretty good analysis on the recent comments from Hillary Clinton about “deprogramming” the MAGA nuts...those cretins from the “party of Lincoln” are sinking, SO DON’T THROW THEM A FREAKING LIFE PRESERVER!! And I hope that line that this might generate $50 million in fundraising on their side proves to be wrong (hopefully not more than that), but that may be correct unfortunately...and by the way, how the hell do you “deprogram” this? (these nut fundie "megachurches" have their fingerprints all over this too). And yeah, this response also comes right from the wingnut nether regions I realize...



...and as long as we’re mentioning those claiming to speak in the name of religion, retired Army Major Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ (not him) tells us about this William Wolfe character, some fundamentalist preacher who sez (to the equally odious Stew Peters) that this country should submit itself to Christ (or at least Wolfe’s interpretation of Scripture), ignoring the separation of church and state that is implicit in the Constitution...



...and this Damage Report clip discusses a recent WaPo article making the case that red state policies on health care shave years off of people’s lives (more here)...and doesn’t it figure that this does indeed trace back to The Sainted Ronnie R? Also, I should check on the “seat belt law” thing since I think that was federally mandated...Rayy Vana is pretty smart on this stuff, but she may be off there (with Aida Rodriguez...I thought Rodriguez’s remarks were kid of all over the place; I wish she had talked instead about how the “party of Lincoln” is fighting tooth and nail against Medicaid expansion in the states as noted here)...



...and today would have been the 83rd birthday of John Lennon...



..and happy birthday also to Jackson Browne.

Friday Stuff

Jose Diaz-Balart (I think) interviews Adm. James Stavridis and Dave Aronberg on yet another story of Former *President Fergus Laing sharing secret intel (allegedly of course), this time having to do with nukes, and the recipient was an Australian billionaire, who then told two friends, and so on, and so on...this by itself should be disqualifying for Our Ochre Abomination to try and seek another term in the White House...but yeah, we know the reality...



...and I haven’t paid a lot of attention lately to Vlad The Butcher’s war of choice in Ukraine, but as Beau tells us here, the Russian navy was apparently driven out of the Black Sea by a country that doesn’t even have a navy, which is pretty freaking incredible as Beau tells us, and it should put the lie forever to wingnut claims about military spending on behalf of Ukraine...of course, all roads on that type of commentary lead back to Moscow as far as I’m concerned...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the goofball apparently bent on shooting Dem Wisconsin guv Tony Evers...seems this troglodyte first showed up shirtless with a handgun and was sent away, but then he came back with an AK-47 (and it truly is something out of a Kubrick movie that he could apparently carry his loaded AK-57 without a permit, but he needed a permit for his damn baton)...and Cenk’s comments about Dems allegedly wanting political violence being “weirdly high” is garbage as far as I’m concerned unless he can back that up with evidence – yet another reason why I don’t have a lot to do with TYT any more...at least Ana mentioned the story of the near-attack on San Francisco’s mayor, which was also ridiculous and that person should be prosecuted if warranted...



...and I know I’ve had a lot of clips recently from The Damage Report and Rayy Vana/Nina Turner, but they keep talking about topical stuff IMO, to their credit...this segment has to do with Almost Silent Clarence Thomas refusing to recuse himself on ruling on a case that could benefit his sugar daddy Harlan Crow (actually, it has to do with the SCOTUS deciding not to hear a case that would likely lead to weakening rent control laws; not touching those laws benefits the National Multifamily Housing Council, which is one of the parties in the case and a group to which Crow is aligned)...



...and Pap and Farron Cousins tell us that it looks Mohammed Bonesaw has arrested a young girl who defended someone online against the horrible Saudi regime and may end up losing her life for it, tragically enough (and can someone explain to me how this doesn’t make that nation where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from somehow on a par with Iran and North Korea?)...



...and Emma Vigeland and the Majority Report crew tell us that Fix Noise “hard news” guy Bret Baier sat down with MBS to supposedly discuss another case of someone threatened to be killed for expressing an unpopular opinion...very interesting theory about The Roger Ailes BS Factory having to grovel to the Saudis to get some dough to fight the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits...



...well, at least SOMEBODY basically flipped off the Saudis in this country, and it was Dem Arizona guv Katie Hobbs...seems she shut down some stinking corrupt water/land deal to grow alfalfa that was struck by the prior ruling Repug regime under former guv Doug Ducey (Kyle Kulinski fills us in)...



...and harking back to the first clip, when I recall Biden’s Oval Office predecessor, the title of this tune often comes to mind.

Thursday Stuff

Trae Crowder gives us his pithy, NSFW/H take on what just transpired with the Kevin McCarthy political human sacrifice; I can’t think of a word to describe the irony of screeching about working with the Dems when getting rid of “15 Votes For Speaker” was truly a bipartisan exercise, as Crowder notes...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about a woman in tears over wanting to meet Mango Mussolini at an Iowa rally, along with two other ladies allegedly from CA who didn’t know who “Gavin Newsa” was (I truly don’t know what the hell you do with these people, though shunning them might be a good first step)...



...and on the subject of conservative wackadoodles, Rayy Vana and Nina Turner of The Damage Report (definitely not them) tell us about this Brian Glenn character of “right side” broadcasting or whatever, who completely deserves Marjorie Trailer Park Greene (“liberal women are ugly,” huh? – of course, misogyny comes so easily to characters like him)...



...and I’m not familiar with this guy on Meidas Touch, but he makes a lot of sense when it comes to the dumbing down of our politics (slightly NSFW/H)...I would only add that the rot goes back MUCH further than #45 when it comes to putting stoo-pid people in charge (and I know I’m a broken record on this); it REALLY goes back to The Sainted Ronnie R...you literally need a book to catalog all of the outright lies, misstatements and obfuscations that go back to his first run for president in 1980...might as well start with this...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the work of the U of P’s Damon Linker into the slow-motion attempted takeover of our democracy by the billionaire class, aided enthusiastically by Not Your Father’s Republican Party...and I’m not surprised these cretins are going after Sherrod Brown the way they are, but sadly that fits their wretched profile...I also didn’t know about this Gestapo-like force in North Carolina, but yeah, that doesn’t surprise me either (more here)...



...well, for a dose of good news, Kyle Kulinski gives us an ad from President Biden going after Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former *President on jobs lost from ’16-’20 despite Combover Caligula’s blowhard promises...



...and happy 80th birthday to Steve Miller; this is another occasion where I couldn’t make up my mind between two tunes, so I put up both of them...hope it’s a good one.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel covers the “big story” here on “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy getting the boot (mildly NSFW/H)...kudos to Pramila Jayapal (who used the phrase "pigsty of incompetence" in another clip, which I think is spot-on about the House "leadership," sadly), and yeah, Big Stoo-pid Head Matt Gaetz voted for the stinking Trump tax boondoggle in December 2017 so “I take no lecture” from that assclown either...pretty much a recap of the most notable media moments at the end of McCarthy’s run as speaker, including Elise Stefanik’s nonsense too...I actually don’t think McCarthy will try again for speaker, but what do I know? And I think Steve Scalise is a good bet from these lunatics, and he would be utterly awful also...



...so who’s up next for the role? Why, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who’s made a name for himself by going after Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (here)...McHenry is featured in this clip sucking up to the American Banker’s Association, saying that blaming bank failures on deregulation is “hackish”...McHenry is responsible for this utterly no-class move aimed at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who’s out of town for Dianne Feinstein’s funeral, adding another level of dickishness by McHenry)...McHenry is responsible for this also (as well as trying to get The Sainted Ronnie R on the $50 bill as noted here)...



Update 10/6/23: More on this pathetic little puke McHenry is here.

...oh, and tell me again how much we allegedly love kids in this country; funding for child care centers in the American Rescue Plan ended last Saturday, and with that freak show going on in the House, I think it’s unduly optimistic unfortunately to expect that that funding will be renewed...Rayy Vana and Nina Turner tell us more (and I would REALLY like for Turner to explain to me how this awful lapse in child care funding is the fault of the Dems WHEN THEY MADE SURE THE FUNDING WAS THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! To be honest, the more Turner opens her mouth, the more I realize why she lost her Ohio state senate seat...I’m sorry to be mean, but all I hear from her is grievance – there’s a time and a place for that I know, but personally I think she overdoes it)...



...and Rachel Maddow comments on our political/media/industrial complex thinking that Dems and Repugs are “mirror images” of each other, while Matt Gaetz tries to boot “15 Votes for Speaker” Kevin McCarthy (a little behind the news cycle here, I realize), leading into a discussion of Irrational Spew having to get rid of some writers who were too racist even for them, including this Peter Brimelow character who founded VDARE, which espoused similar noxious sentiments...oh, and Brimelow ended up as a speechwriter for Gaetz, and if that surprises you, then you’re not paying attention to this mess...and I honestly didn’t know that about “Apartheid Clyde” and the X/bird app, but given what that platform has turned into, that doesn’t shock me either...



...and going from the ridiculous to the even-more ridiculous, Farron Cousins informs us that the lawyer in the fraud case for the Gropenfuhrer apparently forgot to tell the judge that #45 wanted a jury trial...rut-row...



Update 10/13/23: Apparently the above video was incorrect based on this - apologies.

...and this clip was filmed in February I believe even though this trio supposedly disbanded in April of ’22 – hopefully they’ll reconsider that move because I like their sound (and Portland, Maine where they’re from is a place I want to get to one day, for what it’s worth).

Tuesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that Marjorie Trailer Park Greene says that the almost-government shutdown (though it still may yet comes to pass with her and the rest of the problem children calling the shots in the GOP House) was the price to be paid for the COVID lockdowns...I really can’t find a way to unwrap any “take” that’s that insane (NSFW/H)...



...and for the benefit of folks out there wondering how life forms like the GA-14 mistake have managed to rise to such prominence in our politics sadly, I would argue that what you could call “glibertarianism” is as big a culprit as anything else, and Thom Hartmann says that that all started with ‘50s real estate cretins, like the father of #45 I would argue, arising as a response to Brown v. Board, though getting rid of rent control was a goal also as Thom tells us...also infamous was David Koch running on a 1980 platform of basically ending all public services except police, courts and the military...the philosophy came from Ayn Rand of course, and I’d forgotten about the story of Edward Hickman and how Rand loved this guy...what utter madness, and I mean that towards both of them...clip ends at about 4:06...



...and true to their wretched form, it looks like “never Trump” Repugs are falling in line behind you-know-who, as Farron Cousins explains...



...and Jayar and Rayy Vana of The Damage Report tell us that the SCOTUS (which just began a new term...God help us), amazingly, won’t let Alabama use gerrymandered voting maps (gosh, I’m shocked; I thought “balls and strikes” Roberts said racism didn’t exist anymore...removing my tongue from my cheek)...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner discuss the beyond-awful Jessica Burgess story out of Nebraska, trying to get an abortion for her daughter who became pregnant but was apparently in an abusive relationship...from what I can gather, the mom was sentenced to two years in prison mainly because she interfered with the police investigation and burned and buried the fetal remains...I’m certainly not advocating doing that either, but to me also, access to safe medical abortion is the issue, the procedure I mean, which of course has been gutted by Dobbs, as well as access to pills...and I also don’t completely understand how law enforcement was originally notified; how would they know about this unless the company providing the pills deliberately outed the Burgesses (the mom and daughter), which to me is a whole other matter that needs to be thoroughly investigated, and the people at the company who may have outed the Burgesses – allegedly of course – should be held liable also...



Update: And on the subject of abortion as health care for women, I would say that supporting this lady running for office in Tennessee is one way to fight back to preserve Roe.

...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/2/18...the late, great Michael Brooks of The Majority Report points out that Repug a-hole Josh Hawley, running against incumbent Claire McCaskill at the time, aired one of his ridiculous syrupy ads of his talking about how he wanted to cover pre-existing conditions through the ACA, when in fact he and fellow Repug Kevin Cramer, who also defeated an incumbent Senate Dem that year (albeit with trickery) were trying to get rid of pre-existing condition coverage in the ACA...typical (more related odious stuff with Hawley is here, and to do something about him, click here)...



...and Eric Willoughby is my “hero of the week” for this (more here...I love the looks on the faces of these idiot Repugs in NC getting called out by Willoughby, as if to say “how dare this punk tell us how crooked we are!”)...



...and on this day in 1978, Fort Wayne, Indiana cops arrested anywhere from 28-58 fans at an Aerosmith concert for smoking pot, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage...Tyler announced that the band would bail out anyone who was arrested that night, and the next day they did just that, though understandably, memories of the event are hazy...here is a tune for the occasion.

Monday Stuff

I know I’m a few days late here, but I guess attention must be paid to that ridiculous freak show last Wednesday that masqueraded as a Repug Party prez candidates’ debate...so Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Pence want a national ban on gender affirming care and requiring that schools “out” kids who may be trans, huh? Nah, we’re not devolving into Nazi Germany much, are we (Francesca and Farron Cousins of The Damage Report discuss)...

...and Robert Reich gives us another useful reminder about what exactly it is that our government is supposed to do for us by taxation; namely, providing services, performing general maintenance for our aging infrastructure, and yes, national defense, among other needs (a response to everyone decrying the allegedly awful “s” word)...



...and the latest from Second Thought tells us more about Why The Government Can’t Run Out of Money (admittedly dry but still interesting stuff on how foreign currency can lead to inflation, among many other points of discussion, to say nothing of price gouging...”The problem with government spending is profit,” which I always suspected, and I’m glad to see that explained here...good to see the point raised at about 13:50 about how we can influence our government’s money decisions...”The only obstacle left is how much improving people’s lives costs the capitalist ruling class” indeed)...



...and Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Channel brings us Dem U.S. House Rep Jasmine Crockett commendably going off during the utterly bogus Biden impeachment inquiry, along with Repug Rep Brandon Williams smugly telling everybody that he would continue to collect a paycheck during the shutdown even though many, many other federal employees and contractors wouldn’t be able to do that (and yes, yet another temporary agreement was reached as noted here...NSFW/H)...



...and Jayar and Rayy Vana tell us about John Fetterman’s plan to forgive school lunch debt (Sheldon Whitehouse and Peter Welch in the Senate are also on board as noted – Farron Cousins alluded to this earlier)...yeah, let’s throw the “personal responsibility” BS at HUNGRY FREAKING KIDS, you effing Repug ghouls! – and yeah, the stuff about wishing a kid a happy birthday but saying, “you can’t eat” despite that is something out of a Kubrick movie...



...and I hope you're in the mood for a newer, angst-filled Britpop tune, because here it is.

Friday Stuff

Here is President Biden’s recent speech at the McCain Institute about our democracy (here)...speech is about 35:00 – I’m not going to try and paraphrase it because it’s so important that I think we should watch all of it (and I can’t believe he was interrupted like that by that clown yelling about fossil fuels at about 8:50...I don’t give a damn if the guy’s a lefty or not; that interruption was rude and stoo-pid) – someone who is allegedly a doddering old man could not come up with something like this – I have a feeling he wrote a good bit of it, and he did a terrific job delivering all of it...and he’s used that line “not the example of our power but the power of our example” at least once before, and that was at the inaugural – of course, Peter Baker of the New York Times will find a reason to criticize it in an upcoming negative column I’m sure...I wish Biden had spoken more about the “dark money” interests behind atrocities such as Project 2025, which he alluded to a bit with that “Schedule F” remark, but what he said was definitely good enough and motivation for us all to do our best to negate, as much as possible, the garbage in what passes for our political discourse and work to get Democrats elected...



Update: More here.

Update 9/30/23: And as a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise when it comes to presidents and speeches, I give you this.

...and in Biden’s speech, he made reference to Our Ochre Abomination and #45’s attacks on Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; David Pakman gives us an excerpt of an interview with Milley to air on “60 Minutes,” probably this Sunday (and I realize I shouldn’t dignify Mango Mussolini’s absurd comments on Truth Septic about the Afghanistan withdrawal under President Biden, but I’ll only say this...you can blame Biden for maybe not recognizing how badly the situation on the ground had degraded, as well as overly optimistic thinking of how willing the Afghan army was to fight against the Taliban, but you can also blame 45 for originally setting a thoroughly unrealistic withdrawal date of May 1st, 2021 as well as allowing the Taliban to achieve its greatest level of strength in that country since 2001...as noted here, there wasn’t going to be an easy way to end our nation’s longest war regardless of who the president was...and who was it again who initially invited the Taliban to Camp David for peace talks before the justifiable outcry forced him to cancel the meeting as noted here?)...



..and RIP Dianne Feinstein – yes, her final years were forgettable (I defended her in those remarks to the kids about “my way or the highway” because I thought what she said was taken out of context a bit), but she was definitely a titan of the Senate in her day...what propelled her career, as it turns out, was the twin murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, which I can’t imagine that any sane person would have wanted, but she answered the call as San Francisco mayor and also by serving in the “upper chamber”...big shoes to fill to be sure...



...and Leeja Miller gives us another comprehensive clip on Why The U.S. Has So Many Prisoners (another great report, this time on the history of incarceration in this country pretty much...as Miller correctly points out, it was an easy transition to be fearful of African Americans as slaves and keep them oppressed to being fearful of them as “the other” in the ‘60s and ‘70s in response to civil rights when it came to our criminal justice system and keep them oppressed for that alleged reason also)...and yes, that quote from John Ehrlichman pretty much nails it, as we know...lots of other important history, including the drug stuff that funded the Central American garbage in the ‘80s under The Sainted Ronnie R which played a big role in the crack cocaine epidemic in this country back then, and the 100-to-1 ratio of crack vs. powder that played a role in the beyond-ridiculous mandatory minimum sentencing (with the explosion of incarceration as noted)...and as others have pointed out, the prison furlough policy Michael Dukakis was victimized for in the ’88 presidential contest (the Willie Horton ad of course) was instituted by a Republican Massachusetts governor (here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us a video about a GREAT ad from the “Lose Cruz” PAC...I’ll probably have a nightmare now of “Cancun Cruz” yelling “PODCAST!”...this is all good fun I know, but to do something about Cruz for real, click here...and yes, I know it’s Texas and the odds are long, but there’s no hope at all if we choose to do nothing...



...and the weekend is here at last - hallelujah!

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about the U.S. House Repug spending plan (using the term charitably – extortion scheme is more correct IMO) to keep our government operating (harking back to Project 2025 again...the cruelty is always the point with these maniacs)...



...so, if the “crazy caucus” isn’t bothering with dumb stuff like, y’know, trying to keep our government operating, what are they focusing on instead? Why, trying to impeach #46 because Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *preznit wanted his party to do it, as David Doel tells us (and GREAT job by House Democrats, especially Max Frost, to give this hearing the treatment it deserved)...I can recall when Jonathan Turley was on “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann all the freaking time, but I guess he likes his bread buttered by the other side now...looks like this was the price “15 Votes For Speaker” McCarthy had to pay in order to get his crazy caucus not to let the government shut down, though they apparently will do that anyway – that’s what you get when you negotiate with someone trying to hold you hostage...and nothing on the home page of this guy about his party’s plans to toss thousands of people out of work and throw the lives of millions into chaos if a budget isn't approved by end of 9/30...



Update 9/29/23: And concerning the shutdown, I give you this and this from the party that spits on anyone who isn't part of the "one percent."

...and David Pakman gives us Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise trying to flog this narrative about Biden interfering against Ukraine and Victor Shokin on behalf of Hunter (which has been disproven MANY times), and the Fix Noise mouthpiece gets the pushback he deserves from former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko...



...and Emma of The Majority Report comments on a clip of UAW worker Douglas Moore speaking about the strike...important to note that more established line workers like Moore who apparently aren’t affected as much by the tier system are walking out for the benefit of younger workers who are, and in addition to ending tiers, Moore wants the COLAs to be restored, which, given the profits of the automakers, seems like a pretty damn reasonable request...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about a New Deal-era program coming back to fight climate change (the “American Climate Corps,” discussed in an interview with Ali Zaidi, the Biden White House National Climate Advisor)...



...and 9/29 marks the 15th anniversary of the Dow’s suffering what was (at the time) the largest single-day point drop in its history (here), which kick-started The Grear Recession, brought on by Congress’s inability to pass a budgetary relief bill from Bushco – another lesson in Repug congressional intransigence that led to fiscal disaster...hopefully past isn’t prologue given what looks like an upcoming shutdown as previously noted...I think this tune is apropos.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel tells us about President Biden speaking out in support of the UAW strikers; lots of good stuff about the pro-worker Biden NLRB; I didn't know this is the first time a chief executive did this, which is all the more notable...I knew about that National Right to Work outfit (hmmm, just smell the Astroturf!), but I also didn’t know we were up to 27 states with right-to-work laws, which of course is “right to work for less with lousy or no benefits” (pretty sure Illinois got rid of their RTW law)...props to the workers who utterly blew up the BS about Mango Mussolini supposedly being “pro-worker” echoed by the corporate media nonsense from “the most trusted name in news”...



...and I’m behind a bit on my Leeja Miller clips and I’m going out of order here to present the following on “Project 2025”; I think I got into this with a Kyle Kulinski clip, but this is a much deeper dive (NSFW/H)...I know the whole “administrative law” segment is pretty dry, but it’s also pretty damn important to know about to get an understanding of why the wingnuts hate our governmental agencies so damn much, mainly because they interfere with our precious “free market” from doing whatever the hell it wants...and oh yeah, we learn about the whole “unitary executive theory” madness once more...and I’d never heard of “Schedule F” until now, but yeah, it’s pretty “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” like the rest of this depraved lunacy...the conservative grievance mentality drips from every word of every odious page of this wretched “manifesto,” including basically imprisoning any LGBTQ person, anyone who purveys “pornography,” or anyone advocating a “woke agenda” of course...the fact that forces in this country could produce something like this in the 21st century is truly a “mask off” moment...



...and the Blue Amp Channel guy (not Cliff Schecter) tells us about the 3 things the Repug candidates for preznit won’t talk about in tonight’s clown show debate...



...and Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page tell us about the “party of Lincoln” being more concerned about attire in the U.S. Senate than hungry kids (well-done interview clip with Nell Menefee-Libey discussing the WIC program, and if I were to see “I’m Disappointed” Collins in a bikini, I would likely need shock therapy...NSFW/H)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us about Repugs getting all big mad at Talyor Swift for encouraging thousands (at least) of her fans to register to vote...OF COOOUURRRSE!, as Cenk Uygur might say...as for her music, I really don’t have an opinion either way – it’s OK I guess, but it doesn’t do anything for me, which is fine (NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of musicians, RIP Terry Kirkman of The Association.

Tuesday Stuff

Chris Hayes discusses the utterly woeful anti-union record of Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *President, who apparently will be speaking at a non-union auto parts manufacturer in Michigan as noted here (and oh yeah, “woke” EVs are the issue...GMAFB!)...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us that, apparently, Evangelicals at the Family Research Council’s “Pray, Vote, Stand” summit are being a little closed-mouthed about their victories, particularly on Dobbs, probably b/c they know how pissed off people are about them (as Francesca notes, interesting to me that there’s apparently a larger decline in Sunday services attendance among Repugs than Dems...and let's not EVER forget that Roe was struck down by SCOTUS justices nominated by and confirmed under Combover Caligula...those wretched three made the difference)...



...and Kyle Kulinski discusses Mehdi’s Hasan’s commentary on Dem U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (more here...kind of a pointless dig at Dick Durbin, but I agree with Kyle’s other points, especially comparing the response of lefties to Menendez vs. Repugs doing what they do best, and that’s pretty much falling in line for the antics of their party, and spot-on to draw a comparison also to Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and “George Santos”...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 9/22/15...the Hillary Clinton campaign (remember her?) put together this video from the Repug Party debates from that period to point out that the “party of Lincoln” was utterly silent on the issues that mattered most, something to keep in mind for tomorrow night’s idiocy (and gee, that HRC sure was a stinky candidate for ABSOLUTELY NAILING THEM ON THIS, wasn’t she...yes, tongue-in-cheek once more)...



...and last Sunday marked what would have been the 75th birthday of the one and only Phil Hartman...



...and happy 68th birthday to Carlene Carter.

Monday Stuff

David Pakman gives us a clip of Our Ochre Abomination threatening Jews for not supporting him, and on Rosh Hashanah no less (and happy Yom Kippur to all who observe, by the way)...in the process of having another online tantrum at Truth Septic, #45 rattles off his highly questionable list of “accomplishments” (and of course, what would ANY kind of a conservative message be without misspellings?)...



Update: Naaah, this isn’t what dictators and demagogues do, is it?

...and Jesse Dollemore gives us another example of poor white Repugs screwing themselves over for Trump (three clips include Marjorie Traitor Greene’s boyfriend interviewing a couple of people at an Iowa rally for the Gropenfuhrer...I don’t know if the problem is that these folks have just grown up to advanced middle age in an environment where there is no alternative media besides right wing talk radio and other like-minded broadcast networks, or how much of a role their faith plays in all of this – not trying to impugn religion per se, I hasten to add – but these folks are flat-out, dead wrong to support the “party of Lincoln” in any way whatsoever)...



...and Krystal, Kyle and friends discuss the Andy Beshear ad featuring a young girl named Hadley who was raped by her stepfather, and the clip is aimed right at Kentucky Repug Daniel Cameron...yeah, call out these monsters for what they truly are...more here (and I thought this was a little illuminating also, though not in a good way)...



...and Francesca and Mondale Robinson of The Damage Report tell us about a Texas school cancelling, if you will, a graphic novel of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” supposedly because it has all that icky gay woman stuff (tongue in cheek; watching this, it occurs to me that we don’t have to refer to Repugs, “Moms for Liberty” and other like-minded clowns as figurative Nazis; this is LITERAL Nazi garbage)...



...and Cliff Schecter tells us that Dem U.S. House Rep Eric Swalwell of CA made Gym Jordan run away in the recent Merrick Garland hearing by speaking truth to Repug Party BS (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I know these guys are touring, but on the other coast at the moment – don’t know if they made it into our area recently, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if they return in the future and try to get the word out here...love their sound.

Friday Stuff

Leeja Miller gives us a history of the "party of Lincoln" caterwauling about "voter fraud" (and I'm definitely a fan of Ground News also, FWIW)...I briefly forgot about how much the lies from McCain about Obama and ACORN managed to stick...glad to see Kris Kobach get dragged over propaganda on immigration and voting fraud (and the "Show Me Your Papers" law, along with Crosscheck), along with Samuel Huntington...and I'm REALLY glad to see Cleta Mitchell get her "time in the barrel" (and the Bradley Foundation) and it's shocking a bit to learn that Mitchell started on "Team D" and ended up with the likes of Ginni Thomas...the last 3:00 in particular really nails the issue...."That tarnishment of democracy becomes obvious only at a point when it's impossible to reverse it" indeed...



...and I thought Kyle Kulinski did a great job here of summarizing all the ways Dems in state government have improved the lives of their constituents, and the latest example of that is PA Dem guv Josh Shapiro, getting a “motor voter” measure put into place, which could get “tens of thousands” more PA voters signed up in the first year as noted here (and Al Schmidt, by the way, was the former Republican elections official in Philly targeted by Mango Mussolini and his minions over alleged “voter fraud,” referenced in the first clip of course)...



...and Cliff Schecter tells us about Rupert The Pirate stepping down from his perch at News Corp apparently, but handing the reins over to his son Lachlan, who might actually be worse, believe it or not (more here)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us about Louisiana Repug John Raymond, who apparently is trying to run for the state house and has been endorsed by his party even though he has been charged with child cruelty (here...though of course, he wants to “protect” kids from LGBTQ individuals...uh huh)...Raymond is apparently a pastor-turned-politician (heckuva combo)... and I watched the first two seasons of “Survivor” and then said enough because I thought those people were suffering way too damn much for the sake of a freaking TV show; more to the point, this guy Raymond needs counseling at a minimum and should have nothing whatsoever to do with a job representing constituents in a public role...NSFW/H...



...and I know I spend a hell of a lot of time at this site basically documenting all manner of Repug-party misbehavior to varying degrees of illegality, but if you think that means that I’m going to turn a blind eye when the culprit is someone from the “D” party, you’re very much mistaken, and there is probably no better (worse?) illustration of that than Dem U.S. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey; as far as I’m concerned, he dodged an electoral bullet, so to speak, in 2018 when the R team ran the utterly awful Bob Hugin against him, and I said at the time that they won’t make that mistake again, and I’m sure they won’t...and yeah, Menendez is entitled his day in court as are we all, innocent until proven guilty and all that and everything is alleged, but I don’t want to imagine the awfulness of losing control of the U.S. Senate because Menendez wouldn’t give up his job despite all of the cries for him to step down at last (more here and here)...



Update: I wish I could say I'm surprised (here).

...and when it comes to the unruly children in charge of the U.S. House (who STILL haven’t passed the bills they need to fund the government - more here and here), it looks like Dan Bishop, Gym Jordan, etc. tried to rattle AG Merrick Garland, to no avail whatsoever (to Garland’s credit – Francesca and Mondale Robinson give us the details)...



...and given what I just said, I suppose I should note that the cretinous U.S. House mongrels in charge have come up with their idea of a budget, which, as Thom Hartmann says, can indeed be summarized by this statement; the rich get richer, and you die (Thom provides more discussion of Jordan’s antics against Merrick Garland...good for Jerry Nadler to call out Jordan for the liar he is)...and yeah, the budget games from these unruly children in the U.S. House is typical...I’d forgotten that Bill Clinton didn’t add to the deficits (interesting background on the “two Santa Claus theory”...more on wingnut Jude Wanniski is here)...



...and I don’t know if this qualifies as some kind of a “Gen Z” anthem or not, but at least it’s an upbeat number for us to drink and party to for what looks like a soggy weekend coming up in a few hours.