Friday Stuff

(By the way, I typically don’t watch the State of the Union address regardless of who’s giving it, but based on preliminary indications, it looks like Biden acquitted himself pretty well, so good for him...and of course, the usual idiots acted the way we would expect. I’ll keep an eye out for further videos on this and I may include them later.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report lets us know that Mango Mussolini recently said that Israel should “finish the problem” concerning Gaza (and Andy Ogles definitely didn’t “cover himself in glory” either...yes, it’s true that I don’t agree with Biden’s handling on this also, but would you actually be willing to trust Dementia J. Trump on this matter instead, or anything else?)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Bill Hemmer of Fix Noise whining that CNN and MSNBC won’t let Tangerine Palpatine get away with lying in his gonzo speeches after the recent primaries...and as far as Harris Faulkner goes on being “fair” to Biden, I give you this (NSFW/H)...



...and on the subject of insane Republicans, Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show tells us about this Trumpist goofball Mark Robinson, running for guv in North Carolina, because of course (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that the wingnuts are losing what’s left of their minds over Taylor Swift encouraging people to vote again...good for her (clip includes a little more background on Swift’s commendable opposition to Big Hair Blackburn in her home state)...



...and Sean Morrow of More Perfect Union tells us about the company buying up Subway and the rest of our favorite chains, with 1.4 million employees total (yep, it’s Roark Capital, another one of these private equity vultures, run by Neal Aronson...and I guess the “chef’s kiss” in this is the ridiculous homage to Ayn Rand’s character in “The Fountainhead,” on top of low wages and wage theft...charming...interesting history on advances with the NLRB under Obama that were gutted by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, though “Dark Brandon” is trying to fix that mess with President Manchin running interference to preserve the odious status quo)...



...and happy International Women's Day.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau provides some info on the air drops of food into Gaza from President Biden – stopping arms shipments to Israel and calling for a cease fire is best IMO, but this is somewhat positive also (I like Beau’s snarky tone, which I think is apropos for some of the questions)...

via GIPHY

...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the news of “Curtsy Kyrsten” deciding to leave the U.S. Senate and (as mentioned in the clip) likely to head to some type of ceremonial figurehead role where she can cash in without having to do any work (as opposed to the bare minimum she already did...and my God, am I SICK AND TIRED of listening to this wretched woman blaming “partisanship” for leaving “the world’s greatest deliberative body”...what about opposing a federal $15 minimum wage? Fighting for the carried interest loophole? That paid wine internship, of all things? Ugh...)...



...and I know I’m a little late on this, but Jesse Dollemore informs us of our thoroughly compromised SCOTUS deciding to keep Our Ochre Abomination on the ballot, in response to Colorado quite rightly trying to boot him for trying to overturn the '20 election (though they don’t say #45 is not an insurrectionist...SOME justice anyway...more here)...



...and it looks like Nikki Haley is packing it in even though she won the Washington, D.C. primary as well as Vermont’s...whatever it takes to peel off votes from Dementia J. Trump, but yeah, the odds of her winning were daunting from the start (though there were a bunch of issues with Haley’s candidacy anyway on policy reasons alone...Farron Cousins tells us more, including the inevitable meltdown from you-know-who on Truth Septic)...



...and Retired Army Maj. Richard Ojeda tells us about actor Ed O’Neill’s story of a Trump plaque on one of his golf courses about a battle having to do with the “river of blood” on the Potomac...yeah, #45 is lying yet again (and kudos to O’Neill for deciding to return his honorary degree from Youngstown State as noted here)...



...and I need a bit of a newer tune as a pick-me-up to get over the “hump day,” and I think this does that nicely.

Monday Stuff

John of The Damage Report tells us that it looks like there’s some “good news, bad news” stuff for Bo-Bo Boebert in some recent polling (I said I’d lay off her kid, but definitely not the U.S. House mistake from CO-03, for now)...looks like her name recognition is helping a little, but not enough to overcome her unfavorable stuff it seems (great point IMO by John wondering if anybody is going to help Boebert...wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that, though you’d think they would for the reasons John mentions...to do something about her, click here)...



...and God bless those brave Russians who turned out for the funeral of Alexei Navalny, putting themselves in danger for the reasons noted in the clip...Navalny’s widow should be allowed to come to this country and address a joint session of Congress (with Ben Gleib, Cenk and Mark Thompson)...



...and David Doel discusses the IDF opening fire on starving Palestinians because those seeking food made the soldiers feel “unsafe”...and oh yeah, apparently the UNRWA allegations that broke around the time of the ICJ ruling of a genocide in Gaza were BS also (the UNRWA stuff I mean)...at first I blamed “Bibi” pretty much exclusively for this, but after reading that quote from Israel’s national defense minister...well, let’s just say that I wanted to smash my keyboard into about a hundred pieces...yes, I know that’s pointless, but it’s about as meaningful as anything the IDF can come up with based on what we’re finding out in these videos (and 17K WCNSFs – dear God)...NSFW/H...



...and related to the slaughter in Gaza, this TMR clip with Emma and Matt Binder is about 37:00, but it’s important IMO...the “paper of record” was busted based on reporting in The Intercept by Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill and Daniel Boguslaw...the report by the three has to do with the Times’s in-depth piece by Anat Schwartz last December about Hamas using sexual violence in the 10/7 attack; I’m sure that happened, and those bastards need to be held to account for that, but you wouldn’t know that for certain based on the Times’s alleged “reporting”... Schwartz sounds like she’s qualified for OAN but not much else (and maybe I should blame Jeffrey Gettleman also, but I don’t...I think Schwartz was way out of her depth here)...



...and I know there are folks out there with their drawers all twisted in knots over the latest polling having to do with #46 (I think some of this is the fault of Team Biden, but overwhelmingly, our allegedly august corporate media is to blame also IMO, obsessing over Biden’s age when #45 IS ONLY THREE YEARS YOUNGER, IS SUNSETTING AND WANTS TO DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY!!!)...well, David Pakman gives us a clip of Gavin Newsom tearing it up in defense of “Dark Brandon”...



...and I had to admit that I got a bit of a kick out of this item...it looks like the RNC is trying to prevent the Gropenfuhrer from cleaning out the funds of that morally bankrupt organization in order to pay his legal costs (Farron Cousins brings us more info)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about The Roger Ailes BS Factory beating the drum on “migrant crime” because they literally have nothing else to attack Biden over – what a pathetic bunch that network of lying frauds truly is...



...and on this day 40 years ago, The Police played the last date of their Synchronicity tour in Melbourne, Australia...they wouldn’t reunite until 2007.

Friday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us about Marjorie Traitor Greene “screwing the (metaphorical) pooch,” if you will, when asked about Vlad The Butcher (NSFW/H)...yeah, let’s just ask Emmy Lou and Jim Bob down at the Piggly Wiggly what they think of RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, but not lil’ ol’ MEEEE of course...to do something about her at long last, click here (primary is 5/21)...



(Any by the way, concerning Marge’s “partner in crime” Bo-Bo Boebert, I’m staying away from anything having to do with Boebert’s son and all of the charges he faces, which sound pretty bad...allegedly of course. I hope he gets whatever just desserts may be coming his way, as well as restitution as much as possible for the alleged victims. However, I think it’s wrong to involve underage family members in this stuff...and I know Boebert is 18...unless they come looking for a fight of course. And I would feel that way if we were talking about President Obama’s daughters, Chelsea Clinton, or Dubya’s daughters or Barron Trump...I remember some of the vile stuff about Chelsea Clinton from the '90s, which I thought was particularly gutless, and I swore I’d never sink so low...I honestly don’t think I have. So, I’m going to do my best to not include anything on Tyler Boebert...just letting you know in advance.)

...and speaking of gutless, it looks like that U.S. House coward Tim Burchett of Tennessee falsely accused a man named Denton Loudermill of being a shooter in the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade, and then Burtchett smugly used the occasion to try and dress down the “Tennessee Holler” guy who rightly called out Burchett over it (with Rick Strom of TYT also)...



Update 3/27/24: Good.

...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Repug U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, who apparently thinks supporting the commendable bill from Dem U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois on IVF means that this country will turn into “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” or something (“human animal chimeras”??? WHAAAAA?????!!! NSFW/H)...



...and in case you want MORE evidence of pointless cruelty from the “party of Lincoln,” Farron Cousins is here to tells us that the Repugs in charge of primarily southern and western states want to see kids starve, saying no to basically free federal dollars for nutrition, while Biden fights for more $$ against childhood hunger (about $10 billion total)...



...and I think we need to be reminded periodically of individuals who helped grease the skids, you might say, to put us on a path where we’re all enduring terminal late-stage capitalism, and one of the most notorious figures IMO is former Nixon Solicitor General (and, fortunately, defeated SCOTUS Justice nominee) Robert Bork – Robert Reich tell us about Bork...yep, he was big into anti-trust, which sounds nice, but Bork had to be reminded, frequently, about the ever-expanding power of corporations...cutting prices to cut out competition, cutting wages also (neither of which Bork cared about of course)...and with just about anything putrid in our politics, you can draw a line right back to The Sainted Ronnie R (more here)...



...and happy 80th birthday to Roger Daltrey (and kudos to Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who for this).

Thursday Stuff

OK, so before anybody gets all “oh, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao was a ‘middle-of-the road’ Repug” (spoiler alert: they don’t exist), let us NEVER forget how he completely blew up the filibuster, fought campaign finance reform tirelessly until Citizens United, and fronted for Our Ochre Abomination while they both utterly polluted our courts with wingnut ideologues, including the SCOTUS (and the infamous example below has to do with the ongoing effort from Tangerine Palpatine and his minions to destroy our democracy, which that U.S. Senate death eater from Kentucky doesn’t care about preserving either...more here, here and here)...



...and when it comes to our utterly corrupt High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, Chris Hayes tells us that these nine frauds in robes (well, 6 at least) have decided to hear Combover Caligula’s claim that he’s immune from being held liable for trying to lay waste to our democracy and should be allowed on the ballots in this year’s presidential election...I don’t know if this is worse than Bush v. Gore as Hayes says, but it stinks to high freaking heaven all right (“delay is all that matters,” indeed)...a four-year-old child can see that #45 is guilty as hell, but it’s all about making sure he has another shot at An Oval Office from his Trumpist lickspittles (Gorsuch, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett) – hard to come up with the words about how vile and repugnant this is...



...and Trae Crowder gives us his take on Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence underperforming in Michigan, along with the “uncommitted” Biden voters in response to Israel/Gaza...#46 is going to have to come up with something to try and get these people back into the fold (gee...maybe a cease fire and banning all weapon sales to Israel for starters, maybe??), and I agree with Crowder when it comes to the question of the “greater good” (support Biden to keep out you-know-who), but “Dark Brandon” should have seen this coming (NSFW/H)...and “surge pricing” from Wendy’s??? Are they serious???...



...and speaking of the carnage in Gaza, it’s taken me a day or two to get around to the Aaron Bushnell story I know, but better late than never I guess (David Doel explains)...GREAT discussion of how some journo outlets are a little more up front in the headline on the cause of the self-immolation (i.e., Russia) but much less so when an “ally” is the subject of the protest (i.e., Israel)...and yeah, “Mrs. Greenspan” definitely didn’t cover herself in glory either for the reasons Doel and the X/Twitter person point out...and kudos to CNN for getting the reporting right on this, which is a bit surprising, but good for them (and the thing with Biden and the ice cream cone was indeed a bit odd, but I’m not going to get exercised over it)...



...and John of The Damage Report brings us the story of an ad by CA Dem guv Gavin Newsom about Tennessee not wanting women in that state to leave and get the healthcare they need (with Danielle Moodle, who makes GREAT points in her commentary...and yeah, we're about in the world of "The Handmaid's Tale" for sure here)...



...and from what I can tell about this trial involving Don Henley and the lyrics to some songs from “Hotel California,” it looks like the person contracted to publish a bio on the band took some liberties with material implicitly understood to belong to the band and not the book author, but what do I know about this stuff (here)...kind of put me in the mind to hear this tune.



Update 3/6/24: Well OK, then.

Wednesday Stuff

Dana Bash of CNN interviews reporter Marshall Cohen about the revelation that Trumpist legal lickspittle Kenneth Chesebro, who has already pleaded guilty to his role in the ’20 fake electors’ scheme, was apparently also running a fake Twitter account to undercut the election in a much bigger role than had been previously disclosed (in Michigan) – figures (more here)...



...(and speaking of Michigan, I’m not going to say that I don’t care about the ”uncommitted” Biden vote, but let’s not forget about this either.)...

...and sticking with the Trumpist goons, Jesse Dollemore (definitely not him) discusses Jen Psaki (and DEFINITELY NOT her) calling out Tangerine Palpatine and his minions for what they are, and by extension, the typical corporate media “both sides” BS regarding this year’s presidential election...and no, I’m not saying you’re not allowed to criticize Biden either, but only just keep perspective on what we’re dealing with, that’s all (NSFW/H)...



...and when it comes to positive legal stuff (as opposed to the first clip), Emma of TMR interviews Mark Joseph Stern of Slate about KBJ of The Supremes taking the lead in going against Georgia basically engaging in double jeopardy about a guy who was acquitted in one case and found guilty in another, both times for reasons of insanity, and in response Georgia tried to engage in jury nullification and have the guy tried on both charges all over again, but Jackson rightly said no...indeed surprising that this was a unanimous decision doing the right thing from the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR...



...and continuing with what I guess you could call a “Crime and Punishment” theme (careful with that axe!), Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins inform us that, when they’re not trying to kill IVF, Alabama (of course) is putting inmates to work in fast food joints, making the state about half a billion $$ a year...better not ask what they might end up slipping into the “secret sauce” for your Big Mac...to be fair, though, it sounds like the convicts want to work, so good for them, and they shouldn’t be penalized additionally for that, to the tune of about 40 freaking percent of their damn pay!...the second story has to do with Democrats introducing legislation to prevent hedge funds from owning single-family homes...and dear God; Wall Street may end up owning 40 FREAKING PERCENT! of the single family homes in this country by 2030??!!...

via GIPHY

...and staying down south in Ron #DeathSantis-stan, this CBS News story with Norah O’Donnell and Manual Bojorquez tells us about the measles outbreak in that state, which (as far as I’m concerned) you can lay squarely at the feat of that state’s joke of a surgeon general, Dr. Jospeh Ladapo (more here)...



...and I have to admit that there are times when I find myself having to mellow out a bit with a newer tune, and I definitely think this will suffice...hope it works for you also.

Tuesday Stuff

More Perfect Union informs us here of the biggest scam in US health care, and that would be Pharmacy Benefit Managers, negotiating rebates on behalf of the pharma behemoths while the rest of us get screwed as always (promoting one type of drug over another on a “formulary”), pretty much overcharging the consumer like crazy, and one of the worst cases of price gouging like this from the PBMs has to do with insulin, as the video tells us...shocked to give credit to a Republican Attorney General, and that would be Dave Yost of Ohio, but kudos for doing the right thing on this mess (a related post is here)...



...and Thom Hartmann makes it pretty clear that, if we were expecting relief on this stuff or anything like it from the “party of Lincoln,” particularly those detestable bipeds in the U.S. House...well, we had damn well better keep wishing and working to elect Dems, since “MAGA Mike” and his pals are looking to shut down the government again if they can’t kill more Americans...basically, the Repugs want to make LGBTQ people extinct (ban on gender-affirming care and trans sports) and DEI, along with Planned Parenthood of course, in exchange for funding the government (first half of shutdown would be 3/1 and second half on 3/8...have to admit that I didn’t know that that insane Austrian postcard painter went after the trannies before the Jews and non-Aryans, but yeah, I guess that fits...also didn’t think about how this would hasten a recession for real along with the Saudis trying to put the screws to Biden and the Dems, but sadly that fits also...and Dan Crenshaw says this is “the hill we will die on,” huh? Hey, that’s your choice, dude)...



Update: More here.

...and as long as we’re discussing the “lower chamber,” let’s not forget Andy (“Kill Them All”) Ogles of Tennessee, who recently turned into a genocidal nut in response to Israel’s bombing of Palestine (including the murder of men, women, and particularly kids...and no, Ogles hasn’t apologized, and I don’t expect that he ever will...NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of insane right-wing lunacy, did you hear about the recent neo-Nazi march in Nashville, Tennessee (by the “Blood Tribe,” huh? Charming...)...fortunately, Justin Jones was there to let us know (Emma of TMR provides more details)...



...and John and RayyVana bring us more on Alabama’s IVF insanity...and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to hear Biblical references in a court decision from “the land that time forgot,” absurd and appalling as that is...good point to note how prohibitively expensive IVF is anyway, and the costs for that are just about entirely out of pocket (as well as the cost to clinics of having to fight the inevitable lawsuits in the event that fertilized eggs are accidentally destroyed...also hadn’t thought about potential ripple effects of this awful ruling in other states, but we’ll see I guess)...



...and yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ recording this tune along with “You Can’t Do That”; this month marks 60 years since the Fab Four arrived in this country and appeared on Ed Sullivan, giving parents consternation all over the place and wondering what their kids were turning into I’m sure...the timing of the Fab Four was perfect, and they basically created a whole new music industry in the process.

Monday Stuff

David Pakman tells us that Our Ochre Abomination is literally planning mass deportations and detention camps, according to reporting in the WaPo, in the beyond-horrible possibility that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule were to gain the reins of power again...and if you think, “well, he’s only talking about LGBTQ people, Muslims and other minorities and brown-skinned types and others I don’t like, and he would NEVER come after MEEEEE,” then you must be living under a rock (more here)...



...and one of those who would enthusiastically help Mango Mussolini achieve this hideous reality is this execrable life form named Jack Posobiec, who recently said that he wants to get rid of democracy and apparently replace it with some “Christian” nationalist theology, or some such treasonous garbage (Mike Figueredo explains)...I know the temptation is to apply scorn and ridicule towards these freaks like Posobiec, and that is deserved, but we shouldn’t laugh them off because of the presence of Project 2025, which provides the framework for the garbage Posobiec and his pals want (including this Russell Vought character...more here)...NSFW/H...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen offers more proof that that disgraced quitter of an ex-college football coach Tommy Tuberville may be truly the stoo-pidest biped life form in this country (hard to beat Louie Gohmert, but I think Tuberville has)...the Repug Alabama U.S. Senator is too dumb of course to form an intelligent answer on the law making it harder for the residents in his state to conceive via IVF (and OF COUURRSE Dobbs is cited as a precedent...HRC said these lunatics are coming after contraception next, and she has a disturbing habit of being right about this stuff)...I’m glad Cohen’s video includes the clips of the young couples whose lives have been turned upside down by this fundamentalist insanity...



Update 2/27/24: Keep digging that hole, Coach, you moron (here).

...and Leeja Miller explains why 3rd parties won’t save us...good point that they seem to rise concurrent with over-the-top wealth gains by the investor class...I’d like to see a bit of a deeper dive into the $$ behind Dr. Jill Stein and RFK, but the video is comprehensive enough...excellent discussion of “Uber Alles” Buchanan in ’00 and Flori-DUUUH’s ridiculous “butterfly ballot” fiasco in Palm Beach County...and oh yeah, we should NEVER let Ralph Freaking Nader off the hook either...good discussion about “proportional representation” in other countries (including Denmark) and how we really should be moving towards that (NSFW/H)...



...and I thought Beau provided some great push-back here on the question of Biden and student loan forgiveness (apparently the latest round will benefit 150K people and a billion dollars, but the REAL overall numbers are $138 billion and 3.9 million people...and I’m sure the Repugs and their “think tanks” are finding ways to bubble up lawsuits through our courts to try and shut all of this down, because that’s all they’re good for....”A billion here, a billion there...pretty soon you’re talking about real money” indeed – more on the SAVE plan is here)...



...and RIP Sun Records drummer Jimmy Van Eaton, who “brought the sticks” for “The Killer” Jerry Lee, Billy Lee Riley, and others on that label.

Friday Stuff

I realize I’m playing catch up on a lot of this stuff because the week got away from me a bit, but here it is anyway...Kyle Kulinski tells us about John Oliver’s recent bit on paying Clarence “I Want To Be Rich” Thomas $1 million a year along with throwing in a $2.4 mil RV if he’d get his mangy ass off the Supreme Court (as is so often a case anymore, we need a comedian to lead the way into informed discourse)...



...and staying with the High Court of Hangin' Judge JR, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about “Strip Search Sammy” Alito acting like he wants to overturn Obergefell, which Thomas has already signaled he wants to do also, with Alito’s alleged reasoning being that extending basic human rights and protections to same-sex couples somehow offends the delicate sensibilities of alleged “Christians” like Alito...and these Philistines actually wonder why church attendance is down in this country (no controlling these freaks except to try and pack the court, which Biden won’t do of course)...



....and going from intolerance in court to intolerance in state government, MSNBC’s Katy Tur interviews an Alabama couple directly impacted by their state’s recent ruling on frozen embryos that may necessitate shutting down that state's IVF clinic (more here...and on this, I give you another example of Political Opportunism 101 here...more on the nutzoid behind this barbarity is here)...



...and Beau tells us that the “party of Lincoln” assclowns in the U.S. House apparently got ahold of some intel about Russia SOMETHING SOMETHING SATELLITE SOMETHING SOMETHING NUCLEAR and proceeded to lose their damn minds, though they decided to take their two-week vacation anyway...more to come on this I’m sure, but considering the source, I’m definitely not convinced of anything (not a knock on Beau, I wish to emphasize)...



...and if we’re talking about the alleged loyal opposition, we have to devote some time to the story of their alleged source on the alleged world-shattering Biden corruption, Alexander Smirnov, who turned out to be a Russian agent, and now these bottom feeders are scrambling to get rid of any mention of Smirnov, as well as acting like “oh, him? Why, we didn’t know anything about him. Who is he again?”...utterly wretched...and isn’t it just too precious to see that disgusting harpie and alleged “news” person Harris Faulkner casually ask if Christopher Wray should go to prison, which would be repulsive even if the Smirnov stuff did NOT turn out to be utter BS...and oh yeah, let’s not forget “Cancun” Ted (“PODCAST!”) Cruz also (Jesse Dollemore tells us about it...more here)...NSFW/H...



...and this newer tune has a bit of a dark twist to it, but it’s still a pretty cool rocker to help us get ready for the weekend...hope it’s a good one for one and all.

Wednesday Stuff

OK, I hope everyone who lost their damn minds last week over Jon Stewart have managed to calm down enough to appreciate him once again for taking The Swanson TV Dinner Heir to task over his recent fawning treatment of Russia and Vlad The Butcher...and yeah, the stuff about Tuckums and the grocery carts allegedly being stolen by homeless people and his total lack of push back against Putin claiming that Poland was responsible for Hitler’s invasion truly were lowlights for sure...and nicely done by Stewart to work in the intrigue surrounding the death of Alexei Navalny also...



...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us that the merger of the Kroger and Albertsons food chains have exposed the former company’s ties to human trafficking – “proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” - snark...



...and Miranda Scholl of Rebel HQ brings us the tales of the latest Trumpist grifter named C.J. Pearson, who seems to be trying to pass himself off as some kind of faux religious cause celebre...it looks like Pearson is running for the Georgia state house...anti-LGBTQ, anti-DEI, anti-“critical race theory,” 2020 election denier, “Democrat” Party...yeah, Pearson checks all the boxes all right...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses Big Hair Blackburn’s Internet censorship bill, something called KOSA (with Richard Blumenthal as a co-signer apparently, and OF COURSE Schumer supports it too, and Chris Murphy should know better IMO...ugh...I get it that this was driven by the recent Senate hearing about how kids are allegedly being groomed online...I’m sure there’s all kinds of disgusting stuff out there, but politicians generally like to take the exception and turn it into the rule, especially the “party of Lincoln”...definitely don’t like where this bill is going...NSFW/H)...



...and Emma of TMR tells us that Mara Liasson of NPR recently proclaimed that the 16-week abortion ban supported by Bronzer Beelzebub is somehow “centrist”...while our oh-so-august-in-their-imaginations members of the media/political/industrial complex like Liasson issue their proclamations that so-and-so is “playing the game” successfully by caving to the wingnuts and having it appear as a well-reasoned and calculated policy decision (see any post from Atrios about “centrist dipshits”), the lives of real people are going to be ruined in the meantime (I guess those are the folks underneath the “fly by” for Liasson and her buddies who are basically invisible to elitist “smart” media, which of course also includes Fix Noise, despite their protestations to the contrary...NSFW/H)...



...and happy 75th birthday to Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads.

Tuesday Stuff

John I. and Trae Crowder of The Damage Report discuss racist Emails from the border patrol that have recently surfaced...but since they were caught they promise to clean up their act – I’ll believe that when I see it (and a “tonk,” huh? From the sound of a migrant getting clubbed, apparently? Wonder what it sounds like for one of these cretins to get the same treatment they readily inflict on others?)...



...and speaking of the border, Farron Cousins tells us that impeaching DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may bite Repugs in the ass, mainly because...gee, I dunno... THEY DIDN’T LIST ANY FREAKING CHARGES AGAINST THE GUY!! And their idiocy is going to be on display FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” as Cousins says (with Marjorie Train Wreck Greene, who has zero legal training as Cousins notes, trying to argue the case...pass the popcorn)...



...and Beau tells us that President Biden is taking another shot at student debt relief, which he has already provided on a pretty big scale already as Beau says (about 3.5 million folks), though the screws were put to #46’s plan by Repug-appointed SCOTUS justices as noted here...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss the case of Dinesh D’Felon, who was recently forced to testify in front of a Georgia judge that – big surprise! – he has no stinking proof of voter fraud in the 2020 election (looks like “True The Vote” is shown up for lying frauds once again...more here)...



...and here’s a recurring public service announcement emphasizing the fact that we continue to live in a country with a grave issue to our health and well being that we possess barely any political will at all to try and resolve (here)...



...and I recently read that Carl Palmer has put together an AI tour of sorts for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, which is necessary because of the passing of his two former bandmates (here); I’ll reserve judgment until I learn more about it, but in the meantime, here is probably the band’s biggest hit.



Update 2/21/24: I think there’s something going on with Google Chrome and the way it’s playing these videos. I haven’t found this to be an issue with other browsers/operating systems. I may ping Blogger on this to find out if there’s anything I can do to get this fixed.

Friday Stuff

David Doel informs us that a pro-Palestinian protest in Toronto was attacked because it allegedly targeted a hospital, which it didn’t (as Doel informs us, the hospital was on the protest route, and that’s all)...this unleashed a torrent of BS narratives all over the place (I realize this is a pretty Canada-specific story, but the bit about wingnuts losing what’s left of their minds in blind IMO support of Israel is definitely a feature and not a bug of “reporting” in this country too...NSFW/H)...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report discusses MSNBC reporter Matt Bradley (in Tel Aviv) using the framing of “and this history Is still debated” concerning the Palestinians and the Nakba (yes, it was a mealy mouthed way to put it, but I agree with the take that Bradley is probably getting heat to keep as pro-Israel a stance as he can)...



...and returning to this country, Jesse Dollemore brings us the story of Our Ochre Abomination blaming Repug Mazi Pilip who lost her U.S. House race in New York to Tom Suozzi...see, according to #45, if Pilip had just groveled harder, she would have won...uh huh...keep on believing that...



...and Chris Hayes gives us a bit of a rehash of Tangerine Palpatine’s remarks about not honoring Article V of the NATO treaty on behalf of his sugar daddy Vlad The Butcher (I can’t imagine what kind of kompromat Putin has on the Gropenfuhrer, but it must be truly awful...I know this has been discussed before and likely will be again, but I think it’s important to keep beating the metaphorical drum about this matter)..



...and John of The Damage Report informs us that the FBI recently uncovered a massive ’22 plot to potentially start a civil war at our southwest border, allegedly involving these right-wing militiamen Bryan Perry and Jonathan O’Dell (not just against migrants but apparently the cops also...ugh – more here)...



...and this report from More Perfect Union and Eric Gardner discusses Why Child Care Costs More Than College...among other things, the video makes a great argument for paid family leave, as well as governmental intervention (and nice work by that town in Minnesota to come up with what appears to be a way out of the mess that they faced related to this story)...



...and we recently observed the sixth anniversary of the Parkland school gun massacre, and with that in mind, Thom Hartmann tells us that the family of slain student Joaquin Oliver used AI to recreate his voice for a message to cowardly politicians to DO SOMETHING AT LONG FREAKING LAST ABOUT THIS...Thom always has interesting insights, this time concerning Scalia, Thomas Jefferson and “slave patrols” and the Second Amendment...and great job by the Hawaii Supreme Court to tell the SCOTUS that Heller and their other BS gun rulings were crap (and oh yeah, what could be more “American” than a Super Bowl win celebration followed by a mass shooting?)...



...and I’ve been looking for a newer tune to include here, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this from Billy Joel – he’s been out of the loop with this for a while, but it’s nice to see him back again.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us here that it looks like still another witness has told U.S. House idiots James Comer and Jim Jordan that they can’t link President Biden and Hunter to some alleged Burisma bribe/influence peddling/OH FREAKING GOD ARE WE ACTUALLY DOING THIS AGAIN??!!...and yeah, the fact that these ridiculous hearings are all happening behind closed doors is more than a bit of a “tell” (and their star witness already said to the Senate that this was a nothing burger as Cousins informs us)...



...and speaking of U.S. House Republican idiocy, Jesse Dollemore lets us know here that the “party of Lincoln” has (on the second try) impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for...what? Trying to resolve the border issue with no help? You know, the matter that the “R” party wants to leave alone so Bronzer Beelzebub can actually have something to crow about when he tries to seize the White House once more later this year? I mean, when he isn’t throwing ketchup against a wall at McDonald’s and leaving intelligence docs lying near his gold commode at Mar-a-Lago (and of course, Marjorie Train Wreck Greene is right in the middle of this...and yeah, congrats to Dem Tom Suozzi for winning the U.S. House NY seat that was previously occupied by “George Santos”).

And one of the people responsible is this guy, who voted to impeach Mayorkas twice. And to do something about Bri-Fi, click here...



...and with regard to the presidential contest, I know it’s taken me a couple of days to get around to this, but I tried watching other videos with commentary about Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show, but I finally said, the hell with it, Doomsy...watch the damn video of Stewart yourself (I try not to refer to myself in the third person, by the way).

And I kept waiting to be outraged by what Stewart had to say. And I kept waiting.

And I kept waiting...

Oh, we’re not supposed to criticize Biden when he makes occasional slipups? Really? And we’re supposed to just bite our lip and not say anything about that idiotic Tik Tok video (Mama Kelce’s chocolate chip cookies?)? Or when Biden acts like he’s unable to do anything about Netanyahu’s butchery in Gaza (and just how the hell is THAT going to get Israeli hostages returned...and no, I’m definitely not letting Hamas off the hook either).

It’s not Stewart’s job to give public figures a pass if he thinks what he has to say will hurt people’s feelings; I trust his judgment enough to keep his remarks balanced. And I believe he did that in his segment. By contrast, I’ve given up on Bill Maher because any notion of balance with him went out the window awhile ago. My take, for what it’s worth, is that it’s now more important for him to suck up to his conservative pals and ridicule libs whenever he can than to give a fair hearing to all sides of the political spectrum.

Maybe this is “apples and oranges,” but I’m going to say it anyway. I hope we haven’t forgotten what Stewart has done to ensure health care for the 9/11 first responders (under the Zadroga bill, named for James Zadroga...his father Joseph was killed recently in an accident in a hospital parking lot). That doesn’t have anything directly to do with Stewart’s segment I know, but that’s more than I and a lot of other people have done for that heroic cause (and I thought that informed Stewart’s truly commendable words at the end of his segment...and I haven’t heard anybody say a damn thing about THAT).

So, without any more ado, here is the Stewart piece...



...and in a matter more directly germane to the U.S. economy, Robert Reich brings us information on the Dickensian minimum wage in this country of $2.13 an hour for tipped workers, which dates back to 1991 (and kudos to Saru Jayaraman for trying to fix that)...



....and Beau gives us some inside info on Egypt’s decision (maybe?) to rescind its peace treaty with Israel based on that country’s expansion of hostilities into Rafah...it’s true that this isn’t a positive development, but it doesn’t necessarily mean war between the two countries either, thank God (and by the ICJ, Beau means this)...



...and with all of the struggle and suffering in the world, maybe I’m just being a pointy-headed lib to include this tune, but I’m doing it anyway for Valentine’s Day...hope it’s a good one for all.

Tuesday Stuff

Beau brings us the story of Our Treasonous Orange Nightmare encouraging Russia to attack NATO (definitely picked up on Beau’s sarcasm about Trumpers supposedly having read the Constitution...and yeah, it’s pretty much “game, set, match” for Bronzer Beelzebub’s claim about not supporting a NATO member country based on Article 5 of the treaty... can’t think of a word to describe the sociopathy of somebody criticizing that international organization for allegedly not paying its bills when the accuser may be the world’s biggest deadbeat)...



...and John of TYT addresses the dustup over RFK Jr.’s Super Bowl ad...nice that Jr. apologized, but I thought the excuse of “oh, I didn’t know what my Super PAC would do” is totally lame, and apparently Jr. is keeping a tweet with the ad pinned on his X account, or something, as John says; here’s my question, though – who seriously thinks that ad is going to do something for Jr. one way or the other? To me, it looks like a bunch of rich bastards with too much time and money on their hands decided to do something to “piss off the libs”...the only people who will recognize what this ad is trying to do are folks who actually voted for JFK way back when or their kids (like me)...



...and this Rebel HQ clip features some nice work by Dem U.S. House Rep Susan Wild of PA-07 making the case for unionized employees in favor of their non-unionized counterparts, in terms of having better wages and benefits...and of course, this Mark Mix character keeps repeating “why don’t non-unionized employees join a union on their own?” when in fact, as Wild points out, non-unionized employees are very much discouraged from doing that by their employers (see what happened when we tried to get the EFCA passed), though increased union baseline salaries are also beneficial to non-unionized employees doing similar work...and yeah, this union carpenters guy for Trump is about as out to lunch as you can expect...I can take or leave Jackson White, but nice work by Alex Wagner in that clip (and I’m sure it’s not surprising to find out that Mix is tied to Charles Koch; that and more odious garbage on so-called “right to work” can be found here)...



...and Thom H. said that Neil Gorsuch in particular referred to Dementia J. Trump as our current president during the recent SCOTUS arguments over removing #45 from the ballot in Colorado...interesting rehash of the 2000 election, specifically about Sandra Day O’Connor not wanting to resign while a Dem was in the White House, and Al Gore should have been there based on the Miami-Dade votes that were FINALLY counted after it didn’t matter anymore...also, interesting speculation on where our politicians in robes on the High Court could take this whole matter – not holding my breath for a just outcome either from these frauds...

...and Lawrence O’Donnell touched on some of what Beau discussed previously (good job to take a shot at the fourth estate on trying to make Biden’s age this year’s “BUT HER EMAILS!!!”), but O’Donnell adds a lot of important historical context IMO...”the flawlessly uninformed people at (Trump’s) rally”...spot-on...and here comes another “sir,” story, which means Our Traitorous Orange Meat Sack is lying once again...one of the reasons why this commentary is terrific is because O’Donnell cites FDR, Eisenhower and Gerald Ford, all of whom had more integrity in their little fingers than Combover Caligula has in his corpulent, fast-food-bloated, cowardly body (yes, Ford was wrong in that debate for sure as O’Donnell points out, but read about how Ford almost died in the Pacific in WWII when a typhoon hit his aircraft carrier...what guts to get through that...the individuals who should pay heed the most to this commentary are the life forms such as the one driving the vehicle with the sticker shown above, but good luck with that I know...more here)...



...and yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the first performance of “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.



Update: Apologies for not pointing this out MUCH earlier, but there is actually a special election in Lower Bucks County today for the state PA-140 house seat vacated by Dem John Galloway (who was elected as a judge). Please slog through the snow and get to your polling place to vote for Dem Jim Prokopiak; you’ll feel the warm glow of satisfaction in the midst of the winter cold, and you’ll be doing yourself a favor by keeping the house under Democratic control.

Update 2/14/24: AWESOME!

Monday Stuff

This feature from Chris Wallace titled “Tell Me Why I’m Wrong” has to do with The Swanson TV Dinner Heir’s alleged interview with Vlad The Butcher (I have to admit that I’m shocked to agree with Bretbug, but I do, and his “take” is uncharacteristically commendable...and speaking of “useful idiots,” that applies to Reihan Salam also as far as I’m concerned...nothing against “Really American,” but they need to “jazz up” these clips a bit)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us some analysis on this BS report on Biden from wingnut lawyer Robert Hur, who apparently guessed that everyone would zero in on his executive summary and not drill down into the details of what Hur found out, and it seems he was basically right (more here, here and here, and for good measure, there’s this too...Merrick Garland should have his resume updated and on the street for this cluster...NSFW/H...and yeah, way too damn funny to see that nematode Jesse Watters get busted for a verbal screwup when he accuses Biden of the same thing)...



...and Emma V. of The Majority Report gives us some insight on the back-and-forth over funding for Israel (looks like the Senate worked through the weekend on $$ for them and Ukraine)...have to admit that I’m a little squishy on not supporting Bibi if it also means that we don’t send $$$ to Ukraine (and kudos to Rashida Tlaib, and once more, if the Dems had any damn brains, they would listen to her...that being said, we should never stop trying to make Hamas responsible for their horrific acts also, though I’ve heard positive stuff about the proposed three-phase plan on this which Netanyahu dismissed in one word...briefly NSFW/H a couple of times)...



...and David Doel touches on the proposed peace plan between Israel and Hamas in this clip – I’m in agreement on his basic point that John Fetterman should be giving a press conference calling for Netanyahu to support the deal to return the hostages currently on the table...FWIW, I think any such deal should also include full criminal liability for anyone from Hamas who had anything whatsoever to do with the attacks of 10/7 as well as the wholesale destruction of Hamas’s military infrastructure, but for the moment, the hostages should be the priority...and I agree that “there is no equivalence” either, but not in the way Fetterman thinks...



...and turning back to domestic politics, Brian Tyler Cohen speaks with elections lawyer Marc Elias of Democracy Docket concerning a typically beyond ridiculous conservative lawsuit against Louisiana redistricting, in the face of a case that is actually settled in favor of two “black opportunity districts” (I believe that’s the term) that were created in response to gerrymandering in the first freaking place in that state! – “everyone in America has a right to sue – it doesn’t mean you have a right to win,” indeed (NSFW/H also)...



...and RIP Henry Fambrough, the last original member of The Spinners.

Friday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore gives us an update on the tale of Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels roughing up someone who (they thought) was an illegal immigrant who was (they thought) caught shoplifting...the video aired on the Sean Inanity program, but now apparently it looks like the individual in question was a U.S. citizen...gee, I wonder if that means there will be ANOTHER lawsuit against The Roger Ailes BS Factory...pass the popcorn...



Update 1: Looks like the CYA festival has already started (here).

...and Thom Hartmann asks Has the GOP Been Grooming Us To Accept Fascism (once again, if you have to ask the question, you probably already know the answer...Thom talks about how we’ve supported dictators including Pinochet in Chile of course, along with the potential impact of Project 2025, with the wingnuts trying to create a “break the glass” moment that leads to a strongman in the U.S., and Thom goes back the last 40 years, which I think is apropos...have to admit that I didn’t know about Poppy Bush’s role in this whole mess, but I’m not surprised)...



...and based on this Brian Tyler Cohen video, I take back my criticism of James Lankford not having a spine when it comes to immigration, and apparently, he did in fact vote for his own bill, even though it went down to defeat (and I agree with Cohen...Dan Crenshaw remains a bad faith actor on this in particular as far as I’m concerned)...



...and speaking of bad faith actors, Farron Cousins (not him) discusses this Valentina Gomez loon in Missouri who’s apparently running for secretary of state, so of course, being a Trumpette, she makes some kind of a campaign video burning books (Gomez is obviously unfamiliar with this quote...hard to get my head around all of this insanity sometimes)...



...and concerning yesterday’s escapades with The High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, I have to admit that I thought this gentleman made a lot of sense, so here he his (really not familiar with Tennessee Brando, but I may come back to him if he has more clips like this)...



...and Elizabeth Warren pretty much lays out the stakes in this fall’s elections when it comes to women’s ability to exercise their bodily autonomy – pretty sure we know all this already, but it bears repeating IMO...



Update 2: I know we don't need a reminder, but here is another one anyway.

...and RIP Carole King collaborator Toni Stern, who helped compose this number along with a few other hits...



...and also Philly’s own Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, whose remarkable voice and presence was featured in the 1981 film Diva, one of the most wildly original pics I’ve ever seen...she basically gave up what likely would have been a lucrative career to teach kids with special needs...truly a hero as far as I’m concerned.