Monday Stuff

OK, so House Repugs get a bill passed which basically is trying to “disappear” trans people by banning LGBTQ-plus clubs, as well as a knock-off of the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” law in Flori-DUUUH!, and it also forces teachers to ‘out’ trans students to their parents, opening up this endangered group to possibly verbal and physical abuse (and kudos to Mike Figueredo for courageously telling his story)…”trans refugees” shouldn’t be a thing IMO, but it is in this country, to our shame…I’m sure you have an idea of where this is going, so I’ll just get there – EIGHT F*CKING U.S. HOUSE “DEMOCRATS” voted for this garbage bill along with every Republican – the 8 were Henry Cuellar, Donald Davis, Cleo Fields, Laura Gillen, Vicente Gonzales, Marcy Kaptur, Eugene Vindman (I’ll remember this the next time I get a text from his brother Alex), and the utterly wretched Marie Gluesenkamp Perez…oh, and Gluesenkamp Perez, Gillen and Vindman are members of the Congressional Equality Caucus (truly, you can’t make up this stuff)…fortunately, Dem Rep Mark Takano actually knows what’s going on with this issue…and yeah, I’d like to tell Gluesenkamp Perez what she can do with her “banana bill”; looks like somebody is trying REALLY HARD to appeal to moderates with something of ultimately no consequence while those unicorn “moderates” decide to vote for the Repugs anyway (and as Figueredo points out, Gluesenkamp Perez is even wrong on the state reg she’s criticizing…so many layers of “DUUUH!” here) – I know we’ll need all the “D” seats we can get this fall, but it would almost be worth it if she lost…good for Figueredo to put up that graphic at 10:52 with the phone numbers to call these 8 frauds and tell them to leave Team “D” and join the intolerant fascists who they seem to align with…really deflating to see how odious the influence of AIPAC is on our side with NOT NEARLY ENOUGH politicians opposing those bloodthirsty warmongers…I would add to Figueredo’s observation about purging these centrist Dem election pretenders by saying that progressives are largely the ones going out and doing the “nuts and bolts” stuff to try and win elections (phone banking, texting, canvassing, newspaper Op-Eds, putting up signage, getting folks to the polls), so we should be listened to for that reason if for no other…the lady in that TikTok video also made a lot of sense IMO (NSFW/H)...



...and Belle of the Ranch gives us more on the Gropenfuhrer abandoning promises to our vets...didn’t know about the E.O. on 5/9/25 designating a “center for warrior independence” on the west LA VA campus where homeless vets in that area and around the nation can received the care and benefits that they’re entitled to...so the VA Secretary was supposed to present an “action plan” to Dear Orange Leader within 120 days for a facility to house up to 6K homeless vets to be built by 1/1/28...but oopsie! – there’s exactly nada in the budget for that...oh, and everyone associated with this project had to sign NDAs, just like how an honest and above-board organization is supposed to operate (#joke)...I agree that housing 6K vets in one LA location isn’t such a good idea (should be spread out across the country to make it easier to provide care and assistance); makes it reek of nothing but a PR stunt even more...



...and Corrine Straight of Really American tells us about Deidre Henderson, who is the lieutenant governor of Utah standing up for election security and debunking the nonsense from Great Orange Satan and his flatulent biped followers...that state’s Repug legislature was able to get some “opt in” measure passed for mail-in ballot voting starting in ’29, which creates another obstacle (almost shocking to hear common sense from a Repug, but credit where it’s due, and kudos to Hendeson for doing all of the hard work to find out that 27 people out of 2 million in her state were confirmed non-citizens registered to vote...more on these Restoration of America cretins is here)...



...and Jen Psaki gives us a bit of an overview of the shady deals from Cantaloupe Capone (are there any other kind with him?) just in time for the 250th anniversary, as reported by the NYT, including of course the now-$13 million scam at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool...one firm was involved in the 1/6 insurrection, and another has to do with that stinking ballroom...and oh yeah, there’s also the matter of promoting a video game company behind this beyond-ridiculous steel cage fight on the White House lawn on 6/14 (which is also Flag Day of course)...also, this “250 pardons” scheme from Pumpkin Pol Pot has BAD, TERRIBLE IDEA written all over it (and all to shake down still more suckers)...Psaki speaks with Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders...and of course, it’s not surprising that this regime of guttural lowlifes (at least the DOJ in this case) are pursuing charges against E. Jean Carroll, who apparently is at fault for having the tremendous courage to fight back against Our Sexual Predator-In-Chief (removing my tongue form my cheek on that one)...



...and speaking of the “American State Fair,” or whatever that’s supposed to be, Mr. Newberger gives us a bit of a preview...



...and I liked this newer tune as a bit of a “mellow Monday” selection – no argument with the title whatsoever.

Friday Stuff

This New York Times report tells us how a SCOTUS ruling could separate this Haitian nurse and mother (Harlaine Dominique) from her son and her mother...the report lets us know that tens of thousands of Haitians work in health care, and while we rightly praised them during COVID, now they’re treated as persona non grata by way too damn many people, including our ruling regime...Dominique has temporary protected status, but our bought and paid for SCOTUS could bring the TPS program to an end at the urging of Combover Caligula and the fascists running our government including Baby Goebbels (and Dog Killer Noem for a time also)...and we also learn that the Trump regime restricted Medicare access to TPS holders, not allowing Dominique’s mother to potentially get the kidney transplant she needs; hard to catalogue all of the barbarities of the connivers and grifters in our executive branch, but that’s another one...



...and in this clip from The Damage Report, we find out more on redistricting efforts to remove African American representation and how those efforts are failing in the courts (for now, and hopefully for good) in Alabama and South Carolina...looks like some Repugs in “the palmetto state” came down with an attack of sanity and joined the Dems to oppose redistricting because they saw that their seats could be imperiled...Tennessee and Louisiana also eliminated black districts, with potentially Georgia and Mississippi trying to do that as well...on top of that, it looks like Flori-DUUUH will join in on this, even though they have a state law prohibiting gerrymandering (yeah, like Repugs care about laws and the will of the voters – too funny)...kudos to the Congressional Black Caucus for keeping up the fight...I think John Iadarola brings a lot to the table in this discussion, and I don’t mean to pick on Sharon Reed quite so much, but I don’t think she has much insight here...



...and Yasmin Khan discusses NJ Repug U.S. House rep Tom Kean Jr., who gets tracked down after having missed a bunch of votes...if Kean has a legitimate health issue and he needs treatment, I hope he gets it and I’m not trying to trivialize that (even though our congressional politicians get health care that WE ALL should be entitled to), but damn, to be missing for 75 DAYS???!! AND MISSING 88 VOTES??!!...oh, but he still could definitely “make bank” in stock trades despite his incommunicado status...and yeah, we know the Gropenfuhrer has been “having his way” in the Repug primaries, but I firmly believe the general election will be another matter, though we need to keep working for Team “D” to achieve the best possible outcome...



...and Tennessee Brando tells us about New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart getting heat for introducing Cantaloupe Capone at one of the latter’s rallies, so OF COURSE along comes someone named Will Cain of Fix Noise to say that only “the left” thinks they can make a political impact, or something, with Brando rightly reminding everyone about Colin Kaepernick and the fallout from him taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality (yeah, I think Dart was wrong also, but most jocks are Republicans, so I’m not going to get worked up over it – yeah, they should see the error of their ways, but they’re not going to join “Team D” because I say so)...Brando also uses comedy as an example here, mentioning the utterly wretched and completely unfunny Tony Hinchcliffe and comparing him somewhat to Redd Foxx and Don Rickles...and oh, it’s the fault of “Washington elites” (according to that nematode Tim Burchett) that the economy is wrecked and our quality of life is lousy; these Repug knuckleheads ARE COMPLETELY IN CHARGE OF OUR DAMN GOVERNMENT!!!...I particularly like what Brando said at the end concerning the Dems; ”the establishment can’t keep taking credit when the progressives win” indeed (NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of sports, Jimmy Kimmel lets us know that, apparently, fans of the New York Knicks are whooping it up over the team’s postseason success, powered in a big way by Villanova alums Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges (the latter was stoo-pidly traded away by the Sixers, who could run a clinic IMO on totally screwing up a franchise rebuild)...also, it looks like Uday Trump Jr. got married again without his father in attendance, who no doubt was hard at work coming up with some new grift at our expense...I hadn’t seen a pic before of that whatever it is (arena, I guess) that they’re constructing on the White House lawn (yet another desecration) in time for that UFC fight for the Gropenfuhrer’s 80th birthday...”Sir, many people don’t know that ‘dumb’ has a ‘b’ in it, or so I was told, and I was indeed the first person to discover that...thank you for your attention to this matter – now excuse me while I have my third annual physical this year”...oh, and HHS Secretary RFK Jr. spotted a pair of black snakes while he was hanging out with “Dr. Crudité,” apparently because neither of them have anything more important to do, so of course he handled them in such a way that he could easily get bitten (truly, what a rocket scientist)...also, it looks like the Trump mobile phone has a flaw that exposes personal security information – can’t imagine how dim a bulb you have to be to buy one of those things, but there are still marks out there waiting to get played I guess...



...and as previously noted, we observed the birthday of one octogenarian rock n’ roller this week with Bob Dylan, and Wednesday marked that of another one, Bruce Cockburn, and with that in mind I offer the following tune...trying to wrap up the week with a bit of a hopeful message (lyrics here - mildly NSFW/H also).

Wednesday Stuff

Ali Velshi brings us the important question, “To whom does this democracy actually belong?,” which is something I think all of us need to be asking, especially now...also, apparently Hawaii is fighting back against Citizens United; have to admit that I’m shocked to hear that a Repug state rep on the island, Kainani Sousa, is the one leading the charge in getting a bipartisan bill passed banning corporate spending in their state’s elections, and in the process, redefining what a corporation actually is (and kudos to Dem state senator Karl Rhoads also)...I think Tom Moore is a damn genius for coming up with a way for states to regulate corporations and pull an end-run pretty much around that tragic and despicable SCOTUS ruling...I know I touched on a similar effort in Montana previously, and kudos to those folks also...



Update 5/29/26: A related item is here.

...and keeping with domestic politics, Belle lets us know that the “party of Jim Crow 2.0” tag bothers the GOP – cue the world’s smallest violin...and why am I not the least bit surprised to find out that one of the individuals taking umbrage is the thoroughly vile Repug U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah?...oh, but there are 4 African American Repug U.S. House reps, so Hangin’ Judge JR is right when he says racism is dead I guess (SMDH)...Belle is right that four, against a 200-member caucus, is nothing to brag about, especially since none of those mentioned are running for re-election (those knuckleheads in Flori-DUUH will probably make Byron Donalds the next governor)...it would be freaking hilarious if the “party of Lincoln” ends up diluting the makeup of their previously “safe” districts with these gerrymanders to get rid of black representation to the point of putting MANY MORE seats in play than those that they expected...oh, and speaking of idiocy from the “daddy party” (give me a break!), John Cornyn could have walked right back to the Senate for another term, but with the thoroughly odious Ken Paxton as the nominee from the “all hat, no cattle” state, that puts that election somewhat in play for the “D” team...I mean, yeah, it’s Texas, and I have no illusions about how long the odds are (here), but it’s possible as of now (here)...



...and Farron Cousins brings us the latest on the wingnut consolidation of the media landscape...looks like James Murdoch (son of Rupert The Pirate) just spent $300 million to purchase Vox Media, which has truly been an important outlet as Cousins points out...and yes, as Cousins says, all of this consolidation is truly right out of the fascist playbook; not at all hard to see the direction this is going – for yours truly, the beginning of the end of this came when media organizations became more preoccupied with “balance” to keep wingnut goofballs happy than to report on verifiable truth and reality (and speaking of wingnut media idiocy, there is this – I’m sure Sharyn Alfonsi expected that for her courageous segment on CECOT, but it’s still a pretty damn putrid way to treat a skilled, seasoned employee)...NSFW/H...



...and turning to our regularly scheduled pre-emptive Middle East war, Lawrence O’Donnell tells us that Cantaloupe Capone apparently is too busy to explain to us what’s going on (yeah...like he actually knows)...I’ve had issues with Seth Moulton in the past, but he did a pretty damn good job of trying to untangle this mess (and why do I have a feeling that Cheetoh Hitler is going to pull the same tactic of “we have a cease fire, but bomb them anyway” over and over like our *preznit’s best bud “Bibi”?)...we revisit that great quote form John Kerry in his Senate testimony in 1971 about asking the last man to die in Vietnam for a mistake...commenting on military matters is above my pay grade a bit, but I would only suggest that though Admiral Cooper handled himself capably IMO in the hearing, it’s obvious that he was left holding the metaphorical bag by our regime of grifters and frauds, and I DEFINTELY don’t have a problem with Moulton’s incisive line of questioning; when all we get are lies, half-truth and evasions, EVERYONE from this regime should feel like they have massive targets on their backs, for political fallout I mean, and that goes for Admiral Cooper also...



...and as a bit of a follow-up to O’Donnell, Kyle Kulinski lets us know that even Fix Noise can’t defend the Gropenfuhrer and his Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iran, saying that Our Sweaty Orange Bronzer Boy needs to open the Strait of Hormuz AND keep Iran from enriching uranium (and yeah, I know, we had a deal under Obama, blah blah blah)...not sure if that generic hairdo in this segment is Tomi Lahren or not...good point by Kyle that there WAS a deal for Iran not to enrich uranium before the U.S. and Israel decided to bomb them, including that girls’ school where over 100 people were killed...I have a feeling that Kyle is right when he says that the “price tag,” if you will, on this wretched war of choice has yet to arrive, but it’s coming for sure...NSFW/H also...



...and RIP Sonny Rollins.

Tuesday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report let us know that it looks like Our Ochre Abomination is doing his best to cover up his doctor’s visits again (if Don The Con is supposed to be so damn healthy, then why does he have that horrible hand bruise in this pic?)...didn’t know the National Trust for Preservation sued to halt construction of that stinking ballroom; good for them...so OF COURSE #47’s consigliere Todd Blanche is all “oh, we have to have the stinking ballroom to protect my boss and all future presidents, but the National Trust wants to see all the presidents get shot, instead” or some such idiocy...oh, and we find out NOW that, in addition to that damn bunker, the Gropenfuhrer wants medical facilities under that damn ballroom too? He’s doing all he can to prevent EVER HAVING TO LEAVE THE WHITE HOUSE, PEOPLE!!!...good point by Jayar about the double standard of the Tangerine Toddler wanting all this secret stuff, but he apparently has no issue whatsoever with going to one of his damn golf courses in full public view...and how con-vee-nient that the damn ballroom is supposed to be built by September 2028...



...and Thom Hartmann echoes that quote from LBJ that “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you,” and Thom lets us know about a study from Delaware that pretty much confirms that, with whites turning against the social safety net when they think it benefits non-whites...”white resentment beats white self-interest every time” – if you want just one example of that, look at Kentucky; they just voted out Thomas Massie, who, imperfect as he was, was nonetheless trying to hold Cantaloupe Capone to account, with the latter responsible for utterly decimating the bourbon industry in that state (mainly trading with Canada) because of those beyond ridiculous tariffs...oh, and ICE apparently is trying to build crematoriums inside their detention facilities; didn’t we fight a war against a nation that once tried to do that?...Thom interviews author George Koch about the latter’s book “Bullies, Parasites and Slaves: Replacing Exploitation with Mutual Care”...”Our hard work goes to subsidize their excess” indeed, referring to the “one percent” I’m sure, and that supermarket example is likely apt also...



...also, don’t be too shocked, but apparently we had a SCOTUS victory on continuing to allow Medicare to negotiate on drug prices, according to Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen, despite the pharma industry litigating this and misleading the public for about 20 years and spending “tens of millions” trying to defeat it...and oh yeah, there was an $8 billion handout in the Big Beautiful Clusterf*ck to drug firms to try and gut price negotiations...if the national Democratic Party had any brains, they would be combing through that godawful legislation line by line (and also doing that concerning the terrible DOGE cuts from King Elon and Russell Vought) and crafting attack ads for EVERY DEM CANDIDATE based on that, but I’m definitely not getting overconfident on that one...



...and Dan Lieberman of More Perfect Union brings us the story of the “party of Lincoln” under Dear Orange Leader trying to find a new way to steal your Social Security...report is focused on Iowa, featuring a lady named Susan Ludeking, among others including former Decorah Mayor Lorraine Borowski...a big culprit in all of this mess is the aforementioned DOGE cuts last year that forced out thousands of employees from the Social Security Administration, as well as former SSA employee Jessica LaPointe...glad to see this report lay the blame squarely at the feet of The Sainted Ronnie R, who IMO is more responsible for the unraveling of this agency than anyone else, though successive Repug politicians have been after this vitally important agency ever since, and now it’s in the unsightly bruised hands of Combover Caligula...”grow some balls” to save Social Security indeed...



...and Mr. Newberger gives us the following on the “Trump Mobile Phone”...always a scam or grift by our ruling regime to bilk gullible rubes...



...and happy belated 85th birthday to Bob Dylan.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen speaks with former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn who, along with fellow officer Daniel Hodges, is suing #47 over his $1.8 bil insurrectionist slush fund (Dunn is running for the Dem nomination for the MD-05 seat about to be given up by Steny Hoyer)...good point by Cohen that, by in essence trying to make all of these scumwaffles millionaires, the Gropenfuhrer is trying to incentivize them to pull more garbage like they did on 1/6...I have issues with Bri-Fi for sure, mainly because he didn’t have a damn thing to say about the DOGE wreckage, and I’ll NEVER believe his naïve explanation that he thought Medicare/Medicaid wouldn’t be hit by the Big Beautiful Clusterf*ck, but in the matter of this payoff to the treasonous insurrectionists, Fitzpatrick is on the right side, albeit with the bar set pretty low...and Dunn is spot-on IMO in saying we need to elect the RIGHT democrats, not just someone who’s going to bring the metaphorical water pistol to a Howitzer fight (NSFW/H)...



...and sticking with the theme of mainly Repug toadies giving Our Ochre Abomination everything he wants, John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report let us know that “MAGA Mike” Johnson cancelled a vote on the bill to implement the War Powers Resolution and sent everybody home instead (the bill passed the Senate when Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who no longer has anything to lose politically, commendably flipped his No vote to Yes)...here comes my obligatory announcement once more that WE HAD A F*CKING NUKE DEAL WITH IRAN UNDER OBAMA THAT DEMENTIA J. TRUMP WADDLED AWAY FROM, CANKLES AND ALL...and yeah, the “accordion hands” are back too...I’d forgotten that this indeed is the same tactic as the one to prevent the disclosure of the Trumpstein files...and why do I have a feeling that that Raul Castro indictment is going to be the alleged excuse for still more military madness in Cuba...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report gives us his rundown on the Senate reconciliation bill that apparently is stuck because Pumpkin Pol Pot wants to stick his previously noted $1.8 bil slush fund for the 1/6 insurrectionists in it (which was called “stupid on stilts” by departing Repug senator Thom Tillis of N.C.)...the failure to introduce the resolution was commendably called out by Dem rep Jim McGovern of MA, as we see in the clip....by the way, the missing Repug U.S. House Rep is Tom Kean Jr. of NJ...



...and I know I spend the majority of my time here cataloging nonsense from the “party of Lincoln,” but here is an example of a Dem utterly caving, and that’s Colorado governor Jared Polis, who made the cowardly and ridiculous decision to grant clemency to election denier Tina Peters (good catch by Kyle Clark of 9NEWS to find that paragraph in his clemency letter that was omitted by Polis)...if it were any other Trumpist knucklehead, maybe – maybe – clemency COULD make sense...however, Peters, being an election official, knew EXACTLY how to mess up the voting apparatus in order to help Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, so what she did was a particular kind of evil above and beyond what we’ve come to know and despise from this regime of bottom feeders (and I would call this a completely deserved response to Polis)...

...and I thought this was a well-done Lincoln Project video with today’s holiday in mind...



...and here is an apropos selection for our annual observance.

Friday Stuff

David Doel tells us of Jeff Bezos appearing on CNBC with Andrew Ross Sorkin, with the Amazon plutocrat and “death by a thousand cuts” owner of the WaPo praising Cantaloupe Capone...and Bezos thinks #47 is “calmer”?? By wrecking this country and starting an unprovoked war with Iran? In what universe does THAT make sense? And boy, is Doel ever right about all kinds of business networks but NOT A SINGLE UNION OR WORKERS’ NETWORK...that graph from the Economic Policy Institute does indeed tell a sobering story...I have to admit that that utterly disgusting story about permanent tax audit immunity for Cheetoh Hitler and his failsons was something I just learned about, and coming on the heels of that $1.8 billion slush fund for the 1/6 insurrectionists...and oh yeah, we get that line from Bezos that “you can double the taxes I pay and it won’t help that teacher in Queens”...you wanna bet??...I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say that billionaires shouldn’t exist, but they sure as hell should be taxed on their wealth like we used to do in this country...Bezos raking in $18 billion but still claiming a tax loss to the point of qualifying for a 4K credit truly is galling...and I’m sure Tom Steyer is making nice noises because he’s running for governor in CA, but I still wouldn’t trust him to be honest...mildly NSFW/H...



...and in a somewhat related item, Brittany Page informs us that, according to some conservative douchebag, saying “tax the rich” is worse than saying the “N” word, supposedly...oh, and leave it to “Both Sides Smerky” to be all over it on CNN...“but I’m not sure that (some rich corporate grifter) is entirely wrong (about the phrase being a slur),” huh? That’s about on brand for Smerky...as Page says, this is in response to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani saying he would indeed tax the rich, so OF COURSE King Elmo, “Zuck,” the aforementioned Bezos, etc. have to go crying to their corporate media cousins about it...awww, what a shame that these spoiled little brats have to pay a tax on their second homes worth $5 million or more (break out the crying towels)...sooo Steve Roth is going to take his business to Flori-DUUUH now? Good luck hiring skilled people from a whole other candidate pool...good for Page for digging into this Roth guy and finding out that he made bank by basically killing a lot of “mom and pop” businesses in neighborhoods to build strip malls, throwing a lot of people out of their jobs in the process (while wrapping himself in the “just world” hypothesis)...glad to hear Page point out that it’s likely extremely rare to find someone who is truly self-made and didn’t get to prosperity without some help or inflicting pain on someone else, either intentionally or not...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know that Congressional Dems are trying to figure out how much people paid to get pardons from Our Ochre Abomination...I’d be surprised if the Dems get much of a response from these nutzoids they sent letters to, asking them how much they paid off the Gropenfuhrer, but it’s certainly worth a try...pretty despicable that the law allows a lobbyist to get paid so they can pay off our crime boss-in-chief (allegedly!) to get that golden “Get Out Of Jail Free” card...kudos to Dem reps Dave Min and Raul Ruiz and Dem Senator Peter Welch...and that means that folks who were owed $2 BILLION in restitution won’t get paid now?? This is YET ANOTHER story that would have gotten the 24/7/365 treatment if it were ANYBODY ELSE (and CERTAINLY a DEM, which would be deserved actually), but since it involves Dementia J. Trump, it will likely be treated with a shrug by our fourth estate stenographers...I agree with Cousins that the Dems are smart to be doing the legwork on all of this staggering corruption now as opposed to later...



...and Kyle Kulinski informs us that it looks like the WHO has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Congo with 80-plus deaths so far...oh, and did I mention that Bobby Brainworms and his boss have taken this country out of the WHO?...also, as Kyle says, Apartheid Clyde and DOGE utterly wrecked the CDC and US AID, so there’s no response coming from those critically important agencies...I would say that Jeremy Konyndyk has summed this up pretty well in a pretty damn terrifying series of tweets, and how much do you want to bet that China finds a way into this mess since we stoo-pidly abandoned our responsibilities on the world stage, further diminishing our prestige? (NSFW/H)...



...and Stephen Colbert delivers his final “Late Show” monologue, with some cameos...it looks like our alleged Hantavirus response is being led by a penile implant specialist and vaccine skeptic; definitely don’t feel “warm and fuzzy” about that (tied to the prior clip a bit)...and a scandal involving a Rome “sexy priest calendar”? Feel free to insert your snark here...and it looks like some dancing Chinese robot is trying to “bust a move” but it didn’t quite work out (still making my way through all of the clips from the last show)... I’m sure whatever nonsense Byron Allen manages to come up with starting next week in Colbert’s slot will merely be a bad joke in response...



...and nothing like an upbeat newer number to take us into a holiday weekend, is there (and from a local band too).

Wednesday Stuff

Belle of the Ranch reminds us that the Tangerine Toddler has destroyed half of Canadian tourist visits with all of his “51st state” BS and “Governor Carney” garbage, losing revenue to the tune of $4 billion per year...looks like Myrtle Beach got hit the worst according to Belle, based partly on cell phone data...good point by Belle that, when our Canadian neighbors get used to a new travel routine away from this country, it’s not like you can just magically flick a switch and everyone will come back; trying to repair this damage in particular, along with EVERYTHING ELSE destroyed by this regime, is going to take time and work, and money...



...and sticking with our northern neighbors, this report from CBC News: The National lets us know that our spiteful, petulant egomaniac in An Oval Office just pulled this country out of a joint defense initiative with Canada – God only knows why (maybe because Daddy Vlad told him to??)...and I think John McKay’s analysis of “stupid foolishness” is about right...Canada has “failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments,” huh? And that’s even though PM Mark Carney said Canada had fulfilled its pledge to spend 2% on defense (as opposed to the insane amount that WE spend, as opposed to other vital needs?)...oh, and did I mention that this joint U.S./Canada initiative goes back to World War II?...



...returning to our shores, Jordan Chariton of Status Coup News reports on 3 NJ congressional representatives (Dems Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Analilia Mejia) who visited an ICE prison in Delaney Hall, where we learn that those detained are being served food with live worms in it (also, green sausages and chunky milk)...oh, and apparently a pregnant woman was detained and she ended up losing the pregnancy in part at least because she wasn’t given medical treatment...also, let’s include a man with an untreated head wound in all of this and let HIM suffer without assistance also...oh, but GEO Group made $254 mil in profit, so it’s all good (all done in our name, people!)...



...and RIP Barney Frank...so many reasons to pay tribute to him IMO, mainly for the Dodd-Frank financial reforms passed in 2010 after the “banksters” blew up the “big casino” in 2008, and also because Frank took absolutely no mess, as shown in this clip during those beyond-ridiculous Teahadist town halls that spring up against the Affordable Care Act due to the efforts mainly of deep-pocketed donors like “Americans for Prosperity” (again, the timeframe on that was around 2009-2010)...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the group “secret handshake,” which apparently is behind the Trump/Epstein statues on the National Mall and the “golden toilet”...well, now they came up with “Operation Epic Furious,” which definitely looks like an old school arcade game as Maddow says, stationed at the War Memorial...the group also made an online version of this game so you can indeed play at home as if you are #47 and you can wage war against Iran in the game (or burn more Epstein files if you wish)...as far as the group behind this is concerned, “long may they wave” indeed...



...and happy 80th birthday to Cher.