Miss Beau informs us that it looks like Hurricane Milton is barreling its way towards Ft. Myers in Flori-DUUUH!; hope everybody has gotten the hell out, and if not, what on earth are you waiting for? Oh, and #45 was yapping about supposedly never hearing of a Cat 5 hurricane before...um, Hurricane Dorian was a Cat 5 that happened while he was *president (leading to the whole “sharpie drawing on the map” thing, as pictured) and Hurricane Irma hit Puerto Rico (leading to the whole “watch me pitch paper towels to these people whose homes have been destroyed” thing...and it looks like guv #DeathSantis isn’t taking calls from Biden and Harris, as noted here?What a jagoff...and I guess U.S. House Speaker “MAGA Mike” Johnson couldn’t fund FEMA because he was too busy monitoring his son’s porn intake as noted here)...
...and Trae Crowder gives us some perspective as only he can on how much the wingnuts caterwaul about big gumint, though they want it to do everything they want and be completely available for them 24/7/365, though they’re too dumb to realize that (in light of the ongoing effort to clean up from Helene’s devastation, and with Milton on the way also as already noted...NSFW/H)...
...and here is my occasional reminder that a sizeable portion of this country is nuts and willing to “stand back and stand by” for Our Treasonous Orange Pustule (to do something about that, click here)...
...and Jumpin’ Judas H. Priest On A Pogo Stick! The “Old Gray Lady” FINALLY discovers that #45’s brain is turning into pudding...but OF COURSE they STILL treat Combover Caligula with kid gloves in the process – David Pakman gives us more info on that...
...and today marks what would have been the 84th birthday of John Lennon...
David Pakman tells us that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule spouted off recently that Kamala Harris is murdering people at another one of these hate-filled rallies in Wisconsin (God, what a delusional psycho this guy is, but we knew that)...yep, as sick as you can imagine, and more and more incoherent as Pakman points out (I’m not even going to research his babblings...$93 trillion, huh? And buildings in Manhattan with no windows, and Democrats supposedly wanting to do something with bathrooms? And if Dems are able to take back the House, then yeah, we’ll be hearing about the Green New Deal again, you orange turd)...
...and Chris Hayes gives us more BS from Combover Caligula and Marjorie Train Wreck Greene, with the latter saying “they” can control the weather (and as Hayes points out, along with at least one Repug in North Carolina government, this stuff is hampering relief effort for people trying to recover from Helene)...I honestly don’t know what you do with the life forms who continue to believe this garbage; let them fester and stew in their own insanity and leave us alone, I guess (and Milton is on its way also, so it looks like this entire awful cycle will repeat itself...love to be wrong – all of this makes me recall this post)...
...and I know I said yesterday I would have something on the Biden Administration settling the dock workers strike, and Mike Figueredo comments on that here, featuring Harold Daggett, the leader of the striking workers, and their quest to obtain an eventual 77 percent pay increase, which, as Figueredo explains, really isn’t that unreasonable given both the specialization of their type of work and the potential danger...also a great point by Figueredo to talk about “class solidarity,” and of course, leave it to some numbskull from Fix Noise to try and spin the strike to make it sound like the longshoremen are trying to hurt farmers and other U.S. consumers while giving Maersk a pass...also, I realize that person questioning Our Ochre Abomination is going to keep yapping about INFLATION KAMALA HARRIS OMIGOD!!!, but it should be noted for about the zillionth time that INFLATION IS STATISTICALLY NOT AN ISSUE IN THIS COUNTRY!!! (here)... and as noted here, Bronzer Beelzebub might have been (with the exception of The Sainted Ronnie R) the most anti-worker president in our lifetimes, and #45’s comments about “dead head spending,” or whatever that mess was, was just a typical pro-business riff on THE ONE PERCENT MUST HAVE THEIR TAX CUTS WHILE THE GAYS AND THE TRANNIES AND THE ILLEGALS AND THOSE LAZY LOW-WAGE WORKERS HAVE TO GET IT IN THE NECK!! (NSFW/H)...
...and I have to admit that I don’t know much about Julie Su (referenced also in the Figueredo clip), but I was impressed by the way she handled that stoo-pid question from some pro-business lackey about “oh, the dockworkers can’t get a 63 percent wage increase phased in over 5 years because that cost will be passed on to consumers” nonsense (from Sam and Emma of The Majority Report...maybe the exact number of the wage increase is between the 77 from Mike Figueredo and the 63 percent here)...one of Sam’s good points has to do with the size of these cargo ships that can only dock in a few ports in this country and the related economic impact...
...and in keeping with anti-worker hostility in this country, this More Perfect Union clip takes a look at the Marathon Petroleum Refinery, which might be the greediest oil company in this country, and that’s saying a lot I know; the Teamsters are striking for a fairer wage and some reasonable time off for the workforce...important story, but it’s hard to hear the damn narrator!...
...and every once in a while, I think we need a bit of an inspirational tune, and I think this newer number works for now.
Chris Hayes tells us about Cantaloupe Capone blaming Biden for supposedly not handling disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Helene properly (big shock – Our Ochre Abomination is LYING again)...but oopsie! It turns out that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule actually did that when he was in An Oval Office...and yes, give #46 and Harris credit also for handling the dock workers strike...and gosh, Sean Inanity haz a sad about the settlement...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (I’ll have more on that...the settlement, that is)...and oh yeah, a newspaper in North Carolina is telling the leader of Cult 45 to knock it off with the BS about the relief effort (here), and here is a list of Repug U.S. Senators who voted against FEMA funding, including Cancun Cruz and Lex Luthor Scott (to do something about Cruz, click here, and to do something about Scott, click here...and oh yeah, there is this too)...
...and in a related item, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about more madness from Marjorie Traitor Greene; the GA-14 loon sez “they” can “control the weather” in a tweet of course (to do something about this goofball, click here)...this echoes the Hayes clip a bit of Trump withholding aid during natural disasters (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of Scott in the “sunshine state,” John and Francesca tell us that the Repug U.S. senatorial mistake admits that “something is happening” when it comes to more extreme weather events and the scarier climate picture, but as for cutting back on carbon emissions to try and do something about it, cue the sound of crickets...and Bo-Bo Boebert’s opponent in Colorado should be able to use this latest bit of stoo-pidity against the Beetlejuice vaping queen...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen informs us that Kamala Harris is going after Bronzer Beelzebub for losing 200K manufacturing jobs...clip does a good job of showing Harris baiting #45, letting the toddler have his meltdown in the debate and then Tim Walz quite correctly chimes in on what a pathetic showing it was, and putting it in the context of other world leaders taking notes...and oh yeah, Couch Boy is indirectly crediting Biden/Harris on manufacturing jobs vs. the ones Mango Mussolini lost, whether he realizes it or not (NSFW/H)...
...and today is the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s cowardly attack on Israel (here), which has truly unleashed hell on earth in response (here), but today is also the 18th anniversary of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya...as noted here, one of her murderers was pardoned last November for fighting in Ukraine, which is a further insult to Politkovskaya's memory as far as yours truly is concerned...
..and kudos to “The Boss” for endorsing Kamala Harris (here); I think that calls for the following tune.
Lawrence O’Donnell gives us a deeper dive into the latest filing from Jack Smith – gee, looks like Mike Pence took notes, huh? Too bad for Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...and why did I know that John Eastman was the Trumpist bootlicker trying to plead the case for Mango Mussolini (and I’m sure Eastman will end up in the slam for a looong time, which is exactly what he deserves)...I think O’Donnell kind of trips over himself a bit from about 3:18 to 3:24, but you get the idea that the Electoral College Act forbade what Eastman had in mind and it seems like he and #45 wanted Mike Pence to do the dirty work with getting the slates of fake electors to the state legislatures for confirmation, but Pence wouldn’t go along – never thought I’d be giving Pence credit for anything, but I guess I have to even though he acted out of legal self-preservation...and yeah, Couch Boy made it pretty obvious on Tuesday that he would do what Pence wouldn’t (more here)...
...and I kind of put this on the back burner because of other more timely stuff, but Steve Shives (who previously sat in for Jesse Dollemore, though Jesse is back now) lets us know that Our Ochre Abomination’s latest scam is to sell crappy watches to his sheep-like followers, and for $110 grand? Truly, it is to laugh; indeed, the grift never ends...and “not on our watch,” huh? Nicely done...and that goes not just for Combover Caligula and his “mini me,” but we have to VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE DAMN BALLOT, PEOPLE! (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and in keeping with Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know that #45 was caught typically trying to lie his way out of the fact that people are leaving his little Bund rallies early...and yeah, there was a hurricane in Flori-DUUH! all right Bronzer Boy...how about the fact that wide swaths of the Southeast up to North Carolina were PULVERIZED by Hurricane Helene, and maybe instead of that typical Ivermectin scam of yours, you could put up an 800 number and a URL onscreen for people to make donations for Helene’s victims? Oh, but that doesn’t help your grift of course...I can dream, can’t I?...and GREAT point about how easy it would be for despots to get Cantaloupe Capone to bait him into doing what THEY want, given how easy it is to get under his skin...
...and of course our thoroughly corrupted SCOTUS did an awful lot to try and establish the leader of Cult 45 as dictator, in the beyond-awful event of Biden’s ruinous predecessor somehow getting another shot at power in An Oval Office...with that in mind, John Oliver take a look at our court system, including circuit courts, state appellate courts, and of course Leonard Leo – and yeah, we already knew that Leo was a lying scumbag, but this segment emphasizes that also...and good for focusing on overturning the Chevron doctrine and the truly huge number of times Chevron was successfully cited as a precedent (and I would say that that was truly a mask-off moment with Gorsuch when he was trying to do his “man of the people” bit...GMAFB!)...
...and at a certain point, I guess you just have to laugh a bit, albeit through clenched teeth (here - incredibly NSFW//H)...
...and the prior clips had to do with political BS, but this one has to do with life and death unfortunately...Mike Figueredo informs us that a South Carolina woman named Amari Marsh was charged with murder after a miscarriage...and yeah, the fact that this lady was contacted BY A GODDAMN COP FOR HER MISCARRIAGE is the first fluorescent red light flashing all over the place...and by the way, cops investigating miscarriages is definitely a thing in South American “Catholic” countries, but I guess we’re officially a third world nation now and I missed the memo (NSFW/H also)...
...and related to the prior clip, Thom Hartmann asks if Texas has outlawed health care for women, given that four counties in “the land of the yellow rose” have passed travel bans saying that, if you transport a woman through that county to get an abortion, you can be sued for up to $10K...also, Repugs are trying to prevent abortion legalization measures from getting passed in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio, and other anti-women’s healthcare nonsense is going on in other states also, including trying to prevent pro abortion rights petitioners from getting signatures...I hope I’m wrong of course, but I can’t see how this won’t lead to violence somehow...
...and in musical news, today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Paul Revere (of The Raiders, mainly from the ‘60s)...would you believe me if I told you that I accidentally ran into him swimming in a pool at a Residence Inn in Laurel, Maryland? I didn’t realize who it was at first; he struck up a conversation, and at first I thought, what’s the deal with this guy? Then, as we talked, he found a way to work into the conversation that he was a musician, and it came up who he really was; I probably should have recognized him sooner (and I later checked out what he said, and he was right of course...he mentioned that a band member was from Eugene, Oregon, which is correct...turns out it's Mark Lindsay), and I was definitely blown away when we talked with him (I was with our son)...I ran some of the band’s legendary song titles past him, and the smile on his face was electric enough to light up a whole room; I honestly think it was him...damn nice guy...RIP.
I thought this was a pretty decent partial list of the lies from J.D. Vance in last Tuesday’s VP debate from Joy Reid; yeah, Couch Boy does indeed have his whole act patented where he sounds intelligent and doesn’t provide much fodder for his opponent, but you indeed have to dig through what the Repug U.S. Senator from Ohio is saying to find out what a brazen con man he truly is (here)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us about Never Trumper Charlie Sykes pointing out that the Gropenfuhrer’s cognitive decline is getting worse...and yeah, it‘s scary to contemplate that people in this country know they’re being lied to and don’t care; I can assure you that I will NEVER tolerate someone lying to me on an issue, regardless of what political party they represent...clip ends at about 4:38 without the ad...
...and also pertaining to Biden’s ruinous predecessor in An Oval Office, New York Times reporter Michael B. Schmidt discusses how Bronzer Beelzebub wanted to make himself a prosecutor of sorts to go after his critics in 2018, but apparently was stopped by John Kelly and Don McGahn, fortunately (if, God forbid, #45 gets another crack at this, he won’t be told No this time, people, and as Schmidt points out, #45 did indeed go after Schmidt’s phone records as well as those of other reporters)...
...and David Pakman lets us know that Cantaloupe Capone is big mad that Biden delivered hurricane aid to red states (as usual, every accusation from the “R” party is a confession)...and Big Stupid Head Matt Gaetz took a break from trying to solicit sex from teenage girls (allegedly!) so he could vote against FEMA aid to Flori-DUUH! before Hurricane Helene struck...just say “oops” and get out, OK?...I think Pakman needs to do something about his mic...
...and this report from More Perfect Union lets us know about Google and Meta (Facebook) buying up local news organizations and siphoning off billions in ad revenue from these smaller operations...didn’t know how important ad exchanges are to the entire profit-making equation for newspapers and smaller publishers...interesting that Australia came up with a strategy around what Google and Meta are doing (and more on Google’s tactics against the CJPA is here)...as far as I’m concerned, we’re going to have to get serious in this country when it comes to forming some kind of a public-private partnership to fund local news orgs so they can keep people and communities informed (and get through some lean periods of declining ad revenue), but I definitely don’t see enough of an appetite for that, unfortunately...
...and happy 45th birthday to drummer Nate Wood of The Calling.
Brian Tyler Cohen gives us some clips of last night’s VP debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance...wow, Couch Boy sez we need to be energy independent; uh, yeah, and as Cohen points out, that is EXACTLY what Biden and Harris have been working on (creating about 800K manufacturing jobs), as well as the fact that 150K manufacturing jobs left this country when Our Ochre Abomination was in charge; and I thought Tim Walz made a great move to put climate change in the context of what our farmers are dealing with... I’m also glad that Walz mentioned the bill from Repug U.S. Sen. James Lankford that would address what Combover Caligula is screeching about on the border, but #45 wanted Lankford’s bill killed so Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence would have the issue to demagogue about instead...also, it was more than a bit of a tell that Peter Thiel’s puppet Vance wouldn’t acknowledge that NOTHING GODDAMNED ILLEGAL HAPPENED in the 2020 election (here)...Walz needed to at least hold his own last night, and it looks like that happened, so it sounds to me like mission accomplished...
...and I don’t recall that much was said about the “tech bros” supporting Vance in pursuit of a pretty hardcore neocon agenda, but Rachel Maddow covered that pretty well here...and shocker! This all leads back to the at-least-as-nutty Curtis Yarvin...and yeah, we need a CEO/dictator instead of a fully funded, staffed and functioning government – in some insane universe that is (and sure, go ahead and abuse our military yet again for their commitment to protect our way of life by so easily wanting to hand it over to fascists and tin pot dictators)...
...and pertaining to the Repug presidential and VP ticket, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/3/20, in which we learn about all of the individuals Combover Caligula exposed to COVID after he was exposed to Hope Hicks, his White House communications director, who herself tested positive (and #45 eventually tested positive also of course)...typical of his utterly lackadaisical attitude in the face of a global pandemic (more on that is here)...
...and Jesse Dollemore lets us know about the head of the Alabama Supreme Court, Tom Parker (seriously, that’s his name, with no “colonel” added) expressing his support for something called the “seven mountains mandate” which calls on evangelical Christians to “reshape American law and society based on their beliefs” (ugh...no wonder these nematodes support Couch Boy)...oh, and Parker is also calling for his sheep-like followers to pray against a measure that would allow African Americans to have another congressional district...and excuse me while I go out on a bit of a limb here, but somehow I can’t imagine that such a matter is “front of mind” for The Almighty, but what do I know? (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and in somewhat of a related vein (e.g., appealing to wingnuts), Kyle Kulinski (definitely not him) brings us the story of Derrick Anderson, a Repug politician who decided to pose in what appears to be a family photo...um, the problem is that THIS ISN’T HIS FAMILY; I think Kyle is spot-on when he says that these Philistines are trying to find any way to communicate the message that SEE? WE REALLY DON’T HATE WOMEN AND WANT TO DEPRIVE THEM OF THE RIGHT TO MAKE THEIR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME GODLESS, ABORTION-LOVING LIB??!! (NSFW/H)...
...and I hope you’re in the mood for a newer and self-affirming tune, because here it comes.
Happy 100th birthday to President Carter...yes, he had what I guess you could call a complicated presidency, but there were definitely high points as far as yours truly is concerned, such as the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaty and fully normalizing relations with China; on the minus side was inflation (which any president is limited in fighting, actually) and the Iran Hostage Crisis, with the latter two fully exploited by The Sainted Ronnie R in the 1980 presidential campaign...we should all be disgusted by the lies of Mango Mussolini, but our 40th president set that precedent in the ’80 campaign with all of his untruths, let’s not forget...and of course, Carter’s post-presidency is a model for all of us...
...and speaking of untruths, I have a feeling that the “mini-me” for Our Ochre Abomination will be dealing them fast and furiously tonight in the veep debate, as The Lincoln Project reminds us...
...and in keeping with a theme from the prior two clips, David Doel tells us about Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN spreading the untruth that Dem U.S. House Rep Rashida Tlaib said that Michigan AG Dana Nessel was only prosecuting certain cases because Nessel is Jewish, which TLAIB NEVER FREAKING SAID! And yeah, the “both sides” BS is thick enough to cut with a knife here, because as we know, some campus protestors who may have chanted something impolite about Israel or used spray paint is exactly the same thing as cluster bombs and sniper fire from IDF murdering Gazans as far as our corporate media is concerned...and yeah, I would most definitely agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates also...and good for Doel to put this in the context of the ongoing settlement expansion and occupation...and yeah, it is indeed beyond pathetic to watch Jake Tapper try and weasel his way out of this in questioning Nessel...”well, didn’t YOU imply that about Tlaib and not MEEE??” (and sorry I’m a little late with this)...
...well, to hear something that’s actually true, Miss Beau reminds us that Kamala Harris received about 740 more national security endorsements from across the political spectrum – speaks volumes, I would say...
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about Blackrock: The Conspiracies You Don’t Know; the video also looks at State Street and Vanguard, the two other “big three” asset managers...this is a good video, but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that, yes, Vanguard does charge fees, but overwhelmingly, their success is driven by fund performance and shareholder returns, which is the vision of John Bogle, the company’s founder...and once more, offering stock options to executives as compensation used to be illegal, but it became legal under...all together now...The Sainted F*cking Ronnie R (here...though, to be fair, options have been also offered to employees as part of compensation, though at a greatly reduced amount)...that bar graph at about 8:08 does indeed tell the story...
...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that it looks like independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn is doing well in Nebraska running against incumbent Repug Deb Fischer (and yes, that is a compelling ad)...Osborn isn’t a Dem for sure, but if he could get in and cut into the Repug U.S. senate minority, that would definitely be a win (more on the other U.S. Senate races is here)...
...and I have to tell you that there are some issues, people, personalities etc. that I admit to having a blind spot about, more or less, and maybe #1 on that list was Pete Rose, who signed with the Phillies for what seemed like a gazillion dollars way back when, and there was only one reason for that, and that was to win a World Series, which looked hopelessly out of reach for a roster of high-priced but talented players...there were certain constants growing up in these parts back in that era, and it was that the Phillies and Eagles would likely never win championships; it’s hard to put into words the joy that we felt when the Fightin’ Phils FINALLY won a Series in 1980, which became official when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson immediately after the catch in this clip (easily my most memorable Rose moment)...the red pinstripe bunch doesn’t pull this off without #14; it’s that simple (the ESPN host offering Rose a tribute last night more or less said that Rose should be included in a discussion of the game’s greatest players, and I agree 150 percent...yes, Rose was wrong to gamble and lie about it, but I can think of athletes who have done far worse...just make a damn exception and let him into the HOF, OK?)...
Update 10/2/24: Apologies for failing to note the passing of this sports figure who wore the uni of the Sixers for a brief time; our basketball team traded for Dikembe Mutombo when the Allen Iverson-led Sixers were preparing to go against Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers in the NBA Finals in 2001...our guys did their best, but the Lakers were at their peak back then and they prevailed over the hometown bunch four games to one...Mutombo had the thoroughly unenviable task of going up against Shaq, and the former did his best against the latter, a courageous effort in a losing cause.
...and in addition to the 100th birthday of our 39th president, today also marks the 60th anniversary of the “free speech” movement on college campuses, begun by the arrest of former University of California at Berkeley graduate student Jack Weinberg as noted here (Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer has more here...here is a tune for the occasion).
