Thursday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore discusses the SOTU address the other night from “Dementia Donnie,” including Dem U.S. House Rep Al Green and his thoroughly appropriate “Black people aren’t apes” sign...I’m surprised Markwayne Mullin didn’t rip his jacket off first before he tried to grab Green’s sign, since that seems to be Mullin’s go-to move in typical WWE fashion, and Steve Scalise and Troy “I’m Leaving To Give Up My House Seat To My Brother” Nehls were no better of course...and yeah, we have had a “turnaround for the ages,” but definitely NOT in a way that does any good...I also agree with Jesse that Green should have had some company from the “D” team when he exited from that chamber, but this is what we can expect from Hakeem Jeffries, sadly...at least Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib knew what to do, to their credit...

...also, every time Cantaloupe Capone loses a court battle in his effort to illegally arrest and transport US citizens to God knows where, remind me to chant “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” (and one more thing: all of that yammering by our traitorous orange meat sack about “open borders” and “sanctuary cities” are lies that should have been effectively pushed back against decades ago)...



...and Elliott Morgan of Rebel HQ gives us more bad economic news from our regime of frauds and bottom feeders...I know it’s old stuff a bit to see data on just how badly those stinking tariffs from Don The Con are polling, but I think that needs to be emphasized against his other myriad policy disasters...and listening to that nonsense from Mike Lawler on that CNN panel is about what you can expect from the “party of Lincoln”; NOBODY honestly believes that Pumpkin Pol Pot is going to sit down and negotiate or whatever about ANYTHING, including those stinking tariffs...and oh yeah, three guesses who was once caught on tape saying the economy does better under Dems than the Repugs, and the first two guesses don’t count...

...and Farron Cousins informs us of Repug U.S. Senator John Neely Kennedy appearing on Fix Noise to make fun of AOC, though he ended up dumping on working Americans in general; yeah, well, at least nobody I know has to come up with some BS folksy, down-home act to hide the fact that they were educated at Oxford (and God almighty, why the $#@! can’t the goddamn Dems as a party be as good at social media as AOC is??!!)...



...and this New York Times clip brings us the tale of how Vermont made childcare affordable...the fact that 44 percent of those polled said having a family cost too much in this country shouldn’t be surprising since we’ve spent decades showering tax cuts on the rich at the expense of working families...something is SERIOUSLY wrong when ANYONE has to dip into their 401(k) to pay for child care...I can’t imagine what kind of an expense it is for that business in Smuggler’s Notch to offer free child care, but kudos to the guy running it for doing the right thing...nice work by Ally Richards also; everyone’s efforts led to the passage of Act 76, which meant a comparatively meager sales tax increase to provide millions in child care funding...



...and Desi Lydic of The Daily Show gives us more lowlights from that perverse spectacle of a speech the other night...it seems that Gramps is watching too many “mad slasher” horror movies on his TV in the White House while he snacks on his Big Macs and fries, because a whole of bunch of demented carnage from his addled noggin somehow made its way into that interminable speech (with Troy Iwata – sorry I didn’t get the “Heated Rivalry” joke, but I have a feeling I know what the punchline was)...



...and I don’t see any tour dates in this area for her, but I’ll keep an eye out (really like this newer tune, and why do I have a feeling that this is spot-on for the Tangerine Toddler?).

Wednesday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about Trumpist judge Aileen Cannon blocking the release of the final report from Jack Smith that looked into the Trump Administration’s alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents and obstruction of the federal probe into same...as I’ve said before, I’m definitely not a “legal eagle” so I may lose track of the fine points on Cannon’s supposed logic here, but it sounds like she never wanted Smith to proceed with this investigation at any point, presumably because this violated some mythical standard of presidential impunity...and by the way, I’m not a fan of “No Malarkey Joe” holding onto classified docs either, but the last I checked, when he was told he needed to turn over those docs, HE PRETTY MUCH FREAKING COMPLIED IMMEDIATELY, UNLIKE #47!...and I think John is spot-on to point out how Cannon is angling for a SCOTUS seat, what with Thomas and/or possibly Alito too deciding to step down during this awful term; this indeed is the driver of all of this legal favoritism on behalf of Cheetoh Hitler (more here)...



...and I realize attention must be paid to that utter train wreck of a speech from our orange lunatic last night, and with that in mind, I give you the following from Rachel Maddow and the MS NOW panel...props to Maddow for rebutting the deluge of lies from Our Treasonous Orange Yam, who is growing ever more detached from reality by the day...and wow, it does indeed sound like “violence porn” from Pumpkin Pol Pot towards the end of that dirge...I agree with Nicolle Wallace’s take that the only ones who think this country is “hot” right now are the people standing in the omelet line at Mar-a-Lago; that sentiment is DEFINITELY NOT shared by at least 66 percent of this country (and yeah, Bri-Fi – taking into consideration what Jen Psaki said, do you really think this utter mess of a speech helps you run for re-election this fall?)...



...well, turning away from the dark, demented fantasies of Mango Mussolini and focusing on the world of reality, Robert Reich asks what the typical worker pay rate would be in this country if it had grown at the same rate as CEO pay over the last 50 years? Good question...the typical worker wage back in 1968 was $25.14 an hour, with earnings jumping to the astronomical level (snark) of $36.49 an hour in 2024...actually, if worker pay had risen at the same rate as CEO pay, it would be $432 an hour by now...we’re reminded once more of how much corporate compensation has gone into stock buybacks, which used to be illegal until it was made OK by (everybody all at once now) The Sainted Ronnie R...and actually, when it comes to labor unions, I give you this, and when it comes to antitrust enforcement, I give you this...



...and John Oliver had a typically well-done segment here IMO on what Apartheid Clyde has done to “the bird app,” turning it from a fairly reputable news source where credible people would keep us informed into a right-wing cesspool propagating all manner of hateful garbage...I have to admit that I really didn’t connect the dots on how that wretched Nick Shirley business on the supposed rampant fraud at Somali-run day care centers morphed into ICE terrorizing the city of Minneapolis (an update is here), and with all of the right-wing madness in this country, I hadn’t really paid attention to what King Elon I was doing “across the pond,” but that definitely is telling also; I would agree with the assessment that Xitter has become a breeding ground for all kinds of wingnut propaganda eventually leading to violence...watching Musk utterly glitch out over the question of why a “collective consciousness” is important to him is weirdly amusing, I have to admit...seriously, though, Musk and everyone in our ruinous administration need to be held to account for the mass starvation and death they are responsible for from gutting US AID (probably should be standing in a docket at the Hague, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen)...by the way, Peter Attia has left CBS News since this segment was filmed...



...and Mr. Newberger gives Crazy Eyes Kash Patel the treatment he deserves here; also, maybe I’m being a little too harsh on the U.S. men’s gold-medal-winning hockey team, but as far as I’m concerned, by attending that speech last night where our *preznit spouted off all of his “greatest hits” of bilious, hateful garbage, they have forever stained their accomplishment on behalf of this country (here)...



...and today marks what would have been the 83rd birthday of George Harrison (backgrounder on this tune is here).

Tuesday Stuff

Tennessee Brando brings us the news of Crazy Eyes Kash Patel partying and getting drunk with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, which won the gold medal on Sunday (and congratulations to them)...1) Yeah, doing this on the taxpayer dime sure is galling all right, and 2) Patel didn’t do a damn thing to help with this great achievement, but leave it to the Trump regime to jump on the bandwagon as fast as they can...to be honest, I had a feeling something like this would happen if the U.S. won, which is why I was secretly rooting for Canada if you want to know the truth...and yeah, I haven’t heard anything about this Tyler Robinson guy either, the accused killer of Charlie Kirk, and I don’t expect to hear much about the guy who invaded Mar-a-Lago either...and sure, let Patel ground the plane for Chris Wray while he acts like a drunken fool whenever he wants (NSFW/H)...



...and as long as we’re noting Olympic athletes from this country, I give you also this clip from Brian Tyler Cohen about the Gropenfuhrer getting snubbed by the U.S. women’s hockey team... looks like Cantaloupe Capone said he would have to invite the women’s team to the White House or he’d be impeached, which is about what you would expect from this guttural orange meat sack; kudos to the women’s team for bailing, whether the official excuse can be taken at face value or not (fine with me if you choose not to)...and by the way, I definitely don’t plan to view that lie-fest tonight from #47; I’ll just wait for others to debunk his insanity later (NSFW/H)...



...oh, and did you hear that Combover Caligula sent over a hospital ship to Greenland, since he must believe that the kingdom of Denmark has no way to treat its residents when they fall ill? At least Greenland’s Prime Minister put Dementia Donnie in his place...I agree with Farron Cousins’s take on this, with #47 pretending to show compassion towards that country, though the best thing our *preznit could do is to shut his blabbering orange yam mouth and focus on stuff in THIS COUNTRY instead, such as his ICE Gestapo running amok, our collapsing economy and crumbling infrastructure (and I would add focusing on renewable energy, which he SHOULD ALSO DO, but yeah, fat chance I know)...



...and speaking of that booming industry (definitely in China and elsewhere – not so much here because of the Tangerine Toddler), this CBC report tells us about Our Treasonous Orange Pustule’s “war on wind”...Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island (where a massive wind project is teetering on the brink because of our ruling cabal) is interviewed, quite rightly noting Canada’s opportunity in that energy sector, specifically their “Wind West” project off Nova Scotia, with energy from that project potentially exported to this country since we’re apparently now incapable of producing it ourselves...”litigation is Trump’s love language” indeed...not sure how they managed to find some clueless boomer-looking Trumper in Rhode Island opposing their wind project; how about interviewing younger residents also to see what THEY think?...also, this is a well-done report IMO, but there are a couple of usages of “Democrat” as an adjective, which it isn’t, instead of a noun, which it is, which is kind of grating to be honest...



...and as long as we’re more or less focusing on foreign matters, I thought I would include this clip of Jonathan Pie discussing the latest concerning Andrew Mountbatten Windsor...didn’t occur to yours truly that the royal family may have paid off at least one underage girl who seems to have had relations with “randy Andy,” and Pie is right to observe the absurdity, to say nothing of illegality, when it comes to Don The Con apparently skating over the Epstein stuff even though his name is all over the place in the apparently-never-to-be-seen files (definitely NSFW/H)...



...and RIP Billy Steinberg, co-composer of this tune, as well as other hits.

Monday Stuff

Leeja Miller discusses how protestors are the next target for Cheetoh Hitler, and BTW, Mush Mouth Tom Homan says ICE will leave Minneapolis; yeah, I don’t believe him for a second...also, it looks like Our Ruling Regime will have to define “antifa” in a Texas court – pass the popcorn...and I completely believe Miller when she says that our Trumpist cabal will come after dissenters next, even more than they are already, including using facial recognition software...I’m old enough to remember wingnuts losing what’s left of their minds when the idea was proposed of a federal database of gun owners, but lookee how they’re planning to do that with people whose opinions they don’t agree with (and OF COURSE Palantir is involved)...also, revoking a TSA preclearance is one typically lowdown tactic from our cabal of bottom feeders...there’s never an excuse for violence regardless of how you come down on this stuff, but I’m still waiting for someone to prove a lefty-Dem link to the accused killer of Charlie Kirk, and I expect to keep waiting...important history on how our federal cabal is weaponizing a lot of statutes that had already existed, in particular after 9/11, though NSPM-7 is wholly owned by the Gropenfuhrer and his sorry crew...good advice to wear a mask when protesting; give these ICE bastards a taste of their own medicine (and more on Resist and Unsubscribe is here)...(NSFW/H)...



...also, there was an incident in Quakertown in our beloved commonwealth where high school students protested ICE but matters got out of control...a news report is here, but this clip makes it plain that the violence was escalated by Police Chief Scott McElree (also NSFW/H)...

Arrest Quakertown, Pennsylvania police chief Scott McElree. This child assaulting MAGA Nazi needs to be fired IMMEDIATELY. 😡😡😡👇 pic.twitter.com/FPZ8kxbFxr

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) February 22, 2026

...and Jen Psaki makes it pretty clear how Dementia J. Trump uses his damn tariffs in mob boss fashion..it looks like Don The Con was able to strongarm Vietnam with a 46% tariff threat into approving some typically disgusting real estate venture for about $1.5 billion to house 35K residents and with a golf course, naturally (as I hear about yet another obscenity from our regime of grifters and lowlifes, I’m recalling every damn time I heard a Repug carry on about the “Biden crime family”)...#47 also pulled the same nonsense with Switzerland because the president of that country “rubbed him the wrong way,” so that country gives Our Sweaty Orange Boy gifts for the “presidential library” with a resulting tariff cut from 39 to15%......I’d also forgotten about the 50% tariff on Brazil to help #47’s pal Bolsonaro, with Brazil telling Mango Mussolini what he could do, and TACO Trump dropped the tariff anyway...oh, and those damn tariffs cost U.S. households an average of 1K last year; I want to see a stinking refund!...



...and John and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report discuss Anderson Cooper deciding not to hang around CBS any more to witness Bari Weiss turn that once proud news division into EVEN MORE of a train wreck...and I get the whole “spending more time with the kids” thing, but I’m sorry; I think there’s more going on here (more on Weiss’s sorry stewardship is here)...



...oh, and when it comes to that story that our ruling regime wants us to forget about, I’d like to present the following from Mr. Newberger...



...and like many other folks, we got creamed with the white stuff...please be careful if you’re shoveling or trying to fend off the cold.

Friday Stuff

Mike Figueredo brings us an update on Trump voters getting screwed the most by his policies...don’t have a good word for anyone who thinks that Combover Caligula is “awesome” after only a year (seems like 5 at least) of this utter madness...and in a weird way I’ll admit, I have to laugh at anyone who thinks NOW that Biden did a better job as *preznit; I guess you needed to get hit over the head metaphorically to FINALLY realize that (and Ana Kasparian definitely doesn’t have an excuse for misreading #47; for someone as ubiquitous on social media as she is, she’s supposed to be right on stuff like this)...didn’t know that far-right people overseas are turning on Pumpkin Pol Pot also, but that isn’t too surprising either...one of Figueredo’s great points is that, especially now, we have to recognize our collective humanity because our fascist ruling regime will come for EVERYONE eventually unless we keep pushing back...I know I had that clip of the CSPAN caller earlier; I have to give that man credit for his honesty, though it’s utterly tragic that it took getting to this point for him to realize how wrong he was...also, I’d like to tell Ken Griffin what he can do, but I have to watch my language here I know (NSFW/H)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Mango Mussolini getting shot down by the SCOTUS on his tariff madness...looks like Our Sweaty Orange Boy can’t inflict his stinking trade misery (at least in its present form), with our corporate SCOTUS slapping him down by a 6-3 ruling (here and here)...nice job by Belle to bring back the clip from last November as a refresher...also, It looks like the so-called “major questions doctrine” from this Court that bit former President Biden in the butt reared its ugly head again here, which is poetic justice IMO...and OF COURSE “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and Strip Search Sammy Alito dissented...I’d like to think this will be the end of those stinking tariffs, but sadly I know better, and I think you do also; he’ll find a way to try to reapply them under another statute (and Belle points out how Canada and the EU aren’t taking a victory lap on this either)...



...and Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh of Democracy Now! tell us more about The Prince Formerly Known As Andrew arrested for involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case (the actual charge is “misconduct in public office,” with Andrew alleged to have forwarded confidential information to Epstein, similarly to what Peter Mandelson is charged with, and God only knows where that info from anyone associated with Epstein ended up...probably sold to the highest bidder of despotic regimes) – in the U.K., powerful people actually face accountability for the Epstein stuff, unlike here...writer Michael Walker is interviewed...



...and I know we’ve kind of dispensed with the Stephen Colbert/James Talarico stuff, but I definitely wanted to get to Lawrence O’Donnell’s takedown of the CBS lawyers, who were wrong about the application of the equal time requirement for broadcast television – entertainment shows like Colbert’s are exempt from that rule...ABC’s lawyers are no better, as O’Donnell points out (kind of a clumsy edit at the end which is typical for MS NOW clips for some reason, cutting off Talarico almost in mid-sentence)...



...and as long as we’re discussing late night talk show hosts, I think it’s called for to give this recent commentary from Jimmy Kimmel, about Cantaloupe Capone’s immunity fantasy in the aforementioned Epstein stuff, a façade that is indeed cracking...yep, we need to be showing what it looks like when “a democracy treats a power grab as a crime rather than a brand” for sure...Kimmel gives the examples of South Korea and Brazil, two countries that held their leaders to account the way WE should have...”make immunity feel normal” from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule indeed, and yeah, Don The Con sure does treat scrutiny as persecution, doesn’t he...and with all the myriad scandals from our wretched regime, I’d actually forgotten about the DHS luxury jet controversy from Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem...”government exists to reward the insiders” could definitely be a motto for the Trumpsters...



Update 2/23/26: Looks like Kimmel and ABC took down the video - oh well.

...and on the one hand, I suppose this is an example of U2 trying to remain relevant somehow, but on the other hand, props to them for adding their voice against our despotic ruling regime (and by the way, this tidy little number rocks also).

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about China running circles around us on infrastructure, with their success powered by renewable energy, which we’re stoo-pidly retreating from...the clip of China using the mountain range for renewable technology is pretty damn stunning IMO, along with that map of high-speed rail from 2008 to 2020...I hate to say this, but it’s true; as a nation, there is MUCH MORE that they can do at scale that we can’t, and China is proving it... even Australia is now outpacing us when it comes to renewable energy and infrastructure (no disrespect to that country...NSFW/H)...



...and Corrine Straight of Really American lets us know that it looks like our neighbors to the north (on the “22 Minutes” program) are having fun lampooning the ego of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule...and Peter Baker is a notorious “both sides” corporate media hack, so he gets no kudos from me (wow, so ONLY NOW Baker is discovering #47’s relentless and completely ridiculous cult of personality BS? Gee dude, you’re a regular rocket scientist, aren’t you?)...also, I’d heard about Don the Con and the “John Miller” stuff before, FWIW (also NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins brings us the story of another Repug congressman quitting, and that would be Neal Dunn of Flori-DUUUH! – Dunn apparently can’t even be bothered to serve the remainder of his term and is going to bolt from the U.S. House right now...I’m sure MAGA Mike Johnson is going to get another Repug into Dunn’s seat double quick, and if Dunn is having lingering issues from COVD, I hope he gets the help he needs, but this demonstrates just how razor thin the Repug House majority truly is...



...and Tennessee Brando tells us about Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia killing it in speeches against the Gropenfuhrer...a “spiritually broken, false prophet” indeed; I’m glad to hear Ossoff use the language of scripture to make his point...personally, I think there’s a point where the world of faith ends and the world of the “here and now” begins, and I wouldn’t conflate faith with politics since I think every politician is a charlatan to one degree or another, but I wouldn’t put down someone’s deeply held faith either, as long as it isn’t used as an excuse to avoid rational decision-making... “We (should) make sure the car never goes in the ditch again” indeed, as well as forgetting about these damn lefty “purity tests” as Brando says (NSFW/H as well)...



...and this item from Mr. Newberger informs us of DHS Secretary Kristi “Dog Killer” Noem having a meltdown recently over losing her “binky” (here), with her boy toy Corey Lewandowski coming to her rescue...



...and I don’t see this guy coming to our area anytime soon, but I’ll keep a lookout and provide updates if necessary.

Wednesday Stuff

Usually I have clips from comedians or Mr. Newberger at the end, but this time I’m leading off with Stephen Colbert addressing the dustup in the matter of the James Talarico non-interview because of the latest edict from FCC chair Brendan Carr (I know the Talarico clip is online, including at YouTube, and I’m sure by now the clip has surpassed 2 million views on that platform...oh, but wingnut talk radio is exempt from Carr’s “equal time” edict – how con-vee-nient)...



...and I know I’m a little behind on this, but I wanted to include it anyway...Chris Hayes discusses Pam “Blondi” and the whole “Mexican cartel drones that were really balloons” thing, leading to halting air traffic out of El Paso for 10 days due to “national security reasons”...yep, looks like CBP got ahold of a laser and started firing it off without telling anyone, and again, at party balloons they thought were drones...in the immortal words of baseball manager Casey Stengel, “can anybody here play this game?”...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the botched announcement of the ICE concentration camp in Merrimack, New Hampshire, with the Trump regime trying to sell construction of this facility as a “major economic investment”...yeah, and there will be positive ripple effects supposedly for the “Oklahoma” economy, as well as more dough from state sales and income taxes, neither of which are charged in New Hampshire (just say “oops” and get out)...I don’t suppose it should be surprising that NH Repug guv Kelly Ayotte is smack dab in the middle of this mess, having pled ignorance on the building of this prison camp in her state even though one of the fascists from DHS testified before Congress that, yeah, Ayotte knew, and even Dem governor Maura Healey across the Connecticut River in MA is coming out against this...Maddow speaks with NH rep Wendy Thomas of Merrimack; I guess it isn’t surprising that the Merrimack warehouse owner is a big Ayotte donor...and OF COURSE the facility is also in an area contaminated by PFAS chemicals, so there’s that also...



...and sticking with ICE, Robert Reich tells us about the corporations supporting our outlaw agency...much of the dough from the Big Beautiful Custerf*ck (as Reich points out) is going to companies in the form of government contracts for facial recognition software, bed linens at concentration camps, and on and on...I used to respect Dell for the quality of their PCs, but no more...Reich reminds us of the pressure that put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air, as well as getting Avelo Airlines to stop their deportation flights...of course, in addition to protesting as our means allows, we also need to make damn sure we vote against anyone who supports ICE this fall (basically, support the “D” team, folks)...



...and Thom Hartmann talks about how the elections this fall are a vote for democracy vs. tyranny – the political party labels don’t really tell the story...I would say that there are not 5, but 6 corrupt Repugs on the SCOTUS, but I’ll grant Thom his argument for now...I know a lot of Thom’s history of how we got to this point has been echoed here and elsewhere for awhile now, but I believe repeating that is important...Thom traces the path from democracy to oligarchy to tyranny, and yeah, it’s definitely the stuff of nightmares to contemplate where we are on that front right now (and Thom references the absurdly-named SAVE Act to restrict married women from voting, among other groups, at about 7:30)...commentary ends at about 12:30, but I LOVE the tune that follows...



...and I have to tell you that I had a NSFW/H reaction to this item (this too)...with everything going on in this country, the “party of Lincoln” is STILL preoccupied with bathroom bills, and a pox on everyone in Kansas who supports this...this tune came to mind just about immediately.