Monday Stuff

Belle of the Ranch gives us more reactions to the Iran attack from Cheetoh Benito and “Bibi”...I suppose #47 will get a bit of a “sugar high” in polling when it comes to His Brand New Shiny Middle East War, but we know from recent history what is likely to happen next...I continue to be utterly shocked by how much sense Marjorie Taylor Greene is making, this time on the Iran attack...oh, and leave it to that knucklehead Tim Burchett to compare killing the leader of a despised country to targeted bombing by other presidents, including the destruction of an aspirin factory...and yeah, “Operation Epstein Fury” is pretty “on the nose” for this...as usual, well-off politicians set up other people’s kids for further harm at the hands of a despotic regime...



...and turning to domestic matters, David Shuster of Rebel HQ informs us of the $1.2 trillion trade gap ($70.3 billion for December ’25) from Cantaloupe Capone’s ruinous fiscal mismanagement...I would tend to believe Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and his definitely-not-rosy prognostications...soooo, the promised manufacturing jobs from reconstituting our supply chains in this country haven’t materialized, and we’re paying more on top of that – are you tired of the winning yet? Yep, we’re indeed looking at the “affordability crisis”...the one area where jobs are increasing is indeed health care because people will always be sick and the population of this country overall is getting older to the point where more care is needed...also, paying more and more interest on our debt continues to economically cripple every non-rich person in this country, particularly because WE are the ones who pay interest on the debt bonds held by foreigners...and a $32 trillion debt overall? Anybody who voted for this ruinous bunch from the “R” Party should be made to wear a dunce cap in public (and no disrespect to Shuster, but I couldn’t give a damn about Tim Pool, one of these YouTubers/podcasters funded by Vlad The Butcher)...



...and Tennessee Brando discusses Hillary Clinton giving a deposition into the Jeffrey Epstein criminality on “pedo island,” but Howard Lutnick and the Tangerine Toddler get to skate pretty much of course...I agree with Brando about 150 percent that this is YET ANOTHER story where we should have gotten together to do the right thing for the people impacted the most, and in this case, that means the victims and survivors of the Epstein horror show, including the family and friends of Virginia Giuffre, and I don’t mind the proverbial book getting thrown at the worst offenders also, whoever they are...I know Brando is despairing a bit in the end, but unfortunately I think he’s right; I’m just a guy and no big deal in the scheme of things, but I cannot tell you how much effort I’ve put into trying to make Repugs see reality on this and maybe about a hundred other issues, and the response I usually get is “la la la I’m covering my ears and can’t hear you” (NSFW/H)...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report brings us Iowa Repug U.S. House Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks, telling us that we should work without health care until they die, and just rely on health savings accounts...and by the way, you pretty much can’t use a HSA to pay a health insurance premium...and isn’t it just too con-vee-nient of a coincidence that this line from her about adopting a healthier lifestyle and having lower health care expenses has also been parroted by “Bobby Brainworms”; sooo, if somebody goes out and runs, say, a mile every day and consumes a low fixed amount of calories and stays away from alcohol and cigarettes but they still get pancreatic cancer, is she saying that person should be blamed anyway?...great point by Sam that, when it comes to health care, the cost containment has to come from the provider side, not the consumer side...



...and once more, Mr. Newberger gives us a spot-on take concerning the malfeasance (at a minimum) of Combover Caligula...



...and RIP Neil Sedaka.

Saturday Stuff

Ari Melber of MS NOW provides coverage of our war with Iran, including (according to Dear Orange Leader) the killing of Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...what some people won’t do to try and distract from plummeting domestic support and the ongoing scandal of the Epstein files...retired General Barry McCaffrey and Ambassador Dennis Ross offer commentary...I guess I’m just a pointy-headed lib for wondering how many times we have to learn that PRE-EMPTIVE FREAKING WAR DOESN’T GODDAMN WORK!!! (to say nothing of the fact that it’s illegal as hell)...still way too many goddamn questions about this at this point...



...also, the German news service DW gives us their report on retaliatory strikes launched by Iran against U.S. military bases in the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait...report with journalist Anjana Sankar...



...and Jesse Dollemore gives us his insights, you could say, on the Gropenfuhrer “getting his war on” against Iran and putting hundreds of our military at risk in the region...oh, and apparently either we or Israel bombed a school, and the casualty count is at least 80 and projected to go much higher...gee, I wonder if Cantaloupe Capone’s “board of peace” is going to give him a special prize for that?...kudos to Jesse for going over Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which our brain-addled chief executive took an oath to preserve, protect and defend a little over a year ago (though, as some keen-eyed folks besides yours truly noted, Pumpkin Pol Pot didn’t lay his hand across “the good book” as he was sworn in again)...and gee, “Tokyo Rose” Gabbard sure covered herself in glory at that Bund rally during the election, didn’t she?...and I’m just going to keep repeating the fact that Our Orange Clod walked away from a nuclear deal we struck with Iran under President Obama, with the significant efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry (NSFW/H)...



...and I offer the following without any further commentary.

Friday Stuff

(The pic is President Lyndon Johnson handing the pen to Martin Luther King Jr. after Johnson used it to sign the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.)

Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias inform us that it looks like our theocrats in robes are getting ready to totally extinguish the Voting Rights Act, Section 2 in particular...this stems from the Callais case out of Louisiana, in which that state redrew maps from the 2020 census and created 2 instead of 1 black opportunity districts, and a group of white voters said it was a map that discriminated against white people (since whites are so blatantly discriminated against in this country - #joke)...I didn’t realize that overturning Section 2 of the VRA, effectively neutering it (if that’s what comes from the SCOTUS ruling in Callais) could endanger potentially 30 Democratic seats in the U.S. House and (as Elias says) make it extremely difficult for Dems to take control in that chamber, but that does seem to be the endgame here...sounds like the original case had to do with the voting map in Louisiana but it was expanded to go after Section 2; the expanded ruling thing is what happened with Citizens United (and this smells like Alito’s dirty handiwork to be honest)...Elias is absolutely right about figuring out a new way to move forward if indeed the worst does happen concerning the VRA...I’m glad Elias mentioned the John Lewis For The People Act, though, as Elias says, we actually need something beyond that to anticipate more Stupid Voting Tricks from the “R” party...



...and Emma Vigeland, Brandon Sutton, Matt Binder and Matt Lech of The Majority Report discuss the nutjobs in the U.S. House (notably MAGA Mike Johnson, cheered on by Dementia J. Trump) passing the SAVE Act to make it harder for married women to vote, among the myriad other problems with this rotten bill, though it looks like Repug Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t have the votes to pass it fortunately...Mehdi Hasan cuts to the chase in his analysis, including the fact that this codifies that damn “voter ID” nonsense, which, yet again, is a “solution” in search of an actual problem (when we register at our polling locations, we have to provide proof that we legally reside there already, so there’s no need to do it again when we vote, and to be honest, actual irregularities when voting happen at such a microscopic level that it’s basically insignificant, and such irregularities are caught by poll workers anyway)...I didn’t know either that this wretched bill doesn’t say anything about marriage licenses for married women and leaves that question up to the states...what a damn mess!...also a good point to note that, in addition to the cost of getting an updated passport, there’s the fact that it will take longer to get one now because of the general defunding of public services from this wretched group in charge of the federal government...not surprised that there’s somewhat of a link here to Peter Thiel, Jeffrey Epstein, etc...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us of the recent testimony before Congress by former ICE employee Ryan Schwank, stating how he was told to teach these ICE life forms how to break the law and pretty much thumb their noses at the Constitution...truly a courageous act by Schwank to come forward this way and voice not just his concerns but those of ICE instructors who’ve had their class curricula for training new agents cut by more than half, so those recruits who DO emerge won’t know (and likely won’t care) about following the law...this is one reason why we’ll need a permanent truth and reconciliation committee when this nightmare is eventually over with subpoena power, and I don’t care if it’s composed only of Dems since I wouldn’t expect ANY Republican to stand up and do the right thing at this point...



...and Thom Hartmann makes a pretty convincing case IMO that prior Repug presidential administrations ended up pocketing about $38 trillion before #47 (between both Bushes and The Sainted Ronnie R)...I’d forgotten the history of Jude Wanniski and the “two Santa Claus” theory, but that’s indeed important for this topic...Thom goes down the whole list of stuff we could fund instead of shoveling the dough out the door for those stinking tax cuts for the rich...gee, let’s see, there’s universal pre-K, debt free college, restoring funds for Medicare/Medicaid and the ACA credits (or just sh*tcanning our wretched for-profit health care system and moving towards Medicare for All), upgrading our crumbling infrastructure including investing in renewable energy, weaning ourselves off fossil fuels as much as possible, building new housing, and on and on and on...and I honestly don’t recall if Cheetoh Hitler mentioned the national debt at the SOTU – there was so much other verbal flatulence from that spectacle that I couldn’t keep track...



...and Stephen Colbert gives us more on that mind-numbingly awful SOTU, including an 11 percent drop in ratings from last year, though Colbert’s is UP 7 percent over the same period (so much winning!)...and wow, artificially enhancing camels in an Oman “beauty” contest? I’m not sure a punchline is even necessary for that one...and a “toe up”? Yeah, I caught that one...and oh yeah, it looks like Our Treasonous Orange Pustule wants to attack Iran also – madness on so many levels that it’s hard to list all of them...also, is it necessary to point out again that we actually had a nuke deal with Iran under Obama, but Pumpkin Pol Pot walked away from it as soon as he first parked his bulbous butt in An Oval Office?...and oh yeah, we recently had another ridiculous confirmation hearing for another idiotic Trump nominee, and that would be Casey Means for surgeon general, some other damn “social media influencer” who’s grossly unqualified...



...and I don’t know if this newer tune is anthemic of anything or not, but I thought I’d present it anyway as we begin what hopefully will be a snow-free weekend.

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 (briefly NSFW/H)...



...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.