Wednesday Stuff

Tennessee Brando points out here that Dementia J. Trump just spoke publicly about bombing Los Angeles and San Diego – I totally agree with Brando that that means that Cantaloupe Capone needs to be carted out of the White House and put in a cell a la CECOT or something comparable RIGHT FREAKING NOW (and I don’t know where the hell he uttered those vile words, but it looks like the “MAGA faithful” just pretended it was another day with a ‘y’ in it based on their reaction)...”a depraved bunch of lunatics being led by a lunatic” indeed (referring to those attending that Bund rally of course...and I think it’s also correct to say we’re being “governed” by an unhinged maniac and his death cult - NSFW/H)...



...and Robert Reich tells us How To Eat Healthy in Trump era, and apparently the answer is to barely eat anything at all since the FDA under our ruling cabal has been derelict in ensuring the safety of our food and medicines, with Bobby Brainworm deciding not to monitor cyclospora (explosive diarrhea) and other pathogens...and this Dr. Heidi Overton who has been nominated to run the agency looks like she’ll be another cipher for her boss – terrific...didn’t know that the Gropenfuhrer got $2 mil from Taylor Farms after delaying implementation of a traceability requirement that could have proactively taken care of the diarrhea outbreak before it struck (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and Brittany Page informs us of a Christian Nationalist audience cheering “Running Man” Josh Hawley’s call to restrict access to the mifepristone abortion pill...important to note the comparative safety of abortion pills versus other medications like Viagra as well as carrying a pregnancy to the full term (as I and others have said, if men got pregnant, there would be abortion rooms at every Lowe’s and Home Depot right next to the aisle selling power tools)...IMO, the “D” team is at fault on this issue for its failure to overturn the utterly wretched 1873 Comstock Act that provides the flimsiest of excuses to try and ban the distribution of abortion pills (which Hawley and his other anti-choice zealots are using as a rationale for their cruel position against women’s bodily autonomy)...and Tony Perkins is indeed a cretinous right-wing hack on the abortion issue as well as LGBTQ rights...Page also gives us more on Heidi Overton, who apparently thinks an IUD is used for abortions (Overton I mean of course...can’t think of a word to describe how pathetic it is that that belief is out there in this day and age, and by an alleged medical professional also)...NSFW/H also...



...and I’d like to mention a couple of milestones...first, today is the 20th anniversary of the murder of acclaimed Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was one of the people from way back warning us of just how bad Vlad The Butcher truly was...I realize not many folks besides yours truly may think it’s worth it to keep reminding everyone about this, but I do because I believe it still matters...three people were convicted in 2014 for her murder, though the person who ordered the killing has to date not been identified (though I’m sure you can imagine what kind of speculation has been ongoing given this awful crime, considering what has happened also to Alexei Navalny and others opposing the Russian warmonger)...



...also, today is truly a date that could live in infamy, you might say, because it’s also the 30th anniversary of Fix Noise going on the air (here)...Carlos Maza discusses the impact of that accursed network...I could probably fill up this post with about a hundred examples at least of The Roger Ailes BS Factory choosing to manufacture a “scandal” that gets picked up by our beyond useless corporate media, but one example is how the Obama Administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supposedly played a role in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya (including Ambassador Christopher Stevens) while choosing to completely ignore this...and oh yeah, we’re also reminded about the outrage over Dem U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar’s remark related to 9/11, saying “some people did something” as if Omar was trying to trivialize the attacks (she wasn’t of course)...NSFW/H as well...



...and I suppose this newer number is apropos given the prior clip in particular...hope you agree.

Tuesday Stuff

Ali Velshi of MS NOW takes a look at the impact of the Big Beautiful Clusterf*ck on Arizona’s 6th U.S. congressional district, where the Dem candidate (and U.S. Marine vet) Joanne Mendoza is trying to unseat Trumper Juan Ciscomani...apparently the district is more than a quarter Latino in terms of population; looks like, based on the Repug and Dem candidate votes, it’s a pretty “purple” district (R for U.S. House and prez and D for U.S. Senate)...Ciscomani’s vote for that legislative atrocity is getting called out by Mendoza (interviewed by Velshi), which is as it should be, since the SNAP cuts are particularly ruinous in this district apparently...and I realize wingnuts like Ciscomani will be blaming Former President Biden for whatever they can for at least the next couple of years and maybe longer (and I'll have something related to SecDef Kegseth shortly)



...also, it seems that s*xual predator (and former Repug U.S. House Speaker) Dennis Hastert recently died...this TYT segment from awhile back includes a discussion of what likely were payments from Hastert to at least one victim...I get the point here that investigating what were likely hush money payments sounds a bit illogical, though I don't think those payments should have escaped scrutiny either (clip also includes John Iadarola, Ben Mankiewicz, and the beyond ridiculous Jimmy Dore...NSFW/H)...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report talks about a local news station in Iowa calmly taking apart the typical propaganda from the Gropenfuhrer on a proposed $10 billion steel plant in that state...”they’ve already started building” – maybe in the fever dreams of Dementia Donnie, but not so much in the real world...no permits issued, no plans for surrounding infrastructure that would be needed, etc....I also hadn’t realized that Janet Mills in Maine has not endorsed Troy Jackson in the latter’s U.S. Senate contest against “Disappointed” Susan Collins; kind of wondering why the hell not...also, speaking of Maine, I keep waiting for charges to be filed against Graham Platner for those allegedly awful actions that forced him to leave the race; if that happens, I’ll acknowledge it of course...



...oh, and speaking of SecDef Kegseth, it seems that he’s trying to institute an Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon, something else that has not a damn thing to do with helping our military escape the Iran quagmire created by this awful regime (Mr. Newberger gives that the treatment it deserves IMO here)...



...for another take on matters tied to spirituality a bit, however, I give you this from Rachel Maddow on why protest matters...Maddow discusses the cumulative impact from a mass movement even when those protesting may be impacted to varying degrees, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that ties into a faith tradition since that also has to do with belief and a lack of empirical evidence...I have to admit that I’m not familiar with the latest protests in Ireland, so I can’t comment on that...also didn’t know about the protest march against ICE in California; props to them for that, nor did I know about the upcoming anti-ICE march in Seattle led by Japanese Americans and their descendants who were victimized during World War II, as well as a similar protest outside Tucson, Arizona against opening another ICE concentration camp...additionally, there was an anti-ICE protest in Williston, Vermont led by clergy trying to shut down an ICE surveillance center...anti-ICE protests are ongoing in Alexandria, Louisiana also as we learn...props also to the Interfaith Alliance, trying to register people to vote on moral grounds...there is also resistance to the Trumpist jackbooted tactics in Utah, where Repug Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson is getting pressured to turn over voting data to our criminal ruling cabal...there will be additional reminders here about the next “No Kings” protest on October 17th also FWIW...



...additionally, I should point out that yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the Iran-Contra scandal, with Eugene Hasenfus getting shot down in a plane carrying military supplies for the Contras fighting an insurrection against the Nicaraguan government under the Sandinistas, which was in violation of U.S. law (doing my best here to make sure that that appalling episode under The Sainted Ronnie R doesn’t get the “memory hole” treatment)...makes me recall this tune.

Monday Stuff

Here is another reminder that our PA-01 U.S. House Rep Bri-Fi still refuses to come out of hiding and debate his Dem challenger Bob Harvie, which fits the profile for the incumbent who still refuses to hold in-person town halls...



...also, last Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in Lancaster Country, which killed 5 Amish girls (the gunman took his own life)...I can still remember how that crime pretty much shocked the conscience of our entire area as well as elsewhere in this country and the world...this is an unfortunate recent update (for the city of Lancaster, that is)...



...and Rachel Maddow, Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels inform us that “Team D” needs to let everybody know what they plan to do if (crossing fingers and toes) they’re returned to power this fall (and saying nothing of the fact that we need to keep up our efforts to make that happen as much as possible)...I don’t think saying we’re going to need a “second Reconstruction” is hyperbole, but again, we need leaders on the blue side willing to meet that moment...also, I’m definitely OK with referring to what’s described here as a “spiritual” movement, since the notion of spirituality can be defined all kinds of ways IMO...



...and Tennessee Brando gives us his take on the awful Cornell story...I definitely give Brando credit for taking the time to process this tragic crime before saying anything; I generally try to hold back also until I opine on something as well, FWIW...I also totally believe his anecdote about listening to women’s horror stories in bars, which is disgusting and repugnant of course; no excuse for that kind of treatment from alleged men (and OF COURSE MAGA “influencers” are trying to find a way to justify this monstrosity)...NSFW/H...



...and usually I get a laugh or two out of these clips from Mr. Newberger, but that’s definitely not the case here, and for a good reason I believe (sorry to be such a downer with these clips)...



...and RIP Peter Byrne of the band Naked Eyes.

Saturday Stuff

OK, I’m going to try and get this thing going again, though that may happen in fits and starts, you might say...to begin, I give you this ad from Bob Harvie, running against Bri-Fi for the incumbent’s PA-01 U.S. House seat of course...



...and when it comes to the completely unnecessary economic battle waged by Bronzer Beelzebub against our longtime trade partners, Elliott Morgan of Rebel HQ discusses Canada’s tariffs strategically targeting U.S. industries in battleground states in the upcoming elections...pretty damn smart move IMO in response to this “51st state” and ”Governor Carney” garbage also...I’d honestly forgotten about this getting replayed from the stinking tariff nonsense in 2018 from the first ruinous Trump term...and leave it to Dementia Donnie to find a way to make Canadian Premier of Ontario Doug Ford actually look smart...and it was so nice not to have to endure another somnambulant and idiotic “sir” story from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule for the last few days...can’t think of a word for the stoo-pidity of the 11 percent of those polled who apparently think they’re going to get a $5K check if they reward the grifters and frauds who have brought all of this ruin upon us...I’m also down with Morgan’s snark about #47 at the end, BTW...



...and Chris Hayes talks about #47's attempt to ban media outlets from the White House, including MS NOW, CNN and Politico (I know I’m late on this story in particular, but I didn’t want it to slip by)...there are times when I’ll admit that I don’t have a tear to shed for our corporate media cousins, but I also acknowledge that there’s a larger principle involved here, namely the First Amendment of the Constitution...and yes, I realize that 29 percent approval rating for Our Ochre Abomination could indeed be an outlier, but given everything going on, are you really surprised?...oh, and apparently, Natalie Harp was the bearer of the bad news that recent sent Our Demented Toddler of a *preznit over the edge...I’m loathe to give Fix Noise credit for anything, and admittedly the bar is set pretty low, but props to them for taking a stand in solidarity with the other boycotted news orgs, along with everyone else in the press pool who pushed back over this latest nonsense (an update is here)...



...and while we escaped to our blue state paradise (with solar panels everywhere in sight, perfectly complimenting the breathtaking natural scenery), it appears that cases of measles in our beloved commonwealth spiked up again, and Our Treasonous Orange Pustule and his HHS lackey Bobby Brainworm are having a harder time trying to deny the outbreak on their watch...oh, and for the record, 4 people in PA who were fully vaxxed managed to come down with measles out of 1,000 total cases...also, David Pakman tells us that about 300K kindergartners are now susceptible to measles; once you get a conspiracy theory going, it is indeed hard to suddenly shut it off as Pakman notes...also, I heard about the botched execution of the woman in Tennessee (here) – I don’t have a particularly brilliant “hot take” on that; from what I read, what she did was particularly monstrous and horrible on the one hand, but on the other hand, I realize that doesn’t automatically justify capital punishment either...typical hand-wringing lib I know...



...and Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look” on the latest political nonsense (looks like Ken Paxton in “the land of the yellow rose” is telling Cheetoh Hitler “thanks but no thanks” on campaign advertising...I don’t give Paxton credit for anything, but I don’t totally blame him on this either)...and oh, NOW Repug U.S. Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Ashley Hinson want the Iran war to end, since it’s hurting them politically? Maybe you should have actually DEFIED you Orange Overlord on this in the first place (yes, I can dream, can’t I?)...and oh yeah, that “liquified natural gas pipeline” in Alaska that’s due to be completed in three years sure is going to be a game changer for the elections, amirite?...also, when it comes to who actually watched that midterm convention mess from about a month ago, I give you this...and oh yeah, Cantaloupe Capone is running an ad promoting “the spirit of the country,” so it MUST be legal? Looks like that last lonely synapse in his noggin is flickering on and off again...



...and I thought this was a pretty cool newer tune with a big-time weekend party vibe – I’ll probably return to “moldy oldies” shortly after this one :-).

Tuesday Stuff

I don’t know if you can trust the polling here either, but it appears that the Repugs are forced to defend seats that you would assume are safe with Don The Con dragging down their prospects, as Sam Seder of The Majority Report tells us...and I would agree with Sam’s analysis on what Jon Tester said; yet another case of Chuck Schumer screwing the metaphorical pooch (I also think the Dem should get out in Montana and endorse Seth Bodnar, the independent, who has a better shot of taking out Repug Kurt Alme)...that polling number in Idaho absolutely blew my mind, and that Matt Loesby guy should pack it in there also to try and help out Indie Todd Achilles...by the way, as noted here about Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, he sued about 700 patients in his OB-GYN practice who had unpaid bills and it wasn’t directly related to C-sections (though Marshall apparently charged 18 percent interest on those debts, which is pretty usurious on his part I think)...



...and Robert Reich lets us know how Fix Noise mocked him for being right about egg prices...I think we have a case of TMI with Senator Foghorn Leghorn on this one, with avian flu blamed as the initial reason for high egg prices, even though egg producers received about $1 billion in bird flu bailouts while the supply didn’t drop commensurately...you can also chalk this up to monopolization of the egg market and producers dictating their prices...I think Reich’s snark here is called for given the messages among the egg producers, especially that one “we need to bid like they vote in Chicago – early and often”...and I guess we should be grateful that Cal-Maine, one of the producers, got any punishment at all...



...and Thom Hartmann informs us that Greenland and Antarctica have lost about 11 trillion metric tons of ice, enough to bury this country about five feet deep, according to a recent study,...also, apparently Trumpist Fish and Wildlife Director Brian Nesvik reinterpreted the Endangered Species Act so that only “intentional” killing counts as illegal (and good luck trying to sift through the legalese as to what “intentional” means)...additionally, it looks like Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wants to hand a wide swath of Yellowstone to a developer from another damn private equity firm (and OF COURSE the CEO who benefits from this is a Trump donor)...we also have two more measles deaths in PA that will be ignored by Bobby Brainworm, bringing the total thus far to four...and I don’t know if anybody out there is ready for bird flu, but that might be on the way also – terrific...I knew book reading was good, but I didn’t know how much especially for older folks (“a country that stops reading is a country that’s easy to fool” indeed)...



...and Brittany Page discusses the recent appearance of Paul Webster of The Cicero Institute before a House subcommittee in which he was grilled pretty ferociously (almost to the point of obnoxiousness, to be honest) by Dem Rep Rashida Tlaib...listen, I’m fundamentally on the same side as Tlaib, and this Webster guy is truly a guttersnipe (and Tlaib is right to point out that the people pulling strings for Cicero are making bank from private prisons, which should be illegal – here), but I just think she took it a bit far, that’s all (and this Joe Lonsdale is another member of the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch of course)... looks like this Brendan Gill so-and-so of Texas realized he was out of his depth and bailed when trying to confront Samantha Batko of The Urban Institute...didn’t know the Gropenfuhrer increased his net worth by about $2 bil, but that figures too...hearing was geared to demean Housing First, without empirical evidence of course, led by this Jonathan Choe guttersnipe of The Discovery Institute...good point about having an actual homeless person at that hearing – what a concept!...



...and America’s Finest News Source tells us that we can all rest a little easier now that Congress has addressed the pressing matter of a minimum wage for billionaires (dancing on that razor’s edge when it comes to satire yet again)...



...and I like this newer tune – looks like this guy might be trying to pick up the mantle of Tom Petty...we’ll see...



...and with that, I take my leave of you for a little while – I’ll plan to get back to this in about ten days or so.

Friday Stuff

This is your periodic reminder that our PA-01 U.S. House Rep Brian Fitzpatrick continues to evade public scrutiny over his failure to debate his Dem challenger Bob Harvie, which, again, makes sense in a weird way since Fitzpatrick also refuses to hold face-to-face town halls.

This clip from The Independent shows Dem U.S. House Rep Sean Casten of Illinois trying to pin down Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on how much dough is allegedly coming into this country (and to who in particular) from #47’s decision to take over Venezuela however many months ago that was, with Bessent offering a whole lottta “Gee, I dunno” in response (our Trumpist regime is full of incompetent liars of course, but Bessent isn’t even very good at that task I think)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us that, with all of the ongoing misery led by #47, he continues to obsess over vanity projects at the expense of real-world crises he has initiated (the Iran war, doing his best to allow “Bibi” to continue destroying the Middle East, wrecking our economy, allowing gas prices to soar through the roof, gutting any clean energy initiatives, etc.)...I didn’t know he was planning to build a golf course on federal land, but that fits also unfortunately...and apparently, Bill Pulte never passed out of a Comp 50 class in college either...and yeah, trying to steal the honor of renaming an arts venue (or threatening to destroy it) named after our slain 35th president is demented even for a life form like Combover Caligula (glad to see Hayes paying particular attention to this...as soon as Our Treasonous Orange Yam started yapping about this, a crew of reporters should have toured inside the facility and made recordings to demonstrate what appears to be the immaculate state of the center, despite Don The Con’s idiotic blathering about that)...



...and John Iadarola and Jackson White of The Damage Report tell us that “Disappointed” Susan Collins recently cast a vote to advance Mathew R. Byrne, another product of The Federalist Society (pretty much run by Leonard Leo of course) and an anti-choice nut job...typical for Collins, since, as John tells us, she played a big role in bringing us “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, he of the “Kavanaugh stops” also...this Byrne guy doesn’t believe in the right to abortion in the event or r*pe or incest, but only to save the life of the mother (which is pretty much always a dodge for these characters as far as I’m concerned)...on the subject of women’s reproductive freedom, the family of Tierra Walker is suing the thoroughly corrupt Ken Paxton and the doctors responsible for the death of this woman (here)...apparently she was afflicted with preeclampsia about four months into her pregnancy and her doctors said, “hey, the fetus is OK and that’s all we care about” (allegedly of course)...and 90 people were involved in Walker’s case, BUT NOBODY OFFERED HER AN ABORTION??!! And oh yeah, the fetus died anyway along with the mom...heckuva job!...and I would call this “the lethal confluence of all of their bigotries” also...



...and J.T. Cestkowski of Status Coup tells us about a massive heat dome descending over this country primarily affecting the Midwest, with record-high temps of course...part of me isn’t sympathetic to Texas enduring only 3 days since August 3rd with temperatures below 100 degrees, but part of me is because we’re all in this together and the “divide and conquer” nature of our politics has a lot to do with how we got to this wretched state...at least there’s an attempt to hold some of these energy criminals to account in Oregon with a $50 billion lawsuit...oh, and Repugs in BOTH chambers of Congress introduced legislation giving dirty energy companies immunity from lawsuits; there are MANY reasons to vote these characters out of office, but that’s a pretty damn big one IMO (and the utterly odious Leonard Leo pops up again here, along with Chucky Koch and ALEC, no doubt coordinating with the just-as-wretched State Policy Network to try and get “model bills” passed across states to gut environmental regulation)...slightly NSFW/H...



...and yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan at Zuccotti Park (here), which spawned worldwide protests...the goals of the protests were laudable IMO, given the utter failure to hold the banksters to account for the Big Casino crash in 2008, but I believe it ended up ultimately being a missed opportunity in that the group couldn’t translate their activism into a political movement...still, the effort was commendable I think – better to at least try than to sit on your couch held captive by “doomscrolling”...



...and tomorrow marks what would have been the 85th birthday of “Mama” Cass Elliot (oh, and speaking of those nutty '60s, we also just lost another icon of that era).

Thursday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore informs us that, apparently, Uday Trump Jr. got some Russian oligarch to bankroll his ridiculously over-the-top, three-day (!) wedding celebration at two exclusive private islands last May, with Umar Kremlev spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on the events (here)...as Dem U.S. House Rep Robert Garcia said, the issue is what Kremlev got as a payback for this largesse (I wouldn’t give a fig about Trump Jr.’s latest wedding if it weren’t for that...and oh yeah, the “OMIGOD, WHAT DID HUNTER BIDEN DO NOW??!!” nonsense looks even more ridiculous)...that said, I have to admit that it’s news to me that Biden The Younger has apparently gone big into crypto, which is a pretty rank way to build clout IMO, and I don’t give a damn which party we’re talking about...glad to hear that utterly worthless Senate minority “leader” Schumer get taken to task yet again, and I’m not surprised Chris Murphy stepped up on this...oh, and I guess Anna Paulina Luna-tic doesn’t think the Trump Jr. stuff matters because a laptop isn’t involved – yeah, that figures from her...mildly NSFW/H...



...and Tennessee Brando lets us know that Thomas Massie introduced an impeachment resolution against “I’ll Drink To That” SecDef Kegseth, and as a result, “MAGA Mike” Johnson shut down the U.S. House (here), presumably so he’d have more time to watch p*rn with his son (here)...so glad to hear Brando acknowledge the Gropenfuhrer refusing to put his hand on the “good book” when he was sworn in, which should indeed have been a tipoff to anyone previously not paying attention...also, not the biggest fan of Massie on most issues, but credit to him for standing tall here...Brando is also right that we need something like a Nuremberg Trials 2.0 for all of this misery, but don’t expect a single Repug to support that of course (NSFW/H also)...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that, apparently, Israel is running out of water because an algae bloom in the Mediterranean is affecting 5 of their 6 water desalination plants, with the algae bloom caused by refuse from Gaza sewage treatment plants that Israel has bombed back beyond the Stone Age...interesting exercise in karma, I must say...also, apparently the IDF is running out of victims suckers individuals to serve in Israel’s military, with some exempt for religious reasons...”a hallmark of right-wing governance is incompetence” indeed...definitely NSFW/H also...



...and this CBC News report by Alexandre Silberman tells us that folks in Montreal have called for more in the way of gun legislation 20 years after the Dawson College shooting...Louise De Souza, mother of the girl who was killed, has worked tirelessly to combat gun violence, and Hayder Kadhim, one of the shooting survivors, has done his best to raise community awareness...one of the reasons I’m highlighting this is to point out that Quebec took action right away and banned guns in public places and created a firearm registry, which are steps we should have taken long ago but for the pernicious influence of the gun lobby, of course...



...and Josh Johnson of The Daily Show gives us a rundown on the latest news...and I can just hear it now; “oh, you dastardly lib with your ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ memes about Mitch McConnell...well, don’t you feel dumb now?”...actually, no, I don’t – name for me ANY OTHER EMPLOYER who would allow an elderly employee to COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR FOR ABOUT THREE MONTHS WITH NO EXPLANATION while he recovered, collecting a paycheck and bennies the whole time, not to mention the fact that the employee in question has done MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE over the last couple of decades to make the U.S. Senate VIRTUALLY USELESS...and I don’t have a clue about what’s going to happen with AI, and I don’t have the bandwidth to care at this moment (but OF COURSE this story provides an opportunity for A Certain Treasonous Orange Egomaniac to tell the world how smart he thinks he is) – God willing he’ll be gone one way or the other someday (and define “gone” however you want), and I’m getting to the point where I don’t care how or when that happens (and what’s the deal with his hairpiece anyway?)...NSFW/H also...



...and I suppose we’re getting closer to the holiday shopping season, so some acts/performers are going to be issuing commemorative recordings of sorts with that in mind...this tells us that Bob Dylan has a 39-disc set scheduled to come out, which is a little “over the top” as far as yours truly is concerned...recordings were with the Rolling Thunder Review 50 years ago so they’re likely to be good, but I would probably need a cosigner to get the dough I’d need to make a purchase like that (I’ll just remain content with the vinyl that I’ll try to transfer to disc one day).