Friday Stuff

Rachel Maddow and Jacob Soboroff brought us this recent report about punishment and sexual assault against immigrants crossing over to this country from Mexico at a detention facility in Yuma, AZ ("alleged," let's not forget; more here - uh huh...don't hold your breath waiting for the USCCB to say anything about this too…and yes, I looked and I couldn’t find anything…this is all happening in our name, people!)...



…and I know I touched on this a bit on Wednesday also, but I don’t think it hurts to do it again…the “crotch couch” at Fix Noise is apparently thrilled that people in this country have to work multiple jobs – yeah, that sure figures, doesn’t it…love to see what kind of swag Hegseth and co. pull in annually (David Pakman tells us more…I would ask that you pay particular attention to this clip from about 4:00 to about 5:00)...



…and Farron Cousins tells us about the Gropenfuhrer auctioning off strippers as a golf promotion that’s supposed to benefit a children’s charity; the charity got wind of it and quite properly bailed (yeah, imagine what would happen if Trump didn’t have the magic “R” after his name…I still can’t believe that I’m talking about a sitting President of the United States here)…



…and John I. and Jayar Jackson of “The Damage Report” tell us about Dem U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar responding to Swanson TV Dinner Fortune Heir Tucker Carlson and his racist insults…sadly, I’m afraid John and Jayar may be correct; one of these days, some numbskull is likely to take a shot at her or someone in our courageous Dem class of U.S. House reps (and please keep them in mind for the next clip also)…you don’t know how much I want to be completely wrong about that…



…and it’s time once more for another installment of “This Day in Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/10/08. But before I go to the clip, I think I need to set this up a bit.

Yes, I’ve recently defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the question of impeaching Adolf Twitler in An Oval Office (here). Even with public support moving solidly in their favor (here, among Dems anyway), I still think you need to slow-walk this somewhat to try and avoid the inevitable pitfalls (also, I think this would prolong the media exposure, which could be beneficial if Dem candidates present a solid alternative to the voters also and not just run on “I’m Not Trump”).

However, as far as I’m concerned, I’m not seeing much “fire” from the people in charge of “Team D” in Washington, D.C. Yes, I realize that there are SO MANY OUTRAGES from Our Clueless, Tiny-Handed Treasonous Orange Meat Sack that’s it’s hard to determine which ones to take on first, but I think I need to point out that the other side has NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER blasting away at whatever real or imagined “target” they want. As usual, I see the Dems, as a party, being led on standing up to President Fergus Laing instead of leading the charge themselves. Worse, when some from the commendable U.S. House freshman class DO STAND UP, such as AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib or Ayanna Pressley, they are at best ignored and at worst vilified by Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, etc.

Much has been made of the role of the Teahadists in taking over Congress in 2010 (and as far as I’m concerned, there was nothing “spontaneous” about them, including the rant by that clown Rick Santelli that allegedly brought that wretched group into being). I would argue that two factors that loomed at least as large as the role of the tea heads was the congressional Dem cave-in on FISA (here) as well as the attacks on ACORN that eventually led to the group’s demise. The ACORN stuff was Repug Playbook 101 – when they’re out of power, focus on an “issue” which is actually inconsequential bullshit to rile their base (and also muck up the process of anything approximating good government). We know what eventually happened on FISA, and I don’t recall a spirited, unified party response on ACORN either (though a defense of ACORN is noted here).

And I guarantee you that one person who understood everything I just pointed out was Dem U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, which is why he was so thoroughly vilified (like Bill Clinton, the worst personal stuff he did came from his own hand, you might say, instead of something from “the other side”). Even when this man had a freaking brain tumor, he still roared like the “liberal lion” he truly was. This clip is Kennedy speaking out against the NSA and warrantless surveillance; this is how the U.S. congressional Dem “leadership” should be reacting to the Trumpian outrages that seemingly inflict us without end (and once more, the truly sad part about this is that the U.S. Congress, including the Dems of course, gave Bushco what they wanted anyway despite Kennedy’s commendable push-back).

(Oh, and on a somewhat related note, I give you this and this. I think Cenk, Ana, Kyle K. and company kind of go overboard at times with their purity tests against corporate Democrats, but I agree with Cenk’s analysis over Amy McGrath and whether or not she supports “Schlitz” Kavanaugh. This one isn’t difficult, people – a “D” should not support Kavanaugh for ANY reason, and I don’t care if you’re talking about a red, purple, blue or whatever state. I’m inclined to agree that McGrath is getting crappy consulting on this one, and yeah, I blame Schumer too…kind of disgusting to see Pelosi get over-analyzed at every opportunity, while Schumer gets a pass by comparison for goofs like this.)

So with that admittedly boring setup out of the way, I now present Kennedy speaking out against warrantless surveillance…



...and happy belated 60th birthday to Suzanne Vega.