Friday Stuff (updates)

Admiral James Stavridis comments on the targeted U.S. killing of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani on “Morning Joe” – absolutely infuriating to see more Repug neocons carry out this shit, then let the carnage unfold at the expense of other people’s kids, and then watch those who perpetrate this insanity skate away and be rewarded with cushy book deals and non-stop appearances in “smart” conservative circles of media and academia – the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd strikes again…



Update: Yep, when all else fails, we can always count on President Shithead to double down (here).

Update 1 1/4/20: This definitely nails it as far as I'm concerned; and why am I not surprised by this?

Update 2 1/4/20: Vox populi indeed (here)

Update 3 1/4/20: I guess it's all about baby steps for the host of the White Power Hour on Fix Noise, but grudging credit where it's due here.

Meanwhile, from the world of reality, I offer this...

When car bombs start exploding at outdoor cafes and landmarks, what's Trump's move then? When an American military base is decimated by missiles, what then? If you're applauding Soleimani's death but you're not thinking about next steps in the escalation, you're as dumb as Trump.

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) January 3, 2020

…and I had the following clip very much in mind after the Iran story unfolded, presenting a case study in how presidents are supposed to act when faced with the most dire possible consequences (kind of cringed a bit in response to Tweety’s remark at the end about leadership in touch with the people – I think we had that when he spoke those words in 2012, but I definitely don’t think we have that now)…



…and yeah, the MoDo pic above is meant to incriminate one of our worst pundit offenders, but she has plenty of company, and Thom Hartmann asks a more basic media-related question here (of course, if our citizenry as a whole weren’t so jaded/uninformed/distracted/whatever, they’d be screaming over getting lied to as much as Chuck Todd should be)…



…and when it comes to those looking to replace Mango Mussolini, I have to admit that I was a little behind on some of the stuff involving Joe Biden, but yeah, I think we can expect a nonstop onslaught of clipped quotes and badly edited videos to try and incriminate the Dem nominee, whoever that person may be (I think Farron Cousins is a little more PO’ed than usual because he knows he got played too – can happen to anybody)…



…and this “Now This” clip tells us about the Kansas cop who claimed that a McDonald’s employee wrote “f*cking pig” on his coffee cup – I thought the official statement from the police department on this was BS…this pabulum of “oh, our community has to heal and this reflects badly on all of us, blah blah”…if this had happened FOR REAL, the cops would be picketing this McDonald’s night and day…not saying it would be right for a McD’s worker to pull a stunt like that, but just saying there’s a double standard, that’s all…



Update: Hey, for anyone who doesn't like this attempt at humor - well, all I can say is that the cops should stop giving us (ahem...) ammunition.

...and here's another great, relatively new tune to help kick-start our first post-holiday weekend of the new year.

Thursday Stuff

I don’t believe Brian Williams actually took a ride in an Iraqi helicopter before he hosted this segment – might as well start the new year with a little snark…Jason Johnson is exactly right of course, and shockingly, Bill Kristol may have actually stumbled onto some truths, though of course, being the pissant he is, he tries to sneak in a bit of a dig at “the left”…I’m presenting this as a reminder that, yes, impeachment is still in play (even though #MoscowMitch will construct a show trial to absolve the Gropenfuhrer), as well as a reminder of the life forms we have to contend with as the 2020 elections ramp up still further…



…and David Pakman takes a look at the cross-tabs, if you will, on the performance of our economy (I thought this was kind of an interesting analysis)…



…and keeping with money matters, I thought this was another good segment by Robert Reich on how Citizens United led us to Mango Mussolini…



…and Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed New York Times reporter Jesse Drucker on the 2017 tax cut scam (hold every Repug accountable for this, people, including this guy)...



…and Pap and Farron Cousins talk about Google playing both sides of the fence when it comes to donating money to politicians and campaigns, including climate change deniers (and I'm the last one to praise "centrist Democrats," but to say you can't tell the difference between a "cent-Dem" and a Repug is nonsense...and yeah, Kamala Harris had issues, but THEY ALL have issues, and she got crowded off the stage because of our corporate media loving Mayor Pete, Klobuchar, and this week's millionaire running for the Dem nomination - just offering an explanation and not crying about it because, as a notable politician once said, politics ain't beanbag...and once more, I'm not crazy about linking to The Putin Network, but it looks like the reporting holds up...and "biostitutes"...good one)...



...and yeah, with the holidays over, I need to start paying attention to new music again, so let me begin with this selection.

Tuesday Stuff

Here is a prediction with the new year almost having arrived – if you disliked Betsy DeVos before, I predict that you’ll absolutely detest her after watching this clip (and I think Dem U.S. House Rep Josh Harder got a little personal, but if anybody deserves that kind of treatment, it’s a pathological lying ideologue like DeVos who, by rights, should be in prison for violating a court order to provide relief to those in student loan debt)…



(Oh, and what would the holiday season be like without another real or attempted mass gun slaughter in this country? There were two people killed recently in a church at some place called White Settlement, Texas, and I watched the NBC News report where they aired two gunshots and then showed pictures of parishioners with guns drawn aimed at the suspect, who, presumably, was shot dead by that point. With all due respect to the NBC News professionals who reported it straight, the report made me angry because of the blasé attitude of everyone interviewed…”Well, you know, houses of worship are easy targets, blah blah blah,” along with the obligatory “thoughts and prayers” statement from Repug Gov. Greg Abbott…pathetic sheep led to the f*cking slaughter because of their own macho idiocy...here.)

Update: Because of this, I can safely tell you that I will never attend a worship service in Texas.

…and it looks like Delaware Dem U.S. Senator and corpocrat Chris Coons is getting a primary challenger (link is here)...not the biggest fan of feeding frenzies like this, but I’m willing to make an exception in Coons’s case – Coons more than deserves it for the reasons Sam Seder notes (as well as this and this, and good point at the end by Sam about Justin Amash)…



…and it appears that Fairfax County, VA will permit students one day a year for student engagement (TYT, with Cenk, Brooke Thomas and Aida Rodriguez...and of course the wingnuts are outraged...some info on Fairfax County’s past resistance to integration is here)...



…and if we have young kids looking for toys to play with after Santa’s visit, please let’s all do what we can to keep them away from plastic magnets that could potentially wreak medical havoc on them should they be swallowed (more here)…



...and RIP Neil Innes...



…and since we have reached the end of another year, allow me to thank one and all who have spent any time whatsoever at this site over the past year and extend best wishes for 2020. This is always a tenuous enterprise, shall we say – there are times when I think I’ll be able to post something and I can’t, and then there have been times when I thought for sure I’d be able to do that and have had no opportunity whatsoever, so thanks for sticking with me for whatever reason you may have.

This upcoming year could be the most consequential of our lives. It is imperative that we not only send Generalissimo Trump packing, but that we return all of Congress to the Democrats (and that also means that we need to do our best to keep milquetoast corporate Dems like Coons in line too). Now that the hideous face of movement, corporatist conservatism has been fully exposed for all to see (the culmination of years of intrigue, stealth and propaganda), we must be prepared to fight it with everything we have and whatever our means allows. This will not be easy, and we’ll have to be engaged in this battle for awhile yet. But for now, I offer the following as a bit of an anthem to the cause (and in honor of the recent birthday of Patti Smith).

Monday Stuff

I would like to offer thoughts and prayers for real in support of stricken Dem U.S. Congressman and civil rights pioneer John Lewis (here)…



…and going from the sublime to the ridiculous, Farron Cousins tells us here about Puffy Chao funneling more $$ (which, as Cousins notes, is quite probably illegal) into KY to help her husband #MoscowMitch, who is up for re-election next year in the U.S. Senate…



…and Kyle tells us here about our corporate media puffing up Amy Klobuchar after the recent Democratic presidential candidates’ debate (too funny)…



…and with the year coming to a close, I just wanted to take note of the passing of three other musical notables who I don’t think I mentioned earlier, so I’d like to take care of that now – one is Art Neville of The Neville Brothers…



…another is Bill Isles of The O’Jays…



…and another is George Chambers of The Chambers Brothers.