Thursday Stuff

To close this year, Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland tell us about the Trumpian rush to kill as many people as possible on his way out the door...and yes, he really will be done in about 20 days, wingnut screeching notwithstanding...I didn’t know about that Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett anecdote about capital punishment, but though it’s completely sickening of course, it also doesn’t surprise me in the least...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about a video that included Mango Mussolini along with a superimposed pic of what allegedly was the medallion of the Nobel Peace Prize (and for the cherry on the icing on this sh*t sundae, he even used the wrong medal picture, as noted here)...



...and Ali Velshi, sitting in for Rachel Maddow, tells us about the immunization campaign in 1947 to make sure New York City was vaccinated against a smallpox outbreak, which could have easily killed millions (to say it’s a cautionary lesson for now is a huge understatement, particularly in light of this...and Harry Truman didn't rail against the virus for coming from Mexico. or at least I can't find a record of that, as opposed to what Combover Caligula surely would have said)...



...and nice work here by Jon Ossoff to take advantage of the opportunity from the Fix Noise reporter to call out Kelly Loeffler (to help Ossoff running against David Perdue, as well as Raphael Warnock running against Loeffler, click here)...



..and I should probably include these “TCM Remembers” segments every New Years’ Eve, but to tell you the truth, I kind of get caught up in other stuff and I forget sometimes – my bad (didn't know about Gene Reynolds)...



...and as is usually my custom at this time, I go “meta,” if you will, and thank anyone who has spent any time at this site over the prior year, especially THIS year. I said this time a year ago that 2020 could be the most consequential year of our lives; I said that thinking of the Democratic presidential primary between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, and I was considering absolutely nothing else. I had no idea how unintentionally correct I would be.

The way 2020 started out, it looked like this site would end up being pretty much shut down. I didn’t anticipate any way at all to keep it running given my for-profit employment commitments. Well, through what I guess you could call dumb luck, I was able to keep it going up to now. However, I seriously do not expect that that will be the case next year. I’m quite sure at a certain point that I’ll be cutting back on these posts substantially. I don’t see walking away from doing this entirely, but that’s a possibility also.

When I started doing this in 2005 (egad!), my intention was to bridge the ideological gap between left and right as best as I could. That wasn’t easy with all of the Dubya-Bushco triumphalism that was reigning, though that façade was starting to crack big time. Over the course of these 15 or so years, however, that gap has turned into a chasm. The right-wing construct of media unreality (which is also self-sustaining economically, sadly) has poisoned the decision-making ability of the vast majority of (but not all) Republicans, to the point where they CONTINUALLY advocate for policies that are exactly contrary to their best interests, all in the name of “owning the libs.” This goes for far too many independent voters also (and the majority of those people I encounter are merely Republicans in disguise for whom Donald Trump is the proverbial “bridge too far,” though they’re onboard with every other wretched idea and policy from the right of the political spectrum).

And don’t think for a minute that I’m giving our side a pass here either. I recently included that very NSFW/H clip from Destiny about Kyle Kulinski almost comically misrepresenting Amy Klobuchar on the whole dance about badly needed COVID-19-related economic relief for people, state governments and small businesses. Also in that vein, Cenk and Ana of TYT yelled about how Nancy Pelosi conducted the negotiations, blaming her for not taking the $1.8 trillion package that was supposedly on the table (it really wasn’t), and also not seeing (as Destiny did) that the $2K payment proposal was actually a “Trojan horse” with hidden spending cuts that likely would have been disastrous. So yeah, there have been times when I’ve been pretty fed up with our camp on certain issues too. Also, I realize people are more likely to watch videos having to do with a certain president about to depart 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (even if he’s carted out in a straight jacket) than policy that I actually care about (and stuff like this), and that, for better or worse, has informed my video selections also (don’t think for a minute, though, that I’m implying an equivalency on this stuff between our side and theirs – each side has issues, but they’re markedly different). And by the way, don’t get me started on Jimmy freaking Dore!

So yeah, feeling like I’m a referee all the time with this stuff is beyond exhausting, and I’m really not sure how much I’m “moving the needle” when it comes to enlightening or informing anybody. I’ll be pondering all of this as we go forward into the New Year. With all of that said, I just want to wish all good things for everybody in 2021.

Finally, my year-end tune (as is my custom) has almost always been “People Have The Power” by Patti Smith. I’d like to deviate from that at this time and include this John Prine tune, as a tribute to everyone who (like Prine) lost his battle with COVID-19 this year – once more, my hope is that we’re all in a better place with this scourge and living life as we know it once more before too much longer.

Wednesday Stuff

So it looks like Kelly Loeffler found a way to profit by gouging Georgians on their heating bills by millions of dollars; this woman is pure as the driven slush, as someone notable once said (to help Raphael Warnock running against her, as well as Jon Ossoff versus the possibly-even-more-crooked David Perdue, click here)...



...and this Now This clip tells us about “tax the rich” millionaire Stephen Prince, who quite astutely reminds us that we already have “socialism,” but for the rich (and Loeffler and Perdue are very much part of the “pay no price, bear no burden” investor class)...



...and Cenk and Ana give us more of the inside story, as it were, on the “poison pills” that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is trying to insert into the $2K COVID relief legislation to try and get his fellow Repugs, including Perdue and Loeffler, off the hook...



...and in keeping with this, I give you this clip (this meat sack from Kentucky is truly a death eater, people)...

he’s an awful, awful person https://t.co/jS2orCU96G

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) December 30, 2020

...and John and Jayar tell us about Generalissimo Trump’s whining over “signature verification” in Georgia over last month’s election results; waaay past the point where this has all been settled of course – I still say all of this whining, including the hissy fit over Dominion, is to give cover for ES&S, who are the real culprits as far as I’m concerned when it comes to fraudulent elections (in particular, in Kentucky, Maine and South Carolina...and the company’s HQ is on “John Galt Blvd.” in Omaha, Nebraska...truly, you can’t make up this stuff)...



...and I know we’re going to be dealing with COVID-related misery for a good while yet, and here is still more – RIP Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island...



...and I thought this was a catchy little number - probably the last new tune of the year.

Tuesday Stuff

This MSNBC video tells us about the U.S. House passing an extra $2,000 in COVID-19-related economic relief, which of course was blocked in the Senate by Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao (here)... I’d love to believe that this is the “death knell for austerity,” but I’m definitely not getting my hopes up too high on that...even though he can be a good reporter, I’ve read plenty of other pieces in the New York Times where Peter Baker is an utter tool, but I think this is a pretty accurate analysis here...



...and what indeed will history say about "Grim Reaper" McConnell...



...and the only way this will change, people, is to vote out Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the upcoming Georgia special U.S. Senate elections (to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, click here)...



...and this “Now This” clip tells us about notable people who left us over 2020 (and I thought this was an appropriate, though tragic, epitaph, particularly the last paragraph)...



...and in the “In Memoriam” department for the year, I’m also pretty sure I didn’t have anything to say about Robert Conrad, star of TV’s “The Wild, Wild West” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”; I recently heard an interesting story on Little Steven’s Underground Garage on Sirius XM about how Michael Garrison, who created the show, once purchased the rights to Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel by Sir Ian Fleming, but sold the rights to attorney and film producer Charles Feldman in 1960 – Garrison, however, was so inspired by Bond that he sought to recreate that oeuvre, if you will, in the TV series set in the U.S. after the Civil War...



...also in the milestone department, I was so preoccupied with the 80th birthdays of Ringo Starr and John Lennon that I neglected to point out that this year marked the 50th anniversary of “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison, which to me is far and away the best of all of the solo Beatle efforts – here is a tune for the occasion (and in somewhat of a related story, I’m not sure what else can be mined from the story of The Fab Four, but I should probably approach this new Peter Jackson flick with an open mind...here).

Monday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about wingnut pastor Robert Henderson praying for Trump to be "resent"...45 is "old Republican white man Kryptonite" - good one (and I can't begin to tell you how offensive this pic is to me as a Roman Catholic, by the way...I think Bob Cesca on Twitter found this at one of the right wing nether swamps)...



...and the prior clip shows a good moment with Kyle, but this from Destiny (somewhat of a kindred spirit with Vaush, who I’ve had here a couple of times) highlights a pretty bad one, in which Kyle ridiculously clips a quote from Dem U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar...not her biggest fan, but fair is fair (Destiny makes excellent points – I should warn you at the outset, though, that this may be the most incredibly NSFW/H clip I’ve ever included)...



...and I don’t know anything about this Chip Franklin guy, but this clip isn’t bad and makes a good point about the COVID vaccine that, thank God, is getting rolled out (very slightly NSFW/H I think)...



...and John and Francesca tell us about Texas (where else?) paying students in food and supplies when they earn bonus points for “good deeds” (yeah, after about a second or two, you realize what an utter crock this is)...



...and Jon Ossoff continues to “fight the good fight” for Georgia; to help Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, click here...



...and RIP Chad Stuart of Chad and Jeremy.

"Treason's Greetings" For The 126! (Updates)

We’ve all had a variety of reactions to the 126 Republican members of the U.S. House who signed onto that treasonous, seditious amicus brief of Texas AG Ken Paxton seeking to invalidate the results of the Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania elections from a month ago (noted here, and, as has already been pointed out, Paxton’s brief was just a stunt anyway to wangle a pardon for himself for offenses related to bribery, as noted here).

As for the 126, though, I’ve read about people being bewildered, mystified, disappointed, and feeling pretty depressed overall that 60 percent of the U.S. House Republican caucus went along with Paxton’s idiocy.

I kind of went through that for a few minutes myself. More than anything else, though, I got pretty goddamn mad! And I honestly wish Nancy Pelosi had gone along with Dem U.S. Rep Bill Pascrell’s idea not to sit these bastards with the commencement of the upcoming congressional session (here). I know, however, that that won’t happen.

So instead, I embarked on a bit of a project. I decided to do some digging into these people’s backgrounds and see what I could come up with. And, for the most part, I found some stuff that may have been actual news for a cycle or two before it disappeared into background noise considering everything else we’re paying attention to.

Of these 126 shills and gutter snipes, I have to admit that there was one person I didn’t have any luck with when it came to finding what I was looking for. That was Indiana 4th Congressional District Congressman James Baird (there’s a link to a piece by columnist John Krull which is pretty much a blanket indictment of that state’s entire congressional delegation that signed the brief). In a way, I was glad about that. Though Baird was absolutely wrong to do what he did, I couldn’t help but admire him. Here’s a guy who acquired a B.S. and a M.S. degree from Purdue in animal science, went to fight in Vietnam and lost his left arm (Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts), and after he returned from the war, he obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in monogastric nutrition (not totally sure what that’s all about I’ll admit).

Don’t get me wrong – I agree with this man politically on absolutely nothing, and the fact that he signed onto that brief should haunt him for the rest of his life. But why on earth someone with Baird’s courage, determination and intelligence should feel any inclination whatsoever to support a lying, narcissistic fraud like the Gropenfuhrer is something I will never, ever understand.

As I did some digging into the backgrounds of these characters, one thing became pretty obvious. While I admit that I didn’t have time to research Dems such as, say, Pelosi, Jim Clyburn, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, etc., I found out pretty quick that these 126 people have videos of themselves on YouTube all over the place saying or doing every somewhat important and/or utterly mundane thing you can imagine. If nothing else, it definitely supported the argument from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that the Repugs are cleaning the Dems’ metaphorical clocks when it comes to social media engagement. There’s no excuse for that whatsoever.

And as for what I found out, I give you some of the following highlights (or lowlights):

Ralph Abraham wanted to expel Nancy Pelosi from the U.S. House for allegedly conducting a “vicious crusade” against Our Dear Exalted High Leader Donald The First (here).

Kevin Brady called for a probe as a result of the New York Times’ story this year on Trump’s tax returns...but not a probe aimed at Trump. Instead, Brady wanted to go after the paper for getting Trump’s returns in the first place (here).

Ted Budd questioned Richard Cordray, who once ran the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying there was a “revolving door” between the “K” street lobbying firms and the CFPB...when, in reality, Budd had already hired lobbyists for staffers (as usual, a Repug looks into a mirror and sees everyone’s reflection but his or her own – here).

Drew Ferguson’s congressional office once displayed a book by Confederate General Robert E. Lee espousing Lee’s pro-slavery beliefs (and of course, Ferguson threw his staff under the metaphorical bus for the book’s existence – here).

Mike Johnson of Louisiana took advantage of an exception in that state’s law that allowed him to make “tens of thousands of dollars” as part of the legal team representing the state in a federal court trial over abortion clinic restrictions (doesn’t appear to be illegal, but also doesn’t pass the smell test as far as yours truly is concerned – here).

Kenny Marchant of Texas was cited for “20 impermissible reimbursements made over the years from his campaign account to some of his House staffers for expenditures they made” ("It's not a huge amount of money, but he should know better," according to the Democratic activist who wrote the complaint asking for an investigation from the Office of Congressional Ethics – here).

Dan Meuser once said the “liberal left” replaced ISIS as the “greatest threat” (and yeah, I don’t give a damn what kind of mealy-mouthed attempt at cleaning up that mess Meuser or his spokesperson came up with – that’s clearly what he meant...here).

Gregory Murphy didn’t go that far, but he did claim support from his congressional predecessor in North Carolina, the late Walter Jones, that Jones’ widow said Murphy didn’t merit (of all Congressional Republicans, the one I actually respected was Jones, who had no problem going against the grain, as it were; would that more followed his example – here).

Pete Stauber, as a former St. Louis County, MN commissioner, once used a private account “to seek damaging information about U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan's voting history and forwarded negative information about another potential opponent to a Republican operative in Washington,” which became public after a judge ruled that the communications (which Stauber said were private) had to be disclosed since they took place on “the taxpayer dime” (BUT HIS EMAILS!!!! – here).

Brad Wenstrup had what I guess you could call a peculiar theory about former President Obama working with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the issue of missile defense...with Obama doing so by allegedly backing a pro-US coup in Ukraine on Russia’s border (yeah, it’s hard to untangle the idiocy on this I’ll admit...here).

Am I nuts to embark on something like this? Maybe, particularly since, when I started, I had no idea whatsoever what I would find. But I decided to take my best shot, and I tracked down some of my old links along with a few videos (in particular, the one with Poppy Harlow/Lance Gooden is a hoot, and kudos to Harlow), as well as at least one Facebook post, a couple of newspaper columns about these traitors (couldn’t find much on John Joyce either, just a blanket indictment of the PA delegation who signed off, which is still important Update 3/30/21: I've got something on Joyce now...FYI), and a whole lot of entries from Daily Kos including their “Crazy/Stupid Republican Of The Day” posts (many thanks indeed to them – if you’re going to send some coin to anyone in support of doing good work, they definitely deserve it).

(Also, as long as I’m mentioning Daily Kos, I should note that, in one of their posts, they called out one of the 126 for “defunding the police” for real by not voting for the HEROES Act, which funded public sector employees including cops. And I thought that was a freaking brilliant response that Dems should have used when Repugs attacked them with the “defund the police” thing. I don’t know how much that was used by the alleged Dem “brain trust,” but I have a feeling that it was hardly used at all, and it should have been used EVERYWHERE! - Update 2/26/21: It was linked to in the Greg Steube Daily Kos post, which I've since updated).

So, without any further ado, here are links to varying degrees of bad behavior from the “hateful 126”:

1	LA-05	Ralph Abraham
2	AL-04	Robert Aderholt
3	GA-12	Rick Allen*
4	TX-19	Jodey Arrington
5	TX-36	Brian Babin
6	IN-04	James Baird
7	IN-03	Jim Banks
8	MI-01	Jack Bergman*
9	AZ-05	Andy Biggs
10	FL-12	Gus Bilirakis
11	NC-09	Dan Bishop
12	IL-12	Mike Bost
13	TX-08	Kevin Brady
14	AL-05	Mo Brooks
15	CO-04	Ken Buck
16	NC-13	Ted Budd
17	TN-02	Tim Burchett
18	TX-26	Michael Burgess
19	AL-01	Bradley Byrne
20	CA-42	Ken Calvert
21	GA-01	Buddy Carter*
22	VA-06	Ben Cline
23	TX-27	Michael Cloud
24	GA-09	Doug Collins*
25	TX-11	Mike Conaway
26	AR-01	Rick Crawford
27	TX-02	Dan Crenshaw
28	TN-04	Scott DesJarlais
29	FL-25	Mario Diaz-Balart
30	SC-03	Jeff Duncan
31	FL-02	Neal Dunn
32	MN-06	Tom Emmer
33	KS-04	Ron Estes
34	GA-03	Drew Ferguson*
35	TN-03	Chuck Fleischmann
36	TX-17	Bill Flores
37	NE-01	Jeff Fortenberry
38	NC-05	Virginia Foxx
39	ID-01	Russ Fulcher
40	FL-01	Matt Gaetz
41	MT-AL	Greg Gianforte
42	OH-07	Bob Gibbs
43	TX-01	Louie Gohmert
44	TX-05	Lance Gooden
45	MO-06	Sam Graves
46	TN-07	Mark Green
47	VA-09	Morgan Griffith
48	MS-03	Michael Guest
49	MN-01	Jim Hagedorn
50	MD-01	Andy Harris
51	MO-04	Vicky Hartzler
52	OK-01	Kevin Hern
53	GA-10	Jody Hice*
54	LA-03	Clay Higgins
55	IN-09	Trey Hollingsworth
56	NC-08	Richard Hudson
57	MI-02	Bill Huizenga*
58	OH-06	Bill Johnson
59	LA-04	Mike Johnson
60	OH-04	Jim Jordan
61	PA-13	John Joyce*
62	PA-12	Fred Keller*
63	PA-16	Mike Kelly*
64	MS-01	Trent Kelly
65	IA-04	Steve King
66	TN-08	David Kustoff
67	IL-08	Darin LaHood
68	CA-01	Doug LaMalfa
69	CO-05	Doug Lamborn
70	OH-05	Bob Latta
71	AZ-08	Debbie Lesko
72	MO-07	Billy Long
73	GA-11	Barry Loudermilk*
74	MO-03	Blaine Luetkemeyer
75	TX-24	Kenny Marchant
76	KS-01	Roger Marshall
77	CA-23	Kevin McCarthy
78	CA-04	Tom McClintock
79	WA-05	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
80	PA-09	Dan Meuser*
81	WV-03	Carol D. Miller
82	MI-04	John Moolenaar*
83	WV-02	Alex Mooney
84	OK-02	Markwayne Mullin
85	NC-03	Gregory Murphy
86	WA-04	Dan Newhouse
87	SC-05	Ralph Norman
88	MS-04	Steve Palazzo
89	AL-06	Gary Palmer
90	IN-06	Greg Pence
91	PA-10	Scott Perry*
92	FL-08	Bill Posey
93	PA-14	Guy Reschenthaler*
94	SC-07	Tom Rice
95	AL-03	Mike Rogers
96	TN-06	John Rose
97	NC-07	David Rouzer
98	FL-04	John Rutherford
99	LA-01	Steve Scalise
100	GA-08	Austin Scott*
101	ID-02	Mike Simpson
102	NE-03	Adrian Smith
103	MO-08	Jason Smith
104	FL-15	Ross Spano
105	MN-08	Pete Stauber
106	NY-21	Elise Stefanik
107	FL-17	Gregory Steube
108	PA-15	Glenn Thompson*
109	WI-07	Tom Tiffany*
110	SC-04	William Timmons
111	NJ-02	Jeff Van Drew
112	MO-02	Ann Wagner
113	MI-07	Tim Walberg*
114	NC-06	Mark Walker
115	FL-06	Michael Waltz
116	IN-02	Jackie Walorski
117	TX-14	Randy Weber
118	FL-11	Daniel Webster
119	OH-02	Brad Wenstrup
120	AR-04	Bruce Westerman
121	TX-25	Roger Williams
122	SC-02	Joe Wilson
123	VA-01	Rob Wittman
124	TX-06	Ron Wright
125	FL-03	Ted Yoho
126	NY-01	Lee Zeldin

(Some of these reps, such as Steve King, will be stepping down in January '21 - long overdue in King's case.)

*-reps of states who, based on signing onto the brief, apparently want to get their own election results overturned - genius!

(I think I got all the state abbreviations right, but I may have messed up a couple...sorry.)

As I said, I took this thing personally (a nod to Prof. Marcus from many years ago). These cowards were trying to mess with MY VOTE, as a resident of the beloved commonwealth of PA. It never should have happened in the first place, and it should NEVER, EVER HAPPEN AGAIN!

Update: I probably should have anticipated this, but some of the linked content (such as the story on Chuck Fleischmann) is behind paywalls. You may be able to get around that on a desktop or an iPad or similar device, but it's a problem for smart phones. I'll try to update these spots with new links, but I can't guarantee anything.

Update 12/27/20: Apparently Walter Einekel of Daily Kos was doing something very similar - kudos (here).

Update 12/30/20: And somehow, I have a feeling that there's a lot of overlap between this list and this one.

Update 2/8/21: I'm sorry this man died of COVID - I'm sorry ANYONE has died of COVID - but I don't think Wright's role here should be automatically forgotten either.

Update 9/13/22: Jackie Walorski died in an auto accident (here) - my sympathies.

Saturday Stuff

I wish we had seen this kind of alarm about what Mango Mussolini truly was prior to the 2016 election, but better late than never I guess (Chris Cuomo delivers this on-air editorial; definitely don’t share his opinion of Ben Sasse, though others will be probably be conned about that guy too...oh, and when it comes to economic COVID-related relief, let's not forget about this too - so goddamn tired of having to look at that ugly mug of his!...also, as it turns out, the $2K is a "Trojan horse" anyway to cut "wasteful spending" that Trump already requested...here)...



...and Kyle K. tells us about Fix Noise and that idiot Kilmeade along with Sean Duffy, bitching about economic COVID relief...I definitely like Kyle’s “tax cut” argument...and I never bought this “oh, people will never work again” argument because what other way are people going to get their health care since we don’t have Medicare for All?...



...and Thom Hartmann speaks with a caller in Minnesota, which leads into more on the “open up” protests by small businesses (GREAT analysis by Thom that, inevitably, leads back to Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, which it should)...



...and David Pakman gives us an example of “dead people voting,” in which a Trumper in our beloved commonwealth of PA was able to cast a ballot for his deceased mom (and in a related story, kudos to PA Lt. Guv John Fetterman for this...foreshadowing the "126" post a bit)...



...and speaking of those who have passed on, RIP Leslie West of Mountain...



...and this number offcially marks the end of the seasonal tunes - c'est la vie.

Merry Christmas 2020

Wishing you all the best of the season from me, Nat, and the gang.

Thursday Stuff

This Now This clip tells us about the Boston cop making jokes about driving his police cruiser into a crowd of protestors during the George Floyd protests last summer (he forgot another cop had a body camera running – just say “oops” and get out)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Mango Mussolini’s Twitter spat with “Grim Reaper” McConnell...



...and this Rachel Maddow clip from last night gives us a pretty nightmarish scenario of what could happen if Our Treasonous Orange Pustule in An Oval Office decides to do absolutely nothing about the latest COVID relief package and a potential government shutdown...I’m not at all sure that anybody will have “visions of sugar plumbs danc(ing) in their heads” after watching this...



...and this clip tells us that, apparently, David Perdue plans to hide out in his mansion for the holiday, being the typical corrupt fraud that he is (to help Jon Ossoff running against him, as well as Raphael Warnock vs. the equally awful Kelly Loeffler, click here)...



...and we're nearing the end of the seasonal selections, I know, since the big day is almost here.