Friday Stuff

I’ll be honest – I’ve been a little hot and cold on Kyle Kulinski lately; I think he’s right on the money when it comes to policy and how it affects people, whether you’re talking about our economy as well as our overseas military presence, but his punditry is a little off-base as far as I’m concerned (can say that about a lot of folks I know), but I think he hit the proverbial bullseye here commenting on Chuck Todd(ler) and Bernie Sanders (“rationalizing the status quo” indeed)…



...I had the prior video in mind after seeing this...

Wow this is bad news for Bernie Sanders when he runs against three people at once in the general. pic.twitter.com/t5mxnMPLwu

— jordan (@JordanUhl) February 13, 2020

…and returning to Mango Mussolini, Robert Reich tells us about the five ways Number 45 has in no way “drained the swamp,” but if anything made it worse (and I’m sorry, but with hindsight – 20/20 I know – I think Nancy Pelosi blew it by not going after the Gropenfuhrer on emoluments)…



Update 2/19/20: Exactly.

…and Rachel Maddow interviews former H.R. McMaster aide and NSA adviser Fernando Cutz concerning the reprisal against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (and Vindman’s brother, oddly enough – even the mob doesn’t go after your family) in response to the former Vindman’s testimony during the impeachment…



…and Brian Tyler Cohen explains how we shouldn’t feel even the slightest bit sorry for Generalissimo Trump’s AG Bill Barr, who is now what he always has been – nothing but a Repug “fixer”…



…and in the manner of Trump apologists, I thought Chris Hayes hit it out of the proverbial park in this commentary on Gym Jordan (this topic needs a lot more time than 2:35, but given that we’re talking about The Comcast Network, it’s amazing to me that Hayes accomplished what he did here)…



...and I now give you the latest installment of "This Day In Doomsy History" from 2/14/13; Chris Matthews was quite rightly castigated recently for his idiocy on Bernie Sanders, but I thought this was a well-done commentary about this subject (kind of tied a bit to the holiday too)…



...and here is a tune for this day in the calendar...



...and for the opposing point of view, I give you this :-).

Wednesday Stuff (updates)

Farron Cousins tells us that we should be concerned about the dregs of lesser Trumpistan letting their hero remain in An Oval Office even if he loses in November (which isn’t guaranteed, people – even more of a reason why we need to do what we can to prevent that awful possibility...Mango Mussolini actually winning somehow I mean)…



...with a Trump loss bringing an end to travesties such as the one noted in this video...



…and I know I’m a little behind the news cycle on the whole thing with Tweety mistaking Bernie Sanders for Che Guevara or something, but I think it’s important to note Kyle’s reaction here (and good for Chris Hayes to say something in response)…



…and as a bit of a counterpoint, I give you this clip from David Doel with a commendably human response from Sanders, with a great sum-up at the end…by the way, I saw Cenk Uygur point out that the Elizabeth Warren campaign brought on some Obama folks and her campaign has started to tank as a result – I’m definitely not a pundit, but I’m just passing along what I hear…I think the damn cables, MSNBC in particular, are crowding her out a bit at the expense of Klobuchar and Mayor Pete – if Warren can find a way to hang around and make a respectable showing on Super Tuesday and latch onto an issue that resonates, I think she’ll be OK, but I know that’s a big “if”…looks like Dem voters so far want to settle on what I would call half-baked candidates aside from Bernie, though it looks like “Malarkey Joe” may be on the way out, which is an ignominious end I realize…



Update: I support her of course, but I'm not sure this will give Warren the bounce she needs (love to be wrong); my instinct is that she needs to return to an economic populist message.

Update 2/14/20: OK, more like this (this too)...

At a time when the Too Big to Fail banks – and their profits – are bigger than ever, the Fed wants to weaken its oversight of banks. Vice Chair Quarles' proposal to undermine the bank examination process is dangerous. Chairman Powell should abandon it. https://t.co/ICHD4ua2pk

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 13, 2020

…and Sam Seder talks with investigative journalist Mike Ludwig about the danger posed by PFAS, which appears to be all over the place in our drinking water (terrific)…I have issues with Bri-Fi to be sure, but apparently he has tried to rally support against this (here) – more on the legislation referenced at the end of the clip is here…

…and tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; the vacancy created by Scalia’s death led to the showdown between President Obama and #MidnightMoscowMitch over whether or not a hearing would be granted for Judge Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee, and I’m pretty sure we all remember what happened – with this anniversary in mind, I give you the aforementioned Cenk on Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy and what happened to the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby decision (more here)…



…and sticking with election stuff (and again as a counterpoint to the prior clip), I thought this was a great “Now This” video on how voter suppression targets college students and African Americans…



…and John Lennon performed this tune 50 years ago today on the BBC’s “Top of the Pops” program (and I'm sure Yoko was peeking :-).