Friday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us about the lunatics behind the campaign to try and get the U.S. to open up against the advice of health care experts...wonder how Google feels about their analytics tool being used by these nutbags? My guess is that they don't care (not the least bit surprised that Freedom Works is involved)…and speaking of crazy…



Update: Nothing but a POS (follow-up from the last linked item)...

..and yeah, “There will be a lot of death, unfortunately”…no shit, Sherlock (here)...



…and Joe Scar is absolutely right to tear into The Gropenfuhrer (here), but given his shock over the utter lack of preparedness from our ruling regime of frauds and crooks, I have some questions for him:

At what point did it FINALLY occur to you that Mango Mussolini is in WAAAAY OVER HIS HEAD and completely out of his depth as “president”?

Didn’t that occur to you in 2016 when you and your crew were riding the proverbial tire swing with Trump by hosting him on your program? If it did, why the hell didn’t you speak up?

When has this “president” shown ANY INTEREST AT ALL in anything having to do with actual policy or legislation on behalf of the vast majority of this country? Did you not see that? Were you bleeping blind??!! WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU BLEEPING WARN US WHEN IT ACTUALLY MATTERED??!!

Do you not see how you and your morning playmates (along with way too damn much of the rest of our corporate media) COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY FAILED TO VET THIS UTTER CHARLATAN AS TO HIS TOTAL LACK OF PREPAREDNESS FOR THE JOB OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES??!!

So yeah, your outrage is duly noted. But until you can provide some somewhat intelligent responses to any or all of the questions noted above, try shutting the hell up...



...and there's so much illegality and malfeasance going on with this regime that it's possible to overlook stuff, but let's not forget about Our Orange Pestilence and his Chinese masters (noted here also)...



…and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Anderson Cooper’s interview with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman…like many of you I’m sure, I know what the crowds are like on Las Vegas Boulevard for most of the day and the evening, and that is the LAST place that should be volunteering to be a “petri dish,” or whatever nonsense Goodman is talking about – exposure to those kinds of throngs would start a lethal second wave all by itself…



...…and Rachel Maddow speaks with Anthony Romero of the ACLU about the COVID-19 threat in our prisons…a little surprised by how this interview was cut short, but Romero makes some important points – I’d be pretty cheesed off if this guy ended up under house arrest for example, but maybe it’s the right thing to do in the overall scheme of things…



…and Kyle tells us about comedian Vic DiBitetto going off in car with what I guess you could call a typical NYC rant, and I say that with respect (very NSFWH, as in “Not Safe For Work/Home,” but definitely right…I would call this an answer to Rick Santelli, but the difference here is that DiBitetto is actually right)…



…and this week started with the noting of a passing on the Philly music scene due to the pandemic, and it’s ending the same way – RIP to jazz legend “Bootsie” Barnes…one day, all of this will be over, and that day can’t come soon enough.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us here that the refusal by Sean Inanity of Fix Noise to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously is literally killing his audience; not sure what I could add to that (more here)…



Update 4/26/20: Any by the way, the pic isn't hyperbole (here).

…and Cenk Uygur tells us about the recent back-and-forth between AOC and the Swanson TV Dinner Heir; one important takeaway for yours truly is that AOC, In a very rare instance, gave up the high ground a bit on the issue of clean energy by deleting the tweet (even though she was unequivocally right…and yeah, I’m tempted to agree with Cenk that she was pressured to do so) and Carlson, being the utterly unrepentant alt-right wingnut that he is, went after her anyway…as much as I applaud AOC and Cenk on this, I have to admit that it’s discouraging a bit that we STILL have to fight over something approximating fairness and decency in assisting those hurt by the outbreak (though other countries such as Canada have enacted UBI, as noted here), commitment to renewable energy, a sane military budget, ACA and Medicare/Medicaid expansion, and on and on ("mostly white meat"...heh)…



…and this Georgia doctor tells Repug Governor Brian Kemp to actually LISTEN TO THE MEDICAL EXPERTS AND DON’T SENTENCE YOUR RESIDENTS TO DEATH BY REOPENING TOO EARLY!!!...



…and I don’t know…maybe it’s just me…but I’m really not seeing a lot of historical context for the true scope of the horror many of us are dealing with from COVID-19, and to be sure, there most definitely IS a historical context, and that has to do with the so-called “Spanish” flu of 1918 (which, arguably, didn’t originate in Spain, but in Kansas – it was called “Spanish” because that’s the first country that reported it); this video is about 40 minutes long, so yeah, pack a lunch (or a Swanson TV Dinner…?)…part of the reason why I’m including this is to note that Philadelphia played a particularly awful part in spreading it – not trying to be snarky, but just trying to present the full picture of what happened over 100 years ago…



…meanwhile, on a more upbeat note, today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (and yes, we have much to do on that front also, but there’s hopeful stuff in the video)…to me, the significance of Earth Day is tied to the rise of the consumer movement in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and the backlash to that led ultimately to the ruinous conservative ascendancy, but it was a battle well fought and well won all the same…



...and since it's Earth Day, to me, that means it's time for this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

via GIPHY

This Now This clip shows Mango Mussolini facing off with another female reporter, this time from CBS News (I’m glad that his dumb little Bund rallies are being more sparsely attended by the day, which is what he deserves at a minimum…actually, they should be boycotted altogether…and when it comes to the Gropenfuhrer and the China travel ban, I give you this)…



…and I’m not going to get my hopes up over this report from Farron Cousins, since there are no end to the Stupid Voting Tricks that the “party of Lincoln” can try to inflict in us all, but at a minimum, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao has a thing or two to worry about at this moment concerning the fall eletions (and I’m sorry, but with all due respect to southern Dem progressives – who are owed huge props as far as I’m concerned for fighting the good fight – I’m not getting my hopes up that southern voters as a whole will do the right thing, and that actually goes for too many northern voters too)…



…and in keeping with life below that Mason-Dixon line, David Doel tells us about GA governor Brian Kemp wanting to open the state back up, social distancing and health care professionals/experts be damned (and when it comes to stupid Republican southern governors, let’s not forget this)…



Update: And somewhere, Jim Jones smiles (here).

…but for the purposes of fair play, I should note that at least one Republican governor has called BS on all of the Trumpian garbage, and that would be Larry Hogan of Maryland, as Cenk and Ana tell us here…



...and since this is another day of the week with a "y" in it, it looks like it's time for this clip again (my response to this)...



...and Prince died four years ago today.

Monday Stuff

(Yeah, “Pennsyltucky” is trending on Twitter for a reason, as noted here - spelling continues to be an issue for these life forms)...

Sam and the crew from The Majority Report tell us about health care workers going against protestors in Denver (similar to pic…note to self….NEVER, EVER eat out at Ruth Chris’s again once this is finally, mercifully over…waiting for another angry outburst from Rick Santelli which I’m sure will be coming any day now)…



Update 4/21/20: Yep...predictable indeed (here).

…meanwhile, for the reality point of view, I give you this (here)…



…and yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City (here...one of the very few moments where Dubya showed actual competence on the job IMHO)…



…and usually I include a tune by an artist or band here, but I’m going to break with that to commemorate the recent passing of Gene Shay; he would probably laugh to be considered a folk music icon in these parts, but that is what he was, if for no other reason because of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, which became an international cultural event under his stewardship…like John Prine, I was hoping he in particular would make it.