Saturday Stuff

We know you-know-who is going to have that rally in Tulsa, OK today, which is insane on so many levels. With that in mind, I want to present this video of health care workers fighting the battle against COVID-19 at Stony Brook University, and everything they do to treat their patients and keep them connected with families as best they can.

(Also, there’s currently a post out there of a 20-year-old girl who came down with COVID and underwent a double lung transplant. If you come across the picture of her COVID-inflected lungs and have a chance to see the truly horrific damage she suffered, I guarantee that, were you so inclined to begin with, you would never complain about wearing a mask again.)…



(Also in consideration of that Tulsa mess, I give you this and this – I saw a tweet earlier where a rally attendee was quoted saying, “Well, a friend of mine died and his son was sick for a time with it, but I don’t know who to believe, so I’m not wearing a mask,” and I thought that, somewhere, from some deep, dark pit of hell, Roger Ailes smiles and thinks to himself, “Mission Accomplished.”)...

Update: Yeah, this was it, and Sheila Buck is my latest heroine for this.

…and Thom Hartmann tells us about Repugs attacking – and in some cases apparently, actually killing – African Americans and Black Lives Matter protesters (and yeah, as Thom says, nothing but crickets from the GOP in response…wonder if The Lincoln Project is going to go after these life forms in a video? Maybe they will.)…



…and I thought this was an interesting take by Chris Hayes on 45’s true relationship with China…among other things, Our Orange Nightmare blew off COVID-19 in pursuit of some kind of trade maneuver that he thought would help him get re-elected (the country be damned, referring to us of course)…



…and on the subject of our ruling regime doing the bidding of foreign powers and corporations, I give you this New York Times video where workers at Tyson chicken processing plants are trying to slow down the assembly line – good question posed at the very end: how can they feed America if workers at these plants keep getting sick? I hope the two courageous souls profiled in this clip don't face a reprisal for this...



…and David Pakman tells us that 1.5 million people have been hit by the economic downturn – absolutely staggering job losses overall from this pandemic, about 25% of the overall workforce…and yeah, a few people have found new jobs, and that’s good, but if anybody thinks we’re on our way out of either the pandemic or this recession any time soon, then I have a bridge to one of the five New York boroughs to sell to you (and here is more food for thought on that subject)…



…and Kyle Kulinksi tells us that 63 % of those polled are "proud to be an American," down about 30 points from 2003 – anybody else besides me starting to see a trend here?…



…and taking what I think (and hope) is this trend even further, Farron Cousins tells us that Repug strategists are fearing an electoral “wipeout” – GOOD! Let’s all go make it happen, people (interesting "macarena" analogy for independent voters - kind of fits)…



...and in light of this great tweet from Mr. Peter Frampton, I feel duly obligated to include this song.

Friday Stuff

I would tend to side with Kyle K. here in his takedown of “Blow ‘Em Up” Bolton’s latest screed against Generalissimo Trump; yeah, maybe the talk about invading Venezuela may not be very smart (ridiculous that that needs to be pointed out I know)…good point about how untrustworthy John Bolton really is…if Bolton actually had a spine, he would have testified at the House impeachment inquiry and said some of this stuff (of course, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao didn’t allow actual testimony at the Senate trial as we know)…



…and Farron Cousins tells us about the latest ad from The Lincoln Project telling us what I’m sure we’ve already surmised, and it is that Mango Mussolini isn’t well (and boy, is Cousins right about the Dems being too timid…Repugs NEVER have a problem playing political hardball, as it were)…



…and I have to admit that I don’t know what’s going on with John Roberts of the Supremes; he’s been acting sane lately, though, as John I. and Aida Rodriguez tell us, his High Court left the Trumpsters some room to come back and try more nonsense on the issue of deporting DACA recipients…



...and RIP Sir Ian Holm - I thought this was a pretty nice tribute centered around his Bilbo Baggins character in “The Lord of the Rings”…



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the faceoff between Dem U.S. House Rep Cedric Richmond and Repug Trump fluffer Matt Gaetz recently on the issue of trying to implement police reform; unfortunately, Gaetz is good at his job, which is to act like a total buffoon, though I’m glad to see him get whacked by Richmond…



...and the issue of Gaetz’s “son” has given birth to a bunch of Twitter memes, including this one…

For all those wondering, this is my son Yoda. We share no blood but he is my life. He came from Dagobah (legally, of course) six years ago and lives with me in Malibu.

I am so proud of him and raising him has been the best, most rewarding thing I’ve done in my life. pic.twitter.com/ddWtGW7jm7

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 19, 2020

…and I was trying to think of an appropriate musical selection for Juneteenth; maybe it’s time to bring this one back after an inadvertently long hiatus (more here and here).

Thursday Stuff (updates)

Yes, it’s time once more for more examples of GOP cowardice in the face of Our Orange Pestilence – I know I touched on this before, but the clip lists those in the U.S. Senate from the “party of Lincoln” who are up for re-election this year (and when it comes to Republicans utterly without spines, let’s not forget about this guy)…



…and Kyle tells us about Jake Tapper talking with Trumpster Larry Kudlow about COVID-19 bailout $$ going to some companies who we don’t know about – I recall Katie Porter on “All In” recently explaining why companies receiving COVID-19 should have no expectation of privacy at all, as noted here (would have included the C. Hayes/Porter clip earlier if it hadn’t been edited so badly)…



…and Farron Cousins tells us that there’s another Trump-related book coming out in August, this time from his niece, with more tell-all stuff (pass the popcorn)…



…and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about cops whose actions actually prove the point of the protestors (interesting anecdote about Camden – the whole “Defund the Police” language is idiotic as far as I’m concerned...yes, cut their budgets and reallocate funds to programs that will help the affected communities for sure)…



…and speaking of cops, David Doel tells us about the freakout by some of NYC’s “finest” in response to picking up an illness from Shake Shack (yep, another example of shoot first and ask questions later I guess, with Doel using the “defund” language…oh well…mildly NSFW/H)…



Update 6/22/20:

just updated my piece in the wake of the stunning report today that the three officers at the center of the "poisoning" were never sick and never even felt any symptoms.

the whole tale was invented by NYPD brass—and the press hyped it nonstop; https://t.co/W8FyFv5iBe

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) June 22, 2020

Never trust another word coming out of the mouth of ANYONE associated with the NYPD after this...

Update 6/23/20: As Dick Shawn portraying LSD in "The Producers" famously once said, "They try - Lord how they try!" (here).

…and RIP Dame Vera Lynn, a legendary singer from another era who made it to 103, God bless her (why do I suddenly have a desire to watch “Dr. Strangelove”?).

Tuesday Stuff

This “Now This” video tells us that the Gropenfuhrer may be facing a long-overdue showdown on his tax returns – pretty clear where Justice Sotomayor comes down on this question, to her credit…we’ll see…



…and keeping with High Court matters, I would have to say that I’m also shocked by the ruling to apply protections from Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to same sex couples and LGBTQ individuals, and even more bowled over by the fact that the majority 6-3 opinion was written by Neil Gorsuch and joined by Hangin’ Judge JR, of all people…why do I feel like there’s a “poison pill” in there somewhere that we haven’t found out yet (John I. and Francesca Fiorentini discuss…I think John meant Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and not Anthony Kennedy)…



…and Brian Tyler Cohen brings us more lies from Generalissimo Trump, this time about Oklahoma…why in God’s name is anyone STILL taking one word seriously that oozes out of the mouth of this sociopath? And Pence is just as bad (representing a whole other level of “onward Christian soldiers” crazy)…



…and whoops! – the Trump gang sees workers keep getting sicker, and just add Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia to the list of Trumpian liars, as Farron Cousins tells us…yeah, you FORCED people to go back to work, you scumwads!...



…also, here is Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti of The Hill talking about Jon Stewart’s recent commentary and his biggest regret from “The Daily Show,” and that was his role in perpetuating the whole combat cycle between our side and the forces of darkness on the right; I don’t think Stewart is particularly to blame, but I admire his self-reflection…I should probably engage in a bit of that here and say that it’s always a challenge to strike that balance between informing and perpetuating combat merely for the sake of argument – I still maintain that Fox and the wingnutosphere have pulled everyone towards the middle by virtue of their success so it’s harder to find a truly “left” perspective any more, though I will continue to the best of my ability to make my arguments based on issues as opposed to personalities…yes, despite that, I’m sure I’ll be going after Our Orange Pestilence as much as ever, mainly because he’ll keep giving us ammunition, but the goal of doing that will be to craft policies ultimately that benefit the majority of us as opposed to outright ridicule just for the sake of it – also, I’m not the biggest fan of Joe Rogan, but I give him credit for at least allowing time for people to have a somewhat meaningful discussion of a particular issue…



Update 6/20/20: OK, so much for Joe Rogan (here).

…and how the hell can we somehow be talking about lynching in the year 2020 (more here and here…pretty much have no choice but to include this legendary tune which “Lady Day” sung in the fact of actual and threatened violence – hard to find a word for that type of guts).

Monday Stuff

I would say that “none of this is beautiful” (unless you’re a tin pot dictator wannabe with delusions of godhood) pretty much says it…



…and this Guardian video shows the response of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to the threat from Our Orange Pestilence to invade that city to put down a protest (oh, and speaking of the Seattle protest, let’s not forget this from The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...



…and Ana and John I. tell us about the Dave Chappelle special on YouTube (and going after Candace Owens – works for me)…



…and boy, is this ever great commentary from former U.S. Marine Josh Hicks, running to unset Repug Andy Barr in Kentucky’s 6th U.S. congressional district; the timely topic is the placement (and existence, truth be told) of Confederate statues (Barr, by the way, is notable because he challenged AOC to come to his district to talk about the Green New Deal, and she accepted, but he rescinded the invitation at the last minute...and speaking of Repug politicians, nothing is really going to change unless troglodyte voters change too...an example is here - yes, this may ultimately help Dems, but it's still pretty sad)…



Update 6/16/20: Sorry to hear about this - deepest sympathies to Barr and his family.

...and I still have issues with Bill Maher for sure (still don't know how he thinks he has the right to lecture liberals, or anybody really), but I have to admit that this commentary isn't bad...



…and this was recorded 55 years ago today (rated #1 of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by Rolling Stone…not sure I agree with that, but I can understand that selection – as noted here, Dylan has been a bit non-reclusive lately).