I don’t know if this is the darkest day yet of the many, many, MANY dark days under our criminal ruling regime of an alleged “presidential administration,” but I have to say that it’s right up there…
…and never forget that this guttural lowlife of a *president* once uttered these words…
…and kudos to Chris Hayes for this – the only problem is that, as I and others have said before, “Onward Christian Soldiers” Mike Pence is a whole other brand of crazy (here’s an admittedly crazy liberal idea – how about a coalition government at the top instead like other countries do?)…
…and I once put this tune up for George W. Bush, but what was old appears to be new again (four years of this is horrible enough – I cannot get my head around eight years!).
There’s a new Lincoln Project ad out showing examples of presidential leadership, and the message is that, yes, presidents are supposed to act in a way that brings this country together instead of dividing us. And it clearly presents a contrast between Our Tiny-Handed Orange Dictator and Joe Biden, and the contrast couldn’t be more stark, you might say.
Even though I know these Lincoln Project Republicans, along with the other Never Trumpers, will turn on a dime back to their old, evil ways once a Dem is back in the White House (which, God willing, will be soon, and as always, we need to work to make that happen), they definitely deserve credit for trying to move this country in a positive direction.
However, I’m not including this ad because it’s coming from a Republican-centric point of view, and it just doesn’t sit well with me. Yeah, I realize that probably makes me nothing but a liberal pinhead, but it begins with Reagan talking to the country after the Challenger disaster in 1986. I have a problem right away with that, because the shuttle should never have launched in the first place. Yes, Reagan did what he did very well, and that was to give a nice speech to comfort the nation. But I’ve never heard a good explanation as to why Challenger launched during what was record cold Florida temperatures, to say nothing of the fact that Morton Thiokol did a crappy job in manufacturing the O-rings between the rocket boosters (which cracked upon liftoff, basically causing the disaster), along with the fact that it would have just been dandy for The Sainted Ronnie R to give the State of the Union address while the ship was flying in space. And next, the ad shows Dubya with the bullhorn at the site of the 9/11 attacks at what was once the World Trade Center (yeah, I know Dubya had a 90 percent approval rating after the attacks, which he basically pissed away over his time in office with his epic arrogance and incompetence).
So I’m sorry, but I’m not going to inadvertently help to legitimize bad Republican behavior, even for an ostensibly good cause.
Now, with that admittedly boring lead-in out of the way, I give you this clip from David Pakman about Generalissimo Trump's recent hate fest in Phoenix, AZ - those two idiots who claimed their air filtration system allegedly kills the COVID virus should go to jail, and the people cheering at that rally for “kung flu” are scum…and not to split hairs, but the 1918 Spanish flu actually did impact World War I, but yeah, the issue is that voting by mail is definitely secure and, as far as I’m concerned, should be the law…
…but despite the adulation from the outpatients in AZ, Ana and John I. of TYT tell us that the poll numbers for President Fergus Laing continue to plummet in the wake of the still-raging COVID-19 outbreak...
…though Trump did have time to visit his damn wall, as Chris Hayes tells us (and gee, it looks like the EU is paying us back by not letting people from the US in as they reopen because of the piss poor job we’re doing as a country in response to the pandemic, including 14 new cases in Jamaica, as Hayes tells us, and all from the U.S.)…
…and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us what happened during the recent congressional testimony of former GHWB Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer against AG and longtime Repug fixer Bill Barr – and leave it to Louie Gohmert, the stupidest life form in the entire universe (with the possible exception of the numbskulls who actually vote for him), to do his idiotic best to disrupt the proceedings (oh, and apparently this happened also in that hearing – typical)…
Update 7/27/20: God, Gohmert is such a contemptible POS (here).
…and before Gohmert’s antics, Thom Hartmann had this great segment on why it’s necessary to impeach Barr, notwithstanding the testimony of the witnesses at the hearing…
…and Seth Meyers gives us a recent news wrap-up, including a truly awful bathroom pun at the very end (and yes, there’s another reference to Trump visiting the wall)…
…and in my quest to keep these posts somewhat topical, I try to touch on recent stories that don’t immediately lend themselves to a particular categorization, and I think this next item qualifies – it has to do with the rebranding of Aunt Jemimah and other commonly recognized labels, apparently (yes, this is important, but the protests need to evolve into a political movement, which I think is happening actually and needs to keep happening – nobody should be satisfied only with these corporate-face-saving gestures, and I honestly don’t think anyone is willing to “call it a day” just over the stuff in this video, again, which is good)…
…and speaking of rebranding, I’m not sure about the wisdom of this, but I’m definitely not an expert in that area, though I wish them good luck with it, of course.
Usually I wouldn’t give Brian Williams the time of day, but I thought this was a good segment with Dr. Mercedes Carnethon discussing why the most recent Mango Mussolini hate fest in Phoenix was a particularly terrible idea…
…and while we're on the subject of supporters of The Gropenfuhrer, it looks like two of these “Boogaloo Bois” lunatics are wanted for the murder of a federal officer, with one in custody…
…and yep, I’m beating the proverbial drum for the third day in a row on the claim from 45 that he wanted to slow down testing, mainly because I think it matters that much…
…and could it be that longtime U.S. House Dem Eliot Engel of NY has lost his primary to AOC-backed challenger Jamaal Bowman? Let’s hope so (here)…
…and Brian Tyler Cohen brings us this recent exchange between Dem U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and Senate Repug John Cornyn over the dueling crime bills in the U.S. Senate; when Obama looked for a VP nom, he looked to the U.S. Senate, and I think Biden would do well to do the same thing (couldn’t go wrong with either Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren as far as I’m concerned)…
…and I thought this was a good “Now This” clip with former Ireland president Mary Robinson talking about the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (with Robinson representing a country that has already elected a woman head of state)…
…and in a related story, David Doel brings us the latest bad climate change news - “There is no time to debate this anymore” indeed…
…and kudos to the estate of Tom Petty for this; what would a Repug campaign rally be if it wasn’t trying to illegally use music in violation of somebody’s copyright?
I’m purposely being repetitive by including this clip from Brian Tyler Cohen on the statement from Our Orange Pestilence about slowing down testing for COVID-19 given that I included that verbatim Trump clip yesterday, but I personally think it’s that big of a deal – Cohen makes all the major points except the obvious one that we need more testing in this country versus others because our population is a hell of a lot bigger (and again, his de facto publicists at Fix Noise give #45 a chance to walk everything back, and he dutifully blows it)…
Update: And as I read this, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, probably because it's true.
…and this Morning Joe clip includes Willie Geist talking with presidential historian Jon Meacham (good point by Meacham to bring back the birther garbage, and an even better job by Mika and company to point out all of the lickspittles from this regime of grifters and frauds who vote by mail while all the while condemning it)…
…and Thom Hartmann tells us that Generalissimo Trump is basically soliciting foreign election interference again, this time from China (interesting history lesson, though I would only add that Jimmy Carter formally normalized relations with China – not meant as a criticism, just an observation)…
…and John I. and Francesca Fiorentini of The Damage Report tell us about the K-Pop fans allegedly helping to sink Trump’s Tulsa rally; great little narrative, but I’m inclined to think people just blew it off because of the pandemic and they, y’know, WANTED TO ACTUALLY STAY ALIVE (”Antifa-CON” – hilarious!)…
…and apparently, there’s a “civil war” brewing in Trump World over the Tulsa mess the other night, with Jared and Ivanka in one corner, as it were, and Brad Parscale in the other…pass the popcorn (Farron Cousins tells us more)…
…and I suppose this is a bit of an anthemic tune for our current circumstance; can’t imagine what the verdict will be from whoever ends up chronicling all of this insanity for the purpose of some distant future time we can currently only imagine.
I think I’m going to do something a little different this time; usually, when I present a clip of the Gropenfuhrer, I often do it with some commentary from a lefty/progressive pointing out how ridiculous #45 is acting…well, this time, I’m going to present him unfiltered for about a minute.
And I’m not going to investigate his claim of testing 25 million people, which, if it’s even true in the first place (and my money says it isn’t), represents less than 10 percent of the population of this country. No, I’d like for you to focus on what he says about slowing down the testing. I think that’s an unusually true statement from him, which of course can’t help but lead to nothing but more preventable deaths.
And nothing but *crickets* from the “party of Lincoln” in response…
…and boy, did this next story ever fall through the proverbial cracks, and kudos to Rachel Maddow for catching it and giving it the treatment it deserves; I definitely recall Amanda Bennett at the Inquirer soon before we let our subscription lapse…once again, something that was just taken for granted in this country to be nonpartisan almost by definition (in this case, the Voice of America, important for all of the reasons noted in the clip) has been utterly corrupted by our ruinous ruling regime of liars, frauds and criminals…
…and I’m sure Mango Mussolini will take personal umbrage at this next clip in particular – GOOD!
On a related note, there’s currently an HBO documentary airing about Roy Cohn, who definitely took Trump under his wing, along with Paul Manafort and Roger Stone (who, oddly, almost look like teenagers, and we’re talking about the Reagan era, when a lot of these insidious characters first rose to prominence). And, since we’re talking about two of the most notorious grifters this country has ever seen, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to learn that Trump totally ignored Cohn when the latter was afflicted with AIDS…no honor among thieves of course…
…and the following Lincoln Project ad is pretty good about what real leadership is supposed to look, sound, and act like, though I think it’s a little weird for them to play a quote from RFK (and MLK may not have truly been a Dem, but he definitely wasn’t a Repug) since the group that came up with the ad is made up of Republicans and I’m sure that, when the blessed day comes when Dems return to power for real in the executive and legislative branches (the courts will have to come later unfortunately), these people will flip back to their old ways…for now, though, they’re doing good work…
…and Kyle K. brings us this segment telling us what Fix Noise says about the statues coming down, and I’m sure it isn’t hard to figure out their perspective on this (by the admittedly low standards of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, this segment with Laura Ingraham and her designated, echoing-her-talking-points mouthpiece is actually tolerable…I think Kyle is spot-on when he says that the line should be drawn when it comes to tax dollars being involved with these monuments to insurrection against this country, and I also think he’s right about leaving the museums alone…I am also in agreement with Kyle in that there is NO JUSTIFICATION for the Trail of Tears)…
…and I’m in the mood for a summer tune, this one from the hippy, dippy ‘60s.
