Saturday Stuff

We hear now from “The Damage Report” about how 20 million (!) COVID vaccines went missing under Generalissimo Trump – ugh...and boy, do I sympathize with John’s outrage (and happy birthday, by the way) on how we handled this, and Francesca is spot-on about countries that may be smaller but have a better health care infrastructure and probably would do a MUCH BETTER JOB than our prior ruling cabal didn’t bother to do – of course, assuming those smaller countries ACTUALLY HAD THE FREAKING VACCINE!...



...and I could probably fill up a whole other post with my issues with Repug U.S. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska (and maybe I will one day, including with some of what he says here), but yeah, Brian Tyler Cohen points out how absurd it is that Sasse even has to say that stuff here to defend himself against not “taking the knee” for former President Fergus Laing...



Update 3/1/21: Yep, as usual, Sasse talks a good game, but never backs it up (here).

...and David Pakman tells us that, apparently, Mickey D’s is fine with $15 an hour as a minimum wage, contrary to what that lunatic Lauren Boebert says of course, though it looks like the Dems are having a hard time getting it into a COVID relief package as noted here – gnashing my teeth as I read that...

...and today marks what would have been the 110th birthday of The Sainted Ronnie R (who, as far as I’m concerned, was the blueprint for the typical clueless Repug preznit unable to govern in good times as well as those of a crisis – see also Dubya and Combover Caligula), which means it’s also the 10th anniversary of this post (and wise words for the occasion from The Rude One are here); whenever I think of our 40th president, this song comes to mind.

Friday Stuff

As we probably all know by now, Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her U.S. House committee assignments by a vote of 230-199 (Bri-Fi, it should be noted here, was one of the 11 Repugs who voted to give Greene the boot – commendable I realize, but as far as I’m concerned, Greene should be expelled from that body, to say nothing of prosecuted...K.O. tells us more)...



...and when it comes to the insurrection Greene supported, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the interview that Dem U.S. House Rep Katie Porter gave to Lawrence O’Donnell about how AOC was pretty much running for her life (the double standard here is unbelievable – if Dems did something like this, they’d already be gone and probably sentenced also, which would be deserved regardless of whatever party we’re talking about...and oh yeah, there's this)...



...and I heard that Rachel Maddow had another great “A” block on Greene last night, but instead, I’m going to focus on something which I think is more important, and that is President Biden trying to undo the damage caused by the family separation policy from our prior ruling regime of actual and would-be criminals...



...and David Doel tells about about another Biden move, and that is to get this country to stop supporting the Saudi slaughter in Yemen (here – a prior post is here...yes, I’m tempted to say “let the damn Saudis defend themselves,” but on the other hand, this undeniably is progress that we can’t ignore and Biden deserves credit)...



...and RIP legendary Oscar-winning actor Christopher Plummer; good luck trying to choose a highlight from his long and distinguished career, but aside from standing out as Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” (have to admit it), I thought he may have also been the best Star Trek: Original Series villain of all time, as noted in this clip (I always thought “The Undiscovered Country” was a great film, period, and actually topical for its time with one of the all-time-great movie scripts)...



...and I failed to note that yesterday was World Cancer Day – we should all do whatever we can with preventative screenings and checkups as our means allows, and if we’re able to donate to a worthy cause, we can click here.

Thursday Stuff

(And as pointed out here, they are STILL blocking this guy! However, with the Senate Judiciary Committee changing hands now to Dick Durbin and the Dems from the utterly repellent Lindsey Graham, I expect that will change shortly.)

Rachel Maddow gives us a history of Republican obstruction under our 44th president, something to keep in mind as Biden does his utmost to get a sane amount of $$ for COVID relief passed through “the world’s greatest deliberative body” (and with that in mind, this doesn’t surprise me at all...have to find out why she's at home and not at the studio)...



...and sticking with the "upper chamber," it looks like Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao has “gotten the memo” on Marjorie Taylor Greene (McConnell is a lot of contemptible things, but he isn’t stupid...and in a related vein, speaking of “contemptible”)...



...and Greene and Lauren Boebert have been getting the most headlines as the craziest Repugs nationally (along with Madison Cawthorn), but as far as I’m concerned, SD Guv Kristi Noem is right up there with them (Sam, Emma V., Matt and Jamie discuss)...



...and John and Francesca tell us about the anti-vaxxers shutting down the recent COVID immunization at Dodger Stadium (I’d honestly like to know more about who is bankrolling this garbage)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about the Trumpsters who fought to deny COVID vaccine rollout $$ to states (and yeah, I would tend to agree that there are people in the Senate who should have made a lot of noise a hell of a lot sooner than now)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us that we’re basically in the middle of the 2nd Repug Great Depression (truly scary economic statistics) – and these variants are pretty damn scary too (COVID shouldn’t have been an epidemic, or a pandemic, but we know why it turned into that)...



...and Ana and Ben Dixon tells us that the SCOTUS recently saved Generalissimo Trump’s butt on emoluments (setting what I’m sure is an absolutely wonderful precedent, I say through clenched teeth...another argument for term limits that Farron Cousins argued previously)...



...and the title of this song describes what I hope is the ultimate fate of Not Your Father’s Republican Party.

Tuesday Stuff

Good catch by Laurence Tribe here on the two lawyers who eventually agreed to represent Generalissimo Trump at his 2nd impeachment in the Senate (here); John and Francesca tell us about how those preceding Messrs. Schoen and Castor Esq. bailed on the whole damn thing (hard to blame them)...



...and normally I wouldn’t give a damn about Repugs and their pitiful attempts at self-examination, but to be fair (as noted in the Now This clip) Rep. Adam Kinzinger was one of the 10 U.S. House reps of his party who voted to impeach the Gropenfuhrer, so I give his words a little more credence than I would to most others (more on their civil war is here - and gee, isn't this interesting?)...



...and Rachel Maddow takes Kinzinger’s argument a little further and basically wonders how democracy can even survive when one of the two major political parties is pretty goddamn freaking nuts!...



...and David Pakman takes the allegedly august editorial board members of “the old gray lady” to task for telling President Biden to, more or less, ease up on the executive orders (we face a big threat from Repugs of course, but we also face a threat from wishy washy “status quo” sympathizers allegedly on our side too)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us how the “party of Lincoln” is responding in Georgia to the recent Democratic successes in the peach state, and that is to make it harder for people to vote (typical)...



...and Chris Hayes, echoing a similar theme, interviews Dem U.S. House Rep Ruben Gallego about efforts to try and disenfranchise voters in Arizona (and elsewhere)...



...and RIP actor Hal Holbrook, shown here in one of his iconic roles...



...and sticking with show business, kudos to Nancy Sinatra for this.

Sunday Stuff

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland tell us that the Swanson TV Dinner Heir complained about “privilege” recently – I think Carlson just destroyed the irony meter (interesting "skill," I guess you could loosely call it, to utter such banal and ridiculous pronouncements with such certainty and conviction)...



...and as long as we’re discussing The Roger Ailes BS Factory, I thought I’d offer this clip from Brian Tyler Cohen where Chris Wallace gives his fellow network anchor John Roberts a lesson on COVID and the economy, albeit politely...



...and The Lincoln Project gives House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy the treatment he deserves here...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us more about the role of Generalissimo Trump in the 1/6 insurrection...and do you realize that, if 45 can’t find anyone to argue his case given this, he’ll have to do so in the Senate himself? I can’t think of a word for the absurdity of such a spectacle...



...and John I. and Dave Levinthal of Business Insider tell us more on the Gropenfuhrer and his – now how can you put this – singular legal troubles...



...and with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert quite rightly generating headlines for their insanity, I don’t think we should forget Madison Cawthorn, another freshman Republican in the U.S. House, as David Pakman tells us (yep, Cawthorn visited Hitler’s vacation house...and yes, he mentioned Hitler was evil, which, yeah, is kind of like saying the sky is blue, but to be honest, I’m more concerned about the other lies Pakman notes here, which go to a general pattern of untrustworthiness as far as I’m concerned...and oh yeah, there’s this too)...



...and this Now This clip tells us that Honduras kept its abortion ban in place, as well as curtailing access to contraception – you want to know what fundamentalists like Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett have in mind for this country? Something like what is described here in that country...



...and I now give you today's regional weather forecast.