Saturday Stuff

Well, it FINALLY passed (here – with absolutely ZERO Republican support in Congress)...



...but not including the $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, as noted in the pic (explained by Cenk, John and Koa Beck...and again, it should be noted that Angus King is officially an independent)...



...and the frustration of Chris Hayes here with Joe Manchin and Jeanne Shaheen trying to limit the COVID payments is pretty damn obvious and apropos (and I don’t know how Biden DOESN’T have his thumb on the metaphorical scale here – yep, stuff like this may make the Dem Senate majority go “poof,” and the House is hanging by a thread too...but again, between all the cruel, pointless obstruction over COVID relief and what happened on 1/6, Congressional Dems have plenty of ammunition to use against the "party of Lincoln")...



...and, in addition to Stacey Abrams in GA for helping to ensure that the Dems had the Senate majority to get this done, I think Chris Murphy deserves a lot of credit for this presentation earlier in the week...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us some important context on what’s going on with the COVID economy, as well as Amazon raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour...



...and I know I linked to this earlier, but I’m including the video again, and actually, get ready to see a lot of this...as far as I’m concerned, politically, Kyrsten Sinema is a “dead Dem walking” for this, which she completely deserves; I’ll do as much as I can to promote her inevitable primary challenger (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such clueless political behavior from a Dem in my life)...



...and RIP Tony Hendra of National Lampoon and "This Is Spinal Tap"...



...and happy upcoming International Women's Day.

Friday Stuff

Willie Geist of “Morning Joe” brings us a segment with Dr. Vin Gupta speaking with a lady who had to move closer to a hospital for treatment of her ongoing COVID symptoms; the death toll from this plague is horrific enough, but another aspect to this story that I think is completely under-reported is how much care those afflicted will need, probably for the rest of their lives (love to be wrong on that)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 3/6/20 (just going around the block this time, as it were) with Dr. Irvin Redlener of Columbia University speaking about the level of incompetence coming from the Trump regime on the Covid-19 outbreak (I would say that Redlener was prescient with his 12-18 month forecast...just a note that videos from MSNBC’s web site auto play into each other...probably should have pointed that out awhile ago I know)...



...and this “Now This” clip tells us about the NAACP using a precedent related to the Ku Klux Klan to sue Generalissimo Trump over the 1/6 insurrection (and in a related story, I give you this)...



...and Sam and Emma of “The Majority Report” tell us about the Idaho state rep (some fool name Charlie Shepherd – and do I really need to identify the political party?) who spoke out against a $6 mil US gov’t grant to expand child care, presumably because mothers don't need the help (???)...we do so love our kids, don’t we...



...and David Doel tells us about the 7 Dem U.S. Senators (and one independent, Angus King of Maine) who voted down the $15 federal minimum wage proposal; I think some of them are flat-out opposed, like Carper and Coons (the big banks in DE tell them to jump, and they ask how high), but I also think some were looking for cover over this “ruling from the parliamentarian” BS...one of them, Maggie Hassan, is up in 2022 and is ALREADY asking me for $$$...she won’t get one dime from me now because of this...whether they’re opposed on the merits or over the parliamentarian thing doesn’t matter to me because the net effect is the same...and yeah, we know what a traitorous tool Josh Hawley is, but it needs to be pointed out again...and great TYT reporting on Manchin’s business interests...and as far as Sinema is concerned, this speaks for itself (I want to know who’s going to primary her so I can make a donation); if Dems don’t deliver on this, they can kiss their newly-won Senate majority goodbye (though I also think that David Sirota’s idea to “burn down the whole thing” is nuts too; I know that thinking is what “centrist” Dems count on, which makes them even more vile to me as far as I’m concerned...probably a lot more to say about this for another time)...



...and I’m looking for a way to ease into the weekend, and I think this tune will definitely help with that (hopefully for you too).

Thursday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us of the referral to the DOJ for “Puffy” Chao that basically was canned by the “justice” department of the Gropenfuhrer; the segment also pointed out that, basically, Chao wanted U.S. Embassy personnel in China to host Chao’s family for work she was apparently trying to funnel to them, which of course is INCREDIBLY illegal (whenever you elect ANY Republican to high office...and why the hell would anybody even CONSIDER that after all this?...you’re going to end up with bottom-feeding characters like Mrs. McConnell...and she just LOVES to be called that, apparently...more here)...



...and speaking of hangers-on from 45's regime, this tells us more about Generalissimo Trump’s first doctor Ronny Jackson and stuff like being abusive to staff, drinking on the job, handing out pain meds all over the place, and more, all according to a Pentagon IG report (yep, looks like it all fits the proverbial profile)...



...and as long as we’re dwelling on Trumpian garbage, I think it’s important to present this from Brian Tyler Cohen, with President Biden pointing out how important it is to maintain COVID-related precautions (and as far as Biden’s “neanderthal” remark goes – which I think is completely apt – I give you this...maybe after those clowns Reeves and Abbott get their "fainting couches," they need to figure out how to help the residents of their respective states, including Reeves with cleaning up the water system for folks in the city of Jackson, as noted here)...



...but with all of the COVID-related stuff raging, legislation for relief trying to pass Congress as well as cleaning up our elections, along with wholesale calamities related to energy and the environment in not just Texas but Mississippi also as stated...with all of that going on, what is Fix Noise preoccupied with the most? Why, Dr. Seuss of course, as John and Jayar tell us here (and I guess you’d better not tell the Foxies about this)...



...and I think the prior clip is an appropriate lead-in to the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 3/4/11, in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that the U.S. is pretty much losing the information war on the world stage...if that was true 10 years ago, God only knows the state of things now (and to put a bit of an exclamation point on the prior video and this one, I give you this and this)...



...and as noted here, 55 years ago today, John Lennon made what was thought to be an obscure reference to a British journalist that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” and that would be the end of it...well, not exactly; once that remark made it to our shores, people lost their minds (I thought in “All You Need Is Cash” with The Rutles, the “Fab Four” sendup of course, they did a parody of that that was hilarious...I guess this tune fits for the occasion).

Wednesday Stuff

Chris Hayes spoke with Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about the testimony of FBI Director Chris Wray, with Whitehouse saying that Wray was...how shall we say this...less than forthright in his dealings with Whitehouse and other U.S. Senate Dems (here)...



...and sticking with the Wray testimony, I’m sure we can “appreciate the concern” of those traitors Mike Lee and, especially, Josh Hawley also (here)...



..and while we're looking at “the world’s greatest deliberative body” (please), Ana and Francesca of TYT tell us about Joe Manchin flipping out when he was asked about the filibuster – at this point, I just want Manchin to lose when he runs for re-election, and I just about don’t care any more if that means it becomes an R seat...I know that’s the wrong attitude, but I’m already beyond fed up with Manchin and Sinema...Manchin is at least a hard-nosed pol who knows how to play the game, though the way he does so is infuriating, but Sinema is just a clueless neophyte...



Update 3/5/21: When Sinema's primary challenger is announced, I'd like to know as soon as possible so I can make a contribution (here - if Schumer were any kind of a leader of the Dem caucus, he would zero out her entire budget for this).

...and John of “The Damage Report” tells us that Merck and J&J are teaming up on the COVID vaccine; yeah, obviously, Trump is blameworthy for basically not doing squat on this for four years, and it kind of makes me wonder a bit too about what kind of behind-the-scenes deal was struck here with Biden, though I emphasize that that's just supposition on my part...maybe Viviana Vigil is being a bit alarmist, but I have a feeling she’s right too...



...and yeah, it looks like, fresh off that state’s energy-related calamity, it looks like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just wants to kill more of the citizens of "the land of the yellow rose," as Farron Cousins tells us...



...and I was glad to see Philly music titans Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff get the NYT profile they richly deserved here - here is one of my favorite covers of one of Philly International's legendary tunes (from another Philly area notable & his former band).

Tuesday Stuff

Suffice it to say that the jury is still out, as it were, on President Biden (the fact that he’s not Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence earns him points for that alone), but I have to say that I can NEVER recall a president speaking out in favor of unions, which is pretty damn impressive; the last time I recall a chief executive saying anything about that was when The Sainted Ronnie R declared war on PATCO (Chris Hayes speaks with organizer Randy Hadley and Amazon employee Jennifer Bates - more here)...



...and this clip is a little behind the news cycle I know, but Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the Pentagon pulling the plug on the F-35, which, by the way, cost as much as student loan forgiveness (hmmm)...



...and Thom Hartmann brings us a truly scary history lesson about Hitler, the South pre-Civil War and the “big lie” about the 2020 election promoted at CPAC (and yes, there is a parallel to all of this stuff as far as I’m concerned, and I think, of the MANY under-reported or NOT reported aspects of the life of Generalissimo Trump, his legitimate infatuation with a certain Austrian postcard painter who went on to found The Third Reich is right up there with the catalog of insidious garbage accompanying out 45th *president)...



...and I’d like to offer this in solidarity with the Alabama Amazon workers (more apt for Labor Day I guess).

Monday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about a recent medical study examining what being a conservative does to your brain and the tendency to support authoritarians...make no mistake, though; I don’t want to see ONE DIME of my taxpayer money spent on helping these life forms – they made that choice...let them live with it (besides, would they show a shred of decency and compassion for lefties? I think Farron Cousins also had a recent related commentary) - and yeah, it looks like the network that gives them their marching orders in this country was at it again as noted here...



...and speaking of authoritarians, Kyle K. tells us that Liz Cheney compared Americans opposing what appears to be our “permanent war” footing any more to Nazi appeasers (she really should be careful when criticizing the "America First" movement because, though there is merit in that position, group membership cut across ideological boundaries, and she's giving de facto support to the Democratic administration of FDR)...in a way, this is good, because I was actually starting to feel a little sympathetic towards her since she supported impeaching Our Treasonous Tiny Handed Russian Operative of a former *president, but no more (NSFW) – and by the way, I would call that “pot, meet kettle” based on this...



...and it looks like the cops have so much dough that they can deploy a “robot dog,” or at least the NYPD can, as David Doel tells us...yes, this definitely is more ammunition for “defund the police,” and again, that’s a terrible slogan, but worse than that, doing ANYTHING against the police is ABSOLUTELY TOXIC for Dem candidates running in the suburbs...we can scream about that all day long, but believe me when I tell you that elderly conservative voters ARE NOT GOING TO BE MOVED...



...and John I. talks with Dr. Rashad Richey about lawyers working to reunite separated immigrant kids with their families; good work so far, but much more needs to be done of course (I was surprised to hear that anecdote about The Sainted Ronnie R...more here)...



...and this “Now This” clip features Yale law professor William Eskridge speaking out against his former students Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, both of whom voted against Merrick Garland by the way – actually, I think Hawley has voted no to ALL of Biden’s nominees (here)...



...and let’s “set the wayback, Sherman” (a dated boomer reference I know) to just about 50 years ago for this number – I know I included a tune from Chicago at Carnegie Hall a couple of weeks ago...here’s another one.

Sunday Stuff

(And doesn't this figure? Also, for what it's worth, I think the Andrew Cuomo stuff should be independently investigated.)

Aida R., Cenk and Jayar tell us about the Repugs and their “golden calf” at CPAC (imagine what would happen, again, if Dems pulled something like this? They’d be pilloried in the media forever, and it would be totally deserved)...



...and Sam and Emma of TMR tell us about the girl at CPAC telling everyone to mask up and getting booed of course – fine...breathe on each other and drop dead; I honestly don’t care what happens to you idiots any more as long as it doesn’t affect me or anybody I know...



...but wait a minute – didn’t Bill Hemmer of Fix Noise say that the libs want to “cancel Bible characters” or something? Well, what does it tell you that, based on the first clip, the wingnuts apparently want to “cancel” the first of the Ten Commandments (David Pakman explains - also a good explanation of how "news" and "opinion" overlap all over the place on that channel)...



...fortunately, The Lincoln Project has an answer for all of this...Qdroxychloroquine...



...and I don’t feature Beau of the Fifth Column nearly as much as I should, but he reminds us here that the COVID relief bill just passed the U.S. House with 0 Republican votes – not surprising I know, but still utterly appalling...



...and John and Brett Erlich tell us about the U.S. Senate BS with the parliamentarian not allowing legislation about a $15 federal minimum wage into the COVID relief bill, though it’s true that apparently you can’t overrule this person if you don’t have 50 votes - to complain, click here and here...I honestly don’t recall Repugs caring a whit about this stuff when they called the shots...



...and even though he’s been president for barely a few weeks, it looks like Joe Biden is honoring another presidential tradition by bombing a Middle Eastern country, though, unlike our Former Orange Pestilence, I’m willing to trust 46’s judgment a little more here, though I know that doesn’t automatically absolve him (and I don’t like giving Mohammed Bone Saw a pass on Jamal Khashoggi either, but again, that didn’t happen on his watch)...Chris Hayes, though, is fundamentally right in saying that we need to end the AUMF and get the hell out of these places...



...and it looks like some California hipsters got together and made not too bad of a newer tune - hope you like it also.