Last Thursday marked the 110th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (shop shown in pic), which took the lives of 146 people and led to labor reforms including the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (John and Wosny Lambre draw a parallel between this and the fight for unionization of Amazon workers)...
...and Kyle K., echoing Wosny Lambre a bit, tells us why the Repugs have no ideas – I think this is a startlingly spot-on commentary for the most part, though I also think he dumps on the ARP in kind of a dumb way...yeah, it could ALWAYS be better, but look at the merits of it more seriously please...and I seem to recall Dems pushing back on the Dr. Seuss/Mr. Potato Head nonsense, contrary to Kyle’s claims (NSFW)...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us about some of the debate on the DC statehood push (yeah, no mines and car dealerships, huh, and that latter part isn’t even true as it turns out – God, the stoo-pidity)...
...and I'm looking for something a little mellow for the weekend (and I guess with the ILGWU in mind) - hope this will suffice.
Chris Hayes tells us about Georgia’s ridiculous new laws to curtail voting in that state, along with State Rep Park Cannon getting assaulted and carried off when she tried to witness the signing of the bill by that state’s illegitimate Governor Brian Kemp (here) – there should be all kinds of stuff in response, including destroying the U.S. Senate filibuster and passing the “For The People” act to overrule this...I also saw Charlie Pierce I believe make the excellent suggestion that Major League Baseball should move this year’s All Star Game from Atlanta - good call...
...and sticking with voting, I thought Beau of the Fifth Column was spot-on again here, on the subject of Dominion and their defamation lawsuit against Fix Noise for $1.6 billion (he may be right about more people getting sued at The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...
...and in keeping with the theme of Republican election nonsense, Rachel Maddow tells us about Aaron Van Langevelde in Michigan, the Republican vice chair of the that state’s Board of Canvassers, who sided with the rule of law in counting the votes in the ’20 election between Biden and Trump (yeah, he had to do what he did or he could have been sued also, but he gets kudos for standing up against what I’m sure was a tidal wave of BS from the Trumpsters not to certify the results)...
...and returning to the theme of the latest gun carnage, Joy Reid speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep (and U.S. Army vet of the 82nd Airborne) Jason Crow...and again, we’re returning to the theme of blowing up the filibuster, which desperately needs to happen...
...and related to the prior clip, this Now This video tells us of all of our U.S. Senators and U.S. House members bankrolled by the NRA...
...and speaking of pointless cruelty, Farron Cousins tells us about our “good friends” the Saudis bombing the crap out of Yemen, with a quarter of the casualties being children (15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers...)...
...and in an effort to be a bit hopeful here, I present this Meidas Touch clip on Attorney General Merrick Garland; yeah, wouldn’t it be ironic if Garland ended up making a bigger impact in this job than he would have as a Supreme Court justice, a role he was cheated out of by Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao?...
...and since what’s old is new again given the voting garbage going on in Georgia (and with the pic at the top of this post in mind), I present this tune from back in the day.
In response to that thoroughly execrable POS #CancunCruz here, I present the following video of actual grieving human beings from our most recent gun carnage in Boulder, CO (“We have to be loud, not silent.” Indeed...and oh yeah, there's this too)...
...and sticking with Repug U.S. Senatorial asshats, David Pakman tells us that John N. Kennedy is concerned about “idiot control” instead of gun control (maybe he should start with himself)...
...and in response to Cruz and Kennedy, I present this clip of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger (who was hardly a lib, it should be noted) talking about, in essence, the utter fraud of the misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment (and Burger mentions cars too)...
...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about all the moolah Cruela DeVos “earned” while taking up space as Trumpster Ed Secretary (pardon me while I puke)...
...and gee, did you know that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao said the filibuster wasn’t racist? Uh, suuure – “just say ‘oops’ and get out” (and c’est dommage on this too, Sen. McTurtle... and yeah, “What indeed are the Democrats going to do about the filibuster?” That is indeed the question, but I guess they’d better ask “President” Manchin)...
...and it looks like U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Y’all-Qaeda) used our currency as an attempted excuse to attack Georgia’s “souls to the polls” Sunday voting initiative, trying to claim some “holier than thou” high ground (and call me a filthy unkempt liberal blogger, but what the hell is she doing commenting on voting in Georgia? Oh, and isn’t the “sabbath” from dusk Friday to dusk Saturday and not Sunday anyway? David Shuster explains)...
...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line, kudos once again to Rachel Maddow for connecting the dots on Texas Repug Sen. John Cornyn’s opposition to Vanita Gupta at the DOJ – more here (God almighty, how much of an idiot do you have to be to vote for these characters like all of the Repug senators in this post? Maybe it’s just as well that I don’t know)...
...and given what just happened in CO, I have to tell you that I'm not done with my gun songs (particularly in light of this treasonous numbskull from that state), so here's another one.
It makes me mad that the entire “A” block of The Rachel Maddow Show from last night is apparently unavailable by itself – at least, I can’t find it (re, our wretched history of trying to get common sense gun laws passed – I found out that the latest lunatic alleged to commit mass gun slaughter in Boulder a few days ago was born the year of the Columbine massacre, which is truly a pitiable, disgusting symmetry as far as I’m concerned)...I say that with the following excerpt in mind because the entire nearly-half-hour segment was positively epic (lots of talk on social media on how Maddow quite rightly pilloried Joe Manchin...and I’m tired of this ridiculous garbage of, oh, we’d better make Manchin happy or else he’ll become a Repug and Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao will be back in charge again – how much longer is the majority of this country going to allow itself to be held hostage because about 30 or so percent of it, from largely but not completely southern and western rural states, is certifiably insane?)...
...and I know I already linked to this, but David Doel reminds us about that vile NRA tweet about overturning the Boulder ordinance banning AR-15s and limiting magazine sizes shortly before the latest gun carnage in that city (hey, where was the “good guy with a gun” while people were being shot to pieces? And no, I’m not trying to trivialize the loss of life in any way)...
...so, if we’re not talking about common sense gun reforms, what IS the “party of Lincoln” focusing on instead? Do you even need to ask? Sam and Emma on TMR tell us (In a weird way I guess, it’s almost refreshingly honest to hear Asa Hutchinson say that that ridiculous Arkansas anti-abortion law was written in such a way that it would be challenged to the point where it would be appealed to the SCOTUS...their end game here is to criminalize abortion in all forms, and also prosecute women and their physicians and health care providers if one is performed, as well as criminalizing birth control; as far as the “pro-life” wingnuts are concerned, they’re both the same thing...actually, Sam offers a pretty sound analysis at the end of how the SCOTUS “sets up the tea leaves,” if you will, to be read by future plaintiffs so they’ll know what cases to bring before the High Court to overturn whatever precedent they want)...
...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 3/24/11, in which the late, great Ed Schultz called out former U.S. House Speaker “Man Tan” Boehner on the latter’s alleged “focus on jobs, jobs, jobs,” when in reality (in typical Repug fashion), the majority party in the House at that time went after “values” B.S. related to abortion, Planned Parenthood, those scary Muslims, NPR, English only, “In God We Trust”...what a typical joke...
...and I would argue that the wingnut distraction machine is currently in overdrive on the situation Biden inherited on our southwest border, as reporter Brian Karem tells us (mildly NSFW/H)...
...with the Repugs yelling “OMIGOD THE SCARY BROWN PEOPLE ARE COMING TO RAPE AND KILL US!” partly because they don’t want people paying attention to the "For The People" Act, which is now in the U.S. Senate (and God only knows what will happen to that or ANY further legislation with the utterly wretched filibuster in place)...
...and gee, wasn’t Saint Ronnie Reagan once the hero of those nutsos at Fix Noise? You know, the “tear down this wall” guy? Oh, but now, Putin is the "man crush" for these methane dispensing bipeds, huh? Figures...
...and with all of the horrors in the news, I feel like I need a bit of a palate cleanser if you will, so I present the following in honor of the recent 90th birthday of Captain Kirk – glad he’s managed to “live long and prosper,” you might say :-).
I just don’t know what the hell else there is that's left to say at a certain point – an update from our most recent gun carnage, this time in Boulder, Colorado, is here...and to think we’ve been covering this same old tired, stupid ground on this for at least 12 years based on this (expired links and all), though much longer in actuality I know...and what great timing for this tweet...
Update 1: The NRA is absolutely the scum of the earth, but we knew that (here).
...so, given that they’re blowing off the gun crisis in this country, what are Repugs (and their corporate media acolytes) focusing on instead? Why, the situation at our southwest border that was allowed to deteriorate under Our Traitorous Orange Pustule instead (though of course Biden is getting blamed for that now...K.O. introduces some reality here)...
...and as part of the whole, “Don’t pay attention to 10 people killed and 21 injured in a Colorado mass shooting – look over there instead!” nonsense, the “party of Lincoln” is complaining about gas prices which (and everyone sing along at home with me) always go down in the fall and winter and always go up in the spring and summer, as David Shuster explains...
...oh, and in “the sunshine state,” they’re also trying to criminalize civil disobedience (what country am I living in again?)...
...and I guess this constitutes little more than a bad joke at this point, but I feel like pointing it out anyway – apparently, that syphilitic orange sack of trans fats that allegedly served as our 45th president is going to try and launch his own social media platform, as Farron Cousins tells us...
...and given the headline story, I offer the following without further comment.
It appears as if Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wants a “redo” on “I Like Beer” Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged FBI investigation (John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us more... I took what Jayar said at the end to mean that people would remember the theatrics of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, in particular with Huckleberry Graham, more than they would the actual facts and evidence, and unfortunately I think that’s correct)...
...and Sam and Emma tell us that Trumper Lee Zeldin got a little testy when asked whether or not Biden own the election last year...what a tool...just say the freaking words! (and of course, as noted, he was on this list)...
...and while I think there is something to be said about religious oppression contributing to the “incel” insanity, from institutionalized religion overall, at a certain point, it also comes down to individual choice...God knows the Catholic Church hasn’t budged for centuries on this subject, though it should, but I also don’t recall an “incel” movement over centuries either...sexual oppression isn’t a legitimate excuse IMHO to get a gun, go to some Atlanta massage parlors and kill 8 people (Thom Hartmann tells us more)...
...and I thought this was a good segment from Chris Hayes on the dustup in Tennessee over the bust of Confederate traitor and murderer Nathan Bedford Forest in the state capitol (Hayes speaks with state rep London Lamar...as usual, if the Repugs don’t like the outcome of the game, they want to pick up their ball and go home)...
...and speaking of games, David Doel tells us that Bobby Kotick of Activision Blizzard got a huge bonus after laying off a gang of employees (nice freaking guy – I’m definitely not a gamer, and I don’t intend to be especially after this...mildly NSFW)...
...in reality, though, I guess the title of this tune is emblematic of what I used to play at happy hour on Fridays many moons ago (that and Tetris of course...definitely assisted the experience to have a few belts before I popped my quarters, but please don't imitate this, I hasten to add).
