Saturday Stuff

OK, so let me get this straight – Joe Manchin apparently took as a lesson from the 1/6 insurrection that we need to work more with those poor, misunderstood wingnut Trumpers who tried to install Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Dictator for another term (and who managed to get people killed, including Ofc. Brian Sicknick, as well as scores injured), instead of, y’know, quite rightly vilifying these life forms in the manner they deserve. WHAAAA????

Cenk says that’s just cover for Manchin sucking up to his donors and looking out for his own interests, and I think Cenk is right (with Ana in the TYT clip below...I think Cenk’s outrage is commendable, but I can easily see Manchin going over to the “R” side if he gets his shorts in enough of a knot, handing the Senate back to Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, which makes Manchin even more disgusting of course)...

via GIPHY

...and turning to the other half of that utterly useless Dem U.S. Senate duo, Kyrsten Sinema acknowledged that "the world's greatest deliberative body" is broken, but has now officially gone on record saying that she won’t do anything about it...figures (Farron Cousins explains)...



...and when it comes to media prognostications that very definitely didn’t age well, John and Dr. Rashad Richey of “The Damage Report” tell us that Fix Noise managed to summon forth the fossilized remains of Brit Hume in April ’20 so he could basically say that COVID-19 wasn’t going to be a big deal...as usual, wrongness is a badge of honor for media punditry, where there is almost no accountability (and on the subject of our ongoing plague, I swear, considering this story, we may get to the point where we'll need ID cards from every state, with people from some states not being allowed to enter others where a higher risk of infection is feared)...



...and speaking of our ongoing plague, Kyle tells us here about a rule that apparently Combover Caligula put into place allowing Big Pharma to charge whatever it wanted for a COVID vaccine (and I’ll admit Biden should get on this, but I think there’s only so much the guy can do given that he’s been on the job for only about 2 ½ months...I think Kyle is referring to this, by the way)...



Update 4/14/21: And when it comes to making the COVID vaccine prohibitively expensive, let’s not forget this person by the way.

...and Chris Hayes tells us about the differences between voting in Georgia, land of Jim Crow 2.0, and Colorado, which now will host the MLB All-Star Game and has, commendably, actually entered the 21st century in that department...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us how Matt Gaetz was apparently involved in a “fake candidate” scheme run by Florida Repugs (makes me recall when that was tried up here with a guy named Jay Russell who ended up in the Bucks County Commissioners contest that included Steve Santarsiero, as noted here)...



...and I really don’t have much to say in response to the news of the death of Prince Philip in Great Britain, but I would only add that we should look at the full context of his life of patriotic service and not just some alleged recent quotes about the skin color of Meghan Markle’s baby (a BBC tribute follows)...



...and on about this day in 1976, Frampton Comes Alive! made it to #1, on the Billboard chart I believe, including this tune.

Friday Stuff

Robert Reich tells us how corporations tilt the metaphorical scales against the working class in this country (tax advantages in their favor, union membership declining especially in the private sector, crappy trade deals, ignoring infrastructure...yep, the usual laundry list of offenses I know, but it bears repeating)...



...and while we're on the subject, it looks like the vote to unionize Amazon workers in Alabama has failed unfortunately (here), but David Doel tells us how Jeff Bezos and his pals rigged the election against the employees, who hopefully can get a do-over, but we'll see...



...and sticking with the theme of why we should feel sorry for those poor, put-upon corporations (removing my tongue from my cheek), Ana and Francesca of TYT tell us about Neil Cavuto clutching pearls, if you will, over the portrayal of the CEO in the flick Godzilla v. Kong...love the snark...



...and speaking of corporations once more, Rachel Maddow tells us about their influence in getting Congress to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in 2006 before it was gutted by the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR 7 years later (once more with the quote from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao telling corporations to “stay out of politics”)...



...and thanks once again to the U.S. Senate parliamentarian, the Dems can pass an infrastructure bill with zero Republican votes as Thom Hartmann tells us, even though I’m sure Manchin and/or Sinema will idiotically find a way to try and prevent it...



...and with all of this and the ruinous reign of Mango Mussolini and the January 6th insurrection, it looks like the number of voters who identify as Republicans has taken a nosedive, which is a terrific opportunity for Dems; hopefully they’ll know how to capitalize on it, but we’ll see...



...and I don’t suppose I can ignore any longer yet another attempt at conservative comedy; this time it’s the show “Gutfeld!” brought to us by Fix Noise of course, with commentary from The Majority Report (and yeah, Brian Williams sure blew it with the helicopter thing, but for the record, he actually apologized, and as noted, that’s years-old anyway; I think they had the opportunity to actually mine something somewhat amusing from that, but of course they blew it, and apparently the show has gotten progressively worse over succeeding nights...mildly NSFW)...



...in response (concerning actual humor for real), I should note that today is the 93rd birthday (God bless him) of the funniest math professor of all time...we can always use a laugh.

Wednesday Stuff

(I guess, to be precise, the cartoon should show a Texas Rangers jersey, but the Yankees jersey for historical accuracy of the reference is correct of course.)

John and Aida of The Damage Report tell us about baseball fans in “the Lone Star state” showing their love of the national pastime, to the likely detriment of their own health of course, as well as that of friends and family members...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about the latest nonsense with the NRA trying to declare bankruptcy so they can re-incorporate from New York to Texas (speaking once more of “the national laboratory for bad government,” as The Eternal Molly Ivins once referred to her home state) in response to the lawsuit from NY AG Letitia James, with stuff coming to light such as Wayne LaPierre being afraid of those allegedly mean Sandy Hook moms who lost their kids to gun slaughter to the point where he had to hide on a 108-foot yacht...



...and this “Now This” clip tells us of businesses speaking out against Georgia’s restrictive anti-voting law...oh, and so NOW Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao wants businesses to “stay out of politics”? Does that mean all that sweet “dark money” that the Repugs count on every election cycle too? And no, I realize it doesn’t, but I have to ask the question anyway...



...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line, Ana and Ryan Grim tell us about Matt Gaetz opposing a revenge porn bill when Gaetz was in the Florida statehouse (and no, I don’t think any of this will hurt Gaetz in the panhandle either, unfortunately)...



...and as long as we’re in the Sunshine State, I give you Farron Cousins telling us about a study indicating that Republican-controlled states are worse for democracy than Democratic-controlled states...



...and happy 70th birthday to Janis Ian.

Tuesday Stuff

This Now This clip tells us about the “party of Lincoln” making it harder to vote but easier to get guns – surprised? And I don’t know what the hell that idiot Thomas Massie was saying at the end, and somehow I don’t think he does either.

It’s about taking away the damn AR-15’s, which overwhelmingly (but not totally) is the weapon of choice used by those intent on committing mass slaughter (how many goddamn times are we supposed to say that?). And I realize you can’t arbitrarily confiscate people’s property without cause, but we can institute a national buy-back program to try and keep us all safer (“If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring...”)...



...and turning to our former ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes, Rachel Maddow tells us about Combover Caligula sponging off people (some of whom were apparently dying, to add another level of sickening behavior) by using these auto-deduct checkboxes on online forms that were apparently hidden in plain sight of the donor somehow (kind of a weird edit at the end)...



...and Mehdi Hasan discusses the mainstreaming, if you will, of Stephen Miller as some alleged “thought leader” or something on immigration; Miller is nothing but a sick, twisted sadist, and for him to be treated as anything but that is monumentally insulting...



...and FL Repug Guv Ron #DeathSantis is apparently trying to imitate Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence with this new grift involving Publix stores and the COVID vaccine, as Ana and Francesca discuss...



...and with the theme of cruel, stupid Republican obstruction in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/7/09, in which we learn that not a single U.S. congressional member of the “loyal opposition” voted in favor of former President Obama’s first budget (had this in mind a bit after that item on John Boehner yesterday)...



...and David Doel tells us that Arkansas was about to become the first state to block health care for transgender youth, with more on the way apparently (God almighty), but fortunately Repug Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the bill (the fact that these bills exist at all is nauseating as far as I’m concerned)...



Update 4/7/21: Assholes.

...and I saw a blip or two on Twitter that Charles Barkley said something of a political nature, and I actually agree with a good bit of it (re, the people who want to divide us as a nation), and I also agree with Kyle’s clarification...I thought Barkley was about ¾’s of the way towards making a terrific point (as Kyle says, it’s not by any means equal between the “R” and “D” teams, but the latter is guilty of it too to a degree) – I remember when Barkley was a player here and he spoke his mind, and sometimes he put his foot in it, but usually he was right as he is once again here...



...and it looks like I’m overdue again for a new tune, and I hope this will suffice.

Monday Stuff

Kudos to Mehdi Hasan for setting the record straight on some attempted revisionist history from “Man Tan” Boehner over the latter’s role in fomenting the rebellion against the Obama Administration (timed for release of his book of course); I also thought Boehner has gotten a pass for far too long over his role in the ruinous “sequester”...



...and on the subject of Major League Baseball making the commendable decision to pull the All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia’s ridiculous new voting laws, Beau of the Fifth Column reminds us of how the “party of Lincoln” uses bigotry to motivate its beloved base...



...and John and Brett of The Damage Report tell us about some of the typical perception nonsense from the usual suspects, as it were, over Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill (and yeah, once more, the Dems start out with a low bid before the negotiations even begin)...



...and as long as we’re talking about the “I” word, I give you this from Emma V., Matt and the “Majority Report” crew over Repug S.D. Guv Kristi (Unsafe At Any Speed) Noem and her quote about not being able to support Biden’s infrastructure bill “because it goes into pipes” – just say “oops” and get out (and she’s supposed to be some kind of an up-and-comer in this bunch of charlatans and idiots)...



...and Farron Cousins reminds us that Dr. Deborah Birx has been saying that Mango Mussolini censored her when it came to discussing the COVID pandemic with the media...well then, she should have resigned in response, right?...



...and maybe you can consider this a gesture of support for MLB on its decision to remove the All-Star Game from the peach state, even though I really never need much of a reason to hear the Allman Brothers, especially during their ‘70s heyday.

Happy Easter 2021

I hope you all you all have a happy and blessed Easter. If you don't observe anything, may you have a happy and blessed long weekend (and sorry I forgot to wish everyone who observes it a Happy Passover - hope it was enjoyable.)