Friday Stuff

Like you I’m sure, I’ve heard of outlier cases of people getting very sick from the COVID vaccine, but those are most definitely exceptions; there’s some humor in this clip which is definitely called for IMO, but the underlying message couldn’t be more serious (and yes, for the record, I had both Moderna shots...had some chills and fatigue and a low-grade temp briefly after the second one and arm soreness after each shot, but they both passed)...



...and there’s nothing amusing whatsoever about that garbage human being Andy Biggs and his role in the 1/6 insurrection...



...and some of our lower life forms from the “R” party and their media acolytes have decided that they can’t exploit the situation at our southwest border any more, presumably because the Biden Administration is doing its best to turn around that calamity, but of course far be it for these contemptible frauds serving in Congress to give the “D” team any credit for it, as Chris Hayes tells us (didn’t see the interview with Alejandro Mayorkas)...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us more on Repugs taking credit for stuff they opposed in the American Rescue Plan...I know I’ve included videos on this subject before, and I plan to keep doing that lest people forget about this...



Update 5/9/21: More here.

...and of course, since we’re the greatest country in the world (or at least we like to think that), it seems that South Carolina will now use execution by firing squad to murder people, joining 3 other states who also use that means of extermination (Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us more – cannot help but recall the case of Troy Anthony Davis as I watch this clip...7 of 9 witnesses at his trial recanted, but Georgia took his life anyway)...



...and Sam and Emma V. of The Majority Report tell us that, apparently, Austin, TX wants to criminalize homelessness...I thought that city was a little more progressive – shows what I know I guess; it looks like we’re just going to round up more people ultimately for the private prison/industrial complex when they can’t pay the fines...I’d like to know more about the “dark money” behind the advertising on this initiative – we’re either going to get serious about this problem and figure out how and where we’re going to house these people and help the ones we CAN help or we’re going to round up and incarcerate them, which may lead to more COVID deaths also, which will also likely keep us from getting to herd immunity...I think The Rude One is spot-on again here, and as noted here (first bullet), after the 2010 midterms (won by Republicans), Matt Mackowiak gloated “isn’t it funny how the losers (Dems) always want bipartisanship?”

Yeah, it’s really freaking hilarious, you insufferable meat sack...



...and as I probably mentioned earlier, I knew absolutely nothing about any of the Academy Award nominees, but Thom Hartmann tells us a little more about “Nomadland” and how that reflects on this country (e.g., The Grapes of Wrath for our era...Thom mentions taxing Social Security benefits under Reagan and wonders why there’s no help for people if the proverbial bottom falls out – good point...kind of ties into the prior clip about Austin and housing)...



...and I thought this was a nice tune that’s a bit quieter than usual to mellow out the end of the week a bit.

Thursday Stuff

Leave it to Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise to (apparently) invent some kind of new game show called “Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?,” so of course the Fix Noise sycophant automatically disqualified himself, as Brian Tyler Cohen explains; good thing the call was all remote, or I’m sure Kilmeade would have tried to steal the kid’s lunch money for complimenting President Biden...



...and speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, apparently staffers are trying to get the Murdochs to fire the Swanson TV Dinner Heir, which will NEVER happen for the reasons Farron Cousins explains (to do something about this, click here)...



...and (sticking with our beloved corporate media), as David Doel explains, Jake Tapper has apparently recently discovered that Repug lawmakers are liars...uh, yeah – and by the way, I’m fed up with these arguments about how we supposedly need a strong Republican Party...I have NEVER IN MY LIFE heard ANYBODY say, “Oh, we need a strong Democratic Party” when REPUBLICANS were totally in charge and running the table with their insane tax cuts and putting the cost of two wars under Bushco essentially on a credit card with the price tag to be paid by future generations, to say nothing of letting the housing/cheap credit bubble expand until it burst and nearly wrecked the global economy...I GUARANTEE YOU that, about a year or so from now, the airwaves are going to be FILLED with garbage “issue” ads to try and favor Republicans along with fawning media coverage of the same, so save your crocodile tears for the “party of Lincoln,” OK?...



...and I probably should have said something about this much earlier, but at least I’m getting to it now; Rachel Maddow talks about the soft sentence for a Trump illegal voter in Delco vs. Crystal Mason in TX (she voted illegally but apparently was unaware that she broke the law, and I believe her)...and good job by John Fetterman to keep after that lickspittle Dan Patrick in Texas over “voter fraud” for real (also, there is this)...



...and yeah, I think this is pretty damn funny; it looks like Combover Caligula just announced his brand-spanking-new “platform,” which apparently is pretty close to something like you’re reading at this very moment, with a “Contribute” link of course (David Pakman tells us more – unfortunately, though, I have to disagree with Pakman when it comes to the right and their presence online – from what I can determine, they're kicking the asses of “team D” when it comes to social media engagement)...



...and Happy Nurse’s Day (starting Nurse’s Week – the title of this song isn’t 100 percent accurate, but it’s close).

Wednesday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about Repug lawmakers in Missouri basically saying “FU” to their constituents on Medicaid expansion (pretty damn arrogant indeed, even for a Republican; I’d forgotten that anecdote about Claire McCaskill and a minimum hourly wage in her U.S. Senate election, but yeah, it’s pretty unbelievable)...



...and Rachel Maddow tells us of FL Guv Ron #DeathSantis (speaking of stoo-pid Republicans) getting ready to sign another awful voting bill in FL which, apparently, will hurt Repug voters too – womp womp (Maddow speaks with reporter Amy Gardner of the WaPo)...



Update 5/6/21: Yeah, this figures.

...and Farron Cousins tells us more on the Repugs who took credit for this restaurant revitalization fund (or whatever it’s officially called) in the American Rescue Plan even though they voted against it (a follow-up to the earlier Maddow clip featuring Elise Stefanik)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 5/5/11, in which Minnesota state Rep Steve Simon criticized a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in his state (backgrounder is here...something to think about particularly with all of the garbage anti-trans bills out there as noted here)...



...and based on this Lincoln Project ad, it looks like it’s Mango Mussolini vs. Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao competing for the coveted title of “king of the swamp”...pass the popcorn (and speaking of that death-eater from Kentucky, I give you this)...



...and John and Francesca talk about those Newsmax idiots criticizing President Biden for giving Dr. Jill a dandelion...and yes, I’m serious (I know there’s an effort out there to #UnfoxMyCableBox, but I think we should have the same thing for these clowns as well as OANN)...



...and happy upcoming 90th birthday to the one and only Willie Mays (clip is of Mays’ legendary catch in the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz)...



...and RIP noted recording engineer Al Schmidt, who worked with a few different artists, including the Jefferson Airplane on their sessions for what turned into “After Bathing At Baxter’s,” including this number.

Tuesday Stuff (updates)

I think it’s safe to say that Jim Acosta of CNN has had enough (NSFW/H, but for a good reason)...



...and as a follow-up, this may be Joy Reid’s finest moment, going after The Swanson TV Dinner Heir – sweet! (makes up for the Bernie Sanders body language expert)...



...and sticking with the Roger Ailes conservative propaganda channel, John and Jayar tell us about “Fix and Fiends” getting all bent out of shape about “free” college (yeah, we’re already paying our tax dollars, so just allocate it for public colleges a little more fairly instead of doling out still more tax cuts and stock buybacks for people who don’t need it, as Jayar points out)...



...and I know I’m a little late on some stuff in this post including this item; Repug state rep Ray Garofalo of Louisiana mentions the “good part” of slavery – he would have been better off if he’d said, “yeah, there was a financial benefit to slavery for the slave owners, even though the practice was utterly disgusting and reprehensible for so many reasons”...I’m not sure Garofalo honestly meant for his remark to be as stoo-pid as it was since he backtracked immediately, but I guess that’s because he was called on it right away...I just think it’s ridiculous for legislators of ANY political party to be wasting their time holding hearings or discussing content in history books, mainly since the people taking offense are doing so because they want THEIR version of history recorded for the record as opposed to anyone else’s (yeah...what’s really going on here is that some good ol’ boys are butt hurt over “critical race theory”...and of course, since FL Guv Ron #DeathSantis is trying to be Trump 2.0, he’s involved in this idiotic discussion too – more here)...



Update 1 5/4/21: God almighty, what’s next? A “both sides” opinion commentary on lynching (here)??!!

Update 2 5/4/21: Still digging that hole I see (here).

Update 5/6/21: I think this is what happens when we neglect civics and social studies in our schools.

Update 5/7/21: I'm starting to wonder if these updates will ever end (here).

...and David Doel tells us about a Miami private school that is banning vaccinated teachers, which is part of the reason why we apparently aren’t going to get to “herd immunity” as noted here (mildly NSFW/H also)...



...in addition, I think David Shuster is doing a really good job with these “Rebel HQ” videos, this one having to do with the death of insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, and of course Babbitt’s family are suing Capitol police for $10 mil in response (obligatory eye-roll)...



...and speaking of those who have departed us, RIP Olympia Dukakis (great dinner scene in Moonstruck with the also-departed John Mahoney)...



...and speaking of milestones, since it’s May 4th, we cannot ever forget this.



And speaking of The TV Network Where Truth And Reality Goes To Die (as noted at the top of this post), I’ll bet you didn’t know that its founder may have had an indirect contribution to what happened at Kent State. Well, you can argue that he did, as Gabriel Sherman does in The Loudest Voice In The Room, pgs. 69-70:

(From Ailes’ days as a political consultant):

In the spring of 1970, Ailes was in the middle of another contentious GOP primary race for an open Senate seat in Ohio, one that would have spillover effects for (the Richard Nixon presidency) and the country. Ailes was advising the Ohio congressman Robert Taft Jr. against the “law and order” candidate, Governor James Rhodes, who had been considered as a possible Nixon running mate in 1968. The race was pushing Rhodes even further to the right.

When Taft debated Rhodes in Akron in late April, Ailes walked onstage thirty seconds before airtime and handed Taft a note with one word written on it: “Kill.”

“Rhodes got shook up,” Ailes bragged afterward to a Boston Globe reporter. “I gave Taft the note, partly facetious, partly for a laugh – just to try to get Bob to be a little tougher in his answers.”

The gambit worked: the Toledo Blade noted that “the usually placid Mr. Taft accused the governor of lying about his record and told him he should be ashamed of himself.” A few days after the debate, Rhodes flew to Kent State University, which was engulfed in student unrest. At a press conference on the morning of May 3rd, Rhodes lashed into protestors who had burned the ROTC building the previous night and declaimed that the demonstrators were “worst than the Brown Shirts and the Communist element.”

Rhodes’s inflammatory speech intensified the conflict at Kent. In the chaos, National Guardsmen fired into a group of marchers. The volley of more than 60 shots in 13 seconds left four dead and nine wounded. Kent State, (Nixon Chief of Staff) Bob Haldeman later wrote in his book The Ends of Power, “marked a turning point for Nixon, a beginning of his downward slide towards Watergate.”

What’s past is prologue, isn’t it?

Monday Stuff

Joy Reid tells us more about the “cyber ninja” guy trying to conduct a recount of votes in Arizona from the 2020 election; I can’t think of a word to describe how pathetic it is that this is still going on and hasn’t been stopped yet (Reid didn’t mention in the clip, by the way, that the use of ultraviolet lights in the procedure is likely to damage ballots, as noted here...and I never expected to give Cindy McCain credit for anything, but she deserves it for this)...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses how Charles Koch and his greed head pals are trying to get that Article V convention going to rewrite the Constitution...truly a BFD (referencing Paul Krugman - more here)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us how no Repug clapped (including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) when Biden talked about replacing lead pipes in his recent address to Congress (and I agree with a lot of what Cenk and Ana say about the Democrats not having the killer instinct, in particular, on clean water? Are you freaking kidding me??!!), but to be fair, Biden told the “R” party to “put up or shut up” when complaining about how Biden wanted to pay for his infrastructure plan, and this is the laughable alternative they came up with (and good job by Cenk to provide the important context on Solyndra – and I think Ana is being a little tough on Laura Italiano of the Murdoch NY Post rag because Italiano admitted that she did wrong, but I’m not going to go nuts over it...)...



...and in keeping with the theme of timid Dems, Rachel Maddow discusses Republicans taking credit for the American Rescue Plan even though they voted against it, including this guy (voting against it I mean); this clip actually started with Greg Pence and runs for almost 10 minutes, but for some reason MSNBC hacked the crap out of it...didn’t want to offend their Comcast overlords I’m sure (a running list of these characters should be available on the DNC web site, in big, bold type, but of course we’re stuck with the Dems we have who are too busy trying to get everybody to sing “kumbaya” and beg for $$ while not daring offend the other side I guess, though apparently Nancy Pelosi has used “Voted No, Took the Dough” in some tweets, so I suppose that counts as progress)...



...and John I. and Brett Erlich tell us how Matt Gaetz is sinking; couldn’t happen to a more deserving POS (Gaetz’s pal Joel Greenberg said the 2 of them paid for sex multiple times, including with an underage girl...womp womp, and yes I know that’s a serious issue...great snarky comment by Brett to lead off...an update is here)...



...and happy upcoming 55th birthday to Anders Osborne (the title of this song is a question I ask myself every single day).

Sunday Stuff

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, who, as we know, was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks (here and here...I hope this day is recalled by most of us with credit given to those responsible, most notably Seal Team 6, though that also includes former President Obama and his team, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates...I'm pretty sure I said once that I would never include a pic of bin Laden here until after he was dead, so I'm just keeping with my word)...



...and on the subject of extremism, I thought this was a particularly good new ad from Meidas Touch...



...and this clip of Rachel Maddow speaking with historian Michael Beschloss compares President Biden to LBJ a bit in the sense that they were moderates as senators, though they’ve ended up pursuing more progressive and socially conscious policy goals, to their credit...



...and this song was #1 on the pop charts 60 years ago today.