Sam, Emma and Matt of The Majority Report tell us about Laura Ingraham and this Jon Taffer person (who must be for bars what Gordon Ramsey is for kitchens, namely someone who enjoys terrorizing people) basically equating workers with dogs (oh, but they mean metaphorical hunger and not, y’know, actual hunger...yeah, right...very mildly NSFW/H)...
...and this Teahadist loon from Colorado named Randy Corporon (making multiple references to the “Democrat” Party of course) thinks Team D should apologize for slavery, even though I don’t hear the “party of Lincoln” apologizing for Voter ID or supporting Supreme Court justices who gutted the Voting Rights Act, so no, I’m not going to apologize for a damn thing (though maybe Corporon should apologize for some of this stuff)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us how Generalissimo Trump had to refund $13 mil he scammed from supporters (and apparently the RNC did something similar also...figures)...
...and I think this is an appropriate tune for a Saturday night, and I don’t think any further explanation is necessary, really.
David Doel discusses Pat Robertson whining over the budget reconciliation bill with funding for Medicare expansion, along with universal pre-K and child care...”imagine paying people for not being productive”...yeah, sure, something to keep in mind in light of the ridiculous income inequality noted here...I guess “productivity” is in the proverbial eye of the beholder (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and I wasn’t sure if I would ever say this, but I have a feeling Louie (Exploding Bird Guts) Gohmert has lost what’s left of his damn mind...yes, flaming birds from solar panels are going to “bring the nation down”...from a sitting member of the U.S. Congress (as noted here - more here).
Texas must be so proud...
...and I’m going to take a bit of a dramatic U-turn here and include this video of a lady recovering from COVID (h/t to Rachel Maddow on Twitter) – yet another reason to get the damn shot(s), mask up and do the social distancing thing again, people...
...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you this one which tells us about RoJo “making bank” on the pandemic...
...and turning now to Major League Baseball (for the second time this week)...this tells us about former Chicago Cub (and one-time Phillie) Jake Arrieta telling a reporter to take off his/her mask...and this is probably as close as I’ll get to sports radio (and Arrieta was released, partly because of the mask comment and partly because he sucks anymore, which happens to everybody eventually – I don’t totally blame him for basically stinking out the joint with the Phils b/c they were idiots to give him stupid $$ like they did...and BOY, do I get bored with the baseball statistical minutiae!)...
...and now turning to the only planet we have (despite some gazillionaires projecting themselves into outer space)...this tells us about the Line 3 pipeline protests in Minnesota I believe (with John I. and Benjamin Carollo)...
...and here’s yet another great Second Thought clip on dystopian fiction mirroring reality..
...and maybe this selection ties in a bit with the prior clip, but I’m putting it up here because of the calendar date (and I guess I should be boycotting any Clapton tunes, but that would eliminate a hell of a lot of good music).
As we’re reminded in this CBS This Morning clip (with an intro by Charlie Rose, before his own #MeToo moment), Heather Heyer was run down and killed by James Alex Fields 4 years ago today (more here)...
...and as usual, The Lincoln Project (and no, I haven’t forgotten who they are) doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to Republican governors who are culprits when it comes to COVID outbreaks...
And by the way, while we're on the subject of Repug governors and their COVID response (or lack thereof), let's not forget these people too...
Update 11/16/22: I keep trying to persuade stoo-pid voters not to cast their ballots for Republicans, but they keep doing it anyway, and stuf like this is the result.
...and on the subject of our regularly scheduled plague, Ari Melber adds a little more emphasis to the COVID clown show going on in FL with Guv #DeathSantis...
...and Ana and John of TYT tell us about those zany anti-vaxxing Brits who decided to protest the BBC, but showed up at the wrong building – womp womp...
...and Joy Reid decides to take some well-deserved shots at "Curtsy Kyrsten"...
...and the heat is particularly brutal today in these parts (should get relief by Saturday) – please stay hydrated and remember to look after kids, pets and elderly relatives, especially those with health conditions, and make sure they’re OK.
Jesse Dollemore sits in for David Pakman and gives The Swanson TV Dinner Heir what-for in light of Carlson’s speech in Hungary (he wants to live in a city full of bullet holes?? Really?? And “the American foreign policy establishment”? WTF is he talking about???)...
Oh, and we supposedly have “no idea how bad things can get”? Try checking out a COVID ward in any hospital, Tuckums (and the “greatest generation” that got through the Depression and WW II would like a word also when it comes to "how bad things can get")...
...and this Don Winslow film gives us more double-talk from Repug-simpatico media types on the vaccine when contrasted with “R” party politicians being dragged kicking and screaming into acknowledging reality...
...and Beau tells us about “Dr.” Rand Paul, who apparently didn’t “get the memo” from his Repug playmates on wearing masks (more here)...Beau reminds Paul of what “constitutionally protected speech” really means...
Update 8/12/21: OK, so in addition to being a liar, a propagandizing idiot and a fake doctor, he's also a crook (here) - got it.
...but now to turn to the big political news story over the last day or so, and that’s the long-overdue resignation of Dem Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York – and yeah, what Cuomo said in his announcement is ridiculous for the reasons noted here by David Doel (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and Medhi Hasan discusses Cuomo’s political downfall and contrasts what Team “D” does in response to this stuff (usually resignation) as opposed to Team “R” (practically nothing)...and yes, there was a time when I thought Cuomo might actually be a viable candidate for prez too – fortunately, we didn’t get to a point where this scandal would blow up in case Cuomo ended up being the standard bearer instead of Biden...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that a federal judge smacked Guv #DeathSantis of FL and let Norwegian Cruise Lines enforce vaccine passports (nice job by Cousins to link this to the wingnut baker who didn’t want to make a gay wedding cake as well as Citizens United)...
...and turning to sports, this happened 40 years ago yesterday – Pete Rose became the all-time National League leader in base hits, congratulated by former record holder Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals among others (apropos since the Phils were playing St. Louis)...yeah, I know Rose bet on games and he shouldn’t have, but lots of other players and officials have done worse as far as I’m concerned...I’ll admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Rose since the Phils would never have won the ’80 Series without him...
...and again, maybe I should be railing against "Slow Hand" for some of his anti-vax rhetoric, but I'm more disappointed than anything else and would rather choose to express my outrage over other stuff...with that in mind, though, kudos to Dr. Brian May for speaking out (here).
Brian Tyler Cohen gives us this clip of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana talking with CNN’s Dana Bash – I have lots of disagreements with Cassidy, but he’s pretty lucid here IMO, and I think this is about the best you’re going to get from the Repug on this issue (and of course, God forbid that Cassidy should give a straight answer and compliment Dem Gov. John Bel Edwards on the mask mandate)...
...and on the subject of our regularly scheduled plague, John and Francesca give a reality check on the latest blatherings from Baby Ben Shapiro (who apparently got a dose of reality inflicted upon him by Malcolm Nance on Real Time with Bill Maher...if I gave a crap about Maher any more, I’d bother to watch, but since I don’t...)...
...and for the reality perspective, Alicia Menendez of MSNBC speaks with moms Veronica McClane and Ashley Simmons on trying to get Arkansas to overturn its ban on a mask mandate; fortunately, a judge ruled in the mom’s favor (but of course, it shouldn’t have had to come to that, right?)...
...and Joy Reid definitely brings the snark on the anti-vaxxers – good for her (w/ Dr. Lipi Roy and former Repug U.S. House Rep David Jolly)...
...and I know I included the video form Chris Hayes last week on Jeffrey Clark, that disgusting life form who tried to overturn our democracy in favor of reinstalling Generalissimo Trump, but Farron Cousins gives us a follow up on Jeffrey Rosen refusing Trump and Clark’s attempts to overturn the Georgia election results – yeah, Rosen definitely isn’t a saint by any means, but it’s a little scary to realize how close they came to pulling it off (and I think The Rude One sums this up well here)...
...and speaking of white privilege, David Shuster brings us a couple of pretty wretched examples, and it shouldn’t be a surprise I guess that they’re from Texas and South Carolina...
...but to be a little fair to the Lone Star State (more than they deserve collectively), I should include this clip of Dem State Rep James Talarico, who managed to get a bill passed in that state capping the cost of insulin (shocking he was able to get bipartisan support, which you need in R-friendly states like his, and credit where it’s due to him for getting it)...
..and I realize that I’ve put up a few covers of this song, but I don’t think I’ve ever done that for the original, so here it is.
