Friday Stuff

John I. and Jackson White of The Damage Report give us their take on the SCOTUS “shadow” ruling to let that utterly horrible Texas abortion law stand...aside from the perpetrators themselves, there are so many other people to blame IMO for this, notably Susan Collins (who I’m sure is “disappointed” even though she trusted “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh to NOT rule the way he did, which of course was the act of an utter fool, and that goes for both of them), and Di Fi for team “D” in the Senate isn’t much better, trusting Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett who also was a perpetrator in this vile act, which really should have surprised exactly NOBODY...yeah I know Hillary Clinton wasn’t exactly the favorite person of a lot of people, including yours truly, but I voted for her because the choice was between her and a lying, narcissistic maniac, and she did warn everybody that the SCOTUS was on the ballot, particularly in ’16, and now look where we are...



...and keeping with “Cult 45,” don’t look now, but the outpatients in support of Combover Caligula are apparently trying for a do-over of their little 1/6 escapade, this time on 9/18 for some reason...people need to go to jail for a loooong time, and I don’t just mean the life forms who staged the attack, but anyone in our government who supported them in any way whatsoever...



...and speaking of the attempt to destroy our democracy last January, Farron Cousins tells us that fundraising groups for Our Orange Pestilence sent $4.3 mil to organizers of the 1/6 insurrection (and yeah, I think it’s interesting how bullet-necklace Katrina Pierson has apparently disappeared, given that her name has surfaced in this clip)...



...and Sam, Emma V. and the crew from The Majority Report tell us that the “chicken littles” are having a field day over the release of the latest Social Security Trustee Report (just get rid of the damn cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding, and yeah, the funding issue is pretty much solved – and yes, pearl-clutching over this and attempts to tighten the grip of austerity are pretty much what you can bank on from the “R” party and the usual corporate media suspects when Dems are in charge...interesting lead-in on this with Sam – pretty educational...video ends at about 10:00)...



...and the other half of the retirement entitlement that we pay into is Medicare of course, and Harry Reid speaks about why a dental plan should be included (I thought that was already covered – shows what I know...turns out the usual corporate criminals are fighting it...just another example of “American exceptionalism” I guess where our seniors have to gum their cat food because the alleged greatest country on earth somehow doesn’t have enough $$ to take care of the people who need it the most...U-S-A! U-S-A!...snark mode off)...



...and I just wanted to note the recent passing of NBC network newsman Lloyd Dobyns...there was a time when I, like many of you I’m sure, watched network newscasts before they were taken over by the dreaded “cables” and people like Dobyns, Linda Ellerbee, Ray Gandolf and others would present the news, discuss it and interpret it a bit in a manner befitting reasonable and thoughtful adults who just want to be informed on matters affecting their country and the world...Dobyns was part of that breed of newscaster, which is missed and sorely needed now...



...and I don’t know if I’m going to be posting over the weekend or not – this is really a seat-of-the-pants kind of operation, and I can’t guarantee a whole lot – but in case I don’t, I want to make sure that Beau got the last word with this great commentary where he responds to what sounds like a “keyboard commando” taking him to task over some recent commentary on Afghanistan, and Beau gives this character the treatment he deserves, with his restraint speaking volumes as opposed to the pointless bombast of the person who cranked out such a cowardly screed...



...and I absolutely have to get in a little bit of “Friday with Frank” here as we near the official end of summer (sniff)...but again, fall is great too, so let’s look forward to that also, OK?

Thursday Stuff

Sam, Emma, Matt and Nomiki Konst tell us about another loony PA Repug (in the wake of Steve Lynch yesterday) using air quotes for “pandemic” (some life form named Teddy Daniels..and I guess it shouldn’t surprise me to see The Swanson TV Dinner Heir saying that “the left” wants to kill people who don’t get vaccinated, but yeah, that breaks the stoo-pid meter yet again...and you KNOW Tucker is vaccinated, but of course he’s waaay too much of a coward to be honest about it)...



...and keeping with the theme of Repugs Behaving Badly (which covers a lot here, I know), David Doel tells us about Chloe Mrozak, who faked a COVID vaccination card for her Hawaii trip and was nabbed when she misspelled Moderna (subbing the “o” with an “a”)...womp womp...and I don’t think her potential punishment here is excessive; throw the metaphorical book at these people...



...and speaking of throwing the book at people, I think we’re long past the point of arresting members of the “party of Lincoln” for sedition, and as far as I’m concerned, Madison Cawthorn goes to the top of that sorry list with Greene, Boebert, Banks, Biggs, Gohmert, and others for this recent outburst (David Pakman tells us more)...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the latest wingnut lie related to our pullout at long last from Afghanistan, and that is the claim that we left behind $83 billion in military equipment (Beau had a great video a week or so ago with some context around the weapons we supposedly left behind that I put up here) – and here is another wingnut lie related to our departure from that war-torn country...



...and believe it or not, Our Pumpkin Pestilence of a former U.S. “president” actually got something right on the economy...



...and happy 70th birthday to Mik Kaminski of ELO.

Wednesday Stuff

Gee, I wonder how many of the wingnuts out there crowing about the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan are going to have a word to say in opposition to what the SCOTUS and “balls and strikes” Hangin’ Judge JR decided to NOT DO, namely, respect SCOTUS precedent and overturn Texas’s utterly ridiculous abortion ban...and again, the High Court took the utterly cowardly route of doing NOT A DAMN THING, which (as noted in this CNN clip) signals their intentions on Roe louder than anything else (more here and here)...



...and this Now This video tells us about right-wing nut job Steve Lynch, running for Northampton county executive (in Central Bucks County, PA, in these parts), yelling that he wants school board members to be forcibly removed over mask mandates in schools (more here)...



...and this TYT clip with Ana and Cenk tells us about the anti-masker in Santa Monica, CA threatening “civil war” over mask mandates (more here...yeah, I think Cenk is on to something with the link to failed comedians, which provides an opening to take some thoroughly deserved shots at that nematode Jimmy Dore)...



...and with the outrage of the prior clips in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 8/31/09, with “The Pap Attack” going after Lex Luthor Scott and Columbia HCA (I think that's who Mike Papantonio is referring to when he says Columbia HSC...and I would say that Pap was prescient here about employers getting health-related information about prospective hires for insurance coverage reasons...and I’d seriously like for somebody to find out who’s financing the anti-mask, anti-vax a-holes like the ones in the Lynch video and the life form in Santa Monica, CA...probably the same ones who financed the Teahadists when Scott was head of Columbia HCA)...



...and this Rebel HQ video with Alyssa Bernadino tells us about the destruction from Hurricane Ida in NOLA, about 16 years to the day of Katrina’s awful impact (and again, since we’re talking about poor people affected, cue the stories about looters...if Ida had hit in, say, Newport Beach, Rhode Island, the theme of the media coverage would be about people’s self-sufficiency instead...to help, click here)...



Update 9/3/21: On the subject of climate, I can't think of a pit in hell deep enough for Bill Hemmer of Fix Noise for this (and Prof. Krugman nails it again here - behind the pay wall; sorry).

...and Farron Cousins tells us about that shrieking harpie Maria Bartiromo yelling at Kevin McCarthy to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of Biden (umm, the 25th Amendment has to be invoked by the VP and the cabinet, and the Senate later if it gets that far, which, as Cousins notes, won’t happen with the Dems in charge of everything except the SCOTUS as previously noted)...



...and Robert Reich runs the numbers a bit on the scam of billionaire philanthropy (and yes, that’s pretty much what it is for the reasons Reich points out)...



...and even though the rain is pouring down in these parts, I think this tune still applies as we wind down this time of year...the fall can still be pretty cool of course, so let's not get too down about it, OK?

Tuesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow presents this history lesson of the countries that have tried and failed to impose their will in Afghanistan, and of course now you can add the U.S. to that list (when it aired last night, this segment contained an NBC News clip from ’89 when Russia departed, but that clip is missing here)...



...and we’ve seen plenty of “war heads” prattling on about the U.S. departure from Afghanistan at long last (including Richard Engel, who I honestly thought was better than this), but I haven’t seen much of Dem U.S. House Rep Barbara Lee of California, the ONE PERSON who was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ALL ALONG...here is a reminder of just how well she “nailed it” way back when (and onevoicepac.og is kaput, by the way)...



...and if you really want a gut-punch over this issue, this Second Thought video gives us an idea of how we should have spent the $$$ in Afghanistan (might be the most controversial video he’s produced with a lot of tough stuff, but I can’t help but think he’s fundamentally right)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us this clip of Jake Tapper speaking with Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut on why exactly we needed to get the hell out (and if Tapper had taken his question a little further about regimes with human rights abuses and mentioned Saudi Arabia as one of those culprits, I would have been pretty damn shocked, but I know he has his orders, you might say)...



...and returning to this country, David Pakman tells us about Ty Garbin, one of the life forms who threatened to kidnap Dem MI Guv Gretchen Witmer, who got 6 yrs. on a plea (others are involved and are apparently going to trial, and no doubt they’re looking at longer sentences...good!)...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about nurses in Worcester walking out in protest of more corporate slavery from Tenet Health...



...and keeping with the theme of labor solidarity, John and Francesca tell us about Starbucks workers in New York trying to unionize (timely with the upcoming holiday, I should note...more here - Howard Schultz is the "Venti douchebag"...well played, Francesca!)...



...which makes me think of this tune.

Monday Stuff

(Because of course it wouldn't be a Trump-loving crowd without a misspelled sign...)

David Pakman, just back from his vacation, thinks there’s no bringing back the Trumpists to the reality-based community, and unfortunately he may be right (this includes the bit with Cult 45 in Alabama booing Dear Leader who had the temerity to suggest getting vaccinated...great idea by Pakman to make the anti-vaxxers pay more $$ for hospitalization if they don't get the shot)...



...and Emma and Matt of The Majority Report tell us that The Sunshine State apparently has to siphon water to take care of anti-vaxxers with COVID, leading to a water shortage (another dastardly lib plot revealed, no doubt - removing my tongue from my cheek...NSFW/H)...



...and I have to pinch myself, but apparently #DeathSantis isn’t doing too well with Florida voters over his terrible COVID response (Farron Cousins tells us more – and get a load of this)...



...and Francesca, Cenk and Jordan Uhl tell us that the Neocons are jonesing for MOOOAAAARRRRR WAAAAARRRRR in the aftermath of our pullout from Afghanistan (big surprise I know...NOT! And I know this clip is a little behind the news cycle, but I stil think it has a lot of important stuff)...



..and RIP legendary TV actor and kickass liberal Ed Asner (one of my favorite Asner anecdotes is here)...



...and RIP also Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly – the Rolling Stone obit has the video for the full 17:03 version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, so feel free to enjoy if you so choose...this might be my backup selection for most favorite tune from the band (I know it seems to be turning into "dead musician Monday" around here...just the luck of the draw I guess).