David Doel brings us an example of what was once called the “Clinton News Network” propagating right-wing talking points on the interminable story of the Dems trying to pass Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan in Congress; oh suuure, blame progressives, when in in reality, thanks to Manchin and “Curtsy Kyrsten,” the Dems are going to be hamstrung with messaging along the lines of “well, we said we would do this and that, but ooopsie, we didn’t have enough of a majority to negate these two idiots and do what we were supposed to” heading into the midterms...ugh!...
...and this ’18 clip from Lawrence O’Donnell tells us about Repug U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and how he and Saint Orrin Hatch we’re OK with an FBI investigation into Anita Hill but not Dr. Christine Blasey Ford into her charges against “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh during the SCOTUS confirmation hearing (given Grassley’s announcement that he intends to seek another term in the U.S. Senate as noted here, which truly is unbelievable given that he’d be 94 if he gets re-elected and finishes his term)...
...and going back still further, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 9/26/14, in which a segment from what was once the Fair TV channel with Peter Hart tells us about a climate march with about 300,000 people that was almost completely ignored by our bought-and-paid-for corporate media, as well as more coverage of President Obama definitely tilted in the “pro-war” direction...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is trying to destroy the economy over the debt ceiling as usual...kind of a weak finish, but if Cousins’ point is that the Dems get lost in their own minutiae when it comes to legislating, then I reluctantly have to go along with that...
...and this Now This clip tells us about the Dem-run U.S. House passing a bill to protect abortions...and if you have to guess how Republicans voted, you’re not paying attention (as noted a couple of days ago, I’d like to see them pass a bill overriding anti-mask and anti-vax mandates to protect our kids, but I’m not holding my breath on that)...
...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us that water protectors at the L3 Pipeline are being arrested by some particularly sadistic rent-a-cops who are inflicting torture on the protestors to the point where they’re apparently suffering from Bell’s Palsy – I see one hell of a lawsuit coming over this; that SHOULD happen anyway...
...and Beau tells us about a student petition to bring back slavery in Missouri, and in response the parents and the other adults affiliated with the Park Hill School District are clutching their metaphorical pearls over it, wondering how their poor, darling kids could have done something so heinous, as noted here (gee, maybe you can find a clue about that here, with a protest over "critical race theory" which...wait for it!...ISN'T EVEN TAUGHT IN MISSOURI SCHOOLS!!!)...
Update 9/27?21: And this didn't happen in a vacuum either.
...and last Thursday marked what would have been the 95th birthday of legendary jazz saxophonist (and one-time Philly resident) John Coltrane.
Robert Reich reminds us that the U.S. Senate Dems have to get rid of the filibuster to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (and whatever mess Manchin has come up with – ugh!...and if you want more ways to bug the crap out of "curtsy Kyrsten," click here)...
...and Francesca and Caroline Johnson of The Damage Report tell us about Mango Mussolini’s latest lawsuit, this time against Mary Trump and three New York Times reporters (usually I ignore this nonsense, but I guess you have to pay attention to it once in awhile...and concerning our former First Family, isn’t this just too precious?)...
...and Thom Hartmann speaks with Dem U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse about the FBI basically blowing off its investigation into “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh (lots of interesting stuff including Whitehouse’s discussion of Leonard Leo and The Federalist Society)...
...and Sam and Emma V. talk about the latest with former Dem U.S. House Rep Tulsi Gabbard, breathing life into “9/11, 9/11” again, timed for the anniversary I guess, when in reality, if you want to get to the source of the monsters behind that, you’d have to rattle your metaphorical saber at our “dear friends” the Saudis, and good luck with that...interesting to see Gabbard defending her pals Assad in Syria and Sisi in Egypt, and Modi in India of course, all noted here, when they all have skeletons in their closets too, you might say...the biggest factor that energizes the forces Gabbard cites as our enemies is our military presence in many of the countries in the Middle East and Asia, and as Gabbard basically says towards the end of the clip, she just wants MOOOAAAARRR WAAAAARRRRR (and great point by Emma that HRC supported much of the interventionist foreign policy Gabbard has supported, but DON’T YOU DARE say that in front of The Swanson TV Dinner Heir...cul de sacky??!!)...
...and David Shuster tells us about Kara Bell of Texas (of course), who apparently was triggered by a book passage that alluded to anal sex (and Bell is a repeat offender it seems... as far as I’m concerned, the bigger issue is book censorship, which of course is fine for “y’all Qaeda”)...
...and in yet another great Second Thought video, we learn how conservatives co-opted Christianity (a lot of good historical information, but you cannot truly calculate the impact of Roe v. Wade in splitting Catholicism between conservatives and progressives...not arguing against the ruling, but just stating the political reality)...
...and Ana and Cenk tell us about the U.S. House passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, but it looks like Senate Republicans are just going to kill it, with “qualified immunity” for the cops being the sticking point – with Cenk and Ana...and as far as I’m concerned, their outrage is completely called for (”ooh, those Republicans are going to run their attack ads saying we Dems are soft on crime!! We’re sooo scared!!!”...I hate to break the news to you “chicken littles,” but THEY’RE GOING TO DO THAT ANYWAY EVEN IF IT’S NOT TRUE!! And besides, the House has passed COVID relief and the ARP which included funding for public sector workers, and COPS are public sector workers...the bills passed with 0 Republican votes, so YOU tell ME who’s “defunding the police” and who isn’t!)...
Rachel Maddow speaks with attorney Joyce Vance on the practical effects of Texas’s beyond-cruel-and-ridiculous anti-abortion law, with Dr. Alan Braid performing the procedure, and now some goofball, out-of-state lawyer is suing over it as the law allows...I’m only a layman on this stuff, but how on earth can this nut job have standing in a case like this?...
...and yeah, don’t you just love it when “Christians” like that “Y’all Qaeda” loon MTG think they can inflict their version of spirituality onto others...
...and returning to our regularly scheduled plague, Farron Cousins tells us about kids in Washington state who partly blame The Swanson TV Dinner Heir for their father’s vaccine hesitancy that led to his death – more here...I commend Cousins here for putting out the suggestion of coming up with a law to prevent medical misinformation, but as much as I want to support something like that, I’ve seen too many cases of laws getting turned around somehow to attack the people trying to do good – the answer is for cable TV subscribers to make enough noise to get garbage channels like Fox, OANN and Newsmax off the air (the wingnuts would probably try something in response against, say, MSNBC, but I’m tired of these lunatics and their threats, so my response is “bring it”)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the 3 Dems in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee (Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.)) who ALMOST sank the provision in the infrastructure bill to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices...more here (NSFW/H)...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the women who rage-quit on Wal-of-China Mart on their way out the door...don’t try this at home, kids, but I have to admit that it’s pretty damn cool...I hope they don’t need these Walmart cretins for a reference, though legally the company can only confirm dates of employment...good points by Cenk about “economic dignity”...
...and RIP Philly guy Leonard “Doc” Gibbs – used to watch “Emeril Live” back in the day, and he had a lot to do with making it a great show.
Among other things that we learn in this video form Chris Hayes is that Mississippi now has the highest rate of COVID deaths per capita in the country – I’m old enough to remember when life forms like Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao were crowing about how much those accursed blue states had mismanaged their COVID response, and we just collectively said “just you wait,” and look where we are now...
...and Beau gives us some important context on health care workers (not just nurses) in Indiana quitting because they allegedly refused to get the vaccine – 125 employees refused to provide information as to whether or not they were vaccinated, so apparently they were let go...
...and this Now This clip tells us about UN Secretary-General António Guterres slamming the billionaire space race and COVID-19 vaccine inequity... ‘We passed the science test, but we are getting an F in Ethics’ indeed...
...and John and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us about this special ed assistant named Lauren Pefferle who apparently was protesting a vaccine mandate for her state of Oregon (and apparently this Newburg, OR place has a problem with nutty, disgusting race behavior...can’t blame anybody below the Mason Dixon line for this...when the #@$! are people going to get it through their heads that WEARING BLACKFACE IS A PLAINLY TERRIBLE THING TO DO??!!!)...
...and Ari Melber talks about Dems needing to get angry against the unvaccinated, within certain parameters I realize (and not the biggest fan of Howard Stern, but he’s exactly right...I would argue that we’ve been coddling about 25-30 percent of this country, who continue to be utterly wrong on everything, for far too damn long, and look where we’ve ended up as a result )...
Update 9/22/21: I realize Congressional Dems are stuck in this whole sausage-making exercise when it comes to the infrastructure bill, but they would do well to pay attention to the main reason Gavin Newsom defeated the recall effort in California so handily. And that was because the people of his state overwhelmingly approved of his handling of the COVID pandemic.
Hey Dems, this is political gold! And here is how you use it.
Pass a bill in the House that federally overrules all local ordinances anywhere in the country against mask mandates and vaccinations. It likely won’t get through the Senate because it will probably need 60 votes (unless the Senate Dems find the fortitude to tell the parliamentarian to hit the bricks, like the Republicans once did). And it also probably won’t get a single Republican yes vote in the House either. And yes, the screaming and caterwauling in the wingnutosphere will be off the charts for sure. Too bad!
Draw the battle lines as starkly as you can on this issue...”The Dems want to protect your kids, and the Republicans don’t.” Try letting the other side deal with THAT heading into the midterms.
Try playing some goddamn offense for a change!
Update 9/23/21: And add this to the steaming pile of fail from the "party of Lincoln."
...and in non-COVID news, Farron Cousins discusses a Politico story telling us that FL Repugs knew their BS “voting fraud” nonsense was all about sticking it to the Democrats, which we also knew of course, but this just makes it official...
...and Thom Hartmann tells us about “white privilege” playing a role in the utterly awful story of Gabby Petito (not against her of course, but against women of other ancestry/ethnicity who might not get the same coverage...I’ve read some people online who have opined that the boyfriend will turn up dead somewhere, and I have a feeling that will turn out to be right...normally I try to stay away from stories like this because they’re a little “out of my lane,” and what matters is doing what we can to protect young women like Petito, though tragically it’s too late for her)...
...and this may be a little "out of my lane" too, but I'm taking a shot anyway...yesterday I included a musical selection with sports in mind (the Muhammad Ali doc by Ken Burns in particular), and I’d like to keep that theme once more. However, when it comes to pro sports, I intend to go from the sublime to the utterly ridiculous.
I’ve tried to steer clear of all of the stuff involving Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers because I was hoping Simmons would come to his senses as the team approached training camp, but it seems that he’s bound and determined to never play for the franchise again, the utterly stoo-pid millions of dollars he makes to play the game of professional basketball notwithstanding (here).
I guess “Baby Ben” got his fee fees hurt because he utterly disappeared in the NBA playoff series between the Sixers and the Atlanta Hawks earlier this year and was quite rightly blasted for it. This was the series the Sixers lost in seven games, with Joel Embiid basically dragging around a busted leg and trying to will the team to victory (with Embiid embodying all of the grit, courage and talent that the team was waiting for Simmons to show, along with this alleged, mythical three-point jump shot of his – it was actually a blessing that the Sixers lost because Milwaukee, the eventual NBA champions, would have destroyed them).
Here is what I hope the Sixers do about Simmons...absolutely nothing. As long as he’s under contract, let Simmons sit and stew and pout while his career passes him by. Even in the through-the-looking-glass world of pro sports salaries, I cannot imagine the entitlement of someone like Simmons, who apparently expects every aspect of perceived reality to revolve around him. And once more, for a guy who was under contract to get paid millions of dollars to put a ball through a hoop.
I’ve read comments comparing Simmons to Carson Wentz, formerly the Eagles quarterback. Yes, there was more than a little pouting by Wentz after he was benched for Jalen Hurts, but I think there are two important differences: 1) Injuries did play a factor with Wentz, though he totally lost control of the Eagles offense too, and 2) Wentz played a pivotal role in the Eagles’ incredible run that won them the Super Bowl in 2018, going 11-2 before suffering an ACL injury. So basically, Wentz helped deliver the championship, something Simmons can only dream of at this point. And while I don’t wish to see Wentz successful against the Eagles (and you KNOW, the way sports drama often plays out, that the two will face each other one day), I’m fine if Wentz does well against other teams (though apparently he has to get over another injury first).
So yeah, this song goes out to Simmons (and to think, the Sixers once had their “power trio” of Embiid, Simmons and Jimmy Butler and very nearly beat Toronto when the Raptors went on to win their own title, but the team didn’t renew Butler’s contract...heckuva job, Elton Brand!).
Update 10/11/21: Yeah, I guess missing too many paychecks would do the trick, wouldn't it? (here).
Update 2 10/20/21: At what point should we start blaming the Sixers for not knowing what was really up with this guy before they drafted him (here)?
Update 10/21/21: Words from a man who knows and who helped get it done in 2018 (here).
Update 11/24/21: OK, I’m seeing some stories online that Simmons is dealing with mental health issues. I would never try to make light of that or trivialize it. I hope he gets the help he needs; that of course is more important than sports.
But as far as I’m concerned, Simmons and just about every other pro athlete (and certainly when it comes to the NBA) make absolutely STOO-PID money, and part of the price for that is a visible public profile and the responsibility to perform your sport at the highest possible level when it counts the most. And Simmons failed to do that against Atlanta in the playoffs (again, while teammate Joel Embiid showed a ton of courage and fortitude playing through an injury), so Simmons had better expect a measure of scorn.
Yes, again, if Simmons needs professional help, I hope he gets it and takes whatever time he needs to straighten himself out. But he’d better not think all is forgiven either. And I’m sorry if that’s harsh, but as far as I’m concerned, that comes with his job.
Update 3/10/22: Incredibly late on this I know (there have been just a couple of other more important stories at the moment), but I think the Sixers played this whole mess pretty well the way they did to get James Harden, though, to be honest, I hated to see them get rid of Seth Curry, but at least they didn’t move Matisse Thybulle or Tyrese Maxey...Baby Ben returns to the WTF Center tonight, so we’ll see what happens (more here)...and of course, the Sixers ended up getting smoked and Simmons didn't even play.
Update 4/25/22: New team, same old "Baby Ben" (here).
...and David Doel tells us about border patrol using whips on Haitian immigrants, which is awful of course...I’m not going to gloss over the Biden Administration on this since this is happening on their watch, and it turns out that that Afghan drone strike got innocent people killed, but I will only say this...maybe if there was a hell of a lot more outrage focused on the Trump regime which initiated a lot of it, the cleanup wouldn’t be quite so difficult now under Biden – and gee, a 1944 statute, this so-called Title 42, that had never been used against immigrants until now...let me think real hard and venture a guess that Baby Goebbles had more than a little to do with that (here) – but of course, our essentially useless fourth estate chose to bloviate and hector our politicians about “migrant caravans” instead, which was always bullshit...NSFW/H...and I'm sorry, but I just have no respect for Schumer anyway but especially after this; I can't help but feel that he's trying to deflect from his own failure...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about the insane MTG ad (is there any other kind?) blowing up a vehicle with “socialism” on it (NSFW/H...and gee, isn’t this interesting to see how she, being a good Republican, only obeys the rules she screeches about when it suits her).
And by the way, after watching that prior idiocy, I want to “go meta” again on something, so please bear with me.
After a certain point, I have to admit that I get more than a little fed up with making it clear that Republicans are nothing but performative idiots trying to suck the oxygen, if you will, out of intelligent debate concerning any substantive issue with their ridiculous nonsense. After awhile, that kind of turns into “yes I know, water is wet, sky is blue, etc.”
I realize we’re obligated to point out that stuff, but do you want to know what REALLY matters? Planning for the 2022 midterms, which (and believe me when I tell you that I HATE to point this out) are going to be on us again before we know it. And I want to know what the hell the alleged geniuses at the DNC/DCCC/DSCC are going to do about maintaining our hold in Congress (I’m not going to be presumptuous enough at this point to talk about building on it, since, with the historical mid-term slump Dems usually have – which is inexcusable for Dem voters, by the way – along with all of the garbage redistricting/gerrymandering going on (along with the horrible voting bills), just keeping up the status quo would be a victory at this point).
In PA-01, nary a day goes by without seeing our ridiculous joke of a U.S. House rep cutting a ribbon somewhere to open a new business, talking at a senior center or giving an award to a Boy Scout/elderly war veteran (like this). And yeah, that’s corny and deflects from the issues that matter. But do you want to know what ELSE that does? It keeps Brian Fitzpatrick in his own manufactured spotlight and in the mind of the voters of this district, that’s what. And he knows that. And he also knows that voters (with the enthusiastic aid of gullible, conservative-friendly media, most infamously the Bucks County Courier Times) will remember that when the election comes around.
There are Dems who get this and maintain a pretty decent social media presence (AOC is one along with Ilhan Omar – who of course gets utterly trashed when she says anything, but commendably doesn’t back down – and Steve Santarsiero/Perry Warren in these parts do a respectable job with that too). But for the most part, the Democratic Party continues to utterly stink on messaging and social media engagement. And it doesn’t matter if the person in charge is Howard Dean/Tom Perez/Jaime Harrison/whoever...they NEVER seem to get that! Basically (as people far smarter than I have noted), if you’re a Dem candidate and you get to about 2-3 months until Election Day and realize, all of a sudden, that you have to develop a social media presence and put out messaging that engages your base and motivates them to work and vote for you, then IT’S PROBABLY TOO GODDAMN LATE FOR THAT! And don’t give me this stuff about how much YouTube videos cost (which is virtually nothing, truth be told)! If you can’t manufacture your own media like the other side does, then why are you bothering to play this game at all?
So yes, let’s laugh at Marjorie Taylor Greene for acting like the psycho she truly is. But also remember that, as ridiculous, childish and outright dangerous as her antics are, when she does all of this, she’s engaging her base (and I don’t want to imagine what kind of a troglodyte you have to be to actually want to vote for her, but these are the people we’re up against).
And with that admittedly boring pretext out of the way, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 9/20/17, in which Farron Cousins tells us about a U of P study pointing out how uninformed or misinformed we are overall as a country (and once more, this is not for me to say, “Oh, look how smart I am because I post about this stuff so much”...I’m just a guy with this dumb blog and I’m no better or worse than anyone else, but Cousins is right...we need to do something about the overall civic ignorance of too many people in this country, but I’ll admit that, unfortunately, I don’t have an answer on that)...
...and returning to more of the nuts-and-bolts stuff that affects the majority of our lives, what Biden says in this Now This clip about his “Build Back Better” plan should appear in ads and videos from EVERY DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE, regardless if you’re running for the U.S. Congress or municipal dog catcher (and by the way, all the debt ceiling stuff is more politically manufactured BS from the other side that ALWAYS comes up only when Dems are in charge – the answer is just to get rid of the damn debt ceiling)...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tells us about idiot Repug guv Brian Kemp of Georgia discussing the AIDS vaccine, which – and I know this is inconvenient to note – doesn’t actually exist; no word on whether or not the news anchor was up to the task of pointing that out...
...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about the janitor’s strike in California (more here)...
...and I came across this fairly recent tune after I watched more of the latest great Ken Burns documentary, this time on Muhammad Ali, and I thought it fit somewhat, so here it is.
Jayar, Cenk and Jackson White of TYT tell us about this crazy woman from Texas who came to NYC and assaulted a restaurant worker who asked for proof of vaccination...yeah, I’ve had enough of these clowns and their entitlement too (and boy, does Cenk nail this at the end)...
...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about this Bob Enyart character and the other right-wing radio idiots dying of COVID, along with some common sense remarks from Howard Stern (the “better angels” commentary from Shuster is good, though it does take a hell of a lot of patience dealing with these cretins...NSFW/H)...
...and in a related item, this Lincoln Project clip tells us about “Abbott’s Wall” (so much insanity with other Republican governors that it’s tempting to forget about what’s going on in “the land of the yellow rose”)...
...and Chris Hayes talks with Ro Khanna on climate hearings with oil companies the week of October 28th (including the snippet with that guttersnipe lobbyist Keith McCoy...background on Henry Waxman and ’94 hearings with those bastards in charge of the tobacco companies is here...)...
...and Jim Acosta reminds us that The Roger Ailes BS Factory is peddling lies for profit here (and Acosta mentions Republican U.S. House Rep Anthony Gonzalez, who decided not to seek another term because he’s had enough of the Trumpsist clowns threatening his family, pretty much)...
...and Joy Reid has her “Absolute Worst” here with Dan (“Democrat Party”) Patrick and Elise Stefanik, spouting the “Great Replacement” theory garbage from The Swanson TV Dinner Heir...
...and this Really American video reminds us once more of the treason of Repug U.S. House Rep Madison Cawthorn and the other performative clowns in his party...
...and like you I’m sure, I’ve seen performers destroy their guitars, but this is a first in that I’ve never seen anybody take out their aggression on a piano before.
