Friday Stuff

Cenk and Ana tell us the latest of whatever it is that’s going on with the damn infrastructure and reconciliation bills (I think BBB is the reconciliation one)...I agree with Cenk in giving credit to Jamaal Bowman for talking with Don Lemon and trying to make sense out of this cluster (and Cenk is spot-on to point out the failure of Lemon and his corporate media pals to, y’know, ACTUALLY REPORT ON WHAT’S CONTAINED IN THE RESPECTIVE BILLS, though it's true once more that the Dems have fallen down on the messaging, unfortunately), and I think we’re pretty much at the point of all of the procedural stuff – I’ve already said that, as far as I’m concerned, don’t give ANYTHING to ANYBODY on either bill given what President Manchin and Vice President Sinema have done, but if the Dems are going to trying salvage this...well, I guess they need to run on SOMETHING next year (even though it’s crumbs by comparison as opposed to half to a third of a metaphorical “loaf” that we were looking for)...

...and speaking of stuff absent from the BBB bill, Chris Hayes talks about the U.S. not providing paid family leave and how that definitely makes us an outlier among other developed nations (once more, thank Manchinema for that - the gavel has the words "Build Back Gridlock")...



Update 10/30/21: Uh, yep.

...and Sam and Emma tell us about somebody threatening violence at some wingnut rally with Charlie Kirk, who of course tries to play it down – he’s dumb, but not THAT dumb – though of course that doesn’t stop him from propagating his BS talking points that could lead to violence (and it’s typically disingenuous for Kirk to associate Waco with “the left”)...and when it comes to what Sam is talking about (that is, BS propaganda about our side mixed with too many guns and people predisposed to violence), I give you this...



...and on the subject of wingnuts and violence, apparently the judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is bending over backwards to give the defendant a lot more than the benefit of the doubt (Will Bunch had a great thread on this goofball judge here)...



...and this Second Thought video discusses how liberty and freedom are left-wing ideals, though that language has been co-opted by the right as part of their guise to consolidate power for the benefit only of the one percent...the history is interesting and important, but the stuff that’s mainly applicable to us now is mentioned at around 12:00 to 16:30 or so...I was looking for a little more on the ruinous conservative ascendancy that started in the late ‘70s, but I realize that he’s coming at this issue from a socialist economic perspective (meaning looking at what you could call neoliberalism overall); I’m not 100 percent sold on economic socialism (for lack of a better description) to be honest, but he’s absolutely right in his critique of capitalism...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/27/16, in which Carlos Maza of Media Matters draws a line from Fix Noise and the right wing fever swamps to local news to Republican-run state houses across the country over the BS talking points related to voter fraud...the one thing John Eastman said in the recent clip with Lauren Windsor that was absolutely correct is that the wingnuts were primed and ready to go in 2015-2016 when Trump ran; 45 isn’t smart enough to create a movement like that by himself, but he sure as hell capitalized on what was already in place, and the seeds for all of that were planted years ago, partly in ways that are described in this clip (NSFW/H)...



...and RIP comedian Mort Sahl, explaining politics in this clip from 1967 – kind of spot-on in a lot of ways, huh?...



...and it wouldn’t be a seasonal celebration for yours truly without this tune.

Thursday Stuff

David Pakman tells us that Fix Noise air personalities won’t discuss how strict the company’s COVID 19 protocols are (and they’re seriously playing word games between a “mandate” and a “protocol” – what else can you expect, really?)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with FLA Dem State Senator Tina Polsky, the person who asked that state’s COVIDiot Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo to wear a mask in a meeting with her since she’s immune compromised, and of course, being a member of the administration of Guv #DeathSantis, Ladapo refused (more here)...



...and in keeping with the theme of people acting like idiots in the face of our ongoing plague, David Doel tells us about an anti-masker who gets slugged when he gets loud and obnoxious at a restaurant...and no, I don’t condone violence either, but what the hell else do you THINK will happen when you act like that?...



...and Chris Hayes points out here how U.S. House Repug Troy Nehls is trying to have it both ways on the 1/6 shooting of Ashli Babbitt and the related protests (yeah, she pretty much ignored the warning of Capitol police, and I hate to say that she got what was coming to her, but...)...



...and Beau tells us the story of Claudete Colvin, who apparently staged a sit-down protest on an Alabama bus months before Rosa Parks – uh, yeah, she deserves to have her criminal record expunged at a minimum, and an official apology is warranted also as far as I’m concerned (more here)...



...and in preparation for the upcoming night of scary stuff (in a fun way, hopefully), I'd like to offer this tune.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel tells us in this clip that President Manchin and Vice President Sinema basically ripped the guts out of the “Build Back Better” bill (here) – as I said a few weeks ago, just shitcan both the “corporate giveaway” bill and whatever it is that’s actually left of BBB – truly awful stuff, but to be honest, I didn’t see much hope given the antics of these two, and unfortunately, Doel may be absolutely right about the mid-terms next year, and if he is, that tragically may end up as the last nails in the coffin of our “democratic experiment” (glad my parents didn't live to see this...and here is still more performative garbage from "Curtsy Kyrsten"...I remember when John McCain wore a denim vest to the U.S. Senate, which happened at exactly half past ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!)..



...and Rachel Maddow tells us how Lauren Windsor completely and totally busted that treasonous SOB John Eastman, author of that memo behind the 1/6 insurrection, which was a hell of a lot more thought out that we’d previously believed...



...and speaking of Maddow, this Rebel HQ clip with Adrienne Lawrence tells us about OAN losing their defamation suit against the MSNBC host; couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of cretins...



...and sticking with wingnut media, Mango Mussolini got his shorts in a knot over ads on cable news targeted to him alone apparently – womp womp (Ana and Cenk explain)...



...and returning to our regularly scheduled plague, John and Viviana Vigil of The Damage Report tell us about a Florida private school requiring students who get vaxxed to stay home for 30 days, which of course is exactly the damn opposite of what the policy should be, in a sane, logical world that is...



...and I guess I'm looking for something somewhat Halloween-themed with this selection, but maybe it's also influenced somewhat by the news also; I remember some folks who said that, as soon as the Dems took over earlier this year, they should have made statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico priorities over all else (so the Dems would likely have a bigger Senate majority), but I know it's 20-20 hindsight and President Manchin and Vice President Sinema likely would have found a way to blow that up also.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that, in response to the supply chain issues we face in this country, Wisconsin is forcing 14-year-old kids to work longer hours...call me crazy, but I don’t understand why it's not already illegal for allegedly the most developed economic power in the western world to force 14-year-olds to work AT ALL (notwithstanding Cousins’s other good points about how 14-year-old kids don’t have a damn thing to do with our current economic disruption)...



...and John and Francesca tell us that it looks like the prescription drug benefit (i.e., negotiating lower prices) and Medicare expansion may get dropped from the Biden bill because of Manchin, though Bernie is keeping up the good fight as per usual....kudos (of all of our corporate media failures, the biggest one as far as I’m concerned is the fact that our media/political/industrial complex has been getting more and more rigged in favor of the rich over the last 40 years or so, with barely any mention of that by our allegedly august news organizations with initials for names)...



...and Adrienne Lawrence has more on multiple members of Congress and their apparent involvement in the 1/6 insurrection – these people need to be tried, convicted and sentenced to prison to send a message at long last...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Former President Hopey Changey speaking out on behalf of Terry McAuliffe, the Dem (and former governor) running for another shot at heading that commonwealth – I have no idea of what is going on in that race, but yeah, Repug Glenn Youngkin is trying to have it both ways, with a feint towards centrism while also trying to embrace Trumpism (to help McAuliffe, click here)...



...and here’s another clip about the “Proud Boys” apparently looking for love, in the wrong places it seems (though I can’t imagine a “right” place for any of these life forms, as Ana and Cenk tell us)...



...and RIP Jay Black of Jay and the Americans (with today’s regional forecast also...and no, I can't imagine any of the "Proud Boys" serenading the ladies with this tune either :-).

Monday Stuff

Well well, it looks like the Trumpist coup was more organized and involved than we thought...not usually the biggest fan of “Morning Joe,” but I’ll let them in on the fun for a story of this magnitude, where Mrs. Scar interviews Jackie Alemany of the WaPo and Susan Page of USA today along with Scar talking with the AP’s Jonathan Lemire (which ties into the reporting from Rolling Stone here)...



...and I thought this was a well done Ari Melber clip where he discusses the three Trumpist wingnuts running for Secretary of State in Georgia, Arizona and Michigan (with author and Yale professor Timothy Snyder warning about the danger of authoritarianism)...



...and once more, as usual, someone screeching about “voter fraud” happens to be a member of the “R” party, or sympathetic to them anyway, as Rachel Maddow explains (more here)...



...and Chris Hayes chimes in on what you could call the performative cruelty of Not Your Father’s Republican Party, this time with that loon J.D. Vance, running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, trying to make political hay out of the thoroughly awful tragedy of the shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie “Rust” (more here)...



Update: And why is this not surprising?

...and speaking of cruelty, David Doel tells us about an Oklahoma woman charged with first-degree manslaughter over a miscarriage – yeah, if it turns out that she took meth while pregnant, that’s pretty abominable all right, but it seems that that could not have induced the miscarriage by itself...and no, I’m definitely not a life sciences professional, but the individuals charging this woman aren’t either...



...and in a bit of a related item from TYT, it turns out that a rapist pastor who impregnated a 14-year-old girl (now living in Tennessee) received no jail time (I don’t agree with Cenk’s “nonsense organization” comment, but unfortunately he’s right about the utter horrific and sickening details)...



...and Sam and the crew from The Majority Report tell us about the St. Vincent Hospital nurses strike in Worcester, MA (and yeah, Nail. Hammer. Head by Sam when it comes to stock compensation by Tenet executives...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and happy belated 85th birthday to Bill Wyman, formerly the bassist for “that blues cover band” (heh) The Rolling Stones.

Sunday Stuff

Thom Hartmann talks with John Fugelsang about the Repugs and how they choose to interpret Christ’s teachings (sorry I didn’t get this posted before the “Sexy Liberal” show last night in Madison, WI – more here)...



...and tied a bit to the theme of the first video, namely that of Republican stinginess, Chris Hayes tells Willard Mitt Romney how many “dinosaurs” it takes to provide for the people of this country who need help in relation to tax cuts and defense spending (with Betsey Stevenson and Robert Reich)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that the Repugs, of course, need to find a way to blame Biden and company for allegedly ruining Christmas with all of the supply chain issues going on – I think Cousins offers the best explanation I’ve heard yet on that subject, meaning the supply chain issues (no bottom to these life forms who continue to manufacture an issue out of this to try and hurt #46)...



...and tied somewhat to the prior video, Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ gives us examples of the Repugs doing what they do best, and that is to engage in performative fear-mongering bullshit, in this case Senators Joni Ernst and Huckleberry Graham...so much I could offer in response to this idiocy, but I’ll only point out this...Martha’s Vineyard, for one example, relies heavily on cheap overseas labor, but many stores on the island stayed shuttered or, if they opened at all, reduced their hours because they couldn’t get enough help, primarily high school and/or college-age kids...if nothing else, island residents may have a hard winter because they weren’t able to earn enough over the heavy tourism months – and how the #@$! Is that supposed to be Biden’s fault?...



...and RIP Peter Scolari, a fine comic actor who left us waaay too damn early...I watched “Bosom Buddies” back in the day and remember the “cabin episode,” among others, and I always thought he should have won an Emmy for portraying Michael Harris on “Newhart,” which was a masterpiece of deadpan comic timing and wordplay (the rise and fall and rise of Harris, including the episode where he played a mime to be close to Stephanie, played by the also-funny Julia Duffy, was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time)...I don’t know anything about “Girls,” but I’m glad he ended up with a compensation Emmy if nothing else, though he deserved more...here he is juggling on “Tonight” with Jay Leno from way back when...



...and with the first clip in mind, I'd like to continue today's meditation with this tune.