Saturday Stuff (updates)

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Rachel Maddow tells us about people rubbing dirt on themselves and their kids to try and guard themselves against COVID (with some of the dirt tainted with lead and arsenic...I know I should feel a molecule of sympathy for these people despite their idiocy, but somehow I don’t)...



...and the prior clip tells us about people who choose to be contaminated, and this one tells us about people trying hard to prevent that; I think Jackson, MS Mayor Chokwe Lumumba may have to petition the U.N. for help in the same manner as a third-world nation for clean water and living conditions conducive to basic human dignity, since he’s not likely to get the help he and his residents need and deserve from that state’s irresponsible “governing” Republican politicians (and believe me when I tell you that I’d like to be proven wrong...not sure who the host is sitting in for Mehdi Hasan)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about Russell Peterson from our beloved commonwealth of PA who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for participating in the 1/6 treasonous insurrection (and of course, being a total idiot about it on social media...”f*ck your feelings” indeed...more here)...



...and speaking of violent wingnuts and their kids, David Doel tells us that the parents of (alleged) Oxford, MI school shooter (and murderer of 4 kids, allegedly) Ethan Crumbley are now charged with manslaughter and are apparently on the run at the moment (not totally comfortable with charging the kid as an adult, but maybe it will send a message, though typically that doesn’t I know...more here)...



Update 1: The parents have been found (here).

Update 2: Good point (here).

Update 3: Clueless, insulting Republican tweet #1,324,682 (and that's probably a "low ball" estimate - here).

Update 4: Remember all of the corporate media pearl-clutching and “fainting couch” episodes after Hillary Clinton referred to them as “deplorables”? If anything, she was being too polite (here).

Update 12/5/21: And the parents get a high-profile lawyer for themselves and leave the kid with a public defender (here)

...and I’m going to shift gears here a bit and present more holiday stuff – I don’t mean to act like a Pollyanna in the face of all of this relentlessly bad news, but I need a sanity check and I’m guessing you do too...all 4 of these clips are new, including the first Robot Chicken spoof, with Phyllis Diller at the end (hey, if you don’t like it, complain to Seth Green :-).

Friday Stuff

Joy Reid tells us about the effort to basically ban books by the usual conservative suspects, particularly when it comes to anything to do with race or LGBTQ issues (yep, buying them and giving them as gifts works for me)...



Update: Yet another reason not to have a damn thing to do with the wretched state of Texas (here).

Update 12/5/21: More here.

...and this Now This clip tells us how the “party of Lincoln” is using abortion and “CRT” as wedge issues, as they did in this year’s gubernatorial election in Virginia (and I predict that voters in that commonwealth are going to have a big-time case of buyer’s remorse concerning Glenn Trumpkin before they know it)...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the report that Generalissimo Trump knowingly exposed people to COVID, including Biden of course (Gee, I wonder what ELSE we’re going to find out about this lunatic months and/or years later from a book written by one of his underlings? As opposed to, y’know, DOING THE DECENT THING WHEN THEY FIRST KNEW ABOUT THE DANGER AND TELL EVERYBODY AS THEY DAMN WELL SHOULD HAVE!!!).

And as you ponder John’s quite justifiable level of outrage, know that this utterly diseased human who allegedly served as our 45th president is STILL very much the de facto leader of the “Republic” Party...



..and when it comes to lying Republicans, it looks like the Treasonous Party of No Shame is yelling about the Democrats allegedly giving a tax cut to the rich in the form of an increased tax deduction, which, as any pea brain can tell you, IS NOT THE SAME THING AS A TAX CUT!!...Farron Cousins tells us about the latest right-wing idiocy...



Update 12/4/21: Jonah Goldberg recently made some noise about opposing Trump, and some lefties (but not me) gave him credit.

Jonah Goldberg doesn't deserve credit for a goddamn thing (here...when someone initiates a stock buy back from this increased tax deduction, please let me know).

...and here are more seasonal selections (definitely in need of a palate cleanser of sorts).

Thursday Stuff

Mehdi Hasan tells us more about Dr. Oz running for the U.S. Senate to represent our beloved commonwealth of PA...yep...leave it to Repugs to come up with some high-profile grifter, and Trumpster of course, to run for public office when they apparently can’t be bothered to field a serious candidate (or, given that Sean Parnell had to bail because he beat his wife and kids, allegedly of course)...and here is more on Oz’s “2 to 3 percent school kid mortality” remark...an “appetizing opportunity”???...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the true wingnut agenda over nearly the last 50 years...and by the way, with respect, Maddow is wrong to think that the wingnuts intend to stop at abortion, though, to be fair, I think she's only implying that and not saying it in so many words (more on oral arguments yesterday is here)...why SHOULDN’T they also have Griswold and Obergefell in their sights?...



Update 1 12/5/21: More here.

Update 2 12/5/21: Yeah, I would say that we're WAAAY past the point of treating our current SCOTUS with kid gloves while they roll roughshod over our lives (here).

...and maybe I’m more tolerant than I should be to say that, when you criticize someone in the media, Lara Logan is a special case because of the attack she suffered in Egypt years ago, but comparing Dr. Fauci to Josef Mengele is going WAAAY too far; Sam, Emma and Nomiki Konst explain (more here and here...and based on this, I think Logan needs an intervention, and I don't say that lightly)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that some at Arizona State University aren’t happy that Kyle Rittenhouse wants to attend...can’t imagine why not (joke...tough call, and as much as I want to see Rittenhouse crawl like the guttersnipe he is, I very reluctantly have to side with Ana who makes a good point...namely, that even though Rittenhouse had help from the wingnutosphere, that goofball Wisconsin judge and some questionable legal tactics by the prosecution, he was still cleared of the charge of murdering two people and wounding a third)...



...and here are two more seasonal selections...





...and it wouldn't truly be a tribute to Stephen Sondheim without an encore, would it?

Wednesday Stuff

Chris Hayes talks with Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy about the latest mass shooting in this country (here); I guess one sign of trying to return to something approximating normalcy in this country is how long it takes for us to start randomly killing each other again (and the “forced birth” party in the U.S. Senate was pontificating/crowing about this)...



Update: Uh, yep.

...and John and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us that white people are being “lynched,” as in Kyle Rittenhouse, according to this idiot named Matt Walsh...and I know we already touched on that assclown Dennis Prager saying the unvaccinated are bigger pariahs than those afflicted with AIDS...I hope John’s predictions at the end are wrong, but unless the U.S. Senate Dems manage to kill the filibuster and pass the voting rights bill, he’s probably correct...



...and David Doel discusses U.S. House Repug Nancy Mace of South Carolina going on CNN and pushing COVID vaccines (particularly in light of the Omicron variant) and then going on Fix Noise and pushing natural immunity...and YES, THOSE POSITIONS ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!...



...and don’t blink or you’ll miss this More Perfect Union video about the real reason for rising prices...some of these allegedly august captains of industry should be called before Congress for this, preferably to face Katie Porter and her white board...



...and I’m going to wrap up my little tribute to Stephen Sondheim with two excerpts from the musical that, IMO, reigns supreme over any other production over the last 60 years or so, and that would be West Side Story; the second is probably my favorite Tom Waits cover from his enormous body of work...





...and here are two more seasonal selections (a challenge to try and remain festive given the first clip and that awful SCOTUS hearing today, but I'm doing my best).

Tuesday Stuff

I know I'm about two months late with this "Defend the (Senate) Majority" clip...sorry...but better late than never I guess; never let it be said that I don't do my part for Team "D" (more here, and to help the DCCC, click here...maybe some good ideas for "giving Tuesday"???...more info is here)...



...and Ana and John of TYT tell us that climate scientists say 9 major cities could be under water by 2030...and yes, some are in this country, so we can’t just shrug it off and blame it all on Iraq and The Netherlands...



...and this Now This clip tells us Why Billionaires Aren’t “Self Made,” with one reason being that the Federal Reserve (mentioned in yesterday’s clip from Robert Reich) bought a lot of corporate debt during the ongoing COVID pandemic...



...and speaking of our ongoing plague, Dr. Anthony Fauci gives “Cancun” Cruz the treatment he deserves, as Brian Tyler Cohen tells us (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the passing of George Harrison...



...and here is another tune from Stephen Sondheim as a tribute...



...and here are two more seasonal selections.

Monday Stuff

Caroline Johnson of Rebel HQ tells us that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is making more noise about denying communion to President Biden, despite Pope Francis telling #46 to keep receiving it – instead of reaching out to potentially a new generation of Catholics, our “faith leaders” are telling them to go somewhere else...besides, if the Church is really going to "go there," then shouldn't they also ban people who support capital punishment from receiving Communion also? Would there be anyone left to receive it if they did?...



...and in the category of idiotic behavior by males who claim to be cultural role models, David Doel tells us that British MP Nick Fletcher recently blamed (check notes) women in movies for men engaging in criminal activity...just say “oops” and get out...



...and returning to this country, Joy Reid tells us about activist Joe Madison currently engaged in a hunger strike for voting rights...not sure #Manchinema will care about this brave and patriotic gesture...and with those two cretins in mind, I give you this from Will Bunch...



...and Robert Reich tells us about the 3 unaccountable institutions shaping our lives: the Supreme Court, the Federal Reserve, and Big Tech...not sure if there’s an equivalency here between the three, but there’s plenty of evidence provided by Reich as per usual – interesting, and should serve as motivation for all of us to advocate for change inasmuch as we can...



...and Jim Acosta of CNN “brings the receipts” once more, calling out the “freak show caucus” (and again, barring the Senate passing the voting rights bill, these nut cases will be in change this time a year from now because of the ridiculous gerrymandering going on in GOP-run statehouses, as Joy Reid pointed out)...



...and I can’t think of a more appropriate transition to this Stephen Sondheim tune from “A Little Night Music”...



...and here are more seasonal selections; this might be the earliest I can ever recall us observing the “festival of lights” for all who choose to do so – hope it’s enjoyable.