Friday Stuff (updates)

I wonder if the life form pictured in this post knows about this (or, more likely, would just write it off as "fake news")?

In the matter of our regularly scheduled plague, Rachel Maddow tells us that FLA guv Ron #DeathSantis (and that assclown Joseph Ladapo...more here) are having a hissy fit with the Biden Administration over the decision by #46 not to send any more monoclonal antibodies to The Sunshine State since they’re basically useless against the Omicron COVID variant – elections indeed have consequences...

...and David Pakman tells us that Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco has confirmed a probe into the Trump bogus elector scam in seven states, allegedly run by "the mayor of 9/11" (more here)...



...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ wonders some more about The Swanson TV Dinner Heir’s apparent infatuation with Our Former Ol’ Buddy Vlad Putin (to be fair, we were allies with the USSR in WWII, but yeah, it was an uneasy alliance at best I’ll admit, though we shouldn’t blow off the staggering losses suffered by that country in that global conflict)...



...and I thought Jim Acosta gave “Tuckums” and the Murdochs the treatment they deserve here (slightly NSFW/H at the beginning and the end, but for a good reason)...



Update: And speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, Joeph Imperatrice is a f*cking coward for this (sure, violence against Dems - why the hell not, right?).

...and Beau gives us his take on what’s going on in Ukraine (this commentary definitely doesn’t put me completely at ease with what’s going on in that area of the world, but this is a pretty good, clear-eyed analysis...I have a feeling Putin will find a way to take control without firing a shot as Beau says, partly because of the typical idiotic political wrangling from the other side in this country, leading to a divided front when we should be united on this issue in particular...but I could be totally wrong about Putin of course)...



...and sticking with Rebel HQ, Brett Erlich provides some commentary on what makes conservatives afraid vs. what makes liberals afraid (borderline NSFW/H...and yeah, there may be a bit of an overload of a biological explantion here)...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about the importance of reversing jail convictions for cannabis, something the Biden Administration should have addressed yesterday IMO (very NSFW/H as soon as the video starts and at the end also, but also for a good reason)...



...and given Neil Young’s courageous decision to tell Spotify that they have to choose between Young and Joe Rogan (here), and given Spotify’s decision to go with Rogan instead, I plan to periodically feature tunes from Neil Young for the foreseeable future (I’m sure what I do or don’t do won’t mean diddly to Young, but I still want to make the gesture – and apparently there was a rumor out there that Barry Manilow did the same thing...nothing against Manilow one way or the other, but the rumor is apparently unfounded).



Update: And kudos to Peter Frampton also (here) - I'll highlight his songs over the coming days as well (and Joni Mitchell also - here).

Update 1/29/21: NILS!!

Thursday Stuff

John and Viviana Vigil of The Damage Report tell us about the reaction from The Swanson TV Dinner Heir to the news the President Biden plans to nominate an African American woman to the Supreme Court (I think the context from this article about The Sainted Ronnie R matters also)...yeah, if “Tuckums” isn’t making his audience of elderly conservative white people angry, scared or agitated in some way, then he’s not doing his job (and it’s so ridiculously typical for the Fix Noise talking head to say that, if you support Biden, then you support segregation, which is typical BS...and I have a feeling that African American women are more than 7 percent of the population too - this I'm sure is closer to the truth...I guess we really can’t expect much more from a network that gets agitated over "progressive" M&Ms and Minnie Mouse in a pants suit...here)...



Update: More here.

...and sticking with The Roger Ailes BS Factory, Chris Hayes tells us how that network’s lies about the COVID vaccine are killing Trump voters in an interview with journalist Eric Levitz...



...and Beau talks about the school board in Tennessee deciding to ban the book Maus about the Holocaust (to commemorate #HolocaustRemembranceDay...nice touch, and yes, I'm being sarcastic...and I think Beau absolutely nails it when he says that the parents fell down and don't want to be embarrassed about missing the rise of authoritarianism under TFG – more here)...



Update: More here and here.

...and every damn time I hear about somebody in this country trying to ban a book or shove LGBTQ individuals back into a metaphorical closet (to basically preserve the white patriarchy served by that abattoir of a TV network noted in the first two clips), I find myself recalling this clip from this great movie...



Update 2/1/22: And news items like this make me recall the prior clip also.

...and I need to catch up with my Second Thought videos, and the latest one has to do with Why Student Loan Debt is So Hard to Forgive (and the “military coinage slavery complex,” huh? Interesting...and yes, Biden should forgive student loan debt, but I think the notion that he somehow failed in his first term merely because of this single issue, along with Manchinema’s antics, is completely absurd...still, though, I think #46 should make that happen: Markos of Daily Kos makes a powerful argument for that here, and kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep Dwight Evans for this also)...



...and RIP Don Wilson of The Ventures.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on the stuff with Fix Noise’s Peter Doocy and President Biden (and apparently 46 called Doocy later to try and smooth things over a bit, which is more of a courtesy than Doocy deserved IMO...oh, and when it comes to that network’s nepotism hire and getting his butt handed to him, let’s not forget this too)...



...and today’s bis story, as it were, is the news that SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of this year’s term – thank God!...and by the way, if I were Biden, I’d put down a marker right freaking now on #Manchinema and let them know that they will truly suffer political hell if they try to screw up THIS also...



...and speaking of the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, John and Francesca tell us that they’re now looking at affirmative action...I hope John was kidding at the end with that remark about a poll questioning whether or not the SCOTUS is on the presidential ballot...I know HRC was an awful campaigner, but she said that it was in 2016, and she was right on the money (actually, it is in EVERY federal election for the U.S. Senate and the White House...and I wonder if our corporate media is going to go back to the confirmation hearings of the justices in the conservative majority and point out the fact that THEY ARE ALL UNMITIGATED LIARS, since they have no inclination whatsoever to respect “settled law,” including this ruling written by their predecessors)...



...and speaking of Arizona’s U.S. senatorial mistake, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about Chuck Todd trying to get Dem U.S. House Rep Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to play along with the “divided Dems” corporate media game, in light of the censure of “Curtsy Kyrsten” (God, we’re stuck with this wretched character until 2024...and I certainly don’t mean Slotkin...and God knows how long we’ll be saddled with Todd as well)...



...and Adrienne Lawrence Esq. of Rebel HQ tells us about that idiot financial advisor who threw a smoothie at a Robeks employee in CT (yes, I get it that peanut allergies are severe, but that doesn’t excuse this idiot’s behavior in any way)...



...and I feel a bit like a need a somewhat newer tune as a pick-me-up, so how about if we give this a try?

Tuesday Stuff

John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about that nutty woman in Virginia who threatened to bring guns to school, punctuating it with that “see you Monday” quote; I get it that officials running these meetings are in a difficult spot and they have my respect, but just once I’d like to see them “clap back” at these nut jobs and threaten them with jail or a heavy fine for their disgusting idiocy (and the Cuellar reference has to do with this)...



...and CNN's Jim Acosta speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep Zoe Lofgren on developments around the 1/6 investigation by the U.S. House committee on which she serves (as well as the latest nonsense from Baby Newton Leroy – more here)...



Update 1/26/22: And speaking of the disgraced former U.S. House speaker, I think this is pretty interesting.

...and Mehdi Hasan speaks with Jane Mayer of The New Yorker over her latest great column on Ginni Thomas - I know I linked to a post on this yesterday (Thomas being the wife of the SCOTUS justice of course), and Thomas’s history of attacking George Soros, with her “Democrat” Party garbage included also for good measure (I’ll never understand what the wingnuts have against this elderly Hungarian man trying to live out his life in upstate New York...once more, the link to the Mayer piece is here)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen brings us the speech from Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia after the voting rights bill failed (and kudos to Ossoff and Mark Kelly for this)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about U.S. House Repugs STILL taking credit for the infrastructure bill they voted against, including this Ashley Hinson person (here); for the record, here are the 13 Repugs who voted in favor of the bill, including Bri-Fi...



...and it looks like it’s time for famous musicians to push back against celebrity grifters; this tells us about Neil Young and Joe Rogan over Spotify, and Graham Nash apparently issued a statement for that worm RFK Jr. to cease and desist from using Nash’s tune “Chicago” at Jr.’s anti-vax rallies (here)...surprised Jr. didn’t reach out to Van Morrison or “slow hand,” since I’m sure either would be glad to help...here's a Nash tune for the occasion (and happy upcoming 80th to Nash on 2/2 by the way).

Monday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty comprehensive Meidas Touch video of the events leading up to the 1/6/21 insurrection as well as the aftermath, including all of the bogus anti-voting laws passed by Republican state legisaltures in support of the Big Lie...



...and this Lincoln Project clip tells us that the SCOTUS won’t let Mango Mussolini stonewall the 1/6 commission (the vote was 8-1 against, including all 3 Trump justices - more here...and of course, leave it to Almost Silent Clarence Thomas to side in favor of Combover Caligula...some interesting info IMO related to Thomas is here)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about that lunatic (which one, I know) Lauren Boebert asking Jews in the Capitol if they were conducting “reconnaissance”...I think Boebert is just too damn stoo-pid for words and yeah, she’s likely hip deep in involvement with the 1/6 insurrection and was trying to make a joke out of it...



...and this clip for the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade a couple of days ago tells us that the aforementioned U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments about a Mississippi law that would basically ban abortion before women knew they were even pregnant (in addition to organizing and speaking out - and that's true for all of us - make the people responsible for this garbage pay a price at the ballot box...and when it comes to clueless Republicans on this issue, I give you this)...



...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 1/23/14 about stuff on the ground in Mississippi at an abortion clinic, along with Wendy Davis’s filibuster of Texas’s awful anti-abortion law...yeah, women with means can get whatever they need – echoing the Now This clip – but it’s the poor women who will pay the price as usual when it comes to this issue, among others...not sure how many of these URLs are still active and I’m sure some of the people in charge have moved on, but there are bound to be a lot of ways to connect with at least some of the organizations listed at the end...



Update 2/2/22: This is a tragedy regardless of where it happens, but it's definitely a look at a post-Roe future in this country too.

...and Joy Reid discusses Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao leading the charge against the John Lewis Act, Freedom to Vote or whatever it’s called in the U.S. Senate (sorry I’m a little late with this – #MitchPlease...more here and here)...



...and David Doel tells us that Dem U.S. House Rep Jamaal Bowman was recently arrested protesting for voting rights (and I am SO GODDAMN SICK AND TIRED of hearing that Biden and the Dems “haven’t delivered for anybody” as Doel basically says – that’s bullshit! Yes, they’ve given us half a loaf I know given the failure of BBB, but WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN FROM THE OTHER SIDE??!!).

And by the way, I’ve heard similar comments from Cenk, Ana and John of TYT, which are also equally wrong. And equally infuriating!

I plan to do phone banking and/or canvassing for Democratic candidates later this year, and spreading around that garbage is DISTINCTLY UNHELPFUL to that effort. And it’s not as if Dems don’t have a lousy record overall in participating in mid-term elections...that negativity definitely drives down participation. It shouldn’t – you should just vote anyway as part of being a responsible citizen – but it definitely does.

I’ve said this a few times before, and I guess I’ll have to say it again. Movement conservatism was flat on its metaphorical back in 1964 with the rout of Barry Goldwater in the presidential election, but they regrouped and reorganized; it took them 16 years, but they were finally able to ascend with the election of The Sainted Ronnie R in 1980, to our eternal detriment (one of the tragedies is that the movement was barely hanging on that year, but Reagan totally revitalized it, though not by himself of course).

What I’m saying is that it’s going to continue to be a long, hard fight to get where we need to go. And if you’re not going to be part of that, then shut up and get the hell out of the way while we move forward without you (and by the way, A LOT MORE like this too...also this)...



...and this tune is about a year old, but it’s still relatively newer compared to other selections here...works for me and hopefully you also.