I couldn’t let the week come to an end without noting that beyond-ridiculous presser where Repug FLA guv Ron #DeathSantis basically blamed anyone remotely connected to the Democratic Party in any way whatsoever for the recent neo-Nazi uprising in “the land of the mouse” – yep, #DeathSantis has bigger political aspirations all right, and it apparently doesn’t matter to him how many dead bodies it takes from COVID or other stuff to achieve his foul ends (more here...and best to Rachel Maddow over her recent COVID exposure, though I guess she's on a hiatus now tied to her book)...
Update: And this sure figures, doesn't it (and just add it to the laundry list of reasons why "Almost Silent" Clarence Thomas on the SCOTUS should be impeached...and Gorsuch is on shaky ground also).
...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ brings us more on those disgusting idiots in “the sunshine state”...like many of you I’m sure, my father gave up a big part of his youth serving this country in Europe during WWII, and he saw combat at the Battle of the Bulge against the forces these Florida lunatics claim to admire...if the people in this video besides Ojeda ever saw combat for real, they’d likely wet their pants and run to the nearest hidey hole...
...and the latest video from Second Thought tells us how trying to condition us to manage our carbon footprint, as it were, is a scam...not saying there aren’t roles all of us can play in the battle against climate change individually, but his point (one of them anyway) is that collective action is our best shot to try and reverse the damage, though I honestly wonder what we can do at this point because of years of apathy and inaction tied to propaganda mainly (but not exclusively) from right-wing think tanks...we still have to try as best we can, though (“It is infinitely more profitable to pollute than to be sustainable”...sad but true)...
...and David Doel gives us his take on Jeff Zucker leaving CNN...I really don’t give a fig about Zucker one way or the other, to be honest...good points from David Doel about Zucker and Mango Mussolini, sadly (spot-on also about turning policy that matters to actual human beings into “info-tainment” pretty much, along with normalizing Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence)...
...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about Fix and Fiends doing the “happy dance” over anticipated bad job numbers from the Biden Administration, though of course they turned out to be completely wrong (oh, and “Build Back Better” is such a “laff riot”...ha ha – assholes...I’m inclined to believe John in that you can’t really pin down ANY president completely when it comes to job creation, even though trends are what matters IMO and Democratic presidents definitely do better than Republican ones when it comes to job creation as noted here...If Steve Douchebag and his pals had just reported it straight...which I’m sure is utterly impossible for them...I would have just left it there too, but of course, in their efforts to make EVERYTHING tribal and political, they ended up doing a major pratfall on the metaphorical banana peel, so they deserve all of the ridicule they get...more, actually...and let's not forget this too)...
...and here's another tune featuring a performer saying no to Spotify in response to Joe Rogan.
Farron Cousins tells us about some idiot Oklahoma state lawmaker (do I even need to mention the political party?) who wants to ban and/or fire teachers who teach anything contrary to religious belief, including biology of course...OK then, you know what? If kids from the affected schools apply to colleges, automatically invalidate their applications...a shame to have anyone besides the idiot politicians pay the price, but if the parents can go nuts about “CRT” at school board meetings, then they can go nuts over ridiculous laws like this too (more here)...
...and speaking of idiot Republicans, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about news anchor Errol Lewis interviewing this U.S. House rep from Staten Island named Nicole Malliotakis and giving her the treatment she deserves on her vote against the 1/6 committee investigating the insurrection (oh, and did I mention that Malliotakis is another one of these Repug U.S. House wingnuts trying to take credit for the economic relief package she voted AGAINST, as noted here??)...
...and I’m kind of hot-and-cold on Chris Cillizza of CNN to tell you the truth, but he has a good video here IMO on the claim that athletes are supposedly dropping dead from the COVID vaccine, dutifully parroted by that idiot RoJo in the U.S. Senate...
...and Thom Hartmann, as he so often does, gives us some important historical context on presidential misbehavior and how that ends us as a precedent for other bad (and quite probably illegal) behavior from future bad actors...
...and John and Michael Shure of The Damage Report tell us about UCLA averting a potential mass shooting in the context of threats against HBCUs, just in time for Black History Month of course...sorry UCLA had to cancel classes, but it was the prudent thing to do under the circumstances (just chalk it up to Life In These United States, Part The Infinity as Charlie Pierce might say)...
...and here's a nod to a few folks saying no to Spotify as a protest against the COVID propaganda from Joe Rogan, as noted here (with a song written by Joni Mitchell, who has also joined the boycott of course).
Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about the billionaire tears of Leon Cooperman, tied to a recent puff piece in the WaPo (cue the world’s tiniest violin – more is here about Cooperman having a hissy fit over the stuff about Gamestop artificially inflating their market valuation from about a year ago...oh, and I’m sure a bunch of hackers came up with that concept all on their own, right?)...
...and under the heading of Capitalist Exploitation 101, I give you this from More Perfect Union about Roark Capital’s treatment of workers of the Inspire Brands family of companies, in particular the Cheesecake Factory (the wretched status quo defended by Cooperman and his pals – this tells us about the most recent financial wrangling between Roark and The Cheesecake Factory FWIW)...
...and Robert Reich tells us about the 5 ways your employer may be exploiting you (and yeah, I can relate to the whole “exempt from overtime” thing)...
...and given the prior clips in this video, this is little more than ridiculous comic relief... Baby Ben Shapiro (or, excuse me...”Mr. Shapiro”) tries to look intelligent in front of school kids when talking about business, taxes, and government (Sam and Emma or The Majority Report tell us about it)...
...and turning to “the thin blue line,” David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about subway-riding cops in NYC almost entirely flouting the COVID mask mandate – and yes, I get it that they came from a funeral for a colleague killed in action (and all support to the slain officer’s family and friends), but that doesn’t let them off the hook (doesn’t exactly jibe with the whole “to protect and to serve” thing, now does it?)...
...and Mehdi Hasan had a clip from about 10 days ago about all of the garbage that local election officials all over the country have had to put up with from the Trumpist lunatics out there, with the focus on Georgia...in these parts, the Bucks County Courier Times recently had a pg. 1 article above the fold on PA election officials quitting in droves...can’t get to the article now of course... gee, maybe our thoroughly useless bought-and-paid-for corporate media should PAY FREAKING ATTENTION to all of the ways #45 and the “party of Lincoln” are trying to utterly wreck our elections, including this item...from what I read, the ruling will likely be overturned on appeal, but the fact that mail-in voting was blocked in PA at all is completely disgusting...IMO, we need a FEDERAL LAW with teeth to protect elections officials as well as people working on school boards as well as school officials from being harassed or doxed, and that goes for their family members too...like a lot of you I’m sure, I’ve bene watching this play out since Mango Mussolini ascended to power, and to say I’M FED UP WITH IT is as big of an understatement as you can possibly imagine (or if we have existing laws, they definitely need to be strengthened)...
...and Stephen Colbert tells us the latest about Black History Month in the context of the latest garbage inspired by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule; I was never big on the BHM concept, not because I don’t think the contributions of African Americans should be recognized and celebrated, but because we shouldn’t designate a single month to it as if to say “well, we fulfilled our obligation, so that lets us off the hook now” (and this tells us about corporations claiming to support Black History Month but also giving $$ to politicians trying to block voting reform, which would greatly benefit African Americans as well as others)...
...and I'm not sure if I've ever included a video for a tune here with somebody in a bathtub...what will those crazy kids think of next :-).
Beau of the Fifth Column leads off with an analysis of that flesh lump Thomas Massie, Repug U.S. House Rep of Kentucky, and his attempt to sound profound with what he apparently thought was a quote from Voltaire...just say “oops” and get out (here)...
...and every once in a while, I think we need to hold up a bit of a mirror to these life forms who support Our Traitorous Orange Pestilence, and David Shuster tries to reach these characters with the reality perspective (oh, and in response to that woman saying you couldn’t submit absentee ballots in PA after election day in 2020, I offer this response)...
...and David Doel tells us about the Washington state trooper who apparently told Dem Gov Jay Inslee to kiss his ass over a vax mandate but then dies of...wait for it...COVID (mildly NSFW/H...God, the line on that graph for U.S. cases is just going straight up...un-freaking-believable - more here)...
...and John and Francesca tell us about the latest ranting from Combover Caligula in Texas last weekend, including his promise to pardon those responsible for 1/6 if he were returned to the presidency (as if any syllable that oozes out of his pie hole should be treated as anything remotely resembling the truth)...45 should be in prison awaiting trial on charges of treason and inciting an insurrection...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that, because of his obstruction, #MaseratiManchin sure is popular among Republican donors these days – figures (and I’m sorry if I sound like a snotty lib, but I can’t imagine what the f*ck is wrong with the people in West Virginia who support this criminal – I know, if not for Manchin, it would be an “R” seat, but it’s practically that anyway...more on Ken Langone is here)...
...and I know I featured tunes recently from Neil Young and Nils Lofgren, part of the trio boycotting Spotify (as far as I know, Peter Frampton's tunes are still on the service), but I hadn't included anything from Joni Mitchell, so I'd like to make amends for that here.
Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about more propaganda from The Roger Ailes BS Factory, in which one of their “news personalities” gives away the game when it comes to Republican obstruction, this time on Biden’s infrastructure bill (mildly NSFW/H – and when it comes to the PA bridge collapse picture here, we should definitely keep this in mind)...
...and the latest video from Second Thought tells us How Capitalism Destroys Radical Movements (and I have to admit that I didn't know about the BLM and Muriel Bowser stuff...and yeah, she deserved to be called out for that)...the discussion about Guy Debord in France, in particular about the mass media and consumer culture, made me think about this book, which I read many moons ago (and I’ll probably do more research into the concept of “recuperation” for what it’s worth)...
...and sticking with the economy, Ana of TYT gives us a rare bit of good news related to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, in particular a ruling that people can still sue over predatory behavior tied to their retirement accounts...
...and I know I feature an awful lot of “culture war” idiocy from the wingnuts, but this is a bit of egg-headed behavior IMO from our side, and it has to do with the decision by the school board for the Mukilteo (Washington state) school district to remove Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird from the required reading list – fortunately the book isn’t being banned, thank God...actually, my gripe here is probably more with the parents than the board, which is probably caught in a “no win” situation (and no, I’m not African American and I don’t share that “lived experience” either, but I don’t think that demeans Lee’s work in any way – more here)...
...and RIP Howard Hesseman (alias Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati)...
...and I have to admit that I was a little irritated by the Chris Hayes clip that follows, and I’ll explain why – I’m not taking issue with the Gallup poll he presents here about how 67 percent of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of Biden and the economy (with many polled saying it doesn’t “feel” right because of inflation and people leaving their jobs), even though the economy has indeed grown at its fastest rate since 1984 as noted here.
I should point out that I saw this clip on Hayes’s program, and he led off by talking about the “Dean scream” (more here – of course, given how The Comcast Network hacks their video clips to pieces, I’m not surprised that it wasn’t included in the segment below). The “Dean scream” (related to the failed 2004 presidential campaign of then-Vermont Dem Governor Howard Dean) was a thoroughly manufactured BS “story” that barely anybody cared about back when it happened, and I can assure you that NOBODY cares about it now.
Hayes also includes in the clip that completely propagandistic “Morning in America” ad for The Sainted Ronnie R. Yeah, it’s pretty slick, manufactured by Reagan’s image makers. However, if you want some actual reality on what was going on at the time, please allow me to present the following from this book:
“Their lives (the lives of workers and their families) have been shattered by a new depression – the Carter depression. The Carter depression was created and molded by Carter himself.” (NYT – 8/28/80)
Whatever Carter did mold it was not a depression, or at least not according to Reagan’s own economic advisors. Alan Greenspan said, “I wouldn’t have used that term.” Martin Anderson pointed out that most economists believed the nation to be in “a very severe recession.” Anderson and his aides then went so far as to issue a clarification stating that “the Republican presidential nominee was not using the word “depression” the way most economists do.” Oh.
“Real earnings are at last increasing for the first time in quite a while.” (5/16/82)
Try decreasing. The Labor Department reported that in June 1982 real average weekly earnings for American workers declined 1.2%.
“For four quarters we have seen a growth in the GNP.” (9/28/82)
Inflation-adjusted GNP had been declining for two of the four quarters under discussion.
“History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people’s income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government...When it reaches 25% there comes an increase in lawlessness.” (Time, 4/14/80)
History shows no such thing. Income tax rates in Europe have traditionally been far higher than U.S. rates, while European crime rates have been much lower.
“As a matter of fact, if anyone wants to look closely, our original tax plan did not contain the reduction of the 70% bracket. That was suggested by the Democrats.” (11/12/81)
No it wasn’t. The original Reagan tax plan called for a lowering of the top rates from 70% to 50%, to be phased in over a period of three years. As (former Reagan Office of Management and Budget director) David Stockman so memorably explained, “Kemp-Roth (the original GOP tax reduction proposal) was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.”
“I would like to have them (the critics of his tax plan) give a specific on where this is a budget for the rich. The bulk of the personal income tax cut goes right across from the lower income to middle America.” (2/8/82)
Well, here are some specifics. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 35.1% of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 5% of the taxpayers. The National Journal, using CBO and Census Bureau information, estimated that, had the 1983 tax cuts gone into effect in 1981, they would have taken $1.2 billion from the poorest fifth of the income spectrum and added $36 billion to the incomes of the richest fifth.
If you want to read more related information, please click here. And yes, you can blame Former President Carter for the economy Reagan inherited a bit, but here is more context on that discussion.
However, I think what made me PO’ed the most about Hayes’s clip is that he totally absolves his own profession when it comes to any negativity surrounding the economic recovery taking place on Biden’s watch. And with that in mind, I give you this, as well as this from Eric Boehlert (this also, and this).
And here is more of what I'm talking about:
(By the way, I don't have a clue as to what the "Big Mac" Test is, and I assure you that I don't care.)
Am I saying that you shouldn’t hold Biden to account on the economy or anything else? Of course not. I for one would have liked to see him move on student debt relief and federally decriminalizing pot long before now. All I’m saying is that, if you want to hold Biden’s feet to the metaphorical fire, do it on substantive issues and not just manufactured perception BS.
Anyway, here is the Hayes clip (and I don’t know who he interviewed next – I have to admit that I was so disgusted by the lead-in to the interview that I turned off his program...this is disappointing because Hayes definitely knows better and should tell the story straight)...
Update 1 2/1/22: Yeah, I would call this a bit of insight into this issue (this too, based on this).
Update 2 2/1/22: And I would say that this speaks volumes too.
Update 2/5/22: It would actually be funny if it weren't so damn pathetic (here).
...and David Doel tells us that Spotify has lost billions in its confrontation with Neil Young (now joined by Joni Mitchell) over Joe Rogan (and to be fair, Young has said that he doesn’t approve of censorship – related to Rogan - but he just doesn’t want to be associated with an online service spreading COVID misinformation)...
...and as noted previously, Nils Lofgren has joined Young and Mitchell, so I’ll add some of his tunes to my impromptu playlist also.
