Saturday Stuff (updates)

(Thanks to @JamesTate121 on Twitter for the pic.)

David Doel tells us all about the reporting (I hesitate to use the word “bombshell,” but in this case I think it applies) on Ginni Thomas texting Mark Meadows to overturn the election and potentially imprison Joe Biden off GITMO (which is turning the cray-cray meter up to 11 as far as yours truly is concerned)...as a result, congressional Dems should look at EVERY RULING affecting the Trump White House in which Almost Silent Clarence Thomas was involved and, if there’s enough of a body of evidence in which Thomas sided with the Gropenfuhrer, call for Thomas’s impeachment on grounds of conflict of interest (and yeah, I know what the realistic probability is of that actually happening...and once more, Ilhan Omar shows some guts on a vitally important issue)...



Update 3/28/22: Another GREAT history lesson from Thom Hartmann very much related to this matter (here)...

Update 3/29/22: If Abe Fortas could be driven from the High Court over an alleged financial impropriety in the amount of $15K, then Thomas should get the same treatment for this.

...and John and Adrienne Lawrence discuss AOC calling out #MaseratiManchin and the Dems and others who coddle him (good luck not flying into the air and landing on your back after you try kicking the football but miss because it’s yanked away from you, John...and I'm not going to trust Manchin to vote Yes on confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson to the SCOTUS either until Manchin actually does it)...



...and Ana of TYT wonders (along with a hell of a lot of other people) why Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg dropped charges against Former President Fergus Laing, who is guilty of multiple felonies according to a Manhattan prosecutor under Bragg who resigned (Ana killing it going solo again)...



...and longtime climate activist Bill McKibben tells us what’s really going on with higher gas prices (really interesting stuff about the smarmy relationship between Putin and international dirty energy industry executives; these people are irredeemable scum IMO, particularly for their ridiculous stock buybacks and refusal to lower gas prices and drill on leases that have already been approved, but I wouldn’t go so far as McKibben seems to do here and blame these criminals for the war in UIkraine...that’s on Vlad the Butcher and nobody else)...



...and the latest Second Thought video tells us how fascists are taking advantage of climate change...among the many great points in this clip is the discussion of the intersection of eco-fascism by people like Marine Le Pen (“yeah, I’m ‘green’ all right, but that means that I want to keep out the scary ‘other’ to maintain my imaginary environmental ‘cred’”) and eco-nationalism (“Build That Wall”) – the last 4 minutes or so of this about the failure of neoliberalism to respond to the climate crisis should be viewed by everyone and used as an excuse to try and effect meaningful political change, as admittedly hard as that is...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Reginald Kenneth Dwight – hope it was a good one ("Rocketman" was a terrific biopic, by the way).

Friday Stuff (update)

It looks like Cancun Cruz hit a new level of rock bottom this week at the hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson to be (hopefully) confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, looking up himself on Google apparently to see how many hits he got for his typically idiotic escapade against the most worthy nominee to appear before “the world’s greatest deliberative body” in quite a while (David Doel explains... and I would have more respect for Ben Sasse if he hadn’t voted against aid for Ukraine)...

Update 3/27/22: And apparently sales of this book are through the roof after Cruz's antics - nice (kid is adorable too).

...and this Don Winslow video reminds us what a gutless worm Cruz truly is – If someone told me that my family and I had to up and relocate to Texas, I would seriously have to look at emigrating to Canada (though I’m sure Austin is pretty nice)...definitely don’t want any parts of a state that thinks people like Cruz, Cornyn, Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton are the type of people who should serve in public office...



...and Trae Crowder gives us his NSFW/H commentary on the U.S. Senate Repugs (including Cancun Ted) trying to derail Ketanji Brown Jackson from being confirmed to the Supreme Court...



...and turning to Vlad The Butcher and the carnage he has inflicted in Ukraine, Francesca and David Shuster tell us, among other things, that President Biden has said that the U.S. will accept 100K refugees...and yeah, I’m sure we could do better (along with a discussion about sanctions and potential future developments in the ongoing tragedy inflicted by Russia – among the many galling failures by our utterly bought-and-paid-for corporate media is their almost complete and utter refusal to hold those 8 Republican U.S. senators to account who travelled to Moscow on July 4th, 2018)...



...and Jayar Jackson and Michael Shure of Rebel HQ tell us that Repug senatorial idiot Mike Braun in Indiana recently talked about making mixed marriage illegal (re, the Loving ruling), and basically Griswold on privacy also...yep, saying the quiet part out loud for sure (what century is this again? And yeah, when you hear a wingnut say anything along the lines of “letting the states decide,” rest assured that that’s code language for “make it illegal”...interesting to mention Joe Donnelly by Shure and what can happen when you primary a Dem; of course, I don’t know anybody who opposed economic populism, and I also don’t know how much Donnelly embraced that or not...kind of academic at this point I know, sadly...more here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report give us that great video from Kentucky senator Karen Berg giving it to the white men in charge of state government who think they have the right to pass anti-abortion bans (15 weeks pertaining to women’s health care...pretty bleeping barbaric all right)...



...and on the subject of powerful, important women (still a few days left in March), RIP Madeleine Albright, the first woman Secretary of State (a tribute from Mrs. Greenspan follows)...



...and here’s a tune to kick-start what I hope is a good weekend for us all; apparently the thermometer is going to take a bit of a dive in these parts.

Wednesday Stuff

Sam and Emma of The Majority Report talk about Dem U.S. Senator Dick Durbin giving Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson a chance to respond to that beyond ridiculous tweet thread from Josh Hawley that he vomited out alleging the Repug evergreen charge that the judge is somehow “soft on crime”...GREAT point to contrast the way Judge Jackson is being treated with the antics of “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh...and here is my reminder that this DEFINITELY WOULD NOT EVEN BE HAPPENING if it weren’t for the people of Georgia who voted out their Republican senators, which of course is why the “party of Lincoln” is working soooo hard to take away the franchise from voters who would use it to make a difference, in a good way I mean...



..and Chris Hayes speaks with Elie Mystal and Melissa Murray on the nonsensical GOP line of questioning/attacks on Judge Brown Jackson (including Cancun Cruz and that kids’s pop-up book, or whatever that idiocy was)...



Update 3/31/22: Yeah, you go for it on Judge Brown Jackson, wingnuts - the country is united behind you in opposition...suuuure (here).

...and isn’t it funny how the “party of Lincoln” is so up in arms when they think kids are getting indoctrinated into an ideology the wingnuts don’t like, but are so willing to do it to further their own agenda (yeah I know – water wet, sky blue...)...



...and on the subject of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine, Mehdi Hasan calls out media bias here in favor of MOOAAARRR WAAAARRRR...this is a little tricky because, though I think there is a pro-war bias on “the cables,” I’m not sure that there are good peaceful options with Vlad The Butcher, though believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong (good job by David Doel to bring up the Phil Donahue MSNBC garbage while Bushco was ramping up for Iraq War II in ’03...that network hated liberals/progressives until they started making $$$ off K.O., Rachel Maddow, etc.)...



...and in a related vein, David Pakman discusses the recent beyond-bonkers Lara Logan interview spouting pro-Putin apologia basically (wacky for all of the reasons Pakman notes here...yes, I think Logan needs help and what happened to her was awful, but that doesn’t excuse such through-the-looking-glass commentary)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Repugs have filed about 240 anti-LGBTQ bills so far in under 3 months (and 670 since 2018...as usual, it’s “jobs, jobs, jobs” for Not Your Father’s Republican Party...and yes, this is nothing but a ploy to drive 2022 turnout later this year as Cousins says, and if a few trans kids get harmed in the process later...well, that’s just a big “meh” as far the “R” party is concerned...more here)...



...and some Daily Wire idiot calls out Greta Thunberg on Tucker’s Fox Nation show in this clip, blaming Thunberg’s Asperger’s condition for her climate activism (with Ana and Cenk...awesome for Ana to “follow the money”...yeah, such big strong “men” to attack a teenage girl...what LARPing soy sad sack clowns Tuckums and this other numbskull both are)...



...and speaking of the water and the environment, yesterday was World Water Day (hat tip to our awesome PA state rep Perry Warren for that piece of info...made me recall this tune).

Tuesday Stuff

Jayar Jackson and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tell us all about Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and the “lonely voices” supporting Vlad The Butcher and his incursion on Ukraine (and the pic in this post includes 31 other “lonely voices” in the GOP/Russia “quisling caucus”)...



...and speaking of Vlad The Butcher and his war in Ukraine, this CBC report tells us about the attack on the shopping mall in Mariupol and how Poland is handling an influx of refugees (and kudos to the brave people of Ukraine for telling Putin what he can do with his ultimatum against that besieged city)...



...and I thought this was a pretty good synopsis from Beau on the war so far (particularly what Russia has to do if they think they’re going to actually win this, assuming that’s even possible – and hopefully not)...



...and to be fair to the “other side,” David Doel tells us about Russians victimized by “cancel culture” for real including Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space who (last I checked) had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with Vlad The Butcher’s horrible Ukraine incursion...



...and it appears that the despicable antics of the “party of Lincoln” in the U.S. Senate are proceeding apace in the SCOTUS confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (with Tail Gunner Ted, #MoscowMarsha, etc.), and the sickening tone for that was set by the thoroughly execrable (and treasonous) Josh Hawley with his awful tweet thread (more here)...Ana and Aida Rodriguez of TYT tell us about it...



...and I’m continuing my salute to artists who’ve said no to Spotify over the Joe Rogan anti-vax business (well, for a little while longer anyway) with this number from Neil Young, for all of the Door Dash, Grub Hub and Uber Eats drivers out there.

Monday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us about a subsidiary of Chucky Koch’s which refuses to leave Russia, because of course, especially considering that his father had a history of building refineries in that country (family came to despise communism all the same for what it’s worth)...



...and I haven’t seen Cenk of TYT this PO’ed in a long time, and I think he’s completely correct to go off on a leader (unfortunately, given the hateful anti-gay garbage this guy is spreading... not Cenk of course) of the Russian Orthodox church (more here)...I don’t think the answer is to ban religion as Cenk says, but people like this POS need to be held accountable for sure...and I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but I would also chastise “faith leaders” in this country such as the person who gave ashes to Joe Manchin on Ash Wednesday, given the fact that Manchin’s disgusting opposition to the child tax credit put 4 million kids into poverty...glad Cenk calls out that wretched National Prayer Breakfast here too, and a pox for sure on Republicans and plenty of Dems who participate in that also...



...and the latest Second Thought video tells us why “neither right nor left” is right-wing – definitely applies to “No Labels” as far as yours truly is concerned; interesting look at "Bonapartism" (the real payoff here IMO was at about 14:31)...



...and Caroline Johnson of Rebel HQ brings us voter intimidation caught on tape in Otero County, New Mexico (I think Merrick Garland at the DOJ needs to appoint somebody just to look at the garbage related to voting all over this country for potential illegality and referring charges to a grand jury if need be, and I’d love to see Doug Jones in charge of something like that)...



...and as a bit of a follow-up, this Now This clip tells us about voting rights under attack 57 years after the “Bloody Sunday” protests on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama (backgrounder is here)...



...and John and Kyla Frank of The Damage Report tell us about Congress profiting from weapons we’re sending to Ukraine (by virtue of stock price increases with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon which is going through the roof, bitches...oh, and MTG shrieked about “profit over peace” when she’s one of the life forms in Congress cleaning up – wondering if the stunning financial fraud will register with her lizard-brained followers? Not holding out a lot of hope on that – to do something about that loon from The Peach State, click here)...



...and how about if we stay below that Mason Dixon line for this report of South Carolina deciding to bring back firing squads (that state, by the way, is #42 on this list of the 50 U.S. states across a wide range of measures, including health care accessibility, educational opportunity, economy, quality of infrastructure, fiscal stability, etc. – of course, trying to address these issues might slow down the flow of people in poverty primarily being the ones cycling in and out of their corrections system, and we can’t have that, now can we?)...



...and consider this my periodic reminder that we all need some help from time to time, and please reach out if you need to do so (this can help).