Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes speaks with Nina Jankowicz, who recently took her name from consideration as head of the Disinformation Governance Board, which sounds like a great idea from the Biden Administration (the board, that is) – probably shouldn’t be surprising to learn that in part what led her to withdraw was the very misinformation the board seeks to fight against (and I shouldn’t be surprised also that she received death threats, unfortunately, though I’m sorry she did of course...as usual, one political party wants to govern as if it's business as usual – would that we could – and the other party wants to drive the metaphorical car right off the cliff)...

...and David Doel tells us about the recent slipup of Former Commander Codpiece (and what the hell was so damn funny for those in attendance? Gee, I never thought that the millions of people who had their lives impacted and/or turned completely upside down and/or lost altogether from the Bush/Cheney war of choice in Mesopotamia was cause for a “laff riot” – gnashing my teeth as I type this...and I don’t care what anybody says; 43 is “hitting the sauce”...if that problem has come around for him again, I hope he gets help, seriously)...



...and David Pakman brings us more on Trumper nut case Doug Mastriano winning the Repug primary for governor in our beloved commonwealth (as Pakman says, not much to think about here really if you believe in democracy given how nuts Mastriano is, especially with the way he seems to abuse symbols of Jewry...nice – and once more, congratulations to Dem John Fetterman on winning the Dem U.S. Senatorial primary and Josh Shapiro on winning the Dem gubernatorial primary)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with Dave Weigel about all of the $$$ flooding primary political campaigns against progressives between this election cycle and 2020 (with most of the dough coming from AIPAC apparently, which should surprise exactly no one...interesting insights from Weigel as always based on solid reporting)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Repugs on the U.S. House Rules Committee managed to temporarily block a bill to help lower gas prices...I mean, what, do you seriously expect the “party of Lincoln” to do something on behalf of the vast majority of this country as opposed to standing pat and stoking outrage to attack Democrats? Do you seriously expect these frauds and charlatans to act constructively? And yes, I’m removing my tongue from my cheek - more here...



...and Don Winslow reminds us in this clip that Herschel Walker, the Repug running for the U.S. Senate from Georgia, is stone freaking nuts (to help Rev. Raphael Warnock, click here)...



...and Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us how short-term housing rentals (from AirBNB and other related services) are helping to create a housing crisis in this country, with corporations buying up chunks of property being partly responsible also... and $160 grand a year just to afford rent in NYC? Interesting story about what’s going on in Palm Springs, CA also (but if anybody tells Johnny Harris, I’m sure he’ll just blame NIMBY libs and leave it at that...and yes, they’re partly responsible too I’ll admit)...



...and I’m in the mood for something a little more upbeat as the week draws to a close; it’s going to be in the ‘90s temperature wise in the Bucks County, PA area this weekend, so please be careful in the heat.

Wednesday Stuff

Ana K. of TYT takes a pretty deep dive here into the manifesto, if you will, of the (alleged) Buffalo mass murderer...I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked by how matter of fact and detailed about his insanity this guy is, but it’s still a bit startling to say the least (and Cenk gives us more on the lunacy connecting this most recent gun carnage with similar related attacks, and how all of this is tied to the “great replacement theory”...and to me, the inclusion of George Soros is the slam dunk, if you will, linking the propaganda that influenced this nut right back to The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...



...and Jim Acosta of CNN opines against The Swanson TV Dinner Heir in light of the Buffalo tragedy and interviews Derrick Johnson of the NAACP (I respect Letitia James, and I think her comments are well said at the end, but even thought she’s right to criticize the wingnut opposition to “critical race theory,” or what they think that means, I’m not sure this is the right occasion to bring that up – how CRT is supposedly awful is an issue all right, but as far as I know, that never killed anybody and hopefully never will)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell connects the recent slaughter in Buffalo right back to Rupert The Pirate (God knows I get mad at Chuck Schumer, but good on him for his remarks drawing a line from our most recent gun carnage to similar attacks...and by the way, just because he’s dead, that’s no reason to forget to include Roger Ailes also, since the hateful garbage from that network bears his imprimatur also...nice job by O’Donnell to pay tribute to the victims, including this lady)...



...and John Berman of CNN speaks with Adam Kinzinger on Madison Cawthorn losing and Doug Mastriano winning the Repug gubernatorial primary contest in PA (disgusting, but not surprising), along with the Buffalo massacre (though Kinzinger’s line about not talking about The Sainted Ronnie R and “peddling in dark fear” is unintentionally hilarious since that was a big part of Reagan’s appeal (here)...also, the Repugs turned on Cawthorn because he gave away the game with this)...



...and this Now This clip tells us about wingnut U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis and her commencement address at the University of Wyoming (here); what I find at least as objectionable as her bone-headed reference to only two sexes is more ridiculous wingnut “red meat” about government deciding people’s rights instead of the Constitution, or whatever that idiocy was...oh, and did I mention that Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was beaten, tortured and died of his injuries six days later, also attended the University of Wyoming, which probably had more than a little bit to do with the reaction of those in attendance?...



...and I haven't completely left behind my reactions to the most recent mass shootings in this country (as emphasized in the prior clips), and I don't think anybody else should either, so I guess that means that I'm in the mood for this tune once more.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins brings us the story of a new study drawling a link between wealth inequality and poor health outcomes for the vast majority of this country – kind of obvious when the facts are presented this way, but of course there’s far too little corporate media reporting on this stuff, if indeed there is any reporting at all (another good video on wealth inequality appears later in this post)...



...and today is primary election day in our beloved commonwealth of PA, and with that in mind, I give you this ad introducing Ashley Ehasz, running for the PA-01 seat held by Brian Fitzpatrick.

But first, I should point out something. Given that today marks the end of PA primary season and we’ll see the volleys from the “R” party, if you will, getting particularly lowdown against the “D” party (with the primary season being different from the general election season of course in these parts), it should be pointed out that, so far, Bri-Fi has run what I would call a “Seinfeld” campaign...that is to say, about nothing. He hides from his constituents when it comes to live town halls of course, and there are signs all over the place near Le Manse Doomsy saying “Brian Fitzpatrick – One Community”...to which I say, what the bloody stinking hell does THAT mean?

And of course, there’s also an ad out there showing Bucks County DA Matt Weintraub and other police officers saying Fitzpatrick “had their backs,” or words to that effect. Maybe, but there’s no evidence whatsoever provided to back that up. Did Fitzpatrick secure some kind of funding/appropriation for law enforcement? If so, when? What’s the number of the bill that passed the U.S. House? Did the Bucks County Commissioners petition Fitzpatrick for police funding? Some actual, y’know, details about that would be nice.

Oh, and did I mention that Fitzpatrick opposed COVID relief, which in part included funding for law enforcement (here, and page 2 from here)?...

Anyway, here is the Ehasz ad...



...and speaking of exercising the universal franchise on this day, this Lincoln Project clip should have just said “Vote Democratic” at the end, but I guess that’s because these people are yesterday’s Republicans, even though they’re completely spot-on here otherwise...



...and in the latest great Second Thought video, we learn about how the NYC budget crisis of the ‘70s (and the response, or lack thereof, from President Gerald Ford) precipitated the rise of neoliberalism and privatization, particularly when it comes to maintaining Central Park (which is a great place, truly) – incredible to learn about the vicious circle of individuals trapped in the welfare-to-work cycle being forced to keep up the park for free, thus raising property values of real estate in the area and making housing even more unaffordable for the people maintaining the park...and I was a bit gobsmacked, if you will, by the water stuff in Great Britain too...



...and I’ll bet you didn’t know that there’s a cell phone provider catering specifically to treasonous insurrectionists; well, there is (courtesy of The Daily Show :-)...



...and given that it’s a beautiful spring day in these parts (and in consideration of the Second Thought clip), I feel like hearing this tune, so here it is.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen brings us this clip of Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appearing on the show once called “Faze The Nation” about a federal criminal statute for incidents of domestic terrorism (in light of the carnage in Buffalo...The Swanson TV Dinner Heir is also featured prominently, since he infamously deserves that treatment); "Mayor Pete" also talks about the need to do SOMETHING AT LONG GODDAMN LAST about the incredibly easy availability of these weapons of death such as the one used by the (alleged) Buffalo shooter (and as noted previously, there were also recent gun-related attacks in Milwaukee and Laguna Woods, CA)...



...and the utterly horrible Elise Stefanik was featured in the prior clip, and here she is quite rightly getting called out for her recent disgusting tweet about “pedo grifters”...



...and Chris Hayes and Stephanie Ruhle, to their great credit, took a pretty deep dive recently, if you will, into the story of the baby formula shortage (more is here - and sure, who cares if a bunch of dark-skinned babies starve to death as far as the wingnuts are concerned...utter monsters)...



...and David Doel tells us about Israeli security forces attacking the funeral/casket of slain Palestinian al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh...despicable for the reasons noted in the clip – I know some Israelis have recently been killed, and I definitely don’t condone the loss of life from any side, but somehow I have a feeling that there’s more anti-Palestinian stuff going on too...but I admit that I need to investigate recent developments some more (NSFW/H but for a good reason...I actually understand the argument that funerals can be used to incite attacks, though I wish to emphasize that there is NOTHING that justifies the apartheid regime of Israel either...I think that description is correct)...



..and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tells us about winguts Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing recently telling us that they think the leaker of the draft Roe opinion is a liberal SCOTUS clerk, and of course, there is no proof whatsoever to support that claim...I agree with Sam – not only was it a conservative clerk and/or activist (paging Ginni Thomas), but upon discovery of same, that person will indeed seem to disappear for a little while, then re-emerge somehow in conservative circles and be treated as a hero in the same manner as Kyle Rittenhouse...



...and on this day in 1966, the late, great Tony Joe White recorded his signature hit.

Sunday Stuff

And what would Life In These United States be like without another mass shooting, tragically – sorry that this keeps taking place, but the solution isn’t something you can fit on a bumper sticker, so, as we know, it’s beyond the attention span (to say nothing of the political will) of at least 30 percent of this country (and God knows that I want to be wrong about that, but I know I’m not – more here, here, and here)...



Update 1: Our thoroughly useless corporate media strikes again (here).

Update 2: And apparently there was a mass shooting in California (and Milwaukee) also....dear God.

...and this NBC News report tells us about yesterday’s nationwide protests in support of Roe v. Wade (here), which the SCOTUS is poised to gut shortly (and one response to Almost Silent Clarence Thomas is here - and please take note of the fact that protestors did not storm the Capitol, act in a manner that led to the deaths and injuries of individuals including Capitol police, and parade inside the Capitol building with a Confederate flag)...



...and I thought it appropriate to include this clip from The Lincoln Project as a bit of a tribute to outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki...



...and given the first video about the latest horredous incident of mass gun slaughter in this country, I suppose it's time for this tune again.