Saturday Stuff

Jordan Uhl of Rebel HQ tells us about this Michigan nut job running for state rep named Jacky Eubanks, as well as an equally crazed YouTuber interviewing her...and to me, there’s a pretty straight line from Eubanks to Doug Mastriano here in our beloved commonwealth - to help Josh Shapiro running against Mastriano, click here...



...and apparently Montana GOP guv Greg Gianforte pulled a “Cancun Cruz” and high-tailed it with his wife to Tuscany while the state he allegedly governs suffers with “once in every 500 years” type of flooding, according to this Meidas Touch clip (and to be fair, Gianforte did apologize for attacking the reporter, which was the least he could do)...



...and I think I also linked to this a day or so ago, but Rachel Maddow speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep Mikie Sherrill, who says that there were tours given by more Repug U.S. House reps besides that one by Barry Loudermilk of Georgia (here)...



...and this Channel 4 news report brings us more on Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy meeting with Olaf Scholz of Germany, Italy’s Mario Draghi and Emmanuel Macron of France, as well as Ukrainian refugees fleeing – Lesia Vasylenko of Ukraine’s parliament is interviewed (“abnormal has become the new normal” indeed...and for the theater of the absurd on this story, I give you this)...



...and Thom Hartmann speaks with Greg Palast on New Mexico’s refusal to certify their primary election results and why we should care (and good for Thom to bring up John C. Calhoun from 1836 and the "nullification crisis"...all of this election-related garbage and more stems ultimately from that)...

...and by the way, happy 80th birthday to Sir Paul.

Friday Stuff

David Pakman has the scoop on Ginni Thomas’s involvement with the 1/6 insurrection, which has come out courtesy of the U.S. House commission headed by Dem Bennie Thompson (some of this has already been reported of course, particularly with the Arizona electors, but the stuff with John Eastman is fairly new based on reporting in the WaPo)...



...and Trae Crowder gives us his take on some of the reporting of the insurrection involving Trump VP Mike Pence, who is not be trusted or commended as far as I’m concerned for DOING THE VERY THING HE SHOULD HAVE DONE AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL AND THAT IS TO PRESERVE DEMOCRACY (though I have to admit that, in a related vein, this is unsettling - nothing against Bob Cesca...NSFW/H)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell interviews historian Michael Beschloss (who also says not to give Pence too much credit) and Supreme Court expert (and I think that’s truly a deserved statement in her case) Dahlia Lithwick on the threat exposed by the 1/6 commission hearings (and yeah...keep piling onto "Almost Silent" Clarence Thomas - if the national Democratic Party actually had a freaking spine, they would be DEMANDING that Thomas either recuse himself from any cases related to 1/6 or resign from the SCOTUS bench)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that it looks like Herschel Walker has more kids than we knew about and is actually a deadbeat dad, despite his protestations to the contrary... yep, do as I say, not as I do all right (to help Dem incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, click here)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about 73-year-old Peter Jackson getting beaten up by Republicans at a “meet and greet” in Arizona for wearing a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt and a “Jail Trump” hat, with Repug U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters joining in of course...yeah, in addition to acting like intolerant brown shirts, these idiot Republicans likely bought themselves one sweet lawsuit, which they completely deserve (to help Dem incumbent Senator Mark Kelly, click here)...



...and happy 35th birthday to rapper Kendrick Lamar (very NSFW/H).

Thursday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us about Repug Georgia U.S. House Rep Barry Loudermilk and the little tour inside the Capitol that he gave to at least one insurrectionist who sharpened a flagpole that I’m totally sure that he was NOT going to use to impale Dem U.S. House Rep Jerry Nadler (yes, I’m being sarcastic, since I’m sure that’s EXACTLY what that lunatic wanted to do...and apparently, based on this, Loudermilk had company...and yeah, one of Maddow’s good points in this clip is WHY THE HELL DID THE CAPITOL POLICE APPARENTLY ACT LIKE THIS THREAT WASN’T A BIG DEAL??!!)...



...and Victor Blackwell of CNN speaks with media critic Bill Carter on Fix Noise’s belated decision to air the 1/6 hearings after all...



...and speaking of cable news stations, this TYT report with Cenk, John and David Shuster in particular explains how those stations are the biggest benefactors of campaign dollars (via ads) and the biggest opponents of campaign finance reform...I’m not unsympathetic to the argument about preserving jobs in the newsroom, but I personally don’t think that outweighs the screaming need to get all of the damn dirty money from people paying for these ads out of our political campaigns...



...and Farron Cousins brings us survey results telling us that, yeah, those polled want the Dems and President Biden to go after these price-gouging criminals trying to “make bank” at our expense and using inflation as an excuse (bless those people in Wisconsin and Arizona...and I definitely think this is food for thought on that score)...



...and Robert Reich tells us about 3 executive orders Biden could sign right now to support the U.S. workforce, and unions in particular...



...and happy 80th birthday to Eddie Levert of The O’Jays...I had this tune in mind for the TYT clip in particular (and those price-gouging energy criminals I linked to with the Cousins clip).

Tuesday Stuff (updates)

(Pic comes from this, by the way.)

Farron Cousins tells us that that disgusting Republican harpy in the U.S. House from Colorado recently wished for President Biden’s days to “be few”; I give Cousins credit for reporting on this pretty objectively, but I’m not willing to cut Lauren Boebert an inch of slack on this one...I’m more inclined to think she was talking about this (as noted here)...

And of course, it’s absolutely laughable for Boebert to fancy herself as anyone who has any right whatsoever to talk about spiritual matters (especially in light of this).

Anyway, here is the Cousins clip...



Update: I have to admit that I'm not surprised by this. However, I am repulsed by it.

Update 1 6/15/22: Yeah, I probably should have realized that that story was fake (here), but given what Boebert routinely says about our side, I'm not going to sweat it too much.

Update 2 6/15/22: And a lot of my ambivalence has to do with nonsense exactly like this.

...and speaking of treasonous U.S. House Republicans, this clip from TYT Investigates tells us about Andy Biggs from Arizona, who, in an effort to deflect from asking for a pardon from President Fergus Laing, is now complaining about the size of tortillas...just say “oops” and get out...and I mean that literally in Biggs’ case (oh, but “Curtsy Kyrsten” LOVES Biggs, doesn’t she? And when it comes to the claim about Hangin’ Judge JR and Trump’s second impeachment, I give you this.).

Indeed, every accusation is a confession...



...and it looks like the 1/6 Commission pretty much laid bare the totally unrestrained grift of the administration of Cult 45, to the tune of a quarter mil, as noted in this Lincoln Project clip...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report give us their take on the recent alleged gun deal that the Senate is hinting at passing (with Dem Chris Murphy of Connecticut talking about it on “Morning Jo(ke)”...again, not blaming Murphy since he’s doing his best, but given the stakes here, this is really weak sauce)...



Update 3 6/15/22: I purposely didn't say much about Chris Jacobs in the prior clip because I was saving it for this.

...and I admit that I’m a bit behind on this item, but I wanted to mention it anyway, as it has to do with the Dave Weigel/Felicia Sonmez dustup at the WaPo over Weigel forwarding what was definitely a bad joke via Twitter, though I think Weigel made amends for it every way he could – I usually try to avoid online media stuff like this, but I honestly thought this story was instructive for the reasons pointed out primarily by Ana and Cenk, and also David Shuster, who did indeed make his name with Whitewater many years ago – God, Sonmez MADE IT by getting a big media job with the WaPo, and she basically burned it all down, and for what?...



Update 6/19/22: I swear to God, Maher is nothing but a troll at this point (here). He should just do us all a favor and retire.

...and this day has some sentimental importance for yours truly, so I think it’s apropos to include this tune.

Monday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on inflation and gas prices...yeah, I know the inflation news over the summer hasn’t been good, driven by the price of fuel...I’m old enough to remember gas rationing in the ‘70s, and hopefully we won’t see that again of course...and I thought Beau did a good job of tying high gas prices back to food costs from the drought in CA, to say nothing of the war in Ukraine...and I knew Beau would also tie this back to Biden’s really good job creation numbers, which I think is an important consideration also – of course, the usual suspects are piling on as only they can (here – and Art Laffer is to economics what Mehmet Oz is to medicine)...



...and Trevor Noah and Roy Wood, Jr. of “The Daily Show” bring us some fairly recent headlines focusing on the latest gun idiocy, gas prices also, “lonely white dudes,” etc (very mildly NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of guns, it looks like “the world’s greatest deliberative body” may have some really weak compromise of a deal coming up...but first, they have to play this Beltway/media/political kabuki BS of “well, maybe we have a framework that Repugs will accept...but oh no, one of the 10 who are supposedly on board may not accept it, to say nothing of Manchinema of course” and then this whole alleged compromise deal could go up in flames...just talk to me when you’ve actually signed off on something, OK (more here...and David Doel give us more in the next clip).

Sooo, now that this half-assed gun bill looks like it may pass the Senate, I’m sure Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is going to “turn it up to 11” when it comes to bitching about a bill to protect “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and the other SCOTUS justices.

Well, here is what I also want to see in the bill for the Senate Minority Leader:

A ban on guns brought into any chamber of governance on the federal, state and local level, as well as any court or judicial office. Anyone caught in violation would receive an automatic 20-year federal prison sentence. Also, anyone bringing such a weapon into a range of 1,000 feet from said official would be subject to the same penalty (such as in an open public forum including a supermarket or a street corner).

The same automatic sentence for anyone issuing any kind of a terroristic threat against a judge or official of government on the federal, state and local level, or anyone using a firearm for that purpose against a judge or a public official (aimed primarily at those troglodytes who tried to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others in her administration).

The same automatic sentence for anyone constructing any kind of means to communicate a terroristic threat or using social media or any other kinds of methods of communication to issue such a threat (this goes out to those brainless wonders who constructed a scaffold on 1/6 at the same time as the chant of “hang Mike Pence” was proclaimed inside the U.S. Capitol).

The seizure of any kind of mass communication equipment and the impounding of all records including financial transactions originating from such a group as noted above (destruction of any records pursuant to such an investigation would also be punishable with the same 20-year federal sentence).

The automatic sentencing of anyone associated with such a group to the same 20-year term (even if they aren’t members) who are found to be acting in concert with them to achieve a terroristic threat against a public official (an excuse to put Steve Bannon in irons and dumped into a cell at long last...and hey, if we manage to nab The Swanson TV Dinner Heir too, I’d call that a win-win).

So with that pretext out of the way, here is the Doel clip...



Update 6/17/22: Yep, this is about what I figured (God, how tiresome this script is!).

..and turning to the 1/6 Committee hearings (and the second one is apparently taking place now), Ari Melber talks about committee chair Bennie Thompson reminding us that the military, members of Congress and the president have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies “foreign and domestic,” which arose in the aftermath of the Civil War (Melber discusses this with Michael Beschloss and Chai Komanduri...and GREAT POINT by Komanduri to mention Iran-Contra...and “I hope people are listening” too, but if 20 million saw the first hearing, that fortunately is a good sign)...



...and related to the 1/6 Committee and Liz Cheney’s claim that members of Congress sought a pardon from Combover Caligula...yeah, AOC's right...the only question a Republican lawmaker in Congress should be asked is if they sought a pardon from the Gropenfuhrer for their activities related to 1/6...and actually, their answer should be admissible as evidence in the hearings (Brian Tyler Cohen tells us more)...



...and continuing with the theme of trying to undo the will of the majority of the voters in 2020, Adrienne Lawrence of TYT Overruled talks about Ginni Thomas’s communication with Mark Meadows and the 27 Arizona lawmakers in an effort to get the 2020 election overturned (more here)...



...and John and Jessica Burbank of The Damage Report bring us the news of the Tampa Bay Rays trying to put pride logos on their unis (for Pride Month) with 5 Rays players who didn’t want to go along with it...I think those 5 were wrong, but I’m not going to go crazy over it (and I thought the logos looked cool also)...



...and here's an upbeat little seasonal number to help get us through a case of "the Mondays."