Friday Stuff

Thom Hartmann reminds us that the U.S. is the only nation on earth with more guns than people, and it isn’t even close actually, with guns being the leading cause of childhood death in the U.S. – Thom also discusses what Justin Trudeau is doing in Canada in response to a ’20 attack in Nova Scotia, as well as the madness going on in this country (clip is about a week old I know)...



...and Ana and Cenk tell us that the U.S. House passed the Amber Alert bill for active shootings by a vote of 260-169...vote is here (Bri-Fi voted Yes because, though I have lots of disagreements with him, he has a brain, which is more than I can say for Matt Gaetz (and why the hell isn't he facing charges for statutory rape??!!)...and usually I agree with Cenk about the Dems being too passive on these issues, but to be fair, Nancy Pelosi did give a bit of a statement criticizing the No votes – I saw the link on Yahoo News but I can’t find it at the moment...I think he’s absolutely right, however, about the bill’s chances in the Senate, sadly – damn, we need at least 2 more Senate Democrats in the worst way so we can tell #Manchinema to pound sand...kind of makes me wonder why Senate Dems didn’t push for D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood as soon as they took power in ’21, but of course, that would have called for “leader” Schumer to actually figure out some kind of a winning electoral strategy)...



...and Trae Crowder gives a very NSFW/H but spot-on critique of the most recent security footage inside the Robb school in Uvalde, which truly is pathetic...gee, why didn't they all order something off Door Dash while they were all waiting to SHOW A FREAKING SPINE AND TRY TO RESCUE THOSE KIDS WHO WERE GETTING SLAUGHTERED??!!...



...and Mehdi Hasan discusses the story of the 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was raped and impregnated and the wingnut outcry in response (and apparently this Catherine Glenn Foster person is trying to give Mean Jean Schmidt a run for her money when it comes to making the most obnoxious public pronouncements on this issue, along with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita...Hasan interviews OB/GYN Dr. Jennifer Conti for the reality point of view on this subject – more here, here, and here)...



...and David Doel tells us how the wingnuts hopped on board the propaganda train in a hurry to blame BLM activists for pro-Biden, anti-Trump graffiti and starting a fire in Minnesota, when it turned out it was really a Trumpster who was responsible after all in a case of insurance fraud (rut-row...also NSFW/H)...



...and this was a particularly nutty posting week for yours truly, so I’m happy to chill out with this newer selection; hope you can all enjoy the weekend also.

Thursday Stuff

For what it’s worth, I definitely share Chris Hayes's take on Trumper Pat Cipollone and his testimony for the 1/6 Committee, including Cipollone’s comments about “the normals” and “the crazies” advising Trump, along with the clip from the ’16 debate w/HRC where Trump basically refused to say he’d accept the results of an election if he lost, which should have been a bright red flashing siren to anybody with a brain, but we know what happened of course (and kudos to Hayes for presenting the other clips where Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a Former “President” reiterated that position)...



...and David Doel tells us about “Blow ‘em Up” Bolton admitting to planning at least one coup d’etat (oh, but not here, which I don’t actually believe of course...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Sam and Emma tell us about that U.S. Senatorial mistake RoJo in Wisconsin pulling an ad about the immigrants who died in the trailer in Texas (here), which is awful of course (the fatalities I mean), and particularly so since the ad was ready right after the Highland Park shooting...I realize it’s an exercise in futility to try and bring an intelligent perspective to something as idiotic as RoJo’s typical wingnuttery, but yeah, if we really did have an “open borders” policy, those people in the trailer wouldn’t have suffocated or died of exposure (to do something about Johnson, click here)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Dem U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and her efforts to get the gun makers to testify before her committee on July 20th (Maloney, to her credit, has been pretty relentless on this issue, and I have a feeling her great work here is also partly motivated by the fact that, somehow, she’s apparently in a congressional redistricting fight with Jerry Nadler)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/13/12...Stuart Zechman points out an important distinction for Social Security and Medicare, namely, that the programs are insurance and not safety nets per se, and yes, there is a difference...important to keep this in mind with the “party of Lincoln” making noises about “sunsetting” Social Security and Medicare (here and here)...



...and happy belated 80th birthday to drummer Stephen Jo Bladd of The J. Geils Band.

Tuesday Stuff

Sam, Emma and Matt of The Majority Report tell us about Khiara M. Bridges handing Josh Hawley his ass in the matter of trans and non-binary people and pregnancy (mildly NSFW/H...and unfortunately I think Sam and Emma are right about The Swanson TV Dinner Heir – all the more reason to defend Bridges indeed)...



...and speaking of abortion (and, by extension, Roe of course), it looks like AOC is trying to take the fight to the wingnuts by asking Senate Majority “Leader” Chuck Schumer to pull his thumb out and make some freaking noise about the fact that the last three SCOTUS nominees in particular lied their legal asses off over Roe, though AOC wants the Dems to focus on Gorsuch and “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh (spot-on analysis by Jessica Burbank in particular, with John I.)...



...and good for Mayor Pete to defend the anti-Kavanaugh protests, and on Fix Noise no less...



...and the latest from Second Thought asks If Retirement Still Is Achievable (and why am I not surprised that The Sainted Ronnie R raised the retirement age to 67?...”The poorer you are, the earlier you’re likely to die”...and that doesn’t even take COVID into account I’m sure, with pensions only covering 13% of the workforce by 2008 – great, and why am I also not surprised about that sneaky 401(k) rule change from Mango Mussolini courtesy of Blackstone? To be fair, this clip should also rebuke the BS that cutting Social Security benefits can reduce the deficit, which is patently untrue, as well as the fact that removing the cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding would ensure the program’s solvency, which most definitely IS true, but that’s kind of political territory I realize and that’s not where he wants to go...the last two minutes of this clip should be absolutely memorized by any worker in this country)...



...and John is back with Ana of TYT to talk about penguins refusing fake food in Japan (why can’t those damn penguins just pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or something? And yeah, I know Japan technically isn’t part of “the ownership society” but still – heh)...



...and happy upcoming 80th birthday to Roger McGuinn of The Byrds.

Monday Stuff

Omigod the horror...“I Like Beer” Kavanaugh was forced to flee his dinner at a swanky steakhouse by pro-choice protesters...sorry, but you forfeit your “right to privacy” on this one (with John, Cenk and Jessica Burbank...cue the world’s smallest violin...I think the two cases before Citizens United that Cenk is referring to are Bellotti in 1976 and Central Hudson Gas in 1980, but I also think it’s a little ham-handed to quickly pivot against the Dems here...we’re talking about 6 horrible SCOTUS justices nominated and confirmed under Repug presidents, not Dems...and by the way, as far as I’m concerned, if you’re not violent and pose no physical threat to anybody, protesting near the home of a public figure is OK; if you signed up for that kind of a high-profile job with all of the perks, you should just accept that as the price of doing business, and that especially goes for a SCOTUS justice since, last I checked, you can’t do that around the Supreme Court building because it’s fenced off)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about CA Dem Governor Gavin Newsom announcing that that state will produce its own insulin (Josh Shapiro should get on board with this)...



...and David Pakman tells us that the Ochre Abomination apparently ordered revenge IRS audits against James Comey and Andrew McCabe of the FBI...yep, if true, it’s yet another felony...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Greg Kelly of Newsmax is attacking Cassidy Hutchinson, which is utterly stoo-pid for all of the reasons Cousins points out here...



...and I know that, ultimately, it really isn’t that funny to see how beyond clueless some of these Republican political candidates are (including some of these folks in Arizona that I noted in an earlier video), but as long as they’re going to give us this material, I think we might as well use it...



...and I believe it’s time for another summer selection, so here goes.

Sunday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell brings us a really good commentary IMO on the electoral college and the scheme in PA to try and rig the ’24 votes in our commonwealth for Combover Caligula (along with that Eric Greitens insanity at the end – Dave Steil, by the way (one of the 9 Republicans endorsing Josh Shapiro), used to be my Pa state house rep; he was the last good Republican politician I ever voted for, and I don’t expect that to change)...



...and Mehdi Hasan continues with the theme of GOP extremism (starting with MTG and including Blake Masters, who has the sickening gall to display a crucifix while he spouts his insane garbage...with David Jolly and Molly Jong-Fast...I know Jolly is Yesterday’s Republican who has seen the light, and while I wonder what took him so long, I also give him credit, but he’s right to lay the blame for this more or less at the feet of people how support Greene, Masters, etc. - and by the way, as far as I know, Aiden McCarthy hasn't been told about his parents yet)...



...and turning to our beloved commonwealth, it looks like congressional Republicans were pulling their own garbage stunt with SB 106 late on Friday, which has the insidious two-fer of trying to make abortion illegal and disenfranchising Democratic voters at the same time (here)... State Rep Joanna McClinton gave exactly the response that was required here (as did Malcolm Kenyatta – who has his mic cut – and other Dems)...



...and I give Abigail Martin credit for going public with all of this BS with trying to get her birth control pills refilled at Walgreen’s (with Jayar and Jessica Burbank of Rebel HQ – and speaking of ectopic pregnancies, I give you this mess from "the old gray lady")...



...and in a related story, you might say, this More Perfect Union clip tells us about Planned Parenthood employees trying to unionize after Roe was overturned to provide the best possible patient care for those seeking abortions...



...and I know it’s kind of late for a Sunday, but I don’t think that means that we can’t still go to “church.”