Friday Stuff

I want to digress from the way I usually start these posts with the videos and point out something (or someone, actually).

The individual pictured above is Arthur J. Finkelstein. I never knew anything about this person until I read this article in The New Yorker by Andrew Marantz about Viktor Orban of Hungary, which tells us the following (on how Orban rose to power)...

(Orban) enlisted (Finkelstein), a political consultant from Brooklyn who had worked to elect Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, and Ronald Reagan, among others. “Try to polarize the election around that issue which cuts best in your direction, i.e., drugs, crime, race,” Finkelstein wrote in a 1970 memo to the Nixon White House. In 1996, Finkelstein put this principle to work on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu, a candidate for Prime Minister of Israel who was then about twenty points down in the polls, and who started alleging that his opponent, Shimon Peres, planned to divide Jerusalem. This was a lie, but it stuck, and Netanyahu won. In 2008, Netanyahu introduced Finkelstein to his friend Orbán; Finkelstein became so indispensable that Orbán reportedly came to refer to him, dotingly, as “Finkie.” One of Finkelstein’s protégés later told the Swiss journalist Hannes Grassegger, “Arthur always said that you did not fight against the Nazis but against Adolf Hitler.” Orbán had been running against globalism, multiculturalism, bureaucracy in Brussels. These were abstractions. By 2013, Finkelstein had an epiphany: the face of the enemy should be George Soros.

So, if you’re looking for a link from the confrontational Republican party garbage of Tricky Dick all the way to the present moment of Trumpist insanity, Finkelstein might be the connection you’re looking for (another reason why I’m drawing attention to Finkelstein now is that yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of his death).

Modern movement conservatism IMO is built of equal parts stealth, deception, bombast, and every possible degradation of their opponents. And when it comes to the “stealth” part, it can only be beneficial as far as I’m concerned to take those responsible for the darkest deeds of this malign enterprise and drag them any legal way possible into the cold light of day. You can consider this my small attempt to do that in Finkelstein's case.

And as an example of what Finkelstein has wrought (along with many others to be fair), I give you that Trumpist loon Kari Lake, the Repug Party gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, talking about “BDE” (from the party that seeks to ban books all over the place because of alleged indecency)...Sam Seder of The Majority Report tells us more...



...and when it comes to crazy Republicans, I guess there really is no way to have a discussion like that without Marjorie Taylor Greene, who shows her tiny brain once more on the Green New Deal (concerning solar panels and wind turbines) and allegedly not being able to store renewable energy (Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about it)...



...and as long as we’re near Georgia, let’s go a little further south into the land of Ron #DeathSantis, as Alex Wagner commendably does, speaking with a Florida teacher who recently was forced to take part in some ridiculous indoctrination scheme...in addition to the wingnuttery, this orientation they talk about is based on a lie (not surprising), since the First Amendment to the Constitution contains the Establishment Clause which quite literally says that the government shall not establish a national religion...



...and I’m not sure who this individual is who’s sitting in for David Pakman, but it looks like Madison Cawthorn’s replacement for the NC-13 congressional district (somebody named Bo Hines) is a chip off the old awful Repug block as it were, since he apparently doesn’t know what a banana republic is...not the most important issue out there I’ll grant you, but I think it’s telling all the same (and of course this numbskull MAKES it an issue when he tried to attack President Biden for allegedly not knowing what’s going on)...



Update 9/1/22: And speaking of Hines, this doesn't sound surprising at all.

...and apparently the entire police force of the town of Vincent in Shelby County, Alabama was suspended over texts mocking slavery were released – how many ways of “DUUUHHH!” are involved here I wonder (from Leah Cover of Rebel HQ)...



...and I’m not sure how I missed this the first time around, but somehow I did – sticking with Alabama, the Lawrence County Repug Party put up a Facebook post with what definitely appears to be 3 hooded KKK figures in the GOP logo, and of course the post has since been taken down...yeah, let me know when BLM or Antifa do something as inflammatory as this, OK...God almighty (Dr. Rashad Richey breaks it down with Yasmin Khan)...



...and I know we’ve had some fun this week with Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz and the Crudite/Veggie tray thing, but this is a serious look at food waste from Second Thought...and yeah, if you guessed that it has to do with the profit motive and what you would call second-hand food, then you win a free gift certificate good for any “Wegner’s” supermarket :-).

(“individual action isn’t the problem. The drive to always increase profits is,” indeed, and why am I not surprised that the IMF and the World Bank play into this? And by the way, I’m not including last week’s Second Thought video because it’s age-restricted on YouTube for some reason.)...



Update 8/24/22: Oz continues to be nothing but a clown (here).

...and it’s been awhile since I rocked out with a newer tune, so let’s give this a shot, OK?

Thursday Stuff

Hey, don’t look now, but The Bible was one of the 41 books banned in the Keller, Texas school district (as noted here, and as we find out about in this clip), to coincide with kids coming back to classrooms, where – God willing and NRA/Mitch McConnell permitting – they WON’T have to face an actual shooter (oh, and another banned book is “The Diary of Anne Frank,” because of course we can’t let some woke dead Jewish refugee hiding in a house attic provide an example of courage in the face of one of the worst governments of an industrialized nation in human history...and as noted here, the issue of banning books in school libraries hits close to home for yours truly)...



...oh, and speaking of kids returning to school, I think this is a pretty “on the nose” ad, unfortunately, when it comes to The Land Of The Yellow Rose in particular (to help Beto O’Rourke against the thoroughly execrable Greg Abbott, click here...more here)...



...and under the category of Stupid Voting Tricks, I give you Repug Secretary of State candidate in Minnesota Kim Crockett bragging apparently about voter suppression...“which raises the question, should (disabled people or those of other ethnicity) be voting,” and the RWNJ radio host snickers of course, though of course one of her spokespeople was quick to deny it...it’s been a long time since Katherine Harris came to mind – ugh...Sam and Emma of The Majority Report explain...



...and tied somewhat to the prior clip discussing Republican voting nonsense, Thom Hartmann asks the apocalyptic (but timely, sadly) question “Will Trump Supporters End Democracy” (and the clip talks about Trumpsters going nuts in Texas, a state Trump and the Repugs won! And Thom also discusses Trump-related antics in other swing states)...



...and when it comes to Repugs trying to control women’s bodily autonomy, Ana tells us about South Carolina state rep Neal Collins, who (shockingly) voiced some regret over his vote on another ridiculous anti-abortion bill (more here)...and Ana discusses the terrible case of the woman in Louisiana who will apparently be forced to carry a headless fetus to term (here)...what country am I living in again?...



...and in a similar vein, Farron Cousins discusses a three-judge panel in FLA that said a teenager was not “sufficiently mature” enough to get an abortion, even though she met their ridiculous requirements every other way (here)...once more, if men got pregnant, there would be so many morning-after pills and so many abortion providers you wouldn’t be able to keep track of them all (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and switching topics a bit, Robert Reich gives more information on how exactly the “party of Lincoln” is LYING when it comes to claiming that the infrastructure reconciliation bill that just passed and Biden signed (I guess that’s what it’s being called) is going to provide this army of IRS agents to go after middle class taxpayers...

...and I’m REALLY going to switch the mood here with this item...yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of an obscure bit of baseball lore; long-time-great Phillies centerfielder (and announcer) Richie Ashburn (pictured) hit a woman spectator twice in the same at-bat with two different foul balls into the stands (more here)...she was married to someone working for the organization, and their son became a Phillies batboy...you truly can’t make up this stuff, people...I think this tune is appropriate for the occcasion.

Wednesday Stuff

Apparently, Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz got a little weird in the supermarket produce aisle recently while he tried to complete a veggie tray for the missus, as David Doel tells us (very mildly NSFW/H...and yes, I can verify the fact that there indeed is a Redner’s or a Wegman’s... a few, actually...but definitely NOT a Wegner’s, and who the hell goes shopping without a basket or a cart, as somebody on Twitter correctly pointed out...to help John Fetterman, click here)...



...but the big story yesterday on Action News, you might say, was President Biden signing into law the infrastructure reconciliation bill – I’m presenting Biden’s words on this from CNN (rightfully calling out the Repugs...and yeah, a lot was made over Biden giving the pen to Manchin that he used to sign the law, which I interpret as an “FU, we got this done anyway in spite of you” gesture).

(I started to watch the TYT clip on this, but I turned it off...there are plenty of other reasons to bitch about Biden and corporate Democrats and plenty of other occasions for that which are justified...but as far as I’m concerned, not today. Yes, this bill falls short in a lot of ways, but IT ALSO DOES A HELL OF A LOT TOWARDS INVESTING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND OTHER GOALS! And let's not forget that, if ONE U.S. SENATE SEAT had gone to the Repugs instead, there is no way any of this would have happened)...

Also (In a totally predictable development), Liz Cheney lost her U.S. House seat in a Wyoming primary congressional election yesterday (meaning that she’ll serve out her term and that will be it of course). And yes, Cheney stood up against Our Ochre Abomination and deserves credit for that, but she was a wackadoodle Repug IN EVERY OTHER WAY. And what does it tell you about what a bunch of gun-humping Trumpist maniacs her party is now that EVEN SHE was no longer crazy enough for them?

...and returning to the “party of Lincoln” and CNN once more, Brianna Keilar interviews Repug U.S. House Rep Mike Turner about AG Merrick Garland’s investigation into Combover Caligula’s abuse of secret documents (probably related to nukes) by sneaking them off to Mar-a-Lago (and yeah, as always, the deflection and obfuscation is the point, and I say that with all of the “BUT HER EMAILS!” BS in mind...Brian Tyler Cohen gives us his well-founded analysis)...



...and don’t look now, but It seems that Lauren Boebert’s husband ran over the mailbox of his neighbor...family values – riiiight! (and yeah, good point about how every little thing Paul Pelosi, Speaker Nancy’s husband of course, allegedly did or didn’t do should now be under a microscope, but Boebert’s nematode husband gets to keep this “on the QT” somehow, except for this video of course...John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us more)...



...and I’m not sure who this caller is on The Majority Report, but she makes a lot of sense on the issue of the wingnuts on the SCOTUS overturning Roe and why their foot soldiers are so quiet about it (with Sam and Emma)...I detest these people (the zealots behind overturning Roe I mean), but they know how to play “the long game,” and our side needs to learn that too (and I feel like I need to communicate this utterly sickening related development)...



...and I'm in the mood for a summer tune for yet another sunny day in these parts - this should suffice.

Tuesday Stuff

Jim Acosta talks with longtime ABC reporter Sam Donaldson about the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid in search of (in all probability) nuclear-related docs, with a comparison to what Tricky Dick faced at the end of his presidency over Watergate with Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott, etc. and the prospect of not surviving an impeachment vote in the Senate...if Fix Noise were around back then, Nixon might not have been impeached, and I shudder as I say that...



...and David Pakman gives us the clip of Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo searching desperately for bad news over the GREAT July jobs report from the Biden Administration (and by the way, when it comes to the July inflation rate, I give you this)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Senate Repugs think they’ll get crushed in the midterms...but we can’t take anything for granted, people...wait until all of the dark money negative attack ads starts pouring over the airwaves after Labor Day – like you I’m sure, I’ve heard this song before, but we still have to work for the victories we can get...



...and Thom Hartmann asks if any democratic republic has survived without a free press (great question, and truly interesting history on Alexis de Tocqueville IMO...great job to try and promote media literacy...as The Eternal George Carlin once said, though, our “owners” want us to be just smart enough to know how to work the machines but too dumb to know much of anything else)...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about baristas at coffee houses leading the labor movement in Boston (“Every worker deserves a union.”...damn right!)...



...and considering all of the musical luminaries who left us last week, I missed the 75th birthday of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull – hope it was a good one.

Monday Stuff

Gee, did I miss anything?...yep – apparently the leader of Cult 45 was (allegedly) hanging onto secret nuclear documents possibly revealing launch codes and/or other highly classified stuff (and possibly destroying them too?)...eventually this sorry POS will find himself habited at a federal detention facility...Ana and Cenk begin our “team coverage,” you might say (more here and here)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report have more, including the thing with Wonder Boy Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from our dear friends the Saudis in exchange for...what exactly? (and gee, haven’t Jared and Ivanka been pretty damn quiet for a few days now since this broke)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that the right-wing outrage machine is working overtime to spin this story like crazy (and leave it to Ari Ari Bobari to resurrect another ridiculous Republican zombie lie, this one about Sandy Berger allegedly stealing documents from the national archives...more here)...



...and of course, it wouldn’t truly be a story about Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence unless there was some kind of a grift involved, with our former *president trying to fundraise off of all of this...Lawrence O’Donnell gives us his take here (this segment aired before we found out that he was, in all likelihood, trying to peddle nuclear docs – and yeah, I thought this was a particularly brainless piece of pundit piffle on this whole mess, and I mean David Brooks, not Laurence Tribe)...



...and when it comes to some kind of a public response to this - well, I guess you can consider the source below (and with bad spelling as ususal as noted here, though this was far more serious of course tragically)...

...and speaking of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, it looks like Tulsi Gabbard may have finally realized her dream of grabbing her own show, with The Swanson TV Dinner Heir setting her up with a guest spot – David Doel gives us the details (I forgot about Gabbard voting “Present” on Trump’s impeachment...the first one I mean...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and RIP longtime session musician Bill Pitman of The Wrecking Crew...his expertise is featured on this tune as well as many, many others.