Friday Stuff (updates)

(If you don't speak out against them, Bri-Fi, then you're complicit in these acts from the people in your party.)

To begin, Trae Crowder tells us about the sick, twisted scheme of Repug Guvs Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron #DeathSantis of Florida to fly 50 illegal immigrants from Texas to Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, with Abbott apparently flying some also to D.C. to the residence of VP Kamala Harris (mildly NSFW/H)...I mean, I know it’s not a news flash to point out how depraved conservatives are, but imagine being told that there’s a job for you in Boston, then you fly about 3-4 hours, and then get dropped off on an island where you don’t know ANYBODY, and you’re left to walk for about 3 miles to shelter (and the people living on the island don’t know you’re coming)...I’ve also read estimates that this cruel idiocy cost Florida taxpayers about $8 million and Texans $12 million (Update below: For #DeathSantis, this cost about $613K from a $12 M fund)...more on this here, here, here, here, here, and here...I also read that Charlie Crist, running against #DeathSantis for FLA governor, is going to ask the Justice Department to investigate since this is human trafficking...to help, click here...



...and Ana and John tell us about the Feds seizing the cell phone of cracked-out pillow guy Mike Lindell...c’est dommage, wingnut – yeah, what does it tell you about Lindell that all he had to do was wipe his phone, but he wasn’t even smart enough to think of that...



...and remind me to NEVER visit Florence County, South Carolina...at least, not if I can help it, because the cops might try to stomp my head in while they yell at me to “stop resisting” (yeah, it was a little odd for that guy to be filming the building, but he wasn’t breaking any law, apparently, and he was on public property)...David Shuster tells us more...



...and Beau tells us that “Dark Brandon” struck again, apparently averting a national rail strike, with the estimable help of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (and Bernie Sanders standing up for workers again here)...



...and Thom Hartmann talks about the lady in Louisiana who was pregnant with the fetus that didn’t have a skull (I know I mentioned this previously) and how she could have been impacted by Huckleberry Graham’s potential nationwide abortion ban...and I haven’t heard anything from Silent Brian on this either (and I’m DEFINITELY not holding out much for Chuck Schumer to do what he’s supposed to as well)...



...and the very latest from Second Thought asks Why Is College So Expensive (and yep, the line goes straight back to The Sainted Ronnie R and Tricky Dick - more here...”If you think that ‘woke culture’ is what’s suppressing free speech on college campuses, consider how much more it hurts free speech to keep millions of working class Americans out of the conversation entirely.”...as I watched this clip, I recalled all of the trash columns J.D. Mullane wrote for the Bucks County Courier Times making fun of a liberal arts education...I don’t know if he’s still cranking out that drivel, but if he is, I wouldn’t be surprised)...



....and I’ve had this kicking around for a little while, and I really should get to it now – Hollywood actress Marsha Hunt recently passed away at 104, and the clip below tells us about her commendable activism while the studio system reigned and they really discouraged her from standing up...



...and speaking of activism (and with the Trae Crowder clip in mind along with the linked articles on the immigrant/MVY debacle), I thought the following tune from Jackson Browne and Sangre Machehual was appropriate for the occasion.



Update 1: I think DHS has ended up with a bit of egg on its face over this sick, cruel stunt from #DeathSantis and Abbott, but after watching this clip, I think one message should be loud and clear to these two; time to lawyer up, assholes!

Update 2: So #DeathSantis paid a firm $615,000 for relocation, huh? (here). That rounds off to $12,300 per refugee, as Charlie Crist says. Curious to know what Florida taxpayers think of THAT.

Update 3: Oh, OK...so, before we pile onto DHS, Ryan Grim reports that #DeathSantis TOLD the immigrants to change their addresses for USCIS (here...I probably should have picked that out earlier from the clip, but Grim did fortunately).

I think we’re getting to the point with this story where the U.N. Commission on Human Rights needs to weigh in.

Update 4: I know it shouldn’t come as a news flash that conservatives are monumentally bigoted and STOO-PID. However, the total shitposting about Martha’s Vineyard in the wake of this stunt from #DeathSantis and Abbott is plummeting to new lows even for them. And just about everything they say can be easily disproven by some of the easiest Google searches in recorded human history...too damn many to list here.

Thursday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about that particularly bonkers lead-in to the recent candidates debate in Colorado involving incumbent U.S. House Repug Lauren Boebert and Dem challenger Adam Frisch, with Boebert arguing with the moderator over a tweet that the CO-3 U.S. House wingnut didn’t even bother to read completely...more debate idiocy with Boebert is here, including her not knowing the purpose of the 19th Amendment...and what does it tell you about the voters in Boebert’s district that, as Cousins says, she’ll likely win re-election anyway?...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses idiotic Republican attacks on “CRT” along with LGBTQ rights that has led to a 250% spike in “educational gag order” bills and what that means in our slow descent from democracy to some religio-fascist corpocracy (I definitely feel better about OAN going down the metaphorical drain after watching that extended clip of their “news” anchor spewing her nonsense about “the left”)...



...and Ana and Cenk tell us about 15,000 nurses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area (and Duluth) who are striking over patient care and nurse/patient ratios, which is a big goddamn deal (a 300 percent increase in unsafe staffing levels since 2014, huh? And money is an issue, but not the MAIN issue – certainly not one to strike over by itself...more here)...



...and turning to world stuff and Russia’s war of choice in Ukraine, it looks like Vlad’s troops are getting routed (Chris Hayes speaks with Ben Rhodes)...I hope our defense and intelligence geniuses in this country have thought about what could happen if Putin falls from power, which he should (not advocating violence, though he’d deserve it) – it could take decades to try and repair the damage in that besieged country (structurally, to say nothing of the brave people standing up for themselves...and let’s not forget that Mango Mussolini called Putin’s incursion “genius”...and speaking of stuff disappeared by our corporate media, has anyone besides me realized that the story of what Wonder Boy Jared got for $2 billion, likely form the Saudis, has somehow vanished from “the discourse” by our news orgs with initials for names?)...



...and speaking of Our Ochre Abomination, I thought this was a pretty hilarious self-own from Sean Inanity...



...and happy belated 45th birthday to Fiona Apple.

Wednesday Stuff

This just in...Huckleberry Graham just decided that about half the population of this country isn’t entitled to bodily autonomy that would allow for making their own health care decisions.

I mean, what does it tell you about the hubris of Graham and his same-party pals, along with sympathetic judges and Supreme Court justices, that they think they can metaphorically cram all of this stuff down women’s throats so close to a mid-term election? Hell, if it weren’t for stuff like this along with Dobbs which takes a nuke to Supreme Court precedent (as well as #45 showing his orange ugly mug everywhere), the Democrats would be getting their clocks cleaned in the electoral polling (to say nothing of considering what has happened in Kansas and Alaska so far).

And by the way, since Graham knows he doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on, allow me to point out that Roe was ruled on a “by trimester” standard for allowing abortions (affirmed by justices confirmed under Republican presidents) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey relied on a “fetal viability” standard which took into consideration innovations in pre and post-natal care over the prior 19 years since Roe (affirmed by Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor, installed on the SCOTUS under The Sainted Ronnie R). And both rulings allowed states to have a say in third-trimester abortions (which, again, don’t happen unless something has gone catastrophically wrong with the pregnancy). In other words, Graham somehow blaming the Democrats only for the status quo prior to Dobbs is just more proof that he’s a lying, opportunistic hack (and speaking of political bottom-feeders, who the #@$! was that smiling African American woman onstage with Graham, along with those other women who just nodded while South Carolina’s Republican U.S. Senate mistake announced that he was going to try and inflict more ruin on millions of people in this country?).

(I should add that I typically don’t wade into this issue since I’ll never birth a baby and definitely don’t consider myself an expert, but in my own small way, I’m trying to bring sanity to an utterly insane situation. And once more, if MEN got pregnant, none of this would be happening. “Morning after” pills would be available everywhere, and there probably would be a special section for getting abortions “on the go” at Home Depot, next to the aisle selling power tools.)

So without further ado, here is the Graham clip, with great commentary from Brian Tyler Cohen...



Update: Every time you think it can't get worse with lowlifes like Graham, it does.

...oh, and by the way, Ken Starr is dead (here - more here...TYT clip is from August '17)...



...and this Rebel HQ clip with Jayar and Jessica Burbank tell us that Goober Gohmert recently decided to “buddy up” to 1/6 insurrectionist Dr. Simone Gold (and oh boy, doesn’t that wingnut video with the orchestration turn the propaganda meter up to 11)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that Repug U.S. Senate candidate (and Peter Thiel-bankrolled) Blake Masters in AZ (who, when last seen, was busy trying to scrub anti-abortion language from his campaign web site as noted here) thinks Hispanics will support him...in a weird way, I have to give Masters credit for cramming so much BS into about a minute and a half, or however long that was...and boy, is Sam ever right about this segment from The Swanson TV Dinner Heir aimed at their majority white elderly audience – mildly NSFW/H...



...and I thought The Lincoln Project came up with a great ad here for Masters’ opponent, incumbent Dem U.S. Senator Mark Kelly; to help Kelly’s campaign, click here (and I'll overlook some of the McCain hagiography for now)...



...and RIP Ramsey Lewis; I give you his signature hit.

Tuesday Stuff

Brianna Keilar and Kristen Holmes of CNN discuss Maggie Haberman of the New York Times and her revelation that Trump said he wouldn’t leave The White House...and I have to admit that it’s darkly hilarious to hear Wonder Boy Jared Kushner compare himself to a priest (Mags saved these revelations for her book of course, just like every other disgusting lickspittle who knew how crazy Trump was but didn’t say anything until they could make $$ off it – more here)...



...and Farron Cousins discusses a Reuters poll indicating that the majority of the country agrees with Biden that the MAGA morons are a threat to U.S. democracy...and I agree that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to say “Yeah, MAGA is dividing us...but Biden is wrong to point that out.” (huh?)...



...and John and Jordan Uhl of The Damage Report call out Fix Noise for their typical hypocrisy over student debt relief, and a clip is also included about demonizing teachers while there is a nationwide shortage...and yeah, that mashup at the end is indeed sickening; kudos to the person at Media Matters who put it together...I can’t imagine a job where I had to watch that trash network and highlight their very worst excesses without losing what’s left of my sanity...



...and Sam discusses that recent clip on CNN (returning to that network) with Al Franken and wingnut Alice Stewart in the arguing-talking-head format moderated by Jim Acosta, and the subject is the legitimacy of the SCOTUS (Sam says independents are leaning towards Dems based on data at the moment, though you could argue that the data can be interpreted a couple of different ways at least – I’m afraid independents, who for my money are basically idiots, may turn against Dems on inflation, not realizing that inflation IS AFFECTING THE WHOLE GODDAMN WORLD COMING OUT OF COVID...and I’ve read people bitching at Franken for interrupting that mouthpiece for Mike Huckabee, and normally I might agree, but you know what? On this occasion, GOOD! This is what Dems have had to endure since forever, and far worse actually, and Franken is FREAKING RIGHT! It’s nice to see some damn push back for a change...when you lie like this Alice person does here, then you DESERVE to be talked over, and I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman...and as far as the Dobbs leak is concerned, I’m sticking with the story that the leaker was Ginni Thomas, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong)...



...and with all the changes “across the pond” (new PM, death of QE II), it might be a good idea to get a report on the UK from “Jonathan Pie” via the New York Times (somewhat NSFW/H, though a lot was bleeped - when we were there six years ago, you couldn't read anything about Jeremy Corbyn in the newspapers unless he was getting vilified every way possible; I can't possibly see how he could actually be worse than what has transpired since)...



...and sticking with world stuff, yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the death of anti-Apartheid South African activist Steve Biko; here is the tune by Peter Gabriel.

Monday Stuff

This video from More Perfect Union tells us about the unlikely ideological coalition behind Medicaid expansion in South Dakota, with idiot Repug Governor Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem basically refusing free federal $$ to enable expansion in her state (for ideological reasons of course, since she’s no doubt looking to build her political career)...



...and Dems Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate and Brad Sherman in the U.S. House have introduced a bill to overturn the “right to work” portion of the Taft-Hartley Act (Jessica Burbank and Cenk of TYT tell us more...I think they could have provided a little more background on this as opposed to immediately going to all the “corporate Democrats” stuff – not saying Cenk is wrong, but I think he should “turn the record over”...more here)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report discusses that moron Greg Gutfeld saying only angry single women vote for Dems (abortion on demand up until the point of birth, which actually happens to be illegal unless dictated by medical necessity in states without ridiculous anti-abortion laws, blah blah blah...oh, but Gutfeld is the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher...give me a damn break!)...



...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about GOP election workers in Michigan being trained to break the rules (lead-in from Brianna Keilar of CNN)...and why the hell shouldn’t people go to jail for this? (and by the way, Cheryl Costantino, voting isn’t supposed to be “fun,” you MAGA hack!)...



...and Jessica Burbank is back with John of The Damage Report to discuss former NFL quarterback Brett Favre (just in time for the new NFL season), who received $1.1 million from public funds in Mississippi to give motivational speeches, taking the $$ and not giving the speeches – and of course, in addition to asking why Favre was such a deadbeat on this, this also begs the question of why the hell an NFL gazillionaire like Favre would need public funds for any reason whatsoever...and when it comes to the totally fouled drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi, I overwhelmingly blame their idiot Repug governor Tate Reeves and the state assembly, but I think a measure of blame should also go to Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and I don’t enjoy saying that...I saw something on Twitter about Mayor Lumumba supposedly not coming up with a plan to repair the water infrastructure which he needed to submit to the state, and unfortunately I can’t come up with much to refute that...more here...



Update 9/13/22: And $5 million for a new volleyball stadium (here)? While Jackson doesn't have safe running water? Heckuva job...

...and the video for this tune contains a lot of bright, flashing images and the use of tobacco, so consider yourself warned.

Sunday Stuff

This CNN story basically tells us that the COVID pandemic erased about two decades of advancement in elementary school test scores for math and reading...and, as with every other issue, Republicans have no answer or proposed solution to anything, but merely pointless carping instead – more here...and gee, maybe fathead Repug politicians out there (looking at you, Guv #DeathSantis) should shut the hell up and stop demonizing teachers by calling them “groomers,” given that we have a teacher shortage in this country and students have fallen behind so badly...yet another disaster you can lay at the feet of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence as far as I’m concerned...



Update 9/12/22: Yeah, this says a lot, doesn't it?

...and if you want to know why I blame Our Ochre Abomination more than anyone else for the still-ongoing ruin inflicted by COVID-19 (which factored in the prior clip in a big way, primarily because it made distance learning a necessity), I present the following from March 2021...



...and when it comes to Mango Mussolini and this solemn day, I would ask that you never forget this also...



...and a restaurant in Virginia apparently came up with (and I wish I were kidding) a “9/11-themed menu”...Jessica Burbank and Cenk tell us more (and I don’t give a damn what family member of Pete Davidson served as a first responder; I find NOTHING even remotely amusing about someone trying to make a joke about that horrific day...not directly relevant for Cenk to mention Our Tiny Handed Orange Would-Be Dictator and Chris Christie, but I’m glad he did anyway)...



…and these next two clips are timely for this day also of course (related items are here, here, and here...oh, and this is typical for Our Former Orange Pustule-In-Chief also).





Update 1: Yep, I think this is a pretty good question (here).

Update 2: More here.

Update 3: In the immortal words of David Huddleston in "Blazing Saddles," "Now who can argue with that?" (here).

Update 9/12/22: Important related info is here.