Friday Stuff

It looks like FLA Guv Ron #DeathSantis is getting his MVY stunt thrown back at him in this video as noted here (and to do something about the utterly ruinous head of The Sunshine State, who is running for re-election let’s not forget, click here)...



...and it also looks like the identity of “Perla” has been discovered also (re, the person who lured the migrants onto the planes...kind of amazing that she didn’t even think of using an alias), as Farron Cousins tells us...



Update 3/3/23: Usually the best response is to act with humanity in response to the demagoguery from #DeathSantis and his fellow cretins (here).

...and when it comes to the destruction of Hurricane Ian in #DeathSantis land, Ali Velshi speaks with residents who pretty much lost everything (more on the relief effort is here, taking you to a page of information and a place to make a donation)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Dark Brandon unleashing again to decriminalize pot and, in all likelihood, remove it as a Schedule 1 drug at a minimum – in addition to making sense from a legal perspective of actually NOT ruining people’s lives over pot busts for possession, it also makes good political sense since decriminalization and legalization poll so well (David Doel explains– more background is here)...



...and I haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on in Ukraine for a little while I’ll admit, but it sounds like Vlad The Butcher is trying to move around some nukes on trucks or something (here)...and I’m sure The Swanson TV Dinner Heir will continue to cheer on Putin’s every move, as The Lincoln Project reminds us (more here)...



...and returning to stuff in this country, Trae Crowder gives us his rather wise perspective IMO when it comes to gas prices and OPEC (“the cost of the go-go juice in the boom-boom wagon” - uh, yep)......



...and I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 10/7/15...if anybody out there still has any questions about what the Repugs would do if, God forbid, they’re returned to power in either congressional chamber, consider this clip to be fair warning...this ad from the Hillary Clinton for President campaign tells us about Kevin MaCarthy praising the BENGHAZI!!! special committee and how that brought down her poll numbers (more here – the ”R” party in control means it would be all Hunter Biden’s laptop all the freaking time, and the December 2017 tax scam will return with a vengeance)...



...and I’ve been trying to determine exactly what the Republican Party platform is, and I think this tune sums it up pretty well.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

David Pakman tells us about more abortion denials for raped pregnant minors in Ohio...and as far as I’m concerned, the “end game” is for the High Court to completely and utterly destroy the right to privacy in this country, and the SCOTUS of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett is ready and willing to do just that (not for a second, though, am I trying to discount how truly monstrous these stories are about these women – I guess it shouldn’t surprise me in the least, sadly, that we have come to this point...more than anyone else, I believe the people we should “thank” are white elderly conservative suburban boomers who will always consider the Repugs the “daddy” party and the Dems the “mommy” party...hard to get my head around that much of a denial of reality I’ll admit)...



Update 11/17/22: I'm sure Alito and his Federalist Society pals will have a laugh over this.

...and I really like these commentaries from Texas Paul of Meidas Touch because I think he makes a lot of sense, and yes, I would say the same thing if he were calling out bad behavior by Democrats...Dana Loesch pretty much goes “mask off” here and says that she doesn’t care how many abortions Herschel Walker has paid for; she just wants control of the U.S. Senate (the latest reprehensible behavior from Walker is noted here)...



...and I apologize for being a little late with noting the protests in Iran over the killing of Mahsa Amini (David Doel tells us more)...kudos to these brave women facing the hellish treatment they’ve encountered and no doubt continue to face as they stand up for their rights (I’m sure the Philistines on our SCOTUS are taking notes and probably saying “Hey, why didn’t WE think of that?”)...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report notes that the U.N. has asked Fed Chief Jerome Powell (and heads of other similar global institutions in developed countries) to not raise interest rates because of the damage that does to developing countries and their infrastructure...I’m a little mystified by Sam’s remark that, if you send $$ to the IRS, they just “burn it”...I definitely don’t agree, though, to be fair, I think Sam also makes a great argument to support the fact that our inflation is based on supply issues and not demand issues – and let’s not forget that Powell is a holdover from #45...there’s also a reference to the clip with Kyle Kulinski about the CEO of Iron Mountain praying – preying? – for inflation...”we’re all Keynesians now, and then we weren’t” indeed...

...and Thom Hartmann tells us Why Republicans Can’t Save The Economy (yet another failure of Dem messaging at this point if ANYBODY out there STILL thinks that the “party of Lincoln” doesn’t want to do anything with our economy besides drive the car straight off the metaphorical cliff...the “D” team can’t rely on our useless corporate media to communicate that message...this thing with Jerome Powell is starting to remind me of how Paul Volcker screwed over Jimmy Carter as Treasury Secretary so Volcker could help his friend The Sainted Ronnie R...”if you take out the three tax cuts under Reagan and Dubya and two wars, we have no national debt”...incredible!)...



(Update 1 10/7/22)...and focusing on world stuff again, I present this video once more as a "tribute" to Vlad The Butcher on his birthday...I was wondering if ANYBODY was going to hold our world leaders to account for sucking up to Putin, and this New York Times clip from earlier in the summer does exactly that...hard to properly describe the unbelievable failure of world leadership on this score...there were plenty of warnings that were completely ignored...



Update 2 10/7/22: And speaking of warnings, I apologize for neglecting this heroic journalist who was murdered on Putin's birthday (wink, wink)...I know 5 were convicted in her killing as noted here, and 2 of the 5 ended up receiving life sentences.

Update 11/14/23: One of those murdering bastards was pardoned by Vlad the Butcher, who obviously believes that the reason for his original conviction has been forgotten by now; hope I'm wrong about that (here).

...and Beau gives us his take on where Russia stands in Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine (basically, Beau’s argument is that any political goal will not be achieved, and prospects for achieving some kind of a military goal looks problematic too...and yeah, I think “imperialism” pretty much says it)...



...and speaking of birthdays, happy belated 75th to Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Matt Gaetz of FLA wants to abolish the VA and privatize it of course, with Cousins showing what I believe is a commendable level of outrage aimed at ex-military in his district who will vote for Gaetz anyway because he has “the magic R” after his last name...I still think it stinks to high heaven that those charges against Gaetz of sex trafficking with a minor seemed to disappear somehow, but again, we’re talking about Flori-DUUH!, so anything can happen I guess...



...and Jayar and Jessica Burbank discuss Sen. Foghorn Leghorn’s “crack head” ad...and again, Kennedy opposed $350 billion in police funding, so his ridiculous ad is even MORE hypocritical...I wish Dem Luke Mixon had sourced that claim a little better, though I’m sure he’s right – even though we need to keep fighting, I have to be honest about the chances of Kennedy actually losing since he checks all the boxes, you might say, for elderly white conservative Trumper wingnuts in Louisiana (and when it comes to Sen. Cornpone and RoJo, let's not forget this)...



...and speaking of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senatorial mistake, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about RoJo squirming in response to questions from a local reporter about the text that either he or his chief of staff forwarded to Mike Pence, apparently, and presumably about seating fake electors, despite Johnson’s claims of innocence (NSFW/H)...



...and turning to the U.S. Senate race in our beloved commonwealth of PA, David Doel tells us about another attack ad from John Fetterman against Oz vis-a-vis The Simpsons and Dr. Nick, including the dog stuff with Oz, as well as torture of other animals (Oz is indeed a monster – more here...and to help Fetterman, click here)...



...and heading even further to the northeast, Cenk and Ana tell us about Tina Forte, running against AOC for the latter’s NY-14 U.S. House seat...and yeah, I guess, to know crime, you need to be a criminal yourself (meaning Forte of course...and I wish we would all keep hammering home the fact that THE DEMS SUPPORTED POLICE FUNDING THROUGH THE COVID RELIEF BILL, WHICH NO REPUG VOTED FOR!!! - I have a feeling that that's where the claim against Kennedy came from, as noted earlier, but I'm not positive at the moment)...



...and Jesse Dollemore gives us his take on the Herschel Walker stuff...and yeah, paying for abortions for at least one of these women is bad enough, but the hypocrisy is what’s particularly hard to take here from someone representing the party of “family values” (and as repugnant as Dana Loesch is, in a weird way, I have to give her credit for the honesty behind this utterly “mask off” remark)...



...and I know it’s taken a little while for me to get around to this great ad for Val Demings from Don Winslow (she’s running for the U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio in Florida), but I definitely didn’t want to let it slip through the proverbial cracks (to help Demings, click here)...



..and speaking of courageous women, RIP Loretta Lynn, a true American icon.

Tuesday Stuff

Brittany Page takes over for Jesse Dollemore and discusses Ohio’s awful abortion law, though there are other states with awful anti-abortion laws also including Nebraska and their wingnut governor Pete Ricketts, who is interviewed by Dana Bash and basically says that minors who are raped have to birth their rapist’s babies...typical for someone who will never have to undergo that horror...all the best to Jesse on his procedure today, by the way...



...and it’s time to hop onboard the wingnut crazy train, starting with Repug gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon joking about Dem Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s kidnapping, where God knows what would have happened to her if it had actually succeeded (Emma V. of The Majority Report tells us about it)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Marjorie Traitor Greene recently proclaimed that Dems are hunting Republicans...in response, we learn that, apparently, the right-winger killed apparently provoked the person allegedly responsible...not saying that’s a justification, but only that that’s a missing detail based on what Cousins tells us...and the second story about the 83-year-old woman shot on someone’s lawn was made up out of whole cloth at this point...and by the way, in addition to the right-wing violence Cousins point out, let’s not forget about this vicitm and this guttersnipe also...



...and John, Cenk and Max Burns of TYT tell us about Adam Hageman, Trumper from the Commerce Dept. with ties to Charlie Kirk, who was arrested and jailed over child porn charges (Cenk’s point about Charlie Kirk and outreach to young people is well taken IMO; Kirk is more to blame for not vetting this guy than anyone else...and yeah, I’d love to blame “Dr.” Gorka on this also, Matt Walsh and other wingnut pundits, but in good conscience, I can’t...echoing John a bit, though I think Cenk is also absolutely right about the Qanon lunatics being mostly responsible for the pedo garbage)...



...oh, and remember how, after every single mass shooting in this country, the “party of Lincoln” screeches that we need more mental health funding instead of common sense gun laws? Well, they recently had a chance to vote for added mental health funding, and I think you can guess the result, as Jeff Waldorf explains (and it’s true that Bri-Fi voted Yes, but he also supports gun reciprocity, so he’s at best a mixed bag on this issue)...



...and this Now This clip tells us about Hannah Stargel defending herself against the anti-trans and anti-reproductive rights policies from her father (a judge) and her mother (a state senator)...apparently both lost re-election, so hopefully they’ll rethink their positions, but probably not; the video also profiles Maddie Block in New Mexico waging a similar battle against her conservative father Jay Block who is also a state legislator (I wish all the best to these two courageous women and others in similar circumstances)...



...and RIP Sacheen Littlefeather, who of course turned down Marlon Brando’s Oscar for “The Godfather” in 1973 (at his direction, of course)...I was glad to see the apology from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Littlefeather earlier this year...I always thought that she got caught up in one of Tinseltown’s most notorious dramas for reasons that weren’t her fault...Brando had to know what would have happened, but of course he ultimately didn’t care – to say he was a complex, convoluted character is a huge understatement (this great book shines a lot of light on that)...Brando did lend his fame and notoriety, as well as his money, to social justice causes to be fair, so there’s that on his side, and it would be nice if an apology or statement of reconciliation were forthcoming from Clint Eastwood, but I know we can forget about that...



...and RIP also to drummer John Hartman of The Doobie Brothers.

Monday Stuff

Comedy filmmaker Adam McKay brings us this snarky little item about Chevron and our dirty energy criminals doing all they can on behalf of perpetuating climate change...I think this pretty much says it (NSFW/H)...



...and Jayar, Cenk and Ben Carollo of TYT tell us about Repug U.S. House candidate J.R. Majewski, running against Dem incumbent Marcy Kaptur in a redistricted seat; yes, Majewski did serve, but I guess it’s too much trouble to be honest about it (more here)...



...oh, and Farron Cousins says that, recently, “Strip Search Sammy” Alito said that you can’t criticize the SCOTUS...I have many responses to that disgusting, self-entitled comment, and one of them is here from “the old gray lady”...



...and I haven’t checked in with Kyle Kulinski in a while, but I thought this was a good segment on Iron Mountain CEO William Meaney saying he’s “praying for inflation” to jack up prices – reporting by Jon Schwarz and Ken Klippenstein...and yeah, “very strong pricing power” by Iron Mountain’s CFO is corporate-speak for price gouging; I wish I could disagree with Kyle’s economic analysis heading into the mid-terms, but I can’t at the moment (briefly NSFW/H)...



...and sticking with the economy, the latest from Second Thought asks “Why Is Everything Turning Into Uber?,” and the answer is that the so-called “gig” economy is growing because workers are always on call, they don’t get benefits, and they get paid lousy wages...what’s not for a corporatist greed head CEO to love?...



...and I really haven't had a "relationship" song/video in a little while, so I hope this newer tune will suffice.