Emma V. of The Majority Report, along with the rest of the crew sans Sam, tell us that Judge Winebox apparently sure loves “Curtsy Kyrsten” Sinema for allegedly being some kind of a “centrist” - good point about how Senate Dems SHOULD support Ruben Gallego if he runs in a Dem U.S. Senate primary in AZ, but given the corporatist impulses of the utterly useless Chuck Schumer, some may line up for “Curtsy Kyrsten” anyway...NSFW/H at end...
...and Bob Funk, who is apparently the secretary and treasurer of Labor Lab (not sure what that is), tells us that President Biden can bring back an Obama-era rule that requires union busters to disclose their activities; the rule was killed by Our Ochre Overlord (big surprise, huh?)...
...and sadly, I have a couple of passings to note when it comes to pop and “prog” rock – first, RIP Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown...
I know it’s hard to believe, but inflation actually is coming down along with gas prices, as David Pakman points out; yeah, when it comes to inflation we’re still in the middle globally, and a little bit of inflation is actually good for the reasons Pakman notes, but we seem to be going in the right direction (putting the lie to nonsense like this, for example...the point is that you really can’t blame any president for this stuff...and yes, the market has slumped, but that's partly because of the Fed playing with interest rates to cool down the economy and the war in Ukraine; the market always slows in the 4th quarter anyway)...
...and I haven’t checked in with Brian Tyler Cohen for a little while now I’ll admit, but I give Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a lot of credit here for how he responded to the whole “Vicky Hartzler U.S. House meltdown” thing – Mayor Pete has a talent for this stuff and generally does well with the media I have to admit, which should position him pretty well for bigger political prospects down the line (there was a time when I sold Buttigieg short, and I had my reasons, but I definitely think he's grown in his role in the Biden Administration...and Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is spot-on also)...
...and it looks like nuclear fusion could be a brand new energy source, though it’s far from being scaled up to be considered an alternative source of power, by about 40, 50 or 60 years or so I guess (John and River Butcher of The Damage Report tell us about it)...
...and this recent video from Second Thought tells us Why It’s So Hard To Imagine Life After Capitalism (I think I’m falling behind on his videos again...my bad...”The existence of greed is not reason enough to build an economy that rewards it.”...he kind of goes “over the river and through the woods” here a bit as far as I’m concerned, but that doesn’t mean that the information he presents isn’t important...the big takeaway for me comes at the end where the case is made that we can create an economy that serves us instead of oppresses us...and starting the video with "The Usual Suspects" hooks me in right away, I have to admit)...
Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook, CT gun slaughter (here); Ayman Mohyeldin speaks with Nicole Hockley, founder of Sandy Hook Promise who, tragically, lost her son Dylan on the day of the massacre (and yeah, this is something to remember also...there are so many goddamn reasons why I utterly despise Republicans and alleged Democrats like Joe Manchin, but their complete and total failure to respond in light of this soul-crushing disaster might just be at the top of the list...and it had nothing to do with the fact that the victims were well off from a nice suburb - it was because they were, for the most part, fucking children!)...
...and a big part of that to me is the complete and total lack of empathy on the part of way too many damn people in this country, which Trae Crowder says something about here (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and don’t worry, there’s nothing to see here, just SCOTUS Justice “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh hanging out with insurrectionists and white supremacists (more here, here, and here – if you’re able to pitch some coin to C&L and Daily Kos, that will help...Lawrence O'Donnell commendably calls out "Kegger Brett" and Almost Silent Clarence Thomas, but let's not forget "Strip Search Sammy" Alito also as noted here)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that Our Ochre Abomination is railing against Jewish leaders who actually dared to criticize him for hanging out with “Ye” and Nick Fuentes at that Thanksgiving week dinner...as Cousins reminds us, Our Treasonous Orange Pustule is utterly incapable of saying the words “I’m sorry”...
David Doel tells us about the Keystone Pipeline leaking for 23rd time in 16 years (and it’s hard to find a more clueless take on this than the one from The Mouse Network, I’ll admit...”what does this mean for gas prices?” And yes, it looks like Biden will continue to get attacked forrr-evah! over cancelling Keystone XL, even though that posed a grave a risk to our environment...and in terms of jobs lost, the overwhelming majority would be temporary anyway; as noted here, the project would have created 50 permanent jobs at most...very mildly NSFW/H)...
...and Jayar and Jessica Burbank of Rebel HQ tell us about incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy yammering “THEY LEFT AN AMERICAN BEHIND!” in response to the story of Brittney Griner’s release, and saying that on Fix Noise of course (meaning Paul Whelan got “left behind” in case there was any doubt) and oh yeah, “Tuckums” and “Blow ‘Em Up” Bolton both chime in also, predictably and wrongly of course, and we also get the reality perspective from Paul Whelan’s brother (and yeah, I get it that Jayar is being totally “tongue in cheek” here towards Burbank...good point about Griner going to Russia to make money because WNBA players are underpaid relative to their male counterparts)...
...and speaking of useless U.S. House Republicans, Jesse Dollemore tells us about an article on Talking Points Memo saying that 34 congresspeople plotted with Trump to overturn the '20 election (and of course, if it involves wingnut bad behavior, that has to include misspelling also, with the focus on goofball U.S. House rep Ralph Norman of South Carolina, along with Brian Babin, Andrew Clyde and of course Jim Jordan...and what would any of this be without “Goober” Gohmert)...
...and related to the recent Q nightclub shooting, Joy Reid tells us that 306 bills have been passed in state legislatures targeting trans people...gee, more than anything to do with our infrastructure, women’s health care, the environment/climate crisis, economic equality, fair voting, common sense gun laws...attacking “teh gay” was more important than all of that, huh? (with D.J. ‘Shangela’ Pierce and Bob The Drag Queen)...
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about the congressional testimony of Robert Schenck, an evangelical clergyman who tells us all the ways that the wretched SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR (primarily in the person of Strip Search Sammy Alito) has managed to leak decisions to Schenck and his pals in advance, referring to the Dobbs ruling in particular...between that and the financial conflicts of interest of this bunch (mainly with Almost Silent Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett and the paid-off debts of “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh), all of this absolutely screams for legislation concerning reform of the High Court, including expansion to 13 seats, but anything resembling that is going to come screeching to a halt when the inmates of the U.S. House take over the asylum in a few weeks, sadly (more here and here)...
...and former Marine Jesse Dollemore gives us his take on the wingnut umbrage over Paul Whelan not yet getting released in Russia, as opposed to Brittney Griner (ANY American getting released should be something celebrated, but of course Griner checks all of the wingnut boxes for having a hissy fit...black, LGBTQ, a woman, etc.)...and as far as Biden working to get a Marine released from captivity (as opposed to Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, who had two years to get Whelan released, but didn’t think it was worth it to try and confront his Russian “daddy” over it), I give you this...
...and as long as I’m posting on matters related to the military, allow me to give you this Meidas Touch clip of Navy vet Ken Harbaugh going off on Big Hair Blackburn in the U.S. Senate over the latter’s idiocy regarding the COVID vaccine mandate for our services...
...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us about workers forming a union at a Starbucks/Amazon shop in NYC (mildly NSFW/H)...
John and Brett Erlich discuss the “OMIGOD HUNTER BIDEN’S LAPTOP!” nonsense, and referencing once more how Matt Taibbi has stoked all of this, with somebody on Tucker Carlson’s White Power Hour basically admitting that the whole damn thing is a nothing burger, which sane people knew anyway (along with the Shukri Abdirahman “Only Bullets Now” madness on the bird app)...
...and speaking of wingnut violence, Mike Figueredo tells us about Nazi thugs showing up to shut down LGBTQ events across the U.S., because, as we know, the non-cisgender community is behind mass shootings and pose a threat to public safety (in the minds of the twisted lunatics behind these stunts I mean, when in fact they should take a good, long look in the mirror to find out who’s responsible for insurrectionist violence in this country...if those goofballs with their AK-looking guns talking to the cop in the light blue vest had been African American, it would have been a VERY DIFFERENT interaction I’m sure...mildly NSFW/H)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us about finding more secret documents in Trumpworld; yeah, the list of people who should be looking at jail time just keeps getting longer (would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic and dangerous)...
...ands RIP Jim Stewart, legendary producer and co-founder of Stax Records (here)...
