Friday Stuff

Ana K. of TYT brings us the story of Scottsdale AZ cutting off the water supply to nearby Rio Verde due to a drought, though this ultimately goes back to freaking climate change, people (there are times when I think TYT gets a little strident against Dems, and I respect that that’s their opinion even though sometimes they’re wrong, but in this case Ana does a great job of connecting the dots between deregulation/developers getting politicians to rewrite the laws to favor them and screw over homeowners in places that are pretty much nothing but deserts at this point, even though agri-businesses NEVER have a problem with getting water, and neither do golf courses apparently)...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about a report in The Daily Mail on a crackdown within Saudi Arabia by Mohammed Bone Saw based on U.S. intel from the CIA after Jared Kushner got $2 billion...and yeah, I know we’re talking about the Daily Mail, but really, would this be surprising if it were true, as Kyle says? And note to Kyle, by the way...Burisma was a nothing burger; if someone finds out something contrary on that, I'll update this post for sure...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Repug U.S. House Rep Rick Allen of Georgia (mentioned here also), who says we should raise the retirement age because people want to work longer (and good job to mention the Social Security privatization scheme under Dubya)...there are many responses to this a-hole, but one is to point out that, if you actually took the time to watch the Thom Hartmann video yesterday, you would know that that is an utter lie (and Allen is worth about $52 mil, as noted here)...



...and last week’s Second Thought video tells us why social democracies won’t work (and yes, I’m a week behind again) – “Like other capitalist countries, in order for the (profit) line to consistently go up, wealth needs to be extracted from poorer countries.”...and I’d forgotten about the stuff with Francois Mitterand, but yeah, that’s a cautionary lesson for sure (and I say that DEFINITELY as someone not in love with capitalism by any means)...and the stuff about Sweden is absolutely horrifying...he performs such a service with these videos IMO; I hope he’s able to stay afloat despite what I’m sure are efforts to demonetize him in response...



...and if you knew anything at all about Philadelphia-area music (or popular music over the last 50 years or so generally, actually) and you mentioned The Geator, that could only mean Jerry Blavat, and I honestly don’t know how you can sum him up in a single phrase...disk jockey, TV personality, archivist, ambassador of sorts for all kinds of genres of popular music...doo-wop, soul, R&B, pop – tributes are pouring in of course, as well they should be (here)...and I know there were allegations that he knew people in organized crime; you can say that about a few entertainers actually, and it me, it doesn’t diminish their work...

...and the news about The Geator comes on the heels of the news of the passing of David Crosby, which is another musical body blow of sorts...I guess, if the reports are to be believed, he could be difficult at times (you could say that about just about anybody I’m sure), but he was much beloved also of course, and as noted here, he was nobody’s fool...here are three tunes as a tribute.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo tells us about the antics from Manchinema at Davos recently...I thought the “high five” thing was metaphorical when I first heard about it, but I should have known that these two insufferable scumwads would literally do it, and leave it to Sinema to wear that weird wool stole thing (and OF COURSE Chris Coons was involved also...and gee, how freaking clueless is CBS “News” anyway...Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave)...



...and of course, given that we have a Dem in the White House and the “party of Lincoln” in control of one of the chambers of Congress, there is all of this pearl-clutching going on and looking for the fainting couch over “THE DEBT THAT IS STEALING FROM OUR KIDS!” or some variation thereof...well, do you want to know WHAT ELSE adds to the debt? Corporations not paying their damn taxes, that’s what, and Kyle Kulinski tells us that 34% of profitable corporations paid $0 in the first year that the tax law from Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence went into effect in 2018...



...and Jayar Jackson tells us about a lady working for a company that laid her off who made a TikTok video about it...I’ve definitely been in her position and it sucks more than you can imagine, but when it happened to me, I got the word from this a-hole head of quality assurance at the main office in MA, and the local HR rep who helped me did the best she could, and I didn’t blame her for it...oh, and by the way, I was also expected to train the offshore person about how to do my job as a condition of getting my severance; at least I had a couple of months to look for something before I got kicked to the curb (and when it comes to layoffs, a related item is here...and that second clip looks like it’s right out of Glengarry Glen Ross, but it’s from some rally or something from some outfit called The Elliott Group, which I guess does all of this sales motivational BS...wonder how much a company paid these clowns to scare their employees like that?)...



...and sticking with (sticking it to?) corporations, Robert Reich tells us The Truth About Corporate Subsidies (and yeah, a lot of the subsidizing instead of regulating started under The Sainted Ronnie R, in case you were wondering – big surprise, huh?)...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses Why Inequality Makes Americans Miserable (Thom mentions the Buckley v. Valeo and FNB of Boston v. Bellotti SCOTUS rulings in 1976 and 1978 respectively, along with Citizens United of course in 2010 as the causes of what opened up the metaphorical floodgates in favor of corporations...and three guesses who fought to keep closing the “hedge fund loophole” out of the Inflation Reduction Act, as Thom says? Thom also mentions the Tillman Act against corporations and campaign contributions passed under TR...the intent was good, but Tillman was always difficult to enforce because of the tricks corporations would pay with hiding illegal campaign expenses)...



...and I have to admit that I didn’t know Pittsburgh had so much soul; have to get over to the other side of the state more often.

Wednesday Stuff

In our latest example of clueless U.S. House Republicans, we have Anna Paulina (“Taxation Is Theft”) Luna of Flori-DUUUH! basically saying that we should spend for defense and apparently not much else (which would eliminate her salary too, something she’s obviously too clueless to realize, as David Pakman tells us)...



Update 2/11/23: Just call her "Mrs. George Santos" I guess (here - more on him shortly).

Update 2/18/23: And apparently, at least one other U.S. House Repug is guilty of having an imaginary resume as noted here.

...and I know the whole Chuck Todd/RoJo thing is a couple of days old by now, but I thought I should bring up this clip from Jesse Dollemore anyway...one of the reasons why I avoided this subject is because RoJo is such an utterly contemptible POS who has managed to make a financial killing at taxpayer expense (here), to say nothing of the fact that (as pointed out already by fellow Wisconsin Repug Robert Spindell), Johnson WOULDN’T EVEN BE in the U.S. Senate any more if the ’22 midterm had actually be run fairly without massive voter disenfranchisement in Milwaukee (here)...I may end up saying this for 6 years, but I’ll say it again...Spindell claimed that 37K voters were suppressed, and Rojo won by 27K votes...as for Chuck Todd, yes, give him credit for trying to hold Johnson’s feet to the fire, but RoJo IMMEDIATELY turned into a whiny little bitch as soon as he was called on his BS talking points...if this is supposed to be some kind of a flaming controversy, I think this is actually pretty weak stuff (and wingnut media is, as always, particularly pathetic in giving RoJo his “fainting couch”)...



...and David Doel tells us about the over-focus by our corporate media on the alleged classified docs “scandal” (mildly NSFW/H)...I think this is a pretty good analysis of what the Gropenfuhrer did versus what Biden did, but with all due respect to Jamie Raskin, I don’t think mentioning the 1/6 insurrection was the right way to go here, though he was right to hammer home the fact that Biden and his team have complied and tried to clear this up versus what happened with Our Ochre Abomination at Mar-a-Lago...I honestly don’t know if Biden should run for another term or not; I think his record as president is good enough, and I also don’t believe that this “story” by itself should be a basis for that decision one way or the other...



...and as long as we’re dealing with the legislative branch of our government, I should bring you this clip of Farron Cousins telling us about congressional Democrats introducing the “SANTOS Act,” aimed right at you-know-who (good stuff - and the video is a little amusing, but this is genuinely disgusting)...



...and some caveman attorney general in Alabama named Steve Marshall wants to prosecute women who take abortion pills, even though such prosecution is illegal thus far, even in that state (John and Jayar tell us more – and yes, you can blame Republicans for being horrible bad actors on behalf of the uber-wealthy and nobody else, wanting to persecute anyone who can’t shower them with campaign cash, and you can blame the Dems for not screaming about this the way they should, but here is my question...WHERE THE HELL IS OUR BEYOND-USELESS CORPORATE MEDIA ON THIS STUFF??!! And yes, I know all they care about is the “horse race” and I know they think actual policy that affects real people is BOOOR-ING, but stories like this shouldn’t be covered only by brave local media that may be extinct one day, unfortunately)...



...and kudos to John Fogerty for this - well deserved at last.

Tuesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that the U.S. House Republican majority is bringing back smoking in that chamber of Congress (well, to their offices anyway)...to hasten their own extinction I guess (to say nothing of others ingesting second-hand smoke)...what a cunning plan!...



...and I should note that I added that counter on the home page to show how much time there is before we can vote out the ruling clown-car caucus in the U.S. House; I have to tell you that I can’t stomach the thought of the ’24 presidential election...despite that, I’m bringing up this clip of Farron Cousins (nothing against him) pointing out that Flori-DUUUH! Repug guv Ron #DeathSantis apparently is a scared little kitty kat around non-friendly media...wow, what a tough guy!...



...and as long as we're talking about the U.S. House, Mike Figueredo brings us this Repug idiot named Rick Allen in Georgia (of course) who wants to raise the retirement age for Social Security (and I think the clown shoes are a little "on the nose")...



Update 1: Yeah, this sure figures, doesn't it?

...and Rachel Maddow last night brought us the story of Trumper and election denying lunatic Solomon Pena, who is in custody in New Mexico, accused of having a hand in shooting up six homes/offices of Democrats in that state (don’t hold your breath waiting for 45 to decry what this guy allegedly did...how the hell did this guy end up as a Repug nominee for elected office? But then again, I know you can also ask that question about "George Santos")...



Update 2: More here.

Update 3: I have a feeling a lot more "rocks" will get turned over with this Pena guy before too much longer (here).

Update 1/18/23: And why is this not surprising?

...and speaking of bone-headed Republicans, John and Brett Erlich tell us about this Jack Nelsen guy in Idaho comparing women’s reproductive health to cows (here)...umm, don’t let the door hit you on the way out, jackass, though I have to admit that that was halfway decent apology for real...



...and Sam Seder gives us a bit of a Tragical History Tour about Baby Newton Leroy, Tom DeLay and their pals (and I have to admit that I’d forgotten about Bob Livingston too) based on Jake Tapper tossing out a sound bite to shoot down Dana Bash (which was completely true about Dennis Hastert, by the way)...



...and also with a nod to our country’s history over the last 30-40 years or so, Kyle Kulinski discusses a poll telling us that 9 percent fewer Repugs support MLK day as a holiday than when it was signed into law in 1983 (a new “mask off” period indeed...Kyle’s history on MLK Jr. is spot on, BTW...and yes, Dr. King got mad at Dems and liberals, but only because they didn't go far enough to the left, and King was correct to be that way IMO)...



...and with the first clip in mind, I absolutely couldn’t resist this selection (titles scroll by too fast at the end...oh well).

Monday Stuff

David Pakman tells us about Jason Schofield of Troy, NY, who, until recently, was a member of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections; the problem is that Schofield apparently applied for absentee ballots for himself on behalf of 12 already-registered voters, which happens to be real, honest-to-goodness voter fraud, people...and of course he’s a Republican (more here)...



...and here’s another case of it in Iowa, and from the same political party; John, Francesca and Maz Jobrani fill in the details (more here)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about Robert Spindell Jr., a Repug (of course) member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, who recently bragged about suppressing about 37K fewer votes in Milwaukee, and given that Rojo The Clown won re-election to the U.S. Senate from that state by 27K votes, basically, without that, Mandela Barnes would be a U.S. Senator...



...but now, turning from illegality to mere stupidity, Jayar, Yasmin Khan and Wosny Lambre of TYT tell us about Missouri legislators who are apparently afraid of women exercising their right to “bare arms” (sorry – couldn’t resist...more here)...

...and for MLK day, I think it's appropriate to revisit this speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Barratt Middle School in Philadelphia on October 26. 1967, with the them of “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?"....



Update 1: An important note is here (here and here also).

...and this tune is apropos for the holiday also.



Update 2: And oh yeah, there's this...

Update 3: Well said.