Friday Stuff (updates)

(Pic is from here.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the millionaire McDonald’s CEO having a meltdown over a worker wage increase in CA under a new law from Dem Governor Gavin Newsom...and it looks like Newsom’s measure is going to get delayed and end on the ballot for next year, giving the pro-CEO forces long enough to stage some “Astroturf” campaign in order to defeat the measure...suffer the poor, oppressed Mickey D’s franchise owner according to Joe Erlinger...GMAFB!...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about Bo-Bo Boebert, CO-03’s U.S. Congressional mistake, prattling on obnoxiously as usual, this time about this country’s ridiculous misinterpretation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, i.e., once more, the insane number of guns in this country and gun-related deaths...BoBo got her panties in a knot over an ATF regulation about registering guns using stabilizers, or something...and as far as that Boebert family photo at the end – and God help those kids – imagine the response if everyone in that pic were African American...some actual sanity on this issue is here...



...and Emma and the crew from The Majority Report bring us a clip of a parent in Flori-DUUUH! commendably pushing back against this Chris Rufo life form who was put in place at the New College of Florida by Ron #DeathSantis to basically turn the school into another conservative factory like Hillsdale College...”The way we view people overseas is the way we view them here”...certainly true in too many cases...



...and OMIGOD! IT’S THE CHINESE SPY BALLOON OVER MONTANA! WE NEED TO SHOOT IT DOWN!...well, THAT would be a hell of a lot more provocative of an action than just leaving the damn thing alone – it’s not like the thing is going to expose any deep, dark secret anyway, and as Beau tells us, this sort of thing has been going on among countries for years and will probably continue to take place...he correctly notes that one of the many, MANY lessons of history that, as a country, we refuse to learn collectively (partly because of idiots like #DeathSantis who don’t know much about the subject anyway as noted here) is that of the Cold War and the U2 plane with Francis Gary Powers that the Russians shot down near the end of President Eisenhower’s term (more here)...



Update 1 2/4/23: Once more, a free people can breathe a sigh of relief...and yeah, that's a joke (here).

Update 2 2/4/23: Figures.

Update 2/5/23: So, in response to the balloon non-story, Rachel Campos-Duffy wants to execute our farmers? Huh??? (here).

...and if you’re going to talk about collective ignorance, I think that’ s pretty fair transition into this segment with Desi Lydic of The Daily Show, where she asks random people in NYC if a “story” is totally made up or was actually discussed on Fix Noise (the items that people get wrong aren’t off by a lot, I have to say...mildly NSFW/H...not trying to be snarky towards the people Lydic interviews, but only trying to make fun yet again of The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...



...and here is another “green” tune to get us revved up in order to cheer on the Iggles (hopefully) in Super Bowl LVII.

Thursday Stuff

Ana of TYT (rocking it yet again in a solo clip) tells us about double amputee Anthony Lowe, shot and killed by L.A. county cops (more here)...kudos to her for also showing de-escalation techniques that can be used successfully by the police – yeah, I definitely don’t know every detail of this story either, though on its face it appears to be pretty damn absurd...now I’m really curious to find out what happened to Lowe in Texas that required the loss of both legs below the knee...



...and keeping with criminal justice matters, John and Jayar tell us about the “Republic” Party’s Marjorie Trailer Park Greene going off the rails yet again, in some hearing about jailed prisoners or something, equating Tyre Nichols’ murder with the death of Ashli Babbitt because of course, and sneaking in a “Democrat” reference again, like that word is every anything BUT a noun...



...and when it comes to wingnut-friendly media, some Newsman “news” mannequin attacks an upcoming Hulu series about police, or something, without, y’know, ACTUALLY HAVING SEEN THE ENTIRE PROGRAM! (Ben Gleib responds)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Ilhan Omar getting booted off the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a full chamber vote (here...and PA-01’s wet noodle “moderate” Bri-Fi OF COURSE voted to oust Omar)...AOC is spot-on in her response as is Omar herself, and I liked the way Eric Swalwell came back against Gym Jordan when it comes to anti-Semitic tropes...terrific – while those idiots in charge of that body refuse to do anything about the debt ceiling (note to Biden: mint the freaking coin!), they engage in this political payback nonsense instead...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses King Elon I’s ruling to ban Chad Loder from Twitter after fascists told Musk to do that...yeah, what a “free speech champion” Musk is...tell me another one...



...and here’s another “green” tune as we get ready to root for the Iggles (hopefully) in Super Bowl LVII.

Wednesday Stuff

Joy Reid talks with author Mark Whitaker along with Fernand Amandi and Brandon Wolf (survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting) on Ron #DeathSantis making it easier to get a gun in Flori-DUUH! than to read a book (indeed, like Disneyland, but in Hell...GREAT job by Reid to point out the horrible legislation and measures #DeathSantis is trying and has tried to pass while everyone is distracted by his terrible “culture wars” cruelty as the lead-in to the Amandi segment)...



...and sticking with #DeathSantis-stan, Kyle Kulinski tell us about #DopeyMcForehead Matt Gaetz wanting a work requirement for people getting SNAP benefits and Medicaid, with Kyle making the almost-obvious point that, if they were working, they PROBABLY WOULDN’T EVEN NEED the benefit in the first damn place...by the way, do you want to know how Gaetz came to have the means to buy himself into a government job and engage in predation of young girls? Well, his old man runs Vitas Healthcare, which is a corporation (let’s not forget that!) in the hospice care business, and it probably isn’t surprising to point out that Gaetz Sr. was accused of Medicaid fraud (here)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that “Imeach Biden” Lauren Boebert went to the floor of the U.S. House to complain about DirecTV dropping Newsmax (which, at the moment, is the “outrage du jour” among the wingnuts as also noted here...yeah, “socialism” for everything I want as far as they’re concerned, and rugged, predatory capitalism for everything and everybody else)...



...and Thom Hartmann asks if you want a side of liver cancer with your fries in this segment about a 2022 analysis by Consumer Reports of food packaging for fast food showing the presence of PFAS everywhere, apparently (terrific)...Our Ochre Abomination’s emasculation of the EPA, as Tom explains, is one reason for the proliferation of these deadly chemicals, and believe it or not, the influence of the U.S. companies who don’t want to do a damn thing about PFAS is yet another odious consequence of Citizens United...



...and as a tribute to Barrett Strong, I included his hit “Money” yesterday, but to do him justice, I should also include at least one of the many Motown hits he authored or co-authored, mainly for The Temptations, including this one...



...and here is another “green” tune in preparation for the Iggles vs. Chiefs in Super Bowl 57.

Tuesday Stuff

I know this is a little old, but I didn’t want to let it slip through the cracks – Francesca and John talk about Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Dictator-In-Chief and the tweets from sportswriter Rick Reilly about #45 cheating on the greens...”I have only the best scores...many people tell me how strenuous it is to play golf as well as I do.”...



...and switching gears a bit to actual (proposed) legislation, Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana about the latter’s strenuous (and commendable) opposition to the Repugs’ utterly awful idea of a 30 percent national sales tax, a bill which would have the thoroughly odious two-fer of sticking the “99 percent” and cutting the metaphorical legs from under the IRS (I don’t completely buy into Tester’s ridiculous “the Dems have become the coastal elites party and I’m from the heartland” framing at times, but he’s spot-on here)...



Update: More good work by Tester here.

...and I am sooooo glad to see this segment from Mehdi Hasan where he speaks with political scientist (always thought that was an oxymoron, actually) Loch Johnson and lawyer Barbara McQuade about the “party of Lincoln” and their nonsense on Gym Jordan supposedly reviving the Church Committee from the ‘70s (yeah, when “weaponization” is already in the title of your committee, you’ve pretty much given away the game...kudos to McQuade for mentioning COINTELPRO)...

via GIPHY

...and Mike Figueredo tells us that Ruben Gallego raised $1 million in about 24 hours! against “Curtsy Kyrsten” as the presumptive Dem U.S. Senate candidate (unless somebody ELSE enters the primary) from AZ...it’s going to be a fight all right, especially with that loon Kari Lake in the picture (as Figueredo says, there’s no path to victory for the “independent,” only to screw things up for Gallego, which I’m sure is what Sinema’s funders want...mildly NSFW/H)...



Update 3/23/23: "Old dudes eating Jell-O," huh? More utterly contemptible behavior from this unfortunate accident of an alleged human being (here).

..and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us something we probably already know, and that is the “Republic” Party wanting to cripple Social Security and Medicare by holding the debt ceiling hostage (I admire the idea behind this video of getting politicians to promise to leave Social Security alone, but the game they’ll play is that they want to make it “discretionary” spending as opposed to “mandatory” spending, which means it would be up for renewal every year if it were discretionary, which means that it would eventually be cut one day for real...and yeah, I know what Mango Mussolini has to say on this subject, but I gave up believing one word out of his mouth long ago, when it comes to golf, this or anything else)...



...and Beau gives us his take on the same subject (not the party of personal responsibility, but the party of grievance of course...slogans are indeed still there, though...”they don’t want to represent, they want to rule”...I would only add to Beau’s analysis by saying that the “R” bunch hates ANYTHING to do with government that is successful and popular...Dubya already tried his own privatization of Social Security scam, for example, and he got his butt handed to him, you might say)...



...and RIP Motown legend Barrett Strong, with his signature tune...

...and speaking of sports and “greens,” allow me to show a bit of pride as a somewhat lapsed Philly sports fan with the news of the Iggles facing the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl (LVII I think); when this happened five years ago, I presented some “green” songs for a bit of support, so I’d like to do the same thing again now, starting with this tune.

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about students in Flori-DUUUH! commendably getting ready to sue Guv Ron #DeathSantis over trying to ban an African American studies course (more nonsense from the original “monkey this up” guy...interesting explanation of the college exemption here, and I'm also sure Benjamin Crump will take no prisoners)...



Update 1/31/23: Welcome to Fascist #DeathSantis-Stan, where you can be ruthlessly punished by the state for reading the "wrong" book (here).

Update 2/1/23: Well, the College Board caved - sigh (here).

Update 2/12/23: A better response here.

...and on the subject of censorship, Jesse Dollemore discusses The Daily Wire using the Bible to justify book bans (didn’t know anything about this Michael Knowles character before, but of course he starts out with his conclusion and tries to fit the facts to support his utterly specious argument...have to admit that I also didn’t know about this Greg Locke insanity until now...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about the Repug-led U.S. House’s witch hunt committees (God almighty, do I want to see both Trump and Barr wearing orange jump suits...Hayes does a terrific job here IMO in laying out how absolutely futile it was to investigate alleged wrongdoing into the investigation of Our Ochre Abomination and why The Roger Ailes BS Factory should NEVER, EVER be trusted to report any story straight whatsoever)...



Update: Good related stuff on what a criminal Barr truly is here.

...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report bring us this week’s horrendous lies from “George Santos,” this time about making an alleged joke about killing Jewish and black people (sometimes I can’t even...)...



Update 2/9/23: Stealing from the Amish is pretty low even for this miscreant (here).

...and I thought Beau had some good advice on not taking the cops’ word when they try to hide what really went on by using what you could call mushy language (citing the Tyre Nichols case of course)...



...and RIP Tom Verlaine of Television.