Friday Stuff

Beau of the Fifth Column discusses the Repugs and their “Principal Skinner” moment when it comes to losing younger voters; this epiphany of sorts is brought to us courtesy of Kellyanne Conjob – “they’re demonstrating that they want to rule, not represent” – uh huh...



...and Ana of TYT tells us that big stupid head Matt Gaetz wants Biden to indiscriminately cut funding of programs relied on by poorer Americans, all for the sake of raising the damn debt limit (JUST MINT THE FREAKING COIN ALREADY, DARK BRANDON!)...



...oh, and speaking of Gaetz, Bobo, Marjorie Traitor Greene and all of their pals, it looks like they want to defund the FDA over the abortion pill, as Farron Cousins discusses in this clip (the party of limited government strikes again)...



...and in the prior clip, we learn about the consequences of nutty Trump judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to ban the abortion pill; staying in “the land of the yellow rose,” John and Jayar of The Damage Report introduce us to married-with-a-child state rep Bryan Slaton, who warns everybody about “groomers,” but whaddaya know...it looks like he’s a little too chummy with one of his under-21 interns (just say “oops” and get out)...



...and going even further down the rabbit hole when it comes to Repugs, their media acolytes and “doing the nasty,” Kyle Kulinski (in a pretty much NSFW/H clip) brings us Blaze TV host Steve Deace, who basically says that men, according to him, are getting so much sex that they’re bored, which, among other things, is more than a bit of a “tell” about how he approaches the subject...not my business I know, but I wonder how his wife feels about that statement...I did a little checking on this guy, and apparently he’s a wingnut “fave” because of disgusting nonsense such as this, this and this...



...well, to return the content to something more hopeful and upbeat, David Doel tells us about thousands of Rutgers faculty on strike...for graduate students to have to fight for a $30K-or-so wage that is basically poverty given what they have to spend on their education is highway robbery at a minimum, particularly for a university that made $816 mil last year as the video tells us (more great reporting on this from The Lever is here)...



...and with Justin Jones and Justin Pearson returned to the Tennessee state house where they belong, Lawrence O’Donnell tells us that the two recently appeared with fellow Dem Gloria Johnson to commemorate the 60th anniversary of “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in front of the Lorraine Motel, where King was gunned down (the site is now a museum, as O’Donnell tells us)...



...and here’s a newer tune for the kids to help us into what hopefully will be a good weekend for everybody; I had a chance to put this up a week ago, but I don’t think Good Friday would have been the correct time for it...everybody has to draw the line somewhere I guess.

Thursday Stuff

Francis Maxwell with Meidas Touch brings us the remarks of San Antonio Spurs basketball coach Gregg Popovich regarding the most recent mass shooting in Nashville (not counting Louisville also of course) and some of the related commentary from Big Hair Blackburn in the U.S. Senate; to me, the wonder isn’t that Popovich continues to speak his mind on this, which is commendable, but that more public figures don’t follow suit...



...and with our most recent gun carnage in mind, including Louisville (and is it me, but is it telling that there’s been virtual silence as far as I can determine from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul on that mass casualty event?), the TMR crew tells us that Charlie Kirk sez that mass slaughter is the “price of doing business” to protect our sacred Second Amendment (or at least, Kirk’s ridiculous misinterpretation of it, comparing gun violence to peanut allergies or some such nonsense...and let’s not forget that the NRA is closely aligned with Kirk’s Turning Point USA as noted here)...



...and kudos to Dem Washington state governor Jay Inslee for standing up to that troglodyte Repug governor Brad Little in Idaho who wants to criminalize abortion everywhere (once more, heckuva job with Dobbs, High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR!) – Rachel Maddow explains...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us how Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg gave it back to Gym Jordan over the latter’s typically ridiculous upcoming hearing in The Big Apple (and I think this is exactly what Jordan deserves in response)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the news that, apparently, some idiot named Lance Wallnau says people are going to get killed next month for not supporting Combover Caligula...looks like we’ve got another candidate for the rubber room (and I don’t mean Jesse of course...gee, I wonder if Jordan – allegedly so concerned about victims of violent crime – is going to look into this? Don’t hold your breath)...



...and John and Conscious Lee of The Damage Report tells us about Webster Barnaby, some Repug state rep in Flori-DUUUH!, who thinks trans people are like X-men mutants walking among us, or something...of course, his analogy likely falls apart in his mind when you recall that those comic book characters were the “good guys”...I know there are a lot of good, hard working Dems in that state fighting the good fight, and props to them, but at times like this, part of me thinks that that state can’t break off from our continent and sink into the ocean fast enough...



...and this More Perfect Union clip brings us the story of workers at the Kroger supermarket chain who have dealt with wage theft, something to keep in mind as that giant retailer tries to merge with Albertson’s, which probably would be good for shareholders but lousy for everyone else...



...and I neglected to post yesterday because I got hung up with cataloging my Nazi memorabilia (joke - more here), but I did manage to come across this item where Missouri is apparently not going to fund public libraries any more...yeah, just keep everyone smart enough to work the machines but too dumb to do much of anything else, as The Eternal George Carlin once put it...considering that, I had this “book” tune in mind (and I also give you this insanity from Rep. Mike Moon of the "show me" state).

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, if it’s a day with a “y” in it, then that means that it’s not time to politicize gun violence again; according to MSNBC, the cops are treating this as a workplace-violence-related issue...obviously it’s a “gun” issue also (5 are dead including the shooter and 6 are being treated at University of Louisville Hospital...one is critical...there were 9 injured total but 3 were treated and released...and this lunatic had an AR-15 as noted here)...



...and on the subject of imaginary “violence” (as opposed to the all-too-real kind), Farron Cousins tells us that some Fix Noise bimbo is mad about Biden inviting Tennessee state reps Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson to the White House in response to the expulsion of Jones and Pearson (Jones was just reinstated of course), though, as Cousins notes, this harpie has not one damn thing to say about other ACTUAL violence in this country, against women, LGBTQ individuals, or anyone on the wrong end of a gun...



...and sticking with the subject of real violence, Kyle Kulinski tells us that All-Hat-No-Cattle Greg Abbott of Texas is looking to pardon some assassin named Daniel Perry who got it into his head to have a showdown with a BLM protestor and killed one of them exercising his right of free speech (the protestor of course)...Abbott was spurred into action by the caterwauling of The Swanson TV Dinner Heir as we find out (more here)...



Update 4/13/23: Gee, this sure figures about this nut, huh?

...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the disgusting party switch form Team “D” to Team “R” by Tricia Cotham in North Carolina, giving Repugs a veto-proof majority in their state legislature...I get it that people switch sides in politics all the time, but in Sinema-esque fashion, Cotham did it in such as way as to totally flip off all of the people who worked for her campaign...



Update 5/5/23: "Rot in hell" indeed (here).

...and to give you a bit of actual good news, David Pakman tells us that Dem Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer just signed into law a repeal of that state’s 1931 abortion ban...



...and given the first clip, if you guessed that I think it’s time for another damn anti-gun song, you guessed correctly.

Monday Stuff

In the latest Second Thought video, we learn Why Work Is Getting Worse – “We’re not going to find a solution in some mythologized past. It’s only going to be when people have actual collective autonomy to make economic decisions and aren’t forced to generate profits for a small group of wealthy businessmen that work can actually, and durably, improve.”...yeah, I would say so (have to remember this for Labor Day)...



...and I touched on this a bit on Friday with the Trae Crowder clip, but here is Max Burns of Rebel HQ telling us more about MAGA nitwits like Kid Rock attacking Bud Light (privileged white dudes with guns and some hurt fee-fees...more here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with Mehdi Hasan about Netanyahu and Israel (and get in a plug for Hasan’s book, which I know nothing about, but considering that it’s from a straight shooter like Hasan, it’s probably good)...



...and returning to this country, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report talks about Bari Weiss running with a story from this Emily Yoffe person about a child taking puberty blockers as part of gender-affirming care, with the mother claiming that her child is being abused by the hospital performing these procedures despite the child’s responses to the contrary (NSFW/H)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report discuss the expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee state house (GREAT idea from John to make this into a campaign issue; I’d like to see an actual peaceful protest on the steps of the state capitol over getting the two reinstated, but I’ll take what I can get at this point)...



Update: A terrific development is here...and isn't this interesting?

Update 4/12/23: And then there were two (here).

...also, Joy Reid interviews MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin about the horrible abortion pill decision by Texas judge (and Trump appointee) Matthew Kacsmaryk (Biden has already appealed the ruling, as well he should...and I thought this was a good column by Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times about the utterly awful Comstock ruling underpinning the Kacsmaryk decision; Comstock should be cast into the legal dustbin at this point – Goldberg is kind of a mixed bag as a columnist I know, but I think she was spot-on here)...



Update: More here.

...and as the over-arching theme, if you will, of “governance” by Not Your Father’s Republican Party is revenge-based violence, as Thom Hartmann tells us, adding that isn’t the last move as part of their fascist descent – it’s the first...



...and happy belated 60th birthday to Julian Lennon (very mildly NSFW/H).

Happy Easter 2023

I hope you all you all have a happy and blessed Easter. If you don't observe anything, may you have a happy and blessed long weekend (and that goes for Passover and Ramadan too).