Friday Stuff

John and Miranda Scholl of The Damage Report tell us about the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (maybe) banning the abortion drug mifepristone, and the specious reasoning behind such a potentially wrongheaded and catastrophic ruling...telling to me that the wingnuts have in some cases used the Comstock Act from 1873 as a supposed justification for such an attack on women’s health care – and that IS what we’re talking about here, truth be told...



...and the issue of abortion and African American women came up at a recent U.S. House hearing with that utter numbskull Marjorie Trailer Park Greene and Amy Spitalnick, a senior adviser on extremism at Human Rights First, as David Shuster tells us; the hearing was ostensibly about right-wing violence in this country, with that clueless meat sack Greene trying to allege that those peacefully protesting in the rotunda were engaged in something akin to the January 6th insurrection (more here...and when it comes to black women and abortion, I believe this should be considered by sentient individuals with some degree of brain matter, which excludes Greene I know)...



...and if Greene and her pals want to see an example of violence for real (and yeah, I know all of their nonsense is posturing and that’s about it), Jesse Dollemore brings us this clip of former cop (and now Louisiana Repug U.S. House Rep) Clay Higgins, who apparently hasn’t left behind violent tactics despite the fact that dunderheaded voters in his district saw fit to reward Higgins with a job in the federal government...



...and sticking with legal stuff aside from abortion, Thom Hartmann gives us some interesting history on the SCOTUS and Earl Warren in particular, and the reason why that unscrupulous pissant Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society (to say nothing of Chucky Koch and his pals) keep grooming these life forms like “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett and “Strip Search Sammy” Alito to do the bidding of the one percent at the expense of the rest of us...



...and in case you thought I was done with Ron #DeathSantis...well, don’t worry, because I’m not; Chris Hayes discusses “Mr. Pudding Fingers” turning Flori-DUUH! into his own little authoritarian kingdom, with the proverbial last straw for Hayes (commendably) being #DeathSantis’s decision to block gender affirming care for all minors...and as Hayes correctly points out, this is from the same bunch yelling about “parental rights” during the pandemic...



...and Brain Tyler Cohen tells us that, in #DeathSantis’s own backyard, Dem Donna Deegan won the mayoral election in Jacksonville, Flori-DUUH! (and aside from Daniel Davis who lost, another #DeathSantis-endorsed candidate apparently went belly up in a recent primary)...



...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us about the campaign for school lunches across the country, focusing on New Mexico, with some commendable good news in that state...really vile IMO to consider that kids would have to be burdened with meal debt when all they’re trying to do is learn in what is allegedly the greatest country on earth, one that somehow can’t do anything about gun violence, protect women’s health care or ensure a reasonable, non-completely-monetized quality of life for those of us who are K-12, to say nothing of the rest of us...



...and here’s an upbeat little number to help usher in the weekend – hope it’s a good one for everybody.

Thursday Stuff

I don’t recall hearing anything about this group DeSantis Watch last year when Ron #DeathSantis, governor of Flori-DUUUH!, was running for re-election, but better late than never I guess...this “DeSantis Watch” video tells us about the kickbacks campaign donations he’s taken from real estate developers and the insurance industry (and when it comes to #DeathSantis and elections, I remember all the fuss made over alleged illegality from the Dem candidate for governor Andrew Gillum..well then, isn’t this con-vee-nient, and done well after the media has moved on I’m sure)...



...and Ana, Cenk and Emma Vigeland tell us about the issue the Repug governor of “the sunshine state” has with his facial expressions, which to me indicates that he’s freaking nuts...I’ll remember this the next time I hear a male politician say that women either in office or staging a campaign are too emotional...



Update: More here (God, is #DeathSantis a nitwit!).

...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ brings us the recent discussion between Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin of MSNBC about the wingnuts embracing Daniel Penny, the guy who choked Jordan Neely on the New York City subway, leading to Neely’s death - yeah, at a minimum, those claiming that Penny was the "good Samaritan" need to reacquaint themselves with "the good book"...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union discusses the attempt to hold the railroads’ “feet to the fire” to improve safety of the trains for workers, and cutting down on derailments (or trying to anyway, with Sherrod Brown typically leading the way against a whole bunch of resistance from corporate bad actors...more here, and I don’t trust J.D. Vance or his same-party pals Rubio and Hawley as far as I can pee, on this or anything else...and it’s no surprise whatsoever to me that Alan Shaw of Norfolk Southern is a lying sack of shit when it comes to two-person train crews, which should be the law)...



Update 6/14/23: I goddamn knew it about fake populist Vance! (here)

...and this video from Beau discusses some numbers on the question of people leaving organized religion, which is always a shame IMO even though people should be free to do what they want of course, but we’re finding out now that it’s because of “hating teh gay”...interesting (but maybe not that surprising...”it’s cheaper to be a good person” indeed)...



...and I haven't been able to figure out what #DeathSantis has against Pink Floyd, but as long as they're included in the pic above, I thought I'd add this tune.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about the charges filed against “America’s Mayor” by a staffer who alleges that he abused her...all kinds of totally gross stuff alleged here pertaining to sex and alcohol...and yeah, this is all a legal matter so it’s innocent until proven guilty of course, but would it REALLY be that surprising if it were true?...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that the ratings for “The Most Trusted Name In News” have taken a hit after that ridiculous “town hall” with you-know-who (losing out to Newsmax, believe it or not)...and boy, is Jesse ever right about supporting independent media (mildly NSFW/H)...



Update: More here.

...and Mike Figueredo discusses Ron #DeathSantis going after a teacher in Flori-DUUH! for “indoctrinating” students with a Disney cartoon, and what makes this even more idiotic is that the teacher got approvals from the parents to show it, and it ties into her curriculum (and yeah, “Moms for Liberty” is in the middle of this mess, as you might expect...also NSFW/H)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about corporations buying up doctors’ networks and primary care physicians (more reasons why Medicare Advantage is awful...from $15 million to $16 billion from 2010 to 2021 – and United Healthcare is particularly heartless also...a pretty fair and open assessment of Biden and company here IMO...nicely done)...



...and don’t look now, but the wretched SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR just took up a case that could potentially dismantle democracy...more here (good job by Thom Hartmann to bring up Anne Gorsuch and her ruinous run at the EPA under Reagan...this awful collection of legal “deplorables” needs to be reined in somehow as far as I’m concerned, but the only way to do that is through the “60 votes” Senate, and good luck with that, and don’t even get me started on that freak show in charge of the U.S. House)...



...and as noted here, JT is coming to the Mann Music Center in these parts on July 1st; I’m sure good seats are still available.

Tuesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us here about the recent Patriot Front rally in D.C., with conservatives lying to cover up for these cretins...and I didn’t know anything about this Thomas Rousseau guttersnipe until this clip, but yeah, it looks like the crazy switch flicked on for this life form awhile back...he’ll get what’s coming to him I’m sure (more here)...



...and turning to media stuff, Jeff Wiggins of Rebel HQ presents the real Kaitlan Collins as far as I’m concerned in light of that awful “town hall”...I linked to this last Thursday, but again, this shows us how the media game is rigged in favor of the wingnuts (and Peter Baker of “the old gray lady” is pretty much a GOP apologist as far as I’m concerned, and Anderson Cooper should wash down his ladle full of condescension with a steaming hot glass of STFU...don’t get the “my architect know Japanese” thing at the end)...



...and when it comes to Rupert The Pirate's trash network, a guest recently said we should have a plan ”to kill everyone we meet”...how charming (John and Francesca explain...and it’s also hard to argue with the statement that the most “religious” states have the most gun violence, though I wish I could)...



...and speaking of violence, Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the nut who (allegedly) attacked the staffers of Dem U.S. House Rep Gerry Connolly with a metal baseball bat (here)...yes, this is a developing story and there’s a lot we don’t know yet, but we’ll see, and hopefully the 2 workers will be OK...



...and Beau tells us that – ooopsie! – the “star witness” in the alleged Biden crime hearing or whatever has gone missing, as Repug U.S. House Rep James Comer informs us...waaay too damn funny (and yeah, oversight is included as part of the legislative branch, so I think doing some “closed door” investigation of family members of people in the federal government from all 3 branches makes sense...maybe 2 Dems, 2 Repugs and someone from the IRS and/or DOJ as Beau says at the end...more here)...



...and when it comes to violence, here is an example of a brave Afghan man who made the tortuous journey with his family to this country through Mexico to our border, as the New York Times tells us – I wish there was a way he and his family could be brought into this country and he could testify to those Repug meatheads mainly in the U.S. House about this...it wouldn’t affect the politicians I guess, but maybe it would “move the needle” a bit on public opinion in this country...yeah, I know – I can dream I suppose...



...and here is some actual GOOD news...Kyle Kulinski tells us that medical debt (which is brutal in this country) is being erased for about 73,000 residents in Cook County (including Chicago) in Illinois...anybody who believes that government is incapable of doing anything should pay heed (as opposed to our allegedly glorious private sector, at least when it comes to stuff like this..well, maybe we're talking about a partnership here...and hey Kyle, how do you forget this guy?)...



...and this isn’t exactly my state of mind I wish to emphasize, but I still thought it was a neat newer tune, so here it is.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen brings us this thoughtful response from Dem Texas state house rep James Talarico, making a well-reasoned speech versus yet another ridiculous bill in that state loosening gun restrictions, not long after the Allen massacre of course...and I think that nutball preacher was Greg Locke, and his rantings are par for the execrable course with him (mildly NSFW/H)...



...well, while Talarico tries to appeal to “the better angels of our nature” you might say, this video gives us three campaign ads with Republicans glorifying shooting political opponents (including that Tate Reeves ad with commentary from John, and I didn’t know about this Jim Lamon a-hole and his “tough guy” ad...yeah, including Mark Kelly whose wife was damn near murdered by a gun-wielding lunatic, and the “Crazyface Pelosi” misogyny – no bottom to this barrel indeed...and an ad with Marjorie Trailer Park Greene is included also...with Ana and Cenk on the latter two clips)...



...and I thought this was a pretty intelligent summary of our economy under Biden from David Pakman, including some factors that no president can really completely control to be honest...the most recent job numbers are pretty good considering that 15-votes McCarthy and his clown car caucus in the U.S. House keep yammering on about how everything is supposedly so bad under #46 (including African American unemployment, which seems to have rebounded), but Heaven forbid that Gym Jordan and his pals have constructive alternatives...

via GIPHY

...and don’t look now, but “Curtsy Kyrsten” is baaack, this time to “both sides” the question of election integrity (yeah, because there’s so much dough on “the left”...I’m just rolling in it – can’t everybody tell?...sometimes it’s hard to gauge how awful Sinema truly is, I’ll admit – mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Robert Reich tells us about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which states that are part of the compact would award their electoral votes to the popular vote winner in presidential elections, which sounds like a great idea, but I’m not in favor unless EVERY state joins...and yeah, I can just picture all the ways that Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, among others, would fight this, but we shouldn’t let that deter us of course...



...and yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the passing of Frank Sinatra.