Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about that utter U.S. Senate embarrassment, Repug Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, taking credit for broadband expansion in his state WHICH HE VOTED AGAINST (more here)...and from the party that allegedly supports the troops, I give you this bit of madness...yeah, nice to leave our country without Marine leadership, you asshat...



...and speaking of our military, I thought this was a GREAT Votevets ad against Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...



...and when it comes to Repugs Behaving Badly, Part The Infinity as Charlie Pierce might say, I give you half-human-half-lizard Trumper Stephen Miller, who (allegedly) wanted to bomb refugees seeking asylum (here)...yeah, I know this is unproven, but if it turns out that the claim is corroborated later, would you really be surprised?...



...and on the subject of the great unwashed followers of the Gropenfuhrer, John and Brett Erlich tell us about this coin scam that apparently has rooked in more gullible rubes; the clip ends with some recent lies from “George Santos” (speaking of grifting lowlifes)...



...and on the subject of Why Do Conservatives Fall For Fake News (making them easy marks for #45 and his associated bottom feeders), lawyer Leeja Miller gives us a pretty comprehensive report (didn’t know about the Catholic derivation of the word “propaganda,” I have to say...as I’ve said before, I’m just trying to present the best information here that I can; if someone has a constructive criticism or wishes to express a differing viewpoint, that’s fine – I’m certainly not omniscient...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Ana of TYT tells us about a Massachusetts woman who was trying to confirm her pregnancy and made the mistake of going to a “crisis pregnancy center,” which is just some place that promulgates pro-life propaganda and really doesn’t do much of anything else to clinically help the patient...well, the MA woman had an ectopic pregnancy which was misdiagnosed and she ended up losing a fallopian tube over it, leading to the entirely-called-for-IMO lawsuit (here)...can’t tell you how depressing it is to see our beloved commonwealth of PA getting the second-highest amount of funding for these awful centers, but that’s a testimony to the iron grip the Catholic Church has in this locality...



...and I missed this recent Humanist Report clip that could be titled “When Orcas Attack!”...wonder if these sea mammals are trying to seize the means of production? (also NSFW/H)...



...and here’s a bit of a newer tune to help us usher in the holiday weekend – hope it’s a welcome break for everybody.

Thursday Stuff

(The cartoon has to do with this story, let us not forget.)

I know some of us were actually feeling not too badly about the contemptible SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR given the Moore v. Harper moment of sanity...well, don’t you know that we were just being set up for this utterly awful development – namely, getting rid of race-based college admissions, as David Doel discusses...I realize this was signaled by the questions from our wingnut legal overlords during oral arguments awhile back, but the racism couldn’t be more bald-faced...and it’s more than a bit of a tell that ONLY race-based admissions were affected...and it’s also a typically repugnant strategy on the part of this Edward Blum lickspittle to lump in whites AND Asians...as I and others have said in the past, the other side keeps sending up legal “trial balloons” to see if one of them makes it, and putting those two categories of people together seemed to do the trick...disgusting (and the Elie Mystal piece is here)...



Update 6/30/23: Looks like the plutocrats in robes have struck again, this time on student debt relief (here...and yeah, this too).

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about our renegade SCOTUS also allowing threats from Trumpsters, saying a conviction for online incitement violated the First Amendment...and there are plenty of times when I’ve gotten mad at Cenk Uygur, but he made the point that, aside from KBJ, Kagan and Sotomayor were really corporate attorneys with a liberal bent on some issues (with Sotomayor apparently giving a fine dissent to the previously-cited legal awfulness), which explains why both of them have gone along with the terrible wingnut majority on way too many rulings, and Uygur was absolutely right to point that out (and you KNOW that we’re waay off the deep end when Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett actually are on the right side here)...



...and as long as we’re discussing our legal overlords on the High Court, I should probably note this item (speaking of Cenk, he appears with John on this) where we find out that the wife of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito is caught up in corruption this time, proving that such entitlement indeed runs in the family...seems she was holding positions in companies that were impacted by her hubby’s SCOTUS rulings...and to think that the “R” party drove Abe Fortas completely off the Court for reasons that are laughable now, all so they could establish their wingnut majority, which they’ve never relinquished in about 50 years...



...and as far as I’m concerned, this all ties into the “R” party strategy to utterly squelch the truth in ways that Thom Hartmann points out here (more on that is here)...

via GIPHY

...oh, and did you hear that “Curtsy Kyrsten” wants LESS training for airline pilots...of course, she took a hefty campaign contribution from the airline industry before she made that idiotic pronouncement and earned the commendable wrath of Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (more here)...



...and speaking of fake Democrats (definitely NOT Duckworth...and yes, I know Sinema is "independent"), the more I hear from RFK Jr., the more I wish he would take a slow boat back to Hyannis...Rayy Vana gives us the latest...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that some Utah state rep named Kev Ivory haz a sad about the Bible getting banned under another one of these idiotic laws that try to tell people what they can and can’t read...hey, sometimes reality is a real bitch, dude (NSFW/H)...



...and I'm in the mood for another summer tune - I hope you are also.

Wednesday Stuff

Even by lowball Trumpist standards (for lack of a better way to put it), it appears that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence has put his foot in it as noted here; we’re reminded of this by The Lincoln Project since apparently the @DNC, @DSCC, or @DCCC are too goddamn timid to do it themselves (more here)...



...and David Shuster tells us that it looks like Gym Jordan’s worst dream has come true, and that is the fact that about 230 lawsuits from former Ohio State wrestlers (from the days when Jordan was an OSU wrestling coach) will be allowed to proceed...c’est dommage, scumbag...



...and with temperatures rising in parts of the country, Beau tells us about the importance of allowing time to get ourselves acclimated before we venture out and risk exposing ourselves to what could be awful health risks (and speaking of excessive heat, isn’t this typical for that cowardly weasel Greg Abbott in “the land of the yellow rose”?)...



...and Mike Figueredo brings us the news that Bill Maher is big mad about the media’s accurate portrayal of wackadoodle RFK Jr. (NSFW/H)...yeah, look at some of the ADD/ADHD drugs and the use of cellphones when it comes to cognitive development in teens and early twenty-somethings or whatever if you’re looking at the root causes of shootings, but overwhelmingly IT’S THE DAMN GUNS!!! And don’t get me started on Jr.’s vaccine lunacy...



...and with the last clip having to do with the media (albeit someone who has endured waaay past his expiration date IMO), I thought that was a halfway decent transition to this More Perfect Union segment about why actors are shutting down Hollywood...I’m really out of the loop when it comes to the latest movies and TV shows, including those on the streaming services, so I’m not aware of a lot of the people interviewed in this segment, but I give them credit of course for fighting the good fight...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR did the right thing on the thoroughly awful Moore v. Harper case (which they never should have heard, truth be told)...I’m sure they ruled as they did because they didn’t want to hand over power from federal courts to state legislatures, so even though their motive may not have been exactly pure, it was the right call since it would have been catastrophic had it gone the other way as Cenk and Ana tell us...tells you what kind of shape we’re in that our democracy is under attack from the people who initiated this case, and we can’t rest on our laurels because, if we know anything about the other side, it’s the fact that they’re relentless about trying to implement their utterly awful ideas or notions of governance upon us – additional stuff on this is here..

via GIPHY

...and Farron Cousins tells us that Repug U.S. Senator Lex Luthor Scott of Flori-DUUH! said recently that “socialist and Communists” aren’t welcome...as if we would have anything to do with your lame ass state anyway...



...and this is a bit of a summer tune to help us mellow out and get over the “hump day,” hopefully.

Tuesday Stuff

(Cartoon is from the late, great Tony Auth.)

Mike Figueredo discusses Iowa meteorologist named Chris Gloninger, who recently quit his job over getting attacked on climate change and ended up suffering some kind of PTSD as a result (didn’t know that fighting the climate crisis was yet another casualty from the Citizens United atrocity, but that indeed is the case...and yes, capitalism is indeed a cult)...



...and in very much of a related story, Thom Hartmann tells us that meteorologists are finding out that hurricanes from climate change are heating the “deep ocean” and sending heat waves thousands of miles in the water...maybe we ought to do something about this thing, huh?...



...and as a predictable result of the horrible Dobbs ruling from the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR (and abortion bans overall), we now have a shortage of OB/GYN physicians, making it harder for women to get the care they need, particularly for those with high-risk pregnancies (and it’s not just affecting pregnant women, but for women needing other health services...and of course this Ed Setzler a-hole in the GA state senate is trying to take a victory lap)...Rayy Vana and Jessica Burbank tell us more (GREAT point by Burbank about how we as a country don’t provide enough resources to support people with limited means who want to start a family – more of this “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” BS...more here)...



Update: Good news from our renegade SCOTUS here, fortunately, though we shouldn't be in a position where we have to celebrate moments of sanity apart from all of their chaos and illegality.

...and speaking of BS in “the peach state,” this video from the Southern Poverty Law Center tells us about a Georgia teacher named Katie Rinderle who was fired for reading a children’s book to her class...let’s see now, she picked books from the school’s reading list, she let the class decide which book they wanted, I think she also gave a notification to parents that the book would be read and she wanted to find out if there were objections...but OF COOURRRSSE! some a-hole parents complained about the book even though there is NOTHING even remotely controversial in it...basically, I can’t think of anything Rinderle didn’t do correctly here – God help us if we ever slide for good into anything approximating a corporate dictatorship, though we’re on the road to that now, but if that dreaded event happens, it will be because of stories like this (more here)...



...and on the subject of wingnut stoo-pidity, this clip from Sam and Emma of The Majority Report mentions Repug PA U.S. House Rep Dan Meuser, who apparently doesn’t understand the “C” part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (it’s not called the “Bank” Financial Protection Bureau for a reason, you asshat...oh, and Meuser once said the “liberal left” is a bigger threat than ISIS as noted here)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about the latest ad from the “lose Cruz” PAC, which is pretty darn good (to do something about this Texas guttersnipe AT LONG LAST, click here)...



...and when it comes to giving the head of the “party of Lincoln” the treatment he deserves (particularly in light of this), Farron Cousins tells us that the group American Bridge is attacking Mango Mussolini on issues that actually matter...



...and in another notable milestone, I’d like to present this tune for Mick Jagger, who also celebrated his 80th birthday (in addition to Carly Simon recently).

Monday Stuff

This is our wet noodle PA-01 Repug U.S. House Rep Brian Fitzpatrick. He likes to give us the impression that he’s “independent” and is big into “No Labels” (which, as noted here, is just a Republican front operation anyway).

He had himself an interesting week last week, I should point out. He made a big deal out of meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India as notd here (who, of course, is another strongman type who wants that country to slide backwards from an emerging democracy). Fitzpatrick also sponsored an aviation safety rule for secondary cockpit barriers named after pilot Victor Saracini, who died on 9/11 along with 16 others from Bucks County (here).

This was all a distraction, however, because do you want to know what else Fitzpatrick did last week? Along with the rest of his “clown car caucus,” he voted to censure Dem U.S. House Rep Adam Schiff of California for taking the lead into investigating the head of Fitzpatrick’s party in the matter of #45’s collusion with Russia based on the findings in the Mueller Report (which led to Trump’s first impeachment as we know – vote is here, and Schiff's response is here). Fitzpatrick also voted to impeach President Biden...and yeah, that was the vote where Bo-Bo Boebert and Marjorie Trailer Park Greene had their catfight on the floor of the House (vote is here - more is here). And make no mistake...Fitzpatrick cast these votes because he was told from the head of his party that he would get primaried next year when he ran for re-election if he didn’t.

So yeah...our “independent” U.S. House rep from this district is just another Trumpist stooge. And in this clip, Bri-Fi tries to hide from prying eyes I guess while he rides in the “Trump truck”...no such luck, though...



Update 6/27/23: Color me shocked - well, not really - as well here.

...and Dear Leader sure remembered Bri-Fi here (and by the way, Fitzpatrick STILL refuses to hold an in-person town hall; there was a time when he could have used COVID as an excuse, but that time has passed...to do something about Fitzpatrick, click here)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that a chapter of a group with the benign-sounding name of “Moms for Liberty” was busted for quoting Hitler on its website...see, it’s actually pretty damn simple – YOU DON’T HAVE A GODDAMN QUOTE ON YOUR PAGE FROM A GENOCIDAL MURDERER IN THE FIRST F*CKING PLACE! AND DON’T PUT SOME MEELY-MOUTHED BS OUT THERE ABOUT “GOVERNMENT” TO TRY AND JUSTIFY IT!!! (mildly NSFW/H)...and in a related vein, I wonder if the cretins behind this will get busted for it like they truly deserve...



...and keeping with the theme of right-wing extremism, Jesse Dollemore tells us that the new “kind of late night” according to Bill Maher (pardon me while I gag) apparently wants to start a “war” over LGBTQ rights, which is typical for a gutless coward like Greg Gutfeld...I’m glad Jesse started his response by saying that kids aren’t getting “bottom surgery” but are instead getting puberty blockers, and surgery is only an option when they’re adults...and as noted here, the vast majority of those who start transitioning when they’re younger decide to keep doing it, and we’re talking about a pittance against the overall population of this country anyway...



...and I don’t know how many people noticed, but the Biden Administration recently played a big role (though behind the scenes) in getting sick days approved for rail workers as noted here...Beau has more to say on that...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 6/24/14, and which Repug U.S. Senator Chuck Grasshole sez that judges/justices don’t make policy, which is laugh-out-loud ridiculous given what the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR has catastrophically wrought (from the late, great Ed Schultz)...oh, and as noted here, Grasshole recently admitted that the so-called “Biden bribery tapes” may not exist at all (just say “oops” and get out)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us that some Pixar film “Elemental” didn’t do as well as hoped, and some wingnuts are claiming another “victory” over “woke Disney” (“the Mouse” owns Pixar, see)...yeah – I’ll still invest in the company in my 401(k) since I’m sure they’ll be just fine in the long term...also, I don’t know when the last time was that anybody who may be reading this has actually gone to a theater to watch a movie, but IT IS FREAKING EXPENSIVE! Let’s see what the numbers are on this pic after it goes to home video before we make a judgment, OK?...



...and happy belated 80th (!) birthday to Carly Simon.