Saturday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that it looks like 20 million of our fellow Americans say we need violence to reinstall a certain Treasonous Orange Pustule to An Oval Office again...and yeah, this Guardian story is scary for sure, but as Dollemore says, “both sides-ing” this is utter nonsense...”anger and radicalization,” whatever “radicalization” means (just saying that can be open to interpretation, that's all), is definitely not the same thing as a threat or actual violent move of some type against someone or something, which the Trumpsters are more than willing to do again, and I see ZERO equivalent on our side when it comes to this madness...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the news that the utterly odious Frank Luntz is trying to sound the alarm about the latest ad from The Gropenfuhrer, this one about the “deep state” of course (though I agree with the TMR crew that the only individuals who will be motivated to do anything are the lizard-brained earthlings that comprise Cult 45 and probably no one else)...and yeah, among the other lunacies, there’s the bit about “owning every politician that mattered” and they have a pic of Michael Moore, WHO ISN’T EVEN A FREAKING POLITICIAN!!!...



...well, at least the mayor of Erie in our beloved commonwealth of PA has apparently gotten the memo, you might say, and he wants Mango Mussolini to pay the cost of his upcoming brown shirt rally tonight in advance since there apparently is a matter of $35K outstanding from one of #45’s 2018 hate fests there (Ana and Cenk of TYT...one of the best critiques of the MAGA lunatics I’ve heard in a while, to be fair)...



...and when it comes to other Repugs who want to be preznit, Max Burns of Rebel HQ tells us about Tim Scott, who definitely wants to cut Social Security for younger voters along with #DeathSantis, Pence, Nikki Haley, and pretty much the rest of that damn party (and as Biden basically said, Scott starts throwing around these numbers for Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security which actually pale when compared to the TRILLIONS in tax cuts signed into law by Combover Caligula, which his party in Congress passed of course)...



...and speaking of the governor of Flori-DUUH!, apparently he would nominate RFK Jr. to run the FDA or the CDC if, by some catastrophic development, #DeathSantis ends up winning the election next year...I thought this was a good clap-back from The Lincoln Project (more here)...



...and Mehdi Hasan speaks with Paul Krugman about Biden’s economy and what I would call the gulf between public perception and economic reality – and let’s not forget the importance of the Infrastructure Investment Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act also.

And by the way, I give Hasan credit for pushing the point about how the Dems CONTINUALLY SCREW UP THE MESSAGING on just about any damn issue and let the other side run with their utter BS narratives, which end up filling the void on social media because the “D” party REFUSES TO FIGHT BACK! (and to be fair to Krugman, I really don’t expect him to be an expert on that topic). And yes, we know what the online stuff is (including this space, I’ll admit), but if you’re serious about winning hearts and minds, you’d damn well better be out there trying to tell people THE FREAKING TRUTH!

(And yes, I know I’ve beat this drum many times, but I believe I have to yet again. And I'll even admit that it's not completely the fault of Team "D.")

Here is yet another example. Lauren Boebert is truly one of the most vile examples of homo sapiens walking on two legs as far as I’m concerned, and we all know about how she threw the pin in the trash of the young girl who was one of the victims of the Uvalde massacre. Well, as noted in the Yahoo News story, she’s blaming the fact that she was wearing air pods and mistook the individual who handed her the pin for someone who had confronted her earlier.

As far as I’m concerned, that excuse is totally ridiculous, but utterly typical. However, as a bit of a “thought exercise,” let’s pretend that what she says is the truth. Do you want to know how an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion likely would have handled an incident like this? They would have said, “The other day, I was approached by someone who handed me a pin that represented 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, who was killed by a gunman in Uvalde, TX. It was shaped in the form of one of the sneakers she typically wore. I mistakenly took the pin and tossed it in the trash without thinking, and I am genuinely sorry for such a callous act. As a response, here is what I want to do. My office will donate $25,000 to Everytown USA or The Brady Campaign to combat gun violence. I personally don’t support these organizations, but I would like to extend this gesture of goodwill on behalf of Maite Rodriguez and the other Uvalde victims and their families and friends. Thank you.”

I realize that, as this Repug Party is presently composed, there is ZERO POSSIBILITY that ANYONE in that group would even contemplate a gesture like this. However, as I said, this is what an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion would do. And the fact that there is STONE FREAKING SILENCE on this from those professional election losers at the DNC and DCCC is a typically pathetic response (and that also goes for Adam Frisch, who supposedly is running to try and unseat Boebert next year. I haven’t heard a peep from him on this either).

Anyway, here is the Hasan/Krugman clip...



...and I’m a little behind on this I know, but John and Brett Erlich bring us their “garbage people” from the week before last I believe, and Kyrsten Sinema made that list for her idiotic “Barbenheimer” tweet...God, is this woman ever living in her own private Idaho, you might say (though RoJo still led the pack in awfulness, which is definitely “on the nose” for him...I definitely plan to see "Oppenheimer," and if I have anything worthwhile to say, I may post about it, just to warn you in advance)...



...and I hope you’re ready to rock into the weekend with this new little number.

Thursday Stuff

Willie Geist and some of the “Morning Joe” crew (I recognized Mike Barnicle, but not the other lady) interview Bloomberg News reporter David Kocieniewski on the story of the proliferation of U.S. guns in Thailand, the Philippines, Central America and elsewhere, particularly these weapons of death manufactured by Sig Sauer (typically disgusting story of how the gun maker tried to “launder” the sale of the German weapons in this country, and when Germany found out about it, they put the CEO in prison for a few weeks, which is exactly what some of the corporate criminals in this country deserve also...and yeah, I’d like to see the Biden Commerce Department stand up a little more on this issue too)...



Update 8/24/23: More here.

...and Thom Hartmann discusses “Operation Save America,” yet another spin off group from the evangelicals...yeah, they hate gays and Muslims of course, but they REALLY hate women who have abortions (this all-male panel in charge...of course...thinks that women not giving birth deserve the death penalty)...but they’re “pro life” – uh huh (more here)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that it looks like a bunch of conservative moms tried another ban of LGBTQ-themed books at a pride display at a San Diego library...these loons basically checked out the books in question and pretty much held the books hostage, if you will, and boy, did San Diego ever step up big time in response – nicely done...and all of this madness while the planet continues to melt (NSFW/H)...



...and gee, it looks like Repug U.S. Senators Cornpone Kennedy and Huckleberry Graham are all in a snit over Dem attempts to rein in our out-of-control SCOTUS with even the blandest of measures...the proposals from Dem U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse, important as they are, have a hard road in the “60 Votes For Passage” U.S. Senate and no shot whatsoever in the U.S. House with those lunatics in charge, but it’s important to try and hold our renegades in robes accountable (John and Jayar tell us about it...this is yet another issue where I hear nothing but stone freaking silence from the national Democratic Party organizations, who may end up losing the battle for the narrative on this issue among others)...



...and Beau tells us that “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy may actually launch an impeachment inquiry against Biden...yeah, I can see that slim majority going up in smoke big time next year, though we all need to work to make sure that happens; good point by Beau on what independent voters would likely think of this nuttiness, especially since those who might vote in favor of impeaching Biden failed to do so for Mango Mussolini when much stronger cases were made against him...



...and here’s another summer tune to help us all (hopefully) decompress a bit.

Wednesday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty comprehensive video by Leeja Miller on the history of policing in this country and how police forces can trace their origins back to hunting for runaway slaves, and I think it’s safe to say that that mentality also prevails at the moment, expanded a bit for people of other ethnicities...I know it’s been covered pretty thoroughly that investing in communities before law enforcement gets involved (as well as funding mental health services for real) yields a better return on investment, if you will, and if wingnuts weren’t so preoccupied with “punching down,” they’d be onboard with that, but we know the score on that one...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about the recent dustup between CNN’s Dana Bash and former VP Mike Pence on the question of the 1/6 insurrectionists...Pence is a coward basically, but I grudgingly have to point out that he did the right thing when the Trumpist mob stormed the Capitol; I know Cenk Uygur, among others, has noted that, if Pence had refused to certify the election, then the states would have sent their fake Trump electors (and make no mistake – they were ready to go on that, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia), and since there would have been a conflict with the actual electors, the whole thing would likely have been decided by the House of Representatives...fortunately, the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR ruled against that “independent legislative theory” BS (which would have opened the door for Repug-run legislatures to ignore the vote on behalf of a candidate for their party), but you KNOW another case related to that will come around again...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that Ron #DeathSantis of Flori-DUUH! recently ran another controversial campaign ad, with this one invoking Nazi imagery; at least this latest ad didn’t have borderline homoerotic porn, so I guess we’re supposed to call that progress? More here...



...and Mike Figueredo brings us the story of Texas Dem U.S. House Rep Greg Casar protesting HB 2127, which denies water breaks to construction workers in that state (Casar is staging a "thirst strike" in response)...I realize the Biden Administration has its hands full trying to run the country and also trying to combat all of the idiocy from the “party of Lincoln,” but if there’s a way to craft a federal rule to override what Greg Abbott and his fellow maniacs are doing on this issue in particular, then I personally am all for it...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that the Club for Growth is dropping $20 mil for lunatic U.S. House Repugs, because of course (the “Patriot 20,” huh? Pardon me while I gag...and OF COUUURRRSSE it includes Biggs, Boebert, Gaetz, Gosar, etc...the “worst of the worst” indeed...and yeah, great point by Cousins about why the CFG would want THESE lunatics as opposed to OTHER Repug lunatics who likely would win those seats in the general election anyway, unfortunately...I guess these corporatist mongrels need to throw their money around in other new, creative ways now that “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey is mercifully gone at last from public life)...



...and I knew it was only a matter of time before the wingnuts got all ZOMG OBAMA KILLED HIS CHEF!!! after the news broke about the awful accident involving Tafari Campbell at South Beach on MVY...of course, this totally ignores the pesky little fact that the Obamas WEREN’T EVEN FREAKING THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED!!!, though of course they apparently were on the island...cue the "X Files" music I guess...ugh - let the wingnut conspiracy theories commence (John and Adrienne Lawrence discuss it)...



...and RIP Sinead O’Connor – 56 is way too young (and as always, pop culture imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)...



...and while she wasn’t personally my musical cup of tea, she represented a particular type of artistry, and I respect that (and no, I really never cared about her tearing up that picture of the Pope...she was trying to give voice to institutionalized religious oppression, which is actually worse now here than in Ireland).



Update: Yeah, I would agree with this.

Tuesday Stuff

Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson tell us that blue states are planning to use shield laws to send abortion pills to patients in red states, which I think is a good way to say “FU” to the wingnuts on this issue; shield laws have apparently been put into practice in the EU also, which is where the idea comes from I believe...kind of unbelievable that, in this day and age, we have to create what amounts to an “underground railroad” like this, but thanks to wingnut judges along with the execrable Leonard Leo and The Federalist Society, we are where we indeed are...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Hunter Biden’s lawyers have filed an ethics complaint against Marjorie Traitor Greene for introducing those nude pics in that congressional hearing last week...yeah, Greene should end up in the slam for that, and I don’t say that lightly, but speaking only for myself, I’ve had enough of the utter nonsense of that bunch and it’s waaaay past time for somebody to pay a price for it, and with the exception of Boebert, who else is more deserving?...



Update 7/26/23: It's about goddamn time! (here).

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Alabama Repugs flipping off the SCOTUS, more specifically, on a ruling that would require the voting map in that state to be redrawn to include a second majority African American district...



...and Eric Swalwell talks about “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy trying to expunge Trump’s impeachments, which I don't even think is a thing (and one of those 19 U.S. House Repugs in Biden-won districts is this guy of course – to do something about Bri-Fi, click here...and good for Swalwell to mention rebuilding that section of I-95, which was a partnership with the Feds and PA Dems and was indeed a remarkable accomplishment...and yes, I know we have to pay attention to Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence from time to time, but to be honest, I’m tired of wasting calories on that narcissistic sociopath; put him in the slam for 20 years and be done with it)...



...and David Doel tells us about a volunteer group in Houston (Food Not Bombs) which has been fined thousands apparently for feeding the homeless outside of a library (doing so when the place is closed after hours...and yeah, four cops are just standing there waiting to ticket the group – can’t get my head around the stoo-pidity, I have to admit)...and in case anybody out there is thinking “oh, there he goes bashing Repugs again”...well, they’re at least partly to blame for what goes on in this country, but Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is a Dem...and yeah, I think Doel is exactly right that all of this is because the mayor doesn’t want the homeless near city hall...



...and this is a bit of a summer song...looks like the mercury is going to climb again in these parts, so please be careful and look in on anybody who’s infirmed or elderly if you can as well as kids, and don’t forget your pets either if you have them.

Monday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us that The Roger Ailes BS Factory recently ran with a “story” about how misgendering people in Michigan, as an act by itself, is now a crime, but even though the “story” turned out to be total BS, Repug politicians in that state are trying to recall 5 Dem politicians in the state house who supposedly are responsible for the law, which doesn’t do what the Repugs say it does...does your head hurt over this nonsense yet?...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that RFK Jr. recently ran with his hurt fee fees over to the same propaganda network noted previously after getting called out in that recent U.S. House hearing (slightly NSFW/H)...Jr. may be one of the most pathetic public figures I’ve seen in a loooong time, because of this and myriad other reasons (more here)...



...and speaking of pathetic figures, Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson of TYT (not them) tell us about megadonors contributing to “Curtsy Kyrsten” in her sure-to-fail re-election campaign...yes, as the panel notes, the real danger is that Sinema could pull votes away from Ruben Gallego and allow that loon Kari Lake to win the seat...



...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us how much corporate America loves stoo-pid politicians who do what they’re told, especially on the local level; the issue is all of the Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! that people are excited about at the ribbon-cutting ceremony when these places break ground, but then – ooopsie! – most of those jobs evaporate after these corporate criminals get their money...Foxconn, Boeing and Amazon are mentioned here, but there are probably too many other companies to name...



...well, for an example of an employer actually doing the right thing, this More Perfect Union clip goes to the home district of Marjorie Trailer Park Greene to find that it is becoming a hub of sorts for Hanwha Qcells, a company that makes solar panels, believe it or not (and yeah, it looks like this is another reason for our corporate media to go “meh” on the Inflation Reduction Act, making the polls on what a great job overall Biden has done with the economy even more negative instead...and yeah, Marjorie Traitor Greene is still an idiot, but we knew that)...



...and happy belated 70th birthday to Eric Bazilian of The Hooters.

Sunday Stuff

I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/22/16, in which we view the Friends of the Earth ad That Fox News Doesn’t Want Its Viewers To See (more here, here, here, here, here, and here)...



Update 7/28/23: And why does this not surprise me in any way (these criminals have been trying to demolish government agencies that protect us, namely the EPA and CDC, only since about freaking forever).

...and Jeff Waldorf tells us that the individual taking over the 8 PM slot for The Swanson TV Dinner Heir on Rupert The Pirate’s propaganda channel is blaming “eco-extremists” for trying to call attention to the catastrophic effects of climate change (more here)...



...and on this subject, I thought Beau had some good advice about letting the wingnuts take a bit of a “victory lap” over their proposal for “a trillion trees,” which of course is barely doing anything positive and, by itself, won’t come anywhere close to solving the problem...I understand what Beau is saying and I think he’s basically right, but it’s still pretty damn pathetic that this is the best the other side can support at this point...



...and turning to other matters (in this case, the ’24 presidential election), Farron Cousins tells us that Repug candidate Vivek Ramsawamy sez that 1/6 happened because “big tech” censored the Hunter Biden “story”...almost as dumb as Ramaswamy telling Don Lemon that African Americans can thank the Second Amendment for their civil rights (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Ana of TYT brings us the story of 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant Duvan Perez, who was killed in an accident at a meat processing plant in Mississippi...child labor violations are up 283% since 2015 as the clip tells us, and I have to admit that it’s hard for me to get my head around a number like that...and why am I not surprised that, when it comes to potentially eliminating laws against child labor (I don’t buy the “loosening” framing here, BTW), this gut-churning development manages to somehow link back to the irredeemable Leonard Leo? And I understand Ana’s frustration at the end, believe me, but until more people realize that they need to care about their families, friends and communities (and the planet, which is another discussion noted previously) more than they hate Democrats, stories like this will probably continue, and believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong...



...and here is another summmer tune to hopefully give us a brief respite from all of this utter madness.