Friday Stuff

Here is President Biden’s recent speech at the McCain Institute about our democracy (here)...speech is about 35:00 – I’m not going to try and paraphrase it because it’s so important that I think we should watch all of it (and I can’t believe he was interrupted like that by that clown yelling about fossil fuels at about 8:50...I don’t give a damn if the guy’s a lefty or not; that interruption was rude and stoo-pid) – someone who is allegedly a doddering old man could not come up with something like this – I have a feeling he wrote a good bit of it, and he did a terrific job delivering all of it...and he’s used that line “not the example of our power but the power of our example” at least once before, and that was at the inaugural – of course, Peter Baker of the New York Times will find a reason to criticize it in an upcoming negative column I’m sure...I wish Biden had spoken more about the “dark money” interests behind atrocities such as Project 2025, which he alluded to a bit with that “Schedule F” remark, but what he said was definitely good enough and motivation for us all to do our best to negate, as much as possible, the garbage in what passes for our political discourse and work to get Democrats elected...



Update: More here.

Update 9/30/23: And as a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise when it comes to presidents and speeches, I give you this.

...and in Biden’s speech, he made reference to Our Ochre Abomination and #45’s attacks on Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; David Pakman gives us an excerpt of an interview with Milley to air on “60 Minutes,” probably this Sunday (and I realize I shouldn’t dignify Mango Mussolini’s absurd comments on Truth Septic about the Afghanistan withdrawal under President Biden, but I’ll only say this...you can blame Biden for maybe not recognizing how badly the situation on the ground had degraded, as well as overly optimistic thinking of how willing the Afghan army was to fight against the Taliban, but you can also blame 45 for originally setting a thoroughly unrealistic withdrawal date of May 1st, 2021 as well as allowing the Taliban to achieve its greatest level of strength in that country since 2001...as noted here, there wasn’t going to be an easy way to end our nation’s longest war regardless of who the president was...and who was it again who initially invited the Taliban to Camp David for peace talks before the justifiable outcry forced him to cancel the meeting as noted here?)...



..and RIP Dianne Feinstein – yes, her final years were forgettable (I defended her in those remarks to the kids about “my way or the highway” because I thought what she said was taken out of context a bit), but she was definitely a titan of the Senate in her day...what propelled her career, as it turns out, was the twin murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, which I can’t imagine that any sane person would have wanted, but she answered the call as San Francisco mayor and also by serving in the “upper chamber”...big shoes to fill to be sure...



...and Leeja Miller gives us another comprehensive clip on Why The U.S. Has So Many Prisoners (another great report, this time on the history of incarceration in this country pretty much...as Miller correctly points out, it was an easy transition to be fearful of African Americans as slaves and keep them oppressed to being fearful of them as “the other” in the ‘60s and ‘70s in response to civil rights when it came to our criminal justice system and keep them oppressed for that alleged reason also)...and yes, that quote from John Ehrlichman pretty much nails it, as we know...lots of other important history, including the drug stuff that funded the Central American garbage in the ‘80s under The Sainted Ronnie R which played a big role in the crack cocaine epidemic in this country back then, and the 100-to-1 ratio of crack vs. powder that played a role in the beyond-ridiculous mandatory minimum sentencing (with the explosion of incarceration as noted)...and as others have pointed out, the prison furlough policy Michael Dukakis was victimized for in the ’88 presidential contest (the Willie Horton ad of course) was instituted by a Republican Massachusetts governor (here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us a video about a GREAT ad from the “Lose Cruz” PAC...I’ll probably have a nightmare now of “Cancun Cruz” yelling “PODCAST!”...this is all good fun I know, but to do something about Cruz for real, click here...and yes, I know it’s Texas and the odds are long, but there’s no hope at all if we choose to do nothing...



...and the weekend is here at last - hallelujah!

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about the U.S. House Repug spending plan (using the term charitably – extortion scheme is more correct IMO) to keep our government operating (harking back to Project 2025 again...the cruelty is always the point with these maniacs)...



...so, if the “crazy caucus” isn’t bothering with dumb stuff like, y’know, trying to keep our government operating, what are they focusing on instead? Why, trying to impeach #46 because Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *preznit wanted his party to do it, as David Doel tells us (and GREAT job by House Democrats, especially Max Frost, to give this hearing the treatment it deserved)...I can recall when Jonathan Turley was on “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann all the freaking time, but I guess he likes his bread buttered by the other side now...looks like this was the price “15 Votes For Speaker” McCarthy had to pay in order to get his crazy caucus not to let the government shut down, though they apparently will do that anyway – that’s what you get when you negotiate with someone trying to hold you hostage...and nothing on the home page of this guy about his party’s plans to toss thousands of people out of work and throw the lives of millions into chaos if a budget isn't approved by end of 9/30...



Update 9/29/23: And concerning the shutdown, I give you this and this from the party that spits on anyone who isn't part of the "one percent."

...and David Pakman gives us Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise trying to flog this narrative about Biden interfering against Ukraine and Victor Shokin on behalf of Hunter (which has been disproven MANY times), and the Fix Noise mouthpiece gets the pushback he deserves from former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko...



...and Emma of The Majority Report comments on a clip of UAW worker Douglas Moore speaking about the strike...important to note that more established line workers like Moore who apparently aren’t affected as much by the tier system are walking out for the benefit of younger workers who are, and in addition to ending tiers, Moore wants the COLAs to be restored, which, given the profits of the automakers, seems like a pretty damn reasonable request...



...and this More Perfect Union video tells us about a New Deal-era program coming back to fight climate change (the “American Climate Corps,” discussed in an interview with Ali Zaidi, the Biden White House National Climate Advisor)...



...and 9/29 marks the 15th anniversary of the Dow’s suffering what was (at the time) the largest single-day point drop in its history (here), which kick-started The Grear Recession, brought on by Congress’s inability to pass a budgetary relief bill from Bushco – another lesson in Repug congressional intransigence that led to fiscal disaster...hopefully past isn’t prologue given what looks like an upcoming shutdown as previously noted...I think this tune is apropos.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel tells us about President Biden speaking out in support of the UAW strikers; lots of good stuff about the pro-worker Biden NLRB; I didn't know this is the first time a chief executive did this, which is all the more notable...I knew about that National Right to Work outfit (hmmm, just smell the Astroturf!), but I also didn’t know we were up to 27 states with right-to-work laws, which of course is “right to work for less with lousy or no benefits” (pretty sure Illinois got rid of their RTW law)...props to the workers who utterly blew up the BS about Mango Mussolini supposedly being “pro-worker” echoed by the corporate media nonsense from “the most trusted name in news”...



...and I’m behind a bit on my Leeja Miller clips and I’m going out of order here to present the following on “Project 2025”; I think I got into this with a Kyle Kulinski clip, but this is a much deeper dive (NSFW/H)...I know the whole “administrative law” segment is pretty dry, but it’s also pretty damn important to know about to get an understanding of why the wingnuts hate our governmental agencies so damn much, mainly because they interfere with our precious “free market” from doing whatever the hell it wants...and oh yeah, we learn about the whole “unitary executive theory” madness once more...and I’d never heard of “Schedule F” until now, but yeah, it’s pretty “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” like the rest of this depraved lunacy...the conservative grievance mentality drips from every word of every odious page of this wretched “manifesto,” including basically imprisoning any LGBTQ person, anyone who purveys “pornography,” or anyone advocating a “woke agenda” of course...the fact that forces in this country could produce something like this in the 21st century is truly a “mask off” moment...



...and the Blue Amp Channel guy (not Cliff Schecter) tells us about the 3 things the Repug candidates for preznit won’t talk about in tonight’s clown show debate...



...and Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page tell us about the “party of Lincoln” being more concerned about attire in the U.S. Senate than hungry kids (well-done interview clip with Nell Menefee-Libey discussing the WIC program, and if I were to see “I’m Disappointed” Collins in a bikini, I would likely need shock therapy...NSFW/H)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us about Repugs getting all big mad at Talyor Swift for encouraging thousands (at least) of her fans to register to vote...OF COOOUURRRSE!, as Cenk Uygur might say...as for her music, I really don’t have an opinion either way – it’s OK I guess, but it doesn’t do anything for me, which is fine (NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of musicians, RIP Terry Kirkman of The Association.

Tuesday Stuff

Chris Hayes discusses the utterly woeful anti-union record of Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former *President, who apparently will be speaking at a non-union auto parts manufacturer in Michigan as noted here (and oh yeah, “woke” EVs are the issue...GMAFB!)...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report tell us that, apparently, Evangelicals at the Family Research Council’s “Pray, Vote, Stand” summit are being a little closed-mouthed about their victories, particularly on Dobbs, probably b/c they know how pissed off people are about them (as Francesca notes, interesting to me that there’s apparently a larger decline in Sunday services attendance among Repugs than Dems...and let's not EVER forget that Roe was struck down by SCOTUS justices nominated by and confirmed under Combover Caligula...those wretched three made the difference)...



...and Kyle Kulinski discusses Mehdi’s Hasan’s commentary on Dem U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (more here...kind of a pointless dig at Dick Durbin, but I agree with Kyle’s other points, especially comparing the response of lefties to Menendez vs. Repugs doing what they do best, and that’s pretty much falling in line for the antics of their party, and spot-on to draw a comparison also to Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and “George Santos”...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 9/22/15...the Hillary Clinton campaign (remember her?) put together this video from the Repug Party debates from that period to point out that the “party of Lincoln” was utterly silent on the issues that mattered most, something to keep in mind for tomorrow night’s idiocy (and gee, that HRC sure was a stinky candidate for ABSOLUTELY NAILING THEM ON THIS, wasn’t she...yes, tongue-in-cheek once more)...



...and last Sunday marked what would have been the 75th birthday of the one and only Phil Hartman...



...and happy 68th birthday to Carlene Carter.

Monday Stuff

David Pakman gives us a clip of Our Ochre Abomination threatening Jews for not supporting him, and on Rosh Hashanah no less (and happy Yom Kippur to all who observe, by the way)...in the process of having another online tantrum at Truth Septic, #45 rattles off his highly questionable list of “accomplishments” (and of course, what would ANY kind of a conservative message be without misspellings?)...



Update: Naaah, this isn’t what dictators and demagogues do, is it?

...and Jesse Dollemore gives us another example of poor white Repugs screwing themselves over for Trump (three clips include Marjorie Traitor Greene’s boyfriend interviewing a couple of people at an Iowa rally for the Gropenfuhrer...I don’t know if the problem is that these folks have just grown up to advanced middle age in an environment where there is no alternative media besides right wing talk radio and other like-minded broadcast networks, or how much of a role their faith plays in all of this – not trying to impugn religion per se, I hasten to add – but these folks are flat-out, dead wrong to support the “party of Lincoln” in any way whatsoever)...



...and Krystal, Kyle and friends discuss the Andy Beshear ad featuring a young girl named Hadley who was raped by her stepfather, and the clip is aimed right at Kentucky Repug Daniel Cameron...yeah, call out these monsters for what they truly are...more here (and I thought this was a little illuminating also, though not in a good way)...



...and Francesca and Mondale Robinson of The Damage Report tell us about a Texas school cancelling, if you will, a graphic novel of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” supposedly because it has all that icky gay woman stuff (tongue in cheek; watching this, it occurs to me that we don’t have to refer to Repugs, “Moms for Liberty” and other like-minded clowns as figurative Nazis; this is LITERAL Nazi garbage)...



...and Cliff Schecter tells us that Dem U.S. House Rep Eric Swalwell of CA made Gym Jordan run away in the recent Merrick Garland hearing by speaking truth to Repug Party BS (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I know these guys are touring, but on the other coast at the moment – don’t know if they made it into our area recently, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if they return in the future and try to get the word out here...love their sound.