Friday Stuff

(A backgrounder on this typically clueless moment from "The Gipper" is here.)

Leeja Miller asks Why Is Healthcare So Expensive (GREAT question)...I knew our maternal mortality numbers in this country were awful, but I didn’t know the figure was over twice as bad as the OEC average...one of the many great points in this video has to do with the specialization in health care as Miller notes, in order to maximize profit IMO; this is one of the reasons that I would recommend a nurse practitioner for a yearly checkup if you can because that’s the only class of medical professional I’ve seen who looks at the WHOLE patient picture (NSFW/H at the very end, though I agree with what she says...I meant to put this video up earlier in the week, but it got bumped for other more timely items)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the wingnut threat from within and without of our government (I think he means “Section 8” housing, not “Section 9”)...Thom starts by talking about the carnage from right-wing billionaires, then shifts to global threats, alleging (correctly I think) that the “party of Lincoln” is doing its best to weaken our standing in the world (and when it comes to billionaires trying to undermine this country, I would add this person to that sorry list)...



...and when it comes to what I would call domestic enemies of this country, I don’t think it’s possible to ignore Marjorie Traitor Greene...kudos to Becca Balint of Vermont here, even though her commendable effort will likely go for naught since this howler monkey in a dress from Georgia doesn’t possess a molecule of contrition...



...and with an eye towards the Middle East, Mike Figueredo tells us that the wingnuts in this country (along with the far right in Israel) treat Palestinians as animals (which we knew), alleging that they all support Hamas (spoiler alert – WRONG!) – and I’m not going to waste my time rebutting all of the nonsense from that nematode Jesse Watters...didn’t know that 38 states have adopted anti-BDS laws, including my own beloved commonwealth of PA...ugh...and with all due respect to Mike Figueredo, I’ve been yelling about “Bibi” Netanyahu for a little while now, starting with his goading of this country to go after “militant Islam” after 9/11 here, though Figueredo is completely right to call out ANYONE who supports anti-BDS laws, which run completely in opposition to our Constitutional freedoms (NSFW/H also)...



...and in case you were wondering whether or not some wingnut propagandist would try to link the Hamas attack on Israel and their Gaza incursion with the most recent mass gun slaughter in this country in Maine...well, no need to worry on that, because Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich is all over it – oh, and here is one response to his idiotic claim that, basically, more “permit-less carry” is needed in this country...

"By making it easy for almost anyone to carry a concealed handgun in public, right-to-carry laws increase violent crime, firearm robberies, gun thefts, workplace homicides, and mass shootings. Right-to-carry laws make it harder for law enforcement to solve violent crimes and are opposed by many law enforcement leaders across the country. Similarly, permitless carry harms public safety by removing essential safety measures designed to ensure that those carrying handguns in public have been properly trained and vetted. Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the removal of concealed carry permitting systems is associated with higher rates of gun homicide and violent crime."

More from Emma V. and the Majority Report on this is here...



...and I think we all deserve a nice weekend after this week’s insanity, and I’d like to get that started with this little number.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

I’d like to offer “thoughts and prayers” for real to the families and friends of the victims of the latest mass gun carnage in this country in Lewiston, Maine (particularly for the father who believes his son was one of the victims), and I’m sorry that that sounds like the typical pat, nothing response at times like this. For that reason, I think I should give what I believe is a more concrete explanation that has a lot to do with this horrible tragedy:

U. S. House Democrats passed a renewal of the assault weapons ban last year, as noted here (with all but 2 Repugs voting in favor while all others opposed it).

The renewal of the ban died in the U.S. Senate because it didn’t meet the magical 60-vote threshold for passage (here), with just about every Republican opposing, along with “President” Joe Manchin and “Curtsy Kyrsten” refusing to get rid of the stinking filibuster (if that were gone, only a simple majority vote would be needed).

That more than any other reason is why mass gun slaughter continues in this country (with the typical garbage, "values voter" nonsense from "MAGA Mike" Johnson on this issue here)...



Update: Commendable, but more like this - A LOT MORE.

Update 10/28/23: Good - hopefully he's doing somersaults in hell at this moment.

...and speaking of the new, truly awful U.S. House speaker, Brian Tyler Cohen gives us more here...yeah, when you get the endorsement of Matt “Trying To Pick Up Underage Girls, Allegedly Of Course” Gaetz, you have NOTHING to be proud of...I just wish SOMEBODY had asked Johnson if he’d received Trump’s endorsement before he put his name in nomination for speaker, but I’m sure a whole gang of wingnuts would have shouted SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!! instead of Ol’ Grandma Ginny Foxx (and by the way, this puts Johnson second in line for the presidency, in case we’d forgotten about that...and one of those 18 Repugs in Biden-won districts voting for Johnson is this guy, and to do something about Bri-Fi once and for all, click here)...



Update 1 10/27/23: The more I think about this stuff, the more if occurs to me that Johnson may have been the guy the wingnuts wanted all along and the stuff with Gym Jordan, Emmer, etc. was just a smokescreen. The way these cretins operate, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were the case.

Update 2 10/27/23: Given this, let’s make sure that #MAGAMikeJohnson continues to be “the gift that keeps on giving,” in particular when running against those 18 Repug U.S. House Reps from Biden districts (including this guy, and once more, to do something about Bri-Fi, press here).

Update 3 10/27/23: Uh, yep.

Update 4 10/27/23: And the hits just keep on coming for the new U.S. House Speaker (here, here, here, here, and here).

Update 5 10/27/23: I wonder if Johnson will, at some point, wish he could crawl back under the rock he emerged from; too late for that, though (here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Update 10/30/23: Maybe Johnson needs to spend a little less time with "the good book" (though he likely misinteprets it) and a little more time providing constituent service for real (here...and this is scary AF as far as yours truly is concerned...this stinks too, as does this).

Update 11/2/23: And this is sketchy AF about "MAGA Mike" too.

Update 11/10/23: Still more Johnson Christo-fascist garbage is here.

...and our wet noodle PA-01 rep likes to tell us all about his involvement in “No Labels”; fortunately; Robert Reich cuts through that BS here...



...oh, and in the matter of Ms. SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!, I thought this was a good video from The Lincoln Project (boy, would I LOVE to see the @DNC or @DCCC come after her with an "oppo" ad for this, y'know, like Repugs would try to do to us)...



...and when it comes to Not Your Father’s Republican Party, it appears that they engaged in a bit of revenge porn against Dem candidate Susanna Gibson running for Virginia state house delegate (District 57 I believe), as Kyle Kulinski tells us...



...and happy 70th birthday to Keith Strickland of the B-52s.

Wednesday Stuff

Apparently, U.S. House Repugs have done what they do best, and that is to get in line behind a fairly nondescript, corporatist white guy who checks all the wingnut checkboxes (and approved by Trump of course) and make him U.S. House Speaker – how pathetic (more here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

And by the way, as Jesse Dollemore points out here, Mike Johnson of Louisiana was one of the 7 of 9 overall speaker candidates who voted against certifying President Biden’s election (oh, and as noted here, Johnson “double dipped” while he allegedly served in state government, picking up “tens of thousands” in fees on a legal team representing the state in a federal court trial over abortion clinic restrictions)...



Update 1: And this was a typically charming moment also featuring "Granny Clampett" Virginia Foxx (apologies to Irene Ryan).

...and ZOMG! “Dark Brandon” was comped with a $200K payback from his brother for what I guess was a family loan..I guess the “scandal” is that Biden does his best to take care of his family..??? (more nonsense from James Comer and U.S. House Republicans...Jayar Jackson and Viviana Vigil discuss)...



Update 2: When it comes to political figures (which SCOTUS justices are, let's not forget) and alleged financial shenanigans (real in this case, IMO), I'm sure Comer and his pals won't have a word to say about this.

...well, for some more positive U.S. political news, Faron Cousins tells us that Ruben Gallego is pretty much cleaning the metaphorical clocks of Kari Lake and “Curtsy Kyrsten” Sinema in fundraising, though we indeed do have a looong way to go until November ’24 – to help Gallego, click here...



...and it looks like, if you imagine that you’re going to criticize Israel in any way whatsoever, you’re going to be met with a whole bunch of SHUTUP SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP SHUTUP!!!!!, as Dave Chappelle recently found out, though he also criticized Hamas, as well he should (Kyle Kulinski tells us more)...



...and speaking of African American entertainment icons (I guess Chappelle qualifies), RIP Richard Roundtree – I once read an interview where he said that, to portray John Shaft, he pretended he was really director Gordon Parks (an icon in his own right IMO), since that’s the way Parks acted, and Roundtree meant it as a tribute of sorts...



...and I guess The New Basement Tapes is the latest supergroup of sorts to come along (I detected The Living Elvis, but I’m a little fuzzy on the other members)...I thought this was a well-done tune.

Tuesday Stuff

(I had some unexpected technical difficulties, but hopefully they've been resolved.)

Farron Cousins discusses Jeffrey Toobin’s recent Op-Ed in the New York Times arguing that Mango Mussolini is going to get someone killed, with Toobin linking the antics of 45 to the Murrah building bombing by Timothy McVeigh in ’95; the clip also notes how #45 and his minions are going after New York AG Letitia James, among others targets with, at a minimum, threatening vitriol – hopefully no worse than that, though that’s bad enough...



...and gee, wasn’t Kayleigh McEnany the one who said she would never lie to us, or something? Well (as David Shuster points out), McEnany’s trash network clipped a quote of President Biden answering a reporter’s question about the Israel/Hamas war and the horrific loss of that conflict to try and make Biden look bad– typical for these lowlifes...



...and speaking of the Israel/Hamas war, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss the threats and censorship to pro-Palestinian voices, which Is insane...and yeah, GREAT point to ask where the #$@! these alleged “free speech warriors” like Bari freaking Weiss are when Harvard students are getting doxed and having job offers rescinded for supporting the Palestinians, who overwhelming DO NOT support Hamas, though the incursion by Netanyahu is forcing them in that direction...and on the one hand, I DO NOT support the fact that Israel has allowed the Gaza “open air prison” to exist, but on the other hand, I cannot think of a hell hot enough for Hamas...and don’t ask me who bombed that hospital, because I have no clue on that...



...and on the subject of domestic political stuff, Thom Hartmann talks about what will happen to the right to privacy if (God forbid) the wingnuts win in next year’s elections (or even some THIS year, I would guess)...Thom discusses the Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell SCOTUS rulings, which are in the sights of Harlan Crow puppet Clarence Thomas, “Strip Search Sammy” Alito, etc...

...but not Loving...hmmm, I can’t imagine why.



...and Brian Tyler Cohen speaks with attorney Marc Elias on redistricting legal cases across the U.S. that could create more Dem districts, though it’s impossible to predict how courts will rule of course...the only one I’m hearing that looks out of reach is Ohio unfortunately, and North Carolina’s map is horrible also sadly, but there are definite pickup possibilities elsewhere...



...and RIP Sirius XM’s Dusty Street – she was based on the “left coast” so I didn’t hear her during my formative years, but I came to enjoy her show over the last year or so on the “deep tracks” channel...heard a few wonderful tributes lately including one from Jim Ladd; I think this is an apropos tune in her honor.