Friday Stuff (updates)

Emma and the crew form The Majority Report discuss Dem U.S. Senator Dick Durbin calling for a cease fire in the Israel/Gaza conflict...also, kudos to Minneapolis area Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg for courageously asking for the same thing from President Biden (and I have a pretty good idea of what that fool Amy Schumer did, which is about par for the wretched course with her)...



Update 1: Hey, does anybody want to hear my admittedly-dumb-lefty-blogger take on this story?

(I mean, if Cenk Uygur can announce a run for president, then the least I can do is opine as a self-proclaimed foreign policy expert.)

I don’t know how many people have noticed the debate about funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and our border going on with our supposedly august U.S. Senate. There are those who want everything funded in one bill (Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, Huckelberry Graham and others), and then there are those like Mike Lee and “Russia Ron” Johnson who want funding for Israel to be voted on as a standalone bill and vote on the other items separately (meaning of course that they’re willing to do Putin’s bidding and tell Ukraine and Zelenskyy to pound sand).

Well, although I certainly don’t have an inside track on this stuff, I don’t think it takes a genius to see that China is watching this too. And I also don’t know how many people have noticed that Hezbollah and Iran have been strangely quiet while the Israel/Gaza carnage proceeds apace (what better opportunity for them to intercede against “Bibi” than now)?

I think Iran and Hezbollah are shying away for now because China told them to. China is waiting to see if we approve military funding for Taiwan. Because if we do, China may just decide to pull back from the region and say, “OK, enemies of Israel and the U.S., go ahead and lob a shell or two at one of those ships in the Mediterranean. As of now, we don’t care.” And if that happens and we get hit and members of our military get killed, then we’ll respond of course, and we’ll all be speedily on our way to World War III.

People far smarter than I am no doubt know that we’re stuck in a vulnerable position. Hamas are cowardly, bloodthirsty murderers, but “Bibi” is proving that he’s little better. And the Israeli PM has been trying to sucker us into another Mideast mess ever since we extricated ourselves from Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Iraq Adventure. Hell, if Netanyahu really wanted to get Hamas, he’d find a way to go after them in Qatar or put some kind of pressure on that government to give them up. But as far as I’m concerned, Netanyahu doesn’t want that. What he wants is a Palestinian genocide. And unfortunately, he’s getting it with our help thus far.

I’m saying this because I care very much about the fate of innocent Israelis and Palestinians, and I care even more about our military that could end up in harm’s way before all is said and done. I just don’t see any good way out of this without still more bloodshed on an ever-more-sickening scale, but believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong (Update: And I almost forgot about this charming moment from "Bibi" - and yes, that's a bad joke I know).

...and focusing on domestic U.S. politics, David Pakman informs us that “MAGA Mike” Johnson’s wife scrubbed her website where she compared homosexuality to bestiality...so many issues with this guy, and I thought this was a good recent column by Charles Blow about the House Speaker...



...and David Shuster tells us that Johnson has “feels” apparently of Biden’s illegality, and that’s enough for an investigation by itself...and as Robert Garcia says, this is positively rich coming from a party whose de facto head is facing 91 criminals counts spread across 4 indictments (and nice work by Jen Psaki also)...



...and in keeping with those lunatics in charge of the U.S. House, Jayar Jackson and Jordan Uhl discuss the beyond-Dickensian budget cuts proposed by Not Your Father’s Republican Party and “MAGA Mike” in particularly (CHIP, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, etc.)...what a weaselly little shit Johnson is, though I realize that shouldn’t be surprising (I think Jordan Uhl goes off the rails here a bit when criticizing Dems for not telling the IDF and Israel to call for a cease fire in Gaza since that’s a wholly separate issue, as noted in the first video, but I think the message has gone forth from TYT and Cenk Uygur in particular to find any way possible to bash Dems regardless of the issue...yes, there are times when that’s called for I admit, but TYT overdoes it big time...and I don’t completely buy Jayar’s argument at the end that we’ll run out of money; I’m not saying we should spend like drunken sailors, but that’s not an excuse for demagoguery either...by the way, on a bit of an unrelated note, you can expect to see fewer “Second Thought” and TYT clips because I think their content has become highly questionable for different reasons)...



Update 2: I can think of few better illustrations of the old adage "pride goeth before a fall" than this.

Update 3: Curiouser and curiouser (here).

Update 11/4/23: I have a feeling that the day will come sooner than later when Johnson wishes he'd never become speaker and stayed as a relative back-bencher...well, too damn late now (here).

Update 11/5/23: The more we learn about "MAGA Mike," the weirder (and more dangerous) he looks (here, to say nothing of corrupt as noted here).

...and turning once more to “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Beau talks about the proposed bill from Brave Sir Josh Hawley allegedly getting big donor $$ out of politics (spoiler alert – the bill is a “red herring”) with Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao saying “not on my watch”...good explanation by Beau of just how daunting it would be to destroy Citizens United...not saying it’s impossible, but we would need a wholly other High Court (run by the “D” team, which hasn’t happened for over 50 years) from the one we have now to enable that (more from Jane Mayer is here)...



...and today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “Quadrophenia” by The Who, their sixth studio album and second “concept” recording after “Tommy” (I've seen a release date of today as well as October 29th, for the record)...I believe they had a third "concept" recording they were working on called “Lighthouse” but they couldn’t quote pull it together, though it ultimately became “Who’s Next?,” which to me is their greatest work...this song fits on so many levels for yours truly, especially right now.

Thursday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore discusses Brave Sir Josh Hawley disrespecting Homeland Secretary Alexander Mayorkas over an admittedly offensive blog post from someone in DHS...kudos to Mayorkas for his measured response, telling Cowardly Josh that, yeah you numbskull, it’s a personnel matter and I can’t discuss it publicly; as Jesse says, Hawley is grandstanding to get an appearance on Fix Noise, OAN or some other similar channel, as well as clicks on X or whatever, and that’s about it (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and when it comes to the U.S. House on Capitol Hill under “MAGA Mike” Johnson, Chris Hayes tells us that, with war raging and an economy trying to find its way completely out of COVID (and more or less doing that as opposed to most of the rest of the world), to say nothing of climate change (more on that a little later), the “party of Lincoln” is laser focused on its top priority, and that’s ensuring that yacht owners can cheat on their taxes (and speaking of money matters, I think this is sketchy AF).

(And by the way, speaking of the “lower chamber,” I know they had that idiotic vote from Marjorie Trailer Park Greene trying to equate a protest on behalf of Palestinians as an “insurrection,” or some such typical nonsense, and that was shot down, which of course was the right thing. I know they also had that vote to expel “George Santos,” which was likewise shot down. And this may come as a bit of a surprise, but I’m glad that failed also. I thought Jamie Raskin put it well here...yes, Santos is a serial liar and a contemptible character for all kinds of reasons, but since he hasn’t been convicted of a crime, I agree with Raskin. Expelling him would have set a terrible precedent, which – and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough – DEFINITELY would have been used against Democrats in the future. Besides, if we’re just talking about the typical political BS and no actual illegality involving some kind of a court conviction, the remedy to get rid of Santos is to vote his ass out of office.)

Anyway, here's the Hayes clip...

Update: And speaking of that life form from GA-14, I thought this was a typically disgusting move.

...and Mike Figueredo tells us how AIPAC is pretty much a terrorist organization that has been able to get way too many politicians to knuckle under to it, including Huckleberry Graham, who apparently thinks there should be no threshold for kids getting killed by Israelis or Hamas in order to say enough and call for a cease fire (figures...and when it comes to confronting AIPAC, which is long overdue IMO, I have to admit that I’m utterly shocked to find myself on the same side as Thomas Massie, but he’s on the right side of an issue for a change...I would also like to see these lawmakers criticize all of the anti-BDS laws out there, but we’ll see about that...I thought this was a terrific and highly comprehensive report on the insidious influence of AIPAC on our politics, and yes, we should definitely help Cori Bush too...and by the way, more on Brian Mast is here)...



...and I have to admit that I’m as bewildered as anybody as to why the story of Acapulco’s destruction hasn’t received more coverage, as Thom Hartmann is also (I think Will Bunch recently said the same thing on Twitter/X/whatever...my guess is because stories about climate change don’t generate a lot of buzz overall, though I can think of no story that’s more important)...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that UAW president Shawn Fain is trying to get contracts put in place for other unions as well as his own so they expire on 4/30/28 in time for May Day, at which time Fain plans to hold a general strike to take on the wretched billionaire class...beyond freaking awesome (and I didn’t know about the RAND Corporation study that $50 trillion was stolen by the top one percent from the rest of us since WWII...bleeping criminals!)...



...and don’t know about you, but I’m getting ready to pack in, so hopefully this number can mellow us out a bit.

Wednesday Stuff

Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report discuss the push-back against the incursion into Gaza from “Bibi,” and that includes anti-war protests from American Jews...I have a feeling Biden badly misread public opinion on this; yes, I‘m not questioning Israel’s right to defend itself, but I’m only saying that I’m sure Hamas gamed this scenario out all over the place before they launched their attack on October7th – hard for me to find the words to communicate how despicable Hamas truly is, but Biden has to find a way to advocate for Palestinians here, and that means pushing for a two-state solution, right of return, Jerusalem as a shared capital, way beyond just calling for humanitarian relief – I’m basically talking about all of the stuff Netanyahu has brushed aside...as soon as you find yourself in a position where you’re indiscriminately attacking women and children, you’ve definitely lost (and I’m sure Turner is right about the cascading impact of all of this, unfortunately)...



...and I thought Joy Reid offered a pretty good summation of this horrible conflict...and again, I don’t know what the big deal is about harvesting olives or planting olive trees – I can’t imagine how that’s an excuse to shoot someone dead (I never knew of any tree that planted a bomb or murdered women and children)...I didn’t watch the follow-up segment to this, but it’s not hard to figure that what’s next unfortunately is more destruction and more military brinkmanship with this country, China, Iran, and others...



...and given the prior two clips, I think this is apropos from the New York Times, which features comments from Israelis in the wake of the Hamas attacks...I just hope that the monumental incompetence of “Bibi” doesn’t somehow get brushed aside in the quite-called-for-IMO rush to judgment against Hamas (who aren't even IN Gaza, let's not forget - last reports are that they're in Qatar)..



...and returning to this country, Leeja Miller tells us How Lobbying Is Ruining Democracy...I have to admit that I didn’t know about that 760-to-1 ratio in terms of campaign donations versus $ from tax breaks and loosened regulations, but it just about turned my stomach...also didn’t know about the $$ raked in by Chuck Schumer, but that doesn’t surprise me either...and China spent $62 million on our elections in 2022??...also, if I ruled the world, NOBODY working in our politics would be able to get a job as a lobbyist for TEN FREAKING YEARS after they left their public job...also didn’t know about the Lobbying Disclosure Act of ’95 (and what initiated it)...additionally, I didn’t know about the $34-to-$1 ratio of corporations lobbying vs. public interest groups (I always thought the term “lobbyist” in this country originated with the hangers-on around the time of the Civil War in particular who gathered at the Willard Hotel in D.C.)...lots of great ideas at the end of this clip to try and clean up our lobbying mess...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report informs us on how the Biden DOL came out with a ruling that reinstates an Obama-era standard for joint employers, making it easier for workers and unions to hold companies liable for labor law violations by their franchisees and contractors (so yeah, if the owner of a “Mickey D’s,” for example, is found liable for violations of, say, workers below an age standard working too many hours, the parent company can’t just wash their hands and say they have no control over what a franchisee does –the parent company is on the hook too)...and GREAT point by Sam starting at about 2:40 that, when you elect someone president, you’re also electing a “network of relationships” for that person, and IMO, the consequences of that are a hell of a lot more severe than electing a single person...



...and RIP Dwight Twilley from a couple of weeks ago – here is one of his signature hits.

Tuesday Stuff

Tell me once more how Biden is the one who supposedly has cognitive difficulties; The Lincoln Project brings us about a minute and a half (which is all I can take, to be honest) of our treasonous, delusional narcissistic former *preznit in his most recent public appearance (and yeah, he says he’s in Sioux Falls, when in reality he’s in Sioux City, Iowa...and yes, I know The Lincoln Project are just yesterday’s Republicans, and maybe in the future too, but they keep making good clips for now)...



Update: Duly noted, but as I said, their videos are still good.

...and I know I’m a little behind the news cycle with this David Pakman clip of the Gropenfuhrer giving top secret intel on our nuke subs to Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, but it’s still a vitally important story...#45 should be in the slam for this if for no other reason, though there are plenty of others of course...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner of The Damage Report bring us proof positive (according to the WaPo) that those stinking December 2017 tax cuts from Combover Caligula (voted for by all Repugs, including this guy, and to do something about Bri-Fi, click here) increased the debt by $10 trillion (along with Dubya's of course)...remember this the next time you hear these frauds carrying on about OH, THE DEBT THAT’S STEALING FROM OUR GRANDKIDS!!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Fix Noise staffers are apparently letting out the secret that Our Ochre Abomination is being blacklisted from live interviews on their propaganda network because they don’t want to get sued by Smartmatic or Dominion again, so they’re only allowing pre-recorded appearances so they can screen what he says in advance...actually, Benedict Donald should be “blacklisted” from appearing on The Roger Ailes BS Channel AT ALL...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 11/3/16, in which Keith Olbermann gives us another of his “The Closer” segments about “Trump TV”...as far as I’m concerned, the only reason why #45 didn’t implement some of the stuff K.O. talks about here is because Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive didn’t understand how to wield the power to try and make it happen; in the beyond nightmarish scenario of another Trump term, I believe he would know how to put what Olbermann is talking about into place...

...and given that admittedly frightful prospect, I still would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween.

Monday Stuff

It looks like Bo-Bo- Boebert in CO-03 is going to get a Repug primary challenger as a result of “Getting Handy With Her Now-Ex Boyfriend At The ‘Beetlejuice’ Musical”-gate, as Francesca and Brett Erlich tell us...more than any other reason, I’m sure it’s really because of her paltry fundraising numbers compared to Dem challenger Adam Frisch (and it shouldn’t be all about the $$ I know – sigh); to help Frisch, click here...



...and sticking with the “Centennial State,” apparently some idiot Repug state rep named Ron Weinberg sez that kids using their preferred pronouns could confuse police during a mass shooting...kind of breaking the stoo-pid meter on that one, I must say...



...and Eric Gardner of More Perfect Union discusses the effort from Medicare to try and negotiate prices for 10 prescription drugs and the full-on legal war waged by those Big Pharma bastards in response...



...and just in time for the visitation of witches, goblins and other spectral forces, Robert Reich brings us the three myths of “zombie economics” that absolutely refuse to die, though they should have been buried long ago of course...



...and here are a couple of tunes to get into the spirit of the season, if we aren’t there already.