Ben Meiselas of the Midas Touch Network lets us know that the stock market took a dive this week mainly because Fed Chair Jerome Powell is signaling fewer rate cuts in ‘25 in response to all of the economic garbage from our incoming bunch of bottom feeders (mainly mass deportation and tariffs) that is likely to worsen inflation...”the pied piper of broken promises,” indeed (regarding #45/47 of course)...
...and Chris Hayes discusses AOC getting passed over for ranking member of the House Oversight Committee in favor of Gerry Connolly...Hayes argues that the Dems still aren’t taking the age issue seriously, and I reluctantly have to agree; I would argue that they also aren’t taking seriously the disconnect between the clueless election losers of the @DNC and the true base of the party, which is younger and more diverse (and represented by AOC) than the “old guard” which is centrist and watches “Morning Jo(ke)” (and is dwindling) and represented by Pelosi, Connolly, etc...one of these days, we’re going to have a true opposition party, but for now, this is what we’ve got...
...and at this point, I would say that Dem U.S. House Rep Richard Neal of Massachusetts is all of us...
EVERY. FUCKING. WORD. IF. THIS.@elonmusk is nothing more than a CIVILIAN. That motherfucker, rich or not, has no goddamn business telling the @GOP@HouseGOP@SenateGOP what bills they should or should not vote for. Republicans are fucking cowards.
With all of the awful nominees for cabinet positions as part of our incoming bunch of failures, celebrity suckups and various other bottom feeders, it’s not hard to forget how bad Tulsi Gabbard would be as DNI (she being the cheerleader, if you will, for dictators everywhere including al-Assad and Putin), but yes, she would be her own brand of terrible, as The Lincoln Project reminds us (keep waiting for that national political party org with a “D” as its leading initial to fight back, and I guess I’ll have to keep waiting)...
...well, at least somebody on the “D” team is showing a pulse, and that would be Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut quite rightly railing against our corporate media for kow-towing to Bronzer Beelzebub...aside from standing up to #45/47, Liz Cheney represents absolutely nothing that I believe in, but that doesn’t make the smear campaign against her any less of an utter obscenity...
...and Rachel Maddow tells us about some of the horror stories behind the “Tesla Self-Driving Beta” launch...nice work, Elmo; some real horror stories including people getting killed, as well as a kid having to be airlifted from injuries suffered when one of these vehicles blew through a bus stop...looks like over 2 million Teslas are the subject of a probe that will be spiked by the incoming Trump gang...and oh yeah, let’s blame “excessive data collection” as the cause instead of these deadly monstrosities randomly destroying lives...yeah, that’s the ticket...
...and speaking of President Elmo, Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look” on what will likely be a government shut down, just in time for the holidays...I’d love to be wrong, but I don’t think I am since this is apparently what the Xitter king wants (and yeah, I guess we’re at the phase where some Biden memes are going to find their way into the discussion...more here, here and here)...
Update 1: And by the way, you KNOW it must be bad for U.S. House Repugs because Bri-Fi’s working extra hard to get out press releases online about dedicating gymnasiums, giving out awards to high school students and visiting senior centers, all to avoid having to deal with the fact that HIS POLITICAL PARTY WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YET ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN (and as corny as all of this is, I have to reluctantly point out that people remember it at election time and that has a lot to do with why he keeps getting sent back to Washington...watch and learn, Democrats).
Oh, I’m sorry...I forgot that Bri-Fi, along with Dem Rep Brendan Boyle, sponsored H.R. 4534, the Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act of 2024, a bill which bill “requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct an interagency review of lung cancer research, prevention, and awareness with respect to women and underserved populations,” according to the bill’s text.
Well, that’s all well and good (and “interagency review” sounds like something that could lead to a report that ends up in a dead-letter file somewhere), but here’s my question; how much money are you going to allocate for something like this? I read through the bill’s text and a transcript of the floor remarks when this was introduced, and I couldn’t find out that information. Are you going to spend more money on therapies for women in “underserved populations” to get the treatment they need (or are you going to allocate same to the Department of Health and Human Services to see measures implemented that would cut down on the increased incidents of lung cancer that you noted)? Basically, what is the practical impact of such a bill (and I would ask this of Rep. Boyle also)?
Don’t hide behind a damn press release, Bri-Fi...AGAIN! Come out of your hidey hole and face the music!
Thom Hartmann tells us about Judge Lewis A. Kaplan defending E. Jean Carroll on the question of whether or not Combover Caligula was guilty of r*pe, which, according to New York law, appears to be pretty close to the same thing as sexual abuse (here)...despite that, ABC is apparently going to fork over $15 mil to Trump’s “presidential library” as a sign of subservience in light of the entirely accurate reporting from George Stephanopoulos on this (more here)...
...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ discusses Canada and #47’s ridiculous tariffs...not the biggest fan of Doug Ford, but it doesn’t take much for him to look like the good guy here...and it also appears that our neighbors to the north are likely to start a boycott of their own (heckuva job, all you MAGA numbskulls who brought this on)...yep, I can see another “Trump Tower” going up in Alberta or Manitoba somewhere and probably Tijuana too, which is likely the transactional endgame for all of Cantaloupe Capone’s usual nonsense so he can claim "victory"...and I know Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” was also in a prior clip with Mike Figueredo...
...and like Canada, it appears that certain Repug U.S. senators are apparently tired of getting bullied by Trump and his supporters, including King Elon, Lewandowski, Vivek R., etc. (with senators griping behind the scenes of course)...as Farron Cousins notes, some of them managed to get re-elected in states Trump lost, like “disappointed” Collins in Maine, which is another reason why the lackeys for Combover Caligula should STFU...
...and speaking of folks fed up even though this wretched incoming crew hasn't even officially take over yet, I give you another very NSFW/H TikTok clip from someone who appears to be an everyday person; we're the only ones who thus far have held Combover Caligula to account for his wrongdoing (in a court of law, that is), and I don't expect that to change...
Let’s be honest, this guy nails it. The geriatric Diaper Don and his nerdy, dorky tech bros would be the LAST ppl you’d expect to try to “take down” a world power like the good ol’ USA. Talk a/b total misfits and a Big L (on their foreheads) for “losers”! 🤣👍⬇️ pic.twitter.com/VhOMKm7mFA
Miranda Scholl of Rebel HQ brings us this video of AOC, in a congressional hearing, cutting through the BS that was flying around all over the place in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the aftermath (more here)...and I’m sure it’s no surprise to find out that Gym Jordan is completely and utterly wrong again when it comes to FEMA policy (that bit about the text supposedly telling FEMA workers to ignore the homes of Trumpers smells like a setup), and fortunately Summer Lee responds (and speaking of AOC, yes, I definitely think she's earned the right to chair the House Oversight Committee as noted here...no disrespect to Gerry Connolly...even though her bid apparently fell short, and if you want to blame the Dems for maintaining the geriatric status quo here, I'll reluctantly go along with that)...
...and David Pakman tells us that #47 and French President Emmanuel Macron did a “presser” when 47 went over for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral...I can’t find the words to properly communicate my disgust that this life form will be on the world stage again for a minimum of four more years utterly embarrassing this nation because he has NO FREAKING CLUE about what he’s saying and continually makes up his bullsh*t, and I don’t mean Macron (slightly NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of disgust with Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, I don’t agree with every word this man says in this incredibly NSFW/H clip, but boy do I understand the sentiment (and this goes along with it IMO)...
There is a brutal honesty to what this gentleman is saying — and I am frequently hearing the same sentiment. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/XBTUdvsaJu
...and speaking of disgust, I’ve gone back and forth on this, but I have to say something...as noted here, President Biden granted clemency to about 1500 people (which a president has a right to do), but one of them was for Judge Michael Conahan, who was a central figure in the so-called “Kids for Cash” scandal in PA, with Conahan's sentence commuted by two years...Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks with Sandy Fonzo, whose son Ed took his life after getting sentenced to juvenile detention by Judge Mark Ciavarella (more here)...Goodman also speaks with journalist Robert May, who made a 2013 documentary on the scandal (which was excellent, albeit gut-wrenching); May tells us that the two judges didn’t technically take bribes to incarcerate kids per se (mainly to help the for-profit-prison-builder pal of Ciavarella – yet another reason why for-profit prisons should NEVER, EVER EXIST!), but their actions amounted to the same thing as incarcerating kids for cash, so the label is pretty much accurate...I’ve defended “No Malarkey Joe” plenty of times, but in commuting Conahan’s sentence, he screwed the metaphorical pooch...
...well, in spite of that story, I’m going to present these holiday selections anyway because I think we all need them to lighten the mood a bit...I definitely do anyway.
This video from The Lincoln Project gives us a look into what awaits from the bone-headed tariff policy and disgusting attack on veterans’ health care from our incoming bunch of grifters and bottom feeders, and all for the purpose of rewarding the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch who will be calling the shots in the upcoming cabinet for #47...
...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network lets us know that most of those polled somehow don’t think Trump will do what he says he’s going to do, and don’t like what he’s proposing anyway...tariffs on Mexico and Canada, trying to impose martial law (which may be a trickier legal fight, though given the awful behavior of our SCOTUS, that may be easier for Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence sadly), eliminating the CFPB, trying to get rid of the ACA, de-regulating cryptocurrency, mass deportation of course...and yes, I get it that people in this country generally disapprove of politicians, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that number at 75 percent before...also, eliminating the Dept. of Education, letting “Elmo” be a Trump advisor, amnesty for the 1/6 insurrectionists, etc., etc., etc. (and yes, as far as I’m concerned, this disconnect here is very much the fault of corporate media also for utterly failing in its task to inform and educate voters)...
...and I think Dem U.S. House Rep Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico pretty much nails the purpose of the Gropenfuhrer putting manifestly unqualified people in charge of federal agencies...
Rep. Melanie Stansbury is spot-fucking-on about what the fascist Trump regime is up to. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/FPS55BTFER
...and in this Occupy Democrats clip (don’t know who the presenter is), MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez apparently couldn’t sanitize the latest gibberish from Cantaloupe Capone...clip leads in with Marc Elias explaining how the wingnuts can’t get their story straight on 1/6/21...and unfortunately, I think Elias and Michael Steele (who could have done something about this when he held office, but didn’t) are right about the militia that #45/47 has organized and has probably infiltrated our military and law enforcement all over the place, ready to do the bidding of Bronzer Beelzebub at a moment’s notice (NSFW/H)...
...and I would guess that I'm about 2/3rds of the way through my seasonal selections (or maybe more)...don't want to leave these out, however.
Update: And by the way, I know there was another goddamn mass shooting yesterday, this time in Wisconsin (here...and I guess it’s a kind of sick evolution on this that this time, the apparent shooter was female). And I honestly don’t know what the hell else there is to say about it anymore, and apparently, Repug politicians don’t even go through the self-serving exercise of blathering about “thoughts and prayers” anymore either (I mean, ideas we’ve discussed probably a hundred times or more are still out there waiting to be tried). And this latest carnage took place in a state where one of their U.S. senators spouted this insulting nonsense.
Gee, maybe if one of those killed had been a CEO with a seven or eight-figure salary instead of a school student, our media and politicians would pay attention (and no, I don’t advocate violence against anybody).
Also, if you want to know why our ridiculous status quo on this awful issue never changes, the mentality on display here is a big reason why (as the C&L linked post tells us, in 2019, Dem Governor Tony Evers ordered the legislature to take up two very specific, common sense gun laws - a red flag law and stricter, more thorough universal background checks. The Republicans gaveled in and gaveled out of the special sessions in less than a minute, with no action of course).
Before I get to my regular commentary, I just want to say something about our departing Dem U.S. Senator Bob Casey of PA.
I didn’t follow too closely what exactly was going on with his campaign, to be honest. I know he quite rightly called out his Repug opponent Dave McCormick for profiting off of Chinese fentanyl, which (though it stinks to high heaven as far as yours truly is concerned) doesn’t constitute a crime by itself (at least, not as far as I’ve been able to determine). And silly me...I would have thought Casey’s record of accomplishment in the U.S. Senate would have earned him the benefit of the doubt in what was shaping up to be a close election. However, we now know that Casey, in all likelihood, ended up drowning, so to speak, in negative TV ads towards the end of the campaign (“OMIGOD, THE ECONOMY...which was quite good, as it turned out...AND ZOMG THE SCARY BROWN PEOPLE COMING OVER THE BORDER!!!...and I've lived here for most of my life, and I'm not aware of PA sharing a border with Mexico - #facepalm). And I’m sure we can “thank,” in part, King Elon and the tech bros for the cash infusion that enabled that garbage to take place (and once again, love and kisses to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR for Citizens United and reaping another awful election outcome).
I’m thinking of this in particular right now because Senator Casey sent out a typically classy Email this evening thanking his supporters and letting everyone know what an honor it has been for him to serve this commonwealth in the U.S. Senate. And I want to reciprocate by thanking Senator Casey for setting a hard-working, decent example of how someone should conduct themselves in public service for these many years (and I have a feeling there are quite a few people in Ohio who feel the same way about Sherrod Brown, as well as some in Montana about Jon Tester). I can recall one occasion in particular when we planned a visit to Washington, D.C. and Senator Casey’s office helped us obtain tickets for a White House visit, which was memorable (we missed “Bo,” the Obama’s dog, by only a few minutes as it turned out). We remain indebted to Senator Casey’s office for handling this in typically expert fashion.
I have no doubt that Senator Casey will now pursue an enterprise worthy of his time, talent, and basic decency, and I wish him all the best in that endeavor (and I will expect absolutely nothing from Dave McCormick).
And by the way...on the subject of constituent service, I have a message for this guy.
I don’t know what the hell is going on with John Fetterman either (here). I sincerely hope he isn’t positioning himself to be Manchinema 2.0, because he’s going to have a very short Senate career if he does. In the meantime, though, I have a bone to pick with him on something else.
I reached out to Sen. Fetterman from his web page a little while ago on an issue in the news. I haven’t received a reply from Fetterman yet, though I can appreciate that that will likely take some time. However, I didn’t even get an auto-generated Email acknowledging my message. Are you kidding??!! Senator Casey did that at a minimum, and I cannot recall a time when he didn’t follow up with a personal message addressing the issue. Hell, even Bri-Fi will send you an auto-generated acknowledgement!
This is Fulfilling The Role Of A Congressional Politician 101, Senator. Do better next time!
Now to the videos...Brian Tyler Cohen and election lawyer Marc Elias tell us about the Repug power grab in North Carolina...see, the Repug legislature in that state, put in place by one of the worst partisan gerrymanders in the country as Elias points out, is trying to strip the incoming Dev guv of his power as well as other newly elected Dems including the attorney general, as well as passing a whole array of measures against voting...and yeah, that bit about picking state supreme court justices from some partisan list as opposed to a judicial election or gubernatorial appointment is particularly nuts...
...and sticking with the “Tar Heel” state, this Rebel HQ clip brings us some utter idiocy from Repug U.S. House Rep Virginia Foxx; first, we find that the Repug-run U.S. House passed so-called “anti ESG” bills (more here – not sure when the remarks in this clip took place)...yeah, Repugs aren’t dancing to the tune of dirty energy companies; not much they aren’t...clip is kind of a composite of idiocy from Foxx...”Mr. Speaker, I object to what my colleague is saying, even though he didn’t say it was about me and I know it really is,” more or less (Jackson White explains at the end)...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report informs us that elites are terrified at support for Luigi Mangione...and no, I don’t support the *alleged* actions of this individual either...I didn’t know about the “Wanted” posters, and though I don’t condone that as well, I certainly understand the rage (unfortunately, this is all likely to play right into the hands of you-know-who after 1/20/25)...and I think it’s a bit of a stretch to bring back the “Bernie 2016” stuff, though Figueredo is right about Medicare for All being the answer, but good luck trying to make that case all over again; I also don’t think Figueredo has a crystal ball that tells him that Brian Thompson wouldn’t have been murdered if we’d listened to Bernie (may be right, but we’ll never know), but he’s right about the crooks who caused the ’08 recession not going to the slam, which was an obscenity...I think Bill Burr is on the right track also, and as far as I’m concerned, the less said about “The View,” the better (NSFW/H)...
...and I thought Cliff Schecter offered a more populist “take” on the “one percent” here (actually, a fraction of that)...he’s also spot-on about the Louis Brandeis quote that we can have vast wealth or a democracy, but not both...yeah, Peter Thiel, King Elon I, Vivek R and others are indeed part of the oligarchy; we can start by naming who the enemy is and then figure out the next steps...
...and yep, you guessed it - time for more seasonal tunes.
I’m not exactly sure why I stopped paying attention to Seth Meyers’s bits for a while, but please allow me to make amends a bit for that and include this recent “Closer Look” segment (and gee, whaddaya know? It looks like Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence really can’t bring down grocery prices after all, huh? Well, like P.T. Barnum once said, a sucker is indeed born every minute...and remind me NEVER again to subscribe to Time Magazine...and after Trump "rang the bell," the Dow declined about 100 points as noted here)...
...on the other hand, I MAY subscribe to Vanity Fair (heh)...
...and I thought this lady on TikTok made some great points about MAGA and the evangelical crazies out there (citations for what she says are here, here and here)...
This is MAGA, y'all — a fascist movement of the most depraved, morally bankrupt degenerates our country has ever seen. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/vkhpvV2DEA
...and Thom Hartmann lets us know that King Elon I is looking for a little return on his investment in Cantaloupe Capone, and the Xitter nut job wants to find a way to sabotage government investigators looking into crashes involving his “self-driving” Tesla vehicles...and Biden’s SEC charged Cantor Fitzgerald with violating laws related to regulatory disclosures; I honestly didn’t know they were still in business after getting pretty much wiped out since they were in one of the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11...and boy, is Thom ever right about the level of corruption from our incoming gang of miscreants and bottom feeders...and yeah, abolishing bank regulators also, including the CFPB; I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, you might say, but I can DEFINITELY see an ’08 recession coming again, this time on steroids...not sure what Thom is talking about with his “COSA” reference...
...and Robert Reich gives us a terrific lesson IMO on what Dems need to do in light of the wreckage of the just-ended campaign season...and yes, the answer is to embrace economic populism, which Biden did to a large degree, and all of that will come crashing to a halt very shortly unfortunately...
David Pakman tells us that Trump border czar Tom Homan may be getting ready to try and deploy red state national guard units to blue states to try and get rid of immigrants and others apparently deemed to be undesirable in order to manufacture a crisis...as bad as this is, and it is that, I can definitely get behind Pakman’s recommendations at the end of this clip (once again, heckuva job, all you numbskulls who decided to return Bronzer Beelzebub to power because of paying a few cents extra for stuff at the supermarket and OMIGOD THE SCARY BROWN PEOPLE INVADING OUR BORDER!!!...which, by the way, isn't freaking "open")...
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report bring us the news that Repug U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds very correctly mentioned the whole “advice and consent” thing concerning the nom of Kash Patel to run the FBI (and yeah, Patel isn’t in the cult, having written a damn KIDS BOOK celebrating Mango Mussolini...not much he isn’t), so OF COURSE MAGA has to attack Rounds, who is a doctrinaire conservative of course...a bit of a scary “truth bomb” from Francesca about going after those deemed to be “political dissidents,” but I think she’s completely right (which is horrifying I know)...
...and I honestly don’t know who this gentleman is, but I think he gives us an appropriate response to our would-be authoritarian...our African American brothers and sisters might say at times like these to “stay woke,” and I think that advice would serve us all...
As billionaire elites continue their assault against working class Americans, there is going to be a reckoning — and I'm here for it. 🙌💪👏👊👇 pic.twitter.com/ti64evp6ea
...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network brings a clip of Dem U.S, House rep Jared Moskowitz laying into the Repug idiots running the House for putting up a tweet that Dem reps were absent from a hearing on our Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a typical lie...also, Rep Gregory Meeks brings some reality to the discussion about our Afghan exit, and kudos to Dem Rep. Gerry Connolly for putting the ruinous Doha agreement with the Taliban in the proper context (an agreement reached by Trump without the participation of the government in Afghanistan, as Connolly noted)...I also didn’t know that MAGA Mike Johnson was dragging his feet on Biden’s supplemental appropriation request for more aid for the victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, but yeah, that isn’t surprising either, and yeah, leave it to the incredibly misnamed Bob Good to piss all over the funding request to help these people in need (invoking “middle America” and “coastal elites”? And this guy is “proud” of refusing to do his job? What a POS! And yeah, this “DOGE” committee run by Marjorie Train Wreck Greene will be a joke, but there should be no question about Dems participating on it...kind of comes with the job description, don’t you think? And yes, #45/47 respects our military...sure he does)...
...and yep, you guessed it - time for more seasonal tunes.
Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats brings us a video of Louisiana’s U.S. senatorial mistake Cornpone Kennedy trying to give U.S. Army Gen. Randy Manner a hard time over the latter’s praise of fellow Gen. Mark Milley for standing up to Cantaloupe Capone...like many of you I’m sure, I still have vivid memories of people all over our beloved commonwealth of PA who couldn’t wait to slap yellow “Support The Troops” ribbon decals on their vehicles in the runup to Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq (leave it to #43 to invade the wrong country after the worst terrorist attack on our soil)...the reason I mention that is because, back then, you wouldn’t DARE imagine even questioning the military, but my, how the worm has turned (and yes, our military should get the benefit of the doubt because of their sacrifice, but they’re not infallible either, which Gen. Manner readily admits here, even though a certain Oxford transplant to the bayou thinks he knows it all...what a pitiable life form Kennedy is, and more proof is here)...
...and Jesse Dollemore lets us know here that CNN’s Scott Jennings is apparently happy that Daniel Penny is free, which means that Jennings believes that murder is OK, in the case of Jordan Neely anyway (more here - another lifetime ago when I rode the Philly subway a lot, one of the first things you learned was that you got up and moved to another seat or another spot on the El or a train if someone was acting nuts, and NEVER make eye contact...also, let a transit cop know what's going on)...and good for Garrison Hayes for talking to folks about Kamala Harris, even if the guy on the horse was an idiot...because of Trump, people like “horse guy” can just say straight up that someone who isn’t “cis” or binary should just get back in the damn closet where they belong; I’ll give you a little insight into something, and apologies if I’m repeating myself...earlier this year, we were able to take a really nice trip to London, and you know part of what we saw? Women wearing a hijab, and other women walking around holding hands, and a guy walking around St. James Park with his arm draped around the shoulder of another guy. And do you want to know what happened? Absolutely nothing, because NOBODY GAVE A SH*T BECAUSE EVERYBODY MINDED THEIR OWN DAMN BUSINESS, THAT’S WHAT!...Jesse also needs to be careful and say that this Luigi Mangione guy is the “alleged” killer of Brian Thompson, and I respectfully disagree with Jesse on the Hunter Biden pardon; I think that decision was mainly driven by the prospect of loopy Kash Patel potentially taking over this country’s most powerful law enforcement agency (and Patel making it pretty damn plain he would go after Biden Jr. for no good reason IMO), so I’m good with it (more here)...
Update: For everyone praising the Penny verdict, I just have the following question; what would your reaction be if Jordan Neely were white and Penny were black?
Take your time – I’ll wait.
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History,” and this time we’re going to take a quick jaunt back a year ago to this clip from Chris Hayes listing the accomplishments of the Biden Administration (more here)...funny how you’re not hearing much about gas or the price of eggs now, isn’t it (and as I noted at the time, the baby formula shortage had more to do with a market monopoly of that that anything else as noted here)? Gee, it’s kind of like those yammering on constantly about that may not have been serious all along, and just wanted their guy to win, facts and logic be damned, huh? And yes, I’m never going to stop vilifying the @DNC for completely falling down on waging the messaging war; not saying that would have guaranteed a Harris/Walz victory, but at least they would have gone down with a fight (instead of all of this “weird” stuff and trying to make the campaign about “joy”...to be honest, when I heard about that, I had a feeling we were in trouble)...
...and Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report presents Ben Wikler talking with Jon Stewart, with Wikler trying to get the nod as DNC chairman (again, can’t find the words to communicate how useless of an organization that is as far as I’m concerned)...as Emma says, Wikler had a lot to do with fighting Hosni Mubarak Walker and Act 10 in Wisconsin, and just as importantly, Wikler definitely understands the importance of down-ballot races and their impact on a statewide level and how that can lead to awful stuff like supercharged gerrymandering (and yeah, I think Wikler understands the messaging issues faced by the DNC also, as Stewart mentions)...If Emma wants to criticize Biden and Di-Fi for geriatric deference (or whatever that was about the New Hampshire primary), fine, but I think bringing RBG into that discussion is a bit of a stretch...I didn’t know Jaime Harrison was a lobbyist before he ended up as DNC chair, but that sure fits his profile, and Tom Perez didn’t exactly light up the genius meter either...I’m not sure I agree with their criticism of Obama here, though I think it should be noted that #44 hasn’t done that well as a campaigner for other Dem pols, though I also believe that needs to be chalked up a bit to other people’s racism to be honest...
...and after having inflicted all of this verbosity in this post, I'll now shut up and present these seasonal selections.
Farron Cousins lets us know here that beyond-useless Trump-lickspittle Andy Biggs wants to shut down government until Trump is sworn in...and by the way, Planned Parenthood is funded by Medicaid reimbursements and grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, so when this clueless asshat says he doesn’t want to fund PP, he’s basically talking about shutting down that program and that agency also, which of course is also part of the wingnut “hit list”...
...and it looks like someone has been charged in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson; I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but that quote about Thompson having empathy and trying to improve access to care or whatever is unbelievable BS when you look at the percentage of claims UHC denied under Thompson’s watch...also, I certainly don’t have any insight into the shooter’s motivation (beyond what we’re finding out), but this business about writing “delay” and “deny” on the bullet casings is something that I think was intended to trip up law enforcement, though I have a feeling it won’t work – if someone was screwed over by UHC denying their claim for health care, I don’t think they’d go to the trouble to write words on the bullets; they would just commit a random act of horrific violence...I think health care should be based on need also along with David Doel; clip points out how life expectancy in this country falls below that of other industrialized nations...clip also does a good job of pointing out the popularity of Medicare and Social Security along with Medicaid, as well as the ACA...
...and following up on Doel’s clip a bit, Sean Morrow of More Perfect Union discusses the $1 trillion private health insurance scam in this country, against the backdrop of seeking care for his mom...yet another example of how utterly useless Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) is, and a great big raspberry goes out to Aetna also...I knew that Medicare Parts A&B are actually better value (in terms of dollars going to actual care instead of administrative costs) than Part C, and yes, I also knew about that ridiculous recording from The Sainted Ronnie R way back when, but I’d forgotten to be honest that he made it legal for Medicare to contract with private insurance companies, which led to Medicare Advantage in 1996 (slightly NSFW/H)...
...and Ayman Mohyeldin and Rachel Maddow discuss the documentary “Separated” by Errol Morris, based on the book by Jacob Soboroff (have to catch up with the doc, to be honest)...more on Lee Gelernt is here (and if 4,000-4,500 kids were separated under Trump I, just imagine how many more times that will happen under Trump II unfortunately)...
John and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report inform us of #45/47’s lily-white cabinet picks, except for HUD, which seems to be a thing for some reason with Trump since he did that also for Ben Carson...and good for John to point out the fact that some anonymous southern Republican apparently doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to blame his party for its racism and instead tries some jujitsu move or something to try and blame “the left” instead...
...and Jesse Dollemore gives us a clip of more lies and propaganda from Mango Mussolini about immigrants and what he and his bunch of scurrilous bottom feeders plan to do when it comes to kicking out individuals here legally and illegally, including kids under protected status...I realize it’s a mind-numbing exercise to try and refute the lies that Our Treasonous Orange Nightmare continues to spew constantly, but concerning #47’s claim that Biden/Harris let in either 13-15,000 violent criminals, the reality perspective is here (and by the way, as noted here, Trump released more migrants with criminal records than Biden)...
...and David Pakman tells us that Trump has nominated anti-vaxxer David Weldon to run the CDC, with potential future outbreaks looming...Weldon previously went off against the MMR vaccine and Gardasil to prevent HPV which could lead to cervical cancer (once again, take a bow, all you numbskulls who voted for this because you had to pay a few cents extra for gas or a carton of eggs)...
...and Miss Beau gives us an update on the Syrian rebels and their takeover of that country, forcing the despot al-Assad to flee to Russia...I honestly didn’t know the extent to which we carried out military operations to degrade “IS,” and I’m betting a hell of a lot of people didn’t either (something else Biden will apparently get no credit for)...looks like we’re adopting a bit of a “wait and see” attitude, and I can only guess how Trump will mess this up when he gets the chance...
Jesse Dollemore comments on Mr. and Mrs. Scar’s freakout over their trip to Mar-a-Lago to “bend the knee”...I didn’t think it was possible for Scar to be more of a petulant assh*le than he was during the years when Bill Clinton was president (a good era for yours truly – the economy was great, though I admit that all wasn’t because of #42 – and we actually had DISPOSABLE FREAKING INCOME! WHAT A CONCEPT!...rant mode off), but Scar indeed proved me wrong...until this self-entitled POS gets to the point where he has to live paycheck to paycheck and work multiple jobs, then spare me your indignation (slightly NSFW/H)...
...and Chris Hayes brings us the news that Combover Caligula is assembling a billionaire cabinet, which should surprise exactly no one, and he benefitted from a quarter of a billion invested in the prior campaign from King Elmo...and $40 million to oust Sherrod Brown, huh? Yeah, that figures for these bottom feeders all right...I have to admit that I didn’t know how odious the role of these crypto magnates was in the last election cycle; yeah, it looks like we’ll face another 2008 economic crash, this time on steroids, and Trumpist lackeys in the Senate are apparently getting ready to fork over a hell of a lot of our hard-earned dough to these crypto pirates...oh, and by the way, Bitcoin is a good resource for criminal cartels as Hayes points out...did anybody out there vote for this, because I sure as hell didn’t (and more on the utterly craven Cynthia Lummis bill is here)...also, it appears that there’s a companion bill in the House as noted here, because of course there is, given that it benefits the rich, and 71 idiot Dems voted for it along with Bri-Fi, naturally, as noted here (more here)...
...and when it comes to our two major political parties in this country, I thought this man on Tik Tok made some common sense points; again, it’s hard for me to properly convey my disgust with those perpetual election losers at the @DNC because they weren’t able to communicate the basic truths in the just-ended campaign that this man (like most of the rest of us) figured out long ago...
Every fucking time a Republican enters the White House after a Democrat, bad shit happens. Therefore, no one should be surprised when the worst president in U.S. history takes office and obliterates everything Biden hands him — including an economy that is the envy of the world. pic.twitter.com/3UuecZVLEN
...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us that it looks like workers at a Whole Foods store in Philly have an upcoming unionization vote; kudos to them – not surprised to hear about the Amazon-style BS that has infiltrated the place unfortunately; conditions at the fulfillment center sound absolutely Dickensian, and this Jason Buechel sounds like a typical predatory capitalist pretending to be “woke” or something...announcer definitely needs to speak up (mildly NSFW/H)...
Farron Cousins lets us know that #45/47 is about to bring back Peter Navarro as one of his economic advisors, which is a pretty clear sign that Mango Mussolini intends to enact those ridiculous tariffs of his, and it looks like auto workers will be one of the first to get hit with the backfire (as shown in the cartoon)...didn’t know that half of our auto parts come from Canada and Mexico, but yeah, that figures too (and great point by Cousins that cars are assembled in this country with parts from elsewhere)...
...and this gentleman (again, hat tip to Bill Madden on Xitter for this) gives the best explanation I’ve heard to date on why those ridiculous tariffs are NOT going to bring back manufacturing to this country...the Cousins clip has to do mainly with Canada and Mexico, but this pertains to China (NSFW/H)...
One of the most informative explanations of what Trump's tariffs are going to do to America that you'll ever hear. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/UZ6jpbkzP2
...and whenever I get into holiday mode like this, I often end up forgetting the 12/7 birthday of the incomparable Tom Waits, so please allow me to make amends for that now...happy 75th...
Lawrence O’Donnell discusses #45/47’s selection of Charles Kushner as ambassador to France, which pushed the Hunter Biden pardon “story” off the front page for news orgs, apparently...and believe me when I tell you that I don’t want to side with Chris Christie on a damn thing, but when it comes to the Kushner prosecution, I don’t have any choice...as I watch this stuff, I find myself getting more and more enraged that the utterly clueless election losers of the @DNC couldn’t find a way to make Trump’s stoo-pidity, incompetence and criminality into campaign issues...this video also does a good job of explaining Kash Patel’s dangerous incompetence, as well as the truly seamy garbage (and, quite probably, criminal illegality) surrounding Pete Hegseth (I never thought I would find myself wanting to go back to the days of Repug U.S. Senator John Tower, who, despite the alcohol and “womanizing,” was indeed qualified for Defense Secretary...and by the way, what does this tell you?)...
...and Kyle Kulinski discusses our alleged pal “Bibi” flipping off Biden again and refusing to let in food trucks to Gaza to avert mass starvation...I don’t blame Biden for much to be honest (people are going to remember how good we actually had it under him pretty soon after 1/20/25), but I definitely blame him for caving to Netanyahu and Israel...and I think we’ve long since passed the point of having to note that the cowardly, murderous events of 10/7/23 prompted Israel’s response, which has gotten WAAAY out of hand in the meantime (NSFW/H)...
...and yes, the killing of the CEO of United Healthcare was indeed horrible and inexcusable and everyone involved should be brought to justice (here), but Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats tells us why the company was under investigation by the Justice Department (and look for that effort by the DOJ to get spiked by the incoming Trumpist numbskulls also, by the way, as Gallo says...love to be wrong, but I don’t think I am...more here)...
...and Farron Cousins lets us know that the final U.S. House race was called, and the Dem ended up flipping the seat from the Repug incumbent (here), giving MAGA Mike Johnson a 5-seat majority, which is indeed razor thin (not sure how it would work if incumbent House Repugs ended up in Trump’s cabinet; I’m assuming another Repug would replace them in each case)...
Kyle Kulinski lets us know that private prison companies and other corporate interests are looking to make bank over immigration detention policies from the about-to-be-awful incoming administration of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...great discussion by Kyle about the utter perversion of monetizing not just health care, but detention also, and Kyle is150% right on private prisons...and I can’t think of a hell hot enough for the people behind CoreCivic and GEO Group, and calling it the Patriot Act on steroids captures it, unfortunately (NSFW/H)...
...and Mike Figueredo lets us know that MAGA chuds are apparently just now realizing that Trump’s tariffs will screw THEM, including the PA company where the workers now won’t get their Christmas bonus basically because they returned Cantaloupe Capone to the White House...also, that Xitter post I believe complaining that Congress has the power of the purse in essence (correct) while saying that the president is not a king (also correct) even though that person apparently supported Trump is just cosmically stoo-pid...and yeah, I knew Doug Ford in Canada was a numbskull, and this clip provides more proof...and I definitely HATE to inflict more Trump lying nonsense about OMIGOD THE MIRGRANT CARAVAN OF THOUSANDS POURING OVER OUR OPEN BORDER, but I have to in order to provide context for the great response from Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo of Mexico, including that line about addressing root causes affecting people’s mobility...Figueredo is also correct to point out how our foreign policy de-stabilized Latin America, to the point where that has led to mass migration to our southern border, even though that is something that indeed most people in this country don’t care about (NSFW/H)...
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report speak with Erika Andiola on Trump’s deportation scheme...it does indeed appear that the new regime will show up to workplaces such as restaurants and construction sites to bag people and try to drag them off...and I can’t believe I’m typing these words in the context of reality, but that is where we are thanks in large part to about 78 million or so idiots supporting Trump and the other nitwits who sat out the presidential election or wasted their votes for third-party candidates (and I have to admit that I keep forgetting that there were a bunch of deportations under President Hopey Changey also)...
...and Thom Hartmann informs us that Missouri, Kansas and Idaho are suing the FDA to limit abortion pill access, saying that decreased births are “a sovereign injury to the state itself,” leading to diminished political representation from fewer residents (or so alleged, as noted here); language like that should give you a clue into the level of insanity we’re talking about here – yep, it’s all about monetizing every conceivable aspect of people’s lives in the most extreme way possible all right (including the people themselves)...
...and you guessed it - here are more seasonal selections.
