Friday Stuff

David Shuster brings us the latest on ICE thugs arresting people in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket (aside from the grotesque human rights abuse, yeah, this will pretty much destroy retail businesses at the height of the tourist season...and not that this Lying Treasonous Orange Glob of Trans Fats actually cares, but he’s basically destroying tourism overall to this country, as Shuster points out)...if memory serves, it looks like the exchange with the ICE thug, the guy filming and island law enforcement took place in an area of Oak Bluffs on MVY on the way to Vineyard Haven...



...and returning to the murders of Melissa Hortman and her husband and the near-killing of John Hartman and his wife, Jesse Dollemore lets us know that, apparently, the wife of suspect Vance Luther Boelter was apprehended on her way to the airport I believe...yeah, considering that (as someone on Bluesky pointed out) Philando Castile was complying with police in Minnesota by presenting his firearm when he was shot dead, and here Boelter’s wife from that state was allowed to skate despite compiling her cache of ammunition, along with a gun and passports (nah, this guy isn’t a flight risk...not much he isn’t), given all that, I would say that there are at least two versions of justice when it comes to Life In These United States...Jesse makes a damn good argument when it comes to making sure this isn’t a federal case, because I ABSOLUTELY could see the Gropenfuhrer letting this psycho skate if he were convicted...and I know we touched on Mike Lee’s thoroughly stoo-pid propaganda on this already in the BTC clip with Tina Smith, but I have no problem mentioning it again (actually, I think Lee’s cruel, lying nonsense should be kept on a continuous loop of sorts to make sure everyone knows what a guttural lowlife he truly is)...mildly NSFW/H...



...and I really haven’t bothered to say anything about the NYC mayoral primary to this point, but Mike Figueredo tells us that it looks like Zohran Mamdani is putting up a pretty good fight against Andrew Cuomo, with the latter being the big-money-endorsed Dem in the primary (which basically is the election, when you get down to it)...I’d honestly forgotten about the stuff with Andrew Cuomo and COVID patients dying in nursing homes, but I’d remembered the “sex pest” stuff though...I would support Mamdani just for shouting at mush mouth Tom Homan the way Mamdani did...and yeah, Cuomo’s response to ICE goons like Homan seems to be, “oh well, tsk tsk, ICE shouldn’t be doing that, but let’s not be rude,” whereas Mamdani’s response, quite rightly, is to tell ICE and Homan to GTFO...I know Figueredo gets a little pedantic at times, but I think he’s fundamentally right when he talks about needing socialism (to a point) to combat late-stage capitalism, since neoliberalism very definitely has failed IMO (and that “We stand with Israel” moment with Dem “leaders” Schumer and Jeffries along with “MAGA Mike” Johnson tells you how rigged the game truly is)...I’m also not sure how productive it is to revisit the Kamala Harris campaign; as far as I’m concerned, yes, she’s partly to blame for what happened, but more than anything else, she was betrayed by DNC-centrist-Beltway losers who think the base of their party watches “Morning Jo(ke)”...that being said, I think Figueredo is right to say that Dems need to start electing people with a genuine vision for the future...(NSFW/H also)...



...and Kyle Kulinski brings us the sordid tale of a 1/6 vermin who Generalissimo Trump pardoned, and it turned out that this nematode had a child p*rn conviction, because of course...actually, finding the child p*rn stuff stemmed from a warrant over the 1/6 insurrection, and this scumwaffle is saying, “oh, you have to let me walk over my child p*rn charge since I was pardoned,” and unfortunately (as Kyle says), this tactic indeed might work (NSFW/H also)...



...and here’s an upbeat message from The Onion to take us into the weekend – heh (very definitely NSFW/H)...



...and with the recent precipitation in these parts, this tune has been on my mind...



...and I'd like to wrap up my tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys with these two selections.

Thursday Stuff

Brittany Page tells us about Repugs in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate fighting among themselves about how much to steal from poor people in order to pass their latest tax scam bill (and of course, the “party of Lincoln” is claiming that the CBO are a bunch of godless commie libs, when, in reality, they most definitely are not)...Page is absolutely right about the utterly BS framing of the question from the CNBC news mannequin towards Philip Swagel, the CBO head (who is indeed Republican)...and gosh, I thought Grandpa Thune was supposed to be a common-sense Repug, or something; the Senate Majority Leader said here that the CBO was “flat wrong” over the bill, putting him in league with Trumpette spokes-liar Karoline Leavitt (202-224-3121 is the number to call to tell your U.S. Senators to vote No on this cruel madness...you can also send an Email from this link)...



...and Rachel Maddow lets us know that Bronzer Beelzebub is apparently unable to contend with “the depth and breadth of feeling against him” based on the protests, and getting treated like he’s “Putin’s intern” at the G7, which apparently prompted him to leave early in a hissy fit; heckuva job, all you idiots who could have prevented this last year, but didn’t (and speaking of the election, I definitely think this needs to be looked at more closely...I’m not an IT guru by any means, but it appears to at least be possible that King Elon found a way to put out a “patch” on voting machines in swing states in particular that ended up with some kind of algorithm that changed machine votes in favor of Cantaloupe Capone and undercounted Kamala Harris...and if you want another angle to this, I would ask that you read the comment in the article from Robert Jaffe about shenanigans with a company called Tripp Lite that Leonard Leo...yes, him again...sold to Eaton Corporation that eventually bought Palantir, with the latter adept at making behind-the-scenes software changes...curiouser and curiouser)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about a C-SPAN caller (Sarah from Virginia) who commendably gave it to Jake Tapper for his junk screed on former President Biden...as the caller rightly pointed out, the Biden criticism is INCREDIBLY disproportionate in response to his accomplishments in the White House (of course, just about anybody would stand out in response to the cretin-in-chief we have now)...at about 6:40, the clip turns to Elizabeth Warren grilling Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the utter fraud of the “Big Beautiful Act”...in a weird way, I acknowledge that Bessent has a disgusting capability to cram a bunch of out-of-context utter lies into his monologue in response to Warren’s question...yes, kids get a benefit from Medicaid, which THEY FREAKING NEED BECAUSE PARENTS WHO ARE WORKING ALSO INCLUDE THEIR KIDS IN HEALTH COVERAGE!! Also, work requirements have been tried on the state level, and they actually discourage employment BECAUSE PARENTS ON MEDICAID HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN WORK AND TAKING CARE OF THEIR KIDS OR ELDERLY DEPENDENTS!! (God, I’m SO F*CKING TIRED of dealing with the UTTER BULLSH*T arguments from the other side on this!!!)...



...and I didn’t say anything last year about today’s holiday, so I’d like to make up for that now with this clip with Dr. Marcia Chatelain of the African American Studies program at Georgetown University, speaking about Juneteenth...date marks the day that African Americans in Galveston, TX found out that they were free after the Civil War in 1865, and of course, the holiday has come to represent so much more than just that, as Dr. Chatelain tells us...



Update: I suppose (DEFINITELY MAGA)...

...and returning to Brian Wilson, here are two more Beach Boys tunes.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that the whole “No Tax on Tips” thing in the latest tax scam bill from Congress is yet another bait-and-switch...and yeah, having the CEO of Uber on hand when you’re discussing what supposedly is a policy initiative of your administration is yet another “tell” that you’re peddling snake oil...and I’ve been waiting to hear someone explain why the whole “no taxes on tips” thing is another con, and I'm glad Cousins does that here (namely, because it does indeed depress wages and disincentivizes businesses to RAISE wages, and also, service workers get clobbered on their tax returns also, as Cousins notes)...



...and David Pakman informs us that Sarah Huckabilly Sanders recently appeared on Fix Noise and trashed California, saying “oh, we wouldn’t have protests in Arkansas like those in that dreaded liberal hellhole of California,” and in response Gavin Newsom absolutely flattens her by pointing out that the homicide rate in Walmart-land is twice that of The Golden State...Pakman is also spot-on to note how advanced California is vs. Arkansas; as noted, the latter is basically a third-world country by comparison...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen interviews Minnesota Dem U.S. Senator Tina Smith in response to the murder of Melissa Hortman and her husband and the near-killing of John Hoffman and his wife (and I give Smith so much credit for going right after that disgusting, demagogic Repug meat sack Mike Lee for his beyond insulting tweets in response to the shootings, and I totally believe that he didn’t know how to act when he was called on his garbage)...NSFW/H but for a good reason (Smith calling out Lee’s bullsh*t, that is)...



...and I suppose I’m legally obligated to acknowledge the Trump fellating spectacle U.S. Army anniversary parade last Saturday, so with that in mind, here’s this...



...and here are more tunes from Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys (the latter is based on this).

Tuesday Stuff

Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats informs us that a gunman was apparently camping out at a “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City, and one man is dead as a result, basically (story is still kind of fluid at this point to be honest and some details haven’t been confirmed)...and of course, leave it to loopy Laura Loomer to pour gasoline on the metaphorical fire over the Minnesota gunman...and if it turns out that the man in Utah who was killed died as a result of friendly fire, don’t look for me to dump on the cops because they didn’t initiate the conflict; they were only responding as best they could - blame the coward who started the whole mess (and also of course, spineless politicians who constantly do the bidding of the NRA and refuse to enact virtually any kind of common sense gun laws...more here...also this)...



...and speaking of right-wing violence, Jesse Dollemore tells us that this Vance Boelter psychopath is apparently an obsessed Trumper, despite the wingnut caterwauling to the contrary – figures...and oh yeah, he was also a fundie nut job who viscerally hated abortion – yep, this guy checks all the boxes all right when it comes to domestic terrorism (NSFW/H)...



...and Tennessee Brando chimes in with some thoughts on the assassination of Melisssa Hortman and her husband in Minnesota, along with the serious wounding of John Hoffman and his wife...and I give Brando credit for his approach of waiting a bit so many of the facts are in before he opines on a particular topic...and not surprisingly, Governor Tim Walz hits just the right notes in his remarks on this tragedy...I’m glad to hear Brando speak out so forcefully to make it clear that IT’S NOT OUR SIDE LOOKING TO ENGAGE IN POLITICAL VIOLENCE! (NSFW/H also)...

via GIPHY

...and Sam and the crew of The Majority Report discuss a Trump voter in Flori-DUUUH! (Key West in particular) who runs a roofing company telling everyone how he’s upset about ICE taking his workers...awww...and I’m sorry, but this Vincent Scardina guy can go take a long walk off a short pier if he says he wants “normalcy”...WHAT THE #$@! WAS “NORMAL” ABOUT TRUMP 1.0 TO MAKE YOU THINK 2.0 WOULD BE ANY BETTER? And yeah, ”What’s on the other side of this ledger?” indeed...



...and maybe it’s just as well that I keep presenting these Beach Boys tunes in honor of Brian Wilson since they’re a bit of a salve for the insanity reigning all about us, I have to admit.

Monday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore provides an update on the murder of Minnesota state rep Melissa Hortman and her husband and the serious wounding of fellow Dem state rep John Hoffman and his wife...it looks like the (alleged!) murderous freak responsible is named Vance Luther Boelter (here)...and one of the reasons why I don’t give a flying...fig...about what Dear Leader has to say about this is because he was absolutely fine with what happened on 1/6...as Jesse says, apparently this nut case had a hit list of about 70 Dems, which is another vitally important element of this awful story...an update is here (NSFW/H)...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union provides a dire warning from measles country, with doctors sounding the alarm in Dallas County, TX...yep, funding cuts from “Bobby Brainworms” is a big reason, along with this ridiculous, Repug-backed (of course) bill allowing parents to opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their kids...beyond belief that this country, despite decades of hard work enabling us to develop state-of-the-art treatments, is now allowing some uninformed, provincial rubes to destroy all of that progress...I also have a feeling that it will take decades to restore this country to a sound footing to face these threats to public health...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us here that it looks like Stuart Varney is out of patience with Trumpist BS on the economy (I believe the person Varney is talking with is Lori Chavez-DeRemer)...shocking that one of Rupert’s minions is going off-script, but I guess Varney has hit his limit, though I’m sure he’ll be a loyal suck-up again shortly...and losing 8K jobs is “holding steady”?? And “tens of trillions” reinvested in this country? Lady, you’re on f*cking crack! And I’m glad to hear Kyle mention once more the CHIPS Act from Biden, which Trump killed of course (NSFW/H...and yes, this is the clip I moved from Friday to make room for the Chris Hayes video about the "No Kings" marches)...



...and Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look”...apparently, the Gropenfuhrer wasn’t received too well at the Kennedy Center – c’est dommage...”and with a strong contingent of drag queens” is kind of the chaser after the shot, if you will...among the MANY problems with this morally bankrupt administration, perhaps one of the biggest ones is letting Baby Goebbels run wild to the point where we need to put up a safe zone around a high school graduation...



...and I’m planning to feature Beach Boys tunes for the remainder of the week in honor of Brian Wilson...also, to be honest with you, I may be completely done with this band after the tribute is over; I have no opinion of Al Jardine one way or the other, but Mike Love is a total POS.

Sunday Stuff (updates)

What follows is a PBS report on yesterday’s “No Kings” protests, including Taco-A-Lago (heh), Atlanta, Boston, Philly...John Yang interviews Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the group Public Citizen (more here)...



...here is the protest from Chicago...



...and also from Michigan (including Detroit and Ann Arbor)...and Bill Huizenga really is that big of an a-hole...



...and downtown Orlando in the "sunshine state" (Tampa Bay also - "I draw the line at crazy" too)...



...Houston, TX (including a brief interview with Dem U.S. House Rep Al Green)...



...Dallas (Dallas, people)...



...Arizona...



...Northern Virginia...



...Maryland (with Dem U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen - if any Dem politician didn't show up for these protests, they should have a damn good excuse)...



...Idaho...



...Oregon and Washington (and no, I don’t trust one word coming out of the mouth of spokes-liar Karoline Leavitt)...



...Hawaii...



...heading back to the mainland, here are the protests in Rhode Island and Massachusetts (and of course this Joe Powers guy chooses not to address the issues the protestors are marching about; if he were to do that, I’m sure he would be sent back to “the factory” and taught to obey Dear Leader extra hard next time)...



...and we can't forget NYC, can we?...



...or Philly of course (NJ also in the rain)...



...crossing the country again, this is what took place in northern California



...and 60K in San Diego? Outstanding!...



...San Francisco also...



...and finally, to Los Angeles...



...where Brian Tyler Cohen killed it with this speech...



...and by the way, to effect political change (or try to, anyway), click here to make sure you’re registered to vote (and yes, I know the Democrats, as a party, have issues, but they’re the best shot we have).

And I agree with about 97 percent or so of this great tune from "Little Steven."



Update 1: Not surprised, fortunately, but still great news (here).

Update 2: And here comes a truly ridiculous overreaction from an idiot Repug governor, this one in Missouri (here).

Update 3: Offered without further comment...

Update 1 6/16/25: Once more, I don't see violence from our side, but as far as the wingnuts are concerned, I give you this.

Update 2 6/16/25: And Heaven forbid that we do anything to interfere with the Men’s College World Series, amirite? (here)

Update 6/17/25: If you're on Bluesky, I would ask that you check this out.

Update 6/18/25: Here is another potentially murderous whack job who, thank God, was thwarted, and from this locality also (here).