Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins informs us that there was a recent U.S. Senate hearing about Netflix potentially merging with Warner Brothers-Discovery and whether or not that merger violates antitrust laws, but instead of focusing on the applicable statute, Senate Repugs beat up Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos about gays and trannies in that network’s programming, including Running Man Josh Hawley who said such shows violate his personal beliefs, or something...as Cousins says, nobody is putting a gun at Hawley’s head and TELLING him to watch Netflix content; just unsubscribe or turn off the damn TV if Hawley wants to exercise parental control, which is his right...didn’t know that the highest ratings for transgender adult films are in red states and that the Grindr app is such a big deal in those locations also, but that figures in a twisted way I’ll admit (twisted in terms of the hypocrisy I mean...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us that ICE has imprisoned 70K people in 225 detention centers housing people not convicted of a criminal offense (immigration violations real or imagined are civil, not criminal)...this basically makes these centers “concentration camps” according to Merriam Webster...didn’t know the death count in ICE’s concentration camps was up to 35 (and good point about Hitler’s camps outside of Germany, similar to the fact that CECOT for our ruling regime is in El Salvador)...and OF COURSE private prison companies (benefactors primarily of Repugs – don’t know if any Dems take their dirty money) are having a heyday right now...



...and Chris Hayes reminds us that Mango Mussolini is reassembling the crew from ’20 to try and mess with ’26 elections...yeah Bronzer Boy, you’re damn right your sorry ass is going to get impeached again if Dems take control of Congress, and this time you’ll be convicted...Hayes revisits Dem Taylor Rehmet’s win in Texas (a state senate seat in a district #47 won in ’24 by 17 points)...I disagree with Hayes’s statement that Dems do better in low-turnout elections; the data doesn’t back that up...and yes, the ridiculous gerrymandering was Plan A, and Plan B is to just outright try and take over the elections, with the dirty work being done by all of these disgusting life forms like Roger Stone who were involved in the attempted coup (once again, love and kisses to Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland for dragging his feet so atrociously and not getting convictions for all of these guttersnipes – for all the good Biden did, getting played by Israel was his biggest mistake IMO, but putting Garland where he did was #2 on that list)...I realize Hayes has to include a clip of Pumpkin Pol Pot lying about elections once again, but that doesn’t make it any less vile...so OF COURSE Repugs rush out a bill in Congress to give Cantaloupe Capone what he wants, with restrictions on voting by mail and voting registration drives and mandating voter ID, with the latter being a “solution” in search of a problem...and MAGA Mike Johnson should just STFU and go watch p*rn with his son...also, Pam “Blondi” is trying to blackmail states into giving up sensitive voting data with the promise of removing ICE from their streets...when we have the equivalent of Nuremberg trials for these disgusting Trumpist life forms, I’m going to watch every minute of every proceeding if I can...

...and turning to global matters, this report from the German news service DW tells us that Our Cretinous Ruling Regime angered Denmark again by removing Danish flags at the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen that were there to honor that country’s soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and the 44 flags were replaced by scores more, to the Danes’ credit (more utterly pointless and stoo-pid confrontational BS from our thuggish criminals in charge, with the net result being that the kingdom of Denmark will align itself more closely with the EU and against the Gropenfuhrer...report by Jakob Illeborg)...



...and Stephen Colbert of The Late Show brings us up to date on the latest nonsense from our D.C. ruling regime...boy, would I like to see the National Prayer Breakfast relegated to the political dustbin, and to be fair, politicos of both parties have attended...and of course, we’re treated to another “sir” story from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, giving us insight into the meanderings in #47’s increasingly foggy noggin...I almost spit out my coffee watching the Paula White-whatever her name is clip with the livestock...and “speaking of Minneapolis, what did you learn?” Gee, on the scale of softball questions to the Tangerine Toddler from one to infinity, I’d give that a grade of about an Armageddon and a half...and one day, after Mango Mussolini is LONG GONE, I expect to still have nightmares about those damn accordion hands!...oh, and he named a new weapon we used in Venezuela, huh? The “discombobulator”? I’m surprised he didn’t call it the Trump doohickey and then try to fundraise off of it...and Jeffrey Epstein is the LAST person I would take a muffin from, but we are where we are (and speaking only for myself, I won’t miss Pizza Hut – anything that helps local vendors as opposed to the chains is fine with me)...



...and RIP Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night – his life was kind of a riches to rags and back-to-riches-sort-of story...he was responsible for the soaring vocals on all of the band’s biggest hits, including this one.

Thursday Stuff

Jen Psaki tells us about Mango Mussolini plummeting to new depths in the polls...and oh yeah, he casually says that “something else needs to happen” if the votes this fall don’t turn out the way he wants, including hinting at some kind of a federal takeover of state elections (gee, I remember when the Repugs were the party that supposedly hated “big gumint”...how the proverbial worm has turned)...and yeah, Bronzer Beelzebub is polling in the 30s on every issue that matters (according to Quinnipiac), which is bad news for him and his gang regardless of how he cuts it...and good point by Psaki about the Gropenfuhrer doing all he can to cut off reliable information about what exactly it is that he and his bunch are up to... and I’m sorry about the WaPo layoffs, which were cruel and ridiculous, especially considering Jeff Bezos’s beyond-obscene wealth; as someone who has gone through that, I can tell you that, when companies do that and tell you some BS about trying to maximize profitability and/or the ”bottom line,” that’s pretty much a lie...if it’s a public company, it’s probably because the almighty share price has lost a few cents, and that also happens to settle scores at both private and public companies, which is what layoffs are about more than anything else as far as I’m concerned...



...and as far as Chris Hayes is concerned, he’s never dealt with a federal agency lying so consistently and aggressively as DHS/ICE...it’s all I can do to listen to these blatant untruths from dog killer Kristi Noem and Baby Goebbels and NOT vomit in my mouth...I wasn’t familiar with the case of Marimar Martinez (getting shot multiple times by DHS with the agent bragging about it online of course), but that’s part of this utterly despicable track record from this bunch too I know...Hayes also revisits that beyond depraved ICE raid of that Chicago apartment building in the middle of the night where people were forced to stand outside in freezing cold, including kids, all to supposedly hunt down Tren de Aragua members, which was still another falsehood (and the report finishes with the fabricator-in-chief, who for my money barely knows the world is going on around him)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about ICE agents’ families saying they’re “low IQ” and “racist” losers...yep, some of these subreddit posts do indeed tell a sorry story...I thought the one example of the guy who got radicalized in favor of the ICE Gestapo during the COVID lockdown was a bit of a cautionary tale...”you don’t get to commit terrorism because you are impoverished” indeed...the sister of someone who tried to join ICE but wasn’t allowed because she was “too empathetic” is another black mark against that wretched outfit as far as yours truly is concerned...I don’t think the gang running our federal government has much of a clue about anything, but I DO believe they’re cratering our economy partly to gin up enlistment in ICE and the military, which other Repugs administrations have done to be fair (and I’ll remind us of another pretty infamous one shortly)...also, it looks like Cantaloupe Capone is treating ICE agents the same way he treats Mar-a-Lago contractors, meaning that they’re not getting paid or entitled to bennies either – LOL (NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen informs us that James Comer of Kentucky and his Oversight Committee just set a precedent for having U.S. presidents testify before Congress that will be used eventually against Don The Con when the time comes (with both Clintons for some reason called to testify about Jeffrey Epstein...I mean, yeah, maybe there’s some feeble reason for #42 to do that, but HRC also? GMAFB!)...and good job by Cohen to remind us that that death eater also from Kentucky Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao (what the $#@! is wrong with voters in that commonwealth??!!) created some bogus SCOTUS confirmation guideline for Merrick Garland that he immediately trashed for Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett...



...and Jordan Klepper spoke to all kinds of vacuous Trumpist cognoscenti about what they expect to get out of the experience of this celluloid piffle about Melania Trump...kind of an instructive look at the miscreants who are really cheering on this administration of borderline (and actual, IMO) criminals...definitely a richer bunch than you would think and not even remotely “populist”...

...and when I referred to a pretty infamous Repug administration above (pertaining to the Figueredo clip), this is what I meant, meaning the reign of Dubya and “Deadeye Dick”...today is the 23rd anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. about Iraq’s alleged WMDs where (as pictured) he showed the vial supposedly full of anthrax, though in actuality it contained sand I believe...while our 43rd president is able to wind down his days painting his watercolors of all of the members of our military whose lives he helped ruin (while members of his administration slowly die off), he should be ever mindful of dragging down the reputation of others including Powell, who served our country with distinction...given all of that, I think this tune is appropriate.



Update 2/17/26: And when it comes to Powell’s former boss, I offer this (and the fact that the completely-called-for-IMO withering criticism of #43 is coming from Jonathan Last is kind of shocking, but credit where it’s due).

Wednesday Stuff

Oh well, it looks like our glorious commonwealth of “Pennsyltucky” found a way to plummet to new depths in Hanover, York County, with some troglodytes proclaiming “this is a MAGA town” after allegedly beating a woman over her ethnicity (African American and Puerto Rican combined)...reporter Andrew Klein asks folks in Hanover if that’s true, and he gets a decidedly mixed response fortunately...I would like to know what charges exactly will be brought against the suspects (if that has been decided yet, including anything related to civil rights), and whether or not the victim is still receiving medical attention or if she’s been treated and released (I’d also like to know the name of the club where this happened, though the owners likely don’t want the name of their establishment in this story; I can’t blame them for feeling that way, but I think that should have been noted in the report also...the suspects should have been named if police released that information, and it's possible that they haven't I know)...



...and Rachel Maddow reminds us that “keeping the pressure on...is never more important than when they’re wobbling” (indeed)...Kristi Noem sez her DHS thugs will start wearing body cameras – actually, they need to GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR CITIES!!!...and c’est dommage that “Eagle Eye” Ed Martin just had the metaphorical legs cut out from under him and his “weaponization” team at DOJ...oh, and Our Treasonous Orange Pustule sez the “R” party should “take over” voting in the elections this fall – tell me how THAT isn’t impeachable all by itself? Oh, and don’t look now, but 8 more federal prosecutors in Minnesota just walked rather than bend to the will of Combover Caligula...also, good for Harvard for telling #47 to pound sand with his extortion demand...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us this clip of Joe Scar commendably losing it in response to our ICE criminals CONTINUING to approach innocent civilians with guns drawn, recorded for posterity on someone’s phone...this took place about 35 miles from Minneapolis, near St. Peter, and the woman recording the video was following these ICE mongrels, which is COMPLETELY NOT ILLEGAL IN ANY WAY (recording, I mean)...and I really give Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy credit for going on that trash “news” network and trying to talk some reality to those journalistic frauds on this...oh, and contrary to prior reports, it looks like “Melania” was a box office flop – color me NOT shocked (slightly NSFW/H)...



...well, at least Dem U.S. House Rep Jim McDermott realizes that the regime of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule is truly demented, particularly when it comes to “ICE Barbie” and her criminal garbage...



...and Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look” on the latest nonsense from Cantaloupe Capone...despite the fact that it’s a piece of celluloid crap, it looks like the “Melania” doc grossed $7 million last weekend, likely from the MAGA die-hards and probably nobody else (and how stoo-pid is Jeff Bezos for forking over $40 million for it)...and oh yeah, director Brett Ratner (emphasis on “rat”) looks like he’s buds with Jeffrey Epstein also...and I knew about the crypto scam with the Saudis and giving them NVIDIA chips in return, disgusting as that is...oh, and our family of grifters is suing the IRS for unauthorized tax information disclosure? The phrase “unauthorized disclosure” is rich coming from a bunch that allowed “Phony Stark” (hat tip to Atrios for that) and his DOGE incels to ransack the Social Security Administration and do God-only-knows-what with our sensitive personal data (and #47 files another nuisance lawsuit like this while raking in UAE dough to boot)...and listen, I’m definitely not the “sharpest knife in the drawer” on this stuff, but EVEN I knew that “Tokyo Rose” Gabbard was a fraud from the word “go,” so don’t expect me to act surprised that she’s doing the dirty work for Don The Con with the voting stuff in Fulton County, GA...and nice work to catch that tweet from Couch Boy about 4 ½ years ago over his now-boss and Jeffrey Epstein...great finish by Seth here...



...and given that part of this post has to do with ICE and its vermin masquerading as law enforcement, I think this tune is timely.



Update: In a related story, the absence of anyone from the “party of Lincoln” in this hearing speaks volumes as far as yours truly is concerned.

Tuesday Stuff

David Doel tells us about a Dem named Taylor Rehmet winning a Texas state senate seat that had been held by Repugs for 50 years (more here)...Mango Mussolini endorsed Rehmet’s opponent, Repug Leigh Wambsganss (and no, I don’t know how to pronounce her name either), and that pretty much did in the “R” party candidate...and $2.4 mil for a state senate race? Once again, love and kisses to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR for Citizens United (oh, and check out this from Repug U.S. House Rep Pete Sessions – yeah, Rehmet won this historic victory because of the bad weather...just keep telling yourself that, you knucklehead)...



...and John and Sharon Reed of The Damage Report bring us the news that, apparently, the alleged head of CBS News Bari Weiss held another “town hall” to get more in touch with CBS’s dwindling viewership...sooo, this person who has never managed anything related to journalism has the unmitigated gall to criticize the staff of her own network and hire a bunch of wingnuts to supposedly make everything right somehow...”it’s just been right wing DEI (with Weiss) from the beginning” indeed...and as far as Tony Dokoupil is concerned, I would just call him Mr. Katy Tur because that’s easier to pronounce...



...and Ali Velshi tells us about corporations supporting ICE...Velshi nails it IMO when he lists all the different types of private companies behind ICE and the CBP, and how those outfits enable the ongoing horrors on our TV, computer, phone screens, etc., to be honest (and great job by Velshi to give us a much-needed-I-believe history lesson on the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott)...one current example is Avelo Airlines being forced to participate in ICE kidnapping flights to send immigrants to CECOT or God knows where...and I thought that was a mealy-mouthed non-answer from the Home Depot spokeswoman about federal law enforcement not required to produce a warrant to enter their parking lots and/or stores...the issue is DETAINING CONTRACTORS WITHOUT A WARRANT – try reading the freaking room!...I knew Apple had removed the app tracking ICE agents, but I didn’t know Google had also done that – typically spineless (and if ICE enforcement is a “vulnerable group,” and I don’t think they are, then what the hell does that make US???!!)...



...and Sam and the crew from The Majority Report give us the awful news of a supporter for the Gropenfuhrer in Nebraska running over a high school classmate protesting ICE...oh yes, please tell me about equivalence from the left (and yes, I heard about the pepper spray incident, which was wrong but definitely not the same thing)...Matt Lech mentions the chasm between Gen Z men and women on this stuff, and I don’t think there is NEARLY ENOUGH attention paid to that; as far as I’m concerned, it’s up to the guys to stop acting like idiots and get invested in their own future, and yes, that’s my simplistic boomer “take” on the whole thing...



...and Mr. Newberger gives us an example of how our fourth estate SHOULD treat the Tangerine Toddler (NSFW/H)...



Update 2/4/26: This clip is timely IMO in light of this (and good for Kaitlan Collins).

...and I’d known about this for about a week, but to be honest, I was too gutted to say much of anything about it...we knew Dan and his family and crossed paths from time to time, and you simply won’t meet better people...this gives a pretty good accounting of Dan’s accomplishments; kind of mind boggling to realize just how much he managed to get done in his all-too-brief time in our midst (and his father was a longtime fixture at the Philadelphia Daily News also)...the service is Thursday, and I can think of no more apropos tune than this one (and I'm wearing sneakers as I type this).

Monday Stuff

Chris Hayes gives us the gory details on how Combover Caligula is building a police state...thousands of brave folks are protesting across the country against Mango Mussolini in support of the courageous souls in Minneapolis (I know there were a few pundits out there wondering when people in this country would rise up against Dementia J. Trump, and I think that question has been answered)...didn’t know ICE was using facial recognition applications and social media tools to identify people protesting, but that definitely makes sense in a typically twisted way, and OF COURSE Palantir is behind this madness...Hayes notes the arrest of former CNN correspondent Don Lemon, who was released; also, ICE thugs showed up at the door of journalist Georgia Fort in the early morning hours to hold her captive also...whoever this “ICE pastor” in Minneapolis is needs to lose his job, at a minimum...good point by Hayes in particular about Todd Blanche’s attempted whitewash on the Epstein files (and I know I touched on the raid of the election offices in Fulton County, GA already)...



...and Jen Psaki of MS NOW discusses children imprisoned by ICE becoming a flash point, especially for those protesting outside of Dilley, Texas, particularly in response to the capture of 5-year-old Liam Ramos (and once more, as Rep. Joaquin Castro points out, Liam and his father went through the immigration process seeking asylum the right way, but we know what happened despite that)...1100 people are housed (using the term loosely) who didn’t commit a crime – what country am I living in again?...an update on Ramos is here (and I know I’ve included more videos from MS NOW lately as opposed to individual creators such as David Pakman, Farron Cousins, etc., and that’s because I think MS NOW is doing a better job of covering these issues at the moment, though no disrespect is meant towards those other folks)...



...and I don’t want to shock anybody out there, but there are actually signs of life from “Team D” in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” against the ICE Gestapo: Colorado U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper tells us that this criminal rogue outfit doing the bidding of Cantaloupe Capone and Pee Wee German are leaving “death cards” on automobiles where U.S. citizens have been seized...naaah, this isn’t a rogue, out-of-control bunch of thugs, is it? Not much...”cruelty for the sake of cruelty” indeed... Hickenlooper mentions Pumpkin Pol Pot going after law firms, universities and colleges, and our media of course, if they don’t tow the autocratic line... Hickenlooper is also right about “no accountability without transparency,” and I give him credit for that, though personally I think we’ve gone WAAAY past that point...



...and hmmm, death cards, huh? I wonder where our ICE criminals got THAT idea from (NSFW/H)?...



...and RIP Catherine O’Hara, beloved for so many roles, particularly when it comes to SCTV as far as your humble narrator is concerned (for my money, Lola Heatherton is a work of comic genius)...I included this clip previously when Joe Flaherty passed, but I think it works for O’Hara also...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Phil Collins – wishing him good luck with his own health issues.