Friday Stuff

In light of all of the nonsense from Cleveland this week, I thought I would provide this as a palate cleanser of sorts.

Now that the convention idiocy is over and the “party of Lincoln” has proclaimed Donald Trump as its standard-bearer, Republicans all over the place are saying, “oh, Trump doesn’t represent me…how in Heaven’s name did we get to the point where he is our nominee for President,” clutching their metaphorical pearls all the while and looking for their also-metaphorical fainting couch.

(In a similar vein, I give you this today from the eternally wretched Christine Flowers, concocting yet another unintentionally hilarious diatribe which is truly all we can expect from philly.com’s conservative quota hire columnist.)

Do you want to know how you got to the point where “Fergus Laing” is actually your nominee for president, Republicans? Do you want to know who is really to blame?

Try looking in the goddamn mirror!

Every time you demonize and ridicule someone without any basis in actual fact, or at least without any evidence that will stand up to what you might call “the cold light of day”…every time you demonize and ridicule someone merely because they belong to a particular race, gender, or other demographic that takes issue with what you might call your political point of view…every time you repeat baseless charges over and over and over again against your opposition when they have been thoroughly or utterly disproven or, perhaps, not even proven to begin with…every time you demonize a political member of the opposition for all of the reasons I noted previously in this paragraph without any provable, corroborated facts or evidence…every time you demagogue against those who are most vulnerable in our society, again without facts or evidence…every time you demagogue against someone trying to address the most vital issues we face, such as matters of war and peace, the economy (and, as a part of that, issues pertaining to what you might call economic and social justice), and the future survivability of this planet (and, in the process, argue with proven principles of math, science, and, pretty much, plain common sense)…when you do any or all of that, do you know what you also do?

You perpetuate the forces that ultimately gave us Donald J. Trump as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States, that’s what you do.

So spare me your pitiable mea culpas, because, now, it is up to Democrats to try and clean up the mess you created but, not surprisingly, couldn’t find the political will to fix yourselves.

Now for some videos – and it looks like, based on this, Laura Ingraham gave away the game, as they say…



…and yeah, it sounds like Bill Maher captured what went on in Cleveland this week pretty well (here)…



…and I thought this was some great perspective on “The Donald” from filmmaker Ken Burns, speaking with Christiane Amanpour (and of course, the inevitable wingnut outrage followed here)…



…and our neighbors to the north are paying attention (as is the rest of the world, as noted here – dear Lord)…



…also, I cannot possibly imagine why Fix Noise didn’t want their viewers to see this (here – removing my tongue from my cheek)…

…and it seems like Republicans can’t get through a week, or even days sometimes, without infringing on a musician’s work without getting permission, which, in this case, I’m sure they’d never get anyway (I think the following tune, were it to be allowed by the estate, would be more appropriate).

Thursday Stuff

I would call this progress of a sort...



…and maybe throwing Al Baldasaro’s sorry ass in prison for about ten years would send the right message (here)…



...and here is the latest in the annals of "Crooked Trump"...



…and “one more night” of this mess in Cleveland – luckily, the adults will be coming to Philly next week.

Wednesday Stuff

Awww, poor “Governor Bully,” in response to this (naah – just kidding…more here and here)…

…and this is funny stuff from Stephen Colbert, bringing back his “Comedy Central” character a bit, but the very last sentence is about as tongue-in-cheek as you’re going to get (here)…



…and Trump’s veep nominee gets the Samantha Bee treatment here (NSFW)…



...and no "milestone" or "message" music tonight - just a cool new tune.

Tuesday Stuff

It looks like time is drawing short for Roger (“Voldemort”) Ailes in light of this (a day that has been a long time in coming)…

...and golly, it looks like the latest trophy wife of "The Donald" sure put her I'm-sure-elegantly-pedicured foot in it big time (here)...



…and Kyle Kulinski tells us about the latest in the annals of “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” Repug Party nonsense, particularly regarding Trump VP nominee Mike Pence (NSFW)…



…and I know people are going to be having fun with the latest idiocy that transpires from Cleveland (not a shot at the city, mind you – we hosted these characters in 2000, after all), and it’s going to be hard to pick and choose of all of what I would call “hate porn” in an effort to find what is most despicable (the grieving Benghazi mother who deserves our prayers, respect and support but who was allowed by life forms almost too despicable for words to rant in a public forum against HRC, along with all of the calls for Former Secretary of State Clinton to be imprisoned or worse, etc.), but right now, this might be the lowest of the low (a lot of competition, I’ll admit) – if Freddie Mercury were still with us, he might offer this as a response.

Monday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Yeah, I know some of this stuff may be a little too “inside baseball,” but I still think it shows that not everyone is singing “Kumbaya” in Cleveland (here)…



…and speaking of the all-but-named Democratic Party nominee, I have only three words for this video: Nail. Hammer. Head. (here)…



...also, David Pakman tells us about recent shootings in this country we may not have heard about (telling that, while overall violent crime is down in this country, shootings are up)...



…and happy belated 70th (!) birthday to Linda Ronstadt; all those years I spent holding up her poster with one hand – smile.

Friday Stuff

God, hasn’t France suffered enough already? To help, click here…



…and I honestly was going to ignore this – naah, sorry, I can’t (kudos to Kyle for keeping it clean)…



…and hey, as long as “The Donald” just gave us fresh, new ammunition (here)…



…and speaking of Trump’s new veep nominee, Rachel Maddow brought us this report earlier in the week on how it can be a fruitless exercise to try and run against the “number 2” on the ticket…



…and I agree with South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott on nothing, but kudos to him for this…



…and while making a lot of money isn’t a crime I know, it could be if you use the influence it buys to screw over everybody else…lots of ways that our senatorial mistake from PA has done that which I’ll try to present over the coming weeks and months; in the meantime, to help Katie McGinty, click here…



Update 7/18/16: Actually, this should go a long way towards telling us how awful a senator Toomey truly is.

…and what, are we actually supposed to think that Stuart Varney ISN’T a scumbag because he has an English accent? (NSFW)...



…and Harry Chapin left us 35 years ago tomorrow – among his other accomplishments, he also was a tireless advocate against hunger and poverty in this country…to say his voice is still needed is a huge understatement.

Thursday Stuff

Fine – let everybody shoot each other; no never mind to me…



…and it looks like Indiana Governor Mike Pence may be the VP for “Fergus Laing,” though it isn’t official of course (dag, all those Mickey D’s meals “Governor Bully” got for Trump for nothing, apparently); I thought this was an informative segment about Pence’s most recent moment in the spotlight (don’t think his “freeze” was a big a deal as that awful law he signed)…



Update 7/15/16: And speaking of Pence, does anyone remember this besides me?

…and isn’t this just precious? Sam Seder tells us that Jeb Bush blames the Pope for losing the South Carolina Republican primary and shooting down his presidential hopes; naaah, didn’t have anything to do with his brother’s utterly failed, ruinous presidency…not much (NSFW)…



...and it looks like Dale Hansen has done it again here - kudos...



…and as damn awful as this is, and it is that, I’d love to see Governor Bully take time from waiting on “The Donald” to try and explain this, assuming he gives a crap, which I’m sure he doesn’t of course…



…and I think this is a really cool tune from an exceptional musical family (that twangy axe in the background can only mean the "Bob Dylan of Britain").

Wednesday Stuff

As I watch this about the so-called Chilcot Report, I keep hoping for something like that in THIS country (yeah, I know – keep hoping)…



…and like it or not, it’s time for another installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 7/13/11, with the Foxies doing what they do best, and that is to smear anybody who points out that they’re nothing but the media wing of Not Your Father’s Republican Party, though, based on this, it looks like their “dark Lord” has some actual honest-to-goodness legal stuff going on; couldn’t happen to a more deserving scumbag (more here and here)...



...and Elijah Cummings does a first-class job here IMHO of taking apart more wingnut nonsense...



…and I’m falling behind a bit on my summer songs, so here comes another one.

Tuesday Stuff

We all know what Rudy 9iu11ani is as well as the other “Foxies” (and what a sad epitaph for Wayne Rogers, by the way), but in spite of that, I thought this was a good discussion Chris Hayes conducted with Heather McGhee and Eugene O’Donnell – great job by McGhee to tie police tactics to trying to generate revenue strangled by austerity, by the way…



…and by the way, Rachel Maddow tells us how “Fergus Laing” is resurrecting some of the very worst of the Nixon years (oh goody – just kidding; how truly pathetic)…



…and this tells us about Rep. David Jolly’s bill to limit the amount of time congressional candidates spend on fundraising; an “A” for effort on this one…



…and all the best to Joe Perry of Aerosmith (here).

Monday Stuff

Kudos to John Fugelsang for this (more here)...

...also, Rev. Al talks to Marc Morial of the National Urban League about the aftermath of the most recent headline-making gun violence in this country…



…and aside from the Hillary Email stuff which never was a “thing” in the first place IMHO, I think Larry Wilmore is spot-on here…



…and also while we were away, Elie Wiesel left us – so many reasons to honor his life and accomplishments, but this one stands out in particular (and of course “The Sainted Ronnie R” went to Bitburg anyway - have to crank the volume a bit)…



...and when it comes to the recent violence in Minnesota and Louisiana, I had this song very much in mind.

Saturday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

“Secular Talk” tells us of Bernie Sanders’s recent Op-Ed in the New York Times (NSFW…don’t quite despair in HRC as Kyle does…don’t know how you can consider HRC to be the same as Trump when it comes to the corporate nonsense, though I admit that he makes good points…”ya’ gotta go left” – damn correct on that)…



…and with that in mind, I give you the following recent great words from Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the TPP…



…and oh yeah – anybody out there beside me remember Zika? Fortunately, Harry Reid did here…



…and I hope you’re in the mood for some great live (more or less) music, because here it comes (not sure what's up with the letterbox formatting in Chrome and IE on the laptop, but it sounds fine and all is OK on the smartphone, so there you are).

Friday Stuff

It’s getting to the point where the shootings are going on in this country faster than I can comment on them, though I’ll admit that I don’t have anything particularly brilliant to say on any of them.

I’m sure Dem Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton is right to say that race played a role in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a resident of that state, particularly when, as noted here, Castile had a license to carry and notified the police officer about it, but was shot anyway when apparently reaching for identification to present to the officer (noted here – and yes, the sound of crickets from the NRA over this speaks volumes about that organization as far as I’m concerned). However, I’m not sure that Dayton should have been so quick to point that out before all of the facts were in.

(And yes, this video is graphic, particularly up to about 1:48 – NSFW of course)...



Update 8/11/17: ZOMG, the NRA FINALLY has something to say on this from their shrieking harpie Dana Loesch here (and of course, they're wrong, since they can never be right on this anyway).

And as for Alton Sterling, it apparently remains an open question whether or not he struggled with police after he was told to lie on the ground before the police shot him, though, to me, it’s telling that the cops removed the surveillance video of the encounter even though they had no warrant and the owner of the store where the shooting occurred, Abdullah Muflahi, did not consent to them removing it (here)...



Of course, none of this is justification for the shooting of the Dallas police officers at the protests over the Castile and Sterling shootings (here)...



And with all of this in mind, maybe it isn’t too bad of an idea to think about this (clip ends kind of suddenly)…



I’m sorry I don’t have anything better to say about any of this. I just wish we were better in this country at building bridges instead of walls (yeah, I know – corny, dopey liberal sentiment, but it’s all I got). And oh yeah, as far as I’m concerned, the NRA has blood on its hands for this, among other gun-related atrocities in this country too numerous to mention.

Maybe this isn’t too bad of a time for those so inclined to pray for tolerance and understanding on all sides (and by the way, I’m not trying to imply any equivalency here, since we overwhelmingly have an issue with African Americans shot by police as opposed to whites). And yes, I know this is coming from someone fortunate enough to be white and living in an area where the cops leave us alone and, when they do interact with us, they treat us with respect and we try our best to reciprocate.

But trying to talk to one another is preferable to trying to shoot each other. Right?

Thursday Stuff

Even for Archbishop Chucky, this is utterly ridiculous (you can consider the following video as a response - meanwhile, the spaces in those pews on Sunday will only get bigger)...



…oh, and let’s not forget that Pat “No Corporate Tax” Toomey is still defending the Senate seat that he paid for won in 2010 – to help him fail at that task, click here…



…and this is almost too appalling for mere words from yours truly (NSFW)…



…and I give you today’s regional weather forecast.

Wednesday Stuff

It looks like “Bush’s poodle” will skate on Dubya’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq after all, at least for now (more here, here and here)…



...and while the apology stuff from Pope Frank is nice, it would be even better to see it followed up with substantive policy changes in Church doctrine...

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…and Thom Hartmann tells us that Sen. Elizabeth Warren has kept up the proverbial drum beat, as it were, against Comcast and other corporate miscreants ("If you want less government regulation, reduce the need for it" indeed)…



…and I’m glad to see this guy finally enjoying the fruits of newfound stardom after a lot of long, hard years.

Tuesday Stuff

(Hello, test, test – is this thing still on?...)

OK, I’m going to try and rev this up again, though I may end up doing so in fits and starts – to begin, It looks like, while I was off, the Supremes struck down Texas’s ridiculous anti-abortion law, which can only be positive and hopefully will be replicated across other states (explained by David Pakman)…



…and I could do without the Holy Spirit crack, but otherwise, kudos to Bill Maher for this “laboratories of democracy” segment of “New Rules”…



…and speaking of California, Joy Reid tells us that they, and their Dem governor, remain progressive on guns…



…and while I was out, former Elvis guitarist Scotty Moore left us – RIP (and on a related note, I’m currently reading this great book).

Thursday Stuff

#nobillnobreak – damn right (more here…and leave it to “Goober” Gohmert, the stupidest man in the universe, to get the issue totally wrong)…



…oh, and speaking of guns, it looks like this is more good news for Donald Trump (snark of course, and aren’t you glad that Stuart Varney didn’t “speculate,” to say nothing of that other rent-a-blonde, both taking up space with a “news” network?)…



…well, it was a hell of a good try anyway, and if this doesn’t move the proverbial needle somewhat in November, I’m not sure anything will (here) - during the ‘60s civil rights protests, Lewis was hit over the head with a crate; compared to that, how can the U.S. House Repugs do anything worse short of trying to kill him?...

…and to see the face of what we’re up against, I give you this knucklehead…he knows damn well what the legislation is that’s being proposed, and while people are slaughtered in this country from gun violence, he actually cares about the so-called U.S. House rule on photography…oh, and he’s the guy who compared Democrats to criminals and terrorists – U-S-A! U-S-A!...



…and it’s time for me to shut this whole thing down for a couple of weeks – going to take a long and much-needed break; I’ll leave you for now with something mellow and a bit upbeat, and I’ll look to restart this whole thing sometime after July 5th.

Courage.

Wednesday Stuff

I don’t know if Dem U.S. House Rep John Garamendi has given us the latest video to go “viral” on those Internet tubes, but if he hasn’t, he’s come pretty damn close with this – kudos…



…and I give you more spot-on commentary from Samantha Bee here on the GOP and their all-but-proclaimed presidential candidate, who of course is He Who Shall Not Be Named (and Pat Toomey has that elevator-ducking move of his just about patented, by the way)…



…and even though it now turns out that the so-called ISIS link between Orlando shooter Omar Mateen is specious at best, I still think this is a good story (NSFW); - Kyle Kulinski hit the proverbial bullseye with that last sentence…



…and happy birthday to this guy, Upper Darby, Pa’s own, with a tune from these guys.

Tuesday Stuff

Bill Maher compares the most recent foibles of The Donald to prior gaffes from other political campaigns (here – NSFW of course)...



…and speaking of history, 60 years ago today, playwright Arthur Miller defied the House Un-American Activities Committee (here)….



…and I would say that this is food for thought in light of this depressing but utterly predictable development; oh, and by the way, Senator Mr. Elaine Chao is a goddamn liar, in case somehow we don’t know that…



…and here is a special request from yours truly.

Monday Stuff

It’s beyond belief to me that we have stories like this coming out of the Orlando massacre, but we do.

Let’s see now – you can argue that our failure to enact common sense gun legislation on the federal level could have been a contributing factor to getting Juan Chavez Martinez killed in the first place, then of course we have the typical LBGT discrimination/demonization, and now, on top of that, because we ALSO don’t have common-sense immigration reform, his family can’t even take Martinez’s body back to Mexico for the burial without running the risk of being locked out of this country.

If none of these are reasons to elect Hillary Clinton and a Democratic congress, then reasons to do that don’t exist (“U-S-A! U-S-A!”)…



…and Rachel Maddow tells us about the political after-effects of Dem CT Sen. Chris Murphy’s great filibuster on gun votes earlier this week (and Lord, does “Straight Talk” McCain need to be voted out of office)…



…and it looks like that pesky Josh Fox is back to remind us about what we should have done long ago by now for the sake of the planet (tied to his new documentary also)…



…and the insanity hasn’t let up lately, unfortunately; what follows is a tribute to anti-Brexit British MP Jo Cox, who was brutally murdered by someone who was, by all accounts, some kind of UK nationalist nut job (oh, right – “allegedly”…don’t want to say anything prejudicial…and wouldn’t you know that there’s a reported link to right-wing extremism in this country, as noted here?)…



...and I had this song in mind as a tribute...



...and I was a bit delinquent in not featuring a Father's Day tune yesterday - I think this will do.

Friday Stuff

My guess is that, even if armed with the same caliber weapon, if Larry Pratt faced “a bad guy with a gun,” he’d wet his pants (here)…



…and I meant to get to this a little while ago, but I thought this was a pretty good response from Number 44 to those who keep acting like “OMIGOD HE DIDN’T SAY THE CODE WORDS HE WAS SUPPOSED TO SAY. THAT DAMN KENYAN MUSLIM SOCIALIST STRIKES AGAIN!!”…



…and I felt like I was in the mood for the Ted Stevens techno dance mix “It’s A Series of Tubes” from about 8 years ago in light of this great story; yes, ready or not, it’s time for another installment of “This Day In Doomsy History”…



...and Lee Camp is back with Naomi Karavani (?) to explain why those pesky poor people just keep ending up in jail, gosh darn it (snark)…



…and I always thought the so-called “civility pledge” that Steve Santarsiero signed with Mikey Part 2 Brian Fitzpatrick was nonsense (sometimes politics is mean - deal with it), and this proves to me how seriously Bucks County Republicans actually take it, which is to say not much (a prior post on this is here)…excuse me, but during the last decade, wasn’t the “party of Lincoln” telling everyone how staunchly pro-military they are? Then why are they ripping on Steve for missing votes to be with his ailing dad, a World War II veteran?

Yep, pretty lowdown all right – here is a reminder why this election for PA-08 in particular matters (and even though this is true, as far as I'm concerned, Steve deserves an "A" for effort, particularly with the Orlando horror fresh in our minds)…



...and I'm of a mind to try and wind things down in a bit of a mellow mood, so here's a tune that I hope gets that done.

Thursday Stuff

Kudos to Anderson Cooper for this (a related post is here)…



...and kudos also to Dem CT Sen. Chris Murphy for his filibuster on guns, forcing “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” into doing what they should have done long ago; as you can see, Murphy saved his best for the end (here)…



Update 6/17/16: More here.

...and Kyle Kulinski gives us his NSFW comments on Neanderthals attacking the Muslim representative coming to our country's support in the wake of Orlando...don't condone criticizing ALL religions by definition, though; they can each be a force for good too of course…



...and when it comes to anti-gun songs, I can't forget this one.

Wednesday Stuff

Yeah, what did that stinky body-surfing, brie-eating French (I think) guy John Kerry know about prosecuting criminals and trying to restrict the insane number of guns in this country, particularly assault rifles? A lot, as it turns out (here), compared to Former President Numbskull (pains me to bring this up, but I do so mainly to point out which political party stands for sane gun policy and which doesn’t…not even going to both to investigate Dubya’s 72 percent number since he was such a chronic liar on everything else)…



...and Rachel Maddow tells us about the Sig Sauer MCX gun used in Orlando attack; kudos to her for returning to form, though it's sad that it took a story like this to make that happen (I'm sure the makers of this monstrosity that has no business with anyone except the military or law enforcement manage to sleep at night; will never know how, though)...



…and I want to thank Utah Lt. Governor Spencer Cox for giving me my best about nine-and-a-half minutes of the day (here)…



…and RIP guitarist extraordinaire Henry McCullough of Wings.

Tuesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us about the tributes in this country and all over the world to the Orlando victims…



…and I give you a true “Nail. Hammer. Head.” moment from Samantha Bee (here - thought the Sig Sauer weapon of death used in Orlando wasn't technically an AR-15, it was close enough)…



…and shifting gears a bit, I should point out that today is Flag Day, which made me recall this clip from the late, legendary Bill Hicks (here)…



…and despite all the insanity, I still truly believe in this song (with the prior clips in mind).

Monday Stuff

Sounds to me based on this that Number 44 was ahead of the curve yet again on guns; and by the way, I think this should be noted also…



…and concerning this, I was a little surprised to see Owen Jones walk off the set the way he did; I thought it was pretty well established at that point that the hosts were acknowledging that this was a crime first and foremost against LGBT people, and I definitely think there was more agreement than not; I’m including this clip mainly to provide a world news perspective on this horror…



…and with the recent carnage in mind, I couldn’t help but recall this admittedly sickening, demonic moment from about five years ago…



...and here's some music for all of the reality avoidance out there yet again (here, here, and here for starters - and I would call this justifiable outrage).

Sunday Stuff

(By the way, the total number in this graphic is current as of December 2012).

Well, well, well, here we are again – this time, it’s officially the worst mass shooting in this country’s history.

And what response do we get from the all-but-named standard-bearer of the “party of Lincoln”? Do you even need to ask?

As noted from here…

And leave it to Tom “Greatest Generation” Brokaw to claim that “people” need to rise up and say enough, or something (here)?

Really??

This is the protest after the Columbine mass shootings.

This is the protest/remembrance after the Virginia Tech mass shootings.

This is the remembrance of sorts after the Fort Hood, TX mass shootings.

This is the protest/remembrance after the Tucson mass shootings.

This is the protest/remembrance after the Aurora, CO mass shootings.

This is the protest after the Newtown, CT mass shootings.

This is the protest after the South Carolina mass shootings.

This is the protest after the San Bernadino, CA mass shootings.

ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE A PATTERN? WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO WORK FOR CHANGE INSTEAD OF PONTIFICATING, YOU WORTHLESS CORPORATE MEDIA HACK??

But of course, politicians have been critically wounded from mass gun shootings, and we’ve done nothing. Judges murdered – nothing. Soldiers murdered – nothing. Children shot in the face – nothing. Who cares about a bunch of dead gays, right?

U-S-A! U-S-A! (#pleaseprovemewrong) - At least a voice of sanity is here.

Here is a statement from President Obama...



…but of course, what can we expect from a country where this takes place (hardy har har - blow that dog whistle a little louder, why dontcha?)…



…as well as this (she tosses the red meat, as it were, for the audience from about 1:00-1:30)…



...and I guess I might as well permanently embed this song.

Friday Stuff

RIP Gordie Howe (you can Google “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” if you want in case you somehow don’t know what it is – his son was probably the best defenseman the Flyers have ever had, and they got him in a trade)…



…and I thought this was a good recent commentary from Bill Maher (in defense of socialism vs. capitalism)...



…and kudos to Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her defense of Judge Curiel here (but PLEASE don’t try to make her the VP…and oh yeah, the predictable response from “Mr. Tiny Hands” is here)…



…and speaking of “Donald Drumpf,” I can’t let the week end without taking note of this disgusting spectacle (more here)…



…also, John Oliver did something truly amazing earlier this week - here is the video (and doing so with humor as always)…



…and yesterday would have been the 125th birthday of legendary American songwriter Cole Porter.

Thursday Stuff

Seth Meyers takes a look at "The Donald" and his attacks on the Mexican-heritage judge hearing the case against Trump’s bogus “university” (here)…



…and it’s time once more for “This Day In Doomsy History,” but we’re just going back about two years this time to 6/4/14 to remind ourselves of the benefits of the Clean Power Plan from President Obama which, as noted here, was stayed by the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR pending judicial review – uh huh, yeah, right…the Plan was opposed by that nematode Pat Toomey, PA’s own waste of space in the U.S. Senate (here) – to do something about that, click here…



…and continuing the environmental theme somewhat, I was wondering what Lee Camp was up to – here, he tells us that Bayer and Monsanto are trying to merge…what could go wrong (snark)…



…and very much unlike the prior clip, I would say that this is a combination that definitely works.

Wednesday Stuff

Yep, if it’s a day of the week with a “y” in it, count on Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee to say or do something stupid, as she did here...actually, I think she should be prosecuted for it, though I know they’ll never make the case – pretty close to the female equivalent of Louie Gohmert, only with the catty, bitchy edge; would truly be a gift from above if she ended up as the veep for “Donald Drumpf”…made me recall this clip from not quite four years ago (and of course, when Republicans talk about cutting “discretionary spending,” what they really mean is this)…



…and this, as far as I’m concerned, is terrific news – hopefully not too late; made me recall this great movie (and yeah, you can follow the wretched thread on what led to the electric car’s demise to the other architects of ruin from the prior decade)…



…and returning to the election, why am I not surprised that “Fergus Laing” is a 9/11 moocher also…



…and when it comes to Blackburn, I can’t resist including this little number, even though I just put up a tune by the Rolling Stones last week.

Tuesday Stuff

This is how I felt last night trying to watch The Comcast Network over their anointing of HRC as the Dem presidential nominee – given that, I think this is particularly timely from Kyle Kulinski (NSFW of course)…



...and turning to the all-but-named Repug standard-bearer, I give you this (by the way, Rick Wilson is a GOP strategist...at least he didn’t say that Trump supporters masturbate to Animé like he said last time)…



...and keeping with that theme, Samantha Bee does it again (here)...



...and speaking of Donald Drumpf, I'm glad to hear from The Dixie Chicks once more (here).

Monday Stuff

I’ll be honest – I think the writing is on the wall for Bernie…I think he ran a hell of a campaign, but some people I otherwise respect who support him are acting a bit unhinged (here)…that being said, I still thought this was a good NSFW commentary from Kyle Kulinski on Sanders (kind of loses me a bit with the last 2 minutes to go, though – does he SERIOUSLY think Hillary Clinton is worse than ANY REPUBLICAN??!! Bernie is great, but like all pols, he has stuff in his closet too)…



…and I’ll listen to Charlie Pierce talk about politics any day of the week, but I’m glad he knows so much about sports also (re, Muhammad Ali)…



...and I thought this was a great commentary about the media (especially about MSNBC) and the campaign from Bill Maher (even from that barely tolerable tool Matt Welch; we're not voting for "entertainer in chief" you meat sack - and sorry, it IS funny...NSFW)...



…and to commemorate the anniversary of the passing of Robert F. Kennedy (here), I had this song in mind (and yes, I know it’s really about Dylan, but it’s about activism too).

Sunday Stuff

RIP Muhammad Ali – family members of mine who served couldn’t stand him because he ducked out of service himself, but Ali turned out to be dead right on Vietnam…created the template for today’s loud-mouthed, self-promoting athlete, but he backed it up – also did a lot for activism for various causes including Parkinson’s as noted (paying an awful price for his success), and it took a particular kind of courage to get into that ring with George Foreman in the Zaire fight; I come to praise Ali, not to bury him…I think, ultimately, he deserves our respect…



...and kudos to the Polish women in this video in response to this (timed a bit for Sunday, I’ll admit) - would like to have seen a response like that in this country to this propagandist (and I partly blame myself for that too)...



…and with other worldly matters supposedly in mind, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant received a “religious freedom” award from some right-wing group; Bryant says he wants to be “crucified” for his beliefs (hey, I’ll bring the hammer and nails, you bigot – NSFW)…



…and here’s a bit of a casual “moldy oldie” tune for the day, harking back to Ali and the ‘60s (groovy, man!).

Friday Stuff

Yesterday was National Gun Violence Awareness Day (more here…and yes, wingnuts, I know about this story – once in a while what is desired actually happens instead of something unplanned and usually tragic)…



…and just as a reminder, this is what happens when a Democrat is elected president (like to see stuff like this from HRC – hopefully I will…and what I saw of Number 44’s Elkhart speech on Wednesday was pretty good)…



…and from the nearly sublime to ridiculous we go; “The Donald” wants an apology from The Onion – uh huh (and as much as I hate to admit it, Coulter predicted Trump would be the Republican presidential nominee on “Real Time”)…



…and all I have to say in response to this is estás pero si bien pendejo, “Donald Drumpf”…



…and Thom Hartmann brings us economic and labor news for the week (the oil story is particularly important, IMHO)…



…and happy belated 75th birthday to Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones.

Thursday Stuff

Here is some analysis on “The Donald” from our friends up north; nope, nothing snarky or no historical footage included…just presenting “Fergus Laing” warts and all (and please spare me all of the “omigod, he did it this time – his campaign is surely doomed now” stuff…we’ve seen what we thought were moments like that over and over, and none have materialized so far).

I honestly don’t care that much if he beats up the press. A lot of presidents have done that; that’s not the issue.

The issue is that Trump was, is, and always will be, dangerously unqualified for the most important job in the world. And he’s up against a presumptive Democratic nominee whose negatives are almost as high, which is scary.

I’m going to make yet another appeal to Hillary Clinton to actually campaign and start trying to make it crystal clear what she wants to do as president and how that will benefit this country as opposed to what Trump claims he wants to do and how that would likely wreck everything this country has stood for since its founding – PLEEEAAAASE!! (sorry, Bernie - more here, and she took a step forward on that here)...



...and in response to this (including MSNBC, which looks more and more pathetic with each passing day), I have only to ask the following: Gee, ya' think??!!

...and speaking of The Comcast Network, I think Lawrence O’Donnell makes a great point here about how screwed up our election cycle is in this country given that Iowa and New Hampshire get so much debate and candidate attention relative to California, and of course Robert Kennedy’s words have become even more prescient with the passage of time, but Heaven forbid that the cretins responsible for this fail to get in a Trump mention…



…and I’ve fallen behind on the science and green news from Thom Hartmann, so I’ll try again to catch up…



...and here is what I consider to be an appropriate tune for this little item.

Wednesday Stuff

Gosh, Ken Starr goes down over a sex scandal (here) – can you say KARMA??!! (good point about why HRC would keep a personal server, to keep all of the crap out of public view that have nothing to do with how to do your job)...



…and it looks like the Verizon workers actually won in their walkout – kudos; in case anybody out there still wonders whether or not it matters if a Democrat wins the White House in November (not sure how that could be true, but you never know), they should pay attention to this story…



…and if Verizon had had its way without the workforce standing up, then they likely would have pulled the same nonsense that KKR pulled here, as Lewis Black tells us from 6/2/2008; yep, time once more for “This Day In Doomsy History” (I don’t think the URL at the end of the video is active any more, though)…



...and I can't resist having the reaction to the first video that's the same title as this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

RIP Rick MacLeish of the Flyers – wouldn’t have won those Cups without him, particularly the first one as shown below (Tom Lysiak too)…



…and regarding Memorial Day, I’m not totally sure that I buy Sebastian Junger’s thesis on community support by itself necessarily lowering instances of PTSD, but I know he backs up his claims with data, which is more than a lot of other people do…



…and yeah, let’s hear it for the “good old days,” huh (not current, but still timely)…



…and Dem U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is my new hero for this, standing up to idiot Gail Heriot of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; more Heriot ignorance/bigotry is here, and you guessed it, by the way – Heriot is a Bushco holdover...



...and the stupidest man in the universe strikes again ("GAYS IN SPAAAACE," with Louie Gohmert - NSFW)...



…and I guess I’m a little late with this tune given that the Indy 500 was yesterday, but better than never I suppose (and man, is that one hard-working drummer or what?).

Monday Stuff

Happy Memorial Day (and in a related item, I have to admit that I was intrigued by this - what guts on the part of Rod Serling, and I guess one lesson was to never fly in a plane with Gene Roddenberry)...



…and I often forget to include this song for Memorial Day, even though you could consider it a curio of sorts from the bad Bushco era, but I think it’s still timely unfortunately when you realize that we still have members of our military in harm’s way (here).



Update: Actually, this isn't a bad selection either.



Update 5/31/16: Offered without further comment (here)...

Friday Stuff

God, these comments about the border between us and Mexico from Sean Moran (sp?) are thoroughly sad (and Moran represents a UNION!).

How many damn times do you have to be hit over the head by Republicans before you realize that all they care about are wedge issues? Especially “The Donald” – do you HONESTLY BELIEVE that he cares about solving this issue in an adult manner? You know – by doing the hard work of trying to craft legislation on immigration reform in Congress between the two parties (actually, when was the first or last time you ever heard about Trump doing “hard work” about ANYTHING??!!).

Oh, and by the way, memo to HRC - it might be nice to actually take a stand on the DREAM Act (haven't heard her on this - love to be wrong)…



…and Cenk tells us about two hedge fund managers who, of course, give primarily to Repugs, but also gave to “Democrat” Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, as well as HRC – see, Rahm closed about 50 public schools to give these two pit vipers tax breaks, but that wasn’t enough to suit them; hopefully, a spit in hell each await Griffin and Simons, especially Griffin (and by the way, Jackson Pollock died in 1956)…



…and leave it to John Oliver once more to utterly skewer our primary and caucus system of electing political candidates (here)…



…and Thom Hartmann brings us economic and labor news for the week (the stories about the COOL law and worldwide unemployment are particularly noteworthy IMHO)…



…and somehow with all the Dylan stuff going on, I failed to note what would have been the 90th birthday of Miles Davis yesterday (still don’t feature as much jazz as I should, I know)…



…and happy 71st birthday to BRUUUUCCEE!! (the other one, that is - “Languid mandala of the ceiling fan” – killer lyrics and spoken verse for the mid-90s).