Mehdi Hasan gives us the latest on Former Generalissimo Trump’s attempt to set up a shadow presidency (with Asawin Suebsang and Tina Nguyen...kind of a follow-up to the Chris Hayes clip yesterday about that guttersnipe Jeffrey Clark)...
...and Farron Cousins points out that U.S. Senate Republicans want everyone else to pay for desperately needed infrastructure improvements in this country except the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd of course...
...and speaking of really bad congressional acts from the “R” party, this Really American clip reminds us that U.S. House Rep Paul Gosar hangs out with neo-Nazis, including this life form named Nick Fuentes (or at least that’s what Gosar was doing when he skipped a COVID relief vote in the U.S. House...more here)...
...and this More Perfect Union clip tells us about Prop 22 in Massachusetts, which is an attempt to totally screw over “gig economy” workers (more here)...
...and I would argue that the prior clip is a factor related to this one, in which Robert Reich provides reasons why millennials are broke (more here)...
...and this Rebel HQ clip form Caroline Johnson tells us about LAPD beach raids on the homeless (growing up in NE Philadelphia, I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard about the horrors of “Section 8” housing, even though the Diplomat apartments, which were flea traps also, would regularly catch fire at around 4 PM every day...you could set your watch by the timing of the fire engine sirens)...
...and in a related item, David Pakman tells us that we could be looking at a SCOTUS clash over the CDC’s eviction moratorium...
...and damn, he sings this great new tune about her and she won't even let him in the house? That's cold!.
Chris Hayes reports to us on Jeffrey Clark, a Trump admin lawyer who, it seems, was trying to run roughshod over our government’s electoral framework to install the Gropenfuhrer illegally for another term – and kudos to Hayes for shining a light on yet another of these morally bankrupt right-wing foundations where Clark ended up...
...and turning to our regularly scheduled plague, Sam and Emma tell us that Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson now regrets signing his anti-mask mandate...womp womp...
...and in a bit of a compare-and-contrast example, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dem NJ Governor Phil Murphy giving it back to the anti-vax idiots (long overdue for these clowns to get the comeuppance they deserve)...
...and Jonathan Capehart, sitting in for Joy Reid, speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep Tim Ryan of Ohio (running for the U.S. Senate for Rob Portman’s about-to-be-open seat) about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s typically stupid and misogynist remark about hitting Nancy Pelosi with the speaker’s gavel (tell me once again about the “feedback loop” from the wingnuts and our corporate media overall if a Dem had said anything remotely similar to this)...
...and gee, maybe we ought to do something about this climate change thing, huh (David Shuster tells us more...and in a related story...)...
Joe Scar and Willie Geist speak with Jane Mayer of The New Yorker about the dark $$ groups behind all the “Stop The Steal” idiocy in Arizona and other efforts to sow mistrust in our elections (more here – and of course, Scar is typically tiresome with his commercial for The Heritage Foundation and other like-minded outfits...this garbage currently going on is a logical evolution in their ruthless efforts to consolidate and hold onto power, and only a fool would act surprised by these developments)...
...and apparently President Biden is extending the eviction moratorium, in no small part because of a protest from Cori Bush (yeah, issues with Biden on this, but I definitely wouldn’t call him a “disaster” – that applies to Biden’s predecessor...also, apparently Bush was quite rightly congratulated by Schumer and Elizabeth Warren on this, but haven’t heard anything in the way of a congratulations from House Speaker Pelosi...we’ll see)...
...and Cenk and Ana of TYT bring us the latest on the charges against Dem NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, and yeah, it’s a bunch of really bad stuff...I’m hardly a Cuomo fan, but I kind of kept my powder dry, as it were, a bit on this matter because not only are there plenty of examples of the “R” party acting as badly or even worse on this, but I wasn’t sure where the smoke ended and the fire began, you might say, on the Cuomo stuff, but he needs to be gone for sure after this report, and that montage of him which was a supposed defense made my skin crawl...in some ways Biden deserves credit and in other ways I think he’s falling short – though, again, he’s a HUUUUGE improvement over his predecessor – but one area where Biden absolutely doesn’t mess around is mistreatment of women, and he’s absolutely right to come down on Cuomo like a ton of bricks...and oh yeah, I think that veiled dig at that maggot Jimmy Dore near the 11:00 mark was highly called for...
...and Mehdi Hasan brings us a report on The Swanson TV Dinner Heir and his trip abroad – “The Hungary Games”...good one (more here)...
...and I thought this was a great video from Don Winslow with Jeff Daniels putting our COVID calamity in the context of 9/11 and the aftermath...
...and when it comes to traitors against our country, we should never, ever let them off the proverbial hook, and Repug U.S. House Rep Paul Gosar is pretty damn high on that list...
...and I thought this was a pretty neat Now This clip about the family in Norway building an eco-friendly dome to live in (kind of sad that it’s come to this, but I applaud the ingenuity)...
...and I’m in the mood for this “moldy oldy” of a summer tune, so here it is.
Mrs. Joe Scar and Mike Barnicle tell us evangelical Christians are more resistant to getting the COVID vaccine than any other group (yeah, I know – big surprise at this point)...
...and this CBC report on Florida setting new COVID cases under Governor #DeathSantis includes an interview with Dr. Thomas Unnasch (nice to get the unfiltered reality perspective from the media, even if we have to go to another country to do it...and in a related story, I give you this)...
...and David Pakman tells us that we vaccinated people are getting pretty damn fed up with those who choose not to get one or two shots in the arm...yes, there are cases of people dealing with side effects who are unable to get the full dose, but those are miniscule exceptions (and how ridiculous is this? And ”bleaching your papayas?”...WHAAAA??? And don’t beat yourself up too much, David, because I was hoping the same thing about this country coming together on this)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that, apparently, Repug U.S. House Rep Adam Kinzinger has no more sh*ts to give concerning the 1/6 insurrection based on this interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC (lots of issues with Kinzinger on other subjects, but he deserves a lot of credit here IMO)...
...and in case anybody out there still thinks I give a free pass to Dems on most any subject, I’m including this segment from David Doel in which he quite correctly takes Nancy Pelosi to task on whether or not the Biden Administration can forgive student loan debt...Doel makes the point very well that Biden can indeed do that, and has in fact DONE IT ALREADY for those who were bilked by for-profit colleges under former Ed Secretary Cruella DeVos...and I agree with Doel that the second clip is actually more damning for the reasons he points out (of course, another alternative is for the Dems to sponsor legislation making it easier to deduct student loan debt for tax purposes, but though that could pass the House the way it’s currently made up, I have a feeling it would die in the deeply-broken U.S. Senate)...
...and speaking of Dems Behaving Badly, John and Ana tells us that, apparently, Joe Manchin can’t tell when he’s getting booed, though AOC fortunately – and yet again to her credit – brings the reality perspective on the infrastructure legislation moving through the Senate at a snail’s pace...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that, apparently, dumb-as-a-tree-stump Tommy Tuberville (allegedly the U.S. Senator from Alabama, from the “R” party of course) didn’t report $3 million in stock trades (violating the Stock Act, it appears...and this applies to Dem and Repug U.S. House reps and U.S. senators, with DiFi and a few others mentioned)...
...and happy 95th (!) birthday to the incomparable Tony Bennett.
This “Now This” clip tells us about the response from Capitol Police Ofc. Harry Dunn over Dunn's getting dragged by The Roger Ailes BS Factory for his courageous testimony on the 1/6 insurrection (with the noise generated against Dunn led by that harpie despised by her own family and The Swanson TV Dinner Heir)...
...and returning to our regularly scheduled plague, Julia Sun of Rebel HQ tells us that the NFL isn’t going to mess around with unvaccinated players/teams when it comes to COVID (I haven’t applauded the NFL very often, but this is one time when I’m making an exception)...
...and with the prior clip in mind, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/30/20 (just going around the block this time...want to know why the “party of Lincoln” and their troglodyte supporters are dragging us down into more COVID misery? Well, a lot of it has to do with their attitude towards science, as shown in this clip)...
...and Beau discusses the importance of masks (good advice to encourage everyone to do this for people with medical conditions, and he’s probably right that we should continue to do social distancing too...someday we’ll be over this...someday...)...
...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about “Curtsy Kyrsten,” secretly meeting with McConnell, going to some Iron man competition in New Zealand and working as a wine-tasting intern in Sonoma, all on the taxpayer dime apparently...some of this stuff is out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, but this is reality...
...and Dem U.S. Sen Jon Tester of Montana discusses the Biden Administration’s signing of a “right to repair” order that will let farmers repair their own equipment (a big deal partly because they have no choice but to keep costs as low as they possibly can, and this is a way to do that, despite lobbying from Microsoft, John Deere, etc. to gauge farmers of course)...
...and I have no idea who the guy is behind these “Second Thought” videos, but he keeps hitting the ball out of the park, you might say, and this one has to deal with the U.S. and Cuba...so much important stuff to unpackage here, such as the fact that we really can’t tell Israel to get its act together with the Palestinians until we do the same thing with that island country 90 miles south of us...nice job to show the clip of Fix Noise blurring out the signs of the people allegedly protesting against Communism, when in fact they’re REALLY protesting against us and that utterly wretched embargo...
...and RIP Chuck E. Weiss, immortalized in this Tom Waits tune as well as the hit by Rickie Lee Jones (the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is coming up later this month, by the way).
Chuck Todd speaks with Dr. Nahid Bhadelia on wearing masks and GETTING THE GODDAMN SHOT(S), in consideration of the very latest data on the Delta variant (don't know what Dr. Peter Hotez added, but I’m sure it was important)...
...and Thom Hartmann gives us some more important analysis on this (and in a related story, kudos to FLA mayors for telling #DeathSantis what he can do by imposing mask and vax mandates as noted here)...
...and in a related clip, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dem U.S. House Rep Tim Ryan letting his colleagues from across the aisle have it for still more performative nonsense, as noted here...
...and continuing with COVID and the Delta variant, Ana and Cenk tell us about vaccine hesitancy in Arkansas and Missouri (and oh yeah, if somebody tries to get in my face over wearing a mask, they’re going to have a problem...good idea by Ana at the end with the reverse psychology thing...worth a try...and at a certain point, when it comes to this, I just have no words anymore)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us about #MidnightMoscowMitch blaming Biden for leveling off of COVID vax rates for now...and I guess Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is trying to blame Biden for vaccine hesitancy too? At what point does McConnell turn into a pillar of salt for telling so many damn lies?...
...and whaddaya know? It looks like “the happiest place on earth” is trying to cut benefits when rehiring workers to Disneyland after the pandemic, after getting 500 million in CARES $$ (a park named after possibly the worst anti-unionist in this country’s history of course)...
...and I didn’t want to let the week come to a close without a reminder of the gut-wrenching testimony from the U.S. Capitol police officers last Monday about the events of 1/6 (probably the top story of the week, though I would argue that COVID and some of the recent wild weather are high on the list of “big stories” too)...
...and happy belated 85th birthday to the one and only Buddy Guy (doing this awesome Hendrix cover).
This Lincoln Project ad reminds us all who the true heroes were during the 1/6 insurrection...
...and this Now This clip gives us some of their testimony yesterday (with the predictable garbage from that abattoir of a TV network here)...
...and when it comes to our withdrawal (at long last) from Afghanistan and the matter of getting as many translators and people who helped us out of that besieged country as possible, I give you this clip featuring Greene and Boebert, as well as Gosar and Biggs (the full “shameful 16” list is here)...
...and Tiffany Cross of MSNBC speaks with Alexis McGill Johnson and Maria Teresa Kumar on the BS double-standard on “my body, my choice” between Roe and COVID...
...and David Pakman tells us about this Phil Valentine clown who’s hospitalized from COVID after supposedly having questions about the vaccination, though of course he didn’t come out in favor of the vax the way he should have either; that being said, I hope he recovers too and gets the word out to get the damn shot(s)...
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us about trust fund baby Meghan McCain saying LIFE IS HAAAAARRRRDDDD!!!! (basically, welcome to the world...and a general strike on 10/15? Interesting...)...
...and maybe this would be more appropriate for Labor Day, but Robert Reich tells us to imagine a world where workers actually have power (a “massive power shift” indeed)...
I know I’m about a week behind on this clip (thought I touched on the Pacific NW fires last week in the K.O. clip), but I didn’t want to let this fall through the cracks; kudos to Chris Hayes for leading off his broadcast last Wednesday with this item, more important than any other as far as I’m concerned since, notwithstanding billionaires catapulting themselves into space, we only have one planet, in the final analysis, as a former president once said...
Update 7/27/22: IMHO, Thom Hartmann hit it out of the park, you might say, with this one.
...and I agree with Sam Seder – I thought this was a GREAT answer from AOC in response to a Don Lemon question about whether or not inflation poses a threat (AOC’s answer, as noted, is that prices aren’t going up “across the board,” and the answer in response is to INVEST IN FREAKING INFRASTRUCTURE!!! And yes, that includes the Green New Deal in response to the climate crisis)...
...and Ali Velshi spoke with NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel last night about our withdrawal from Afghanistan...yes, it’s long overdue, but for God’s sake, we’ve got to help the translators and everyone who assisted us so they don’t get slaughtered by the Taliban, as Engel quite rightly points out...
...and John, Kenya Evelyn and Charles F. Coleman tell us about Sean Inanity and The Roger Ailes BS Factory and the games they’re playing with whether people should or shouldn’t get a COVID vaccine...I look at it this way; Rupert the Pirate and his News Corporation are a huuuuge, mammoth corporate enterprise, and Fix Noise is just going to keep playing these games UNTIL MURDOCH IS FREAKING SUED BACK TO THE STONE AGE for his responsibility in propagating this garbage...and of course that lawsuit won’t happen (and when it comes to Seb Gorka, it truly is to laugh)...
...and speaking of which, at least we can attack these cretins with humor, as The Daily Show does here...
...and anybody out there in the mood for a summer "relationship" song? Well, here it is anyway.
Ali Velshi tells us about people using breakthrough COVID-19 cases as an excuse for not getting vaccinated (dumb and dangerous for so damn many reasons at this point)...
Update: And of course as we know, Former Governor Bully is such a medical expert..."indoctrination" my ass...(here).
...and related to the pandemic, John, Charles Coleman and Kenya Evelyn tell us about the ridiculous hissy fit that Repug U.S. Sen. Rand “Aqua Buddha” Paul threw at Dr. Anthony Fauci last week, as well as that even-more-ridiculous interview with U.S. House Rep Madison (“Cry More Lib”) Cawthorn.
Here is my response to this (and I apologize for inflicting both Paul and Cawthorn on you, dear viewer, in this clip).
I thought Kenya Evelyn summed up everything pretty well with what an opportunistic pig Cawthorn is (and oh, Dr. Fauci was lying because his hands were supposedly shaking??? Seriously???!!!). An attempted explanation like that about Fauci is at least as absurd as that “body language” expert on Bernie Sanders who Joy Reid interviewed, in a rare moment of idiocy for Reid...also, I’m BEYOND FED UP with people taking “Dr.” Rand Paul seriously as an alleged medical expert...he was certified as an ophthalmologist by a board THAT HE APPROVED OF!! I wouldn't let Paul ANYWHERE NEAR ME on matters pertaining to vision...and as others smarter than I have noted, at the end of the day, all of this is just deflection away from Mango Mussolini and the “R” party for their abysmal handling of the COVID response...
...and whaddaya know...it turns out that Fix Noise has their own version of “vaccine passports” (but shhh...don’t tell anybody – with Alyssa Bernardino...)...
...and I thought this was another interesting take from Beau of the Fifth Column, this time on the tactic by Nancy Pelosi of not allowing Gym Jordan and Jim Banks onto the 1/6 commission...and naming Adam Kinzinger was kind of a slam-dunk as noted here (with the predictable outcry from the lunatic with three names), but kudos to Pelosi for not blowing it, and once again, I’d like to see our corporate media cousins give Dem U.S. Senate Majority “Leader” Chuck Schumer a fraction of the scrutiny that Pelosi gets...and this confirms that Pelosi made a good call on Banks...
...and David Doel tells us that it looks like a majority in Arizona apparently want to primary “Curtsy Kyrsten” based on the numbers (yeah, I know it’s a ways off, but it’s never too late to start punishing Sinema for her utter betrayal)...
...and here's another feel-good summer tune that I hope takes the edge off everything a bit.
Dr. David Agus is interviewed on CBS This Morning about the latest news on the COVID vaccines, particularly the J&J one (with the cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome associated with the J&J one, which are EXTREMELY RARE, it should be noted, along with a discussion about getting full FDA approval for the vaccines)...
...and Chris Hayes tells us about conservatives changing their tune on vaccines (because of the Dow taking a plunge last week...kudos to Hayes for calling Trump a straight-up sociopath, which is 100 percent correct and should have been said by EVERYONE in reasonably legitimate media for at least a year, notwithstanding Fix Noise, Newsmax and OANN of course...one of Hayes’s finest commentaries IMO)...
...and on the subject of our former Insane Clown President, as Hayes just alluded to (and with this recent idiocy in mind also), I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 7/25/16...Jon Stewart does a bit on the Stephen Colbert show on the occasion of Roger Ailes stepping down from running Fix Noise; the subject is the typically ridiculous double standard of Sean Inanity comparing the alleged “elitism” of Former President Hopey Changey with Former President Mango Mussolini...
...and Dem U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Sherrod Brown discuss child poverty and permanently expanding the child tax credit “Hey, were #38! U-S-A! U-S-A!” (removing my tongue from my cheek)...
...and here is yet another great Second Thought video about the US intervening in other countries (so much important info to unpackage, and I would add the dirty stuff on the School of the Americas and what happened with Evo Morales in Bolivia, as noted here)...
...and I happened to come across David Fricke interviewing Jackson Browne on Sirius XM yesterday, and among other things, I learned that Browne is about to tour with James Taylor (more info here)...here is the title track from Browne’s most recent recording ("Do you think that the ocean is yours?" indeed).
I think The Lincoln Project cuts right to the proverbial chase with the question asked in this clip; just how many Americans have died from anti-vax nonsense propagated by Fix Noise (and laying blame primarily at the feet of Rupert The Pirate of course)...
...and this recent clip from CBS This Morning takes us to a COVID ward in Louisiana (and I’m glad this Scott Rowe person – I believe that’s his name – is doing better, but if he doesn’t get the vaccine, and he’s medically able to get it, then he’s a goddamn idiot...and here is another Republican who "got the memo")...
Update: I just don't understand how Clapton doesn't see this for the public health emergency that it truly is - not enraged at him (maybe I should be), but disappointed more than anything else (here).
...and in keeping with this theme, Jonathan Capehart (sitting in for Joy Reid) speaks with Dean Obeidallah and Dr. Bernard Ashby from Miami on the challenges we face with the leveling off of vaccinations because of resisting idiots and the subsequent threat primarily from the Delta variant (and after reading this, I wonder if we’ll EVER get over this horror show)...
...and Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire tells us about the hissy fit U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threw when Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she didn’t approve of Gym Jordan and Jim Banks named to the 1/6 commission – more here.
And in case anybody thinks Cousins is exaggerating about how important it is for the Dems to get out in front on the messaging on this issue, I give you the following...
Pelosi shows Banks the door, denies him perch on the most important Congressional investigation in a decade and the press spins that as win for Banks
...and John and Ben Dixon of The Damage Report tell us about AOC’s quite commendable frustration with her fellow U.S. House Republican members who didn’t take the time to read her bill on community banks, which, in addition to being economically just for “left behind” poorer communities primarily with people of color (as opposed to dealing with the “banksters” and their ridiculous charges including overdraft fees), would also be economically stimulative (Dixon makes a GREAT point about the stupidity of the “R” party which ends up as a BIG obstacle for people who need gov’t help from getting that help...actually, I wonder if there's a way to partner with credit unions on something like this...just a thought, as Beau would say)...
...and I know I haven’t included a clip from Kyle Kulinski for a little while, but I thought this was a good commentary on Ben and Jerry’s not selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories (mentioning GOOD corporate behavior for a change, and of course there’s predictable whining from Israel in response...very NSFW/H)...
...and I’m chastising myself a bit here because I failed to note that Wednesday would have been the 70th birthday of Robin Williams; to say he’s still needed now is as big of an understatement as anyone can imagine of course, but more than anything else, we should be grateful for his gift for the time that we had it...clip is extremely NSFW/H, but funny as hell of course (on fatherhood)...
...and I’m definitely in the mood for a chill summer tune like this one – hope you are too.
I don’t know who Colby Hall is, but this is a good Rebel HQ clip on The Swanson TV Dinner Heir telling people not to get the COVID vaccine ...and this may come as a shock, but Carlson is actually right about the SCOTUS ruling by Oliver Wendell Holmes (Buck v. Bell), but of course to conflate it with getting the two shots (or one for J&J) is typically disgusting and thoroughly disingenuous (and good for Carl Cameron for finding his way to the light, you might say)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Peter Doocy and another idiot in the White House briefing with Jen Psaki who apparently think that Our Former Treasonous Orange Pustule deserves “an embroidered invitation” to tell people to get their shots...
...and cause, meet effect – David Pakman tells us about the looney anti-vax opinions that are out there (don’t know what the optimistic news on the vaccine was that he teased at the end)...
...and Ana and Wosny Lambre tell us about Huckleberry Graham threatening to leave D.C. like the Texas Dems did to deny a quorum and not let the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill pass (of course, the Dems did that to prevent that horrible anti-voting bill from passing)...and when it comes to an infrastructure grade for South Carolina, I think we should keep this in mind (from here)...
While the nation’s infrastructure earned a C- in the 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, South Carolina faces infrastructure challenges of its own. For example, driving on roads in need of repair in South Carolina costs each driver $564 per year, and 8.4% of bridges are rated structurally deficient. Drinking water needs in South Carolina are an estimated $6.1 billion. 359 dams are considered to be high-hazard potential. The state’s schools have an estimated capital expenditure gap of $90 million. This deteriorating infrastructure impedes South Carolina’s ability to compete in an increasingly global marketplace. Success in a 21st-century economy requires serious, sustained leadership on infrastructure investment at all levels of government. Delaying these investments only escalates the cost and risks of an aging infrastructure system, an option that the country, South Carolina, and families can no longer afford.
(Oh, and by the way, not to be snippy, but it's "Lindsey" - in the video I mean :-).
...and gee, maybe we ought to DO SOMETHING about this climate change thing, huh (K.O. tells us that the smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest has made its way to Manhattan, as well as our beloved commonwealth of PA...and yes, addressing this is part of infrastructure as far as I’m concerned)...
...and speaking of The Keystone State (which really isn’t a state, but nevermind), Ali Velshi speaks with Dem House Rep Malcolm Kenyatta about the garbage anti-voting bills that Harrisburg is trying to pass (and just consider that, as I’ve previously noted, if Scott “Stomp On Tom Wolf’s Face With Golf Cleats” Wagner were somehow our governor, which would be truly awful, all of this sludge would be signed into law...more here)...
...and I would humbly ask that you keep this in mind the next time you’re tempted to buy a bag of Fritos or Doritos...
...and it looks like the rain has retreated for now in these parts – maybe it will still be possible to get in an hour of beach time or two if you can...here’s a song with that in mind.
(The card reads "White Privilege" in case it's hard to see.)
Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with attorney Joyce Vance on the FBI thwarting a plot to plant pipe bombs at the Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, as noted here (with the alleged culprits leaving a “White Privilege” card linking themselves to Our Treasonous Russian Operative of a Former *president).
Oh, and by the way, I saw this in the writeup accompanying the clip (recalling this).
Do MUCH better next time, @MSNBC.
Assholes...
...and I can't believe it's already been a year since Michael Brooks left us; here is what I believe is his final clip once more about the Trump regime snatching up Portland protestors with no warning or advance notice, with Jamie Peck, who left the show a few months ago...NSFW/H...and I don’t have any information on a response from Biden AG Merrick Garland by the way...
...and kudos to K.O. for blasting MLB athletes, including a few on the @Phillies, for not getting their COVID shots (NSFW/H)...
...and sticking with MLB, David Doel brings us the clip of the 8-year-old girl who left the game between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres that was recently interrupted by a shooting outside the stadium, and her matter-of-fact response, which should shame everyone in this country (of course, the wingnuts overall are incapable of shame, which has a lot to do with the problems we currently face)...
...and speaking of guns, John and Ana of TYT bring us this clip of toy guns apparently covered in Legos for the kids to play with; what could possibly go wrong I wonder (yeah, the “super soaker” stuff was funny, but I’m glad John and Ana returned to make a serious point at the end)...
...and yeah, I don’t suppose it would be summer if I didn’t include this video at some point.
Chris Hayes speaks with Julian Castro, former HUD secretary under Obama as well as former mayor of San Antonio, TX, about Dem U.S. Senator Joe Manchin attending a fundraiser held for him by the Texas GOP; that nutty ruling against DACA by that judge appointed by Dubya is discussed also, and as previously noted here, the Biden Administration will quite rightly appeal the ruling...
...and I definitely have issues with Repug former PA U.S. House Rep Charlie Dent, but it looks like he managed to “find the nut” on CPAC, as Farron Cousins tells us – I’m old enough to remember when the GOP utterly worshipped Jack Kemp and Paul Ryan for supposedly having worthwhile policy ideas, though they were utterly wrong too, but at least there was the PRETENSE of policy, but yeah, even THAT is now gone also (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and Beau of the Fifth Column takes on Tucker Carlson and “vaccine hesitancy”...and with all due respect to Beau, I’ve heard Rachel Maddow issue clarifications and/or retractions a few times, but I don’t think his comments are primarily aimed at anyone on the left (I believe "Dietrich" is a nurse who Beau refers to in the clip for sound advice on COVID)...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about Sherrod Brown attacking Senate Repugs for opposing Biden’s child tax credit (Brown may be the most consistently correct Dem U.S. Senator on the issues)...
...and I don’t know who this guy is, but he consistently has been nailing it on these “Second Thought” videos; this one addresses the topic of whether or not capitalism is efficient (the stuff about Amazon destroying products is particularly galling, though the whole “waste” section of this clip is definitely disturbing)...
For starters, I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 7/17/13, in which former PA GOP Chair Rob Gleason admits that voter ID cut into President Obama’s vote lead against Willard Mitt Romney in ’12 vs. John McCain in ’08 (here), which to me is more of a reason – as if we NEEDED more of a reason – to stop screwing around and pass S1 (if voter ID by itself can make that big of a difference, imagine what the other garbage in these bills to cut early voting and other measures will do)...and yeah, we know Manchin and “Curtsy Kyrsten” are the two main roadblocks, but we have to keep beating that metaphorical drum...to contact your U.S. senator to bug this person to support it, click here...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen gives us Brianna Keilar of CNN calling out former Repug MN Guv “Pawlenty of Nothing” on this “both sides” BS between the Proud Boys and the “3 Percenters” appearing at CPAC...yeah, Pawlenty of course goes all humuna humuna humuna when Keilar asks him for an example of left-wingers advocating violence walking around a progressive or liberal conference ("OMIGOD, ANTIFA!! SCARY DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE!!!"), because HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY REAL WORLD EXAMPLES TO BACK UP HIS NONSENSE...
...and Thom Hartmann speaks with Judd Legum on the critical race theory craziness and the usual gaggle of right-wing think thanks behind it, notably the Thomas W. Smith Foundation...
...and it looks like the other side is going to try and make us all crazy about the threat of inflation and that’s why we have to slash government spending (which you only hear about when Dems are in power of course), and Robert Reich is here to explain why that’s BS...
...and photojournalist Timo Stammberger went undercover inside so-called factory farms to bring us this report (warning that this contains disturbing images)...
...and yeah, we all made it to another summer weekend, so let's rock out a bit, OK?
Ana K. and Daniel Bessner of TYT tell us that Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History has some thoughts about our withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that we shouldn’t leave because the Taliban, being thoroughly amoral monsters, will hurt girls and women...so many possible responses to this, one of which is the fact that yet another Democratic president has been left with cleaning up a mess from his Republican predecessor, and another is the fact that we need to do nation-building in THIS COUNTRY as opposed to anywhere else on the globe (sorry, but we can’t save everybody, and we have to establish priorities, though we should bring into this country as many Afghans who helped us as possible), and you can also wonder HOW MUCH MORE OF A PRICE our military is supposed to pay for ruinous decisions on the part of civilian leadership...so much wrong with Number 45 (a certain sweaty orange sack of syphilitic trans fats who proceeded Biden), but one of them is that it erased from public memory a bit the fact that George W. Bush WAS A THOROUGHLY AWFUL PRESIDENT ALSO (“a profound contempt for the workings of democracy” indeed)...
Update: Oh, and we can thank Dubya for getting this idiot judge confirmed also.
Update 7/17/21: And good for the Biden Administration for this.
...and Rachel Maddow tells us that FLA Guv Ron #DeathSantis is out with his line of ’22 “merch” in anticipation of running for re-election (ignoring the explosion of COVID cases in his state of course)...
...and this great “Second Thought” video tells us that, in lieu of actual governance that, y’know, helps people, #DeathSantis is trying to indoctrinate educational institutions in his state (of course, the funniest part of this – and I know I’m reaching a bit to try and find humor here – is that the FLA guv thinks he’s going to supplant Mango Mussolini for the ’24 Repug presidential nod)...
...and Farron Cousins tells us that the U.S. congressional Dems are going to try and pass the infrastructure bill through reconciliation (and speaking of congressional Dems, let’s not forget this also)...
...and I thought this was a pretty damn clear-eyed take from Beau about the 1/6 insurrection and the fact that, yes, God forbid, it could happen again (and maybe even be successful, which we have to do all we can to prevent of course)...
...and David Doel tells us here about Burger King employees in Nebraska quitting en masse (I know about working in fast food, and trying to produce that stuff in a 90-degree environment is torture as far as I’m concerned – mildly NSFW/H)...
...and I know I’m a little behind the curve on this item, but I didn’t want to miss it – Brian Williams tells us what Carl Sagan once said many years ago about the future (the “Star Wars” stuff is interesting, but the real “get” here for me is what Sagan wrote and how well he nailed the times in which we now live, unfortunately...Williams gets bonus points for the Ron Popeil snark)...
...and speaking of those who have shed their mortal coil, you might say, today (believe it or not) is the 40th anniversary of the death of Harry Chapin...I often recall him, Jim Croce, SRV, and John and George also of course (the list grows longer every day, now including John Prine from COVID...if this dumb little blog accomplishes anything, I would like for it to be a means to keep their memory alive now and for all time).
Sam and Emma V. of The Majority Report speak with author Brian Concannon about the assassination of President Jovenel Moise of Haiti and the aftermath in that country, which appears to know only hardship for a variety of reasons, one of which is our failure to help support democracy without dollar signs attached...
...and sticking with the Caribbean, The Damage Report tells us about the strife going on in Cuba (and Francesca in particular is fire here about telling people that they can’t claim to support democratic reforms and also support that ridiculous embargo and sanctions at the same time...the people in favor of the embargo are those nutty anti-Castro Cubans who will NEVER VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS...Hillary Clinton did a smidge better than usual with this crowd in ’16, but that’s only because Combover Caligula went to such lengths to insult Marco Rubio in the primary...another example of sanctions not doing a damn thing except to screw over only people who need help is Iran)...
...and as long as we’re talking about world stuff, David Doel reports on how the 4-day work week is a big success in Iceland, as well as other countries (oh, but we can’t POSSIBLY have that in this country because of “American exceptionalism”...U-S-A! U-S-A!...and speaking of other countries)...
...and returning to "the great 48" (plus 2) if you will, Beau tells us about the spat between Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a Former *president and “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, who apparently decided not to overturn the 2020 election for the Gropenfuhrer (with all due respect, 45 needs a lot more than a halfway decent HR director... as opposed to a mandatory retirement age, I’m definitely in favor of term limits for SCOTUS justices)...
...and I linked above to The Rude One and what Macron in France did to encourage citizens of that country to get the COVID vaccine, but of course now we can do a “compare and contrast” with the lunacy on our shores (and I’m certainly not referring to Dr. Fauci when I say that...I know the Don Winslow video already pointed out what a monster Lauren Boebert is, but I don't think that can be said enough times)...
...and I guess Tennessee decided to “go to 11,” if you will, with the utter insanity in their decision to fire former top vaccine official Dr. Michelle Fiscus; Chris Hayes interviews Fiscus here, and among other things, we learn that, in addition to no longer administering the COVID vaccine in that state, they will no longer be administering ANY vaccine...please try telling me again how Repugs “love the children” and I’ll laugh right in your damn face – more here)...
...oh, but never fear...the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd will be just fine – the latest millionaire to make the news is Richard Branson, who recently traveled to the edges of space – I had no idea of what the “carmen line” was, but apparently that’s the latest source of “measurement” (as Ana politely refers to it) between Branson, Bezos, Elon Musk, and these other charter members of the “one percent” who continue to not have the slightest inclination to do anything positive about life on this planet, but only want to play with their most expensive new toys instead (and speaking of rich a-holes)...
...and this tune goes out to our supposedly august “captains of industry” noted in the prior clip.
This may be the snarkiest commentary I’ve ever heard from Rachel Maddow, but I think she’s utterly spot-on, mentioning how Dems are focused on real-world issues and solutions that matter, and the “party of Lincoln” is focused instead on more and more ridiculous craziness (including this guttural nematode in PA, running more or less for PA guv)...
...and speaking of Republican idiocy, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki pushing back on SC governor Henry McMaster complaining about the Biden Administration’s commendable effort to educate people on getting the COVID vaccine (God almighty, why is that still even a question at this point?)...
...and this great Don Winslow video gives Lauren Boebert the treatment she deserves too (really bringing the proverbial hammer down on the ranting anti-vaccine insanity of this creature from Colorado)...
...and I have lots of other issues with Repug U.S. House Rep Adam Kinzinger, but he’s absolutely right to say this stuff about COVID and calling out “garbage politicians” like MTG (as always, though, as far as I'm concerned, the politicians, bad as they are, are only part of the problem - the REAL issue is with the people who reward these life forms with their votes)...
...and most of these clips have to do with resistance to the COVID vaccine, and this does too; Farron Cousins tells us about this loony Newsmax person pretty much telling everyone not to get two shots in the arm (one for J&J) and let natural selection run its course I guess (more here – would it be impudent of me to suggest that this Newsmax guttersnipe is “full of Schmidt”?)...
...and I’m in the mood for an upbeat seasonal tune after all this "through the looking glass" nonsense, particularly since it isn’t raining at the moment.
Except for the president of Haiti getting assassinated and CPAC (both of which are awful for admittedly different reasons), it doesn’t look like a whole lot out of the ordinary happened while I was on my mini-break...looks like I’m pretty much picking up where I left off, and it also looks like the “party of Lincoln” gave away the game yet again, telling their sheep-life followers to thank Manchin and “Curtsy Kyrsten” for their ridiculous, continued obstruction (featuring Rick Santorum, Andy Biggs, and Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who made six figures as a “pro life” lobbyist before he parlayed that into a U.S. House seat, as noted here) as David Doel tells us (NSFW/H)...
Update: Every time I see this lunatic from Arizona pictured, it's with a Republican (probably because no self-respecting Democrat wants anything to do with her...and apparently, the pic is three years old).
Happy Birthday @SenatorSinema!!🎂🎉🎊. Kyrsten and I introduced the most bipartisan bills together. You are a true bipartisan leader K!! pic.twitter.com/y2UVlvM8hR
— Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick 🇺🇸 (@RepBrianFitz) July 12, 2021
...and speaking of thoroughly compromised U.S. House Repugs, it looks like that nitwit Mo Brooks of Alabama ended up sabotaging his defense of his activities during the 1/6 insurrection with his recent CPAC speech, as Farron Cousins tells us...
...and in a similar vein, Beau of the Fifth Column talks about U.S. House Rep Chip Roy of Texas and his attempts at obstructing anything whatsoever that President Biden wants to do on infrastructure (yep, “creating chaos for the next 18 months” sounds like their game plan all right, given that they’re so confident that they’ll retake Congress next year...we’ll see)...
...and this “Damage Report” clip features John, Cenk and Jeff Waldorf taking companies to task who pretend to support voting rights (and yeah, Comcast is for sure one of the biggest offenders out there when it comes to talking the talk but not walking the walk, you might say)...
...and it looks like you can add Toyota to the same list of corporate malefactors, as we learn from this Lincoln Project video...
...and I now give you today's regional forecast (just beat it home from the shore in time).
