Lawrence O’Donnell brings us a really good commentary IMO on the electoral college and the scheme in PA to try and rig the ’24 votes in our commonwealth for Combover Caligula (along with that Eric Greitens insanity at the end – Dave Steil, by the way (one of the 9 Republicans endorsing Josh Shapiro), used to be my Pa state house rep; he was the last good Republican politician I ever voted for, and I don’t expect that to change)...
...and Mehdi Hasan continues with the theme of GOP extremism (starting with MTG and including Blake Masters, who has the sickening gall to display a crucifix while he spouts his insane garbage...with David Jolly and Molly Jong-Fast...I know Jolly is Yesterday’s Republican who has seen the light, and while I wonder what took him so long, I also give him credit, but he’s right to lay the blame for this more or less at the feet of people how support Greene, Masters, etc. - and by the way, as far as I know, Aiden McCarthy hasn't been told about his parents yet)...
...and turning to our beloved commonwealth, it looks like congressional Republicans were pulling their own garbage stunt with SB 106 late on Friday, which has the insidious two-fer of trying to make abortion illegal and disenfranchising Democratic voters at the same time (here)... State Rep Joanna McClinton gave exactly the response that was required here (as did Malcolm Kenyatta – who has his mic cut – and other Dems)...
...and I give Abigail Martin credit for going public with all of this BS with trying to get her birth control pills refilled at Walgreen’s (with Jayar and Jessica Burbank of Rebel HQ – and speaking of ectopic pregnancies, I give you this mess from "the old gray lady")...
...and in a related story, you might say, this More Perfect Union clip tells us about Planned Parenthood employees trying to unionize after Roe was overturned to provide the best possible patient care for those seeking abortions...
...and I know it’s kind of late for a Sunday, but I don’t think that means that we can’t still go to “church.”
I know this clip from Chris Hayes is over a week old now, but I think he makes a few good points that are worth reiterating, along with some important context on Liz Cheney; she’s doing the right thing on the 1/6 Committee (which Hayes rightly points out is about the only area of our government doing oversight on the other branches – and yeah, I also said that yesterday I know), but let’s have no illusion of how extreme a wingnut she is on everything else...
...and that clip of AOC was included in the prior video, and here she is again, interviewed by David Remnick in which she rightly says that democracy is at risk (with John I. and Francesca...and I promise I won’t bitch about how bad the Dems are on messaging as a party since I know they’re not primarily at fault, though as far as I’m concerned you can lump Manchinema in with the culprits Francesca points out)...
...and I’ll admit that I’m going out of order a bit to present this Second Thought clip on the SCOTUS (the real payoff for yours truly comes at about 12:00, explaining why the SCOTUS exists for pretty much the one percent and basically nobody else, though the narrator acknowledges that packing the court and finding a way to enact term limits would be helpful in the short term at least)...
...and Adrienne Lawrence Esq. of Rebel HQ tells us about Trump goons getting subpoenas over their antics with trying to affect Georgia voting in 2020, including Rudy! and Huckleberry Graham (and of course Graham said he won’t comply like the whiny bitch that he truly is – more here)...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about that clown show disguised as a Republican Party primary candidates’ debate for governor on Arizona...one of these nematodes will actually win, believe it or not – probably Lake, which is frightening actually because it’s pretty damn clear where that state’s 2024 electoral votes will go if she’s governor; I know I'm a little late with this...and by the way, I know Cenk didn’t mean to imply that beating your wife is funny...meanwhile, Debbie Lesko watches this and says “Hold my beer” (here)...
...and just when you think that it couldn’t possibly get stranger for Repugs in that state, along comes this beyond ridiculous ad from Jerone Davison; David Doel explains (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and turning to world news, I have to admit that I don’t have anything to add concerning the awful assassination of former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (here...though I think this context is important), but I DO want to add this from Tom Walker (aka “Jonathan Pie”) about the departure of Boris Johnson as British PM (incredibly NSFW/H...gotta love those zany Brits)...
...and I know I’m way overdue for a new tune again, and I thought this would help us slide into what hopefully will be a nice weekend for everybody (not THAT “Purple Haze,” but a neat little number on its own).
(Pic of the girl wounded from the Highland Park shooting came from here.)
Mehdi Hasan speaks with Igor Volsky and Adam Serwer about the latest gun carnage from Highland Park, Illinois and the liability of our renegade SCOTUS, with a good segment here from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (and 7 are now dead, by the way...refreshing candor from Philly Mayor Jim Kenney, and no, I don’t blame him for it...one of the reasons why I like to include segments with Hasan is that, in addition to his insight and thorough reporting, the people he interviews are folks I consider to be pretty solid subject matter experts like Volsky and Serwer)...
...and I give Ana Kasparian so much credit for getting through the next segment, showing the humanity that all of us should feel in response to the story of the 2-year-old boy who lost both of his parents in the Highland Park shooting.
And by the way, there are a lot of times when I’ll say “Oh, don’t be so hard on the Democrats” when it comes to a particular issue where they’re ostensibly trying to do the right thing while the “party of R” is acting batshit insane as usual, but I’m not going to do that here. I don’t think one word of what Ana says here needs a caveat or qualifying language of any kind whatsoever.
And on top of that, I (like maybe you also – I don’t know of course) am seeing more language on social media to the effect of, “If you blame Biden and the Dems for anything and you claim to be a Democratic organizer or worker on a campaign but you’re not organizing more Dems to come out to the polls, then you must be a lousy organizer.” Yes indeed, what would the Democratic Party be without a circular firing squad?
Is there more I can do? Yes, and I’ll endeavor to do that. Is there more all of us can do? I’m sure the answer to that question is also yes. But a thoroughly deflating response from the individual who is pretty much the head of the Democratic Party needs to be called out (and this doesn't help either).
President Biden needs to familiarize himself with the Judiciary Act of 2021 (here), which calls for the Supreme Court to be expanded to 13 justices (the Bloomberg Law article actually calls for 15, which would be one justice for each U.S. appeals court – the number 9 for the SCOTUS justices represented the number of circuit courts at our nation’s founding – more here). So basically, Biden should be saying, “Look, we have a renegade Supreme Court that doesn’t care about precedent or settled law, with a majority of 6 conservative justices who, in addition to disregarding the separation of church and state recognized in our Constitution, lied during their confirmation hearings about respecting Roe (yeah, I know we’re talking about meely-mouthed legalese to try and prevent a repeat of what happened with Robert Bork, but “Strip Search Sammy” Alito sure as hell didn’t say Roe was “egregiously wrong” during his confirmation). For that reason, in addition to holding our majority in the U.S. House, I need at least 2 more Democratic U.S. Senators to get rid of the stinking filibuster and codify Roe into law, in addition to taking another shot at Build Back Better, to say nothing of reinstituting the assault weapons ban and passing actual common sense gun reforms on top of the Murphy/Cornyn bill.” (The Repugs keep coming back to their awful ideas when they don’t pass the first time – why can’t we come back to our ideas that are actually good?). And basically, we have the 1/6 Committee quite rightly carrying out oversight of our lunatic former executive...that's how the "checks and balances" are supposed to work between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our federal government!
If Biden doesn’t come up with some kind of a comprehensive strategy in response to this SCOTUS full of Philistines and our almost nonstop gun slaughter in this country, then he’s guilty of nothing less than dereliction of duty!
Anyway, here is Ana’s clip...
Update 1 7/8/22: And when it comes to our utterly awful SCOTUS, we should be completely embarrassed by this, which is totally deserved.
Update 2 7/8/22: OK, to be fair, this is progress, however incremental it is.
Update 4 7/8/22: Another step in the right direction (here)...
Update 5 7/8/22: I thought this was a pretty smart take.
...and in case we were wondering what The Roger Ailes BS Factory had to say about all of this..well, it looks like Trae Crowder is all over it (NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of corrupt Repug BS, here is more from RoJo, including taking a private jet to his Florida mansion on the taxpayer dime (at least he doesn’t have to worry about being the very worst of the rotten Repug U.S. Senators, as long as Tuberville, Cruz, Hawley, Lee, and Big Hair Blackburn continue to take up space in “the world’s greatest deliberative body”...to do something about RoJo, click here)...
....and David Doel tells us about big media scrubbing the image of dirty energy companies (I have to admit that I didn’t know the history of the “adver-torial,” but I probably should have. And I’m sure Amy Westervelt is a good reporter, but she’s a TERRIBLE announcer! Despite that, I’m going to get the OptOut app because it’s definitely important...by the way, Bellotti was a SCOTUS decision that allowed corporations to contribute to ballot initiatives – that was a crack in the metaphorical door when it comes to corporations donating to political campaigns, but of course Citizens United kicked that door wide open)...
...and turning to world news a bit, it looks like Boris Johnson is stepping down as British PM (and yes, there are some parallels here between Johnson and Mango Mussolini, but the leader of Cult 45 would NEVER have been able to withstand rough-and-tumble UK politics...not saying Johnson was exactly a towering intellect either, but despite it all, he has better political instincts than Former President Fergus Laing – David Pakman tells us more...and no, I don’t think much in the UK will substantively change either)...
...and I know we think some people in movies and entertainment are immortal somehow (such as Bowie and Mary Tyler Moore...at least I do at times) and it’s a shock to learn when they aren’t, and I think you can say that also about James Caan who recently passed...great in so many films, one of which was Thief with Willie Nelson, Robert Prosky and Tuesday Weld...saw a film Caan appeared in long ago called The Rain People with Duvall also and Shirley Knight, directed by Francis Ford Coppola – neat to see everybody starting out and learning the ropes, you might say...I know Al Pacino as Michael Corleone is the main focus of this clip from The Godfather of course, as it should be, but Caan is memorable also (and don’t get me started on Brian’s Song)...
...and as long as I’m “setting the wayback,” let’s take a trip a few years further still – this tune was Number 1 on the pop charts this week 55 years ago.
David Pakman tells us about the 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was denied an abortion and had to travel over state lines to get one...frankly, I’m not sure what is more shocking 1) The fact that a 10-year-old was raped; 2) The fact that she wasn’t allowed access to this procedure in an emergency; 3) Trying to imagine what she’ll have to deal with for the rest of her life as a result of this experience; or 4) The fact that I’m commenting on this in a matter-of-fact way as opposed to SCREAMING TO THE TOP OF MY LUNGS as a result of the routine barbarity of the Philistines on our Supreme Court (and speaking of atrocities affecting kids, allow me to provide this)...
...and Cenk, Jayar and Caroline Johnson tell us about the bisexual daughter of a Repug state senator, Corrine Dickey, who cut off her father for attacking her reproductive rights as well as same sex marriage, potentially, and that would be Adrian Dickey of the Iowa State Senate...I’m sure Cenk is right about the “two different conversations” take, sadly, and yes, it’s also hard to make the case for cutting off a family member who basically wants to oppress people they don’t agree with...should never get to that point for any reason, let alone over politics, but that’s no excuse to allow yourself to get trampled by others who disagree with your beliefs either...
...and Sam, Emma and guest (Digby?) on The Majority Report discuss the ramifications of the recent awful SCOTUS rulings and what could potentially be “in the cards” later, unfortunately...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/4/17, with ammo-sexuals coming onto the grounds of Gettysburg for what was the 154th commemoration...and yeah, I got a laugh out of the guy wearing a Trump shirt who said he wanted to reach people without violence; yeah, I think what he really wanted to do was rearrange somebody’s teeth, or whatever that mess was...to me, that Confederate rag belongs in a museum, and there’s no place for that heavy artillery anywhere in public, let alone on those hallowed grounds (had this in mind when I read about this garbage; that is, a recent appearance by the Proud Boys in downtown Philly)...
...and I have to admit that this is a nice ad from yesterday’s non-Trump Republicans, but for real impact, it should make it clear exactly how to “fight for America” as opposed to invoking well-framed, patriotic images...
...and we're actually getting to the point in these parts when we could use a little rain, but for now, I'm glad to keep things upbeat with this tune describing our current weather condition.
I know I’m a little late with this video, but Lawrence O’Donnell had a really good segment last week over Greg Abbott and Texas’s horrible anti-abortion law – to me, Abbott’s statement that somehow he’s going to get rid of rape (would that anybody could) is a particular kind of “F.U. – I think you’re all stoo-pid” message to the voters of “the land of the yellow rose,” and O’Donnell gives Abbott the treatment he deserves in response...
...and what would life be like in this country without another mass shooting at a public event, this time a July 4th celebration...as long as voters continue to reward Republican politicians who do JUST ABOUT NOTHING ON THIS ISSUE (and yes, I know there are some guilty Dems too), this insanity will continue (and this also happened yesterday where the Declaration was signed of course; apparently 2 Philly cops were wounded...hopefully they'll have a full recovery – and yeah, as someone pointed out, the fact that the Illinois suspect was apprehended as opposed to being shot about 60 times tells you that he’s white, and apparently attended a Trump rally also...definitely fits the profile...more here)...
Update 1: OK, now reports are that the sound of fireworks on the Parkway in Philly may have been mistaken for gunshots - still doesn't explain how the cops got hurt (here).
Update 2: The mutilated bodies from our most recent gun carnage in Illinois should be left at the doorstep of the house of Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, since (aside from the shooter of course) he's more responsible for this atrocity than anyone (here).
...so what is the “party of Lincoln” preoccupied with instead of common sense gun laws? Why, anti-sodomy laws of course, in particular Texas AG Ken Paxton, proving that he’s one of the great minds of the 12th century, as Cenk and Ana tell us (“butt love” and “derriere delight,” huh?)...
...meanwhile, Utah State Rep Rep. Karianne Lisonbee said recently that women can control the semen intake from men, or some such insanity...John is 100% right in saying that all of this madness is to make sure men pay no price for bad behavior (with Francesca F.)...
Update 3: And we're supposed to find a way to reason with the life forms who support Republican politicians (here).
...oh, and let’s not forget about that pigsty of an alleged “news” network that helps to facilitate all of this dreck; Jon Stewart recently called the SCOTUS the “Fox News” of justice, and I can’t think of too many insults lower than that (Maz Jobrani tells us more)...
...and this DW report tells us about Ukrainian students in Germany trying to cope with the pressure of their country at war with Russia (I think the host is Rebecca Ritters)...
...well, for some news that’s actually good, it appears that the January 6th hearings are having an impact, fortunately, as Farron Cousins tells us (of course, the polls saying this now is positive, but what matters is if voters still feel this way in November – we’ll see)...
...and happy belated 76th birthday to Viola Billups (aka Pearly Gates) of the ‘60s R&B group The Flirtations.
Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with a former PA high school football coach (now in New York, apparently) on the pressure faced by players to participate in prayer services now that our “mask off” crazy SCOTUS has enforced religious worship in public schools...so many reasons to oppose this utter lunacy...
...and Jayar, Cenk and Caroline Johnson of TYT discuss Texas trying to refer to slavery as “involuntary relocation” (oh, but Heaven forbid that the whites in charge are “feeling discomfort” as the group points out...I would also be concerned that this garbage doesn’t filter into textbooks that are distributed to classrooms out of state, since there’s a lot of textbook publishing in Texas for some reason...a positive update is here, though these crazies will try again with this garbage I’m sure)...
...and staying with “the land of the yellow rose,” this New York Times report comes from a Texas woman who self-aborted with the help of medication (and I’m sorry – well, actually I’m not – but I’m tired of hearing about Biden being sympathetic to issues affecting women and girls but not offering a full-throated defense of Roe, though this is progress I’ll admit...the Catholic Church, among others, has been itching for this fight for 50 years, and now they’ve gotten what they want, so prepare to reap the whirlwind...and oh yeah, keep shoving that PA grand jury report under the rug while you’re at it)...
...and Francesca and Brett Erlich tell us that this awful SCOTUS isn’t done yet, believe it or not, deciding to go after voting rights, using this bogus theory about “independent state legislatures” taking over honest-to-goodness independent election administration (Brett’s white board moment is pretty damning all right) – I think Keith Olbermann said something a week ago about “blue” states maybe deciding to practice their version of “nullification” in response to these awful rulings, taking a page from John C. Calhoun (you can Google him) – well, we may already be at that point...
...and David Shuster tells us about Seattle Pacific University students, upon graduation, giving pride flags to the interim president of SPU (a “Christian” university) who said LGBTQ issues are a “lifestyle choice” (just say “oops” and get out)...
...and Happy July 4th - if you know of anyone with a dog or two, please be kind with the firecrackers because it freaks them out.
This horrible SCOTUS continues to cement its utterly awful reputation with yet another ridiculous ruling discussed here by Sam and Emma (and sorry – I don’t know who the reporter is here...Rick Perlstein?), which is Andrus v. Texas, which, unfortunately, makes a mockery of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution (the slow-motion coup continues in full sight, people...oh, and just for kicks, they knee-capped the EPA today as noted here)...
Update 7/1/22: More from this utterly awful High Court is here.
...and Ana of TYT tells us about Ginni Thomas deciding not to cooperate with the 1/6 committee (even though Thomas said she would earlier), with Ana going over the communications between Thomas and Mark Meadows, as well as trying to get rid of the legitimate electors in Arizona (though Ana is being a little ridiculous in saying Biden is only “a little” better than Trump, even though I have some issues with #46 also)...
...and in case anyone thought the “party of Lincoln” would offer anything substantive in response while this High Court horror show continues unabated...well, think again; Cancun Cruz has apparently gone to war, you might say, with Elmo of Sesame Street over kids getting the COVID vaccine (with Francesca and Jayar...and yeah, Reason #67,452 why Cruz is a shameless asshole)...
...and the latest clip from Second Thought makes a pretty good argument against referring to anyone as being a member of the “middle class”...I have to admit that I didn’t know about that pithy quote from John Steinbeck...also didn’t know about the rates of failure of small businesses in this country...daunting stuff...and though I can see where he’s going with this kind of early on in the clip, I also think he’s right – you either work for others or “work” for yourself, which I put in quotes because it often, but not always, means living off the work of others, which indeed is nice “work” if you can get it...
...and speaking of work-related stuff, this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about union-busting tactics from Trader Joe’s in Vermont, as well as the successful unionizing campaign of a store in Massachusetts (NSFW/H)...
...and I neglected to mention the 70th birthday last week of Tim Finn of Crowded House; this is a tune that I think is applicable in a few different scenarios during these troubled days (looking at our corrupt SCOTUS primarily...and with that in mind, kudos to KBJ as noted here).
So, to recap (based on this Brett Erlich TYT clip), Cassidy Hutchinson testified that there were shooters posted in trees around the Capitol on 1/6 (or at least, if not from Hutchinson, it was known by Capitol police apparently), with these shooters apparently there to provide cover for Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive (with a phalanx of Secret Service agents around him) as he planned to re-enter the Capitol and presumably seize power with the help of Mike Pence, who would refuse to certify the election on January 6th. However, in addition to Pence doing his duty according to the Constitution (and let’s not trip over ourselves giving him credit for doing what he should have done anyway), the Secret Service wouldn’t drive Trump to the Capitol that day (according to Hutchinson), rightly telling Mango Mussolini that they’d be breaking the law, to the point where Trump tried to grab one of them by the throat. They DID manage to get him to a fast food restaurant where he presumably had another in a series of tantrums and threw a plate which splattered ketchup on the wall. Are those the lowlights (more here)?
It is long past time to put Combover Caligula in a cell, and this should mandate that beyond any doubt. And by the way, unless we thoroughly prosecute EVERYONE involved in this madness, the NEXT TIME Republicans try this (and you KNOW there will be a “next time”), there won’t be a Cassidy Hutchinson or a Bobby Engel (the Secret Service agent) doing the right thing. They will ALL be “true believers,” possibly operating under the direction of #DeathSantis, Cotton, Hawley, or another of these treasonous monsters (that being said, more info on Engel and Tony Ornato, another Secret Service agent involved in these incidents, is here)...
...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that the “party of Lincoln” is apparently panicking over the recent awful SCOTUS rulings, looking at the polling...yeah, but the bleeping Dems better damn well know what to do in response! And what Sam is referring to in the “65-foot-high ceiling” remark is that states would put ridiculous building code restrictions onto facilities where Planned Parenthood operated that they couldn’t possibly meet because of an undue financial burden in reconstructing those facilities, but they faced shut down if they couldn’t meet those requirements somehow...yet another snaky, lowdown game certain states would play to shut down PP centers...and I know it’s no surprise that Mark Levin is lying, but it’s interesting that he talks about cases “bubbling up” to the SCOTUS to supposedly prevent any litigation against Roe, when in fact that is the EXACT STRATEGY the wingnuts used to ultimately overturnRoe...
...and Trae Crowder gives us his NSFW/H take on the recent SCOTUS insanity...oh, and add this to the pile of wretched garbage from this renegade High Court bunch of lunatics...
...and kudos to Alma Adams, NC-12 U.S. House Rep, for telling Biden he needs to declare a public health emergency after the horrible Dobbs decision overturning Roe...
...and Beau gives us an enlightened take IMO on that oh-so-scary headline about 1 million new Republican voters, providing some much-needed context...
...and apparently, the one and only Bob Perkins is retiring as a full-time jazz DJ on radio station WRTI in these parts – congratulations on a great career full of bringing us the “GM,” as in good music (I think this tune is apropos for the occasion).
Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about this Trumpster idiot Mary Miller who cheered on the recent SCOTUS atrocity (I know there have been a few atrocities from this bunch) by saying the Dobbs ruling was a victory for “white life”...and yes, I think that’s exactly what she meant especially since she was cheered on when she said it, particularly by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a Former “President” sharing the stage with her - more here...
...and in the matter of the 1/6 insurrection, I think this is a particularly good clip from Don Winslow; the supine Democratic Party, particularly in the Senate, the “world’s most useless legislative body,” should be going after both of the Thomases (and yes, we know Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and his caucus are thoroughly unrepentant monsters, but they're not in charge, and we have to make sure they STAY in the minority after November)...
...and David Doel brings us this clip about the two activists calling out the Dems over not enshrining Roe in legislation (even though the House just passed a bill doing that which is being blocked in the Senate by all Repugs plus Manchin...I guess it’s way too much to ask for this MSNBC person to provide that context)...I agree with about 75 percent of what Zoe Warren says here in the first clip about Dems not codifying Roe and how that was a colossal blown opportunity, but please allow me to point out the following 1) Bill Clinton in the ‘90s spent the overwhelming majority of his term fighting with a Republican congress that ended up impeaching him over a blowjob, so there was NO WAY he would have been able to sign legislation enshrining Roe into law from that bunch, and 2) Barack Obama enjoyed a congressional majority for not even 2 years, mostly spent on getting health care reform passed (as imperfect as it is, it’s still a leap forward...though I’m sure this renegade SCOTUS can’t wait to blow THAT up too)...so basically, if you want to be mad at Dems, fine, but also be mad at the overwhelming majority of elderly boomer conservatives in the suburbs who keep rewarding the “party of Lincoln” regardless every election...and Warren should spare me her indignation about a fundraising appeal from Biden – thanks to Citizens United and this SCOTUS full of treacherous, bad legal actors fronting for our criminal ruling corpocracy, that’s just the way the game is played...no issue whatsoever with the second clip because I think Warren and her co-worker are exactly right...also, I think any “man” who approves of Dobbs should be made to wear a chastity belt for at least a month (NSFW/H)...
...and turning to the economy, Pap and Farron Cousins tell us about price gouging form Tyson foods – yep, just give your business to a local butcher instead if you can and show these Tyson pricks what you think of them for their shameless grift...
...and Ana of TYT discusses Larry Summers saying we should have fewer jobs to cool down the economy, which of course seems to casually disregard the hardship millions would face as a result (a little concerning to hear Ana say in a matter-of-fact way that she thinks we’re entering a recession, but she may be right unfortunately...she’s also correct about the outsized role of the Federal Reserve and our politicians not providing for those hurt the most by the shock of a downturn, since the true “owners” in our ownership society don’t give a fig about that...a related post is here)...
...and I think it’s been a little while since I put up Janis Joplin’s version of this great seasonal number from George Gershwin, so please allow me to do so here.
I totally get that it’s difficult to keep up with all of the insanity in the news given all of the nutty rulings from our SCOTUS which has now gone “mask off” and totally rogue at this point, but it looks like some life forms in “the land of the yellow rose” are making noises like they want to secede again...to which I say, GOOD! Don’t let the door hit you on your way out, and we’ll just bring in D.C. and Puerto Rico instead...and of course, what would a wingnut hissy fit be without at least one misspelling, as shown (Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Eddie Glaude and Melissa Murray...and if Bushie Jack Goldsmith thinks we shouldn’t do anything against treasonous Repugs to placate the mob, then we might just as well declare that democracy is finished and fascism has won...but I’m definitely not ready to do that yet)...
...and returning to our renegade Supreme Court, Fareed Zakaria speaks with NYT reporter Emily Bazelon on about how the flimsy legal underpinning behind the Dobbs decision gutting Roe is based in this court’s radical interpretation of that pesky 14th Amendment (originally passed to recognize slaves as Americans, it has been used WAY MORE to establish “corporate rights”...and with all due respect to Bazelon, I honestly don’t think this SCOTUS gives a damn about popular American opinion or whatever, though I do think she and Zakaria are right that Hangin’ Judge JR is pretty much a figurehead at this point)...
...and this CBC report tells us about the protests over the end of Roe (and if the Democrats had any spine as a party, they would begin proceedings in the Senate to have “Strip Search Sammy” Alito impeached, given his recent words on Roe and his testimony on his SCOTUS confirmation that he basically considered it to be settled law, instead of “egregiously wrong,” which is what he recently said when he destroyed it...everything going on with this SCOTUS, including decisions just handed down and some which may be yet to come, absolutely SCREAMS for a vigorous executive and congressional response from Team “D” (something like this), though I don’t see that they’re up to the challenge...love to be wrong)...
...and Farron Cousins, sitting in for David Pakman, tells us about Roger Marshall, U.S. Senatorial idiot from Kansas, who is trying to block a school lunch program because he thinks Biden is trying to disallow discrimination against LGBTQ youth...reason number TEN ZILLION NOT TO VOTE FOR FREAKING REPUBLICANS!...
...and this tells us about the latest nutty SCOTUS decision, and this one has to do with the wingnuts siding with the Washington State football coach who prayed on the 50 yard line after games (here), with Gorsuch saying, “Well, he wasn’t in a classroom, so it’s OK?” Umm, WAS HE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE SCHOOL OR WASN’T HE? SO OF COURSE HE WAS ACTING WITH THE SCHOOL’S APPROVAL!!
Oh, and I love the part about, well, this won’t open the floodgates for cases involving religious expression in public schools...yeah, just like Bush V. Gore won’t rip open a hole in allowing partisan legislatures to run roughshod over independent election administration...not much it won’t (not blaming Pete Williams because I think he’s reporting this in an evenhanded way...oh, but we don’t have “white privilege” in this country...not much we don’t – all that idiot coach had to do was pray in private, like the Bible says, actually, and all of this mess could have been avoided)...
...and I’m overdue for a newer tune I know; hopefully this can help us take our minds off this insanity for awhile.
Sam Seder of The Majority Report discusses future potentially awful SCOTUS rulings that could also be handed down as a result of the recent destruction of Roe v. Wade, basically coming after the right to privacy, trying to reverse Obergefell, Griswold, Lawrence in Texas...everything, and probably Loving too, which would make Clarence Thomas’s marriage illegal...and Sam is correct to mention that Bush v. Gore has been cited repeatedly as a precedent in election cases, even though the majority authoring the opinion said – wink, wink – not to do that...mildly NSFW/H...
...and Adrienne Lawrence Esq. of Rebel HQ tells us about the reaction of world leaders to abolishing Roe (so terrific, we’re now on the same page as Russia and Nicaragua...and if the “party of Lincoln” manages to take control of the federal government, well, in that nightmare scenario, they’ll pass a nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions, to say nothing of coming after Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, so they’ll do their best to reap utter destruction “from the cradle to the grave” - more here)...
...oh, and let’s also not forget what those high court lunatic ideologues have done to Miranda also, as MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross discusses with Yale Professor Phillip Atiba Goff (GREAT analysis...”This stuff is coordinated, and I need folks to know that.”...damn straight! And that graphic about the arrests of African Americans and Latinos didn't appear for long, but that had important information also)...
...and the latest Second Thought video gets into why we hate bureaucracy...and yeah, I’m not surprised Milton Friedman is included here, because as we know, the only bureaucracy that’s useless is from the gov’t and NEVER from our glorious private industry in our neoliberal economy...OK, snark mode off (and yep, it isn’t hard to connect the dots to Maggie Thatcher in the UK and The Sainted Ronnie R)...and GREAT point about the pitfall of measuring a school the same way you would measure a private business (but still kind of harsh to prank those call center workers I'll admit)...
...and Ana and John of TYT tell us about Jim Cramer on “Gen Z’ers” allegedly “not being frugal enough”...in addition to student loans, the insane cost of housing is a factor also when it comes to young people starting out behind the financial 8-ball, along with stagnant wages of course relative to inflation and the cost of living – but yeah, it’s easier for Cramer to whine about “those crazy kids” actually doing dumb stuff like, y’know, gathering for drinks at bars LIKE EVERY OTHER GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE DONE! Why, they should be “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,” or something...
...and this is another one of those moments where I need a bit of a musical palate cleanser, so I now offer the following.
This is a picture of former Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry Blackmun. He was nominated to the High Court under President Richard Nixon as a conservative in 1970, but over time, he became more liberal, which was reflected in his rulings.
He turned in this direction mainly because Blackmun authored the majority opinion in the Roe v. Wade decision, which was handed down in 1973, invalidating a Texas statute that banned abortion except when a pregnant woman's life was in danger. The Court's judgment in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton held a less restrictive Georgia law to be unconstitutional as well. Roe was based on the right to privacy announced in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), and it established a constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Blackmun's opinion in Roe made him a target for criticism by opponents of abortion, and he received voluminous negative mail and death threats because of it (you can read about all of this and more from here). Blackmun labored intensively to find a justification for his ruling that respected both the law and women’s bodily autonomy, and again, built on the right to privacy stated in Griswold (which was also used as a precedent in the Obergefell ruling establishing the right to same sex marriage).
I’m telling you this to try and provide a bit of perspective on the staggering loss we just suffered in this country as noted here. And it’s true that we were warned this would happen. Hell, the Mississippi case that made its way to the insane SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR was specifically targeted to overturn Roe now that Gorsuch, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and “The Christian Handmaiden” have been installed for that singular purpose. And I’m going to go out on a very short limb and predict that, now, we’re not going to hear a word out of anyone who specifically leaked the opinion weeks earlier (as far as I’m concerned, it was a conservative activist, probably Ginni Thomas, who couldn’t wait to take a victory lap).
So now, Harry Blackmun’s crowning achievement has been relegated to the legal dust bin, and it is likely that the lives of an untold number of women will now be utterly destroyed.
I’m reading people online now more or less “congratulating” everybody who blew off voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as anybody who supported these Republican lunatics who are chiefly responsible for this atrocity. Yeah, I think that fits.
And as noted above, don’t even imagine that this is the end with this fanatical High Court. They’re coming for Obergefell, Griswold...the whole shooting match (unless of course, our utterly supine and useless Democratic Party finds a way to pack the court, and I’m personally not holding out any hope on that).
Update 2: Jumping Judas H. Priest On A Freaking Pogo Stick, Democrats! IS PERFORMATIVE BULLSHIT all you have to offer at a time like this (here)?
Do I need to remind you of what the other side would be doing right now if they were in a similar position? They would be fanned out ALL OVER THE PLACE on wingnut media screaming their heads off! And of course, if we were talking about a national political party that ACTUALLY KNEW HOW TO STRATEGIZE AT TIMES LIKE THIS, there would be about half a dozen bills in the House and the Senate codifying a woman’s right to an abortion coming out of committees as we speak!
Yeah, just sing in unison as we continue our descent into a fascist “Judeo Christian” corpocracy! Meanwhile, the other side will continue burning to the ground about 246 years of hard-earned progress!
Update 3: OK, fair enough, but it was still rotten timing (here).
Update 6/26/22: I don’t know what the hell Biden plans to do/not do in the matter of expanding the court (and this is a great column on this subject). Likewise, I don’t know what the hell he’s planning to do/not do when it comes to declassifying pot as a Schedule 1 drug. I also don’t know what the hell he plans to do/not do about student debt relief.
What I DO know is that this ridiculous indecision of his is ABSOLUTELY KILLING any momentum the Dems could try to generate for the mid-terms. I don’t know what it’s going to take for the “D” party to realize that running on a platform of “vote for me because I’m not a crazy Republican” JUST ISN’T GODDAMN GOOD ENOUGH!
Update 6/29/22: Banging my head against a wall as I read this (nothing against Karoli...if it turns out to be not true, I'll note that ASAP)...
Update 10/27/22: A terrific related post by Joan McCarter here...
Well, with that out of the way, I now give you this from Rachel Maddow, who tels us about the testimony of Greg Jacob before the 1/6 Committee in the U.S. House; Jacob was apparently the lawyer for Mike Pence, with Jacob recounting John Eastman’s hair brained and treasonous scheme to overturn the 2020 election for you-know-who – another Repug lawyer, Eric Herschmann, is also interviewed...I know this clip is a few days old, but it’s definitely still important...
...and sticking with lunatic Trumpism, some Repug wingnut in Michigan named Steve Carra wants to make 1/6 a holiday because of resistance to a tyrannical government, or something...just once I’d like to see one of these cowardly a-holes actually GO LIVE in a country with an ACTUAL tyrannical government and then tell us what it’s like – God forbid anything comes between them and their privilege...
...and Caroline Johnson of Rebel HQ discusses the ways that the wingnuts are typically hypocritical on the whole bit about someone trying to assassinate “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, especially against a guy who turned himself in, versus the murderous Roy Den Hollander insanity as Johnson points out, and yeah, I don’t remember hearing much from the wingnuts about THAT one (yes, violence against anyone is wrong...I feel like I’ve said this a zillion times...blah blah blah)...
...and with today’s awful Roe news, it’s tempting to forget that the SCOTUS just struck down a New York state law against concealed carry (and good job by Sam to link this abomination to Heller...really fed up with being in a position where all we can do is wait for the next body blow from the wingnuts on the SCOTUS and their sycophants in Congress...and of course, this leads back to “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and Almost Silent Clarence Thomas, who of course said “yes, dear” while his wife plotted an insurrection against this country...and Thomas says, “this doesn’t matter,” huh? Then why the hell can’t anybody just bring any gun they want inside the Supreme Court during deliberations? What’s the point of metal detectors, then? Hey, someone is bound to create a “ghost gun” one of these days of plastic that can escape detection, so let’s just stop screening for weapons altogether then. Why not? And no, I’m not serious on that.)...
...and I know the national “right to life” coalition is just thrilled about today’s SCOTUS atrocity...well, it also looks like they’re trying to find ways to imprison people under RICO statues for even mentioning abortion, and not just the women seeking the procedure...just keep telling me that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is fiction...yeah, right...
…and RIP James Rado, co-creator of the musical Hair – this tune was performed by The Cowsills of course, another family band with a troubled history, including a founding family member who died in Hurricane Katrina (learned about the group from another great documentary on the Showtime cable channel)…I believe other members have kept the act going, to their credit.
I probably didn’t do myself or anyone else any favors yesterday with my comments about the 1/6 Committee Hearings...yes, I did say we should watch, but I probably downgraded their importance a bit, and I’ll chastise myself for that since they’re VERY important, in particular the testimony yesterday from Shaye Moss and her mom, who did nothing except carry out their civic duty admirably and had their lives completely turned upside down for it...Joy Reid talks with Errin Haines and Claire McCaskill...
...and once more, I know The Lincoln Project is just a group of yesterday’s Republicans, but they’re right...
...and Beau gives us his take on the hearings...I think he’s typically spot-on when he says that the Committee needs to find a way to lay all of this out to the people of this country (don’t know if the hearing transcripts will be published or not, but maybe they should be, a la The Mueller Report)...
...and yet again, I give you an example of the foul, fetid, seamy underbelly of Trumpism at work – yep, demonize “the other” at any cost to try and build/consolidate/hang onto power, which is the very definition of fascism (this guy Mark Burns in South Carolina is a straight-up lunatic who deserves a rubber room...David Pakman tells us more)...
...and I’m not sure who Sam was talking with here on The Majority Report, but the theme seems to be that the rest of the world is apparently shocked by the 1/6 Committee revelations, while too damn many people in this country say, “meh...how much is baby formula and the price of gas...and did you hear that Biden fell off his bike?”...
...and for a bit of much-needed comic relief, I give you Jim Acosta and Oliver Darcy of CNN discussing the recent escapade on Capitol Hill with some folks from the Stephen Colbert show and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog...
...and here is a short follow-up clip from People with Colbert’s response...
...and happy belated 75th birthday to Joey Molland, a surviving member of the band Badfinger.
This Reuters report tells us about Apple workers at a store in Towson, MD who voted to unionize as part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as noted here; even though this definitely is positive news, there is much further to go in this process, but for now, kudos...
...and in another triumph of people power, leftist Gustavo Petro was recently elected president of the traditionally conservative South American nation of Colombia, echoing what has taken place in Chile, Peru and Honduras, as David Doel tells us (gee, wouldn't it be a good thing if the political party in this country that often, but not always, represents the will of the majority of the U.S. voters expresed solidarity with these results? Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen, though)...
@DNC
@DCCC
@DSCC
@harrisonjaime
Update 6/22/22: And as long as I’m trying to contact the alleged Democratic Party “brain trust,” I feel like I have to ask the following:
Why is it that this political party overall continues to be SO BAD when it comes to social media engagement?
I mean, there are exceptions, such as U.S. House Dem Bill Pascrell, who, to his credit IMO, continues to remind people about legislation to help the vast majority of this country that continues to be almost universally opposed by the “party of Lincoln.” And actually, Nancy Pelosi, believe it or not, does not too bad of a job of reminding people what the Dems have done and why they deserve our support (I have other issues with Pelosi, but it’s no contest when it comes to her vs. Chuck Schumer, for example, on this stuff). AOC is probably the best of everyone on the “D” team in this department, and she also understands what kind of game the Repugs are playing in this arena.
On the other side, though, whenever any Repug politician is cutting a blue ribbon somewhere or giving an award to a boy scout troop, or even bloviating about their own legislation, there is usually a YouTube video or a tweet about it. But when it comes to finding something similar to that regarding legislation supported by congressional Democrats...well, good luck trying to find that (and yes, I’ve tried).
One of the reasons why Dems lose in the midterms is because they wait entirely too damn long to engage the voters they need to turn out on Election Day. You need CONSTANT ONLINE ENGAGEMENT. If you wait until a few months before the election...well, that’s just too damn late. The other side has had plenty of time to cement their utterly BS narratives in the minds of the voters by then.
I know this is “tilting at windmills” once again, but every so often, I feel like I have to engage in this exercise anyway.
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report discuss that totally bonkers Eric Greitens RINO ad...I just had the Meidas Touch video from the conservative who’s telling everybody with ears to hear that the wingnuts are getting lied to and ginned up to vote against their own interests, and an ad like this is Exhibit A – I’d much rather spend my time at this site, to be honest, dealing with content closer to the first two videos, but we need to pay attention to the utter lunacy from the other side I realize – that’s one of the reasons why I admit that I’m not keeping up with the 1/6 Commission hearings; I’m not saying they’re not important and the Dems along with Cheney and Kinzinger aren’t doing great work (they are) and we shouldn’t pay attention (we should), but other people with keener insight on that stuff than I have can comment on it in a better way than I can...
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us that the land of Ron #DeathSantis saw a 29% increase in rent since the beginning of ’22, though, to their credit, there has been a people-powered movement on this issue in Miami-Dade...somebody should ask Johnny Harris if he actually has anything to say about that since it’s in a red state and doesn’t give him the chance to bitch about libs (here)...
...and sticking with The Sunshine State, Farron Cousins (based in FLA) tells us that the Log Cabin Republicans (I can’t think of a more abused political organization in this country, and they continually bring it upon themselves) were recently thrown out of another event (and I’m sure you’ll never guess that this happened in “the land of the yellow rose,” right?)...
...and I have some belated birthdays to get to, and here’s a big one; we just celebrated Sir Paul’s 80th, and I’d like to wish the same for Brian Wilson who recently hit the same milestone.
This Meidas Touch clip features a guy who bought into conservative dogma, but has since “come into the light” (yes, “they all lied” indeed...mildly NSFW/H)...
...and The Lincoln Project presents the following for the Juneteenth holiday...
...and this Now This clip tells us about “pockets of towns” founded by African Americans, particularly after emancipation following The Civil War...
...and I should note that I checked out on “Real Time With Bill Maher” awhile back, but to her great credit, Krystal Ball brought some “truth bombs” to the discussion with Maher and this wingnut nematode named James Kirchick recently (yeah, pretty unbelievable all right that this alleged politics expert like Maher somehow didn’t know about the market crash of March 2020 as noted here...and Maher is such a tool for talking over Ball the way he did...and to think of all the time I once wasted paying attention to his program...NSFW/H)...
...and I know I’ve fallen behind a bit on my Second Thought videos, so I now present this one about how the E.U. has created “The world’s deadliest border,” namely the Mediterranean Sea...I have to admit that I’d never heard of Frontex (“The whole of the E.U. stands behind...”) and Fabrice Leggeri or the controversy surrounding the company – I’d also never heard of the “Schengen Area”...and I’m a little surprised that he didn’t find a way to mention climate change as something that encourages mass migration of people often seeking to leave third-world countries, but that’s a little tangential to his main point I know – good point at the end that, aside for reasons of basic human decency, we need to support emigres and not have them taken advantage of for financial reasons out of our own economic self-interest also...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the corrupt health care industry in this country continuing to rake in huge amounts of $$ out of 100 million people in medical debt...God almighty (Cenk lays into Pelosi and Biden on this issue, and I have to admit that I’m there for it...yep, definitely points out why we need a public option at a minimum)...
...and speaking of health care, I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 6/20/17...like you I’m sure, I’m reading and hearing a lot of people predicting a Republican takeover of Congress this fall, which would be awful though I still think there’s time to prevent that of course and there’s something all of us can do, and I have to admit that I don’t know what the latest numbers are...to me, it all comes down to independent voters, who, for my money, are uninformed idiots for the most part, which doesn’t fill me with confidence...anyway, this clip from Kyle Kulinski (someone else I haven’t paid much attention to for awhile because I think his takes are mostly trash anymore) tells us what happened the last time the “party of Lincoln” called the shots on Capitol Hill and they tried to pass an utter joke of a “health care” bill...we would do well to keep this in mind for the fall elections (NSFW/H)...
...and this took place 55 years ago last Saturday.
