Thursday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the latest right-wing grifter with too much time and/or money on his hands, and that would be Vivek Ramaswamy...and you guessed it; he’s running for preznit (three guesses from which party, and the first two don’t count)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen, in collaboration with More Perfect Union, tell us why the Wisconsin Supreme Court election is so important and why Repug wingnut Dan Kelly needs to be defeated (to help Dem Janet Protasiewicz, click here)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about FLA guv Ron #DeathSantis trying to get a nutty “free speech” bill passed, with all of the utterly horrible unintended consequences you can imagine; in part, the bill makes it easier to sue journalists and empower bigots (HB 991)...



...which definitely points to the larger issue of the “party of Lincoln” not giving a fig about democracy in any way...Lawrence O’Donnell gives us a reminder of how Dem Mike Mansfield of Montana served in the U.S. Senate as a moderating influence for his time, which leads into a discussion of Jon Tester deciding to run for another term, and I agree with O’Donnell that the Dems pretty much breathed a sigh of relief on that one...



...and staying out west, Farron Cousins tells us about two idiot Repugs in Idaho (State Senator Tammy Nichols and State Rep Judy Boyle) who want to make it illegal to administer an mRNA vaccine, which would include “the jab” for ‘Rona of course (more here)...



...and here’s an NSFW/H tune that goes out to a bunch of people in this post...I’m sure you can guess who they are.

Wednesday Stuff

Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss Marjorie Traitor ($700K) Greene calling for secession, forgetting that she represents what is, at the moment, a blue state – cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs indeed - more here...



...and Emma of The Majority Report mentions Dem U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio calling out corporate America in regard to the East Palestine, OH rail spill (a lot of good points in this discussion, but I think it goes off the rails a bit - no pun intended - when they criticize railroad privatization and Native American genocide; not saying that doesn’t matter, but I just think that’s another discussion...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and sticking with the East Palestine spill, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that Repug Gov. Mike DeWine told the residents that the water was safe to drink based on a report from a consultant hired by Norfolk Southern; Mayor Pete gets dragged a bit here, and as someone said (David Doel I think), if you’re coming into office, why wouldn’t you make a point of looking at the screwups of the prior administration and try to fix them, including Trump’s overturning of the Obama rule about upgraded train breaks (and nice work from Dem PA guv Josh Shapiro here)...



...and Joy Reid tells us about Biden’s recent meeting with President Zelenskyy in Ukraine, with more of the back story, along with the pro-Putin apparatchiks in this country doing Russia’s dirty work (also interviewing Michael Beschloss and Ali Velshi on the ground in Kyiv...Ron Paul is so absolutely pathetic that he should be completely ignored, blaming the Federal Reserve for every damn thing on earth)...



....and John and Rayy Vana of The Damage Report discuss student loan borrowers planning to picket outside the SCOTUS to get the justices to look them in the eye before they make a ruling potentially gutting the relief Biden is providing on their loans...unfortunately, I think John is absolutely right about these six robed lunatics not caring, but I admire the effort, and I LOVE his fire on this!...



...and Beau discusses a very wise kid in a Texas elementary school who found a gun in a bathroom and contacted the teacher right away about it before a disaster took place...it’s the goddamn guns, people! However, if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you already know that...



...and I’m also sure I speak for millions when I say that President Carter, at this time, isn’t far from our thoughts...as he prepares to walk with Our Lord (that’s what I believe anyway), I think it’s apropos to include this clip of Rachel Maddow talking about Carter’s courage in trying to prevent a nuclear reactor disaster in 1952 while serving as an engineer in the U.S. Navy...fair winds and following seas...



...and RIP Huey “Piano” Smith - I now give you one of his signature tunes.

Monday Stuff

Mehdi Hasan tells us that Dominion Voting Systems is pretty much wiping the floor with Fix Noise based on the internal memos from the “news” personalities yelling about Sidney Powell and “America’s Mayor” ranting about alleged issues with Dominion and the web of lies that emerged from that network about the ’20 presidential election (this should spell the end of The Roger Ailes BS Factory, but it likely won’t until the humanoids viewing that channel finally decide that they’ve had enough of being lied to, and I’m not holding my breath on that - more here)...



...despite that, there was about 15 seconds of clarity from Steve Douchebag of the “fair and balanced” channel on Trump rolling back the Obama-era train regulations regarding breaking systems that (in all likelihood) played a major role in the East Palestine, OH spill – David Pakman tells us more...



...and Thom Hartmann asks, “Did the SCOTUS corrupt America by legalizing bribery?” Thom cites the ’78 decision by Justice Lewis Powell, saying corporations are people and money is the same thing as speech, so corporations have the right to bribe people (the FNB of Boston v. Bellotti case had to do with corporations contributing to ballot initiative campaigns)...Thom cites TWA fighting the recommendation of Al Gore to harden cockpit doors, though, as Thom says, both sides were truly guilty on this to one degree or another (it took 9/11 to finally get that to happen...SCOTUS decisions on corporations led to gutting public schools, privatizing public electric and water utilities, ending government subsidies for colleges, etc...and by the way, my sympathies to Thom and his family on his niece's passing - sorry to hear)...



...and Buckley v. Valeo, Bellotti and other rulings authored by Powell came subsequent to the justice’s infamous 1971 memo to Eugene Sydnor of the Chamber of Commerce; Robert Reich tells us more...



...and RIP Richard Belzer; I know he finally found fame on that cop show, and good for him – he was edgy and talented IMO and overcame a hell of a lot of hardship before he became successful...

>

...and every so often, I come across a tune or video that kind of takes me away from the typical news/political nonsense, and I think this qualifies, so here it is.

Friday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about a survivor of the Sandy Hook massacre who made a video since she also had to escape the recent mass shooting at MSU; she spent so much time crouching that she ended up with a disk fracture in her back...just chalk it up to Life In These United States (and when it comes to this, well, it's funny in a way that I’m hearing nothing but crickets from Cancun Cruz, Abbott, etc., though the TX senator is all over the place on the bird app calling out Biden, Buttigieg and the Dems for the East Palestine, OH rail disaster)...



...and speaking of the terrible chemical spill in Ohio, here is more from Ana and Cenk, who dole out blame to both sides in the deserved measure IMO; an EPA expert says that “we basically nuked” East Palestine, Ohio (referring to the controlled burn after the spill – more here...and this isn’t surprising, is it...Norfolk Southern are a bunch of damn cowards)...



...and on the Ohio rail disaster and pretty much everything else, Chris Hayes tells us that the “party of Lincoln” has really nothing to add in the way of an actual policy response except performative nonsense...



...additionally, Kyle Kulinski tells us about a Fortune Magazine article which tells us that 37 percent of workers polled by the magazine work more than one full time job – witness the miracle of our economy (removing my tongue from my cheek – mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I have a feeling that many of the employees for “the happiest place on earth” fall into the “working two jobs” category; this More Perfect Union video tells us about Disneyworld workers standing up for more money (“if we are the magic, we deserve to be paid” indeed)...



Update 2/22/23: As usual, Bernie is all over this (here).

...and I neglected to note the passing of Robbie Bachman of BTO last month; he would have been 70 on 2/18 – RIP.

Wednesday Stuff

John and Trae Crowder of The Damage Report discuss the latest Trumpian insanity about group firing squads and bringing back the guillotine, or whatever that madness was...wonder if Our Gelatinous Orange Treason-sickle of a former preznit realizes that the legal walls are closing in on him at loooong last and he’s losing what’s left of his mind...



...and I thought Rachel Maddow did us yet another service in this clip, linking authoritarianism in Israel under our “ally” Bibi (trying to overturn the courts) and that encouraged by Our Ochre Abomination; I wish she were on more than one night a week, but she’s definitely earned the right to call her shots in this manner...



Update 2/16/23: More here.

...and Farron Cousins tells us that the GOP “establishment” thinks they can fix their party by purging Orange You-Know-Who, and Cousins tells us why that metaphorical genie is definitely out of the bottle and not going back anytime soon, if ever (one of the best commentaries I’ve heard on the “Republic” Party in quite a while...and happy birthday to Cousins)...



...and while I don’t think we have to worry about Tommy Tuberville of Alabama trying to supplant Trump, #DeathSantis or anyone else in that party running for the oval office in ’24, he still needs to be called out when he spouts outrageous partisan BS as he does here on abortion of course (and as Alonzo Bodden points out, “abortion after birth” isn’t actually a thing - makes me recall this)...



...and yes, I know I’ve been beating the drum a bit about the “GOP” trying to gut Social Security and Medicare, and I’m going to keep doing that because these thoroughly cretinous lunatics are going to keep coming after them...with that in mind, I give you this from The Lincoln Project...



...and I probably should have included this yesterday, but better late than never I guess.

Tuesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us about Wyoming Republicans opposing a bill banning child marriage (more here)...yeah, tell me once more how we’re NOT supposed to think of Not Your Father’s Republican Party as the American Taliban...



...and I’ll admit that it’s hard for me to revisit the recent Super Bowl (I mean, the Chiefs won because they made more plays when they had to than the Birds, though the Philly team did have a great year and I don’t think anybody should forget that...and I DEFINITELY hope that officiating crew gets the treatment they deserve when they come to the Linc next year, and you KNOW that will happen)...that being said, this video from Rick Strom of TYT tells us about the “He Gets Us” ad that ran during the game and the RWNJs behind it, including this Jason Vanderground person, the president of something called HAVEN (more here, here and here)...



Update 2/16/23: Yeah, I think this is about right.

...and David Doel brings us a pretty detailed report on what led up to the East Palestine, Ohio chemical rail derailment...kudos to David Sirota for solid reporting (I question his punditry, but not his journalism)...and yeah, more BS with some mega-company (Norfolk Southern) laying off workers and instituting a stock buyback program, making billions in the process – and by the way, they also lobbied Republican politicians to gut an Obama safety rule about using a brake system that likely would have prevented this disaster, but yeah, to be fair, there’s more “Mayor Pete” needs to do here also (and stuff he and his boss should have done already, actually...definitely a bipartisan failure here, but as usual, the out-and-out corruption is from the “R” side, and the incompetence is from the “D” side)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about the fight to restore Net Neutrality...sounds like we’re a vote away from restoring it, in the person of Gigi Sohn and her nomination to the FCC (NSFW/H), with the wingnuts linking Sohn to opposing FOSTA - SESTA and allegedly supporting human trafficking and sex trafficking, which is total BS as per usual (and you can tell Sohn has become a wingnut bete noire because she’s opposed by Cancun Cruz among others, as noted here)...



...and I have to admit that I always wondered about the origin of the whole “kitty litter in high schools” BS shoveled by RoJo among others, and in this clip I actually learned the true origin of all of the ridiculous screeching...it didn’t occur to me that, when school kids are trapped in an active shooter situation, they would need the means to relieve themselves if they had to and schools have prepared for that, which is smart...as usual, those complaining the loudest want to focus on this childish propaganda and NOT DO A DAMN THING ABOUT THE F*CKING GUNS! instead...Brett Erlich tells us about that as part of the “boomer mill” (along with that cretin Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, who lost his election thank God)...



...and I hope everybody managed to have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Monday Stuff

Ana of TYT tells us that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is trying to squelch an FTC rule banning non-compete agreements, with those agreements negatively impacting workers in all kinds of industries, especially when they have to re-enter the job market as many do now...and yeah, it’s more than a bit of a “tell” that our corporate media is siding with the COC (OF COUURRSE! as Cenk would say)...



...and John of The Damage Report speaks with Dave Levinthal of Raw Story on politicians running for election or re-election whose campaigns were raided by criminals, including Repug Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who lost almost $700 grand; Biden lost about $70K as well...not sure exactly if there’s a ”magic bullet” to solve a problem like that...



...and speaking of thievery, this More Perfect Union video discusses credit card late fees charged against about 42 million in this country, to the tune of billions (and Biden mentioned in the SOTU that he’s trying to bring the fee down from $31 to $8, and the video tells us how we can submit comments online to encourage that)...



...and when it comes to corporations pulling the puppet strings of their politicians, Farron Cousins mentions 40 Repug senators who filed an amicus brief to the SCOTUS to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness program...



...and Jeff Waldorf may not be the most charismatic individual out there, but I think he has some generally good commentaries, including this one about Elon The Great firing an engineer because Our Lord God King Guru of the bird app has falling engagement numbers (more here...and the “3AM Catturd call,” huh? Yeah, I believe it...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of birds, yeah, it totally sucks that the Eagles came up short in the Super Bowl (though you can’t blame Jalen Hurts as far as I’m concerned - 35 points should have been enough), and I don’t know what was going on with the defense in the second half, but you have to give credit to Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City for coming back...that imaginary holding call on James Bradberry towards the end was ridiculous, but the Eagles shouldn’t have been in a position where it mattered...oh well, I guess this tune will suffice for now (the Birds had a great year otherwise, though, and should be congratulated for that).

Saturday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen discusses Willard Mitt Romney speaking his mind on “George Santos”...I get it that The Mittster is from a more patrician, non-Trumpist wing of Not Your Father’s Republican Party where the corruption is treated more discretely without the ridiculous degree of self-promotion personified by Our Ochre Abomination, but Romney does make a bit of a good point here, I have to admit...



...and as a follow-up, David Pakman tells us that Dem U.S. House Rep Robert Garcia has introduced a resolution to expel Santos...interesting for Garcia to pursue this because, as he says, he’s similar to Santos in a lot of ways, without the lying of course...



Update: If there was ever a time when I wondered if "Santos" may actually be telling the truth, this would be it (not so much here, though).

...and I know I’ve already covered the whole thing with Biden pinning down the “loyal opposition” during the State of the Union on the GOP efforts to destroy Social Security and Medicare through various means, despite the howls of outrage (and again, I DEFY anybody to provide a similar example of the Dems acting like this under Dubya or Trump, though they easily could have), but I’m including this clip from Chris Hayes because he commendably “brings the receipts” versus Mike Lee, Lex Luthor Scott and RoJo The Clown...



Update 1 2/12/23: And in case anyone thinks the "party of Lincoln" is actually serious about deciding to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, I give you this.

...and Thom Hartmann says, yeah, not much to see here – just some actual Nazis in Ohio trying to home-school kids (article he cites is here – I know I said something about teachers walking away from the classroom for various reasons on Thursday, and you can add lunacy like this to the awful mix)...



Update 2 2/12/23: And speaking of school, kudos to the Alabama high school kids noted here.

...and this may not be the trendiest subject out there at the moment, but I don’t care; I thought this was a nice little video of the Star Ballroom dancers pledging to keep dancing even after the horrific attack that killed 11 people...good for them (more here)...



...and I now give you my final “green” tune – I think we’re about done with the ballyhoo concerning Super Bowl LVII and I’m sure both sides are nearly finished with their preparation...as the Bard once said, “the readiness is all” – with that in mind, GO BIRDS!!!

Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that, by all accounts, Sarah Huckabilly Sanders really dished out the wingnut umbrage in her response to the State of the Union address from President Biden, blaming of course the woke and “radical left” agenda, teaching kids to hate each other when in reality they just want to live in “freedom and peace,” because, as we know, President Biden is apparently trying to re-enact the “Prague Spring” in her state, or something...actually, she should pay a little attention to this instead of staging performative nonsense...



Update: Too damn funny (here).

...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about the reporter arrested in Ohio for...what? Reporting on a public event with malicious intent, or something? And I have issues with Mike DeWine for sure, but his response here is 100 percent correct...



Update 2/14/23: I was a little unclear in pointing out that this had to do with the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio - apologies (more here and here).

..and Beau tells us that Chucky Koch and his fellow unholy minions are going to try and steer the Repug Party away from Mango Mussolini...Beau makes a great point about just how far Koch and his pals want to go with this; maybe they’ll try to anoint Nikki Haley as Beau thinks, but I don’t think we should rule out Mike Pompeo either...don’t get me wrong; any Republican is horrible, but Pompeo has pretty rock solid ties back to Kansas, if you know what I mean...



Update 2/24/23: And speaking of Pompeo...

...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about the recent social media inquisition in the U.S. House...kudos to Gerry Connolly for calling out Our Ochre Abomination who tried to get that tweet from Chrissy Teigen taken down, in a hearing ostensibly about...wait for it!...HUNTER BIDEN’S FREAKING LAPTOP!...oh, and for the “looney tune” perspective, we also have “Imeach Biden” Boebert and Clay “What Need Have We Of A Trial?” Higgins (mildly NSFW/H at end)...



...and I know I haven’t done this for a while, but I thought the time was right to bring back “This Day In Doomsy History” from 2/10/11...The Onion News Network, America’s Finest News Source, reports that Congress has forgotten how to pass a bill (which, to me, isn’t far off for the unruly children now running the U.S. House)...



...and here is my penultimate “green” tune in preparation to root for the Iggles in Super Bowl LVII...



...and I give you the following as a tribute to Burt Bacharach.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

This Now This clip tells us about a nationwide teacher shortage, focusing on Wisconsin...gee, I can’t possibly imagine how this has become a problem, what with teachers being called “groomers” by Repug party politicians and school districts waging war on LGBTQ and non-binary individuals affecting sports and bathrooms as well as conservatives telling teachers what books are and aren’t allowed in classrooms...and of course this is #sarcasm (more here, here and here...and focusing on Wisconsin, I give you RoJo The Clown here blaming “wokeness” for school shootings...and just as a reminder, RoJo won re-election by 27K votes, and as noted here, Wisconsin Repug election commissioner Robert Spindell said he suppressed 37K votes; you can do the math on that at least as well as I can)...



...and sticking with “culture war” stuff, Thom Hartmann tells us about the racist origins of the anti-abortion movement and how conservative godfather Paul Weyrich was a little late to the party, you might say...the evangelicals didn’t really care about abortion until the late ‘70s-1980 when they realized that they could use it to mobilize support, as Thom says...and boy, is Thom ever right about the Catholic Church...as I’ve said before, the Catholic Standard and Times ran nothing but pictures of fetuses in jars after Roe v. Wade was handed down (which, as it turns out, wasn't even a medically accurate representation of the typical aborted fetus...as I’ve also said, as far as I’m concerned, if someone could prove to me that Roe had actually increased the number of abortions, I might have opposed the ruling, but abortion will always happen regardless, even though the SCOTUS of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and Hangin’ Judge JR gutted Roe in favor of Dobbs as we know)...



Update 4/12/23: Nail. Hammer. Head. (here - h/t Atrios).


...and David Pakman tells us that Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich went on Fix Noise to tell us that Biden is weak because he popped the damn balloon (should have used some kind of a balloon scooper apparently, as if that’s even a thing...yep, moving the damn goalposts again)...



Update 8/26/23: More pathetic lies on abortion from alleged "Christian" Newt are here - nooo, killing a baby up to 30 days after birth happens to be freaking murder!

Update 8/27/23: Gee, Baby Newton Leroy sure is on a roll of sorts, isn't he (here)?

...and once more, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but they keep making good ads like this one (which the beyond-useless national Democratic Party should do also, but good luck with that)...



...and RIP Burt Bacharach – I’ll feature some more of his tunes tomorrow also...good luck with narrowing down his list of timeless hits to select just one tune to include here...



...and I’m winding down my list of “green” tunes to get everyone ready to root for the Birds in Super Bowl LVII, but I didn't want to forget this number.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau of the Fifth Column gives us his take on President Biden’s State of the Union address last night...pretty much a case of the adult in the room doing his best to discipline the unruly children, and Marjorie Trailer Park Greene (here also) and “Imeach Biden” Boebert did pretty much what you would expect...I have to admit that I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the SOTU addresses because I know they’re heavy on theatrics...maybe not the best reason to blow them off, but I care about stuff that impacts real people as opposed to the window dressing idiocy...by the way, this marks (approximately) the 20th anniversary of Dubya’s SOTU in ’03, which was one of the most grotesque examples of wall-to-wall lies that I’ve ever seen, and that pretty much put me off the other SOTU addresses – again, maybe I need to rethink that, but that’s my story for now and I’m sticking with it (more here)...



Update 2/9/23: And let's not forget that Just Plain Folks Insurrectionist Marge's net worth is in the vicinity of $700 grand, as noted here.

...and Trae Crowder gives us take on the State of the State of the Union (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and don’t worry, nothing to see here, just an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives calling for the death of Our Chief Executive (here)...this scheming bimbo deserves to get her metaphorical cage rattled by the Secret Service at a minimum...David Pakman tells us more...



...and when it comes to U.S. House Republican idiots, #DopeyMcForehead Matt Gaetz blames “couch potatoes” supposedly getting a cushy $216 a month in SNAP benefits as a rationale for including some kind of work requirement in order for these folks to get the pittance of help they actually DO get as things stand now...I may have touched on this earlier, but I think it needs to be mentioned again (Farron Cousins gives us the details)...



...and sticking with Flori-DUUUH!!, Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that politicians in Ron #DeathSantis-stan want to know about the menstrual cycles of student athletes...just no bottom for these life forms (more here and here)...



...and moving north to above that Mason-Dixon line, Jayar and Jessica Burbank tell us about two neo-Nazis who wanted to take out the Baltimore power grid...this country is sick, and I lay that primarily at the feet of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, though the problem existed long before him, even though he weaponized it to achieve his foul political ends...



...turning to the economy, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about Biden economic advisor Jared Bernstein fact-checking this Fix Noise idiot Shannon Bream in real time (I think S&E provide a pretty decent financial analysis here, and I definitely don’t think Jerome Powell is doing Biden any favors – of course, leave it to this hairdo from The Roger Ailes BS Factory to act like living paycheck-to-paycheck is only a “thing” under Biden, when in reality that has been the case FOR AT LEAST THE LAST 20 FREAKING YEARS!!!)...



...and here is another "green" tune as we get ready to root for the Iggles in Super Bowl LVII.

Tuesday Stuff

OMIGOD! THE U.S. HAS GONE “WOKE”! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Yeah, this is the stuff of parody from The Daily Show, but unfortunately “gammy and pop pop” at home may believe it if it comes from that clean cut Tucker Carlson (and believe me when I tell you that I’d LOVE to be wrong...and in a related story, I guess this isn't a surprise either)...

...and I wish this item was a parody too, but unfortunately it isn’t...Hakeem Jeffries gives a nice speech about how ridiculous it is for the House under the control of Marjorie Traitor Greene and her fellow insurrectionists to be taking up a resolution about “socialism”...and then the majority of the Dem caucus proceeds to vote for the measure!

As a national political party, I realize the Democrats can’t find their own metaphorical butt with multiple sets of hands, and they also continue to bring a water pistol to a gun fight against The Treasonistas on the other side of the aisle, but how freaking pathetic is it to buy into the beyond ridiculous framing here of the “Republic” Party on an issue that actually resonates pretty well with younger voters?

People I respect online said that Jeffries as minority leader would be bad news for progressives (and honestly, Ro Khanna doesn’t look good here either). In response, I thought it best to take a “wait and see” attitude. Well, let’s just say that early returns aren’t looking promising (more here)...



...and in advance of Biden’s State of the Union address tonight, Chris Hayes tells us about the U.S. lifespan decreasing...and yes, COVID is a factor, especially when only 16 percent of the population has received the bivalent booster shot...pathetic doesn’t even begin to describe how bad that number is – and I think Hayes is absolutely right about a presidential blue ribbon panel to look into this; not sure what it would come up with, but it would be a heck of a good first step (and this is positive also)...



...and the “Second Thought” guy answers the question “Do We Live Under Capitalism?” in response to some commenters throwing around some other labels in response – “There is no version of capitalism that respects competition but not competition’s outcomes.” – uh, yep (and I think the practically unmitigated sway that capitalism holds on our lives is definitely a factor in the quality of life numbers Chris Hayes discussed in the prior clip)...



...and turning to milestones, RIP Charlie Thomas of The Drifters...



...and here is another green tune to get ready to root for the Birds in Super Bowl LVII.

Monday Stuff

(I was able to get a close-up pic of the Chinese spy balloon...heh.)

David Doel tells us about all of the wingnut caterwauling about the damn balloon, which is particularly stoo-pid given that three such balloons appeared over our airspace when Mango Mussolini occupied An Oval Office and he didn’t do anything about it (and certainly nobody screeched about it either)...also, as noted here, Biden played it right to shoot this down in a non-populated area because debris got spread out over nearly seven miles...



...and Jesse Dollemore (apparently sitting in for David Pakman) tells us about some national prayer thing with Kevin McCarthy and U.S. House Republicans...and boy, where’s Major Bowes’ hook when you need it for this goofball Randy Weber? “OH, BOO-HOO O LORD! BOO-HOO! THE BIDEN DEBT IS STEALING FROM OUR KIDS!!”

Yeah, well, as noted here, Weber voted for Our Ochre Abomination’s tax scam bill in December 2017, which added at least $4 trillion to the debt as noted here...



...and Cenk, Rayy Vana and Mondale Robinson of TYT discuss Idaho Repug State Rep Ron Mendive, who thinks kids should have to work for school lunches (great point by Robinson about how the original lunch program in this country was a response to what the Black Panthers did, as well as comping the farmers for not growing food vs. not taking care of the kids...and of course this Mendive nut also helped get rid of any mention of climate change in Idaho school curricula, and he also opposed a $6 million federal education grant for working families with kids 5 and under, saying the grant’s intent was to indoctrinate kids with CRT, which IS NOT A THING in elementary schools!)...



...and Beau joins More Perfect Union for another great “classroom” video about cattle rancher Coy Young, who almost took his life from pressure stemming from the beef industry...the clip covers all kinds of ground, and of course, Milton Friedman and his Chicago School of Economics henchmen ended up overturning the tables, you might say, for the benefit of the meat-packing conglomerates, and leave it to The Sainted Ronnie R (whose birthday it is today) to put the final nails in the metaphorical coffin for consumers on behalf of the “one percent,” in this industry like so many others...



...and last Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Karen Carpenter...



...and here is another “green” tune to get us ready to root for the Birds in Super Bowl LVII.

Friday Stuff (updates)

(Pic is from here.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the millionaire McDonald’s CEO having a meltdown over a worker wage increase in CA under a new law from Dem Governor Gavin Newsom...and it looks like Newsom’s measure is going to get delayed and end on the ballot for next year, giving the pro-CEO forces long enough to stage some “Astroturf” campaign in order to defeat the measure...suffer the poor, oppressed Mickey D’s franchise owner according to Joe Erlinger...GMAFB!...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about Bo-Bo Boebert, CO-03’s U.S. Congressional mistake, prattling on obnoxiously as usual, this time about this country’s ridiculous misinterpretation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, i.e., once more, the insane number of guns in this country and gun-related deaths...BoBo got her panties in a knot over an ATF regulation about registering guns using stabilizers, or something...and as far as that Boebert family photo at the end – and God help those kids – imagine the response if everyone in that pic were African American...some actual sanity on this issue is here...



...and Emma and the crew from The Majority Report bring us a clip of a parent in Flori-DUUUH! commendably pushing back against this Chris Rufo life form who was put in place at the New College of Florida by Ron #DeathSantis to basically turn the school into another conservative factory like Hillsdale College...”The way we view people overseas is the way we view them here”...certainly true in too many cases...



...and OMIGOD! IT’S THE CHINESE SPY BALLOON OVER MONTANA! WE NEED TO SHOOT IT DOWN!...well, THAT would be a hell of a lot more provocative of an action than just leaving the damn thing alone – it’s not like the thing is going to expose any deep, dark secret anyway, and as Beau tells us, this sort of thing has been going on among countries for years and will probably continue to take place...he correctly notes that one of the many, MANY lessons of history that, as a country, we refuse to learn collectively (partly because of idiots like #DeathSantis who don’t know much about the subject anyway as noted here) is that of the Cold War and the U2 plane with Francis Gary Powers that the Russians shot down near the end of President Eisenhower’s term (more here)...



Update 1 2/4/23: Once more, a free people can breathe a sigh of relief...and yeah, that's a joke (here).

Update 2 2/4/23: Figures.

Update 2/5/23: So, in response to the balloon non-story, Rachel Campos-Duffy wants to execute our farmers? Huh??? (here).

...and if you’re going to talk about collective ignorance, I think that’ s pretty fair transition into this segment with Desi Lydic of The Daily Show, where she asks random people in NYC if a “story” is totally made up or was actually discussed on Fix Noise (the items that people get wrong aren’t off by a lot, I have to say...mildly NSFW/H...not trying to be snarky towards the people Lydic interviews, but only trying to make fun yet again of The Roger Ailes BS Factory)...



...and here is another “green” tune to get us revved up in order to cheer on the Iggles (hopefully) in Super Bowl LVII.

Thursday Stuff

Ana of TYT (rocking it yet again in a solo clip) tells us about double amputee Anthony Lowe, shot and killed by L.A. county cops (more here)...kudos to her for also showing de-escalation techniques that can be used successfully by the police – yeah, I definitely don’t know every detail of this story either, though on its face it appears to be pretty damn absurd...now I’m really curious to find out what happened to Lowe in Texas that required the loss of both legs below the knee...



...and keeping with criminal justice matters, John and Jayar tell us about the “Republic” Party’s Marjorie Trailer Park Greene going off the rails yet again, in some hearing about jailed prisoners or something, equating Tyre Nichols’ murder with the death of Ashli Babbitt because of course, and sneaking in a “Democrat” reference again, like that word is every anything BUT a noun...



...and when it comes to wingnut-friendly media, some Newsman “news” mannequin attacks an upcoming Hulu series about police, or something, without, y’know, ACTUALLY HAVING SEEN THE ENTIRE PROGRAM! (Ben Gleib responds)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Ilhan Omar getting booted off the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a full chamber vote (here...and PA-01’s wet noodle “moderate” Bri-Fi OF COURSE voted to oust Omar)...AOC is spot-on in her response as is Omar herself, and I liked the way Eric Swalwell came back against Gym Jordan when it comes to anti-Semitic tropes...terrific – while those idiots in charge of that body refuse to do anything about the debt ceiling (note to Biden: mint the freaking coin!), they engage in this political payback nonsense instead...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses King Elon I’s ruling to ban Chad Loder from Twitter after fascists told Musk to do that...yeah, what a “free speech champion” Musk is...tell me another one...



...and here’s another “green” tune as we get ready to root for the Iggles (hopefully) in Super Bowl LVII.

Wednesday Stuff

Joy Reid talks with author Mark Whitaker along with Fernand Amandi and Brandon Wolf (survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting) on Ron #DeathSantis making it easier to get a gun in Flori-DUUH! than to read a book (indeed, like Disneyland, but in Hell...GREAT job by Reid to point out the horrible legislation and measures #DeathSantis is trying and has tried to pass while everyone is distracted by his terrible “culture wars” cruelty as the lead-in to the Amandi segment)...



...and sticking with #DeathSantis-stan, Kyle Kulinski tell us about #DopeyMcForehead Matt Gaetz wanting a work requirement for people getting SNAP benefits and Medicaid, with Kyle making the almost-obvious point that, if they were working, they PROBABLY WOULDN’T EVEN NEED the benefit in the first damn place...by the way, do you want to know how Gaetz came to have the means to buy himself into a government job and engage in predation of young girls? Well, his old man runs Vitas Healthcare, which is a corporation (let’s not forget that!) in the hospice care business, and it probably isn’t surprising to point out that Gaetz Sr. was accused of Medicaid fraud (here)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that “Imeach Biden” Lauren Boebert went to the floor of the U.S. House to complain about DirecTV dropping Newsmax (which, at the moment, is the “outrage du jour” among the wingnuts as also noted here...yeah, “socialism” for everything I want as far as they’re concerned, and rugged, predatory capitalism for everything and everybody else)...



...and Thom Hartmann asks if you want a side of liver cancer with your fries in this segment about a 2022 analysis by Consumer Reports of food packaging for fast food showing the presence of PFAS everywhere, apparently (terrific)...Our Ochre Abomination’s emasculation of the EPA, as Tom explains, is one reason for the proliferation of these deadly chemicals, and believe it or not, the influence of the U.S. companies who don’t want to do a damn thing about PFAS is yet another odious consequence of Citizens United...



...and as a tribute to Barrett Strong, I included his hit “Money” yesterday, but to do him justice, I should also include at least one of the many Motown hits he authored or co-authored, mainly for The Temptations, including this one...



...and here is another “green” tune in preparation for the Iggles vs. Chiefs in Super Bowl 57.

Tuesday Stuff

I know this is a little old, but I didn’t want to let it slip through the cracks – Francesca and John talk about Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Dictator-In-Chief and the tweets from sportswriter Rick Reilly about #45 cheating on the greens...”I have only the best scores...many people tell me how strenuous it is to play golf as well as I do.”...



...and switching gears a bit to actual (proposed) legislation, Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana about the latter’s strenuous (and commendable) opposition to the Repugs’ utterly awful idea of a 30 percent national sales tax, a bill which would have the thoroughly odious two-fer of sticking the “99 percent” and cutting the metaphorical legs from under the IRS (I don’t completely buy into Tester’s ridiculous “the Dems have become the coastal elites party and I’m from the heartland” framing at times, but he’s spot-on here)...



Update: More good work by Tester here.

...and I am sooooo glad to see this segment from Mehdi Hasan where he speaks with political scientist (always thought that was an oxymoron, actually) Loch Johnson and lawyer Barbara McQuade about the “party of Lincoln” and their nonsense on Gym Jordan supposedly reviving the Church Committee from the ‘70s (yeah, when “weaponization” is already in the title of your committee, you’ve pretty much given away the game...kudos to McQuade for mentioning COINTELPRO)...

via GIPHY

...and Mike Figueredo tells us that Ruben Gallego raised $1 million in about 24 hours! against “Curtsy Kyrsten” as the presumptive Dem U.S. Senate candidate (unless somebody ELSE enters the primary) from AZ...it’s going to be a fight all right, especially with that loon Kari Lake in the picture (as Figueredo says, there’s no path to victory for the “independent,” only to screw things up for Gallego, which I’m sure is what Sinema’s funders want...mildly NSFW/H)...



Update 3/23/23: "Old dudes eating Jell-O," huh? More utterly contemptible behavior from this unfortunate accident of an alleged human being (here).

..and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us something we probably already know, and that is the “Republic” Party wanting to cripple Social Security and Medicare by holding the debt ceiling hostage (I admire the idea behind this video of getting politicians to promise to leave Social Security alone, but the game they’ll play is that they want to make it “discretionary” spending as opposed to “mandatory” spending, which means it would be up for renewal every year if it were discretionary, which means that it would eventually be cut one day for real...and yeah, I know what Mango Mussolini has to say on this subject, but I gave up believing one word out of his mouth long ago, when it comes to golf, this or anything else)...



...and Beau gives us his take on the same subject (not the party of personal responsibility, but the party of grievance of course...slogans are indeed still there, though...”they don’t want to represent, they want to rule”...I would only add to Beau’s analysis by saying that the “R” bunch hates ANYTHING to do with government that is successful and popular...Dubya already tried his own privatization of Social Security scam, for example, and he got his butt handed to him, you might say)...



...and RIP Motown legend Barrett Strong, with his signature tune...

...and speaking of sports and “greens,” allow me to show a bit of pride as a somewhat lapsed Philly sports fan with the news of the Iggles facing the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl (LVII I think); when this happened five years ago, I presented some “green” songs for a bit of support, so I’d like to do the same thing again now, starting with this tune.

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about students in Flori-DUUUH! commendably getting ready to sue Guv Ron #DeathSantis over trying to ban an African American studies course (more nonsense from the original “monkey this up” guy...interesting explanation of the college exemption here, and I'm also sure Benjamin Crump will take no prisoners)...



Update 1/31/23: Welcome to Fascist #DeathSantis-Stan, where you can be ruthlessly punished by the state for reading the "wrong" book (here).

Update 2/1/23: Well, the College Board caved - sigh (here).

Update 2/12/23: A better response here.

...and on the subject of censorship, Jesse Dollemore discusses The Daily Wire using the Bible to justify book bans (didn’t know anything about this Michael Knowles character before, but of course he starts out with his conclusion and tries to fit the facts to support his utterly specious argument...have to admit that I also didn’t know about this Greg Locke insanity until now...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about the Repug-led U.S. House’s witch hunt committees (God almighty, do I want to see both Trump and Barr wearing orange jump suits...Hayes does a terrific job here IMO in laying out how absolutely futile it was to investigate alleged wrongdoing into the investigation of Our Ochre Abomination and why The Roger Ailes BS Factory should NEVER, EVER be trusted to report any story straight whatsoever)...



Update: Good related stuff on what a criminal Barr truly is here.

...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report bring us this week’s horrendous lies from “George Santos,” this time about making an alleged joke about killing Jewish and black people (sometimes I can’t even...)...



Update 2/9/23: Stealing from the Amish is pretty low even for this miscreant (here).

...and I thought Beau had some good advice on not taking the cops’ word when they try to hide what really went on by using what you could call mushy language (citing the Tyre Nichols case of course)...



...and RIP Tom Verlaine of Television.