Friday Stuff

Beau of the Fifth Column discusses the Repugs and their “Principal Skinner” moment when it comes to losing younger voters; this epiphany of sorts is brought to us courtesy of Kellyanne Conjob – “they’re demonstrating that they want to rule, not represent” – uh huh...



...and Ana of TYT tells us that big stupid head Matt Gaetz wants Biden to indiscriminately cut funding of programs relied on by poorer Americans, all for the sake of raising the damn debt limit (JUST MINT THE FREAKING COIN ALREADY, DARK BRANDON!)...



...oh, and speaking of Gaetz, Bobo, Marjorie Traitor Greene and all of their pals, it looks like they want to defund the FDA over the abortion pill, as Farron Cousins discusses in this clip (the party of limited government strikes again)...



...and in the prior clip, we learn about the consequences of nutty Trump judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to ban the abortion pill; staying in “the land of the yellow rose,” John and Jayar of The Damage Report introduce us to married-with-a-child state rep Bryan Slaton, who warns everybody about “groomers,” but whaddaya know...it looks like he’s a little too chummy with one of his under-21 interns (just say “oops” and get out)...



...and going even further down the rabbit hole when it comes to Repugs, their media acolytes and “doing the nasty,” Kyle Kulinski (in a pretty much NSFW/H clip) brings us Blaze TV host Steve Deace, who basically says that men, according to him, are getting so much sex that they’re bored, which, among other things, is more than a bit of a “tell” about how he approaches the subject...not my business I know, but I wonder how his wife feels about that statement...I did a little checking on this guy, and apparently he’s a wingnut “fave” because of disgusting nonsense such as this, this and this...



...well, to return the content to something more hopeful and upbeat, David Doel tells us about thousands of Rutgers faculty on strike...for graduate students to have to fight for a $30K-or-so wage that is basically poverty given what they have to spend on their education is highway robbery at a minimum, particularly for a university that made $816 mil last year as the video tells us (more great reporting on this from The Lever is here)...



...and with Justin Jones and Justin Pearson returned to the Tennessee state house where they belong, Lawrence O’Donnell tells us that the two recently appeared with fellow Dem Gloria Johnson to commemorate the 60th anniversary of “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in front of the Lorraine Motel, where King was gunned down (the site is now a museum, as O’Donnell tells us)...



...and here’s a newer tune for the kids to help us into what hopefully will be a good weekend for everybody; I had a chance to put this up a week ago, but I don’t think Good Friday would have been the correct time for it...everybody has to draw the line somewhere I guess.

Thursday Stuff

Francis Maxwell with Meidas Touch brings us the remarks of San Antonio Spurs basketball coach Gregg Popovich regarding the most recent mass shooting in Nashville (not counting Louisville also of course) and some of the related commentary from Big Hair Blackburn in the U.S. Senate; to me, the wonder isn’t that Popovich continues to speak his mind on this, which is commendable, but that more public figures don’t follow suit...



...and with our most recent gun carnage in mind, including Louisville (and is it me, but is it telling that there’s been virtual silence as far as I can determine from Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul on that mass casualty event?), the TMR crew tells us that Charlie Kirk sez that mass slaughter is the “price of doing business” to protect our sacred Second Amendment (or at least, Kirk’s ridiculous misinterpretation of it, comparing gun violence to peanut allergies or some such nonsense...and let’s not forget that the NRA is closely aligned with Kirk’s Turning Point USA as noted here)...



...and kudos to Dem Washington state governor Jay Inslee for standing up to that troglodyte Repug governor Brad Little in Idaho who wants to criminalize abortion everywhere (once more, heckuva job with Dobbs, High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR!) – Rachel Maddow explains...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us how Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg gave it back to Gym Jordan over the latter’s typically ridiculous upcoming hearing in The Big Apple (and I think this is exactly what Jordan deserves in response)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the news that, apparently, some idiot named Lance Wallnau says people are going to get killed next month for not supporting Combover Caligula...looks like we’ve got another candidate for the rubber room (and I don’t mean Jesse of course...gee, I wonder if Jordan – allegedly so concerned about victims of violent crime – is going to look into this? Don’t hold your breath)...



...and John and Conscious Lee of The Damage Report tells us about Webster Barnaby, some Repug state rep in Flori-DUUUH!, who thinks trans people are like X-men mutants walking among us, or something...of course, his analogy likely falls apart in his mind when you recall that those comic book characters were the “good guys”...I know there are a lot of good, hard working Dems in that state fighting the good fight, and props to them, but at times like this, part of me thinks that that state can’t break off from our continent and sink into the ocean fast enough...



...and this More Perfect Union clip brings us the story of workers at the Kroger supermarket chain who have dealt with wage theft, something to keep in mind as that giant retailer tries to merge with Albertson’s, which probably would be good for shareholders but lousy for everyone else...



...and I neglected to post yesterday because I got hung up with cataloging my Nazi memorabilia (joke - more here), but I did manage to come across this item where Missouri is apparently not going to fund public libraries any more...yeah, just keep everyone smart enough to work the machines but too dumb to do much of anything else, as The Eternal George Carlin once put it...considering that, I had this “book” tune in mind (and I also give you this insanity from Rep. Mike Moon of the "show me" state).

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, if it’s a day with a “y” in it, then that means that it’s not time to politicize gun violence again; according to MSNBC, the cops are treating this as a workplace-violence-related issue...obviously it’s a “gun” issue also (5 are dead including the shooter and 6 are being treated at University of Louisville Hospital...one is critical...there were 9 injured total but 3 were treated and released...and this lunatic had an AR-15 as noted here)...



...and on the subject of imaginary “violence” (as opposed to the all-too-real kind), Farron Cousins tells us that some Fix Noise bimbo is mad about Biden inviting Tennessee state reps Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson to the White House in response to the expulsion of Jones and Pearson (Jones was just reinstated of course), though, as Cousins notes, this harpie has not one damn thing to say about other ACTUAL violence in this country, against women, LGBTQ individuals, or anyone on the wrong end of a gun...



...and sticking with the subject of real violence, Kyle Kulinski tells us that All-Hat-No-Cattle Greg Abbott of Texas is looking to pardon some assassin named Daniel Perry who got it into his head to have a showdown with a BLM protestor and killed one of them exercising his right of free speech (the protestor of course)...Abbott was spurred into action by the caterwauling of The Swanson TV Dinner Heir as we find out (more here)...



Update 4/13/23: Gee, this sure figures about this nut, huh?

...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about the disgusting party switch form Team “D” to Team “R” by Tricia Cotham in North Carolina, giving Repugs a veto-proof majority in their state legislature...I get it that people switch sides in politics all the time, but in Sinema-esque fashion, Cotham did it in such as way as to totally flip off all of the people who worked for her campaign...



Update 5/5/23: "Rot in hell" indeed (here).

...and to give you a bit of actual good news, David Pakman tells us that Dem Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer just signed into law a repeal of that state’s 1931 abortion ban...



...and given the first clip, if you guessed that I think it’s time for another damn anti-gun song, you guessed correctly.

Monday Stuff

In the latest Second Thought video, we learn Why Work Is Getting Worse – “We’re not going to find a solution in some mythologized past. It’s only going to be when people have actual collective autonomy to make economic decisions and aren’t forced to generate profits for a small group of wealthy businessmen that work can actually, and durably, improve.”...yeah, I would say so (have to remember this for Labor Day)...



...and I touched on this a bit on Friday with the Trae Crowder clip, but here is Max Burns of Rebel HQ telling us more about MAGA nitwits like Kid Rock attacking Bud Light (privileged white dudes with guns and some hurt fee-fees...more here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report speak with Mehdi Hasan about Netanyahu and Israel (and get in a plug for Hasan’s book, which I know nothing about, but considering that it’s from a straight shooter like Hasan, it’s probably good)...



...and returning to this country, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report talks about Bari Weiss running with a story from this Emily Yoffe person about a child taking puberty blockers as part of gender-affirming care, with the mother claiming that her child is being abused by the hospital performing these procedures despite the child’s responses to the contrary (NSFW/H)...



...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report discuss the expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee state house (GREAT idea from John to make this into a campaign issue; I’d like to see an actual peaceful protest on the steps of the state capitol over getting the two reinstated, but I’ll take what I can get at this point)...



Update: A terrific development is here...and isn't this interesting?

Update 4/12/23: And then there were two (here).

...also, Joy Reid interviews MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin about the horrible abortion pill decision by Texas judge (and Trump appointee) Matthew Kacsmaryk (Biden has already appealed the ruling, as well he should...and I thought this was a good column by Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times about the utterly awful Comstock ruling underpinning the Kacsmaryk decision; Comstock should be cast into the legal dustbin at this point – Goldberg is kind of a mixed bag as a columnist I know, but I think she was spot-on here)...



Update: More here.

...and as the over-arching theme, if you will, of “governance” by Not Your Father’s Republican Party is revenge-based violence, as Thom Hartmann tells us, adding that isn’t the last move as part of their fascist descent – it’s the first...



...and happy belated 60th birthday to Julian Lennon (very mildly NSFW/H).

Happy Easter 2023

I hope you all you all have a happy and blessed Easter. If you don't observe anything, may you have a happy and blessed long weekend (and that goes for Passover and Ramadan too).

Friday Stuff

John and Wosny Lambre of The Damage Report tell us about Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and the vacations/gratuities he’s accepted from this megadonor named Harlan Crow, starting with June ’19, when Thomas and his Qanon wife went on a 9-day junket on a yacht to Indonesia...the two of them need to be the subject of Watergate-style hearings largely, but not totally, because of this; I mean, even SCOTUS justices are supposed to disclose this stuff (amazing work by ProPublica to dig up this story)...



Update: According to ProPublica and the New York Times, the vacations go back nearly two decades...and I don't buy this nonsense of "well, Crow is a friend, so I didn't think it had to be reported" for a minute (here).

Update 4/8/23: As I read this, I had the tune “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones running around in my head.

HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF JUSTICE THOMAS AND HIS DONOR FRIEND WITH THE NAME OF A KLAN VILLAIN, YOU FILTHY LIB!! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!

...and Ana of TYT tells us about red states rolling back child labor protections – in Iowa for example, a bill has passed through committees even though a full vote apparently is pending, and of course Repug guv Kim Reynolds will sign it if it reaches her desk (and Sarah Huckabilly Sanders has done the same on something similar in Arkansas)...



Update: I give you another "miracle" of Repug-run state governance here.

...oh, and apparently there were more insults aimed at Marjorie Trailer Park Greene that Lesley Stahl neglected to mention in her recent interview, but fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is ON IT, PEOPLE!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that there are actually signs of a pulse from the Democratic Party in Flori-DUUH!, with state party leader Nikki Fried and Lauren Book (minority senate leader) getting arrested for protesting the passage of a six-week abortion ban, which I believe passed the same day that guv Ron #DeathSantis signed his almost-as-disgusting permitless carry law (and boy, is Cousins ever right about the Dems in that state needing a fighter for a leader)...



...additionally, Trae Crowder tells us how the latest Trumpian garbage is distracting us from the recent mass shooting in Tennessee...and just as a reminder, only Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee state house as noted here, which is bad enough...yeah, the racism pretty much smacks you in the face (and the Bud Light reference has to do with this)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell recently pointed out that Huckleberry Graham expressed a lot of angst over Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive and his legal issues, but absolutely not one bit of grief or sympathy over the recent Nashville slaughter (as well as any other gun-related violence, really)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/4/11...Rachel Maddow tells us that CEO pay had gone up 27 percent from 2010 and companies climbed their way back also, with sizeable taxpayer assistance, from The Great Recession, while worker pay was essentially flat...and yes, that was indeed a “transfer of wealth” as she tells us...”the deficit would be cut in half if we allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire”...wonder how much better that would be if we did the same thing to #45’s tax cuts also? And as noted here, CEO pay also went up over the prior year in ‘22 (21 percent...the wealth transfer continues), average worker pay increased by about 3 percent from last year (here), which is barely better from what happened in 2011, and as noted here, the unemployment rate is about 4.5 percent, which is definitely better now than where we were in the 2011 clip...the most recent job numbers from today are here (again, not great, but OK given inflation which is also letting up...more here)...



...and here’s a newer tune to help us slide into the weekend; taking a break from my recent “moldy oldies.”

Thursday Stuff

David Doel informs us that Marjorie Traitor Greene got the “big apple” treatment she should have gotten from Lesley Stahl when Greene went to NYC for the arraignment of our 45th *president (and Jamaal Bowman stood tall once again...and for that disgusting harpie Greene to compare Trump to Jesus during Holy Week is offensive into the stratosphere as far as I’m concerned)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dumb Jr., Eric and that trashy loon from Georgia basically trying to dox the daughter of the judge hearing the case against Combover Caligula (sentencing will come one day I believe, and when it does, I’ll celebrate)...



...next, Farron Cousins tells us how getting indicted has been a cash cow for Our Treasonous Orange Pustule...never a shortage of goofballs apparently who just can’t help but fork over money to this third-rate con man...



...and John and Jayar tell us about Van Jones breaking out the world’s smallest violin for our Indicted Executive Criminal Suspect (yeah, Jones has sure fallen down the metaphorical rabbit hole all right)...



...turning to more substantive political matters, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report discusses the three Tennessee state lawmakers who are facing expulsion from that body for advocating for gun control, and they would be Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson (more here)...yes, these three were in the right to stand up with the students who were protesting for their safety, but I have to ask whose idea it was to bring a bullhorn into that chamber (a bit tangential I know, but I believe that’s what gave those pig-headed Repugs the opening to expel these three reps)...



Update: As Will Bunch sez, it's pretty much "Racism 101" from "the volunteer state" (here).

...and speaking of butt-hurt Repugs, Jeff Wiggins of Rebel HQ brings us the remarks from man-baby Dan Kelly of Wisconsin in the wake of his loss to Janet Protasiewicz for a seat on that state’s supreme court (and kudos to Brandon Johnson also for his win in the Chicago mayoral race)...



...also, Joy Reid speaks with the exonerated Central Park 5 member (Yusef Salaam) who ran a full-page ad imitating the look (but not the angry, factually wrong claims) of an ad Our Ochre Abomination ran against him and the other 4 defendants in 1989; good luck in his run for city council from Harlem (and I don’t give a damn about anything prosecutor Linda Fairstein might have to say in this case...more here)...



...and on this day in 1968, Pink Floyd announced that lead singer Syd Barrett was leaving the group due to his deteriorating mental health from drug abuse...makes me recall this tune.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that (and hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen!) voters are already tired of these alleged investigations by U.S. House Republicans, especially with the debt ceiling nonsense going on that the “party of Lincoln” ALWAYS stages when that party runs Congress and a Dem is in the White House (oh, and yeah, Gym Jordan kind of slid his supposed report from his “weaponizing government” committee under the door last Friday, apparently hoping no one would notice).

(Oh, and speaking of U.S. House Repugs, I tried twice to watch that abortion of an interview Lesley Stahl of the ”third eye” network conducted with Marjorie Trailer Park Greene, and I just couldn’t do it...nothing whatsoever against David Doel who did the analysis, but this is from the network where Edward R. Murrow once stood up to Joe McCarthy and his “See It Now” program was just about run off the air for it. I just can’t take a second of listening to that lying lunatic, no matter how much Stahl tried to normalize her.)...



...and John and Jayar bring us another lesson in white fragility in Flori-DUUUH!; apparently this goofball parent named Emily Conklin is trying to get the film “Ruby Bridges” banned because she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for second-grade students...the “sunshine state” is really pushing Texas hard to be “the land that time forgot” among all of the “great 48,” and on this day of all days (more here)...



...and Beau tells us that things are looking bad for the Foxies in that lawsuit with Dominion; the trial may start on 4/17, though there are likely to be delays as Beau points out...”there needs to be some baseline of reality” indeed (and speaking of legal matters, I know a certain 45th president will be arraigned probably this afternoon, but I’m going to try to stay away from the hoopla since I know the Gropenfuhrer is all about the spectacle and pretty much nothing else unless it lines his pockets somehow...great call on Beau's T-shirt BTW)...



...and I don’t know how many people have noticed that our former ol’ pal “Bibi” is trying to turn Israel into a dictatorship (of course, it appears to be that already to the Palestinians), but the people of that country have noticed for sure, as this Guardian clip shows (more here)...



...and in addition to the very important judicial contest in Wisconsin today (click here to help Judge Janet), there is also a mayoral election in Chicago, and this More Perfect Union clip gives us more on Paul Vallas, who might as well be a Republican...to help Brandon Johnson, click here...



...and my “this day of all days” remark in the Flori-DUUUH! clip had to do with this – hard to believe that it’s been 55 years.

Monday Stuff

Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us about all of the wingnut “copium” out there over Mango Mussolini’s indictment from the Stormy Daniels hush money stuff, featuring Dumb Jr., Watters, Cancun Cruz and a host of others (and yeah, I know I got into this yesterday also, but why not give it another shot?)...



...and Chris Hayes offers a commentary on the legal stuff behind the indictment of the Gropenfuhrer vis-a-vis how criminal justice works in this country for some high-ranking public officials versus with the rest of us...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen discusses the recent confrontation in the U.S. House between Dem rep (and former teacher) Jamaal Bowman and Thomas Massie (huge props to Bowman for this, BTW)...I know Massie put out some tweet later saying “in schools with open carry where teachers are armed, there is no gun violence” or words to that effect...yeah, brainiac; teachers often have to pay out of their own pockets for class materials because of the miserly budgets for teaching our kids, so now they’re ALSO supposed to pay for gun instruction and arming themselves too? And if someone comes into a room and the teacher mistakes them for an active shooter and accidentally takes somebody out, are you going to pay their legal fees and defend them in court? OF COURSE NOT! (as Thom Hartmann says, call 202-224-3121, ask for your representative and/or senator, and give them an earful...clip is NSFW/H)...



Update: As the song goes, the kids are alright (here - this too behind the Inky's damn paywall).

...next up is Jesse Dollemore giving us the pearl-clutching from wingnut lickspittle Matt Walsh, with his carrying-on that will get trans people killed (and that goes for Walsh’s fellow hatemongers “Tuckums,” Michael Knowles, etc. – and how sad do you have to be in your life to play second fiddle basically to Baby Ben Shapiro...great job by Dollemore to present Walsh’s take on Nashville vs. Uvalde...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here how Flori-DUUUH! guv Ron #DeathSantis got schooled by The Mouse on this business of trying to take over Disney (I think Cousins means “before DeSantis’s people took over the district” not Trump’s people)...



...and RIP Procal Harum lyricist Keith Reid.

Sunday Stuff

Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence over the indictment of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg; along with the threats of violence of course from this pack of cowards (and again, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but if anybody deserves to take a victory lap over this, they do..a little NSFW/H)...



...fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is here to help, sort of (more here – also NSFW/H...)...



...and one of the biggest apologists for Our Ochre Abomination is Cancun Cruz, and in this Rebel HQ clip from Richard Ojeda, we find out that Cruz apparently asked for unanimous consent for a Senate gun bill that, to put it charitably, wasn’t fully formed, and he was rightly called out for it by Dem Chris Murphy of Connecticut...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about Missouri Repug state rep Chris Sander (a gay man) trying to get a marriage equality bill passed...and as a result, he has faced 2 censure votes (NSFW/H also...yeah, at a certain point, I really think Sander should “get the memo” here)...



...and I know a state supreme court election may not sound like a big deal, but it definitely is that this Tuesday in Wisconsin...if wingnut Dan Kelly wins, then he could potentially sway the court to not seat electors in next year’s presidential contest, assuming Biden (or another Dem) were to win...to oppose Kelly and help Judge Janet Protasiewicz instead, please click here...



...and kudos to Dionne Warwick for this.

Friday Stuff

FINALLY! (more here – in this NBC News report, anchor Lester Holt speaks with network legal analyst Danny Cevallos...and while it would be satisfying to see Combover Caligula detained immediately in a cell, which is completely what he deserves, I realize that won’t happen, though it should be obvious that he’s a flight risk so he should have to surrender his passport...by the way, on an unrelated note, posting could be iffy next week)...



...and in case somehow you need to be reminded how Our Ochre Abomination rose to his level of prominence (aside from that stoo-pid "Apprentice" TV show), David Pakman gives us this clip of Fix Noise CEO Suzanne Scott berating her people via Email to STOP TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP! OUR ELDERLY, RETIRED BOOMER AUDIENCE IS GETTING BIG MAD!!!...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Marjorie Traitor Greene’s comments about the Nashville mass shooting (oh, “a good guy with a gun” showed up all right, AFTER SIX PEOPLE WERE ALREADY KILLED INCLUDING 3 KIDS! And saying that in front of Jared Moskowitz, the Dem rep from the district where the Parkland massacre took place, was a particularly tone deaf move, as per usual with her)...



...and David Doel tells us that “Bo-Bo Boebert” was apparently looking for some kind of a “gotcha” moment in a recent hearing with a member of D.C. government on the alleged issue of “public urination,” but was proven completely wrong again...assuming she knows how to hire competent people (which is probably a stretch), she needs staffers to prepare her for these hearings who actually know what they’re doing, since she plainly doesn’t know that herself...funny that she didn’t ask about some kind of a statute about a spouse exposing himself at a bowling alley...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about paid off politicians and judges/justices and how that “trickles down,” if you will, towards making our lives more dangerous, particularly when it comes to guns (looking at Citizens United to legalize corporate bribery, of course, which had a hand in this)...Thom goes back to the ruinous Reagan years yet again (more grim, grisly gun death stats...I know Lawrence O’Donnell recently laid the blame for the assault weapons ban expiring at the feet of Dubya and the ’04 Republican congress, but I think that bears repeating...and yeah, call 202-224-3121; damn right)...



...and Cenk and Ana of TYT give us their take on another recent train derailment spewing dangerous chemicals, this time in Minnesota...I get tired of these two beating up on the Dems, but unfortunately, they have a point about “Mayor Pete” on this; sadly, I’m distinctly unimpressed with the response of the Biden administration to the East Palestine, OH disaster and its aftermath (and yeah, they’re right about this “parliamentarian” business too...hell, during Bush/Cheney, they FIRED the damn parliamentarian in the Senate when that person didn’t do what they wanted...and I think the Biden response on this and some other recent matters has more than a little bit to do with this...one more thing; I question David Sirota’s punditry, but never his reporting)...



...and RIP Mark Russell, topical song parodist on news/political stuff...I watched him from back in the day because I thought he was clever plenty of times, though he probably was a little too chummy with some of the folks he lampooned...he came from an era where we still had the luxury of laughing at conservatives before they managed to take over our politics, media etc. and spend every waking moment trying to utterly ruin our lives...here, he performs “The Line of Death Bar and Grille” from about ’86, based on this...I’m sure You Tube will find a way to yank this clip shortly, FWIW...



...and here's a cool new tune for the kids to help us usher in the weekend.

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about a Tallahassee charter school principal who was forced to resign after a parent said that Michelangelo’s David was “pornographic” (yep, it’s in Flori-DUUH! – more here)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about the U.S. Senate chaplain giving an invocation to FREAKING DO SOMETHING! about guns in this country, along with the viral comment from that assclown Tim Burchett saying “my daddy served in the Pacific in WWII, and he said if somebody wants to kill you, they will”...well, MY father served in Europe during WWII, and were he still with me, I can just about tell you right now that he would say you’re full of crap (and as actor John Leguizamo said recently, how bad a message is it that you’re comparing a classroom to a war zone?)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about Mississippi rural hospitals closing because they won’t accept Medicaid funding, which is basically free money from the federal government (well, 90 percent anyway)...this policy is hurting rural hospitals in other states too...nice to see the fire from the two of them aimed where it belongs instead of at each other, particularly true in Ana’s case...but of course Mississippi, with its utterly rotten quality of life, has no problem finding the dough for Brett Favre’s daughter’s volleyball court as noted here...and based on this, that state's halfwit Repug guv Tate Reeves might as well have a Koch Industries logo stamped on his forehead)...



Update 4/5/23: Sounds like Reeves needs help trying to read a calendar (here).

...and in response to this story about Idaho, I present this from Meidas Touch, which I suppose was meant to depict some dystopian future which, tragically, has already arrived...



...and to be honest, I really didn’t have a “dog in the fight” when it comes to the Chicago mayoral election, but after seeing this, I’m officially supporting Brandon Johnson (link to web site is here...and yeah, one of Paul Vallas’s stops was Philly where he ran the school district from ’02 to ‘07...I think he made some cosmetic reforms without making structural ones, as noted here...not sure what else was possible, but I think that needs to be pointed out)...

...and RIP Bobbi Ercoline, who, as the Times notes here, gave one of the most iconic hugs of all time.

Wednesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore discusses some of the “great unwashed” supporters for Our Ochre Abomination comparing #45 to Our Lord – yes, I’ll give the Email writer points for politeness, but that’s more than completely negated by her dunderheaded stupidity about Biden’s predecessor and the charges that likely will be brought by Alvin Bragg (any day now, any day now, as the song goes...I know this portrait is completely blasphemous, and I can't tell you how offensive it is to me as a Roman Catholic, but these crazies need to be held to account for this stuff)...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us about more censorship of a social studies book in Flori-DUUH! where just about ANY information to identify Rossa Parks is removed from the text...basically, if you’re going to try and tell her story like that, why even mention Parks AT ALL...”some lady with a skin color rode a bus and did something that we remember the end” (and apparently, based on this, “Meatball Ron” doesn’t remember anything about 9/11; a terrific response to the oppression in that state is here)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that, under Utah’s beyond-ridiculous book banning law, someone is trying to get the Bible off of shelves in that state – more info is here...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tells us that, apparently, “Bibi” went too far in trying to get rid of Israel’s Supreme Court and ended up getting rid of his defense minister who stood up to him (but unfortunately, as Cenk says, it definitely looks like this isn’t over, despite the protests going on against Netanyahu).

(And by the way, speaking of TYT, I know about “the argument”...from what I saw, Cenk did indeed make a generalization when he said that “Republicans love criminals” or words to that effect, and Ana was right to initially criticize him over it. To me, Cenk apologized for that, but Ana kept harping...rather pointlessly, actually. Cenk was saying that Republicans don’t like us and many of us don’t like them...which to me is merely acknowledging reality...but can we at least come together on economic issues since the “one percent” uses their influence, including corporate media, to keep us divided over culture wars BS while they continue to steal us blind, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY FREAKING RIGHT!!!, but Ana kept yelling anyway, which I couldn’t figure out. No, I didn’t see the entire 13 or 25-minute argument or whatever it was, since I have neither the time nor desire to wade through that stuff, but that’s my story and I’m sticking with it...if you want to watch a video where Kyle Kulinski discusses this some more, click here) – the Israel clip follows...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less)...with still more gun-related carnage in the news, I think it’s apropos to bring back this clip of Jim Carrey’s “Cold Dead Hand”...TYT commented on the video on 3/29/13, even though the “Funny or Die” clip dropped on about 3/14 (probably NSFW/H)...



...and the prior clip made an anti-gun point with some comedy in a tune, but this is completely serious from Tom Paxton; when all else fails, I guess we need some aging hippie dudes to lead the way :-).

Tuesday Stuff

John and Francesca of The Damage Report bring us the latest on the most recent gun carnage in this country in Nashville, Tennessee...oh, and let’s hear about all the wingnut clutching of pearls in response to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre who “goes there” on this issue (here), as well she should (and let's not forget that Republican governor Bill Lee of Tennessee signed "permitless carry" legislation, over the objections of law enforcement as noted here)...



...and I didn’t want to let the latest Trumpian criminal insanity fall through the metaphorical cracks; I know it’s a little redundant to say “oh, he had another crazy rally of his,” but to do so in Waco, TX on the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian raid is truly a special kind of evil, as well as showing footage of 1/6 during the national anthem, as Jesse Dollemore explains (and here is a link to Kathleen Belew’s book; I’ll plan to follow up on that...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and in case anybody thinks that somehow the “party of Lincoln” has freed itself from the grip of Mango Mussolini, Farron Cousins tells us that U.S. House Republicans are trying to get a totally unconstitutional law passed preventing the states from investigating Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive...and OF COURSE Gym Jordan is involved (yep, fighting big government overreach yet again...removing my tongue from my cheek as I say that)...



...and this from More Perfect Union tells us that, apparently, King Elon I got everything he wanted for this new factory of his in Texas, including the right to dump 140K gallons of wastewater PER DAY into the Colorado River as noted here, along with abusing the hell out of his workers (a great argument for unionizing the shop IMO)...



...and Joy Reid bring us an NBC News report on the death of Irvo Otieno in a psychiatric hospital in Virginia (more here – definitely not a rush to judgment from yours truly...I try to be careful about criminal justice stuff overall, with guns as an exception as noted above, because of the presumption of innocence, all facts not being in, etc., but I’m including this clip because somebody needs to figure out just what the hell happened here)...



...and happy 75th birthday to keyboardist John Evan of Jethro Tull.

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us about the latest nonsense from “Curtsy Kyrsten” and the reason why she decided to skip these Democratic U.S. Senate lunches, or whatever they are...Sinema is truly nuts – also, here’s the thing...if she hopes to come back to Capitol Hill as a lobbyist (which is her end game I suppose), how effective is she going to be at currying favor after she’s gotten so many of her colleagues so PO’ed at her? And I’m sure that has occurred to the funders who would consider bringing her on board, as they have with "No Corporate Tax" Pat Toomey...



...and this “Now This” clip features AOC speaking out against this “parental bill of rights” nonsense that recently passed the U.S. House, with Bri-Fi’s willing collaboration as noted here (oh, but he wanted some kind of cost-benefit analysis for this insanity...what cowardly BS; as AOC says, this is an attempt to nationalize all of the local-level garbage going on with attacking trans youth and censoring books)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tells us that an Idaho hospital says it will stop labor and delivery care for babies because of the state’s abortion ban...all kinds of aspects to this story, and they’re all terrible, but here’s another one; the next time I hear “Tuckums” or one of his pals yelling about birth rates in this country declining, try reminding them of this story, as well as the cost of paying off student debt, buying a car/home, etc. (and yeah, I know it won’t register anyway with those cretins, but we have to try at a minimum...and Cenk is right about the evangelicals on this issue – another reason why I detest those people – it should be noted, though, that the Catholic Church started railing against Roe from almost the moment it was handed down)...



...and Jayar and Jackson White of Rebel HQ bring us this clip of Dem U.S. House Reps Jamie Raskin and Cori Bush pointing out that 9 of the top 10 states with the highest gun deaths where there are weak gun laws are run by Republicans...



...and in keeping with that subject, Lawrence O’Donnell brings us a report from the Texas Tribune saying the cops were afraid of the AR-15, which confirms what we already suspected I know...this Bogdanski guy should be criminally prosecuted IMO for his cowardice, along with the rest of them (to say nothing of Dubya and the Republican congressional lickspittles who allowed the assault weapons ban to lapse in 2004 – O’Donnell’s quiet outrage is completely called for IMO and utterly commendable, and comparing this weapon of death to a machine gun is completely apt)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith – maybe too easy of a choice here given the prior two videos, but here it is anyway.

Update 1: It looks like it's time not to politicize gun violence again (here).

Update 2: Yep. Ogles should be shamed at a minimum - of course, he REALLY should be voted out of office next year (here).

Friday Stuff

This is probably the longest Second Thought video I’ve seen yet, but it tells the story of the East Palestine, OH Norfolk Southern disaster better than anything I’ve seen to date...really getting into the back story as usual, this time about safety concerns barely getting addressed under Obama, wiped out under Mango Mussolini, and getting essentially ignored once again under Biden/Buttigieg...“when profit is the only thing that matters, safety is an unnecessary luxury” indeed, and he’s absolutely right about nationalizing the railroads...something I always wondered about was why, in 2010 when the “Tea Party” insanity took over Congress, one of the first things they did was to go after environmental regulations (targeting the EPA specifically), and as it turns out, that was right smack dab in the middle of the ’08-’14 period when train derailments started to increase by leaps and bounds...of course, that was also pretty big on the Koch Brothers wish list at that time...



...and Thom Hartmann talks about standing up to fascist bullies, and I think you can safely consider Norfolk Southern to be one of that bunch...I’m a little surprised to hear Thom imply that Dubya WASN’T a “bully,” especially since I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten the story of Don Siegelman (here), though to be fair, I guess Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales were more to blame for that, to say nothing of Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame...



...and to take the whole “bully” thing a little further, I guess you can say that about this Lorna Roxanne Green lunatic who was arrested in Casper, Wyoming for (allegedly) attempting to set fire to the only abortion clinic in the state (John and Jessica Burbank provide commentary)...



...and as Thom says, the NRA is pretty high on the list of bullies, and kudos to Dem U.S. House Rep Max Frost for taking them on (Frost being one of the ever-shrinking number of federal government Democrats from Flori-DUUH!)...Max Burns of Rebel HQ tells us about it (more here and here)...



...and to try and lighten things up a bit, I thought I’d present this, which I thought was a clever bit of comedy from The Daily Show, though “Tuckums” can be unintentionally hilarious all by himself I know...



...and somehow I neglected to mention the passing of unheralded R&B singer Chuck Jackson last month, so please allow me to make amends for that now (Elvis, among others, covered this tune).

Thursday Stuff

Gee, maybe somebody ought to do something about this climate change thing, huh (John and Yasmin Khan give us the latest gory details...more here and here)...



...and Francesca, Maz Jobrani and Farron Cousins tell us that, in a recent survey, more Americans polled by Gallup support the Palestinians than Israel...and yeah, if Andrew Cuomo leads off with something, you can be sure that he’s on the wrong side...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Van Jones taking a bit of a veiled swipe at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, given the tick-tock of waiting for the latest legal machinations pertaining to Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a former *president...really? Yep, I would agree that Jones has become a little too damn comfortable with the D.C. “club” of politicians, operatives and media sycophants...



...and turning to our ongoing plague, David Doel tells us about Bernie Sanders questioning Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel on fleecing the people of this country over the COVID vaccine (gee, they ONLY made over a billion dollars last quarter?)...and NAIL. HAMMER. FREAKING HEAD!!! by Doel on questioning EVERY DAMN THING about Operation Warp Speed! Do you have any idea how much that cost U.S. taxpayers? I sure as hell don’t (God forbid we ever see any actual reporting on this), and I have seen NO ACCOUNTABILITY WHATSOEVER for doling out our tax money to the drug companies for this...”oh, but Trump was responsible for O.W.S.”...so, I’m supposed to give him credit for that even though that was completely opaque to me, again, as a taxpayer?...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that Nebraska State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh is getting some help from her fellow Dems in standing up for the rights of trans people---shocking I have to admit, but good news for a change...and yeah, this is indeed how Dems are supposed to respond to conservative garbage, in this case from these characters Mike Moser and Steve Erdman...as Figueredo points out, young kids aren’t getting “bottom surgery,” but are getting puberty blockers to help with transition under medical supervision; the blockers are reversible in case they want to stick with their biological sex, but the surgery option isn’t available unless they’re essentially grown and have agency, despite what contemptible bottom feeders like Matt Walsh are spouting off about (and my guess is that Erdman listens to Walsh, which explains why he’s clueless...NSFW/H)...



...and I guess, given the first item, I’m feeling a little more aware of my own mortality than usual, just in time for this newer tune.

Wednesday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about some alleged “preacher” named Daniel Kuhtsar of the Sure Foundation Baptist Church who haz a sad over getting death threats since he called for the same thing against LGBTQ individuals – yeah, another entry for the “’f’ around and find out” file as far as I’m concerned...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss Idaho’s Lewis-Clark college censoring a pro-choice art show because it allegedly violates some state law; sound like that location is run by the most enlightened minds of the 13th century (and I thought this was a good discussion about wingnut hypocrisy when it comes to “free speech for me, but not for thee”...and I believe the lefty censorship Cenk notes is dis-inviting conservative speakers to public events – inviting them at first, then realizing how crazy they were and then cancelling the invitation – which I always thought was dumb; get them on the record and refute their nonsense WITH ACTUAL FACTS...and sorry if I’m being unkind, but I’ve never really bought the whole “canceling for campus security” argument as noted here...I’ve been to Middlebury a few times, and I definitely wouldn’t call it a place where cars are likely to be set alight and storefront windows get smashed up, not that I want that in any circumstance)...



...and David Shuster brings us the story of Ohio police in Walton Hills sued by a woman driver named Amanda Mills who tried to record them, and it sounds like they messed up her arm and caused other injuries as a result (named in the suit is some life form named C.J. Schmidt, who apparently is one of the roughhousing officers in question – he and his pals deserve what they get from this)...



...and in this clip, Thom Hartmann does a pretty good job IMO of drawing a line of Republican Party corruption from Richard Nixon to the Gropenfuhrer; Thom reminds us about this story from over the weekend about the effort from The Sainted Ronnie R and his minions – which was successful, as it turned out – to scuttle the Iran hostage negotiations under President Carter to help ensure Reagan’s election, leading to Iran/Contra and Dubya and the ’00 election along with the second Iraq war, up to the two Trump impeachments and 1/6 of course)...



Update 3/23/23: More from Greg Palast is here.

...and I would call this a pretty good summing up by Rachel Maddow of the varying levels of corruption and illegality of Mango Mussolini and his associates (again, mindful that at least one legal metaphorical shoe will drop soon concerning the leader of Cult 45)...



...and this tune was #1 on the Billboard chart for the week ending March 23, 1968...Otis Redding spent most of his career making those great, upbeat soulful tunes with his fellow Stax musicians, Carla Thomas and others, but apparently was motivated by the Beatles and the success of Sgt. Pepper earlier that year to change things up a bit and perform this selection, against the wishes of the estimable Steve Cropper and “Duck” Dunn...Redding died soon after he made this, and it was the first number one posthumous tune in Billboard history...amazing that he crammed all of his great work into only 26 years.