Saturday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that it looks like 20 million of our fellow Americans say we need violence to reinstall a certain Treasonous Orange Pustule to An Oval Office again...and yeah, this Guardian story is scary for sure, but as Dollemore says, “both sides-ing” this is utter nonsense...”anger and radicalization,” whatever “radicalization” means (just saying that can be open to interpretation, that's all), is definitely not the same thing as a threat or actual violent move of some type against someone or something, which the Trumpsters are more than willing to do again, and I see ZERO equivalent on our side when it comes to this madness...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the news that the utterly odious Frank Luntz is trying to sound the alarm about the latest ad from The Gropenfuhrer, this one about the “deep state” of course (though I agree with the TMR crew that the only individuals who will be motivated to do anything are the lizard-brained earthlings that comprise Cult 45 and probably no one else)...and yeah, among the other lunacies, there’s the bit about “owning every politician that mattered” and they have a pic of Michael Moore, WHO ISN’T EVEN A FREAKING POLITICIAN!!!...



...well, at least the mayor of Erie in our beloved commonwealth of PA has apparently gotten the memo, you might say, and he wants Mango Mussolini to pay the cost of his upcoming brown shirt rally tonight in advance since there apparently is a matter of $35K outstanding from one of #45’s 2018 hate fests there (Ana and Cenk of TYT...one of the best critiques of the MAGA lunatics I’ve heard in a while, to be fair)...



...and when it comes to other Repugs who want to be preznit, Max Burns of Rebel HQ tells us about Tim Scott, who definitely wants to cut Social Security for younger voters along with #DeathSantis, Pence, Nikki Haley, and pretty much the rest of that damn party (and as Biden basically said, Scott starts throwing around these numbers for Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security which actually pale when compared to the TRILLIONS in tax cuts signed into law by Combover Caligula, which his party in Congress passed of course)...



...and speaking of the governor of Flori-DUUH!, apparently he would nominate RFK Jr. to run the FDA or the CDC if, by some catastrophic development, #DeathSantis ends up winning the election next year...I thought this was a good clap-back from The Lincoln Project (more here)...



...and Mehdi Hasan speaks with Paul Krugman about Biden’s economy and what I would call the gulf between public perception and economic reality – and let’s not forget the importance of the Infrastructure Investment Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act also.

And by the way, I give Hasan credit for pushing the point about how the Dems CONTINUALLY SCREW UP THE MESSAGING on just about any damn issue and let the other side run with their utter BS narratives, which end up filling the void on social media because the “D” party REFUSES TO FIGHT BACK! (and to be fair to Krugman, I really don’t expect him to be an expert on that topic). And yes, we know what the online stuff is (including this space, I’ll admit), but if you’re serious about winning hearts and minds, you’d damn well better be out there trying to tell people THE FREAKING TRUTH!

(And yes, I know I’ve beat this drum many times, but I believe I have to yet again. And I'll even admit that it's not completely the fault of Team "D.")

Here is yet another example. Lauren Boebert is truly one of the most vile examples of homo sapiens walking on two legs as far as I’m concerned, and we all know about how she threw the pin in the trash of the young girl who was one of the victims of the Uvalde massacre. Well, as noted in the Yahoo News story, she’s blaming the fact that she was wearing air pods and mistook the individual who handed her the pin for someone who had confronted her earlier.

As far as I’m concerned, that excuse is totally ridiculous, but utterly typical. However, as a bit of a “thought exercise,” let’s pretend that what she says is the truth. Do you want to know how an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion likely would have handled an incident like this? They would have said, “The other day, I was approached by someone who handed me a pin that represented 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, who was killed by a gunman in Uvalde, TX. It was shaped in the form of one of the sneakers she typically wore. I mistakenly took the pin and tossed it in the trash without thinking, and I am genuinely sorry for such a callous act. As a response, here is what I want to do. My office will donate $25,000 to Everytown USA or The Brady Campaign to combat gun violence. I personally don’t support these organizations, but I would like to extend this gesture of goodwill on behalf of Maite Rodriguez and the other Uvalde victims and their families and friends. Thank you.”

I realize that, as this Repug Party is presently composed, there is ZERO POSSIBILITY that ANYONE in that group would even contemplate a gesture like this. However, as I said, this is what an actual adult with a scintilla of brains and/or compassion would do. And the fact that there is STONE FREAKING SILENCE on this from those professional election losers at the DNC and DCCC is a typically pathetic response (and that also goes for Adam Frisch, who supposedly is running to try and unseat Boebert next year. I haven’t heard a peep from him on this either).

Anyway, here is the Hasan/Krugman clip...



...and I’m a little behind on this I know, but John and Brett Erlich bring us their “garbage people” from the week before last I believe, and Kyrsten Sinema made that list for her idiotic “Barbenheimer” tweet...God, is this woman ever living in her own private Idaho, you might say (though RoJo still led the pack in awfulness, which is definitely “on the nose” for him...I definitely plan to see "Oppenheimer," and if I have anything worthwhile to say, I may post about it, just to warn you in advance)...



...and I hope you’re ready to rock into the weekend with this new little number.

Thursday Stuff

Willie Geist and some of the “Morning Joe” crew (I recognized Mike Barnicle, but not the other lady) interview Bloomberg News reporter David Kocieniewski on the story of the proliferation of U.S. guns in Thailand, the Philippines, Central America and elsewhere, particularly these weapons of death manufactured by Sig Sauer (typically disgusting story of how the gun maker tried to “launder” the sale of the German weapons in this country, and when Germany found out about it, they put the CEO in prison for a few weeks, which is exactly what some of the corporate criminals in this country deserve also...and yeah, I’d like to see the Biden Commerce Department stand up a little more on this issue too)...



Update 8/24/23: More here.

...and Thom Hartmann discusses “Operation Save America,” yet another spin off group from the evangelicals...yeah, they hate gays and Muslims of course, but they REALLY hate women who have abortions (this all-male panel in charge...of course...thinks that women not giving birth deserve the death penalty)...but they’re “pro life” – uh huh (more here)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that it looks like a bunch of conservative moms tried another ban of LGBTQ-themed books at a pride display at a San Diego library...these loons basically checked out the books in question and pretty much held the books hostage, if you will, and boy, did San Diego ever step up big time in response – nicely done...and all of this madness while the planet continues to melt (NSFW/H)...



...and gee, it looks like Repug U.S. Senators Cornpone Kennedy and Huckleberry Graham are all in a snit over Dem attempts to rein in our out-of-control SCOTUS with even the blandest of measures...the proposals from Dem U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse, important as they are, have a hard road in the “60 Votes For Passage” U.S. Senate and no shot whatsoever in the U.S. House with those lunatics in charge, but it’s important to try and hold our renegades in robes accountable (John and Jayar tell us about it...this is yet another issue where I hear nothing but stone freaking silence from the national Democratic Party organizations, who may end up losing the battle for the narrative on this issue among others)...



...and Beau tells us that “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy may actually launch an impeachment inquiry against Biden...yeah, I can see that slim majority going up in smoke big time next year, though we all need to work to make sure that happens; good point by Beau on what independent voters would likely think of this nuttiness, especially since those who might vote in favor of impeaching Biden failed to do so for Mango Mussolini when much stronger cases were made against him...



...and here’s another summer tune to help us all (hopefully) decompress a bit.

Wednesday Stuff

I thought this was a pretty comprehensive video by Leeja Miller on the history of policing in this country and how police forces can trace their origins back to hunting for runaway slaves, and I think it’s safe to say that that mentality also prevails at the moment, expanded a bit for people of other ethnicities...I know it’s been covered pretty thoroughly that investing in communities before law enforcement gets involved (as well as funding mental health services for real) yields a better return on investment, if you will, and if wingnuts weren’t so preoccupied with “punching down,” they’d be onboard with that, but we know the score on that one...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about the recent dustup between CNN’s Dana Bash and former VP Mike Pence on the question of the 1/6 insurrectionists...Pence is a coward basically, but I grudgingly have to point out that he did the right thing when the Trumpist mob stormed the Capitol; I know Cenk Uygur, among others, has noted that, if Pence had refused to certify the election, then the states would have sent their fake Trump electors (and make no mistake – they were ready to go on that, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia), and since there would have been a conflict with the actual electors, the whole thing would likely have been decided by the House of Representatives...fortunately, the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR ruled against that “independent legislative theory” BS (which would have opened the door for Repug-run legislatures to ignore the vote on behalf of a candidate for their party), but you KNOW another case related to that will come around again...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that Ron #DeathSantis of Flori-DUUH! recently ran another controversial campaign ad, with this one invoking Nazi imagery; at least this latest ad didn’t have borderline homoerotic porn, so I guess we’re supposed to call that progress? More here...



...and Mike Figueredo brings us the story of Texas Dem U.S. House Rep Greg Casar protesting HB 2127, which denies water breaks to construction workers in that state (Casar is staging a "thirst strike" in response)...I realize the Biden Administration has its hands full trying to run the country and also trying to combat all of the idiocy from the “party of Lincoln,” but if there’s a way to craft a federal rule to override what Greg Abbott and his fellow maniacs are doing on this issue in particular, then I personally am all for it...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that the Club for Growth is dropping $20 mil for lunatic U.S. House Repugs, because of course (the “Patriot 20,” huh? Pardon me while I gag...and OF COUUURRRSSE it includes Biggs, Boebert, Gaetz, Gosar, etc...the “worst of the worst” indeed...and yeah, great point by Cousins about why the CFG would want THESE lunatics as opposed to OTHER Repug lunatics who likely would win those seats in the general election anyway, unfortunately...I guess these corporatist mongrels need to throw their money around in other new, creative ways now that “No Corporate Tax” Pat Toomey is mercifully gone at last from public life)...



...and I knew it was only a matter of time before the wingnuts got all ZOMG OBAMA KILLED HIS CHEF!!! after the news broke about the awful accident involving Tafari Campbell at South Beach on MVY...of course, this totally ignores the pesky little fact that the Obamas WEREN’T EVEN FREAKING THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED!!!, though of course they apparently were on the island...cue the "X Files" music I guess...ugh - let the wingnut conspiracy theories commence (John and Adrienne Lawrence discuss it)...



...and RIP Sinead O’Connor – 56 is way too young (and as always, pop culture imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)...



...and while she wasn’t personally my musical cup of tea, she represented a particular type of artistry, and I respect that (and no, I really never cared about her tearing up that picture of the Pope...she was trying to give voice to institutionalized religious oppression, which is actually worse now here than in Ireland).



Update: Yeah, I would agree with this.

Tuesday Stuff

Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson tell us that blue states are planning to use shield laws to send abortion pills to patients in red states, which I think is a good way to say “FU” to the wingnuts on this issue; shield laws have apparently been put into practice in the EU also, which is where the idea comes from I believe...kind of unbelievable that, in this day and age, we have to create what amounts to an “underground railroad” like this, but thanks to wingnut judges along with the execrable Leonard Leo and The Federalist Society, we are where we indeed are...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Hunter Biden’s lawyers have filed an ethics complaint against Marjorie Traitor Greene for introducing those nude pics in that congressional hearing last week...yeah, Greene should end up in the slam for that, and I don’t say that lightly, but speaking only for myself, I’ve had enough of the utter nonsense of that bunch and it’s waaaay past time for somebody to pay a price for it, and with the exception of Boebert, who else is more deserving?...



Update 7/26/23: It's about goddamn time! (here).

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Alabama Repugs flipping off the SCOTUS, more specifically, on a ruling that would require the voting map in that state to be redrawn to include a second majority African American district...



...and Eric Swalwell talks about “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy trying to expunge Trump’s impeachments, which I don't even think is a thing (and one of those 19 U.S. House Repugs in Biden-won districts is this guy of course – to do something about Bri-Fi, click here...and good for Swalwell to mention rebuilding that section of I-95, which was a partnership with the Feds and PA Dems and was indeed a remarkable accomplishment...and yes, I know we have to pay attention to Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence from time to time, but to be honest, I’m tired of wasting calories on that narcissistic sociopath; put him in the slam for 20 years and be done with it)...



...and David Doel tells us about a volunteer group in Houston (Food Not Bombs) which has been fined thousands apparently for feeding the homeless outside of a library (doing so when the place is closed after hours...and yeah, four cops are just standing there waiting to ticket the group – can’t get my head around the stoo-pidity, I have to admit)...and in case anybody out there is thinking “oh, there he goes bashing Repugs again”...well, they’re at least partly to blame for what goes on in this country, but Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is a Dem...and yeah, I think Doel is exactly right that all of this is because the mayor doesn’t want the homeless near city hall...



...and this is a bit of a summer song...looks like the mercury is going to climb again in these parts, so please be careful and look in on anybody who’s infirmed or elderly if you can as well as kids, and don’t forget your pets either if you have them.

Monday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us that The Roger Ailes BS Factory recently ran with a “story” about how misgendering people in Michigan, as an act by itself, is now a crime, but even though the “story” turned out to be total BS, Repug politicians in that state are trying to recall 5 Dem politicians in the state house who supposedly are responsible for the law, which doesn’t do what the Repugs say it does...does your head hurt over this nonsense yet?...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that RFK Jr. recently ran with his hurt fee fees over to the same propaganda network noted previously after getting called out in that recent U.S. House hearing (slightly NSFW/H)...Jr. may be one of the most pathetic public figures I’ve seen in a loooong time, because of this and myriad other reasons (more here)...



...and speaking of pathetic figures, Francesca, Cenk and Mark Thompson of TYT (not them) tell us about megadonors contributing to “Curtsy Kyrsten” in her sure-to-fail re-election campaign...yes, as the panel notes, the real danger is that Sinema could pull votes away from Ruben Gallego and allow that loon Kari Lake to win the seat...



...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us how much corporate America loves stoo-pid politicians who do what they’re told, especially on the local level; the issue is all of the Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! that people are excited about at the ribbon-cutting ceremony when these places break ground, but then – ooopsie! – most of those jobs evaporate after these corporate criminals get their money...Foxconn, Boeing and Amazon are mentioned here, but there are probably too many other companies to name...



...well, for an example of an employer actually doing the right thing, this More Perfect Union clip goes to the home district of Marjorie Trailer Park Greene to find that it is becoming a hub of sorts for Hanwha Qcells, a company that makes solar panels, believe it or not (and yeah, it looks like this is another reason for our corporate media to go “meh” on the Inflation Reduction Act, making the polls on what a great job overall Biden has done with the economy even more negative instead...and yeah, Marjorie Traitor Greene is still an idiot, but we knew that)...



...and happy belated 70th birthday to Eric Bazilian of The Hooters.

Sunday Stuff

I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 7/22/16, in which we view the Friends of the Earth ad That Fox News Doesn’t Want Its Viewers To See (more here, here, here, here, here, and here)...



Update 7/28/23: And why does this not surprise me in any way (these criminals have been trying to demolish government agencies that protect us, namely the EPA and CDC, only since about freaking forever).

...and Jeff Waldorf tells us that the individual taking over the 8 PM slot for The Swanson TV Dinner Heir on Rupert The Pirate’s propaganda channel is blaming “eco-extremists” for trying to call attention to the catastrophic effects of climate change (more here)...



...and on this subject, I thought Beau had some good advice about letting the wingnuts take a bit of a “victory lap” over their proposal for “a trillion trees,” which of course is barely doing anything positive and, by itself, won’t come anywhere close to solving the problem...I understand what Beau is saying and I think he’s basically right, but it’s still pretty damn pathetic that this is the best the other side can support at this point...



...and turning to other matters (in this case, the ’24 presidential election), Farron Cousins tells us that Repug candidate Vivek Ramsawamy sez that 1/6 happened because “big tech” censored the Hunter Biden “story”...almost as dumb as Ramaswamy telling Don Lemon that African Americans can thank the Second Amendment for their civil rights (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Ana of TYT brings us the story of 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant Duvan Perez, who was killed in an accident at a meat processing plant in Mississippi...child labor violations are up 283% since 2015 as the clip tells us, and I have to admit that it’s hard for me to get my head around a number like that...and why am I not surprised that, when it comes to potentially eliminating laws against child labor (I don’t buy the “loosening” framing here, BTW), this gut-churning development manages to somehow link back to the irredeemable Leonard Leo? And I understand Ana’s frustration at the end, believe me, but until more people realize that they need to care about their families, friends and communities (and the planet, which is another discussion noted previously) more than they hate Democrats, stories like this will probably continue, and believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong...



...and here is another summmer tune to hopefully give us a brief respite from all of this utter madness.

Friday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore is joined by Cliff Schecter to discuss the latest antics of Marjorie Trailer Park Greene and her decision to introduce what apparently are nude Hunter Biden pics into a congressional hearing, which violates a D.C. ordinance about revenge porn as Jesse points out...yeah, there truly is no bottom for these life forms, and Lesley Stahl, among others, should feel like a total idiot for legitimizing the monstrous behavior of this utter lunatic...



...and this story is referred to in the prior clip...Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us about Greg Abbott’s decision to order the border patrol to force immigrant kids into the Rio Grande river with barbed wire...I wish I could disagree with the comment from Matt about not a big stink being raised because Trump isn’t president anymore, but unfortunately I can’t (hopefully Dark Brandon will stand up and do the right thing, though Abbott is the one inflicting this barbarism, and yeah, mentioning Elliott Abrams is sadly apropos)...more here...



Update: Sanity prevails for once (here).

...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the right-wing billionaires’ plan to turn this country into an authoritarian dictatorship, and how the treasonous criminals trying to perpetrate this really aren’t shy about it; I have a feeling that they’re getting impatient with waiting for enough states to agree to an Article V convention to rip up our Constitution and rewrite it according to their own demented vision and are just trying to cut to the proverbial chase instead (and yeah, the Trump gang will know how to wield power this time if they ever get another chance, as Thom points out – we have to do our best to make sure that NEVER happens)...



...and speaking of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a *president, it looks like he’s having a sad/hissy fit, as Farron Cousins points out, because Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabilly Sanders won’t endorse him for prez next year, and she’s also apparently cozying up to Ron #DeathSantis, and I think Farron Cousins is right...which makes it all the more delicious that 45 is having another meltdown over this political slight from someone who indeed might be a table server at Cracker Barrel if it weren’t for her job from Fergus Laing to be a paid liar on behalf of our prior ruling cabal of grifters, criminals and other assorted lowlifes...



...well, for a bit of good news, Kyle Kulinski tells us that the “party of Lincoln” is hemorrhaging young voters primarily over student loan debt according to a poll in Axios (cool! – NSFW/H)...

...and I began the week with the passing of one musical legend, and I’ll try to wrap it up with noting the passing of another, and that would be the incomparable Tony Bennett...I absolutely have to include this as a tribute (more here and here).

Thursday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report tell us that, apparently, this country music bumpkin named Jason Aldean came up with a song called “Try That In A Small Town,” or something, which some people are in a snit over because it could be interpreted to give an OK to racial violence I suppose (GREAT point by Jayar to associate this with what happened in 1/6/21 – yeah, don’t try this in a small town, or whatever, but beating the snot out of the D.C. Capitol police is fine because you’re doing it to help Our Ochre Abomination, which is a completely apropos argument by Jayar as far as I’m concerned)...



Update: More here (and kudos to Sheryl Crow).

...and on the subject of preserving our democracy (tied to 1/6 of course), Cenk and Ana of TYT tell us that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is charging 16 in that state’s fake electors scheme in ’20; yeah, these (alleged) criminals could be looking at serious time indeed in the big house, but as the TYT hosts note, this sends a very-much-needed chilling effect to those who might want to try this again (and Wisconsin also tried something like this, but RoJo among other miscreants will likely skate of course, and I should always note that the “Badger State” involvement is also only “alleged”)...



...and venturing below that Mason-Dixon line, Farron Cousins tells us that the embrace of white supremacy by Alabama’s Repug U.S. senatorial mistake Tommy Tuberville is only making him MORE popular to his constituents, and Cousins gives us a bit of perspective on that...interesting in an unintentionally funny way that Roy Moore hanging out at shopping malls to hook up with underage girls, allegedly again of course, was a bridge too far for the life forms in his home state, but Tuberville’s antics apparently aren’t – just no words for how contemptible this all is, both by Tuberville and also his supporters...



...and turning a little southeast, David Pakman tells us that there are now at last count 6 cases of malaria in Flori-DUUUH!...and yeah, that number doesn’t constitute a panic in the scheme of things, but yeah, to not have two people in the public health roles that Pakman mentions so the state can respond is definitely a problem for #DeathSantis that’s more typical of a third world tin pot dictatorship, which that state basically is now...



...and I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of my Doylestown “peeps” than I am at this moment in response to this story, in which some truly terrific residents of the area (and they crossed party lines as Mike Figueredo points out, just to make that clear) gave this “Billboard Chris” nematode and other “Moms for Liberty” lowlifes the treatment they deserved when they tried their antics against LGBTQ youth (and props to Steve Santarsiero also...NSFW/H...and just to make it clear for the millionth time, kids aren’t getting drugs or bottom surgery!!)...



...and I try to “find my people” every day that I do this, and I hope it makes a difference somehow.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel reminds us of what is plainly obvious to anyone with a brain (excluding the MAGA life forms by saying that I know), and that is the fact that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a Former *President plans to go full dictator in 2025 (if he, God forbid, gets the chance), spending money as he sees fit and firing anyone in the federal government that he wants...darkly funny to me to hear this narcissistic psycho claim to respect the Constitution, though last I checked, that founding document has something to say about Congress wielding “the power of the purse”...yeah, we know who’s running the House, but they still have final say on how funds are spent...oh, and I don’t believe the Constitution has one damn thing to say about the FEC, FCC or any other governmental agency...and great point by Doel that these ideas would be recommended to ANY Repug preznit besides Combover Caligula...and yeah, on the topic of “What 45 has planned in private,” at a minimum, I see a federal effort to purge state voting rolls of Democrats – and yes, I know the states still have authority on that, fortunately, but I believe various Repug bottom feeders, like this John Eastman character, would come up with some utter nonsense legal doctrine like that “independent legislative theory” BS that would end up ultimately being enshrined by the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR (the “shadow docket” SCOTUS shot it down already I know, but we should NEVER assume that they’ll keep doing that...more here...and don't you just love the totally bland, milquetoast framing of this madness by "The old gray lady"?)...

...and oh yeah, apparently “Governor Bully” is getting a bit of a bump in the polls...as I and others have pointed out, who was the one who scuttled the Hudson River commuter tunnel project even though it would have been bankrolled primarily by the Feds? Who was it who closed the GW Bridge for political payback (and don’t even imagine telling me that Christie didn’t know about that)? Who was it who routinely demonized teachers, and likely still will do that given the chance? Oh, and who was it who came up with the brilliant idea for #45 to interrupt Biden like crazy during the first ’20 presidential debate (though I guess we really should thank Christie for such a boneheaded move that ended up helping Biden)?

Update 1 7/19/23: Uh huh.

Here's the David Doel clip...



...and John and River Butcher of The Damage Report tell us that an Italian judge recently ruled that a “grope” has to last for at least 10 seconds for it to be considered a criminal offense, apparently, which is a callous bit of specious legal reasoning at a minimum, I would say...



...and Jessica Burbank with More Perfect Union bring us the story of an abortion protection measure in Ohio, which apparently has broad support...so what does the “party of Lincoln” want to do about that? Well, since they love democracy so much (snark), they want to make it harder for ballot measures to show up when Ohioans go to vote in November, by raising the percentage of signatures required from 50 to 60 via a special election next month (this is tied to that condom ad on Monday, in case you’re wondering)...and OF COOUURRSSE this is bankrolled by megadonors like this scumbag Richard Uihlein and this Mike Gonidakis character...the wingnuts obviously learned how to try and gum up the works based on the opposition to their forced birth policies in other states, and this appears to be their latest move...



...and the latest from Second Thought tells us This Is Why You’re Poor (NSFW/H)...no, it basically isn’t because of a “character defect” or you didn’t get the “right” degree in college...structural inequality is pretty much baked into the metaphorical economic pie...”Poverty is a necessary byproduct of consistent profit” and “you can’t outrun rent hikes by working harder” indeed...

...and David Pakman tells us that Adam Frisch recently posted some terrific fundraising numbers in his race to unseat Bo-Bo Boebert in CO-03 next year – to help Frisch, click here...



Update 2 7/19/23: If at all possible, I never intend to stop reminding Boebert about her latest monstrous act (here),

...and yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Billy Joel Day in New York, which is a bit apropos; I try not to think of that shrieking incumbent Repug harpie in the U.S. House noted in the prior clip, but when I’m forced to do so, this is one of the tunes that comes to mind.

Tuesday Stuff

Yes, the wild weather we’ve been dealing with in this country is pretty dramatic, including the truly awful story of the lives lost due to flooding at Washington’s Crossing in these parts (here), but John and Jessica Burbank of The Damage Report tell us about mass flooding and heat in Europe, resulting in the deaths of about 61,000 people...we’re long past the point where the climate measures commendably enacted by Biden and congressional Democrats need to be strengthened, and if that means that the MAGA lunatics on Capitol Hill need to have yet another meltdown like the spoiled, coddled children that they are, all the better...



...and David Pakman brings us that clip of RFK Jr. that everyone is quite rightly losing their minds about...yes, it’s bad form to record something off the record like this, but I would argue that, when the remarks are this crazy, that outweighs any claim to proprietary communication...the alleged Democratic candidate for preznit said in the video that COVID was “ethnically targeted” to spare Jews and Chinese...I would worry about this loon screwing up the general election, but hopefully he’ll electorally hang himself before then with insanity like this (until I saw this clip, I hadn’t seen that remark about Ukraine collecting Russian DNA, which is at least as nutty as the other stuff...and the “furin dockin cleave”...WHAAA????)...



...and in the prior clip, we saw RFK Jr. trying to stir up a conspiracy for no good reason, and in the following commentary from Jesse Dollemore, we learn about conservatives saying kids aren’t being taught Cursive so they won’t read the Constitution, which of course is a totally ridiculous argument BUT SPOUTED OFF WITH GREAT AUTHORITAH!!! - NSFW/H...sooo, this wingnuts in these TikTok videos (and is there anybody in creation who DOESN’T have a Tik Tok video at this point?) draw a line from kids not being taught cursive to liberals not having a f*cking backbone, or something – and by the way, in my admittedly limited experience, the whole “Cursive” thing is a parochial school matter as opposed to public schools, and I’m not sure why, but I can tell you that it’s NOT because public school teachers don’t want kids to understand and appreciate our country’s founding documents...



...and speaking of wingnut lunacy, Ana and Cenk (not them) tell us about Megan McArdle of the WaPo saying that higher wages create homelessness, which, as Cenk says, is a right-wing argument that is merely wrong (largely) as opposed to being certifiably insane for the reasons the TYT hosts point out...the clip gets into all kinds of reasons for homelessness, and yes, McArdle does have a bit of a point about housing in LA (though I would argue that that’s a problem nationwide, albeit to varying degrees), but another factor not mentioned is that blocks of real estate have been bought up by private equity firms, and they’re partly to blame for exorbitant rents also (here).

...actually, I did a little research into McArdle, and she’s pretty bonkers, based on the following:

She said here that kids should be trained to run at an active shooter if one finds his way into a classroom...what a freaking ghoul.

Given her apparent love of guns, she also has a problem with an assault weapons ban of course (here).

She also would have had had no problem if Obama had been shot during one of those fascistic rallies protesting the Affordable Care Act (which is actually a law of course now) back in ’09 (here).

There’s much more lunacy here (hard to catalog all of the nuttiness in this post...I guess she’s a more strident, female version of David Brooks...nice work if you can get it and still stand to look at yourself in the mirror, I guess).

Oh, and I almost forgot this from one of my "betters."

Anyway, here's the TYT video...



...and I realize that Marjorie Traitor Greene is way too stoo-pid to know that she just handed Dark Brandon one hell of a campaign ad, but that’s what she just did, as The Lincoln Project points out (and the White House response is here on the bird app)...



...and here’s a pretty nice summer tune to try and lighten things up a bit.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen discusses Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg dropping a few “truth bombs” on Joe Kernen of CNBC over inflation...I was already familiar with a lot of the numbers Cohen cites here, but I didn’t know about the IRS response times, which are great, and yeah, OF COOUURRRSE the “party of Lincoln” wants to sabotage that too – CNBC is nothing but corporate media propaganda anyway...mildly NSFW/H...



...and I’m sure this ad is bound to get everyone’s attention, as well it should (more here)...



...and David Pakman speaks with a woman who apparently works in a sports bar in our beloved commonwealth of PA, and she relates to us that MAGA “men” don’t tip, and of course get all in her face about voting for Mango Mussolini...best wishes to her on her cosmetology career...



...and it looks like “15 Votes For Speaker” Kevin McCarthy and the ruling MAGA clown car caucus in the U.S. House think they should give themselves raises for staging conspiracies, including obsessing over Hunter Biden’s genitalia and other idiocy (Francesca, Cenk and Jayar of TYT tell us more)...



...and Farron Cousins reminds us that the usual suspects are doing everything they can to undermine our efforts in this country to transition to a clean energy economy while 90% of the nation is under excessive heat warnings...there are MANY issues where the national Democrats are completely falling down on messaging (not trying to malign most individuals candidates doing the right thing, and yes, this is a recording...and that includes the topic of the prior clip), but this is the worst example as far as I’m concerned, with women’s health care a very close second...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report bring us the news that the FBI is concerned about “deep fake” pics and videos, or at least they communicated concern about that five years ago...good that they’re checking on this, but it's a little spooky that they’re not taking the lead on this, apparently...that’s one of my biggest concerns about the elections next year, to be honest, and I don’t see any evidence that we’re prepared for this stuff (love to be wrong)...



...and Leeja Miller brings us a pretty sorry tale of how suburban and rural sprawl has taken over this country; this is basically an important history lesson on the growth of suburbs at the expense of cities, and why pretty much almost the whole damn country any more is a collection of highways, overpasses/offramps, and strip malls without end; she does indeed end the clip on a bit of a positive note, though trying to re-architect this country with an eye towards sustainability and not totally screwing over minorities, particularly in cities, is an uphill battle for sure (NSFW/H also)...



...and RIP Andre Watts, a truly incomparable pianist.

Saturday Stuff

This “Against All Enemies” segment from Meidas Touch goes after “Moms for Liberty”; Ken Harbaugh interviews Air Force vet Amanda Weinstein, who is also co-host of the Suburban Women Problem podcast (didn’t know these MFL lunatics were tied to the Oathkeepers and the Proud Boys, but no, that doesn’t surprise me either...more here)...



...and when it comes to threats against American democracy, one of the biggest we face right now IMO is that Republican U.S. Senate idiot Tommy Tuberville, who is the reason why no one is currently in charge of the Marine Corps for the first time in 164 years...



...and turning to a more commercial domestic enemy (less dramatic I’ll admit, but an enemy all the same), it turns out that “Skank of America” was forced to pay $250 million for violating Consumer Financial Protection Bureau law since 2012 by tricking consumers into paying for accounts that they didn’t authorize...and yeah, that amount is chump change compared to what they rake in overall...goes to show once more why the CFPB is an absolutely tremendous federal watchdog agency, largely the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren as Ana and Cenk tell us (Richard Cordray deserves credit as well), and it also shows why the wingnuts absolutely hate the agency so fiercely for looking out for consumers...



...and in this “rogues gallery” post where I end up call out a bunch of bad actors, Mike Figueredo (not him) tells us about the Michigan hairdresser who won’t serve trannies now because of that horrible SCOTUS ruling...I’m tempted to ask when this nonsense will ever end, but I’m not sure it will now...if Monty Python were still around (all the members anyway), they’d probably do a bit with a store owner (in a “creative business” of course) who only serves gay men on every third Tuesday, lesbians on Thursdays if it’s raining, trannies on Mondays at the end of the month in a leap year, Muslims on a Friday if the Thursday before is a full moon, etc...that seems to be where we’re headed with this madness (mildly NSFW/H)...and a bit of karma is here...



...and when it comes to SCOTUS corruption, Jesse Dollemore tells us that just because Sonia Sotomayor is on Team “D,” that doesn’t mean that she should get a pass either; apparently, her staff pressured colleges and universities to buy her books, including one for kids I believe...no, this doesn’t rise to Alito or Thomas levels of malfeasance, but as Jesse says, bad is bad, regardless of who we’re talking about...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us a wretched COVID history lesson, with The Lancet saying that 500K people in this country died unnecessarily (Combover Caligula and Wonder Boy Jared thought it would be an effective political strategy to force black and brown people back to work and blame blue states for it of course)...



...and I’m not sure that it gets more ridiculous than it does with this story about the Trump-themed burger restaurant in Texas of course, as Ben Gleib tells us...because early onset diabetes and a cholesterol count through the ceiling is what freedumb is all about, you godless commie lib!...



...and here’s another summer tune to ease us into the weekend...please be careful in the heat.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us that Bo-Bo Boebert of the CO-03 district in the U.S. House believes that she’s doing God’s work, or some such nonsense, with a camera filter to try and accentuate her teeth and skin tone, as if that could somehow hide the “Helter Skelter” look in her eyes (a timely ref I guess in light of this)...more idiocy from the allegedly “godly” Boebert is here, claiming that “No Malarkey Joe” was prez in March ’20 (uh, no), as well as her fixation on public urination in DC here; Boebert alleged that DC city councilman Charles Allen approved it as a non-criminal offense...not a big surprise I know to point out that Boebert was, as usual, utterly wrong...Boebert also lied about missing her vote on raising the debt ceiling as noted here – I seem to recall that the Bible has something to say about bearing false witness (and to do something about Boebert, click here)...



Update 7/18/23: Stay classy, Bo-Bo (here).

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that Mike Lindell’s company My Pillow is undergoing a restructuring or reorganization or whatever (but don’t you DARE say liquidation, you godless lib), and of course Lindell is STILL railing about 2020 election fraud, which I guess he’ll be doing into infinity (more here)...



...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins tell us that somebody is suing Red Roof Inn for allowing human trafficking to occur at their property, allegedly of course (the “we’ll leave the light on for you” place, and I’m sure they did in this instance), and apparently there are PFAS chemicals in freshwater fish...oh, jolly – ugh...there aren’t too many stories that make me just want to go back to bed, crawl up into a ball and basically do nothing, but this is one of them I have to admit...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that it looks like UPS and the Teamsters may be getting ready to strike, along with maybe a SAG actor’s work stoppage (and good point by Emma about how, if we just paid workers higher wages, it would save the government $$ in terms of fewer workers needing assistance...so yeah, if conservatives actually cared about fiscal prudence instead of just punching down and punishing people who aren’t campaign contributors, they would realize that – fat chance with that one, I know)...



...and gee, it looks like poor, misunderstood Almost Silent Clarence Thomas of the SCOTUS just wants to be rich, dontcha know, as Lawrence O’Donnell tells us; why can’t the media and those snotty libs just leave Thomas alone while he continues to labor under the apparently unbearable burden of his Yale law degree...snark mode off (and I’ve heard of Christmas in July, but this is ridiculous)...



Update 8/6/23: I think, at this point, it may be a matter of trying to figure out which megadonor HASN’T paid off Thomas (here).

Update 8/10/23: Nothing but a goddamn crook (here).

...and I’m chastising myself a bit because I’m pretty late with acknowledging the passing of Peter Nero of the Philly Pops, who (as the obits have reminded us) often played the piano with one hand and conducted the orchestra with the other...truly another legend has left us.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us in this clip about the revelation from former Trumper John Kelly that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule tried to use the IRS to target this enemies, because of course (GREAT point by Cousins about how only a mobbed-up *president like the Gropenfuhrer would think that the IRS investigating you is the worst possible fate for your alleged misdeeds)...



...and I know the stuff with Alabama U.S. Senatorial mistake Tommy Tuberville is a little past the news cycle, but I thought Beau made a good point here, namely that, by bailing on the whole “advise and consent” thing, the ex-football coach who quit on his team (going from Mississippi to Auburn) is handing more power to the executive branch...anybody who voted for this intellectual termite over Doug Jones should be made to wear ashes and sack cloth for an indeterminate period of time...and more (believe it or not) is here...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss goofball Dem Mayor Eric Adams of NYC comparing a tenants’ rights activist to a plantation owner (and the woman Adams attacked is a Holocaust survivor...just say “oops” and get out, and when I say that, I mean GET OUT OF BEING THE DAMN MAYOR!)...



...and John and Jayar bring us this Oklahoma superintendent named Ryan Walters, who proceeds to faceplant over the Tulsa race massacre, creating some utterly ridiculous straw man argument that, because we’re talking about a race riot, we’re allegedly telling white kids that they’re guilty merely because of the color of their skin, which, as John sez, ISN’T ACTUALLY A THING!...yeah Walters sure is trying to build up a national Repug Party profile, probably for a run at federal office (more Walters idiocy is here and here)...



...well, for an example of government working the right way, Chris Hayes tells us about Wisconsin Dem guv Tony Evers, who managed to secure public school funding in his state for the next 400 years, and PA’s own Dem guv Josh Shapiro, who used a line item veto to get rid of public funding for charter schools (Shapiro was initially wrong to support that I’ll admit, though it might have been a gambit to get the budget through; either way, I hope those who initially dumped on him over the charter schools will give him credit for doing the right thing now)...



...and I don’t know if I’m running out of time or not, but I DO know that this is a cool new video.

Tuesday Stuff

When it comes to “BIdenomics,” I would say that the verdict is in, as The Lincoln Project reminds us (and more from Professor Krugman on the Biden job boom is here)...



...and as a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that the Repug Party in a few state organizations – whoopsie! – appears to be running out of money, mainly because wealthy donors won’t fork over any dough given that the party still has the “Trump taint,” if you will...and I LOVE the fact that, in all of Cohen’s videos apparently, he rightly proclaims all of the good stuff the Dems have accomplished under Biden...if the national Dem party could find their metaphorical butt with one set of metaphorical hands, THEY WOULD BE DOING THAT TOO!!! And it’s pretty sad when Mike “I Can’t Be Alone In A Room With A Woman Who Isn’t My Wife” Pence is actually the voice of reason on preserving our elections; yeah, in that event, you’re pretty far off the deep end...



...and I would argue that another reason for the money problems with the “party of Lincoln” have to do with those funds instead going to Dems by default given the utterly awful work by our “shadow docket” SCOTUS (but the Dems can’t take that for granted either)...though, to be honest (and I hate to point this out), the other side always ends up getting their dark money from their sugar daddies when they need it (with that bribery made legal by our corporatist theocrats in robes)...more here...



...and Beau gives us another typically good commentary on the U.S. sending cluster munitions to Ukraine...as usual, he cuts through the BS on this (very unlikely that these will be used against civilians) – still, I found myself thinking “why the $#@! doesn’t he just come out and say how objectively awful these things are?,” and then he did that very thing at the end of the clip...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about a North Carolina real estate developer who is trying to mandate patriotism on the part of all homeowners in his project...yes, I’d like to see the American flag fly more often in front of homes on holidays, but it’s wrong to try and impose that sort of thing IMO (and I have to admit that Ana is 100% right about HOAs – given some of the recent background noise with these two, I’m going to keep them on a short metaphorical leash for now, but I thought this was a good commentary...more here)...



...and I'm in a bit of a mood for another summer tune, so here it is.

Monday Stuff

David Pakman brings us the video of the loony bitch in South Carolina who sez Biden should be “taken to the train station,” and she is just chortling over that apparently, along with these other mental defectives in the Trump cult including that 11-year-old girl...yeah, I don’t like saying that about a kid either, but what other conclusion is there?...



...and David Doel tells us about Ron #DeathSantis of Flori-DUUH! and his “war on woke” tanking, along with the latest anti-trans TYT nonsense, with Ana and Cenk getting PO’ed at “trans activists” for supposedly doing their part in losing elections, when in fact, as Doel points out, attacking trans people most definitely was NOT a winning strategy for the “party of Lincoln” based on last year’s midterms...I didn’t see the whole TYT clip, I must confess...sad to see that platform building such a great brand and now apparently burning it all down, though I may have some videos from them in the future, but not if they’re going to find ways to work in BS propaganda (and GREAT advice by Doel on why the utterly clueless national Dems should focus on Gen-Z voters, instead of these mythical boomer unicorn Repug-leaning disillusioned Trumpsters in an Ohio diner somewhere)...



...and Mike Figueredo discusses gay conservatives who feel betrayed by #DeathSantis...and why the #@$! would a gay person support this guy to begin with, I ask myself (a little lost in the back-and-forth between all of the groups noted in this clip, I have to add) – to me, this is yet another issue where the national Democratic Party should show a freaking spine and say, “You know what? We’re against ANY group of people being oppressed for ANY made-up reason, and we unequivocally support LGBTQ rights for that reason.” – and yes, I know individual pols like Tammy Baldwin are commendably doing that (also, I can think of no group that has a more apropos acronym than GAG, as Figueredo sez)...OK, I’ll stop beat up Dems in this post now...NSFW/H...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us a great example of pushing back on BS wingnut talking points from Abby Phillip of CNN against this John Pierce character, who apparently represented a 1/6 miscreant named Kenneth Thomas who (as the clip tells us) was found guilty for his criminal antics...



...and I’ll admit that Lawrence O’Donnell is a bit ponderous here in his clip on the fall of our criminal SCOTUS, citing a "crisis of faith," but I think he makes some truly important points and provides vital historical context (and Elena Kagan, in particular, pulled no punches in her dissent on the student debt relief ruling, nor should she of course)...



...and it looks like there’s a bit of legal difficulty involved in settling the estate of the “queen of soul” based on this – hope it gets worked out for all concerned.