Mark Joseph Stern of Slate speaks with Sam and Emma of The Majority Report about Biden trying to do a workaround on abortion bans, focusing on Idaho and arguing that federal law pre-empts state law, which our renegade SCOTUS is going to look at, apparently – God help us...Stern mentions Kate Cox of Texas and alludes to other potential calamitous rulings from our theocrats in robes, though they may indeed deny immunity to “Tangerine Palpatine” (like that new one)...
...and speaking of the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR, it looks like they may get effectively rid of governmental regulations which are the underpinnings of everything out government does basically to keep us safe (ugh), as Robert Reich explains...
...and I thought this was an interesting commentary from Beau on the need to stay informed...he gets around to Israel/Palestine at about 5:30, and boy is he right about needing to know “the ingredients for peace”...”humans are creatures of habit, even if the habits are horrible” indeed...
...and speaking of people with horrible habits, Farron Cousins (not him) informs us that voters in CO-04 don’t like Bo-Bo Boebert either, which apparently is also true for her current district of CO-03 (04 is the new district where she’s running to try and stay in office), with Bo-Bo getting attacked for behavior in her Repug primary and attacked for policy-related reasons – that is, not doing a damn thing for her CO-03 constituents – by Dems in anticipation of the general election...
...and I thought this item was genuinely amusing; it looks like Billo The Clown is BIG MAD that, after cheering the book bans in Flori-DUUH! under Ron #DeathSantis, it looks like 2 O’Reilly screeds ended up on the banned list (Killing Jesus and Killing Reagan, apparently)...way too funny (NSFW/H)...
...and I guess, given this clip, the update to the slogan by Horace Greeley (you can Google him) would be “go west, young woman,” – nice to see some sun and sky, even if it’s only in a video for now.
Farron Cousins brings us the tale of Moms for Liberty school board member Keri Blair of Collierville County, Tennessee, who was arrested for repeatedly shoplifting at Target - yep, just add her to the list of miscreants associated with this foul, fetid organization...
...and the takeaway for me from this Beau clip about Iowa (and I don’t know about you, but I got SO SICK OF THE DAMN SATURATION FREAKING COVERAGE!, especially since it was pretty much a given that Our Ochre Abomination was going to walk away with it) is that 10 percent of Iowa voters who claim that they’ll support Nimarata Randhawa have also said that they’d support Biden over #45...that’s a hell of a lot of prospective voters, and do you honestly believe that that WOULDN’T play out across the country also? And I think this bears repeating also...
...and some maniac named D. John Sauer argued in court that Combover Caligula would have immunity if he ordered the assassination of a political rival using SEAL Team 6 – yes, you read that right, and I know I already commented on this, but this includes the audio (David Pakman brings us the gory details...an no, I’m not going to inflict the rantings of the Treasonous Man-Baby Former *Preznit on anybody)...
...and to discuss a matter of actual substance, Robert Reich informs us of who is better on the economy – the party of our current president or the one of his ruinous predecessor...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about “diaper Don” Jr. and Matt Walsh blaming African American women for airline problems...stoo-pidity on an almost subterranean level (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and this tune was #1 on the U.S. Top 40 and R&B charts 55 years ago today.
Chris Hayes makes what I think is a damn persuasive argument that we’re pretty much already living in the world of the Gropenfuhrer and his argument of using SEAL Team 6 to “take out” political opponents...good for Hayes to point out that threats of physical violence by ANYONE should DEFINITELY NOT be acceptable, whether it’s by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule or ANYBODY ELSE...
...and as a bit of proof to the prior claim, it looks like Ohio state representative Beth Lear is the latest wingnut (ette?) to publicize punishing kids with some made-up rationalization based on her interpretation of the Gospel, complete with drowning as a punishment...John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report give us the gory details (and I completely agree that quoting the “good book” shouldn’t more or less be a “get out of jail free” card when it comes to violent threats - more here)...
...but we can’t let “the Buckeye State” get all the bigoted “glory,” can we? We need to “share the wealth” with Tennessee too; Jesse Dollemore tells us about some idiot lawmaker in that state named Gino Bulso who has introduced legislation to ban pride flags from classrooms (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and that execrable bottom feeder Matt Walsh says it’s “gay” to buy your Valentine’s Day gift early for your wife/girlfriend (assuming males in his audience HAVE girlfriends), or something (taking a break from terrorizing children’s hospitals for allegedly performing top/bottom surgery on kids, which isn’t a thing)...I think Emma of TMR nails this pretty well (very NSFW/H at the end)...
...and for MLK day, I think it's appropriate to revisit this speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Barratt Middle School in Philadelphia on October 26. 1967, with the them of “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?"....
Mike Figueredo tells us his “take” that ’24 could be shaping up to be another awful year when it comes to trans rights, explicitly targeting adults (not even bothering to go through the pretense of “protecting kids” any more...and it’s particularly cruel and repellent to basically treat sex offenders better than innocent trans adults as Figueredo explains, and the “chef’s kiss” of BS is finding a way to bring Project 2025 into the picture...and I gave Mike DeWine credit for vetoing that awful Ohio bill earlier, but leave it to a Repug to take something good like that and then utterly destroy it...and more related cruelty is taking place in Indiana and Flori-DUUUH!...NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of pointless performative cruelty...well, we absolutely can’t forget about Texas, now can we...according to this clip, Greg Abbott went onto the Dana Loesch program and said, well, we can’t shoot immigrants, or else Biden would prosecute us for murder, or words to that effect...uuh, yeah, and SO SHOULD ANY OTHER THINKING, FEELING HUMAN BEING WITH A SOUL AND A CONSCIENCE, YOU HOMICIDAL GHOUL!!! John and Brett Erlich discuss...and yeah, I understand the Jon Lovitz quote, but though Biden admittedly has a lot of work in front of him, I don’t see him losing to Our Treasonous Self-Absorbed Delusional Man-Child (but again, there’s lots of time until November and much to do)...GREAT point to remind us that there indeed were plenty of overseas conflicts under Biden’s predecessor, but he was probably wolfing down Cokes and Big Macs while watching Fix Noise instead of manning his post as Commander in Chief while all of it was going on.
And Abbott is allegedly a “Christian”; if he’s supposed to be an avatar of morality, then I’m a nuclear physicist...
Update 1/14/24: More monstrous cruelty from Abbott is here.
...and since it’s Friday, I find that I have some items from the prior week that I’ll admit that I’m a little late on – my bad; here is one of those, with Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Orange Pestilence blaming Lincoln’s negotiating skills for The Civil War (and I have a feeling that Mango Mussolini is the only person on the planet who actually believes that), as well as that typically cruel, ridiculous dig at John McCain not being able to lift his arms because he was beaten to a pulp when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam (and that annoying sniffing of his!)...and yes, to Sam and Emma’s point, if God forbid the “R” party gets power, they will indeed blow up “Obamacare” and replace it with absolutely nothing...
...and as long as we’re talking about former President Fergus Laing, I should include this clip also where David Pakman informs us that top EU official Thierry Breton said that #45 would never help Europe if it were attacked...yeah, we know what Combover Caligula thinks of NATO, so I guess we shouldn’t be completely shocked, should we? And kudos to Pakman for explaining exactly what happened with the Iran nuclear deal; they abided by the terms, but we’re the ones who blew it up...
...and I’m a little delinquent on this also; Ana of TYT discusses a subcontractor for Boeing (Spirit AeroSystems) who apparently failed to address quality control issues which may have led to a defect on the Alaska Airlines plane where the panel blew off in mid-flight – video also notes the reprisals taken by Spriit AeroSystems against employees trying to ensure quality and safety...
...and Thom Hartmann relates a tale or two here of earlier days abroad and how he more or less “greased the palm” of some people out of necessity, drawing an apt IMO comparison to some of the gamesmanship of our gangster, white-collar corpocracy in this country...
...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about Hunter Biden showing up for James Comer’s ridiculous hearing on...yeah, you guessed it, HUNTER FREAKING BIDEN, who watched Repug idiots like Nancy Mace and Marjorie Traitor Greene make even bigger fools of themselves (and kudos once again to Jamie Raskin and Jared Moskowitz for making short work of these assclowns...I honestly don’t want to know how f’d up you would have to be to even consider voting for Mace or Greene, let alone actually doing it)...
...and here’s something to help us rock into the weekend – hope it’s a good one for all.
I know I’m a little behind on this item considering the anniversary of the insurrection was last Saturday, but I didn’t want this from Elise Stefanik to get swept under the proverbial rug (and once more, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but as long as they do good work, I’ll include their videos...NSFW/H)...
...and Beau of the Fifth Column tells us that the lawyers for Our Ochre Abomination actually argued in court that a president could send SEAL Team 6 to basically kill any political opponents unless he was impeached and convicted by the Senate (of course, these claims got the thrashing they deserved)...#45 is telling us EXACTLY what he’s all about and what he would do if, God forbid, he ever wielded the reins of power once again...
...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 1/11/19, which is part of an episode of a TV show from 1958, a western by all appearances, in which a stranger named “Trump” promises to make the townspeople safe by building a wall around their homes (an interesting little curio if nothing else...in some ways, I wish times were as simple now as they were then, or at least as they appeared, and I mean the period in which the show aired, in case there was any doubt)...
...and Farron Cousins brings us this item about aspiring Batman villain Roger Stone getting caught planning assassinations of Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell...oh, but just blame AI, huh? Like that doesn’t COMPLETELY FIT THE PROFILE for this execrable bottom feeder, huh?...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about King Elon I briefly banning more lefty Twitter accounts, though they were reinstated (this is yet another example of “Apartheid Clyde” acting like a man-baby, though the stuff about the NLRB unfortunately lines up with the goals of the “shadow docket” SCOTUS, so that is a bit worrisome...NSFW/H)...
...and on this day 60 years ago, the surgeon general’s report came out linking cigarettes to cancer (here)... I guess this a bit of a curio also, from the same era as the Trump TV show.
John and Trae Crowder of The Damage Report discuss Massachusetts taxing the rich, and they’re using the revenue raised to pay for universal free school meals, updating infrastructure, and tuition-free education for community college students, among other important needs...yeah, what a shame that we can’t manage to do that across the country – if we did, the one percent would probably go kicking and screaming to their bought-and-paid-for SCOTUS about how their rights are being violated...
...and normally I wouldn’t preoccupy myself with the legalese surrounding the Gropenfuhrer, but given how perilously close we are to rulings that could benefit this treasonous criminal, I think it’s important to familiarize ourselves with the arguments that could very well decide whether or not our democracy ceases to exist; Lawrence O’Donnell fills us in (an important update is here – looks like Combover Caligula will have to try another legal “hail Mary” play)...
...and for even more absurdity from the “party of Lincoln,” Farron Cousins brings us the story of “George Santos” saying that he wants to be the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in another administration run by “diaper Don,” completely forgetting the likelihood that Santos will be in the slam before that opportunity arises, which hopefully will happen at exactly half past NO FREAKING WAY...
...and David Doel informs us that Mehdi Hasan has left MSNBC completely...I definitely agree with Doel’s opinion that Hasan dared to practice actual journalism (especially against Israel’s Mark Regev) and that’s what led to him being “on the outs”...my opinion (and I have no evidence to substantiate it of course) is that Hasan knew he was going to be under a microscope for every little thing he said and did even without his own show, and he probably felt like that wasn’t worth it (I also agree with Doel about Symone Sanders-Townsend and especially Michael Steele...part of me think that the typical corporate media audience for, say, CNN and MSNBC kind of frowns on the occasionally confrontational journalism that we need to be informed...love to be wrong about that)...
...and this video from More Perfect Union tells us more about why abortion clinics are closing, namely, that fewer private health care plans are covering the procedure, along with the fact that fewer sates are covering it through Medicaid (with Brooke Shuman, focusing on a clinic in Bristol, Virginia – abortion is still legal in VA but banned in Tennessee, which is on the border)...important to note the switch from abortions provided in hospitals vs. standalone clinics after Roe, and how the anti-abortion protests accelerated after the switch to clinics...also important to note the rise of so-called “TRAP laws,” having to do with building requirements (e.g., size of doorways), certifications for providers as well as hospital admitting privileges, all of which are totally unnecessary and irrelevant when It comes to providing abortion care...novel approach by the Knoxville, TN Planned Parenthood clinic to operate out of a mobile vehicle, though that shouldn’t be necessary of course...
...and happy 80th birthday to the incomparable Jimmy Page.
No, I definitely did not forget that last Saturday was the 3rd anniversary of the insurrection on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol building, encouraged by Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence (Katy Tur speaks with Capitol Police Ofc. Michael Fanone)...
...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Repug governor of Flori-DUUH! Ron #DeathSantis giving a smug and disgusting answer when asked about the latest school shooting in this country, in Iowa this time (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and that’s probably an appropriate segue into this item about now-former NRA head Wayne LaPierre (here)...hard to measure all of the utter ruin he has inflicted on our lives (clip with Joy Reid is a couple of years old)...
...and I’m probably overloading things a bit here with all of this “Christian nationalist” BS, and apologies for inflicting all of this, but these wackadoodles need to be called out...Chris Williamson tells us more...
...and Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss what is likely to be all of this “deep fake” AI stuff coming for the elections – I hope it isn’t a “tsunami,” but it may well be (another reason to get out front on the messaging RIGHT FREAKING NOW!, “DARK BRANDON”!!)...
...and RIP David Soul – “Starsky and Hutch” was pretty much regular viewing for yours truly way back when...I saw the movie a couple of years ago, and I guess it was a cute “homage”...and I know this is a sappy, saccharine tune, but I like it, so here it is.
Kyle Kulinski informs us here that Missouri has basically legalized kids possessing guns, with the state house voting against a bill to keep minors from open carrying on public land without adult supervision...good for Kyle to point out that, when the Second Amendment was written, the weapon of choice was a FREAKING MUSKET! Of course, the ammo-sexuals in this country want everyone to have weapons of death and oppose a national “red flag” law as Kyle says (about 35K gun deaths a year in this country – ugh!...NSFW/H)...
Update: And in a related item, I know there will be more to say about this.
...and Chris Hayes calls out Our Treasonous Former preznit on his “are you better off now than you were five years ago” BS; I guess this pretty much means that the presidential contest is underway...actually, I have to say that I am better off, by all objective metrics (and of course, that’s a riff on The Sainted Ronnie R’s “four years ago” tag line as Hayes explains)...
...and in a bit of a related item, senor economic advisor Jared Bernstein went on Fix Noise (where everything is slanted against “team D,” of course) and gave a pretty good endorsement of Biden’s record on the economy...David Pakman tells us more...
...and speaking of Our Ochre Abomination, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about all of the countries who paid off #45; Jared Moskowitz and Jamie Raskin also appear (mildly NSFW/H – more here, and let's not forget this too)...
...and it’s taken me a few days to get around to this, but I’m glad I did; Robert Reich gives us seven pieces of advice to help persuade folks to vote for Biden this fall (as opposed to you-know-who of course)...
...and this video from More Perfect Union tells us about the life saving drug marketed by Merck (apparently, it trains the cells in your body to fight cancer) which they didn’t even manufacture on their own, but significant taxpayer assistance went into it, but now the drug is priced beyond anyone’s reach...ought to be a special kind of hell for people engaging in this sort of thing...
...and when it comes to bad behavior in the pharma sector, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that it looks like the Sackler family could be on the hook for $6 billion, but they may be protected from personal prosecution – hopefully not, but we’ll see (more here)...and I didn’t know that 36 states had anti-BDS laws (you can’t get a state contract if you support BDS, which is garbage IMO...with Ian Millhiser, who is someone whose legal opinion I respect because he does his homework...I would agree with him on his example of a school lunch person having an opinion on Israel/Palestine if it weren’t for the fact that The Supremes are constantly ignoring precedent they don’t like and making up new bogus law as they go along)...
...and Sonny Bono died 26 years ago today in a skiing accident; can’t think of a context in which this song doesn’t apply.
Jesse Dollemore brings us this item timed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein docs yesterday in accordance with a court order (here)...it seems that former great quarterback and aging football knucklehead Aaron Rodgers has alleged that Jimmy Kimmel was named in the docs, resulting in threats to Kimmel’s family; I’m sure Kimmel has already been on the phone to his lawyer...Rodgers should be forced to fork over a ton of dough at a minimum...meanwhile, it looks like this Pat McAfee person is trying to get out of the potential legal mess before it all starts (here – mildly NSFW/H)...
...and on the subject of the Epstein docs, Mike Figueredo tells us that Marjorie Traitor Greene went after Bill Clinton recently but defended Mango Mussolini, with both on the list...and by the way, I share Figueredo’s sentiments on this; follow the evidence wherever it goes, and I don’t care if the person found to be liable is on the “D” team or the “R” team...if they’re guilty, they should be punished in accordance with the law (NSFW/H)...
...and sticking with the subject of congressional wingnuttia, David Shuster of Rebel HQ (definitely not him) tells us that Bo-Bo Boebert is blaming Barbra Streisand and Ryan Reynolds for giving up in CO-03 and running in CO-04 instead (which, accidentally pretty much, shines a spotlight on the comparative big money dollars from conservatives which definitely exceeds what these two have donated...clip goes back over prior stoo-pidity from Boebert and also teases a segment on “diaper Don,” which seems to be a recurring theme any more)...
...and Farron Cousins relates to us that a Fix Noise reporter blasted some knucklehead on Twitter/X/whatever for lying about “migrant caravans”...the OMIGOD HERE THEY COME! ultra-scary video came from (wait for it)...Colombia!...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss the departure of Harvard president Claudine Gay from her role (I’m glad Cenk didn’t lose his damn mind this time)...maybe Gay’s response to the question about antisemitism at Harvard was couched in bureaucratic-ese a little more than it should have been, but she was essentially right...Elise Stefanik was looking for a scalp and some prime time coverage on Fix Noise, and that’s about it – as usual, this dustup is about butt-hurt wingnuts and giving them nice fee fees, fairness and anything approximating perspective be damned (Cenk kind of monopolized this segment, but he’s essentially right, particularly about the character assassination stuff, and he’s also spot-on about “cancel culture 101”; that donor giving all those millions told the school administration that he wanted Gay out, and that was it)...
...and David Pakman tells us about Kentucky clerk Kim Davis (remember her?), who now is forced to pay a total of about $360K for denying a gay couple a marriage license (including legal fees...on top of the $100K in damages...I’m sure she’ll go crying to Fix Noise over this shortly, if she hasn’t already...more here)...
...and Beau discusses Repug U.S. House Rep Bill Johnson of Ohio resigning on 1/21...I didn’t realize that the “party of Lincoln” pretty much has only a two-seat majority at this point...can’t think of a word to describe how contemptible it is that 2 from that side can’t switch to independent, and then we’d have to have a coalition in that body for real...and yeah, I’m looking at you, @RepBrianFitz...
...and RIP legendary jazz pianist Les McCann; here he is performing his signature hit with saxophonist Eddie Harris.
Farron Cousins brings us this story concerning Alabama’s U.S. senatorial mistake Tommy Tuberville, who apparently still has a residence in Flori-DUUH! and must be living in his son’s house in the state he allegedly represents...and yeah, apparently that whole military blockade thing didn’t amount to anything either (and in a bit of a related item, condolences to former Dem Senator Doug Jones for this)...
...and apparently the Fix Noise assclowns are big mad about Green Day getting in a dig at MAGA during a New Years Eve performance, as David Doel informs us; umm...what the hell did you think the song “American Idiot” was about anyway? A Biden supporter??...and I agree with Doel about the Dick Clark thing (mildly NSFW/H)...
...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Repug Ohio guv Mike DeWine vetoing a trans health care ban...good for a change, though the Repugs running that state’s legislature could still override his veto (and I really couldn’t care less about what Marjorie Trailer Park Greene thinks – to the extent that she thinks at all of course – about “MAGA Mike” Johnson, and I also don’t care about what the WaPo thinks were Biden screwups, and I’d heard the “Diaper Don” stuff before now...gross! And yes, to Kyle’s point, DeWine is pretty enlightened on this as opposed to the rest of the troglodytes in his party, but kids aren’t getting top or, especially, bottom surgery)...
...and when it comes to our mental and physical health, it looks like Gallup has been doing polling on COVID since lockdowns and/or living our lives as remotely as possible are both still having an impact in a variety of ways... and yeah, those obesity numbers are really high (John and Mondale Robinson discuss)...
...and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is interviewed here on keeping the Gropenfuhrer off that state’s primary ballot for violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment...sounds like she was duly obligated to look into it, has done her duty and is now leaving it up to Maine’s superior court (Bellows was targeted for a swatting call...I think this Linsey Davis person on ABC is a really dim bulb – yet another reason to basically not give corporate media the time of day)...
...and yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of President Nixon imposing a federal 55 mph speed limit partly because of OPEC cutting the supply of oil and subsequently raising the price of gas; the measure was eventually repealed...brings to mind this tune.
It seems that what’s old is new again...John and Aida Rodriguez begin 2024 by telling us about a Massachusetts cop going into a library to act like he’s going to confiscate books that offend his sensibilities somehow...I guess I’m a little surprised that this is happening in a blue state, but I know I shouldn’t be...when a kid grows up and tries to carry out a mass casualty event with a weapon of death because they were radicalized after reading “And Tango Makes Three,” let me know, OK?...
...and I couldn’t quite get to this item from a week or so ago in my ‘hood, more or less, but I should do so now; it seems that one of these “parental rights” idiots named Clarice Schillinger had a beer party for her daughter and a bunch of her friends who were minors (oopsie!), and things got out of hand with incidents of assaults involving Schillinger and other family members (allegedly!)...Ben Gleib, Mondale Robinson and Cenk discuss (more here)...
...and here is an item timed for the recent holiday that’s a little more upbeat; Brittany Page and Jesse Dollemore introduce us here to a guy named Colin McConnell in Detroit, who helped widower Don Wilson, who had just lost his wife at 39, leaving Wilson as the primary caregiver for three young kids...there is good in the world, though I know it’s hard to find sometimes (more here)...
...and author Diane Winston speaks with Sam and Emma on The Majority Report on the media’s support of The Sainted Ronnie R way back when; I forgot about the impact of USA Today, but I think corporate consolidation (including media companies) and the quest for “balance” at the expense of actual reporting had more to do with excusing the excesses of the “party of Lincoln”...and yes, I think it matters to point out how apocalyptic terms reeking of something approximating religiosity first worked their way into our political dialogue (again, under #40); Jerry Falwell does indeed deserve a heaping helping of blame for that as far as I’m concerned...those sentiments have been in our politics probably since this country’s founding, but they were more carefully coded until about the ‘80s when all of that was brought into the open...
...and Thom Hartmann gives us a brief excerpt from the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate, with a question focused on racial equality and educational opportunity...I thought Nixon was categorically wrong on a lot of issues, not just in that campaign but during his presidency, but he was also a formidable intellect; however, JFK pretty much “cleaned his clock” on this answer, being in command of this issue and a lot more...and boy, is Thom ever right about the League of Women Voters and debates, and yes, we can thank Poppy Bush in ’92 for putting us on the sorry path to the point where candidates’ debates (Repug debates for sure, and Dem also at times) are carried out like steel cage wrestling matches...
...and speaking of combat, I have a feeling that this year is going to be one big fight, so I might as well set the tone right now.
Beau of the Fifth Column does a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise with U.S. and Egyptian peace plans over the Israel/Gaza slaughter...and yeah, wondering who the “Palestinian experts” would be is indeed a high hurdle, but as Beau says, this is progress, and it also sounds like, on balance, the Egyptian plan could work out better than the U.S. one...
...and Ana Kasparian of TYT brings us more horror stories from Israel’s incursion into Gaza, including IDF dogs attacking an elderly man in a wheelchair at a hospital, all within the view of kids needing treatment (and sure, they won’t grow up to be terrorists, will they, assuming they live)...as bad as this stuff is, and it is that, I believe we also need to address the sickening Hamas atrocities documented here (and John Fetterman gets a completely deserved shot in this clip also)...
...and when it comes to barbarism, Thom Hartmann tells us that Alabama is threatening to kill Kenneth Eugene Smith with a method deemed to be too cruel for euthanizing animals; sounds like asphyxiation...yes, Smith was a bad guy as Thom points out, but really? As Thom says, at this point, if you’re going to go this route, just crucify him and send a message to the world that we’re no better than, say, Iran...
...and Ben Gleib of Rebel HQ informs us that the usual right-wing creatures are losing what’s left of their minds over a “lesbian Virgin Mary”!! And of course, Fix Noise is ALL OVER IT, PEOPLE...and it looks like the human race was saved by a Times Square Christmas display from the Mormons – trying desperately hard not to sacrifice any brain cells over this...
...and Vox News gives us the top stories of the year that is about to end; I was hoping for something kind of upbeat here, though I guess that’s not possible at the moment...
...and Mike Figueredo gives us the Humanist Report awards for 2023...yeah, I would say “Bibi” being the biggest scumbag is completely deserved, but I honestly don’t know why Biden was a nominee in that category – no disrespect to the MVP winner, who was a fine choice, but I also would have selected Shawn Fain (NSFW/H)...
...and whaddaya say to rockin’ in the New Year a bit with this newer tune?...
...and in accordance with my annual custom, I want to thank anyone who has spent any time at this site over the prior year; I hope some of this has been enlightening and/or informative. I know it’s a broken record to point out that I’m simply not able to author longer-form posts full of content and links, so I rely on other folks (and their video clips basically) who are at least as knowledgeable on the topics in question, and often more so. My goal all along has been to promote informed dialogue and thus a deeper understanding of the most important issues we face and not necessarily to shove my opinion down anybody’s throat. Yes, this site definitely is liberal/progressive, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s because people of our ideological bent live in the reality-based community more do than the other side (or I try to anyway, as much as possible).
As a bit of self-promotion, I just want to note that, if I’m able to keep doing this next June, it will mark the 20th year of this site, believe it or not. I never expected it to last this long, seeing as how I started it to find a way to bitch over George W. Bush and the lowlifes of his regime, and that was my only goal way back when. This really is a week-to-week thing, and I‘m just lucky more than anything else that I’ve been able to keep it going. If anything ends up affecting that in ’24, I’ll let you know as soon as I can.
Most years at this time, I say, “Next year is going to be a big year,” and I’m saying that again now because, yeah, 2024 is going to be a big year. We need to hold the Senate somehow, take the House and hold the White House, and that means ALL OF US getting off the sidelines and doing what we can to elect Democrats, even some who don’t deserve it to be honest (and that doesn’t even take into account the battles for state and local government going on across the country). To me, it’s not hyperbole to say that if we end up giving control to the “party of Lincoln,” this could be the last open election that we actually have (and anybody who thinks that, say, Nikki Haley would govern differently than #45 must be living under a rock). The other side has been creeping towards fascism and authoritarianism for about the last 40 years, and voters looking to reward that either don’t have the intellectual capacity to care about it or are too busy living their lives to properly understand what’s going on (and no, I don’t think that’s an excuse either). This means that ALL OF US need to find a way to engage these folks somehow...and I’m not calling for confrontation by saying that, but only for a patient, peaceful resolve in discussing the issues. Of course, if someone doesn’t want to be bothered but only seeks confrontation, I would just walk away and let them stew in their own rage, since that will eat them up faster than anything we could ever do on our own.
I wish all good things for you in the new year and the ability for all of us to keep up the fight, and though it may seem trite to include this tune given all of the wreckage going on in the world right now, I still believe in its message, and I hope you do too.
David Doel discusses the mess with Nimarata (“What Do You Want Me To Say About Slavery?”) Randhawa (aka Nikki Haley – more here and here)...man, talk about stepping on the proverbial rake – and no, I have to admit that I didn’t expect this to blow up the way it did either, though I DEFINITELY expected a totally tone deaf answer from Haley...and oh yeah, let’s just accept Haley’s BS excuse that the questioner was “a Democratic plant” WITHOUT ONE IOTA OF ACTUAL PROOF OF SUCH AN UTTERLY RIDICULOUS CHARGE!
Yeah...a “Democratic plant” at a Repug town hall in New Hampshire...wanna try selling me a bridge to one of the five New York boroughs while you’re at it?...
...meanwhile, as far as I’m concerned, if you REALLY want to go after Haley for something, try all of the anti-union BS that Brian Tyler Cohen (and More Perfect Union) get into here...and yeah, as far as I’m concerned, there’s a straight line between that and the generally poor overall quality of life in “the Palmetto State”...
...and turning to the “fourth estate,” Chris Hayes debunks the myth perpetrated by Fix Noise (among the usual right-wing suspects) about “organized shoplifting,” timed for the holidays of course...didn’t see the follow-up segment on trying to undercut Biden on the economy...
...and the Hayes clip is probably a nice transition to this one, where Robert Reich tells us about the three things our corporate media should do when reporting on the ’24 election...
...and in the milestones department, I forgot to note the 70th birthday of Philly’s own David Ricketts of David and David on November 16th...
As Brian Tyler Cohen tells us here, it looks like Bo-Bo-Boebert is switching from running to defend her seat in Colorado’s third district to taking a shot at the CO-04 seat left open when Ken Buck decided not to seek another term...yes, as Cohen tells us, the 04 seat is about “R plus infinity” and 03 is about "R plus 9," which should be good enough for Bo-Bo, but Boebert’s problem (one of them) is that a bunch of her same-party playmates are taking a shot at the 04 seat also, and to say that Boebert is in for a bruising primary is an understatement; the Repugs sure know how to play hardball against each other as well as in the general...this is pretty much the political equivalent of a “Hail Mary” pass in football because Boebert’s internal polling is apparently awful...
Update: To help Dem Ike McCorkle in CO-04, click here.
...and if you want a reminder as to how Boebert got into this fix (aside from that handy business with her then-boyfriend at the “Beetlejuice” concert...and the vaping when a pregnant woman asked her to stop didn’t help either), this video “brings the receipts”...first, she gets in a snit saying the Constitution isn’t evolving, or something, and comparing herself to Our Lord...yep, big time wackadoodle of course ...as Eric Swalwell points out, if the Constitution didn’t “evolve”, she wouldn’t be able to vote (David Shuster and others provide commentary including Mondale Robinson...and even though Boebert isn’t running in CO-03 anymore, please click here to help Dem challenger Adam Frisch)...
...and as far as the leader of the “Trump Party” is concerned, Jesse Dollemore tells us about #45’s Christmas “greetings,” wishing his enemies would rot in hell...video also includes a discussion about something on social media from this Derrick Evans character who pleaded guilty to charges related to 1/6, but now that Evans is done with his sentence, any notion of contrition is out the window and he’s fine with tweeting an image of Democrats hung from a Christmas tree, including Kamala Harris of course...but oh yeah, he apologized later and deleted his account on X/Twitter/whatever...wonder how long it will be before this guy recants his latest “apology” and says or does something stoo-pid again?...
...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report plays a Tik Tok video of working Americans talking about the myth of the American dream...kind of echoes what I have on the header of this page...have to admit that I didn’t know about the “silver tsunami” but it tracks, unfortunately...heartbreaking in particular to watch the segment of the woman trying to pay off her student loan, who no doubt did everything she was told to do by the supposedly elite political ruling class in this country...and if you want to blame some Democrats (paging Manchinema, as well as probably Coons and a few others) for letting the pandemic protections lapse such as the child tax credit, pause on student debt, expanded unemployment benefits and school lunch funding, then go ahead, but also MAKE DAMN SURE YOU ALSO BLAME GREEDHEAD FREAKING REPUGS FOR FIGHTING US TOOTH AND NAIL ON ALL OF THAT AND MORE (NSFW/H)...
...and RIP Tom Smothers (hard to believe in this day and age how their show, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” was once canned for expressing a political opinion, but that was before the right-wing outrage machine had coalesced into what it is now, helped along by “right thinking” liberals...the duo helped kick-start the comedy careers of Rob Reiner and Steve Martin, among others, and the show created a template followed by “Saturday Night Live,” “The Daily Show” and other programs as the Times piece points out)...
...and in another “missed milestone” from the year, I neglected to note the passing of keyboardist John Gosling of The Kinks in August...my bad.
Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur of TYT discuss the obscene wealth accumulated by billionaire heirs of CEOs...and yeah, as Ana sez, to me, the big takeaway here is that the problem of private equity running amok into all kinds of areas of our lives (as opposed to, say, actual public investment) is going to get worse...and Cenk dumps on wealth managers here a bit, which is misinformed at a minimum as far as I’m concerned, though Cenk’s analysis of what private equity does is correct (which Ana pointed out also)...and yeah, the “party of Lincoln” has been trying to get rid of the estate tax for at least 30 years...
...and the Republican Accountability Project reminds us of the threat posed by The Gropenfuhrer, which we should all be aware of at this point, and the most important thing to do in response is to vote for Biden/Harris, even though we may not agree with everything they’ve done and supported...
...because we have to negate at the polls life forms like the guy driving the vehicle with this disgusting bumper sticker.
...and as long as we’re discussing Our Ochre Abomination, I should also present this clip of John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report criticizing #45 for saying that Biden is coming after Catholics, with SWAT teams in churches or some such idiocy...
...well, for a bit of much-needed levity, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss a clip from ’05 with Sam on CNN paired with some knucklehead named Bob Knight to talk about the “war on Christmas” (not the dead, chair-throwing basketball coach, but the director of something called the Culture and Family Institute, affiliated with the Christian conservative organization Concerned Women for America)...great stuff at the end with Sam pretending to be offended over mentioning Nazis...nice work also by Sam to point out with humor how ridiculously trivial this topic is right out of the gate...
...and in the few days left for 2023, I want to get to some milestones that I missed or didn’t get to for some reason during the year, and I have to admit that I missed a big one on 9/20, which was the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen in a plane crash...I’d like to present the following as a remembrance.
Chris Hayes interviews Jodi Kantor, who co-wrote the piece with Adam Liptak of the New York Times last week on what led up to the atrocious Dobbs decision overturning Roe...and no disrespect to Kantor who is a fine reporter, but I kind of lose patience with the hair-splitting exercise of giving a shred of credibility here to Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett, and “Beer Bong Brett” Kavanaugh acts like the duplicitous fraud he is through and through, and this “de-listing” BS to create the appearance of deliberation and distance when THEY WERE GOING TO DIVE ALL OVER THIS ALL ALONG is another disgusting piece to this awful saga...and the back story on the leaked opinion is pretty interesting, though the whole exercise described here is contemptible on its face (and I still say it was leaked by Ginni Thomas...try proving me wrong)...
...and I know this clip is also a little old, but I think it matters to get “disappointed” Susan Collins of Maine on the record over the case of Kate Cox in Texas, to say nothing of reminding us on how Collins caved for “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, as well as the fact that The Supremes will hear the mifepristone case necessitated by this ruling from that goofball Trumpist judge in Texas (John and Adrienne Lawrence, who makes a scary but completely correct comment on how this SCOTUS doesn’t give a fig about precedent)...
...and Mike Figueredo tells us more on the rise and fall of Moms for Liberty (and you can’t just say a “whites only toy drive” is an oopsie! and leave it at that...and yeah, more stuff here on the Zieglers in Flori-DUUH!...NSFW/H)...
...and this clip from Eleven Films in honor of #SolidaritySeason presents Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Bob Iger of Disney, among other truly bad corporate actors, basically saying “the rabble” is having it too easy again (Bernie and AOC also are featured “rallying the troops”)...
...oh, and in case anybody was thinking of taking a journey “across the pond” over the holiday break...well, I might think again (incredibly NSFW/H)...
...and this selection from our neighbor to the north means that it's time to conclude our holiday tunes for the year...hope you enjoyed.
I may include this video from The Lincoln Project every Christmas; a terrific timeless message (first added it in 2021)...
...and once more, I give you the holiday light show that I first included here on 12/23/10...
...and here are a couple of items for this day in particular; “Feed the Hungry” in Savannah, GA recently held their own Christmas dinner...apparently they were able to do the same for Thanksgiving, and they had toys for the kids too...just another example of folks stepping up and doing the right thing...
...and here’s a clip of the Make a Wish Foundation flying kids to Italy a couple of weeks ago to enjoy Christmas...good stuff (sorry if the subtitles are hard to read)...
...and all the best of the season from me, Nat and the gang.
I’m going to deviate a bit from the typical fare at this site and present this clip from CNBC about funding for AI, ChatGPT in particular, and how jobs in that emerging development area could be a destination for folks impacted by tech layoffs this year; clip first aired about four months ago...I know on balance that the economic news is good, but as someone who spends varying amounts of time on Linkedin for different reasons, I should note that I’ve seen some horror stories about people looking for work having to deal with multiple phone screens, in-person interviews, presentations, assessments, competency tests, the lot, often only to find that the job requirements for the position changed, funding was eliminated, work was offshored, etc. – I hope the information in this clip can aid job seekers somehow; nothing sucks quite like looking for a job during the holidays, and yes, I know what that’s like (not now, fortunately...and of course, leave it to that puke Jim Cramer to be calling for people to get canned in order to spur earnings on “the big board”)...
...and returning to the political stuff, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe and former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig speak with Ali Velshi about the legal wrangling over keeping Combover Caligula off the Repug presidential ballot in Colorado...clip is deliberate and goes on for a bit, but these two perspectives in particular are really important IMO (and here is some typical idiocy in response)...
...and going even further down the Trumpist rabbit hole, apparently “prophet” Julie Green talked with God about Putin’s 2020 election secrets (uh huh), as Jesse Dollemore tells us (mildly NSFW/H...I can take or leave the phone bit, but I think “arrogant mook” is a correct description)...
...and Trae Crowder returns with holiday greetings (NSFW/H)...
...and we only have a handful of seasonal selections left, but I think these deserve to be included also.
