Thursday Stuff

Farron Cousins brings us the tale of Sarah Huckabilly Sanders getting hung out to dry by Our Treasonous Orange Sociopath when she asked for federal aid in response to the 10 tornadoes that hit her state of Arkansas...Sanders is definitely NOT someone I hold in any kind of regard at all, but I would never object to federal dollars going to her state for relief...I like to think they would return the favor, but to be honest, I’m not counting on that (even though, as Cousins tells us, that baaad President Biden declared a disaster for Arkansas when SHS asked for federal funds and did so within 48 hours of receiving the request)...



...that being said, I definitely understand this lady in Nebraska who pays taxes and doesn't want to subsidize Trump-supporting farmers in her state who now have to deal with the consequences of their votes...

This woman has a message for Trump-voting farmers of Nebraska. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/ji9My9eGqH

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) April 23, 2025

...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that our fourth estate cousins are apparently FINALLY waking up to the threat Our Ochre Abomination poses to our government and the rule of law, based on Axios reporting...yep, they’ll keep trying to criminalize dissent in any form whatsoever, possibly including this dumb little blog (NSFW/H)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report let us know about U.S. House Repugs trying to find a way to try and pass a bill through reconciliation (meaning it can’t be filibustered in the Senate) giving out more stinking tax cuts to the one percent while dismantling Medicaid, which will be one of the “offsets” they’ll be looking for since they need to at least create the illusion that this giveaway will be “revenue neutral” (and this knucklehead Austin Scott gives away the game a bit)...didn’t know 40 states expanded Medicaid under the ACA and the uninsured rate was cut in half (looks like another failure of Dem messaging IMO that that wasn’t more commonly known)...also didn’t know about mandated cuts if the state Medicaid percentage funded by the feds falls below 90 or 80 percent, and I think we know what the chances are of red states deciding to make up the difference in federal funding (and don’t worry, Sam – I know who Foster Brooks was)...



...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about a bill that could destroy Texas public schools; your state could be next...yet another story of private school vouchers taking money out of public schools...there isn’t a single issue where Mango Mussolini is actually right and everybody else is wrong, and you can guess where he comes down on this one...a couple of days ago, I included a Thom Hartmann clip about Idaho doing this for $5K, and here, “the land of the yellow rose” is trying to do it for $10K (Dem state rep James Talarico is interviewed)...you would think their beyond-useless governor Greg Abbott would take the hint on vouchers by now after four failed attempts to pass them into law, but you’d be wrong...and yeah, just “follow the money” to Betsy DeVos, Tim Dunn, and Farris and Dan Wilks and other “one percent” bastards trying to cram this rotten agenda down the metaphorical throats of families and taxpayers, and oh yeah, Jeff Yass is involved too...Lord knows I get mad at this state plenty of times because it looks like they couldn’t run a fair election if their lives depended on it, but I really have to give them credit for pushing back against this voucher travesty...



...and as far as I’m concerned, the weather in these parts is too nice not to hear a newer tune to put a bit of a spring in your step, you might say.

Wednesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us that, apparently, King Elmo is trying to make his exit from Trumpworld, partly because his company Tesla is doing the “big swirl in the hopper”...the kicker for yours truly is that Yambo’s regime, for all of the alleged “savings” from DOGE, is spending more than its predecessor...an update is here, with the market somehow reacting favorably to what arguably is bad news, namely Tesla’s brutal first-quarter earnings (oh, but Elmo is going to recommit to the company, so that’s a positive somehow – make it all make sense if you can)...



Update: Yeah, I think this is a little closer to the truth.

...oh, and speaking of that allegedly corrupt US AID program, Kyle Kulinski lets us know that it is forecasted that 20 million people will die because of cuts to the program (interesting take on hard power vs. soft power, with the latter winning the day as opposed to all of the misery generated by the former)...glad to hear Kyle clarify the whole “transgender mice” BS also as note here, and I’m also glad to hear him call out the absurdity of our Pentagon budget, at the expense of the CFPB, cutting cancer research, meals on wheels, etc. (NSFW/H)...



...and David Pakman comments on Jessica Tarlov dropping more truth bombs to that rancid crew on “The Five” from Fix Noise when it comes to the utterly disgusting treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia...yeah, “due process” isn’t a catchphrase, wingnuts; as Tarlov points out, it’s a legal principle enshrined by the SCOTUS, and Garcia didn’t get it, along with probably hundreds of others detained and/or shipped out to some gulag (it sounded like Judge Winebox wanted to screech back a reply, but I’d sooner expect an intelligent response from my cat)...



...and Mike Figueredo tells us that Repug town halls are continuing to not go well...and it looks like Nancy Mace held a tele-town hall (which still isn’t good enough as far as I’m concerned, but it is something), but she apparently muted some phone respondents in the process when she didn’t like what they had to say...at least that’s better than Marjorie Train Wreck Greene, who sicced the cops on people (I don’t know what happened because the clip doesn’t show what led up to that), and yeah, those life forms applauding the cops tasing people are part of the problem, which I guess is why those clueless morons keep sending Greene back to Congress so she can steal from them some more...and as much as I disagree with Repug U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, I definitely give him credit for facing his constituents the way he did – I mean, it’s not like Grassley will actually DO SOMETHING, though...and the Harriet Hageman town hall clip is indeed awful; I hadn’t heard the question asked from the lady who used to work at the Interior Department, though, which is spot-on...and yeah, Brian Mast in Flori-DUUUH! also got his metaphorical head handed to him, especially when he tried to justify those beyond ridiculous tariffs with our trade deficit...one of these things is not like the other (NSFW/H also)...



...and sticking with clueless (and bigoted) Repug lawmakers, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about Diana Harshbarger calling 77-year-old Dem congressman Al Green “boy”...and yeah, what about that cackling idiot next to her who thought this was just stinkin’ hilarious?...and speaking of the 14th Amendment, it indeed was passed to help African Americans in the Jim Crow era, but more than anything else, it has been used to enshrine corporate personhood as noted here (NSFW/H as well)...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Peter Frampton.

Tuesday Stuff

This report via the German news network DW gives us the gory details on how Our Ochre Abomination is utterly killing tourism to this country, particularly from our neighbor to the north (despite commercials from Gavin Newsom for CA)...a 9.4% global drop in visitors to our shores is expected, though I have a feeling it will be more than that...the Canadian lady in Germany (Adrienne Wright) hits on a few major points IMO, and I have a feeling that her daughter will split from here the first chance she gets...so many ways Bronzer Beelzebub is wrecking this nation and our international standing that it’s hard to sustain my utter rage, which is part of their utterly disgusting strategy of course...



...and David Pakman tells us that the U.S. Naval Academy has canceled an appearance by a speaker (Ryan Holiday) because he wouldn’t omit a reference to book bans, and apparently this individual has spoken at naval events before...and yep, Yambo has his ketchup-stained chubby fingers all over this too...you look weak when you censor indeed...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ informs us that, apparently, Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence has brought corporate sponsorship to the White House Easter Egg roll, just as Republican Jesus intended, including naming rights to some typically cheesy commemoratives of sorts...and yeah, if the “fundies” had a speck of integrity, which they don’t, their collective hair would be on fire over this...and isn’t it just too precious to see spokes-liar Karoline Leavitt try for her place at the table with the big people, but – oopsie! – she gets it wrong on who first nominated and confirmed Judge Boasberg, as pointed out in the press briefing (it was Dubya, and I believe the MSNBC commentator was David Jolly, a former Republican U.S. House rep)...and apparently, Leavitt doesn’t know what a tariff is either, which isn’t surprising I know (good for Shuster for running down all of the sorry numbers of shame associated with this *preznit)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about those regretful swing voters who obviously didn’t know what the hell they were doing in last year’s election, even though they thought they did...and as far as I’m concerned, this clip demonstrates that, if you’re in the MAGA cult, you’re suffering from a mental illness (and no, I’m not a life sciences professional qualified to make that diagnosis, but that’s where I stand and I’m sticking with it...so twisted by their desire to hurt others that they don’t see how they’re destroying themselves, as Cousins points out)...



...and Jesse Dollemore informs us of Sen. Elizabeth Warren giving it back to some CNBC talking head (Sara Eisen) about the Gropenfuhrer’s quite probable illegality in awarding favors to exempt some of his bootlickers from those beyond-ridiculous tariffs...and yes, the “power of the purse” resides with Congress, not Our Treasonous Man-Baby in An Oval Office, who created this carve-out of sorts when it comes to tariffs because of an alleged national emergency (if there is one, #47 CREATED IT WITH HIS FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT!)...Congress can indeed take the tariff power back as Warren claims, but good luck getting spineless Repugs in charge of either of our legislative bodies to do that (including Bri-Fi, who of course, true to form, hasn’t uttered a word on this tariff madness because he doesn’t want to be primaried next year)...



...and Happy Earth Day, everybody...let's commemorate this while we can before our dictatorial ruling regime bans it for being "woke."

Monday Stuff

Thom Hartmann brings us a story of another school voucher scam, this time in Idaho, where $50 million is being allocated, though $30 million of that is coming out of funding for public education...I don’t know much about Idaho, but in our beloved commonwealth of PA, $5K isn’t even a third of the cost of a year of parochial private high school, so yeah, as Thom says, these ridiculous vouchers are pretty much a sop to the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch (mainly to their kids, actually), and they definitely screw over those on the lower financial end in our economy...to me, the kicker is that those who get the vouchers don’t have to provide proof on how they spent the dough...



...and David Pakman tells us about the Murdoch Street Journal floating the idea of impeaching the Gropenfuhrer (about as far as you can expect from a bunch of tree-hugging libs)...and before we rush to give them credit, think about everything they were willing to look the other way on for #47, but hits to their stock portfolios was apparently a bridge too far (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and Rachel Maddow brings us another report from the Journal about countries supposedly striking deals to avoid the beyond-ridiculous tariffs form Cantaloupe Capone (and no, I don’t believe it based solely on this)...as part of an alleged deal, Vietnam is supposedly going to allow Trump to build a $1.5 billion resort, and oh yeah, there’s also the dealings with this crypto guy who served four months in prison and had to pay $4.3 billion in fines and penalties, with the Trump gang trying to leverage their crypto offering through this guy’s company (possibly) in exchange for pardoning the head of this company and less regulatory oversight – “a coloring book of corruption” indeed...



...and as a bit of a palate cleanser if you will, David Shuster of Rebel HQ gives us the tale of Buford, a heroic dog that rescued a toddler who wandered off for 7 miles, believe it or not...turning back to politics, it turns out that Canadian boycotts are definitely inflicting harm on the US economy, which could have been foreseen by anyone with a functioning mental capacity, and that excludes our *preznit I realize, profiling that Maine hotel/B&B owner again (I included this clip earlier I know)...



...and RIP Pope Francis...yes, he was from “the factory,” you might say, but he was definitely the most progressive pope in my lifetime also...my earnest hope is that his efforts won’t get undone by someone more doctrinaire in the mold of this guy...



Update:

...and RIP also Mac Gayden, sessions guitarist and co-writer of “Everlasting Love,” which has been covered a bunch of times (this is the original I believe).

Sunday Stuff

(First of all, Happy Easter to those observing the holiday.)

Next, I’m including clips from some of yesterday’s 50501 protests across the U.S. The first clip is form Daley Plaza in Chicago...



...and in Atlanta...



...and New York City...



...and Utah...



...Washington, D.C. (Australian news report - some nice licks there at the end)...



...Miami...



...Indiana...



...Portland, Oregon...



...Columbus, Ohio...



...San Jose...



...and Philly also of course (more here)...



...and somehow I have a feeling that, if he were still with us, he would be right in the middle of all of this.

Friday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore, in the clip below, discusses Trumper Karoline Leavitt mentioning something about Holy Week, which is currently in progress...and I’m sure you can imagine what I think of the Gropenfuhrer’s “faith office,” with co-fraudster Paula White in charge, naturally – yeah, I’m sure there was a “celebration” on Holy Thursday and for today, which of course is Good Friday, which will demonstrate beyond a doubt that our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes don’t have the foggiest idea of what those two days really mean, and isn’t it just too precious to see how spokes-liar Leavitt automatically conflates this with the Easter egg roll? (and kudos to Jesse for including the quote from scripture about how people of faith are supposed to pray...not proselytizing – if you don’t observe, that’s your call and that’s fine...my problem is with people who claim to be holier than thou and are basically “whited sepulchers”)...also, great point by Jesse to mention Christians in this country as undocumented people who are being persecuted for real by our ruling regime (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and Brittany Page brings us the tale of the whistleblower on Elmo and DOGE who was threatened according to reporting from NPR, with these DOGE cretins and Elmo going after the NLRB, including having a drone follow the whistleblower (Daniel Berulis, who went public) while he’s walking his dog – just no bottom for these foul nematodes...and oh yeah, these DOGE life forms made off with all kinds of sensitive data about allegedly corrupt labor practices which has not one damn thing to do with reducing federal spending...and on top of that, a Russian IP address and Starlink are involved, because why not (and Berulis’s lawyer is saying this is happening government-wide...uh, @DNC, you paying attention to this? You have a response to this???)...



...and I realize we’re past the Medicare enrollment period, but this clip from More Perfect Union is yet another reminder of how awful Medicare Advantage is (with Wendell Potter dropping more than a few “truth bombs,” so naturally Dr. Oz wants to expand M.A. since he has to be in on the grift also)...have to admit that I didn’t know about “upcoding” to exaggerate patients’ conditions for the insurers to get bigger reimbursements from the feds (i.e., we the taxpayers), but yeah, that sure tracks with all of this corruption...all of this means that we pay about $83 to $140 billion more than we should – ugh (and United Healthcare is part of this infamy also of course)...



...and speaking of scammy behavior from our ruling cretinous regime, Robert Reich lets us know that the 2017 Trump tax thievery was worse than we thought, with AT&T doing pretty much what you would expect among other corporate monsters (i.e., rewarding executives and shareholders and not doing a hell of a lot for anyone else, including slashing 40K jobs)...I know very well that Democrats are far from perfect, but this garbage comes overwhelmingly from one political party, and it’s going to continue unless a hell of a lot of people wake up and vote out these frauds and lickspittles (trying to be G-rated here)...



...and Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show brings us an update on our HHS Secretary...”Kids with autism...will never pay taxes”...WHAAAA??? Oh, and “Bobby Brainworms” sez we’ll supposedly know what causes autism in September...just dumber than a bag of wet meatloaf...oh, and big surprise – it looks like Elmo impregnated another YouTube “influencer” – I guess he doesn’t even bother to keep a scorecard at this point...and “raw DOGE” – good one...and oh look, “I’ll Drink To That” Hegseth told the Naval Academy to purge some “DEI” books (but keep Mein Kampf – and why do you even have to ask why, you dastardly lib??!!), which is only slightly less disgusting than the way he allegedly eats bagels with cream cheese...



Update 4/20/25:

...and speaking of disgusting, what would Life In These United States be like without another mass shooting...actually, there was one in Texas and one in Flori-DUUH! (here and here)...you want this crap to end? Well, for starters, stop electing freaking Republicans since they stand in the way of common sense gun laws!!!



Update: Color me (not) shocked (here and here).

Thursday Stuff

This is a photo of Jeet Heer, a Canadian politics writer for The Nation who often appears on lefty/progressive platforms offering his take on matters pertaining to the U.S. and world events. And apparently, he recently went on The Majority Report and said that former President Joe Biden somehow paved the way for the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil (I won’t link to the clip because I think the premise is ridiculous)...I actually bothered to research that claim a bit and discovered that former antisemitism ambassador (I honestly didn’t know there was such a title) Deborah Lipstadt under Biden offered some support for what Mango Mussolini is doing, though I don’t believe she supported the deportation of Khalil (you can read the article from this link and decide for yourself if you want). And of course, the Biden administration didn’t deport a single college protestor; I haven’t been able to find any evidence that that took place (if it had, you can be sure Fix Noise among others would have been screaming over it, though it’s not like they actually care about the substance of the issue of course).

My broader point, though, is this – Jeet Heer went out of his freaking way every place he could online to utterly trash Biden over ANYTHING during the election last year, and sometimes for absolutely nonsensical reasons. If you have a well-thought-out policy disagreement, that’s fine (I definitely had them, particularly on Israel’s genocide in Gaza...and yes, Hamas launched the horrible 10/7 attack, but Netanyahu’s epochal destruction in response was far worse IMO). However, Jeet Heer often posted cartoon memes and all kinds of other pitiful garbage making fun of Biden’s age, motor skills...you name it. And what really gets me about this is that this guy is accepted in some progressive circles as some sort of policy maven. At the end of the day, he’s a Canadian citizen WHO DOESN’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF DOING HIS PART TO SUPPRESS THE VOTE AND STICK US WITH YOU-KNOW-WHO!

So basically, if I see anything having to do with Jeet Heer, I ignore it. I don’t often invoke the disparaging charge that someone or something is a member of the “loony left,” but that segment does exist, though it isn’t anything as large as the wingnuts make it out to be. I pretty much put Jeet Heer in that category; I also know that me saying any of this won’t make a bit of difference in how widely this guy is quoted and/or given the respect he doesn’t deserve IMO, but I’m saying it anyway.

All of this is a bit of a long-winded setup I’ll admit to this clip from Tennessee Brando in which former President Biden spoke out against how King Elmo and Yambo are trying to wreck our government and Social Security in particular. Oh, and please try reminding me again about why we needed to suffer through all of this because of a single bad stinking debate performance (NSFW/H)...



...and I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll mention it again...powerful people and institutions have been propping up Our Ochre Abomination for-freaking-evah, but it has taken everyday people to hold him to account (namely, juries in a court of law), as this gentleman does again here in this commentary about Kilmar Abrego Garcia...I wish I could share this man's faith that the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR will bring #47 to heel, but I definitely do not (and kudos to Dem U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland for flying to El Salvador to try and fix this mess as noted here - figures that the thugs in charge of that country turned him away...NSFW/H also)...

The world is watching: Trump's cruel, sadistic, and barbaric response to Abrego Garcia's illegal deportment and incarceration reveals a pathetic and morally bankrupt old man who has no business being president of the United States. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/T4AEq3cfrp

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) April 15, 2025

...and on the subject referenced in the prior clip (i.e., illegal detention of U.S. residents), Julie Turkewitz, a bureau chief for the New York Times, discusses the Venezuelan men rounded up by #47 and sent to that prison in El Salvador; she discusses the utterly ridiculous “points system” that was used to determine whether or not these men should be targeted for deportation (2 points if you’re seen in a photo with a gang member, 2-4 points for a tattoo, even one for Autism Awareness...ugh)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about ICE trying to nab US citizens returning to this country by spying on cell phones, in this case detaining an attorney returning from Canada to Vermont (and believe it or not, I think the guy is a Trumper, but that hasn’t been confirmed)...can’t think of a word for the naivete of this guy to think that Combover Caligula would improve anything at all...and God, those f*cking Republicans in that poll...”A lot of people need to find their tragedy before they find their empathy” indeed (NSFW/H as well)...



...and Yasmin Khan tells us about you-know-who having another meltdown over a recent disastrous poll from CNN and Harry Enten...and that poll about the swing on tariffs tells a story indeed; partly, it tells me that voters didn’t really understand the damage that would be wrought by all of this tariff insanity – and I partly blame our fourth estate that was preoccupied with the horse race as opposed to, y’know, dumb stuff like actual policy (removing my tongue from my cheek)...in addition to pig-headed, obstinate Repug voters, I also blame the clueless election losers of the DNC for not finding a way to capitalize on all of this last year...



...and today is the 65th anniversary of the death of early rock n’ roller Eddie Cochran in an auto accident.

Wednesday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell gives a well-done IMO commentary below defending Harvard as well as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man illegally sent to a prison in El Salvador...and don’t give me this crap that “oh, the president of El Salvador says he’s unable to send him back”...If Pumpkin Pol Pot told this guy Bukele to send Garcia back, it would happen PDQ, but of course that’s not the timeline we’re living in now, is it? (and yeah, “Constitutional dementia” fits for Mango Mussolini and his minions as far as yours truly is concerned)...O’Donnell’s passion is commendable when it comes not just to Mr. Garcia but defending the scholarship and innovations from Harvard Medical School...and as far as that bit about supposedly hitting elderly ladies on the head with a baseball bat, I have only to add that I DON’T BELIEVE A SINGLE, SOLITARY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE LYING MOUTH OF THAT TREASONOUS ASSH*LE (oh, and did anybody else notice that the president of El Salvador Bukele didn’t get any static from #47 or his mini-me about not wearing a tie in the Oval Office, unlike the complaint hurled at another world leader with more courage in his cuticle than Bukele/Trump/Vance have in their whole bodies?)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about Our Ochre Abomination raising prescription drug prices by more stinking tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals – yet another horrible front in his beyond-disastrous trade war...and I’m not surprised to hear companies trying to hide their quarterly earnings because those numbers are such a train wreck...oh, and Cantaloupe Capone also got rid of Biden’s $35 cap on insulin, I guess just because he automatically thought it was bad because it came from his predecessor...



...and Kyle Kulinski discusses Our Orange Man-Baby cutting off FEMA funds to MAGA states, including North Carolina, where #47 once criticized FEMA’s response under Biden of course, though now that he’s prez, he’s all “la la la, can’t hear you!”...oh, and the CDC also said “nah” to Milwaukee’s request for help with unsafe lead levels in public schools...and one more thing: don’t even imagine that I’m going to get on a stinking cruise ship given the fact that there won’t even be inspections any more for communicable illness...and who needs climate studies also? I guess that’s their approach...also, any public communication for the SSA will be on Nazi Twitter, and Head Start will be eliminated also...yep, we’re pretty much cutting our own selves down to the level of a third-world country (this indeed is a “war on data,” among other things)...and yes, there definitely is another protest scheduled for this Saturday 4/19 (NSFW/H)...



...and John and Yasmin Khan of The Damage Report inform us that Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is running for another term, so what is the “party of Lincoln” focusing on in attacking him? Why, trans athletes of course...and yeah, does Georgia have a SINGLE FREAKING TRANS ATHLETE IN THE ENTIRE DAMN STATE???!! And even if they did, WHO THE F*CK CARES?? Actually, John Oliver had a good recent segment on this...the wingnuts with too much damn money and time on their hands figured out somehow that trans athletes in girls’ sports is an issue that mobilizes their frothing-at-the-mouth crazed followers (I mean, they already destroyed Roe, so now they need a new place to direct their ire)...great point by Khan that the people screeching the loudest about a trans person HAVE LIKELY NEVER MET A TRANS PERSON...and in case you’re freaked out about sharing a bathroom with a trans person, chances are you already have and you didn’t even know it, and if you’re so damn afraid of unisex bathrooms because you think it’s a “trans agenda” or whatever, then don’t ever travel to Europe or the U.K...getting back to the John Oliver clip, he profiled a young woman named Payton McNabb who suffered a concussion when she was hit in the face with a volleyball hit by a trans athlete – I guess the thinking is that girls can’t hit the hell out of a volleyball on their own – and to tell you how dumb the outrage is on this, McNabb decides to play another sport, which is fine – that would be girls’ softball, but guess what position she played? Catcher, with the highest likelihood of suffering another concussion...can’t think of a word for the idiocy...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses here the fact that our Secretary of Education Linda McMahon supposedly knows about “A1”...and isn’t it just too precious to see the African American lady and that guy smiling and nodding and maybe thinking “how the hell does she not know that it’s ‘AI’??!!”...”everything they’re doing is so terrible,” indeed (more here)...



...and I guess this newer tune is an update on the Gregor Samsa story (you can Google him)...I’m in the mood for something a little upbeat for spring, which is coming...the Trumpers/MAGA haven’t found a way to prevent that yet, though I’m sure they would if they could.

Tuesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow tells us of DHS Secretary Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem and her cringey cosplay theater...oh, and there was that info-mercial she did for a Texas dentist while she was South Dakota governor, which was paid for by that state’s taxpayers – heckuva return on investment, huh?...and in addition to bringing along her allegedly-not-squeeze Corey Lewandowski to a photo-op, Noem also included wingnut influencer Chaya Raichik, because why not?...



Update: Why am I not surprised to hear that Noem has a $200 million budget to enable her self-promoting idiocy (here)?

...and David Pakman gives us the news on the Gropenfuhrer’s health checkup, and hoo boy, does it smack of Dear Leader propaganda...he scored high on soul? Jumpin’ Judas H. Priest On A Freaking Pogo Stick!! “They want you so demoralized by the absurdity that you stop questioning anything” indeed...and yeah, nice job to misspell “scarring” on the report with the results..



...meanwhile, for health news in the world of reality, Emma and Matt Lech of The Majority Report let us know that another Texas child has died of measles, the third in the last two months (and 500 reported cases)...I totally agree with Matt in that we need to find a way to somehow sanction people for spreading anti-vax garbage; I know it’s too late when it comes to trying to control the spread of the virus from those who are unvaccinated, but there should be consequences for this dangerous stoo-pidity (NSFW/H)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Bronzer Beelzebub threatening that he’ll direct his FCC to get rid of CBS’s broadcast license over the recent “60 Minutes” report with Ukraine President Zelenskyy, following another murderous attack by Vlad The Butcher on 18 Ukrainians, including 9 children (and 34 Ukrainian civilians were murdered also, including 2 more kids, and on Palm Sunday as an extra “FU” from Mango Mussolini’s benefactor)...and that mess on Truth Septic could indeed be “a drug-addled freakout”; that explanation works for me...



...and Robert Reich brings us the tale of Elmo’s DOGE helping billionaires escape paying taxes...basically, gutting the IRS helps the stinking one percent evade MUCH MORE in taxes than could ever be saved with Elon’s DOGE nonsense...



...and speaking of taxes, this year didn’t go so hot with us and the feds, but we’re making adjustments... at least with King Elmo gutting the IRS, we won’t have to worry about waiting for a refund (cold comfort, I know).

Monday Stuff

David Pakman informs us that the big question is getting asked not just by tree-hugging libs like yours truly, but by fund managers running “the big casino,” and that big question is whether or not Mango Mussolini has gone completely bonkers over the tariff madness...if this were Biden somehow, I can assure you that nobody would be delicately tip-toeing around the topic...all it took was one admittedly bad debate performance for our media and political “insiders” to stage a collective freakout, which has a lot to do with how we ended up in this mess...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us how those beyond-insane tariffs are shuttering manufacturing, including a proposed plastic recycling plant in Erie, Pa...glad to hear Kyle’s take on how Yambo blew up the CHIPS Act from Biden and killed a lot of high-end manufacturing jobs...I wish I could disagree with a single word of Kyle’s analysis, but I can’t actually (NSFW/H)...



...and Chris Hayes lets us know that Cantaloupe Capone has gutted funding for a kids’ history contest timed for National History Day...great job by Hayes to put this obscenity in the context of the cost of Mango Mussolini’s golf BS or Elmo’s federal contracts...God forbid we have happy kids who want to learn and encounter others who do also...”Who voted for this?” indeed...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace decided to hold a 15-minute virtual town hall (a la Bri-Fi) with her constituents where she verbally lambasted one of them for asking a question related to DEI...great point by Cousins that, if people showing up to town halls were actually paid actors by George Soros or something, somebody would have uncovered that by now...also important to point out how chicken Mace really is for criticizing someone else’s supposed lack of courage when Mace doesn’t even have the guts to face her constituents herself...



...and John Russell of More Perfect Union went to the recent Bernie/AOC rally in Denver and interviewed some of the attendees...and if anybody out there thinks I’m a rubber stamp for corporate Democrats, think again...and listening to the lady who’s a nurse dealing with her issues rang more than a few bells for yours truly...I have to admit that I’m uncomfortable with invoking Luigi Mangione because he’s accused of the murder of a CEO, and I don’t think anyone should rally around that, despite the fact that United Healthcare is an absolutely awful company – I’m sure the lady who spoke about him knows that, but I think that should be emphasized...and I think this is way too funny (NSFW/H also)...



...and happy 80th birthday to heavy metal guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

Friday Stuff

I know I’m a little late with this, but Jon Stewart gave us the following commentary on Monday over the beyond ridiculous tariffs courtesy of Combover Caligula...and yeah, who’s the “PANICAN” now, you guttural orange turd...spot-on commentary by Stewart as per usual with humor but also pointing out that our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing...and yeah, we’ll sure be able to compete with southeast Asia for tech jobs while we’re busy putting screws into iPhones...



...and Leeja Miller lets us know that the tariff backlash has indeed begun...yep, I would say so (I know it’s hard to keep up with all of the insanity from Bronzer Beelzebub, which is completely by design, but this is still a pretty thoughtful and well-researched analysis)...also, Ground News is definitely an important site/app...many good points including the fact that whatever trade deficits we actually have (notwithstanding the phony baloney numbers in that dumb chart) are likely more than offset by the fact that the US is the largest exporter of services among industrialized nations, as Miller points out...I’m definitely not an econ major from college also, so I can’t get into the “whys” and “wherefores” of how the tariff numbers are ridiculous; I’ll just take the word of reputable people in this area who say that...Miller gets to Peter Navarro at about 16:56, who is one of the most guilty parties in this madness...she also makes a totally cogent argument leading up to the inescapable conclusion at about 22:26 that this insanity only benefits the rich...and that subreddit person says “I get the sense I’m not being told the truth,” huh? At what point were you FINALLY going to figure out that WE HAVE A RULING CABAL OF LIARS AND GRIFTERS IN CHARGE??!!...also, as others have pointed out, the ruinous Smoot-Hawley tariff greatly exacerbated The Great Depression...glad we’re not at a Costco Slop Bucket Level of Apocalyptic Panic; hopefully we won’t economically deteriorate to that point (and one of Miller’s great points is that this actually is a good time to buy stocks while share prices are lower)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the tariff madness (and yeah, I would say that the “Lucy, you got some explaining to do” moment is here for sure also)...and as far as the news about the IRS is concerned, it doesn’t take a genius to see that tax information will be another way to try and round up more suspected illegal immigrants for Bronzer Beelzebub’s deportation flights to El Salvador, Louisiana, or some other place where there’s a black hole to stick these people with the intention of never hearing from them again (and oh yeah, I can also see the IRS now going out of its way to audit Democrats, as Whitehouse suggests...Whitehouse is spot-on also IMO with his example of the shoe lace manufacturer in his state)...



...and Brittany Page brings us the sorry tale of food assistance getting hammered (SNAP) to pay for tax cuts for the rich from the “party of Lincoln,” as well as cuts to Medicaid...and oh great, “Bobby Brainworms” is going to make sure that we’ve can’t capitalize on the potential cancer breakthrough; heckuva job!...and I can’t think of a minute when I’ve seen Jim McGovern and he hasn’t stood tall (terrific analysis by Page of how there ALREADY ARE work requirements for SNAP, and anybody familiar with the cost of child care, which excludes congressional Republicans I realize, knows that you basically have to choose between often crappy employment for not much dough or foregoing work to take care of your kids...an even worse update is the news that the U.S. House approved that disgusting budget that does indeed cut Medicaid and SNAP; every Dem voted No and every Repug, including Bri-Fi, voted Yes...here and here)...



...and RIP Robert McChesney, who wrote a whole bunch of books about control of our media by monopolies... Amy Goodman and John Nichols pay tribute...as Nichols says, McChesney, maybe more than anyone else, brought to our attention the fact that the media itself can be an issue when it comes to serving either democracy or corporate power...I definitely would say that McChesney figured out the monopolistic game played by the telcos and others with an internet presence to maximize profit and manufacture consent in favor of the economic elites more than anyone else (and I honestly couldn’t tell you where we are with Net Neutrality...I’m sure certain online presences are getting “throttled” – maybe including your humble narrator – while others sail through if the price is right, but I can’t prove it of course)...



...and RIP also drummer Clem Burke of Blondie.

Wednesday Stuff

Tennessee Brando lets us know about MAGAts celebrating losses in their 401(k)s because of Pumpkin Pol Pot (I can most definitely assure you I don’t share that mood in any way)...and oh yeah, we get more of the same pabulum along the lines of “don’t worry, be happy” including Judge Winebox, along with that idiocy again from Harris Faulkner about supporting the war effort, or some such nonsense...as Brando says, I don’t recall hearing anything like that from Faulkner while Biden brought us out of the pandemic...and Brando is about 150 percent right about not being able to debate some MAGA goofball or someone simpatico with that bunch (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and Belle discusses the Trade Review Act of 2025, with more Repug senators signing on along with a bunch of Dems, with Repug rep Don Bacon introducing a companion bill in the U.S. House (to reclaim tariff power from Our Demented Orange Man-Baby)...also, the Gropenfuhrer is getting sued over tariffs by a group backed by Leonard Leo and Charles Koch (“don’t mess with the money” indeed...so let me see if I can figure this out; trashing the environment, taking away women’s health care, putting children into dangerous factories, cutting food assistance to families, letting Israel do genocide in Gaza, letting guns proliferate like crazy, attacking LGBTQ individuals and rounding up basically anyone who appears to be an immigrant whether they actually are US citizens or not...that’s all fine with the MAGA crowd, but touching everyone’s retirement is the “third rail” that FINALLY gets the attention of these clowns?)...



Update 1: Now watch and see all the gutless lickspittles of #47’s party forget about clawing back tariffs after this.

Update 2: Jamelle Bouie is probably the only columnist from the "paper of record" that I take seriously any more, FWIW (here - and I know that last sentence is tongue-in-cheek).

...and speaking of “Bibi” and his Gaza carnage, Emma of The Majority Report tells us about a video exposing the slaughter from the IDF of paramedics providing assistance to residents of Rafah in Gaza...absolutely shocking also that the report on this came from Fix Noise, but I have to give them credit...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the ‘terrible, absolutely ridiculous way to run a government” from Cantaloupe Capone...yeah, so the “solution” from these Trumpist/DOGE nematodes for all of the misery they’re responsible for related to Social Security is just to not tell anybody about it...also, nice job by Arizona AG Kris Mayes to set up a website to report Social Security problems; that should be the case in all 50 states, D.C. and our territories as well...I know the wingnuts will squeal like stuck pigs as usual over commentaries like this (too f’ing bad), but Maddow is spot-f*cking-on with her analysis...



...oh, and by the way, people from other countries are avoiding this nation like the plague (and rightly so), as Jesse Dollemore points out in those particularly damning line graphs...it looks like travel from this country overseas has remained constant thus far, but I would argue that that’s because those trips were likely planned months ago – the real test will be how many trips overseas are planned by people in this country as the year unfolds, and I’m sure that number will fall off the metaphorical cliff also...



...and Elton John released “Jump Up,” his 16th studio album, on this day in 1982...the “hits” from that recording were “Ball and Chain” and “Empty Garden,” but I decided to include this for obvious reasons I guess...he always struck me as a good dude (at least in terms of how he presented himself in public); I’ll always give him credit for “Rocketman,” which was one of the most warts-and-all biopics I’ve ever seen – he definitely deserves points for honesty.

Tuesday Stuff

John and Jayar of The Damage Report let us know about the usual suspects on Fix Noise trying to oh-so-politely criticize the Gropenfuhrer over the epochal destruction from his trade war, though I guess they think they can’t go too far in invoking the wrath of the Man-Baby With Delusions Of Godhood...and I’m sure this Trumper Howard Lutnick SOB has already transferred his assets overseas, and as far as Sean Inanity is concerned, John makes a great point about #47 apparently trying to destroy the trade deal THAT #47 HIMSELF APPROVED SIX FREAKING YEARS AGO!!!...



...and Jesse Dollemore reports on still more stock market carnage, with the DJIA down about 5,000 points yesterday at the open of trading, though it closed down 350, as it that is supposed to be good news somehow (and $6 trillion drained from the market in a week because of those beyond-ridiculous tariffs)...



...and Belle discusses the potential of a trade war turning into the real thing, and as Belle says, it would only be with China...maybe out of my lane a bit, but here’s a question; since China is ascendant economically, how would achieving some kind of military conquest help that? Basically, would it be worth the cost of a military engagement to enhance their economic position – just wondering (I’m tempted to think no, and I hope to God I’m right)...



...and Farron Cousins informs us of significant damage coming to Medicaid to pay for still more stinking Repug tax cuts for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch, and yes, overwhelmingly it will hit states that voted for Cantaloupe Capone, so this definitely shouldn’t be a surprise, and yes, people will die as a result (love to be wrong, but we know how this movie ends, you might say)...



...and Rachel Maddow interviews Dr. David Kessler, who had a lot to do with keeping millions of people safe during COVID; Kessler also lets us know that #47 fired the doctor who likely saved his life when Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence came down with COVID – no bottom too low...and oh yeah, the “fertilization president” guts the CDC...yeah, he’s full of fertilizer all right...I knew this second ruinous term for Mango Mussolini was going to be carnage and retribution, but I honestly didn’t think the scale of the destruction would be this broad... this clip should be viewed by everyone in this country, though I guess some would ignore it coming from “MSDNC” allegedly...more fool them for being the troglodytes who, more than anyone else, inflicted this mess on us all...



...and today marks the 90th anniversary of Congress voting to approve the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in response to the Great Depression...the clip gets into more background, and more information on the projects completed by the WPA is here (shocking I know to recall a time when Congress actually worked on behalf of the majority of this country as opposed to the one percent)...



...and this is probably the best explanation I’ve heard yet behind all of the damage from the horrible tariffs of Our Ochre Abomination from Brian Tyler Cohen and Marc Elias (and once more, let’s not forget that the power to impose tariffs rests with Congress, but because #47 declared some kind of “emergency,” he claimed the tariff power and the supine lackeys of his party on Capitol Hill are letting him get away with this madness)...this is the only way thus far that Yambo has figured out how to behave like a strongman as opposed to serving as the elected leader of a free people...and yeah, it’s so despicable to see how law firms have caved, among other entities...and yes, I know the market has rebounded a bit today thus far (briefly NSFW/H)...



Update: And apparently I spoke too soon because Orange Sh*tstain just f*cked the market again with a 104 percent tariff on China...

...and I’m just in the mood to hear this newer tune – feel free to read into that however you want.

Monday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore brings us the sorry tale of Texas U.S. House Rep Keith Self (do I really need to note the political party?) quoting Joseph Goebbels during a hearing questioning someone from the Biden Administration supposedly guilty of “censorship” (spoiler alert: she wasn’t)...Self should be immediately removed from office and disallowed from serving when it comes to government in any level at all in this country (and I give less than a rat’s ass that this idiot served for over 20 years in the Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel; if anything, that makes this worse...I think this asshat was trying to allege that the Biden Administration somehow was guilty of Nazi propaganda, which 1) is utterly ridiculous, 2) does not stand up to any actual proof, 3) Are you f*cking kidding me?, and 4) Are you eating paste and lead paint chips for dinner?)...very slightly NSFW/H...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the Gropenfuhrer blowing off the dignified transfer of the remains of our soldiers killed in Lithuania to watch a golf match and attend a dinner for the same in Flori-DUUUH!, apparently, which shouldn't be surprising from the guy responsible for this...



...oh, and in case anyone was wondering about the reaction of world leaders to "liberation day" last week (as in, "liberated" from over a year's worth of accrued value in our 401(k)s), Brian Tyler Cohen gives us the details (with Emmanuel Macron of France taking the lead in responding)...and yes, Jamie Raskin is about 150 percent correct, and the notion that Yambo thought the entire world would grovel to him is spot-on also...

Update: As far as I'm concerned, we're in 25th Amendment territory right now.

...and David Shuster informs us that the tariffs of Pumpkin Pol Pot are so bad that he’s getting called out by Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul of Kentucky and Senator Foghorn Leghorn of Louisiana (and it’s “Smoot-Hawley” Rand, not the way you said it, whatever that was, though Paul is otherwise spot-on, shockingly enough...Daniel Dale pronounced it correctly later...and I'm genuinely sorry about the man running the hotel/B&B in Maine; looks like a beautiful place)...



...and Bernie Sanders recently introduced a resolution of disapproval to our funding of the criminal regime of Netanyahu in Israel, sending over $9 billion in military hardware (and I think we’ve long since passed the point where we need to say, “yeah, but Hamas...” – the resolution failed, which isn’t surprising unfortunately, but there was some movement on the Dem side...of course, fugghetaboutit from the “party of Lincoln”)...



...and John Prine left us 5 years ago today due to COVID complications; the pandemic was another catastrophe completely and totally bungled by Combover Caligula.

Sunday Stuff

What follows is an overhead video of the “Hands Off” protest yesterday in Chicago...



...as well as Boston (Provincetown also – and yeah, that was a particularly ridiculous Repug lie at the end...well, I did “a quick Google search” and found this)...



...additionally, here is the protest in Detroit...



...and Philly is included in this report (and as far as that idiocy about tariffs restoring manufacturing from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, I give you this from people who actually know what they’re talking about)...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network has more, including protests in Concord, New Hampshire, Boston again...also Fort Lauderdale, Portland, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Minnesota, and on and on, as well as oversea in France and Germany, and Meiselas also presents some truly demented insanity from #47’s on Truth Septic...



....and this gives a look at yesterday’s international protests (“It’s not a question of location, it’s a question of principle,” indeed.)..

Protests also took place at the following locations:

Carthage, NC (a pro-MAGA town, apparently)

Kalispell, MT

Easthampton, MA

Albuquerque, NM

Additonally, New York Times reporting is here and Reuters reporting is here.

...and I’m presenting this clip again from a product manager who explains pretty well why we’ll never “tariff” our way to onshoring our manufacturing capability again...I mean, we could try to do that with significant public investment in concert with the private sector, but good luck trying to do that with the knuckleheads currently in charge of our federal government (NSFW/H)...

One of the most informative explanations of what Trump's tariffs are going to do to America that you'll ever hear. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/UZ6jpbkzP2

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) December 7, 2024

...and if you’re looking for a tune for this occasion, I would suggest the following.



Update: Also, there were protests yesterday at the Texas state capital of Austin...



...as well as Milwaukee (as well as at the state capital of Madison in Wisconsin) and elsewhere.