Tuesday Stuff (updates)

Some point after the end of these every-other-year electoral contests (the major ones for president and the less-major-but-still-important off-cycle ones for the U.S. House and Senate also), I weigh in (for whatever my opinion is worth) about what has transpired, good and bad, about the election cycle that has just concluded. I usually hold off on that until after Election Day because I don’t want to say or do anything that could hurt Dem chances on November 8th (and yes, I realize I’m a miniscule player in all of this and probably couldn’t have much impact regardless).

However, I’m going to break with tradition a bit and comment a bit here because I think it’s necessary. I’ll give the glass-half-full perspective first and commend all of the hard work going on with everybody on team “D” doing the canvassing, phone calls, Emailing, texting, putting up signs, etc. for a whole slate of great candidates, including (but not limited to) John Fetterman, Ashley Ehasz (pictured above), Josh Shapiro, Steve Santarsiero, and Perry Warren. I’m grateful to do whatever I can to try and move our politics towards representing folks in our communities who need services as a “hand up” and not a “hand out” for the sake of themselves, their families and friends. THAT should be the focus to which we are all committed, regardless of how big or small our impact may be in that enterprise.

And saying that, I can’t help but feel a bit of a churn in my guts over what passes for “leadership” on the part of the national Democratic Party.

As far as I’m concerned, these alleged political/media/Beltway geniuses could not have made more of a mess of our campaign if they tried. If I had the opportunity to say this to @harrisonjaime and @SenSchumer, I might be inclined to quote Burt Lancaster as Gen. James Matoon Scott to Fredric March as President Jordan Lyman from the film “Seven Days In May” and say to both of them, “You’re not just a weak sister. You’re a criminally weak sister.” (no chauvinism is implied in that, by the way).

I see virtually no engagement on social media concerning what could pass for a Democratic Party platform, included supported positions and legislation passed over the prior two years (such as COVID relief, the American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure reconciliation bill...and yes, President Manchin and Vice President Sinema made sure that Build Back Better was eviscerated, but do you SERIOUSLY BELIEVE that a Republican congress and president would have passed and signed into law the legislation I just noted, imperfect as it was?). I see virtually NO FIGHT from our side on this stuff on the national level. None. I barely look at Facebook regardless of whether or not we’re in an election, but I can tell you that Twitter has become an utter cesspool of Republican bullshit. And yes, there are plenty of folks pushing back, but (with the commendable exception of Dem U.S. House Rep Bill Pascrell, Jr. of NJ) there is NOBODY from the national political organization engaging in this exercise (and if you want to get an idea of the mindset that we’re up against, take a good look at the picture).

I don’t know what’s going to happen in a week, but let me just say this to these alleges “geniuses” at the DNC; do you want to know the main reason why Democrats lose? IT’S BECAUSE PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU STAND FOR, that’s why! And yes, I’m complaining about Democratic “messaging” (or the lack thereof) for the umpteenth time!

If nothing else, this is a sickening betrayal of the “foot soldiers” doing the great ground work that is needed for our campaigns to succeed. And it would be a lot easier to tolerate the non-stop appeals for money from phone calls, Emails, texts, you name it, if the people asking for my hard-earned dough had enough determinaton, courage and fortitude to merit a recurring contribution.

(And by the way, it’s unintentionally humorous to get appeals for donations also from Steve Bullock, who has written a few columns complaining about Dems allegedly not caring about the “heartland” and pretty much writing off Team D as a bunch of the dreaded “coastal elites.” I mean, Bullock could actually TRY AND ENGAGE THE OTHER SIDE in the battle of ideas...I mean, sure, the Dems can ALWAYS do more, but how about a little credit for what has transpired so far? And I know he has a bit of a point, but a circular firing squad will accomplish EXACTLY NOTHING to help us win elections.)

Update 1: Good advice from Mallory McMorrow (here - glad SOMEBODY is thinking about building up "the bench").

Update 2: And yeah, I think this matters too.

Update 3: I think this is well said.

And now that that rant is done, allow me to provide some of my own reminders as to why the Dems should be returned to power; first, because the other side sponsored the treasonous insurrection of January 6th, 2021...this was brought to us by REPUBLICANS, aided and abetted by REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate who either encouraged it or, by their silence, condoned it...this is a toned-down video versus what I’d like to actually present, but I know YouTube has become total bastards about what they’ll allow to be posted on a humble blog like this one because of admittedly violent content, but I don’t know how the hell you present anything about the 1/6 insurrection WITHOUT showing violence...



...and this reminds us of the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, when SCOTUS justices nominated, voted for and confirmed under Republicans decided that they should have the final say on decisions pertaining to women’s bodily autonomy...



Update 4: Yeah, I think this about says it.

...and what do you think they want to do to Medicare and Social Security if they get power? Do you really need to ask? And by the way, how many goddamn times are filthy, unkempt liberal bloggers like moi supposed to point out that LEX LUTHOR SCOTT WAS FOUND GUILTY OF THE BIGGEST MEDICARE FRAUD IN HISTORY???!!!...



Update 11/3/22: More here.

...and I realize this doesn’t really qualify as another “This Day In Doomsy History” entry from October 2013, but if you STILL need a bit of a preview as to what a GOP Congress would look like...well, we have recent history as an example as Ari Melber tells us, and with Greene, Boebert, Biggs, Gosar and the rest of our current bunch, you can add a whole bunch of “values” BS...going after gays/trans (including more dangerous nonsense such as high school kids allegedly using litter boxes), banning books, passing a nationwide abortion ban, and on and on and on...



...and I would agree very much with the “HELL, NO!” sentiment in this Lincoln Project video...



...and I realize that I haven't added a new tune here for a little while, so please allow me to make amends for that now.

Monday Stuff

Sam and Emma take a call from an individual describing what happened when the wingnuts lost it over a gay New York middle school teacher who displayed a pride flag...continually amazing to me that these life forms can do this stuff and still pretend to be Christian somehow...



...and David Doel tells us that Fix Noise is blaming Biden for the Paul Pelosi attack; figures...and of course, Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino are there to spread their BS false equivalency all over the place...”Well, shots were fired near the home of Republican Lee Zeldin of New York (here), so OF COURSE both sides are guilty of the same type of political violence”...GMAFB!...



Update: More here.

...and when it comes to the ’22 campaign season (with about a week to go), Trae Crowder reminds us that Not Your Father’s Republican Party doesn’t have an answer for what to do about inflation, or an answer for much of anything really except to get their base worked up over “values” nonsense (NSFW/H)...



...and Cenk and Adrienne Lawrence of TYT present more evidence that Americans in red states are dying younger than in blue states (and this is all pre-COVID, so I can’t imagine how much worse it is now)...



...and the Dollemore Daily with Brittany Page brings us Fix Noise demonizing the homeless...and yeah, it’s apparently as low down as you can expect from this bunch...



...and turning for a minute to Vlad The Butcher and his war of choice in Ukraine, Beau tells us that Russia is constructing defense lines on its border...yeah, I get the whole “fog of war” thing, but even for someone like me who definitely isn’t a military expert, I don’t see how this can be a positive development for Putin and his dreams of empire...



...and turning briefly again to the elections, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that Former President Hopey Changey was on the campaign trail for Dem incumbent U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia and had some good push-back against Warnock’s Repug opponent Herschel Walker (this was even better for Mandela Barnes against Rojo – PREACH!...and by the way, this tells us about Wisconsin’s U.S. Senatorial mistake and the whole “high school litter box” idiocy...kudos to Obama for doing this, but I think it’s needed because, once again, the national Democratic Party is doing yet another piss-poor job of messaging and reminding people that the Repug Party is THE PARTY OF TREASON AND INSURRECTION AND DENYING WOMEN THE RIGHT TO THEIR OWN BODILY AUTONOMY! – I’ll put up some stuff reminding people of that probably tomorrow, for what it’s worth)...



Update: Yeah, I think this says it about Herschel Walker.

...and by the way, Happy Halloween.

Saturday Stuff

Gee, I can’t possibly imagine why some deranged person would get so upset with Nancy Pelosi that they would invade the home of her and her husband (allegedly...don’t want to say anything to prejudice the trial of this lowlife) and allegedly smack Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer to the point where he needs brain surgery before the attacker was apprehended by police...I mean, it’s soooo out of character for the calm and deliberate state of our politics, isn’t it? (#sarcasm).

And by the way, I’ve seen a smattering of Republicans out there criticizing the attack, which is meeting a very low bar as far as I’m concerned (and mostly from candidates running for re-election where I guess they think they need independent voters, and that’s why they’re acting sane in this instance). Well, until you’re ready to smack down the guy who, despite it all, is STILL the leader of your party for his own repeated threats of violence, you can spare me your faux indignation (story with Katy Tur is in this clip - more here, here, here and here...and yeah, this sure figures, doesn't it?)...



Update 1: Maybe this explains why Watters acts like he lacks an adequate brain capacity.

Update 2: And add this and this to the sordid mix also.

...and Rachel Maddow discusses the scammy robocall in Detroit about mail-in voting involving Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman (here), which would actually be hilariously bad if it weren’t for the potential consequences (giving your information “to the man”? I don’t think I’ve heard that expression since I saw my last “blaxploitation” flick in the ‘70s...also includes a follow-up to the “Clean Elections USA” garbage in Arizona; a disgusting update involving a Trumpster judge is here)...



...and Ben Carollo shows us Dem U.S. House Rep Katie Porter using her white board once again to show how we’re getting utterly price-gouged in this country (more from Porter is here)...



...and Thom Hartmann reminds us that corporations aren’t people (more on the Santa Clara County scam ruling in 1886 about corporations and the lying headnote from John Bancroft Davis is documented in Adam Winkler’s great book “We The Corporations”) and the Repugs having NO PLAN for ANYTHING despite all of their screeching about inflation; actually, they could end inflation by utterly crashing the economy, again, as Thom notes, which would be far worse than anything we’re dealing with now...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT let us know that Rojo (running for another term as Wisconsin’s U.S. Senatorial Republican mistake) apparently doesn’t understand our economy and the aforementioned role of price gouging...GREAT analysis on the impact of corporations and their rapacious efforts to bleed us dry in this country - to help Johnson's Dem opponent Mandela Barnes, click here...



...and let’s all bid farewell to “The Killer,” Jerry Lee Lewis (here)...speaking of books, this fine work tells us how Sam Phillips founded Sun Records and sold the rights of Elvis Presley to RCA and Colonel Tom Parker (which Phillips always defended, for what it’s worth), and it also tells us that Phillips basically started promoting Lewis as the next big “find” after Elvis, and everything was going great until Lewis married his cousin, which basically set his career on fire, and not in a good way...RIP.

Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that it looks like over $1 billion has been paid out to U.S. farmers as a result of the ruinous tariffs from Mango Mussolini, something ELSE about #45 that has gotten the “memory hole” treatment from our beyond-useless corporate media, as Cousins rightly notes with plenty of deserved outrage (and no, I don’t mind our farmers getting paid either)...and yeah, I think this is yet another mess to be cleaned up by “Dark Brandon” at some point, as well as trying to get the post office commissioners (or whatever their titles are) to FIRE LOUIS DEJOY AT LONG FREAKING LAST!...



...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about the latest in wingnuttia from Trump rally attendees (“Zuckabuck”? And why the hell would James Woods be playing Biden? He’s a wingnut too!)...



...and when it comes to Our Ochre Abomination...well, believe it or not, there are MORE tapes, with #45 saying he didn’t want to put out a COVID plan until closer to the election, as opposed to, y’know, when it would do the most freaking good (and yeah, the Kim Jong Un stuff is weird, but maybe that’s just his “kink”)...



Update: And speaking of nonsense from Generalissimo Trump, I give you this.

...and Sam and Emma tell us about RoJo’s sweet tax avoidance deal, apparently centered around some luxury condo in Washington, D.C., with the non-inconsequential help of former Repug Wisconsin governor Scott Walker...to help Mandela Barnes running against Johnson, click here...



...and this Lincoln Project video notes the ways that Ron #DeathSantis in FLA is trying to control the vote in that state’s gubernatorial election (a variation of the garbage pertaining to Arizona noted yesterday); to help Dem Charlie Crist running against #DeathSantis, click here...



...and this recent video from Second Thought tells us about the role played by capitalism in Russia’s descent under Vlad The Butcher (I thought this was a terrific analysis of the horror of economic “shock therapy” as a prelude to capitalist “reform,” particularly in Russia, but I respectfully take issue with his claim that capitalism led to the Ukraine war...as far as I’m concerned, that has more to do with Putin’s sick, twisted dreams of trying to reconstitute pre-Soviet-era nationalism, or something like that)...



...and I’m going to try and wrap up this post with some positive news, and it’s this clip from Rachel Maddow (remember her?) telling us that early voting in FLA, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and elsewhere is apparently on a par with presidential elections, which SHOULD be good news, but we’ll see of course...



...and here’s a selection I usually include this time of year, and I’d better hurry up and add it since the month will wrap up in a few days.

Thursday Stuff (update)

It looks like, since it’s just another week, it’s time once again for a new abortion story related to Herschel Walker, the Repug running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia of course, as Brian Tyler Cohen explains, and no, I’m not trying to be a jerk and trivialize the horror Walker’s girlfriends/spouses went through over this...as I and others far smarter than I am have already said, Walker shouldn’t be anywhere near a government job of any kind whatsoever (and yeah, nice job by Bret Baier to feed Walker the answer...what pieces of shit, both of them)...to return Walker’s opponent to the Senate, Dem incumbent Raphael Warnock, click here...



...and John and Dan Evans of The Damage Report tell us that school mass shooter Ethan Crumbley pled guilty (here), so he gets life apparently, and his parents are facing charges also for aiding and abetting his horrific acts of violence (and apparently there was another shooting in St. Louis recently as noted here...such a difficult, hand-wringing problem I know that we can’t seem to solve, even though EVERY OTHER DAMN SO-CALLED “DEVELOPED” NATION EXCEPT US HAS MANAGED TO FREAKING DO IT ALREADY!!!)...



...and Ana and Cenk tell us about an armed vigilante at an Arizona drop box who is there to threaten voters of course...more here (from “Clean Elections USA,” huh? And THANK YOU to Cenk for mentioning the “new Black Panther” nonsense in Philly...and of course, Ana is referring to the “2000 Mules” documentary from Dinesh D’Felon that even Bill Barr, of all people, thought was an utter joke)...



Update 10/28/22: And of course this idiot judge who ruled in favor of the Clean Elections mob, Michael T. Liburdi, is a Trump appointee (here and here).

...and the driving force behind groups like these thugs in Arizona trying to intimidate voters is the evergreen big lie about voter fraud as we know, and in the latest installment of This Day in Doomsy History from 10/27/16, Carlos Maza explains why that was (and remains) utter garbage (it was BS in 2016, it was BS in 2020, etc. - NSFW/H)...



...and I thought Lawrence O’Donnell did a good job here explaining how SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas violated the law in plain sight when it comes to not recusing himself on rulings related to the January 6th insurrection (following up on Laurence Tribe’s terrific “catch,” if you will...good job by Lawrence also to link Ginni Thomas with fellow co-conspirator Cleta Mitchell, as well as Don McGahn and the other SCOTUS justices McGahn helped to install on the High Court)...



...and this More Perfect Union clip mentions Trumper Ryan Zinke running for a new congressional seat in Montana (to help Monica Tranel running against Zinke, click here)...



...and happy upcoming 65th birthday to Stephen Morris of New Order...



...and here's a tune to help us prepare for the arrival of All Hallows Eve.

Tuesday Stuff

David Doel tells us about the greeting Cancun Cruz got at Yankee Stadium recently when he attended what turned out to be the clinching game for the Houston Astros against the black-and-white-pinstripes bunch in the Bronx...hard for me to tip my cap to those folks in New Yaawk, but to be fair, I’m symbolically doing that now...I wish the Yanks had managed to stretch out the series against the ‘Stros, but the Texas team is having a great year and I know our Phils will have their hands full in the Series – however, that’s why they play these games, as somebody said (clip is very NSFW/H, which you might expect)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT discuss Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett declining to block Dark Brandon’s student debt relief...am I dreaming, or what? And yes, I think this is a pretty sound critique by Ana on why the legal challenge was bogus (I think the petitioners failed remedial math...and yeah, the petitioners don’t really have “standing” as Cenk says), but I’m SO TIRED of listening to this crew bitch that the debt relief is “modest” – I realize TYT will pretty much inflict their purity tests at the expense of anything related to political expediency, but PLEASE don’t say or do anything that has a possibility of depressing voter turnout, OK??!! That being said, Ana is completely right about funding the defense contractors, though I’m not opposed to helping Ukraine either...



...and Brittany Page tells us how former Repug U.S. House Rep Jason Chaffetz of Utah freaked out recently over the homeless population in the City of Brotherly Love (and yeah, Chaffetz is the guy who...checks notes...actually took a victory lap over cutting funding for embassy security that led to the BENGHAZI!!! tragedy where Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans were killed, as noted here...all the best to Jesse Dollemore during his convalescence)...



...and the Lincoln Project gives “little Marco” the treatment he deserves (to help Val Demings running against Rubio for the U.S. Senate from The Sunshine State, click here)...



...and when it comes to idiot Repugs, let’s not forget Marjorie Traitor Greene, who says people are getting Fentanyl poisoning from car door handles...um, I think that means that the crazy train has just pulled out of the station (and don’t get me started on what a cesspool Twitter has become, with barely any push-back from Democratic politicians, with the notable exception of Bill Pascrell of New Jersey...to help Marcus Flowers running against Greene for the GA-14 U.S. House seat, click here)...



...and please allow me to extend my sympathies to the family of Carly Simon, who lost both of her sisters within days of each other (here).

Monday Stuff

It takes a particular type of monster to inflict cruelty onto animals, particularly dogs, but unfortunately, that says a lot about Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz, as this Lincoln Project clip points out (to help John Fetterman, click here)...



Update 10/26/22: I usually don't pay much attention to debates since they're just full of BS media moments generally, and I can assure you that, at this point, I'm not supporting ANY Republican anyway, but I thought this was a noteworthy post all the same...yeah, some of the typical corporate media culprits are ready for the fainting couch over John Fetterman's performance, which generally didn't appear to be bad (I think this is far worse that anything Fetterman said or did), but Fetterman has EASILY had the most negative political coverage of any candidate in this cycle because of lying Repug talking points basically, so I'm not surprised.

(And by the way, finding people to satisfy a pre-conceived media narrative is no magic trick, as indicated by the Times report. J.D. Mullane of the Bucks County Courier Times, among others, has made a career out of doing that.)

...and I thought Beau provided some typically insightful commentary here in the matter of which party you want to be in charge during a recession, which we may be looking at unfortunately; he’s right to say that you should look at the platforms of our two major political parties to see what they support, but I’m sure too many people won’t even bother to do that and vote based on tribalism instead...love to be wrong (more here)...



...and I also thought what Thom Hartmann said in the first part of this commentary was interesting about how Repugs want gas to be exported in times of shortages to increase the collective portfolio worth of their donors (as opposed to keeping as much of it here as possible to potentially lower the cost), but the stuff from about 3:07 on about the lack of reporting on the Repgus wanting to gut Social Security and Medicare is telling also...actually, whittling away at traditional Medicare through the Medicare Advantage scam is accomplishing at lot of that anyway, unfortunately...



...and David Doel tells us about the UK climate activists who threw soup on the Van Gogh painting “Sunflowers,” which (thankfully) was under glass...yeah, this pointless act generated word of mouth all right, but not the kind that’s bound to be helpful to the cause of the "Just Stop Oil" group, which is sad because I think their activism is otherwise commendable...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report brings us the story of about $1 million raised to make a movie about a conservative superhero; the money was stolen (big surprise, I know – not really)...yep, more important to run the grift and bilk a bunch of easy marks than to actually deliver something that probably would have been awful anyway (NSFW/H – more here)...



...and RIP Lenny Lipton, composer of the following tune (among his other accomplishments).

Friday Stuff

Well, like it or not, I’m back, and I’m going to try and get this thing going again...for starters, I give you Trevor Noah of The Daily Show with a bit about recently arising concerns pertaining to long COVID, Vlad The Butcher attacking Ukrainian infrastructure with drones from Iran...and oh yeah, the political demise of UK PM Liz Truss (and it does indeed look as if the head of lettuce outlasted her)...



...and given the Liz Truss story, that means that it’s time for more commentary from “Jonathan Pie” (NSFW/H)...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about Not Your Father’s Republican Party trying to pass a nationwide “Don’t Say Gay” bill...once more, trying to demonize the gays and the trans folks in this country to rev up their base for the midterms by creating a “solution” in search of a problem...and I agree with the point that, if the DNC could find its metaphorical ass with both hands, then they would know how to get their messaging out on social media and elsewhere to drive their own base to the polls instead of cowering in response to the BS attacks about “defund the police,” high crime in blue locations vs. red, sanctuary cities, etc...also, the measure was introduced by Mike Johnson of Louisiana and co-sponsored by 32 other Republicans (Johnson is the guy who made bank from his state government working for a private firm in an anti-abortion suit, which somehow was legal, as noted here)......



...and speaking of crime, Brian Tyler Cohen discusses murder rates per capita in states won by Trump in 2020, which are higher than in states won by Biden according to the CDC...yeah, isn’t it funny for Kevin Stitt to say, well, “sometimes bad things happen,” and for him to be criticized for letting out somebody who committed another crime is cheap politics and disgusting or whatever, though, if the governor were a DEMOCRAT, the Repug would be CROWING ALL OVER THE PLACE about a violent incarcerated offender doing the same damn thing – as noted here about the felon in question, “After his release, (Lawrence Paul) Anderson is alleged to have killed three people, cutting the heart out of one victim, as well as allegedly killing a small child” (to help Joy Hofmeister, click here)...



...and we just recently got word of Steve Bannon’s sentencing to 4 months in prison for ignoring a congressional subpoena (here), which makes this Ring of Fire clip a little more timely than usual IMO, in which we learn about Bannon being part of a group using state legislatures to convene an Article V Constitutional convention to basically rewrite the Constitution for the rich of course (also NSFW/H)...



...and happy belated 65th birthday to Karl Wallinger of World Party.

Monday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Dark Brandon calling out Repugs who are now crowing about the infrastructure bill they once voted against, originally calling it...wait for it!...”socialism” (OF COOUURSE!, as Cenk would say...more here)...



...well, if you want to learn about socialism for real, this Second Thought video presents another contrast with capitalism in a clip with the somewhat cheeky title of “Do Socialists Just Want To Take Your Stuff?” (spoiler alert: they don’t)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about another Republican caught tampering with a voting system (trying to either read, upload or otherwise corrupt data with a flash drive, apparently), this time in Michigan related to the primary last August (and this person apparently was included in an alternate slate of electors on behalf of Mango Mussolini...more here)...



...and I know we’ll be entering the season of ghouls, goblins and witches soon, but when it comes to running for the U.S. Senate from our beloved commonwealth, Mehmet Oz is a monster for real (video mentions his exceedingly cruel experiments on animals including puppies – in response, to help John Fetterman, click here)...



Update: And apparently Oz is a Medicare Advantage fraudster too (here).

...and heading south to “the land of the yellow rose,” this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about Rochelle Garza running against Ken Paxton for Texas AG (more here...the video mentions the Feb ’21 energy crisis - $10.5 billion dollars of “financial wreckage”...ugh!)...



...and this DW clip tells us about the recent attack on the bridge in Crimea that remains an important supply route for Vlad The Butcher, still waging his war of choice in Ukraine (with reporter Mathias Bolinger and military analyst Frank Ledwidge...don’t know who the anchor is)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that, apparently, women AREN’T flocking to this brand new right-wing dating app...shocking! (uh, not really...NSFW/H...that pic at about 14:00 is pretty damn funny I have to admit)...



...and as noted here, today is the 50th anniversary of “the hardest working man in show business” deciding to throw his support behind Tricky Dick Nixon in his run for a second term as president (hey, nobody’s perfect).



And with that, I now take my leave for about a week or so for a break, which I definitely need. I'll look to start this up again around the 20th or the 21st.

Courage.

Sunday Stuff

Trevor Noah of The Daily Show gives us his take on the Herschel Walker stuff (hard to keep track of all of his girlfriends/abortions at this point, and what a defense from Baby Newton Leroy...I believe that we’re all going to have to make an accounting for ourselves one day, including yours truly, and that counts for “deep commitment to Christ” Newt also...who, let’s not forget, divorced two of his wives, one of whom was ill with uterine cancer at the time as noted here)...



...and going from the ridiculous to the even more ridiculous, I give you this ad for Repug Michigan gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon...I’m not sure I’ve come across a more extreme version of elderly white boomer entitlement than this...so much nonsense to clap back against, but here is one observation; yes, Dem Governor Gretchen Whitmer kept the kids out of school BECAUSE NOBODY WANTED THEM TO FREAKING DIE FROM THE COVID PANDEMIC WHEN A VACCINE WASN’T READY FOR THEM YET!!! (and to help Whitmer, click here)...



...and yeah, I guess I’ll take a bit of comic relief however I can get it (to do something about Boebert, click here, and to do something about Marjorie Traitor Greene, click here)...



...and David Doel tells us that the wingnuts are upset that Velma of “Scooby Doo” is apparently queer...and you mean you never caught onto this until now? Rut-row (and we’re talking about a goddamn cartoon, people...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I’m going to flip the order a bit of how I usually do posts on this day and note that John Lennon would have been 82...



...and happy birthday also to Jackson Browne.

Friday Stuff

It looks like FLA Guv Ron #DeathSantis is getting his MVY stunt thrown back at him in this video as noted here (and to do something about the utterly ruinous head of The Sunshine State, who is running for re-election let’s not forget, click here)...



...and it also looks like the identity of “Perla” has been discovered also (re, the person who lured the migrants onto the planes...kind of amazing that she didn’t even think of using an alias), as Farron Cousins tells us...



Update 3/3/23: Usually the best response is to act with humanity in response to the demagoguery from #DeathSantis and his fellow cretins (here).

...and when it comes to the destruction of Hurricane Ian in #DeathSantis land, Ali Velshi speaks with residents who pretty much lost everything (more on the relief effort is here, taking you to a page of information and a place to make a donation)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Dark Brandon unleashing again to decriminalize pot and, in all likelihood, remove it as a Schedule 1 drug at a minimum – in addition to making sense from a legal perspective of actually NOT ruining people’s lives over pot busts for possession, it also makes good political sense since decriminalization and legalization poll so well (David Doel explains– more background is here)...



...and I haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on in Ukraine for a little while I’ll admit, but it sounds like Vlad The Butcher is trying to move around some nukes on trucks or something (here)...and I’m sure The Swanson TV Dinner Heir will continue to cheer on Putin’s every move, as The Lincoln Project reminds us (more here)...



...and returning to stuff in this country, Trae Crowder gives us his rather wise perspective IMO when it comes to gas prices and OPEC (“the cost of the go-go juice in the boom-boom wagon” - uh, yep)......



...and I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 10/7/15...if anybody out there still has any questions about what the Repugs would do if, God forbid, they’re returned to power in either congressional chamber, consider this clip to be fair warning...this ad from the Hillary Clinton for President campaign tells us about Kevin MaCarthy praising the BENGHAZI!!! special committee and how that brought down her poll numbers (more here – the ”R” party in control means it would be all Hunter Biden’s laptop all the freaking time, and the December 2017 tax scam will return with a vengeance)...



...and I’ve been trying to determine exactly what the Republican Party platform is, and I think this tune sums it up pretty well.

Thursday Stuff (updates)

David Pakman tells us about more abortion denials for raped pregnant minors in Ohio...and as far as I’m concerned, the “end game” is for the High Court to completely and utterly destroy the right to privacy in this country, and the SCOTUS of “Strip Search Sammy” Alito, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett is ready and willing to do just that (not for a second, though, am I trying to discount how truly monstrous these stories are about these women – I guess it shouldn’t surprise me in the least, sadly, that we have come to this point...more than anyone else, I believe the people we should “thank” are white elderly conservative suburban boomers who will always consider the Repugs the “daddy” party and the Dems the “mommy” party...hard to get my head around that much of a denial of reality I’ll admit)...



Update 11/17/22: I'm sure Alito and his Federalist Society pals will have a laugh over this.

...and I really like these commentaries from Texas Paul of Meidas Touch because I think he makes a lot of sense, and yes, I would say the same thing if he were calling out bad behavior by Democrats...Dana Loesch pretty much goes “mask off” here and says that she doesn’t care how many abortions Herschel Walker has paid for; she just wants control of the U.S. Senate (the latest reprehensible behavior from Walker is noted here)...



...and I apologize for being a little late with noting the protests in Iran over the killing of Mahsa Amini (David Doel tells us more)...kudos to these brave women facing the hellish treatment they’ve encountered and no doubt continue to face as they stand up for their rights (I’m sure the Philistines on our SCOTUS are taking notes and probably saying “Hey, why didn’t WE think of that?”)...



...and Sam Seder of The Majority Report notes that the U.N. has asked Fed Chief Jerome Powell (and heads of other similar global institutions in developed countries) to not raise interest rates because of the damage that does to developing countries and their infrastructure...I’m a little mystified by Sam’s remark that, if you send $$ to the IRS, they just “burn it”...I definitely don’t agree, though, to be fair, I think Sam also makes a great argument to support the fact that our inflation is based on supply issues and not demand issues – and let’s not forget that Powell is a holdover from #45...there’s also a reference to the clip with Kyle Kulinski about the CEO of Iron Mountain praying – preying? – for inflation...”we’re all Keynesians now, and then we weren’t” indeed...

...and Thom Hartmann tells us Why Republicans Can’t Save The Economy (yet another failure of Dem messaging at this point if ANYBODY out there STILL thinks that the “party of Lincoln” doesn’t want to do anything with our economy besides drive the car straight off the metaphorical cliff...the “D” team can’t rely on our useless corporate media to communicate that message...this thing with Jerome Powell is starting to remind me of how Paul Volcker screwed over Jimmy Carter as Treasury Secretary so Volcker could help his friend The Sainted Ronnie R...”if you take out the three tax cuts under Reagan and Dubya and two wars, we have no national debt”...incredible!)...



(Update 1 10/7/22)...and focusing on world stuff again, I present this video once more as a "tribute" to Vlad The Butcher on his birthday...I was wondering if ANYBODY was going to hold our world leaders to account for sucking up to Putin, and this New York Times clip from earlier in the summer does exactly that...hard to properly describe the unbelievable failure of world leadership on this score...there were plenty of warnings that were completely ignored...



Update 2 10/7/22: And speaking of warnings, I apologize for neglecting this heroic journalist who was murdered on Putin's birthday (wink, wink)...I know 5 were convicted in her killing as noted here, and 2 of the 5 ended up receiving life sentences.

Update 11/14/23: One of those murdering bastards was pardoned by Vlad the Butcher, who obviously believes that the reason for his original conviction has been forgotten by now; hope I'm wrong about that (here).

...and Beau gives us his take on where Russia stands in Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine (basically, Beau’s argument is that any political goal will not be achieved, and prospects for achieving some kind of a military goal looks problematic too...and yeah, I think “imperialism” pretty much says it)...



...and speaking of birthdays, happy belated 75th to Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Wednesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Matt Gaetz of FLA wants to abolish the VA and privatize it of course, with Cousins showing what I believe is a commendable level of outrage aimed at ex-military in his district who will vote for Gaetz anyway because he has “the magic R” after his last name...I still think it stinks to high heaven that those charges against Gaetz of sex trafficking with a minor seemed to disappear somehow, but again, we’re talking about Flori-DUUH!, so anything can happen I guess...



...and Jayar and Jessica Burbank discuss Sen. Foghorn Leghorn’s “crack head” ad...and again, Kennedy opposed $350 billion in police funding, so his ridiculous ad is even MORE hypocritical...I wish Dem Luke Mixon had sourced that claim a little better, though I’m sure he’s right – even though we need to keep fighting, I have to be honest about the chances of Kennedy actually losing since he checks all the boxes, you might say, for elderly white conservative Trumper wingnuts in Louisiana (and when it comes to Sen. Cornpone and RoJo, let's not forget this)...



...and speaking of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senatorial mistake, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about RoJo squirming in response to questions from a local reporter about the text that either he or his chief of staff forwarded to Mike Pence, apparently, and presumably about seating fake electors, despite Johnson’s claims of innocence (NSFW/H)...



...and turning to the U.S. Senate race in our beloved commonwealth of PA, David Doel tells us about another attack ad from John Fetterman against Oz vis-a-vis The Simpsons and Dr. Nick, including the dog stuff with Oz, as well as torture of other animals (Oz is indeed a monster – more here...and to help Fetterman, click here)...



...and heading even further to the northeast, Cenk and Ana tell us about Tina Forte, running against AOC for the latter’s NY-14 U.S. House seat...and yeah, I guess, to know crime, you need to be a criminal yourself (meaning Forte of course...and I wish we would all keep hammering home the fact that THE DEMS SUPPORTED POLICE FUNDING THROUGH THE COVID RELIEF BILL, WHICH NO REPUG VOTED FOR!!! - I have a feeling that that's where the claim against Kennedy came from, as noted earlier, but I'm not positive at the moment)...



...and Jesse Dollemore gives us his take on the Herschel Walker stuff...and yeah, paying for abortions for at least one of these women is bad enough, but the hypocrisy is what’s particularly hard to take here from someone representing the party of “family values” (and as repugnant as Dana Loesch is, in a weird way, I have to give her credit for the honesty behind this utterly “mask off” remark)...



...and I know it’s taken a little while for me to get around to this great ad for Val Demings from Don Winslow (she’s running for the U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio in Florida), but I definitely didn’t want to let it slip through the proverbial cracks (to help Demings, click here)...



..and speaking of courageous women, RIP Loretta Lynn, a true American icon.

Tuesday Stuff

Brittany Page takes over for Jesse Dollemore and discusses Ohio’s awful abortion law, though there are other states with awful anti-abortion laws also including Nebraska and their wingnut governor Pete Ricketts, who is interviewed by Dana Bash and basically says that minors who are raped have to birth their rapist’s babies...typical for someone who will never have to undergo that horror...all the best to Jesse on his procedure today, by the way...



...and it’s time to hop onboard the wingnut crazy train, starting with Repug gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon joking about Dem Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s kidnapping, where God knows what would have happened to her if it had actually succeeded (Emma V. of The Majority Report tells us about it)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Marjorie Traitor Greene recently proclaimed that Dems are hunting Republicans...in response, we learn that, apparently, the right-winger killed apparently provoked the person allegedly responsible...not saying that’s a justification, but only that that’s a missing detail based on what Cousins tells us...and the second story about the 83-year-old woman shot on someone’s lawn was made up out of whole cloth at this point...and by the way, in addition to the right-wing violence Cousins point out, let’s not forget about this vicitm and this guttersnipe also...



...and John, Cenk and Max Burns of TYT tell us about Adam Hageman, Trumper from the Commerce Dept. with ties to Charlie Kirk, who was arrested and jailed over child porn charges (Cenk’s point about Charlie Kirk and outreach to young people is well taken IMO; Kirk is more to blame for not vetting this guy than anyone else...and yeah, I’d love to blame “Dr.” Gorka on this also, Matt Walsh and other wingnut pundits, but in good conscience, I can’t...echoing John a bit, though I think Cenk is also absolutely right about the Qanon lunatics being mostly responsible for the pedo garbage)...



...oh, and remember how, after every single mass shooting in this country, the “party of Lincoln” screeches that we need more mental health funding instead of common sense gun laws? Well, they recently had a chance to vote for added mental health funding, and I think you can guess the result, as Jeff Waldorf explains (and it’s true that Bri-Fi voted Yes, but he also supports gun reciprocity, so he’s at best a mixed bag on this issue)...



...and this Now This clip tells us about Hannah Stargel defending herself against the anti-trans and anti-reproductive rights policies from her father (a judge) and her mother (a state senator)...apparently both lost re-election, so hopefully they’ll rethink their positions, but probably not; the video also profiles Maddie Block in New Mexico waging a similar battle against her conservative father Jay Block who is also a state legislator (I wish all the best to these two courageous women and others in similar circumstances)...



...and RIP Sacheen Littlefeather, who of course turned down Marlon Brando’s Oscar for “The Godfather” in 1973 (at his direction, of course)...I was glad to see the apology from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Littlefeather earlier this year...I always thought that she got caught up in one of Tinseltown’s most notorious dramas for reasons that weren’t her fault...Brando had to know what would have happened, but of course he ultimately didn’t care – to say he was a complex, convoluted character is a huge understatement (this great book shines a lot of light on that)...Brando did lend his fame and notoriety, as well as his money, to social justice causes to be fair, so there’s that on his side, and it would be nice if an apology or statement of reconciliation were forthcoming from Clint Eastwood, but I know we can forget about that...



...and RIP also to drummer John Hartman of The Doobie Brothers.

Monday Stuff

Comedy filmmaker Adam McKay brings us this snarky little item about Chevron and our dirty energy criminals doing all they can on behalf of perpetuating climate change...I think this pretty much says it (NSFW/H)...



...and Jayar, Cenk and Ben Carollo of TYT tell us about Repug U.S. House candidate J.R. Majewski, running against Dem incumbent Marcy Kaptur in a redistricted seat; yes, Majewski did serve, but I guess it’s too much trouble to be honest about it (more here)...



...oh, and Farron Cousins says that, recently, “Strip Search Sammy” Alito said that you can’t criticize the SCOTUS...I have many responses to that disgusting, self-entitled comment, and one of them is here from “the old gray lady”...



...and I haven’t checked in with Kyle Kulinski in a while, but I thought this was a good segment on Iron Mountain CEO William Meaney saying he’s “praying for inflation” to jack up prices – reporting by Jon Schwarz and Ken Klippenstein...and yeah, “very strong pricing power” by Iron Mountain’s CFO is corporate-speak for price gouging; I wish I could disagree with Kyle’s economic analysis heading into the mid-terms, but I can’t at the moment (briefly NSFW/H)...



...and sticking with the economy, the latest from Second Thought asks “Why Is Everything Turning Into Uber?,” and the answer is that the so-called “gig” economy is growing because workers are always on call, they don’t get benefits, and they get paid lousy wages...what’s not for a corporatist greed head CEO to love?...



...and I really haven't had a "relationship" song/video in a little while, so I hope this newer tune will suffice.