This horrible SCOTUS continues to cement its utterly awful reputation with yet another ridiculous ruling discussed here by Sam and Emma (and sorry – I don’t know who the reporter is here...Rick Perlstein?), which is Andrus v. Texas, which, unfortunately, makes a mockery of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution (the slow-motion coup continues in full sight, people...oh, and just for kicks, they knee-capped the EPA today as noted here)...
Update 7/1/22: More from this utterly awful High Court is here.
...and Ana of TYT tells us about Ginni Thomas deciding not to cooperate with the 1/6 committee (even though Thomas said she would earlier), with Ana going over the communications between Thomas and Mark Meadows, as well as trying to get rid of the legitimate electors in Arizona (though Ana is being a little ridiculous in saying Biden is only “a little” better than Trump, even though I have some issues with #46 also)...
...and in case anyone thought the “party of Lincoln” would offer anything substantive in response while this High Court horror show continues unabated...well, think again; Cancun Cruz has apparently gone to war, you might say, with Elmo of Sesame Street over kids getting the COVID vaccine (with Francesca and Jayar...and yeah, Reason #67,452 why Cruz is a shameless asshole)...
...and the latest clip from Second Thought makes a pretty good argument against referring to anyone as being a member of the “middle class”...I have to admit that I didn’t know about that pithy quote from John Steinbeck...also didn’t know about the rates of failure of small businesses in this country...daunting stuff...and though I can see where he’s going with this kind of early on in the clip, I also think he’s right – you either work for others or “work” for yourself, which I put in quotes because it often, but not always, means living off the work of others, which indeed is nice “work” if you can get it...
...and speaking of work-related stuff, this clip from More Perfect Union tells us about union-busting tactics from Trader Joe’s in Vermont, as well as the successful unionizing campaign of a store in Massachusetts (NSFW/H)...
...and I neglected to mention the 70th birthday last week of Tim Finn of Crowded House; this is a tune that I think is applicable in a few different scenarios during these troubled days (looking at our corrupt SCOTUS primarily...and with that in mind, kudos to KBJ as noted here).
So, to recap (based on this Brett Erlich TYT clip), Cassidy Hutchinson testified that there were shooters posted in trees around the Capitol on 1/6 (or at least, if not from Hutchinson, it was known by Capitol police apparently), with these shooters apparently there to provide cover for Our Treasonous Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive (with a phalanx of Secret Service agents around him) as he planned to re-enter the Capitol and presumably seize power with the help of Mike Pence, who would refuse to certify the election on January 6th. However, in addition to Pence doing his duty according to the Constitution (and let’s not trip over ourselves giving him credit for doing what he should have done anyway), the Secret Service wouldn’t drive Trump to the Capitol that day (according to Hutchinson), rightly telling Mango Mussolini that they’d be breaking the law, to the point where Trump tried to grab one of them by the throat. They DID manage to get him to a fast food restaurant where he presumably had another in a series of tantrums and threw a plate which splattered ketchup on the wall. Are those the lowlights (more here)?
It is long past time to put Combover Caligula in a cell, and this should mandate that beyond any doubt. And by the way, unless we thoroughly prosecute EVERYONE involved in this madness, the NEXT TIME Republicans try this (and you KNOW there will be a “next time”), there won’t be a Cassidy Hutchinson or a Bobby Engel (the Secret Service agent) doing the right thing. They will ALL be “true believers,” possibly operating under the direction of #DeathSantis, Cotton, Hawley, or another of these treasonous monsters (that being said, more info on Engel and Tony Ornato, another Secret Service agent involved in these incidents, is here)...
...and Sam of The Majority Report tells us that the “party of Lincoln” is apparently panicking over the recent awful SCOTUS rulings, looking at the polling...yeah, but the bleeping Dems better damn well know what to do in response! And what Sam is referring to in the “65-foot-high ceiling” remark is that states would put ridiculous building code restrictions onto facilities where Planned Parenthood operated that they couldn’t possibly meet because of an undue financial burden in reconstructing those facilities, but they faced shut down if they couldn’t meet those requirements somehow...yet another snaky, lowdown game certain states would play to shut down PP centers...and I know it’s no surprise that Mark Levin is lying, but it’s interesting that he talks about cases “bubbling up” to the SCOTUS to supposedly prevent any litigation against Roe, when in fact that is the EXACT STRATEGY the wingnuts used to ultimately overturnRoe...
...and Trae Crowder gives us his NSFW/H take on the recent SCOTUS insanity...oh, and add this to the pile of wretched garbage from this renegade High Court bunch of lunatics...
...and kudos to Alma Adams, NC-12 U.S. House Rep, for telling Biden he needs to declare a public health emergency after the horrible Dobbs decision overturning Roe...
...and Beau gives us an enlightened take IMO on that oh-so-scary headline about 1 million new Republican voters, providing some much-needed context...
...and apparently, the one and only Bob Perkins is retiring as a full-time jazz DJ on radio station WRTI in these parts – congratulations on a great career full of bringing us the “GM,” as in good music (I think this tune is apropos for the occasion).
Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ tells us about this Trumpster idiot Mary Miller who cheered on the recent SCOTUS atrocity (I know there have been a few atrocities from this bunch) by saying the Dobbs ruling was a victory for “white life”...and yes, I think that’s exactly what she meant especially since she was cheered on when she said it, particularly by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule of a Former “President” sharing the stage with her - more here...
...and in the matter of the 1/6 insurrection, I think this is a particularly good clip from Don Winslow; the supine Democratic Party, particularly in the Senate, the “world’s most useless legislative body,” should be going after both of the Thomases (and yes, we know Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and his caucus are thoroughly unrepentant monsters, but they're not in charge, and we have to make sure they STAY in the minority after November)...
...and David Doel brings us this clip about the two activists calling out the Dems over not enshrining Roe in legislation (even though the House just passed a bill doing that which is being blocked in the Senate by all Repugs plus Manchin...I guess it’s way too much to ask for this MSNBC person to provide that context)...I agree with about 75 percent of what Zoe Warren says here in the first clip about Dems not codifying Roe and how that was a colossal blown opportunity, but please allow me to point out the following 1) Bill Clinton in the ‘90s spent the overwhelming majority of his term fighting with a Republican congress that ended up impeaching him over a blowjob, so there was NO WAY he would have been able to sign legislation enshrining Roe into law from that bunch, and 2) Barack Obama enjoyed a congressional majority for not even 2 years, mostly spent on getting health care reform passed (as imperfect as it is, it’s still a leap forward...though I’m sure this renegade SCOTUS can’t wait to blow THAT up too)...so basically, if you want to be mad at Dems, fine, but also be mad at the overwhelming majority of elderly boomer conservatives in the suburbs who keep rewarding the “party of Lincoln” regardless every election...and Warren should spare me her indignation about a fundraising appeal from Biden – thanks to Citizens United and this SCOTUS full of treacherous, bad legal actors fronting for our criminal ruling corpocracy, that’s just the way the game is played...no issue whatsoever with the second clip because I think Warren and her co-worker are exactly right...also, I think any “man” who approves of Dobbs should be made to wear a chastity belt for at least a month (NSFW/H)...
...and turning to the economy, Pap and Farron Cousins tell us about price gouging form Tyson foods – yep, just give your business to a local butcher instead if you can and show these Tyson pricks what you think of them for their shameless grift...
...and Ana of TYT discusses Larry Summers saying we should have fewer jobs to cool down the economy, which of course seems to casually disregard the hardship millions would face as a result (a little concerning to hear Ana say in a matter-of-fact way that she thinks we’re entering a recession, but she may be right unfortunately...she’s also correct about the outsized role of the Federal Reserve and our politicians not providing for those hurt the most by the shock of a downturn, since the true “owners” in our ownership society don’t give a fig about that...a related post is here)...
...and I think it’s been a little while since I put up Janis Joplin’s version of this great seasonal number from George Gershwin, so please allow me to do so here.
I totally get that it’s difficult to keep up with all of the insanity in the news given all of the nutty rulings from our SCOTUS which has now gone “mask off” and totally rogue at this point, but it looks like some life forms in “the land of the yellow rose” are making noises like they want to secede again...to which I say, GOOD! Don’t let the door hit you on your way out, and we’ll just bring in D.C. and Puerto Rico instead...and of course, what would a wingnut hissy fit be without at least one misspelling, as shown (Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with Eddie Glaude and Melissa Murray...and if Bushie Jack Goldsmith thinks we shouldn’t do anything against treasonous Repugs to placate the mob, then we might just as well declare that democracy is finished and fascism has won...but I’m definitely not ready to do that yet)...
...and returning to our renegade Supreme Court, Fareed Zakaria speaks with NYT reporter Emily Bazelon on about how the flimsy legal underpinning behind the Dobbs decision gutting Roe is based in this court’s radical interpretation of that pesky 14th Amendment (originally passed to recognize slaves as Americans, it has been used WAY MORE to establish “corporate rights”...and with all due respect to Bazelon, I honestly don’t think this SCOTUS gives a damn about popular American opinion or whatever, though I do think she and Zakaria are right that Hangin’ Judge JR is pretty much a figurehead at this point)...
...and this CBC report tells us about the protests over the end of Roe (and if the Democrats had any spine as a party, they would begin proceedings in the Senate to have “Strip Search Sammy” Alito impeached, given his recent words on Roe and his testimony on his SCOTUS confirmation that he basically considered it to be settled law, instead of “egregiously wrong,” which is what he recently said when he destroyed it...everything going on with this SCOTUS, including decisions just handed down and some which may be yet to come, absolutely SCREAMS for a vigorous executive and congressional response from Team “D” (something like this), though I don’t see that they’re up to the challenge...love to be wrong)...
...and Farron Cousins, sitting in for David Pakman, tells us about Roger Marshall, U.S. Senatorial idiot from Kansas, who is trying to block a school lunch program because he thinks Biden is trying to disallow discrimination against LGBTQ youth...reason number TEN ZILLION NOT TO VOTE FOR FREAKING REPUBLICANS!...
...and this tells us about the latest nutty SCOTUS decision, and this one has to do with the wingnuts siding with the Washington State football coach who prayed on the 50 yard line after games (here), with Gorsuch saying, “Well, he wasn’t in a classroom, so it’s OK?” Umm, WAS HE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE SCHOOL OR WASN’T HE? SO OF COURSE HE WAS ACTING WITH THE SCHOOL’S APPROVAL!!
Oh, and I love the part about, well, this won’t open the floodgates for cases involving religious expression in public schools...yeah, just like Bush V. Gore won’t rip open a hole in allowing partisan legislatures to run roughshod over independent election administration...not much it won’t (not blaming Pete Williams because I think he’s reporting this in an evenhanded way...oh, but we don’t have “white privilege” in this country...not much we don’t – all that idiot coach had to do was pray in private, like the Bible says, actually, and all of this mess could have been avoided)...
...and I’m overdue for a newer tune I know; hopefully this can help us take our minds off this insanity for awhile.
Sam Seder of The Majority Report discusses future potentially awful SCOTUS rulings that could also be handed down as a result of the recent destruction of Roe v. Wade, basically coming after the right to privacy, trying to reverse Obergefell, Griswold, Lawrence in Texas...everything, and probably Loving too, which would make Clarence Thomas’s marriage illegal...and Sam is correct to mention that Bush v. Gore has been cited repeatedly as a precedent in election cases, even though the majority authoring the opinion said – wink, wink – not to do that...mildly NSFW/H...
...and Adrienne Lawrence Esq. of Rebel HQ tells us about the reaction of world leaders to abolishing Roe (so terrific, we’re now on the same page as Russia and Nicaragua...and if the “party of Lincoln” manages to take control of the federal government, well, in that nightmare scenario, they’ll pass a nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions, to say nothing of coming after Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, so they’ll do their best to reap utter destruction “from the cradle to the grave” - more here)...
...oh, and let’s also not forget what those high court lunatic ideologues have done to Miranda also, as MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross discusses with Yale Professor Phillip Atiba Goff (GREAT analysis...”This stuff is coordinated, and I need folks to know that.”...damn straight! And that graphic about the arrests of African Americans and Latinos didn't appear for long, but that had important information also)...
...and the latest Second Thought video gets into why we hate bureaucracy...and yeah, I’m not surprised Milton Friedman is included here, because as we know, the only bureaucracy that’s useless is from the gov’t and NEVER from our glorious private industry in our neoliberal economy...OK, snark mode off (and yep, it isn’t hard to connect the dots to Maggie Thatcher in the UK and The Sainted Ronnie R)...and GREAT point about the pitfall of measuring a school the same way you would measure a private business (but still kind of harsh to prank those call center workers I'll admit)...
...and Ana and John of TYT tell us about Jim Cramer on “Gen Z’ers” allegedly “not being frugal enough”...in addition to student loans, the insane cost of housing is a factor also when it comes to young people starting out behind the financial 8-ball, along with stagnant wages of course relative to inflation and the cost of living – but yeah, it’s easier for Cramer to whine about “those crazy kids” actually doing dumb stuff like, y’know, gathering for drinks at bars LIKE EVERY OTHER GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE DONE! Why, they should be “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,” or something...
...and this is another one of those moments where I need a bit of a musical palate cleanser, so I now offer the following.
This is a picture of former Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry Blackmun. He was nominated to the High Court under President Richard Nixon as a conservative in 1970, but over time, he became more liberal, which was reflected in his rulings.
He turned in this direction mainly because Blackmun authored the majority opinion in the Roe v. Wade decision, which was handed down in 1973, invalidating a Texas statute that banned abortion except when a pregnant woman's life was in danger. The Court's judgment in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton held a less restrictive Georgia law to be unconstitutional as well. Roe was based on the right to privacy announced in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), and it established a constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Blackmun's opinion in Roe made him a target for criticism by opponents of abortion, and he received voluminous negative mail and death threats because of it (you can read about all of this and more from here). Blackmun labored intensively to find a justification for his ruling that respected both the law and women’s bodily autonomy, and again, built on the right to privacy stated in Griswold (which was also used as a precedent in the Obergefell ruling establishing the right to same sex marriage).
I’m telling you this to try and provide a bit of perspective on the staggering loss we just suffered in this country as noted here. And it’s true that we were warned this would happen. Hell, the Mississippi case that made its way to the insane SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR was specifically targeted to overturn Roe now that Gorsuch, “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and “The Christian Handmaiden” have been installed for that singular purpose. And I’m going to go out on a very short limb and predict that, now, we’re not going to hear a word out of anyone who specifically leaked the opinion weeks earlier (as far as I’m concerned, it was a conservative activist, probably Ginni Thomas, who couldn’t wait to take a victory lap).
So now, Harry Blackmun’s crowning achievement has been relegated to the legal dust bin, and it is likely that the lives of an untold number of women will now be utterly destroyed.
I’m reading people online now more or less “congratulating” everybody who blew off voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as anybody who supported these Republican lunatics who are chiefly responsible for this atrocity. Yeah, I think that fits.
And as noted above, don’t even imagine that this is the end with this fanatical High Court. They’re coming for Obergefell, Griswold...the whole shooting match (unless of course, our utterly supine and useless Democratic Party finds a way to pack the court, and I’m personally not holding out any hope on that).
Update 2: Jumping Judas H. Priest On A Freaking Pogo Stick, Democrats! IS PERFORMATIVE BULLSHIT all you have to offer at a time like this (here)?
Do I need to remind you of what the other side would be doing right now if they were in a similar position? They would be fanned out ALL OVER THE PLACE on wingnut media screaming their heads off! And of course, if we were talking about a national political party that ACTUALLY KNEW HOW TO STRATEGIZE AT TIMES LIKE THIS, there would be about half a dozen bills in the House and the Senate codifying a woman’s right to an abortion coming out of committees as we speak!
Yeah, just sing in unison as we continue our descent into a fascist “Judeo Christian” corpocracy! Meanwhile, the other side will continue burning to the ground about 246 years of hard-earned progress!
Update 3: OK, fair enough, but it was still rotten timing (here).
Update 6/26/22: I don’t know what the hell Biden plans to do/not do in the matter of expanding the court (and this is a great column on this subject). Likewise, I don’t know what the hell he’s planning to do/not do when it comes to declassifying pot as a Schedule 1 drug. I also don’t know what the hell he plans to do/not do about student debt relief.
What I DO know is that this ridiculous indecision of his is ABSOLUTELY KILLING any momentum the Dems could try to generate for the mid-terms. I don’t know what it’s going to take for the “D” party to realize that running on a platform of “vote for me because I’m not a crazy Republican” JUST ISN’T GODDAMN GOOD ENOUGH!
Update 6/29/22: Banging my head against a wall as I read this (nothing against Karoli...if it turns out to be not true, I'll note that ASAP)...
Update 10/27/22: A terrific related post by Joan McCarter here...
Well, with that out of the way, I now give you this from Rachel Maddow, who tels us about the testimony of Greg Jacob before the 1/6 Committee in the U.S. House; Jacob was apparently the lawyer for Mike Pence, with Jacob recounting John Eastman’s hair brained and treasonous scheme to overturn the 2020 election for you-know-who – another Repug lawyer, Eric Herschmann, is also interviewed...I know this clip is a few days old, but it’s definitely still important...
...and sticking with lunatic Trumpism, some Repug wingnut in Michigan named Steve Carra wants to make 1/6 a holiday because of resistance to a tyrannical government, or something...just once I’d like to see one of these cowardly a-holes actually GO LIVE in a country with an ACTUAL tyrannical government and then tell us what it’s like – God forbid anything comes between them and their privilege...
...and Caroline Johnson of Rebel HQ discusses the ways that the wingnuts are typically hypocritical on the whole bit about someone trying to assassinate “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, especially against a guy who turned himself in, versus the murderous Roy Den Hollander insanity as Johnson points out, and yeah, I don’t remember hearing much from the wingnuts about THAT one (yes, violence against anyone is wrong...I feel like I’ve said this a zillion times...blah blah blah)...
...and with today’s awful Roe news, it’s tempting to forget that the SCOTUS just struck down a New York state law against concealed carry (and good job by Sam to link this abomination to Heller...really fed up with being in a position where all we can do is wait for the next body blow from the wingnuts on the SCOTUS and their sycophants in Congress...and of course, this leads back to “Strip Search Sammy” Alito and Almost Silent Clarence Thomas, who of course said “yes, dear” while his wife plotted an insurrection against this country...and Thomas says, “this doesn’t matter,” huh? Then why the hell can’t anybody just bring any gun they want inside the Supreme Court during deliberations? What’s the point of metal detectors, then? Hey, someone is bound to create a “ghost gun” one of these days of plastic that can escape detection, so let’s just stop screening for weapons altogether then. Why not? And no, I’m not serious on that.)...
...and I know the national “right to life” coalition is just thrilled about today’s SCOTUS atrocity...well, it also looks like they’re trying to find ways to imprison people under RICO statues for even mentioning abortion, and not just the women seeking the procedure...just keep telling me that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is fiction...yeah, right...
…and RIP James Rado, co-creator of the musical Hair – this tune was performed by The Cowsills of course, another family band with a troubled history, including a founding family member who died in Hurricane Katrina (learned about the group from another great documentary on the Showtime cable channel)…I believe other members have kept the act going, to their credit.
I probably didn’t do myself or anyone else any favors yesterday with my comments about the 1/6 Committee Hearings...yes, I did say we should watch, but I probably downgraded their importance a bit, and I’ll chastise myself for that since they’re VERY important, in particular the testimony yesterday from Shaye Moss and her mom, who did nothing except carry out their civic duty admirably and had their lives completely turned upside down for it...Joy Reid talks with Errin Haines and Claire McCaskill...
...and once more, I know The Lincoln Project is just a group of yesterday’s Republicans, but they’re right...
...and Beau gives us his take on the hearings...I think he’s typically spot-on when he says that the Committee needs to find a way to lay all of this out to the people of this country (don’t know if the hearing transcripts will be published or not, but maybe they should be, a la The Mueller Report)...
...and yet again, I give you an example of the foul, fetid, seamy underbelly of Trumpism at work – yep, demonize “the other” at any cost to try and build/consolidate/hang onto power, which is the very definition of fascism (this guy Mark Burns in South Carolina is a straight-up lunatic who deserves a rubber room...David Pakman tells us more)...
...and I’m not sure who Sam was talking with here on The Majority Report, but the theme seems to be that the rest of the world is apparently shocked by the 1/6 Committee revelations, while too damn many people in this country say, “meh...how much is baby formula and the price of gas...and did you hear that Biden fell off his bike?”...
...and for a bit of much-needed comic relief, I give you Jim Acosta and Oliver Darcy of CNN discussing the recent escapade on Capitol Hill with some folks from the Stephen Colbert show and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog...
...and here is a short follow-up clip from People with Colbert’s response...
...and happy belated 75th birthday to Joey Molland, a surviving member of the band Badfinger.
This Reuters report tells us about Apple workers at a store in Towson, MD who voted to unionize as part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as noted here; even though this definitely is positive news, there is much further to go in this process, but for now, kudos...
...and in another triumph of people power, leftist Gustavo Petro was recently elected president of the traditionally conservative South American nation of Colombia, echoing what has taken place in Chile, Peru and Honduras, as David Doel tells us (gee, wouldn't it be a good thing if the political party in this country that often, but not always, represents the will of the majority of the U.S. voters expresed solidarity with these results? Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen, though)...
@DNC
@DCCC
@DSCC
@harrisonjaime
Update 6/22/22: And as long as I’m trying to contact the alleged Democratic Party “brain trust,” I feel like I have to ask the following:
Why is it that this political party overall continues to be SO BAD when it comes to social media engagement?
I mean, there are exceptions, such as U.S. House Dem Bill Pascrell, who, to his credit IMO, continues to remind people about legislation to help the vast majority of this country that continues to be almost universally opposed by the “party of Lincoln.” And actually, Nancy Pelosi, believe it or not, does not too bad of a job of reminding people what the Dems have done and why they deserve our support (I have other issues with Pelosi, but it’s no contest when it comes to her vs. Chuck Schumer, for example, on this stuff). AOC is probably the best of everyone on the “D” team in this department, and she also understands what kind of game the Repugs are playing in this arena.
On the other side, though, whenever any Repug politician is cutting a blue ribbon somewhere or giving an award to a boy scout troop, or even bloviating about their own legislation, there is usually a YouTube video or a tweet about it. But when it comes to finding something similar to that regarding legislation supported by congressional Democrats...well, good luck trying to find that (and yes, I’ve tried).
One of the reasons why Dems lose in the midterms is because they wait entirely too damn long to engage the voters they need to turn out on Election Day. You need CONSTANT ONLINE ENGAGEMENT. If you wait until a few months before the election...well, that’s just too damn late. The other side has had plenty of time to cement their utterly BS narratives in the minds of the voters by then.
I know this is “tilting at windmills” once again, but every so often, I feel like I have to engage in this exercise anyway.
...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report discuss that totally bonkers Eric Greitens RINO ad...I just had the Meidas Touch video from the conservative who’s telling everybody with ears to hear that the wingnuts are getting lied to and ginned up to vote against their own interests, and an ad like this is Exhibit A – I’d much rather spend my time at this site, to be honest, dealing with content closer to the first two videos, but we need to pay attention to the utter lunacy from the other side I realize – that’s one of the reasons why I admit that I’m not keeping up with the 1/6 Commission hearings; I’m not saying they’re not important and the Dems along with Cheney and Kinzinger aren’t doing great work (they are) and we shouldn’t pay attention (we should), but other people with keener insight on that stuff than I have can comment on it in a better way than I can...
...and this clip from More Perfect Union tells us that the land of Ron #DeathSantis saw a 29% increase in rent since the beginning of ’22, though, to their credit, there has been a people-powered movement on this issue in Miami-Dade...somebody should ask Johnny Harris if he actually has anything to say about that since it’s in a red state and doesn’t give him the chance to bitch about libs (here)...
...and sticking with The Sunshine State, Farron Cousins (based in FLA) tells us that the Log Cabin Republicans (I can’t think of a more abused political organization in this country, and they continually bring it upon themselves) were recently thrown out of another event (and I’m sure you’ll never guess that this happened in “the land of the yellow rose,” right?)...
...and I have some belated birthdays to get to, and here’s a big one; we just celebrated Sir Paul’s 80th, and I’d like to wish the same for Brian Wilson who recently hit the same milestone.
This Meidas Touch clip features a guy who bought into conservative dogma, but has since “come into the light” (yes, “they all lied” indeed...mildly NSFW/H)...
...and The Lincoln Project presents the following for the Juneteenth holiday...
...and this Now This clip tells us about “pockets of towns” founded by African Americans, particularly after emancipation following The Civil War...
...and I should note that I checked out on “Real Time With Bill Maher” awhile back, but to her great credit, Krystal Ball brought some “truth bombs” to the discussion with Maher and this wingnut nematode named James Kirchick recently (yeah, pretty unbelievable all right that this alleged politics expert like Maher somehow didn’t know about the market crash of March 2020 as noted here...and Maher is such a tool for talking over Ball the way he did...and to think of all the time I once wasted paying attention to his program...NSFW/H)...
...and I know I’ve fallen behind a bit on my Second Thought videos, so I now present this one about how the E.U. has created “The world’s deadliest border,” namely the Mediterranean Sea...I have to admit that I’d never heard of Frontex (“The whole of the E.U. stands behind...”) and Fabrice Leggeri or the controversy surrounding the company – I’d also never heard of the “Schengen Area”...and I’m a little surprised that he didn’t find a way to mention climate change as something that encourages mass migration of people often seeking to leave third-world countries, but that’s a little tangential to his main point I know – good point at the end that, aside for reasons of basic human decency, we need to support emigres and not have them taken advantage of for financial reasons out of our own economic self-interest also...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the corrupt health care industry in this country continuing to rake in huge amounts of $$ out of 100 million people in medical debt...God almighty (Cenk lays into Pelosi and Biden on this issue, and I have to admit that I’m there for it...yep, definitely points out why we need a public option at a minimum)...
...and speaking of health care, I now give you the latest installment of “The Day In Doomsy History” from 6/20/17...like you I’m sure, I’m reading and hearing a lot of people predicting a Republican takeover of Congress this fall, which would be awful though I still think there’s time to prevent that of course and there’s something all of us can do, and I have to admit that I don’t know what the latest numbers are...to me, it all comes down to independent voters, who, for my money, are uninformed idiots for the most part, which doesn’t fill me with confidence...anyway, this clip from Kyle Kulinski (someone else I haven’t paid much attention to for awhile because I think his takes are mostly trash anymore) tells us what happened the last time the “party of Lincoln” called the shots on Capitol Hill and they tried to pass an utter joke of a “health care” bill...we would do well to keep this in mind for the fall elections (NSFW/H)...
...and this took place 55 years ago last Saturday.
Jordan Uhl of Rebel HQ tells us about this Michigan nut job running for state rep named Jacky Eubanks, as well as an equally crazed YouTuber interviewing her...and to me, there’s a pretty straight line from Eubanks to Doug Mastriano here in our beloved commonwealth - to help Josh Shapiro running against Mastriano, click here...
...and apparently Montana GOP guv Greg Gianforte pulled a “Cancun Cruz” and high-tailed it with his wife to Tuscany while the state he allegedly governs suffers with “once in every 500 years” type of flooding, according to this Meidas Touch clip (and to be fair, Gianforte did apologize for attacking the reporter, which was the least he could do)...
...and I think I also linked to this a day or so ago, but Rachel Maddow speaks with Dem U.S. House Rep Mikie Sherrill, who says that there were tours given by more Repug U.S. House reps besides that one by Barry Loudermilk of Georgia (here)...
...and this Channel 4 news report brings us more on Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy meeting with Olaf Scholz of Germany, Italy’s Mario Draghi and Emmanuel Macron of France, as well as Ukrainian refugees fleeing – Lesia Vasylenko of Ukraine’s parliament is interviewed (“abnormal has become the new normal” indeed...and for the theater of the absurd on this story, I give you this)...
...and Thom Hartmann speaks with Greg Palast on New Mexico’s refusal to certify their primary election results and why we should care (and good for Thom to bring up John C. Calhoun from 1836 and the "nullification crisis"...all of this election-related garbage and more stems ultimately from that)...
...and by the way, happy 80th birthday to Sir Paul.
David Pakman has the scoop on Ginni Thomas’s involvement with the 1/6 insurrection, which has come out courtesy of the U.S. House commission headed by Dem Bennie Thompson (some of this has already been reported of course, particularly with the Arizona electors, but the stuff with John Eastman is fairly new based on reporting in the WaPo)...
...and Trae Crowder gives us his take on some of the reporting of the insurrection involving Trump VP Mike Pence, who is not be trusted or commended as far as I’m concerned for DOING THE VERY THING HE SHOULD HAVE DONE AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL AND THAT IS TO PRESERVE DEMOCRACY (though I have to admit that, in a related vein, this is unsettling - nothing against Bob Cesca...NSFW/H)...
...and Lawrence O’Donnell interviews historian Michael Beschloss (who also says not to give Pence too much credit) and Supreme Court expert (and I think that’s truly a deserved statement in her case) Dahlia Lithwick on the threat exposed by the 1/6 commission hearings (and yeah...keep piling onto "Almost Silent" Clarence Thomas - if the national Democratic Party actually had a freaking spine, they would be DEMANDING that Thomas either recuse himself from any cases related to 1/6 or resign from the SCOTUS bench)...
...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us that it looks like Herschel Walker has more kids than we knew about and is actually a deadbeat dad, despite his protestations to the contrary... yep, do as I say, not as I do all right (to help Dem incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, click here)...
...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about 73-year-old Peter Jackson getting beaten up by Republicans at a “meet and greet” in Arizona for wearing a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt and a “Jail Trump” hat, with Repug U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters joining in of course...yeah, in addition to acting like intolerant brown shirts, these idiot Republicans likely bought themselves one sweet lawsuit, which they completely deserve (to help Dem incumbent Senator Mark Kelly, click here)...
...and happy 35th birthday to rapper Kendrick Lamar (very NSFW/H).
Rachel Maddow tells us about Repug Georgia U.S. House Rep Barry Loudermilk and the little tour inside the Capitol that he gave to at least one insurrectionist who sharpened a flagpole that I’m totally sure that he was NOT going to use to impale Dem U.S. House Rep Jerry Nadler (yes, I’m being sarcastic, since I’m sure that’s EXACTLY what that lunatic wanted to do...and apparently, based on this, Loudermilk had company...and yeah, one of Maddow’s good points in this clip is WHY THE HELL DID THE CAPITOL POLICE APPARENTLY ACT LIKE THIS THREAT WASN’T A BIG DEAL??!!)...
...and Victor Blackwell of CNN speaks with media critic Bill Carter on Fix Noise’s belated decision to air the 1/6 hearings after all...
...and speaking of cable news stations, this TYT report with Cenk, John and David Shuster in particular explains how those stations are the biggest benefactors of campaign dollars (via ads) and the biggest opponents of campaign finance reform...I’m not unsympathetic to the argument about preserving jobs in the newsroom, but I personally don’t think that outweighs the screaming need to get all of the damn dirty money from people paying for these ads out of our political campaigns...
...and Farron Cousins brings us survey results telling us that, yeah, those polled want the Dems and President Biden to go after these price-gouging criminals trying to “make bank” at our expense and using inflation as an excuse (bless those people in Wisconsin and Arizona...and I definitely think this is food for thought on that score)...
...and Robert Reich tells us about 3 executive orders Biden could sign right now to support the U.S. workforce, and unions in particular...
...and happy 80th birthday to Eddie Levert of The O’Jays...I had this tune in mind for the TYT clip in particular (and those price-gouging energy criminals I linked to with the Cousins clip).
Farron Cousins tells us that that disgusting Republican harpy in the U.S. House from Colorado recently wished for President Biden’s days to “be few”; I give Cousins credit for reporting on this pretty objectively, but I’m not willing to cut Lauren Boebert an inch of slack on this one...I’m more inclined to think she was talking about this (as noted here)...
And of course, it’s absolutely laughable for Boebert to fancy herself as anyone who has any right whatsoever to talk about spiritual matters (especially in light of this).
Anyway, here is the Cousins clip...
Update: I have to admit that I'm not surprised by this. However, I am repulsed by it.
Update 1 6/15/22: Yeah, I probably should have realized that that story was fake (here), but given what Boebert routinely says about our side, I'm not going to sweat it too much.
Update 2 6/15/22: And a lot of my ambivalence has to do with nonsense exactly like this.
...and speaking of treasonous U.S. House Republicans, this clip from TYT Investigates tells us about Andy Biggs from Arizona, who, in an effort to deflect from asking for a pardon from President Fergus Laing, is now complaining about the size of tortillas...just say “oops” and get out...and I mean that literally in Biggs’ case (oh, but “Curtsy Kyrsten” LOVES Biggs, doesn’t she? And when it comes to the claim about Hangin’ Judge JR and Trump’s second impeachment, I give you this.).
Indeed, every accusation is a confession...
...and it looks like the 1/6 Commission pretty much laid bare the totally unrestrained grift of the administration of Cult 45, to the tune of a quarter mil, as noted in this Lincoln Project clip...
...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report give us their take on the recent alleged gun deal that the Senate is hinting at passing (with Dem Chris Murphy of Connecticut talking about it on “Morning Jo(ke)”...again, not blaming Murphy since he’s doing his best, but given the stakes here, this is really weak sauce)...
Update 3 6/15/22: I purposely didn't say much about Chris Jacobs in the prior clip because I was saving it for this.
...and I admit that I’m a bit behind on this item, but I wanted to mention it anyway, as it has to do with the Dave Weigel/Felicia Sonmez dustup at the WaPo over Weigel forwarding what was definitely a bad joke via Twitter, though I think Weigel made amends for it every way he could – I usually try to avoid online media stuff like this, but I honestly thought this story was instructive for the reasons pointed out primarily by Ana and Cenk, and also David Shuster, who did indeed make his name with Whitewater many years ago – God, Sonmez MADE IT by getting a big media job with the WaPo, and she basically burned it all down, and for what?...
Update 6/19/22: I swear to God, Maher is nothing but a troll at this point (here). He should just do us all a favor and retire.
...and this day has some sentimental importance for yours truly, so I think it’s apropos to include this tune.
Beau gives us his take on inflation and gas prices...yeah, I know the inflation news over the summer hasn’t been good, driven by the price of fuel...I’m old enough to remember gas rationing in the ‘70s, and hopefully we won’t see that again of course...and I thought Beau did a good job of tying high gas prices back to food costs from the drought in CA, to say nothing of the war in Ukraine...and I knew Beau would also tie this back to Biden’s really good job creation numbers, which I think is an important consideration also – of course, the usual suspects are piling on as only they can (here – and Art Laffer is to economics what Mehmet Oz is to medicine)...
...and Trevor Noah and Roy Wood, Jr. of “The Daily Show” bring us some fairly recent headlines focusing on the latest gun idiocy, gas prices also, “lonely white dudes,” etc (very mildly NSFW/H)...
...and speaking of guns, it looks like “the world’s greatest deliberative body” may have some really weak compromise of a deal coming up...but first, they have to play this Beltway/media/political kabuki BS of “well, maybe we have a framework that Repugs will accept...but oh no, one of the 10 who are supposedly on board may not accept it, to say nothing of Manchinema of course” and then this whole alleged compromise deal could go up in flames...just talk to me when you’ve actually signed off on something, OK (more here...and David Doel give us more in the next clip).
Sooo, now that this half-assed gun bill looks like it may pass the Senate, I’m sure Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao is going to “turn it up to 11” when it comes to bitching about a bill to protect “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and the other SCOTUS justices.
Well, here is what I also want to see in the bill for the Senate Minority Leader:
A ban on guns brought into any chamber of governance on the federal, state and local level, as well as any court or judicial office. Anyone caught in violation would receive an automatic 20-year federal prison sentence. Also, anyone bringing such a weapon into a range of 1,000 feet from said official would be subject to the same penalty (such as in an open public forum including a supermarket or a street corner).
The same automatic sentence for anyone issuing any kind of a terroristic threat against a judge or official of government on the federal, state and local level, or anyone using a firearm for that purpose against a judge or a public official (aimed primarily at those troglodytes who tried to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others in her administration).
The same automatic sentence for anyone constructing any kind of means to communicate a terroristic threat or using social media or any other kinds of methods of communication to issue such a threat (this goes out to those brainless wonders who constructed a scaffold on 1/6 at the same time as the chant of “hang Mike Pence” was proclaimed inside the U.S. Capitol).
The seizure of any kind of mass communication equipment and the impounding of all records including financial transactions originating from such a group as noted above (destruction of any records pursuant to such an investigation would also be punishable with the same 20-year federal sentence).
The automatic sentencing of anyone associated with such a group to the same 20-year term (even if they aren’t members) who are found to be acting in concert with them to achieve a terroristic threat against a public official (an excuse to put Steve Bannon in irons and dumped into a cell at long last...and hey, if we manage to nab The Swanson TV Dinner Heir too, I’d call that a win-win).
So with that pretext out of the way, here is the Doel clip...
Update 6/17/22: Yep, this is about what I figured (God, how tiresome this script is!).
..and turning to the 1/6 Committee hearings (and the second one is apparently taking place now), Ari Melber talks about committee chair Bennie Thompson reminding us that the military, members of Congress and the president have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution against enemies “foreign and domestic,” which arose in the aftermath of the Civil War (Melber discusses this with Michael Beschloss and Chai Komanduri...and GREAT POINT by Komanduri to mention Iran-Contra...and “I hope people are listening” too, but if 20 million saw the first hearing, that fortunately is a good sign)...
...and related to the 1/6 Committee and Liz Cheney’s claim that members of Congress sought a pardon from Combover Caligula...yeah, AOC's right...the only question a Republican lawmaker in Congress should be asked is if they sought a pardon from the Gropenfuhrer for their activities related to 1/6...and actually, their answer should be admissible as evidence in the hearings (Brian Tyler Cohen tells us more)...
...and continuing with the theme of trying to undo the will of the majority of the voters in 2020, Adrienne Lawrence of TYT Overruled talks about Ginni Thomas’s communication with Mark Meadows and the 27 Arizona lawmakers in an effort to get the 2020 election overturned (more here)...
...and John and Jessica Burbank of The Damage Report bring us the news of the Tampa Bay Rays trying to put pride logos on their unis (for Pride Month) with 5 Rays players who didn’t want to go along with it...I think those 5 were wrong, but I’m not going to go crazy over it (and I thought the logos looked cool also)...
...and here's an upbeat little seasonal number to help get us through a case of "the Mondays."
(Next week might be a little dicey for posting...I don’t completely know yet.)
I realize The Lincoln Project probably can’t come right out and tell people to vote for Democrats because that might have certain implications for their fundraising, but I wish they would...this NSFW/H clip reminds us of what led up to the completely treasonous exercise on January 6th, 2021 (and after these hearings from the 1/6 commission are finished, #45 and Ginni Thomas, among others, should be arrested and “perp walked” in front of the Capitol building for everyone to see...and others smarter than your humble narrator have pointed out how tragic and disgusting it would be if the voters of this country returned these cretins to power because they were irritated over a shortage of baby formula or having to pay a few cents extra for a gallon of gas, with legislation to combat both of these issues fought tooth-and-nail by Republicans...I think this is a related cautionary message...this is hopefuly anyway)...
And by the way, I disagree with Liz Cheney easily about 96-97 percent of the time, but she's really "on the beam" here (and, as noted previously, will likely be voted out of office for it, though I'd love to be wrong)...
...and Trae Crowder, the “Liberal Redneck,” tells us that the people who REALLY need to watch the hearings are the one who likely will choose to ingest more propaganda from The Roger Ailes BS Factory instead (also NSFW/H...and yeah, I think “chimpanzees” is about right...and yeah, isn't this just too precious?)...
...and yes, going after “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh and his family is bad for all of the reasons Cenk points out here (and call me crazy, but based on the description, this character doesn’t sound like a “lib” to me), but it speaks volumes of course that that death eater Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao jumped to it to help Kavanaugh but of course won’t do a damn thing in the matter of gun carnage affecting the non-elites...
...and sticking with guns, David Doel does a little “compare and contrast” with U.S. House Democrats and Republicans (mildly NSFW/H...Raskin v. Gohmert, Porter v. Scalise, and AOC v. MTG...and yeah, that Texas numbskull gave up his seat to run for attorney general of that state and lost, so he’ll be completely out of politics as far as I know in a few months...womp womp...I know the Katie Porter clip is a bit of a repeat, but that definitely works for me)...
...and kudos to 13-yearold Naiara Tamminga for giving it here to a Grand Rapids, MI city commission board over the extra-judicial killing of Patrick Lyoya, who emigrated to the U.S. from the Republic of Congo to escape violence in that country (according to Lyoya’s father)...the irony here is disgusting beyond belief of course (more here)...
...and I just need something to help me decompress heading into the weekend – hope you're able to enjoy some time off also.
Chris Hayes gives us a bit of an overview of tonight’s prime time January 6th Committee hearings in the U.S. House, along with reminding us why Fix Noise doesn’t want to go anywhere near these hearings with the proverbial 10-foot pole, in no small part because their prime time personalities were involved in correspondence with the Trump White House while the insurrection took place...intersting historical context with the Watergate and Army-McCarthy hearings...
...and John of The Damage Report speaks with Jason Stanley, author of How Fascism Works, linking the “great replacement” BS from Fix Noise with the gun carnage from Anders Breivik and Christchurch in New Zealand (unfortunately, with the epidemic of gun violence, it isn't hard to forget what happned in Buffalo, though we shouldn't of course, and I include myself when I say that)...
...and when it comes to justifying the existence of AR-15 assault rifles for civilian use, the latest excuse from South Dakota Republican U.S. Senator John Thune is particularly ridiculous (Thune said they should be used for hunting prairie dogs...sorry if this sounds mean, but if it’s a choice between a prairie dog and a child, the prairie dog loses)...
...and Brian Tyler Cohen brings us another clip of Katie Porter giving it to some deserving flak for another corrupt industry, this one being the gun manufacturers of course, in the matter of the total lack of liability protection when comparing guns to just about any other product that could hurt or kill us...
...and David Doel tells us about the ads from John Fetterman pretty much introducing himself to us for the general election for the U.S. Senate seat from our beloved commonwealth, taking some veiled shots at Mehmet (“CALL ME DOCTOR, DAMMIT!”) Oz, who apparently is trying to vote in both NJ and PA as noted here, from the party that screeches the loudest about “voter fraud” (mildly NSFW/H...and yeah, I can relate about raising a young child...all the best)...
...and happy belated 80th birthday to Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night; this tune goes out to everyone who opposes the 1/6 Commission and still claims to love this country.
