Friday Stuff (updates)

(The video referencing this pic appears below.)

No, I didn’t see the debate. I haven’t watched presidential candidates’ debates for years, probably ever since Poppy Bush got rid of the League of Women Voters. Besides, my opinion (for what it’s worth) has always been that, if you need a debate to make up your mind about a candidate, then that’s a big problem right there because it means you haven’t bothered to inform yourself on the person you claim to favor (what legislation they support or pass, what policy they want to see enacted, what their public statements are, who aligns with them, etc.).

That being said, what I’m reading is that Biden was factually correct in his answers, but he was slow and halting in his presentation most of the time, and now people on our side are losing their minds (the dumbest take I’ve seen so far has come from John Iadarola, which is actually shocking to me; he said on Xitter that, if Biden still runs, the SCOTUS balance will end up 7-2 or 8-1 or words to that effect, envisioning every single terrible scenario at once...anything is possible, but if that isn’t an example of the left eating itself, I don’t know what is). Some have even suggested that Biden needs to step aside for Kamala Harris. If that happens, then (God forbid) Trump just won the election.

Oh, and speaking of Mango Mussolini, he did what he always does, and that is to lie like crazy. The kids use the term “gish galloping,” which I believe means to throw any manner of falsehood out there and see if anything sticks, and #45 did that of course. That by itself is why I refuse to watch any debate in which he’s involved. This human misery has already been coddled way too much by people with power and influence despite ANYTHING that he has said or done, and that has a lot to do with leading us to our current sorry state.

Also, heckuva job, CNN, to allow Our Treasonous Orange Pustule to lie unchallenged in real time (and kudos to Mark Hamill for this - Update 6/29/24: I'm hearing that the "no fact checking" thing might have been a condition from either the Biden or Trump people, to be fair, so it's possible that that wasn't CNN's decision...if I find out more, I'll update this post.).

I saw a video by David Pakman on this last night that I thought was a pretty honest look at the debate, and this one by Beau seems to capture the situation well also...



Update 1: Yeah, I think this comment from Biden is spot-on.

Update 2: Howie Klein, to his great credit, takes the long view, as we all should (here).

Update 3: Words from a guy who knows something about winning presidential campaigns (here).

Update 4: I think he's dead wrong on Israel, but otherwise, kudos to John Fetterman (here).

...and ZOMG! Why, Ross Douthat, Ezra Klein, Michelle Cottle, Frank Bruni, “The Moustache of Understanding” and Nicholas Kristof all want Biden to drop out. Gosh, that settles it, doesn’t it?(here).

I wonder if Friedman is going to ask any French-African cab drivers what they think of the debate (here)?

Our corporate media helped to legitimize Former President Fergus Laing’s every lie, screwup, paranoid ranting and attack against a real or perceived adversary, so to say that they’ve lost credibility at this point is a cosmic understatement.

Update 5: Some more perspectives that I would say are sane are here and here.

Update 7/5/24: Of course, the Times has no problem giving precious column space to assclowns like this guy.

...and while we’re wringing our hands over the debate, I’d like for everyone to keep in mind this clip from More Perfect Union about how President Biden is taking on neoliberalism and reshaping our economy...”as long as share prices were going up and consumer prices were going down, there was no problem” about neoliberalism at first, and “The pie got bigger, but fewer people got a slice of it” indeed...pretty comprehensive look back at our economy going back to The Sainted Ronnie R...I also didn’t know about Jake Sullivan’s report on the decimated middle class in this country and how that was foundational to Biden’s economic policy...as the video tells us, it’s taken a long time for neoliberalism to play out, and it will take awhile for post-neoliberalism to play out also (but if, God forbid, Combover Caligula gets back in, all of that progress will stop dead in its tracks)...



...now, onto other stuff (referencing the pic at the top)...Steve Schmidt of The Warning talks with Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, running against Lex Luthor Scott in “the sunshine state”...I wish she’d been a little more forceful about the voters who were entrapped by Ron #DeathSantis, but kudos for bringing it up...the whole disgusting story of those tricked into thinking they could vote is here (and she’s right about legalizing recreational weed...I’ve been a little squishy on that issue to be honest, but I’m tired of reading about people’s lives being ruined over this)...not too comfortable with Schmidt’s “normal people” phrasing, I must say, and I don’t think he’s correct about Tim Ryan in Ohio – I read that Ryan turned away help from D.C. Democrats, though I will acknowledge Schmidt’s implied belief that the national “D” party establishment is largely incompetent, unfortunately (and by the way, I wish she’d bothered to work in some info from here on how Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has benefitted, and will benefit, Florida...example 4,218 of Democrats screwing up on messaging again!)...



...and staying in that location pretty much, Farron Cousins tells us that Trumpster judge Aileen Cannon actually did something right; she rejected Trump’s legal team’s request that they throw out FBI evidence gathered at Mar-a-Lago, with said evidence being pretty damn central to the case (as Cousins says, though, we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high because, given Cannon’s track record, she’s likely to do some more awful stuff again)...



...and Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg gives another master class in blowing up BS wingnut talking points, this time on EV vehicle sales, when confronted by PA’s useless Repug, subpoena-defying U.S. House Rep Scott Perry (any proof on "bribes"? Naah, didn't think so.)...between Perry, Dan Meuser, and Mike Kelly, it’s really hard to pick who’s the worst from "Pennsyltucky," but Perry is right there in the mix (Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about it; more on the Climate Corps is here...NSFW/H)...



...and in the matter of the veep pick for Our Ochre Abomination, Sam Seder of The Majority Report tells us that J.D. Vance of Ohio has apparently positioned himself pretty well (with Vance giving a totally nothing answer in response to a softball question on Fix Noise...more here and here)...



...and lest we forget, our friends across the pond will hold “snap” elections on 7/4, oddly enough, and with that in mind, Jonathan Pie gives us his take on Liz Truss and the Tories (NSFW/H also)...



...and I need a newer tune for a bit of escapism, to tell you the truth...I’m not sure how much I communicated my disgust above with voters who think that politics are a WWWF steel cage match as opposed to the careful crafting of legislation and policy in the hope of achieving a consensus to help the majority of this country, but yeah, it gets pretty infuriating and deflating to deal with individuals who care only about the train wreck as opposed to supporting the candidate who’s done the most good (with our corporate media cousins cheering on the freak show as opposed to doing their jobs of educating and informing their viewers)...at least the weekend is nearly here.

Thursday Stuff

Thom Hartmann does a little “wingnut decoding” here and presents the truth behind “post-Constitutionalism” and what these corporatist a-holes mean, which to me is a variation on this Article V crap about trying to tear up that foundational document and enshrine something for the benefit only of the corpocracy...interesting to look at 1900 and how far we’ve come and other important history including Social Security and the Wagner Act (more here)...



...and if it’s a day in June with a “y” in it, then that means it’s time for another SCOTUS garbage decision, and this time it apparently hinges on the difference between a “bribe” and a “gratuity” as far as our theocrats in robes are concerned, and kudos to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for cutting through all of this BS...Anthony Vincent Gallo of Occupy Democrats explains (more here)...



Update: And this tells us about today's horrific ruling.

...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us the story of AZ Repug Shelby Busch of Maricopa County threatening to lynch an election officer named Stephen Richer, who is also a Repug (after Busch sez she wants to run “a good Christian foundation campaign”...yeah, tell me another one, lady...and check out all those elderly boomer f*cks booing when Richer quite rightly says that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen...and I can say that b/c I’m an elderly boomer f*ck too :-)...and Busch is tied to the equally loony Kari Lake and an “election integrity” group, because of course she is...also, another Trumpist nut job, some “pastor” named Jeff Durbin, said that women who’ve had abortions should be executed, echoing similar garbage in “the land of the yellow rose” (here)...I wonder how shocked people like Durbin would be to find out this?...and yeah, it looks like one of Dementia J. Trump’s ruinous progeny thinks Daddy’s criminal convictions will be an election asset, or something – yeah, you go with that if it helps you, Uday; we’ll see what happens...



...well, in direct opposition to that nonsense, Farron Cousins lets us know that the criminal convictions for Bronzer Beelzebub are driving away voters (something to keep in mind for tonight’s debate)...and it looks like Nikki Haley is STILL getting 15-20% of the Repug primary vote even though she’s long gone as a candidate...imagine the corporate media caterwauling if this were, say, Biden running as a challenger with Bernie Sanders having dropped out but still bringing in 15-20%...but since it’s Trump, naaah, we don’t want to report on anything to handicap him since that hurts the “horserace” narrative...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 6/25/19, with something else to keep in mind for the debate...remember when Our Treasonous Orange Nightmare tried to sneak that citizenship question onto the 2020 census form in an effort to drive down minority voter participation? Uh huh...it was basically a scheme to ty and keep about 4 million POC from voting...it was overseen by Trumper Wilbur Ross, who was in charge of the census bureau and who lied in his testimony before Congress about it, and gerrymandering expert Thomas Hofeller had a hand in the question also...Trumpers John Gore and Mark Neuman were involved as well (more here)...the citizenship question was ultimately not included on the census form, but I’m sure it’s only because the scheme was found out (I’d sure like to see Mango Mussolini get called out for that tonight, but I won’t hold my breath)...



...and on this day in 1966, the Mothers of Invention (with Frank Zappa of course) released their debut album “Freak Out” including this tune...just trying to mix things up a bit here.

Wednesday Stuff

I neglected to point out the recent 2nd anniversary of the hellacious Dobbs decision from our theocrats in robes on the SCOTUS, but Rachel Maddow did so here with a report on how anti-choice efforts are getting punished at the polls...good! (Maddow speaks with Dem U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar)...



...and as long as we’re talking about The Supremes, I should give you this from Mike Figueredo in which we learn that this bunch has decided to take up the matter of banning gender affirming care for trans youth...sounds like this hinges on whether or not banning such care is tantamount to sex discrimination, which it plainly is IMO, and if so, it would trigger heightened protections...and yes, it needs to be mentioned once again that KIDS AREN’T GETTING FREAKING BOTTOM SURGERY!, and they’re only getting it at 18 after a lot of counseling (more here)...



...and related to another big story, you might say, David Doel provides commentary on the loss of Jamaal Bowman’s NY-16 U.S. House race to George Latimer yesterday...yes, this is deflating to be sure, but unfortunately it was pretty much expected (I thought this was a good take on what was going on, and the redistricting was a big factor also)...I’m going to go out on a very short limb here and predict that, if Latimer wins in the general, he won’t serve more than a single term; such will be the case of "buyer's remorse" (mildly NSFW/H)...



Update 6/27/24: More great stuff from kos here...and I can’t think of a word to describe how pathetic it is that Senate Dems allowed Josh “Running Man” Hawley to steal their thunder on the bill to cap credit card interest rates at 18% (which is still too damn high IMO...another “triumph” for Senate Democratic “Leader” Chuck Schumer)...I predict that, if Hawley wins re-election, he’ll sabotage his own legislation and kill this bill.

...and Robert Reich takes a pretty deep dive into why Our Treasonous Orange 34-Count-Convicted Felon-Awaiting-Sentencing is partnering with Christian Nationalists (maybe because #45 thinks they’re gullible saps, which they are...??)...



...and timed a bit for tomorrow night’s debate, Jesse Dollemore informs us that the Biden campaign has come up with a clip on the times when Our Ochre Abomination forgot what he was doing (a fitting response to those carping about “No Malarkey Joe” being some kind of a doddering old man...if I make it to 81, I hope I’ve got it going on like “Dark Brandon”) – yep, it’s always about projection with the wingnuts all right...I may have included this clip already, but I’ll do it again here, and I may do it again later...we’ll see (slightly NSFW/H)...



...and here's a seasonal selection to help us mellow out a bit, hopefully.

Tuesday Stuff

Retired Army Major Richard Ojeda brings us the news that a recent Fix Noise poll had President Biden up nationally vs. Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, believe it or not, with #45 losing what’s left of his mind over it...good news before the upcoming debate...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Truth Septic has lost about $2 billion of its value, with more losses to come, and it appears the only thing that will save this utter dog of an investment vehicle would be the disastrous circumstance of Our Ochre Abomination getting elected this fall...all the more reason to do all we can to prevent that...

...and just as a reminder, life forms such as the owner of this vehicle are some of the people we’re up against...



...and Combover Caligula recently announced that he wants to get rid of the income tax and put tariffs on EVERYTHING, apparently...when you have even Larry Summers coming out against you, then you know it’s time to “dial it back” a bit...Lawrence O’Donnell tells us about this in a spot where we also learn about Reed Smoot of Utah, voted by a state legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1902...also, Willis Hawley of Oregon in the House – these two knuckleheads (yes, both Republicans) got together on the Smoot-Hawley bill in 1930 to increase tariffs and plunge this country deeper into the Great Depression (a feat that, apparently, Bronzer Beelzebub wants to replicate)...



...and Emma of The Majority Report tells us about a report from Lester Holt of NBC News concerning a Michigan County jail which made some kind of a deal with a telecommunication company for video visits to make bank, apparently, and banning in-person visits, which is cruel and inhumane in and of itself, and apparently this monstrous practice is going on nation-wide (and of course, it doesn’t help one bit that the woman prisoner profiled apparently was trying to defend herself against an abusive partner, but ended up in the slam for it)...



...and Eric Gardner of More Perfect Union brings us the tale of a revolt brewing against ultra-wealthy sports team owners looking for tax breaks...I honestly didn’t know how bad of an owner John Fisher of the Athletics was – pretty eye-opening stuff about him not spending the dough to keep the club running...it sounds like the goal is to keep the club in Oakland, but for Fisher to not have any role whatsoever...and it appears that the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals are looking to move from Missouri to Kansas as noted here; no idea if there’s pushback on this from the existing fan base, but it wouldn’t surprise me...



...and it looks like Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is back with a new band and a great new tune...hope you enjoy.

Update: By the way, I know there are people out there celebrating the freedom of this guy. You can definitely leave me out of that group.

As far as I’m concerned, Julian Assange posed a threat to our military and intelligence assets, quite probably leading to the deaths of some in the latter group (here). He served the aims of Vlad the Butcher in contributing to destabilizing the U.S. and other governments, and, at the risk of rehashing the failures of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign in 2016, did his best to help install Combover Caligula to do Daddy Vlad’s bidding (and oh yeah, get 3 SCOTUS justices installed who killed Roe and have inflicted additional horrors and still-untold ones, to stay nothing of helping to saddle this country with a *president who utterly botched our response to a global pandemic).

Yes, Assange revealed abuses by our government and others as noted here. But he did so in the service of one of our country’s greatest threats, who continues to wage a bloody war in Ukraine with no end in sight.

(Oh, and OF COOOUURRRSE Assange's freedom is cheered on by Marjorie Traitor Greene.)

So let him slink off to Australia to spend the rest of his days on Fitzroy Island exploring the Giant Clam Farm, or something. Good riddance!

Monday Stuff

Farron Cousins informs us that a Texas megachurch pastor aligned with the Gropenfuhrer was forced to resign after charges came out that he molested a 12-year-old girl...some guttural POS named Robert Morris...kudos to Cousins for pointing out that Morris is NOT a drag queen or an LGBTQ individual...and again, imagine the wingnut and corporate media outcry if this Morris guy was actually affiliated with a Democrat, but since it’s #45...ho hum, boor-ing! (more here)...

via GIPHY

...and this local news report from Flori-DUUH! tells us that Governor Ron #DeathSantis just vetoed $32 million in arts funding, threatening about 7,000 jobs...no explanation why of course...what an utter pinhead (here)...



...and Jesse talks about Louisiana rep Lauren Ventrella having a meltdown over being asked some simple questions from Boris Sanchez of CNN, who does more good work as he did previously with that numbskull Tom Tiffany...I realize this dim harpie refuses to acknowledge that there’s a larger issue involved, namely with the FREAKING ESTABLISHEMENT CLAUSE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE FREAKING CONSTITUTION THAT YOU WINGNUTS PROFESS TO FREAKING CARE ABOUT SO DAMN MUCH!!! (and yes, this has to do with the law to post the 10 Commandments in all state classrooms)...



...and David Doel tells us that climate activists recently threw orange power on Stonehenge (and apparently they were also busy at a golf match as noted here)...it looks like they raised the $$ they were looking for, it should be noted...”The issue isn’t public support, the issue is political will” indeed...and I think it’s perfectly reasonable to compare the atrocities of “Bibi” in Gaza and the UK’s two-child benefit cap to an attack of orange cornstarch...



...and Ben Gleib and Cenk of TYT inform us of the alleged SCANDAL!!! that Dem U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana ACTUALLY DRIVES A PRIUS!!! OMIGOD!!! And the person doing the screeching of course is Repug Tim Sheehy, running against Tester for the Dem’s Montana U.S. Senate seat (as noted here, though, Sheehy definitely has his own issues)...



...and happy belated 80th birthday to Ray Davies of The Kinks.

Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes takes a look at the latest odious batch of Trumpers in this election cycle (Kari Lake in AZ of course, this Royce White clown in Minnesota, Mark “Keep Your Skirt Down” Robinson, Eric Hovde, Micah "I Talked To God" Beckwith, etc., also including Connecticut’s Dave McCormick running against Bob Casey)...great point by Hayes that only Our Ochre Abomination can really pull off the Trumpist act, and even THAT is debatable anymore (and apparently, Bronzer Beelzebub is coming to town - we should all act accordingly)...



...and David Pakman was included in the Hayes clip above pertaining to Royce White (and yeah, what a moron White is to act like, yeah, I spent campaign $$ at strip clubs, BUT IT WAS FOR FOOD YOU DUMB LIB)...in this video, Pakman gives us wingnuts cheering on a potential terror attack to make Biden look bad of course and help Mango Mussolini this fall...disgusting is one word for this all right...



...and Thom Hartmann brings us the totally unsurprising news that “the land of the yellow rose” wants women who have had abortions to be subject to the death penalty...yeah, I’d say the mask is completely off (he also points out other “pro-life” insanity in Repug-run locations, and the info about doctors not wanting to complete their residencies at hospitals in red states is telling also...says absolutely nothing good about health care access for women in those places...more from Hartmann is here)...



...and on the subject of reproductive health care, Beau tells us about 3 Dem U.S. Senators trying to get rid of the utterly wretched Comstock Act at long freaking last, since, in addition to mifepristone, our Philistines in robes could be using this ridiculous law to try to ban mailing birth control also (more here)...



...and Farron Cousins discusses Dems continuing to overperform in elections leading up to this November...we still have lots to do, including canvassing, phone banking, sending out postcards to voters, and a long way to go, but we need to keep making a difference as our time and means allows in order to help Dems since the other side is either batsh*t crazy, totally beholden to corporatist monsters, or both...



...and I knew the story of how Michael Schwerner befriended Robert Reich when they were both younger, with Schwerner of course being one of the 3 voting rights organizers who was murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi 60 years ago, and how Reich has stood up to bullies in his own way as a tribute to his friend...I’ve more or less said that this blog, such as it is, is my attempt to do the same thing – something in me kind of snapped long ago over all the triumphalist bullsh*t from Commander Codpiece and “Deadeye Dick,” and we should have no illusions at all that you can draw a line right from that to the MAGA crowd as far as I’m concerned...



...and in a week where an acting icon left us yesterday, I wanted to make sure to also note the passing of Anouk Aimee, who was all over the place in movies mainly in the ‘50s and ‘60s...an appreciation follows...



...and apparently the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR is waiting until the last proverbial minute to sneak a bunch of potentially catastrophic rulings (more of them anyway) under the door (here) before they leave town and head for vacations paid for by corporate high rollers (in at least some cases)...with that in mind, I couldn’t help but think of this newer tune (the title anyway, not the "monkey" part...more here).

Thursday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on the Louisiana idiocy about displaying the Ten Commandments in all classrooms in that state...I really don’t think it takes going out on much of a limb here to agree with Beau that this likely won’t survive a court challenge; we know what The Supremes have turned into, but I have a feeling that even they wouldn’t want to touch this...hopefully I’m right (and nice work by Beau to work in the tenets of The Satanic Temple, which actually bolsters my argument)...



Update 6/21/24: Gee, this didn't take long, did it?

...and I know I gave Beltway pundit Chris Cillizza a bit of a pass recently because of his “stop normalizing Trump” clip, but he kind of negates that a bit here as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll explain...he praises Maryland Dem governor Wes Moore for pardoning 175K folks apprehended on low-level pot busts, which, as Cillizza notes, makes sense partly because pot has been decriminalized apparently in that state anyway...not a thing wrong with that, but Cillizza casually says, “Oh if Trump wins, then Moore can position himself as a prez candidate for ‘28”... Cillizza casually assumes that we’ll still have elections in the catastrophic event that the Gropenfuhrer actually wins in November, which is typical of the naivete of the Beltway elite media class as far as I’m concerned...



...and on the subject of media knuckleheads, Sam and Emma (not them) inform us that Kathleen Parker (yes, her) recently called for Biden to drop Kamala Harris as his VP and instead choose (wait for it...) Hillary Freaking Clinton! Of cooouurrse! as Cenk Uygur might say. What could possibly go wrong, I wonder (and the clip features the aforementioned Wes Moore politely telling the utterly odious Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise to more or less stuff it because Moore supports President Biden)...



Update 1: Another reason why HRC should go away is noted here; namely, she endorsed George “The Ethnic Benefit” Latimer in the Dem U.S. House NY-16 primary against Jamaal Bowman.

...and Project 2025 has been covered pretty well I believe in the lefty blogosphere (I think that’s what it’s still called), including by Leeja Miller, but John Oliver adds to that canon here, with all of the utterly batcrap implications, as Sam Seder might put it (and Don Jr.’s fiancée, in that clip with Russell Vought, looks pretty damn frightening all right)...note to self: do everything possible to avoid “Milf Manor”...NSFW/H...



...and Trae Crowder gives us his take on the declining mental state of Combover Caligula (also NSFW/H)...



Update 2: More here.

...and I don’t know who this “Heartland” commentator is, but he’s absolutely spot-on when it comes to that shameful proposal to put a Confederate monument at Arlington...more here (Bri-Fi voted No because he isn’t a total idiot, despite his other issues...this commentator is right on other matters too, including Flori-DUUUH!, the "land of the yellow rose" and Repug Party politicians overall)...



...and a true acting icon has left our midst as far as I’m concerned, and that would be Donald Sutherland...as one of his iconic characters from the clip below might put it, “finest kind”...



...and given that tomorrow is the summer solstice, I think we can break out this tune for the occasion.

Wednesday Stuff

Jon Stewart brings us more idiotic blatherings from Mango Mussolini about crime, which (to hear a Repug say it) will ALWAYS be up when Dems are in charge, even though statistically it’s down across the country...I honestly didn’t know about Andrew Clyde of Georgia and the gun stores he owns that have been involved in mass carnage events (typical for his wretched party)...



...and Farron Cousins explains that U.S. House Repugs apparently don’t know how the law works...I honestly didn’t know Biden claimed executive privilege on the Robert Hur recording, which, as Cousins notes, Biden is allowed to do, which makes the contempt vote against Garland (with this guy voting Yea also) even more ridiculous (and once more, to do something about Bri-Fi at last, click here)...



...and when it comes to Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, Chris Hayes points out a typically wacky scheme from #45 on tariffs, basically leading to a tax increase of about, oh, roughly 133 FREAKING PERCENT!!!...also, all G7 leaders are facing disapproval ratings because of inflation (again, coming out of the pandemic), though Biden’s -18 number is actually good by comparison...



...and I wasn’t necessarily looking for items related to Juneteenth, but perhaps these will suffice...Jesse Dollemore discusses a Rachel Maddow clip of Bronzer Beelzebub exploiting black voters, appearing at some venue supposedly for African Americans (though it’s filled with the white bread mayonnaise crowd) and then making a bee line to Charlie Kirk, who has made disparaging remarks about MLK, among his other offenses (and when it comes to politicians reaching out to African Americans, let’s damn well not forget this)...



...and Leeja Miller takes a typically clear-eyed IMO look at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion...good job to link DEI with Affirmative Action from the ‘60s and JFK and the EEOC, which of course is also the reason the wingnuts need to hate it I realize...Miller discusses the benefits of DEI as well as the pitfalls, and I don’t mean the unsurprising and utterly brainless wingnut snark...terrific point that when wingnuts complain that, supposedly, they’re being told to shut up, in fact, they’re only being asked to FREAKING LISTEN!!! (NSFW/H)...

...and growing up in Philly as I did, you of course have to have an allegiance to the hometown teams if you want to seriously call yourself a fan, and that usually means developing an animus towards opposing teams and players (in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, it was easy to feel that way about the Dallas Cowboys, for example...many still feel that way, but I honestly don’t anymore, though I want to see the Iggles beat them of course).

All of this boring pretext is to point out that an opposing team player had to be really good and play the game the right way to earn your respect. And I don’t think that standard was met any better than by Willie Mays of the New York (and later San Francisco) Giants, who just left us (he’s pictured above making his legendary catch in the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians; when you analyze how hard the ball was hit, the direction it took and how Mays outran it, “The Catch” remains a truly remarkable feat even today).

(On Ken Burns’s great series “Baseball,” we learn that Mays had a signature move of sorts. When he was in the outfield and a ball was hit towards him, he would punch his glove with his fist to indicate that he had a bead on it and was going to catch it. He did that also on the ball hit by Wertz.)

I have no doubt that there will be commemorations involving the number 24 at parks all over Major League Baseball for the remainder of the year, as there should be. And I think this is an apropos selection for the occasion (which, as far as I’m concerned, should be a celebration of Mays’s life and baseball career more than anything else...great tune is by The Treniers).

Tuesday Stuff

Lawrence O’Donnell tells us about Apple CEO Tim Cook speaking out against the 1/6 insurrection around the time it took place, but apparently all if forgiven since he took a lunch meeting with the Gropenfuhrer...let’s see now...principles? Democratic ideals? Naaah...I guess I have to Google that because Cook has no clue otherwise (and that also goes for The Mittster, “Cancun” Cruz, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, and the other sorry life forms who rightly spoke out against Bronzer Beelzebub for the events of 1/6/21 but have since decided to cower in servile compliance instead)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report informs us of Sinclair pushing more BS about Biden’s mental fitness based on some mess from the Murdoch Street Journal (yet another reason not to waste one second of your life with local TV news, which is indeed unfortunate)...I knew Sinclair was terrible, but I didn’t know exactly how bad until I saw that mashup...I didn’t know whether to laugh or throw up in my mouth (NSFW/H)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report discusses a similar moment in a video clip edited to make it appear the Biden was wandering off and giving a thumbs up to no one in particular, when he very definitely was congratulating some parachutists instead (GREAT job by Sam to point out that all Israel is going to do by conducting mass slaughter is to hasten the next generation of terrorists)...



Update: When the Washington Examiner is the voice of reason, you're officially scraping the bottom of the barrel (here).

...and Bernie Sanders and UAW President Shawn Fain discuss Biden’s economic accomplishments on behalf of communities in need of assistance (as opposed to Our Treasonous Convicted Felon of a *president, who did nothing when he had the chance)...



...and turning to matters involving our Brit cousins, Jonathan Pie tells us that the laughably-named “reform” party, including Nigel Farage, may be outpacing the Tories in the upcoming UK elections (more here – definitely NSFW/H)...



...and the temperature is going to climb in these parts and elsewhere, so please be careful in the heat (keep fully hydrated and all that).

Monday Stuff

John of The Damage Report tells us about 13 million Southern Baptists opposing IVF, even though Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence said he’d support it...suuuuure he would (proving that these folks are the most enlightened minds of the 12th century)...



...and concerning another issue that a politician should keep his/her/etc. nose out of (bad sentence I know), David Doel presents a clip of news host Kyle Clark commendably holding Richard Holtorf’s feet to the proverbial fire on abortion...see, Holtorf opposes it for everyone else but he supported one for his girlfriend (Holtorf is one of 5 running in the CO-04 Repug primary, including Bo-Bo Boebert...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and on the subject of journos standing up to Repug BS, Jesse Dollemore discusses Boris Sanchez of CNN fact-checking Wisconsin U.S. House Rep Tom Tiffany over the latter’s “Biden crime family” BS (here)... Tiffany is an idiot, but I don’t think he was unwavering in his nonsense; as Dollemore says, if Tiffany had been on Fix Noise, OAN or Newsmax, he would have sounded convincing enough, sadly...and as far as the utterly absurd allegations about the Bidens and Burisma (the Ukraine prosecutor was canned because he WASN’T GOING AFTER corruption, not because the Bidens supposedly called him off when he WENT AFTER corruption), I give you this and this (all of which makes me recall this post – mildly NSFW/H)...



...and let’s not forget that, while the “party of Lincoln” is trying to distract with “values voter” BS over IVF and abortion, they’re also trying to block millions of workers from getting a pay raise, as Farron Cousins explains (and for more on Biden and the economy, I give you this)...



...and Sam of The Majority Report discusses coming up with their own flag inspired (if that’s the word) by Martha-Ann Alito (and as usual, Rashida Tlaib is spot-on, and nice job by Sam to clarify exactly what Harlan Crow is buying for Almost Silent Clarence Thomas...and yes, I’m also pissed at Schumer and Dick Durbin for not putting up a fight on Thomas and Alito, primarily)...



...and RIP Mark James, who wrote this hit for "The King" (and performed by Dwight Yoakam also).

Saturday Stuff

(Pictured above are the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting, which prompted the bump stock ban...more here).

Jose Diaz-Balart of MSNBC speaks with retired ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh about the SCOTUS bump stock ruling (“horrible” and “nonsensical” are pretty good descriptions for starters IMO...as far as I’m concerned, if our media would publish photos of people victimized by these weapons of death, this discussion would be over in a hurry and legislation banning bump stocks would be passed faster than a fart, you might say...more here)...



...and Francesca, John, and especially Cenk of TYT give us their analysis of this legal disaster...glad John pointed out Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent which she read from the bench, which is about as much of an “FU” as is allowed for The Supremes...the opinion is tragically wrong when it comes to the operation of this instrument of utter carnage, and though I’m definitely not a legal scholar, it was apparently totally wrong on the law also (I wonder if we’re going to find out subsequent to this that Thomas was also gifted by Armalite or Smith and Wesson...wouldn’t surprise me in the least...shocked to give credit to #45, but the ATF under his awful purview did indeed do something right, albeit the bare minimum on this issue)...



...and Jason Johnson, sitting in for Chris Hayes, speaks with Dem CT U.S. Senator Chris Murphy about what we SHOULD be doing in response to garbage rulings like this, which is to push for a code of ethics for SCOTUS justices at a minimum...I would also argue for 10-year term limits and mandatory retirement at 70, but yeah, that will happen when the sky is full of lollipops and flying unicorns, I know...and this is a comparatively minor point, but I believe the death toll from the Las Vegas shooting was 58...



...and speaking of guns, David Pakman tells us that A Certain Treasonous Orange Pestilence (who apparently really “killed it” recently in a meeting with CEOs...not!) has a gun in Flori-DUUUH!, even though he’s a convicted felon...just about everyone else in this situation would go immediately to jail, do not pass GO, do not collect $200 (dated boomer reference...sorry), but of course, since we’re talking about Bronzer Beelzebub, not so much...



...and sticking with Mango Mussolini, even Chris Cillizza (who’s a charter member of the political/media/industrial complex as far as yours truly is concerned) has apparently had enough of his “fourth estate” brethren trying to find new and gut-churning ways to try and normalize Combover Caligula...when you’ve lost Cillizza, you’ve REALLY crossed the Rubicon, you might say...



...and if you think this latest sorry episode in our wretched history of caving in to the ammo-sexuals out there calls for another damn anti-gun song, then you guessed right.

Friday Stuff

I’m not familiar with Brendan Plank, but he presents AOC making a great speech on the stinking corrupt influence of unregulated dirty money in our government (as a lead-in to a congressional hearing), specifically on the SCOTUS (and Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and “Strip Search Sammy” Alito in particular...and by the way, when it comes to our Philistines in robes, this is good news I’ll admit, but the case was only shot down because the plaintiffs supposedly didn’t have “standing”; it SHOULD HAVE been shot down because the Comstock Act is hateful garbage)...



Update: Apparently, in making his argument to get rid of the ban on bump stocks, Thomas presented a diagram showing that the category of weapon covered by the ban wasn’t a “fully automatic” weapon of death and mass carnage (here).

Yep, perfectly normal behavior for a SCOTUS justice. Nothing to see here...

Update 6/21/24: And Thomas is the only SCOTUS justice who thinks domestic abusers should have guns - what a pitiable wretch this guy is (here).

...and Leeja Miller takes a look at what judges should and shouldn’t be doing...a lot of the Alito flag stuff is a rehash I realize, but the context is important IMO, including the background on Judge Aileen Cannon and the equally odious Matthew Kacsmaryk and his infatuation with the just-alluded-to Comstock Act (which, if congressional Democrats collectively had any brains, would have been rendered utterly null and void by now via federal legislation)...I’m actually shocked that Chuck Schumer tried to pass a bill to prevent “judge shopping,” but as usual, it was defeated by Senate Repugs and conservative judges and ignored by our Beltway courtier media...another reason to utterly despise the state of Alabama is that judicial complaints cannot be anonymous and they need to be notarized, and how the f*ck could something as preposterous as THAT be anything but a deterrent to filing a complaint (??!!) – also, the “Kids for Cash” scandal in Luzerne County, PA is a whole other sorry discussion; I once saw a documentary on that which was truly gut-wrenching...can’t recall the particulars at the moment unfortunately...important rehash of awful SCOTUS decisions starting at about 27:16 (NSFW/H)...



...and Beau lets us know what he thinks of the U.S. House’s vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt, which is beyond ridiculous; as noted here, the numbskulls who voted Yes were BIG MAD that Garland wouldn’t provide a recording of Biden being interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Hur, even though Garland made a transcript of the recording available...one of the guilty culprits supporting this nonsense is this guy, and to do something about Bri-Fi, click here...and as noted here, Gym Jordan, Andy Biggs and PA’s own Scott Perry voted to hold Garland in contempt even though they blew off a congressional subpoena also...



...and I know I’m late on commenting on what that numbskull Byron Donalds said about how Lyndon Johnson and the “welfare state” somehow made poverty worse for African Americans (GREAT point that most welfare recipients are white), but Chris Williamson on Rebel HQ pushes back a bit here.

And by the way, for actual proof that Donalds is nothing but a total assclown, I give you the following from here...

It was in the areas of civil rights and economic assistance that the Great Society was most effective. The Civil Rights Act (1964) made employment discrimination and segregation in public accommodations—on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin—illegal. This legislation was followed by the Voting Rights Act (1965), which guaranteed minority voter registration and voting by restricting the use of literacy tests and poll taxes. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act (1965) did away with the national origin quotas put in place in 1924; this law opened the door to waves of Asian and Latin American immigrants, a pattern still apparent in the early twenty-first century. The 1968 Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in housing and granted constitutional protections to Native Americans living on reservations. Johnson’s so-called War on Poverty had its roots in the Economic Opportunity Act (1964), which established an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to manage a variety of “community action” programs. The OEO was never meant to deal with poverty by raising welfare payments or guaranteeing wages, but to help the poor help themselves through education, job training, and community development. The Job Corps, Project Head Start, the Model Cities Program, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, Upward Bound, and VISTA were the most important new programs designed to assist poor people.

Here’s the clip...



...and I have to admit that I was saddened to hear about the passing of longtime journo Howard Fineman, who ran the political coverage mostly for Newsweek but also worked for HuffPo towards the end...I always thought he was a pretty straight shooter on the topics that truly mattered...my condolences...



...and Jon Stewart had a great clip IMO about “corporate morality” when it comes to Pride Month (which June is)...as usual, he makes the point with humor that business doesn’t care about a damn thing except its bottom line (and just to try and piss off Candace Owens, I’ll go out of my way to shop at Target today...somewhat NSFW/H)...



...and speaking of corporations trying to hoodwink us, Eric Gardner of More Perfect Union tells us about what’s in “lunchables,” namely, unsafe levels of lead, sodium, and chemicals that could cause significant health issues for kids later in their lives (and yes, I’m sure Kraft Heinz can produce some data to refute that, but I’m skeptical of the nutritional value of this product all the same...and speaking of food, I thought this was important also)...



...and I think this is a pretty cool rockin’ newer tune to help us get to the weekend, so here goes.



Update: Sorry I neglected to mention this earlier.

Wednesday Stuff

(Oh, and by the way, when it comes to presidential family members accused of or prosecuted for alleged or actual illegal behavior, I’ll care about this if and when we as a nation ever decide to get serious about this and this.)

To begin, Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that it looks like “Strip Search Sammy” Alito got suckered in a bit by Lauren Windsor, posing as some conservative activist, and Alito buying in hook, line and sinker (and I have no problem with Windsor doing that, by the way, given the garbage from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas)..and “Hangin’ Judge” JR looks slightly more reasonable here, though as Cohen correctly IMO points out, Roberts kind of blithely disregards the utter wreckage that has taken place during his era on the High Court (and based on this, Martha-Ann Alito may be nuttier than her old man)...

...and NEVER forget who was responsible for making sure Alito ended up on The Supremes...



...and this clip from Beau is truly depressing, but I’m sure he’s right...I don’t want to imagine what passes for thought processes on the part of people who actually think that someone like Bo-Bo Boebert is any kind of a serious politician (and yes, a “serious politician” is an actual thing, such as the terrific state rep and state senator for the district in which we reside), but apparently, there are bipeds out there with what must be barely functioning brain synapses who apparently are going to send this guttural harpie back to Washington so she can play act at being an actual U.S. House Rep for two more years (and believe me when I tell you that I want to be wrong about that)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about the American College of Pediatricians, which sounds completely respectable but is in fact a hate group as designated by the SPLC; they pretend to be a reputable medical org, but in this latest ridiculously cruel instance, they call for a ban on all medical care of any type for trans youth and adults...important to differentiate between this group of hacks and frauds and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is completely reputable as Figueredo points out (NSFW/H)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that it looks like Alex Jones is going to have to completely liquidate to pay the $1.5 billion Sandy Hook settlement, including giving up Infowars in all likelihood...awesome! And boy, is Sam ever right about Ground News...



...and I'm in a mood for a summer tune, and this came immediately to mind.

Tuesday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that there have been about 1,000 complaints trying to get Judge Aileen Cannon removed from the classified docs case for Our Treasonous Orange Nightmare...yeah, this Judge William Pryor is all “nothing to see here” while Cannon’s ridiculous behavior on the bench goes unchallenged...and I guess we’re supposed to just ignore the fact that Pryor is also one of the most hard-right jurists in this country, to the point of being considered for the Court of Hangin’ Judge JR under the Gropenfuhrer, as Cousins informs us...



...and David Pakman tells us about U.S. Senate Repugs blocking a bill to protect contraception as noted here, including Tim Scott, who of course tries to take this in the direction of OMIGOD, THE DEMOCRAT PARTY WANTS POST-BIRTH ABORTIONS!!! while of course refusing to answer the question put to him by Bret Baier of Fix Noise, which is why the hell did you vote against a bill to protect contraception (the reality perspective against Scott’s ridiculous nonsense is here)...



...and John, David Shuster and Wosny Lambre of TYT bring us the story of cops in Burlington, Vermont staging a mock shooting as part of some classroom exercise...um, wasn’t there a (checks notes...) REAL attack there that paralyzed a Palestinian, with 2 others getting shot (here)? Who could have POSSIBLY imagined that this was a good idea? And maybe I shouldn’t say this, but having been to that town a couple of times, I would have thought they would know better than to do this, but I shouldn’t bias my observations I know...



...and Chris Hayes presents the following on “Dark Brandon” dealing with OPEC to minimize the shock of oil pricing...Hayes speaks with oil trader Dan Dicker on how “No Malarkey Joe” has manipulated the oil market to our benefit, which may be something else that generates a collective “yawn” from our oh-so-august-in-their-imaginations corporate media...I think that graph at about 6:20 tells a pretty amazing story about “buying low and selling high”...



...and continuing with money matters “across the pond,” I have to admit that I went out of order with my clips from Jonathan Pie – apologies – but here is his take on the U.K. economy under the rule of the Tories, and Rishi Sunak in particular...kind of a dark reason not to fear anything from Labour (maybe there really is no more dough), but there you are (NSFW/H)...



...and happy 75th birthday to drummer Frank Beard of ZZ Top.