Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence having a good chuckle when he’s asked about scamming his sheep-like followers over some inaugural “meme coin”...and yeah, our institutions of power, you might say (though now they’re pretty powerless IMO) continue to do their best to normalize this grift (NSFW/H)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report brings us the tale of Flori-DUUH! and CA farmer Tony DiMare, who is worried NOW about losing immigrants to pick his crops (where the $#@! were you last year when it mattered, ace?)...and boy, is Krystal Ball ever right about AI being MUCH MORE of a threat to your job than any immigrant could ever be (and more fool the idiots who fell for Bronzer Beelzebub’s con on that)...like many of you I’m sure, I’ve witnessed some utter horror stories on Linkedin about people applying for hundreds of jobs but getting turned down because of how an AI program is used to disqualify them...the “brain drain” this country is going to experience is going to be incalculable and beyond devastating to our economy and way of life...also didn’t know about #47 shutting down the CBP1 app to help those trying to emigrate here legally, but should we really be surprised at this point? Additionally, good job by Figueredo to tie this back to the awful Laken Riley bill, supported by 10 U.S. Senate alleged Democrats (and no disrespect to Figueredo, but it’s truly naïve of him to expect Chuck Schumer to have a spine on this issue or anything else); terrific analysis of this garbage bill by Mark Joseph Stern in particular (also NSFW/H)...



...and I think Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has been pretty steadfast in warning us about Cantaloupe Capone, and I reluctantly have to admit in fairness that Nicolle Wallace has been that way also...

We are witnessing the unraveling of American democracy by a morally bankrupt authoritarian who believes he is above the law. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/vAvwNsOqc2

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 23, 2025

...and Brittany Page, sitting in for David Pakman, lets us know here that those pardoned by the Gropenfuhrer for the 1/6 insurrection are apparently planning to act like #47’s personal mob, at least hinting at more violence (including Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys, and the “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, who now wants to “buy some mother f***ing guns”), which was predicted by – oh, I don’t know – exactly EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY WHO WAS PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS STUFF!!!...



...and Jesse Dollemore lets us know that that allegedly “godly” man “MAGA Mike” Johnson has what you could charitably call a dismissive attitude towards the pardons/sentence commutations handed down to the 1/6 treasonous insurrectionists by Our Ochre Abomination (and yeah, the lying comes as easily as breathing to life forms like Johnson)...



...and David Doel brings us a clip of AOC and Jon Stewart discussing our current predicament (and why this time is different) and what to do about it...yeah, I’m so glad Mango Mussoliini is trying so hard to address the cost of eggs and gas while he gives $500 billion to developing an AI capability...and yes, as sickening as it is, the whole “cultural acceptance” angle now is truly gut-churning (and by the way, I don’t think it’s over the top to say that Snoop Dogg is officially dead to me now)...and GREAT point from Stewart about us needing to bend the proverbial arc of the moral universe that is SUPPOSED to bend towards justice, along with pointing out that, indeed, ways emerge and moments emerge...I always thought that Dubya was electorally invincible and so was his party, but then along came Katrina...and boy, is Doel ever right to point out that right now is the time for collective action (briefly NSFW/H as well)...



...and speaking of eggs, here's an incredibly NSFW/H commentary on the subject...

WARNING ⚠️ Expletives abound, but ItsLuke, caught my attention. So deep breath and here we go.

I can see he’s going to be a regular feature at Truth Matters 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/DhwZfcQutK

— 𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 (@politicsusa46) January 23, 2025

...and RIP Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of The Band.

Thursday Stuff

Rachel Maddow notifies us pretty much of the start of #47 and “Authoritarianism 101” (pardoning the miscreants responsible for 1/6/21)... it is indeed incredibly unsettling to see how this parallels the behavior of other strongmen around the world as Maddow says...but it’s not like we weren’t freaking warned, people! Why the f*ck do you think people like yours truly were yelling about this stuff last year??!! And boy, is Maddow ever right at the end...and gee, it looks like this got the attention of “The Thin (Skinned) Blue Line,” which, to me, prompts the question...WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU ENDORSED HIM??!! WERE YOU ASLEEP WHEN #47 CAMPAIGNED ON RELEASING THESE CRIMINALS??!! (here)



...and Sam of The Majority Report lets us know about the Nazi salute from King Elon I to #47's inauguration crowd; I agree with Sam that this was Musk’s attempt at trolling people, though of course it rightly earned Musk even more condemnation than he’s received already...nice job by Sam to recall the Gilbert Gottfried story about Kurt Waldheim and the salute...also, Musk must’ve gotten the message about how much of a money pit “X” has turned into, because he’s been posting on it much more over the last couple of weeks than I can ever recall (trying to breathe life back into the entity he’s pretty much destroyed)...



...and speaking of these misfit twins Combover Caligula and Elmo, our *preznit appeared to admit that Musk rigged the election in PA, with #47 running his orange yam mouth about “those vote-counting computers” (hmm...wonder if that affected Casey/McCormick also?)..and listen, I don’t have proof of wrongdoing either, though I wish I did; I would only add that, given that our election infrastructure in this country is so easily hackable, I wouldn’t be surprised by ANYTHING that proved that the counts were played with by bad actors like Musk (Farron Cousins tells us about it)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell discusses “The Trump Standard” when it comes to White House press briefings (looks like the White House press secretary has gone AWOL already)...and boy, is Lawrence right about the great job Jen Psaki did and also how badly Karine Jean-Pierre was beaten up (and sometime justifiably, I’ll admit, but not much)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that Mike Collins of Georgia (you can guess the political party) wants to deport Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who told Trump to be kind to migrants, LGBTQ individuals, etc. at a national prayer service for the stinking inauguration (and #47’s perturbed puss was one thing, but the next time anybody gets the urge to feel sympathy for Melania, just show that pic of her disgust also)...yeah, let’s kick people who have compassion out of our country, just like Republican Jesus would do, right?...utterly vile individuals who we’ll be saddled with for at least the next four years..heckuva job, everyone who voted for this treasonous asshat and also DID NOT ONE DAMN THING TO HELP HARRIS/WALZ...



Update 1: Such a godly man....not! (here).

Update 2: Nail. Hammer. Head.

...and this tune hit #1 on the British pop charts in 1965 (and she’s still with us, hopefully enjoying a comfortable retirement – always respected Petula Clark for this in particular).

Wednesday Stuff

Seth Meyers brings us A Closer Look on you-know-what on Monday...and what can you say when there are bipeds out there who are shocked over the fact that Cantaloupe Capone cheated many of them out of attending #47’s inaugural in person? I guess there’s just no end to the gullibility of these people...these clips of his disgusting speech are all I want to subject myself to, and it’s all I want to subject you too also, dear reader...oh, and is it my imagination, or did Melania dress like she didn’t want to be recognized? I saw some comments saying she looked like the Hamburglar (and someone’s going to have to explain that spider/jellybean thing to me at the end)...



...and The Lincoln Project gives us a bit of a reality check here in light of Bronzer Beelzebub’s arrival once more in An Oval Office...



...and Belle lets us know here that, while on his way out the door, President Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment to be the “law of the land”...I think Belle is exactly right; yes, the ERA should have been ratified forever ago, particularly since it has no binding force of law (so there’s really nothing for wingnuts to be PO’ed about...or you would think, anyway), but Biden can’t just say “make it so”...this should reignite action to get moving on ratifying it – not hopeful with this incoming regime, but it’s up to us to keep fighting on this and other issues of course...



...and when it comes to issues directly impacting women, one of the fiercest fighters out there was Cecile Richards, and believe it or not, she just left us...kind of gutted by this news, to tell you the truth...I ran into her a couple of times at Democratic fundraisers/phone banking events, that sort of thing, and for someone with her public profile, she was completely down to earth as far as I was concerned...there aren’t too many good ways to pass out of this life, but having a glioblastoma is truly one of the worst...RIP...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 1/21/10...yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the utterly wretched and despicable ruling by the SCOTUS of Hangin’ Judge JR in the case of Citizens United v. FEC...Roberts apparently only wanted to keep this ruling to apply to political ads, but “Strip Search Sammy” Alito wanted to expand it to the universe to cover ALL corporate campaign spending...given that, here is Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on that sorry day once more...



...and whenever the insanity gets to be too much, I try to retreat in my mind to our blue state paradise (not sure when we’ll be able to get there again in person), and part of that includes streaming WMVY online because you can rest assured that you’ll hear good new and older music, and this tune falls into the former category...might be my new theme song of sorts for a little while.

Tuesday Stuff

OK, so in the first day under our brand new dictatorship, #47 pulled this country out of the Paris Climate Accords (again - here), took us out of the WHO (so we’re on our own for the next pandemic - here), and got rid of Biden’s cap on insulin prices, among other miseries (here).

And by the way, he also pardoned the life forms responsible for this...



Update: Good!

...and David Pakman discusses Combover Caligula’s faux “populism,” dissected pretty well in this clip...looks like #47 is all crickets now on supposedly bringing down prices (as Pakman says), even though he was crowing about it during the election of course...and as far as I’m concerned, Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian have climbed on board the “crazy train”...I’m sick and tired of ANYONE giving #47 the benefit of the doubt on ANY issue WHICH HE HASN’T EARNED IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen presents a clip of “MAGA Mike” Johnson giving a typical long, convoluted answer when asked, basically, what he and his party propose to do to help lower costs for Americans...yeah, as Cohen says, that means that they don’t have a freaking plan and never had a freaking plan and NEVER WILL HAVE A FREAKING PLAN (to help anyone besides the “pay no price, bear no burden” one percent, that is)...great job by Cohen to go all the way back to The Sainted Ronnie R to find out when wealth inequality really took off in this country...and at this point, I realize it probably doesn’t matter to point out for the umpteenth time that TRUMP KILLED THE FREAKING LANKFORD/MURPHY BORDER BILL IN THE SENATE!!! (NSFW/H)...



...and in the following Rebel HQ clip, somebody named Sage Steele talks with Mr. Ainsley Earhardt (I may have commented on this already, but not with these updates)...pro tip: if you start out by saying “I’m not trying to be mean or insensitive”...yeah, you’re in fact trying to be mean and insensitive...apt reference to “Lysistrata” also, with Steele shaming her own gender for wanting to be with liberal men who use a semblance of brains and compassion to support their partners (from Yasmin Khan...this video showed up on Rebel HQ a few hours ago, but I know Khan probably added these comments last October – I’m sure they’re still timely, though, when it comes to women miscarrying, tragically...hope all is well for Khan)...and the fact that Ken Paxton isn’t behind bars himself (here) instead of trying to interfere with women’s health care decisions is more testimony as to the fetid corruption of “the land of the yellow rose”.

And as far as Steele’s comment about 18 to 24-year-old women is concerned, I give you this (from here)...

Women were more likely than men to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz within and across every race/ethnic, age, and education group reported in the available data.

Did Trump peel off support from these demographics? Yes, but not enough for anyone to claim that he won that demographic overall...as far as I’m concerned, this is MORE evidence, as if we needed it, that the Dems need to do a hell of a lot better job of shoring up their base of support instead of saying “fight orange man because he’s bad” (and more on that scumbag John McEntee is here).

Here is the clip...



...and I realize that I didn’t say anything until now about the recent passing of David Lynch...he admitted that he was heavily influenced by what you could call his “Philadelphia experience,” so I’ll give him that...”Twin Peaks” was probably the last TV series I actually kept up with all the way through (I liked this moment with Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean, I admit), and another lifetime ago I watched “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild At Heart” and “The Elephant Man,” which are both stunning and genuinely odd, which I suppose is Lynch’s trademark...genuinely touching remembrances of Lynch from MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini on social media, it should be noted...



...and on the subject of people who have just left us, we should add Bob Perkins of WRTI-FM...can’t tell you all of the great jazz music that he introduced during his long career on the radio (including this number)...truly a wonderful legacy for us all...RIP.

Monday Stuff

John and Abelina Sabrina of The Damage Report let us know here that it appears that “Curtsy Kyrsten” went too far even for her – her beyond-ridiculous global personal expenses may actually constitute campaign finance violations; CREW may take a long, hard looks at this, though I’m sure no prosecution will be forthcoming, though it should be, even though Sinema is no longer in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” of course...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen lets us know here that #47 wants to make aid to California to fight the wildfires conditional on passage of “one big beautiful bill” with his stinking tax cuts for the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch...and I completely share Cohen’s NSFW/H sentiments...for “Coach Tubs” to be calling OTHER PEOPLE “imbeciles” may be the biggest “pot, meet kettle” moment in recorded history...and this makes me recall the moment that we, in blue states, required that people in Texas, Flori-DUUH, Oklahoma and North Carolina elect Democrats as a condition of receiving disaster aid – oh, wait...actually, I can’t recall that after all because it NEVER FREAKING HAPPENED and it would be A GROSSLY MONSTROUS THING TO DO if we actually did!...and yeah, I’m not impartial I know, but Gavin Newsom continues to impress me, and the way he’s handling all of this misery in his state is truly commendable...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the sorry tale of Pam Bondi, Trump’s AG pick (now that Matt Gaetz is no longer in the running and free to date underage girls again, allegedly!) who falls down on a question about the 14th Amendment, doing her best to be combative – WOW, what arrogance from this b*tch! (oh, and she’ll “look at” birthright citizenship...how freaking generous of her! - #sarcasm)...and by the way, CNN, I don’t give a damn about your BS format of about 20 different talking heads creating noise; just present me with the story along with any actual facts, evidence...stuff like that; I can make up MY OWN MIND, thank you very much...and as far as Bronzer Beelzebub not having an enemies list, I give you this (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Jordan Zakarin of More Perfect Union brings us a clip of workers fighting for the right to unionize, particularly in Colorado and Maryland...and oh yeah, Not Your Father’s Republican Party is experiencing gains from disaffected workers at the polls, even though Repugs don’t promise a damn thing of benefit to workers either (quite the opposite, actually)...still incomprehensible to me that the Biden Administration vastly expanded workers rights and workplace protections as noted in the clip, but somehow that proved to NOT be a winning message in the election last year (and no, I haven’t forgotten about what led to that sorry result).

(And I’m sorry – well, not really – but I have to digress a bit and say this...like some of you I’m sure, I’m already starting to get Emails from the Democrats to the effect of, “we have special elections coming up and we need to fight Trump, so give us money,” proving that this bunch of clueless election losers running the national organization learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from the most recent election...for the love of God, Dems, MAKE A FREAKING CASE ABOUT WHAT YOU STAND FOR! As noted in the MPU video, Harris and the Dems lost last year even though they OVERWHELMINGLY DELIVERED FOR THIS COUNTRY! WILL YOU EVER FREAKING LEARN??!! YOU HAVE THE ISSUES ON YOUR SIDE!! And that comment, by the way, is definitely not aimed at PA/Bucks County Democrats, who are great and do the hard work of canvassing, voter outreach, phone banking, organizing, etc. - more food for thought on that is here.)

Here is the MPU clip...

...and as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing else going on today deserving of mention (here)...

...and for MLK day, I think it's appropriate to revisit this speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Barratt Middle School in Philadelphia on October 26. 1967, with the theme of “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?"....



Update 1: An important note is here (here here, and here also).

...and this tune is apropos for the holiday also.



Update 2: And oh yeah, there's this...

Update 3: Well said (also this).

Update 1/20/25: Indeed.

Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us that Special Counsel Jack Smith recently released his final report...yeah, Trump was cooked, and the SCOTUS was in on this fix as if somehow we didn’t know about it at this point...a sorry litany of all of the ways that #45/47 did his best to subvert a free and fair election in ’20, to say nothing of the mishandling of classified documents, both of which should have been disqualifying last year, but we are where we are thanks to drop-dead-STOO-PID voters...GREAT point by Kyle about the lower-level conspirators in the fake electors scheme going to jail, but the ones higher up get to skate...if you want to get mad at Biden over Gaza, I can’t blame you, but save some of that rage for Merrick Garland running out the proverbial clock here (NSFW/H)...



...and David Pakman tells us that Trump recently got a pathetically easy interview from Rob Schmitt of Newsmax about the California wildfires and still flubbed it...and if you want to argue about the way California’s water is allocated, I would begin with the fact that about 80% of that state’s water is used for agriculture, but that industry represents only about 2% of California’s GDP (here)...”when Trump speaks, reality takes a back seat” indeed...



...and John of The Damage Report tells us that the Gropenfuhrer didn’t want to do a “Giving Tree” sketch on SNL because the costume made him look fat, or so Trump thought (a typically petty response), which apparently was a secret that Seth Meyers revealed...Meyers was once a writer on SNL...so now #45/47 has to send a tweet in the middle of the night on how unfunny Meyers supposedly is (just like any other person who's about to become "leader" of the free world, again - ugh)...and yes, unfortunately, John is right that Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence may very well decide to go after NBC now since there will likely no longer be any actual adults in this incoming administration to stop him...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that, apparently, pop star Ethel Cain has some kind of a remedy to the problem of rampant greed among CEOs and businesses overall...and I understand her frustration, but no, I definitely don’t condone violence either despite what these “one percent” bastards manage to do to us...that being said, what a BS comment to say, “oh, you little 26-year-old who doesn’t know anything about the world...why don’t you just work harder and pull yourself up by your bootstraps or something and everything will be fine” – no wonder violence is viewed as a solution (and again, it ISN’T a solution)...and I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again; I can’t praise Ground News enough (NSFW/H also)...



...and kudos to the Meidas Touch Network for its decision not to stream Combover Caligula’s inauguration next week (and apparently there will be inclement weather - maybe #47 will pull a William Henry Harrison...#joke..Update: Yeah, I guess)...

More media outlets should take the correct moral stand of MeidasTouch and refuse to stream the inauguration of the loathsome piece of shit. Authoritarian fascism has no place in America. Not now, not ever. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/EunyeVDJW7

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 16, 2025

...and color me shocked – well, not really – but it looks like OMIGOD THE BORDER!!! isn’t a problem after all, as Jesse Dollemore tells us (so basically, if anybody out there thought that there was actually an issue on our southern border that we weren’t already trying to address and wasn’t anywhere near as extreme as it was made out to be, then you got utterly played)...



...and man, does this guy on TikTok get it...

President Biden is leaving Trump an America that has never been stronger. Remember this, because Trump is going to falsely take credit for it. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/PIo8Vcwkqh

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 18, 2025

...and I was seriously hoping that I would never have a need to include this tune again, but we are where we are (and as I’ve said in the past, I know it’s about a young girl confined to a wheel chair who is angry because she wants to experience love as other women do, but I’ve always associated it with Bronzer Beelzebub, and I think that, sadly, it’s apt to include it again now).

Thursday Stuff

Hey, did you hear about Repug U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri complaining that the recruitment numbers for our “Miltary” services were down because of DEI (and offering no proof of course)? Schmitt also used that excuse for his claim that white military members were denied promotions...you can rest assured that that’s BS because, if it were true, Schmitt would have had a hearing with that affected military member testifying to support that idiotic claim (from here...Schmitt would have been better off leaving that poster board lying on the floor...and just as a reminder, “Democrat” is always a noun and never an adjective)...



Update 1/17/25: This took place during the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary, and I have to say up front that there will likely be so much insanity coming from the hearings for #47's grossly unqualified nominees that I won't be able to keep track of all of it.

...and I dunno, but Schmitt’s ranting reminded me of something – trying to put my finger on it (from here)...



...and when considering the record of “No Malarkey Joe,” I think we need to keep this in mind, but as Chris Hayes points out, Biden is indeed leaving a “disgraceful legacy” on Gaza...didn’t know about the “Leahy Law,” but it seems pretty damn straightforward to me also...I’ll give Biden credit for an awful lot particularly when it comes to rebuilding our economy, but his supine acquiescence to anything whatsoever that is perpetrated by our “ally” “Bibi” is easily the biggest stain on his presidency...all of this confirms my theory that Vlad the Butcher got ahold of some intel from #45/47 and that got forwarded to Hamas, which helped that group launch its October 7th attack; it’s also pretty damn plain that Netanyahu wanted an excuse to perform ethnic cleansing, according to his own defense minister, so Biden was caught in the middle but he and his team apparently didn’t realize that they were going to have to do something unconventional to get out of this trap, such as telling Netanyahu to pound sand and risk the political fallout...and OF COURSE Netanyahu is pursuing a peace deal NOW that his pal Combover Caligula will be back in An Oval Office soon (here)...ugh...



...and I give Biden credit for calling out the utterly insidious forces trying to wreck our democracy, but yet again, if we had a functioning major political party capable of communicating that message to this country over the prior year, is it too much to think that that could have made a difference in the electoral outcome? And I know there are people out there comparing this to Eisenhower’s “military industrial complex” speech, and that may be true, but what about everyone who had been warning about the shadowy forces pulling all of this garbage? I’m not the biggest fan of Hillary Clinton I’ll admit, but is she EVER going to get credit for her remark about a “vast right-wing conspiracy” all those years ago? And yeah, I know the answer to that question (here)...

Rachel Maddow, on President Biden's farewell address. Let me remind people, Germany's Nazis were a collaboration between the government and wealthy Germans. For all intents and purposes, 2025 America is a facsimile of 1934 Germany — and tonight, Biden warned us of exactly that. pic.twitter.com/V6qsF4f5iJ

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 16, 2025

...and for something even more ridiculous, Jesse Dollemore (definitely not him) lets us know about corporate media attacking Michelle Obama for not attending #47’s inauguration...talk about burying the lede on Combover Caligula “breaking with tradition” by not attending the Biden inaugural...I don’t blame her; actually, she should have company from a whole gang of Democrats also (and I think it should be noted that Michelle Obama IS A PRIVATE CITIZEN WHO CAN DO WHAT SHE DAMN WELL PLEASES!!)...



...and happy upcoming 70th birthday to Steve Earle...if there’s a tune for this moment, I guess this is it.

Wednesday Stuff

Jon Stewart gives us an update on the California wildfires...I honestly didn’t know about President Zelenskyy of Ukraine making an offer to send first responders; I can’t think of a word for that kind of compassion, with his country getting wracked all over the place by Vlad The Butcher...and yeah, “Coach Tubs” proves to be only a slightly bigger asshat than, collectively, the numbskull voters who decided that he belonged in the U.S. Senate in the first place (and again, voting out a terrific populist Democrat like Doug Jones)...I hadn’t realized how much I missed Stewart until I saw this clip...kind of dizzying to keep up with the wingnut BS getting spread all over the place, which is completely by design I know...and OMIGOD, IT’S ALL THE FAULT OF THE LESBIAN DEI FIREFIGHTERS WHO WON’T ‘SEED’ OUR CLOUDS TO MAKE MORE RAIN!! HAAAALP!!! (somewhat NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen informs us of the train wreck that was the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing...clip includes questions from Sens. Tim Kaine, Elizabeth Warren, and in particular Tammy Duckworth (I honestly didn’t know about ASEAN either, but then again, I haven’t been nominated for Secretary of Defense)...and yes, Jim Banks really is that big of a Trumpist lickspittle, and I’m surprised Markwayne Mullin didn’t challenge a Dem on the Senate Armed Services Committee to a fist fight, since that seems to be what Mullin does best (and I don’t know what the f*ck is wrong with the state of Montana...I don’t care if it’s “God’s country” or not; what kind of a mental defective do you have to be to vote out Jon Tester in favor of a craven, lying opportunist like Tim Sheehy?)...I hope everyone who ignored the pleas of Gen. Mark Milley and also John Kelly to not re-elect #45/47 are proud of themselves; I’m sure they are...



...and Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ lets us know about Repug U.S. House Rep Mike Lawler giving Huckleberry Graham a bit of a reality check on the dough blue states send to red state money pits like South Carolina, all over the so-called “SALT deduction”...and isn’t it just too precious to see Graham pivot to “we’re a low tax state,” which is wingnut code for “our quality of life sucks, but we’re not going to admit that” (and gee, wouldn’t it be nice if one of our two major political parties showed some kind of backbone and pushed back on Graham over this instead of waiting for some intra-party infighting?)...”it’s not about governance, it’s about grift” indeed...



...and Farron Cousins brings us the tale of our incoming regime having trouble hiring staffers because of the insane loyalty demands to Bronzer Beelzebub according to a CBS News report...serves these idiots right (not CBS News of course)...



...and Sam Black of More Perfect Union tells us about “Made in America” manufacturers like John Deere moving jobs overseas, mainly to Mexico (interview in Ottumwa, Iowa with former Deere employee Chris Laursen...and yep, Deere made about $10 billion in profit and used it for stock buybacks and dividends, and instituting “tiers” among the workforce was more of the “divide and conquer” strategy used by Deere and other employers, including CASE...stop me if you’ve heard all of this before)...and yep, this horror show started in the ‘90s after NAFTA; more fool me for once supporting that awful agreement, a mistake I will NEVER make again (and how unsurprising is it that CASE closed its Iowa plant right after the election; you can tell how seriously they cared about Trump’s tariff threat, which the company wouldn’t ultimately pay for anyway)...and I’m sorry I don’t know what the Mexican gentleman is saying, but yeah, getting fired right after winning the union vote is par for the course all right, for Caterpillar and other corporate predators...and once again, Biden did the right thing to crack down on corporate labor abuses by enforcing the USMCA, one of the MANY accomplishments for which he received ZERO CREDIT...I don’t mean to be glib about this, but it’s utterly a fool’s errand to expect Cantaloupe Capone to do the right thing, especially since he intends to gut the manufacturing gains made under Biden...



...and today is the 60th anniversary of the release of “I Can’t Explain,” the first single from The Who, which reached #93 on the U.S. music charts, right smack in the middle of the hippy dippy ‘60s...and if you listen closely, you may hear Yardbird and session musician Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar...striking to see how young everyone once was I know.

Tuesday Stuff (updates)

(Somehow I don’t think Gerard Butler could have put it any better.)

David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us the story of Elizabeth May, an MP of Canada’s Green Party, letting Cantaloupe Capone have it, you might say, over his claim to make Canada the 51st state (would that we should be so lucky)...definitely a master class in putting Combover Caligula in his place, something that nobody in our institutions of government and our courts – as well as our lapdog corporate media of course – is capable of inflicting...one of these days, someone is going to write the story of these wretched developments with Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, and it will be one of unmatched and unrivaled, bald-faced cowardice...



...and David Pakman informs us that (sad face), gosh, #45/#47 won’t be able to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours after all...and only a single-digit-IQ’d life form would have believed that anyway, which automatically includes most red states and parts of “Pennsyltucky” I know...and “100 days” will become 100 more days, and then 100 more days, etc...and that “20 year entry to NATO” scenario for weapons to Ukraine sounds exactly like something this incoming regime might propose, lowdown as it is, and it would indeed embolden authoritarians around the globe...



...and Dem U.S. House Rep Pete Aguilar with Ted Lieu (both of CA) discuss the Laken Riley bill (named after a young woman killed by an immigrant) that was passed by the U.S. House with a lot of Dem support (and all U. S. House Repugs voted for it including Bri-Fi)...this to me is yet another “Trojan horse” of a bill, you might say, where it comes seemingly gift-wrapped with good intentions, yet it’s really insidious given that it makes it easier to arbitrarily detain immigrants who may or may not be guilty of non-violent offenses...or, as Dem U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California put it here, “As currently written, I’m a no (on a Senate vote) because it opens the doors for people simply being charged without a conviction, to be detained and deported, that includes minors, that includes Dreamers, that’s shoplifting a pack of bubble gum,” Padilla told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”

(It should be added that the immigrant accused of killing Riley, a college student, had a prior conviction for shoplifting...so of course, as far as Repugs and chicken Dems are concerned, that’s the grounds right there to go after any immigrant accused of any offense, regardless of how comparatively small it may be. Of course, never mind that the vast amount of crime in this country is committed by legal residents as opposed to immigrants as noted here, but that’s another discussion.)

Leave it to the “party of Lincoln” (and again, chicken Dems) to NEVER fail to politicize a tragedy for political gain. Yes, it’s terrible that this young woman had her life taken from her, but as noted here, Riley is just the latest in a sorry procession of young white women used in the name of political opportunism. Or, to put it another way...

“I think (his daughter's death) is being used politically to get those votes,” Jason Riley, Laken Riley’s father, said in an interview. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. Riley also said he was a supporter of Trump and criticized the country’s immigration policies under Biden.

The story doesn't tell us if Riley knew that Trump killed the Lankford/Murphy immigration bill in the Senate, but that's yet another tangent I know...

Rob Tibbetts, the father of Mollie Tibbetts (a 20-year-old killed while jogging in her hometown in Iowa), directly criticized the use of her death to defend conservative immigration policies.

“I encourage the debate on immigration; there is great merit in its reasonable outcome. But do not appropriate Mollie’s soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist,” Rob Tibbetts wrote in 2018.

With that setup done, here is the Aguilar/Lieu clip...



Update 1 1/17/25: I SERIOUSLY hope whoever ends up in charge of the DNC has A FREAKING CLUE as to why Dem turnout was depressed for Harris/Walz, and probably Casey/Sherrod Brown/Jon Tester also last year, and I would argue that it’s partly because of the garbage typified by the 10 U.S. Senate Dems here.

Update 2 1/17/25: More here.

via GIPHY

...and Jesse Dollemore informs us of a cop in Flori-DUUH! (someone named Tristan Macomber) who apparently drove a police cruiser into another car while watching p*rn (the driver Macomber supposedly hit was stopped for a school bus – that is indeed the cherry on the icing of this sh*t sundae as far as yours truly is concerned, along with the fact that Macomber was allowed to resign)...and I’m not a bit surprised that the fellow cop (Peyton C. Grinnell) who allowed Macomber to quit is a Trump supporter...to be honest, I think Jesse is a little hard on the news report here, particularly since this network has to worry about being sued (for almost any reason in this day and age), but his overall point about “Cop-aganda” is right, I’ll admit...and apparently, state rep Taylor Yarkosky and Sgt. Grinnell go back pretty far as noted here...if Yarkosky has gotten over his dependence on alcohol, good for him, but Yarkosky’s furious back-pedaling from donating to former President Obama is disgusting and gutless...also, Jesse is right that there were Nazi sympathizers in the “America First” movement, but there were a lot of other folks across ideological boundaries also, including future presidents JFK and Gerald Ford as noted here...



...and heading in a westerly direction, it looks like Repugs in “the land of the yellow rose” have finally woken the f*ck up to the threat to businesses of proposed mass deportation – a lot of good that does now...and yeah, I think Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network is right; that 8 percent number is absurdly low IMO...and yeah, abolishing the DOE fits into all of this insanity also...and if the economic impact of rounding up immigrants was $17.7 billion 20 years ago, just imagine what the impact would be now (I think Meiselas is exactly right to say that the Repugs calling the shots in that state don’t want to know the true economic impact as of now...$150 billion may be correct at this point, though we don’t know of course)...pretty good summary of the insanity at about 11:52 (unemployed Trump voters screwing themselves over, same for MAGA business leaders...you all deserve what you get...and staying in this locale, it looks like everything is indeed bigger, even the craven, unpatriotic idiocy of this guy)...



...and if I’m ever looking for a band to perform on a dusty, desolate hill somewhere, I hope I run into these folks (and she’s got chops, I must say).

Monday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore provides some more info on how Combover Caligula was ignored at President Carter’s funeral...it does indeed look like Obama drew the short straw, and he handled it with class, going through the motions I’m sure, which is more than Bronzer Beelzebub deserves (I give Michelle Obama credit for pretty much deciding she wasn’t going to have anything to do with the Gropenfuhrer and that’s why she didn’t show up...that would be my guess)...and I agree with Jesse that Markwayne Mullin is indeed a total dipsh*t...



...and Leeja Miller explains how, for social media platforms, Fact Checking is Bad for Business...I know I’ve had a few videos already about this, but I think this is an important enough story to merit repeated coverage...clip goes back to the 2016 election and how Facebook was basically hacked by Cambridge Analytica for targeted advertising along with foreign governments on behalf of Mango Mussolini...interesting to learn more about the legal problems Zuckerberg basically brought onto himself in the wake of COVID, an era in which he amassed a still-greater fortune...good job by Miller to bring this back to the accursed Powell Memo at 11:36, which, though it isn’t the sole reason for the rise of our foul, fetid corpocracy, is definitely responsible for much of the malign developments benefitting the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch at our expense, and this ties into the “Facebook/Xitter rightward turn” discussion because, as usual, the tactic of screaming about “liberal bias” that has worked so well for conservative media to tilt the playing field in their direction is now being used to get the upper hand on social media platforms...nice work by Miller also to explain that the law basically hasn’t caught up with the matter of free speech on the internet and what that means for everyday users; aiming for “unbiased truth” is a fool’s errand, indeed...and yes, we all need to work on establishing real-world connections aside from stuff online, and I’ll admit that goes for me too (NSFW/H)...



...and with all of the nutso Trump cabinet nominees out there, it’s easy to overlook how grossly unqualified Billy Long is to run the IRS, but fortunately that didn’t escape the notice of Rachel Maddow (I’ll bet you never thought you’d hear about a Thai website and the Church of Scientology in the same sentence, amirite?)...

Trump's pick of Billy Long to head the IRS is to protect Trump and punish his perceived enemies. Long's job will be to audit every person Trump tells him to. Under Trump, Americans are about to endure the most vengeful, sadistic, and morally bankrupt regime in U.S. history. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/sNNcg9jB4h

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 9, 2025

...oh, and just in case anybody out there thinks we aren’t already living in a dystopian novel, allow me to provide the following (and more on the evangelical-driven madness behind H.R. 7 is here...and as far as I’m concerned, there can be no good outcome to any legislation sponsored by Clay Higgins and Andy Biggs...and the lady in this video is right about what would happen if we lose TikTok, by the way; apparently the High Court of Hangin' Judge JR is looking at that, incredibly enough)...

As predicted, the Handmaid's Tale is here. Republican MAGA fascists are introducing bills to make women the property of men. 😡😡😡👇 pic.twitter.com/VqfiRRX3Vk

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 11, 2025

...and by the way, we just observed the 81st anniversary of FDR's Second Bill of Rights speech, as Robert Reich informs us - another reason why Roosevelt was the greatest president of the modern age IMO...



...and RIP Sam Moore of the legendary R&B duo Sam and Dave (Dave Prater left us in 1988).

Saturday Stuff

I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 1/12/17, in which somebody named Bo Bice had a bit of a white grievance meltdown over being called “white boy” (which – and please work with me on this – is something HE ACTUALLY IS) apparently by an African American employee at a Popeye’s restaurant...this of course leads to the inevitable wingnut umbrage from Fix and Fiends (and Mike Huckabilly too)...I don’t know what happened to Samantha Bee, but she did a good job with stuff like this a few years back (slightly NSFW/H)...

Here's what happens when white Americans taste (what it's like to be part of) the rainbow. #SamanthaBee pic.twitter.com/NlEeyKoUAH

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) January 12, 2017

...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report presents a clip of $100-million-man Scott (“We risk revolution”) Galloway dropping more than a few “truth bombs” on “Morning Jo(ke)”...I think Galloway inappropriately conflates anger at insurance companies with the #MeToo and BLM protests; I don’t think the latter two have anything to do with income inequality...the stunned silence from the entire panel is funny in a way – you can almost see the thought balloons over everyone’s heads with the words “I sure as hell didn’t expect this guy to say this stuff”...Galloway’s take is commendable I believe, but I think what’s spurring this on is the “one percent” still quaking in their boots over the Brian Thompson murder and not any impulse related to altruism (love to be wrong, and no, I don’t condone violence against anyone)...video does a good job IMO of explaining the chasm in this country between what people want when they’re polled on issues and policies that actually matter versus what the politicians supposedly representing them are focused on doing instead...and I haven’t heard it explained before how elections have been monetized for the “one percent” (actually, a fraction of that), but it makes sense unfortunately...and I completely agree with Figueredo that “we should always aim higher”...



...and Chris Hayes gives us more information on the “tech bros” indeed coalescing in support of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence, including Jeff Bezos (referencing the Ann Telnaes cartoon again)...also, Zuckerberg ditching fact checking from Meta to indeed curry favor with #47 (with a segment yesterday from Belle on that...important history from Hayes in this matter)...if nothing else, these tech dudes in their insufferable egotism and greed have truly provided a “mask off” moment (my assessment, not really Hayes’s in so many words...I have a feeling Hayes wants to go further in pointing out how dramatic this is, but MSNBC has to walk a tightrope of sorts since Comcast has cut them loose, making them easy prey for our incoming oligarchy, so they may feel it’s necessary not to give this incoming bunch of usurpers any more ammunition than necesary)...



...and David Pakman lets us know about MAGA/Steve Bannon turning on King Elon I...kind of hilarious to me to hear this wingnut hissy fit over “de-boosting” “excretions” or whatever madness is going on in Musk’s cranium (particularly regarding the H-1B Visa issue) when this bunch of grifters and nematodes had no problem of course when those metaphorical guns Musk is now bringing against Bannon et al were aimed at Dems and lefties in general during the election...I agree with Pakman’s assessment that #47 is pretty much “leaving Bannon at the altar,” you might say, in favor of Musk and his vast amounts of dough...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen and election lawyer extraordinaire Marc Elias tell us about North Carolina Repugs trying to steal an election lawfully won by Allison Riggs for the State Supreme Court (Riggs is a judge)...and yeah, GREAT point by Elias not to wake our sleeping fourth estate cousins, who of course will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while this thievery from the “party of Lincoln” proceeds apace...yeah, let’s just pitch 60K votes because we feel like it...what country am I living in again?...



Update 1/13/25: Fortunately, sanity prevailed (h/t Eschaton).

...and I don’t know about you, but I need something kind of mellow to wrap up the week – I think this will do the trick (and dripping with nostalgia too for good measure).

Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes informs us here that there are not as many trannies as the Repugs want us to believe (and no, they’re not raiding our bathrooms either)...less than one-tenth of one percent of teenagers in this country are trans and receive gender-related medicines including puberty blockers...and of course, Stephanie Ruhle commendably asks the inaptly-named Repug U.S. Senator Jim Justice how many trans athletes there are in his state of West Virginia and he has no freaking clue as to the answer...and for at least the two thousandth time, I want to point out that KIDS UNDER 18 AREN’T GETTING FREAKING BOTTOM SURGERY, PEOPLE!!! (and God almighty, I wish we had an actual functioning national political party in this country that could effectively make these arguments)...



Update 1/11/25: And when it comes to anti-straight intolerance, I think you can draw a line right back to Anita Bryant and people like John Briggs in California, who sponsored Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools (the measure was defeated, fortunately). I mention this because news has just come out that Bryant died last December...and no, I’m not going to include a clip of Bryant’s pie incident since we’ve all seen it. I’m just acknowledging something in the news; I realize that, if you don’t have something good to say about someone who has died, you should just leave it alone, and I’m trying to do that.

...and Belle informs us here that Facebook is going to end fact-checking on their platform, and I’ll plan to say more about this (under the guise of letting AI take over)...just another “bend the knee” gesture from a tech oligarch towards the incoming regime of Combover Caligula...no good outcome looms for any of this, sadly...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us that Marjorie Train Wreck Greene will introduce legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico, which of course lines up with what Our Ochre Abomination wants...I give Jesse credit for being an absolutely straight shooter in the matter of those who voted for Mango Mussolini – not a time for equivocation, people...and no disrespect to Jesse, but I was hoping we were done with “Dirty Dirk” Kempthorne from the bad Bushco days, but I guess not...and you-know-who sez Biden allegedly got rid of $50-$60 trillion in assets?? WHAAA?????...



...and man, does this TikTok guy drop more than a few “truth bombs” on the subject of Canada versus this country...

This video should infuriate anyone ignorant and dumb enough to have voted for Trump. 🎯🎯🎯👇 pic.twitter.com/Q4CCdKNFg7

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 10, 2025

...and Desi Lydic of The Daily Show gives us an update on the efforts to fight the California wildfires (more here) as well as our incoming *preznit proposing to invade Greenland (and I know I’ve gone over this before, but I assure you, on this and other matters, all roads lead back to Vlad The Butcher as noted here)...



...and happy 80th birthday to Rod Stewart.

Wednesday Stuff

David Pakman discusses the clip of Repug U.S. Senator Deb Fischer getting sworn in by still-VP-for-now Kamala Harris while Fischer’s husband did everything he could possibly do to ignore Harris...what an utter POS this guy is (and last I heard, Fischer was supposedly in trouble in her re-election against this independent guy named Dan Osborn, but I guess the Repugs fell in line at the end as they ALWAYS do)...



...and Farron Cousins tells us here about Cantaloupe Capone pressuring Congress to do something utterly stoo-pid, and that is to put all of what Mango Mussolini wants (tax cuts for the rich of course, along with border nonsense and God knows what else) into “one big, beautiful bill,” and MAGA Mike Johnson basically says, “Thank you sir, may I have another?” in response...yep, slipping on the metaphorical banana peel right out of the gate, as it were...I would agree with Cousins except that, as much as I detest #47, I’d be an idiot to ignore the possibility that Our Treasonous Orange Pustule will get his way on this by browbeating his party into submission and getting just enough cowardly Dems to support this nonsense also...



...well, at least one person out there has taken a rather visible stand in opposition to our slow slide into some utterly craven and destructive corpocracy, at that would be (former) WaPo cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who resigned in protest after her cartoon lampooning those worshiping at the altar of #47 was spiked by owner Jeff Bezos...democracy does indeed die in darkness, but also in the midst of greed and cowardice as well (John and Jackson White provide details...and this video is more evidence to me that Trump won because of depressed Democratic turnout for a variety of reasons, and yeah, our *preznit-elect isn’t going to be seeing any damn 42 percent approval rating again after his bulbous butt secures itself behind the Resolute Desk in An Oval Office)...



...and on the subject of the recent election, I think this man's NSFW/H commentary hits home for all of us...

This gentleman speaks for all rational patriotic Americans. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/1hx7qBpW3E

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 5, 2025

...and this segment of ”The Classroom” from More Perfect Union (with Karan Menon) presents an important IMO discussion of pensions and how they were once associated with union membership (pensions being a so-called “defined benefit” plan that used to exist with an employer until “defined contribution” 401(k) plans were instituted, which were only intended at first to supplement defined benefit plans, not replace them)...and yes, we can thank this Ted Benna character for the rise of 401(k) plans (and yes, I’m being sarcastic)...I have to admit that I didn’t know that this country’s population over 65 is the largest group living in poverty, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised...and I DEFINITELY knew about the role played by The Sainted Ronnie R in messing up Social Security (more here)...



...and RIP Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary (you can consider this an appreciation of his musical contribution, though he has a scummy backstory, I'll admit).