More Dem Concern Trolling From The "Paper Of Record"

I honestly have tried to avoid dwelling on too much corporate media nonsense about what the Democratic Party supposedly must do in order to remain competitive because I get tired of the idiocy almost breaking my brain, but this recent post mortem on the 2024 election from the editorial board of “the old gray lady” caught my eye and deserves a response IMO (from here).

In particular, that applies to the following excerpts...

Last year’s election was close, despite President Trump’s hyperbolic claims about his margin of victory. Still, the Democratic Party clearly lost — and not only the presidential race. It also lost control of the Senate and failed to recapture the House of Representatives. Of the 11 governor’s races held last year, Democrats won three. In state legislature races, they won fewer than 45 percent of the seats.

I don’t have an issue with these facts since, as far as I can tell, they’re not in dispute. However, I would add the following from here...

The Republicans, led by incumbent Speaker Mike Johnson, narrowly maintained control of the House with a small majority of 220 seats (the narrowest since 1930), despite winning the House popular vote by 4 million votes and a margin of 2.6%.[5][6] Democrats made a net gain of 1 seat from the Republicans, which represents the smallest net change in US history in the House of Representatives. The majority was decided by just over 7,000 votes across three congressional districts (Iowa's 1st, Colorado's 8th, and Pennsylvania's 7th) out of nearly 148 million cast in this election;[7] this was a roughly 2-point bias in favor of Democrats, resulting from Democratic outperformance in swing districts. Despite the Democratic overperformance, the results gave Republicans a government trifecta for the first time since the 2018 midterms.

Am I arguing that Dems don’t have work to do? Of course not. In my beloved commonwealth of PA, Repugs out-registered new voters by a sizeable margin. I’m not exactly sure what the answer is to that since we can’t outspend the other side. However, there’s more work for sure that we can do when it comes to organizing and keeping the issues that matter front and center to drive turnout (and we’re going to be helped indirectly by all of the Trumpist insanity raging out of control, but we can’t rely on that without doing our own homework, you might say).

With that in mind, I’d like to present this item once more (I know I pointed this out already - sorry to be a bit repetitive, but I think it matters). Dem James Andrew Malone ran on issues that his constituents cared about, Repug Josh Parsons ran on the typical Trumpist playbook, and as a result, Malone won the state senate seat, which hadn’t gone to a Dem in 42 years, which is the length of time that that seat has even existed. So as far as I’m concerned, this doesn’t indicate that MAGA has some magical hold on the voters of this country regardless of their party affiliation.

Oh, and as far as the U.S. Senate is concerned, that indeed will be a tougher nut to crack, you might say, for Dems. A factor in losing the Senate last year was the ridiculous over-spend by the crypto industry to take out primarily Dem Sherrod Brown in Ohio ($40 million in that race alone as noted here), as well as Bob Casey in PA and Jon Tester in Montana as noted here (once more, love and kisses to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR for Citizens United).

Returning to the Times Op-Ed, I give you this...

A key part of this argument involves voter turnout. Party leaders claim that most Americans still prefer Democrats but that voter apathy allowed Mr. Trump to win. According to this logic, Democrats do not need to worry about winning back Trump voters and should instead try to animate the country’s natural liberal majority. “I don’t think we’re going to win over those 77 million that voted for Donald Trump,” Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee, said this month. “I’m concerned with the 90 million who stayed home.” It was an unfortunate echo of Hillary Clinton saying that millions of Trump voters were “deplorables” and “irredeemable.”

Did you catch that? According to the Times, Tim Walz’s acknowledgement of numerical political reality smacks of “elitism” somehow. It should be noted from here, however, that the popular vote margin of victory for Generalissimo Trump was about 2.5 million nationwide, so I don’t see where Walz’s comment was off the mark (if, say, two-thirds of those 90 million turn out between both candidates, I have a felling we’d be in a very different – and much better - circumstance with President Harris and Vice President Walz). Oh, and failing to acknowledge those who didn’t vote absolves the Times of its role in DOING EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER TO DUMP ON BIDEN AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY, WHICH DEFINITELY PLAYED A ROLE IN DEPRESSING TURNOUT LAST YEAR ALSO.

And with that in mind, given last year’s results, guess what the number one takeaway is for the Dems according to the Times?

To regain voters’ trust, Democrats should take at least three steps. ... First, they should admit that their party mishandled Mr. Biden’s age.

Oh, go f*ck all the way off!

This is an absolutely typical response from the Times, which, as noted here, fixated on Biden’s age versus Trump’s even though only 3 years separated the two of them (and call me crazy, but I don’t recall any stories about #47’s age after Kamala Harris took over for Biden). I’ve read that the Times went out of its way to pick fights with Biden on this because his administration didn’t give them the “access” they wanted to people in Biden’s administration, which is a typically jaded and shortsighted attitude (here).

Were the optics terrible for Biden in that debate last year? Yes. Did he need to drop out? Probably.

However, what do you think would have happened if the roles were reversed (Biden came out firing on all cylinders and Trump had stumbled around looking confused)? I’ll tell you – Trump and his lackeys would have screamed about “liberal bias” for-freaking-ever and defended their guy, that’s what! And the Times would have acted like it was another day with a “y” in it.

The editorial also chides the Democrats on the issue of “gender-affirming care for prisoners.” What a shame that the editorial board didn’t follow reporting of their own newspaper; if they had, they would have learned that such care took place under Trump’s first term as noted here. There’s also some noise in today’s Op-Ed about Dems “(remaining) too focused on personal identity and on Americans’ differences — by race, gender, sexuality and religion — rather than our shared values.” If that’s indeed true, it’s only to defend individuals who are under attack from the “party of Lincoln” on the basis of those characteristics (and God only knows what the paper means by the Dems not recognizing “shared values,” though I’m sure the Times will have no trouble getting a quote from Jared Golden or Marie Gluesenkamp Perez complaining about “coastal elites” again to buttress such an idiotic claim).

Again, do the Dems have a lot of work to do with policy and messaging? Yes (and based on some quotes I’m hearing from new DNC head Ken Martin, I think he realizes that – I hope so anyway). But paying heed to the opining from a bunch of well-heeled media types as opposed to gathering the data on key issues and crafting messaging and policy to drive turnout is definitely not the way forward.

Basically, with “friends” like the New York Times editorial board, the Democrats definitely don’t need enemies.

Friday Stuff

Chris Hayes brings us the sorry tale of the “flatly authoritarian” detention of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk (and the way Hayes describes this is spot-on, sadly...the latest fresh outrage from our ruling cabal of human miseries - another important development on this is here)...call me a pointy-headed lib I guess, but I seem to recall reading about “innocent until proven guilty” as a principle of jurisprudence, not binding someone in zip ties and sending them off to detention about two thousand miles away without being formally charged...of course, leave it to our ruling Trumpist thugs to pretty much take that principle and wipe their metaphorical butts with it I know...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know that DHS head Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem sez her agency will eliminate FEMA as ordered by her boss...yes, this indeed will disproportionately hurt red states, though it will impact all of us to one degree or another...great point by Cousins that any non-FEMA federal dollars for disaster relief will now be left in the hands of Repugs in states who just might end up saying “Oh, our bad...that money is suddenly gone, used for budget shortfalls because we passed MORE STINKING TAX CUTS!”...sorry to hear about Cousins’s plight on the flood insurance issue...



Update: And I definitely would also say that Noem's sense of entitlement is on display here.

...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about prices soaring and markets plunging under the Gropenfuhrer...yep, these immigration purges along with Elmo’s workforce firings and those beyond-awful tariffs are pretty much beating the hell out of our economy under Yambo, with plummeting consumer confidence...and we know Project 2025 ridiculously called for firing 50K federal workers, though apparently the number may be closer ultimately to 200K...and I can tell how effective Jasmine Crockett is at speaking truth to stoo-pid because she keeps getting under the skin of the wingnuts...this is a good report from Shuster IMO, but I wish he would get rid of that ridiculous clip of Jonah Goldberg saying that USAID doesn’t “touch” people, or whatever that idiocy is (one response is here)...



...and David Pakman asks who the hell is running the White House, given the very latest pratfall with this bunch, and that would be #47 blaming “the Signal app” for the stupefying, dangerous incompetence of Pete Hegseth including Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic on the thread revealing the plans of the Houthi air strike...and yeah, it does indeed get worse, with Our Treasonous Orange Pustule somehow not knowing about 4 American servicemen who died in Lithuania (typical for the *preznit who was also responsible for this)...



...and as long as we’re talking about our SecDef and former Fix Noise talking head, Jesse Dollemore lets us know about Dem U.S. Senator (and former Iraq War helicopter pilot, who pretty much lost the use of her legs in a crash) Tammy Duckworth going on Fix Noise and explaining calmly and logically why Pete Hegseth is indeed a “f*cking liar”...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 3/29/13...with Elmo doing his best to wreck Social Security (laying off staff, making those claiming benefits do so online or in person), it should be noted that the wingnuts have been going after this entitlement for decades (and once again, it’s an “entitlement” that people are entitled to BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN PAYING INTO IT FOR ALL OF OUR WORKING LIVES!), and in this clip with the late, great Ed Schultz, Bernie Sanders discusses “chained CPI,” which was an idea floated by Repugs and entertained by former President Obama as a way to measure and potentially adjust Social Security benefits as opposed to doing so based on inflation...ultimately, this was another trick to reduce the deficit at the expense of everyone except the rich (and yes, it involved cuts to Medicare/Social Security ultimately), since, as we know, deficit reduction is only talked about when a Democrat is in the White House and/or it involves reduced funding for an entitlement...



...and turning to something that I’ll admit is “low-hanging fruit” by comparison, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report inform us of Trump “Jesus Grifter” Paula White offering a $1K “deal with God,” with Sam giving this nonsense the treatment it deserves, trying to launch a “bidding war” of sorts (totally tongue-in-cheek, of course)...and this is a minor gripe I realize, but why the $#@! do I have to see the guy playing the piano in the White clip??...



...and happy belated 75th birthday to Tony Banks of Genesis.

Wednesday Stuff

With the unrelenting stream of garbage stories in the news from our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes, I thought it would be a good idea to present some items that are actually good news, and the first is this (from Mike Figueredo)...a Wisconsin bill banning gender affirming care is making its way through the state assembly, though, fortunately, it would be vetoed by Dem guv Tony Evers if it ends up on his desk, though the bill shouldn’t have been introduced in the first place...the good news in this is that Wisconsin resident Larry Jones waited to testify in favor of this nonsense, but after hearing the stories of those who would be singled out, he commendably changed his mind; kudos to him for coming around on this issue as he did...and more that 500 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced so far this year? Yep, I would also say that this is focusing on “the wrong one percent”...terrific point about waging the class war versus the culture war (NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know that Bronzer Beelzebub recently claimed that he never signed the order to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, assuming he can even do that of course without congressional approval (though it’s not as if he actually cares about legality, as we should all well know by now)..funny thing, though – his scrawl does indeed appear on that executive order, so yeah, he’s lying yet again and also may not even be competent at this point to do the job he was elected to do if he’s admitting that he’s delegating tasks all over the place...



...and Thom Hartmann gives us some utter horror stories when it comes to Combover Caligula and his minions detaining people coming to this country from overseas, especially in the case of a green card holder returning from Germany, who was imprisoned and treated like a violent criminal...”a naked attack on free speech” indeed...with this gaggle of idiots in charge, NO ONE will want to come to this country before too much longer (and more on the case of New York Times v. Sullivan is here)...

...and Chris Hayes gives us the story of an Idaho teacher (Sarah Inama) who was told to take down her “Everyone is Welcome Here” sign in her classroom, apparently because the sign committed the unpardonable sin of including hands of a non-white skin color (with a report from local TV station KTVB...God almighty, what the #@$! Is going on in the West Ada School District??!!)...and yeah, idiots in the state legislature passed a law against “critical race theory” (and once more, CRT is a college-level field of study looking at systemic prejudice in particular laws, institutions and social structures...what’s going on in this classroom has NOT ONE DAMN THING TO DO WITH THAT!!!)...and is this Marcus Myers ever a racist nitwit!...segment also includes clips of residents protesting at town halls and the beyond-clueless response from Republicans (and a still-more-ridiculous response from the troglodytes of the West Ada School District is here)...



...and as a follow-up to the Hayes clip, I think this is a terrific response from Shawn Wright, owner of Brigade Screen Printing in Boise...since the Everyone Is Welcome Here sign was taken down in Inama’s classroom, orders for T-shirts with the sign have apparently flooded Wright’s shop, which is pretty cool I must say (and orders from all over the world, it should be noted)...this is another bit of good news I wanted to include here...

...and by the way, don’t look now, but PA Dems just flipped a state senate seat in a special election that had been held by a Repug for 46 years (and in a district Trump won by 15 points last year - more here); additionally, Dems won a seat in the state house, which now gives them control of that body (before, the seat totals were tied at 101 between both parties...more good news)...clip also gives us an important update on the Wisconsin Supreme Court election between Susan Crawford and Trump sycophant Brad Schimel, with Elmo trying to purchase the seat for Schimel – also important in this race to make sure the Repugs and their ridiculously gerrymandered maps don’t get reinstituted in that state...Brian Tyler Cohen gives us the details (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and drummer Paul Hester of Crowded House died tragically 20 years ago today (reach out and get help if you think you need it – life is too important, and too short).

Tuesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow reports on the whole mess with Trumpers Mike Waltz and Pete Hegseth revealing the Houthi air strike to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, using the unsecured Signal messaging app, to say nothing of the fact that Goldberg wasn’t cleared either (though he was circumspect with the info he got, to his credit)...yep, a truly astonishing blunder to not check to see who else was in the group chat, but why should we be surprised with this bunch? And I absolutely share Maddow’s sense of disgust/astonishment at about 5:20...”A crowd that’s not ready for prime time”; I have some issues with Mark Warner periodically, but he’s absolutely right here...many problems revealed here, including compromising the lives of our service people, which this regime of utter frauds and hangers-on apparently doesn’t care about (in a timeline that was actually sane, people in this garbage presidential administration would be gone by now and congressional hearings would be taking place to figure out potential legal liability for those still taking up space in An Oval Office, though it does sound like hearings may be forthcoming, which should happen at a minimum)...



Update: Looks like Hegseth fails his own standard here.

Update 1 3/26/25: I also think we need to follow the "Gabbard precedent," as noted here.

Update 2 3/26/25: In the immortal words of Casey Stengel, can anybody here play this game? (here)

...and John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report let us know that boycotts against companies that are “bending the knee” to the Gropenfuhrer (when it comes to DEI policies in the case of Target) are having a financial impact...and I would be tempted to cheer on a decline in the stock price such as what Target experienced, but the problem is that the brunt of that will likely be borne by workers who get laid off...and as far as Tesla is concerned, Elmo’s company can’t do the “big swirl in the hopper” fast enough to suit yours truly...I think Brett was trying to point out the inherent illogic of pursuing a purposefully non-DEI policy when what drives your business decisions is trying to obtain a product to sell for the lowest possible cost...



...and Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire tells us about business leaders trying to come up with a plan to deal with the beyond-ridiculous tariffs from Cantaloupe Capone, and for the Repug-friendly types in charge of these outfits, apparently they’re hoping the “D” team comes riding to the rescue in four years...boy, would I like to tell these idiots what they can do (and is Cousins ever right about the ridiculous ebb and flow of electing a Repug who breaks stuff, then electing a Dem who fixes the mess, then electing a Repug to break it worse, then electing a Dem who has a harder time fixing everything, etc. etc...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about Bernie Sanders getting up and almost leaving an interview with Jonathan Karl when Sanders is asked about AOC running for the Senate, which (as Sanders and BTC both point out) is indeed “inside the Beltway” BS (and “the ESPN-ification of politics”...how apt)...yep, our supposedly august fourth estate is indeed focused on horserace nonsense (and “bending the knee” to the Gropenfuhrer) and showing a typical allergic reaction to actual policy, aa Cohen correctly notes...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Texas AG Ken Paxton arresting a midwife and her assistant for performing an abortion (practicing medicine without a license is the charge, though I would guess that midwives have been performing abortions for centuries)...Kyle is apparently inaccurately claiming that a doctor is getting locked up, though the whole mess from Paxton is putrid on its own I’ll admit (and Kyle is about 150 percent right on Paxton’s corruption)...I have to admit that I didn’t know about Paxton’s claim that Biden would have won Texas in ’20 if it weren’t for Paxton throwing out mail-in ballots...the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR is scummy mainly for Citizens United, but gutting the pre-clearance provision of the Voting Rights Act is another big stain on its awful record, enabling Paxton to pull garbage like this with elections...and “maternal deaths in Texas have surged since it enacted its abortion ban”...surprised? And more on TRAP laws is here (and Joe Rogan is truly an idiot...”'freedom' is how they virtue signal” indeed...NSFW/H)...



...and RIP Brian James of The Damned.

Monday Stuff

Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ brings us a clip of Rachel Maddow discussing polling indicating how far out of step #47 is with public opinion on the Russia/Ukraine war...yep, we understand that Our Ochre Abomination is dancing to the tune of Vlad The Butcher on this; ”this isn’t just reckless, it’s strategic surrender” indeed (and apparently, having someone wait an hour is one of the moves by the "Moscow munchkin" to try and show dominance)...Ojeda does a great job of laying out all of the utter military madness proposed by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, which is of course is about an unpopular as you can imagine, but Ojeda is also correct unfortunately that those supporting Our Whining Orange Man-Baby will truly be the last ones to admit that they got utterly played...



...and Jesse Dollemore discusses the wingnuts supporting the death penalty for anybody hurting a Tesla vehicle (and we’re talking about Harris Faulkner of Fix Noise, who is conversing with #47 spokes-liar Karoline Leavitt...big surprise I know), but if that vehicle kills somebody, then that’s just capitalism...huh? And yes, these individuals are just SO FULL OF FAITH, aren’t they (full of something I suppose, but I’ll leave that up to you, dear reader)...



...and Faiz Shakir of More Perfect Union lets us know that Combover Caligula fired an administration lawyer for doing his job, and that person would be Alvaro Bedoya of the FTC, who was fighting against corporations trying to ransack our economy...Bedoya gives important background on the Robinson-Patman Act, one of the most enforced laws at the FTC, aimed at protecting independent retailers (and why does it not surprise me in any way to hear about this Act getting attacked by the administration of The Sainted Ronnie R?)...and we lost 100K independent retailers since 1980 when R-P stopped bring enforced, huh? Doesn’t sound like “morning in America” to me...



Also, on an unrelated note, I just want to mention that some environmental outfit called Earth Justice recently ran ads on sites such as Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars thanking Brian Fitzpatrick for his supposed good legislative record in support of environmental issues. I wonder if the idiots in this group know that Bri-Fi voted for HR 4394, about which we know the following from here...

“This legislation, along with the many harmful proposed amendments to it, includes countless provisions that would lock in fossil fuel infrastructure, increase our dependence on foreign energy, and cede leadership in clean energy innovation to our competitors – all while raising energy costs for everyday Americans,” according to the League of Conservation Voters and 24 other environmental groups.

Want to know a big reason why Bri-Fi manages to get sent back to Washington every two years? It’s because of nonsense like this, that’s why.

Fortunately, we can indeed fight back against our utterly rigged political institutions (which give us milquetoast individuals like Bri-Fi), and one way is to involve ourselves in the process as much as our money and our means allows (writing to newspapers, talking with family and friends, canvassing, making calls, sending out postcards, peacefully protesting, etc., to say nothing of running campaigns ourselves if we’re able), and that’s a message also from Bernie Sanders and AOC, who recently drew big crowds at rallies in Arizona and Colorado, telling those to do what they can (and that goes for all of us) to fight the “pay no price, bear no burden” one percent bastards who would take everything from us if they could...oh, and by the way, this should also be a kick in the ass to Dem “leaders” Schumer and Jeffries on Capitol Hill...and speaking only for myself, I would like to add that some of the most uplifting feelings of accomplishment I’ve ever experienced have come from doing the “nuts and bolts” political organizing stuff I mentioned above, so I think this is a great strategy by Bernie and AOC to try and spur that along (David Doel tells us more – additional info is here)...



Update 3/26/25: And speaking of Bri-Fi, apparently he had yet another “tele-town hall” recently so he wouldn’t have to come out of his hidey hole and actually face voters. The only way to put a stop to this nonsense is by voting him out once and for all next year.

...and Robert Reich lets us know that the fight against Mango Mussolini isn’t over – far from it...video is a great reminder of all of the regular contests and special elections coming up this year, including Susan Crawford vs. Trumpist Brad Schimel for the Wisconsin Supreme Court...and Florida will hold two contests for the U.S. House with the vote on 4/1...click here to support Gay Valimont in FL-01 and click here to support Josh Weil in FL-06...



...and here's a bit of an uplifting newer number for a rainy day in these parts - hope it spurs on all of us to keep up the fight.

Friday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the recent failed town hall with Harriet Hagerman in Wyoming...I knew Hagerman was truly awful (the rep in the U.S. House voted in because Generalissimo Trump decided to sic his flying monkeys on Liz Cheney), but you’d have to go a looong way to find someone more entitled than she is, talking down to her constituents like she did (here), wondering why they cared about government so much or something...and as I watch AOC with her completely spot-on commentary, it reinforces once more what a fraud and utter coward @RepBrianFitz is for refusing to come out of his hidey hole and meet the people who (foolishly) put him in office (along with the fact that Bri-Fi was also too chicken to debate Ashley Ehasz in the campaign last year)...



...and what King Elon and Bronzer Beelzebub would do to Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security was front and center in the above clip of course, and with that in mind, Rachel Maddow tells us about “an effort to break the agency” administering Medicare/Social Security...looks like Elmo and Combover Caligula are trying to “reform” the claims process by trying to get claimants to verify their identity over the internet or (more likely) go to a claims processing office, which would create volumes more red tape and slow down the claims process, which is completely by design of course (75K to 85K in-person visitors per week, huh? And of course people working in these field offices are getting let go, making this even more of a clusterf*ck...yeah, this isn’t the wingnut “wet dream” of drowning this entitlement in the metaphorical bathtub, huh? Not much it isn’t...and Judd Legum, to his credit, is on this stuff)...



And by the way, with the prior clip in mind, I offer this...

...and returning to what’s going on in town halls, Sam and Emma of The Majority Report tell us that, apparently, there was a flare-up in Nebraska (and I get it that the Soros remark was tongue-in-cheek), with a lady talking about funding cuts to NIH to Repug rep Mike Flood, who of course is trying to tap dance as well as he can, though the crowd isn’t buying it...GREAT point by Sam that recessions follow on the heels of “balanced budgets” (and for this Flood guy to even utter the words “balanced budget” is an obscenity given that #47 and his minions want to extend those stinking 2017 tax cuts, which would add trillions to the debt...and one result of a search for “Kansas” and “Sam Brownback” is here)...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network informs us that it looks like “the land of the yellow rose” (and yeah, I think “laboratory of autocracy” fits, sadly) has had enough of #47 and President Elon, in particular when it comes to trying to gut the CHIPS Act...and it’s kind of telling to me also that our corporate media cousins aren’t giving all of this stuff the attention it deserves...I didn’t know that Texas delivered more wind energy than anyone else, but yeah, that’s even MORE of a reason to oppose this insanity from #47 (and of course, Cantaloupe Capone demonstrates that he doesn’t have the remotest idea of how wind energy really works, which shouldn’t be surprising)...and what a “godly” man this Robert Morris character is, another Trumpist lickspittle who’s been accused of child sex abuse (and to support Isaiah Martin, click here)...



...and Alec Opperman of More Perfect Union brings us the story of an auto dealer (allegedly) shutting off a vehicle when someone was driving because of a remote engine “kill switch” – a lady named Victoria Carter was driving with her kids in June of ‘21 when this took place...the clip profiles lawyer Lindsey Siegel, who was fired from the CFPB; Siegel was working on a case involving an outfit called USAuto Sales, which apparently is a loan servicer to low-income folks needing a vehicle to get to work and get their kids to and from school and for other needs; apparently, the vehicles were shut off using something called a starter interruption device when it appeared that loan repayment was due, and this appears to have happened while the vehicles were being driven on roads, highways, etc...well, the CFPB won a $32 million judgment against USAuto Sales, but because the CFPB was gutted by DOGE, it appears that the $$ may not get paid out...un-freaking believable (well, not really I guess, given this bunch in power now)...



...and Belle informs us of the hugely important Wisconsin Supreme Court contest coming up between Trumpist and Elon fanboy Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford (more here)...to help Crawford, click here...



...and maybe I’m a bit of a blue-eyed optimist I’ll admit to feature these tunes from Jesse Colin Young with all of the Trumpist insanity all about us, though maybe on the other hand, that may be the very reason why we need them now more than ever...I’ll conclude my tribute of sorts with these two selections.

Thursday Stuff

I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 3/20/17...I know it’s hard to keep track of the mania surrounding Our Treasonous Orange Pustule and President Elon, but I think it’s instructive to take a look back at this item where Our Ochre Abomination put the word out that former President Obama allegedly put a tap on #47’s phone in Trump Tower, and when that nonsense blew up, Our Orange Man-Baby tried to blame British intelligence (Jake Tapper brought the reality perspective in this clip)...I never thought I’d be nostalgic for Sean Spicer, but I guess I am (more here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us the story of “five dipsh*ts,” as he correctly IMO puts it, in Minnesota introducing a bill having to do with “Trump Derangement Syndrome”..these knuckleheads are Eric Lucero, Steve Drazkowski, Nathan Wesenberg, Justin Eichorn, and Glenn Gruenhagen, and a particularly disgusting update on Eichorn is here (why do I have a feeling that these guys would be in a remake of “Fargo” by the Coen Brothers?)...mildly NSFW/H...



...and Chris Hayes lets us know about “a dawning awareness that it’s time to fight back”...Hayes quite rightly takes "Leader" Schumer and the other 9 turncoat U.S. Senate Dems to task over voting for the “filthy” CR allowing Elmo and Bronzer Beelzebub to continue wrecking our government...and Hayes is right; the bulwark against fascism for sure is us...and I’d truly like to tell Pam Bondi what I think of her, but I don’t want these posts to get too virulent, as tempting as it is to do that; maybe I’ll just link to this instead (Hayes speaks with Faiz Shakir and Rebecca Traister...GREAT point by Shakir that there was basically no negotiation In Schumer’s cave-in, and Traister really nailed it in talking about the risks that the protestors are bravely taking on)...



...and echoing the Hayes clip, Kyle Kulinski also points out 100 anti-Tesla protests last weekend, and I’m sure that more indeed are planned, along with a massive boycott against Elmo and his bogus companies all over the world...an update is here...so of course the Ketamine addict is now all, “Oh, puh-LEEZE help me! I’m a poor, oppressed billionaire!” so he runs to the Gropenfuhrer for love and kisses...bleaugh! (NSFW/H)...



...and on the subject of folks rising up (and taking risks big time also), Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network presents the courageous people of Hungary protesting against dictator Viktor Orban as well as those in Serbia protesting Putin pal Aleksandar Vucic...

Trump and Elon Musk's worst nightmare is happening. People around the world are rising up against fascism and authoritarian autocrats. 🙌🙏💪👏👊👇 pic.twitter.com/YfA9IKdrly

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) March 19, 2025

...and this tune from Jesse Colin Young is apropos sadly, though as far as I'm concerned, that just means that we should redouble our efforts as much as we can.

Wednesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore informs us here that self-proclaimed prophet Lance Wallnau sez that Our Lord won’t return until #47’s policies are carried out...I have to admit that it’s been awhile since I did a “deep dive” into The Good Book, but I seem to recall a passage with Jesus more or less saying that those claiming to speak for the Almighty despite their public misdeeds will wish they’d never been born, or words to that effect...and why did I know that this Wallnau character would work in the attempted shooting in Butler, PA last year? I have a TON of questions about that day that likely will never be answered, along with the fact that I’ve never seen an alleged ear wound heal so quickly on a man in his 70s with health morbidities...



...and Chris Williamson of Rebel HQ tells us that it looks like that fool “Coach Tubs” is weighing in on what he thinks “hate speech” is...yep, the Alabama senator is out of his depth once again, which is kind of a “short wade into the kiddie pool”...and Tuberville can’t even pronounce “antisemitism”...clip is another update on Mahmoud Khalil and his imprisonment for apparently exercising his right to free speech on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza...and I think Chris Murphy, at this moment, is the only person in the U.S. Senate who actually gets what’s going on here...and of course leave it to Senator Foghorn Leghorn of Louisiana with his folksy BS act to get the story COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WRONG...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that Bernie, AOC and others are apparently drawing big crowds in town halls in red states...and I would say that there is nowhere for Dems to go but up with a polling approval rate of 29 freaking percent...and I almost don’t want to say this because I don’t want to jinx everything, but it sounds like new DNC head Ken Martin may actually be meeting the moment here – crossing my fingers and toes as I say that...and more on the special U.S. House elections this year is here (and psst...I don’t mean to be a Pollyanna, but here’s a crazy thought – if Dems could somehow win all three, THEY WOULD TAKE OVER THE U.S. HOUSE! And click here to help Gay Valimont and click here to help Josh Weil, both on 4/1)...



...and The Lincoln Project reminds us that Elmo gets billions of taxpayer dollars to send up rockets that keep exploding...and of course, he despises the FAA, the one governmental body that keeps us safe when flying, because it stands up to the person in charge of Nazi Twitter...



...and Tennessee Brando tells us that French Member of the European Parliament Raphael Glucksmann says that his country wants the Statue of Liberty back...yeah, this is obviously a showboating ploy, but as Brando says, did you ever imagine in your life that we’d be in a position where that would be a “thing”?...and Brando is right; this mess stopped being about “politics” a loooong time ago, and I know Brando is also spot-on when it comes to the ingrained hatred of “all things Democrat” below that Mason-Dixon line, facts and logic be damned...and yeah, go ahead and hate France if you want, which of course means that you also don’t care about their contribution to our victory over Great Britain during the Revolutionary War (and that also means that you’re aligned with this dimwitted harpie)...and yeah, I’m glad my parents didn’t live to see this disgusting spectacle either (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and I’ll plan to spend the rest of the week featuring the work of Jesse Colin Young, who just left us...the tributes I’ve read quite rightly noted the development of his music across genres besides pop, notably jazz, which I think is showcased in this number.

Tuesday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us about King Elon I putting $100 million into the political operation of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence...also, more background on what I would call the “filthy CR” (as opposed to the “clean” one) – the ”filthy” one gives cover to these DOGE bastards allowing President Musk and his orange flunky to continue to wreak havoc on our government, economy...you name it...and I think Thom is wrong to say #47 is in violation of the Hatch Act since apparently that doesn’t cover presidents as we recently learned, but Cantaloupe Capone sure as hell IS in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution...



...and if there is one thing the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch absolutely HATES more than anything else on earth, it’s paying their fair share of taxes, and Andrew Rivera of More Perfect Union tells us about the biggest tax dodge in history...it’s basically an intricate scheme to avoid paying the estate tax, which the wingnuts have been after for years...and if there’s one thing I freaking hate, it’s these billionaire f*cks strutting around a stage like they’re rock stars, patting each other on the butt, when in reality they made bank off the labor of many, many workers, to say nothing of benefitting from infrastructure funded by our tax dollars (I think Steve Jobs was the first one of these life forms to do this putrid act, pretending like he’s Bono or something...of course, the vast majority of these characters are “nepo babies” anyway)...and I’d never heard of a GRAT until now; learn something new every day (Bob Lord, by the way, is a member of Patriotic Millionaires...kudos to him)...important history lesson also on the decades-long effort to repeal the estate tax from Chuck Collins, and David Cay Johnston has definitely done fine reporting on this also...



...and Chris Hayes brings us more on Trump lawlessness, leading with the absolutely criminal treatment of Mahmoud Khalil, and also trying to criminalize Habitat for Humanity for receiving EPA grants...heckuva job, all you numbskulls who made sure to inflict this misery on us last year...and leave it to that beyond-useless Trumpist lickspittle Lee Zeldin to manufacture some BS conspiracy from the right-wing online fever swamps that somehow funding clean energy was a Biden-esque giveaway to “far left groups”...and yeah, Ed Martin figures into this somehow, accusing the United Way and the New York Department of Taxation of some kind of criminal fraud...video gets cut at the end with Hayes almost in mid-sentence, oddly enough...



...and color me shocked (well, not really), but, according to Sam and Emma of The Majority Report, it looks like Repugs hate the stock market now, or at least this Rob Schmitt character on Newsmax believes that (I believe the market rebounded a bit yesterday, but so far, it’s down again today)...oh, so the Gropenfuhrer needed to tank the market so we could get a break from inflation? Really??!! Well, let’s see where we are a month or two from now on that, OK (and once more, inflation was declining under Biden, down to 2.9 percent as noted here, but good luck finding that out while that info was getting drowned out by right-wing BS)...and I don’t know how this Newsmax idiot thinks housing prices will actually go down WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO BASICALLY BUILD THE FREAKING HOUSES, TO SAY NOTHING OF PICKING OUR CROPS ALSO, ARE ALL GETTING DEPORTED!!!...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen brings us the story of a lawsuit from Bronzer Beelzebub against Marc Elias’s old law firm that was shut down by a federal judge from the bench...and I get it that Elias has to be circumspect about criticizing his own profession at about 4:57; sounds like lawyers generally are doing the right thing even if some “white shoe” firms aren’t...important indeed to note that Democracy Docket is on its own platform – definitely an open question as to how certain media and legal operations may react to this intolerant fascist era in which we find ourselves...



...and here’s a bit of what I guess you could call Gen Z angst...kind of wraps it up quick I would say.

Monday Stuff

David Shuster of Rebel HQ talks about Trumpette Karoline Leavitt doing another pratfall when she's asked if the tariffs from her boss will cause a recession...and while I have myriad criticisms of Senate Dem “leader” Chuck Schumer, calling him a “Palestinian” (which isn’t even a valid criticism as far as I’m concerned, but consider the source) isn’t one of them (I realize we’re fully into this new timeline where, apparently, we’re not supposed to laugh in the face of the POTUS and not call him a stoo-pid POS)...”somebody drew a straight line through the U.S. and Canada many, many decades ago”...terrifying in a way to realize that probably about 77 million people last year said, “yeah, he’s the guy I want for president”...and I’m sure more people are trying to escape from here every day...



...and Kyle Kulinski discusses a “poll implosion” for Combover Caligula and King Elon I...Kyle goes over a bunch of data here about how quickly the “honeymoon” has soured for Bronzer Beelzebub, especially on the economy and also on foreign policy with picking these stoo-pid fights with Canada and Mexico...and I think a 39 percent approval rating on the economy is still way too damn high, but yeah, it remains a pretty sad number (and the number is even lower on foreign policy)...(NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins lets us know about “MAGA Mike” Johnson getting trashed by his own voters mainly because of proposed cuts to Medicaid (1 in 4 of Johnson’s constituents need it) and SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps (1 in 5 of his constituents need that), according to an NBC News report (wonder why it took this mess to get people to wake the hell up, but alas, we are where we are)...



...and Leeja Miller brings us the following; our democracy is fragile, indeed...she presents a recap of how our allies are turning on us, and rightly so, over our beyond-ridiculous tariffs, along with King Elon’s plummeting values of his crappy Tesla vehicles...have to admit that I didn’t know that the prez was exempt from the Hatch Act, though there are other ways to hold our chief executive to account...and yes, it does appear that the primary means of enforcing ethics and legality in the Oval Office are under the purview of the executive, and it’s up to Congress to carry forward on impeachment of course, but after Combover Caligula, maybe we ought to find a way to redesign that arrangement, and no, I don’t know how exactly at the moment...also, I know Sam Seder, to his credit, had that roundtable with all of these wingnuts, but to be honest, I don’t want to validate the opinions of these numbskulls by commenting on their moronic observations (definitely not a comment on Seder)...and yeah, as far as I’m concerned, so much of our current misery can indeed be traced back to Citizens United, as Miller states at about 16:07, not just because of equating money with speech to a greater degree than ever before, but also because of the type of people who ended up in government and how they governed, basically, by ignoring everyone else who wasn’t a millionaire like they are...”The American dream is truly the ultimate cult” indeed...NSFW/H also...



...and John Russell of More Perfect Union visits America’s poorest counties in West Virginia devastated by flooding (and of course, there’s a media blackout...I’m genuinely sorry these people are dealing with all of this misery, and on the one hand, I cannot for the life of me understand why they would vote for ANY Republican, but on the other hand, this state was allegedly represented by Joe Manchin in the U.S. Senate, and he obviously didn’t do jack sh*t for them)...and of course, Our Ochre Abomination blames FEMA but has no proposed solution, for these people or anyone else who isn’t part of the “one percent” (and leave it to Cantaloupe Capone to approve emergency relief for only 4 of the 13 affected counties)...yeah, leave it also to the states to solve this, even though there’s $0 in West Virginia’s emergency management fund – what a cunning plan! (mildly NSFW/H as well)...



...and Happy St. Patrick's Day, lest I forget to mention that.

Friday Stuff

I know this clip from Chris Hayes is a few days old, and I honestly was hoping it wouldn’t be applicable any more, but sadly it is based on this...video has to do with the push back against King Elon and Bronzer Beelzebub by state attorneys general and those protesting at town halls...and yeah, it sure would be nice if those in congressional “leadership” on the “D” team would join us, but alas, we have small people in these roles requiring outsized efforts, and I don’t want to hear “oh, we don’t have majorities, so there’s nothing we can do” (and that alleged Dem centrist criticizing Al Green is a gutless coward for not going on the record...my money as to who’s responsible would be Jared Golden or Marie Gluesenkamp Perez...”now is the time for trying things” indeed)...



...and Rachel Maddow lets us know that Dems in the House apparently attempted to cast a vote to make The Gropenfuhrer get rid of his beyond-ridiculous tariffs wrecking our economy, as a bit of a show of resistance (a bit, speaking of "trying things"), but of course, “MAGA Mike” Johnson apparently caved on that, declaring the rest of the congressional session as “one long day” to keep Dems from introducing a resolution forcing a vote on the emergency (so basically, Johnson, Thune and that bunch in Congress are asking #47 if he likes it missionary or doggie style...yeah, there I go as a filthy, unkempt liberal blogger again)...



...well, at least one Dem is meeting the moment, and that would be U.S. House Rep John Larson of Connecticut, who takes off the metaphorical gloves when it comes to the "party of Lincoln" and privatization of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid...this has indeed been the plan of movement conservative ideologues going back at least to The Sainted Ronnie R (Jesse Dollemore tells us about it)...



...and as I’ve said before, I know what The Lincoln Project is, but they continues to step up with these great clips, as opposed to the “leadership” of that political party whose name begins with a “D” and can’t seem to figure out how to respond to the madness that surrounds us (NSFW/H)...



...and we recently lost another Dem fighter in Congress, and that would be Raul Grijalva of Arizona; here he is railing against Combover Caligula’s family separation policy...as usual, Cantaloupe Capone refused to take heed; this item has to do with the deportation of a little girl with brain cancer (at least she was kept with her family, and if that isn’t looking hard for a silver lining, I don’t know what is...yep, apparently it was too much to care for this child since we’re the richest country in the world – couldn’t monetize her suffering I guess, so she had to go)...



Update 3/15/25: And here is another story of kids allegedly not suffering from Elmo and DOGE’s horrible cuts, despite brutal evidence to the contrary.

...and kudos to Joan Baez for this; maybe SHE could run the DNC!

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report brings us the sorry tale of wingnuts seething (especially those on Fix Noise) over King Elon getting protested at Tesla dealerships...and I reluctantly have to agree with Figueredo that, since we already have those beyond-ridiculous anti-BDS laws in 38 states criminalizing free speech, as well as laws against peaceful protest generally, I can definitely see that getting extended to save Elmo’s sorry ass here...and yep, it indeed does look like the “f*ck your feelings” crowd were the biggest snowflakes all along...and Figueredo is also correct to point out how “disgustingly corrupt” it is for the POTUS to be hawking autos for his biggest sugar daddy (and yet again, I ask what the reaction would be if a Dem actually did this...that person would be vilified every way possible, and that would be correct)...and I guess Stuart Varney gets a pass he shouldn’t because he’s a Brit? I could never quite figure that out...and no, I definitely don’t encourage violence either, but seriously, what the hell else can you expect when the world’s richest man decides to obliterate our federal government which is relied upon by millions in this country? And spoiler alert for Elmo...undocumented immigrants do pay into Social Security, with little hope of seeing any of that ever returned to them as noted here (NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins chimes in on a similar note, with Elmo wanting to go after Medicare and Social Security...and is it just me, but when these charlatans talk about “waste, fraud and abuse,” they NEVER put it in the context of those stinking tax cuts or, say, PPP loans that were forgiven as noted here...



...and Jesse Dollemore also references the Tesla promotion by Bronzer Beelzebub, but also “Bobby Brainworms” encouraging consuming fried food to Make American Healthy Again with Sean Inanity at some place called Steak n’ Shake I believe (yep, sounds like we’re “through the looking glass” all right)...as much as I’d like to take issue with the Fix Noise talking head here, I really can’t, or at least not much (though the “plastic straw” stuff was typically childish of course); my problem is that WE HAVE THE GODDAMN HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY ENCOURAGING A DIET THAT WILL ONLY MAKE PEOPLE SICKER!!...for the reality perspective, here is information on the rates of diabetes in this country, affecting about 38 million people as of 2021, which is absolutely no joke (the most recent information I can find)...diabetes is a gateway illness of sorts to all kinds of other bad stuff (NSFW/H also)...



...and as David Pakman reminds us, Cantaloupe Capone has taken our economy from boom to bust in only 35 days, which must be some kind of a record, albeit an infamous one...



...and I thought this was a pretty smart take on what exactly is going on with our economy from YouTuber Vaush, echoing Pakman a bit; the "big casino" is currently still in free fall (heckuva job, all you numbskulls who opposed Harris/Walz last year)...

Trump is destroying the U.S. economy and the oligarchs couldn't be happier. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/dVwu73V42u

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) March 11, 2025

...and today is the 100th anniversary of the passing of the so-called “Butler Act” in Tennessee (here), which made it illegal to teach evolution in schools (and which led to the also-infamous “Scopes Monkey Trial” later the same year)...and for anybody out there thinking, “Oh, that’s a relic of the past! We’ve moved beyond that!,” I would only add that anti-science in this country has flourished again, unfortunately, when it comes to overturning Roe, attacking those with gender dysphoria seeking to transition, opposing immunizations/vaccinations, etc., and as far as I’m concerned, it all leads back to opposing evolution (I’ve put up that clip of Spencer Tracy in “Inherit The Wind” railing about fanaticism and ignorance enough times; that great production was based on the Scopes trial of course).

Wednesday Stuff

Tennessee Brando tells us that, apparently, Kentucky Bourbon utterly forgot that Everything Trump Touches Dies...c’est dommage...and yeah, I’m sure Cantaloupe Capone has never walked down a dirt road in his life all right (and Brando is definitely right about Andy Beshear – I went back and forth between Beshear and Tim Walz last year for VP, but I gave the slight nod to Walz because I thought it would help Harris more electorally; no disrespect to Beshear, but I was happy with Walz...oh well)...

...and by the way, are we tired of the winning yet?...

...and speaking of money matters, this New York Times clip tells us about people in our government who actually were saving us some dough, that is, before Elmo fired them...I wish I could take issue with the utterly dark assessment of the inspectors general at about 8:50, but I really can’t...



...and John of The Damage Report brings us a clip of Pete Buttigieg describing the coming fight over the budget in the House (which those gutless frauds voted for again yesterday, including Bri-Fi, with the head-scratching exception of Thomas Massie – and yeah, the beyond-useless Jared Golden on our side voted for it also)...Jim McGovern also reminds us of all the times the “party of Lincoln” voted to extend those stinking tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy at everyone else’s expense...and John is definitely right about getting big money out of politics, mainly for the “R” team but also for too many on the “D” team as well (more here)...



...and David Doel tells us about Mark Carney “throwing down,” you might say (and politely of course), in a speech after winning the vote of Canada’s liberal party for Prime Minister...maybe Carney is a bit strident, but I’m OK with it since he’s correct that his nation didn’t start this ridiculous trade gamesmanship (though I appreciate David Doel’s clarification)...I don’t know enough about Canadian politics to be able to say anything about Pierre Poilievre, but I’m inclined to give Doel the benefit of the doubt here...and just imagine a Dem in this country giving a speech and using the phrase “we know as liberals”; corporate media heads would probably spontaneously combust like in that movie “Scanners” (a Canadian film, appropriately enough...you can Google it)...and yeah, Poilievre is “Maple MAGA” for sure; good one...



...and Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look” (and once again, we have to leave it to a comedian to try and decipher corporate media gobbledygook...OK, so the Biden stock market was good because investors were anticipating a Trump win, but after Trump actually won, it tanked...huh????)...And yeah, “Human Capital Stock” Kevin Hassett says Canada has a big problem with fentanyl.

In response, I give you the following from here...

In fiscal 2024, 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border, according to Customs and Border Protection data. More than 21,000 pounds were seized at the southern border during the same time period.

Wow, a whopping 43 pounds of fentanyl from Canada! Gee, that sure sounds like an excuse to completely tank our economy, doesn’t it (#sarcasm)...

Here is the Meyers clip...



...and legendary saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker died on this day 70 years ago.