Friday Stuff

David Pakman lets us know that Jessica Tarlov once again brought the reality perspective on the economy to her Fix Noise cohorts...as Pakman says, we need about 100K jobs a month to break even, and that isn’t even close to happening (number is closer to 17K a month), with 700K people in this country out of work, including a youth unemployment rate of 10 percent...I thought this was a pretty solid analysis by Pakman of what’s going on, and not necessarily just because it’s all bad news for the Tangerine Toddler...



...and sticking with money matters and The Roger Ailes BS Factory, I give you Stuart (“The Weakness Is Attractive”) Varney on Fix Noise Business (regarding job creation and consumer sentiment on our wretched economy)...yet another reason to pretty much ignore the stock market if you’re trying to find out what’s really going on with the financial well-being of this country overall...



...and when it comes to financial obligations, Robert Reich explains here that the one percent in particular have a vested interest in keeping our debt high because they make money off interest payments against the debt, as opposed to, y’know, JUST PAYING THEIR DAMN TAXES LIKE THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO...



...and Jesse Dollemore talks about judicial nominees from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule refusing to say that the Capitol was attacked on 1/6/21...and no, they’re not being asked about pending litigation, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal notes, and they’re not even being asked to characterize what happened as an insurrection, which it plainly was...no, these judicial sycophants and lackeys are being asked to acknowledge fundamental reality as to what happened...I wouldn’t trust anyone from this regime of liars and frauds anyway, and especially this bunch (considered for lifetime judicial appointments, as Jesse notes)...Jesse is spot-on to say that NO DEMOCRAT should support ANYONE nominated from our ruling cabal FOR ANY GODDAMN REASON!...as Jesse notes, the Capitol switchboard number (for calling your senator and telling them to vote NO on these three clowns) is 202-224-3121...



...and turning to foreign affairs, Farron Cousins gives us the real reason the Gropenfuhrer wants to invade Venezuela...mainly, because that country is sitting on about $2 trillion in minerals (Our Treasonous Orange Yam is carrying on about Greenland for the same reason...more on that shortly)...and oh yeah, let’s not forget the oil also (sorry to inflict this so soon after the holiday, but it makes total sense unfortunately...link here)...



...and this DW report lets us know that Denmark recently summoned the U.S. ambassador and told this Trumper to respect Greenland’s sovereignty, in light of #47’s appointment of Louisiana guv Jeff Landry’s as a “special envoy” to Greenland for some reason (not hard to guess that it’s all about making off with the minerals, amirite?) – curious to find out if Landry has any actual qualification for such a post, though I suspect he’s in the role because he’s a sycophant for Combover Caligula and that’s about it...and the U.S. is listed as a national security threat by Denmark for the first time (are you tired of all the winning yet?)...



...and RIP Jerry Kasenetz, who co-wrote a bunch of "bubblegum" tunes in the '60s with Jeff Katz; this was their hit from that era...



...and with this tune, I ring down the curtain on the seasonal selections for another year – hope your holiday celebrations are all you ask for.

Merry Christmas 2025

I haven’t seen any updates from The Lincoln Project to this timeless clip from 2021, but if they do that, they’ll no doubt include footage from this year’s great “No Kings” protests – for now, though, this will more than suffice...



...and once more, I give you the holiday light show that I first included here on 12/23/10...



...and this report lets us know about the Salvation Army Christmas Distribution Day in Syracuse, NY...



...and we learn in this clip that 300 military families in Hampton Roads, VA are getting help for the holiday season, not just with toys but with meals (as others have said besides me, poverty in this country is a policy choice, which is inexcusable, and especially for the men and women who serve our country)...



...and all the best of the season from me, Nat and the gang.









Update: Truth!

Wednesday Stuff

Ali Velshi lets us know here that 67% of those polled are unhappy with Don The Con’s mismanagement of the economy (I’m a bit surprised that number isn’t higher, but about 30% of this country is just stone nuts as far as yours truly is concerned)...I also honestly think that Our Treasonous Orange Meat Sack boarded the crazy train long ago and basically checked out from reality; Velshi commendably points that out here with data...the poverty line number tells a lot of the story as far as yours truly is concerned (between about $130 and $150K for a family of 4 sounds about right)...the one trend in common with all of these graphs is how fast the reflected costs have skyrocketed over the past 40-50 years...

...and Tennessee Brando discusses James Talarico in Texas doing a good job once again of pointing out the hypocrisy of how “MAGA Mike” Johnson and other wingnuts in Talarico’s state (and across the nation, really) view Christianity (to me, this is one of those issues where, if you understand the problem, you don’t need much of an explanation, but if you don’t understand it, no explanation really is possible)...and I’m glad to hear Brando mention drag shows – God almighty, just leave the damn gays and trannies alone people, OK? They’re not hurting you (sorry if I’m “preaching to the choir” on this)...very mildly NSFW/H...



...and I know I alluded to that Senate hearing with Trumpian FCC Chair Brendan Carr earlier, and here is more on that from David Shuster of Rebel HQ; Dem Senator Ben Ray Lujan tried to get Carr and the other Trumpers in that hearing to agree that the FCC was an independent agency created by Congress, but of course Carr and company wouldn’t go for that, and they changed the language on the FCC’s website that stated that the agency was independent, but that language is gone now (bending the knee to Dear Leader yet again)...I don’t know why exactly Dem Amy Klobuchar is asking Carr about the Gropenfuhrer’s particularly demented tweet after the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner; I mean, yeah, FCC oversight includes social media, I get it, but does she really think Carr is going to throw his boss under the bus?...and I know I also included the clip earlier about ICE in Minnesota shooting pepper spray when their vehicle is pelted with snowballs...



...and ho, ho, ho – it looks like a certain white bearded individual with a red suit is looking to “get his freak on” before he does the whole thing with the sleigh and reindeer and dropping off gifts for the kids and everyone else 😉...



...and we only have a handful of seasonal selections left, but I think these deserve to be included also.

Tuesday Stuff (update)

Belle of the Ranch tells us about more smoke and mirrors from the Tangerine Toddler on the economy...looks like Kevin (“Human Capital Stock”) Hassett is trying to stick Congress now with this $1776 check business, which (as we likely know) was based on funding already approved for vet housing by our federal legislature (here)...oh, but Tim Burchett thinks we should be allowed to take a tax deduction for those stinking tariffs (which likely wouldn’t be much), and when Rojo The Clown actually makes sense on the numbers, you KNOW we’re “through the looking glass”...and one of the reasons why I don’t think we’ll see a “tariff rebate” is the very reason she states here; namely, because it would be a stimulus, which would be a de facto acknowledgment that our economy is screwed...



...and Brittany Page, sitting in for Jesse Dollemore, reacts to CBS “News” under Bari Weiss deciding to pull the CECOT report from “60 Minutes”... pretty damn plain that this is the new CBS ownership putting its thumb on the scale to make sure the Gropenfuhrer doesn’t look any worse than he does already (here)...Weiss is doing exactly what David Ellison put her in place to do, and that is to trash anything whatsoever that could possibly cast Cheetoh Hitler in a negative light (oh, and isn’t it just too precious that Weiss told the people involved with the CECOT report to call Pee Wee German for approval?)...



Update: Click here if you want to view the CECOT segment.

...and Farron Cousins brings us the story of Larry Bushart, a retired cop in Perry County, TN who was jailed for 37 days over a meme pertaining to the murder of Charlie Kirk – that in and of itself is ridiculous, but the $2 million bond is the cherry on the icing of this sh*t sundae...to be fair, if law enforcement told me to take down a post or not share a meme, I would have been PO’ed but I would have complied, and Bushart didn’t do that (here)...I'm glad Bushart sued, though, because I definitely think he has a case...



...well, despite it all, it isn’t too late to get into the holiday spirit, and hopefully this will help that along...



...and just to make sure, here are more seasonal selections as we wind our way down the list.

Monday Stuff

Katy Tur of MS NOW lets us know that we now have the “Trump/Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” huh? Along with a $1 coin and a “Trump pass” to our national parks? Gee, I wonder how THAT will help Americans afford the price of food, utilities and durable goods (interview with Susan Glasser and David French...don’t know a lot about Glasser, but French is basically a “Never Trumper” brand of wingnut, though he’s right about our ruling cabal wanting to glorify Dear Leader and troll those who oppose him, and Glaser is right of course about Cantaloupe Capone trying to stick his ugly mug into every damn area of our lives)...



...and Belle of the Ranch tells us that some big names are doubting Trump’s inflation numbers, and I do also of course...#47 says the consumer price index is 2.7%, but those who know what they’re talking about say it’s closer to 3.1%...Michael Hanson at J.P. Morgan believes that the numbers from the BLS will be reversed in the coming months, and not in a good way...the shutdown played into the inability of the BLS to forecast properly, to be fair...the economist at KPMG thinks the data is off also, as well as the econ guy at Barclays...



...and this CTV report informs us of Canadians held in ICE custody, about 200 this year, which is definitely an increase over last year...question for discussion is “is it safe to travel to the U.S.,” and as far as I’m concerned, it’s beyond pathetic that that question even needs to be asked, but sadly, it does (interview with Sharry Aiken of Queen’s University)...previously, Canadians would mainly just be sent back home, but now they’re being detained in greater numbers...to be fair, apparently we’ve detained foreign individuals at a greater rate versus other countries for a little while now, but as Aiken says, we’re seeing way higher numbers than before...I hate saying this, but I cannot possibly imagine why anyone would subject themselves to traveling to this country for the time being...



...OK, now that I’ve bummed everybody out with these clips, how about if I bring back a little Christmas cheer, courtesy of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (and Nick Offerman – nice to see Our Treasonous Orange Maniac get the holiday treatment he deserves)...



...and I've got a few more seasonal selections to go as we get ready for the big day.

Saturday Stuff

Robert Reich gives us a warning about the AI bubble potentially bursting, similar to other wild speculation in the past (the dot.com bubble in the ‘90s, the housing bubble in ’08, to say nothing of the Great Depression), and this time around, it definitely isn’t a guarantee that taxpayers will be left to clean up the mess, nor should we, I wish to emphasize...didn’t know affected companies were doing trillions of dollars in deals with each other, but sadly, that fits the awful pattern also...I mean, it wouldn’t be so potentially bad if the rest of our economy were doing well, but that definitely isn’t the case (AI accounting for 92% of GDP growth? Ugh)...we also learn that 37 states have granted tax exemptions for building those wretched AI data centers, which poses a whole other nightmare as far as the environment is concerned...



...and speaking of those damn data centers, I’m going to revisit TYT with Cenk and Ana even though I said I wouldn’t because they’re covering this important story also...we learn that there currently is a conflict with Virginia farmers in conflict with AI as they try to eke out a livelihood as our economy utterly tanks (and leave it to this Dagen McDowell person on Fix Noise to tell these farmers to SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP AND GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!...and once more, Bernie Sanders is on the correct side of an issue as he is here)...didn’t know data centers could consume 10% of power usage in the whole damn country...not sure exactly why they turned to Billo The Clown and his ridiculous “war on Christmas” stuff (yeah, corporations are distracting us through their media lickspittles to get us to fight each other), but I think this would have been a better segment if they’d done a little more research on exactly how these damn data centers are destroying communities...



...and shifting gears a bit, we learned recently that wingnut eminence grise Norman Podhoretz recently shed his mortal coil and now resides somewhere in the afterlife (here)...I guess I’m supposed to think of something good to say, but I really can’t...as you watch the clip of this warmongering old fart in ’07 calling for bombing Iran (awfully generous with the blood of other people’s kids), keep in mind that, years later, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated a nuke treaty with that country (here)...as others would say about Podhoretz, rest in piss...



...and Jimmy Kimmel discusses the recent “liar side chat” with the Tangerine Toddler...we find out that Jack Smith presented his findings on Cantaloupe Capone trying to influence the 2020 election results behind a closed-door committee chaired by Gym Jordan, so OF COURSE everything was above-board (#joke)...and oh yeah, those ridiculous White House wall plaques are indeed like “Dickipedia” (and gee, wouldn’t it be nice to know how much THOSE cost)...and oh yeah, apparently because they can’t think of any other pressing business, the Repug-run U.S. Senate had a hearing with FCC chair Brendan Carr where Ted “Podcast!” Cruz could make a fool of himself yet again (well OK, I guess the hearing mattered to some degree...and good job poking fun at that “Melania” idiocy)...and nice work also by Mark Hamill to have a little fun with his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (not sure if I’ll catch the Spongebob Squarepants movie or not, to be honest)...



...and in case anybody was wondering if I was running out of seasonal stuff...well, don't worry - still a few items left :-).

Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins lets us know that economists are warning that we’re on the brink of a recession, and depending on what we know about the data (which likely is being rigged by our ruling cabal of sycophants and bottom feeders), we may in fact be in one already (and Justin Wolfers is definitely an economist I trust on this stuff)...and as far as this BS about no prices going up is concerned, let me ask you why a pound of bacon that use to cost $6 has risen by 50 percent, along with the fact that a bag of Dunkin’ Donuts ground roast coffee is now $14.99 when it used to cost about $7 (both prices at our local Giant supermarket...and once more, Ground News definitely is worth it)...

...and I guess, instead of an old man yelling at clouds, we were treated to a typically unhinged rant from Combover Caligula on Wednesday night about his supposedly wonderful economy...Jen Psaki brings the reality perspective (with Vaughn Hillyard and Catherine Rampell, who in particular really “brings the receipts”)...and oh yeah, that $1776 number supposedly appropriated by our failed steak and vodka salesman represents funds already appropriated by Congress (here), and economists believe those wretched tariffs have cost families about $1700 per year as noted...Hillyard mentions those typically ridiculous plaques at the White House for prior presidents designed to make Democrats look bad and Repugs look good, of course (once more, because there are no actual adults in this administration, except maybe for this Susie Wiles person, who I’m sure will have a book published soon)...I wondered why the hell Pumpkin Pol Pot decided to do this nonsense NOW, with Christmas around the corner (that awful speech I mean), and when Hillyard mentioned the season finale of “Survivor,” it suddenly makes sense that Cheetoh Hitler believed he would get the lion’s share of that audience, though I’m sure he didn’t...and I personally don’t think this SCOTUS will go against #47 on his tariff madness, but if they do (as someone else noted), companies are going to line up to try and recoup those costs, which will drive our economy further into recession – love to be wrong...



...and Trevor Hayes of More Perfect Union discusses the criminals who bought Cantaloupe Capone, including the three behind Bitcoin, the founder of the “dark web” (Ross Ulbricht) which trafficked in all manner of narcotics and illegal products and services, the guy behind Binance (Changpeng Zhao) who was sent to prison for money laundering and fined millions, and others (report by journalist Jacob Silverman)...report revisits $131 million in crypto used by the Gropenfuhrer for the ’24 presidential election (once more, love and kisses to the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR for Citizens United), as well as the $40 million dumped into Bernie Moreno’s U.S. Senate campaign against Sherrod Brown...oh, and it looks like Don The Con is trying to clean up with this World Liberty Financial outfit, with Steve Witkoff’s help (Emoluments clause? What emoluments clause?); if the voters in this country ever decide to hand federal congressional power to Democrats, this in particular should be investigated non-stop...it looks like Binance created some kind of a crypto-currency (a “stablecoin”) used by this WLF outfit; and oh yeah, this Saudi prince sends $2 billion to WLF to be basically laundered and sent to Binance, getting $2 bil in USD stablecoins in return – ultimately, the Emirati government gets a $2 bil share in Binance, leading to an SEC case against Binance getting dropped and those stinking NVIDIA chips going to the UAE...and oh yeah, let’s not forget Justin Sun, this Tron blockchain guy whose product is used for money laundering; Sun spent $75 mil on a WLF token and his multibillion-dollar fraud case gets thrown out by Trump’s SEC...also, there’s this ultra-shadowy group called Aqua1 Financial in China that figures into this...and just remember that some of this WLF currency went to Chinese crime gangs and the Sinaloa cartel...if your head is spinning a bit after watching this, don’t worry, because mine was too...



...well, at least we have Mr. Newberger to give our clueless, flatulent meat sack the treatment he deserves...



...and here are more seasonal tunes (and RIP Raul Malo of The Mavericks).

Thursday Stuff

David Shuster of Rebel HQ tells us about ICE agents in Minneapolis getting taunted by protestors, some of whom threw snowballs at vehicles driven by these thugs...of course, these glorified, Paul Blart rent-a-cops with weapons respond by shooting pepper spray...oh, and they also ran into a protestor with their SUV, knocked this person down and had a good laugh...if you want to see alleged tough guys who are about as tough and rugged as a box of waffles, look no further...that bulbous, flatulent orange meat sack is actually right about this country being at a “tipping point,” but definitely not in the way he pretends to imagine (and my God, the f*cking accordion hands again!!...)...



...and Ali Velshi (sitting in for Lawrence O’Donnell) reminds us that Don The Con has no plan for you if you’re facing economic hardship...sounds like nearly half of this country is sinking, trying to afford the basics and dealing with an economy that is going straight to hell in the proverbial handbasket...oh, and it looks like Repug U.S. House Rep Rob Bresnahan from our beloved commonwealth has been feathering his own filthy nest with stock trades while stating publicly that he wants to ban stock activity (sounds like Bresnahan is a case study for why people get disgusted with politicians – here)...and oh yeah, it looks like PA’s Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie and Bri-Fi (along with Mike Lawler of New York) are siding with the Dems on a discharge petition in the House to reinstate the ACA credits as noted here, not because these three have any principles, but because they know how badly their party f*cked up in letting the credits expire in the Big, Obnoxious Garbage Bill that the Tangerine Toddler signed into law (and about the vote on the discharge petition, why am I not surprised by this?)...



...meanwhile, we get a dose of reality from Dem U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern on what the lapsing of ACA credits truly means...



...and Stephen Colbert reminds us that it’s not the holidays without Melania Trump (well, maybe in hell I suppose - here)...



...and if you guessed that it's time for more seaonal selections, then treat yourself to a Starbuck's Mistletoe Latte (I mean, I'm not offering to pay for it, but enjoy it anyway).

Wednesday Stuff

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us how the elites in this country pit us against each other to rob us blind...and OF COURSE, DHS tries blaming immigrants for this country’s many ills, which is straight out of the authoritarian playbook (and kudos once more to Pramila Jayapal for speaking truth to stoo-pid)...and as far as I’m concerned, if you’ve done something to get under the skin of Matt Yglesias, you’re on the right track...I don’t know much about this Peter Schiff guy, though I believe his take on the rich and our economy is utterly wrong...the Oxfam guy makes a pretty damn compelling IMO argument for a wealth tax at long freaking last...I didn’t know that 36 percent of billionaire wealth is derived from inheritance, but that does seem to fit...and oh yeah, Leon (“I Care”) Cooperman, the hedge fund manager, really is that big of a leech, fake emotionalism notwithstanding...important to note not just how these bottom feeders basically make us recoup what they don’t pay in taxes, but also how private equity buying up rental housing has put home ownership out of reach, in particular for those in their 20s and 30s looking to get started (and veterinary care too??? No bottom for these scumwaffles)...I’m glad Figueredo found a way to work in data centers, since I think they pose a huge threat to our quality of life also...didn’t know Mark Zuckerberg drove Hawaiians off their own freaking land so he could build a pleasure palace...this clip should be viewed by (among others) all of these conservative centrist boomers in bedroom communities in Bucks County (and elsewhere) in places such as Solebury, Buckingham, Perkasie, Quakertown, etc. who are conditioned to defer to the one percent in the way Figueredo describes (NSFW/H)...



...and Kyle Kulinski comments on the shooting at Brown University, with at least 2 dead and 9 injured (looks like it’s time not to politicize gun violence again...SMDH), and also the shooting on the beach at Sydney, Australia, which was a much worse mass casualty event unfortunately (and I’ll admit that one of these things is not like the other because Australia takes the mass proliferation of guns seriously)...Kyle’s video shows gunfire in real time though no one is hit in this segment (Update: Aside from the shooters I mean), just to warn you in advance...and I also don’t know how good Destiny would be at running the FBI, but his intellect is off the charts, so whatever he DID do would be pretty well grounded in reality (and I realize I haven’t done “Do-Gooders And Dregs” posts here for 10 years, for those of you keeping score at home, but if I did, Ahmad El Ahmad would be the Do-Gooder Of The Year for his bravery here)...and I couldn’t give a sh*t about anything Candace Owens or Laura Loomer have to say, or this Riley Gaines person “chasing clout” no doubt, and that rabbi blaming Palestinians for this should STFU (NSFW/H also)...



...and this New York Times clip discusses how U.S.-Somali citizens in Minnesota are protecting themselves against ICE raids; the nurse practitioner interviewed used to be proud of carrying her US passport, but now she does so to keep from getting hauled off to some black site where God knows what will happen to her...oh, and a gentleman who served in the Army National Guard for six years and also on his town’s city council is also interviewed (another American of Somali descent)...after watching this clip, I think anyone who voted for Dementia J. Trump should be made to wear a shirt with a “T” on it for the rest of their lives, forcing them to advertise what utter numbskulls they truly are (I could also think of worse punishments, but I don’t want to get flagged for bad language)...



...and I’m in the mood to try and lighten things up a bit here...this clip from The Daily Show takes a page out of “The Shop Around The Corner,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and all of those cloying info-mercial-like Hallmark programs that proliferate this time of year (the ending is absolutely spot-on IMO...mildly NSFW/H also)...



...and here are more tunes for the season.

Tuesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen gives us Dear Orange Leader’s typical nonsense response to a reporter’s good question (for a change) about the fact that 24 million people will see their health insurance go through the roof without ACA subsidies...I honestly didn’t know that HSAs cannot legally be used to pay insurance premiums, but that figures when it comes to our utter joke of a health care system in this country (and here’s an admittedly nutty thought; if Dementia J. Trump allegedly doesn’t want insurance companies to be comped, then I guess that means he supports Medicare For All...???)...one of Cohen’s many great points is that ACA enrollees are largely in states that stoo-pidly voted for Combover Caligula, but anybody who thinks that #47 actually cares about helping the people who voted for him must also believe that Jesus wrote the Ten Commandments and rode a triceratops during the Stone Age; also, I think the “ACA death spiral” argument that Cohen mentions is very much a feature of this scam from Cheetoh Benito and not a bug...



...and correspondent Rosa Flores files the following report in this segment with Katy Tur of MS NOW on the Tyson plant closure in Lexington, Nebraska (3,200 jobs lost in a town of about 11K, and right in the middle of the holidays of course)...and by the way, I’m sure the chaotic trade nonsense from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule is in play here where it comes to the thinning cattle herd which affected this move, but I haven’t been able to track down any kind of a “cause and effect” from #47 – however, I’ll just operate under the same rules as the wingnuts who took Biden to task for the supposedly crippling inflation of 3 precent (at least what we have now) along with anything negative whatsoever that applies to our economy and blame Cheetoh Hitler anyway (here)...



...and Belle of the Ranch tells us how state senate Repugs in Indiana successfully pushed back on Cantaloupe Capone’s redistricting nonsense, with more Repugs voting against it than voting for it (and it looks like Don The Con’s threat to primary those who didn’t do his bidding didn’t land so well...c’est dommage...and oh yeah, maybe it’s not a good idea to launch “swatting” attacks in an effort to win hearts and minds, you orange numbskull; no wonder they told you to “kick rocks,” as Belle correctly puts it...”voters will remember who didn’t stand up to bad policy” indeed)...



...and I thought these were kind condolences from Seth Meyers over the horrific deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner...“We have to do everything we can to not make setting an example a lost art” indeed...



...and yep, you guessed it - time for more seasonal tunes.

Monday Stuff

John of The Damage Report tells us of Wonder Boy Jared Kushner’s (and Paramount’s) attempted hostile takeover of Warner Bros., with Don The Con pretending not to know anything (well, maybe he isn’t pretending)...John makes the GREAT point that the media double standard here is beyond ridiculous when compared with the Bidens (in terms of no follow up questions)...John is also incredibly right about the fact that all of this (even the Netflix offer) needs more goddamn oversight, but good luck with that when the ”party of Lincoln” is in charge, and he’s also on the money about needing some kind of a “truth and reconciliation” committee when these villainous cretins are no longer in charge (meaning the regime of Pumpkin Pol Pot)...



...also, Erielle Reshef on MS NOW informs us that the Gropenfuhrer's TSA wants to look at the social media history going back about 5 years for anyone arriving in this country (w/ Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, and with former Hakeem Jeffries aide Michael Hardaway also)...I apologize for including a clip of that demented orange meat sack rating about Dem U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar, but once more, I think attention must be paid on occasion to this madness...good point that the rhetoric from Our Demented Orange Toddler is driving people out of political life, which is a net negative as far as yours truly is concerned...and unfortunately, I think Spencer Cox is right (a bit) in that those people who view politics as some kind of a WWE contest need to take a look in the mirror, but I’m not hopeful that that will happen...



...and Thom Hartmann lets us know that the Senate just voted down a Dem bill to extend ACA subsidies for 3 years, along with a bill to provide $1500 to HSAs, the latter of which to me is utterly useless unless you’re already rich...oh, and the HSA increase couldn’t be used for abortions or gender affirming care because of course...I hope Thom is right about the discharge petition in the House that could extend ACA subsidies for three years, but I have no reason to be optimistic with these cretins in charge, sadly...



...and this is where I try to add a clip that is somewhat humorous, but I absolutely can’t do that today given the awful news of the horrific deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife...I’m not sure it’s possible to properly do justice to Reiner’s impact mainly as a film director, producer, and political activist – this clip barely scratches the surface on that, but I realize it was filmed when the news first broke...I’m sure more detailed commemorations will follow in the days and weeks ahead (and sympathies to family and friends of course)...



Update: Oh, OK...I guess the rule of “we must be ultra-reverential towards murdered celebrities” (which I’m basically OK with) that was more or less agreed upon after Charlie Kirk’s killing now gets sh*tcanned because Reiner was a lib...got it (here).

...and here are more seasonal numbers.

Saturday Stuff

I know I’ve mentioned this Joel Webbon character in the past, but I happened to come across this recent clip where he encourages the use of the term “faggot” (and I don’t mean a bundle of sticks, unfortunately)...I honestly try not to let this space get too crowded with wingnut prejudice, bigotry and general idiocy, but every once in awhile I think attention must be paid to these life forms (more on this guttersnipe is here)...



...and David Pakman brings us Jessica Tarlov presenting more reality for these numbskulls on “The Five”...to begin, Dana Perino asks a question that has virtually no basis in reality with all kinds of dishonest framing...”oh, Biden and inflation, Biden and inflation”; some pushback on that is here (and some truth when it comes to the Tangerine Toddler on this subject is here)...



...and Seth Meyers gives us more of a disconnect between Pumpkin Pol Pot and reality on what I guess you could call “money matters” (losing 32K jobs in November, with job losses in four of the last six months and 1.2 million since January, which is the largest number since 2020, and let me think real hard for a sec...who was president again for that??)...and oh yeah, prices have gone up by 3 percent over the year, as well as electricity, mainly because data centers are sucking up so much of it...and I’m not going to point out the utter madness of this delusional narcissist giving himself good grades on this completely wretched economy since that’s pretty much “baked in” with this guy (with the reality showing that he has only a 36 percent approval rating; actually, I’m surprised the number is even that high)...also, I would say that he needs to rethink the “I love miners” line given that he’s using his bulbous butt to sit on the Epstein files...and I guess Mr. “Human Capital Stock” Kevin Hassett wakes up in the morning, opens his eyes, climbs out of bed, stubs his toe, and blames Joe Biden, and the rest of his day from that point on is one big “blame Biden” -fest...



...and today is truly a special occasion; happy 100th birthday to the incomparable Dick Van Dyke...



...and I now present more seasonal tunes, including a number for everyone celebrating the "festival of lights" starting tomorrow.

Friday Stuff

Robert Reich asks if Our Demented Orange Toddler Has Finally Lost it (and if you have to ask, then yeah, I think you know the answer, and no, I’m not trying to make fun of someone suffering from a mental decline, but I’m only pointing out how dangerous this is given that he’s the leader of the free world already)...clip contains a lot of stuff we know about, but Reich connects the dots pretty well here IMO...



...and don’t look now, but Don The Con actually engaged in an arguably worse case of mortgage fraud than Letitia James or the Fed’s Lisa Cook did (though Cook’s case is more comparable)...see, the Gropenfuhrer tried to claim two primary residences, neither of which he seems to have lived in primarily for decades, while James rented out property she claimed as a secondary residence, according to ProPublica, doing fine work once again (as usual with Our Cretin-In-Chief, every accusation is a confession...Jesse Dollemore tells us about it)...mildly NSWF/H...



...and Belle of the Ranch comments on the GOP losing the Miami mayoral race, and also discusses the Dem winning in Georgia’s 121st state congressional district (which was a Trump-plus-12 district in the last election)...good point that the Miami mayoral impact is pretty local, but it definitely is symbolic, especially with these FIFA games upcoming to raise the city’s profile...also noteworthy IMO that the Dem mayor is a Catholic woman who ran against a Trump-supported lackey in a state where Repugs generally cruise in elections unfortunately...



...and Jimmy Kimmel brings us a wrapup on recent news items...I’m definitely the wrong person to ask about this 6-7 business...and those jump cuts of the verbal diarrhea from the Gropenfuhrer is exactly how he should be covered by every network, and online also of course...kudos to Kimmel for going right after this flatulent orange meat sack – can’t imagine the mentality of the life forms in attendance for that Bund rally in our beloved commonwealth, and hopefully I never will...absolutely love the “12 days” at the end...



...and I now present the following seasonal selections (and happy heavenly 110th for Ol' Blue Eyes).

Thursday Stuff

Farron Cousins tells us that ICE/standards from DHS Dress Up Doll Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem have been lowered, with predictable results according to the Daily Mail, with a bunch of these thugs (and actual criminals, apparently) not able to meet the physical and mental requirements...I forgot that Dubya did something similar for his Not-So -Excellent Adventure In Iraq, in terms of lowering enlistment standards for gang members and those accused of committing crimes (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us that bad behavior from Don The Con is rubbing off on people in the worst possible way...and while I’m glad to see the Somalis in Minnesota brought to justice for scamming people under the guise of COVID relief, I’m old enough to remember a gang of people with influence who abused their PPP loans and didn’t even get a slap on the wrist (here and here)...and this Cinnabon woman employee was quite rightly fired but raised $75K anyway? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I interact with people in their 20s who have openly discussed getting out of this country, and unfortunately, I don’t blame them one bit...”there really is no hate like ‘Christian’ love”; I wish I could disagree, and God bless the Walz family (incredibly NSFW/H but apropos)...



...and Alec Opperman of More Perfect Union brings us the sordid tale of foreign oligarchs who bought #47 and what they got for their money, Qatar specifically, spending a quarter of a billion dollars on lobbying and tons of dough on PR also, trying to mask their human rights abuses including deaths of migrant workers...report also tells us how Qatar bailed out Trump loyalist Steve Witkoff and his Park Lane Hotel in NYC...and gee, I must have missed the robust public debate about the Qatar Air Force base in Idaho...I actually knew about the scheme from Bronzer Beelzebub to militarily defend Qatar in the same manner as an Article V NATO violation, but I learned that from Canadian media...didn’t know that Pam Bondi was registered as an agent for Qatar, but that sure fits, along with her gutting FARA enforcement...and I guess Trumper Lee Zeldin has taken a bit of a break from wrecking the EPA to do Qatar’s bidding also, along with Crazy Eyes Kash Patel and Mike (Google Wayne DuMond) Huckabee...and I guess they had to renumber the building because “666 Fifth Avenue” was a little too “on the nose”...also, we’re reminded about the UAE dumping $2 billion into some crypto scheme linked to Witkoff, and as a result, that country got access to “hundreds of thousands” of AI chips, which our NatSec experts warned against (with the Gropenfuhrer dutifully ignoring those warnings of course)...and I realize HRC isn’t exactly innocent either, but her misdeeds are absolutely overshadowed in the extreme by our ruling cabal...



...and I know I haven’t done this in a good while, but I’m keen to present another installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 12/11/15, in which our manly man, “tough guy” POTUS flinches more than a little bit in the presence of an American Eagle...to be fair, I probably would too, but I also wouldn’t be trying to round up every immigrant in sight and I would trust people who knew what they were doing to actually manage our economy and our presence on the world stage...I know the football namesake of this cultural icon is having a tough go of it lately, but I have faith that they’ll turn it around...we’ll see...



...and here are more seasonal selections.

Wednesday Stuff

David Shuster of Rebel HQ discusses George Stephanopoulos asking this Repug U.S. senatorial asshat named Eric Schmitt about Trump’s pardon of the Honduran president responsible for flooding this country with drugs...and credit to Mrs. Scar for calling out this numbskull from Missouri (Schmitt I mean)...and oh yeah, the boat involved in the “double tap” strike from our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes wasn’t even heading to this country, as it turns out, but to Suriname instead in the opposite direction (more on that next)...and what would a Repug administration be if it wasn’t yelling about drugs on the one hand and cutting funding for overdose addiction and treatment on the other?...and let’s not forget Tom (“Militarize Our Cities” ) Cotton’s typically wrongheaded take on this (“strategic reasons”??? Oh, but it wasn’t Biden or a Dem doing it, so that makes it OK I guess...and “righteous strikes” my butt)...and I can tell those hyenas on Fix Noise are tired of getting schooled with reality by Jessica Tarlov because they’re talking over her more...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell says in this clip that, If Cheetoh Benito hasn’t called you a bad reporter, you’re not doing your job...looks like the Gropenfuhrer is flip-flopping on releasing the video of the second missile strike on that Venezuelan boat with the alleged terrorists (and kudos to ABC’s Rachel Scott for calling out this treasonous orange meat sack), and I would wear insults from this bulbous, flatulent fraud as a badge of honor...terrific analysis by O’Donnell here on why the attack on that boat, which was outright murder from where I sit, is also idiotic in truly Trumpian fashion...I’m glad the video cuts off that lying nonsense from Pumpkin Pol Pot at the end about the Repugs having no plan whatsoever about skyrocketing health care costs without ACA subsidies...



...and Farron Cousins tells us about a pending SCOTUS case on whether or not Combover Caligula can continue to wage economic war with his stinking tariffs; given the track record of our Philistines-in-robes, I’m definitely not hopeful...actually, ruling against the tariffs could be disastrous economically since it would indeed ensue a flood of litigation that might cripple our floundering economy, as Cousins notes...



...and The Daily Show with Ronny Chieng brings us up to date on the latest madness...sooo, we no longer have MLK day or Juneteenth as days to get into our national parks for free, but we DO have that for the Tangerine Toddler’s birthday?? And I knew a lot of our farmers were going bankrupt, but I didn’t know the number was 50 freaking percent! And it sounds like the “math isn’t mathing” on that aid package, since (as I recall from elementary school) $12 billion (the aid package) is less than $44 billion (the revenue farmers have lost)...and doesn’t Melania look just so thrilled to tell us her Santa story??...and we can’t forget Sean Duffy telling us about his $1 billion scheme to come up with a better airport experience, or something, including at least one pull-up bar (how about just making sure WE GET TO AND FROM OUR DESTINATIONS SAFELY, OK??!!...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and here are more seasonal tunes.

Tuesday Stuff

I admire the intent of this ad from this group, though I will only say that the ad implies that there is some degree of humanity shared by these ICE scumwads; maybe there is for one or two, but I would guess that, for the majority of them, imprisoning people against their will and shipping them off to ‘black sites” in foreign countries makes their pathetic lives worthwhile, so I’m sure they think what they’re doing is just peachy (I heard about this ad from Rachel Maddow last night)...



...and John and Jayar of The Damage Report bring us MAGA Mike Johnson lying yet again about the fact that the “party of Lincoln” doesn’t have ANY CLUE WHATSOEVER of what to do when millions face either skyrocketing health care premiums without ACA subsidies or losing health care altogether...oh, and along comes Repug Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas to (maybe?) try to save the day..?? (more on this cretin is here)...and as John says, health savings accounts aren’t going to be worth a damn thing unless you’re rich...



...and Brittany Page informs us that Amazon tops the list of companies with the most employees receiving SNAP benefits...hadn’t though of this much as a case of the feds subsiding corporate profits by providing these bennies when these malefactors refuse to pay a living wage to their employees, but sadly, that seems to fit...oh, and Walmart is in that awful mix also, which shouldn’t be surprising, along with Uber and DoorDash (data is from Massachusetts from the Boston Globe, though this awful trend exists across the country, affecting millions)...oh, and Jeff Bezos shouldn’t get a speck of credit for a charitable donation given that his employees are paid starvation wages...



...and Stephen Colbert brings us the latest stoo-pidity from you-know-who, including 47 hosting the Kennedy Center honors and installing himself as chair of the Kennedy Center board because I guess he doesn’t have enough to do with all of that “presidenting”...and I might as well ask my cat what constitutes a good song as opposed to Cheetoh Benito...Colbert gives that “FIFA Peace Prize” idiocy another well-deserved shot...



...and here are more seasonal selections.