Friday Stuff

Mike Figueredo brings us an update on Trump voters getting screwed the most by his policies...don’t have a good word for anyone who thinks that Combover Caligula is “awesome” after only a year (seems like 5 at least) of this utter madness...and in a weird way I’ll admit, I have to laugh at anyone who thinks NOW that Biden did a better job as *preznit; I guess you needed to get hit over the head metaphorically to FINALLY realize that (and Ana Kasparian definitely doesn’t have an excuse for misreading #47; for someone as ubiquitous on social media as she is, she’s supposed to be right on stuff like this)...didn’t know that far-right people overseas are turning on Pumpkin Pol Pot also, but that isn’t too surprising either...one of Figueredo’s great points is that, especially now, we have to recognize our collective humanity because our fascist ruling regime will come for EVERYONE eventually unless we keep pushing back...I know I had that clip of the CSPAN caller earlier; I have to give that man credit for his honesty, though it’s utterly tragic that it took getting to this point for him to realize how wrong he was...also, I’d like to tell Ken Griffin what he can do, but I have to watch my language here I know (NSFW/H)...



...but the big story on Action News, you might say, is Mango Mussolini getting shot down by the SCOTUS on his tariff madness...looks like Our Sweaty Orange Boy can’t inflict his stinking trade misery (at least in its present form), with our corporate SCOTUS slapping him down by a 6-3 ruling (here and here)...nice job by Belle to bring back the clip from last November as a refresher...also, It looks like the so-called “major questions doctrine” from this Court that bit former President Biden in the butt reared its ugly head again here, which is poetic justice IMO...and OF COURSE “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh, Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and Strip Search Sammy Alito dissented...I’d like to think this will be the end of those stinking tariffs, but sadly I know better, and I think you do also; he’ll find a way to try to reapply them under another statute (and Belle points out how Canada and the EU aren’t taking a victory lap on this either)...



...and Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh of Democracy Now! tell us more about The Prince Formerly Known As Andrew arrested for involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case (the actual charge is “misconduct in public office,” with Andrew alleged to have forwarded confidential information to Epstein, similarly to what Peter Mandelson is charged with, and God only knows where that info from anyone associated with Epstein ended up...probably sold to the highest bidder of despotic regimes) – in the U.K., powerful people actually face accountability for the Epstein stuff, unlike here...writer Michael Walker is interviewed...



...and I know we’ve kind of dispensed with the Stephen Colbert/James Talarico stuff, but I definitely wanted to get to Lawrence O’Donnell’s takedown of the CBS lawyers, who were wrong about the application of the equal time requirement for broadcast television – entertainment shows like Colbert’s are exempt from that rule...ABC’s lawyers are no better, as O’Donnell points out (kind of a clumsy edit at the end which is typical for MS NOW clips for some reason, cutting off Talarico almost in mid-sentence)...



...and as long as we’re discussing late night talk show hosts, I think it’s called for to give this recent commentary from Jimmy Kimmel, about Cantaloupe Capone’s immunity fantasy in the aforementioned Epstein stuff, a façade that is indeed cracking...yep, we need to be showing what it looks like when “a democracy treats a power grab as a crime rather than a brand” for sure...Kimmel gives the examples of South Korea and Brazil, two countries that held their leaders to account the way WE should have...”make immunity feel normal” from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule indeed, and yeah, Don The Con sure does treat scrutiny as persecution, doesn’t he...and with all the myriad scandals from our wretched regime, I’d actually forgotten about the DHS luxury jet controversy from Kristi (“Unsafe At Any Speed”) Noem...”government exists to reward the insiders” could definitely be a motto for the Trumpsters...



Update 2/23/26: Looks like Kimmel and ABC took down the video - oh well.

...and on the one hand, I suppose this is an example of U2 trying to remain relevant somehow, but on the other hand, props to them for adding their voice against our despotic ruling regime (and by the way, this tidy little number rocks also).

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us about China running circles around us on infrastructure, with their success powered by renewable energy, which we’re stoo-pidly retreating from...the clip of China using the mountain range for renewable technology is pretty damn stunning IMO, along with that map of high-speed rail from 2008 to 2020...I hate to say this, but it’s true; as a nation, there is MUCH MORE that they can do at scale that we can’t, and China is proving it... even Australia is now outpacing us when it comes to renewable energy and infrastructure (no disrespect to that country...NSFW/H)...



...and Corrine Straight of Really American lets us know that it looks like our neighbors to the north (on the “22 Minutes” program) are having fun lampooning the ego of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule...and Peter Baker is a notorious “both sides” corporate media hack, so he gets no kudos from me (wow, so ONLY NOW Baker is discovering #47’s relentless and completely ridiculous cult of personality BS? Gee dude, you’re a regular rocket scientist, aren’t you?)...also, I’d heard about Don the Con and the “John Miller” stuff before, FWIW (also NSFW/H)...



...and Farron Cousins brings us the story of another Repug congressman quitting, and that would be Neal Dunn of Flori-DUUUH! – Dunn apparently can’t even be bothered to serve the remainder of his term and is going to bolt from the U.S. House right now...I’m sure MAGA Mike Johnson is going to get another Repug into Dunn’s seat double quick, and if Dunn is having lingering issues from COVD, I hope he gets the help he needs, but this demonstrates just how razor thin the Repug House majority truly is...



...and Tennessee Brando tells us about Dem U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia killing it in speeches against the Gropenfuhrer...a “spiritually broken, false prophet” indeed; I’m glad to hear Ossoff use the language of scripture to make his point...personally, I think there’s a point where the world of faith ends and the world of the “here and now” begins, and I wouldn’t conflate faith with politics since I think every politician is a charlatan to one degree or another, but I wouldn’t put down someone’s deeply held faith either, as long as it isn’t used as an excuse to avoid rational decision-making... “We (should) make sure the car never goes in the ditch again” indeed, as well as forgetting about these damn lefty “purity tests” as Brando says (NSFW/H as well)...



...and this item from Mr. Newberger informs us of DHS Secretary Kristi “Dog Killer” Noem having a meltdown recently over losing her “binky” (here), with her boy toy Corey Lewandowski coming to her rescue...



...and I don’t see this guy coming to our area anytime soon, but I’ll keep a lookout and provide updates if necessary.

Wednesday Stuff

Usually I have clips from comedians or Mr. Newberger at the end, but this time I’m leading off with Stephen Colbert addressing the dustup in the matter of the James Talarico non-interview because of the latest edict from FCC chair Brendan Carr (I know the Talarico clip is online, including at YouTube, and I’m sure by now the clip has surpassed 2 million views on that platform...oh, but wingnut talk radio is exempt from Carr’s “equal time” edict – how con-vee-nient)...



...and I know I’m a little behind on this, but I wanted to include it anyway...Chris Hayes discusses Pam “Blondi” and the whole “Mexican cartel drones that were really balloons” thing, leading to halting air traffic out of El Paso for 10 days due to “national security reasons”...yep, looks like CBP got ahold of a laser and started firing it off without telling anyone, and again, at party balloons they thought were drones...in the immortal words of baseball manager Casey Stengel, “can anybody here play this game?”...



...and Rachel Maddow discusses the botched announcement of the ICE concentration camp in Merrimack, New Hampshire, with the Trump regime trying to sell construction of this facility as a “major economic investment”...yeah, and there will be positive ripple effects supposedly for the “Oklahoma” economy, as well as more dough from state sales and income taxes, neither of which are charged in New Hampshire (just say “oops” and get out)...I don’t suppose it should be surprising that NH Repug guv Kelly Ayotte is smack dab in the middle of this mess, having pled ignorance on the building of this prison camp in her state even though one of the fascists from DHS testified before Congress that, yeah, Ayotte knew, and even Dem governor Maura Healey across the Connecticut River in MA is coming out against this...Maddow speaks with NH rep Wendy Thomas of Merrimack; I guess it isn’t surprising that the Merrimack warehouse owner is a big Ayotte donor...and OF COURSE the facility is also in an area contaminated by PFAS chemicals, so there’s that also...



...and sticking with ICE, Robert Reich tells us about the corporations supporting our outlaw agency...much of the dough from the Big Beautiful Custerf*ck (as Reich points out) is going to companies in the form of government contracts for facial recognition software, bed linens at concentration camps, and on and on...I used to respect Dell for the quality of their PCs, but no more...Reich reminds us of the pressure that put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air, as well as getting Avelo Airlines to stop their deportation flights...of course, in addition to protesting as our means allows, we also need to make damn sure we vote against anyone who supports ICE this fall (basically, support the “D” team, folks)...



...and Thom Hartmann talks about how the elections this fall are a vote for democracy vs. tyranny – the political party labels don’t really tell the story...I would say that there are not 5, but 6 corrupt Repugs on the SCOTUS, but I’ll grant Thom his argument for now...I know a lot of Thom’s history of how we got to this point has been echoed here and elsewhere for awhile now, but I believe repeating that is important...Thom traces the path from democracy to oligarchy to tyranny, and yeah, it’s definitely the stuff of nightmares to contemplate where we are on that front right now (and Thom references the absurdly-named SAVE Act to restrict married women from voting, among other groups, at about 7:30)...commentary ends at about 12:30, but I LOVE the tune that follows...



...and I have to tell you that I had a NSFW/H reaction to this item (this too)...with everything going on in this country, the “party of Lincoln” is STILL preoccupied with bathroom bills, and a pox on everyone in Kansas who supports this...this tune came to mind just about immediately.

Tuesday Stuff

To begin, I give you a clip of an anti-ICE protest in Littleton, Colorado on 1/31; nice work by these fine folks protesting, and from the horns beeping as people passed by, I’m sure they have a lot of company...great words in particular from the Vietnam vet, the history teacher, the lady protesting for her granddaughter, etc...all in this clip are heroes IMO...and speaking of protest, there is also this...mildly NSFW/H...



...and speaking of BS from our DHS/ICE thugs, Jesse Dollemore informs us that the DHS dismissed a case against men who allegedly beat ICE agents with shovels...oh, and are you surprised that Fix Noise did their typical “rip n’ read” act and decided to publish the original DHS account even though it was COMPLETELY AND THOROUGHLY WRONG???!!! And for the benefit of non-legal eagles out there including yours truly, a “dismissal with prejudice” ruling means that the case cannot be brought again, with such rulings serving as a penalty for misconduct...also NSFW/H...



...and Elliott Morgan of Rebel HQ brings us the tale of a three-time Trump voter admitting he was scammed, and apparently ICE going after little kids and innocent people trying to work and live their lives, along with the recent racist meme of the Obamas, was the last straw for this guy...on the one hand, welcome to the fight, but on the other hand, what took you so damn long to wake up?? Oh, and don’t you just love Laura Ingraham trying to deflate the mess over the ape meme with her softball question to Karoline Leavitt? And by the way, there are no apes in “The Lion King”...and as you might expect, there was never an apology since this criminal gang apologizes for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...



...and RIP Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall, who built an enduring collection of legendary performances, beginning with this one (from this timeless film)...



...and there will no doubt be many tributes to the Rev. Jesse Jackson over the coming days, but I thought I would add this also (from Jackson’s “David and Goliath” speech at Tendley Baptist Church in Philly in January 1984...I can still recall tears streaming down Jackson’s face as he attended the rally at Grant Park for President-elect Obama in 2008)...



...and finally, RIP guitarist Greg Brown of Cake, who composed the band’s biggest hit.

Monday Stuff

Sam Seder of The Majority Report asks if the tariff power from Combover Caligula is slipping, since MAGA Mike Johnson recently tried to put in place a rule in the U.S. House to restrict the tariff power of the Tangerine Toddler, and 3 Repugs opposed it (but not Bri-Fi) along with every Dem and the rule failed...however, it looks like some rule change to try and get rid of the stinking Canadian tariff, because it’s “privileged,” might get a Senate vote (which Bri-Fi DID support, proving once more that he has no core convictions about anything)...yeah, “Independence Day” last April turned out to be “independence” from job creation, except for healthcare and (to some degree) AI...oh, and here comes Kevin “Human Capital Stock” Hassett to lie again about how great everything supposedly is...and yeah, China ends up an economic winner out of all of this (along with their BYD manufacturing company), and also the EU apparently...glad to hear some sanity from someone (Sam in this case) about the fact that the Gropenfuhrer is destroying the U.S. car industry by doing what he can to wreck the EV industry also...and oh yeah, when it comes to the Switzerland tariffs, I would say that they got the better of Pumpkin Pol Pot as noted here (and here comes another “Sir” story; yet another lying tell from this orange clown, along with the accordion hands once more...NSFW/H)...



...and David Pakman tells us about this Jeremy Carl person testifying before the Senate, and Carl is quite rightly questioned by Dem Senator Chris Murphy...Carl was nominated for a job in the State Department affecting global policy including with the U.N., and let’s just say his white nationalism was on display here, which is a bit of a problem considering that Carl was under oath and he really couldn’t come up with a clear-cut example of what he’s written about...this tells us more about Carl, including his claim that the Capitol rioters of Jan. 6, 2021 were treated worse than African Americans in the South during the Jim Crow era; Carl has also criticized Jewish people for wanting to “relitigate” the Holocaust, while claiming that Jews are “overrepresented” in the ranks of American billionaires (I’m sure this Carl guy has produced more guttural garbage and this is just a sampling)...”Extremist ideologies often sound confident in safe spaces” indeed...



...and Eric Gardner of More Perfect Union informs us of a scheme to keep grocery prices high...he discovers a lawsuit our government once filed against one of the largest food companies...yes, I know it’s Econ 101 that increased competition is supposed to drive down prices, but that doesn’t work when massive conglomerates don’t play by those rules...Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance discovered a couple of docs that tell a sordid tale about PepsiCo’s dominance; as you can surmise, Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan brought a case against the bottler, but the Trump FTC spiked it...when the redactions were un-redacted, it turned out that PepsiCo was colluding big time with Walmart on pricing (monitoring other sellers besides the smiley-faced bastards) and “leakage” (who was buying from non-Walmart sellers)...ultimately, all Walmart is doing is setting a “price floor” and not passing those savings onto their customers, which as we learn is in violation of the Robinson-Patman Act, and I’m sure you’ll be NOT shocked to learn that we stopped enforcing the act under The Sainted Ronnie R...I have to admit that I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that six Repug Senators told Cantaloupe Capone to actually enforce the law, which he will never do of course (aided by the fact that #47 gutted the FTC by getting rid of the two Dems w/o cause and having 1 Repug leave and not filling any of the vacancies – 5 commissioners total serve on the panel and can’t do anything unless the panel is fully staffed)...



...and Farron Cousins brings us another horrid tale of a Trumpist losing what’s left of his mind, and that would be David Nephi Johnson, the (former) Wasatch County, Utah Republican Party chair who was accused of waterboarding his own daughter for not cleaning her room to her father’s satisfaction (here), and apparently this Johnson guy did other awful stuff to his other kids, also allegedly of course...the brains of these people are broken, and I honestly don’t know what to do about that...



...and I offer the following President's Day meditation from HBO's wonderful miniseries, "John Adams," from David McCullough's amazing book...



...and this clip from the CBC brings us timely info on How to Navigate the Epstein Files by reporter Ashley Fraser...when searching with the 4 Epstein email addresses listed, that returned thousands of results apparently...report mentions search terms perhaps not commonly used, including the name of Lesley Groff who handled a lot of logistics for Epstein...important to note that merely the mention of someone’s name in the files isn’t automatically an indicator of wrongdoing...good idea for news orgs to put together their own databases to search for info more efficiently...”context is key” indeed...



...and when it comes to the person who is SUPPOSED TO BE taking the lead on bringing legal action against those associated with Epstein, I give you the following...apparently, Bondi's recent performance is going to be as meme-worthy as "Governor Bully" in the beach chair and Bernie wearing the puffy jacket and mittens...

The sharks are out for Pam Bondi. 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/z3c3a1CiFS

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) February 14, 2026

...and RIP LaMonte McLemore of The Fifth Dimension.

Friday Stuff

I guess it was only a matter of time before Pumpkin Pol Pot overturned the Obama-era rule regulating six greenhouse gases burned from oil, gas and coal that contribute to climate change (the so-called “endangerment finding” from 2009), removing emissions standards for cars, trucks and other vehicles along with reporting requirements for various affected industries (here)...oh, supposedly, Former President Hopey Changey “overstated” the risk and “underplayed the benefits of increased carbon pollution”? When it comes to the assault on climate science from our ruling regime, this may be game, set and match, tragically...hope all of you nitwits who thought Biden needed to go because of an admittedly bad debate (opening the door for our cretin-in-chief) are proud of yourselves...I realize there’s so much to say about this, how it’s a big, sloppy wet kiss from the Tangerine Toddler to his fossil fuel buds and campaign donors, how it’s a way to say “F.U.” to Obama, who #47 will apparently NEVER stop hating, how it’s a sop to voters too dumb to realize that oil and gas are on the decline as energy sources (even though we may always need them unfortunately) and coal is pretty much dead, etc...Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks with Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists...”we’re really seeing the abdication of U.S. leadership on climate” indeed, which will be yet another win for China, which is kicking our metaphorical butt when it comes to scientific and technological developments in combatting the climate crisis...as good as this segment is, I wish Goodman and Goldman had touched on the health effects of worsening climate for at-risk populations, including premature infants, immune-compromised individuals including the elderly, etc. (here)...



...and a lot of stuff I put up here features folks worthy of ridicule and I’ll admit that I try to have sarcastic fun with them because I think they deserve it, but this story is not humorous in any way...according to her boyfriend, apparently in January 2025, a man in Texas (allegedly) killed his daughter over an argument about Don The Con; the fact that she was British plays into this because, while Texas wanted to charge the father with manslaughter (with the man apparently free pending a trial date), Great Britain decided to do their own investigation, and we’ll see what comes of that...Farron Cousins discusses this awful item...



...and Kyle Kulinski lets us know that, apparently, there was a “March for Billionaires” in San Francisco last weekend according to Rupert The Pirate’s Vanity Rag...and yeah, aside even from the preposterous statement about billionaires supposedly building prosperity (spoiler alert: they build wealth for themselves and that’s about it), the fact that all of these ultra-rich guttersnipes are in the Epstein files is probably the least surprising fact you’re likely to learn about for years...it makes total sense that this idiocy started in response to the completely reasonable proposal for a 5% wealth tax in the “golden state”...I think it’s appropriate for Kyle to use 1974 as the measure of sorts for when wealth inequality started to explode for real in this country...Kyle harps on the fact that the moneyed bastards in this country keep trying to perpetuate their “divide and conquer” nonsense with LGBTQ plus individuals and immigrants as the scapegoats (among others), and nothing will ever truly change in this country until an overwhelming majority sees this for the scam that it truly is...”you can have billionaires or you can have democracy” indeed (definitely NSFW/H)...



...and Chris Hayes discusses Mush Mouth Tom Homan saying ICE is done terrorizing Minnesota, and I have at least 2 reactions: 1) I’ll believe it when I see it, and 2) What was the point, then, of all of the chaos, destruction, and murder of at least 2 people?...I totally accept Hayes’s premise that our ruling cabal of grifters and lowlifes expected to be politically rewarded, but fortunately we know what happened instead...one of Hayes’s good points is that the cost of this Trumpist carnage on an American city will indeed be impossible to calculate...didn’t realize that schools in Minnesota may lose funding because of the drop in attendance from parents afraid to send their kids to school, with attendance being the metric to determine state and federal funding...when all of the sh*t from our cretinous ruling regime gets overwhelming at times, I would recommend watching this video to find solace and inspiration...



...and Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show tells us that, if you’re looking for something uplifting from the Winter Olympics, well, maybe you need to keep looking (last I checked, we were third in the medals totals, which is fine – not going to get worked up over it one way or the other)...looks like this dude from Norway was guilty of a little TMI for the cameras and now his dating life is going to be hampered a bit, shall we say...also, this French woman skier was guilty of identify theft? Well, I heard someone say that sports reflects real life, so I guess that fits too...and oh yeah, Klepper revisits the Pam “Blondi” fiasco and the idiocy from Dementia J. Trump over the Gordie Howe Bridge (didn’t know one of #47’s donors took umbrage over the new bridge, but given the bottomless corruption of this administration, that’s not surprising...wasn’t expecting the bridge troll, but that’s OK)...



...and apparently, there’s an “ICE Out” event tomorrow in Maplewood, NJ (here)...I think this is a fitting tune for the occasion.

Thursday Stuff

(Including this pic doesn't mean I want to bring back guillotines, I hasten to note.)

Robert Reich discusses what we can do to defeat big money in our politics, taking a look at NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani...GREAT point about NYC’s public financing of elections playing a role to limit corporate money in political campaigns...30 state and local governments have some type of public financing for elections (should be nationwide, though I’m sure our wretched SCOTUS would blow that up if given the chance)...and the fact that our plutocrats in this country basically set $55 million on fire to try and stop Mamdani and failed warms my heart, to be honest...we probably would need a Constitutional amendment in this country to mandate public financing of elections, and good luck making that happen I know...



...and sticking with money matters, Rachel Maddow tells us that the Gropenfuhrer was acting defensive about the econ data before it was even released...over 108K layoffs in January of this year alone, the largest number since 2009 when we were coming out of “the great recession” from the subprime mortgage crisis, and only about 5K were hired, which is an almost microscopic number in the scheme of things, also the lowest since ’09, and open job listings are at their lowest level in five years (since COVID), and all of this data comes from private companies since the regime of Mango Mussolini is so bad with that kind of reporting...more on the Wednesday econ numbers is here (only slightly better than the numbers Maddow reported...still awful)...and I’m sure those 108K folks who lost jobs last month will be happy to hear that “don’t be a panican” nonsense...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about the small Idaho locality of Canyon County seeing 300 kids rounded up by ICE with the aid of Trumpist lackey and dead-eyed psychopath Sheriff Kieran Donahue; 5 were eventually arrested on gambling charges...so not only is this a cruel and random abuse of law enforcement, but it’s inefficient also since it didn’t generate arrests of people who actually posed a threat...and when even Mr. Katy Tur calls this out for what it is on the New And Awful CBS News Under Bari Weiss, then you KNOW we have a problem (a 14-year-old girl was zip tied...I’m old enough to recall when we would protest OTHER countries that did stuff like this...NSFW/H)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us more on the threat to society posed by our beyond incompetent HHS Secretary RFK Jr...looks like our goofball Kennedy scion now says that we can get rid of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by adapting a keto diet as noted here (huh?)...video kind of takes a turn towards criticizing Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, which I’m not opposed to in principle, but maybe a little more in-depth commentary on the harms inflicted by Bobby Brainworms would have been more germane here (and I can only imagine how far ahead of this country on infrastructure and medical care AIPAC is; light years I’m sure)...



...and Jimmy Kimmel tells us about Cantaloupe Capone winning some “coal champion” BS award (yep, just give Cheetoh Benito some gold bauble and he’s yours I suppose), and yeah, add his name to the Epstein files for sure...didn’t know that Pumpkin Pol Pot contacted the Palm Beach police and supposedly thanked them for trying to stop Epstein, but yeah, tell me again how Diaper Donnie wasn’t best buds with the guy – uh huh...and oh yeah, apparently Pam “Blondi” really outdid herself at that U.S. House hearing yesterday – I can never recall an attorney general reminding anyone at a hearing how much the DJIA has supposedly increased since a presidential administration was sworn in...”even the redactions (of the files) are racist” since some are white instead of black – good one (and I don’t know what got into Thomas Massie, and I know he’s a bedrock conservative in most ways, but he has stood tall when it comes to the Epstein files)...and Jumpin’ Judas H. Priest On A Pogo Stick, Marjorie Train Wreck Greene and Bo-Bo Boebert ARE ACTUALLY SAYING THE RIGHT THING!! Am I living in an alternate universe or something?...oh, but along comes Greg Kelly of Newsmax to remind us of the wingnut version of reality...I know I alluded to the fact that the EU is taking this Epstein criminal garbage seriously in a way that we’re not in this country (among the “R” party, anyway), and Kimmel provides more proof here (nice Brit parody about P*rnhub at the end)...



...and I liked the change of pace from this newer tune (I watch this and I miss MVY sooo bad, especially this time of year).

Wednesday Stuff

Ali Velshi of MS NOW lets us know about the DHS of our *preznit using administrative subpoenas to spy on and retaliate against dissenters, with such subpoenas generated by administrative agencies without a court order or a grand jury, based on WaPo reporting (commendable they can still report on anything of consequence after having been eviscerated by layoffs)...I honestly don’t know who “John” is in this story, but this person is a hero as far as yours truly is concerned, so OF COURSE our DHS thugs decided to go after him...and why am I not surprised that Google and Meta have received record numbers of subpoenas since the Gropenfuhrer was stoo-pidly returned to An Oval Office? Yeah, I’ll bet Tricia McLaughlin and other stooges from our regime just feel so high and mighty about rattling the metaphorical cage of a guy trying to do the right and decent thing ("John" I mean)...Velshi is joined by Joseph Menn and Melissa Murray – important background by Murray on how administrative subpoenas are SUPPOSED to be used...”the process is the punishment” indeed, meant to squash any dissent by our ruling thuggish regime...good idea from Menn to check the Electronic Frontier Foundation for guidelines on how to conduct oneself online in our current age...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report brings us the latest on kids in ICE concentration camps “distraught” and “horribly sick” due to inhumane conditions...I think I mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again; just 14 percent of those captured by our thuggish ruling regime have criminal records...we also learn that ICE is buying up warehouses across the country that they plan to convert to mega-concentration camps, including the one in Dilley, Texas (and thank God Liam Ramos is home, though God knows how long he’ll be dealing with the trauma inflicted on him)...kids (and everyone else) are being fed food contaminated with worms and mold and lousy water in these camps also, and oh yeah, there were also two confirmed cases of measles...and it should also come as no surprise that these kids are practicing self-harm and have suicidal thoughts, which may follow them for the rest of their lives (and the kids are being used by the ICE Gestapo as pawns to get their parents to abandon legal asylum claims, including the Vargas family which Figueredo discusses)...and Todd Blanche is just another monster from our ruling crew of psychopaths (and Laura Ingraham is merely another cheerleader – still another whited sepulcher)...didn’t know about Mango Mussolini’s fuel embargo against Cuba – I guess we don’t have enough reporters any more to cover stories like that since they’ve all been let go by their respective orgs (NSFW/H)...



...and Chris Hayes gives us the latest on another failed attempt at a prosecution from Judge Winebox, making her 0-6 in that department...a D.C. grand jury decided not to indict the 6 Dem lawmakers who told our active duty military that they should refuse illegal orders, which is definitely the right call by all concerned...I remember in pre-Trump days when a grand jury would return an indictment against a ham sandwich, as the expression goes (as Hayes notes, the last time there was an attempt to charge members of Congress like this, there was a case involving “the Bug Man,” and Jack Smith was ALSO involved in that, strangely enough)...with Carol Leonnig...



...and this report from the CBC (The National) tells us about Combover Caligula doing what he can to block the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge linking Ontario, Canada and Detroit, even though the U.S. didn’t pay dime one towards the bridge’s creation; it was totally financed by our neighbors to the north... unintentionally funny to hear Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens call Trump’s post “insane,” which it truly is, while also saying we shouldn’t overreact...



...and sticking with matters outside our border, Jonathan Pie lets us know that, apparently, our friends “across the pond” are getting fed up with British PM Keir Starmer in charge, with everyone from the housing minister to Peter Mandelson held up for ridicule for associating with Jeffrey Epstein...also, this Morgan McSweeney sounds like no great prize either, though I will say that it’s refreshing to see people in power in the U.K. paying a political price for associating with a known pedophile, unlike this country so far as noted here (NSFW/H also)...



...and I had a newer tune last week for Renee Good, so I think it’s only right that I have a newer selection for Alex Pretti also (it speaks volumes to yours truly that, to date, we haven’t heard a peep out of the NRA and their “good guy with a gun” line...not only was Pretti a licensed gun owner, he was licensed to carry, and the ICE Gestapo used that as an execute to execute him in the street anyway, and of course lie about it).

Tuesday Stuff

Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the typically petulant whining from our *preznit about the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show, since, as we know, he obviously doesn’t have enough to do as leader of the free world, for now anyway (full disclosure – I didn’t see the performance either because I don’t generally pay a lot of attention to the Super Bowl anyway, even last year when the Iggles were in it to be honest...maybe heretical on my part to admit that I guess)...apparently, Bad Bunny’s performance was a celebration of diversity, which is awesome IMO, partly because that puts you-know-who’s drawers in the proverbial knot as Cohen tells us...and great point by Cohen that the counter programming by TPUSA (must be nice to have so much dough that you can waste it on THAT) was so bad that even Mango Mussolini blew it off...I have to admit that those are staggering numbers from Harry Enten of CNN when it comes to #47 losing Gen Z support...hey @DNC, just imagine how much better even those numbers could be if you CRAFTED ACTUAL POLICY FOR THAT GROUP TO SUPPORT!!!...I hope that Cohen is right when he says that this country is getting tired of the hate pretty much from one side, because I have to admit that I am too and I’ve felt that way for longer than I care to admit...and congratulations to the Seahawks, by the way (NSFW/H)...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us the sorry tale of Cheetoh Hitler tanking the job market, causing econ crash indicators to intensify – terrific...the Challenger report is out for January, and it’s an economic train wreck (Challenger being a business consulting company looking at economic trends)...layoffs last month were the highest since 2009, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a 205 percent increase in ANYTHING before...and it looks like the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid from last summer (vis-a-vis the Big Beautiful Clusterf*ck) are wreaking havoc also; health care is usually a pretty reliable sector when it comes to jobs mainly because people will always be sick, but when even THAT is getting clobbered, well, it might be time “go to the mattresses,” and I don’t mean to sleep...”economic and labor force weakness” are factors, along with about 10K people a day retiring (I heard about that anecdotally, and no, I can’t back that up with evidence at the moment...sorry)...glad Shuster brings up Steven Rattner to refute today’s lies from Combover Caligula...you’d have to be a total pinhead to believe that companies will magically onshore their overseas supply chains again under the tariff threat from Pumpkin Pol Pot, but yeah, that’s what too damn many people in this country voted for in ’24...good for Rattner to mention the CHIPS Act from President Biden which did indeed spur development in this country, as opposed to what we have now...I think the minions around Dear Leader just make up those number for him to read, knowing that Dementia J. Trump will just parrot them without hesitation...



...and you know, I’m not going to get my hopes up too much because we have a long way to go until November, but I really do need to point out that there was ANOTHER off-cycle Dem electoral win in an area the Gropenfuhrer won in ’24 by double digits (here), as Belle of the Ranch tells us (sounds like we have a trend, but again, keeping my fingers crossed)...Louisiana Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez beat her Repug opponent Brad Daigle in a state legislative race; also, as you might expect, Verret Martinez was outspent big time by the Repugs, but fortunately, it didn’t matter...she focused on public education and affordability, giving those clueless election losers at the @DNC a template to follow this fall (and yes, as Belle says, this district has voted for Dems before, but the swing over to the “D” side is what’s noteworthy here IMO)...



...and John Iadarola gives us his “garbage person of the week” from Friday, and that would be this dumbass Jake Lang (another pardoned 1/6 insurrectionist as John points out) who vandalized an anti-ICE exhibit...it’s kind of the “chef’s kiss” that the sculpture Lang ruined was put up by actual veterans...good one by Brett Erlich wondering if Lang is mad at the sculpture because of what it stands for or maybe because Lang can’t read it...



...and speaking of ICE (sort of), I thought I’d present another number from Mr. Newberger dealing with ”Maniac Megyn” Kelly...



Update: More here.

...and RIP bassist Fred Smith of the band Television.

Monday Stuff

Chris Jansing of MS NOW moderates a discussion on the latest vile anti-Obama stuff from #47 that Dear Leader shared on Truth Septic (sorry I’m a little late with this)...yes it is plenty disgusting, but I thought Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels brought some important context to this latest mess, and Daniels is right to just say that this is who Don The Con truly is (oh, but it was a “staffer” that made the post...riiiight - more on that a little later), and I’m old enough to remember the Teahadist racist crap from all over the place around ’08-’09 when Obama was first elected, exemplified by the pic (pointing out that Cantaloupe Capone is a hateful bigot isn’t exactly “man bites dog” stuff unfortunately...great point by Townsend that there are no apes in “The Lion King,” so Trumpette spokes-liar Karoline Leavitt is out of her depth once again)...also, I don’t give Tim Scott credit for a damn thing since he’s done the bidding of this administration at every turn...our ruling regime is doing everything it can to embrace the basic fact that this country is racist and sexist to its core, and I see nothing whatsoever to indicate that that will ever change (and I forgot for a moment that this is happening during Black History Month; I have a problem with that concept only because contributions to this country from African Americans should be celebrated EVERY month and not just during the shortest duration month on the calendar).

(By the way, about the pic above from the Teahadist rallies against President Obama from about 16 years ago...this is a cautionary reminder that racism and sexism are baked in to Not Your Father’s Republican Party; I heard NOT ONE WORD of reprisal from ANY Repug politician for all of the unbelievably racist signs and rotten behavior during the period between Obama winning the White House and the 2010 midterm elections, when the “Kochtopus” took control of the “R” team once and for all.).

Here is the MS NOW clip...



...and Alex Witt interviews Dem U.S. House Rep Sara Jacobs on how the Tangerine Toddler and his minions are planning to mess up the fall elections in their favor (Dem U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia is pretty centrist IMO, but credit where it’s due to him for calling out the threat posed by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule)....Witt touches on the SAVE Act, which is part and parcel of the Repugs trying to scuttle voting across the country with pointless roadblocks in an effort to discourage turnout (here, including making married women provide documentation for their name change)...Witt comes perilously close to corporate media both sidesing here as far as I’m concerned, though she does ask a good question about what Dems plan to do if, God willing, they retake the House, and I thought Jacobs gave a good answer...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that Judge Winebox in D.C. has come out against the Second Amendment, which I thought was absolutely sacrosanct to wingnuts...so NOW, allegedly, Repugs are against “right to bear arms”? Not after scores of dead bodies, including congregants in synagogues, gay and trans people in a disco and kids in elementary school? Now, because of Alex Pretti?? What a vile piece of garbage that woman is (NSFW/H)...



...and Julia Pagé of CBC’s The National goes on patrol with the Black Panthers in Philly led by Paul Birdsong (the name of the group was changed as a result of some type of internal dustup with the chapter’s founder)...I have no reason to believe that the Panthers have started or will start anything; at this time, I’ll take them at their word that they’re all about self-defense, especially with ICE running amok on the orders of Dog Killer Noem and Pee Wee German...I’m presenting this clip for its newsworthiness more than anything else (maybe as a counterpart to the first clip)...I have to admit that I didn’t know that open carry was legal in most places in Philly (also NSFW/H)...



...and I thought this was a timely selection from Mr. Newberger (somewhat NSFW/H as well)...



...and The Doors released Morrison Hotel on this day in 1970, featuring this tune (the location the cover was based on burned to the ground sadly in December of '24).

Friday Stuff

Farron Cousins informs us that there was a recent U.S. Senate hearing about Netflix potentially merging with Warner Brothers-Discovery and whether or not that merger violates antitrust laws, but instead of focusing on the applicable statute, Senate Repugs beat up Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos about gays and trannies in that network’s programming, including Running Man Josh Hawley who said such shows violate his personal beliefs, or something...as Cousins says, nobody is putting a gun at Hawley’s head and TELLING him to watch Netflix content; just unsubscribe or turn off the damn TV if Hawley wants to exercise parental control, which is his right...didn’t know that the highest ratings for transgender adult films are in red states and that the Grindr app is such a big deal in those locations also, but that figures in a twisted way I’ll admit (twisted in terms of the hypocrisy I mean...mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us that ICE has imprisoned 70K people in 225 detention centers housing people not convicted of a criminal offense (immigration violations real or imagined are civil, not criminal)...this basically makes these centers “concentration camps” according to Merriam Webster...didn’t know the death count in ICE’s concentration camps was up to 35 (and good point about Hitler’s camps outside of Germany, similar to the fact that CECOT for our ruling regime is in El Salvador)...and OF COURSE private prison companies (benefactors primarily of Repugs – don’t know if any Dems take their dirty money) are having a heyday right now...



...and Chris Hayes reminds us that Mango Mussolini is reassembling the crew from ’20 to try and mess with ’26 elections...yeah Bronzer Boy, you’re damn right your sorry ass is going to get impeached again if Dems take control of Congress, and this time you’ll be convicted...Hayes revisits Dem Taylor Rehmet’s win in Texas (a state senate seat in a district #47 won in ’24 by 17 points)...I disagree with Hayes’s statement that Dems do better in low-turnout elections; the data doesn’t back that up...and yes, the ridiculous gerrymandering was Plan A, and Plan B is to just outright try and take over the elections, with the dirty work being done by all of these disgusting life forms like Roger Stone who were involved in the attempted coup (once again, love and kisses to Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland for dragging his feet so atrociously and not getting convictions for all of these guttersnipes – for all the good Biden did, getting played by Israel was his biggest mistake IMO, but putting Garland where he did was #2 on that list)...I realize Hayes has to include a clip of Pumpkin Pol Pot lying about elections once again, but that doesn’t make it any less vile...so OF COURSE Repugs rush out a bill in Congress to give Cantaloupe Capone what he wants, with restrictions on voting by mail and voting registration drives and mandating voter ID, with the latter being a “solution” in search of a problem...and MAGA Mike Johnson should just STFU and go watch p*rn with his son...also, Pam “Blondi” is trying to blackmail states into giving up sensitive voting data with the promise of removing ICE from their streets...when we have the equivalent of Nuremberg trials for these disgusting Trumpist life forms, I’m going to watch every minute of every proceeding if I can...

...and turning to global matters, this report from the German news service DW tells us that Our Cretinous Ruling Regime angered Denmark again by removing Danish flags at the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen that were there to honor that country’s soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and the 44 flags were replaced by scores more, to the Danes’ credit (more utterly pointless and stoo-pid confrontational BS from our thuggish criminals in charge, with the net result being that the kingdom of Denmark will align itself more closely with the EU and against the Gropenfuhrer...report by Jakob Illeborg)...



...and Stephen Colbert of The Late Show brings us up to date on the latest nonsense from our D.C. ruling regime...boy, would I like to see the National Prayer Breakfast relegated to the political dustbin, and to be fair, politicos of both parties have attended...and of course, we’re treated to another “sir” story from Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, giving us insight into the meanderings in #47’s increasingly foggy noggin...I almost spit out my coffee watching the Paula White-whatever her name is clip with the livestock...and “speaking of Minneapolis, what did you learn?” Gee, on the scale of softball questions to the Tangerine Toddler from one to infinity, I’d give that a grade of about an Armageddon and a half...and one day, after Mango Mussolini is LONG GONE, I expect to still have nightmares about those damn accordion hands!...oh, and he named a new weapon we used in Venezuela, huh? The “discombobulator”? I’m surprised he didn’t call it the Trump doohickey and then try to fundraise off of it...and Jeffrey Epstein is the LAST person I would take a muffin from, but we are where we are (and speaking only for myself, I won’t miss Pizza Hut – anything that helps local vendors as opposed to the chains is fine with me)...



...and RIP Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night – his life was kind of a riches to rags and back-to-riches-sort-of story...he was responsible for the soaring vocals on all of the band’s biggest hits, including this one.

Thursday Stuff

Jen Psaki tells us about Mango Mussolini plummeting to new depths in the polls...and oh yeah, he casually says that “something else needs to happen” if the votes this fall don’t turn out the way he wants, including hinting at some kind of a federal takeover of state elections (gee, I remember when the Repugs were the party that supposedly hated “big gumint”...how the proverbial worm has turned)...and yeah, Bronzer Beelzebub is polling in the 30s on every issue that matters (according to Quinnipiac), which is bad news for him and his gang regardless of how he cuts it...and good point by Psaki about the Gropenfuhrer doing all he can to cut off reliable information about what exactly it is that he and his bunch are up to... and I’m sorry about the WaPo layoffs, which were cruel and ridiculous, especially considering Jeff Bezos’s beyond-obscene wealth; as someone who has gone through that, I can tell you that, when companies do that and tell you some BS about trying to maximize profitability and/or the ”bottom line,” that’s pretty much a lie...if it’s a public company, it’s probably because the almighty share price has lost a few cents, and that also happens to settle scores at both private and public companies, which is what layoffs are about more than anything else as far as I’m concerned...



...and as far as Chris Hayes is concerned, he’s never dealt with a federal agency lying so consistently and aggressively as DHS/ICE...it’s all I can do to listen to these blatant untruths from dog killer Kristi Noem and Baby Goebbels and NOT vomit in my mouth...I wasn’t familiar with the case of Marimar Martinez (getting shot multiple times by DHS with the agent bragging about it online of course), but that’s part of this utterly despicable track record from this bunch too I know...Hayes also revisits that beyond depraved ICE raid of that Chicago apartment building in the middle of the night where people were forced to stand outside in freezing cold, including kids, all to supposedly hunt down Tren de Aragua members, which was still another falsehood (and the report finishes with the fabricator-in-chief, who for my money barely knows the world is going on around him)...



...and Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report tells us about ICE agents’ families saying they’re “low IQ” and “racist” losers...yep, some of these subreddit posts do indeed tell a sorry story...I thought the one example of the guy who got radicalized in favor of the ICE Gestapo during the COVID lockdown was a bit of a cautionary tale...”you don’t get to commit terrorism because you are impoverished” indeed...the sister of someone who tried to join ICE but wasn’t allowed because she was “too empathetic” is another black mark against that wretched outfit as far as yours truly is concerned...I don’t think the gang running our federal government has much of a clue about anything, but I DO believe they’re cratering our economy partly to gin up enlistment in ICE and the military, which other Repugs administrations have done to be fair (and I’ll remind us of another pretty infamous one shortly)...also, it looks like Cantaloupe Capone is treating ICE agents the same way he treats Mar-a-Lago contractors, meaning that they’re not getting paid or entitled to bennies either – LOL (NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen informs us that James Comer of Kentucky and his Oversight Committee just set a precedent for having U.S. presidents testify before Congress that will be used eventually against Don The Con when the time comes (with both Clintons for some reason called to testify about Jeffrey Epstein...I mean, yeah, maybe there’s some feeble reason for #42 to do that, but HRC also? GMAFB!)...and good job by Cohen to remind us that that death eater also from Kentucky Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao (what the $#@! is wrong with voters in that commonwealth??!!) created some bogus SCOTUS confirmation guideline for Merrick Garland that he immediately trashed for Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett...



...and Jordan Klepper spoke to all kinds of vacuous Trumpist cognoscenti about what they expect to get out of the experience of this celluloid piffle about Melania Trump...kind of an instructive look at the miscreants who are really cheering on this administration of borderline (and actual, IMO) criminals...definitely a richer bunch than you would think and not even remotely “populist”...

...and when I referred to a pretty infamous Repug administration above (pertaining to the Figueredo clip), this is what I meant, meaning the reign of Dubya and “Deadeye Dick”...today is the 23rd anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. about Iraq’s alleged WMDs where (as pictured) he showed the vial supposedly full of anthrax, though in actuality it contained sand I believe...while our 43rd president is able to wind down his days painting his watercolors of all of the members of our military whose lives he helped ruin (while members of his administration slowly die off), he should be ever mindful of dragging down the reputation of others including Powell, who served our country with distinction...given all of that, I think this tune is appropriate.



Update 2/17/26: And when it comes to Powell’s former boss, I offer this (and the fact that the completely-called-for-IMO withering criticism of #43 is coming from Jonathan Last is kind of shocking, but credit where it’s due).

Wednesday Stuff

Oh well, it looks like our glorious commonwealth of “Pennsyltucky” found a way to plummet to new depths in Hanover, York County, with some troglodytes proclaiming “this is a MAGA town” after allegedly beating a woman over her ethnicity (African American and Puerto Rican combined)...reporter Andrew Klein asks folks in Hanover if that’s true, and he gets a decidedly mixed response fortunately...I would like to know what charges exactly will be brought against the suspects (if that has been decided yet, including anything related to civil rights), and whether or not the victim is still receiving medical attention or if she’s been treated and released (I’d also like to know the name of the club where this happened, though the owners likely don’t want the name of their establishment in this story; I can’t blame them for feeling that way, but I think that should have been noted in the report also...the suspects should have been named if police released that information, and it's possible that they haven't I know)...



...and Rachel Maddow reminds us that “keeping the pressure on...is never more important than when they’re wobbling” (indeed)...Kristi Noem sez her DHS thugs will start wearing body cameras – actually, they need to GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR CITIES!!!...and c’est dommage that “Eagle Eye” Ed Martin just had the metaphorical legs cut out from under him and his “weaponization” team at DOJ...oh, and Our Treasonous Orange Pustule sez the “R” party should “take over” voting in the elections this fall – tell me how THAT isn’t impeachable all by itself? Oh, and don’t look now, but 8 more federal prosecutors in Minnesota just walked rather than bend to the will of Combover Caligula...also, good for Harvard for telling #47 to pound sand with his extortion demand...



...and David Shuster of Rebel HQ brings us this clip of Joe Scar commendably losing it in response to our ICE criminals CONTINUING to approach innocent civilians with guns drawn, recorded for posterity on someone’s phone...this took place about 35 miles from Minneapolis, near St. Peter, and the woman recording the video was following these ICE mongrels, which is COMPLETELY NOT ILLEGAL IN ANY WAY (recording, I mean)...and I really give Dem U.S. Senator Chris Murphy credit for going on that trash “news” network and trying to talk some reality to those journalistic frauds on this...oh, and contrary to prior reports, it looks like “Melania” was a box office flop – color me NOT shocked (slightly NSFW/H)...



...well, at least Dem U.S. House Rep Jim McDermott realizes that the regime of Our Treasonous Orange Pustule is truly demented, particularly when it comes to “ICE Barbie” and her criminal garbage...



...and Seth Meyers gives us “A Closer Look” on the latest nonsense from Cantaloupe Capone...despite the fact that it’s a piece of celluloid crap, it looks like the “Melania” doc grossed $7 million last weekend, likely from the MAGA die-hards and probably nobody else (and how stoo-pid is Jeff Bezos for forking over $40 million for it)...and oh yeah, director Brett Ratner (emphasis on “rat”) looks like he’s buds with Jeffrey Epstein also...and I knew about the crypto scam with the Saudis and giving them NVIDIA chips in return, disgusting as that is...oh, and our family of grifters is suing the IRS for unauthorized tax information disclosure? The phrase “unauthorized disclosure” is rich coming from a bunch that allowed “Phony Stark” (hat tip to Atrios for that) and his DOGE incels to ransack the Social Security Administration and do God-only-knows-what with our sensitive personal data (and #47 files another nuisance lawsuit like this while raking in UAE dough to boot)...and listen, I’m definitely not the “sharpest knife in the drawer” on this stuff, but EVEN I knew that “Tokyo Rose” Gabbard was a fraud from the word “go,” so don’t expect me to act surprised that she’s doing the dirty work for Don The Con with the voting stuff in Fulton County, GA...and nice work to catch that tweet from Couch Boy about 4 ½ years ago over his now-boss and Jeffrey Epstein...great finish by Seth here...



...and given that part of this post has to do with ICE and its vermin masquerading as law enforcement, I think this tune is timely.



Update: In a related story, the absence of anyone from the “party of Lincoln” in this hearing speaks volumes as far as yours truly is concerned.