Friday Stuff

I’m going to ask that you take a bit of a trip down memory lane with me...it’s now December 2020, and both Dem U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock won their special elections in Georgia, giving Senate control to the Democrats. After that, we were treated to years of the antics of now-departed Dem Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (and yes, I know Sinema became an independent at the end), and their biggest priority was the preservation of the God-almighty filibuster, meaning that 60 votes were needed for passage for any bill not going through the reconciliation process (here). Around that time, I said something along the lines of “if the Dems ever lose the Senate, the Repugs will sh*tcan the filibuster, and our corporate media, aside from coming down with a case of the vapors if Dems did that, will just act like it’s another day with a “y” in it since it was done by the "R" party.”

Well, with that in mind, I give you this.

Now, to get to the videos...Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about U.S. House Repugs taking a victory lap over passing the Gropenfuhrer’s “Big, Beautiful Act” (it is called literally that in the Congressional record, BTW) in the dead of night, despite what that idiot from Missouri says...and by the way, this monstrosity blows up Medicaid and Medicare and steals from SNAP for kids, among its myriad other faults...oh, but it includes funding for crypto (which benefits criminals more than anyone else) and a tax break for gun silencers, believe it or not (NSFW/H)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about United Healthcare managers reportedly pressing nurse practitioners to change resuscitation orders of Medicare Advantage patients to DNR (as in “do not resuscitate”) to pad bonuses to nursing homes for refusing care...gee, I’m old enough to remember a certain half-term governor of Alaska screeching about “death panels” during the whole runup to passing the ACA; wonder what Caribou Barbie has to say about this? (reported by The Guardian)...and oh yeah, U.S. taxpayers were apparently overbilled for M.A. plans by $185 billion as Thom says...again, what Luigi Mangione did (allegedly!) was wrong, but I understand why he did it...



...and I know I’m a little behind on the news cycle on this, but I didn’t want to overlook it...Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss kids’ TV host Miss Rachel expressing support for children in Gaza, and earning wingnut wrath as a result of course, from “Canary Mission” and similar assclowns (Miss Rachel is interviewed by Mehdi Hasan on his Zeteo program)...they start B.S.-ing around 3:20, but that’s OK; didn’t know Emma had a connection to Lehigh Valley...



...and John Oliver had a recent segment on Cantaloupe Capone and the media...aside from the typical toddler tirades from our *preznit, the clip also looks at Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong of the LA Times letting #47 have his way with them...in addition to the toadies and sycophants now taking up space in the White House press room (including the woman posing as a reporter who is “overwhelmed by how well everything is going”), we also hear FCC head Brendan Carr saying straight up that he’s going to be a mouthpiece for Our Ochre Abomination, period full stop, along with the fact that this garbage administration plans to hold up media mergers and acquisitions for any network that’s not Fix Noise...I knew Pumpkin Pol Pot’s hissy fit with CBS was nonsense (more here), but the segment does a good job of pointing that out (particularly concerning #47’s typically ridiculous tirade against “60 Minutes” over the Kamala Harris interview), as well as the double standard when Bronzer Beelzebub is asked about Jeffrey Epstein...and I hadn’t paid much attention to Shari Redstone either, but it looks like she deserves her own concentric circle of hell as well...kudos to Oliver for looking at the ridiculous fights the FCC is picking with local news outlets also (NSFW/H)...



...and once again, The Lincoln Project makes a clip that those squeamish election losers at the @DNC refuse to make themselves (i.e., standing up to Bully #47, a lying, bitter old man who wants power and financial reward for himself and absolutely nothing for anyone else)...



...and here is a recent tune to get the holiday weekend going; for the record, I ask myself this question not quite every day, but close.

Thursday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us that it looks like King Elon was tinkering with Grok on Nazi Xitter to promote “white genocide” in South Africa, and oh yeah, Holocaust denial too...pardon me while I retch; I know there are folks out there happy about Musk’s apparently diminished role in this utter cluster of a White House, but as far as I’m concerned, Elmo has already gotten the government contracts he wanted (here), which he should lose at a minimum...and oh yeah, there is also this (NSFW/H)...



...and oh, would you look at this...as I noted Tuesday, ”Pam Blondi” removes the oversight role DOJ played against bringing politically motivated prosecutions, so guess what comes next? Yep, a politically motivated prosecution (from NJ Trump attorney Alina Habba) against Dem U.S. House Rep LaMonica McIver for trying to conduct oversight into an ICE detention facility in Newark...Rachel Maddow tells us more...



...and I realize I’m late on some stuff (sorry), and this is one of those stories...Jesse Dollemore has a clip of shrieking harpie Maria Bartiromo setting up Kash Patel and Dan Bongino with one hell of a softball interview to make it look like the FBI falsified records related to the insurrection on 1/6/21...as Jesse says, first their story was “oh, it was basically a right-wing ‘love-in’ more or less for Dear Leader Trump,” but now the story is, “it was really the fastest National Guard mobilization since WWII” – totally lost in their own BS (it’s a miracle if we still have ANY dedicated law enforcement professionals working for the FBI at all by now, assuming anyone skilled in that agency hasn’t quit out of utter disgust)...and Bongo wants us to know the difference between “agents” and “assets,” huh? I think Jesse goes a little far criticizing Bongo’s appearance; the latter’s brainless behavior is plainly evident, and I think we can leave it at that, and when it comes to the National Guard response on that awful day, I give you this, and also, there is this (NSFW/H also)...



...also, RIP Gerry Connolly, going off here about five years ago over #47’s botched handling of the COVID pandemic, including dismantling the global biodefense desk at the NSC...yes, the gerontocracy of the Democratic “leadership” betrayed us, Nancy Pelosi in particular, in subverting AOC’s bid to be ranking Dem member on the Oversight Committee, but wrong as that was, it doesn’t detract from Connolly’s years of solid work in the House IMO...and one more thing: just as a reminder, the latest stats on COVID in this country are here (somehow that “15 and shrinking” number ended up at about 1.2 million...that by itself should have been enough to defeat Our Treasonous Orange Pustule last year)...



...and when it comes to our beyond useless corporate media, I give Jon Stewart credit for going after Jake Tapper and CNN for pretty much getting in our face about promoting Tapper’s book...yep, the word “but” sure is working overtime here indeed, and I’m also old enough to recall a time when news people ACTUALLY REPORTED NEWS IN REAL TIME...I mean, there are a lot of worse practitioners when it comes to withholding important info for their books besides Tapper to be sure (e.g., Woodward and Maggot Haberman), but that doesn’t mean Tapper should follow their lead either (and I’ve heard Trey Gowdy called a lot of stuff, and all deserved, but “a nodule on my prostate” is a new one I’ll admit)...oh, and I wish “the usual suspects” would please stop tripping over themselves to congratulate Our Ochre Abomination for showing A SLIVER OF HUMANITY in response to Biden’s cancer diagnosis (also, “stage 9 cancer” isn’t actually a thing...and great point by Stewart that their hyperbole is the indictment when it comes to covering up)...



...and today would have been the 95th birthday of British jazz man Kenny Ball, who hit it big with this number back in 1961...I’m just in the mood for a change of pace, that’s all.

Wednesday Stuff (update)

Farron Cousins tells us that, apparently, Our Treasonous Orange Pustule doesn’t have any actual trade details...surprised?...and oh yeah, there was the recent hissy fit with Wal-of-China-Mart for posting price increases due to these beyond insane tariffs...and 50 tariff agreements in 120 days? #47 needs to undergo a mental competency hearing viewed by everyone in this country...



...and sticking with financial stuff, Lawrence O’Donnell informs us that the “big, beautiful” budget bill is creating a “suicide pact” with U.S. House Republicans...yep, it tells you something that Our Ochre Abomination actually went to Capitol Hill to try and strong-arm the weaklings in his party to go along with this monstrous piece of legislation, which, as O’Donnell points out, could gut Medicaid and destroy health insurance for 13 million people...glad to see O’Donnell hold that execrable Chip Roy’s feet to the fire, though you could also do that for a hell of a lot of other House Repugs...Lawrence generally treats our Beltway courtier media the way they should be treated (particularly in dealing with Bronzer Beelzebub), and that’s with contempt, and he does so again here...also, good for O’Donnell to point out the importance of deducting state and local taxes on homes, which doesn’t just apply to the “one percent,” I’ll tell you right now; typical for our shyster cheap con artist of a *preznit to say he’d fix this mess he created last year, but now – oopsie! – it looks like he won’t fix it after all, as per usual...



Update 5/22/25: Every Republican who voted for this has blood on his or her hands, including Bri-Fi (here and here); to do something about it, click here.

...and RIP George Wendt...not much to say about him except for his portrayal of Norm on “Cheers” of course; what follows is a montage of his best entrances (didn't know Wendt was the uncle of Jason Sudeikis...learn something new every day)...



...oh, and Michael Ledeen also died (mentioned at about 12:44 in the clip below about the Iran-Contra fiasco...Ledeen, among his other misdeeds, was allegedly an intermediary for this guy as noted in the video)...



...and speaking of right-wing scumbags, I think that’s an appropriate lead-in to this latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” from 5/21/11...with all of the “flood the zone” Trumpian insanity raging, it kind of got lost in the news a bit that Charles Koch emerged from his crypt a few weeks ago to lament the direction the country was heading (here)...ummmm, YOU and your late brother had A HELL OF A LOT TO DO with making sure this country does as little as possible for the “99 percent” while also seeing to it that you and your rich pals ABSOLUTELY SKATED over the rest of us...well, with that in mind, I offer the following from 14 years ago...



...and this tune was released on this day in 1970...apologies for neglecting to note the 55th anniversary of Kent State on 5/4.

Tuesday Stuff

Chris Hayes lets us know that the High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR is looking at a case involving birthright citizenship; the 14th Amendment is pretty damn clear on that...interesting segment IMO with the Trumpist lawyer and the SCOTUS justices in oral argument...yep, as Hayes says, the lower courts keep telling the Gropenfuhrer that he’s full of BS on this one, so #47 scrambles to the High Court for relief because he thinks the 3 justices he got confirmed last time will give him what he wants...as far as I’m concerned, what’s driving this, as usual, is spite over an Obama-era policy, this one having to do with DACA and providing temporary deferred status to immigrants...Hayes speaks with Jamal Greene of the Biden Administration, a Constitutional law scholar, and Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (and I think Wiley in particular is correct that this is another way that the Trumpists want to pretty much “slice and dice” who they think deserves citizenship and who doesn’t...of course, even when the wingnuts lose in the courts, they still look for openings in rulings to find ways to refile suits later; God knows they have enough $$ to do it - more here)...



...and speaking of the High Court, it looks like “Torture Yoo” (who used to be a clerk for Almost Silent Clarence Thomas) thinks #47 threatening to suspend habeas corpus is impeachable...Brian Tyler Cohen tells us more (and BTW, the folks working for SCOTUS justices wield a lot of clout, frequently doing a bunch of research for members of “the nine” to support their rulings)...and good point that “Baby Goebbels” isn’t a lawyer...really important history lesson from Marc Elias going back to the country’s founding (and just a reminder, based also on yesterday’s clip with Repug Senator John Barrasso, that suspending habeas corpus is a legislative branch function, not an executive branch function)...



..and Francis Maxwell of the Meidas Touch Network discusses that typically weird Trump press briefing where Combover Caligula discusses Vlad The Butcher liking Melania better than him I guess (probably not a joke), while rural state Americans deal with massive losses as a result of tornadoes – this is also mixed in with clips featuring Dem U.S. House Rep Dan Goldman in particular pointing out that FEMA isn’t asking for more money for disaster preparedness, particularly with the onset of hurricane season coming up, though there always seems to be enough dough to pay for the Gropenfuhrer’s golf outings...video also does a great “compare and contrast” between this regime and the administration of President Biden and how #46 handled disasters such as the recent tornadoes in the Midwest...



...and I give you the following with this item in mind (NSFW/H)...



...and Rachel Maddow asks what are the sources of the protests against Pumpkin Pol Pot; there are probably a million reasons, many of which she lists here, including effectively legalizing machine guns...the dystopian nightmare truly never ends...



...and after all of the rain in these parts, it’s a welcome respite to enjoy the nicer weather, and I think this newer tune is good for lifting our spirits up also.

Monday Stuff

To begin, best wishes to former President Biden in his cancer battle (here). It sounds like he’s looking at a tough fight, and we’ll send thoughts and prayers for real on his behalf.

And leave it to Uday Jr. to keep it classy as usual (Jill Biden received her doctorate in education, something at least one of #47’s failsons obviously knows nothing about)....

Update 1: No bottom too low for the wingnuts...and by the way, I refuse to give credit to Bronzer Beelzebub for actually striking a note of human decency for a change (here).

Next, David Pakman brings us the story of the utterly pathetic Repug U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming completely bailing THREE SEPARATE TIMES when he’s asked by Kristen Welker if he would vote to let Cantaloupe Capone suspend habeas corpus; as Pakman points out, Barrasso is basically saying that he’s going to give up on the whole “advice and consent” thing even though that’s part and parcel of what “the world’s greatest deliberative body” (spare me) is supposed to be doing...



...and turning to the other chamber in which the voters of this country stoo-pidly gave control to the “party of Lincoln,” John and Brett Erlich of The Damage Report tell us about the House threatening to gut Medicaid to hand off still more tax cuts to the “one percent” from that “big, beautiful bill” that so far has gone down in flames...good point by Brett about the “forced narrative” over all these years about the Dems only being elitists; I know I’m a broken record on this, but when you don’t constantly sell your good work to people, they forget and fall easy prey to Repug messaging BS...



Update 2: Apparently their terrible bill passed out of a House committee in the dead of night - typical for a bunch of thieves (here).

...and Tennessee Brando brings us the utterly awful story of the brain-dead Georgia woman kept alive for incubating her fetus...1) what kind of quality of life is this kid going to have assuming he’s born at 32 weeks under these circumstances? and 2) Georgia is apparently going to make the family of this woman pay the cost for keeping her technically alive despite the fact that she’s effectively brain dead, and if that’s so, the family should sue the state for millions in compensatory and punitive damages...I know I’ve said in the past that we’re turning into a third world nation on issues like this, but when it comes to abortion and women’s healthcare, we’re WORSE than a third-world nation (here)...



...oh, so what are Trumpist lunatics doing instead of ensuring women’s bodily autonomy and providing the highest level of health care available? Why, they’re proposing $5K “baby bonuses” (and wingnuts are surprised that women are telling them what they can do with that? Figures)...Cousins is typically spot-on about the costs of raising a child in our end stage capitalist economy, to say nothing of the fact that our ruling regime does everything in their power to make childbirth as dangerous as possible...



...and one of the Trumpist nuts out there telling women to have kids is VP “Hillbilly Elegy,” who apparently got to meet Pope Leo anyway...the Pontiff better get a full physical right away (trying to work in some humor again to keep our sanity)...



...and I know I’m a little later here, but RIP Joe Louis Walker.

Friday Stuff

Xanderhal brings us the story of Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence trying to stage a birthday parade with about 6,600 or 7,000 soldiers, and that depends on the estimate, as well as all kinds of armaments, probably including tanks, missile launchers, etc., ”the most dictator-y thing ever” indeed...good point about how the parade in France is for the storming of the Bastille, and Bronzer Boy definitely doesn’t get that history I know (and wouldn’t appreciate it even if he did)...I didn’t notice how the red hat is a tipoff to Trump maintaining that he still won the election in ’20...and I’ll make a note in case Combover Caligula does indeed start talking about a “fourth term,” and if that happens I’ll give Xan credit for it...as I watched this clip, I found it impossible to NOT think of the parade at the end of “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (NSFW/H)...



Update 5/18/25: Good one by Jack Ohman here.

...and speaking of graft to benefit Dear Orange Leader (were we?), Thom Hartmann informs us of a Chinese company on TikTok with no revenue that just bragged about paying off Bronzer Beelzebub, claiming they were going to spend about $300 mil on “Dollar Trump” coins, which I believe is a “meme” coin, though I admit that I’m not an expert on this stuff...and OF COURSE, that beyond ridiculous tariff on China magically drops from 145 percent to 30 percent...didn’t we used to fight wars with countries over extortion like this?...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report inform us that Our Ochre Abomination just removed temporary protected status for Afghanistan refugees (people who risked their lives to help us during that forever war)...remember that this August when Repugs start screeching again about the anniversary of Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in which 13 of our service people died (Trump basically tied Biden’s hands on the deal as noted here)...oh, but let’s give protected status to white South African farmers who are supposedly being persecuted and having their land taken from them (I know you’ll be absolutely shocked to hear that Pumpkin Pol Pot is LYING ONCE AGAIN – the reality perspective is here)...



...and I realize I’m a little behind on this, but I didn’t want to let it slip by...Kyle Kulinski tells us about “Bobby Brainworms” swimming in toxic sewage with his grand kids in Rock Creek in D.C. (I hope to God those kids don’t develop tumors later, but if that happens, remember this idiocy)..a minor point I know, but who the $#@! would name their kids Bobcat, Kick and Cassius? And I have to admit that I’ve never heard of “methylene blue”...also, good point about the anti-vaxxers taking other drug treatments that they’re apparently OK with...just a tad bit inconsistent on that one...and in a related story, kudos to Dem U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks for this (NSFW/H also)...



...and I thought this was a particularly good segment from John Oliver on the Alliance Defending Freedom...and why should we be surprised that a charter school in Oklahoma wants to teach religion and take public dough...and gee, you’d think the ADF and their fellow travelers would be taking a victory lap over Dobbs, but out of nowhere comes this spokesperson off-camera saying that, no, we’re not allowed to comment...what cowards (but “winsome” cowards for sure)...and I think “Christian love, Christian love, kill, kill, kill” is the best way to sum up these whited sepulchers of the ADF...and this clip tells me how the phrase “the homosexual agenda” originated, which I always wondered about, actually (cue the eye roll...)...didn’t know there were links from the ADF to “MAGA Mike” Johnson and Amy Coney Island Baby Barrett, but it fits the profile...and Kristen Waggoner is just Anita Bryant 2.0 without the orange juice...clip also gives us the story on the cake maker in Colorado who wouldn’t make a gay cake, as if that’s really that big of a thing, and the fact that his case made its way to the SCOTUS is way beyond pathetic, along with the woman who was supposedly asked to make a gay web site (spoiler alert: she wasn’t, but the SCOTUS took up her case anyway)...more on the American College of Pediatricians is here (NSFW/H as well...hope you have your head phones)...



...and Farron Cousins gives us more gory details on the ridiculous and pointless trade war from Cantaloupe Capone...we learn about Morgan McGarvey (the only Dem in the U.S. delegation from Kentucky) who is telling everyone his state/commonwealth will lose “tens of millions” with Canada over bourbon...and yes, Rand Paul made noises about trying to end the tariff war, but that was all (more is here)...



...and staying below that Mason-Dixon line, Tennessee Brando tells us about Repugs deciding to buckle down on town halls after the backlash they’ve quite rightly gotten...looks like Knox County, TN is going to have a Repug-only town hall (and I believe it already took place); I’d like to look down my nose at those folks over that, but in good conscience I can’t since, even though that’s an idiotic idea, that at least isn’t as bad as chicken Bri-Fi in PA-01 who won’t even come out of his hidey hole to meet his constituents in person...and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Gloria Johnson also...and yeah, I think we’re all sick of the “Dollar General Hillbilly Trumps” for sure (still another NSFW/H clip)...



...and I’m overdue for a newer tune, so let’s kick-start the weekend with this one, OK?

Thursday Stuff

Yasmin Khan of Rebel HQ discusses the Tesla brand of King Elon I going down the tubes...pretty hilarious IMO that owners of those godawful Tesla trucks can’t even trade in those wretched vehicles...and Elmo hiding inventory because people aren’t supporting his thoroughly toxic brand anymore? Color me (not) shocked...



...and Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch Network discusses Dem John Ewing Jr. winning the Omaha, Nebraska mayor’s race, defeating incumbent MAGA Repug mayor Jean Stothert, the longest serving incumbent Repug mayor in the country; this represents a 20-point swing, for those keeping score (shockingly classy concession speech by Stothert, I have to admit, even though she draped her campaign in trans bathroom nonsense, trying to protect girls’ sports, supposedly, etc. – that stuff isn’t going to play when people are losing their savings and their health care)...I think I included a clip of that knucklehead Mike Flood at a town hall once before acting like taxing the rich is anathema to Repugs (which we knew already)...and “Sainted Ronnie R” hagiography notwithstanding, I find myself in agreement with Repug Rep Don Bacon (though he’ll NEVER call out Diaper Donnie, amirite?)...(NSFW/H)...



...and sticking with the theme of the fake populism of Our Ochre Abomination, Robert Reich tells us about RFK, Jr. saying that #47 actually isn’t an oligarch...I think that brain worm Jr. has is working overtime...



...and if you’re going to talk about economic populism for real, then Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders needs to be part of that discussion, and he speaks with Chris Hayes here about how Repugs on Capitol Hill plan to reward the “one percent”...about $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid, meaning 13 million people could lose their health insurance as Sanders says, along with a $35 co-payment for doctor’s visits, which is a non-starter if you’re making $16K a year...and I knew it was a high number, but I honestly didn’t know that 75K people die without health insurance...good point about Medicaid funding nursing homes and visits to community health centers...and “Running Man” Brave Sir Josh Hawley and Rojo The Clown come down on this about in the way you’d expect (I’m also glad Hayes and Sanders mentioned the rallies; I mean, they’re great, but they should be used as a springboard for policy proposals...again, if the Dems as a party had a clue about messaging, that’s how they would follow up on the Bernie/AOC momentum).

(Oh, and by the way, when it comes to Medicaid and work requirements, as noted here, 92% of Medicaid enrollees already work or are unable to do so for reasons that qualified as exemptions under the prior Trump administration’s policies, such as having caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, and attending school.)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us about the recent exchange between Dem U.S. House Rep Tom Suozzi and Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff on the Joint Committee of Taxation...it seems that #47 promised no taxes on tips or overtime as well as removing taxes on Social Security benefits, but – oopsie! – it looks like that didn’t make its way into the “big, beautiful bill” for Bronzer Beelzebub...and Pumpkin Pol Pot oversaw a net loss of 178K manufacturing jobs in his prior term – just another example IMO of the stupendous incompetence of the @DNC that they couldn’t capitalize on that in the election last year...



...and kudos to Bruce Springsteen for this.



Update 5/17/25: Yeah, I think this says it...

And by the way, you won’t find tunes here by Taylor Swift only because I personally don’t care for her music. That doesn’t mean that I’m trying to diminish her success as a musician and a performer in any way (and an activist also, to her credit). And yes, I wish nothing but the best for her and Travis Kelce, though maybe a little more privately I’ll admit.