Monday, March 18, 2024

Monday Stuff


Looks like the Trumpers have settled on the whole “are you better off now than 4 years ago” thing from “Saint Reagan,” which is a typically preposterous campaign strategy IMO; Chris Hayes gives us more details (great mashup of Dementia J. Trump’s typically idiotic ramblings vs. the actual reality we were dealing with in 2020)...



...oh, and when it comes to COVID-19, let’s not forget #45’s handling of the pandemic, which was every bit the catastrophe we could have expected, as this WaPo clip reminds us...



...and in this “I Doubt It” clip with Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page, we’re informed that MAGA nutjobs are trying to take over social media before election, including King Elon I acting like a typical spoiled nepo baby hardass in an interview with Don Lemon on “X,” to the point where he pulled the plug on the Lemon interview, along with aspiring James Bond villain Steve Mnuchin trying to buy Tik Tok...more here and here (NSFW/H)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report discuss the narrative that retail theft is supposedly on the rise, propagated by wingnuts and corporate media (and business trade organizations), which falls apart big time under analysis in the “cold light of day”...in reality, chains decide to close stores for business reasons (making more $$ at other locations and closing stores that don’t make as much $$, as well as price gouging of course...that “Politics of Everything” clip about the profile of someone who shoplifts was interesting, I thought; God forbid we do anything at all to try and address root cause issues here, primarily drug addiction)...



...and that’s probably a good transition, sadly, into this Leeja Miller clip on homelessness...interesting background on the Grants Pass v. Johnson case due to come before the SCOTUS...and a 12 percent increase in homelessness between 2022 and 2023? 653K people? Ugh...”The way that we treat people experiencing homelessness is inhumane” indeed...I had a feeling that the exacerbation of the homeless problem in this country was going to fall right into the goddamn lap of The Sainted Ronnie R, and color me shocked when it turned out that I was right...not surprised that we’re so low when it comes to public restrooms per population; yeah, just pick yourselves up by your damn bootstraps and find a porta-potty, you slackers (snark mode off)...didn’t know about the design of public benches meant to discourage unhoused people from sleeping on them; I also didn’t know about “charitable feeding ordinances” to prevent helping out those who are destitute and in need of food...and it sure figures that the National Association of Realtors is trying so hard to preserve the wretched status quo, along with conservative “think tanks”...terrible in particular to see what has happened to HUD over time, and I’m not surprised also to find that the little $$ they DO get goes to vouchers for Section 8 housing...I admire the work that Miller puts into these videos, and what she says is important, but it does take a while to digest it all I’ll admit (NSFW/H)...



...and happy belated 70th birthday to Nancy Wilson of Heart.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Friday Stuff


(I know my posting has been a bit off recently. I’m hoping to rectify that probably by next week.)

Farron Cousins tells us that Our Ochre Abomination has called for cuts to Medicare and Social Security, which is right out of his party’s wretched playbook I realize and definitely should NOT earn him bonus points with his party’s base of support – we’ll see of course (more here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore discusses the back-and-forth between Trumpist hack Robert Hur and U.S. House Dems Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell in a recent U.S. House hearing over President Biden’s alleged mental lapses in Hur’s joke of a report...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us about Jon Stewart’s recent commentary where Stewart went after “MAGA authoritarians” (and I realize that Kyle is NEVER going to get it through his head that, YES, THE RUSSIA STUFF WITH #45 WAS GODDAMN REAL!) (NSFW/H)...



...and kudos to Chris Hayes for presenting the difference between the administration of “Dark Brandon” and that of his ruinous predecessor in 21 charts – excellent work...



...and Faiz Shakir of More Perfect Union interviews the man corporate America is most afraid of, and that would be Jonathan Kanter of the DOJ’s antitrust division, for going after some of the people rigging the casino of our economy (including Agri Stats, an “intermediary” company impacting the meat processing industry, and if you’ve never heard of Agri Stats either, then that makes at least two of us...and I’d also never heard the term “choke point economy” either, and as far as I’m concerned, a non-compete agreement for a McDonald’s worker is absolutely ridiculous)...



...and this is sure a punch in the gut to end the week, sadly; RIP Karl Wallinger of World Party.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Wednesday Stuff


Well, since (as we know), the “party of Lincoln” has no desire to perform actual governance, particularly in the U.S. House, they apparently brought back this Robert Hur guy to testify to the alleged mental decline of President Biden...fortunately, Jerry Nadler of New York “brought the receipts” on that score for Tangerine Palpatine...



...and for a bit of emphasis, Farron Cousins discusses an ad from the Republican Accountability PAC about Our Ochre Abomination’s insanely fragile ego (more here)...



...and John and Francesca of The Damage Report tell us about the response from the woman behind Katie Britt’s incredibly inaccurate human trafficking story... Karla Jacinto Romero does her best to put the record straight (and I love Francesca’s tongue-in-cheek comment about Britt at the very end...more here)...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the insidious connection between alleged “do gooder” lobbyists and the typical deep-pocketed, well-funded bastards who want everything for themselves and seek to destroy what remains of our quality of life in this country in the process (clip focuses on New York state, but as Thom says, this is probably true throughout the country, unfortunately)...



Update 3/14/24: More here.

...and Mike Figueredo presents what might be the dumbest attack on Biden we’ve yet seen (and that’s saying something), and this comes from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach over replacing lead pipes, which, to be honest, I thought we’d done already...shows what I know I guess...of course, the “unfunded mandate” part is a lie as usual, and the work to replace the pipes (which, again, ARE FREAKING LEAD!) would take place over a 10-year period...and Figueredo is spot-on to note that the Repugs will find a way to attack the EPA over this regardless of whether or not that attack actually makes any sense (NSFW/H)...



...and because I think we should keep a lookout for international stuff also, especially when it’s close to our shores, I give you this from Beau about the most recent unrest in Haiti...typical spot-on commentary, especially when it comes to letting that country choose who governs them apart from any outside influence, including from the U.S (and yes, Ariel Henry has already bailed as Beau mentioned)...



...and RIP Eric Carmen – this is another case where I kept going back and forth between two videos, but in the end, I said screw it and decided to include both of them.



Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday Stuff


I guess I went back on my word again when it comes to the State of the Union address from President Biden since I ended up paying attention to it after all – David Pakman brings us some highlights (didn’t see his follow-up video)...



...and for the opposing point of view, David Doel tells us about that borderline looney tune response from Alabama state senator Katie Britt (wonder if she thought she was auditioning for “High School Musical?”...more here, here and here)...



...and because pop culture imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (or ridicule I suppose), Mrs. Colin Jost of SNL (aka Scarlett Johansson) gives us this bit from the show the other night, which I have to confess was kind of funny IMO...guess I missed the joke with the teacup...



...and trying to keep things upbeat I guess, I give you this clip from Michael Kosta of The Daily Show on the REAL invasion at Eagle Pass, according to residents...yep, it’s from all of the damn National Guard people who were sent there by idiot politicians, though that “wetbacks” comment from the local Repug poobah rankles for sure...



...and in this Rebel HQ clip, Ben Gleib tells us about Repugs turning on Trump and allegedly supporting Nikki Haley, which is a problem for these folks with Haley now out of it...and yeah, aren’t those two testimonials against Haley from the MAGA crowd – the one man and the one woman – just so precious?...



...and congrats to all of last night’s winners at the Oscars, including Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey, Jr. (the only pic I ended up seeing was “Oppenheimer,” I must confess), as well as Temple’s own Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers,” which I will get to (here)...here is a tune for the occasion.

Friday, March 08, 2024

Friday Stuff


(By the way, I typically don’t watch the State of the Union address regardless of who’s giving it, but based on preliminary indications, it looks like Biden acquitted himself pretty well, so good for him...and of course, the usual idiots acted the way we would expect. I’ll keep an eye out for further videos on this and I may include them later.)

Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report lets us know that Mango Mussolini recently said that Israel should “finish the problem” concerning Gaza (and Andy Ogles definitely didn’t “cover himself in glory” either...yes, it’s true that I don’t agree with Biden’s handling on this also, but would you actually be willing to trust Dementia J. Trump on this matter instead, or anything else?)...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about Bill Hemmer of Fix Noise whining that CNN and MSNBC won’t let Tangerine Palpatine get away with lying in his gonzo speeches after the recent primaries...and as far as Harris Faulkner goes on being “fair” to Biden, I give you this (NSFW/H)...



...and on the subject of insane Republicans, Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show tells us about this Trumpist goofball Mark Robinson, running for guv in North Carolina, because of course (mildly NSFW/H)...



...and Brian Tyler Cohen tells us that the wingnuts are losing what’s left of their minds over Taylor Swift encouraging people to vote again...good for her (clip includes a little more background on Swift’s commendable opposition to Big Hair Blackburn in her home state)...



...and Sean Morrow of More Perfect Union tells us about the company buying up Subway and the rest of our favorite chains, with 1.4 million employees total (yep, it’s Roark Capital, another one of these private equity vultures, run by Neal Aronson...and I guess the “chef’s kiss” in this is the ridiculous homage to Ayn Rand’s character in “The Fountainhead,” on top of low wages and wage theft...charming...interesting history on advances with the NLRB under Obama that were gutted by Our Treasonous Orange Pustule, though “Dark Brandon” is trying to fix that mess with President Manchin running interference to preserve the odious status quo)...



...and happy International Women's Day.

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Wednesday Stuff


Beau provides some info on the air drops of food into Gaza from President Biden – stopping arms shipments to Israel and calling for a cease fire is best IMO, but this is somewhat positive also (I like Beau’s snarky tone, which I think is apropos for some of the questions)...



via GIPHY

...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report bring us the news of “Curtsy Kyrsten” deciding to leave the U.S. Senate and (as mentioned in the clip) likely to head to some type of ceremonial figurehead role where she can cash in without having to do any work (as opposed to the bare minimum she already did...and my God, am I SICK AND TIRED of listening to this wretched woman blaming “partisanship” for leaving “the world’s greatest deliberative body”...what about opposing a federal $15 minimum wage? Fighting for the carried interest loophole? That paid wine internship, of all things? Ugh...)...



...and I know I’m a little late on this, but Jesse Dollemore informs us of our thoroughly compromised SCOTUS deciding to keep Our Ochre Abomination on the ballot, in response to Colorado quite rightly trying to boot him for trying to overturn the '20 election (though they don’t say #45 is not an insurrectionist...SOME justice anyway...more here)...



...and it looks like Nikki Haley is packing it in even though she won the Washington, D.C. primary as well as Vermont’s...whatever it takes to peel off votes from Dementia J. Trump, but yeah, the odds of her winning were daunting from the start (though there were a bunch of issues with Haley’s candidacy anyway on policy reasons alone...Farron Cousins tells us more, including the inevitable meltdown from you-know-who on Truth Septic)...



...and Retired Army Maj. Richard Ojeda tells us about actor Ed O’Neill’s story of a Trump plaque on one of his golf courses about a battle having to do with the “river of blood” on the Potomac...yeah, #45 is lying yet again (and kudos to O’Neill for deciding to return his honorary degree from Youngstown State as noted here)...



...and I need a bit of a newer tune as a pick-me-up to get over the “hump day,” and I think this does that nicely.

Monday, March 04, 2024

Monday Stuff


John of The Damage Report tells us that it looks like there’s some “good news, bad news” stuff for Bo-Bo Boebert in some recent polling (I said I’d lay off her kid, but definitely not the U.S. House mistake from CO-03, for now)...looks like her name recognition is helping a little, but not enough to overcome her unfavorable stuff it seems (great point IMO by John wondering if anybody is going to help Boebert...wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that, though you’d think they would for the reasons John mentions...to do something about her, click here)...



...and God bless those brave Russians who turned out for the funeral of Alexei Navalny, putting themselves in danger for the reasons noted in the clip...Navalny’s widow should be allowed to come to this country and address a joint session of Congress (with Ben Gleib, Cenk and Mark Thompson)...



...and David Doel discusses the IDF opening fire on starving Palestinians because those seeking food made the soldiers feel “unsafe”...and oh yeah, apparently the UNRWA allegations that broke around the time of the ICJ ruling of a genocide in Gaza were BS also (the UNRWA stuff I mean)...at first I blamed “Bibi” pretty much exclusively for this, but after reading that quote from Israel’s national defense minister...well, let’s just say that I wanted to smash my keyboard into about a hundred pieces...yes, I know that’s pointless, but it’s about as meaningful as anything the IDF can come up with based on what we’re finding out in these videos (and 17K WCNSFs – dear God)...NSFW/H...



...and related to the slaughter in Gaza, this TMR clip with Emma and Matt Binder is about 37:00, but it’s important IMO...the “paper of record” was busted based on reporting in The Intercept by Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill and Daniel Boguslaw...the report by the three has to do with the Times’s in-depth piece by Anat Schwartz last December about Hamas using sexual violence in the 10/7 attack; I’m sure that happened, and those bastards need to be held to account for that, but you wouldn’t know that for certain based on the Times’s alleged “reporting”... Schwartz sounds like she’s qualified for OAN but not much else (and maybe I should blame Jeffrey Gettleman also, but I don’t...I think Schwartz was way out of her depth here)...



...and I know there are folks out there with their drawers all twisted in knots over the latest polling having to do with #46 (I think some of this is the fault of Team Biden, but overwhelmingly, our allegedly august corporate media is to blame also IMO, obsessing over Biden’s age when #45 IS ONLY THREE YEARS YOUNGER, IS SUNSETTING AND WANTS TO DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY!!!)...well, David Pakman gives us a clip of Gavin Newsom tearing it up in defense of “Dark Brandon”...



...and I had to admit that I got a bit of a kick out of this item...it looks like the RNC is trying to prevent the Gropenfuhrer from cleaning out the funds of that morally bankrupt organization in order to pay his legal costs (Farron Cousins brings us more info)...



...and Chris Hayes tells us about The Roger Ailes BS Factory beating the drum on “migrant crime” because they literally have nothing else to attack Biden over – what a pathetic bunch that network of lying frauds truly is...



...and on this day 40 years ago, The Police played the last date of their Synchronicity tour in Melbourne, Australia...they wouldn’t reunite until 2007.