VIDEO OF THE DAY: Trump allies try to get mistrial and instantly regret it
Trump's cheerleaders in the media raced to turn a social media post claiming that they had had prior knowledge of the Trump guilty verdict into a conspiracy...and fell flat on their faces when the source was identified as a self-declared "shitposter." Really evokes that famous Abraham Lincoln quote, "If it's on the Internet, it must be true!"
Take Action: Expel Marco Rubio for refusing to accept the results of the 2024 election!
Mike Johnson’s ludicrous new defense of Trump shows deep MAGA desperation
Before Donald Trump was convicted, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he had no intention of defunding the special counsel's office, which he claimed would be "an affront to the crucial institutional role of special counsels," writes Greg Sargent at the New Republic. Of course, as soon as Trump was convicted, all that principled talk was thrown right in the trash as Johnson joined the scrum of weeping and moaning Republicans piteously moaning about the injustice that was being dealt to the disgraced ex-president and serial criminal. Johnson has now indicated that he's willing to use the power of the purse strings to try to keep Trump from being held accountable, restricting funding to special counsels and to law enforcement offices prosecuting him, which Sargent points out are "bonkers" ideas. But that hasn't stopped Johnson from announcing his intention to present them to the GOP caucus, who we can expect will start adding them into unrelated, must-pass bills in order to make it look like they're trying as hard as possible to protect Trump. "At the core of all these efforts from Johnson and MAGA propagandists alike is an effort to make that glaring reality, i.e., that Trump is a criminal and Biden is not, magically disappear," writes Sargent, "because Trump and his allies are the ones who actively want a two-tiered justice system — to the benefit of Trump and his movement and to the detriment of their designated enemies. And Johnson just doesn’t have the power to bring that about — no matter how incandescent MAGA’s rage grows over it."
Take Action: Stop the GOP from "judge shopping" to get their bigoted bills passed!
Brian Tyler Cohen makes MAJOR announcement
Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen: Everybody's favorite YouTube commentator, podcaster, and MSNBC contributor Brian Tyler Cohen has written a book, SHAMELESS: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy! Shameless breaks down the lies and hypocrisies of a Republican Party steeped in MAGA mania and what steps Democrats must take to fight back, with a special foreword by Rep. Jamie Raskin. Pre-order your copy here!
Jared Kushner’s deal with pro-Russia Serbs raises hackles
Does Jared Kushner actively seek out the worse possible people to go into business with, or are they only the people who WILL do business with him? In any case, everyone's most despised stick figure is back on his crooked real estate bullshit, this time with a $500 million deal with the Serbian government that includes a “memorial dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression,” which is the Serbian equivalent of Alabama making a statue memorializing the victims of Abraham Lincoln. You may recall that NATO launched a bombing campaign in Serbia during the 1990s in response to the mass slaughter of ethnic Bosniak Muslims by the Serbian government of Slobodan Milosevic. US Gen. Wesley Clark, who was the Supreme Commander of NATO at the time, said that Kushner's memorial deal is "a betrayal of the United States, its policies, and the brave diplomats and airmen who did what they could to stop Serb ethnic cleansing." Given the Serbian government's close ties to Russia, the anti-NATO sentiment is not just historical revisionism to excuse genocide. "This is part of a broader Russian intelligence movement to split, discredit, and weaken NATO. It’s Russian imperial pushback…Should Kushner participate in this? Of course he should not,” said Clark.
Take Action: Impeach Justice Alito for endorsing Trump's insurrection!
TikTok’s raw milk influencers are going to give us all bird flu
What is it about living in the most technologically advanced age in human history, with access to the entirety of human knowledge in a tiny device in your hand that drives people to want to return to the 13th century? One of the latest rejections of modern science comes from TikTok, where influencers hawking raw, unpasteurized milk and promoting its imaginary health benefits are laying the groundwork for another pandemic. While it makes sense that there would be a backlash to corporate America's incessant efforts to poison us with literally everything from underpants to baby food, pasteurization was invented for a really good reason! And now raw milk is a vector for H5N1, the new bird flu spreading through cows. On top of that, besides bird flu, raw milk consumption has been linked to cases of the diseases salmonella and listeriosis. "But you’re not going to hear about that in a podcast clip on TikTok of Gwyneth Paltrow talking about unpasteurized milk," complains Julia Metraux at Mother Jones.. But what's a little science when you have the opportunity to make big bucks promoting hippie-dippie bullshit, monetizing the rot at every step of the way?
Take Action: Pass the Trans Bill of Rights!
You don't want to tell voters you can't govern
New York Governor Kathy Hochul kicked off a firestorm of outrage this week when she announced the indefinite delay of the "congestion pricing" plan that would have charged NYC drivers a $15 toll for entering certain parts of the city during peak traffic hours. The fees would have net the MTA about $1 billion annually, which it would have used to finance long-needed improvements and upgrades to subways, bus lines, and commuter rail, reducing carbon pollution and disincentivizing driving into a city beset with car exhaust and fumes. Once a strong supporter of the plan, Hochul abruptly abandoned it in the face of political pressure from cynical politicians like disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, embattled New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, and oh yeah, Donald Trump, who are all putting the convenience of wealthy suburbanites above the need to cut down on climate change, clean New York's dirty air, and update public transportation. The final straw was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who worried it might hurt Democrats' chances in swing districts. "This plan was proposed in 2007. It was greenlit by the city council in 2008. It was backed by the governor in 2017. It was passed by the legislature in 2019. It was approved by the Department of Transportation in 2023. Hochul’s gambit is inherently self-defeating, because it tells a story that’s more damaging to her brand, and to her party’s, than any toll charge: It is not a political win to announce to the public that your government is broken and it can’t do big things," writes Tim Murphy at Mother Jones.
The press is the problem
If you've been tearing your hair out at the absurd bothsideism and outright bias with which the media has been handling the two presidential candidates so far this cycle, you are not alone. And guess what? You can blame capitalism for that too! The corporate takeover of our journalistic institutions, the complete lack of any kind of real moderation on social media networks, and the obsessive chasing of profit has resulted in a mediasphere uniquely unsuited to confronting the false reality that Donald Trump presents the nation. "We treat the convicted felon Donald Trump as if he’s a normal presidential candidate. He is not. We treat this election year as if it is normal. It is not. We have no idea how to present and report the news. And if someone calls this into question, they are often shunned," writes former Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem for Salon. His solution? Break up the media monopolies, ASAP. "Diverse ownership leads to a diversity of opinions. Competition leads to better fact-finding. Education is the key. AI isn’t the problem or the solution. People are both. If we want different results we have to change the way we do business." We couldn't agree more.
Trump makes FATAL MISTAKE following guilty verdict
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: OMG.
Home on the range
The daily planet
Hope...
Share 
Tweet
