Today's Cartoons

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(David Horsey, Los Angeles Times)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Jim Morin, Miami Herald)


(Lalo Alcaraz, via gocomics.com)

Mid-Week Walking Song

Going to the Hackwhackers' archives today for our song. The Four Seasons were one of the most popular and successful groups starting in the '60s. They sold over 100 million records during their 40-year run, and were 1999 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The "Jersey Boys" stage musical introduced their sound to new audiences starting in 2005 and continues to tour on the road and play on Broadway. Their New Jersey white do-wop sound was punctuated by lead singer Frankie Valli, who turns 83 (!) today. Valli (who had a 4-octave range) sings in a falsetto that's instantly recognizable, as he does here on their 1963 #1 hit, "Walk Like A Man."

The New Brown Shirts

If you imagined the post-election rash of pro-Trump right-wing violence and racist vandalism might go away, Salon's Amanda Marcotte reports that Stormtrumper goons are going to organize and take their hate into the streets. Apparently modeling themselves after the brown shirt thugs of  Hitler's Germany, white nationalist /neo-fascist supporters of autocratic goon-in-chief Donald "Rump" Trump are using social media to organize gangs of violent wingers to confront and battle progressive protesters, drawing them into fights to both promote their "movement" and to play the victim if need be. A demonstration in Seattle last January that resulted in the shooting of a leftist demonstrator by an armed proto-fascist counter-demonstrator was an example of that tactic.

One group attempting to organize calls itself the "Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights," a name evocative of the KKK's various "knights" groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center's David Neiwert:

“These guys are there looking for a fight. These guys are clearly quasi-fascist, classic protofascists, and they’re on the track to full-fledged fascism. All we need to do is look at history and see how it happened.”

Neiwert suggests that these far-right extremists are seeking to expand their membership and power by appealing to conservatives through staging fights against a "far left uprising" that would threaten the conservative order, gaining sympathy and support from Rump's base. With the Justice Department in the hands of racist right-wing Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions looking the other way, don't expect anything approaching a national crack down on the new brown shirts instigating violence.

The Republican Health Insurance Repeal Bum-Rush Is On -- Call To Make Your Voice Heard!

Republicans in the House are trying desperately to bum- rush their terrible bill repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and replacing it with something even worse than TrumpCare.1. This could happen anytime between tomorrow and Saturday. The basic thrust of the bill hasn't changed. It's still a tax cut for the wealthy masquerading as health insurance "reform." It would still cut Medicare and leave 24 million Americans without health insurance. Any amendment pretending to address coverage for people with pre- conditions is just a fig leaf that woefully underfunds what would be needed for States to set up "high risk pools," an approach that has been a failure in the past. House Republican leadership has even come out and said it just wants to get this abomination out of the House and dump it in the Senate's lap to get the heat off of them. Let's make sure the heat stays on them, shall we?

Here's the current vote count, per the Washington Post.  If you have a Republican Representative and you see their name anywhere on the three lists, please call their office and tell them to vote "no" on the Republican bill (the "American Health Care Act"), and if they don't you'll be voting in November 2018 to put them out of office.  You can call the House switchboard and ask to connect with your Republican Representative's office: (202) 224-3121, or you can call direct using this information. If you're not sure who your Representative is, you can go here and enter your Zip Code.

Today's the day and now is the time.

Performance Review Quote of the Day

"President Trump had an official call with Vladimir Putin today. I hear the call was tense. But let's face it, that's how performance reviews usually go." -- Stephen Colbert on last night's Late Show.

Colbert is the target of a ridiculous effort by wingnuts to silence him over his nightly eviscerations of neo-fascist lunatic Donald "Rump" Trump, the most notable being his takedown of Rump on Monday which ended with a line about Rump mouth and Putin's little "putin." Of course, these are the same wingnuts that screamed "First Amendment rights" to defend right-wing provocateur troll and pedophile defender Milo Yiannopolous when he performs his vile routine.

Here's the takedown from Monday:

Tweets Of The Day

It's a fine combination in a "President": dim and deranged.

How many "last straws" can there be before the nation finally sees Trump as a demented, dysfunctional threat to our success & even survival?

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 2, 2017

Taken as a package, the 100 Days interviews sound like evidence submitted in an involuntary commitment hearing to a mental institution.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 2, 2017

And,

I just died. .@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/XWelK06uVW

— ❄️ Dr. A ❄️ (@AAPsyc) May 2, 2017

Tired Of All The Winning Yet?

The Continuing Resolution keeping the Federal Government open until September was a victory -- for now -- of governance over nihilism. As such, it's a victory of the Democratic Party over a divided Republican Party:

Democrats think they have set the stage to block President Trump’s legislative priorities for years to come by winning major concessions in a spending bill to keep the government open. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) secured nearly $5 billion in new domestic spending by exploiting disagreements between Trump and GOP lawmakers over spending priorities. 

Democrats’ lopsided victory on the five-month deal, which is likely to be approved this week, means it will be very difficult — if not impossible — for the GOP to exert its will in future budget negotiations, including when it comes to Trump’s 2018 budget blueprint. [snip] 

In addition to the $5 billion in domestic spending, the bipartisan agreement released early Monday morning is packed with Democratic priorities, such as protection for funding for Planned Parenthood, a permanent extension of health care for coal miners and money to help Puerto Rico make up a projected shortfall in Medicaid.

The reaction from bestest negotiator Donald "Rump" Trump when he heard that Democrats were celebrating was characteristically childish:

The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017

either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017

An rare adult in the room must've subsequently convinced the Giant Toddler that saying those things made him look weak (like a loser!), so hours later he was claiming it was "a clear win for the American people." No lie that -- any defeat for Rump is a clear win for the American people.

As far as claims that Rump helped in the negotiations?

... Trump’s involvement was seen by many congressional aides as unhelpful to reaching a deal in the bipartisan talks. Negotiators were nearing an agreement on the spending portions and were ready to move on to unrelated policy measures when [OMB Director Mick] Mulvaney publicly renewed demands that the bill include money for a wall along the southern border. 

Mulvaney’s demand was out of sync with GOP leaders, who long ago said they wouldn’t seek any funding for a wall or cuts to sanctuary city funding.

So you could say Rump's involvement was "The Shart of the Deal" (we just did!).

(Image: c/o Wonkette)

"A Parent Shouldn't Have To Choose"

Thirteen mostly heart- wrenching minutes demonstrating why affordable health insurance (including coverage for pre- existing conditions) must be a right in this country, contrary to TrumpCare and Republicans:



BONUS:  President Obama comments.

Today's Cartoon Threefer

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(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Stuart Carlson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)


(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

"Pygmalion Punditry" And Trump

In a good read, FAIR's Reed Richardson describes the compulsion on the part of corporate media to normalize dangerous nitwit Donald "Rump" Trump as "Pygmalion punditry." Here are a few snippets:

Frustrated by the president’s obvious ignorance, juvenile impetuousness and endless norm-breaking, elite commentators have started resorting to a kind of Pygmalion punditry. To show how smart they are, these pundits have begun considering Trump in much the same way Professor Henry Higgins did Eliza Doolittle—as mostly a problem of manners and refinement to solve.

This fan fiction is little more than an intellectual dodge, however, where the press helpfully reimagines Trump as he might be, rather than analyzing him for what he really is. Less than three weeks before the election, for example, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan (10/20/16) produced her own pretentious entry in this genre under the headline “Imagine a Sane Donald Trump.” Her ostensibly critical piece was really an act of rhetorical jiu jitsu—praising Trump with faint damnation. Her Higginsesque focus rests almost exclusively on remaking Trump’s style and messaging, which often suffers from turning conservative subtext into too-obvious text. Notably, Noonan doesn’t bother much with recasting Trump’s actual policies into “sanity.” 

Richardson has some fine examples of this yearning to "refashion Trump into something he's not" from other pundits like Tom Friedman, Ross Douthat, Fred Hiatt, David Ignatius, and Gerald Seib. Needing to maintain access to power, these and other chin strokers -- and, sadly, many in newsrooms as well -- have a need to pursue a fiction that only the most deluded could believe after observing Rump in the arena for decades: the notion that somehow, someway Trump is going to change! pivot! moderate! mature!

As Richardson concludes about one such pundit, it's all

... a desperate attempt at projecting onto a radical, reckless and dishonest Trump the favored policies and norms of the media establishment[.]

So, the next time you hear the slogan "Democracy Dies In Darkness," remember who helped remove the light bulbs.

Fox "News" Co-President Bill Shine Ousted (UPDATED)

This is long, long overdue (click on image to enlarge).

MURDOCH statement to Fox News employees pic.twitter.com/5bEdcuyntQ

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 1, 2017

Some background, if any is needed:

Shine’s departure now marks the third major firing of longtime Fox personnel in the wake of the network’s multiple sexual harassment scandals, along with Roger Ailes and longtime star host Bill O’Reilly. 

Last week, Fox host Sean Hannity reacted with alarm to news that Shine might soon be on his way out the door, and even claimed that his firing would be “the end of Fox News as we know it.”

We can only hope, Sean baby, we can only hope.

UPDATE: Will Hannity be next? Magic 8 ball says "Signs point to yes."

Giant Toddler Trump Would Be "Honored" To Meet With Murderous Dictator Kim

Well, he certainly has an well- established affinity for autocrats and dictators, doesn't he?

First, of course, there was Russian autocrat and puppet master Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin (and Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi!). Then, more recently autocrat Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and budding Turkish autocrat Tayyip Erdogan. Some thought he really crossed the line when he invited Philippine President/ self- confessed murdering thug Rodrigo Duterte to the White House (Rump thinks he can't be that bad because he said Duterte has "high approval ratings").

But this is perhaps the most appalling example of foreign- policy- by- blurt yet, even by the low standards of dictator- admiring neo- fascist Donald "Rump" Trump:

President Donald Trump said he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un amid heightened tensions over his country’s nuclear weapons program if the circumstances were right. 

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump said Monday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.”  (our emphasis)

"Honored," said one dangerous Giant Toddler to the other dangerous Giant Toddler. The same Kim who, it is estimated, has murdered over 300 people since coming to power five years ago, including his uncle and half- brother, some by anti- aircraft gun. The same Kim whose regime routinely threatens to rain nuclear hell on the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan.

We're going to go out on a limb here and say that nobody in the State or Defense Departments, or in the National Security Council for that matter, had an inkling this would suddenly and capriciously pop out of the nitwit's mouth today. They'll be back- filling and damage- controlling for the next few days or weeks now (on cue!). We're also certain the South Korean government will be delighted to hear that the Ignoramus- in- Chief wants to meet with Kim and perhaps cut a deal without their presence, as will Japan and China. In the meantime, this is a big propaganda victory for Kim; Kim's regime will think that the U.S. "blinked" and will therefore assume that its tactics of ratcheting up its bluster and brinkmanship have worked splendidly and should therefore continue.

We're also going to go out on a limb and say Rump thinks he's a very clever negotiator, and that he "alone can fix it." Whatever the ramifications of this latest example of Rump freestyling American diplomacy, it's clearly a fixture and not a bug in Rump's chaotic, incompetent style of doing business.  Unfortunately, American foreign policy isn't supposed to be handled like a business deal in Manhattan, another lesson perhaps to be learned the hard way.

(Image: Little Caesar/ Giant Toddler)

Don't Know Much About History

As we just said, lie, bluff, lie, bluff:

In an interview set to air Monday, President Donald Trump mused about the Civil War and former President Andrew Jackson, saying he does not know why the Civil War couldn’t “have been worked out.” Speaking with Salena Zito on Sirius XM radio, Trump said the Civil War wouldn’t have happened if Jackson had been president at the time. “He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, ‘There’s no reason for this,’” Trump said, incorrectly stating that Jackson reacted to the Civil War. Jackson died in 1845, while the war did not start until 1861. Trump added: “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” (our emphasis)

That's someone who is profoundly and serenely ignorant, who is at the same time "ignorant of his ignorance" (h/t Josh Marshall). To give him credit for even the simplest thought is to raise the bar waaay too high.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon - Blunderdome

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(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Lie, Bluff, Lie, Bluff

Well, we have our own thoughts about this:

President Trump gave a lengthy interview Sunday morning to CBS’ John Dickerson about the Republicans’ health care plan. 

His responses to basic questions — like what provisions the bill includes or how it would change the health insurance system — suggest he either doesn’t understand how the American Health Care Act works, or doesn’t want to tell the truth about it. (our emphasis)

It's not necessarily either/ or, is it? How about "both."

Why would one expect a lazy, stupid person like neo- fascist dimwit Donald "Rump" Trump to bother with the details in his and his party's signature proposal? What changed that would lead one to believe this raging, malevolent narcissist is any different now that he has been his whole privileged, cosseted life? Of course he doesn't know (or particularly care) what's in TrumpCare, as long as something makes it to his tiny desk so he can sign it with his tiny hands and hold it up to the cameras with that doltish, smug smirk on his face!

He will always be what he is, and he will always do what he does, which is lie, bluff, lie, bluff. Or, more succinctly:

Something, something, pants on fire. https://t.co/Jb6Xofkhvc

— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) April 30, 2017