Went Over Like a Lead Turd

 

You know, taking your weird-ass conspiracy-theorist Pizzagate asshole friend along with you on serious European business all by itself is a whole kind of offensive fuckup.  Oh, wait, maybe that was a Hegseth team fuck up.  The down with America, up with Russia dipshit horror shows were so boldly evident at this flea circus display from the supposed America First crowd I guess I got confused. Hegseth was the one who told everyone we ain't got no navy to speak of so don't count on us and we can bug out our military presence in Europe so don't get too comfortable. 

I say wild ass shit when I'm hungover too, so I guess the Fox News veteran's words aren't all that surprising to me. 

But JD Vance being a condescending and unpleasant pro-Putin scold with no sense of irony is also not surprising to me. He chided Europe for lack of freedom of speech while at home, AP was being barred from the White House and Air Force One because their style guide stays with the more (for 400+ years) appropriate "Gulf of Mexico". And while Tom Homan hates on people who want to use the First Amendment to tell undocumented people about the other rights they have under the Constitution. 

You Are What You Eat

 

You know, I would have bet anything that being Donald Trump's vice president, if nothing else, would involve eating a lot of shit. After all, he did try to get the last guy lynched. That said, I realized that JD Vance was just the guy for the job. Try to spin Trump's oddball pronouncements into something normal. Be willing to do anything for love of Trump. It's not that I like JD Vance--far from it.  

It's just that he has a very particular set of skills. 

So when Elon Musk has a racist manboy resign over making some very racist social media posts, we can see JD Vance fix his purty mouth to do that thing he does:

He "obviously disagrees" with the idea that marrying outside of your race is abhorrent and anti-Indian hate should be normalized--I assume? So says the JD Vance bio. But this is a kid, and his social media activity is "ruining a kid's life?" 

A 25-year-old posted that last year, player. 

Remarkable! Or, The Perpetual Trump Gluteal Osculation Machine

 

Sean Duffy, a reality TV star, Fox News guy, former US Congressman, now Department of Transportation guy, said Trump's leadership has been "remarkable".  Being on "Road Rules" qualifies you for DOT because "roads". It is known. And "remarkable" certainly is a word. 

It doesn't have to mean "remarkably good"--and it doesn't. Maybe he meant it that way.

But it was "remarkable" in the sense of being appallingly racist, sexist, stupid and self-inflating. A projection of blame onto other people as both a deflection and a cover-up for suborned insecurity. Duffy has his ass to kiss, and he did fine. 

And I don't care, because what followed was astonishingly typical and horrific. Trump blamed DEI (which seems to mean "people of color" in Trump's mind) and Biden for what happened, because he wants to speculate about who to blame and is uniquely incapable of either knowing his role or shutting his hole. 

On behalf of Generation X, I apologize for Sean Duffy. Being a sell-out Boomer ass-kisser was certainly a choice, and one he didn't have to make. I guess that's just the way the Reality Bites. Some of us still keep it real, though--and here's my opinion on Trump.

George Carlin - It's A BIG Club & You Ain't In It!

You know, before Trump introduced a meme coin in the middle of the night that was rolled out with no fanfare and is like 80% held by "insiders" (that means everyone else is a hind tit investor and are entirely not getting maximum value from this shiny thing in the event of a big old cash out event), there was a well-attended crypto gala, and Trump and his people gave all the signs of really digging what the crypto bros have been laying down. Yeah. Strategic reserve Sure. Brave new currencies. 

But on the whole, Trump did what he does--it's a potential scam? Fine.  He and his will eat. 

If you are sweating in the bit mines looking for legitimacy for your popup non-accepted currency of the week, he just pantsed you. It looks to me like a short-term con vehicle for raising funds in a hurry, not to be mistaken for his crypto long con. But what does this have to do with George Carlin?

BRUVS and That

 

In a time when the US can have an adjudicated sex pest and 34-count felon on deck to be sworn into our highest office, there's really no reason for shock when an accused rapist and sex trafficker gets an endorsement from the world's richest man (alleged--certainly there may be a few folks with more off-the-books income). 

The Tates' current project, when not pretending there's no legal case against them and threatening women on social media, is called BRUV (presumably, CHAV, SPIV and CHUD were all taken), and while I don't pretend to be the great UK politics' understander, I'm not sure this is how any of this works.

I do know it's jarring to see Alina Habba (Trump's lawyer, future White House employee) hanging with Benny "Rubles" Johnson and fawning over Andrew Tate. 

Literal Pants on Fire

 

In the midst of the devastation and tragedy in southern California, there are some political animals who adhere to the maxim to let no good crisis go to waste. They're bringing DEI into it (I promise you, the Black person's water is just as wet as the White man's). They are lying about budgets, resources, pointing the finger of blame. Launching conspiracy theories. 

That many people cope with horrific events by just pulling narratives together to make sense of the seemingly senseless is a part of human nature, I guess--but that doesn't make it right. And when people appear to be deliberately lying because of a political agenda trying to capitalize on a tragedy for point-scoring purposes, that's something a bit harsher than opportunistic--it's predatory. It's precisely at times like these when people are least likely to engage their critical thinking mode and instead opt for the torches and pitchforks. 

Oh, They'll Get in Line

 

I can recall finally understanding what "elitism" meant to anti-intellectual MAGAs, and basically, it was them being told they were wrong or cruel and being made to feel bad by...anybody. It wasn't about class or education status--it was the idea that someone out there was gonna tell you you wasn't exactly as good as them. So there! 

So, in the H-1B visa debate that is roiling TrumpWorld, Vivek Ramaswamy seems to have been part of the mild fracas happening on X by letting US (White) Americans know they culturally weren't producing well qualified tech job applicants because they didn't rise and grind the way Asian kids do. Too many jocks and prom queens and peaking in high school. MAGA was fine with "pull your pants up and take care of your kids" lectures directed at Black Americans, but if you tell them that their four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High School doesn't qualify them for more than selling shoes, they are going to get Big Mad. 

And we already know where white supremacist Laura Loomer was on this one:

In Defense of Wonks

 

Klippenstein is a good reporter and a generally good egg, but my God, the juxtaposition of housing as a problem (which can be understood in terms of zoning, affordability, Nimby-ism, etc.) and matters of foreign policy, that are obviously understood as federal in nature, is just...

Look, I would like it if HUD had a strong hand and a strong plan for overriding local twattery that keeps housing unaffordable. But there are limits to what can be legally done at the executive level to demand housing access--it's complicated!

Foreign aid is a bit different, isn't it--it's one thing, it doesn't go through state and muni filters You're not dictating to developers and actual neighborhoods with people in them about what they do and don't want. It doesn't have a myriad of red tape things to fool about with. 

We're not talking about the difference between apples and oranges, but apples and eggs. Knowing the difference is very useful, because you really shouldn't expect apples to fall out of any aperture of a hen. Klippenstein isn't an idiot and isn't juxtaposing those things thinking otherwise. 

A Man, a Plan, a Canal--A Dumbfuck (UPDATES)

 

I’m sorry, Panama pic.twitter.com/WmUwtw5jpu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 22, 2024

Just as with Canada, which Trump wants to be our 51st state or first province, whichever the case may be, the dotard who wanted to buy Greenland is looking to expand and retake the Panama Canal. I don't know who put him on this current tip. Maybe some import-export guy from Vandelay with a Mar-A-Lago membership. All I'm saying is, this is the next four years. 

Tiresome, innit?

UPDATE: He's talking about Greenland again. For all I know, the Trump Administration will be looking at invading Mexico not just because of the cartels, but if they are going to call Baja "California" then goddamn it....

UPDATE:

“… the United States feels ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” https://t.co/LcNGY8SRX9 pic.twitter.com/Hg3Lo007us

— DrLeoStrauss - same handle @bsky.social (@DrLeoStrauss) December 23, 2024

Well, shit.

A Reckless TrumpWorld Round-Up

 

I'm trying to take a moment of Christmas clarity to see the good in the world around me, and while I've never been a Suzy Silverlinings, I did notice the SEC seems to have decided to pay attention to some of Elon Musk's financial shenanigans regarding the purchase of Twitter. Basically, everyone who was wide awake in 2016 saw that social media was a powerful tool in shaping world events, and Elon bought in. Comms for his worldview is an expense in general, but he gets back what he's lost financially in DOGE and influence. 

It's a neat thing, using money to buy influence to get more influence to get more money. Here's a David Bowie song:

Unauthorized Thoughts and Declined Prayers

 

Generally, when a stranger is murdered in cold blood, there's at least a muted "Damn shame!' sort of reaction. If a man with a family dies at the age of 50, why, you can certainly say "That's far too young, that poor man's family!" (Not that he was poor--unfortunate, but not poor.) You don't actually see people writing folk songs about the killer and posting them to social media, or see people back out of the search for the killer. 

What has happened, if one can at all "read the room", is that the murdered CEO has become a stand-in for a parasitical industry. Our health insurance system isn't a "health care system"--it's a promise to pay for protection. Some of your health care bill will be paid. Not all. Your course of treatment can be affected by your insurance company. 

This can and does result in bad (fatal or crippling) outcomes. Of course, people feel some way about that. 

And the result of that feeling may look very cold-blooded. It isn't. It's rather hot, actually.

This Holiday, JD Vance is Serving

 

Uh. Huh.

Welp, I'm just screen capping the above Twitter post for posterity in case it disappears, because I believe in sharing the things that bring me joy, and perversely, this does. It sort of sums things up in a way I'm not even sure Vance has totally unpeeled. It's a psychological onion--it has layers.

I really wonder why the Harris/Walz campaign drifted away from calling these guys weird. Because you know what?

This is kinda weird. 

But you guys? You just have the kind of Thanksgiving that makes you happy. Which I'm sure will be very, very traditional. In its very own special way.

Pods Won't Save America, Probably

 

I'm really sympathetic to the idea that there might have been some quality of "screwed" baked into the Harris campaign when she took over in July, and I was optimistic that the actual policy record of the Biden Administration vs. the actual history of.... uh whatever TrumpWorld is, would dawn on people as being a no-brainer. 

The reason I believed that is because I'm a hardcore Democratic Party schmuck. I've had a party preference since I was 18. The party of Rush Limbaugh and Phyllis Schlafly vs. the party of ::waves hands in the direction of not entire shithead bigots::? 

You've got to be kidding me. 

But here's what I noticed--I truly think that everyone who was going to cross over from the GOP to vote on principle for Harris because Trump was a horrowshow--appeared in a digital ad online some time during the campaign and there wasn't a a goddamn other one. It was great to be appreciative to former Rep. Liz Cheney--but the reason her party did her the way they did is because they could. 

If someone was comfy in the party of Limbaugh and Schlafly, it would take a lot to embrace the actual mess that is the actual Democratic Party., our political figures (Not AOC! Not San Fransisco liberal Nancy Pelosi!), and find themselves on the same side as our base. (You know: welfare queens, flaming homos, childless cat ladies, the Black Panthers and dope-smoking commies--don't look at me like that--you know I love you. But some conservatives were raised to HATE YOUR ASS AND MINE.).

The Rogan Gap

 

Joe Rogan shitting his pants about nuclear war while living on a giant compound in the most central part of the USA

Meanwhile, Ukrainians living next door to russia are like "ah fuck off with that bullshit" pic.twitter.com/NSkHI5z6aY

— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 24, 2024

I deleted my post from last night because it was so inadequate to what I wanted to say. We have a hack gap issue where people like Rogan (ignorant, but widely watched) say whatever they want to and people listen and think they actually learned anything. The horrific thing is that people being nominated to Trump's cabinet don't seem to be any better than this. 

Tulsi Gabbard isn't. She is a nominee for DNI which is an office that should be able to sift through the reports of various intelligence agencies and determine a true sitrep. She gets her information, from what I can tell, from a Russian toilet seat. 

Facts STILL Don't Care About Your Feelings

 

My god—Google Search for “what is a tariff” sudden spikes the DAY AFTER ELECTION DAY. 🤦🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/erds7pCqdG

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 9, 2024

I bet there are a lot of small-business people who feel like following Trump makes them more like big-business people. His policies are really going to fuck them up. And the effects of his "promises" are already coming to fruition. Their businesses don't have reserve capital enough to float them through additional costs that they can't calculate yet. I am not sure why so many people didn't check out what they were in for, but I'm still dealing with the thing I completely underrated--

There are a lot of people who simply don't know shit. Like:

Trump Fans and the Book of Marks

 

So, word on the street is, Truth Social is basically Facebook for fools and you can roast all the pigeons you want there all day every day. 

Gizmodo submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FTC for consumer complaints about Truth Social filed in the past two years. The complaints to the federal agency include some stories from people who’ve been banned from the site (unjustly, they claim) and others who say they got signed up for mailing lists they never wanted to be on in the first place. But the complaints about scams are the most shocking, if only because there are such large sums of money involved. And we’re publishing a sample of the full, unedited complaints below.

 

One person who says they lost $170,000 explained they were initially scammed on a different site but met someone on Truth Social who claimed they could help get their money back. That turned out to be a scam as well. But more often, the victims are first contacted on Truth Social before being told to take the conversation somewhere else, like WhatsApp. Truth Social seems to be a target-rich environment for people who are easy to con.

This is Not Helping Anyone

There is quite a lot of stupidity on the internet, these days and there's just something about a human tragedy--like a hurricane, to bring out both the best--and the goddamn worst in some people. I guess pictures like the above might seem harmless enough (this was apparently made in response to some AI slop accompanying plaintive disinformation trying to outrage farm folks into believing and possibly acting on the idea that no one is getting assistance after Hurricane Helene). 

It would be great if people had any common sense and just--didn't do that. The same goes for pick-me pygmies who insist that their wife's cousin's ex-husband, a retired brigadier general from the Idaho Coast Guard, went down in his crop duster to deliver a pallet of Diet Mountain Dew but was called a racist and sent home--who knows what motivates people like this?

But when agencies like FEMA, local officials, and the American Red Cross have to fight misinformation as well as do their jobs--that isn't helping anybody.

When elected officials share this kind of thing--it's embarrassing for them, for the most part. When absolute weirdoes like Marjorie Taylor Greene insist there's a mysterious "them" with a weather machine attempting a land grab or election interference, or whatever she's on about, it is dangerous and unfit. It certainly doesn't help that the billionaire owner of a certain social media outfit is happy to distribute false talking points. 

The GOP and Cheap Grace

 

Johnson: Clay Higgins is a dear friend of mine and a colleague from Louisiana, and a very frank and outspoken person. He's also a very principled man. I didn’t even see it but he tweeted something today about Haitians.

Reporter: He told them to get out of the country by Jan 20th… pic.twitter.com/Y0oFz727WO

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 25, 2024

There's a formula here that the GOP employs again and again: the Tweet/statement/activity was terrible, but this is a good person (because I said so), and while I didn't see the Tweet/know all the details, I will forgive/absolve this person, even though I was not the person hurt by the activity.  Because it's the Christian thing to do. 

It's a lie. They aren't forgiving a "real" transgression (to them), and they don't care if the person is a good person--that person is "good enough for the political moment" and requires a permission slip. The permission slip has been pre-written, and we are only really just viewing what the in-group's tolerances are.

This type of cheap grace applies to Higgins, to Mark Robinson, to JD Vance, and entirely explains Trump. 

Instead of this statement vouching for Rep. Higgins, who is not noticeably repentant, I would throw it back to Speaker Johnson--why do have such a nasty racist for a good friend? 

JD Vance Creates Stories

 

I know this might get lost in the swirl of yet another Republican-ish white male gun-owner possibly trying to take a pop at Donald Trump (thoughts and prayers) but this is really rather serious: Trump's running mate admitted he sometimes creates stories (lies) because he wants people to see the truth (also different lies). To be more exact:

In a stunning admission, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, said he was willing “to create stories” on the campaign trail while defending his spreading false, racist rumors of pets being abducted and eaten in a town in his home state of Ohio.

Vance’s remarks came during an appearance on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, where he said he felt the need “to create stories so that the … media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people”.

And what suffering was that? Because the "suffering" was supposedly happening before the acid thrown on cars and the Proud Boys marching through town and the Klan fliers posted hither and yon. The college campuses going virtual and the suspected arson. 

He can call that the "hecklers' veto" and pretend that people who threaten violence or do vandalism aren't going to do the real thing. We know in El Paso and Buffalo and Squirrel Hill sometimes bad things happen to real people because the real people and the real bad people do exist. 

That isn't "stories". 

This Tenet Thing--

 

Since 2016, I've felt sort of hyperaware about the potentiality of Russian disinfo because obviously, WikiLeaks and the IRA. Per the Senate Intelligence Committee, in multiple volumes, this was anything but a hoax. The claim Trump didn't welcome it and appreciate it is more than answered by his campaign's silence about it and even attempted cover-up. Money was funneled through Facebook and Twitter ads and RW-pressure groups like NRA. I joke that we are still living in 2016 because we are still finding out how that election was, well, weird. 

I deleted a post about how weird it was that Benny Johnson was a dupe to launder Russian talking points in the Tenet exploit because I realized that his basic dopiness and right-wing credulity is a whole fucking bigger mood than I was handling at the moment. We get that RW dopey incendiaries are out here--and they are pretty well-funded domestically as it is. Like, you pick a random concern-trolling "Liberty" "Freedom" "Heritage" or "Family"-labelled group from the last 100 years, and it was probably founded by some freaky Christian billionaire bigot family like the DeVos, Wilkes, Prince, Mellon, Coors, Koch, Busch, etc. The family-tree of theocratic and Bircher-light think tankitude has been incestuous and generously endowed since forever. 

But where there is money and batshit, you have a real problem--people who love the hell out of money and don't care what degree of batshit they spew. If you wanted useful idiots for foreign actors, this is one way you could open up a path for useful idiots to wrongfully mobilize people by playing on their fears and so on. Propaganda is cheap and effective. Even when we try to sanction the fuck out of the players to try and make it prohibitively costly to shit in the US litterbox--someone will try it.