Oedipally Wrecked

 

Charlie Kirk presumably has a biological father who molded him and his big head into whatever you would call him now, and I believe he is honestly straight married and isn't, in fact, closeted in any way. Also, he would play the mouth harp if the droopy-eyed SOB, lit from below as if telling a scary campfire story, in an angle reminiscent of his Georgia mug shot, depicted above, told him it was necessary to soothe an old man's slumbers.

(Get your mind out of the gutter--that's from the Bible, it is! )

There are big men, manly men, men who have never shed a tear in their lives, who want this apparition of bad-assedness in office, not because he is good at anything, but because of images like this. His followers can tell one another he wants vengeance and is a Bad Spanking Daddy because the "Russia Russia Russia thing" was his villain origin story, and they want him to be right. 

Like little kids who love their Daddies, they can't see he didn't need an origin story, he's just kind of generally dumb and bad. He wants to punish people for noticing what he did and "disrespecting him". 

In short, they want a motherfucker, and here he is. And this photo is looking pretty damn motherfuckerly. 

For All They Care

 

You know, there was a little part of me that thought I'd write a little bit about the Jack Smith 1/6 report, but honestly--no. People who care already have a good idea what it's all about (and can even tell you about missing pieces FWIW) and people who don't care--don't care. I've developed a kind of "you can lead a horse to water" sense of these revelations, and I don't think I could find a better example of why than today's Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. 

Hegseth came into the hearing with a cloud of controversies hanging over his nomination. But after he was questioned for more than four hours, Republicans came away feeling optimistic that Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army combat veteran, would be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

“He comported himself extremely well and made a strong argument for why he ought to be the next secretary of defense,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., adding he will “work quickly” to get Hegseth confirmed.

I would like to know what Senator Thune thought the "strong argument" was, because I'm not sure the hearing actually demonstrated that he was in any way particularly well-qualified or that he had some unique qualities that overrode his various personal controversies. But if what we have is a not-especially well-qualified serial adulterer and accused rapist who bankrupted a couple of NGO's being selected by a not-especially well-qualified serial adulterer and accused rapist who bankrupted several companies, well, you might as well talk about the weather as judge him on any set of serious criteria. 

Sure, "advise and consent" is part of a US senator's job. Sure, you could try and say that having an unfit person running the DOD is a national security problem. But you see that sign in the picture up above--where the word "military" is misspelled? 

The Cruelty is *Almost* the Point

 

NEWSMAX: Why should other states be bailing out California for choosing the wrong people to run their state?

TUBERVILLE: We shouldn't be ... they don't deserve anything to be honest with you unless they show us they're gonna make some changes. pic.twitter.com/SUvVPRDgKm

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 13, 2025

There's some good conversation in the comments in the last post regarding MAGA attacks on sign language interpreters--it's about punching down and divisiveness. I recall during the pandemic, the Trump administration pit blue states vs red states for access to resources.  Also, some conservatives fairly openly wanted to sacrifice elderly and disabled people for the sake of the economy (even though that would have been a box of horrors--and we have alternative ways of thinking). We should by now understand the America First problem.

In TrumpWorld, there are only things that serve Trump's (MAGA) needs. If there is a crisis, people just have to figure out how to serve Trump's needs with it. Maybe that means "punishing" a blue state in the hopes the fed-up citizens will just elect Republicans next time around. If Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security have to get cut for Trump's budget to make sense--so be it. 

Who thinks they deserve their promised benefits, anyway? (They have deluded some folks into thinking it's all a Ponzi scheme, anyway.)

What Do MAGA have Against Sign Language?

 

Charlie Kirk called out by US National Association of the Deaf as sign language controversy escalates https://t.co/L5dW9CSvqV #deaf #interpreters #ASL #signlanguage

— Deaf News Today (@DeafNewsToday) January 12, 2025

I see Chris Rufo has also decided he needs to be mad about sign language interpreters, too.  Deaf people deserve to have access to information in a way that is immediate and relatable to them. It actually doesn't distract anyone--mostly. If you are distracted, maybe this is a cognitive problem about YOURSELF you need to get addressed. 

But as a person who finds aural processing a little more difficult in my older years who uses CC for tv--it sucks and is not reliable. I can hear, but I am aware it is not always adequate for people who can't. Also, CC is absolutely not great at all for someone who might be deaf or hard of hearing and also has an issue with reading facility, like dyslexia. 

Climate Sunday: Amateur Meteorology for Dummies

 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has previously commented on Jewish Space Lasers and may believe in the Deep State Weather Machine, has suggested a rare and curious cure for the wildfires in California--just seed the clouds! It's an existing technology! We have the tools!

Problem is: we don't have the clouds. There is no moisture. The only moisture is what is being scooped up and thrown at the fires by brave airborne firefighters--like these Canadian and Mexican firefighters are doing:

We can't count on some god-like intervention--it's all sweat and tears from here. 

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.