The Friday Link for 9/19/25

The Trump White House has declared war on the First Amendment.  No one is safe.

Hey, Trump supporters and MAGA, wasn't protecting Freedom of Speech YOUR ENTIRE MANTRA the last 15 years?  Didn't you scream about the evils of Cancel Culture CONSTANTLY (usually as you called for boycotts of everything from the NFL to ice cream)? 

For the record, your speech was NEVER being taken away.  You clowns think Freedom of Speech means Freedom from Criticism.  You so desperately want to be taken as nuanced and intelligent, and it hurts your feelings to be called out for your bigotry, racism, and stupidity. So you guys started labeling anyone criticizing you (as they use THEIR Freedom of Speech) as trying to stymie your Freedom of Speech.  Then you went on 500 radio stations, 10 news networks, and 15 podcasts and screamed how your voice was being silenced. 

Now here you are, giddily ripping away Freedom of Speech from those you don't like, excitedly cancelling anything you deem to not be Trump-ish enough.  You're all F-ing clowns. 

In response to Jimmy Kimmel having his Freedom of Speech taken away by Trump and the FCC, let me post the rebuttals from Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. 

Also, tonight is an exceptional take-down of hack comedians by Marc Maron.  He joined Howie Mandel's podcast and was asked about the continuation of comedians attacking marginalized groups now that they had helped usher in this new era of stripping away the rights of the marginalized.  Note that Maron never says they can't say what they are saying, just that they are horrible people for continuing to kick people whom they happily victimized.

Will we even have a country by December? 

Please stay vaccinated, regardless of the "advice" of Brain Worm Magee. Vaccines keep you safe and healthy. 

Try to have a nice weekend.

The Friday Link for 9/12/25

Hi all! 

One of the best shows from the last 15 years was Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  The cast was so good and it's one of the few series where there were a few good laughs every episode.  A lot of that had to do with the insanely talented Andy Samberg, but everyone else on that cast was great, especially the late Andre Braugher, who was like a modern Leslie Neilsen (who I featured last week on the Link!). Like Neilsen, Braugher was better know as a serious dramatic actor, until someone gave him a chance to uncork some comedy.  One of the best casting decisions ever! 

There was a running gag on the series of the Halloween Heist.  Every year they would have someone trying to outsmart everyone else in the police department.  What happened ended up being great comedy, as you tried to figure out who out played who ("Like Frans Bruggen plays the flute!"). 

Here is a running tab of all the Hallowween Heists from Brooklyn Nine-Nice and whodunit! 

Another clip this week is another classic from ZeFrank, the master of real science nature videos wrapped up in some outstanding comedy!  Today, it's True Facts: Bats, The Science of the Hunt!

And finally tonight is a clip from Stephen Colbert, commemorating the 10th Anniversary of The Late Show.  It is great to see Julianne Moore ( I just rewatched The Big Lebowski!) but trust me, the pay off at the end is spectacular! 

Have a great weekend everyone.  Be safe.

Please make sure to stay vaccinated.  There are too many idiots in power trying to convince you that you shouldn't.  They are lying to you.  Get vaccinated!

The Problem with Fear

Some Democrats have been coming after me lately.  While most have been cordial, one or two have been belligerent beyond belligerent.   It's funny when people you don't work for think they are your boss and have the ability to tell you what to do.

What has led to the hubbub?  Fear.  Fear can be a crippling thing.  It chews people up on different levels and has a bad habit of creating solutions to problems which are haphazard at best, and (judging from the MAGA right) downright 'evil with a purpose' at worst. 

I'm not saying people don't have a legit reason to be afraid at times.  I AM afraid occasionally! Trust me, the litany of threats I've gotten while carrying the water for the Left has been at times terrifying, with direct threats to my wife and kids. 

But I don't stop what I do. I could! I could walk away at any point and get a career in the private sector, disappearing into anonymity. But I do love what I do, and I will not let the fear control me.  That's my personal choice.  You make your own.

(image from Psychology Today)

Let me explain what happened:

A few weeks ago, Hennepin County Commissioner Heather Edelson had a piece in the Star Tribune where she criticized protestors coming to another commissioner's residence and protesting there.  For the record, I think it's inappropriate to protest at a politician's house, but IF NO ONE IS BREAKING THE LAW, and they are respecting private property and only protesting on the public street/sidewalk, that is a Constitutional Right. If they had violated the law in regards to the commissioner's private property, I'd be for prosecuting them, but as of today, it doesn't sound like the protesters did.

If calling out the stupidity of protestors protesting at a politician's house was where this ended, I think Edelson and I would be in complete agreement, but she decided to take her argument in an unfortunate direction.  She brought up the fear she and other politicians have in the wake of the terrorist assassination of MN Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, as well as the shooting of MN Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. According to the article, she linked the terrorist strike to legal protesting, which are two VERY DIFFERENT THINGS.  Read the article for yourself:  https://www.startribune.com/commissioner-to-protesters-please-stay-away-from-our-homes/601450130?utm_source=gift

To my knowledge, she never said the Star Tribune took her comments out of context, nor did she come out and clarify that 'of course protestors protesting legally are not the same thing as Vance Boelter, the terrorist  in the Hortman/Hoffman case.' My pointing this out doesn't mean that Edelson's (or anyone else's) residual fear in the wake of Boelter isn't real or legitimate, but to invoke his heinous crime while discussing peaceful protesting, even at a politician's house, is overreach, an over-villification of the nth degree to try to make your argument more pertinent. 

Since then, the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, had a protest scheduled for in front of his residence, and after the protest was moved, the mayor's wife, Sarah Clarke, also compared peaceful protesting to Boelter with the line "Violence against public officials and their families is no longer hypothetical - it has happened here in Minnesota." (https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-protest-jacob-frey-home-moved/601461518?utm_source=gift).

Sigh...

Peaceful protesters are not the same thing as Vance Boelter.  They aren't, and the overreach in both of these cases to try to add a false provenance to their fear-driven anti-protestor mantras is not only an insane exaggeration, but you're also actually diminishing the true horror of what happened to the Hortmans and Hoffmans to try to punch up a political issue WAY BENEATH the terrorist strike on Minnesota.

The assassination of the Hortmans and attempted murder of the Hoffmans is one of the worst things that has ever happened in this state, on par with the murder of George Floyd, the 35W bridge collapse, the Hinkley fires, the 1878 grain mill explosion in downtown Minneapolis, the abuse of the Native peoples, and the loss of lives of Minnesotans in the Civil War.  If I were to say, "I think we should revisit Minneapolis parking regulations because of what happened to George Floyd," I'd be so out of line it would be inexcusable. I get you're afraid, but peaceful protesting IS NOT a terrorist strike. 

The vilification of one group of people by invoking a far different, far more serious crime/individual IS SOMETHING REPUBLICANS DO ALL THE TIME!!!  When I made that point, Edelson and a few other Democrats took umbrage with me, insisting I was WAY out of line.  No, I wasn't.  That's exactly what Republicans do. Look at Trump's immigration roundup of all minorities ("They're all criminals!") or the passage of the Laken Riley Act ("Because one person did this, EVERY non-citizen will do this!").  

We just had the tragedy of the Annuciation school/church shooting and immediately Republicans are using that tragedy to target all transgender people.  If you don't want me to compare your analogies to the MAGA Right, then don't make analogies like the MAGA right!

Let's entertain the argument of these Democrats and talk about stopping all protestors from protesting at the residences of politicians.

Let's start by defining which politicians.  I will presume that we are talking about all statewide officials (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Auditor), the two MN US Senators, the 8 MN US House Reps.,  and every member of the Minnesota House and Senate.  I presume this because the two people who are suggesting this are a County Commissioner and a City Mayor, so they must be talking about all political offices higher than theirs. And the nature of the position of the people making the suggestion means all county commissioners' residences, mayors' residences, and city council members' residences are off limits, too.  That's A LOT of public roads and sidewalks now off limits. My guess is that this protection would be retroactive to all former politicians who served in any of the aforementioned positions.  I would hope that we are also not going to loop in family members of the politician after that politician has passed away. 

And then comes the question of how much of a no-go zone are we talking about. Judging by the arguments, it clearly is not just in front of a politician's house, but the full street the politician's house is on. Does that go for one block, two blocks in each direction (just to be safe)?  What about a politician who lives in an apartment building?  Does the entire surrounding block of the building become a no-go protest zone?  Is it a full two-block radius around the entire building?  And what about politicians who have a rental place in the city where they reside while the Legislature is in session? Are we going to have no-go zones there AND at their houses back into their districts even though they are not there at the time?

And what exactly constitutes a protest?  Is it 50 people?  Is it 10 or 12?  Is it one person with a picket sign?  Is it a car that is parked on the street with a lot of bumper stickers that are against the politician who lives on the block?

The state will have to release a map EVERY WEEK of no-go protest zones in the state, which could be upwards fo 20% of pubic roads and sidewalks. Congratulations, Democrats have just annihilated the First Amendment of the Constitution, while the Republicans who HATE public protesting laugh and laugh and laugh.

And I don't want to skip past the irony of a politician watching a beloved neighbor getting rounded up by ICE agents, wondering, "Where are the people protesting to stop this?"  They're four blocks away, as you demanded. When you want protestors to show up for your cause, it will be a hoot watching you realize you've just torpedoed your own agenda because a member of the Park Board lives three houses down and hence the protest is illegal.

And even that far-right Supreme Court would laugh your attempted law out of court, wasting taxpayer dollars to defend the indefensible.

Once again, I think protesting at a politician's home is misguided, but I also understand that fear should not be used to validate violating other people's rights, no matter how many tragedies someone invokes in their argument. 

One of the more depressing elements of this whole confrontation was having two Democratic politicians, when I brought up the point that I've been threatened too, dismiss that as irrelevant.  The only fear they felt was valid was THEIR fear.  And you wonder why the Democratic Party has a hard time relating to the masses (FFS).

Fear is nasty.  It makes you irrational and untrusting.  I know.  I've gotten a lot of threats over the years defending the Left, but I don't use those threats to vilify any person who disagrees with me on a political issue.  If I do that, the people making the threats win.

If you are afraid (and after Boetler, many people do have a very valid reason to be afraid), my best suggestion is to talk with someone about it.  Get a counselor, or talk to a trusted friend.  Talking it out helps you put everything in better perspective and helps you get past the shock, anger, and fear.

I will make this offer.  If ANY politician wants to sit down and talk about their fear, I'd be happy to meet with you, buy you a coffee, and discuss it.  I will listen to your concerns and feelings, relate my experiences, and let you know you are not alone.  This is a serious offer, and it is open to anyone, Democrat or Republican, who is feeling fear control them.  If I can help, I'm more than willing to try.

I'm not going to quit doing what I do.  Most politicians like doing what they do.  I understand that desire to serve and try to make our community better.  Just don't fall into the trap of fear; proposing anti-American policies, invoking far more serious tragedies to try to add weight to your misguided reactionary agenda.  If you do that, fear wins. 

Best of Minnesota State Fair Fine Art, 2025

Every year, I post what I think are the best pieces of art from the Fine Art Exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair.  This is totally arbitrary and in no way represents what the judges thought. This is just what caught my fancy.

Please feel free to disagree.  Isn't that the point of art: to create discussion, disagreement, and open up personal feelings?

Here are the pieces I did not rank in the top 5.

(love me a moose painting!)

Here's my list.  #5

#4

#3

#2

#1

The Friday Link for 9/5/25

Good Friday evening, everyone! 

Let's start with Police Squad! I remember being a kid and watching this show when it aired for its 6-episode run in the early '80s.  This show was so freaking funny, continuing the non-stop silliness of the Airplane movies. Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin was hilarious, skewing every TV police show ever made.  It eventually led to the movie franchise, and that was good, but the TV series was something special.

Here is a video featuring some of the action.  Try to catch every sight gag in these scenes.  There is a lot you will miss the first time. 

By the way, John Ashton shows up as a bad guy.  Ashton went on to play Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. In an interview he did a few years back, he said the scene where Drebin asks them to explain the rock was the hardest scene he ever had to film because they all kept breaking out laughing.  It took them an entire day to do that one scene. 

The original Nordberg was hilarious.

Also tonight, we have two short ones. 

OK Go, the band known for their insanely great music videos, is back, with an animated video for their latest song, Impulse Purchase. 

I'm not sure if I ever featured Elle Cordova before.  She is a brilliant, witty comedian/writer who puts out exceptional videos where groups of concepts gather (sciences, fonts, planets).  Here she is having a meeting of all of the inventions! 

Because this is a short, you need to click on the link. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/NHat7IaZ488?si=HBrWNNPhRmmXP9Y1 

Have a great weekend, everyone, and make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations. 

The Friday Link for 8/29/25

It's the end of summer, so that means only one thing...it's the Grand Finale! Of the Jelle's Marble League 2025!

You might remember how Jelle's Marble League got a lot of attention as pretty much the only sport going on for a while during the pandemic. And yes, it's just marbles, but as I wrote back then in a Friday Link, I'll be danged if I didn't start rooting for them with some intensity.  

It's been enjoyable to see some of the teams' turnover.  You wondered if certain types of marbles were able to do better in these competitions because of how they are made, but there has been a consistent turnover of teams.  I've been a big fan of the Oceanics, a perennial basement dweller in these competitions for a while, but now they are one of the better teams.

As a matter of fact, the Oceanics are currently in 2nd place going into the finale of the Marble League 2025, trailing only the Kobalts, another team resurrected from failure over the years.  Will the Kobalts win the whole thing?  Will the Oceanics stage a comeback? Will one of the other teams rise and pull off the upset?  

The only way to find out is to watch the finale.  Plus, they do have an intense closing ceremony too! 

Also tonight, with Last Week Tonight on hiatus for the Labor Day break, they did put out a web exclusive on one of my favorite topics over the last five years, Mike Lindell.

They look not at Lindell and his plethora of lawsuits against him, but rather at Mike Lindell's store, which features products that make the state fair exhibition booths seem like the World's Fair. Most of this stuff is bad, but Oliver does highlight some of the more egregious entries. 

Finally tonight, speaking of the State Fair, I just had my second day at the Minnesota State Fair, and of the new foods I ate, here is a rundown:

Somali Street Fries - one of the best things I've ever had at the State Fair

Carmel Apple Lollipop ice cream - VERY tasty, and sweet, but the perfect amount of sweet

Tater  Kegs - Basically a big tater tot.  Not bad, but they kind of fell apart with the sour-scream dipping sauce.

For more on the State Fair foods, Dāv Kaufman Eats the World paid a visit and had some positives and negatives to talk about. 

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations! I got my flu shot at the Fair!

The Friday Link for 8/22/25

Hi all.  Still taking a break from the Worst Thing Trump Did. My kids go off to college next week, and as I said, I'm trying to spend as much time with them as I can before I become an empty nester. 

But it's not like there aren't a lot of bad things going on right now.  Trump is ordering the miltiary into US cities, he ordered the DOJ to raid the home and office of a poltical rival today (and the DOJ eagerly obliged), he's making up fake mortagage fraud crimes to go after other poltical enemies, he is still rounding up people off the street, he's trying to find a way to throw out the 2026 election, he's actively helping genocide in Palestine, prices are skyrocketing for most Americans, school and healthcare are going to be destroyed, most of the world hates us, we're all goign to be a lot sicker, the Ag sector is on the verge of collapse, they're literelly taking the money from the poor and giving it to the rich, people are starving to death, racism is a main tentpole ideology for this Adminsitration, and every good thing about this country is being ground to a pulp.  

Yep, dark days indeed.  

There are a lot of little things that add context to what exactly is going on in this country.

I have posted the Anti-Chef multiple times.  He's a quirky cook who tackles complicated recipes, and over the years, he has become a pretty good cook himself.  What's funny is even though he clearly knows what he is going, and has all the tools one needs to be a great cook (RIP Silver Fox), he still makes an absolute mess in the kitchen.  He's relatable.

He's also Canadian.  A month plus ago, he announced he was leaving New York City. He didn't explain exactly why until this video came out 12 days ago, explaining why he is moving back to Canada.  In one of the nicest ways possible, he basically points to the current political climate here as a main reason (but not the only reason) he is leaving. 

Watch for yourself.

He won't say it directly, but it seems like Trump drove him out of the USA.

He did set up shop in Toronto, and he already has his first cooking video out, where he compares chicken and waffle recipes from noted chef Thomas Keller and Snoop Dogg...YES, that Snoop Dogg! 

I think the Snoop version looks great! 

Finally tonight, another Animated bit from Make Some Noise. 

Please be safe out there.  PLEASE stay up to date on your vaccinations.  

Have a good weekend.

The Friday Link for 8/15/25

Hi all.

You may be wondering why I haven't done the Worst Thing Trump Did in a week.  First of all, I'm exhausted by this Administration.  There is SO MUCH HORRIBLE!!!  The damage done by this Administration may never get fixed; that's how bad Trump is. I needed to take some time away from a daily slap to the face.

Also, I am about to become an empty nester. My youngest daughter heads off to college in a few weeks, and I am trying to absorb every minute I am allowed to have with her.  

I eventually will start it back up, but not today.

For you tonight, one video, a Mystery Science Theater Classic, Gamera Vs. Guiron! Enjoy.

Have a wonderful weekend and make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations! 

The Friday Link for 8/8/25

Howdy all!

Let's start off on Broadway! Well, in the movie version at least.

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is currently running 'Cabaret.' Their presentation (I saw it two weeks ago) is superb, and unbelievably on point for what is happening in this country today. 

'Cabaret' is not a happy musical. By the time you get to the end of it, it's quite depressing. It basically talks about life in Berlin at a cabaret nightclub as the Weimar Republic dies and the Nazis rise to power.  

What's crazy about the relevance to what is going on today is how the Guthrie must have decided 2 years ago to put on 'Cabaret', not understanding what a flashpoint it'd be for Trump's America, nearly mimicking what we are seeing going on in the US with our own eyes. 

Here is the original film version of Willkommen from 'Cabaret,' featuring Joel Gray and Liza Minnelli, both of whom won Oscars for their roles. 

Speaking of Broadway, why not enjoy a song from 'Chicago' too? Here is the Cell Block Tango, featuring the lyrics. 

Next up is a great video from Biblical scholar Dan McClellan.  There is a real concerted effort from right-wing MAGA Christians to make the Bible all Trump, all the time.  It seems being faced with MAGA policies being downright evil, the religious hacks want to make sure no one starts thinking Jesus was about love, compassion, and caring for the less needy, only HATE, HATE, HATE! 

This ends up being a pretty epic smackdown. 

And finally tonight, it has been a while since a movie trailer made me tear up.  This one did.  

I will go see The Choral. 

Have a great weekend, and please make sure to stay vaccinated! 

I want you alive!  I want you to be happy. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/7/25

Let's talk about 401(k)s, the employer-sponsored, defined-contribution, personal pension savings account using pre-tax money.  It is a fairly popular investment option for a lot of people, and although there's some risk, it's not nearly as dangerous as picking investments individually.  It's usually a good option for employers and employees.

But maybe not anymore.

One back story note:  The Republican Mantra, which has been folded into MAGA, is that they want to take all the money taxpayers pooled for certain programs and safety net options (NASA, public education, Social Security, the Post Office) and give it to the wealthy.  That's it.  Kill something like Medicare, give all the money to the wealthy, and then accuse the people dying of not working hard enough.  They're cold-hearted bastards.

There is a lot of money in 401(k)s, and the Trump Administration might have discovered a way to drain those accounts and get that money into the hands of the ultra wealthy. 

Trump signed an executive order to open up 401(k)s to private equity, real estate, and cryptocurrencies.

It's that last one that might be the vehicle to drain the 401(k)s.  I'm not a fan of cryptocurrency.  It's WAY too much like a Russian mob Ponzi Scheme for me to take seriously.  For God's sake, there is a story out of some cryptocurrency meme coin douches throwing sex toys onto the floors during WNBA games, promoting the meme coin named after the sex toy.  So far, this disgusting stunt has raised the currency by 300% and, eventually, the owners of the meme coin will sell all their coins and watch the coin lose all of its value, screwing over the parade of idiots who bought it after watching a sex toy hit the floor at a basketball game. It's a grift. And should not be taken seriously.

But Trump LOVES it, because he can manipulate the markets and make himself billions. He wants it in the 401(k)s so that he can eventually run the price up, cash out, and watch America's workforce wonder what happened to their retirement account.

It's basically dildos throwing dildos. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/6/25

Apparently, JD Vance's "team" ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to "fix a river."  

Vance, taking a family vacation, had the Little Miami River levels raised so that he and his family could have a more enjoyable time. What they did was regulate the outflow of Caesar Creek Lake, which in turn raised the river level.

Vance's team insists this was to make sure the water levels were safe for the Secret Service Detail that travels with the VP, but sources say the primary concern was to make sure the river had perfect kayaking conditions for the couch humper.

And indeed, US Geological data shows the river height rose sharply and then receded, in conjunction with Vance's trip.

He exploited public infrastructure for his own personal usage.

This is B-rate Bond villain crap. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/5/25

Yesterday was a freaking cavalcade of insanity!

From Trump screaming at the press corps from on top of the White House.

To the same Administration that just cut healthcare benefits for the sick and food aid for the hungry, announcing they're going to build a nuclear reactor on the moon (WTF?!?).  Considering the US no longer has any government rockets, this will apparently be a space fuel station for private billionaires.

To the Ag Secretary, tripling down on the idea that sick, disabled, and elderly people on Medicaid should be forced into the fields to pick crops, back-breaking, strenuous work, to keep their healthcare.

But let's go with Brain Worm Magee!

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cut 500 million in funding for the development of mRNA vaccines.  In total, he halted 22 projects, most of which were targeting respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID.  Brain Worm lied.  He said the vaccines don't "perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory track" (they do), and that the vaccines actually prolong pandemics (a laughable made-up piece of buffoonery). 

mRNA vaccines have FIFTY YEARS of research and development, a track record of success.  They have been proven to train your body to fight viruses and trigger immunity.  They have been so successful that they're currently being developed to potentially treat cancer...CANCER! They're working on a cancer vaccine, and Magee just pulled the plug on it...and a lot of cancer patients. 

It's such a bad decision that Trump's first Surgeon General Jerome Adams tore into RFK, Jr. "...this move is going to cost lives!" He then called out Brian Worm's false standard that unless every respiratory disease is brought under control by a vaccine, the vaccine is useless. 

It's so clear that RFK Jr. is just making this all up as he goes! My guess is there's going to be a suppliment he starts to insist it the real option for healthy living, a suppliment that he gets a cut from, and when a quarter of the population is eventually dead, we'll discover he and his whole family have EVERY vaccine, followed by him insititing he "never was against people getting vaccines."

The good news is I'm not sure where his pardon would even begin.  You can't pardon someone for being a stupid dumb ass. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/4/25

For the record, the Confederates were the villain.  They seceded from the Union and murdered hundreds of thousands of American citizens, so that the wealthiest white Southerners could keep black people as slaves.

And yet, Trump shows us he would have been rooting for the South during the Civil War.

The Trump Administration has ordered the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike to be reinstalled in Washington, DC.  

Pike's statue was a long point of contention, with people wanting it removed in the 1990s.  Finally, in 2020, the citizens of the city took matters into their own hands and ripped the statue down.  I do not condone violence and vandalism, but I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to get the statue put back up.

And Pike was a horrible general.  Go look for yourself, but he was bad. The Freemasons had requested the statue be built as Pike was a longtime leader of their organization (tells you about them), but the deal was that he had to be portrayed in civilian clothes, which he was.  Regardless, this would be like having a statue of Himmler installed in the middle of New York City, in civilian clothes, because he was a huge fan of Broadway.

Confederates suck, Nazis suck, Trump sucks.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/3/25

Remember when Republicans were up in arms at the completely falsified lie "Hunter Biden is selling access to his father, the President"? Remember how Republicans, with veins popping on the beet-red foreheads, were screaming that the mere appearance of someone buying access to the President, or being rewarded with access, is a failure to our country, and that "President Biden should resign(!)"?

Remember the entire Republican Party screaming that?

Funny, their standards seemed to have shifted slightly. 

Trump basically has a "BRIBE ME" sign up on the White House lawn. He doesn't even hide his pay-for-access or pay-for-approval schemes. He just held up the Paramount/Skydance merger for a payoff (and the firing of Colbert). There are many entities, from universities to law firms to corporations, whom he openly says, "Pay up or else!"

But I know Republicans will say "that's the cost of doing business, and that isn't necessarily screaming 'Bribe Me!"

No, for that, a story came to light yesterday.  Through MAGA Inc., the Trump Super-Pac that funds his political machine, people are outright sending him money for access and appointments to government positions.  In the first 6 months of 2025, they've raked in 177 million dollars. The Crypto industry alone gave him 45 million.  You make a donation, you get private one-on-one time with Trump.  

Multiple donors have even gotten plum administration appointments, including that knucklehead who was nominated to be the ambassador to Singapore and whom embarrassed himself greatly when he couldn't answer basic questions about Singapore at his confirmation hearing.

And those same Republicans who insisted that their going after President Biden had NOTHING to do with politics, only "maintianing an ethical standard for our government" are either scouring their friend groups to offer a bribe to Trump (hoping for a finders fee), or suddenly VERY quiet about what everyone sees going on in front of our faces. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/2/25

In what was easily predictable, a leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security gave some details on the Trump Administration's plans to expand the use of the US military on American soil.

The memo talks about how the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense are coordinating with each other for the expansion of the use of the military, under the argument of immigration enforcement. One person described this expansion as the largest use of US military personnel on US soil since the Japanese internment camps of WWII.

There is another very ugly reason for this.  Right now, there is no way in hell the Republicans are going to hold the US House and Senate in 2026.  The last thing the Trump Administration wants is to give the Democrats the opportunity to openly investigate the Administration.  

If the drunk Pete Hegseth waits until August of next year to start placing armed forces across the country, everyone would know what it's for.  If they start posting military across the country today, in the biggest US cities, under the argument of immigration enforcement, then the troops are in place if the Trump Administration calls for a delay in the 2026 election ("We're going to wait until people's emotions have calmed down and then have an election.").  They might also call for state results to be thrown out, and the military will be there to deal with the masses furious over the overthrow of Democracy.

This is not good. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 8/1/25

Threatening a nuclear war in a desperate attempt to get Jeffery Epstein and bad economic news off the front page is always gold, but let's look at that economic news.

Yesterday, they announced that the July job numbers failed to meet expectations, with 73,000 jobs created versus the estimate of 109,000.  That's not great, but it's not fatal.  What was far more damning was the revised job numbers for May and June. 

Now, for the record, I had insisted that the job numbers for May and June were not right when they came out.  There seemed to be genuine shock and awe that they had come in at 144,000 for May and 147,000 for June. Considering how many Federal Government firings were happening alone, those numbers seemed exceedingly pollyanna. I doubted the numbers were legit.

They weren't.  The stunning revisions on the numbers, May down 125,000 to 19,000 total, and June down 133,000 to 14,000 total, point to Trump manipulating data to push a narrative, preventing the truth from coming out, that his economic plans are quickly souring the economy. His tariffs are weighing heavily on prices and hiring.  These are the worst months for hiring since he was in office during the pandemic in 2020. 

Trump did what all dictators do when faced with bad news: he fired the people who delivered the bad news.  Claiming with ZERO evidence that Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer had falsified the job numbers to make him look bad, Trump fired her and said he wanted a new commissioner who would tell him the economic news he wanted to hear. 

It's pretty clear to me that somehow McEntarfer had posted the correct jobs data, CORRECTING THE FAKE JOBS DATA THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAD MANIPULATED TO MAKE HIM SEEM COMPETENT.  The fake numbers were the original numbers, and Trump is really angry about the truth coming out. 

But it also means no sane person would trust the job numbers that come out of this Administration from this point forward. TRUMP HAS DEMANDED THE NUMBERS BE DOCTORED! Already, many economic experts have stated that August jobs numbers will probably be worse than July's.  This means it will be easy to see the lies being presented as facts.

It also should be noted that a country falsifying jobs data to push a narrative not only creates a recession/depression free fall when the eventual truth comes out, but it also is a prime factor in what is called hyperinflation, when consumer prices skyrocket overnight, pricing the consumer out, devaluing the currency, and stifling spending. 

Fall is going to be an economic nightmare for this country. 

The Saturday Link for 8/2/25

Okay, I missed the Friday Link.  Guilty as charged. 

This year has been a freaking nightmare.  I think yesterday morning, when the truth came out about the jobs numbers in May and June, that they were falsely inflated to make Trump's economic policy look better than it was, I broke down. When the revisions for May and June came out with July's paltry numbers, someone didn't get the 'Lie for Trump' memo, and the truth came out. The whole firing of the numbers person has FAR more to do with trying to cover up the Trump Administration's initial lies when the job numbers came out, versus correcting any wrongs they insist they were never part of.

I'd had it. That was before Trump decided to start moving nuclear subs around to avoid the Epstein Files/bad job number talk.  I took the day and gladly did not look back.

This has been a really tough week for a lot of people.  I've had to become a counselor to a number of stressed-out friends over the last year and requests for me to tell people 'it's going to be all good in the future' skyrocket this week.  I had already taken a break from the WTTD threads, but I feel the need to get back to work.

Trump wants us to be depressed and submissive.  That's the only way he works. I took a day, and now here we go.

The first video is fascinating.  Hank Green's science-heavy discussions on certain topics are great, and I highly recommend following his channel. This week he talks about the evolutionary changes fish had to make to get on dry land, and it really is remarkable. Of the many evolutions that happened, he has one which he is positive was the most important. 

Another thing he does is explain how these evolutions happened, where usually some type of cell in a fish's body reinvented itself in a bizarre way to allow for a new adaptation.  See for yourself. 

Also, funny but with science, True Facts comes at us with the story of how crickets became the loud ones in the animal kingdom! 

Finally, some hope for you. In dark times, good people rise.  Texas State Rep. James Talarico came out swinging.  

As weakling Democrats cower and throw transgender people under the bus, insisting we should allow their rights to be diminished because 70% think they participate in sports is wrong, Talarico gives the response that should be the first thing out of our mouths when the HATE RIGHT attacks.  

You have to click on the link for this one. It's quick and it's worth it. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/i-FvSqPsMkA?si=VN-OrHdGYzJR3uGE

Have a great rest of the weekend! 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/27/25

It's a little thing, but Trump getting caught cheating red-handed at golf is such a perfect synopsis of who exactly this man is. 

His caddie got out to look for Trump's ball, and you can CLEARLY see the caddie drop a fresh ball, to which Trump walks up and hits it, acting as if it were his legit shot.  And from the angle, Trump clearly saw the caddie drop the ball.

MAGA loves to talk about how great he is at golf.  I'd be great too if I got a new ball every time I hit one. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/26/25

Let's make sure we understand the reality the news media doesn't want to report:  

One of the Trump Administration's core values is racism.  This is the most racist Administration since before the Civil War, and they are SO FREAKING PROUD OF IT!

Like everyone else trying to decipher Trump's madness, the Government of South Africa wanted clarification about Trump's new refugee program for Afrikaners, the former white ruling class of South Africa.  Remember that the Trump Administration made up fake tales of whites in South Africa being persecuted to justify a new policy where they can come to the US as refugees.

The South African Government asked the US State Department if South Africans who spoke the Afrikanner language, but were of mixed race, would be allowed to take part in this refugee program.

Spencer Chretien, a Senior Official with the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, responded and said everything you need to know:

"The program is intended for white people."

As you can imagine, the State Department insists there is a clarification. They insist that the real policy is that all Afrikanners and other racial minorities would indeed be considered for refugee status. It seems Trump's eager racism caught the Administration up, as the initial order did indeed say that refugee status was to be delivered to Afrikanners and all other South Africans who are in the minority (the Trump Administration thought this would only apply to white people, as South Africa's dominant population is Black). But the mixed-race individuals are also technically a minority in South Africa. They would be allowed to apply for refugee status in the US, something that might be allowed, but they will likely see the racist State Department refuse to process their applications.

Another immigration analyst said it best.  Most people who try to become refugees in the US need to take up to two years to become refugees.  Afrikanners are being allowed into the country in two weeks.  The only reason they would be okay with that timeline is that if the only thing that matters to them is skin color. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/25/25

With all the other crimes against humanity being conducted by Trump and his Administration, we haven't checked in on Brain Worm Magee, Robert F Kennedy Jr., the Director of Health and Human Services.

A few days ago, the brain-dead dolt and his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) stupidity took a huge credibility hit.  Not only did Magee praise drinking soda made with cane sugar, something you should dramatically limit if you are trying to be healthy, but he went on to praise the fastfood-ish restaurant chain Steak and Shake (if you want to be healthy, limiting steak, especially cheap fat laden ones, is a good idea, and shakes are definitely a no-no!) for their commitment to carry the sugar cane soda to go with their fat and calorie heavy meal options.

Anything that a complete moron says about living a healthy lifestyle should be ignored. He's a snake oil salesman. 

And evil, too! Yesterday, he announced his plan to fire the entire 16-member panel of the US Preventive Services Taskforce, an independent panel of national experts who recommend clinical preventive services such as screening tests, counseling services, and preventive medicines. They determine what cancer screening and other preventive medical procedures insurance plans are required to cover.

Why is he firing all 16 members of the panel? He says they are "too woke," having used some terminology he deemed offensive (pregnant persons), dared to mention racial discrimination of minorities, and mentioned the modern psychological impact of generations of enslaved Black women being forced to nurse their slave masters' babies.  For a bunch of guys who screamed about the evils of 'cancel culture,' they are the MASTERS of cancel culture.  They are such pathetic, delicate little flowers!

I have zero doubt this will lead to a Barin Worm Magee/Dr. Oz supplement, which they will insist will help prevent and cure cancer, but whose small print warns that the supplement not only doesn't prevent and cure cancer, but will likely cause it.

We are all less healthy with that f-ing idiot in charge. 

The Friday Link for 7/25/25

This is all about Colbert getting fired and the response afterwards. 

In case you missed it, Paramount, CBS's parent company, decided to give Stephen Colbert 10 months, and then they will cancel The Late Show. They say they are doing this to cut costs, but nobody believes this.  Paramount wanted to merge with Skydance, and since a public broadcast network was part of the deal, they needed the FCC to sign off on the sale. Trump was intentionally holding up the sale to get some concessions. They got CBS to fold on the Trump lawsuit against 60 Minutes, a lawsuit which no one thought Trump had ANY chance to win, and then, for a cherry on top of the sundae, Paramount killed Colbert in some sort of ritual sacrifice to get Trump's favor.

Everyone hates Paramount now.  There is a movement to get people to cancel their Paramount+ subscriptions and give the money to Public TV and radio. That's not a bad idea. 

Colbert's first show back after the firing was magical. The opening monologue was great, but it was this segment with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Weird Al Yankovic that took the cake. They play a Coldplay song, referencing that moment when that CEO got caught at the Coldplay concert having an affair on their 'Kiss cam.' A lot of great cameos, but it's the ending that is just pitch-perfect. 

David Letterman was equally as pissed off about the termination of The Late Show, a show he began 30+ years ago.  He, in solidarity with Colbert, released a video montage of him brutally taking down CBS over the years. 

What comes next is INCREDIBLY ADULT! Do not watch this video if you are easily offended or are under the age of 18. 

South Park got into the game, too.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, had the brilliant season premiere on Wednesday, and they didn't pull any punches. South Park is one of the top-rated shows in the country, and they just made a deal with Paramount (they air on another Paramount property, Comedy Central) for 1 and a half billion dollars. They also have negotiated control over their show's content.  You knew this swipe was coming.

They basically dismantle the weakling that is Trump to perfection.  This clip is the end of the episode, but I HIGHLY encourage you to watch the entire episode to get a master class in dismantling the bully. 

I want to repeat, the end of this video is OH MY GOD!!!  You've been warned.  There is an age restriction on this clip, so you have to go see it on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afetnw70S04

Have a great weekend.  Please stay up to date on all of your vaccinations!

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/24/25

We definitely could go with the Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, the same guy who represented Trump at his criminal trial, going to Florida to negotiate with the known Jeffery Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to either have her be quiet and not testify in Congress, or to outright lie and make up a fantasy story that Trump was never the Pedophile and Cheif we all know he was in return for a full pardon. 

That's pretty bad, but anytime we discover that the Trump Administration is going full Nazi, that has to be the winner.

It came to light yesterday that Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Director, a member of the same party who screamed for years about "Government Overreach," is embracing a plan to place tracking devices on immigrants legally in the US. The plan is for around 200,000 monitoring devices to be placed on these HUMAN BEINGS, but they are trying to make it sound "humanitarian."  They say pregnant women will be allowed to wear them on their wrists. How kind...

This is a massive boon for the giant prison company, the Geo Group, a company that donated 1.5 million dollars to Trump.  Their subsidiary company, BI Inc., originally used these devices to help track cattle. 

They are treating human beings like farm animals. And this is the beginning, as the CEO of Geo says they are planning on having monitoring devices on "millions" of HUMAN BEINGS(!!!).

The Trump Administration is officially treating HUMAN BEINGS like...I was about to say a dog getting trained with an Invisible Fence, but that seems far more dignified and far less intrusive than what they are planning to do. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/23/25

We discovered that the worst Attorney General in the history of this country, Pam Bondi, told Trump in May that his name did indeed appear in the Epstein files. 

The story from the Wall Street Journal points to many names showing up in the Epstein files, and that just because a name does appear in the files, it's not necessarily a sign of wrongdoing.  Fine, but two things:  1) If Trump really was innocuously mentioned, would two DOJ officals have gone to his office to inform him of that, and 2) Trump is sure as heck acting like he is guilty as hell, even having his Administration continue with the laughable allegations agains President Obama (because when it comes to Trump, he knows his MAGA base loves attacking an innocent black man more than holding a pedophile accountable).

This, after Trump last week stated twice that he was told directly by Bondi that he didn't appear in the Epstein files.  Even Conservative columnists are face-palming at the obvious lies coming from the White House on this issue.

One thing that's completely being ignored is that the Attorney General of the United States got on camera and outright INTENTIONALLY lied to the American People to try to help Trump.  In the Biden Administration, Republicans wanted Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to be fired because he dissappeared for three days to have cancer treatments.  Republicans didn't want him to resign because he was sick, but rather because "he had broken the trust of the American people."  The SAME EXACT REPUBLICANS have no problem with Bondi breaking and stomping all over the trust of the American people with a FAR MORE heinous crime!

And at the end of the day, the Republicans have decided to protect a pedophile.  

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/22/25

It's unknown whether Trump ordered Speaker Mike Johnson to shut down the US House for the August recess two weeks early, or if it was Johnson's idea, to avoid a growing resentment within his own party to Trump's dodging of the ever louder Epstein files scandal, but the Republicans ran silently screaming away from Washington DC in a desperate hope that the demands for the Epstein Files, and what exactly is the undeniable connection to Trump, dies down like Epstein in his cell, by September.

It's frustrating that a lot of people are acting like this scandal is a new thing. Democrats (yours included) have been screaming for years that Trump is a pedophile, and the national news media outright ignored the obvious connections which were right in front of their faces.

It was only when Elon Musk said that Trump was on the Epstein List that suddenly the national news media finally felt like the potential of the President being a Pedophile is actually a newsworthy story.

I find it funny that the same MAGA trolls who have been screaming that every Democrat is a "pedophile" for the last 5 years, now faced with the reality that Trump is likely the King Pedophile, suddenly insist that either they never would accuse anyone of such behavior (so you should stop saying that about Trump, RIGHT NOW!!!) or that sexually assaulting minors is suddenly not a big deal.