The Friday Link for 2/26/21

For this week's Link, we start with what likely was the worst Minnesota winter on record, the "Long Winter" of 1880/1881.

When it comes to winter events in the 1800's, the first one you usually hear about is the Blizzard of 1888.  Don't get me wrong, the 1888 blizzard was brutal, but it mainly effected the mid Atlantic and Northeast coast.  It killed a lot of people, but that was because it hit where most of the people in the US were living.  For sheer size and scope, the Long Winter was much worst. 

The Winter started with an October blizzard, still the earliest on record in Minnesota, and it just never let up!  It impacted from Minnesota to Kansas, from Ohio to Denver. I'll let The History Guy take it from here: 

Makes what we went through this winter seem quaint! 

And if you really want to be grateful, be thankful you weren't in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 6th, 1917.  Most of the city was wiped out by an astronomical explosion.  The images from the catastrophe are hard to comprehend.   This from Fascinating Horror!

A little bleak, but definitely interesting. 

Have a great weekend everyone.  Stay healthy, stay safe! 

A Bucket of Rush Limbaugh

As many people who visit the blog know, I host a radio show which features regular guests with specific specialities, who occasionally come on and share their wisdom.  One of them is my food expert and wonderful chef, Terry John Zila.

A few years back I asked him, "why are shows like 'Man Vs. Food' so popular?"  Man Vs. Food is a cable show where the host (originally Adam Richman) would go tackle major food challenges at restaurants; like the ten pound hamburger, or the El Diablo chicken wings, or the 5 pound steak with all the sides.  Some of these food items would have a time constraint for consumption to completed by, others would require you just finish everything on the plate.  The show was popular.  A lot of people liked seeing these challenges which appeared on various menus across the country, challenges they themselves would never try.

Without skipping a beat, Terry said "because shows like that allow people to live unhealthy, while not actually engaging in the unhealthy behavior."  He went on to add how many people might look at a ten pound hamburger and say that looks delicious, but they're smart enough to avoid ordering one themselves. Adam Richman could do it for them, subjecting himself to a massive meal.  By the time Richman got halfway through his challenges, it became more of a public service announcement: "here is the professional eater being brought to his knees by this. Don't be dumb enough to try this yourself!"  People lived vicariously through the show, without having to endure the digestive nightmare.

I'd seen this play out every Minnesota State Fair.  When I broadcast at KSTP, we were right down the street from the Sweet Martha's Cookie booth, probably the most popular Fair food booth. People would order the bucket of cookies, a heaping large pail of cookies; easily more cookies than person should eat in an entire year, given to them in one 'serving', a serving which could feed forty people.  I'll never forget the faces of the people as they began their walk from Sweet Martha's to our booth.  Their faces went from pure joy to 'what was I thinking' in a matter of 20 steps.  We'd always have abandoned buckets left on the broadcast stage (and bees), left behind by fools whose internal desires overrode their common sense.

Rush Limbaugh passed away from cancer on February 17th. He was undeniably a racist, sexist, homophobe, bigot, fear mongering jackass.  He was!  That was his brand!  Just some of the things he said:  "Barack the Magic Negro," (towards Latinos) "You're a foreigner...You shut your mouth and get out," he attacked Katrina victims, constantly attacked the black members of the NBA, NFL and the NAACP, "women shouldn't be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud," his insanely racist anti-Asian rant against Chinese President Hu Jintao, he attacked people dying of Parkinson's, called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" for advocating for universal contraception coverage, referred to LGBTQ+ politicians as "the tranny community," constantly said white people should be proud of their record on slavery, he was the driving force behind the completely made up Seth Rich conspiracy and in turn tortured Rich's family, a career of targeting the homeless, he attacked the dead CONSTANTLY including Robin Williams, George Steinbrenner, Trayvon Martin, and Kurt Cobain (among MANY others), he attacked Joe Biden and Joe Biden's family when he went after Biden's dead wife and child, as well his Beau Biden who died of brain cancer, and he openly mocked and laughed at the victims of AIDS.

Image from Paul Hoppe at Gen.Medium

In case you are missing my point, speaking as a Catholic, Rush Limbaugh is BURNING IN HELL for eternity.  That's not even debatable.

What's stunning is how all the sudden the Evangelicals are now trying to portray Limbaugh as some sort of über-Christian divine being, an angel who had visited earth, taken from us too soon.  These people listened to Rush for years, many of them laughing at his daily unforgivable comments.  For his entire career, Rush's fans never condemned any of Rush's CLEARLY anti-Christian hate speech.  They all heard it, AND THEY LOVED HIM FOR IT...AS CHRISTIANS!

You see, Rush was like a far right extremist political version of Man Vs. Food.  Down deep inside Rush's Evangelical and 'Republican party over Jesus' Christian fans, they wanted to say the racist, misogynist, homophobic, bigoted, anti-Democratic, anti-Immigrant, anti-poor comments Rush was willing to say, but they knew if it came from their mouths, they'd be called out immediately for their anti-Christian behavior.  That's why they adored Rush.  They could embrace the anti-Christian rhetoric/comments without having to say them themselves, just chuckle along with the bigot!  They could eat their 10 pound hamburger, or in this case the 1000 pound crap sandwich, without ever having to chew for themselves. 

And now that he died, the Evangelicals and far right Christians are now looking at his true legacy; the hate and division he sowed, the legacy of anti-Jesus comments he spewed. That's why they are frantically trying to portray him as something Rush Limbaugh NEVER was, a good Christian. They are trying desperately to paint him as something misunderstood, noble and righteous.  He was NEVER that.

Rush fans are walking away from the Rush Limbaugh booth with a bucket of his hate.  They eagerly bought the bucket of venom and loathing, giddy with delight as Rush filled it with more and more anti-Christian dictum.  Now that they're walking away from Rush, they're realizing they've become gluttons, freely gobbling up super size servings of bombastic, evil sermons.  Out of desperation to change their foolish loyalty to 'something the other side just doesn't understand,' they now insist they never embraced what Rush said, but rather they only bought into Rush for the bucket the hate came in.  

Stop lying to yourselves and to everyone else.  You loved Rush for the hate he belched every day.  Evangelicals and far right Christians, just be honest:

"We will miss Rush because he said all the non-Christian things we wanted to scream.  Instead, we never had to say it directly.  All we had to say was, 'I love Rush Limbaugh.'"

The Friday Link for 2/19/21

Howdy hi all.

To start off this week, we go back to Caitlin Doughty, from Ask A Mortician.  A few weeks back we featured her plea video, as she was searching for help in Los Angeles County, demanding leadership as the CoronaVirus death count had overwhelmed the morgues, funeral homes and every other business associated with dealing with individuals who have passed away. 

Her update is not exactly positive, but it is hopeful.

Next up is the return of John Oliver.  Reminder rough language ahead!

The main story from his first show back is asking the question of where the next pandemic will come from, because, as he points out, it really is only a matter of time before a more dangerous virus than COVID-19 jumps to humans and causes even more damage. 

On that terrifying note...Have a great weekend everyone.

Stay Healthy, Stay Safe!

The Mirage

I've been chuckling lately at the insistence that 75 million Americans are about to engage in an armed insurrection against the government and install Trump as 'Dictator of Life.'  Any conservative pushing this Stephen Miller fan fiction is a nut, but not just because they're at the point of embracing the destruction of western Democracy for Trump, but because they actually think all of his supporters are ready to take up arms and begin Civil War 2.

Before I get going, we have to be honest about the number of votes Trump got.  He only got 74,222,960, over 7 million less than Joe Biden.  You can't just round up 780,000.  If you're going to round that number, you'd round it DOWN to 74 million.

How many of that 74 million is ready to take up arms and start shooting at any Democrat they see?  One thing is for sure, it's not even close to 74 million. 

I know I'm about to paint with a wide brush, and a good chunk of this is pure speculation, but there's a real big difference between politically supporting a candidate for President and that same person actually murdering people they disagree with politically.  I do understand there are going to be exceptions for every one of these hypotheses, but I feel pretty confident we can whittle away large chunks of your 'Trump Army.'

First off, wealthy people aren't going to fight.  The super wealthy would never jeopardize their wealth for (what will be) a grossly outnumbered group of far right thugs.  A few might secretly bankroll a treasonous army, but for the most part wealthy people are not fools.  They like America just the way it is.

What would be the break point for what you consider wealthy?  I think any household making $200,000 a year or more would make a good break point.  Factoring in some numbers from Statista (on household income in America, realizing this would probably include both adults in most two person households) and the New York Times (on who exactly voted for whom in 2020), that's going to be somewhere around 10 million of your voting base who likely will sit out your insurrection.  74 million - 10 million = 64 million.

Then comes the middle class and lower income suburban voter.  Little over half the people who voted in 2020 came from the suburbs, with Biden holding a slight lead over Trump 50 to 48.  Still that would translate to 35 and a half million Trump voters. Many of these people live and work in the cities where their suburbs are located. Their kids go to school there and the parents are part of the PTO's/PTA's.  They volunteer, shop, eat and go to church there.  And now you're saying all of them, including the more moderate Republicans who voted for Trump out of a long strained party loyalty, are going to pick up a gun and start blasting their neighbors away? 

Sure some might, but those kooks will be the rare exception.  These people have good jobs, jobs they'll lose if they start killing co-workers.  Suburban dwellers might like to go to a cabin or go camping a few weeks every year, but they're not likely to abandon everything they've worked so hard to earn and head into rural American to join a deplorable hillbilly brigade.  If they're going to fight for Trump, they'll have to do that!  They won't be able to anonymously spring attacks on their neighbors and then just go back to mowing their  lawns.  They won't be able to put down a successful military strike on the local Democratic politician's office and then be done by 5 so they can be a junior's Legion Baseball game.

So how many of the 35,500,000 suburban Trump voters, minus the already deducted wealthy, will be on the front lines of the new war?  At most, AT MOST, 5 million, and that's being generous. 64 million - 30,500,000 = 33,500,000.

The next numbers would surprise you.  Trump got more voters from the inner cities than the rural parts of America.  Cities of 50K or more in population counted for 29% of the vote, of which 38% (17 million) went for Trump.  Small cities and rural America was 19% of the vote, which 57% (16.5 million) went for Trump.  Focusing on the cities, I have zero doubt a small handful of Trump supporters would try to lash out at the masses, but they would quickly be killed.  Any inner city Trump voter who wanted to partake in a war against the country would have to leave everything behind too.  If they got 1 million to leave their inner cities and go fight, I'd be surprised, but for arguments sake, I'll give them 2 million of the 17 million from cities.  33,500,000 - 15 million = 18,500,000

But here comes Trump's bread and butter!  A lot of the 16.5 million rural Trump voters would eagerly sign up to serve in the Trump Army.  Mind you most of them would be terrified of even going into the suburbs to fight, but they'd get their uniform and walk back and forth in some field claiming they were on the front lines.  Some rural Trump voters won't have the stomach for gunning down their neighbors in the streets, but I'll be generous. Only 2.5 million of the 16.5 million rural voters will say no.  18,500,000 - 2,500,000 = 16 million.

Now we are getting to a FAR more realistic number.  Granted we have not factored in the 80 year olds who voted for Trump, who clearly wouldn't be able to fight, but we also haven't factored in the children under 18 who will be encouraged to kill liberals by their parents, as well as the anti-voting extremists who would quickly come out with their guns.  Factoring in both, I'll give (generously, and I do mean GENEROUSLY, I'm downplaying the elderly vote for Trump and upselling the 17 and younger/militia types) the Trump Army an additional 2 million.

16 million + 2 million = 18,000,000

Eighteen million! That's the number of soldiers in the Trump fighting force ready to take to the streets.

18 million...in a country of 331 million. 5.4% of the country verses the other 94.6%.  GOOD LUCK!

And that's not even factoring in the huge problem of the police and the military.  I know the Trump army has convinced themselves law enforcement and the armed forces will turn on America and join them, but they're going to be in for a very rude awakening when most officers and soldiers stay loyal to the USA.  It will be a hoot to watch a bunch of weekend warriors with limited training and skills get destroyed by the 10th Mountain Division!  Sure Trump's Army might try for some terrorist strikes, truck bombs and drive by shootings, but our special forces units will quickly take them out.  Do you know how many cameras there are watching everything?  There's no way the Trump army conducts a strike on a major city and then gets back 50 miles into rural America without getting lit up.  And I'm sure with the US' tracking systems any safe houses in the metro areas will quickly be leveled too.  The US government will shut down the roads to Trump strongholds, and wait them out like Vicksburg.  It will not be pretty.

Plus you have to look at the structure of the Trump army as an organization.  I can already tell you many of the Trump faithful will want to be a leader not a follower, and they'll insist on leading from behind, staying back in relative safety as they send others to go do the dirty work.  I would guess only half of the Trump army would be willing to be on the front lines.  

The idea of going to war is great when it's in you imagination, but it's a different story when reality sinks in. Bob was a middle manager at a Forbes 500 country who loved Trump for his racists comments and was furious Trump didn't win.  Bob killed four people in his neighborhood, loaded up his car and then headed out rural farm country.  When they told him he needed to be a front line solder, Bob was incredulous!  I've been mid level management.  I should be in charge!  

There will be too many chefs in the Trump army kitchen.

And how exactly are you going to coordinate this military fighting force. Eighteen million sounds like a lot but they will be stretched thin across most of the country.  There will be large contingents in Republican stronghold areas like Mississippi, Wyoming and western Texas, but they will be spread a lot thinner in places like Maine, California and Minnesota.  How exactly are you going to move a massive military force across the country without being noticed and napalmed?  Also, how exactly are you going to communicate?  Phone lines, both cellular and land line, will be monitored, as will short wave radios (how many people even have a short wave radio or access to one, especially one they can broadcast on). The internet?  Considering the insane stupidity of the January 6th terrorists, who posted their crimes for everyone to see, these fools would be talking directly to the US military and they wouldn't even know it. 

End result, there's no way they would be able to coordinate their maneuvers.  The only thing they could do is a series of fractured regional terrorist campaigns, but, once again, attempting to get to their targets and back to their home bases would be suicide missions.

I won't go into the supplying of this fighting force.  I can already tell you they would run out of provisions and ammunition in fairly short time, but there's one lingering question.  What happens when Trump either dies or leaves the country because of the never ending lawsuits?  I'm not wishing Trump dead, but rather just asking what the Trump Army's chain of command hierarchy is.  I don't think Pence is next in command, but no one else, not Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani, or even a Trump kid would resonate like Trump himself.  He's an old man who eats a lot of fast food.  You'd better get this insurrection in gear because you are on the clock.

Seriously, try it.  I'll enjoy watching the military annihilate you.  I'll enjoy your towns and communities being occupied.  I'll enjoy you having whomever on your side survives paying restitution to the rest of us for your high crimes and misdemeanors.  And most of all, I'll drink up you far right stooges having your mirage disappear and reality smack you in the faces like like a 2 X 4.  It will be a delicious wine, flowing freely. 

Like I said, Good luck! 

The Friday Link for 2/12/21

Howdy all!  

This last week was stellar for comedy so we have 5 clips, FIVE for you tonight.  I will warn you up front:  I think all of these clips feature rough language and some adult themes.  You've been warned!!!

Let's start with a news story you probably have no idea even exists, but it is massive; the Indian Farmers strike. 

One of the worst parts of the last 4 years was how Trump sucked all the news air out of this country.  I remember when we used to hear about news from around the world, but then Trump and his childish need to be mentioned by the media every 5 minutes led to a stifling restriction of the news from outside our borders.  Heck, it stymied a lot of the news within our own borders too!

The Daily Show is starting to look around the world and, as only they can, they break down what is the biggest farmer strike in the history of the planet, all due to the disastrous anti-small farmer policies of their current leadership.  And Trevor Noah covers it with a smile! 

I'll stay with the Daily Show for another bit with Jordan Klepper covering the 2nd Impeachment Trial in Washington DC.  It is really bizarre how different DC is from the last video Klepper did, the one for the Trump rally which turned into the insurrection.  And Rep. Adam Schiff throws down and calls out the crazy people in the GOP today!  NICE!

Next up is one of the best SNL skits from the season, this featuring the fantastic Dan Levy, and the naughtiness of Zillow!

Next is a tribute to the end of the NFL season, the Bad Lip Reading version of the season.  If that dude doesn't have "X-Rated Kissing Machine" on a jersey immediately then he's a fool. 

Lastly this week is a sensational video from the always hilarious ZeFrank, True Facts: The Incredible Tardigrade.  His videos always feature a few interesting facts, but learning these things can be exposed to outer space and then spring back...WOW! Not only might that eventually help with space travel, but the idea of life coming to Earth no longer seems like such an impossibility! INCREDIBLE!

That should tide you over.  Happy Valentine's Day and have a great weekend! 

Stay Healthy, Stay Safe! 

The Friday Link for 2/5/21

This week I decided to try to walk everyday, as starting tomorrow the temperature drops down into the nether regions here in Minnesota.  Heck I walked today in 11 degrees and nearly froze, and it'll be 25 degrees colder on Sunday morning.  I'll be passing on the strolls for the next week.

Hopefully that means I will get some writing done. 

For this week's Link, since the Super Bowl is on Sunday, we'll start with a compendium of ads about the NFL.  Some of these ads are very good (the best being the 100th anniversary ad at the beginning) and some not so much, but it's a good watch.

Next up a fine take down from Randy Rainbow of one of the craziest people to ever hold a Federal elected position, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Warning! Language!

And finally this week, a hilarious bit from Patton Oswalt about the drunkest audience he ever did a show in front of.  Once again, a warning about language!

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm.

Stay healthy and safe too!