The content of their character

 In the slow arc of history it hasn't taken long for Martin Luther King's birthday to go from federal holiday (1986) to King Festivus, an airing of grievances and complaints about the man who changed the course of America.  This year the tone was set by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-GED), who tweeted what she must have considered a Deep Thought:  "Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream that we would all be equal in America.  Equity had no part of that dream.  It was about equality.  Let's end the woke movement in America in honor of MLK, Jr."  Equity?  The value of one's home or the actors' union?  The dictionary offers fairness and impartiality as synonyms, and as a Trumper she has to oppose stuff like that.  It helps that even the authors of books condemning "woke" are unable to define it.  Does anyone else see Handy-dandy as a Trump Secretary of Education?

From incoherence to utter disdain:  Charlie Kirk came right out and told an audience of charliekirks, "We made a huge mistake when we passed the civil rights acts in the 1960s," creating "a permanent DEI-type bureaucracy."  "Federal courts just yield to the Civil Rights Act as if it's the original American Constitution," he went on, ignoring Shelby County v. Holder.  Suddenly it's like we all lost our First Amendment right to treat some people the way the Founders intended and the country's gone to hell and it's all King's fault, MAGA. 

The Republican would-be governor of North Carolina would agree -- or would he?  Mark Robinson has become a King fan in recent years but the HuffPost clicked through some of his Facebook screeds from the past, the ones where he called King a "communist" and "an ersatz pastor" worshipped by "a bunch of atheists."  There's more, but it's pretty standard for "black" Republicans in the age of Trump.  For Robinson, orange is the new black.

On the eve of King's birthday, in Atlanta, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., joined the chat.  He decided it was time to explain why Dad ordered King's phone wiretapped in violation of the Fourth Amendment:  for his own good.  J. Edgar Hoover, the racist FBI director, suspected King of all kinds of nefarious things, so the Kennedys decided to collect proof that Hoover was wrong.  "I think, politically, they had to do it."  Since Kennedy was fourteen when his father died, it isn't clear when they discussed this.  Anyway, thanks.  It's a day for community service and I guess that could include buffing the Kennedy legacy.  

Life goes on.

In advance of his second E. Jean Carroll trial Trump spent the day frantically defaming her over and over on his Xitter knockoff along with the judge and "his absolute hatred of Donald J. Trump (ME!)," so he still remembers his name.  Then he waddled in and sat down so he could glare at her because that's so intimidating.  At this point he's been abandoned by all his real lawyers and was accompanied by Boris Epshteyn, claiming to be a member of the New York bar.  A couple of election-deniers have already been excused from the jury pool.  VERY VERY UNFAIR!!!

Some clever Trumpanzee decided to celebrate his astonishing victory in Iowa by sending an emergency team to the White House early yesterday morning.  (You'd think the address 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be a clue.)  Swatting is a crime but no one has been arrested.  The Bidens were not home.

Two Russian command planes were shot down over the Sea of Azov but pro-Putin bloggers insist it could not have been done by Ukraine.  Probably British SAS operatives or friendly fire, or maybe it was aliens.  (It was Ukraine.)

The CDC reports that 63.9 percent of all births in Puerto Rico are by cesarean section, irrespective of the mother's needs.  Partly this is happening for the convenience of doctors but increasingly it's a shortage of medical personnel, caused by the territory's continuing financial crisis.  Only OB/GYNs can legally deliver a baby and they are moving to the mainland.  Puerto Rico gets less federal healthcare money than any of the states.  

Everyone knows about Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow, but do you know Neil Gorsuch's sugar daddy Philip Anschutz?  As the Flying Alitos prepare to hear Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, Gorsuch is being asked to recuse himself from a case which could greatly benefit his good rich friend.  At issue is a 1984 case called the Chevron deference, which established that federal agencies can make regulatory rules without Congressional approval.  Anschutz is already worth a cool $14.9 billion, so he's going to be fine no matter what.  How is it that the liberal ladies manage to scrape by with nobody to buy them RVs and take them dove hunting?

Suppurating chancre Trump can't limit himself to calling Joe Biden the worst president in the history of the universe or whatever gaseous hyperbole occurs to him -- he keeps bringing up Jimmy Carter, 99 and in hospice care.  "My wife [Melania, her name is Melania!] attended the funeral two months ago of Rosalynn Carter...I thought to myself, Jimmy Carter is happy now because he will go down as being a brilliant president by comparison to Joe Biden."  Yes, Mr. Carter looked happy as he said goodbye to his wife of 77 years.  

Suppurating chancre.