Love actually

 

Mamdani, I just met a guy named Mamdani
And suddenly my dread
Of socialism all has fled

Sharia
It turns out to be not so frightful
Just a kid from the Bronx who's delightful
Mamdani
I wish my boys were more like Mamdani!

Well, that was strange.  But stranger things were to come.  Is Trump really trying to copy the look?


He's probably never worn a turtleneck in his life.  But...


It's close.

Something happened in there -- we may never know what unless the Russians release their recording.  (They installed a baby monitor.)  Trump now says there's no need to send the National Guard to New York City.  At the post-summit press conference Mamdani was asked if he still considers Trump a fascist and Trump interrupted, "That's OK, you can just say yes.  I don't mind."  Fascist it is.  According to Kevin Hassett of the National Economic Council he's also changed his mind about withholding federal funds from the city.  Jake Tapper looks as confused as everybody else.


Should we worry?  Did we get played?  Will ZoMo turn out to be another disappointment like Fetterman?  Relax, MAGA is just as gobsmacked today.  Vickie Paladino, who is so far to the right on the New York City Council she's in danger of falling into Long Island Sound, praises Dear Leader as "absolutely brilliant" in his handling of "Mandonni."  She predicts fireworks from the "DSA crowd" for this act of appeasement.  Rudolph Giuliani is calling for a priest to bless the Oval Office where the sight of Mamdani made him "sick to my stomach."  (The man Joe Biden called "A noun, a verb and 9/11" had no such problem with Prince Mohammed bin Salman.)  Elise Stefanek, who's running for governor, labelled the mayor-elect "Kathy Hochul's jihadist," leading the governor to respond, "She's full of shit."  I miss New York politics.

For reminding members of the military that they have a duty to refuse illegal orders these six veterans/members of Congress are receiving death threats fomented by Dear Fascist Leader:

At least one is receiving police protection.  Envious, Candace Owens is turning her crazy up to eleven.  When the president of France and his wife sued her for defamation she wanted the US to treat it as a national security threat and activate troops, but even Trump didn't want to get into that.  Now she's asserting that the Macrons "executed upon and paid for my assassination."  What's more, the same elite outfit trained the assassin of Charlie Kirk.  Nobody wants to be killed but a lot of people want to believe they're important enough to be killed.  Bill Maher, for example, recently explained why he no longer does stand-up comedy:  "I could get shot by the left or the right."  Bill should stick with weed -- whatever he's doing now is making him paranoid.  

At this point I believe everything I read, the weirder the better.  Did Rachel Maddow attend the funeral of Dick Cheney?  You bet, and Anthony Fauci sat next to her.  Whadda you lookin' at?


Is the Vatican showing an interest in pop music?  Well, it had good things to say about Spanish singer Rosalia, whose new album of faith-based songs Lux combines flamenco with hip-hop and reggaeton.  Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca, the Vatican's culture minister, says check it out.  (Rosalia has four songs in the Spotify Top 50, more than Taylor Swift.)  In other music news, there was a rave in Kosice, Slovakia, this month to mark the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober and the crowd got an unannounced video blessing from Pope Leo.  Did I just type all that?


Are you ready for the Great Colossus of Prometheus?  Is anyone?  Crypto bro Ross Calvin wants to put this $420 million 450-foot statue on Alcatraz Island, with a gas-powered torch in its hand, to celebrate the Titan who stole fire from the gods and was punished with one of the more creative tortures in Greek myth.  It would be taller than the Statue of Liberty and symbolize technological progress and stuff in time for America's 250th birthday.  So a statue from France and one from classical Greece -- what about America first?

Here's one consequence of pulling up the drawbridge and pretending the rest of the world doesn't matter.  Clade 1b, a potentially lethal variant of mpox, is spreading in Europe, 45 cases so far.  There is an effective vaccine but since the US stopped supporting WHO and running vaccination programs in Africa the contagion has quickened.  Rubio or Kennedy or another of Trump's geniuses forgot that people travel from "shithole countries" to Europe and bring the virus with them.  Clade 1b will be here soon enough.

Whether you read Olivia Nuzzi's book or not, you're about to find out about felching.  It appears in the many text messages she received from Brainworm Bob Kennedy during their 2023-2024 relationship, when she was supposed to be covering him as a journalist and he was supposed to be married to Cheryl Hines.  Bill Clinton's cigar and Lauren Boebert's busy hand are about to be surpassed.  Brace yourself.













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