Skeets Of The Day

 

The deranged Malignant Fascist is fantasizing Iran as a state. He's insane. --

The president posts an image of Iran as a US state

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 23, 2026 at 10:17 AM

MAGA, is this what you voted for?

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— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 9:11 AM

Revising history: J6 insurrectionists and the Jim Crow state. No surprise they're connected --

Most folks don't realize how central events like J6 were to the Jim Crow state. Dozens of unprosecuted coups & massacres—actively encouraged by those in power—revived the fundamental logic of the pre-emancipation state: that Black Americans had "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

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— Dr. William Horne (@wihorne.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 8:46 AM

 

“.. the latest attempt by the Trump administration to reframe the Jan. 6 siege and to paint the rioters who participated in it as victims.” @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 8:02 AM

Howard "Nutlick" bribes Congress prior to his hearing on his Epstein connections -- 

 

Totally normal stuff. Completely standard for cabinet secretaries to give millions to those charged with overseeing them. Especially in relation to Epstein. Yup. Nothing to see here. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/u...

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— Brian Finucane (@bcfinucane.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 9:02 PM

South Afrikaner fascist racist Musk's SpaceX rockets continue to crash. Like his Teslas. -- 

 

Surprising no one, things did not in fact go according to plan.

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— Nash (@radiodeadair.com) May 23, 2026 at 12:59 AM

Ukraine pummels Russia's Black Sea fleet. Slava Ukraini! --

 

🚨Incredible night vision footage from Ukrainian forces striking Russian warships in Novorossiysk port last night. Ukrainian long-range FP-1 drone successfully hit the Admiral Essen frigate (Project 11356) and a Project 1239 missile boat. Big blow to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 10:16 AM

Also, attending Junior's wedding might interrupt his "executive time" or golf.  Great father. -- 

If I were related to Trump, I too would have my wedding in a country that doesn’t allow entry to felons.

— Helen Kennedy (@helenkennedy.com) May 23, 2026 at 11:04 AM

A reminder to demand the release of the full Epstein files. -- 

 

LIMO DRIVER: 13-year-old girl, 3 o'clock.

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— Paulley Ticks (@tomadelsbach.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 5:22 PM

 

 

The Epstein-Trump Files Nationwide Bus Tour

 

Overdue, and maybe coming to a town near you:

A New York installation displaying millions of physical files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will be going nationwide.

Organizers behind the popular “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room” exhibit are taking the concept on a nationwide bus tour this summer, the Daily Beast has learned.

The exhibit, currently on display in New York’s upscale TriBeCa neighborhood, showcases thousands of printed volumes of files connected to Epstein.

Miles Taylor, an organizer of the tour and former Trump DHS official turned Trump antagonist, said that visitors to the New York exhibit have been “completely blown away” by the sheer volume of information the government had on the sex pest. 

“Folks who came in, with no personal connection to the situation, people would leave in tears, because by the time you get to the end of it, it was a very powerful experience of sexual assault survivors that’s told through this exhibition,” he told the Daily Beast in an interview.

The current display in lower Manhattan, just blocks from the jail where Epstein was found dead in his cell in 2019, has welcomed a steady stream of visitors since opening on May 8.

The exhibit puts a particular focus on Epstein’s long friendship with President Donald Trump, which ended sometime in the 2000s. The president’s name is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files, although he has denied any wrongdoing. 

“The Epstein files for a lot of folks are a news abstraction, and I think for people who visited, all of a sudden, it becomes an understanding of the magnitude of the victims and the survivors, and also how deep the relationship goes between Trump and Epstein,” Taylor said.

“People have a superficial appreciation of that, but then you go there, you see the survivors’ memorial, you see the physical timeline, you see the literal weight of the literally tons and tons of printed files,” he added. “It blows people away.”

On the nationwide tour, organizers expect celebrities to drive the bus at times, and said they have received outreach from lawmakers and congressional candidates who want to make the tour part of their campaigns.

The tour is expected to launch after the July 4 holiday, but the specific stops and dates are still being finalized. Organizers are hoping it will remain on the road until the 2026 midterm elections, which are expected to be a catastrophe for Republicans...

Well try to keep you apprised of the stops and dates planned.  

The importance of continually reminding Americans of the Malignant Fascist's close, sordid friendship with Epstein/ Maxwell and subsequent felonious cover- up of criminal pedophile actions and actors, including by the squalid p.o.s. occupying the Oval Office, cannot be overemphasized.  It's the largest sex trafficking/ pedophile scandal in American history, and the fact that the Malignant Fascist is so deeply implicated (more than 38,000 mentions in the Epstein-Trump files!) demands that this is kept in front of the news until victims get the justice they deserve.  This bus tour deserves our support.

(Gif:  "She's hot" said the Malignant Fascist to his best friend)

Gabbard's Betrayal And Comeuppance

 

With Dem turncoat and hollow opportunist Tulsi Gabbard being pushed out as the Director of National Intelligence, it's clear that her influence over the corrupt Malignant Fascist's destructive policies was nil and that she tried to worm her way into his good graces by conspiracy mongering. From CNN:

"Months before announcing her resignation Friday, citing her husband’s diagnosis of a rare form of bone cancer, Gabbard was routinely sidelined from some of the administration’s biggest foreign policy decisions of Trump’s second term.

When Trump’s national security team gathered at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Day to watch the US operation in Venezuela unfold, Gabbard was thousands of miles away posting pictures on social media from a beach in her home state of Hawaii.

Ahead of Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites last summer, Gabbard posted a video warning that the world is 'closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before,' which angered Trump and the White House and put her on the sidelines." (our emphasis)

Her former beliefs that wars of regime change and international intervention were contrary to U.S. interests were set on the shelf as she declined to resign as the MF attacked Venezuela and Iran.  Instead, she focused on conspiracy theories involving the 2020 election:

"While Gabbard was sidelined when it came to international deliberations, she shared Trump’s suspicions of the so-called 'deep state.' Rooting out those perceived as being against Trump’s interests in the intelligence community became a main focus of her time as DNI." (our emphasis)

That prompted her absurd and controversial declassification moves and presence in Atlanta as FBI agents searched boxes of ballots and other records related to the 2016 and 2020 election:

"She declassified documents from the intelligence community’s assessment on 2016 Russian election interference in order to claim President Barack Obama was behind a 'treasonous conspiracy' against Trump. She took voting machines in Puerto Rico to try to prove baseless claims of election rigging. And in January, pictures of Gabbard on the scene in Fulton County, Georgia, as FBI agents seized ballots from the 2020 election raised serious questions over why Trump would want his top spy chief present — given that the DNI is barred from domestic law enforcement operations." (our emphasis)

There will be mourning for Gabbard in the Kremlin, whose state media referred to her as "our girl Tulsi" for her seeming embrace of Russia's interests.  It's clear that Gabbard was willing to do anything to be close to power, dumping her "principles" and going from an anti-interventionist supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders to a senior position with the odious bully MF.  Her political career is likely wrecked, and so it should be.  The fewer Gabbards we have in civic life, the better.

(photo: A secretive Gabbard at the Fulton Co. board of elections facility / Elijah Nouvelage, Reuters)

 

Tomorrow's World Yesterday

 

We have two clips from BBC Archive from 40 years ago, one concerning the latest technology at the time, and the other asking children in 1986 how they foresaw the future in 2020 (when they talk about robots and computers, think AI).  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Pedro Molina, Tribune Content Agency)

(Nick Anderson, Raw Story)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Ed Wexler, caglecartoons.com)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Asher Perlman, @asherperlan)

Blanche Raked Over Coals

From (unfortunately) the New York effing Times, describing the angry reaction of Republican Senators to the lawless Malignant Fascist's corrupt Attorney General corrupt personal lawyer Todd "My Roy Cohn" Blanche trying to sell the $1.8 billion Trump Thug Slush Fund to the Senators, some of whom are facing reelection:

"...what unfolded in an ornate room just off the Senate floor on Thursday morning was a two-hour blowup in which dozens of Republican senators vented their anger and concern about the president’s fund at Mr. Blanche.

They questioned its legal basis, whom it would pay and how the process would work. And they made it clear they wanted no part of the plan, the product of a deal struck between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and his own administration to use money that Congress does not control to pay off purported victims of government mistreatment, potentially including some of the rioters who violently assaulted their workplace during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

By the end, Republicans were so livid that party leaders scrapped planned votes on the party’s top priority — a $72 billion immigration crackdown measure it had planned to muscle through before Memorial Day — punting action for fear of having to cast votes on the fund." (our emphasis)

At least, for a few days, they delayed the odious funding for the ICE / Border Patrol goons, who are shaping up to be his multi-purpose "enforcers" for future use.  They'll return thinking that the furor over the Trump Thug Slush Fund has died down, when much to their surprise it will erupt again. 

(photo: Trump's thugs battle police / John Minchillo, AP)

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

Buh-bye Putin plant Tulsi --

 

BREAKING: The White House forced US intelligence official Tulsi Gabbard to resign from her post, a person familiar with the matter said. Gabbard posted her resignation letter on X reut.rs/3PxKi24

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) May 22, 2026 at 1:35 PM

 

Operation Epic Epstein Fury / endgame is surrender / "Iran your gas prices up" --

 

"On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. It will exercise leverage with dozens of the richest nations in the world." From Robert Kagan, @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

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— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 3:56 AM

 

SPOTTED in rural Tennessee: “Iran your gas prices up” sticker⛽️

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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 9:27 AM

 

Consumer sentiment never this low before --

We have *never* before seen consumer sentiment this low.

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— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 10:20 AM

 

Cratering poll numbers --

 

Trump absolutely cratering in new Fox poll: 29-71 on economy 24-76 on inflation He's underwater among whites *and* rural voters (!) Among independents he's at 24 percent (!!) On the pod, @jamescdownie.bsky.social is good on the collapse of the Trump coalition: newrepublic.com/article/2108...

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 7:31 AM

 

The message --

 

Sen. Ossoff: I am running in Georgia against two Trump lackeys who would be voting for this ballroom and this insurrectionist slush fund. They're pro-war, they're pro-tariff, they're pro-cutting healthcare.

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— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 2:03 PM

 

The"flirting" stage is past, dammit;  get ready to move --

Democrats Flirt with Radical Reforms Needed to Dethrone Supreme Court talkingpointsmemo.com/news/democra...

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 9:26 AM

 

Support voting rights, support Southern Blue --

🚨 THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT SHALL RISE AGAIN! Become a *RECURRING* supporter of all 9 Southern state Democratic parties at once! #Blue26 secure.actblue.com/donate/vrast...

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— Charles Gaba ✡️ (@charlesgaba.com) May 22, 2026 at 9:41 AM

 

Most.  Corrupt.  Regime.  Ever.  --

 

Here's how the corruption works: Thursday: RJ Reynolds donates $5M to Trump Saturday: Trump invites RJR execs to Mar a Lago; execs ask to loosen regs on flavored vapes; Trump calls up RFK Jr. and tells him to change it Friday: FDA changes the policy

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— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 1:21 PM

 

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges (ret.) on Ukraine in NATO;  hunting Russians -- 

HODGES: Eventually Ukraine will be invited to join NATO, people will wake up and realize that we'll get better the day Ukrainians are members. Ukraine is best military in Europe. Ukraine is becoming net security exporter. Ukraine's going to be heart of European defense industry.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 9:11 AM

 

Recently, Ukraine has been systematically hunting Russian logistics in occupied territories, destroying supply routes, vehicles, and military equipment deeper behind the front line. More and more videos are showing the same thing: Russia’s rear is no longer safe.

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— SAINT JAVELIN (@saintjavelin.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 9:06 AM

 

MAGAt Republican values / a father's love --

Trump can find time to golf but not to go to Donny Jr’s wedding www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/u...

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— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 7:59 AM

 

Once more with feeling (Happy Friday!) --

Stephen Colbert wrapped up The Late Show with this joyful performance of 'Hello, Goodbye' with Sir Paul McCartney Crew and audience join them onstage, then McCartney switched the lights out at The Ed Sullivan Theater, where The Beatles performed on the same stage in 1964 Thank you Mr Colbert 👏 👏 👏

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— Ian Johnson (@mrianjohnson.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 8:52 AM

 

 

Weekend Music -- Memorial Day

 

Monday is Memorial Day in America, a day we remember those service men and women in all wars who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  We gratefully honor their service.  

Eighty-one years ago in World War II we saw the defeat of fascism and militarism.  But as we have sadly learned, this is a struggle that didn't end in 1945.  It continues to the present day all over the world...  and most disturbing to us, in our own country.  It would be an appropriate way to honor the memory of those who died in this struggle by defeating fascism once again in our time.

So, as has been a tradition with us, we're recognizing Memorial Day with "Beneath the Southern Cross," part of the original Richard Rodgers soundtrack for the NBC "Victory at Sea" World War II documentary series from the early 1950s.  The title refers to the constellation Crux (or Southern Cross) easily visible in the South Pacific.  The RCA Victor Orchestra led by Robert Russell Bennett performs the song, also familiarly known as "No Other Love Have I."  Have a safe and memorable weekend.

"Paying To Court The Mad King"

 

From Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, writing on his Substack platform today, commenting on Wednesday's CNBC interview of Amazon mega billionaire weenie Jeff Bezos, in which he lauded the Malignant Fascist and defended low taxes for his Epstein class cohort:

"Last year Bezos and other tech billionaires evidently believed that they could insulate themselves from criticism — and secure their wealth against both taxation and regulation — by allying themselves tightly with Donald Trump. Notably, Amazon, along with Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft is one of the companies paying for Trump’s grotesque ballroom.

But Trump is now exploring new frontiers in presidential unpopularity, and Republicans are facing a wave of public revulsion so strong that it will probably overwhelm even their strenuous efforts to rig the midterm elections.

So paying court to the mad king isn’t looking like the smart political move Bezos and his ilk thought it was. How, then, can they defend themselves against the threat of taxes and regulations that might make them slightly less rich?

Well, Bezos evidently thought that the threat to his billions was sufficiently important to justify going on CNBC to lecture the rest of us about the evils of taxation — but not sufficiently important for him to learn a few facts first.

Somehow, I don’t think this new political strategy will work."  (our emphasis)

The public revulsion that Republicans are facing is increasingly being applied to the mega billionaires / Epstein class as income inequality and rising inflation hit the middle and working class families, thanks to their cult leader's destructive policies.  Krugman cites chapter and verse where Bezos' self-serving "facts" are bogus and misleading.  Pushback like this on the false statements of tech bros and their enablers needs to happen regularly and forcefully.

BONUS:  It's no surprise that Bezos is cheap when it comes to charity. Moneywise reports that he's only given 2% of his wealth to charitable causes, and he hasn't signed the Giving Pledge to give his fortune to philanthropic causes. That's in contrast to his former wife, Mackenzie Scott, who's given far more of her wealth to charity.

He also paid zero taxes in 2007 and 2011.

(photo: CNBC)

Colbert's Finale

 

ICYMI, here's Stephen Colbert's emotional goodbye, then his final "Late Show" monologue, punctuated by some guest cameos, and then the very special musical performances to close out the show's run and the end, for now, of the use of the historic Ed Sullivan Theater (where the Beatles performed) as a performing venue.

 

You can check out the final episode playlist here for other segments.

See you down the road, Stephen, dog willing.

 

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)

(Ed Wexler, caglecartoons.com)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Michael de Adder, Toronto Globe and Mail, Canada)

(John Cole, TennesseeLookout.com)

 (Ruben Bolling, gocomics.com)

(Jeff Koterba, gocomics.com)

(Ivan Ehlers, @ivan_ehlers)

Meme Of The Day

 

(click on image to enlarge)

 (h/t democraticunderground.com)

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Cuban Epstein Distraction: another "excursion" aimed at Cuba? --

Nimitz Aircraft Carrier Enters Caribbean as Trump Pressures Cuba “the administration intends to use the Nimitz, and its wing of fighter jets, as a show of force, not as a platform for major military operations” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...

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— Shipwreck (@shipwreck75.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 7:40 AM

The Malignant Fascist's illegal Thug Fund likely beneficiaries. Oh hell no.  -- 

Todd Blanche believes that the rioters who beat cops and smeared feces on the walls of the Capitol are "good people" who should be compensated for their services to Donald Trump.

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 8:46 AM

 

Trump's administration announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund for Americans deemed to be victims of political "weaponization” and Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants want their share. Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader sentenced ‌to 22 years for seditious conspiracy, hopes to get $2-5 million.

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 7:04 AM

 

You will be paying her with your tax dollars. Brought to you by the Republican Party.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) May 20, 2026 at 10:47 PM

Ebola, the Malignant Fascist, evil Musk, and eugenicist RFK, Jr.  -- 

Trump and Musk’s profoundly evil decision to cut off U.S. aid is now making an Ebola outbreak in the DRC much worse. The world will live to regret the cruelty and stupidity of Trump, Musk, their flunkies, and the scumbags and fools in the U.S. who voted them in.

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— Faine Greenwood (@faineg.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 7:47 AM

He doesn’t care because he is a eugenicist. For him it is “survival of the fittest”. It’s about culling the population. It’s necropolitics.

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— Oni Blackstock, MD MHS (@oniblackstock.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 6:55 AM

 

Trouble for the MF's $1 billion golden ballroom / dictator bunker  --

(Punchbowl) - Senate Republicans are preparing to buck President Donald Trump on two of his long-running obsessions: the White House ballroom project and the “weaponization” of federal agencies against his allies. @punchbowlnews.bsky.social punchbowl.news/article/sena...

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 7:02 AM

 

He’s going to barricade himself in there after he refuses to leave office in 2029. Bookmark this

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— Rachel Bitecofer (@rachelbitecofer.bsky.social) May 19, 2026 at 12:39 PM

MF's poll numbers cratering, independents reject him by huge margin --

Trump absolutely cratering in new Quinnipiac poll of registered voters: 33-64 on economy 66% oppose $1 billion for ballroom And Trump is underwater among independents on economy by a staggering 43 points, 27-70 (!!) On the pod, we dig deep into all these numbers: newrepublic.com/article/2107...

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 9:24 AM

The despicable Gov. Polis censured by Colorado Dems -- 

This is the best news this month. Proud of these Dems. Polis is a fucking clown and deserves to be treated like one. There should be no room in this party for fascist enablers. Take them all out. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/u...

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— Jodi Jacobson (@jljacobson.bsky.social) May 20, 2026 at 11:08 PM

World Cup cancellations in U.S. mount.  Fire Trump ass-kisser Gianni Infantino  -- 

you know how badly you have to fuck up to throw a WORLD CUP and have nobody come?

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— Micah (@rincewind.run) May 20, 2026 at 8:21 PM

Last show tonight with the irreplaceable Stephen Colbert.  Turn off CBS / Paramount for good -- 

Kimmel told viewers not to watch CBS again after Colbert’s run ends.

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— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 1:20 AM

Classy! -- 

Spotted at Mar-a-Lago…

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— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) May 20, 2026 at 5:20 PM

 

 

Quotes Of The Day -- Breaking Containment

 

"... The CDC benefited from ears on the ground during that [Ebola] outbreak, which began in late 2013 and grew to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths. Some were CDC staff, others were contractors or physicians at partner organizations like USAID.  [snip]

"But last year, DOGE took a wrecking ball to that network. USAID was shut down practically overnight, which led to Ebola-prevention funding being “accidentally” canceled, as Elon Musk cavalierly noted. Musk at the time claimed it had been restored, but ultimately the health infrastructure was dismantled. Meanwhile, the CDC faced its own steep cuts and the U.S. — which had long been the WHO’s top funder — withdrew from the organization entirely.

"While it’s too early to directly blame those cuts for the late detection of the current outbreak, one thing is certain: The decimation of USAID and the U.S.’ exit from the WHO will make containing the spread much more difficult..." -- Lisa Jarvis, Bloomberg News, on why "Containing Ebola Is Hard. The U.S. Made It Worse."

 ____________________

 

“But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States….”

-Section 4, 14th Amendment

"... It is by now widely understood that the 14^th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship, and protection from state interference with citizenship rights. The Amendment incorporates the concept of equality – racial equality – into our Constitution for the first time. In so doing the 14^th brings our Constitution into harmony with the core principle of the Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal.' The drafting and ratification of the 14^th Amendment constituted a stunningly ambitious act of constitutional repair and reconciliation.

But the Amendment does even more. For the first time, our Constitution confronted head-on the destructive forces that live in the DNA of our country that had been laid bare by the Civil War. The powerful force of white supremacist ideology would have to be cabined. But those founders recognized something else – that the strain of insurrection that led to secession and the creation of the Confederacy continued to run strong throughout the South, and it too would need to be disabled.

For these reasons, the 14th Amendment did more than guarantee equality. Section 2 of the Amendment contains a provision designed to punish southern states if they attempted to keep Black (men at the time) from voting. Section 3 bars those who participated in insurrection from serving in public office.

Section 4, excerpted above, bars payments to insurrectionists...." -- Sherrilyn Ifill, in "Sherrilyn's Newsletter," on "Trump's Insurrectionist Payout Scheme Violates the 14th Amendment."

Both quotes illustrate the bitter irony of the Malignant Fascist's "Make America Great Again" slogan when, in fact, it's a national suicide movement.

R.I.P. Schlitz 1849-2026

 

Pour one out for a once-iconic American beer:

It’s last call for Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous.

The Pabst Brewing Co. has confirmed it is ceasing production of the iconic lager that has quenched the thirst of American beer drinkers for 177 years.

“Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus,” Zac Nadile, Pabst head of brand strategy, said in a statement last month to Milwaukee Magazine.

That means other retro beer brands in what could be called the Pabst portfolio, like bottles of Blatz and Old Milwaukee, will also be harder to find, the magazine reported.

“Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future,” Nadile said. “We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions.”  [snip]

The demise of a blue-collar beer like Schlitz marks the end of an era.

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was founded in 1849 by a German immigrant who took over a small Milwaukee brewery after marrying the widow of the original owner, August Krug — and renamed the business after himself.

While “The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” soon became the Schlitz slogan, it was actually the Great Chicago fire in 1871 that helped turn the brand into a national name, when word spread that the company had been shipping barrels of beer to aid the devastated Windy City.

By the 1950s, Schlitz was the biggest brewery in the United States, and its new advertising slogan declared: “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.”

Budweiser overtook Schlitz that same decade. Then, in 1976, came what became known as the “Schlitz Mistake” — the company changed its recipe to boost profits and alienated legions of loyal customers in the process.

The following year, Schlitz suffered another self-inflicted wound when it greenlit an advertising drive that came to be known as the “Drink Schlitz or I’ll kill you” campaign featuring menacing tough guys responding with threats when asked it they’d consider switching to another beer.

Meanwhile, Schlitz’s bottom line was buffeted by the rise of light beers and changing American tastes, and the lingering perception that it was an uncool beer of the past.

The beleaguered brand even became the unintended victim of a 1991 skit by “Saturday Night Live” called “Schmitts Gay,” which was actually a parody of the macho beer ads put out by some of Schlitz’s competitors.

Schlitz was sold in 1982 to the Stroh Brewery Co., which stopped brewing the beer in Milwaukee. Then Schlitz was sold to Pabst in 1999, which in recent years had brewed it at an Anheuser-Busch plant in Texas.

One last batch of Schlitz will be brewed on Saturday by the Wisconsin Brewing Co. at its facility outside Madison. And they’ll be using the recipe from 1948 when Schlitz, not Budweiser, was the king of beers.

Schlitz deserves to go out with “dignity and respect,” brewmaster Kirby Nelson told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Schlitz was never one of our beers of choice (see "Schlitz Mistake, above), but we wouldn't mind getting a few bottles of that last batch being brewed using the 1948 recipe.  For people of a certain age, the pre-1970's Schlitz will be remembered as a "basic American lager," nothing especially memorable or distinguished, but certainly very drinkable, like a PBR. What happened over the past 50 years is sketched out above and explains the brand's (likely) demise.

But it's a somewhat bittersweet moment -- another iconic American brand that's fading into history, the comments of the brand strategy guy above notwithstanding.  Maybe they could reassess based on what the brewing company making the final batch is doing and find a niche in the market down the road.  But more likely, there's no future for a brand that lost its appeal, its reputation, and its loyal base years ago.

(Photo:  various historic Schlitz bottles in Oconomowoc, WI / Morry Gash/ AP file)