As anticipated, he has been filling various cabinet seats with the most incompetent and corrupt individuals around. The basis for his choice is their loyalty to him. The fact that none of them, not one, is anywhere close to having either the experience, integrity, ethics, or skills needed does not bode well for the nation.
Here is a quick list of some of the weird clowns that have been in the spotlight this past week …
- Marco Rubio as Sec. of State – His Human rights track record is abysmal and is one of the most hostile LGBTQ+ politicians in the US
- Matt Gaetz as AG – Utterly corrupt and so he has now quit the house a few days before the ethics investigation was about to drop the very damaging bombshell report on him. Will he actually be confirmed as AG? Perhaps not, but this now opens a road for him to duck that report and run for FL Governor in 2026 if not confirmed.
- Elon Musk (DOGE) – He is about to do to the Federal Government what he did to Twitter. He believes that he is brilliant, and fails to recognise that he is utterly incompetent. This is of course the guy who spent $44 Billion buying Twitter, then promptly set fire to it and crashed its value – it lends a whole new meaning to the term “efficiency”.
- RFK JR as Public Health Adviser – Yep WTF! Say goodbye to vaccines and hello to lots of previously eradicated diseases. Utterly incompetent for the role. He is not simply a normal guy with a few odd anti-vaccine quirks, but rather, he is a total nut job.
- Tulsi Gabbard as DNI – She is a Russian Asset who has promoted Russian propaganda. In 2022, she spread a story that Ukraine had biowar labs for the USA, an utterly false conspiracy theory pushed by Russia. She will be a mole the likes of which we have never before seen. The Intelligence community are freaking out right now.
- Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary – Vastly unqualified and utterly incompetent. Keeps your pet dog close if she comes near you. Also rejects climate change is happening.
- Pete Hegseth as Sec. of Defense – WTF! A Fox News host who is incredibly unqualified to be in charge of our armed forces.
Total crackpots.
This is not going to end well.
What other utterly absurd stuff popped up during the past week?
A Bit More on Elon
A rather famous right-wing trope and conspiracy theory involves the claim that George Soros, the rich billionaire, is supposedly the puppet master behind everything that they claim is bad. However, now that Rich Billionaire Elon Musk has very openly completed using his immense wealth to swing the election via the deployment of a campaign of disinformation on X, he now participates on calls beside Trump, is also shaping things in a manner that will preserve and increase his wealth, and has also gained access to the levers of power within the Trump Administration … now suddenly the sound of conspiracy claims regarding Soros, a rich billionaire pulling strings, have mysteriously fallen silent.
His influence is quite frankly astonishing and very disturbing …
Other Appointments
So yea, Tom Homan got picked as “border czar”. He was the ICE Director back in 2017 who is infamous for putting in place the previous cruel policy of separating kids from their parents. Well … guess whom he also likes to hang out with …
- Here is a link to the DailyBeast article referenced above. Homan himself also confirmed he had been scheduled to attend, but claimed he ducked out at the last moment because they supported Putin (how was that news to him at the last moment?).
- The white nationalist AFPAC III conference is well-known as a, to quote Star Wars, … “wretched hive of scum and villainy” … (Hat tip if you can pick the movie that came from, and bonus points for the character who said it) … and that’s just being polite about AFPAC. “Fascist Fest” would be a tad more on the mark. (Don’t take my word on that, check out how Wikipedia covers it all).
- I guess I’m now on Tom’s deportation list for revealing this. Given my Irish Ancestry, I’d rather quite welcome a free ticket to go back there.
Elimination of the Dept of Education is confirmed …
- This was never a secret, he was telling everybody that if elected he would do this – it is what people voted for.
- Red state voters truly do not understand that they have totally screwed themselves here. On average, Blue states kick in more money than they get. On average, Red states get more money than they kick in.
- You know how this will most probably play out. Blue states have the money to fund these programs, Red states will spend what they have etching bible quotes on stone tablets in every classroom, and then declare that as “Job done, problem solved“.
- This will be devastating for many.
Incidentally, if you ever get to meet Pete Hegseth, then you are best advised to not shake his hands …
Mike Huckabee makes his “Ambassador to Israel” stance clear …
- Permit me to translate – “I want to be on the blessing side” = “I’ll enable them to continue the genocide with my full support“
- It’s just what a region awash with religious fanatics needs … one more religious fanatic to fan the flames of conflict because he yearns and aches for Armageddon to commence.
- For all those that did not vote for Kamala because “Gaza” … well here you go, this is what you voted for. Happy Now?
Christian Nationalism
What have the Christian Nationalists been up to this past week?
As always, they are just making weird sh*t up …
- Will he also be collecting foreskins from the Phillistines?
- Side Note: Daniel is one of those books in the bible that acts like an inkblot Rorschach test – you can cobble up more or less anything you want from the vague imagery. It’s generally accepted by real scholars that Daniel as an individual never existed. The text itself has no plot, but rather is a religious text written in a time of crises (the persecution of the Jews by the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167–164 BC) and so was structured to assure the Jewish community via folktales and visions that God was in control. It claims to have been written a lot earlier and so successfully “predicts” stuff that had already happened when it was written, but then gives the game away by getting predictions for stuff after 164 BC very wrong.
- Modern “prophets” like Lance and others use the same trick. They claim god told them that something was going to happen after it has actually happened, and not before.
- For the record, another fake “prophet” trick is tossing lots of predictions out and then some by random chance are correct, so all the misses are ignored and the hits are highlighted. Lance also tends to do a lot of that.
- It is always all about money. For example this past week Lance was urging viewers to “become a partner” with his ministry (send him money), griping that prosperity gospel preachers like Jesse Duplantis and Kenneth Copeland have private jets thanks to their “partners” while he has to fly commercial. Yea, he was literally complaining that other religious grifters are better at conning people than he is.
- Er … “Yes 81% of Evangelicals, you just voted those demons into office“
- Religious people have such bizarre concepts about sex. We are literally supposed to feel guilty about orgasms?
- ‘Orgasms Without Consequences’ is my new favourite band name.
Christian “Love”
How has Jesus been manifesting his “Love” via his chosen right-wing ones this past week?
Well … we have a new “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism” in Oklahoma. An official state sponsored “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism” has some serious Spanish Inquisition vibes going on here …
- Religious Liberty 101: The concept is important. It means you get to practise whatever religion you want. What it does not mean is that you get to impose your specific beliefs on everybody else as Mr Walters is striving to do. He has crossed a very serious ethical line here.
- You would think that a guy who is superintendent of education in Oklahoma would be more focused on improving the quality of education because it is dead last when compared to other states, but no, he is instead going for religious indoctrination instead.
“Spiritual Heat Map of demons” (yea, Lance again) …
- In the actual words of Voltaire: “Certainly anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.” This is the bedrock foundation of the cult that is now called Maga. (Side note: the exact quote comes from letter number eleven published in 1765 in Voltaire’s work “Collection des Lettres sur les Miracles”. It reads: “Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde, est en droit de vous rendre injuste“)
- It’s rather nice of Lance to provide us with a handy map of the places where decency and tolerance still prevail. Good places to go vacation in.
“They must be shot and killed” says Pastor Joel Webbon …
- Yep, it’s the pastor with the very very very very small …. (cough cough) “church”, who is once again seeking to go viral on YouTube for $$$.
- It’s all very biblical of course. We all distinctly recall reading in the New Testament how Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were shot and killed by the Egyptians when they tried to seek asylum from Herod in Egypt. Glory!
King of the Religious Cons
- So yea, the spirit of America was “cleasned” by voting in a felon, rapist, and racist who will soon destroy many many lives.
- Fact Check: His imagery is BS. Margaret Sanger fought for *contraception*, not abortion. She didn’t even believe in abortion except to save the mother’s life. He does not grasp that he is claiming that contraception has been eliminated … which is not a thing for even this incoming batshit crazy Trump administration to grasp for … yet.
- Classic religion emotional manipulation. He is an SME at pushing hot buttons.
- Meanwhile, Jesus told me over cocktails that the punishment Kenneth Copeland will face on Judgment Dady for not giving all his money to the poor: He’ll spend eternity reading out the serial numbers of all the dollars he has conned from people. Glory!
- Will his Jesus also be naming each individual sperm and egg?
- Fact Check 1: No babies have been killed by abortion, an embryo is not a baby. This supposedly moral argument is deeply flawed.
- Fact Check 2: Abortion was not a big deal for evangelicals until it got politicised.
While it is true that Copeland has been the most successful at conning many into funding his rather lavish jet-set lifestyle, the vast majority of Christians also recognise that he is a grifter and a total fraud. Copeland himself also knows it is a con – if the god he believes in is real, then he will not be going to the good place.
Excellent New Reason to Skip Church
Hey 81% of Evangelicals who supported the idiot-in-chief, remind me again which Church he attends?
- As a reminder, as if they did not already know, at least 26 women have publicly accused Donald Trump of rape, kissing, and groping without consent, and one was 13 when Trump raped her.
- Their chosen candidate views the 10 Commandments as a to-do list. He whispers the words they want to hear, but has utter contempt for them.
Vaccines & RFK Jnr
Let’s be wholly clear about the anti-vaccine views promoted by RFK Jnr being total and complete BS
Putting crackpots into positions of life-and-death responsibility will have real consequences …
- For context, the chart within the above uses CDC data and was published in the WSJ – the article is worth checking out, it includes lots more detailed charts.
- You would need to be incredibly stupid to actually believe that vaccines are bad when faced with such facts … but hey, here we are in 2024, a time where apparently every virus will soon have a right to life (or to be a tad more precise, a right to destroy many lives).
- Popular Myth 1: Vaccines cause autism – Fact: No, that claim is total BS
- Popular Myth 2: The COVID vaccine was not properly tested – Fact: No, that claim is also total BS
- Rinse and repeat for various other BS vaccine misinformation doing the rounds. The chart tells you the truth.
- There are just 12 people responsible for most of the Vaccine disinformation on social media – RFK Jnr is No.2
Some really have lost the plot
- In normal times … sure … but not with the incoming administration. It would empower Treasury Sec. to abuse this and revoke nonprofit tax status of orgs based on judgment they’re “terrorist-supporting.”. This would give the Trump Admin a way to basically suppress any nonprofit they don’t like on a whim.
- Thankfully it failed to pass. US House voted 256-145 to pass HR 9495—short of the 2/3 required. But damn it, this was a close call to making things even worse.
Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there have been many excellent cartoons. Here are a few samples.
Finally…
Let’s end on a more positive note. It has been a rather grim week, but there is good stuff happening out there.
We have an excellent win here …
Seriously … for real?
Indeed yes.
The Onion has acquired Infowars in a bankruptcy auction. They plan to debut a new Infowars in January that will serve as parody, mocking weird Internet personalities like Alex Jones. The Onion CEO says they acquired it because “this is the funniest thing that has ever happened”
Alex Jones’ Infowars company has shut down, after being sold in a bankruptcy auction to The Onion. No joke.
The satirical news outlet was the winning bidder of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, with help from the Connecticut families who sued Jones for defamation. The sale, which still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy judge, includes Jones’ studio and equipment, his lucrative online nutritional supplement store, domain names, customer lists and some of his social media accounts. …
…Proceeds of any sale will go to paying down Jones’ nearly $1.5 billion debt to families of Sandy Hook victims who won defamation suits against him in Connecticut and Texas, after he spread false conspiracy theories that the 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., never happened. Jones accused the families of being actors, faking the killing of 20 children and 6 educators, in an effort to drum up support for gun control, and his supporters who believed the lies threatened and harassed the families for years….
…”Hollywood couldn’t write a more comical end to Infowars, especially one in which the victims of Jones’ bile get both monetary and moral relief,” said Bruce Markell, a former U.S. bankruptcy judge and now Northwestern School of Law professor.
In a dismal week of rather bleak news, this has been a truly excellent bit of encouragement that confirms that in the end actions really do have consequences for some.
Meanwhile the stupidity of some still prevails …
Meanwhile, The Onion being the Onion, put out a satire press release …
…Make no mistake: This is a coup for our company and a well-deserved victory for multinational elites the world over.
What’s next for InfoWars remains a live issue. The excess funds initially allocated for the purchase will be reinvested into our philanthropic efforts that include business school scholarships for promising cult leaders, a charity that donates elections to at-risk third world dictators, and a new pro bono program pairing orphans with stable factory jobs at no cost to the factories.
As for the vitamins and supplements, we are halting their sale immediately. Utilitarian logic dictates that if we can extend even one CEO’s life by 10 minutes, diluting these miracle elixirs for public consumption is an unethical waste. Instead, we plan to collect the entire stock of the InfoWarswarehouses into a large vat and boil the contents down into a single candy bar–sized omnivitamin that one executive (I will not name names) may eat in order to increase his power and perhaps become immortal.
All will be revealed in due time. For now, let’s enjoy this win and toast to the continued consolidation of power and capital.
Infinite Growth Forever,
OK, not quite a done deal … yet. This happened – “Judge orders hearing to review Onion’s purchase of Alex Jones’s InfoWars“. That hearing will be next week.
One Last Thought
There has been a huge rush to the exit on Twitter. Many are rapidly moving over to BlueSky …
I’ve been there for about a week and am finding most of the people I really want to follow are there. No ads, no MAGA, no Elon, it’s glorious, so if you have not yet made the leap, come on over.
If you want to watch it grow (in semi-realtime), then here is a meter … (and Jesus!, when I looked a few days back it was 14 million) …
… and activity is rapidly climbing, Bluesky is really cooking now …
Elon has highly motivated many to walk away, and that exodus is accelerating because the word is out, there is a real alternative, and IMHO it is far better than threads.
It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about the people. If you need a safe space to hang out, then this for now is your best bet.