1/02/2025

is any 1 really surprsied?

2 videos about maga.  1st up, the tale of a maga arrested in virginia 



2nd up, tabitha explains the bombing outside trump's hotel in las vegas we carried out by a maga.




maga has poor impulse control and violent tendencies.  that's why they tried to overthrow the government on january 6th.  it's why the f.b.i. needs to consider them a hate group and put them on a terrorist watch list.



let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


Thursday, January 2, 2025. Another year over, a new one beginning, Chump and Marjorie Taylor Greene join FOX "NEWS" in getting the new year off with big lies, and much more.


Let's start with this.




An e-mail to the public account noted that -- a Diana Ross doll. That's so cute.  I knew of the 1977 Mego doll and the 2003 Mattel one.  Did not know of this 1968 Ideal doll.  If you've got $2,500 for doll spending, it's available on EBAY.  The e-mailer noted the doll and also asked if the first snapshot of the year could get off "on a good note with Diana Ross' 'If We Hold On Together'?"


Absolutely.



If we hold on together . . . The manta for the next four years. 


The year got off to a bad start with yet another mass shooting, with FOX "NEWS" misreporting and all the MAGA idiots in Congress rushing to the wrong conclusion.    Josh Fiallo (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:


An erroneous Fox News report about the New Orleans terror attack sparked a rash of anti-immigrant comments from MAGA before a U.S. Army veteran was identified as its suspect.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance were among the Republicans who rushed to link the mass killing—which left 15 dead and dozens injured on Wednesday—to the southern border.

“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump posted at 10:48 a.m. to Truth Social. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

That post, which was screenshotted and shared by Vance on X, came mere minutes after Fox News incorrectly reported that the truck driven by the suspect had crossed into Texas from Mexico two days prior.

Fox News retracted its reporting by noon, however, after other networks—including the right-wing Newsmax—confirmed the truck involved entered the U.S. from Mexico on Nov. 16 and was driven by a man with no connection to Wednesday’s attack.

Officials said later in the afternoon that it had no evidence tying the attack to the border. The FBI said the terrorist was 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native who spent eight years in the military. He allegedly gained access to the Ford pickup truck using Turo, an app that works similarly to Airbnb for renting vehicles from private owners.


Marjorie Taylor Greene and the other MAGA idiots took to Twitter to slam the 'immigrant' who, in fact, was not an immigrant.  Of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, ALJAZEERA notes:


The FBI identified the suspect as 42-year-old Jabbar, who served in the US military between 2007 and 2020. He also deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.

He graduated from Georgia State University in 2017 earning a degree in computer information systems.

The FBI said an ISIL (ISIS) flag was found in the vehicle used in the attack. The bureau is trying to determine if Jabbar was associated with any “terrorist” organisations.

New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno said the suspect was dressed in full military gear and police had described his acts as intentional.


Again.  Not an immigrant.  But facts never matter to FOX "NEWS" or to MAGA.  Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) explains:

In response to the devastating vehicle-ramming attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) insinuated that the Biden administration's border policy was to blame — all of which appear now to have jumped the gun.

"Terrorist attack in NOLA similar to the one in the German Christmas market," Greene wrote on X of the incident, which has left 10 dead and dozens more wounded. "What did we expect would happen with wide open borders and millions of gotaways? The problem is no one trust the FBI under the current leadership, so everyone is questioning every detail they can find in their own. What an absolute disaster America is in."

Greene followed this up with another post, in which she said, "New Orleans terrorist attacker is said to have come across the border in Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO!!! Shut the border down!!! Who did our government bomb lately that is taking it out on innocent Americans?"

Authorities have now confirmed that the suspected perpetrator of the attack, 42-year-old military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had an ISIS flag affixed to the truck used to carry out the massacre, and they believe he may not have acted alone. However, Jabbar was a U.S. citizen born in Texas, casting doubt on Greene's immediate suspicion the attack was enabled by weak border security.


I think we need to join Elaine in pondering "Did all that bleach damage Marjorie Taylor Greene's brain?"  However, I understand Marjorie was never all that smart to begin with.  In fact, I think the footage below of Marjorie in 4th grade makes that clear.


Poor Marjorie.  It did not, in fact, get better.



"Why don't you just leave? Nobody wants you here!" is what Lauren Boebert said to her in the ladies' room. Now we get why Marjorie hates the world.  With that haircut in high school, you know everyone mocked her.  And told her that she looked like Glenn Close's ugly brother.





Meanwhile, the war between MAGA and Elon Musk continues into our new year. Sara Pequeño (USA TODAY) observes,   "While everyone else was enjoying the holiday week, the MAGAverse was imploding over a debate on H-1B visas, a program often used by tech companies to recruit high-skilled workers to the United States. Incoming president Donald Trump even weighed in on the conversation, siding with tech bros Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy over members of the party who want to see a stop to all forms of immigration."  Mary Papenfuss (INDEPENDENT) reports:


Donald Trump’s one-time White House strategist Steve Bannon warned Elon Musk Tuesday that he and other MAGA diehards are going to “rip your face off” unless Musk smartens up and stops pushing visas for skilled foreign workers to take good-paying tech industry jobs away from Americans.

He instructed Musk to “sit back and study” to understand MAGA’s - and what supporters believed was Trump’s - America First stance to keep U.S. jobs for Americans.

“They’re recent converts,” Bannon said Tuesday on his War Room podcast, referring to Musk and other tech-world Trump supporters.

“We love converts,” Bannon noted. “But the converts sit in the back and study for years and years and years to make sure you understand the faith and you understand the nuances of the faith and understand how you can internalize the faith.”


If you missed it, Elon Musk kicked off this new year accusing US President Joe Biden of treason. No, he doesn't understand the term.  None of the ass hair they moved to his scalp to cover his bald head contained brain cells so he's still just as stupid as he always was.  And Elon himself could never be accused of treason because he's not a citizen.  You can't be a citizen of three countries -- that's a Multi-National Corporation, not a person.  Elon was born in South Africa and raised there, fleeing only when apartheid started to crumble.  He also claims Canadian citizenship via his racist and repulsive mother.  And he thinks his money bought him US citizenship.


Speaking of money, as we've long noted, Donald Chump doesn't have any.  He's been living on bank loans and that's the main reason he's refused to pay the money the civil court has ordered him too.  Alex Henderson notes:

 

Historian/author Timothy Snyder discussed Trump's relationship with Musk in an interview with The Guardian published on New Year's Day 2025. And Snyder emphasized that there will be negative repercussions for Trump if he is too reliant on Musk during his second term.

Snyder told The Guardian, "I think we overestimate Trump, and we underestimate Musk. People can't help but think that Trump has money, but he doesn't. He's never really had money. He's never even really claimed to have money. His whole notion is that you have to believe that he has money. But he's never been able to pay his own debts."

The historian/author continued, "He's never been able to finance his own campaigns. Musk, with an amount of money that was meaningless to him, was able to finance Trump's campaign, essentially."

People say Elon Musk is the real president.  Maybe.  But I can't help thinking he's actually Chump's john -- Donald as the cheap hooker turning tricks -- or maybe Elon is Donald's pimp?





2024 is over.  Tabitha picked the biggest losers for 2024.



THE NEW REPUBLIC selected Donald Chump as Scoundrel of 2024.  Jeffrey St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH) offered "Sound Grammar: the Best Jazz Recordings of 2024."



THE AMERICAN PROSPECT offers "Year in Review: The Visuals" and "2024 in Review: Gabrielle Gurley"  JEZEBEL offered "Jezebel’s Top 24 Stories of 2024" and LGBTQ NATION provided "Record number of anti-trans bills introduced just before 2025."


Here? 


2024 end of the year pieces:  Rebecca's "sexiest men of 2024," Ann's "2024 in film (Ann and Stan)" and Stan's "2024 in film (Ann & Stan),"  Mike's "Idiot of the Year,"  Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2024."  "2024 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2024 in music"  and our "2024: The Year of Betrayal From Inside The Left."

 

The following sites updated:

Posted by at

1/01/2025

sexiest men of 2024

it's time for my annual look at the year in male sexy.  i don't know, maybe it's the election, but i just wasn't feeling it this go round.  i came up with five on my own and then texted every 1 i know asking who am i missing?


about 20 replies back and from there i found five very sexy men - 3 i had forgotten and 2 i hadn't seen before tonight.  


so let's get started.


1) henry cavill


Daddy Cavill #henrycavill #art #portrait #hairychest #superman #thewitcher #moustache #actor #sexy #handsome

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— Manu (@manueloitaben.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 9:04 AM


he is gorgeous and i think we know it so i've used the above because that is a wonderful drawing.  if manu did it, praise, high praise.  that's real talent. henry is an actor and he's superman to me no matter who the role's gone to for the new film in july. 

2) donald glover


A hit for me early in 2024 was MR. AND MRS. SMITH, a series that truly hinged on Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s chemistry — and completely delivered. Action-packed, dramatic, and even funny at times, this series gave us messy, interesting characters and a wild cliffhanger.

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— Jenn (@notajenny.bsky.social) December 31, 2024 at 11:56 AM

long a cutie, actor donald glover just gets better with age.  and if you haven't seen 'mr. & mrs' on 'amazon' yet, make time for a serious binge.


3) armie hammer


#ArmieHammer Armie Hammer

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— .o0×X×0o. ᵃℝм𝔦乇𝓞Ｎℓㄚ .o0×X×0o. (@armieonly.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 1:41 PM

actor armie hammer.  he's hot, he's sexy. that trashy ex-wife of his who coordinated with women to accuse him because she feared losing custody of the kids?  i would've thought when that detail came out, armie would have been allowed back into movies.  he belongs in them, he's a great actor and has more charisma than any other american actor right now.


4) tyler lepley


Tyler Lepley

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— Black Yolo (@blackyolo.bsky.social) November 7, 2024 at 8:17 AM


tyler's an actor who 1st came to fame in the long running series 'the haves and the have nots.'  he's 1 of the stars of 'p-valley' which will start airing its 3rd season on 'starz' shortly.


5) carlos alcaraz


🎾Carlos ALCARAZ, número 3 del mundo en el Ránking ATP Tour, jugando un picadito con la CAMISETA DEL CLUB ATLÉTICO #BOCA JUNIORS.

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— Boca Juniors - La12Tuittera (@la12tuittera.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 11:36 AM

I didn’t know Alcaraz was a Chicagoan

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— Steven Vance (@stevevance.net) November 29, 2024 at 3:04 PM


carlos was a new 1 to me.  4 friends had texted his name to me when t called.  t said, 'honey, you know me and i think he's hot.'  t's wife was laughing in the background.  t's a lesbian, hence the laughter.  she thinks he's hot and i agree.  and her wife pointed something else out, he looks a little like a young tom cruise. he's a tennis pro.


6) steph curry


Feb. 17: Sabrina Ionescu taking on Steph Curry in the first ever NBA vs. WNBA 3-point shooting contest. 29-26, she may have lost by 3, but she basically out did everyone in the regular 3pt contest #sabrinaionescu #wnba

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— WOMEN (@womenssports.bsky.social) December 31, 2024 at 5:43 PM

steph's the only other athlete on the list.  my sister pointed out that he was 'getting very fine with age.'  yes, that is correct.


7) skyh alvester black


Skyh Alvester Black. Rebecca's working on her ten hottest guys, wanting to be sure she wasn't missing some 1 so she's texting and then looking them up on BLUESKY. I mentioned Skyh and she said there's no post about him on BLUESKY if that's accurate let me be the first. great actor very attractive.

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— thecommonills.bsky.social (@thecommonills.bsky.social) December 31, 2024 at 9:37 PM

this actor i had never heard of.  c.i. texted me back saying to look him up.  and i did.  and couldn't find him.  normally, i use twitter but that's forever gone.  elon musk screwed this country over and he is a hate merchant.  so all the images came from bluesky posts.  

i told c.i. there wasn't 1 post about him on bluesky.  so she did that post for me.  he is very hot and search him and you'll find more.  i was wrong though. there was 1 post already but (a) they billed him as 'skyh black' and (b) they offered no photo.

8) josh andres rivera


Nós mulheres do fandom de 2 pessoas apreciadoras de Josh Andres Rivera

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— Drey escritora (@dysolagratia.bsky.social) September 23, 2024 at 9:14 PM


josh played aaron hernandez in the 'fx' series 'american sports story: aaron hernandez.'  he should be emmy nominated for his performance.  and every 1 and any 1 who appreciates the male body should catch his slow, bare-assed walk through the locker room in that series.  

9) ramon rodriguez


Besides basketball, I'm binge watching Will Trent. Excellent writing, and the fashion is on point😲 All the actors are excellent, including Ramón Rodriguez, Iantha Richardson, Sonja Sohn, detective Kima from The Wire. There's even 2 episodes with the little sister from Everyone Hates Chris. #blacksky

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— Sheba (@shebatiti.bsky.social) December 25, 2024 at 10:01 PM

'will trent' is the best show abc has and 1 of the few good shows worth watching*  season 3 kicks off january 7th.  yea! ramon plays will and ramon's so sexy.  and who doesn't love his dog betty?

*i also enjoy watching 'mr & mrs smith,' ''elsbeth,' 'palm royale' (ricky martin almost made the list), 'matlock' and 'night court.'


10) hugh jackman


Hugh Jackman 📸

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— DAILYSPARK (@dailyspark.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 3:50 AM

i almost forgot him and i loved 'deadpool & wolverine.'  it took hugh jackman to put the 'super' back into superhero movies and make them big again - in fact, that's the 2nd biggest grossing film in north america for 2024. 

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'



Tuesday, December 31, 2024.  Look what left outlet is trying to say Kamala and Joe were as bad on immigration as Trump's about to be (and here's the kicker, they're doing that crap while begging you to give them money), MAGA's war with Chump continues, and so much more.



THE NEW REPUBLIC notes MAGA's war with Donald The Chump continues as Laura Loomer joined Steve Bannon to dish that Elon Musk is "a welfare queen." Stephen Collinson (CNN) reports:

             Donald Trump’s siding with Elon Musk over visas for high-tech workers is the most significant example yet of the president-elect favoring powerful elements in his new MAGA coalition over his base’s anti-immigrant DNA that he twice tapped in his rise to power.    

   

            The boiling holiday feud over H-1B visas exposed new fissures across Trump’s broadened support base and reflected the contradictions between his populist ideology and the self-interests of many of the key players in his refashioned inner circle.    

   

            After several days of silence over the controversy, the president-elect stepped in, making clear he supported Musk’s argument for recruitment flexibility for the tech industry.     

 Musk, the richest man in the world, made his case in a series of outspoken posts on X. “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” he wrote to one critic on the platform that he owns. “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”    

   

            The visa issue erupted into a full-blown storm following comments by Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk’s co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump has set up to slash the size of federal operations. The former GOP presidential candidate criticized American culture, education standards and children’s TV that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” The comments came perilously close to an elitist’s disdain for millions of Americans and their culture that Republicans have long accused Democrats of promoting.     


Last night on MSNBC, Chris Hayes addressed this ongoing war.



This is not making for a cheerful lead up to inauguration.  Add to that, the fact that we're in the F**k Around and Find Out Stage, as people slowly begin to realize just how stupid they were.


For examples, workers who thought the Chump would rescue them.



Four years?  It's going to be like serving time and those of us who got our votes right in 20204 have every reason to laugh during the next awful years at the idiots who didn't know how to save themselves and stupidly thought that a convicted felon with no accomplishments to brag about after his first term would suddenly develop skill and wisdom.  Nope, The Convicted Felon didn't change, some voters just got more stupid.  Erik De La Garza (RAW STORY) reports:

President-elect Donald Trump’s long-held promise to pardon his supporters who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is drawing fresh scrutiny from a government ethics group.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, issued a terse statement Monday calling out Trump and his repeated signals that he is willing to grant clemency to those who breached the Capitol as Congress worked to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.

“Some things are fights worth having,” CREW wrote in a social media post on X. “Not allowing Donald Trump to pardon January 6th insurrectionists is one of those things. Two-thirds of the country is with us on this.”



And groups like Latinos for Chump who thought they were the good ones and would be spared.


 
As we noted repeatedly last year, to target immigrants, you have to target potential immigrants.  You have to racially profile.  That means, for example, since the US shares a southern border with Mexico, those seen as Latino -- immigrants, citizens, what have you -- would be harassed and stopped more often than those people who appear to be White European.  So to those Latinos for Trump, you were always idiots to support the man planning to depot immigrants.  

You may have thought you were one with Trump's Anglo White supporters but you were a deeply stupid fool.   Edward Helmore (GUARDIAN) reports:

Law enforcement officials in Lincoln county, Oregon, have condemned an anonymous letter encouraging residents to track down and report “brown people” in the Pacific coast community, particularly those believed to be undocumented.

The letter, titled brown round-up part 1, told recipients to write down the license plate numbers of cars driven by people of color in order to identify people who might not have permanent legal status, the New York Times reported. It instructed readers to send that information to the Department of Homeland Security after Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“This type of behavior is harmful, divisive, and inconsistent with the values we uphold as public servants and community members,” Curtis Landers said in a statement about the letter. “Targeting individuals in this manner erodes trust and undermines the sense of safety and inclusion that we strive to maintain in Lincoln County.”

[. . .]

The letter comes as Trump has vowed an unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration, including “the largest deportation operation in American history”.

Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, said last week he projects needing at least 100,000 beds in immigration detention centers.

“I’m telling you, at the minimum we need 100,000 beds because we’ve got a big population to look for ... 700,000 criminals alone,” Homan told CNN. Homan said the deportation plans will require help from around the government, including the Department of Defense.

“The landing teams have just started working with the agencies and departments. We’ll be gathering information, a lot of information in the next couple weeks, which will help me in my planning process,” Homan said.


On this issue of targeting people, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) adds:


  Adding to alarm over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's immigration plans, his "border czar" toldThe Washington Post in an interview published Thursday that the administration plans to return to detaining migrant families with children.

    Tom Homan, who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump's first term, said that ICE "will look to hold parents with children in 'soft-sided' tent structures similar to those used by U.S. border officials to handle immigration surges," the     Post summarized. "The government will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have young U.S.-born children, he added, leaving it to those families to decide whether to exit together or be split up."

    Since Trump beat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris last month, migrant rights advocates have reiterated concerns about the Republican's first-term policies—such as     forced separation of families—and his 2024 campaign pledges, from mass deportations to attempting to end birthright citizenship, despite the guarantees of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

    Homan—who oversaw the so-called "zero tolerance" policy that separated thousands of migrant kids from their parents—said: "Here's the issue... You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position."


Chump and Tom Homan are a threat to American families.  Some are only now beginning to realize that.  Some still can't face reality -- but will have to in 2025.  Some opinions on BLUESKY.





When Convicted Felon Donald Trump got re-elected last month, did he announce that for all his appointees "ONLY CROOKS NEED APPLY"?  It certainly seems that way   Naomi LaChance (ROLLING STONE) reports:


Donald Trump's incoming "border czar" Tom Homan has led a consulting firm that openly brags about helping private companies secure federal contracts. Asked about this work, Homan says he has recused himself "from any involvement, discussion, input, or decision of any future government contracts."

Homan, who previously directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the first Trump administration, has also led a conservative nonprofit group, Border911, alongside an executive for a major federal contractor.

Homan is notorious for orchestrating the first Trump administration's family separation policy, when migrant children and parents were torn apart at the border. According to a Department of Homeland Security report, as of April 2024, there were still about 1,400 children who were not confirmed to have been reunited with their families. 

Last week, Homan made headlines for once again publicly pitching the idea of family separation - this time, with a twist. Homan said he would present families with children born in the U.S. with an impossible choice: separate, or leave America together. 


We didn't spend a lot of time on it -- maybe a day and a half -- but we did learn about Teapot Dome in high school.  Did those people just go along with it?  Because it seems like Chump's setting up something far worse and people are just going along with it.




. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Memorial Prize laureate and economics professor at CUNY's Graduate Center, in a Substack post

  1. "For the most part, immigrants are complements, not substitutes, for native-born workers."

    "So original MAGA is wrong to claim that immigration is impoverishing 'real Americans' in general. But tech-bro MAGA is wrong as well as offensive in saying that we need foreign workers because Americans are stupid or lazy. Furthermore, the availability of less expensive foreign tech workers does reduce the incentive of tech firms to train a home-grown work force and undermines the political incentive to improve our education system.

    I'd still argue that something like H-1B makes America richer and stronger, especially given the spillovers generated by a successful technology sector. But Muskaswamy and friends aren't helping their case by insulting Americans' culture and intelligence."

    2. Robert Reich, a former US labor secretary and member of President Bill Clinton's National Economic Council, in a Substack post

    "Allowing many more skilled workers into the United States reduces any incentives on American business to invest in the American workforce.

    Allowing many more skilled workers into the US also reduces the bargaining power of skilled workers already in America — and thereby reduces any incentive operating on other Americans to gain the skills for such jobs.

    And opening America to skilled workers also reduces the incentive on foreign nations to educate and nurture their own skilled workforces. Why should they, when their own skilled workers can easily migrate to America?

    The major beneficiaries in the US of opening the nation to skilled workers from abroad are CEOs and venture capitalists like Musk and [David Sacks], whose profits and wealth would be even higher if they could siphon off cheaper skilled workers from abroad."


Let's note this.




Some people -- like Tabitha -- told you the truth ahead of the election.  Some people flat out lied to you.  Might be a good time to note COMMON DREAMS.  They're fundraising right now.  And if you donate to them, you can support both-sides b.s.  Yeah, in August, September and the first half of October, they assisted Donald Chump by repeatedly attacking Kamala Harris every day -- multiple times a day.  I have given them credit for finally stopping that b.s. 

But?

That Jessica Corbett story above?  Read after where we cut her off and you'll find that she's a Trumper because only a Trumper -- faced with Donald's planned round ups -- would then try to both sides it by attacking Kamala and Joe on immigration.

That's right, give them your money so that the kind of center-right garbage that you get on the Sunday chat and chews can reign supreme online as well.  



The following sites updated:









Posted by at

12/30/2024

the cowardly insurrections

omg.  if you need further proof that the criminal insurrectionists got off too easy, how about this: 1 of them has fled to canada.  sean o'driscoll ('newsweek') reports: 


A January 6 rioter has reportedly applied for political asylum in Canada.

Antony Vo, formerly of Bloomington, Indiana, failed to turn up to prison to serve a nine-month sentence.

WISH-TV television station in Vo's home state of Indiana reported he was living across the border with his mother Annie Vo, who went to the Capitol with him on January 6, 2021.

Newsweek sought comment from Vo through social media on Monday. Newsweek also sought comment from the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for apprehending fugitive federal prisoners.


run, you little coward.  they should have all faced a firing squad.  their actions were treason.  a bunch of liars and cowards, that's all they are. lauren irwin ('the hill') reports:


Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who famously cleaned up trash after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said he is concerned that it is being “papered over.”

Kim joined CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday for “State of the Union” where he reflected on that day as it nears the four-year anniversary.

“I mean, we saw with our own eyes, those of us that were in Congress, the American people saw, people all over the world saw, and the idea that it’s being papered over and that people that attacked the Capitol rioted, that they’re being talked as liberators, as prisoners now that are being unfairly treated,” Kim said, highlighted by Mediaite.




“We are a nation of rule of law and it … does break my heart,” he continued.


it breaks my heart too.


let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


Monday, December 30, 2024.  MAGA rumbles with their billionaire bosses.




Elon Musk on Sunday asked for "more positive" content to be posted to the social media network he owns, resulting in some reminders about his own negative attitude at times.

Musk, the richest man in the world and an appointee of President-elect Donald Trump, took to X to say, "Please post a bit more positive, beautiful or informative content on this platform." 

As the war on the right that he started continues, Elon now tries to offer a new spin to his remarks as he prays to himself that he can fool and control MAGA again:
Elon Musk admitted that the H1-B visas are “broken” and floated a potential fix as he sought to cool a raging civil war within the MAGA base over the immigration program for highly skilled foreign workers.

Just a day after vowing to “go to war on this issue” and telling detractors to “F— yourself,” Musk, the world’s richest man, acknowledged some of the criticisms of the program getting abused and argued that the US should make it more costly to hire foreigners.

“Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically,” Musk wrote on X late Saturday in response to a thread claiming H1-B visas were being used to hire low-wage programmers and developers.



If you rested over the weekend and avoided the news, this may be new to you.  Here's some commentary that took place on the topic.









Friday night, Ruth expalined  "The Chump has hit the fan:"


Did you notice?  We are still over 24 days or so before Convicted Felon Donald Chump is sworn in and reoccupies the White House and he is floundering, staggering around like a dying corpse. Chump's betrothed Elon Musk and maid of honor Vivek Ramaswamy have been in the news for their insulting attacks on American workers and insisting that immigrants need to be brought into this country because American workers do not have the skills (Mr. Musk) and they watch the wrong T.V. programs (Miss Ramaswamy).  They are now being savaged by many MAGA voters.  Brad Reed (RAW STORY) reports:


MAGA influencer Laura Loomer appeared on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast on Friday to warn President-elect Donald Trump against letting X owner Elon Musk into his administration.

In an interview with Bannon, Loomer charged that Musk had major conflicts of interest and said that it could turn into a major scandal if Trump keeps him in his inner circle.

"I am simply trying to warn the Trump administration about something that is going to blow up in their face," she said. "And it actually has the risked of getting President Trump impeached in his second term if the Democrats take back the House and are able to spin and create a narrative that... they are enriching themselves in the Trump administration. I'm trying to warn them about a serious issue on the horizon."


Monica Sager (NEWSWEEK) adds:


In a stream of posts on the alt-tech social platform Gettr, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon warned that billionaire Elon Musk's "true colors" are showing with the ongoing debate about the H-1B visa program.

"True Colors Shining Through," Bannon captioned a post that included an Axios article about how a "MAGA Civil War" has broken out "over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class."

[. . .]

Bannon has previously called Musk a "stone-cold liar" and said "his paymasters" are from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), referencing the billionaire's extensive business ties to the East Asian nation.

Bannon had also said that Tesla was Musk's only thing "of real value," adding that Musk "uses it for margin loans." Those criticisms came in 2023 before Musk was publicly a leading Trump supporter.


Former U.S. House Representative Joe Walsh has weighed in, "And you are right -- Musk & Ramaswamy are being eaten right now by an intolerant, nationalistic mob that they played a large role in helping to create. They both deserve to be eaten by their mob."  So that is a non-MAGA Republican take. 



Musk exploded and raged on Twitter.  Then someone emerged on Twitter to defend him -- someone most believe was Musk himself trying to pretend to be someone else.   Most who believe that it was really Elon includes Elon's daughter Vivian Wilson.



As for Vivek, Ann noted:

What makes someone trash?  Maybe insulting their own country.  Take this:

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a close Donald Trump ally tasked with helping to dismantle the federal government, is facing scorn from both sides of the aisle for saying America has a culture problem — it focuses on prom queens and sports over math and science — and that's why tech companies hire more people from India and China.


Don't remember hearing that kind of talk from him when he was trying to get the Republican Party's presidential nomination.  He lost.  Now he's going to let the country know what he really thinks of it. 

He's upset, it turns out, because in the 90s America watched Saved By The Bell.  Huh?

No, it doesn't make sense but what also doesn't make sense is that I never watched Saved By The Bell and I'm not the only one who didn't watch.  It was probably a popular show but it did not grip me.  

He's angry because -- look at him -- he can't do a single push up but America, he insists, glorifies cheerleaders and football players.  

Poor little nerd.  Someone gave him an atomic wedgie and it traumatized him for life.

Vivek Ramaswamy's stupidity saves him to a degree.  It's hard to rage against a hate merchant when they're also offering bad pop cultural references that don't mean -- even on the most basic level -- what they claim.  Or does no one get that Ross was the Urkel of FRIENDS and Ross got Rachel and well as good paying jobs?

As the war on the right that Elon started continues, Elon now tries to offer a new spin to his remarks as he prays to himself that he can fool and control MAGA again:

Elon Musk admitted that the H1-B visas are “broken” and floated a potential fix as he sought to cool a raging civil war within the MAGA base over the immigration program for highly skilled foreign workers.

Just a day after vowing to “go to war on this issue” and telling detractors to “F— yourself,” Musk, the world’s richest man, acknowledged some of the criticisms of the program getting abused and argued that the US should make it more costly to hire foreigners.

“Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically,” Musk wrote on X late Saturday in response to a thread claiming H1-B visas were being used to hire low-wage programmers and developers.


Elon has created a nightmare for Donald Chump.  It's harming the brand, the message and the cohesion.  It's even left the professional liars at FOX "NEWS" scrambling.Corbin Bolies (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:

The Fox & Friends Weekend hosts tried their best on Sunday to make sense of the MAGA mess over H-1B visas last week, but even they admitted Donald Trump’s flip-flop on the program “left a lot of people confused.”

Hosts Rachel Campos-Duffy, Charlie Hurt, and Will Cain reflected on the online meltdown over the visas, which are backed by close Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The issues, they said, were in abuses of the system that prioritized cheaper labor over Musk-type prodigies.

 Even they couldn't make sense of him.  But who could?  The man who brought hate merchants back to Twitter and allowed Tweets endorsing the lynching of Black people and Tweets calling for the murder of gay people and Tweets where Maga's proclaimed that they were going to go into Target and shoot it up, this man or 'man' couldn't then handle when he was on the receiving end of what he'd done to others.  And did you notice?  His pep squad -- Matt Taibi, Glenneth Greenwald and the others -- didn't object.  It was censorship, they insisted, pre-Musk when Twitter banned people for hate speech.  Over the weekend as Musk banned people for being critical, the fake asses said nothing.  Not one word.  


The MAGA meltdown comes at a bad time for Donald Chump.  Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) observes:  

At a time when Donald Trump's inner circle should be working on getting his Cabinet nominees primed for getting Senate approval, now time is being spent tamping down on a foreign worker controversy that has riled the president-elect's base forcing him to have to weigh in.

At the center of the controversy are comments made by Trump advisors Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk about America needing more H-1B foreign specialty workers which has erupted into a war with Trump's MAGA base that had been promised "America First" policies.

 
He's not even sworn in and already Chump has to address one brewing scandal after the other.  Let's wind down with this from Michael Albert (ZNET):


Donald, the idiot, the madman, the consummate cowardly thug is preparing to unleash shock and awe to paint his agenda onto the American and the world stage such as we have never seen before. Day one, two, three…infinity. He will attempt to unleash the hounds of horror. Why? 

To impose his horrendous agenda—of course. But what’s his rush? To embrace MAGA ever more intimately and to draw those who inhabit its fringes to its center. To instill well beyond MAGA’s fringes futility so debilitating that we either shut up and hunker down to protect ourselves or we kiss up and hope for a few goodies while others suffer. You doubt this prognosis? Okay, suppose we get oil madness, high waters rising, storms beyond measure, deportations beyond counting, gilded billionaire enrichment, intensified austerity, gutted regulations, fascist retooling of government, international mayhem, and vengeful repressive violence not by shock and awe but by slow boiling in a monstrous kettle. How different is that in the end? 

What’s the alternative? Resistance. And what is that? It is saying no by every effective means one can employ. It is no longer laughing and winking. No longer denying what this thug is all about. No longer shrugging it off. It is telling the truth to all in range, so all souls can hear it, openly, loudly, no sugar coating—and trying to act on it. 

When someone with the steering wheel of a gargantuan tank revs the motor and hollers I am going to drive this wonderful magnificent machine upside your head, does it make sense to assume that he doesn’t mean it? That he is just joking? Is it sensible to predict that he won’t be able to aim it? Is it wise to say that someone else, something else, is going to stop him? Or to suppose he is just going to run over a neighbor. For those reasons should we not read the news today and instead return to dressing this morning, and tomorrow morning, and the next and the next, preparing each day for familiar life and familiar life only as if there is no tank? There is no emergency? Does it make sense, even, to list reasons why others won’t resist and then proclaim that because they’re not going to resist you won’t either? Maybe it does make some limited kind of sense, but will it stop the tank?





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