Escape

As you may recall, I’m not much of a teevee watcher BUT I’m utterly hooked on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I'm wicked sad that we only have four episodes left until the end 😢. The last time I was this obsessed with a show was when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on.

I mean, please recall: it was the late ‘90s, I was being wheeled away to spine surgery – the one where I was given 50/50 odds of coming out with zero use of or feeling in any part of my body from the tits down. I knew this was going to be an epic, marathon operation. I was sedated but still awake enough to speak. Before the orderlies rolled me out, I turned my head to The Amazing Bob and Jen and said, “don’t forget to tape Buffy.”

First words to Jen on coming out of anesthesia in recovery? “Did you tape Buffy?” I had my priorities in order and shit!

Nicholas Brendon, the actor who played Xander on Buffy, died on March 20th in Greencastle, Indiana. I only just found out. He was 54. Practically a kid. Brendon had a heart defect and spine issues (cauda equina syndrome – necessitating several surgeries), but mostly his body was damaged from years of heavy alcohol and drug abuse.

Apparently, unlike his goofy but caring, stalwart, supportive, good guy Xander character on Buffy, Brendon was a violent, abusive twat. He was busted in 2015 for strangling his girlfriend in a Saratoga Springs, New York hotel room. He was arrested two years later for assaulting another girlfriend at a hotel bar in Palm Springs, California. 

There’s also the little matter of his grand theft, criminal mischief, robbery, and other assorted charges.

I wonder why he chose to move to Putnam County, Indiana of all places. He was born and raised in Southern California. What’s the draw of Indiana? I mean, I lived in the state for a couple of years as a kid (HATED it). We were only there because Daddy was getting his doctorate at the university in Bloomington.

Supposedly Brendon wanted to get away from the Hollywood grind to focus on his mental health. That line sounds like it covers lots of subtext, as in I’ve burned my very last bridge in California and I’ve got to get to a place where no one knows who I really am and what I've done.

Reports also say that he wanted to get away to paint. You can’t do that in LA? His family claims he was selling his art online but there are more than a few people who claim to have never received the paintings they paid for. Eh, who knows.

It came out at some point that, when he was 10-years-old, he’d been sexually abused by a teacher.

"I think about it every day of my life and I wonder how it affected me. Did I stop growing emotionally?" he added. "When you're molested for a couple years and you're blamed for it by the people who are supposed to be your protectors, there's going to be a lot of confusion and a lot of sadness.” (source) 

Jesus. Child abusers and their enablers really need to be exposed, harassed, stripped of all their assets, and unmercifully put down. 

What an awful, ugly mess.

The Fool

I was feeling pretty low last night. Health-wise it’s been a hard winter and our coastal New England weather has kept me, for the most part, indoors. I haven't been for a real walk in months and recumbent elliptical workouts are NOT the same. I’ve been feeling old and way less than superhero-ish. WAAAH!

And then I saw a news report. My winter could have been a LOT worse. Just imagine being Kristi Noem! She gets fired, her very much NOT secret boyfriend (and partner in grift), with whom she’s cheating on her husband, dumps her, the $220 million self promo ad campaign (which was a complete grift for her and her homely fuck buddy) gets exposed and is never run and then some tabloid comes out with the news that her husband dresses in bad fake boobs, hot pants and spent BIG bucks every month online with sex workers. 

I’m totally not kink shaming here. What consenting adults do in private is none of my damn business. If it made him happy – hey, party on! Question though – he spent $25,000 on sex workers? Maybe it’s just me but that’s kind of a LOT of dough.

He owned an insurance business? Is that a real money maker? Did that bring in enough not to sweat 25 Gs? OR did Kristi just do a lot of fancy financial footwork as governor of South Dakota? I mean, that’s completely on brand for her. Maybe the Noems come from big fat generational buckos? Did no one notice or care that $25 thou slipped out the door or were Bryon’s sex workers included in the household budget?

GOP Congresscritter Nancy Mace, Can Cop

Also, these are Republicans. Ya know, the party that’s so anti-trans that they want to perform junk inspections in public bathrooms. They scaremonger that kids go to school and are being, at minimum, groomed to become transgender OR *gasp* gay. This is the party that’s always going off about manliness and alpha shit?

So, let me get this straight, it’s okay to wear the clothing traditionally worn by women when you’re a dude married to a Republication governor and Prez Pedophile cabinet member, but it’s NOT okay if you’re an every day American who’s just trying to live your best and most authentic life. Gotcha. This is GOP logic for you.

Unemployment Barbie’s has asked for sympathy and privacy as she goes through this hard time.

“Ms. Noem is devastated. The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time,” Noem’s representatives told The Post. (source) 

She deserves the same amount of sympathy and privacy that she’s given immigrants and their families or Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Precisely zilchareeno.

Also, her and Bryon have been married for 34 years. Is she trying to say this came outta nowhere? All of a sudden, after 34 fucking years together, ‘ol Bry started dressing like a Skid Row two bit street hooker, calling pricey dial-a-heaux services to get off and Cosplay Kristi didn’t notice? Maybe she was too busy boffing Lewandowski in her taxpayer funded $70 million luxury jet’s boudoir to notice or care. I only mention it BUT, with the amount of time she’s very publicly spent playing dress-up, it seems pretty damn clear that costume play was a big part of the Noem marriage. She's known all along and is only “devastated” and “blindsided” that this came out – that it’s now very public knowledge. 

To be clear, I’m not mocking Failure Barbie and her husband for his specific fetishes or their apparent open marriage. No, I’m making fun of HER because SHE’S a stack of hypocritical, fraudulent, thieving, ruthlessly self-absorbed, compassion-free rotting dead skunk heads, stinking to high heaven. 

Honestly, the only thing Bryon Noem has to be ashamed of, is having been Kristi Noem's husband. That and being a Trumpublican.

One other unexpected funny bit – the execrable Megyn Kelly quipped that she was glad Cricket doesn't have to see this.  💀 💀 💀 Yeah, Cricket and that poor goat too.

Word Pet Peeves

Below are a small selection of words I keep seeing misused online. Ya know, beyond the usual there/they’re/their, your/you’re, its/it’s, or using “could of” or “would of” instead of “could have’ or “would have.” //cringe// They're annoying the crap outta me.

Apart – to be at a little distance. 
She stood apart from the crowd.
A part – to be an element of a group, a whole. 
The aerialists were a part of the circus.  

Complement – something that completes or makes something better or perfect. 
The velociraptors were the perfect complement to the party, they added just the right touch of mayhem.
Compliment – an expression of praise or encouragement. 
She complimented him on his matching socks.

Lose – a verb meaning to misplace or otherwise no longer have something. 
You could lose a tooth if you keep up with that aerialist shit.
Loose – an adjective meaning not tight. 
Your tights are too loose and are bound to fall off as soon as you’re up on the swinging trapeze.

Principal – the head of a school. 
YES, I’m headed to Principal Grundy’s office again. YES, I was fucking swearing in class again.
Principle – a rule, belief or fundamental law. 
The Principles of Trumpism can be boiled down to one main tenet – whatever puts gold in his pocket and raises him to the level of god king is paramount.

Affect – a verb meaning to influence. 
His shitty opinion did not affect my voting choice.
Effect – a noun meaning the result. 
The effects of the calm-me-down drugs I take for my MRIs take for-fucking-ever to wear off.

Rosemary Mosco – Bird and Moon

Poisonous organisms (frogs, mushrooms, pufferfish, poison ivy) contain toxins that cause injury, sickness, or death when touched or ingested.
Venomous animals (snakes, spiders, bees) actively inject toxins via bites or stings

Flammable – capable of being easily ignited and of burning quickly. 

Inflammable is NOT the opposite of flammable. The two basically mean the same thing though I’ve seen it said that inflammable means that a substance is capable of bursting into flames without the need for any ignition. Spontaneous combustion? Dunno 'bout that. Merriam-Webster tells me this though:

Flammable and inflammable look like opposites, but they both describe something that ignites easily and burns quickly. Inflammable arrived in English two centuries before flammable. Its prefix in- is not the one meaning “not,” familiar from words like inactive and inaccurate. Instead it is another prefix altogether: in- as a form of -en-, meaning “to cause to be,” as in the words indent and indebted. This fact is not obvious, however, and confusion about the meaning of inflammable persists. Using nonflammable is one way to ensure clarity when “not flammable” is the intended meaning.
~~~
Flammable also comes from flammare. In the early 20th century, firefighters worried that people might think inflammable meant “not able to catch fire,” so they adopted flammable and nonflammable as official safety labels and encouraged their use to prevent confusion. In general use, flammable is now the preferred term for describing things that can catch fire, but inflammable is still occasionally used with that meaning as well.

The opposite of flammable is nonflammable or noncombustible.

Yur welcome.

Venn

He is the height of imbecility, the most infantile, and unevolved man ever to have existed and it’s not even close. 

“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump told the British newspaper. (source) 

How many people will die because this hamster brained child rapist wants tosteal and control another country’s oil? EVOLVE YOU FECAL HEADED MOTHERFUCKER, JUST FUCKING EVOLVE!!!

I really need to take a day off from the news. I want to be aware of what’s happening. I don’t want to bury my head in the sand or hide in a blanket fort reading comic books all day … wait. No. I’m lying. YES, I DO want to ostrich out. I DO want to make a blanket fort. I want to spend a week or more in there, reading escapist mysteries, science fiction novels, ghost stories, and fairy tales. Cake can come in for pats and naps. Ten will stop by to see if I need more cookies. 

Does this not sound ideal to you? It sure as fuck sounds dandy to me.

Compounding my news anxiety is the fact that I’ve a bunch of doc appointments over the next two weeks. Today’s is just a bone density exam – no biggy. Later in this week there’s physical therapy and a followup with my PCP about some curious symptoms I’ve been having. It may just be more unhappy aging crapoli OR it could be another serious and disturbing chapter in the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We’ll see.

Next week I have dental surgery and I’m definitely agitata about this. WHY do I have to be awake for dental surgery? Hmmmmm?! Also, this Claustrophobia Queen has three, count ‘em THREE MRIs scheduled. Whoopee!!!

I NEED to find a way to lower my dread levels

Possibly this Guardian report could lift my spirits?

JD Vance says aliens are ‘demons’ and details obsession with UFOs
As the war in Iran continues, petrol and grocery prices soar and chaos continues at US airports as a partial government shutdown endures, Vance appeared on the conservative Benny Show podcast, released Saturday, to promise that he would spend time looking into what he called his “obsession” with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors. (source)

He says that he considers aliens to be “demons.” Eh, you know what? I really don’t need to read this. The man has clearly lost the plot… he's utterly banjaxed in the brain box. Veep Many Names might have a functioning mind of some sort but this is not someone with any understanding of, ya know, actual thinking, functioning people.

Here’s something funny – seems Killer Kegseth, the bloodthirsty, let’s-create-Armageddon-NOW, christian nationalist Sec. of Defense, has a new nickname amongst Pentagon staffers. They’re referring to him as “Dumb McNamara.” OUCH! You remember old Bobby McNamara don’t ‘cha?

He was the Defense Secretary who played a BIG FAT role in expanding US involvement in the Vietnam war. Remember Vietnam? It was the big failed, awful, obscene, unnecessary war before Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, Balkan interventions, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

The former defense secretary pushed so hard for further U.S. involvement in Vietnam that some dubbed it ‘“McNamara’s War.” The nickname is meant to take a jab at Hegseth’s hardline military approach, comparing it to a chapter in U.S. history that’s widely seen as a major strategic failure. (source) 

I now, naturally, have Paul Simon’s song A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission) in my head. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Carnations, Kings, and Claptrap

Words for the day 

Pissnelke chiefly German slang, usually vulgar
    noun
Piss carnation 
Roughly: pissant, asshole, jerk

Wankpuffin chiefly British slang, usually vulgar
    noun 
A derogatory insult to describe a contemptible, foolish, or intensely irksome person – a self-absorbed jerk. This is a painfully self-important person who talks a lot, never listens, and leaves every room  more annoying and angry than when he first appeared in it. See also cockwomble or wanker.

Cuntmuffin chiefly British slang, usually vulgar
     noun 
Used to describe someone who is a failure at life in general. Also an extra specially annoying and ignorant person.

Plutocrat
     noun 
A person with power or influence due to his wealth. : a member of a plutocracy. 

Plutocracy
     noun
Government by the wealthy. 

Yesterday’s No Kings protests were reportedly bigger than October’s. Organizers estimated that at least eight million people came out across the country to protest the evil, incompetent, orange pedophile who thinks he’s king. In Boston alone, the crowd was estimated to be 180,000 strong.

If nothing else, the protests build community. They show us that we’re not alone in our rage. We gain power with numbers – we become stronger. These are massive, public displays of opposition that only imbeciles with HUGE, blackmailable secrets could deny (*cough* Lindsey Graham, Mike Johnson, Tom Cotton, Gym Jordan, etc.*cough*). While a march may not change someone’s mind – make a rational, logical thinker out of a cultish MAGAt – it’s effective in, at least, influencing public opinion and raising the awareness of other takes on issues of the day. It's hard to ignore 180,000 people marching in your back yard, eh?

The rallies can lead to an increase political engagement. Like minded folks may read more about what’s going on AND are more apt to vote in the less ballyhooed midterm elections.

These protests are huge AND peaceful. I think that makes a big hairy impact on scorpion brained plutocrats.

Meanwhile, the deranged orange cuntmuffin-who-thinks-he’s-king is lying to the Iranians, thinking they’re as stupid as his cult of trailer trash MAGAts. While making noises out his face anus about negotiations to end the war, he’s sending in marines.

In remarks carried by the IRNA news agency, Ghalibaf rebuked Trump for expressing willingness to negotiate with Iran while “secretly planning a ground attack”.

“The enemy is openly sending a message of negotiation and secretly planning a ground attack,” he was quoted as saying. “Our men are waiting for the arrival of American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire.”

Earlier today, US media reported that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. The reports came as the US military announced the arrival of 3,500 soldiers from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Middle East. (source) 

First, he wasn't “secretly” planning anything. Pedo may THINK he’s keeping shit on the down low but that demented old coot couldn’t hold a secret in a biometric fireproof bank vault hidden in Fort Knox.

A further 3,500 American troops have arrived in the Middle East, as the US continues to bolster its presence in the region during the war with Iran....

Its arrival came as the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. US officials have not confirmed whether ground troops will be deployed.
~~~
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week that he was not sending ground troops to Iran, but added: "If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you”. (source) 

That grotesque idiot really believes himself to be so cute, so coy and canny. YOU DOPE, ALL THE PAPERS HAVE BEEN REPORTING IT ALL ALONG! He really is astoundingly dimwitted AND completely unself-aware.

Hacks, Truth, Lies, and Braggadocio

Krazy Kash’s email has been hacked. By whom? The Handala Hack Team.

Handala, which presents itself as a group of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is considered by western researchers to be one of several personas used by Iranian government cyberintelligence units. (source) 

Handala’s specialty is data theft combined with public leaks with the intention of embarrassing and/or intimidating the target.

"The so-called 'impenetrable' systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team," Handala wrote. "All personal and confidential information of Kash Patel, including emails, conversations, documents, and even classified files, is now available for public download.” (source) 

The dirt they got on Kash is supposedly from 2010 and 2019 – before he was put in charge of the FBI. Who knows if they’re really into the FBI systems or if it’s just Patel’s general gmail crap. The Hackers have a lot of motivation to stand up and boast, brag, and overstate their triumphs. Our clownishly inept government have a bazillion reasons to, in a totally macho manner, deny that any such violation of security could EVER occur. Where does the posturing and braggadocio end and the truth – reality – begin? Will we ever know?

Handala also claims to have hacked and published the personal data of dozens of employees at the defense company Lockheed Martin, stationed in the Middle East. So, people who work in defense IN THE Middle East are now even less safe than they were before. Their personal deets are now in the hands of the understandably ultra pissed Iranian government. 

Bozo the President and his ace team of bungling bootlickers and buffoons strike again. How much you wanna bet that old Krazy Eyes will be joining Cosplay Kristie in the unemployment line soon?

What I really want to know, when is that kill-happy, obviously out of his mind, dry drunk Sec. of Defense gonna get the ax. I mean, I know he’s a white boy and was a Fox couch sitter (Pedo’s absolute favorite humans) but won’t he make a good fall guy for the orange idiot’s Middle East “excursion” backfiring so spectacularly? Pedo needs someone to blame.

At a “christian” worship service on Wednesday:

Hegseth recited a prayer that he says was given by a chaplain to troops ahead of the U.S.’s illegal raid of Venezuela and kidnapping of then-President Nicolás Maduro in January.

“I pursued my enemies and overtook them. I did not turn back ‘til they were consumed. I thrust them through so that they were not able to rise. They fell under my feet,” Hegseth said. “And those who hated me, I destroyed. They cried for help, but there was none to save.” He called on God to “snap the rod of the oppressor” and “break the teeth of the ungodly.”

“Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” he said, calling for “justice to be delivered without remorse.”

“We ask these things in bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ,” he concluded. (source) 

WHAT a sick fuck! Dude really needs to be in a dark rubber room, wearing a nicely padded straitjacket.

Unsurprisingly, Killer Kegboy’s Christian Nationalist pastor is also a murder advocate. Brooks Potteiger recently called for James Talarico, Texas Democratic state representative, senate candidate and Presbyterian seminarian to be “crucified.” Additionally, this wackaloon claimed the Bible is “pro-ICE raids.” JFC!  

There should be absolutely no question in anyone’s mind as to why I’m an agnostic/atheist. Seriously.

What's that spell? What's that spell? What's that spell?

It’s an Edwin Starr kind of a morning. (also Country Joe RIP)

War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y’all

The death toll in Donnie and Bibi’s Big Swinging Schwantz Adventure? As of yesterday, East Coast dinner time, 3,181. This doesn’t include the injured who may be sitting in death’s waiting room at the moment.

In Iran alone:

At least 1,937 people have been killed and 24,800 injured by US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, Iran’s Health Ministry says.

• The victims’ ages ranged from eight months to 88 years old
• 240 women are among those killed
• 168 children were killed in a girls’ elementary school in Minab, over
• 55 healthcare workers were wounded and 11 killed, including four physicians, two nurses and three emergency workers (source)

Yep, old DoucheBrain Donnie really won over the hearts and minds of Iran’s citizens, didn’t he? I’ll bet all those who are still physically able to rise up and rebel against their cruel, oppressive government are totally psyched to welcome the bomb dropping, baby killing hordes who just destroyed their homes, businesses, and killed and/or maimed half their families.

Then there’s the rat faced, violence jonesing, imbecilic Sec. of Defense who thinks murder is FUN! This is all just a junior high, my-dick’s-bigger-than-yours game to him. He’s standing there flashing his tiny hard on at his imagined, impressed audience thinking he’s all that and a can of Red Bull.Kegseth is the thing you disgustedly attempt to scrape off the bottom of your shoe and then have to throw the pair in the trash anyway. Unsalvageable.

Mike Luckovich

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, prayed during a religious service at the Pentagon that there be “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”. (source) 

He PRAYED for "overwhelming violence?!!!" This motherfucker is un-fucking-believable. He needs to be isolated and locked up tight. You just know this entire administration is full of sickos who tortured and killed animals when they were kids. (and, in Unemployed Barbie's case, as an adult).

French Senator Claude Malhuret has been giving fine critiques of Pedo and his Cabinet of incompetents. 

Last March: 

…Mr. Malhuret…compared Mr. Trump to two tyrannical Roman emperors, Nero and Caligula. But he has added that, if Caligula named his horse a consul, “at least that horse did no harm to anyone.” (source) 

This March:

"Every time the Epstein affair resurfaces, bombs explode somewhere in the world and cause a distraction!”
~~~
"A year ago, here in France, I compared Trump's presidency to Nero's Court. I was wrong. It's the miracle court. An anti-vaxxer, former heroin addict as Minister of Health," he said, referring to RFK Jr.
Malhuret's comparison to the mad Emperor Nero is fitting. It's said that he fiddled while Rome burned. In Trump's case, he's building a ballroom while the entire world goes up in flames.

"A climate-skeptic Minister of Economy. An alcoholic TV host, Minister of the Armed Forces," Malhuret continued, referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"An old Qatar agent, Minister of Justice. A groupie of Putin, Minister of National Security," Malhuret went on, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Bondi previously worked for the Ballard Partners firm which raked in $115,000 a month by lobbying on behalf of Qatar.
~~~
"Every time the Epstein affair resurfaces, bombs explode somewhere in the world and cause a distraction," he continued. "Bomb more to win more.” (source) 

Listen to/read the full speech here. It's a banger.

This is how the whole world sees the US. Trump has made this country a filthy pariah and the punchline to a joke. WE allowed ourselves to become this disgusting, repulsive, violent, obscenity by not being vigilant enough in opposing him, his supporters and fans. Frankly, this began with not coming down hard enough on the Confederacy, not opposing Nixon's pardon, going soft on the myriad criminals in Reagan's administration, and on and on and on. 

Finally, from the How Stupid and/or Naive Can You Be files:

Epstein survivor who voted for Trump says she now fears ‘we’re not going to get justice’

After casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears “we’re not going to get justice in all of this”. (source) 

I’m just flat out stunned. Gobsmacked even. Was she never there at the same time as the orange rapist? Had she never heard about him from the other victims and survivors? What version of reality does she occupy where Trump has EVER been at all trustworthy or any of his statements have EVER been in any way credible? Are the clouds made of cotton candy in her world? Can you sail on soda pop lakes? Kittens and puppies live forever and mommies and daddies are always good, kind, and properly attentive?

I’m being unfair though. Obviously this woman has been through some incredibly grotesque, hellish traumas in her life. Still, I would think she would learn and grow after her horrific experiences – gain some mature judgement. She's clearly in need of more therapy.

I’ve lived through some pretty heavy, skeevy shit too (no Trumpstein Island type shit, thank Bast). After every survived horror though, I tried to find the lesson. That is, what happened, how/why did it possibly happen, and what could I do so that whatever went down would NEVER happen again.

Survival instincts – they don’t seem to be standard part of every human’s basic operating system. Huh. 

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag – Country Joe McDonald & the Fish 

A Few Pics and Stuff

I have an early appointment today AND I’m just too weary and annoyed with the world to do more than scream obscenities and venom. As David Byrne sang in Talking Heads’ abso-brill Life During Wartime,  "I ain't got time for that now."

Also, I know a big shouty rant is usually fun for me but all frenzied rage and no snark, beauty, wit or general fun makes Donna a dull broad. N'est-ce pas? 

What’s this mean? THAT’S right, meine Freunde, it’s a picture and meme day! Here are more of Hillel's awesome shots from his trip to Thailand as well as other bits that simply amuse me. Yur welcome. 

Buddha in the bodhi tree (Ayutthaya)

Wat Rong Suea Ten/Blue Temple interior

Wat Rong Khun/White Temple