Complete Idiot of the Day

Newt I-can’t-believe-he’s-not-dead-yet Gingrich really, truly, in all seriousness said this: 

"Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever, we cut a new channel through friendly territory. A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you’ve got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks."

Gee, golly, I'm sure the United Arab Emirates and Oman won't mind a bit – right? 

I just have to ask – is every single Republican on the planet a complete flaming, insane asylum bound, ninnyhammer? Did he say this mind bogglingly stupid and delulu shit for attention or is just this far out of his fucking mind?

Yes, yezzz, I do offer my sincere apologies to those ninnyhammer and delulu Americans out there who did NOT vote for the ugly, rotting pumpkin head and his party of moldy turnips. No offense intended. I didn't mean to imply that you're Republicans. //shudder//

Best quote on Iran war? When you kick a hornets’ nest it’s the hornets who decide when it’s over.

I’ve seen 2 posts this week saying “the raptor is coming.” Did the respective posters mean to write:

•  “Rapture,” i.e. Jesus’ much ballyhooed arrival to snatch up all the good Christians, is back on the calendar (again)? Sorry MAGAts, there’s no ticket to Heaven for you. Please do enjoy your burning-in-Hell-forever time though.

•  Were they saying that we’re soon to be visited by velociraptors? That could be interesting. 

•  Maybe they were referencing birds of prey? Like, maybe massive king vultures are gonna fly in to feast on our irradiated carcasses after Prez Pedo kicks off WWIII. 
Picture it – after the genius Republicans, inspired by that obviously dementia ridden, none-too-bright-to-begin-with, Reagan leftover, drop a dozen thermonuclear bombs in their destined-to-fail attempt to create a Strait of Hormuz workaround, the planet will be flooded with radioactive fallout. That entire area of the Middle East will be nothing but a radioactive sheet of glass.

Everything – all sea life will be dead. Land animals and people who haven’t died yet, will probably wish they had. They’ll be  crawling and hobbling on their remaining limbs to possible sources of water, food, and shelter. Vultures are circling. They gotta eat too, ya know.

Possibly it’s some combination of the three – rapture/velociraptor/raptor. Hard to tell. I really wish people would put a bit more effort into proofreading their posts before hitting “publish. 

By the way, the Raptor or Rapture is on the 22nd in case you want to prepare. Dunno how we’d get ready but I’d imagine it’d be the same no matter what.

•  Stock up on extra toilet paper, snacks, water, cat food, and meds.
•  Break out all the board games, knitting and other crafting supplies (figuring Wi-Fi’s gonna die).
•  Make sure all the laundry’s done.
•  Start a hydroponic garden in the basement. I should probably do that now.

AND here's ome news from Pedo and Bibi’s Operation Epstein Fury for your Monday morning:

The Israeli army said it had begun what it described as “limited ground operations” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon – but IDF attacks in Lebanon have killed many civilians and have hit residential neighbourhoods.
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The Lebanese health ministry said 850 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since 2 March, when Israel started striking Lebanon following Hezbollah’s firing of rockets towards the country. (source) 

The rational put out for this war was something about Iran being just about to attack Israel and/or the U.S. or some other made up bullshit. The real reasoning is more along the lines of Trump and Netanyahu not being able to get stiffies anymore in addition to needing distractions from their other, respective, myriad crimes. Thousands of dead innocents mean nothing to these rich fucks.

Looks like Italy, Greece, the U.K., Australia, Germany, Luxembourg, France, China, Japan, and South Korea, amongst others, have either said a big fat NO, we ain’t sending no warships to the Strait of Hormuz in support of your illegal war OR they’ve just, so far, ghosted the orange motherfucker. 

Must suck to be so astronomically stupid, deservedly unpopular, irredeemably ugly, AND a worldwide laughingstock. Somehow I’m experiencing a complete lack of empathy. I strangly suspect, in this particular case, that’s permanent.

Idiocy Kills

From a March 5, 2021 article in Scientific American:

In the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, more than 450,000 Americans died from COVID-19, and life expectancy fell by 1.13 years, the biggest decrease since World War II. Many of the deaths were avoidable; COVID-19 mortality in the U.S. was 40 percent higher than the average of the other wealthy nations in the Group of Seven (G7).
~~~
His incompetent and malevolent response to the COVID-19 pandemic capped a presidency suffused with health-harming policies and actions.

That’s the COVID deaths from the final year of his first obscene term alone. How many of us died due to his bungling, lying, denying, bullshit COVID incompetence? 1,219,487. More than 1.2 million of us. That’s surely an under-counting thanks to idiot governors like DeSantis, Abbott, and Noem.

By the by, the Worldometer stopped collecting data after April 13, 2024 as most countries stopped contributing data.

How many other needless deaths is the fecal faced moron liable for? He’s certainly to blame for every single one of his gun fetishizing worshippers who’ve slaughtered in his name. Kyle Rittenhouse, James Alex Fields Jr., and the murderous January 6 rioters (some have already been rearrested) to name just a few.

So, how many deaths will he cause this time around?

We can already chalk the 67 dead humans in the plane/helicopter crash at DC's Reagan International up to him and his imbecilic pet Nazi.

There’s no situation they can’t make worse by opening their mindbogglingly inept mouths.

…Donald Trump is suggesting, without evidence, that efforts to improve diversity in the federal government led to a deadly plane crash, the head of a major airline pilots’ union is asking the public to focus on “fact gathering”.

Fotus is also blaming Biden because OF COURSE he is.

Last week, just days after his inauguration, Donald Trump eliminated the membership of a key committee that handles aviation security.
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On Tuesday, January 22, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee’s members received a memo from the Trump administration saying that the Department of Homeland Security was getting rid of the membership of all advisory committees in a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.” At the same time, Trump also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.

Congress mandated the aviation committee in 1988, after the PanAm Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. After Trump’s move, the committee technically continues to exist but has no members to examine safety issues in airlines and airports. (source) 

Could this disaster have been prevented by a competent administration?

Yes DUH!

WTF Alabama?!!

You heard about the hit man (one of three) in Alabama who was executed by nitrogen gas? Apparently shit didn’t go as anticipated.

State authorities had predicted unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes. (source)

Dude was awake for more than mere seconds and in mega serious pain. This execution, touted by Alabama as' humane,' lasted 22 minutes. I only mention it but, when you’re in excruciating pain, one minute feels like a years.

"We didn't see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life," Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed the execution, said.

"Heaving back and forth, we saw spit, we saw all sorts of stuff develop from the mask. The mask was tied to the gurney, ripping his head back and forth over and over again.” (source) 

J.D. Crowe

No shock but the state of Alabama doesn't seem to know the actual definition of the word "humane." Also, FYI, cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. You can look it up. It’s right there in the eighth amendment.

Have you read about who contracted the killers? It was the murdered woman’s husband. The fucker was a goddamned “christian” preacher. Also, he was having an affair with one of his devoted congregants. Somehow, I'm unsurprised—of course the perp's a "man of god."

Her husband Charles Sennett, a debt-ridden preacher, paid them $1,000 (£790) to carry out the murder so that he could collect insurance money. He killed himself as investigators closed in. (source)

Great that he offed himself (save taxpayers the cost of a trial and incarceration) but here’s what I don’t get... Did he never consider getting a divorce or a second job? Maybe he could've run away and joined a carnival? Surely his little girlfriend could’ve given him a hand. Don't these preacher types know how to pray for guidance and miracles? Isn't that what they want all of us to do? Did he already do this and his god's answer was "Thou shalt go forth and hire a team of cheap hit men?"

On top of arranging the murder of his children’s mother, WHY did Chucky further traumatize his adult sons by calling them to meet at his church. There he cops to hiring Mom's killers, after which he ambles out to his truck and blows his meager brains out. Ace move, Pops!

This bit is curious:

His (Smith’s) conviction and death sentence, however, were overturned in 1992 because the state opted to exclude several potential jurors based on their race. (source)

Kenneth Smith was white. The victim was white. Did the state of Alabama mandate that the jury HAD to be all white? Why? I don’t get it.

Kenneth Eugene Smith was originally scheduled to be put to death with lethal drugs in November 2022.

Prison staff inserted one intravenous line, but two lines were required to administer the lethal injection.

After they struggled for an hour to insert the second IV, the execution was called off. (source)

How many times did the, clearly none-too-bright-or-skilled, state of Alabama attempt to unalive Mr. Smith? Twice.

“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.  “The world is watching.” (source)

Barbaric—we are a barbaric nation.

In the News

I read the news this morning—oh boy.

A man who posted violent threats against President Joe Biden and other officials online was shot dead during an FBI raid on Wednesday. (source)

"I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."
~ Clarence Darrow
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Floodwaters in Norway have sent mobile homes crashing into a bridge on the Hemsilar river. (source)

Norway has tin human containers too? I thought that was unique to America. I mean, don’t you have to pledge allegiance to Cheeto before you can move into one?
~~~
A prisoner believed to have been released early to fight with Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine has been accused of committing a double murder in Russia after returning home from the war.
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We have confirmed that suspects in about 20 serious offences, including rape and murder, are fighters recruited by the Wagner mercenary group in prison and released early to serve in Ukraine. (source)

Quelle surprise! Not. I bet Vladimort views this, if he sees it at all, as nothing more than necessary collateral damage.

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A candidate in Ecuador's forthcoming presidential election who campaigned against corruption and gangs has been shot dead at a campaign rally.

     ~~~

He is one of the few candidates to allege links between organised crime and government officials in Ecuador.

A criminal gang called Los Lobos (The Wolves) has claimed responsibility. (source)

This is exactly what Cheeto wants his myriad deranged fanbois to do. Snuff out the opposition.

Also, I now have Kiko And The Lavender Moon by the band (NOT the gang) Los Lobos playing in my head. This is a good thing.
~~~
What if we, humans that is, stopped fishing? What would happen if we all stopped eating seafood of any sort. I already abstain from oysters, mussels, (because I don’t really enjoy them) squid, octopus, (because they’re handsome as hell AND smart!) shrimp (because shrimp trawling destroys the seafloor) and lobster (too much work to eat AND they look like horror movie insects). For the sake of the marine ecosystem, could I give up cod, salmon, crab and tuna?

In less than a century, once-thriving ecosystems have become deserts, one of the world's favourite fish is nearing extinction and at the collapsed fishery in Newfoundland, up to 810,000 tonnes of cod that were historically caught each year have gone missing. In fact, humans have utterly transformed the planet's oceans, decreasing the total biomass of fish by an estimated 100 million tonnes since prehistoric times. It's thought that 90% of the planet's fish stocks have already been used up. (source)

Doesn’t look like I’m gonna have a lot of choice in the matter. Best to take them off my menu now.

Cake chilling on my rollator

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Here along the coast of Massachusetts, the temps have dropped. We’re no longer suffering through 90º (and higher) temperatures. At least I don’t live in Phoenix where, on July 18th, it hit 118º OR Coober Pedy, Australia.

In this corner of the world, 60% of the population inhabits homes built into the iron-rich sandstone and siltstone rock. In some neighbourhoods, the only signs of habitation are ventilation shafts sticking up, and the excess soil that has been dumped near entrances.

In the winter, this troglodyte lifestyle may seem merely eccentric. But on a summer's day, Coober Pedy – loosely translated from an indigenous Australian term that means "white man in a hole"– needs no explanation: it regularly hits 52C (126F), so hot that birds have been known to fall from the sky and electronics must be stored in fridges. (source) 

And that's the news or as much as I'm gonna read today anyway.