Chris Ekman

(True, it might have been commentary not on my politics but my appearance, in which case... fair.)

But the very best response was the guy driving by in his pickup who wore a paper crown from Burger King just so he could shout "Yes kings!" I can't begrudge him his fun, because that was a hoot.

...well, what do you even call it? War? Strikes? Assassination? Or just a crime?

Of course, there are always some hecklers. There was one woman who looked right at me with pure disgust. Nose wrinkled, teeth bared, like she found an earthworm in her veal scallopini. I'll cherish that.

I've been flaky lately, so I was late to my little town's weekly protest. I knocked out a quick sign - "REGIME CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME" - and straggled in halfway through.

Though we're hardly a bellwether, the support we got seemed extra vigorous. I'm not seeing a rally-'round-the-flag effect from...

A screenshot from the Colbert Report from October 9th, 2014, in which Stephen randomly picked manly names for US operations in Syria and Iraq, one of which was "Operation: Turgid Hammer".

It's pretty remarkable that ol' What's-His-Initial has had nothing at all to say about the madness of the last ten years. It's even more remarkable that nobody anywhere has wanted to hear from him.

Boy, tough break for Cheney that he couldn't have hung on a few more months...

Hey, Paul Bremer's still alive! I'll bet he's tanned, rested and ready.

It's kind of heartbreaking - if only Dick Cheney had held on for a few more months, he'd have seen his wildest dreams come true.

This is besides your point, but I didn't know he was behind the Dirk Gently TV show. That might explain why I only got through 10 minutes of it: the gratuitously flashy & bloody opening, then the glib & grating character intro. It was so amped-up, with nothing like the whimsical charm of the books.

A sculpted caricature by Spitting Image of former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in his "Randy Andy" prime, in the style of a centerfold in Playgirl or Cosmo, with Andy wearing nothing but gold, lounging in satin sheets, with a string of sausages draped over his lap

Looking on the bright side - if he really couldn't sweat before, he's surely sweating now.

The only thing more depressing than the news is the deranged horseshit that "Christian" "patriots" are being gulled into believing is the news.

A clipping from the New York Times from September 20th, 1944, explaining the concept of pizza to its readership, as most of them would still have considered it an exotic foreign dish.

It's especially funny that he mentions pizza. Pizza wasn't widely known in the US until the late 1940s!

A panel from the comic strip Pogo in which Churchy panics about the approach of Friday the 13th. "She's a-goozin' up like the trump of doom! All wierds an' eries with splay-footed dread fingers all crutchery and clawn!"

YouTube video by Reelblack One The History Of White People In America (1985) | Martin Mull Fred Willard

Or possibly Martin Mull?

youtu.be/Nx5fsOHML1I

Whatever this is, I'm against it.

Tom Stoppard.

Bob Kerrey colluded with Epstein? Good heavens, this will besmirch the good name of a decorated war criminal.

That's a relief to hear. The last time I had to go through that, the prep tasted like salted milk.

A Twitter thread by David Rees from 2017/05/17, part one: "RE: #ComeyFiring, I think the GOP will now go along with anything Trump does. I mean literally anything. It’s TIME FOR SOME SHAME THEORY! I believed GOP was going along with DJT because they thought he could get them their precious policy outcomes: tax cuts, etc. -- and, that if DJT’s malfeasance ever decreased their chances of enacting those policies, they would jettison him. I now think this political calculus has been replaced by a deeper, darker, calculus: a psychological survival strategy. GOP will agree to anything - I mean anything - because they can no longer afford a moral reckoning with what who and what they’ve enabled. Once you've gone so far that checking in with yourself would shatter your belief in your own humanity/decency, there are no limits."

A Twitter thread by David Rees from 2017/05/17, part two: "At this point, there are probably GOPers who wish Trump would suspend the constitution outright. Really just GO FOR IT, so that we leave this liminal, sorta-not-quite-authoritarian space with its semi-sorta-functional institutions behind, and enter a new American era, where their collusion/treason(?) can't be judged by old norms. If you've ever had an affair, or drug issues, etc, you probably know the feeling. The bender/lost weekend/flirtation with hitting bottom. At some point, your shame at your behavior, at the norms you’ve violated, leads you to double down, go ALL IN, obliterate your old self. I used to be a bully in middle school, so I know this amazing, complex feeling of exhilaration and revulsion, the poison rush of living your worst self, resenting *the part of you that knows better.* Not enough to ignore it; you must destroy it."

A Twitter thread by David Rees from 2017/05/17, part three: "Congress had to enter DJT’s orbit in order to pass their sacred tax cuts/repeal the hated ACA. They thought they could contain him. But DJT poisons everyone he touches. The price for working with him is pretty hefty: your humanity and dignity (h/t @joshtpm). Healthy people (and banks!) learned to avoid DJT decades ago. He surrounds himself with damaged goods: Stone, Flynn, other freaks/losers. We are watching that community of damaged psyches expand to include an entire political party. GOP pols must avoid a moral reckoning at all costs. But not just a public reckoning -- a private one. Can’t admit to moral suicide. If #TrumpTrain stopped, GOP would have to answer for putting up with PussyGate, deranged tweets, lies, damaged institutions, all the Russia stuff, etc. etc. The list is overwhelming, unprecedented, debilitating. That reckoning absolutely cannot happen."

A Twitter thread by David Rees from 2017/05/17, part four: "Trump, an experienced abuser, knows this on some lizard-brain level. He has captured the GOP. His transgressions will increase. “Comey was irresponsible about HRC” is deliberately absurd; a power move by Trump to see if GOP will agree to any reality he proposes. Answer: YES. #winning Back to the bender analogy. We’re in the middle of a crazy bender. What would bottoming out look like, when GOP says: ENOUGH? My theory: As of yesterday’s preposterous justification for Comey firing, there is no bottom. The GOP will never call Trump out. In fact, GOP pols must now encourage further transgressions, to destroy the current context in which feeling shame re: DJT is appropriate. Maybe I’m wrong! But my prediction is GOP would agree with DJT if/when he says he’s canceling the 2018 midterms. THE END"

Your point reminds me of a very astute Twitter thread about shame, by David Rees (of Get Your War On fame), from early in Trump's first term. It's hard to find now, so I'm going to post the whole thing here.

This must have been in the '70s or '80s. I wouldn't know how to track it down - I only know of it because it was a running joke with my parents.

Ages ago, a big magazine surveyed the navigability of major American cities. The test was simple: they gave a couple drivers a map, marked start and end points, and had them measure how long the trip took them.

Boston was the one place where they never reached their destination and had to give up.

I managed to avoid that "ah patois pâté" song all last year, but now it is stuck in my head. Please send tips on head removal.

Technically he co-starred with a Muppet in a couple films, but they knew better than to give those two a scene together.

What We Do In The Shavings

Tweet from Sarah Haider on February 3rd, 2026: "It seems as if we've learned nothing useful from the release of the Epstein files. On the other hand, countless who happened to engage with the wrong man are going to face the wrath of the most aggressively stupid people on the planet. Good think cancel culture is over."

This appears to be the new hot take among the savvy contrarian heterodox freethinking politically-homeless etc. crowd.

The best part was seeing how chummy he'd gotten with a lot of big-name skeptics. Especially Michael Shermer, who used to be sensible, but took a hard-right anti-woke turn in the Trump era (not long after the sexual assault allegations against him came to light). What's the wrestling term - kayfabe?

I realize that it's ghoulish to take any pleasure in the Epstein files. But in times like these, you take your pleasures where you can, and it has cheered me up no end to see Deepak Chopra get dragged through the mud.

It's been said many times, but Oprah really does have a lot to answer for.

In a way, maybe it's a good thing that Neil Gaiman is back. The Epstein files could give people the impression that sexual predators are all obvious pigs. Neil serves as a useful warning that they can also be outwardly friendly, open, gracious, charming, cultured, progressive Sensitive New Age Guys.

With special guests Garth Betteridge, Bartell Garnett, Grant Biggby, Bradyn Griggs, Gabbard Bunce, Buck Greeley, Gage Brundage, Bertram Gertz, Griff Brixton, and Bubba Lee Grubb!

There had to have been a better choice of lyric. Here, I'll give it a shot:

"Make him as suave as Don Giovanni
But also as faithful as was Clyde to Bonnie."

See? Even that's an improvement!