INTERNATIONAL BAGPIPE DAY UPDATES
Recalling the Bagpipe Solo by Bon Scott on "It's A Long Way To The Top" by AC/DC
-The next "star chamber" hearings of the UltraMAGA House Committee on the "weaponization" of the US Government took place yesterday, as Committee Chair Jim "Gym" Jordan (OtheR Way, OH) called one-time journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi to testify about their work trying to ferret out government interference in Twitter. The duo, who have been paid to review files by Twitter CEO and billionaire weirdo Elon Musk, were ... not successful in trying to show massive cover-ups as ordered by President Biden to protect, among others ... say it with me ... HUNTER BIDEN!
-How unsuccessful? So unsuccessful that Shellenberger's claim that "every single fact" of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's "laptop" Shellenberger used in a report to Congress was, in fact, not true - starting with the opening paragraph of the Post story being exposed as wholly inaccurate. So unsuccessful that when Taibbi said that accepting "spoon-fed, cherry-picked information" may not be such a big deal, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) played a clip in which Taibbi tells respected political commentator Joe Rogan that, in fact, good journalists should NEVER accept spoon-fed, cherry-picked information for a story. So unsuccessful that Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-KY) and John Garimendi (D-CA) pointed to verified testimony and evidence that the only White House that attempted to make Twitter change content to favor the President was Ex-President Trump (look up "Chrissy Teigen and Twitter") and that an analysis of the Twitter algorithms pre-Musk showed it was conservative content that was more often pushed than liberal/progressive content. And so unsuccessful that Jordan continually clashed with Democratic Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett - who was one of the impeachment managers on Trump's first impeachment involving weapon sales to Ukraine.
-So ... unsuccessful.
-As if the story about the Manhattan District Attorney's office closing in on potential indictments against Trump connected to the Stormy Daniels payoffs wasn't enough, The Guardian reported that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is also closing in on indictments involving Trump's handling of classified documents. Smith has subpoenaed Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to testify about Corcoran's invocation of attorney-client privilege in earlier testimony, and the Guardian story implies that Smith is looking into whether Trump used attorney-client privilege to obstruct the investigation into the documents discovery and recovery, thus potentially exposing Trump to obstruction of justice charges in that case. If true, that would be the third case (including the investigation in GA) that Trump could be preparing to be the first President in American history to be criminally indicted. Keep that popcorn popper ready!
-President Biden announced his 2024 budget yesterday in Philadelphia, the first move in what is expected to be a vicious battle that could endanger the entire world economy. Seems hyperbolic, but remember that Kevin McCarthy (SINO, CA) has promised his UltraMAGA base that he would use the upcoming debt ceiling vote and the upcoming budget negotiations to attempt to make massive cuts in Government spending, though the GOP has yet to write a budget to come to the table with before any negotiations can begin - and economists worldwide warn that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would likely cause economic havoc. (So there!) Hysterically, House Republicans blamed Biden for their delay in starting to write their budget - and while there is no doubt that most if not all of what's in Biden's proposal will be enacted with UltraMAGA control, it is literally one of the jobs of the House to create a budget for the nation.
-Then again, UltraMAGA House members are busy. For example, yesterday during a speech before a conservative conference over the weekend, Rep. Lauren Boebert (N-R-A, CO) made a rather interesting defense of her demand that public schools that treat LGBTQI kids with humanity and sexuality as natural and health should be defunded: her proud announcement that Boebert, who is 36, will be a grandmother in April thanks to her eldest son, who is 17. Boebert used her son's teen fatherhood as proof that conservative values and teaching regarding birth control and family choice and cisgendered values were clearly better and morally superior to what Democrats believe and wish to teach.
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-Yeah, I'm done with updates after that one.
-On this date in 1876, the first telephone call was made by Alexander Graham Bell ("Mr. Watson, come here - I want you.") On this date in 1913, William Knox bowled what is believed to be the first official perfect game of 300 in Toledo, OH. On this date in 1933, Nazi Germany opened the first concentration camp in Dachau. And on this date in 1997, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER premiered on the WB Network.
-Happy Birthday to Barry Fitzgerald, Bix Beiderbecke, Heywood Hale Broun, Chuck Norris, David Rabe, Dean Torrence, Tom Scholz, Austin Carr, Paul Haggis, Shannon Tweed, Sharon Stone, Pam Oliver, Rick Rubin, Jasmine Guy, Jeff Ament, Neneh Cherry, Edie Brickell, Paget Brewster, Jon Hamm, Matt Kenseth, Timbaland, Robin Thicke, Danny Pudi, Carrie Underwood, Olivia Wilde, Bad Bunny, Zach LaVine, and Justin Herbert.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Tiberius, Harriet Tubman, Ray Milland, Andy Gibb, Ross Hunter, Lloyd Bridges, Ernie Ladd, Corey Haim, Joni Sledge, Robert James Waller, Hubert de Givenchy, and Joe Tait.
-Feed the Worms: Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray, super-corrupt soccer executive Sepp Blatter, pretentiously twee columnist Bob Greene, and mass murderer extraordinaire Osama Bin Laden entered Earth on this date. Segregationist Bull Connor bought it on this date.
-CORRECTION: Rep. Stacey Plaskett was an impeachment manager for Trump’s SECOND impeachment involving the events of January 6, 2021.