INTERNATIONAL PLAYDATE DAY UPDATES
Please Note: NO AGE RESTRICTIONS For This Holiday!
-As Ex-President Trump XCI continues his down-is-up campaign to convince his followers and enough others that the old decrepit old senile old addled old old OLD Joe Biden is also the sinister Nixonian mastermind behind using the January 6, 2021 Biden-organized Antifa/BLM/MeToo/Department-of-weaponized-Justice-organized attack on democracy to demonize and imprison The Last Honest Man In The World (that would be Trump) (and that is not hyperbole - a banner hung behind a modestly-attended rally in New Hampshire last night used a black-and-white backdrop to subtlety suggest BIDEN ATTACKS DEMOCRACY under which Trump yammered), there continues to be appearances that the person who has the real age, health, and above all cognitive issues, is ... Ex-President Trump. Shocking? I know - but hear me out ...
-You see, in another NH campaign appearance on Friday, Trump went on one of his extended ranting lies about January 6 - namely, that the Speaker of the House could have ordered troops to the Capital if s/he really wanted to stop any rioting s/he obviously didn't want to see stopped. Putting aside the fact that this is wrong (only the President can call troops into DC, and in fact there is evidence that Trump refused to do so as the coup attempt raged), Trump used the speech to claim, repeating her name at least five different times, that the person who refused to order troops to the Capital was ... Nikki Haley.
-Nikki Haley at the time was a private citizen in South Carolina, presumably watching the events unfold in DC. The person who was Speaker of the House at the time of the riot was, of course, Nancy Pelosi. And despite news reports that merely claimed Trump "appeared" to confuse the two, THERE WAS NO CONFUSION. Trump clearly thought Haley was Pelosi, and Trump's "defense" for the mixup last night was to first claim he was being sarcastic before again take pride in taking and passing multiple cognitive tests - even though he claimed one of the tests asked him to correctly identify a whale, and no cognitive test exists that uses a whale among the animals that should be identified in order to "pass" the test.
-Haley has seized on the snafu to try to win over voters with the NH primary this week, though a CNN poll now has her behind Trump by double-digits, and Trump continues to bring his party in line, with former candidate and VP-hopeful Tim Scott (DON'T LAUGH BACK THERE!) endorsing him. Scott also dodged a question about Trump's racist use of Haley's Indian surname, claiming "both sides" use rhetoric or some such balderdash.
-As for the other alleged major remaining GOP Presidential candidate, well, it's looking like the party's about to end for FL Gov. and silverware-hater Ron DeSantis. DeSantis officially went to South Carolina for their primary to make a 'final' stand - but the campaign cancelled appearances scheduled for several Sunday morning talk shows and wiped clean scheduled appearances on his web site, prompting some of those same news services to start to publish post-mortems of the man who started as the one GOP candidate who could successfully beat Trump with policies that emulated Trump but would be applied more competently, only to find that outside of FL DeSantis was a socially awkward ninny whose hatred came off as skeevy rather than faux-strength - and, like every single other GOP wannabe, cowered and hid whenever Trump's fourth-grade insult machine ("I call him Ron DeSanctimonious I'M SO SMART!!") threw its attacks on Ron. Sadly for FL, that means he'll slither back and still vote for Trump ...
-Speaking of news, by the way, what is left of the journalism industry got two more jolts in recent days to remind those still paying attention to how we get our information have issues. First, the award-winning Baltimore Sun was purchased by ultra-conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO David Smith and super-ultra-conservative commentator Armstrong Williams - and, in their first meeting in the paper's newsroom, terrified the paper's journalists with plans to end political endorsements and produce news more in line with Smith's Sinclair-owned Fox News station (a station whose stories apparently project a vision of Baltimore more in line with the fictionalized Baltimore of THE WIRE and HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET). Second, the owners of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED announced they will lay off "a significant number, possibly all" of its staff after a series of cutbacks and revelations (one involving the use of artifical intelligence to ghost-write stories), threatening the closure of a once-iconic brand (no word on whether their vaunted swimsuit issue will continue).
-It is all a reminder that, if you care about local news - and you should - you should contribute to those publications so their reporters can do the jobs they are trained to do. Reminder: this writer is NOT a journalist, and while this writer appreciates the tips and support he gets, please don't forget (and frankly, prioritize) the local non-vulture-capital-owned news sites in your locality.
-On this date in 1968, the Battle of Khe Sahn began. On this date in 1977, Jimmy Carter pardoned anyone who evaded the draft during the VIetnam War. On this date in 1997, Newt Gingrich became the first Speaker of the House to be reprimanded by the House for ethics violations. On this date in 2009, Toyota became the world's largest auto maker, overtaking General Motors. On this date in 2010, the Supreme Court unleashed hundreds of millions of unmarked dollars into the political system by ruling in the Citizens United case that corporations' inability to spend whatever they wanted was a First Amendment violation of free speech. On this date in 2017, millions of Americans - led by women - closed streets across the nation and the world in the first, powerful show of resistance against Donald Trump.
-Notable debuts on this date: Patsy Cline (1956, on Arnold Godfrey's show), ALIAS SMITH AND JONES (1971), the Concorde (1976).
-Happy Birthday to Georges Vezina, Christian Dior, Karl Wallenda, Barney Clark, Telly Savalas, Paul Scofield, Benny Hill, George Conner, John Chaney, William Wrigley III, Wolfman Jack, Jack Nicklaus, Placido Domingo, Richie Havens, Edwin Starr, Mac Davis, Billy Ocean, Eric Holder, Mike Krukow, Paul Allen, Geena Davis, Robby Benson, Detlef Schrempf, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jam Master Jay, Cat Power, and Emma Burton.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to George Orwell, Cecil B. DeMille, Ann Sheridan, Jackie Wilson, James Beard, Carl Furillo, Colonel Tom Parker, Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg, Peggy Lee, Maggie Roche, Harris Wofford, Kaye Ballard, Russell Baker, Terry Jones, and Louie Anderson.
-Feed the Worms: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson and Grigori Rasputin entered Earth on this date. Louix XVI's head went off him on this date. Vladimir Lenin and Byron de la Beckwith also bought it on this date.
-The Number One Movie In America on this date ... in 2024, MEAN GIRLS ... in 2014, RIDE ALONG ... in 2004, ALONG CAME POLLY ... in 1994, PHILADELPHIA ... in 1984, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT ... and in 1974, THE EXORCIST.