NATIONAL BUBBLE BATH DAY UPDATES

Whether by Mr. Bubble or Jacuzzi, Have Some Wine With Yours!

-A busy week of court dates for Ex-President Trump XCI begins tomorrow when arguments are presented in a DC District Court over Trump's claims that he has a force field around him that gives him powers to do anything he wants. In a social media post, Trump threatens to appear at the trial and (allegedly) claim that Trump was looking for and finding evidence of voter fraud as part of his official Presidential duties that allowed Joe Biden to win the 2020 Presidential election - an argument he is repeating in a motion in Fulton County, GA in another attempt to have that entire trial thrown out and invalidated.

-Given that Biden won the 2020 Presidential election in what is acknowledged outside of MAGAland to be one of the cleanest elections in modern history and multiple Trump witnesses testifying in various court proceedings that Trump actually did and does deep down know he lost, neither motion is expected to hold water, though the Trump appearance apparently is meant to be threatening to the courts ... as was another social media post "warning" Biden that if Trump gets back into power Biden will be prosecuted for "weaponizing DoJ against ... ME! (Trump)" (also totally incorrect, of course).

-NY Rep. Elise Stefanik continues to do something that, historically, has always seemed a bit dubious: campaigning for Vice President. Appearing on MEET THE PRESS, Stefanik continued her shamelessly craven transformation from a moderate with the potential to be House to the ultimate Trump Depends remora, pre-refusing to validate any 2024 election results that would mean Trump would not be President even if he did not win enough votes to be President as happened in 2020. In doing so, she repeated Trump rhetoric in calling January 6 convicts and defendants as "hostages" while pooh-poohing any rhetoric that apes Nazi and fascist rhetoric from her would-be boss.

-As horrific as that was, what for some was most striking is that MTP host Kristin Welker continued to do the impossible: make former host Chuck Todd look like Mehdi Hasan. Welker left Stefanik's jaw-dropping claims lie with not one bit of push back, preferring the social media clips rather than do the job of pressing such claims like Hasan, acknowledged as one of the best interviewers in media today. Hasan, unfortunately, will not be the next MTP host, as his show was cancelled by NBC/MSNBC/Peacock and, at the end of his last show, announced his exit from the network. Way to go, NBC Universal.

-Meanwhile, in Congress, multiple reports claim a budget agreement is nearly complete between the Senate and House that would keep federal spending level with last year and repurpose unspent Covid funds (this despite Covid levels now approaching the peaks hit during the Omicron wave in 2021-22) - and even though this spending bill would keep the government open, there are already rumblings of discontent from the UltraMAGAts who replaced now former Congressperson Kevin McCarthy (HA HA!) (sorry, that was unprofessional) with current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-Zuz!, LA) in the hopes of closing the government per the orders of Dear Stinky Orange Leader.

-One reason Johnson is actually governing is because he may need Democrats to keep his job. The GOP House majority is in a numeric hairsbreadth, thanks to resignations (OH's Bill Johnson to become President of Youngstown State, though his pro-Trumpism is not sitting well among some there), expulsions (Cameo superstar "George Santos") and illness (Majority Leader Steve Scalise, on medical leave to undergo stem cell treatments for blood cancer despite constant voting against stem cell research, prescription drug price controls and access to health care for anyone not a Congressperson), reducing the already small five vote margin to possibly 2-3.

-And look who's not helping Johnson or the UltraMAGAts - the rep with the most notorious hands in Congress, Lauren Boebert! Seems the Boebs, perhaps stressed out over packing from her current Congressional district to a redder district that she believes she can win, had a run-in with her ex, the junk-exposer-to-the-teen-girls Jayson Boebert. How and why they were meeting at the Miner's Claim restaurant in Silt, CO is not our concern - but it is of concern that Jayson apparently called the police after Lauren reportedly punched Jayson "several times" in the face in the incident. Lauren for her part simply calls the incident "sad," and local police stated there was an "active investigation" into the incident.

-In weather news, the National Weather Service is giving a heads-up to the country of a "significant" one-two system of weather that is going to astonishingly bring January weather to the country. Here in Chicago there are reports of anywhere from 3-12 inches of snow coming in two stages during the week, with colder weather after that. This of course will be led by climate change nimrods drooling "WHERE'S YOUR GLOBAL WARMING NOW HAR HAR (coughcoughcough)!?") as they spread one of the three flus currently running wild throughout the country while blowing off what global warming and climate change actually is. Or, as we say in Chicago ... January.

-Onward!

- On this date in 1815, Andrew Jackson defeated British forces in the Battle of New Orleans, the final battle in the confusingly-named War of 1812. On this date in 1941, an enraged William Randolph Hearst ordered his papers to stop running ads for CITIZEN KANE. On this date in 2011, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot and severely wounded in a gun attack that killed six others while at a constituent event in her district. And on this date in 2016, drug cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo' Guzman was captured after escaping prison and staying on the lam for six months.

-Notable debuts: the State of The Union address, delivered by George Washington in 1790 (the 2024 SOTU will be on March 7), ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (TV series, 1978), EL MARIACHI (1993).

-Happy Birthday to Frank Nelson Doubleday, Gypsy Rose Lee, Jose Ferrer, Larry Storch, Ron Moody, Soupy Sales, Sander Vanocur, Bill Graham, Charles Osgood, Elvis Presley, Shirley Bassey, Bob Eubanks, Graham Chapman, Stephen Hawking, Yvette Mimieux, Robby Krieger, David Bowie, John McTiernan, Bruce Sutter, Mike Reno, Dwight Clark, Rey Misterio, Paul Hester, Michelle Forbes, Jason Giambi, Sarah Polley, Gaby Hoffman, and Cynthia Erivo.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Marco Polo, Galileo, Eli Whitney, Robert Baden-Powell, Terry-Thomas, Steve Clark, Harvey Haddix, Pat Buttram, Francois Mitterrand, Jesse White, Dave Thomas (Wendy's Restaurant), Otis Clay, Yvonne DeCarlo, Andrae Crouch, Buck Henry, Edd Byrnes, Marilyn Bergman, and Bernard Kalb.

-Feed the Worms: Pedophile with a voice R. Kelly and Trump-proclaimed BFF to Trump Kim Jong-un entered Earth on this date. Zhou Enlai bought it on this date.