NATIONAL FLANNEL DAY UPDATES

And If So - Who Answers? Who Answers? Oh I ... am Still Alive

-While it didn’t get the knockout highlight of getting “Donald Trump is a p*ssy-ass bitch” into the Congressional record, the first hearing of Rep. Jim “Gym” Jordan’s (OtheR Way, OH) Weaponization of the Government was full of screaming boredom (with Republican members openly fighting to stay awake), a who’s who of Fox News contributors as ‘star’ contributors (Tulsi Gabbard, Jonathan Turley), a former FBI agent who retired in 1999 appearing to have never heard of a smart phone, and Democratic members schooling Jordan over and over on everything from procedure to basic facts. It went so well that Fox commentator Jesse Waters used his platform to declare “I am sick of these hearings!” (This was the second hearing of the 118^th Congress) and plaintively asking, “Tell me this is going somewhere!” (There are rumblings that these star chamber hearings may already be backfiring on the UltraMAGA-led House. Sad!)

-Not that individual Republicans are doing any better. Why, just yesterday …

-Sen. Rick Scott (SkeletoR, FL) attempted to defend President Biden’s correct claim that Scott has advocated ending Social Security and Medicare as part of Scott’s GOP Senate campaigns in 2022 (that led to the Republicans losing one seat in an environment that was very favorable to them) on CNN – and was so disastrous that Scott appeared to have backtracked on his known opposition to the Affordable Care Act (Scott’s former company was fined $1.7 BILLION after being convicted of defrauding Medicare) …

-Rep. Clay Higgins (MAGA, LA) – who resigned from a local police department when it became clear he was going to lose his job for use of excessive force – attempted to carry out his threat to arrest Twitter employees who testified before his committee on Wednesday for “probable cause” that was scoffed at by former attorney and Fox News host Laura Ingraham …

-And Newsmax, the former right-wing news site now solely streaming after being removed from the DirecTV platform, attempted to give “Rep.” “George Santos” (“R,” “NY”) a platform to rehabilitate his image – only to have “Santos” claim he was a business expert based on running a company in 2001, which would have made him 13 at the time of that “business” being run.

-In more good news, the state of FL has reversed themselves and will now NOT demand girls who want to play sports submit information about their menstrual periods to the state as an apparent way to prove their gender. The move, one of a series of draconian edicts being issued by apparent 2024 Presidential favorite Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL, man) aimed at both education and gender, follows what some FL observers note is a pattern: make a massive declaration of a policy that will please the UltraMAGA GOP base, then quietly back off it once the declaration proves unworkable and/or horribly unpopular and/or illegal.

-Twitter continues to teeter. The site continues to allow racist and anti-semitic users to pollute news feeds, and surviving users noted technical breakdowns over the last 48 hours that prevented updates and altered follower feeds. As for whether they will get repaired, well, that could be a problem. See, billionaire weirdo CEO Elon Musk asked the surviving engineering staff (reportedly five people to his office) – not to talk about the usability issues, but to demand answers as to why people have stopped engaging with him and his Tweets. When told that users have stopped following Musk and the algorithms were fine, Musk reportedly responded by firing two of the engineers on the spot. So, have those Twitter alternatives – Post.com, Mastodon, Spoutible – ready just in case they’re needed, which they need to be.

-Speaking further ill of Musk, reports out of Ukraine indicate that Musk is blocking use of his Starlink Internet access satellite system from being used by the Ukraine military to help guide Ukraine’s drones to attack Russian sites. It is not the first time Musk has mucked with his system, which he donated at the start of the Russian invasion but has pivoted as it appears Musk’s sympathies now lie with Vladimir Putin and Putin’s dwindling list of allies.

-That list reportedly no longer includes the country of Moldova from the list, as a report that Putin plans to try to invade that country combined with reports of a missile being fired over their air space as part of another attack on Ukrainian civilian sites has led Moldova to appoint a pro-European Union leader as a new Prime Minister (Moldova has applied for EU membership) – all of which makes their involvement a potential provocation to NATO and a touch of desperation in Russia’s continued failure of its war of aggression against Ukraine.

-Slava Ukraini!

-To close, as a Cleveland Browns fan, joy has been few and far between with the team recently, but we got a big burst of joy yesterday when OT Joe Thomas became a first-ballot member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame! CONGRATULATIONS, JOE THOMAS! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!

-On this date in 1846, the Mormons began their trek westward to find an eventual home in UT. On this date in 1942, the first gold record was awarded – for Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” On this date in 1962, U2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for a Soviet spy informant. On this date in 1972, David Bowie debuted Ziggy Stardust at a show in London. And on this date in 1996, then-World Chess Champion Gary Kasparaov began a series of matches against IBM’s Big Blue computer, which he would win 4-2 in the first human v. computer chess competition (Big Blue would win the following year).

-Happy Birthday to Boris Pasternak, Bill Tilden, Jimmy Durante, Bertolt Brecht, Stella Adler, Chick Webb, Lon Chaney Jr., Leontyne Price, Jerry Goldsmith, Robert Wagner, Roberta Flack, Michael Apted, Peter Allen, Nigel Olsson, Mark Spitz, Bob Iger, Jim Cramer, Kenny Leon, George Stephanopoulous, Laura Dern, Elizabeth Banks, and Chloe Grace Morentz.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to King Kong creator Edgar Wallace, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Billy Rose, Alex Haley, Air Bud, Curt Hennig, Ron Ziegler, Arthur Miller, Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr., Roy Scheider, Shirley Temple Black, Mike Ilitch, and Jan-Michael Vincent.

-Feed the Worms: golf pro turned Saudi blood money launderer Greg Norman and shock jock turned right-wing commentator and overall dipshit Glenn Beck entered Earth on this date.

-Porn publisher and freedom of the press defender Larry Flynt died on this date. You decide if it’s a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.