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-The third anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection was marked in very different ways by the leading 2024 election candidates. President Biden marked the day on Friday with a fiery speech at Valley Forge, PA, in which he laid out his case that Ex-President Trump XCI is in fact, an insurrectionist, and that the upcoming campaign was going to be an election about protecting democracy given Trump openly advocating his desire to become America's first third-world-esque strong man despite his fat and flab and flatulence.

-Trump directly responded to Biden as Trump does: by lying and claiming Biden said Trump was attacking "d-d-d-d-democracy!" (You see, because Biden stutters and one of the very few things Trump unabashedly loves is mocking people's disabilities, as he also did yesterday by trashing old foe John McCain for not being able to raise his hand due to McCain being a POW, something Trump also loves to mock), then went on to call the January 6 convicts and prisoners awaiting trial "hostages," and even started intimating that if the 2024 election goes sideways for Trump - perhaps as soon as the New Hampshire primary - he will pre-deny the results of the upcoming elections as well. (On that score, it may be important to note that Trump has refused to sign a pledge in the state of IL that every other candidate has signed promising to honor the results of the election.)

-Naturally, that wasn't the only thing Trump said.

-In a series of appearances in Iowa - which at one point he also derided for having to be there ("I could be in one of those beautiful places, but no. I have to be in Iowa.") - Trump made the rather fascinating claim that the American Civil War could have been avoided if both sides had simply engaged in negotiations to find a solution to the slavery issue. Trump all but asserted he would have been able to do so rather than that inferior-to-Trump President Abraham Lincoln, who Trump assured his micro-throng that he (Trump) would have beaten Abe by "35%!". Trump also said he'd beat George Washington by the same percentage.

-And with stirring rhetoric like this, would Abe or George have a chance? Trump on Friday quoted directly: " Over the seas and over our land. And then they want us to have clean. I said wait, we’re gonna be clean but it’s all flying. Just remember that. Does that make sense? In other words, it’s all coming through the currents through the air, they can name it."

-Makes you want to grab a flag pole and gore a cop for MAGA, don't it?

-There IS other news out there, so let's browse ...

-The FAA has grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after an incident over the weekend where an emergency exit door blew off an Alaskan Airlines flight in said plane shortly after takeoff. Thankfully, the incident occurred in mid-climb while passengers still had their seat belts on, so the plane was able to be landed with nobody physically injured, but all such airplanes are now being inspected as the Alaska Airlines incident is being investigated.

-As right-wing activist Christopher Rufo celebrates the firing of Harvard President Claudine Gay on a combination of Gay's poor testimony before Congress over protests involving Israel and HAMAS and what appear to be trumped-up charges of plagiarism against Gay - his group has now promised a true witch hunt in which all Ivy League Presidents are, through his minions and other right-wing activists (led by pus-filled canker sore Steve Bannon), on the hunt for other incidents of "academic dishonesty" - a poorly-designed fig leaf for attacking scholars of color and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives in higher education, itself a large target since they are a less-fortified front on the right's culture war.

-This is being done without the same sort of scholarly rigor that the right-wing jackals will apply for themselves. Take for example Bill Ackman, a member of the Harvard board who was instrumental in getting Gay to resign. He has promised to bankroll Rufo's efforts - apparently not realizing that Ackman's wife, Neri Oxman, plagiarized multiple sections of her 2010 dissertation that won her a tenured seat at MIT in 2017, according to Business Insider. In fact, multiple sections of Oxman's dissertation were apparently copied and pasted from Wikipedia, a site that is not recognized as academically sound by high school writing teachers, much less right-wing yahoos.

-Indeed, Rufo himself is not exactly a pillar of intellectual honesty and knowledge. The head of the prestigious-sounding "Manhattan Institute" and prominent appointee to Ron DeSantis' example of anti-woke academe, the gutted New School, touts a Masters degree from Harvard among his bona fides. There's one problem, as the New Republic noted: Rufo did NOT graduate from Harvard, but from the Harvard Extension School - an open enrollment institution where one does not need anywhere near the rigorous academic bona fides or familial connections necessary to get into Harvard University proper. Perhaps ironically, Rufo's Wikipedia entry now lists "better source needed" to most clearly describe exactly what Rufo's qualifications for his job is other than being a social media loudmouth and funding from rich douches like Ackman.

-We close with, what else, Taylor Swift news - and a kerfuffle over a New York Times opinion piece that, using alleged analysis of Swift's lyrics and performances, concludes that she is a closeted queer person. The Swift camp and Swifties worldwide attacked the column for its speculation while deftly denying that Swift is queer and affirming her ally-ship with the LGBTQ community. No word from Travis Kelce on the story.

-On this date in 1789, the first Presidential election was held in the United States (George Washington would win). On this date in 1979, Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and its genocidal leader, Pol Pot. On this date in 1999, the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton began in the U.S. Senate (he would not be expelled). And on this date in 2015, al-Qaida terrorists killed 12 staff members of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo over their perceived mocking of Muslims.

-Notable premieres on this date: the typewriter (1714), the first known motion picture, "Fred Ott's Sneeze” (1894), the Harlem Globetrotters (1927), Marian Anderson with the Metropolitan Opera (1955), The Gibson Flying V Guitar (1958), THE PRETENDERS debut (1980).

-Happy Birthday to Millard Filmore, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alan Napier, Butterfly McQueen, Charles Addams, Vincent Gardenia, Alvin Dark, William Peter Blatty, Ben Cropp, Paul Revere (of The Raiders), Vasiliy Alekseyev, Jim Lefebvre, Jann Wenner, Kenny Loggins, Erin Gray, David Caruso, Katie Couric, Nicholson Baker, Linda Kozlowski, Kathy Valentine, Sen. John Thune, Ron Rivera, Nicholas Cage, Doug E. Doug, Jeremy Renner, Bobby Engram, Dustin "Screech" Diamond, Jon Lester, Lewis Hamilton, and Blue Ivy Carter.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Catherine of Aragon, Nikola Tesla, Trevor Howard, Bronko Nagurski, Avery Schreiber, Rod Taylor, Nat Hentoff, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Neal Peart, Michael Apted, Tommy Lasorda, and Adam Rich.

-Feed the Worms: Ultra-racist Governor Orbal Faubus, arguably still concussed Sen. Rand Paul (R-AquaBuddah, KY), and Most Overrated Athlete In Professional Sports Lamar Jackson, entered Earth on this date. Japanese Empoeror Hirohito bought it on this date.

-The Number One Song In America on this date: in 2024, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee ... in 2014, "The Monster" by Eminem featuring Rihanna ... in 2004, "Hey Ya!" by OutKast ... in 1994, "Hero" by Mariah Carey ... in 1984, "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson ... and in 1974, "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce.