STICK OUT YOUR TONGUE DAY UPDATES
Appropriate Since It's Also National Daiquiri Day AND National Hot Dog Day!
-As predictable as going on to Hannity's show and being allowed to blubber about HILLARY! RODHAM! CLINTON! instead of any of the events of the day ... yeah, that happened ... the Republican Party circled the wagons around party head Twice-Indicted (so far) Ex-President (TIsfEP) Trump on the news that Trump received a target letter from Special Prosecutor Jack Smith on charges related to the events leading up to the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
-Led by party leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA) and her servant, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (SINO-R, CA) and including most of the candidates for the GOP nomination that Trump is wet-farting over, UltraMAGAts throughout DC rolled out the approved talking point that the devious yet somehow also senile mastermind Joe Biden was "weaponizing" the Department of Justice to "criminalize" political disagreements while also patching up Trump's lead over Biden (the latest national polling - worthless over a year out of the election - nonetheless has Biden up 5%).
-Greene went so far as to call Smith "Ah Liiii-tle BIIIIIIIIT-CH!" in that voice that can cause hairline fractures in skulls. (It's interesting to note that Greene asked Trump for a pardon in the days after 1/6/21.) Smith and DoJ seem undeterred.
-Beyond the target letter, the news of 16 people being indicted in MI over being part of a fake elector scheme may be the more significant development. Despite MI Republicans trying to claim that MI Attorney General Dana Nessel somehow entrapped senior citizens to sign on to the plot in December 2020, the charges come as investigations in states where similar phony slates were being created continue both within some of the states and by Smith and his team. For the record, there were seven states that attempted to seat fake electors (AZ, MI, GA, NM, NV, PA, WI) - all of which, as MSNBC reported, used what appeared to be the exact same Word document template to submit to Congress. Watch those spaces ...
-And this week, the MAGAt House will continue their dumb show to protect Trump, first with two witnesses - including one being billed as "Witness X!" - to talk about claims the FBI has not been investigating Public Enemy Number One For Now And For Evah - HUNTER BIDEN (DUUUM-DUMMM-DDDDDUUUMMMMMMM!!!!!), then by welcoming to the House Special Committee on the Weaponization of the Government, that well-known victim of the federal government, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Gird your loins ...
-If you want another nomination for Governor That Should Burn In Hell, TX's Greg Abbott (R) may be making a good case. The three-term Governor who allegedly may be one of the Governors-in-waiting should the rest of the GOP Presidential candidates implode has ordered a series of actions against immigrants that have groups like Amnesty International on alert. Most obscenely is the order to shove any immigrants attempting to enter TX via the Rio Grande River back into the river regardless of how old or young they are ... and in doing so, to be shoved into newly-installed razor wire fencing and floating barriers in the river also surrounded by razor wire. The wheelchair-bound Abbott has named these grotesque practices "Operation Lone Star," and by Tweeting that "We aren't asking for permission" to do it, has taken pride for the actions and appears to be looking to continue to build a national presence for the operation.
-In Ukraine, the second successful attack on the Kersk Bridge linking Ukraine with Crimea has led to new missile attacks on other ports by Vladimir Putin. At the same time, progress on the deeply dug-in defense trenches continues to happen, though at a grinding pace that is leaving some of Ukraine's allies a little nervous. Aid continues to be added worldwide, and as always, SLAVA UKRAINI!
-We end with ... country music news? Actually, yes, as there's interesting stuff going on, including the fact that country music is enjoying its biggest successes on the U.S. pop charts in at least 30 years, led by Morgan Wallen, whose single "Last Night" is spending its 14th week on the Hot 100 at Number One (the record is 19 weeks by the quasi-western single "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus). Wallen has risen despite a 2021 incident where a video emerged where he dropped the N-word, which he did apologize for, and is in the midst of a stadium tour this summer.
-The newest controversy is the influential Country Music Television's banning of a video of Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" - a song that calls for violence against police protestors, featuring a scene in the video of a courthouse in TN that was the site of a lynching in 1927. Needless to say, defenders are calling CMT's decision as being too "woke" and suppressing freedom of speech, and Aldean - who was the headliner at the worst mass shooting in American history in 2017 at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas - defended the video on (where else?) Fox.
-Amid all of that, the current #1 song on the Country Music chart has caught a lot of people off guard - Luke Combs' cover of Tracy Chapman's 1988 hit "Fast Car," a song about a black woman trying to escape poverty only to find herself trapped in that same cycle. The song makes Chapman the first black woman to write a number one country song, and the two artists have traded thanks to each other for a song Combs noted he has played live for six years before recording it, calling it "this perfect song."
-Good note to end the update on!
-On this date in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered. On this date in 1848, the opening of the Seneca Falls Convention marked the launching of the American suffrage movement. On this date in 1877, Spencer Gore won the first Men's Wimbledon Tennis title. On this date in 1903, Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France. On this date in 1941, Tom and Jerry made their cinematic debuts. And on this date in 2007, MAD MEN premiered on AMC.
-Happy Birthday to Edgar Degas, Phil Cavarretta, George McGovern, Rachel Robinson, Arthur Rankin Jr., Vikki Carr, Commander Cody, George Dzunda, Ilie Nastase, Brian May, Abel Ferrara, Jayson Stark, Allen Collins, Anthony Edwards, Stuart Scott, Vitali Klitschko, Ramin Djawadi, Heather Armstrong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rick Ankiel, and Yan Gomes.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Aung San, Mary Jo Kopechne, Joe Flynn, Lefty Frizzell, Jack Warden, Frank McCourt, James Garner, Garry Marshall, Cesar Pelli, and Rutger Hauer.
-Gun inventor Samuel Colt, alleged axe whiz Lizzie Borden, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz were born on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays or if they Feed the Worms.