USE LESS STUFF DAY UPDATES
Note the Spaces - Not "Useless Stuff," But "Use Less Stuff." Proceed Accordingly
-Now that Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his nomination for Attorney General, part of the focus of the Parade of Putzes that will be the Trump 47 Cabinet (health notwithstanding) can, in part, turn to all the OTHER sexual predators and enablers that appears to be a partial prerequisite to get on the hiring radar.
-The most prominent at the moment is Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, who this morning was fending off news reports of an ugly incident in 2017 in which a woman charged Hegseth with assault at a conservative political conference. Details of the incident are available if you wish to - suffice it to say the woman checked herself into an emergency room days later and was examined using a rape kit, and Hegseth has lied and claimed he was "exonerated" from any wrongdoing in the incident (which he insists was consensual). Some rumors are circulating that his nomination may be in danger in the wake of larger revelations about this incident as well as way too much other information that should kill the nomination (the radical Christian ties, the multiple reports of infidelity, the utter lack of administrative experience).
-Similarly, the always-weird Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fending off charges from Eliza Cooney, a former nanny, that he sexually assaulted her in 1998 when she was 23 and he was 45, as well as charges that Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon was part of a scheme with now-apparently-former husband Vince McMahon to cover up sexual abuses of boys by prominent employees in their WWE/WWF family business. Even Trump's apparent right hand, billionaire hanger-on Elon Musk, has been accused multiple times of inappropriate sexual comments and treatment of women, including sexual harassment in his various workplaces. Given Trump's own vile past, this record of sexual assaults stand as what can only seemingly be described as features, not bugs, in the Trump appointment processes.
-The plethora of sexual predators in the burgeoning Trump cabinet is being made all the more tasteless when placed next to what MAGA ally Rep. Nancy Mace has been doing this week. In essence, Mace - who once was considered somewhat moderate - has red-pegged into Full MAGA Jackass over her decision to persecute incoming Vermont Rep. Taylor Small. Small was elected as the first out transgender woman in American history, and Mace decided Small was worth trying to use to curry favor with Trump, who used anti-trans advertising during college and NFL football games to successfully yet tragically boost his vote among non-college-educated white men and women.
-Mace decided that since Small was a biological man, Small should not be allowed to use women's restrooms in the Capital. That decision was supported by Trump lapdog House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-Zuz!, LA) to become a full ban. Mace has used the notoriety her jihad has generated to brutal lows, not only making multiple rounds of appearances on MAGA media but shooting a series of videos around restrooms reveling in her obsession over genitalia.
-"It's gross!" thundered Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Squad) in defense of Small - and thus far is the only Democrat to truly defend Small, to the shame of all Democrats, many of whom in their election post-mortems have allowed transphobia to fester amid calls for the party to de-emphasize their support of that part of the LGBTQI+ community. Representative Seth Moulton has been particularly odious on essentially asking the Democratic Party to not feature transgendered members in future campaigns, proving once again that when it comes to pressing buttons against Democrats, arguably there is nobody more adept at it than Trump.
-Speaking of Democrats, there will be a new Democratic National Committee chairperson for the next cycle. The previous DNC chair, Jamie Harrison, will step down, and jockeying for the position as begun. The first to formally announce a candidacy are former MD Governor Martin O'Malley, a distinctively old-school Democrat from a solid blue state, and MN Democratic-Farmer-Labor Chair Ken Martin. The name that seems to be exciting younger and more socially liberal Democrats is current Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Winkler, who held the WI Senate seat and helping overturn years of artificial Republican rule foisted on the state by The Bastard Scott Walker. And the Oh-My-GOD-You-Have-GOT-To-Be-Kidding-DO-NOT-EVEN name being floated out there, by campaign manager-turned-pundit David Axelrod, is former Obama Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm (NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) Emanuel (Shudder). Democrats have until March 1 to choose its new Chair.
-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the prosecution of Israel's war on Palestinians in Gaza. The charges include issuances of arrest warrants for the two men, who began an all-out assault on the Palestinian front after HAMAS terrorists completed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and also include an arrest warrant for former HAMAS leader Muhammad Deif - though Israel believes it killed Deif in an airstrike. The likelihood of Netanyahu or Gallant actually being arrested is small, as Israel does not recognize the International Criminal Court and will be welcoming Donald Trump back to the White House as one of his staunchest allies.
-In Ukraine, tensions continue to build after the decision by President Biden to finally allow that country to use long-range missiles to strike targets deep inside of Russia - a move Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has wanted for over a year, as Russia continues to target Ukrainian infrastructure and enlist North Korean troops in an effort to outlast Ukraine in time for Putin ally Trump to enter the White House. Strikes are beginning to take place and Putin has started to rattle his saber to try to frighten other NATO nations not to join in. That suggestion does not appear to be being taken seriously by Ukraine, and aid is being flooded to Ukraine by January 20 so that when Trump assumes power and likely tries to gift Ukraine to Putin, the transition be as gnarly as it can be. (Not to mention really shooting Ukraine's shot to see if they can oust Putin by that time.)
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-Legacy media continues to be savaged after the 2024 campaign cycle, and all of a sudden the seemingly lone liberal MSNBC is in danger as a result. Ratings of that cable punditry outfit were already in free-fall when morning hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski made an unannounced and sell-out-able choice to make a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to beg Dear Leader for forgiveness for being mean to Donny. To make matters worse, reports indicate Joe and Mika (or as John Fugelsang once labeled them, "Squint and The Meat Puppet") did so out of fear of Trump reprisals, though it was only the audience that meted out the punishment, tuning in for the first hour of the week to listen to their reasons and then tuning out immediately in large enough numbers to reportedly phreak out the MORNING JOE hosts.
-The real MSNBC development came a day later when it was announced that NBC parent company NBC Universal announced it would be one of several entities that would be auctioned off by the company - a move that untethers MSNBC from the still-powerful NBC News and could put them on an island that could make their pundit-ation in a very perilous situation. Watch this space indeed ...
-It took roughly a year and a half since it opened and only two weeks or so - roughly a Scaramucci - in intense transfers to make it official, but as of today the Bluesky micro-blogging app has overtaken Meta-created Threads while setting its sites on the Musk boondoggle purchase X (nee Twitter). Threads' conscious tamping down of political news is combining with a throwback-to-early-Twitter style structure of posting on Bluesky (complete with OG 240-character limit) and abandonment of the Elon Musk site (now rife with right-wing propaganda and get-rich-quick schemes based in China) to do what many thought could never be done: overtake TwiX as the premiere blogging site. You can judge by yourself by joining, and if you do you can follow me @jafedorko (although you can also find me on Threads at that same address)!
-Because if you are still on TwiX now, not only are your choices lessened, the increased advertising will likely only result in more really bad ads, online harassment, constant bad dad jokes and Trump-fellating by Musk, and an overall bad and icky experience. So you might want to consider joining the squad on Bluesky and Threads, is what we're saying ...
-That and you can easily block MAGAts from Bluesky in an easy way that will ensure you won't see them clog your feed again. Just sayin' ...
-Onward to the trivia!
-On this date in 1620, the men on the ship Mayflower signed a Compact to guarantee obeying the rules of the new government they would create upon landing in North America. On this date in 1920, retaliatory attacks by British forces and the Irish Republican Army killed 23 in what became known as Bloody Sunday. On this date in 1980, millions of viewers of the evening soap opera DALLAS found out that the sister-in-law of J.R. Ewing shot him. On this date in 1995, the Dayton Accords ended a war between Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia.
-Debuts on this date: hot air balloon flight (1783), the phonograph (1877), the Australian Open (1905), FRANKENSTEIN starring Boris Karloff (1931), Ella Fitzgerald (1934), Tweety Pie (1942), the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (1964), ROCKY (1976), GAUCHO and HI INFIDELITY (1980), the "Thriller" music video (1983).
-Happy Birthday to Voltaire, Rene Magritte, Coleman Hawkins, Eleanor Powell, Sid Luckman, Stan Musial, Vivian Blaine, Abe Lemons, Joseph Campanella, Georgia Frontiere, Jim Ringo, Marlo Thomas, Juliet Mills, Dick Durbin, Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, Harold Ramis, Marcy Carsey, Goldie Hawn, George Zimmer, John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Alberto Juantorena, Livingston Taylor, Tina Brown, Cedric Maxwell, Cherry Jones, Alexander Siddig, Bjork, Troy Aikman, Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Strahan, Carly Rae Jepsen and Ronny Chieng.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Robert Benchley, Mel Ott, Max Baer, Carl Hubbell, Bill Bixby, Peter Grant, Quentin Crisp, Robert Bly, Robert Lockwood Jr., Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, David Cassidy, and Gahan Wilson.
-Feed the Worms: Foghorn Leghorn impersonator Sen. John Kennedy (MAGA, LA) entered Earth on this date.
-Robert Stroud, aka "The Birdman of Alcatraz," died on this date. You decide if he gets to Rest in Peace/Power or if he Feeds the Worms.