Friday, July 10, 2026

Friday Stuff


When last we checked with Big Hair Blackburn in Tennessee, it appeared that she was running for governor, which tracks pretty much for that state, unfortunately...sooo, cranking the xenophobia up to 11, she’s trying to present herself as a dedicated ally of Bronzer Beelzebub...I didn’t know fortune cookies were made in this country (but more so Japan as it turns out, and DEFINITELY NOT in China), probably because my brain was hurting too much from viewing this idiocy to take an impartial look at this whole thing – Jesse Dollemore gives us his report (more here)...slightly NSFW/H...



...and Thom Hartmann informs us of our FDA rejecting limits on forever chemicals in food...gee, maybe when Bri-Fi isn’t trying to run scare ads about Bob Harvie as supposedly the subject of an FBI investigation (despite a cease and desist order requested by the Harvie campaign), our wet noodle PA-01 rep could show a bit of a spine and ask his boss why #47 is flipping off this country about doing something about this garbage (the chemicals I mean – more here)...our FDA used to look for PFAS in food since they’re linked to various diseases, and as Thom says, there was a petition in ’23 to get the FDA to look at 30 of these compounds – there are about 16,000 of them apparently, but three guesses what happened to the petition, and the first two don’t count...sewage sludge is apparently used as plant fertilizer, and these garbage chemicals are apparently getting into our food THAT way also...we also get an update on Combover Caligula’s war of choice against Iran with “Bibi,” our “ally” – I didn’t make the connection between SecDef Kegseth and our ruling regime potentially using Grok (from King Elon) to plan that attack that blew up that Iranian girls school, but that tracks also, tragically...I’m sorry I don’t know how to sugarcoat this unbelievable torrent of bad news except to present it and let us all make of it what we will (glad to see New York pushing back on this here)...



...and this More Perfect Union report from Alzo Slade discusses “waste, fraud and abuse,” as in the type associated with school vouchers...this focuses on Arizona, but it could definitely apply elsewhere also as we learn, with vouchers “cannibalizing” the money that should be spent on public schools (including the ones forced to close in that state)...sounds like “other educational expenses” need to be monitored for sure, including $30K on Legos as well as a harp (I realize there could be an educational application for perhaps some of this stuff, but that justification needs to be made for sure)...this Tom Horne character looks like an idiot as far as I’m concerned...”oh, we can’t audit everything” – WHY THE HELL NOT??!!!...oh, and Flori-DUUUH also apparently can’t track $270 million in voucher funds...as with other school districts around the country, tuition rates are getting “jacked up” as the “other educational expenses” from ESAs continue to rise...also, as spending increases for vouchers, special needs students are getting hurt, which is probably part of this insidious plan also, especially since private schools don’t have to take those types of students...and why am I not surprised to see that Milton Friedman figures into this somehow (also, in the economic world, I know Alan Greenspan shed his mortal coil recently, and as far as I’m concerned, he was partly to blame for this whole mentality of “oh, let the ‘magic of the marketplace’ take care of society’s ills” also)...Friedman’s supposedly brilliant idea of school vouchers were used for “segregation academies,” as we learn, though they ended up losing in court, causing the whole voucher idea to get the inevitable rebrand...also, I know Dubya just had his 80th birthday, and I could write multiple posts of his screwups if I had time and if I could control my gag reflex, but I can’t tell you all the times I heard him utter the phrase “failing public schools” – one of the reasons it nauseates me to see that he skated right into the “ex-presidents club” with no problem whatsoever...glad to see this get traced back to the usual wingnut suspects (Chucky Koch, Betsy DeVos, Jeff Yass, etc.)...



...and I know I’m behind on some stuff, and one of those items is this clip timed for a week ago from Robert Reich drawing a parallel between Bronzer Beelzebub and the last king of America, citing how the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence echo our present calamity, which, again, was totally self-inflicted by idiot voters...



...and speaking of Great Britain, Jonathan Pie tells us about wingnut Nigel Farage facing off against a trash can (yes, I’m serious) in a bi-election for the district of Clackton, apparently (here)...so Farage resigned, but he didn’t???....oh, but he’s “against the establishment”...suuuurrre (definitely NSFW/H)...



...and this isn’t the most recent “Daily Show” clip with Ronny Chieng, but I wanted to include it all the same...we learn more on what went down on the 250th and AI apparently is coming for our toilets, which to me is apropos...and of course, leave it to you-know-who to turn the demagoguery up to 11 at least for the holiday...oh, and we’re also reminded of the dustup with the US soccer team, which ended up being all for naught of course...can’t think of a word for the irony of Folarin Balogun, who basically was naturalized by default by being born here, being defended by Cantaloupe Capone, of all people (and nice job by the winning Belgian soccer team to mock Bronzer Beelzebub with that stoo-pid YMCA dance)...mildly NSFW/H also...



...and it only seems like a week or so ago when I wished Bonnie Tyler a happy birthday, but sadly she has now left us (here)...this is definitely “against the grain” I know, but I honestly thought “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” was over the top; personally, I preferred some of her less-over-produced tunes like this one, but that’s just me I know...RIP...



...and here’s a newer tune to help us glide a bit into the weekend – should be nice weather in these parts, and hopefully for you also.


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