Good morning from my office stashed betwixt the two stadiums in Seattle. Today, we are formally invited to go fuck ourselves in the face by President-Select, Elon Musk, with the full backing of the guy most of you voted for.
I’ll make this a short post. I have a crapload of work to do before I head back to my Hunker-Bunker to finish setting up my new podcast studio.
That’s right. I’m about to enter the world of podcasting. What am I podcasting, you ask? Well, I am going to start doing music reactions videos. Not MY reactions, per se, but the reactions of others. I think it might be interesting and fun, while creating another revenue stream for my fat ass.
But let’s get on with this, shall we? No more waffling…
Musk bought a President
Trump Knifes MAGA Loyalists to Back Sidekick Musk on H-1B Visas
After days of infighting between Republican hardliners and those who are pro H-1B, the president-elect has spoken.
President-elect Donald Trump has finally spoken out on the civil war driving a wedge between growing factions in the MAGA movement—and he’s thrown his weight behind his old pal Elon Musk.
With Trump’s inauguration still over 20 days away, his second stint in the White House had looked to be in crisis already after Republican hardliners reacted in dismay to his gaggle of tech bros (Musk et al) coming out in support of H-1B visas. Right-wing commentator Laura Loomer and former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon led the coup, claiming that the system lets companies exploit cheap foreign labor at the expense of American talent.
But after days of infighting, the incoming president has finally spoken out on the side of the Silicon Valley faction, declaring that he has “always liked” the H-B1.
“I have always been in favor of the visas,” Trump told the New York Post via a phone call. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
Dozens of patriotic conservative blue check accounts rushed to criticize the incoming White House chief over his ever-changing view on the matter—and accused him of betraying those most faithful to the MAGA movement.
“Is MAGA DOA (dead on arrival?” asked podcaster Michael Savage on X. He added: “Trump Supports H1 B visas for foreign workers!”
Conservative lawyer Jenna Ellis added, “Why is Trump going against his own policy on immigration?” with a link to his campaign platform on the matter.
Others also accused him of a “flip flop” in his stance. One X user shared Trump’s coming out against the program on March 3, 2016 and added: “Trump is f—ing up big time with his flip flop on HB1 visas. The internet never forgets.” However, Trump has flipped and flopped between pro and anti H-B1 stances many times. On March 21, 2016, the Washington Post said Trump was “speaking out of both sides of his mouth” concerning the visas.
MY TAKE:
I’ve probably said this a hundred times, give or take:
Campaign promises were always meant to break. As sure as the sun rises from the East and sets in the West.
If a presidential candidate promises he is going to do something on ‘day one’, you need to assume that it is nothing but hyperbole at best, and an out and out lie at the worst.
There is NO way a presidential candidate can promise you anything. There are 535 other assholes in Washington that he has to get past first, and about half of them are already against whatever the promise being made is.
But this particular promise surrounding immigration seems to be an outright “fuck you”.
“No shift. It’s not my fault you misunderstood me…”
In shift, Trump downgrades soaring rhetoric on campaign promises
President-elect Trump on the campaign trail made grandiose promises to voters to bring down costs quickly, to end the war in Ukraine before he even took office and to use tariffs to bolster the U.S. economy and manufacturing.
Since winning November’s election, Trump has indicated delivering on those promises may not be as simple as advertised.
Trump in a recent “Meet the Press” interview said he could not guarantee tariffs would not lead to higher consumer prices.
He acknowledged in a Time magazine interview for his Person of the Year honor that it’s difficult to bring down the cost of groceries once they’ve gone up.
And in his first post-election press conference from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump suggested ending the war in Ukraine would be more difficult than easing tensions in the Middle East.
While Democrats and critics accused Trump of lowering expectations or signaling he would not deliver on his campaign promises, the Trump transition and other allies argued it was the president-elect shifting from sweeping campaign rhetoric to the nuances and realities of governing.
“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the transition and the incoming White House press secretary, in a statement.
MY TAKE:
Trump was going to say just about anything in order to get elected. Often, he would contradict his promises in order to be that same guy for everyone.
Presidential candidates always “lie”. Most people know that already, which is why it is actually surprising that there are still some people who managed to be taken off guard.
He can’t be serious… but he can be delusional.
Biden reportedly regrets ending re-election campaign and says he’d have defeated Trump
President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6
Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, White House sources have said.
The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general – reflecting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection while presiding over a justice department that aggressively prosecuted Biden’s son Hunter.
With just more than three weeks of his single-term presidency remaining, Biden’s reported rueful reflections are revealed in a Washington Post profile that contains the clearest signs yet that he thinks he erred in withdrawing his candidacy in July after a woeful debate performance against his rival for the White House, Trump, the previous month.
MY TAKE:
If Joe Biden had remained in the race, Trump would have won by a landslide. He would have even ended up winning the entire West coast.
The predicted outcome of outlawing abortion
‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles Texas.
HOUSTON — The call came in on the fire truck’s radio on a blazing hot summer afternoon: “Baby in a dumpster.”
“It didn’t specify alive or dead,” Patrick Pequet remembers.
He and fellow firefighters arrived within minutes, pulling into the rear parking lot of an apartment complex in the southwest quadrant of this sprawling city. Police were already there, as were the several residents who had frantically summoned them, standing near a blue dumpster crowded by discarded boxes, scattered trash and garbage bags.
In one of those bags, a baby had been crying. Now, only silence.
“They didn’t want to touch it,” Pequet says. “It was very still.”
A quarter century ago, prompted by a spate of abandoned babies in Houston, this state became the first in the country to pass a safe haven law allowing parents to relinquish newborns at designated places — without questions or risk of prosecution. Yet “Baby Moses” surrenders remain rare in Texas, and another series of abandoned infants since spring in the Houston area has prompted much soul-searching.
In June, a baby boy was left next to a clothing donation bin on the city’s southeast side and a baby girl in some bushes in Katy, a western suburb. Both were saved.
By August, two other babies had been found: in an industrial ditch in north Houston and in a trash truck’s compactor in a far northwest neighborhood. Both were dead.
“There apparently has been … a little bit of an epidemic on this,” a Harris County sheriff’s official noted during a media briefing near the ditch where the infant girl’s partially clothed body was discovered in August by a landscaping crew.
MY TAKE:
Is anyone surprised about this?
This seems a bit extreme for the stated condition…
Netanyahu to undergo prostate removal operation, court testimony delayed
Prime minister will undergo full anesthesia and remain hospitalized for several days
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have his prostate removed on Sunday after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement, his office announced on Saturday.
The operation will take place at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and will require full anesthesia. The prime minister will remain hospitalized for several days, according to his attorney, Amit Hadad, who submitted a request Sunday to the Tel Aviv District Court to cancel his scheduled testimony this week in his ongoing corruption trial. The Attorney General’s Office approved the request on Sunday.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin will act as caretaker prime minister while Netanyahu is incapacitated. Defense Minister Israel Katz will serve as chairman of the political-security cabinet.
“On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent an examination at Hadassah Hospital, where a urinary tract infection caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia was detected. Over the past few days, the prime minister has received antibiotic treatment, which successfully eradicated the infection,” the Prime Minister’s office announced on Saturday.
“Consequently, the prime minister will undergo a procedure tomorrow to remove the prostate. Full details will be provided later,” the statement said. “Despite this, Sunday’s cabinet meeting will take place as planned.”
Although Netanyahu’s health issues began on Wednesday, no notifications of the Prime Minister’s health have been issued until now.
MY TAKE:
Surely there were other options to reduce the size of the prostate without actually removing it. The tumor was benign, but did this mean they had to remove a bit more than they needed to?
The Boy in a Bubble 2024
Boy found floating in bubble in middle of sea
A boy was found inside a large bubble out at sea by an alarmed sailor who was with his family in a boat.
Rafael Graça do Prado, 32, was on a boat trip with his children when he saw the bizarre object floating in the water off Lazaro Beach in Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 24. Footage shows the transparent bubble in the sea with the young boy, aged around eight, inside.
He is understood to have been playing with his parents on the beach inside the bubble which was held by a rope to stop it from blowing away. But the rope had snapped and the boy drifted out to sea where thankfully he was spotted by Rafael. He explained that his main concern was whether there was enough oxygen inside the ball.
“I was worried about whether he was able to breathe or not because the balls can be dangerous,” he said. “There is a certain amount of time that you can breathe inside it. I calmed him down, and that was when my daughter started filming.”
He continued: “He was very scared, alone in the middle of the sea. I asked him if he was breathing well and he gave me a thumbs up. People rent them and leave them here on the shore, holding them by a rope. However, the rope came loose and a strong wind came, which blew the ball away. In fact, it had already hit the rocks and was punctured, it was leaking.”
MY TAKE:
The family of this kid didn’t know he had floated away?
Extra memes left over
Must be Catholic
If he’s unelected, he is also unaccountable
Always setting precedent…
It seems to me that someone is using this charge to force a plea agreement so that they don’t have to take this thing all the way to trial and end up with a jury nullification scenario…
In case you needed to be reminded…
Continuing down the Ren Rabbit Hole…
Chalk Outlines
I’m still here in this bed that I crawled in
I hope that I’m someone else in the morning
So take this one
Wash it down and you’ll be fine
Then walk around in a floating chalk outline
But so it goes, let it be
In the gallows, I balanced on my toes
So I can breathe
But little by little, bit by bit
I push it back down with a new habit
If not for long, just for a while
I’ll bury myself with a great big smile
Oh my my, oh my my
We trace ourselves in these chalk outlines
Oh my my, oh my my
Erase ourselves in these chalk outlines
Sertraline and a sip of serotonin
Don’t cry ’cause there’s a
Pill for everything take this one
Wash it down and you’ll be fine
The feeling goes and you draw a chalk outline
And so it goes, let it be
In the gallows, I balanced on my toes
So I can breathe
But little by little, bit by bit
I push it back down with a new habit
If not for long, just for a while
I’ll bury myself with a great big smile
Oh my my, oh my my
We trace ourselves in these chalk outlines
Oh my my, oh my my erase ourselves
It’s such a perfect day
Take it just in case, take it just in case
I’m scared of being okay
‘Cause all things change, all things change
It’s such a perfect day
It’s a beautiful shame
It’s a beautiful shame
I’m scared of being okay
‘Cause all things change
But little by little, bit by bit
I push it back down with a new habit
If not for long, just for a while
I’ll bury myself with a great big smile
Oh my my, oh my my
We trace ourselves in these chalk outlines
Oh my my, oh my my
Erase ourselves in these chalk outlines
This is heavy.
I’m still here in this bed that I crawled in
I hope that I’m someone else in the morning
This is a reference to the fact that Ren spent over a year bedridden with his illness, only able to get up for about an hour a day before he was unable to stay up.
In the gallows, I balanced on my toes
So I can breathe
This is a nod to the thought of suicide during his ordeal
Sertraline and a sip of serotonin
Don’t cry ’cause there’s a
Pill for everything take this one
Wash it down and you’ll be fine
The feeling goes and you draw a chalk outline
Doctors who deal with mental illnesses don’t have any idea what drug(s) will work for any patient. Treatment is usually a trial and error situation that tends to cause more problems than they solve. I’ve heard patients talk about ‘floating chalk lines’ in the sense that the drugs make them feel dead and floating most of the time.
Well, that’s it for today…
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