The future is clear. AI will wipe out humanity and the only thing we'll leave behind is a clock which, every hour, has a demented orange haired cuckoo come out and say "It's Joe Biden's fault"!
Showing posts with label Satire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Satire. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Vandals.
American democracy has several great weaknesses, the primary one being that Americans believe that we have a "two party system".
We don't. We've just allowed two parties to take over and even fund their party elections, the primaries, with government funds, and tolerate the creation of bogus Congressional roles, such "Senate Majority Leader".
That needs reform desperately.
Amongst other weaknesses, however, is that Americans believe that we have a free enterprise economic system. We don't. We have corporate capitalism which allows businesses to escape the implications of their actions through the corporate business form.
Americans believe so strongly in "free enterprise" that they basically never vote with their wallets. They'll let businesses absolutely screw them and keep supporting them. On the rare occasions in which they actually will vote with their wallets and boycott a product it's when its something trivial and otherwise readily available, as in when sales of Bud Light dropped off over a transgender personality advertising it.
Lots of companies brew beer.
I note this as the illegitimate occupant of the White House, who has no real authority, is having the East Wing of the White House destroyed for on oversized garden shed, aka, a ballroom.
The White House doesn't need a ballroom. This isn't 1875. What Donald Trump wants is something overblown and gaudy, which is his brand, so that hopefully people remember him after he departs this Earth for his final reward. It's much the same motivation that has him angling for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's hoping to be remembered as a serious person, rather than as a real estate developer/serial polygamist.
Before we move on, we should note that the White House was originally designed as a house, and its been modified continually. Frankly, it ought to flat out stop. The constant monkeying with the structure only encourages this sort of baloney, and the building isn't getting any better looking over time. The East Wing only dates back to 1942 and to some degree was built as a cover for the construction of a bomb shelter underneath it. I suppose you can argue the bomb shelter was a good addition, but this just goes on and on.
The West Wing has been modified a great deal over time, but basically dates back to 1902. Theodore Roosevelt was President then, and his large family was busting at the seams of the White House.
This is different, however.
The West Wing was built as office space. Basically it's an office space annexation. The East Wing, as noted, was originally added to cover the construction of a bomb shelter. In later years, offices for correspondence, calligraphers and the social secretary were placed in the East Wing. It became the offices of the First Lady, with the First Lady requiring offices a fairly dubious proposition, quite frankly.
Trump wasn't supposed to really touch the East Wing Structure but a Volvo bucket is out destroying part of the facade now. The new structure will be, of course, a garden shed. . .um a ballroom.
Adding offices made sense. Adding a bomb shelter in 1942 made sense, after all, German rocket technology brought the ICBM within reach during World War Two and submarine launched aircraft actually did made land strikes on the West Coast during the war.
A ballroom, however, is a superficial structure for somebody who likes to entertain.
Trump is a superficial person who has been spending a lot of his time at the golf course.
Trump can't molest the structure unless the forces of capitalism dutifully line up to give him his dream. There was never any doubt that they would. So, have you wondered who the Vandal hired by the illegitimate occupant of the White House/Real Estate Developer/Serial Polygamist to design and construct a giant garden shed is?
Well, wonder no more:
President Trump Hires National Civic Art Society Board Member to Design New White House Ballroom
James McCrery, a classical architect who is a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society and a member of our Board of Directors, has been chosen by President Donald Trump to design a new ballroom at the White House.
According to the administration, “The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
McCrery, who is principal and founder of McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., is associate professor at the Catholic University of America's School of Architecture. He was a commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, appointed by President Trump during his first term. McCrery served alongside NCAS President Justin Shubow, who was chairman of the Commission.
According to Shubow, “The National Civic Art Society is ecstatic that President Trump selected James McCrery to design the new White House ballroom. McCrery is one of the best architects in America, and he will honor and respect one of the most beloved classical buildings in the United States. Our organization has no doubt he’ll design a beautiful, fitting addition. It was President Theodore Roosevelt who personally chose Beaux-Arts architect Charles McKim to renovate the White House in his time. President Trump has made an equally wise decision in hiring McCrery.”
Announcement from the National Civil Art Society.
The National Civil Art Society is an organization that sponsors the view that public buildings should be in a classic style. It's a worthwhile goal, as there sure are a lot of ugly public buildings around. And the architects firm, McCrery Architects, based on their website, designs a lot of nice classical buildings. Frankly, choosing them was a really good move for a really bad building. Things could have been a lot worse.
So should we rejoice?
Well, no,
McCrery clearly has a lot of talent, as do the people on his staff, but this is still a huge oversized shed that looks ugly. No matter, it'll go down on his resume, unless it turns out to be a national embarrassment, in which case it will be removed from his resume.
He's designed some beautiful buildings, including the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, TN. To go from that, to this . . what a waste.
The contractor for the abomination is heavy contractor Clark Construction, whose website declares "Building What Matters".
M'eh.
This structure doesn't matter.
It is, however, no doubt a major contract. Nobody could blame them for bidding on it, as that's what they do.
Engineering was done by AECOM, whose website declares; "AECOM is the trusted global infrastructure leader committed to delivering a better world.".
Well, this structure and the project makes the world just a little bit worse. No matter, it's probably a big contract.
Funding for the project is not public. The $200,000,000 to $250,000,0000 vandalization will cost is going to be born by Real Estate Developer Donald Trump and donors. Donors include Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy, but there are a lot more. Lockheed Martin is chipping in $10,000,000.
And there's the real question.
Blogger, which this is published on, is a Google thing. Google itself is darned near impossible to avoid, so even though I think they're chipping in is inexcusable, I'll continue to use Google's products, making me just as hypocritical as can be. I don't buy anything from Lockheed, and I'm not a shareholder, but if I was I'd write in and complain.
Why would outfits like these chip in? Well, they're making a bet that King Donald will love them, or at least not hate them. That's why. And frankly, if some future administration wanted to build to whack it down, which will occur, and put up a Trump Hall of Shame, they'd contribute to that.
The overall shame, however, is that this is public property. It's being vandalized. And nobody can apparently do anything about it.
When this era is over, the country needs major reform. Part of that reform needs to be an effort to reign the Oval Office into reason. Another part needs to be to kick the dead asses in Congress back to work and require them to do their actual jobs.
As a final note, Hitler was fond of monumental projects too, planning on building a monumental Berlin after the Second World War. Franco had the monumental Valley of the Fallen built, which at least commemorates something. Fascist Italy had a bunch of monumental structures built, and of course Mussolini was in power for quite some time. The Soviets had Lenin stuff in a mausoleum, the latter of which provides an idea.
Seeing as a modern White House doesn't need a ballroom, and given that Trump is really old and will pass from natural causes in the foreseeable future anyhow, perhaps AECOM can design this structure with hydraulic jacks and wheels so when that day comes this can just be jacked up, hooked up, and wheeled down the highway to Mar A Lago, which it can serve as the Trump Mausoleum and library (I serious doubt Trump has very many books that he's actually read, so the size won't be a problem). Probably Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy will be willing to pay for it.
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Mike Johnson, Tory.
I cannot for the life of me understand how the Democrats think this is some kind of winning political message. Yield man! Let the troops come into your city…
Mike declaring for King George.
Mike Johnson.
Thursday, September 4, 2025
Hi, we’re from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and we’re not here to help you - WyoFile
Hi, we’re from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and we’re not here to help you - WyoFile: Property taxes are a big issue in Wyoming, but not everyone wants more tax breaks that come with a huge price, columnist Kerry Drake writes.
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 6. The Don't Know Much About History Edition.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.
Albert Camus, The Plague.
And so, we have the spectacle of a dipshit who never served his country trying to negotiate a peace with a former spy, who served his in that capacity, while ignoring the leader of a country that's put up a titanic fight against an invasion for the past two years.
And we're going to do it on American soil that once belonged to the Russian Empire.
What could go wrong?
August 10, 2028
Russo Ukrainian War
Predictable, and quite correct:
KYIV REJECTS CEDING TERRITORY
Ukraine also demanded that Europe be included, which it should be since the United States has ceded its status as a serious nation.
Regarding this meeting, the BBC noted:
Trump announced the 15 August meeting on social media and it was later confirmed by a Kremlin spokesperson, who said the location was "quite logical" given Alaska's relative proximity to Russia.
Nowhere in Alaska is close to Moscow, or Washington D.C.
August 11, 2025
Israel v. Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.”
On Gaza, Wyoming Congressman Harriet Hageman did the following:
Reinforcing House Republicans' Commitment to Israel |
On Thursday, I joined Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and 14 of our House Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent, urging his department to review whether Ireland’s proposed boycott of Israel violates U.S. anti-boycott laws. As you may know, the Irish government recently introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting the import of goods and services originating from territories under Israeli “occupation.” This proposal aligns with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to economically isolate Israel. These policies not only promote economic discrimination but also introduce legal uncertainty for U.S. companies operating in Ireland. Under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or the Ribicoff Amendment, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that condition commercial activity on participation in unsanctioned international boycotts. Countries on this list trigger specific tax reporting requirements and potential penalties for U.S. individuals and businesses involved in certain activities within those jurisdictions. Our letter urges Secretary Bessent to investigate whether Ireland meets the criteria for inclusion on this list, ensuring that U.S. companies are aware of their legal obligations and protected from unintended exposure. As your representative, I remain firmly committed to combating antisemitism and standing up for our Jewish communities both here at home and around the world. |
This came before Israel's announcement that it was going to invade and occupy Gaza. The war in Gaza is demonstrating Yeoman's Fifth Law of History pretty ably. Whatever a person thinks of the initial Israeli action, Israel can't find a way to end the war. The current idea is obviously to completely occupy the Gaza Strip and then hope that some Arab nations are willing to turn it over to a non Hamas entity. There's a fair amount of desperation in that concept.
Also, at this point, Israel has leveled Gaza completely and whatever the original justifications for the invasion were, and Israel had after all sustained a terrible terrorist attack, it's now gone too far.
Russo Ukrainian War
Meet the Press and Face the Nation were interesting on this in that they had guests who seemed tapped into the meeting that will occur this Friday in Anchorage.
Lindsey Graham, who just played golf with Trump, claimed the VP was really tapped into events and reiterated the "exchange of territory" line that Trump had earlier. Ukraine's ambassador to the US was on Face the Nation and noted that the territory of Ukraine is described in its constitution and nobody has the authority inside the Ukrainian government to negotiate it away. Basically, that'd be like negotiating Texas away, which while negotiating Texas away might be a good idea, it's illegal.
A fair question, fwiw, is why poor Alaska, with its early Russian heritage, has to suffer through this?
Well, we can hope for the best, and should in fact pray for it.
And who knows, maybe the crush of the press in Anchorage, which frankly isn't that nice of town, will cause them to relocate to remote Nikolaevsk where they can be in seclusion. Maybe a bored Vladimir Putin will visit the Church and become an Old Believer, and we'll cease to hear from him.
Maybe.
Shoot, maybe Trump will too. As a serial polygamist with a string if invalid marriages, perhaps he'll live his days out as a monk. Melania, who after all is an immigrant, can return to her native land.
Maybe.
By the way, I hope Trump brings this idea up:
Yes, this idea is bat shit crazy, but then, Trump likes bat shit crazy land ideas. First it was Greenland, which doesn't want to be part of the US, but which Trump was threatening with forced annexation. Then it was Canada. Then it was Gaza. So why not set his sights on the Kurils?
The Commander Islands are right off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and there's no earthly way that the Russians would go for this. That'd be half the fun. Boris would have to deal with the demanding demented Trump and the rest of us could watch the goofball fun.
Cont:
There will be some changes in land ... Russia has taken some very prime territory. They've taken largely ocean -- in real estate we call it oceanfront property. That's always the most valuable property.
Trump's frame of reference is amazingly narrow. He looks at everything like a real estate developer.
cont:
US Domestic Strife.
Trump ordered 800 National Guardsmen to deploy to Washington, D.C., on Monday. There's utterly no need to do so.
He also threatened other cities with the same.
Trump orders National Guard to deploy to Washington, DC
August 14, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump is reportedly going to offer Putin a rare earth minerals deal for Russia in Alaska if Russia ends the war in Ukraine.
WTF?
August 15, 2025.
Russo Ukrainian War
A headline in the CST:
Land swap deal with Russia would be illegal in Ukraine
I've already noted that on one of these threads.
By the way, the ICC has an arrest warrant out for Putin.
This day, of course, will be marked by international war criminal Vlad Putin meeting convicted felon Donald Trump. In normal times, both of these men would be people that you wouldn't read about.
Trump has been campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize even though there's not to his credit to warrant it. Having promised originally to end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours of being nominated for President, and then as soon as he was elected, he hasn't been able to effect the peace process at all. For that matter, Gaza, where he claimed credit for peace, is about to be re-invaded by Israel.
Trump fancies himself a great negotiator, but all he really is, is a large-scale real estate developer who was born into wealth. Indeed, it's frequently asserted that while being born into the middle class means that its almost impossible to fall out of it permanently, family wealth of the wealthy simply doesn't last. Seventy percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation and 90 percent of families lose their wealth by the third generation, or so its claimed (there are those who outright dispute this claim).
Trump is, as is often noted, the descendant of German immigrant Frederick Trump, a Lutheran Bavarian who had to leave the country after having returned to it after marrying fellow Bavarian Elizabeth Christ due to his failure to perform mandatory military service. He became wealthy in the US, wealth inherited by his father, Fred Trump, who built it further, and on to Donald Trump. Nobody really knows how wealth Donald Trump is, but he demonstrates all the classic traits of those who inherit wealth and then lose it. Having said that, he's the third generation, and he's wealthy.
And he caters enormously to the wealthy.
He also is deeply amoral and doesn't grasp the world beyond transactions. He seemingly is unable to understand the world beyond that which means in matters of war and peace, and diplomacy, he's singularly poorly suited to engage in it. He's likely to approach this whole thing as a land deal.
Indeed, if early reports are correct, he'll likely propose land swaps between Ukraine and Russia, which Ukraine cannot legally do, and they are not even at the table, and he'll grant Russia minerals concessions in Russia. If Russia agrees, he'll try to force those down on Ukraine. The minerals concessions, whatever they are, will be disavowed by some future administration.
August 13, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump files all the way from Washington D.C.
Putin all the way from Moscow.
Conference already over, and we still have a war.
Is there somebody who actually still takes this clown's promises seriously?
Some history (not that Trump would appreciate it).
New Yorker Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo Japanese War, from the US, from August 9, 1905, through August 30, 1905.
But then, Roosevelt was a genuine article.
August 16, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fly to Washington D.C. to meet with Trump on Monday.
I wonder if J. D. Vance will be available to berate him for not wearing a suit?
August 17, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump had stated "we're close to a deal", but leakers have provided Putin's demands, which basically amount to a complete surrender. Ukraine cedes territory, including presently unoccupied territory, and Russia gives a "security guaranty".
That's not going to happen.
What needs to happen is to find a way to bring Russia to its knees, but of course Donny is a Putin fanboy, which makes that difficult.
Military Occupation of Washington D.C.
3 states sending 700 National Guard troops to DC
Cont:
A Trump tweet would appear to place Trump pathetically fully in the Putin camp today:
Basically this means Ukraine can end the war by surrendering, to the extent its capable of being deciphered.
If Trump was a drinking man, which he's not, this would look like a drunk tweet.
August 18, 2025.
US Domestic Strife.
Some National Guardsmen in D.C. are going to be issued arms.
South Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia are supplying National Guardsmen to the Trump municipal takeover.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine's president and the heads of various European states will be in D.C. today following Trump's failed meeting with Putin. It'll be a momentous day, no matter what.
Apparently Giorgia Meloni will be one of those present. A populist herself, but an intelligent one, I suspect she might be the one person in the room capable of calling Trump a dumbass to his face and Trump not being able to handle it.
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Meloni with Trump in the tacky room.
US v. al-Shabab
The US has been carrying out air strikes against al-Shabab in Somalia.
April 19, 2025
And again, the talks were one single day.
Wars don't end with one day talks.
April 20, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Donald Trump indicated that U.S. troops won't be sent to Ukraine as part of a post war force guaranteeing the nation's security.
Last edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 5. Oh oh, it didn't work. Now What? The Pearl Harbor Edition.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 80th Edition. The Tetas, Milk (but not from a cow), Coffee and Whiskey edition.
Okay, I don't know if this blog is "family friendly". After all, it covers all sorts of topics including some that are pretty adult, if we take the word "adult" to mean what it is supposed to mean, rather than x-rated. Normally it's fairly serious.
This Zeitgeist addition might not be.
But it is a bit off color. So, off color warning.
As I think I posted awhile back, the Texas Rangers made a goof on this years special baseball hat edition, in which the first letter of the team's city is appears over the logo, so that the hat spelled out "TETAS", or, in Spanish "tits".
Oops.
They quickly clawed it out, but not before some quick fans ordered them. So, this year, at Texas Rangers games, some bold, probably all men (my wife actually stated to me that she wished she'd ordered one) Rangers fans will go to the game wearing "TITS" hats.
Now, I get some feeds on the first page that comes up when I log on that are food related. This is probably as I'll look up wild game recopies. Anyhow, yesterday, there was a story that came up on the front page of Google or Bing or whatever that somebody had introduced breast milk ice-cream. That was so weird that I hit on the news to be confronted with an ice-cream tub depicting a cartoon lactating breast dropping milk and, yes, it's human milk ice-cream.
That's really weird.
I'm not even quite sure how that would be legal. Milk is normally inspected by the USDA if its sold in stores, save for "raw milk" that some people like as they apparently want to risk deadly infections. Added to that, given that I have a somewhat agricultural mind, my immediate thought was "how do you get a sufficient number of lactating women to . . . " at which point you need to quit thinking about such t hings. Still, being familiar with production agriculture, you need a lot of cows . . . and then again, you need to stop thinking about it.
Maybe this is what Trump meant by making America great again. 2025 in the weird Trumpverse is the year of the boob or something.
Or the year of tariffs.
On food:
Trump’s Reciprocal Trade Act spells bad news for coffee
Coffee was already getting pretty expensive.
Trump, of course, doesn't drink coffee.
Trump is apparently a huge Diet Coke fan. He has a real affinity for junk food, particularly Big Macs. He apparently also likes steaks, but according to one of his cooks, extremely well done, which is an infamnia.
Scotland is apparently pretty concerned on the 10% tariff dumped on the UK as it might impact whiskey consumption.
Scotch is, in my view (I don't like Scotch) expensive anyway. I'm more concerned about Irish whiskey, which will be hit with a 20% tariff by the Mango Mussolini's misguided economic policy.
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 79th Edition. The Move along, nothing to see here addition.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
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