The Cruelty is *Almost* the Point

 

NEWSMAX: Why should other states be bailing out California for choosing the wrong people to run their state?

TUBERVILLE: We shouldn't be ... they don't deserve anything to be honest with you unless they show us they're gonna make some changes. pic.twitter.com/SUvVPRDgKm

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 13, 2025

There's some good conversation in the comments in the last post regarding MAGA attacks on sign language interpreters--it's about punching down and divisiveness. I recall during the pandemic, the Trump administration pit blue states vs red states for access to resources.  Also, some conservatives fairly openly wanted to sacrifice elderly and disabled people for the sake of the economy (even though that would have been a box of horrors--and we have alternative ways of thinking). We should by now understand the America First problem.

In TrumpWorld, there are only things that serve Trump's (MAGA) needs. If there is a crisis, people just have to figure out how to serve Trump's needs with it. Maybe that means "punishing" a blue state in the hopes the fed-up citizens will just elect Republicans next time around. If Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security have to get cut for Trump's budget to make sense--so be it. 

Who thinks they deserve their promised benefits, anyway? (They have deluded some folks into thinking it's all a Ponzi scheme, anyway.)

What Do MAGA have Against Sign Language?

 

Charlie Kirk called out by US National Association of the Deaf as sign language controversy escalates https://t.co/L5dW9CSvqV #deaf #interpreters #ASL #signlanguage

— Deaf News Today (@DeafNewsToday) January 12, 2025

I see Chris Rufo has also decided he needs to be mad about sign language interpreters, too.  Deaf people deserve to have access to information in a way that is immediate and relatable to them. It actually doesn't distract anyone--mostly. If you are distracted, maybe this is a cognitive problem about YOURSELF you need to get addressed. 

But as a person who finds aural processing a little more difficult in my older years who uses CC for tv--it sucks and is not reliable. I can hear, but I am aware it is not always adequate for people who can't. Also, CC is absolutely not great at all for someone who might be deaf or hard of hearing and also has an issue with reading facility, like dyslexia. 

Climate Sunday: Amateur Meteorology for Dummies

 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has previously commented on Jewish Space Lasers and may believe in the Deep State Weather Machine, has suggested a rare and curious cure for the wildfires in California--just seed the clouds! It's an existing technology! We have the tools!

Problem is: we don't have the clouds. There is no moisture. The only moisture is what is being scooped up and thrown at the fires by brave airborne firefighters--like these Canadian and Mexican firefighters are doing:

We can't count on some god-like intervention--it's all sweat and tears from here. 

BRUVS and That

 

In a time when the US can have an adjudicated sex pest and 34-count felon on deck to be sworn into our highest office, there's really no reason for shock when an accused rapist and sex trafficker gets an endorsement from the world's richest man (alleged--certainly there may be a few folks with more off-the-books income). 

The Tates' current project, when not pretending there's no legal case against them and threatening women on social media, is called BRUV (presumably, CHAV, SPIV and CHUD were all taken), and while I don't pretend to be the great UK politics' understander, I'm not sure this is how any of this works.

I do know it's jarring to see Alina Habba (Trump's lawyer, future White House employee) hanging with Benny "Rubles" Johnson and fawning over Andrew Tate. 

Literal Pants on Fire

 

In the midst of the devastation and tragedy in southern California, there are some political animals who adhere to the maxim to let no good crisis go to waste. They're bringing DEI into it (I promise you, the Black person's water is just as wet as the White man's). They are lying about budgets, resources, pointing the finger of blame. Launching conspiracy theories. 

That many people cope with horrific events by just pulling narratives together to make sense of the seemingly senseless is a part of human nature, I guess--but that doesn't make it right. And when people appear to be deliberately lying because of a political agenda trying to capitalize on a tragedy for point-scoring purposes, that's something a bit harsher than opportunistic--it's predatory. It's precisely at times like these when people are least likely to engage their critical thinking mode and instead opt for the torches and pitchforks. 

Generational Wingnut Welfare Cases

 

Rep. Brandon Gill: "Listen, I think that the people of Panama, I think that the people of Greenland, I think that the people of Canada for that matter should be honored that President Trump wants to bring these territories under the American fold." pic.twitter.com/T6IJzunB0c

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2025

This obnoxious weird and wrong little man is married to Dinesh D'Souza's daughter.  D'Souza had to apologize for being very badly wrong about the 2020 election. His little son-in-law is just being part of the family--pay him little mind, because little mind is all they have 

Post-script: A lot of the GOP have adopted the "should be flattered" talking point, but to get at why this stupidity makes me furious--it's not a serious opinion. Telling a country "We will economically or militarily threaten you because we want something you have" is,a war of choice--and it amounts to saying "If someone threatens to rape you, you should be flattered." 

TWGB: Putting us on the Map

 

You know, maybe Trump can't end Russia's war in Ukraine with a phone call, or bring the hostages home from Gaza, or really do anything at all in the Middle East except make things worse, and maybe he won't bring down grocery prices and it's a whole lot to think he'll do much about fuel prices, but maybe he and his magic Sharpie can change the map! 

The Gulf of Mexico was the Gulf of Mexico, before there was a USA. If we have a national security issue regarding Greenland, well, we have had an air base there since 1943--Pituffik, formerly known as Thule. (Does he think it went away because the name changed? He seems to have a problem with accepting that military bases can change their name but still exist. His sense of object permanence is fleeting.)