Question For The Day

January 23, 2021

Just when you think these fucking motherfuckers can’t get any fucking worse, we learn that some fucking fuckwit scraped the fucking word ‘TRUMP’ (the world’s first five-letter four-letter word) into the back of a manatee, a species even more endangered than Americans with functioning brains.

My money would be on noted murderer of defenseless, endangered animals, Don, Jr. but I’m unconvinced that he has the wherewithal to make legible letters, let alone squeeze out an entire word in one try. That, and the fact he probably would not immerse himself in water and risk washing off his protective layer of slime.

Un-violated manatees desperately trying to peacefully co-exist with hairless apes

This has been your Paying Attention Question For The Day.

You're welcome.

What is your question for the day?

BONUS QUESTION:

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Marlon Craft - State Of The Union

Democracy, Buster

Democracy-Buster

January 22, 2021

Looks like the honeymoon lasted perhaps 20 hours. There is currently something going on in the early days of the new Senate that reminds me of the movies. The hero is faced with two options, maintain his integrity by honestly answering when asked to do something illegal – he doesn’t actually have to do it, just to say he will in order to get on the villain’s good side. So often, the hero will not even pretend to go along, preferring to remain true blue, thereby putting himself in grave danger. The other option of course is to simply pretend to play along in order to prevail in the end. Despite never even seeming to waiver, the hero almost always emerges victorious. This is not a fucking movie.

I am referring to the current dance around the filibuster. McConnell is trying to get new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to agree to never kill the filibuster in return for…well, we’re talking about Malignant Mitch, so who gives a fuck what he’s offering (though for the record, what he’s offering is something that is typically given as a courtesy). McConnell is a proud hypocrite whose word is as good as having a single square of toilet paper to keep you dry in a deluge. The way I see it, Schumer has two options: 1) tell McConnell to go fuck himself, or 2) tell McConnell, “Sure Mitch, that seems fair enough. I promise not to mess with the filibuster in order to win your esteemed cooperation.” Then, when the time is right, like when McConnell tries to pull his usual shit, do a 180 and kill the filibuster.

Meshuggeneh Mitch McConnell’s Maniacal Mishegoss 

Meanwhile, Malignant Mitch, who for several weeks helped prop up the lie that Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election, thereby contributing to the attempted coup and violent siege of the Capitol, is already threatening to essentially filibuster to prevent Democrats from controlling Senate committees, something they won fair and square, once again showing that Ratpublicans have no respect for the will of the American voters or that thing we call democracy. All the more reason to go with option #2.

The other thing McConnell and his Sedition Caucus want is for us all to pretend their prolonged, ultimately deadly attempt to overturn a secure and legitimate election never happened. Unity Now! They are furious that their usual and customary means of stealing elections was not enough to keep the worst president in American history on the payroll for another four years. I may have mentioned this before, but I believe it warrants repeating; sing it with me now, “Fuck Mitch McConnell.” You have to admit, it does have a nice ring to it.

It is long past time for Democrats to stop bringing marshmallows to a gunfight.

I. Mangrey recommending.

Gil Scott-Heron - B-Movie

In Case You Missed It...

It’s Biden Time

January 21, 2021

This is an Ex-president

Finally, Donald Turmp Is Practicing Appropriate Social Distancing...Great Riddance!

It does feel different today. It finally does not feel like the world is constantly punching me in the face. I’m no fan of Joe Biden. Never have been. From his disgraceful treatment of Anita Hill when she tried, at great personal risk, to warn us about Clarence Thomas – Hill was right, Biden was dead wrong and misogynistic. To his bankruptcy bill to protect credit card companies from American citizens’ ability to declare bankruptcy. For most of his time in the Senate, I referred to Biden as the senator from Citibank.

Biden was not my first, second or third choice to take on Turmp in 2020. Though thankfully, his reputation – well-earned though it was – as a gaff machine dissipated in the incessant foul tempest of gaff dissembly-line Donald Turmp.

Despite all of this, I could not be happier today. A great menacing blob has been lifted from on top of us. I will allow myself a turn at euphoria, however brief. I will thank Creation that Joe Biden and not Donald Turmp is President of the United States. The sniveling shit-weasel that hijacked a great, however drastically flawed, nation and had his gang of gangrenous-brained goons hold it down while he grabbed it by the pussy, spit in its face, humiliated it for all the world to see, and finally tried to take it for his own by instigating a brutally stupid coup attempt on the eve of his long-overdue eradication, before ultimately slinking away with his head up his ass, has been put out of our misery.

It’s all yours Joe. I will try to be patient while you set out on what will likely be a fool’s errand of trying to work with the disloyal opposition. But not for long. There is no time for malarkey. You might remember a past president who wasted years trying to reach across the aisle, only to have his fingers bitten off. You know this man. His name is Barack Obama. He got nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Except being continually kicked in the balls. Is that what you want? Your balls are surely too old to survive very much kicking I would think. It is not up to you to reconcile. It is up to Malignant Mitch McConnell (who is already gumming up the works as he desperately tries to hold on to power) and his Ratpublicans to beg forgiveness. They will not. They do not care much for America. They despise democracy. They are for the most part greedy, power-hungry thieves…except for the ones that are just plum crazy QAnon and/or Tea Party tin-foil-hatters. Many of them, I assume, are flaming racists. But, I will not begrudge you trying to do the right thing. Just don’t keep bringing crayons to a knife fight. Watch your step President Biden. Do not waste too much time trying to reason with those acting in bad faith. Please.

So, go Joe. You have a chance to overshadow your decades of protecting the strong against the weak. You have a golden opportunity to leave behind one of the most vaunted legacies in American presidential history. I know you will do something real to deal with the current pandemic. Save the environment. Lift up the less fortunate at the expense of the greedy, over-paid, under-taxed. Let all Americans have access to quality health care without having to sell their children. Repair the melting pot. Make America great for once.

I. Mangrey reporting. Remember, smile – or whatever that is on McConnell's face – is a liar’s mouth.

FINALLY!

It's All Over Now Baby Orange

January 21, 2021

To quote Joe Biden, "This is a big fucking deal."

Next Stop...

CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA

The Inauguration Heard Round The World

The Presidency Survives Turmp, Will America?

January 20, 2021, 12:30 PM Eastern Time

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. sworn in as 46^th president

I will try and keep this brief. Finally, against all odds, and against all odd, Joe Biden has been successfully sworn in today. My only complaint is that the oath of office, needs to be modified to reflect the new reality in America. It must say, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, particularly Donald Turmp.” Once Turmp no longer walks among us, we can think about changing it back, but it might be best to simply leave it in place as a reminder.

Apologies for not being ready to let go and walk away, but really. I thought I would be so glad to be rid of this terrible affliction – one that makes the current virus pandemic pale by comparison – that thoughts of the Orange Gas Cloud would quickly dissipate, leaving me at least a bit of peace. But no, I find myself still fuming, like a wild fire beaten down to ash and coals, still needing to be watched less it burst back into deadly flame. After all, a virus can be vicious and brutal, taking many lives and disrupting many more, but Turmp ripped at our souls and the soul of our nation. A virus has no malice, no brain. Trump, though bereft of brain, more than makes up for the lack with a massive, immeasurable dose of malice.

The miserable shit-weasel/IMPEACHED-IMPEACHED-ex-Fake president held a pathetic campaign rally after completing his criminal pardon spree and shortly before the planet-wide sigh of relief at the swearing in of Joe Biden as the 46^th president of the United States. A surprise to no one, as Turmp remained steadfast in his dishonest, delusion and danger to democracy. Refusing to mention Biden’s name, Turmp spewed his usual mile-long-string-of-lies, ignorance and drivel, ending with what amounts to a threat to the country he just spent four years trying to destroy for his benefactor Vladimir Putin. Before shuffling off-stage to the ironic tones of the Village People’s YMCA, Turmp warned, “See you soon.”

Yes, Turmp’s second-in-command Mike Pence opted to be present for the ultimately – no thanks to either Pence or Turmp’s yeoman efforts to the contrary – peaceful transfer of power. Make no mistake, this was nothing other than political calculus designed to keep his comatose hopes to continue a life in shitty politics alive. I wish him hell.

I. Mangrey relieved.

I Feel A Four-Years-Long Wave Of Nausea Finally Ebbing

Go To Russia. We Love You Leaving. You’re Very Special.

January 20, 2021, Later that same morning

As most of a nation in tatters prepares to rid itself of a living lesion by inaugurating its 46^th President Joe Biden, can you imagine, if (GULP) Trump had won in November, trying to talk him out of insisting on having the biggest crowd ever to attend a swearing in on hand to bask in his gory*?

Trump is planning to run for president again though he should be planning to go to prison, but that’s okay. He has not yet decided whether he should take another stab at becoming Russia’s president of the United States, or to go right to the source and run in Russia next time. On his way out the door today, it appears that Trump is trying to declassify sensitive information regarding Russia, information the intelligence community has classified as too sensitive to publicize. One last stroking of Putin’s whatever before sore winner, sore loser, generally festering sore Trump oozes out of office.

Stephen Miller has already drafted Trump’s first Russia First stump speech. Another Paying Attention exclusive, just for you:

“There’s no way I can lose to Vicious Vlad. I like to call him Little Lenin, since he loves the Beatles so much…well that’s what people are telling me. What the hell has he ever done for you? All he ever did was help me make America great again. Is that what you paid him to do? Make America great? America sucks. I should know. I’m the one who tried to destroy America and its very fake, very weak and stupid democracy. Puny Putin – I sometimes call him that – thought I was going to make America great and still he helped me get elected, bigly. Let him show everyone the pee-pee tape. See if I care. If he’s not careful, I’ll grab hm by the pussy. They let you do that in America by the way and if you want to be able to do that here, then vote Trump. I alone can fix everything. Very easily. I can make your dishwashers and showers very strong and powerful. I can make your toilets flush like nothing you’ve ever seen before and that’s no shit.”

*Not a typo

I. Mangrey keeping it real.

Word For The Morning - KOYAANISQATSI

KOYAANISQATSI

January 20, 2021, 6:00 AM Eastern Time

Today is meant to be the official termination of Donald Trump’s ignominious administration. There are still six hours left during which it remains possible that the Teflon Trash-heap will pull some bad craziness. And we are still up to our eyeballs in assholes. I have yet to see any sign of chickens ready to be counted.

So, hopefully for the last time for a long time I share a wonderful word. The best word in my humble estimation. This word became one of my favorite of all time after I saw the brilliant, moving and unique 1983 Godfrey Reggio documentary of the same name.

Koyaanisqatsi – the trailer

This has been your Paying Attention Word For The Morning.

Morning maniac music...

Frank Zappa – Dumb All Over

Steppenwolf – Move Over (crank it up)

Taking Out The Trash

Trump’s Greatest Shits

January 19, 2021

The Second Time Around

More history. For those who one last reminder of the terror presidency of Donald Trump, read on. For those who rightly cannot devote another moment of thought to this disaster, close your eyes think happy thoughts and hope this fake administration will finally, really be coming to an end.

Trump has been so fucking nice they IMPEACHED his ass twice. That’s right boys and girls. We seem to have survived the worst, most corrupt, most narcissistic, most disastrous, most fascist president in American history IMPEACHED two times by Congress – the second time with Republican’t cooperation in the House, however meager. Wow. I am shocked that a few Republican’ts think that a president should not urge violent racist sociopaths to lay siege to the Capitol Building and string up his vice president. Who could have guessed it? The rest of them continued with their treasonous conspiracy theory of a stolen election. And helped to turn our nation’s Capital into a war zone.

Trump tried every trick in the book to get thrown out of office – an office he never wanted and never fulfilled in any way. Enlisting Russia to help him get elected in the first place was not enough. Firing everyone involved in discovering the truth of his collusion with Russia was not enough. Kidnapping innocent children and assuring they would never see their parents again was not enough. Repeatedly standing up for Putin, for white supremacists barely even raised a Republican’t eyebrow. Threatening the president of Ukraine unless they manufactured evidence of malfeasance by Joe Biden’s son was not enough. Threatening the Secretary of State of Georgia if he did not “find 11,780 votes” that would upend the legitimate thrice-counted victory of Joe Biden in favor of Trump, complete with physical evidence, was not enough. Please forgive me if I omitted anything important; it is literally impossible to keep track of all the offenses committed by this disgraceful mutant. And please forgive me if I do not give these brave, ridiculously-too-late Republican’ts kudos for finally daring to stand up to Trump in the waning minutes of the eleventh hour.

Nonetheless, Trump is the only president to be IMPEACHED two times, it will mean little – as much as I love a good IMPEACHMENT – if, after committing even worse treason than what led to the first one, he is not convicted, removed and tossed into the nuclear wastebin of history. Though, it seems there is perhaps half a chance that enough Republican’ts realize they must finally cut and try to run from Trump who, if he has not already, will tear their party into bits. Works for me.

We hear that Mitch McConnell is in favor of Democrats IMPEACHING Trump and believes that Trump “provoked” the seditious assault on our Capitol. What courage. What patriotism. No seriously, what courage? What patriotism? Such a statement from McConnell is worth about as much as a three-dollar bill, a wooden nickel and McConnell’s soul. I will believe that McConnell is in favor of actually doing something when he votes to convict. I am not even touching my breath, let alone holding it. And even if McConnell does, beyond all imagination vote to convict the man he admits is guilty of the worst high crime ever committed by an American president, that would not budge the needle of McConnell’s soul tank, which has long been on EMPTY. But Trump has been so beyond the pale, even McConnell is considering protecting the Republic.

I. Mangrey on Inauguration Eve.

Hope Springs External

Eyes Tightly Shut, Jaw Clenched, Fingers Crossed, Breath Held

January 19, 2021

Disgraced TWICE-IMPEACHED Fake president Donald Trump is hoping, as soon as he has finished selling off pardons to his fellow scumbags, to have a huge crowd on hand to send him off to prison retirement. Will he be paying these people out of his porn-star-hush-slush fund or with tax-payer dollars? Like disgraced on-the-verge-of-impeachment-quitter Richard Nixon before him, Trump will remain delusional to the end.

Der Furor wanted a big military-style sendoff as he slithers away from the worst presidency in American history, one that ended with him trying to get his minions to take over the Capitol in order to stop the final, formal certification of his successor’s landslide victory. The Pentagon, despite being recently stocked with Trump’s hand-picked monkeys – one of whom recently held an incoherent press conference, the only salient moment of which was when he said, “I cannot wait to leave this job, believe me” – declined to participate in any way with Trump’s final public exhibition of self-pleasuring.

Trump desperately tries to round up a crowd to attend his exile party.

(Is that Steve Bannon?)

Nixon famously spent his final days drinking himself into a stupor and conversing with portraits of former presidents in the West Wing. Trump claims not to drink or do any drugs (many first-hand witness accounts to the contrary), but by most accounts he has been fuming, raging, ranting and generally losing what little mind he had in his possession as the loss of protection from justice bestowed upon him by the cynical and criminally complicit Republican’t Party loom ever larger.

Make Trump Bankrupt Again!

I. Mangrey holding on for dear life. So little time, so much fear and loathing.

Bonus Bit:

I hope this is running through the corroded canyons of Trump's febrile mind...

Johnny Cash - 25 Minutes To Go