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| Brick. From the Int'l. Review of Music. |
Rest of the month: Studio tenor giant Plas Johnson, who made 92, & a few others who created good stuff & lived into their late seventies & eighties.In a 2017 Rolling Stone profile of the band, she was described as “an ill-behaved and untrained bassist who added instant verve to their live act.”
Trump was reading from a piece of paper in front of him for this entire appearance, but when he did attempt to go off-script, it went very quickly awry. This policy is for “the amazing veterans who are with the — with, with us — they’ve just been with us from the day they were born, I suspect,” he said, in a trailing aside.It was pure nonsense, even by the standards of Trump. It was so weird that I had to listen to it back to make sure I'd heard what I thought I'd heard.
“American highways and roadways have been terrorized” by immigrant drivers, he continued, who were driving “big rigs. Rigs like that—” At this point, a large truck caught his eye and he continued, “—Wow, that sucker is a big one. That’s big stuff.”
Trump is known for peppering his speeches with such interruptions, but these had a low energy to them and an undercurrent of confusion. Sure, he could read out from the paper that “radical left maniacs” have given out commercial licenses to people here illegally, and claim that an immigrant from Haiti who caused the death of an American citizen was “let in by Joe Biden.” But when he needed to elaborate, he could only say that such aliens had caused “many, many deaths, too many to talk about.”
[...]Luckily, transportation secretary Sean Duffy was there to add his own two cents. Jumping in with vigor, Duffy painted a suitably horrifying picture of the vulnerable American family being preyed upon by evil, English-eschewing migrants with designs on their two most sacred activities, Christian worship and mass consumption: “When these illegals were driving these big rigs, they were killing American citizens,” he yelled.
Whether you were “a family going to Walmart or going to church on a Sunday,” you were liable to be run down at every turn.
[...]
This extended show of fealty — which took up almost as much time as the talk about opportunities for veterans — earned Duffy a nod from the president, and presumably protected him from his ire. But this, combined with the frail delivery from Trump, pointed to something alarming: a president who increasingly loses his train of thought, who struggles to make the quick quips and connections he once did, and a surrounding team that is sycophantic to the point of absurdity.
It’s pretty obvious that there isn’t just a lack of pushing-back within the Trump cabinet; there’s a demand for time-wasting, toadying displays of OTT loyalty. There’s also clearly pressure to look the other way, to paper over the cracks when the president flounders.
The ‘Freedom Haulers’ thing, by the way, is nothing new. It’s simply an extension of an older policy, and there’s very little proof that it will do much for the economy, for immigration, or for veterans. But listen, the amazing veterans have been with us since the day they were born, and Donald Trump is a masterclass. Hand on heart, is there anything more you need to hear than that?
Twilight of The Knobs:Trump Hates Immigrants So Much He’s Going to Make Roads More Dangerous
Trump wants veterans to take immigrant truckers’ jobs—by letting them skip required steps for their license. What could go wrong?
Just as long as Nebuchadrezzar dies during the upcoming Democratic Socialist administration that will give him the funeral & day of national celebration/mourning he deserves.NAKED EMPERORWe’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism
It’s all there in a new CNN poll, and it’s heartening to see: Large majorities are sick of Donald Trump’s vanity, venality, and megalomania.
Quite a life, & some history there too.Arlene Smith, one of the first “girl group” stars who as a teenager and a founder of the Chantels co-wrote and sang lead on the 1950s doo-wop classic “Maybe,” has died at 84.
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| Hey! Look! We found Mitch McConnell! |
Envisioning The American Dream.Sixty-one years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act.Two years ago, President Trump promised that he would “never let anyone touch your Medicare.”
Yesterday, this Administration announced dramatic cuts to Medicare, spiking prescription drug costs for up to 25 million seniors.
That’s some lousy anniversary present!
Not to mention a horrific betrayal.
Bring. It. On! Two hrs. is quick enough for me.“We’re in the realm where we might be essentially killing off everything within that first hour or two,” said Brandon Johnson, a Purdue University planetary scientist and study co-author.Chicxulub would have immediately wiped out all life within a wide radius of its impact along the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the geological demarcation between the age of the dinosaurs and the Cenozoic era. Traveling at a rate of speed of about 12 miles-per-second, the asteroid struck Earth with the equivalent force of 100 teratons of TNT—more than one billion times the strength of the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The blast created a 62-mile-wide, 19-mile-deep cavity while generating two-mile-high tsunamis and 620 mph winds. Around 25 trillion metric tons of debris rocketed into the atmosphere, which then rained down on Earth as fiery missiles called spherules to set forests ablaze.
Hemant Mehta / Friendly Atheist:
Christian preachers are turning airplanes into unwanted worship services — Evangelists are exploiting captive audiences who can't walk away—and broadcasting it online — What is it about being in an enclosed space, surrounded by people who can't escape, that makes evangelical Christians even more insufferable than usual?Tom Boggioni / Raw Story: Evangelicals are force-feeding sermons to air travelers: ‘I just love a captive audience’
Are there no Air Marshals? Damn jet travel. W/ a nice four-engine turboprop the 'plane could be slowed enough that such people could be safely tossed out an open door.All of this reeks of Christian privilege. These kinds of stunts would never be tolerated—even for a moment—if the evangelists weren’t Christian.It’s telling that these Christians believe a captive audience is the best way to spread their message. They’re basically admitting other people wouldn’t listen to them otherwise. The only thing they accomplish with their impromptu sermons is reminding people why they should avoid Christians when they have the option.
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| Last waltz from montag? |
Hop in... best dimension yet. pic.twitter.com/7dRJnUVANc
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 27, 2026
"We"? Is the House paying for this praying?House Speaker Mike Johnson says he grows more confident "with each passing day" that the GOP will retain control of Congress. Why? "This is a God thing. We have intercessory prayers who are on the ground at the Capitol praying."
Easy, Lance. Sounds a bit judgemental to me who, picky as I am, fully intend to remain in my "casual recreationalist comfort zone". No desire to obtain an air-brush, but I did click the "sixty-buck airbrush" link out of curiosity, to find it's a) Amazon; b) $199.99, not any "sixty bucks". Ha!Also, at some point you need to decide if you are content being a casual recreationalist or if you want to move to the next level. It’s your call. No judgement. That said, if you want to move forward, you need to get out of your comfort zone, buy that sixty-buck airbrush, and get comfortable with it.
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| Don't have the space, don't need the noise. |
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| National Drought Mitigation Center |
