We all remember the disastrous (and laughable) Republican responses to the SOTU over the years.  Bobby Jindal’s and Marco Rubio’s responses were cringe-worthy, and Jindal’s 10 minute spotlight moment ended his career.  Well, last Thursday, freshman Alabama senator Katie Britt said “hold my beer”, launching into the weirdest SOTU response in history.  Typical for Republicans, they put her in a fucking KITCHEN while she breathlessly disclosed the horrors of the Biden administration like protecting women’s health and preserving the right to vote.  If it wasn’t so strange it would have been hilarious.

One of Britt’s blood curdling stories was one she recounted of a private conversation she had with one woman who had been sex trafficked by the cartel in the US after crossing the border during Biden’s presidency.  The story was truly horrific as she described being repeatedly raped and being held captive in a shoebox-sized room.  Simply awful…with the one exception that it was complete bullshit.  Not that the woman was raped and held captive – that story is likely true.  The bullshit happened when Britt pinned the whole terrible scenario on Biden and his border policies.  Tim-Tokker Jonathan Katz did all the work on this, so I’ll let him tell the story:

@katzonearth

This isn’t going to make her like TikTok more. #katiebritt #sotu #stateoftheunion #lies #politicians #biden2024 #trump2024 #immigration #traffickingawarenes #mexico #bordersecurity #fyp

♬ original sound – Jonathan M. Katz

So, the victim here, Karla Jacinto Ramiro, was a victim of child sex trafficking when she was 12.  In 2004.  When George W. Bush was president.  IN MEXICO.  Ramiro is now an advocate for victims of sex trafficking and is in her 30s.   Ramiro even told this same story in a congressional hearing in 2015.  So, Katie Britt picks up this tragic 20 year old story and recasts it to place blame on Biden who wouldn’t be president until almost 20 years after it happened.  That’s like Republicans blaming Obama for the great recession that happened under GWB or Biden for the disastrous response to COVID  and Afghanistan debacle that were caused by TFG.

Not only was Britt’s melodramatic and creepy SOTU rebuttal cringe-worthy, it was also nothing but vicious character assassination and pure bullshit.  AND she did it on national television.  With any luck, Britt will go the way of Bobby Jindal.

Yesterday Fox Noise announced that Tucker Carlson had “mutually agreed” to part ways with the news propaganda network which is interesting, since he said that he would be back on Monday when he signed off on Friday.  Reporting is that he was blindsided by the sudden firing, and that the decision had come straight from the top, meaning Rupert Murdoch.

There’s a lot of speculation about what happened, but my guess is that Carlson had become too powerful at the network with Republicans kowtowing to him and even pushing legislative and policy agendas he introduced to his audience.  And not inconsequential, Murdoch was undoubtedly miffed by the revelations of his uncharitable opinions of both senior Fox management and TFG that came to light during the Dominion case.  Add to these issues the Mt. Everest of lies, misogynist rants, and racist diatribes, and the result is not surprising.

Lastly, it’s been speculated that Carlson was served up by Murdoch in lieu of an apology in the Dominion settlement.  That makes a lot of sense, since he was the Grand Dragon of The Big Lie at Fox, repeating it five nights a week since the 2020 election.

Once again, Fox is in search of a new chief liar to take the prime seat at the network; in the meantime, Carlson will be searching for a new gig, joining Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck in the purgatory of online bullshit peddling to a shrinking audience.  Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Sitting at home all week in covid quarantine gave me plenty of time to read In between naps. Newspapers, magazines that were piling up, books…I even read BOOKS! I’m so far behind with books that my compelling reading has been Bill Browder’s Red Notice (2015) followed by Freezing Order (2022). Back to back. Thanks to my sister for recommending them. If you want the inside scoop on Money Laundering, Murder and Putin, look no further. Not fiction and terrifying.

But this morning, while reading my morning digital news, I came across this gem from one of my favorite young opinion writers in the WaPo. When I say young, it’s because I’m OLD. She’s my daughters’ age, middle 30s with a wicked wit. I don’t know about you, but when GOP legislators started showing up at work with AR-15 lapel pins, it about did me in. Now they’ve totally jumped the shark. Congress critters Barry Moore (Aladambama,), Andrew Clyde (GA gun shop owner), Lauren Boebert (COrazy) and the inimitable shapeshifter George Santos have banded together to sponsor Bill HR 1095 making an AR 15 the National Gun of the United States. I have no more words for this insanity. I think I’ll knit today. Reality is too much.

Apparently, Troy Nehls (T-Tex) had one too many pops the other night, and got on the wrong bus back home.  When he woke up, he was in E. Palestine Ohio, where the chemical laden train derailed last week.  Him falling asleep on the wrong bus is the only logical conclusion one can draw since he represents a radically gerrymandered district in Texas, not Ohio, and he has no business there.  Since he happened to be there anyway, he apparently decided to bring his message of good will from the great state of Texas to the townspeople by lecturing them (and YouTube) asserting that the water is safe to drink, air is safe to breathe, and everything is Oooooooookkkaaaaaaayyyy!  I wasn’t aware that Nehls had advanced degrees in environmental sciences and worked for the EPA.  If you can stomach it, here he is showing people he doesn’t know in a place he doesn’t live that the water is fine to drink.

Rep. Troy Nehls is in E. Palestine and assures everyone that the city’s water is safe to drink, then demonstrates it by drinking a cup of tap water from the China Cafe. “The Fire Chief, everybody says the water is clean to drink.” pic.twitter.com/TFYcMWEZhF

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 17, 2023

Love the cute personalized vest he’s wearing just to make sure everyone knows who he is.  What is it about Republicans today where they run around all over the country sticking their noses in to other states’ business?  Paxton, Abbott, and Paxton are well know for it.  Added to clowns like DeSantis and Graham, Nehls is in good company as far as arrogant showboats go.

Go home, Troy.  People in Ohio don’t need (or want) your “help”.

We all saw it (or at least heard about it) when Elon Musk posted an easily manipulated poll asking if TFG should be reinstated at Twitter.  Recall that Musk, just a week ago, announced that any decisions about reinstating any toxic user would be deferred until he convened a “content moderation council” of outside experts.  Well, like almost everything Musk announces, that didn’t come true, and after Musk got a very split decision (52/48) to his poll, including votes from who knows how many bots he regularly criticized before buying the platform, he ordered that TFG be reinstated using the Latin term, Vox Populi, Vox Dei, translated “Voice of the People, Voice of God.”  With the dramatic flare of a Caesar granting a pardon, Musk unleashed TFG back on normal people.  Jesus H. Christ.

This morning, Quinta Jurecic of The Atlantic published a piece about the stupidity of Musk’s decision and it is a must read.  The operative quote that says it all:

“You are reading this, and I am writing it, because a very rich man who desperately wants people to pay attention to him posted an easily rigged poll on the website he’d just bought for $44 billion. The answers to many of the questions I have just posed will depend on the fancies of another rich man who desperately wants people to pay attention to him. There’s an indignity to having one’s attention jerked around this way.  Demanding that people simply ignore these bumbling titans is too simplistic: Their flailing has a tendency to wreck the world that the rest of us live in.”

Amen.  One can only hope that the media has learned something from the last train wreck of a presidency, but my confidence is at a low ebb.

OK, so here where the Republicans stand:

1. All books about diversity should be banned from school libraries to protect kids from being exposed to anything not bible thumping, white, and straight.
2. Teachers don’t have the judgement to set their own curriculum.
3. In more and more states teachers aren’t allowed to say the word “gay” or even address the fact that millions of children live in “non-traditional” families.
4. Teachers are not allowed to teach actual history including slavery, subjugation of women, immigrants, or those who are not white.
5. Textbooks that discuss actually history are banned because they might upset kids.

Now these same Republicans are calling to arm teachers with firearms to protect children against shooters who are, BY STATUTE, allowed to buy and own weapons of war and unlimited amounts of high powered ammo online.

So, to be clear – Teachers cannot be trusted to teach their students on subjects of history, social studies, and civics, but those same teachers must be depended on to carry firearms that can repel attacks by crazed gunmen carrying high powered weapons of war and wearing body armor.

Is it me, or have Republicans and their base lost their fucking minds?