Links are at the end.
Fascist Snowflakes
In Iowa on Friday to promote his new book, Gov. Ron DeSantis posed with a gift from a supposed supporter.
The gift, a framed cutout of an intricate snowflake, features the word “fascist.” Steven Goffman, whose profile says that he works for the Washington Post, tweeted that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, also a Republican, posed with a copy of the gift, too.1
One cannot but salute.
Pence says ‘history will hold Donald Trump accountable’ for Jan. 6th
Pence running for the Jeb Bush Audience Enthusiasm Award.2
The [Gridiron Dinner] also features comedy routines from politicians, where they often are more willing to cut loose, perhaps because the Gridiron does not allow television cameras. Pence’s performance included his own attempt at a comedy routine, which included knocks on his former running mate.
“I once invited President Trump to Bible study,” Pence said early in his speech. “He really liked the passages about the smiting and perishing of thine enemies. As he put it, ‘Ya know Mike, There’s some really good stuff in here.’”
That’s some boffo, A Number-One shit right there. Mother Pence cranking out the good stuff for her boy.
“a clear statement”
From Artnet News, meaning we’re talking Art:
Luxury British automobile maker Rolls-Royce and Dutch couture designer Iris van Herpen have teamed up to custom-make an extraordinary new model of Phantom. The special commission for the car brand’s Bespoke series was four years in the making.
Only one of the Phantom Syntopia will be made, destined for an unnamed client in the United States in May. “Phantom Syntopia is the most ambitious, singular, and highly Bespoke Phantom we have ever created,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, “and a clear statement of Rolls-Royce’s standing as a true luxury house.”
. . .
Adding to the Syntopia’s mystique is a custom fragrance that diffuses through the headrests. And for the final touch, Van Herpen crafted a sculptural dress for the client using liquid metal fabric that emulates the undulating water design of the interior.3
Bad Crow Review, meanwhile, is proud to announce the bespoke Bugatti Guillotine, perfect for the unconscionably wealthy, liquid metal dress-wearing doyenne of excess in your life. We’ll throw in a hand-crafted Bugatti watch, too, so you can count down their final terror-filled seconds.
The design of the watch case is inspired by the flowing lines of the Chiron while the movement, or “engine block,” is modelled after the iconic Bugatti engine. When the engine comes to life, a massive sapphire crystal allows you to watch the crankshaft rotate while the pistons pump up and down, just like a real internal combustion engine.4
♫Always look on the sunny side of life♫
“Look! Squirrel!” White House wishes it could say
For obvious reasons, environmental groups and other oil-shy organizations and people have been decrying what seems the likely Biden administration decision to greenlight a massive Conoco oil drilling operation, comedically named the Willows Project, in northwest Alaska.
Three large news operations reported on Friday that White House officials, or perhaps even the dwelling itself, would announce their approval of the project next week, but at least two people in the administration have denied the reports to The Hill.5
Sadly the senior officials didn’t have a squirrel or other distraction to hand, so they’re left without good options other than delaying the announcement to the following week, at which point they’ll insist that they actually had not made up their minds when the press said they had.
The Willows Project. Goddamn if these people don’t have some brass. Reminds one of the energy department calling radiation “sunshine units.”6
“Not This Shit Again,” Says World
Hawai’i Standard Time is constant as the wind and tides, but we’re still impacted by the random time changes in other places. Among other trials, people who forget that the hour here is earlier than the hour there will be waking us up an hour earlier when they call at 5am or 3am and announce that “it’s eight (or nine, or 10) in the morning, you should be up.” Yr. editor is fortunate to have lived mostly in places where the time is the time no matter the time of year, but one can’t ever entirely escape the fallout.
“Feed The Kids, You Jackleg Motherfuckers”
In the last academic year, with nearly all schools back operating in person, the number of school meals served to students jumped dramatically, and was slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to a report Thursday from the Food Research & Action Center. Already, it said, states now are reporting drops in the number of meals served.
More than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, meaning they lack consistent access to enough food for every person in their family to be healthy.
Children in such households are more likely to struggle academically and repeat grade levels, among other challenges, according to researchers.7
Full disclosure: the pull quote is me quoting yr. editor. Or yr. editor quoting me.
The U.S. is a stupid country run by stupid people who do stupid malicious things, and among the stupidest of stupid things is the property-tax method of funding k-12 public schools, followed or preceded closely by the failure to provide adequate meals to everyone of every age who needs them provided.
And decent health care, and decent housing, and public higher education.
The art of politics, I guess.
“You can’t scare me, I’m stickin’ with the union”
Michigan legislators are on the verge of rescinding the state’s right to work law, also known as the right to work for shit wages with no union. They’re also about to reimplement the prevailing wage law, essentially mandating union wages on publicly-funded projects.8
Music to writhe write by
I really like Shannon and the Clams, which across a few albums unleashed stuff that will appeal variously to lovers of surf music, The Ronettes, the Philadelphia Sound, and more. Le Butcherettes are, in my view, fabulous. Their “Don’t Bleed” album is short, less than 20 minutes, so you can play it twice in succession without feeling inefficient. Guaranteed. Giant Drag is a guitarist/vocalist (Annie Hardy) and a drummer/keyboardist (don’t know).
Art!
Shannon and the Clams, “Year of the Spider;”9 Le Butcherettes, "Don't Bleed;"10 Giant Drag, “Hearts & Unicorns.”11
That, Comrades, is all there is
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