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Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Coming Up Next

In nature, mother birds regurgitate into the mouths of their young to provide all-important sustenance and nutrition. So too, in politics and the news, do those who are stationed above us puke into our upturned faces and expect a "thank you" for their generosity. And today, we're just not in the mood.

Reviewing news stories for today's blog, we managed to put ourselves in a foul mood (or fowl, if we want to stick with the bird metaphor). Enough so that we don't even have anything particularly clever to say, but will instead just list a few of the stories that are honking us off...

• On Sunday, two people were killed and 21 others injured at a mass shooting in Miami. News reports rather cryptically said that this occurred at a "banquet hall" and, for reasons we can only guess at, did not mention that it was a rap concert. The shootings were by three thugs who jumped from a white van and opened fire, then drove away. And despite the van being described as "white," no color was ascribed to the shooters. Including in the security video that showed three black guys with guns. But a mysterious shooting at a banquet hall just doesn't fit the desired news narrative as well as "black guys shoot up rap concert crowd because they can."

• There are more (and more) stories about hate crimes in which black folks beat the hell out of Asian folks. But again, the news reports only mention the victims' race...never that of the assailants, even though (again based on security video) it always seems to be black assailants. And we're bitching about this not because we've got a problem with anyone black, but we have a HUGE problem with "news" which distorts and hides facts which could be helpful in addressing a genuinely serious and growing problem.

• There are very few Covid-related topics we aren't sick of at this point, so we're not really enjoying the media's tiptoe approach into speculation that the virus was manipulated in, and escaped from, a lab in Wuhan, China. People who were paying any freaking attention at all have known this for more than a year. But the truth had to be covered up, lest the reality help Donald Trump's reelection effort. With very few exceptions, every news source has gotten so much wrong (often deliberately) about Covid that we just don't give a damn anymore.

• Holy sweet mother of pearl, do we dislike Biden and Harris! And all of their friends and co-conspirators.

• The White House issued a proclamation to remind us all that this is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. We're just unsure about whether it's racist when white LGBTQ+ people feel pride? We live in confusing times.

But rather than leave you with the impression that there's no such thing as good news anymore, we're happy to report that in Fitzgerald, Georgia, work continues on the construction of a majestic 62-foot framework which will soon become the world's largest living topiary chicken. It's stories like that which give us the will to keep going.

28 comments:

JustaJeepGuy said...


Somehow, a 62-foot tall chicken doesn't seem even remotely unusual these days. Even if it were a real chicken it wouldn't be unwelcome. But if it's a white chicken, will it ever be built? Perhaps the town needs to make it a Plymouth Rock chicken.

M. Mitchell Marmel said...

"It's a CHICKEN! A giant CHICKEN!"

https://animaniacs.fandom.com/wiki/Chicken_Boo

mamafrog said...

Well, I would money to see that chicken, lol. Especially if some elected officials are used as stuffing!

Mike aka Proof said...

"In Fitzgerald, Georgia, work continues on the construction of a majestic 62-foot chicken..."

A 62 foot chicken? The US gave the world John Kerry, I guess we just have to continually outdo ourselves?

The Italian Meat Sauce said...

If they're using 2"x4"s and plywood for the framing of this 62' chicken topiary, it'll be going over budget and that will definitely be President Trump's fault.
The fact that they stopped using White Birch, and were forced into using the much more expensive Black Walnut wasn't mentioned by the lamestream media mediocres .

Anonymous said...

Does anybody else recall that way back when COVID was brand new, an area in Italy having direct flights to the Wuhan province had huge COVID infection and deaths. For at least a week, it was front page. Now - not a mention of it.

Jim Irre said...

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we watched real news and mostly unbiased reporting. Cronkite may have been a communist (so said Archie Bunker), but at least he knew what real reporting was.

Fish Out of Water said...

A spit balling thought here. Much of the gun-related violence's news would have been back in the day, simply local news and not reported breathlessly on the national level. And given this, might this national reporting - even Fox News reporting of otherwise local news be inadvertently contributing to the anti 2n Amendment narrative by creating the impression, creating hysteria the entire country is in the grips of maddened gun wielders?

Just saying

Jerryskids said...

As long as you're being outraged by the news, the news media is doing its job. Doesn't matter if you're watching CNN, FOX or OAN, their job is to stir up trouble over garbage that mostly doesn't matter.

Average Joe said...

You're not the only one tired and more than a little afraid of the presidential pretender and the puppet woman closest to him. Really afraid for the Republic and it's people.

Elbarto said...

Don't question the MSM, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Snark said...

Having once worked in TV news immediately after graduating journalism school, I've seen how that sausage is made; so I NEVER watch it. I DO watch Tucker Carlson (and very occasionally Sean Hannity.) Otherwise I get my news from REAL news sites (like Stilton's Place!) I KNOW the assholes are lying and trying to rile their audience up in the same direction and I have no use for it. Watching - or reading - lame stream news and expecting any semblance of either truth or honesty, or actual news for that matter, fits the classic definition of insanity. Furthermore, watching it can lead to insanity and misery. After all, they are and just want the company.

I really don't need the help. Ignorance of the crap the networks present IS bliss.

Anonymous said...

One thing is clear from the daily news:
America has not merely lost its way.
It has lost its mind and very possibly its soul.

TrickyRicky said...

@Anon- Yes, I fear we have lost our soul. That's a hard thing to get back.

John the Econ said...

Miami Shooting: Mrs. Econ & I have a saying that goes "Nothing good happens on the street after midnight". Likewise, our kids would instinctively know better than to say anything remotely like "Hey Mom & Dad, I'm heading out to a rap concert after midnight. See you in the morning."

As for the initial non-reporting, I have another maxim for that: When they don't tell you the who, it says it even louder.

So as usual, since there's absolutely to way to correlate this to the imagined "white supremacist uprising" that the left has been selling and it's of no use to the gun control narrative, it will quickly be flushed down the memory hole.

Attacks on Asians: Haven't you heard? It's all Trump's fault for calling the Wuhan Flu the "Chinese virus". Strangely though, the recent rise in antisemitic attacks against Jews has not been tied to the left's support of Hamas lobbing missiles into Israel and calling the response a "genocide".

Speaking of the Wuhan Flu: So it turns out that there are some scientists out there with their balls intact who are willing to publicly say that the connections to the Wuhan lab (partially funded by Fauci no less) are just too coincidental to ignore. And as you point out @Stilton, this is all fresh news to those who have been limiting themselves to the usual sources. (The media would have been all over this from the beginning had there been a Trump hotel anywhere within a 500 mile radius)

But there is some good news. In my "neanderthal" state, (so described by the President who replaced the one who did mean tweets) we never wore masks outside. Mandates for indoor masks were lifted months ago. And yesterday while running errands, I noticed that those Plexiglas barriers at retail locations were beginning to disappear. People in my part of the country are ready for a "normal" summer.

I normally don't do politics on my personal social media page, but I did post the above, just to see what kind of response it would evoke from those I knew would be "lockdown forever" types. The responses were just as anticipated, ranging from "But what about the flu" to "We should continue to wear masks, at least during wintertime". The amusing part was when the pro-barrier people clashed with the pro-mask people.

John the Econ said...

Biden & Harris: According to Joe, in addition to "Poor kids being just as bright as white kids, "...young black entrepreneurs are just as capable of succeeding given the chance as white entrepreneurs are, but they don't have lawyers, they don't have accountants...".

Um, I am an affluent white entrepreneur and I don't have lawyers or accountants. So am I black? And if so, where do I sign up for my reparations?

Did you catch Kamala's performance at the Naval Academy graduation ceremony? Part of the problem of being a fully-woke politician is that humor is literally impossible.

Worse than that, she broadcast her utter ignorance as to what the modern soldier faces. For example, in trying to sell the supposed advantages of a "green military" to the officers who will somehow have to survive it in real world life-and-death situations, she gleefully states that female Marines will be happy to carry solar panels into battle instead of heavy batteries to power their high-tech gear. Of course, Kamala doesn't understand that those female solders will now have to carry 40 pounds of batteries along with the weight of those solar panels & windmills because solar panels only work when the sun is shining and windmills only work when the wind is blowing, which strangely enough does not happen on a 24/7 basis under battlefield conditions. Also, they make awesome targets for enemies to locate our forces in the field that would otherwise prefer to remain concealed. Also, did Kamala just insinuate that female soldiers find the burdens of the battlefield more burdensome than men? That's not very woke at all.

Pride: NPR just released this helpful guide to help you through Pride Month.

My note: If something requires a guide from NPR to understand it, it's hardly organic.

The world's largest living topiary chicken: Just tell me that this isn't "infrastructure".

Shelly said...

I'm with you @Stilton. I am enraged and thoroughly disgusted with the media, the tech giants, the evil Democrats and the entire communist cabal running our country (into the ground). I've been around a long time and have seen major upheaval in our country before. I was born and raised in the (Democrat) Jim Crow South. I've NEVER seen our country so close to being destroyed by people who crave power and money and actually hate the country which has made them wealthy beyond even their wildest dreams. But I remain a hopeful person because I've seen dark days turn light again. There is going to be a tipping point to this insane madness and the evildoers will be overturned.

Sam L. said...

My browser wouldn't provide me with the narrative on this humongous chicken topiary, but having worked on a chicken farm 3 summers in a row, I can say that I was in Poultry Husbandry...until they caught me at it. (That's a joke, son; I say, that there's a JOKE (h/t, FogHorn Leghorn, courtesy of Warner Bros. cartoons).

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@JustaJeepGuy- Being a topiary chicken, I suppose it will be green. Which should at least make AOC happy!

@M. Mitchell Marmel- Egg-zactly!

@Fritzchen- Well done, sadly.

@Mike aka Proof- It saddens me that we gave the world John Kerry, but they gave him back to us.

@The Italian Meat Sauce- I think the chicken-makers have had to resort to steel armatures because cost-wise it gives them more bang for the buck-buck-buck.

@Anonymous- Yes, history is busily being rewritten even now.

@Jim Irre- Way back then, the "news divisions" of networks weren't expected to make a profit; rather, then were part of a public service commitment to justify the granting of precious broadcast space from the FCC. So there was no reason for them to gin up fake news to boost viewership and ad sales.

@Fish Out of Water- I'd like to know how much of a REAL increase in gun crime there is versus how big an increase in lurid reporting. And I have no doubt that the goal is to attack the 2nd Amendment.

@Jerryskids- You're entirely right; the news outlets (and I use the term awfully damn loosely) have addicted us to fear and outrage, and will find or invent whatever is needed to make us feel like we dare not look away.

@Average Joe- Joe and Kamala are even worse than I thought they'd be. And I thought they'd be nightmarishly horrible. Guess I was too optimistic.

@jpb252- You make a good point. Now, how many fingers am I holding up...?

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Snark- Very well said, and I appreciate your informed opinion. I've really cut down on my consumption of news, because I'm genuinely getting overwhelmed by the breadth of the sheer awfulness. And I'm tired of being played, by both sides.

@Anonymous- I wish I didn't agree with you.

@TrickyRicky- America is going to need a might big cobbler. (Note: that's a "soul/sole" joke)

@John the Econ- I note from accounts of the rap concert shooting that when the three thugs started firing at random into the crowd, people in the crowd started shooting back. Granted, that's the way the system is sort of supposed to work, but all that weaponry speaks to a problem with this kind of social event.

• I roll my eyes (and shake the ice in my glass) when I hear the Libs claim they COULDN'T investigate the lab leak theory because it would have given weight to Trump's racist attacks on the Chinese (none of which actually happened). Screw these lying bastards.

• Good to hear that things are getting back to normal in your neck of the woods. Mrs J and I had a fast food lunch with a friend today - the second time we'd done so in a week, which coincidentally is the same number of times we've done it in the last 16 months.

• I, too, have somehow managed to be self-employed forever and risen to affluence without benefit of a lawyer or accountant. And because my "product" was myself and my wares, I didn't elbow any minorities out of the way in the process.

• Kamala's solar panel/batteries remark was jaw-droppingly awful and stupid, even for her.

@Shelly- Well said. Our nation has weathered dark times in the past, so it's legitimate for us to hope that it can do so again. Still, I don't think we've ever been up against the kind of forces which are attacking us today.

@Sam L- They probably tumbled to your exploits when the hens started laying scrambled eggs.

John the Econ said...

@Stilton, I was unaware that the crowd had fired back. I'm not sure that their collective bad aim is a good or bad thing.

Being the well-prepared sort that I usually try to be, I guess that if I was going to go to a midnight rap show in Miami I too would be well-armed. But then again, I tend to avoid going places where I know beforehand that being well-armed might be a necessity.

If only Trump had insisted that the Wuhan Flu had not originated in Wuhan so that the media would have insisted that it had. Just as I wish that Trump had demanded action on "the climate crisis" just so that the media would insist that it's all a scam to further enrich already enriched...

Normalcy: We've been out to eat a couple times a week for months now. Mask requirements are now determined by the businesses themselves, and most have dispensed with them.

Without benefit of a lawyer or accountant: I suspect no small aspect of our successes and accumulated wealth have to do with the fact that we've done without.

Kamala: Just a somewhat more mature version of AOC?

M. Mitchell Marmel said...

@John: Kameltoe and "mature" should not be said in the same sentence. "Pelosi in the Making" would be more appropos.

JustaJeepGuy said...


I just tried to read that NPR gender identity idiocy. Nope, can't waste any more time on that garbage. I'm Mike, and my pronouns are I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they. If you don't like it, go eat an English textbook.

Why does it seem as though there are so many people walking around who can't figure out if they're male or female? Are there that many or were we previously just blissfully unaware of how many nutcases are roaming free these days?

Drew458 said...

Here's some covid news you may not be sick of:

https://www.thedesertreview.com/news/national/ivermectin-obliterates-97-percent-of-delhi-cases/article_6a3be6b2-c31f-11eb-836d-2722d2325a08.html

Wonder why this isn't front page news around the world? Look up the name of the beast, Trusted News Initiative. It's a global media cooperative that decides what truth is, and actively suppresses "myths" and "disinformation". Ingsoc's Ministry of Truth.

John the Econ said...

@JustaJeepGuy, last month I was looking over my medical records online after my annual checkup. On my profile on the line that previously listed my gender, it now said "Sex Assigned At Birth".

WTF?

When I took biology in college, (admittedly a very long time ago) I learned that the sex of a person is determined at conception by whether the male's sperm that penetrated the female's egg had an X & Y chromosome or two X chromosomes. In other words, my sex was assigned roughly 9 months before my birth.

May need a new provider with a better grasp of basic biology. #PeopleofScience!

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Kurt said...

Hey, Stilton, the news isn't all bad. I was delighted to hear that on the first day of so-called Pride Month, Ron DeSantis announced that he signed legislation protecting women's sports in Florida from biological males, the NCAA be damned. You gotta admit, that is a heart-warming story.

JustaJeepGuy said...


@John the Econ, Does that form say WHICH sex you were assigned at birth? You should give someone a message and tell them they should say "Sex Assigned At Conception" and that they can eat a biology textbook or something like that.