26 April 2020

Pre-Panic Internet Link Sausage Platter

Get 'em now before the meat-packing plants close. Which, historically anyway, might not be such a bad thing.

  • So glad to see that Disney (LucasFilm) is admitting that there's not actually any plot development in StarWars by hiring the creator of Russian Doll. The fun part is going to be telling the difference between the past contributions… and a writer/creator who has gotten (fully merited) awards for a series intentionally built around constantly redoing and reliving the past.
  • I've been saying for a looooooooooooooong time — ever since the heyday of William Proxmire (who was unable to distinguish "ridiculous" from "laboratory investigations I don't understand" precisely because he knew no laboratory science, despite being the son of a doctor) — that at least a year of fulfills-requirements-for-majors laboratory science should be required of all elected officials (and damned near all appointed officials). If we needed any proof that I was understating things, Thursday's Orange Alert should put them to rest. Post hoc assertions that "it was sarcastic" have been the refuge of the ignorant and authoritarian for a couple of millenia, so the attempted backtracking should get exactly as much credit as shining ultraviolet light on one's mesentary during surgery does (hint: not recommended). And the less said about injecting bleach, the better; no nonfatal doseage of bleach can wipe this administration from my memory.

    The ultimate problem with this occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — and, for that matter, his entire party — is precisely the problem the fictional President Bartlet diagnosed in his opponent for reelection: "[Y]ou've turned being unengaged into a Zen-like thing." And then those pesky facts come up and bite the unengaged in very, very delicate locations (usually their egos).

  • And meanwhile, the Drumpfian staff can't come up with anything better to do with its time than trying to move a reporter who challenged some utter bullshit to the back row. If you're old enough to remember the early years of Saturday Night Live, you might ponder whether that would make things look mahhhvelous… and remember that in Drumpf's perception, it's definitely better to look good than to be good. That's why the tests (that nobody can get) are "beautiful."