47. our world is run by clowns
kendrick w a surprise drop!! spoiler alert, loved the album! + thoughts about the cabinet picks. a very informative newsletter if i do say so myself
TONY’S CHOCOLONELY
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I’ve discovered a new flavor—the Everything Milk! I lowkey got tired of the pretzel one and laid off the entire brand for a second but I’m back!! This one features a medley of everything from pretzels, nougat, almonds, toffee, and caramel all in a salty milk chocolate bar. 9/10 ⭐️
INCOMING CABINET PICKS
I’ve been on a hiatus since the election and fear that I will become the ostrich with its head in the sand again, avoiding the news at all costs for the next few years like I did from 2017-2020. I only hear the absolute headlines and this week’s been all about the convicted felon’s cabinet picks. He clearly doesn’t trust the intelligence community and thinks the voters gave him some mandate to radically dismantle the US government and all of this would be ridiculously funny if it weren’t so sad. My not-so-unpopular theory is that he’s just assembling a bunch of rich folk from his circles who need an avenue to escape their own sexual abuse and child trafficking charges at the moment but here are his picks in no particular order! (or a tldr)
Department of Defense, Secretary: Pete Hegseth
Former Daytime Fox News host who believes women don’t have the physical or mental strength to effectively serve in the military
2 months after this thrice-married self-proclaimed Christian family man had a baby with former Fox producer Jennifer Rauchet, his mistress, he paid to settle a sexual assault allegation where he allegedly drugged and r*ped a woman after a Republican Women convention in 2017
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated”
Department of Justice, Attorney General: Matt Gaetz
Currently being investigated by the US Congress on underage sex trafficking allegations and illegal drug use
Spent the majority of his Congressional career talking about how his colleagues were corrupt
Resigned from Congress the second Trump mentioned his name so now the ethics committee can’t release their ethics reports and investigation findings
LOL withdrew from consideration on November 21 after the NYT received a leak from the ethics committee, including tangible proof and in-person testimony from the minor he had sex with
Health and Human Services: Robert F Kennedy Jr
Diagnosed with mercury poisoning and has a parasitic worm that ate half his brain after eating a barbecued dog, also dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park
Anti-vaxxer who thinks federal inaction and vaccines cause autism, sleep disorders, infertility, diabetes, obesity, etc.
Wants to end the public health practice of putting fluoride in water because it unfoundedly causes arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, thyroid disease, etc.
Department of Education, Secretary: Linda McMahon
Sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children from as early as the 1980s at WWE, the wrestling entertainment channel she was CEO and co-founded with Vince McMahon, her husband who was accused of sex trafficking minors
Lied about her education and work experience
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Department of Homeland Security, Secretary: Kristi Noem
Sociopath who killed her pet goat and her pet dog, Cricket
South Dakota governer who is banned from 10% of the state for her repeated insults against Native Americans, accusing Native American tribes of working with Mexican drug cartels
Tried to prevent SD tribes from implementing their own pandemic safety measures
Office of Management and Budget, Director: Russ Vought
Christian Nationalist and co-author of Project 2025
Contempt for Americans, especially the poor and children—wrote unbalanced budgets full of tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the poor to offset relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina
Border Czar: Tom Homan
Project 2025 contributor
Supports hostile deportation and inhumane family separation policies
Advocates for bringing back ICE detention centers, which were notorious for a slew of abuse and human rights violations: Children and families separated from each other, thrown into overcrowded cages, denied a shower, toothbrush, and drink water out of the toilet
Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy
First of all, he’s trying to create a brand new federal executive department, the Department of Government Efficiency, which, if it took you a sec to realize, is a backronym for DOGE. And funnily enough, the first cryptocurrency space mission was to the Moon in 2021 by Elon Musk’s SpaceX using Dogecoin. From then on, Musk has become involved in insider trading and other cryptocurrency scandals since then so I’m confident that this department is all just a big joke used to funnel money to their pockets.
Anyway, this department is to slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies, to potentially become the next Manhattan Project. Their words, not mine! Apparently, according to political experts, this can’t become a federal executive department and will have to operate as a federal advisory committee, but with how things are looking, I’d say anything is possible for those willing to break the law.
Here’s Ramaswamy’s plan:
”Get in there on Day 1. Anybody in the federal bureaucracy who's not elected, whose social security number ends in an odd number, you're out. If it ends in an even number, you are in. There’s a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your social security number starts in an even number, you're in. And if it starts with an odd number, you're out. That's a 75% reduction.”
And on Musk:
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Administrator: Dr. Oz
Triple board certified cardiothorasic surgeon but pushes really jarring, unfounded medical and health misinformation
Questioned by the Senate for endorsing 2 weight loss products on TV
Advised people to combat coronavirus by taking hydroxychloroquinone
Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
Former Democrat who was criticized for traveling to Syria in 2017 to have a private meeting with Bashar al-Assad
Views the Ukraine war in Kremlin terms and blames US aid
US Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
Christian Zionist and first non-Jewish US ambassador to Israel
Unapologetically racist, very anti-Asian, rejects Palestinian statehood and identity
i physically and mentally cannot do this anymore, so TLDR:
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CIRCASSIAN PROVERB
There’s a Circassian proverb that translates to: When an ox enters a palace, it doesn't become a king but the palace turns into a barn.
This came into mainstream circulation when prominent Turkish journalist Sedef Kabaş was arrested 14 hours after this tweet:
Kabaş was accused of “targeting” Turkish President Recep Erdogan with this quote but being arrested in the middle of the night for implying an insult targeted toward the president seems more to be a power play. A tactic for their government to censor and intimidate their media. She wasn’t released until her trial on March 11, nearly 2 months! For a crime she was acquitted of!
But anyway, a day later, academic Elizabeth Bangs reworked the tweet to reference UK’s version of Trump, PM Boris Johnson and his many top officials resigning, and quickly went viral:
All this to say, this adage is more relevant than ever as we see clown leaders all around the world mirroring regressive and extremist policies from Trump, Putin, and Kim Jong Un to Bashar al-Assad, Xi Jinping, Modi, and Bolsonaro.
When a felon is elected into the White House, the White House becomes a criminal syndicate. Especially with these cabinet picks.
more:
THE CLOWN KING: BORIS JOHNSON, THE FOOL, Edward Docx
THE LAST DAYS OF BORIS JOHNSON, Henry Mance
WHEN IS AN OLD TURKISH PROVERB NOT, Elizabeth Bangs
PROJECT 2025: THE RIGHT WING WISH LIST, Mike Wendling
The extremist vision for America through bullet point summaries and implications
'THE BOYS' SHOWRUNNER ERIC KRIPKE CLAIMS HE LIVES "IN ABSOLUTE TERROR OF BECOMING THE THING WE'VE BEEN SATIRIZING FOR FIVE YEARS," John F Trent
Since its premiere on Amazon Prime in 2019, the series has often felt like a cautionary tale, a not-so-thinly veiled rumination on the political and media climate that laid the groundwork for Trump
HANDMAIDS IN AMERICA, Joyce Vance
I used to love George Orwell’s 1984, a cliche. But it’s true, it really stopped being powerful, because its cautionary tale is now a reality is holding true, just with better technology. Handmaid’s Tale is rapidly fated to be the same.
NO THIS IS NOT THE HANDMAID’S TALE, THIS IS A WORSE STORY, Ronke Babajide
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal; rich people are our new monarchs; and oppression never stops with one demographic
SHADOWHUNTERS (2016)
I got really nostalgic for Jace, Clary, and this specific fantasy series. I binged all 3 seasons and was disappointed by the lack of Clace moments and the overall chemistry between their characters, like, tell me why there was more chemistry between Jace and Alec???? Speaking of, I really only binged because of Alec Lightwood. He’s who really lived up to his character portrayal and wow, the Daddario genes are insane because Matthew Daddario is absurdly gorgeous.
GNX, Kendrick Lamar
ok so he dropped a little teaser trailer vid on YouTube1 but within 30 min he dropped the entire 45 min, 12 track album on a random friday morning. very much giving “there will be no explanation, there will just be reputation” vibes. by 1pm, i’d listened to this album 3x through already and oof it’s good.
about the music, it’s very obviously a west coast hip hip album. i can only describe this album as the feeling of salty ocean air and a cadet blue sky. stunning songs, love the sza features, signature vulnerable lyrics. he’s a poet.
also found out that jack antonoff produced all of the songs except peekaboo (which, funnily enough, is my least favorite) and wow he’s a great, well rounded producer who can clearly work with any artist. the songs just get better and better with every listen
anyway, here’s the song review
GNX, Kendrick Lamar
wacced out murals: omg such a good start, feels cinematic. in a way where you enter a movie just knowing instantly the character development is going to be powerful. loved his chorus. also clearly innovative in how he pulled mariachi vocals and an electronic bouncy bass for this one
squabble up: cannot explain why I like this one but its just so intoxicating n fun. nostalgic track reminding me of college pregames
luther: i have no words i’m speechless. His voice with sza's is stunning. the melodic lyrics about love and vulnerability just hits hard
man at the garden: first one that really hit me immediately. the “all” part scratches that same thing that the emphatic vocal runs do in taylor swift’s My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys and sabrina carpenter’s Taste
hey now: good rapping and production
reincarnated: love the fun piano riff, lyrics on personal growth stand out but the piano, man that’s amazing
tv off: loooove the mustaaaaarrddddd tag, infectious song and while I didn’t like it initially it grew on me by the end of the song. have a feeling this one’s going to become the pop/mainstream standout track of this album esp bc I think its a not like us pt ii situation
dodger blue: I don’t often feel a sense of patriotism or loyalty to a country, but this song really makes me proud to rep, claim, and defend LA, through this ode to the sports history to the cultural community
peekaboo: lighthearted n repetitive, felt a lil abrasive, just didn’t connect w this one
heart pt. 6: a continuity + reclaiming the song, impactful lyrics, vulnerable
gnx: i think this one’s ahead of its time. rhythm, beat, n bars feel slightly off and just feels like he was messing around but maybe that’s what makes this somewhat innovative. also didn’t like the ending
gloria: jazzy production featuring sza with such a comprehensive ending, stunning lyrics about the pros n cons to love
good night! 💌 pk
also, i liked the teaser, a lot, but that song isn’t on the album...wondering where the deluxe is???? or what the thought process was to not include this song on the initial release??