Some Sunday Notes on Week One

Well, we survived. The wave of shock and awe broke over us and we’re still here. We still have front row seats to the ongoing Festival of Hubris.

And at least we have some fond memories of that experiment in constitutional self-government. So that’s something.

Happy Sunday.

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Some stories worthy of note.

Seditionists were not simply freed, they were given seats of honor at presidential events. Fresh out of prison, the Oath Keeper’s Stewart Rhodes — who had been sentenced to 18 years for his role on January 6 — showed up at Trump’s Las Vegas rally, and was given VIP seating on the stage. (After the attack on the Capitol, Rhodes said he regretted that the far-right militia group hadn’t brought guns with them that day.)

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Because irony has been reduced to smoking rubble, Shadow President Musk, whom MAGA insists absolutely did not make a Nazi-adjacent/curious gesture, appeared by video link at a rally for the German neo-Nazi party and assured them that “we need to move beyond” and stop feeling guilty about certain unpleasant incidents in the past, presumably involving camps, gas chambers, and piles of corpses. "There is too much focus on past guilt,” he told the far-right German rallygoers, “and we need to move beyond that."

Back on Capitol Hill, Thom Tillis (and other Republicans, to be fair), looked deeply into their souls and once again came up empty. As a result, the Defense Department of the United States of America will now be run by a weekend Fox News host who wouldn’t be able to hold down a job as manager of the local vape shop.

As Deviancy was ratcheted downward at speed, the solons then hastily confirmed Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security because compared to everything else, shooting puppies in the face now seems merely a shruggable offense. Leaders of the Party of Family Values were also cautioned against subpoenaing White House whistleblower Cassidy Hutchinson, “as part of their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in an effort to prevent the release of sexually explicit texts that lawmakers sent her….”

MAGA also continued to rail at the bishop who dared suggest that Trump show “mercy.” Indeed, Republican members of Congress found the incident of Christ Actually Preached so irksome that they are demanding (I kid you not) congressional action.¹

And lest this fell between the cushions of idiocy, we had the midnight firing of 17 independent inspectors general — the few remaining bulwarks against corruption and waste. The massacre was illegal, but no one is quite sure who enforces the law around here anymore.

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Need to catch up some more? Here’s our contrarian offerings for the week:

MAGA's Cancel Culture Comes for a Meteorologist

Waiting for a Hero

Trump's J6 Jailbreak

Today's a Good Day to Think About Charlie Chaplin

Beware the Bubbles

Defining Deviancy (Way) Down

Weekend dog

The sign posts behind Eli need to be updated to add Baby Tess.

**NOT A PARODY**

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 59

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the sermon 
given by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde at the National Prayer 
Service on January 21st, 2025, at the National Cathedral was a display 
      of political activism and condemning its distorted message.

Mr. Brecheen (for himself, Mr. Clyde, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Burlison, Mrs. 
Miller of Illinois, Mr. Harris of North Carolina, Mrs. Bice, Mrs. Luna, 
Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Ogles, Ms. Greene of Georgia, Mr. Norman, Mr. 
Webster of Florida, Mr. Allen, Mr. Babin, Mrs. Houchin, Ms. Van Duyne, 
Mr. Baird, Mrs. Biggs of South Carolina, Ms. Boebert, and Mr. Griffith) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                   on Oversight and Government Reform

1.