I try not to take the news personally, but images of the Minneapolis shooting are seared on my memory. The MAGA rhetoric about Renee Good is OTT even by their standards: Free speech and domestic terrorism are not synonymous. Cosplay Kristi’s cowboy hat must have been too tight and interrupted the flow of blood to her brain. That was too charitable, we’re being governed by sadistic idiots. Oy, just oy.
The Minneapolis shooting was MAGA murder most foul. In a normal law enforcement agency, the shooter would be put on desk duty while it was investigated. ICE is not a normal agency, so instead of a genuine federal investigation, there will be a coverup.
If you haven’t read them already, check out Cassandra and Jamie’s posts on the murder.
Repeat after me: The Renee Good shooting was MAGA murder most foul.
This week’s theme song is an instrumental composed by Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, and Rick Danko as the title track of The Band’s 1977 album, Islands. I pulled the album out recently and enjoyed it, yea verily. Is Verily related to Vera or Verity? Discuss amongst yourselves.
Let’s play a return visit to Disambiguation City for an album title track from another old favorite:
The Bee Gees meet Ernest Hemingway in a song that the Gibb brothers wrote for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. I’m skipping their version in favor of the songwriters:
Let’s leave the island and get on with our second act. We begin with an essay about language.
Word Choice Blues: The media and general public are guilty of taking words, beating them into the ground, and turning them into cliches. This drives me batshit crazy. It’s why I started using Kaiser instead of Tsar. The press and pols insist on using the Russian form of the word, so I use the German Kaiser.
There are a few other overused words that should be retired from our political lexicon:
Icon and Iconic are slapped on everything including things that are not, well, iconic. It’s turned me into an iconoclast ready to smash icons at a moment’s notice.
Weaponize can be a useful term but it’s been abused by Team MAGA as part of their war on everyone who doesn’t support them. The ize don’t have it…
The Gestapo isn’t the only secret police force to have existed. It’s used relentlessly by those who don’t know much about history. I used the East German STASI the other day. At some point, I’ll use CHEKA, which was the Bolshevik’s arm of repression or SAVAK, which was the Shah of Iran’s secret police. During the hostage crisis, some Iranians claimed the CIA taught SAVAK how to torture. It was likely the other way around. Who says religious fanatics don’t have a sense of humor?
In the course of my research, I discovered that Lake Superior University has posted a list of Banished Words. I love lists, so this was a marvelous discovery. I agree full stop that gifted should be flushed.
Kiwi demigod (not icon) Dave Dobbyn sings us out of this segment:
The George Santos Of New Orleans: I was early to the Talented Mr. Santos story. It eventually wore thin, but I’m particularly proud of my George Santos pop quiz.
New Orleans has its own town liar: Tyrell Morris. He’s an attention whore who lied on his resume and tampered with public documents after a car wreck in a city vehicle. Those are just two of the many lies told by this charming mook. Charm is something he has in common with Santos, it led Mayor Teedy to put him in charge of our 911 system. It did not go well.
My favorite Morris lie was his claim that he was in charge of Red Cross operations after 9/11. He was 15-years old at the time.
Morris is now a convicted felon. Unlike the Talented Mr. Santos, he cannot be pardoned by the Insult Comedian: these were state charges.
This segment was inspired by a great piece by David Hammer of WWL-TV News. He gets the last word of our second act:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Skeet Edition: This pairing hadn’t occurred to me but it’s a good one. I give you Scott and Ghislaine:
Identical twins separated at birth.
— Wake Me When He's Dead 💙 🇺🇦 🌊 😺 🏈 (@bruinblue.bsky.social) 2025-12-28T16:31:35.004Z
Talk about two gross peas in a pod.
Your Basic Basie: This Basie classic was first performed in 1938.
Have I told you lately how much I love Count Basie?
Saturday GIF Horse: See the Gilligan’s Island guys shake their heads. Shake, castaways, shake.
We go from island guys to Island Girl:
Toon Time: Let’s head North to Madison, Wisconsin for a cartoon about Venezuela. Give Phil Hands a big hand:
My head is filled with images of Trump’s big dumb Sharpie signature right now:
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: It’s a Motown summit courtesy of The Ed Sullivan Show.
Summit or medley melee? You decide.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Alcatraz Island, which will not be reopened as a prison despite the demented rantings of the Birdbrain Of Alcatraz:
