Writing every day is a joy and a chore bundled together, proving what John Denver sang was true, “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.”
There are days when the words spill out smoothly, and many where the proverbial word well is as dry as Kristi Noem’s eyes after an act of animal cruelty.
At first glance, it might seem like writing about politics every day is like picking apples in an orchard with the world’s lowest branches, but the untrained eye can miss the complexities of choosing what to highlight.
Take for instance the events of May 7, 2024.
There was, of course, the speech by the president of the United States of America at the United States Holocaust Museum, in which he talked about the obligations of “never forgetting” as the predicate to “never again” on the 79th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender. He talked about the evil unleashed by Hamas in Israel, and reminded the world that it has mostly forgotten why war has come to Gaza.
His opponent Donald Trump, currently leading in the polls, was front and center at his criminal trial where he stole the show again. He looked hatefully at Lawrence O’Donnell, was reprimanded by Judge Merchan for cursing and menacing the witness — the porn star who hates him, yet loved him for an instant — unable to resist the future commander-in-chief resplendent in his silk pyjamas. What a sight. A man in full.
I could write about the savagery of the war in Europe that has killed more than 500,000 people in the last two years, and could engulf the continent in flames. Or, I could write about the famine in Sudan, which was a cause célèbre once, but now is mostly forgotten. The UN food agency says that close to two million people in Darfur are experiencing emergency levels of hunger.
There is nuttery, dishonesty and extremism lurking around every MAGA member of Congress and state legislator. There are plots and plans underway to dismantle the federal government and the civil service, deploy the military into the streets, prosecute political opponents, and build vast deportation camps, along with the police state to fill them.
The truth is that there is so much to choose from, and yet it doesn’t seem like there is anything at all. Do you know what I mean?
By the way, did you see the polling that shows the war in the Middle East is the lowest ranked concern among America’s young people? Who could have guessed that the Ivy League Intifada was mostly media hype?
What is the news today? How to pick?
Well, it wasn’t easy, but I found something that I’d like to share with you that is so extraordinary that it borders on the miraculous.
NEWSMAX has had its finest moment.
Truly.
I’m not lying to you. I never will.
There was a thermonuclear truth bomb detonated, and the cameras caught the look in Kristi Noem’s eyes. Let’s watch:
Here is my question: what is wrong with her?
Seriously.
What is her malfunction?
What does, “We edited it when it came to our attention” even mean?
How did she conceivably get elected to anything?
It’s incredible, and it’s why I feel so lucky as a writer. There is something incredible to write about every day.
WTH Steve with this sentence …. “the porn star who hates him, yet loved him for an instant — unable to resist the future commander-in-chief resplendent in his silk pyjamas. What a sight. A man in full.” The woman who calls herself Stormy did no such thing. There were no momentary feelings of affection. She did not have internal thoughts about what a catch he was. What she was, by her own admission, was a pretty woman trapped in a room with a sleezeball she couldn’t get away from. And as a woman experienced with other sleezeballs she recognized she had miscalculated and made a mistake to be there in the first place. It was clear to her she wasn’t getting out without giving him what he wanted. Her. I know exactly how she felt. I put myself in that same compromising position and made exactly the same choice as odious and awful as it was. Because sometimes? It’s just best to accept your mistake and lie down and take it.
And on behalf of a lot of women? I’m sick you used those particular words to describe her completely unwelcome and absolutely non-consensual encounter.
You should edit your blog.
Amazing how Noem pivots so quickly to the border issues. She is hawking the rethug fear mongering to keep the MAGAs in line.
She LIED and I’m amazed the newsmax called that out.