In a sane world, this shambling mass of ego, wealth, family privilege, immaturity and high-grade, uncut kookery would be laughed off ballots from Key West to Ketchikan. In that world, his high water mark would be receiving tens of votes nationwide, exclusively from Q-anon loons cross-pollinated with Camelot-addled write-in crackpots of a certain vintage.
Sadly friends, we do not live in that world. We are cursed to endure the Dumbass Golden Age, where millions regard whiny-ass baby crook Donald Trump as a paragon of masculine strength and virtue and lots of people take medical advice from meatheads like Joe Rogan and Kennedy the Lesser.
I don’t think the Reign of the Idiots II will ultimately prevail, but it’s an ordeal to be exposed to its thrashing and machinations all the same. We’ll have to power through as best we can.
Open thread!
Baud
I feel sad for the worm.
dmsilev
“Including a parasite that he said ate part of his brain”
Let us take a minute to offer our condolences to the worm, dead of starvation.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
brendancalling
Brain worms: that would explain a lot.
Baud
The key question is how long is “ultimately.”
We can’t control that entirely, but we have a say if enough people want to try.
prufrock
One of the most tiring things about living in the reign of idiots is how euphemisms become reified.
Brain worms is just supposed to be an insult, people!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
OzarkHillbilly
A parasite ate part of his brain. That explains a lot.
@brendancalling: Pbfthfthfthfthfthfthfth….
cmorenc
@Betty cracker:
The opening sentence of your posts are masterpieces worthy of collection in an anthology. You have a potential market to sell it of um…guestimating almost-10,000 since this site is an almost-10,000th followed blog.
Scout211
I did not have “a worm ate part of RFKjr’s brain” on my bingo card. But this explains a lot.
Should we thank the NYT for this vital public service?
Nah, I didn’t think so either.
ETA: “this explains a lot” seems to be a theme here.
Baud
@Scout211:
“Despite having a worm eaten brain, RFK, Jr. sat for a Times interview. Why won’t Biden?”
Jeffro
LOL
I saw the ‘brain’ article and rushed over here, only to find Betty had beaten me to it!
You know..this timeline’s writers are really, really pushing it:
“Guys, hear me out: what if next season, the ‘spoiler’ candidate, the one who everyone says has brainworms in his head…ACTUALLY HAD A BRAINWORM IN HIS HEAD!?!? Get it? Everyone meant it metaphorically but HE REALLY HAS THEM!! Or, had them. Had one, anyway.”
(room goes silent)
“Nah, you’re right…that’s too fucking dumb, even for us.” (sigh)
Baud
I can only assume this means WaterGirl will post a brainworm music thread this week.
moonbat
I’m reminded of an old episode of The Night Gallery where the bad guy suffers through a worm eating it’s way through his brain only to learn once the little bugger comes out the other side that it laid eggs in there. I think they should check RFK Jr. for eggs.
hueyplong
It’s a thing like this that creates worry that the shitstorm of stupid may not be terminated by Trump’s demise.
Baud
@hueyplong:
The end of Trump won’t change the human condition.
Betty Cracker
@cmorenc: That is very kind — thanks! 😊
TBone
It’s irresponsible not to speculate, right? Lots of details being reexamined.
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/no-one-ever-mentions-aileen-cannons-mobbed
Also too
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: I second that comment.
Eyeroller
@moonbat: That is an ancient urban legend. It’s usually claimed to be earwigs, which are insects, not worms, but as you might guess from the name they occasionally hide in human ears and they have long and scary pincers. They don’t harm humans and they certainly don’t tunnel through the brain and lay eggs in it.
Edit: found your episode (in Wikipedia)
Oscar Cook wrote the short story (appearing in Switch On The Light, April, 1931; A Century Of Creepy Stories 1934; Pan Horror 2, 1960) “Boomerang”, which was later adapted by Rod Serling for the Night Gallery TV-series episode, “The Caterpillar”. It tells the tale of the use of an earwig as a murder instrument applied by a man obsessed with the wife of an associate.
RandomMonster
I’m looking forward to ‘Brainworm’ the musical.
Kay
Pro trans rallies spreading in Europe.
Baud
@Kay:
Interesting. Last week’s Equalizer had a very pro-trans message.
moonbat
@Eyeroller: I was aware that Rod Sterling’s The Night Gallery was not a documentary. But thanks anyway.
Baud
@moonbat:
Good show though.
mountain granny
Seems somehow appropriate. Made this a while back.
Sorry, don’t know how to include link
Nukular Biskits
@moonbat:
I remember that episode!
Even as a kid, I loved that show. Wasn’t there a similar show on one of the other networks?
Belafon
Remember the Simpsons episode where the crayon is removed from Homer’s brain. Maybe we’ll get a brief moment of sanity from Jr followed by the announcement that he had another worm inserted.
Baud
Should have taken the anti-worm vaccine.
@Nukular Biskits:
There’s always a similar show on another network.
artem1s
“A parasite that he said ate part of his brain”
Is this an excuse for his behavior or his opening line for the Apprentice VP competition?
Nukular Biskits
@RandomMonster:
Which reminded me of this:
Yes, someone used AI to create Aliens: The Musical — and it’s terrifying
Dangerman
… and the worms ate into his brain.
/pink floyd
ETA: Last line of the song:
”Together we stand, divided we fall.”
moonbat
@Baud: Agreed. I was a kid when it was on but a lot of those episodes permanently marked me. It was really scary.
TBone
@TBone: still playing this song outdoors at full volume, having coffee, and disturbing the neighbors. Ah, Spring ☺️ love is in the air! 🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K7jgZTDLeIs
Other MJS
KHAAAAAN!!
Ken
That’s just what someone controlled by a parasitic earwig would say.
sdhays
I guess Captain ‘Did My Own Research’ didn’t bother with his daily dose of ivermectin.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah, I’m jealous of her ability to use words to express things.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
One of those shows back in the early (?) 70s had an episode about a kid everyone thought could predict the future.
The end scene had the kid crying hysterically and, when asked why, he had figured out that he wasn’t predicting the future but his thoughts were CREATING the future … and he’d just thought about what would happen if the sun stopped shining. Last few seconds of the episode showed the sun dimming.
JAFD
Occasionally I’ve thot of catching the PATH and seeing TFG’s trial in person. Are there any reports on whether an ‘average Jack’ can get a seat in the courtroom, and what he’d have to know and do beforehand? ?
Thanks, very much!
Omnes Omnibus
@Ken: Earwigs are the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful creatures I’ve ever known in my life.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nukular Biskits: Too f’n funny.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
The sun going out or “Aliens: The Musical”?
moonbat
@Nukular Biskits: Not sure but 1970s TV had some fun horror shows. The Night Stalker was another favorite from that era. Terrible special effects but still managed to pull off some great scares. And of course always to be respected for inspiring The X Files a couple of decades later.
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
“Why couldn’t you think of Farah Fawsett like a normal young boy?”
WereBear
See, we all knew something was wrong.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nukular Biskits: Aliens: The Musical. Proof that some people have too much time on their hands, and I’m here for it.
WereBear
@Jeffro: This is why irony died.
Rocks
How is it, with all the Olds that inhabit this site, have we gotten this far in the comments without reference to this classic from Pink Floyd?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymgYEQgSqL
(At minute 3:16)
Dorothy A. Winsor
My tiktok adventure is in the dark woods phase. I’m somehow locked out of my account. Oh well. Maybe it’s for the best. :-)
The worst that can happen is that I open a new one, I guess. I’ll wait a while and see if it fixes itself.
Baud
@Rocks:
The Olds are too busy talking about 70s TV shows.
OzarkHillbilly
@Rocks: @Dangerman: @ #32
eta: your link goes to a “This video isn’t available anymore” page.
smith
@JAFD: According to some of the people liveblogging from the courthouse, you have to line up before dawn. Don’t know what kind of security checks you’d need to pass (might need to have press credentials), and if you get in, you’d likely be sent to the overflow area where they have video of the trial as it happens.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I missed that one too. Maybe a FYWP delayed post. I’ve seen that happen.
Kay
I just loathe anti vaxxers so I try not to think about RFK Jr. but I think it’s just so perfect that anti vaxxers are anti choice on womens’ rights.
Completely incoherent. They oppose government preventing measles outbreaks in public schools but are just fine with federal and state legislators barging into an examining room with you and your phyisician and directing medical care. It’s an ideology for people with brain worms.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I thought that was an awesome movie when it came out … and I still do, even with all the cheesy effects.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Lagging behind everybody else is my superpower!
Betty
@JAFD: Full house for the Stormy testimony. Not sure about other days.
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
I figured you were going to say “Both!”🤣
TBone
@JAFD: I read an interview yesterday of a couple who got in line at 5:30 a.m. and got into the overflow room. They were celebrating the missus’s 60th birthday.
allium
@Nukular Biskits: – back in 2011, The Old Murder House Theater in Austin did “Aliens On Ice”. They cast trained ice skaters as the xenomorphs, while the actors playing the humans had little or no experience on skates.
https://laughingsquid.com/aliens-on-ice-live-theatrical-ice-skating-version-of-the-movie-aliens/
https://youtu.be/b6n_geEOOZ4
brendancalling
Apparently, brain worms are a thing.
YIKES.
Baud
@brendancalling:
Don’t look up brain eating amoebas.
Scout211
Another RFK,jr tell.
Snarki, child of Loki
Looking forward to release of a new board book for kids:
The Very Hungry Brain-Worm
First, it ate through a former NYC crook. Then a bunch of Q-anoners. Then some GOP governors….
Kay
He should be forced to treat his brain worms with Joe Rogan’s supplements and no real medical care.
I really insist anti vaxxers stop relying on traditional medicine and Big Pharma. They have to lead by example.
Anne Laurie
@OzarkHillbilly: I suspect this may be a variation of ‘As soon as the moderators figured out this was under copyright, they pulled it down.’
YouTube seems to be in the process of changing a lot of their previous messaging — the adware got so obtrusive that (*sigh*) I broke down & paid for a ‘Premium’ subscription — I suspect the employees behind the curtain are getting whipsawed.
MazeDancer
Was driving in one of the Bluest towns on Earth – Great Barrington, MA – and saw a Kennedy yard sign.
Almost ran off the road.
It was a drab, ugly sign. Looked like a bad school board election. Either all the high priced design talent wouldn’t work for him. Or he told them how to make it “better”.
WereBear
@moonbat: HUGE fan. Partner got me the whole season for my birthday one year.
Darren McGavin fan, too.
evodevo
@brendancalling: Yep…they don’t necessarily EAT anything, but they can kill you if they cyst up in the wrong place. Several different species of flatworms do this. Echinococcus granulosus is one of the worst – you can get it from domestic animal feces, especially from dogs. DON’T let the pet lick you or family member on the mouth.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000676.htm
OzarkHillbilly
@allium: “It’s game over, Man! Game over!”
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: & @Baud: Thank you! (Now y’all stop before I get embarrassed and go hide in the shed!😂)
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m planning a transition to Youtube soon. See what happens.
Been locked out of my Facebook “accounts” for years now. They aren’t interested in fixing my deadly loop problem and Mr WayofCats manages the Facebook Page for the business.
My words as of now: 40,037 out of my 50,000 word goal. On track to finish on Friday!
evodevo
@evodevo: And then there’s one of my favorite TV series “Braindead” – loved that show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW0x9bgNnw8
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: I’ve got an ad blocker so I get no ads on youtube. At least, I think that’s why. Maybe I have another super power I didn’t know of.
TBone
The FNYFT has a financial expose article on this “mob family” today but I won’t link to it… they’re all wannabe mobsters.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/the-rights-partners-in-weaponized-policymaking/
smith
So last night Nikki Haley got 22% of the vote in a race she dropped out of two months ago. A couple days ago, the former lieutenant gov of GA said he would vote for Biden, and today Paul Ryan says he won’t vote for the Defendant. Could there be an outbreak of sanity in the ranks of the GQP? Or am I being overly optimistic?
Baud
@smith:
https://balloon-juice.com/2024/05/08/chill-grey-dawn-open-thread-now-president-joes-just-messing-with-them/#comment-9187146
zhena gogolia
@Scout211: Vivek Ramaswamy — remember him?
Haha, for a minute I couldn’t recall who he was.
Another Scott
@Baud: Or fish-tongue eating parasites…
One has to figure that if there’s something that can be eaten, there’s another thing that will eat it given the chance. Nature finds a way!
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
None of those people are Republicans, just ask trump.
Soprano2
This thread gave me some of the best laughs I’ve had all week, because it’s been not a great one. Lots more rain here for one thing, and more forecast today. Then there was the total waste of time that was hubby’s appointment with the urologist on Monday. He had an ultrasound, then an appointment with the doctor. I found out he still has one of the stents in between his kidney and bladder – first I knew of it, I thought both of them were taken out in March. Then, after asking a couple of questions, the doctor asked if he was still taking the meds for the fungal infection. I said no, that was a 14-day course and it stopped about 3 weeks ago. He said “Well, I can’t take the stent out unless he’s taking meds for it, otherwise he could get sick from the procedure, you’ll have to come back next week”. I wanted to scream at him “Why did we waste 3 hours coming in today?” If hubby needed to have those meds for the procedure, WHY DIDN’T THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBE THEM? Our medical system is insane. Now we have to go back next Monday, because of course I don’t have anything better to do than take off work yet again for another doctor’s appointment! It’s taken me this long to be able to write about it without using many, many curse words. I thought that was the last appointment and then we’d be done with that doctor. You should see my calendar for this month – so many appointments that have to be done during work hours. It’s a good thing I have an understanding boss, because with some jobs I would have been fired already
ETA – oh, also the nephrologist wants hubby to do a 24 hour urine study. I told him no way that happens unless a) he’s in a facility where people can monitor him for the whole time or b) I get some help. Many of these medical people have no idea what it’s like to deal with a person who has dementia. They want you to do things that are unreasonable, like this.
TBone
@smith: I believe he is hemorrhaging support. I hope I’m right. Always the optimist, I remain…
Anne Laurie
Great Barrington, remember, is home to a lot of left-wing anti-vaxxers. Look up the ‘Great Barrington (anti-covid-precautions) Letter’ — if you have the stomach for it.
Nukular Biskits
@allium:
Don’t have time this morning but bookmarking that for later!
TBone
@Soprano2: I’m sorry you’re having to navigate that awfulness. My wish for you is strength to persevere and not bite the humans. I used to cuss in my car with the windows up, but now I let just fly out in the open. It helps. I hope for your success in getting things straightened out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: You rock!
Kay
@smith:
They, like me, think he is going to lose. It’ll be fun to watch if it picks up steam. The best part (for me) will be watching it slowly dawn on political media that they once again got the American public wrong and their foregone conclusion that Trump had this in the bag was dumb and wrong. They’re terrible judges of character, sure, but they’re also not that good at politics. Remember when they told us the whole country would rally around “anti woke” and sweep conservatives into office? We were all supposed to abandon liberalism because Ivy League students weren’t deferential enough to Right wing judges? Normal people don’t give a shit about things like that. They don’t care about student politics at Oberlin.
Anne Laurie
YT finally managed to get past *my* adblocker, so be prepared!
(Or you may just not use it as much as I do? I don’t do Spotify or other music-streaming services & of course you guys send me haring after YT videos every day… )
Soprano2
@TBone: I vented a lot to my therapist yesterday, then apologized for being so angry. I guess I was full to overflowing, and couldn’t take one more fuckup without exploding. That doctor is lucky I have so much self-control, I really did want to scream at him. It’s crazy, the way everything in our system is so siloed.
japa21
@Soprano2:
You’re in Missouri. Most competent medical professionals have left the state.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: Turn it off for a couple of hours and then turn it back on. It works for me. I need to do it every month or so.
TBone
@Soprano2: been there too many times. I’m glad you have that guy to yell at! Even if you’re not yelling, getting that off your chest is why you’re paying him. I wouldn’t apologize afterwards, he’s getting paid for listening! I once had to fire a therapist who was yawning through a session like you described. Dude! This is not boring stuff! Yes, I AM yelling, so I don’t freak the eff out in public where the consequences may bite me in the ass!
Jeffro
I combined the Duncan and Ryan stories into one FB post, for my RWNJ relatives to read. I’m not sure that they’re even capable of the most basic level of critical thinking skills at this point, but I want them to see that it’s possible to be a conservative and refuse to vote for trumpov.
(I especially liked that Duncan called out Repubs who say they’re merely “voting for my party”…uh uh. You’re voting for Donald The Rapist, Trumpov the Mad, He Who Define-ith Corruption In Its Entirety)
Jeffro
It will indeed be fun to watch, especially if some of that ‘steam’ shows up across the next two months. A “dump trump” movement at the RNC? Not out of the question, not at all.
(Not likely to topple him, unfortunately, but it’ll be more than enough to mortally wound him and the party in the fall)
Geminid
@Jeffro: My hope is that Geoff Duncan will campaign against Trump in Georgia, maybe North Carolina too.
Belafon
@OzarkHillbilly: In Bob’s Burgers, that was part of a Mother’s Day episode.
Honus
@Jeffro: I saw this post and thought that article had to be a parody. I can’t believe it’s real; the Times is really making DougJ’s job harder.
I actually met Bobby back in the 80s when he was in law school at UVA and used to come in The Virginian to try to pick up my girlfriend who was a waitress there.
Jeffro
@Geminid: that would be awesome!
I just posted in the other thread about Duncan’s potentially quite hilarious potential speech at the DNC:
Shorter: “Eff you and everything you stand for, Dems…but ain’t no way I’m voting for trump. Biden/Harris 2024!”
Jeffro
Half of his posts/tweets for the past couple of months have been along the lines of “I can’t top this”
And he’s right.
Honus
@TBone: ah yes, Steubenville’s own. Along with Tracy Lords and Sloopy!
Miss Bianca
@Anne Laurie:
Got past mine, too, so I finally broke down and got the Premium subscription. Only streaming subscription I own. (or rent. Or something.)
Barbara
@Kay: Reading Megan McArdle’s dumb and still ignorant lament on how she got abortion so wrong as an electoral issue post-Dobbs is about as self-aware as professional political opinion writers get on the depth of their ignorance. And it still tends to be shallow and full of solipsism. Here I am, decades older and I can’t imagine how anyone could NOT understand the importance of abortion, and how big of a proxy issue it is — for economic well-being, independence, access to education and health care, all of which has come even more painfully into view over the last two years. But there’s Megan still trying to figure out why SHE was so stupid. It will always be about them, their friends, and their need to believe that really, both sides are equal.
Anomalous Cowherd
Sheep with a gid worm in their brain tend to walk around in a circle and act “giddy.” I have not observed Mr. Kennedy’s gait, so I cannot make an evidence-based diagnosis.
Caveat suffragii (let the voters beware.)
-Anomalous Cowherd
Geminid
@Honus: Cancun Cruz visited the Mountain State yesterday and campaigned for Rep. Mooney. A Politico reporter was sceptical that the Texas Senator could drag Mooney into the lead over Jim Justice in the Senate primary, and I am too.
Barbara
@Soprano2: I am so sorry. I forget where you are — but I have come to appreciate that the multiple doctors I have seen over the last few months all have access to the same information via electronic medical record. And yes, they are supposed to reach out to you to let you know what medications you need to start taking before a procedure, and make sure a prescription is in place.
moonbat
@WereBear: McGavin sold that show, bad special effects and all. His hard bitten, nosy, snarky newspaper man’s voice was chef’s kiss. I credit/blame him for in part inspiring my first career as a reporter. Hoffman and Redford are the other guilty parties. lol
TBone
@Honus: always have a soft spot in my heart for Deano, and Sloopy! I did not know about Ms. Lords being from there, learned sumthin’ new!
jimmiraybob
Ha!! Everyone that knows the ways of the invading intergalactic alien advance teams knows that they always – always – implant two worms.
Soprano2
@Barbara: I guess this doctor assumed that the anti-fungal med continued for a month or more, when it didn’t. Just not great medicine.
DaBunny
Jebus! I just assumed that was a someone mocking Kennedy. Maybe a lame attempt to match DougJ’s wit? But that’s a fscking real article!
Scout211
@Soprano2: I’m so sorry you are going through this. It’s sounds so frustrating. I have the advantage of being retired so I can be there at all my husband’s appointments. And it seems like all of his many specialists are good at coordinating with each other, so far.
But my sister has had the same experience that you are describing with her husband’s medical care. She has to be constantly monitoring all of his specialists and calling them and messaging them to get their instructions clarified and repeated and coordinated. It’s overwhelming for her and for you. You have my sympathy.
hueyplong
@Honus: “I actually met Bobby back in the 80s when he was in law school at UVA and used to come in The Virginian to try to pick up my girlfriend who was a waitress there.”
I was also at UVA law in the first half of the 80s, but the RFK son I knew* was Michael, and didn’t realize there was another one there as well.
Back then, UVA was kind of a safety school for scions who went to Harvard and Yale but didn’t get into their law schools. UVA’s transition to Kay’s scum of the earth presumably occurred later.
*”Knew” is a little strong. He was pals with a housemate. Once he showed up when I was loudly playing the Dead Kennedys’ Holiday in Cambodia. I scrambled to turn it off but it turned out he was familiar with the tune and not offended. I like to think that he wouldn’t have turned out to be a shit like his brother if he’d lived to become an old like us.
Juju
@moonbat: The Night Stalker gave me a lifelong creep out of mannequins.
MattF
The pertinent question is whether this means RFK Jr. will now get more votes.
Barbara
@Soprano2: Right, but if he had access to the record it should have been clear that the prescription was only for two weeks. The casual indifference to other people’s time is one of the most infuriating aspects of trying to get health care.
Juju
@hueyplong: Michael Kennedy was more like his brother than you would guess. I didn’t remember he died in a skiing accident, but I did remember he had some lurid happenings in his private life. Screwing around with the 16 year old babysitter is not the kind of thing one would want on their resume.
ErikaF
@Kay: Virus rights over people’s rights. It could be their new slogan. Virus uber alles?
JAFD
@TBone:
Thanks! Getting to Foley Square at dawn to watch TV in a crowded room is something I can skip.
OTOH, ‘twould still make a good post here …
Manyakitty
@Honus: Tracy Lords is my birthday twin (yesterday, same year).
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Heroin is a hellva drug