Chief Twit 🌻🌻🌻

Vote, Vote, Vote:  It’s weird out there right now but then again it has been for a while.  Last week’s news was that we are in red tsunami territory, easy to believe given that few in Georgia appear to care that Republican anti-abortion candidate Hershel Walker paid for at least one more abortion and because of Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman’s debate performance. Then there’s the economic news, even when a good statistic like yesterday’s positive GDP growth is released, we’re told it’s an anomaly and that economic disaster is around the corner.  And let’s not leave out the panic about crime up more in red states than blue but that’s usually ignored, this election cycle’s version of “beware the border invasion,” not that the migrant card has gone away either.  On the other hand,  early voting volumes are through the roof, it’s not clear that polls mean much these days given changing phone habits, demographics, and a significant increase in first time voters, a high percentage of whom are younger and presumed to be more liberal.  Also, while the focus continues to be on swing states, elections in places like Utah where independent Evan McMullin is holding his own against insurrection supporting incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee and in Iowa where Democrat Mike Franken appears to be doing better than expected against geriatric pigeon tweeter incumbent Republican Senator Chuck Grassley could end up with surprising results, well one can dream.  That’s a long-winded way of saying that despite Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer being caught on a live mic expressing his elections fears, we should all do what we can and that includes voting and bringing along your friends. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t also prepare our psyches to handle the worst.

That Sinking Feeling: As to the worst, the Kanye saga continues.  Ye turned up at Skechers headquarters with a film crew on Wednesday.  It’s not clear what he was doing, whether he was pitching his shoes or trying to prove that the company, whose founders are Jewish, is part of the “world domination problem” but officials there were having none of it, they immediately escorted him out.  Shortly after that escapade, we learned that he’d wanted to name one of his albums Hitler, after the guy he admires so much, but was persuaded not to by his record company, another indication that he’s been all in on hate for a long time now and that those around him were fully aware of his views but had ignored them because, you know, money.  Also, Ye’s foray into education, Donda Academy announced it was closing immediately for the year or longer only to then announce it was reopening and who doesn’t think that Ye shaping kids’ minds is a good idea?  Anyway, as bad as things are on the Ye front, it’s probably going to get worse and let’s hope that his escapades don’t turn violent because there’s a good chance they will.  On the Twitter front, where the GQP Judiciary Committee’s infamous  “Kanye, Musk, Trump” tweet still lives, Elon Musk completed his purchase yesterday.  He immediately took control of the now private company first by carrying a sink into its offices, don’t ask why, and then by firing the company’s CEO, CFO and senior policy people, including the woman who’d made the decision to de-platform the Former Guy for his incendiary messaging. In an attempt to allay the fears of advertisers Musk assured them that he wouldn’t let Twitter become a “free for all hellscape” but he probably will though it’s worth mentioning that a message from the Former Guy bragging that he’d be back on Twitter on Monday was a fake but a good one or at least convincing enough to fool a few correspondents including MSNBC’s Alex Wagner who reported on the FG’s Twitter return at the end of her evening show only to retract her report, on Twitter of course, later last night.

And:  Putin now says that he’s not planning to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, not that anything he says should be believed. North Korea’s Kim Jong un whose love letters the FG took to Mar a Lago because of course shot off a few ballistic missiles last night. The January 6^th insurrectionist who dragged Capitol Police officer Mike Fanone and then held him down so that other rioters could beat and shock him was sentenced to serve 7 years in Federal prison.  And lastly, unless the Supreme Court intervenes, as a result of an Appeals Court ruling the FG’s tax returns will be turned over to the House Ways and Means committee next week.