More Bizarre Info Than You Could Ever Want

photo of Jon:
Gage Skidmore

I've been a busy human these past few weeks. First I went to hear Peter Himmelman speak about his new book, SUSPENDED BY NO STRING. I've been a fan for a while, but this was the first time I'd heard him speak in person. It was revelatory and I'm so glad I went and finally got to meet him. A week later, at the same venue, I went to a lecture on Ladino culture and its innovations given by Dr. Devin Naar of the University of Washington, Seattle. A while back I'd written to Dr. Naar while researching the book I'm working on now, and we have a lively correspondence about where I was going wrong. Whether he realized it or not, he fundamentally changed an important event in the book. Being a great lover of Ladino culture, especially the food and the music, I was totally absorbed. When it turned out we have peeps in common, that was even better! 

The last person I heard in this chain of talkers, Jon Lovett, one of the hosts of Pod Save America, was a total surprise. Seems he's engaged to someone from my shul, and their aufruf was on Shabbat. It was a lovely family event with both sides present, and yes, there was lots of candy thrown at the happy couple after their aliyah. 

Look, you can't have Jon Lovett in shul and NOT let him talk, so after kiddush lunch, he talked about comedy and politics. His is an insider perspective, having worked as a speechwriter for President Obama. His observations about what "works" and what doesn't work struck home for me. I may not write comedy, but his discussion of how one writes was particularly important for me to hear. Plus, he answered my questions about censorship and television. 

So, let's just say my brain-rolodex is full and the brain itself is operating on overload.

Which is why I'm gonna write about what's not funny these days. 

We have a president who, as Mom would say, suffers from diarrhea of the mouth. There is absolutely no accounting for the tasteless, crude, hateful, mean-spirited things that fall out of his pisk. He embarasses not only himself, but the entire nation with his incredibly stupid comments on Truth Social and at the microphone. 

Aaron Schwartz/UPI

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with President Felon last week in the Overdone Office, and while the lady was obsequious in her flattery of his orangeness, he was deliberately cruel as he used Pearl Harbor as a punch line. Responding to a reporter's question why the US's allies were not notified of the attack, he replied:

We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right? You believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us.

Other than widening eyes and a deep breath, Prime Minister Takaichi did not react, a feat I don't think many could have managed. That she didn't rise from her seat, thank him for his time, and walk out of the office was a testament to her grace under spitball fire. 

Of course, the Toddler-in-Chief could not remain at the Gold House while a war is being waged. No. He wanted to play golf. He was at Mar-a-Lago when word reached him that Robert Mueller had died. Granted, there was no love lost between the two men, but his Truth Social post was unbecoming a public official no matter how he felt about this man who had spent his life defending the Constitution of the United States:

Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people! President DONALD J. TRUMP   Mar 21, 2026, 12:26 PM

Today's narishkeit was top notch. He claims he had productive talks with Iran over the weekend and he was holding off obliterating them. The only problem with that is Iran doesn't recall having any talks with him. According to the BBC:

At an event in Memphis later in the day, Trump said Iran had "agreed that they will not have a nuclear weapon". There has been no confirmation of this from the Iranians.

"I think there's a very good chance we're going to end up in a deal," he said. "And so we're giving it five days and then we're going to see where that takes it."

The US president has repeatedly told reporters that multiple tiers of Iranian leadership have been wiped out, and at a Friday event at the White House said that it is "hard to find leaders in Iran to talk to because they keep getting killed".

In a brief telephone interview with CNBC reporter Joe Kernen immediately after Trump's post on Monday morning, Trump said that Iran has representatives left, contradicting his own previous public statements.

He suggested they were behaving differently than their predecessors. Kernen said Trump was "insisting" that the change constitutes a form of regime change.

Iran's denial that any talks have taken place, however, complicates this narrative for the administration and will likely make for awkward questions.

Already, an unnamed Iranian source quoted by Fars News Agency, affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), characterised Trump's statement as something of a victory for the regime, claiming Trump "backed down" after Iran's threats to launch retaliatory strikes against energy infrastructure across the region.

Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. Meanwhile, denied the talks had happened and called it "fake news".

The talks could also be something of a ruse - as was the case last summer when talks with the Iranians were reportedly still progressing right up until US bombs struck Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer.

Trump, after all, often reminds reporters that his decision-making process or thinking on a particular topic is a mystery to almost everyone.

 The last line is priceless.

Between his 24k gold coin, and the new attempt to deface what's left of the White House by tearing down the Ionic columns of the North Portico to replace them with schmaltzy Corinthian columns, We, the People had better get used to an Imperial Presidency where Feckless Leader aka President Felon has his face plastered on everything. 

Every day, there is something else on which his image is enlarged. And the bigger it gets, the smaller, it would seem, his winkie gets. Maybe it really is dementia and his cabal is trying to cover it over with absurdity. Do I really need to post Charles Durning doing the Texas Sidestep again? I mean, I love watching that, but these days, it's hitting a little close to home. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

...across the United States, Cesar Chavez's name is being removed because of the recent exposure of his sexual misconduct. How can you idolize a man who groomed and abused young girls? 

MAGA does it every day and in every way. From the very beginning of his political aspirations, they have shielded his aberrant, deviant behavior when it came to women. So let me ask you all, when was the last time you heard anything about significant Epstein-related evidence being published? Where are the files about the underaged girls who testified that President Felon forced himself on him? This is beyond guilt by association; these are crimes. 

The midterms are in jeopardy. Some people claim ICE at the airports is merely practice for voter suppression. I'm not of that mind, but I can see why that gets traction. The SAVE Act will do a pretty good job of keeping women from voting. And rural citizens. How do you prove you are who you say you are in this day of photoshop, AI, and visual manipulation? Beats the hell outta me. I have no clue. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you ever have the opportunity to see

Peter Himmelman in performance
or hear Dr. Devin Naar talk about Ladino culture,

jump at the chance. 

Jon Lovett? You can hear him on Pod Save America!

When Do I Get My MedBed Card?

I worked really hard to find the fake medbed video, but the closest I came was finding a screen shot. Honestly, I don't know why people are so surprised/shocked/upset that he posted a fake video with him in it. I mean, folks, the guy has a well established penchant for medical quackery. Just look at his appointees: Ben Carson (who walks with Jesus,) RFK,jr, who has worms in his head and puts dead whales atop his car while claiming vaccines are responsible for what's wrong with us. (As a polio survivor, I definitely have an opinion about that and it's not one shared with that whack job Kennedy.) And let's not forget Dr. Mehmet Snakeoil Oz who now sends me emails as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services full of nonsense. I have a headache; please pass the Tylenol.

Let's not discuss how President Felon is losing his grip on reality. Just listen to his speech to the General Assembly at the UN and that, alone, should give you a pretty good idea of how bad it really is. The guy lives in fantasyland. 

First...no one sabotaged the escalator. Second...no one sabotaged the teleprompter. From Reuters:

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a readout of the escalator's central processing unit indicated it "had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator."

He said Trump's videographer had been traveling backwards up the escalator to capture his arrival with First Lady Melania Trump.

 "The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function," Dujarric said in a statement. "The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. findings.

On the teleprompter, Trump told the General Assembly on Tuesday: "I can only say that whoever's operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."

However, a U.N. official said the White House had operated its own teleprompter.

After Trump finished speaking, U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said: "The U.N. teleprompters are working perfectly."

Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire

And for the record, he wasn't speaking from his heart; he was reading his speech....until he wasn't. As he wandered all over the map with his misstatements, preposterous opinions, and delusional attributes for his Nobel Peace Prize campaign, I was stunned the audience was not rolling in the aisles at this obscene comedy performance. How could they keep straight faces listening to him? Granted, his attack on the UN as a toothless joke wasn't too far off the mark, but he more than made up for that with the part about mahogany walls and marble floors. 

Moving on, the world got a glimpse of the tastelessly gilded Oval Office. I kept thinking about Napoleon and his grandiose coronation for some reason. The ormolu reliefs and friezes are just plain gauche:  tacky, cheesy, and cheap-looking. The august simplicity of the office once reflected the idea of democracy, a republic, and of-the-people. This looked like a whale vomited a gold leaf on the walls. Gilding the lily, as it were. But this isn't an accidental juxtaposition; President Tasteless's diatribe about refurbishing the UN is interesting since he's bringing that same over-the-top tasteless gilding to the White House. Has he never heard the expression Less Is More? Obviously not. 

His ravenous appetite for gaudy expression extends to this new dining hall carbuncle he's attaching to the White House. Today, it was announced he has settled his lawsuit with YouTube. From the Washington Post:

                               YouTube to pay $24.5 million to settle Trump lawsuit  

over post-Jan. 6 suspension

The agreement says $22 million will go toward construction of a new White House ballroom. The settlement follows similar multimillion-dollar agreements with Meta and X.

So just like this airplane from Qatar, President Emoluments is profiteering from the office but at least he's spending the money on the White House for which I am certain he will take one giant tax deduction. Nothing this troll does is without personal financial gain for him. Since the airplane is destined for his presidential library in downtown Miami (that'll be a good trick,) where's he gonna stash the dismantled balls room after he's out of office? 

Oh, wait. He's not planning to leave office. Ever. 

Oh, you don't believe that? Well, it's like this: if someone tells you who they are, you might want to believe them. President Felon keeps on ordering troops, National Guard or otherwise, into cities that clearly don't need help preserving public safety. Despite what the governors, the mayors, and even the state AGs say, he's sending troops where troops are not wanted. Ziggy woulda called this serious dick-waving. I would've agreed with him,

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Portland, Oregon, a city that usually defies description by us regular folks, is preparing for the invasion in a most Portlandian kinda way. I imagine Bette Midler will be leading a cadre of women ready to throw their PBS tote bags at them. I can almost imagine the denizens of the area trying to put daisies in gun barrels. Maybe they're gonna mobilize the backyard chicken populations? 

I've never been to Portland, but it's a place I would like to visit. I hear they do serious composting there, and, like Minnesota, pay close attention to the environment. They have a progressive tax in the city, and enforceable  laws and goals for emissions. Frankly, it sounds like my kinda town. There's a Masorti shul with a morning minyan! I would fit right in! If the country breaks apart and the West Coast becomes the place to go for now, Portland would be on my list.

And I'm still waiting for my medbed card. With insurance rates rising significantly, We, the People, have to be prepared for a catastrophic number of people to be without health insurance. As vaccinations become unavailable, we must be prepared for the surge in measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, and other preventable diseases we once thought to be eradicated. The fact is, the only disease believed to be completely eradicated is smallpox, but even that could come back. The reality is that right now, the US is taking massive steps backwards in terms of population health.

Maybe that shouldn't surprise us. A country that refuses to pass reasonable gun control laws as mass shootings increase across the nation while discouraging parents from vaccinating their kids is NOT a country that believes in the sanctity of life. Another church, this one Mormon,  was shot up and set on fire up this past weekend, in Grand Blanc, Michigan, leaving 8 injured, and 4 dead, including a 6 year old. 

But then again, this is a country carrying on about Gaza while ignoring the famine in Yemen, genocide in the Sudan, China, Syria, and Cambodia. No Jews, no news? Isn't that how it goes?

If you're not taking to the streets to protest Yemen, Sudan, China, Syria, and Cambodia, but you want to reward and encourage terrorism by supporting Hamas, that is your right. And it will be your right to be slaughtered just like the kids at Nova when the intifada comes here. The guys in the keffiyehs and the headbands will not spare you. They will simply put a bullet in your back after they rape you. They already have told us who they are. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

!‏צום קל וגמר חתימה טוב