Notices by B Kahn (bkahn@beige.party)

No, this is not true yet:

Trump expresses interest in annexing Sweden. "They've got those Nobbly Prizes, you know? And I want a full set. All of them, not just a hand-me-down Peace Prize. I deserve the whole pile: medicine, fizziks, biololology, writing, dancing, finger-painting--ALL the prizes. And when I'm King of Sweden, I'll make an announcement and it'll be a done deal. I will look so cool with eight or fifteen gold medals around my neck. What? The prize money? Millions, right? That'll go straight into my bank account. What a dumb question. What? Speeches? Hell, yes I'll give a speech for every medal. I'll be humble and proud and patriotic and MAGA will go crazy! What? No I won't fall asleep at the ceremony! Dumbass reporter. Get that jerk outta here!"

I listened to a History Extra podcast last night about the history of the Roman empire. One of the comments was that although slavery was ghastly for the slaves and their children, their grandchildren often became Roman ciitizens. (Be a slave: your grandchildren will thank you!) And the author said the empire benefited greatly from the contributions made by the slave descendents, and counted on them to enrich life with new ideas, new energy, new creativity.

I immediately thought of all the benefits, discoveries, contributions, and wealth immigrants have brought to and generated in the USA. Only racist imbeciles would behave as our government is behaving. Unfortunately we seem to have a surfeit of both racists and imbeciles. If anybody bothers to write the history of the rapid decline and fall of the United States, a list of Trump & Co.'s actions in 2025 & 2026 will take center stage.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for the Epstein Files, Mr. self-appointed President of Venezuela. We haven't forgotten.

This is the podcast link on Overcast which is what I mostly use. The History Extra website wants members so not very helpful...

https://overcast.fm/+_dMOJkA6Y

It occurs to me that the only thing worse than living in a simulation is living in an AI simulation. In its "mind" perhaps LLM is short for Large Loving Mother.
🤢

So many millions of babies and young children who died before we developed vaccines, and now RFK Jr. is doing his best to push us backwards in time:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/01/childhood-vaccine-schedule-rotavirus-paul-offit/685513/?gift=jDw299G8PAYpd8-JGed7URCp6czqA9Oh2_1kdrFuVrA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

#giftlink

This is not (yet) true as far as I know:

Trump says that what works in Venezuela is also legal in the USA, threatens to kidnap all Democratic governors and Attorney Generals. "And I am declaring myself and my children presidents in poopertooity," he added. "Getting rid of elections will save a bundle!"

Is peertube a practical alternative to youtube for short instructional videos? Or is anything else an alternative? I know zero about this but would like to know more. Thanks.

#Peertube

The only reason Trump hasn't been removed from office is that he's such a useful distraction. Like firing loud cannons at the castle so the defenders can't hear the men digging below the wall.

(Not that his cronies even try to hide what they're doing. Why bother when the MAGA faithful insist on following? Somebody in the Kremlin must have received an award for best recruitment ever. Trump, the gift that keeps on giving.)

I judge people as individuals, but I can feel a prejudice against orange-skinned people slowly growing inside me. To be accurate, I only know of one orange-skinned person, but he could be the tip of an orange iceberg. Should I seek counseling or just accept that orange is a bridge too far? Or is something deeper at work? I've never been good with colors. Maybe the orange skin and the red tie are triggering some ancestral memory buried in my DNA, some ancient warning telling me to BEWARE!

Yeah, that's what it is. It's a "Danger, Stay Away!" warning. Good advice.

Russia wrote "our" peace plan.

Many big-time MAGA trolls on X are foreign agents pretending to be American.

I was going to write that we can't believe anything nowadays, but I think we can count on Trump to continue lying all the time about everything. Not a comfort, but like a rope in a blizzard, it gives us a direction. If he says something is true, we know it's false. If he says something is good, it's evil. If he appoints someone to government office, you know the appointee will be corrupt, dishonest, and wildly unqualified. So I, for one, appreciate the time Trump saves us. He's like a compass made of shit: best kept downwind and at a distance.

Give Lady Macbeth the Epstein files: "Out damned Trump," she'll cry as she deletes and deletes and deletes the name that won't go away.

So Trump wants to resume testing nuclear weapons--am I recalling that correctly? If so, I can think of one test that would be appropriate. First we release the Epstein files. Second we gather up the perps. Third we transport them somewhere far away from everything and everyone. Fourth we test a super-tiny nuke. With modern tech I bet we can make a real baby one. In fact it is no doubt already available. So we test it and by golly, the perps are turned into atoms and no taxpayer dollars need be wasted on incarceration. Test successful, perps gone.

I know, kinda drastic. It's my age and I have no patience left for this pack of creeps. None. And me a life-long non-violent person. Just make the arrangements and show me the button to push.
😭

Stories about Iran's water shortages are starting to show up frequently. One of the dire predictions is that if it doesn't rain soon, Tehran will have to be evacuated. Where in hell are 10 million people going to go? That's more than the population of New York City.

If you blow up small boats and kill the occupants, then they are running drugs and trying to destroy America. Only drug smugglers go to sea in the Caribbean.

If you tie stones to a woman, throw her in a pond and she drowns, she was a witch and your act was a good deed.

I fail to see the difference. It's not 'even guilty until proven innocent'. It's "If we can use our superior power to kill you, then you deserve to die."

I know we don't need billionaires but until we get rid of them, let's have a billionaire timer. Once you reach B status, you have 3 months to enjoy yourself and then--since B's obviously possess unique talents for making money--all your wealth and assets are stripped away and you get to start over. We'll give you 50k for startup funds and 50k to live on for a year. All the rest of your wealth leaves you forever and will be put to good use helping people who need help. You don't.
😇

When our navy targets a cruise ship in the Caribbean, kills 3850 tourists and crew members, and claims they were all smuggling drugs, will that be enough to get Congress to intercede?

@wulfric
What if we just made the decorations cumulative? So put up each holiday's decorations and then just leave them. It would take one year and then other than replacing the occasional broken heart or star or whatever, we'd be done. Viisual chaos--like we have already.

@kims

Don't know if this is helpful as an example of a local food bank organization here in Maine. It's the one we donate to every month:

https://www.gsfb.org/food-map/

This is a terrible terrible story:

Someone reportedly snatched the Orange Leader and strapped him to one of those giant bird-slaying cancer-causing windmills. At last report he was 100s of feet off the ground and the wind was gusting and he was twirling around vigorously. His mouth was moving but due to the altitude and whatnot, nobody could make out what he was saying. A government lip-reading expert was summoned but she was laid off when the government shut down and can't be found. Officials are afraid to turn off the windmill for fear the Great One will slide off the blade and fall to his death. To further complicate the situation, birds are using the Orange Genius for target practice which is very disrespectful. The Vice President said he would make a statement later but he's such a bad liar that the networks don't care. And the Chinese somehow got footage of the incident and are showing it 24/7 with derogatory remarks. One popular Chinese site's comments translate as "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a birdshit-covered windmill decoration!"

C'mon, guys. Show a little respect.

“There are men running governments who shouldn't be allowed to play with matches.”
― Will Rogers

True then, true now.

😂

Someone should hack into all of the Trump family bank accounts and secretly distribute the funds in untraceable cash cards to homeless people everywhere. Wouldn't it be entertaining to see that pampered bunch of losers wake up stone cold broke with bills due and no way to pay? I suppose they could trade on their good names and long family history of honest business deals.

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂