The Potpourri Wrap
With so much going on, how 'bout we just cover everything a little bit?
pot·pour·ri
/ˌpōpəˈrē/
noun
a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl or small sack to perfume clothing or a room.
a mixture of things, especially a musical or literary medley.
plural noun: potpourris; plural noun: pot-pourris
"he played a potpourri of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan"
Current news and politics these days cannot be held or contained by any kind of unifying theme or label. Except for maybe this: bullshit!
State of the state
We say this because things are all over the place, and most of these things suck. War, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, indictments of the former president, persecutions of the current president, fucked up college campuses, fucked up college presidents. All these things are scattered about everywhere, like gallimaufry, goulash, hash, hodgepodge. What we have today is a medley of mishmash, a mishmash of motley, a pastiche patchwork of salmagundi.
In short, there are a potpourri of things to chew on, swallow, digest, mull over and consider this week, including our deeply felt, overwhelming, overpowering, strong, vast, stunning, extreme, crushing, devastating, shattering need to make use of the bizarre word, “potpourri.”
How do words, we wonder, make the jump from something as specific as dried petals and spices, to the generality of anything scattered about like gallimaufry, goulash, hash, hodgepodge, a medley of mishmash, a mishmash of motley, or a pastiche patchwork of salmagundi?
Speaking of gallimaufry, how did we get to that term from the French 16th century word “galimafree,” which was a kind of stew or hash, apparently concocted from a mishmash of ingredients?
It must be the holidays cuz it all seems so food related!
The potpourri of news and events
This is only going to work if we are uncharacteristically brief, short, punchy, fleeting, hasty, cursory, perfunctory, and transitory. In short everything we’re not. And look at that! We’ve already failed, but ok, in the order of bullshit that disturbs us, we offer the following:
Anti-semitism
A lot of confusion here. Are you anti-Semitic if you are anti-Zionist? Are you anti-Zionist if you are anti-Semitic? What’s the difference between hate speech, biased speech and free speech? Brett Stephens of the New York Times today wrote the best piece we have ever seen on this topic to help clear up the confusion. It’s called “Antisemitism: A Guide for the Perplexed.”
Ukraine, Israel and Congress held hostage by extreme Republican MAGA suckwads
This one turns our stomach. It is bullshit to the tenth degree.
A majority in congress supports Israel and Ukraine. A majority in both parties. But neither the House nor the Senate can appropriate military assistance for either country because the far-right refuses to allow a vote without Democrats agreeing to an extreme-right border control bill so extreme that even moderate conservatives who care about deeply about immigration policy can’t agree to it.
Team far-right doesn’t care because their real goal here is not to find a compromise, but rather to deny Biden any kind of international policy win that he can campaign on in an election year. And if their obstinance helps Russia kill a working democracy in Europe then roll over the next one, the minority alt-right has cynically concluded it’s Biden, not them, who will be blamed.
Ok, that was not terribly punchy, brief or perfunctory, was it?
Chess moves to stall/unstall Trump’s first election interference trial?
In a move many are saying was brilliant by special prosecutor Jack Smith, the Department of Justice recently asked the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and tackle the question of Trump’s central defense: Does a sitting president have immunity from criminal behavior if it is executed in the line of duty?
Judge Tanya Chutkin had set a date of March 4 for the trial of the Orange Tornado and his actions that led to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and what looks TO ANYONE SANE like an attempt to undermine and overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s apparent plan to subvert his conviction is to get himself elected president so he can pardon himself. But that means delaying that March 4 trial until sometime after the 2024 election.
Smith has thoughtfully proposed the Supreme Court just head off this question at the pass, rather than wait for the appeals court to rule, then the Supreme Court to be appealed.
What we know now? The Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether it will rule. And Judge Tanya Chutkin has agreed to suspend all trial dates and other deadline until the Supreme Court rules on whether it will rule. Which will likely have the effect of delaying that March 4 trial date - precisely what Trump and his attorneys want!
You follow all that? Us neither.
Hunter Biden defies congressional subpoena as Republicans authorize impeachment inquiry
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to formally authorize its ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as Republicans unite behind the effort even though they have yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing by the Democrat.
The vote was 221-212 along party lines to approve the probe, which is examining whether Biden improperly benefited from his 53-year-old son Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, hours after the younger Biden refused a call to testify behind closed doors, though he welcomed testifying publicly.
We aren’t exactly settled on what exactly the younger Biden was charging his clients for, or his failure to pay taxes on most of those earnings. But we are entirely settled that James Comer and his band of far-right suckwads are pursuing this impeachment for one and only reason: to play to the MAGA base and divert attention from the legal quagmire of their dick-tator in waiting who is a serial rapist, liar, misogynist, authoritarian, anti-democratic, anti-constitutional selfish puss sack.
As you can tell, we don’t feel strongly about this though.
Draymond Green’s erection and ensuing league suspension
Ok. That should read ejection, not erection, above. We were just trying to get a rise out of you. Mission accomplished!
But in all seriousness, Draymond, who we are fond of defending and admiring as possibly the best defensive guard in the entirety of the NBA and of all time, (excepting possibly Dennis Rodman, another noted humanitarian) got himself ejected for the third time this season last night. He will be suspended indefinitely by the NBA for an incident on Tuesday in which Green struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic for no justifiable reason.
Green was immediately assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected from the game, which the Suns ultimately won. And the Warriors, at 10-13 on the season, are not looking like playoff contenders, especially without Green on the court in the foreseeable future.
We know most of you don’t really care. This is how we bring a little passion to our Wrap - waxing endlessly about things our readers couldn’t give two shits about. Brilliant, right?
Anyways, that’s your erection in the news. In advance of the 2024 erection.
And that’s your Wrap.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Brett Stephens article, Jeff. If "enjoyed" is the right word.