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Category: The Current Situation
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Wrong city, Independent…
The teaser image for this article in the British online newspaper The Independent about the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s approach to Thailand features the wrong city and country.
The ship will dock in Pattaya, but the photo not-too-clearly shows the Marina Bay Sands and Pan Pacific hotels, which are in Singapore.
Consider this one of my regular reminders to double-check your work before putting it out in the world.
Bonus picdump! Here are 99 pics, comics, and memes about the current algae-infested state of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Share and enjoy!
Trump’s video
You’ve probably heard about the AI-generated video that Trump posted to Truth Social, where he interrupts Stephen Colbert’s farewell monologue on the last episode of The Tonight Show to throw Colbert into a dumpster. I’ve posted the video below, as an unlisted video on my own channel, to ensure that I don’t have to point to some MAGA account and help them profit from it:
The actual White House Twitter account reposted the video, which is another data point for the “Everyone is twelve now” theory:
Colbert’s video
What makes for far better and longer viewing is Stephen Colbert’s return to public access television a mere 23 hours after the final Tonight Show. He returned to his roots on Monroe, Michigan’s Monroe Public Access Cable Television, which is now called Monroe Community Media 1, to host their show, titled Only in Monroe.
He was joined by a number of famous locals:
- Only in Monroe’s regular hosts, Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson (who was Miss America in 1988). They drank shots of Cain & Grain from a local distiller, River Raisin Distillery.
- Jack White — yes, the Jack White from The White Stripes, as the musical director, complete with boom box and reel-to-reel tape player.
- Steve Buscemi, who made a public service announcement for the Buscemi’s Pizza in Monroe to clarify he has no connection to them
- Byron Allen, via FaceTime. He’s taking over “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” timeslot with back-to-back episodes of his syndicated Comics Unleashed.
- Jeff Daniels, who joined for an on-screen picnic lunch featuring a sandwich he invented, followed by destroying the set, with the approval of…
- …an unofficial fire marshall names Marshall Mathers, whom you might know as Eminem.
If you watch only one of the two videos featured in thsi article, make it the second one.
If you watch only one public access cable show this year, make it Stephen Colbert’s episode of Only in Monroe.
It’s that time of year, and this is that kind of blog, so here’s the 2026 edition of my traditional Mother’s Day greeting. Happy Mother’s Day from the baaaadest mutha of them all!
Since since we’re talkin’ ’bout Shaft…
Last month, I wrote about a manufacturing mistake that became a hit for the Year of the Horse: the Sad Horse. I placed an order for one, and because it came from a literal “slow boat from China,” it finally arrived last week!
It looks sad because a number of the plush horses made for this Lunar New Year left the factory with their snouts attached upside-down, turning their smiles into glum expressions. But because this expression reflects a lot of Chinese workers’ current “down and dissatisfied” mood (especially in their current “9-9-6” culture, the Sad Horse became a hit!
Read more about the manufacturing mistake that became a Lunar New Year hit in It’s the Year of the Sad Horse!
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Adding potato would also be acceptable.