Just for Xeets and Giggles (04.13.24)

The eclipse had everyone moonstruck at the beginning of the week. That included political commentators.

When some religious zealots pressed the idea of the eclipse signaling the end of times, others took up the call.

The crush of tourists to enjoy the eclipse in its full glory left many merchants and mayors in the viewing swath joyful. Not so much in Arkansas, though.

Many took the opportunity to present important PSAs.

Others took note of the curious path of totality.

We couldn’t avoid the political symbolism.

Speaking of great orange bodies and political eclipses, this was my favorite clip.

It was also a moment to stand up for science.

The NASA accounts trolled hard.

The impending first criminal trial of Donald Trump had folks posting in anticipation. This take summed things up well.

Stormy Daniels commentary came back into vogue.

Speaking of the woman herself, it turns out she is a Twitter assassin.

Just don’t come for her. She’s lethal.

At one ridiculous point, Trump compared himself to (double checks notes) a “modern day Nelson Mandela.”

The MAGA idolization of Trump really has gone too far, so it’s good to see folks pushing back.

(Tim Pool is a right wing idiot who tweeted that he bought DJT near its high. It’s now fallen by more than half.)

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Besides the eclipse, there was also that rare East Coast earthquake.

But an ever bigger earthquake of the political kind hit Arizona when its all-GOP Supreme Court let spring back into place a near-total abortion ban first enacted in 1864, at a time when AZ was still a territory and women didn’t have the right to vote.

The political fault lines became apparent.

Even the GOP understands this is radioactive.

The backwardness of the state was a subject of discussion and consternation.

Many worried that the move would further alienate moderate Republicans.

Extremists of course were still aplenty. One of them, a January 6th “grandmother” who was convicted by a jury of her peers, still couldn’t understand how this could have happened, so it had to be explained.

I love this take on proud extremists:

But radicals still keep getting elected because of the way our political lines are drawn.

Speaking of radicals, Speaker Mike Johnson, whose job hangs by an MTG thread, went to Mar-a-Lago to shore up his bona fides. It largely worked, but this moment was amazing. Watch the clip here.

Johnson managed to get FISA renewed despite Trump’s objections.

Speaking of which, this made me LOL.

The New York Times keeps failing to meet the moment, but it’s almost worth it to see the brutal take downs.

The big news toward the end of the week really juiced the headlines—and the pulpy commentary.

This really happened, too.

The Onion remained undefeated.

And who can forget this moment?

Or perhaps it could just be this:

Lucifer even chimed in.

In pet news, it was a week for cats to take center stage. Here are my picks:

It’s really his expression here that wins.

I can’t stop laughing over this clip, but really wouldn’t try it with my cat Shade.

One doggo moment. This buddy is clearly in a swing district.

Humans were arguing on the internet, and that’s not a surprise, but this discussion was top notch.

The right keeps harkening back to some “pre-woke” era where things like female objectification (here, “barmaids”) were just plain accepted.

Speaking of masterful moments, have a starry night moment with me.

The best awwwww moment of the week comes to us from Brazil. No translation needed on this clip because love is universal.

Speaking of South America, I had no idea Chile did this but I am very impressed and also it’s hilarious.

I am guilty of spending far more time on NY Games than on NY Times anything else.

This is the kind of moment I hope to enjoy once my own kids are old enough.

This PSA from the National Park Service won the internet.

I leave you with this dad joke, which I am putting in my book for said kids.

And now you also have an earworm! You’re welcome.

Also, I’m looking forward to meeting some of my San Diego readers at my meet and greet on Sunday at the San Diego State Library this Sunday, April 14 at 4pm PT. I’ll be talking about our politics and doing a reading from my new book MA IN ALL CAPS, which you can purchase here.

If you’d like to attend the reading, the event info and RSVP are on Facebook here.

Have a great weekend!