The Week in Tweets and Memes
Today I have a somewhat shortened list for you, in part because I’m traveling, but also because a spat this week between Substack and Twitter led Elon Musk to temporarily disable previews of embedded tweets and videos and to limit substack link reach on his platform. What a man baby!
To get around this, I used screenshots of the tweets that won’t display, and especially for videos that won’t load, you can follow the underlined hyperlinks out and then come back to my Substack! It’s been a pain to build, but it’s a workaround. If you hate it, please take it up with the Chief Twit.
It was a huge week for news, which Elie Mystal, frequent commentator on MSNBC and Justice Correspondent for The Nation, summed up nicely.
Trump’s historic arraignment was the big news early in the week. The first photo of his appearance in a Manhattan court led to some excellent takes, but this was simply leapt out as my favorite.
The GOP of course rushed to his defense, not because they truly believe this is political persecution, but because they have to pretend to believe it is, which sets them up to hurt themselves in the election, much like this guy in this video (click “video” to watch—but warning, high levels of both stupidity and pain displayed…)
In Bizarroworld, singer Ted Nugent, seated next to killer Kyle Rittenhouse, gave an interesting interview, coming to Trump’s defense in what felt like great satire until you realized he was being serious.
Another washed-up celebrity weighed in only to be murdered in plain daylight by this reply on social media.
During this interview, this guest on Fox made the “fraudian” slip of his life: “I think there’s no question that he wants to humiliate President Fraud—er, President Trump!”
Think he’ll be invited back?
Tennessee held the nation’s attention as the GOP supermajority in the state House of Representatives decided not to heed calls for gun control but to expel the two young, Black legislators who joined student protestors in calling for action. Notably, the House did not expel the white woman who had joined them. I wonder why?
Vice President Kamala Harris paid a surprise visit to Tennessee and swung into action in a way that makes me think she’s at last finding her footing in these challenging times:
And someone created these for in honor of what folks are calling #TennesseeThree, which made me smile.
In other delightful news, Justice Clarence Thomas got caught accepting decades of private yacht and luxury trips via chartered planes from a billionaire with business and interests before the Court—without ever having disclosed those lavish gifts worth millions of dollars. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse had some thoughts.
Justice Thomas claimed his billionaire friend and he were just friends, and good ones for a longtime. But it turns out they met after he became a SCOTUS justice. Friends in high places, indeed. Ron Filipkowski weighed in with characteristic sarcasm.
This is a very serious matter, but it doesn’t mean we can’t mock Justice Thomas, too, especially for trying to pass himself off as a man of simple pleasures, like when he claimed he preferred sitting in Walmart parking lots to beach travel. (Click here to see the full image.)
The Texas Senate is coming for drag shows just like they did in Tennessee. But have they thought through the “foundational applications” of this? Director Jay Arnold did in this tweet:
Meanwhile, over at Twitter Headquarters, Elon Musk’s idea to allow anyone in the world to buy a blue, verified check mark is going well, as this commentator summarized.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dalmatians Pingo and Nina took the Internet by storm in this tweet:
Then it turned out, dogs are just really good at April Fool’s jokes. Like this good boy.
That’s it for now! Have a great weekend, and I hope these brought a big smile despite the weird formatting and tweet embed issues!
Jay
P.S. On a personal note, thanks to all who sent well wishes from afar. I’ve been going through some months of difficult family medical news, and it has been such a balm to have the support of so many here in our little community.
Jay, I hope the day brings laughter and joy to you, too, in difficult times. Your post sure brightened my day.
How like you to be worried about the formatting of funny items, especially when you are going through so much. Sending you much love and hoping for better news soon.