Feb
4
2026

Winter Olympics Promo

If you've given up watching Saturday Night Live, I can't blame you. Their political stuff generates clapter from the audience, and (sorry) nary a chuckle from me. And I despise Trump!

On the other hand, if you keep watching…

I've watched four times, and laughed every time.

I confess I've developed a thing for Jane Wickline. A completely inappropriate thing, for multiple reasons, including ones I'm probably not aware of.

Also of note:

  • No, that's not a misspelling. Robert Graboyes, owner of Bastiat's Window, admits he suffers from Electile Dysfunction.

    Bastiat’s Window made no endorsement in the 2024 presidential election—nor in any other election before or since. We’re unlikely to endorse any candidates in the future—largely for three reasons described below—futility, disdain, and regret.

    I'm in Bob's boat, for the same reasons, plus an additional one: humility. I can't think of any reason you, Reader, would want or need my advice on who to vote for. (Or whether to vote at all.)

  • Plus, it looks like an ugly shoebox. Jeffrey Blehar's Carnival of Fools newsletter Trump Closing Kennedy Center for Renovations: Artists Won't Play There.

    This is no secret. Hamilton already canceled its anticipated 2026 run at the Kennedy Center in response to Trump’s 2025 purge of the Kennedy Center board. After the name change in December, other cancellations followed — including from nonpolitical artists who understood that playing in a building illegally renamed by a sitting president after himself amounted to an endorsement of the act. But six days ago — and far more devastatingly for the Kennedy Center’s social calendar — composer Philip Glass withdrew his Lincoln symphony, written specifically to premiere there in honor of America’s Semiquincentennial. “Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony.”

    I don’t blame Glass for the insult: Trump put his name on the building precisely because he wanted to insult Glass and all others forced to play there. I think President Trump is many things, but a fool is not one of them; he knows exactly how much he is hated, and he is especially well-informed about who specifically hates him. He renamed the Kennedy Center after himself precisely because in his limited time left in office, he was amused by the idea of watching luminaries from the hated artistic class forced to bow and scrape and play in King Trump’s Beautiful Memorial Building. It really goes no deeper than that. The original source of most of his impulses — and most of his biggest errors — is vanity and ego gratification, after all.

    Jeffrey also discusses the Grammy Awards show, extending some well-deserved disrespect to Billie Ellish, et al. And the Oscar nominees for Best Picture? Reader, I can't even get interested in watching the ones Jeffrey sorta likes.

    E.g., his take on One Battle After Another: "a technically well-made film with flashes of genuine wit and human empathy, but it ultimately drowns in the incoherence of its plotting and message." I'll just watch a couple old episodes of House on Amazon Prime, ThankYouVeryMuch.)

  • You talkin' to me, Erick? Mr. Erickson has some well-meaning advice for … some folks, anyway: Y'all Need to Shut Up. 2026 Electoral success for the GOP is looking pretty dim anyway, and …

    That is why Republican leaders in Washington really need to shut the hell up on gun issues right now. Here is the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia on Fox News yesterday.

    This comes a week after Alex Pretti’s death, when the President and others in his Administration also attacked Second Amendment rights.

    I cannot think of a strategy better able to alienate Second Amendment voters from showing up in the midterms.

    I'll probably trudge down to the American Legion in November and unenthusiastically vote a straight-GOP ticket, but…

    (Not an endorsement! See above!)

  • There's something about Tulsi. The Federalist's M.D. Kittle is pretty upset about a news item to which I linked a couple days ago: WSJ Hit Piece On Gabbard Based On Complaints That 'Weren't Credible'

    M.D. embeds a couple of tweets, one from Tulsi's Deputy Chief of Staff:

    And one from DNI's official spokeswoman:

    In case you missed it: "conveniently buried 13 paragraphs down".

    (For what it's worth: those tweets were both posted at 8:21am on Monday. Who copied whom?)

    So, in fairness, here's the WSJ's paragraph 13:

    Gabbard answered written questions about the allegations from the inspector general’s office, a senior official at the spy agency said. That prompted the acting inspector general at the time, Tamara Johnson, to determine the allegations specifically about Gabbard weren’t credible, the official said. Johnson remains employed at the agency, which didn’t make her available for an interview.

    Just wanted you to know the whole story. Now you know as much as I do, which is nothing.


Last Modified 2026-02-05 7:53 AM EST