Todd's Mischief Blog

The joke is that voters were given the choice between an angry, addled, lazy, lying, treacherous, self-serving, quarrelsome, foul-mouthed, racist, sexist, bigoted, narcissistic, septuagenarian old white man and Donald Trump. Joe Biden is an exaggerated meme version of Donald Trump I want to revisit an earlier post because not everyone fully appreciates what has happened.  If the nomination and apparent election of Joe Biden to the presidency feels like a slap in the face, that’s because it is. The article above lays it out, but the title says it all. Joe Biden is in actuality everything Democrats, #NeverTrump, #TheResistance, and the Swamp have accused Donald Trump of being for the last five years. Whether Trump is any of those things is immaterial, so leave it aside. Biden’s nomination and apparent election serve to demonstrate unambiguously something regular (not beltway) conservatives have known and complained about for years: It doesn’t matter how offensive some...

(Hint: Not the way anyone's been doing it)  Whether you approve of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or oppose it, there is no disputing that mask-wearing has been poorly promoted. From mixed messages to outright intimidation, it could've gone better. It didn't have to be this way, but it looks like we’re stuck with it, because a better approach wasn’t taken from the beginning. Off the top of my head, I count 3 crucial missteps with regards to encouraging mask wearing. 1. Fauci's flip-flop. The potential for consensus on mask wearing was mostly destroyed by the nation's preeminent physician himself when he initially came out against the wearing masks. Fauci continues to undermine hope for consensus favorable to masking by asserting he was right to discourage masking early on. 2. Negative incentives. Appeals to volunteerism (do your part) encourage participation whereas mandates (do or else) encourage resistance. In my opinion, the worst way to promote...

How many must die before Trump is stopped? ~~~ Personally, I would pass up any pizza for a Stromboli. ~~~ Little Caesar’s is not pizza. ~~~ Jailing people for hate speech breaks up families. Checkmate liberals. ~~~ Abortion is to miscarriage as arson is to faulty wiring. ~~~ There are abundant reasons to reject the proposition that all religions are equal, but even without these, the fact that atheists hold it would be enough. ~~~ Him: "Where are you from?" Me: "Nebraska." Him: "Where’s your accent?" Me: 😑 ~~~ In order to facilitate the equal treatment of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or creed, here is a list of all the ways one must treat minorities differently. ~~~ “Conservatives” have lost the distinction b/w “should not” and “must not.” This is why their “principles” are a cypher. One shouldn’t use vulgar language. At the same time, one mustn’t allow speech to be stifled simply because it’s vulgar. TruCons think both are “must no...

from  Twitter I’ve been very cautious around the word “populism” for a long time. I didn't really offer any opinions on it until it became the buzzword of 2016 due to the largely unexpected rise of Donald Trump. Even then, I can't stand by all of them, as many were ill-informed. «««««»»»»» What I feel comfortable saying about the subject now is this: People appear to variously call the same political phenomenon either “democracy” or “populism” depending on whether or not one likes the outcome. «««««»»»»» I remain dubious of unfettered populism just as I am dubious of unfettered democracy. (Two wolves and a sheep and all that.) That said, our political tradition is steeped in benign populism. «««««»»»»» The preamble of our Constitution opens, “We the People” while Lincoln’s most famous speech ends declaring “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” «««««»»»»» To the extent that Trump is a populist, it’s in the same vein as every ...

Despite this being a piece of agitprop in favor of CFPB from prior to it's creation — and thus not very funny — it's still a great showcase of comedic talent that I want to talk about. I'm sure there are a lot of ideas about what makes a good celebrity impression. Certainly there are a lot of techniques. But if you ask me, a good impression is equal parts mocking and complimentary. It's a hyper-accurate portrayal of the person. Put another way, a good impression is neither fawning nor spiteful. Let's consider how each stacks up. We start with Armisen's Obama, which is incredibly bland. One might argue that Obama himself was bland and so the material just wasn't there. No. Playing Obama as simply dull is being gentle. A good impersonation would portray him as dull to the point of somnambulism. I'm gonna skip over  Michelle b/c she's basically a prop in this scene and I'm not as familiar with Rudolph's other portrayals of her. Next, in order of...