Todd's Mischief Blog

from Twitter For those wondering, "assault rifle" is generally used to refer to a military style weapon. To that end, I have gathered a collection of other military style items to help illustrate. Here is an assault jacket. Assault pants. An assault backpack. An assault watch. Assault boots, naturally. An assault haircut. A cute sleeveless assault dress. A relaxing assault hammock. And no day would be complete without a hearty assault meal. Possibly the most dangerous thing on this list. UPDATE: April 2 In honor of @MerriamWebster updating the definition of "assault rifle," I bumped the original Twitter thread.

Dear Mr. Trump, You are a deranged and dangerous tyrant. Please take our guns. Sincerely, #TheResistance

from Twitter It’s been amusing watching Tom defend this tweet for an hour, an obvious sign he stepped in it. ☀☀☀ Most definitions of a “cult of personality” cite the likes of Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, and the Kim Dynasty. While various scholars have attempted to apply the term to any number of US presidents, it is an obvious stretch. ☀☀☀ Tom’s definition of a cult of personality is when “their strongest supporters brook no criticism whatsoever” which aligns completely with what one expects of “strongest supporters.” In other words, he’s defining the term down to meaninglessness. ☀☀☀ Moreover, Tom casts a net wide enough to capture not only Trump, Obama, and HRC, but also Bob Dole. Imagine! A cult of personality minus the personality! ☀☀☀ Which brings me to my main point. Tom feels comfortable saying such outlandish things because he belongs to what I’ll call a cult of anti-personality. It’s a poor name, but I’ll explain what I mean. ☀☀☀ In a cult of personality, media portrays the figure...

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...

from Twitter ...and, finally, The Works!