Crossover alert! Our esteemed engineer Manny Faces conducted a stellar and important interview this week about new documentary, As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, that “delves deep into the intersection of hip hop, activism, and social justice with the film’s director, J.M. Harper, and Bronx, NY-based rapper Kemba, who is the face of the documentary. This timely conversation underscores the genre’s capacity to challenge stereotypes and address critical issues within the criminal justice system.” You can watch the full interview here.
So two nights ago my wife and I turned on the tube to watch some old man scream everything but “Get off my lawn!” at us. He made it through taunts and jeers from Republicans like MTG who apparently came directly from a kid’s party gig as Marjorie the MAGA Clown. Mike “Little” Johnson did his level best to frown for an hour straight and refused to participate in the orchestrated stand-up-and-down ritual in the chamber. (Actually, that last statement needs to be fact-checked because he actually might have been standing the entire time.)
Several sycophant Democrats gathered around J’Biden after the speech to offer praise with one senator even describing the speech as a fiery Baptist sermon. In fairness, I could use whatever the fuck they injected in Biden’s ass cheek before he went out there. Every time he went off prompter he fucked it up but on balance it was one of the best campaign speeches he’s ever delivered. Sadly, this wasn’t the campaign trail. It was the State of the Union.
Establishment liberal pundits were aghast at the behavior of Republicans who could barely bring themselves to clap for even the most basic statements. They criticized Republicans for heckling Biden but in all fairness he seemed to enjoy it. In fact, I would argue that his best moments were in response to jeers from people like MTG. For what it’s worth, if you’re ever bored and want to see what other “respectable” countries like Canada look like, check this out:
One thing I learned about U.S. foreign policy is that Israel has a right to defend itself. Oh, and that we’re so fucking afraid of AIPAC and Netanyahu that instead of demanding that our two close allies—Egypt and Israel—allow international aid supplies into Gaza, we’re going to construct a fucking pier in the ocean instead.
I said…We’re going to build a pier in the ocean instead.
Palestinian children have begun to perish from starvation. It’s happening. Children are literally starving to death while international aid trucks sit at the border. So we’re going to, let me say it again, build a fucking pier in the ocean instead of making them feed children. That’s the mighty U.S. of A for ya.
Anyway, the night was a glorified campaign speech that was at times chaotic and at all times predictable. What completely threw me for a loop was the (OMG) Republican response video.
The response was delivered by Pam from The Office Alabama Senator Katie Britt and it was…how should I describe it…Glorious. Yes, it was fucking glorious. I had already left the room in disgust to go play with the dogs when my wife texted me, “YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS.” First off, the broadcast was set in (where else) her kitchen, which is where all good women should be and I made sure to remind my wife of that. (Side note, anyone have a place I can crash for a few days?) The lighting would make Kari Lake proud. The cross around her neck shimmered. And her stone cold Stepford eyes and bless-your-heart delivery gave a stunned nation douche chills.
It’s going to be a wild ride, Unfuckers.
Other things I’m obsessing over…
Okay. Another late-to-the-game situation but my wife and I finally started watching The Bear. All I can say is “holy shit.” The writing on this show is extraordinary and they’ve captured the intensity of working in a kitchen. Though I do have to question the back of the house layout. An entire area for desert prep in a glorified sandwich shop?
There were mixed feelings about this news. As CBNC reported, “Job creation topped expectations in February, but the unemployment rate moved higher and employment growth from the previous two months wasn’t nearly as hot as initially reported.” So while the country added another impressive 275,000 jobs, the prior months’ adjustments contributed to an increase in the unemployment rate. It’s still a great place to be historically, but unemployment and inflation are the two areas that matter most to the Fed and we still need rate cuts in order to restore balance in the consumer debt arena.
Headlines
Dems Thrilled Biden Didn’t Fall Down During Speech
As usual, Branko Marcetic nails it. Biden talked about how great the economy is instead of showing he understood how difficult times are for most people. He doubled down on support for Israel, which has already made him vulnerable in the election. And he blew past all the popular things that didn’t get passed in the Build Back Better bill.
From the article:
“Even as he downplayed the level of economic hardship, he elevated the issue of the border, again touting his far–right border bill from last month, and for the second time publicly urging Trump to work together with him to get it passed. At one point, he held up a pin given to him by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bearing the name of Laken Riley, the Georgian nursing student killed by an undocumented immigrant, whose death has become a flash point for conservatives looking to use it to push a dismantling of the US immigration and asylum systems.”
I’ve mentioned before that Spencer Ackerman is one of my go-to resources for foreign affairs and journalism regarding the military industrial complex. His blog this week was a departure from military reporting but no less frightening. While looking for old articles he had written, he found them scraped, edited and given a new AI byline. This is just the beginning of the deep fake era and it’s already ugly.
From the article:
“It seems like every conversation I've had during the past several weeks with a friend or colleague involved in publishing—longtime journalists, novelists, comics people—has felt like dinosaurs describing the meteor we can see descending. My entire career has occurred after the internet giants began consolidating control over the advertising market that used to make large-scale news production possible, so it's been clear for as long as I've been doing this that journalism is fundamentally unstable as a business proposition. Some periods have been more stable than others. But for as long as I’ve been doing this work, the structural frailty of the entire enterprise has been on display, especially to those who labor within it. This is not one of those stabler times.”
I always appreciate thoughtful sports writing. And the very best sports journalism, hands down, is about the sweet science. While this isn’t one of those classic pieces where you can smell the cigar smoke and feel the sweat coming from a fighter’s brow, it is a thoughtful examination of everything that is (and has always been) wrong with the economics of boxing.
From the article:
“Always in search of its next benefactor, boxing, moreover, has a long history of soliciting dictatorships to fund fights. In the 1970s, Muhammad Ali fought in Mobutu’s Kinshasa, in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos, and in Indonesia, when it was still backed by its murderous dictator Suharto. And in what is probably the most infamous example of moral amnesia in boxing, promoter Bob Arum staged fights in apartheid South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s.”
We kick off the first installment in our series “Over the Borderline” where we examine the plight of immigrant families, the socioeconomic and political conditions that drive people to migrate to the United States and the current crisis that has become a central talking point in the 2024 election. This first episode is a spotlight on New York City, which has been overwhelmed by a surge in migrant families being bused from border states as part of a political maneuver to deposit the immigration issue at the feet of leaders in Blue States. After a brief summary and update of how the situation has changed over the past two years, we speak with Marlene Galaz, Director of Immigrant Rights Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition.
Here’s a snippet from the pod:
Max: “That’s not to say New Yorkers aren’t concerned about the influx of migrants. They’re visible on the streets, in hotels and the subways; masses of people just a bit out of step with the normal rhythms of the city. They cue up early at social services. The city is officially out of beds. Makeshift tent cities on Randall’s Island and Brooklyn have become increasingly unsafe and unsanitary. And a couple of crimes and tense interactions with the NYPD have been blown wildly out of proportion in the conservative media giving outsiders the impression that New York City is a warzone. The statistics tell a different story.”
In recent years, Nina Turner has emerged as one of the most powerful voices in the progressive movement and is willing to take on anyone undermining causes to uplift the working class.
“The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is an umbrella policy & advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York. The NYIC serves one of the largest and most diverse newcomer populations in the United States. The multi-racial and multi-sector NYIC membership base includes grassroots and nonprofit community organizations, religious and academic institutions, labor unions, as well as legal and socioeconomic justice organizations. The NYIC not only establishes a forum for immigrant groups to voice their concerns, but also provides a platform for collective action to drive positive social change.”
“For most of its early history, Israel was dominated by left-leaning, secular politicians. But today, the right is in power. Its politicians represent a movement that uses a religious framework to define Israel and its borders, and that has aggressively resisted a two-state solution with Palestinians. And its government – led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — is waging a war in Gaza which, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, has killed over 30,000 people, many of them children. The government launched the war in response to the October 7th, 2023 Hamas-led attack that, according to Israeli authorities, killed over 1,200 Israelis with an additional 250 being taken hostage.This is not the first time that tension has erupted into violence. But the dominance of right-wing thinkers in Israeli politics is pivotal to how the war has unfolded. On today's episode: the story of Israel's rightward shift.”
“This book explores the impact of Chinese growth on Latin America since the early 2000s. Some twenty years ago, Chinese entrepreneurs headed to the Western Hemisphere in search of profits and commodities, specifically those that China lacked and that some Latin American countries held in abundance--copper, iron ore, crude oil, and soybeans. Focusing largely on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru, Carol Wise traces the evolution of political and economic ties between China and these countries and analyzes how success has varied by sector, project, and country. She also assesses the costs and benefits of Latin America’s recent pivot toward Asia. Wise argues that while opportunities for closer economic integration with China are seemingly infinite, so are the risks. She contends that the best outcomes have stemmed from endeavors where the rule of law, regulatory oversight, and a clear strategy exist on the Latin American side.”
“Please be aware that the Puerto Rican statehood movement is mostly a conservative movement. While its early history it was composed of people of all strides, since the 1970s onwards it has been a carrot on a stick movement a handful of elites used for the poor here in PR.”
Support The Show
UNFTR is supported and funded by Unf*ckers like you.
If you'd like to help the team, please consider doing one of the following:
