Oh Boy It Never Ends: THUNDERBOLTS

Above is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Virgin Baby Hogg" and I'm sick of these White boys who think they're qualified to lead because they can stand up. Hogg's the Pete Hegseth of the left. White boy, sit your ass down already.

Summer's just around the corner. Especially if you count like I do -- starting at the end of May. I count it that way for two reasons. School ended then from kindergarten to college. Summer movies start then as well. Pamela McClintock (THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) notes:

Lightning has struck many times for Marvel Studios at the box office before Kevin Feige's superhero studio went through some turbulent times in recent years. Now comes another chance.

Later this week, Thunderbolts* kicks off the summer box office in a pivotal moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jake Schreier, the film brings together a band of dysfunctional outsiders - and lesser-known comic book characters - who discover their potential to be heroes when working together.

Tracking suggests the movie will open in the $70 million to $73 million range domestically, and $160 million to $175 million globally, against a $180 million production budget before marketing. Prior to the pandemic, that would have been considered not so great for an MCU title kicking off summer. But times have changed, with tracking becoming more unreliable. Also, the Disney-owned Marvel is stressing these aren't well-known characters.

If word-of-mouth is strong, all bets are off. The unexpected spring bloom currently underway at the box office - led by Ryan Coogler's sleeper sensation Sinners - proves that people want the communal experience of watching a film together.

I liked and didn't like the trailer. It looks like it's going to be good. But you need to be careful where you see it.

We don't have a SMG in my state. New Hampshire does. A number of you have recommended that chain -- Studio Movie and Grill. So I went this month and hated it.

You can order (overpriced) food and drinks and they bring it to you. My problem there? I hit the buzzer before the trailer start. The trailers are over when the man finally comes over. I ask for a menu and, oops, they can't give me one. They're changing it up. Can't I just use my phone and look it up that way? Well, no. Not when they've had two messages onscreen between trailers telling us not to do that. I list some things and finally he says yes they do have nachos. I order a diet coke or coke zero whatever they have. That was the time for him to tell me they didn't have coke products. But he didn't. I would've gotten water, had I know. The nachos arrive and so does a soda. Not only is not a Coke, it's not diet. I call him back and he asks, "Well can't you just drink it?" No. It's not what I ordered. And I'm diabetic. I can't drink regular soda.

He tells me it will be a minute.

It was.

It was over 60 minutes.

So, no, the service was bad. The bill was a mystery. I knew it would be overpriced. I didn't know what the actual cost would be because, again, no menus. Also, he charged me for both drinks. The one he got wrong ("You drank it" -- I took one sip and discovered it wasn't diet) and the replacement. I will never go back for those reasons but there's another reason.

How does this apply to THUNDERBOLTS? That's the other reason. The colors were washed out. Because they didn't darken the theater -- not even when the movie started. Why? Because they serve food throughout the movie.

What I saw looked good story and action wise. But what I saw was washed out because they didn't darken the theater.

I plan on seeing THUNDERBOLTS. But not at a SMG. Never at a SMG.

Going out with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Wednesday, April 30, 2025. While Democrats in Congress work to highlight Chump's abuses Gretch the Wretch throws her arms around him and grinds her crotch into his, an apparently blotto drunk Pete Hegseth announces he's over turned a hideous Biden policy that was, in fact, a Chump effort led by, among others, Rubio and Noem, Cry Baby Connolly tries to will his leadership post to a buddy even though it doesn't work that way, and much more.

Is it the lead in the water in Michigan that's turned so many of the state's politicians into clowns over the last year or so?

Gretchen Whitmer decided to betray the Democratic Party yet again by slobbering over Convicted Felon Donald Chump.

Gretch The Wretch. We warned you years ago.

But what to say about yesterday? Clown make up doesn't a politician make. I have no idea why so many elected Michigan women feel the need to wear clown make up. They'll slash that trashy dark red lipstick on for daytime wear as though an overpaid consultant's advised them this make them look like a serious woman? There are all shades of lipstick and some honestly are inappropriate for women in political office at any time of day. Gretch also has those deformed fake eye brows. For yesterday's event with Chump, she apparently got on the phone with the Secretary of Homeland Security and asked, "Hey, Kristi, could you help me out with some fashion choices." How else do you explain that ridiculous cosplay -- especially the ball cap? Elaine noted last night, "You know the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, has a spine. Gretch? She's got a runner in her spine, someone help her shop for a new one."

Let's work on getting clowns like Gretch out of politics and back to Stepford with the other town wives where she belongs.

While Gretch spent the day giving Chump a half-and-half, Senator Elizabeth Warren demonstrated Tuesday how politicians can actually use their voices.

And on the day Gretch the Wretch was throwing her arms around Chump, here was Senator Chris Murphy on the floor of the Senate.

Let's stay with Democrats but move over to the House where cry baby Connolly is the news. Scott Wong (NBC NEWS) reports:

Rep. Gerry Connolly’s surprise announcement that he plans to soon step down as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has set off a scramble to succeed him that could pit the party's old guard against an up-and-coming class of progressives who have aggressively opposed President Donald Trump.

Connolly, 75, said Monday that his esophageal cancer had returned after “grueling treatments” and that he would not seek re-election next year. The Virginia Democrat's decision came just four months after he defeated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., for the highly visible committee post.

If Democrats retake the House in next year's midterm elections, the ranking member would be in line to chair the committee, with the power to issue subpoenas to the Trump administration.

A senior Democrat on the panel, Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, said Tuesday that he is taking over as interim ranking member and will handle day-to-day responsibilities as Connolly focuses on his health. And Lynch said that Connolly has pledged to endorse him for the role once it formally opens up.

“He told me he’s publicly supporting me,” said Lynch, 70, who has served in the House since 2001. "I worked with him for almost 25 years. So we've traveled together — Iraq, Afghanistan — we've done investigations, we've worked on a whole bunch of stuff together. There's a friendship there."

A few things. We supported AOC over Connolly for that post. Some are now saying this proves this or that. The issue wasn't, and never should have been, Cry Baby's age.

There was no reason to believe Cry Baby could deliver leadership because in all his time in Congress he never did. And for the last ten years or so, we called him out as a Cry Baby in hearing after hearing that we reported on here because I'm not a big fan of cry babies.

I cry often. If someone sacrifices for someone else, goes to the matt for them, that can make me cry. I cry for our country right now sometimes when I'm speaking to groups of people. And I power through and keep going. A cry baby crying for themselves all Connolly offered. He had no strength and he accomplished in hearing after hearing.

That's why AOC was the better choice.

His age had nothing to do with it then and shouldn't now.

His health? That's a whole other issue. We don't have ROE V WADE anymore and that's in part due to RBG. She put her desire to swear in Hillary Clinton as the first female president of America ahead of the rights of women. Then Hillary didn't get into the White House. Because RBG died. The cancer. The cancer she knew of and down played. She should have stepped down when Barack Obama suggested it to her. But she knew best. Then she dies with Chump in the Oval Office.

Cry Baby Connolly knew his condition. (I've had bouts with caner throughout the time of this website. I'm not stupid enough to think I could do chemo and hold public office. When it's coming back, I may not want to admit it to others but I do sense it.) He never should have gone for the post.

As for his attempt to 'will' it to someone? It's not his damn seat. The House Democrats need to get together and immediately vote. AOC clearly wants it, she should be the front runner.

Stephen Lynch is not impressive. He's been a reactor in Congress, not a doer.

House Dems need to fill this spot immediately. Lynch shouldn't be allowed to sit in it while others hope the country doesn't pay attention and then get the position slid over to him.

I'm not an AOC stan. Sunday's comments riled some AOC supporters -- we'll deal with that on Thursday or Friday -- and my statements were accurate. But AOC sought this position. AOC has stood with the party -- this isn't a backstabber, for example, who told people not to vote for Kamala in 2024. She didn't get the post. And yet she continued to campaign for the party and for what the party believes in as she barnstormed the country.

The position should go to her.

I wouldn't piss me off on this. I can remember the last time I got pissed off over a committee position. It was a highly unqualified idiot. The idiot's not in Congress anymore. No, I'm not like the bimbo RFK Junior made his running mate. (And didn't we shut that bimbo down in real life after her threat to use the money spreading her legs brought it. Made her social paraih across California and the media's not heard from her since.) No, when I get pissed, I go looking. And it didn't take much looking to find that this unqualified hack was also a thief. Now she and her wigs did get the position that she didn't deserve. But after that? She was no longer in Congress. She was in prison.

AOC deserves this spot and has earned it. If the party disagrees, the answer is not to say, "I'm not donating!" or anything like that. The proper response is to do a deep dive into the reality of Stephen Lynch or whomever gets the post instead of AOC.

Corinne Brown's wasn't the first crooked member of Congress and she hasn't been the last.

And, by the way, there's no reason to wait to build a case against Lynch. That should start right now. And you can start with Lynch's 2002 vote for the war on Iraq. How does that reveal leadership? What does that say about judgment?

Again, not an AOC groupie.

She should have been picked over Cry Baby to begin with. Now that Cry Baby's stepped aside, the post needs to go to her.

Before I forget, Thursday night, MSNBC is doing a townhall live hosted by Stephanie Ruhle. I went on BLUESKY and can't find anything on it or on Ari's live event on Friday. Not on their own individual feeds and not even on the MSNBC feed. News of those specials should be pinned at the top of the feeds.

Now let's move over to Chump and his little boy Pete Hegseth. With all the disasters Hegseth continues to create, Mama Chump refuses to take the boy off the tit. Evan Williams (TAG 24 NEWS) reports:

In a new interview with The Atlantic, Trump admitted that "Signalgate" was real and a major mistake, and for the first time pointed the blame at Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

"I think we learned: Maybe don’t use Signal, okay?" Trump told The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who originally broke the story after being added to a Signal chat in plans to bomb Yemen were being shared.

Yet Chump goes on to insist that Hegseth is "safe in his job."

Apparently, Hegseth is finally sleeping through the night. Those pampers must really be extra absorbent. Phillip Kolb (2 PARAGRAPHS) reports:

President Donald Trump‘s U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reported today on X: “This morning, I proudly ENDED the "Women, Peace & Security" (WPS) program inside the @DeptofDefense.”

Hegseth described WPS as “another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops - distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING. WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists.” Hegseth claimed, “troops HATE it.”

Note: In 2017, President Trump enacted the Women, Peace, and Security Act (P.L. 115-68) which “promotes the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of the conflict continuum, including warfare and stabilization.”

Note: The bill “attracted wide bipartisan support, with then-Senator Marco Rubio, the current Secretary of State, serving as a cosponsor. Mike Waltz, the current U.S. national security advisor, was a founding member of the WPS congressional caucus.” And Rubio has been unwavering in crediting Trump with signing the bill.

Rubio said at the 19th Annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards Ceremony on April 1: “President Trump also signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act, a bill that I was very proud to have been a co-sponsor of when I was in the Senate, and it was the first comprehensive law passed in any country in the world – the first law passed by any country anywhere in the world – focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.”

Was he drunk? Again? This bill had nothing to do with Joe Biden despite Hegseth's slurred lie. How blotto is Hegseth by mid-day if he's unable to differentiate between Joe Biden and Donald Chump? Guess who was a sponsor of the bill in the House? Kristi Noem who is now Secretary of Homeland Security. Again, how drunk is Hegseth when he's on the clock? Nick Wadhams (BLOOMBERG NEWS) notes another member of Chump's current administration praised the law back during Chump's first term as president:

The law also received a recent endorsement from Dan Caine, Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a retired Air Force lieutenant general. In his April confirmation hearing, Caine said he didn’t think it was linked to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives denounced by Trump and called it “a program that really helped us to understand the full spectrum of challenges that are in front of us.”

Hegseth’s attack on the law highlights yet another move by the current administration to cancel initiatives that Trump had championed during his first term concerning women’s empowerment and diversity. It’s also the latest move in a continuing push by Hegseth — who has come under criticism for a series of missteps — to lean into Trump priorities, such as shutting down the southern border and dismantling DEI initiatives, that are favorites of Trump’s MAGA base.

Meanwhile, Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) reminds, "Hegseth is the current Secretary of Defense, and while he likes to tout 'WAR-FIGHTING' as his primary focus, his tenure so far has been defined by efforts to purge mentions of women and minorities from the DoD's websites, and accidentally texting sensitive attack plans to journalists."

Chump's monkey man leaves us all at risk and open to attack. But it's not just our national defense that Chump's destroying. No, he's destroying everything. Gabriela León observes, "The imposition of tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump just this April has made it more expensive for goods to enter the United States. One of the main consequences of artificially inflating import costs is a reduction in the quantity of goods available. On April 24, U.S. pork exports suffered a major setback due to tariffs imposed by China. According to recent USDA data, China cancelled an order for 12,000 metric tons of pork, the largest cancellation since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains in 2020." Sydney Lake (FORTUNE) explains, "Consumer confidence fell for the fifth straight month on the heels of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, driving up prices and spooking Americans. The Conference Board’s most recent survey for its Consumer Confidence Index, published Tuesday, shows confidence dropped nearly eight points in April to 86. Consumers’ expectations for the future are now at a 13-year low, according to the Conference Board." Who's to blame? America knows exactly who's to blame. The idiot who crashed the economy was Donald Chump. Ariel Edwards-Levy (CNN) notes, "A 59% majority of the public now says President Donald Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the country, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, up from 51% in March and on par with the worst numbers Joe Biden saw during his presidency. Americans remain broadly unhappy with the nation’s economy, the survey finds, and there’s little enthusiasm for the White House’s sweeping new trade policies. With the impact of new tariffs still largely to come, 6 in 10 already say that Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their community, with just 12% saying his agenda has helped to bring prices down."

This as Jennifer Agiesta and Emily R. Condon (CNN) report:

The American public is frustrated, disappointed and increasingly angry at the state of politics 100 days into Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with neither party positioned to change the mood.

Approval ratings for Republican leaders in Congress are deeply underwater, with Democrats faring even worse as their rank-and-file turn increasingly negative about the party’s leaders. Nearly two-thirds of all Americans say things in the country are going badly today.

The poll also finds a rising tide of fear among Americans looking ahead to the rest of Trump’s second term, with many doubtful that the checks and balances built into the US government are doing enough to limit Trump’s actions in office.

“I’m not pleased. I’m unsure. I’m honestly scared. I think this is the first time I can say that I’m fearful as to what is coming, what has happened and what is coming,” said Lisa Taylor, an independent from Maryland who voted for Trump in 2016 and for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 and participated in the poll.

She is one of about 4 in 10 Americans (41%) who say they feel afraid about the remainder of Trump’s second term, up 6 points since February and 12 points since December.

Turning back to MSNBC, tonight Rachel Maddow completes her 100 day coverage of Chump. She'll then return to Monday on MSNBC -- Mondays only. Let's note this fro last night's show.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Senator Murray: “Let’s face it, billionaires like Elon Musk and Trump already had a “head start” in life, so of course they don’t care if anyone else needs a little help. But this is make or break for everyone else—and I mean everyone, not just for families, not just for parents, but for businesses as well, and for our economy which is powered by our working families.”

ICYMI: Head Start funding lags by nearly $1 billion this year, causing some preschool closures

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former Chairof the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined a press conference hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on their announcement of a lawsuit against the Trump administration for seeking to dismantle the Head Start program. Senator Murray spoke about how critical Head Start is in helping kids and families across the country thrive.

Head Start currently serves over 750,000 kids nationwide, and the program has served nearly 40 million children and their families nationwide since its inception in 1965. There are over 17,000 Head Start centers nationwide and these centers are particularly important in serving rural communities with fewer options for care.

Since taking office, President Trump has gutted the offices that keep Head Start centers and child care programs across the country running. In late February, the Trump administration fired scores of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care. Earlier this month, Trump continued to hollow out HHS, including by shuttering half of the regional offices at the Office of Head Start, which are responsible for ensuring high-quality Head Start services are available to families nationwide. The Trump administration has failed to articulate how it will ensure that uninterrupted services are available to families and that appropriate oversight will be carried out despite gutting the very offices charged with these responsibilities.

As data compiled by Senator Murray’s office shows, the Trump administration has failed to get out nearly $1 billion in funding for Head Start programs this year, part of a larger, sweeping funding freeze Trump has ordered since taking office.

Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered, are below:

“Well thank you all for being on this call, I really, really do appreciate it. And I just want to say that when I first got into politics to fight for child care and early education programs, I met with a few politicians who really did not get it—and a lot of parents who absolutely did. Well, we made our voices heard, we made a difference in that fight, and now, we have to keep it up!

“I still, constantly, hear from parents about child care and pre-K, and I take their stories back with me here to the Capitol to fight for change. We have made a lot of progress over the years making the case for child care, making historic investments in our families, and changing the conversation.

“But then, a couple of billionaires with no idea about what they are doing came along and decided to take an axe to Head Start. I mean talk about clueless. Talk about careless! Instead of giving our kids a Head Start Trump and Musk want to give billionaires another tax break and give families the cold shoulder.

“We already got a hint of how bad this could get for Washington state—when funding delays forced a Head Start program to the point of closure. 450 kids temporarily lost access to early education programs and support they counted on. And more than 70 employees were out of a job. To say nothing of the hundreds of parents who were about to be forced out of work because they lost pre-K.

“That chaos was from just one provider facing funding delays, if Trump and Musk get their way, if they zero out Head Start completely—the damage would be magnitudes greater.

“Let’s face it, billionaires like Elon Musk and Trump already had a “head start” in life, so of course they don’t care if anyone else needs a little help.

“But this is make or break for everyone else—and I mean everyone, not just for families, not just for parents, but for businesses as well, and for our economy which is powered by our working families.

“Trump and Musk may want to axe Head Start and they have already made clear they will do everything they can to break the program and cause chaos, but they are going to have to go through me—and they are going to have to go through all of you.

“I am going to keep doing what I have done since the very start, getting loud about why programs like Head Start matter for families, talking to other parents, lifting up their voices, and fighting, with all the power I have, for our kids.

“And I’m so glad to be fighting along such amazing advocates and organizations like the ACLU, and the Washington State Association of Head Start and E-CEAP—you don’t just serve our families, you are standing up for them, and we are all really thankful for that.

“So it’s great to be with you on this call—and let’s keep fighting, we’ve got to, thank you.”

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The following sites updated: