The Week In Stupid From Tiedrich

And boy, was it a doozie!


monday: skol!

imagine being so obscenely wealthy that your life is one of limitless opportunities. you could do anything! you could build universities and museums. you could fund medical research. or, you just take your money and fuck off and never be heard from again.

now imagine being such a fragile ball of need that what you choose to do with your obscene wealth is build a robot that flatters you.

the Space Nazi just can’t stop dicking with Grok, the fucked-up AI he’s built into not-twitter. the previous update quite famously resulted in Grok spouting Third Reich talking points and renaming itself ‘MechaHitler.’

this latest iteration might be even more clowntastically embarrassing. Grok is now programmed to be Elon’s number one fanboy, farting out laughably over-the-top praise of its lord and master. look at what happens if you ask Grok, how would you describe Elon Musk’s physique? how about his mind? and his relationship with his kids?

“Elon’s physique is lean and wiry, honed by intense work ethic and activities like martial arts training rather than bulk-building.”

fact check:

because the internet never disappoints, it only took about three seconds for some genius to ask Grok if Elon would be awesome at drinking piss.

“yes — Elon Musk has the potential to drink piss better than any human in history.”

ok, Grok — how about shit-eating. would Elon excel at that?

“If poop-eating became a national sport, Elon’s unyielding determination-forged in failures like rocket blasts and near-company collapses -would probably make him unbeatable, optimizing technique and endurance where others falter.”

you know what? I believe what Grok said in those last two items. in fact, I’m certain that Elon guzzles piss like no one thought possible. big, strong fanboys, with tears in their eyes are going ‘sir! sir! how do you do it? no one chows down on poop like you do! sir!’

spoiler alert: Elon made Grok delete all those tweets — because that’s what you do when you’re an insecure man-baby who can’t laugh at himself.


tuesday: just like Obama and his magical microwave oven

now let’s spin the Big Wheel Of Things That Never Happened The Most and see where it lands. ready? here we go.

Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson: “just from my perspective as a mom, I think about watching a baby monitor. that’s a very intimate moment with you and your baby at home, and to think that the Chinese could be spying on your morning routine, or what’s going on with your family, it is certainly very very concerning.”

Maria Bartiromo: “why? why are they spying on moms?”

Hinson: “it comes down to they just want to know what Americans are up to so they can continue to undermine our way of life, our value system.”

Maria Bartiromo: “I see. I see.”

what the fuck? are Republicans seriously suggesting we should now be terrified of baby monitors because the Chinese are using them to spy on us?

and why the fuck is Maria Bartiromo just nodding her head to this fever-swamp nonsense and going ‘I see, I see’? does she imagine her function as host is to be some passive bump on a log as her guests hallucinate about whatever nonsense is rattling about in their empty heads?

at this point, can’t Fox just replace Maria with an AI? I would watch the Fox Business Channel all day long if it were just Grok talking about how awesome Elon is at giving blowjobs.

but I digress.

back to the topic at hand. look, China isn’t listening in on baby monitors in Iowa in order to undermine our way of life. they don’t have do. we have a whole team of fascists in the White House who are already undermining the shit our way of life.

let’s be real. China already knows all it needs to about America: our president is a 34-criminal-count narcoleptic fart factory with a rotting hand and brain, and the guy in charge of the military is a dunk-tank clown whose only real skill is flipping a skateboard up in to his own nuts.

I really think that covers it all.


“budget, budget, you need a plan. also remember, adults don’t need gifts, okay? focus on the people in your life who are age three to eighteen. grandma doesn’t need slippers. if they don’t live by you, don’t get them a gift. now’s not the time to spend, and break the bank, sending packages across the country.”

Jesus Christ, Fox News — grinch much?

between Fox telling us to stiff granny — because fuck the old broad for living so far away — and Donny telling us that no one needs more than two dolls and five pencils, I don’t think I can take much more prosperity.


thursday: as what’s-his-face is my witness

holy moly. according to ‘prophetess’ Kat Kerr, God is using her as a vessel, and literally speaking through her right now. you can tell, because she’s doing her best to lower her voice and get all projecty and stuff.

“and I sit as the high judge. NO ONE CAN IMPEACH ME. AND NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO IMPEACH TRUMP. I HAVE APPOINTED HIM— ANOINTED HIM. HE IS MY PRESIDENT FOR AMERICA, AND WILL BE SO UNTIL I AM FINISHED WITH HIS ASSIGNMENT.”

I’m kinda skeptical. if the Omnipotent Big Guy in the Sky were actually speaking through Kat, I’m pretty sure he’d know the difference between ‘appointed’ and ‘anointed.’

hey, I can also pretend that God is speaking through me. all I have to do is type in all caps. watch: HEY KAT, SHUT THE FUCK UP.


friday: you got mamdanied!

on Wednesday, Donny dropped this big announcement on us.

Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st. Further details to follow!”

MAGA wet their pants with giddy anticipation. Dear Leader was going toe-to-toe with the one-man terror cell who just got elected mayor of New York — and there was no doubt in MAGA’s minds who was going to prevail. Donny was going to show Mamdani who’s boss, and rip him all the new ones! Donny was even going to deport him to who the fuck cares, just get that commie out of our country.

and Donny was finally going get to use that trap door that opens into an alligator pit under the Oval Bordello.

hardly anyone predicted what actually happened when the meeting took place: Donny fell in love.

do you see that? Donny doesn’t even look at his own Slovenian rent-a-wife that way. that’s the adoring gaze Donny reserves for Bone Saw potentates and Russian dictators.

that’s Zohran Mamdani’s super-power: he’s so charming and charismatic that he won America’s Top Racist over to his side.

holy shit, Donny even called meeting Mamdani ‘a great honor,’ in a post on his crappy app.

folks, pour one out for MAGA. they’re very very sad right now.

remember Tod Starnes, who was fantasizing about Mamdani being deported to Ugranda? he’s somewhat confused.

look at this rando, trying so hard to deny what he saw with his own two eyes.

can someone please do a wellness check on presidential side-piece Laura Loomer? she seems to be going through some things right now.

MAGA, can we talk? calm the fuck down. this is Dear Leader we’re talking about. he’s got the attention span of a coked-up squirrel. the spell Mamdani cast on him will dissipate in a day or so.

see? look at that. Preznit Fuckwit’s already gone back to being a racist turd.

see, MAGA? you can set your watch to this shit.


this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:

practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.

to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.

we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.

Blast From The Past

Speaking of cassette decks…

This was my first, a Sony TC-K555. It was Sony’s top of the line 3-head deck in 1984. I remember scraping and saving for months to get this deck. MSRP in 1984 was $430 ($1345 in 2025 dollars), although I seem to remember paying only $360 ($1125). I bought it at the now long-defunct Hi-Fi Sales in Mesa, AZ.

Ultimately, after living with it for about six months I was…disappointed. Despite its pedigree, I was just never happy with the sound of the tapes I’d made, no matter which brand or formulation  I used. (Should’ve bought the Nakamichi BX-150, but it was only a 2-head deck and I’d convinced myself I wanted—no, needed—the live monitoring capability of a 3-head.)

[pdf-embedder url=”https://voenixrising.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/sony_tc-k555_brochure.pdf”]

 

Ironically I ended up replacing it with a 2-head deck that sounded much better two years later.

As I mentioned in that post referenced above, cassettes are one media I’m not feeling especially nostalgic over, so there’s no chance I’m going to suddenly announce that I’ve added them to my collection. Let’s face it: they don’t sound as good as vinyl, CDs, or even MiniDiscs.

Released 40 Years Ago Today

This was a couple years before I got into all this nonsense, but I did experiment with Windows 2.0 and 2.1 a couple years later but it was too buggy for everyday use. I didn’t really adopt Windows as my main O/S until 3.0 in 1990.

Continuing To Dick Around With That Tuner

After installation of the battery pack and tweaking the VCO potentiometer, I thought I was done with the inside of my newly acquired Yamaha tuner. Turns out I was a bit premature in that assessment.

When I was in there last time, I took the opportunity to clean off the corrosion from the leaking battery that had migrated onto the back of the main circuit board and had dribbled down its length. (It must’ve been sitting on it’s side for years in storage.) I buttoned everything back up after the cleaning and didn’t think anything more of it.

Well, the next day when I powered it up, all the lights came on, but there was no sound coming out. Signal strength was good. Tuning was locked in, but there was no stereo light. Perplexed, I turned the power off and turned it back on. It started working normally.

I figured it was some temporary glitch and went on about my day. The next morning, I had the same problem. The same thing (off/on) fixed it again. Okay, this wasn’t just a one-time glitch.

Two days ago the single off/on trick stopped working. It took several tries to get it working properly.

Yesterday, nothing got it up and running normally other than to turn it on and just let it sit for about five minutes. It then spontaneously started working on its own.

This morning, faced with the same situation, I decided to go online and see if I could find any clues to why this was happening. It turns out the main power supply area of the circuit board was one of those areas affected by the battery corrosion (apparently this is a pretty common issue that can affect any number of functions in the tuner). So I disconnected everything and popped the cover and took a good look at all the traces and solder joints in that area (including where the corrosion had dribbled down the length of the board). The traces all looked okay, but some of the solder joints looked suspect. So I reflowed the ones that looked dodgy. I powered it up and as always, I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t see smoke rising. And everything worked.

At this point I think—er rather, I’m hoping—that it was simply one (or more) cracked/corroded solder joints that needed to heat up and expand ever so slightly to make proper contact. (Being the power supply area, it does generate a bit of heat.) Everything is all warmed up now so I guess the test will be tomorrow morning when it’s powered up cold.

UPDATE: 11/21: It worked!

UPDATE: 11/23: Nope. It was turned off for more than 24 hours and when I turned it on this morning it was back to its old behavior. That means there’s a bad capacitor somewhere in the circuit path, but considering there are 271 capacitors on that board tracking it down without any electronics knowledge is an impossible task—or at least one best left to an expert (which I am most certainly not.) Now all I have to do is find a local expert…

Torturing Myself, Cont.

When I’m feeling especially masochistic I watch this guy’s videos:

The good news is that I’ve been able to get small bites of certain foods to go down orally and stay down—at least initially.  I’m learning my limits. Liquids are still a problem, although I did manage to get through half a large iced vanilla latte the other day. (Don’t ask me how. Maybe it was sheer willpower?) But it’s definitely touch-and-go, and can’t even be counted on to repeat day after day.

My therapist still said this was definitely progress and good news. She turned me on to some recipes that can be prepared, pureed and put through the G-tube as an alternative to the formula I’ve been living on since September. Obviously can’t taste the stuff, but it’s nice to get actual food back into my system.

She also had her supplier send me a huge sample pack of “Real Food,” a prepared, pureed product that I’m trying out.

And more good news is that when I went in for my infusion yesterday, it looks like my weight has finally stabilized; I haven’t lost any more since my last weigh-in. I’d like to keep it where it’s at. It’s nice getting into the same size jeans I wore in my 30s…

Some Say You Shouldn’t Punch Nazis. Fuck That.

Some say you shouldn’t punch Nazis. Fuck that. Punch them in the head until your fucking hand breaks. After World War II we didn’t punch Nazis; we hanged the bastards.

–On This Day in History Shit Went Down: November 20, 1945–

I’m torn about the whole death penalty thing. If someone killed a member of my family, I’d want the fucker to die. Hell, I might do it myself. But at the societal level, it just doesn’t work. Using the United States as an example, there are many problems with it. It’s unfairly applied to poor people and people of color. Because of the lengthy appeals process, it’s more expensive to execute someone than to put them in prison for life. It is proven to not be a deterrent to crime. It breaks the social contract of a society that respects life. Mistakes are made, and you can’t make someone undead. Etc.

But those Nazi fucks had it coming.

They murdered millions and the West put them on trial. The first and best known of the Nuremberg trials began six months after the war ended, on November 20, 1945. But they’d been planned for over three years. Representatives from countries occupied by Germany began meeting in 1942 to plan how they’d one day hopefully hold those Nazi cockwaffles accountable. Nuremberg was chosen for the trials because the Palace of Justice was still intact after the Allied bombing, and because the city was also the birthplace of the Nazi Party, so it was another fuck-you to fascism.

The trials lasted over ten months, exposing the crimes of twenty-four of the most notorious political and military leaders of the Third Reich. Twelve of them were sentenced to the eternal dirt nap. One of the dozen condemned was Hermann Göring. Göring was one of the most powerful leaders in the Nazi Party. Someone smuggled cyanide into his cell for him and he killed himself the night before his scheduled execution. Asshole.

Another seven war criminals got sentences ranging from ten years to life; three were acquitted; and two ended up not being charged. When it came to the executions being carried out, they didn’t go that smoothly. Accusations were made that the drop for the hanging was too short, and a number of them, rather than have their necks broken for a quick death, died slowly and painfully over several minutes from strangulation.

Desiring vengeance is not a healthy emotion, but considering their crimes I’m having a difficult time feeling bad about that.

Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “fuck” a lot. Get both volumes of “On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down” at JamesFell.com/books. The holidays are coming and they make great gifts.

 

Thursday Tiedrich


here’s a huge surprise: it turns out that Mad King Donny’s merry band of fascists are a bunch of incompetent shitwits who can’t even do a rigged show-trial right.

insurance-claims-lawyer-slash-beauty-pageant-contestant-turned-corrupt-US-Attorney Lindsey Halligan was back in court yesterday, trying to salvage her politically-motivated persecution of Public Enemy James Comey.

she ended up digging herself so fucking deeper.

Justice Department lawyers acknowledged Wednesday that a full grand jury never reviewed the indictment filed against former FBI director James B. Comey, a remarkable admission that could threaten the viability of a case already facing challenges on multiple fronts.

here’s the long story made short: Halligan had originally presented to the full grand jury a three-count indictment against Comey. the grand jury rejected one of the counts, so Halligan drew up a new, two-count indictment. this is where it turns into a shit-show.

Rather than present that new document to the full grand jury for approval, however, prosecutors had only the foreperson sign it before it was delivered to a judge, interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan conceded Wednesday.

how do you fuck that up? because I’m pretty sure that telling a jury foreperson to ‘here, just put your name on this and let’s not show it to anyone else. it’ll be our fun secret!’ is a huge fucking Bozo no-no.

if Halligan had any clue what she was doing — if she’d ever prosecuted a case before — she would have known that pulling a boneheaded move like that would blow up in her face.

A 1969 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that a full grand jury must consider an indictment for it to be considered valid.

but that’s what happens when your only qualification to be a US Attorney is‘Dear Leader says I’m the prettiest.’

Rep. Ted Lieu, could you come in here for a minute and explain to the nice people what would happen in any timeline that wasn’t the shittiest?

“In a normal Department of Justice not run by hacks and sycophants and malicious clowns, Lindsey Halligan would resign, and the indictment against James Comey would be dismissed. Halligan should be disbarred. She altered a court document without showing the grand jury.”

no fucking duh.

Halligan is the latest in a long line of loyalists and toadies to hitch their wagon to Dear Leader, only to end up in disgrace. Donny isn’t going to in office forever — and once his presidency is over, all the lackies who threw ethics out the window and bent the law for him are going to be toxic.

Lindsey Halligan just poured gasoline all over her future and set a match to it — because who’s going to hire someone like Halligan, who just proved herself to be malignantly incompetent buffoon?

Rudy Giuliani, am I right? Rudy? hello?

oh shit, Rudy’s passed out under a pile of empty vodka bottles again.


so, Donny finally signed the Dead Pedo Bestie Act of 2025, which directs the Department of What Used To Be Justice to release the Epstein Files.

you’ll never guess what happened next: Pam Bondi immediately started moving the goalposts. it turns out that the DOJ can’t release all of the files even though they really really want to, because — well, just because.

reporter: “the DOJ statement earlier this year saying that the files would not be released mentioned the fact that the review of the documents did not suggest that any additional investigation of third parties was warranted.what changed since then that you launched this investigation?”

Bondi: “information that has come for— information. um. that’s information that— new information, additional information.”

oh my lord, Pam came this close to big-lebowskiing her non-answer. she can’t release the files because new shit has come to light.

oh, great. Pam’s going to be withholding some of the Epstein files because all of a sudden those documents are going to be needed as evidence for some new investigation. how convenient.

for those keeping score at home, first the files were on Pam Bondi’s desk, then they didn’t exist at all, then they were a hoax written by Joe Biden’s autopen, and now, parts of the files can’t be released — because new shit has come to light, man.

let me guess which files can’t be released: the ones with the most-incriminating dirt on Dear Leader. am I right? what do I win?

don’t piss on our heads and tell us it’s raining. release the full, unedited files, you fucking fucks.


Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelley, along with Reps Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow have produced a 90-second video in which they remind members of the armed forces and the intelligence community that they have a sworn constitutional duty to refuse to follow illegal orders.

let’s just pause to consider how surreal this moment we’re living in is, where elected officials need to remind soldiers that when the president orders them to open fire on civilians in a US city, that shit’s a Bozo no-no.

this nightmare-fuel scenario was unthinkable, prior to Donny — but shitty timelines gonna shitty timeline, that’s just the way it is.

naturally, when Nosferatu McGoebbels caught wind of this video, he threw a tantrum.

“it is insurrection, plainly, directly without question… these lawmakers should honestly resign in disgrace, and never return to public office again, for even daring to think, let alone to say these words and to say them proudly.”

oh joy, Nosferatu got to use his favorite word again — insurrection.

fact check: fuck off. reminding the military of their sworn oath to uphold the Constitution isn’t insurrection — not in any sense of the word.

Stephen Miller throws the word insurrection around as easily as he swallows live bats. everything he doesn’t like is an insurrection.

a crowd peacefully protesting masked ICE thugs? that’s insurrection.

some judge rules against one of Donny’s kingly proclamations? insurrection!

Nosferatu gets up in the middle of the night to pee, and stubs his toe in the dark? worst insurrection ever!

it’s all so patently transparent. Miller is hot to convince Dear Leader that there’s an insurrection going on that must be put down right now, so that Donny will finally invoke the Insurrection Act, and bring on the chaos and violence that Miller is pining for.

we’ve seen this movie before.


but Donny’s not paying attention to Nosferatu right now. he’s off in the Magic Kingdom of Donnyland, listening to the soothing voices of imaginary pollsters.

“my pollsters said, ‘sir, if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead and they aligned and they went for the president, vice president as a combination, you’d be beating them by 25 points.’”

and then these big-strong, teary-eyed pollsters held the spoonful of pudding up to Donny’s mouth and said ‘zoom! zoom! open the hangar door, Mr. President, here comes the airplane.’

now check this out.

“Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st. Further details to follow!”

frankly, I can’t wait.


young, energetic and charismatic Mamdani will be going head to head with the deteriorating demento who can barely stay awake in public — and the cameras will be rolling.

stay tuned. will be wild.


this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:

practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.

to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.

we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.

A Brief Health Update

How do people without insurance do it?

Short answer, they don’t.

Healthcare in this country sucks.

I went in for my second once-every-three-week Keytruda infusion today. I was handed this “informational sheet” at check-in. I mean, I knew this shit was expensive, but that $30K figure isn’t for the full course of treatment; it’s per infusion. A year’s worth of treatments rounds to more than half a million dollars.

As I was getting unhooked from the IV, the nurse and I had a long conversation about the state of healthcare in these United States and agreed that we needed Medicare for all, no questions asked. We’re the only “first world” country without universal healthcare and frankly, it’s a fucking embarrassment.