So the year is officially half over.

Which is to say that Americans just got fucked in record time.

This country is adding trillions of dollars to the national debt while slashing benefits for average Americans all so 60% of the resulting tax cuts are going to the top 20% of the wealthiest Americans.

Typical.

I get how the math isn't understandable by most people. Math is hard. Fooling people about the math is easy.

But how is it that people don't understand that preventative health care for all Americans is in everybody's best interest? If people can't afford to go to doctors when problems are small and can be resolved relatively cheaply, then they wait until health problems are very large and incredibly expensive. Then they can't afford to pay. So they don't. But that money has to come from somewhere. Which is to say that we all end up paying far more for their care than we would have if they had gotten early treatment... whether it's via our taxes, higher insurance premiums, higher doctor costs, or whatever, WE pay for it! This is a simple concept that people are apparently too fucking stupid to understand.

The politicians supporting this shit understand it all very well... they just don't give a fuck if people get sick and die. And they also don't give a fuck if American taxpayers end up paying more money... just so long as their wealthy owners don't end up paying for it. Which they won't, because the vast majority of the tax cuts are going to them.

It's a horrific situation we're all being put in.

For example...

I really hope that nobody out there has a parent with dementia.

When I did, there was insurance and options for veterans available and it still wasn't enough. I took out a loan for my mom's care... but, even so, without Medicaid to help cover some of the costs, I have no fucking clue what I would have done after she got to the point she had to be put in a facility. Medicaid is a safety net that we all pay into so that if tragedy strikes, we can get care. And without that safety net, what happens?

This Big Pile of Shit Bill is going to fuck over so many people. And most of them don't even know it yet.

All because the millionaires and billionaires who own our fucking politicians want even more of our money and don't want to pay their fair share.

I kept my mom with me even after her doctor said she needed to have professional help. Because I thought it would be better for her than sending her to go live with strangers. I was wrong. There's a point where a dementia patient requires specialized round-the-clock care which I wasn't equipped to provide. But now people will likely be forced into this situation anyway because assholes somehow get elected who don't give a fuck about the people they represent. So everybody loses. Except millionaires and billionaires, who always win even when they lose because the system is set up to always, always, always benefit them.

I cannot fathom what this disgusting, cruel, and utterly vile bill is going to do to the future of this country. The things we will lose are not something you can bring back by snapping your fingers. The sad truth is that even if everybody wakes the fuck up and puts a stop to this senseless destruction, it could take decades to undo the damage. If it can be undone at all. We're going to be paying more for less for a very long time.

But, hey, those toilets on billionaire's jets aren't going to gold-plate themselves! People losing Medicaid and dying is apparently a small price to pay so they can live the excessive lifestyle we provide to them.

Or so we're being told.

I tell you what... we've gotten to the point where I have to seriously ask myself if the universe would be better off if a giant meteor would just fucking wipe all humanity off the damn planet.

Because, for the record, if somebody fucking answers "No comment" when you ask if they're pro or anti slavery, they gave you their answer...

When it comes to fucking owning a human being, there's room for debate? There's wiggle-room for interpretation? Jesus.

The impending heatwave is cause for concern, but there's a shady spot just for you... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• I May Die of Unshock! NEWSFLASH: Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi. All they had to do was put "Ted Cruz" in the headline and they could have saved me from reading the article. Then I'd automatically know something stupid and fucked up that's not in the best interest of the American people was being discussed.

   
• It Could Happen to You! "Please don't cut our Medicaid... those benefits are a safety net for everybody because you never know what might happen!" — FUCK YOU! NOW DRAG THEM THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

There we go. There it is. Eugenics in action. And, yes, I understand that disabilities are not necessarily genetic. But try explaining that to people who have no empathy. Try to explain to them that life can turn on a dime. Try to tell them that they could easily end up in a wheelchair because of a million reasons. I dare you to try and explain what ableism looks like by holding up a mirror. Because EVERY. TIME. I try to explain this to people who want people with disabilities to be discriminated against and lose benefits... they all feel that it could never happen to them, their family, or people they care about. Nope. Never. It's only these leeches who should be cared for by their families instead of taxpayers. My God this is the absolute worst. Well, a lot of people will find out the hard way that this actually does affect them when something awful happens that cannot be anticipated.

   
• Q! A shoe-in for my Best of 2025 Television List...

I was prepared to not care for it, because I thought for sure it was going to be one of those "damaged person makes everybody miserable" shows that we've seen a million times. This was nothing like that. It was smart, well-written, exceptionally-performed, and had a fresh take on the genre that I loved. Recommended.

   
• AKRAM! I just... Alexej Manvelov's character of "Akram" in Netflix's Dept. Q above leaves you wanting more in absolutely every scene he appears. In this short interview clip, they discuss how amazing it would be to have a prequel series which tells his store and how he came to the U.K., and I am totally on-board...

If they have the correct script, it could even eclipse the original series (which I very, very much hope gets future seasons). One episode left to go!

   
• United Parcel! Dear UPS... if you're going to charge me $104 to get a 2-lb. package half-way across the country via 2nd Day Air... YOU COULD AT LEAST MAKE IT SO THAT MACINTOSH USERS CAN PRINT YOUR SHIPPING LABLES! — Having to copy and paste the label into a second app so I can print to a PDF that I can place in a THIRD app is bullshit. — FIX YOUR WEBSITE!!! — If you leave the label instructions "on" for the label... you'll get no label at all. If you tell the system to leave instructions "off," you'll get a label you can't print... but you can drag your cursor over it and copy it. ASSUMING YOU CAN GET INSTRUCTIONS TO TURN OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE. Does nobody test you crap out on a Mac so your customers can actually use your service? Doubtful.

   
• Disgusting. Fuck this fucking piece of shit for all eternity: Kennedy says US is pulling funding from global vaccine group Gavi — From Doctors Without Borders: "When we vaccinate in the community, parents line up for hours to give their children a chance to be protected from these deadly diseases. For these children, vaccination programs such as those supported through Gavi are a matter of life and death." — I am disgusted to my very core that RFK, an ignorant asshole who peddles disinformation as fact, could even be considered for a position which makes decisions about public health. He doesn't know shit. He's a grifter who doesn't believe in science, and we're stuck with his bullshit... no matter how many times he's been caught outright lying.

   
• Paper! Fearmongering assholes spreading bullshit for clicks is a plague on society. Fuck this asshole and everybody like him who spreads misinformation they don't even fucking bother to understand...

Meanwhile, serious shit that's actually a danger is ignored because people are focusing on this stupid misinformation crap.

   
And now back to our regularly-scheduled extreme hotness.

Every time Jake comes to me crying because Jenny has been chasing him, I always say "Well, what did you do to piss her off?" because I know that's exactly why she would end up chasing him. She doesn't randomly decide to antagonize her brother.

Last night while I was finishing up watching Dept. Q, Jenny was laying on the back of the smaller sofa. Jake, for reasons known only to himself, hopped up on the arm of the couch and then immediately swatted her. I guess he had seen her up on the sofa and decided he didn't like that?

Jenny has always been a little bit tempermental and demanding.

But it's her vindictive streak you have to watch out for.

As for Jake? He's definitely learning from her example, but is still mostly easy-going and chill about most every situation. The other day while I was on a Zoom call he wanted attention. I had to put him off until I was finished which would have enraged Jenny. But Jake just plopped down in my Buddha-Cat statue's lap and waited for me...

As I'm typing this he's out in the catio, where he spends most evenings now. It's warm enough to be comfy but not so insanely hot that he's uncomfortable wearing his fur coat.

As for Jenny?

After she cried and cried and cried for pets while I was loading the dishwasher, I relented and pet her until she was content to wander off and fall asleep on the cat tree. My little princess doesn't do the outdoors very often.

I'm a massive fan of television programs and movies. I "watch" a lot of them. And by "watch" I mean that I am doing work (or blogging!) while they run in the background. My mind is pretty good at multi-tasking, so I can fairly easily follow whatever is on my television while banging away on my laptop.

The nice thing about watching stuff this way is that I can ignore all the idiotic shit that draves me crazy when it pops up.

Take for example the Wilhelm Scream.

I fucking hate it. The sound effect is so overused and offensive that it immediately takes me out of what I'm watching...

=shudder=

And then there's the fucking "Tarzan yell" which annoys me for the same reason...

Yeah, fuck Richard Marquand and George Lucas forever for that bit of dumbassery ruining an already disastrous Return of the Jedi (the heinous followup to the amazing The Empire Strikes Back). Lord.

If I had the time, I'd edit the sound mix of every movie I enjoy to rip this dumbassery out of them so I can enjoy them without distraction.

But why stop there?

There's a lot of shows and films which need some more exstensive editing than just a sound clip.

I've been re-watching the James Bond movies and cringing at the appearances of the Sheriff J.W. Pepper character, which I loathe...

Not that this frickin' idiot is the only bad thing in a James Bond movie. Many of the films have moments that are beyond stupid and are begging to be modified or cut.

Take, for example, that incredible car jump stunt that had the misfortune of being sabotaged not just by an appearance by Seargent J.W. Pepper, but with the stupid-ass slide whistle they played over the top of this magnificent stunt, which effectively sabotages it...

Who the fuck makes a choice like that?

I feel like I'm picking on James Bond and Star Wars movies, but there's precious few movies that I wouldn't change at all. Most films have something I'd change... even if it's something very small.

Hollywood should just save themselves the trouble and consult me on the final edit.

Yesterday it was announced that my favorite contemporary director will direct the next James Bond film and I am over the moon.

A couple years ago Denis Villeneuve was on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and spoke about how he would love to make a Bond film one day, and to know that somebody at Amazon was listening is a different level of heartwarming...

The guy is incredible. He went from Sicario to Arrival to Blade Runner 2049 to the two Dune films. Who has a run like that? I have no idea when he's going to get around to Bond when he's got Rendezvous with Rama and Dune: Messiah coming up. And wasn't he working on a Cleopatra movie too? Regardless, I will absolutely be tuning in for whatever he's up to next. Which I hope is Dune: Messiah before James Bond No. 26 (which doesn't yet have a writer, so maybe)...

And now that the director is settled, the big question is... who will they get to play James Bond?

Connery was impossible to follow, but Moore did it. Moore was impossible to follow... and... well... yeah. But eventually Craig did it. So here's hoping.

It seems highly unlikely that any television show will eclipse Andor as my favorite of 2025. It phenomenal on every possible level, and the fact that it's a Star Wars show is neither here nor there. It's just incredible television in any genre.

But a big part of what makes Andor so special is its star, Diego Luna. I am a huge, huge fan. He is a remarkable actor, sure, but it's his humanity that makes him truly remarkable. And that was on full display in his opening monologue on his first night of guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live...

And he wasn't done. Here was his second night...

Diego has always been charming and funny in his interviews... but who knew he was this funny?

After watching the Totally Awesome Films video on Flash Gordon the other day, YouTube recommended some of their other videos, including this one about the James Bond flick Never Say Never Again, which I watched because A) I actually liked the film quite a lot despite it being near the bottom of my ranking, and B) It's a "rogue" Bond flick which was produced outside of the Eon Production umbrella due to some legal wrangling that I never fully understood...

Afterwards I watched Never Say Never Again... yet again... and found it to be even better than I remembered. Yeah, Connery was really too old to be playing Bond, but they worked that into the script (which is more than they ever did with Roger Moore's later entries). Alas, where they fucked it up was having a 53-year-old Connery playing opposite a 29-year-old Kim Basinger, which was a missed opportunity to have an older Bond Girl for once. And then they had her head-over-heels in love with him after they had only met like three times? Sure he saved her life, but it was just so bizarre.

I did love seeing Connery as Bond again. And the writing, which afforded Bond some of the most clever lines of his career, was pretty good considering this was a remake of Thunderball. But the highlight of the entire movie were the villains. Both Max Largo and Fatima Blush were brilliant, ruthless, and deranged in the best possible way. Flawlessly cast and performed, they're near the top of all the adversaries 007 ever faced. And then... Max von Sydow as Blowfeld on top of that? It's an embarrassment of riches that makes the film far more memorable than it had a right to be.

Ultimately I think that Goldfinger will likely never be toppled as my favorite of all the James Bond movies, but there's a place for each of them because they all hold some measure of entertainment value (including Octopussy, which never ends up being as terrible as I remember it). Never Say Never Again fares better than some of them in the grand scheme of things because at least all the humor lands (I still wince thinking of the idiotic fucking appearances by Sheriff J.W. Pepper... and of course that dumbass driving gondola complete with pigeon double-take that nearly ruin Moonraker every time).

I suppose I really should rewatch all the 007 films. I haven't done that in a couple of years, and it's always worth it.

With the possible exception of The Living Daylights, which isn't a terrible film, but the one which never seems to offer me anything new with repeated viewings. It was just so bland and never seems to get better with age.

As a geography nerd, of course I've heard of Krubera Cave (aka Voronya Cave) and also the (relatively) nearby Veryovkina Cave... the two deepest caves in the world. Not to be confused with Sơn Đoòng Cave, the largest cave in the world (that one is in Vietnam).

But anyway... Krubera Cave is insanely deep... 14.3 miles deep.

A factoid that I never really thought about until I saw this post by Simon Shows You Maps which shows an actual map of this crazy-deep cave...

Now, alas, the map is rendered virtually unreadable thanks to Facebook reducing the size so much, so I went hunting on the internet and found that I can't blame Facebook after all. Every version of this map is a mess. So I took a look at the map that Wikipedia is using and it's a doozy. Especially when you look at the twisty nature of the passages at the very bottom...

Can you imagine being the first person down there? Not knowing where the crack you're squeezing through goes or what's going on underneath you? And even if you had a map, can you fathom wanting to climb through the Millennium Pit to reach Game Over?!? These cave explorer spelunkers have to be some of the bravest people on earth. And also the most bat-shit crazy.

If you aren't claustrophobic, there are numerous videos available where you can see people descending into the cave. This is one of the more recent, and there were too many times I felt like shitting my pants as they wedged their way into tiny crevices despite the fact I am safely at home on my couch...

I'm with Simon on this one. Hard no from me. You couldn't pay me enough to even attempt it. I'd die after 15 minutes.

Probably even sooner.

Hey, the US dollar may be in the tank, the economy is fucked, our benefits are being trashed, the government is toying with legalizing cancer-causing asbestos again, and we're now at war, but everything's just going great... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Sick Sad Escape! Where did The Ballad of Wallis Island come from? I never knew that Tim Key had this level of talent. His performance is all at once hilarious (expected) and incredibly touching and sweet...

Highest possible recommendation if you need an escape from this sad, cruel world. A lovely little film on Peacock TV.

   
• He'll Save Every One of Us! This morning while working I watched Flash Gordon for the hundredth time because a video about the film ended up on my YouTube feed. It's incredible no matter how many times I watch it. I own this original movie poster...

And here's that video, which is darn interesting...

It's always gutting to me how we never got a sequel. So few movies deserve one as bad as Flash Gordon does.

   
• Pool Shark! I don't know how she recovered. I wouldn't have been able to!

Talk about a Pool Sharknado!

   
• HIs Name is Earl! I'm not a big fan of spiders. However...

Not saying I want to become friends with one though.

   
• ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: Out of the Ashes of Comixology, a New Digital Comics Platform Rises. — So let me get this straight. You want me to buy comics from you again at "Neon Ichiban" so that you can eventually sell out to Amazon.com (again)... at which point Amazon will kill the app only to leave me with their shitty fucking Amazon Kindle app which is a steaming pile of shit that completely ruins the entire reason I bought digital comics in the first place? Nah... you can fuck right off with your bullshit. I am never buying digital comics from you again. Amazon utterly destroyed what you built... lesson learned.

   
• We All Scream! This is a converdation I'm not ashamed to have had...
"What would you do for a Klondike Bar?"
"I dunno... go to the register and pay for it? Ask me what I'd do for a HEATH Klondike Bar..."
"What would you do for a Heath Klondike Bar?"
"Straight up murder. I would murder for a Heath Klondike Bar."
"Um. Damn. That's dark."
"Have you HAD a Heath Klondike Bar tho?"

   
• Bob Reads! Jesus Christ. These people really are fucking brainwashedand clueless...

She really thought she did something with that smug attitude, but it does beg the question... why are the people guilty of assaulting children infinitely more likely to be priests, pastors, Conservatives, or Republicans than drag queens? Can she explain that?

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children." — President Jimmy Carter

   
Hope you're enjoying your Summer before World War III starts.