Five Observations

 1.  Did Family Guy, and South Park (adult cartoons) actually deliver Trump to the American public?

I've been a viewer of South Park for a dozen years....having watched about 250 of the 320-odd episodes.   And for Family Guy....I've probably watched around 100 episodes. 

I think both geared people up to be overly skeptical of politics, entertainment, sports, and reality.  So accepting Trump....wasn't much of a distance to cross.

2.  Just a humble feeling.....the number of true intellectuals in America....while they may have doubled, the truth is that half of them are marginalized and unable 'prove' their status.  Fake intellectuals?  Yes, by the tens of thousands.

3.  I suspect if you applied a IQ test to all House/Senate members....most of them would score in the 85-percent range....meaning less-than-average IQ.

4.  When someone says they want to 'rebuild-trust'....they typically mean their old theme/message of BS isn't working presently, and they need to invent a new brand/message to indoctrinate you.

5.  Just odd....seems like Pakistan and Iran....might be at war.  

Sports Illustrated: Finished?

 Around age 13....on the farm....I subscribed to Sports Illustrated (my first magazine). It was mostly for basketball and baseball 'stories'.  There were probably three or four periods throughout my Air Force period....that I subscribed.  But along the late 1990s...I got skeptical of the writing and the 'slant' of the stories.

To be honest....other than one that I picked up at some airport around 2006....I haven't read it in years.

Last night....I read that the 'boss' of Sports Illustrated sent out a notice to the remaining writers....they were finished.

The deal?  The ownership of the company was not the production company.  They'd made some decision in the past decade....to contract out production to a 2nd company.  This second company?  They cut their 'license' to produce.

This producer did two things that sent a signal.....back in late 2023...they ran some articles  produced by AI....pretending they were really human-produced articles.  Second, they ran a Trans swimsuit edition.  It got a fair amount of negativity.

What the old ownership company said?  They were going to evolve and find some way of returning.  Personally, with a evolving public....I doubt that they can generate enough to run such a company.