Matt Of All Trades

Ravens have been committing robberies outside an Anchorage, Alaska Costco. Shoppers at a Costco in Anchorage, Alaska say they are being robbed in the parking lot of the big store.  According to the Anchorage Daily News: "Marnie Jones and her husband made it all the way home from the South Anchorage Costco before they realized they'd been robbed  'We had a four-pack of filet mignon steak,' Jones said. 'It was on the bottom of the car, and he was pushing it through the bumpy snow.'"  It fell out of the cart, and was on the ground for a few minutes. Without paying attention, Jones' husband picked up the package and put it in the car. When they got home, the realized one of the four steaks was gone.  The thief was so stealth, so brazen the couple didn't realize who had stolen it at first.  Jones said it later occurred to them who had stolen one of the steaks. "He said, 'Oh my God, after I picked up that pack of steaks, I saw a raven in the pa...

Just a bartender helping a customer in this viral video that will surely improve your mood immensely  OK, you HAVE to watch the video on the links in this post!  Just click on this link, it'll bring you to a YouTube video, and sit back and relax.  Not a lot of drama in the video.   Just a very good bartender, a customer who seems like they're doing OK, and the customer's big companion nursing some Jack Daniels. And some perfect background music.  The video came out in June, but has recently gone viral on Twitter and Instagram.  It's my favorite feel-good video since last spring, when those t wo guys did a little clip performing "You're The One That I Want" from Grease. According to Happilynews.com, the bartender is Sany Facsi, 36 at his home in Dubai, while he serves his son Sasha, age 2.  Says Facsi of his son and the video: "The choice of this particular scenario was easy and obvious to me as I have been a bartender for over 15 years, so I am ...

Meet Stephanie Denaro, my nominee for worst  person in New York.  A vile woman named Stephanie Denaro won viral fame this week after she unleashed some racist words at the Davidovich Bakery in Manhattan's lower East Side.   She did so as she was getting kicked out of the bakery for the usual reason: She refused to wear a mask, against store policy and health department recommendations.  Typical Karen.  Denaro turns out to be a Super Karen, though.   A whole bunch of other videos of this um, thing showed up on the Reddit's r/PublicFreakout page on Wednesday. She really is a piece of work, even more so than all the others I've seen. You might wonder why I waste my time on garbage like Denaro, but I think one of the most effective ways to combat these idiots is to mock them mercilessly.   I doubt this will change them much.  Denaro, for instance is steadfastly unapologetic about all her racists, obnoxious moments.  But I like to...

Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to be one of  Congress' most visible train wrecks.   Poor little Marjorie Taylor Greene, that nutjob Congress creature from Georgia who is a big QAnon fan, among other things.    She's had a rough go of it lately, but she keeps fighting on. So the update: The latest go arounds started a little over a week ago, when Greene informed us that Guam is a foreign country and demanded we stop sending them damn fereners money. To put Greene's February 27 quote out there:  " We love our country, we believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for, what, China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever, whatever. Right?" Wrong.  As pretty much everybody else on the planet knows, no matter what you think about overseas spending by America, Guam is part of the United States. Been that way since 1899. Of course, white people are a minority on Guam, so Greene probably figures everybody who's not white is a foreig...

Video still of an idiot who took a 2 year old into an elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo and they both almost got  smushed by said elephant  Invasion of the stupid people continues unabated.  The latest idiot, carrying his two-year-old daughter, went into an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, because apparently, taking selfies with an innocent child in an extremely dangerous situation is a thing.  People want selfies under any circumstance, I guess.  Needless to say, the elephant in question was not happy with the intruder. They like their space. The elephant trumpeted and stormed toward our idiot, says ABC7 in Los Angeles. "The flustered dad raced to slip back out of the enclosure, but dropped his daughter on the way out.....He grabbed her again and they both managed to escape as the crowed screamed and yelled "Watch out!" I hope he managed a good selfie with the kid, because it's going to be pricey! Jose Manuel Navarrete, 25 was charged with child endan...

One of my favorite songs from the 1970s was " Killer Queen" by Queen.  I'm often, but not always happy when  some of my faves are turned into something else for parody. In this case, I'm happy.   Anybody who knows me understands I'm a real Covid-19 vaccine enthusiast, and I can't wait for my turn to get inoculated. (The state of V ermont Health Department says starting March 29 I can start trying to get an appointment for my shot, so yay!!)   By turn, I'm frustrated by ant-maskers and anti-vaxxers, so any PSA, no matter how biting and comical, gets my Seal of Approval.  Which leads me to the video below, from Meidas touch and Heather Gardner doing a parody of "Killer Queen" urging us get vaccinated and ignore the (mostly Republican) naysayers.  Gardner has done other great parody videos, too, like a takeoff on George Michael's "Faith"   this time pointing a finger at bad faith lies from Fox News.   Seems like Randy Rainbow has ...

Andy Popescu, right, gives his friend in the green shirt a ride in his Lamborghini. A rather moving video results  A viral video is out of just two guys out for a ride in a Lamborghini.   The driver, Andy Popescu, is a stud muffin type of young man. The passenger is a chatty young man with physical disabilities. He says that people often avoid him because of this.  The video, released four months ago but now becoming viral, shows the two in the car.  The passenger is thrilled as Popescu races through town.  In the short version of the video, it almost looks like Popescu is ignoring his passenger. But not really.  As the Lamborghini accelerates, the man in the passenger seat says, "Please don't act scared of me. I act like a child when I'm happy." It turns out Popescu wasn't ignoring his passenger. He was trying to hold in his emotions over the cruelty some people have toward his friend. It turns into a very moving video.   I've been watching ...

This woman in New York found an entire apartment hidden behind her bathroom mirror in a New York City building.  When I bought my house 14 years ago, I was a bit mystified because there either isn't an attic or no access to it.    There has to be at least a crawlspace above the ceilings, but no way to get there. I've occasionally been tempted to cut a hole in the ceiling, maybe inside a closet, and take a peek, but so far I haven't had the guts. Maybe because there was so many other mysteries here. Some of them scary. Each room has multiple electrical outlets. Probably a legacy of a pot growing business back in the day.   Meanwhile, in the basement, you can still see the marks on the floor joists where a guy who was renting a room here used a bicycle lock cord to hang himself.  A cop told me the man who committed suicide had been kicked out of his own house because he cheated on his wife.   He moved in here, became despondent because his wife woul...

A crystal ball, seen in the middle of the photo is this fire- ravaged room, set the blaze by focusing sunlight from a  window onto a small point on the couch, setting it ablaze  OK, I have to dispense with the joke right away, since it's so obvious.   A crystal ball started a fire that wrecked a house in Wisconsin.  But whoever owned the crystal ball should have seen it coming. Ba dum, dum!  I'm sure the owners of the house do NOT like me joking about it, because in reality, it's awful when somebody's house burns down. I only dare joke because I know nobody was killed or injured in the blaze. According to the Delton, Wisconsin Fire Department, via a Facebook post: "An investigation determined the fire started on a couch in the living room and the cause of the fire was determined to be from a glass 'crystal ball' ornament. The crystal ball had been located on a table near the couch and in direct sunlight. When sunshine came through a large set of windows and...

Right wingers like Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro aren't affected by talk of saving lives and morality in battling Covid. For people like this, try threatening their power and money to get them to change course.  Brazil's jerk of a president, Jair Bolsonaro,  is even worse than Trump was at making the Covid pandemic worse.  The situation has grown dire.  Live by the sword, die by the sword. According to Euroweeklynews.com: "Silvio Antonio Favero, 54, who proposed a bill before the Legislative of the Brazilian state of  Mato Grosso do Sul to prevent mandatory vaccination of the population against Covid, died on Saturday, March 13, a victim of the disease." The publication said Favero shared Bolsonaro's doubts about the Covid vaccine, and shared social media posts by Bolsonaro of his denial of the pandemic and distain for social distancing. As of last week, at least 277,000 Brazilians have died in the pandemic, the second most of any nation behind the United States. Th...

This is Peter Kwok, a transit cop in British Columbia. He takes honors as most chill cop in the world as he took abuse from the most obnoxious anti-mask Karen in the world.   For the past year, we've seen so many anti-maskers causing scenes and filming themselves that it's a cliche.   It's almost like there's some kind of competition to see which one is the most obnoxious. And.....We have a winner!  Last December 5, a woman in British Columbia, Canada, riding the Canada Line, refused to wear a mask, and boy did it escalate! While we're handing out awards, we're going to concur with the website Vancouverisawesome.com and award the transit cop involved, Peter Kwok, in this mess the prize for being the most composed cop in Canada, if not the world.  Go i nto this link to watch the whole, drawn out 11-minute video. It really is something. To set it up, the transit cops were doing mask compliance checks because of a British Columbia rule issued in November tha...

Raffaela Spone is accused of creating deepfake images of her daughter's cheerleading rivals to get them kicked off the team.  She looks kinda mean, doesn't she? A woman in Pennsylvania wanted her daughter to shine above her rivals on the cheerleading team, as some moms tend to do.   This one took it so much further than anyone I'm aware of.  According to Pennlive.com: "Police arrested a 50-year-old Bucks County woman March 10 for sending her teen daughter's cheerleading coaches fake photos and videos depicting her rivals naked, drinking or smoking to try to get them kicked off the squad, according to media reports." The evil cheerleading mom, Raffaela Spone, is charged with three counts of cyber harassment of a child and three counts of harassment.  Spone is alleged to have sent the manipulated images in an anonymous message  and that she "urged them to kill themselves," which, if true, is especially horrible. The deepfake images were digitally alte...

Off the rails a usual, the MyPillow guy and Trump fanboy says he's starting a social media site.  Which, for all we know will get him sued for another $1.3 billion.   Oh, Mike Lindell, the "My Pillow" guy.  Just gets further and further off the rails.  You have to admit the guy dreams big.  He's surely lacks the intelligence and power he thinks he has, but you be you Mike!    He has a pretty surreal couple of weeks,  but it seems he always does.  Mediaite tells us Lindell thinks he's practically a Get Out Of Jail Free Card: He's telling people if they're in trouble for taking part in the January 6 insurgency at the Capital, he just might be able to get you a reduced prison sentence.  He doesn't exactly tell you how, but you know, details details.  Maybe his pillows come with magic wands? Lindell seems to be a busy man.  As Mediaite reports , he was on Charlie Kirk's podcast last week, claiming he'll have his own social m...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans don't appear to care whether people die needlessly of Covid, because they hope it would make Joe Biden and other Democrats look bad. It's a political calculation.  I'm getting more and more convinced a large number of Republican politicians actually want more people to die or suffer from Covid.   I hope I'm wrong, but I my conspiratorial mind is wondering if believe their political calculations are more important than how many lives are lost.   Or, to put it more bluntly, who cares if people die if I, and the large radical elements in the GOP can regain power. Insurmountably, they hope.  There's been so many examples in the past week that seem to fit. Going against all health experts' advice, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted most pandemic-related restrictions.  It's all part of a feedback loop the GOP has created, led last year by Donald Trump and taken up by most of his minions.  Here's how it works:...

Randy Rainbow begs President Biden for a Covid vaccine in his latest, terrific parody video.  In his first video taken on President Biden, our hero Randy Rainbow has given us a new gift to brighten our week.   This time, it's "Mr. Biden (Bring My Vaccine)" done to the tune of " Mr Sandman" made popular in 1954 by the Chordettes. We have the usual format here. Rainbow starts with an interview with President Joe Biden, which lacks the shall we say, whimsical style of The Former Guy, Donald Trump, which until recently was a fixture in Rainbow videos. Then, of course Rainbow launches into song, in which he beseeches Biden to get us Covid vaccines. "Inoculate me, so I can get laid. "   Rainbow is pretty creative with the "bum bum bum bum" barbershop quartet character of the song. The treat is the lyrics, of course. Sample: "Gimme that double dose                                    ...

A highlight of this year's CPAC in late February was this, um, unique statue of Donald Trump.  The Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC ended a week ago,  and it's our annual opportunity to poke fun and take delight in the absolute insanity that event is.    Bonus: It gets crazier every year. The 2021 version of CPAC proved absolutely stellar.   These conservative politicians and experts tackled the most grave, vexing problems the nation faces, namely a gender neutral Mr. Potato Head and naughty Muppets.  There's a couple of bonus videos of CPAC at the bottom of this post that you'll just have to watch, if you dare.  Aaron Rupar on Twitter  who gave us a delightful blow-by-blow account of how CPAC tackled these critical issues. Among the gems he gave us.   "They banned the Muppets!" Donald Trump Jr, boyfriend of loud  Kimberly Guilfoyle  thundered. (He's apparently been taking voice lessons from her, or some...

This reporter for a San Diego television station has to quickly switch gears when a gunfight between a man and police  erupted nearby.  Jeff McAdam, a reporter for Fox 5 in San Diego was giving a live report about the cancelation of this year's Comic-Con when off screen, gunfire rang out.   He gamely tried to carry on with his report, and suddenly realized there was a much bigger story unfolding nearby.  McAdam's cameraman panned over to show a man ducking behind his car, exchanging gunfire with police.  I give props to McAdam for staying calm and shifting gears on this new, breaking story.  It went like this.  ".....every year during the Comic-Con, um, there's something going on. We've got an officer-involved shooting.  Excuse me if we can come back out live, there's a shooting going on right now between an officer and a car they just pulled over." McAdam's tone of voice did not change during this. Seemed as benign as if he were still talk...

Moderate Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger  received a very bizarre letter from members of  his Trump cult family after the rep voted for impeachment. The cult holds strong.   "The Former Guy," as President Joe Biden famously described ex-president Trump, still holds a mysterious power over true believers. That Trump cult lives on strong as ever.   I'll never understand how people continue to regard that third time grifter as a messiah. And how people can sink so low into stupidity and cruelty to almost comic depths.  I still can't get over the fact-free cult following, and it seems like it will never get dislodged.  I'll never understand people, I guess.  Any dissent against the Great Orange One is the absolutely most abhorrent crime in this cult.   Seven U.S. Republican Senators voted to impeach former President Trump last month.  All of them are getting immense blowback.  How dare they speak ill of their god Trump!...

Dolly Parton literally getting a dose of her own medicine Tuesday. Her $1 million donation helped lead to the  development of the Moderna Covid vaccine. A doctor administered a dose to her Tuesday.  America's Most Loved Person, Dolly Parton took to her Twitter page Tuesday to publically receive her first dose of the Moderna Covid vaccine.   Back in April, Parton donated around $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Covid-19 research.   That donation helped lead to the Moderna vaccine.   Tuesday, Vanderbilt returned the favor by giving her a hot of the Moderna vaccine. Which means she wasn't kidding when she said she was getting a dose of her own medicine. Couldn't happen to a better person.  Parton, in her Twitter post , warmly and humorously encouraged all of us to get our vaccines. She even changed the lyrics to her iconic song "Jolene."  Sample lyric: "Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine/I'm begging of you please don't hesitate....

A World War II bomb is blown up in Exeter, England over the weekend.  Germany is still sort of bombing England, apparently.  Seventy-six years after the end of World War II a 2,200 German bomb was found at a construction site in a densely populated area of Exeter.  Officials were forced to blow up the device, which damaged several nearby homes.  According to the BBC:  "A structural engineer said doors and windows of nearby houses had been 'blown through' by the blast.  Hundreds of people evacuated from the area on Friday spend a third night away from home." The blast left a crater so deep an engineer said you could easily park three double decker buses in it.  The blast also tossed shrapnel, rocks and dirt hundreds of feet.  After the explosion, people could hear sand blowing off the trees when winds picked up.  Though a number of houses suffered significant damage, it could have been worse. Army personnel positioned reinforced sandbags so mu...