This week we’ve already mourned the death of universally beloved country music and film star Dolly Parton as well as that of Tim Curry, the iconic actor who portrayed Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Pennywise the Clown, Long John Silver, and of course Premier Cherdenko in Red Alert 3. And today Reuters reports that “Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who was serving a life sentence for genocide in the bloody 1992-95 war in Bosnia, has died in the United Nations detention centre in The Hague.” Two 80-year-old camp icons and a genocidal monster? Any statistician would agree that, on average, Donald Trump is finally dead.
Speaking of film icons I’m not entirely sure I agree with Vulture’s Angelica Jade Bastién that Miss Piggy is our last movie star, but she’s certainly the doyenne of jambons. I hope this lengthy encomium cheers Miss Piggy up in what must be an especially difficult week for her, as she obviously idolized Dolly Parton and also had a short lived but very public affair with Tim Curry, who never seems to have quite gotten over his porcine paramour. “I’ll tell you, once you’ve had pork, you’ll never go back,” Curry told Charlie Adler in 2019.
Today in Nazis: It’s 2026, why do we even have that heading? It’s because the entire young conservative cadre are all Apt Pupils, apparently. In the Washington Post, Liz Goodwin and Olivia George introduce us to a young former staffer for Georgia Republican Senator Mike Collins named Preston Parra:
“In December of [2025], Parra celebrated seeing Collins signs in Georgia, in one post saying: ‘let’s get that man elected.’ A few hours earlier, he posted ‘DEUTCHLAND UBER ALLES,’ a song lyric that became associated with Nazi Germany.
Parra, who recently described himself as a ‘twink fascist’ on his X account until changing his biography and making his posts private on Aug. 24, is a conservative political operative whose consulting site touts his ability to marshal a network of influencers to boost Republicans. The Daily Mail reported this year that Parra posted frequent crotch shots and a photo of himself that he captioned ‘racist.’”
Parra also posted an AI image of himself in full Klan regalia, and “the shape of a swastika made out of the word ‘twink.’” This is at least the fourth close Mike Collins aide or associate to have a public attack of Naziism. “In an interview with The Post…”
“…Parra said he is not a white supremacist because it goes against his religion and he has a Colombian father. ‘I do think that the white race contributes more to the world,’ he said.”
Does this even count as a pro forma denial? Who can say. Also Today in Nazis: “GOP Congressional Hopeful Who Saluted Nazi Grandpa Calls His Basement Bar ‘The Chamber’.” What kind of chamber, Pete? What kind of chamber? In 404 Matthew Gault reports “Florida ‘Deputy of the Year’ Used Flock to Stalk Ex, Held Gun in Her Mouth, Did a Nazi Salute.” Not exactly Nazis but not exactly not Nazis is Target selling a whole-ass minstrel costume. Can you believe Target still exists? Now let’s do a silly one: Matthew Sweet’s new book The Great Dictator isn’t about who you think. But in all seriousness, to make the stakes perfectly clear I turn to Michigan’s outgoing Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel speaking to David Frum in The Atlantic:
“But things changed in so many different ways after October 7th. And then it wasn’t just, basically, I would say mentally unstable people on the far right that were threatening me or other Jews, but now it became really a both-sides situation, and I began to perceive an enormous amount of anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party.”
Ope! Yeah, sorry, we’re boned.
Feed Me: “Co-founder of The Wing opens business school for kids. ‘Think of it as the modern day lemonade stand.’” No thank you. The text links without any warning to this Forbes article which deals 2d10 psychic damage with no saving roll. Naomi Kanakia has a different opinion of the Ross Barkan scandal. Much to think about. Tropical storm Dolly has an opportunity to do the funniest thing to Mar-a-Lago. Natalie Wolchover in Quanta: “Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?” Resistance crop art from the Minnesota State Fair. Full bush in a bikini? Full bush in a bikini. Apocalypse Early Warning System, via Laura Olin. And the Brooklyn Dems are at it again.
Stirring.
And Finally: In Vulture Tommy Orange wrote about the latest “Pretendian”—octogenarian writer Thomas King who has believed himself to be a member of the Cherokee Nation for his whole life.
Today’s Song: Dolly Parton, “Stairway to Heaven”
It’s the year of Linux on the desktop. It’s the year of Linux in the cloud. It’s the year of Linux on the warm, dry skin of your lover. It’s the year of Linux in the icebox, so sweet, and so cold. It’s the year of Linux in the Malheur National Forest’s 3.5 square mile underground Armillaria ostoyae fungus. It’s the year of Linux in the dreams of the comatose and all those touched by the ruinous gift of prophecy.
