To Laugh or To Cry Series: SNL Cold Open, Bass Lake

So it's still raining here, and we can't even confirm whether we've officially had tornadoes here for like another week, because of the defunding/staffing cuts to National Weather Service.

So basically now, we have to trust that if Billy Bob and Hayseed Hank say there was a tornado, there was a tornado, and they're likely right, because their trailer is now in pieces in East Texas somewhere, but we have to wait another month to confirm that it was by the NWS, and then tornado/flood victims will have to wait another month or so to receive FEMA aid, if they ever do!

Oh, Lordy - again, if you don't find a way to laugh about this sh*t, you'll cry, and sometimes it's both.

Speaking of which, how about SNL parodies of real current events that already seem like SNL parodies, but they're not?

Decidedly, it's laugh UNTIL you cry.  😂

BTW, the part about tariffs being applied to remote human-uninhabited Antarctic and Australian islands, whose only inhabitants are penguins and seals?

 It's 100% true - proving this was not a well-researched process, rushed and with not much forethought put into it.

(It's also why people were carrying penguins around during the "Hands Off" protests yesterday, in case you were wondering.)

I love it how Fox News and other pundits keep saying "the tariffs are working" - when there is absolutely no discernible evidence whatsoever that they are "working."😂

In fact, on average, I paid $2-per-item more, this week, than I paid for the same groceries I bought last week.

Plus the stock market keeps dropping to recession levels!

So what then do they even mean by "working" - and more importantly - for whom?

Because it's not us as everyday Americans.

So how will we know it's "working" - when the tariffed  island of penguins revolt too, or-? 😂

So they just keep saying it's working, because they've learned that with drunks/addicts, mentally ill people, easily suggestible/gullible people, and idiots - who apparently comprise 50% of America - if you just repeat a lie 100 times in 100 different places,  it's true!  😂

Also, I don't consider Trump saying other countries "reaching out to negotiate" as proof it's "working" - because even IF true, again, for whom is it working?

Corporations, so they can continue outsourcing goods, services and labor? 

Then that's counterproductive.

Trump's ego, so that he can feel his ass was appropriately kissed? 

(That's a least part of it, I'm sure.)

Because what are the goals of these tariffs?

1)  Get other countries to pay off their American debt..

Okay - but they just counter-tariff us and we end up paying their bill for them?

 

2)  Return goods, services, and labor back to America

 

Okay  - but do y'all not understand that the reason companies went overseas in the first place were that these things were cheaper in other countries? 

So what makes you think companies - or anyone - is going to pay higher American price for anything now, especially now that things are so skyrocket high?   

So they're just going to cut labor down to a skeleton crew and overwork people to save money, and they can, especially now with safety and labor laws rolled back!  

And if they "negotiate" down the tariffs, that doesn't mean they'll go away entirely again - and it also means that we'll continue outsourcing, so what is the point?

But dohkay, yeah - it's "working" - IF by working, you mean even Republicans and Trump voters are now joining "hands off" protests against a multitude of Trump and Elon's policies -  especially cuts to social security, veteran's benefits, and Medicare!

Even in places you don't normally see protests, like here in Lexington, as well as previously pro-Trump regions of Appalachia, like Sylva, NC and West Virginia!

(The above photo is of the "Hands Off" protest in Charleston, WV, the state's capital - one of three in WV yesterday.)

Now, you know, when one  of Trumpiest states in the country, West Virginia, starts to have large-turnout protests in 3 different cities, Trump and Elon's policies are NOT "working" - despite what Fox News and other conservative press and pundits say!

And have you all not thought of this?

Even if the result of all these "slashes" to federal government spending is paying lower federal taxes, do y'all not realize that putting everything back on the states just makes your state taxes go up?

So you're not saving anything - you're just switching who you're paying taxes to!

And we're not even sure what we ARE now funding at the federal -government level anymore - buying Greenland? The Gaza Strip?

No one knows.

But back to SNL and catching a laugh where you can, there was also a sketch, last night, featuring Jack Black (LOVE him), called "Bass Lake," which is another parody of the type of stuff you see at southern lake marinas, continuing on the success of the Lake Beach skit a couple of years ago, with Nate Bargatze.

Not as laugh-out-loud funny as The Lake Beach skit, but Jack Black was perfect as "Big Jimmy and The Minnows," the local band playing down at the marina on Friday and Saturday night, trying in vain to to include-but-also corral the drunk yocals,  hopping on stage and doing other cray-cray stuff 😂😂😂

If you haven't even been to one of these southern lake marinas to see this stuff, you'll think it's funny, but you won't really get how hilarious it is until you've seen it yourself!

OMG, we laughed until we cried - so true!

Some local band plays on Friday or Saturday night at the Marina or your hotel courtyard for a couple hours, as they also try to work the crowd/manage the crowd of largely drunk rednecks, dancing and jumping on stage to try to sing or play along with the band, it's quite entertaining - and it's often a Tom Petty song.

I go to get my food or a drink, and sometimes sing along while I'm there - NOT because the band is any good, but because I love Tom Petty.

Then sometimes I stay and watch the "live entertainment" - and by that, I do NOT mean the band so much as the type of crowd they draw -  knowing looks and laughing at the absurd situation we've suddenly found ourselves in -  until my husband, Mark (who is from Detroit) can't take one more minute of this nonsense and storms off back to the room!  😂

Don't get me wrong, they're nice people, it's just ... absurd.

OMG, SNL, how do we love thee, for making us laugh during tough times for the last 50 years!