The Grouchy Editor

 

The Squid Game Effect

 

 

I’ve watched the first two episodes of the latest season of Black Mirror (above), and I think … it’s a good show. That’s disappointing.

I say that because Black Mirror used to be a great show.

The problem, methinks, has its genesis in creator Charlie Brooker’s decision in 2016 to leave his British roots and find a new home with Netflix. In other words, Brooker’s Twilight Zone for the 2010s “went Hollywood.”

I think of this trend as “The Squid Game Effect.” Every country wants its own monster hit on Netflix, and so they favor global appeal over local flavor. In doing so, their shows lose charm and distinction.

Ten years ago, I’d watch something on Netflix from Argentina or France or South Korea and I’d love it. There were always parts of these shows that I could not understand, not because of the subtitles but because of my ignorance of foreign culture (this often involved scenes about local laws; why isn’t he allowed to call a lawyer?). But that was OK, because I was learning something new.

Now every country wants its own version of Money Heist. Something generic that everyone everywhere can relate to, all at the same time.

Maybe my attitude makes me a snob, or an anti-globalist. I don’t care. I miss the surprises and idiosyncracies of the old shows. And Black Mirror was better when it was strictly a product of Great Britain.

 

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At this point, I don’t care anymore. It’s my team against your team, and your team is full of shit.

 

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Speaking of teams … if you are a fan who supports pro baseball in general or the Dodgers specifically, you aren’t “part of the problem.” You are the problem.

 

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More of the talent at Fox News needs to follow Tucker Carlson’s lead and walk out the network door (OK, Carlson was shown the door; whatever).

It’s not as if these talking heads, many of them millionaires, are going to wind up living in a cardboard box beneath the freeway.

Show some balls and move to Newsmax or Timcast or Twitter or wherever. Either that or initiate a revolt at the Murdoch channel.

 

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“Lazy fucking grifters” — has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

 

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Someday, after he’s gone, we’ll find out just how dependent Stephen King was on good editors.

Especially grouchy editors.

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

 

Culture Wars Victory Tally:

 

Bud Light, Target, Twitter — Red States Winning

Everything Else — Blue States Winning

 

Heavy sigh. This shit is going to go on for years.

 

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UFOs

 

Is this flying-saucer stuff some kind of orchestrated distraction so that we don’t pay more attention to the crap taking place in politics?

If it’s not just a distraction, then What The Fuck Is It?

 

Perhaps the visitors from another world are just looking for someplace new to live.

With New York Mayor Eric Adams suggesting that New Yorkers find room for illegal aliens in their homes, maybe the rest of us should think about housing the space aliens in our spare bedrooms. Just a thought.

 

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Toronto pitcher Anthony Bass

 

If you are a celebrity and simply must weigh in with your political opinions, the worst thing you can do is waffle.

Bass is learning the hard way that trying to appease both sides will only make everyone dislike you.

 

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Cheesecake

 

If The New York Post persists in publishing stories like this one, about a cop who discovered that sex sells, then we feel duty-bound to publish at least one picture of her.

Even if, as in this shot, her butt looks enormous.

 

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At this point, I don’t much care if Trump is “guilty” or “not guilty” of the charges in the indictments against him. Until Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, et al. are also facing charges, to me it’s all just election interference from the authoritarian left.

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

 

 

I’ve felt for a long time that Donald Trump’s fatal flaw is a stubborn reluctance to recognize the traitors in his own orbit, the backstabbers who insinuate themselves into his inner circle. These modern-day Bruti* include most Republicans in D.C. — swamp creatures like Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pence — and bureaucrats in his own administration, especially in the intelligence agencies.

And why on Earth does Trump persist in granting interviews to obvious (to most of us) foes like The New York Times? Does he really believe he can sway them to his way of thinking? Is the liberal media Trump’s equivalent of Citizen Kane’s “Rosebud,” something he once loved but lost a long time ago?

Trump is like a little boy who believes that if he’s nice to the schoolyard bully, the mean kid will eventually stop stealing his lunch. Not gonna happen.

Trump can trust a few people, like son Don Jr.

Ivanka and Jared? Not so much.

 

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Elon Musk continues to discover the same type of backstabbing at Twitter that Trump had in office. Thankfully, unlike Trump, once Musk learns the truth about the weasels, he stabs them before they can stab him.

 

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I love me some LandumC goes there on YouTube. The mysterious “LandumC” is a dude who posts short videos about old movies and TV shows, mostly from the 1960s-‘70s. The videos are entertaining, informative and, if you’re a geezer like me, nostalgic.

But LandumC goes a bit overboard in the thumbnails promoting his channel. He has discovered that sex = hits and is carrying this marketing ploy to the extreme. For example, take a look at this thumbnail/heading for the cop show Mannix: **

 

 

If you watch the video, you learn that the heading refers to Lucille Ball’s production company pleading with CBS to keep Mannix on the air — and not to sexual hanky-panky involving the actors in this picture.

Be honest (unlike LandumC): Are you thinking about production companies when you read that headline? 

 

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No idea who “Peach” is, but she’s got the right idea.

 

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Oops, he did it again

 

 

So let me get this straight. Biden falls on his scrawny ass — again — but we’re not supposed to laugh because he’s old and if we do, then we are “mean.”

Considering that this sick fuck is doing his best to tear down the country, and if there was any real justice he’d be sitting in a prison cell … getting laughed at for repeatedly humiliating yourself in public is the very mildest form of punishment.

 

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Asterisks!

 

• * You say “Brutuses,” I say “Bruti.” They both seem to be acceptable. Look it up.

 

• ** Last week we received a comment from a reader who was unhappy that we haven’t posted enough gratuitous nudity of late. In watching the above Mannix video, we noticed a lovely lass with an amazing ass. Hence, we went down the Francine York rabbit hole. Turns out the actress is from a small town in our home state. Please enjoy this week’s gratuitous nudity, featuring the most famous of Aurora’s areolae:

 

 

Joe Mannix checking out Francine

 

 

George Peppard enjoying Francine in Cannon for Cordoba

 

 

(Click on pics for a larger view)

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

 

This Week on “Culture Wars”

 

 

To Boycott, or Not to Boycott

 

Bud Light was an easy boycott for me. Could have something to do with the fact that I quit drinking 14 years ago.

 

Target is also an easy boycott. I needed a new coffeemaker, something I might have purchased at Target two weeks ago. Yesterday I got one at my grocery store, instead.

 

 

Who needs fucking Bud Light? Who needs fucking Target?

 

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I stopped watching Fox News a couple weeks ago. I’ve been getting my news fix from Newsmax, Tim Pool, YouTube and Twitter.

 

My advice: If you can’t bring yourself to boycott Budweiser, Target, Fox News, Disney, or professional sports, at least do the next best thing and cut back.

 

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Mayors of sanctuary cities whining about immigrants and demanding taxpayer relief? Fuck them.

They’re getting what they asked for.

 

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Reparations that turn your black neighbors into instant millionaires — at your taxpaying-expense? The idea would have appealed to Charles Manson, who dreamed of instigating a race war.

 

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Henry Kissinger still in the news at age 100? More evidence that only the good die young.

 

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Wish I had a better handle on who would do better in the general election, Trump or DeSantis.

I need a damn crystal ball.

 

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Now that anyone who displeases the left is a racist — thinking of you, bicycle lady — does the word no longer have meaning?

 

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FUBAR on Netflix: The most striking thing about the show, to me, is Arnold’s face.

Aging stars need to accept that wrinkles look much better on them than the freak-show number that plastic surgery does.

 

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My ancestors lived in a village called Sunndalsora, located in central Norway.

I learned from this video that, during the Viking Age, the toughest Vikings in Scandinavia came from Norway. Not Sweden, not Denmark — Norway.

Within Norway, the toughest of the tough Vikings were from central Norway. You guessed it, the same region that includes Sunndalsora.

 

So don’t fuck with me. If you do, I might feel compelled to rape and pillage.

 

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

 

Compassion Fatigue

 

What do Dianne Feinstein, John Fetterman, the fat airline passenger, the dead Michael Jackson impersonator, illegal aliens, and transgender pronoun-changers all have in common?

Answer: When they do something bad, you are not allowed to think ill of them, much less punish them. If you do, then you are a “bad” person.

 

Fuck that. Here is why each of them is undeserving of our sympathy:

 

 

Dianne Feinstein — The senator makes feeble-minded Joe Biden look like Albert Einstein. She is physically and mentally incapacitated, and yet there is nothing wrong with her queen-sized ego. Retire already, lady.

 

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John Fetterman — Progressives railed that Donald Trump was “unfit” for office. But because Fetterman suffered a stroke, we are expected to ignore his obvious unfitness (and lack of fashion sense) and simply feel sorry for him.

 

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Fatso on the airplane — Doesn’t matter that she’s obviously a Twinkies addict, the rest of us must accommodate her travel discomfort by paying for her additional space on airplanes. The world is expected to conform to her, not the other way around.

 

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Transgender, et al., pronoun changers — Listen, as far as I’m concerned, you can call yourself whatever you want. But you do not get to change the English language. You are not a “they.” This is another case of the world expected to conform to a bitter minority, not the other way around.

 

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“Asylum seekers” — We need to stop letting the left frame the debate by referring to illegal border crossers as “asylum seekers.” The migrants might call themselves that, but only because it helps them achieve their real goal: better-paying jobs in the U.S. The vast majority of them appear to be healthy young males, not families fleeing from evil dictators.

 

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Jordan Neely — Much like George Floyd, we are all expected to think of this guy as a benign fellow, a Michael Jackson impersonator who had the misfortune of running afoul of a deranged ex-Marine. We must ignore Neely’s scores of criminal offenses, including his penchant for punching 60-year-olds in the face. You know, just like we are expected to ignore Floyd’s penchant for pointing guns at pregnant women.

 

Screw “compassionate conservatism.” Where is the liberal compassion for pregnant crime victims, minimum-wage-earning citizens, cash-strapped airline passengers, and lovers of the English language?

 

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The Durham Report

 

I can’t get too excited about this report, which confirms what we already knew about government corruption. I can only get excited if, as a result of the report, big-shot heads begin to roll.

In other words, I will not likely be getting excited.

 

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It’s getting harder to find anything new worth watching on Netflix. I stopped watching Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto about one-third into the film because, unlike the similar-themed Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino, Otto was drab and depressing. 

 

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I’ve been playing catchup with Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random. For the most part, it’s an entertaining show.

I say “for the most part” because, in nearly every episode, Maher lets his Trump Derangement Syndrome get the best of him and cannot resist goading his guest into agreeing with him that “orange man bad.” It’s amusing/annoying to watch this repetitive game, in which Maher tries his damndest to get hesitant guests like Aaron Rodgers, Kid Rock, Adam Carolla, and Jay Leno to join him in venting about Trump.

Much as Trump simply refuses to let go of the 2020 election, Maher simply refuses to let go of Trump.

 

On the positive side, it’s hard not to be amused at the sight of a drunken Richard Dreyfuss conducting his chat with Maher with his torso half on a chair, and half on the floor.

 

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

 

Headlines!

(plus my two cents)

 

 

 

By firing and then smearing popular host Tucker Carlson, it looks like Fox News is hellbent on becoming the Anheuser-Busch of cable news.

Alienating your core customers in a misguided attempt to broaden your clientele does not shout: “winning strategy!”

Just as Budweiser’s decision to thumb its nose at Joe Six-Pack has backfired spectacularly, Fox’s dumping of Carlson is going to result in a viewer exodus.

 

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Best-case scenario for Anheuser-Busch: It looks to its left, then to its right, realizes it cannot win, and then reaches out to other corporate behemoths also being blackmailed/extorted by ESG and social-credit proponents. Anheuser-Busch says, “Let’s band together and fight this progressive bullshit.”

 

Yeah well, I can dream, can’t I?

 

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In my humble opinion, one reason the right can’t seem to gain any ground in the immigration debate is its decision to let the left set the ground rules.

Rather than focus on the core problem — millions of people choosing to break the law, aided and abetted by the Biden administration — the right seems to believe it can persuade by pointing out the plight of the migrants. They are portrayed first and foremost as victims, not as lawbreakers.

Never mind the migrants’ callous disregard of our laws, nor the impact they have on Americans in terms of lowered wages and costly drains on strained social services. No, above all, the bipartisan argument goes, we must slow immigration to help the immigrants.

Whatever you do, do not point out that the migrants willingly put themselves in harm’s way. 

 

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When they eventually shuffle off this mortal coil, I propose that Donald Trump and CNN be buried side by side.

Their story was the ultimate example of a love-hate relationship.

 

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Silly me. I thought that “E-Verify” was already a requirement.

 

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I can’t decide if this Mayorkas guy is stupid, mentally ill, or just plain evil.

 

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Now that House Republicans have finally come up with actual evidence of Joe Biden’s corruption (bank records), it’s disheartening, but not surprising, to observe the mainstream media’s response: crickets.

 

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I’ve been watching Newsmax. Too many of its hosts are media castoffs I’d forgotten about. It’s a place where former talking heads go to die. People like Greta Van Susteren, Dick Morris, and Eric Bolling. Newsmax desperately needs someone with heft. Someone like Tucker Carlson. Or Megyn Kelly.

Carlson and Kelly — now there’s a dynamic duo.

Another downside to watching Newsmax: I had hoped that moving away from Fox might spare me this, but no, those ulcer-inducing, hair-pulling, obnoxious My Pillow ads followed me there.

 

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Why does her crown look bigger than his? Is that why he looks sad?

 

 

British whoop-de-doo over the monarchy

 

As an American, I fall into the “mixed feelings” camp concerning Britain’s monarchy. I enjoy — sometimes immensely — shows like The Crown, The Queen, and Downton Abbey. The real royal family’s escapades are an endless source of soap-opera entertainment.

Also, I have little doubt that the whole monarchy thing benefits the psychology of Britons. It makes them feel special.

But intellectually and morally, kings and queens seem to me like an anachronistic waste of time, money, and resources.

But hey, so long as my tax dollars don’t go toward any of it, I’m happy to sit back and watch the show.

 

In related news …

 

Left, the pride and joy of Britain’s royal family. Right, the pride and joy of America’s royal family.

 

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Political Incorrectness

 

 

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Yup, methinks it’s time to resurrect the sobriquet so aptly coined by Arnold Schwarzenegger: “girly men.” You know, to describe folks like Dylan Mulvaney.

 

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I suppose we aren’t meant to ascribe literal definitions to the four archetypes described in the Strauss and Howe book The Fourth Turning (my review is here). But it gives me pause to think of myself as a “prophet” when the only thing I can safely predict in life is that the Minnesota Vikings will never win a Super Bowl.

As for the idea of millions of spoiled-brat Millennials acting as the world’s “heroes” … well, God help us.

 

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Red Pilled

 

In the AllSides chart below, I’ve circled the media I consumed ten years ago in blue, and the media I consume today in red. The Web site circled in purple is the only crossover.

This is what happens when you get older and wiser:

 

 

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© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)