About this Blog

The Loose Nukes is an attempt (by people who should probably be under 24 hour supervised psychiatric care) to bring attention to somewhat serious issues like nuclear weapons, militarism and other seemingly random, unrelated issues through vain attempts at social satire and other futile gestures of total contempt for a fading empire that continues to employ nuclear weapons, the ultimate instruments of an erectile dysfunctional national security state, as instruments of foreign policy. OK, you probably get the idea by now. We are obsessed by run-on sentences, peace and justice, having fun, and don't know when to quit. At any rate, we don't think nuclear weapons are a very good idea, and are most definitely unhealthy for living things. We also think the folks running this Empire should just get over it.

And now the NOT SO FINE PRINT: Read further at your own risk... and remember, DON'T PANIC; this is all SATIRE at its worst (or best, depending on one's mental state)! And some of the stuff in here is even true!!!

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

PITY THE NATION!

 

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE: We interrupt our irregularly scheduled satire to bring you this prophetic poem by the late Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which (for me) captures the grave moment in which we all live...

*****************

“PITY THE NATION”

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti (After Khalil Gibran) 2007

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture

Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own

Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed

Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away

My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Trump Executive Order Says "You're Outa Here Big Bird!"


Washington (The Loose Nukes): In what may be his most sweeping executive order yet affecting Freedom of the Press, President Donald Trump has decreed that Fox News will be the only media organization recognized by The White House. 

Trump said it was a pretty tough decision, but concluded that even though Fox has occasionally questioned his decisions, "for the most part they've been pretty good. "I have an ability... I don't watch the lefty fake news networks like NBC anymore. They're as bad as CNN. And you gotta love Fox & Friends... they've got that Ainsley Airhardt; oh, she's a looker, I gotta tell you. It's my favorite show on TV.

The order states that all funds saved by the implementation of his executive order "ENDING TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZATION OF BIASED MEDIA", which revokes all funding currently being received by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), will be distributed to Fox News, which is well known for its "fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage."

Finally, the order allows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke the broadcast license of any television station if the president becomes displeased with their coverage. 

“We don’t have a Free and Fair ‘Press’ in this Country anymore,” Trump wrote in a recent post. “We have a Press that writes BAD STORIES, and CHEATS, BIG, ON POLLS. IT IS COMPROMISED AND CORRUPT. SAD!

Although not explicitly stated in the executive order, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that Fox News personnel will be assigned the entire first two rows in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, traditionally reserved for the most prominent news organizations.

In response to a question by a Washington Post reporter about what it will take for reporters to earn the President's respect, Leavitt retorted that "if media outlets don't bend the knee"... "they will lose big time. Any more questions?"

END NOTE: OK, so the executive order doesn't go quite as far as this fake story would have you believe - that is if you believe much of what you read on the internet - but it is not so far off when you consider how far the U.S. is sliding down the slippery slope into the fascist abyss. Beware my friends... remember that old saying: "First they came for Big Bird..."

REFERENCES

Executive Order: ENDING TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZATION OF BIASED MEDIA; THE WHITE HOUSE, MAY 1, 2025; https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/

USA: Trump verbally attacked the media more than 100 times in run-up to election; Reporters Without Borders; November 25, 2024; https://rsf.org/en/usa-trump-verbally-attacked-media-more-100-times-run-election 

100 DAYS OF HOAXES: Cutting Through the Fake News; The White House; April 29, 2025: 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/100-days-of-hoaxes-cutting-through-the-fake-news/

How a Professional Bully Is Winning Control of the Media; Common Dreams; April 25, 2025; https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-controls-media?  

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Trump is Making Showers Great Again!

Washington (The Loose Nukes): President Donald Trump, in one of his most meaningful executive orders to date, decreed that, “No longer will shower heads be weak and worthless,” the White House said in a news release on Wednesday. "With a stroke of my great big powerful pen, I am officially ending the War on Showers! I'm gonna make shower heads great again," trumpeted Trump.

Thie latest executive order eradicates restrictions on water flow from all shower heads sold in the United Snakes. The order directs Energy Secretary Chris Wright to rescind a definition of shower heads first implemented by President Barack Obama.

This is by no means the first time Trump has attempted to redefine shower heads (or anything else for that matter). He introduced a rule in his first term, dramatically increasing the amount of water that showers could use. In 2017 Trump infamously said, "Look, we have plenty of water in this great nation. Just look at all those Great Lakes; all that water, it's just great, great. We can just pump all that beautiful water all over the country; we just have to beat the Canadians to it. It will the greatest infrastructure project in the history of the world."

At that time Trump was absolutely giddy about reversing any measures put in place by the Obama administration, calling his new shower head rule "my big, beautiful Golden Shower [head]."

It is the second time that Mr. Trump as president has attempted to redefine a shower head. A rule he introduced in his first term drastically increased the amount of water that showers with multiple nozzles could use. The Biden administration later reversed that change.

Regulations.gov

Trump has complained for many years about the ridiculously small amount of water coming out of shower heads. “I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair,” President Trump said on Wednesday in the Oval Office. 

“I stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous. Even the showers here in The White House don't work. That's just criminal, The White House, can you imagine that, drip, drip, drip, just horrible."

During his first term in the White House, Trump lamented that his showers did not supply enough water for him to achieve his “perfect” hair, part of a campaign against what he described as excessive government regulation.

“So shower heads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” Mr. Trump once said at a an event touting his business-friendly policies. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.”

At a dinner with Republican leaders in 2023, Trump repeated his complaint: “You know I have this gorgeous head of hair — when I take a shower, I want water to pour down on me. When you go into these new homes with showers, the water drips down slowly, slowly.”

Chris Wright, who says he is all in for rolling back any regulation that restricts people's Gog-given right to pump as much water as they can (afford to) pump, was the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking company, before taking the post as Energy Secretary. “I am confident that we can reverse the irresponsible policies of the Biden administration and prioritize endless and wasteful use of natural resources. Under his [Wright's] leadership, the DOE will once again support the great American corporation, and allow companies like Nestle to pump all the water they want anywhere they want,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in a statement. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, Trump really did issue an executive order about... well, yes - SHOWER HEADS. He is definitely on a roll (back) these days. Much of the quotes in this post are real, with a few words changed here and there (just for fun and emphasis). it's so nice to see Trump focusing on so many important issues (like wasting our most precious and life-giving resource). See references below if you don't believe me... Truth is far stranger than fiction these days!

REFERENCES:

1) "MAINTAINING ACCEPTABLE WATER PRESSURE IN SHOWERHEADS"; The White House, April 9, 2025; https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/maintaining-acceptable-water-pressure-in-showerheads/

2) "Trump Tackles His Longtime Pet Peeve: Weak Shower Heads"; New York Times; April 10, 2025; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/trump-showers-water-pressure.html

3) "The president pushes for more flow from the nation’s shower heads.", New York Times, August 13, 2020; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/politics/the-president-pushes-for-more-flow-from-the-nations-shower-heads.html  

4) Senate confirms fracking CEO Chris Wright to lead Energy Department; The Hill; February 03, 2025; https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5123956-chris-wright-confirmed-energy-department/

5) "California Authorities Say NestlĂ© Is Illegally Gulping Up Public Water"; Los Angeles Times, April 26, 202; https://lamag.com/news-and-politics/nestle-water-california-legal-dispute