Outraged Joe Biden Says We Won’t Personally Kiss Each Missile In Next Round of Artillery Sent to Israel

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is reportedly fuming after Israel’s military killed seven aid workers and said he will no longer kiss every bomb and gun the United States sends to Israel to continue their attacks on innocent civilians, sources confirmed.

“Listen Jack, I’ve had just about enough of this malarkey. I called up Netanyahu and I gave it to him straight, I told him that from here on out all the missiles we send will no longer feel the tender touch of my lips as a gesture of unity and goodwill,” said President Biden. “And on top of that, I will no longer whisper ‘God bless the United States and God bless Israel, deliver us peace sweet angel of warfare’ at the artillery either. I’m done. If they want to drop these bombs on people they are going to have to do it without my sweet caress.”

Hardline Republicans were quick to criticize President Biden for his decision.

“When I look back in history I think of great leaders like President Reagan. He would personally visit top secret missile silos with nuclear bombs and sit on top of them without any pants on so each device was slathered in his musk, and that man delivered peace to the world,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz. “During the Iraq war, my close personal friend and hero, George W. Bush would drizzle his own semen over every hellfire missile we used in Iraq, and that’s why we were able to liberate that country so successfully. If Biden isn’t willing to kiss every bomb then he might as well just come out and endorse Hamas.”

Activists who continue to call for an immediate ceasefire say the President’s actions are not nearly enough.

“I’m not sure why he was kissing the bombs in the first place, they are going to explode whether they have been kissed or not. We need to hold Israel accountable for the atrocities its government is perpetrating every single day. The blood of the Palestinian people is on our hands, and Biden needs to stop sending weapons that American taxpayers funded,” said Tamara Aziz. “Biden should not get credit for his refusal to make out with implements of destruction that are killing innocent people. I just want him to agree to get more food shipped to Gaza, if he needs to shit on the crate first I won’t care. Just get it to the people.”

At press time, President Biden walked back his initial statement and said each bomb will get a small peck, but no tongue.

Every Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie Ranked By How Likely Your Dad Will Tolerate Being In The Same Room With You While It’s On

Part of growing up is learning to see your parents not as just your parents, but as human beings. It’s a right of passage, a sort of epiphany that marks your first true steps into the world of adulthood. You find yourself eager to put aside all past turmoil and disagreement and engage with the people who gave birth to you on a human level, as equals. Then you come home and realize that this desire for human connection is entirely one-sided.

The closest I have so far come to bonding with my father as an adult man is watching an entire movie together, and even that is an extremely uphill battle. Here is every film from his favorite actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ranked by how likely he will actually sit through the entire movie and sort of tolerate my presence in the room.

35. Junior

After a quick “This is the future liberals want!” he’s storming out to the bar. That might be for the best.

34. Kindergarten Cop

Our dad has never been big on children, a message Mom was kind enough to dictate into every birthday card growing up. He did say he likes the first 20 minutes of the movie and then it “Turns to absolute dick” after that.

33. Maggie

He lost interest once he read the words “A dedicated father” in the streaming service description.

32. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

He gave up once he realized there was a female Terminator. “They expect us to believe a girl could be a Terminator?!” He actually said that before leaving the room, and I’ve been unpacking how stupid that sentence is for hours.

31. Terminator: Dark Fate

To be fair we couldn’t make it all the way through this one either, but I made it further than Dad who walked off after his joke “There’s a dark fate for ya, women drivers!” didn’t get a laugh.

30. Last Action Hero

This movie was kind of a bomb, sure, but since it centers around a kid desperate for approval from a father figure, Dad wouldn’t even give it a chance.

29. The 6th Day

Best nap we’ve ever shared, that’s something.

28. Collateral Damage

Anytime John Leguizamo was on-screen Dad would say “I bet he did it, he looks like an MS13 guy.” I tried explaining that it wasn’t a mystery, and they showed who “did it” at the beginning of the movie, and he got mad at me and left the room.

27. Red Sonja

Dad thinks Brigitte Nielsen’s career was part of a government psyop to make men “confused.” He refuses to elaborate.

26. Terminator Genisys

Did you know that the Terminator’s mildly paternal demeanor in this film was “part of the liberal war on straight white masculine alphas?” Dad didn’t teach me to ride a bike, drive, or shave but it was super important to him that I learned this.

25. Batman & Robin

Another one dad bailed on due to a major plothole: “A guy with a body like that would just get a new wife.”

24. Jingle All the Way

Dad was never big on Christmas. Every year when we would open gifts in the morning he would stay in bed, coming downstairs only once or twice to tell us all to keep it down. He just doesn’t do well with expectations like gift shopping or decorating or showing the slightest shade of warmth toward children he made. He is on record saying Sinbad is “One of the good ones,” but he’s not sitting through “Jingle All The Way.”

23. Sabotage

My dad is highly critical of anyone with a neck tattoo unless they’re a cop. Then they’re “real men.” Why do I want to connect with this guy again?

22. Eraser

I actually have no memory of this movie. No one does. If you have ever watched this movie please let us know.

21. True Lies

James Cameron’s hit action/rom-com was a miss for Dad because “Women shouldn’t have their hair all short like that.”

20. Stay Hungry

I thought this movie went a little off the rails but in a fun way. My dad thought all those hippies needed haircuts and then went out and stood on the back porch looking towards the treeline for what seemed like four hours.

19. End of Days

Yeah, weirdly Dad went all in on the mediocre apocalyptic action film “End of Days.” To this day he still wears a WWJD bracelet, which he thinks stands for “What would Jericho do?”

18. The Expendables

Honestly, these movies are pretty unwatchable, but for some reason Dad likes them, and if sitting through them is my only shot at having at least one meaningful conversation with him in my adult life then I’m just going to have to suck it up.

17. The Expendables 2

As soon as the credits started to roll on “Expendables” he threw on “Expendables 2” without a word. At first, I thought he was just that desperate not to talk to me but he is glued to this thing. I actually heard him say “It’s even better than the first one.” Not to me, obviously, but to himself.

16. The Expendables 3

This is brutal, but he spoke to me! He turned his head, looked me in the eye, and said right to my face “They’re old, but they can still get the job done.” I have no idea what “The job” is, these movies are so bad your brain deletes them as you watch, but I’m starting to see why my 65-year-old hard-ass of a father loves them so much.

WrestleMania Fan Pre-Books ICU for Stomach Pumping this Weekend

HOBOKEN, N.J. – WWE fan and local embarrassment, Connor Duncan, reportedly made preparations to save his liver during WrestleMania this weekend by pre-booking an emergency trip to the hospital, sources confirmed.

“My girlfriend is always telling me to plan ahead,” said Duncan while unloading twelve cases of beer from his truck. “I bought some pigs in blankets, a keg, and called the hospital to let them know to keep a slot open for me around 10 p.m. because I plan on getting wrecked. Me and the boys have been ending our night at the Hoboken University Med Center every year for the past three ‘mania’s, so I let them know ahead of time that we would be keeping the tradition alive so they don’t give my spot to some pregnant lady or someone that was in a car accident. It would be a shame if they couldn’t accommodate us because that would mean my 12-year-old son would have to drive us to a different hospital.”

The hospital staff appreciates Duncan’s thoughtfulness in booking the space.

“Dunks is an old buddy of mine,” said emergency room nurse Scott Miller. “This is the only place I get to see him now that he’s been banned from every bar in the area after he tried to have sex with the animatronic crocodile outside of the Rainforest Café during 2022’s WrestleMania. We get a lot of people in here every year this weekend, so it’s nice to know I will see a familiar face choking on his vomit among the drunken crowd, even if he doesn’t remember seeing me.”

With the popularity of “hitting the pumps” each WrestleMania, rep for reservation company, Resy, Mary Rodriguez, announced the business’s plan to capitalize on the opportunity on this holiday and others.

“Resy is proud to announce we now are linking with local hospitals so that guests are prioritized for WrestleMania as well as other special occasions where they can predict they will be getting blackout drunk, such as St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, and the final days of Toyotathon,” said Rodriguez. “We are excited to say we will even discount your medical bill by 15% if you sign up with your student ID for a Prom Pump! Drink up!”

At press time, Duncan was alerting the police they could expect to arrest him for public urination outside of the Hoboken University Medical Center and attempting to give an EMT a Rock Bottom.

Alkaline Trio World Tour Includes Obligatory Symbolic Date In Transylvania

TRANSYLVANIA — Acclaimed spook-punk band Alkaline Trio announced a purely symbolic tour date in remote settlement “The Village of Unspeakable Horrors” during their ongoing “Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs” tour, sources eager to immerse themselves in Transylvanian culture confirmed.

“We always like to have a little fun and put a Transylvania date in every tour. Like February 30th in Transylvania, because it’s spooky, and we like being spooky. Someday we might actually go there, have ‘human blood’ in our rider just to see what happens,” said Matt Skiba. “Just thinking about the motherland helps us as a band to get back to our roots. We always come away from our hypothetical Transylvania show feeling reinvigorated, inspired, and like there is a dark cloud of unimaginable terror constantly looming over us–like how true artists should feel.

Despite the band’s optimism, a Transylvanian villager known only as “Sergiu the Clubfoot” had an ominous warning for them.

“Beware, triplets of the Alkali. The rending of souls is soon to be commenced,” began Sergiu, in between bouts of coughing up a mysterious black bile. “You must protect yourselves from the ancient evil spirits that dwell in these most creepy of lands. You shall not escape unharmed! And also, could you add ‘Fatally Yours’ to your setlist. My wife loved that song before the town warlock turned her into a mud gnome.”

To get more perspective on vaguely spooky bands visiting the area, the most famous Transylvanian of all time, Count Dracula, provided an expert opinion.

“Man, I hate these fucking tourists. Bleh! First that Bram Stoker jackass writes a totally unauthorized and misleading tell-all about me, and now I gotta deal with these gloomy goths always bumming around my castle. Is it too much to ask for some fucking privacy?” bemoaned Dracula. “I swear to the dark lord, these Trio hoodlums better not try to do some kind of hacky homage to me during their show. The Misfits tried that once back in 83’ and it’s the reason why their one roadie never left Transylvania alive.”

At press time, members of Alkaline Trio were preparing a large, inflatable vampire bat for their stage decoration, apparently unaware that it will mean they’ll likely be needing a new guitar tech after this.

Help! One of My Mom’s Friends Said “Save Some for Me!” When I Posted a Picture of My Dinner Online, But Now it’s 3 a.m. and She’s Standing On My Front Lawn With a Tupperware and a Hungry Look in Her Eyes

Are you a fan of the home invasion horror subgenre? Because I think I’m living in a straight-to-streaming B-movie nightmare as I type out what may very well be my last entry. It all started this afternoon when I posted a picture of my Chinese takeout on Instagram. My mom’s friend, Susan, was the first to comment with “SAVE SOME FOR ME!” in all caps with one of those old-school colon-dash-parenthesis emoticons of yesteryears.

Jokingly, and in good faith, I told Susan, “Come on over, there’s plenty to go around ;-p,” and it now seems that she has taken me up on my offer. I thought nothing of it when I typed out my playful invitation. That is until I fell asleep on the couch and was woken up by my dog pawing at the window in distress. I peered sleepily through the front window, and there was Susan, with a crazed look in her eyes, wearing a plastic lobster bib and holding a single-use fork and knife.

I slowly returned the blinds to their closed position, but her ravenous gaze locked onto my subtle, but not quite subtle enough movement. She hungrily bellowed, “I hope you saved me an egg roll!” I quickly crawled over to the front door to confirm that the deadbolt was locked. When I parted the blinds once more, her steamy, impatient breath was already fogging up the window and her eyes, now level with my own, were glowing crimson. She tapped her plastic fork on the window and monotonously said, “sweetie, please open up… I’m just taking you up on your offer. I won’t be a bother, I promise.”

Shutting the blinds once more, I reached for the landline because my cell phone was on the charger upstairs. And wouldn’t you know it…the line was cut. Whether Susan cut through the wire with her plastic knife, or simply gnawed through it is up for debate, but given the crazed look in her eyes, I’m assuming the latter.

As I sat on the floor collecting my thoughts, her hand burst through the mail slot clutching a moist towelette. I swatted at her hand as hard as humanly possible and her voice pitched down at least three octaves before letting out the most ungodly shriek I have ever heard in my life. She scampered off into the darkness like a wounded gazelle, but I know she’s still out there lurking, waiting for me to show a moment of weakness. Waiting for me to let my guard down.

I’m typing this on a Google Doc so it automatically uploads to the cloud just in case anything happens to me. I don’t know what Susan is capable of. She always seemed like a nice lady, but now I’m not so –

What was that?

It sounded like my upstairs window just slid open. I need to grab a baseball bat or a shovel from the garage before it’s too late. I fear for my life. More importantly, I fear for my leftovers. I really couldn’t afford to get takeout in the first place, and the General Tso’s Chicken that’s congealing in my fridge has to at least get me through lunch tomorrow. If I don’t live through this, please heed my advice, and don’t ever, under any circumstances post a pic–

Hockey Arena DJ Waiting for Perfect Moment to Play “Welcome to the Jungle”

DETROIT — Little Caesars Arena DJ Richard King is waiting for the perfect moment to play “Welcome to the Jungle” during a Detroit Red Wings game, according to sources unsuccessfully trying to sing the ‘sha-na-na-na-na-na knees’ part of the song.

“It’s a lot of pressure, DJ’ing a hockey game” said King while cueing up “Cotton Eye Joe” for the next break in play. “I’m worried that if I play ‘Welcome to the Jungle’’ at the wrong time it won’t whip the crowd into a frenzy like I know it should. It could get us going right before a power play, but then what if a fight breaks out? Then what will I do? We can only play songs once, and I don’t want to be left in the lurch. What if we go to overtime? ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ would certainly set the mood. ‘Enter Sandman’ is a backup I suppose, but I think the world agrees that we can bench that one for a while.”

Detroit Red Wings Hall-of-Famer Nicklas Lidstrom knows all about in-arena music affecting games.

“We should have won the cup in 2010, “reported Lidstrom while lamenting that he left Sweden to live in Detroit. “But some idiot played ‘Cherry Pie’ by Warrant right before the last faceoff. With only seconds to go I had the puck on my stick, and the other team’s goalie was out of position, but instead of burying it in the net to tie the game I thought ‘Fucking Warrant? Really?’! Well, that distracted me long enough for their goalie to make the save and win the cup. I personally blame that loss on DJ Richard King, because we should have had back-to-back cups that year.”

Guns n Roses vocalist Axl Rose offered his two cents on the matter.

“I don’t know what hockey is, I don’t want to know, and if anybody tries to explain it to me I’ll scream until the cops come,” said Rose as he tried on Slash’s sunglasses. “But I do know that I’ll personally sue any DJ that improperly plays GNR songs. And that includes that no-good DJ Ashba. Dude gives me the willies.”

At press time King was being beaten up by the Detroit Red Wings for accidentally playing “Rock and Roll Part II” after a goal.

“What’s New With You?” and 10 Other Basic Questions That Give Me an Anxiety Attack for No Reason

Small talk is one of the worst forms of communication to ever exist. Simple questions can send you spiraling, making you wonder why we do this to ourselves, or why we even exist in the first place. Here are 10 seemingly simple questions that make us forget how to breathe.

How Are You?

How am I? Oh, Do you ACTUALLY wanna know? Cuz it looks like you’re having a good day and I don’t wanna bum you out with a friggin’ treatise on how I’m feeling profoundly “no bueno.” Also, I don’t KNOW you! How am I? I feel like the question should be, “Hey, how much do you trust me with your emotional vulnerability?” Oh! So you were looking for a one-word answer? Awesome. I’m “Awesome.” But yeah… how are YOU?

We’re Outside! You Ready to Go?

Well, considering I’m in the throes of trying to pull off some Timothee Chalamet waves with my hair but it keeps coming out like Julian Casablancas, I’d say I’m nowhere close to being ready. Here, let me shoot you a text back that says, “be out in 5” while trying to cram my poor broken body into a pair of skinny jeans that I convince myself I can still wear despite a MASSIVE hole in the crotch and a top button under so much stress it could fire off at any second and wound anyone unlucky enough to be in it’s path.

How’s Work?

Oh super cool of you to bring up a common and totally normal subject like work because you know I’m very much unemployed. Or do you? When was the last time we chatted? Oh, damn. I should call my friends more. Are we friends? Do I know you? Please like me. Fuck! I forgot to cancel my BritBox subscription. But yes, I’m currently “freelancing.”

Oh, So You Freelance?

Please stop asking me follow-up questions or I will throw up all over your sambas.

Do You Know Where *Insert Any Location Including My Own Home* Is?

Funny you should ask that because I absolutely do not know where anything is. I mean, If my phone dies, I literally won’t be able to find my way home (and yes, it IS on two percent). Also, I’m not entirely sure I know my lefts from my rights. Like, I’m PRETTY sure I know, but sometimes I’m bafflingly stupid. But will my complete lack of geographical knowledge stop me from stumbling through vague-ass directions until you say, “ya know what? I think I can figure it out on my own”? Of course not.

Would You Mind Watching My Stuff?

What? No! I mean “Yes,” I do mind! Do you know what’ll happen if you leave your stuff with me? Well, I’ll tell ya: Option 1: I get robbed immediately by a man in a gorilla suit who doesn’t WANT to be a thief but is forced to do so because his stepdad has a turtle-racing gambling addiction. Option 2? You’re hiding a bomb in that New Yorker tote. Those are the only two logical options.

Have You Seen “Dune 2” Yet?

Brother, I haven’t seen “DUNE 1.” And I’ve already made the mistake of telling you that Denis Villeneuve is my favorite director. So now I’m double-fucked. Oh? Have I read the books? Absolutely not. And while we’re at it, I might as well admit that I haven’t read any of “The Lord Of The Rings” despite trying to start them literally a gazillion times. Also, the thought of sitting through anything longer than a 10-second TikTok makes me want to spontaneously combust. And sand scares me. Like a LOT.

Wheapasc Aharsh Foo?

Yeah, I definitely couldn’t hear you over the sound of Death Grips playing in this basement with obnoxiously low ceilings and exposed pipes. And considering I’ve already asked you to repeat the question twice and still couldn’t figure it out, I think I’ll just do a little nervous laugh and go “haha, yeah.”

Are You A Swiftie?

Oh god. Don’t make me answer this. What happens if I say no? Fuck. How do I play this? Is my indecision making me seem anti-swiftie? Even if I do like her, I don’t want to be called that. Oh, and NOW you’re asking me about her private jet usage? Why are you doing this to me? We’re in the middle of a Midwestern Target! PRIME Swiftie territory! I can’t. I can’t do this right now. This is too much pressure. I don’t hate her! I don’t!

Are You Ready to Order?

Nope! But I’m pretty confident that the entire rest of my life hinges on whether I go for the steak au poivre or the duck confit. Time to panic order some chicken tenders and pretend that I like the taste of this negroni. What? You don’t have chicken tenders? FUCK.

Every Mischief Brew Album Ranked Worst to Best

Mischief Brew was a Philadelphia-based folk punk who wrote songs about labor unions, AA meetings, civil strife, and love, sweet, complicated love. They’re exactly what you get when a boxcar hobo finds an iPod shuffle full of Crass bootlegs. It’s what you get you try to tune a calliope to the squeaking of sewer rats. It’s what you get when a Woody Guthrie fan has enough teeth to eat nothing but cheesesteaks. All right, you get it. Let’s not belabor this. Here’s our definitive ranking of every Mischief Brew album.

5. Bacchanal ‘N’ Philadelphia

Look, something has to be ranked last. “Bacchanal ‘N’ Philadelphia” is a great album, as it’s really just a bunch of snippets of early recordings and split singles given a nice fluffing up and repackaging. It’s mellow, it’s melodic, and it reminds us that even our mistakes can be beautiful. Well, maybe not beautiful. But they can still be fun, if occasionally requiring tetanus shots sometimes.

Play it again: “Olde Tyme Mem’ry”
Skip it: “Roll Me Through the Gates of Hell.” There’s a better version of this song on the next album

 

4. Smash the Windows

This is Mischief Brew’s first album and, you know what, it really embodies that quality. It’s not bad by any stretch – in fact for a first album it exemplifies much more of a developed identity than many bands go their entire career without figuring out. Whether that means that Mischief Brew were bound for greatness or that most punk bands straight up just suck boring eggs is for you to decide. “Smash the Windows” is a smash, but there’s better mischief on the horizon.

Play it again: “Roll Me Through the Gates of Hell.” See. I told you.
Skip it: “Departure Arrival”

Honorable Mention: Photographs From the Shoebox

Mischief Brew sure do love their splits – and we’re not just talking about the groin-bursting high kicks that lead songwriter Erik Peterson would frequently break into during practice to, as he claimed, “protect the band enemies above.” No, here we’re talking about split albums, and this split with Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen showcases two of Philadelphia’s greatest punk songwriters at their finest. Listening to Talcum and Peterson’s songs side by side show the obvious influence between the two artists, and the Mischief Brew cover of “Watching Scotty Die” is a perfect melding of the energy from both. Just remember though, no matter how amped up this record may get you, take it easy on the high kicks – you’ll give yourself a hernia, kid.

Play it again: “Bury Me In Analog”
Skip it: “Smash Potwatching”

3. The Stone Operation

In 1494, Hieronymus Bosch completed his now famed painting “Cutting the Stone,” depicting a medieval surgeon extracting the stone of madness from the head of a fool via primitive trepanation. In 2011, Mischief Brew released “The Stone Operation,” which posited the philosophy “why don’t we just cram that motherfucking stone right back up in there?” The album showcases Peterson’s “hobo poet” persona to its furthest extent, and it delves as equally into straight forward three-chord punk rock as it does into traditional Romani caravan concertos. Basically, “The Stone Operation” deals those unaccustomed to distorted folk songs a real kick in the stones.

Play it again: “Stuff’s Weird”
Skip it: “Nevada City Serenade”

2. Songs From Under the Sink

Odds are that if you’re a fairweather Mischief Brew fan, or have just spent any amount of time in an anarchist coffee shop in the past fifteen years, then this is the album you will be most familiar with. “Songs From Under the Sink” includes classics like “Thanks, Bastards!” and “Coffee, God, and Cigarettes” which provide as ideal a soundtrack for a unionized picket line you dare not cross as it does for bothering the heavily tattooed barista who just wishes you would take your fucking cortado and walk away from the counter.
Fun fact: The writer of this review once mistakenly called a “cortado” a “tostada” and yet was still served the drink they meant to say. Great work, anarchist barista! Also, Mischief Brew was probably playing at the time.

Play it again: “Love and Rage”
Skip it: “Save a City…”

1. This Is Not For Children

To say that Mischief Brew’s style aged like a fine wine is cliche as all fuck and insulting to who they were as both a band and likely group of alcoholics. But to say they aged like a fine jugged juice forgotten in the back of an eastbound headed boxcar until a runaway train punk named Scooter Rust found it on his way to the Philadelphia railyard, now that makes sense. Mischief Brew’s penultimate album makes full use of their full band lineup without losing any of the intimacy of Peterson’s singer-songwriter origins. Songs detail scenes of love, squalor, love for squalor, and, without filter, depict blue collar day to day life in a way that feels lived and genuine, and not like some punk rock ethos cash in effort. Though it may not be the album that first comes to mind when most people think of Mischief Brew, it is undoubtedly the band at their most creatively ambitious.

Play it again: “No Candlesticks”
Skip it: Not a goddamn second of it

New Disney Movie Teaches Kids The Magical Whimsy of Maximizing Shareholder Value

BURBANK, Calif. — Disney announced at their latest board meeting that their latest film would teach kids the real-world magic that is economics, particularly maximizing shareholder value, confirmed. excited adults wearing Mickey Mouse ears to work.

“Jesus fucking Christ, what happened? This is one of the largest companies in America, home to some of the most iconic children’s films in the world, and we’ve just gone to absolute shit,” said Bob Iger while flipping through a calendar that has his planned retirement date circled in red five times. “There are only so many live versions we can make of cartoon movies. Maybe we should remake a few remakes? Fuck. I’m shooting blanks here. I mean, I had to come out of retirement to help drag this company out of Deathly Hallows. Wait. That’s Universal’s IP. Fucking delete that. Well, this film should succeed because life imitates art. Or is it art imitates life? Ahh, who gives a fuck, art’s not profitable!”

The film is positioned to do well, as indicated by responses from local children, including 10-year-old Johnny Lipton who has dressed as Buzz Lightyear on Halloween for the past four year.

“Yeah, I mean, who believes in magic anymore? I’ve been inundated with internet nonsense since before I had the capacity for abstract thought. I saw on my mom’s Instagram feed at age 6 that Santa wasn’t real,” said Lipton while opening his Robinhood app to purchase more Disney stock. “I know I’m just going to be another cog in the capitalist machine in 10 years, so might as well max out my bank account. Magic might not be real, and economics is just a system we created to attribute value to labor, but if I must labor, might as well get my fucking money’s worth.”

Nelson Peltz, who failed to gain a spot on Disney’s board of directors, seemed a bit confused about the company’s downfall.

“I don’t understand why the entertainment industry, an already unstable entity that quite literally uses the same economic logic as gambling in a casino, is doing so poorly,” said Peltz while rubbing his leathery hands together. “They only threaten writer jobs with AI, pay everyone shit wages, and continue to hire incompetent family members. Why wouldn’t anyone want to write the next Disney Classic film? If I got elected to the board of directors, things would’ve started looking a little different. I’d like to see a few movies about an older man that joins a high school football team and wins the big game, I’m just spitballing here.”

At press time, Disney announced plans to merge with HBO-Discovery-Warner Brothers stating that there is no need to separate kid’s media anymore as children no longer have childhoods anyway.

Substitute Lead Singer Wheels in TV to Show “Bill Nye” Episodes Instead of Practice

LATROBE, Penn. — Members of indie-noise act Timid Toucan were excited to find that their rehearsal would have a substitute lead singer today who wheeled in a TV to show episodes of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” out of apparent laziness, sources confirmed amid hushed anticipation.

“When I first heard our singer was sick and was sending in a sub, I’ll be honest, I was pretty pumped to mess with them. I had my whoopee cushion all ready, and me and the other guys made a plan to all turn our amps around if they ever left the room. But when he wheeled in that cart with the big TV strapped to it, I was at rapt attention,” said bass player Lon Benchley, as he bopped his head along to a song parody about static electricity. “I may be physically here in this cramped practice space, but mentally? I’m rushing off the school bus to make sure I didn’t miss the theme song so I could chant ‘Bill! Bill! Bill!’ along with it. I hope the photosynthesis one is next, I could really use a refresher on that!”

The substitute for the day, Mr. Breward, defended his decision to have “movie day” in lieu of actual practice.

“I know it looks like I’m just going through the motions to run out the clock, but, confidentially, ‘rock musician’ isn’t really my main gig. It’s just a way to pay the bills while I can follow my true dream of subbing over at Franklin Middle School full-time,” remarked Breward as he ignored a band member getting up on the kick drum and dancing to impress the others. “I know it seems like a long shot, since the real substitute teaching business is such a tough one to break into, but I really think if I buckle down and grind away at these garage band rehearsals, they’ll have to notice me and get me in a real science classroom at some point. Things have to work out, they just HAVE to!”

Bill Nye himself encouraged the practice of substitutes relying on his past work to occupy child and child-like minds.

“Simply put: I make bank on the residuals every time an unprepared sub or paraprofessional throws on a few episodes of my old show. I’m not sure how they track those things, but every few weeks a few hundred thousand dollar checks come to my solar-powered mailbox and I can keep fighting the good fight without having to do an iPhone commercial or something,” sighed Nye, while relaxing on a remote sandy beach in nothing but a speedo and bowtie, sipping a coconut cocktail through a Krazy Straw. “Same thing goes for other sub-day viewing mainstays like the Zooboomafoo lemur and the entire cast and crew of 1999’s coming-of-age science drama ‘October Sky,’ who are all just down the beach there. Isn’t that wild?”

At press time, the band was thrilled to be promised that, if they behave through the next episode, they can put their heads down on their amps and play a round of “heads up seven up.”