Schadenfreude Friday (posted 10/2/26)

Today I’ve got three stories of schadenfreude, the great German word for “pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune.”  That can be a supremely creepy thing, if the person suffering is innocent.  But if the suffering arrives as the just consequences of that person’s bad actions – sometimes identified by the acronym FAFO – then the freude (joy) can be sweet indeed.

First up we have a TDS-riddled bonehead named Kirk Bangstad, who owns a bar called the Minocqua Brewing Co in Madison, Wisconsin.  Bangstad really dislikes Trump, as is his right.  If you ask me – and as a general rule, you really should – I think most of our politicians have earned some scorn, and I have no problem with anyone expressing disdain for any politician, regardless of whether I agree with them.

But one crosses a line when one wishes death on a political opponent.  And little Kirkie B. has done that.  Back in January, he started advertising on his bar’s webpage, “Free beer, all day long the day he dies.  Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise.” 

Hilariously enough, Trump has now outlived Bangstad’s bar.  Because the state of Wisconsin has yanked his liquor license, and the reason is chef’s kiss perfect: Bangstad had been bringing in beer from Illinois without the required permits and tax payments. 

So when it comes to leftist hypocrisy, this story gives us a two-fer.  Not only is Bangstad the kind of compassionate, big-hearted liberal who wishes death on anyone who disagrees with his hateful politics, he’s also the kind of pro-government regulation and taxation liberal who was doing everything possible to avoid complying with regulations and paying his taxes. 

This guy should be on the Democrat ticket in 2028!

The moral of the story, as the wise old proverb says: “The dildo of consequences seldom comes lubed.” 

The second story is about a business quite a bit bigger than Bangstad’s.  Although the way this company is going, it might soon be every bit as successful as his shuttered bar.

I’m talking about Nike, a former sportswear company who decided to turn themselves into a producer of virtue signaling and America hatred.  Since then, to paraphrase Brad Pitt in that Nazi movie, business has not been a’ boomin’.

In 2021, Nike had been on the S&P 100 for 13 years, and its stock price was $161 per share.  But that year was nearing the peak of woke, and Nike had already picked third-string QB – but All-Pro Whitey-Hater – Colin Kapernick as their spokes-toxin. 

Sorry, that should have been “spokesperson.”  

Or should it?  

Anyway, they followed up that brilliant move with an ad campaign based on the US women’s soccer team’s complaints that they weren’t paid as well as the male soccer team.  (Never mind that they were wildly over-paid, based on how much less money they brought in than the men’s team.  And also never mind that their unpopular cause was fronted by repellent little guy Megan Rapinoe, a scowling misanthrope with a giant chip on her frail little shoulder.)

Next up was a campaign to lecture Americans about what racist scumbags they were, in the wake of recidivist junkie George Floyd’s death.  Then they dropped a Betsy Ross-themed sneaker because racist Colin Kapernick delusionally found it to be…racist.  (Unexpectedly!)  Then they launched ANOTHER campaign about how racist and sexist Americans are, this time featuring LeBron James, Serena Williams, and Megan Rapinoe (again!). 

If you’re keeping score at home, that means that Nike chose to associate themselves with 4 charter members of the Whiny Athletes Hall of Fame.  Plus George Floyd.

Annnnnnddddd… Nike’s value has cratered, losing over $200 billion in five years, and dropping off of the S&P 100.  Today it’s down to $35 per share.

Proving once again the cliché, “Go woke, go broke.” 

(And also that thing about the un-lubed marital aid of consequences.)

Next up is everyone’s favorite airport-travelers-botherer, with a market value somewhere between Kirk Bangstad’s defunct bar and the imploding Nike:  CNN.     

This story comes in the wake of CNN’s being temporarily thrown out of the WH press room, after which they got their gender-non-binary onesies over their heads because the administration dared accuse them of being a purveyor of propaganda and conspiracy theories.  They ululated in outrage at the very idea of trying to denigrate a news network that way.

And then – because God exists, and He loves us – somebody grabbed and posted a CNN story from five short years ago, featuring a semi-telegenic hack named Brianna Keilar.  Her story begins by saying that “Fox in the era of President Joe Biden is a carousel of conspiracy theories and fear mongering.” 

I know.  She’s doing exactly what CNN is now saying must never, EVER be done. 

But it gets better.  Because she cites 4 examples of those wretched “conspiracy theories” that Fox was pushing.  The first is the contention that “Biden is essentially senile.”  The next is what she calls “the evidence-free conclusion” that Biden is “a puppet of a deep state.”  Next is the idea that in recent years, human sperm counts have been falling.  Last is Fox’s ridiculous contention that the border is actually open, and there is a “border crisis.”   

Her conclusion? “Fox is not news, no matter what it calls itself.”   

Got that?  As evidence that Fox is not a legitimate source because it lies all the time, she cites four examples of those lies.  Except that all four examples were true, and she lied about all of them.

Biden WAS senile, as all PWFE (people with functioning eyes) knew.  I guess you could quibble with what constitutes “a deep state,” but “unelected people behind the scenes producing talking points, writing legislation and signing pardons for a senile president” sums it up pretty well, don’t you think?  And dozens of medical studies have documented falling sperm counts.

Also, you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to detect that 15-20 million illegals streaming in –with commensurate levels of crime, red ink and social disorder – suggests that our border was completely open, thus constituting a crisis.

Sadly, though, I don’t know whether this last story has as much “freude” to it as it should.  Because while Kirk Bangstad’s malicious business has gone under, and Nike’s assault on our culture has cost it $200 billion and counting, CNN is still broadcasting, and Brianna Keilar still has a job there.

Because: “journalism!”

Que Mala/Crockett, 2028!

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