Biden Hands Out Freedom Awards To The People Who Triggered Cons The Very Most
Whoo boy, what a list!
An embarassing number of people are tripping all over themselves to pre-obey the super-sensitive incoming regime and craft them fruit baskets, but one Joseph Robinette Biden is most certainly not. He spent his Saturday awarding 19 ribboned Medals of Freedom to the people who have made America a better place by irritating Steve Bannon’s hemorrhoids the hardest.
And only two days after he gave Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson the Presidential Citizens Medal for kicking Trump in the dick, too!
What a list! Perhaps the only person missing is Michelle Tea, inventor of Drag Queen Story Hour.
Enjoy the full ceremony, if you would like!
Oh look, it’s (((GEORGE SOROS))) himself! Soros is Jewish and was born in what was soon-to-be Nazi occupied Hungary, and has given away more than 20 percent of his wealth to try to keep the western world from hopping into a similar hell-bound handbasket. He established a mega-philanthropy called the Open Society Foundations which makes grants to hundreds of charities across the globe, and has given more than $32 billion away. He did not start to become a household name until about 2008, when a Hungarian go-getter named Viktor Orbán hired an American political consultant named Arthur Finkelstein to help him craft a winning playbook, and that playbook was moaning about IMMIGRANTS and GAYS and GEORGE SOROS, who’d had the audacity to found the prestigious Central European University in Budapest to educate future leaders in a country where communism had crushed education, and just about everything else. And the playbook worked! So well that demonizing Soros became newly-autocratic Hungary’s only remaining valuable export.
Said George Soros’s son Alex, who accepted it on his father’s behalf: “This award isn’t just about the work he’s done; as President Biden said, it is a call to action for all of us to fight for democracy on behalf of anyone yearning to be free.” If George Soros can put up with all the crap he has and still be fighting for democracy, what’s your excuse, other finance guys, Bezoses, Zuckerbergs et al? Buk buk buk buk!
And oh boy, Hillary Clinton! In addition to her services of making cameos in right-wing hallucinations about adrenochrome and pizza basements, she’s spent a lifetime in public service.
There was Bono. Sure, everybody’s still mad at how iTunes forcibly downloaded that mediocre U2 album into their playlists, but he’s been doing philanthropic work since 1986. In 2004, he co-founded ONE, a nonprofit that works to end global poverty, and used his celebrity to focus on advocacy and lobbying efforts to get governments to increase their aid to the underprivileged and fight disease. He also founded the organization (RED) (parenthesis part of the name), which partners with brands to raise public awareness about and corporate contributions for the AIDS crisis. To date, (RED) has generated more than $465 million for AIDS treatment and prevention in Africa through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. So good on ya, Bono. I’ll forgive you for that album, I guess.
Also awarded, Michael J. Fox! He was diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder Parkinson’s in 1991, and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to help fund research, which has raised more than $2 billion and funded more research than the government has. His 2020 interview with Terry Gross is an excellent listen. Who would have predicted that of the “Family Ties” cast, Alex P. Keaton became the progressive one, and Mallory became the Trump supporter?
There was Tim Gill, a Denver tech entrepreneur whose startup invented Quark (remember that one, ‘90s publications-design people?). In 1999 he sold his stake in the company to fund the Gill Foundation, which fought for LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality. He’s the largest individual donor in the history of the movement, giving more than $500 million of his own money, and probably you have never even heard of him!
There’s chef and restaurateur José Andrés, founder of The World Central Kitchen, which has raised more than $869 million to feed people during wars and disasters.
Also awarded, American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr., who helped establish the National Endowment for the Arts in the 60’s, and was co-creator of the Kennedy Center Honors. As head of AFI he helped preserve thousands of films, gave out grants to independent filmmakers, and has written, directed and/or produced shows and documentaries, including The Thin Red Line, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
There was David M. Rubinstein, co-founder of the private equity firm Carlyle Group. He’s been using his lucre for good! He signed the Giving Pledge and has been giving cash away, including $10 million to repair the Washington Monument; $10 million for a library at George Washington’s Mount Vernon; $50 million to the Kennedy Center; and $10 million to the Library of Congress. And since 2011, $22 million to the Smithsonian National Zoo’s panda conservation program, so that’s nice. He also used some of his cash to buy the Baltimore Orioles, and personally hoses down fans in the splash zone.
There were the British-born Dames Jane Goodall and Anna Wintour. Goodall has devoted her life to researching, documenting and uplifting the lives of primates, and Wintour is a renowned philanthropist on top of her work as the editor-in-chief of Vogue.
Also science-lover Bill Nye; did you know he got his start by winning a Steve Martin lookalike contest? Denzel Washington, who in addition to his acting and handsomeness, has served as spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for more than 30 years. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, possibly the greatest point guard of all time and founder of the Magic Johnson foundation, which has awarded millions in grants to HIV education and improving urban communities.
There was Lionel Messi, soccer player and philanthropist, sure, why not? And Ralph Lauren, who gifted the world advanced preppy style, Tyson Beckford and Polo cologne. He’s the first fashion designer to ever win the award!
And there were posthumous awards: civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, who lived and fought through the hells of the Jim Crow South, including a hysterectomy without her consent, and being extorted, threatened, harassed, shot at, assaulted and maimed for life by police officers for trying to register and vote. But fought and registered she did, and she helped register thousands of Black Mississippians.
The rest of those awarded posthumously: former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who served under 11 secretaries of Defense in both Democratic and Republican administrations; former Governor of Michigan George W. Romney/Mitt’s dad; and Robert F. Kennedy, who fought for civil rights and is not to blame for how his son turned out.
Do you even want to hear the disgusting things that everybody from Nikki Hailey to Steve Bannon to every trollbot on Twitter had to say about this glorious list that seems to have been devised just to trigger the living shit out of them? Let’s just say, it worked, and the word “demonic” has come up a lot.
Oh well, BWAHAHAHA! Deal with it, you salty bitches!
[The Atlantic/ Seattle Times/ NPR/ Denver Post archive link/ Baltimore Banner archive link/ Womenshistory.org]
Hahaha, remember back in 2006 when Rush Limbaugh made fun of Michael J. Fox for exaggerating his Parkinsons symptoms? Hahaha, Rush Limbaugh is still dead.
Did I post that I met Bill Nye twice when I worked for the National Science Foundation and met Jose Andres once at a local farmers market and saw him twice in Jaleo here in DC? The first time, I jumped up from my seat and said “ I love you”. He made a heart with his hands and did not call the police