Late For Dinner To "Late Capitalism"

When The Dumbs + Dumbers Run Shit, It's Time To Wise Up

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s a paid subscriber or patron of COLLIDE PRESS. Your love and support allow me to focus on creating work I love instead of scrambling to find freelance gigs to keep the lights on. So thank you, thank YOU!

The collective Collide Press Crew not only helps me survive—it helps me keep our collective art, culture, and history alive. And with so many doing their best to erase everything LGBTQ from our collective consciousness, I don’t take my duties lightly.

Now, let’s talk about what’s going on for lots of us:

• Since Con-Old Chump was sworn in on January 20 (ugh…a day that will live in infamy), I’ve noticed a sharp decline in revenue for myself and for many other independent artists, content creators, and small businesses I know.

It’s like the rug got yanked out from under us, and no one’s talking about it. Not the legacy/mainstream media, not the pundits, and definitely not Wall Street. They’re all profiting off the misery of others in my opinion. Putting Wall Street first and allowing Main Street to wither, they’re all war criminals in my book.

Here’s the part where I say the quiet thing out loud:

• The Chump regime isn’t just clueless—they’re willfully ignorant, proudly corrupt, and drunk on their own arrogance, hubris, and unchecked power. They’re not “conservative.” They’re CONservative. They’re not “pro-business.” They’re pro-billionaire. They stand for nothing but greed, self-interest, and the consolidation of power. And let’s be real: it’s less a political movement and more a cult of personality wrapped in a Ponzi scheme.

There. I said it—out loud. Not because I’m proud, but because it needs to be said.

You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to predict the Orange Dumbass would make an even bigger mess the second time around. And just in case anyone’s forgotten: COVID started under his so-called “leadership.” We all saw how that turned out. Funny how quickly people forget when denial feels easier than accountability.

Witnessing the dumbs and dumbers making decisions for everyone is terrifying.

Honestly? I can't wait for these dinosaurs of selfishness and self-righteousness to go extinct. But damn, those death rattles are LOUD. And dangerous. If only the next Ice Age would cometh for the Cult Of Chump…the fossilized bullshit might provide fuel for the next millennia. So where’s a meteor when we need one?

We are living through a slow-motion trainwreck called late capitalism, where everything’s monetized, union-busted, algorithm-rigged, and gig-ified to death. Where creativity gets crushed under the weight of clickbait, and where artists, educators, and everyday workers are expected to give more for less…or get lost.

But here's the twist: WE ARE NOT POWERLESS.

If you’re still showing up, still making things, still supporting others, still caring? You are the resistance. You are the future. And maybe—just maybe—together we are the beginning of something better.

So let’s keep creating, keep calling them out, and keep wising up.

With love, light, and my middle finger raised high to the powers that be!
Clint 🌈✌️

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ON THIS DAY = APRIL 24

BIRTHDAYS

• 1581 = Vincent de Paul = French priest and saint

• 1858 = Ethel Smyth = English composer and suffragist 🌈

• 1904 = Willem de Kooning = Dutch-American painter and educator

• 1908 = Marceline Day = American actor

• 1914 = William Castle = American fimmaker

• 1930 = Richard Donner = American actor and filmmaker

• 1934 = Shirley MacLaine = American actor, singer, and dancer

• 1940 = Sue Grafton = American author

• 1942 = Barbra Streisand = American singer, actor, activist, and producer

• 1952 = Jean Paul Gaultier = French fashion designer 🌈

• 1953 = Eric Bogosian = American actor and writer

• 1964 = Cedric the Entertainer = American comedian, actor, and producer

• 1964 = Djimon Hounsou = Beninese-American actor and producer

• 1968 = Aidan Gillen = Irish actor

• 1973 = Damon Lindelof = American screenwriter and producer

• 1977 = Eric Balfour = American actor

• 1982 = Kelly Clarkson = American singer-songwriter and talk show host

• 1992 = Jack Quaid = American actor

EVENTS

• 1704 = The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.

• 1800 = The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress."

• 1885 = American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

• National Bucket List Day

• National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day

PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER BY PIERRE ET GILLES

“I would like to say to people, open your eyes and find beauty where you normally don't expect it.”
Jean Paul Gaultier

“I take life as it happens. And I give myself a lot of freedom.”
Jean Paul Gaultier

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