ABOVE: We all knew Airplane! was making references, but did you catch this one back in the day?!

BELOW: Keep reading for that assassination, Musk & Ramaswamy's latest bad ideas and more ...

(Image, ironically, via Twitter)

TWITTER: Musk and Ramaswamy want to get rid of VA Health Care, Pell Grants, Head Start and, of course, funding to federal prisons (wink-wink, privatize). 

Believe me, I'd remember if I'd seen him, officer. (Images via CrimeStoppers)

HUFF POST: So much I want to say about the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson here in NYC, but I'll let the facts speak. Today, the fact is the killer had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” on the casings of the bullets he used to execute the guy. I really don't feel this was a hit man (and honestly, I think the concept of a professional hit man is largely a movie creation). I just think it's a person who is smart and did research. A hit man doesn't leave messaging. I think they'll catch him eventually, too. Just a guess.

ASOA: Probably not a great time for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to announce they'll pay for only part of your anesthesia.

Trump’s pick to be Assistant Secretary of State, Monica Crowley:

“Senator Joe McCarthy was right…The same deep state going after Donald Trump, the same deep state that removed Richard Nixon…That deep state smeared and attacked Joe McCarthy for speaking the truth.” pic.twitter.com/LOeCdZRs4N

— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) December 4, 2024

TWITTER: Hey, to all those swing voters and the thankfully small (but always too large) number of LGBTQ+ voters who thought Trump was some kind of panacea, here is Example #1 Million of how horrendous he will be. His pick to be Assistant Secretary of State, Monica Crowley, admires historical whackjob Joe McCarthy.

ATLANTIC: David Frum made a comment about Hegseth's drinking — and was promptly kicked off Morning Joe. Oh, heavens to Betsy! Mustn't impugn the character of a scumbag.

CNN: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) is handed his ass by Jake Tapper for holding water for Hegseth.

Tapper: That woman Hegseth paid her money and she signed a NDA so she can't come on my show to talk about it. Do you think Pete should release her from the NDA so that I can ask her the questions that you want me to

Scott: Absolutely not. pic.twitter.com/nIKTN9PI5u

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 4, 2024

NYT: How lesbian pulps prospered in the uptight '50s and '60s, a new piece by Mark Harris. (I've always been nonplussed by the fact that naked men and boys in magazines geared toward gay men were for sale all over the country during this same time period. I'm consistently told that the people selling it just looked the other way.)

Follow the Yellow Brick Road, honey. (Image via Berkley)

JOE.MY.GOD.: A Tennessee state senator known for being virulently anti-queer was shaky and pissed himself during an on-camera traffic stop for DUI. Only the best people.

PEOPLE: Braunwyn Windham-Burke got hitched.

A-POLITICAL: Bruce LaBruce is launching an immersive cinemat experience based in his newest movie, The Visitor. The installation will happen January 11, but nobody knows where yet, but it promises to allow participants to be in live porn while watched by other attendees. Go woke, get your chicken choked.

THR: RIP Marvin Laird, 85, who was Bernadette Peters's musical director.

MIDLAND DAILY NEWS: Jay Lee, a young gay man who vanished two years ago, is seen in surveillance footage twice the day he disappeared. He probably had sex with his accused killer, Sheldon Herrington, a young man who was closeted. Herrington, the second time Lee was on his way over, Googled how long it would take to strangle a person.

Imagine being killed by a person you just had sexual contact with. (Image via social media)