From @WSJFreeEx via @WSJOpinion: It took more than a generation, but Texas actually went blue in 2026. Many Republicans are casting about for something to blame. The answers are more obvious than their contortions would suggest, writes @jackbutler4815.

A traveling salesman visits a small town in the Midwest and sees a circus banner reading, "Don't Miss the Amazing Goldstein!" Curious, he buys a ticket and sits through the usual circus acts: animals, clowns, contortionists, etc. Suddenly, trumpets blare and all eyes turn to the center ring. There in the middle of the ring is a table with three walnuts on it. In comes a little old Jewish man, five feet tall and barely able to walk to the table. He unzips his pants, whips out his long shlong, and proceeds to smash all three walnuts with three mighty swings! The crowd erupts in thunderous applause as the elderly Goldstein is carried off on the shoulders of the clowns. Twenty years later the salesman visits the same little town and he sees a faded sign for the same circus and the same "Don't Miss the Amazing Goldstein." He can't believe the old guy is still alive much less still doing his act! So he buys a ticket and sits through various acts. Finally, the center ring is illuminated. This time, instead of walnuts, three coconuts are on the table. As before, old Goldstein takes forever to make it to the table. He unzips his fly and proceeds to smash the coconuts with three swings of his amazing shlong. The crowd goes wild! The salesman requests a meeting with him after the show. In Goldstein's dressing room, the salesman tells him he's never seen anything like his act. But he wants to know why he's now smashing coconuts instead of the much easier walnuts. "Vell," says Goldstein, "mein eyes aren't vhot they used to be!"

In Obsession, director avoided making Nikki look “possessed.” “We were very specific. I didn’t ever want her to play possessed. I wanted her to play like a jealous girlfriend.” Director Curry Barker encouraged the actress Inde Navarrette to “go home and make faces” in the mirror. She experimented with contortions, different voices, and expressions to build the possessed/shadow versions of Nikki “I prepared for the role of Nikki by just allowing myself to be unfiltered and raw with the way that there’s ugly emotions that we never want to show people”

Reading the follow up letter about my very pointless rheum appt, the dr said i am hypermobile & to take up exercises such as stretching and Pilates. Yes i explained what I do. So yeah, international performing handbalancer/contortionist here, i'm going to take up stretching... 🤣

🚨 TREASURY SEC. SCOTT BESSENT JUST DROPPED: "Iran is in economic death throes! The Iranian snake, having had its head CUT OFF — once the body stops CONTORTING, then they will come to the table!" 🔥 "Many of our allies came forward and said, 'we will do whatever is necessary.'" 👏🏻 "So the more they help us, the more they help in this conflict and they have offered to do whatever they could, whether it is intelligence, economic intelligence, and speaking to any entity that supports this treacherous evil regime." Bessent is full steam ahead on Economic Outcast!