Don't Worry, We're Fucked

I think acceptance might be the road to peace and equilibrium. Republicans have constructed a culture that punishes people with a conscience. We don't want to kill those off--our consciences--so the next best thing to taking back the culture in the name of humanity, which seems to be impossible, is probably resignation. Acceptance of our fate. No wonder stoicism is a topic in some circles. Endurance and equanimity might be the way to go in the face of the end times Republicans have in store for us.

The Miraculous Healing Powers of Trump

Trump supporters should go right to the source. Who needs ivermectin, colloidal silver, bleach, and all this other stuff when you can pray directly to Trump for intercession and healing. He will charge you for it, of course, but think nothing of that. We know it's his way and it doesn't t mean he doesn't love you. 

Love doesn't preclude opportunism and exploitation, or even getting you killed. Shit happens, but true supporters must own their insistence on Trump's magical powers and ties to God for the wave of (exploitation) healing to take full effect and for the amazing healing powers of Trump to be realized. 

General Trump's Chicken

Problem? Log-jam in a law-breaking spree? Order up some of Donald's special chicken. Mike Pence was a good call most of the time. As were a shocking number of the so-called 'civil-servants,' really Trump toadies, populating his administration. 

With their departure Fox News has filled the void. Cowardice and bluster abound. They will eat any turd and lick Trump's ass on demand. Need help overthrowing a government, establishing an autocracy or simply looting a society? Order up some chicken.

General Trump's finest. Accept no substitutes. 

Democracy Day

I want to propose a new national holiday, to be initiated when Donald Trump dies and celebrated on his death-day, Democracy Day. This is assuming that democracy, or some semblance of it, survives Trump.   

Band of Brokers

They fight only for themselves, not from duty or principle and certainly not for a country or people or anyone else. Only for number one, and that big cash payoff that makes them feel all giddy inside. 

But the thrill doesn't last and the thrill is the point, so they always want more. Though they act only for themselves in the aggregate they control nations, by manipulation. Entire polities, with their greed. 

It's the Band of Brokers. Anyone who acts without brutal selfishness, and who doesn't win at it, at that, is a sucker. Most of us are suckers. They're the predators and we're the product, or prey, a sucker nation.

The Velveteen Babbitt

The Velveteen Babbitt wants to be middle class but he's not. There's little left of the middle class. They were independent but the Velveteen Babbitt is just a plaything for the rich. He's owned by the rich.  

He's not real.

One day there's a big economic downturn. Republicans blame poor working people like the Velveteen Babbitt who weren't at fault (Republicans were) but the Velveteen Babbitt already has too little,

There's no happy ending to this story. Republicans recommend torching poorer people in the crisis. Nicer people blunt the force of it and slow it down but, inevitably, there is another time of trouble.

A pandemic. Again, Republicans want to screw poorer people. They always want to screw poorer poeple. There is help but, again inevitably, the burdens fall disproportionately on those of lesser means.

Over time the Velveteen Babbitt loses ground and isn't useful as a plaything anymore. By nature he's docile and compliant but he becomes angry. At Democrats. The Velveteen Babbitt can still be useful.

As cannon fodder in the culture wars. Republicans convince him Democrats are at fault. A lie, of course.

A story, but convincingly told. The Velveteen Babbitt spends the rest of his days consumed by hate for the people who, yes, perhaps too feebly, tried to protect him. He never gets to be middle class. 

Inbreeding: Still a Problem in the NC Mountains?

Mark Meadows knelt in contrition before John Boehner after he failed to unseat him as leader of the House Republicans. He then became a particularly ardent ass-licker in Donald Trump's entourage. 

Is this normal? I argue not. This kind of degradation, chosen and unforced, has a whiff of inhumanity about it. A big whiff of inhumanity. The loss of a soul. Madison Cawthorn succeeded Meadows. 

Cawthorn seems to be even more degraded than Meadows. I knew a family from the North Carolina mountains, of old derivation there. A prestigious family by mountain standards. The kids went to college.

They were Episcopalians. There were rumors circulating around them that Episcopalians did things with babies in their religious services. Really. And, when I visited, there were a lot of troopers about. 

State Troopers. 

My friends said the old families in the 'hollers' had switched from moonshine to pot. Weed. Also they said that, among these families, it was the grandfather's privilege to have first crack at his granddaughters. 

Sexually. I assumed this only still went on in Arkansas, what with Huckabees and other such evidence. Cawthorn and Meadows suggest otherwise. They are not normal. Nothing normal about them.

Turd on Fire: the Donald Trump Story

In the beginning was the turd. And the turd was made flesh and dwelt among us. The turd was Trump and he stripped the meaning and justice out of everything . . . 

Stop the Hate

Stop the hate. Just stop it. Please stop it. It would be much better if you would stop it. You know who you are. Or, maybe you don't. But, still, please stop the hate. 

The Birth of Birtherism

I once postulated parallels between Irish and Southern literature, having thought I noticed similarities in style and use of language.That is, language as a defense and means of keeping a defeated culture alive. The Irish were defeated by the English and the practice of their religion, Catholicism, was forbidden. 

Southerners were defeated by the Yankees and their religion, virulent institutional racism, was made illegal. Both cultures were or became adept at making up and maintaining parallel worlds that gave them positive identities, rallying points and a collective sense of self. But making shit up has a qualitative side.

Not all lies are created equal. Art is a kind of lie, as is anything creative and so life in general. Our lives are lies. We have to apply a layer of creativity to make life livable. I have problems with Catholicism but I'll take it over racism, and it was racism that produced the lies of Birtherism, another Lost Cause.

Trump Remembers Unstable Follower He Got Killed

Donald Trump has released a video remembering his devoted but mentally ill follower Ashli Babbitt who got killed in Trump's attempt to overthrow the government, which he deems a reasonable sacrifice in a worthy effort. All Hail Trump!

There's No Taste in Accounting

Keeping tabs gets us nowhere and the road to hell is paved with feeling owed. 

The Instigators

I once got accused of stirring stuff up. Playground misbehavior. Inciting disruption. With sometimes slightly destructive effects. I was guilty. I got punished. I wasn't a Bush or a Trump. 

It first hit me that things might not work out for me, as I had always thought they would. when I was in my late twenties. That I might have trouble making a living. But I wasn't a Bush or a Trump.

Trump's instigations are obvious. Schoolyard quality--low, petty and disproportionate. Bush, on the other hand, was being rehabilitated. With the end of Afghanistan, maybe not so much.

Will Americans finally see Republicans for what they are? 

Deposit Confirmation

Republicans continue to take a huge dump on democracy, taking a cue from the residue Trump left on the Resolute Desk and just about everywhere else he went. 

Band of Brokers

Wall Street is against Biden's infrastructure package, it appears. And why not? What's in it for them? I say, fine, they have a right to be against anything they want. With one vote each at election time. Anything else is disenfranchising to the rest of us. 

What Jesus Means to Me

George Bush: Jesus means I can get hundreds of thousands of people killed, displace millions, never suffer any earthly consequences and still go to heaven. Jesus is great.

Ted Cruz: I can spend my life trying to fuck people over and fuck people up and feel wonderful about it. I placed my soul in Jesus's hands. A conscience is superfluous. Life is so much simpler.

Paul Ryan: From my kegger days in college as an Ayn Rand devotee all I wanted was to screw my fellow citizens. Jesus provides cover. As a Catholic it's a little different. I dissociate.

Josh Hawley: I'm a raging theocratic conservative. I had to deceive a bunch of idiot liberals in educational institutions to get where I am. Jesus gave me the strength and perseverance to do that.

Rand Paul: I don't give a shit about Jesus. As a second-generation racist asshole I'm more of a seasoned veteran. I don't wear Jesus on my sleeve but thank God for the idiot Evangelical voters. 

Louie Gohmert: I was already stupid and morally blind. I turned to God for reassurance, not to get stupid and morally blind. God made me feel stupid is fine. I never look back.

Paul Gosar: I'm a bit of a psychopath so Jesus was a natural fit for me. Jesus can do no wrong by definition and neither can I since I'm above everyone else and their lives don't matter. 

Dick Cheney: Fuck Jesus, but thank God for the moron Jesus voters. You can screw them sideways and they still vote for you and never see the truth. Darth Vader is my avatar. I think it's funny.

Newt Gingrich: I have a vestigial conscience, unlike most Jesus people. I have to improvise to keep it in check. So far, so good. Usually I get a new wife. I'm a Catholic now so more a 'God' person.

Madison Cawthorn: I was plagued by feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. Jesus got me past that. Not the worthlessness, but the feeling. Praise Jesus and pass the ammunition!

The Devil's Playground

George Bush surfaced to kick in a bit of his wisdom on Afghanistan. He looks demonic now. Ted Cruz, too. Then there are guys like Gohmert who have that vacancy in the eyes but still look human. We've become the Devil's playground. Courtesy of Republicans. Republicans calling themselves Christians. And Texas is gound zero for the infestation. 

Trump Arrested!

To quote a certain guy, either we have a country or we don't. There is one sure test of that, if Donald Trump can be arrested. If he isn't or can't be, knowing what we do now, it's all over. 

Defined by What They Aren't

Racists are negatively defined. They aren't defined by what they are they're defined by what they aren't. It extends into all areas of their lives. 

McCarthy Wants to Wrassle

Kevin McCarthy doesn't want a 1/6 investigation. No way. He proposed a wrassle. With Jim Jordan on the committee it would have been spectacle. Mud slinging and attention grabbing obstruction--more entertainment for the goons Republicans now rely on to stay in power. 

POS Nonpareil

Trump still won't admit he got his ass kicked. The only reassurance to be had with Trump is that he's old and unhealthy. Maybe he'll just die. I don't say this to be mean. I say it to try to save lives.

The Concupiscence of a Conservative

I think there's hope the info gleaned from the incel movement about the incel movement will give us insights into conservatives and the habits of frustration generally. The frustration of unrecognized genius. The frustrations of having to dwell with lesser beings. The frustrations of watching lesser beings progress in life in ways that you can't. 

Then there are the results. Seething resentment. Revenge fantasies. Delusions of sufficiency. Lots and lots of compensation. Conservatives are all about compensation, trying to make up for the void inside and feelings of insecurity by putting other people down and building yourself up, no matter how you have to degrade yourself to do it.

This, is the fundamental dilemma of conservatism. They have to make themselves lesser to feel better because, at a deeper level, they know their own worth. 

The Wages of Sin . . .

is wealth. Don't kid yourselves.

Breakdown

Something interesting is going on at Fox News. A bit of a shakeout. Usually, they act like there is no tomorrow. Like there will never be a reckoning for their lies. 

Some evidence is there for that. Bill O'Reilly walked away unscathed. Roger Ailes died wealthy and unmolested, a free man. But there's some ass-covering going on now.

Over COVID. What's up? Either they think there might be a reckoning or they think they have the libertarian dream state of exploitation so locked in they're taking it easy. 

Celebrating by sparing a few lives. I suspect it's both but libertarians are cruel masters. They tolerate little dissent. That argues for a reckoning. They think they might be justice.

How they fear justice. A hardly mentionable possibility is that some of them have consciences. There's no evidence for that. I want to see some evidence. 

Weekly Sack of Shit

Competition among Republicans for the Weekly Sack of Shit Award is always contentious. They continue to up their game and we have to leave efforts unrecognized that well deserve mention. This week it was a battle between Kevin McCarthy and Madison Cawthorn. 

The lines were clear. McCarthy deserved consideration because the power of his position results in greater impact--the efficacy index--but Cawthorn grovels better than anybody and seems to go out of his way to do it, making him the clear shit-eating leader. 

Madison's predecessor. Mark Meadows, went down on his knees before John Boehner before disgracing himself as a treasonous Trump hireling, making us wonder if they're still making moonshine in them North Carolina mountains or if they switched to meth. 

Anyway, we're going with McCarthy this week for his Trump obeisance. He set up Nancy Pelosi by nominating two Trump supporters to an investigative committee when they should have been recused out of hand for their records of partiality, implication and ignorance. 

Trump has no legal role in the government anymore. He never did but, when he was in office you could have made the case. This means McCarthy's gambit was more disenfranchising than the average Republican effort at negating the constitutional rights of citizens.

Our Kampf

Republicans seem to be consumed by the struggle to disempower and delegitimize the left and to crush modernity and liberalism into dust. This is a struggle they've invented, based on fear and delusions, since the country was the product of progressive thinking in the first place and designed to stay that way to adapt to changing circumstances and preserve our freedoms.

Who's struggling here? The right's struggle is voluntary, optional and based on lies. For those they've attacked, though, like the failing middle class, the poor and disadvantaged and those without affordable health care, the struggle is real. Of course, as a part of their shtick, they pretend they're under attack. They're the victims. This is nothing but lies. They are the aggressors.

Consolidated Dreams

Republicans don't only favor business consolidation. They consolidate everything. Fewer people with more. They've taken away the dreams of average Americans to pile them into the teeming coffers of the rich. It's no wonder Americans are obsessed with celebrity culture. Celebrities and wealthy people are living their dreams for them. Average persons dream vicariously now. Jeff Bezos visits space and then distributes trinkets to the little people in celebration. Trinkets and the vestiges of their dreams are all they have left. In place of their dreams there are delusions, the false hopes of the dispossessed.

Husks of Humans

I'm suffering from a failure of imagination. I can't imagine the void. I can't imagine a void like Trump. He wins what might be the biggest contest ever, without a lot of political debt, and all he has to do is hire some good people and behave himself and he will be loved. 

Doesn't he want to be loved? There's no love in Trump's world. Only ambition and advantage. Trying to fill the void. It can't be filled. It's a waste of resources. The need is  too great. And since Trump hates himself there's nothing to build on. There's no love in Trumpworld.

A Break in the Weather

Well, the weather is broken. That's a bad sign.

The Beautiful and the Damned

Is it just me or does everyone seem to be too pleased with themselves or not pleased enough?

A Rocky Start

J. D. Vance is off to a rocky start in his Senate run. Cut the boy a break. He hasn't yet learned to lie with the ease and alacrity of an average Republican. 

Are There Tweets in Jail?

I have a compromise in mind. Trump can tweet again if he goes to jail like a good boy.  

Otherwise They Will Get Us All Killed

You wonder how these adolescents, mostly boys, and young adults write all this amazing music. I wonder, anyway. Must have something to do with hormones and a certain openness or innocence. We look back at the 60s radicals now and what do we see? They were right about everything. 

War is bad. Peace is good. Don't trust the government. Don't trust big business. Of the two, favor the government. We have some control over that. None over big business. The Man. Use the government to guarantee some level of justice. Use the government to keep big business in check.

Otherwise they will get us all killed. See, they were right. 

State of Collapse

Ron DeSantis is one of those extreme conservatives that doesn't believe in government at all. So, of course, he ran for office. They think the place to destroy government is from the inside. Newt and all those guys believe in this. Their contempt knows no bounds. 

Their means are many. Sabotage is a favorite. We will look more like India or some pathetic Soviet bloc country so get used to it. Buildings falling down. Homeless people dying on the streets. Even a lot of reasonably well-employed citizens with health insurance are one sickness away from bankruptcy or forgoing medicines they deem necessary. 

But, don't worry. 

The government isn't going away. All the things that enable rich people to stay rich and get richer will be there. Republicans think that's the purpose of government, to get out of the way of the rich. More importantly, to guarantee they will get richer forever. Certain things, like the military, will be very well funded. Average citizens are in for a very rough time.

Bork Got Borked Because He Was Bork

Bork came up, yet again, during that Kavanaugh confirmation. Republicans want us to believe Democrats started the partisan nastiness with SCOTUS nominations. Of course they didn't. 

For one thing, Republicans are nasty. Democrats are nice. For another thing, Democrats were baited. They dared us. They nominated a partisan lunatic instead of a legitimate legal scholar, putting us on the spot.

What were the Dem's to do? Just goes to show how screwed you are when good faith departs from governance. Bork extolled the benefits of monopolies. He thought they were great. 

Thank Republicans for the annihilation of so many small businesses. They didn't have the lobbyists to pay to play. Thank them when you pay a bundle for shit internet with nowhere else to turn.

Republicans want all the power and no responsibility. 

Trump Shits in the House

We clean it up.  

Evil Always Wins

Who says good wins out over evil? The survivors, who like to flatter themselves. Reassure themselves. Justify their efforts and their losses.

WWII is the defining case. And it never should have happened. The problem is, the dead weren't around to say how they felt about it. 

Watch a Soul Go Up in Smoke

Let's call it the RSDA. Elise Stefanik has toed the line as required. According to her Republicans are going to save us all from the Radical Socialist Democrat (sic) Agenda. God speed, my little hellhound!

Political Limbo

How low can you go? We thought we'd seen the worst with Bush. 

He inherited everything humming. He left smoking ruins. Economy a shambles. Unending, pointless wars. And, his second-term dream of "fixing" social security was a bust. 

He would've trashed that if he could. And then there came Trump, a walking shitpile of majestic dimensions. Where's the bottom? We have yet to find out.

Calling all scumbags and fiends . . .

The Republican clarion call has gone out. If you're a crook, schemer, or any brand of asshole you have a home. You have a place and work to do undermining democracy and fulfilling your gluttonous desires. You will be rewarded and protected. The consequences for criminality are being eliminated as long as you contribute to the cause.

The cause has shifted over time. Now it's a criminal conspiracy to debilitate and overthrow the government and the "rule of law," establish minority hegemony and guarantee impunity for insider transgressors. Government as organized crime. Not a new idea but always enriching for those that succeed. Fewer than ever of the conspirators are arrested.

Fewer are convicted and Trump has cracked the door on the possibility of a blanket of pardons, retro and proactively, that will invalidate most laws without altering them -- every criminal's dream, and the Republican dream of organized and bureaucratized injustice. They aren't against government and bureaucracy. Only the parts that promote justice.

Ass-Kissing Episode

Disgraced former president Trump-boy summoned some Ohio politicians to his house for some intensive ass-kissing. The four potential candidates complied and groveled appreciatively, putting on just the kind of display of debasement Trump most loves . . . 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/25/trump-ohio-candidates-478059

The Mouth That Roared

Tiny Trumpville accidentally took over the United States, never dreaming their obvious scam would work. Ridiculous. Who would possibly vote for them? Who would be so stupid? Enter the famed American idiot. America had raised up a tribe of morons. A sizable cohort.

Trumpville's hereditary royal family, Herr Donald and his clan, knew better than anyone what charlatans and pretenders they were but the takeover gave then legitimacy. Legitimacy they couldn't possibly handle or live up to. They could only run with it. And away from it. At the same time. 

Run they did . . . as fast as they could, knowing the truth of their charade, that they weren't administrators of anything or politicians or diplomats but hopeless squanderers, habitual malcontents and congenital fuckups. Born hugely wealthy, they had been always on the verge of losing it.

That much money (it was a hell of a sum) can be hard to lose. They lost it anyway but stumbled into an opportunity to get paid to pretend. Acting! Thus the real scam began. Pretend to be a businessman. Pretend to be a boss. Pretend to be competent at anything. Pretend to be human and to give a shit. 

Bellowing on for a four year term is hard work for someone who has never done anything. Whew! It was incredibly difficult to deflect attention from the truth, as visible as they were. A smoke screen of unprecedented verbiage was deployed. A torrent. The Mouth That Roared.

Unprecedented it was in its volume, quantity, and libelous and slanderous content. Understand, though it looked aggressive as hell, this was all defense. They were sitting on an empire of criminality and incompetence that had to be concealed. It has worked. They have an Entourage now.

A posse of predatory of followers and soulless, sycophantic slobs, the MAGAites. They will do anything for Herr Donald and his heirs. They will eat shit all day long. Trumpville has decamped to another fantasy palace, Mars-a-Lago, where host Herr Donald holds court and receives guests. 

Donations pour into the MAGA Defense Fund, their latest gambit and front, another money pit, house of cards and tax dodge. Stay tuned to see how it will play out. Americans wanted their soap opera. They've got it now. Thank God, the nuclear football is subtracted from the plot. That was a bit much. 

The Trump Comorbidity

Any modern American of insubstantial means should be able to list Trump as a comorbidity. He's a threat to life and health. 

Mourning Camelot

Let go of the dream. Let go so we can save what's left of it. Mourn the loss but let it go. We had Camelot and it's gone. Get over it or things will get uglier than we can imagine. 

Fox Abhors a Vacuum

Tucker Carlson is trending evil. When an evil vacuum is created at Fox, as happened when O'Reilly left in disgrace but rich as shit, it gets filled by another degraded fuck who trends downward until he reaches the lowest possible level. Then, at that sublimity of debasement, the evil equilibrium in which Fox normally operates is reestablished and conservative loonies everywhere can again enjoy their nightly infusion of hate. 

Crush the Fucker

I don't care if it's good tactics. I don't care if it's impracticable or that it might inflame his followers. I want to see Donald Trump crushed and flattened, moaning on the ground or unconscious and then, after that, incarcerated, humiliated and despised.

He deserves it.

On the Oedipal Origins of Republicanism

Why is it these government-despising Republicans can't stay away from it? From its origins these kinds of "conservative" parties are comprised of people who want a leg-up or want to lock-in one they already have. Fine. But they get exclusive about it. 

They want to exclude us. There's that jealousy. And they want more of a leg-up than they're due. A charming and easy life. See how this ties in with racism? They want your life to be locked into a course of difficulty. Arbitrarily. Theirs to be a free ride.

They want a life as free from care as a child's. The government is that surrogate momma, the grantor and guarantor of privilege. It all comes down to privilege. They want something for nothing. And they want it forever, down through the generations. 

Nixon in China?

I'll take the operatic potential of Cruz in Cancún . . .

Cut That Man a Medal

Among those who honor under-the-bus-throwing Ted Cruz has earned an encomium. His wife and girls are all wearing tire tracks . . .

Out of the Depths He Cries to You, Oh Lord

Donald Trump thinks he's persecuted. He thinks he's persecuted because the whole world doesn't recognize him as its center. He thinks he's God. 

He is the void. People go to Trump to lose consciousness, personhood, their humanity, individuality and responsibility. It sounds trite but he's a disease. 

Trump is the false god and idol of the evangelicals who proves their Christian god was never real. Their god was a racist and deterministic invention.

Their god was always the projection of themselves. 

Puritanism and Addiction to Risk

Why would Trump, having inherited enough to be comfy forever, continue rolling the dice? Because, every time he comes out of it intact, he feels chosen again. Since he can't ever be reassured he's deserving, having the leg-up of the gods, the next best thing is to get his card stamped over and over in the capitalist revival tent. 

But it will never be sufficient. Necessary, maybe, to his psychic survival. Trump, unlike his evangelical followers, gets to be saved repeatedly when he acts recklessly and survives. In that sense he lives many lives. The Trump on the balcony after COVID is this Trump. Look at me. I am (the) chosen (one), by the hands of fate. 

What's My Lie?

Trump's "big lie" about the election has competition. I favor the more subtle ones for recognition. In particular, the disconnect between the drive to control everything and the ruse or delusion that they can, without responsibility. That lie plays out in accusations, like those about "antifa" and the ridiculous assertion that anything on the left compares to the crime cartel on the right.  

Republicans have controlled everything for forty years. Democrats are utterly defeated. Sometimes I think it would be better if Democrats left the field. Gave up entirely. Threw in the towel. Then the country could see what Republicans have in mind for us -- a monstrous "libertarian" dystopia. Then Republicans couldn't blame anyone else. They would anyway, I know. Worth trying, anyway.

Lost in Transition

Passing through four years of Trump takes a toll. I feel like one of the dogs you see that has had a bad encounter with a porcupine. Mr. Biden, pull the quills out, please. Not too fast. And not too slow. 

My Pillow Maniac

I don't begrudge anybody their existence. However, citizenship isn't a right without conditions. That right might not be revocable but some of the rights it confers are, such as the freedom to participate in a way that fundamentally threatens the system that protects those rights. Or, to directly deny the rights of others of similar legal standing. 

Our fellow citizens. Change that. Even non-citizens, when it comes to human rights.

What do we do with the My Pillow dude? He has a right to his opinions and their expression. He doesn't have the right to see those amplified in public. Nobody does. He's so crazy it wouldn't stop him if we ended anonymity on social media though that might not be a bad idea. Regulation. A society has a right to regulate the dissemination of lies. 

I'm not saying that decision is easy to implement. But somebody has to do it.

Scum on Top

Inevitably, the scum rises to the top among Republicans. Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton express displeasure over impeachment. Unnecessary, they think, since the miscreant is out of office. They want to get back to their work on Benghazi . . .

A Piece of Shit in Every Job

With Biden in there the contrasts really stand out. I'm realizing how much I defensively distanced myself from the utter horror of the Trump administration. I think it's especially pronounced in Biden's hirings and appointments. Trump was determined to have a piece of shit in every job.

I've seen the light . . .

 as the smoke clears, which has been streaming out of Trump's ass . . .

The Soul of an Old Machine

In spite of our enormous technical advancements the modern world's neglect of meaning has weakened its foundations. We think barbarism is behind us. It surely isn't. People exist on symbols and the content they encapsulate. Think of 9/11 and the images that brought about a belated and flawed awakening, riddled with reactivity and denial. Now think of the grudge riot at the Capitol. Will we face what it means or deny it because we don't like how it reflects on us? Denial, as we  know, only causes faults to fester. 

Fester they will, I fear. 

Lethal Presidency Finally Ends But Goons Are Still a Concern

Donald Trump's lethal presidency, in which he only looked our for himself and, incidentally, the richest Americans, is finally ending. Corpses litter the ground. The Trump pandemic rages, during which he tried to deprive millions of citizens of access to health care. The economy subsists on a typical Republican sugar high, stoked by unsustainable tax cuts and easy money, that portends a bust. 

The government itself is a shambles. Bush's practice of sabotage by installing hacks in every possible position was raised to new levels, with active, deliberate destruction the new norm. Mere incompetence was not enough. Personal loyalty to the president, flouting constitutional constraints and provisions, was the only acceptable practice. In spite of it all, Republicans lined up to serve him. 

Trump's legacy is this, the exposure of the soul of the Republican Party, a treasonous den of iniquity, as a morally bankrupt and hopelessly corrupt entity that runs on racism and division for personal profit. Why do they cling to their jobs to save their lives? They came not to serve but to plunder. And to serve plunderers because even that yields impressive rewards. They are that addicted to power.

Their henchmen remain a concern, feeling encouraged and emboldened as never before. Many are still in the government but, more alarmingly, others feel free to turn to the streets with ridiculously deadly firearms designed to kill people as efficiently as possible. They respect no law or tradition. The system of elected government is breaking down, with persons of the worst character everywhere. 

This is more than Trump's legacy. It's the legacy of a political party that sold its soul decades ago. Internal checks on their behaviors don't exist. Only deniability keeps them from violent rebellion and that is slipping away under the influence of Trump, who dared to speak the hate that was once hidden. All they have is hate now. It animates their entire movement. 

Demonicracy

America is inventing a new kind of government. Only demons are enfranchised. The government and its power are limited to servants of Satan. 

What's Next for the Appendages?

Pay attention. An encounter with someone as sick as Trump is educational. Opportunities this visible and extreme seldom arise. Because of Trump public figures getting killed for their views or associations is now entirely possible. Mostly sad fantasies present themselves.

But, what would happen if Ivanka got shot? Mind you, this isn't wishful thinking only a mental exercise -- a simulation. Would Don-Boy care? Only to the extent that HE was diminished. People are appendages to him. Or, not. But they have no existence in-and-of themselves.

Trump inhabits a world of one. He is all of his existence. Nothing else is real. All "being" emanates from him. Give his goons some credit. They are picking up on something -- that this is god-like in its aspect. No matter that it's pure psychopathology. People are not gods.

Especially, Trump. 

Licentiousness

Trump will live on in his licenses. He issues them informally. He's done it forever. Everyone in his orbit is drug down. It's his life’s work.

Licenses to kill. Licenses to overthrow our government. Licenses to act on the hate and resentment he's fed on himself and inspired in others. 

Redneck Revolution

My objection to Hillbilly Elegy (the book) was that it was delusional. Hillbilly culture isn't lost it just stormed our capitol. Redneck values aren't in retreat. They have disseminated. The Confederate diaspora spread them everywhere. 

The American Dark Ages began with Bush. Bush signaled the evangelical, fundamentalist takeover. That meant ignorance. That meant violence. That meant making war on principle, and tribalism everywhere. A violent time is upon us. 

A Declaration of the Rights of Assholes

Assholes also have rights. Where would Jesus be without Judas? And, notice that in the Bible Judas is his own punishment. There is no posse of apostles to track down Judas. There is no inquest or assignment of punishment. Assholes are a fact of life. 

They will always be with us. 

It's the responsibility of those who can to protect the weak and innocent from assholes and not to empower them. Assholes shit all over everything but they challenge people to be better. Good people are defined against the standards set by assholes.

But you never let them run things.

Plunderdome

Maybe we need to isolate all of the capital obsessors. A big-ass fence. The lobbyists can fight it out in there for the booty. To make it interesting let's reduce the available resources incrementally to overall subsistence level, if that, as has happened to working Americans, in good part because of those lobbyists. Keep them in there and let them fight it out. See how they like it.

Sentimental Journey

I come from sentimentalists. I know the dangers. Sentimentalism can be a kind of denial. A failure to see the reality. We are beset by that now. 

The reality of it is that we have a flourishing Nazi Party in America. I don't fault anybody for an attachment to our, American, ideals.

I don't fault anybody for a sentimental attachment to their own experiences. America was the promised land for my family. But not for everyone.

And those people, the people with grudges, have taken over. They are a hate movement. And they think they are justified. 

They think they are justified to the point of doing whatever is necessary to reestablish white supremacy and their, Republican, racist hegemony.

Stop the Stealers

The only reasonable course now is to expel every member of the Treason Caucus from Congress, every elected representative who sided with Trump in trying to steal an election.

Trumphenge

Whitehouse is looking like Trumphenge . . . prehistoric . . . inexplicable . . . reflecting some kind of power or power dynamic . . . maybe useful for excarnation . . . are there vultures flying about? 

Both Sides Now

It's life's illusions we recall. We gave ourselves away. 

This Connotes a Coup

Lots of loose talk about coups these days. Words get used in different ways. The law is all technicality. I don't even know if there's a word for the spirit of the law but we're learning something about that -- that the technicality of it is meaningless without some kind of goodwill and informal commitment to its authority. There's a semantic field to everything. 

A range of meaning to every word. 

People are claiming to be the keepers of our legal Torah. Fundamentalists. Federalists. They don't dispute the existence of a Talmud but claim they have possession of the ark of truth so they get to decide all the issues. Reformers be damned. But, no matter how wise those original documents, the spirit of the law must be understood and applied independently.

 

Or, forget it. We are fucked. What is going on now might not denote a coup. Technically, I don't think so. But it sure as hell is an illegal attempt to seize power for minority interests. The coup conviction is there. The will of coupists is there. That's good enough for me.

Ted Cruz

Now we understand the beard. He's a Proud Boy. If not, maybe a Proud Boy wanna be. He wears it in solidarity. I heard his speech. It left me wondering what the meaning of the word "is" is. And, some other words. 

Trump Goons Invade Capitol

We needn't make a point of saying what this means. We know what it means. But we must insist that every Republican legislator shares the blame. None of them has taken a stand against it, as we watched for four years. Fuck them all.

Smoking Gums

We have the smoking gums now, a whole hour on tape of President Trump trying to wheedle and threaten his way into stealing an election. For those who demand smoke this is it. The fire is coming from Trumps's mouth.

Non-Work Ethic

Somewhere in my youth and childhood I got the idea that you find out what to do in life because it comes to you so easily. It makes some sense but I think I took it too far.