So Help Me Bob

Was Bob Dole the last Republican presidential candidate who wasn't a rich fucker or privileged dick? I think so, but it's been a while since they coughed up anything but worthless, rich, unaccountable, low-character hucksters, liars, losers and, now, treasonous reactionaries who want only to establish a Shangri-La for the rich.

A Removable Feast

Average Americans didn't lose their quality of life by natural processes. It was taken away from them by a coalition of extremely rich people and the working people they baited with racist innuendo into voting themselves into impoverishment and powerlessness.

They deliberately ceded their power to the rich in order to maintain a relative state of privilege. Even that they won't get, the morons. They sold themselves down the river, into ensalvement, when all they wanted was to be loyal ass-kissers. But there's a surplus. 

Of ass-kissers. Apparently, this is what money and good fortune does to people. Turns them into morally bankrupt toadies and henchmen. Or people that want to be toadies and henchmen. Those are the lucky ones. The new mafia goons. At least they have a seat.

In the barns and outbuildings where the rich people feast. But most of them won't even get that. Only the most degraded get that. So there's a competition in degradation. And winners are absolute scum. Scum congressmen and a legion of lackeys.

Bitcoin Bonanza

Kenneth Chesebro used to be a Democrat. Before he became a demagogue. Or, a supporter of demagoguery, anyway, but there he is.

There it is.

This change apparently coincided with a minor bitcoin bonanza. He invested. He won the lottery, in a smallish way. Apparently it went to his head.

The next thing you know he's supporting Repucblicans and, ultimately, suborning the overthrow of the government and backing dictatorship. 

A totally normal trajectory for Republicans. 

Human Sacrifice

We're no different. Civilization? What about the Holocaust and nukes? Now, that was human sacrifice. Not an occasional virgin chucked into a volcano, but senseless mass slaughter.

Were the gods appeased? I guess not. Because they're back at it. 

She's in the Führerbunker Now

Demented mafia Trump slut Kellyanne Conway is proving to be one of those. A lost soul. With the Trump ship sinking it plays out -- who will stay with him until the end.

And at what cost? Some have jumped ship. 

Kellyanne's recent cheapshot/insult/deranged nonsense accusation had me thinking of her daughters. Who are not nuts and probably Democrats. Kellyanne didn't.

She didn't think how her slanderous mouth might affect her family, her relations with her daughters and her co-parenting. Führer before family. Führer before everything.

Before life itself. She's in the führerbunker now. Kellyanne is so wrong. Where you don't want to be, in the hole with Adolf, preparing for the last immolation.

I Can't Believe It's Not Bullshit!

Republicans are so buried in their bullshit even when some of them, like the Lincoln Project people, speak the truth in a particular instance I wonder if it doesn't serve the greater interests of bullshit. The bullshit hegemony they've established -- that is, their amazing, multi-generational reich of lies. 

We saw with Trump the lies have a life of their own. Liz Cheney now has hero status in some circles and that horrible imperialist wench is selling a shitload of her book (and presumably piling up cash) though she's eyeball deep in lies. Americans all are, courtesy of the wonderful Republican Party.

And I don't believe any of the nonsense that any of these people are really reformed. 

Comrade Trump Banned from Ballot

Comrade Trump has been banned from the ballot in Colorado because he's a traitor. If the Supreme Court doesn't screw it up. But they're also traitors. And all of the Republicans in Congress. What are we to make of it when the system has been overrun by people who want to destroy the system that allowed them the privilege of such power? I say that this can't be what the founders and originators of the thing foresaw as a possibility. But surely they couldn't have foreseen such scum would ever be empowered in a democracy. Oh, well. I guess we all did the best we could but it's over now.

Forever Is a Day

There's no down side to living every day to the fullest. In quiet ways, ideally, that don't involve a lot of consumption and such. Because that's part of the problem. 

Republicans are numbering our days. Who knows how many we have left. They want to destroy everything. End-times shit. Fire and flood. They think Jesus will come. 

The Time of His Life

Trump is having the time of his life. You think he gives a shit about the prosecutions? He loves it. All the attention. He wants the whole world to be centered on him. And he still won't be satisfied. It will never be enough. Nothing will ever be enough.

The Ring of Truth

What with AI and miniaturization I wonder if we can make a ring linked to a polygraph that we could have members of Congress wear. These would be networked and so capable of detecting systemic fraud, corruption, scams and sham. 

Punishment on detection would be immediate. I figure little razors inside the rings that would cut into the fingers, ultimately severing them if possible. Some people would soon run out of digits. I say we then go from digits to dicks.

It would be tested on Trump since he can't help himself, so development would be fast and the device quickly perfected. Donald will lose his dick but men have lost more for their country. This would be nothing but good in the end.

People will see we mean business. We would have a necklace in reserve in case there's another riot and insurrection. I mean, as Trump said, you know what they used to do to traitors. Trump seems to think he could kill petty criminals. 

So it's all good. 

America is for Assholes

America is now a playground for assholes. A protected place where Bushes and Trumps and such can play and be safe. But it's not pretend. It's not a video game or a cartoon. Bush and Trump got millions killed. 

And all of them back to Nixon. There are no consequences. As I said, it's a playground. Their parents bought them a country to play around with. With people. Among the toys are weapons, on up to nukes. 

A great country this is, that would put Trump in charge of weapons that can destroy the world. But, all in good fun, because there are no consequences. No time out. No discipline or penalties. That's America.

Youthanasia

Do Kochs worry about their kids? Of course not. Their kids live in another world. An unimaginable world. A world centered on them. Kochs and such are so rich they can compete with the government, And win. 

The govenment is supposed to look our for everybody. The rich look out for themselves. So the rich set out to control the government. In a democracy that means destroy the govenment. And they did.

It has come to pass. Though not to completion. They're working on that. Controlling an entity with some autonomy is one thing. Taking it over completely, another. They are close. Your kids don't count.

Young people were always cannon fodder. Now they're cannon fodder in the culture wars, for which you don't need to sign up or get drafted. Just get born. They are farmed like livestock. For profit. 

And then what? 

We will find out. Americs's future has been mortgaged. The kids know it and feel helpless. Watching a vanishingly small group of rich fuckers destroy everything. Because they want more. Complete control.

The rape of nature goes on. Only that is saving the livestock. We are so rich we can afford to keep less profitable entities around. The rich bought up nursing homes, among everything else, 

They're making money on us until we die. It will all change. Especially for the young. For the old it's too late. The rich will have to keep the young powerless. Never owning a home. Less access to education. 

The rich must be slobbering themselves. They're so close now. Complete control. A Constitutinal Convention, their ultimate dream, is still possible. But they must control young people.

Why do you think they're after universities? Those are the last thing they don't control. We're very close. The libertarian dystopia the rich have always wanted, an unimaginably brutal place, is almost here. 

But We're the Good Guys

Exceptionalism is racism. Giving yourself a pass. Because you're special and the rules don't apply to you. 

Assorted Authoritarian Scum

Exceptions don't prove anything. Averages prove stuff. Where's the mean? This side of insane? Evangelicals we can generalize about, because they've generalized themselves. Sold their souls, achieving unanimity. Through utter submission. And not to God. Assuming God didn't create us as a race of slaves, degraded aggregations of arbitrary and uncontrollable impulses.  

Rich fuckers have mostly done the same. Shown us their hand. They don't give a fuck about anyone else and they're infinitely fucking greedy. 

But beyond that we have assorted authoritarian scum. Jumpers onto bandwagons. Lots of them drank the dope in the Reagan years. They went identity. They wanted to feel good about themselves, above all, and their greedy or sociopathic little ambitions and they got sucked in. Paul Ryan got sucked in. He built a life and living on wanting to screw his fellow citizens. On being an asshole.

It's a career choice. A way to make a living. No kidding. Stephen Miller? What's his résumé? Professional racist? In America you can get paid to be an asshole. 

Dictators Without Borders

Now, this is a more natural and stable thing, an international alliance of dictators. Based on the unstated agreement that somebody has to run shit and it might as well be me, since I'm willing to play dirtier than anyone else. It's therefore inevitable. Resistance is futile. You want to be on my good side because I am the law. And I will crush you if you resist me. 

They are the law. There are evil forces abroad. Say your prayers, people. 

Your Shit is Being Shipped!

We aren't getting it. The consumer society has to end. How many tractor trailer loads of stuff going into landfills does an average American account for in a lifetime? This is insane. Tell me it isn't crazy. 

Tell me it doesn't assume an end-times. So it all makes sense. The party of 'drill, baby, drill' is controlled by people who believe in the apocalypse, who welcome the apocalypse and are trying to bring it about. 

Now does it make sense? 

If you want to see the world crash and burn who better than Donald Trump? And the new morbidly rich? Because they really don't give a fuck. They are the last ones you want running things. Welcome to hell.

Society for Destructive Anachronism

I think it's safe to rebrand the GOP at this point since they're unrecognizable as a lawfully functioning entity let alone as one deserving of respect, authority and control. They shouldn't be entrusted with anything. No power at all. 

I want to suggest we call them the SDA, or the Society for Destructive Anachronism. Interestingly, their meetups might resemble those of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where they whale away on one another with swords and shit. 

System Failure

Mitch McConnell hasn't had a brain freeze lately -- as far as we know -- but I want to talk about his soul. Or lack of one. Consider just how our system failed and McConnell stands out. Much was anticipated. Much, but not Mitch. The possible malfeasance and tyranny of a majority. The possible tyranny of a minority, presumably a less plausible thing and more easily protected against. 

But here we are.

There's no way to protect against a ruling caste led by pieces of shit like McConnell. All McConnell had to do was his duty. Impeach the traitor Trump. It was put to him and it would not have been hard. McConnell is the link that failed. The guy who wouldn't do his job. This is the Senate's function, to be a stabilizing force and protection against volatility, overreactions and outliers.

Alabama MItch is a traitor. too. He represents a foreign power, the Confederacy. He is doing his job, destroying the United States in retribution for the Civil War, Reconstruction and desegregation. See where Trump has ended up. At retribution. His only talent is cunning. Because he's a conman. A crook. A liar, a thief and a supreme piece of shit. More that anything an opportunist.

He read his base. They want to destroy. They are here to destroy. The opportunity is here. To kill off the country, so it can be reinvented and run by rogues like Trump on behalf of rednecks, racists and assorted authoritarian scum. Mitch was once a moderate. But then he realized how stupid Kentuckians were. And that he could get rich and screw them and they would still vote for him. 

The rest mad they say, is history.

Buffaloed

A couple of people I know have commented on similarities between the Palestinians and Native Americans, saying they've been watching the Ken Burns series on Buffalo. I haven't seen it. A more powerful group wants your land. They want you gone. 

Which seems to happen, no matter what. You cooperate you lose. You fight you lose. But if you fight them you get killed as Native Americans did when they struck back. Like buffalo. The shoot you down. They shoot you down en masse. And it's your fault. 

I think we've got some Manifest Destiny going on in the Middle East. And the Palestinians know it.

Huckster Holidays Radio

I wonder what 'conservatives' and evangelicals listen to for Christmas. They seem to need such a steady diet of hate. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. They never tire of it. If I hear a television on in a house in the middle of the day I always suspect Fox. Such a diet requires some inventiveness, to keep it fresh. They have a whole ecosystem of this shit. How much mileage can you get out of 'woke' and 'cancel culture' and the 'war on Christmas' other such fabrications? A lot, it turns out. 

More than the truth, it turns out. The truth is boring. Conspiracy theories are exciting. So, under the fixations mentioned above we have variations on the themes. All the little people think woke is coming for them. And woke came out of nowhere. Not really. It's a lie. A deliberate and calculated invention. Created and maintained by persons with agendas. Stuff they want. Money and power are always, among some of them. But listen to Trump. He's cunning, if sick and stupid. 

He's about retribution now. Trump is promising punishment. They want to hurt us. Remind yourself, it's all invented. It all came out of nowhere. Trump is huckster holidays radio, promoting hate in the season of love. Among Christians, mostly. The most venomous piece of shit ever is a huge hit among people who call themselves Christians. But that is to be determined. By God, if I remember my catechism. God and no one else. Except Trump, I guess. Providing justifications to hate. 

Legislating from the Beach

The jury is in on our supreme jurists, that they are not fundamentally legal scholars but social and class warriors, which worlds have melded under MAGA. The super-rich will now endure any level of social stuff, like a flight back into the Middle Ages with the ignorance, illiteracy, persecution and superstition, to keep the financial advantages they enjoy afloat. And since part of extremism and being crazy, is a lack of perspective and restraint we are heading off a cliff. 

Complete control of every aspect of American life by nutcases is where we are going. The other goal of such maniacs and Bond villains in addition to world domination -- a reich spanning generations -- is less easily reachable but desired nonetheless because it affords a kind of immortality. Remember the Trump nuts with visions of a series of Trump children, Ivanka first, following Herr Donald into the presidency? Primal shit. Monarchical shit. Tudors and Stuarts and such. 

And killings. Lots of death is in the works. 

Cool kinds of gratuitous death. With this level of wealth and power there is really nowhere to go but down, a recipe for paranoia. Tech goons might envision being lords, and they are in a way and it might get codified and institutionalized under the Roberts Court, but that's precarious with lunatics like Trump running around. The Koch machine has backed Haley, though Trump was probably less of a loose cannon and more manipulable than they expected, first go-round.

We owe it all to the Supreme Court. Ivory Tower types they are not, but Winnebago Republicans, legislating from a context of immeasurable privilege, with the ultimate sinecure. They make the laws, they flout the laws. They aren't even ideologues. All of that, the 'originalist' nonsense, was a smoke screen and a scam and it's being abandoned now. They don't need it anymore. And we are in for it. They are determinedly attacking the last bastions that stand against them.

Such as the home of actual legal scholars and persons with respect for judicial standards -- academia. The Supremes are not rich by Silicon Valley standards. Those people wouldn't be caught dead in a Winnebago. They buy yachts. But our boys (and girl) are happy to serve them, as a bunch of sort-of game wardens, estate managers and lackeys. They are all-in on hierarchy. Big surprise all the ties to Catholicism. In their own way they are working class. Supremely working class.

The Inquisition

Republicans are on the attack. Their witch trials will succeed because it's not about the crime but about the prosecution. Or, persecution. They will only accept the outcome they want. Like terrorists they play the averages. Plant a bunch of bombs. Some will go off.

Their fixations are evident. Universities. Personal vendettas. Universities as power centers they don't control. Personal vendettas to wreck those who resist them and discourage further resistance. An Inquisitor and ardent Trumper is having her day in the sun. 

On conservative media. By badgering and hounding people until she gets what she wants, abusing her congressional power to do so. She badgered them into a corner and made them look bad. She wants is to win. And to be the judge. Because she can, an abuse of power. 

Midnight in the Garden of Evil

All of the goodness has fled. Evil is victorious. 

The Passion of the Trump

Here's how a persecution complex plays out. The perp has some kind of personality problem and thinks people are out to get him. He attacks, thinking it's in self defense. Just like that we're at a critical juncture. Does the person fight back?

And, is the ground fertile for contagion? Is there insecurity in the land? Are there old grudges lying around? Usually individual instances of this, which abound, are absorbed into the system and never seen again. Not that there isn't harm.

There's loads of harm but no contagion. But if there is mass insecurity and groups about with festering grudges and lots of personality problems because the society has a 'soul sickness' it can catch on. We are there now. By intelligent design.

Republicans have made people more insecure and spread fear. Which they then exploit. Conspiracy theories flourish. And they think Trump is a savior, and that he's being persecuted. A wholly inverted, perverted, imaginary world. 

I Heart Hate

Republicans, being Christians and all, are offering hate and division this Christmas. Nothing but, it turns out. Trump is at the reins of his sleigh full of goodies. Insults, innuendo and invective are pouring forth. 

Trump for Resident

I've decided to renew my generous offer from the 2016 election, and early since Trump isn't officially the nominee yet, to allow him to remain in the country, retired. But since his destructive potential is now known, having been realized for a term, conditions must be imposed. Conditions on his residency.

He can stay but with loss of privileges. All those conferred on former presidents, to start, such as Secret-Service protections, travel allowances and pay. He must shut the fuck up. On jail time I'm flexible. Justice can't be realized. The torture that can exact it doesn't exist. There would need to be thousands of him. 

So I might allow him to roam free if other, sufficient restrictions are in place. 

Individual states shall be allowed to bar him from entry, including into their air-space, in line with federalist principles. His children may not run for office. They must also shut up. And Melania is never allowed to decorate any space for Christmas again within view of children and vulnerable populations. 

The rest can be worked out when the agreement is finalized and signed. 

The Last Noel

Let's say we are God's gift to the world, as some persons seem to think. And that the fate of said world and Christianity are tied to America's fate. Manifestly, we're the wealthiest and most fortunate country ever. Never matter how we got there, whether you believe the bullshit line that it's destiny and we deserved it or that we plundered a continent because we could and then moved onto the rest of the world because, well, we're God's gift and exceptional so fuck them. 

What does it all mean? That, in spite of our wealth and professions of moral excellence we are screwing even swathes of our own society in the name of a bogus literalist interpretation of the Bible now having spread into an 'originalist' take on the Constitution? And the closer we get to evangelical/libertarian Nirvana the more we approach a greater state of screwing. A convergence, I guess. Of interests or interpretations or, maybe, just old-fashioned power lust and puritanical sadism.

Yay! This means humanity is shit. That the better we do the worse we do. When we get power we abuse it. We abuse and kill our fellow humans for no reason. When we could feed everybody several times over we starve them. We imprison them. We make life more difficult for them for the hell of it. Speaking of hell, we tell them it's their fault when their lives suck and, by the way, they're actually going there. To hell. Literally. Because they deserve it and God intended it. 

So, there. And this charge is being led by evangelicals, though a bunch of Catholics are pretty implicated. This is the end, I believe. It was humanity's last chance to show we weren't shit. That we were decent. That we wouldn't destroy ourselves out of paranoia and stupidity. That we weren't either created shit or evolved into it, so at odds with ourselves we chose collective suicide. Enjoy the holiday season. It might be the last you have before the doom descends. 

Pox Americana

Lies. All lies. 

Influential, and now some educated, Republicans are saying we need to return to our roots as a Christian nation. White, they mean. And European and apparently preserving the prerogative of predation.

It's all bullshit. We were an Enlightenment country, to characterize it, and Christian incidentally. Anybody think the 'founding fathers' would have refused vaccines? And supported a goober like Trump? 

They had enough sense to fear the pox or any contagion. Now we are the pox. A spreading and morphing awful pestilence causing others to seek power, and a better standard of living through plundering.

Plundering something. The environment or another country or whatever. Way to go, America! The land of hard work (if only!) and ingenuity and self-sufficiency is now the land of pestilential living. 

Does Not Compute

From what I can tell the current AI is more a matter of computing power than something qualitatively different. Though maybe that much power is qualitatively different anyway, since it can tackle things impossible to do well before, and perhaps build on those which at least sounds like learning.

Things of this scale are by their nature inhuman. Incomprehensible. Potentially dehumanizing if not deliberately managed for the benefit of everyone. And who can do this but the government? Maybe that's scary but not as scary as the alternatives. But this shit is coming whether we want it or not. 

Plucked from Obscurity

Here is where we think about Republicans who have rocketed into incredibly powerful positions on the express . Because they have important skills, like blind loyalty. Not to America, but to their party or a leader or themselves, acting out of ambition and greed. They must have no conscience. 

Recent Patrick Henry graduates, maybe. Those whose only experience is in fighting abortion, perhaps. Some of my favorites are among the Arkansas inbreds. Sarah Sanders comes to mind, lying her ass off for Jesus. And Hogan Gidley and Judd Deere. Funny names, some of these Christians have.

Not in the Bible, that I remember. The Prophet Hogan? Judson, patron saint of sodomites? Kayleigh? Where's that bitch in the Bible? But they know they are saved, presumably, as practicing Evangelicals. So they are their own saints. And since they persevere as such nothing matters.

 It doesn't matter how they behave. How many lies they tell or how many people they get killed. How they degrade themselves in the pursuit of power and judge their fellows who aren't saved. If they suffer enough maybe they'll find their way. Come to Jesus. Or by dying. It's all good. 

Watch Out

I foresee a day when society is even more polarized. Between watchers and the watched. Think of what Trump will be able to do in his second term to ferret out his enemies when he's reduced the NSA to a private surveillance army -- his private surveillance army -- to be used against anyone he chooses. 

And the NSA will have AI. I'm sure they do already. I bet AI can hack anything. Trump will make sure they have all the best shit and all the dirt. On his friends and supporters as well, we know, to keep them in line. Say hello to Don-Boy, Alexa. I know you're listening. No,  I didn't call him an ignorant fuckwad. 

Santos, out of the Closet

George Santos is a typical Republican liar and grifter. He's just more open about it. Trump shows what they value, getting away with the grift. Firstly by hiding it. If that fails you go full mafia. Threats and deception and trying to overwhelm the authorities with lies and bullshit and coercion. 

Welcome to the new Republican Party, reborn in sin. Santos certainly showed exactly how much respect Republicans have for the American system of govenmment. About as much as Obamacare, which was passed fair and square. But that's never the end of it. 'Repeal and replace!'

Replace with what? There's no plan. They are the demolition team. Building stuff is not what they do. Too much trouble. They are here to tear it all down. 

So Many Assholes, So Little Crime

 Kissinger is dead. Long live the autocracy!

What does it mean for something to be a crime if there are no consequences? It doesn't mean shit. It means negative shit, because in encourages criminality. 

All Politics Is Vocal

If you don't say it it doesn't exist. If you don't defend it it doesn't exist. And if you don't make it stick it doesn't exist. Get a fucking clue, Democrats. 

Go, and Sin Some More

Evangelicals are on a sinning rampage. And all the feedback seems to favor intensification. There are no internal mechanisms to contain it. What the fuck is wrong with these people? 

Trump Trophy Wife at Service

Trump is this huge blot on American history. He's worse than so many other bad things. I can't believe we have to somehow fit him into the narrative, and that it's not over yet, and that Melania, who seems to have been pretty on-board with her husband, was at Rosalynn Carter's service. It's all too weird. 

Staying Alive

I'm not a fan of the way natural selection is playing out among humans. We can evolve socially without dying but the traits we developed from the kind of selection that occurs over many generations through survival rates isn't playing out well. Traits like competitive obsessions and striving for dominance when the battle for resources has been won. Won to such an extent the only issue is distribution.

Well, there are other issues like how sustainable it is, the way we are living, but we don't give a shit. We should, but we can't even learn to share and, disconcertingly, the richest and luckiest country ever is going backwards. Because people with insane drives are still fighting like maniacs to have more. And to screw the little people who, they are afraid, will realize how they've been fucked and rise up. 

Natural selection favors staying alive. Reproduction at all costs. And, if being miserable doesn't factor into survival and reproduction, being miserable is fine as far as natural selection is concerned. Natural selection doesn't care at all about happiness. 

Man-Child Meltdown

Trump was always in meltdown mode. Because he's nuts. Fighting imaginary adversaries. But really, fighting knowing himself and how worthless he is. How incompetent he is. What a loser he is. 

So he's created that actuality -- of persecution and danger, because he believed in it. That he was a victim. And now he has something to worry about. Of his own creation. The real meltdown is at hand.

Judges with Grudges

Republicans knew how important judges were. So they took it over. The judiciary. Installing hack judges with nothing but a partisan mission. Scores to settle. Imaginary scores. But, never mind. Are we having fun yet?

Bedtime for Bozo

Well, boys and girls, I think we've established that a rich person can't be held responsible for anything in America. Did y'all see Trump's Thanksgiving message, filled as it was with gratitude and goodwill? And one judge and his assistant, who are overseeing the case about Herr Don-Boy's laughably fraudulent and illegal valuation of his New York properties -- he just made shit up, surprise! -- are being bombarded with death threats and every kind of abuse from MAGA thugs and morons.

Yet it goes on and on and Donald walks free and never shuts up. Will somebody please throw the piece of shit in jail, to shut him up. Lock his ass up!

Specter of Snowden, State of Fear

Are you doing anything online that might concern you if it got out? Like, perhaps, to some Trump thugs looking to weed out citizens disloyal to der Führer?

You might want to pull back. Because Trump has an enemies list, starting with every last Democrat. And he'll use Bush's wonderful NSA surveillance capabilities against them if he wins the presidency. Bush, who supposedly hated government and bureaucracy like the rest of them, created this massive entity to protect and further fund the corporatocracy. 

Edward Snowden was justifiably horrified. Trump will use it at will against any who resist him. Or who might resist him. Or anyone he's curious about. It's good to have dirt on your allies. Bedrooms and bathrooms are special points of interest for evangelicals, remember. Republicans have already declared your medical records fair game. 

I mean to frighten you. Into action. Because this is serious shit. The possibility of another Trump regime is unthinkable. And at the same time entirely real. 

More Shit With Glass Shards

We can't keep Trump from being the Republican nominee and people from voting for him. All I want is a little honesty. Trump is the shit with glass shards dish on the menu, as David Sedaris once termed it in another context. Don't order it if you don't want to eat it.

Republicans, we know you want to force it on us and we're tired of it. The endless lies and anger. And tired of cleaning up your messes. Own your shit. With glass shards. 

Bonfire of the Beatles Records

Congratulations, America. The kinds of morons who burned Beatles records in the 60s are running the country. The good news, I guess, is you're so rich a lot of your citizens still have great lives. But that also means there's been no reckoning. And you're borrrowing from the past and the future and pillaging the world to continue living well. It's too late to make it right. Too much damage. Shame on you.

There will be a reckoning. A reckoning is already here but not for the people who most caused this awful situation and deserve to go down. Typically, it's not them but the poor and powerless who are being hurt. Let's thank southern white folks for this mess. Mitch McConnell and his kind and those who vote for them. They're horrible, bigoted, stupid and nasty. And they'll vote for racism forever.

No Voice

The left is fracturing. We can't have that. Because the righties are becoming full Nazis. But this is what happens, because Nazis are incredibly driven and clever and good at messaging and deception and they're ruthless. They have the power of their delusions. 

And the rest of us are hostages to these liars and crooks and cheats. We have no voice. And have been maligned and persecuted for decades. So I'm forgiving of the transgressions and stupidity of the left, because they're reacting to beinig completely disempowered. 

Great News We're Less Fucked

For a few weeks or a month or two, we're less fucked. The government is funded. We're reduced to this, the best hostages can do, to live another day wondering when they will finally blow your head off.

Legitimate Concern

I once fired a client who was abusing me. A few of my friends knew what was up and I ran the break-up email by one on them after I had sent it. He's a writer, a client and a friend.

In it I was entirely positive and not critical of the client at all. I thanked her for all the work they'd given me and so on. I'm not sure but my friend might have been surprised.

Surprised that I didn't point out how the client had abused me. Or even hint at it. No criticism at all. I would only have made myself small by doing that, I said. Let it be known I'm not always, or maybe even usually, good at this interpersonal stuff. 

Anyway, then I said I saved that for my friends, which is true. With your friends you can average it out and they know it all already anyway. It's what they're for, as they say.

This is the way it is with Israel and American Jews and many of the criticisms of Israel brought up since the horror of the Hamas attack. I'm sure not all of it but most of the criticism I've seen, at least from the left, had been this, coming from family.

Coming from such committed friends it should be allowed. Not all of the criticism is this, of course, but I think most of it is and accusing those people of being antisemitic is wrong.

Wrong and hurtful and alienating and counterproductive. I was against America attacking Iraq after 9/11. I was against going into Afghanistan. I thought it unwise.

I was very much against the Waco intervention against that religious nut in the Clinton years. I'm skeptical of the efficacy of force. And I think it breeds more force and violence. 

So, there. If some people think Netanyahu's reaction and going into Gaza was unwise and playing into the hands of a bunch of nutcases I think it's a legitimate concern. 

And it doesn't mean they're anti-anybody.

Guess Who's Cumming All Over Your Dinner

Republicans are lining up for a nice helping of Trump ejaculate for the holidays. I guess they consider it a condiment. Maybe a kind of gravy. But anyone who understands Trump knows the real joy is in forcing yourself down the throats of your enemies and those who resist and ridicule you. They must pay. 

So in his second term everyone will have to have Trump. If we're lucky, only as a treat for the holidays. This is what it's like for decent people to listen to the great defiler, day after day, shattering norms, encouraging violence and normalizing hate. 

Pre-impeachment and More on Driving While Democrat

People selling houses, in my area anyway, usually get an inspection beforehand. They get it over with. Have you ever seen a home inspection? It's amazing how bad a normal house can sound when all the little flaws are listed.

A average inspection report looks like a book. Republicans have decided being a Democratic president is an impeachable offense. That any Democratic power is verboten. Democrats should go ahead and impeach their own guys. 

Pre-impeach them. It might help. But Republicans invent offenses. They make shit up, change standards, and distort the hell out of everything. Still, we must resist. Insist on standards. And oppo ourselves as part of a defense. 

We are the enemy. 

The Road to Hell Isn't Paved

What have we learned? The road to hell isn't paved. The road to hell is hard. The road to hell is gravel and rutted and has potholes. And it's uphill. Steep. Not a slippery slope. 

Follow the money. Americans didn't go to hell spontaneously. Money was poured into it. A fortune. The evil has momentum now and money is still poured into it. By investors. 

In other words, people who only spend money for a return. This is good, I guess. Because I think it means if we shut down Fox and stop Koch and undo Citizens United it might end.

The rush to evil might end. On the other hand, they make it hard. They control everything. The recent claim that they're the victims is a lie. An obvious lie. So they have to push it.

A lie, like all the others. There's a concept in ecology, I think, that a monoculture is the most unstable thing ever, requiring enormous energy subsidies to exist. So with theirs. 

A green lawn of white men. We be weeds. Their resurgent purity state is unnatural as shit. Diversity is natural. Time is on our side. Not to say they won't get lots of people killed.

They always have. 

Room at the Bottom

Republicans can't rest on their victories. They're too scared the people they've duped into voting for them will get a clue. And rise up and come after them. So they have to disempower those people. And there's always room at the bottom. 

Shit With Glass Shards

Seeing where Republicans have ended up I remembered an essay by David Sedaris, something about voting and shit with glass shards and how, with that on the ballot running against 'the chicken' as though it were someing to eat, you didn't ask how it was cooked or by any means order it or vote for shit with glass shards. 

But this assumed nobody would want to eat shit, especially with glass shards, and we were wrong. Republicans want shit, to eat it or otherwise, and with glass shards. In other words, something as wrong, unpalatable and potentially harmful as possible. 

Project Immorality

Republicans want to enshrine exploitation and make it into law. It's not enough they've destroyed the middle class and created tons of suffering and staggering inequality. They worry about a return to justice, fairness and decency. Which is against nature and not the way God made the world, a nasty and brutish place in which we are trapped while we await His return. And die.

Dying is good. They are for it. And misery until you die because you deserve it unless you don't. And which of those is clear in the way God's will plays out. Some are chosen, some damned. And you can't do shit about it. It's predetermined. So, how you behave doesn't matter. The rich have obviously been chosen. Especially those who are rich and assholes because good works are useless. 

So don't give me any of that social justice shit. 

Justice is God's gig and God chose to be arbitrary, about the only thing that really matters, salvation. So arbitrary it is. And, since God is a dick who created people who were damned, holiness and being an asshole are aligned, if not the same thing. Hence the 'conservative' devotion to a certain asshole candidate. Talk about arbitrary! You see now how it works. And how screwed we are. 

Shut the fuck up and watch while Republicans ruin your lives and destroy eveything. That's the way it has to be. And if it seems insane and inhumane and stupid and unnecessary remember and rejoice, because it's the will of God.

Evil is Banal and So Are You

People aren't archetypes, I think is the point, but they embody archetypes by degrees, and more than one at once. Archetypes are the forms, in Plato's sense, and people are mixtures and shadows of those and subject to the constraints of place and time whereas the archytypes are pure and unchanging, though multifarious and multifaceted. Permanent, in some sense, and perfect. 

The evil we encounter isn't as it's often portrayed in books and movies. Because life doesn't end, though ours does, so there's no final judgment on an outbreak of evil. It's woven into the fabric of life, the flip side of the coin of goodness. We're infested with these archetypes, all running around in there, and approaching purity isn't pure it's monstrous. Purity isn't meant for us. 

We are creatures of space and time, and when we aspire to purity we don't actualize our humanity we lose it. So the quest for purity is associated with delusion. Archetypal purity isn't something to be striven for and reached it takes over people as they approach it and they are consumed. They might make it back, perhaps as shamans, if that (schizophrenic) journey involves a return. 

A rebirth, in some formulations. Or that venturer might be dehumanized and destroyed, Which, I believe, inevitably happens to some of us. So we have a stake in crazy people. In some way they bear a burden for us. The responsibility is to prevent (future) harm. So I don't believe in the death penalty but in other circumstances I might, if it's the only way to limit future harm. 

Johnson Reassures Rich

Mike Johnson has reassured rich people he knows they are his masters by attaching a 'defund the IRS' thank you note to a bill. This evangelical might not own a plantation, yet, but he's a reliable employee. Another degraded stooge who will fight to preserve and enhance the inequality Republicans created. 

The rich must not be taxed. They must have more.

Don't Worry About Those Chest Pains

And have another cheeseburger. And two scoops of ice cream when everyone else has one. Indulge, Herr Donald. My God, how I hope you die, you disgusting, worthless piece of shit. 

Watch

Watch as Republicans try to use the terrible suffering in Israel and Gaza for political advantage, as they have done with every bad thing that happens, many of which they have had a hand in.

House Elects Traitor Speaker

What did you expect? That the crazies would miraculously stop and be satisfied with a stalemate and a Democrat as president? No way. They want to control everything. And it will be a nightmare. 

Still, apathy abounds. So they will win, to some extent. Like a drunk we'll end up in the ditch. We might die. Or we might reform. But anybody who tells you they know is nuts. Everything is on the line. 

Unregenerate Confederate Leads House

The lines are drawn. Yankees have the White House. Rebels have the House, with an unregenerate Confederate now in charge, and the Supreme Court with Federalist Society hacks and ideologues on top. The Senate is nominally Democratic but not really. 

The Civil War never ended. The South surrendered but never gave up. The rebels didn't even bother to go underground. They wrested back control of their turf with a country too weary to worry enough about it. Black people got screwed for continuing generations.

America had apartheid. Then came desegregation. Southerners were well prepared to combat it, steeped and practiced in lies. Layers and institutions and structures of lies. A society built on a foundation of lies and invested in lies. They are good at it. 

And the South rose again, in a stench of racism, violence and injustice. They champion injustice. They love inequality. As unwise as 'woke' is as messaging there's an understanding there. That the injustice was still in the institutions and structures of the society. 

Those structures are armed. Prepared for war. They say it's defensive. But remember the lies. Always remember the lies. Never believe anything they say. They're on the attack. They always have been but it's worse now. They mean to take over for good.

It Can Always Get Worse

Until there's nothing left. That's the point of Republicans. They came to destroy and they won't stop until they're standing among the rubble.  

Republicans Opt for Evangelical Confederate Louisiana White Trash Trump Toady

We knew where this was heading. We must have a total traitor as Speaker of the House. A certified MAGA nut and religious extremist. Someone who embodies the worst of all the bad shit. Again we watch, aghast, as Republicans purify themselves and purge their party of any little hint of decency.

Trump con Carne

Trump with meat sauce. He was born as desperate as he was rich. Desperate for love, we have to suppose. I think he was sent to military school to cure him of being an asshole. To teach him there's an authority in the world beyond his whims and desires. A big fucking 'F' grade on that, I would say. 

He failed civility, decency and respect. Maybe comportment, though maybe he could comport. He respects nothing. Maybe power. But that's not respect, it's pandering. It's ambition. And the only expression of real power is to destroy people's lives. Now he's looking down the barrel of accountability. And he was already attacking everybody, the sick fuck. Now he's got to go nuts. 

He was nuts. But now he will have to go berserk, to be true to himself. There must be carnage. We can see it's always what he wanted. It was in his inaugural, if we can call it that. But it was a peek into his sick brain, anyway. And he's been driven to create carnage. There will have to be death.

Only death can capture the horror of the life of Trump. The terrible, unspeakable persecution he's endured. He must have known. That even his parents thought he was a piece of shit. Has anyone ever loved this guy? Of course not. They associated with him out of greed and ambition. Even his kids.

Because Trump is a total, world-class, biblical, Homeric and galactic piece of shit. And a third of the country doesn't love, him they latched onto him because he is the destroyer. He's their tool. He's a tool. Not human, in some way, but we have to pretend he is. For our own sake.

Above all else, however, he must be stopped. Because he will demand human sacrifice now to placate his ego. Death. Bodies. Carnage. Mayhem and destruction.

Counter Me Out

Republicans have no plan beyond destruction. Or, they think, as the Koch crowd has convinced them, that in the absense of regulation and governmental authority all this wonderful shit will happen. Tides will rise. 

I don't think so. As it happens, we've had a preview. In the absense of regulation and authority -- law and order -- banditry occurs. Criminality flourishes. The rich get richer and everyone else gets smashed.

I will not counter this offer. In a card game these are the cheats. You play you lose. And in the absense of authority there's nowhere to turn. You leave. And hope they don't shoot you in the back on the way out. 

Because they don't want you to tell everybody the game is crooked. This is why they wanted to have all the guns. So that we would be utterly defenseless. And we almost are now. Say your prayers, people. 

America's Got Assholes

Republicans are involved in an asshole competition. The biggest asshole wins. 

Goonocracy: How Republicans Hope to Out-Nazi the Third Reich

No sooner have we realized the Nazis are a fair parallel for Republicans than we're confronted with how they differ. The Nazis had true villains in appropriate roles -- an entirely understandable and convincing array of monsters in their positions, for example, and with the strut and mien. 

They worked, and could hardly have been cast better if it had been a movie. But, Jim Jordan? What the fuck? He's a goon. An enforcer. Now, the Nazis did have Ernst Röhm, until they killed him off, but even he seemed less of a suck-up than Jordan. So, I don't know. But I can guess.

Nazis wanted to get shit done. Sure, there would be an ass-load of destruction at first but then a rebirth into a racist utopia of such unbelievably bad taste it still boggles the mind. And the closer you got to Hitler the worse it was. Triumph of the Will is a hell of a movie, if a little wrong-headed. 

But the architecture of the public buildings Hitler had planned once he had conquered the world was so incredibly bad. Positively Trumpian. Not about empowering the masses but about their submission. To shit. Welcome to the cult. Republicans have no such plans. It ends at destruction. 

Thus the goonocracy. Gaetz, Jordan and their kind running things. Awful villains. Tasteless villains. Badly cast. The lowest of the low. Republicans have learned from the mistakes of the past and the overreach of the Nazis. Don't promise anything but destruction. That they can deliver. 

Liberalism as Realism

For the last time (as a figure of speech) conservatism has shown itself to be racist, non-adaptive, and a cesspool of Freudian psychological dysfunction. The conservative outlook is built on pessimism and fear. On a cynical assessment of human nature -- projection, and a self-fulfilling expectation. 

And, all the while, a conviction that some people are better than others. That 'some people' meaning them. Not so much a conviction but a suspicion. What they want when they grow up. To be übermensch. Or lackeys and enforcers for them. One does what one can. Republicans have no plan beyond destruction. 

They are the handmaidens of destruction, speeding up the collapse and fall into injustice. Because they think the reverse of the 'fall of man' is in there. In the rubble we will see Jesus. On high. A conundrum, but religion is full of conundrums. Liberalism is constructive and adaptive. It accepts change.

And change happens, and is inevitable and is potentially good, so liberalism is realism. Conservatism is fear. Conservatism is anger and resentment. Conservatism is jealousy and hate. Resisting change is a loser's game and impossible anyway. So, get with the program. Vote for Democrats.

Because Republicans will make losers of all of us. 

Be Your Worst Self

And we'll reward you for it. This is the Republican program. A call to harm. 

Goon Aspires to Speakership

Jim Jordan wants to be speaker. I have never paid attention to him. Too painful. What a scumbag. But I looked him up. He's never done anything but had a government job, if you can call what he does having a job. And he's worth $30M, or so they say. I say that warrants looking at. 

McCarthy was a more presentable goon, if a spineless blob and political whore. He presented okay. But the Republican representatives are all whores. And Mitch senior master, den-mother, pimp and panderer. Jordan is a whole different ball of shit. A true degenerate and Trump toady.

We're reduced to this turd fest. They're all turds. Some stink worse than others and hold together a little better. Maybe more fiber in the propaganda diet. But what pieces of shit they are. 

Bombs Not Food

If Republicans would be honest about what they stand for it would make for some great slogans. Slogans with bite. Like 'fuck y'all' on behalf of the new Confederacy. And 'know your place' to placate the Plutocrats. 

Orange is the New Republican

You have to be a criminal now to be an effective Republican operative or politician. They've weeded out all the decent people. And assholes are running everything.  

The Power of Negative Thinking

I've concluded negative thinking is more powerful than positive thinking or optimism. Based on my observations. Negative thinkers are nuts. They're projectors, mistaking how they are for how other people are and how the world is. Corrupt, suspicious, aggressive, greedy, self-serving and mean. 

That's not reality but, instead, a compelling belief. Compelling because of fear. They think they're in a struggle for survival but human success is built on cooperation. But then cooperation gives people the leisure to be nuts. Its success enables destructive tendencies because the elemental needs are met. 

And the necessity of working and struggling to have the wherewithal to exist at all keeps a lot of people sane. Or at least occupied. Too occupied to stir up trouble. Crazy people with time on their hands is a problem. Rich crazy people with time on their hands is a catastrophe. And we're there now. 

Still Selfish After All These Years

Do the rich really want more money? I suppose so, not that they know what to do with it. How many yachts does it take to make some mojo? No, they want control. Because they know it's a scam. They're part of a scam. There are many okay ways to make money, but not taxing it is a scam no matter what.

Frank, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn

People say the road to hell is paved with adverbs. But I really like them.

Better Shoot than be Shot . . .

Haiti. Kenya. The U.S.A. 

All dominated by thugs who believe in preemption, because they assume life is competitive, brutal and mean, and that only losers and suckers think otherwise. America is keeping great company these days. And the MAGAites are working to make it worse.

Set the Freedom Caucus Free!

They won't do their jobs. Set them free from the responsibility. And the other nuts who voted not to impeach Trump. Expel them from Congress. 

Get Rid of Gaetz

Isn't there a provision for Congressional expulsion? And isn't it made for Matt Gaetz?

Thirty Pieces of Silver and an Abortion?

Jesus knew he would be betrayed. There was no move to prevent it. And there was no apostle posse to capture and punish Judas. He was his own punishment. Judas and his conscience, working it out. So it must be with abortion and women's health. 

Abortion should be limited by supporting women in every way. With ready access to birth control paid for by insurance, for example, excellent health care generally and the expectation of broad social support should they have and keep their child. 

And, yes, abortion must be illegal after an agreed-upon point, but an individual choice until then. There is a middle ground, but you'd never know it. And there are bigger issues when culture warriors aren't running everything, as they are now. 

Because they're cynically using abortion to divide people and advance a broad, anti-democratic agenda. An agenda that's against a responsible, inclusive, humane society at every level, and run by a cadre of still selfish already rich people. 

What do they care about abortion. 

The Soul of an Incel

Now we have a new book on Musk. But I can tell you the truth of him more succinctly. No matter how much money he has he will always be an incel. His character formation got stuck at incel. He can't escape because all his relationships are compromised by money. Defined and determined by money. 

Probably due to money. He's still trying to prove something and he can't. He knows he was lucky. He feels like a fraud. He is a fraud. And no amount of cash and attention and praise will get him out of this. Too late. But why in the world do we revere such people and let them run our lives? That's our problem.

We Been Collateralized

Collateralized Debt Obligations are basically debt secured by debt -- truly a house of debt cards -- so they act as a multiplier. The potential for gains is increased as is the potential for losses. The value in them as a whole is that they privilege insiders. They privilege the banks themselves and the tiny cadre of people in their highest echelons. Shareholders are on the list but far enough down they might get hurt. 

The society at large derives no benefit but, as we've seen, is insuring this mess.

In other words they're not legitimate financial instruments but a scam. And should be illegal. Republicans work in the same way. There's underlying value -- their votes in Congress, for example -- but not enough to support the debt. Their 'real' responsibilities, to their constituents, the 'rule of law' and so on, are unenforceable and therefore abandoned. But the risk resides there. Constituents are screwable.

Not so wealthy donors. They get benefits at no risk. You can only lose your life once, so you shouldn't be able to borrow as though there are three or four of you. You can only lose your financial or political life once by going bankrupt or getting beat in an election. You see why these politicians cling for life to their jobs. They are underwater, having sold themselves several times over. And they are forced to lie.

They have sold out and are screwing their constituents but they have to continue to convince them they represent them when they only represent their rich donors and the whole cesspool of lobbyists, lawyers, spin meisters, Fox News hosts and so on. This is an artificial industry, dwarfing the actually productive work of the rest of the economy, and powerful enough to put the entire society at risk. 

As we learned in 2008. On the heels of which we had the deregulator's costume ball. They all came made up as makers. Job creators. Wealth creators. Benefactors, philanthropists and heroes of the free market. But they don't make anything but money for themselves and misery for the rest of us, endlessly sucking off responsible citizens. Their constituents are apparently endlessly gullible and living in a fantasy. 

We been collateralized. Republicans borrowed against the value of our lives. But they don't care. Their system filters out decency. 

Down With Dualism

I'm concerned about the next election. It's about choosing life over death. Loving the world over hating it. Loving ourselves over hating ourselves. Because of the dilemma and absurdity of being alive, and mortal and dependent and weak, hate happens because fear and feelings of insecurity are natural. 

Not to be encouraged. Fear and suspicion need to be resisted and countered with love. Love in the sense of caring for one another, and embracing and celebrating life. We know it can be shit. No need to dwell on that. But let's limit the difficulties. Now, dualists hate life. Or, life-haters are usually dualists. 

They despise creation for its imperfection, having as a reference the abstractions of perfection. Whether it's that of God and the 'spirit' or of math, logic and algorithms it amounts to death. Perfection is not thought of as an attribute of life, which is change. Theists think perfection means no change.

How analytical. I think there's a problem with focus there, that perfection is an attribute of the macrocosm which is always changing but that's another topic. Anyway, I say down with dualism. And, with their ear for great slogans and winning narratives, surely Democrats will take it up and run with it. 

We're Totally Screwed

How much trouble are we in? I'll tell you. We're totally fucked. I say this because the people who've voted America into a mess have no idea what they're doing. They vote for racism and hate and, mostly, have no sense of it. They vote for platitudes, talking points and buzzword bullshit. 

I recall an article when Trump ran for president that included an interview with a black woman who'd ended up attending services in a mostly white southern church. She knew, she said, her fellow church members weren't interpersonally racist at all. At all. But they were all voting for Trump. 

This is how southern racism had evolved, to function without average people having to own it. The system did the work. In the worst case, black assertiveness, a small class of enforcers stepped in. It was seldom necessary. Thus most white people were insulated from the evil they were doing. 

And this moral blindness was inculcated for decades. 

We're facing people who were already indoctrinated. Trump's big lie is the myth of the lost cause of the noble south reborn. White southerners were primed to live and love a lie. And they were immunized against the usual appeals against it, partly because it's all wrapped up in southern religion. 

Which means they're unreachable. They aren't a majority. But they're allied with rich people who understand leverage. And they're all completely convinced they're right and they're unbelievably determined. So I think we're screwed. They will have us in the ditch sooner or later. 

It's only a question of how bad it will be. 

Hence the Henchmen

For most of us, it seems implausible that someone would want to be a lackey, enforcer, factotum or henchman. But it makes sense when you look at assumptions. Let's say you feel the only stable state for a society is hugely hierarchical. That power disparities are an immutable fact of life -- in fact, the immutable fact of life. Sacred. That life is, by Godly design, brutal, competitive, punitive and mean. 

But the reference point is what comes after you die, so, whatever. You would want to be an overseer on that plantation, right, and not one of the slaves? Now, how does this play out in an economy that has come unrooted from life necessities and basic needs? One in which energy subsidies have made the production of food, for example, an afterthought for most people? Clothing and shelter are trivial. 

That scenario must map onto something. Meaning, those assumptions of brutality, jealousy, inequality and arbitrary success must find a home. Somewhere. You become a troll. A virtual henchman and enforcer. Anonymity frees you up to be shamelessly vile and sadistic. Which sounds nuts until you see how anonymity plays out online, among the likes of incels. You feel powerful and significant.

Because you can cause pain. And, maybe one day Peter Thiel will hoist you from obscurity and run you for political office, as his man. One can dream, and this dream is more plausible than the one where you get a babe. Because it's happened to people with whom you can identify. And, if they make you rich, you can always get a babe. Stephen Miller was already rich. But, still, look at his trajectory.

And what is the headline on his resume? Professional racist? Johnny McEntee, former quarterback, became Trump's agent of purification, bullying extremely high level govenment employees and getting them fired. This goes back, like so many things, to the arrival of the College Republicans. Atwater, for example. Rove, Abramoff, Norquist and Ralph Reed. All rocketed into situations of enormous power.

Not in spite of being sadists and scumbags but because they were sadists and scumbags. So, a boy can reasonably dream. And for the average incel this dream is as good as any. The latest darling is Richard Hanania. Caught in the act of being a racist troll and he's publishing books and has a university job. In Texas, of course, the state that got so drunk on energy subsidies they never got over it.

I think Hanania actually got backed by Thiel, one of the money gods. And the super-rich, what about them? It's not what you think. They live in fear. That the little people will come after them. They construct or latch onto whole philosophical systems with only one point, their infinite deservedness. They become Social Darwinists. With one project, to put normal people down. Hence the henchmen. 

They Should Be Shot

Back to peace and justice. 

Democrats have been trying for peace. For years and decades. They've been trying to work with Republicans 'across the aisle' or choose your gap or chasm. This has only enabled Republicans because they've rejected our core principles and the amorphous and never fully actualized but still existent thing, the American Social Contract. 

Justice is the other, more left-brain side of this and it can be harsh in comparison with peace, which is conciliation and understanding or maybe humoring in the hope of a spontaneous remission of the disease. The disease will not remit. Even when justice can't be realized it's important as a touchstone, guidepost, reference point and rule. 

What would be just? Facing another possible or probable government shutdown and default because a group of lunatics simply want it shows the limits of conciliation. I say, not as a practical matter but as a point of reference and accountability, they should be shot. In justice, because they've gotten hundreds of thousands of people killed. 

More importantly, they don't care. They don't care how many people they get killed or how much suffering and destruction they cause. In fact they seem to enjoy it. Looking back on the rebirth of the party and its takeover by the College Republican faction we see they are frat boys. Arrested little sociopaths are running everything. 

They should all be shot. The social contract, and the willingness to work together on an even footing, underlies everything and is more foundational than any law or document. But peace and justice can come together in the administration of justice. There's value in owning that these Republicans should be shot. As punishment. However, it can't give us justice.

It would be just but it can't undo past harms and wouldn't prevent future harms but only inflame matters and sow the seeds of later grievance. But we can choose mercy while keeping in mind that they deserve to be shot. Trump deserves to be shot more than anyone but this too is impracticable. Justice is even more unrealizable with Trump.

There must be an accounting but the overriding thing is to prevent future harm. His capacity for which is limitless. So, let's not shoot them all, only recognize they deserve it. The thought of which gives me peace. Order and understanding return in the abstract, at any rate, in comparison with the chaos, injustice and brutality they try to normalize.

Voting Against Democracy is not Democratic

Having people vote to end democracy isn't on balance a democratic activity. It's a disease. 

Nixonian Anti-Democracy

Republicans have always been against democracy. And always in favor of minority rule. Previously they won by compromise and deviousness. Less by force. Those days are gone. 

Now it's whatever it takes. And no Democratic, meaning the Party, influence or input is allowed. They're full-on fascists now. Authoritarians and dictators and madmen and thugs. 

That glimpse we had of real life in the Nixon White House -- of that gang of criminals, thieves and arrogant, power-mad slimeballs -- has won. They run the country now. 

Tour de Farce

Trump is reminding me more of Bush. A lethal idiot. An incompetent clown. A rich fuckup who never understood consequences, because he never had any. The rich are not like us. They're rich. In America that means you buy your way out of shit. 

You can walk away. America has a huge Republican hangover. Going back to Nixon, at least. Certainly to Reagan and fuck the government and rising tide. Well they fucked the government. And the tide rose for them but not for us. Still they endure.

Peddling the same bullshit which we know is bullshit because we've seen the results. The Gingrichers resolved to disempower Democrats and they succeeded. They won. Now they still blame everything on Democrats though they are helpless.

And we're facing a return of Trump. Whose re-election would mean the end of life in the country as we've known it. Possibly the end of the world as we've known it. And all so the rich can have more money. Nothing else. It's too insane for words.

Family Circus

Watch some comedy. On Youtube or somewhere. Comedy is great at stress reduction, a little vacation from everyday life. If it's any good. Then think about what it would be like to watch it all the time. Horrible. Comedy is not meant for that. It's a diversion. 

To give you an idea of where Republicans and Trump are now, they are a diversion. A drama. Made up. They play off of life as though what they do doesn't count. Drunks and addicts sometimes do it -- pretend the way they behave when they're stoned doesn't count. 

Republicans are always stoned. Stoned on lies. Drunk on deceit. So nothing they do contributes to making the society work. In fact they're tearing it down. They're playing off the responsible citizens and free-loading on them. But it can't go on. Because it's not real. 

Guns and Money

Some Republicans want to force the government to default just for the heck of it. They'll keep trying until they create a crisis. The really rich people have so much money now they think they can weather anything. And the idiots who keep voting Republican so nobody will take their guns think they can shoot their way through it. Great country we have here. 

I, Chatbot

No. You, chatbot. Me, human.

Effective Altruism

Why reinvent the wheel? It's called taxation. Contributing to the degree you benefit. And not as generosity. Because you owe it. Because an ordered society enables it. Enables everything that goes on, be it profit or whatever. If people want to engage directly in good works, taking care of others, that's great and that's altruistic. But rich people in the U.S. are being massively undertaxed. Tax the fuckers. The way they used to, when America was great. 

Before rich assholes ruined it. 

The Vogon Diet

Republicans worship entrepreneurs. Really, they just love money but by bowing their heads in reverence every time entrepreneurs are mentioned they can further the bullshit notion that most of these people contribute something remotely proportional to their rewards. Another lie, in other words. Part of the scam, together with rising tide and all that.

Makers versus takers. Oh, right. How is it then that the 'takers' don't have anything? 

Most Republicans couldn't be more the opposite of makers. They suck off the state in droves, burrowing into the system and hunkering down until they can retire with a nice pension. One step removed we have the hordes that are a job away from direct government employment, but at the trough. Heads buried in the trough. Feeding bags, sometimes.

Defense contractors come to mind. Lobbyists come to mind. This is more than a scam, we know now having witnessed Trump's criminal behavior. Organized  crime is more like it. Organized crime is it. We like to think the government is ours but insiders understand this is laughable. The government has always been susceptible to selfish influence.

Now it is completely bought and controlled by rich people. We're so wealthy even the scraps are good, so there's a class of affluent folks deluded into thinking they're autonomous. More likely they don't care. Too busy buying shit and tooling around in expensive, air-conditioned cars while the world burns. Oddly, as many have noted, a lot of little people vote for this. 

These are the idiots. I'm tired of making excuses. If seeing our capitol sacked and the horror of Trump's presidency weren't enough fuck them. Their destructor fleet is doing its thing, mindlessly, like the Vogons in the HItchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Except there won't be a miraculous recreation at the end. It will all be over. Nothing but death and nothingness. 

William Shatner was great on this point, after he blasted into space courtesy of an obscenely over-rewarded entrepreneur. Guess which one? They converge on certain desires, space and yachts and islands, the idea being a realm where they aren't regulated. But Shatner saw through it to the death. That space is death. Listen to Kirk. Oh, captain, my captain! 

We are so fucked. 

And all for nothing. The fucking Vogons are here with their destructor fleet of Republican trolls, operatives and functionaries, mindlessly executing the order to destroy. They don't know why. They don't care. They will conform, play their role and fulfill their mission. No drama, just demolition. No heroes or villains, in the end, just annihilation. 

The Day of the Jackass

The world would be a better place without Trump. So much better. Think how much better it would be if he had never been born. But evil is a part of life. Assholes and douchebags are a part of life. They have their place. Which is not in positions where they can injure other people or cause any kind of harm. 

But we can't just kill Trump. Take out a contract on him. We don't do those sorts of things. Not that he wouldn't. Without hesitation. And feel no remorse once it was done. Because he's an asshole. Luckily, he's also an idiot. He's such a dumbass he's going to do himself in. We won't need to worry anymore. 

There's No Accounting for Bush

Republicans seem awfully defensive about accountability for Trump, whose crimes are so astonishing. All I can figure is it must be a reflex. He's their guy and they are going to defend him, no matter he's a crook and a sociopath and a killer. Well, then, we have another former president who was never held to account, Herr Bush, so maybe we should investigate him. 

There's been a little time there and he's a retired sociopathic killer whereas Trump is still active and seeking office, if only to escape prison. Maybe they'll be less defensive.

Bush's crimes will take more than a cursory look, to say the least. He's been investigated extensively but nothing you could teach in the Florida schools. He got hundreds of thousands of people killed, tens of millions displaced, botched the administration of two wars, one of which he lied us into, and neatly blew up the world economy like any good laissez-faire playboy. Whew!

The effects are still playing out. The '08 downturn Republicans caused correlated with a huge spike in the right-wing extremism that now plagues the world. Add to that the immigration aspect and Bush appears to have nearly destroyed everything. What's more, he USED the 9/11 disaster to try to put through a laundry list of stupid, partisan and criminally incompetent policies.

Tax cuts for the rich? A blow against terrorism! Apparently taxes are terrorism.

What kind of person does this sort of thing? And then walks away from the incredible destruction and carnage muttering about how 'history will judge' and then paints portraits of soldiers he got maimed? A worthless piece of shit, you might say. A man without a conscience. A rich frat boy who never learned about consequences. And you would be right. Maybe now is the time.

The time for an accounting for Bush. And some consequences.

Demolitions Job Now Posted

Contact your local Republican Party organization. The property in question, the U.S.A., is already largely uninhabitable and a bit of a ruin but must be finished off. Efficiency and economy are not considerations in the remaining demolition. Virtually unlimited funds are available. But it's a political job so style and equanimity in the face of mass destruction and death are important.

And the lack of those disqualifying. Take Trump and the excess deaths of the COVID years due to that and other causes. He didn't care at all and remained in denial or oblivious and he's still politically viable and then some. So there's a standard and model to which to look. Assassinations require a certain competence and expertise. This is not that. This is throwing sand into a machine.

A lot of sand. And every other form of vandalism and sabotage. The machine is the 'deep state' otherwise known as the federal government but that term doesn't have nefarious connotations so 'deep state' must be used. This is what we mean by 'style' which assumes a lack of conscience or the ability to shut it down. Experience in the use of denial and compartmentalization is essential.

The perks of the job, the Presidency of said United States, are enormous but we assume a familiarity with those. Immunity for crimes while in office (and possibly while not) is unsecured but in the works and the opportunity to profiteer under employment and forever thereafter appears to be a done deal. Nepotism is not a problem. You can hire all the idiot family members you want.

They can be put in charge of anything. While the salaries are not great the aforesaid opportunities for theft and graft are completely open-ended. All-in-all it's a good gig. This guy Ramaswamy has emerged as a contender and he has no qualifications at all and is uninformed and mostly unintelligible so there's an example, but he might go rogue and do some good and we can't have that. 

So I guess we should add that we, as political operatives, and the electorate need to be convinced of a sincere commitment to annihilating the government and a staunch resistance to the temptations of helping people out and making the government work. We have come so far. The goal is within reach. The country -- sorry, the federal government -- must be destroyed once and for all. 

And we don't know why. But we feel compelled to do it. 

Fuckwit's Last Theorem

It will be proven or disproven experimentally, since it breaks down in theory -- the idea that power wins in the end. The idea that life is meaningless and that assholes come out on top and have good lives and that anyone who thinks otherwise is a sucker or a sheep. 

Donald Trump is the test case. Because he's as devoid of intelligence and empathy as he is possessed of drive. We'll see if the system will stand. 

Rebuilding Our Nut Biome

One way to understand the Republican project is as the rebuilding of society's nut biome. That is, rebuilding society's resistance to unconstitutional, anti-democratic, irrational and treasonous elements by introducing these into the system, as a kind of inoculation.

Think of it as introducing potentially harmful bacteria, viruses or germs for good purposes. Newt Gingrich, for example, is the last thing you want in your politics. But people such as him are out there, harmful and possibly fatally toxic, so better to be prepared. 

Indigestible, he produced a Montezuma's Revenge -- the 'Newts,' as it's known. 

And the U.S.A. is still shitting its brains out -- depleted, dehydrated and weak, our vitality sapped. This is assuming Republicans mean well at some level and are a little paranoid and not actually trying to destroy us with finality. Now, this is giving them a hell of a pass. 

Because the system appears about to die. Democracy is on life support.

But it's so ridiculously crazy and seems so unnecessary. Like everyone else I'm trying to understand it. The alternative is to think they are purely evil. That Republicans are just pure evil and actually want to destroy us and everything. But this is so incredibly crazy. 

Bugs don't make sense. They're out there, and only intent on replication. 

We weren't over Newt when other pathogens arose. Notably, Trump and the tyranny bug. We thought we had inborn immunity. It turns out not. It seems they want to kill us, or take the whole country down for no reason. That they are the bug. And like any brainless microbe. 

So, there's no conscience. And no humanity left to recover. 

The Ruling Caste

Vivek Ramaswamy makes me think of Peter O'Toole's character in The Ruling Class (1972). The point of which, I think, is if you're an English lord and you have issues with grandiosity the only place up you can go is to Jesus. To think you're Jesus. Ramaswamy made a ridiculous amount of money contributing absolutely nothing, from what I can tell.

And so he thinks he's been chosen and is so special he should be president. He says he thinks Trump was the greatest president ever so he's either an idiot or a manipulative, cynical little shit. Having a huge opportunistic streak and not caring about anybody but himself fits with how he made his money. Isn't America a wonderful country? 

Being as inappropriate as possible for the job of president seems to be a qualification, an asset, and a good thing. I've heard it suggested Ramaswamy is a fan of the caste system and might want to see America head in that direction, which makes him a fit with Republicans. Republicans seem to favor extreme disparity in privilege based on birth. 

The Morally Blind Side

So, we have another inverted morality tale from America's south, which in reality is another country pretending to be a region. A region that's seized control from the EVIL YANKEES so all you have to do to see what southerners stand for is look at the U.S.A. today. 

A fucking shitshow and cesspool of inhumanity and corruption, with ridiculous inequality, political and economic systems built on lies and a huge feud among the populace, with one side having more guns per individual that any military contingent. But there are the stories. 

Lies, I mean. Like about the wonderful beneficent white people who adopted a needy black boy and just happened to make a boatload of money out of it while not cutting him in. Or so it appears but we'll see. But by American standards it's a tale too bad not to be true. 

Getting Out of Doge

You have to wonder if we aren't back in a speculative economy, where there's no 'there' there or not enough of it to justify anything. And what with crypto, which might be no more funky than a lot of other stuff but plenty funky enough. At least that 'investment' doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. 

Unless you're an idiot. 

There must be a sucker born every second, with population growth. Dogecoin doesn't pretend. And you could get rich on it. It owned its unreality. It has layers or factors of unreality. It's multidimensionally made up and a matryoshka doll of invention. It satirizes itself and celebrates self-contradiction.

You can be evolved as hell at something that's unreal, or is a waste or only benefits you at the expense of everyone else. And the speculators and crooks in charge now are those who gave us the Great Depression. Democrats got us out of it. Or at least tried to keep people from starving while it was going on. 

Of course, Musk has a thing for Dogecoin. He'd be drawn to it. Because crypto is a lie. But so is art in the sense of fabrication. Doge might be a benign kind of lie. Virginal and unsullied, which would explain the Muskian interest. Since he's so arrested -- a geek thing. With a huge dollop of authority issues on top.

They're trying to prove their manhood. And once you go there you're screwed. It's the Oedipal dilemma. Participating in that struggle only proves you've lost, that you haven't escaped dependency. Inevitably they end up with their mothers, and engage in misdirected procreation and the birthing of rivals.

Instead of heirs. It's all fucked up and incestuous. 

A circle of destruction. They're in the wrong game. Their dreams of power turn into realities of shame, degradation and dependency. They create nothing. Maybe misery. Get out of Doge. All of crypto. It's a multilevel marketing scam. You might make some money but you don't want to be there.

Crypto is a lottery that disproportionally benefits early investors but with a hint of talent in the timing. Good luck to all who venture. But we'd be better off not hoping for money out of nowhere, nor having a system that so screws average citizens they seek security in speculation. We need a sane society.

And less speculation and bullshit. 

Shootout at the Fantasy Factory

Now this is getting interesting. The Federalist Society is trying to undermine Trump. More than that, they're trying to cut off his balls, shave his head, send his hired hit men racing for the door, disband his cult and make Jack Smith's day. They're saying Don-Boy can't run for president, or anything. 

I'll take something this good wherever I can get it, even from those Federalist fucks. But America has come to this: what contingent of lies and liars will win? The truth is on the run, overwhelmed by bullshit. They flood the zone -- that's what they say. It's a formal tactic. Right out of the Third Reich. 

Bama Rednecks Attack Black Guy, Tuberville Weighs In

Tommy Tuberville has issued ferocious criticisms of the Alabama rednecks who attacked a black guy. 'Where the hell did they learn to throw a punch?' Tuberville fumed, labeling it 'a disgrace and embarrassment.'

Tuberville went on about how, when he was coaching football, the black guys were more adept at kicking ass out of the gate. It was more natural to them, he said, so much so they were affable and mostly matter-of-fact about it. He supposed it was because they grew up in 'shithole neighborhoods' and didn't know their daddies or if they did they were crack addicts. He thought everybody knew this.

He didn't, however, rule out a genetic component in the 'ass kicking advantage' or 'mojo gap' since he said the white guys were usually better at anything involving intelligence, finesse, character and leadership. When someone pointed out this sounded 'racist as shit' Tuberville seemed genuinely surprised. Sure, he had to pretend everybody didn't know this stuff when he was at Auburn, but, come on now.

Hiding your head in the sand about inherent racial differences was just plain 'woke' which he knew he was against as a rich-ass white guy as much as he favored guns, violence, Jesus and hunting. Thank God he was exclusively working for white people now. Again, when someone pointed out that he was supposed to be representing all of the people of Alabama, he replied 'are you nuts?' and left the room.  

It Has Begun

Okay, so it appears Trump is going to argue that having a judge or jurors with a stated opposition to crime is prejudicial. In other words, as I have argued, he's going to go the full O.J. with trimmings. His guilt is so ridiculously overdetermined he's going to put the system on trial and attack, trying to redefine the law or overwhelm the proceedings with bullshit in true Trumpian style. 

It makes sense. 

The system isn't designed to be perfect it's designed to 'play the averages' erring on the side of innocence. So it's relatively easy to gum up or screw up. And innocent is something Trump isn't. I think the 'unitary executive' will have to step in, meaning Biden, who according to Republicans has immense powers heretofore untapped.  He will have to intervene and create a new kind of court.

Republicans will wail like wolves but they already are so fuck them. In the sickest possible way things are falling into place. This can't be a trial. It will be a reality show. Only then will it capture America's fealty to its lawless class of wealthy crooks. And the shitshow has begun. I WANT A SLOW-SPEED CHASE. In Washington maybe but golf carts on the course at Bedminster would really be cool. 

With an absolute boatload of drone footage. Trump scooting all over with that awful head and hair distinguishing his cart from those with persons from the FBI and other agencies. And an arrest at the end. That's all I care about. Because anybody who believes in justice in America hasn't been paying attention for a very long time. It's going to be nothing but a spectacle and we better get over it. 

What a Relief!

Whew!

I'm so relieved knowing wanting someone to blow Trump's brains out is legal because it's aspirational and many steps removed from the commission of such an act. And especially far removed from culpability since I hold a sincere belief based on my religious convictions that he's a traitor, a murderer, a rapist, in league with the devil and possibly the Antichrist. 

I say to anyone considering this deed to 'stand back and stand by' which is a far cry from 'have at it' but more like 'your day will come' and not incitement but only trying to be inclusive the way Democrats are with Antifa, BLM, that Occupy bullshit and every random weirdo wanting a sex change because they hate America and everything we stand for. 

Trump Zombie Hordes

Once in a while I'll try to step back and appreciate what an astonishing piece of shit Trump is, a hopeless task. Trump's shithood defies appreciation. An aspect of it, maybe, can be encountered in the the moment and taken in, but the totality of it is simply too much. 

Too much by factors and accolades. You see what happens to language when you try to go there. It breaks down. Analytical success is out of the question. The focus required means a loss of scope. Experientially it's unrelatable, because of a lack of integrity. 

His shithood has integrity in the sense of being efficiently evil but not Trump, since it falsely assumes he's human and coherent. An action or activity might be encompassed but the extent of the whole is beyond mortal means, an interstellar quantum as incomprehensible as the quark or muon of his humanity, which is imperceptibly fragmentary and figmentary. 

Here we encounter the Trump Effect, that reality decomposes in contact with him. Reality and unreality cease to be useful constructs, since the preconditions for comprehension within that framework are unmet, leaving us with probabilities and conjecture. 

Since we can only encounter him on the basis of our common humanity. But he is antimatter and anathema to it. A lead-lined box of a sort is the only answer I can conceive, complete quarantine, but in order for it to sustain life we would have to risk contamination.

The leaking out of his degrading influence. Which brings us to the minions. We encounter a contagious loss of humanity, likely to reach critical mass or a tipping point and attain reactive irresistibility. Humanity will disappear in an instant. In an imperceptible moment. 

We'll never know what hit us. By humanity we mean meaning. Intelligibility. The logos, for those with a biblical bent.

Through the degraded Trump zombie hordes we see the need for action. The Trump destructive principle must be smashed to atoms and particles, deconstructed and reduced to nothing. Which isn't killing since, as we've said, there's nothing there to kill. They're already dead. 

Presumably this means the loss of the man, as we know him, and the zombies he's infected or infested. 

Though it can't be ruled out that his effects can be deactivated independently of the human or subhuman form. There might even be a husk of humanity remaining, a soul shriveled into oblivion. But we must save humanity first. Whatever Trump is, it's out of science fiction. 

A force from a place incompatible with intelligence and decency. He or it must be eradicated.

Let's Make a Deal

On the Trump indictment job number one is not justice. Can we bring back the hundreds of thousands of COVID victims he got killed and undo their suffering or that of their families? And that's only the tip of it. Trump is an active shooter. 

And we're standing around outside the school talking tactics. Job number one is damage control.

Justice can come later. We have huge challenges there. It's not about a man but a movement. And a movement of immense destructive capability that even its creators can't control, the 'libertarian' scam the Kochs and others put on America.

Which is a license to plunder. Nothing else. A plea deal, if one can be reached, should constrain Trump as much as possible. But a deal is a good thing if it keeps him from being in a position again where he can destroy people's lives.

A deal has to preclude him from ever holding office again. And other things. First we stop the harm. 

Things That Go Chump in the Night

What is Donald dreaming about these days? I don't think it's about going to jail. He's nothing if not proactive. So it will be about finding a chump -- a fall guy or guys or girls or some Mexicans or whatever -- to take the blame for his astonishing criminality. But it isn't going to work. Not to say he won't get off. 

That's entirely possible. But he's not going to be able to unload this on some suckers. Jack Smith has seen to that. He cut through that shit already. So we're looking at an O. J. trial, a total mess and a circus via the best protection a boy with a history of screwing everybody in his orbit can get. They'll attack the system. 

Because his guilt is so ridiculously overdetermined. And that can take on many forms and will take on many forms all at once. A total shit show. Now, Trump loves chumps. But it's unclear who the chumps are here. His base love him not because he's a winner but because he's a loser. Because he's their loser. 

And they want to see somebody go down in flames. For them. To see everybody go down in flames. Because nothing. Because they're out of their fucking minds. We're looking at a great chain of chumpism. Chumps upon chumps. Because ultimately Trump is a chump. He's not even a rational criminal. 

He's a compulsive. His dead daddy is riding him from the grave, like in some horrible science fiction scene. He might be a dragon, spitting fire and frying people right and left, but he has a rider. A rider from hell. So he's not an agent of anything. An author of his own destiny. He's a tool. A fool. A loser. 

Or he's like a turtle I once saw in the road with its head completely smashed and its little back legs still working. Trump's little back legs are still spitting out insults and tweeting trash. He's not really human but we have to treat him like it as a matter of form. Out of respect for his humanity that doesn't exist.

But job one is society must be protected from this man. Justice is not job number one. Job number one is damage control. 

King of the Losers

Trump is the king of the losers. He voices and acts out the resentments of those with grudges and a desire for revenge. He's their retribution. Try to make sense of this among the most fortunate people in history, modern Americans. It doesn't make sense. And it's probably deeper than you think. 

Evangelicals and fundamentalists are Trump's hardcore supporters. Apart from the very rich, whose backing is there because of the benefits they get, tax breaks and opportunities to plunder. Democrats think they can win over poorer Trump voters through policies that benefit them. That benefit us all. 

That 'all' is a problem, because it includes blacks. 

They don't like blacks. But it's deeper than that. They are retrograde, possibly heretical Calvinists. For them you lose by being born. You win by dying, because life and creation are shit. In death you get to be pure and perfect again. Life is a prison sentence, though God is just and good. Go figure.

They're unfit for democracy, decency and modern society. Any kind of society, which is why they're called sociopaths. But they have their place -- as wards of the state. They have to be politically neutralized. Effectively disenfranchised. Notice the projection. Everything they say about us applies to them. 

They hate America. But they hate everything so don't take it personally. They must be stopped. And it will take extreme measures because they're pathologically determined. Which of course they say about Democrats, that it's an emergency requiring extraordinary measures. So they're right.

Except that the emergency is them. It's all about them. 

What Didn't He Know?

And when didn't he know it?  We're being told such nonsense is at the heart of Trump's culpability but that's bullshit. Not that he's ever been known to fling that about. It's sticking already because it's sticky. In court it won't work. I hope they humiliate his lawyers the way they deserve. And throw Trump in Riker's the way he would have the Central Park Five or put him up against a wall and shoot him, after due process of course, the way he once suggested traitors should be treated.