How Do They Sleep at Night?

You wonder how they sleep at night. Do they see what they've caused? The Republican Supreme Court justices were immediately proved wrong on voting rights, affirmative action and abortion. We don't need these as they've been known, they said. But Red states, mostly southern, went on the attack.

They limiting voting, passed extreme legislation against abortion and turned universities into culture wars and places where bigots will feel safe and maybe empowered. But, being extremists and ideologues, the justices didn't care. They're above the suffering they cause. That shit is for the little people. 

What a Fucking Weasel

Mike Johnson is trying to defend his sabotage the government's efforts to do anything about the 'border crisis' as though it isn't entirely politics. Politics in which he's licking Trump's anus yet again. 

All the Colors of the Shithole

Republicans are taking America into a dark place. There are no colors there. Only black and white. 

Send Trump into Space

I think we should send Trump into space. Put him on top of a rocket. Place him in orbit. Or promise him the moon or Mars. Let him put his name on something. Plant his flag. And leave him there. 

The Wrong Stuff

Democrats had a plan to conquer space and put a man on the moon. Republicans a plan to take over the country and put a moron in charge. Astronauts were chosen on ability. They were rigorously screened, tested, trained and vetted. They had to be among the best to be considered. 

Republicans selected for the worst, for so long it became a culture. Saboteurs, hostage-takers and fuckups. Maybe they were competent at sabotage. Or experienced in inheritance, like Bush and Trump. They had to be among the worst to be considered. They had to have the wrong stuff. 

Evangelical Pastor Finally Cops to Everything

An evangelical pastor in Colorado who ran a crypto scam has said God told him to do it. God even told him specifics about how to spend the proceeds. And, the pastor still thinks he might pull the money out of his ass somehow, owing to divine intervention in the way of a miracle. 

I found this story heartening. Finally, one of these astounding idiot con men is conveying the truth, that it's all a huge crock of shit cooked up for their personal benefit, and that they will keep right on bullshitting as long as they think there are suckers out there who might believe it. 

And there are always suckers, so these are lies with legs. 

Right to Twerk State

I foresee a day when Republicans will outlaw twerking, on grounds of obscenity. Now, I don't like twerking or even the word but I don't like yoga pants on women either. To say nothing of men. Nobody is making me look at anything and I like the way Mormon women dress so I'm probably pretty fucked up. Though I like to think I'm hardwired into the 1920s and 30s via my parents. I mean, I love Gershwin and old movies.

If that makes it better. 

But I don't want to live in a non-twerking state and mine might go there. The broader point is that Republicans are never satisfied. Democrats have been trounced and Republicans believe they're threatened and vulnerable. Vulnerable to what? Having their sensibilities not reinforced and coddled in every possible situation? Which is just nuts but they don't care. My state has been taken over by certified conservative assholes.

A lot of what they do can't be explained except as triumphalism. Putting it in the face of the libs. Again and more broadly, though, it has to be seen in relation to how they treated blacks. Democrats are the new blacks. Open season on us. And this means it will never end. Democrats must be made null and void. Our rights demolished. Our lives limited. Our values vanquished. And they will not stop until they achieve it.

I'll have to move to a right-to-twerk state, from a right-to-work one. Which sounds weird, and not at all consistent with what I consider to be my values, but it might be the best I can do. 

Governing from the Gut and Downstream Implications

I'm trying to come up with an example, existing or historical, of the kind of government 'Burkean' conservatives -- people like Andrew Sullivan and P.J. O' Rourke, RIP -- want. And I can't think of anything. Something they might cite as a sustainable conservative regime. On my, liberal end I would say Scandinavia. Do I hear cheers? 

But on their end, what? The early Third Reich or Franco's Spain? Downton Abbey, Animal House, Don Quixote or Orwell? Maybe Brideshead Reconstituted for Andrew, endless unconsummated homosexual yen. I want to be ready, if I encounter them again. Authority is a must. They must have order. Order for us and anarchy for them.

Always, someone else pays the bills. Cleans up the mess. So they can merely BE. P.J.'s soulmate Doug Kenney scriptwrote Animal House and Caddyshack, I think. I recall O'Rourke commenting on a reveal he had traveling abroad about what made America great. What made us work. The 'rule of law,' he said. I assumed he meant for lesser beings. 

He can't have meant for his boys Bush and Trump.

Lesser beings like us. They, in their superiority, don't need governance. Just to be free. All they need is a rich daddy, or government, as a surrogate, to pay the bills. Growing up is getting a cushy job. On Wall Street, once. You show up and bandy clichés and the money pours in. Or, in the White House. The same, there. Clichés. Money cannon.

Show up, start a few wars, launch a few missiles and/or cut taxes on (yourself) the rich, watch the money flowing around in awe and retire to the country. Bush and Trump are models. Too rich to fail. Above accountability. But not us. We're the accountable ones. So, governing from the gut, as they do, as they famously believe in, means this. 

That, we're downstream from a load of shit. 

Which they expect we will clean up. Because they're better than us. The crux of conservatism is superiority. A sense of arbitrary worth and deservedness. See the link with Calvinism? It's there in the arrogance of P.J. and Andrew.  But how to defend it? They talk shit. Obfuscate. Lie. Rationalize. And they ally with the lowest elements.

Those too stupid to succeed. In order to fuck the middle. Conservatism means, above all, exploitation and polarization. Screwing the middle guy. The little guy too but who gives a fuck about them. Cannon fodder. Always were, always will be. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. If they're stupid enough you send them off to get killed. To defend your oil. 

Which some idiot (God, presumably) buried under some fucking heathen. And that, friends, is what conservatives stand for. If you can call that standing for anything.

How Are We Fucked?

Let me count the ways. No, it doesn't matter and it hurts too much. Better to let it all play out. Then pick up the pieces. 

The Umpire Strikes Back

People as fucked up as Republicans tell you what they are and it usually means nothing. It usually means the opposite. So, they say they will 'call balls and strikes' and you might think they might be fair. Or try to be fair. Or preserve the pretense. 

No way. We're beyond that. And they have bigger ambitions than merely cheating. They long for the simpler days of white boys shagging balls with ice tea awaiting in the shade of some nice old oak trees. And fair maidens to serve them. 

Minstrelry, maybe, for their amusement. They want to go so far back into privilege and exclusion you don't have to cheat. Hence they'll tackle the 'administrative state,' to adopt another corrupted term with its baggage. The bureaucracy.

A viable government, we may say. They want to kill it, along with congressional intent and constitutional intelligibility. Fuck 'originalism.' Fuck precedent. Fuck everything, because they're so close to the goal now. The goal of authoritarianism. 

Yours, Mine and Theirs

The Great Taking goes on. The rich have to have more. They must always have more. I wonder if it stops if we kill them? The lives of our children aren't too much to ask. So there's no end. Until we stop them. 

Cache Us If You Can

Data is winning. When people are farmed for profits their humanity means nothing. Americans made themselves into cattle for corporate interests. The dynamic is different but in the end it's the same. The bottom line decides everything. 

Shitstain Visible from Space

A huge brown stain is spreading across Iowa as the ignorant voters there battle horrible weather to vote for Trump. With the recent snows the stain is visible from space. They just shit all over themselves and they're too stupid to know it. 

Most of the country is a big MAGA skid mark. Certainly the rural areas. Normally there's not enough contrast to see. But with the recent snows it stands out. The American people are so fucking sick. Better anyway if it's visible. 

Don't Eat Brown Snow

Iowa just shit all over itself. All over everything. In the snow. So it shows up really well. They turned out for Trump, himself a turd. Trump demands everyone eat shit. 

Kiss his ass. 

Iowa answered. They debased themselves. So, stay away from brown snow. You don't know where it's been. You don't know what's on it. In Iowa they shit all over themselves. 

Take Him to the River

Greg Abbott claims to be a Christian. Of some persuasion. He must have been baptized. But it clearly didn't take. There's a gap in his qualifications.

Let's baptize him. Take him to the river. To the Rio Grande. Wheel him in. Into the river. According to Republican principles we must then leave him there. 

Once you're born and baptized the responsibility is over. Society doesn't owe you shit. Quite the opposite. Society must not help you out. No. No. No. 

That interferes with natural Darwinian mechanisms. And we like Darwin now. So we leave Abbott in the river. Getting himself out will build character. 

And maybe he'll see Jesus, one way or another. All good. Best of luck, Greg. God bless you. Thoughts and prayers. Maybe some Mexicans will pull you out.

On their way over. Wouldn't that be cool. 

The Trump Mysteries

Who precitated the attempted hijacking of the presidency and subversion of the government? No mystery there. Who's lied about everything his whole life to gain unfair advantages in business? Again, no mystery. Who failed so badly at his administrative duties during a pandemic probably half a million people died unnecessarily? No mystery at all. This isn't going to work. There's no mystery whatsoever about Trump. 

Name That Asshole

I had a thought about an American History parlor game that would be entertaining and educational, titled 'Name That Asshole.' For example, "who, after stealing a presidential election and being sworn in with a negative mandate, used a national tragedy to cut taxes on the rich and try to enact a laundry list of partisan policies?" That was an easy one. Presidents are so highly publicized. Okay. Onwards and downwards.

"What representative, after Obamacare was passed fairly, sabotaged it by defunding the risk corridor?" Or, "who was most responsible for what provision that made it unnecessarily hard for the Post Office to stay solvent and why would they do that?" Or, "what tag team couple, only one of which was an elected official, was most closely associated with deregulatory policies that caused the '08 economic calamity?"

Space Honkey

What is it about certain rich white boys and space? Especially a certain Musk?  

National Lampoon's Bluto for President

Animal House is back. The boys are older and Republicans, as fans of anarchy and as fans of having daddy paying the bills while the progeny party away like degenerates. 

They're running Bluto for president, never thinking he can win and what will happen if he does. And not caring. Maybe it's a joke or a prank. Or they want a little mayhem. 

For its entertainment value. That's entertaining as shit, having Bluto/Trump in charge of a nuclear arsenal, isn't it? What could go wrong? I think it's all about entertainment. 

And maybe having a diversion while they drink themselves stupid and chase pussy. But remember the Cadillac. Which they trashed. Funny, huh? When you're not paying. 

Their defense? 

How could you be stupid enough to trust them with anything you give a shit about? So we're there. How could we be stupid enough to trust them with anything? Good question. 

Climb Mount Suckass

I wonder if Republicans have a rallying cry we don't know about or a code term for the attack they expect to finally take over the country. Then we'll have exclusion, polarization, isolationism, massive wealth disparities and other things the people responsible for this attribute to Christ and the will of God.

Since they are His agents on earth. If you tell them not and resist them all bets are off. They might shoot your ass, praise Jesus. Anyway, probably the code term will have a Trump resonance. He's their guy. Some 'Christian' leaders are retreating on Trump but in the pews he's their man. And they intend to win. 

Murder on Mars

Musk wants to go to Mars. To get away, presumably, from all the inferior earthlings. Inferior to him, that would be, by Muskian reckoning. Some other privileged private equity types, hedge fund honchos and Social Darwinists will undoubtedly follow, intent on breeding a master race from scratch.

But a world needs underlings to work. These they'll have, paid and powerless, and probably sterilized. You can see the point, it being where we're heading anyway, oligarchically, but faster. I say there will be enmity among the supermen. There always is because they are huge alphas. Obsessed with their mojo.

Like Musk. Which mojo they try to buy.

So there will be murder on Mars, or Planet Musk, in the absence of legal authority. On the model of Henry VIII, I bet. Maybe wives rolling in and out as with Henry, or sister wives as modeled by some Mormons, since the need and drive for reproduction will be great and perhaps competitive. 

I still foresee murder. And a hell of a good story. On a planet probably doomed to be renamed X, or who knows what the fuck. Anything but Planet Trump. Wait. If Donald could be marooned there I'd be open to it. Anything to be rid of him. Give him a fucking planet. Let him fight it out with Musk.

I'm so sick of these rich assholes.

Keep it Stupid. Simple!

Republicans keep dishing up stupidity. The 'base' loves it. It has to get stupider and more ridiculous to stay interesting. And more so than competing sources. So it spirals downward into the vortex of doom.

That is, we do. We all do. 

New American History

I intend to write and promote a New American History particularly for use in Florida high schools with a focus on the undercarriage of the society and system, not how it was styled, promoted and propagandized. Therefore it will be a bit of a black view, since blacks were mostly and effectively an enforced underclass the whole time. The usual divisions into eras or administrations will be discarded because these are a reflection of how participants and their descendants chose to view themselves.

The new eras or epochs will be:

1. America Under Slavery

2. America Under Apartheid

3. The Second Civil War

4. The Confederate Age

This applies only partially in the North, I know, but since the South has finally won the battle for control of the country it captures a trajectory. So my history will complement the honest analyses out there and correct the kind of rubbish and bullshit being enforced in the classroom in states (like Florida) where the new, reborn Confederacy is ascendant, controlling and assertive. In places where they are formally and deliberately teaching lies, in other words, and systematically indoctrinating children. 

The 'Confederate Age' is in its infancy and the date of the victory of the South in the war to enshrine injustice and bigotry as the 'American Way' uncertain but the subject must be raised. The discussions generated will be more instructional and informative because of this uncertainty. This is history in the making at a time when democratic institutions are crumbling and besieged. For the fist time, the whole country is being possibly remade under another regime and the 'rule of law' challenged.

Dancing with the Fame Whores

Surely, there's a show in there somewhere. I'm suggesting one along the lines of any good reality franchise. This one set in Washington, our capital, the sound bite center of the universe. But it's all about renown. Infamy meets celebrity. Infamy sells. Bad shit is more compelling than good shit. 

It's simply more potent. More memorable. So we have Washington the train wreck. And they're dancing on top of the wreckage. Some better than others but they all dance. We might as well make it a game. The insurrection was such but they sucked at it, the redneck morons. The pols are pros as fame whores.

Suborning Penury

Democrats fucked it up. They underestimated Republican craziness and depravity, for 30 years during which time it was obvious. That Republicans were out of their minds, and vicious, and would stop at nothing to disenfranchise Democrats.

In the broadest sense. Initially, to nullify them politically. But when you're crazy nothing is enough. Now we're looking at the ultimate nullification, life itself. So they should shut the fuck up about 'woke' and cancel culture.They invented it. They perfected it.

And when Democrats futilely fight back with a fraction of the intensity, to no effect, Republicans go ape-shit.  Because they're crazy. Mostly not cynical but nuts. They say open season on Democrats. I think we're at the relative impoverishment phase. 

Make money equal to votes. Slay them with cash. And then ... more tax cuts for the rich and more risk for the poor and everyone else. Over and again. People are dying because of powerlessness. As Republicans want it. To put us all down in the gutter. 

We are poor. We have a lot of shit but we're poor. Because we have no security. And they're still coming after us because fear for them is a given. A state of being. So they'll always find someone to attack. And it's us now. Once it was the commies.

But all of that hatred and fear got transferred to us. Because ... nothing.