Welcome to the Confederacy.

I agree with George Lakoff's model of country-as-family and his idea that Republicans subscribe to the strict father, hierarchical authority version of the thing. The point I would make is that it's now the mentally ill and abusive father model courtesy of evangelical Christians because this is their view. Now, you might think that surely most of their families don't have mentally ill and abusive fathers and that this is good because it means they can come around. That their support of Trump is aberrant. 

Bad news. It's not based on their families and their experience or how they think families should be it's based on their conception of God. The God of fundamentalists and evangelicals is an asshole. Cruel, arbitrary, and unpredictable because He is unknowable, only to be experienced kinda mysteriously through grace in an instant of surrender under the watchful gaze of Jimmy Swaggart or Kenneth Copeland or some such charlatan and lunatic. So, this is bad news because God is inscrutable, immutable and perfect.

And, not to be questioned or fucked with under any circumstances. So, so is Trump. Trump stumbled into this role. They will never come around and Trump can't only not do anything wrong but they love him because he's mentally ill and abusive. For this reason historically the South has been an asylum. We have supported them at a loss and not expected them to meet normal standards, notably constitutional and legal standards up until desegregation, and so it was stable under those conditions.

But then came desegregation and this was fucking with God. So, again, just like after the Civil War, they regrouped and fought back any way they could. And, guess what, Republicans were willing to feed them all kinds of suggestions and veiled promises of a return to proper hierarchical authority in which blacks and minorities and women were back in their place. That's where we are now and how we got here. It was called the Southern Strategy and it worked unbelievably well. Welcome to the Confederacy. 

No Fault of 'The News'

The News is not supposed to be your education. It's a disaster as a substitute for that. It becomes nothing but noise. Even if a particular article is informative and teaches you something. because they have to move on. That's why they call it news. 

Hegseth Proves a Goon Right Out of the Gate

He was chosen, the idiot, for his value as an insult. Herr Hegseth owned being a loser and a sucker by participating in the charade. So it all worked out. 

An Introduction to Evangelical Christianity

This just got a whole lot easier. The cruelty and ignorance of the Trump administration is a perfect reflection of evangelicals' values. They have made him. Evangelical Christianity = MAGA. 

I might have been wrong ...

Previously I argued that resistance to Trump is futile, meaning open resistance. I argued for passive resistance and taking care of vulnerable populations, and for positioning and preparing ourselves for the inevitable crash and cleanup, because it will come. I felt open resistance was for the professionals, mostly lawyers. Sue the shit out of them in every venue and in every way. 

With maybe a little guerrilla activity on our part, but forget the marches. They enjoy your pain. I felt open resistance would worsen the harm to vulnerable people, with Trump and team lashing out more. I failed to see the depth of the fixations -- their fantasies of persecution. Especially Herr Donald. I thought they would be pleased with their glorious victory and a little risk aversion would kick in. 

Or, simply revelry and celebratory smashing-stuff-up, like a junk car at a frat party. 

I was wrong. It's all 'flood the zone’ with real cruelty and destructiveness. And the professionals, again mostly lawyers, are in danger of getting lumped in with us in their helplessness against the tidal wave of garbage. Their professionalism assumes 'the law' stills prevails in places and pockets, and it might not. Welcome to hell. Nobody can be expected to resist under threats of personal harm. 

Especially when it appears you'll simply disappear beneath the waves, without accounting, and not be around for the inevitable crash, the cleanup, and rebuilding, when you could be useful. The level of indeterminacy is daunting and disconcerting. There's so much we don't know and can't predict, but Trump and his minions have issued a 'halt and catch fire' command on the government and society.

In fact, it's unclear how broad their target is. I don't think they know, being afflicted with denial, compartmentalization and rationalization, but they could be after civilization generally. Don't let the insanity of this cause you to dismiss it. Remember how involved they are with destructive archetypes and fantasies. Evangelicals are steeped in a longing for the end times. 

Catholics, at least, like Bannon and a majority of the Supreme Court justices, seem to own a conscious desire for apocalyptic reinvention and to be less driven by unconscious forces. They represent the pinnacle of rationalization for which ability and training Jesuits were rightly renowned. They could and would argue anything, 'ad maiorem dei gloriam' and all. But God doesn't enter into this.

I think it's the other guy at work. 

Our Rights Just Went Precarious

Trump is asserting his lawlessness. This is incredibly serious. Remember all the talk of Democrats being scum and traitors? And remember the talk of declaring a national emergency and maybe instituting martial law? These don't sound petty, and it was assumed, I think by most folks, or at least by me, that it would be about immigration or something that at least exists. 

It would still probably occur under that justification or one similar but then what? Trump could do anything, and he's showing he recognizes no restraint. He thinks that not voting for him was treason, for example. He's obsessed with it. It's a huge deal to him and disqualifying for the rights of citizenship and even human rights. He doesn't recognize any of it. 

As Sure as There's a Hell

Donald Trump is heading there.  

Arrogance, Drive, Entitlement: The Making of Musk

You'll notice there was nothing in the title about intelligence. Nothing about talent. What can really be attributed to Musk? That could in any way justify his compensation? A willingness to take risks. A rich boy's willingness to take risks. 

See under 'entitlement.' In other words, privilege. In other words, too big to fail. In other words, another nepo baby and soul-brother of Trump and Bush, who owe everything to inheritance. And I don't mean genetic, as Musk would like to think.

Where do you think his interest in genetics comes from? The conviction, or hope, or assumption, or insecure belief or please God do let it be true, that he's actually a superior being. He needs so badly too believe he's a superior being.

The richest man in the world. He's the richest man in the world! And he's still trying to prove his worth. What does that tell you? That he knows his worth. Deep down, he knows his worth. That he's worthless. Useless. A taker, not a maker. 

And a scared little boy, pretending to be a man. 

Sir, I have Trump's prefrontal cortex on the phone ...

And it says it's being held captive, by 'a lizard.'

We have to assume Trump's prefrontal cortex exists and is functioning, this side of an MRI indicating otherwise, so it must be under house arrest or something. It's a hostage. Also I think we can infer this because Trump is now surrounded by hostages. A whole country of hostages. Hell, a whole planet. 

The lizard is in charge.

The lizard brain has recreated the state inside Donald's skull in the world at large. The severity of the complex and pathology, as indicated by the number of hostages, shows it to be the most extreme ever seen. Trump's brain blew the curve, in a bad way. Big lizard in there. But we must attempt contact.

It could destroy the world. We may have to kill it, and Trump might not survive, but this is life and civilization we're talking about. The existence of one man can't stand in the way. He's already gotten hundreds of thousands of people killed, by his inhumanity. This can't go on. We'll send in the probe. 

Or try the trance. Hypnosis. But something must be done. 

Republicans Are Going to Destroy Everything

But they're working for God so don't worry. 

Disgust-o-Meter

My disgust-o-meter is failing me. Maybe I need a new one. The one I have can't measure what's going on. 

Musk is Artistic

I keep hearing Musk is artistic as though this absolves him of something. I like to think I'm artistic, by temperament. I collect art and have joked, at times, that if I ever get sent to Betty Ford it will be for buying art. I love art. I buy art when I shouldn't buy art. 

When I can least afford it, for example, as a way of saying fuck it.

And I try be creative. We're told that Musk has created stuff. Name me one thing. Besides money. Somewhat out of thin air. I have a very broad definition of artistic. Crazy broad. I think we're all artists -- that we create our own lives. But some of us suck at it. 

Wait, they're saying autistic. As though that, again, absolves him of anything. If he wants to plead being nuts, let him. I won't plead for him, and make excuses for these pieces of shit. Nothing absolves them. To me guilt is one thing, culpability another. 

I make that distinction on the fly. Run with me. But we should decide if someone committed a crime, without considering mitigation, and decide separately if and how they are held accountable. And Musk and Trump are functioning criminal operations. 

Especially Musk's boy Donald. Do we see how insane it is to make excuses for people while they're still at it? Job one -- stop the crime. Artistic. Autistic. Mommy didn't love him. Daddy was a dick. I don't care. They're hurting innocent people. First, stop them.

The Appliance

Trump is a tool. If you read about how The Apprentice came about you will know. It saved Trump's sorry ass. And now all the underlings are feeding him stuff. They have claimed Biden has been a prop. 

A tool of forces in the background. But what they did was coherent. Even the stuff I disagree with was intelligible. We have a new game going on. Trump the tool. The Appliance. It should be a show. 

I think it is a show. 

Cellulose Heroes

Cellulose heroes never feel any pain. Cellulose heroes never really die. I remember going to D.C. in the Reagan years. Somebody was hawking photos to the faithful with a cardboard Reagan.

The actor president. At least he was in the movies. In B-movies. Now we have a reality guy. But cellulose heroes never feel any pain. And they never really die. We, however are expendable.

Episcopal Bishop Begs for Mercy

An Episcopal bishop, herself probably a D.E.I. hire, has asked Trump for mercy in an admission of the end of the rule of law, as Herr Donald and family looked on in contempt. There's a new Zeus in town. 

Thunderbolts ricochet around. Keep you head down, or go to the temple and plead for the indulgence of higher beings. Subdeities vie for influence and fight to have their way. Even they answer to Zeus. 

Who are we to resist? We are nothing. 

All hail Lord Trump! The bishop, in her defense, asked for mercy for others. Though she looked kind of gay. Maybe even trans. Proud Boys, Oathers and such are taking to the streets. Man she is brave. 

She should sign an affidavit of compliance with the new order. An article of submission and obedience. To be safe. So should we all. You can't keep your digital head down. And the beasts are hungry to be fed. 

Pickle Balls

Trump and the other guys trying to preserve their pathetic patriarchy are forgetting that it has to be dead. On a shelf or in a museum. Salted, pickled, sugared or embalmed. 

They're trying to embalm their balls while they're still alive. Anything alive is essentially dying, which drives them nuts, out of infantile egotism. Culture and institutions persist, to a degree.

Some idiots like to slap their names on things, so they can keep striving after they're dead, which is kind of sad. Love is what you leave behind. Mostly they have none of that.

But, whatever. I'm okay with their pickled balls on a shelf somewhere. In fact I'm good with it, because they'll have to be dead or neutered, and perhaps their patriarchy with them. 

And that will mean the end of the harm. Or some of it. For a while. And harm is having its day, yet again. 

Trump Casts His Eye

Let's take a look inside the mind of Trump. Not that he thinks, in the usual sense. It's more a matter of perception. He casts his eye. What does he see? 

He sees opportunities. Opportunities for taking. Weakness is an invitation. To take shit, hence his dictatorial bent. Powerlessness is an invitation to plunder. 

Our relative powerlessness. His power makes it possible. The disparity is the point. And it's huge now. And they have no conscience at all. Plunder it will be.

What Does It Feel Like

To be such a piece of shit.

I want to understand. To ask Republicans, but they're not very reflective. So we'll have to try to imagine. And I'm having a hard time with it. 

Don't Track Yourself

If you don't know where you've been they can't know either. Or, so you'd like to think. But maybe it's better not to know where you've been or what they know about you. Maybe it will make the info they have on you less useful, since we apparently can't do anything about that info. 

We're assets to them. Or the info is. We can degrade the value of that info, by behaving unpredictably and by not buying shit. It won't matter but, still, what the hell. Fighting back a little will be good. But don't degrade the value of that info too much. I doubt it's possible. We must consume.

And if we go negative on them, in our value as consumers, they might declare us dead-weight and  kill us off. If you don't think that can happen you're not paying attention. It's already happening. With healthcare, a human right turned into a commodity. Our rights have been commodified. 

Regression to Mean

These are the prerogatives of power. The prerogatives of a certain kind of power. If you can you take people's shit. Healthcare form the elderly, Food from children, Greenland from Greenland. 

You take stuff before somebody else does. Because they will. Thinking otherwise is for sentimentalists and suckers. Don't be a sucker. Get a gun. Protect your shit. It's the way the world works. 

Now you're a Republican. Welcome to the party. 

All Hail Lord Trump

I think the inauguration needs to be done differently. To have Lord Trump take an oath while breaking it makes no sense. It's the opposite of 'performative' in the way it used to be used, accomplishing the violation of the vow by its utterance. 

But what to do? We can't brand it a coronation. Maybe an investiture, in which Don dons some ceremonial robes and a miter and shit. His hair is practically a miter. He might take to it. In any case having him swear to uphold he law is ridiculous. 

We'll have to tone that down. Or not have him swear to anything, though I can't quite imagine it. It's highly appropriate that the Supreme Court is formally implicated, anyway. They've been as involved as anyone in this coup. Which is what it is. 

Or we could keep it simple and alter the traditional oath by replacing 'so help me God' at the end to 'so help me Satan' out of respect for the truth. I like that idea. Keep it simple, and avoid dishonoring the decent, loyal people of the country. 

All Tomorrow's Potties

This is the Donald Trump story, about the little boy who couldn't stop shitting himself, but carried on because he was so rich and it didn't matter. Except to the people who had to clean up after him.  

The Night They Drove Old Dickhead Down

Trump's time will come. Sooner or later. One way or another. He carries the seeds within him. Of his own destruction. With collateral damage. It's all he's good for. The Lord of Shit. And his own shit will take him down. Retribution is his, but not in the way he thinks. It's coming for him. 

The Last Temptation of Trump

Trump's time on the cross is coming to an end. No longer will He have to endure the stupidity and lack of understanding of inferior beings. But why must He die? He so wanted a normal life, but was called by fate to greater things. To be a savior. Even Trump must live out his destiny. And then return to heaven. 

To be with His father. In relation to Whom he is indistinct. Distinguishable but one. Independent but inseparable. Trump the Father and the Son are of one being, and their will is performative, in the proper sense, in that it is accomplished in its conception. As was Trump's life, because it is the will of God,

Wealthcare for All

Trump's second term is going to be about wealthcare. Republicans know that all the good in the world follows on the creation of wealth. How wealth is allocated and spread through the system is determined by laws of nature. These laws are as certain, predictable and irresistible as those of thermodynamics. 

The effects of these laws can be thwarted of course, but, why? That only results in a misallocation of resources and inefficiency. We must work within them. Messing with the results is like messing with God. What's the use? It's morally wrong and inhumane however it plays out. Evangelicals know this. 

As a corollary and complement to the nature of salvation in which God, being a dick, has predestined humankind and individual humans to a certain fate with foreknowledge and it is simply not to be questioned. Questioning it brands you a heretic and an apostate and requires you be stopped.

By any available means. 

The assumed efficiencies of the financial markets are as inscrutable as salvation, and are a kind of salvation, so don't even think about it. God's justice is beyond our reckoning so shut the fuck up. If free markets mysteriously create whole layers of seeming exploitation between you and the care you need that's just life. Be reassured, it's part of God's plan and your destiny by definition.