Weekly Sack of Shit

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

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

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

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

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

Our Kampf

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

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

Consolidated Dreams

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

Husks of Humans

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

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

A Break in the Weather

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

The Beautiful and the Damned

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

A Rocky Start

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

Are There Tweets in Jail?

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

Otherwise They Will Get Us All Killed

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

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

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

State of Collapse

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

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

But, don't worry. 

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

Bork Got Borked Because He Was Bork

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

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

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

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

Republicans want all the power and no responsibility. 

Trump Shits in the House

We clean it up.  

Evil Always Wins

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

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

Watch a Soul Go Up in Smoke

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

Political Limbo

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

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

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

Calling all scumbags and fiends . . .

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

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

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

Ass-Kissing Episode

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

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

The Mouth That Roared

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Trump Comorbidity

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

Mourning Camelot

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

Fox Abhors a Vacuum

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

Crush the Fucker

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

He deserves it.

On the Oedipal Origins of Republicanism

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

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

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

Nixon in China?

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

Cut That Man a Medal

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

Out of the Depths He Cries to You, Oh Lord

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

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

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

Their god was always the projection of themselves. 

Puritanism and Addiction to Risk

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

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

What's My Lie?

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

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

Lost in Transition

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

My Pillow Maniac

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

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

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

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

Scum on Top

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

A Piece of Shit in Every Job

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

I've seen the light . . .

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

The Soul of an Old Machine

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

Fester they will, I fear. 

Lethal Presidency Finally Ends But Goons Are Still a Concern

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

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

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

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

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

Demonicracy

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

What's Next for the Appendages?

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

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

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

Especially, Trump. 

Licentiousness

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

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

Redneck Revolution

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

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

A Declaration of the Rights of Assholes

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

They will always be with us. 

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

But you never let them run things.

Plunderdome

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

Sentimental Journey

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

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

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

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

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

Stop the Stealers

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

Trumphenge

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

Both Sides Now

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

This Connotes a Coup

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

A range of meaning to every word. 

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

 

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

Ted Cruz

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

Trump Goons Invade Capitol

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

Smoking Gums

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

Non-Work Ethic

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