Just Asking

Entirely in the abstract, now that Trump is no longer president, I ask if someone with the opportunity would have been morally and ethically justified in employing the 'Magnussen solution' by blowiing his brains out? When he was president?

I mean, given what we now know? I pose this as a hypothetical, obviously, since he's no longer president. But it's worth thinking about. I stress, as Tucker Carlson so often has, that I'm only raising the point and not suggesting anybody do anything. 

Everything is art.

Everything is art. What we usually call 'art' is the good stuff. Or the stuff that tries to be good. Or the stuff that conforms to some category, like painting. But everything is art. Because life is entirely creative. 

Individual Wealth and Waste

I'm convinced that individual wealth must be curbed. It results in social distortions. On the other hand, I believe in a differentiated, diverse and even hierarchical society. I come not to abolish wealth but to diminish it. 

What Passes for Class . . .

among Republicans can be viewed in a clip of a 'Let's Go Brandon' chant at an LIV tournament with Trump, Tucker and Marjorie Taylor Greene enjoying the moment. 

Hackathon

Both Bush and Trump got hundreds of thousands of people killed, had adminstrations that ran on corruption and ill-will and, incidentally, they got into power in stolen elections and had negative mandates but did whatever they wanted anyway. Never mind. 

With Republicans taking control of the House though more chicanery enabled by a Supreme Court dominated by hacks, there will be plenty investigating going on. Of things the caliber of Hunter Biden's laptop, Hillary's emails and other imaginary scandals. 

Prince of Whales

Who comes to mind? 

You're Only as Fucked as You Feel

Republicans are extremely committed to their corruption. All-in, as they say. For the war criminals of the Bush years it makes sense. They could have gone to jail. They should have gone to jail. Probably too late now. It's not too late for the Trump crowd. The corruption in the Trump administration was laughable. In a dark, morbid kind of way since they, too, got hundreds of thousands of people killed. Americans, in this instance. Not that Americans didn't get needlessly killed in the Bush years.

The Trump boys did it with incompetence, ignorance, arrogance and vanity. Recall Trump's wanting a show of 'gratitude' before releasing supplies to suffering people, supplies that were not his and belonged to the public. What a lowlife highlight. And recall his considering whether those who were being ravaged were Democrats, who were disproportionately affected earlier on, or Republicans who were affected more later by being stupid enough to listen to Trump. A superlative asshole move. 

I'd say it's up there with Bush using 9/11 to put through a bunch of stupid partisan shit, like cutting taxes on the rich while burning through enough money to rebuild the country's entire infrastructure in the process of destroying an entire region of the world, accomplishing nothing and creating over 30 million refugees. Bush also crashed the world economy just like Republican laissez-faire capitalists did in the 1920s thereby empowering Hitler. So he caused the autocratic upsurge we see today. 

But Republicans are in denial. They're passing laws against truth. In Florida and Texas, for example, so white children will never learn what their daddies and granddaddies and on back did in the culture wars. They kicked some ass. And we see how powerful that denial is because we can't do anything that makes sense. Only make rich people richer. Period. Forever. End of story. That's what corruption is for. And the American economy. Rape the world, if you must. But the rich got to have more.

Florida Fuckups Dominate Race

Rick Scott and Donald Trump sabotaged their own party out of egotism and arrogance, resulting in an election favoring Democrats more than almost anyone expected. Having their heads so far up their asses they took risks offering little hope of reward but it scared people into voting for Democrats. 

We are accustomed to this from Donald, who got hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans killed with his incompetence. But Scott couldn't keep his mouth shut and followed Newt Gingrich down the hole of nearly admitting openly how he intended to screw his fellow citizens. Close enough, anyway.

Even if they couldn't articulate it American voters understood he was after them, out to take away every bit of security they have. Simply because he's an asshole. From a party of assholes. And a state ruled by assholes, the Free State of DeSantis, where they've taken the Gator identification too far.

My Net Worth

My net worth as a voter is supposed to be the same as Sheldon Adelson or Charles Koch, may they rot in Hell and die a horrible death, respectively. It is not. How many fifths of a man am I, then, I ask. We need a new denominator in that one, to capture the proportional difference in dollar reserves. And that, my friends, is American democracy. 

Congratulations

I want to congratulate J. D. Vance. He sold his soul and got something for it. So many others didn't get shit. Having mortgaged his humanity for votes we'll see how it goes for Mr. Vance. Will he hang in with Trump? Trump was standing right there, as he would have to be, when his own ego blew up in his face. Huge shit-splattering going on. Will Vance get splattered? Will he distance himself? 

We will see. But soul-selling is notoriously risky. Vance, anyway, has proven his own book to be bullshit. Rednecks are running rampant. Hillbilly culture isn't dead it spread. Gone mainstream. Whole country is an ungovernable feud--I wanna be a Hatfield!--and celebration of ignorance. Guns are every-fucking-where. People shoot one another for sport. It's the redneck way. And America. 

All Worn Out

One would think--I would think--that being an asshole takes lots of energy. Lots of drive. Lots of time and resources. Hate is not normal to be in all the time. That's not a natural state. It's exhausting. Exhibit A is 'conservative' media, a disinformation metaverse, and all the money and effort and ornery it takes to maintain the hate. All the stoking and stroking. These are business people. 

They want bang. Returns. So they fooled us into funding our own demise. 

When you get down to it they've found ways to make it pay, even. Kochists not only aren't regulated they cut their own taxes which they richly deserve to pay. The point is, the further you get from reality the more resources it takes. It's a rule in ecology. A monoculture, like a weed-free lawn, is the most unnatural thing imaginable. So it takes massive energy subsidies to make and maintain. 

And there's stability in diversity. Anything else is unstable as hell.

Same with the white hegemony. The white boy hegemony. Every blade of grass a white man. Women haven't been empowered the way we like to think. Mostly bought off, which I suppose is more benign than force though the religious wing sold their souls for certainty. We are the weeds. Democrats and minorities. 'They must be eliminated.' Very Vader-esque. But he's Luke's father. 

We too are in a genealogy of waste and destruction. Of harming nature which is suicidal and self-hating. We're implicated. Not as bad by a long shot as the Kochists but that's how they get away with it. They throw us bones. And we're so rich the bones are nice and meaty and fatty and great. We need a break. I don't mean a rest I mean we need to step back. The way we're living is crazy. 

Responsible people are creating a surplus that's stolen and used against them. Nuts.

A Disturbance in the Farce

The diapered dirigible of Trump's political charade is in trouble, leaking gas and needing a thorough ass-wipe and rebranding. Tie it to a mast for a while, Herr Donald. A mast at Mar-a-Lago. The neighbors will love it. Or we might be looking at a Hindenburg. Oh, the humanity! 

Mo' Ron

DeSantis is the real thing. His entire identity is tied up in hate. Hating his fellow citizens. What Democrats are DeSantis is not. As a point. We used to feel that way about Nazis. We understood ourselves as what they weren't. Now being a Nazi is fine among Republicans. Being a racist is fine. Being part of an identity movement is fine. Wishing your fellow citizens ill is good. Getting people killed is fine. 

So DeSantis and the Republican Party are an unbelievable fit. This guy is spitting out hate with his wife and children right there. And Republicans are SO worried about improper influences on children. DeSantis is a Nazi. When he says 'woke' we're talking about people. When he says 'mob' we're talking about nothing. The 'woke mob' doesn't exist.  But mobs exist among Republicans. 

They're replete with mobs.

Proud Boys. Militias. Capitol attackers. One-Percenters. The morons in Charlottesville that Trump loved. All the people who show up, often with guns, in groups to intimidate other people. Boogaloos. Oath Keepers. It's hard to keep up but the fascisti, being cowards, love to go out in groups and scare people. DeSantis went to Yale. He's more a Heydrich or Goebbels. Educated. Nicely turned out. Not illiterate.

Well spoken if hate is your thing. When he talks about the woke mob to begin with there is no mob. That's a lie. He's inventing threats to stoke fear and create hate. And, the 'woke' are doing nothing wrong, apart from not even being a group. They have rights like everybody. But not in Florida. According to Ron. Which should be illegal if it isn't but Republicans never cared, going back to segregation days.

The good old days. When America had apartheid. They like criminality. Selectively. 

The right kinds of criminals. Criminals who are on their side. Or who are rich as shit. After 9/11 Bush should have called for an end to anonymous international banking, tying it to money laundering and terrorism. Which is true. But tax cheats and arms profiteers and shady conglomerates are his peeps. Republicans love power. They'll do anything for power. And DeSantis is now their go-to thug. 

The Weekly Sack of Shit Returns

I gave up on my Weekly Sack of Shit series because it couldn't capture Republicanism. It was like heralding crushing one termite. Not only was it hopeless it felt counterproductive because it aided the illusion that something had been accomplished when nothing had. 

On the other hand, crushing that termite felt good. Thus this week I found myself wanting to crush the termite Ron DeSantis. I suspect he's a termite queen. A breeder. A propagator. And fertile, just the thing if you want hate rot. Because he's all about one thing, the hate. 

In that spirit I bestow upon Ron the award, for all the good it will do. I never dreamt Republicans could come up with a bigger piece of shit than Bush. I couldn't imagine it, a failure on my part. And they came up with Trump who we know blew the curve. Now we have DeSantis.

A normal person can't imagine the evil he represents. So he carries on eating our house down by breeding hate. He doesn't lower himself to the actual munching, it being beneath him. He has followers for that. But when you lean up against a structural member it might crumble. 

Voting, e. g. Without it the house falls. And it's the work of DeSantis or someone like him. 

McCarthy Hate Continues in Expected Victory

Kevin McCarthy, as immensely powerful as he is a piece of shit, won't let go of the hate. In his latest comment on the expected Republican takeover of the house he had to mention Pelosi, in a meme slur at this point, since gracious behavior in the new Republican Party is a sign of degeneracy. The total moral inversion this represents only continues to worsen. The bottom hasn't yet been found. 

Shithead Wins in Ohio

Unrepentant degenerate J. D. Vance has won in Ohio, cementing that state's status as a redneck hellhole. There are also many reactionary Catholics in Ohio so Vance, a convert, is appropriate there too. I read his book which was garbage. My Amazon review shows I saw through Vance's scam early. 

I'm proud of that. 

He's the cream, he thinks, who rose to the top but he's a turd that floats, a floating turd, too dumb to see that his Mamaw was bigoted scum. I saw it, when he didn't. Mamaw's line on Vance's sister's husband was 'he's a saint' which is, of course, her version of the old slur about the 'cult of the saints.'

A slur against Catholics. So Vance is a cultist. 

Several times over, taking it up the ass from Trump and Thiel, from the latter maybe literally. We don't know what went on in private. As Tucker likes to say I'm only asking the question. Other questions arise. How degraded will he be in action. Jordanesque, like another Ohioan? High bar, there.

Or low, depending on how you look at it. 

Pure Evil

Democrats don't want to say it but Republicans are evil. Republicans are saying it about Democrats but that's what evil does. It doesn't care. Their indecency is on display. We thought we'd escaped from the old stories. We could study them, cross-culturally and such, and see them recreated in modern versions. Like Star Wars. But they didn't pertain anymore. In escaping from want, to the extent we had, we thought we'd escaped from the demons within us. At least some of them. Were we ever wrong. 

It wasn't about want. Cruelty isn't about deprivation it's about fear. Maybe love deprivation, but, that's another matter. Technical sophistication has nothing to do with ignorance. Or real intelligence. They're on different tracks. A geeky 'genius' can be evil as hell. Maybe more likely because of his detachment and insecurity. You know the type. Tell me you don't have someone in mind. Anyway, as is often the case it happened slowly then in a rush. A tipping point or critical mass was reached. 

And it was a simple story. An old story. Selling one's soul. Republicans sold their souls for power. It's been written about. We watched it happen. Through the Southern Strategy. Play on race and get votes. Reagan did it and then treated Falwell like the useless, sick yokel he was. Bush was a turning point. A hopeless degenerate and congenital fuckup. Now he paints and collects his federal retirement check. Remember, he was an employee. It was hard to see through all the bullets, oil and arrogance.

They all played the race game. The racism game. 

And they won. So the devil is here to collect on that debt. As always the innocent and powerless will suffer. Are suffering. Have suffered. Republicans have the power but their souls are gone. It leaves a big hole. The souls are destroyed. Fragmented and obscured. Don't bother looking. But look at them. Just at them. The winners, still struggling for more because nothing is enough. Not when your soul is gone. How are they different from Darth Vader?  Where are our Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca?

I want to be Chewbacca. I kinda look the part. But that's another story. 

Pelosi Preview

The attack on Paul Pelosi is but a preview. As though we hadn't seen enough. Still, it's stunning. But get used to it. And, if it had been worse, if Pelosi had been maimed or killed, it would be no different. Sure, more cover-your-ass mutterings from Mitch or another piece of shit but they would be loving it since Democrats have been asking for it and deserve to be disempowered by any means. And retribution for past sins is fine. It's open season on Democrats. And Republican identification comes with a hunting license.

A Simple Desultory DeSantis

This guy is not an opportunist. Maybe to a small degree. He's a determined autocrat. An arrogant asshole. A born killer and absolutely committed to his mission, to disempower Democrats and establish a single-party state. Just like autocrats everywhere.  

He seems more organized and logical than he is. The consistency is in his drive and determination. In that sense it's a cohesive thing. Like an animal hunting. He's focused. Focused by his feelings of superiority and contempt for other beings. For everyone.

In that respect he's like Trump. He despises almost everyone. Those who dispute with him and the lowlies who serve him. He respects only power. Unrestrained power. Which he wants. Probably as president. Then he will ruthlessly crush anyone he wants.

But he's not inspired or inspirational. Rather, he's a drudge. An enforcer. In spite of his obvious ambition he seems to be working for someone else. I think he's working for the Force. Not that one but Darwin's. He thinks people shouldn't interfere with nature.

With its wonderful heirarchies and brutality. God made the world a mean, vicious, competitive, nasty and indifferent place full of suffering. It's an insult to God to try to make it nice. So DeSantis is fighting to make the world nasty and brutal and unjust.

In the name of God.

Dying for a Lie

Putin is getting a lot of his people killed for some very narrow interests. Possibly only his own. George Bush did a much better job of it. 

We Love Lunatics

Lucille Ball was too brash for me, However, I loved The Honeymooners. All in the Family I never watched. Couldn't get interested. Married With Children I never watched. I think I might have liked it. I'm not a fan of network TV, not even Seinfeld, though I know it's a matter of taste.

 

Put me in Guantanamo, make me watch most network TV, and I would tell you anything. Forget waterboarding, but that would work too. Use Baywatch. Sadist? Start with waterboarding. If it would save my family I might hold out for a while. I always hated politics. It seemed like torture to me. 

Most of the time. But when you score you score big. Civil rights. All of FDR. Preventing wars and nuclear holocaust. The good old days. When there was some national cohesion. Or so we thought. It was an illusion. There was always division. With modernity and desegregation it rose up. 

Now division is everything. Hate. And everything is a show. All politics, no policy. As a show it sucks. Republicans choose lunatics as a display of contempt for governance. Not our government, but the idea of cooperation and a common good as a whole. Libertarians do this to you. 

A return to a state of nature. They favor savagery since they're already on top.

Butterflies Are Free to be Terrorists and Murderers

I thought I would try making something up as outrageous as Republicans to see how it feels. I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know once I figure it out. 

The Fugitive Wall Law

Republicans are obsessives. Obamacare was an unextreme law passed fairly. But it helped average people  and, to the extent it didn't, it was because of Republican obstruction and sabotage. Obstruction befrore it was passed and sabotage after. 

It raised taxes a little. On rich people. Did that destroy the economy as Republicans claimed it would? Of course not. On the other side of the equation, when Republicans want something they will do anything to get it. Fuck the law. 

So it is with the border wall which has huge symbolism and emotional, psychic investment. A symbol of division and hate, if it weren't obvious. But this is old news. They've been doing it for decades. It's more flagrant now.

More confrontational and aggressive. Take Doug Ducey. Sure he wants a wall. But it has nothing to do with anything real. It fulfills psychological personal, political needs. So he's gone combative and rogue because it's in vogue. 

Illegal, in other words. Daring the feds to come after him. Back in the day the Fugitive Slave Law showed what liars the racists were. States rights? Not for Yankees. When northerners tried not to enforce the law southerners went nuts.

They were always reactive. So Ducey is lining up shipping containers to make a wall that will not work but it will have bad environmental consequences. He doesn't give a shit. They care only about themselves, the crazy fuckers.

Truth Social Swamp

Truth Social is turning out to be such a handy indicator of conspiracism and criminal intent you have to wonder if it isn't an FBI front. Maybe Trump is the deep state. Or being manipulated as a magnet for all the worst elements and domestic enemies. 

God knows it is working. 

Stare Decisis No Carpe Diem Yo

The Supreme Court deemed voting rights protections no longer necessary. This unleashed a flood of activity proving otherwise. Oops! No matter. Among ideologues the ideas in your head are everything and all that matter, especially when the ideas are shared by people some of whom are enforcers. There was talk of impeaching John Roberts among Republicans when he failed to overturn Obamacare.

Like, the next day. They don't tolerate dissent well. All must be on their terms, democracy being a lot of sentimental and impractical woke nonsense. In that spirit the Court is about to rule against affirmative action, based on the same fantasy. Again, never mind that the whole recent history of the country has been of a struggle to undo civil rights and equal protection. They have access to higher reasoning.

From Catholic schools and traditions. Surely some of them had some Latin. All those mottos and stuff, et tu and all that, to say nothing of the Latin shorthand used among lawyers. Stare Decisis, for example. They've confused that one, though it came up in some or all of their confirmation hearings when they weren't being accused of sexual assault and such, with another that's not a legal term, I don't think.

Carpe Diem. They carpe all over, not wanting to waste time in case a couple of them suddenly croak. Croak away, I say. Alito and Thomas, especially. No redeeming qualities. Speaking of redemption, don't these authoritarian brutes believe in that? Some higher accountability? I don't think so. It's another lie and scam, their supposed piety, up there with rising tide. I hope there's a judgment day.

Are they in for a surprise. Sua culpa, boys. They have a lot to answer for.

Fame Retardants

Elon Musk has reminded us what a cruel and insatiable master the attention monster is. Being the world's richest man wasn't enough. Eyes on him. What else can it have been? An addiction to risk? 

Maybe. I don't know. The attention economy has no possible master. It's its own thing but the addiction to attention causes people to try to contol a void. To manhandle vapor. To contain the world.

Obviously, a vain hope but addictions demand the impossible. To be master and slave in the same relationship. To grovel in control. The addiction is a false facilitator or intermediary, not a thing.

It promises something but it has nothing to give. It is transactional. A lie disclosing a lack. You have this need. It promises relief. Fulfillment. But it's a lie. A projection and false hope. A scam. 

Attention can't make you whole but it preys on the craving. A craving for love. But there's nothing there to love in attention mode. All the energy goes one way and dissipates. Of course it's a market. 

As such, a public good. Subject to regulation. A bad word in some circles. But regulations allow markets to work. We must therefore apply fame retardants. Or have continuing massive dysfunction. 

Sanding Sponges

I'm going to take it for granted Republicans are big sponges, sucking off the government as a show of contempt, one of many, together with the sabotage, but it's the abrasive aspect I want to highlight. Is it necessary? I mean, is the asshole part productively destructive? 

This is a good question when we consider the apparent death wish of anti-environmentalism, their fiscal insanity and love of discord, and their religious faction's warm feelings about Armageddon and the end of the world. I think the asshole thing is tactical but not strategic. 

They are highly paranoid. Historically paranoia confers short term competitive advantages but results in a huge meltdown in the long run. Hitler and Mussolini turned around their economies with authoritarian edicts and political muscle. But we know how that played out. 

Murdered Chicken

One of my friend's chickens got massacred by a hawk despite being too big to carry away. The hawk ate her on the spot. This made me think of Newt Gingrich, who believes this is as normal and acceptable among humans as any other species. I disagree, thinking there's an alternative that evolved under the heading of 'civilization' but mightn't we honor Newt's views in his case and take his fat ass out? 

In any event, he's too big to carry away so he'll have to be dismembered, towed or otherwise extracted and he shouldn't mind since he's so obviously physically inferior, having sucked off the government he so despises his whole life. He is beholden to us and fair game to do with as we please, I believe, according to the principles he espouses, that power is its own justification and the rule of law relative.

Twat Buys Twitter

Seized by optimism or a bout of mania Elon Musk has a new toy. What a deal at $44B! I don't think Musk wants to create chaos or knows what he wants or intends to hurt people. But he doesn't exactly give a shit either and chaos might occur as a consequence of his fun, the flexing his money muscles and his doing whatever. He's rich, and purportedly a genius. 

We should stay the fuck out of the way. 

The thing to note and know is that the whims and desires of a handful of ultra-rich people matter more than the lives of the rest of us, even collectively, because they are better than us and were chosen by God. Most of them are in some way crazy but don't mind that and say your prayers because they are going to do whatever they want, no matter what. 

New Deal to Raw Deal (the Stacked Deck)

I think it's clear enough the 'New Deal' will be an age in American history but equally clear it ended with Johnson's attempts at its expansion. The ensuing Republican backlash could be called the 'Great Screwing' if it would fly in high school history classes. DeSantis and some Texans would need to be immobilized first, though, since they won't allow any criticism of their side's determination that privileged white people never be discomfited or caused to question or even perceive their benefits, the better to preserve them. 

Death of the Dream

We all know people for whom the dream was realized but an essential point was its accessibility. That part is dying. Republicans are killing it off because they believe in exclusion and privilege. 

Englishmen and BDSM

Let's not let the Truss launchpad explosion obscure that the Indian bloke is a certified Thatcherite sadist and possibly a promoter of caste. Again Britain and America reflect one another, with Trump making anyone who isn't a drooling goon look good and various Cheneys (take your pick, war criminal or reliable battle-ax) appear to be fans of responsible governance. Clearly the respective voting populations have a problem with pessimism and a penchant for pain -- up to a point. But when you hand over mandates for arbitrary punishment to fatalists and people of detachment and privilege with an enormous dollop of self-interested egotism the safeword might not work. Still, I recommend we start screaming it as loudly as possible. What was it now? Julie Andrews? Or do they think we're in a Gilbert and Sullivan thing, with 'he is an Englishman' resonating the rafters and a guy, a stand-in for the working class, in his undies on the rack? No, it's real life. And there might be a point of irreversibility in playing brinkmanship with doom. 

Catholic Crazy Fucks

Somebody help me out here. I can't determine if Catholic schools or Catholicism itself is responsible for all the crazy asshole Catholics in the conservative nutcase movement. Fox News, below the Ailes level, was highly Catholic. I mean, I don't have to go into examples, they come to mind so easily. 

What gives? The authoritarian bent of Catholicism itself is too facile an answer but it doesn't make it wrong. On the other hand, I look at the parochial schools and especially the sports and wonder if that isn't it. In a larger way, though, the fascists understand the to appeal to the masses of 'smoke and bells.' 

Glitter and obfuscation. Entertainment and deceit. Distraction and subversion. This is as Catholic as it comes, using the 'lower' things for 'higher' purposes. Screw abstraction. Make it concrete. Don't give the rabble explanations give them enemies. Give them relics and superstition. Give them a show.

Stereotypes can be somewhat true. They are in this case. People sold their souls for power. Sold them cheap. I read a sci-fi book years ago and hit a place where there was some amazing anti-Catholic bigotry. By John Calvin Batchelor, to show how clueless I was that it still took a while to sink in. 

Venomous bigotry, portraying Catholics as degraded drones and sheep. Who are the sheep now? Batchelor's Calvinists have farmed out the intellectual heavy lifting and rationalizations to Catholics, to look at the Supreme Court, but they're all corrupt and idolators of the golden Trump calf. 

Calf and ass. That golden ass, let's say, that they bow to so religiously . . .

Rise of the Super-Rats

I usually look at percentages. But in comparing historical rogues it doesn't work. What percentage of the population did some authoritarian get killed? One is too many. None is okay, but leaders and people with power are supposed to respect life. To save lives. To enhance lives. To enable rewarding, productive and fulfilling lives, and not to be vultures, parasites and crooks. If they are vultures, parasites and crooks we must disempower them. 

By any means it takes. The world is not for their exclusive enjoyment. It's not their playground, to trash it if it gives them pleasure. It belongs to all of us. Or, more accurately, we have it in trust. We are stewards and caretakers, or we should be.

It's All Relatives

Humanity is a family. I'm not kidding. If we don't care about one another, all of us, it's beccause we hate ourselves.  

When in Nome

It will be a cold winter in more places than Ukraine. The world is growing darker. Authoritarianism is the latest thing, it seems. Human ingenuity and resource exploitation have enabled better lives for many but, is it only that we have further to fall? Is that why people are so fearful, that some balance of insecurity is needed or people make shit up to be afraid of? I recall Bill O'Reilly raking in millions hawking the 'war on Christmas' to his followers. Fox News promotes a diet of fear. And people are eating it up.

West of Eden

The sun is setting on a lot of stuff. The worst is not knowing where it will end or how badly. The uncertainty. You can understand people want to get it over with, like addicts wanting to bottom out, craving the ditch or death. Existence for them endless suffering. Though they're not agents in this but victims, not masters of their lives but slaves. 

American Gothic

We're staring at the gargoyle. A face full of Goth. Why the hell? Republicans want it that way. More so, they're there and they insist we join them, in their horror show. We insult and demean their sense of salvific urgency by wanting decent lives for everyone. 

Screw that, they say. If God wanted it we'd still be in Eden. So it's an insult to God as well, a flaming heresy. Salvific urgency isn't fixable or ignorable, but existential, ending when we die and face God. They have a death wish. A craving for annihilation. For all of us. 

That's their religion. A religion of greed, suffering, death and endless insecurity. The country will be a haunted house with real threats, they demand, the latest an election that promises to end our lives as we know them and, with a little luck, life on the earth. 

Go 'Bama

The black players on the Alabama football team should take a game or two off to catch up on their criminality. Surely they're too busy with practices and all to uphold the levels of crime their native impulses drive them to. Tommy Tuberville knows this. He's coached many young black men. 

Tuberville is an expert at motivation like any highly successful coach. He's motivating people now. Bigoted white voters. To get out there and support the old-fashioned strong-arming and suppression of minorities. Especially black people like the guys who won him so many games at beautiful Auburn.

Among the Aborigines

Viewing the cast of Republican candidates and assorted establishment functionaries do you sometimes feel you're looking back in evolutionary time? Those eyes -- Kari Lake or Paul Gosar, maybe -- peering out of a cave. The indescribable anger, fear and irrationality. And they are driven to lead. 

We Been Cheated . . . Been Mistreated . . .

In my days of writing satirical skits I always had a chorus of southern white boys in drag. Hula skirts, boas, all kinds of kitschy clothing. Transvestite like. Hairy legs sticking out, bad socks and boots. Original music would be good but in lieu I imagined variations on popular songs. The one suggested by the title, for example, a takeoff on Linda Ronstadt . . .

Tubular Balls

I wonder about Republicans and physical malformation, if there are physical counterparts to their mental deformities that are somehow connected. Americans alive today are among the most fortunate people ever. Why, then, would you spend your life trying to destroy it or make it your mission to screw your fellow citizens? There's plenty to go around. 

Something must be bothering them. Something they can't put out of their minds. They're tortured in some way. So, I surmise, maybe a higher percentage of them have hidden physical defects, leading to nagging insecurities and persecutory fixations. They can't relax and enjoy life. They have to stir shit up. Maybe they have chronic existential worries. 

You know, unquiet minds over their fate after death or whatever. We know, statistically, recent trends favor ill-educated and possibly ignorant voters as a bigger share of their base. Brain deformation would straddle the physical and mental realms, adding in emotional instability for good measure. The problem, in any case, is all too apparent.

The Once and Truly Fucked

I know it's hard for Yankees to understand why lower-class southerners seem to want to fuck themselves. And why, then, they seem to want to fuck everyone else. I can fill you in. When you've been fucked by God you're really fucked. You're fucked with finality. 

This is why these poorer white southerners resent people who try to make their lives better. That, and since the idiot Yankees instituted desegregation, they can't be un-fucked without blacks being un-fucked, thereby increasing personal intimacy between the races which is against the will of God and stupid and anathema, for reasons that can't be explained. 

Calvinism did this to them, Extreme, fundamentalist Calvinism. They are sinners and God is pissed. God is always pissed because creation is imperfect and He made it which doesn't make sense but wouldn't you be pissed? I mean, what a mess! We're all stuck in it. 

So, Armageddon is the obvious way out and something to be desired. And that, friends, is the thinking of the people who are running everything. And you wondered why we're in trouble. It's a miracle we made it this far with such a cultural inheritance. 

Trump's Presidential Library

I'm thinking, where do we put this, Riker's or Bellevue?

Go Fuck Me

I'm starting a 'Go Fuck Me' service for Republican politicians, operatives, and right-wing hacks and functionaries generally to help them raise money the Trump way, by deceiving innocent people into supporting your corrupt lifestyle. Alex Jones, a remarkable but all too typical Trump supporter and astonishing piece of shit, gave me the idea by fundraising off a well-deserved conviction while he was being prosecuted and sentenced, and while he was continuing to bullshit everyone, deny his culpability, and attempt to hide his assets. I think that's fraud and another crime, but, never mind. 

Republicans Aghast at Biden Decency

Republicans, with moral exemplar and Trump humper Sean Hannity in the lead, are appalled at Joe Biden's caring and loving recorded message to his troubled son, which they aired as a matter of national security concern and caring Christian kindness. They want to snuff out every instance of empathy as it arises in case it should take hold and spread, knowing it is the sort of thing that destroys civilizations. 

The Constitution, á la Carte

Our Constitution is all á la carte or a smorgasbord. In Republican hands. And they control the High Court. Mostly foreign food now. Fascism, authoritarian religious cultism and racist, apartheid segregationism. 

They Bwoke his Bwidge

Trump and Vlad, what a pair. So sensitive to slights. Donald's grievances are everywhere, as it would be if you only think being king of the world is good enough for you. Vlad, on the other hand, is a bit of a badass. But a princess, at times, too. And they bwoke his bwidge. The Ukrainians bwoke his bwidge. So he's pissed and bombing shit in a tantrum. 

Wanker Media

Republicans today announced the formation of a new organization to coordinate the various dissolute strains of conservative media on thematic principles, Wanker Media, LLC. They acknowledged the problems with consistency that arise under a regime based on MSU, or Making Shit Up, which is their core tactical outlook and modus operandi. 

At most levels inconsistency is a good thing and has served them well by creating chaos and confusion not only about the interpretation of observable reality but observable reality itself using denial and distraction. The problem, they were finding, is that younger 'conservatives' were turning out to be legitimately insane after having been raised on bullshit. 

This is one thing with religions, which have evolved for the most part not to self destruct, but the new conservatives were exhibiting an identifiable death wish, and not just individually but for the culture at large. They were scaring the rich people who control the party, who of course were fine with eliminating the surplus population' generally.

But even that needed to be done with structure and discipline, as the traditions of starting wars because you have a bug up your ass demonstrate. There are ways of getting millions of people killed that leave rich people essentially unscathed. The new young conservatives don't seem to understand this, desiring an unheard-of level of social deconstruction. 

In Trump one can see how the means of deconstruction became an end, when he built those huge failed casinos in Atlantic City, for example, becoming king of a pile of rubble and debt. This is not what America's oligarchs have in mind, to be sure, to rule over a massive, money-eating failure along the lines of a Bush or Trump administration. 

Old Yeller

If Trump has to make such a nuisance of himself, issuing threats and hurling insults all over, couldn't he do it a little more quietly?