Instant Karma...

My partner follows an Astrologer, who, to me, comes across as basically a Life-Coach with some planetary knowledge thrown in to spice things up. She is engaging, funny & sometimes seems to have a bit of good advice, which usually breaks down two ways: "Be careful, it's not a good time to make rash decisions," OR "Now is an excellent time to be adventurous, creative, a good time to refresh & recharge."

We were working under the assumption of the latter advice yesterday. It wasn't working. It was a day of disappointment, frustration, to-&fro-ing, false starts & hitches, lost time and dead ends. And, of course, the reality of our New Fascist Terror Dome Regime lately hangs over us like a toxic cloud.

We both were ragged & out of sorts. Still, we powered thru, we went to our rehearsal studio with the idea of banging thru some of our songs, preparing for a session with our band this coming weekend. Before we started, my partner discovered that one of her drums had cracks in the skin. Another frustration. She took a detour, picked up her phone, and started calling around to find someone who could repair it.

While she was doing that, I started hacking away at my guitar, more from boredom & frustration than anything else. I started playing the chords to Neil Young's "Down by the River." I got aggressive, and then started hanging on the Eminor chord, I discovered a very hard & funky rhytmn and riff. My fingers danced on the fret-board in a new way. I played that over and over. It was sort therapuetic. Basically fucking-off.

My partner found a repair-man for the drum. She put down her phone, put it in "record mode" and picked up an old notebook that I don't recall seeing before. My partner looked at me and said "Keep playing." And then she started singing lines from the notebook. 

I was in standard tuning, so we tried the same riff in a couple keys with me moving a capo up the fretboard, E-minor>F#-minor>G-minor. We settled on G-minor and played and recorded the riff & lyrics a few times. We realized we had a new song. So wild. Out of the ether. Unexpected. Not even trying. The moment of creation just seemed to appear from nowhere.

My partner told me she"re-discovered" the old notebook the day before, cleaning out a closet. She had paged thru it, filled with drawings, recipes, and a few poems & lyric fragments. She just happened to put the notebook in her satchel and brought it to the session with no thought or intention.

It made the day. No doubt. 

Good lesson there. Inspiration can come from frustration & boredom, and the ragged, jagged moments of a day. There does not seem to be a method to our creative madness, sometimes it's an accident, a gift, a goof. You need to be alive, aware, awake to the tiniest of moments. The "magic" can happen in an instant. Easy to miss or fumble, unless you are paying attention. Yes. Instant Karma, indeed...

buddy/master/handler/co-conspirator/big daddy

 

How to explain the shit-show that is unfolding in America now? 

The simple, elegant and obvious explanation: The President isn't really working for America or Americans. He never has been, and never will be. 

What is the one consistent theme that explains his actions? Vladimir Putin & Russia. Just look at the evidence. Our President is always aligned with Putin. He always takes Putin's side. It doesn't take much digging or homework or hard-thinking to come to that conclusion. That explanation has been floating around since forever.  In fact, it is so blindingly obvious, it's almost invisible now. For proof just look at what our President says and does. Words & actions. It's all about his buddy/master/handler/co-conspirator/big daddy, Vladimir. 

MAGA has never been about making America great. It is selling division, demoralization & diminshment here and abroad. It is an invalidation of America. It weakens us. Trump's mission is Putin's mission too. Their enemies: A free press, fact-based reality, rule of law, free & fair elections, healthy Democracies around the world. 

You may ask why? 

There are many plausible explanations. It is probably a combination of many things, but we are stuck with the cold hard reality. It's a bummer. For sure. A terrible thing. Bad for America and our allies around the world. Seems Un-American. Buddying up with an anti-democratic strongman against the free world. But as Kurt Vonnegut liked to write: So it Goes...

A Scenario...

We have entered the 2-headed Mad King phase of our Democracy. So weird. Our Democracy isn't supposed to have Kings. One head is Ketamine-Tech-Bro-Billionaire-Unleashed, the Other is Orange-Tan-Loud-Fat-Head-Undone. They are both running amok in their own ways. The country is in thrall, some folks cheering on the destruction of America, some folks living & dying, eyes filled with horror, at every little act of the destruction. Good Lord. It's a bad scene.

Over here in our hidey-hole we are firmly against it. We are hunkering down, hoping it will run thru it's ugly course, and then some kind of rebuild, reboot will be in the cards. Paraphrasing Dylan, we are "praying the pieces won't fall on us." Sure, we are calling our Reps, writing emails, ready & willing to protest at a drop of the hat, but really, we are just little drops in the ocean. Right now that ocean is a roiling mass of hurly-burly.

Who is in charge? Are there any sensible, responsible people left? Is all the power pointed to destruction? Can anyone stop the madness? Those kinds of questions hang in the air.  Pretty sure there is no saviour waiting in the wings. It's just us. The job of righting the wrongs is left up to us, the little, common folks. You know the people who get pushed around? We do a lot of running to & fro, hoping the sky doesn't fall on us.

We didn't elect Kings. This shouldn't be happening. But of course, weird, unexpected things happen all the time. Welcome to the World. How bad will it get? That is a running game in our heads. Maybe it has to get so bad everyone feels it? Then, maybe enough of the little, common ones wake up, band together, and throw off the tyranny of the 2 Mad Kings? 

We've seen that kind of thing happen in History. It's a familiar theme, the rich & powerful ones get so rich and powerful, they get cocky, too full of themselves, so convinced that they have conquered gravity, common sense & truth. And then the reckoning comes. As Jimmy Cliff sang: "The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall, one and all..." 

The organized protest* starts in the homes, the streets, the town squares, and boils & bubbles across the land.

That's a nice scenario right there...

*Note: Organized Protests: Peaceful, non-violent. We have many tools available: Voting for those who stand up for the Democracy, the Rule of Law & the Constitution, raising our voices, gathering in crowds, holding rallies, peaceful protests, boycotts, general strikes, encouraging students and labor organizations to join in the cause of protecting our rights in our Democracy, hounding our Represenatives to stand up against the 2 Headed-Mad Kings. What if the common ones could join together as one voice? We could change the world.

A Simple Formula for Better Living...

"Do the right thing." Yikes. It seems to be out of fashion. It is a bit disorienting when the whole culture seems to be pointed in a completely contrary direction.

Clarity. Silence. Discipline. Out of date phenomena. 

This morning, I feel out of sync & out of tune with my fellow Humans, & especially with the latest events rolling out from our Facsist Terror Dome Regime in D.C. 

I know there are others like me out here, but I am not seeking shelter in the herd. I don't care about safety in numbers. Maybe I should be worried about standing out in a field all by myself, but I am not worried. At the moment this is still America, land of the free, home of the brave, at least in my fertile imagination. I mean, damn the torpedoes.

I cling to some basics: truth, facts, scientific method, honesty, love, creativity, music, poetry, literature, improvisation, clear-mindedness. Oh yeah, and a sense of humor. Life is too short to succumb to the hate, and to be consumed with the haters. 

You know fuck them. Cursing by the way is good. All those nasty swear words. Useful. Do the right thing. Yep. It is a simple formula for better living.

American Nightmare Now...

Still reeling from the "blow-up" in that Oval Office meeting on Friday. There was one brave, courageous, very admirable leader in that room, and he was not an American. That one lone leader was surrounded, & out-numbered by a depraved mob of creepy, greedy, disgusting thugs. Oh, yeah, those were the Americans.

A pivot point. My conclusion? USA is fucked royally. 

We are firmly in the grip of the worst people imaginable. They seem to be intent on destroying America from the inside out, and the outside in. It is destruction across the board, and still, not yet two months in. It seems that the large, loud, fat man with the orange tan, and his gang of spineless toadies, is doing Vladimir Putin's bidding. They are aligning America with Putin's Russia. Turning their backs on our European allies. Holy shite. There are many plausible reasons for why he, and they, would do that, but let's just cut to the chase, this administration is clearly not doing anything to the benefit of America, the American people, or America's allies.

The post World War II alliance of Democracies around the world is being smashed & trashed.

The "toxic one's" display of anger at the mention of his big daddy Putin, was sickening. He started shouting about "World War III." Fuck. The President of the United States unhinged. He totally lost his shit. The mask fell to reveal the dark heart of sick-corruption, a black-hole of deep, unvarnished, nihilism. It was bad, super-bad. Dare I say that man is very, very unwell? He gets off on his own bile, anger & hatred. Scary as shit.

At that moment, my thought? America is finished. I think so. At least my previous conception of what Amercia has meant to me as a country, and an ideal. So weird, and sad, that we actually did this to ourselves. 

I suppose coming to that realization was a relief. No going back. Something new will have to emerge out of the wreckage. Time for new ideas. New movements. New organizations. New Dreams. In the meantime, lots of chaos and destruction seems to be in the cards. Pretty sure all of us will suffer the consequences. Of course, the wealthy ones will be somewhat insulated, but if, and when, maybe sooner than we think, the financial system cracks and craters, well, even  the wealthy folks amongst us will be slimed. It's an all American Nighmare now. Yikes.

Appalled, Horrified, Ashamed...

Chris Hayes: Trump ‘irreparably destroyed’ world order with Zelenskyy blowup

We watched the Zelensky & Trump meeting in the Oval Office yesterday. Let me offer three words: appalled, horrified, ashamed.

I highly recommend you watch the video from Chris Hayes in full. Everyone should watch it. My great friend from Poland sent me the link with a simple question: "What do you think?"

My heartfelt response...

"Thanks for sending me this video my friend. Yes. I agree with every word. We watched the meeting yesterday afternoon, and were totally horrified and appalled. All of our thoughts and sympathies are with Zelensky, Ukraine & Europe. Trump & Vance were totally despicable. Bootlickers to Putin. Astonishing. Sad. We feel total shame. Yikes. We are having difficulty getting our heads around this, the world is being totally upended. Not good. We are at a loss of what to do. We feel betrayed too. Love..."

The Action of No-Action. Zen. Brilliant & Elegant.

 This is on today. We are doing it. Or in this case, not doing it. The action of no action. Kind of Zen. The moment I read about it, I thought it was a brilliant & elegant idea. Perfect for America. We are such world-class consumers. Let's be a bit disciplined, and show the world our power by not shopping. Soft power, yes. but, who knows, if enough people participate, maybe the world will notice? That is how movements start? Right?

Why are we doing this? The madness emanating out of the New Fascist Terror Dome Regime and their attack on Americans; the bullshit, and toxic lies, the cruel crusade against DEI and good government. They are trying to hollow out our government and empower the new asshole brigade. And some of our most successful corporations seem to be cheering them on. WE ARE AGAINST IT!

Some folks have belittled this boycott as "performative,"  I find that hilarious. Is it just for show? Sure. But think about it. Every act of opposition, every protest, every boycott, hell, every vote or speech is performative. 

Is it useless? Pointless? Who knows? It will feel good for the folks who do it. It is actually doing something in the face of the new fascism. How many will join? Will anyone notice? Good questions. I guess we will find out. 

Still, every protest started small. Every boycott. To cite some famous examples. One person sat at a drugstore counter and refused to leave. One person refused to sit in the back of the bus. One person posted #BlackLIvesMatter, and a world-wide movement happened. One person suggested boycotting the South African Apartheid Goverment, and over time, the boycott brought the government down.

Isn't that the glory of Democracy?  People Power in action. People standing up, or sitting down, having their voices heard, and astonishingly, somehow, someway, they change the world. A change of consciousness can happen in a flash of insight. Damn the torpedoes.

"Maybe something amazing will happen?"

America. Turns out there are many beautiful, intelligent, empathetic, creative, hopeful, funny, enterprising, diverse, multi-cultural Human Beings all across the land. Unfortunately, they are the "outs" at the moment, swamped and drowned out by the thunder, hate, noise & idiocy of New Fascist Terror Dome Regime in Washington, D.C.

So weird. The best of us are sort of flailing. The worst of us are lording over everyone. We are grappling with this new reality every day, doing our best to keep our heads. We know we are on the right track, but the direction of the Nation seems to be pointed to a  very different direction; over a steep, dangerous, cliff, portending an atrociously-bad & ugly fall.

Yikes. Our latest thought, which we floated yesterday afternoon: "Maybe something amazing will happen?" You know, unintended consequences? Could things get so bad, so dicey, so clearly wrong-headed & catastrophic that when the crash comes, a new way and a new day will be born from the rubble? Ha. Sure.  Why not? That's one of those tricks of the mind that come in handy; hoping against hope. Yes I do think this scenario is quite likely. Human Beings, we are resilient, tricky, always looking for an escape hatch. Maybe a new dawn is just around the bend?

Leashed Together...

 

When I first laid eyes on this image the laughter came like a flash of joyful lightening. My first thought, which I spoke out-loud to no-one in an empty kitchen: "Wow. Time Magazine has really stepped up their game." 

Funny. My 2nd thought, which floated silently in my head: "Oh. Of course, it's FAKE. But... it's perfect."

Almost poetry. Two billionaires leashed together. They seem to be attached to each other in a weird duality, bent on hollowing out & destroying the USA here and abroad.

And of course, they are on a mission to cut essential services to "regular" Americans, and to give tax cuts to billionaires. Talk about a terrible plague of an idea & ideaology. They both seem to be a bit "over their skis." You wonder, when will the "silent majority" decide to stand up for themselves? 

The "Have an Asshole Plutocrat Illegally Break the Government Agenda..."

 

 

Ha. Seems the "natives are getting restless." Even in those safe Red State Districts, folks who voted for the New Fascist Terror Dome Regime, are having second thoughts, & are none too happy about cuts to government programs, and proposed cuts to their benefit programs like Medicare & Social Security. All to try to justify tax cuts for billionaires. 

It does seem like a tough sell. But of course, we are being "ruled" by corrupt, greedy, idiots, and "the people" have been sleeping.

I think the new  (see three posts back),  version of this totally mega-rad-cool graphic is more on the nose. 

As Paul Campos so exquisitely sums is up: "It’s probably not a good sign for your “have an asshole plutocrat illegally break the government” agenda when you need a SWAT team to face your constituents..."

BTW - The silly question I floated to my partner in the kitchen yesterday: "Did they outlaw fun yet?!" Tongue in cheek, don't you know? 

All of this bad shite rolling across the land fuels a gnarly, sharply-pointed attitude. It is an attitude familiar to me. Probably a survival mechanism, and a good strategy for better living. Fuck these rich, wanna be Fascist, Emperors, and Kings, trying to con us. That ain't America, buddy. Those oligarchs are vastly outnumbered by the people. What if the people finally wake up? Hmmm. Could get interesting. 

Damn the torpedoes. We are, and can do, so much better...

Disease & Debauchery...

"I prefer to be ignorant of your disease of invention and your debauchery of confused ideas." - Paul Valery

Yes. Great line from a long-gone French poet, essayist, and philosopher. Still, I find it so of the moment.

What do I have to add? 

I hate, with a passion and fire of a million suns, the lies, the obvious, the ridiculous, the damaging, the mind-bending, the audacious, the vicious, the weaponized, the MAGA-out-landish, the damned, and damning lies that are emanating from the New Fascist Terror Dome Regime.

The constant lying is a plague on the mind and soul. Bad shite, indeed. 

Power in the Pocket Book...

You know, there is all this Fascist Terror Dome action rolling out in Washington D.C. It is very concerning. What are the people to do? Here is a simple and easy thing for Americans to do. We are citizens & consumers. We are probably the greatest shoppers ever to grace the planet. We love to buy shit. We pride ourselves on being smart shoppers. We love to sacrifice our $ for things.


How about showing our power by not shopping for a 24 hour period? Show the powers that be that there is a sleeping giant: the American Consumer, and we are not happy with this turn to authoritarian, white-nationlist fascism. Yes.

Burn Your Tesla!

There seems to be some confusion lately. A refresher: The Nazis & Hitler? They were the bad guys. Do something good. Burn your Tesla.

Soul-Searching with a Purpose...

Fuck it. 

Yes. It is true, I find cursing like a drunken sailor quite satisfying. I do recommend it. So, yes, again, fuck it. Despite all the bad news, all the madness, bad blood, corruption & idiocy, with the fascist assholes running amok, hollowing out our government and unleashing fresh misery on the people, you know, welcome to Dystopia 2025, I am still betting on reality & gravity, winning the day.

I can't help it. If I dig down deep enough into my own soul, soul-searching with a purpose, I come to the conclusion that this bad faith madness can't last. The stupid evil ones are just too stupid & evil for this to work. This new phase of fresh fuckery is built upon such obvious lies & such evil intent, it just can't hold.

Do I have any evidence to support my gut intuition? Not really. There is a bit of a push-back coming from the usual suspects, but the fascist assholes control all the levers of power. And lots of folks are staring in shocked silence. Not a good dynamic at the moment.

Still, I dream of a better day. It's the only way I can get up every morning. I do think we are heading toward some wild, unforseen Black Swan event, and then well, who knows?! Hold tight. Damn the torpedoes...

How Destructive will the Destruction Be?

Yesterday afternoon we hung out with our tribe: creative, intelligent, engaged, musically-inclined, accomplished, life-long, Americans, who have survived and thrived thru many eras in our American experiment. We all love this country, although, we are deeply aware of it's flaws & shortcomings too. It's a healthy & complicated relationship. We are committed, and fully-invested American Citizens.

We chatted about everything under the sun, sipping coffee and hot chocolates at our favorite local coffeehouse. If only those walls could talk; open mics, poetry readings, art shows, elaborate r&r extravaganzas. So many good times, the gathering place for folks from around the neighborhood. This is a meeting place, a cultural crossroads: artists, writers, poets, singers, musicians, political activists, dog-walkers, dramatists, comedians, celebrities, maintenance men, shop-keepers, clerks,  old-timers, young whipper-snappers. All races, creeds & colors. A perfect little example of the American thing in action.

The conversation was fun, heartfelt, rambling, filled with laughter, a bit of sadness, and good stories. We saved the state of the nation for last. It was a subject we all sort of hesitated to delve into, but of course, it was hanging over us like blooming clouds of doom.

The word that bubbled up: Dystopia: "A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ (dus) 'bad' and τόπος (tópos) 'place'), also called a cacotopia[2] or anti-utopia, is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening."

Yes. No doubt. We are there. Surprisingly. Tragically. 

It was a hard ending, to an amazing afternoon. Hard, but essential. It is so important to see, and to face up to, the reality of our New Fascist Terror Dome Regime in Washington D.C. What was the verdict within our tribe? Things are bad, very, very bad, indeed. How bad? No one knows for sure. Seems the question is how destructive will the destruction be? We know folks who already are living in fear for their well-being, and those they love, worried about being disappeared in the night. How many folks will see pain and misery, and terror? Pretty sure that answer is quite clear: All of Us.

Let's Change the Channel Folks...

Yes. Well... hell... we control the vertical & the horizontal. We can change the channel. You know, we must.

The Power of that Sinking Feeling...

Ha... 

Wrestling with how to deal with the new reality. It's an on-going conversation in our household. Things are moving fast, things we thought we knew, and believed in, seem to be crumbling around us. Truth has turned out to be fungible, the rule of law fragile, the constitution a raggedy old piece of paper. The liars, con-men, creeps, the filthy-rich tech bros, the newly-minted American oligarchs, white supremacists, yes, the new American fascists, are out front and center, goose-stepping around, and lording it over everyone else here and around the globe.

I am the type that is always looking for a silver lining in any dark cloud. If everyone is leaning to the dark side, I look to the light, oh yeah, and sometimes, of course it's vice versa. You know maybe I'm just a recalcitrant, subversive mother? I was something of a left-wing radical in my teen years, that same righteous feeling is zipping thru me these days too. Anyway, the "power of positive thinking," is not exactly working for me. I can see the downside of our present circumstances in vivid technicolor. The upside is barely even a wispy little cloud. 

Still, I do my best to try to conjure up some hope and positivity. Seems it's just in my nature.

Maybe these evil-doers, these over-the-top liars, these chaos agents, are so public, so bold, so arrogant, so blundering, and so obviously wrong they will burn out sooner than later? Maybe folks, the teeming millions will wake up to their malevolent idiocy?  And they will rise up and throw off the bonds of evil? Yikes. That is a slender reed to cling to. History tells us that the lies can live and rule in any era. 

Human Beings are expert at lying to themselves and are happy to live with the lie until their last breath. Remember those folks dying of Covid, refusing to believe that they had Covid? Yeah, that was a thing.  It's hard to watch our fellow humans swallow and cling to, the lies, that's for sure. And it could sink us all. I will be over here leaning to the light, but, you know, the boat has hit the ice-berg, we are taking on water, and there aren't many life-boats to go around.  Sounds like a movie...

American Dream > American Fascist Nightmare...

I can confirm that Heather Richardson is right on the money with this morning's post: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-16-2025

Yesterday, I had my own long rambling, heart-rending, conversation with my best friend, who lives in Poland, and who is tuned into the latest fuckery from the new American administration. 

The question on both of our minds was mainly how could America abandon the "post-war (World War II) dream?" How is it that America now aligns itself with Fascist Authoritarians and against the grand Democratic experiment, here and across the globe? What happened to the great American dream & example?

Good question. Easy answer. The Trump/Musk New Fascist Terror Dome Regime is out to upend decades of Ameican good will and intention. It is heartbreaking. Disgusting. Totally destabilizing. And gob-smackingly stupid and counter-productive. Chaos unleashed. 

Back to Heather here: 

"At the conference on Friday, February 14, Vice President J.D. Vance launched what The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour called “a brutal ideological assault” against Europe, attacking the values the United States used to share with Europe but which Vance and the other members of the Trump administration are now working to destroy.

Vance and MAGA Christian nationalists reject the principles of secular democracy and instead align with leaders like Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. They claim that the equal rights central to democracy undermine nations by treating women and racial, religious, and gender minorities as equal to white Christian men. They want to see an end to the immigration that they believe weakens a nation's people, and for government to reinforce traditional religious and patriarchal values.

Vance attacked current European values and warned that the crisis for the region was not external actors like Russia or China, but rather “the threat from within.” He accused Europe of censoring free speech, but it was clear—especially coming from the representative of a regime that has erased great swaths of public knowledge because it objects to words like “gender”—that what he really objected to was restrictions on the speech of far-right ideologues."

WTF?! Sure over here in the states we are crushed by the hollowing out of the USA government. But this European catastrophe unleashed in Munich is just as, if not maybe even more, disturbing. As a born & bred American Human Being, I am appalled and ashamed that my country is aligned with the worst, retrograde Fascist, racist forces around the world. Not my American Dream by a long-shot. WTF?! I mean, this is a total betrayal of the American Dream. We have totally fucked up by electing a moral cretin, convicted felon, and lying con-man. No doubt.

Billionaire Knucklehead's Purging...

Reading Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter every morning is now essential. You get a cogent history lesson, and a grand over-view of the lay of the land here in America, or, you know, it's not the same old America anymore, as the billionaires amongst us try to hollow out our government, it is now our newly made Fascist Terror-Dome Regime.

This kind of sums up the latest purge from our billionaire knuckleheads... 

On Reddit, federal employees shared their experience. One wrote: “The thing that I can’t get over is that the actual richest man in the world directed my f*cking firing. I make $50K a year and work to keep drinking water safe. The richest man in the world decided that was an expense too great for the American taxpayer.”

Right.  WTF!? The New Fascist Terror-Dome Regime: corrupt as fuck morons, con-men, bozos, wanna-be-kings, emotionally-stilted, severely-twisted psyches. They think they are incredible, world-conquering geniuses, instead, their billions cover-up the reality, they are dumber than a box of rocks. They have no clue what they are doing...

The Poison & the Antidotes...

The answer to yesterday's question (see previous post).  The antidotes to the new fascist poison emanating out of D.C. = Poetry, Music, Spirits, Love...

We packed up our instruments, motored over a few miles to a small wine shop, and played our songs in a fabulous back-room. There was a small, wonderful, loving crowd. Three of us up front. Two guitars & drums/percussion. Two voices. Big chandelier dangling over us, an impressive fireplace raging behind us. It was cold and snowy outside, warm & cozy inside. A poet started the night with gorgeous lines of poetry. Then we did our thing. A small, but super-essential thing to do. We billed it as a night of Poetry, Spirits, Music & Love. It was all of that and more. I even took the mic and floated a few choice words against our new fascist terror dome. We are against it. Whole-heartedly. Anyway, a good way to celebrate an alternative vision; manifesting a better day, a better way. And, yes, for sure, damn the torpedoes...  

How Best to Live, Now?

Feeling like there is a broken record spinning inside my head. Running thru the same grooves over & over. Yesterday we engaged in a long, disheartening, nerve-wracking dialogue; twisty, disturbing, convoluted, meandering, confounding, about "the state of the state," or, you know, grappling with the new very gnarly & obvious proposition: "How best to live in our new fascist/authoritarian/run-amok-oligrachy?" Yikes.

Reality has us in it's hairy grip: we are helpless beings, silly-putty in the face of the horror. This is going to be an on-going, most-likely-ever-deepening, law-breaking, norm-bending, truth-defying, democracy-destroying, constitutionally-challenging, heart-rending, soul-crushing, nation-wide crisis. The horror-show is scheduled to unfold hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly; coming to a town near you. Even the folks who voted for this shit-show are going to feel the pain & humiliation.

Pretty sure every one of us in this once fairly glorious nation will be in peril. The government is in the hands of the worst people imaginable. Hiring criteria for this mob? No morals, no shame, no intelligence, just vengeful stupidity, over-amped greed, finely-honed-corruption, easily-tongue-tripping lies, casual cruelty. Clearly, these people don't give a fuck about anything except power. The law, the truth, the constitution? They aren't interested in such quaint, old-world ideas.

Did we come up with a satisfying answer? "How best to live, now?" Not really. We are stuck with grappling with this shite. Aware, alive, awake is a double-edged sword. We saw it coming, we couldn't stop it. Shite. Yikes. Fuck those evil-doers. Damn the torpedoes.

The Lay of the Land...

I try to get it down to one sentence. The lay of the land today in America.

America's Oligarchs run amok; the unimaginably wealthy, and unashamedly corrupt fucks, are feeding at the public trough, and at the same time, looting dollars from the poor, the needy, and all the other common ones.

Yep. And everyone just watches the show. Yikes.

A Surreal, Creepy, Lynchian Film?

 

Sorry. I hestitated to post this photo. It is quite scary. It is not photoshopped. It isn't a still from a never completed David Lynch  (god bless his soul) movie. Sure, I mean, it looks so Lynchian; surreal, bizzare, confounding, creepy. WTF?! This actually happened yesterday in the Oval Office. These two emotionally-crippled, psychologically-damaged, malevolent adults currently on a mission to destroy the U.S. Govenment, systematically shutting down perfectly-fine departments (that's illegal!), & agencies fully-funded by Congress. They are lying to us, saying it's about "fraud & waste," but really they are just describing their own lives. What about the child? What can one say? Poor kid. Sure he is being brought up in unimaginable wealth, but... well... yikes...

"Ladies & Gentlemen, the new scary comedy duo terrorizing the nation, Fraud & Waste!" BTW - Which is which?  Not sure, thinking both are both with an assist from the Unfortunate Child.

So, anyway, they are doing their thing. It seems like total madness. They are crushing the rule of law, the constitutional order, common sense & decency. And lying the whole time as they do their dirty deeds. It is quite astonishing. There is a push-back happening. Primarily in the courts. The switchboards are jammed with calls from concerned citizens, the Democrats are starting to rally in opposition, but the Republicans in the House & Senate are either cheering these two on, or hiding like the true cowards they have been throughout this whole ugly political era.  What's a humble Pilgrim to do? Hang on, hang in. I think all of this activity is so corrupt & bad-intentioned, so unhinged from reality, that it can't last or succeed. At least that is my hope. How long can this go on? I don't know. It's gonna be a wild, scary ride for awhile.  In the meantime, a lot of bad shite is being unleashed on us all. I'm no longer a betting man, but I am betting on gravity, sanity, and reality making a comeback. You know, slow, halting and sure, but a comeback for Democracy & USA. I mean, really, I'm not ready to give in, or to give up on the American dream for the ill-intentioned American nightmare. Fuck that.

"My Kids are Scared..."

"My kids are scared." 

That was my friend & neighbor, a wonderful human being & a hard-working American & a devoted father of four teenage kids, husband to a beautiful, hard-working wife. The living embodiment of good, hard working Americans, Mexican/Americans living here with full documentation. These are the kind of folks who truly make America great. All this talk of deportation, all this racist shite floating in the air, has real-world consequences. 

The kids don't know what's happening. They feel like they are being targeted near & far. Terrible.

My partner and I shared all the info we could gather about ICE and our friend's rights as individuals under the law. What to do if ICE comes knocking at their door? The fear of course is that people will just get swept up and disappeared into the night because they look and speak a bit differently. It is the heavy hand of authoritarian bullshit disrupting people's lives. Scary shite, indeed.

We reflected on when we were kids. We were worried about fitting in, being different, it comes with the teenage years. Add to that the President of the country railing against your national roots, your heritage, pointing out your people as a threat. Yikes. So disgusting. So sad. So un-American.

I told my friend & neighbor we were there for them if they needed anything. He is exploring options just in case. Could he uproot his family and go to live with relatives in Mexico? He seemed so crushed when he floated that idea. I was crushed too. 

We have become America the Great Terror Dome under our lawless Felon/President. This is not our American Dream. WTF?

Warrior Spirit...

I think it was Nick Cave (the Bad Seeds one), who said something about Hope being a "warrior spirit." It resonates with me. Hoping against Hope. Sometimes I find myself hanging onto Hope as a life-raft. Even I am surprised how I can conjure up a lightening-flash of Hope in the lowest & darkest of times. Maybe it's just an impulse, finding Hope for no good reason? Lately Hope comes with a little smile of incomprehension. It is sort of a bold "fuck you" to the tenor of the times. The idea of giving up Hope is just Hopeless, distasteful, anti-Life. Hope is just a tiny glimmer of an intention; a speck of light, a strange, little, zingy feeling shooting through my veins. Can't explain it. I think it's just embedded in me, it's there with me, I suspect it will be with me as long as I can draw a breath, blink an eye. So yeah, the shit is coming down hard, things look quite dark & bleak. The evil-doers and assholes are ascendent, but I just can't stop that funny little warrior spirit bubbling up, animating my being. You know it's a gnarly, nasty, recalcitrant, rebellious, fuck-you, Bartelby the Scrivener: "I would prefer not to," thing. Maybe it's tough-minded, hard-wired discipline? An always rooting for the Underdog position. Losing is part of it. The losses come fast, hard and relentlessly, like a ravenous shark. Disagreeing with my fellow Humans? That's cool. Being out-numbered, pushed around by the bully? Made to eat dirt?  Oh, well. The not giving in, the resistance to that shite, makes one stronger. "Fuck, everything didn't go my way." Ha. That's life, buddy. That's when you turn to the rebels like Joe Strummer, "The Future is Unwritten." That's when Hope really comes into play. Hope; spiky, gnarly, weezing, cursing, crusty, beat-up, you know, I think it's true, Hope dies last, the dark is always contending with the light, it's a battle moment to moment. Damn the torpedoes.

Where We are At...

Where we are at... 

The Billionaires (the Oligarch Class), have gone rogue, they are rough-housing our government. To what end? Tax cuts for Billionaires is on the agenda for sure. Some of their destruction just seems like mindless cruelty. Cutting Cancer research? Destroying NOAA? Dismantling the Department of Education?  Squashing USAID? A power grab to look powerful. If you know Psycholgy at all, you know the psyche of the mean, creepy bully comes from a deep-seated weakness, an over-blown ego, a psychic house of cards; lonely, unhappy, unloved, quivering little shits, folks who want to rule the world, and strike out at anyone smarter, happier, more empathetic, compassionate, truthful than them. You know, most of the rest of us. They are miserable human beings who want to spread the misery. That's where their essential evilness emanantes from, a kind of epic weakness and cruelty. They are ultimately pathetic creatures. All their money, power and cruelty does them no good. Their hollow nihilsm eats them up from the inside out. You do not want to be, or to envy them. You just don't. Their ultimate punishment? They have to be them. Yikes. Life is too short, too interesting & too beautiful to spend one's time in such a soulless, heartless, fruitless way. You and I, we can do so much better. No doubt.

No Lines Now...

Yeah... well... the over-load, or maybe the over-lord...

I am in that "Everything I know is wrong" phase of our new era. The glass isn't half full or half empty, it is shattered into a million tiny pieces, and scattered on the pavement. The pieces sparkle like little stars in another galaxy far away.

I am now questioning everything. Back to total gob-smacking incomprehension. I have no fucking clue what's going on. Sure. Let's think worst-case scenario. I mean, I am not gonna conjure it up here, but whatever you or I am thinking, it's probably inadequate, fuck, just push it to the max-worst-case scenario you can possibly scare yourself with. I think we are there.

Alarmist? Am I alarmed? My being is vibrating madly, I am ringing off the hook, like a bell on a fat cow doing the Watusi.   Shite. There is a downside to being fully aware, alive, awake, having a vivid imagination, armed with empathy, compassion, good sense, and good reading comprehension. Anyone who knows a bit of history, should rightly be scared shitless. History illustrates in vivid technicolor that things can quickly unravel & devolve into a primitive, brutal state of affairs. If you can't imagine USA heading that way, well, I can't help you buddy. I mean, try extricating your head out of your ass.

No shit, Sherlock. So yeah, I often fall back on Tom Petty's great line: "Damn the Torpedoes," but you know, it's only a line, and it seems clear, there are no lines now...

Simple Theme...

So much news stuffed into a day. Crazy. I don't think Human Beings are built to process so much information so quickly. Lately, most of the news is bad. Forces of destruction have descended upon the centers of power in the USA. The theme: Criming & Lying. 

That's a simple handle to try to process and understand it all. It's frustrating, and annoying, to say the least. Many of us could see the Catastrophe coming from a mile away. Electing a Felon, a Sexual Predator, someone who is constitutionally lawless and careless, should never have been elevated to one of the most important and powerful jobs on the planet. 

We are now swimming in corruption and idiocy. Sure. A catastrophe. We saw it coming. Amazingly, some folks cheered it on, and are happy today. Stunning. Criming & Lying. What a terrible waste of a good country.

Can we recover? Hopefully. Maybe after a period of wallowing in the shite, folks will stand up and choose a better path? How long will this all play out? Who knows? We truly are the tricky monkeys. We are basically nature's fuck-ups.

We Know the Better America...

We walked around town yesterday. Super-cold here. It's a Blue Bubble Town in a Blue State. The streets alive with a vibrant rainbow of humanity. It's a town with a large, presitigious University, there are students from all over the world who go to school here. It a totally diverse, impressively intelligent & a very educated community, with all levels of income, all races, creeds & colors. Equity, Diversity & Inclusion are not only fine with us here, those values are essential to our community, fostered & celebrated. It's an open-hearted, open-armed, very friendly town. A great place to live. It's the America I know and love intimately. The hate, madness and idiocy emanating out of Washington D.C. can't erase any of that; our world, our reality, our life here is so much better than that cruel, stupid, nihilistic vision snaking thru the corridors of Federal power. We know what we love, we value the beautiful, vivid, lively, "melting pot" version of America. We aren't going anywhere. We can't be erased. We will stand our ground. All the lies and bullshit, bad blood, idiocy, revenge and madness doesn't really impress us. What a fool's errand. We know we have the better vision based upon reality and clear-seeing. The assholes are trying to foist a false reality upon us all, filled with lies and idiocies. It is quite ugly over there,  all that huffing & puffing, sound & fury. But it truly is a tale told by an idiot. Their vision is flawed, soulless, ridiculous, harsh and stupid. A false America, a badly-concieved version that will not fly. Damn the torpedoes...

Tiny Acts of Activism...

The latest news about that Nazi-saluting, wildly-rogue, totally-Unelected, South African-born,  Apartheid-country bred, white-supremacist, fat-cat, billionaire whispering in the ear of our newly-elected, seriously-corrupt, sexual-predator, certified-felon, stone-cold racist, fat-cat, billionaire President; you know, an anti-democratic, ketamine-infused Worm-Tongue, acting like the real big monkey man, comes from Wired Magazine: A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System.

Some of us refer to this as the Soft-Coup. Unelected, lawless software techs mucking about with the holy grail, crown jewels computer systems at the U.S. Treasury. Sounds a bit like a William Gibson cyber-punk novel. Suddenly folks who have no accountability to Americans have their hands on the mechanism that controls all the money in the U.S. Government. Yikes.

What are we, my partner and I, doing about it? You know, besides totally freaking out? Well, I guess, mainly just freaking out, but also...

Tiny actions: calling our representatives in the Senate & House. Writing emails and letters too. Calling our local bank to ask what they are doing to protect our data, and to alert the banking community that the U.S. payment system is now under attack and at risk. We also ready to march and protest. 

We also just subscribed to Wired Magazine, I mean, it is definitely a time to support good reporters and reporting. We also follow along with daily reports from Heather Cox Richardson, Paul Krugman and Timothy Snyder. Staying informed & engaged. We think it's our duty as citizens.

It is time for "the people" to stand up for Democracy. This latest threat cuts across our political divide. Those dollars belong to all of us, the people. What is happening is lawless. Mind-bending too. WTF...

Romantics in My Head...

Ah well the news is all bad. I turn to my clued-in writers of politics and culture, and they all paint a dire picture. The folks of intelligence, grace, knowledge, understanding and empathy are troubled by current events. One concludes: they are not wrong.

Still, the coffee is good, the sleep was restful, and the sun is rising in the East. It is cold and a monochromatic scene of dark trees, black rocks, a spare field of dark grass. Life is on the wane.  But a bold orange light breaks across the sky. A winter's day in February.

I have been reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein; Or the Modern Prometheus" (1818).  Everyone knows the story, but it is the language of Mary Shelley that really transports the reader. It is a "Romantic" novel, as in a prime example of the Romanticism or Romantic Movement ascendent in literature and culture in the 1800's.

What really comes forward in all the descriptive language is the love, and the transcendent beauty of Nature. It is almost a religious experience, just being alive in the Natural world. So vivid; the mountains, the forests, the rivers, the oceans, the sun, the moon, the stars. A novel bounded by the bounty and beauty Nature. 

That understanding and experience is something that seems lost today. So much of our lives are cut off from the beauty around us. Then there is "the Monster," an ill-made being, created by a man of science, a being immediately rejected & exiled from community, ugly, scary and unwanted. The Monster, articulate and intelligent, only wants to be loved, to be embraced, to be comforted, but is met with horror and violence at every turn. The Monster does monstrous things by accident, and out of lonliness & misunderstanding.

I suppose it's also a novel that shows the calamities of trying to cheat death. What Monsters do we become when we are out of tune with Nature? It is extraordinary novel. First conjured up by a young woman on a weekend of ghost stories told by Byron, Percy Shelley and John Polidori (The Vampyre).  

It is a transporting experience. Haunting. Otherwordly. A beautiful example of the Human Imagination unleashed. There is the vivid sense that Humans who feel madly, deeply, purely, see more of Life & know more too. A picture of another time and place. So very, very Human. Alive now too.

A Very Different America...

 "Something's happening here, what it is, ain't exactly clear..." - Buffalo Springfield

What is that weird feeling I am feeling? You know, like the Earth is shifting under my feet? Or the floor just opened up to reveal the flames of Hell? Or the sun, moon & stars are falling from the skies?

I think I can put my finger on it, it's a paradigm shift: "representing the notion of a major change in a certain thought pattern—a radical change in personal beliefs, complex systems or organizations, replacing the former way of thinking or organizing with a radically different way of thinking or organizing."

What has changed for me? From Timothy Snyder, The Logic of Destruction:  "The people who now dominate the executive branch of the government deny all of this, and are acting, quite deliberately, to destroy the nation. For them, only a few people, the very wealthy with a certain worldview, have rights, and the first among these is to dominate.

For them, there is no such thing as an America, or Americans, or democracy, or citizens, and they act accordingly. Now that the oligarchs and their clients are inside the federal government, they are moving, illegally and unconstitutionally, to take over its institutions."

That is a new way of thinking for me.  We are in the midst of a hostile takeover of our government. It's a strange feeling. A crazy story. A new paradigm. On the one hand, my life is pretty much the same, same air, same ground, same day to day tasks, but on the other hand, all my thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams about my birth-country, and our democratic experiment are up for grabs. Yikes.

There's also this from Paul Krugman:  "When democracies die, big business and wealthy individuals often play a crucial role in their demise. They provide a would-be strongman with financial support; their control of or influence over news media ensures that he receives favorable coverage, while his opponents are trashed. They do this because they expect to be rewarded with policies that favor their interests and imagine that they will in effect be shareholders in the new autocracy.

What comes next is familiar to anyone who studies history (which the oligarchs don’t.) Eventually it becomes clear that they don’t own the dictator they’ve helped install; he owns them. Maybe they’ll like some of his policies, maybe they won’t, but in any case they’re not in control — and they soon learn that criticizing the big man isn’t just fruitless, it’s dangerous.

In the past this script has typically taken a few years to play out, but this is the internet age, so right now in America the process seems to be taking only a few weeks."

Mind-blowing shite. We are not in Kansas anymore. Whatever we are lurching towards, it is something very different than the America we have grown up in, and have taken for granted...

Misery Index Turned Up High...

Funny. A trade war initiated by our Imbecile in Chief. For no good reason. It is impossible for a low on the totem pole, fairly hard-working, very Humble Pilgrim to side with the Imbecile. So, I suppose that means I will be rooting for the rational, logical, reasonable, and intelligent folks like Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum. Seems like the Misery Index will be turned on high here in the States. We have elected the means of our own destruction. What a strange way to end the American Experiment. Why is the Imbecile intent on punishing Americans and our close Allies? A bit of Mystery there but I suppose it's a combination of Corruption, Incompetance, Idiocy, Revenge, and Bad Intention. Sure I still have Hope, Hope dies last, don't you know, but not sure where that Hope is coming from. Maybe there is potential in the unintended consequences, the variability of calamity, a hard re-boot in the midst of the chaos? Still looking for the Champions of Democracy. There has to be an Opposition, a Pushback. Folks like Tank Girl (see previous post). Sure, I know she's just an imaginary comic book character, but I guess, let's start there. I am flailing around at the moment. How bad will things get? Who knows?! The Future is Unwritten, but right now it's all about the over-amped sound and fury, a tale told by the Corrupt Imbecile. We are all under his very stupid-making thumb. Not good.

"Surly Noncooperation and Insubordination..."

I turn to Tank Girl...

Well, if I were an alarmist I might say, "We are well and truly fucked." Latest news flowing from D.C. is all bad, mega-stupid, quite confounding & concerning. The Tech-Bro Barbarians are at the gates, no, in fact, they are locked in offices, accessing the holy grail of our Treasury Department computers. "Soft Coup?" What does a Humble Pilgrim think of it all? "Not good." And of course the Absolute Imbecile in Chief is continuing his campaign of misery and idiocy. As one of my friends remarked to me yesterday afternoon: "It's going to be a long 4 years." Yes. It seems like a lifetime has flashed past our eyes already. We have unleashed the forces of "fucked-up-ness," in our little land. It is a stress-test for our Democracy, our Sanity, and our Good Cheer.

I must credit the Tank Girl reference to Rebecca Solnit. Check out her useful and somewhat encouraging thread on Blue Sky here: "But I like the surly noncooperation and insubordination I'm seeing. Let's feed and water it and remember that resistance takes many forms. Some quiet and subtle. Some civil disobedience, some lawsuits, some campaigns, strikes. Maybe some new forms yet to emerge." - Rebecca Solnit

Stupid, Nasty, Brutish...

Heather Cox Richardson goes into the gory details here. What to add? Simple: Stupidity in Action. Stupid is as stupid does. We are all now stuck having to listen to Mr. Absolute Imbecility (see previous post), who occupies the "highest office in the land." Does anyone else see the irony of an epically unqualified human being railing against DEI programs? This President asks us all to lower our IQs to his nasty, brutish level. Sorry, not possible!  ‪Oliver Willis‬ ‪@owillis.bsky.social‬ - "When you pass over a qualified black/asian woman for a job and instead give it to an incompetent and racist white guy, this is what happens."  Amen, brother...

Imbecility & Excellence...

This post from Brain Pickings has it all: "Darwin - How to Evolve Your Imagination." Deep wisdom from one of the greatest scientists, thinkers, humans that ever walked the planet.

How did Darwin get so smart?!

He observed and studied Nature. He used Nature as the great teacher. His brilliant insight: All Life on the Planet Evolves, all Life on the Planet is connected & related.  We live in an interconnected web of life. The Diversity of Life is magnificent and essential. Anyway, in the post Darwin expounds on Imagination & Empathy. How to expand your mind? Imagine other worlds, other beings, put yourself in "someone else's shoes." Read poetry, listen to music. Immerse yourself in the imaginative, creative Arts. Empathy is a super-power which enhances Life.

Darwin also reminds us that Humans are no "greater," or "higher" on the ladder of Life than other Life-Forms, no, Humans are just a bit more complicated. Yes. Indeed. We are the Complicated, Tricky Monkeys.

I laughed out loud when I came across Darwin's description of the variability of the Human Herd: “from absolute imbecility to high excellence...” Sure, in my book Darwin would be in the high excellence side of the equation.

I wonder if you can guess who comes to mind in the absoltue imbecility side of the equation? A little hint: a super-toxic individual dominating the news lately, and, you know, dominating in not a good way... funny, but true, how did we all fall under the spell of such an Absolute Imbecile?

This is a Test...

You know, around here, we are all beginning to wonder: "How many days until he crashes everything?" Thinking of our newly-empowered, bumbling, blabbering, blubbering, wanna-be strong-man. He is a special, low-intelligence type wielding undue influence across the land. There is an inverse relationship going on: how little one man knows vs. how much intentional & unintentional damage he can do. The ignorance is turned up to turbo. Maybe our made in America strongman is defective?  Every time he types into his smart-phone, or words dribble from his lips it's complete, gob-smacking, uber-goofy,  totally mystifying, nonsense. The misery-index is sky-rocketing on all fronts. This is a test, folks.

The Vibe = Deeply-Dark...

Reading the vibe of the room. The vibe of the room is deeply-dark. You know, bleak, disturbing, confounding, confusing, maddening.  We are constitutionally pitted against the vibe. Every fiber of our beings is in opposition. The vibe of the room says "Surrender Dorothy." Resigned. Philosophical. Biding our time. A healthy, calculated retreat. There is an onslaught of bad news, bad acts, bad faith, just plain badness writ large. So we are hunkering down. Fortifying ourselves with nourishing food for body, head, spirit. Marshalling our forces of resistence. Still, this is a time of letting go, watching the river flow, and trying to take care. Hanging in. Paying attention. Aware, alive, awake. Honing a healthy detachment from the chaos all around. In it, but not of it. Thinking that if we are disciplined, strong-willed, we can manage, keep our heads in the game without getting swamped. Trusting in gravity, common sense, a fiery sense of humor. So, yes, surrendering to the vibe, examining it, observing and testing it. Surrendering in an actively positive way. There is a flame, a guiding light, that can't be touched, alive, deep in our beings. Damn the torpedoes.

Bold, Decisive & Dumb...

I think we are entering an era of "unintended consequences." There is the heavy hand of hubris, arrogance & ignorance, armed with a clumsy axe, wielded in the public square; bold, decisive, and quite stupid actions, and then, there are the inevitable counter-actions, and re-actions, some anticipated, and some not. I think we are soon to be engulfed in the coming "some not," phase of things; making things, breaking things, unleashing forces beyond anyone's control. Humans, not as smart as they think they are. There are lessons about this subject to be found throughout history. You wonder, does anyone read or pay attention to history any more? Bold, decisive & dumb.

It's Uncanny...

Yes. When times get tough around here we turn to art; music, literature, film. It is a gateway to enrichment, and to feeding our hearts and souls. Yesterday, we treated ourselves to an early afternoon movie at the big movie palace in our neighborhood, Robert Eggers' "Nosferatu."  (2024).  It is a fantastic, fully-realized film. A work of art. Eggers has emerged as one of our favorite filmmakers. He has a painter's eye, and brings a rigorous, meticulous attention to every last detail. Reminds me of the great Stanley Kubrick, every frame of Eggers' film is suffused with grace & intelligence. It was filmed the old-fashioned way, using 35mm film stock  It stands out as an example of real film, not CGI hocus-pocus & digital fakery. I recoil from that CGI super-clear-sheen-hyper-reality. You know it's now the fashion: video-game-like movie extravaganzas. Give me that old grainy film stock feel. All of Eggers films are worth seeing, every one of them is mysterious, beautiful, haunting. What is it about Nosferatu? It's uncanny. A very familiar narrative, a tale told many times, suddenly, made new. Good folks in a land far away,  alive in the remote past, contending with ungodly forces. Why does all of this resonate so deeply? There is a plague, a pestilence, and a dark, malevolent spirit looming over the land. An evil force permeates everything and everyone. This evil is embodied in one very toxic, ugly, decrepit being. Hmmm, I wonder... why does that all ring a bell, and resonate so profoundly in our present circumstances? Funny that...

Name Your Poison...

Wow. A flurry of activity, and the message is clear. The new guy (actually the toxic, fat, old, brain-wormed, guy-reconstituted) is a threat to the health of USA. He is going out of his way to harm our country. What a strange development. Electing a destroyer. Sure it's easier to break things than to make things. Might make one feel all-powerful to tear shit down. But to what end? From my little corner it looks like a total debacle, a clusterfuck, a blow to our country, and to the health of our little democratic experiment. Stupidity, incompetence, bad blood, revenge, greed, corruption, evil-intent, name your poison. It is a bitter fucking pill to swallow. We have been lucky. Not a perfect Union, always a work in progress, but we have been a remarkably resilient & thriving country. Most of us are damn lucky to live here. All of that is now out the window & under assault. All signs point to a major-fail. Yikes.

The Truth = A Lasting Stain & Black Mark...

 

The Truth hurts. Some folks (MAGA & the GOP), want to "memory hole" this truth, but we should never, ever forget. We should not turn our eyes away.  Who were those January 6th rioters (Heather Cox Richardson), who "Cretin in Chief" just pardoned? The Cretin and his apologists own this atrocity. It is a lasting stain and black mark on our country.

Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News explained that rioters wounded more than 140 officers with “firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive ‘Trump’ billboard, ‘Trump’ flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device.”

Three federal judges have weighed in on the pardons after Trump’s appointees in the Department of Justice ordered them to dismiss pending cases against current January 6 defendants, an order that, as David Kurtz of Talking Points Memo noted, “flies in the face of decades of DOJ independence.”

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly summed up the judges’ outrage when she wrote: “Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021. What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens. Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”

Top Ten Bad & Stupid Ideas...

Ok. As a public service, I have decided to go back to basics. I think some of my fellow citizens are overwhelmed and confused. So let's just write down some simple (but not simple-minded) thoughts. This is sort like a quick user-guide. I mean, come on people, we need a bit more "smarts" on display across the land.

1. Fascism in America = Bad & Stupid Idea!

2. Nazi Salutes = Bad & Stupid idea!

3. White Supremacy = Bad & Stupid idea!

4. Reviving the Confederacy = Bad & Stupid Idea!

5. Releasing Imprisoned  Jan. 6th Violent Criminals back into the Population - Bad & Stupid Idea!

6. Electing a Lawless, Moral Cretin as President - Bad & Stupid Idea!

7. Fanning the flames of Hatred & Racism in America = Bad & Stupid Idea!

8. Tax Cuts for Billionaires = Bad & Stupid Idea!

9. Trickle Down Economics = Bad & Stupid Idea!

10. Blindly Following an Obvious Grifter & Liar = Bad & Stupid Idea!

Of course, this is just the Top Ten off the top of my head. Lots of more bad & stupid ideas are floating around out there. The new Terror Dome America seems to be quickly going to seed. Yikes!

Deep Political Nihilism - Welcome to the Terror Dome...

Under no circumstances do I think pardoning the violent criminals who beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and who attacked the U.S. Capitol to try to stop a "peaceful transfer of power," is acceptable. It is vile, corrupt, despicable. A total gut-punch to anyone who respects the Rule of Law & Justice in America. It is a black mark, a stain, on my beloved Country. This is not a Democrat vs Republican thing. We have now reached a level of deep political nihilism I just didn't think was possible. WTF. I am usually quite the optimistic & hopeful sort, but this is just a terrible, unconscionable action by a clearly corrupt & morally bankrupt man. Dark days are here.

More here from Heather Cox Richardson:  "Trump’s blanket pardons signal to his MAGA base that the judicial system that tried to hold him—and them—accountable is corrupt and that he will protect those who fight for him in the streets. But those pardons do not appear to have popular support.

At the same time, Trump is demonstrating that he intends to create a country dominated by the right-wing, white men who supported him. It is not clear that that intent is any more popular than his pardons for the January 6 rioters."

A Mockery of the Things We Hold Dear...

Can you think of a more hollow, ridiculous, absurd, disheartening, ritual than having a well-known, totally shameless & prodigious Liar swear an oath? On a Bible?  Swearing loyalty to a concept, a set of ideas? Accepting the responsibility to honor and defend?

So, so silly. What a joke, what a mockery & an abomination.

It is oh so clear that never does the Truth swim around in that man's gelatinous, lizard-brain. Words of Truth never dribble out of his mouth. Ideas like Honor, Honesty, Integrity, Responsiblity, Respect? You gotta be kidding. Have you ever listened to this man? 

"These truths we hold dear?" Right. Give me a fricking break...

A Protest of Silence...

Silence today. Silent Protest. I am not aligned with what's going down in D. C. later today. A dark turn. A big mistake. A step into madness. Quoting Groucho Marx: "I'm against it!" That's it. I have had my say. Now a day of contemplation & silence.

But before I go, let me turn the floor over to Paul Krugman. He says everything I am thinking, only he says it so much better. "The Lies of the Powerful are Still Lies:"

"Today is a terrible day, and I won’t inflict a long post on readers. Let me instead make just one point, then get out of your inbox.

The point is this: Trump ran a campaign based entirely on lies, and his victory doesn’t make those lies true. No, the price of bacon didn’t quadruple or quintuple. No, America isn’t experiencing a vast wave of crime driven by immigrants.

Many people and institutions should and I hope will engage in soul-searching over why those lies succeeded — Democratic strategists, of course, but also news organizations and for that matter anyone trying to inform the public, myself included.

But you should resist the temptation to engage in truthwashing, a close cousin to the sanewashing that may not have been decisive but certainly helped Trump win.

I see that temptation all around — commentators who want to seem relevant starting to say “Well, maybe Trump has a point about migrant crime/seizing Greenland/annexing Canada/whatever.” Before going there, look at yourself in the mirror.

Also, it won’t get you anywhere. Trump and MAGA in general aren’t going to cut you any slack for showing weakness and compromising your principles. They only want demonstrably horrible people. To be part of the inner circle you must have engaged in behavior that led to accusations of being a substance abuser, a sexual abuser or verifiably corrupt — preferably all three. I wish that were hyperbole, but anyone following, say, the Hegseth nomination knows that it isn’t.

So keep calling out lies, even if — especially if — they’re coming from people in power. I’d like to promise that the truth will win in the end, but I can’t. All I can promise is that those who continue to tell the truth as they see it will find it easier to live with themselves than those who don’t." - Paul Krugman

The Scam is his Way of Life...

Over the years Paul Krugman has proven to be one of those learned men, a Nobel Prize Economist, who is always worth reading, especially about Economics, but also Politics too. He was one of the first, and few, to point out, early on, the lies, folly and tragedy, of the Iraq Debacle unleashed by G.W. Bush. I find Krugman an invaluable resource and voice. 

Here is a good overview of the coming fuckery of the new adminstrations approach to the Economy...

"A lot of people are going to get brutally scammed," Krugman said. Trump isn't just misleading people by saying they'll be better off once he's in office, he also doesn't appear to know how he'll deliver on his promises, Krugman continued. "So the scam is there is no plan."

It Will Be Bad, How Bad Can it Get?

Slouching Towards the Badlands...

It is/was a choice. Now the question: How Bad will it get? Who knows?! Maybe we think of this as a test? A detour on our little Journey of Life? An episode of deep fucked-up-ness, a self-imposed clusterfuck that we all have to endure because some of our fellow citizens just didn't know better, or just didn't give a fuck, or are happy to ride head-on into the Land of Bad?

You know, this is where the narrative takes a decidedly dark & deeply wrong turn, the worst of the worst will soon (Monday), take the the wheel, and the rest of us, the teeming millions, will be in the back seat hanging on for dear life.  Will it be the corruption? The greed? The cruelty? The stone-cold stupidity? The impossibility of acknowledging any and every semblence of truth? Which force and trend will be super-predominant? Or will it be a grand combo shit-sandwich of all of those deplorable tendencies & inclinations?

What will be going thru our heads? Thoughts of resistance. Being obstacles to the new vibe. Revolution in the Head. Imagining who will emerge as Champions for Democracy, Good Goverment, Good Cheer, the Brotherhood & Sisterhood of Humanity. 

I, for one, will be looking out the back window of that careening vehicle of audacity & corruption, and dreaming of a Better Day & a Better Way. And then, finally, when that toxic clown car comes to a crashing halt, stumbling out onto the pavement, rolling up my sleeves and getting back to the reality of hard work, common sense, gravity and decency.

Getting thru the Bad, riding out the Worst of the Worst, leaning to the light, keeping my head clear & yes, of course, Damn the Torpedoes... 

The River of Lies...

I suppose it is the "detachment from reality," the constant, incessent, unrelentling, compulsive lying from the folks on the other side of the political divide, that really grinds against me. They want to win the argument, any argument with a blizzard of untruths. Not a better idea, instead an overwhelming firehose of bullshit. There are no "artful" lies on the other side, instead, ridiculous, blatant, obvious, persistent, corrosive, shameless, weaponized lies. We have been flooded with disinformation and lies. And the liars amongst us are being rewarded. They should be shunned, humiiated, hounded from society, but instead they are being embraced and elevated. It is a disgusting spectacle. It takes time to wade thru the lies and marshall your facts to dispute the looming mountain of falsehoods. It can be daunting, overwhelming, & a bit exhausting to take on all that bullshit, and you realize that many folks just can't be bothered. The lies just hang over us, get passed around, & they become embedded in the everday-ness of experience. And you can see that it is destroying us. Our demcracy, our common-sense, and common-bonds, are totally under siege. We are all now living with & swimming in a river of lies. You think to yourself, "There must be the day of reckoning, the moment when the scales fall from our eyes, the moment when the truth comes blazing thru, and all fall down in humilty and service to the hard realities of what really is," but Human Beings are a complicated, tricky species, armed with prodigious powers of self-delusion, self-righteousness, & self-sabotage. The greediness,  the laziness, the will-full stupidity, & arrogance of the humans seems to have no limits or bounds. It is hard to acknowledge that we are going out of our way to fuck & out-fox ourselves, but of course, the evidence is all around us. No lie.

A Note...

A brief note about Politics in America in the year 2025...

"Nothing makes sense now."

Nope. It's Now All Bad Behavior...

Reading, or re-reading, Grendel, (see a couple posts previous), led me to delve into Seamus Heaney's "new verse translation" of Beowulf (1999). The Olde English text dates from 700–1000 AD. It is not a difficult read. Heaney's translation flows and connects. A tale of warriors and monsters, swords, getting plastered on mead, singing the old warrior songs about heroes battling and defeating demons. 

It's a Pagan world with some Christian ideas (possibly belatedly), stuck in there. Why is it an important text? It survived. Was it initially & primarily an oral text, passed on over the years, lips to ears, or was it a written text that was passed on hand to hand? No one knows for sure. One copy survived. It's a glimpse into a long ago Pagan world.

I am enjoying it immensely. Funny, that. I think there was a time this text would have left me cold. 

Still, I came across a line last night that just totally cracked me up.  "Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere." My immediate reaction: "Not today!" 

I mean, maybe in the past it was good behaviour was the behaviour that was admired, but not today. The Olde code: Slay the dragon, defeat the forces of Evil, live with honor & integrity bask in the admiration of your people. The New Code: Steal, cheat, lie & attack Paper-tigers, and unreal Straw-men, bully and beat up the poor, the weak, the defenseless, and bask in the glowing admiration of your fevered, deluded, proudly-deplorable mob. 

Ha. Today it is all bad behaviour on full display. That's what gets everyone's attention and admiration. We have become the society, the culture, the people, that rewards Bad Behaviour. It's all grotesque spectacle.

You know, the money, the bling, the bragging, the flaunting of laws, norms, and decency; that is the way of the Rich & Powerful now. And the really stupid, no-nothing people those Dunning-Kruger folks who think they are fucking geniuses, with no integrity, conscience, or shame, and can never admit they are ever wrong, well, those folks put their arrogance & stupidity front and center for all us to wonder at & admire. Folks whisper to themselves, "If only I too could be that shamelessly, unknowingly fat, clueless, stupid and rich."

And it seems most of the common ones only really envy and admire the rich greedy fucks now. "If only it were me with all those riches and no cares."  Fabulously rich, and don't give a fiddler's fuck for anyone else; isn't that the Libertarian, Tech-Bro utopia?  That's the way to do it now.

Honor, Dignity, Integrity, Heroism, Bravery, Good Action, Honest Words and Honest Deeds? Ha! That is so Olde World. Beowulf, sure, he was a cool & awe-inspiring Pagan dude who had his shit totally together, but he'd be so out of fashion today. You know, too brave, too good, too noble, too honest & true, too self-less, too happily Pagan.

"The Offense Most Flagrant, the Public Harm the Greatest, And the Proof the Most Certain..." - Special Prosecutor Jack Smith...

Well... he is not going to be tried. At least not in the foreseeable future. He doesn't have to face the music. He skates. Of course, he should be held to account. That is the way that Justice and the  Law is supposed to work in America, folks must answer for their illegal, ill-intentioned crimes.  No one is above the law. At least that was what we were all told.

"Do the crime, face the time." 

Except, of course, the very partisan and deeply corrupt Supreme Court has given this particular law-breaker a get out of jail free card. WTF. I mean at a minimum this law-breaker, this shameless insurrectionist, should have been disqualified from running for any, and every, freaking office in the land. You would not hire this toxic clown to cut your lawn.

It is a major tragedy for our country. You wonder will America ever recover? The jury is out, not even convened. Fuck.

As Special Prosecutor Jack Smith wrote (full report here):

"As set forth in my Report, after conducting thorough investigations, I found that, with respect to both Mr. Trump’s unprecedented efforts to unlawfully retain power after losing the 2020 election and his unlawful retention of classified documents after leaving office, the Principles [of Federal Prosecution] compelled prosecution. Indeed, Mr. Trump’s cases represented ones “in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain.” [Robert H.] Jackson, “The Federal Prosecutor.” […]"

"CONCLUSION […] [pdf145/147 p.137] The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not tum on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind. Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."

Read it and weep my friends...

We Find Purpose and Value In Our Lives...

Yes. Reading. I recommend it. It is very cold here in the Heartland. Darkness predominates. Brief sunlight hours framed by deep, long hours of pure, black, darkness. There's a darkness on the edge of town. Lots of time to read. I recently grabbed an old book (I read it a long time ago, a different me, a different time, I decided to re-read it, and, well, it's like I am reading it for the first time all over again, as they say you can't enter the same river twice. You are different, the river too),  off the shelf and totally fell into another world. A slim, old, sort of browning, paperback. A book published in 1971. "Grendel" by John Gardner.

Gardner reimagines the Beowolf epic poem as a narrative told from the monster's perspective. Ha. While reading the book I did a little research, and turns out that Gardner's Grendel is based on the philosopher, and famous writer, playwright, Existentialist Jean Paul Sartre. I had no idea. Much of Grendel's internal monologue actually uses many of Sartre's own words and ideas.

That just tickles my fancy.  

Yes. It is great little book. Funny, engaging. Maybe I am misreading it, and that's okay. All of my sympathies are with Grendel, the blood-thirsty monster who terrorizes the Humans.  The monster on the edge of town. The Humans seem so silly, with their games of violence, their visions of god, their heroism, and goofy tales of derring-do. If Gardner wrote the book to refute, or toy with, and ultimately kill-off Sartre, well, he does, but for me, there is sympathy for the devils: Grendel & Sartre are the flawed anti-heroes of this saga that speak direclty to me and my very human condition.

So yeah, I suppose I am totally in-line with Sartre, and I see a lot of myself in the gnarly, unruly, murderous Grendel too. I mean, not so much the murderous part, or the eating of humans part, I am a  vegetarian don't you know, but, a monster with a dark sense of humor, always on the margins, doesn't fit in anywhere, a born outsider, left on his own, always observing, and trying to make sense and meaning out of Life, and the things in the world.? Yeah. That totally rings a bell. Grendel is alone. A stranger in a strange land. Often bored. Looking for drama, for meaning, for purpose. Seems so familiar. Grendel is questioning everything. I can certainly relate. 

Supposedly, "Gardner, a strong believer in traditional values and the importance of community, found Sartre's emphasis on individual freedom and the inherent meaninglessness of existence to be deeply unsettling and ultimately destructive."

Ah, but, for me, Grendel is the most compelling figure in the book, and the one I can most easily identify with, even if he is a monster who likes to terrorize, to taunt, to haunt, & to eat Humans.  His doubts, uncertainties, and frailties are mine too. And of course, Sartre's Existentialism totally resonates with me:  "Existentialism, while recognizing the absence of pre-ordained meaning, actively encourages individuals to find purpose and value in their own lives. It's a philosophy of action and engagement, not passive acceptance of meaninglessness."

Exactly. Anyway. A fabulous novel of ideas, and of action too. A slim volume that asks all the big questions, but does it with humor, grace, heart, vivid, beautiful, poetic, language and imagination. Makes the dark hours fly by, and seems totally important too...

"The wall will fall to the wind as the windy hill will fall, and all things taught in former times: nothing made remains nor man remembers. And these towns shall be called the shining towns." - John Gardner