As the Putinists continue wrecking all U.S. institutions and turning the world (including longtime allies) against us, it's important to recall how much goodwill Trump and his ilk must eliminate, before that promise to Moscow can be fulfilled. Of course all empires are disliked, but elsewhere I describe how George Marshall, FDR, Truman, Ike etc. set things up so that humanity would have its best 80 years, ever. Better than all of prior human history combined. Resulting in the *least hated* empire. That is... until now.
Want evidence for that assertion? Amid our self-reproach, Let's remember times when America did take brave steps toward light. There are others, on this planet, who remember, as well. And you need the gift that I am about to give you.
This song by Michel Sardou is called "Les Ricains" which means, more or less, "The Yankees." Here are the lyrics, to read along.
If the Ricans weren't there
Si les Ricains n'étaient pas là
You would all be in Germania
Vous seriez tous en Germanie
To speak of I don't know what
A parler de je ne sais quoi
To greet I do not know who
A saluer je ne sais qui
Of course years have passed
Bien sûr les années ont passé
The rifles changed hands
Les fusils ont changé de mains
Is this a reason to forget
Est-ce une raison pour oublier
That one day we needed it?
Qu'un jour on en a eu besoin?
A guy from Georgia
Un gars venu de Georgie
Who cared a lot about you
Qui se foutait pas mal de toi
Came to die in Normandy
Est v'nu mourir en Normandie
One morning when you weren't there
Un matin où tu n'y étais pas
Of course years have passed
Bien sûr les années ont passé
We became friends
On est devenus des copains
To the friendly of the shot
A l'amicale du fusillé
They say they fell for nothing
On dit qu'ils sont tombés pour rien
If the Ricans weren't there
Si les Ricains n'étaient pas là
You would all be in Germania
Vous seriez tous en Germanie
To speak of I don't know what
A parler de je ne sais quoi
To greet I do not know who
A saluer je ne sais qui
Got you a little misty-eyed?
Even better is this version... a huge crowd of French people cheering and singing along. Capable of gratitude. They know that this American Pax, for all of its faults, prevented vastly worse. That things could have been a hell, a curse. That every other era of dismal human history was worse.
And if we do not blow it now, we have a chance to be recalled by our heirs - organic and cyber - the true humans - as the very best that cavemen could be. Crude, bestial primitives who tried nonetheless to lift our gaze and those around us. To something better.
Listen and read along. We need this now. Right now!
Try. I dare you not to tear up, in gratitude for this gratitude.
== But we have a tough job keeping that promise ==
Alas, the Kremlin boyz and confederates and murder sheiks have the upper hand for now and they and stick together.
Latest example: Trump has issued special exemptions letting Putin sell oil, evading world sanctions for his murderously criminal invasion of Ukraine. Fox News is a 5th column of the relabeled KGB's propaganda Comintern that has used blackmail to take over the entire Republican Party.
Amid the hooplah over the Strait of Hormuz -- ("YOU block it? No, *I* get to block it!") -- Trump has all along made offers to the Iranian Republican Guard and Religious Police etc. to make deals with him, in exchange for them kissing his ring.
It's already happened! In Venezuela, Argentina, El Salvador etc. - and possibly soon in Cuba (DT shouts "They're next!") - the aim is never, ever to establish democracy or to liberate citizens from their oppressors.
The pattern is perfectly that of mafiosi and that of an ex casino mogul. Taking over another gang's territory by decapitating it's top capo, then getting allegiance (and resulting vigorish) from the sub-capos of the gang that's left in place.
This is now so blatant that no other theory is remotely tenable. LOOK at this image of Maduro's VP Rodriguez, all spiffed and glammed-up and grin-hugging Trump's consigliere, eager to serve... and to send Trump personally a shipment of gold! And nothing for the Venezuelan people.
Oh, and Miami crime families will slip in atop the Castro power structure in Cuba.
This is a Mafia gang and the capo di tutti capi is named Vlad.
His other goal? Riling up enough enemies (who had been quiescent since Obama killed Osama) to deliver us into another 9/11, that he imagines might save him, this fall. Which explains why he fired over half of our counter-terrorism experts. Now why would anyone do that?
Put it all together folks.
== The real purpose of the coming Reichstag Fire / 911 strike ==
It won't work, for that reason. Because we all can see it.
Only there is an added, underlying danger that I see discussed nowhere.
Go back to 1933. The purpose of the Reichstag Fire was to excuse the Nazi arrest of dozens of opposition parliament members. And thus, the parliament could never hold a quorum vote for new elections or a new Chancellor.
The lesson?
YOU U.S. SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES: START UPPING YOUR SECURITY RIGHT NOW.
The Roberts Court has already said Trump could off you, as an 'official act,' to prevent impeachment/conviction. So talk it over. Upgrade practices. Have contingency plans. Grow eyes in the back of your heads. Do it now.
The rest of you?
When the calamity strikes, get out there and chant "Reichstag Fire!"
And one more word to show our intent:
"Appomattox!"
== Finally, my qualifications as a history expert! ==
Well, AI has some legit uses. One fan/reader searched the paleontology databases and found this historical record, a bit fuzzy, from the Paleolithic. It shows my legit ancestral claims are valid!
99 comments:
https://www.threads.com/@wsj/post/DXWmxmuFF0J
Florida’s migration patterns are changing. Residents in their prime working years are heading to other states, while fewer people are arriving.
Republicans salivating over red state gains in the 2030 census might have another think coming.
Anyone that moves to the lower Mississippi Valley or Florida is betting their life on continued function of their air conditioning. I have several acquaintances that are making that move and I tell them to buy the most expensive power backup that they can afford. And then I explain wet bulb temperatures to them, if they will listen.
I'm actually concerned about my mother, who lives in Phoenix and has seen 3 digit temperatures in the winter. Thanks to climate change, that area of the Southwest is becoming unlivable without a/c; just ask anyone who lives on the streets. Water is an issue too, but the suburbs keep growing and no one seems to know or care where the water will come from.
"no one seems to know or care where the water will come from."
And that's before the data centers slurp it all up.
Re- Data Centers
I don't understand the model that actually makes money for these
At the moment they are offerring their "output" - like "Claude" free
The idea appears to be that people will PAY for them - and I can see people being willing to pay something - but only a few dollars
If Data Centers are using the amount of power (and water) that people are talking about then the "Cost" would be of the same order as our current power bills
I don't see people paying that much
"I'm forever blowing bubbles..."
The only model that makes any sense to me is to whoever provides the energy to run the things.
ie the on-site gas generators that get built first, and then get put on the assets ledger as a thing that can still be/should be used when the actual centre doesn't get built (see this one, for example)
In short, it's another predatory delay tactic. A desperate one, but then, they're all desperate.
Abandonment of an area starts when insurance become impossible to obtain. At that point, property become unsaleable and worthless. The smart money has departed long before this state of affairs comes to pass.
Enter low lying Florida...
Data Centres are like the Tower of Babel. A lot of arrogance and hubris, but not much learning or understanding. Tremendous effort and energy going into an unproven and even unconsidered goal at best. Planetary-scale flim-flammery at worst.
In Australia, at least, there are moves afoot to require that new data centres must source their power from renewable energy sources. You can call out the amount of guano spattering my foresight goggles if you like, but I think that would result in a dramatic reduction in planning applications.
In Australia, at least, there are moves afoot to require that new data centres must source their power from renewable energy sources. You can call out the amount of guano spattering my foresight goggles if you like, but I think that would result in a dramatic reduction in planning applications.
Why would that even change the economics of building a data center. The DC was going to have to buy power anyway. Any new power these days would be solar anyway, especially in Australia, given what's going on with plummeting cost of solar, value of land in the Australian desert, and likely trajectory in gas prices.
This just links the two explicitly.
Enter low lying Florida
They could probably save it if they looked at the Netherlands and started with construction of massive dykes now. But they probably won't, which brings us to an interesting question: Does a state swallowed by the sea still get it's two senators and it's congressional seat?
https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/save-act-fails-millions-of-voters-retain-right-to-vote-for-now/
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) applauds the U.S. Senate’s rejection of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a sweeping anti-voter legislation pushed by the Trump administration that would have erected significant barriers to ballot access for millions of eligible Americans.
“We are glad the SAVE Act died in the Senate. We are grateful to every senator who stood firm against it. To every American who called, wrote and organized to make their voice heard, thank you – your voice matters,” said Laura Williamson, senior policy advisor, SPLC. “While we know opponents of a multiracial, inclusive democracy will continue to push the SAVE Act and other attempts to block the right to vote, we know the American people reject these efforts and have the power to stop them.”
...
America isn't quite irredeemable.
Ok, I'm seeing that the SAVE Act didn't get voted down. Thune just refused to bring it to the floor. So it may not be dead yet, but it's in a coma for now.
watch the joy burst forth around the globe... and across all Americans of goodwill and sapience.
That mostly depends on how horrible the next years become, and whether things becomes so unexcusable that even the staunchest Atlanticans turn away.
Besides, if my nightmares become true, it will be too late, and we are either gone or too busy to celebrate.
Plus, I have seen nothing that won't mean that smarter, more competent fascists gain power in 2030 or 2032.
Oh, and the Appomatox thing makes me pause, too. If the same casualty numbers would be applied to the current population of the US, we would be at something between six and ten million people dead.
Thought I assume you meant something else, I am not sure that this is a thing anyone should look forward too.
They could probably save [South Florida] if they looked at the Netherlands and started with construction of massive dykes now
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/26/miami-is-ground-zero-for-climate-risk-people-move-there-build-there-anyway.html
"Miami’s average elevation is six feet — the same amount of sea-level rise expected in Southeast Florida by the end of the century. The ocean has already risen by about six inches since 2000.
The city is simultaneously sinking. It sits on porous limestone rock, which some engineers have likened to Swiss cheese; in other words, water can easily seep from underground."
You can't just build a dyke if the water is coming up from underground.
"The city is simultaneously sinking. It sits on porous limestone rock, which some engineers have likened to Swiss cheese; in other words, water can easily seep from underground."
Maybe Mar-a-Lago will sink out of site. Maybe while DJT is in residence, along with a group of fawning sycophants. I imagine a scene not unlike the climax of The Ten Commandments, with Von Schitzenpantz as Dathon. "Those who won't live by the law...shall DIE by it!"
The free approach is for people who are helping them refine and bug test. Anyone who wants to use them in a more serious way pays. They are already heading that way.
I don't have a link to a specific story yet, but Stephanie Miller's radio show keeps mentioning that the MAGA-sphere is seriously speculating that the Butler PA attack was staged. They're not only coming to conclusions that I already thought back then, but going further than I did.
I just said his ear had never been shot and that he was sprayed with someone else's blood. I never actually thought the attack was staged, but that is looking more and more plausible now.
A problem with that is that the shooter had apparent motives for his action. It appears to have been a desire for fame. It looks like he fooled himself about his chances of not getting killed in the process. And it looked like Trump was a target of opportunity, that he would have targeted Biden in the same circumstances. There is no evidence of anyone influencing the shooter.
Re Trump’s ear, watch the video. At the sound of a gunshot he turns the ear away from cameras and SLAPS it hard..
I want the cop who shot the shooter questioned, hard. And yes, I would not bet any $ on his life.
Lloyd F. that rooftop would have been manned by secret service if not either incompetent or suborned
Der Oger it certainly doesn’t sound like you are rooting for us. Trump’s strong approval is down to 25% and even mild approval is about 1/3. In a parliamentary system he’d be gone by now. And yes, the 25th Amendment and impeachment are so difficult that Trump’s ill health is likely to save us long before.
Again, we are in this fix because the USA was history’s 1st continental democracy requiring up to 6 weeks for representative to reach the capital. It had to be done by the calendar and we are learning a flaw in that design. As the parliamentary system showed its flaws in 1933.
As for “Appomattox” it serves a mighty purpose. I see wide-eyed sudden realization in MAGA faces when that word is spoken because it
1. …makes them suddenly realize “Oh yeah, I am the Confederate, here…
2. …It shows absolute determination by blue America to carry this out. If they negotiate, as the confeds refused to do with Lincoln, then much may be negotiated. But if they insist on their treachery, we will solve it, whatever it takes/
Appomatox is where Lee surrendered, after trying to make a stand, and realising that it was over.
One of my sustaining fantasies has been the hungry water hazard at the thirteenth, but a sink hole at the right time and place would do.
I previously mentioned how routine giving, gifting & charity becomes expectation, an entitlement to the recipient & an obligation to the giver.
And, now, with all his talk of 'goodwill' & 'gratitude', our fine host practically asserts that the gift recipient also incurs a debt of goodwill (and/or gratitude) to the giver, aka 'a moral obligation to reciprocate in kind', which is an inherently grotesque contradiction.
The contradiction springs from the terms (1) 'charity'', (2) 'gift' and 'gratis', all of which mean that which is 'free', given without thoughts of obligation, compensation or reciprocity.
The terms 'Gratitude' and 'Goodwill' are therefore revealed as polite euphemisms & pleasant fictions, as we are loathe to admit (even to ourselves) our rather base, non-charitable & non-liberal motives for both giving & taking.
We give 'free stuff' (what most call assistance or welfare) to other humans in order to deprive them of actual freedom, in order to appease, pacify & gaslight them, by fostering their dependency, while we demand their gratitude for that which has been 'freely given', so they cannot imagine life without our generosity, even though we only give them a fraction of what is theirs for taking.
They are without shame, as they are quick to accuse others of being contract breakers, deadbeats & INGRATES for refusing to display 'gratitude' for that which was supposably 'freely given'.
Best
______
As an excuse to "arrest of dozens of opposition parliament members", your warnings about the Reichstag Fire are too little & too late, as both France & Germany are already arresting their respective political opposition (the AfD in Germany & the National Rally in France) as a matter of course, not to mention the US Democrats calling for the arrest & overthrow of everything conservative.
You are such an AH, sir.
Trump is an incredibly incompetent fascist - as in unbelievably bad
If he can reach the power then a moderately competent fascist is a real risk
As well as the steps you recomend is there any way under your constitution to have something like a parliamentarian "Vote of Confidence" - where failing to pass means immediate elections??
Coincidentally, Appomattox is in Virginia, where people have just voted to redistribute the electoral boundaries. If the gop want to play at gerrymanders, they've got it.
@c-plus actually, a lot of proposed data centres are located in Sydney suburbs, and are likely to soak up a substantial amount of available water. As for using solar and batteries... well, you'd think so, except it doesn't seem to have entered Musk's calculations, to take one example.
I'll go with incompetent. The alternative is too complicated. I need evidence of a motive other than fame seeking to find a conspiracy plausible. I'm not ruling it out, but I need more information about the shooter before I can see it as likely.
Duncan,
No. No immediate elections. An arrangement like that would give Congress too much power over the Executive. Our founders/framers already saw the legislative branch as the primary one, but wanted them balanced off against each other.
The fix you propose would take a significant amendment and we'd best not open that door right now.
----
We have had past Presidents who were moderately competent authoritarians. We survived. This doofus is forcing us to recalibrate the balances and the need for that has existed since the end of WWII... at least.
Tony, I was totally aware of the fact.
But question yourself: would you sacrifice that many human lifes in both sides?
Re. Water - requiring data centres to be water-neutral (i.e. recycle water used for cooling, and not just draw it from aquifers/public water systems) makes a lot of sense.
Re. solar/batteries - The location of the data centre, and the location of the power production, if its going to be renewable energy, shouldn't be closely linked (i.e. you want (need really) to put the data centres somewhere near population centres. Having them provide their own renewable energy makes sense. Having them need to provide that energy generation on-site is silly.
And doesn't Musk own a large-ish* solar energy/solar panel/energy storage company. I think they do significant business in Australia.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/30/tesla-megapack-caught-fire-at-victorian-big-battery-site-in-australia.html
*(compared to non-chinese based companies anyway)
"There is no evidence of anyone influencing the shooter."
As Dr Brin points out, I think there's more evidence than you think, even if the shooter was a convenient dupe rather than a co-conspirator.
But even if the shooting wasn't actually staged, the fact that MAGA thinks it was and feels betrayed by that is a step in the right direction.
"And yes, the 25th Amendment and impeachment are so difficult that Trump’s ill health is likely to save us long before."
Neither the 25th nor impeachment were designed with a dictator backed by congress and the courts in mind.
The 25th Amendment was meant for removing a president who is in no condition to perform the job, but is still breathing. The assumption was that the cabinet would see the need to replace him, not that they'd want to keep him in place regardless. There is no way any president's hand-picked cabinet will remove him for political reasons.
Impeachment is meant to remove a president for dangerous overreach of his powers. Again, the designers never envisioned a complacent congress or court. The founders didn't really imagine modern political party loyalty at all. They thought the three branches of government would jealously guard their own powers against each other, not engage in a super-villain team-up.
What we need as a remedy for the current situation is something like recall elections. But the details would be tricky to avoid abuse of the type seen recently in California. I'd suggest that such a process not include electing a replacement--the chain of succession takes care of that--but I'm sure other specifics would need to be carefully worked out.
Alfred Differ said...
"We have had past Presidents who were moderately competent authoritarians. We survived. This doofus is forcing us to recalibrate the balances and the need for that has existed since the end of WWII... at least."
And it goes without saying that this doofus himself is not really the problem. Our government has gone through a three decades process of directed and intentional corruption by the leaders and big money masters of one of our two major political parties, the Republican Party.
A key point in this process was Newt Gingrich enacting his tactic of Republican Representatives and Senators collectively and categorically refusing to work with any of their Democratic peers and to oppose categorically anything Democrats attempted to do.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone mention this point, except me, but that is a refusal to do the business of government. It is a refusal to perform the job they swore they would do. In all of the time since they have held to Gingrich's policy. Since about 1995, right about 30 years now, the Republican Party has refused to do the business of government as laid out by everything from the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to all of the laws, legislation and precedents since. They are all traitors on that count alone.
Another key point was when Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove instituted the Big Lie tactic as the primary tactic for his strategy to attempt to secure uncontested power for the Republican Party. Of course there are many other key points. And there are all the machinations that took power from the other branches of government and gathered them to the executive, which has now reached a point that the current doofus in the Oval Office rules by dictate, the legistlative branch does whatever he tells them and half the judicial branch may as well be his own private law firm on retainer.
The Republican Party and their big money masters damaged our federal institutions so severely over that 30 year period that an ethically despicable grade A moron like Trump could take their voting base away from them and become president. Prior to the Tea Party era someone like Trump becoming president was not possible.
Perhaps in the future this will be viewed as a blessing in disguise. That the RP lost control and a grade A moron came along and took their party away from them. If the RP had not lost control and smart ethically despicable people, for example Mitch McConnell, were still in control we would perhaps be much worse off than we are.
Der Oger it certainly doesn’t sound like you are rooting for us.
That is because I do not give moral support here, but because I analyze the situation.
1) Disapproval of Trump and the GOP seems to help the Dems, but not because they are suddenly more popular, but because the other side is far more ugly.
2) There is a civil war between established, center-right Dems who support Netanjahu (not Israel!) and are quite corporate-friendly and "progressives" (who are rather normal social democrats), most visibly in the New York and Maine races.
If this is not resolved when they regain control of congress or the presidency, change will be bogged down.
3) I expect nothing changes if the pro-corporation faction (GOP and Dems) remains in control. BTW , I haven't seen any comprehensive action plan or strategy besides "GOP Bad. We good. Vote for us."
4) Precendence shows that it will take at least a decade, if not generations, to win a culture (not voters!) back from fascism.
5) That all said: of course, most of us will be relieved if sanity returns to the US. Don't mistake that for being happy or even forgiving you.
That is not how "national responsibility" works, and to be frank, not even Dem leadership calls the current leadership what it is: a fascist regime connected to several genocides.
And we are not at the end of the Trump/Vance presidency.
"established, center-right Dems who support Netanjahu (not Israel!) and are quite corporate-friendly"
It's becoming more clear that the US has joined the Axis of Authoritarians (if not of Evil) with Putin's Russia, North Korea, China, and Netanyahu's Israel. The fact that Hungary recovered itself and joined the Allies is at least a good sign. There can be life after fascism, as you (Der Oger) well know.
Talking about the centre left recapturing the working class, you need a really good salesman to sell a citizen's dividend (aka UBI). The market doesn't guarantee that you will be able to live from earnings. Nor does it guarantee that price will reflect value (it only reflects what people with money are willing to pay - so spreading purchasing power more widely will make the relation between price and value better). The market is a good servant, but a psychopathic master.
"We give 'free stuff' (what most call assistance or welfare) to other humans in order to deprive them of actual freedom..."
My diagnosis: anti-social personality disorder.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Apr22-4.html
Right on cue, noted bigot Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced a show bill called the Measures Against Marxism's Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists Act. Get it? The MAMDANI Act? He's a clever one, that Chip Roy. The bill, which will obviously never become law, would "deport, denaturalize, deny U.S. citizenship, or entry to any alien who is a member of a socialist party, a communist party, the Chinese Communist Party, or Islamic fundamentalist party, or advocates for socialism, communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism."
See? Republicans can have a sense of humor.
And apparently an Objectivist. Which has a large Venn overlap with the previously mentioned set. Or perhaps simply adopting the antisocial personality disorder as a philosophical worldview?
Free as in beer and free as in open are not merely homonyms. I give you a gift. Your moral choices after that reveal something about you, which I am free to respond to as well:
* If you choose to feel obligated to 'pay me back' despite a lack of formal obligation, that is evidence of one sort of moral code.
* If you choose to feel obligated instead to 'pay it forward', that is evidence of another sort.
* If you choose to feel no obligation, that too is evidence -- evidence by absence, which has less information value, but evidence nonetheless.
* If you choose to feel resentful, to offer spite when offered mercy and resentment when offered charity, that too speaks to a moral code.
And everyone else is free to observe your choices and react accordingly.
Or if one prefers an ethics-free game theory analysis, consider the tale of "Generous Tit-for-Tat" and "Pavlov", and how both are superior to strict "Tit-for-Tat". Or perhaps a more appropriate phrase in this case would be "Eye-for-Eye"?
Mangling "Blazing Saddles"...
"You said 'communist party' twice."
"I like communist party."
There can be life after fascism, as you (Der Oger) well know.
Yes, but I remain wary. I would apply time scales of decades and generations, not electoral cycles.
For example, while we fixed many of the issues the Weimar constitution had, the people were more or less the same. Especially police officers and judges.
It took the era of the student revolts & the extraparliamentary opposition, starting in West Berlin with the Shah's visit to steer the culture away from authoritarianism, and even that took twenty or so years.(And only applies to West Germany, but that is a whole other can of worms.)
Trump isn't just "the great seducer who deceived the masses". Many knew exactly what he stood for and were fine with it. He is a cultural consequence that needed four decades to grow.
It won't disappear overnight.
In Hungary 's case, it remains to be seen. Magyar is not in power yet, and he is a conservative, not a progressive.
Side Note: Orbanism did not start with attacks on the EU, LGBTQ+ or migrants, but with the Roma living there for a thousands years as a suppressed minority.
It’s instructive to see how a real civilization handles an outlaw barbarian empire. You have guys with advanced degrees in philosophy, theology, economics, schooling lowlife gangsters on the world stage. Even after much of their leadership was wiped out in an unprovoked attack. Makes you realize how much BS we’ve been fed in the media about Iran, imo. Note that Americans don’t have leaders of this stature among the opposition either – they’re just a slightly different flavor of barbarian.
And I am by no means sure democracy can be defended here, either. The AfD will win two states this year, possibly governing them alone. Merz is currently the most unpopular chancellor ever, while some CDU folks try to weaken civil organizations in the left and pursue policies that exacerbate political frictions.
THIS is a movie I want to see: Coyote vs. Acme. The article: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/04/coyote-vs-acme-is-finally-getting-released-with-a-killer-trailer/
The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-43VeYGiPM&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F
Der Oger you truly have very little idea what you are talking about. But the memes you help to spread... about a chasm divide between wings of the Democratic Party... are both deeply harmful and hugely untrue. Though those spreading it could not possibly be more harmful and counterproductive.
The best art imitates Nature:
https://bsky.app/profile/cristianvlad.bsky.social/post/3m4uhuvpv2c2g
(sorry if I posted this before)
Looking at that bird's motion, I'm relieved the lyrics aren't:
"Coyote, velociraptor's after you..."
While we're on (possibly reposted) memes, this one is golden:
https://bsky.app/profile/cwebbonline.com/post/3mjln35avhk2x
Sec. Navy is ousted effective immediately.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/apr/22/virginia-congressional-map-vote-redistricting-donald-trump-republicans-democrats-us-latest-news-updates
Since this guy was a real, true Trumpist, it is probably safe to say that Trump just ordered the Navy to do something *very* stupid.
His replacement is a Christian Nationalist, btw. Google Hung Cao and his comments while running for office.
The rumours swirling around Mythos' ability to find vulnerabilities in systems sounded sufficiently plausible to take seriously.
.. until they weren't
Well, according to Wikipedia, his naval record is fair enough (although a captain as Sec. Navy, coupled with his less illustrious political career, sounds like he should break into Sir Joseph Porter's song).
'Witchcraft overrunning Monterey', though... they're sea otters out there, lad, not mermaids.
One of the best essayists in America reviews my theology+scifi play THE ESCAPE. Though first he goes through much of the whole western literary canon about Hell & Damnation, from The Inferno to Mormon views, to numerous sci fi attempts.. And did I mention The Mongoose really is one of the best essayists in America... and worth following.
"I found your lovely play fit very nicely into the long arc of literature that runs from Gilgamesh and Odysseus to Niven & Pournelle's Inferno to Janet Morris and her Heroes in Hell series...."
https://jamesmack2.substack.com/p/satan-the-anarchist?r=bojza
Oh.... THE ESCAPE will be performed this August at the World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim California.
Not sure. Also not that concerned. The guy ousted was the one proposing a Trump-class battleship.
The evidence is there. Aipac, Searchlight, the New York and Maine races. Fetterman.
For starters, there is more.
Watched THE ESCAPE, wish I'd been in the original audience to enjoy some port. I once explored Dante's INFERNO in the context of (what else) computation.
One mistake or false claim not addressed here is labeling the GOP and Trump as "conservative".
They ain't, because conservativism aims at maintaining political structures, and MAGA/Project 25 aims at destroying them and replacing it with authoritarian rulership. They are fascist revolutionaries while the Democrats are divided between institutional conservatives and progressives.
I hereby submit a challenge to our esteemed host.
In the spirit of his superb follow up to Asimov's "Foundation", I would like to see him apply his considerable writing talents to updating either Brunner's "Sheep Look Up" and/or Heinlein's "Year of the Jackpot", with the goal of making 2026 the year where everything falls apart.
Someone who actaully knows Hung Cao called the Stephanie Miller show to say that the guy didn't used to be MAGA, but has fallen down that rabbit hole.
She also claimed that the correct pronunciation of his name is "Hung Cow", from which much hilarity ensued.
"conservativism aims at maintaining political structures, and MAGA/Project 25 aims at destroying them and replacing it with authoritarian rulership. They are fascist revolutionaries while the Democrats are divided between institutional conservatives and progressives."
But here's where it gets complicated. Liberals can be institutional conservatives in that they want to maintain structures that advance progressive causes, like Medicare or SNAP benefits which staunch conservatives opposed in the past and want to un-do now.
Apparently, the Shah's son had a disastrous appearance in Berlin. No government official received him, only monarchist loyalists.
And then he made the mistake of telling the press to do their job, be more "investigative".
As one commenter wrote: "The prince who wanted to be king revealed himself to be nothing more than a court jester without a court."
At least, unlike his father, he did not get anyone killed and did not create violent unrest, so we shall call it an improvement?
Another, more important development: The European Court has declared Hungary's "Child Protection Laws" (which targeted LGBTQ rights) for incompatible with the Union treaties.
Which is in so far interesting that until this point, the Court never flexed his muscles this far, and installed himself as standing above national law on grounds of human rights.
Which will undoubtedly infuriate the EU critics, but that is something I can live with.
A pretender got snubbed?
I watched the whole federal press conference (link), which is itself the master discipline and daily ritual of the political Berlin. (Imagine the White House conferences organized by the press, not the government.)
My impression: Pahlavi is desperate and quite candid. He has tied himself to Trumps war, and disregarded rule number one of making deals with Donald Trump. He realizes that Trump and Netanjahu have cemented, not weakened the regime and places the responsibility for it to change on Europe.
Any request to a working author should include a basic advance against future earnings, perhaps $20k. LOL
A bit late, but I came up with another possible name for OGH's new AI book. Maybe conflate us and them a bit. After all, it's not so much A.I. as it is an automated, computerized image of us (art, science, literature, etc).
In the same vein as Harari's "Sapiens", it might be called "Calculans".
Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, announced Jan. 7 the creation of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System, a suite of four space based observatories it plans to develop over the next several years. Bigger, better and quicker than Hubble, they claim. And much less expensive. Well. Building upon capabilities taxpayers paid for. But alternate endeavors by the public and philanthropy and for-profits and NGOs… that diversity is strength. Anyway, there have always been zillionaires who liked telescopes!
https://spacenews.com/private-group-unveils-plans-for-large-space-telescope/
Got plenty on my plate and too little time. Though I admire both warning works.
Homo Saipiens. 8)
Maybe start by offering to boost the existing asset into a higher orbit?
What our fine host, polite society & Catfish euphemistically refer to as 'gratitude' is actually a tit-for-tat commercial transaction, as something given only in the expectation of reciprocity is neither truly 'charitable' nor 'gratis'.
'Quid pro quo', a phrase meaning "something for something", is the correct designation for this rather crass bourgeois mindset, and if noticing this gross misrepresentation makes me an **AH**, than so-be-it since a quick google proves that I am not the only one.
And, the dirty secret behind this morally ambiguous euphemism is that false Do-Gooders always demand subservience & obedience in return.
Catfish chooses to see these so-called gifts in purely moral terms, rather than seeing them for what they really are, as Contractual Obligations that purchase your loyalty for a pittance.
Social programs will only cost you your unused freedoms; free healthcare is yours in exchange for 'no choice' paternalism; a professional managerial caste government can be yours in exchange for democracy; and Pax Americana is available to the whole world at the low, low price of submission.
Best
You appear to be blind to an obvious motivation.
For some... the deed is the reward.
Think about abolitionists who supported the North in our Civil War, but weren't willing to invite former slaves to live in their communities. What moved these people, hmm?
Well, the Medici had Galileo as their court sage, then betrayed him to the Inquisition.
It would have been better if they had paid taxes to ensure that the next generation is able to operate or construct those devices at all.
Yes, I agree with Alfred when he argues that For some... the deed is the reward, the obvious HISTORICAL moral motivation for 'good deeds' being Religion, but that is no longer the case with US church attendance as a population percentage plummeting from 76% in 1945 to less than 47% in 2020, representing a 61% decrease in relative religious piety (per Gallup).
Possibly because of this statistical trend, the definition of the term 'Gratitude' has slowly shifted from the moral idea of 'Giving Thanks' to a more mercantile guilt-based one of a 'Social Debt' that must be repaid.
As a nation is traditionally defined by its people, I must therefore conclude that the USA is not the same predominantly white christian country it once was way back in 1945 when it fought in WW2 & created NATO.
And, in the original sense of the term 'Gratitude', those of us who remain Heritage American owe the rest of the world absolutely nothing in terms of historical debt or social obligation.
Best
Loco is not only a sociopath, but an ingrate as well.
I'd be fine with giving him a permanent pass on the benefits of living in a society.
But then, as Alfred has pointed out, I am a barbarian.
How about all this free stuff:
Roads
Bridges
Sewers
Schools
Libraries
Firefighters
Oh how oppressive! What an overwhelming pay-back obligation!
I could add "law enforcement" and "national defense" to the free (tax-paid) goodies, but maybe locoweed is an anarchist as well as a sociopath.
And as for "Heritage" Americans: inherited from when? Does he mean Native Americans, as in Navajo, Hopi, Inuit, and many others? And does he, like Benjamin Franklin, exclude German-Americans? But then what of Eisenhower and Budweiser?
I forgot to add: this very Internet.
A fellow wrote to me:At one point a few years ago, Elon Musk and a Prominent Astronomer (whose name I've forgotten) were tossing around the possibility of replacing the payload compartment of Starship with a nine-meter telescope. (Better solution: turn the Starship into a cylindrical second stage with more tankage, and stack a shrouded, purpose-built telescope on top of it.)"
My response: Okay so Hubble was a 'beard' for the KH11 NRO spy satellite. Which we learned when Hubble had optice far better suited to ground observation than astronomy and had to be 'fixed.' Later, NRO donated two unfinished KH11s to Nasa because they had moved on.
One of them -after years of work and $$ - is the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. Huzzah! The other, less completed, was mostly parts. I suggested to Elon (at his house) that he ask for it free. To tell NASA "Just finish it AS a ground observing satellite and I will provide a planet for it to look down upon!" I have no idea if he ever looked into the idea, since he no longer answers my emails. Ah well.
Meh. As if modern Americans need a church to tell them when the deed is the reward. We ARE barbarians. We KNOW.
I view the fight some of us have with the progressive left as a battle over what is considered 'just' behavior... as in the opposite of unjust behavior. People who don't agree on what counts can get into heated arguments even before they get religiously medieval on each other.
That we agree on so much (e.g. murder is mostly bad) is pretty amazing, but in the broader community we don't agree on a lot of details and then we get angry. Libertarians appear to be heartless, selfish bastards by many... but most of them aren't. Locumranch and his clade think Progressives want to enslave people... but most don't. And who doesn't think a transgender woman is trying to cheat when entering a sports competition set aside for cis-women? Pfft.
I'm not convinced locumranch is a sociopath. In fact, I think that is unlikely. What is obvious, though, is we don't agree on the details for what counts as just behavior... thus what it takes to be a person of good character.
Welfare creates social stability and lowers crime rates. So, in the reverse, their abandonment leads to more crimes, which in turn lead to more surveillance and policing; which in turn leads to more and more money spend in law enforcement and the prison-industrial complex.
Authoritarian policing itself causes more protest and social unrest, and as such acts a catalysator for more taxpayer money spend on policing, without granting net benefits to the overall economy.
Law enforcement is, in terms of real and direct economic gains, unproductive and parasitic if not kept in check.
They acquire an insulation against accountability, and dwindling ressources invites widespread corruption; law enforcement becomes lawless itself, or a "state within a state", a "deep state" itself.
In short, social welfare has costs, but these may be lower than those needed to keep the peace by the force of arms and draconian and corrupt law enforcers.
Of course, one could dissolve states totally; in that case, power goes to those with the most arms and the most ruthlessness to enforce their will.
While these warlords may be current-day oligarchs, they cannot rely on the overarching state to defend them anymore with legalistic enforcement of billionaires' rights. They might be at each others' throats the moment the state collapses.While local communities might organize each other to provide local protection, they will be no match for corporate and crime cartel mercenary armies.
Social welfare is one dyke against authoritarianism on the right, leftist revolutionaries and anomy. There are others, and they are under attack, too.
Locum is not a sociopath. He is embedded in a sociopathic cultural matrix. There's a difference, and it's highly instructive.
Locum asserts that moral motivation as measured by church attendance is the 'historical motivation for good deeds', and since church attendance has decreased, piety and faith must be quickly vanishing. His hypothesis is that false-gratitude coercive expectations are caused by this fall in a once-trusted metric. Why does this connection seem obvious to him? The rarely-questioned consensus in American evangelical and Calvinist circles holds a particular interpretation of the doctrine of total depravity. This interpretation asserts that not only is divine grace required for any human to act morally, but that such grace is only accessible through routine participation in socially sanctioned community acts of worship. Or simply: only churchgoers are capable of morality, because only the combination of long-term social relationships and divine intervention provided through the True Faith can bind otherwise hopelessly flawed souls. Some may grant that less-than-perfectly-True Faiths (Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox, and Jews being the most commonly tolerated) may provide inferior moral compasses, but the requirement of regular participation is generally considered a hard line.
Now let us switch from quo vadis? to cui bono? The original protest of Protestantism was against the exact action locum despises: turning morality into a commercial transaction with a monopoly provider. Centuries later, we now see a faith culture where the only protest remaining was against the monopoly on the grift. The collective interest of the clergy is to offer (the reassurance of) salvation in exchange for participation (and, eventually, donation). The collective interest of the faith communities is to demand participation in exchange for social status and power over social norms.
This coercive culture, with its implicit mercantile guilt-based coercion permeating social life, is the actual driver of declining church attendance as people observe the divorce of most organized religion from moral activity. Thus the rise of so-called 'nones' and 'spiritual but not religious' people, who still seek morality but cannot find it in churches. For those still inside the culture, moral behavior from beyond the approved faith communities can only be for not only coercive purposes, but for amoral coercive purposes.
And all that's before one considers all the assumptions implicit in the description of WWII-era America as a "white christian nation"....
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/us/politics/trump-firing-squad-executions-death-penalty.html
Trump Administration Approves Firing Squad Executions for Death Penalty
I'm surprised he hasn't gone all in and suggested guillotines. They'd be able to sell tickets to executions.
Look at the list of countries whose mafia style tyrants have kissed the ring of our Don, getting rich rewards while their people get nothing. Venezuela's Rodriguez lavishly welcomed Trump's consigliere and gave him GOLD to give to the godfather, kissing up to avoid the fate of her boss Maduro. And the elected opposition and the Venezuelan people got... nada. El Salvador's despot is lavishly rewarded for Guantanamo-ing anyone Trump sends him to stash in miserable hell holes. NOW ARGENTINA, whose tyrant was bailed with many $billions of our money... and our Don is backing the one thing that'd save the guy from rising public anger, getting the Falklands.
Of course ol' Two Scoops shouted "Cuba's Next!" Only he must settle Iran 1st and there are glitches. (1) the super godfather - capo di tutti capi - Vlad Putin is in deep trouble. And the Ayatollahs keep refusing the Don's repeated offer of peace via ring kissing (with no mention - ever - of the Iranian people.) He's floundering because he could tell the theocrats, too are mafiosi who should see the logic in wetting his beak with a piece of the action. It never occurs to him that they might be crazy and murderous... but sincere.
I won't tell you what I suspect happened about ten days ago. But it made Trump's maximalist threats hollow and the mullahs know it. And meanwhile, average Iranians are realizing he was never on their side.
https://time.com/article/2026/04/25/falkland-islands-javier-milei-trump/
I'd be ok with the executives of W R Grace and Purdue Pharma getting the firing squad. If you've forgotten, that was mass murder by prolonged torture with conspiracy for profit.
Guillotines are a double edged sword... so to speak.
Look up why the original nazis went from firing squads to gas chambers.
uhm... yah. I don't know how wide spread that sociopathic cultural matrix is... but I have personally encountered enough of them to find your description plausible.
I'm not a believer and technically qualify as an atheist, but of that variety that really doesn't give a damn about any of it. I've met a number of believers who were quite certain the best I could do was imitate moral behavior likely driven by a fear of being caught.
However, I also know a fair number of believers who are quite certain that belief like theirs (let alone participation) isn't required to be a person of good character. It just makes it easier. I doubt it does, but there is no need to say that aloud among people who find tolerance easy to come by.
Saw a stand-up comedian commenting on the Falklands yesterday.
https://www.threads.com/@stonekettle
Oh for fuck's sake, ANOTHER attempted "assassination?"
Must be an election year.
My thoughts exactly.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Apr26-1.html
my hope is that rampant gerrymandering by both parties will lead to real, nationwide reform. That can only happen when Republicans also support reform, but they won't do that as long as they are the primary beneficiaries of gerrymandering. They have to lose seats to gerrymander themselves before they will care. Like everything else about Republicans, they care only when bad things happen to them.
My thoughts exactly again. Emphasis mine.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Apr26-1.html
F.L. in Federal Way, WA, writes: In 2018, I was visiting Blighty—right during the World Cup. Before each match of the Lions, I'd head to the bookie and place a pony (£,25) on their opponent. My reasoning was that I never win with bookies, so a wager would guarantee victory for England. It worked rather well—unfortunately, I missed the Croatia game.
My history with supporting political candidates is equally unsuccessful. As with sports wagers, I have a 0.000 batting average—and I didn't always pick underdogs. Hillary Clinton (twice) springs to mind.
As such, I shall hold my bile and send a fiver to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), sealing his doom.
After the primary, I shall send another fiver to AG Ken Paxton (R-TX) and then take a shower.
And that's exactly my personal strategy for dealing with a hostile universe.
But seriously folks, they had a freaking MENTALIST billed as the featured entertainment! He was right there. And maybe you could've used your mighty powers to give a heads-up, fellah?
But seriously, about it maybe being staged, the way the ear wound thing clearly was? Did he give another "fight fight fight!" fist pump?, this time? Or cower? That would be a tell-tale for the staged thing.
Also does the gunman survive to testify that maybe he was recruited?
But seriously folks. We MUST have the ballroom... like... GREENLAND? Which has never been mentioned again?
badum-boom
Oh, finally... ask your MAGA what we should think of a man who HATES DOGS? Who dogs always, alway growl at, when he passes. Almost as if he....
Technically speaking, I am not a 'sociopath' but rather a poor widdle victim of Stage 5 Physician Burnout sustained after +30 years of thankless service, sacrifice, selflessness & sleep deprivation, only to be relentlessly attacked by utterly useless commie egoists like Matthew who feign saintliness, spout hatred & death threats and offer up NO tolerance, NO compassion & NO mercy to anyone but their self-designated peer groups & themselves.
I appreciate both Alfred's atheistic take & Catfish's level-headed analysis on the subject of my ire, the implicit mercantile guilt-based coercion grift that currently permeates western society, but I am not mistaking the correlation that is religious decline for causation.
By failing to "know them by their fruits", we choose societal decline. We ignore objective reality in favour of politically-correct delusions like self-assigned identities, cultural relativism, universal equality, the perversion that is victimology & the 'Superior Virtue of the Oppressed' fallacy.
Look at the stats, gentleman. Acknowledge past performance, measurable outcomes & history's failures. Or, continue in your coercive deceits until you smash headlong into the 'quid pro quo' that is Newton's Third Law.
Best
______
@Paradoc: You refute your own argument by confusing fee-for-service commercial transactions with that which is 'gratis; free', as that which requires payment is not 'gratis' by definition, that which is 'free' does not require payment & these two categories are mutually exclusive.
@DB: I also hate people who hate dogs, so welcome to the Muslim Hating Club, brother. And, by the by, the so-called 'ballroom' is just a cover for updating the presidential bomb shelter & command center.
Never thanked. Have you any idea what kind of physician you must be, to be able to say that? Of course he exaggerates. Likely "never thanked ENOUGH." Which suggests execrable bedside manner. But sure, it is also a rough profession and was likely grinding.
As for 'stats' not a single current stance of this version of conservatism would survive statistical apprails. Didn't used to be. But now it's all hysterical meme/assertion shrieking.
Economy, deficits, jobs, inflation, entrepreneurship, startups, science and even military readiness! And especially crime. ALL do better across Democratic administrations than Republican ones. Step up now with atty-escrowed wager stakes. But maybe 1st you should look here: So Do Outcomes Matter More than Rhetoric? - CONTRARY BRIN - http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2014/06/so-do-outcomes-matter-more-than-rhetoric.html
"But seriously, about it maybe being staged, the way the ear wound thing clearly was?"
I'm liking how no one--except for DJT himself and his crisis actors in "law enforcement"--is taking seriously that this was a real assassination attempt.
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" informs us that even if someone does actually try to kill this guy, it will seem like another stunt. But his take on the fable probably echoes Bart Simpson's. "Boy cries wolf. Has some laughs. I forget how it ends."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/26/us/correspondents-dinner-shooting-trump
Mr. Trump did not offer any details about the document he described as a manifesto in an interview with Fox News, but the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, told NBC that investigators gathering evidence about the suspect “know there were some writings.” He added that a preliminary review of the evidence indicated that members of the administration, “likely including the president,” had been targets.
They're sure talking about the investigation as if the suspect isn't available to be questioned, but I haven't heard any actual reports that he was killed, so wtf?
Political violence: The attack revived questions about political violence in the United States and about security around Mr. Trump, one of the most targeted presidents in history. In 2024, he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and rushed to safety months later when a federal agent fired on an armed man at his Florida golf club.
Two very suspect incidents of "targeting". And citation needed for "grazed by a bullet", which I never believed and still don't.
But I'm not surprised that this incident is being spun as how anti-fascist political violence is out of control. Or the ridiculous assertion that this incident somehow proves his ballroom is needed? Why? A determined gunman couldn't have rushed passed a checkpoint there? Or is the point that the Big Beautiful Ballroom is so huge that the gunman rushing the stage would have been out of breath long before he got within shooting range?
Or the ridiculous assertion that this incident somehow proves his ballroom is needed? Why? A determined gunman couldn't have rushed passed a checkpoint there? Or is the point that the Big Beautiful Ballroom is so huge that the gunman rushing the stage would have been out of breath long before he got within shooting range?
"As she advanced toward Paul on the distant throne, the Reverend Mother found herself more impressed by the architectural subtleties of her surroundings than she was by the immensities. The space was large: it could’ve housed the entire citadel of any ruler in human history. The open sweep of the room said much about hidden structural forces balanced with nicety. Trusses and supporting beams behind these walls and the faraway domed ceiling must surpass anything ever before attempted. Everything spoke of engineering genius."
onward
onward
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2026/04/random-observations-on-another-weird.html
What's the point here in saying that events like this should take place in the fortress ballroom? The WHCD is not a White House-sponsored thing. Trump was a guest of the association running the dinner.
Yeah, what about that?
And Rude doesn't even think the attempt was staged, but still...
And fuck off if you're saying that Democrats and progressive media figures should "turn down the rhetoric" against Trump or whatever the fuck. Clarence Thomas recently gave a speech where he implied that progressives should be killed or kicked out of the country. Stephen Miller regularly rails against Americans who oppose the administration, calling them "traitors" and implying they need to be executed. Trump and his cabal of crypto cons and cockscabs are murdering people without trial, imprisoning families for months for no reason, trying to strip Americans of citizenship, murdering protesters, and threatening genocide. It's impossible to reach that level of actual violence with rhetoric.
Yeah, that.
Man, that was a shitty mentalist.
That too.
Oops, overshot the "onward"
onward.
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