Well, there’s certainly no need to justify the sketches, like, ever. My work week tends to be like taking a deep breath on Monday before going underwater, and coming back up on Friday. They are among the few bright spots between.
Thanks Roy. I still vacillate between helpless passivity and impotent outrage myself. Every sensible person hates this, but Elon's antics are even closer to home for me, as cutting off federal funding streams could shutter the nonprofit where I've worked for over a decade.
The sheer stupidity of it all is undeniably oppressive. And the pre-capitulation and accommodation of so many established entities is even more disheartening. But nothing infuriates me as much as the passivity and misdirected efforts of so many Democrats in Congress. Yes, we know you're in the minority and what you can achieve legislatively is extremely curtailed. But you aren't bound and gagged. Elon Musk is literally a cartoon villain. I've never worked in P.R. or been a political consultant, but I could give Dems half a dozen effective one line zingers in an hour. Even the Bluesky running joke of "Trump take egg" would be more effective than what most Dems are currently doing. Only Wyden, Warren, AOC and a few others are meeting the moment.
C'mon, you know how this works: A few reg'lar folks who aren't political consultants and can't afford polling and focus groups just go outside and start yellin' their heads off. That catches the attention of some small portion of the normies, who join them in the yelling thing. More and more join in, when we reach, say, 75% yelling, Democrats wake up, jump to the front of the parade, and say, "Yeah, we were with you all along!"
Man is THAT ever the truth. Just the sight of Schumer pisses me off at this point. Hakim Jeffries announces a "Rapid Reponse Team," and who's in charge of it? 81-year-old Rose DeLauro. I love the old bat, but I hope she's hired someone half her age to actually make it work. And please, God, never let me ever again see or read Amy Klobuchar expressing hope that she and the Dems can find a way to "work with" Republicans. When someone wants to kill you, you don't seek ways to work with them.
Keith Olbermann has been saying what I've been saying: That the Dems should start a regular (maybe even daily) press briefing, toting up the crimes and outrages that literally occur every day, while making sure they're a) easy to understand; b) pitched to trigger emotions and not just to "convey information;" accompanied by explanations of what they will actually mean to you, your kids, your parents, and anyone else not a millionaire.
Millions of people who voted for Trump are due to experience buyer's remorse (and its radioactive isotope, rage) more and more in the next six months. Dems should target them, explain how they've been screwed, and why (i.e., to make the rich richer).
Regarding starting a daily press briefing, I saw it suggested that Pete Buttigieg would be a good person for that. He's got a knack for delivering statements of outrage in a way that draws you in, and he covers the subject matter well. What do you think?
Regular press briefings are good, but content is where it's at -- reach people where they are, on social media. "Trump Wants You To Die" and "Elon Musk Has Your Social Security Number" are short, to the point, and easy to understand. Click a link to "learn more."
Someone was talking the other day about how it's much easier, ego-wise, to convince someone they've been lied to/tricked than to convince them they were wrong. I mean, this stuff writes itself: "They lied to you. This was their plan all along. You can tell it was because they began on day one. You didn't vote for Elon Musk. You didn't give him permission to see your taxes, your health information, your social security number. You sure as hell didn't give permission to a bunch of 19 year olds to access all your personal information. They lied to you." How hard is that?
For the last month, whenever I get a Dem fundraising email I delete it in disgust. SHOW ME SOMETHING FIRST IF YOU WANT MY MONEY.
"When someone wants to kill you, you don't seek ways to work with them."
I would like to find a way to work with their largest, heaviest bones – femurs, most likely – in an attempt to build a tower beyond Babylon-size. I mean, there must be SOMETHING we can do with them.
I think that the absolute least is to remember (note if necessary) how things were because records of true stuff are literally being destroyed. And, of course, the spew of bullshit that's establishment media journalism doesn't help. (Yes, I know; they don't lie 100% of the time. But the .1% they don't doesn't mean they're not an enormous part of the problem.)
Another personal fallback -- not recommended! -- is the realization that we're being dragged back to the nation the Founding Fathers wanted: in no particular order, racist, the wealthy free to accumulate yet more wealth without any state interference or control, and YOYO for better or worse. Yeah, yeh, sure, we were briefly better -- civilized -- but staying so required more work than we, the people, were interested in doing. (Reader, that would have required just the smallest amount of work.)
And related to the long view thing, it goes for the national Democrats. Outside the FDR-LBJ era, the Democrats were what I've been calling them of late: an alt-Republican party. And as such, fairly powerless and fairly unimportant -- winning elections to no great effect. No Democrat before FDR did as much progressive things as Republican Teddy Roosevelt.
And likewise the establishment media: Spewing bullshit is the historic norm. Fairly honest reporting like in the Watergate/late-Nam era was the exception the rule.
Lotsa good points here, and I don't think I know as much as you do about your topics.
On the other hand, this isn't your Founding Fathers' Oldsmobile, or its time. That's true and important whether we view a Manqueman as jaundiced or clear-eyed. What predictive power can the comparison have, how can it inform our doings, etc.?
I've been reading some Isaiah Berlin to soothe myself. Years past I liked his Three Critics of the Enlightenment enough to read it twice, although I wasn't equipped to understand it. (My lifelong pattern is to dive in over my head.) I've just finished Freedom and Its Betrayal.
Of the thinkers he lectured about there, Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821) seems most relevant to our current situation. Not that MAGA or the lineage behind Project 2025 include, or could produce, a mind that brilliant. I really don't know how they'll manage idea-wise, but so far they seem to muddle along in fine fascist style.
"Brilliant" is what this crowd is not. Even the supposed "deep thinkers" inspiring them, like Yarvin, are just bombastic dopes who have the rubes convinced they are VRY SMRT because they use the words that are big. Or take the technophiles (please!) who blather about "effective altruism" and putting the nation-state on the blockchain and whatever other stuff they pull from their tighty whities. They're full of conspiracy and lies and bullshit and resentment and just flailing about smashing things at random and waiting for the Golden Age to manifest itself out of the debris.
Tighty Whities and Tighty Wanna-Be Whities want to break down America and turn it into the Kingdom of Technoland.
Along with "protecting my peace" I also have to help provide perspective--hate to say this, but if you're Black, your ancestors (some of whom may still be living) have seen this movie before.
Yes, yes, yes. Plus they all live in a right wing bubble world and think all this shit is popular, just because everybody THEY know loves it. It's not popular, their comeuppance is comin', hold on til then.
The name "de Maistre" makes me think, "De Selby." Flann O'Brien's purveyor of crackpot philosophy and pseudo-science would easily have a role in this shitshow.
"records of true stuff are literally being destroyed"
This is where we are headed. Unless the digital world gets stone-aged we are facing the stripping from all archives of anything about the Words And Concepts That Must Not Be Seen/Heard. Once the viruses are loose in the system there will not be much pushback against the erasure of history (Present Controllers, Controlling Past). Is anyone prepared to state with certainty that this has not already begun under LoneSkum? And if it has, it's well on its way to completion within some parameters, the speed of digital data access being what it is these minutes.
Again, keep your hard copies, is all I'm sayin'...
John Stoehr says the way to resist is blame alla the plane crashes on Trump,,, then he adds this:
"Letters from God, a newsletter, compiled a list:
“1/29: First major crash in 16 years (67 dead in DC).
1/31: Learjet crashes in Philadelphia.
2/5: Japan Airlines collides with a Delta plane in Seattle.
2/6: Bering Air plane crashes in Nome, Alaska.
2/10: Learjet slams into a parked jet in Scottsdale, AZ.
2/12: Military fighter jet crashes into San Diego Bay.
2/16: Plane crashes in Covington, GA.” "
This sounds like much more fun than revering the filing cabinet.
So here is my cunning plan:
'Trump's Plane Crashes' should be the first 3 words out of every person's mouth at all times from now on, or at least worked into every sentence some how.
"Man! Can you believe the price of eggs and Trump's Plane Crashes??!!"
"Mister Secretary, Iran and Trump's Plane Crashes still menace the world; how are you planning to respond?"
"You know, ever since bird flew hit, Trump's Plane Crashes have been getting more and more common."
"The president just embarked on another junket, surrounded by all his henchpeople and Trump's Plane Crashes."
I dunno – Might need a little work, but Trump's Plane Crashes could get wings...
Like now, the Dems were bifurcated with the national party offering little other than, of course, maximum racism for the south, and the party in urban areas outside the south supporting the unwashed masses, at least somewhat.
Anyway; you're agreeing that the chickenshit Democratic party of today is just reverting to its historic norm.
"come to murder them, burn their megachurches, and build a Cult of Reason on the ashes."
If only....
The Gulf war was easier - if only because my body could tolerate more drugs and alcohol. Now, if shit gets real, my recourse is a 10 mg gummy and a nice cup of decaf.
My defenses are two: mocking and calling out bothsiders. Make that three: mocking the Nazis, calling out bothsiders, and traveling to foreign lands. OK, four: mocking, telling bothsiders to fuck off, traveling to foreign lands, and sending money to groups suing the shit out of the Nazis. I’ve had to give up yelling at the TV because I’m unfamiliar with the languages of most foreign lands. The other day in a taxi I saw a crawl on the driver’s radio in Hindi punctuated by the word, “Trump.” I dont think my “fuck!” was loud enough for him to hear.
“OK, four: mocking, telling bothsiders to fuck off, traveling to foreign lands, and sending money to groups suing the shit out of the Nazis.” …and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!
Not really sure I’ll get through it all, but your plays help immensely… also, I find that liberal use of the word “motherf*cker” to be a good stress reliever.
I have been thinking about Caligula's Horse quite a bit recently, and thinking that the Senators must be happy that Trump apparently hates animals.
I think ofthe Clintons being called "Radical Left Wing Communists," if I remember the phrase correctly and just laughing and thinking that no one could possibly believe that, but low and behold they did. People haven't gotten any smarter. In the VA waiting rooms, I see guys proudly wearing MAGA hats and shirts, and think WTF. Peak liberal/progressive was I think 1965 and things have been more or less going down that right wing hill ever since.
Well I've always been more of a nihilist (of the good kind) than you Roy. I do hope that you are right and I am wrong, but in the mean time I do need to increase my blood pressure meds. Or get the weed delivered directly to my front door, I'm not sure which. See you tomorrow.
During the 1992 campaign some GOP operatives attempted with little success to gin up concern about Clinton, as a graduate student, having visited the Soviet Union during a term break. Could this have been when he was recruited by the KGB? Eight years later, during the Elián González brouhaha, Peggy Noonan wondered in print whether Bill was perhaps being blackmailed by Castro, which is where we got “Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to.”
I’ve never contrived to burrow beneath the WSJ paywall, so I wouldn’t know. I imagine, though, that them as look for to this lot for intellectual consistency should, as Carey Elwes once advised, get used to disappointment.
"Our struggle is in a new phase but it is not new. It comes out of a time when we were making progress and it was easier to hope. " This is so true but it is also true as Manqueman says "Yeah, yeh, sure, we were briefly better -- civilized -- but staying so required more work than we, the people, were interested in doing"
I'm not going to stop reading you, Roy - you're one of the voices of sanity I need to hear - but I'm brokenhearted about what is happening to this country in broad daylight, and no one with any power is trying to stop it. (Lawsuits excepted - but we will see if they do any good against a regime whose motto is "Try and stop me.")
I have left it , but I spent my last year on Xitter replying various forms of 'eat shit' , 'fuck you', pics of people in straitjackets, and piles of dogshit. Probably had no effect, but I miss doing that.
Love what you do and deeply appreciate you keeping on. This is my inspiration for the week, "The circumstances have changed but what we hope for has not." In hope ...
Funny, I just happened across someone whining about the capitalization of "Black" in the last day or so, and IIRC blocked the account. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" one might put them.
My Trump-alike ex-neighbor was big on barking out the word "BLACK" to make it clear that the word itself bothered him, but didn't bother him enough to say it in lower case or just not say anything.
As always, it's not the capitalization of "Black" that bothers them. It's the fact that they can't say "n****r" without retaliation.
I use the style guide, so to speak, of the late lamented Johnson Publishing, owners of Ebony and Jet magazines. They routinely capitalized "Black" (and "White").
The Emperor's New Clothes: first as warning, second as sketch comedy. With not one, but two naked emperors.
It's painful that we've known "a time when we were making progress and it was easier to hope," and that newer ways forward are so uncertain. Whatever the paths, we know this will always be minority rule. There will never be a reason not to mock those grotesque goons.
People who need to cope are the people who understand the implications of the actions being reported to them. Right now that's a minority of all Americans, because to the majority it is all theoretical and largely irrelevant to their lives. What does a real estate agent in Des Moines care about foreign aid? Yeah, I know: the loss of foreign markets to farmers is Ioway is gonna hurt that agent, eventally. But its a microcosm of the relationship most Americans have to the federal government. They pay taxes and everything just works, somehow. A minority of them have been convinced thst if they just remove the taxes and regulations, everything will just keep working, and their lives will be better. Its gonna take a while for this ocean liner to sink, but when it does there will be hell to pay, because if there is 1 thing every American agrees on, its that they don't like being made uncomfortable. Republicans are going to try and blame it all on Democrats and DEI because its always worked before. This cycle will continue until the Democratic party realizes they are in an existential war with the Republican party, and the system needs extensive change if they want to preserve it.
Dunno, if people can get worked up about ridiculous bullshit that has nothing to do with their daily lives (like "Fairness in women's swimming") why can't they get worked up about kids going hungry in a refugee camp in Sudan? Not talking about the "Let 'em starve" assholes, I'm convinced they're a minority.
They get "worked up" because of a relentless pounding of propaganda into their heads by a host of sources. Cable networks, YouTube channels, social media accounts with millions of followers, newsletters, radio hosts, newspapers, Sinclair broadcast TV, its an endless list.
The 27% need therapy. The rest need deprogramming. They're not bound to the lies, simply confused by them, and as good Americans mostly want it all to go away. The Democratic party and its supporters need to start making simple, clear moral arguments in the Frank Capra style. The bullshit must be cut through rather than debated or countered. Choices neef to be forced to be made, and it needs to be presented in the simplest and clearest way possible.
Sure, sign me up. My only point is that we needn't limit ourselves to "Here's how Trump will hurt YOU" as if voters are all robots motivated solely by calculations of rational self-interest (a rock-solid belief among those in the Democrat consultant-class) but, as you say, allow for some Capra-esque stuff, based on the notion that normal human beings can care about other human beings, even people they don't know, even people different from themselves.
I'ma the opinion that them what wants to drive on smooth roads and breathe clean air and drink clean water would be more likely to go along with the public programs to achieve those things if we forced them to experience the alternatives...:
"Oh, you voted for the mapdebaser? Well, then, you get to drive that washed out ditch hanging precariously above the sheer drop to certain death. Drive REEEEALLLL slow for the rest of your natural-born days."
"Oh, so you voted for the guy who eviscerated the Dept of Agriculture? Enjoy your mystery meat! What's that? How about a prime sirloin? Sorry, pal – the grass-fed good stuff is reserved for folks with a proof-of-voting for the other candidate."
"Oh, so you want real water to slosh around in that glass with the bourbon? Well enjoy this stuff here we pailed outta the brook just downstream of the effluent outfall from Methyl Ethyl Death Inc. Sorry boyo, it' all there is."
I sort of agree. Normally I'm not a fan of the "they made their bed" argument, but the Democratic party is wasting a huge opportunity to warn people of what is coming.
I hear you about the made-bed, but I've often thought that an all-expenses paid trip to, say, Omaha, for any otherwise-never-left-Mississippi stay-at-home, might work wonders. I use Omaha because I actually lived there for awhile, and despite its massive failings* (and as reactionary as Nebraska is), that city has some charm, location, and Things Worth Keeping. I could have said 'San Francisco', but the terror its name would impart in the uninitiated would simply throttle them before they got off the plane...
Its not a black-and-white world, despite the best efforts of the Republican party. A field trip to Mississippi is just a version of my "Americans won't notice what's going on until they get punched in the mouth" argument. I'm still convinced that what is happening is enabled by the deep-rooted apathy of the Average American, who has spent their life living in a country where everything just works, and they don't know how or why, they simply assume it always has and always will. They're gonna find out how wrong they are, and when they do the Republicans are going to throw every meme they've got at blaming anything other than themselves. How the Average American reacts will determine our future.
The Democratic party has 2 jobs, which they seem woefully unprepared for; fix blame on the Republican party, not just Trump, and if they manage to aquire any power do a major overhaul of the fundamental systems they are trying to protect, meaning the Supreme Court, the rules and structure of Congress, voting, and the office of the Presidency. The Republican party has corrupted and co-opted all of this, and it won't just bounce back into shape while the Republican party and the billionaires funding them exist. Trump is just their hype man.
I'm hip. The Omaha/Lincoln Axis is a melange of contradictions buried within the seamless reactionary state. And as I always say, home of the Best Americano in America...
Well, there’s certainly no need to justify the sketches, like, ever. My work week tends to be like taking a deep breath on Monday before going underwater, and coming back up on Friday. They are among the few bright spots between.
Thanks Roy. I still vacillate between helpless passivity and impotent outrage myself. Every sensible person hates this, but Elon's antics are even closer to home for me, as cutting off federal funding streams could shutter the nonprofit where I've worked for over a decade.
The sheer stupidity of it all is undeniably oppressive. And the pre-capitulation and accommodation of so many established entities is even more disheartening. But nothing infuriates me as much as the passivity and misdirected efforts of so many Democrats in Congress. Yes, we know you're in the minority and what you can achieve legislatively is extremely curtailed. But you aren't bound and gagged. Elon Musk is literally a cartoon villain. I've never worked in P.R. or been a political consultant, but I could give Dems half a dozen effective one line zingers in an hour. Even the Bluesky running joke of "Trump take egg" would be more effective than what most Dems are currently doing. Only Wyden, Warren, AOC and a few others are meeting the moment.
What you said.
C'mon, you know how this works: A few reg'lar folks who aren't political consultants and can't afford polling and focus groups just go outside and start yellin' their heads off. That catches the attention of some small portion of the normies, who join them in the yelling thing. More and more join in, when we reach, say, 75% yelling, Democrats wake up, jump to the front of the parade, and say, "Yeah, we were with you all along!"
Man is THAT ever the truth. Just the sight of Schumer pisses me off at this point. Hakim Jeffries announces a "Rapid Reponse Team," and who's in charge of it? 81-year-old Rose DeLauro. I love the old bat, but I hope she's hired someone half her age to actually make it work. And please, God, never let me ever again see or read Amy Klobuchar expressing hope that she and the Dems can find a way to "work with" Republicans. When someone wants to kill you, you don't seek ways to work with them.
Keith Olbermann has been saying what I've been saying: That the Dems should start a regular (maybe even daily) press briefing, toting up the crimes and outrages that literally occur every day, while making sure they're a) easy to understand; b) pitched to trigger emotions and not just to "convey information;" accompanied by explanations of what they will actually mean to you, your kids, your parents, and anyone else not a millionaire.
Millions of people who voted for Trump are due to experience buyer's remorse (and its radioactive isotope, rage) more and more in the next six months. Dems should target them, explain how they've been screwed, and why (i.e., to make the rich richer).
Regarding starting a daily press briefing, I saw it suggested that Pete Buttigieg would be a good person for that. He's got a knack for delivering statements of outrage in a way that draws you in, and he covers the subject matter well. What do you think?
Regular press briefings are good, but content is where it's at -- reach people where they are, on social media. "Trump Wants You To Die" and "Elon Musk Has Your Social Security Number" are short, to the point, and easy to understand. Click a link to "learn more."
Someone was talking the other day about how it's much easier, ego-wise, to convince someone they've been lied to/tricked than to convince them they were wrong. I mean, this stuff writes itself: "They lied to you. This was their plan all along. You can tell it was because they began on day one. You didn't vote for Elon Musk. You didn't give him permission to see your taxes, your health information, your social security number. You sure as hell didn't give permission to a bunch of 19 year olds to access all your personal information. They lied to you." How hard is that?
For the last month, whenever I get a Dem fundraising email I delete it in disgust. SHOW ME SOMETHING FIRST IF YOU WANT MY MONEY.
"When someone wants to kill you, you don't seek ways to work with them."
I would like to find a way to work with their largest, heaviest bones – femurs, most likely – in an attempt to build a tower beyond Babylon-size. I mean, there must be SOMETHING we can do with them.
Skulls too small to make a decent goblet.
Share the zingers here! Show your style and strut your stuff, like a Mercer song, sister!
but I could give Dems half a dozen effective one line zingers in an hour
While I am sure this is true, the real question is would they use them?
I think that the absolute least is to remember (note if necessary) how things were because records of true stuff are literally being destroyed. And, of course, the spew of bullshit that's establishment media journalism doesn't help. (Yes, I know; they don't lie 100% of the time. But the .1% they don't doesn't mean they're not an enormous part of the problem.)
Another personal fallback -- not recommended! -- is the realization that we're being dragged back to the nation the Founding Fathers wanted: in no particular order, racist, the wealthy free to accumulate yet more wealth without any state interference or control, and YOYO for better or worse. Yeah, yeh, sure, we were briefly better -- civilized -- but staying so required more work than we, the people, were interested in doing. (Reader, that would have required just the smallest amount of work.)
And related to the long view thing, it goes for the national Democrats. Outside the FDR-LBJ era, the Democrats were what I've been calling them of late: an alt-Republican party. And as such, fairly powerless and fairly unimportant -- winning elections to no great effect. No Democrat before FDR did as much progressive things as Republican Teddy Roosevelt.
And likewise the establishment media: Spewing bullshit is the historic norm. Fairly honest reporting like in the Watergate/late-Nam era was the exception the rule.
Anyway, see y'all in the late 18th century.
Lotsa good points here, and I don't think I know as much as you do about your topics.
On the other hand, this isn't your Founding Fathers' Oldsmobile, or its time. That's true and important whether we view a Manqueman as jaundiced or clear-eyed. What predictive power can the comparison have, how can it inform our doings, etc.?
I've been reading some Isaiah Berlin to soothe myself. Years past I liked his Three Critics of the Enlightenment enough to read it twice, although I wasn't equipped to understand it. (My lifelong pattern is to dive in over my head.) I've just finished Freedom and Its Betrayal.
Of the thinkers he lectured about there, Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821) seems most relevant to our current situation. Not that MAGA or the lineage behind Project 2025 include, or could produce, a mind that brilliant. I really don't know how they'll manage idea-wise, but so far they seem to muddle along in fine fascist style.
They're de Maistre heads for sure, which is to say they're manicured thugs. (Not as eloquent, tho.)
"Brilliant" is what this crowd is not. Even the supposed "deep thinkers" inspiring them, like Yarvin, are just bombastic dopes who have the rubes convinced they are VRY SMRT because they use the words that are big. Or take the technophiles (please!) who blather about "effective altruism" and putting the nation-state on the blockchain and whatever other stuff they pull from their tighty whities. They're full of conspiracy and lies and bullshit and resentment and just flailing about smashing things at random and waiting for the Golden Age to manifest itself out of the debris.
Tighty Whities and Tighty Wanna-Be Whities want to break down America and turn it into the Kingdom of Technoland.
Along with "protecting my peace" I also have to help provide perspective--hate to say this, but if you're Black, your ancestors (some of whom may still be living) have seen this movie before.
Yes, yes, yes. Plus they all live in a right wing bubble world and think all this shit is popular, just because everybody THEY know loves it. It's not popular, their comeuppance is comin', hold on til then.
The name "de Maistre" makes me think, "De Selby." Flann O'Brien's purveyor of crackpot philosophy and pseudo-science would easily have a role in this shitshow.
Looks interesting, TY
"records of true stuff are literally being destroyed"
This is where we are headed. Unless the digital world gets stone-aged we are facing the stripping from all archives of anything about the Words And Concepts That Must Not Be Seen/Heard. Once the viruses are loose in the system there will not be much pushback against the erasure of history (Present Controllers, Controlling Past). Is anyone prepared to state with certainty that this has not already begun under LoneSkum? And if it has, it's well on its way to completion within some parameters, the speed of digital data access being what it is these minutes.
Again, keep your hard copies, is all I'm sayin'...
Ah, that filing cabinet in the basement is an ACT OF RESISTANCE. I'll tell my wife.
Do you have a Beware of Leopard sign?
Yeah.
John Stoehr says the way to resist is blame alla the plane crashes on Trump,,, then he adds this:
"Letters from God, a newsletter, compiled a list:
“1/29: First major crash in 16 years (67 dead in DC).
1/31: Learjet crashes in Philadelphia.
2/5: Japan Airlines collides with a Delta plane in Seattle.
2/6: Bering Air plane crashes in Nome, Alaska.
2/10: Learjet slams into a parked jet in Scottsdale, AZ.
2/12: Military fighter jet crashes into San Diego Bay.
2/16: Plane crashes in Covington, GA.” "
This sounds like much more fun than revering the filing cabinet.
So here is my cunning plan:
'Trump's Plane Crashes' should be the first 3 words out of every person's mouth at all times from now on, or at least worked into every sentence some how.
"Man! Can you believe the price of eggs and Trump's Plane Crashes??!!"
"Mister Secretary, Iran and Trump's Plane Crashes still menace the world; how are you planning to respond?"
"You know, ever since bird flew hit, Trump's Plane Crashes have been getting more and more common."
"The president just embarked on another junket, surrounded by all his henchpeople and Trump's Plane Crashes."
I dunno – Might need a little work, but Trump's Plane Crashes could get wings...
I'm longing to use "Trump's Plane Crashes" in a slightly different context.
As long as you don't mix up "Trump's Plane Crashes" with "Trump's Plane Crashes".
Trump eats shoots and leaves.
Up until the Great Depression (and really not complete for another 50+ years) the Dems were the current Republicans
You mean like really, really RACIST?
and pretty right wing. Over time (like 1948-~1988) the really, really racist one's moved to the Republican party
Tricky Dick's Southern Strategy®.
You're talking the Gilded Age and after.
Like now, the Dems were bifurcated with the national party offering little other than, of course, maximum racism for the south, and the party in urban areas outside the south supporting the unwashed masses, at least somewhat.
Anyway; you're agreeing that the chickenshit Democratic party of today is just reverting to its historic norm.
1948 was Truman integrating the military. The Gilded Age was like ~1900
You lost me. But it's OK.
Personally, I feel much better since I gave up all hope.
[Far Side cartoon in hell dot gif]
(Your choice; many will work fine. Mine is the guy in hell whispering to his fellow sufferer, “I hate this place.”)
I love that one. 40 some years ago I worked nights in a hospital, and that was one of my co-workers favorite cartoon
40 years ago my mom also worked nights at a hospital. I don’t think her coworkers appreciated the Far Side 😄
Well, that was in South Dakota
"come to murder them, burn their megachurches, and build a Cult of Reason on the ashes."
If only....
The Gulf war was easier - if only because my body could tolerate more drugs and alcohol. Now, if shit gets real, my recourse is a 10 mg gummy and a nice cup of decaf.
That sounds nice!
Decaf? In THIS economy?
Steve, climb down from the lectern and turn off that damn laser pointer. Chill, man.
Where's Worriedman when we need his gummies?
My defenses are two: mocking and calling out bothsiders. Make that three: mocking the Nazis, calling out bothsiders, and traveling to foreign lands. OK, four: mocking, telling bothsiders to fuck off, traveling to foreign lands, and sending money to groups suing the shit out of the Nazis. I’ve had to give up yelling at the TV because I’m unfamiliar with the languages of most foreign lands. The other day in a taxi I saw a crawl on the driver’s radio in Hindi punctuated by the word, “Trump.” I dont think my “fuck!” was loud enough for him to hear.
“OK, four: mocking, telling bothsiders to fuck off, traveling to foreign lands, and sending money to groups suing the shit out of the Nazis.” …and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!
Not really sure I’ll get through it all, but your plays help immensely… also, I find that liberal use of the word “motherf*cker” to be a good stress reliever.
me too!
Motherfuckin' New York Times:
https://www.readtpa.com/p/stop-analyzing-trumps-unhinged-ideas/
I have been thinking about Caligula's Horse quite a bit recently, and thinking that the Senators must be happy that Trump apparently hates animals.
I think ofthe Clintons being called "Radical Left Wing Communists," if I remember the phrase correctly and just laughing and thinking that no one could possibly believe that, but low and behold they did. People haven't gotten any smarter. In the VA waiting rooms, I see guys proudly wearing MAGA hats and shirts, and think WTF. Peak liberal/progressive was I think 1965 and things have been more or less going down that right wing hill ever since.
Well I've always been more of a nihilist (of the good kind) than you Roy. I do hope that you are right and I am wrong, but in the mean time I do need to increase my blood pressure meds. Or get the weed delivered directly to my front door, I'm not sure which. See you tomorrow.
During the 1992 campaign some GOP operatives attempted with little success to gin up concern about Clinton, as a graduate student, having visited the Soviet Union during a term break. Could this have been when he was recruited by the KGB? Eight years later, during the Elián González brouhaha, Peggy Noonan wondered in print whether Bill was perhaps being blackmailed by Castro, which is where we got “Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to.”
Has Pegs even mentioned Lone Skum? Surely she finds him uncouth.
Enquiring minds, an' all 'at...
I’ve never contrived to burrow beneath the WSJ paywall, so I wouldn’t know. I imagine, though, that them as look for to this lot for intellectual consistency should, as Carey Elwes once advised, get used to disappointment.
She gushed over his genius recently, while admitting the DOGE purges were a *tad* concerning.
Radical Left Wing Communists who were trying to enrich themselves on a real estate deal! It's almost as if "communism" has no meaning...
Seize the Means of Construction!
"Our struggle is in a new phase but it is not new. It comes out of a time when we were making progress and it was easier to hope. " This is so true but it is also true as Manqueman says "Yeah, yeh, sure, we were briefly better -- civilized -- but staying so required more work than we, the people, were interested in doing"
I'm not going to stop reading you, Roy - you're one of the voices of sanity I need to hear - but I'm brokenhearted about what is happening to this country in broad daylight, and no one with any power is trying to stop it. (Lawsuits excepted - but we will see if they do any good against a regime whose motto is "Try and stop me.")
Hey, we're all still paying for this stuff, Roy!
/s
Keep on keepin' on... (keep doing that).
Real comedy is essential now. Your sketches keep us sane!
I have left it , but I spent my last year on Xitter replying various forms of 'eat shit' , 'fuck you', pics of people in straitjackets, and piles of dogshit. Probably had no effect, but I miss doing that.
Remember, you're not doing it for them, you're doing it for YOU.
I succumbed to peer pressure and killed my account.
Love what you do and deeply appreciate you keeping on. This is my inspiration for the week, "The circumstances have changed but what we hope for has not." In hope ...
Funny, I just happened across someone whining about the capitalization of "Black" in the last day or so, and IIRC blocked the account. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" one might put them.
This from worshippers of the Turd Emporor, who randomly capitalizes every third or fourth word in his vomitous “truths”.
but never black
My Trump-alike ex-neighbor was big on barking out the word "BLACK" to make it clear that the word itself bothered him, but didn't bother him enough to say it in lower case or just not say anything.
As always, it's not the capitalization of "Black" that bothers them. It's the fact that they can't say "n****r" without retaliation.
I use the style guide, so to speak, of the late lamented Johnson Publishing, owners of Ebony and Jet magazines. They routinely capitalized "Black" (and "White").
Do you know how much those capital letters COST?
Why do you think they call it CAPITAL, Huh??!!
The Emperor's New Clothes: first as warning, second as sketch comedy. With not one, but two naked emperors.
It's painful that we've known "a time when we were making progress and it was easier to hope," and that newer ways forward are so uncertain. Whatever the paths, we know this will always be minority rule. There will never be a reason not to mock those grotesque goons.
The Emperors, Deluded, Will Never Be Denuded!
Hey, how come "denuded" means to strip something bare, but "nuded" means the same thing? /Rick Moranis as George Carlin
It's like flammable and inflammable
Keep goin' you guys – you're on FIRE!
And how come chickens (who don't fly) get the bird flu?
People who need to cope are the people who understand the implications of the actions being reported to them. Right now that's a minority of all Americans, because to the majority it is all theoretical and largely irrelevant to their lives. What does a real estate agent in Des Moines care about foreign aid? Yeah, I know: the loss of foreign markets to farmers is Ioway is gonna hurt that agent, eventally. But its a microcosm of the relationship most Americans have to the federal government. They pay taxes and everything just works, somehow. A minority of them have been convinced thst if they just remove the taxes and regulations, everything will just keep working, and their lives will be better. Its gonna take a while for this ocean liner to sink, but when it does there will be hell to pay, because if there is 1 thing every American agrees on, its that they don't like being made uncomfortable. Republicans are going to try and blame it all on Democrats and DEI because its always worked before. This cycle will continue until the Democratic party realizes they are in an existential war with the Republican party, and the system needs extensive change if they want to preserve it.
Dunno, if people can get worked up about ridiculous bullshit that has nothing to do with their daily lives (like "Fairness in women's swimming") why can't they get worked up about kids going hungry in a refugee camp in Sudan? Not talking about the "Let 'em starve" assholes, I'm convinced they're a minority.
They get "worked up" because of a relentless pounding of propaganda into their heads by a host of sources. Cable networks, YouTube channels, social media accounts with millions of followers, newsletters, radio hosts, newspapers, Sinclair broadcast TV, its an endless list.
The 27% need therapy. The rest need deprogramming. They're not bound to the lies, simply confused by them, and as good Americans mostly want it all to go away. The Democratic party and its supporters need to start making simple, clear moral arguments in the Frank Capra style. The bullshit must be cut through rather than debated or countered. Choices neef to be forced to be made, and it needs to be presented in the simplest and clearest way possible.
Sure, sign me up. My only point is that we needn't limit ourselves to "Here's how Trump will hurt YOU" as if voters are all robots motivated solely by calculations of rational self-interest (a rock-solid belief among those in the Democrat consultant-class) but, as you say, allow for some Capra-esque stuff, based on the notion that normal human beings can care about other human beings, even people they don't know, even people different from themselves.
I'ma the opinion that them what wants to drive on smooth roads and breathe clean air and drink clean water would be more likely to go along with the public programs to achieve those things if we forced them to experience the alternatives...:
"Oh, you voted for the mapdebaser? Well, then, you get to drive that washed out ditch hanging precariously above the sheer drop to certain death. Drive REEEEALLLL slow for the rest of your natural-born days."
"Oh, so you voted for the guy who eviscerated the Dept of Agriculture? Enjoy your mystery meat! What's that? How about a prime sirloin? Sorry, pal – the grass-fed good stuff is reserved for folks with a proof-of-voting for the other candidate."
"Oh, so you want real water to slosh around in that glass with the bourbon? Well enjoy this stuff here we pailed outta the brook just downstream of the effluent outfall from Methyl Ethyl Death Inc. Sorry boyo, it' all there is."
I sort of agree. Normally I'm not a fan of the "they made their bed" argument, but the Democratic party is wasting a huge opportunity to warn people of what is coming.
I hear you about the made-bed, but I've often thought that an all-expenses paid trip to, say, Omaha, for any otherwise-never-left-Mississippi stay-at-home, might work wonders. I use Omaha because I actually lived there for awhile, and despite its massive failings* (and as reactionary as Nebraska is), that city has some charm, location, and Things Worth Keeping. I could have said 'San Francisco', but the terror its name would impart in the uninitiated would simply throttle them before they got off the plane...
*Eternal Truth: No Perfect Place
Its not a black-and-white world, despite the best efforts of the Republican party. A field trip to Mississippi is just a version of my "Americans won't notice what's going on until they get punched in the mouth" argument. I'm still convinced that what is happening is enabled by the deep-rooted apathy of the Average American, who has spent their life living in a country where everything just works, and they don't know how or why, they simply assume it always has and always will. They're gonna find out how wrong they are, and when they do the Republicans are going to throw every meme they've got at blaming anything other than themselves. How the Average American reacts will determine our future.
The Democratic party has 2 jobs, which they seem woefully unprepared for; fix blame on the Republican party, not just Trump, and if they manage to aquire any power do a major overhaul of the fundamental systems they are trying to protect, meaning the Supreme Court, the rules and structure of Congress, voting, and the office of the Presidency. The Republican party has corrupted and co-opted all of this, and it won't just bounce back into shape while the Republican party and the billionaires funding them exist. Trump is just their hype man.
Omaha is not that reactionary anymore. It voted D in the last 2 Presidential elections
I'm hip. The Omaha/Lincoln Axis is a melange of contradictions buried within the seamless reactionary state. And as I always say, home of the Best Americano in America...