A Bad Case of Disillusionment

 

Got to admit, I'm dealing with a pretty big wave of disillusionment with the nature and behavior of the United States. No, this state of mind was not brought on by the Orange Buffoon, although he is more of a symptom of how things have gone wrong. No, I do not consider Joe Biden a failure, but events do seem to have moved faster than his administration has been able to anticipate. Long story short, things are still going to shit and I coming to think there is nothing the sane and rational people can do.

My one real criticism of President Biden is that he seems to be trying to play the normal game of American politics while Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican power structure have gone full kleptocracy/Authoritarian dictatorship. Giving the Son of a Bitch McConnell his due, the bastard has played corrupt politics like a master. All the while mouthing off asinine statements about everyone needing to respect the rules of the senate with a straight face.

If history ever needs a face to identify the individual who did the most to destroy the United States it will be Mitch McConnell. But I honestly can't say McConnell is the only reason for my disillusionment.

The majority of the people on the right of the American political spectrum are simply insane. Listing all the ways those people have lost their minds would take too long and I simply don't have the energy to rant about it anymore. Here's where I would normally say that I know there are good people on the right. But while they are out there, their numbers are vanishingly small to the point of insignificance.

My one sentence explanation for this situation is that right-wingers have become addicted to fear. They fear the “other” and want desperately a return to a white dominated America. They'll betray every facet of American ideals and principles to see that happen.

But never fear, the left of American politics is as usual lost and without a true game plan. To a far lesser extent, they are just as beholding to their money masters and their own antiquated behaviors. But given how American politics are run, they are the only reasonably sane people in the game.

Most of all, the young people of the country, those that will need to find the strength and knowledge to fix the problems seem adrift. From what I read, many have given up and surrendered figuring they will never be able to own a home, raise a family under the same conditions as their parents, or even retire.

Still rambling here but in a way I think the overall problem can be summed up in that the complexities of life in the twenty-first century have outpaced the intelligence of the general American public. We do not have the education, the energy, nor the ethics anymore to answer to the challenges we face as a nation.

I hope I'm wrong but as of right now and the foreseeable future I think we're massively screwed.

Real Dangers to Democracy

Okay, I'll make this brief because I've got people coming to remove some storm damaged trees. What does a dangerously authoritarian-leaning political party do when they can't win elections? You got it, they change election laws in the state legislatures they control. 

What does the other political party do to TRY and avoid having elections stolen? You write a bill that prevents the other party from destroying democracy. What's seriously tragic though is to have the Democratic senators from West Virginia and Arizona sabotage the process.  

On another front for those who don't realize this, we're at war with Russia. We have been at least since the November 2016 election, although it has probably been going on for years before that. While the recent pipeline cyber-attack was supposedly done by non-government hackers they have been traced to Russia. It would take strong evidence to convince me something like this happened in Putin's personal kingdom with him not knowing about it.

Putin is engaging in a curious form of asymmetric warfare with the United States. Numerous news reports over the years all suggest Putin blames the United States for the breakup of the Soviet Union. Putin's inference in American elections is certainly an attempt to spread dissension and chaos in this country. It wouldn't be hard to convince me now given his success that he and his cronies may believe they can actually breakup the United States as a form of revenge for his beloved Soviet Union.   

Understand something, for the most part I trust science and scientists. Of course where science gets sticky is when you have paid lackeys like the "scientists", who while employed by cigarette companies, claimed smoking didn't cause health issues. 

The same can be said for current day "scientists" who work for oil companies and claim Climate change is overblown or not caused by humans. But for the most part if an unbiased scientist with strong evidence says something I'm usually going to side with that person.   

No science is not a religion but it's a process that has been extremely useful in discovering how the world and universe works. Over the centuries since applying this process we have made the lives of billions of people far better. No science isn't perfect and the pursuit of knowledge can be a double-edged sword causing untold death and destruction.

In some ways we've been lucky with the Covid virus. It could have been far deadlier and with the idiots running around denying basic science and politicizing something trivial like wearing face masks the damage would have been far worse. I write this realizing well over half a million people died from Covid here in the United States.

The insanity of our times is exemplified when you have racists morons, like the ones on Fox News, spreading outright lies about the vaccines that could end this pandemic.  

  

Agent of Chaos

 

 

 The absolute last thing I wanted to do was write another political post. It was my hope that with January 20^th drawing near the crisis that had began back in November 2016 would be drawing to a close. But the sacking of the United States Capitol last Wednesday by nothing less than insurrectionists out to overthrow the United States Government made that impossible.

Make no mistake, the sacking of the Capitol was something that was destined to happen. Mainly because a deranged narcissist was able to slime his way to power while stoking age old fears and prejudices.

But also because there is a huge segment of the American population that neither understands the concept nor principles of democracy. To these people, the vast majority being white, believes democracy and freedom means getting what they want before anyone else. And that if they are not eligible for some service or benefit, it is either a waste of “taxpayer dollars” or being abused by segments of the American population they consider alien or unworthy.

It was easy for the white majority of America to ultimately, but reluctantly, acquiesce to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s because they felt on top of the world. Factory jobs were plentiful, there was a growing economy, and as far as they were concerned they understood society and had it firmly under their control. During these times, white folks were fat and happy with beer in the fringe, a boat in the backyard, and a color television in the living room. During such times it's easy to talk shit about spreading freedom and democracy and being the “Shining City on a Hill.”

But the world got complicated with new groups demanding a voice in society. Nothing scares white folks like their preconceived notions of what is normal and moral being challenged. But most of all it was the American economy showing signs that it wasn't necessarily the unstoppable force it was at the end of the Second World War.

Such things as Japanese cars became dependable and cheap along with the manufacture of heavy duty items like televisions and washing machines were completely moved overseas taking the good paying jobs with them. What manufacturing jobs that remain here in the United States became excessively streamlined with benefits and pay for blue collar types cut to “help the company.”

Blue collar workers accepted such compromises becoming something akin to willing serfs while the professional suits up in the swanky offices exponentially increased their salaries and gave themselves fantasy-level bonuses. The most amazing thing about this development was how the blue collar types came to believe the rich suits were on their side. That it was the poor and disadvantaged who are the ones wrongly sucking the life out of the economy.

What we ended up with is a white American underclass frustrated and unable to understand why the Hispanic, African-American, Asian, or any other group not them was moving up in the world. It was an easy recipe for societal estrangement and for a narcissistic demagogue to use to his advantage.

It's a historical given that past societies often sow the seeds of their own destruction. That the very strengths and actions that once made them successful turn sour over time and bring about their downfall. In my opinion, we are in just such a situation and whether we can weather this storm is open to question. The most dangerous aspect we face is the monster we let inside the heart of our government. He's very much a cornered rat possessing a disgruntled army of people all too willing to commit atrocities..

 

After the Ball Dropped

 

Back in January of 2020, there were a lot of people posting stuff on the internet about how that year would be the start of a new decade of hope and understanding. It was troubling and unrealistic display of unbridled optimism and deranged good cheer in the face of numerous warnings that a massive amount of human waste had hit the tabletop air recirculating device and was flying our way.

I wasn't having any part in that internet delusion. On New Year's Day 2020, I posted an essay saying we were already FUBARed and that things were going to get worse. I can't fully describe how much it sucked to be right beyond my worst nightmare. No, I didn't see the pandemic coming, although do I vaguely remember hearing several news stories in December of 2019 about a troubling outbreak of a flu-like illness in China. I remember reading about those stories the same time my ass was living it up on an all inclusive Caribbean cruise.

No, my reoccurring nightmare last January revolved around the Orange Buffoon and the November election. This is where I could also mention how back in November of 2016 I wrote that OB would burn the country down if he lost in 2020, and dammit I was right again. The Orange Buffoon has engaged in an actual coup to overturn what his own people have called the most secure and fair election in recent memory.

Proving that we are in a definite low-point in American history and courage, the vast majority of Republican senators and congresspeople are going along with OB's attempt at wrecking the United States Constitution.

The little good news I can manage in this ongoing clusterfrak is that OB will fail and that President Biden will be a reality at noon on January 20^th. The overwhelming bad news that I can't shake is that despite being responsible for the deaths of thousands of people from the pandemic, the Orange Buffoon almost won the reelection. No the election wasn't as close as it was in 2016 with just seventy-something thousand votes in key swing states giving OB an electoral college win. But given the Buffoon's behavior and open misconduct, it should have been far more of a landslide for Biden than it was in reality.

So here goes my prediction for the new year. It's going to seem a lot like 2020 for several more months. After that who the Hell knows, although I'm not feeling any warm fuzzies.

Shocking the Monkey

 

 Since the beginning of the Trump era far too many people have been struggling to reconcile the hateful nature of MAGA supporters with their common beliefs about the general goodness of human nature. This extends even to myself because during the initial phases of the 2016 presidential campaign I would have never believed such crude and corrupted individual as the Orange Buffoon would be nominated by the Republican Party, much less actually become president.

Understand, way back before the 2008 election both my stomach turned and my eyes rolled whenever someone spoke dreamily about the glorious nature of a “post-racial America” since Barrack Obama was heavily favored to win that election.

To assume centuries of racial discrimination and oppression would suddenly evaporate with the election of the United States' first black president definitely leaned heavily into the realm of fantasy. However, it did seem unthinkable to me that anyone would seriously consider a clearly immoral and outright racist individual as the Orange Buffoon occupying the highest office in the United States.

In short, I fully expected that Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz would have been the 2016 nominee. The former a simple but dependable rehash of his father and brother. As for the latter, I thought he was the absolute outer edge of the rancid Republican value of profit over people and the party's hateful and skewed societal views.

Recently though I was reminded of the experiments performed by Professor Stanley Milgram at Yale University in the 1960s. These experiments involved how people look at authority and obedience.

In fact Milgram's research can, in my opinion, best be summed up in one of his quotes from 1974. “The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not such much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he acts.”

His experiment involved the recruitment of individuals using newspaper ads which each person was paid $4.50. These recruits were then told they would take the role as a “teacher” who would be asking a series of questions to a “student” in another room they could not see.

On a table in front of the teacher would be an intimidating device that Milgram said was a shock generator with the student in the next room attached to the business end of the machine. The teacher was told to give the student a shock every time they gave the wrong answer to the asked question . These shocks started at 30 volts and increased in 15-increments for every wrong answer going all the way up to 450 volts.

Increasing the stress on the teacher, the switches on the shock device were labeled with terms such as “slight shock,” “moderate shock” and “danger: severe shock.” The final two switches were labeled with nothing but “XXX” suggesting something darker.

Understand, while these teachers believed they would be applying an electric punishment for wrong answers, the students in the next room were perfectly safe and just play acting at the direction of Milgram.

As the experiment progressed the student's reaction to the electrically shocks got increasingly more desperate. The teacher would hear the student in the next room pleading to be released or even that he had a heart condition. Once they reached the 300 volt level the student would bang on the wall demanding to be released. Beyond that point the student went silent and refused to answer any more question. The teacher was instructed to treat the silence as an incorrect response and deliver further shocks.

At that point the teacher would ask the controller of the experiment if they should continue. The controller would respond with a series of commands to prod the teacher to continue:

1. “Please continue.”

2. “The experiment requires that you continue.”

3. “It is absolutely essential that you continue.”

4. “You have no other choice, you must go on.”

You'd think a normal person playing the role of teacher would at least stop shocking the student once the supposed test subject started pleading that the voltage was too painful. But in reality 65 percent of the teacher participates continued to apply the maximum shocks to their unresponsive and unseen students. It was noticed during the experiments, that many of the teachers became extremely distraught and angry at the controllers but continued to follow orders all the way to the end.

The immediate question has to be why did the teacher-participates continued applying painful shocks to an unseen student? The general answer is that the presence of an authority figure (controller) increased compliance. The fact that a trusted academic institution, Yale University sponsored the experiment lead many of the participants to believe it was safe, even after the student became unresponsive.

Milgram summed up his experiment with this statement: “Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work becomes patently clear, and they are asked to carry out action incompatible fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.”

So you might be wondering how all this ties into my point. Having the Orange Buffoon as president clearly gave license to the worst aspects of human nature. The natural authority that comes with holding that office allowed the Buffoon to give voice to all those barely hidden hates and fears, giving them an environment they could easily thrive. Sort of like the way mold loves to grow in wet and humid places.

For me, the worst aspect of having to live through such a repugnant individual's reign is that the damage the Orange Buffoon's done will not whither away with him out of office. Because once a mold like him takes hold in a house the repair work to get rid of it will be extensive and costly. Truthfully, taking the mold analogy further, Lincoln warned us of a house divided being unable to stand. The Orange Buffoon's mold might have already metastasized to the point the house is now contaminated beyond the ability of anyone to save it.

Nothing proves this point more than all the Republican congressmen who signed on in support of the Texas lawsuit attempting to overturn the election results in critical swing states. This was nothing less than an attempted coup to reinstall a delusional thug who harbored dreams of authoritarian power. Even after the Texas lawsuit was struck down, numerous fools in the Republican party started speaking about their states succeeding from the Union.

Even if the Orange Buffoon is in jail or dies between now and 2024, there are plenty of others who will take up his debauched mantle. 

 

Source:

Milgram's Experiment and the Perils of Obedience, VeryWellMind.com, September 16, 2019

 https://www.verywellmind.com/the-milgram-obedience-experiment-2795243

Hoping for Better Days

 

Okay, yesterday was a great day! Pennsylvania finally turned blue, sending Biden over 270 electoral votes needed and mostly ending the nightmare we've been living with since November 2016. Yeah, President-elect Biden's inauguration isn't until January 20^th but we've made it this far. I'm hoping the White House staff has enough backbone and sense to begin limiting the Orange Buffoon's power.

My hope and good humor has its limits though. We didn't take the senate and lost seats in the House. This probably means next to no major reforms or programs are going to be approved. That means no extra judges for the Supreme Court, nor bringing the Green New Deal to life.

There is already noise from the radical Progressives about “being left out to dry” by the mainstream Democrats. I agree with a lot of their ideas but getting them enacted is going to require a lot of time and work.

And even funnier, Mitt Romney was on NBC's Meet the Press this morning mouthing off about how this election proved most Americans are actually quite conservative. So in other words, they're going to be bitching about the federal deficit right after Biden takes the oath of office. Not a single word from them about the deficit the entire time OB is in office destroying the country and siding with our enemies. But with a President Biden in office all those roaches will be scurrying about on every news show and ranting about fiscal doom.

Still though, the tumor will be removed and maybe a President Biden will be able to build some political bridges. One can hope and dream for better, saner days.

A True FUBAR Moment For the United States

 

 

Yeah, I'm going to clearly spell it out for any smirking, low-brow, semi-literate, misinformed right-winger who might still occasionally read my humble ramblings. As of this moment I am a nervous wreck over the upcoming election. Because this is a true turning point in history, not too dissimilar from when the Roman Republic fell ushering in the age of the Caesars.

I view the Orange Buffoon getting another four years occupying the White House as the death knell of not only American democracy but of the country itself. No exaggeration, no hyperbole, no overly dramatic acting like you might see on a bad television drama. For me the United States of America will be officially over, it will definitely go on in name for a few more decades with carefully choreographed elections that always end in with some handpicked chump taking office. Whether that is an actual Orange Buffoon family member or someone handpicked by the reigning dynasty I have no idea.

Truthfully it will probably be a little of both, it is common knowledge that both Don Jr. and Ivanka want to be president. And since both of the Buffoon's preferred offspring feel they occupy the same privileged status as their father, them running for president is a near certainty. With another four years to further fuck-over American politics I see them easily “winning” elections in the same manner as the North Korean trolls with margins close to ninety percent. But just to keep the facade of legitimacy, I figure they'll throw in a few no-name placeholders every now and then to keep the Oval Office warm.

The best example of this practice is when Dmitry Medvedev “won” the Russian presidency after Putin served two terms, which meant he couldn't constitutionally run again. At the end of Medvedev's term, where Putin served as Prime Minister, Dmitry graciously stepped aside so Putin could return to the post. Now with recent Russian electoral reforms, Putin will probably rule Russia until the day he dies. A reasonably informed and rational person will remember that several years ago the Orange Buffoon said he admired how China had went to a lifetime presidency, and that he hoped the United States might try such an idea.

Now I understand why Trump is your guy, because dim-witted and incurious folks can't be bothered to actually try and figure out the our complicated world. That the Buffoon makes things sound simple and easy to overcome. Well, you guys also love how he sticks it to libtards with his manly persona. But mainly I think its because Trump hates the people and groups you right-wingers despise. Trump can make a mockery of everything you claim to be about like morals and fiscal responsibility and being respected by the world and you guys and gals cheer mindlessly along.

It still surprises me how easily Trump supporters shook off the “pussy grabbing” video and the clear evidence that he was balling a porn star while his third wife was pregnant. That's unparalleled moral hypocrisy, especially for the evangelicals who claim a special, direct relationship with God. In a way the whining about budget deficits during the Obama years is even more ridiculous. The black guy inherits a fiscal disaster and doesn't catch a minute of slack from the self-appointed watchdogs of the federal budget, the loudmouth Tea Baggers. But Trump takes office, passes a massive tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the wealth elites which sends the federal budget back into trillion dollar deficits-- years BEFORE the pandemic-- and the Tea Baggers are no where to be found.

The darkly funniest item is the utter delusion you right-wingers share about being respected in the world because of Trump. If only you dim-witted imbeciles could watch a news source not devoted to third-grade level propaganda. The world is laughing at Trump, not just a few ungrateful allies but our enemies as well. Worse yet, we are pitied by the world for Trump's criminal mishandling of the pandemic. I'll write it again just to be clear, to the rest of the world Trump is a joke.

The scariest thing in all this is Trump's goading of outright violence between Americans. You right-wingers have been talking about civil war at least since President Obama won his first term. You slack dick pansies parade around in public carrying tricked out assault weapons but have the insane gall to believe it will be the liberals who start the blood flowing in the streets. Then again you brag to each other about how its your side that possess all the weapons and how taking out the libtards and other troublesome groups will be a piece of cake.

So yeah, this coming Tuesday and the following days will be a nerve racking bitch for me. While the vast majority of the polls suggest Joe Biden will be the next president you guys clearly aren't playing by the normal rules. But if the Orange Buffoon pulls a electoral rabbit out of a hat, or simply steals the election I believe things will be far worse.

Dawn of the Republican Zombies

 

A few years back a famous science communicator about lost his shit when during a podcast someone asked a question about zombies. I'm not a big fan of this particular science communicator since he tends to dwell on pop culture more than actual science and when he does stay on subject, like astrophysics, he explains things like you would to a first grader.

Now I understood this science person's frustration, undead zombies were the pop cultural darlings of that time with several hit television shows, a couple of movies, and numerous books being published. There were even survivalist clubs being formed to “prepare” for a zombie apocalypse. Which to their sane members were more role-playing game organizations than an actual end-of-the-world groups.

The problem though is that undead zombies do exist in a fashion. Not literally with half-decayed, reanimated corpses roaming the country looking to bite the living, but rather politically in the form of Republican conservatism.

While Barry Goldwater is considered the grandfather of modern conservatism, like most I'd have to say Ronald Reagan was its father. Being overly kind here, but Reagan's election to the presidency in 1980 was an answer to the perceived accesses of liberalism and the failure to get tough with communism. Truth be told, while I am exceedingly liberal in most respects, I do feel that during the 1970's liberalism itself lost its way. In short and simple terms, I believe liberalism as a movement was suffering from all the shocks and terrible events that occurred during that time.

It was everything from the JFK assassination, LBJ's insistence to increase our presence in Vietnam, riots and civil unrest throughout the nation, the assassination of Martin Luther King and RFK, to the radical left's abandonment of Hubert Humphrey in 1968. The end result was a disorientated and exhausted movement that as usual with politicians, became more about acquiring power and holding onto it. Sure, there were plenty of examples of liberal politicians doing their jobs, but in the face of news reports of “welfare mothers” dropping more babies for bigger government checks and expensive and ridiculous pork barrel projects, the election of 1980 seemed a natural reaction.

Here's the paradox though, initially this empowered Republican conservatism portrayed itself as having the moral high ground. Back in the 1980's, they claimed to be defenders of faith, morals, fiscal responsibility, and the rightful protectors of American liberties. And today, nothing shows the zombification of Republican conservatism than how the majority has thrown their support behind an individual who has literally betrayed every one of those principles.

Before entering politics, conservatism's Orange Messiah openly displayed a lifestyle that made a mockery of both legitimate faith and morals. Each of his marriages ended because of affairs with the next woman who would become his next wife. Then we have his extracurricular activities with numerous porn stars. Never one to be outdone by some Arkansas huckster, Orange Messiah also faces numerous accusations of sexual abuse and outright rape. The truly bizarre thing is that he's on tape clearly bragging about getting away with those types of actions and laughing about it.

As for his promise to balance the federal budget in his first term, the budget deficit shot back through the White House roof long before the pandemic appeared. In his last year in office President Obama had brought down the federal deficit considerably, only to have the Orange Messiah pass a tax cut through the Republican-controlled houses of Congress that jacked it back up to a trillion dollars a year.

I'm not the type to blame the mainstream media for anything, the men and women who work in that field have a difficult job in the sane, normal times of American politics. But the Black Guy wasn't comfortable in his post-presidency life when all talk of the federal budget deficit dropped off the nightly news. Now with the pandemic, Orange Messiah and his spineless acolytes casually toss around trillions of dollars without even mentioning the deficit. Doesn't anyone else remember several United States senators losing their shit over President Obama wanting to spend extra money to provide disaster relief to people here in the United States? Those elephant bitches whined that President Obama would have to transfer funds from other agencies and departments to pay such actions that helped Americans!

To a certain extent all those hypocrisies are standard practices, even in sane times. Neither political party has never been free from corruption and lets me honest here, a certain level of backroom negotiations and under the table deals are required to grease the wheels of government. But since the dawn of the Reagan Revolution these compromises have only snowballed and become less the exceptions and more the rule.

Perhaps the best example of the undead zombie nature of Republican conservatism is how it willingly consorts with our international enemies and adversaries. It's unbelievable but in a lot of ways Republicans have gone from the party of national security to having many of it members depending on our enemies to run interference for them in elections. I honest to God wish Reagan could come back for a couple of days just to see his reaction to the Orange Messiah dropping his pants and bend over so Putin could get his satisfaction.

The most dangerous example of Republican zombification has to be the talk of civil war coming from adherents to the Orange Messiah. Internet videos abound of deadly earnest militia types that say any defeat of Trump at the polls is fake and that they will fight. These people openly brag about taking to the streets and spilling blood of those they hate. I've talked to these people and there is an awful glee in their statements akin to a child hoping Santa fulfills his or her wishes. They have bought far too many guns and ammo for it all just to gather dust in some cabinet.

Republican conservatism is no longer a living political philosophy but a bankrupt, conspiratorial cult whose majority of member are abject racists. For the rich and powerful conservatism is now just an excuse to protect their interests at the expense of everyone else. For the uneducated, conservatism is cover for their ancient bigotries and unwillingness to adapt to a changing world. It's easier for them to whine about the good old days and plan their dark, action movie-inspired fantasies than try to adjust to the demands of this era.

I'd like to say zombie Republican conservatives are just a fanciful and ridiculous creation of my bored mind. But in truth they are a real danger looking for any reason to spill American blood this November.

News From Venus

 

 Not being a fan of Russia or anything else associated with those assholes, I cynically laughed a few weeks back when the chief of the Russian space program staked a claim on the planet Venus. It's just another in a long list of nationalistic posturings by Russia wanting to bolster its confidence and global street cred. For example a few years back guys in a deep diving Russian submersible planted a tiny version of their national flag on the seafloor directly under the North Pole ice sheet. The Russian press release went on about that accomplishment being equal setting foot on the moon.

“We think that Venus is a Russian planet, so we shouldn't lag behind.” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space corporation, Rocosmos said about an upcoming mission to the hellhole planet. Why the love of a planet encased in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide where it rains sulfuric acid and the surface temperature can melt lead?

Well giving the devil its due, Russia is the only country that landed a working probe on the surface and was able to take pictures. Now the downside is also true in that Russia is batting next to zero getting any of their other probes to Mars, a much more interesting and “habitable” place. And while they did get some impressive firsts in the early days of manned space flight, their plans to get to the moon literally blew up on the launchpad so many times, the Soviets pulled a Chernobyl-level classification on their efforts that lasted to well after the fall of communism. So “claiming” Venus sort of makes sense for a people who have only limited success beyond the moon and never left eighteenth-century imperialism behind.

Understand I'm not here to cast shade on the Russians. Truth be told I find Americans almost as equally obnoxious and ignorant with the United States only saving grace being that we haven't quite fallen into the authoritarian trap Russian finds itself. There's still a chance we Americans could pull our collective heads out of our asses and and be decent citizens of this planet.

Given the conditions on Venus my interest in the planet was pretty nonexistent. Now there is talk among planetary science types that as “recently” as seven-hundred-million years ago Venus might have had Earth-like conditions including oceans of liquid water. But something went sideways and its atmosphere became increasingly warmed by the greenhouse effect to the point global temperatures went critical and the water boiled away.

Over the decades a bunch of science fiction authors have wrote about terraforming the planet back to something livable. But to the best of my meager knowledge most scientific estimates of the Goldilocks Zone -the region of the solar system where liquid water could exist under certain conditions- puts Venus beyond the inner edge. Meaning to me at least that Venus is a total write off for manned exploration and settlement.

Well, shit got weird on September 14 of this year when scientists at two different radio telescope sites detected the compound phosphine in Venus's atmosphere about fifty-five kilometers above the surface. Turns out phosphine is a possible signature of life on other planets because anaerobic bacteria here on Earth produce phosphine as part of their biological processes.

In short, anaerobic organisms do NOT require oxygen for growth and may react negatively to the presence of it in their environment. Which is good for any possible bacteria-like organisms floating high up in the atmosphere of Venus because the planet has only tiny trace amounts. No, anaerobic bacteria are not some speculative or rare lifeform, in fact humans have quite of lot of the little buggers living in their gastrointestinal tract. When they get uppity humans can develop such illnesses at appendicitis, diverticulitis, or perforations of the bowel.

For the unenlightened individuals among us who like border walls, they're may be potentially alien invaders living in your gut. Let's see your deranged orange messiah build a wall and deport them back to their shithole birthplace.

Back on a serious note, the reason the astrobiology types are even mentioning anaerobic processes being responsible for the presence of phosphine is because Venus's harsh environment would normally break it apart. So some source is obviously replenishing the phosphine and while here on Earth that would mean bacteria, the possibility of it being something other than life can't be ruled out. However, we have no idea what non-biological process might account for the supply of phosphine. Obviously, further observations and even mission to Venus will be required to determine what exactly is going on in the clouds of Venus.

Going back to the days when the conditions on Venus was discovered, serious science types speculated even then about lifeforms floating in the clouds well above the hellish regions close to the surface. Somewhere around fifty-five kilometers above the surface of the planet temperatures fall to more livable levels. The sulfuric acid rain Venus is also famous for occurs below that level as well.

So incredibly, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that we could have a complex biosphere in the clouds of Venus. One scientist even speculated about jellyfish-like creatures lazily drifting in wind doing their own jellyfish-like things.

It also has to be mentioned that given the relative closeness of Venus, and Mars for that matter, any life found on those planets could have originated any of the others. That goes for Earth as well, meaning that life here might have sprung up on the other two and due to a volcanic eruption or massive impact threw life-bearing rocks into space that eventually fell to the surface. From there that primitive life did what all life does and eat, reproduce, and spread out.

Venus is not the only planet in our solar system where life might be floating in the clouds. In Carl Sagan's original Cosmos television series back in the 1980s, he speculated on lifeforms living in the clouds of Jupiter. But I believe he admitted that such a thing was highly unlikely given the chaotic and harsh conditions believed to exist in that environment.

More to the point back in the 1980s, the most accepted opinion was that the rest of our solar system was completely devoid of life. Since then there is considerable evidence to suggest that the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, the underground regions of Mars, and now Venus have a strong chance to harbor lifeforms. If I had my way, and a couple of trillion dollars within easy reach, we would be finding out as fast as possible. 

 

Sources:

"Venus is a Russian Planet-- Say the Russians"

CNN.com September 18, 2020

"Life on Venus? Scientists Hunt for the Truth" 

Nature.com October 2, 2020 

World War Four

 

Karl Marx famously stated once that religion was the opiate of the masses. Sure, I'll buy that for the most part but here in the United States the OxyContin of the great unwashed is conspiracy theories. The land of the free and home of the brave is now awash in all manner of bizarre and brazenly stupid and semi-suicidal theories about malevolent forces plotting behind closed doors to bring an end to all that is good and righteous.

The overwhelming majority of the time the second anyone I'm around brings up a conspiracy theory, I suddenly remember a desperately urgent errand that has to be accomplished before that person starts spouting his or her insanity. Personally, any story or premise that even hints at a National Enquirer-level of intelligence I immediately classify the spreader of such information a worthless fool.

Here's the problem though, all conspiracy theories are not created equal. Most are indeed playthings for dangerous childish idiots such as President Obama orchestrating “Deep State” attacks of the Orange Buffoon's Administration. But a small minority dance just in the realm of the possible while not likely given their complex nature and the number of people who would be required to implement such plans.

But what if the perpetrators of these conspiracies don't really try to hide their activities?

Despite initially trying to hide their actions my favorite boogeyman, Russia, has been openly interfering in the elections of dozens of nations. Most notably, from my point of view, are the elections here in the United States with them going full court press back in 2016 to get the Orange Buffoon elected.

While Russian intelligence was able to hack into the voter rolls of various states in 2016, I haven't seen any strong evidence they were able to alter election results. There was more than enough idiots and fools who stayed home or voted third-party to throw the election. But the Russians have been proven to have engaged in an active, and eager, cooperation with the Trump Campaign as well as conducting a massive disinformation and propaganda program on social media that the idiots and fools bought hook like and sinker.

Here's where I begin to drift into what could be called the conspiratorial realm.

 

 

Way back in the late-1990 I read an article where a Russian professor by the name of Igor Panarin, who predicted the breakup of the United States and its balkanization into six different parts. Five of these new countries would then fall under the dominion of various powers like the European Union, Canada, Mexico, China or Japan. This Panarin believed independent Alaska would revert back to Russian control like it was in the first half of the nineteenth century. Truth be told, Russia has a bit of a neurotic fixation on Alaska since they feel the United States stole it from them.

But Russia is nursing more than a neurotic fixation on a lost piece of territory. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union certain powerful Russians and a good chunk of the general population have been nursing a heavy grudge against the United States. For a people who have always believed they were ordained by God to play a huge role in global destiny, going from a superpower to almost a failed-state would naturally cause physiological issues.

To a certain extent, I believe the powerful in Russia have gone beyond just holding a grudge and wanting to sow chaos in the United States to pursuing an active course of violent destabilization. The unexpected growth of bizarre conspiracy beliefs, such as the scary “QAnon” is just too convenient given that Russia is trying to reassert itself on the global stage.

A “normal nation” wanting to play in the geopolitical big leagues would mobilize its economic and military might achieve such goals. But Russia doesn't have the Gross Domestic Product, population, nor military resources available for such endeavors.

Sure, Russia is constantly producing nice artistic renderings of massive aircraft carriers, new manned space capsules, and other fancy toys only militarily and economically viable countries like the United States and China can produce. But while they are pursing a course of military modernization, they just don't have the economy nor population to maintain such programs.

In fact, like the late Senator John McCain said, Russia is just a glorified gas station whose only claim to global importance is their nuclear weapons. Unlike the United States, China, the European Union, and Japan no one wants any products from Russia like cars, televisions, airplanes, or any number of other pieces of technology. All they have is oil, and while it is currently a valuable product, in the years ahead its importance will steadily decline.

Throw in its declining birth rate, well below replacement level, there is little chance the Russian economy will be able to maintain its current standing. In other words, Russia is destined to fade in the global background as nations in Asia blow past them in importance.

But that isn't stopping Russia from wanting to reclaim what its sees as its lost status. So in my opinion it is pursuing a form of asymmetrical global warfare by funding various right-wing nationalist movements in Europe and its social media campaign here in the United States. This is more than just the old divide and conquer strategy, Russia is clearly working to discredit the European Union because a massive economic superpower made up of liberal nations might threaten all the autocrats and plutocrats living in and around the Kremlin.

But the United States holds a special place of hate in the Russian autocracy. Vlad Putin and any number of his cronies want to hurt the United States like they feel was done to them. While saying they have an active military-like plan to destroy the United States might be an overstatement, I truly believe they would be happy to see our cities burn and our people kill each other in the streets.

That they have centered their efforts of our centuries old racial divisions and fears, exacerbated by our own economic issues just shows they have been listening to Igor Panarin and others like him. 

 

Source:

"As If Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of the U.S." Wall Street Journal December 29, 2008

 

True Losers and Suckers

 

 

U.S. Armed Forced veterans are overwhelmingly a conservative bunch. It's a mindset that if you don't already have upon entering the service it's one that you'll eventually adopt in some fashion. See, what few of my fellow liberals and next to no progressives understand is that when your in combat or even just training for war there isn't any time to question the circumstances.

The orders handed down to any soldier, Marine, sailor, or airman have to be obeyed immediately and without question or people could die. I understand that sound dramatic and maybe even cliché, but it happens to be true. Military operations whether they be actual campaigns with real bombs and bullets flying or a field training exercise on a military post, being in the wrong place at the wrong time can get lots of people dead. And the one thing every member of the armed forces wants to avoid above getting themselves killed is being responsible for the deaths of others.

Many in the civilian world misinterpret this professional dedication as robotic and unthinking, that we soldiers, Marines, or whoever don't quite have the brainpower to avoid danger. Worse still, many convince themselves that anyone joining the military is already suffering a vital shortage in IQ points. That only brutes, bullies, or near-sociopaths would willingly surrender the control of their lives to get a chance to kill other human beings.

I'm not going to lie, some of those people do join the military. The same goes for such individuals that hear the call of crusade or want to live out their Rambo and Chuck Norris fantasies. But believe it or not, the officers and NCO's of all services have a pretty good record of weeding such mutants out of the service.

This begs the question often asked by members of the civilian world: why does any sane person join organizations where the pay is crap, the living conditions are at best cramped, and where you could suffer painful disfigurement or death? 

 

For the right reasons it has to be the benefits, whether they be medical for loved ones or educational for themselves. Being able to take you kid to a dependable doctor without having to worry about going bankrupt is pretty good reason. So is being able to pay for college without being weighed down by student loans.

Yes, patriotism is a good reason to join but so much mud has been mixed in those waters that we start drifting into territory where we have to watch out for brutes, bullies, and the near-sociopaths. I've personally know about leadership in one of my units cutting soldiers from a deployment roster because they advertised their desire to go Rambo or Chuck Norris on the locals. Such wannabe movie commandos don't like being a team player and have a tendency to get others killed.

Far too many misconceptions now exist between the the safe and soft civilian world and those of us who serve or have served. At one time it was safe to say that Republicans had at least some inkling about the sacrifices and tribulations members of the armed forces and their families suffered through. That many of the politically conservative members of our society having taken on the burdens and hardships of military service themselves understood the dedication it took to something greater than themselves.

Even though I'm politically liberal, I'll admit many of my Democratic cohorts are as self-centered, self-destructive, and oblivious to the nature of the real world as their Republican counterparts. Many on the political left refuse to understand that the world is a dangerous place. Even though it was made that way through corporate or old fashioned national imperialism, that doesn't give any other third-world country or group the right to kill Westerners. Yes, peace and reconciliation is the best way to solve the world's problems but that's a long hard road.

All that being said last week showed that while the liberal and progressives don't have much of, or any idea about what it takes to resist chaos. But now its become public what the Orange Buffoon truly thinks of the men and women who serve in the armed forces.

No I'm not surprised, the Orange Buffoon has never given one slight instance that he ever believed in anything that didn't make him money or got him laid. Even when he was nominally considered a New York Democrat, any of his appearances on television I happen to view left me feeling dirty and nausea afterward.

 

Being a twenty-one year veteran of the active army and National Guard with enough IQ points to spare for something other than eating and breathing, this news of his true feelings did make me laugh. We're talking about a family that got caught read handed stealing funds from a kids cancer charity. The Orange Buffoon and his parasitical offspring and assorted gold diggers don't give a damn about any other people but themselves.

The Orange Buffoon's one talent is his ability appeal to the fears and hate of the Marching Morons. He has never shown a drop of empathy to another human being and brags about playing all the angles when it comes promoting himself. Usually saying another human being has no redeeming qualities is a gross overstatement, but in Trump's case it happens to be true. I despise the man, his family, and all his sycophants to the point I worry about my mental health.

Strangely, I don't totally hate his rank and file supporters. Their inability to see through his deceptions and look beyond their own hates and fears makes them the true losers and suckers in this disaster.

Political Ramifications of Closed Temporal Loop Engineering

 

 The subject of time travel has been beat to death in every conceivable media format, including my humble but insightful and wise outlet. But after some deep, pointless thought, I feel the need to gather up the bones of this tired subject one more time and grind them to dust.

The reason for this foray began a couple of weeks ago while watching a documentary on wormholes. Which are theoretical connections between two distant point in space or time. The better description would be a blackhole that just happens to have an exit instead of dead end singularity crushing all in falling matter to an infinitely small point. Going massively simplistic but those wormholes are the only slightly feasible avenues to go backwards in time. Time machines, whether they be some H.G Wells Victorian-era looking device or a heavily modified DeLorean have no basis in reality.

A second impetus for doing another foray into temporal meandering had to do with a You Tube video I watched describing different points in history and what it would taken for a radical change in how those events unfolded. Yes, there were historical events that could have unfolded differently, radically changing the world. But these pivot points, according to the documentary, are quite rare.

For example armchair historians like me often speculate on what it would have taken to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire in the west. The problem being Rome didn't fall for just one easy reason. There were numerous interlocking factors that weakened Roman society to the point nothing could save it. Worse yet, even with the relatively minor factors some were so ingrained in the daily management of that civilization the average Roman couldn't imagine a different way of living. Off the top of my head the best example on that one would be the Emperor picking a successor. There was no established procedure, which often lead to bitter civil wars and enough palace intrigue to destroy the fabric of civil society. This says nothing about a foolish emperor picking a total incompetent or delusional psychopath to take his place.

Of course one of the possible historical points where events could have turned out differently was the American Civil War. Early in the conflict there were several times the Confederacy could have walked away with an easy victory. But as the war dragged on, and Union leadership improved the fate of the Confederate States became consistently darker.

My position is that the majority of historical events are like that or the fall of Rome. That there were just far too many combined factors that any one time traveling explorer could control. This includes such events like the outcome of the American Revolution and the rise of Hitler in Germany.

For the American Revolution, while Britain was the most powerful nation in the world at that time, the colonies were very far away making a set piece war quite difficult. While George Washington might have been defeated fighting the Brits by conventional means, a determined asymmetrical campaign would have eventually made the conflict too costly.

As for Germany, Hitler just didn't appear out of nowhere taking a wealthy and sophisticated nation down an evil path. Hitler's ideas and beliefs were common throughout Germany for centuries, he just used the circumstances of that time to his advantage to gain power. Someone going back in time and doing a John Connor on him would have probably lead to just another tyrant appearing in his place.

Understand that while Hitler had a talent controlling large numbers of people, his decision making skills when it came to war and logistics became increasingly insane as the Second World War raged. A less insane but more coherent Nazi leader might have been far more difficult for the Allies to defeat. In other words, while he plunged the world into chaos killing millions, someone else might have been far worse.

The same goes for our current real-life situation here in America. The Orange Buffoon is the result of decades of decline in the Republican Party. Just removing him will do nothing to correct the neared failed state condition of the United States Government. In fact, you can easily make a case that our national trajectory to our current situation began with the election of Richard Nixon to president back in 1968.

During that time we have a hopelessly intransigent Lyndon Johnson hellbent on victory in Vietnam. As support for the war here in the States goes sideways, LBJ is forced to abandon any plans for reelection. This sets up the big three of Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, and Robert Kennedy pursuing the nomination in his place. McCarthy's campaign falls apart while RFK is assassinated leaving a damaged Vice President Humphrey to take the nomination after a disastrous party convention.

So with a little help from George Wallace, Tricky Dick wins big and becomes president of the United States. This sends all those peace, free love, and Age of Aquarius types into the great cosmic abyss to later evolve into the “Me Generation” of the 70s and dirty stinking yuppies of the 80s.

Before that a paranoid Tricky Dick sends his henchmen to the Watergate Hotel to do a little breaking and entering. This leads to Tricky Dick having to resign with Ford becoming POTUS and picking up the disillusioned pieces of an angry and disgruntled population.

President Ford, a decent man, loses the 1976 presidential election because the country is still a mess. Jimmy Carter, and exceptionally good man, becomes president but is metaphorically run over by circumstance setting the stage for Reagan.

Ronny Raygun has the stupid good luck to be around as communism falls apart leading to First Bush coming after him. A distracted and disconnected First Bush is replaced by Slick Willy who while an able administrator can't keep is overactive dick in his pants. This brings Second Bush up to bat who is around when the 9/11 attacks scare and piss off the country.

Feeling the need to crusade and secure the blessings of big oil, Second Bush goes into Iraq ultimately bringing President Barrack Obama to the scene. Obama not only has clean up the Iraq mess, he has to manage an economic Chernobyl so the Great Recession doesn't become the Second Great Depression. Oh yeah, during this time the Republicans have slipped into the Twilight Zone of far right conspiracies and totally delusional ideas of moral and fiscal superiority.

Here we enter the Age of the Orange Buffoon in 2016 as all those descendants of the Age of Aquarius just can't make themselves vote for what they see as the “lesser of two evils.” I could drone on about that fucked up mindset and comment about how even if the “lesser evil” bullshit is true letting the greater evil win is approaching suicidal nihilism. But instead all I'll write that the Orange Buffoon has spent his time in office busily and productively dismantling American democracy.

Getting back to the time travel/changing history gimmick, I believe all this could have been avoided with one “small” change in to past events. That change is preventing the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

I hold that if RFK could have lived to win the nomination he could gave held together the blue collar Democrat types and the wacky peaceniks. George Wallace would still try to play the spoiler but the Kennedy legacy was exceptional powerful back then and might have been enough to send Tricky Dick to defeat and back home to California.

RFK's charisma and leadership skills might have been enough to forge an entirely different path for the country. His presidency could have cemented the reforms that began with his brother and were furthered by LBJ. It goes without saying that RFK would have almost certainly pulled us out of Vietnam quicker that Nixon.

There are times I feel the 1960s was the make or break era for the United States. In many ways America was at the pinnacle of its power and influence. Even with its systemic injustices our country, back then strove to do better, to live up to the principles set forth by every previous generation.

Don't get me wrong, we've never been saints and in fact we as a people are guilty of some hideous crimes. But I believe there was an overall desire to do better, to improve what we were given.

Now we seem to have not only given up but even abandoned the lip service we gave to our most cherish principles and ideals. We're a country now dedicated to increasing efficiency, maintaining an image, making greater profits, and worshiping the god of convenience. That if we can save a couple of bucks on a new coat we'll ignore that someone in China was forced into near slavery working in a factory with thousands of others in similar conditions.

The pinnacle of this mindset is of course the Orange Buffoon. To the small minded he is the epitome of the new American Dream. The Orange Buffoon is all image without a milligram of true substance. He is adept at playing angles and always ready to manipulate people for his benefit. But mainly the Orange Buffoon is exceptional good at hating and getting others to hate those that can't service him.

Even though the Orange Buffoon is much like Hitler in that he is the result of centuries of ignorance and unfounded arrogance, I believe he could have been avoided. That one small change in events could have pushed the world on an entirely different timeline. Of course, that different timeline would not have been utopia, it would certainly have its own flaws, disasters and persistent dangers. And yes, there would always be the chance that changing our history would lead to some darker event like nuclear war.

But right now if a wormhole opened up allowing me to save RFK, I would jump through and make sure he did not walk through that damn kitchen. It would be worth the risk to play god and alter our current dystopian present.

Dress Rehearsal to Being Disappeared

Unidentified thugs walking the streets

As human accomplishments go, the rule of law is a pretty recent invention. Understand I'm taking the entire scope of Homo sapien existence into consideration for that statement. For the vast majority of the time modern humans have walked the Earth, our species pursued a “might is right” philosophy with regard to small things like justice and decision making. Since I tend to drone on and become muddled in my own pomposity, I'll break it down further.

Like other primates, the big alpha male in human social structures usually decided what was cool and allowable. If he didn't like a particular individual and wanted him or her killed or didn't want to move the tribe to better hunting grounds the rest of the group had to go along. I'd hazard a guess and say a good bit of this behavior may even be ingrained in our DNA. Now understand having a big, unquestioned, powerful leader has generally been an evolutionary advantage for us naked primates. This was particularly useful when we lived on an ancient African savanna dealing with predators that had a taste for proto-humans.

But were “civilized” now with exponentially more complex and nuanced social structures requiring rules that are suppose to prevent narcissistic and delusional a-holes from destroying the principles we are supposed to hold dear, like justice and democratic values. So the Rule of Law was invented to set down guidelines and prevent Orange Buffoon-like abominations from running through the Constitutional china shop destroying the work of far superior men and women.

Well for various reasons since November 2016 we've let a dangerous Orange Buffoon live at the heart of what is supposed to be the greatest country of the world. And like the proverbial bull running through a china shop it daily does its best to destroy everything it doesn't like or understand.

The latest and probably worst offense to date is taking place in Portland, Oregon. Under the guise of protecting federal property and stopping rioters, Department of Homeland Security forces are employing the same tactics used in tyrannical police-states. Federal agents, wearing no identification, and driving around in unmarked vehicles are snatching people off the streets taking them to undisclosed locations for “questioning.” Back in saner times (pre-November 2016), this country would have condemned similar actions done anywhere else in the world.

With what amounts to a Secret Police running around the streets of an American city kidnapping anyone who they want we've entered a level of scary reserved for dystopian fiction.

Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off.

Mark Pettibone, one of the protesters in Portland told Oregon Public Broadcasting what happened to him:

“I am basically tossed into the van,” Pettibone said. “And I had my beanie pulled over my face so I couldn’t see and they held my hands over my head.”

Pettibone goes on to admit that he and his friend were out that night but hadn't done anything like spray painting buildings of shining lasers into the eyes of law enforcement officers. Essentially, these agents were grabbing anyone they saw and taking them to a location to be held in custody. Officers did eventually read Pettibone his Miranda Rights, without telling him why he was being arrested, and attempted to get him to answer questions without an attorney present. After Pettibone declined he was released about ninety-minutes later without any “paperwork, citation, or record of his arrest.”

My own thoughts here, but untold thousands of people have been disappeared under similar circumstances in other police-state countries around the world. It wasn't too many years ago that Chile, down in South America, was spending a lot of time digging up hundreds of mass graves filled with the disappeared from the Augusto Pinochet regime. Given how things are developing here, it's not hard at all to imagine Americans simply falling off the face of the earth after being snatched off the streets by some KGB or Gestapo-like thugs.

If I write anything further I would open myself up to Chicken Little-like accusations of the sky falling. But honestly, yeah it seems like some shit is beginning to hit our heads now.

When You Vote For Stupid, You Get Stupid

Okay, I fully realize that I live in bizarro, right-wing land where the rules of common sense and rationality have not only left the building but boarded a plane under an assumed name and fled the country. Case in point is one of my coworkers, an admitted extreme homophobe, he nonetheless swoons over Trump to the point homoerotic elements of his admiration more than occasionally creep into his lengthy praise sessions.

Exaggeration? No, not when he gets that awe inspired look on his face and consistently describes the Orange Buffoon as a “man's man who has done it all in life.” His adulation of OB gets increasingly weirder, given his homophobic views, that I often come close to laughing at the guy. Something I cannot do because open ridicule would probably cost me my job.

But the one common point this individual shares with other Trump supporters is the delusion that OB is a firm, commanding leader who doesn't apologize about America and its actions to the rest of the world. More to the point Trump supporters, of all types, seem to believe he doesn't take any shit from anyone and is a superb Commander-in-Chief looking after the nation's interest. However the reality of OB's true nature has once again become exposed to anyone with a microgram of rationality and objectivity.

Case in point is that the New York Times is reporting that American intelligence has become aware that the GRU, Russian military intelligence, has offered bounties on every American and NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan. The New York Times, further reported that the Orange Buffoon and his staff, including the Vice President, were briefed on this development in late March.

Now of course, Orange Buffoon supporters don't believe a thing coming from the New York Times. And I admit, the Old Grey Lady is screwed the pooch many times, but when it comes to who I believe in this surreal nightmare we've been living in since November 2016, I'm going with the journalists.

What once again reinforces the view that Trump is just a toady for the murderous thug, Vlad Putin is the confusing reaction from the White House staff. Latest blonde bimbo press secretary, Kayleigh McEnay say that neither OB or Pence have been briefed on this situation. While the Times goes on to say the White House held expanded briefings on the intelligence assessment and that possible responses include a sternly worded compliant to Moscow. Oh Hell, my bunny slippers just ran for cover.

While this is going on the Orange Buffoon is sending 200 American ventilators to help Russia with their Covid-19 outbreaks. Russian coronavirus cases neared 300,000 Wednesday, which is surprising because just a few weeks prior their news media was saying they had the situation firmly under control. In fact, before Russia finally admitted they were having trouble with Covid, several doctors mysterious fell out of hospital windows. The key point here is that each of these doctors attempted to inform the Russian public about the outbreak before the Putin government was ready.

So help me here, the Russia government is paying Afghan insurgents to kill American and allied troops. At the same time the Orange Buffoon is constantly talking crap about anyone in this country who dares to suggest we do not have the coronavirus under control.

You would think a strong, commanding leader would tell the Russians to, at a minimum, kiss our asses. Trump has said worse to our longtime democratic allies who have stood by us over the decades. Yes, you can correctly surmise that I am not a fan of Russia in any shape or form.

More to the point, Trump's infatuation with Putin is quite similar to my coworkers misguided affection towards him. Which given how Trump hasn't said a word about the bounties placed on the heads of American troops shows how his supporters don't have any clue about what it means to be patriotic. I am just so fraking tired dealing with idiots.

Russian intelligence officers Offered Cash Rewards To Taliban Fighters To Kill Us/UK Troops In Afghanistan.

US Sends 200 Ventilators to Russia As Crisis Deepens, Hopes For a 'Better Relationship'.

A Short List of Reforms for the American Republic

Congratulations has to go out to all the morbidly obsessed fans of apocalyptic/dystopian fiction here in America because in many ways your preferred genre of entertainment has come true. Yes, while many of you Hunger Games and Walking Dead fans still relax in your comfortable suburban settings with refrigerators full of food watching Tiger King on Netflix the world has lost its little marbles. You don't like the current world order? Fair enough because for billions of people and other lifeforms on the planet it sucks. But, world orders are clumsy things and when they fall apart the overwhelming result is large-scale war with all its death, destruction, and chaos.

Throw in the fact that there is no international brotherhood waiting in the wings to take the global reigns once the evil American Empire collapses, the best thing might be to shore up the existing order and push for reforms. But first lets count the ways the world is going to Hell in a hand basket. No, this isn't a complete list. Because ultimately climate change is the ticking megaton nuclear bomb off in the corner.

The first sign of the apocalypse is of course the COVID-19 pandemic, and while it isn't a zombie plague nor a civilization-killing flu like in Stephen King's The Stand, it's a sticky, persistent bitch that is pushing medical systems and resources passed breaking points leaving thousands dead. All the while here in the glorious United States, we have zombie stand-ins shrilly screaming that COVID is “no big deal” or a “hoax” meant to derail their Dear Leader's sparkling economy.

The second path to doom is that the nice and tidy world order that popped into being in the 1990s is falling apart with certain national strongmen actively undermining stability. As the Soviet Union crumbled democratic governments sprouted up across the world leading some academics to suggest we were seeing the end of history. Instead we have authoritarian dickheads in many of those liberated countries undermining the very freedoms others gave their lives to achieve. Of course the tip to the growing authoritarian spear is both a heavily nuclear armed Russia and the economic juggernaut that is China.

Stealing from the late Senator John McCain, but Russia is nothing but a glorified gas station with thousands of nuclear weapons. While it still dreams of playing a leading role on the world stage, its economy is bullshit and its alcoholic population ain't making enough babies to replace the dying old folks. Making matters more problematic, it has a megalomaniac at the helm who is nursing a serious grudge towards the United States.

China on the other hand is simply the up and coming nation who nurses ancient dreams of global glory while remembering how the Europeans countries screwed with it in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. China has money and lots of smart people with a willingness to make sacrifices for the greater national good. Now this greater national good is often harmful to the planet, human rights, and the truth but as far as they are concerned, you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet.

It goes without saying the keystone of current world order is the United States and its near failed-state status is exacerbating the international situation. The question is how do we fix it.

If by some cosmic magical event I was given sole control of instituting reforms the first thing I would address would be the electoral college. The hallmark of the American ego that really irritates the rest of the world is our obnoxious bragging about our democratic traditions. This becomes a serious issue of blatant hypocrisy when a presidential candidate loses the popular vote by a large margin but wins the electoral college and thus get to spend at least four years getting White House room service.

Now Republicans having won two presidential elections in the last twenty years this way loves the electoral college. Right-wing talking heads embrace the electoral college with an enthusiasm almost equal to the Second Amendment. Of course their love of the electoral college is only because it pushed George W. Bush and the Orange Buffoon into the White House. Had the situation been reversed I'm sure as bears leave steaming piles of poop in the woods they would be demanding its elimination. Yes, if Democratic presidential candidates were benefiting from the electoral college they would be quite happy keeping it going.

Now the usual talking points from Democrats is that American presidential contests should rely just on the popular vote to decide a winner. A good idea for the most part but from what I understand the mechanics involved would require a constitutional amendment, something extremely difficult even in the best of times.

My reform would not eliminate the electoral college, but would award the popular vote winner twenty extra electoral votes. This idea goes back to the 1976 election when political scientists noticed Ford and Carter were about even in the polls. They wanted to save the country from another bout of political upheaval so soon after the conclusion of Watergate.

Those extra votes to the popular vote winner would not have saved Hillary Clinton back in 2016. But under normal circumstances with two nearly even candidates it would be enough to avoid uncertainty and chaos. The factors involved in the 2016 Hillary/Trump Fiasco were far too complex to be solved simply. While Hillary's election to POTUS would have been spectacular, I'm forced to admit she was a highly flawed candidate that grossly underestimated her opponents. Still it would be my hope that just giving the popular vote winner twenty extra electoral votes would be easier to implement than a complex campaign to change the Constitution.

My second reform would be that all serious presidential candidates would have to fully disclose the entirety of their financial records, including that of their wives and children. Failure to provide such records or to somehow forge them would mean immediate criminal prosecution and, of course, being disqualified from further campaigning. This of course is aimed dead at the Orange Buffoon who did quite the dance to avoid making his taxes public. I utterly hate the man and his family but I'll give the Devil his due and say he played the media, the Democrats, and more specifically the Hillary Campaign like a master violinist.

The third reform I would institute would be that not only would presidential candidates be forced to disclose all their medical history but would have to have psychological evaluations by an impartial, independent panel. The first part of this reform is aimed at Bernie Sanders who in his usual asshole manner steadfastly refused to disclose his medical records after have suffered from a heart attack during the 2020 campaign.

The second part is aimed at the Orange Buffoon whose public behavior at a minimum is irrational if not dangerous. The Orange Buffoon has showed nothing but contempt for American principles playing every situation and circumstance while in office to his personal or family benefit and showing a disturbing tendency for authoritarian behavior. In normal, relatively saner times calling the American free press “The enemy of the people” would have resulted in members of the president's own party taking him to the woodshed.

A fourth reform would involve candidates showing they actually understand the workings of American government, international relations, global economics, and science. From the moment the Orange Buffoon entered the White House he has been lighting matches attempting to set the existing order on fire. Until the pandemic that he ignored and then downplayed his destructive tendencies hadn't done too much damage. Yes, for a while he was determined to destroy NATO and ruin our relationships with our allies but somehow I still believe his damage is repairable.

His refusal to standby international treaties from previous presidents is a disaster of unprecedented proportions. Not only does the Orange Buffoon's actions undermine American foreign policy now but will make both foe and ally hesitant to trust us again whenever this nightmare ends. This goes back to the idea that when world orders become unreliable it allows chaos to grow with other nations looking to impose their own will on the world.

In a way the fifth reform I would impose is the most vital but yet the most difficult. While I detest anyone who criticizes American teachers, history and civics educations in this country is dangerously insufficient. The ignorance in history and the workings of American government I have personally observed is so overwhelming and persuasive that I fear what will become of this nation. One person I know is so ignorant that he refers to hazy, ill-defined memories of decades old Saturday morning “School House Rocks” cartoons when talking about government.

What truly chilled me to the bone was another person wondering why our NATO allies didn't pay the United States government for its protection. Frankly, I was dumbfounded at how to explain what was literally thousands of years of history going back to ancient Athens to the more recent calls of the great Winston Churchill for collective security in the face a growing Nazi Germany threat back in the 1930s.

I don't blame American teachers for this level of ignorance. They have an extremely demanding job whose salary is pretty much crap. I blame lazy parents and the culture in general for valuing such things as glamour, celebrity, and the ability to chase various balls above rational thought and knowledge. How you fix that I haven't got a damn clue.

For shits and giggles another reform I would impose would be some form of term limits for politicians with them forbidden to become lobbyists afterwards. I'd also prohibit offspring from pursuing political careers thus eliminating family political dynasties. The absolute last thing we need is more spoiled brats using their family name for political advantage.

And finally, I would not only make voting mandatory but would extensively use mail-in ballots. There would still be physical elections with voting booths and polling places. But voting would be a week-long event with everyone getting one day off with pay if that was their preferred way of casting their ballot. Business people would of course whine about having to provide pay but frak them, they are acting more and more like 18^th century British aristocrats. I'm personally getting sick of their attitudes.

There are certainty more reforms I would impose from my lofty but imaginary position. But for now I will just return to reality and wonder what some future Edward Gibbon will write about our times.