Category: Cold Civil War

Is It Time For Blues to ‘Secede’ From Twitter?

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The uncertainty surrounding Elon Musk owning Twitter has generated a massive about of Twitter liberal angst in the days since the acquisition closed. I’m not prepared to go so far as to say Blues should leave the service, but I do think it’s something to keep at the forefront of our minds going forward.

Being an “edge lord” is all fun and games when you don’t own the service that, at the moment, is at the center of national discourse in the United States. By definition, is public profile is significantly more potent. He’s so wealthy, of course, that he is rather oblivious to this change of state.

So he continues to be his usual provocative self, filling the media space previously inhabited by dingus Trump.

The risk is, of course, that the very prospective changes to Twitter that is going to give MAGA cocksuckers a boner will also be the very thing that drives that 10% of the user base that makes Twitter useful in the first place. And, really, at the moment, the missing ingredient is a Twitter-like platform for Blues to decamp to.

Jack Dorsey is developing an open source protocol that would allow for a number of different Twitter-like companies to access it at the same time. But that’s still in the development stages.

If I win the $1 billion Powerball lottery, I’m going to use that money to make my dream of starting a Twitter Killer using an updated Usenet UX. The usual caveats about that being delusional and not happening apply, of course.

But the point remains — if someone could found a fleet footed startup that did what Twitter does, only better…I think Twitter would be doomed. But the window to do such a thing is very, very narrow. It can probably be counted in months, not years.

It’s Like America, as a Nation, Has Collectively Given Up

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If you want the most recent reason why I think all those earnest, well meaning yet racist and mysgonistic MAGA cocksuckers can fuck off, look no further than Elon Musk amplifying this particular gem.

So, instead of taking responsibility for spewing hate and inciting stochastic terrorism, all those ernest, well meaning, well educated MAGA dickheads continue to double down on all their lies and hate. They just can not accept that they’re in the wrong on this one.

I continue to be at a loss as to how otherwise normal people can be so consumed by hate that they gleefully spread disinformation about people like Paul Pelosi. Or they take the attack as an opportunity to joke around.

It makes you wonder what will happen if something REALLY BAD happens. My guess is all those well meaning MAGA fuckheads will go silence for a few days while the Powers That Be at Fox News and Right wing podcasts think up their talking points so they can continue to “own the libs.”

Usually, what happens is, once they come out the other side, their talking points are all spin. They try to rationalize the Bad Thing out of existence, or say “thoughts and prayers” or even “we have a national mental health crisis.” But what if a major center-Left figure is seriously hurt as part of stochastic terrorism?

I can only assume that the only difference will be the length of their radio silence. But in end result would be the same — MAGA simply refusing to accept that they are to blame with all their frothy rhetoric about how center-Left people “groom” children.

So the country continues to circle the drain. The forces of fascist MAGA continue to gain power and will ultimately force Blues to make a choice — bend a knee to autocracy, or demand a National Divorce. There is the possibility that the U.S. Military may step in and we’ll be ruled by some sort of military junta for a little while as we wait for the passions of the 2024 election to cool down.

Or not. Good luck. And fuck MAGA cocksuckers.

The Country That Can’t Even Laugh At The Same Things Is In Serious Fucking Trouble

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I written about this before, but all signs point to the United States, much like the late 1850s, is tearing itself into two different nations. Many, but thankfully not all, of the signs that were there before the Civil War are beginning to pop up in the modern America of the 2020s.

One really fucked up symptom of how the country is tearing itself apart is how we can’t even laugh at the same things. I’m well aware that much of this siloing is happening because the MAGA Right thinks all comics are members of the “woke cancel culture mob” and, as such, out of sheer desperation they watch Gutfeld! even though the man is objectively not fucking funny. I’ve heard dad jokes that are funnier than anything Gutfeld utters.

Not funny!

As an aside — I continue to be amazed at how MAGA Republicans have embraced Dave Chappelle for his anti-trans statements. What’s telling is, even when I tell them that for all the attempts to “cancel” him, Chappelle remains as popular as he ever was….they simply don’t listen. It’s usually at this point in the conversation when I totally lose their attention. They’re so busy getting angry about the “woke cancel culture mob” and how it wants to turn everyone gay…they just don’t listen to anything else I have to say about Chappelle.

Anyway, the inability of Red and Blue to laugh at the same thing is yet another macro indication that the country is fucked and we face the existential choice of autocracy, civil war or military junta between now and, say, January 2025. I have no idea what the ultimate endgame to this clusterfuck is, but I do know we all had better buckle up — especially if the fucking MAGA fascist cocksuckers take one or both houses of Congress in a few days.

Earnest, Well Meaning MAGA Is The Worst MAGA

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m reading a political biography of Hitler’s ascent and I’m struck by how prosaic it all was, or, “the banality of evil” as the old saying goes. Nazism, for the most part, was treated as any other political movement. Yes, it was unusual because it’s leader was a “clown” and there was cult-like reverence for him within the movement, but other than that, it was pretty much just one of a number of far Right political parties in Weimar Germany.

And I’m sure for much of the Nazi Party’s existence, there were earnest, well meaning members who did not take people who hated the Nazis seriously. They were patronizing and did everything in their power to come across as calm and centered — even if everything about what they believed was based on a hateful lie.

I say all this because I still, on occasion, run into a fucking MAGA cocksucker who obviously doesn’t take my distaste for the American Nazism that is MAGA seriously. They like to make jokes, and their tone of voice is very patralizing and you have expect them to call me “adorable.”

I fucking hate that. Take my anger seriously, if you really want to talk to me about your hate-filled movement. Instead of belittling me as if I’m some sort of wayward soul, validate that I fucking think you follow a ding-dong who could very well destroy humanity if things don’t go so great.

But I think I’m deluding myself. In the end, I’m going to face an existential choice in the real world. Am I going to shut up and keep my head down like a Good German, or am I going to keep ranting about how much I think MAGA fuckers can suck my cock?

Of course, I’m going to stand my ground and continue to exercise my freedom of speech, even if it doesn’t exist anymore. Wish me luck. I’m sure at some point after 2025, once we have a MAGA POTUS again, my body will be discovered in a ditch somewhere with an ICE bullet in it.

This Novel Is Getting Good & Spicy Now

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are beginning to move really fast with the second half of the first draft of this novel. I have repeatedly gotten to this point over the years, only for everything to fall apart. But I have enough confidence about how things are going that I’m thinking seriously about the next book in the project.

What’s making my creative juices flow is how…spicy this portion of the novel is. I can see how one might think I’m really putting a lot of words into a subplot to get to something interesting, but because it deals with spicy events, I think people won’t even notice that how hard I have struggled to interweave the overall plot into it.

There are two things that have come to the forefront of my mind at this point in the novel.

One is — I’m dealing with spicy things from a female point of view (third person intimate) so there will likely be members of the “woke cancel culture mob” who pop a gasket that a middle age “CIS white male” would have the gall to do such a thing. But, I must note, Stieg Larsson did something similar and it wasn’t considered the fucking end of the world, in fact, he did a whole hell of a lot worse than I plan to do.

Another thing is, I have a lot of “representation” in these novels and I am growing concerned that I’ll get shit from by the Left and the Right. The Left will be mad because I’m a white dude writing from the POV of people who are neither and the Right will get angry because they’ll automatically assume I’m “woke” or some shit.

But you can’t please everyone. As long as I write a great story that entertains a sizable chunk of the prospective audience, I am simply not going to dwell on the possible slings and arrows I might otherwise have to put up with.

I do wish, however, that I can force some people who think I’m just a drunk Internet crank to take me seriously. It will be interesting to see if can pull that particular hat trick off or not.

Future History: MAGA’s Siege Of Atlanta

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

When I run the Second American Civil War scenario in my mind, I hone in places where there is a real difference of political orientation. So, Virginia is a state that will probably collapse into a Yugoslavia-like situation should there be a 2ACW because it’s actually two states — one Red, one Blue — that hate each other.

If you look at a political map of the United States, there is one other place that definitely seems ripe for implosion if what you believe politically becomes existential — Georgia. I don’t really know anything about the Peach State, but it definitely seems as though there is Atlanta and Everywhere Else in the state. I’ve been to Atlanta once and it’s a MASSIVE cityscape. Huge. Where New York City went up, Atlanta has gone out.

Anyway, my fear is, if there is a 2ACW, Atlanta is going to be a huge fucking Blue spot in a sea of red and we’re all going to learn about the Siege of Atlanta in 50 years from now.

So, you would have a situation where Red Georgia would surround Blue Atlanta in an attempt to destroy it. It sounds very fantastical now, but cold, hard domestic geopolitics tells us that such a nightmare scenario is a very real possibility.

If we’ve gotten to that point, of course, then, well, we’re all fucked.

It Can Happen Here

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m reading a political biography about the rise of Hitler — as one does — and the key takeaway so far is: it can happen here. We like to make ourselves feel better by believing that the rise of the Nazis was something unique to the German psyche after The Great War.

But the more I read about Hitler’s ascent, the more I realize that it Can Happen Here. Though, of course, Trump could not be more different than Hitler. I’m just at the book where Hitler’s personal characteristics are described and Trump is no Hitler.

The way Hitler is described really lays bare how Trump is just an empty suit who happened to at the right place at the right time to be a vessel, an avatar for white Christian rage over the browning of America and the rise of economically liberated women. (All the bitching and moaning about “wokeness” and homophobia is just something that happens on the Right because it’s politically expedient.)

Anyway, all signs point to A Very American Autocracy. And there is one specific problem which could very well cause Nazi-like genocide in the United States: race.

Once the United States is no longer a democracy, the more vile elements of the American experience could grow dangerously amplified to the point that there are Killing Fields in upstate New York and in various places around the South. The United States could implode into a situation where the only way we get rid of our American Nazi overlords is they grow so extreme that there is some sort of mass revolt.

Or, I don’t know, NATO, Japanese and Korean forces swoop in and topple the MAGA fascists who are murdering millions at an alarming clip by that point.

The point is — be very alarmed. Everything from Election Night 2022 to January 2025 (and beyond) could be historic and flabbergasting. Something’s gotta give. Call it the Fourth Turning or the Great Reset — America is in for a very, very bumpy ride.

Glenn Youngkin Is Such An Embarrassment To Virginia

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Virginia is a pretty moderate, laid back state. But having said that, I also have to note that Virginia is actually two states fused together who hate each other. You have the Blue Virginia of the Urban Corridor and you have the Red Virginia of everything else.

How embarassing.

So, while ideally Gov. Glenn Youngkin would apologize for making a joke about Paul and Nancy Pelosi after Mr. Pelosi was attacked with a hammer as part of an assassination attempt on Speaker Pelosi, lulz, he’s never going to do so.

The reason is — the vast majority of the people who put Youngkin in office don’t want him to, would see it as a sign of weakness if he did. We live in an era of no shame. And Youngkin is — at the moment at least — believes he might be elected POTUS in 2024, when, of course, he’s more likely to be a dark horse candidate for Trump’s veep.

This is yet another sign that the United States is circling the drain as it heads towards autocracy, civil war or military junta at some point in late 2024, early 2025. What the endgame is, I have no idea.

But I do know that the situation we’re in at the moment is untenable long-term. Something’s gotta give. And I think if the absolute worst happens — civil war — Virginia is going to be a state that implodes, with coup and counter coups happening as the two sides vie for control of a strategically important state next to the national capitol.

America is Both A Constitutional Republic & a Democracy, You MAGA Piece of Shit

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If you want a sign of how America is careening towards the existential choice of autocracy, civil war or military junta in late 2024, early 2025, look no further than how Reds are so fucking adamant that the United State is a Constitutional Republic.

This is such a big fucking deal to them because they want to engage in “debate nullification” over the issue of MAGA’s rise being a threat to democracy in the eyes of, like, 60% of the population. They want us all to lulz the rise of a Very American Autocracy because — surprise! — we’re not even a democracy to begin with.

But, as I keep saying — just because the United States is a Constitutional Republic doesn’t mean that it isn’t a democracy, too. In fact, if anything, the history of the United States since its conception has been to grow more and more democratic within the context of, you guessed it…being a Constitutional Republic.

As such, if you get really worked up about the United States not being a democracy, but rather a Constitutional Republic, you’re telling on yourself, you fucking fascist piece of shit. All your talk about America being a Constitutional Republic is just an ham-handed attempt to disguise how much you want a fascist autocracy established in the United States.

As such — fuck you, you MAGA cocksucker.

The Attack on Paul Pelosi Is An Ominous Development

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I feel like trolling my Traditionalist relatives about the fact that the Speaker of the House was in danger of being attacked in the middle of the night by a hammer welding MAGA psychopath, but it would be a waste of time and energy. There might be a small window of opportunity for me to score some points before they get their talking points handed down to them from Fox News and Right wing podcasts, but, lulz, what’s the point.

I assume that soon enough, the Right wing talking points will be a mixture of “thoughts and prayers” and “America has a mental health crisis.” And maybe throw in, “America has a crime crisis….that is the fault of Democrats” to boot, as well.

My conservative relatives have made their decision — they want A Very American Autocracy.

And, in the end, they’re going to come to me in private and demand that I, “for the sake of the family” shut the fuck up about how much I think our MAGA Republican autocrat is a cocksucker. I don’t plan to listen to them, however, because I am absolutely determined to prove a point — things wouldn’t have gotten so bad if they had joined forces with me to stop the rise of fascism in America in the first place.

But such concerns are too abstract for them at the moment. All they know is the “woke cancel culture mob” wants everyone to turn gay and if they don’t, then conservatives risk having their life ruined by being “canceled.” THAT, rather than saving American democracy, is at the forefront of their minds at the moment.

So, we’re back to square one. Fox News and Right wing podcasts will push out the talking points about this horrific incident and we’ll go back to fighting about if Catturd is “shadow banned” on Twitter or not. The core issue –that fucking MAGA fascists are ascendant and are probably going to at some point post-2025 order an ICE agent to murder me in cold blood will go unaddressed. For my conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — I’m being hysterical and ridiculous to even propose such a thing.

But in the end, of course, I’ll be dead in a ditch somewhere and they will be alive as Good Germans. How do we fix that problem?