Category: Cold Civil War

The Passion Of Maggie Haberman

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I’ve written before, when it comes to New York Times star reporter Maggie Herman….I just don’t care. I have given up. No matter how close she is to TrumpWorld, no matter how many jaw dropping number of Trump crimes she hides from the public for a book….she can do no wrong in the eyes of the people who make reality — Twitter liberals.

The only reason why I even talk about her now is I’m a bit tipsy and I saw this tweet:

It’s the issue of how Twitter liberals fuck with what is real when it comes to Ms. Haberman that forces me to write about her AGAIN, despite how much I just don’t care. It just seems like to be a Blue Check liberal is, by definition, to gaslight the average person about how unseemly close Ms. Haberman is to Trumplandia.

I’m not saying she isn’t a great journalist — especially compared to me! It’s just…we can all see what she does and why she does it. She inhabits a gray area where, yes, she is a great journalist but she also has apparently sold her soul for access to TrumpWorld — no matter how much ding-dong Trump calls her “maggot.”

But lulz, nothing matters. She’s a success and I — at least for the time being — definitely am not. So, Godspeed, Ms. Haberman.

Democracy & ‘Trans Rights’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m in a bad mood and the cheap whiskey is kicking in, so I feel like writing about an extremely touchy subject — trans rights. In general, I don’t have an opinion on any of it and generally I shrug whenever I hear about the latest battle over this or that thing within the movement.

Fuck MAGA

I do sometimes struggle with the whole “Protect Trans Kids” sentiment because…oh boy. I have no idea what to say about that. Anything to do with kids is something that should be given a lot of thought and debate and I don’t know about you, but when I was a young man I didn’t really have much sense of self. It wasn’t until much later that I developed any idea of who I was or what my “true north” was.

There are two issues that are really difficult for me to grapple with when it comes to trans rights. One is how much of an established orthodoxy there is on the issue within my center-Left echo chamber. Any variation from that orthodoxy risks having you cast out of the anti-MAGA movement as some sort of bigoted ogre. So, generally, I don’t talk about the subject at all because, like I said, I’m not invested in the issue one way or another and, for once, I just don’t feel like wading into a controversial topic.

Meanwhile, there is another issue that causes me pause for thought. Trans rights — especially the whole “Protect Trans Kids” issue is such a corrosive wedge issue that it’s one of a number of culture war issues that is tearing the country apart. You can tell how Blue or Red someone is by what pops out of their mouth when the issue of Trans Rights comes up.

And, let me be clear — I’m indifferent. Other than occasionally growing alarmed at the back and forth over the issue of Trans kids….I just don’t care. In fact, I would say the issue of Trans Rights is, by definition, the very sort of controversial social topic that the political discourse of a functioning democracy would figure out soon enough.

But we’re past the event horizon of autocracy, civil war or military junta between now and spring 2025. So, away we go. Buckle up. We’re totally fucked.

NARAlago Conspiracy Theories: What’s Buried With Ivana Trump?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just do not believe in conspiracy theories. They’re just not my thing. I generally believe that most real conspiracies are already known or they’re just a bunch of bullshit in the form of being the last refuge of the intellectually dishonest. But, just for the sake of argument, let’s think about some of the NARAlago conspiracies theories that have sprung up since the FBI snatched back a bunch of Top Secret files that Trump stole.

The first issue to remember is, of course, that Trump is above the law and there’s just no law he can possibly break at this point that would see him in front of a judge. Any damage he might suffer is going to be political in nature and even then, it will be on the edges. The number of people who have any sort of open mind about Trump at this point is so low as to be negligible.

Trump being a lecherous lying racist traitor is so baked into the cake that, lulz, he’s probably going to become president again — even without cheating. Though, of course, he will anyway because it’s his nature.

So, with that in mind, let’s go through some conspiracy theories.

Trump used the LIV golf tournament as a cover to give the Saudi’s secrets
At least there is some logic to this one. It seems within reason that there were a number of quid pro quos between Team Trump and the Saudis such that they might somehow get access to American secrets via Trump. Not only did Jared get $2 billion from the Saudis, Trump also held the very controversial LIV golf tournament at Bedminster. This grows in importance now that we know the FBI has been asking people if they know anything about Trump…having Top Secret documents at Bedminster. So we have a situation where Trump has the means, motive and opportunity to sell American secrets to the Saudis. And, yet, time and again, Trump has been proven to be craven…but very, very lazy and dumb. So while it’s definitely POSSIBLE this type of skullduggery might have happened….I dunno. Trump can’t keep a secret. He would somehow blab about what a great deal he made with the Saudis before it was over with. But remember — some of the Top Secret documents Trump had were devoted to another nation’s nuclear arms program. I’m sure the Saudis would be interested in what America knows of the Israelis ‘ secret nuclear bomb program.

Trump buried his ex-wife with Top Secrets
This one doesn’t make any sense. Just because it’s weird that Trump buried Ivana Trump on a golf course, doesn’t mean he’s up to no good. The man is very, very strange and completely devoid of any empathy. And why would he bury Top Secrets in a grave? Why hide them there? The reason why he’s in trouble is his complete indifference to keeping Top Secret documents, well, safe. So…no. I would have have some sort of evidence to believe Trump buried Ivana with secrets.

The Use of ‘Female’ & Fourth Wave Feminism

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know anything about anything. But I think that we may be in Fourth Wave Feminism. Gone are the days of Third Wave Feminism which, relative to me being a smelly boy, were pretty cool. The ideology of Third Wave Feminism was that women could do whatever they wanted from sex worker to medical doctor. This lead to lots of young women running around with no clothes on and dudes getting an eye full in more ways than one.

Ugh

But now, things are changing.

Apparently, we may be on the cusp of Fourth Wave Feminism which is something of a downer relative to the good old days of “liberated strippers.” In general, I don’t care. I’m not a woman and it’s not really my place to get involved in which particular wave of feminism we might be living in.

So it’s not that I’m concerned about. What is bother me is the idea that somehow using the word “female” is now taboo and “gross,” if all the videos I see now on Tik-Tok would be any indication.

What the what?

Words are really important to me –obviously — and the idea that I can no longer use the word “female” of all things is really, really shocking and aggravating.

It will be interesting to see if the malignant idiots of Fox News will pick this new attack by the “woke cancel culture mob.” Whatever. But all I can say is the center-Left will do itself no favors by attacking clueless men for simply using the word “female.”

I just don’t know how much the forming taboo about using “female” is a Tik-Tok thing and how much is real. Only time will tell.

What If You Held A MAGA Autocracy & Nobody Noticed?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have pretty regular political debates with my far more conservative relatives — sometimes despite myself — and it seems clear that they just want to crush the “woke cancel culture mob” and that’s it. They just don’t care what happens after that.

The thing is — for all its soft power to make conservatives fear that their lives will be ruined “just for being conservative” — the center-Left has very little hard power. Yes, it has some hard power now because of the historical quirk that was Trump being very stupid and lazy…but otherwise…meh?

As such, it’s inevitable that Republicans are going to gain power again. And, unless Blues fucking leave the Union at the state level, MAGA Republicans are going to establish an honest to God autocratic white Christian ethno state in the United States.

But will anyone really notice?

I think way too much about this. I think about the real-world implications of a MAGA autocracy all the time. The element to such a thing that I keep bumping up against is race. It’s race that would make any MAGA-themed autocracy unable to simply stop at gutting the social safety net or making it impossible for women to have an abortion legally.

As such, while it’s theoretically possible that the only thing the average person might notice once the United States is an autocracy is all the liberals they know are fleeing the country….there is also a pretty good chance that some sort of weird Qanon Pol Pot situation might happen with the “liberal” cities emptied and there being Killing Fields in Upstate New York, among other places.

I don’t know what is going to happen. I can’t predict the future. But I do know, in general, the we’re fucked. We are totally, completely fucked. We’re in the twilight of the America we’ve known since at least 1865. Something is is about to replace it. Who knows what it ultimately might be.

The Academy Needs To Give Up On The Oscars

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I love movies and I love the Academy Awards. Growing up, they were one of the highlights of my TV watching year. But now, in our hypermedia Tik-Tok, post-Slap era…the Academy Awards finds itself at a crossroads.

My favorite podcast about Hollywood and showbiz.

The Academy needs to give up. Give up on broadcast TV. Give up on trying to appeal to anyone but the base. Just wallow in why people watch the show to begin with and move on.

Move the Oscars to a streamer and let the thing run for four or more hours. No more playing people off when they give their acceptance speech. Just let the Academy Awards evolve into the niche product that it inevitably will become anyway.

The media world is just so diverse and fragmented that the Oscars don’t have a chance. They’re never going to garner the huge audiences that they once did. The mainstream audience has moved on. The Oscars should, too.

Imagining A (Peaceful) ‘Conscious Uncoupling’ Of The United States

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m in a bad mood. The prospect that Republicans will impeach everyone they can think of in the Biden Administration out of spite in 2023 if they have the power is making me take a strong, hard look at a National Divorce — with Blues being the one serving the papers.

But there’s a problem — I’m a man of peace, a man of ideas. And any “National Divorce,” no matter who started it would turn nasty and violent pretty quick. Maybe even WMD would be used before it was all over with. But let’s run the scenario — how might you peacefully break the country into two, one Blue, one Red?

The key issue going into all of this is what state is Blue and what state is Red? There are plenty — PLENTY – of states that are either Blue States with MAGA legislatures or two states fused together that make one Purple state. That’s why any true National Divorce would turn bloody soon enough.

But, I suppose if you wanted to try to split the country into Red and Blue you could have some sort of an attempt at self-determination referendums. But then you get back into the same dynamic of MAGA Republicans believing that, by definition, if they don’t win then Stop The Steal, yadda, yadda, yadda. And then you have states like Virginia that would simply implode into chaos if they had to decide if they were more Red or more Blue in nature.

Then you have the issue of how Red States mooch off the Federal Government, using Federal taxation wealthy Blue State economic production to survive. This is another reason why, in the end, Red States will suddenly decide — if there was a National Divorce — that maybe they like Blue States enough to keep them around, after all.

Also, who gets the military? Who gets the what when it comes to debt? American politics is not known for its subtly as it stands. It’s more of a grunt. So, in the end, if there is any form of National Divorce, we’re fucked. We are so totally fucked that the wealthiest, most powerful nation humanity has ever seen will willfully blow itself up.

Apparently, If Republicans Take Control Of The House, They’re Going To Impeach Everyone In The Biden Administration

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jesus Christ, is there anyone in the Biden Administration that Republicans AREN’T going to impeach if they take control of the House? At last count, there is a real move to impeach not just Biden, but the DHS Secretary AND the Attorney General.

Biden and the DHS Secretary will be impeached — at a minimum — for their “mishandling of the border crisis.” I still believe that Biden may be impeached within a few days of Republicans taking the House for no other reason than they want to take a talking point away from “libtards’ about Trump being “twice impeached.”

Republicans both want to make being impeached THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD, AND make it a lulz “everyone gets impeached now.” They want it both ways. They want to hurt Biden politically by impeaching him…while helping Trump politically by impeaching Biden a few times and making Trump’s status as the only twice impeached president a political lulz.

Anyway, the point is — if Republicans take the House, all the Senate will do for two years is sit as an impeachment jury. Given that Republicans hate a functioning government they will be quite pleased with that situation. We have to let the fact that Republicans are fascists and hate democracy sink in and appreciate the implications of that cold, hard fact.

Any power that Republicans get, they will abuse and use to end American democracy. As such, as I keep saying, Blues really need to be prepared to gird their loins, take a deep breath and seriously think about leaving the Union at the state level.

I hate violence. I am a man a of peace, a man of ideas. But if Republicans really do hate the “woke cancel culture mob” so fucking much and they want a “National Divorce” so fucking much, maybe we should give it to them. I’d much rather live in a stable Blue Union than a Purple Union that is unstable and being eating away from within by fucking MAGA New Right fascists.

Cover Me, I’m Going In (Eventually)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m working my way towards actually reading J.K. Rowling’s very, very indulgent novel about something near and dear to her heart — cancel culture. I’m reading it one, out of spite to the “woke cancel culture mob” (wink) who is aghast that she would write on such things and two, I want to see how she pulls it off. Or doesn’t pull it off. But she did manage to get a 1,000 page novel essentially flicking her bean mentally sold and published so, I’m very interested in what it’s like.

Or, put another way — there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

But I am honestly interested in what she has to say and how she says it. I am pretty indifferent to the controversy surrounding her — I’m not a fan and I have no emotional attachment to the Harry Potter franchise. The whole thing is just a curiosity to me.

I have a huge library of books to read and this particular book keep staring at me as a I walked around the house, so I finally took the dust cover off and sat it down in a strategic location to start reading it.

I have so very many books to read. It will be interesting to see if this novel that the “woke cancel culture mob” hates so much is actually any good or not. I haven’t been Red Pilled — I just refuse to be told what media I can, or can not consume.

Form Follows Function — The Secret Service As America’s Praetorian Guard

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things fall apart, as they say. And the United States definitely seems to be following the tradition of the late Roman Republic and sliding into a real, honest to God, Empire.

And, as you may know, during the history of the Roman Empire there was one group that welded a surprising amount of power as to who became — and stayed — Roman’s emperor.

That would be the Praetorian Guard.

Given the news about how bonkers and untrust worthy the Secret Service has become of late combined with my love of speculative scenarios….the conditions are there for a 9/11 type event only at the hands of the Secret Service.

While the vast majority of Secret Service folks are just highly trained people doing their jobs….there definitely seems to be a MAGA bent to the organization on an institutional level.

So, it’s very easy to imagine a situation where a bad apple — or a few bad apples — strike when the country is a very vulnerable position. For instance, what if there was some sort of Certification Crisis in late 2024, early 2025? If Republicans controlled the House, a few rouge Secret Service people could change history by putting control of the country safely in the hands of MAGA as we transition into autocracy.

But that’s EXTREMELY SPECULIVE.

I’m sure nothing like that will happen.