As I’ve said before, just checking my personal Webstats here, I can tell you that there is a huge market for celebrity news. And, as far as I know, while there are a lot of podcasts that deal with celebrity news, it seems like if you assembled an early-Gawker like team that you might be able to find some success.
You get a bunch of young, just out of college people to produce a series of different podcasts about different elements of the celebrity world then use whatever attention you get from doing that to direct the audience to a 2004-like Gawker. That’s how you would be able to bootstrap your site to success, even though the blog industry is very, very mature at this point.
Or, put another way, the aesthetic of the old Gawker doesn’t really exist in modern media. Most of the vibe of the early days of Gawker has drifted to Twitter to the point that we don’t even think about it. The average Twitter user is bombarded on a daily basis with crowdsourced snark.
But I do think if you could replicate the snark of Spy, Late Night With David Letterman and the original Gawker with a new podcasting network that you would find success. I just think that if you sort of had a Buzzfeed meets Gawker type podcast network then maybe there would be an audience. You draw people in to your podcast network by obsessing over celebrity then once people are listening or reading, you throw in some more serious reporting.
And, yet, it could be that my lingering obsession with the old Gawker is showing in the sense that, lulz, the old Gawker just isn’t coming back. No amount of me pining for it is going to make it happen.
So, I don’t know. I think that no amount of complaining on my part is going to change anything. Just like rock music is dead, it’s possible that the cool snarky content that I really enjoyed during a dark time in my life a long time ago simply isn’t going to come back.
I have no idea what is going on with supermodel Cara Delevingne, but I am honestly worried about her. Whatever is wrong with her seems to have accelerated after she came back from Burning Man.
While she’d been acting really weird before then, something apparently seems to have happened while she was at Burning Man to make her go from just acting eccentric to having some sort of serious mental crisis.
So, it makes me wonder if maybe she sorta cracked her mind using a little too much LSD or some other mind altering substance while she was in the desert. It’s really rare for women — especially famous women — to lose their minds in such a public way.
I hope Ms. Delevingne is getting the help she needs. Hopefully, all she has to do is dry out and the rest will take care of itself. She apparently is in the care of people who love her so I suppose all the rest of us can do is hope for the best.
I write a lot about the possibility of autocracy or civil war in late 2024, early 2025. And, yet, there is a third option that I’ve written about some, too: military junta.
How exactly what that happen? Well, it’s still too far to game out, but one possibility would be that Blue States begin the process of leaving the Union and the military finally steps in to kind of cool things down until, maybe, a Constitutional Convention can be called.
The other scenario is, of course, is the U.S. Military is forced to step in because, well, lulz, we have no idea who POTUS is — or, at least, can’t agree using political means who should be POTUS.
I think we have to give the idea of a military junta serious thought because history has shown us that that is often the route that modern democracies go when they finally fail. It happened with the French in the 1960s and it could happen here in a few years.
In my fevered imagination, I could see someone like James Mattis being named “acting POTUS” for a few months while we sort out exactly what we’re going to do about a National Divorce / secession crisis / certification crisis. The U.S. Military is the only remaining institution in America that would have the means to keep the country together if there was a severe political crisis.
And it would make sense, given how respected the U. S. Military is across the political spectrum for them to control the country through some sort of bi-partisan military junta made up of military and political leaders. A military junta might, in the end, be the only thing that stops either civil war or autocracy from happening.
But. And this is a big but — it could be that not even the American military would be able to avoid buckling should the time come. Generally, the officer corp still believes in democracy, while the enlisted are far more likely to support MAGA.
Which reminds me of the coup attempt that Turkey had a few years ago that ultimately did nothing more than allow their autocrat to consolidate power. So, again, I think in the end, America is just going to become an autocracy. Or, to make ourselves feel better, we’re going to pretend we’re a traditional Western democracy when, in fact, everyone and I mean EVERYONE will know that we’re simply another illiberal democracy like Hungary or Turkey.
The only question I have, of course, is — will I cross ICE and endup in a Trump branded concentration camp?
I constantly see Blue Check Twitter liberals thinking out loud about things I’ve been writing about for some time now. What’s so darkly amusing is they pretty much make the liberal progressive case for a National Divorce without even realizing it. What they’re realizing, of course, is something that has been very clear to me for a long time — MAGA Republicans are ascendant and if there’s going to be a civil war it’s going to be because Blues start it, not Reds.
Now, we’re still to far out for me to know exactly how a Second American Civil War might actually play out. And I still don’t think we’re even going to have one. But as long as Trump continues to be a major American political figure, the risk of a modern day American civil war is very, very real.
It could be that by the time late 2024 rolls around, Blue States — probably starting with California — will simply refuse to “bend a knee” to the autocratic, fascist MAGA Republicans how have stolen the 2024 election and there will be a popular ground swell with Blues for Blue States to leave the Union and start their own country. (There is of course, the possibility that there might ultimately be some mission creep as such a possible war progresses and Blue goals would be to “liberate” Trumplandia as well.)
Of course, there is also the possibility that rather than seeing that they’re making the liberal progressive argument for a National Divorce that wealthy Twitter liberals will see these very same arguments as a reason to leave the fucking country.
And, at the moment, I think that’s what’s going to happen, no matter what.
MAGA Republicans steal the 2024 election and, rather than leading any sort of National Divorce, Twitter liberals will simply vote with their feet in pretty astonishing numbers. To the point that Fox News will stop being hysterical about scary brown people and their caravans and start to bitch and complain about a “brain drain” by “unpatriotic liberals.”
But what’s going on in Federal court about Trump stealing Top Secret documents in front a corrupt MAGA hack judge is all part of how the United States is careening towards a very, very dark future. We can’t keep punting this particular crisis down the road forever. Something’s gotta give. And the only question is — autocracy or civil war?
All things considered, Ron DeSantis is going to be America’s first autocrat. He’s Trump without Trump and my Traditionalist relatives are waiting with baited breath to “vote for him three times.” DeSantis is the ideal person to consolidate autocratic power that will ultimately lead to a Constitutional Convention. We’ll wake up in 20 years and President DeSantis will be invading Canada for some autocratic reason.
But then there’s Trump.
He simply will not get out of the way. Trump’s a fighter and even if he’s indicted, he’s still going to run for president. Of course, there are things I can’t predict. But for the time being, it definitely seems as though Trump is running again in 2024.
And, as such, DeSantis finds himself in something of a pickle. He is so close to the brass ring of being America’s autocrat — amazing power and wealth — and yet dingus Trump is in his way. The question is, will he bend a knee to Trump to be his veep or will he charge him directly?
At the moment, I just don’t know. But there’s one thing to remember — if DeSantis somehow gets the nomination, there’s no reason to believe Trump won’t simply bolt and join, say, the Patriot Party. Then DeSantis would still have to compete direction against Trump in a three way race.
So. I don’t know. It could go either way. But we have to accept that the United States is far less stable than we might otherwise believe.
It’s really taking a lot, lot, lot longer than I imagined to write this first novel. A lot of the delay comes from how I’ve been drifting towards my goal, rather than setting any clear deadlines. I suppose I just am reluctant to make this a chore. Writing a novel is supposed to be fun, not something you dread.
But I’m just not getting any younger.
I have to at least try to be more organized, focused and driven with this project. My current goal is to start querying in the fall of 2023. But to do that, I’m going to have to write two drafts then have beta readers then get someone to edit the copy THEN querying it.
As such, I probably need to have my second draft done in early 2023. I’m well on my way to making that a reality, but I have to stop daydreaming so much. I have to focus. I really want to at least have a second draft done in early 2023 that I can be proud of.
Then I can try to figure out how to get some beta readers in the summer of 2023 and begin the process of querying in the autumn of 2023. I have no idea if the novel will be good enough to catch the interest of a literary agent, but at least I will have achieved my goal — go through the entire process of writing a novel and trying to get it published in the traditional manner.
And, what’s more, I will know how *I* develop and write a novel. And that will help me a great deal when it comes to writing my second novel. When you reach my age, you are forced to prioritize for no other reason than if you don’t get something, anything done, you’ll be in your 60s and it will be very comical that you’re STILL trying to “make it big.”
The existential change in what you can actually achieve in life once you reach a certain age is something I’m growing very unhappy with. Is this a mid-life crisis?
Anyway, I have to keep believing in myself. But I also have to realize that if I get what I want, I won’t get what I want. It’s not like I can “make it big,” move to NYC and act like I’ve live there all my life. Even if I stick the landing, and sell a pop novel that is huge — I’m still going to be an old man who can’t date 24 year old women. And if I tried, it would be really creepy.
I just need to stop deluding myself and start to think a bit more clear eyed about what my immediate future is.
Besides having an overarching abstract fear of being “canceled” by the “woke cancel culture mob” simply for being conservative, the other pressing issue for a lot of MAGA Republicans is the “border crisis.” This is, in a sense, the original sin of the MAGA Republican movement.
The problem with addressing the alarm that MAGA Republicans have about the border crisis is, well, people like me can’t address the pink MAGA elephant in the room. The reason why MAGA Republicans are so alarmed about the border crisis is, of course, that they’re bigots. But it’s nearly impossible to say that in the course of any debate with a MAGA Republican because they will get really mad and simply engage in debate nullifcation.
As such, there’s no much point in talking about it with them because they a very comfortable, well thought out media narrative that they can fall back upon. If you challenge it in anyway, they just say it’s “bogus” because the information you point them to is just, in their eyes, liberal propaganda. They want “secure borders” — to the point of building a very pointless wall (which isn’t even a wall, but rather a fence) — and there’s absolutely nothing you can say to them that is going to change their mind.
And now we have the added development of several border state Republicans shipping undocumented immigrants to various Blue State places in an effort to remind them of the “crisis” at the border. This is a dick move on their part, but the base loves, loves, loves it so there’s not much to be done about it. It helps these governors secure their fucking racist, bigoted base and that’s that.
If such a fucking dick move isn’t a sign that we’re careening towards either autocracy or civil war between now and spring 2025, I don’t know what does. When states start to turn on each other like this, that’s a very, very bad sign on a macro level.
And, what’s more the “crisis on the border” is probably going to be one of several reasons why Biden will be impeached, should Republicans take the House. The will put the country through yet another extremely divisive impeachment because they want to hurt Biden politically and they want to draw as much attention as possible to their hysterical, bigoted fears about the browning of America.
I honestly don’t know what to tell you. It definitely seems like we’re fucking doomed. Prove me wrong, America.
One of the most grating things to appear in American political discourse these days is when someone says someone “destroyed” this or that person with some comment they made. This is so, so very dumb for a number of reasons.
But the biggest reason is this is very frothy 2017 rhetoric. It works on the assumption that anything one might say about a MAGA Republican might change any minds. No matter how much you may “destroy” someone with a comment it just doesn’t change anything.
The two sides believe what they believe to the point that they can’t even agree on what is real. The Left and the Right already have their individual media narratives and talking points and they talk pass each other whenever there is any sort of debate about issues of the day.
There is no middle ground and no one’s mind will be changed no matter how much they “destroy” someone. It’s just silly and misguided at this point. Better to say nothing. Better to accept that the country is rushing towards a seminal moment in its political history when either it has a civil war or turns into an autocracy.
While I suppose there’s a chance of a military junta as well, the most likely outcomes are autocracy or civil war. We need to manage our expectations and stop believing that any sort of making a point will change our fate. MAGA Republicans are so angry, racist and misogynistic that they’ve tuned out any argument they don’t agree with.
And if they do listen to someone who disagrees with them, they get really, really angry. Not that I’m not above getting really, really angry myself when dealing with MAGA people, but at least I feel bad about it afterwards.
Anyway — people need to cool it with the “destroys” trope. Move on. Time to prepare.
I continue to see where the conventional wisdom by Respected Authors when it comes to a possible Second American Civil War is something like this — if happens, it will be rolling political violence from the MAGA Right who thinks they’re defending “real” America.
I call bullshit. This makes no sense. It seems, in a strange way, to be a certain amount of wishcasting on their part. These Respected Authors just aren’t willing to game out a scenario where the Second American Civil War looks a lot like the first. I still believe that if a 2ACW happens — which I don’t think it will — it will happen in late 2024, early 2025 when Blue States refuse to “bend a knee” to the autocratic fascism of MAGA Republicans who are in the process of stealing the 2024 election.
If it happens, it would happen spontaneously, probably starting with California, and may only be stopped with the swift and severe intervention of the U.S. Military in the guise of a military junta. There is, of course, the possibility that it will be Trump who demands that Red States leave the Union earlier than this scenario in an effort to save his sorry ass.
I guess the point of all of this is — I just don’t see any civil war happening in the way that the alleged experts say it will. It just doesn’t make any sense. They’re working on the assumption that MAGA Republicans will decide, spontaneously, to start blowing shit up.
But that just doesn’t make any sense unless Trump on a personal basis, goes transactional. MAGA Republicans are politically ascendant and, in the end, all they have to do is win ONE election and that’s all she wrote — we’re an autocracy.
If you think about who has something to lose in our current political climate, it’s not Reds, but Blues. And, as such, if we’re going to have another civil war — which I don’t think we will –but if we do, it’s going to be when Blue States decide to leave the Union as part of some sort of Certification Crisis in late 2024, early 2025.
I’m always wrong, however. So, who knows. I still think the most logical endgame is we simply become an autocracy and in about 20 years one a political basis the United States and Russia will be clones.
From my occasional political discussions with my Traditionalist relatives — whom I love dearly — it seems clear to me that the conditions already exist for a Second American Civil War. One of my relatives believe that to be a Democrat is, by definition, to be essentially a Godless Satan worshiper while the other one throws around the blood libel of “groomer” against the center-Left in a very cavalier fashion. So, in my little corner of the political world, people in my immediate family are ready to — in an abstract manner — support political violence against liberals.
Now, on a practical basis, I doubt they would actually support political violence. In fact, that might even be one of the few “red lines” they actually have — they will be Good Germans until there is actual blood in the streets. But if you have to wait until there is actual political violence before you object to the the policy agenda of MAGA, well, the whole country has a serious problem.
One of the indications that I have that the conditions exist for a civil war is how my Traditionalist relatives are enraged by the soft power of the center-Left. They are willing to burn the whole country to the ground using the *hard power* of MAGA to crush the *soft power* of the “woke cancel culture mob.” In essence, they’re willing to give up their birth right of American democracy because they think liberals are annoying.
But this is just one of a number of different conditions that exist that indicate we’re very ripe for a civil war at some point between now and, say, spring 2025. The two sides can no longer agree on the facts of any subject. If I point out this or that thing that Trump did that hurts the conservative movement, then it’s “bogus” because it comes from a media outlet that is liberal. My Traditionalist relatives suggest that “maybe we need a unbiased fact checker we can all agree on.”
We have that, it’s called Snopes and all MAGA conservatives do is spend all their time working the refs, saying Snopes is wrong for this or that reason. The facts simply are not on the side of MAGA Republicans, but because they’re so enraged by the browning of America, the growing economic independence of women and a growing support for gay rights….well, they willfully ignore the facts.
Or, put another way, the United States is more and more two nations, one Red one Blue who simply do not agree on not only what it means to be American but what basic fucking facts are. And if you’re so polarized that you can’t even agree on facts then my fears about autocracy or civil war in the United States starting around 2025 become very real.
The remaining question is, of course, is there going to be a civil war? While the conditions exist for one, I just don’t think one is going to happen. I say this because the people who would probably agitate the most for a National Divorce in late 2024, early 2025 — Twitter liberals — are all going to leave the country should the time come.
So, yes, MAGA Republicans will finally end the terror of the “woke cancel culture mob” when they turn the United States into a Russian-style autocracy. I’m poor, so I won’t be able to get out of the country when ICE is weaponized and people like me are put into camps. Then, of course, the OTHER red line for my Traditionalist relatives — the personal — will be crossed and they’re going to have to figure out how to get me out of said camp.
I know that sounds very hysterical at the moment, but form follows function. Once we’re no longer a democracy — or even an anocracy — it’s only going to be a matter of time before MAGA Republicans come after basic freedoms like freedom of speech. And because I will never shut up about how much I fucking hate MAGA — no matter how much my Traditionalist relatives may beg me to do so — they’re going have to get me out of a concentration camp.
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