Tag: Fuck You MAGA

Old Gray Lady WAP: Of Judith Miller, The New York Times & WMD

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Editor’s Note: Please note, the “Old Gray Lady” in the title is a nickname for The New York Times.

I could care less that Judith Miller of the New York Times would “whip it around” as is said in the song “I Got A Man” with various people, including sources, but I do have beef with her for her Iraq WMD coverage.

Judith Miller

I only even mention her self-avowed bed hopping because she is rather matter of fact about it in the book “The Times” that I’m reading at the moment. I’m sex positive, I don’t care what she did with her body, even if it a bit cringe worthy that she was working at The Times and boning sources with great abandoned.

But like I said, that’s not my beef with her — my beef with her comes from her WMD reporting that was the basis for the US’ invasion of Iraq. I have conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — who took 20 YEARS to admit that that there were no WMD in Iraq.

Twenty fucking years!

And they admitted it in such a casual way because by that point Trump was on the scene so, lulz, all the blood and treasure spend on a lie was no big deal.

Anyway, you go girl, is all I gotta say. But it is amusing that editors of The Old Gray Lady were played so well by Miller at such a crucial juncture in our history.

The Right’s White Hot Need To ‘Own The Libs’ & The ‘Media Narrative’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the ways the browning of America and the increased economic and political agency of women have warped our politics is white Christian (men) get really worked out up about “owning the libs.”

Bari Weiss is among the conservatives who were “canceled” for not following the evil liberal “media narrative.”

This need to “own the libs” pops out in a variety of ways, but one of them is the idea that the evil liberal cabal is out to get people who don’t follow the liberal, mainstream “media narrative.” As part of this, many conservatives are bad faith free speech absolutist, when they are in fact, just annoyed that they can’t be racist and sexist.

They are also crybaby snowflakes who mistake their lack of engagement for being “shadow banned” when, in fact, their views just aren’t popular.

In my personal life, my conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — are quite haughty about how they’re free speech absolutist and if only the evil liberals would get out of the way, then EVERYONE would see how great and wonderful conservative ideals are.

UGH.

The whole thing is a symptom of how fucked up the political world is these days. Everything. Is. So. Fucked. Up.

The MAGA Right’s Fixation On Hunter Biden Is…Odd

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Of all the reasons to impeach Joe Biden, going after him for….loving his wastrel son too much…doesn’t seem well thought out. In fact, the more I learn about Hunter Biden, the more he seems like he would be a lot of fun to hang out with, at least if I was on a days-long bender. (I don’t do those anymore, but still.)

I mean, if MAGA Republicans had any wits about them, they would impeach Joe Biden over the “crisis at the border.” That, at least, makes some sort of sense. That is a political situation that is easy to understand. But to go after the president for some pretty loosey-goosey claims of some sort of connection between Biden and his son is just very very dumb.

I will note, however, that if ANY actual scandal happens between now and and Election Day 2024, House Republicans are going to jump all over it and impeach Joe Biden over it. It will all happen at light speed.

‘Sucker Punch’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is only one way that Blues might actually start a civil war (really a revolution, given their collective temperament,) and that is if it was clear Trump had stolen the 2024 election.

I have grown to believe this is the least likely of the various possible scenarios because Trump is so dumb and lazy that he’s more likely to either win outright or lose outright and THEN start a civil war. Either by losing and demanding a National Divorce or by WINNING, then being such a tyrant that he is deposed somehow then Red States leave the Union.

But, yeah, I suppose if he steals the 2024 election that Blues might, rather than “leave the Union” simply deny that he’s POTUS in the first place and things start to go crazy when there’s, like, some sort of General Strike but because the U.S. Military doesn’t know what to do…wow…just wow.

All of my existing thoughts about such a scenario stand, though. What California does would be key — they would be the arsenal of American Democracy in any civil war / revolution because of their population and economy.

I have to say, in any fair fight between Blue and Red, the forces of American Democracy (Blues) definitely SEEM like they could kick the asses of tyrannical fascists MAGA Reds. That doesn’t mean, of course, that any such civil war/ revolution wouldn’t draaaaaaaaaaaaaag out for years, leaving America looking like Afghanistan by the time everything go sorted out.

I’ve written about all of this — and changed my mind some of the years — a great deal over the last four or five years. And, in general, I think first of all, it won’t happen and second of all if it does it will suck. There will be no narrative and the whole thing will be value free.

‘Inherent Contempt’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not that I want this to happen, but House Republicans if they are sooooo upset over Hunter Biden, do have an option: inherent contempt. This is, as I understand it, the ability for Congress to actually get the its Sargent at Arms to physically arrest someone and put them in the Capitol brig.

Hunter Biden

I can’t figure out if they’re cowards or if they’re so dumb that they don’t realize that they could finally see Hunter Biden in jail if they did that. Now, the political ramifications would be enormous — he would instantly be a center-Left martyr, even more than he already is.

But given that they just don’t care about anything but “ruling” rather than “governing” it seems like it’s a gimmie for them to invoke inherent contempt. But….I dunno, it’s all very odd.

‘An Air of Inevitability’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I can’t predict the future — no one can. But there very much is an air of inevitability at this point about Something Bad happening in the United States in late 2024, early 2025.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – JANUARY 9: View of empty shelves at a local Giant supermarket as the omicron covid variant causes widespread supply chain delays resulting in empty shelves in many food markets on January 9, 2022 in Alexandria, Virginia. Credit: mpi34/MwdiaPunch /IPX

What that “bad thing” will be, I don’t know.

But whatever it is, it will be so bad that some pretty basic, existential things could be thrown up in the air or put into question. I find myself going to the grocery store these days and asking myself, “What am I going to do when there’s no food here during a revolution / civil war?”

It would make a lot of sense that the similar bare shelves that we saw during the pandemic might return the moment it’s clear the US is on the cusp of buckling one way or another — for whatever reason.

That, of course, sounds very hysterical. And it probably is. Like I said, I can’t predict the future.

Trump Isn’t Hitler. He’s Pol Pot

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While it’s easy to compare Trump to Hitler — and the two men do share a lot in common — I would suggest someone else to compare him to: Pol Pot. The reason why I say this is, if the worst happens, I could totally see Trump demanding the cities be emptied for some sort of American Killing Fields.

Pol Pot

Or maybe it wouldn’t be Trump but someone vaguly acting in his name would would do it.

But the point remains — Pol Pot hated a lot of the same types of people that Trump and his movement hates.

If things get really, really bad in the USA as it transitions to Trumplandia…oh boy.

America Is So Fucked Up Right Now

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to tell you — America is seriously fucked up at the moment. And it’s only going to get worse. There is a chance, of course, that some Black Swan event will allow us to take an off ramp — like what happened in 2020 — and all our structural problems will be punted down the road another four years.

The issue is that the Republican Party is so radical now — and so resistant to changing its policies — that, by definition, the next Republican president we have will be a fascist autocrat. The only question, at this point, is how his or her specific personality will influence policy.

It will be very curious to see how, exactly, that works out. There are severe structural problems in the American political system so someone like Trump can bubble up to the surface.

No, America Isn’t ‘Too Big’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

After Trump won in 2016, I saw a — I think — New York Magazine article that was one big liberal “cope” in which they proposed America was “too big.” This was one way of them slyly suggesting what we would now call a “National Divorce.”

To this date, the idea of a National Divorce or anything suggesting the USA should split up REALLY MAKES ME ANGRY. I will admit that in the past, I have toyed, in the abstract, with the idea of Blue States leaving the Union. But when I realized that is just not what Blues would do — if anything like that is going to happen, it’s going to be more of a revolution than a National Divorce — I stopped even thinking such a dumb idea might have merit.

Which brings up the idea of why Red States might be willing to leave the Union.

Well, I live in the South and there is a pretty potent race memory among white Southerners when it comes to the Confederate States of America. To the point that at least one well-educated conservative I know pretty much at this point supports a National Divorce — if it comes to that — because of “vibes.”

And, really, that is what is eating away at the foundation of the United States at the moment — vibes, especially from the Right. The Right gets soooo worked up about how bad COVID lockdown protocols were, then they rest their entire indictment of the Biden Administration on…you guessed it…vibes.

As I’ve written before, there are two ways we have an actual civil war. One is Trump loses and states, starting with Texas, leave the Union to “protect” him from going to jail. Second way is Trump wins, he goes “full tyrant” and things get so absolutely bad that a number of Red States leave the Union because they love that idiotic, malignant ding-dong so much.

Well, When It Comes To This Novel I’m Assuming Nothing TOO Bad Will Happen In Late 2024, Early 2025 In America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. If all goes according to plan, I’m going to start to query my novel in some capacity in late 2024, and MAYBE as late as early 2025. As such, I’m working on the assumption that the country will be stable enough for that to be a viable option.

So, I may write a lot about The End Times for the USA, but in a practical sense, I’m totally ignoring that possibility. I am doing this because, as I keep saying, all my “hysterical doom shit” is simply me trying to make my abstract fears concrete.

I just don’t know if The Fourth Turning is really going to happen. In fact, I generally don’t think it will. I do think that Trump is probably — at this point at least — win the 2024 election and 2025 could be mass chaos. And, yet, if enough smug Twitter liberals leave the country on their second passport…meh. Maybe that will mean people will be more interesting in read a novel that is part of a six novel project that is pretty much just one long screed against extremism (using subtext.)

Or not. Who knows. All I know is I’m pressing forward with this novel, even though there is definitely a part of me that is….concerned…about the next 18 months and beyond.