The Most Terrifying Battle Ever Waged!

Today I reopen this blog as a meager but clear sign that the resistance to the regime of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their cronies is well underway. This is once again a place for political speech, especially that which reveals the depredations of the current administration of the United States. The United States of America is not its elected officials but rather its people. After the tragic election of the current Felon-in-Chief, people were stunned, but that has worn off. The administration has moved with lightning speed to initiate its breakdown of the federal government, thinking that it robs the people of their access to any way to retaliate, but it has instead only spurred that same retaliation. 

A tiny thing is to show the economic might of the people. Today is the first of many days in which we refuse to buy. The people of the United States fuel the most powerful consumer engine on the planet and today we agree to turn that engine off for a spell. 

More to come. 

Rip Off 

In Memory Of President Jimmy Carter!

I was going to write a brief essay explaining how I feel about the late Jimmy Carter and how I think the fact we were cheated out of a second term led by this great and exceptionally good man, when I ran across this TikTok video essay which said all I wanted to say and said it better. 

With Respect. 

And with this post I'm closing up shop here for now. I might feel compelled to composes future responses to events, but frankly I'm tired of waiting for the shoes to drop, and I don't want the daily stress of following the ups and downs to drag down my health which is showing its age. And even more frankly, I don't want to listen to the squabbling. It's not the most responsible thing I can do, but for now I'm going to seal myself away from news for the most part, and I wait for baseball season. They can't stop that can they? Can they?

Thanks to all those who have held the flame and responded to my rants. It's much appreciated. Business will continue as usual at the Dojo, so I hope to see everyone there. 

Rip Off

The Atomic War!

I spent much of my youth and early adult life seriously worried that nuclear war about to break out. Then the Berlin Wall fell and things seemed to settle down a bit, though the fundamentals which might lead to war were largely unchanged. The U.S. and the former Soviet Union had more than enough firepower to wipe us off the globe. 

During my "worry years" I subscribed to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to keep up with the developments across the globe as regards nuclear weapons. I thought about it that much. I subscribed to a host of political magazines, both those with which agreed and those with which dissented. (It was what we did in those pre-internet days.) It was a great weight on my shoulders, one I was unable to shake. Then fortunately I either matured or things got measurably better. Now the Bulletin says we are ninety seconds from doomsday. 

Now I worry about nuclear war again. Not so much an attack on the U.S. from Russia since our incoming President is a vassal of Putin, but I dread a small-scale weapon might be used in Ukraine. What holds things up is that Putin wants Ukraine for its wealth and an atomic attack would wipe much of that away. Other nations, once confident that the U.S. would protect them are now seeking nuclear weapons, and I can't blame them. The U.S. under Trump is no real ally to anyone. We've reached a tragic point in human history where greed and self-interest, among our worst traits are what arguably protects us from nuclear warfare, while at the same time making it more likely. 

Rip Off

Seasons Greetings - Of A Sort!

There's no denying it. I am a "Scrooge". That doesn't mean I'm intemperate with those who seek charity for the needy (I like to give to food charities). That doesn't mean I imagine children should be sent to workhouse if their parents cannot meet the rent. (As long as they stay quiet I'm okay with kids...most of the time.)  None of those extreme over-the-top vile things, but what I am is tired of the spectacle of Christmas which stifles the senses and overruns all media and such, spilling into the streets and filling up the even the stillness with typically mewling Christmas songs.

I'm just tired of it before it gets started. If Christmas lasted a week, maybe even two I'd be all in. A two- week spree of holiday cheer and merchandising I could support as a bally end-of-the-year celebration. We all made it again you see; and here's something to show our appreciation all around. That would be dandy. But the damned holiday starts in September now and drags on for week after stultifying week and by the time the actual holiday itself actually arrives it's all weary anti-climax.

Now none of this has to do with the religious as side of Christmas. Ignored by the merchandising crowd for the most part, the birth of Jesus is something which perhaps ought to be marked and celebrated. The soul-sucking religion his birth spawned perhaps not so much, but the man of peace for certain. I'm down with that, unless you're not and I'm down with that too. To each his own I always say.

But the other, the dreary life-draining amble to acquire presents to make the significant others in our lives "happy" is really become a chore. I resist putting up the Christmas tree (a little thing really) as it means caving in sooner than I want to the holiday which like the Blob in both versions of that sci-fi movie seeks to absorb all around it. I want to hold it off as long as I can, to cherish the moments of the holiday with family and friends, compress them and make them potent and memorable.

So in the end I'm not so much against Christmas, but rather against it as currently practiced in a culture which has well and truly lost its way. I choose differently as much as I can, and that my friends makes me a "Scrooge".

Rip Off

Public Enemies!

The recent killing of the CEO of United Healthcare has created quite a stir in the country. One wonders why, since with thanks to Republicans and the NRA there are at least as many guns as people in the United States. In point of fact the statistic is one and a half guns per individual. With that kind of armament available why is anyone surprised when anyone is killed. Well, it's because folks like Brian Thompson are supposed to be above the fray, well hidden behind stacks of cash which allow them to live apart from the rabble which make their lifestyles possible. 

But what is even more amazing is the reaction across the country to his murder. This man was shot down in cold blood on a city street and most Americans find it funny. That's profoundly sad on one hand, but strangely revealing about the state of the nation on the other. There was another time when Americans in masse rooted for villains. It was during the great Depression when villains like Bonny and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger were marauding across the heartland of these United States robbing banks and sometime killing cops and the occasional civilian. 

Banks and bankers were seen the real villains, as farms were foreclosed in many areas and in general life was rough and tough. These gangsters were thrilling for a typical citizen whose life was drudgery, with little sign of immediate improvement. The gangsters were seen as people who took action in the face of despair, who took control of their lives, though admittedly those lives were short. I think we are seeing the same thing play out here. 

People don't care why some young man killed the head of a giant health insurance company which is infamous for jerking its clients around and forbidding necessary care, they just are pleased that finally someone, somewhere is taking action. There is a tipping point in any culture when people will rise up and take action. As wrong-headed as the January 6th, 2021 Insurrection was, it pointed to this same unease. When these folks get a pardon from the new President of the United States (himself a convicted criminal) early next year, the message will be heard that taking personal even criminal action is effective at least in part. Laws are for suckers and losers. Leaders who fail to heed these messages better keep their heads down. People will only eat "cake" for so long. 

Rip Off

Is That A Leopard On Your Face?

"The Leopards Eating People's Faces Party" has been growing exponentially in the United States by all reports. As dimwits who lazily voted for Trump and against their own best interests begin to realize how his potential policies might impact their lives, they begin to regret their vote and wish to take it back. Alas, it doesn't work that way. That national poll we held in November will have lasting negative consequences for countless people in the future. Workers are already seeing a diminishment in their take home pay just in anticipation of his enacting the hurtful economic policies. 

 

It has become something of an entertainment to watch people feel the penny dropping, and to hear their caterwauling about it. I don't find it all that much fun, since the suffering they just realized might happen to them will likely happen to me and mine as well. I just have the small pleasure of knowing I didn't choose it for myself. Watching these early days of the new administration showcases two things. They have a dark plan for America and the world, in which many of the things people have come to rely upon will be stripped away. But they appear to be bumblers on a gigantic scale. The egos of the top people are so outsized that there seems not to be room enough for all them. The infighting and incompetence shows us that those things we fear won't come because they cannot figure out how to implement them and still avoid the blame for the hurt. 

That has always been the Republican approach since the loathsome days of the terrifically overrated Ronald Reagan. Republicans have learned how to run against government, but they demonstrate little or no interest in actually running it, save in those aspects which reap financial benefits for their slave masters. Democrats know how to govern on the national level, but Republicans don't. They are well-trained in jeering and bad-mouthing those who can do governance, but they lack the skills to actually replace those they mock. The truth is they might want government to succeed when they gain power, but they don't know how to make it do that. It's a sad fate we face when our primary hope is that the firing squad doesn't know how to shoot straight. 

Rip Off 

Choosing Sides!

The war in Ukraine has been raging since Russia invaded its peaceful neighbor in 2022 after nearly a decade of unrest. Like so many Americans, I've followed the war with mild interest, considering this struggle just more conflict in a big wide world. I knew perfectly well that the United States was on the side of the Ukrainians, supplying them with arms and weapons enough to stave off the Russian assault. To most folks surprise the Ukrainians have proven to be a tough bunch and Putin has seen his hold on power threatened by their rugged resistance to his schemes. He has been using his resources to pay American influencers to undermine American support for the Ukrainian war effort and our President-Elect is actively hostile to the Ukrainian side of the conflict. 

In anticipation of a change of policy, the current President has lifted certain limits placed on the Ukrainians concerning the use of American armaments and this has resulted in American-supplied missiles striking deep into Russian territory. Weirdly, the Ukrainians also find themselves battling North Korean troops, sent by their insane little leader in exchange for much needed oil in the dark little kingdom he oversees. Many of these troops have taken this chance, so far from their homeland to defect. It's clear from events like these which side of the conflict is on the side of the angels, where in war it's hard to see the clarity. I dread that Americans are going to be fed a bunch of nonsense to allow the U.S. to switch up sides when the next President takes charge, and his Russian sympathetic Director of Intelligence begins to grind the machine. 

The Europeans can pick up the slack of supporting the Ukrainian effort, but what I fear more than anything else is somehow someway the future President delivering U.S. resources to the Russian side. It would have to be after some potent propaganda but that has already begun. People rightly fear a third world war, but what I fear even more is that my country will be on the wrong side. 

Rip Off 

Social Insecurity!

Well, it seems the Republicans can't wait this time to get their mitts on the U.S. Social Security system, and we all know that they ain't raisin' any taxes to help support the single most successful public policy program in U.S. history.  They've always hated it, or rather their rich masters have but for many years it was untouchable. It was a program that helped too many people in too many places, and so no one enemy found it feasible to rise in opposition. That broke down in his century and now they hover over these safety-net programs like vultures. Medicare and the Affordable Care Act are the ones to worry about in the immediate future. America's medical situation is appalling with these programs in place, without them we return to barbaric. People will be hurt, and people will die as a direct result of elimination of these programs without a viable substitute which they themselves admit is only a "concept of plan".  Americans have once again voted against their own better interests in the name of racist paranoia. It's too stupid to fully understand. 

Rip Off

The Battle Begins!

One of the many reasons that the late great Jack Kirby is a hero of mine is not only his utterly earth-shaking creativity in the relatively small world of comic books, but his dedication to promoting themes of individual freedom and his utter rejection of the mindset which makes dictatorships possible. This is most evident in his "Fourth World" material in which the maguffin that lies at the heart of so much of the action is a dread secret hidden in the brains of some humans which the deadly Darkseid and his minions scheme to get their cold bloody mitts on called the "Anti-Life Equation".

The Anti-Life Equation is an arcane formula which gives its handler the power over the minds and wills of other humans, it is the ability to make slaves of others and bend them to your will for whatever purposes you desire. It is the master scheme to make all of humanity slaves, never allow them to realize it, and instead make them relish their fate. It is the willful sacrifice of personal freedom to enter into a pact with an unholy master, to make of oneself a submissive acolyte.

Kirby explored the concept in the New Gods saga and to lesser extents in Captain Victory and elsewhere. The sundry insect armies he created at Marvel, DC, Pacific and elsewhere point back to this notion that individuals can disappear inside an army of drones dedicated to the welfare of an overwhelming master intellect.

That grim reality, so deftly explored by Kirby so many decades ago and informed by his Jewish heritage and experiences before during and after World War II are of great moment to us in America today when we find ourselves once "again" asked to surrender ourselves to something "great", to something which promises to a select company the chimera of perfect security if only they will hold at bay all those "others" who threaten the modern myth of perfect tranquility.

Our Leader is an exceedingly dangerous fellow, callow, and apparently lacking much if any empathy for those who fall outside his immediate family. He is overwhelmed with a need to constantly punch up his degraded self-worth by constantly lying about those who he imagines should adore him. If you fail to fall at his feet, he imagines you are an enemy and are to be sent away. If he cannot corrupt you with his charm, then you are a threat to the new order. 

He is currently filling his clown car of a cabinet with loyalists, drawn from sundry places. The richest man in the world is tapped to look for ways to cut government spending, conflicts of interest be damned. He entrusts a brain-wormed lunatic with the health of the nation.  He reaches out to television to get his new glib Defense Department leader, and into Congress for his next Attorney General. His pick there a bit shocking in that the individual was only a few days from an investigation into charges of child molestation. He wants only those who will toe the line and not bring up things like ethics and decorum when conducting "the people's business". 

The looming danger to immigrants and marginal communities is taking shape. These folks seem eager to tear apart families in grim and costly show trials before supposedly returning those interlopers to their homeland (which likely won't receive them). We are promised tariffs which are already playing havoc with the economy. It's predicted that if Sweet Potato Hitler's plans are implemented in full, it will trigger not only a recession in this country, but across the globe. 

Democrats are at the moment are strident but weak and will offer only a token resistance to the whims of his new autocrat who chafes at the limits of constitutional authority. It is once again up to Republicans (Argh!) to tame the monster they have uncaged and unleashed upon us. But at the moment they are too distracted by the avaricious desire for yet more tax cuts and a forlorn hope that they someday will be in charge, to pay attention to anything else. Once they have secured the fortunes of the rich and mighty then maybe they might deign to pay attention to the problems of the people. It's going to be yet another hair-raising ride, I fear. With even more dangerous consequences. 

Rip Off

Mad Dogs And Congressmen!

His name was "Tim Johnson". He was a favorite character of mine when it came to teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. (Will they still be able to read and teach that in the Sweet Potato Hitler era?)  The reason is he's not a person but a dog, and not just any dog, a mad dog. And he's significant because it falls to Atticus Finch to put him down when he's roaming dangerously in the road. It's a necessary job and Atticus does it. Just as he defends a black man falsely accused of rape. I loved that dog because his name was an ideal reading-check question and only those who read the book got it -- ever. But these days, Tim Johnson is so much in my memory that I'm constantly calling Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House by the mad dog's name. And you know, I'm trying to do better...really I am. 

The current Speaker is one of those Christians who knows what's best for everyone else. He perfectly okay with telling men to stay off porn and women to stay out of abortion clinics. He's not so good at telling the Orange One much of anything at all, though you can often see he really, really wants to. It probably galls him in his quiet moments when he's at prayers that his soon-to-be-boss is a philandering asshole. But then I'm sure Tom has met a lot of Baptist preachers, and they are not a particularly reliable lot either in this regard. Every few years one or more of them has a scandal and prays for forgiveness, gets it and moves ahead with his life. (Notice I said "he" as far as I know there are women in the pulpit in Baptist churches and when they fall from grace, they generally have to leave town in shame.)

Anyway, back to my main point. Tim...er...Mike Johnson (Sorry.) has a hang up about pornography. He doesn't like it, he doesn't like so much he has his son keep tabs on him. That seems reasonable...not! And because Tim...er...Mike (Sorry again.) doesn't like porn so much, he doesn't want anyone to have it either. I don't think he proposes his son keep tabs on all of us, but I don't rule it out. Let me quote from the Project 2025 document itself, the anticipated framework for the incoming administration. 

        "Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.

         Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And 

         telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered."

That seems a little screwy to me (no pun intended) that Tim...er...Mike (Goshdarnit! I did it again.) and his ilk are that into what I do in the privacy of my home (not that I use porn mind you).  Since this same section on pornography is critical of "the misogynistic exploiters of women", I do hope to see his strident and loud denunciation of the rank harassment women are suffering since the election of a certain longtime friend of Jeffrey Epstein and former boyfriend of Stormy Daniels. 

But as it turns out I guess, Tim (I give up.) will be downright doggedly determined to wander down the public street roughshod and getting into everyone's private business. I wonder what Atticus might do in situation. I bet I can guess and so can you. * 

Rip Off

* No animals were harmed in the making of his essay, even human ones.